“I think that settles it,” I finished, exhaling deeply.

“It all makes sense,” Dish Panner said, sounding exhausted. “I can’t disagree with anything you just said. Elsie really was the killer.”

“Well!?” Inky cried angrily. “What do you have to say for yourself!?”

Elsie continued breathing in short, sharp gasps, before struggling out a few pained words. “F-fools… You abs-s-solute fucking fools…”

“What?” I remarked. “What are you talking about?”

Elsie reared her head and screamed at the top of her lungs. “You’re a fool! A moron! You completely ruined it! You stupid fucking idiot!”

“That’s ridiculous,” I shot back. “You’re the fool for thinking you could get away with murder.”

“I was ready to die for you! For all of you! I was willing to sacrifice myself! But now you’ve ruined it! You’ve ruined everything!” Elsie descended into another round of incomprehensible wails, her face planted on the floor.

“That… can’t be true,” I said in shock. “You’re not making any sense. What do you mean you were ready to die for us? That’s crazy, right?” I looked towards Mesmer and Dopple, hoping for approval, but found them staring bleakly at the floor. “No. It’s not true. She killed only to save herself! That’s all there is to it!” With each word I spoke an even greater doubt sank into my heart. I started to panic. And yet, I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the truth that Mesmer and Dopple had realized, the truth that Elsie spoke of. I had solved the case of Yoko’s death, but not the mystery behind it. I was both a king and a fool.

“I don’t understand it either,” Maribelle said. “Elsie, please, you must explain to us.”

Elsie sniffed and wiped away tears, exposing her red-raw eyes and quivering lip. “It’s all for nothing, anyway. I failed. I failed to save everyone. I wanted to do the right thing, I really did. I thought about what Shetland said before he died, and it all just clicked.”

“Wait a second,” Button interrupted. “Shetland was a police officer. He thought he was doing the right thing ‘cause he’d go out there and stop the mastermind. What could you have done?”

“More importantly,” Sanscript added, “Shetland had no interest in saving our lives, but those of the innocents he envisioned becoming involved in future killing games. Yet you, Elsie, spoke of saving us. It doesn’t make any sense at all. You did kill Yoko, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Elsie muttered. “If not Yoko, then someone else. Anyone else. All lives are equal. You see, I was suspicious of there being a spy from the very beginning.”

“Are you serious!?” Monobunny called out. “Did someone blab?”

Elsie shook her head. “I didn’t know for sure, but I thought it made sense having someone on the inside who could stir things up a bit. But there were two things that made me feel even more strongly.” She took a deep breath. “Those times we heard Monobunny’s voice sound like it came from all around us, but couldn’t find any auditory equipment inside the dome. I knew then that we must all have devices inside our ears, being triggered when deemed necessary, like the body discoveries.”

“Oh ho, you figured that out, did you?” Monobunny taunted.

“Wait, she’s right!?” Button cried, attempting to burrow a hoof into one of his ears. “I don’t want that stuff inside me!”

“That won’t work!” Monobunny said, giggling. “The hi-tech earpieces are embedded inside your ear canals. If you tried to remove them, you could end up ripping out your hammers and anvils!”

“We’d do… what?” Inky asked blankly. “We wouldn’t be able to make swords and stuff?”

“They’re bones,” Lancet corrected. “The hammer and anvil, along with the stirrup, are the bridge between your eardrum and cochlea.” She frowned pensively. “Without them, you’d go deaf.”

I mulled over this revelation for a moment, trying to remember everything that had happened thus far. As strange as it had been to hear those voices, I hadn’t thought much of it. Wait, what about that dream I had about Patience, like someone was telling me a story? Could that have been…?

“Okay, so we have earpieces,” Copper said. She sighed and shook her head. “That explains a lot, but why did that make you think there was a spy?”

“Can’t you see?” Elsie hushed. “This means that we have no idea what another one of us might be hearing. The body discovery announcement and other calls from Monobunny, I assume, are given to everyone, but what was stopping someone from getting other information? What was stopping him from helping someone out, from keeping them out of trouble, from telling them exactly what was going on so they could do something about it!?” She began hyperventilating, but everyone stayed quiet, waiting for her to calm down. What she said made total sense. “The other thing that made me suspect a spy, was Pinkie.”

“Pinkie?” Inky remarked. “What, you thought she had something to do with all this?”

“Not at all,” Elsie replied softly. “If anything, she was the most innocent one among all of us. It was what Shetland said about her, the words she used, her fears about two of us who were dangerous. I don’t know who she was talking about, but I thought then that there was a traitor among us.”

“But you dismissed Pinkie’s claims,” Lancet said. “You even said she was crazy.”

“I had to. I didn’t want anyone to even think that I’d taken her seriously, not if it meant I could keep my plan a secret. But I’ve known of others like Pinkie: ponies who had a sixth sense, so to speak. Plus, she was right about Shetland based on that sense. I thought then, maybe, that I could get a jump on the mastermind’s plan and bring this killing game to an end. That was my goal all along. That’s why I planned the killing. Once Monobunny confirmed the existence of a spy, I made my choice.”

“You wanted to kill the spy?” Maribelle asked. “I don’t see how you could have figured that out. Did you think Yoko was the spy?”

“I knew the spy would never be killed by my nail bomb,” Elsie said sadly. Despite her earlier sobbing she had become surprisingly calm, as if she had already accepted her fate. “I knew I would have to kill someone innocent. I don’t blame anyone for thinking I’m a monster for doing such a thing, knowing what I knew, but that was the choice I made. In my eyes, it was for the greater good. But I had to accept that I… would have to die as well.”

Everyone was silent. I simply stared, trying every mental angle I could muster in order to pick apart what Elsie was saying. I couldn’t do it. I wanted, hoped that it was Elsie who was mistaken, that she had failed in her own line of logic.

“I know this must be hard,” Mesmer said flatly, “but I think you should tell us everything. I think it should come from you, or your sacrifice might be in vain.”

Elsie chortled, wiping away a fresh batch of tears. “I should’ve known you’d figure it out. I’m sorry I treated you so harshly, but you understand why, I presume.”

“Understand what!?” I blasted, my head pounding. “That you’re vying for sympathy from us because that’s all you have left!? Are you trying to pretend you were some kind of martyr!?” My brain failed to keep up with my mouth. I wanted to stay quiet, to bathe in this moment as another puzzle to solve, a trial to overcome through wit and intellect, but I felt offended, insulted even. I hadn’t even realized that I’d started crying. “What would Yoko think if he was here, with us!?”

Mesmer was about to speak when Elsie raised her hoof, hushing him. Then she looked into my eyes and smiled. “I’m sorry for calling you an idiot. You… have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. You fought so hard to bring me down, it’s rather admirable, really. As much as I tried to dissuade you, and as much as I wish I had, you did everything in your power to do what you believed was right. To answer your question, I think if Yoko was here with us, he’d be immensely proud of you.”

I shook my head, tears dribbling down my chin. “You’re not Elsie. You’re not. How… why did you do all this?”

Elsie sighed. “I… I just wanted everyone to live here, together, like a family.”

My heart leapt before plunging into my stomach. I stood with my mouth agape in disbelief, pins and needles dancing across my back. Time ceased to exist, and I finally took a deep, desperate gulp of air from having forgotten to breathe. I just couldn’t accept what was being said.

“I know that sounds incredibly stupid. I know! But that was the only way out of this that I could see. There’s no escaping from here, not when we’re surrounded by a dome of concrete and have a psychotic rabbit who can kill us at will. I’ll be honest, I did think about committing murder just so I could get out of here. Haven’t most of us?” Elsie was met with silence and some averted gazes. “It’s natural to want to survive, isn’t it? What’s wrong with wanting our old lives back? I love my children. I really do love them with my whole heart. I want to see them so much, but…

“When I took those things from the MonoMart, I didn’t know for sure if there was a spy. I had nothing but a hunch, just a possibility in the back of my mind. Dish Panner? Inky?” The two mares merely nodded in response, staring with glassy eyes. “I didn’t drag you to the MonoMart to cover my tracks or make it look as though nobody could’ve taken anything from there. I really, truly wanted your company. I wanted someone to talk to about my children with, because at that time, I was stuck between killing someone in order to see them again and being happy, or having my own children watch me slaughter someone innocent for my own selfish gains and deride me for the rest of my life.”

“That’s awful,” Maribelle muttered, having started crying herself. “But do we know if they have been watching us?”

Elsie shook her head. “I asked Monobunny this before and he refused to answer. I thought it wouldn’t be that big of a deal since he told us about Pinkie’s friend Applejack, but he wouldn’t budge. I don’t know why that is, and thought maybe it meant they weren’t watching, since otherwise he would’ve told me, but then I considered it was all part of his plan. If I knew my children were watching, I’d be less likely to kill. Whether they’re watching me right now or not, by not knowing if they were, I could do exactly what he wanted.

“It’s obvious that Monobunny and the mastermind want this killing game to be as interesting and eventful as possible, if you can call horrific, twisted murders interesting, that is. But that’s clearly what they want, so everything they do is geared towards making that happen. And once Monobunny told us all about the spy, everything just clicked. Someone here was manipulating us, hiding in plain sight as they slowly but surely goaded us into killing each other. They would have all the relevant information thanks to the dome’s cameras, meaning the mastermind could tell the spy exactly what to do for the most desirable result.

“I thought about it, and having an eventful murder trial would be best. Just look around us, all these cameras pointing towards this stage, like we’re putting on a show for the masses. What if the murder method was completely obvious and the killer was found out within a few seconds of setting hoof into the circle? I imagine they’d think, “what an anti-climax” or “that was over quickly.” A boring trial for a boring murder that fooled nobody. But more than that, the last thing they would want is for all their hard work to go to waste.” Elsie stood up straight, staring up at Monobunny with a look of subdued terror. “There’s just no way you’d want the game to end so soon, right?”

Monobunny gave no answer and merely scratched behind his ear nonchalantly, fiddling with his gavel.

“You see?” Elsie said somberly. “Now he knows I figured it out. It doesn’t matter who tries to get out of here by killing. They won’t let you. All that’ll happen is you’ll be found out in the trial and perish, then the game will continue.”

“How can you be sure?” Dish Panner asked. “What’s to say that the killer can’t outsmart everyone?”

“Monobunny sees all,” Elsie replied flatly. “There’s simply no way to deny that. And if he’s able to contact the spy, it means it’s impossible to fool them. The spy would surely be told how the murder took place, meaning they could extend the game, just as the mastermind wants. When I killed Yoko, I had no doubt in my mind that I would be found out and executed. My goal was never to escape from this place; it was to expose the spy.” Elsie clenched her eyes shut in frustration. “But it all went wrong. The nail bomb didn’t kill Yoko and I panicked. You know something, Button was right.”

“Me?” Button remarked.

Elsie nodded. “You mentioned how the killer would’ve been better off hiding the knife and the rope inside their mattress. That was actually my plan all along, but I never got the chance. Before I could even think to slit my mattress open I heard Yoko down the other end of the corridor. When I looked through the peephole I could hardly believe my eyes, and well, you all know the rest.”

“I’m afraid I still don’t understand,” Sanscript said, furrowing his brow. “How would this have exposed the spy in any way?”

“Let’s put this another way, would anyone have been able to solve this case if the rope and knife had never been discovered? What if all we found was someone lying dead in the rec room, having been ripped apart by shrapnel? Where could you have gone from there? What clues could you have put together?”

“Nothing,” I said limply, finally finding my voice. “It would’ve been the perfect crime.”

“Exactly,” Elsie replied. “I needed it to be foolproof, but convoluted enough to send everyone off track in a spiral of wild theories. Even if you worked out it was a nail bomb, there would’ve been no indication that it was triggered from outside the building, and no way to prove it. And even if there was, there would still be no way of determining who was responsible. Not with pure logic, at least. And even if the spy called me out and tried to convince the rest of you, there would be no guarantee you’d listen to them. No… The only way the spy could ensure their survival would either be to use knowledge outside of what should’ve been available to them, or to force themselves into my room during the investigation and search my mattress. And once either of those things happened, I could explain my entire plan from the beginning and denounce them as a traitor. I would still die, but at least the rest of you could go on without worrying over which one of you was the spy, and to deal with them appropriately, bringing the killing game to an end.

“That was what I’d wanted all along, but I knew I couldn’t rely on anyone else. So I took it upon myself to be that sacrifice. The only problem was, someone else would have to sacrifice themselves along with me. It didn’t matter to me who it was; one death was a small price to pay to save everyone else and render the spy powerless. Then you could’ve all lived here, together, for the rest of your days. That was all I wanted, but my murder attempt was a disaster, leaving all the evidence out there for everyone to see. Greyscale just connected the dots using cold, hard logic. I had lost my one chance to learn the spy’s true identity.”

Elsie finished, hanging her head in defeat. The truth was finally out in all its hideous glory. It was something I could never have hoped to conceive.

“Damn it!” Button yelled abruptly, stomping his hooves. “Are you telling me Greyscale screwed us over!? We didn’t even need to find the killer, ‘cause you were gonna fess up anyway!?”

“Button, that’s hardly fair,” Maribelle scolded. “Greyscale was just doing his best. We all were. For all we knew, if we didn’t find the killer, we would have been executed.”

I gritted my teeth. Up until that point, I hadn’t even considered the punishment for failure. All I had cared about was being right.

“In that case,” Button continued, “why aren’t we calling it now? Greyscale must be the spy! Just like you said, Elsie, you wanted to see who could find you out. And didn’t he do the same thing last time? The answer was staring at us in the face!”

“No,” Dopple cut in with. “That’s wrong and you know it. Simply figuring out who the culprit was doesn’t make him the spy. Greyscale merely used the limited information available and good logic to reach the correct conclusion. He undertook the investigation in a normal manner, doing nothing out of sorts. What Elsie wanted was for someone to display knowledge beyond that boundary.”

“I guess,” Button said unsurely, giving me a dirty look.

“I don’t know what to think,” Lancet said morosely. “Elsie was trying to save us, even at the cost of her own life, but even if it worked, would it have truly been worth it?”

Dish Panner sighed. “What would we have even done with the spy? We could tie them up, beat them, torture them, but what would that accomplish? We’d still be stuck here.”

“I did think that,” Elsie muttered. “That you wouldn’t want to live here even if it was finally safe. But I saw no other ray of hope.”

“It wouldn’t be safe,” Copper said sternly, her cheeks flaring. “Even without the spy it still wouldn’t be safe! We’re in a killing game with a bunch of strangers!” She spat at the ground in anger. “I know you want us to feel sorry for you and all, but from my perspective, you just killed Yoko and threw yourself into the grave for nothing.”

“Copper!” Dish Panner chided, aghast. “Have some respect! She did what she thought was right!”

“Is that supposed to mean something?” Copper shot back. “Do you really think every atrocity, every bullet to a brain, every ounce of malice and torture and bludgeoning and rape and fucking genocide was done by someone who thought they were doing the wrong thing!? That no parent ever brainwashed and manipulated their child in an attempt to help them!? That nobody ever beat their spouse ‘for their own good’!? Is arrogance not a thing!? Is paranoid delusion not a thing!?”

Dish Panner bit her lip. “She wanted to save us.”

“Tell that to Yoko!” Copper yelled. “Better yet, tell that to Greyscale, Mesmer, Sanscript and Dopple. Tell that to the others who could’ve been blasted by shrapnel if they’d been the first one from their group to arrive in the rec room. What if she’d done it on a different day? What if it was someone else!?” Copper took a deep breath, tears trickling down her eyes. “And all for what? So we could deal with this all over again?”

“Copper, you’re overreacting.”

Copper’s jaw dropped. “Grey, you–”

“I don’t agree with what Elsie did, but it was better than trying to kill someone just so she could get out of here.” Everyone was looking at me. I was the center of attention now. I knew what I had to do. I had to provide the resolution we all needed. Because I’m the star of the show. “You’re right that even if she’d succeeded, it wouldn’t have guaranteed our safety. You’re also right that it could’ve been me who died.”

Copper looked away, scowling. “Please don’t.”

“But unlike Shetland, she was willing to die for her beliefs. She put everything on the line to do what she saw fit. It failed, and was in many ways wrong, but I still think she deserves some respect, at least in these last few moments. Elsie?”

“Yes?” the mare replied serenely.

“I wish we could’ve gotten to know each other a bit better.” She said family. She said family! But you haven’t cracked me yet! “As much as I liked Yoko, I won’t hold this against you. But I cannot apologize for my part in this trial.” So, what? I could’ve just stayed quiet instead of proving I could solve it? Not a chance. “I just did what I had to do.”

“And you did well,” Elsie replied, smiling. “And Copper, I don’t blame you either.”

“Yawn, yawn, yawn!” Monobunny interjected, pounding his gavel against the stool with each word. “Doesn’t anyone else think this has gone on long enough? You’ve presumably all made your minds up, so I’m bringing this to an end.” Beneath our hooves, the voting wheel appeared. “As is procedure during voting time, everyone’s voting dial is set to themselves by default. But you can change that! Simply press down on the arrows to scroll through a list of every participant, both living and deceased! On my word a one-minute timer will start, and once the timer reaches zero, your vote will be locked in! The participant who receives the most votes will officially be chosen by the entirety of the group as the culprit. Should this majority vote be correct, the killer will be executed and the game will continue! Should the vote be incorrect, the killer will have their freedom and the rest of you shall perish! If, by chance, the majority vote is split evenly among two or more participants, everyone will die! Make sure you choose wisely!”

The sixty-second timer appeared and began to count down. I quickly tapped at the arrows until Elsie’s pixelated form was displayed beneath me.

“My children,” Elsie said, staring out into the crowd of cameras. “Sundrop, you’re the eldest, so you look after the others. I know you’re capable. Sasha, you always dreamed of becoming an artist, and I believe in you all the way! Bastion, you’re my tough little guy, and I know you’ll do great things. Beansprout, I…” Elsie collapsed, tears suddenly gushing forth from her. “I know you’re too young to understand, but know that Mommy loved you with all her heart. I’m so sorry I can’t be with you. I’m so sorry.”

The timer soon reached zero and a horn blared. “The votes are in, and as expected, the majority vote was for the Ultimate Interior Designer, Elsie De Pone! The question is, were you correct?” A drum roll began to play but was quickly cut off. “Of course you were! Obviously! Right, let’s start the fanfare, come on.”

Several jets of rainbow-colored confetti flew past us, creating a dazzling snowstorm. The crowd cheered until the last of the confetti fell to the ground. Then there was silence.

“What? Nobody’s got anything else to say? You’ve got it all out of your system?”

“You’re insane,” Copper muttered tearfully. “This whole thing is insane.”

“Not very insightful,” Monobunny remarked, cackling with laughter. “If that’s all there is, I’ll just get on with it.”

Before anyone could even think, Elsie disappeared in an instant, her screams erupting from the hole in the floor. We all knew what was coming next. Just as before, a set of monitors rose up from the ground in front of each remaining participant, displaying static. This quickly changed to an image of what appeared to be the cross section of a mansion, its rooms filled with all manner of colorful wallpaper and furnishings. It looked like a doll’s house for foals upon first glance, even retaining the same plasticky white wall pieces, but then I noticed something moving in a bedroom at the uppermost left corner. It was Elsie.

The image changed again, this time showing a closeup of the trapped mare, who was frantically banging on the clear Perspex barrier between herself and the camera, allowing the house to appear as if it was cross section. She levitated the bed and hurled it, but the barrier wouldn’t budge. The words ‘Ultimate Interior Designer Elsie De Pone in Home Improvement’ appeared on the screen. The execution was about to begin.

Suddenly, there was a deep, mechanical grinding sound, and the leftmost wall began to move, a set of pistons pushing it from one end of the room to the other, toppling a bedside table and squeezing a wardrobe against the bed until it burst. Quick to react, Elsie fumbled for the door and charged into the next room mere seconds before its entire contents were crushed into a mess of splinters.

The camera switched to the room Elsie had escaped into – a dining room – only this time, the ceiling was moving downwards, the chandelier swaying erratically and eventually landing on the neatly presented table. Elsie flew from this room as well, screaming. I knew she had no chance of survival. I knew she knew there was no chance of survival. But her instincts kicked in anyway and she tried as hard as she could. She was into the next room just as the ceiling hit the table and snapped it into pieces on the way to the floor.

What came next was all the same, Elsie running into another room just in time for the walls or ceiling to begin caving in on her, decimating the furniture, and Elsie evading death with mere seconds to spare. She made several attempts to break her way out, hurling anything and everything she found along the way, but to no avail.

What stood out to me the most was how thoughtfully this mansion – which existed purely so it could be destroyed – had been created. Rich tapestries lined the walls, a wide assortment of ornaments lined the mantlepieces, and toys were piled up in what were supposedly rooms for foals. Such an incredible amount of time, effort, and resources, all so it could be thrown away. Even considering what I’d seen before, it was almost inconceivable.

As we’d all expected, Elsie finally reached a room from which there was no escape, a metallic shutter cutting her off from heading back. It was completely white, with no furnishings of any kind. A blank slate. A room of nothingness. Elsie wrenched her head back and forth, almost as if she expected an escape hatch to suddenly appear before her, before collapsing onto the floor and sobbing wildly.

The room stood still for a little while, as if it were taunting us, driving us mad with suspense. But then one of the walls began to move. It was the back wall, the one opposite the clear panel the camera was looking through. With no furniture to get in its way, there was only Elsie. I heard cries of anguish from the others, many of them turning away or closing their eyes and plugging their ears. But I couldn’t look away. I was locked in place, struck with paralyzing horror, my eyes wide and waiting.

Elsie, having realized what was about to happen, was standing on her hind legs with her face pressed up against the transparent panel, deliriously muttering apology after apology, a mixture of tears and saliva dripping down her chin. The wall was slowly approaching, almost upon her. Then it made contact with her back and she let forth an ear-piercing scream, throwing her back her head and splaying out her limbs. The wall kept to its course.

Her screams were cut short once the bones began to buckle and break, first her ribcage rupturing, several ribs jutting out at her sides like a grotesque spider and spraying fountains of blood. Her hind legs snapped like lumber. Stunned into silence from the agony, Elsie kept one eye staring back at us, bright and alert. Then there was the sound of a hundred walnuts being cracked, and Elsie’s skull split open, chunks of grey matter being pushed flat against the surface as her face was torn apart. Her eyeball popped like a grape. The wall continued until there was no more room to push. What was once a living, breathing mare just thirty seconds earlier was now a multicolored slurry spread across the wall. A light-hearted xylophone jingle played as the words ‘That’s Art Attack!’ flashed on screen. Then it faded to black and the monitors retreated.

“What’s interesting to note is that there was a knife hidden in one of the drawers in the first bedroom. She could’ve just slit her throat and died in a less painful way! Oh well, not everything in life is fair.”

“Can’t you just let us go!?” Button cried. “The trial’s over, dimwit!”

“Oh, not just yet,” Monobunny said eerily, and a swirling green light appeared from above, dancing over each of us in quick succession as a low beeping sound played out.

“What’s going on!?” Copper yelled. “You can’t kill us here! This isn’t in the rules!”

“I-I’m n-not ready to die!” Reph howled, curling into a ball and shivering.

My heart raced as the beeping grew faster and faster, until finally the light vanished and a single high-pitched note rang in my ears.

“Ding! With the use of the spy scanner, I can confirm that the spy is very much still among you!” Monobunny tilted his head back and laughed. “Of course, the spy scanner itself doesn’t really do much, and I know who the spy is so it’s rather pointless as far as that function goes, but I feel it makes it a little more suspenseful when it’s revealed this way. Anyhoo, that’s the end of the trial!” The barriers surrounding each of us dissipated. “You all have just five minutes to leave this room or face a harsh punishment! Bye-onara!” With that, his stool rose to the ceiling and he drifted out of sight. The spotlights shut down, leaving us in relative darkness. We were finally free. Or at least, as free as we could ever hope to be.

I shuffled down from the stage and took to the long carpet. The atmosphere was even heavier than after the first trial. Everyone seemed to be avoiding eye contact as several of us collectively hobbled along.

“I can’t go through that again,” Dish Panner muttered. “I’ve dealt with enough.”

“Everyone, we must have hope,” Lancet said. “It’s the only way for us to beat Monobunny. We must learn to trust in each other if we’re to–”

“I’ve had enough of your nonsense!” Sanscript exclaimed, quickly trotting to the front and pulling the door open. “My dear, there is a clear difference between optimism and foolishness. Quite frankly, I don’t know why I ever took your inane warbling seriously.”

“Sanscript,” Inky said, rushing up to him. “Come on, we’re all on edge, but you don’t have to be rude.” She put a hoof on his shoulder which was instantly slapped away.

“As for you,” Sanscript snarled, “you’ve been nothing but a constant thorn in my side! Just let me be alone from now on! Stop pestering me or I’ll… I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Inky interrupted, stepping in his way. “Hit me? Give me a big ol’ slap in the face?” She stepped up to him with a deadly serious expression. “If I’ve hurt you that much, if it’ll make you feel better, I want you to do it.”

Dish Panner stepped between them. “Sanscript, don’t even think about it.”

Inky stood her ground. “Dishy, step off for a second. Sanscript, I mean it. I’ve obviously hurt you in a way I didn’t expect, so go ahead, as hard as you can. I won’t hold it against you, I promise.”

Dish Panner grabbed Inky, attempting to pull her away. “Stop it! This won’t help anyone!”

Sanscript clenched his face, turning red, before pushing past the two mares and heading up the steps. “You’re insane! The lot of you! I can’t take it any longer!”

“This is such a mess,” Copper muttered, sidling next to me. “Damn it, Elsie. Why’d you have to go and do something so stupid?”

“Don’t worry,” Maribelle cooed. “She’s gone to a better place.”

Copper rolled her eyes as we passed through the door and began the upwards trek. “Yeah, right. You keep telling yourself that but it’s nothing more than wishful thinking. You really think that pile of blood and meat we saw got sent to a wonderful place? Skipping through fields of daisies, is she? Soaking it up in the sun forever and ever?”

“Copper,” Dopple said sternly. “I don’t think this is the time or the place.”

“Well this is the only time and only place I have, for all I know!” Copper spat back. “And if I’m gonna end up as nothing but worm food just like Elsie, I’ll say whatever the hell I want! So what, Maribelle, is this killing game all part of some divine plan? All so we can go to the big playground in the sky? How loving and caring for us to suffer this torture. Oh, how thankful we should be for–”

There was a loud crack as Copper’s face was struck and she lolled backwards, tumbling down the next few stairs, almost taking out Reph as she rolled over sideways. She let out a shriek and clutched at her left eye. It all happened so fast I barely understood what had happened until Copper cried out once more. “You bitch!”

“Rest assured, I forgive you for your harsh words,” Maribelle said, smiling softly. “May Sol guide you down the right path, for she is merciful.”

Sol...?

“I’m gonna tear you to pieces!” Copper yelled, scrambling to her hooves.

“No, stay back!” Button cried, shielding Maribelle as best he could. “Don’t hurt her!”

Copper stared down the young colt as Maribelle trotted away peacefully, then furiously sunk her hoof into the wall, recoiling as she did so.

I rushed to Copper’s side as others began to chastise Maribelle, the mare ignoring their every comment. “Copper, are you okay?”

“No, no I’m not,” she sobbed, wrapping a wing around me. “I want to go home. I just want to go home.”

Once we reached the top of the stairs, everyone went their separate ways. Lancet saw to Copper, who now adorned a very painful-looking bruise just above her left eye. Despite my concern, Copper reassured me, and departed to her room. I approached Mesmer, who was stood to one side, watching as the opening closed over and reformed the wall.

“Have you figured it out yet?”

“Figured what?” I asked.

“The dome.” He looked up.

I stared back blankly for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“I guess not.” Mesmer shrugged. “You managed to solve it in there. Good job.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Of course.” Mesmer gestured for me to come closer. “Though I have to ask you, did you not consider what Elsie’s plan could have been?”

I recoiled instinctively, my anger growing. “No.”

“If you had, would it have changed your approach to the trial?”

I was stopped in my tracks. “I… I don’t know.”

Mesmer stared at me for a few seconds. “That’s fine. I suppose it didn’t really matter, in the end. But it does give pause for thought. You should consider that.”

I exhaled slowly, unsure how to continue with that topic. “I wanted to ask you something. Why did you say all that stuff about Dopple?”

“Oh, that?” Mesmer looked away. “I knew it’d anger you, so that’s why I said it. I can tell you have an attraction to her, and I took advantage of it.”

“Why?” I asked, my cheeks burning. “You just wanted to piss me off in the middle of the trial? It was really disrespectful to Dopple as well!”

“Yes, I’ll admit I probably went further than I should have, but Dopple will understand. As for my reasons, all I can say is that I wanted to test out a theory.” He turned back from the wall and met my gaze. “In the first trial, it was anger that pushed you to discover the truth. When I confronted you on your false hypothesis, I was partly doing so just to keep you in check. But to my surprise, once you were frothing at the bit, your emotional state twisted into knots, you actually pulled through. More than that, you charged headfirst into the problems that came your way and demolished them one by one.

“In the trial just passed, I could tell you were struggling. Bits and pieces had come together but you weren’t able to paint the entire picture. I thought for a moment, waited for an opportunity, and decided to say something that would boil your blood. Once that was done, you tore through the remaining mystery without pause. Interesting, don’t you think?”

I stared back blankly. “So I… I’m a better detective when I’m angry?”

“Maybe not just angry,” Mesmer replied with a small shrug. “That seems rather illogical. It could be the same if you’re distraught, terrified, excited, anything that gets your blood pumping and your heart beating. I suppose there’s still room for experimentation. Being calm and collected has its benefits, but some actually perform better when under duress. Adrenaline rush, perhaps.” Mesmer’s gaze narrowed. “My only concern is that you don’t seem all too distressed by the very real threat of death. Why is that?”

My heart leapt, and in an instant I was transported back to my aunt’s bathroom, the knife between my teeth pointed directly at my foreleg, and the sheer indifference I felt, my utter detachment from the situation, nothing but benign curiosity right up until the split second that death stared me in the face. “I… don’t know.”

“Whatever the reason, guilt isn’t going to help you, but coming to terms with our situation is.” He paused for a moment. “Just out of curiosity, did you know about the chimney?”

“I… thought about it, but it wasn’t relevant to the trial. The rest of the evidence linked up without the need to consider it.”

“I mean the fact that there isn’t one.” Mesmer cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you weren’t aware.”

I held back a frown. “How do you know that?”

“I asked Dopple and Reph after the first trial. They both told me the same thing – there is no chimney on the roof. Quite a bizarre little detail, I must admit.”

“Is that really the truth?”

“Feel free to check with any of the pegasi,” Mesmer said with a shrug. “I’m in no mind to deliberately mislead you. I just think it's somewhat negligent that you didn’t confirm it earlier on. It was one of the reasons I was so accepting of the rec room being used as a meetup point. Poisonous gases are quite simple to make if you mix together certain detergents, which could be dropped in easily to devastating effect. Or you could throw alcohol down onto a roaring fire and set the room ablaze without warning. How fortunate we are then, that neither of those things can happen.”

Almost as if something like that did happen, I mused, and the mastermind was forced to change it. “So then, the smoke is pulled through by some kind of ventilation system?”

“That’s my guess. Though it must be an incredibly complicated setup if we can’t find the exit vent, especially with it being on the upper floor.” He gazed wistfully up at the hotel. “Such an uncanny prospect, isn’t it? Perhaps this building holds many a secret within its walls.” He turned back to me and smiled slyly. “Just so you know, you have no chance of being with Dopple.”

“I know that,” I hastily replied, trying to appear unaffected.

“Not in this place, anyway. We’re trapped in a concrete prison, surrounded by death, trembling in terror that the next pony we talk to could slaughter us.” He inched closer, whispering into my ear. “But if you both escaped, somehow, I think you’d be in with a chance. You might even live happily ever after, like in a foal’s fairytale. But not here. Not like this.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Give it some thought.”

“You’re just trying to mess with me,” I muttered. “Like you always do.”

“I don’t do that anywhere near as often as you seem to think. Don’t forget, I’m the best friend you have in here. No disrespect to Yoko, of course. May he rest in peace.”

“You confuse the hell out of me,” I admitted, feeling neither anger nor comfort in his words.

“When the time is right, hopefully you’ll understand.” Mesmer backed away, moving towards the hotel. “I’m getting some rest.”

“Wait!” I called. “I just wanted to know, when did you figure out it was Elsie? Did you know before the trial started? Was that why you were cutting the rope, to give me a clue?”

“The rope was meant as much as a clue for you as it was for me. As for your other question, no, I hadn’t figured it out before the trial had started.”

“Then when?”

“Does it really matter now that it’s over? You figured it out and we survived. And while you didn’t realize Elsie’s true intentions, I’m not so sure that matters. Elsie’s plan was full of holes from the beginning.”

“In what way?”

Mesmer shook his head. “I’m not here to answer everything for you, and there are some things I can’t answer. But now that Elsie’s plan has been made public knowledge, it poses an interesting predicament. I’ll be seeing you.” With that, he swiftly walked through the hotel entrance.

I sat for a while at one of the picnic benches, watching as Sanscript scurried in frustration from the MonoMart, followed thereafter by Inky and Dish Panner. I simply remained there, my mind wandering. Finally, I returned to my room. I felt a tinge of disappointment as I lay in bed, a far cry from the elation I felt after the first trial. And I knew why.

Yoko’s murder held a mystery beyond the mystery, one that I had failed to see, even outright dismissed until the moment Elsie had laid her plans out like blueprints. Mesmer had seen it. Dopple had seen it. I hadn’t. Something needed to be done.

“Look, I know you probably don’t like to hear it, but you came here as The Ultimate Nobody. But so what? I was a nobody until I found sumo. I had nothing else going for me, who knows what I’d have ended up doing? So it’s the same for you, okay? The only real difference between us is that you’ve not been exposed to your true calling, whatever it is.”

“Really, what do you have to lose?”

Don’t worry, Yoko. Next time, I’ll do better, no matter what. Next time… even they won’t see it coming.

Remaining participants: 11

Doctor Lancet Scalpel

Yoko Zuna [DECEASED]

Pinkie Pie [DECEASED]

Sanscript

Dish Panner

Shetland Yard [DECEASED]

Button Mash

Cube Rick [DECEASED]

Dopple Ganger

Ink Slinger

Copper Fields

Mesmer

Antonio Rephael

Elsie De Pone [DECEASED]

Maribelle Cheval-Gelding

Greyscale

Author's Note

And so, part 2 comes to a close. A huge thank you to everyone who has been following along so far. This story has required a huge amount of effort on my part and I am truly grateful to have some loyal readers who have been very active in trying to figure out the various pieces of this trial, as well as coming up with all sorts of theories.

When I first published this story, it started out with a mere 5 upvotes to 5 downvotes, and under 50 views. After spending an ungodly amount of time planning this story and building my characters, I was crushed. I felt as if all my efforts were for nothing and I'd be working on a story that nobody would even care about. I came ever so close to giving up entirely and leaving the site for good. So believe me when I say that having a number of readers who care about my work means a hell of a lot to me. Not going to list every name, but you know who you are.

And now we come to some congratulations for two readers in particular. I received quite a number of guesses from various people, with a wide range of different characters being implicated. There were some good guesses in there, and a lot of interesting theories. That said, I may have thrown a spanner in the works by insinuating that there were two culprits involved in this murder which led to everyone guessing two different characters for both the murder and the nail bomb incident. Oops!

Congratulations to witegrlninja for correctly guessing who was responsible for the nail bomb.

And many congratulations to silentcube65 for not only correctly naming the killer, but also figuring out a ton of things related to the trial. While you weren't 100% correct on everything, you actually came pretty damned close on a lot of the specifics. Reading your thoughts and theories was a personal highlight for me.

That's not to discredit the efforts of everyone else who sent me a DM. There was a lot of information to sift through and some sneaky misdirection on my part, so I wouldn't have blamed you for completely giving up and just waiting for the answers. Regardless, I am thrilled that any number of you put in the effort to try and solve this despite all these things.

As for what comes next, I'm afraid to say you'll probably be waiting for some time. While I am committed to continuing this story and making it the best I can, I've also come to realize how difficult and draining it can be. I have decided to put this story on hiatus for now, with the intention of cooling off for a while and giving me a chance to more carefully plan things out for part 3, (I flew a bit too close to the sun when writing this trial. *laughs nervously* ), dip into other projects and chill out in general.

As for my reasons, this is in part due to a change in my work life, which has become much busier over the past year and has taken up some of the free time that I used to be able to rely on, often leaving me too exhausted to get any writing done. I've had to really push myself to get Trial 2 finished, and it was stressing me out that I couldn't commit to a consistent upload schedule. I'm hoping a hiatus will lighten the load and allow me to come back with a renewed focus.

I'll still be around on FimFiction every now and then. I'm also considering uploading some blog posts in the meantime to encourage discussion. (Or maybe something over Discord? Is that a good idea? Or a dangerous one?)

With that said, a huge thank you to anyone who has made it this far, and I sincerely hope you stick around to follow this story once it returns. You're gonna have some wild theories once the next part rolls around. *Raises glass* And here's to the foreshadowing found in this very chapter...

Until next time!