//------------------------------// // 13. Chapter Two: "The Secret Ingredient is Never What You Expect" Part 2 // Story: Super Danganronpa 2: On Harmony's Shores // by Dewdrops on the Grass //------------------------------// Chapter Two: “The Secret Ingredient is Never What You Expect” Part II Before I left my dorm room, I grabbed a backpack that I'd found in the closet; it resembled one I used to use in high school. Bare and empty, I’d left it in there not seeing much point to it, but since I was planning a shopping trip for the convenience store, I thought it would be worth bringing along, since it would be easier to carry than the paper shopping bags offered there. As I arrived, I swiftly found Rarity, who, surprise surprise, was practically arm in arm with Vignette, searching the shelves. “Oh, there you are, Wallflower,” Rarity said. “Are you feeling better now?” “...yeah, a little,” I admitted. “So, are we sure we got rid of all the rattlesnake venom? I didn’t see any more when I checked after we poured the stuff out, but…” “Far as I’m aware,” Vignette said. She gave me a peculiar look. “So what do you think of this new place, hmm? Of all of us you’re the only one who had no idea what you were going to see.” “I think it has one of the tackiest names I’ve ever heard,” I blurted. “Who in their right mind literally names a place Tourist Trap?” “Tourist Trappe, darling, not trap,” Rarity corrected. “It makes a difference.” “Not to people who don’t speak Prench, which is the majority of people that’d be visiting the place,” I countered. I picked up a bunch of bananas and stuffed them in my pack. “Anyway, stupid name aside… it’s pretty nice. Not counting the venom, this convenience store is really convenient…I’m going to grab some snacks and a few other things.” “Not planning to isolate yourself again, are you?” Vignette inquired. I rolled my eyes as I snagged a bag of spiced pretzels. “No. But it wouldn’t hurt to have a few things just in case I get hungry.” My stomach growled at me as it digested the huge breakfast I’d fed upon. “...I don’t want to get hungry like that again.” Rarity gave me a sad smile of understanding and briefly squeezed my arm. “Of course.” As I placed a couple cans of vegetable soup into my bag, Vignette asked, “Did you get a chance to check out the diner?” I paused with my hand still halfway tucked into my backpack. “The diner…” I trailed off and sniffed, hearing Trixie’s words again before I shut them down. “It’s a good spot for some quick food if you don’t mind greasy, and it could be fun for a small gathering. It’s different, anyway, and closes later than the Mess Hall too so it could be good for a late dinner.” Vignette nodded. “Oh yes. But I don’t think I’ll eat anything there… far too greasy for my taste. Certainly not healthy.” “Maybe not,” I allowed. “Then there’s the museum. That was actually almost fun in a sense. I was able to relax, at least.” I snagged a can opener and a small pot from the shelf of kitchen wares, since although our rooms offered hot plates they lacked both of those. “I’m a little worried about one thing… there was an exhibit about rattlesnake venom there too, only the vial was missing.” “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Vignette said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Given the age of the place it probably broke a long time ago and was never replaced.” “Maybe.” Rarity frowned, her brow furling. “But then again, there were those cans…” “Which needed refrigeration,” Vignette countered while I selected the last few essentials and placed them in my bag, then closed it up and hung it around my shoulders. “So even if it was laying around, it’s probably useless.” I wasn’t sure I agreed, but it wasn’t worth the argument, not now. As the three of us left the convenience store, I was about to suggest heading to my dorm room when… DING-DONG BING-BONG The closest monitor, this one just inside the convenience store behind the register, lit up with Monohuman’s grinning face. In his hands he held a stack of paper, which he thumbed through while speaking. “Ah, everyone, I hope you’ve had a chance to thoroughly renew yourselves with the truck stop district. If not, you can always go back after I’m done with you. Everyone please gather at the central plaza in the admin district, immediately. And yes that includes you, Trixie; I know you can hear me.” “Great,” I sighed as his visage disappeared. “What does he want now?” “Maybe he’s going to try to give us another one of those motive things,” Rarity suggested as we started walking up the hill towards the gate. “Oh, pfft, like that even matters,” Vignette said. “Nothing ever came of the first motive. This’ll probably be just as pointless.” “Maybe not,” I muttered, shaking my head. “...Sunset told me that it would be almost impossible to prevent people from killing. These motives must be very convincing.” “Sunset…” Rarity sighed. “I still can’t believe what happened. It’s still so… ugh!” She gripped her fists till her knuckles turned whiter than the rest of her. “I cared quite a lot about Pear Butter, and to think that Sunset Shimmer would kill her… oh, it still makes me so mad.” A tear dripped down her face. “And I don’t know if I’m angrier because she killed Pear Butter… or angrier because she died too. I want them both back…” Now it was my turn to comfort her. “...me too, Rarity, trust me,” I said, my voice running thick again. We paused while Rarity and I hugged it out. “Oh, I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity murmured as we let go of each other. She wiped her eyes. “I shouldn’t be doing this when I know what you’ve gone through.” “Hey,” I said, giving her a smile I didn’t really feel. “Everyone’s allowed to grieve. I don’t have a monopoly on it.” “Well… in that case, thank you,” Rarity said, smiling back. Like mine, it didn’t remotely reach her eyes, but it was the thought that counted. “Come on now. We don’t want to risk Monohuman becoming impatient with us.” We hurried to meet up with everyone else at the central plaza stage, where Monohuman was sitting on a chair, calmly tapping the tip of his baton onto the stack of paper in his other hand. “Ah, welcome, welcome, let’s see… need to do a headcount. One, two, three…” he mumbled under his breath as he pointed with his baton at everyone. “...and Trixie makes thirteen. We have everyone.” “...uh, don’t you mean fourteen?” Sour Sweet said, jabbing a thumb at me. “You forgot Wallflower.” Monohuman frowned. “Who?” Then his eyes lit up. “Oh! Of course. I always seem to overlook our least important member.” He gave me an amused sneer. I wanted to punch him. He made such a deal out of me being present earlier, now he’s acting like this again? What was his deal?! But even as the anger began to well up inside me, I tried to tamp it down. Fighting directly against him was pointless. Nothing I could say would cut through his ego and he’d whittle me down without even trying. He was just trying to get into my head. It was all part of the game. “Well, regardless,” Monohuman continued after a moment of leering at me, “I’ve gathered you all here for something quite wonderful. Now that we’ve opened up a new area, we of course need the second part to the thrilling festivities, which means a new motive!” I noticed Trixie tense up the instant he said the word motive, frowning hard enough to wrinkle her whole face. For just a split second she glanced in my direction, then laser locked her eyes back onto Monohuman. “Oh please. Trixie thinks there is no reason to present something new.” “Oh, is that so?” Monohuman said with a concerned frown. “Well, gee, I guess that means everyone can go then. Trixie said we didn’t need this, so I guess we don’t need this.” While everyone else was too smart to take the bait, Zephyr Breeze threw up his hands and said, “Welp, thanks Trixie. Zephyr out!” He got about five steps before a hatch hidden underneath the sand opened and a gun on a turret sprouted aim, aiming directly between his eyes with a sighted laser. “Now, where do you think you’re going, Zephyr?” Monohuman asked, his congenial tone completely at odds with the violent threat. “I, uh… uh…” Zephyr visibly sweated. “...nowhere?” he squeaked. “That’s right. Come join the rest of us now. That’s it. Good lad.” Monohuman chuckled as Zephyr rejoined the group in a hurry, the gun disappearing back into place. “Well, now that we’ve had our laugh for the day, let’s get down to business, shall we? I’ve been giving you plenty of time to ease your way back into things, but we need to start picking up the pace. After all, you don’t want to live here forever, do you? You want to go home, right? Well the only way you’ll do that is if you eliminate those pesky Equestrians!” Shining Armor pushed his way forward. “Alright, we get it. You want us to kill each other. You don’t need to browbeat us with it every time.” Monohuman raised an eyebrow, one corner of his mouth curling up. “Kill each other? Not quite, Shining. I’d much rather those of you who are human stay alive. It’s the Equestrians that deserve death. So, if I were you, I’d make sure you get it right this time.” Clearing his throat, Monohuman brought the stack of papers forward. “Now then, I have one of these for each of you. Feel free to share them if you like, once you’ve read them; I’m not going to make some arbitrary rule that says you can’t share them. That would just be ridiculous.” He started laughing, like he’d made some kind of funny joke. For a single instant something hit my brain, as if I understood what he was talking about, and then a splitting headache hit me instead, and I lost whatever thought had occurred to me. “Why are they paper and not messages you’re sending to our pads?” Derpy asked, her expression quizzical. “Because shut up,” he said with a shrug. “Now, one at a time please, and don’t start reading them until everyone has theirs.” We each shuffled up one at a time to take the papers, which were actually two sheets stapled together for each of us, the first one simply bearing our names in a massive font taking up most of the paper. Like he requested, I dutifully waited until we all had ours, and then as one the group turned to look at their second page. Horrified gasps and screams arose from the crowd, with many people muttering “What the hell?” or “How could this be?” or some variation thereof. But I wasn’t paying attention. I was far too transfixed on what was written on mine. It was a pair of passages, plucked from the pages of what I could only assume was some kind of sick joke. As I read the first one, I had a strange pinprick feeling, not quite deja vu but close. “ ...Oh please,” Wallflower retorted, “...I don’t know which of you was responsible for stealing our memories, but if I ever figure out which one of you did it?” She held up two fingers then ran them across her neck, before letting her hand drop. “I think you get the point....” I had no way of knowing if this was describing a real event, but it was so easy to believe. I knew this person: paranoid, angry, hostile, unable to escape her crime of stealing memories. It was more me than the person holding the paper and reading it. It felt like it must be true. But then I read the second passage, shorter, and I didn’t feel pinpricks anymore. “... there. Laying on a dining cart, still and quiet, with a bloodied cleaver buried in her stomach, was the cold, dead body of Wallflower Blush…” I wanted to shake, to scream, to cry. But I was frozen stock still, staring at the words. It was almost verbatim the words Sunset had spoken to me, that night we met in the succulent garden. When she told me I was the first victim of the first killing game. It wasn’t just her. She and Monohuman hated one another, but they both said the same thing, they both knew I had been murdered and put on display. And the first passage felt so real, but if it was real then I was dead and lying on a dining cart with the blood oozing (not flowing! oozing!!) out of my stomach. It made no sense! I was standing right here, alive. I was never aboard a cruise ship… I would remember if I’d taken a bloodied clever to my stomach! I would remember! I would… remember… “AAAAAH!” I screamed as I fell to my knees, gripping my head as a massive wave of pain pummeled it, like an angry Amazon eighty feet tall bearing a hammer the size of a house clubbed my skull. Words of concern rose around me, and I felt what might’ve been Rarity or Vignette touching my shoulder, but the only one I made out clearly was Monohuman himself, laughing his ass off at our reactions. “Well, looks like someone’s being a bit melodramatic, wouldn’t you say? And here I thought that was Rarity’s forte. You may have some competition, Rarity.” “Melodramatic?” I hissed through gritted teeth as I struggled to stand, trying to push through the overwhelming pain. “Melodramatic?! What the hell is the meaning of this?” I brandished the paper at him. “Where did you get this from?” “I’d like to know that myself!” Rarity thundered next to me, her mouth twisted in an expression of sheer loathing and disgust. She stuffed her papers in her pocket then held a fist up at Monohuman. “You expect me to believe for even a single moment that… that…” “Now now,” Monohuman said as he spread his hands out. “I assure you. These are not manufactured falsehoods. These are snippets from the past, little glimpses, if you will.” Rarity let out a wordless squeal of rage. “But this never happened! I think I would remember something like this.” “Oh? Ohohoho?” Monohuman covered his mouth with his hand. “Puhuhu, you’d think that, wouldn’t you? But you’d be surprised at the things you can forget.” He pointed his baton squarely at me. “Well, I’ve delivered the goods. That’s all I have for you. Off you pop now. Puhuhuh…” With a final laugh he dissolved into light and vanished. Everyone started talking at once until Shining Armor clapped his hands and leapt up onto the stage. “Hey, hey, everyone! Quiet!” “Quiet? This is ridiculous!” Sour Sweet said. “I don’t even understand who–” Shining Armor shook his head. “No. Drop it. Look, guys, obviously we all know this is Monohuman’s motive, right? So the sensible thing to do is just ignore it. It sounds like a number of us received things that are impossible.” He sighed. “So’s mine. I don’t remember anything it says. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s meaningless. Just let it go, alright?” As the crowd dispersed, I saw far too many worried looks for comfort. For my part though, I just wanted some air. I started making my way back towards the truck stop. When I reached it, I noticed I wasn’t the only one; Trixie walked with purpose, headed straight for the diner. I followed her, determined to try to talk to her again… maybe after whatever she received I could get through to her. Trixie sat back down in her booth to finish her meal. When she spotted me she let out a long groan. “Uuugh, Wallflower Blush, did Trixie not make herself clear earlier? We’re not friends.” It hurt like a punch to the face, but by now I’d taken plenty of punches, and I was finally learning to roll with them. “Okay, fine. We don’t have to be friends. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still get along. I’m not your enemy, Trixie.” “You’re not?” Trixie held her milkshake up and slurped from its straw, deliberately creating an obnoxious noise. “That’s news to Trixie.” I sighed. “Trixie, I still defended you in the last trial, didn’t I? Why would I do that if I was your enemy?” “Self-preservation, obviously,” Trixie countered. “As if that’s difficult to figure out. Try again.” “No, it wasn’t self-preservation, Trixie, I was legitimately trying to help–” “You know, Trixie thinks it’s quite funny, how you pretend as if you did everything yourself in that trial,” Trixie interrupted, her eyes flashing maliciously. “As Trixie recalls, you were stumbling over your words constantly, needing lifelines every few minutes. And whom did they keep coming from? Vignette Valencia. Interesting, isn’t it?” “...what?” I breathed. “What does Vignette have to do with anything? Trixie I came back over here to try to reestablish some kind of a rapport–” She ran over my words once again. “Trixie saw you speaking to her again, with Rarity. She’s watched you go everywhere with them. It’s a little sickening actually, they way they keep taking pity on you. Trixie hopes you aren’t under the illusion they’re your friends. You’re more like a project to them. Cultivating the poor shy girl so she’ll blossom into someone just like them.” Immediately all of Vignette’s words from after the trial came flashing back to me, and I found myself gasping quietly. But then I shut that train of thought down with a single thought, and stood from the table. I got halfway out the door before I turned around to speak again. “Maybe,” I said, sharing the thought with Trixie, “but at least they’re trying to get along with others, instead of making enemies. You might want to consider how that could backfire on you, Trixie.” A dangerous sensation filled the air as Trixie turned to face me, her hand gripping a fork like it was a deadly weapon. “Is that a threat, Wallflower?” she hissed, her voice thick with emotion. I gave her a sad smile. “No. But isolating yourself is dangerous. Even if you don’t feel the same way, you’re my friend and I want you to be safe.” I left the diner before she could say another word, and as I trudged back to my dorm room, I became more and more convinced I’d wasted my time. Why was it even worth bothering with Trixie anymore? I knew from my memories she was stubborn, and bullheaded, and once she had a thought in her head she ran with it until she slammed into a brick wall, and sometimes even afterwards. So whatever her reason was for disliking me… I don’t think there was anything I could do to convince her otherwise. When I reached my dorm room, I unloaded all of my purchases from the store, which turned out to be quite the assortment of foodstuffs. Between all of it I could even be self-sufficient in my room for a couple of days if I wanted. But I wouldn’t do that. I wasn’t going to lock myself in my room again, no matter what Trixie or anyone else thought. No matter what Monohuman thought. Like I’d said, it wasn’t safe to isolate myself, but… But even more than that, I had too many mysteries to figure out. I glanced over at my shelf, where I’d hidden the VHS tape I’d found. After a moment I took the paper Monohuman gave us and I placed it in there along with it, and decided to internally label it as my “Mystery” pile. The mystery of why we were really here, why were we doing all of this, what was the real point? Monohuman obviously didn’t give a damn about human life… if he really wanted to just eliminate the Equestrians, why not just kill all of us? Something more was going on here, and I aimed to figure out what it was. Between that, and trying to keep everyone alive… I had my work cut out for me. But I would keep my promise I made to Sunset, somehow. And I wouldn’t lock myself away anymore. I set my stuff aside, and left the room to go about the rest of my day. ~*~ It took me thirty seconds to regret my decision to leave my room. I was just stepping out of the dorms, when a frantic, copper-colored dervish flung itself directly in front of me. “Wallflower, you’re perfect!!” Autumn Blaze’s voice boomed. I froze. Running up to me and yelling was shocking enough. Running up to me and yelling a compliment left me utterly stunned. She sort of clarified. “I mean you’re not perfect, perfection as a holistic trait is self-contradicting, make a big mountain, move a big mountain, yada yada. But you are great! You know that. Right? If you don’t, I’m reminding you, but you do. Right?” I was slightly able to start to open my mouth, but talking would still have to wait, because she was off again. “What I meant was, you’re perfect for the thing I’m trying to do. I mean, I trust Shining Armor, totally, but… wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Never mind about Shining Armor. Shining Armor is a hula hoop. You know Fluttershy, right? What am I saying, of course you know Fluttershy, gosh, listen to me. See, this is why I need help. You’re coming, right?” She turned and walked away, looking over her shoulder hopefully. I had no clue what was going on, but I figured this was just that terrifying outside world I resolved to be a part of. I followed her. She led me into the mess hall, where Fluttershy and Sour Sweet were conversing. “...Because he really seems to think Rainbow Dash was into him,” Sour Sweet was saying. Fluttershy pressed her hand against her temple, defeated. “No. No. Rainbow doesn’t even…” She paused, sighed, and stared down at her clenched fist, the only sign she was angry. “He didn’t really think she liked him. He just started saying that because he was too scared to say he liked her.” “Aww, that’s so tragic-” Sour Sweet cooed, “-ally pathetic and horrible. Don’t!” This last word was directed to Autumn Blaze, who had reached the table and clearly had something to say. Sour Sweet saw me coming up behind her and raised an eyebrow. “Huh, didn’t expect you’d be into this.” “Oh, me either,” Fluttershy added, concerned. “Wallflower, you were so upset. Are you sure you want to?” “Autumn Blaze explained to me what this was about by talking about mountains and hula hoops,” I said. “I have no idea what’s going on.” “It made sense!” Autumn Blaze protested. “And I don’t think I mentioned hula hoops. Did I? Why would…” “Don’t,” Sour Sweet commanded, which oddly worked. She smiled at me. “Poor Fluttershy was feeling bad and scared about the motive thing she got, and I didn’t like it. Her complaining was so annoying, you can’t imagine.” She paused, scowling. “And it’s just awful a kind, good person like her would have to be upset.” “Yes, but Wallflower’s reaction…” Fluttershy looked at me empathically. “I wanted to get some of the passages out there, to figure them out or just to keep mine from feeling like it’s… looming over me. But I completely understand if you don’t want to talk about it!” “Oh.” I defensively folded my arms, hugging myself, but I also tried to look reassuring. “I wasn’t freaking out, really. It’s my memory thing. I get these headaches when I try to remember what I’m missing, and it looked like they might have been describing something from my past, so…” I shrugged. “Ohhh,” Fluttershy cooed. “So yours weren’t too bad?” I felt myself going pale just thinking about it. “I wouldn’t say that.” “See, see, this is what I was saying,” Autumn Blaze piped up. “Shining knows what he’s doing, really, but I just can’t get behind staying quiet about something emotional when you can let it out in a safe space with appropriate boundaries so who’s ready to share?” “Why don’t you go first?” I asked, glaring. “Oh, no, I don’t want to talk about mine,” she replied. “That’s why I got you!” “But…” “I think it’s okay,” Fluttershy interrupted kindly. She smiled at us both and I instantly felt myself relaxing. “I think it’s good to talk about, but I don’t want to force anyone.” Autumn Blaze grinned, and Fluttershy’s presence somehow kept me from grumbling about the hypocrisy. She was like a living cup of chamomile tea. “Um, I guess I’ll start, anyway,” Fluttershy announced, expression firm. “I don’t have them with me, but…” She shuddered. “The first one described me saying something about Rainbow Dash. She was in danger somehow, but I don’t know any more. That was scary, but the second one…” She fell silent, eyes watery. When she eventually spoke, it was trembly and weak. “It was a description of a machine grabbing on and holding me in place, and I was frightened and screaming and… awful things happened, awful and violent and…” She sniffled, but kept herself from bursting into tears. “I just can’t understand how anyone could write out something like that about m…me.” “They’re nuts,” Sour Sweet grunted. “You know that’s all this is, right? Just stuff some maniac wrote down.” “But… but Monohuman acted like it was more than that,” Fluttershy said. “And if it wasn’t, how could it be a motive?” “Listen, I understand how you’re feeling,” Sour Sweet said. “Anyone would be upset reading something like that. I’m so sorry you had to feel scared and sad.” I waited for the other shoe to drop. I was shocked that it didn’t. “It’s really brave of you to ask us for help, to take away this motive’s power.” Fluttershy smiled, weakly but warmly. “At least yours aren’t totally stupid, like mine.” Sour Sweet reached into a pocket and pulled out her paper, tossing it on the table. “I didn’t even care enough to get rid of it.” Fluttershy gaped up at her. “You’re really letting us read them?” “Sure. Don’t blame me if they put you to sleep, though.” We gathered around, looking down at Sour Sweet’s paper. Her two blurbs were laid out just like mine. “...gh and mighty rich folk with messed up ideals about their inherent superiority and no manners. She let out a quiet little laugh. “Forgive me, I just assumed, what with your shabby appearance and that… jacket… that you couldn’t possibly be a passenger.” Her mouth twisted into a patently insincere simper. “M…” “...leasant, even charming voice, standing in sharp contrast to the bucketfuls of syrupy sweet saccharine of her real voice. She knew exactly which buttons to press to make me like her, getting along splendidly from the start. And she knew how to kee…” “God,” Sour Sweet mumbled, “it’s so transparent, right? These are supposed to be me, some bitchy thing I said and what someone thinks of me behind my back. Like I’m supposed to care? Oh no, breaking news, I’m an asshole sometimes. My real friends know I’m the gentlest little fluffy cinnamon roll, deep down.” “This… is much less descriptive than mine,” Fluttershy observed. “Or mine,” I agreed. “Or mine,” Autumn Blaze added. Sour Sweet squinted at her. “This means you decided to share yours?” “No! Well. Yes. Or no.” Autumn Blaze fell silent for a moment, fidgeting with her hands. “Do you… really think they aren’t real?” Autumn Blaze spoke up hesitantly. “Yeah, ‘cause I’m not a fucking idiot!” Sour Sweet very suddenly raged. “Why should we trust anything we get from that stupid guy? And um, hey, don’t you think Fluttershy would actually remember getting attacked by some big machine?” “Not necessarily,” Autumn Blaze replied. “Not if she isn’t…” She gasped and clamped both of her hands across her mouth to keep from finishing the sentence. Sour Sweet jumped to her feet, ponytail whipping around furiously. “Not if she isn’t what? What were you going to say?” Autumn Blaze just kept her hands on her mouth and shook her head madly back and forth. Sour Sweet took an ominous step closer, but a soft voice behind her spoke up. “...If I’m not the same Fluttershy.” Sour Sweet stewed with rage, clenching both fists. She glared back at Fluttershy, then slowly turned to look at Autumn Blaze with a wide grin. “But we’re not supposed to be talking about that kind of thing, right, ol’ buddy ol’ pal?” “Dts why mm hnds rr on my mowff!” “It… might be worth thinking about,” Fluttershy said. “Something about these is meant to make the Equestrians reveal themselves?” Autumn Blaze made urgent noises behind her hands; she apparently very much wanted to speak but wouldn’t let herself. Sour Sweet ignored her and instead responded to Fluttershy. “Well, I can’t see how you do that with a couple of nasty paragraphs,” she griped. “No one’s given themselves away yet, and I think I’ve heard almost everyone mention stuff about their human pasts. Sunset must’ve trained them to fit in and taught them about themselves, right? No one’s gonna mess up because of this.” “There’s another thing, anyway,” I broke in. “Monohuman acted like these were memories we’d lost somehow. He wouldn’t do that if it was supposed to expose ponies if they aren’t familiar with it.” I felt hollow inside, as was normal when I talked about this. “I’ve had some… experience with magical memory loss, even before this. In fact, one of my passages in the motive was about it.” Fluttershy frowned. “So… something happened to Rainbow Dash and I forgot it?” “Or these are just lame little tricks that are supposed to get under our skin!” Sour Sweet griped. “And Fluttershy, you’re sooooo smart, you know which is more plausible, right, honey?” “And we have one case of real amnesia right here,” I pointed out. “But your head doesn’t split in half when you try to remember anything you might have forgotten, right? Why would I be so different?” “Right!” Sour Sweet yelled. She glared at Autumn Blaze. “And for the love of fuck, take your hands off your mouth, already, you look ridiculous.” Autumn Blaze slowly lowered her hands. “Sorry! I didn’t even realize I was doing it! Anyway, mine were weird and meaningless too, but hey weird and meaningless things deserve love, like everything else. The first was about Applejack? You know, Big Mac’s sister? Rarity’s wife? Who seems really nice and I saw a picture of her and gosh she’s pretty, like wow, just a complete dreamboat, lucky Rarity, but I’ve never met her or anything. And she was fighting with someone and yelling and really furious, which is upsetting but doesn’t mean anything to me. And the other was just an awful description of someone burning up in a fire, but it didn’t say who it was, and okay I am scared of fire, but of course I am, fire burns you, come on, and this description was really detailed and described like the person’s skin coming off and sorry I know that’s really gross, but hearing it isn’t going to make you murder anyone, right? It was just scarier when I thought it might be a real thing I forgot, but I’m with you, that’s way implaus...” South Sweet grabbed Autumn Blaze’s hands and placed them back over her mouth, and she went silent again, blushing slightly. “I agree,” Fluttershy said, voice newly tinged with confidence she must have found somewhere. “Yes. These are supposed to upset us, and that’s all there is to it. Um, I’m really happy you all did this with me, but I think Shining Armor may have been right, after all. If it’s even a possibility these are supposed to expose the Equestrians somehow, then talking about them is a bad idea.” The little group disbanded, and I immediately had to go back into the dorm room I had promised to not hide away in. But I wasn’t hiding, I was just freaking out. It somehow had never occurred to me. I had never let it even cross my mind once. Sour Sweet could yell with all the fake confidence in the world that she was totally sure they hadn’t forgotten anything, but I knew better. It was absolutely possible. It was weird that I got some different spell or whatever, but it was still possible. But that dead me. That was the part that didn’t add up. How could I be dead but also here? But then Fluttershy said, “Something about these is meant to make the Equestrians reveal themselves.” It was ridiculous. I remembered growing up with hands instead of hooves. I remembered human preschool and human summer camp and human gardening. I couldn’t even picture what a magic, talking pony would look like! But it made sense… I calmed myself down. “This is pointless,” I mumbled out loud. That felt pretty good, so I said again, firmly, “This is pointless.” I could go crazy imagining all the ways memory magic could wreck my life. It came so easily, I suspected it was a common past-time for me. I refused to let it take me out half an hour after I got my life under control again. I was human, and I had no real reason to think otherwise. Only an idiot would trust something Monohuman gave them. And Sunset… was someone I had to move on from. I left my dorm room again. ~*~ The rest of the day thankfully passed without incident, so the following morning saw me attending breakfast on time with Rarity and Vignette. As we walked into the Mess Hall I decided I would pay closer attention to how they spoke to me. Trixie was a fool for many reasons, but she might be onto something when it came to that at least. As we walked in, I saw Cheese Sandwich elbow Sour Sweet. “Went and got more of that gross soda this morning, huh, Sour Sweet? Can’t get enough of it?” “Wha–noooooo,” Sour Sweet denied, her face giving away the lie. “I–I’m not addicted. Don’t say that.” Cheese snickered. “No one said anything about addiction, Sour. Just a little teasing.” “Yeah…well.. Shut up.” Sour Sweet sighed and then reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle of Sluggo. “Ah, aaaah, I knew it! There it is. You just can’t resist the stuff.” "Uuugh, stupid Sandwich…" Derpy waved to me when she spotted me. "Hey Wallflower, wanna sit with me today?" I was about to say I'd love to when Vignette pulled me away and over to a far table. "Sorry, I need this one today," she said. Derpy frowned, her lips trembling for just a moment. "...okay…" "What'd you do that for?" I asked Vignette as we gathered our food from the breakfast bar. "Keeping you safe, Wallywall. Simple as that." "From Derpy?" I pressed. "She's harmless." Rarity bit her lip uncertainty, then patted my arm. "Maybe. But perhaps it's best not to risk it." "Uh… okay then," I murmured, thinking back to Trixie's words. A project. Big Macintosh walked in just then, his face glum. He spoke not a word as he gathered a plate of food then left the Mess Hall entirely with it. "Wow…he really is in a foul mood," Vignette said. "Yeah…he's still hardly saying anything to anyone," Derpy said, her own expression sympathetic. "Can ya blame him?" Cheese asked as he chewed on a piece of ham. "He's still sad about his mom." "We all are," Autumn said. "Maybe I should go talk to him–" "Oh for Pete's sake, let the man have some space if he wants it!" Cranky interrupted, his mouth twisted up in an unusual rage. "Everyone grieves in their own way. If he wants privacy he should get it." Looks of contrition sprouted on everyone's face. "Sorry," Autumn muttered. Cranky sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. "No, I'm sorry for snapping. I just…ugh. Nevermind." "Something wrong, Cranky?" Cheese asked, his voice full of concern. Cranky waved his hand. “No. Forget it. Not worth it.” The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully until Shining Armor rose to address us. “Alright everyone, after the discovery of the rattlesnake venom yesterday, Autumn and I were talking and we agreed we should go through everything else over in the truck stop area and catalog it, see what is and isn’t dangerous, and try to dispose or lock up anything that is.” “Dispose of?” Zephyr asked, looking at Shining with a cockeyed expression. “Whaddya mean? You really think Monohuman’ll let us toss stuff away?” “It’s worth a try,” Shining said. “And if he won’t let us dispose of it, we can at least lock it up somewhere, like the music shed. Juniper, you still have the key for that, right?” “Yeah,” she said, pulling it out of her pocket to show us. “Good, then you’re on the team,” Shining replied. She rolled her eyes and stuffed the key back into her pocket. “We’re going to need two other people who aren’t on the breakfast cleanup team this morning,” Shining continued, looking over the crowd. He seemed to roam it with his eyes for a moment, then pointed at me and Cranky. “Cranky, Wallflower, you’re up.” Cranky grunted. “Ugh. Fine. Wasn’t like keeping to myself was the perfect plan anyway. But don’t expect me to chit-chat.” Shining nodded. “That’s fine. Soon as we’re ready we’re heading out.” We finished up our respective breakfasts, with Cranky taking the longest. Eventually however we all gathered outside, where Autumn gleefully handed us all fresh notebooks, pens, and duffel bags. “Where the heck did you get these?” Cranky asked as he slung the duffel bag around his shoulders. “Oh, there were a whole bunch in a corner in the convenience store, mixed with other bags,” Autumn Blaze answered with a big grin. “I’m so glad you’re helping us out, Cranky. And you too Wallflower; I know you both really have a hard time getting along with others and really that’s understandable but we’re gonna have a great time working together just the five of us you’ll see it’ll be a blast–” “Thank you, Autumn,” Shining said, cutting off the flow of babble. "Ugh, does she ever shut up?" Juniper whispered to me as we walked together. I shrugged, not bothering to respond. "Alright everyone, we're starting in the convenience store," Autumn said, gesturing to it as we entered the truck stop. "Each of you take an aisle." "Dunno why we're bothering with this place," Cranky grunted as he walked down the pantry aisle. "The whole thing is restocked every night." Juniper arched an eyebrow. “How do you know that?” “‘Cause I asked Monohuman the first day we got here, before he was Monohuman,” Cranky answered. “He said it’s to make it convenient for everyone; there’s heaps of stuff in the back room for restocking.” "Still worth inventorying so we know what's here," Shining replied. "Too bad the register doesn't force us to run our pads for the items or something; then we'd know who took what from here." For some reason hearing him say that sent stabbing pains through my head momentarily, just long enough for me to wince. "That'd make solving mysteries too easy," Cranky retorted. "And it'd be a pain in the ass to read." "Probably," Shining agreed. “I can’t see Monohuman making it that easy for us, not after what happened before.” "Well we could always set up our own log for people to write down what they take," Autumn suggested. "Then we'd know." "And have someone frame someone else by signing their name on a checkout list? No thanks," Juniper grunted. “Too many people have had chances to take stuff before now anyway,” Cranky pointed out. “So it’d be pointless.” "Nggh!" I groaned as another stab of pain lanced through my skull. "You okay?" Juniper asked me, her voice more sincere than I would have expected. "I'm fine," I answered, waving it off. "Just a headache.” I didn’t want to try to think about why those statements gave me head pains; even thinking about it indirectly caused a few more subtle flashes, enough to ward me off. Juniper stared at me for a moment before continuing on. Eventually we’d documented everything… the only things there I hadn’t already known about was the small shelf of household repair supplies… a couple tools, some boxes of nails, copper wire cabling, that sort of thing. “Great work, everybody,” Autumn said. “Over to the diner now.” “Is there even a point?” Cranky snorted. “I doubt there’s anything over there the Mess Hall kitchens don’t have.” “Yes, Cranky,” Autumn said patiently, even as I caught Shining casting Cranky an annoyed look. “You never know what might be in there.” “Yeah, maybe they’ll have some iron skewers or something,” Juniper said, chuckling. One corner of my mouth quivered into a brief half smile. “We’ll be fine so long as no one orders shish-kabobs.” As it turned out, there was one thing the diner had that the main kitchens didn’t: a large deep fryer. Large enough to dunk a person in, if one took the baskets away first. Just looking at it… Horrible, gut-wrenching-- I slammed down on that train of thought and derailed it into an abyss. “You don’t think anyone would actually…” Juniper gulped. “...I saw something similar once, during my time as a beat cop, before I made detective,” Shining admitted. “Someone who got their sick thrills off killing homeless people. Liked to break into local restaurants and dunk their victim’s faces into the boiling oil.” “Okay, that’s enough,” Autumn said, her face briefly turning as green as her dress. Shining’s mouth tightened. “Sorry. Let’s… let’s hope no one is that sadistic here.” He sighed as he wrote down in his notebook. “Though I’d prefer no one else die at all…” We moved on to the museum next, and at first everything went alright, until Autumn started chattering about every piece of art on the wall. “Oooh my gooosh! Look at the exquisite brushwork on that piece. I’ll bet that took a few days. And oh wow the use of color, and--” “Autumn, not to be rude, but do you think you could shut up so we can work?” Cranky growled. Autumn’s nose wrinkled. “Excuse you. What’s wrong with me talking about art? Everyone likes art.” “First off, no, not everyone likes art,” Cranky countered. “I, for one, hate art. Art’s just colors and shapes, and colors and shapes honk me off.” “I don’t think you’re very typical, there.” He shorted. “Probably. But even the people who do like art don’t usually keep a running commentary going like they’re watching football!” Autumn’s hands dropped to her hips as she glowered at Cranky. “Oooh, you haven’t seen me watch sports before or you wouldn’t say that. This? This is nothing. When I watch sports I can sound like an auctioneer, I talk so fast.” “Great. Good for you.” Cranky sneered right back. “I don’t care. What I care about is being done with this so I can go back to taking a load off.” “Hey, hey, cool it you two,” Shining said, getting between them. “This argument isn’t worth it.” Autumn and Cranky continued to glare at each other for several moments before they both picked up their notebooks and went back to work. Thankfully for my sanity both of them remained quiet for the rest of it. As it so happened there were numerous weapons in the museum. Pickaxes, a few knives, some especially heavy tools, and of course there was the workshop I noticed the first time, with all of its various parts and pieces on its shelves. It really was stocked like a theater shop, with everything for assembling or creating art pieces to costumes and so on. Judging by a few of the ancient, dust-covered costumes tucked away in a crate, the museum workers must’ve dressed up for the exhibits once upon a time. Or they actually acted out small plays, who knew? There was also this one weird storage room that only contained a bunch of mechanical stuff which I really could not describe any better than just saying “mechanical stuff.” Gears and springs and hinges and wire and metal frames. I had no clue what it was all supposed to be for, so my notes were pretty vague, but Shining seemed oddly concerned about it all. When we were done, he led us out of that room quickly and closed the door behind him, as if he was sealing in an evil spirit. “Okay, well, now that we’ve got all that written down, let’s see about getting some of this stuff moved over to the music shed,” he announced. He went to a corner to grab a decrepit looking hand truck laying there. Only for a cane to appear out of nowhere, barring his way. The rest of the hologram assembled to show Monohuman blocking Shining from reaching the hand truck, an unamused look on his face. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” he asked. Shining crossed his arms, looking distinctly unimpressed. “We’re going to put everything dangerous here under lock and key so it can’t hurt anyone.” “Ah.” Monohuman spun his cane once then pulled it back and held it in his usual manner as he stared down Shining. “I trust you understand I can’t let you do that. After all, if you lock up all the weapons, how’re you going to eliminate the Equestrians?” “We’re not going to let anyone else die,” Shining retorted. “So unless you’re making a rule for this, back off.” “Rules, rules, is that all you’ll ever obey, Shining?” Monohuman said, smiling in amusement. “Well, I suppose it only comes natural to a cop. An enforcer of the law. You’re all about rules, and damn anyone who breaks them no matter who they are or why they did it, hmm?” Shining narrowed his eyes. “Do you have a point with this or are you going to move?” Monohuman chuckled. It was not a nice chuckle. “Shiny, I appreciate the spine, my good man, believe me I do. But you’re messing with something you don’t quite comprehend. Now, if I must, I will create a rule barring everyone from locking up means of murder, but… well, that would have some consequences.” “Consequences?” Monohuman brought up a hand and began to count off fingers on it. “You’d never be able to lock your rooms again, or the bathroom, or anything. Anyone could walk in on you at any time and suffocate you in your sleep with your own pillow. Is that what you want? Because I’ll do it, if it is. And the instant someone locks the bathroom or closes a door wrong out of habit, they’ll be executed for breaking the rules.” My blood ran cold as I considered the kind of consequences he was talking about. And the lack of privacy… “Shining, please don’t force him to make the rule,” I begged. “Please.” Shining scowled at Monohuman for a good few moments before he sighed and uncrossed his arms. “Alright, fine. We’ll play it your way.” “That’s a good lad,” Monohuman said with a grin. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” His hologram dissolved into sparkles. “Great.” Cranky threw his arms up before tossing his notebook down hard enough the top piece of paper tore. “That was a pointless waste of two hours of what little is left of my life. Thanks a lot.” He stomped off, working his mouth the whole way like he was chewing a cud. Juniper handed her notebook over to Autumn and Shining. “Sorry. It was worth a try at least.” “Yeah,” Shining sighed as he took mine from me as well. “This list will still be useful so if anything from here is used we… we know where it came from.” Autumn remained quiet as she stuffed the notebooks into her duffel bag, the only use it had now. Her movements slowed as she trudged out without saying a word. Seeing the usually talkative woman so silent left me feeling unnerved. “Hey, Wallflower, come walk with me, huh?” Juniper said, tugging on my shirt sleeve. “Sure,” I replied with a shrug. “Where’re we going?” “Just out to the trucks,” Juniper answered as we stepped outside. “This whole place has such a mysterious aura to it, you know? Like a mystique.” “What do you mean?” She pointed to one of the rusted out hulks. “Look at this. Just imagine a movie shot on location here, with the camera slowly panning over the broken down trucks in a series of long shots, giving you a good look at the place for a while before moving over to the convenience store and diner, showing how empty they are except for their owners. It’s such a great way to set a scene, to show what living in a town like this in its last days would’ve been like.” I looked over the various trucks, the myriad bits and pieces they were in, and nodded. “I can see it. I don’t know about movies, but I could see painting or writing about this.” “Oh, paintings are good and books are fine, but movies… movies are where it’s at,” Juniper said. “I love movies. There’s just something unique about the art form, the way it’s like a play but better, how you can tell all sorts of stories with sound and music to go with it. How you can see the look on an actress’s face as she spouts her lines, hear the emotion in her voice as she conveys the scene in a way you just can’t get from words on a page.” I nodded again, though I wasn’t sure how much I shared her enthusiasm. Movies tended to be loud, especially in movie theaters where they pumped the sound up so much it was like being front row at a concert. Or what I imagine the front row at a concert would be like; I’ve never been able to stand the noise of one long enough to attend. “And like, they can tell stories that no play would ever be able to convey. Like space battles, or huge magical duels, or the battlefield of a war. Impossible things brought to life, all for you to sit there and watch and enjoy.” Juniper let out a happy sigh. “I want to make movies so bad, you have no idea.” “I think I’m getting the picture,” I said. “Oh!” She tapped her hands together. “That reminds me, I wanna show you something. Look at this.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a large sheet of paper. On it was a sketch of the truck stop late in the afternoon, the sun still peaking over the horizon, casting its rays among the broken down trucks and highlighting the display of a gas pump. “What do you think? Does it capture the aesthetics?” “Wow, yeah, it does,” I replied as I looked it over. “This is really good. It almost looks like a painting.” “It’s just colored marker, but thank you,” Juniper said with a smile. “It’s incredible what you can do with basic supplies if you just put some imagination into it. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this but it inspires a lot of ideas in my head.” Crackle. I blinked. “Did you hear something?” I said, my voice dropping in volume. “Yeah, what…” Juniper turned and so did I. For a moment, we locked eyes with someone among the trucks, someone with blue eyes and elegantly coiffed purple hair. Then she seemed to panic and stepped back out of sight. “What… Rarity?” I whispered. “What was she doing?” Juniper asked. “Was she stalking us or something?” Trixie’s words came back to haunt me again as I stared at the spot where Rarity had stood. Was that it? Was she watching me, keeping an eye on her project? How long had she been watching us? Just what was Rarity up to?