My Little Danganronpa: Your Motive is Despair!

*Ding dong, bing bong*

"Good morning, everypony! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officialy over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" As polite as the wake-up call tried to be, Monokuma's faux saccharine voice just made it annoying. An airhorn would have been more welcome.

Click Clack woke up, his body and mind resisting every notion of actually getting out of bed. It took him a few minutes, but finally he muttered "Great. Yesterday wasn't a dream... Well, I'm not gonna get any less kidnapped by staying in bed. Besides, I might as well give the readers what they came here for..."

He went out to the cafeteria, where he saw Snowdrop,  Octavia, Sunset, Lyra, Derpy, and Bulk already there eating. Soon after, Rook and Soarin came in, followed by True Heart and Vinyl. Judging from the looks on their faces, none of the latecomers were 'morning' ponies.

Next came Yoyo and Frostbite, the latter wearing the former's jacket and looking extremely satisfied. Yoyo herself had replaced her jacket with a school uniform one from her room's wardrobe. They took their seats next to Sunset and Lyra.

"We looked for you all over! Where the hell were you yesterday?" Sunset whispered to him angrily.

"In Yoyo's bed. Sorry, I only got like half the info you wanted and blabbed everything about your plans to her during pillow talk, but personally I think that overall that afternoon was well spent."

"You two did it all day?" Lyra asked, amazed. "What is this, a fanfic written by  some nerdy virgin with unrealistic expectations?"

"Hey, I'm just waiting 'til marriage!" Click yelled from across the room. "And will everypony stop bashing fanfics already?"

Frostbite shrugged. "Well, we took breaks now and then, plus I've had a lot of experience to build my stamina. Why, are you curious? Yoyo agreed to an open relationship."

"Because Celestia knows one pony isn't enough for me either!" Yoyo agreed.

Lyra blushed. "No, I have a marefriend back home."

"I can't believe you, you little letch!" Sunset seethed at Frostbite while looking around to make sure nopony else was listening.

"Relax, I earned Yoyo's vote for ya," said Frostbite, to which Yoyo nodded in affirmation.

"Just don't do anything to make things boring and I'm A-Okay!" she said.

Sunset looked like she wanted to be angry, but even one switched vote was a lot among sixteen ponies. She sighed and accepted it as a win.

Zihiri walked into the room next next, serving herself and sitting down far from the other students.

Next came Featherweight, looking more than a little angry. "Zihiri! What the hell did you do? I just woke up in a broom closet and found out it's tomorrow! Also, can someone please tell me why my hooves are covered in gumdrop goo and where I got a bottle of bleach and this golden cup?"

"Also, you should probably explain the female underclothes on your head," added Zihiri nonchalantly.

"So that's where those went," noted Yoyo, though she didn't seem to mind.

Featherweight blushed and tore them off, throwing them toward their owner. "Ew..." He took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "Anyway, since we're on the topic of putting this stuff back, where's Button Mash? I feel like I'm supposed to give the bleach to him for some reason."

"Yeah, where is he? I mean, lots of us were late getting here, but it's almost time for that assembly thing," asked Vinyl.

As her friend spoke, a small, dark speck of unease rose up inside Octavia, which soon began to grow very quickly. "I'm going to check on him." She trotted out immediately.

A few moments later, the group heard a scream coming from the dormitories.

Everypony dropped what they were doing and ran towards the sound. However, as they got closer, they began hearing other things... gunshots, explosions, different screams... When they reached the room, they looked inside and realized that all the sounds were coming from a video game system with the volume turned up loud (notably, the controller cords looked a lot like piano wire). Button was sitting dazed in front of the TV screen, dark circles under his eyes as he watched the virtual carnage on his screen. Apparently, he'd been in this room the whole time, and they'd only been able to hear the screams when Octavia opened the door.

Click burst into laughter, perhaps a bit harder than was warranted.

Octavia was inside the room, trying to get Button's attention. It took actually touching and shaking him to get him to glance at her for a moment. "Have you been playing that game all night?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't worry, the scissors are in the lamp," Button said, slurring his speech.

"Did you even hear Monokuma's announcement?"

"He didn't swim with the three brass monkeys..."

"Well, he's clearly fine... er, unharmed, at least," said Soarin.

Suddenly Monokuma popped out of Button's wardrobe, dancing excitedly. "Is he a serial killer yet? Is he? Is he? According to this instructional essay I found by Jack Clopson about creating murderers, Button should be stabbing hookers and stealing chariots by now. That's the whole reason I gave him that game!"

"Jack Clopson didn't write instructional essays, you idiot..." said a facehoofing Featherweight. "He wrote anti new-media propaganda so that parents would force their foals to read books, which, unbeknownst to the public, contained subliminal messages to encourage complacency and blind trust in the increasingly authoritarian government."

Zihiri rolled her eyes. "The sad part is that the Mushroom Powder he inhaled has most certainly worn off by now."

Monokuma rolled onto the floor laughing. "Oh yeah, I knew giving you that spellbook full of Advanced Dark Alchemy was a good idea! That was some funny stuff yesterday! He was wearing panties on his head the whole damn night! Did I leave enough ingredients for you, by the way? I'm not much of a potion guy myself, so I wasn't sure how much you'd need."

"I could use more aconite and rainbow juice, but overall I should be fine for a while, thank you," Zihiri answered politely.

Button spoke up again as if he were still part of the conversation. Or at least, some conversation. "You can't be balsawood if turquoise snickerdoodle elephant."

Monokuma ripped the game's cord out of the wall and brandished his claws threateningly. "Anyway, isn't it about time you ponies got to the gym? Let's go, let's go, move it!" Even Button snapped out of his trance as Monokuma started using the cord as a whip.

When the ponies all arrived at the gym, they saw sixteen desks arranged in the middle of the room, each one with a portable DVD player and headphones sitting on top of it. Meanwhile, another Monokuma was waiting for them on the stage. "Well, it's about time! Do you realize that it's almost 7:56? Another few minutes and I would have had to punish you all!"

"Just shut up and tell us what we're here for," demanded Sunset.

"Two things: first, I would like to inform you all that I have set up a voting booth here." He pointed to the wall on the left side of the room, where there was a wooden voting booth. It was very simple in design: two boards made up the side walls, and the front wall was made of a bigger board to accommodate a mural of several Monokumas dressed up with American symbols of democracy. The back of the booth was simply the wall of the gym, and there was no roof. "It's very simple; inside, there are two buttons, one for Octavia and one for Sunset, since they were the only ones nominated. You may use it any time before the voting period ends. However, for the sake of privacy (and because I half-assed the construction and doubt it'll stand up to a good basketball hit), any playing in the gym is forbidden for the duration of the election. Second, and more importantly, I've realized that I made a terrible mistake when I told you all to kill each other."

"You're letting us go?" Soarin was the first to respond, but the other ponies all had similar ideas.

"What? Of course not! Will you stop barking up that tree already? I meant that when I was setting up the pieces of this game, I left out one of the most important parts! You have weapons, you've all had an opportunity I'm sure, but you don't have any motive, at least not a pressing one. So let me sweeten the deal to really light a fire under your plots! Take note of the desks in front of you. Each one has a name written on it. Find yours, press play, and use the information on it to inspire equicide!"

Reluctantly, the students obeyed. The only one who couldn't immediately follow through was Snowdrop, who just looked at Monokuma like he was a jerk.

"I said find your desk!" Monokuma yelled at her. Soarin rushed to help Snowdrop out, not that she could see the screen anyway.

She was about to put on her headphones, but before she could she was treated to the sounds of her fellow students as they saw their DVDs.

Button Mash- "No! Oh Celestia please, no!"

Sunset Shimmer- "That... That's not real. This is fake. It's fake!"

Vinyl Scratch- "Mom! Dad!"

Rook- "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Zihiri- "Well, that's disconcerting."

The rest of the ponies answered much the same. Derpy couldn't say anything; she just screamed in absolute horror and broke started sobbing. Yoyo gasped loudly and the sound of a shattering screen could be heard after.

"S-Soarin!" Snowdrop called. This was no time for pride. "Soarin, what's on mine?"

She felt him at her side, placing a wing around her. "It... It's nothing, they're just fake videos Monokuma's trying to scare us with." He sounded like he could barely talk, and he seemed to be holding close to her for his own comfort as much for hers.

"Soarin, I'm serious, I need to know!"

Reluctantly, he hit the play button on her player again. "It's a color photo of two ponies... a batpony mare and a pegasus colt. He's kind of gaunt and bedridden, but both are smiling at the camera." Soarin swallowed... this couldn't be good... "Now... I-I can't say it."

She wrapped a hoof around his, tears falling down her cheeks. "I can take it."

"It's another picture, this time black and white. The room they were in is trashed. There's scratches on the walls and dark stains everywhere. Both of the ponies are... missing." He lied about the fact that the thin colt was actually curled up completely under the covers, still there, but hidden aside from a bit of his tail sticking out. The covers had the same dark stains that the walls did. "There's one more screen shift. It's a message that says 'Helping Hoof and Hail Storm: The gentle assistant and her sickly charge. What happened? Where are they? What can you do to save them? All will be revealed upon graduation.'"

Snowdrop pulled Soarin close to her and wept into his neck.

"Well, I think you all have enough motive to get down to some good old murder now, right?" Monokuma asked between bouts of laughter. He stepped to the left just in time to avoid the DVD player Bulk chucked at his head. "Wow, nice one, but you're supposed to go for other students, and try not to be seen, alright?"

"What's wrong with you?" True Heart yelled. "What did you do to our families?"

"Okay, I'll tell you... as soon as you murder somepony! Didn't you watch the video?"

"This doesn't change anything, Monokuma," said Octavia. "We refuse to give in to your threats."

"My, what a brave act! I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we? I'd better get going though. I'll come back once the first murder happens... so I guess in about five minutes. Tootles!" With that, he hopped out of sight.

"Damn it!" Octavia shouted, throwing a desk to the ground. Vinyl put a foreleg around her, rubbing her back until she calmed down. "Sorry, I just... I wasn't ready for that."

"Alright, everypony settle down!" Sunset shouted. "This is not a cause for panic. We already decided that all of us being kidnapped would be hard enough for Monokuma to hide from the authorities. Adding our friends and families to that, it'd be impossible."

"But we also said that he was powerful," Rook said, no longer just depressed but thoroughly distraught. "He is no normal criminal, he is a dark god throwing us about like dolls! Even without his graduation, there's nothing we can do but wait until he tires of us and we are left here to rot in his toy chest forever. Our only hope is what we feared the most! To be saved through murde-"

Sunset slapped him. "Shut up already! Nopony is going to die!"

"I see... No pony... Just me, the griffon..." he slumped to the ground.

She ignored him. "You ponies panicking is exactly what he wants! I happen to know plenty of tricks that could have been used to fake those pictures, and all of them are easily within Monokuma's abilities considering what we know of him. We should all just forget this ever happened!"

Yoyo leaned back in her desk. "Yeah, you're right. I just wish he'd done something more fun with it than what he did. He could have made a photo of Celestia with a moustache and polka dots instead!"

Those who were still scared or crying all stopped and looked to her. Few things can disrupt fear and sadness like the stupidest remark you've ever heard.

"Well, let's hope you're right," said True Heart. "Come on, Ditzy Doo, let's go find something to take our minds of this." The mare in question nodded silently, still crying.

"I'm going back to my room. I need to sleep this off..." Button said, sniffling a bit.

"Me too," said Yoyo, who actually seemed to be over it. "Wanna join me?" she asked Frostbite seductively.

"Alright. I need somepony to snuggle the bad thoughts away," he said, his head hanging low.

Soon, everypony began leaving to find whatever comforts they could cling to. The only two who remained were Sunset and Lyra.

"You don't think he really got to them, do you? If he's telling the truth, then... my whole family..." Lyra could barely hold back tears.

Sunset shook her head."He's faking it. He knows us well enough to have kidnapped us and given us those Ultimate titles, remember? He knows what our families look like." She was speaking to reassure herself more than Lyra, but ironically it probably helped Lyra more. Snips, Snails, and Sunset's parents were all on her motive, once as ponies, and once as humans before the final image of them critically injured in the pony world. Monokuma was really driving home the fact that he could cross through the mirror somehow. Whether or not it was real, that bear was bad news. "Come on. These ponies are going to need a leader now more than ever. Let's give me my first votes."

*** *** ***

Snowdrop trotted to her room. She heard wings behind her the whole way there and knew they belonged  to Soarin, so she wasn't surprised when he spoke.

"Snowdrop, do you wanna talk about it at all?" he asked.

"If you want. I don't know what else to do... come in." She took out her room key and felt around the door a bit. Soarin was about to help her when she got it in the lock herself. She trotted inside and took a seat on the bed. Soarin took the chair.

"So..." Soarin wracked his brain for something to say to her, but all he could think about was the picture of Snowdrop's family, but he didn't want to mention the gruesome second picture. "I... uh... I didn't see your parents in that picture, maybe that means they're fine!"

"My parents died years ago."

Way to cheer her up, idiot, Soarin thought to himself, cringing. "Sorry, that was... not well thought out."

"It's okay. It was a long time ago. My dad was killed  by a mugger when I was five. Mom was hit by a sky chariot on the way to the pet store when she was going to buy me a pet bird."

"Again, I'm so sorry. They must have been really nice though."

"Oh, they were. The main reason my mom was out getting the bird was to cheer me up after my first bird died of cancer."

Tears started forming in Soarin's eyes. "That's terrible... I didn't know birds could get cancer."

"Yeah, you don't hear about it as much as ponies, obviously, but they do. It was the same kind of cancer my brother Hail Storm was diagnosed with a year ago."

Shut up, Soarin! The more you talk the worse her backstory gets! Soarin scolded himself, but he continued anyway. "Oh my gosh... How's he doing now?"

"He was getting better, but now Monokuma..." her eyes filled with tears as she let out a small whine of fear.

Soarin facehoofed so hard he thought he might have bruised himself. He immediately went to her side and wrapped a wing around her. "Snowdrop, I am so sorry, I just... I don't know, I want to help but I keep screwing up..."

She couldn't say anything through her tears, but when she felt his tears fall on her mane, she nuzzled him. It seemed to get the message across.

They stayed there for a little while, crying together as he petted her mane. Finally, Snowdrop found the strength to speak again. "Thank you, Soarin. I know it didn't work the way you thought it would, but you did help me."

"I'm glad I did something right then. The last thing I wanted was to make things worse like that."

"You couldn't have known. "

"I guess. I really do think you're brother and Helping Hoof are going to be safe though. Sunset was completely right when she said those pictures could have been faked."

"I suppose so. What's your family like?"

"Oh, it actually wasn't my family that was on my picture. It was the other Wonderbolts. They're like family though."

"I see. I have been curious about them, ever since you mentioned them when we met."

"Alright. Well for one, there's Spitfire, our captain. It's kinda weird, normally she's one of the most laid back mares you'll ever meet, but then when it's time for practice or training recruits, she turns into the world's biggest hardass. Then there's Surprise. She's really fun to be with, but she doesn't like being in the public eye. Fortunately, our uniforms hide our faces, so she just keeps it on whenever she has to make a Wonderbolt appearance. That way, if she wants to enjoy the civilian life, she just takes it off in secret and nopony can recognize her. Also, there's Fleetfoot, textbook 'hopeless romantic.' When she sets her sights on a guy, she'd move the sun and moon to get his attention. I'm not even exaggerating, the Princesses were pissed."

Soarin sighed as he reminisced. His Motive had shown all of his teammates, yet those three most prominently, lying unconscious next to a brick building, each looking like they'd crashed - or been thrown - against it. Surprise even had a compound fracture in her wing. Somehow even worse than their injuries was the teddy-bear shaped shadow looming over them. Then there was that message: 'You can help these ponies taste the sky again. You graduated from the Wonderbolts Academy, how much harder could Hope's Peak be?'

He shook his head before he could start entertaining such thoughts. "You know, when I think about it, there's no way Monokuma caught the Wonderbolts. Just me? Sure, if I'm like, asleep or something. All of them? Impossible. The way I see it, if my picture was faked, they're all faked."

Snowdrop hugged him, her tears coming much slower now. Thanks for that. I feel so much better when you put it that way. I just... it's so hard to think of Hail Storm in danger. I'd give anything to know he was safe. Anyway, you're right, the motives weren't real, so we should move on to other things. You know, I didn't really get to eat much before Monokuma bothered us. You still hungry?"

"As a horse," he said with a smile.

"Great! Let's go get some more food then."

"All right. Lead the way." He almost chastised himself again for saying that to a blind mare, but when he saw the smile on her face as she started walking and recalled how independent she liked to be. In passing, he noticed that there was a large marble block in the corner of her room, a hammer and sharp chisel on the ground in front of it.

I'd give anything to know he was safe.

The thought passed through his mind for just a moment before he had to repress his laughter at such an impossible thing.

*** *** ***

"Where are you, Mr. Pony Butt? I'm gonna pin your tail on!" Yoyo said as she stumbled about. Much to Frostbite's dismay, Yoyo didn't find 'sad sex' as fun as he did, so she'd left after one try. She'd taken her Pin the Tail on the Pony game out of her room and set it up in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, Frostbite wasn't up for playing, so she was going solo and thus had nopony to set her in the right direction after she spun around. The end result was a dizzy mare walking around trying to stab a giant pin into what she assumed was a wall. Understandably, Vinyl Scratch wasn't quite comfortable when she almost pinned the tail on her lung.

"Hey! Watch it!" Vinyl swatted the pin away, deflecting it into a wall.

"Did I get it? Did I get it?" Yoyo said, pulling off her blindfold. As it turned out, she was nowhere close to the poster she was supposed to stab. In fact, she actually hit the pixelart portrait Button Mash's door, far outside the cafeteria. Even she wasn't sure how she'd gotten out the doors without realizing it.

"No, you didn't get it. You're not supposed to play that game alone, you know. You can take out somepony's eye with that thing."

"Oh, sorry Skippy -that's my name for you, because scratched records skip sometimes- I know I should have had somepony watching, but it looked so fun, I just couldn't wait for somepony else!"

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll play with you. Fair warning though, I never lose. Not even to Pinkie Pie, and she's a master at this."

"Oh really?" Yoyo said, gesturing for Vinyl to follow her. "I've heard all about that ol' Pinkie Pie. Ponies say she's the mother of all party animals... Or at least, ponies that haven't met me say it."

Vinyl paused for a moment in surprise. She was proud of her partying prowess, but even DJ Pon3 had to admit that she was only a close second to the Element of Laughter. "You have no idea how impossible it is to outdo Pinkie. Nopony can match her fun and intensity, 'cept this one Cheese guy I sometimes DJ for."

Yoyo seemed almost indignant. "Well, yeah, sure she's intense, and I love games and dancing as much as the next filly, but Pinkie is just flat out straight-edge! Everypony knows that a party isn't a party until somepony gets drunk, high, or laid, and I've heard time and time again that that stuff doesn't happen with her."

Vinyl grimaced a little. Pinkie was her standard of greatness, now according to this mare she wasn't a real partier? "Well sure, she tries to keep things family friendly, but she's served alcohol before, and even though she'd never intentionally set ponies up for sex, she's never cockblocked anypony either. Just being straight-edge doesn't make her any less of a partier."

"Well, I hate to break your worldview or anything, but fun and inhibitions just don't go together. Fun is cutting loose, ditching your responsibilities, and seizing the day with no regard for tomorrow! I always say that if you remember the party, you might as well have not done it!"

"Well, I guess that's one way to look at it..." Vinyl pretended to see her point. "But I for one have never had more fun than I've had with her."

A smile flashed across Yoyo's face. "Oh, then you are missing out! Soon as we can, we're getting you drunk, and I'm sure Zihiri will give us some of whatever she gave to Featherweight. And even if those two fail, I know a certain pony right here in this school who will take you on the ride of your life."

"Thanks, but I'm not going to do any of that, 'cept maybe a drink or two."

"Fair enough. I'll turn ya sooner or later."

At that time they reached the cafeteria again and began playing. Their encounter that day taught them two very important things: the first was that even if two ponies seek the same goal, they may have dramatically different ways of doing it; the second was that Vinyl was without a doubt the unparalleled master of Pin the Tail on the Pony.

*** *** ***

"Darn!" Bulk said, stomping in annoyance as the Monomono Machine awarded him a long, black trenchcoat that wouldn't have fit a pony half his size. He went and grabbed it, tossing it haphazardly in a pile with his other unneeded winnings. The barbells he was after stood leaning in the corner, gathering dust.

"Wow, you just have the worst luck with this thing. Let me or Zihiri try a few times, maybe one of us will get it for you," Click said, he and the zebra each waiting patiently with their own small collections of Monocoins.

"After you. Just leave that uranium for me," Zihiri said, looking up at a glowing green lump in a thick plastic case on one of the top shelves.

"Alright, but why?" Click asked.

"It's for a potion I'm making. This one's going to be glow in the dark nail polish."

"If you say so..." Click spent his entire collection, winning several new additions to the 'unwanted' pile, a couple of books that he really had wanted, and last of all, the uranium. "Sorry, Bulk, looks like all the luck's going to Zihiri today."

As Click went to grab the uranium with his magic, Bulk stopped him. "Actually, let me get that. If I want my wing strength back, I'll have to work them out every now and then."

"Okay. You sure though?"

"YEAH! It's not that far up, this'll be nothing for me!" Bulk took to the air and slowly but surely made his way up, having to flap like a hummingbird just to keep himself aloft. "YEAH! YEAHYEAHYEAH!!!" he shouted from a mixture of strain and celebration at his meager progress. He was quickly getting winded though, and looked like he could fall at any time. As soon as he grabbed the uranium, that time arrived. He fell to the ground, the sheer force of impact rattling every shelf in the room. This caused a row of DVDs to topple over, the last of which hit a miniature statue of Venus de Marelo, which fell over onto a foam dart gun, setting it off and causing it to shoot down a small crystal chandelier, which fell into a barrel full of magical scrolls, including a Scroll of Magic Missile that activated and shot at a small box of roman candles, which detonated right behind Zihiri, igniting the entire back half of her cloak.

She didn't waste any time once she realized what happened, and immediately stopped, dropped, and rolled. Click Clack grabbed an inactive lava lamp off of a shelf, broke open the top, and tossed it on her, dousing the flames.

Realizing the fire was out, she stopped and got to her hooves again, taking off what was left of her cloak. "Thank you. That was quick thinking."

"Uh, sorry about your cloak," said Bulk, grabbing a beach towel off the shelf and handing it to her to dry herself with.

"It's fine. It's just fabric," she said as she took off what was left of the cloak, stopping briefly to salvage the star brooch from it. Now that they could see her whole body, they couldn't help but notice that she was very odd looking, even for a zebra. Her mane did not stand up straight, instead flowing more like a pony's mane, and rather than simple black and white, her stripes had a red tint to them. Her cutie mark was... actually, she didn't have one anymore. The flames had burned away all of the fur and tail hair, leaving nothing but a bright pink butt.

As Click and Bulk took in the way this bare patch contrasted with her otherwise exotic form, they had to literally bite their tongues to keep from bursting into laughter. Zihiri noticed them of course, and turned even more red when she looked back and saw the damage. She immediately put on the trenchcoat from the 'unwanted' pile, a perfect fit for her, and tucked her brooch and uranium into her saddlebags. Looking back to the two stallions, she bellowed "I swear by each of the Great Old Ones that if either of you so much as chuckle once, Monokuma will be sending me home within the hour."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Click asked, forcing himself to think about dead pets and depressing Disney movie openings to stop himself from giggling.

"It's nothing. I can make a hair growth potion in minutes. Just don't tell anypony about this, and we'll pretend it never happened. Thanks for the uranium." Without another word, she trotted out.

"You think she can still hear if we laugh now?" asked Bulk through clenched teeth.

"I dunno," said Click. "Just don't do it. Try thinking about the opening from Up, where Ellie comes into his life and makes everything perfect and they get married, but then she has the miscarriage, and..." His voice cracks.

"Oh yeah, that would do it for ya," Bulk agreed. "Not to mention the part where he's about to take her to Peru, and then when she's walking up the hill and she falls down..."

"And then she's in the hospital and... and then he had to walk home all alone!" Then he lost control and started sobbing, wrapping his forelegs around Bulk to stop himself from collapsing in sadness. Bulk broke down as well, returning the hug, and the two cried together with a sadness only made possible by the emotionally sadistic writers of Disney and Pixar.

Sh-Shut up! Real men aren't afraid of their emotions! Especially emotions about Up!

They were so wrapped up in their sadness that they failed to notice Featherweight peeking into the room. Now he hadn't heard their conversation, all he knew was that there were two grown stallions who'd been somehow reduced to crying like foals in a room that Zihiri had just walked out of. He immediately took off after her. "Hey! What did you do to them, you monster? Are your misdeeds so foul that even a pony like Bulk Biceps can't handle it? And what's with the cloak and dagger getup, and the glowing thing in your bags? Explain yourself!"

Without even looking back, Zihiri reached into her bag and pulled out a small vial of liquid, uncorked it, and tossed it in his eyes before walking away even faster. "Sorry, that's all I got, no drugs this time."

"Ah! My eyes!" Featherweight collapsed to the ground. "I'm blind! Somepony help me!"

"Relax, it'll wear off in an hour!" she called back.

Once again, Featherweight found himself impaired by one of Zihiri's tricks. As the initial shock wore off, he found that there wasn't even any pain, just blackness. "Okay... if she was telling the truth about it wearing off, then this shouldn't be that big a deal.  I guess I'd better go find Click and Bulk. A little blindness never got in the way in an interview... now which way were they again?"

Carefully, he began feeling his way around, looking for the door to the Monomono Machine room, unaware that he had gone completely in the wrong direction. He searched in vain for any kind of landmark, until his hoof managed to touch something other than wall.

"Huh? What's this?" he wondered aloud. Whatever it was was slender and hairy, and upon further examination he found that it was attached to something warm, furry, and butt-shaped. It took him a full five seconds of feeling around it before he realized what it was. "Oh my gosh I am so sorry!" He immediately let go. "It's just that Zihiri's potion made me-"

"It's all right, I don't mind," replied a familiar voice. "While some ponies might hae overreacted, I know how to take a compliment. Now, where do we go from here?"

"F-Frostbite! Hey, listen, don't read too much in to this! I'm just bli-" He suddenly found it incredibly hard to talk on account of an extra tongue in his mouth. As soon as he realized what was happening, he shoved Frostbite away and took off as fast as he could.

"Oh! Sorry, was that too strong? I know it can be a little intimidating if you're new at this... Well, if you get your nerve back, you know who to call!"

*** *** ***

For most of the students, hearing their motives had been among their most terrifying experiences. However, it was not impossible to cope with it. As the day passed on, more and more students decided that the pictures on the DVDs had been faked. A couple, however, were harder to convince than others.

True Heart hadn't left Ditzy Doo's side all that day. The poor mare had taken the motives harder than anyone, and needed constant reassurance that everything would be all right. The anxiety had only been amplified by the sheer boredom in the school. With the gym closed for the election, the only source of entertainment was talking and baking more muffins. The two remained generally in the kitchen and cafeteria the whole time, until they heard the same chime from the night before.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everypony! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite..."

"I think that bear's voice somehow got even more annoying since last night..." griped True Heart.

"But I think it's a recording..." said Derpy, whose mind had been elsewhere for much of the day. She still sounded rather out of it.

"Well, either way, we should leave before he gets on our case. Come on, we can't stay here."

"Yeah, I guess so. It's hard to believe it's only our second day here, huh?" Derpy asked as they trotted out.

"I'll say. You want me to walk you back to your room? I'll probably stay up for a couple more hours, but you've looked like you've needed to sleep all day."

"Nah, I'm good for now. I'd rather stay up with you, if that's okay."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. I know I've been a bit zoned out today, but it's just because I'm just worried about the motives from this morning."

"Just keep telling yourself everything's gonna be fine. You are Ultimate Hope, remember?"

"That's true I guess. At least Monokuma didn't get him too..."

"What's that?"

"Oh, nothing. There was just someone who was missing from my motive, that's all."

"Really? Who?" True Heart asked. He hadn't wanted to pry about the motives, but he figured thinking about someone who was still safe would be good for her morale.

"Oh, just this stallion I used to travel a lot with." Her voice sounded distant, even dreamy.

"Like an ex-coltfriend or something?"

"Yes. Er, no... It's complicated. Either way I've written off any thoughts of romance toward him after the Whale Incident."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Wait, 'Whale Incident?'"

She blushed. "Actually, come to think of it, that'd be harder to explain than the coltfriend thing. He's forgiven me since then, but I didn't take him up on his offer to go back with him. I loved what we did together, but after spending some time in Ponyville, especially with my family, I realized that that's where I belonged." She looked toward the ground. "It was the one thing worth giving him up for."

True Heart immediately went to comfort her. "Don't worry, you just have to keep telling yourself that you'll see them again."

She nodded. "You're right. There's no way it's all gonna end in this school." She had swung between these moments of resolution and episodes of depression several times throughout the day, but each time she had a high point she sounded more and more sure of herself. This time, thankfully, she was able to stay positive. The two spent a few more hours together talking, and while they were up decided to go to the gym to cast their votes for Octavia. At last, they went to their rooms a little after midnight.

*** *** ***

"I can't believe you're eating that..." Octavia said, watching in awe as Vinyl chowed down on the bowl of unrecognizable 'food' she'd made for lunch. It was about 1:00 PM the day after they received their motives. Thankfully, aside from the morning announcement, nopony had seen even the slightest sign of Monokuma.

"You know, it's actually pretty good," Vinyl said. "It tastes kinda like bananas and cinnamon."

"But you were making a grilled cheese."

"True, it didn't exactly go as planned. Where do you think I went wrong? Did I pick the wrong blender setting or something? Or maybe I put too much baking soda..."

"Possibly." Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Well, anyway, you shouldn't knock it 'til you try it. On a side note, how's the election coming?"

"To be honest, I haven't been doing all that much for it. I've just been getting to know the others better, since it does seem that we'll be staying here for a while. I think they'll be able to make the best decision if they get to see the real me. If we're lucky, they'll judge me as the best leader. Otherwise, what's the worst that could happen under Sunset?"

"She breathes down our necks for the entire time we're here and baby-proofs the whole school," Vinyl stated flatly. "Seriously, I don't want that. How much longer do you have to campaign?"

"The deadline to vote is nighttime today. It wasn't a long race at all."

Vinyl nearly choked on her 'food.' "What? Today? Crap, I need to stop putting it off then!"

"Wait, you haven't voted yet and I'm the one who's not taking it seriously enough?"

"Yes, two very big problems that both need fixing right now! I'll go vote, you start handing out flyers and 'Vote for Octi' buttons. I'll be right back." Vinyl stood up and trotted away to the gym.

"We didn't make any of those!" Octavia called after her, but she was already out of earshot. "Oh well. Most ponies have probably voted already anyway."

She noticed that she was now alone in the cafeteria, and Vinyl hadn't finished her 'food.' It couldn't be that bad, could it?

Cautiously, she tried just a little bit of it, only to start gagging. She would later claim that it tasted something like watermelon and shoe polish.

*** *** ***

Vinyl hoped for the best as she made her way to the gym. Sure, Octavia wasn't treating the election with the significance it deserved, but she was a smart mare and the other students probably saw that. After all, even if Sunset won, she might not be as bad as Vinyl thought. She'd been thinking of the worst case scenario before, but what were the odds of that actually happening?

As she began thinking about more realistic outcomes, she reached the gym. Once inside, what she saw was so surreal that it took her a moment to realize something was wrong.

Click Clack was lying on his side in front of the voting booth, his body haloed with a pool of blood.

"Wh-what the hell?" Her voice shook. "There's no way..."

She ran up to him, thoughts racing. This is probably just a bad joke. He poured some paint on the ground and laid in it for a prank. That's all.

When she reached him, it was all too clear that what she saw was no prank. The source of the blood was a wound on the top-right of his skull, which appeared to have been actually knocked concave.

Her body and mind both went numb, and for a moment it seemed as if she wasn't going to react at all. Then the full weight of the situation set in, and all her pent up fear released itself in a primal scream as she ran from the gym in tears.