Chapter 1: Despair Begins Again - Daily Life part 1
After Twilight and Redheart left the dining room, things quickly went quiet. The only sound that I could hear was that of Fluttershy, who I was currently comforting, crying in a corner of the room. Monokuma had shown no hesitation in revealing how much control he currently had over us, and I didn’t know if anypony was already thinking of the unthinkable. The only pony I could feel like I could trust is Rainbow Dash, and even that seemed a bit of a stretch. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, which left me unable to know what the pegasus was thinkable.
When the fog cleared from the floor of the room we had found a collection of books, all with our names on it. Inside was a list of everypony present in the castle, showing their talent, height, weight, and so on. It also included an evidence list which was blance, probably to be used for when a murder actually occurred. After that was probably the most interesting, and at the same time most important, part of this book. This was the ‘party rules’, though why it had the word party before it baffled me.
“Each guest will be staying at this castle for the rest of their foreseeable future,” A.K. had volunteered to read it outloud for those like Fluttershy who didn’t have it open. “In order to graduate you must commit a murder and become blackened. Once three ponies besides the murderer have found the body, you will have a set amount of time before the trial begins. If you manage to directly identify the blackened, they are the only ones to be executed. If you choose wrong, than the blackened goes free and the rest of you are executed. This will continue until only two remain, and they will graduate without need of murder.”
“We already know most of this from what he told us,” Octavia told A.K. “You don’t have to remind us of our horrible situation.”
“I was just making sure it got through the more thick skulled individuals here,” I saw the Ultimate Author glare at Rarity as she said that, though the Ultimate Dressmaker was too busy reading the rules herself to notice. “Anyways, the outside area and dining room is locked during nighttime, which begins at 10:00 pm. Guest are allowed to share rooms, though it does have a chance of putting you in more danger,” I found it weird that Monokuma, who seemed to revel in the idea of our deaths, give us advice on how to survive. “Morning starts at 8:00 am. Any physical threats to Monokuma or vandalization of the castle is strictly prohibited,” She closed the book as she finished speaking. “That’s all the rules, though it says he can add rules at any time he desires.”
“H-he’s crazy,” Flash was the first to speak up, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one thinking that. “How could anything find pain or death humorous? That… doesn’t feel correct.”
“Flash, Monokuma is a machine,” Doctor Hooves told the Ultimate Guard, “It’s more than likely that his love of pain and death is a design choice by whoever designed him, which makes it even more despicable. To think that somepony has a mind like this and doesn’t need to worry about Celestia interfering.”
“Wait, why didn’t Celestia interfere in the first place?” Bon Bon’s question, while it did catch me off guard, made a lot of sense. “You would think that, with her own student being here, Celestia would have taken immediate action in hunting us down.”
“Trixie believes that answer is simple,” The Ultimate Showpony responded with confidence. “Clearly the wonderful Celestia doesn’t know this place exist, as whoever wants to keep us here doesn’t want outside interference. We are very likely miles upon miles away from civilization where no pony would easily be able to find us.”
No matter what I might think of Trixie as a pony, seeming so lost in her own world to think she’s the only thing that matters, I had to admit she seemed to understand what was going on. The idea of us being trapped so far from civilization to the point nopony would find us without being told seemed likely. Not to mention that Monokuma, seeming as prepared as he was, had probably already thought of that when foalnapping us. If that was the case, than we really had no idea what we would do once we got out there, or how far the nearest town or city even was.
“M-my animals… m-my home,” My attention was drawn back to Fluttershy who was still curled up like a ball on the floor. Seeing her in this state made me feel horrible, having told that we could have easily left whenever we wanted. “Wh-who will take care of them? Z-zephyr is of at college, and my parents probably don’t even know I’m m-m-missing.”
“Hey sugarcube,” Applejack whispered to me, and I turned to see she also had a look of great concern on her face. “Ah think it might be a good idea to get Fluttershy out of here and give her some rest. The gal looks mighty scared if you asked me, and from what Pinkie told me that upper level of the entrance has bedrooms for all of us.”
“Good idea,” With that I looked back to Fluttershy, and laid down next to her. “Fluttershy, you want to rest in your room for the time being? You seem like you need it.”
“Oh… um, y-yeah,” Fluttershy replied with a nod, finally standing back up.
As we walked out I realized she avoiding eye contact with everypony else, hiding behind her mane like it was a blanket. It was horrible that Monokuma had to put somepony like her in a mess like this, though I guess that must have been the entire idea in the first place. That bear, being as cruel as he seemed to be, must love the idea of somepony like Fluttershy getting murdered, or possibly committing one too. If I didn’t have a conscious, I would have tried to break that machine into pieces from doing this in the first place. Yet, every time I thought about it my mind went back to Twilight, the mare who had lost the one thing that a Unicorn cares about most: their horn.
It didn’t take us long to get back to the entrance hall and climb the stairs that sided the room. After that I took a look around, and saw sixteen doors lining both sides of the walls. Mine was right next to Flash and Redheart, and Fluttershy was two away from me next to Twilight. She opened the door to her room and then stopped, turning to me and asking if I could stay. As much as I wanted to, I was greatly concerned about Twilight’s wellbeing, and told her that I would come back after checking on the mare. We bid each other farewell and Fluttershy closed the door, and a click from the other side told me she had looked it as well.
After I made my way outside, looking up to see that the sun was starting to set already. To think about everything that had just happened in the span of a day was insane. One minute I was on a delivery run flying across the sky, the next minute I’m stuck in a castle with fifteen other Ultimates and a psychotic bear. That was the thought that occupied my mind as I made my way to the infirmary. Once I finally did I knocked on the door just in case Redheart was currently busy, and I was glad when she opened the door.
“Oh, Ditzy!” The smiling on her face gave me a bit of hope that things had gotten a lot better for Twilight. “I didn’t expect to see you here so soon. Figured you and Rainbow would have been catching up again after all these years.”
“I do plan on that, but I’m more concerned about Twilight right now,” I explained to her, and saw the slightest drop in her smile from that. “I may not know her personally, but I’m worry about who she is reacting to losing her horn. I’ve heard about the mental breakdowns that some unicorns have gone through because of that in the past.”
“Well… I’m sure you already know how her initial reaction was when she looked in the mirror,” Redheart’s smile had completely dropped by this point, and I could see her looking to the now sleeping unicorn that was behind her. “She cried herself to sleep, and though it was cut to the point of eliminating her magic altogether, it will hamper the amount of energy she can exert in a spell.”
“You seem to know a lot about this, did you have similar patients before?” Redheart was the Ultimate Nurse, it wouldn’t have really surprised me if she has seen some stuff that most others in her profession haven’t. Most unicorns don’t actually mention problems with there horns out of fear or pride.
“Yes, a few in fact,” She looked to the floor, and I could see a tear starting to form on her face. “It’s true that I’ve never lost a patient, and that I am the most request nurse in Equestria, but sometimes the sacrifices that have had to be made in order to keep some alive are… I feel worse than death.”
“I… I see,” I didn’t think about it like that. Redheart must have seen a lot worse than this, and I don’t think I wanted to know what the sacrifices she mentioned were. “Well, the important thing is that Twilight is alive right? Monokuma didn’t kill her, and as long as nopony does anything stupid we should be safe… right?”
“Yes, I guess there is that, but I wonder how her mentality is going to deal with this,” She turned back to me, having wiped the tears from her face and forcing a smile. “I guess we should get her back to her room though. We can’t keep Twilight in here over night and it’s starting to get light outside.”
“Oh you won’t have to worry about that,” Looking back down to the end of the infirmary, we saw the sight of Monokuma. I took a few steps back, with Redheart looking ready to defend Twilight’s life. “Puhuhu, I’m not here to kill the poor unicorn. I actually realized that I forgot to add a rule to the party handbook. I sure hope you’ve all looked in it, as it’s very important.”
I tilted my head in confusion before opening the handbook that was given to us earlier. It looked mostly the same as I continued to flip through the pages, until I got to the end of the rules as I saw the new ones that were mysteriously added. When and how Monokuma had managed to do this without me noticing, I had no idea. Nonetheless, I read the new rules that Monokuma had added to the killing game aloud.
“The garden is accessible during nighttime in case of trials, and those who are in the infirmary or barracks when nighttime hits must stay inside for the remainder of the night.”
Bing bong ding dong
The sound of a school bell caught our attention, and me and Redheart watched as a screen dropped down from the ceiling from out of nowhere. So Monokuma had more than just death traps hiding in the wall… I don’t know if that made me more or less concerned about our current situation. Seconds after it dropped we saw Monokuma appear on the screen holding what seemed to be a martini. He took a quick sip of the drink before speaking from us over the monitor.
“Attention everyone, it is now 9:50 pm. Anyone outside should return to the castle at this time if they don’t wish to be executed. Nighty night.”
With that the monitor turned off and retreated back into the ceiling. Redheart told me she was going to stay in the infirmary with Twilight over the night to make sure she’s okay and I left. By the time I had made it back to the main castle 10:00 had rolled around and besides from Flam and Applejack, nopony else seemed to still be up. With that I made my way back to Fluttershy’s room, knocking on the door only to get silence in return.
“Fluttershy, it’s Ditzy!” I said as I knocked again. “You still want to chat with me?”
I got no response in return, and summed it up to her already being asleep. With that I went to my room and opened up the door, being greeted by a rather elegant looking room. The red carpet, blankets on the bed, and curtains looking into the plains outside of the dome. If it wasn’t for the killing game, this would have felt relaxing, but something told me this was the only place I was truly safe. My thoughts went to Fluttershy, who seemed to be scared out of her wits, and Twilight who had probably just felt the worst pain and loss in her life. As I laid down on my bed, I started I realized all I could do was hope everypony was smart enough to not commit murder. Whether or not it actually happened, I was unsure.
------- Chapter 1: Despair Begins Again -------
Bing Bong Ding Dong
“Attention everypony, it is now 8:00 am. The courtyard and dining room are now open. Lets all look forward to another great day in this wonderful killing game!”
Monokuma’s announcement was the last thing I wanted to wake up to, but it was to obnoxiously loud for me to even ignore it. Begrudgingly I got out of my bed, the room already filled with light from the outside window. All I could really hope at the moment is that nopony had been stupid enough to get themselves killed in the time since I fell asleep. It felt like that was the only thing had been on my mind since I fell asleep, and I had even dreamed of those around me getting murdered. The difference, however, was that this is no dream or nightmare.
A sudden knock on my door caught my attention, and without think I made my way over. I almost opened the door before realizing that it would have been a horrible mistake. I didn’t want to think anypony would murder me, but the very thought of it made me cautious. When another knock came from the door I felt the urge to just turn away and act like I was still asleep. That was when I realized who it was that was actually calling through the door.
“Miss Ditzy, this is Flash,” The Ultimate Guard said from the other side of the door, and I felt a little more relax from his gentle tone. “Are you awake? I’ve been commanded by Applejack to get everypony up and send them to the dining room. Please respond if you are hearing this.”
“Oh sorry Flash,” I trusted a member of the royal guard for a few reasons, but the main one was the fact that I believed nopony close to Celestia would be willing to kill an innocent. I opened the door, seeing that he was already armored up, but lacked any sort of visible weapon I could see. “I’ll head down, and sorry for not answering straight away.”
“You have no reason to apologize for such things,” He told me, standing at attention. “I’m sure you are just as worried as most ponies are, and it was smart not to immediately open the door. Nonetheless, you should head immediately to the dining room if you don’t want ponies to start worrying about you.”
I nodded my head and went onto the next door to get the others up. With a destination I made my way to the dining room, not wishing to make anypony think I had been killed. As I arrived I was surprised to see the most ponies were already there with the exception of Redheart, Twilight, Flash, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Everypony seemed to be talking amongst themselves, and once Flash arrived with Rarity and Fluttershy I could see the concern shaping on Applejack’s face.
“Where is Twi and Redheart?” She asked, looking around to make sure she hadn’t missed anypony. “Didn’t you knock on their doors like ah said?”
“There was no response, and the rooms were empty when I arrived,” He said, and it was at this point I realized I was the only pony who actually knew where they were last night. “I decided to open the doors to their room, and it doesn’t look like they even slept inside.”
“Actually, Redheart stayed with Twilight in the infirmary last night,” I explained, gaining everyone's attention. “Redheart was concerned about Twilight, having lost her horn and all, and Monokuma changed the rules so that the infirmary was open during the nighttime. I think it’s safe to say-”
“Morning everyone!” I turned around as I heard the door close seeing a rather high spirited Redheart enter the room. Behind her was Twilight, who seemed to be doing her best to hide her horn from view of everypony. “Sorry if we made anypony worried. I don’t know how many ponies were aware of the rule update.”
“Well that explains what happened to the handbook last night,” A.K. said, a smile adorning her face as she looked to Ultimate Magic Researcher. “It’s good to see you up Twilight, especially after what happened yesterday.”
“Oh, um… yeah,” The fear in Twilight’s voice as she spoke wasn’t at all hidden, and worried glances at the ponies around the room seemed to only further emphasizes her fear. “It’s… still hitting me a bit hard, having my magic cut so significantly. At least nopony got killed though… right?”
“Come on Twilight, I don’t think anypony here would be willing to kill each other!” Pinkie said, her cheerful spirit not seeming to have been wreaked by yesterday’s events. “In fact, I say we should all through a huge party to show how much we care for you!”
“I hate to rain on your parade Pinkie, but I don’t think a party is going to help out Twilight,” Octavia spoke up, looking at the Ultimate Party Planner with a raised brow. “Wait, aren’t you making breakfast with Bon Bon right now?”
“But parties help any situation! Oh, and yes I am making breakfast. I just wanted to take part to make sure the audience knew I was here. Don’t want to be the one character who everypony forgets,” I was going to ask what she meant by audience, but my question left my head as I saw her do something… strange. Almost as if somepony had hit the rewind button on a VHS, she started talking backwards, followed by the door opening to the kitchen opening as she back into it.
The silent that struck the room was only broken by Doctor Hooves stuttering over the word ‘what’ like a scratched record. I’m sure that, as the Ultimate Scientist, he was going through all the different reasons why that was impossible for an earth pony. However, despite my brain itching to figure out why she could do something like that, I had the strange feeling this was normal. I didn’t really know if I should be acting with more or less surprise at what I just saw, but in the end hit the neutral ground which showed with a slightly opened jaw.
“Oookaaay then,” Rarity said after several seconds. “Lets just leave that be and… get back to whatever this meeting was meant for.”
“Oh, right,” Applejack said quickly, clearing her throat and fixing her hat slightly. “Honestly, ah wasn’t the pony who actually called this meaning. I woke up before the morning announcement and had a chat with Flam who apparently had something he wanted to bring up.”
“And I would like to thank Miss Applejack for trusting me,” The Ultimate Con Artist said as he and Applejack traded places. “Anyways, I feel that, as Monokuma mentioned it yesterday, we should talk about why we might all be here. I could understand somepony such as myself ending up somewhere like this, but what about the rest of you?”
Even though I really wanted to hate Flam for what he is, I was once again surprised at who correct he must have been. Monokuma had to have a motive himself, or if what Doctor Hooves said yesterday than the one controlling him must. I don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve this, but as far as I knew this could just be another result of my bad luck. The effect of my bad luck did very from day to day, and it was possible that yesterday was just the worst case of bad luck I’ve ever had.
“I don’t think a machine would have any personal vendetta against us,” A.K. argued, walking into the middle to speak face to face with Flam. “And, judging by the very nature of this machine, I can tell that whoever made it has a twisted, and sadistic idea of life. Something tells me the only reason we are here is to be comedy and entertainment to a mentally unstable individual. Of course, that’s just my point of view on the subject. Every mind has a different view of things, and it’s entirely possible that I could be wrong about that.”
“Than how do you explain it’s attitude towards Twilight when compared to its attitude towards you?” Flam suggested, though I had no idea exactly where he was going with this. “Monokuma seemed to praise you for being able to figure out that there was more to his game than simple murder, but he was much shorter temper when it came to Twilight.”
“Didn’t Twilight openly speak out against him?” Rainbow reminded the earth pony, cross her front hooves as she stood in the air. “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he was just asserting his position and showing how much control he has.”
It was at this point I turned to Twilight, seeing her holding her eyes closed almost ready to cry. It took me a second to fully register what we were doing, and how insensitive we were being. We were all talking about her, and more importantly an event that was not only fresh in her memory, but a hard one as well. Compared to the pony I saw yesterday coming out of the garden, she seemed entirely different, and most likely incredibly insecure. I had to step in and stop this before things got worse, and I didn’t want to see her cry again.
“All of you, stop this subject now!” I shouted out, not even thinking of what I was even saying. I managed to get the attention of everypony in the dining room, and as I found out Bon Bon and Pinkie too. “Look I get it, we don’t know why we are here or what we did to deserve coming here, but that doesn’t matter at the moment. Twilight is already hurting enough as it is, and we should be trying to comfort her instead of using her as subject of discussion.”
“Ditzy’s right,” Redheart walked forward, taking my side. “Imagine of you pegasi lost your wings, or us earth ponies lost our strength. Loss of one of those is like a unicorn losing their horn, and talking about her like she did something wrong is not what her mind needs right now.”
I could see almost everypony instantly recognize this mistake, and looked down at the floor in shame. Rainbow Dash slowly lowered herself to the floor, seeming visibly embarrassed by what she had done. With that she walked up to Twilight, doing her best to keep eye contact, and sighed.
“I’m sorry Twi, that wasn’t right of me,” She said her head hanging low. “I don’t know what it’s like to lose something so important to me, but it was wrong to talk about you like… like you had done something wrong.”
“Honestly, Trixie applauds your efforts, even if they did prove futile,” Trixie praised, something I was generally surprised to see from somepony like her. “Most ponies wouldn’t have been so forward, and we shouldn’t be talking about you like a criminal.”
“Um… thanks,” Twilight said, seeming to loosen up and stepping slightly out of her shadow, or at least till someone else arrived in the dining room.
“To bad you had to waste such a valuable tool though, it would have been an easy murder if you had been a little less aggressive,” We all turned to see Monokuma on the table, or in Doctor Hooves case just stared in complete wonder on how our captor got their to begin with. I’ve decided that it was best to just not think about it, having already seen it happen twice now. “Of course, the pity train is running pretty high right now, so I don’t think you are in any danger.”
“What do you want with us Monokuma?” Flash Sentry asked, and though his words showed action, he was not in any position to even try. “Come to laugh at us I suppose.”
“Nah, I’m actually here for the pancakes,” Um… you do realize you're a machine Monokuma, right? “Surprised? I actually have a secret stash of honey in every part of the castle, and I decided this would be the perfect time to try it on something other than bagels. Oh, I’ll have the food situation fixed by tomorrow and add some despair donuts to go with those hope bagels in the kitchen. Doesn’t that sound like a much better selection”
“But I want muffins.” I mumbled, not wishing to be reminded of the absents of my precious pastries.
“I also realized something else last night, and that’s that I’m going to have to change my way of thinking when it comes to you ponies,” Monokuma continued, having not even heard a bit about what I had said. “You ponies all believe in harmony and friendship, so I realized if I’m going to see you all in despair I have to destroy that feeling between you all. In that case, I’ve prepared something to get you all to kill each other.”
“B-but I don’t want to kill a-anypony.” Whether Fluttershy had completely missed what Monokuma had just said was up in the air, though I was thinking the same thing she was.
“Really? Even after you see these?”
Out of nowhere, Monokuma let loose just over a dozen small pieces of paper, all wrapped in an envelope. They land on the ground, each one seeming to carry a name, or our name to be more exact. I picked it up, but before I could start opening it my eyes shot up to Applejack, who was shaking her head to me. It was at that moment I realized exactly what these envelopes had in them, and though my brain itched as to what it was, I would fall for them. Looking, I saw that nopony had opened theirs as well.
“Inside those envelopes is a little reminder of why you should all hate each other, and more importantly why you should kill each other!” Monokuma shouted cheerfully, before taking a seat at the end of the table. “Of course we should all eat first, and since I’m the host it would be rather rude to not eat at least one meal with you.”
“I wish you just didn’t talk all together,” Rainbow muttered, before turning to the kitchen as Pinkie carried the largest stack of pancakes I’ve ever seen. If it was just a few pancakes higher, it would’ve probably touched the ceiling. “How the hay did you manage to find enough sugar and flour for that many pancakes?”
“I keep extra bags of flower in my mane, along with scissors, butter knives, sugar, spoons, forks, plates, milk, egg cartons both hard boiled and normal, cacti, balloons, and other important supplies.”
Okay, yeah, I’m not going to even bother questioning Pinkie any longer because it’s going to end up being worse for my health if even try. It was all true, of course, as I watched her pull out butter knives (much to Monokuma’s disapproval), forks, and extra plates. Somehow, and I don’t even know how she did it, Pinkie managed to not only set the table with her hooves holding the large stack of pancakes, but also not drop a single one in the process. I was started to wonder what kinda Ultimate she actually was, because Ultimate Party Planner seemed to be just the tip of the iceberg.
As for breakfast, it was about as awkward as one would expect it to be with Monokuma around. He tried, and I mean really tried to actually talk with us, but most of us were either too busy eating or had too much hate towards him to even want to talk. The pancakes were good, and I finally got a chance to taste what Vermount maple syrup tasted like. Long story short, it was a huge improvement over the fake stuff I usually had (only made worse by my inability to cook anything without burning it, save for muffins). Also, turns out that honey to Monokuma is like alcohol, because halfway through his attempts at communication turned into gibberish nonsense about how wolves are the result of mad experiments and the ‘core value of friendship’.
Once I was done I left the dining hall and returned to my room, placing the envelope down on the table without having looked at it once. What to do from this point I didn’t really know, as there didn’t seem like Monokuma had planned much for entertainment. My thoughts quickly went back to the others we were with, and seeing how the day was still just starting, I knew I couldn’t just go back to sleep. I mean, seriously, who goes to sleep in the middle of the day? Sure, maybe there wasn’t much for entertainment, but I had fifteen other ponies here, and I might as well get to know some of them. Besides, if Monokuma really does get his way, I might not be able to talk to some of them without seeming like a murderer.
With that decision made, I opened the door leading from my bedroom, and looked for somepony to spend my free time with.
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I thought the v stand for 5 or victory
I'd like Ditzy to hang out with... Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.
If i know danganronpa, the character you least expect to die first does just that
That being said i vote dash and twilight
8555787
I friggin called it when they said bagels in the first chapter
8555450
If it's one thing I know it's that there's always that one guy who goes for the double kill.