//------------------------------// // ACT 1: INVESTIGATION // Story: Super Ponyronpa: Cacophonous Symphony // by TrackdNTraild //------------------------------// "Before we get this investigation started, I got a gift for you all!" Philomena appeared again, bringing with her a large box. "To help your investigation, I've prepared a very special Phoenix File!" "Phoenix File?" Starlight repeated, confused. "Yes, a Phoenix File!" Philomena tore open the box with her talons. "The Phoenix File is a very special item used to document murders! It explains who the victim is, how they died, when they died, what their wounds are, and where the body was located! I think you'll find it very useful in your investigation!" After the box was opened, Philomena passed out a Phoenix File to every pony in the crowd. They looked just like the Phoenix Pads they had received at the beginning. When she was done, Philomena disappeared down the hall to let the investigation continue. Starlight turned on her Phoenix File, and read the information on it. 'The victim was Party Favor. The time of death is estimated to be around 3 a.m. The body was discovered in Party Favor's dorm. He was killed by a stab wound in the abdomen. A large bruise is located at the back of the head.' Starlight brought her Phoenix Pad back with her magic, turning it on and looking around. She found a notepad on the sidebar, and knew she could use this to document things that were important in the investigation. She wrote down what the Phoenix File told her. "We need to get in the room to see the state of the body for ourselves, and verify that the file is right," Twilight said. "I'll move it," Starlight said. She walked over to the dorm, and nervously lifted up Party Favor's body with her magic. She gently moved him out of the way into the room, trying to be as respectful as she could and not adjust how he looked. Few ponies walked into the room, wanting to see the body for themselves. Starlight looked around, making note that herself, Twilight, Shining, Feather Bangs, Doctor Whooves, and Rarity were in the room with her. Twilight stepped forth, examining the body herself and looking between it and the Phoenix File. "The file is accurate," she finally confirmed. "There's no question about that. There's a stab wound in the stomach. It's a decent size too." "What do you mean by that?" Rarity tilted her head. "The stab wound is round, and deep," Twilight explained, pointing to Party Favor's stomach. "The weapon that they used to stab Party Favor with has to fit these dimensions accurately. If I had some tools, I could measure it myself." "We can look for the tools," Starlight said to Twilight. "That will help us verify what weapon it was." "Where would somepony get a weapon like that?" Rarity mused. "I can only imagine that something like that would be in Restaurant Row, which was blocked off last night." "I'd like to bring up one important thing," The Doctor said. "It is that there were already ponies at the feast table before the rest of us arrived." "Do you remember who exactly was there?" Starlight asked. "I do indeed." He nodded to her. "I do believe it was Feather Bangs, Prince Blueblood, Applejack, and Double Diamond." "So we have a few suspects then," Shining Armor said. "Potentially," Twilight spoke up. "It is suspicious that they were there first, if they had seen the body already then we would've heard Philomena make an announcement." "They could've seen the body separately," Rarity put in her two cents. "I'm unsure if that counts towards the rules, but it is a possibility." "We can ask Philomena," The Doctor said before clearing his throat. "Philomena! We have something to ask you!" "Yeees sir?" Philomena appeared in the room behind the Doctor, curiosity in her eyes. The Doctor jumped in surprise at the Phoenix's sudden appearance and spun around, but he quickly composed himself to speak clearly. "It is about one of the rules in the Phoenix Pads," he said, pulling out his own. "Specifically it is Rule #17: 'The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more students discover a body.' Does this rule apply when ponies see the body separately?" "Well, you couldn't see it before!" Philomena laughed. "But if the dorm's door had been open, the answer would be yes! It doesn't matter if you're together or on your own, when enough students have seen the body, the investigation will start!" "Thank you for confirming, Philomena," Starlight said. "This helps us a lot." "Always happy to help!" Philomena saluted the pony before she flew out of the room, the lingering warmth of her feathers fading and making the room cold once more. "So now we know that," Feather Bangs said as he adjusted his hair. "Well, I've got somethin' that might help with the investigation." "What is it?" Starlight turned to the stallion. "I was talkin with Party Favor last night," He explained. "Told me he wanted to see if the barrier blockin' off Restaurant Row turned off at night, when no pony would be around to verify whether or not it's there. Said he was gonna wait till everypony was in bed before he tried it out, so Philomena didn't suspect anythin'." "That must be why he died so early," Shining Armor added. "He was out at night because he was looking at the barrier." "But how would he get out?" Rarity questioned. "Doesn't the door close at night?." "One of them does," Twilight mentioned. "It says in the rules that only the front entrance closes at night. There's a door at the back of the school, leading into the garden. The rule doesn't say that it closes at night." "Party Favor must've used the back door to go to Restaurant Row," Starlight said as she wrote in her notepad. "That's the only way he would've been able to leave the main building at night. Was any pony awake at night?" "I woke up for a short period of time," Rarity confessed. "I'm unsure of the time myself, but I had to go to the bathroom in the night." "Did you see Party Favor when you were awake?" Starlight questioned. "I did not," Rarity said and shook her head. "He must've woken up later to test his theory." "So when Rarity was awake, Party Favor had not yet left his dorm," The Doctor deduced. "That lines up with the information written on the Phoenix File." "If we're really going to get to the bottom of things, I think now is the time to leave the room," Twilight stepped over to the door of the room. "The door hasn't shut since we've been in here, that code Philomena used must be able to keep it open. Let's leave for now, and we can start looking around." "Wait, Twilight look," Shining pointed at the blood puddle that had went under the door. "There are bloody hoofprints." "Most likely from the culprit leaving," Starlight said as she walked out of the room to examine the hoofprints. "Could the killer have left these behind and not realized?" The Doctor pondered. "Not likely," Twilight said as she walked to the other side of the puddle. "It appears that some of the hoofprints have been washed away. These were left here on purpose." "And look," Feather Bangs called the attention of the other ponies. "They're leading up to this dorm." "That's Fluttershy's dorm," Starlight said. "Could it be that..?" Rarity trailed off, but covered her mouth in shock. "Let's not get to thinking about who did it right now," Twilight waved her hoof and fluttered her wings. "We don't have enough evidence to correctly deduce who did it. There's no point in us making assumptions until we get to the class trial, but... it's good to write down what evidence and theories we have." "I'm writing things down in my notepad," Starlight said, showcasing what she had written down, including the most recent revelation. "We can go over the evidence before the trial." "I'll make my own notes too," Twilight said as she pulled out her Phoenix Pad. She opened her notepad, and began writing down her own thoughts. "I have my own thought I'd like to say while I have the chance," Starlight said. "And I think this is important, because I know some pony is going to bring it up. It's Rule #15 in the Phoenix Pads." "What about it?" Shining tilted his head. "The rule says that unicorns aren't allowed to use magic, and pegasi aren't allowed to fly to commit a murder," Starlight explained. "The killer had to use their own hooves to commit the murder," Twilight realized. "But they still could have used a weapon. We aren't allowed to harm eachother using magic spells or taking advantage of being able to fly, but it never said that we can't carry weapons with our magic to attack ponies." "The dorm is too small to do something like that," Feather Bangs pointed out. "They would've had to be close to him anyways; he was a unicorn so he could've very well done the same to fight back." "Guys, we shouldn't be debating this right now!" Starlight stomped her hoof. "I just wanted to point that out because I felt that it was important... We need to save things like these debates for the trial. We're supposed to be finding evidence, not wondering what happened when." "She's right," Shining said with a nod. "Let's save our thoughts for later. Let's go back to what we wrote down before; the fact that Fluttershy's dorm is in front of Party Favor's." "I propose that we find Fluttershy and ask her what she knows," Twilight said. "You guys can go on ahead," Starlight waved her hoof. "I want to take a final look around this room to see if there is any other important evidence I can write down. When you talk to Fluttershy, just tell me what she said and I'll write it down myself." "Alright, who's coming?" Twilight looked around. "I'll tag along," The Doctor said as he trotted out of the room. "I'll come too, I don't think there's anything else I can find myself in here," Shining said and stepped out. "I'll stay with Starlight," Feather Bangs hummed as he put his hoof around the mare. "She might like my company." "Hooves off or I'll make you the next victim," Starlight glared at the stallion. Feather Bangs quickly removed his hoof, and stepped to the side, looking away out of fear. The grin that came to Starlight's snout was an obvious sign that she was joking, but she was sure she had frightened Feather Bangs enough that he might take it seriously. "Alright, don't kill eachother now," Twilight laughed at the small display. "We'll go talk with Fluttershy and take a look around. We'll come find you when we're done." Starlight walked out of the room and followed the two stallions that had departed moments prior. Starlight went back to focusing on the room, scanning the room slowly to take in every detail. "Hey, Starlight, look," Feather Bangs walked to the door and pointed at the inside scanner. It had a bloody hoofprint at the center of the screen, with blood trailing down the wall. "There's a hoofprint," Starlight said, writing in her Phoenix Pad. "That might help confirm that he died in this room and wasn't dragged here." "I've got an idea," Feather Bangs tapped his hoof on the ground. "I think the culprit knew they couldn't leave the room because of the scanner. After they killed him, they must have picked him up and used his hoof to scan their way out, and left him on the wall." "That would explain why he fell over in front of the door after Philomena opened it for us," Starlight mused with an uncomfortable shudder. "It's a viable thought, even if I hate it... Good idea, Feather Bangs." The stallion seemed happy with the praise. He flicked his hair out of his face and hummed happily to himself. "Is there anything else in here that could give us some clues?" Feather Bangs asked and looked around. He examined the body himself temporarily, wondering if anything had been left behind. "Not that I'm seeing, it seems like most of the incident happened right here. But, there is one thing," Starlight said as she approached the body. Beside the body, she pointed to a small collection of glass shards. "Glass?" Feather Bangs tilted his head. "Could that give us any idea as to what the weapon was that he was killed with?" "There's a slim possibility, but it might tie into something else here," Starlight stepped to the other side of the body, and carefully moved some of Party Favor's mane out of the way to reveal the bruise mentioned in the Phoenix File. "This bruise is also pretty important. The file doesn't say how he got it, just that he has it." "He must've hit his head," Feather Bangs said with a shrug. "Seems like the only reasonable outcome to me." "That's all that we've got to work with for now." Starlight scribbled the information into her notes. "There has to be a link between the glass shards and the bruise, or even the stab wound itself." "We'll have to find that out during the trial." Feather Bangs patted Starlight's back. "I don't know how much time we've got left for this investigation, but we can't stay in here forever. We need to move out into the hall like the other ponies did." "I know where to go." Starlight looked at Feather Bangs with confidence. "Some pony mentioned before that they explored the bathrooms here, and said there was a shower. It only makes sense that after the culprit did the crime, they wanted to wash away the evidence. So, here's the plan. I'm going to explore the mare's bathroom to look for any evidence the culprit was there. I want you to go into the stallion's bathroom and see if there is anything in there. Depending on what we find, we'll know what sex the pony is, and we'll have an easier time dumbing down who could've done the crime." "Real smart, Starlight." Feather Bangs adjusted his mane before clapping his hooves together. "We'll meet back up outside when we're done." "Yep. Let's go before we run out of time." Starlight ran out of the room, with Feather Bangs following after her. They ran to the bathrooms on either side of the staircase. Starlight went into the mare's bathroom, which was actually the first time she had been in there. It wasn't very big, but it was big enough that there wouldn't be much issue with ponies being crammed in there. The first thing her eyes were drawn to were an yellow bucket with a mop inside. She trotted to the items, and lifted the mop out of the bucket with her magic. The mop showed no signs of having been used. The water in the bucket looked fresh, as though it had just come out of the sink. That alone isn't much evidence... Starlight thought. I didn't think of the possibility that there's a chance the pony could've switched bathrooms to cover up the crime. But wouldn't that be...? "Philomena!" Starlight called out to summon the Phoenix. "What is it now?" Philomena appeared in the bathroom before Starlight, looking up at her with curious eyes. "There's no rule in the Phoenix Pads that say a stallion can't go into the mare's bathroom, and a mare can't go into the stallion's bathroom," Starlight said. "Is this an unwritten rule or do you allow it?" "Oh, how scandalous!" Philomena fanned herself and giggled. "Why, I'd never see a reason why a pony would want to do something like that! I thought it was just common courtesy not to go into the opposite bathroom!" "Answer the question, please." Starlight tried to sound nice, but this bird was frustrating her. "Okay okaay," Philomena groaned unhappily. "I'd allow it, it just makes killings easier! But, you haven't seen all the evidence, so don't think you've gotten off with an easy clue from me!" Philomena cackled as she flew out of the bathroom. Starlight sighed deeply, and wrote the information into her Phoenix Pad anyways. That shattered a lot of the theory that she had in mind, and she would have to tell Feather Bangs about it. She walked to the showers to see if she could find any evidence of them being used. She looked at the drains, and noticed one of the showers had hair caught in the drain. She walked into the shower, and used her magic to pull the hair free from the drain. Both purple hair and blood had clogged the drain. The pony that killed Party Favor had definitely been here to clean up their mess, but then why were the bucket and mop clean? She looked in the sink to see if there was any evidence of the water being drained, but what could've been had most likely been washed away. She turned to leave the bathroom, but noticed a rack of towels on the wall. Starlight walked to them, putting her hoof on one and feeling the wrinkles in it. She leaned in, sniffing it. The towel was wrinkled for a reason; it had been used. It might be important for later on, so she decided to write it into her notepad. She then chose to exit the room, not seeing anything else that could be investigated. She trotted under the staircase and through the lounge to get to the stallions' bathroom just as Feather Bangs emerged. "Did you find anything?" She asked him. "Just a few things you might want to look at for yoursel,." he said, stepped out of the way, and motioned to the door. "I won't tell anypony else you came in." Starlight swallowed down her nerves, feeling her face flush. She walked into the bathroom, and Feather Bangs followed her. "Over here," He pointed to a bucket and mop up against the wall. Feather Bangs lifted the mop out of the bucket, showing that it had been stained with blood. The bucket was also empty. "These got used to clean up the blood in the hallway," Starlight thought out loud. She walked to the sink and looked in. There were the faintest traces of red water in the sink. "The culprit definitely used these. The evidence is everywhere." "Does that mean a stallion did it?" Feather Bangs had dread fill his eyes at the revelation. "Not necessarily," Starlight assured him. "I asked Philomena if there was a rule against a mare going into the stallions' bathroom and vice versa. She said that she didn't care if ponies did it, but didn't think they would because of 'courtesy' or something. There's a chance that a mare came into this bathroom and used the mop and bucket to clean up her mess." "That's a pretty clever way to go about it," Feather Bangs said as he put the mop back in the bucket. "Whoever did this must be pretty smart." "For the most part, that seems to be the case," Starlight said back. "But that's not all. In the mares' bathroom, one of the showers had been used and so had the towels. There was hair and blood clogging the drain." "That's a pretty obvious clue. You'd think they would've realized that," Feather Bangs chuckled. "Maybe not so smart..." "There's nothing you can do against hair falling out," Starlight chuckled. "I know I always have a hard time cleaning up the mess after I shower. I've got so much hair, it's a pain in the flank to brush out when it's dry." "Can't relate." Feather Bangs flipped his mane. "My hair isn't long, so I don't have that issue." "If you let it grow out you would." Starlight rolled her eyes. She looked around the room again. "Is there anything else in here worth looking at?" "Maybe. Take a look at that." Feather Bangs pointed to a trash can in the corner. "It looks like there's something in the trash can." "There is?" Starlight noticed it too. Starlight trotted to the trash can, and picked up the item with her magic, illuminating the bathroom around her. As she held the item before her face, she gasped at her reflection on the item's surafce. "This is a Phoenix Pad!" she exclaimed "The screen is broken." Feather Bangs pointed out. "Is it against the rules to break a Phoenix Pad?" "Only if it's your own, I think," Starlight said uncertainly. Starlight brought the Phoenix Pad in close to look at it properly. She turned it on, and found that it had already been logged into. She tapped on the student profile app with a little struggle from the cracks in the screen. "This is..." Feather Bangs' eyes widened as the profile showed up on the screen. "This is Party Favor's Phoenix Pad." Starlight covered her mouth in shock. "That explains the glass shards in his room," Feather Bangs said. "His Phoenix Pad got busted and that's what it left behind." "I think I have an idea of what happened," Starlight said as she put the Phoenix Pad back in the trash. "But it has to wait until the class trial." "We don't have much longer until that happens." Feather Bangs pointed out. "We've been investigating for a while." "That reminds me," Starlight hummed as she walked out of the bathroom with Feather Bangs following her. "I haven't gotten the chance to talk to Fluttershy yet. The others must've been exploring with her when they couldn't find me back at the dorm. We should find them so we can talk to her ourselves." They fell silent as they looked around for the group, and Fluttershy. The main lobby was mostly empty, except for some of the stallions discussing amongst themselves. Starlight looked down the dorm hallway, and noticed Twilight exiting Party Favor's room. She turned around and seemed to be talking as the rest of her group exited the room. Fluttershy then followed after them, still as fearful as ever. Even from this distance, it was easy to see how hard her body was shaking. Starlight trotted down the hall with Feather Bangs and cleared her throat when they were closer to the other group. "I guess you guys talked with her then?" Starlight said when she was close enough, bringing Twilight's attention to her. "We did," Twilight said with a nod. She gently patted Fluttershy's back. "Go on, tell her what you told us." "O-okay..." Fluttershy swallowed hard, trying to keep what little composure she had. "I-I... I w-woke up in the night b-because I heard thudding. I didn't k-know where it was coming from, I-I just knew it happened. I-I was too scared to go back to sleep, s-so I waited until it stopped. I heard a-a yell or a scream, and I got s-scared again... I wanted to s-see what was going on s-so I went to my d-door and opened it a little bit..." "Did you see any pony?" Feather Bangs asked, softening his voice up for her. "K-kind of." Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders. "I-It was really dark, so I c-couldn't see that well... but I s-saw the door to Party Favor's room open a-and a pony was backing out. I-I got scared they'd s-see me so I h-hid in my room under my bed... I ended up p-passing out at some point because I was s-so s-scared... I'm s-sorry, t-that's all I know." "And you couldn't tell who the pony was because it was dark, right?" Starlight asked. Fluttershy nodded her head, and Starlight wrote the information in her notepad. "The information still helps. Thank you for being honest, Fluttershy." "And don't worry, we're going to find out who did this before they hurt anypony else," Twilight patted Fluttershy's back. The pegasus mare smiled, seeming to be comforted by the ponies. However, she yelped in surprise as the speakers suddenly crackled to life and the voice of Philomena rang out. In her panic, Fluttershy slid beneath Twilight's tail and hid. "Greetings everypony!" Philomena squawked over the speakers. "I'm tired of waiting around while you all get comfortable and more scared than a filly in Tartarus. It's time to begin the class trial! Please make your way to the waiting room so we can get this show on the road!" "I guess we should get going," Starlight put her Phoenix Pad away. "Are we ready to do this?" "We won't know until we get there," Twilight sighed. "Let's get this over with, then maybe things can be just a little bit normal again, and we won't have to live in as much fear." Starlight knew even Twilight didn't believe in her own words. Ponies would keep dying as long as these rules were in place, and Philomena kept making up motives for them to kill eachother. She was terrified, and Starlight was too, but Twilight was much more held together than she was. She envied Twilight's level-headedness. The ponies all walked together to the waiting room. Everypony was casting dirty looks at eachother; no pony was safe from the scornful stares that were passed around. Even Starlight caught the eyes of other ponies glaring daggers at her, but she couldn't return the gaze. The culprit was among them, and they were well aware of that fact. They thought it was disgusting. Starlight did too. She swallowed hard to keep herself composed. "Welcome everypony!" Philomena laughed and appeared in the room before the elevator. "I hope you're all excited for the trial! I know I sure am! Come now, come now, everypony into the elevator! Let's not delay!" Philoemna pressed a button by the door, and the elevator opened up. She flew out of the way, and let the ponies pour into the elevator one by one. Starlight found herself standing in the very middle, and watched past a few pony heads as the door closed. Philomena waved through the bars that made up the door. She continued her happy waving as the elevator began to descend, until they couldn't see her or feel her warmth anymore. Contrary to what most ponies were thinking, the elevator was going down. There was a room above the elevator, that confirmed that for them, but it wasn't connected to the elevator. Starlight was just assuming that, at least. She took another deep breath, really trying her best not to fall apart so early on. She was startled when the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened up. Every pony stepped out into the trial room. It presented the same as the throne room in Canterlot, but with a collection of podiums in a circle around the center. Starlight silently counted the podiums, figuring them up to 16. One of the podiums had a stand, with a picture of Party Favor attached to it. "Welcome to the trial room everypony!" Philomena squawked as she appeared in the throne at the back of the room, and sat comfortably. "All of the podiums are marked with your names and cutiemarks, so find your mark and prepare yourselves! Things are about to get real!" Every pony stayed silent as they made their ways to their podiums, and kept their eyes on eachother. No pony trusted any pony at the moment, especially now that they were actually here. Starlight gulped as she stood in her podium. A cruel trial... A cruel deception... A cruel betrayal... Cruel mysteries... Cruel lies... Cruel truths... A cruel...class trial...