• Published 11th Jan 2020
  • 3,505 Views, 335 Comments

Danganronpa vP: Harmony of Despair - witegrlninja



Twilight, her friends and some familiar faces are trapped in a school with Monokuma. What is that crafty little bear up to this time?

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Bloody-Pink is Not Your Color - Deadly Life 3

"Wh... Wha...?" Pinkie Pie sniffled, forcing herself to cease crying. She stared with wet, disbelieving eyes at Fleur de Lis.

"Oh? What ever do you mean by that?" Fleur pouted, adopting an innocently timid and concerned facial expression. "Surely you're not accusing moi of the deaths... are you?"

"Well... basically, everythin' you've ever said to anypony here has been either condescendin', an outright insult, or both," Applejack pointed out. "But to go as far as sayin' the tea was 'to die for'? Now that's a lil' too on the nose fer my likin'."

"Ha... ahahaha..." Fleur giggled, seemingly unaffected by the fact that she was now under suspicion. "...Bitch, please. That was simply an expression."

"You also know quite a bit about what Discord did in the Chemistry Lab..." Rarity narrowed her eyes.

"Well, it's not my fault he decided to sneak himself some poison while I was in the other room," Now Fleur began narrowing her eyes as well. "Besides, I never said I saw him leave the room with one of the poison bottles in the first place!"

"And you yourself admitted that you overheard Discord and Pinkie discussing the tea to be used for the party," Nurse Redheart added, her face as passive as ever, although her muzzle was turned slightly upwards. "Perhaps you simply put two and two together and came up with your own plan?"

"Ugh! You insolent, ungrateful scabs of ponymity..." Fleur grumbled in disgust. "Here I am, actually deigning to lend you cads a hoof in this trial, and this is how you repay me?! What proof do you have for this baseless accusation?!"

"Ah... uh..." Applejack stammered.

"She's right, I'm afraid," sighed Flam. "Other than a poor choice of words, I don't believe there is any evidence that Fleur had a hoof in these murders."

"Finally... somepony knows better than to question my knowledge," Fleur huffed. Once again she whipped out her makeup mirror and began checking her reflection. But as she brushed a wayward strand of mane back into place, Redheart's eyes twinkled, then widened slightly.

"That mirror..." she mumbled.

"What? What about a mirror?" asked Coloratura.

"It reminds me... of something I saw while I was in the Chemistry Lab earlier," Redheart breathed. Across the room from her, Fleur's expression suddenly changed for the worse.

"Hm? You saw something? A-And you've been hiding it all this time, huh?" Fleur glared. "Now who appears suspicious, huh?!"

"I thought it unrelated to the case at hoof... until now," Redheart shrugged slightly.

"What did you see?" asked Rarity.

"Yes... it was in the early afternoon. I was in the Chem Lab mixing some more antidotes for the empty poison bottles that I could," Redheart explained. "While I was working... I could've sworn I saw something small and bright catch my eye, but when I looked up, I saw nothing of the sort."

Something small and bright...?

"I assumed it'd just been a trick of the light and continued my work... then a few moments later, Fleur entered the room, complaining of a headache," she continued. "She walked over to the orange shelves, then left about a minute later... by the way, how is your headache doing now, Fleur?"

"Fine, just fine..." Fleur growled, angrily rolling her eyes. "And before you insipid little fops start getting any ideas, I was looking for extra-strength pain meds."

"That so? There's plenty of 'em in the Infirmary, ah get 'em all the time from there after ah've been workin' in the gardens," Applejack countered.

"Wh-" For the briefest moment, a look of shock flashed across Fleur's face. "W-Well, you probably hogged them all, because I couldn't find a single one!"

I think I know why Redheart mentioned seeing something small and bright... what could she have possibly seen while in the Chemistry Lab...?

...

...Oh! That must be it!

"I think I get it... Redheart saw the light reflecting off of Fleur's M A K E U P M I R R O R," I pointed out. Fleur inhaled sharply through her teeth, glanced at her mirror and quickly stowed it away.

"Yes... you may have been checking to see if the room was empty before you walked in," nodded Flam. "Then you went in anyway so you wouldn't seem too suspicious!"

"I did no such thing, you sleazy, greasy charlatan!" Fleur snarled.

"BUT WHY WOULD THE ROOM NEED TO BE EMPTY BEFORE SHE WENT IN?" asked Bulk Biceps.

"Ain't that a good fuckin' question..." Lightning Dust sighed.

"Hmm... Twilight? Remember that object you mentioned?" Redheart suddenly asked. "The one that you found in the Kitchen's dishwasher?"

"That object"...? Oh...

"Right, Flam and I found a beaker in the very back of the dishwasher's top shelf," I answered.

"Take a wild guess where it came from," Redheart smirked, glancing over at Fleur's growing discomfort.

"...Ah! The Chemistry Lab!" Rarity exclaimed. "Didn't you say something about a pair of beakers missing from the cabinets?"

"Yes, I did," I agreed.

"And who the bloody fuck do you think stole a beaker?" Fleur snorted. "What the fuck would I want with a beaker?!"

"I wasn't talking about you, per se..." Redheart drawled. "You did say you did not see Discord leave with a poison bottle, after all."

"You still haven't answered my question, you know-it-all bitch!" Fleur spat. "Nopony likes a know-it-all!"

"Perhaps he noticed you in the Recreation Room as he passed by, but he still had something he needed to do," Redheart sighed. "It's quite plausible that he found an alternative container for the slow-acting poison."

If, according to Fleur, Discord did not leave the Chem Lab with a poison bottle, yet he still acquired a slow-acting poison to use later, what could he have left with...?

...

...Oh! That must be it!

"You're saying that Discord poured the poison into a beaker and took that and the antidote with him!" I reasoned.

"Correct," nodded Redheart. "But that beaker was never found. And considering how carefully he planned out his own murder by Fluttershy's unknowing hoof, Discord most likely destroyed it after he was done. Nopony would question one missing beaker... the bloody things are quite fragile, after all."

"I... I never did see him with a beaker..." Pinkie added.

"So now we're back to blaming the freak of nature?" Fleur growled. "Just what are you trying to prove?"

"There were two beakers missing, not just one," Flam stroked his mustache. "Now, if you saw Discord with the slow-acting poison, but he and Fluttershy were both killed with fast-acting poison instead..."

"If Discord used a beaker to sneak the poison outta the Chem Lab, but an additional one's missin'..." Applejack stared darkly at Fleur, bracing herself against the podium as if she was ready to leap over it.

"And since you had such a thorough knowledge of Discord and Fluttershy's tea party, and of what would be served, 'secret ingredients' and all..." Rarity seethed through her teeth, her face pink with rage.

"Now all of you just shut your stupid fucking traps!" Fleur shrieked.

Yes... I think it's coming together... I just need to think about this a little more...

...In order to not raise anypony's suspicion, what did Discord use to smuggle the slow-acting poison out of the Chem Lab? ...A beaker! ...And if Fleur was the one who smuggled out a fast-acting poison, what did she likely use to not raise anypony's suspicion? ...A beaker! ...And if Fleur used her makeup mirror to check the Chem Lab before going in, what was she likely trying to do? ...Return the beaker!

"I see!" I shouted. "You smuggled fast-acting poison out of the Chem Lab in a beaker, just like Discord. You were trying to put your beaker back without anypony finding out!"

"I... what?! No!" Fleur's face was even whiter than usual.

"But I was in the Chem Lab... you were cautious and checked to see if the room was empty with your makeup mirror," said Redheart. "Then you went in after I noticed that I saw the light reflecting off of it, pretending to look for pain medicine and seeing that I was not going to leave anytime soon."

"So after you left, you hid the beaker in the dishwasher, hoping anypony who found it would just mistake it for a drinking glass!" I added.

"You... it was you..." Pinkie gasped, her hooves trembling as she grabbed her podium in anger. "You... you used me... I've been used twice! I-I wouldn't have minded so much if it were Discord, but you... you killed t-them! YOU KILLED THEM BOTH!"

Everypony was now glaring daggers at Fleur. Her face was shivering with fury - her teeth were grinding against each other, and her eye was twitching.

"You... you FUCKING ASSHOLES!" she screamed. "I WANT OUT OF THIS HELLHOLE, AND BY CELESTIA, YOU'RE NOT GONNA STOP ME!"

"Fleur... we all want out," I sighed. "But you murdered two of our friends! Why would you do such a thing?!"

"Why?! WHY?! Oh, you fucking donkey... I wish I'd just dumped that fast-acting poison in everypony's dinner this evening!"

"Ah-ah-aaah," Monokuma chided. "I haven't had to mention it yet, but I always have a rule that any killer may not kill more than two classmates per trial. Otherwise, what's to stop someone from just murdering the lot of you and having no trial at all? I mean, that's no fun!"

Fleur blinked at Monokuma, then sucked in a deep breath and howled with rage. Suddenly, an aura of light pink surrounded Fleur, transforming her image. Her mane became tipped with crimson red, and her face gained multiple layers of stage makeup. She slammed her front hooves on her podium, threatening to break it, then waved them around wildly as she furiously panicked.

"What the fuck did you just fucking say to me, you little bitch?! I'll have you know I'm the most famous supermodel alive! I can have you cancelled anytime I fuckin' want! I want to speak to the fucking manager of this place! You are pathetic compared to me! You'll never be anything close to me! I'm more fucking beautiful than ALL of you! You're all just a bunch of fucking lowlife peasant dumbshit fuckwads that'll never get anywhere in life!"

Fleur... I had no idea... you were such a monster...

"Besides, there was hardly any yellow shit in the tea! If I was going to kill somepony, don't you think I'd have dumped it all in?!" Fleur snarled. While the others either stared in shock or giggled like children at her profanity-laden tirade, I gasped as I realized one final truth.

This is my proof!

"There was only a little of the fast-acting poison in the tea, true. But there was tons of fast-acting poison in the deviled eggs," I replied.

"Wh-What?!" Fleur choked.

"The deviled eggs are yellow. The fast-acting poison was yellow. And Substance B - the fast-acting poison - was the only poison hidden within them," I continued. "Nopony would question the green slow-acting poison in the tea tin unless they checked the ingredient list, but the yellow poison stood out too much and looked suspicious."

"I SEE... BUT YOU COULD HIDE IT IN THE DEVILED EGG YOLK FILLING WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS!" Bulk gasped.

"...My back was turned to the eggs quite a few times," Pinkie glowered at Fleur. "I... could've sworn I heard mixing noises at one point, but when I looked, Fleur was eating macarons... MY macarons!"

Fleur breathed heavily, her face a combination of pure, unfettered rage and of sheer terror in having been found out. "I... I...!"

"Face it, sweetheart... you're not the smartest pony in the room, like you want to believe," Flam shrugged with a smirk.

"You... you shut the hell up, you disgusting... pig barf... shitlord..." she retorted, but her voice had lost all of it's anger. Her aura disappeared with a final flourish and her mane and face returned to normal. There was nothing left for her to argue; all she could do was stare menacingly at her podium.

"Well, everypony? I think we've come to a conclusion," Flam continued on, grinning and ignoring Fleur's meaningless insult. "How about we go over exactly what transpired... one last time, for good measure?"

Yes... that way, nopony will have any doubts about the truth...

This is how it happened!

"It all began with Discord's plan: to maneuver a murder in which Fluttershy would end up killing him without her knowledge, in order to save her from this place and allow her to escape. He loved her so much that... it was apparently worth sacrificing himself and all of his friends to save his loved one.

"First, he went to the Chemistry/Alchemy Lab on the third floor, and headed over to the blue shelves, full of bottles of poison - except they had all been emptied out by Flam, Coloratura and Lightning Dust, and then glued and enchanted by Flam so that nopony could remove them. But this was no problem for the Ultimate Chaos: one snap of his claws undid the spell, and he left the room with the empty bottle for slow-acting poison, presumably to destroy it... After all, no new poison would reappear until the old bottle was destroyed.

"After destroying the bottle, Discord returned to the Chem Lab and grabbed the newly-filled slow-acting poison bottle. He poured its contents into a beaker so he could take it out of the room without an 'empty' bottle of poison suddenly disappearing from the shelves. He also grabbed the bottle of antidote for the slow-acting poison that Nurse Redheart mixed together.

"Once he had his 'secret ingredients', he decided to speak with Pinkie Pie about arranging a surprise tea party date for Fluttershy. They set it up for 3:00pm inside the Third Floor Classroom. While Pinkie began thinking up a menu for a high tea, Discord set his plan in motion. He poured the slow-acting poison into a loose-leaf tea tin inside the Kitchen, and he poured and mixed the antidote for the poison inside a jar of mayonnaise. Then, the morning of the tea party, he instructed Pinkie to use the Juniper Green Sencha - the very tea he had poisoned. She poured the loose tea into a strainer and set it beside the teapot, while also making floral macarons, deviled eggs and cucumber sandwiches. Unbeknownst to Pinkie, of course, Fluttershy's sandwiches contained the antidote-laced mayonnaise, while Discord's sandwiches did not.

"Finally, with the dishes completed, she brought them to the Third Floor Classroom at 3:00pm sharp, where Discord and Fluttershy were waiting. Discord insisted that Fluttershy - completely unaware of the plan - be the one to steep the tea, saying that she could control its strength. So Fluttershy brewed the tea and they drank; while Discord would eventually succumb to the slow-acting poison, Fluttershy would eat her sandwiches and unknowingly cure herself.

"However... despite all of Discord's careful planning, somepony caught on to his plan and concocted their own to take advantage of it. It started when the killer noticed Discord passing by the door to the Recreation Room multiple times, then they followed him to the Chem Lab and saw him pick up the mysteriously-full slow-acting poison bottle. Then later on, they overheard Discord and Pinkie's conversation about a surprise tea party, and from there drew their own conclusions.

"First, they went to the Chem Lab and took an empty bottle of fast-acting poison, then took it away to destroy it. Then they returned and took the now-filled bottle of poison, poured it into a beaker just as Discord had, and left the empty bottle behind. With a 'secret ingredient' of their own, they then walked into the Kitchen as Pinkie was putting together the refreshments. They tried pouring the fast-acting poison into the loose tea when Pinkie's back was turned, but the poison's color was too conspicuous to go unnoticed, so instead they poured it into the yellow yolk filling of the deviled eggs, mixing it in before Pinkie turned around. After complimenting the macarons and the choice of tea, the killer left and let fate take over.

"While Discord had ensured that Fluttershy would not be harmed by the slow-acting poison, neither of them were prepared for the fast-acting poison... instead of Discord dying and Fluttershy escaping, they died together.

"That should cover everything that happened in this case. And the villain behind it all... is none other than YOU, Fleur de Lis!"

Fleur screamed in rage again, but now that she'd known she had well and truly lost, her scream wilted into sobbing shrieks. Unlike the other times... this time I felt justice shoving away the grief in my heart. True, Discord was willing to commit suicide and condemn the rest of us to death, all so that Fluttershy might survive... I suppose anypony in the throes of true love would find such an act acceptable. But Fleur... somepony who had been nasty to us from day one, had so callously murdered both of them and tried to get the rest of us killed. And for what?! The motive this time was unthinkable!

"You... monster!" Rarity spat. "And to think I wanted you to model my clothing!"

"It... it really was you..." Pinkie shuddered. "...W-Why?"

"Wouldn't you like to fucking know?!" Fleur shouted, her shoulders heaving roughly on her slim frame. "I... fuck! FUUUUUCK!"

"...Monokuma, don't you have something to say, now that we've finished?" Redheart asked, all the warmth in her voice turned into ice as she glared at Fleur.

"It is indeed the moment we've all been waiting for!" Monokuma shouted with glee. "Time to vote! Okay? Okay! If you would, please locate your lever and cast your vote!"

I looked down at my podium; the lever had returned along with the sixteen large buttons. Now six of the faces were grayed out, and we were soon to become nine.

"And when the votes are tallied... who will become the blackened?!" Monokuma continued, grinning wildly. "Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeee?!"

Honestly... I was furious. I was furious that Fleur had murdered Discord and Fluttershy. But that still didn't mean I wanted her to die. It still took me a moment to press her button, which dimmed as the others remained alight. The "guilty" beside the lever flashed; I let out a deep sigh as I pulled it down, hearing similar noises all around me.

The monitor behind Monokuma came to life. "Monokuma Vote! Who is found guilty?" appeared, followed by the slot machine. We watched with bated breath as the symbols slowed...

...and landed, three in a row, on Fleur's face. "Guilty!"

I may have felt a sense of justice a minute before... but now I felt dread.

Dread... and despair.

*Class Trial End! All Rise!*

"It's basically a formality at this point, but once again you're totally correct!" said Monokuma. "The blackened this time, the one who took advantage of the would-be sacrificial Draconequus' scheme... was Fleur de Lis!"

"NOOOO! CELESTIA DAMN IT, NO!" Fleur bellowed, grabbing at her mane and pulling it.

"Sure ain't a graceful loser, ain't she...?" Lightning grumbled.

"No... I need to get out! I need to make that bastard pay...!" Fleur continued, alternating rapidly between hysterical crying and vengeful screaming.

...Make that bastard pay...? Who...?

"Eh? What bastard?" asked Coloratura. But her question went ignored by Fleur, gnashing her teeth as she continued to utter every profane word under the sun.

...Some of these words... I don't even know what they mean...!

"Well, while we're on the subject... why don't I tell you?" Monokuma piped up, barely hiding a grin behind his paws. "Those embarrassing memories, those secrets she didn't want anyone to know-"

"Oh, fuck off," Fleur finally broke from her raging reverie, glaring tearfully at the black and white bear. "If anypony's gonna tell these peasan- ...ponies why I wanted to get out, it's gonna be me!"

Monokuma shrugged and sat back down.

"Well?! You guys want to know?! Fine!" she barked. "Take out your fuckin' parchment and quills, since this is the last fucking interview you'll ever get from me!"

"Uh..." Applejack tried to speak, but was quickly spoken over.

"It all began in my fillyhood. My parents were enamored with me, their perfect little angel, and they wanted to show me off. So they began entering me into filly beauty pageants. I was trained relentlessly on how to be a proper lady: how to walk, how to act, how to dress and apply makeup appropriately, how to influence others... I was put on a strict diet, and an even stricter exercise regimen... I was forbidden to associate myself with the commoners, I could only interact with the other fillies in the pageants... if their own often horrid parents would allow it.

"Of course, I won most of my pageants... when I didn't win, my parents would yell and blame me for fucking something up. They'd double my training sessions, they withheld even the barest of food from me... so I always tried my bloody damned hardest to win. It wasn't long before I resorted to... interfering with the other contestants. Hiding their accessories, smearing their makeup with my magic... I remember the first time I called the filly in second place a 'fat fucking pig', and she ran away crying... finally, I felt like I was worth something more than just a cheap, gold-plated chalice.

"But despite everything they put me through... when I did win my pageants, or when I was deemed to have made them proud, my parents would shower me with gifts and attention. All the highest-end makeup and beauty products, the newest brand-name fashions, the exquisite, sparkling jewelry... throughout it all, I loved expanding my wardrobe. I was allowed to have spa treatments, I'd be treated to fancy dinners... only the very best would do for the perfect little angel.

"Then... one day... he showed up. I had nearly grown too old for filly beauty pageants, and so was competing in my final one. I won, of course... But as I walked gracefully over to my parents, he was talking to them. They introduced us, and he quickly went on about how he was a powerful, influential pony, how many connections he had... how he could make me rich and famous beyond my wildest dreams.

"I didn't want it, I was so fucking done with the nastiness of filly pageants... but my parents' saw Bits in their eyes. I was practically sold off to... him."

Quickly, my anger towards Fleur was growing... conflicted. Glancing around me, I saw that Coloratura and Rarity were especially transfixed by the Ultimate Supermodel's story.

"It was fucking hell on Equestria. Being escorted everywhere I went by him... he was always watching me, him or his associates. I could never leave his sight even for a moment, lest I face his punishment in private. He forced me into photo shoot after photo shoot, wearing the stupidest, skimpiest, trashiest excuses for clothing he could possibly find. My diet was restricted to even fucking less than my parents had afforded me, and I was to spend hours exercising every Celestia-damned day. At countless high-end restaurants, I was forbidden to eat anything more than the fucking plainest of salads and water while he dined on the finest of foods... many days, I survived on nothing but a single, tiny fuckin' fruit, copious amounts of alcohol and whatever drugs I could get my hooves on...

"And if I stepped even one hoof slightly out of line... t-the things he'd do to me in private..." Abject fear finally took hold of Fleur's face, and tears began pouring down her cheeks. "H-He'd beat me... burn me with cigarettes... f-force me to do t-things to him... to his a-associates... they... t-they could do wh-whatever they wanted to m-me... if I ever tried to defend m-myself or tell anypony, he... h-he threatened that... t-they'd find m-me dead in a gutter somewhere..."

Coloratura was shaking, and Rarity's face was even whiter than usual. I myself could only imagine the horrors Fleur must have experienced.

"Finally, I made my way into modelling for fashion shows... finally, I began to see a portion of the wealth he had promised me years ago. And you know what? I was fucking rich! I could buy out entire fucking seasons of clothing from the top designers. I could set hoof into any department store and be swarmed by makeup artists begging me to let them use me as their canvas. I could afford the fanciest spa treatments, the finest, flashiest jewelry and accessories, plastic surgery, beauty preservation spells! ...But he was always there behind me... always reminding me that one slight misstep, and he'd take it all away. I'd be beaten and abused and left to die in that gutter, nothing again... less than nothing."

Fleur sobbed for a minute or two, getting the fear out of her system. She was normally so aggressive, so angry... she hid that life from everypony for so long, and suffered greatly for it. That was her secret. A weakness like that lived in a heart like hers, and it turned her cold-blooded... into a monster herself.

"Who... who is this pony?!" Rarity demanded. "Such repulsive, unacceptable behavior... oh, I do hope I've never worked with him. I swear to you that if I have, I shall never collaborate with him again!"

"Oh, you have... you know him well," Fleur smirked darkly at Rarity. "Who was I always accompanied by, in the outside world?" It only took a few seconds for Rarity to gasp in horror.

"No... Fancy Pants?!"

Fleur nodded solemnly.

"But he's such-"

"A gentlepony? A kind, thoughtful, philanthropic, chivalrous stallion?" Fleur laughed bitterly. "No... he's a monster that belongs in the deepest, darkest depths of Tartarus. And had it not been for you fucking lowlifes, I would have been able to free myself from that demon!"

"I see..." Redheart sighed in resignation. "So the motive was appealing to one of us after all..."

"And I thought Svengallop was a terrible pony..." Coloratura gulped.

"TREATING A LADY LIKE THAT IS JUST... NOT COOL!" Bulk shouted.

"Yes... but besides removing that miserable monster from my life, I could've been my own manager, and ALL of that wealth would have been mine! His associates? Mine! And I'd be richer than them all! Rich enough to make them fuckin' pay for what they did to me, too! After all... the laws don't apply to the rich and famous!"

And just like that, most of our sympathies for Fleur evaporated like tears in a desert.

"...Really...?!" Flam stuttered after many beats of silence. But before anypony could join in, we were interrupted by a loud peal of raucous laughter from Monokuma.

"Look at her! You see? You're all just like her!" he grinned. "For a secret from the past, for a memory... for that, she killed two living beings in cold blood!"

"...Why?" Pinkie breathed, in a tone somewhere between anger and despair. "Why Discord and Fluttershy? Was it just too easy to get away with? Why couldn't you kill somepony else...?"

"OUCH, PINKIE... JUST... OUCH," Bulk commented.

"Oh, sure, the opportunity presented itself," Fleur shrugged. "But I hated them, too, so it was really a rather cathartic bonus."

"What?! Why?!" Rarity shrieked.

"Don't you remember when you made Fluttershy model your clothing a few years ago? She became even more popular than me!" Fleur glared. "And do you know the utter fucking hell I went through during that thankfully brief period of time?! I was getting used like a hunk of Freiberger cheese every night!"

...What a... vivid euphemism...

"That bitch... thought she was more beautiful than me, did she?! Well I'm glad she had so many mental problems and left when she did! My life had never been so close to that damned gutter before..." she shivered, despite reassuming a haughty expression. "And Discord? Honestly... fuckin' freak, I can't believe you idiots were friends with him! He literally tried to destroy reality and Equestria with it! Such a... disgusting creature-"

"NOW THAT'S ENOUGH," Applejack slammed her hooves on her podium. "Everypony's capable of changin', even a Draconequus Chaos god like Discord! Ah'm terribly sorry 'bout how life 'n everypony in it treated you, but it's still no excuse for bein' such a Celestia-damned twat!"

"Bite me and shut the fuck up, Apple-hick," Fleur spat.

"Ladies, please...!" Monokuma leered, gesturing towards Fleur. "She couldn't cut free of her regrets from the outside world. She doesn't know what change is. Do you see 'change' in there? Cuz I sure don't!"

"You..." Pinkie moaned quietly, head in her hooves, her pin-straight mane obscuring her eyes staring a thousand miles away. "They're dead... you killed them... they're dead now... you killed them..."

Such pointless deaths... A pony so filled with abuse, subjugation, hatred, prejudice, and rage, until it transformed her into a sadistic monster... and none of us had any clue. Because of her actions, two more of my best friends were now dead... they were never coming back.

It was all so pointless. The emotions storming in my heart were making me nauseous - grief, sorrow, pity, anger, fear - churning together into a foamy mess until... I felt only despair in its wake.

"...Why... why did you HAVE TO KILL THEM?!" Pinkie screamed.

"I already told you! She couldn't cut free of her regrets from the outside world!" Monokuma sat up. "...Is what I want to say, but unfortunately, I can't do that right now! Because the time for punishing is fast approaching!"

"Good," Lightning muttered, turning away in disgust. "For once, one of us here actually deserves it."

"Wait, but... does she really deserve to die?!" Coloratura paled. "This is really more in the realms of 'pleading insanity' or something... isn't it?"

"'The blackened that disturbs the peace will be punished'... That's what I promised you, right?" Monokuma tilted his head.

"Regardless of whether you still believe Fleur can change her ways or not... it doesn't matter anymore, now," Redheart stared stoically at the floor, her forelegs crossed.

"Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Fleur de Lis, the Ultimate Supermodel!" the bear announced gleefully.

"Uh... wait a minute, I-" Fleur tried to stall, fear creeping over her face as she realized her death was near.

"Let's give it everything we've got!"

"...Oh, fuck, whatever... I don't even care anymore." She sighed and closed her eyes, despondently resigned to her fate.

"It's... PUNISHMENT TIIIIME!"

The large, red button appeared before Monokuma. He grinned with excitement as he pulled out a hammer, hopped and did a somersault in midair, smashing the button as he landed. As he scuttled away afterwards, we watched as the monitor above his throne came to life with blood-red graphics.

"Fleur de Lis has been found guilty. Time for the punishment!" Fleur barely reacted as the chain and shackle flew out from behind her, clapping around her throat and dragging her away. The monitor briefly went black as we turned our attention towards it, startling slightly as it turned back on.

Fleur stood on a brightly-lit stage, before a massive crowd of Monokumas with both photographic and video cameras. Lights flashed everywhere, making her cringe and squint. The shackle was still around her throat, but the chain had been replaced with a rope of some sort, which coiled behind her before revealing that it was attached dead-center to what looked like a ten-foot tall, solid steel wall covered in sharp spikes, divided neatly down the center. As Fleur's eyes adjusted to the lights, she gasped slightly as she noticed another stage maybe 500 feet away - on this stage was a simple, wooden table with a golden key resting in the middle, with a giant sign reading "FREEDOM" pointing towards it. The two stages were connected by a single, perfectly-straight catwalk, but it was incredibly narrow, not even a hoof's width across. Fleur glanced down at the shackle around her neck, finding a keyhole near the top that would release the shackle and save her life.

*Ultimate Supermodel Fleur de Lis' Execution: Executed*

*Killer Catwalk*

At first, Fleur snorted with a smirk. She closed her eyes as she tried to activate her magic, only to suddenly scream in pain. She looked up at her horn and shrank back as she realized it had been fitted with an anti-magic ring. But then she stared at the catwalk with steely determination, and putting one hoof perfectly in front of the other, began to walk across it.

The Monokumas booed and jeered as Fleur passed above them. While many of them kept illuminating the darkness with their blinding camera flashes, others produced tomatoes, eggs and other produce from nowhere in particular and began throwing them at Fleur as hard as they could. Fleur flinched and growled as the rotten fruits and vegetables struck her body, painting her fur and mane with stinky slime, but she kept her focus and continued on. In addition to this, the rope behind her uncoiled as she walked until it grew taut... and then stretched, revealing that it was actually a bungee cord. The tension steadily grew, forcing Fleur to work harder as she walked, straining with every step as she focused on not losing her footing. She seemed to put the thought of death being her failure out of her mind, and kept her eyes on the key growing tantalizingly closer.

The tension in the bungee cord grew even stronger. Some of the Monokumas now resorted to pulling out various kitchen knives, milk bottles of varying fullness and even small kitchen appliances - and throwing them at Fleur along with the rotten food. She winced as a knife or two grazed her legs, cursed as a whisk landed and got tangled in her mane, and wiped her face as half of a juiced grapefruit smacked her right in the eyes, but she kept on walking. But it was slow going... soon she was struggling, fighting with every fiber of her being to put one hoof in front of the other due to the tautness of the cord.

Finally... the goal was near. Only a few more steps until Fleur reached the key and could free herself. Body dripping with sweat and rotten vegetation, her eyes teared as she stretched out a foreleg and inched towards the key...

...But just before she could grab it, a Monokuma landed a glancing hit with a full milk bottle on one of her hind hooves. It jerked just enough that Fleur lost her footing, and the bungee cord sent her screaming backwards. Tears flew from her eyes as she sailed into the spiked wall all those hundreds of feet behind her; just before the back of her skull made contact with one of the spikes, the two halves of the wall suddenly slammed together like a giant bear trap. Blood began pouring out from the bottom halves of the walls only moments later, and the Monokumas greedily snapped their pictures to their hearts' content.

The deafening thud of the walls echoed in the darkness, pulsed in my bones, reverberated in my ears. I swallowed hard as I felt my stomach threatening to bubble up and out of my throat. As horrible as she had been to everypony, and even though she had murdered two of my best friends... I couldn't help but feel sorry for Fleur.

A tortured soul... died a torturous death.

~

"Laugh at death, and your soul will forever be at peace," Monokuma smiled, reappearing behind us - stunned into silence by what we had witnessed.

"I... I can't laugh at that..." Coloratura shivered, covering her mouth with both hooves as she gagged.

"Must you really create such an elaborate execution each time?" Flam stared at the floor, taking deep breaths.

"Puhuhu... do you like them?" asked Monokuma. "But you know, this punishment, this despair... it's not just for you. All this punishment, all this despair is my gift to ponykind itself!"

What... not just for us...? A gift to ponykind...? What does he mean by that...?

"I... wouldn't go that far..." Rarity gulped.

"That has to be an exaggeration... mere hyperbole..." Redheart pursed her lips.

"I am not exaggerating!" Monokuma replied. "These punishments are meant to transform all hope and harmony into despair!"

"Uh... whut do you mean by that...?" Applejack winced.

"Mean? Meeeeean?" Monokuma tilted his head, answering in a mocking tone. "Mean mean mean mean mean mean- oop, I almost forgot!" Suddenly, he reached behind his throne and held up what appeared to be an impossible object: an empty beaker with an empty bottle marked "antidote" inside it, with a scroll that somehow passed through both glass objects without being cut into pieces, almost like it was carefully glued into place that way. Yet something told me that no glue was necessary for this object to be held together.

"What is that?" asked Flam.

"Isn't it obvious?" Monokuma giggled. "A suicide note. Discord's suicide note."

"Discord... his suicide note?!" Applejack repeated in shock.

"Yep! He addressed it to be read to whoever was left living after the trial! ...But, you know... haven't you ever been curious about the whole 'suicide note' thing? Who came up with the idea of leaving a note when you kill yourself in the first place? And isn't it just so unfortunate? Killing yourself is just so final, ya know?" Monokuma turned away from us, acting glum. "You can never hear the rest of their story. The truth is lost in darkness... gives me the willies!"

"Quit stalling and hoof it over, would ya?!" Lightning shouted. "We all know you don't give two shits about how we die."

"Okay, okay, geez... talk about a buzzkill! Alright, here ya go," Monokuma turned back around, tossing the object into the air. Quickly my magic shot out and wrapped around the precious projectile, preventing it from shattering on the floor.

"What does it say? What does it say?!" Pinkie yelled frantically as I disassembled the impossible object in my magic. I cleared my throat and began to slowly read out loud.

"Dear friends... hopefully, Fluttershy...

"There is something I must tell you... I hate to do it like this, but you need to know.

"By now you've probably figured out that a slow-acting poison was hidden inside the Juniper Green tea, and that an antidote to the poison was hidden within the mayo of the cucumber sandwiches. You've also probably figured out that Fluttershy likes mayo in her sandwiches, and that despite drinking the tea as well, she is still alive. You're thinking that since she brewed the tea and served it to me... that makes her my murderer. This... is not entirely the truth.

"It was I who poisoned the tea... and it was I who added an antidote to the mayo. We didn't have to drink the tea... I even made sure I cracked a little joke about how the tea could potentially be poisoned, thereby transferring the blame to Fluttershy. But, if you're reading this... then I'm dead, and my love is hopefully free from that cursed castle.

"Hmm... me, dead. How chaotic! And how terrifying... I may have been born in entropy, but entropy is not the same as sheer nothingness. I wonder if I'll have my powers back once I'm dead... maybe I'll be able to liven up the place!

"But... watching everypony fight with such despair, trying so desperately to stay alive, and with no help or signs of escape in sight... I just wanted her to be safe. Everypony knows Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness; she doesn't have a violent bone in her body. She would never be able to kill somepony and escape on her own... so I did it for her.

"Fluttershy, if you're reading this, I'm so terribly sorry for putting you through this. I truly hope that one day, you'll be able to understand why I did what I did. And if everypony else is reading this... well, the same goes for you, too. I also understand that you all hate me for this... all of this is because of my one weakness. If this can save Fluttershy... if I can save you, my love... then sacrificing my own life could have no greater meaning. Though I deeply regret that you'll be alone in the world when you are free...

"Whatever you think of me... Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight... please know that you are all my most treasured friends, and that I am deeply, truly sorry for what I had to do. I've never had ponies like you in my life...

"Forgive me... Discord..."

Oh, Discord...

Tears blurred my vision. My magic grip on the scroll faltered, and it floated softly to the ground. I heard Pinkie begin to cry again, followed shortly by Rarity and Applejack. Redheart sighed quietly and closed her eyes, while Flam levitated his hat to his chest and bowed his head. Coloratura, Lightning and Bulk shifted around uncomfortably, doing none of these things themselves, but they remained respectfully silent.

"Well... this is awkward," Monokuma chuckled. "...I'll just leave you guys to it. Door's over there, ya know."

We hardly even noticed when he left us. The day's events ran through our thoughts until they had flooded and battered and scarred our minds. We were forced to realize, once again, that our values were so terrifyingly different from one another. As much as we pledged that no further murders would happen... they kept on happening.

Another murder... two murders, actually... and another execution... everypony's lives are taken so lightly here... am I going mad...? Is this what it feels like to go insane...?

Fleur murdered two of my best friends, so I can't really pity her... but maybe, maybe if I'd tried a little harder to talk to her... maybe if I'd tried to be friends with her... maybe this could have been avoided. But then Monokuma surely would have released another motive to stir the pot once more. And he would never stop until another death had occurred.

Despair was his goal. The destruction of our friendships, our hope, our harmony... that was his goal.

"T-This can't happen anymore. Not a-again," Applejack weakly asserted. It was a while before anypony responded.

"...Y-YEA. N-NOT AGAIN." Bulk's voice trembled as he spoke. Everypony else offered their quiet, half-hearted agreements in addition.

"Let's get out of this place," Redheart mumbled as she walked slowly towards the elevator doors. Everypony followed suit, not speaking another word.

Author's Note:

Welp, time to plan the next murder! Still don't really have the "how" worked out...

But I do have Chapter 5 ready to go... hoo, is THAT one gonna be a ride!

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