//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Unfortunate Seventeen - Free Time Event (Thorax and Doctor Hooves) // Story: Danganronpa V.E: Creating Chaos // by Lusaminia //------------------------------// ------- Free Time Start! ------- I knocked on the door of the room that once belong to Trixie, not actually expecting to get any response. For a good amount of time there was no answer, and I honestly didn’t expect to get one at all. However, as soon as I turned around, knowing that Thorax wasn’t going to open up, I heard the creaking of a door. I turned around, seeing that the door I had knocked on was slightly open, and walked back. I could see Thorax through the crack he had left, his body shaking comfortably. “Oh, it’s only you Ditzy,” He said to me, looking away in shame. “I was worried that, with the motive, somepony might have wanted to kill me.” “Don’t worry, I understand,” I reassured him, sitting down. I used my hooves to motion for him to stay calm. “Truth be told, I’m rather scared too, but I can’t hide away with the duty that I’ve been given… you don’t have to worry about that, Thorax,” He sighed, finally completely opening the door so I could talk to him easier. “I don’t know how private it is to you, but I was wondering what the hive was like.” “I don’t mind, but could we talk about it somewhere a bit less… awkward.” He requested, looking to his right and reminding me of the fact he was still standing in the doorway. I nodded in response, and we decided to make our way to the garden to talk. The entire conversation was probably the most awkward moment of my entire life. Thorax was ubscenely hesitant with talking about the hive, and at times he would stop talking altogether. I felt horrible as he did his best to describe to me what life for him was like, not because of the way he lived but I know he didn’t want to talk about it. After some time I decided to change the subject, not wanting to put Thorax through any more pain than I was already putting him through. “So Thorax,” I asked, finally working up the courage to ask a rather sensitive question. “You changeling can change into any pony you meet, including mimic there voice and attire?” “Well… yes we can, but it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Thorax told me, sighing before looking me dead in the eyes. “It is a little weird talking about it, but can I change into you to explain? I understand if you don’t want to, but it would make this go a lot smoother than trying to just tell it… of course no pony would-” “Go right ahead!” I told him standing tall and firm. “I don’t mind if you use me as an example, as long as it doesn’t involve me getting hurt of course.” Thorax nodded and closed his eyes, his body suddenly engulfed in green flames as he did so. If this was the first time I had seen it I would have freaked out, but I knew this was how the transformation worked. When the flames died away I was looking at a double of myself, cutie mark and all. Without asking I decided to stroke the side of Thorax’s neck, and compared to the insectoid skin that had once been there I now felt fur (he also purred from the action but that’s not important). Heck, the guy even manage to get my goofy eye correct, something that I had expected him to leave out. “Wow, it feels so real!” I said in disbelief. “I’m sure anypony would be fooled just from the appearance, as long as you acted like you were a walking weighted roulette of course. Oh, that roulette would be against you, not helping you.” “I see,” If I hadn’t seen somepony mimic my voice already it would have come off as a bit of a surprise to me. Of course, that too was something I had seen before. “Well, unlike illusion magic which fades at the slightest touch, transformation completely changes our appearance. If I remember correctly it has to do with our weak immune systems, which allows DNA to change without white blood cells interfering. However, there is one exception to the rule.” A quick green flame formed and vanished around his waist, leaving a saddlepack behind in its death. Thorax than attempted to grab the newly formed saddlebag with his hooves and bring them up to me. ‘Attempted’ is the key word there, as it burst into flames and faded away as soon as he even touched it. This time I was generally surprise, taking a few steps back as I found myself completely baffled by what happened. “What just happened? Did something mess up?” “No, that’s just how it works,” Thorax replied, turning back to me. “Truth be told, if we try to form anything related to attire and than proceed to physically touch it afterwards, it fades. Every part of the disguise is made from my body, so it’s impossible for me to remove anything. The only exception is when the piece of clothing or accessory forms, though I don’t know why.” “You seem to like this sorta stuff,” I said, noticing a slight glimmer in his eyes as he spoke. “Up to this point you’ve been a lot more… hesitant with what you say.” “I guess, but you didn’t react in the same way Flash did to me,” He replied, looking away from me in… embarrassment perhaps? I couldn’t exactly pin the emotion. “I like ponies more than most changelings do, and I’m more open minded than a lot of them too… I guess. I want peace between the changeling and ponies, but with so many nobles and soldiers spouting rumors and posting propaganda, I doubt that will ever happen.” “Hey, don’t worry,” I reassured him. “For every bad guy there is a good guy, and for every stuck up noble is a truthful one as well. That is kinda the problem with today’s society: everypony is so stuck on the bad and horrible ‘what if…’ scenarios we forget to think about the good things.” “I think that can be said for both our societies,” Thorax stated, both of us nodding from the idea. “I feel like I can trust you Ditzy, even if some many other changelings wouldn’t. I hope we can talk again sometime.” The two of us went our separate ways after that, and I could see a slight skip in Thorax’s steps as he got rid of his disguise. Seeing the change in attitude told me two things, but the most important one was that he trusted me. If there was someone who really needed an ally, it was Thorax, as his lack of talent and species could make him an easy target for reasons other than Monokuma’s motives. I also understood where he was coming from, as I too hoped for a world where no pony was afraid. I know it won’t happen, but what’s the problem with having a dream like that? After a quick lunch break I decided to go back to the chemistry lab, having a rather good feeling a certain Ultimate Scientist would be there. My intuition was correct, because even if he wasn’t doing anything with the chemicals in the lab he was most definitely gawking over them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so engrossed by things such as chemicals before in my life, but I guess that’s what ponies like him are into. “Excuse me Doctor,” I called to him, grabbing his attention. “Sorry to bother you if you’re busy, but I was wondering if you were interested in talking at all.” “Well why wouldn’t I be!” He exclaimed, his full attention focused completely in my direction. “It’s one of the only activities we can really take part in other than killing and crime… or reading if you so prefer but I’m pretty sure that’s the last thing anypony is doing here.” Ignoring the oddity of the comment he just made we started talking. I don’t really know why, but I felt this instant connection to the Doctor, even if I didn’t understand most of what he said to me. While Rainbow was, for some reason I can’t understand, good at scientist it was probably my worst subject all through high school and college. However, the strange connection I felt made me hang on each word that he said, even if I didn’t understand the specifics of it. “This has been fun Ditzy, but I have a feeling you didn’t come to me just to talk about chemistry and machinery,” He said after some time, a giant smile on his face. “Let me guess, you want to know about the time machine I made, didn’t you? That’s the only reason somepony like you would really want to talk to a crazy stallion like myself.” “Aw, don’t sell yourself short Doctor,” I told him, my smile probably even wider than his was. “Though you’re right, I’ve been wondering about the time machine since you first brought it up. Did you actually go back in time? Is it bigger on the inside than on the outside?” “Why does everypony ask me that second question?” Doctor Hooves asked himself, seeming a little embarrassed by it. “Well, just so you know it does work, and really well at that. I had to make sure it worked before showing it off to the princesses, and thank Celestia it did! Unicorns think they’re so special with magic and whatnot, but while a time spell can only go backwards a few days, I can go back and forth centuries if I want!” “Wow, that really is special,” I said in awe of the very idea of time travel. “Where did you go? Did you get to see what Equestria is like hundred of years in the future? What about the past?” “Peaked your interest I see,” He observed, a slight giggle in his words. “Well the first and last questions are the two easiest to answer. In order to back up my entry paper I had to show that it could do both the past and present, so I visited both. As for where I visited in the future... that’s a much harder question to answer.” “Really? Why is that?” “Tell me Ditzy Do, do you understand the idea behind alternate or parallel universes?” I nodded my head in answer to his question. “Well the future is always changing no matter how big or small the option is. Traveling to the past is easy because it’s already set in stone when you enter it, but when going to the future every new journey could be significantly different. For example, say I place my hoof on this table here,” The Doctor did just as he said, placing his right hoof on an empty table next to him. “As small and insignificant as it might be, this one motion just opened up billions of different futures were different consequences occurred. Nothing happened in this one, but in another I might not have put my hoof on the table at all, or even more wild a meteor could have hit us both as I did. In fact, this very conversation might be entirely different in the future, or might not be happening at all.” “So the future you traveled to when you showed the time machine to the princesses no longer exists, possibly because you showed it to them?” I asked, the entire idea having just started to make sense. “So if we were to travel to the future right now, the future would be different from one you visited about, let’s say, an hour ago?” “Precisely!” He shouted, his eyes glowing like flashlights they were so bright. “The future I showed the princesses was so beautiful that they actually want to bring an artist along to paint it. However, when I told them the same thing I had told you they realized it would be impossible to do so. Other futures I’ve seen includes one where Equestria was a war devastated wasteland, one where the sun and moon had completely vanished from existence, and another where… actually that one came true now that I think about it.” “Huh, what future came true?” I asked, almost touching the Doctors muzzle. “Nevermind, it’s better if we not talk about it at the moment,” He said, the sudden rejection of an answer making me rather sad. “Besides, I could possibly be wrong. Even if that part of the future was true doesn’t mean that everything after it was the same.” “Oh… I see.” Despite how upset I was that I never learned what he was going to say, we continued to chat for a good amount of the day. The talk of time travel and different futures made me dizzy at times, but it was also very entertaining. As it neared nighttime we bid each other farewell, and made our way back to our rooms. That entire time however, I couldn’t help but feel a strange connection to Doctor Hooves, one that I couldn’t completely understand. ———- Chapter 2: Unfortunate Seventeen ———- Ding dong bing bong “It’s nighttime everypony, and that means that the dining room and courtyard are all locked. I hope you're all thinking about those two tickets, and are even more so thinking of how you can obtain them. Anyways, nighty night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite… and if you for some reason do get bitten tell me because I still don’t believe they exist.” As I climbed into bed my thoughts went back to Rainbow, or more specifically how she had acted in response to the motive. Two tickets, one for the murderer and the other for a pony in here. A part of me liked the idea of escaping, but as I thought about Trixie and Twilight yet again, I remembered I couldn't. No, not just that I couldn’t but that I wouldn’t. I won’t let Rainbow do anything like that, because even if she is my friend… … no pony, no matter how they show their loyalty, should kill for any reason.