//------------------------------// // May the Best Pony Survive - Deadly Life 1 // Story: Danganronpa vP: Harmony of Despair // by witegrlninja //------------------------------// The muscles in my face stiffened, and my legs began to wobble. I let myself sit down with a thud in disbelief. Trixie... we never really saw eye-to-eye, nor were we really friends ourselves, even after you met Starlight... but you didn't deserve to die... not like this... Quickly the room began to fill with the others, the disturbance in the air currents causing Trixie's lifeless body to twirl slowly. I dry-heaved at the sight and looked away. "Wh-Whut in tarnation is this?!" Applejack stammered. "No! Not again, no!" cried Coloratura. "That's... t-that's not really Trixie, is it?" Pinkie shivered, her mane losing its bounce. "I-It's just a... piñata that l-looks just like her... r-right?" "Trixie... why Trixie...?" Discord whimpered. But then he caught sight of Lightning Dust in the far corner of the room, and his expression hardened despite the sudden appearance of a gelled, black pompadour on his head. "Liiiiightniiiiing... you've got some explainin' to do!" he threatened in an odd accent. "What the fuck, Lightning?! Why? Why did you do it?!" yelled Rainbow. But despite everything, Lightning did not speak. Her eyes remained glazed over and unfocused. If she hadn't been swaying slightly from side to side, I might have considered that she was dead as well. "Well?! Not going to say anything?!" Fleur snapped. "Just as well... we've caught you red-hoofed! We don't even need to hold a stupid trial!" *boing!* "Aw, but I just redecorated the trial room!" Monokuma protested. His sudden appearance made us all jump. "Will you stop that?!" Rainbow growled. "Oh, but if you're all ready to give a verdict right now, I suppose I could save it until next time!" he continued. "Fuckin' duh! How could you not see it?" Fleur glared. "It has to be-" "Hold it," Nurse Redheart held up her hoof. "Did you forget that if we answer wrong, we'll all die? That includes you, Fleur." "Wha- you think I'm wrong?! How dare you!" Fleur snarled. "You do remember how Miss Dust was acting the other night?" asked Flam. "Surely she must be the culprit!" "Perhaps..." Redheart nodded. "...But seeing how the penalty for a wrong accusation is our own deaths, I'd like to be one hundred percent sure before I accuse anypony." The others grumbled angrily amongst themselves, positive in their convictions, but ultimately they sighed and begrudgingly conceded. "You're right... I suppose it could be possible that somepony used Lightning's anger to their advantage and framed her," Rarity shrugged. "Pft. Fat chance," spat Fleur. "Uh... she also could've just up and killed herself...?" Rainbow's voice cracked a little as she pointed to the noose. "If Miss Dust wasn't present, then I might have considered the possibility... but given the recent events, I'd say that's rather unlikely," said Flam. "Eh, you never know. I've seen it happen before!" Monokuma squealed. "See? We won't know for sure unless we investigate," Redheart said softly. But she was largely ignored as everypony stared at the bear in disbelieving horror. "...So you're gonna have the trial after all?" asked Monokuma. "Yippee! Oh, how wonderful! My flash of interior decorating inspiration won't go to waste!" "If it's anything like your design choices I've seen so far, I think I'd rather choose death," Rarity mumbled under her breath. "Soooo, let's begin already! No whining, just begin already. Okay, I shall pass out the Monokuma File #2! ...This should start to feel familiar," he grinned. "Now then, do your very best to investigate! I'll see you later at the class trial!" And as soon as he finished handing a copy of the file out to everypony, Monokuma scuttled into the hallway and vanished. "...Do we r-really have to...?" Fluttershy sniffed after nopony spoke for a few moments. "I'm afraid so, darling," sighed Rarity. "Everypony feels the same..." I got up and put a hoof on Fluttershy's back. "But we can't do anything else except do it. Not just for our sakes, but for Trixie's, too... we can't just ignore the reason why she was killed." "...Since when did you care about Trixie?" Rainbow blinked incredulously, earning a jab in the ribs from Applejack. "Well..." I mean, yea, you're right, but... "...Besides the fact that killing anypony is terrible... I'm sure Starlight would like to know why she died when we get out of here," I lowered my head. Rainbow, along with my other best friends, lowered their heads as well. "Whoever did it, they had their reasons," Redheart closed her eyes. "And Monokuma is ultimately guilty of putting us all in this situation in the first place. But even so... killing another pony like this is simply unforgivable." "...Y-YEA! W-WE CAN'T LET MONOKUMA GET TO US LIKE THIS!" Bulk nodded in agreement, sniffling back tears. "Then what say we get started, then?" Flam hardened his gaze. "Who knows how long we have until we must make our case." He's right... we can do this, if we all work together... "Let's begin, then," I nodded. *Investigation Start* Taking a deep breath, I opened the Monokuma File. It resembled the last one in that Trixie's picture was crossed out with a hot-pink X. Deceased... "Victim is Trixie Lulamoon, the Ultimate Illusionist," I began to read. "Time of death is estimated to be around 3:00am. The scene of the crime is the Art Room on the second floor of the School of Despair. The cause of death appears to be a crushed windpipe due to strangulation. There are no traces of foreign substances such as drugs or poisons detected." I couldn't help but frown. Three AM was the middle of Nighttime, when everypony should have been sound asleep in their rooms. Alibis were most likely going to be useless here. Looking around the room, I saw that Redheart had gotten Trixie down from the noose and had begun examining her body, with Applejack and Bulk standing close by. The others had begun shuffling around the room looking for clues. I began to make my way towards Redheart, but I paused after taking a few steps. Something felt... soft and powdery under my hooves. Huh? What's this? At first I didn't see anything out of the ordinary - just some specks of dirt - and figured it was just my imagination. But just before I looked up, I saw what appeared to be a scrap of paper a few feet away. Upon closer inspection, I saw that most of the paper was burned almost to ash, markings of some sort barely legible on the surface. After using my magic to analyze the scrap and specks of dirt, I realized that they had once all been part of the same piece of paper. Furthermore, it seemed that the already-fragile scrap had been torn. This seemed suspicious, so I cast a quick spell on the scrap to keep it in one piece and tucked it away. Then I finally approached Redheart. "Hey, what do you think about the Monokuma File this time?" I asked. "Well, it's mostly correct..." she replied. "First of all, the file didn't mention these." Redheart rolled Trixie onto her side and pointed to some scrapes along her back. "Although, these aren't even close to a fatal wound, so perhaps that's why it was left out." "I see," I nodded. "...Second?" "Second... I'm not so sure about the method of strangulation," Redheart now pointed to Trixie's heavily-bruised throat. "The noose was pretty tight around her neck, but the damage just isn't consistent enough. It's mostly centered right on the anterior portion of her throat... to me, that doesn't translate to being hanged." I mulled the information over in my mind, and came to the same conclusion. "If she wasn't hanged, however, then how did she end up like this?" "Why dont'cha ask Ms. Probably-the-Murderer right over there?" Applejack huffed, pointing at Lightning. She still hadn't moved, spoken, or even blinked all this time. "Lightning over there is another mystery," said Redheart. "She appears to be entirely catatonic, but I'm unable to diagnose why. Her vitals are stable and she doesn't have any obvious injuries. Then again, I've mostly spent my time performing this autopsy." I walked over to where Lightning was sitting. Her eyes were still glazed and unfocused, with bits of dried tears caked around the eyelids. Her mouth was hanging half-open, but her breathing was level and even. She was tangled within a large knot of ropes, but loosely enough that she should've been able to get free with little effort. She made no effort to move as I removed the ropes; I'm not even sure she really noticed my presence at all. Once freed, I noticed that she was clutching a few strands of orange and yellow hair... was the last thing she did before ending up like this pulling out some of her own hair? Since Redheart was still busy with the body, I decided to analyze Lightning on my own. My horn sparked and glowed as pink magic enveloped Lightning... and I gasped loudly as I realized what was wrong with her. "Oh! She's Compelled!" I yelped. "'Compelled'?" asked Applejack as Redheart walked over to me. "She's under the influence of a Compulsion spell! If somepony under Compulsion isn't given any orders, then they just sit there and do absolutely nothing until they are," I explained. "Ah... that explains it," said Redheart, pointing to her hornless forehead. "I don't usually treat magic-related injuries, you see." "Can ya snap her out of it?" said Applejack. "Of course!" I was almost offended by the question. "Then let's hear whut she has to say fer herself," she replied. With Redheart's nod of approval, I charged my magic, focused, and fired a beam of pink magic at Lightning's head. The energy swirled and thickened around her until it encased her head in a bubble of light, and then after a few seconds, the magic popped and faded away, undoing the spell. Focus returned to Lightning's eyes and she raised her forelegs to her head, groaning. "Lightning? Are you alright?" Redheart asked calmly and neutrally. However, Lightning didn't answer. Instead she clenched her eyes shut. "CAN YOU TELL US WHAT HAPPENED?" Bulk asked as quietly as he could manage. Lightning only moaned in pain. "Dont'chu try to fake sick on us! What did you do?!" Applejack glowered. Lightning slumped onto the floor, pressing her forehead to the cool pottery kiln. Meanwhile, I ran through my head trying to remember everything I had learned about Compulsion spells so long ago. "Does your head hurt? I can get you a potion for that, if you like," said Redheart. Lightning only barely nodded, flinching as my magic enveloped and analyzed her once more. "Sorry," I apologized once my spell was done. "I'm afraid it's gonna be a while until she can tell us anything." "Why not?" asked Applejack. "While you do retain your memory of what happened while under Compulsion, the spell suppresses your cognitive functions until it's dispelled," I explained, trying my best to keep it simple. "Then once it's dispelled, the rush of memories magically returning to your brain is often overwhelming to the target, depending on how long the spell lasted, or how many times it was cast on the same target. And if the spell is dispelled by somepony other than the original caster, the side effects are exponentially stronger... right now, she's probably got the mother of all migraines." Right as I finished my sentence, Lightning stumbled to her hooves, fumbled around for the door to the kiln, opened it and promptly threw up inside. Bulk dry-heaved. "UGH! NO, GOTTA LOOK AWAY! I'M A SYMPATHY PUKER!" "So, we gotta wait until her headache goes away?" Applejack sighed. Redheart reappeared with a small vial of cyan liquid, dragged Lightning away from the kiln and poured the liquid into her mouth. "And until her brain untangles all of her memories. If she could speak at all right now, you'd just hear word salad." "Nothing she could say would even begin to make any sense," Redheart explained before Applejack could ask, noticing her questioning gaze. "Ah see... oh! Ain't magic spells trackable? Can yeh tell who cast the spell on her?" "Oh yea! Let's see... sorry again, Lightning." I focused my magic and analyzed Lightning once more, frowning as I realized that where there should have been a magical signature, Trixie's or otherwise, there was none. Lightning squeezed her eyes as shut as possible and groaned loudly, but at least she didn't vomit this time. "That's weird... there's no trace of mana. No magical signature at all." "Odd. Don't all ponies have a magical signature?" asked Redheart. "Yea... at least, they're supposed to." "Well, then... that ain't exactly helpful," sighed Applejack. "Sure hope she feels better before the trial starts..." "Indeed. She could either be the killer, or she could be our star witness," nodded Redheart. She now focused her attention on Lightning while I continued to look around the room. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary until I thought to examine the air vent near the ceiling. And I'm glad I did, because I noticed that the grating seemed to have been heavily dented in the center, then pounded flat again. Furthermore, instead of being securely screwed into the wall, the grating seemed to be just barely attached. ...Was the grating always like this? My horn flared to life, and my magic easily removed the grating from the vent, finding that it was being held in place with multiple pieces of ordinary tape. I was surprised to discover that the vent was roomy enough that I could crawl through. Having a hunch, I flew up into the vent, crawled to the left and to the right, and after removing the outer grating found myself outside. I examined the grating, finding no evidence of denting... but the screws on this one had been clumsily smashed, as if with a hammer. Satisfied, I used my magic to seal the grating back where it was and crawled back through the vent. "Well, I think I've seen everything in this room," I said to myself. "Where should I look next...?" "Would you like me to accompany you?" Flam asked, drawing close. "I too have noticed the sorry state the air vent is in, and I have a hunch." "Ah, sure," I smiled. He returned the gesture, and we left the room. ~ Our trip was short-lived, however, since our next stop was the Library next door. Flam made a beeline for the air vent near the windows. "A-ha..." he stroked his mustache. "This grating has also been tampered with." Indeed, the screws holding it to the wall were smashed rather than screwed. I wonder... I removed the grating with my magic and flew inside. The air vent was identical to the one in the Art Room, only mirrored. I crawled to the right and to the left, coming up on the outer grating. But just as I was about to remove it, I noticed a small tuft of... fur? ...wedged between the vent and the grating. Using my magic I carefully held the fur in place as I also removed the grating, exposing the fresh air outside. In the sunlight I now saw the bluish color of the fur, dirtied with dust and whatever else sat inside the vents, and the smashed screws of the grating once more. I put the grating back and made my way back through to the library. "Well? Find anything?" asked Flam. "The vent grate inside the art room was taped in place, and the other three vent grates have smashed-in screws," I said. "And I found this dirty tuft of fur stuck between the vent and outer grating, too." "I see... perhaps there are more clues in here than previously believed," he mumbled. We spent a while longer in the library, Flam searching in general for anything out of the ordinary while I looked for a possible match to my scrap of paper. But none of the books appeared to have any fire damage, nor signs of burning. After searching through my 137th book, I wondered if the scrap of paper was even a scrap of paper at all. I stopped to consider other possible sources of paper in the school, and why it had been burned to ash. Once it hit me, I smacked my forehead. "Ow... ack, how could I not think of it?" "Think of what?" asked Flam. "This paper piece I found... now I have a hunch!" ~ A few minutes later, Flam and I arrived at the Scrollwork Room. While nothing appeared out of the ordinary at first glance, I did notice that some of the spellbooks had been left out on a desk rather than being returned to their shelves, as well as the stack of parchment on the same desk being shorter than the stacks on the others. But what really piqued my curiosity was the waste bin closest to the door - while it had been empty the first/last time I had looked, this time there was a small pile of ash at the bottom, along with another scrap of burnt parchment. The markings looked familiar, urging me to carefully levitate it out. "Did you find something?" asked Flam. I brought out the other scrap I had found and held the two together... they were a perfect match. "Yes, these match! I found this other one back up in the art room." "I see! So that could only mean that the scraps and ashes were all once a piece of parchment." "Not just any parchment..." I grimaced as the gears began turning in my mind, "...a scroll." "Ah, yes... a single-use magic spell, correct?" "Not just that, but a single-use magic spell anypony can use. Earth Ponies and Pegasi, too." "Is that so? I'd always wondered why any Unicorn worth their salt would need such a thing," Flam stroked his mustache. "Seems quite obvious in hindsight." "I've only ever used them to send messages, myself. The magic properties of parchments work great for that purpose." "So, we can ascertain that scrolls were used in the crime... but what magic were they enchanted with?" It only took me a moment to piece it together. "...Compulsion spells. That must be why I couldn't trace the magical signature of the Compulsion spell cast on Lightning!" To be absolutely sure, I quickly looked over the spellbooks left on the desk. Sure enough, one had a piece of parchment stuck inside, marking the page that contained the glyph and fortified inks needed for Compulsion. "Well... I never would have guessed Miss Dust had a knowledge of scrollwork," mused Flam. I started to agree, but closed my mouth as soon as I had opened it. Something just didn't seem right. But... if Lightning compelled Trixie to hang herself... then why did she tangle herself up and use a scroll on herself? The logical thing to do would be to leave, to get rid of the evidence and not implicate herself... But if Trixie compelled Lightning... then how did she end up being the victim...? "...I wonder if Lightning had anything to do with the scrolls at all," I whispered. ~ Flam and I checked the entire School for clues, finding nothing but a couple of chipped bits of masonry beneath the bashed air vent gratings. I was sufficiently confident that we hadn't missed anything, so we began to return to the Art Room to see if Lightning had recovered yet. However, we noticed a small crowd outside the Infirmary, so we went to investigate. Redheart had moved Lightning to a cot inside, and she was busy mixing another migraine potion. Meanwhile, Lightning was lying face-down on the cot, still moaning and holding her head, her wings covering her head to block out even more light and sound. Everypony else was watching her like a hawk. "Excuse me... sorry..." I grunted as I pushed my way through. "Redheart? How is she?" "The same, I'm afraid," Redheart replied. "Found anything interesting?" "Well... I'm pretty sure the Compulsion spell she was under came from a scroll." "...Ah," Redheart exclaimed after a short pause. "Yes, those don't have magical signatures... that makes sense. I've had a few patients in the past that were the victims of those things." "And, what's more is that there was quite a bit of parchment missing from the scrollwork room. I can only imagine they were all used for the same spell," added Flam. Redheart thought for a few moments. "...That would explain why Lightning hasn't recovered yet. The more times you're hit, the longer it takes to recover... correct, Twilight?" "Yea... right..." My heart sank as I had a terrible realization: just how many times was Lightning subjected to Compulsion? Would she even recover in time to tell us what happened before- *ding dong, bing bong* ...Welp, that answers that... The monitor in the infirmary buzzed to life, and Monokuma appeared. "The time for unparalleled hedonism... has come to an end!" he monologued. "Come! Now is the time to fight the decisive battle! The hostility of fresh blood! The insanity of a contest of wits! The class trial is finally raising its curtain!" "...Was any of that really necessary?" Rainbow blinked. "Soooo... meet up where you know where to meet up! Once you're there, please proceed to the underground by taking the elevator. Puhuhu, I'll see you soon!" And with that, the monitor went dead. "Shit," Redheart muttered. "We'll have to hope Lightning recovers from the aftereffects before the trial is entirely over." "Is there anything you can give her that'll help clear her mind?" asked Flam. "It's what I've been working on in here," Redheart held up a vial of faint lavender liquid. "I'll administer it to her right now... hopefully it'll take effect quickly enough. Who knows how long the aftereffects would've lasted otherwise." I watched as Redheart gently roused Lightning and gave her the potion, promising she'd feel better soon. Lightning quickly gulped it down. She still needed support as she stood up; Redheart simply hoisted her onto her back and began walking towards the crimson doors along with everypony else. Flam and I followed. And within moments, we reached those crimson doors. I had hoped I'd never have to step through them again, but fate had not been kind. My hoof trembled as I opened one of the doors, finding everypony else waiting, hesitating to get into the elevator. "Not again... I'm not mentally prepared for this..." Coloratura whimpered. "I don't think any of us ever will be, darling," Rarity shivered. "Damn it... damn it! Why'd this have to happen again?!" Applejack cursed at nopony in particular, kicking the ground. "At least it'll be over quickly... Murder-Bitch over there can't even defend herself," Fleur sneered as she pointed to a barely-conscious Lightning. "We'll just pick her, watch her die, then leave and go on with our day. It won't even take ten minutes." "...Do you really not care about anypony other than yourself? How could you say such a heartless thing?!" Flam took a step back, appalled. "Of course I do! ...I said 'our' day, didn't I?" Fleur glared, smirking. "Ignore her," Redheart sighed. "While it's going to take much longer than just ten minutes, as long as we present all of our evidence, think logically and work together, we'll make it through this just fine... probably." "B-But... what about the t-traitor...?" Fluttershy sobbed. "Traitor, schmaitor," Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. "Once we find out how and why Lightning did it... well, we'll have nothing to worry about, then." "Tch, whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'...?" Flam muttered to himself. "Well, it does look pretty bad for Lightning," I admitted. "But it's up to us to solve this case. All of us. If we get it wrong, we'll all die instead, and the true murderer will go free." And... moving forward is the only option. Somehow I moved my legs, stiff from fear and anxiety, and pushed the button. The elevator's doors creaked open before us, and we tentatively walked inside. I felt my breathing grow short, and I soon realized that I felt slightly dizzy. ...Celestia... help me... A rumbling sound filled the elevator, and the surrounding space began to fall.