10. Chapter One: "Lost Memories in the Desert Sands" Part 8
Chapter One:
“Lost Memories in the Desert Sands”
Part VIII
Monohuman gave us a round of applause as Sunset’s crying came to a sudden, gasping halt. “Congratulations, my volunteers. The killer of Pear Butter was indeed Sunset Shimmer, the Ultimate Phony.”
Sunset gaped up at Monohuman. “How can you say that?” she barked. “I’m innocent! I never hurt Pear Butter, god damn it!”
“You’re still insisting on this, even now?” Shining Armor said, shaking his head slowly. “I guess you really are a phony.”
“She sure won’t be a survivor for much longer,” Sour Sweet said with a snorted laugh.
Sunset flashed both middle fingers. “Fuck you Sour Sweet, you have no idea what he’s going to put me through. But you’ll see. You’ll see just how fucking messed up this is all is.”
She whirled back on Monohuman. “And you. Violating the rules! I’m not the blackened. I can’t be the blackened! I remember everything I did this morning, and I think I’d remember if I killed Pear Butter!
“Oh really?” Monohuman said, the wide grin on his face and matter of fact tone in his voice shutting Sunset, and the rest of us, up in a hurry. She quivered on the spot as he leaned forward. “Are you certain about that, Sunset? Are you absolutely sure?”
Sunset swallowed, her voice thick and heavy as she replied, “O-of course I am. I’ve been through an entire killing game before. I was the victim once. I would never in a million years kill anyone.”
“Hmm, well… we’ll see what the security cameras have to say about that!” Monohuman said gleefully as a huge screen descended from the ceiling, showing a still image of Pear Butter in her office.
“Aaaaand, play!”
Pear Butter slouched in her chair, her hands curling up on her desk as she fumed. “That smarmy little… Ah swear… AAAUGH!” She slammed both her fists on the desk, then let out a quiet sigh. Grabbing her guitar from its hanging position behind her chair, she started to play a familiar tune.
She didn’t get far into it before there was a knock at the door. “May I come in?”
Pear Butter sighed. “Come on in.”
Sunset Shimmer pushed the door open, closing it behind her. “Hey, Pear Butter, how’re you doing?”
“What the fuck?” Sunset hissed.
“Sssh!” Vignette hissed. “We’re watching!”
Pear gave her a clearly fake and very strained smile. “Ah could always be doin’ better, but Ah’m fine. What can Ah do you for, Sunset?”
Sunset took a seat at the desk, stuffing her hands down her pockets. “Err, well, I wanted to talk to you for a bit, if that’s okay.”
Letting out a small sigh, Pear’s smile turned slightly more genuine. “Of course. That’s what Ah’m here for, since this whole program went to shit. Any chance you remember anything else about that?”
“Not a thing, sorry,” Sunset said, shaking her head. “Listen… what I want to talk about, it isn’t me. Not exactly. It’s about Wallflower.”
I stiffened on hearing my name.
Pear Butter’s smile faded. “What about Wallflower?”
“I want to know what the hell you’ve got against her,” Sunset asked, her tone becoming more irritated.
Arching an eyebrow, Pear Butter replied, “Ah don’t see how that’s any business of yours.”
“Not my business? Pear, I was just talking with Wallflower a few minutes ago. You scared her so badly she came running out of here like a bat out of hell, crying in her dorm room.” Sunset pulled one hand out of her pocket and pointed at Pear. “I don’t know what your deal is, but when you make my friend break down in tears running away, it becomes my business.”
Pear let out a truly derisive snort. “Oh please. Don’t fall for that act of hers, Sunset: it makes you look naive.”
“Excuse you?”
“Oh come on,” Pear Butter said as she turned away from the camera just enough her mouth was hidden. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m talking about her–”
The audio abruptly cut out, leaving just the running image on the screen. “Whoopsies, looks like we have some technical difficulties in the security system,” Monohuman chirped cheerfully, not showing a single sign of worry. “I’ll need to get that fixed. In the meantime… watch.”
As Pear Butter spoke, Sunset’s expression became confused, then almost pained. She leapt out of her chair, knocking it over in the process, and said something, but her head, like Pear’s, was positioned at just the wrong angle and we couldn’t tell what she was saying.
But we sure as hell saw what happened next.
Pear suddenly whirled about, a panicked look on her face as she lashed out at Sunset with the guitar. Missing by scant inches, she hit her desk instead, gouging it. And in that moment, as the shards of wood flew up, Sunset… changed. She wasn’t confused anymore, and she didn’t look frightened or angry, either. She was blank, cold. Almost inhumanly neutral and emotionless.
Pear Butter tried to swing the guitar again but Sunset deftly caught the it and tossed it aside. Pear immediately reached for the paperweight on her desk and swung it at Sunset’s face, clipping her cheek with the corner.
Sunset caught the paperweight too, and used the surprise to come around to Pear Butter’s side of the desk. Grabbing the party streamer, she wrapped it around Pear Butter’s neck and tightened it.
“Mama… no!” Big Macintosh choked out, reaching for the screen as if he could stop it from happening.
Pear struggled to get out of the stranglehold, her face turning purple, then blue, her eyes bugging out of her sockets, her tongue swelling up in her mouth as she pulled and pulled desperately at first, then slower and slower as her life ebbed away until she collapsed onto the desk.
And Sunset didn’t stop. She held the party streamer for another solid minute or two before finally releasing it and checking for a pulse.
She found none.
We then watched as she set about disguising the crime. She tied the party streamer around Pear’s wrists, picked up the guitar and her pad and played it into the pad’s microphone until she was seemingly satisfied, then stopped the recording and set it on a timer. She then promptly smashed Pear over the head with the guitar to ruin it, tore off a guitar string, and tied it around Pear’s neck, just like I said she had.
She then grabbed up the foundation and carefully applied it to her face before setting it back down and left the room. The footage switched to several other camera feeds as she walked down the hallway till she reached the fern, where she placed the pad. Then she stuck her hands in her pockets and walked off.
“Well,” Monohuman said as the footage ended. “That seemed pretty clear cut and dry to me, Sunset Shimmer. You’re guilty as charged!”
“You twisted up, lyin’, deceitful little… little varmint!” Big Macintosh thundered. “Ah oughta tear you to pieces!”
“Oh god she really did do it,” Rarity muttered, looking ready to faint. “Why, Sunset? Why would you ever do such a thing?”
“Please tell us, Sunset,” Fluttershy added, sniffling. “Why did Pear Butter have to die?”
Trixie took a step back from Sunset. “Trixie is thoroughly disgusted by you, Sunset. Do you truly believe Wallflower wanted you to kill for her?"
Sunset didn't respond, still gaping at the screen. "That's not possible. I didn't do any of that! I didn't! It's not possible!"
She grabbed her hair, her expression more manic by the second. "It's a fake. It's all faked. This is the mastermind's doing!" She whirled oh Monohuman. "Is that it, Monohuman? Huh? You couldn't get anyone to kill me so you set up a fake murder instead just so you could kill me off in the trial?”
Monohuman laughed in her face. “You sure do love your ridiculous lies, don’t you, Sunset?”
“She is a total phony,” Juniper insisted. “Such a liar. I can’t believe I ever trusted you.”
Cheese gave Sunset a plaintive look. “Would you just explain why you killed her? Give yourself some peace of mind before you… err…” He gulped and turned to Monohuman. “Are you really gonna…”
“Execute her? Of course,” Monohuman said gleefully. “She’s the blackened, she was caught, she gets executed. Those are the rules.”
“No, nononono,” Sunset insisted. “That’s not happening. How many times do I need to say it? Look, you guys, if I really killed Pear Butter, I would own up to it right now, okay? I’ve seen five different people in my place before this… and they all admitted what they did and why at the end.” She slammed a fist on her podium. “But I’m not going to admit to something I didn’t fucking do!”
“Oh for pete’s sake,” Cranky moaned, slapping a hand to his face.
“Sunset,” I murmured, reaching out for her hand and holding it. “Please tell us the truth. Please.”
She looked right in my eyes, her own shaking with fright and tears. “I am telling the truth, Wallflower. This has to be one big scheme. This is fucking Cozy Glow’s work, I know it! The mastermind must be working with her, o-or working under orders she left behind before we nuked her ass.”
“...what are you talking about?” I said, completely nonplussed.
“Cozy Glow!” she repeated. “The mastermind from the first game! She was in control of several corporations… I knew she left buried instructions in some mind controlled slaves of hers!” She let go of me and whirled on Monohuman. “Listen here you computerized piece of shit. I’m not going to stand for this. None of us are. Right, guys? You’re not going to let him fool you into thinking I really did this. Right?”
Dead silence met her as several people covered their faces and looked away.
Cranky grunted. “Ugh, this is getting pathetic. You don’t want to admit responsibility, fine. That’s your problem. But we still figured you out.”
“Sunset… darling…” Rarity wrung her hands.
Sunset turned, her eyes half bugging out as she ran from her podium around to Rarity, taking her hands. “Rarity, you’ve got to believe me, right? I know you don’t remember. I know the mastermind messed with your head. But for god’s sake, we got married after the first game. We both survived that game, don’t you u-understand?”
Sunset began to weep. “I worked so hard to save so many lives on that fucking cruise ship. We beat Cozy Glow with our magic. We got out. We lived, we were living our lives together! We didn’t deserve to be put back into another one of these stupid games. A-and I’ve been doing everything I could to protect you all!”
Rarity scowled and ripped her hands away. “Stop touching me!” she shouted, pushing Sunset away. “Stop this! Stop all of this! I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you not to bring this up again. And you dare do so now, after we caught you red handed murdering someone? You utter hypocrite!”
SLAP!
Sunset held a quivering hand to her cheek, her eyes brimming with tears as Rarity continued to rant in her face. “I have never, ever been romantically interested in you. We were friends, yes. Were. But I refuse to be friends with a liar and a murderer, especially when you murdered someone close to me. Whatever sick game you’ve been playing needs to stop! For goodness’s sake, at least have the decency to own up to your crimes before you die for them!”
Sunset’s hand fell away from her cheek as her face twisted into an ugly sneer. “Oh fuck you, Rarity. You still don’t get it. You never got it! Everything I did, I did for you, and for the others who survived, and for everyone still alive here! I’m not a murder, I’d never be a murderer and to think you’re all sitting here falling for the obvious bullshit Monohuman fed you is unbelievable!”
Her hand rose again, quivered, and then to my utter shock she slapped Rarity back, hard enough to send her to the floor. “I already had one lover betray me. I’m not putting up with it from a second one.”
“Whoa, holy shit!” Zephyr blurted.
“What the hell?!” Autumn Blaze added. “That was uncalled for!”
“Oh my gosh, Rarity!” Derpy and Fluttershy both blurted simultaneously.
As Rarity began to cry from the pain, Shining Armor left his and immediately grabbed Sunset by the back of her shirt and pulled her into a hold, slamming her against his podium. “That’s enough out of you,” he said with a scowl. “I never thought one of Twilight’s friends would sicken me like you just did, but slapping Rarity in the face like that is over the line.”
“God damn it, Shining Armor, you stupid asshole, let go of me!” Sunset shouted, struggling in his grip.
“No. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, Sunset. You certainly don’t seem mentally stable to me… And if it were up to me I’d see you sent to a psych ward, where you could get some treatment and the help you clearly need.” He sighed. “But it’s not up to me. It’s up to Monohuman. He’s the law here… and his justice isn’t as kind as mine.”
“No, no it isn’t,” Monohuman said, rubbing his hands together.
“Shining Armor, listen to me, damn it,” Sunset hissed. “Monohuman’s a hologram, right? And that security footage, the audio cutting out right when it did, you think that’s a coincidence? It was faked. The entire thing from start to finish was faked using computers and magic tech, I guarantee you. I never had a reason to kill Pear Butter! God, I wish I’d never met the bitch.”
“Don’t you call mah Momma a bitch, you murderous little vixen,” Big Macintosh thundered.
“I’m sorry, Sunset,” Shining said with a shake of his head. “But I don’t believe you. The audio cutting out is a little convenient, but it’s far more likely that it was still recording real events. No one else had the opportunity or the means to kill Pear Butter. But the only one who knows why you did it is you. So either tell us, or shut up and face your death with some dignity for god’s sake.”
“I can’t believe how cavalier you’re all being about this,” Sunset screamed. “Don’t you understand? He’s going to kill me for something I didn’t do! He claims he’s following rules but he’s not! He’s breaking them just to get rid of me! I don’t know why he put me in this game or why he let me remember the first one when he wouldn’t let Rarity remember, but I’m telling you the truth. If I killed Pear Butter I’d tell you why I did it, I swear I would. I don’t want to die, okay? I… I don’t want to die… god…I don’t want to die…”
“Sunset Shimmer!” Fluttershy shouted, her hands on her hips, a most disappointed and dismayed expression on her face. “You need to stop this, and stop this now. Tell us the truth!”
Sunset shifted in Shining’s ever firm grip to look up at Fluttershy. “...you won’t listen, will you?” she said, fresh tears coming to her eyes. “None of you will. You’ve swallowed his poison, and you can only see me for what he says I am.” She chokes, her breath coming in more ragged gasps now. “Well fuck you, Fluttershy. Fuck you, fuck Rarity, fuck Pear Butter, fuck Big Macintosh, fuck every last one of you except for Wallflower. She’s the only one among you who’s been decent!”
Fluttershy slowly shook her head. “I don’t know who you are anymore, Sunset, but you’re not the friend I thought you were.”
“Shining Armor, as valiant as I’m sure you think you are,” Monohuman said, pointing at Shining with his baton, “Do let her go. I’ll give her one last chance to confess. Make it good, Sunset. You won’t get another.”
Shining, after a moment’s reluctance, let Sunset go. Sunset immediately came around the podiums back to me and embraced me. “Sorry, I know I’m getting in your space, Wallflower,” she said, crying freely now. “But I… I need you to listen to me, okay?”
“Sunset…” I trailed off. I didn’t know what to think. The part of me, the confident part that solved the case, was utterly convinced Sunset was guilty, that she killed Pear Butter, and this whole innocent act was a bunch of garbage. I definitely didn’t approve of her slapping Rarity like that; that was completely unnecessary.
But… she seemed so sincere. So honest, so convinced that what she was saying was right. And what she said to Shining, about the possibility of that footage being faked… could it be true? Was this all one big trap by the mastermind, one I’d hand delivered Sunset right into?
“Listen to me, Wallflower. Listen, okay?” Sunset squeezed me tighter. “I need you to promise me something. I’m not going to be here to take care of everyone anymore. I know they don’t understand what I was doing for them, but you do, right? You get that I was looking out for everyone, right? You know I wouldn’t kill… and I sure as hell wouldn’t solve half the clues that pointed right to me if I was trying to pull a fast one over everyone.”
“...I… I know, Sunset, but…” Moisture trickled down my face. “I don’t know who to believe.”
Sunset nodded. “That’s okay. You did the right thing leading the trial the way you did, alright? Trust me. It was the right thing to do… I don’t blame you. I don’t. This was the mastermind’s trap, not your fault. I only wish I’d seen it before… but nevermind that now. You need to promise me that you’ll protect everyone. You’re smart… smarter than I was giving you credit for during the trial. And I’m so sorry I accused you of killing Pear Butter… I was just… scared.”
I nodded in understanding. “I forgive you for that.”
Sunset smiled through her tears. “Thanks. But like I said, you gotta promise me you’ll take care of everyone. Protect them. This’ll… this’ll mean doing what you’ve done today again. Probably more than once. Monohuman, the mastermind… if they’re anything like Cozy Glow was, they’re going to be way too good at convincing people to kill. You probably won’t be able to stop murders from happening. But you can at least save everyone else in the trial. And remember what I said before? Don’t ever hate them, the killers. They’re victims like everyone else. They cover up their crimes because they’re scared, so scared of dying… kinda like I am right now.”
She hugged me tightly again. “So promise me, please. Promise me you’ll protect everyone. Keep as many people as you can alive. They can’t keep running this game forever.. Sooner or later Princess Twilight or someone else’ll figure out what’s going on and save you. Just hang in there till that happens, and keep as many alive as you can. Do you understand?”
“I…yes, Sunset. I’ll do whatever I can to help protect everyone, I promise.”
“How disappointing,” Monohuman said, shaking his head. “None of that sounded like a confession to me. Ah well.” But he shrugged, face becoming a vicious grin. “Even if she hadn’t killed Pear Butter, that was hardly the only thing Sunset Shimmer deserves to get punished for. Not by a longshot.”
Sunset’s grip became almost painfully strong; whole body tense as iron. “Don’t listen,” she mumbled. Then, looking directly at me: “The mastermind’s traps are everywhere. Don’t listen. Don’t fall for them.”
“Now then,” Monohuman said, “I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Sunset Shimmer, the Ultimate Phony!”
“Thank you, Wallflower,” Sunset said as even more tears ran down her face. “Good luck. Be careful.”
“I will.”
“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! Iiiiiiiiit’s punishment time!”
A pedestal with a solitary red button arose in front of Monohuman. With a twirl and flourish of his baton he hovered it over the button and pressed it.
Right away, chains descended from the ceiling with nasty looking manacles that grabbed onto Sunset’s feet, a third one falling around and gripping her neck.
Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl as she extended her hand, reaching for me, every part of her body begging for this not to happen, for her to live.
“WALLFLOWER!” she screamed as she was yanked away at supersonic speeds into the ceiling and out of sight.
But not for long.
The huge jumbotron of a screen lit up once more, this time showcasing a disturbing display.
GAME OVER
Sunset has been found guilty.
Time for the punishment!
Despite the enthusiasm many of us had shown for the concept, we were all transfixed by the horror of watching Sunset be dragged through old mine shafts and tunnels full of stalactites until she was dropped onto a conveyor belt, the manacles on her feet latching onto it to keep her standing in place, while the collar around her neck released her, allowing her to catch her breath. She doubled over coughing and sputtering, her chest wracked with the powerful coughs until she heard a sound that made her look up.
The sound of a chainsaw.
As Sunset looked about her surroundings, several evergreen trees in plant pots landed on the conveyor belt both ahead and behind her while a backdrop of a forest popped up on the walls. A look up ahead showed a sextuplet of Monohumans with sadistic expressions swinging chainsaws about to carve limbs off the trees, slicing around the conveyor belt in crazy patterns. Sunset mouthed a curse and pivoted her body to dodge the chainsaws. Her inability to lift her legs made it impossible to move them, but she could still squat, crouch, and otherwise shrink down to avoid the swerving saws.
Tension ran thick between us all as we watched her duck and weave. The first chainsaw flew over her head while the second would’ve bisected her vertically had she not thrown herself bent over backwards at the last second. The third and fourth both swiped at her arms which she evaded with ease. The fifth tried to slice through her waist but she bent forward enough it went just over her back. The last one sliced vertically down just as she was rising up and caught her shirt, splitting it open at the back but doing no other damage.
The chainsaws disappeared, and the backdrop shifted to resemble a Qilinese temple ground. A pair of giant Monohumans wearing very little lashed out with massive whips, snapping at the air around Sunset as she spun around them. One hit her in the hamstring, making her cry out in pain even as she managed to dodge the rest.
Then spikes emerged from the walls at random, poking in and out over the conveyor belt, swiping in random patterns, forcing her to dodge every which way just to avoid them. Just as the final set swung down from the ceiling she dodged wrong and it carved a nasty cut along her back, leaving it dripping with blood and her screaming in pain.
The backdrop changed again, this time to a series of hexagonal wheels and pictures of symbols in various rainbow-like colors. Distinctly feminine shadowy figures with maniacal laughter bubbling forth from their throats raised hands and fired beams of light at her. Shards of ice, high-pressure water, gusts of air, pebbles and gravel, and even splashes of nasty glowing green acid pelted the conveyor belt. Sunset pirouetted, ducked, juked, and did everything she could to avoid them, but there was so much magic being fired her way that she couldn’t dodge it all. The ice cut her skin, the acid left nasty welts, and the gravel pummeled her with bruises.
Then the last figure filled the corridor with eerie purple lasers bouncing all over the place, and Sunset shrieked and tried to cover herself, only to pass through it unharmed. She let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The relief didn’t last long. The backdrop switched up again to what looked like a go-kart track with a go-kart laying upside down, a helmet with a frayed strap laying next to it along with, of all things, a pair of ice skates.
More shadowy figures appear, albeit only their faces were cast in shadow, save for their eyes, which glowed a disturbingly eerie emerald green with royal purple smoke billowing to either side. The rest of their bodies were fully visible, masculine and feminine features wearing torn up, dirty, utterly soiled outfits, with sickly green skin and the occasional bit of exposed muscle or sinew. They let out low moans and raised their fists, lining up in pairs on either side of the conveyor belt to rapidly punch and kick across it far faster than I would’ve expected from their apparent zombiefied nature.
Sunset, despite her injuries, did her best to block, parry, and in some cases even strike back at the zombies, but each blow took its toll. One missed block resulted in her nose being shattered, blood flying everywhere, another popping her in the left knee leaving her screaming. But still she refused to give up, fighting harder and harder, and managed to successfully block almost every remaining blow.
That is till the last pair of zombies, instead of going for a punch, latched onto her left arm instead and yanked.
Sunset reeled back and bellowed from pure agony as her arm dislocated from its shoulder, and for a terrifying moment I feared the zombies would try to rip the arm off entirely. But somehow she managed to get it out of their grip in time to avoid that, though it left her cradling it, tears running down her face.
The backdrop switched again, this time to the deck of the cruise ship itself, and even the conveyor belt changed to appear like she was standing on a wooden platform. Along the floor to either side of the conveyor belt hatches in the floor drew back and out popped trays of fireworks, some small and tiny, others much larger, the kind meant to be fired high up into the sky.
Monohuman appeared once more, laughing as he went around lighting every set of fireworks. As they exploded, Sunset closed her eyes and raised her good arm to protect her face from sparks and flying shrapnel. Each set of fireworks was louder and louder, and despite some clear sound muffling on our end we all had to clap our hands to our ears to block out the noise.
Sunset had no such protection, and kept her mouth opening and screaming, hunching over more with each set as the explosions reverberated through the endless conveyor belt corridor.
One final utterly gargantuan firework arose up far ahead of her, and she curled up into as much of a ball as she could to hide from the sound, only for it to explode with an anti-climatic pop! However, the smoke it left behind formed a grinning Monohuman head, his mouth wide open, revealing row after row of sharp teeth and a tongue sticking out onto the conveyor, as if waiting to gobble her up.
Sunset shrieked as she passed through it and the jaws slammed shut, only for nothing to happen. Still, the terror of it had her half collapsed and breathing heavily.
The backdrop shifted one last time, to reveal the entire cruise ship, as visible from the air. Unlike the other sets, no mysterious weapons appeared, no spikes, no zombies, no phantoms with magic. There was a single gaping hole far, far ahead, where the conveyor belt suddenly ended, dumping its contents inside. The wall behind the whole featured a very slow moving image of a nuclear explosion. There was also a signpost pointing down at the hole, upon which was scribbled the word “Chaosville.”
And the hole burned with fire. Flames belched out of it as if hell itself awaited Sunset below, and what air we could see in the hole visibly shivered, as if full of natural gas.
Sunset screamed anew and desperately flailed, looking up at the camera, right at us and her mouth kept moving, begging and pleading for her life, begging not to be burned in fire, for her to die any other way, through beheading, being run through, exploded, something faster and less painful than fire, her voice growing more and more desperate the closer she came, until all that emerged from mouth was an endless stream of, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
And then she reached the hole, and for a split second she reached out with her hand, and I reached out with mine to the screen, trying in vain to catch her.
She fell out of sight.
And screamed.
Horrible, gut-wrenching screams that would haunt my nightmares till the end of my days, screams of excruciating pain and suffering like I had never known, never wanted to know, never wanted to ever hear ever again, especially not from Sunset Shimmer she didn’t deserve this this was sick and twisted and wrong and what the fuck was wrong with Monohuman she was burning to death, someone help her!
But nobody came.
The hole belched fire one final time, and the camera focused on a fluttering piece of cloth, where her sun symbol was partially visible before it burnt to ash.
The screen switched off, and once again screams filled my ears, this time the screams of Juniper, Fluttershy, and especially Rarity, all of whom looked terrified out of their minds. Zephyr Breeze had ducked under his podium, vomiting out what was left of his breakfast. Cheese Sandwich wrung his hands, shaking in fear until Autumn Blaze embraced him and the two quaked together.
Cranky had a hand held to his mouth, pain and no small measure of regret visible in his expression. Even Shining Armor looked green around the gills.
But Big Macintosh…
He looked utterly furious. He whirled on Monohuman. “What in the hell is wrong with you?!” he thundered. “Ah expected you to do somethin’ quick like, like, Ah dunno, a firin’ squad or somethin’! Not this god damned torture congo line till she burned to death!”
“Seriously, that was fucked up,” Sour Sweet said, looking even greener than Shining Armor, though she managed to hold onto the contents of her stomach, just. “That was way, way worse than I thought it would be.”
“I don’t want to diiiiiiie!” Derpy wailed, hiding behind her podium as if that would save her.
“She tried to tell us, too,” Shining said, his face falling into both hands. “God damn it, she tried to warn us how bad this was…”
“Puhuhuhu, I warned you too!” Monohuman laughed as he twirled his baton, tossing it up in the air before spinning it around and pointing right at Big Macintosh. “I told you that if I got my hands on you, you’d regret your entire existence before you died. And that’s exactly what…!”
Out of nowhere, an ugly beeping sound cut through the air, interrupting him. Above Monohuman’s throne, the switched-off lights I had forgotten were even there flashed, alternating red and yellow.
“W-what does that mean?” Derpy whimpered.
Monohuman’s face fell. “It means there’s an error. I was trying to cast the spell on Sunset’s body to find out if she was human or Equestrian, but that fire there at the end didn’t leave enough of the body intact!” I felt sick, and when he chuckled, I nearly threw up on the floor. “Ah, the tragedy of being too good at my job! At least it was Sunset Shimmer! It’s not exactly a state secret where she was from.”
Everyone shot each other uncomfortable looks, save for Vignette Valencia, whose smirk had never left her face. “Well, duh,” she said. “Everyone knew that. Everyone’s known for years.”
Monohuman shrugged. “Yes, well, you did it in the dumbest way possible, but you’ve successfully offed one of the Equestrians. All you need to do is kill the other five and the rest of you will be free to go! Though if I were you, I’d try to avoid being murdered by one of them next time. As fun as it is for me to execute you cretins, I’m sure we’d all rather not lose good people just to kill one of those wretched ponies. Fire’s off the table from now on, but I have plenty of other tools at my disposal.”
“Lose good people,” Shining repeated, spitting the words out as if he’d ingested them only to deeply regret it. “Because that’s what matters here. Not this sick game you’re playing. No, it’s all about saving the good humans from the evil ponies.” He outright spat on the floor. “When I figure out how I’m going to get every one of these people out of here, and we’re going to figure out whoever is behind you and stop them.”
“Aaah, I’m so glad to hear you say that, Shining Armor,” Monohuman replied, winking at Shining as if he’d just made a clever joke. “It’s good to see that with Sunset dead someone’s picking up the slack on being the useless hero who spouts all the usual tripe but never accomplishes anything. Keep on living up to your title, Ultimate Second Best.”
Shining didn’t respond verbally, but I saw the way he clenched his fists, till his knuckles were even whiter than the rest of his skin.
“So, any other interesting tidbits anyone wants to share?” Monohuman asked, looking around the room. “Anything? No? Then the trial is officially over. Get back in that elevator and head on up. I’m sure you’ve all got bellies you’d prefer to fill. And good news for you! In recognition of your successful elimination of one of the Equestrians, I’ve prepared a meal for you. Consider it a gift from your Caretaker for accomplishing one sixth of your goal. Besides, you’ll need your energy if you’re going to kill the rest of them. Ta-ta now! Off you go.”
He shooed us towards the elevator, and though his demeanor was almost like that of a kindly grandfather, the horrors we’d all witnessed left me with no doubt in my mind that if any of us protested or hesitated, he’d kill us on the spot, brutally.
We clustered into the elevator, with no one daring to speak. Few people met each other’s gaze either, though a few clustered together… Rarity and Fluttershy, Cheese, Autumn, and Cranky…and of course Derpy clung to Big Macintosh like her life depended upon it.
The trip back to the surface felt as though it took even longer than the trip down, and the absence of one among us on the way back up filled the air with a miasmic tension that left us all sick...no.
That left us in despair.
When we reached the surface we hurried down the outdoor fence corridor and into the Mess Hall. There we found a banquet setup similar to that of the morning meals, though with a secondary sign that said not to worry about the cleanup this time. Most of it was typical lunch type fare, sandwiches, soups, salads, though for some reason there were two large platters, one laden entirely with bacon, the other covered in sushi and sashimi.
I took one look at the food and it was all I could do not to throw up. I wasn’t the only one. Zephyr disappeared into the men’s room in a hurry, where we could hear the sound of upchucking once again. Most of the others walked away, heading outside or towards the break room or somewhere, anywhere that wasn’t the Mess Hall. Only a couple of people managed to actually get food, one of them being Vignette Valencia, whose smirk still hadn’t left her face.
I left without saying a word to anyone, heading right for my dorm room. The numbness, the lack of feeling, it all went away as I walked, replaced by fear, loathing, and a deep, deep sorrow that caused me to speed up until I was running so fast I was gasping for air and clutching a stitch in my side by the time I reached my room and collapsed onto the bed.
“Oh god,” I breathed, curling up into a ball and shaking. “I don’t want to die. Not like that. Not like that!”
The fear gripped my body like a vise, like I’d been strapped down on a gurney unable to move, unable to think, barely able to breathe or talk. Tears streamed down my face in droves as I trembled and quaked, wishing with all my heart Sunset was there to hold me, to calm me down, to tell me everything would be alright.
But Sunset Shimmer was gone. She was gone, in fire, in horrific screaming pain, begging for mercy, for someone to save her, for someone to spare her from the terrifying fate she’d been bestowed with. She didn’t deserve to die like that. No one did.
I wished with all my heart she was still alive. My heart felt like it had been torn apart, like I’d lost someone far more important to me than I’d realized. Maybe somewhere, deep in the memories I’d lost… I’d come to love Sunset. It wouldn’t surprise me. She fit the bill on just about everything I was attracted to in women, and we’d been such close friends.
But I would never see her again. I’d never see that smiling face, never hold her hand, never be hugged by her, or dragged off to something or other, or watch her play the guitar in the rain. I’d even take dealing with the Memory Stone incident again over this. At least then she’d be there. Sunset would be there for me.
“God…” I whispered, the tears still flowing. “I’d do anything to bring her back… please bring her back…please…”
It was pointless, I knew. It didn’t matter how much I begged, pleaded, or prayed. She was gone, she was never coming back, and there was nothing I could do about it.
…maybe I wanted to die after all…the pharmacy held a lot of options for that. Maybe if I… I could see her again after all.
Assuming an afterlife actually existed, and it wasn’t all just made up beliefs to make a bunch of monkey-brained humans feel better about themselves before they kicked the bucket.
Fortunately, as despair filled as I felt, I managed to beat away the suicidal thoughts. If I hadn’t killed myself before I found the Memory Stone, I sure as hell wasn’t going to now. And I made Sunset a promise.
A promise I had no idea how to keep.
I sat up long enough to toss my shoes and socks off, and was halfway into taking off my shirt when there was a clear knock at the door.
Fear gripped me again, this time with icy claws that sank into my back. “...w-who’s t-there?”
“Oh, Wallywall, it’s me. Vignette Valencia. May I come in?”
“Vignette?” I whispered. If anyone terrified me more than Monohuman right now, it was her. I could still picture that smirk of hers, the one that never left her, not once, through Sunset’s entire execution.
“Wallywall, I’m sure you’re scared, but I just want to talk. I’m not here to kill you.”
“Yeah, that’s real reassuring,” I grunted. With a deep sigh, I put my shirt all the way back on and went over to the door, opening it just a crack. “What do you want?”
She held up a bag, from which I could smell various foodstuffs. She carried no obvious weapons that I could see. “I brought you something. Please let me come in.”
Food was the last thing I wanted right now, but unless she’d laced it with cyanide or arsenic or something, I’d probably want it sooner or later. Sighing again, I opened my door wider and moved aside. “Fine.”
She sauntered in and set the bag down on top of my fridge, then closed the door and sat down on the bed, smiling at me in a cheery way that made me wish someone would hit her in her stupid face. “Well, that was awful, wasn’t it? Dreadful, even. Such a shame that we lost Sunset Shimmer like that. I know you and her were close.”
I thought back to the trial, to the way Vignette had acted, and a sudden realization hit me. “You knew it was her, didn’t you? Before we even went to trial. You knew she was the culprit.”
Vignette shrugged, though her smile widened. “I suspected something was up when I saw her new makeup, but it wasn’t until I saw the foundation on Pear Butter’s desk that I realized she did it.”
I threw my hands up in frustration. “Wha–why didn’t you tell us? Why make us go through that whole trial when you could’ve just told us who did it?”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Oh Wallywall, you’re adorable and I love your cute little face, but as smart as you are you really can be dumber than a bag of hammers sometimes. Think about it for a minute. If I had said it was Sunset from the outset, how many people would’ve believed me, hmm? Would you have? Do you think Rarity would, or Shining Armor?”
“...no. No, they wouldn’t have. I definitely wouldn’t have.”
“Exactly.” Vignette held a finger up to the side of her mouth and gave me an amused look, like she was letting me in on a secret. “So we still needed the trial to guide everyone to the right conclusion. And we needed someone with the confidence and ability to stand up and do the same things Sunset was when it came to solving clues for future trials.”
My mouth formed an o of comprehension. “That’s why you kept giving me tips. You were trying to encourage me.”
“That’s right,” Vignette chuckled. “Because let’s be honest with ourselves. Next time, it might not be so easy for me to figure out who it was. Sunset’s makeup mistake was easy for me to spot, but I’m hardly a detective. I might not have any idea who kills the next person. So we need someone able to do what Sunset did. And that person is you.”
“But, why me?” I asked, holding a hand to my chest. “Why not Shining Armor? He’s the head detective of the Canterlot Police Department, last I checked.”
She tutted. “Wallywall, remember our conversation this morning. Shining Armor is too obvious. More than that, he’s a cop. He knows how to investigate things as a cop. But he’s used to working with a team, with forensics analysts and lawyers and so on. He’s not used to working on his own, and definitely doesn’t get people. But you do. You’re smart, Wallflower. Smarter than me, smarter than him, smarter than all of us, except maybe Sunset.”
“So that’s it then, huh?” I growled. “Manipulate me into sending my, my… my… Sunset to her death?”
Vignette shook her head. “No. Manipulate you into saving our lives. We came way too close to voting for the wrong person several times. Imagine how Sunset would feel if we’d voted for Trixie and she had to watch all of us die. Imagine how much worse she’d feel if we all voted for you and she watched us all die.”
“...she would’ve felt horrible,” I said, the very thought making fear assault me all over again. “...she might’ve even killed herself.”
“Oh, undoubtedly,” Vignette said with a nod. “I can’t see someone like Sunset wanting to live if she got us all killed like that.”
I didn’t respond to that, instead sitting there in silence for a good several minutes. Only when a different question occurred to me did I speak. “Vignette… do you think she was right? About being framed by the mastermind?”
Vignette’s smile finally, finally disappeared off her face, replaced by an uncertain, almost sad frown. “...I don’t know. She refused to admit her guilt...until she was screaming how sorry she was right before she…died.”
“I-I mean, think about it,” I said, pressing the matter. “You said it yourself, it was obvious she was a pony. Everybody knew. Even I knew. And the mastermind wants us to kill the ponies. What if they wanted her dead but couldn’t do it themselves?”
“So they tried to trick Pear Butter into doing it, and when she failed they killed her and created false footage?” Vignette shook her head, her smile returning. “I doubt it. Sunset denied she ever met with Pear Butter at all. If what you’re suggesting happened, she would’ve told us that Pear Butter tried to kill her.”
“Not if she thought it would mean everyone thought she was the culprit!” I shouted. “She said it herself: if she’d killed Pear Butter, or even went to see her, she would’ve said so!”
“Exactly, Wallywall,” Vignette retorted. “Which means she killed Pear Butter. It’s the only logical explanation. Why she didn’t admit to it… we’ll never know.”
“No, no, I don’t believe that!” I screamed, pounding my fists into the bed. “Sunset Shimmer wasn’t a murderer! Sunset didn’t deserve to die. SUNSET–”
Vignette shot off the bed and grabbed me, spinning me around so she could cover my mouth. A muffled shriek escaped me as she held me locked in place, completely unable to move. “Wallflower, listen to me,” she said, her tone deadly serious. “Listen to me. You need to let this go. Sunset Shimmer is dead because she killed Pear Butter. End of story. You can’t go around believing otherwise. That will only lead to you feeling obsessed, and we can’t afford that. We need you. I need you. If the rest of us are going to survive we need someone able to do what Sunset did for her game. And you’re the only one who can do it. Got it?”
I nodded, and she let me go. I sprang away from her, gulping down air, looking at her, feeling beyond terrified. “Don’t ever do that again!” I cried.
To my shock she actually looked apologetic as she nodded. “I won’t. I promise.”
I didn’t know whether or not to believe her, but I didn’t care right then. I pointed at the door. “Get out. Out! Now!”
She let out a demonstrative sigh, her trademark smirk coming back to her face again. “Alright, alright, I’m going. I hope we see you soon.”
As soon as she left I slammed the door closed and locked it, falling onto the bed, tears streaming down my face once again. My whole body shook so hard it was like my own personal earthquake. Sweat ran from every pore, coating my palms, my face, my whole body. I tore my clothes off in a hurry, feeling far too confined in them, barely able to breathe.
My eyes fell upon the bag of food Vignette brought me, and I almost tossed it right into the trash. Almost. I managed to stop myself in time, and set it down instead. I knew I’d need it sooner or later.
So instead I jumped into the shower and turned it to as hot as I could stand, trying to wash away the fear. And for that matter, the blood on my hands. Sunset’s blood.
I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed with the soap, but it didn’t go away. The feeling didn’t go away.
It would never, ever go away.
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Human!Sunset is still on the tables because of the way in which the “burned so much that is unrecognizable” was present and the fact that it is said over and over that she was a Pony was a little... too obvious. I bet that there will be a time when it becomes clear that there is a “seventh” Pony and then MonoHuman will realize that Sunset could have been the human Version, but that still doesn’t explain the whole memory thing. Also I got the references from the previous story’s executions.
But the whole blackout was very suspicious and I bet that we will return to this trial yet on the future, I made a rant before about how I don’t like how you killed off Pony!Sunset, and I very much still stand on that opinion. It gives me a bad taste on my mouth to kill a character that had an amazing arc and story that won against everything throw at her just to be killed off on a sequel when she could have just easily been put on the interlude? I don’t really like that idea, but I will refrain from saying more because this story is very suspicious with the whole “bringing people back from the dead” and the whole memory shenanigans with not only Sunset, Wallflower but now fucking Rarity? Like, I thought that was Pony!Rarity but the way she said she was friends with Sunset and the relationship with Applejack when P!Rarity never met Sunset or had that relationship... there is something very wrong here.
...
...
...
FUUUUUUUCK!!!
I was really hoping that it wasn't Pony Sunset. After going through hell in that first game and surviving, it feels unfair that she was forced into this second game and was one of the ones to die.
Well, at least she's now with Adagio, Human Trixie and the others in the afterlife.
I think there is some validity to what Sunset said about being framed or set up. It was too convenient that the sound of the video was lost so no one could know what was being said. And I feel like some kind of mind control was somehow involved. According to the following passage:
It was like Sunset went Winter Soldier at that moment, no longer in control or conscious of what was going on. If Monohuman is that determined to kill all the ponies, I wouldn't put it past them to cheat a little, even indirectly.
Vignette is a bitch. Her attitude is making me wish someone would smack that smirk off her face! Even if she's trying to actually help Wallflower, her way of going about it leaves much to be desired.
So, now the remainder of the group know what's going to happen to them should they murder someone and are caught. Sadly, we all know that's not going to discourage some of them for long.
Brutal first trial. Looking forward to the first interlude! Keep up the good work.
Oh that execution is BRUTAL.
God the last bit of the trial left so many more questions then answers. I half want to think Sunset got hypnotized to kill someone if they tried to take her life first? It'd explain the loss of memories and the blank stare, at least I'd assume. Hell throwing it out there, maybe Trixie hypnotized Sunset hoping to get out scot free using her as a weapon, like Twilight and Pinkie, and Sweetie and Flash last game. and was happy to have gotten stuck as an alibi.
Huh was sunset hypnotize or something the sound cut out it probably could’ve been the notes pear played, and guessing sunset not dead since the error with with ever she human or pony means no body and I go by body rules don’t see it it didn’t happen.
Man, this is definitely giving out that there’s more to this than meets the eye.
Whatever Pear said was something REALLY important and Sunset denying it also raises some questions too. Still on that theory of being Human!Sunset with pony!sunset memories
STILL NOT CONVINCED. It's all assumptions at this point.
Brutal callback to the original executions. I can only imagine what was going through NOTSunset's mind.
Yep, Pear Butter knew way more of what was going on. Getting rid of her first now leaves it up to the rest to discover and figure out what crucial information she (and Monohuman) were holding back.
Very curious to read the interlude and who's perspective we'll be following.
Till then!
Lots of unanswered questions here, as well as some new ones. Itching for more.
There is something here which I consider unusual.
We did NOT see Sunset's actual death. From what I remember of the first story, every execution was visible up to the death of the blackened. This time, Sunset fell down the hole. All we saw was that she fell into the hole, heard screams, and seeing a piece of cloth with her symbol on it burn. Not her.
There's more here than meets the eye.
Vignette, if you're so damn smart, YOU take command. Don't try to be the power behind the throne, BE the throne! Or shut up and back off.
I'm still suspicious of Juniper Montage. Something about her rubs me the wrong way.
Until the next death! mutters May I live to see the day
it seemed like hypnosis, but i don't think that's the case. Wallflower and Vignette already said it themselves, if she had something like that, she would have obvious memory cutouts, and although monohuman certainty interfered, the fact that she never said anything specific proved that she was completely in the dark. i still don't know why did she keep on saying how she didn't do it instead of saying what really happened from her point of view if she never went to Pear Butter (come on, that's the easiest way to prove innocence!)so i can only assume she was threatened, actually too delirious to think straight, or just lying.
that was depressing, hope that wallflower can keep it together.
. If Sunset Shimmer, she is the Ultimate Phony. Most likely she is a clone with some memories of the real Sunset Shimmer and Wallflower is the real Sunset Shimmer disguised with magic and plastic surgery. At least that's been my theory all along.
It's
a setup to get rid of Sunset since she is the biggest threat. The glitch in the recording myst reveal something.Oh gosh. her death was awful. At least she’ll find peace with her deceased friends.
Noooooo whyyyyy Crap, I figured that if Sunset was the culprit she'd definitely be burned to death but that execution was a lot more horrible than I thought, good job there. I'm so salty though, my only respite is that it might be human Sunset like other commenters have been saying wow I'm sad. Anyway I really like what you're doing with Vignette here even if she's being a massive asshole, the fact that she wasn't at least a little perturbed by the execution is pretty interesting. Great chapter!!!
Yikes, that wasn't pretty.
Sunset Shimmer's execution was brutal and hard to sit through, just like all the other executions. However, the really sad thing is her continuous denial of killing Pear Butter. Most culprits admit their guilt when found guilty, but Sunset never did because she genuinely didn't know what she did. Almost like she was hypnotized or possessed and lost her memory of the event. That makes it very disturbing. Even when we are provided video evidence I am still not sure about it since it glitched out and lost audio at one point. There is no way that is a coincidence. I bet that will become an important plot point in Chapter 5 or 6, maybe to confirm the Mastermind really is cheating like Sunset tried to warn.
We also have the apparent confirmation that this was indeed the pony Sunset, meaning she was the same one we followed as the main protagonist of the previous story. That somehow makes this even worse. Since with the whole "human Sunset" theory we had hope the one we knew and love was still out there, but now it seems her journey has come to an undignified end.
I don't know what to expect going forward, but right now I have a very big hatred for Vignette Valencia. I have made a few predictions on who will be the "main rival" character, or primary antagonist among the volunteers, with such guesses being Sour Sweet or even Pear Butter, but right now my guess is on Vignette.
Wow...Just wow...This was a crazy rollercoaster of a chapter. But now that leaves more questions...I feel like we're made to believe that really was Pony Sunset, even MonoHuman seems to believe that but...I really think it's Human Sunset because nobody would expect the two! But you know, if it was Human Sunset...It actually makes me wonder now because if you all remember back then, Sunset wasn't the most pleasant person to be around as it showed in the Equestria Girls movie until she was defeated by Twilight and been given a second chance, hung out with her friends and finally changed to be a better girl for the school...So if that is the case, would that mean the Human Sunset would still be a bully like her pony self back then and still remained that way even through adulthood?
Plus, this first case is fishy as hell. Like we all know Pear Butter was already dead and I don't mean as this story's first victim, but way dead back then along with Bright Mac. The way she just suddenly came back, and then immediately dies as the first victim...Yeah, something is definitely suspicious.
As for the mastermind, it's definitely a human who's displaying his hatred towards the ponies...Not sure if it's one of the human participants or someone else...but somehow Human Neighsay is still involved in this. Like the leader of an anti-pony organization similar to Ultimate Despair and he was the true mastermind sending an agent to infiltrate the project and ruin it and right now broadcasting these events to the world to further cause strife between humans and equestrians by having the humans more frustrated and distrusted that they think the ponies are behind this whole mess since the last game was masterminded by a pony and they would assume that. Especially since it was made by Twilight and Pony Sunset so the protests will get worse and possible cause an entire world falling into a similar tragedy.
Hopefully the intermission could give us answers next week to get us a good view from others' perspectives to know what's going on and maybe find out which one is the pony. (Which I might know through obvious if those of you have read the last story.)
Now then as for Wallflower Blush, she is an interesting case considering she died in the first story as its first victim no less. But now that I think about it, I would imagine something is really up and really trauma-inducing plot twist like...she really is human Wallflower somehow brought from the dead and that she was made for this game to make sure it runs its course and that in the end that if they shutdown the killing game, she would either have to die alongside the game to make sure it happens or let it continue on to let her still live on. That kind of bullcrap because it can't be Danganronpa without the protagonists getting some horrifying repercussions that affects them.
Or...if it is Pony Wallflower, then...I don't know but I'm really curious to finally get answers in Chapter Six because...I know the writer wouldn't just write off Sunset like that to be killed. It'll be the Walking Dead all over again...I never seen it but I've seen clips of it of how writers write off characters that way with similar arcs to that...I think.
Also, I'm curious to know why is Pear Butter so angry at Wallflower lately? She suddenly grew bitchy after getting to know Wallflower in the prologue and claims to be her therapist which I highly doubt and now she just hates her and claims its an act. Like what? Woman, what are you talking about?
One final note is what Sunset reminded me about Cozy Glow and how she gave orders through brainwashing on unsuspecting humans to do something. Ooh, that was a plot that was actually discussed in the final trial of the last game and we never confirmed if it did happen or not...but let's see how it rolls in.
Anyway, those are my thoughts of this chapter and I'm really sad we lost two waifus of ours...Granted, I still don't know if that was human or pony Sunset for the author to screw with us and how the hell is Pear Butter still alive...Maybe this is a computer simulation / virtual world like in DR2 fashion...Nah, probably not. Hope to see Interlude 1 and the second chapter! Though granted, after that whole execution thing, it would discourage others from trying to kill one another but...MonoHuman would find other means to get rid of them. Welp, that's all. See ya. Take in what I said.
I know I've thrown out a ton of crackpot theories but I have yet another new one that seems like the only plausible solution.... They're in the past. Somebody commented that Sunset lost an arm in the last game, and that the human versions of the Apple parents were indicated to be dead, so there shouldn't be a living version of them. And of course there's the small matter of Wallflower being dead, and I'll reiterate what I said in an earlier comment - I don't believe we'll be seeing the alternate versions of Equestria Girls exclusive characters, eg, the Human Sunset or the Pony Wallflower, Vignette, etc. If it was just things that could be explained by memory wiping, like Shining not mentioning that his sister was killed in the last one, or Rarity claiming not to be sunset's GF, that's be one thing, but restoring dead people like that seems beyond his powers.
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Zore Chigau yo. Monohuman 'claims' there was not enough of a 'body' left for him to truly confirm but he's and everyone is so certain this is the same Sunset and thus its already obvious.
This chapter is like if Makoto Naegi came back in SDR2 as a killing game participant, fell into despair, became the first blackened, and Hajime Hinata would have to be the one to point him out. It's a complete gut punch.
Also, I couldn't help but notice something in this section post-trial:
If I recall, there was a Lost Moments chapter that explored that possibility.
I'm happy to have gotten through the first chapter! Can't wait to tear through the second and get fully caught up!
That moment, on the recording, where Sunset's demeanor changed? Very reminiscent of The Manchurian Candidate.
Here's what I'm thinking:
The Sunset that we see here is either a clone or the actual human Sunset, her mind wiped and replaced with Pony Sunset's memories. If this killing game is being broadcast to the world to act as anti-pony propaganda, why wouldn't they show the sole pony from the last game killing someone? It shows that trust is misplaced, and every human on Earth should rise up and "defend themselves." And there's credence for the human hypothesis for two reasons. One: Monohuman's failed test. If Monohuman intentionally made it so the body couldn't be identified, it becomes a subject of assumption, e.g. "Of course she was a pony, what else could she be?" Two: Sunset's arm. It was clearly established at the end of the last story that they couldn't bring Sunset's arm back with magic. Therefore, unless the author retconned that, the only way Sunset could have both arms is if she were an alternate.
Let's go, Wallflower!
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I was thinking myself that the denial wasn't a lie, so maybe you're onto something. Though my first thought on that "proof" was mind control.
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You forget, this is Danganronpa. If something isn't completely proven but is "obvious", chances are it's incorrect. The original IHW proved this author matches that aspect.
Or you were trying to imply that point, and it didn't get conveyed properly.