//------------------------------// // Prologue: School of Despair 2 // Story: Danganronpa vP: Harmony of Despair // by witegrlninja //------------------------------// We walked together to the school's entrance. Nopony had noticed it, but at some point in time a plain, wooden podium had been set up in front of the doors. "Oh? When did this happen?" asked Rarity. "And why isn't there anypony behind it?" Nurse Redheart added impatiently. "I thought we were going to have our questions answered now." "Perhaps they are merely putting the finishing touches on whatever speech they have planned for us," Flam mused, fiddling with his mustache. "Or, maybe they're scared of gettin' their head bashed in," Lightning snorted. "C'mon, I don't have all day to waste!" Fleur shouted angrily at the podium. "I have far too many important ponies to mingle with to be stuck here with these peasants!" But, as more and more ponies began to voice their complaints, nothing happened. Finally, after a few minutes of uncomfortable inactivity, Fluttershy timidly stepped in front of the group as they continued to complain. "Um... if it's not too much trouble... could you maybe come out and meet us... please?" "Why, I thought you'd never ask!" The strange voice from before was suddenly very close, no longer distorted by the speakers like before. All of the other ponies were immediately silenced by the exclamation. "Sheesh, the rest of you guys should really take a page from Butterball here and show your host some respect!" "Host?" I wondered out loud. "Show yourself, fiend," Celestia spoke, her soft voice hardened into a commanding firmness. "I grow tired of this foalishness." "Aw, fine... only because you're a princess, though." And then... just like that, it appeared. *boing* A stuffed bear about a foot and a half tall suddenly popped up from behind the podium and landed on the top sitting down. It was unlike any I had ever seen before: it was designed as if it had once been two different bears, and then somepony divided the two into two halves right down the middle, took one of those halves each and slapped them together. Its right half was pure white and simply-designed with a black-button eye, but the left half was jet-black, with a crimson eye in the shape of... perhaps a stretched-out bat wing. Its mouth was similarly divided in two, the right being a typical stuffed bear's snout, the left morphing into a wide, disturbing grin. Its nose was a simple, plain black, but its belly button atop its white potbelly was distended and about the size of a strawberry. Everypony, including this bear, was silent for a good ten seconds as we struggled to comprehend just what was going on. "Ah... is this some kind of joke?" Coloratura was the first to break the silence. "It's cute!" Pinkie beamed. "Looks like some kind of stupid magic prop to me," Lightning grumbled before pointing a hoof at Trixie. "Is this some kind of stupid fuckin' trick of yours?" "How DARE you?!" Trixie gasped. "The Great and Powerful Trrrixie! ...Would never use such a cheap piece of shit in her illusions!" At that remark, I could've sworn I saw the bear's expression fall. "So... this thing just kinda... pops up outta nowhere... and that's it?" asked Rainbow. "...Cheap... she called me cheap..." the bear whimpered. Hold on... did that stuffed animal just- "AAAGH! IT TALKED!" Bulk shouted in surprise. "Well, duh," Fleur grumbled, putting a hoof to her forehead. "Any Unicorn with half a brain can enchant a stuffed animal to repeat some lines." "Well, that's rude! Who said I was stuffed?!" the bear responded angrily without missing a beat. It held up its right front paw and three razor-sharp claws instantly popped out of its toes. "Oh, um... s-sorry, Mr. Bear," Fluttershy cowered. "P-Please don't t-take offense..." While the others were still getting over their shock, I took a couple steps forward. Focusing magic into my horn, I extended a glowing, pink tendril outwards and let it wrap around the bear. It simply looked around its body as my spell analyzed its form. To my complete surprise, the bear was, in fact, a masterfully-crafted robot, perfectly flawless in form and function. And hidden deep within its body were multiple weapons... "It's... some kind of robot," I announced, retracting my magic back into my horn. "Interesting." "What?! No! I am totally a real, live, innocent, not-stuffed bear!" the bear whined before regaining its composure and posing proudly. "I'm the one and only... Monokuma! And I am the Headmaster of the brand-new School of Despair!" Again, everypony remained silent for another ten seconds or so. "...Whut in tarnation...?" Applejack mumbled. "But... this is Twilight's school," Rainbow scratched her head. "Yea! You can't just proclaim yourself the Headmare like that, you meanie!" Pinkie scowled. "...Head... mare...?" Monokuma put a paw to his chin in thought for a moment before letting out a grunt. "I'm gonna have to get used to all this pony terminology, I see... But's that's not the point! Now... now that the introduction is out of the way, I'll get to your questions!" "Yes, that would be nice," Fleur rolled her eyes. "Please, do continue," Celestia affirmed, her voice low and wary. "Alright, then!" However, Monokuma's excitement quickly fizzled out as he put a paw on his chin again. "Hmm... well, you guys aren't at all like those kids I usually deal with... I'll have to make a couple changes here and there..." "Get on with it!" Lightning screamed in frustration. "You ponies here... yea, you guys represent the hope of Equestria!" Oh? Well, he's not wrong, I suppose... the Princesses, myself and my friends and the Elements of Harmony- "And, to protect such splendid hope... you will all live a communal life together, solely within the confines of this school!" ...Wait, what now? "Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of this school!" "Uh... are you just going to ignore the fact that we're all adults, here...?" Applejack weakly held up a hoof, but was ignored. "Now, then... regarding the end date of this communal life... there isn't one! In other words, you'll all remain here until the day you die! Such is the school life you've been assigned!" Monokuma finished cheerfully. "...HOLD UP, WHAT?!" Bulk shouted. "Until we die?!" Coloratura gasped, as we all did in horror. "Oh, but fear not! We have quite the abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences!" "Fuck that!" Lightning spat. "You're telling me I have to live with these losers forever!" "Oh, hell no!" Fleur stamped her hoof. "Surely you're joking!" Flam narrowed his eyes. "I am NOT joking!" Monokuma proclaimed. "I am no liar, of that you can be 100% assured." Flam coughed. "Also, you're all completely cut off from the outside world, so you'll never have to worry about that dirty, Friendship-infested land beyond the barrier ever again! Not like you can break through it, anyway... my magic barrier is totally impenetrable! It's security one-million percent! So, with all that in mind, feel free to live out your days here with reckless abandon!" "...That 'Friendship-infested land' you're referring to is our home!" Rainbow growled. "This is unconscionable! The Great and Powerful Trrrixie has many prior appointments she simply must attend to, and none of them involve being stuck here for the rest of her life!" "We aren't going to give up on our freedom that easily!" Rarity tilted her head up, looking down her muzzle at Monokuma. "Not that it matters, but none of us are exactly school-aged," Flam protested sternly. "We all have our businesses to attend to, we have no time for this idiocy!" "Bah..." the bear sighed. "But aren't you guys sick of all that pesky responsibility and social obligations? Here you can live in peace and quiet for the rest of your lives! Ah... but, I suppose I did forget to mention one thing..." "Which is...?" Luna asked warily. "There is one way for you to leave the school..." "And... that is...?" asked Redheart. "As Headmare... Master... whatever... I have crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it... the Graduation Clause!" "Oh for fucksakes, just get to the point!" Fleur groaned. "Oh, fine, fine, geez, ruin my delivery, will ya..." Monokuma grumbled. "You may leave if you disrupt the perfect harmony of the school... by murdering one of your classmates." Until now, my body had felt cold and heavy... but at that statement I completely froze. M-Murder...?! "Murder?!" Everypony repeated out loud, whether their attitude was incredulous, terrified or somewhere in between. "Precisely!" Monokuma shouted gleefully. "Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting... how you do it doesn't matter! You must kill someone if you want to leave. It's as simple as that." "Wha- no, it isn't!" Coloratura yelled. "Why do we have to kill each other to leave?!" "That... that's so... horrible..." Fluttershy whimpered, her eyes beginning to water. "I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Bulk shouted, sinking to the ground. "Uh... guys...?" Pinkie spoke quietly. "...I don't think this party is any fun anymore..." "What are you talking about?!" Monokuma threw his arms in the air. "This school is now your home, your life, your world... you can kill as much as you want! So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree!" This was utterly ridiculous. Utterly reprehensible. Clearly this creature was sent from the deepest, darkest depths of Tartarus itself! How could this monster even fathom to make these demands?! "Well..." Discord finally said, stroking his beard. "Gotta say, this is one of the most chaotically evil plans I've ever come across! Though I am not in the business of malice anymore, I must applaud you for your sheer creativity, Monokuma." "Why, thank you!" Monokuma rubbed the back of his head. "To get a compliment like that from the God of Chaos himself, I feel so warm and fuzzy inside!" "No," Applejack said, loudly and flatly. "This ain't happenin'. Not on my watch." "Huh?" "I don't know where you came from or why you're doing this," I stomped my hoof down and flared out my wings. "But clearly you have no knowledge of pony culture, law and order, or even just basic common decency. Murder in Equestria is almost entirely unheard of!" "I'll do it, though," Lightning muscled her way through the crowd until she was inches away from Monokuma's face. "...If you don't let us all go right this second. This shitty excuse for a joke has dragged on long enough!" "No, Lightning Dust," Celestia finally spoke. Turning my head back towards her, I instantly felt a deep, primal fear within my very soul as I saw her face, twisted with anger. It was a look that I had only seen perhaps once or twice during my fillyhood studies, but the fury that was soon to follow was enough to flatten entire civilizations. "I have heard enough, Monokuma. This 'communal life' proposal of yours is entirely unacceptable. You will release my little ponies, or you will suffer the full wrath of the Sun itself!" "Ooh, big bad Sun Goddess, I'm soooo scared," Monokuma replied flippantly. My emotions spun and churned within me; half of me concerned as to why the bear wasn't taking the threat of an angry Alicorn Princess seriously, while the other half was concerned as to what might happen if Celestia somehow wasn't successful. As I wondered, he surprised us all by hopping off of his podium and hastily jogging until he was now to the right of our group. "Normally, the punishment for trying to harm the Headmastermare... thing... is death, but for you guys... oh, what the heck, I'll give you three chances to defeat me." "Three?" Rainbow asked. "Yea... a nice, even number. Well? If you can, then we'll forget all about this new life I've created for you guys, and you can all go home." "Then defeat you in battle, I shall," Celestia glared, already charging her magic. In an instant her horn glowed with intense, blinding golden light, rapidly heating the surrounding air into an inferno. Even as I formed a protective shield around myself and the others, I felt my skin become parched within seconds, and sweat began pouring down my body from such close proximity. A few moments later, her spell fully charged, Celestia let out a fierce yell as she blasted Monokuma with all her might. I watched with horrified interest as Monokuma's body disappeared inside a burning blaze of light and power... ...And gasped as he emerged a few seconds later, entirely unharmed. The others gasped as well, and Celestia's glare instantly vanished, replaced with total confusion. "Puhuhuhu... that tickles!" he laughed. "Welp, that's one chance down... you gonna blow through the rest now, or will you save them for later?" "How...?" Rainbow whispered. "He's not even singed!" exclaimed Redheart. But while we stood there in shock and awe, Celestia shook her head and hardened her gaze. "Sister... I believe I will need your assistance... Discord, Twilight, you too." Oh? Ah, I see... more power! "Of course," I quickly trotted beside her, all too happy to fight by my mentor's side. Luna and Discord stepped up as well, the former's horn already charged with silver-blue energy. I took a deep breath and began charging my own magic as well, feeling it bubbling, swirling, churning inside my horn like a geyser under pressure. The other ponies - quickly and correctly assuming that the air around us would heat up even hotter than the last time - stepped way back. "Now, fiend... BURN!" At her shout, Celestia, Luna and myself unleashed everything we had, focusing our magic into a single, woven point - and fired straight at Monokuma, while Discord snapped his claws, his Chaos magic entwining around our attack and strengthening it further. Again, Monokuma's body vanished in a torrent of bright light and burning, chaotic fury. There was a large explosion after a few moments of sustained blasting, which formed a mushroom cloud above the spot. At this we ceased our attack, hoping that this was the end of that awful little bear. The smoke cleared... and in the center of a shallow, charred crater Monokuma still stood there, like nothing had happened. As the others gasped yet again, fear began to truly take root within my mind. That amount of magic was enough to level an entire mountain range, and it did nothing?! What... What creature... what is this...?! "I don't understand!" Luna sputtered in disbelief. "Why are you not in pieces? Why are you not a smudge of molten iron?!" "Puhuhuhu... because I'm the one and only Monokuma!" he answered, if that was an answer at all. "Anyway, just one chance left! After that, attacking your Headmare-Master is punishable by death, death and more death! Well? What's it gonna be?" Celestia turned to me, now visibly shaken. "I... I am not certain we can defeat him in battle any longer... To shrug off our combined attacks like that, like it was nothing..." "I agree, this is most troubling," Discord added. "This whole time, I've been trying to turn that bear into a teapot, or a bowl of noodles, or even an actual stuffed animal of the inanimate variety, but my magic simply has no effect on him!" Mere magic isn't enough... but there's still one thing we haven't tried. As we spoke, I turned my head to the group of ponies, and my closest friends ran to my side, as if they had each read my mind. "Maybe... he just needs to be slapped upside the head with some Friendship..." Rainbow grinned. "Ooh! I was wondering when you'd roll out the Elements of Harmony!" Monokuma wiggled his body as if extremely excited. "I've always wondered what it'd be like to be hit with a rainbow made of pure Friendship! Hah! Bring it on!" His cockiness annoyed me greatly... it reminded me of Trixie when we first met. But between my distaste for this bear's personality and seeing the determination in my friends' eyes, I swallowed my fear and cast it aside. In its place, my heart swelled with trust, with love, and with certainty. "We have the greatest weapon of them all... something that I don't believe this ruffian has ever felt himself," Rarity smirked. Each of us, the six of us, focused deeply on the thoughts of our friendship. All of our shared memories; the good, the bad, the painful, the triumphant... the times we fell apart, only to mend together stronger than before. As we concentrated, our bodies began to glow the color of our Elements - though the physical aspects of the Elements had been returned to the Tree long ago, we still- no, we always had them inside of us all along. We looked back on our memories with tender fondness, our hearts swelling with a familiar power, pure and sublime. Our light was radiant. The air around us was balmy and gentle. The power within my friends and I lifted us into the air, casting shadows on everything around us. Celestia, Luna, Discord, all ponies present gazed up at us in awe of the beauty and perfection of our friendship. Monokuma simply stood where he was, a thoughtful paw to his chin. Finally, our emotions reached their apex. I opened my eyes, the whitest of light pouring out of them. Focusing my gaze on Monokuma, I gently aimed the accumulated power of my friends and let it rush through the air like a heavenly river. Finally, like a thousand-ton weight, a rainbow of pure Friendship dropped itself like a waterfall on Monokuma's head. Once more did the bear's form disappear from sight as we released our might, channeling everything we had into the intangible force. The light coalesced into pure white, and soon everypony was blinded by it. Nearly a minute later, the rainbow had been exhausted and the light faded away. I blinked a few times to recover from the spell, and then looked over to where Monokuma was standing - the spell was never meant to destroy anything, only to bring Harmony to those who dearly, truly needed it, lest they destroy Equestria otherwise, or something similar. He was silent for many moments, as were we. And then... "...That's it? That's the magic of Friendship? Pah!" he spat. He spat. ...No... it can't be... it can't... "Welp, that was your last chance, I'm afraid!" Nothing had happened. Nothing had changed. The Magic of Friendship had utterly failed to affect Monokuma in the slightest. "...Oh my Celestia..." Trixie squeaked. "...Oh my me," Celestia murmured. "...Oh my you..." whispered Luna. This... This is impossible... this can't be happening... "No... no...!" Fluttershy breathed. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." Rainbow's mouth hung open in shock. "NOTHING HAPPENED!" Bulk screamed in terror. "HE'S NOT FRIENDLY AT ALL!" "Shit... this is really bad..." Lightning gulped, her desire to fight finally stripped away. "Now, I expect you all to behave, like good little students should! No more attacking your MasterHeadmare, or..." Monokuma's voice suddenly went silent, and his body became eerily still. If I didn't know better, it seemed like he was deep in thought. "...Hmm... ya know, I distinctly remember picking out seventeen of you..." At first I wondered what he meant by that. In my head I recalled everypony's names: there was myself, Rainbow, Rarity, AJ, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Princesses Celestia and Luna, Discord, Trixie, Nurse Redheart, Bulk, Lightning, Flam, Coloratura and Fleur... sixteen in total. ...So who's the seventeenth- And before I could finish my thought, yet another horror made itself known. A nearby bush began hissing menacingly. "So... you finally noticed..." A low, gravelly voice, raspy with endless infection, drifted into the air from the bush. A voice I had hoped to never hear again as long as I lived. Oh come on, this just keeps getting worse and worse... Why?! Why her, of all creatures?! The bush then morphed into a mass of black, green and blue, stretching and creaking and snapping back into its original shape. Long limbs full of holes extended outwards from a body sealed within thick chitin, with wispy, tattered insect wings fluttering from its back. Long, ragged, corpse-blue hair covered her face like a decaying veil, and glowing, green eyes stared coldly underneath a crooked, razor-sharp horn. "I knew these foolish little ponies were weak, but to not even leave a scratch?!" Queen Chrysalis glowered as she approached Monokuma. "Pathetic! They will have no choice but to bow to me after I destroy you!" "Puhuhu! My, you're a confident one," Monokuma giggled. "What makes you think you're so much stronger than those other ponies?" Chrysalis chuckled darkly. "Once before did I force the leaders of this land to submit to my power... and I shall do so again, once I've gotten rid of you!" Suddenly I began to feel dizzy and nauseous, weakening more and more by the second. My legs felt like wet noodles. My wings felt like lead weights. Behind me I heard the others drowsily panicking, and realized that Chrysalis was rapidly draining our power, presumably to attack Monokuma herself. I couldn't help but sink to the ground as I futilely struggled against her draining spell... although if our combined magic was somehow enough to defeat this bear-shaped monster and set us all free, well... maybe she could be pardoned. Just this once. "Chrysalis... don't do it..." Celestia groaned weakly. "We... underestimated... his power..." "And I will not," the Changeling Queen sneered. Her horn glowed a bright, sickly green, and her pupils became viperous slits as she roared. Her corrosive magic, combined with all our own, leeched out of her horn and enveloped Monokuma in its glow. I heard the hissing of steam and bubbling liquids as the toxic light intensified, and then fizzled out once the Queen finally had nothing left to channel. A moment later I felt strength return to my body, and the dizziness and nausea subsided. Chrysalis really must've given that spell her all if she no longer had a hold over us. Indeed, she was panting heavily as the dust settled, wearing a proud, fang-filled grin on her face. But her smile quickly fell. "Now you've gone and done it..." Monokuma's voice was frighteningly slow as the noxious smoke cleared, revealing his still-untouched body, now holding what appeared to be an extremely large rocket launcher. "Didn't you hear me tell the others you were all out of free shots?" Chrysalis' eyes narrowed. "There's no way that didn't melt you into a puddle. This must be an illusion!" Monokuma giggled. "Oh, no, ya overgrown mosquito..." There was a sudden, loud hiss as the rocket launcher fired. Now, rocket launchers in Equestria are quite uncommon. An Earth pony invention from the past couple decades, we simply just have no real use for them, as Unicorn magic can accomplish the same task without using any resources. In addition, any Unicorn sufficiently trained in warding magic can easily block the projectile and make it ricochet off in a harmless direction, or even take the full blast head-on without any damage whatsoever. So it was to my abject horror that the rocket not only made contact with Queen Chrysalis, but vaporized the bulk of her body in one loud, fiery boom. There were shouts of fear and disgust as her body evaporated into sickly, green mist and black ash. Pieces of chitin and what was once her left hind leg rained down in the midst of a drizzle of dark green Changeling blood. The singed remains of her skull, barely covered in flesh, landed with a graceless, wet thump by the school's front doors. Behind me, I heard Fluttershy faint. "...I'm the real deal," Monokuma finished his sentence. "And that's the punishment for attacking your Headmaster... yea, think I'll just stick with good ol' Headmaster." "You... you killed her..." Celestia's voice trembled. "Sure did. Squished her like a bug! ...Anyway, kinda figured she'd do that sooner rather than later, that's why I only gave her a closet for a dormitory," he shrugged. "Monster..." Coloratura breathed. "Goddess, what a way to go..." Flam gulped. "...I take back everything I said about kicking your ass," Lightning took a few steps back. "As you should," replied Monokuma. "Consider that to be your one and only warning. Any naughty... boy-horse or girl-horse who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt. Don't think I won't know about it, either, that's why there's all the surveillance cameras everywhere." "Everywhere...?" Rarity spoke with concern. "Everywhere." "Tch, you disgusting perv..." Fleur hissed. "Now then, lastly... to commemorate your joyous entry into my school, I have a little something to give you!" We watched helplessly as Monokuma jogged back over to the podium in front of the doors, kicking Chrysalis' skull out of the way as he went. He reached behind the podium and pulled out a stack of thin, plastic rectangles, holding one up for us to see. A monitor? ...No, a computer tablet. Kinda like the ones back in that other universe... "Ta-da! This is our official school handbook! Pretty cool, huh? And it even runs on pure magic, rather than the futuristic technology I usually have access to. I call it... the e-Handbook!" "...We do have technology of our own, a computer tablet isn't exactly unheard of..." Applejack muttered. It was true; after my last trip to the other version of Equestria I had brought a few electronics back with me for study, and other scientists and mages in Canterlot had reverse-engineered and recreated them for our own use. Still, however, they were a fairly new technology. Only the top scientific institutes and universities in the country had them. "Yes, well..." Monokuma paused. "...This handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it should display your name. Always make sure you have the right one!" He then took a few minutes to pass the e-Handbooks out to everypony, although he just gently tossed Fluttershy's at her unconscious body. As soon as I received mine I tapped the power button, wondering what I would find. "Now, these aren't your everyday notebooks, they have so many more uses than that! Also, it's completely waterproof, so don't be shy about taking it in the bath with you! And thanks to its space-age design, it can withstand a crushing force of up to ten tons! More importantly, it contains all our school regulations, so be sure to review them thoroughly! ...You'll hear me say this a lot, but any violation of the rules will not. Be. Tolerated." As Monokuma continued on about his deadly consequences, my e-Handbook finished booting up. I was indeed greeted by a message that read "Welcome, Princess Twilight Sparkle", but the honorific beneath it caught my eye. ...Ultimate Organizer...? I raised my hoof. "Oh! Yes, Miss Twilight?" Monokuma acknowledged. "Um, what's this 'Ultimate Organizer' thing about?" "Ah, yes..." Monokuma took on a nostalgic tone. "Just a bit of a holdover from all my past students... Back home, they were known as Ultimates, the very best at what they did. Kinda like you lot, so I've heard, what with your butt pictures and all". "You mean our Cutie Marks?" Redheart asked, turning her flank towards him. "Yea, those... 'Cutie Marks', eh? Ugh, ponies are weird..." he muttered under his breath. "Welp, that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please do enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! See ya!" And with that, Monokuma disappeared behind the podium, which sank quickly into the ground through a trap door and clapped shut before anypony realized what had happened. Nopony spoke for quite a while, all of us too stunned to even form a coherent thought. Finally, Rainbow broke the silence, if only with a simple, confused grunt. But it did encourage more discourse. "So... live here together, forever... or kill somepony..." Trixie sat down roughly, all her usual bravado long gone. "Man... that sucks," muttered Lightning. "WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?! I DON'T WANNA KILL ANYPONY, BUT I DON'T WANNA LIVE HERE FOREVER, EITHER!" said Bulk, whose voice nudged Fluttershy back to consciousness. Her hazy eyes happened to rest upon Rarity first. "...Oh! Oh, Rarity... I just had the most terrible dream! An evil bear trapped us in Twilight's school and told us that we have to live there forever, and that we can only leave if we killed each other!" she swooned. "I'm afraid that dream of yours is our reality now," Rarity sighed. "Wh-What?!" My heart hurt for poor Fluttershy, she was far too gentle for such a twisted game... Everypony was, really. I can't imagine any of my friends or these others have it in them to commit murder. And I certainly have no interest in killing anypony... not only out of my love for my friends or the ethical and moral ramifications of such an act, but then I'd also be the worst Princess of Friendship ever! And Princesses Celestia and Luna would never betray the trust of their ponies, either. And Discord... well, I'm sure he's thinking of ways to fake other ponies' deaths or otherwise trick Monokuma. Fluttershy would never forgive him... "Now, now, my little ponies," Celestia spoke, calmly and gently. "I promise you all that my sister and I will do everything in our power to get us all out of here safely." "As will I," I added. "I'm sure we can find a way out of this place if we work together!" "Yea," nodded Applejack. "We've gotten outta bigger predicaments than this before. We just need to stick together!" Most of the other ponies came together in agreement, their fears subsiding, although Fleur and Lightning both sighed in annoyed reluctance. As we reassured each other, there was a loud click, and we turned to watch the school's front doors finally swing wide open. "Hey, look! The doors are unlocked! We can go inside!" beamed Pinkie. "Do we really want to?" asked Flam. "Who knows what's inside if Monokuma's in control of this place." "Maybe so," said Coloratura, "but there might be something useful inside, or maybe even a hidden way out!" "You're... awfully optimistic," Trixie mumbled. ...Well... it is my school, and back home there were a couple of hidden escape tunnels leading into caves in the mountain behind it... "We won't know until we look," I spoke up. "We should go inside and check it out, anyway. We'll be fine as long as we stay together." "Welp, no time like the present! Let's go, everypony!" Applejack said as she began corralling the others inside, amid a few mild protests. I quickly trotted to the front of the group and took a deep breath before walking inside. I sure hope my school isn't booby-trapped or something.