Danganronpa vP: Harmony of Despair

by witegrlninja

Bloody-Pink is Not Your Color - Deadly Life 1

*ding dong bong bing!*

"A body has been discovered!" A monitor near the door flashed to life, revealing Monokuma sipping his wine glass and teetering in his chair. "Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the class trial will begin!"

*ding dong bong bing!*

"A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the class trial will begin!" One body discovery announcement was bad enough, but still offered some hope. But as the second announcement played immediately after the first, however, that hope was quickly dashed. "Everyone, please gather in the Third Floor Classroom!"

The monitor finally shut off. As I stared in horror at Discord's and Fluttershy's bodies, time seemed to stand still. Pinkie Pie's screams behind me trailed off into frantic wailing. Although it felt like an eternity, it was really maybe only a couple minutes before everypony else arrived. Amongst the others, Applejack and Rarity burst their way in, gasped loudly at the sight and fell wide-eyed to their knees.

"Fuck, really?! Again?!" Lightning Dust shouted, in frustration and dismay.

"Two victims...?!" Flam coughed.

"Oh my Celestia... why?! Why those two?!" Coloratura paled.

"Fluttershy... Discord...!" Rarity breathed, tears already streaming from her face.

"Whut... Whut h-happened...?" Applejack's weak voice fluttered between quick, shallow breaths. "...Why...?"

"Why, indeed," Nurse Redheart glared as she put a hoof to her chin. "The motive this time was unconscionable. Who would want to murder somepony to get out, let alone two of us?"

My heart froze over as the words reached my ears. Somepony had not only murdered one of our friends, but two of them! And the motive this time, as chilling as it was... Why?! Who would do such a horrible thing?!

But before anypony could speak out...

*boing!*

"Geez... it feels like someone died in here or something," Monokuma's voice whined as he appeared from underneath a desk in the corner.

"Don't even fucking start with us!" Lightning snarled, shaking her hoof. "What the fuck is this?!"

"Hmm?" Monokuma peered over at the two bodies for a few moments. "...Why, it appears that one of you has begun the killing again! And a twofer, this time! ...Hmm, seems like it always happens around this point in the game," he mumbled.

"It... does?" Fleur recoiled in disgust.

"WHAT?! WHADDYA MEAN BY THAT?!" shouted Bulk Biceps.

"Oh no... oh, no..." Pinkie whimpered, her mane straightening out again.

"Aaaaanyway, let's go back to our main topic and proceed as usual!" Monokuma laughed as he pulled out the familiar black folders. "Can I offer you a Monokuma File in this trying time?"

We reluctantly accepted the Files.

"Puhuhu... I'll be waiting at the class trial. Do your best to investigate," he grinned, scampering past us into the hall and vanishing from sight.

"A-Again? We must do this again...?" Rarity whined.

"We have no choice," Redheart sighed. "If this means that one of us killed these two... we cannot simply stand by. Murdering one pony is bad enough, but two is so much worse... and with the motive to potentially murder a third in the outside world? Absolutely disgusting! Whoever has done this must be stopped!" I gasped quietly as I realized that Redheart was right; a small spark of anger ignited and burned away the grief in my heart. Stowing it away for later, I knew what I had to do for now.

"Discord... Fluttershy... they did not deserve this!" I glowered.

"First Rainbow... now those two...!" Applejack seethed. "Whoever y'all are, ah will find you and make sure you face justice fer whut you've done!"

"Yes... also, we must figure out who did this, otherwise we'll all be next...!" said Flam.

"In that case, we'd better begin our investigation," Redheart nodded. I nodded as well.

Discord... Fluttershy... I can't believe this happened, neither of you deserved to die... but I'll get to the bottom of this. I promise...!

"Let's end this nightmare... once and for all," I affirmed. "I know there's no way we can believe that one of us did this, but for our friends' sake, we need to find the truth!"

*Investigation Start*

First I opened up the Monokuma File, finding it slightly thicker than usual. Both Discord's and Fluttershy's faces were greyed out and covered in a hot-pink X, stabbing me in the heart as I laid my eyes upon them.

"There are two victims this time: Discord, Ultimate Chaos and Fluttershy, Ultimate Animal Caretaker. Both victims suffered from sudden acute heart failure. There are no other external injuries," I read out loud. "Time of death is estimated to be 3:30pm."

"Sudden acute heart failure...?" Redheart paused as she examined the bodies. "Hmm... yes, I can agree with that."

"Can you tell whut happened?" asked Applejack.

"I believe so... based on the pronounced cyanosis, internal bleeding and foaming at the mouths, I'm quite certain they were both poisoned," she pursed her lips.

"P-Poisoned?! But we got rid of all of them!" Coloratura gasped.

"Yes, and I've been in the Chemistry Lab recently... I haven't noticed any of the empty bottles missing."

"Wait... you were in there?!" Fleur glared. "I bet you did it, then! Hah, how stupid of you to admit it!"

"Oh, please," Redheart rolled her eyes. "Other than to mix a protein supplement, the only bottles I touched were medicinal in nature."

"Do you think the food is poisoned?" asked Lightning. Bulk, who was about to eat a lavender-colored macaron, yelped in surprise and dropped it immediately.

"Probably... could one of you Unicorns check? It'd be much faster than individually testing everything on the table," said Redheart. At her suggestion, my horn flared to life. Pink magic flowed over the table like a gentle waterfall as I cast my spell; within seconds, a plate of cucumber sandwiches, a tray of deviled eggs, the teapot and both teacups began to glow a sickly green. However, I also noticed that unlike the teapot or deviled eggs, only half of the cucumber sandwiches glowed.

...Only half...?

"It would seem that the glowing refreshments are the ones that were tampered with," Flam remarked as the glow subsided.

"Nopony touch them. After I've finished my autopsies, I will take them to the Chemistry Lab and run some tests," said Redheart.

"But-"

"I'll need a Unicorn's assistance... Rarity, would you help me?" Redheart asked, interrupting another outburst of suspicion from Fleur.

"Ah... of course, darling. Though I do hope you don't actually expect me to run tests as well."

Redheart assured her that she would handle all of the tests herself. Meanwhile, I checked around the room in case anything else was out of the ordinary, but other than possibly the position Discord was lying in and his shattered teacup on the floor, I didn't find anything. However, while the others began their search as well, I noticed Pinkie hyperventilating in the corner, tears streaming down her terrified face.

"Pinkie? Hey, are you gonna be okay?" I asked softly as I walked over to her.

"I-It's... I-It's my f-fault..." she whimpered.

"What?"

"It's my f-fault... I p-prepared the snacks and t-t-teapot... I-I... I-I killed t-them...!" With that, Pinkie let out a ghastly, gut-wrenching scream of anguish and fled the room before I could say anything.

Pinkie... w-what do you mean by that...?

A frightful thought entered my head, and I shook it out before it could take root.

No... no, I'm positive Pinkie had nothing to do with it...

"Well, I'm done here. Rarity, if you'll kindly levitate the sandwiches, eggs, teapot and teacups?" asked Redheart. Rarity nodded, and within seconds she had all of them floating in an aura of ice-blue, every piece of the shattered teacup included.

"Ugh, no way in hell do I trust this..." Fleur grumbled. "I'm coming, too."

"As you wish, just please refrain from touching anything," Redheart replied. The three then left for the Chemistry Lab.

"Well, I presume that it will take some time until she gets her results," said Flam, walking towards me. "Shall we?"

"Alright. I think I know where to look next..."

~

A few minutes later, we arrived at the cafeteria and walked into the kitchen. I frowned a little as I saw a pile of soapy, soaking dishes in the sink, presumably used to cook dinner with. Whatever Pinkie had used to make the tea party refreshments with was likely at the very bottom of the pile, if not already cleaned and put away. Nevertheless, I cast my food tampering detection spell again.

"Ah! There, the cupboard and the refrigerator!" cried Flam. As the entire kitchen was bathed in pink light, something in one of the cupboards and inside the fridge glowed a sickly green. Before the glow faded, I opened the cupboard to find a glowing tin of loose-leaf tea, and Flam opened the fridge and pulled out a jar of mayonnaise. I briefly glanced the name of the tea - Juniper Green Sencha.

"This was the tea I heard Discord ask Pinkie to use for the tea party," I mentioned. "Apparently it was one of Fluttershy's favorites..." I opened the tin and peeked inside - there were dark green shreds of tea leaves amongst crushed, dark blue juniper berries, but there were also some green granules inside that didn't match the color of the leaves, as well as a little bit of yellow granules. To be sure I checked the ingredient list on the tin, and sure enough, only tea leaves and juniper berries were listed. "Hmm... I wonder what these green and yellow granules are."

"Seems to me you've found the tainted tea," Flam remarked. "As for me, it's difficult to see, but I do believe there are white granules inside this mayonnaise."

"Three different kinds of poison?" I asked out loud.

"Seems like overkill, if you ask me. Judging by what I read when the ladies and I disposed of the poisons, only one was necessary to cause death."

You only needed one... then why use three...? Was there more than one killer...? Or did the killer just want to be certain it worked...?

"Perhaps there's a trace of the poisons left on the cutlery Miss Pie used to make the refreshments," added Flam. "Be a dear and open the dishwasher for me? I can move these soaking pans in there so I can look at the dishes on the bottom of the sink."

"Sure," I nodded. I opened the dishwasher, but stopped suddenly. The dishwasher should've been empty as usual, but something was there in the back of the top rack. "Huh? What's this?" I pulled out the rack and discovered an empty beaker.

"A beaker? What is this doing here?" asked Flam. "Doesn't this belong in the Chemistry Lab?"

"It's not something you'd usually drink out of," I agreed. "No scientist in their right mind would, anyway." I cast my detection spell on the beaker, but it didn't glow.

"Seems to have been rinsed out," said Flam. "Can you check the sink?" Nodding, I cast the spell again on the sink, frowning when nothing inside of it glowed. "Hmm... no other traces to be found, I suppose."

"I guess that's everything in here, then," I replied. "Do you think Redheart's made any progress on her tests yet? We can bring the tea tin and mayo so she can test them, too."

"Well, only one way to find out, my dear!"

~

Flam and I walked quickly into the Chemistry Lab, carrying the tea and mayo in our magic auras. Redheart had set up a number of small machines around the room while Rarity sat awkwardly at a table, having nothing to do at the moment. Fleur was sitting in a far corner, eyeing the two warily at times, but mostly she seemed preoccupied with making sure her mane and makeup were perfect in a small hoof mirror. The teapot, cups and plates of tainted food sat underneath the fume hood, sealed away as if the poison was able to be transmitted through the air.

"Ah, you two," Redheart spoke. "What are those?"

"We found these two tainted items in the kitchen," Flam said as we both lowered them onto a nearby table. "The mayonnaise has white granules mixed into it, and Miss Twilight has found both green and yellow granules inside the tin."

"I see... I will test them immediately," said Redheart, picking up the tea tin and opening it for a sample.

"What have you found out so far?" I asked.

"Well, there are three different substances," said Rarity. "Since we're not sure what they are, exactly, we are calling them Substance A, B and C for now."

"Substance A has been detected in the tea found inside the teapot and teacup," informed Redheart as she now took a sample of the mayo. "Substance B has also been detected in the tea, and also within the whipped yolk of the deviled eggs. Substance C has been detected within the cucumber sandwiches... but curiously, only half of them. The other half are untainted."

"How soon until the results come in for the tea and mayonnaise?" asked Flam.

"Now that I have the machines calibrated? Just a few minutes," replied Redheart, allowing herself a tiny smirk of pride. Flam nodded and sat at the table with Rarity to wait for results, while I walked over to the supply shelves.

"You wouldn't have happened to come up with a theory on which poisons were used, have you? I asked as I studied the empty poison bottles.

"Not at the moment, no," Redheart said as she looked over to me. "However... I did notice that one of the antidotes I had crafted for one type of poison was missing from the shelves."

"Oh? Where?"

"Amongst the orange shelf bottles... It was for a slow-acting poison, if I remember correctly," she replied. I quickly moved to the orange shelves, finding a small group of plain glass bottles bunched together with no markings other than "antidote" written in permanent marker, and then whatever it was an antidote for.

The antidote for a slow-acting poison... so maybe that means...

I looked back at the blue shelves, scanning the labels. A few minutes later I found a bottle in the place designated for "slow-acting" poison... except much of the label had been scratched away. Without thinking I picked it up, finding that the glue that should have held it fast to the shelves was nowhere to be seen.

"Is this the slow-acting poison?" I asked, showing the bottle to Redheart.

"...Can't be sure," she frowned, her face scrunched as she tried to read the label. "Most of the label's missing."

"Er, shouldn't that be glued down? How did you remove it?" asked Rarity.

"Besides that, I cast a pretty powerful spell on it, that glue should not have been removable!" added Flam.

"There wasn't any glue beneath it... somepony must've used another spell to remove it," I reasoned. Flam grumbled under his breath about how his magic was stronger than that.

"Well, there is an easy way to find out... may I?" Redheart asked, holding out her hoof. I handed over the bottle, and Redheart stuffed it into a plastic bag... and quickly smashed it with her hoof.

*boing!*

"One bottle of Slow-Acting Poison, comin' right up!" Monokuma shouted as he suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, a bottle full of green granules in his paw. He quickly set it down in its place on the shelf, then scurried away without another word.

"Well, that answers that," huffed Flam.

"Give it here," Redheart motioned. I levitated the bottle in my magic and floated it straight to her. As the results for the mayo appeared on the small monitor of one of the machines, Redheart quickly jotted it down before taking a sample of poison and putting it into an adjacent machine. "Alright, the results of the tea and mayonnaise is in... hmm."

"And?" Flam leaned over his table impatiently.

"The tea tests positive for both Substances A and B, as I suspected," she answered. "But only Substance C was detected in the mayonnaise."

"I suppose that makes sense," said Rarity.

"Ugh, all this talk about tea and sandwiches and stuff, I'm hungry now..." Fleur grumbled quietly in her corner. Ignoring her as always, Redheart examined the contents of the tea tin, then the poison bottle.

"It appears to me that this slow-acting poison was added to the tea tin," she mumbled. "That would make it either Substance A or B... I'll know for sure once this test is complete." Having a few minutes to wait, Redheart began to put away some extra supplies she'd pulled out, including some beakers.

"...Oh! Redheart, are there any beakers missing from the cupboards?" I blurted out. "I found one in the dishwasher in the kitchen!"

"Hmm..." Redheart took a moment to mentally count the supplies. "...Now that you mention it... there's space in here for two more beakers."

"Two beakers...?" Flam hummed in thought.

Two beakers are missing...? Well, we found one of them... where is the other...?

Redheart's face suddenly changed, as if she'd realized something. Without a word, she ran to the door and exited the classroom.

"Uh... what was that about?" asked Rarity. We sat in silent confusion for a couple minutes before Redheart returned. Carefully in her muzzle, she held a pair of syringes filled with blood.

"Sorry about that, but I just had an idea," she mumbled through gritted teeth as she set the syringes down. "I can't believe I didn't realize... this place must be getting to me..."

"What is it?" I asked. Redheart hurriedly scribbled down the result that had appeared on the machine's monitor, then squirted some of the blood from one syringe onto a small tray and inserted it into the machine, then did the same with the other.

But before she could answer...

*ding dong, bing bong*

Wait... wait a minute, no! Not now...!

"Already?!" cried Rarity. "Truly it hasn't been that long, has it?!"

"What is most important for living things?" Monokuma's voice boomed from the monitor in the room as it suddenly burst to life. "Well, personally, I think time is. I mean, your bank account may go up and down, but time will inevitably run out, right? That's why we gotta cherish time. There is nothing more wasteful than wasting time."

"Oh, just fucking wrap it up already, you fucking-"

"Soooo... time's up!" Monokuma continued through Fleur's rant. "Let's all meet at the red double doors and begin the class trial!"

"Shit," Redheart grunted as the monitor cut off. "I'll need at least five minutes to get these last results."

"But you know what Monokuma will do to you if you don't go!" I gulped.

"I am well aware... but I think these results are the final piece of the puzzle we need," Redheart gulped as well. "Please... try to stall him or something, if you can. Walk slowly or something!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Fleur laughed, sneering at Redheart. "You're up to something, aren't you? I've got my eye on you, fuckin' know-it-all bitch."

"I don't- fine, whatever," Redheart threw her hooves up. "I'll be fine, but you three should get going!"

"But-"

"GO!"

Cut off by Redheart's stern yell, Flam, Rarity and I nearly tripped as we ran for the door.

"So, are we going to risk Monokuma's wrath in order to let Miss Redheart finish her tests?" Flam asked as we entered the hallway.

"If it's' as important to the trial as she thinks it is, I don't believe we have a choice," said Rarity. "It's either risk death now and be saved later, or risk death now and... die."

"As long as we keep moving towards the elevator... he shouldn't mind...?" My voice squeaked. Sharing a nod, we walked as slowly as possible.

~

"What the fuck took you guys so long?!" Lightning pouted frantically as we finally arrived inside the elevator room. Applejack, Bulk and Coloratura were all sharing nervous looks with each other.

"Redheart needed us to stall for time so she could finish her tests," I explained. Thankfully, we hadn't seen or heard from Monokuma while we'd casually sauntered through the school, but my heart was still racing from the blatant rulebreaking.

"Alright, and what about Pinkie 'n Fleur?" asked Applejack.

"Fleur said she'd stay behind with Redheart... I say, I don't know why she doesn't trust her with the results," said Flam.

"She hasn't a nice thing to say about anypony... she's actually somewhat of a bitch, really," Rarity muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?!" Fleur slowly growled behind us, making everypony jump.

"Oh, uh, hello darling..." Rarity backtracked, although even being caught red-hoofed, her tone wasn't all that sincere.

"Tsk, whatever..." Fleur glared.

"Hey, if you're here, then is Redheart done with her tests?" I asked.

"Yes, I am!" Redheart called out as she galloped into the room, clutching a small stack of papers. She skidded to a stop in order to catch her breath.

"Capital! So, what are the results?" Flam pried.

"Not now... during the trial... okay?" Redheart wheezed. I groaned inwardly, having to wait a while longer to know, but at the same time I could see her reasoning. Perhaps without the knowledge of the results beforehand, somepony would let something else important slip.

"Where's the pink little spaz?" Fleur snapped, taking out her makeup mirror and fixing her mane.

"Er... not sure. She outright disappeared after screaming and running off," said Flam.

"Hah! Figures, she's the only one missing... did she do it? I bet she did. She totally seems like a closet serial killer."

"Now you cut that out! Pinkie wouldn't kill anypony," Applejack retorted. Silently, I hoped that as distraught as Pinkie had been earlier, she'd at least have the self-preservation sense to arrive before Monokuma decided to punish her.

"Maybe... she ran away?" suggested Coloratura. But before anypony could answer...

*boing!*

"Aw, hell naw! There's no way I'd let her escape, you know!" Monokuma suddenly entered the room, dragging Pinkie behind himself by the tail.

"NOOOOOO! I DON'T WANNA! PLEASE, I DON'T WANNA DIEEEEE!" Pinkie shrieked as she clawed furiously at the floor, her face red and puffy from crying. As Monokuma whipped her around and tossed her into the center of the group, she sobbed and began flailing wildly.

"Hey, now... if you keep acting violent, I might just eat you up," Monokuma threatened, his red eye gleaming as he exposed his claws. Pinkie snapped her muzzle shut with a squeak, but continued to quietly cry. "Alright... now that everyone's all together, it's about time you all got on that elevator! I'll go on ahead and wait for you guys, so hurry on down!" And with that, Monokuma leapt up through the ceiling, knocking a tile out of the way to get through. The tile clattered back into place as he vanished from sight once again.

"Please, no... please, no..." Pinkie whimpered.

"See? Totally a closet serial killer," Fleur snorted.

"Ah can't believe we gotta do this again..." sighed Applejack.

"WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG...?" Bulk added sadly.

"To be frank, I'd rather not get along with somepony willing to kill another... especially not two of them, and a potential three is right out," Redheart grumbled.

"Yes... we need to find the killer. Not only to save the rest of us innocents, but to avenge those poor souls!" Flam nodded. I nodded as well, steeling myself for what lay ahead. Now that I had a moment to breathe and reflect on what had happened, the emotions I had shoved away for later began creeping back in. Again my heart, freshly wounded - ached for the deceased, feeling as if it was being sucked into a black hole under my hooves.

Discord... when we first met, you were one of the greatest threats Equestria had ever known... But against all odds, you became one of our greatest allies... and an even greater friend.

And Fluttershy... you were so kind, so compassionate, so tender... I wish you were never a part of this loathsome game... May you and Discord find each other in the next world... and find happiness together.

I'm so sorry... I couldn't keep either of you safe... but I promise you both, I will find whoever did this! I will save the others... I will not let your deaths be in vain...!

Impatient, the elevator doors opened before us. Blinking away my tears, I adopted a brave facade and boldly walked inside.

"It's time. Coming?" I glanced back.

"C'mon... let's get this over with..." Lightning mumbled, resigned to her fate. One by one the rest followed her inside. The doors shut behind us, and the elevator began its descent.

Comments

[Ficta_Scriptor]

Hmm... I think there's more to this one than I first assumed.