"...Twilight..."
"...Twilight..."
"...-ear me...?"
Again I dreamed of a dark, empty place. This time, however, somepony was definitely trying to talk to me.
Hello...? Who's there...?
I shouted, reaching out with my hoof. But I saw nor felt nothing.
"...Twilight..."
The voice was unlike anypony's I had ever heard before. It seemed to be both male and female, high-pitched and deep and rumbling. Hearing it sparked a sublime tranquility in my heart, but also the deepest pits of devilish despair.
Where are you...?! I can't find you...!
"...out..."
"...trapped..."
"...need to..."
"...help..."
Help...? Help with what...?! Where are you...?!
But after those words, I heard the voice no more.
~
*ding dong, bing bong*
"Goooood morning, everyone! It is now 7am and Nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"
My pillow was still damp from the night before.
I willed myself to sit up in bed, but couldn't do much more than stare at my hooves.
Discord... Fluttershy... two more of my best friends had died, had been brutally murdered. Along with Rainbow Dash, and the Princesses... Sure, Trixie and Fleur had died and been murdered, too, but it really felt like I was being targeted somehow, even though nopony had tried to kill me... yet.
Why... why do my friends keep dying...? Why them...?!
A fresh pang of grief kicked me in the throat, and I cried in response. My voice was raspy from all the crying I had done the night before, before unconscious sleep finally soothed me. Before that dream... what even were these dreams I kept having? Was it the ghosts of my friends trying to tell me to cheer up and save everypony else? Or maybe they were trapped somewhere, and I was the only one who could save them? ...Goddess, they weren't all trapped in Tartarus, were they...?! No... no, they were all good ponies...
I just couldn't understand why. Why were we here? Why did we have to kill each other to leave? Why did Monokuma even have to exist? Where were we? How could this happen?! Why us?! Why... me?
I reached over to a box of tissues lying on my bed and stifled my cries long enough to blow my nose.
Ugh... at least I can breathe now... hmm, I'm hungry, I should- ...wait, what was I doing...?
I froze, and my mind began racing. Discord and Fluttershy died yesterday... right?
Just like that, I had nearly forgotten what I was crying about. My grief had all but disappeared... why? Why was this happening, too?! Was Monokuma really so heartless as to deprive us of our ability to grieve?!
...Us... The others...
Dragging myself out of bed, I quickly dried my face and nose and practically ran out of my room. I had to know if the others had experienced the disappearance of our emotions as well.
~
I slowed down as I approached the Cafeteria. Nurse Redheart was already there, stoically sipping her coffee. Her eyes were trained on Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, as if pondering the most appropriate thing to say to them.
Sitting at their own table, my three remaining best friends looked like they hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Applejack had her face nestled in her forelegs, her eyes red and puffy. Pinkie's mane was still pin-straight as she stared despondently into her bowl of multicolored cereal and milk. Rarity hadn't even bothered putting makeup on, a rare but disturbing sight when it happened; the snow-white fur on her face did little to hide the redness beneath.
I gathered together a meal for myself and sat down with them. Their mouths offered slight grins as they noticed me.
"Hey... how are you girls doing...?" I asked quietly.
"Terrible, thanks fer askin'," Applejack chuckled hollowly.
"I just don't understand," Rarity slowly shook her head. "It's bad enough our friends are dead... but why must Monokuma interfere with our ability to remember them?"
"...They're dead..." Pinkie sighed quietly.
"I don't know... and I really don't like it," I admitted.
"It just goes to show how callous a creature he is," Redheart shrugged, sipping her coffee. "Creatures with that kind of power love to lord it over their prisoners."
"...They're dead..." Pinkie sighed again, still as a statue. At this point the others began to arrive, grabbing their breakfasts and sitting down nearby.
"So, uh... anypony else feel kinda okay about three more of us dying yesterday right now?" Lightning Dust coughed uncomfortably.
"I DO, AND IT AIN'T RIGHT," Bulk Biceps shivered. "I WENT TO BED FEELING WORSE THAN I EVER HAVE, BUT WHEN I WOKE UP IT WAS LIKE IT HAPPENED FOREVER AGO."
"Good, I'm glad it's not just me," Coloratura sighed.
"...They're dead..." Pinkie droned on to herself.
"What're we gonna do 'bout it? What can we do 'bout it?" asked Applejack.
"Not much, I would say..." said Flam. "All we can do is try our damned hardest to survive. We cannot afford to let that dreadful ursine's motives get to us!"
"Yea... no more killing!" affirmed Coloratura. "...For real, this time! ...I hope."
"Just the fact that so many of us are dead, now..." Redheart shook her head. "...Terrible."
A flash of realization sparked in Flam's eyes. "...Ah! This, of course, means the 4th floor of the school should be available to us now."
"Oh, right..." Applejack chewed her bottom lip. "More deaths 'n all..."
"Well... guess it'll give us something to do instead of just mope around," Lightning shrugged.
"Let's go after breakfast, then!" said Coloratura, to everypony's agreement... well, almost everypony.
"...They're dead..." Pinkie uttered again.
"Yes, darling... come now, eat your cereal before it gets too soggy," Rarity sighed, rubbing Pinkie's back and pushing the cereal closer in an attempt to get her to eat something.
"Ah know it's hard, Pinkie... we're all feelin' it, too," nodded Applejack. "But we just gotta keep our chins up and work together!" I smiled and nodded in agreement, but I could hear the regretful emptiness hidden in Applejack's words.
And I can search for yet another secret tunnel entrance... with runes that would let us free from this miserable place... but it's probably not even there, I'm sure...
~
We began our exploration as soon as we'd finished our breakfast. We had to find out what had opened up, what was now available to us.
"HEY, PRINCESS TWILIGHT?" Bulk waved as I approached the right-side staircase to the 4th Floor.
"Oh, hi Bulk... just Twilight is fine," I smiled as I rubbed my ears.
"GOTCHA. YOU WANNA LOOK AROUND WITH ME? EVERYPONY ELSE ALREADY WENT UP."
"I... don't see why not," I replied, my horn flashing momentarily as I cast a minor noise-cancelling spell on my ears.
"COOL. LET'S GO!" Bulk urged me on as he happily trotted up the stairs. His voice, while still loud, was dampened to an almost-acceptable inside volume by my spell.
Ah... much better.
...However, as I made my way up the final staircase steps, I heard Bulk screaming even louder than before. Instantly worried, I leapt up the last few steps and raced through the hallway to the first door on the left.
"EEEYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Bulk?! What's wrong-"
Skidding to a stop in the doorway, I immediately realized why he'd screamed. Before me was a very large Weight Room, easily taking up a whole fourth of the 4th floor. To my right was a rack full of dumbbells, then the right wall behind the rack was covered in floor-to-ceiling length mirrors. Exercise mats were laid out in front of the mirrors all the way to the far wall, which was made up of entirely of windows. Treadmills, stairsteppers and stationary cycles lined the far wall, all the way to the left wall. This wall was solid with no windows and was lined with benches to rest on, up until a space to my immediate left about six feet by eight. This area had tile flooring rather than carpet, and it held a washing machine, drying machine, a folding ironing board, some shelves stacked with towels and a hamper. The rest of the room was filled with weight machines of all different kinds - for exercising your legs, torso, wings, core muscles, neck, whatever a pony could possibly flex.
"TWILIGHT, DO YOU SEE THIS?! THIS IS AWESOME!" Bulk shouted with glee. Exploration all but forgotten in his mind, Bulk raced over to a bench press, loaded it with as many weighted plates as the bar would allow, laid down and began to lift feverishly. "YEAAAAAH! I HAVEN'T HAD A PROPER WORKOUT IN AGES!"
"Oh... yea, that's great, Bulk!" I recoiled. Sure, I was happy for him - he'd found what was probably the best room in the school for himself and was thrilled with all of the weight training equipment, but he showed absolutely no signs of stopping anytime soon. This was only the first room on the floor...
"I'M- URGH! ...GONNA JUST HAVE- UUUGH! ...A QUICK WORKOUT. YOU- AGH! ...GO ON AHEAD. RAAAGH!"
"Uh... okay."
I shrugged and left the room, intent on continuing my search. Now that I wasn't in a hurry thanks to Bulk, I spared a moment to look around. The staircase leading to the 5th Floor behind me was blocked by the familiar barrier. The walls on this floor were a bright gold color, with dark wooden siding coming up to about my height, and the doors were painted Kelly green. The floors, however, were made up of bronze scaffolding surrounding squares of steel mesh. Faintly-glowing blue light pulsed through the mesh - not enough to cast a glow on anything, but still enough to be noticeable.
Maybe this time, I'll find something... please, let me find something...
In the middle of the hallway were three doors: two on the left that were restrooms, and one on the right. I peeked inside the mare's restroom, not really expecting to find anything... but was surprised to see the interior. Most of the restrooms inside the school had at least four stalls and matching sinks and blow dryers... but this one only had two of each.
This seems... small...
I began thinking of reasons why this restroom would be smaller than the rest... maybe the water heater for the school was behind the far wall? All of the toilets and sinks had pipes sticking out of the tops and running along the walls until disappearing inside. Although such utilities were usually on the first floor or in a basement... I walked over and knocked on the wall, finding it as solid as any other. As far as I could tell, nothing strange was behind it.
...Well... maybe it is just a water heater or something...
To be sure, I went back into the hallway and peeked through the stallion's restroom door: other than the addition of urinals, the room seemed exactly the same. Satisfied, I shut the door and turned my attention to the double doors behind me. As far as I could tell, this was the only room on this side of the floor. And if my secret tunnel and runes remained, they would be inside this room.
Is this all one room...? I wonder what's inside...
There was a sign above the doors that read that access to this room was forbidden after 10pm, and would not be open again until 7am. Filing that away for later, I tentatively opened the doors, gasping as I laid eyes upon the interior.
It was a room unlike any I had ever seen. The walls were completely lined with computers, monitors and panels covered with flashing lights, buttons and levers. The room itself was quite dim and dark, illuminated only by seven huge, floating, glowing hunks of crystal, one of each color of the rainbow. The crystals were arranged in a neat row in the center of the room. Rarity and Redheart were examining the stones as well, the former's eyes absolutely glittering.
As I gazed at the crystals, however... an odd sensation tingled my brain. Something about this sight felt... almost familiar. Looking at the various buttons and levers on the panels, I almost felt like I knew what they were for, yet they were totally foreign and new to me. I was positive I had never seen anything like this room before...
...Is this déjà vu...? I feel like I've seen these before, but... where...?
"Oh, my! Such divine beauties!" Rarity exclaimed. "Why in Equestria are these crystals here, of all places?"
"They look like power crystals," Redheart remarked, "...but I've never seen such large ones before."
"Power crystals?" I asked, thinking. "...Maybe this is the source of Monokuma's power!"
"That, or perhaps they power the school," replied Redheart. "If they were the source of Monokuma's power, I doubt he'd let us wander in here, regardless of the time of day."
But before we could discuss the crystals any further...
*boing!*
"Oh, what's this? You think you've discovered my secret?!" Monokuma appeared from behind one of the crystals somehow. "Nyohoho! You think these are the source of my power? Hmm? Do ya?!"
"Well... are they?" Rarity asked after a pause.
"Hey, if there were such a thing as the Nobel Truth Prize, I'd take first, second, AND fourth place! ...Actually, that's probably not true!" the bear giggled.
"Are they or not?" Redheart spoke sternly, raising her voice slightly.
"Oh, you guys... you're so eager to split things in half, aren't you? But it's no use. It's just no use... If you try to split something that can't be split, you'll end up feeling like you're the one being split!"
I groaned inwardly, slapping my forehead with my hoof and dragging it down my face. "...Would you answer the question, please?" But Monokuma simply laughed and disappeared into the shadows.
"Hmm... yet another little riddle of his, I see," Redheart sighed.
"Well, I suppose you're right," Rarity conceded. "If this was indeed the source of Monokuma's power, I'm sure he would have done something dreadful to us just now."
"Still, however... there's something weird about this room," I mumbled. "...I feel like I've been here before."
"Oh?" Redheart turned to me.
"But... this is the first time I've come in here. This is the first time any of us have been in here... right?" Rarity hummed with concern, while Redheart studied me intensely with her eyes.
"...I suspect this room may be important, then... one way or another," Redheart blinked. "We'll just have to figure out why."
I examined the room for a while longer, scanning the crystals with my magic in the hopes of gleaning some information from them, poking and prodding some of the buttons and levers in the hopes that I'd stumble upon something, but absolutely nothing happened. The crystals simply floated like immutable monoliths. Where my tunnel and runes would have been was covered by a huge panel, and try as I might, there was no way to dislodge it with my magic or otherwise. With a heavy sigh, I left and continued down the hallway.
There were only two doors left on the left. The first one opened into a Physics Laboratory, full of strange machines and devices lining the counters along the walls. There were black desks and chairs in the center of the room much like the Biology Lab and the Chemistry/Alchemy Lab downstairs, and the back corners of the room were lined with tall, heavy bookcases. I glanced around, mildly interested - I wasn't exactly a slouch when it came to physics, but I had always enjoyed Alchemy and Chemistry so much more. After looking around I left and opened the final door on the 4th Floor; it led to yet another ordinary classroom.
As I prepared to return to the cafeteria to discuss our findings, I couldn't help but wonder about that Crystal Room... it was the first time I had ever seen it, so why did I feel like I'd seen it before?
~
We ended up waiting quite a while for everypony to return to the cafeteria, as Bulk had thoroughly enjoyed the use of every single weight machine in the Weight Room before arriving. We had even just finished making our supper as he strode in, still a bit damp with sweat.
"WHOO! YEAAAAAH! I FEEL GREAT!" he cheered.
"Shit, we've been waiting forever for you!" Lightning yelled. "Hurry up and sit the fuck down!"
We talked about what we had seen over our meal. Of course, the favored topic of everypony was the Crystal Room. We each had our theories as to what the crystals powered, and the others found it as strange as I had when I told them about my feelings of déjà vu in that room.
"That room has to be a clue!" Applejack stomped her hoof. "Especially if you kinda remember it for some reason, Twi!"
"I know, but... I've never seen that room or those machines or crystals before, I'm sure of it!" I argued.
"Hey, maybe we can use the power crystals to escape!" suggested Lightning. "Can't one of you three with horns siphon the power and blow a fuckin' hole in this place?!"
"Theoretically, those should provide more than enough raw magical power..." Flam sighed, tapping his horn. "But I tried exactly that earlier... they won't respond to my magic."
"Nor my own... I tried just moving them around, but they stayed right where they were," added Rarity.
"They didn't respond to me, either," I added as well.
"Damn..." Lightning grumbled. Everypony was silent for a few moments, disappointed.
"...Well, at least we have access to a washer and dryer now," Flam spoke up. "I can finally wash my vests! They were starting to get a bit on the funky side."
"That's one positive, I guess," shrugged Coloratura.
"AND WE HAVEN'T SEEN MONOKUMA AT ALL TODAY," Bulk smiled. "MAYBE HE FINALLY GOT BORED WITH MESSING WITH US ALL THE TIME."
"Shh! You're gonna jinx it!" Lightning hissed, jabbing Bulk in the ribs with an elbow. But sure enough...
*boing!*
"...What was that?" Monokuma dropped down from the ceiling and onto a table, his face a faint shade of red as he leered at us. While most of us were somewhat used to his sudden appearances at this point and only slightly jumped, Pinkie - who had been entirely silent this entire time - let out a tiny shriek of terror.
"Fuck," Lightning grumbled.
"No, please. Continue," he continued, holding up one paw and extending his claws. But he quickly retracted them and began breathing uncomfortably heavily. "...Did you say I've got the nicest butt on the block? The curviest hips in town? Is that what you said?!"
"...NO?" Bulk answered, confused.
"I think I'd rather lavish those awards on our dear Miss Applejack instead..." Flam muttered under his breath, although still loud enough that Applejack and Coloratura both shot him a dirty look.
"Then what did you say? Cuz I know you weren't talking about me becoming bored with my dear, sweet remaining students..." Monokuma smirked, extending his paw's claws again. "You seriously don't wanna piss me off. You have any idea how much bacteria lives on a single bear claw?"
"I think I have a pretty good idea," Redheart deadpanned.
"Aaaaanyways, I think it's time for another motive, yea?" Monokuma rapidly sheathed his claws and adopted a gleeful grin once again. It was truly frightening how he could switch to such emotional extremes so quickly.
"Please, no..." Lightning growled, eyeing the bear warily.
"Oh, yes! It's quite a simple motive, really, but it's truly a gem! Now then, I shall present it!" Monokuma paused for a moment to clear his throat. "If any of you lot manage to graduate, then the next student to do so can spread the joys of graduation to one other student!"
I opened my mouth to protest almost automatically, but closed it as I realized what he had said. If one of us managed to kill another...
"So... you're saying if one of us murders another and gets away with it, they can choose somepony to take with them to the outside world?" Redheart tilted her head, analyzing the bear with her stern eyes.
"Precisely! Now then, I'll just let you guys get to killin'! Buh-byeee!" Monokuma grinned before abruptly scuttling away, leaving us all to our thoughts.
"That's... almost a nice motive, ah guess...?" Applejack scratched her head.
"But only saving one of us won't do at all," said Rarity.
"Not to mention that means one of us gets killed first," Flam huffed. "Regardless, a motive is a motive."
"Well, we're not gonna kill anypony... right?" asked Coloratura. "We're past that now, right? We gotta work together! Now that we've found that Crystal Room, maybe we're one step closer to getting out!"
"I would hope so," sighed Redheart, before turning her gaze towards me. "Twilight... please try your best to think about that room. Whether you figure out how the whole thing works, or how to work the controls..."
"Yea... you were always the smartest cookie of us all," Applejack smiled kindly. "If anypony here can figure that thing out, it's gotta be you!"
Eesh... no pressure or anything, girls...
"I'll try my best," I gulped. "But just because I had déjà vu about that room... that doesn't actually mean I'll figure anything out."
~
I spent the remainder of the evening with Applejack and Rarity, trying our hardest to cheer up Pinkie. Remembering Nurse Redheart's grief counseling session, we talked and reminisced about our friends, laughing at good memories and crying alongside her. It thankfully seemed to have an effect: as Nighttime drew near, Pinkie had actually managed to crack a small smile.
But as I retired to my room for the night, I couldn't help but think about today's discoveries. As I stood underneath the shower's warm deluge, I ruminated over our missing grief and that Crystal Room.
Was our missing grief merely because our minds were overloaded with shock? ...No, shock wore off after a short time, and I still felt disturbingly fine when it came to thinking about the earlier deaths. Did those power crystals have something to do with it? Were they holding our emotions within? Or were they simply the power source for the school, or for Monokuma himself? And none of these things provided a potential answer for the dreams I'd been having... maybe I should ask Redheart for her advice, although I'm not sure how much a nurse would know about dream interpretation.
If only Zecora were here... she'd know what my dreams meant in an instant...
These thoughts haunted me as I left the shower and dried myself. I shook my head in an effort to clear my mind before getting into bed, but I fell into a restless slumber all the same.