//------------------------------// // Together Forever, In Life and in Death - Daily Life 3 // Story: Danganronpa vP: Harmony of Despair // by witegrlninja //------------------------------// The day began like any other in this wretched place. I got up, stretched out my limbs and headed for the Cafeteria. Closing and locking the door behind me, I saw that the tray of food meant for Rarity last night had been removed... maybe she had eaten it during the night? I made my way to the cafeteria and put together a plate of food for myself. I sat down beside Rarity, who was chatting with the others... but again, I noticed that Pinkie Pie wasn't joining us for breakfast. "How are you feeling, Rarity?" I asked. "Wha- oh, yes, much better, darling," she blinked, gently touching her forehead. "I'm so terribly sorry I missed you all at dinner last night... my head was absolutely killing me." "EESH... DON'T SAY IT LIKE THAT," Bulk Biceps cringed. "Right... oh, and thank you so much for bringing me dinner!" Rarity continued. "I'm afraid I slept soundly throughout the night, however, so I never ate it... but thank you for thinking of me, all the same." "No problem... have you seen Pinkie, by chance?" I asked. "I'm afraid not, but there was a second note slipped under my door from her... apparently she spent the night swimming again and would probably be sleeping in," she shook her head. "Again? Man, girl sure likes getting wet..." Lightning Dust smirked. "Does she, now...?" Flam stroked his mustache in thought, barely hiding a grin. "I can imagine that 'tea' of hers kept her up all night," Nurse Redheart remarked, sticking out her tongue. "What she did to her cup last night was quite simply a crime against tea." ~ There was nothing to do but wander around for somepony to talk to. Eventually I found myself in the Weight Room, of all places. There, Lightning Dust was busy hefting a few dumbbells and taking them over to a weight bench. "Yo, Twilight, perfect timing!" she yelled as she noticed me entering the room. "C'mere and spot me, would ya?" "Uh... alright, I guess," I answered nervously, never having spotted anypony before or even really knowing what that meant. "...Doesn't Bulk usually work out with you?" "Yea, but he's swimming today," Lightning pointed upwards. "And I wanna lift shit. So spot me, okay?" "What do I do...?" I asked as Lightning laid down on the weight bench and prepared to grab a 75-pound dumbbell from the holding rack above her head. "Eh? You just make sure I don't drop the thing on my fuckin' head," she replied with a sarcastic glare. "Oh... okay, then." ~~~ Thankfully, levitating the dumbbells in my magic was a piece of cake. I spotted Lightning as she did bench presses, then moved on to overhead presses, incline and decline presses, and quite a few others. She asked if I wanted to try any of them... I could barely manage to bench 20 pounds... ~~~ During a rest period in her workout, Lightning seemed to be thinking about something, as she frowned and grunted out a hum. "Something wrong?" I asked. "Well... maybe," Lightning shrugged. "I just hope while I'm out of the picture, my parents are takin' care of little sis alright." "Why wouldn't they? ...Although I guess you did say they weren't around much. What do they do?" "They're deadbeats," she pouted matter-of-factly. "If they're not at some fuckin' rando's house partying and doing Celestia-knows-what, they're out and about trying to scam all the flight insurance companies. Pretending to fly into windows, getting themselves clipped by other Pegasi or flying vehicles... shit like that. It's fuckin' embarrassing," she rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "Nopony ever wanted to hang out with us... they'd see that our parents were the ones who tried to sue theirs for some stupid shit, and they'd yell at us, threaten to kick our asses... But sis and I had each other's backs. If somepony ever tried, then they got the beatdown of a fuckin' lifetime!" "Oh... I see..." Hmm... maybe it's no wonder Lightning turned out the way she did, attitude-wise... "Yea... if it weren't for me and Zaps being so damn good at flying and getting into extreme sports, we'd still be living in a shitty little fog house. You'd be surprised how much it can pay out! But, of course, they demanded their cut of the action, and being our parents, we didn't have all that much of a choice... We hid as much as we could from them, getting ourselves food, whatever sports shit we needed, and saving up for a place of our own. Hoo, boy... were they fuckin' piiiiissed the day we finally had enough to move out!" I could only frown in reply... my parents were the polar opposite of Lightning's, as far as I could tell - they sacrificed much to give myself and my brother Shiny the incredible opportunities we both had in life. Thinking about it reminded me that maybe I hadn't exactly thanked them for everything they had done... "They tried all their usual bullshit, suing us for whatever, claiming we'd trashed the place and demanding we pay 'em back... nuh-uh, little sis and I made damn sure there was nothing they could stick us with. Gave them a PO Box address and never told 'em the real one... that's all the contact we wanted." "You went that far?" I recoiled in surprise. "Yea... ponies like that are just too fuckin' awful to be around, even if they're blood," Lightning growled. I wasn't entirely sure how to react; my parents... my entire extended family, really, they were all decent ponies. It was hard to imagine what I would do if any of them had been... less than decent. "...If you don't want them to know where you live, then how could they be caring for your sister while you're here?" I asked. Lightning's fur bristled, and the feathers on her wings ruffled. "It's... hard to say. After her accident, they cleaned up their act somewhat... or at least they don't try shit with us anymore. I did tell them that if anything ever happened to me, they were to take good care of her... or else. She's good with my Washouts - one word from her, and they'll turn my parents' attempts at insurance fraud into a payout... if you catch my drift." I sure do... "At any rate, Zaps can take pretty good care of herself, if she just takes her time. She shouldn't need to put herself around 'em too much." "That's good..." I nodded, feeling uneasy. Well, it's good that Lightning and her sister cared about each other enough to work together to remove themselves from that situation... sounds like for a while, they were the only friend the other had... ~ Lightning finished her workout and decided to join Bulk in the Indoor Pool upstairs. I accompanied her to the door; I didn't really feel like swimming at the moment, so I left the two alone. But as I closed the door and turned away, I saw Pinkie leaving the Strange Room at the left end of the hall. "Pinkie? Hey, you're awake!" I yelled to get her attention, but Pinkie simply ignored me as she trotted down the stairs. I quickly followed after her, curious to see what she'd been up to lately. She made her way to the 4th floor, walking towards the Power Crystal Room when she stopped in her tracks. She slowly turned her head towards the double doors, almost robotically, and stared at them for a few moments, her ears flicking on occasion. "...Pinkie?" I asked again, much more tentatively. But Pinkie stared quietly at the doors for a moment longer before her body began to tremble. "Eeeheehee... gotta pee!" she rhymed to herself in a sing-song voice, suddenly darting into the mare's restroom before I could say anything else. I stood outside in the halls for a minute, wondering whether I should join her or not; I heard the toilet flush before long, but Pinkie didn't come out, nor did I hear the sink begin running. Hmm... well, I guess she really had to go... I debated in my mind about how long I should wait for Pinkie to finish. Thinking of the endless stream of sugary goods she regularly consumed, I could be waiting for a while... ... ... ... ...Geez, it's been a good fifteen minutes now... I began to grow worried about Pinkie's well being, and was about to go inside myself when I heard the toilet flush again, as well as a muffled sigh of relief. ...Was that a courtesy flush...? Hmm... Ultimately, I decided to wait until suppertime to talk to her. It seemed as though she was rather... busy at the moment. ~ I spent the rest of the afternoon by myself, either trying to piece together the mystery of this school or distracting my mind from the futility of it all by spending some of my small fortune of Monocoins on the MonoMono Machine. A couple hours of that later, it was finally time for supper. I made my way to the Cafeteria with the others, gathered together a plate of food and sat down. Rarity, Redheart, Lightning and Bulk gradually joined me, but Flam hesitated for a moment. "...Is Miss Pie still sleeping?" he asked slightly incredulously. "She knows it's time to eat, right?" "Oh, no, I saw Pinkie earlier... " I mentioned. "She was leaving that weird room on the 5th floor when I saw her, then went to the 4th floor and stared at the Power Crystal Room for a while, maybe like she was thinking about something. I tried to ask her what it was about but I don't think she heard me." "Hmm... really sounds like that mare has gone coo-coo crazy, ya know?" Lightning grimaced. "First that whole spiel about vibrations or some shit, and now this..." "She does these things sometimes," Rarity waved. "Usually when she's set her mind towards something... Perhaps she's at the indoor pool again, Twilight, it seems to be her favorite place these days... Why don't we go fetch her?" "Ah, alright." I stood up and excused myself before trotting out of the cafeteria, Rarity already a few steps ahead of me. "Be careful, you two," Lightning yelled after us. "Maybe she's plotting something!" "Oh, dear, Pinkie would never do something like that," Rarity sighed to me as we walked quickly, shaking her head. "I trust her completely. We're friends, after all!" "Yea... there's no way she's the traitor, huh?" I agreed, even daring to smirk a little from imagining Pinkie being so uncharacteristically nefarious, complete with a cape and a traditional black goatee of an evil twin. "If anything, perhaps her Pinkie Sense has alerted her to some unknown clue as to our dreadful situation, and she's hard at work figuring out how to exploit it to escape!" she continued, her eyes shining with hope. "Maybe... she sure had a lot of time to think this afternoon." "Eh? What do you mean?" "Ah... I lost track of her when she was in the mare's restroom for a while..." I gave Rarity a look that said I shouldn't need to say anything more. "...Oh. I see..." she grimaced. "...Well, can't say I'm the least bit surprised her diet is catching up to her." We spoke no more until we had reached the 5th Floor. When we finally made our way to the Indoor Pool room, however, we saw that the water was completely still, the hot tub serenely bubbling away. There were no pink blurs underwater, no shrieks of joy echoing off of the ceiling, and the doors to the bathroom nooks to the left were open, revealing no occupants. Pinkie was not there. "Hmm... I was sure we'd find her here, she's grown quite fond of this room," Rarity pursed her lips together. Yea, I thought so, too... she's not still in the restroom, is she...? I hope she's alright... ... ...No, I can't panic now... think, Twilight, I'm sure she's around somewhere... "Maybe she's in one of the other rooms?" I suggested, pointing down the hall. "I did find her coming out of that Strange Room over there." "Perhaps... let's go look, shall we?" she replied, already on her way down the hall. I began to follow after her, but my eyes caught sight of the mysterious metal doors across from the Indoor Pool - once I had seen them, I felt as if I couldn't look away. It was as if the doors and my eyes were magnets. This room again... what is it about this room...?! Helpless against its pull, I studied the smooth metal of the doors and the Teacher's Lounge sign, feeling for certain that these doors held all the answers we had been searching for behind them. After a few moments, my eyes were particularly drawn to the door's handles - they were elegantly carved with heavenly scenes of stars, comets and auroras, dancing around a sun on the left handle and a moon on the right. Peering closer at the door's elaborate handles, I saw what looked like two inch-long oval divots in the place where one would expect to find keyholes; they resembled settings for cabochon jewelry. Strange... why didn't I notice this before...? I quickly glanced down the hallway in case Rarity had stopped when she had seen I wasn't following her; the door to the Strange Room was open, but I couldn't see nor hear her despite the dead silence all around us. Feeling as though this was an important discovery, I took a deep breath so I could yell loud enough for her to hear me from inside that room. "...Hey, Rarity, did you see-" Suddenly, I felt overwhelming pain engulfing the back of my head. My last conscious memory was the sensation of being shoved forcefully, face-first into the doors. ~ Darkness. My eyes opened, but I saw nothing but sheer darkness. The back of my head hurt worse than anything I had ever experienced before, despite every fight I had ever had with the many maniacal, Friendship-hating tyrants I had ever faced. I tried to move my hoof so I could rub the area, but quickly found I couldn't move at all. What... I can't move...? ...Oh, no... Oh Celestia... am I dead...? Is this what being dead feels like...?! Oddly enough, I became acutely aware of the blood rushing through my veins and my racing heart beating furiously inside my chest. My heartbeat rang in my ears. Together they reassured me that I was still alive. ...No... no, I'm not dead... not yet, anyway... I took a few breaths to calm down, and slowly my senses returned to me. The first thing I noticed was the smell... as soon as I returned to breathing through my nose, I gagged as my entire body retched and heaved. It was overpoweringly moist and metallic, combined with something so horrible and filthy it didn't even seem possible anything matching it could exist. Next my bodily sensations came back into focus... besides the throbbing pain in the back of my head and a duller pain all over my face, I felt as if I was sitting on something wet and tough. My wrists, ankles and throat felt strangely cold, and my wings were stuck together by something prickly and wiry. My eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness, but I could only make out the slightest of forms. I focused my magic into my horn to cast a ball of light, but only a few errant sparks shot out. I crossed my eyes to look at the brief sparks, confused and deeply worried why I couldn't cast one of the simplest of spells. My magic... it won't work...?! I tried again and again to create a simple orb of light, but only sparks would shoot out of my horn. Groaning in resignation, I then focused on creating sparks so I could see where I was, but they were still too dim to make anything out. I couldn't move. I couldn't see. I was trapped. Something smelled horrible. ... ... ... ...Was this it? Was this how I was going to die? ... ... ... What about the others?! Are they looking for me? Who's trying to kill me?! Who's going to kill me...? ... ... ... ... ... I'm not sure how long I waited in that darkness. But finally, I heard hoofsteps approaching from the left. I hoped and prayed to Celestia it was the others coming to my rescue. Something creaked. I felt a rush of fresh air, and a presence entered the area. The something creaked again. "H-Hello? I-Is somepony t-there?" I whimpered quietly, not sure whether I wanted to bring attention to myself or not. My worst fears were only further confirmed when the presence stayed silent, eventually letting loose with a voiceless, tittering laugh. The hoofsteps drew closer, the floor to my right slightly vibrating. My body trembled and froze, refusing and screaming at me to move. I squinted and darted my eyes around, trying to get even a glimpse of who the presence belonged to. I heard something rustling, and then the strike of a match... the presence had their back to me, so the light of the flame did not reach me. But it was enough to see how grotesque the presence was. It appeared to have multiple limbs, with spikes running down its back. The light grew a little stronger, as if a candle had been lit. My eyes looked away to survey the area... ...I was met with pure, unadulterated horror. I was inside a small wooden room, the size of a foal's bedroom... blood and other bodily fluids were smeared and splattered and sprayed all over the walls and floor. Knives, ropes, chains, axes, a noose and other implements of torture were strewn all over the floor, hung up on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. There were bloody chunks of what appeared to be meat and bones and viscera swept to the sides of the room, decaying and decomposing. And just a few feet ahead of me was something truly scarring - a flayed figure pierced and hanging from a meat hook, their skull smashed in, blood and grease and fat dripping down the flesh-less body, their hooves and one of their hind legs missing. As I took in this horrific sight, the figure began to slowly walk towards me. I shivered as I realized I was chained in place. The figure was soon directly in front of me, wearing what appeared to be a large flap of decaying skin as a mask. I thrashed against my bonds, and I furiously fought against the urge to pee. It was no use. Slowly, methodically, the figure pulled out a large cleaver from behind its back. No... no... please don't kill me... please don't kill me...! My heartbeat thundered in my ears as the cleaver was raised high above my head. Please... no... I'm begging you... no...! The figure hesitated, as if calculating where would be the most painful place to sink the cleaver into my body. Nononononononononononononononono...! Entirely overwhelmed with despair, pure and simple, my vision went black. The noise of my heartbeat in my ears drowned out all other sounds, before it finally, abruptly... stopped. ... ... ... ... ... *ding dong bong bing!*