Chapter Five: Whistle for the Wind Part 4
Chapter Five
Whistle for the Wind
Daily Life Part 4
That evening found me rummaging through my backpack, pulling out various foodstuffs and distributing them in my room. I’d gone back to the convenience store and bought up everything I could afford, a whole ton of ramen for the most part, alongside a few veggies. It was enough food to keep me going for a couple of days while I secluded myself.
I didn’t attend the evening meeting, sending an apology text to Tiara. Of course, soon after she came pounding on my door. “What the heck do you mean you’re sorry you can’t come?” she groused as soon as I opened it a crack.
“Exactly what I said in the text, Tiara,” I replied, and moved to shut the door.
She stuffed her foot in the door jam and kicked it open, forcing me to step back to avoid being hit. “No!” She said, jabbing a finger into my chest, causing me to hiss in pain. “We have to stick together. You’ve been saying that all along. Why’re you hiding now?”
Grunting from the pain and trying to keep myself from backhanding her in frustration, I went to close the door and locked it, then faced her. “Because, Tiara, I made a big mistake. Adagio might try to hurt me. Or worse. So I’m trying to hide out for a while until she calms down.”
“Oh.” Tiara blinked, then held up her hands in confusion. “Why didn’t you just say that to begin with?”
“Because,” I hissed, “I don’t want it getting around. You can tell the others I’m feeling sick or something because of my ribs. The last thing I want is for Adagio to flip out and kill one of you instead.”
“You really think she will?” Tiara asked, her face creasing up as she frowned.
I shook my head and went to take a seat on the bed, feeling too exhausted to deal with the pain of breathing while standing. “I don’t know. I hope not. I’m hoping she’s going to come to her senses. Have you seen her since this morning?”
She gave a gormless shrug. “Nope. No one has. But everyone’s been keeping to themselves.” Then, with a sigh, she sat next to me. "Just wondering, but is this a good time for you to show me how to budget, like you said you would?”
“Uh…” I scratched the back of my head, grinning sheepishly. “Sure. Sure, why not?”
So I went over budgeting with her for a while, giving her tips on how to get the most for her money. By the end she felt a lot more confident and seemed more relaxed, given the situation. “Thanks for the help, Sunset.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome.”
Tiara stood as if to leave, then turned back to me. “Look, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but… are you sure it’s a good idea to stay locked up in here?”
“No, but…” I gently tapped my rib cage, wincing at even the slight bit of pain that caused. “I’m kind of helpless right now anyway. It’s best if I get rest, let my body heal itself.”
Shrugging again, Tiara replied, “Alright. Fine. I’ll give them excuses then. Keep texting us though! Don’t go dark on us.” She shot me a smirk. “I don’t want to have to turn the ship upside down looking for you again.”
Grinning at the joke, I said, “I will, don’t worry. Good night.”
I locked the door behind her as soon as she left, and laid myself out on the bed. It was still early, not even 8:00 PM, but I had gotten up so early I needed sleep, and bad.
As I slept, my dreams filled with more nonsensical images, focusing on each of my fellow passengers in turn. Scootaloo in a large cylindrical black pod, slowly transforming into...something. Adagio struggled with a copy of herself, fighting over the red gem while the floor was littered with corpses of dead Adagios. Rarity sewing dress after dress, tossing them on the bed of a truck only for it to drive off and a new truck to show up in its place. Applejack kneeling quietly at the foot of three gravestones, hat held to her chest, tears in her eyes. Trixie showcased a brilliant display of fireworks to a massive crowd, with more and more colors exploding into showers of sparks and debris growing larger and larger until it dominated the entire sky to thunderous applause. Diamond Tiara spending time with a group of schoolchildren, showing them all how to manage their money while making the lesson fun.
And me? I was like a ghost, trawling through these bizarre representations of their lives, floating endlessly as an observer, never spoken to, never acknowledged. Never able to speak or breathe. I just floated.
Then the dreams changed, back to Equestria. Once again I witnessed the six ponies living their lives in the tiny town I didn’t recognize. This time as I watched their behavior, their mannerisms, I realized who I was seeing. I was seeing the alternates of Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack. In retrospect it should’ve been plain as day. Once again I saw them use what I presumed was the Elements of Harmony on Twilight Sparkle’s alternate. Once again she disappeared.
But this time it continued. It switched to nightfall, showing her descending from the sky surrounded in an aurora of her cutie mark, then she spread her wings. She’d changed into an alicorn, just like I’d once been promised by Celestia.
More images flashed by, in rapid succession. A series of vines crawling from the Everfree, overtaking the town. A large crystalline tree. The six ponies depositing their elements. A locked box. And more. Six different items and ponies flashed by so fast I could hardly take in the details… one of them might’ve been a rubber chicken, another a loop of thread? Then I saw Twilight taking on a great huge centaur larger than a mountain. Then a crystal castle rising up from the ground.
Then more, and more images sped by, too rapid to take in, the details lost until finally, near the end, it slowed back down, and a single face came into view, one I didn’t recognize, but somehow felt more afraid of then I had ever felt of anything in my entire life. It inspired a horror welling up deep inside, like I was looking upon an avatar of death. Then the face transformed into one all too familiar. Monoponi. It was Monoponi! I’d seen the one behind Monoponi! It was--
DING-DONG BING-BONG
As the high-pitched ramblings of Monoponi echoed through my room, I sat up in bed. The images had scattered to the winds. Whatever I thought I knew, it was gone. “Damn it,” I cursed, slamming a fist into my pillow. I reached out for my Monopad to check the time. “Only 10:00 PM, huh? Shit.”
I felt like I’d slept half the night, but no, it’d only been a couple of hours. But I couldn’t sleep now. My mind was racing too much to let me rest. I needed something as a distraction, anything. I thought about fetching a book from the library, but no, no, that’d be stupid. So instead I opened up the text app on my Monopad and sent Trixie a message. Hey, you awake still?
Yeah. What’s up?
Mind if I come hang out? I can’t sleep, I replied.
Sure.
So, making sure to carefully check my surroundings before leaving and locking my door, I tiptoed my way down the hallway and into Trixie’s room. I found her lying in her bed, her one leg splayed out lackadaisical while she read a book. She closed it as I entered. “Are you okay, Sunset? Trixie heard from Rarity what happened with Adagio earlier.”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Sort of.” I sat down next to Trixie and briefly explained my dreams.
Trixie stared at me blankly when I finished. “Trixie likes fireworks, but why would Sunset dream about Trixie setting them off?”
“I don’t know?” My face screwed up in bemusement. “Why did I dream of any of that? Where did I get this information from?”
“About the ponies in your dream, you mean, “ Trixie pressed.
“Yeah.”
Trixie hummed to herself and pressed her knuckles to her chin. “Trixie wonders if you’re remembering things. You might still have some of your memories locked away, and dreams are the only way you can access them.”
I shaped my lips into a pout. “Maybe. I don’t know how much sense that makes. As far as I can remember, I haven’t been back to Equestria since I left it years ago.”
“Exactly Trixie’s point,” she countered, her mouth quirking up into a satisfied grin. “As far as you can remember. Which means if you did go back, Monoponi erased it. Didn’t you once tell Trixie you get terrible headaches and dizziness if you try to remember something too hard?”
Remembering the time I collapsed in front of everyone from just that, I nodded. “Yeah. Maybe you’ve got a point. That’d explain the images of the ponies. But it doesn’t explain anything else. What was I seeing? And why?”
Trixie frowned, and pushed her book aside so she could scoot closer to me. “Sunset, are you focusing on this because you’re trying not to think about Adagio?”
A flash of ire surged through me as I glared at her before it just as quickly faded. I sighed and nodded. “Probably.”
Trixie reached out and around to hold me in a single-armed hug. “Trixie doesn’t know much about romance. Or friendship. Everything she knows she’s been trying to learn from you. But Trixie knows self-delusion when she sees it. She’s a practiced liar to herself, after all.” She bowed her head, closed her eyes, and then when she opened them again, she said, “I know what it’s like to deal with being betrayed by someone you love.”
“Your father?” I asked, leaning into her hug. The intimacy of it was soothing and comforting, exactly what I needed right now.
“Mmhmm. He left me when I was little. I was so furious when it happened, I locked myself away in my room for days at a time. Mother was so busy with her two jobs just to make ends meet for us that she barely had time to check on me. I spent a lot of that time working on my magic, because I’d told myself I was going to be a better magician than he ever was. Eventually, I got over being bitter… now all I want to do is see him again.”
She smiled down at me. “I forgave him. I know why he left. I understand the calling, the dream. He left to pursue his passion.” Her smile dimmed. “I know it’s not the same. But I can sympathize. And I can listen. Go ahead. Tell your best friend Trixie all about it.”
I laughed, a short little giggle that lasted just long enough to remind me why laughing was a bad idea. “I love Adagio, Trixie. She’s so fiery, and energetic, and assertive. She’s bitter, and hateful, but has the capacity to love too. To become better. To befriend others.” I sighed, a deep, bitter sigh. “I think I fell in love with her because she reminds me of myself.”
“What?” Trixie cocked her head, blinking owlishly. “I don’t get it. What’re you talking about?”
“Trixie, I never told you much about why I left Equestria, did I?” At the shake of her head, I continued, “Well, the reason I left is… I was a bitch. I was power hungry, jealous, and bitter. I thought I knew my destiny, to become a princess just like Princess Celestia. See, Celestia is the leader of Equestria, and I was her personal student. That’s kind of a big deal. I was one of the most important ponies in the entire world, and I knew it. I had a pretty huge head on my shoulders. Total ego. I was more of a jerk than Adagio and Tiara combined.”
Trixie gaped at me in utter astonishment. “No way. I don’t believe it. You’re Sunset Shimmer! You’re nice! Good! You’ve been watching out for everyone. You’ve been Trixie’s best friend! You’re not a bully!”
I laughed again, though more at myself than at her. “Not now, I’m not. But I used to be. When I went through the mirror portal, I thought I was pursuing my destiny. I was going to find power in this alternate world, a power I could use to seize what was supposed to be mine.” My voice deepened, my tone shifting into one reminiscent of my bad old days. “But instead, I came to a world without magic, without any power I understood. A world full of long limbed hairless apes that carried their teats around on their chests. You know how weird that was to me when I got here? It was horrifying! I’m used to it now, but… “
Her lips twisted up into a grimace of disgust as she shuddered. “Uuugh, I can imagine. It was alien.”
“Exactly. Alien. I wasn’t expecting to transform into, into this.” I pointed at my body. “But I got used to it. Eventually, I found power, of a sort. I became a complete bully at Canterlot High School. You might not remember it, but if you went there… odds are pretty high I used to make fun of you, all the time. I was probably one of those bullies you hate so much.”
With a snort of disbelief, Trixie smacked me on the shoulder. “Maybe you were, but so what? You’re not like that now. You became a better person, right?”
“Well, yeah,” I answered. “I still don’t remember how. I know it involved some kind of… Equestrian magic. I think. And I turned into a demon for a bit. But I don’t remember anything else.” A chuckle escaped my lips. “I wonder if Twilight’s alternate came to stop me. Maybe that’s how I became friends with the others, like it seemed I was in those pictures. What we saw there, that was harmony magic. That was the power of friendship. In Equestria, friendship is magic, as silly as it sounds.”
“It doesn’t sound silly at all,” Trixie said with a shake of her head and a grin. “It sounds wonderful. Trixie wonders if she has an alternate in that world too.”
“Could be. I’ll bet if you do, she’s a unicorn. Really popular too. She probably hosts shows all over Equestria.”
Trixie’s grin grew till it stretched from ear to ear. “Do you think so, Sunset? Wow. Now Trixie wants to meet her.”
“Maybe if we ever get out of here, you’ll get that chance,” I said, grinning back. Then my thoughts returned to the discussion and my grin vanished. “But anyway, my point is, Adagio’s a lot like I was. I tried to seize power. I was a bully. I was a villain, in every sense of the word. And I became a better person. Adagio was becoming a better person too. I know she was mean to you, but… she was getting better. Was.”
The illusionist bowed her head in shame. “It was my fault. I was so stupid! I never should’ve tried blaming her. I took a potential friendship and threw it away because I was so scared.”
“Hey, don’t worry, I already forgave you. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Besides, you’re not responsible for Adagio’s actions.” I wrapped my own arm around Trixie’s shoulder and squeezed her tight. “You made a huge mistake, and you’re still paying for it, but that doesn’t mean you’ve made Adagio’s choices for her. She chose to react the way she did.”
Sighing, Trixie nestled up against me, throwing her other arm around me til she was holding me like she would a teddy bear. “Still. I feel responsible. I… oh nevermind. I’m making this about me. This is about you. You were saying?”
“Well, like I was saying, she was getting better. Fluttershy said as much, a few hours before she died. And the nicer Adagio became, the more I fell for her. Because she was like me.” The beginnings of a headache beat its way into my skull, causing me to rub at my forehead to try and ease it. “Meanwhile, she fell for me because no one else had ever shown her affection like I had. I was her first love.”
Trixie arched an eyebrow. “Uh, you sure about that? She seems like she’s experi--”
“Trixie,” I scolded. “I’m talking about romance, not sex. I know I wasn’t her first in that department. She’s a siren. She had sex all the time. But it was meaningless. Empty. She did it to use people, to feed her hunger for negative emotions, not for love.” I immediately regretted the way I phrased that. Wow, way to slutshame people, Sunset. “Err, I’m making it sound like sex without love is bad. That’s not what I mean. What I mean is, she used it like a weapon. She didn’t care about those she slept with, at all, in any way. And it’s not really my point. My point is, she didn’t even know what friendship was, let alone love. It changed her.”
“Ooooh, I see,” Trixie said, nodding several times in rapid succession. “Never seemed like it though. Even when we got along, she was still… bitchy.”
“You’re not wrong,” I agreed. A wistful smile stretched across my face. “In a way, I found it charming. Cool. She was assertive, and I liked it.” I sighed, the smile fading once more. “Honestly I probably fell for her more because I needed something, anything to cope with what’s happened to us. This whole killing game has been so stressful, so terrifying, I can barely stand it. You know, she kissed me first? She came to me after the first trial. Said she was scared. Said she didn’t want to be alone. She was just going to stay, I said we were friends, then she kissed me. Aaaand then we--”
Trixie glared at me. “You had gross dirty sex all over your bed.”
“Hey, it was good sex,” I objected.
“Still gross though.”
I shrugged. “Anyway, that’s how things started. Everything just went from there. But now… now I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Another sigh wormed its way out of my chest. “I’m scared she’s going to give in to Monoponi after all. She was so strong, Trixie. She was able to resist the hardest, despite being the most likely, of any of us, to kill without remorse.”
Trixie sank down into the bed, curling up as her face contorted into an expression of guilty misery. “I know I was weak...”
Oh shit. “No, no, Trixie, no, please, don’t take it that way, I didn’t mean it that way,” I babbled, reaching out to hold her chin up, make her look at me rather than at the bed. “You weren’t weak. Monoponi has ways of getting to everybody. He almost got to me, he almost got to Rarity. It doesn’t make you weak that he got to you, okay? You aren’t weak. You cared so much about me that he used it against you.”
Trixie pressed her upper lip into her lower one, and a few tears came to her eyes. “I hear what you’re saying, Sunset, but it doesn’t change the facts. I gave in. Like Flash. Like Twilight. Like Sweetie Belle. Like Timber. Only I got away with it, and they didn’t.” Her voice skipped a beat as she began to sob. “I, I still feel like I deserve to die for what I’ve done. You, you and Rarity, you forgave me, but I haven’t…”
I held Trixie closer to me and rocked her back and forth gently, making soothing sounds. “Hey, hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
It took a while of hugging and crying before Trixie managed to calm down. Eventually, she worked it out of her system, leaving her with red, puffy eyes, a hoarse voice, and a worn out, tired body. “I’m sorry about that,” she muttered as she grabbed for her bottle of water, taking a long drink.
“Hey, you need to cry, you need to cry,” I said. I’d felt more than a little tempted to join in with her, given my own stress, but I managed to hold off. “You going to be okay?”
“Hah. Okay. Like any of us are okay.” Trixie let out a loud snort. “But yes, for now. What about you, Sunset?”
I sat back, uncertain what to say. “I don’t know. I’m still worried Adagio’s going to do something drastic. I don’t want her to. I don’t want her to get hurt, or worse. So I’m trying to keep to myself for a while. Give her time.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Trixie replied. Her mouth spread into a massive yawn as she stretched her arms out. “Ugh, I’m exhausted. I need to sleep. You can stay, if you want.”
“No, I shouldn’t, but thanks,” I said, standing up off the bed. “Have a good night.”
“Night. Be careful.”
I left Trixie’s room, making sure to lock her back in for her safety, and carefully tip-toed back down the corridor. Except, when I got to my room… the door was open a crack. My blood froze when I saw it. “Oh no,” I mumbled, backing away before turning to flee. I got about five steps before an arm wrapped around my neck and cold metal pressed up against my spine.
“Going somewhere?” Adagio purred, using her seductive, sensual tones that used to get my blood running hot with desire. Used to. Now it filled me with fear instead.
“Adagio, I--auck!” Her arm tightened its grip on my neck, causing me to choke.
“Ah ah ah, don’t make any noise,” she said, pulling me backwards until we entered my cabin. “Don’t make any sudden moves either, or the next thing you’ll feel is this knife in your back.”
She spun me around, tossed me on the bed, then closed the door behind her, locking it tight. I fell onto the bed with a loud cry of pain, landing right on my cracked ribs. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” she said. “That’s good. Means you’re alive. We’ll see how long that lasts.”
I gasped for air, my breaths searing my lungs like a bed of needles stabbing them with every passage of air in and out. “What… the door was locked...how did you…”
Adagio scoffed, and stuffed a hand into her pocket. She withdrew a key and dangled it in front of me. “You gave me a key to your room once, remember?”
Oh my fucking god. I did. I gave her one the morning after we shared Monoponi’s secrets. How could I forget? So fucking stupid, Sunset!
She stuffed the key back in her pocket and brought up her knife, pointing it at me. “So. Let’s talk about what happened earlier. I’ll give you one chance--just one--to justify what happened.”
I had to fight to sit up on the bed, but once I did, I managed to look her way. Like at the pool, her face bore no sign of love, or care, or anything of the woman I’d come to know. The only thing there was cold, unrelenting malice. “Rarity insisted,” I answered. “She was worried you’d hurt me. She just wanted to protect me. It wasn’t an attempt at murder.”
“Really.” She arched both eyebrows at me, nodded, then calmly walked forward. “I don’t believe you.” Quick as a flash, she surged forward and drove the point of her knife into my left bicep. Pain exploded in great messy waves as I screamed. Blood streamed down my arm, staining my clothes and bed with pink as she took it out. She hadn’t driven it in far, just enough to puncture the muscle, but it was far, far more painful than I would’ve expected.
“Aauagh!” I moaned as I fell back, grabbing for the wound on my arm. I hissed and grunted as I tried to stem the bleeding through pressure. On instinct I grabbed for my bedsheet and started wrapping it around the wound, which she allowed me to do. “What the fuck are you doing Adagio?!”
“Showing you the consequences of lying,” she said with a nasty, malicious laugh. She set the bloodstained knife down next to the door and picked up a large pipe wrench, swinging it like it weighed nothing at all. “Now. Let’s try this again. Tell me the truth this time.”
I finished tying off the wound and scowled at Adagio, gritting my teeth to try to cope with the pain. “I am. I wanted to make amends. I still do. I love you, Adagio. You’re making it really hard right now, but I love--aaaaaaugh!”
She’d smashed the wrench into my arm, the same one she’d stabbed, right at the elbow joint. White-hot agony rippled up and down my arm as a loud crack echoed through the room. “Stop lying,” she ordered as she drew the wrench back.
Tears streamed down my face from the pain as I cradled my arm. Every attempt to move my left fingers or wrist brought a fresh lance of pain through my broken elbow. “Stop hurting me!” I screamed. “I’m not fucking lying!”
“So you say,” she replied without a hint of sympathy. Indeed, if anything, her lips were spreading in an expression I could only describe as carnivorous satisfaction, like she was savoring the taste of my pain. Which, given her siren nature, she just might be, in an emotional sense. “See, I’ve been thinking over the past couple of days. More so after our conversation earlier today. Do you know what I concluded?”
“What?” I hissed, wishing I’d thought to run while I had the chance. But she had me helplessly at her mercy. If I tried to run now, she’d kill me before I’d get out the door.
She smiled now, a harsh smile, a mocking smile, nothing like the happy smiles of love she used to give me. “Monoponi had the right idea, throwing together this killing game. It’s been a fun time. Solving mysteries. Watching people die. I didn’t realize how much I was enjoying it. I was too busy being distracted by thoughts of you. It’s funny, really. You embedded yourself so deep in here--” she patted her chest “--that I actually thought for a while I was happy. But I wasn’t. The whole time, something felt wrong. It seemed too easy. The smartest, savviest girl here, deciding to sweep me, a long-lived siren, off my feet? Show me what love and friendship truly were? Please. You were using me. You said as much earlier today. I was the only thing keeping you sane, right?”
“Adagio… no, no, think about what you’re sayii--ggugah!” The weight of the wrench jabbed me in the ribs. Not a full swing, just a poke, but it still hurt like crazy, stealing my breath away.
“Be quiet. The siren is talking.” Adagio pulled the wrench away so she could tap the end of it in the palm of her hand. “I’m not sure what’s worse, thinking back. That I fell for your game, or that you actually thought you could use me the way you did. One’s embarrassing, but the other? That’s unforgivable.”
“Please, please stop, and listen to me,” I begged between ragged gasps and wheezes. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
She considered that, tapping the wrench against her palm again. Then she nodded. “You know, that’s the first thing you’ve said I actually believe. That is, I believe that you believe you weren’t hurting me. But you were. I told you before. You were corrupting my soul. A siren doesn’t love. A siren doesn’t have friends. A siren takes what she wants. She doesn’t care about the feelings of her prey, save for cultivating negative emotions. And to think you actually had me so kowtowed, so pony-like I apologized for using my magic yesterday. Apologized! For using my birthright!”
She dropped the wrench, wound and up and backhanded me, hard, hard enough to cause me to bite my tongue. A couple of teeth felt looser in my mouth as my head snapped back, blood flowing from my split lip. “It’s funny, isn’t it, how violent I’m being right now? That’s not like a siren either, but here I am doing it. That’s the human part of you, and all these other humans in this game. That’s how much you’ve corrupted me. You didn’t just ponify me. You humanized me too. You’ve messed me up so much inside I’m actually enjoying hurting you!”
“Well I’m not!” I barked back, in a pointlessly petulant manner. “This isn’t like you, Adagio! You’re not a torturer!”
“I know. It’s awful. Horrible.” She let loose a bitter laugh, like coffee left on the burner so long it’d turned into blackened sludge. “But I can’t deny it feels good. It’s making you angry. Hateful. I can smell it on you. It smells so good. I’ve tasted so many emotions during this killing game, but this, what I’m feeding on now?” Her eyes glowed with an inner crimson light. “It’s magnificent.”
She’s insane, I realized. She’s completely lost it. I can't reason with her now. I’ve got to get out of here. The pain rippling through my body made thinking harder than it needed to be, far harder. Think, think, think, Sunset! Think!
Wait. Maybe I can goad her into taking me out of here. Then I can run for it. I just have to get away from her long enough to get help. She’ll have to make me take my Monopad with me. If she forces me to leave it Monoponi will execute her. I can use that to text for help.
With my plan in mind, I nodded once to myself in grim determination. “Adagio, what’re you going to do with me? You know you can’t get away with hurting me like this. We can lock you up, just like we did with Trixie.”
“And there it is,” Adagio hissed, her lips spreading in a gleeful smirk. “You’re finally showing your true colors. I knew I’d get you to do it, if I beat you enough. And to think you claimed to love me. No. Now you realize you can’t use me anymore, you want to throw me away. Well. That’s not going to happen.”
She leaned forward and grabbed hold of my shirt, hefting me up to my feet. Leaning in close, she kissed me. Hard. And not in a good way. This was rough, uncomfortable, unwanted. Just like she said: taking what she wants.
I hated it.
I tried to pull away, but she refused, holding me in place with a hand gripping the back of my hair. Finally, she stopped. “Mmmm,” she moaned as she withdrew from the kiss. Her tongue flicked out to lick up the few blots of pink my bloodied mouth had left on her face. “That’s exquisite. I thought you were good before, but I had no idea just how delicious your hate would taste mixed with a kiss. I almost want to fuck you, one last time, just to see what that’d be like. But rape is a step further than I’m willing to walk. I’m not that humanized.”
The thought of having sex with her in this state filled me with so much unbridled disgust, my whole body rippled with it, my stomach twisting into knots. “One last time?” I uttered. “So. You are going to kill me.”
“Of course,” she replied, laughing in my face. “What else was I going to do? I told you, Monoponi had the right idea, putting together this game. But I’m sick of playing. I’m ready to win, ready to leave. I have no reason to stay, and every reason to want to see all of you die. And I can’t risk letting you stick around. Without you, though, the others’ll never figure it out.” She used her other hand to pat me down. “Where’s your Monopad?”
“I-in my backpack,” I answered.
Still holding me by the hair, she leaned down to the backpack on the floor and pulled it out. Stuffing it roughly down my shirt, she dragged me over to the door. Once she unlocked it, she forced me out, hard enough to make me fall over. She pulled out her knife and pointed it at my back. “Move,” she ordered, gesturing towards the promenade.
I slowly climbed to my feet. “You can’t seriously believe the others won’t figure it out,” I said as I ambled forward, at a deliberately slow pace. I was waiting for the right opportunity to make a break for it, but the corridor wasn’t it. I needed open space. “Everyone’ll know you did it. It’ll be the most obvious crime in the world! Even Tiara would be able to see that.”
“Oh really?” Adagio chortled. “Did you forget, Sunset? I was with you in every investigation--well, every one after the first. I learned. If there’s one thing the others think I am? It’s impatient. So you’re not going to die fast, Sunset. You’re going to die slow. Very, very slow. It’ll leave me all the time in the world to plant the evidence I’ll need to convince them.”
Oh I did not like the sound of that. “S-slow? What do you mean?”
“Why spoil the surprise?” Adagio replied. “You’ll find out.”
She continued to guide me through the restaurant quarter, while I carried on at a deliberately slow pace. I was making her think I couldn’t run, luring her into lowering her guard. As soon as we crossed into the food court, I planned to run for the library. I still had the archive key. I could lock myself in the archive room. She’d never be able to get to me, and I’d have the time I needed to warn the others.
Then we’d… I wasn’t sure what we’d do. Adagio was like a wild animal now. Maybe we could keep her sedated. There were enough drugs in the pharmacy to knock out a whole herd of elephants for a week. Plenty to keep her under. We could always tie her up and leave her behind when we finally tried to escape the ship. If we had to.
I didn’t want to. Damn it, as stupid as it was… I still loved her. I don’t know why. Maybe I thought I could still save her. That’d be the pony in me, hoping no one was beyond redemption.
“What makes you think they’d fall for it?” I asked, trying to keep her talking. The more I distracted her, the better.
Adagio rippled with laughter. “Ahaha, that’s easy. All I have to do is keep to myself for a while, then start spinning a sob story about how sorry I was about being mad at you, at how I missed you now that you'd vanished. I’d work them into a frenzy trying to find you, while never letting them actually discover you till it was too late.”
“You’d never convince Applejack. You know that, right?”
I could feel her rolling her eyes even though I wasn’t looking. “Oh please. I don’t have to. There's only one person I need to convince: Rarity. She’s so stupid and melodramatic, she’d fall for a love confession like that in a heartbeat. She hates Applejack, so that’s who I’d pin things on. Scootaloo’ll trust me because she knows you do, even if you’re dead. Tiara doesn’t like Applejack so she’ll side with Rarity. And Trixie… who gives a fuck? She doesn’t matter. It’ll be two votes to four votes. And I’ll win.”
Damn it. It’s a good plan. It’ll probably work, too. We neared the food court, passing the second to last pair of restaurants. Okay. I’ve got one last ace to try before I run for it. “But even if you win the vote, what makes you think Monoponi will actually let you leave the ship? It’s one big scam, always has been. He’ll never let you go. He’ll probably kill you anyway.”
“Oh, no, I hadn’t thought of that. Guess I’d better stop my murder plan and give up now so you can lock me away and throw away the key.” Adagio let out the loudest scoff I’d ever heard. “Please. You think I don’t know that? I’m already prepared for that eventuality.”
Well, I tried. Okay. Time to take a page out of one of my favorite human movies. “Yeah, well, you’re forgetting one thing, Adagio.”
“Oh?”
I suddenly stopped, whirled to point at a random restaurant and screamed, “What the hell is that?!”
She turned to look at where I pointed. “What?”
But I was already off like a flash, making a beeline for the library, as quickly as I could despite my busted ribs. Every breath hurt like hell, and my broken elbow flopping at my side didn’t help. But I pressed on anyway, ignoring the pain. I knew I was probably making my injuries worse, a lot worse, but what else could I do? If I gave up, I was dead.
I made it all the way to the library door before she caught up with me. As I threw it open she tackled me to the ground, sending us both rolling on the hallway floor. Agony burst through my body like a piece of dynamite had gone off, filling me with too much for me to handle. I couldn’t move, couldn’t get up, even though I was screaming at myself in my head to crawl, to climb, to do something.
But she could. She was laughing, too, as she hauled me up by my hair, laughing harder at every cry of pain ripped from my throat. “Oh, nice try, Sunset. Nice try. I can’t believe I fell for that. I must be more tired than I thought. You clever little shit.” She yanked me forward till our faces were mere inches apart. “But not clever enough.”
Turning me around, she wrapped her hand around both of my wrists, ignoring my grunts of pain. “Better keep quiet now,” she said as she frog marched me into the library. “Don’t want to break the rules, do you?”
I considered it. A quick death by rule break. Better than what she had planned. I’d screwed up big time. Her grip on me was far too tight, and I was in way too much pain to break away. But I couldn’t give up now. So long as I was alive, I had a chance, however slight. “Adagio, please,” I said quietly. “Don’t do this. You’re throwing both our lives away.”
“Nothing you say is going to convince me to stop, Sunset,” Adagio replied. “So stop wasting your breath.”
She escorted me down the stairs to the first floor, right up to the archives. Exactly where I’d planned to hide. Oh. Shit. “Now,” she said, after rifling through my pockets and withdrawing the archive key. “Put your Monopad down.”
I glared at her, or I tried to. It was more of a squint at this point. “Why?”
“Do it!” she growled, reaching out to squeeze at my arm wound.
It took every ounce of willpower I had not to cry out, so I obeyed. I took the Monopad out of my shirt and laid it down.
She unlocked the door to the archives and opened it. “Get in.”
Sighing, I stepped into the archives, taking in the small room. I didn’t get far before Adagio grabbed my arms again, wrenching them behind me and pulled out something from her pocket. “Should’ve done this earlier,” she muttered as she wrapped a set of zip ties around my wrists and tightened them. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t buy these. They came from the prop shop.”
“Too bad,” I groaned as she shoved me to the ground onto my stomach. She grabbed my legs, forced them to bend up as far as she could push them, before wrapping another several sets of zip ties around them. “Would’ve made an obvious clue. So, what, you’re just going to leave me here?”
“That’s right,” she answered as she pulled out her final tool, a large piece of cloth and a roll of duct tape. “Open your mouth.”
Yeah, no. I’m done cooperating. “Fuck you.”
She gave me a flat look, then kicked me in the stomach. My mouth shot open as my breath left me, only for her to stuff the cloth into my mouth. Then she taped it on with the duct tape.
“There. Isn’t that better?” She cooed, leaning down so she could stroke my face. The gesture felt deeply insulting, like a perversion of the loving care she’d once shown me. “I think I’m going to miss you, Sunset. Just a little.” She laughed at the glare in my eyes. “Oh I know what you’re trying to say. You’ll do everything you can to escape, I won’t get away with this, blah, blah, blah. Well that’s where you’re wrong.”
She reached into her own backpack and, for some reason, brought out her first aid kit. It was the same one she’d had ever since she replaced the one Timber destroyed. It’d come in handy so many times, either as a clue in a trial or simply for its more traditional use. But now, I saw, she had a different idea in mind. She pulled out a large, untouched syringe of ketamine. “I’m going to dose you with this,” she said as she pulled off the cap. “Not enough to kill you. Just enough to keep you sedated, long enough you won’t have the energy to resist anymore.”
She flicked at the needle to make sure it was ready to dispense. “If I had an IV I’d rig up a bag on a timer, to be certain you’d stay knocked out, but this should still do the trick. I hope you haven’t been hydrating.”
My eyes widened to the size of saucers. I tried to mumble something, anything past the gag, but I could hardly make a sound. Damn it, no!
She looked down at me and laughed mockingly. “Yes, that’s right Sunset. You’re going to die of dehydration. I hear it’s horribly painful without the right treatment or care. It’s slow, too. It’ll take you at least a couple of days before you go. I hope you savor every second of it. I know I will.”
Kneeling down, she raised the needle in her hand. “Goodbye, Sunset. I’d say I love you, but, well… I don’t.” Then she lowered it to my neck, and stuck it right into my jugular. She injected a good half to three fourths of the syringe before withdrawing it.
No. No, no, no, no! I don’t want this. Adagio, please… please let me go… please don’t let me die. Not like this. God, not like this.
I heard her footsteps leave the archive, then the door slammed shut, plunging me into darkness. What was left of my vision swam before me as the sedative took effect.
No… Adagio… come back… come back, please. Don’t leave me alone. Don’t let me die.
Don't let me die...
...don't let me die...
...
...Don’t…
...
...
...L...et…
...
...
...
...m....e…
...
…
...
...
………..d............
......................i...........
..................................e………
…
…
…
…
...
DING-DONG-DONG-DING
“A body has been discovered! All passengers, please assemble at the library, at once!”
Allow me to direct everyone's attention to the last line of the summary of this story:
Sunset can only hope to find out before she, too, becomes a victim of the killing game.
It's been there all along. I'm sorry. 
Thank you to BlackOpsElf for pointing out a problem with the drug Adagio injected Sunset with. It has been edited and replaced with something that makes more sense.
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...What. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not that you actually went somewhere none of the actual Danganronpa games went, with the protagonist getting killed.
That's definitely a strong possibility
Of course she falls for one of the oldest tricks in the book.
Yeah... I'm not really convinced that Sunset is dead.
Especially with the line " It’s slow, too. It’ll take you at least a couple of days before you go."
The lack of any timeskip makes it hard to believe she died.
I'm pretty sure the body is Adagio's.
Trixie or Rarity tried to get to the closet to save Sunset, Adagio tried to stop them, and they ended up killing her when she attacked.
The next chapter is going to start with someone, most likely Trixie, removing the tape from Sunset's mouth and waking her up.
...Unless someone decided to mercy kill Sunset, but I don't think that's as likely.
10687732
Seemingly.
We won't know for sure WHAT happened until next time, but I'm not counting Sunset out just yet.
10687733
We did have a bit of a timeskip, though. Adagio and Sunset were the only ones in the library at the time, which wouldn't be enough to trigger a body discovery announcement, if a body was there at the time.
10687740
Yes, but Adagio also said it'll be a few days before she died.
With the way this chapter ended, I just find it hard to buy that that whole thing was a few days.
Not buying that for a second. That's someone else who died.
As for who it was, or who caused the deed? Not a clue.
Looks like you are posting daily now.
Don't tell me sunset is died
sunset is kil
no...
Wait what? So, I think Adagio is dead, and Rarity killed her.
This was obviously Monokuma's plan. Manipulate Adagio into killing Sunset by revealing to her who was responsible for her and her sisters' losing their magic. Couple with what happened in the last trial and Adagio's unstable state, he wanted her to kill Sunset for standing up to him. Petty, evil and vengeful. A really, really great act of manipulation that leads to Sunset's death. Let's hope it's not Sunset's dead body. If she is killed Trixie and Rarity will try to solve her murder.
Ok so ... I’m REALLY STARTING to think sunset not dead
Why? Because then it be to obvious for everyone. Heck everyone will automatically say it’s Dagi because they seen what she did to her.
So th-... that means the victim could be Dagi
Oh no.. no no no. I-I don't want to be right!.. this time I really don’t want to be right. Sunny,Dagi and Trixie all the top 3 I wanted to survive this.. and now I’m having second thoughts
sooooo... Trixie and Rarity are the detectives, huh?
Will they work out it’s Adagio?
10687795
Yep. She’s dead. Adagio stabbed her in the neck..
Motive: Sunset took away Adagio’s magic.
No... goddamn it no! That’s all of the characters I was hoping would survive dead now! First Twilight, then Rainbow and Flash, and now even Sunset! I have no idea how anyone is going to survive this next trial now. But I hope Adagio pays for this.
This is honestly very surprising. This isn’t a “decoy protagonist” situation like in V3 with Kaede, Sunset was a firmly established character and just died as we were about to reach the climax! Admittedly I have seen a few other Danganronpa fan works do stuff like this but it never gets any easier.
It's a good twist. As someone who personally really loves Columbo, switching things from a Whodunnit to a Howcatchem at the end is pretty fun.
There's no way that one dose of morphine would keep her under long enough to die of dehydration (especially when given to someone who doesn't abuse it, because it's that weird sort of drug that wears off faster if you haven't built up a tolerance to it) , and it's not like "more morphine" = "asleep/weaker for longer". 😀 Then again, I feel like that's something Adagio should be smart enough to know?
I'm sure the fact that there's some left in the syringe won't come up at all later on.
I'm sort of hoping that the announcement is about a completely different murder that happened somewhere else on the ship, and now the rest of the cast will have to find and free Sunset in time for the trial to start (in classic Ace Attorney 2 style, Sunset would of course be completely ignorant of anything that was found during the investigation).
If Sunset really is dead, Adagio has officially lost all of my sympathy. I hope her execution is as slow and painful.
No. I don’t buy it.
If Sunset is dead, it would be too obvious that it was Adagio that killed her. Even if Adagio could get rid of the evidence, the others know she’s a siren, and they all witnessed her flip out and attack Sunset after the truth of Battle of the Bands was revealed. She’s already the prime suspect. There’s no way that Rarity or Trixie would let her get away with it; either of them would kill her outright, even if meant they would be executed.
That being said, I’m betting the victim is Adagio, as much as I don’t want it to be.
Damn. Waiting for the next chapter‘s going to be torture. Which there was plenty of, courtesy of Adagio.
The library? Why would Monoponi tell them to go to the library and not the archives?
)
Sincerely hope this is a red herring, (UPDATE: the victim I mean, not the announcement, my bad
SonicDJM
10687790
I stated this in my blog posts, but I just so happened to realize that the last post of the story was going to post three days after my birthday on the three day a week posting schedule, and I decided I wanted to celebrate my birthday by the official posting of story completion, so because of that and for the sake of having this bombshell drop on Saturday, I posted part three yesterday. But it's not going to be daily posts.
Ah, before you get your hopes up too high, I'm not.
Nope. Not trusting the ending. It's too obvious, they'll suspect Adagio immediately no matter what evidence comes up its just pure logic at its finest. That's what almost lead to Kyoko's downfall in Trigger Happy Havoc after all, the Mastermind knew she was getting too close to the truth so they fabricated the Chapter 5 Murder and just let the group's logical thinking do all the work for them.
Plus witegrlninja pulled a similar stunt like this in their story Danganronpa vP which only makes me even more distrusting of this chapter's ending.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." after all.
I bet Monoponi specifically targeted Adagio, knowing the revelations would cause hers and Sunset's relationship to break down severely, leading to Adagio deciding to kill her, likely as punishment for her speech at the end of the previous trial. So since it's so obviously Adagio that's dead instead, that's just another wrench in whatever his big plan is
On one hand I’d have to respect you for going through with this. On the other I’m really holding on to hope that it’s not the case.
I laughed so hard.
I use this all the time!
I... I... WHAT?! Did not see that coming. We don’t even know if she’s dead or not. I don’t even know what to say. I don’t say this very often, but right now all I can say is:
media1.tenor.com/images/76c34cd8ad3706c6f98fe0d12f4a18cc/tenor.gif?itemid=18285032
Okay. So we don’t even know if the body that has been found is actually Sunset’s or not. If it’s not, I’m betting it’s Adagio’s. Or maybe Trixie.
10688226
The archives are a part of the library.
10687745
10687740
10687737
There has been a time skip.
10688357
Yes, but how much of one is the real question.
10688302
.
Wrenches always start appearing in the mastermind’s plan during chapter 5, so I am not taking Sunset’s supposed death at face value. There is always something going on behind the scenes, and it always derails the game
Also, I have a feeling that there is something special about the archive room but I don’t know what.
10688618
In this case, wrenches in the plan have been around for longer than that, but I'm not taking it at face value either.
10688357
Oh, well I assumed that the archives where separate from the library as it has been stated that the archives had its own room, but I suppose that makes sense as well. Still think Sunset’s demise is a red herring though, one reason is that it still seems to be written in Sunset’s POV so the only way to hear that announcement would be to still be alive.
Do hope the next update comes soon,
SonicDJM
10688635
No, I would call the archives small enough that they wouldn't merit a separate call out, as opposed to the fitness center, where the indoor pool is in its own massive separate room. The archive room is only accessible through the library, so the library is what would be called out.
Oh I see where you were confused.
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10688302
10688635
I will also mention the following as a single spoiler for the next part: The next part will not be from Sunset Shimmer's perspective.
10688888
Which means it's most likely from Trixie's,
seeing as she's been the one Sunset's grown closest to over the course of the story besides Adagio
In fact, I'm now more convinced than ever that Adagio was the victim. It would fit with the pattern that DR2 and V3 followed (or at least seemed to), where the antagonist of the killing game was killed by the one person the protagonist had grown closest to
And while the antagonist role has shuffled around a few times (mostly with the previous one's death), Adagio, in hindsight, was destined to be the final antagonist
Welp, Adagio's dead. The part I'm curious about is the same as before: Neither of the obvious culprits (Trixie and Rarity) would be motivated to keep their guilt a secret during a trial. So something unexpected has to happen. Hmm, it's a longshot, but I wonder if Adagio has some Kokichiesque plan to wreck the game, and to carry it out, she has to trick Monoponi into thinking she really wants Sunset dead.
10687953
noooooooo
Wait WAIT WAIT... I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING! what if Sunset not really dead! think about it, we still don’t know her ultimate I 1000% bet it has a BIG importantence! Because I highly doubt it be a rintaro ultimate Survivor because we should of gotten some hints about that so her ultimate talent has to be important in some way that will bring the end to Monoponi
I really want what I say be true/right... but then again if I’m right I’m really worried about Dagi and trixie because I don’t want them or Sunny to die
10688888
Why do I have a feeling that the mastermind has manipulated this case in some form or fashion?
Seriously, if he did mess with the case, the only two reasons that I could think of is that he killed Adagio in order to ensure Sunset survives a not mess up his plan, or the Mastermind used this opportunity to switch Sunset for a copy and faked her death in order to use her for some other plan. Considering the amount of magic he has, it would not be unheard of for him to create a duplication of her body and make everyone think she is dead.
PS: Manipulated (I.E directly interfered with the game)
10688162
) I will be making an edit to replace the morphine with a drug more suitable as anesthetic, and will also notate this in the author's notes. Thank you.
So, I said to you in a comment yesterday that Adagio knew what you said about the morphine. And then my dumb sleep deprived brain managed to process what you actually said, and not what I thought you said, and I realized you were correct. A single dose of morphine wouldn't do the trick. This was due to author ignorance as well as a desire by the author to utilize something she hinted would matter back in Chapter One but never did (because my story plans changed.
10689603
I don't really remember what kind of drug the nurse tried to use in the Kill Bill movie
But I think if Adagio thought she had a full control of situation she could have done a lot more damage. She could have put Sunset to sleep and killed her later with any kind of method really. Adagio had a knife with her.
10690275
True, but Adagio's plan relies upon fooling everyone into thinking she had nothing to do with it, which she knows is hard. And in order to do it she has to be as uninvolved with the methods as possible. There has to be nothing linking her to the crime, and using her knife like what you suggest would be a definite link, since everyone saw her knife back in the third trial, she's pulled it out several times since, and she's banking on convincing Rarity. Adagio's thought this plan through well. At least, as well as you can when you're emotionally distraught and so wound up on feelings of betrayal and realizing you're still able to scarf down small amounts of negative emotions and probably enhancing your own in the process. Basically what I'm saying is, Adagio's kind of nuts at the moment, but she's not stupid either. That's why she reasons the best possible plan for her is one that involves making things as long and drawn out as possible, because everyone would expect her to be less patient.
Her plan also requires her to be seen by the others quite a lot after Sunset's initial disappearance, meaning that she doesn't have full control in the same sense you're talking, because everyone's constantly running around looking. The only advantage she has in that department is that no one knows she and Sunset found the archives unlocked, because she never mentioned it during the meeting, and Sunset forgot to bring it up what with the huge distraction of her relationship crashing around her. So while that does mean no one knows it's possible for Sunset to be locked away in the archive room, it's still going to occur to all of them as a place to check, meaning they'll flit in and out of the library over time. And if they showed up while Adagio had the room open? It'd be game over.
But, well... anything else I say here runs the risk of spoilers, so I shall let it rest.
By the way, I just want to say: I love the thoughts you bring to the table, and how they make me think about my story. You frequently give me a lot to process and consider, not to mention some good critique, and I value that quite a lot.
10690598
Hello, Dewdrops. Is there any way when the next update is? Because, man, that was one heck of a bombshell!
10691432
The interim between parts is usually three days apart. Therefore, I assume the next part will be posted tomorrow.
10691432
10691481
Uz, FlamingSamurai is correct. The post schedule is set to three posts per week, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at midnight GMT -8. So the next part will post fourteen hours and fifteen minutes after I post this post. The only exception is the final post of the story, which will take place on Wednesday, March 24th, meaning there are fourteen more parts to the story to be posted.
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10691432
Thank you both for your replies.
10691684
You're welcome!
Ok first time commenting in this story and I just wanna say it's so amazing, even though I couldn't solve any of the mysteries even with all the clues, I'm kinda crap with them even though I love them. Also I can't believe Sunny's dead I'm so sad. This is so great tho, looking forward to reading more
oh hey i've played that game!
yeah the last thing anyone should do is cause panic among the other survivors!
hoowee that sounds like some ominous foreshadowing! we really haven't gotten a good look at what's going on in Scootaloo's head the entire story, huh?
considering these are events we know really happened but Sunset wasn't around to experience, that casts the other dream in a worrying light!
dangit i want to know!
cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/880142039042359326.webp?size=96&quality=lossless
so true
ugh what weirdos!
so true
augh that's what was so nice!
nice
aww
oof, the vibe has shifted
that's a deep cut (heh), nice
oh boy it would be quite something if the SunsAgio relationship survives this!
ooh i like this distinction between what a Siren villain and a human villain does
it is genuinely nice to see that Equestrian evil has standards that awful humans do not
oof she is really doing her villain arc
augh so true. ponies are so good!
really? Rarity saw Adagio destroy all of Sunset's stuff and throw her into a pool!
well that is very intriguing
hehehe nice!
oof, well, the murder at least seems very well-planned...
well okay, you really got me here. i suspected that Sunset would die at some point, but i definitely didn't expect it to happen now, and at the hands of Adagio like this! oof! i expected it to be some sort of confrontation with Monoponi that leads to one of the game's rules being broken in a way that lets the remaining survivors figure out how to get off the ship and survive. or at least something that feels more meaningful, with plenty of pathos-laden last words and thoughts or something, you know? oof.
and well i have no idea how Adagio will possibly get out of not being Suspect #1 for all this, but i guess i will have to see!