//------------------------------// // May the Best Pony Survive - Deadly Life 2 // Story: Danganronpa vP: Harmony of Despair // by witegrlninja //------------------------------// As we descended, my mind was assaulted with despair, no matter how positively I tried to think. Could this be another accident, at least sparing us the heavy knowledge of a purposeful motive, a reason to kill? ...No, this was no accident - somepony had actually murdered somepony this time. Somepony had become so desperate, so frantic to leave this place that they had accepted and embraced the demons that came with such an act, willing to live with the guilt for the rest of their lives. More than that, they had made peace with condemning the rest of us - the innocent - to an agonizing death. Such dark, swirling thoughts... I suddenly stopped breathing. My consciousness began to fade from the pressure. I tried to endure that pressure by standing firm, steeling myself for what I had to do. I willed myself to breathe, one gulp of air at a time. And eventually... the elevator's vibrations gradually weakened before thunking to a stop altogether. The elevator doors opened up to the trial room. This time, the walls were covered in a garish gold-leaf and ebony checkerboard pattern, with solid-gilded pillars to complement them. The floor, carpets, curtains and sconces remained the same. So much red and black and gold, I couldn't help but imagine that the very walls were dripping with blood. "Aim! Defeat the boring routine!" Monokuma shouted from his throne above the podiums. "...Soooo, how's it look? Mr. Monokuma's redecoration is awesome, isn't it? It's not like I'd allow you to think otherwise, anyway!" he laughed. "To go through all this trouble, to put us through this hell... what is your true intention?" Nurse Redheart glared. "Eh, nothing, really," the bear rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Essentially, this killing game is just to kill time anyway." "Kill time? What do you mean by that?" asked Rarity. "To break away from my purpose! That alone is my purpose!" he laughed again. "A purpose is only gonna be a weakness! Those who have purpose are always the weakest ones in the bunch! That's why you guys should forget about such cheap-ass purposes like 'trying to survive' and enjoy the class trial from the bottom of your hearts!" "Why... just... why?!" Coloratura sobbed. "That doesn't make any sense!" "Forget it... let's just get this fucking waste of time over with," muttered Fleur. Everypony walked despondently to their assigned podiums, myself included while Redheart plopped Lightning down onto a stool behind her podium. Now inside that damned room, now standing behind that damned podium, I was even closer to losing yet another life I had sworn to protect. It's starting... the class trial is starting... Trixie Lulamoon, the Ultimate Illusionist... it was true that the two of us weren't exactly friends, but that didn't mean I entirely disliked her. She had an unyielding force of personality that, on some occasions, I envied. But most importantly, I wanted to tell our mutual friend Starlight Glimmer what had become of her. What had become of the pony that had killed her... And that pony was among us. I didn't want to believe it, I wished I could refuse to believe it. But regardless, we needed to find the answer. It didn't matter if we believed it or not... it was the only way for us to survive. And so, this life-threatening trial, brimming with our hope and despair... began. *Class Trial! All Rise!* "Now, then! Let's begin with a simple explanation of the class trial!" Monokuma began. Whether he thought we had already forgotten his rules and was giving us a reminder, or if he was simply giving us time to get our arguments together, I appreciated the procrastination all the same. "During the class trial you will present your arguments for who the killer is, and vote for 'whodunnit'. If you vote correctly, then only the blackened will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that pony will earn the right to graduate!" "Oooh... no matter how many times I hear it, it's such a c-cruel rule," Fluttershy whimpered. "Okay then... so first off, let's talk abou-" "Ugh, it was Lightning, damnit!" Fleur groaned loudly, interrupting Monokuma. "We all know it! She was caught red-hoofed at the scene of the crime!" "And, like I said, we need to be one hundred percent sure before we make our decision," said Redheart. "And I, for one, am not convinced that Lightning is the killer." "The fuck do you mean?! ...Is there some reason you're protecting her?!" Fleur accused, pointing angrily and wildly. "I am not protecting her, I am simply stating that we all need to be one hundred percent sure so we make the correct decision. Not the 'dreadfully wrong' one." "But we found her right fucking there, right next to the fucking body! What more proof do we need?!" "Why don't we start with the autopsy," Flam interjected, sounding somewhat confident. "Perhaps any doubts we have about Ms. Lulamoon's death will be made clear." Alright... so we're going to talk about the body... I need to listen carefully in case anything weird comes up! "Let's begin with the cause of death," said Redheart, though her tone suggested that she already knew where the conversation would lead. "Ugh, do we have to? We found poor Trixie hanging from the ceiling of the Art Room!" Coloratura's face paled. "Her whole neck was crushed from the noose, the poor dear. Such a terrible way to go!" gasped Rarity. "Hm... is this what you meant by 'not convinced', nurse? Maybe she tied up Lightning and forced her to watch some autoerotic asphyxiation, and couldn't levitate herself in time?" Fleur sneered, then rolled her eyes. "I swear, if you lot were any simpler, you'd need to be watered everyday..." ...Celestia, no, that's not at all what Redheart meant! "I'm sorry, but that's wrong!" I objected. "Redheart, your autopsy confirmed that Trixie's throat was crushed far more severely than her entire neck, correct?" "That's right," she nodded. "The bruising was much more pronounced in that area, and her trachea felt like jelly." "You know, you're the only one here with that kind of medical knowledge," Fleur glared. "For all we know, you could be lying! Maybe you're the one who did it!" "Would you like to palpate the patient's trachea for yourself?" Redheart deadpanned. "Fuckin' ew! No! What kind of sick freak do you think I am?!" Fleur screeched. "Furthermore, there were other injuries suffered that the Monokuma File left out," Redheart continued, ignoring Fleur. "The patient has several scrapes along her back. Where did these come from, and why were they not mentioned?" "Uh... maybe she tripped over backwards at some point?" reasoned Rainbow. "Maybe, but that usually shows up as bruises or small scratches. These scrapes are long and unbroken, down the length of her entire back." "...Maybe somepony dragged her somewhere?" suggested Applejack. "Yea, and that somepony would've been Lightning! Can we move on to the voting yet?!" Fleur sighed grumpily. "Absolutely not! Don't you see that the bodily proof doesn't match up with the evidence?" chided Flam. "Speaking of, why don't we talk about Lightning?" asked Redheart, motioning over to said pony. Lightning was lying face-down on her podium, still holding her head in her hooves. "What about her? She's obviously stewing over how fucked she is and how she's gonna die soon," huffed Fleur. "Perhaps, but we should not ignore the state in which we found her," said Flam. "It was pretty strange," Rarity mused, a hoof to her chin. "She was caught in a tangle of ropes and was entirely unresponsive, and for the most part, she still is! Surely she would've said something to proclaim her innocence by now." "I concur!" I chimed in, desperate to explain as it became obvious to me that not everypony knew why Lightning was unresponsive. "I used my magic to figure out what was wrong with her, since Redheart said she didn't know why she was unresponsive. It turns out that Lightning was under the influence of a Compulsion spell! Redheart doesn't usually treat magic-related injuries, so that's why she didn't know." "Compulsion?" Coloratura shivered. "Yes... 'tis a spell which makes the target obey every whim of the caster," Flam explained. "Unless the target is given an order, the target will simply remain right where they were standing, completely unresponsive to outside stimulus." "I... don't like the sound of that..." Rarity gulped. "...Not one bit." "OH! OH! I KNOW!" yelled Bulk, raising his hoof. "YOU'RE SUGGESTING THAT BECAUSE SHE WASN'T GIVEN AN ORDER, THAT LET TRIXIE TIE HER UP!" "But why would Trixie have done such a downright sloppy job of tyin' up Lightnin'?" asked Applejack. "It's more likely that she ordered Lightnin' to just... do it herself." "But then Trixie's the one who wound up killed!" said Discord. "Usually I'm all for a bit of chaos, but that doesn't make any sense!" "...Perhaps Trixie wasn't the one who cast the Compulsion spell on Lightning?" Redheart asked slowly. "Oh, please," Fleur huffed. "Trixie's a Unicorn, of course she had to have cast it!" ...Wait... I think I have evidence that proves that it wasn't necessarily Trixie that cast the Compulsion spell... ... ...Oh! That must be it! "Not quite, Fleur," I objected. "Did anypony else get a good look at the floor of the Art Room? Notice that it felt kind of soft and powdery?" "...Now that'cha mention it, yea. Like it wasn't quite clean," thought Applejack. "That's because the floor had ash spread out on it," I explained. "And there's only one place the ash could've come from-" "Ding dong, ya'll are wrong!" Rainbow suddenly shouted aggressively. I couldn't help but look to her in disbelief. "Twilight, I think you're overthinking things again. It's the Art Room, remember? There could be all kinds of bits and pieces on the floor that were just from arts and crafts!" Rainbow... you don't believe me? ...Well, then I'll just have to get to the point, lest I lose everypony's trust! "But Rainbow, there's nothing in the Art Room with the same texture as the ash," I argued. "And in regards to the ashes and the spell cast on Lightning, there's only one explanation!" "Sure there is!" she fought back. "Dust, glitter, uh... fluff... that's soft and powdery! And ash could have been belched out of the pottery kiln! It's not like there was anything to suggest where else it might've come from!" Aha! I see your weakness! "That's not true. I also found a scorched piece of parchment on the floor," I said as I held up the piece I had found in the art room, a hint of triumph in my voice. "See how the edges are ready to fall apart? I analyzed the ash and this parchment piece with my magic and came to the conclusion that it all came from the same one!" "Besides, we checked the pottery kiln... it was empty and unused. ...Well, at least until our patient had an emesis inside of it," agreed Redheart. "Oh... well then..." Rainbow glanced away sheepishly. "I guess you're right... sorry 'bout that." "Don't worry about it," I sighed, waving a hoof. "You're just trying to help." "But I don't recall ever seeing any parchment within the Art Room," thought Rarity. "Wherever did it come from?" "Well, there's only one explanation for that, my dear," Flam grinned. "There's loads of it in the Scrollwork Room!" "Scrollwork Room?" asked Pinkie. "Ooh! Scrolls let anypony use magic! ...Is it my secret? I'll never tell!" she added in a hushed whisper, smirking mysteriously. "Wait, they do?" Coloratura's eyes widened. "Yes. A scroll allows anypony, not just Unicorns, use magic," I nodded. "...I could go on for hours about the thaumaturgical workings of how the parchment and enchanted inks work together to-" "Please don't," Fleur growled, glaring straight at me. "Sorry..." I grinned, embarrassed. "...Aaaaand besides that little quirk," Flam spoke up, "a scroll is good for one use, and one use only. Afterwards, it burns itself up into nothing but a pile of ash." "So... you're all saying Trixie used a scroll with a Compulsion spell on it on Lightning, to tie herself up?" asked Rainbow. "Well... there's the real mystery," I said. "Unlike usual magic, which has a personal magical signature, scrolls don't have one. Most of us Unicorns would've been able to tell if the Compulsion spell had been cast by Trixie... but after I analyzed Lightning, I couldn't find a magical signature." "If Trixie used a Compulsion spell on Lightning, we would've been able to sense that," nodded Redheart. "And if Trixie was the one to cast the spell via scroll, then how did she end up dead? The injuries to her throat and back simply don't align with the given cause of death. But if you swap the caster and target, then the whole case doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't Lightning have just left the scene once she had killed her? She was tied up so loosely that she could've escaped within seconds, and she could have disposed of the evidence." "Ugh, fine... so Lightning didn't kill her," Fleur grumbled, pinching the bridge of her muzzle with her hoof. "Then if you're soooo smart, who did, hmm?" "Who, indeed," was Redheart's only reply. The courtroom was silent for a few moments as everypony thought of a possible second suspect. But if anypony had come up with one, nopony was brave enough to speak it, instead warily eyeing everypony else in the room. "Hm... it would seem we aren't getting anywhere with this train of thought," mused Flam. "Why don't we try something else?" "Alright... but w-what?" Timidly, Fluttershy finally spoke up, the poor thing. "Well, how about we talk about the air vents? Those seemed quite suspicious," he suggested. Right... the state of disrepair we found them in, they must be a clue! "Why would the air vents be suspicious?" asked Rainbow. "Didn't you happen to notice the air vent grating in the Art Room? It was clearly bent all out of shape at one point, and then flattened back out again," Flam explained. "Furthermore, it wasn't screwed into the wall, but merely taped to it from the inside!" "From the inside?" Rarity puzzled. "Well, that could only mean that somepony was in the air vent. Is it really that big inside?" "Miss Sparkle could definitely fit inside," Flam motioned to me with a wink. "But that's not all the tampering that we found, right, my dear?" "Ah, yes..." I nodded, blushing slightly. "All of the other air vent gratings were not screwed into place. They looked like they'd been hammered, instead." "All of them?" asked Redheart. "You mean the one in the Library and the ones outside?" "Yes, even those," I confirmed. "I see..." she mumbled, thinking. "That is strange." "Uh... w-why?" Fluttershy cautiously asked after a few moments had gone by. Why is the fact that all four air vent gratings being damaged strange...? ... ...Oh! That must be it! "I think I know why," I said slowly. "The Art Room door was locked from the inside when we first arrived, wasn't it?" "That's right," agreed Redheart, "I had to kick it down. And I made sure to check which side the lock was on when I left temporarily to get a potion for Lightning - the lock was definitely posterior from the hallway." "Indeed. Naturally, this can only mean that our culprit used the air vents to gain entry and egress from the Art Room," Flam concluded. "Well, that rules you out, tubby," Fleur smirked as she pointed at Bulk. "PHEW..." Bulk sighed in relief, only realizing the burn and the way his own reaction sounded a moment later. "...WAIT, THAT CAME OUT WRONG." "No, I agree, I think we can rule you out," Redheart sighed. "You're far too large to fit inside the air vents." "But who could it have been, then?" Fleur asked impatiently. Yes... that's the question, isn't it...? "Judging from the evidence of three our of the four sets of grating screws being hammered into the walls, I would suspect that they were in a hurry," reasoned Flam. "They had no other choice for the Art Room grating than to use tape, and they had no time to find a screwdriver in the Warehouse." "That doesn't tell us much about who could've done it, though," said Rainbow. "If they were in a hurry, then I think it's safe to rule out any Earth Ponies," Rarity put a hoof to her chin. "If they hadn't the time to find a screwdriver, they wouldn't have had the time to find a ladder for the outer gratings, either." "Those are pretty high up," Discord nodded. "Perhaps a Unicorn with a spell for Levitation, or a Pegasus-" "Wait, you said a Levitation spell?" Rainbow interrupted. "But if the killer had a scroll with Levitation on it, then it could've been an Earth Pony, too!" "True... and there's no chance we'd ever find the ash evidence if that's the case," hummed Redheart. "There must be something we've missed..." ...Wait, there is! I have the evidence right here! "I concur!" I spoke, my magic sparking as I summoned the dirty tuft of fur in front of me. "I found this bit of fur stuck between the outer wall and the outer grating for the Library." "Eww, why the fuck are you still holding onto it?!" Fleur stuck out her tongue. "Stuck between the gratin' and the wall... the culprit must'a gotten it stuck while they were hammerin' the gratin' back into place and didn't notice," Applejack's eyes widened. "What color is it?" "Er... I'm not sure, it's absolutely filthy," I grimaced as I looked over the caked-on dust and Celestia-knows-what that covered it. "I gave Lightning some bottled water earlier, I'm sure she won't mind if a sip or two is missing." Redheart pointed to where the bottle sat on the podium to my right. "I don't think I need to tell you what to do with that." I quietly reached over Lightning's lolling head to grab the bottle and nodded. Carefully I pulled some of the water out in a stream and held it in midair like a bubble. Setting the bottle down, I then levitated the fur into the water bubble. The water turned a sludgy grey as it shook and pulsed, cleaning the fur. "Ah... I'll need somewhere to put the water when I'm done..." Monokuma produced a bucket from behind him and chucked it down. I caught it with a tendril of magic and set it upright. Finally, after a few more seconds, I concentrated as I pulled every strand of fur from the water, letting it splash down into the bucket. All clean- It was in that moment that I felt my heart stop beating. ...This... this is a mistake, right? This can't be happening... right...? "Well? What color is it?" Fleur squinted. She couldn't tell from her position, but I knew all too well what color I was seeing. No... why? Why?! Nausea overwhelmed me, and I had to lean against my podium to remain standing. A few feet to my left, I could see Rainbow's face pale. Why...? Why did you... how could you...?! "It's... blue," Applejack's voice quivered. "B-Blue?" Fluttershy squeaked. "Not just any blue..." Rarity covered her mouth with her hooves. Indeed, the fur was not ice-blue like Trixie's coat, nor teal-blue like Lightning's. It was sky blue. I glanced over to the left, absolutely hating what I had to say next. But as much as I didn't want to, as much as I wanted to instantly forgive and forget this ever happened... for the sake of everypony else, I had to. "I'm afraid it was you... Rainbow Dash."