What started out as a restful night turned restless quickly. As soon as my thought went to home I was restless, wondering if anyone thought I was dead. My friends, parents, and the post office all had to think that by now giving the length of time I’ve been here. The only reason I even did get sleep at that point was due to the comfort of my bed, and those were only for minutes at least.
Ding dong bing bong
“Hello everyone, it is now eight am and that means another beautiful morning is upon us,” I groaned at the sound of Monokuma’s voice. It was the last thing I wanted to here this morning, and I tried using my hooves to cover my ears and block his voice. “Now then, I’m sure you can all probably guess by this point, but I have something to show you all. Same place as always, and if you really need to be reminded, screw you! This ain’t a 4kids dub!”
It was no use, his voice was so loud that it was near impossible for me to not here it. On one hoof, I could stay in bed and relax, which is what I would have chosen if it wasn’t for the ever looming possibility of death. The other option was the one I had decided on, which was to head for the dining room. Everypony probably already knew what Monokuma had waiting for us.
By the time I arrived at the dining room everypony else was already there. Some looked a lot like I had, a bad night’s sleep plaguing nearly half the room. Nopony spoke, though I couldn’t tell if it was due to a lack in topics or just the state of everyone in here.
“Are you okay Ditzy?” Thorax asked, noticing how unhappy I currently was. “I know most of us here are tired, but you seem like you want to kill someone.”
“Thorax,” I called to him. “I think I speak for most ponies here when I say how badly that was phrased.”
“Eh, sleep is no reason to kill somepony anyway,” Redheart chimed in, her words seeming to gain a venomous glare from a fair amount of us. “You all really need to lighten up. What’s so bad about trying to crack a joke in a moment like this? Honestly, all those frowns are going to do for you is heighten the chance of another murder.”
“Don’t lie to us Redheart, we know that’s not how you feel,” Flash said. The response made me groan, having gotten far to familiar with this rhythm. “Four ponies are dead! Even if two of them were murders they were not treated fairly by any means. If you are going to make light of this I might just have to-”
“Arrest me? Oh you’ve sent a chill down my spine you walking contradiction,” Redheart interrupted, her voice filled to the brim with sarcasm. “You know, for the Ultimate Guard you have done nothing to prove yourself as one. The true Ultimate Guard, while wary, wouldn’t go about pointing hooves at everyone who looks bad. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but so far we bad ponies have done more good than the rest of you.”
“You aren’t wrong,” A.K. replied, walking to Redheart’s side. “Last I check Flash, you’ve assaulted two innocent ponies here since all of this has started, Flam and Thorax,” Flash opened his mouth to retort, but was quickly cut off. “I am going to ask you to shut your mouth before you even try to call Thorax ‘an unintelligent beast’. The treatment you have shown to ponies here is far below that of what the Ultimate Guard should be.”
“Well why shouldn’t I? The best way to survive this is suspicion, right?” He asked, his reasoning both correct and incorrect at the same time. “I am part of Princess Celestia’s personal guard, and as such it is my duty to protect her. If we go around trusting each other, it will only lessen our chances of making it out of here alive.”
“Wow, didn’t expect that to be happening this late into the game,” Monokuma’s voice rang out, our eyes immediately turning to the table in the center of the room. “Usually by the second murder everyone is talking about how you can’t trust each other. It was making me nervous as to how much you all still trusted each other, but it looks like I don’t have to worry.”
“You do realize that you don’t need to make a rambling argument everytime you appear, right?” Applejack asked. “Anyways, we all know why you’re here so just give it up already and leave us alone.”
“I know this is a killing game but the least you could do is show me a little respect damn it!” Monokuma shouted lunging at the Ultimate Farmer with claws ready. “I swear to whatever being you praise that your lucky I didn’t decide to just kill you all from the start. I’m your host, kidnapper, and judge and as such I should be receiving all that respect I have lost over the years.”
I tilted my head in confusion, one word in particular not ringing with me. “Kidnapper? Do you mean foalnapper?”
After I said that, he just stood there, staring at me. I could only imagine how stupid I must of sounded to him, but I wasn’t wrong. Any Equestrian dictionary a pony read would see ‘foalnap’ or ‘ponynap’, not ‘kidnap’. I could see that I wasn’t the only who had caught that strange word in his rant, but no one was willing to say anything. Part of me expect Monokuma to tear me apart for correcting him, but instead he held up a group of envelopes in one paw, the other with claws at the ready.
“You know,” Monokuma finally said, those words followed by a quick sigh of relief. “Now I feel even less sorry for what I’m about to do. Should have considered your place before speaking up, dimwit.”
With that, he threw the envelopes into the air and jumped up after them. He seemed to suspend himself in the air for a small amount of time, putting his paws across his chest in a X shape. With, he swiped at the envelopes, cutting both them and the paper inside of them in half. He swiped again, than again, and in time his singular strikes at the paper turned into an invisible flurry that cut them until they were shreds. He landed as he finished his furious battle with the paper, a part of me being torn apart to see such treatment of mail and letters.
“In case any of you were wondering, those were all letters that I had ‘borrowed’ from all your homes and families in the past few hours,” Monokuma explained, his voice filled with hatred and rage. “Now, if you had all shown me a little damn respect in the past few days, I would have proudly given them to you. However, unless you want to take the time to put them all back together, none of you will ever get to hear what they say.”
“Wait, are you saying you don’t have a motive for us?” I asked, trying to understand what little of these circumstances I actually can.
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t, but now you will never know,” Monokuma said with a giggle. “Sucks to be you. Now then, I’ll take my leave and let you do whatever the heck you are going to.”
Monokuma jumped backwards, landing behind the table and vanishing like always. Flash rushed forward as if it would stop the mechanical bear, but his efforts were fruitless. Nopony really knew what to think about the events following, but many eyes were on me at that moment. I had made a mistake, one that I hadn’t expected but a mistake nonetheless.
“Nice going Ditzy, you pissed off the bear,” Applejack said, no attempts being made to hide her aggression.
“Don’t act like that, how was I supposed to know?” I said with reason that was sound in my head. “He didn’t seem that easy to tick, and I didn’t think it would happen after how happy he was about… about Octavia’s death.”
“Like you care after that stunt you pulled,” Flash said, sounding just as forceful as usual.
“I seriously didn’t mean to-”
“Now’s not the time for that,” Somepony called from beside me. Looking in the voices direction I found Redheart, looking at me that reminded me of how she acted before we learned her secret. “Right now it’s probably just best to leave.”
Still not completely trusting Redheart I turned to A.K. and Rainbow for their judgement. Both of them nodded their head yes solemnly, neither of them having the venomous look that most of the room held. I sighed as I realized that nopony wanted me around at the current moment save for my best friend, possible sister, and the Ultimate Nurse. Those three, however, understood more than I did how risky it would be to stay in the room. Looking back to Redheart I nodded and followed her out.
“As stupid as that was, you aren’t to blame,” Redheart said as the two of us entered the hallway. She quickly closed the door behind me, as if she was worried somepony was willing to stab me in the back. “Monokuma said it himself. He was going to destroy those cards anyways, so what point is there to blame this on you?”
I looked back to the door and then back to Redheart. I was overwhelmingly confused. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I’m an orphan, have no parents to go back to, and no friends from then because my...” Redheart didn’t finish what she was about to say. “Anyways, all I’m gonna ask of you is to be careful. That said I have something more concerning to ask of you, where was Pinkie Pie during that entire thing.”
I was taken off guard by that question, but Redheart wasn’t wrong to ask about that. Monokuma didn’t seem to take notice of Pinkie Pie at all, or rather the lack of Pinkie Pie for that matter. Perhaps he saw how badly the Ultimate Party Planner was taken all of this. Actually, Monokuma doesn’t seem like the type to care about that.
“I don’t know, but I hope she’s fine,” I replied, looking away ashamed of not knowing. “Guess all we can do is wait until she comes out of her room.”
“Then I guess I will have to keep an eye on her, though not for her safety,” Redheart started walking towards the dungeon. “Just stay safe Ditzy, going up against Monokuma is dangerous, no matter how directly it is.”