Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc: Wonderland's Despair

by MangaKamen

Daily Life 2 - Calm

With the sun setting over the watery horizon, the reflected off of the water as many ponies walked over the long bridge, all busy with whatever tasks they had left in the day. However, the light sobbing tarnished the rather beautiful scene.

Leaned against one of the guard rails, and looking down at the water, the colt couldn’t help but notice the small ripples that rocked his reflection in the water.

“So this is where you went off to, Tracer.”

The young colt turned his head around to see a taller stallion standing behind him – But for some reason, the young colt couldn’t see the stallion’s face or any other features, they seemed to be obscured by darkness.

“Tracer, I know it hurts, but we have to move on.”

Not willing to listen, the young Tracer turned back to the lake that was under the bridge. The older stallion sighed as he placed his front hooves on the guardrail next to the young Tracer, “… You know she cared deeply for you right? She didn’t want to go, but these things happen Tracer, and all we can do is move on.”

“B-But,” Tracer squeaked out, not turning towards the stallion. “Does that mean that you’ll disappear too?”

For a moment, the shadowed stallion didn’t say a word, but then spoke up again, “Unfortunately, yeah. We’ll all disappear eventually.”

“But… But I don’t want to disappear!” the young Tracer cried out, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

“If you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything. If you want to succeed, have courage and step up front!”

Tracer reeled back when he heard that, and the older stallion held up a pair of goggles towards the young colt, “Tracer, I can’t promise that you’ll live forever, but, if you let the fear of the reaper creep on your back, you’ll be held back from doing anything with your life!

“I know you’ve got a ton of questions, I know you miss your mother, but that’s the wonder of life at work. The unpredictability, the many unanswered questions, and how you answer them is up to you, and you’ve got your entire life to search for your own answers.”

The stallion then took the goggles and fitted them over Tracer’s head, making sure that they weren’t too tight. “That’s what makes life so great! And I know your mother wouldn’t want to see you mull over her death, she’d want to see you fly without wings.

“So, how ‘bout you give a smile, for the sake of your mother?”

His hoof clacked against the goggles, and a small smile appeared on Tracer’s face, and yet, the tears still kept coming…

DING DONG!

TTT – TTT

Daily Life 2

Calm

TTT – TTT

DING DONG!

Tracer’s eyes shot open when he heard that oddly familiar sound – The sound of a doorbell, how he wished he could sleep for a few more hours, the bloodshot gaze that was locked on the door was a testament to that.

DING DONG!

“I… I’m coming,” Tracer groaned loudly pushing himself from the bed. His head was sore since he forgot to take his googles off. That’ll leave a mark for a while, at least it would be under his mane.

Tracer attempted to push himself out of bed, but when he did, his hooves slipped on the carpeting and he landed on the ground, landing on his face in the process, “Damn it…”

After a few seconds, Tracer yawned and got back to his hooves. Taking a few moments to stretch his body, Tracer made his way to the door. When he did so, he unlocked it and opened it up, “Y-Yeah?”

“Humph, you should learn to be more careful”

Tracer’s eyes widened when he realized that there were a pair of narrowed eyes looking right at him. “Uh, Zure, right?”

Indeed, it was the rather tall and imposing Zebra that stood outside Tracer’s door, “While I’m glad you remembered my name, you should take more care when you open your door – Someone with murderous intent could’ve done something right now, pushed you back into your room and…”

“If I became afraid of opening the door,” Tracer replied with a tired smile. “Then I wouldn’t that mean I admitted defeat to Cheshire? Being forced to hide away?”

“Heh, I like that answer,” Zure chuckled back with a large smile on her face. “But still, at least try to be a bit more careful when you open the door, I’m sure no one wants to see…”

“Well, I appreciate that,” Tracer answered as he rubbed the back of his head. “But, I’m sure you didn’t come to my room to…”

That when a thought occurred to Tracer.

He was in his room, with a mare (a zebra mare to be correct), alone in his room.

A large blush appeared on his silver furred face, and he turned to the side to hide that. “So, uh, w-what brings you here?”

“Are you alright?” Zure asked as she leaned a little closer to Tracer and brought a hoof up to his head. “You aren’t sick, are you?”

That just made Tracer’s face turn a brighter red, and he stepped away, “F-Fine! It’s just a little warm in here. S-So, what do you… What’s going on?”

“Hmm, well,” Zure muttered, obviously not convinced with Tracer’s answer. “Everyone else is meeting in the cafeteria, Hawkward tried waking you up a little bit ago, but you didn’t wake up when he hit the doorbell.

“I’m kinda surprised you woke up when I rang the bell to be honest.”

Tracer chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head with his hoof, “Well, I guess I got odd sleeping habits.”

“Whatever,” Zure shrugged it off before she walked out of the room. “See you at the cafeteria in a few.”

And just like that, Zure disappeared. Tracer sighed loudly, ‘First time I have a girl in my room, and I pretend I’m sick – I’m sure this’ll do wonders for my self-esteem.’

Shaking that little bit of failure from his head, Tracer slowly made his way out of his room towards the cafeteria.

TTT – TTT

“Tracer! You’re late!”

The earth stallion winced when he heard his name called out loudly. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was the only one not seated at one of the tables (which had a plethora of different foods spread out on them, more than likely cooked by Francis).

Most of the group was at a few tables close to each other, of course, there were a few who were seated away from the rest. Smokey was seated in the corner, his guitar case open with a guitar in his lap that he strummed a few chords, Alchymist was seated a few tables away with a sliced open grapefruit and the two male Diamond Dogs – Freki and Geri – were seated together, munching on some toast.

And Hawkward, he was at the head of a group of tables that were pulled together with everyone else, with his eyes narrowed down on the earth stallion, “Because of your tardiness, I…”

“Now that he’s here, let’s dig in!” Kopuz laughed loudly before he took a muffin from the table and took a big bite from it.

“Gah! Not yet!” Hawkward scolded as he waved a hoof at the minotaur. “We’ve got a lot to discuss today before we eat!”

“Oh just relax,” Misch commented holding up an apple with a large smile on her beak. “How can you expect us to pay attention with this spread in front of us?”

“Oooh! Zanks Misch!” Francis called out waving his hooves in the air. “It’s a cook’s chef’s greatest aspiration to hear zat from his customers!”

“I swear you two have no real grasp of the situation,” Hawkward grumbled loudly before he slumped down into his seat. “We’re being held against our wills here!”

“Ya know, if you keep giving off these bad vibes,” Kopuz pointed out with a mouthful of muffin. “Bad karma’s gonna kick you in the flank.”

“Also, it’ll give you wrinkles,” Godfrey added.

“Hey! Tracey!” Lore called out as she waved her hooves up and down. “Come sit over here! There’s an open seat over here!”

Hawkward’s head hung low with another sigh escaping his mouth, “Why isn’t anyone taking this seriously?”

“I think there’s a good reason for that,” Elo stated as she lifted a cup of tea up from the table and took a sip from it. With a smile, the young unicorn continued on. “Consider it Hawkward, we’re all from Equestria, a world where there’s practically peace – Save for the occasional evil monster that likes to terrorize Ponyville for some reason – Murder isn’t really something that occurs.”

“Also,” Zure chimed in. “It’s been a day or so since we were brought here, once our friends and family realize that we’re gone, rescue should be near… Damn it!”

“I thought you only rhymed when you were nervous?” Freya asked, her own cup of tea lifted up.

“Kyah!” Francis squealed loudly with a goofy smile on his face. “Zure’s character traits are finally showing! YAY!”

“What does that even mean?” Zure questioned giving Francis an odd look. “Character traits?”

“Well, we need to have more characterization before zings get serious around here,” Francis explained, his body waning back and forth in his seat. “Moi means, how is anyone supposed to get invested in ze characters if we can’t…”

“Alright, enough of the insanity!” Hawkward barked with a blood vessel appearing on the side of his head. “We need to do something!”

“Mister Hawkward is right – It’s already been a day, and no one’s killed anyone yet!”

All of a sudden, all of the noise and cheer in the room faded away when everyone realized what was just spoken. The entire room turned to the head of the table where a familiar top hat that was aimed at the large group. Slowly, the hat lifted up to show Cheshire seated at the table with a rather large fruit parfait in his paws, and for the first time since they saw the cat, he opened his mouth.

Which was immediately closed down on a spoonful of parfait, when he did, Cheshire wiggled in his seat, “MMMMM! Yummy! I’ve never had such a tasty little treat!”

“WAAAH!” Misch cried out as she slipped from her chair. “Where did he come from!?”

“I’m impressed,” Geri muttered. “This cat is like a ninja… Didn’t even smell him.”

“Ninja cat?!” Freki yelped out.

“What are you doing here?” Hawkward asked, noting that everyone was slowly inching away from their captor.

“Enjoying parfait,” Cheshire replied nonchalantly as he lifted up another spoonful of the confectionery. “After all, good food shouldn’t go to waste, it should go to your waist, right?”

There seemed to be a cricket nearby as the telltale chirp alerted Cheshire that no one found his joke entertaining. With his ears slumped down, Cheshire lowered his head again, “Awe, that’s a shame, I was hoping for some laughs.”

“You greet us by commenting on a lack of murder,” Godfrey pointed out with a roll of his eyes. “What did you think would happen?”

“Hmm, you bring up a good point,” Cheshire answered back before he jumped onto the table. “Then let’s try this again – Good morning!”

“Good morning, kitty!” Lore greeted playfully.

“You don’t have to respond, you know,” Smokey sighed, bringing up his guitar again, more than likely preparing to ignore the dumb cat.

“Now then,” Cheshire stated as he placed the empty parfait glass on the table before him. Taking a moment to clear his throat, Cheshire bowed slightly. “Let’s try this the gentleman’s way – Please, would someone kill someone else? I would greatly appreciate it.”

“You know, you’re really dedicated to this,” Kopuz chuckled.

“Hmm?” Cheshire mused, lifting his head up. “I would say so…”

“I kinda respect someone who’s willing to keep a joke up,” Kopuz admitted with his arms crossed. “Even if it was a demented joke.”

“Didn’t we go over this yesterday?” Cheshire questioned as he tilted his head to the side. “This isn’t a joke – None of you will leave this place, not unless you take the life of another.”

“What makes you think we’re going to take someone’s life?!” Tracer barked at Cheshire, surprising the cat.

“Yes! For all we know, the Equestrian Royal Guard is on the way!” Elo contributed, slamming a hoof onto the top of the table.

“The Guard Dogs are also probably breathing down your neck,” Freya added with a wild smirk on her face. “And trust me, when they see that it’s a cat that’s holding some dogs prisoner, you’ll wish you were…”

“Puh-lease,” Cheshire interrupted.

“Why is everyone interrupting me?!” Freya snarled as she started to get up from her seat, only to be pulled down by Misch and Kopuz.

“Do you honestly think that the pathetic soldiers can do a thing?” Cheshire cackled, taking a little stroll across the table. “Every time those guards try to do something against a big bad, they usually get smacked away, or get turned to stone, or drained of their magic like a vampire bat sucks juice from an apple, they always are the fodder to show how bad ass the bad guys are.

“It’s a common trope in comics, movies, games and other forms of media…”

“That’s a given,” Tracer muttered under his breath. “If the bad guys got taken out by the regular officials, they weren’t really villains suited for the hero to deal with.”

“You actually contributed to his argument?” Elo questioned.

Tracer rubbed the back of his head with his cheeks a little red.

“Now, now, he’s got a point,” Cheshire scolded with a wag of his paw. “But if you all think that help is really going to come soon, then go ahead and keep waiting. It won’t matter, there’s only one way out and you all know it.

“So go ahead, wait all you like – That’s kind of the point of this place anyway. Not like anyone will actually appear to save the day. Now if you excuse me, I have some work I need to do. Have a good day.”

And just like that, Cheshire popped into a cloud of black and white smoke, although, a plate of waffles just so happened to disappear along with the cat.

“He stole the waffles!” Kopuz yelped as he placed his hands at the side of his head. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That fiend!”

“The feline kidnaps us,” Misch pointed out. “And you’re more worried about the waffles? Get your priorities straight!”

“But the waffles …” Kopuz sobbed, using a napkin to dry his tears.

“Stolen waffles aside,” Hawkward sighed loudly. “After our meal, we’ll have to continue our search for a way out.”

“What makes you think that there is a way out?” Elo questioned, finished with her tea. “If Cheshire is really our captor, what makes you think that he would leave a means for us to escape? It’d be a real shoddy move on his part if he did.”

“But we can still look,” Zure replied as she shot a look at Elo. “There wouldn’t be anything wrong with doing that. And who knows what other items we missed yesterday.”

“Whatever,” Elo sighed as she pushed herself from the table, with her horn lit up and levitating a certain key. “I’ll be heading to the storage area, I might as well see if there’s anything worth reading in there.”

And just like that, Elo walked out of the cafeteria with the key in tow.

“I think I’ll head out too,” Godfrey added as he used his table to grab onto an orange. “I gotta do some preening, and if anyone’s interested, I can easily style anyone’s hair… Or scales…”

Smokey lifted his head up when he heard scales – He was the only one here who was cold blooded and had scales, “And what’s wrong with my spines?”

“I was just making an offer,” Godfrey answered back. “I style with feathers and hair all the time, I’d relish the chance to style a dragon’s spines.”

“Ain’t interested,” Smokey grumbled.

“Shame,” Godfrey chuckled.

And like that, the griffon exited.

“Great, anyone else wanna leave?” Hawkward asked with a slap to his forehead.

Without missing a beat, Alchymist and Crowquill walked out of the cafeteria.

“Great…” Hawkward grumbled.

TTT – TTT

It didn’t take long for the rest of the group to finish up their breakfast, until only Tracer was left with Francis.

“Zanks again for bringing ze dishes in, Trace!” Francis chuckled, turning his attention away from the piles of dishes. “Saves me ze trouble of going out there, and Moi can get these zings done quickly.”

However, Tracer couldn’t answer, mainly because he had a tray in his mouth that had a bunch of other plates on it. If he spoke, the earth stallion would drop the tray and plates to the floor. But when he reached the sinks, he was finally able sigh. “Ya sure you don’t need help with these?”

“Moi claimed zis kitchen,” Francis answered back before he tossed a cleaned dish on the side with the other cleaned dishes. “Zerefore, moi has got to take care of everyzing in here – Ze responsibilities of a cook chef are great, my friend. Even if moi am captured, moi has an obligation to make sure zat everything is right for everyone to eat!”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re weird?” Tracer asked nervously.

“Moi gets zat all ze time,” Francis answered back, not turning away from the dishes. “Moi takes it as a compliment, it’d be too boring if everyone acted ze same and creativity would drop, and we wouldn’t have half of the zings we’ve got today.”

The goat cook chef stopped washing the dishes and turned towards Tracer with a smile, “So moi takes being called weird as a compliment – It practically tells moi zat moi is alive and unique.”

“Well, that’s one way to think of it,” Tracer chuckled to himself. “But everyone else is out there doing stuff, and you’re stuck in here.”

“It’s not like it’ll take all day to do ze dishes,” Francis replied with a shrug. “Sides, it’s not so bad being in ze kitchen for most of ze day – All ze free food moi could ever munch on!”

“Yeesh, and here I was thinking there was a deeper meaning to what ya were saying,” Tracer snickered, shaking his head. For a moment, Tracer just watched Francis clean the dishes, till he spoke up again. “Say, Francis, what do you make of this situation?”

“Moi? Meh, moi doesn’t know,” Francis answered back nonchalantly, more preoccupied with the dishes. “Frankly, moi is more worried about my restaurant back home – After all, wizout ze head cook chef, ze other cooks will do who knows what wiz ze recipes!”

“You’ve got a restaurant?” Tracer questioned.

“Of course!” Francis chuckled. “Family restaurant to be precise, but its mine now, and it’s one of the most successful in my city. When we get outta here, moi shall treat everyone here to one of the greatest meals zeir taste buds ever touched. Or somezing like zat.”

“Haven’t you been cooking for us since we got here?” Tracer pointed out with a flat look in his eyes.

“Ah, shut up,” Francis playfully spat back. “Moi is more comfortable wiz my own equipment and using a kitchen that moi can call my own – It can make a world of difference. Zen again, ze only difference is only a few seconds of time, moi can still make somezing delicious.”

And with that, Francis turned over to Tracer with a smile, “In any case, go ahead Trace, I’m sure you don’t wanna spend the day all cooped up in a kitchen wiz a stinky goat.”

“C’mon, Francis,” Tracer stated as he trotted next to the goat. “Everyone deserves a little company, sides, ya need a little help with the dishes, don’tcha?”

The smile on Francis’ face curled up a little bit, “Heh, alright, if you don’t mind having pruney hooves.”

With an extra pair of hooves there to help, both Francis and Tracer were able to get through cleaning the dishes and cutlery in no time at all. And with the dishes drying, the two left the kitchen, Tracer being the first to leave (Francis said that he had a few more things to do, but it was stuff that a cook chef had to do).

When Tracer reached the first floor of the cafeteria, he stopped when he realized that there were a couple of others seated in the lobby – Godfrey and Zure – With the zebra a little annoyed with the griffon, “For the last time, I have no interest in your styling, Godfrey.”

“Oh come on,” Godfrey replied with his talons lifted up playfully. “You can’t tell me that you’re not interested in styling – There’s no way that purple bang of yours could be natural, most zebras usually have gray or black hair, or a mixture of the two. Hardly ever any other color.”

“And what makes you such the expert on zebra hair?” Zure questioned back.

“I’ve styled plenty of Zebrican diplomats’ and celebs’ manes,” Godfrey explained as he drew a comb from his shirt pocket and pointed it at Zure. “And not a one of them had any multicolored hair like yours. Besides, I can tell a dye job when I see one.”

“It’s not dyed!” Zure barked back.

“Please,” Godfrey sighed with a shake of his head. “I’m a stylist – I use dye, I make my own dye, and I know how to use dye, and honey, that’s a dye job.”

“Oh for the love of,” Zure grumbled before she turned towards Tracer. “Hey, you mind getting this guy off my case?”

“Uh, I don’t really know all that much about hair care,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly.

“That’s obvious with that bird’s nest you call a mane,” Godfrey sighed back with a shake of his head.

“But, you should really let up,” Tracer continued. “I mean, who cares if it’s really purple or dyed that way?”

“Exactly,” Zure added.

Godfrey opened his beak to speak, but stopped himself as he pushed away from the couch, “Whatever, I try to offer my services, and I get them flung back into my face – Feel free to ask me when you get tired of those garish styles, let me know.”

And without a care of the world, the stylist griffon sauntered out of the cafeteria’s lobby. With him gone, Zure sighed loudly and jumped from the couch and smiled at Tracer, “Thanks, I appreciate ya with yer help there, Tracer.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Tracer started, but froze when he realized that Zure was starting to leer at him. “Uh, why did he suddenly just ask you that stuff?”

“Meh,” Zure replied with a shrug. “He just walked up and started talking. Guy’s got a big beak.”

“Are you talking about his nose or his mouth?” Tracer questioned with his head tilted slightly.

“Both,” Zure snickered back.

TTT – TTT

After leaving the cafeteria’s building, Tracer winced at the bright sunlight that gleamed from above. When his eyes adjusted to the light, the young earth stallion looked around the grassy plains and odd scenery, if it wasn’t for the fact that he and fourteen others were being held here against his will, the colorful area would’ve been so quaint and peaceful.

‘Then again, home was usually pretty colorful too,’ Tracer thought to himself before he leapt onto the pavement. ‘Where should I go…’

“Oi! Tracer! Get over here!”

The earth stallion jumped when he heard his name, and turned to see that seated outside of the building next door was the two male diamond dogs – Freki and Geri, playing cards. Freki was the one who had called out to Tracer and was waving the stallion down, “Come join us, mate! We can deal ya in!”

“What are you doing?” Geri growled at his fellow dog. “Don’t call him over…”

“Why not?” Freki questioned noting that the stallion was trotting over. “You worried that the hoofed one can beat you at Poker, bro? You jelly of his supposed card skills?”

“That makes no sense, Freki,” Geri pointed out just as Tracer stood right behind him.

“Was there something you needed…” Tracer started to say, but then became at a loss of words. “Uh, sorry, what were your names again?”

Geri growled in annoyance.

“Don’t mind this bulldog wannabe,” Freki replied with a warm smile. “He’s not the social type – I’m Freki and this is my bro: Geri.”

“Oh, you’re brothers?” Tracer questioned.

Freki patted the grassy ground next to him a few times, “Yuppers! Now sit down and we’ll deal ya in.”

Well, Tracer really didn’t have anything better to do, so the young stallion sat at the space next to both Freki and Geri, much to the chagrin of the latter who snorted in disgust. Freki however had a large smile on his face as he plucked five cards off the top of the deck and placed them at Tracer’s hooves.

A little hesitant, Tracer lifted the cards up in his hooves and looked over the cards.

“I’ve always been curious,” Freki muttered as he pulled a card from his hand and placed it on the pile next to the deck to draw another card. “How do you ponies lift things up with those things?”

“Eh, I’m not the best guy to ask,” Tracer chuckled as he pointed towards his head. “I got no horn – but, from what I can remember, it has to do with some sort of inherit magic that we got in our hooves. Everypony has it, and it’s what allows Earth ponies to control the earth and pegasai to push clouds… I think.”

“Two cards,” Geri scoffed before he tossed two cards down and lifted up two from the top of the deck. “You sure sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, that’s just the gist of it,” Tracer replied with a wave of his hoof. “Not like I study this stuff, I’m just content with being a delivery colt.”

“Humph, are you the Elite Delivery Colt?” Geri asked as he adjusted the cards in his paw.

“N-No, just a regular delivery colt,” Tracer chuckled nervously. “I think I just got picked at random to go to Twilight Academy.”

“Lovely,” Geri scoffed to the side.

“Oi, Geri, don’t be like that,” Freki barked with a wave of his paw. “Be nice to the pony – I invited him to play while we wait, so be a good host!”

“Wait? What are you waiting for?” Tracer asked as he looked at the red emblem cards at his hoof.

“Nothing that…” Geri started.

“Oh, we’re just guarding the laundry room,” Freki interrupted with a goofy grin. “Freya’s doing some laundry and wanted some privacy, so we’re out here making sure she gets it.”

If icy glares could kill, the one that Geri shot at his brother would probably bury the dog six feet underground. This didn’t go unnoticed by Freki, and he responded with a large smirk, “What? What?”

“You’re an idiot,” Geri spat out bluntly.

“And you’re a jerk who thinks bowties are cool,” Freki countered back, his paw shook at the larger diamond dog.

“That’s because they are cool!” Geri barked.

Now that the two Diamond Dogs were barring their fangs at each other, a chill ran down Tracer’s spine, “Uh, do you two want me to leave you to your business? Cause I can…”

“Naw, stay dood!” Freki laughed, turning back to his goofy persona. “Just ignore the big lump of grump over there with the bowtie and you’ll be fine. He’s a grump, I’m not so grump, and we’re Dog Grumps!”

“What the Tartarus?” Geri grumbled under his breath.

“I mean, I could always leave,” Tracer offered as he plucked a card from his hand of cards and tossed it to the pile of discarded cards. “I don’t wanna start anything…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Geri sighed. “We’re brothers, we always squabble with each other – a few black eyes, a couple cuts, sometimes even a broken bone here and there.”

“Yikes,” Tracer yelped, a slight chuckle following. “I get into arguments with my little sisters, but the worst that happens is that they gang up on me and use their magic to levitate me.”

“You got unicorns in your family?” Freki questioned, his tail wagged slightly.

“Yeah, I’m the only earth stallion in my family,” Tracer admitted, his ears drooped slightly at the reminder.

“Ye-ouch,” Freki winced. “Must be rough without a horn or paws.”

“Wow, way to be tactful,” Geri muttered,

“Alright,” Freki chuckled as he lifted his five cards up. “Time to place the bets!”

“Huh? We’re betting?” Tracer questioned.

“Indeed, it wouldn’t be poker without the betting,” Geri pointed out as he reached into his vest and pulled out a few bits. “I’ll start with five bits.”

“I’ll see your five bits,” Freki added as he tossed a few golden coins onto the ground, along with a small sapphire. “And I’ll raise ya a jewel.”

“Uh, I don’t think I can play,” Tracer muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. “I only have bits and…”

“Tell ya what,” Geri smirked with a wag of his paw. “If you lose, we’ll send you an I.O.U. and you can pay us back when we get out of here. Deal?”

“… Why do I think that I just got roped into something?” Tracer mumbled before he narrowed his eyes. ‘If that’s the case…’

Slowly, Tracer’s muzzle curled up into a devious smirk before he dug his hoof into his vest and tossed quite a few bits on the ground. “You’re on!”

“So, you raise twenty bits?” Freki asked as he used a paw to count the bits. “Alright! I’ll match and call!”

“I’ll call too,” Geri added with a nod.

The taller diamond dog chuckled before he slapped his paw onto the ground and spread the cards out on the concrete. “Read’em and weep – Three of a kind!”

Indeed, Geri’s cards were laid out all in front of him, showing off a set of sevens along with the three of spades and the eight of hearts.

“Not bad bro, not bad at all,” Freki chuckled. “But, I think I can top it with a Flush!”

And indeed, Freki slipped the cards down on the ground showing off a set hearts on the cards – the Queen, the ten, the five, the two and the six. “Unless Tracer here has anything that can top this, looks like I got the win.”

“Humph, well, let’s see what he’s got,” Grei retorted as he turned towards the stallion.

Tracer wasn’t a great card shark, that was his cousin Card Sharp who was good with card games, but he managed to learn enough from his cousin. Like how to hide your tells, when to fold, and of course, when to know that you’ve got the suckers’ bits in your own pocket (his cousin’s words). “Um, let’s see… I’ve got uh, three ones, and two stallions with crowns, one giving himself brain surgery apparently.”

Both Freki and Geri looked at the cards that Tracer placed at the ground, and indeed, he had a trio of Aces and two Kings. For a moment, the two diamond dogs turned to each other dumbfounded as the silver earth pony brought his hooves to the pile of bits and jewels, “So, I guess from the looks on your faces, this full house wins me the game?”

“How in the seven layers of Tartarus?” Freki questioned as he scratched the side of his head.

“Well, you were the one who dealt him the cards,” Geri pointed out with a flat look.

“So, you guys wanna try your paws again?” Tracer asked as he pocketed the bits and jewels.

“Nah, anyone up for old maid?” Freki offered as he pooled the cards up. “How about a game I’m actually good at?”

Geri rolled his eyes at his brother, and then turned towards Tracer, his eyes softened a little bit, “Well, I guess this is a good a time as any – Tracer, you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“I don’t taste good with barbecue sauce,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly as he pulled some jewels and bits from his vest. “In fact, you can get your jewels and bits back.”

“What? No, you won them… Somehow,” Geri replied. “No, I was hoping to get a different opinion rather than my sibling’s. Earlier, Freki, Freya and I were discussing about who our captor could be.”

“Its Cheshire,” Freki chuckled. “Anyone can see that Bakeneko’s behind it.”

“Why are you going with that minotaur’s nickname for the cat?” Geri growled.

“Cause it’s fun to say!” Freki laughed as he shuffled the cards in his paws. “Rolls off the tongue! Bah~kay~neck~co! Bakeneko!”

“For the love of,” Geri grumbled as he slapped a paw against his forehead. “I’m done talking to you for a few minutes – In any case, who do you think is behind our predicament, Mr. Tracer? Surely you can’t think that the mastermind is a talking cat.”

“Well, we’re talking dogs,” Freki pointed out.

Both Tracer and Geri ignored the goofier of the two Diamond Dogs, with the earth pony rubbing his chin with his hoof. “Uh, well… What do you mean?”

“What I’m talking about is the true identity of our captor,” Geri answered back as Freki dealt the cards. “A stuffed cat can’t be behind this – In fact, this entire world is weird, so it’s ridiculous to think that a cat is behind this. If anything, it’s just a disguise that the real mastermind is putting on so that we don’t know his true identity.

“So whoever is behind it would not only have to have a lot of magical power, but if we were to take Cheshire’s words to heart, then the guards would be useless against them. Quite possibly someone high up.”

Tracer wasn’t greatly talented, but he was far from dumb. He was able to connect to what Geri was referring to – The diamond dog was more than likely referring to the Equestrian Royalty. It certainly would be plausible, the Alicorns practically could easily twist reality, bend emotions, and there were even rumors of them manipulating ponies to their wills.

Then there was the other member of Equestrian Society who had the same power – the being known as Discord. With just a snap of his lion’s paw or bird talon, he could easily warp reality. - There were reports of mountains behind turned upside down, hats attacking ponies, and even the most diabolical thing that the being of chaos could do: Steal a pony's tail right off their flank!

But, even if this was some sort of joke or whatever, would any of these beings of near godly abilities ever set ponies and other creatures off to kill each other?

“You know, there’s always another who could be behind this,” Freki pointed out with a goofy smile.

Geri grumbled under his breath, “You’re not seriously going to suggest who I think you’re going to suggest.”

“C’mon! You know it’s a possibility!” Freki pouted. “Why can’t the Witch of Thorns be behind this?”

“Witch of… What now?” Tracer questioned with a tilt of his head.

“You haven’t heard of the Witch of Thorns?” Freki questioned with a gasp.

“How could a pony not hear of her?” Freki questioned. “She’s said to be a heinous mare who traveled all over Equestria wreaking havoc – And wherever she stepped, travesty and blood would follow. An actual, living and breathing serial killer!”

Tracer leaned back, his eyes widened in shock when he heard that – the young stallion could actually feel his blood freezing the moment those words were uttered by the usually goofy diamond dog.

Geri saw Tracer and sighed, “He’s referring to the villainous homicidal urban legend. Much like Slendermane or… Bloody Mary… Or… That one pink pony that’s said to appear whenever you’re planning a party.”

“I swear! That pink pony exists!” Freki defended with a wave of his arms. “And so does the Witch of Thorns! She chooses the victims at random and without warning, offs them without a care in the world! Rumors say that her victims are in the thousands, and she’s never been caught!”

“You’re really stretching it,” Geri countered.

“C’mon! It’s not hard to imagine an effing homicidal maniac could be behind this!” Freki growled as he pumped his paw towards his brother. “Who else would get this kind of pleasure outta wanting others killing each other?!”

“You’re thinking that a fictional character’s behind this,” Geri moaned with his head lowered. “I’m starting to have a hard time believing that we’re even related. Next you’re going to say that the pink party pony is real and once cloned herself countless times with a magic pool of water – Who the Tartarus would believe that?”

“She exists! And so does the Witch of Thorns!” Freki barked back before he turned towards Tracer. “What do you think Tracer? You believe that the Witch of Thorns is behind this, don’t’cha?”

“Uh, I’ve never even heard of the Witch of Thorns until you brought her up,” Tracer admitted with a nervous smile on his face.

Almost as if he was struck in the heart with an iron steak, Freki moaned in pain and lowered his head down to his lap where he began to sob.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe you,” Tracer continued.

Ears perked up and his tail now wagging, Freki lifted his head up and looked towards the goggle wearing stallion. “R-Really?!”

“Really?” Geri mirrored, although this was done with notably less enthusiasm than with his brother.

“Well, we can’t really rule anything out, right now, can we?” Tracer answered back with his hoof to his chin. “I mean, even rumors have a hint of truth them, don’t they? I’ve heard of some sightings of Slendermane.”

“For the love of…” Geri moaned loudly. “Not another one.”

BING-BOND DING-DONG!

The three stopped when they heard that ringing sound – the ominous sound echoed through the plains before a familiar, joy-filled voice filled the air instead.

“Hello! Hello! Your Headmaster Cheshire here! After some soul searching and plenty of pancakes, I’ve come to a realization. We have the characters, the setting and the situation, but we’re missing one key little factor…

“The motive! Quite a distinct lack of motive really. Especially since you guys still believe that you’ll be saved by the guards or whatever, you think you can wait me out – So, I’m giving you all some incentive!

“So, will all students please report to the Main Court for a special assembly! Attendance is mandatory for all students, and those who don’t show up, there will be a punishment waiting for you!

“So try not to keep everyone else waiting! That is all!”

And just like that, the voice faded back into the calm serenity of Wonderland, which left Tracer, Geri and Freki to stare at each other. The tallest of the three, Geri sighed and crossed his paws over his chest, “… This isn’t good.”

“Motive?” Tracer questioned, a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. “What… What does that mean?”

“Dunno,” Freki pouted as he picked up the cards in front of him. “But I guess this means that our card game is over with… Say, Tracer, you mind going on ahead to check it out?”

“Huh?” Tracer yelped. “Why me?!”

“Cause you’re closest to the path,” Freki answered. “So that’s that.”

“What?!” Tracer retorted. “How does that make any sense?!”

“We can’t leave until Freya comes out,” Geri pointed out, pushing himself off of the ground. “So you might as well go on ahead of us. The others are probably there by the time you get there.”

“Oh, uh, I guess that makes sense,” Tracer muttered before he stood up and began to walk away. “I guess I’ll see you there…”

“Hey thanks, dood!” Freki laughed as he waved towards the pony.

However, as Tracer was walking away, he couldn’t help but overhear something – Many of the other races didn’t know that ponies had some rather good hearing…

“I’m sure he’ll be alright, right?”

“Meh, if not, then any traps will be set off.”

‘I can’t tell if they’re friendly or jerks… Maybe neither.’

TTT – TTT

“Hello? Anypony here?”

Tracer walked through the gates into the Main Court, but there was no one there. Not even Cheshire was in the fountain area, Tracer was the only soul in the area.

However, there was something different about the Main Court – strewn all about the floor were several manila envelopes that had writing on them. Tracer went to one of the envelopes, and realized that the writing spelled out names, and one of them had his name on it.

The young stallion pulled the envelope up from the ground and looked around. Was he supposed to open the envelope? No one else was around to confirm or deny him that, so with his curiosity burning deep within, Tracer opened the envelope that had his name written on it.

Inside, were two large sheets of paper, and Tracer pulled the first one out, and he realized that it was actually a photograph. Unconsciously, Tracer gasped when he saw the photo and instantly recognized the picture.

It was a scene that he had beheld countless times, Tartarus, most of the time he was part of the scenery too. The old rusty swing set nestled deep within Manehatten’s Central Park brought a smile to the earth stallion’s face, but that smile grew when he immediately recognized the two unicorn fillies who were playing on the swings: one was a blue unicorn with a black mane and an orange scarf around her neck while the other was a red filly with a black mane with a pair of large rimmed glasses. Neither fillies had their cutie marks.

‘Mana and Prism,’ Tracer thought to himself, his gaze on the picture.

However, that small joy faded away when warning sirens blared off in the stallion’s head – While this picture was nothing more than an innocent photograph of his two little sisters, the meaning of the packaging was what haunted Tracer’s mind.

‘Why does Cheshire have this?’

It was then that Tracer remembered that there was a second photo in the envelope. Carefully pocketing the photo into his checkered vest, Tracer then reached into the envelope to pull out the other photograph…

And when he brought it to his sight, his eyes widened.

The same scene that Tracer had been a part of countless times – Gone.

This photo left him speechless. Gone were the two fillies on the swings, in their place, nothing more than a bloodstained orange scarf and a pair of broken glasses. The swings ripped from the twisted metal with the grass nearby stained with fresh blood.

Tracer fell back from the sight of it – The photo… It was taken at the same angle as the first photo, almost as if the picture was taken from a tripod that was set up in advance.

Fear.

Anger.

Paranoia.

All of those emotions began to flood into the stallion’s mind, as he took the photo once more in his hooves. Tracer’s breathing soon became labored and his vision began to blur as a certain thought began to crawl its way up from the back of his mind.

“… I need to get out of here.”

It was completely natural.

“I NEED TO GET OUT, RIGHT NOW! I NEED TO SEE IF EVERYONE’S OKAY!!”

Tracer yelled out before he slammed his hoof into the ground.

“Whoa… You okay there?”

Tracer turned his head back to see that everyone else had arrived to the Main Court and had seen Tracer within the last few seconds. The Earth stallion trembled with tears slowly appearing in the corner of his eyes, that just made the group watch him with perplexity.

“Did… Did something happen?” Zure asked.

“Yeah, it’s like you went through a marathon of my novels, Tracey,” Lore muttered, this time a little nervous and her joy was dampened.

Tracer opened his mouth, but no words came out. Whether it was because he was shaken up or because he couldn’t get the right words, Tracer didn’t know. But the stallion gestured with his head towards the fourteen other envelopes, unable to speak.

“Is this what that blasted bakeneko wanted us to come here for?” Kopuz questioned as he stepped forward and lifted up the envelope with his name.

Slowly, the rest of the group gathered their own envelopes, and Tracer watched as they pulled their own photos out of the envelopes. At first their faces were in shock and it didn’t take long for the color to drain from their faces at the second photographs.

“What the fuck?!”

“This… This can’t be real!”

“Sacre’bleu!!”

It wasn’t hard for Tracer to connect the dots that their photos were similar to his – Perhaps a loved one or family member was on them. None of them were trying to hide their fear or anger on this matter…

But Tracer couldn’t help but notice that there was one who seemed to be an island of calm in a sea of discord…

“… So, he’s throwing kindling on our desire to escape,” Crowquill muttered before he slipped both photographs back into the envelope.

Tracer wasn’t the only one to notice how calm Crowquill was, as evident when Hawkward walked up to the white pegasus. “Indeed, it seems like was a trap – just not one in the traditional sense.”

Hawkward then turned his attention towards the rest of the group, “It’s obvious that so long as we’re here, we won’t be able to tell if the photos are real or false.”

“What are you saying?” Godfrey yelped as he clenched his talons tightly at the red pony. “These are obviously faked! There’s no way I’ll believe this sort of trash!”

“Yeah, I mean, c’mon,” Misch chuckled sheepishly. “There’s no way this could happen – I mean, It’s only been two days! And I’m pretty sure that most of you live in your respectable countries right? So there’s no way that this could happen in that short amount of time!”

“Upupupupupu… Are you so sure?”

Everyone turned towards the top of the hedges, seeing Cheshire seated atop of them, his hat next to him and in his paws a grilled fish that he brought to his mouth. “I bet you’re all dying to know, aren’t you? Whether your friends or family are alright – Well, only one really knows for sure.”

“You bastard!” Smokey roared with flames spurting out of the sides of his mouth.

“Now, now, now, what’s with all the anger?” Cheshire chuckled, tossing his fish up and down in his paws. “I thought you’d all be thrilled to see some familiar faces in a crowd of strangers.”

“This is a load of crap!” Smokey barked loudly as he clenched his claws towards the cat. “It’s impossible!”

“Impossible?” Cheshire mused. “They used to say it was impossible for chocolate milk to rain from the skies, or that a unicorn could become an alicorn – Well, both of those turned out to be wrong!”

“It’s strange how you’re comparing the two events as if they’re on equal ground,” Freya muttered under her breath.

“It’s just silly,” Zure countered to Cheshire. “How could we believe that you could have the power and time to pull these things off?!”

“Isn’t that just your own perception of the matter?” Cheshire stated. “That you don’t want to believe that nothing’s happened to your family and loved ones? You can tell yourselves all you want that it’s not true, but at the end of the day – You simply don’t know. They could be alright, or they could be hurt or worse.

“But, have no fear! This sweet, gracious and ever handsome Cheshire is more than willing to tell you all the status of your loved ones! It’s just… That all you have to do is one simple thing.”

“Y… You don’t mean,” Lore gulped, this time visibly shaking.

“Upupu,” Cheshire giggled before he tossed the fish to the ground with a loud smack. “I can tell who’s the genius here!

“Well, you’re exactly right! I want to see a start to the Mutual Killing Festival!”

“Mutual Killing… Festival?” Alchymist murmured as she stepped back.

“If you really wanna know the truth,” Cheshire continued. “Then kill kill kill! Make it a Murder Festival that’ll go down in history!”

“Give me a break!” Hawkward called out. “Do you really think anyone here is going to kill just because you showed us a bunch of fake pictures?!”

“Yeah! I don’t buy this for one second!” Zure roared back.

“Well, maybe you don’t,” Cheshire answered back nonchalantly. “But, can you be certain there isn’t someone among you who does?”

“W-What?” Zure questioned.

“You’ve known each other for… Oh, say about the better part of two days,” Cheshire pointed out with his paws to his mouth. “Can you all really claim to be such good friends that you can say that no one would kill to see if their loved ones are actually okay?

“Nope! Nadda! Zilch percent chance of you knowing that! You know nothing of each other – would any of you even realize if someone was scheming murder? I’d put my bits on ‘nope’!”

There was that odd silence again.

Tracer would’ve said something, anything to retort, but Cheshire did have a point. Everyone here seemed to barely know each other – There was no way to refute his claims on that, after all, nobody here was a mind reader (well, Kopuz might’ve been, or at least claimed to be).

So they all just stood there, in silence.

“So, as I have said… If you want to survive here in Wonderland – Take the initiative and kill before you’re killed! And if not for you, then do it to see if your families are alive and kicking! Upupupupupu!”

And just like that, Cheshire popped into a cloud of smoke to disappear from sight. Even though his laughter had faded away, everyone continued standing in the Main Court in silence for a while.

These circumstances, this situation, this event, this discord, this nightmare, this Tartarus, this despair…

It was slowly but surely consuming us…

“Hey… This isn’t real, right?”

That was when the silence was broken and everyone turned to see Lore seated on the ground with her ears drooped and gaze locked onto the cobblestone floor. “This is just a nightmare, right? Just something that happens when I sleep that I can use to get inspiration for my writing… R-Right?”

No one spoke a word to the young horror novelist, whether it was because they didn’t want to answer her, or that they wanted to think this was just a nightmare as well.

“This is reality,” Crowquill stated bluntly.

Those weighed heavily down on everyone.

“And that’s exactly why we need to keep our heads cleared,” Crowquill continued. “I won’t say it’ll be easy, but we need to keep our minds sound and not let the fear that Cheshire tried to instill within us taint our judgement. If we curl up in fear, we won’t accomplish anything.”

Tracer’s eyes widened when he heard that last line. With an audible gulp, Tracer mustered everything he could and spoke out, “If we want to succeed, we need to have courage and step up front.”

Now it was Crowquill’s turn to take note of Tracer, however, that only lasted a few seconds before he turned to the side. “In any case, what are you all going to do? Are you going to let the stuffed cat dictate what to do?”

“No fricken’ way!” Smokey snarled before he slammed his claws together.

“The only thing I tell me what to do is the stars themselves,” Kopuz added with a nod.

“I still don’t believe a word that unrefined feline is sputtering,” Godfrey stated with his chest puffed out.

Soon after, more words of encouragement began to flood the Main Court, words of confidence that we wouldn’t kill each other. Even the gloom that floated around Lore melted away with those words, and a smile appeared on her face.

At the time, we had those strong words to bind us together. And that was enough to hold back the despair for now. But we had no idea how bad it would get…

And it would happen sooner than we originally thought.

TBC

Author's Note:

But for how long?

Comments

[MarkTheWolfpony]

Motive set and now the next chapter someone is gonna die. Who will go first I have to wait but it will be awesome

[touileasaso]

Only a matter of time...only a matter of time...

[the one guy on the left]

This is terrible, how could he do his?(Ten bits says the shorty goes first!)