Danganronpa: Equestrian Despair

Chapters

Prolouge
The Beginning of Despare (Daily life Part 2)
The Beginning of Despair (Deadly Life)
The Beginning of Despair (Class Trial part 1)
The Beginning of Despair (Class Trial part 2)
Punish One, Punish All (Daily life part 1)
Punish One, Punish All (Daily life part 2)
Punish One, Punish All (Deadly Life)
The Beginning of Despare (Daily Life part 1)

Prolouge

Author's Note

(Hello everyone, this is Vaatidj bringing you a new story. As of recently I have gotten into Danganronpa and thought that it would be cool to see what would happen if characters from My Little Pony ended up in that situation. So this isn’t a complete copy of the first or second game with pony characters, it’s an entirely separate scenario based on it. With that now out of the way, onward with the story)

Prolouge

Hope’s Peak Academy. I’ve never heard of it before or even so much as seen it, so it was strange that I found an invitation to this exact school in my mailbox. The fact that only eighteen others got into the school also surprised me, they must be really picky when it comes to choosing students. As for those who got in, I didn’t know anyone that did, or at least any of my friends that had.

Anyways, I haven’t introduce myself yet. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and according to the invitation I got I’m suppose to be the Ultimate Friendship student. It’s a very strange thing to be excepted to school for, that’s for sure, but I was complaining if this school was what I was expecting it to be. The school looked really big, towering over me with its presence. Seeing that I was the only one outside of school, I had figured that everyone was already inside the school waiting for class’ to start.

Knowing that I didn’t want to be late, I took a step through the gates of the school ready for whatever happened. What did end up happening however, was not what I expected. Everything around me started blur, my hooves unable to move from their place. “Whats happening?” I yelled out, not knowing what was going on at all. I looked around frantically, trying to see if this was some kind of insane trick as my vision got blurrier and blurrier, and before I knew it, I was out like a light.

When I woke up, I found myself asleep in a classroom by myself. At first, it looked like an ordinary classroom with a chalkboard and desks and all that stuff, until I took a glance to the left of me and saw something strange. Instead of seeing windows, there were giant metal plates with bolts and screws the size of my head covering them up. Wondering what was going on, I tried to use my magic to loosen the bolts on the plates, but found that it wouldn’t work at all.

I was shocked at the fact that I couldn’t use my magic. After trying again and again, I finally gave up and decided it would be better to take a look around. The first thing I noticed was card on the desk in front of me. I opened it up to find writing in it that said “All students report to the gym at 8:00 am. I looked up at the clock at the front of the classroom to check the time to find that it was 7:58. Knowing I should be late, I rushed out of the classroom and quickly down the hall until I got to a door that had the sign “gym” on it. Knowing this is where I need to be, I opened the door wondering who was in their already.

Once I opened the door, everyone in it looked at me seeing that another student had arrived just like them. I looked around to see that 17 others were standing in the room, meaning that I was the last one to arrive. “You must be the last student,” A voice from the crowd in front of me said.

“Looks like I am,” I said as I joined the rest of them in the room. “My names Twilight Sparkle. Would you all mind introducing yourselves,”

The first one to come forward and introduce themselves was a pegasus with a strange yellow like colored fur coat and a mane and tail that had multiple shades of black, white, and grey in it. She wore a green shirt and hat. “The names Daring Do,” She introduced herself as “I guess I’m suppose to be the Ultimate Adventurer according to invitation I got,” Daring Do! It was hard to believe that the real Daring Do was standing right in front of me. I guess it would make sense that someone cool like her would come here, but it was still a big surprise to me.

The next one to come up was a grey pegasus with a yellowish mane and tail. She flew over to me hand took me hoof to shake it. “Hello there, name’s Derpy Hooves. I’m the Ultimate Mail mare” She stopped shaking it after her introduction and stood to the side in order to let the others come and introduce themselves.

Next up was yet ANOTHER pegasus, this time with a light blue coat and rainbow colored mane. She rushed over to me with incredible speed, knocking down another pony in her path as she came to greet me. “Yo, the name’s Rainbow Dash” She said enthusiastically “The ultimate stunt flier.” For being something such as that, it’s strange that I’ve never heard of her before.

Rainbow Dash looked like she was going to continue before a pink pony jumped in front of her “Hi there, I’m Pinkie Pie. Its very nice to meet you. Do you like cupcakes, I’ll make you some latter if you want. You see, I’m the ultimate baker and-” She was pushed aside by Rainbow Dash, cutting her off and allowing for everyone to introduce themselves.

Next up was a white unicorn with a purple mane. “Why hello there Twilight ,” She said talking in a manner you would imagine a rich pony to talk in “The names Rarity, I’m the ultimate fashionista and make clothes for a living in ponyville. When the day’s over I’ll take you to my boutique and will get something that suits your style,” I nodded to her as she got to the side of the room making way for the next pony.

Next up was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, or at least she was trying to come over and talk. She was slowly inching her way over to me and didn’t come very close before stopping to introduce herself. “Um… I’m Fluttershy, an-and I’m the ultimate pet enthusiast… I guess” She quickly bolted out of sight after her introduction, clearly shy and scared of everyone here.

After that came an Orange pony with a blondish mane. She seemed to be wearing a cowboy hat which told me exactly what kind of pony she had to be. “The name’s Applejack,” She said with a southern accent “Ultimate apple farmer according to the invitation the principal sent me,”

After her was white unicorn with headphones, glasses, and a dark and light blue colored mane. “The names Vinyl Scratch, I was sent here because they said I was the ultimate musician, so come to me if you want to hear some sick beats,” Vinyl scratch went of to the left to talk with Pinkie Pie about something while the next pony came up.

Well… the next TWO I should have said as a dark blue Alicorn with a flowing mane of similar color and a orange pony with armour on stood next to her. Wait, it couldn’t be! “I AM PRINCESS LUNA,” It was “I AM HERE TO TAKE THE PLACE OF ULTIMATE HEIR TO THE THRONE”

“It’s just Heir your majesty,” Said the pony to the left of her “I’m Flash Sentry, I was also invited here as Ultimate Soldier. Its nice to meet you,” This was definitely an unexpected surprise. Out of all the ponies I expected to come here LUNA was not one that I thought would be. As for her bodyguard, while he definitely seemed like a nice pony to be friends with something told me I will end up hating him in the end and won’t want to see him again. Just a hunch, but still.

Next up was Violet pony with a hot pink and very light pink mane. “I’m Cheerilee, the Ultimate Teacher. I look forward to getting to meet you all here at this school,” Teacher? does that mean that she will be teaching us or is she a student as well? That was a confusing one to figure out but it was better to just let it slide for now.

When Cheerilee stepped to the side I easily recognized the pink alicorn coming towards me. “CADENCE!” I yelled out to her. She seemed just as surprised to see me as I was to see her. “What are you doing at a school like this?” I asked honestly wanted to know why.

“I got an invitation like you did saying that I was welcomed to this school because I was the ultimate princess or something like that,” I heard a loud grunt from the crowd and I looked over to see Luna roll her eyes. Guess she was upset that another princess was here. “I can’t wait to spend some time with you later,” Cadence finished as she made way for the next pony in the crowd to come foward. I nodded to her before turning to see who was next.

Next up wasn’t a pony, but a zebra instead. She was holding a satchel with some interesting bottles fill with some kind of liquid. “Hello there young mare, please don’t feel scared,” She said in rhymes “Zecora is my name and a great alchemist is my fame,” Zecora's rhyming definitely confused me, as I didn’t understand what she meant that well.

She backed off to the side like every other pony this far and a stallion with a light brown coat and dark brown mane came trotting up to me. “Hello there Twilight,” He greeted me with his british accent “The names Doctor Whooves and I was told to come here because I was the ultimate scientist, so I hope we get to know each other well,” He then quickly trotted off to talk to Zecora while the next pony came up to greet me.

The next pony to come up was a normal pony with a beige coat and a blue mane with a pink stripe down the. “The names Bon Bon,” She said “As for my ultimate talent, I would rather keep it a secret to keep myself safe if that's okay with you,” I nodded my head in understandment.

Bon Bon moved to the side as the second to last pony came to greet me. As for who that was… she was a blue unicorn with a very light blue colored mane. She walked up to me with a lots of confidence before introducing herself. “I, my friend, am the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE, the ultimate MAGICIAN,” She introduce with a lot more enthusiasm than I could handle.

“You mean the ultimate trickster, you worthless pony,” said a very angry voice from the back of the room. Trixie and I looked to see a griffin sitting by herself away from every pony else. “The names Gilda, okay, now can we just stop the introductions and find out what the heck is going on here,” She said with even MORE anger than I thought possible.

“Yeah, I’m with Gilda on this one,” Rainbow Dash said “Isn’t the principle of this place suppose to tell us what’s going on?”

“Trixie would like to know why her magic is not working,” Trixie said. Looks like I’m not the only one here who wasn’t able to use magic. Why couldn’t we use it? It didn’t seem necessary to take it away. I really hope the we get some answers, if we ever do get some of course. Luckily, it wasn’t long before a voice was heard over the loudspeaker.

“Hello, would all students please look to the front of the gymnasium,” A strange high pitch voice said. As instructed everyone looked to the front to see what the voice meant. After everyone was looking at the front something came up from behind the pedestal. When it landed the shape of a strange bear with half of its body white and half of it black as well as a freakishly large bellybutton.

“Um, whats a teddy bear doing on the pedestal?” Applejack asked. Honestly, I really wished that was all it was, but it was not.

“I’m not a teddy bear you foolish ponies, I’m Monokuma” The bear thing answered back. Everyone was in shock to hear the voice from the speaker suddenly come out of the creature in front of us called Monokuma. “and I’m the principle of this here school,”

“Strange,” Cheerilee said, speak for all of us at this point. “I thought that the principle of this school was going to be a pony,”

“Welp, you’re wrong,” Monokuma replied, his voice making my entire body shiver. “Now, all of you have been invited to this school because you are our rays of hope here in Equestria. So, as to protect all of you wonderful rays of hope, you are now forced to not live the school ground for the rest of your lives,” Live here, for the rest of our life! I know I was going to have dorms and everything, but actually living here in the school was crazy. “Furthermore, none of you are allowed to leave the school ground under any circumstances,”

Rainbow Dash was the first one to respond to this. “Your kidding right?. You aren’t actually make us stay in this school for our entire lives,” Her thoughts echoed throughout the rest of the students as Monokuma responded.

“Oh I’m not kidding,” Monokuma responded in a somewhat menacing voice. “You all have the evidence. Why do you think the windows are sealed? Why do think that I cut off all magic from you unicorns? It’s all to make sure you stay in this school, and before you ask, there is NO exit as well,” If those words didn’t make you believe him, the voice he used to say it sure did. That also answered my earlier question on why I couldn’t use my magic in here either. Somehow he managed to cut off all ability with it, but how?

“There is no way we could live here all our lives,” Rarity said terrified “I have a shop to run, and Luna can’t bring night when it needs to happen. You are putting our families in fear as well. I REFUSE to live here,” I completely agree with Rarity on this one. I may not have any family or a business to run, but Monokuma was putting everything these ponies had in danger. How does he know no one will try to escape?

“For those of you who DO want to leave,” Monokuma said in reply to Rarity’s disbelief “I have created one rule for you. To put it simply, you must disrupt the peace of the lives here in this school,”

“What exactly do you mean?” I replied, but I think I already knew for myself wait this creepy bear meant.

“Since you don’t seem to know, I’m talking about murder,” Monokumas answer was the one thing I was hoping it was. “Drowning, burning, stabbing, anyway you can think of killing another student here in the school. If you want to graduate, then you only have to commit a murder and get away with it,” Everyone around me gave out a big what (or fainted in Fluttershy’s case) to this discovery. Clearly no one was ready to have this happen, and honestly no one could have expect it to begin with.

“Why?” Trixie said full of rage “Why would you make Trixie do such a horrible thing to her fans,”

Monokuma clearly did not hear Trixie’s question, instead continuing with his explanations of the school. “Before I continue explaining the school, I need to give you all these,” He then ducked behind his place on the podium before reappearing with a bunch of bags that seemed to contain some stuff inside them. After gaining his balance he threw them all into the gymnasium and landing on the floor. After finding one with my name on it, I put it on over my neck as Monokuma continued to speak. “In those bags you will find the keys to your dorms, a map of the school, and a book containing the rules, information on your fellow students, and free space to write anything you want. Whether you use it just as diary or journal, or plotting to kill and graduate, it’s the one thing I promise not to peek into as long as you stay here,”

While it seemed absolutely insane to kill someone here, and the fact that we couldn’t leave the school grounds was just as bad, it was nice that Monokuma seemed to care at least a little about our privacy. That still didn’t change the fact that we would have to kill in order to leave this place. Even though it was the only way out, there was NO WAY I was going to kill anyone here. Saddly, I may be the only here that actually is thinking that way.

“Well then,” Monokuma said, looking like he was about to finish his speech “I hope you all have a GREAT time here at this school. Just know, if there is no killing in the next three days, I will find someway to make you all turn against each other. So try your best to graduate, you here me! Until then, see yeah,” And with that, Monokuma disappeared without a trace.

Everyone looked at each other, suddenly feeling uncomfortable about the current situation. Clearly no one knew who they could trust, not even Luna knew this. It was clear to me know that this was not the school of hope I thought it was. If anything at all, this was a school of despair.

The Beginning of Despare (Daily life Part 2)

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The Beginning of Despair (Deadly Life)

I took every action I was suppose to. I stayed with Fluttershy, looked out for people that looked like they were plotting murder, everything. Even with all of this, someone managed to get killed. I was blaming myself because I thought I had stopped it, but in reality, I didn’t. There, on the ground before me, was a pony I never even knew. Derpy was dead and there was nothing I could do about it.

“How?” Bon Bon cried out from behind me, just as upset as I had been “I tried everything to make sure the murder didn’t happen, but I failed,”

Everyone looked at Bon Bon confused. “You mean you knew it was going to happen,” Gilda shouted angrily “and you didn’t tell ANY OF US,” Everyone seemed to be questioning Bon Bon right now. Was it really the right choice for her to keep it hidden? I would have said something if I had known she hadn’t told anyone about the threats, but I thought Bon Bon already told them.

“Bon Bon didn’t do it,” I said stepping up to protect her. “Early yesterday morning Fluttershy told her that she had received a threat from someone wanting to kill her. She didn’t know somepony else was going to be a victim,”

That helped a little bit but people were still very unsure. “Do you know who wrote the letter?” Doctor Whooves asked.

“I don’t know either, she just told me to keep Fluttershy and that was it,” I replied defensively. Not that I think it would help much, but I had to try to do something.

Everyone looked around, unsure of the people standing next to them. Honestly, the only two people I felt like I could trust right now was Fluttershy and Bon Bon. Fluttershy couldn’t have done it even if she tried and I trusted Bon Bon because she at least made sure to keep one pony alive. Before anyone else was able to question, we heard the sound of the loudspeaker in the room turn on and we were once again meet with the unpleasant surprise or Monokuma.

“Attention, would all students please report to the gymnasium,”

Following Monokuma’s orders, everyone headed to the gym wondering what Monokuma had to say. Everyone seemed to be keeping distance from each other, not wanting to be the next victim some how. When we entered the gymnasium, it was completely empty, making everyone wonder why we had come here. However not long after all of us had entered, Monokuma jump up onto the podium.

“So,” He started, a rather sinister tone coming from those words “I bet you are all wondering why I called you here. Of course, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise after what you all encountered,”

“We’re here because of Derpy, Right?” Daring Do said stepping forward. “If I’m correct, then that pony gets to leave now,”

Monokuma and anyone else who read the rulebook would have immediately known that this incorrect. While it didn’t state it fully, the book mentioned something about the murder being considered the “blackened” and something like that. That was the moment I realize just what Monokuma meant earlier when he mentioned a trial. Luckily, Monokuma answered for me.

“Really? if it was that easy than why do you think they would have already left,” Monokuma pointed out. “You didn’t read the handbook did you Daring? If you did you would have known that a trial must be held in order to see who is and is not guilty,”

Everyone seemed to understand this, or at least those who read the book like they should have would know. This was more then just simply causing the murder then they had thought. If someone was to leave, then they had to commit the perfect murder. This meant causing it and getting away with it without anyone else knowing who it was.

“I’m guessing you must know who's the guilty party then,” Luna said unsure of just how fair it is.

“Hold on, I’m getting there,” Monokuma said wanting to continue. “Anyways, you will have a certain amount of time to question and search for evidence that might lead to the knowledge of who the killer is. After that you will all head to the elevator that none of you seem to have noticed near the dorms and will be taken to the small court where we will commence the class trial. If you find enough evidence to point to the blackened, then only they will receive punishment. If you fail however, then the only one who doesn’t get punished is the blackened and the rest of you will. Oh, and to answer your question, yes. That's why I have all those cameras installed around the school, to make sure this trial is as fair as possible,”

Once again, Luna spoke up “I suppose this punishment is fair as well?”

Monokuma seemed to laugh at this, whatever he had planned for punishment must have been either hilarious or really evil. “Well, considering that going easy on someone who committed murder in your world is punished by sending the pony to the sun or the moon, I don’t think that death is that bad of a punishment. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Despit his laugh, everypony seem to be trembling with this information. Honestly, he was right. It wasn’t that bad considering the alternative, if it was just the murderer, but killing everyone else if we got it wrong was worse in many ways. That being said, at least he was giving us time to find out who the murderer was, so at least he had some heart (if he had one to begin with).

“Um,” Rainbow Dash said, being the next one to ask questions “You do know that close to none of us here had ever been in a trial before right?”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Monokuma said assuring her. “For those of you who aren’t experts at this like the two little princess’ are, I have something to help you start off. I give to you all, the MONOKUMA FILE,”

Just like he did with the handbags on the first day, Monokuma threw out to everyone a small folder with a piece of paper in it. I sat down and picked up the folder that read the words “Monokuma File #1” on it. Looking inside, I saw a picture of the murder site as well as some basic facts about the wound, time of murder, and other stuff.

“This here file was made to help you get the basic information you need to start on getting find out who the murder is,” Monokuma pointed out. Once again, he at least was giving us a chance. “With that, I bid you all farewell and hope you the best of luck for the class trial. See you then,” With that, Monokuma was gone... again… for the fourth time.

Bon Bon tapped me, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee, and Daring Do over to the side for some reason. She brought us over to the edge to a corner of the gym away from the others as she started to explain.

“Listen,” Her voice urgent but calm at the same time. “The reason I brought the five of you over here was because I now none of you did it. Therefore, I think it’s best if we work together to solve this on our own terms,” We were all okay with this, and I could understand why she thought that we didn’t do it.

“First off,” I stated, confident in our group “Let’s check the Monokuma File to see what it said about the murder,”

I opened the file and read the content located inside to the others in the room.

Murder Victim: Derpy Hooves

Time of Death: Roughly 10:15 pm

Location of Murder: Kitchen

Cause of Death: Single blow to the stomach with sharp object. No organs or other external injuries found on body.

Monokuma File #1 added to Truth Bullets

The rest was just overall facts on the victim from height to age and other stuff. How did Monokuma find out all that stuff? I honestly didn’t want to know. That being said he gave use some good evidence to start off with, but now it was up to us to figure out the rest.

Knowing that most of the evidence would be at the crime scene, we made our way to the kitchen to investigate. When we arrived, we were meet with a surprise to see Gilda and Flash Sentry standing in front of the door.

“Sorry losers,” Guilda said surprisingly happy “No one’s allowed in here,”

“Why?” Was the only question that could come to my mind.

“Princess Luna and Cadance are inside investigating,” Flash explained “To make sure the crime scene is untouched, we are to allow no one in no matter what the case,” I heard Cadance yells something at Flash, but was unable to make out what it was. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait to find out. “Let me correct myself, Twilight is allowed in but the rest of you aren’t. Cadance trusts you enough to help,”

I told them to give me a minute as I turned to the group and whispered a new plan of investigation. After sometime, we came to an agreement. I would search the crime scene with Luna and Cadance sense I was allowed in, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Bon Bon would search for clues around the school, and Daring Do and Cheerilee would ask others around the school to see. After that we would meet back up here and discuss our findings with each other. Before hand, however, we each asked each other if there was anything that happened last night. While four of us were clueless, Fluttershy and Cheerilee actually had something to say.

“I don’t really know if this was related or not,” Fluttershy mention explain her possible evidence. “but I woke up to the sound of something in the ceiling last night. I don’t know if it is important, but it might help. Right?”

Cheerilee was next “Twilight,” She turned to me as she continued “You remember how I was waiting outside of the dorms last night,” I nodded “Well, the reason was so I could make sure that everyone got back to the room so I could make sure no one was in trouble. I heard that Derpy was in her room already so I just assumed she was. However, there were three ponies up and around during the time of death,”

When ask them who they were she said that Gilda, Pinkie, and Doctor Whooves was the ones that were up.

Sound in the Ceiling was added to Truth Bullets

Late arrivers was added to Truth Bullets

With this in mind we separated to do our tasks. Flash Sentry and Gilda let me through to the Kitchen to find that Luna and Cadance were already searching. Instead of asking them straight off what they found, I decided to look around and check things for myself.

One of the first things I wanted to look at was the body to see if there was anything Monokuma hadn’t put down in his report. When I got close to the body, the first thing I check was the wound. According to the Monokuma File the cause of death was a single blow to the stomach, but I wanted to see if there was anything about it that he didn’t tell us. After studying it for a few minutes, I was able to come up with a good idea on what the wound was really like.

Just like Monokuma put down, it was a single blow and that no other injuries was on the body. To be more in depth then he was, the wound was long but at the same time very thin. It didn’t seem like the pony who did it was able to clear right through the skin however, as there was no show of Derpy’s insides visible. This meant that she didn’t die instantly and was bleeding to depth before that time.

Monokuma File #1 was updated

That’s when I remembered that there was blood on the floor leading to her body. To make sure I wasn’t making that up I check behind me to see a stream of hardened blood leading to Derpy’s body. This allowed me to conclude that Derpy had not died instantly, and make another hopefully crucial discovery.

Bleed to death was added to Truth Bullets

With that in mind, I was then able to pinpoint exactly where the injury had occurred, but wondered how they had managed to sneak up behind Derpy. Wouldn’t she have known somepony was coming from the sound of their hooves behind her. It seemed strange that there was no sign of struggle in the room.

“Look up,” Luna requested from behind me. Doing as she told I was able to realize that there was a hole in the ceiling. “Strange isn’t it?”

I had to agree, it seemed strange that there was a hole in the ceiling. It may of been how Derpy got caught by surprise before her death. Still, it didn’t seem possible that a pony was able to get up into the ceiling at all. Where would they have been able to get up their?

Ceiling Hole was added to Truth Bullets

With that being said, I went back to the body one last time to make sure I didn’t miss anything. When it was clear that there was nothing left, I decided to check around to see if there was anything else noteworthy at the scene of the crime. When I couldn’t find much else to look for, I decided to question Luna and Cadance about anything they found.

“Well,” Cadance said when asked if she found anything. She was looking around the sink area for a possible murder weapon that could have caused it. “I think I may have found the murder weapon. It’s used for cutting, and is sharp enough to pierce the skin meaning that any of the knifes in this kitchen could have easily been the murder weapon as well”

She pointed at a wet knife that was in the sink. It didn’t seem to have any blood on it, but given its location it was safe to assume some had washed it.

Washed knife was added to Truth Bullets

“Now that I think of it,” I said, suddenly realizing something. “Why was Derpy in the kitchen in the first place?”

“From what I heard she loved muffins,” Cadance said “I remember that she and Pinkie made some yesterday and put them in the fridge. It’s possible she came in here to quickly get one before heading off to bed last night,”

Muffins was added to Truth Bullets… apparently

Getting nothing new out of Luna I made my way out of the kitchen. As I exited, I saw that the others had returned from the investigations already. We decided to discuss in Bon Bon’s room what we had found out. I told them what I had saw and they then took their turns telling me what they found out. Saddly, Cheerilee and Daring Do had come up empty with their side of it, not here anything more then “I was asleep” from everyone at the time. The others, though, had made a notable discoveries on their investigation of the school.

“Only one thing was really worth noticing,” Rainbow Dash said “We found that one of the washers had been running all night,”

“And why do you think that this had to do with the murder?” Daring Do said, confused as to why she thought something like that was actual evidence.

“Who ever did it must have been hiding something doing with her murder,” Bon Bon explained “It might have gotten on to an article of clothing or an item of value they keep with them. Of course we could have just found nothing, but it's can be little pieces of evidence like that which can be the difference between finding the truth and being falsely accused,”

Running washer was added to Truth Bullets

Just as Bon Bon finished, we heard the sound of the monitor turn on. After the usual short jingle, Monokuma appeared.

“Investigation time is now over, all students please report to the elevator and be ready to start the first class trial,”

We made our way over to the giant elevator like Monokuma had instructed us. Everyone tense as we hoped that our efforts would be enough to keep us safe. When we arrived, we found that the party from the kitchen was already there, waiting for everyone to arrive. Once everyone had, we watched as the giant gate slow open to the elevator on the other side. Everyone climbed in and we started our descent down. I took one last look at Fluttershy (who had come to my side) and she gave me a confident nod.

“Let’s do this,” She said as the elevator stopped and we saw another giant metal gate open to a circular room, Monokuma was waiting on the side opposite from us all in a throne.

“Please come in and find your place,” Monokuma requested of us, pointing to the round railings the curved in and out in the middle of the room. “The trial will commence momentarily,”

We all obeyed and found our spot, mine right next to Trixie (on the left) and Daring Do (on my right). Feeling confident about the evidence I had gather, I knew I had a chance in finding the culprit being the murder. This is our only chance to survive now, the class trial has begun.

Author's Note

and so, we find ourselves about to enter the first trial of the game. I know this game isn't that well known here in the U.S. but I'm going to keep writing this because of how much fun I did writing the first three chapters of it. That being said I will be uploading the class trial before the second Life of Stardust chapter. So, who do you think kill Derpy? Write in the comment section who you think it is and anything that could make this story better. Also leave a like and you might as well follow me to stay updated on all my fan fics if you like them. See ya!

The Beginning of Despair (Class Trial part 1)

Class Trial Commence

“Before we begin, let me remind you of how this trial works,” Monokuma said as everyone got comfortable in their spots “Each one of you will take turns presenting evidence you found during your investigation to try and discover the murderer. If you manage to find blackened, then they are the only ones that receive punishment. However, if you accuse the innocent and not the blackened, then the rest of you will receive punishment and they get to walk out of here free,”

“Can I just make sure of one thing,” Luna said, not quite certain about something “You're positive that one of us is the murderer?”

Monokuma giggle as he answered the question “No doubt about it. One of you are definitely the culprit of this crime,”

“One more thing,” Doctor Whooves said curiously “Why is there a picture of the victim among us as well,”

I looked to my right to see that there was a empty area of the courtroom with a picture of Derpy on it. I couldn’t help be feel a little curious myself as I looked at it.

“I felt like it wouldn’t be right to not include the ponies that have died, so I decided to put a picture in place of them to make it feel like they are infact still here,” Monokuma explain “Just pretend that she's here in spirit okay,”

With that out of the way, we decided to start discussing the murder. I quickly ran through the notes I had taken on the murder to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Trixie was the first to ask a question about the murder.

“So,” She said “The great and powerful Trixie wonders who had the opportunity to cause this,” We all looked at her confused and she seemed to realized that she had to explain what she meant. “What I mean to say is, we can all talk about the evidence but unless we can find possible suspects it won’t even matter,”

“It’s true,” Vinyl replied “We don’t have any idea of who was up at the time of the murder. For all we know, it could've been anyone,”

This wasn’t true, I knew that there was a group that was up at that time.

Non-Stop Debate

Truth Bullets:
Knife
Sound in the Ceiling
Late Arrivers

Rarity: So where should we start?

Trixie: We can look at the evidence all we want… but we have no suspects.

Vinyl: and that means no possible murders.

Gilda: So everyone was in their rooms at the time?

Rarity: It would seem that way.

No, that can’t be right.

Everyone looked at me as I made my outburst. I honestly didn’t know where it came from, but I knew what Gilda had said was wrong. Everyone was awaiting my response, so I decided not to delay what I knew any longer then I had been.

“Cheerilee,” Many eyes shifted to the teacher at the other side of the room “You said that three ponies among us were up at that time, right?”

Cheerilee nodded as she answered my question “Yes, three ponies were up at around that time. If memory serves me correctly, they were Gilda, Pinkie Pie, and Doctor Whooves. Am I correct?”

Everyone looked at the two ponies and the griffin, wondering what there response would be. At the moment, they were the ones that seemed the most suspicious. Not much evidence pointed to them exactly, but it was at least a place to start questioning.

“I won’t deny it,” Gilda said, “I was up at that time with the other two. Pinkie was boring my ears off with constant randomness and wouldn’t let the two of us go until she finished,”

“Um,” Fluttershy mumbled “You don’t have ears,”

Gilda seemed to get instantly ticked off at this, showing just how short tempered she was. “It’s a figure of speech, got it?” Fluttershy tried to hide, her head. “Honestly, I could see if some of you would be suspicious of me, but I assure you that I didn’t do it,”

“Oh really,” Rainbow Dash said, giving a good stare at the griffen. “Cause I think you did. In fact, I’m almost sure you did it,”

“Wh-what?” Gilda said, all faces in the room were now on her. “Didn’t you just hear me, I couldn’t have done it,”

“Sure, you were with me and Pinkie after the time,” Doctor Whooves said “but that doesn’t mean you could have done it after words. There was still a few minutes between the murder and Pinkie letting us free. I say you might just be our top canidate,”

“What,” Gilda was in complete panic “I’m telling you it wasn’t me. There’s no way it could have been me,”

Everyone seemed to be thinking that it was Gilda who did it, but something didn’t feel right. I don’t know why, but something told me she was innocent. I wasn’t the only one who felt like this however, as Bon Bon seemed to have doubts.

“I don’t think she did it,” Bon Bon replied, trying to get the others on her side. “I don’t know why, but I feel like something about her murdering Derpy just doesn’t fit,”

Rainbow didn’t believe it “Then tell us what it is?”

“I don’t know, but it just doesn’t seem right,” Bon Bon seemed to be scrambling through her brain to try and explain, but it didn’t seem like it was showing any results.

“Then there’s no way to prove that she isn’t the murderer,” Rainbow Dash said, confident in herself.

It does seem like Gilda was the murderer, but going ahead and jumping to conclusions was not going to help right now. If Bon Bon felt the same way, then there must be at least something to try and prove her innocence. I just had to figure out what it was.

Non-Stop Debate

Truth Bullets:
Monokuma File #1
Knife
Bleed to Death

Rainbow Dash: Just give up and confess it Gilda… you had to have murder Derpy.

Gilda: No, I didn’t. I never had a reason to kill Derpy.

Rainbow Dash: Oh really, then why did you seem so quick to defend yourself.

Gilda: If you really think I did it… then show me what weapon I used.

Trixie: That one is easy.

Rainbow Dash: Your talons made the perfect weapon to kill Derpy.

Applejack: The motive is also clear… you couldn’t handle being with ponies like us.

Gilda: I would never kill for a reason like.

No, that can’t be right.

Rainbow looked at me, angry at the fact I didn’t believe her. “What do you mean I’m not right?” She questioned me. “It’s too obvious that she had done it,”

“You were so certain you right you didn’t take time to remember the basic information we had,” I tried to point out to her. “Remember what the Monokuma file said about the wound?”

My question seemed to get everyone to realize what I was talking about, but Rainbow Dash was still confused.

“Allow me to spell it out to you and your oversized ego Dash,” Gilda explained, finally trying to defend herself. “First of all, the wound was a single slash to the stomach with a sharp object. If I really used my talons to kill Derpy, then why was it a single slash. Also, it wouldn’t have said a Sharp object if I used my own body to kill her. Just to make sure it gets into your small pegasus brain, however, I will also point out that my talons could not have cut deep enough to create a wound that then. Secondly, do my talons have any blood in them?”

She put on of her talons on the table for us to examine. It was true, no blood was found on them. If she had murdered Derpy, then some blood would have been stained in under the claws of each one. Gilda wasn’t done lecturing Rainbow Dash for her mistakes, however.

“No way they would be this clean if you were correct right?” Her voice getting more and more angry as it went on. “Third,” She then looked at Applejack, same tone in her voice. “What the hell kind of a motive is that. You don’t kill because you can’t stand a pony. It makes no sense, is down right stupid, and is something only a maniac would do,” She started to calm down as she made an interesting point. “Lastly, and this one comes as a question to the rest of you as well, who could I get into the kitchen or the cafeteria?”

Everyone looked at Gilda in shock as she went from complete and utter rage to calm and focus. It was pretty obvious she wasn’t a pony to mess around with. I made a note in my head to stay out of her way. That being said she brought up both great points in why she didn’t cause the murder and also bring up a good point on the actual murder itself.

“Thats right,” Daring Do said, realizing something. “Monokuma, didn’t you say that the cafeteria was closed during night hours?”

Monokuma clapped his paws as he heard Daring Do’s question “I was wondering if anyone would realize that. Yes, the cafeteria is not open during the night hours, meaning that it would be impossible to get into the kitchen unless they were there before hand. I expect nothing less from an adventurer like you, Darin Do,”

Daring Do smiled, happy to see her great expertize recognized by Monokuma. It also confirmed a very strange thing about the case. The murder took place after night hours in a place you couldn’t even reach during that time. This meant that it was a closed door case, and brought up many questions concerning it.

“Wait a second,” Pinkie spoke up, question Monokuma directly “Why didn’t you punish Derpy since she was in the kitchen? Didn’t she break the rules?”

Monokuma rubbed the back of his head. “Depends on your interpretation of the rules,” He explained “The rules say that being in the cafeteria and gym during that time is punishment. I didn’t mention anything about the kitchen, so I guess it doesn’t break the rules,”

“So somepony got into the kitchen without going through the cafeteria,” Fluttershy said, confused. “How is that possible?”

It’s true, it didn’t seem possible that somepony was able to get into the kitchen if the time is right. How did the murderer manage to get in?

Non-Stop Debate

Truth Bullets:
Late Arrivers
Ceiling Hole
Noise in the Ceiling

Luna: How did the murderer… get into the kitchen?

Pinkie: Maybe the were already in their?

Rainbow Dash: Maybe a secret passage?

Applejack: It doesn’t have to be an intended entrance, right?

Trixie: Of course, you’re right… They could have made their own entrance.

Applejack: I was just about to say that.

Luna: So which was it?

I agree with your statement

I looked at Trixie to confirm what she said “Trixie, I think you’re correct,”

Her face seemed to light up from hearing me agree with her. “I’m correct?” I nodded to her, smiling as her ego seemed to explode “Then tell Trixie, please tell her,”

I turned to the group as I explained my thinking. “When I was looking at the crime scene with the princesses, Luna showed me a strange hole that was in the ceiling lead to the spot were Derpy was originally wounded,”

Trixie seemed to get an idea of what the culprit did from this, “I understand. Someone must of removed a tile from the ceiling in their room. This way the great and powerful Trixie couldn’t seem them or the hole and could get past the cafeteria without breaking school rules. They went to the kitchen, knowing that Derpy was there. After that, they took a knife and killed her, escaping through the ceiling and back into there room where they slept till the morning. Genous idea, but the great and powerful Trixie, with help from her sidekick, manage to see their little mistake,”

I was amazed that Trixie was able to figure out so much in such a small amount of time. It helped us figure out where the culprit entered from, what weapon they used, and how they were able to escape as well. I had to give it to Trixie, she seemed to be full of herself, but managed to do something that would have otherwise taken much longer in a minute or so.

“I got it,” Flash said, speaking up for the first time at the table. “I know who the murderer is,”

“Oh,” Monokuma said, interested in what Flash had said “and who do you think it is?”

“Someone who didn’t tell us their talent,” He looked over to Bon Bon, her body stiff with fear “The ultimate spy. Isn’t that right, Sweetie Drops?”

A look of fear crossed Bon Bon - or Sweetie Drops - face as everyone’s eyes locked onto her. She sighed as she looked to us and answered. “First off, I like to admit Flash is right. My name isn’t Bon Bon, it’s special agent Sweetie Drops. I was part of an organization created to stop monsters, but it fell apart years ago. Celestia wanted total deniability of its existence. I took the name Bon Bon so no one would know. My talent is, in fact, the ultimate spy. That being said, I didn’t kill Derpy,”

“Oh really,” Flash said, ready to fire back at Sweetie Drops with all his might. “Then I guess I’ll just have to prove it,”

Author's Note

Sorry that this is only part 1, I want to write some other stuff as well so I got the first chapter of this out as soon as I was able to. That being said, the next chapter will be a Tales of Stardust chapter and will be up at sometime in the coming week or two. Saying that, comment, like, and follow. Who do you think killed Derpy? Find out in the next chapter.

The Beginning of Despair (Class Trial part 2)

To think it would have ended up like this. I had put all my trust in Bon Bon - or Sweetie Drops - and now she is being accused. She never told us her talent because she wasn’t suppose to reveal anything about the organization she was a part of, and that got her into the position she is in now. Despite what some were beginning to think, I knew she was innocent.

“Sweetie Drops,” I asked, “Please tell me you didn’t do it. It wasn’t you, right?”

All she could do was nodded her head, making me sigh that she wasn’t completely giving in.

“I know it was you,” Flash said, confident that he has succeeded “Who else could have easily gotten into the ceiling,”

“We don’t know if it was her just yet,” Luna said, “One piece of evidence isn’t enough to find the killer, unless it’s really strong,”

I was glad to see that some were coming to Sweetie Drops defense besides me. I had my doubts that she would murder someone, having gone to help Fluttershy when she was threatened. Not only that, but would she have acted the way she did back when we first found Derpy’s body? I don’t think a killer would ever act like that.

“Let’s not accuse anyone just yet,” I acted, knowing I had to do something. “Maybe we should look at the possible evidence still left stand. I know there's something that doesn’t fit here,”

“Fine,” Flash responded, “If you think you can prove her innocent, then try and prove it,”

Non-Stop Debate

Truth bullets:
Ceiling Hole
Sound in the Ceiling
Bleed to death

Sweetie Drops: I’m telling you, I didn’t kill Derpy. She did nothing to me.

Flash: But you’re the only one who could have gotten into the ceiling.

Luna: So if what you’re saying is true… then Sweetie easily caught her by surprise… by stabbing her when she jumped down from the ceiling.

Flash: Exactly, the death would have been quick and painless. No one could have delivered such an easy death.

Sweetie Drops: Wait. Quick and painless?

No, that can’t be right

“I figured it out,” I yelled out, seeing a weakness in Flash’s statement. “I know that Sweetie Drops was not the one that killed Derpy,”

“Really,” Flash looked at me confused, “What did I get wrong,”

“The death was not quick and painless,” I said, “If it was, then wouldn’t Derpy be dead under the hole in the ceiling. If you looked at the crime scene, then you would know that Derpy was found dead in a corner a few feet away from where the ceiling was. Also there's a trail of blood on the floor leading to the place where she was found dead,”

Trixie easily picked up on what I was saying, summarizing what I meant. “In Trixie’s words, Derpy’s horrible death was not a quick and painless as you predicted. The blackened slash Derpy, but didn’t stop to make sure she killed her before leaving. A great hole in the case once again discovered by the great and powerful Trixies amazing sidekick Twilight Sparkle,”

Once again, Trixie managed to put it all together and have it all make sense without any questions asked. It made a lot of sense, no way would the ultimate spy make a mistake like this. Flash seem to realize what he had messed up.

“Oh,” Flash stuttered a little as he spoke. “I didn’t realize. Sorry Sweetie Drops,”

“It’s okay,” Sweetie Drops said, “You had all the right to think it was me, but next time you should think before you accuse someone. That being said, I think we almost have our murderer,”

Everyone looked at Sweetie Drops in wonder. I didn’t think we were close at all to finding out who the murderer is. We already have a few people we knocked out of doing it, but there were still many left that could possibly have murdered Derpy.

“Let's go over who it’s not first,” Daring said, picking the conversation back up. “We know it wasn’t Twilight or Fluttershy because of the note sent to Fluttershy’s room. Both of them were sleeping in the same room last night so it couldn’t be them or else we would already know. It couldn’t have been Luna or Cadance as I don’t think a princess would murder their own subjects for no reason. Cheerilee is also out, as she was standing in the hall minutes before the murder,”

“We also know Gilda and Sweetie Drops are innocent,” Luna said, continuing off of what Daring had said. “As they have already proved theirs to us all. I can also say that it isn’t Flash Sentry, as he was standing guard in my room last night,”

“So the goal is to find out who of the remaining suspects did it,” Vinyl said. “It could be anyone else, as the entrance had to be in one of the bedrooms. This means anyone who hasn’t gone up to defend themselves -including me - could have done it. However, I would also like to say that it can’t be Trixie, as she is being more helpful than a killer would usually be,”

“In that case,” Applejack said, also speaking up for the first time in a while, “Let's take a look at the remaining evidence that we all have and try and pinpoint it at the culprit,”

Seeing as I still had multiple pieces of evidence left, I was hoping that something I had would be able to solve this once and for all.

Non-Stop Debate

Truth Bullet:
Sound in the Ceiling
Washing Machine
Washed Knife

Daring Do: Let’s start by asking this… Could the blackened have hide it any evidence… somewhere besides the crime scene?

Rarity: What would you mean by that?

Flash: She means could the murderer… dispose of the evidence outside the crime scene.

Luna: Yes, it’s true… the evidence doesn’t have to be at the crime scene.

Rainbow Dash: If that’s the case… then it could be hiding around the school.

Rarity: Which means the murderer made sure something wasn’t accessible.

I agree with your statement

“Rainbow Dash,” She looked at me as I explained “Didn’t you say that there was a jammed washing machine in the laundry room?”

“Yes,” Rainbow answered

“If that’s the case,” I continued “Then someone could have gotten blood on their cloths and had to throw them in the wash to get it off, and jammed the door so that we couldn’t find it,”

“That is true,” Flash agreed “but the only one here who wears something is me, Applejack, Trixie, and Daring Do,” He pointed at the ponies he had named “All of us, as you can see are dressed. So it couldn’t be important,”

Before I dropped my head in shame, Sweetie Drops spoke up. “Actually, it does clarify something I expected,” All of us looked at her, wondering what she meant. “Think about it, the evidence points to multiple ponies being involved in this crime, but we know only one could have done it. Flash, Gilda, and I have all been brought up but none of us did it. Not only that, but the murderer seems to want us to expect not just one pony, but multiple ponies could have done it. They want it to turn to everyone but them, and they used facts they know about the ponies to try and get the better of them,”

“So what you’re saying,” Pinkie shouted “Is that we’ve been lead in circles,”

Sweetie looked at Pinkie with eyes before grinning strangely. Something about that had told me she figured it out, but I wasn’t sure where she was going. “Yes,” was the only response she gave.

“Anyway’s,” Daring Do said, “Let's look at some of the other possible things that we have yet to talk about,”

Non-Stop Debate

Truth Bullets:
Sound in the Ceiling
Muffins
Washed Knife

Sweetie Drops: It may seem kind of stupid to ask… but did anyone notice the crime happening?

Rarity: You mean some pony was there at the crime when it happen.

Luna: Or maybe someone found out by accident.

Gilda: They didn’t have to be at the crime scene right?

Cadance: If that is true… maybe someone caught the murderer on the way on the way.

I agree with your statement

“Actually,” I said, once again stating a piece of evidence I had “Some pony actually did catch them on the way to the crime,”

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash remembered “Fluttershy said she heard something in the ceiling last night. Maybe it was the murderer returning or going to the crime scene,”

Luna looked at Fluttershy “Is this true?” she nodded to the princess. “So, they weren’t that careful about noise made during or after the crime. The rules out some of the quieter ones among us,”

“Actually,” Sweetie Drops said, a smirk appear on her face “I know exactly who the murderer is now,” She looks at me “and I’m sure you can figure it out by now too Twilight. Who among us had the nerve to murder someone?”

As soon as she asked me, I had somehow pieced it all together and manage to pick out who in the crowd had caused it. Who else here knows everyone so good, who could have snuck up on Derpy and somehow not cause a struggle, who knew that Derpy would be at the kitchen that late at night. Only one of us, and I have targeted exactly who they are.

“It’s all over,” I give the murderer a strong glare with my eyes as I said their name “Pinkie Pie,”

The pink pony was shocked, she must have never expected she would be found out. However, she was not as clever as she thought. “What?” She shouted at the top of her lungs “You think I murdered Derpy?”

“I don’t think you did it,” I explained “I Know you did it,”

“Exactly,” Sweetie Drops said, “She had planned murder not once, but twice. She was the original writer of the threat directed towards Fluttershy as well as the criminal who took the life of Derpy,”

“I don’t get it,” Trixie said, confused “Explain to Trixie how Pinkie caused the murder,”

I turned to Sweetie Drops, and she gave me a nod telling me to explain what had happened that night. “You want to know what I think occurred?” I focused my gaze on Pinkie. “Then allow me to explain,”

“The first night here Fluttershy got a letter from some pony,” I started my explanation “Some pony willing to kill in order to get out of this school. However, because of Fluttershy’s timid nature and the fact the door was locked, they failed to get to her. The culprit left a note on the door and went back to their room. They would have come back to kill her again, if she didn’t learn that me and Fluttershy were going to be sharing rooms,

“With that in mind, she instead focus on another victim, Derpy. Using the a loose tile in the ceiling, she managed to get past the cafeteria without being punished as well as make it look like Sweetie Drops was the culprit. She then removed a tile over the kitchen and jumped down. Derpy didn’t expect her to attack so she didn’t defend. When her back was turned, the blackened took a knife from the kitchen and slash Derpy in the stomach, but was to stupid to realize that even though she cleaned the knife, Derpy wasn’t completely dead. She was barely hanging on, inching to the corner of the kitchen to try and find something to save her, but luck wasn’t on her side,

“With her victim dead, the blackened headed back to her room, not realizing that her hurried manner had woken up Fluttershy. She jumped down, and closed up the hole in the ceiling so that we could find it. Lastly, to make sure she wasn’t suspected, she jammed one of the washers in the laundry room to make it seem like Flash or some other pony wearing cloths did it before heading back to bed. Only one pony could have snuck up on Derpy so easily. Pinkie Pie, you are the murderer,”

Pinkie was completely shocked, not think that she would have been found out. An expression of anger appeared on her face as time went on.

“So Pinkie,” Sweetie Drops said “Want to admit it,”

“No,” Pinkie Pie said, her voice sounding angry “No no no no NO! I didn’t kill Derpy, I didn’t you here”

Seems like she wasn’t going to give in as easily as I hope. I had to prove it here, otherwise it might as well be over.

Non-Stop Debate

Truth Bullets:
Washed Knife
Muffins
Washing Machine

Pinkie Pie: What do you think you are doing… I didn’t kill Derpy, I know it.

Sweetie Drops: Of course it was… the noise you made in the ceiling prove it.

Pinkie Pie: It wasn’t me, wouldn’t it make more sense... for someone wearing armor to have done it.

Flash Sentry: Why the hell would I wear my armor to bed?

Pinkie Pie: I don’t know, but wouldn’t I make that much noise.

Luna: Said the pony who tried to throw a party at lunch yesterday.

Pinkie Pie: Say what you want, but I didn’t do it… I was never there and you can’t prove otherwise.

I totally can!

“Pinkie,” I said, having managed to silence her “You know every pony here at this school and made friends with the others easier than anypony else. That means that you could easily learn their secrets, as well as their strengths and weakness’. That’s why you made muffins with Derpy earlier that day, it was her biggest weakness and you knew that she would go to get one before the night hours started. If you want to object, then prove you NEVER MADE THOSE MUFFINS!”

Pinkie just stood their, her face scared and shocked at this “evidence” I had brought up. Soon she dropped her head, ready to admit her defeat. “You win,” She said, a much different tone in her voice than before. “Yes, it was me who killed Derpy and threatened Fluttershy,”

Everyone sighed, happy to see that we finally caught the killer. No longer were the majority of the lives here at stake, but it didn’t help making us any less stunned at Pinkie’s actions. It was hard to believe that someone like her would do something like this.

“Why?” Cadance asked, wanting to know the truth “Why would you endanger all of our lives to escape this place?”

“I… I,” Pinkie said, at a lost for words “I couldn’t take not making any new friends,” She finally managed to say. “As soon as Monokuma said we had to live here for the rest of my life, I was sad because I knew I wouldn’t have the ability to make anymore friends. Then, when he mentioned that we had to kill to escape, I had to do it. I was going to go crazy otherwise,”

“So you would put the lives of the princess’ in danger?” I yelled at her.

“It was my only option,”

I couldn’t fully grasp Pinkies reasoning. It seemed strange for some pony to go crazy for a reason like that. It left all of us silent, unable to think clearly what was really going on.

“Alright then,” Monokuma said, “I know you all are feeling a lot of despair right now, but I needed to get this class trial wrapped up, unless someone still doesn’t believe Pinkie did it,” The room stood silent, answering Monokumas question. “Alright then, it’s time to vote for who you think it the blackened,”

I wrote my answer down and passed it to Monokuma, who then looked over them all. When he was done, he pressed a lever causing a giant casino machine to appear from the middle of the room. With one push, Monokuma started it up as the faces of those among us spun in the middle. When it stopped, all three sides of the machine had Pinkie’s face on it and the sign on the top lighted up showing the words “guilty” on them.

“Yep, you ponies are all correct,” Monokuma said, somehow cheerfully “The blackened of this case is none other than Pinkie Pie. Congratulation,”

I looked up to Pinkie, who was still looking at the ground in front of her. “Pinkie, I’m sorry this had to happen,”

Despit how depressing it was, Pinkie seemed to be perfectly fine with it all. “It’s okay,” She looked up, a smile of sympathy on her face. “I should have known it was stupid to try and murder some pony, and was completely ready for what happens in case I was caught,” Tears started to roll down her face as she continued. “Listen, no matter what happens, you got to figure out what this place is. I know there's another way to get out. Don’t ask how I know, but you got to do it, for all of Equestria. So you could continue to make great friends,” and then came the words I would never forget. “Perhaps, we all were from the start,”

Those few words, those last few words managed to sting worse than anything else so far. She knew from the very beginning that we were friends, but never told me or anyone else for some reason. Tears started to form in my eyes as I heard this, as well as Pinkie saying to start the execution.

“Maybe, in another time,” Pinkie said, giving me her final words “We could be friends. Throw a party for me when you get out, okay?”

Pinkie Pie has been found guilty, time for her punishment.

Out of nowhere, the lights in the courtroom turn off, leaving everyone confused for a few seconds. When the lights turned back on, the room was completely different. A fence separating Pinkie from the rest of us, as an oversized mixing bowl came up from underneath her.

“Mares and Stallions,” Monokuma said as a mixer dropped down out of nowhere, him on top of it. “I hope your ready for the first in what will be many ironic punishments,”

As the mixer started, I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see the fate that Pinkie was about to come to, but I couldn’t do anything about hearing the sound of the mixer as it mix Pinkie along with cupcake mix (which I learn about afterwards). When I heard the mixer stop, I opened my eyes to see Monokuma easily kick the mixing bowl into a nearby oven.

It steam as it quickly cooked up everything in it and opened to a large cupcake (enjoy your nightmare fuel readers). I looked in shock as I realize what just happened, and realized that another pony among us has passed. I broke out into tears, Daring Do and Luna coming over to help me up.

“I promise,” I mumbled through my intense crying “I promise to you, Pinkie Pie, that I won’t let everyone get killed. You can count on it,”

Author's Note

So, how many of you thought it was Pinkie Pie? Honestly, I'm surprised that this is doing so well now, considering the original response to the fan fic. That being said, thanks to all of you who have help make this fan fic by liking and telling me your thoughts in the comments. Keep it up! Also, I'm going to focus a little more on Life of Stardust after this so I have time to think how to make the next section of the story go. If you want other things to read while waiting, I have two other stories I'm working on. Also, I'm going to try and pick Our Days Are Numbered again and get the next chapter of that out. Until then, see ya!

Punish One, Punish All (Daily life part 1)

The night after the trial was very restless. Everyone was depressed about both decision Pinkie Pie made and the fact that she died in such a horrible way was even worse. Out of everyone, I was probably the pony who took it the hardest. Up until the trial I considered the amnesia thing to be some sort of prank by Monokuma, but after what I heard her say, it was hard to believe that.

Perhaps, we all were from the start

Nothing could have hurt me more then that, and up to that point the only two I really knew were Sweetie Drops and Fluttershy. I had made a mess of myself during the execution, I swear I heard Gilda call me a cry baby, but she was right. The only thing I can do now is make sure that no one else ends up in the same position.

“Good Morning everyone,” Monokuma’s voice once again came up on the speaker “It is now 7:00 am which means it’s time to get up. Also, now that you have survived the first trial you now have access to the second floor of the school. So go on, explore your new parameters and please have a fantastic day,”

I hardly got any sleep last night, and I bet most of the others had as well. Fluttershy seemed to have sleep at least a little better then me as she woke up a lot later then I did. As hopped off our bed, I tried my best to rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. After we each took showers we stepped outside of the dorms into the hallway. We were going to go and check out the second floor, but someone called out to us before we got far.

“Hey, you two,” We looked behind ourselves to see that it was Gilda who had called out to us. She ran over to us and I was ready for whatever she had in store for us. Well, Everything except what she actually said. “I don’t usually say this, but thank you,”

There was a surprise, the student that seem to hate just about everyone here was actually thanking us. “For what?” I asked, not really sure of what she was thanking us for.

“For saving my life yesterday,” She replied “You helped in defending me when that stupid blue pegasus Rainbow Dash tried to frame me,” I had forgotten about that, which is quite strange considering the outburst she made defending herself. “Don’t think this makes us friends or anything, I’m just glad someone is thinking around here,”

“Well what did you expect me to do?” I asked rhetorically “Everyone would have died if I didn’t do something, I had to clear your name,”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gilda said, sounding kind of bored. “Anyway, I was actually calling for both of you because Sweetie Drops is getting some of us together for some sort of “plan” or whatever. Head to the second floor library, it shouldn’t be that hard to find,”

We nodded to her in agreement and headed off to the second floor. It wasn’t that hard to find it, just like Gilda said. There wasn’t that many rooms on the second floor and was located at the far end of the hallway on the left. We entered to see that Sweetie Drops and a few other were waiting for us at the end of the room. Out of the ponies there I saw Luna, Cadance, Flash, Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, and Vinyl. Gilda arrived shortly after I did with Zecora and Trixie.

“Now that we all stand in this room,” Zecora said, “Please explain what you called us to do,”

“Alright,” Sweetie Drops said, “I’ve called you all here because you are the ones that seem to be the most trustworthy,” She looks quickly at Rainbow Dash “And before you say anything about Gilda, let me just remind you who almost got us all killed,”

“I said I was sorry for that okay,” Rainbow Dash said, “I made a mistake, that’s all. Now tell us why we’re here,”

Sweetie Drops nodded “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure all of you know why I called you here. We have a promise to fulfill and I intend to keep it,”

The promise she was talking about, it must have been the thing Pinkie said about Hope’s Peak during the trial. Pinkie mentioned something about finding out the truth, and that it would help us escape. I remember that I alone had made a promise to make sure everyone escapes, and it seems I wasn’t the only one.

“You mean the thing about find out what Hope’s Peak really is, right?” I asked, just to make sure.

“Yes,” Luna responded “and it seems we may have found out our first clue,” She walked over to a door at the end of the library. “Just to warn you, if none of you want to see this I completely understand. In fact, I’m sure none of us want to see blood after the murder case yesterday, but if you want to know the truth. Come over here,”

Everyone walked over to Luna as she opened the door to a stack of books in a small closed off area. They seemed to be pretty ordinary to me, but if something in these books held our answers it needed to be check out. Everyone looked at the dimly lit room with curiosity, Luna had warned us of blood, but I didn’t see anything that could do with blood… unless. I hear Fluttershy scream at the other side of the room to see she had opened one of the books. She quickly ran over to me a did her best to hide herself behind me.

“The hell,” Gilda said, completely shocked “Don’t tell me you’re scared of words,”

“It’s not the words,” Fluttershy said trembling “It’s the pictures. The pictures are what scared me,”

Gilda rolled her eyes, unable to believe something in a book managed to scare Fluttershy that badly. She went over to the book she had opened and took a look at it, only to get paralyzed in fear by what she saw. “Holy mother of Celestia,” I heard her mumble. We all walked over to her, wondering exactly what she had seen.

What I saw was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. The picture I saw was of a body of some strange creature pinned to the wall with scissors. Blood seemed to be everywhere on the creature, but what exactly was it? It certainly wasn’t from Equestria, that was sure, but I don’t remember ever seeing one. Was this yet another thing Monokuma erased from our memories. I looked at the other books to see that they were very much the same things, but there was something about them that interesting.

“Genocider Jack,” I read the cover of one of the books. “The thing that did this was a pony - or thing - name Genocider Jack,”

“It’s on every one of these books,” Daring Do noticed, “It seems as if it’s not a victim of a murder, but rather the murderer themselves,”

“Wait,” Flash said confused “Does that mean this Jack pony killed all these things? What the heck even is a Genocider?”

“Who knows,” Gilda responded, “However, are we sure this thing is even a pony? It sounds more like some psychotic dragon then anything else,”

“Excuse me,” Sweetie Drops interrupted our discussion “As all of you know, there seems to be some history behind Hope’s Peak Academy. These killings, they weren’t from the school as the locations shown don’t match anywhere I’ve seen so far. However, this Jack pony was definitely a student here if the school has this kind of information hiding in it. That being said… doesn’t something about that seem kind of off,”

I thought about what she just said, and realized that something was indeed kind of strange about all of this. “Didn’t the school only open a few days ago?”

Everyone understood what I meant. The invitation I got said that this was the opening year at the school, meaning that we were going to be the first students to attend it. However, if what Sweetie Drops said is correct, then that could be right.

“If that's the case,” Luna said, “Then the fact these books are probably just a coincidence. Still, it is kind of interesting,”

The wasn’t a lot to gain from the situation, and as it was most of us thought it was just another one of Monokuma’s things to try and make us commit murder. We all agreed that this area would not be entered under any circumstances, as it might cause somepony to murder another and none of us wanted that to happen. After that we all left and went of to explore the rest of the second floor. The only other notable location on the floor was the pool area.

There was a changing room before entering with notes on them. The right one was the girls and the left one was the boys. Monokuma had put a warning on them saying that anyone that would enter the opposite genders changing room would be punished, and seeing that his version of punishment was a little… extreme I didn’t want to find out what he had in store for those who tried. Me and Fluttershy agreed to head to the pool some other time and headed back to the main floor.

The rest of the day was uneventful, we had to make food ourselves with Pinkie gone and it was nowhere near as good. Rainbow Dash chatted with us a bit, but there wasn’t anything in it that was worth noting. As it was, we just kind of relaxed after that and went to sleep when Monokuma called nighttime.

--------- Day 2 ---------

The beginning of the day was very much the same as the day before. Got up, took a shower, brushed teeth, all the normal things really. I slept a lot better last night, the horror of the class trial had finally faded from me. Fluttershy and I headed to the cafeteria to get breakfast when we bumped into Applejack.

“Hey there,” Applejack greeted. We haven’t really chatted after the introduction on the first day. “Twilight and Fluttershy, right?”

We nodded in agreement and she said she wanted to talk about something at the cafeteria. She joined us as we made our way to get breakfast and sat down to talk with us after we had all gotten our food. We asked what she wanted to talked about, as it seemed like something had been on her mind the entire time.

“Well,” She started, searching for the right word “Since the trial, I’ve been feeling kind of off. I understand that you two shared the same room before Derpy’s murder because Fluttershy here was in danger, but now it’s over and it hasn’t changed one bit. I’ve been thinking about it, and I realized that something about my memories were a bit… off, I guess. The last day I remember before coming here was-”

“The summer sun celebration,” I answered for her. “You mean you noticed it too? The fact that most of that day is missing,”

“Exactly,” Applejack answered back “Ever since the trial I’ve been feeling as if I know somepony here. I figured it out before I fell asleep last night. Twilight, what Pinkie said about us all being friends, she wasn’t kidding. There's no way she was, so many things seem to have happened in that time between preparing for the celebration and getting the letter that it can not be a joke. Twilight, Monokuma’s not just trying to make us kill ponies, he’s making us kill our friends,”

I would have responded to her if I didn’t hear Flash yelling at Luna as they enter the cafeteria.

“It was just one night Flash,” Luna said, seeming to try and defend herself “What could have possibly happened to me. I was simply just invited over by Doctor Whooves,”

“Exactly, that is exactly what's wrong,” Flash said, absolutely furious “I sleep in my room for one night, ONE NIGHT, and when I knock on your door in the morning, you aren’t there. Then what happens, I see you coming out from another room with a stallion in it as well. Princess, should I remind you of your place in society? Because it sure seems like I have to,”

I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but something tells me it wasn’t a good idea to ask. Instead I turned back to Applejack to continue our discussion.

“Applejack, listen to me,” I grabbed her attention “Both Fluttershy and I know that, but you don’t have to worry. We are going to make sure nopony else gets murdered if it’s the last thing we do. What we have to do is find out exactly what Pinkie was talking about when she mentioned the history of this school and use that to somehow escape. I can assure you, no one else is going to die. I promise,”

Applejack was about to respond, but once again we were interrupted. This time by Monokuma as his voice played on the loudspeaker.

“Attention, would all students please report to the gym for an important announcement. I don’t care if you are just waking up, having princess issues, or haven’t finished your breakfast. You must report to the Gym… NOW,”

Author's Note

So, there was some interesting things in this chapter. While it is sad to be back at the Daily Life, as I feel they aren't as strong as the other portions of the chapter, I hope to keep up my good work on this. Also, I want to thank 4428Gamer, who has been helping me with this story. Remember, liking and commenting is always nice and feel free to follow if you want to stay updated on all my work.

Punish One, Punish All (Daily life part 2)

Everypony made their way to the gymnasium, wondering exactly what Monokuma had in store for us. Part of me wanted to hope it was good news, but considering what Monokuma has been, it was pretty obvious what he was going to say wasn’t going to be good. Most ponies were on edge getting into the room, but once we saw everypony arrive most calmed down. At least no one was murdered, so what was it Monokuma wanted?

“Excuse me, may I please have your attention,” We all looked at the front, unaware that Monokuma had been there. How did he do that? “Glad to see you’re all here, you enjoying yourselves,”

“You know just as well as the rest of us that we aren’t,” Gilda shouted at the bear, “Why did you call us here you murderer?”

“Murderer,” Monokuma’s expression didn’t change, but something about that made him look more terrifying. “That’s a lot to say considering that YOU were the ones who found her guilty,”

Thinking about what happened to Pinkie Pie was hard, I still felt terrible for that. Monokuma was right, we were the ones who killed Pinkie. We found her guilty, he may have killed her but we put her in that position. It was sad, but true.

“Anyway’s,” Monokuma said trying to keep our attention “I have a little something to give you all a little hope. You all know what event is coming up in the next few days, right?”

Then, almost as if out of nowhere, Monokuma pulled out a ticket. It didn’t seem like anything at first, but then I realized what it was. It was tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala! Everyone looked in wonder, some more interested then others. How did he manage to get his paws on those? Did he know Celestia?

“As you can all clearly see, I have an invitation to one of the most fancy and glorious event in all of Equestria,” Monokuma waved it mockingly in front of our faces. “And it can be yours for a price,”

“Name any price,” Rarity said, her eyes sparkling with excitement “I will gladly pay anything you wish for that,”

“Oh really,” Monokuma said mischievously “Even murder?”

Everyone, including me, stopped looking at the ticket and turned their gazes to Monokuma. This wasn’t some ticket out of here (no pun intended), it was device being used to make us turn against each other. He was trying to get us to cause murder by giving us something to use as bait.

“Why you little,” Dash said taking off towards Monokuma only for Applejack to catch her tail. “Why do you insist on torturing us like this? How can you find this fun?”

“Oh come on,” Monokuma said, “It seems like a few of you may be thinking about murdering right now. I’ll give you two days to think about it, but expect me to pile on the rewards as the days goes on,”

With that, he once again did his little disappearing act, which still puzzled some of us. I look to the ponies around me to see them looking at each other unsure. Monokuma was clearly getting to them, making me wonder who many of them actually trusted each other. Fluttershy and Applejack were the only two who seemed unaffected by this, but they also knew something else wasn’t right here. Something about this academy, those books in the library, the fact that we seem to have some sort of memory loss, it was all strange.

I heard someone whistle behind me and I turned to see Sweetie Drops behind me. Fluttershy and Applejack turned as well as Sweetie Drops motioned us out of the gymnasium silently. We quickly and quietly walked out and made our way to Bon Bon’s room, where she explained to us the reason she had called us all here.

“Listen to what I’m about to say because I’m only going to say this once,” She whispered quietly. “I don’t know why I’m thinking this, but something tells me that the murderer is going to the Grand Galloping Gala when we get out of here,”

“What makes you say that?” I asked her curiously.

“I did some reading in the library after you all left yesterday,” She explained “All the authors in there don’t have Equestrian names, and they don’t use Equestrian terms. Not only that, but I remember an old friend of mine before coming here tell me about things called humans. I’m not sure, but something tells me that Genocider thing was a human. If that’s the case, then the reason the school has those books is because we aren’t in Equestria anymore,”

“Did you hit yourself with a jug of cider?” Applejack asked, not believing Sweetie Drops. “How could we be in another world?”

“Look, I get it if you don’t believe me,” Sweetie responded “But my friend is an anthropologist, so she knows more about this stuff then any of us. Anyway’s, I’m going to put together a pool party for tonight so we can keep an eye on everypony. While I hate to say it, I’m sure that some ponies might be planning murder as we speak. If we can put one together we might be able to keep anypony from murdering each other while we investigate the school and try to figure out if we really are in Equestria or not,”

Me, Fluttershy, and Applejack all looked at each other. We were all thinking the same thing for what I could tell. It was a bit of a long shot that we somehow got magically transported into another world, but that didn’t mean that ponies would try to get that ticket Monokuma had just bribed us with. If that was the case, then it might be good to have this pool party. Besides, I needed a bit of relaxation after what happened to Pinkie. We all nodded and turned back to Sweetie Drops

“Okay,” We all said simultaneously.

“Perfect,” She said excitement in her eyes “You get the ponies together and tell them all about it

--------- Day 2 Evening ---------

The rest of the day had been made creating a pool party and spreading the word about it. Me and Fluttershy had spent our time getting news around about it, and no one seemed to have any objects. They all agreed that it would be nice to have a little peace and relaxation after what had been a tough start to our time here at Hope's Peak.

I honestly couldn’t believe what Sweetie Drops had said about being in another world, it didn’t seem right. However, down in my heart something about it told me she was right. My magic didn’t work anymore, and I couldn’t figure out why that was. If we were somehow teleported to a different world it might have explained why I couldn’t use magic.

My mind was mostly focused on keeping another pony from murdering someone. I don’t know if I could handle another death after what happened to Pinkie Pie. It was still freshly engraved in both me and Fluttershy’s minds, and to think somepony would be willing to do that again was entirely possible. I never thought I’d say it, but I feel like there was a murder being planned behind my back.

“Twilight,” I look to Fluttershy, who was still walking by my side. It seemed like she never planned on leaving me. “You okay,”

I let out a long sigh as I hear her speak to me. Something about having her by my side just eased everything. “I’m just worried,” I look at the ground as I speak to her. “I know we are trying to do all we can to stop a murder, but in the long run it’s only a matter of time until the next one is committed,”

“And when that happens you will solve it just like you did before,” Fluttershy says with confidence. “I know it isn’t something proud to look back on, but imagine how many more of us would have died if you didn’t find the right murderer,”

I hated to admit it but she was right. Sure, I feel guilty about find Pinkie guilty as I have already said before, but I saved even more with her sacrifice. It was me, Trixie, and Sweetie Drops that put the pieces together and I was the one who gave the final verdict (if that was the right word).

“You're right,” I say to Fluttershy with a smile. “It’s no us dwelling on the past, all we can do is stop a murder before it takes place, and when the time comes and we aren’t able to stop one we will prevail again,”

We walk on up to the pool with confidence, seeing that we were the first ones there. We waited for Sweetie and Applejack to show and gave a few to each other when they did. They had said how some of the others in the school had already gotten the decorations and snacks for the party ready. With that we head in ready to start the partying…

And then our hearts sank as we saw we were too late to stop anything. There was no blood, but there was a body bobbing in the middle of the pool. Hoof marks across the victim's body and a nose around there neck and a piece of paper strapped to their back. The happy decorations around us seemed to mock and laugh at our attempts to stop the murder in front of us. I wanted to believe she was still alive, but Monokuma dashed all my hopes of that.

“Ding dong ding dong,” He said almost as mockingly as the inanimate objects around us, “A dead body has been discovered. The class trial will resume after a small period of time,”

“No,” Was the only words Sweetie Drops had as the four of us stared at the body in front of us.

We had been outsmarted, and because of that, Rarity had died.

Author's Note

Three months, two deleted stories, and my first over two hundred total views story later, it is finally complete. I want to say real quickly just how sorry I am to you all for making you wait so long for this chapter. I know you have been loving this story but in the end what I need is the right mindset in order to write it. That's the problem with writing two crossover stories and a story completely different from either of them, they all require different mindsets. I'm able to work on this and The Life of Stardust easily together, but add in Fallout Equestria: False Guilt and you have to end up putting one on hold. Hate to say it, but this will probably not get uploaded as often as the other two because of that.

Now, allow me to clarify that doesn't mean I'm giving up on this, because I am clearly not. I still want to write this to the end like my other two, just know that it won't be uploaded nearly as often as my others. I know that sucks because of how much I have been hearing that you have been enjoying the story but at least you know that I haven't given up.

Finally, at the conclusion of this authors note, please like, comment, and follow to show your love for this and my other stories as well.

Punish One, Punish All (Deadly Life)

Sweetie drops was still in a state of shock about what had just happened. Her plan was to put together a party in order to keep ponies from murdering each other, not for this to happen. It was like in a horror story, how they manage to turn such cheery places into ones that wanted to see you dead. All the nice happy decoration in the pool area made this seem like one of those cases.

“What did I do wrong?” Sweetie Drops asks herself, completely baffled by the seen in front of her. “How did we fail? To think that somepony would be murdered so soon after Monokumas… How did he do it?”

“Call down sugarcube,” Applejack says to the former spy next to her. “None of us saw this coming. How would we know this would? The only thing we can do now is find the murderer before we run out of time to search,”

Sweetie Drops let out a sigh at Applejacks response. “Your right, if we want to survive the only thing we can do is find out who the blackened is. We’ll need to split up however to do this. Applejack, you go tell the others what has happened and tell them to search the rest of the school. Fluttershy, Twilight, the three of us are going to search the pool area and the second floor go it?”

We all nodded in agreement. This wasn’t the time for us to disagree on anything, we could leave that for the actual trial. I looked back to Sweetie drops, who was looking at the ground in disbelief. I could tell how upset she was. She had gone through all this trouble to try and keep a murder from happening. To see all that effort had gone to waste, it must have been heartbreaking.

I went up and put a hoof on her shoulder, and she looked at me with a frown. She sighed as she looked back down at the ground. “What did we do wrong?” She asked me. “Could somepony really be that swayed over a ticket? I thought everypony would have learned after Derpy and Pinkie. Where did we go so wrong?”

“We did what we could,” I responded, trying my best to comfort her. “Like Applejack said, none of us could have seen this coming. The best thing we could do is to try and stop the pony who did this from winning,”

“Awww, how sweet,” I heard Fluttershy let out a small squeak as Monokuma appeared behind us all. “You try and give your friend hope in a moment of despair, what a wonderful action of kindness in such a sad moment. To bad it won’t bring your friend back from the dead, or find you the murderer, or really anything else other than feel better,”

“Go away Monokuma,” I yelled at the stranger bear, it felt good taking my anger out on him. “I don’t want to see you right now,”

“Oh come on miss Twilight,” Monokuma giggled uncomfortably as he talked to me. “I know you have questions you want to ask me, and I will be willing to answer them at a later time. However, I do have something that I think you might wanna see,” He held up three folders with his paws, and I made out the words Monokuma File #2 on it. “Surely this may change your mind about my arrival,”

I couldn’t argue against that, it was nice to see him giving us a little help. That didn’t get rid of my opinion on him, he was still the reason we were stuck in this murder school. Nonetheless, I took the files from his hands and handed them out to Fluttershy and Sweetie Drops; the latter of which took a while to realize what I was holding. Sweetie Drops seemed to brighten up as she saw the file, a look of courage on her face.

“Now I won’t say what side I ultimately cheer for,” Monokuma said. “But if there was somepony here who I think could solve this mystery it would be you three. Of course, I’m still looking forward to the day where the blacken wins, so don’t expect me to do any favors,”

He jumped into the pool, and we watched where he had gone as once again he mysteriously disappeared. We didn’t think of it all that much, and turned away from the pool as I look to Sweetie Drops who was already reading the folder. She was determined to solve this, I knew that no matter what happened, she would keep solving them until we reach Monokuma’s so called ‘grand finale’. It made me happy to see her finally stepping up to the task.

With this, I read the information that the Monokuma file had provided us, knowing that it was the best place to start.

Murder Victim: Rarity

Time of Death: Roughly 5:20 pm

Location of Murder: Pool

Cause of death: Either drowned or strangled to death in the middle of the pool. Small bruises found on the skin but otherwise no injuries.

Monokuma file #2 was added to truth bullets

“So the cause of death wasn’t from a weapon itself,” Sweetie Drops pointed out. “This could possibly be a suicide, or maybe framed to look like one,”

“So the death was, um, indirectly caused,” I had just managed to hear Fluttershy, despite her leaning against me.

“That being said it could have still been a pony,” Sweetie Drops said. “The first thing we should do though is check the body, I need to make sure of something stated in the Monokuma files is right. Fluttershy, would you please,”

Fluttershy hesitated for a second as she looked at Rarity’s body floating in the middle of the pool. She was shaken, it must have been the thought of touching the unicorns dead body.

“Are you sure we have to?” She asked us. “I doesn’t feel right touching a dead body,”

“I don’t want to either,” I admitted. “But it is important that we get this information if we want to survive. Every piece of evidence gives us a better opportunity of finding the blackened. We can’t let a single detail miss us,”

Fluttershy once again looked back at Rarity’s body floating in the water. She let out a small sigh before floating over and grabbing the line the pony had been tied to. With that she slowly made her way back over as Rarity’s lifeless body floated behind her. As she got to the edge of the me and Sweetie Drops kneeled down to expect it.

“Looks like Monokuma was right,” Sweetie Drops said pointing to a small red bruise on Rarity’s face. “Something tells me that this wasn’t a suicide attempt. The bruises means that she must have been quarreling with someone,”

That wasn’t the only bruise Rarity had, they seemed to be all along her body. It definitely helped with the argument that this wasn’t Rarity’s own doing. Why would she injure herself in this way? It seemed weird that she would.

Bruises was added to truth bullets

I looked over to the the rope that was tied to her like a noose. It was white, the same color as the rope that made swimming lanes in the rest of the pool. I thought about it for a second before looking back to Fluttershy and Sweetie Drops.

“Do you by any chance know where this could be found?” I asked them.

“There is some in the closet at the end of the along with other swimming things,” Sweetie Drops replied. “It would have been easy in that case for the pony who did this to obtain a noose of some sort. Not only that, but this obviously wasn’t what was used to kill the pony, it was simply to make sure Rarity didn’t escape. She could have cut through it if we had magic. Sadly, Monokuma somehow took that from us and she was left completely defenseless,”

“I see,” My thoughts drifted to the rope in front of me, wondering who exactly would have thought to do this.

Pool rope was added to truth bullets

The next thing we looked at was the note on her body, which was obviously a ploy to make this look like suicide. Sweetie Drops looked at it, and tilted head as she studied it.

“The note as we all know is meant to make us believe it’s suicided,” Sweetie Drops reminded Fluttershy and I. “However, simply looking at the way it’s written makes me feel weird. I wouldn’t put it past Rarity to make it really exaggerated, but the wording is all weird,” She put down and looked at us. “Can you two keep looking around here? I want to check something real quickly,”

Fluttershy and I nodded our heads. Sweetie Drops grabbed the message and took off out of the room leaving us behind. I couldn’t help but feel like there was something about that message that made Sweetie Drops worried. She did say it was worded weirdly, so whatever it is must have been through that.

Suicide note was added to truth bullets

That was all we found on her body, but we knew that there had to be more in the pool area that could help us. Fluttershy searched around the area on the right side of room while I searched the left, and my eyes caught onto the closet at the end of it. I opened it up and a burst of smoke was unleashed upon my face. I coughed as I tried to swat the smoke away from me. I didn’t see anything that directly caused it, but why was there smoke in the equipment closet?

Smoke was added to truth bullets

As I looked in there, I indeed find a long thing of rope that matched that which was in the pool. It was obvious now where the blackened had found the rope, and it only made me more curious about who the murder could be. As I looked through I found a small amount of what looked like glitter on the floor. I don’t know exactly what it was doing there, or if it had anything to do with the murderer, but I kept it in mind just incase.

Glitter was added to truth bullets

Not finding anything else in the equipment closet, I closed the door and went back to Fluttershy. She was inspecting a knocked over chair with a towel on it, looking at it curiously. I walked up to her and her attention was drawn to me.

“Did you find anything Fluttershy?” I asked.

“Um… I’m not sure,” Fluttershy said, as she went back to looking at the towel. “I was looking around when I saw this towel. I know it may not be really important but, well, it’s damp,”

Picked up the towel and sure enough, it was wet. In fact it seemed recently used by the looks of it. Fluttershy may not have realized it but this was actually rather crucial, limiting the number of ponies that could have done it. I looked to her and gave her a nod of contempt, and she seemed to light up at this.

Wet towel was added to truth bullets

The door opened up behind us as we saw Gilda and Rainbow Dash enter the room. Both stopped as they noticed Rarities body, Rainbow floating to the ground. After a second they both looked away and at us. Rainbow was at our side in an instant while Gilda slowly made her way over to us.

“Heya Twilight,” Rainbow said. “On the job again I see,”

“Sure am,” I did my best to smile, even though it was hard in the kind of environment we are in. “You two here to help us out,”

“Yeah,” Gilda said in her normal grumpy manner. She looked back to the pool “This is not what I expected to happen, especially since everyone seemed so upset after Pinkie Pie and Derpy. Still, I’ll do everything I can to help. As much as I want to deny it you saved me during the last trial and I owe you,”

“Thanks,” I said to Gilda. “Everypony that is willing to help us gives us a better chance. Me and Fluttershy already searched the entire pool area but we should check other places in case. Do you guys have any ideas,”

“Well,” Rainbow thought “I guess that might have something to do with why there was a burner turned on in the kitchen,”

“What!?” I yelled, my fur on end as I heard this.

“Don’t worry we turned it off,” Gilda said, rolling her eyes at me. “That being said you have to wonder exactly why it was on. I don’t think a lot of us here are great cooks, and the one that we do know is dead. So, why exactly would the stove be turned on,”

It seemed strange, there Gilda was correct, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with the murder. Of course, anypony would remember to turn the burner off, which means that the pony that had turned it on must have been in a rush of some sort. Even if it doesn’t matter I thought that I should but it down anyway, in case something about the murder lead to it.

Burner was added to truth bullets

With the pool area completely searched, we decided to move on to see if we could find anything anywhere else. There wasn’t anyplace on the second floor that yielded anything of value, so we moved downstairs to find Cheerilee conversing with Zecora. Remembering that Cheerilee’s information had been a starting point in the last trial, we came up to the two. After telling her about what we found, Zecora shared something of value.

“After the murder I heard somepony murmur,” Zecora said in yet another cryptic sounding rhyme. “That in the victim's room, could be something that lead to her doom,”

“Um,” Rainbow looked at the zebra confused. “What exactly do you mean,”

“What she is saying is that something in Rarity’s room could have played a part in her downfall,” Gilda said, “It’s not that hard Dash, but I shouldn’t expect much less with how little room there probably is in your brain,”

“What did you say?” Rainbow asked, even though she clearly heard Gilda’s insult.

“Please you two, behave,” Cheerilee commanded, “This is not the time to be fighting, we have a murder to solve. Zecora’s right though, I heard Vinyl talking about how there was a piece of paper in Rarities journal that had been taken out. That may be the piece of paper used to write the suicide note you mentioned,”

This was concerning, considering all the time we spent looking in the pool area I thought it wasn’t a suicide. However, if Rarity had used that piece of paper to write the note on her body, then it could be possible that she had actually killed herself. It still didn’t fit however, but no doubt it made worried.

Torn paper was added to truth bullets

We wished them good luck, as they too seemed to be investigating the death. It was nice to see there was more than just the princesses investigating this time, it made me feel like we had a better chance of finding the blackened. We decided it was best to go to the place we thought was more likely to find evidence, and that was Rarities room.

As we reached it we met with Sweetie Drops, who was scanning the journal and note with great focus. We came up to her and I could visibly see the sweat that was forming on her face. She was scared, something I didn’t expect after how calm she seemed when I last saw her. It was getting to her. She was scared of dieing, of losing the coming trial.

“Sweetie Drops?” I called, but she didn’t answer me. “Sweetie Drops, are you alright?”

“Um… Twilight,” I heard Fluttershy’s voice behind me and immediately turned around to the scared pony. “There’s something in the closet over here,”

I followed the scared ponies eyes and spotted multiple things of cloth in Rarity’s closet tied together, the end of it in the shape of a noose. My heart skipped multiple beats and I found myself staring in fear at this. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing at the moment, how did I not see this before. What was going through Rarity’s mind, was she planning murder?

Noose cloth was added to truth bullets

“I couldn’t believe it either,” Sweetie Drops said in a depressing manor. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing either. Rarity plotted her own murder, she really did kill herself,”

Somehow I knew that was wrong. “Sweetie Drops, Rarity didn’t commit suicide,” I said trying to find reason in my words. “It doesn’t make any since, I don’t know why but it doesn’t. Sweetie, please listen to-”

“Times up everypony,” I heard Monokuma on the loudspeaker. “It’s time for the class trial to begin,”

At the sound of Monokuma’s voice everyone stopped moving, not a single sound could be heard. Finally, Sweetie Drops got up and moved over to us. She looked to me with a frown, her eyes barely seemed able to look at me.

“This was suicide,” She said. “Everypony knows it,”

Everypony left the room except for me and Fluttershy, who stayed for a second longer. I was still thinking about what was happening. It seemed so clear, that this was all suicide and nothing else. Yet, there was a part of me that couldn’t believe it. I knew it wasn’t suicide, but why couldn’t I put think of the reason?

“I believe you Twilight,” I heard Fluttershy say from behind me, a rare show of confidence brewing in the pony. “I know I wasn’t much help during the last trial but I promise to help show everypony that this wasn’t Rarity’s own doing. I got your back all the way,”

Looking to Fluttershy I nodded, a smile on my face as I looked at the pony. We finally made our way down to the elevator afterwards, both of his ready for the coming trial. Fluttershy showed much more anger than she usually did. She felt it as well, that we had just lost another dear friend we don’t remember due to our strange amnesia. As we enter the elevator, one thing was on our minds.

We weren’t going to lose this trial, no matter what the murderer and other ponies say...

Author's Note

So glad to be back to writing these sections, I really prefer it over the daily life sections. I am honestly really excited for this upcoming class trial I'm about to write, especially considering how great the first class trial was. Of course, let's not forget the big achievement here: I have made a story with over three hundred view! Considering how badly this story started with more dislikes over likes, I was so happy to see things changes. I really hope I am able to keep this amazing story coming, even though the updates for it are rather slow pace (and will be getting slower in general with the school year). So please tell me who you think the Blackened is this time down in the comments as well as leave a like and follow if you want to.

The Beginning of Despare (Daily Life part 1)

Author's Note

(Hello everyone. Vaatidj is here bringing you the first part of the first chapter of Danganronpa: Equestrian Despair. Man that’s a mouthful. Anyway, for those of you who are wondering what the Daily life thing in the title is, allow me to explain. In Danganronpa, there are three different stages to each chapter, Daily life, Deadly life, and the Class Trial. During daily life, we will be exploring the things that happen before the next murder is committed and will get to know the characters a bit. The question you are now asking is, who is the first to be murdered? Guess you will just have to read to find out. Now that this is out of the way, onward with the chapter.)

The Beginning of Despare (Daily Life part 1)

For the last few minutes, everything has been so quiet. No one has moved from their spot in the gym, afraid that someone might try to kill them right their. As for me, I had taken the time to look through the book Monokuma had put in our bags and read the rules he had set. According to the book, 10:00 pm to 7:00 am is the night hours and certain areas will be closed off during that time. It also stated that any harm towards the principle will be punished, and considering what he wanted us to do to each other, I wouldn’t like to know what that punishment would be.

“So,” Rainbow Dash started, clearly trying to end the tension in the room “Anyone want to go explore the school?” Everyone looked at her with suspicion. “Look, if we stay in here, we are going to die of starvation. Wouldn’t you all rather live in this school and survive than die without even trying?”

Rainbow Dash brought up a good point. If we are going to live here, we needed to learn to trust each other and find out what we had access to. No point in living if you aren’t going to try. Daring Do was the first to step up and reply after this.

“You’re right,” She said to Rainbow Dash “Even if someone attacks me and I die, I would rather know what this school is like than give up,” After she stepped up everyone else started to as well. Before I knew it we had all agreed and were deciding what to investigate.

Cadence got out a map and - being the ultimate princess - chose who investigated what. “I’ll investigate the main hall with Luna and Flash,” She directed “Fluttershy, Derpy, and Doctor will investigate the laundry room and sauna. Twilight, Rainbow, and Daring Do should check the kitchen and Dining hall. Finally, Zecora, Applejack, and Bon Bon will investigate the classroom. As for Vinyl, Pinkie, Rarity, Trixie, and Gilda, please feel free to mingle among the groups and check your rooms if you need to. We will all meet in the Dining hall 12:00 pm”

With that, everyone headed out to go investigate the school. The dining hall didn’t prove itself to difficult to find, being close to the gym and the dorms. The dining hall had multiple small tables surrounding a giant one in the middle that looked like it would sit 13 of the 18 ponies at it. To the right was an ACTUAL WINDOW (someone call the developers, they left a visible window in the game) that showed a garden of some sort on the other side of it. Saddly, it looked like an inside garden, which means that escape was still not possible for what we know.

I looked up to the clock on the wall at the front of the room to see that the time read 11:25. Wow, either Monokuma talked for longer than expected, or we were just standing there in the gym silent for a really long time. Either way, it looked like there wasn’t a way out of the school through here, so we continued to the kitchen.

Once we entered the kitchen (which was at the other end of the dining hall) we were amazed by the amount of food and supplies there was for cooking. “At least he isn’t going to let us starve to death in here,” Rainbow Dash said, happy that Monokuma had at least a little kindness in this “kill or be killed” game.

“Sure we may have food,” Daring Do pointed out to me and Rainbow “but with 18 people, aren’t we going to run out pretty quickly?” This was good point. Even if we did have food, it would run out sooner or later… right?

“Oh, don’t you worry about that my students,” I jumped as I heard Monokuma suddenly appear from behind me (raise your hand if you heard Monokuma’s theme playing in your head). “I make sure that the food is restocked when it is getting low, wouldn’t want to ruin the fun of killing each other right,”

“Where the hell did you come from?” I asked. I definitely would have noticed he was there if he was following us the entire time.

“I have my ways of getting around the school,” Monokuma semi-answered “but that’s not something you are going to have to worry about. Besides, it would ruin the grand finale I have planned for the end of this game, if you all manage to survive a certain number of trials that is,” After he said that he ran around the corner. I went to go chase after him, but he had somehow managed to disappear as soon as he rounded the corner.

Knowing it was worthless to look for a him, I went back to investigating with Rainbow and Daring Do. After a little bit more investigation, we headed back out to the dining hall to see that everyone had almost arrived. Gilda, the only one who hadn’t been there when we stopped investigating, came in a second or two later and sat at a table in the back away from the others.

“Well,” Cheerilee began “Now that everyone is here let’s start discussing what we found. Cadence, Luna, and Flash, would you mind starting off?”

“Might as well,” Flash said, a sad look on his face. “The main entrance isn’t really that much of an entrance if you ask me,”

“What the hell do you mean by that?” Gilda asked.

“IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE EXIT IS BLOCKED BY A GIANT METALLIC VAULT,” Luna exclaimed with her so call “Royal Equestrian voice”

“SERIOUSLY,” Cheerilee shouted angrily “Could you try not yelling so loud, you're going to scare somepony,”

“Sorry,” Luna apologized with a much more normal toned voice “I kind of forgot some of us were a little… “shyer” than others,” She quietly giggled. Fluttershy, who was sitting at one of the smaller tables nearby, tried to hide herself from view by ducking under the table.

“Getting back on topic,” Cadence said annoyed “It’s impossible to open the door as it’s too hard to break through. There was also more cameras and there mounted with some sort of weapon on it, so it’s probably best not to even try,”

“I’ll speak next,” Doctor whooves said “I would like to start off by saying that the sauna seems to be closed off for the moment,”

“Why would you think that is?” Bon Bon asked. It did seem strange that a place like the sauna would be closed off to use.

“My guess is either something’s broken or there’s something Monokuma doesn’t want us to know,” Doctor Whooves replied “It does seem strange that he would do something like this in the first place. What motive does HE have for wanting us to kill each other?”

I had then remembered something Monokuma said to me earlier “Speaking of which, Monokuma came to use when we were investigating the kitchen. He told us it would be restocked when need, and that he had some sort of “grand finale” planned if enough of us survive the trials.”

“Wait, what trials?” Derpy asked. It’s true, Monokuma didn’t explain what trials were at all.

“Well, I don’t know about you all but I’d rather not find out” Applejack respond. What she said was definitely true. If all went well, we would hopefully not have to find out.

“Anyway, while that is interesting to know,” Doctor Whooves continued “It would be obvious to say that there isn’t a way out through the laundry room,”

“Guess I’m up next,” Applejack said “All the other classrooms are the same as the one we all woke up in. No escapable windows, completely abandon, and no secret exits of any kind,”

“So there really is no way to escape without killing,” Cheerilee said, saddened that it was ending up true. Honestly, I was surprised that they sealed it up as good as they did. I figured that at least one exit would have ended up being unsealed.

“Look, I know you all are sad and everything that we didn’t find a clue to what’s going on,” Gilda said. She didn’t seem to care about escaping at all. “but can I mentioned that I wouldn’t like having one of you looser ponies backstabbing me tonight,”

“How dare you!” Cheerilee exclaimed.

“Look,” Gilda said, trying to set herself straight “I’m not saying you guy’s are going to, but I would like to sleep at night without the threat of one of you killing me,” This is true, it would be nice to be able to sleep without fear of someone breaking in my room. “I say we make a rule of our own. No one leaves their room during night hours,”

Everyone seemed to agree with this, and so we added a rule of our owns. No one leaves their dorm from 10:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning. The rest of the day went pretty fast, for the last hour or so before the night hours, I hung out with Vinyl and discussed music and stuff like that for a bit. She seemed kind of upset that the only floor available didn’t have a electronic music room or anything.

Once 10:00 hit we heard a small jingle play before hear Monokuma’s voice over the loudspeaker “Attention. We are now entering the night hours, the dining hall is now closed off to all students in the school. Good night,” I entered my dorm and went over to my bed, immediately falling asleep.