//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 1 // Story: Danganronpa: In Harmony's Wake // by Dewdrops on the Grass //------------------------------// Chapter Two: What Lurks in the Depths Daily Life Part 1 Three days after the first trial… “Come on, pick up the pace, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash cried as she sped on ahead, still moving at full steam as she ran along the bridge deck. “I’m--” huff “--trying--” huff “--but you’re really--” huff “--fast!” I shouted back, my shoes clanging against the metal as we ran. “For real!” Flash said from behind me. I risked a second to peak, and saw he was having just as hard a time breathing as I was. “Do think you can maybe slow it down a bit?!” Applejack breezed by me as we passed onto the promenade. “Come on y’all, this ain’t that bad!” she said, showing no sign of slowing down as she closed the distance on Rainbow Dash. “Easy for you to say, AJ!” Apple Bloom said from somewhere behind Flash and myself. “Not all of us ’re workin’ on the farm these days!” “Aw come on, Apple Bloom, that’s just stinkin’ thinkin’!” “What does that even mean?” Scootaloo asked, panting as she passed me by. “She probably just means you need to get more exercise, darling,” Rarity said. To my surprise she still wasn’t breathing hard at all. She was maintaining her pace easily, as though this were barely an effort on her part. Maybe she’s just got a really big set of lungs, I mused. Our group passed through the food court, blowing right by Diamond Tiara, who was glaring furiously at a notepad as she jotted something down. The breeze of our passage scattered the pages. “Hey, watch it!” she screeched, shaking a fist in our direction. I looked back just long enough to say, “Sorry!” as we moved on down past the restaurants. We all deliberately avoided looking at the Sushi King as we passed by it. None of us have been interested in sushi, not since…well. We switched up to single file in the cabin corridor, smoothly passed by Twilight and Sweetie Belle, who were just inside Twilight’s room. “Woohoo, go, go!” Sweetie cheered. “That’s four laps!” Twilight added, scratching a hash mark on a piece of paper. “One more to go!” “Aaaugh, really?” Flash whined. “Fiiiine....” We passed into the outdoor lounge, where Trixie and Pinkie were chatting away animatedly about something or other. Fluttershy was with them, not speaking but still interested in their conversation. Adagio sat further away, reading a book and sporting an oversized pair of sunglasses I’d picked out for her. Spotting me, she looked over the top of the glasses and flashed me a wink. I winked back as I ran by, and we moved onto the bridge deck. “Alright, y’all, we’re almost there!” Applejack said to spur us on. “Just gotta finish this lap!” “You guys got this!” Rainbow Dash added, throwing out two fingers from her head in some kind of salute. “I believe in you!” I didn’t respond, too busy trying to gulp down enough air to survive the trip. We blew past Diamond Tiara, sending her notebook’s pages scattering again. “Auuugh!” I heard her groan. Finally, as we reached the cabin corridor, we slowed down, and down, till we came to stop right in the middle, between my cabin and Twilight’s. “Okay! Alright, good job everybody!” Rainbow Dash said, clapping for us all as most of us doubled over, heaving. “That’s it for the cardio! Next up, we’ve got some muscle building!” “Wait, what?” I asked, baffled. “You didn’t say anything about that!” Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow and held up her hands as if to say duh. “I did say we were gonna exercise! That includes muscle building. Gotta get in some push ups, sit ups, squats, arm thrusts--” “Can you at least give us a minute?” Flash said, trudging over to Twilight and taking up a water bottle she held out for him. He held it over his head and squeezed, dousing himself with half of it before chugging down the rest in about five seconds. “I don’t think I’ve exercised this hard since P.E. in high school.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Sure. Take five, guys.” She wandered down the corridor towards the lounge. “When you’re ready, meet back up on the bridge deck!” “You got it, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo replied cheerfully. “I do hope we’ll be doing some stretches too!” Rarity added. “C’mon, Apple Bloom, let’s get a drink,” Applejack said, moving down to her cabin door and going inside, her sister following. Good idea, I decided. I went into my own cabin and grabbed my water bottle, taking several long drinks and then refilling it in the bathroom sink. I splashed water on my face a few times, trying to cool down a bit. The water just added to the sweat already clinging to the tracksuit I’d picked up in the sporting goods store, leaving the whole thing utterly drenched. With a longing look at my shower and wishing I hadn’t been as quick to accept Rainbow’s offer of devising an exercise plan for our group, I left and made my way to the bridge deck. Rainbow had already laid out several yoga mats, one for each of us, covering up the cold metal of the deck with something a bit more pleasant to lay on. Rarity was already standing on hers, stretching out her arm muscles. The others quickly joined us, and soon enough Rainbow Dash was leading us through so many stretches I could barely keep my head on straight. “Alright, good!” Rainbow said, placing her hands on her hips, her posture and expression all business. “Now that we’re all nice and stretched, let’s partner up! We’ll start with sit ups first. Three sets of twenty-five reps’ll be plenty to start with.” “And just what are you all doing, hmm?” Shrieks and shouts rose from us all as Monoponi flashed into existence on the balcony, peering down at us. When no one answered him, he scowled menacingly. “Oh, please, don’t all of you answer your Captain at once!” “W-w-w-what do you w-want?!” Rainbow Dash stammered, drawing herself up in front of most of us. Applejack and, to my surprise, Rarity both joined her, each looking ready to throw down. Seriously. He hasn’t bothered us since the trial. It had surprised me quite a bit when, the day after the trial, Monoponi hadn’t shown his face to lord his presence over us so we’d wallow in despair. Or at least he’d throw us some kind of bone, a “present” for surviving. I’d thought that more of the ship would open up for us to explore. Maybe that’s what this was about. He’d given us just long enough to feel safe again so he could jerk the rug out from under us. After all, compared to the way we’d all been that first night we arrived, we’d all calmed down. Even Diamond Tiara had stopped insisting I was suspicious. Seems like the trial was enough to cure people of the idea I was the traitor. Though we still haven’t figured out who it could be. Or if there even is one. Damn it. Now I’m being paranoid too. “What, can’t your Captain check in on his passengers? Haven’t you been enjoying this delightful ocean voyage?” Monoponi’s head drooped. “Oh, what a world. Here I was, trying to be a good host, and you can’t even indulge your Captain by answering a simple question.” His head snapped back up, a grin plastered on his muzzle as he shrugged with his whole body. “Ah well. I was going to gather you all up anyway. Ahem.” DING-DONG BING-BONG The screens lit up with a shot of Monoponi’s face from the bridge tower balcony. “Attention all passengers!” he said, his voice echoing with the projection from the speakers. “Please gather on the bridge deck, at once!” Everyone else filed in quickly, all bearing varying expressions of panic or worry, save for Adagio. At least, I couldn’t see it past the sunglasses. But then that was the reason I bought them for her, the morning after the trial. ~*~ Good grief I’m sore, I thought as I sat up in bed, blinking away the grogginess. I stretched out my arms and opened my mouth in a massive yawn. Then I promptly fell back against the bed, flopping on my pillow. A great bundle of bushy orange hair moved briefly in my vision until I was face to face with Adagio. “Morning,” I mumbled, absent-mindedly reaching out and stroking her cheek. Briefly, she flinched under my touch, drawing back, before letting out a sigh and relaxing, nuzzling her face into my hand like a cat. “Hey,” she said quietly. “You okay?” I asked as I continued to stroke her face. I avoided letting my hand stray anywhere else. I’d learned the night before that Adagio was… not used to being touched, not lovingly anyway. The bruises on my body attested to that. She let out a quiet little hiss, then nodded, still nuzzling my hand. “Didn’t sleep well,” she murmured. “Oh, uh, sorry,” I said, a flush coming to my face. I dropped my hand, feeling rather embarrassed. My dumb sleepy brain decided then to add, “I wasn’t that bad, was I?” She snorted, then burst into laughter, low and deep with a trace of bitterness, like dark chocolate. “No, Sunset. You were great. Fantastic, actually,” she said in the same husky, sensual voice she’d used to such good effect last night, when she… well, it left me shivering, anyway. Then her voice almost seemed to fall out of tune, like a broken instrument. “Just… nightmares. Bad nightmares.” She leaned back on the bed and fell against me, filling my face with orange. I carefully pushed enough out of the way so I could see again. “Yeah, me too,” I admitted. The trial. The back and forth arguments, accusing each other, the suspicion. The sheer rage Timber had expressed when we figured him out, only to fall to pieces afterwards. And then, the execution. God, the execution. I would have nightmares about that for the rest of my life. However long that ended up being. No matter what he’d done, Timber just didn’t deserve to die like that. No one did. It was inhuman. No, inequine. My jumbled thoughts briefly turned the same subject I’d considered before Adagio showed up to my cabin, but the almost immediate surge of pain in my head forced me to stop straight away. Last thing I wanted to do was upchuck all over my new… girlfriend? Lover? I didn’t know what to call her. Friend. I decided to go with friend for now. That word, at least, was safe. And probably less likely to trigger Adagio into a flurry of embarrassed rage. We chose to lay there in silence for a while, as if holding a silent little wake, for the two who lost their lives so pointlessly. Then, the loud noise of the morning announcement played. “We’d better get up,” Adagio said, sighing. “There’s nothing I’d like less right now, but…” “Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said, sitting up. “So uh, did you want the shower first, or--” “Sunset,” Adagio interrupted, looking at me. “I should… I should go back to my cabin. Now. Before anyone realizes I was here.” Uh oh. I blinked in confusion, feeling a little hurt. “I’m not sure I understand.” “Of course you don’t.” Adagio slapped a hand to her head, and sighed softly. “Look. If any of the others know we’ve been… together… they might use that against us. It makes us vulnerable.” Adagio’s arm slipped down to wrap around herself. “Makes you vulnerable.” She looked back up at me, with sadness in those beautiful amethyst eyes. “After your performance in the trial yesterday? You’re going to be number one on everyone’s hit lists. You would be on mine, if I was stupid enough to try murder as an escape. And if I didn’t like you, which I do,” she added, a trace of amusement briefly crossing her face. I think I understood what she was getting at now, but it still hurt. A lot. “So what you’re saying is, if others knew about us, they could use you to get to me. Or vice versa.” “Exactly.” Adagio’s features twisted up into a mirthless smile, and she was all laughs. “And to think I call myself a siren. I’m supposed to feed on emotions like these, not feel them myself. I can hardly stand it.” My mouth twisted up into a concerned frown, so I left the bed, walked over, and embraced her, holding her close. “Hey, it’s going to be alright. It--” “No.” Adagio pushed me away, and I fell back onto the bed, shock written all over my face. “Don’t give me that crap. Don’t give me some empty platitude when we’re both trapped here like animals awaiting the slaughter!” Adagio’s hands were out as claws, ready to strike, her features contorted with fury. “I won’t listen to someone being so, so… naive!” Oh here we go. My blood boiled over as I hopped to my feet. “Hey, that’s a little uncalled for, don’t you think? I was just trying to help!” Adagio let out a furious hiss, and for the briefest of moments I thought she might actually attack me. Then, without another word, she spun on her heels, snatched her clothes off the floor, and left the room. I didn’t see her again until after I’d finished breakfast. I was in the middle of perusing the sporting goods store, mindlessly examining a display of sunglasses out of a lack of anything better to do, when I heard Adagio clear her throat. “Hey.” I sighed, turning to face her. “Hi.” I crossed my arms over my chest, leaned back on one leg, and waited. After a few moments of awkward silence, I said, “What do you want?” Adagio’s eye twitched, half her face screwing up once again in anger as she pulled at the hem of her camisole. “I, I wanted to… to…apologize,” she said, every word sounding like it had been ripped from her throat. “I didn’t… I shouldn’t have...uuugh!” She reached out with one hand and knocked over a display of hoodies. “Why is this so difficult?!” Wow. She definitely has a temper problem. But she is trying, so… “I get it,” I said with a smile, letting my arms fall to my sides. “I forgive you.” This caught her off guard. She blinked owlishly, her mouth falling open. “You do,” she spluttered. “Yeah.” I shrugged. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t happy about it. But you were right too. I shouldn’t just be spouting off like everything will be okay if we all just hug it out.” “Huh.” Adagio, stunned into silence, didn’t move. “And you were right, you know,” I said, catching her attention again. “I was thinking about it, and while I don’t like it, I’m okay with keeping things between us quiet, if you are.” Her mouth shut with a snap. “Good,” she muttered. “That’s… that’s good. Great. Wonderful.” “Hey you two, what’s going on over here?” Pinkie said, popping out from behind a shelf, a big grin plastered on her face. “Whatcha talkin’ about?” “Nothing that concerns you!” Adagio growled, and shoved her way past Pinkie, stomping out of the store. “Ow, hey! That hurt you know!” Pinkie said, rubbing at her shoulder where Adagio had bumped her. “Sheesh. What’s her problem?” “Don’t worry about it, Pinkie.” Feeling a sudden urge, I snatched up one large pair of sunglasses, and quickly made my way out of the store after scanning my purchase through. “Hey, Adagio, wait up!” “What?!” Adagio whirled, her fists clenched by her sides. “Here, take these,” I said, placing the sunglasses in her hand. Her face screwed up in confusion as she held the glasses up by two fingers, like I’d handed her a dirty diaper or something. “What for?” “Just in case you need to protect your eyes from the sun,” I quipped, grinning. “Or from anything else.” She arched an eyebrow, glaring at me before sudden comprehension dawned upon her. Then she flashed me a smirk of her own. “Hmph. Smart. I’ll use them, then.” For now, she slipped them into her pocket, then spun around and walked away, putting just a bit of extra sashay into her hips. I didn’t mind that view one bit. ~*~ “So what’s this all about, huh?” Diamond Tiara demanded, shaking me out of my reverie. Monoponi ignored her. “Are you all here? Everyone accounted for? No one trying to sneak away this time?” “No!” Trixie cried, throwing up her hands to hide her face. “Trixie learned from her mistakes! She’ll never do that again!” “Ahaha! Good! Now then, ahem.” Monoponi stomped his hooves once, twice, thrice on the balcony deck, stopping any whispers or murmurs. “I hope you’ve been enjoying your vacation so far, here on the wide open ocean! Your Captain has done his utmost to make things comfortable during your stay. That’s why I am proud to announce that we’re opening several brand new facilities for you!” Looks like I was right. “You mean new places and tools for us to kill each other with, right?” Monoponi twitched, and let out a world weary sigh. “You know, Sunset,” Monoponi groused, one back leg raising like he was ready to lash out. “I’m really getting tired of you making a mockery out of every announcement!” He leapt off the balcony and landed with a crash, stomping over to get up in my face. “You should really learn some proper manners!” I immediately took several steps back, panic burbling up in my chest like a fountain, threatening to spill over. I could already feel, in my mind, the sensation of his magic wrapping around my throat. “That--I didn’t mean--” I really shouldn’t provoke him! Monoponi abruptly laughed in my face, then flew back up to the balcony. “Now, ignoring the little shit who doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. We have brand new facilities! Several new places for you to explore and find comfort in!” “That sounds fun,” Scootaloo said. Fluttershy grimaced, and in a surprisingly assertive gesture, she patted Scootaloo on the shoulder and said, “No, Sunset’s probably right. It won’t be fun.” “Yeah, for real,” Flash agreed, scoffing. Twilight glared up at the posturing pony. “Why is this only happening now? Monoponi glowered darkly in my direction, as if daring me to answer the question, then said, “Consider it a gift! After all, you were all in serious danger from one of your fellow passengers! One who thought it was so vital to leave he put all your lives at risk! But together, you rose above it! You dealt with his dastardly deed, and as your dear Captain, I say that such teamwork deserves to be rewarded!” “Rewarded?!” Applejack’s gaze didn’t shoot daggers from her eyes so much as full sized battle axes. “Two people died, and yer sayin’ that means we should be rewarded?!” “Upupupu,” Monoponi giggled, holding up one hoof to his mouth. “But of course!” “Why, Ah oughta--” “Applejack, don’t waste yer time,” Apple Bloom snorted. “He’s just tryin’ ta rile us up. It’s what he does.” Applejack fumed, ripping her hat off her head so she could pull at it till I could almost hear the fabric tearing. “Dirty little varmint,” she groused before putting her hat back on. “There’d better be a spa amongst these new facilities,” Diamond Tiara said, pointedly ignoring the looks of irritation everyone shot her way. “I haven’t had my nails done or had a proper facial since we got here.” “A spa?” I asked, myface twisted in confusion. “We’ve been trapped on this cruise ship for almost a week now, and you’re worried about a spa?” “Well, a spa visit would be quite pleasant right about now,” Rarity admitted, and everyone’s glares shifted to her. “What? I’m not wrong!” “That really isn’t the point, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle groaned, slapping a palm to her face. “I’d be more interested in a library,” Twilight admitted. “I could use a few new books.” Rainbow Dash snickered. “Yeah, you would be. Egghead.” “Oooh, oooh,” Pinkie said, bouncing in place. “Maybe a big workshop! Then I could make a proper party cannon and we could really get to partying!” Adagio rolled her eyes, and said sarcastically, “Yes, because a party went so well the last time…” “Nevermind the speculation!” Trixie interrupted before anyone else could suggest anything. “We should just let him tell us what they are.” “What kind of places, you ask? Well, you’ll just have to go and see! After all, part of the experience, the joy, the beauty of this fine ocean voyage is to discover just what delights we have in store for yourselves!” Monoponi’s horn lit up with crimson, firing off a bolt that surged past all of us and onto the promenade. We heard the sounds of rumbling and groaning metal. “If you’ll all walk down the promenade to the food court, you’ll see, opposite the gates to the courtroom elevator is a brand new passageway, leading to your grand adventure!” “Wait, the food court?” I found myself saying, despite my brain screaming at me to shut up and not risk any further outrage on Monoponi’s part. “What about the bulkhead near the cabins?” “Never you mind that! That’s not important right now!” Monoponi replied. “What matters is that this is an official activity as sponsored by your Captain! So you’d better hop to it.” Then he shrugged, grinning that sadistic grin of his. “Or don’t, but then I’m not responsible for the consequences…” The gun turrets on the bridge tower whirred to life briefly, just long enough to spook us, before quieting down. And with a final laugh echoing in our ears, he teleported away. We all exchanged glances with each other, briefly silent before Rarity stepped forward. “Well, darlings, I don’t know about you, but I think we should probably listen to him.” “Yeaaaah, I kinda don’t need a ton of holes in my body, if you get what I mean,” Rainbow Dash said, laughing nervously as she stared up at the guns. “Well then what’re we standin’ around here for?” Applejack said, throwing up her hands. “C’mon, let’s go, y’all!” “‘Let’s go, y’all,’ mehmehmeh,” Diamond Tiara openly mocked Applejack with hand gestures as we all started to walk. “Like we care what you think, farmer.” “Ya know, one of these days, that mouth of yours is gonna get you in some real trouble, sugarcube,” Applejack said, acid dripping from her words as she glowered furiously. “Bein’ a farmer ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of.” “Are you threatening me?” Tiara retorted, matching Applejack glare for glare. Applejack stopped in her tracks, slowly turned, and held up a fist. The tone of her voice shifted, becoming low and disturbing. “So what if Ah am?” Diamond Tiara reeled back as if she’d been punched. “You… you’d better not be!” She pointed a trembling finger right in Applejack’s face. “You, you’ve seen what happens! You think the others won’t figure it out?” Applejack took a step towards Tiara. Then another. Then another. The younger woman yelped in fright, falling over and holding up her hands to shield herself. “Ah tried to protect you from Timber, Tiara, or did you forget that? Maybe Ah shouldn’t have bothered!” She stomped one leather boot barely an inch away from Tiara’s foot, raising a massive clatter from the deck. Tiara shrieked, hiding her face in her hands, shaking all over. Then Applejack snorted, turned on her heel, and resumed making her way towards the foot court. “Coward,” she muttered. Apple Bloom halted, staring at her older sister’s back in shock as everyone moved on. No one bothered to offer Tiara a hand. “Good grief, sis,” I heard Apple Bloom mutter. “What is your deal?” I took a few steps back, stopped by Apple Bloom, and leaned over to speak softly. “Was that unusual for her?” “Yeah, it was,” Apple Bloom admitted. “Ah mean, mah sister’s always had a temper. That’s just the way she is. But Ah’ve never seen her act like that before. She’s never been mean about it like that.” “Well, she’s gonna be sorry she ever messed with me,” Diamond Tiara declared as she hauled herself to her feet. “Nobody embarrasses me like that and gets away with it.” “Hey, you embarrassed yourself, Tiara,” Apple Bloom retorted. “Ya better not be plannin’ to hurt my sister now.” “No, of course not, I’m not stupid,” Dimaond Tiara said, rolling her eyes. She didn’t bother looking our way as she walked off. “Coulda fooled me,” Apple Bloom muttered. Jeez, people, I thought as I followed after them. I wasn’t too surprised to see fractures in our group. That’s what this whole situation was designed to create: fractures. That didn’t make it any less disheartening, though, or depressing. Sure enough, as promised, the food court had another massive gap in its walls, directly opposite the trial gate. Briefly, I glanced at the gates, noting the massive oversized padlock resting on it, so large and unwieldy it was comical. Probably Monoponi’s idea of a joke. The actual passageway to the rest of the ship towered over us, like a continuation of the promenade, only this one was even more gaudy and opulent, if you can believe it. Massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling everywhere there was space, the whole place lit up so bright I almost felt the need to break out my own pair of sunglasses. It was wide open, and patterned with marble tiling, almost like a checkerboard. It ran for a good couple hundred feet before abruptly dead-ending in a plain wall lacking any adornments. Plenty of security cameras hung everywhere, of course, and screens popped up every so often on the walls, ensuring no one would ever miss a message or be missed by Monoponi. Thanks to the little incident between Tiara and Applejack I was the last one to arrive, and everyone had already dispersed. There were three doors scattered down the passageway, so I decided to go for the closest one, to the left of the entryway. This one was a bit smaller in size than the other two doors, decorated with a sign above reading “Game Corner.” Inside, I found a large room full to the brim with games. Pinball, arcade machines, pachinko, even televisions set up with the latest gaming consoles and shelves stocked full of games to choose from, locked up with a reader to scan your Monopad, naturally. My mouth watered, drool running down my chin as I surveyed all these games. I love video games. They’re one of the best things about living in the human world, and seeing all of these here, free to play, every last one of them… I wanted to stay and play forever! But I had no time for that. Instead, I went through and surveyed what was available more specifically. Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and, to my surprise, Fluttershy were already gaming away, Fluttershy in particular looking focused and concentrated as she worked through some kind of puzzle game. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, meanwhile, were deep into the third round of a fighting game.. And to my shock, Scootaloo was thrashing Rainbow Dash, the older woman looking more frustrated by the second. Apple Bloom and Applejack were waiting for their turn, both cheering them on. As much fun as that would be to watch, I moved on, checking out the rest of the game room. As it turned out, the arcade machines spat out prize tickets, just like any arcade would, and there was a prize corner too. Pinkie Pie was surveying the corner with great interest, examining all of the various prizes which were locked behind barred glass windows so thick they must’ve been bulletproof. And for good reason too, because the prizes… Were weapons. Swords, maces, axes, halberds, spears… every kind and style of melee weapon you can think of was available and ready to go. A machine gun turret hung menacingly over the prize counter, ready to unload on anyone foolish enough to try to steal anything. The sight tore great gaping holes in my very soul. Of course the prizes are weapons. What else would they be? Pinkie Pie looked back at me, a sad expression on her face. The curls of her hair lost most of their bounce. “Oh no, Sunset, look!” she said, pointing to the weapons. Her features twisted into a dark expression of anger. “What’s wrong with that Monoponi? What kind of prizes are these, huh? These won’t make anybody happy at all!” She raised a fist as if she was going to slam it into the counter in anger. “Whoa, whoa, don’t do that!” I blurted, rushing forward and grabbing her arm before she could trigger the gun. “Jeez, Pinkie, you could’ve gotten yourself killed!” Pinkie blanched, leaping back away from the counter and almost dragging me to the ground in the process, staring wide-eyed at the gun turret, as if she hadn’t noticed it before that very second. “Holy moly that could’ve filled me with a lot of holies!” She looked up at me, eyes still the size of dinner plates, and added, “Thanks, Sunset!” “Yeah, sure, just pay more attention, okay?” I said, brushing myself off. Pinkie nodded her head so fast and so many times I thought it might fall off. “You got it, Sunny!” “Good.” That taken care of, I approached the counter myself, giving it a closer look. As I expected, there was a register, similar to the ones the stores possesed, complete with the same function to print all receipts, though this one just took prize tickets. “Good,” I said again. “At least we’ll be able to figure out who buys what from here.” “You… you don’t think someone else is gonna try to, to…” “Honestly?” I gave Pinkie a sad smile. “I really hope not, but we should be ready, just in case.” Pinkie’s eyes filled to the brim with tears at this, and she burst into messy sobs. “Nohoho!” she wailed. “I don’t want to go through that again!” Oh good one, Sunset, you idiot. On instinct I embraced the crying woman and held her tight, making shushing noises. I had to hold her for a good several minutes, the shoulders of my tracksuit soaked with tears. Well, more soaked than it was already, anyway. Finally, she calmed down, her eyes red and puffy, her face absolutely covered in snot and tear stains. “S-sorry, Sunny,” she mumbled. “S’okay. I’m sorry I made you upset.” Pinkie shook her head, hard. “No, it wasn’t you. It was just… oh, nevermind.” She withdrew herself from my embrace, wiped her face on her shirt, and then wandered off. I decided not to follow. She probably needed space, so I was happy to give it to her. Instead, after finishing my exploration of the arcade, I made my way out and towards the next door I saw. This one was patterned a bit differently than the others, made from a different kind of wood, a darker color. A sign mounted above the door said “Ship’s Library.” Opening it, I found the inside to be exactly what was promised: a large library, filled with bookshelves over ten feet tall, a good two or three stories high. Or low, rather, because for some reason this door opened onto the third floor. This floor was dominated by a large open space, containing a variety of end tables, couches, and arm chairs. Twilight, naturally, was already seated in one of the arm chairs, one massive book cradles in her arms and five more stacked on the table beside her. “Having fun?” I asked. “Oh!” She jerked in surprise, then set her book down and adjusted her glasses. “Uh, hey Sunset.” She held up the book she was reading: a textbook, of course. Chemistry by the looks of it. “This is a fascinating read. It’s a treatise on the history of chemistry experiments, with a focus on Prench chemists. It goes into a lot of detail I don’t usually see.” “Wow. Rainbow was right,” I teased, grinning. “You are an egghead.” Twilight crossed her arms and pouted, her face blooming with pink. “It’s perfectly acceptable to find enjoyment in the pursuit of knowledge,” she groused. I burst into laughter. “I’m just teasing you, Twilight, calm down.” I took a seat next to her and looked at the other books. “Huh, are these all textbooks?” “Yup. It seems like this library is entirely non-fiction, at least on this floor,” Twilight answered. “I’ve seen subjects ranging from carpentry, to industrial manufacturing, electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, archeology, anatomy and physiology, even the practice of handwriting… it’s practically a university all to itself!” Twilight grinned wildly, sighing in delight. “Ah, isn’t it wonderful?” I broke into laughter again, laughing even harder when Twilight glared daggers at me. “I’m not making fun of you, I promised,” I said when I got control over my laughter. “You’re just… adorable.” “Yeah, I’d say she is,” said Flash as he stepped out from behind a shelf and approached us, setting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Flaaash!” Twilight whined, her whole face pinker than Pinkie’s hair. “Don’t say that.” “What, I’m not allowed to tell the truth?” Flash said, grinning. Twilight blushed all the harder, sinking into her chair as if it might swallow her whole. I decided to leave the two lovebirds to themselves, and wandered across the floor of the library to the stairs. Descending to the second floor, I found Trixie, of all people, gasping with glee as she squeezed a book to her chest. Then she spotted me and jumped two feet off the floor, almost knocking her head into one of the shelves. “Aaah! Sunset!” she squealed. I arched an eyebrow. “Wow, sorry, didn’t realize I was that scary.” “It’s not that,” Trixie replied, glancing down at her hands and, realizing the book was still there, swiftly hiding it behind her back. “Can Trixie help you?” Okay. Now I was curious. I pointed to the book still poking out slightly from behind her. “What’ve you got there?” “Nothing!” Trixie blurted, backing up to a shelf and failing miserably to look like she was subtly placing her book back. “You saw nothing!” I crossed my arms and scowled, saying nothing. Trixie, at first, stared right back, then slowly her expression went from confident, to flustered, to downright scared. Sweat beaded on her brow, running down her face in little rivulets. Finally, she broke. “Okay, okay! Trixie will show you! Just stop looking at her like that!” I approached, slowly, and waited for her to bring out the book. With a groan, she pulled it off the shelf and held it out to me, shrinking away as if I was going to smack her with it. I took it, and examined the cover. “The Art of Magic, by Jackpot Lulamoon,” I read aloud, my face screwing up with confusion. “Wait, why were you trying to hide this?” Trixie snatched the book back from me and squeezed it tight like it was a precious possession. “No reason. Now please, leave Trixie alone,” she all but growled. “Alright. Fine. Sorry,” I said, holding up my arms in surrender and backing off. Leaving Trixie to do whatever the heck she was doing, I wandered down to the first floor of the library, discovering Rarity and Sweetie Belle wandering amongst shelves. There seemed to be some decent fiction on this level at least. “Oh, Sunset, good timing!” Rarity said in greeting. She held up the book in her hands, squeeing in excitement. “Can you believe it? It’s the latest Shadow Spade novel! I haven’t even seen this in stores yet!” “And they’ve got the latest manga from Neighpon!” Sweetie squeaked, even higher pitched than her sister. She held up a graphic novel, featuring some anime heroine looking particularly dashing as she swung a Qilin style spear at some sort of monster. “I didn’t even think this series was translated!” “Cool, I’m glad you found something interesting,” I said, though to be honest neither of them interested me that much. Anime was fun and all, but I preferred anime games to manga. And as much fun as mystery novels could be, given that our lives had practically turned into one already… no thanks. “So they’ve got some fiction down here, huh?” “Yes, certainly, and plenty of it,” Rarity agreed. “This is one of the best stocked libraries I’ve ever seen.” “Of course it is,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “Just like everything else on this ship.” At that, both of them tampered their excitement, seeming to deflate. “Oh. Yes. Of course. How could I forget?” Rarity sighed in a huff. Then she perked up again. “Oh, but Sunset, I did see something you should look into.” Leaving Sweetie to fumble through more manga, she led me towards the back of the first library floor, where there was a heavy oaken door with a nameplate labeled “archives.” I tried the doorknob, but of course it was locked. “Yes, I tried that too,” Rarity said, frowning. “I thought it might be important.” “It sure looks important,” I mused. I ducked down onto the floor and tried to see if I could see anything from underneath the door frame, but all I saw was darkness. “Darn it. I can’t see a thing.” “What do you suppose is kept in there?” “I dunno. Ship’s records, maybe?” I shrugged. “But unless one of us is secretly a serial killer with a split personality, I doubt we have anything to worry about.” Rarity arched her eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?” “Nevermind. Just a reference joke.” Rarity nodded in understanding. “To that, ah, what was it called? Danganronpa?” “Yeah. Actually, wait… would you excuse me?” I ran without saying another word, rushing up the stairs, and out the door, back towards the game corner, almost bowling over Rainbow Dash in the process. “Hey, watch it!” Rainbow groused. “Sorry!” I called, not even looking back as I ran for the game consoles. I know I spotted the right ones over there, and searched the game library, seeing it was in the catalogue, then scanned the shelves. “Come on, come on, you’ve got to be here… wait, no!” Right where they should have been, according to the catalogue, was an empty space, bare of anything save a folded piece of paper. I pulled it out and opened it. It simply read two words: Nice try. “Oh screw you!” I griped, ripping up the paper and shoving it in a nearby wastebasket. “Waste of my time.” I wasn’t even sure why I had been looking for them anyway. It wasn’t as if I was going to glean some new insight into Monoponi from playing them. And the last thing any of my fellow passengers needed was more ideas. Though I supposed if there were any copycat crimes, I’d at least be able to figure them out more easily. Wait. What the hell was I thinking? I should be working to stop there from being anymore crimes in the first place, not planning how to solve them better! This place was messing with my head, and bad. I left the game corner in a huff, stewing in my own frustration. My tracksuit itched like crazy, which wasn’t helping. But we weren’t done with “exploring” yet so I doubted Monoponi would let me go take the shower I craved. I made my way down to the third and final door. This one was larger than the other two, a big double door affair like the entryway to a theater. Which was appropriate, seeing as a sign topped it, reading “Ship’s Theater.” I pushed open the doors, and found myself in the largest room yet! I was at the top of a massive stairwell, leading down past dozens of rows of seats, arranged in three tiers, two of balconies and one large group seating down closer to the stage. Altogether there was easily enough seating for several hundred people. Everything was decorated intricately with a wide swathe of colors, like a giant rainbow had fallen down from the sky and melted all over everything. The ceiling was split up into a variety of sections, each with its own individual set of dozens of various lights, including spotlights, strobe lights, and more, though some of them might’ve been cameras. The stage, though… it was huge. It stretched from wall to wall, with two small staircases leading up to it from the theater floor. I wasn’t sure how wide across it really was, but it looked like you could fit an entire orchestra up there and still have room to spare for actors in a play! A dazzling array of lights shone down from the beams, even more variety than I would’ve expected. There was probably even more backstage. I strode down the steps, listening to the echoes of my footfalls. The sheer immensity of the room made me feel like a bug crawling across a plate. In some ways, it was soothing. In others, it just imbued me with anxiety. I didn’t hear any other voices at all. I was alone. I found myself gripping my tracksuit with both hands as I climbed up the stage staircase and went backstage. Compared to the opulence with which the rest of the ship had possessed so far, stepping backstage was liking walking into another world. All concrete and wooden beams, and bare metal in some places, it was more akin to a warehouse or a factory than a ship. Most of it was one large chamber, with plenty of room for sets, though there were no ready-made backdrops or scenery, just unused piles of plywood and so on. Of course, there were still security cameras, and in the process of walking around I accidentally stumbled across a trapdoor leading to a ladder below the stage. But I didn’t want to go down there. There were also two passageways to the left and right from backstage. One was labeled dressing rooms, so I went that way first. The passageway narrowed substantially until it was barely wide enough for three people to walk abreast. Several doors led into individual changing rooms, set up with makeup chairs, mirrors, dressers, and a collection of random costumes ranging from Neighponese kimonos to 18th century Prench admiral uniforms, medieval armor not out of place on an Equestrian royal guard, and so on, scattered about like leftovers. In the last dressing room, however, one costume caught my eye. It was a simple affair, really, just a purple witch’s hat decorated with stars and a matching cloak, also bedecked with stars, with a clasp made from a large piece of glass cut like a sapphire. It shouldn’t have stood out at all, but something about it called to me, like it was an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. As I picked them up, I felt them, noting the material. Just cloth, really, nothing too terribly fancy. And it didn’t feel like it was mine, either. I’d never worn anything like this. It felt more like something… Like something Trixie would wear. I decided to take it with me, so I could show her. But as I picked it up, something slipped out of a pocket I hadn’t noticed in the inner lining in the cloak. It was a photograph. I picked it up… and the shock was so much I had to fall into a chair. The picture featured myself, Trixie… and Wallflower Blush! We were sitting together at a set of computers in what looked like my old high school, with smiles on our faces. Wallflower was even laughing. Wallflower. Was. Laughing. She hadn’t smiled once the entire time before Timber killed her, but here she was, laughing away without a care in the world. “Were we friends once?” I whispered. It would track. After all, what would be more “fun” to someone as messed up as Monoponi? Watching complete strangers with no memories kill each other? Or watching former friends kill each other? I could see myself being friends with Trixie. She was weird, sure, but it was a fun kind of weird. The kind that you could laugh with her about. She had just enough of an ego to make her funny without being unbearable, like Tiara. Okay, so sometimes she wasn’t the best judge of character. Or situation. Or, well, anything. But she was still someone I could totally see being friends with. But Wallflower? I just couldn’t wrap my head around that.. She’d been nasty. Rude. A big mean jerk! She’d taken every opportunity she had to be nasty towards me. Actually, no. She had been nice… sort of… once. Last Wednesday morning, the same day of the pool party. She’d taken that opportunity to express a tiny bit of kindness and concern for my well being, rather than just being mad because I inconvenienced her. And then she went right back to being a jerk afterwards. I still remembered the last things we said to each other, before she died. It was when she told me she’d be staying in her room the night of the party. I told her she should’ve been having fun with us, and I meant it. Looking back on it now, if I’d just pressed that point, if I’d just taken the time to attempt more than just a token effort to convince her… she might still be alive now. And so would Timber. I looked back down at the photo. At Wallflower’s happy, laughing face. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream all over again, just like I had when I saw her corpse hanging off that dining cart. But, just like then, I couldn’t. The tears wouldn’t come. The screams died in my throat. All I felt… was empty. All I felt… Was despair.