Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Ponies

Chapters

Prologue: Welcome To Despair!
Chapter 1: To Survive (Daily Life) Part 1

Prologue: Welcome To Despair!

Hope's Peak Academy, the school for only the most gifted ponies and creatures in all of Equestria. To enroll, one must be top in their field of expertise and also must be a high school student. The students do not apply for the school but instead the school invites them.

If they graduate from the school, they are almost certainly guaranteed for a successful life ahead. Students who attend the school are given the title “Ultimate”. And yet somehow...I managed to get in.

I guess before I continue, I should probably introduce myself.

"My name is Lucky Clover and I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student."

Lucky Clover
}The Ultimate Lucky Student{
Species: Earth Pony
Coat Color: Grey
Mane and Tail Color: Black
Cutie Mark: Four Leaf Clover

I'm a pretty average stallion to be honest. I don't really have any outstanding interests or talents, I'm just...well average. The only reason I managed to get into this school was because I had won the yearly raffle the school held. Apparently that made me the "Ultimate Lucky Student"

I mean I know I'm pretty lucky, don't get me wrong. Heck, my cutie mark is a four leaf clover for crying out loud! But that still doesn't change the fact that luck really isn't much of a talent, more of a personality trait to be honest. So I was understandably nervous about entering this school.

So that's why I decided to look up some of my fellow students on the internet the day before. I managed to get some pretty detailed info on a lot of them, nothing personal, just common knowledge. They all seemed to be way above me on the social scale, but I was hopeful that I could make a few friends while I was here.

With a deep sigh I walked through Hope's Peaks gates and entered the entrance hall, but when I did...

"Wha-what the!?"

As soon as I entered the school, my vision began to contort and twist. It was almost like the whole world was being deconstructed in front of me. My world began to spin around and around. Soon it became too much for me and my world went dark...

"Ugh..."

I don't no how long I was out, but by the time I regained my senses I was in some classroom. I had no idea how I got there, all I remember was walking into the school and then my world twisting.

I looked around the classroom I was in. The first thing I noticed was that there were metal panels along the walls of the classroom. I tried to unscrew them, but nothing I did made it budge.

Maybe if I was a unicorn I could try to magic them off, but since I'm not that's a no go.

I also noticed a weird security camera in the room as well as a strange looking monitor hanging from the wall.

That's weird, why would they put a security camera in here? Is it here so the school makes sure we follow the rules or something? And what's with that monitor? Well the school is funded by the royal princess so I guess it makes sense for their to be a monitor in here. But something about it feels off...I don't know why through.

After that I decided to leave the classroom to see if I could find someone who could explain what exactly was going on. Before I left I checked the wall clock to see what time was.

Huh...it's already 8 o'clock. It was just after 7 when I got here. Can't believe it's already been an hour since then, feels longer for some reason.

After confirming the time I left the classroom and entered the hallway. The hallway I entered was pretty dark with an ominous purple hue all around the halls. Steeling my nerves I decided to head towards where I thought the main entrance was. I was hoping that my fellow classmates would be there, hopefully with some answers.

After passing by a strange huge red door, a video room, a locked off nurse's office, and school shop I went through the only open door in the hall. When I walked through...

"Hey, another new pony!"

I sighed in relief at seeing a few students in the entrance hall before I said,

"So that means you're all..."

A perky looking pink earth pony nodded her head rapidly before saying,

"Yep yep yep! We're all students starting our first day at Hope's Peak Academy too!!! Oh this is just soooooo exciting!"

Another pony, a purple unicorn wearing glasses, ignored the pink pony's outburst and said,

"With you that makes sixteen of us. Nice even number, you must be the last one."

I just gave her a confused stare, to which she just sighed before clarifying,

"By that I mean you're probably the last student. Classes here usually only have a total of sixteen students. So you being the sixteenth student to arrive must mean you're the last student here."

Her theorizing seemed sound as I took in this information. I looked out at the other 15 students, all spaced around the room before I stuttered out,

"O-oh...I see. Thank you for the information."

The purple pony just rolled her eyes before muttering something I couldn't hear as she walked away.

Did...did I say something wrong? She looked really annoyed for some reason.

After that and a few more minutes of awkward silence I decided to break the ice.

"Um...how's it going? My name's Lucky Clover, what's your guys's names?"

My question was responded with even more awkward silence. Chuckling nervously I thought,

Stupid! Clearly asking for names during a suspicious situation is the wrong thing to ask! ...Wait a minute that doesn't make any sens-

My thoughts were interrupted by a high pitched squeal coming from the pink pony. Said pony began bouncing up and down in an excited matter before stopping...in mid air!?!

What!? How is that even possible!?

My thoughts were amplified as somepony shouted out,

"What the?! Tell me you guys see the pink earth pony floating in mid-air?!"

Before anypony could answer her question the pink pony started giggling...while floating down. She soon stopped giggling, and floating, and responded,

"Well silly, I can float because it's a hilarious tension breaker!"

My confusion only sky rocketed at this declaration, as did the others in the room. Well...most of the others, somepony was laughing really hard at all this. Before I could even blink the pink pony was suddenly right in front of me! I jumped back in fright and let out an 'eep' of surprise. The pink pony just giggled at this before saying,

"Anyway, time for my totally cool intro! The names Pinkie D. Pie, and no I am not a pirate!"

Pinkie Pie
}The Ultimate Partier{
Species: Earth Pony
Coat Color: Pink
Mane and Tail Color: Also pink, but a darker hue
Cutie Mark: Three balloons in a triangle formation.

As Pinkie started to bounce off to some other pony to introduce herself to, I finally managed to calm down enough to remember where I had heard of her before. Pinkie Pie was famous all over Equestria for her out-of-control parties as well as her...bizarre behavior. Apparently she once threw a party for Princess Celestia that got so out of control that they had to close off Canterlot for a whole week just to calm everypony down.

Well I guess she isn't called the Ultimate Partier for nothing

"Well I guess that pink pony has the right idea, besides I bet you're all dying to be introduced to me!"

The sheer amount of arrogance in her voice was almost overwhelming! I turned to the source of the voice to see a light blue pegasus with the strangest hair color I've ever seen fly up into the middle of the room and say,

"The name's Rainbow Dash, and I'm the fastest flier in all of Equestria!"

Rainbow Dash
}The Ultimate Flier{
Species: Pegasus
Coat Color: Light Blue
Mane and Tail Color: Rainbow
Cutie Mark: Cloud with Rainbow Lighting Bolt

While Rainbow was basking in her glory I thought back to what I read about her. Apparently she holds every flying record and has the fastest speed for getting from Canterlot to the other side of the world and back. There were rumors that she was going to be picked for the next spot on the Wonderbolts.

"Now now everypony, no need to clap all at once, there's enough of my awesomeness to go around!"

Oh yeah, and she was infamously known for her huge ego and arrogance. There were even rumors going around that she would do anything, even cheat, to win a race.

"Well don't you just like tooting your own horn? Hasn't anypony ever told you that arrogance is an ugly color for a lady?"

Rainbow gained an annoyed look before she started to look around,

"Okay, who said that! You got a problem with me or something!?"

At Rainbow's question a stunningly beautiful unicorn mare stepped forward and said,

"That would be me darling."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she flew done to the unicorn,

"Oh really? And who are you to be judging my awesomeness?"

The unicorn scoffed before saying,

"Arrogance is anything but 'awesome' darling. But if you must know my name then I will tell you. My name is Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique.

Rarity
}The Ultimate Designer{
Species: Unicorn
Coat Color: White
Mane and Tail Color: Moderate Indigo
Cutie Mark: Three Rectangle Shaped Diamonds

As Rarity and Rainbow Dash continued to bicker I thought on what I knew of Rarity. She was gifted even as a filly with an incredible sense of fashion and design. She also had a natural gift when it came to sewing and had designed and sewn countless dresses and suits that had sold for thousands! The princess even asked her to personally design and make her gala dress last year.

After my little info dump, I turned my attention back to Rarity and Rainbow Dash...only to see that they were still bickering. I couldn't help but sigh and think,

You'd think considering the situation we're in they wouldn't be arguing so much.

Before I could continue my thought I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking behind me I saw an orange earth pony wearing a Stetson giving me smile,

"It looks like those two will be at it for awhile, so ah figured I should keep the introductions going," she stuck out her hoof as she continued, "The name's Applejack, current owner and worker of Sweet Apple Acres. Home of the best darn apples in all of Equestria!"

Applejack
}The Ultimate Farmer{
Species: Earth Pony
Coat Color: Orange
Mane and Tail Color: Blonde
Cutie Mark: Three Apples

I had actually heard of Applejack before Hope's Peak. She had entered an apple bucking competition a few years ago near my town. I was sick the day it happened, but from what I heard she managed to buck 500 apple trees in under five minutes! She's also known for being able to grow any crop with no problems at all, as well as being the most honest pony in all of Equestria. She also once said in a interview that the key to a healthy life is honesty and hard work.

Smiling as I grabbed her hoof in my own I started to say,

"Nice to meet ya Applejahahahahahahahhahahahah!"

Oh, she's also one of the strongest ponies in the world. As I was learning with the fact that she held my hoof in a death grip and was literally shaking me up and down! She didn't appear to notice this as she smiled and said,

"Nice ta meetcha too Lucky! I hope when this whole mess is cleared up we can be good friends!"

When she finally let go of my hoof and I had stopped shaking I returned the smile and said,

"I'd very much like that Applejack."

She nodded her head at this before walking off, probably to introduce herself to the others. Before I could do the same I heard somepony mockingly laughing behind me,

"Oh that was just perfect! You looked like you were about to turn into paste with how much she was shaking you!"

My eye twitched in annoyance from the comment as I turned around to face the...pony?

"What the!? What the heck are you!?"

In front of me was some mismatched creature with a goat's face sporting a mischievous grin. The grin only got wider as he said,

"Oh, haven't you heard? I'm the one and only draconequus in all of Equestria, Discord!"

Discord
}The Ultimate Prankster{
Species: Draconequus
Body Color: Brown
Beard and Tail Color: White

I could only stare at Discord in shock, but before I could recall what I read about him he beat me to the punch as he said mockingly,

"Let me guess, you're probably thinking something along the lines of : 'Oh noes! Isn't he that evil spirit of chaos that was unsealed from his 1,000 year imprisonment in stone by the princess who oh-so-foolishly let him roam around free since he claimed he had seen the errors of his ways and decided to turn over a new coat?! That same Discord who not a week later dyed every piece of clothing in Canterlot baby blue and posted embarrassing photos of the Royal Guard captains on the internet?! I bet he's the one responsible for the boarded up windows!'"

It should be mentioned that he changed his face to mine and was doing a terrible impression of me the entire time he was talking. The scowl on my face must have been the reaction he was looking for as he changed his face back to normal and grinned before saying,

"Oh I hit the nail right on the head didn't I?! Well just to be clear that this is not my fault. This kind of chaos is far too mundane for my taste, and kidnapping is so last century. Though I have to compliment whoever it is that's able to keep ME here."

"B-but this place is only for high school students. Why are you here?"

"Oh sure, bring age into this. I'll have you know it's never too late to get an education, and this snooty school only accepts the best of the best."

His eyes wandered away from me and they lit up before he said,

"Oh! Well lookie who's here! Looks like we'll have to chat later Clover, I have an old friend to see!"

And with that Discord walked, more like, skipped off. Before I could go after him and find out who he was talking about and what he meant by being kept here, I heard a shout coming from where Rarity and Rainbow where bickering. Looking over in surprise I saw that their bickering had gotten even more intense and that they looked to be at each others' breaking points.

Looking around I saw everypony was just staring at the situation with different emotions, but none of them seemed to be ready to stop the fight. I was about to try and stop it myself when I heard a tiny female voice say in a ghost of a whisper,

"Uh...please stop fighting...."

My eyes widened in shock at just how quiet the mare was! The only way I even heard her was because she was near me! So it was obvious that the bickering mares didn't even bat an eye towards the mare and continued to argue. The yellow mare appeared to be determined to stop the arguing as she spoke in a slightly louder voice,

Uh...you're making everypony uncomfortable with your arguing...please stop.

The mares don't hear her and continued to argue. The yellow pegasus was going to try and stop them again, but was beaten to the punch when an insanely loud shout,

"WHEN PONIES WON'T STOP KICKING AND BITING, YOU MAKE THEM STOP FIGHTING!"

The two ponies immediately shut up when a huge minotaur charged over to the two. They both backed up at the hulking form of the minotaur who looked like he could lift two houses at once. The stared at each other for awhile till the minotaur said in a slightly quieter, but still loud tone,

"You were making everypony here very uneasy with your bickering. Please consider the situation we're all in and stop."

Rarity nodded her head dumbly and walked away. Rainbow, on the other hoof, got a challenging look in her eyes as she flew up to the minotaur and asked,

"And who are you to tell me what to do buddy?!"

The minotaur's eyes glinted before he shouted,

"I AM IRON WILL, THE ULTIMATE MOTIVATOR!"

Iron Will
}The Ultimate Motivator{
Species: Minotaur
Body Color: Grayish Cobalt Blue
Hair Color: Dark Cobalt Blue

Rainbow actually recoiled from just how loud Iron Will's voice was. She picked at her ear as she resonded,

"Jeeze man, no need to yell! You almost made me deaf!"

Iron Will didn't appear to hear her as he just said/shouted,

"IF YOU WANT TO BE HEARD, YOU MUST SHOUT YOUR WORDS! THAT IS IRON WILLS MOTTO!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes in annoyance,

"Whatever man, I'm out."

With that she flew off...and Iron Will followed her shouting something about 'Seminar Ticket prices.' As he chased her I thought back on what I read on him.

He had held up to over 100 self-help seminars with a 99.9% success rate. Each and every pony or creature that came to him for help had overcome their problems within a week of his teachings. He only charged 11 bits per day and he even offered to help rehabilitation efforts for free. His only quirk is his...unique teaching methods and the fact that he talks in the third person.

Seeing as how Iron Will helped defuse the situation with Rainbow and Rarity I decided to go introduce myself to the pegasus who tried to stop the fight. As I walked over to her she noticed me and made an adorable 'eep' sound and hid behind her mane. I chuckled nervously as I reached her and said,

"Uh...hi! I noticed that you tried to stop their bickering. Thanks for trying, at least you did considering everypony else was just standing and watching, including me. So uh...thanks."

The mare just nodded shyly at me and didn't say a word. Soon it became awkward as the two of us just stared at each other. Well more like I just stared at her mane as she probably looked through it at me. I coughed awkwardly into my hoof before asking,

"So..uh...what's you name?"

I think I saw the shy mare's eyes look to the ground before looking at me as she barely whispered,

"Uh...My name is Fluttershy."

Not quiet hearing her I asked,

"Uh...could you please say that again?"

She nodded her head again before whispering slightly louder,

M...my name is Fluttershy."

I still couldn't hear her and was about to ask again before a gruff voice said,

"Oh for pete's sake!"

Suddenly a talon landed on the shy mare's shoulder, which caused said shy mare to 'eep' in surprise. The talon belonged to a female griffon who was now leaning on the mare slightly. She had an annoyed look on her face as she said,

"The little shybug's name is Fluttershy."

Fluttershy
}The Ultimate Caretaker{
Species: Pegasus
Coat Color: Yellow
Mane and Tail Color: Rose Pink
Cutie Mark: Three Butterflies

The now named Fluttershy made another 'eep' sound at being introduced, and the griffon, still holding her annoyed expression, continued,

"And before you ask, the name's Gilda. Got that?"

Gilda
}The Ultimate Baker{
Species: Griffon
Body Color: Brown
Head Feather Color: White

I nodded my head at Gilda's question, and she responded with,

"Good, come on Flutters. Let's get back to Dash."

With that Gilda began to drag Fluttershy off. Said mare looked like she was trying to say something before giving up and giving me a shy wave. I waved back before thinking back on what I knew on the two.

Fluttershy is known throughout the world for her impressive caretaking skills. She is somehow able to understand animals on a whole different level then most ponies. She's even better when it comes to colts and fillies, who have all said that she was the "bestest most funnest babysitter ever!" She's also known to be able to tame the most deadly of creatures. She once even convinced an Ursa Major to move it's home without even hurting it. She's also infamously known for her 'Stare' that can paralyze anypony in their tracks.

Gilda, on the other hoof, is known far and wide for her impressive baking skills. A relative of the famous chef Gustave la Grand, she got her start selling her family recipe scones, before moving onto other confections. She can make the most delicious bakery products from the most simple of ingredients. She once baked all of the goods in the catering for the Griffon Pony Friendship Treaty a few years back. In fact her acceptance in this school is not only because of her status as an Ultimate, but to also help increase relations between ponies and griffons. However she has a bad temper and gets angered very easily. There was an instance where she destroyed a whole bakery interior for having the worst ingredients when it dared to call itself a five-star bakery.

After going over what I remembered I started to head off in some random direction in the room to try and meet somepony else, but I wasn't really paying attention so I ended up bumping into somepony on accident. Seeing the overwhelming sight of pink, I realized it was Pinkie, but she seemed more calm then before. I chuckled nervously before saying,

"Hehehehe...sorry about that Pinkie. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

Pinkie just chuckled...cruelly(?) before saying,

"Oh my, you seem to mistaken me for somepony else. You see I'm not Miss Pie, I am..."

My eyes widened in shock, as did some of the others, as Pinkie suddenly burst into green flames. When the flames died down a pony like figure with holes all over her body had replaced her. The pony, no wait changeling smiled at the shocked looks she received before finishing her sentence,

"Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings and the Ultimate Disguiser!"

Chrysalis
}The Ultimate Disguiser{
Species: Changeling
Body Color: Black and Green
Hair(?) Color: Dark Cerulean

My eyes widened even more at her declaration. Not so much at the fact that she was a changeling, they'd been known to pony society since the Pony-Changeling Peace Treaty signed 20 years ago, but more of the fact that she herself was here. I mean I figured that she would be the best at disguising herself considering she's the queen of a whole species of them, but I didn't think she'd go to Hope's Peak. Chrysalis must have been reading my mind as she said,

"You're probably wondering why little 'ol me is at this school? Well it's all very hush-hush with the princess that I should attend this school now that I've inherited the thrown from my mother. Since changeling relations have been so shaky the last couple of years, they figured this would be a good sign that things are good. So Hope's Peak was oh so kind to let me in as long as I didn't reveal myself to the public and one other condition."

I could only stare in confusion at what she said before asking,

"But aren't you revealing yourself right now?"

The changeling merely shook her head before saying,

"Oh you poor naïve fool. It's obvious that we're in a situation that is out of the school's control. So I saw fit to reveal myself so I could establish a sign of trust between my fellow captives. Ponies and other creatures alike tend to act irrationally in these kind of situations, so I want everypony to know I can be trusted."

She looked around the room as she said this, sending a brief glare towards Applejack who returned it, before looking back at me. I gulped slightly at her stare before I asked,

"Uh...what was that other condition you mentioned?"

She sighed at this,

"Oh yes, that. Well its quiet simple Mr. Clover, you se-"

"QUEEN CHRYSALIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO EXPOSE YOURSELF!" came a shout as an orange pegasus stormed over to us with an angry look on is face. The Queen merely sighed before continuing,

"That is the other condition. I must have a guard escort me throughout the school to keep me in check. Mr. Clover let me introduce you to Flash Sentry, the Ultimate Guard."

Flash gives me a salute as he says,

"Pleasure to meet you sir!"

Flash Sentry
}The Ultimate Guard{
Species: Pegasus
Coat Color: Orange
Mane and Tail Color: Sapphire Blue
Cutie Mark: Blue Shield with a Yellow Lighting Bolt in the Middle

Here was a guy I had no information on, but I assumed by his title he must be a very good guard, and he seemed young enough to enter the school. Anyway, Sentry diverted his attention from me to Chrysalis, a glare adorning his face as he said,

"Queen Chrysalis, you must know that even if the situation we're in is slightly...unusual that does not mean you should reveal yourself so casually!"

Chrysalis merely rolled her eyes in annoyance before growling out,

"Listen you little peasant, this situation we're in is anything but unusual! The windows are boarded up from the inside with metal and I can't teleport out of here! This is a kidnapping plain and simple, and I will not be forced to conceal myself if I don't have to! Is that clear you little worm?!"

Flash, shrank back more and more as Chrysalis ranted, and let out a unstalionly 'eep.' He tried to get a word in edgewise to the angry queen, but both of them were interrupted by a calm pleasant voice.

"Now now Chrysalis, no need to scare the poor guard. He's just doing his job after all."

I turned around to see who was talking, and immediately bowed as before me was a pony everypony knew. The alicorn before me let out a giggle before saying,

"No need for that, we're all students now, no need for formalities. Just treat me like everypony else. In fact let me introduce myself! My name is Mi Amore Cadenza, but my friends call me Cadance."

Mi Amore Cadenza (Cadance)
}The Ultimate Matchmaker{
Species: Alicorn
Coat Color: Pink
Mane and Tail Color: Purple/Yellow/Magenta
Cutie Mark: A Crystal Heart

Everypony knows about Princess Cadence. The adopted niece of Princess Celestia, she is the Princess of Love. She has fixed thousands of broken relationships and started millions more. She has been known to instantly know the type of pony you're destined to be with just by looking at you. There have even been rumors that she has been dating a secret coltfriend and that there was going to be a wedding soon.

Chrysalis's eyes widened upon seeing Cadence, but she plastered on a smile aimed at the princess.

"Oh, if it isn't the Princess of Love? I must admit I was not expecting you to be here. In fact from what I remember you were supposed to be investigating some disturbance in the north."

Cadance smiled back with an almost forced smile, as she replied,

"Oh you know, plans change. I got an acceptance letter into Hope's Peak and I could not just pass this up. I'm sure you understand considering how you got in last minute as well."

"What'd you do? Flutter your eyes at them?" Chrysalis asked in mock interest.

"Oh no, they just recognized real, true talent. Unlike some who are here for political reasons..." Cadance shot back with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

Sensing the rising tension while Sentry tried and failed to stop it I decided to do the wise thing and back off. I continued to back off till I backed into a wall...of muscle? I turned around to see...

Holy mother of Celestia what kind of drugs is this guy taking?!

In front of me was a white stallion pegasus that had bulging muscles that seemed to be pulsing with even the slightest of movement.

And I thought Iron Will was huge, this guy is a monster compared to him!

The pony looked down at me with his piercing red eyes, and I thought he was going so squash me for bumping into him. But instead he gave me a kind smile before saying,

"Sorry dude, you okay?"

I could only nod dumbly at such a calm response from this hulking form of muscle. He chuckled at my expression,

"The name's Bulk Biceps!"

Bulk Biceps
}The Ultimate Weightlifter{
Species: Pegasus
Coat Color: White
Mane and Tail Color: Dark Blonde
Cutie Mark: A Dumbbell

I had actually heard of Bulk before, I just never expected him to look so...well huge in person. The guy looked like he took a bunch of steroids everyday since the day he was born! He holds the world record for heaviest weight lifted at 6,270 pounds...in each hoof! The dude is the poster boy for every weightlifting club in the world. However, he was born with a wing defect that made his wings stop growing at a very young age, so he's continuously mocked for it.

I gave Bulk a kind smile as I said,

"Nice to meet'cha Bulk. I think I've almost met everypony, so if you don't mind I'm going to find the last few ponies to introduce myself to. Wanna talk later when this is all done?"

Bulk gave me another smile before he shouted,

"YEAH!!!" very enthusiastically. After my hair straightened back from his outburst, he said in a more calm manner, "That'd be cool."

Nodding at his mood whiplash, I walked away from Bulk and looked around for anypony I had not met yet. I eventually spotted somepony, over in the corner of the room, or should I say somedragon? About eye level to a pony in size, he stretched his lanky limbs out as he leaned against the wall.

"Hi there!" I called out.

The purple dragon gave me a loopy grin and extended his claw to me.

"Hiya dude!" he spoke in a relaxed, almost lazy like manner. "I was wondering when my turn was for this little introduction thingy. The name's Spike, and I'm the Ultimate Assistant!"

Spike
}The Ultimate Assistant{
Species: Dragon
Scale Color: Purple and Tan
Hair Scale Color: Green

I grabbed Spike's claw in my hoof and shook it.

"Nice to meet ya Spike."

Like with Flash, this was another student I had no information on. While other species and cultures were on relatively friendly terms with Equestria, not much was known about the dragon lands. From the stories I'd heard though, I didn't expect to meet one that seemed so friendly and laid back.

"So what do you think about this whole boarded windows thing?" I asked him.

Spike let go of my hoof and let out a chuckle before saying,

"It's obviously some elaborate prank set up by the school. I mean we are freshmen coming into high-school, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is just the seniors or the teachers just pulling our legs."

Thinking over Spike's reasoning, I couldn't help but agree with him. I mean there was no better explanation as to why this was all happening. I mean sure it was a little extreme, but there was no other way but for this to be a pra-

"You're all a bunch of idiots."

Suddenly all chatter stopped dead cold at the sophisticated voice that echoed throughout the room. Spike sighed and mumbled to himself,

"Oh boy, here she goes again."

Confused by his comment, I looked to where the voice came from. At the center of the room was the purple unicorn from before, and she looked like she was both annoyed and calm at the same time. Rainbow, ever the hot-head, flew up to the unicorn and asked,

"Oh yeah? And why are we so stupid?"

She just fixed her glasses before saying,

"Simple. You're all acting buddy-buddy like nothing is wrong with the situation we're in."

Discord let off a chuckle before asking,

"Oh, then please do enlighten us miss prim and proper. Just what exactly is our situation? I simply thought we were stuck in a school with windows boarded up with metal. Clearly I'm missing something, please fill me in."

The unicorn let out a scoff before replying,

"While that may be the obvious problem, there are plenty of more glaring problems. Tell me, who here woke up in a classroom after passing out when walking into the school's front doors?"

Everyone in the room...raised their respective appendages to Twilight's question. My eyes widened at that.

"What! That can't be...how is it possible that we all passed out and woke up in a classroom? That makes no sense!" I declared.

Chrysalis followed me up,

"Mr. Clover is correct, the likelihood of all of us experiencing the same event is highly unlikely. Which just makes this situation all the more suspicious."

As the others started to chatter in agreement the purple unicorn nodded her head,

"Other evidence that supports the fact that this is not just some simple prank," her annoyed eyes darted over to Spike when she said this before continuing, "is the fact that none of us who can use magic...can teleport out of here."

A few seconds after she said that there was an outburst of shock from the occupants of the room. Most notable being Rarity who yelled out,

"She...she's right! I can't use my magic to get out of here! WHAT'S GOING ON! OH THIS IS JUST THE WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!"

The purple unicorn ignored the outburst and continued her speech.

"I also haven't been able to use any long distance communication spells either, do you know what that means?"

There was silence for a few moments before Applejack spoke up.

"That means we're all cut off from the outside world, and ya'll magic types can't just teleport us all out."

This caused another uproar from my fellow students as Gilda yelled,

"OH JUST WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!!"

Following her outburst was Pinkie saying,

"Oooh! The plot is finally kicking in! You know this reminds of a time when I..."

"Well that's interesting. Not even I can effect the windows," Discord interupted as he snapped his claws over and over again with nothing happening.

This worried me most of all, because if the so called god of chaos couldn't do anything, then something strange was going on. Eventually all the talking calmed down as Rainbow asked the purple unicorn,

"Okay, seriously lady just who are you?! You got us all freaking out yet we still don't know who you are!"

The purple unicorn just sighed at this,

"I was hoping you'd recognize my status, but it seems I have to inform you all. My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia herself."

Twilight Sparkle
}The Ultimate Magician{
Species: Unicorn
Coat Color: Purple
Mane and Tail Color: Violet with a Pink Stripe
Cutie Mark: A Magenta Starburst Surrounded By 5 Small White Starbursts

My eyes widened at her declaration. Everypony and their mother knew of Twilight Sparkle. Gifted at a young age with insane amounts of magical energy, she almost destroyed her elementary school if Celestia herself didn't get involved. Since that day Princess Celestia took her under her wing and taught her how to control her magic. She spent years learning everything there is about magic. She invented her own spell at the age of 10 and was the youngest unicorn to get their magic license at 12.

Everypony got in a uproar again after that, but before things got too out of hoof Spike stepped up and said,

"Okay okay, everypony calm down. Now I don't know about all of you but I still think this is a prank. A very elaborate prank, yes, but a prank none the less."

Twilight glared at the dragon and growled,

"Spike! What are you doing!?"

Spike let out a sigh, "Calming everypony down from your crazy conspiracy theories Twi." This caused him to receive another glare from the mare, but he turned back to all of us and continued on with his tirade. He talked about how this was all a prank and how it was just the school messing with us. By the time he was done pretty much everypony was convinced, except for Twilight who just looked annoyed.

I could feel everypony's tension evaporating....but then...it happened.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

Suddenly the TV screen in the room sprang to life as a silhouette of a...bear(?) appeared on the staticy screen. The thing cleared it's throat before speaking,

"Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then...!"

The voice sounded so out of place, so cheery and playful. I couldn't help but feel a deep, unnerving dread at the sound of it. It was like hearing somepony laugh when you told them your grandparents passed on.

"Ah, to all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at...right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience. That's all. I'll be waiting!"

With that the screen went dead and the intercom went silent.

"Well Spike, is this part of the prank?" Twilight asked condescendingly.

"I...uh...sure. This is probably where they'll drop the act, and we'll all have a good laugh," he said a bit nervously.

All of us a little unnerved, we didn't really have any other theories or options to go on, so we kind of just accepted that explanation. A few moments later my fellow students began to walk out of the room, some in groups and others by themselves and all of them talking about how this really was a prank.

That left me in the room alone...or at least I thought I was alone.

"Hey."

I turned around in shock at the voice. Behind me was a yellow unicorn with a kind smile on her face. That smile stayed on her face as she continued,

"Looks like I'm not the only one who got left behind," she extended her hoof to me before continuing, "The name's Sunset Shimmer, you're Lucky Clover right?"

Sunset Shimmer
}The Ultimate ?????{
Species: Unicorn
Coat Color: Light Amber
Mane and Tail Color: Red with Yellow Stripe
Cutie Mark: Intertwined, Half Red, Half Yellow Sun

I smiled at her friendly demeanor as I took her hoof in my own and shook it.

"Yep, that's me. Nice to meet ya Sunset."

"Nice to meet you too Lucky," she smiled as we let go of our hooves. "You know we should probably get going before we're too late."

I nodded my head at that and we both began to walk out of the entrance room and towards the gymnasium, which I figured was at the other end of the hall. As we walked, I tried to remember if I had any information on her. Try as I might, I couldn't recall any mention of her, just like the guard and Spike. My thoughts were interupted when Sunset made a 'tsk' noise before asking,

"So, am I the only one that thought that that announcement was a little off?"
My eyes widened when she said that.

"You're not the only one. Something about that announcement was off, like whoever was talking was way too cheerful considering what's happened to us."

She nodded her head as her face scrunched in thought.

"Yeah. I mean wouldn't it have made more sense to tell us then that this was all some big prank or something, not just that the entrance ceremony was starting? Something just doesn't seem right here."

"Agreed," I nodded, "I wish I could believe Spike, but I feel like something really bad is going to happen."

Sunset nodded in agreement, and after that our walk towards the gym was silent. Well it was for awhile till Sunset suddenly got a confused look upon her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You know, its weird. I feel like I've been in high school already. But I don't recognize this hall at all, and I don't even remember how I got here in the first place."

Confusion and worry overtook me then.

"Wait...you don't remember how you got here Sunset?"

"No," she said as she closed her eyes.

"Do you remember anything before coming here?"

She opened her eyes and sighed at my inquiry.

"To be honest, I don't remember a single thing about myself. After I woke up, all I knew was that my name was Sunset Shimmer, and that I was a high schooler at Hope's Peak."

"That's all?"

She put a hoof to her temple in thought, but then shook her head,

"Well, there is some other useless information about the school, but nothing about my life...I just can't remember who I am or what my Ultimate is."

I couldn't help but feel pity for the poor mare as I grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure your memories will come back, we just need to jolt them is all," I said with as much sincerity as I could produce.

A small smile overcame her face.

"You really think so?"

"I know so," I declared in determination, which caused her to chuckle slightly.

"Well, aren't you quiet the optimist?" she said visibly more relaxed.

I chuckled nervously at the question before saying,

"Hehehehe...just one of my perks is all. Oh! Looks like we're here."

As I said that we stopped in front of two doors with the word "Gym" above them. Sunset looked at the door and then at me.

"Mind not telling anypony about my amnesia? It's kind of embarrassing is all. I mean considering the situation we're in my lost memories are the least of anypony's problems."

I nodded my head and smiled.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

She gave me a look of gratitude and we proceeded into the gym.

After walking through a room with a display case holding multiple trophies we entered another set of twin doors and found ourselves in the gym. The gym itself was pretty big with a entire basketball court in it. In the front of the gym was a stage with a podium on it. Next to the podium was a bonsai tree and in front of the stage were a bunch of chairs, most likely for the entrance ceremony.

The others were already there but none of them took a seat besides Spike, who looked pretty laid back and was even leaning back on his chair. Everybody looked at us as we entered, but before we could say anything that same cheerful voice spoke out,

"Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everypony here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!"

Spike let out a surprised yelp at the sudden appearance of the...thing and he fell backwards and off his chair. We all just stared in shock at the...bear before us on the podium. One half white with a smile, and the other half black with a snarl, it was a strange sight to behold. The silence was broken when Fluttershy's usually quiet voice rang out through the gym,

"Is...is that a teddy bear?"

"I am not a teddy bear! I...am...Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!" it declared, apparently not liking being called a teddy bear.

Now I've seen a few things in my life, ranging from giant monsters to video game message boards. This thing though, was the strangest thing I had ever seen.

"Nice to meet you all!"

Such a bright and cheerful attitude was so out of place. All the anxiety I had been feeling suddenly transformed into fear. Just...it was just so unreal. I mean a talking teddy bear!?

Apparently I wasn't the only one freaking out as Rarity screamed,

"Wh-whaaaatttttt! The teddy bear is talking! Why is the teddy bear talking!?"

"Calm down, it's probably just enchanted," Twilight scoffed.

Apparently the bear didn't like being ignored, as it jumped up and yelled back at us.

"I told you, I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma! And I'm your headmaster!"

That did nothing to calm Rarity down, if anything it only freaked her out more as she yelled out,

"Ahhhhhh! The teddy bear can move!"

Gilda let out a sigh of annoyance to the white mare.

"Calm down drama queen! Like the purple bitch said, it's probably one of those enchanted toys for fillies to play with," Twilight glared at that nickname, but Gilda either didn't notice or didn't care. "Even I know that and I'm from the Griffon Kingdom."

Suddenly the bea...Monokuma gained a depressed aura and looked down in sadness.

"How dare you compare me to a foal's plaything! You've cut me deep. Deeper than the Mareana Trench. I'm the ultimate combination of machine and magic! My design is so complex that even the folks at Celestia's Magic Academy can't create or even comprehend it!"

Monokuma's face then became angered as he threw out his arms and shouted,

"Ah, but don't make me say stuff that might destroy CMA's dreams. I just couldn't BEAR that!"

....

...

"Well then," he said rubbing the back of his head at our silence,"...moving on! We really must hurry and get started..."

"Wow man, way to give up already! No more stupid bear puns then?" Rainbow mocked.

"Quiet down now, quiet down. Ah, okay so...!"

"He abandoned the gag fast huh?" Bulk theorized as he stared blankly at the so called headmaster.

The thing's forehead twitched, but he again ignored the outburst.

"Everypony, stand at attention and bow! And...good morning!" he shouted.

Nopony bothered to actually listen to Monokuma...well almost nopony. Flash Sentry and Bulk Biceps gave a loud "GOOD MORNING!" to him. This only caused Chrysalis to roll her eyes in annoyance as she said,

"You idiots, you don't have to say good morning back. In fact you didn't even need to bow at all."

The sheepishly looked back at her and chuckled, while Monokuma cleared his throat loudly to get our attention.

"Now then, without any more interruptions, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here will be like."

Almost everypony, myself included, stood at attention to hear what our so called headmaster had to say.

"Now, ah, make no mistake,you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And to protect such splendid hope..." he paused and raised his arms, "...you will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school. Now then, regarding the end date for this communal life..."

Now this got everpony's attention as we all leaned forward to hear when this would all be over with...

"There isn't one!"

Silence...and then....

"WHAT!"

Seemingly ignoring our collective outburst of shock Monokuma continued with his speech,

"In other words, you'll all be here until the day you die! Such is the school life you've been assigned."

While everypony was just staring at Monokuma in shock, Fluttershy stuttered out,

"Did...did he say until we di...die!?"

The bear ignored her, placing his white paw behind his head.

"Oh, but fear not! We have quiet an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences."

"Now listen hear varmint! That there is the least of our worries!" Applejack growled with a glare.

"What in Tarturas is going on!? Are you screwing with us? Cause if you are your on your way to having my talon up your ass!" Gilda roared.

"I am not screwing with you!" the bear yelled in anger. "I am no liar, of that you can be 100% sure. And just for your information...you're completely cut off from the outside world. No phones, no magic, nothing! So you don't have to worry about the dirty dirty land beyond these walls ever again!"

This just cause another uproar among us,

"BUT WHAT ABOUT MY SEMINARS?!" Iron Will shouted.

"What about my shop?!" Rarity screamed.

"What about my parties?!" Pinkie screeched in dread.

Ignoring all of us, the bear spoke once more.

"Also, you may have noticed that none of you magic types can teleport away from the building. You can thank my oh so wonderful magic proof Monoshield! Surrounding our school is a technologically advance force field that keeps all of you magic types from leaving."

I heard Twilight tsk, at this, and glare at a sheepish looking Spike. Probably smug about being right about no teleportation, but I sorta just blocked her out.

"So all those metal plates all over the school are meant to keep us in here?" I asked to myself while everyone else shouted.
When all of a sudden Monokuma appeared right in front of me, causing me to jump back in fright.

"That's exactly what they're there for. No matter how much you may yell and scream for help...help will not come. So with all that in mind, feel free to live out your life here with reckless abandonment!"

As soon as he finished saying that everypony started to get in an uproar about how this couldn't be happening or how this was just a prank set up by the school (Spike). The most notable one being Applejack who said,

"Do ya'll honestly believe I wanna stay here forever!? I got mah family and farm to take care of! Where's the exit, I want outta this school!

Eventually everypony else started to saying stuff similar to that, till the point that Monokuma let out a frustrated sigh.

"Come now, what's the matter with all of you? You decided of your own free will to attend Hope's Peak Academy, didn't you? Yet the entrance ceremony isn't even over yet and you all already want to leave?! Well..." his face took on a thoughtful look, "I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There *is* one way for you to leave the school..."

Everyone stopped talking and began listening with excitement on their faces. I only had one of dread.

Something about his tone is giving me a bad feeling about what he's about to say.

"As headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave!"

Monokuma put his paws together in a crafty way before he threw them out and said,

"I call it...the Graduation Clause! Now let me tell you about this fun little rule. As I mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if somepony were to disrupt that harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school. That, my students, is the Graduation Clause!"

"What do you mean by "disrupt the harmony"? Do you want us to stay up all night making noise?" Twilight asked skeptically.

The bear suddenly gained an evil glint in his red eye and chuckled.

"Oh no no no, nothing that trivial. Pupupu... Well, you know... If one of you were to murder another...."

Silence reigned as all our eyes widened. I could feel my heart skip a beat as I stuttered out,

"M-Murder!?" The bear nodded and began to dance around.

"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, magical blasting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill somepony if you want to leave. It's as simple as that. The rest is up to you. Give it your all to achieve the best outcome in the worst way possible."

My blood ran cold at what Monokuma said. We had to kill somepony just to leave this stupid school? The thought alone sent a shiver down my spine. Disbelief and horror were written across my classmate's faces. In response, Monokuma covered his mouth and giggled.

"Pupupu. I bet *that* got your brain juices flowing! Beats the heck out of a griffon catching a salmon, huh? Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But you know..." His voice took on an almost wishful tone, "Taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair And I just find that so...darn...exciting!"

This just causes another huge outburst as most of us began to freak out. Well, everypony besides Discord, Chrysalis, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy. The first three held inquisitive looks, deep in thought, but for the last to...well they sorta passed out as soon as Monokuma went into his examples of how to kill somepony.

Gilda on the other hoof chose anger over anything else.

"Listen up asshole! This has gone way too far! What the Tartarus kinda joke is this!?"

Monokuma looked confused at this,

"Joke? What, you mean like your beak-job?"

That seemed to be the last straw for her as she roared,

"BBBUUUUUUUUUU-!"

The next thing I knew Gilda was flying at Monokuma, straight and fast like a bullet. She locked onto her target...

"Gotcha you little stuffed bastard! I dunno if you're a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever the Tarturas! Either way I'm gonna rip you to buckin' shreds!"

Gilda had grabbed Monokuma and hoisted him into the air. The bear flailed about trying to escape but it was no use. Monokuma eventually stopped struggling as he spoke in a panicked tone,

"Waah! Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations!"

Gilda didn't even care as she yelled,

"Shut the buck up! Let me outta here, or I swear to Celestia..."

Suddenly Monokuma went limp and a strange beeping sound began to come from him.

"What the...?" she mumbled while looking at the limp bear in her talons.

The beeping started to go faster and faster as we all looked to Gilda. The beeping sounded familiar, almost like it was a-

"You idiot! Get rid of that thing now!"

Gilda looked over at Twilight in confusion and was about to say something when Twilight cut her off,

"Didn't you hear me you idiot?! Throw the damned thing if you value your life!"

I don't know if it was the sheer seriousness of her tone or something else, but Gilda obeyed and threw Monokuma. And as soon as she did...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The bear exploded, pieces of him flying everywhere. Several of us hit the deck, while others like Bulk and Will just braved the wreckage no worse for wear. When the coast was clear, I looked up and saw Gilda standing shellshocked. She stared at where Monokuma exploded and mumbled,

"What the buck!? That sure as Tarturas wasn't a joke. He just bucking blew up right then and there!"

Before anypony could say or do anything, another Monokuma appeared on the stage with an annoyed expression on his face. He sneered at Gilda and said,

"See what happens when you break the rules? That was a waste of a perfectly good body!"

Gilda just stared at Monokuma in horror and screeched,

"You...you son of a bitch! You seriously tried to kill me just now!"

Monokuma just nodded his head sagely.

"Indeed I did. You violated one of the school rules and had to be punished. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on. All naughty little boys and girls who violate my rules will be punished severely!"

I could only gulp in fear to what Monokuma implied when he said punishment. The others seemed to share my thoughts as they too had looks of fear on their faces. Discord, on the other hoof, just stared at Monokuma curiously before he asked,

"So Mono, does that mean there are a bunch more of you throughout the school?"

Monokuma simply nodded his head.

"Monokumas have been placed around the school, yes. Also don't forget about the security cameras in every room! I will know if you break a rule, and I will act accordingly if you are caught." With that said Monokuma put on a cheery face and continued with his speech. "Now then, lastly...To commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a little something for you..."

The bear suddenly flung a bunch of thin rectangular objects at each of us. When we all caught ours (except Spike, who missed it and it ended up smacking into his face) Monkuma explained to us what they were,

"Those are your official student hoofbooks! Pretty cool, huh? As you can see it is fully digital, so we call it the e-Hoofbook! These little miracles of technology are indestructible and are totally water-proof. No matter what you do to it it'll never be destroyed! Whenever you turn it on it displays your name, so make sure you have the right one!"

None of us even attempted to turn them on. Our focus was entirely on the cruel monster in front of us.

"Also, these have the school regulations in them. More rules will be added in time so make sure to look at them often. Don't want to accidentally break one now do we? I won't be held responsible for what happens if you do!"

Not a word was spoken. Fear at this insane bear had taken us all.

"And with that our ceremony has come to an end! Remember this school is your home, your life, your world from this moment on! And you can kill as much as you wanna kill! So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! And...see ya!"

With that said, Monokuma disappeared leaving us to just mumble amongst ourselves or look at our e-Hoofbooks. I think I heard Spike say something about how the joke had gone too far, and maybe Iron Will shouting something about nopony being crazy enough to believe this. Honestly I couldn't tell, I was too distracted staring at my e-Hoofbook in pure fear. However I was snapped out of it when Twilight's suspicious glare landed on me. I stared back at her in confusion, not knowing what I'd done to earn the ire of the bespectacled mare. She stared at me for a bit before sighing and saying loud enough for everypony to hear,

"Now some of you may think that this is still some joke...for some reason," she shook her head at Spike's nervous look, and continued "But what really matters right now is this. Is there anypony here who's seriously considering all this...?"

It took a minute to realize what she was implying, but we quickly caught on. I must shamely admit that I had suspicion in my eyes as I looked at my classmates. They all stared at one another, trying to gauge each other's thoughts. I could almost taste the hostility.

And that's when it hit me...

I realized the true terror hidden within the rules Monokuma had laid out. It had planted viscous thoughts in our minds, forcing us to think that one of us might actually betray us.

And that's how my new school life began. However, it was not a school of hope as I hoped it would be. No...it was something far worse...

....

It was a school of despair!

Surviving Students:

End of Prologue: Welcome to Despair

To Be Continued

Author's Note

Imagine the characters as you see fit with this opening:

Upupupupupupup! The fun's just starting folks! Soon Despair will settle in and the mutual killing school life will begin! It's only a matter of time....

Hiya folks! Down with Chrysalis, or DWC for short here!

I present to you the very fisrt Danganronpa + My Little Pony crossover fic on this site! At least that I know of (link me one if there is anther one)!

Now the AN for this fic will usually be used by Monokuma to taunt you poor guys when your favorite characters are killed, or to just cause despair to you all for the heck of it. But right now I'm gonna use it to explain a few things and set up some Commenting rules. We'll start with the explaining,

As you've all noticed this version of Equestria is very different compared to the real one. I will list some differences now for the sake of convenience:

The technology is somewhat our level, as shown by the mention of the internet. However cars, planes, and spaceships do not exists. Guns on the other hand do.
The Mane 6 are not a thing, all have led their separate lives.
Discord is limited in his power due to his reformation, less of a god, more of a magic prankster.
Changelings, Griffons, and Minotaurs are more known/integrated into pony society.

That about covers it up, onto comment rules:

For fans of the Danganronpa Franchise, please do not spoil anything relating to the first and second game or the animes. Any comments with spoilers will be deleted
I'm all up for theorizing when it comes to who killed who or who the mastermind is. But please don't fight about who's right and who's wrong in the comments. Take it to a pm or better yet don't fight at all
Constructive Criticism is wanted and appreciated, but none of that "oh god you did this you suck" kind of comments please

Also, If you're thinking you know how this story is going to progress because you played the game/watched the anime, then boy are you gonna be surprised :rainbowlaugh:

Oh, and don't get too attached to anyone. No one is safe. If Danganronpa has taught me one thing, it's that your favorite character will die! Be prepared.

This fic will most likely be updated every 1-2 months, depends on how my schedule is. Expect the chapters to be even longer then this one, trust me.

Whelp that's all I need to say, so unless something comes up this AN will now be under Monokuma's control after this chapter. Have fun with that!

Now let's watch as Despair consumes them all! PUPUPUPUPUPUPUPU!!!

Chapter 1: To Survive (Daily Life) Part 1

Chapter 01:

To Survive

(Daily Life) Part 1

I could feel the others’ suspicious gazes glide over my body. At each and every second, everypony was thinking one of us would kill. Nopony made a move to say anything or do anything, we all just stood there eyeing each other in fear and worry. As we all continued to eye each other, Monokuma's words echoed in my head,

"You must kill someone if you want to leave."

My mind froze and my breath caught in my throat as I thought about that. I could feel a paralyzing fear slowly making its way through my body, dominating every last nerve. The air hung heavy on me, pressing down like a weight around my neck.

But for as heavy as the air felt...all it took to pierce it was her sharp words.

"So what are you going to do now? Just stand around glaring at each other, or are we actually going to do something about this situation?"

Surprisingly it was Sunset who said this. She had a calm and serious look on her face as she directed her question to everypony in the room. While I was surprised that the mare with memory loss was the one staying calm and levelheaded, I can't deny that her words did bring everypony back to reality.

"R-Right... She's right!" Flash stuttered before shaking his head back and forth. "They taught me in the Guard to remain calm in all situations to avoid panicking the civilians. To forget such an important fact and not be the symbol of calm that guards should be in times of crisis, I can't forgive myself! Please somepony hit me or tell me to drop and do 20 for such a disgraceful act as a guard!"

We all raised our brows at this display, but he was deadly serious.

"Jeez, if you have the time to yell about it, you have time to DO something about it," Gilda chided and rolled her eyes.

"True true...but what exactly is it he’s supposed to do?” Discord interjected. “That bear never gave us any mission goals or side quests, he just gave us the plot and left. Talk about not playing fair."

"Discord, I know you’re the spirit of chaos and all, but please try and treat this situation with an ounce of seriousness," Twilight said in her usual annoyed tone. As soon as she finished though, Discord suddenly appeared right next to her with his arm draped over her back with a sly smile.

"Oh dear dear Twilight, I assure you that I am taking this situation very seriously,” he said pulling at her cheek, which caused her scowl to deepen. “For you see the only creature who gets to mess with you ponies and other assorted creatures is me." He then stood up straight adorning a serious face, which looked completely out of place on him.

"Little Mono is trying to take my thunder by doing this little game of his. So I've decided to fight fire with fire, if he's treating this like a game then so am I! Besides, I don't very much like the chaos death causes, too dreary for my taste,” he announced as a small raining storm cloud appeared above his head. This only seemed to make him scowl more.

“Really? That’s all I can manage? One ironic visual? Ugh, I hate whatever dampening field is in place,” he groaned as he crossed his mismatched arms.

“Then save whatever magic you can for useful endeavors you foolish-“ Twilight began, but was interrupted by Chrysalis.

"While I do find the two of you bickering to be very amusing, perhaps we should focus on finding a way out of this...school?”

"Exactly!” Rainbow Dash agreed with a nod, “And we need to find the jerk who enchanted Monowhatsit and kick his flank for starting this whole mess in the first place!"

"...B-But before we do all the beating up and hurting of the bad pony who did this, maybe we should take a look at the hoofbook...?" came a shallow stutter from Fluttershy who had been awakened along with Rarity by Bulk Biceps.

All eyes turned to the shy mare, who in response made an 'eep' sound and hid behind her curtain of hair before continuing in a slightly softer voice,

"I-I mean it's probably a good idea to check out those school regulations that mean bear mentioned before we do anything else. I mean if everypony is okay with that of course..."

"True,” Twilight seemingly agreed. “If we just stumbled around with no clue as to what the rules are, we might end up dealing with another exploding Monokuma."

"Shit," Gilda mutters remembering her near death experience.

"Fine fine!” Rainbow groaned in annoyance. “Let's hurry up and check out the stupid rules already!"

Everypony nodded at this as we all began to open up our e-Hoofbook.

Just like Monokuma said, the first thing that appeared on my e-Hoofbook screen was my name. After a few seconds the screen changed to show four tabs. The tabs being School Map, Truth Bullets, School Regulations and the Student Report Cards with the Truth Bullets tab being faded out.

Student Report Cards? Why would something like that be on here? Given our situation I doubt we're gonna be taught anything. So why...? And what the hay are Truth Bullets?

Deciding to look into it more later I selected the School Regulations icon. An itemized list appeared on-screen, and displayed the rules being imposed on us all.

Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

Like we even have a choice to leave in the first place!

"Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

Remembering the blocked off nurse's office and staircase, I guessed that's what this rule meant by 'minimal restrictions.'

Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Any spells that are Magic Level 4 or above are strictly prohibited. Anyone caught in the act of using or activating said spells will be punished accordingly.

Additional school regulations may be added as necessary.

Feeling a little light headed from all the information, I raised my face up from the screen. As I looked around, I saw the same stormy expression on everypony's faces. There were a few moments of silence before it was broken by an enraged Gilda.

"Oh this is bullshit!”

“OI!” Iron Will grunted in offence, but Gilda continued.

“What the hell kinda rules are these!? There's no way I'm gonna follow these!"

Chrysalis giggled at that before saying,

"Well then, why don't you wander around the school without a care in the world and see what happens? Maybe instead of an exploding bear you'd win an acid shower for breaking another rule?"

"And unlike a video game, there aren't any extra lives. So I'm afraid there’d be no respawn point for you," Discord added his two cents. He then proceeded to imitate the Mario death scene, complete with pixel graphics and sounds.

Gilda looked stunned for a bit at their words, but before she could say anything Rainbow flew in front of her and the Changeling.

"Look lady, I don't know what your deal is but knock it off! Ever since Gilda and I met back in Flight School we drilled it into our heads that once a friend makes a promise, they can't even think about dying before its been completed!"

"...So what?" Chrysalis said in a bored manner.

"So we've made a lot of promises to our friends, that's 'so what'!" Rainbow growled.

"Yeah! So we can't afford to die in here!” Gilda agreed in determination. “Especially if we got promises to keep!"

The Changeling Queen rolled her eyes at their antics. "Look, I couldn’t care less about the promises you made, your devotion to completing them, or even why they were made, but I assume that means you'll be following the regulations, correct?"

Gilda and Rainbow looked at each other before Rainbow sheepishly said,

"Uh...yeah I guess you're right there. I don't think it'll be very awesome to blow up after everything hehehe..." This seemed to cause Gilda to simmer down, as she also nodded in agreement.

"I fear I must ask this, but what do you all suppose regulation 6 means?" Rarity chimed in.

Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

"You're talking about the second half, right? Where it says 'unless they are discovered'?” When she nodded to my inquiry, I held my chin in contemplation. “I was wondering that myself." A scoff from Twilight drew our attention.

"It's pretty simple. If you want to graduate, you have to kill somepony without anypony else figuring out it was you who did it." Twilight's voice carried over the gym as her words brought us all to silence once again. It wasn't until a sniff from Fluttershy did the silence end.

"B-But why...? W-Why do we h-have to k-ki-kill each other?"

"Because apparently that’s how we get out,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “But I don't see any reason to worry about that. Just follow the rules as they are explained to us to avoid death." Twilights stoic stare suddenly turned into a glare as she continued, "So quit your blubbering. Frankly, I don't want to listen to somepony who is too scared to even look anypony in the eye.”

"I-I'm sorry. P-Please don't jab at me..." the Pegasus muttered, wincing at the scathing words.

That was more like a full on stab Fluttershy, I thought in sympathy.

Before Twilight could say anymore on the matter Pinkie Pie suddenly started giggling. My other classmates and I stared at her in confusion before she said,

"Hehehehe you two are gonna be great friends!" Twilight simply glared at the pink earth pony, but Pinkie didn't seem to care as she clapped her hooves together to get our attention.

"Well anyway, let's forget all that silly junk about murders or whatever, we’re all too good of friends to even think about that. Now that we know the rules let’s start exploring the school!"

Despite her cheerfulness, we nodded our heads at Pinkie’s declaration.

"Very true ma’am!” Flash interjected. “We have several questions that can only be answered via exploration. We need to find out where exactly we are, if there is any way out, what our food situation is?" Flash's eyes suddenly burned with passion as he yelled out, "There are tons of questions that need answers!"

A loud "YEAH" from Bulk was the only indication that anypony else shared the guard’s enthusiasm. There were some nods from the others, but mostly they just had looks of resigned unease.

"I'll be going alone then." Twilight's statement seemed to snap the others out of their unease as Chrysalis sent the mare an annoyed glance.

"Ms. Sparkle for one who claims to be so smart that seems to be a pretty stupid idea." Twilight merely scoffed and glared at the changeling queen as she said,

"Someone here might already have started thinking about murdering one of us. Are you saying we should stand around them and make it that much easier for them?"mThe other's eyes widened at that while Spike stuttered out,

"N-Now come on Twi! That would never-!"

Suddenly Twilight's glare turned even harsher then I thought possible as she said,

"Don't bother saying it couldn't happen Spike! You can't deny the possibility, and neither can they! That's why you all seized up with fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you." Twilight's harsh glare suddenly turned into a smug grin as she finished, "Am I wrong?"

Spike flinched at Twilight's harsh words as he stuttered out,

"B-But-"

"So, I'm simply acting in accordance with what I think is best for me. Now if you excuse me..." She then turned around and started to walk away. The lanky dragon tried to follow her, but she turned and glared him down.

“I said alone!” she growled.

“But Twilight, I’m your number one as-“

“I don’t need *Your* Assistance right now!” she interrupted, causing him to look crestfallen. With that, she tried to leave again, but Gilda flew in front of her and blocked her path.

"Hold on! Like Tartarus I'm gonna let you run off and do whatever you want! And lay off the dragon guy already!"

"Out of my way, breezie,” the purple mare spat in indignation.

"Wh-?” Gilda’s eye twitched, “What The Buck is that supposed to mean?!" The purple snob didn’t even seem fazed by the increasing ire of the Griffon and stared her down in her cold glare.

"One tiny little bug, drifting across the land, so miniscule, so insignificant, they wouldn't even be able to fly without the tiniest breeze to guide them."

And like a dam breaking, the pissed off Griffon let out a screech of anger as she clenched her talons into fists.

"That’s it! I'm gonna kick your magical little flank you purple bitch!"

Realizing that the situation was getting out of hoof I tried to get between the two intimidating figures.

"S-Stop it! We shouldn't be fighting!" I tried and failed to deescalate, but it was too late. And it’s safe to say getting between a rock and a hard place doesn’t end well.

"Buck you!"

*Wham*

She punched me...and I flew back in a heap. Before I passed out, it dawned on me just how much stronger a Griffon was than a simple earth pony, and how much stronger many of the other Ultimates were too…

"Ngh..gh..."

My eyes slowly opened as I returned back to the land of the conscious. Staring back at me was an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Where...am I?"

As if it had become part of my daily routine, I woke up in yet another room I'd never seen before.

"Okay, so...Where am I now?"

Getting off the bed I found myself on I started to look around. It was like a normal dorm room, trash can and all, there was even a lint roller at the foot of the bed.

Like the classroom I first woke up in, there were metal slabs bolted against the windows of the room. I tried my best not to think too much on them, and instead decided to focus on a piece of paper hanging on the wall.

"Announcement from Headmaster Monokuma. Each room's lock has been designed to completely protect against tampering, magic, or lock-picking. Remaking an individual key is quite troublesome, so please make sure not to lose yours.

Your room comes furnished with a shower, but please note that the water is turned off at nighttime. Also, the bathrooms in the mare's rooms include a lock of their own.

Finally, we've prepared a small gift for each of you. For the mares, a sewing kit. For the stallions, a toolkit.

The sewing kit includes a map of the body's vital organs. One stab will do the job, mares! For the stallions, we believe a strong blow to the head with any of the tools should be ample.

Don't think! Just feel! And let's all enjoy ourselves!"

"..."

I crumpled up the sheet of paper and threw it in the trash.

"That Monokuma...just what in the hay is wrong with him!?"

Sighing to myself as that unknowable answer, I continued looking around the room and noticed a key on the table in the middle of the room. Walking over to it I picked it up and see that my name was sewn onto the tail end of it.

Well, this is obviously the key to my room if the keychain is anything to go by. Gonna hang onto you.

After slipping the key into my pack, I walked over to the only dresser in the room next to the bed. Above it was a sketch pad, and inside it was the toolkit that poster mentioned.

This must be brand new, the shrink wrap is still on it. Hopefully I'll never have to use it...

Closing the drawer I went to investigate the only thing left in the room, the bathroom. Opening it deliberately slowly, I braced myself for any hidden tricks…but all that was inside was the usual bathroom appliances, a toilet, sink, and shower.

I was honestly expecting...something. Guess that's what I get for getting my hopes up for a bathroom of all things.

Another door was at the end of my little exit hallway, but it was locked.

It must lead to the outside then…

After that observation I headed back to the middle of the room and spoke aloud to myself. “Alright, so we got a bed, bathroom, tool kit, and a key with my name on it. So obviously…”

Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

“This has to be my assigned dorm room. Someone must have carried me here after I fell unconscious. So that answers that question. The next question is what everypony else is up to?”

With that thought I rushed out of the room to meet up with the others. But there was someone waiting for me there. It was like something out of an old TV show...

*WHAM*

"Ahh!"

"Oh- Sunset?" I said in shock at the mare I’d run into. She was holding her head and was wincing slightly from the impact. Chuckling nervously I helped her up.

"S-Sorry! Are you okay?" Sunset rubbed her head one last time before she said,

"I-I'm fine. Sorry about that..." She had an embarrassed smile on her face. I soon had one mimicking it as I chuckled nervously.

"Are you sure you’re okay Sunset?"

"Hmhm. you make it sound worse than it is,” she chuckled. “I'm completely fine. A little bump with you isn't going to take me down that easily. But enough about me, are you sure you’re okay? You know, from when Gilda sent you flying and all?"

“Oh yeah…that did happen,” I grunted as I rubbed my chin.

I got knocked out right in front of everyone. I guess I revealed my lack of cool right from the beginning... Noticing my downtrodden face Sunset gave me a few pats on the back.

"Ah come on, it’s not so bad. Griffons are pretty strong so getting hit full force like that would have sent anypony flying," Sunsets face morphed into a confused one as she continued, "Well...maybe not Bulk, but he doesn't count because I’m sure he’s half dinosaur!"

I couldn't stop myself as I chuckled at Sunset's attempt to cheer me up. It worked out pretty well, since I was feeling a *little* better about being sent flying by an angry griffon. But there was still something bugging me...

"So Sunset, not that I mind it or anything but...why are you here?" She raised her brow at my question and then her eyes widened in remembrance and she facehooved.

"Oh right! I actually came to get you."

"Came to...get me?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah,” she nodded with a smile. “And since you’re clearly feeling better we can now go to the dining hall. That’s where we’re all meeting up again after investigations are over."

“You’ve all started exploring already?” I asked in surprise. “How long was I out?”

“Quite awhile actually,” she stuttered and laughed nervously. “Luckily we found these rooms right off the bat. I guess we’re neighbors huh?” Looking up, I saw that there were countless other doors in the hallway. I noticed that the door across from mine had an...eight-bit version of Twilight on it. Looking back at my open door, I saw that there was also an 8 bit representation of me on it. Every other door had a sprite figure of my classmates as well.

To the right of my room was Sunset, and on the left was Fluttershy's. Next to Twilight on the left was Gilda's and on the right was Chrysalis's.

“That can't be a good combo,” I pointed to the three rooms and Sunset chuckled.

“I know right?”

And with that, she led me to the dining hall. The room itself was fairly large, with one long table in the middle, and four smaller tables surrounding it. She led me to the long table which was near a large picture, painted to look like a wall window. As with the other rooms so far there was also cameras and a TV mounted on the wall. Looking at the camera gave me a sense of dread that I tried to ignore.

"It looks pretty clean, so that's good," the unicorn mare said optimistically. I sent her a questioning look, to which she chuckled sheepishly. "Er, I guess that's not really important right now, with us being prisoners here and all."

"Yeah, that's true…But at least it’s a clean prison," I jabbed back causing her to smile.

As we were the only ones in the room, we decided to wait for the others to arrive, so we sat down together at the long table. As we waited my eyes began to wander till they fell on the wall clock.

"What!? 7 o'clock!? At night!?" I gasped.

"Yeah, you were unconscious for a pretty long time remember?” she pointed out a bit sadly.

I see... I scratched the back of my head dejectedly. Without being able to look out a window, I've lost all sense of time. If I have to stay in this place for too long...I might just go crazy...

"Hey uh....Lucky?” Sunset's voice snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked over to her.

"Huh? What's up?"

Sunset looked at me sadly before she said,

"Well...its just that...” she stuttered sadly, “Do [you remember what we talked about] before that bear showed up?"

"You...mentioned how you had amnesia and how you can't remember anything but your name and some stuff about the school right?"

"Y-Yeah. At the time I didn't really think it was that big of a deal you know? I mean sure my memories missing is worrying but it wasn't the end of the world. But now..." she sighed.

"Now we have to worry about that bear freak! Plus this whole killing game he wants us to do is just so...so...UGH!"

Sunset slammed her hoof into the table in anger, which caused me to jump slightly in shock. I stared at her for a bit before I placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. She looked at me in surprise, but I just tried to give her my best smile.

"Don't worry Sunset. I know things seem bad now, but that just means we need to do our best to make things better.” She took in my words for a few seconds before chuckling and saying,

"You really are an optimist you know that?"

"It's...just one of my best traits...I guess,” I answered with a shrug. Sunset chuckled again, but I noticed that she still seemed pretty down. So thinking quickly I said,

"Hey, how about after the others get here and we find out what they know, you and me go look around ourselves to see if we can jog your memories?”

"I...I would really appreciate that Lucky," she with a smile.

"Sure, what are friends for?" Her eyes widened at that, but before I could ask why, she began to speak.

"You know what? Here you are cheering me up and I haven't done a thing for you yet."

“Umm, you did get me out of my room and bring me here though,” I pointed out.

“No, no, that’s not good enough,” she hoof waved. “I need to do something more…something…AHA! I know! To thank you for helping me out, I'm going to become your Ultimate Assistant!"

"Huh? My assistant?"

"Yep! I'm your assistant now!” she said with an easy grin. “I'm going to help you out as much as I can while we try to get out of here and find my memories!"

Sunsets words had so much enthusiasm in them that I couldn't help but get pumped up with her. Almost instantly we both put one of our hooves up in the air and shouted

"Yeah!" We stared at each other for a bit before we both giggled.

“So yeah, Ultimate Assistant Sunset Shimmer at your service.”

“Actually, I think you’ll need a different title there,” I said trollishly which made her confused.

“Huh? Why?”

“That dragon guy Spike already has that title.” Her ears pressed to the side of her head at that.

“Aww, really?” she groaned.

“Yeah…though I kind of feel sorry that he does,” I muttered, thinking back to how cruelly Twilight had acted towards him.

“Right…well I’ll still be your Ultimate….Whatever! Something Cool Sounding that I’ll Come Up With Later, and still help you out,” she giggled.

“Sounds good to me,” I said in thankfulness before looking around the room. “Well my Ultimate Whatever, how much longer do you think the others will be?”

Almost like he'd timed it, Flash threw open the dining hall doors right after I’d said that.

"Hey! Lucky! Sunset! So you two got here first, huh?" Flash sighed sadly before continuing, "Too bad... I was sure I'd beat everypony here. I guess that just means I don't have enough fighting spirit yet!" Suddenly Flash pointed at the two of us intensely before he practically yelled,

"Well I won't give up! Next time, I swear I'll win no matter what it takes! Justice shall always prevail!"

"That's a bit much, don't you think?" Sunset asked sardonically. Flash jerked at Sunset's comment before he chuckled nervously.

"Hehehe...maybe a little."

And soon after that everypony else came strolling in one after another. After a few minutes, everypony had gathered seemingly gathered. While most of my classmates choose to sit at the center table, Twilight instead sat at one of the corner tables near the entrance, despite Spike repeatedly trying to get her to come over. That was probably for the best seeing as how riled she made everypony, but besides that, a more pressing matter was on my mind...

How did I end up sitting next to Gilda again!?

The Female Griffon kept darting her eye at me every time I so much as twitched, and it was very disconcerting as she never said anything. Ignorant to my plight, Flash took one last look around the room. Once he was satisfied he slammed his hooves onto the table to get our attention.

"Okay! It looks like everypony's here. Time to start the meeting! Let's all go around and share what we found out during our respective investigations! The sooner we find out what's going on, the sooner we get out of here!"

It looked like he wanted to say more, but before he could Chrysalis interrupted him.

"Wait just a second Mr. Sentry."

"What's wrong!?" he said, glaring at her with a slightly annoyed look.

"What about the pink pony? Ms. Pie, I believe, is still not here yet."

"What!?" he declared as his eyes widened and he scanned the room once more. Sure enough she was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah wonder where she went. Has anypony seen her?" Applejack asked, but everypony shook their heads.

"W-Wait. Y-you mean no-*nopony's* seen her...?" Fluttershy stuttered.

Why hasn't Pinkie shown up yet? Could it be because...? My eyes widened in horror as I remembered Monokuma's words once more.

"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, magical blasting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill somepony if you want to leave. It's as simple as that. The rest is up to you. Give it your all to achieve the best outcome in the worst way possible."

I felt my hooves shaking as my thoughts continued...

Th-There's no way that...No no I'm just overthinking things. Who would want to kill her? She was friendly to everyone right off the bat…

"Darn it!” Flash grunted in annoyance while Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “A tardy member on our very first meeting! Not only is she late, she didn't tell anypony she would be late! A most unbecoming personality trait!"

"You're being a real jackass right now, you know that?" Rainbow admonished the overreacting guard

"Well what do you want me to do!? Punctuality is everything in a situation like this!" he countered. He then put his face in his hooves, gave off a large sigh and stood back at attention "Now then, full attendance or not, I declare that the first session of the Hope's Peak Academy briefings has begun! Now, what have we learned?!”

Everypony just grumbled at Flash's enthusiasm, but not a word was spoken.

“Really? No volunteers? How unbecoming of-“

“Just go ahead and go first Sentry, for Goodness’s Sake,” Chrysalis ordered.

“Very well then.” With a quick cough to clear his throat Flash continued, "I spent some time looking around the dormitory, and there I made the discovery of the century! I found that there was exactly one room for each person!"

Everypony just stared at Flash with deadpanned looks before Applejack spoke up.

"Well yeah, we all figured that out before anything else when we carried Lucky to his-"

"Indeed!” he interrupted causing her to scowl “Each door already has a nameplate on it, so its best to assume that all the rooms have been assigned already. And each key was attached to a keychain with the owner's name precision-etched onto it as well."

Which confirms that the room I was in earlier is, in fact, my room.

"And Fluttershy and I found out that all the rooms are completely soundproof as well," Gilda added. Everypony turned to Fluttershy for her confirmation, to which she squeaked at the sudden attention.

"Y-yes. Your next-door neighbor co-could scream till they were hoarse, an-and you wouldn't hear a-a thing..."

Fluttershy started to sink into her chair as our attention was still on her, but before she could blink out of existence Rarity spoke up,

"Also, each room also had a private bathroom which could also be locked. A bit dull color wise sadly, but what can you do?"

“Yeah, because clearly dull colors are the issue,” Gilda sighed in irritation. "But yeah, they got a bunch of rooms ready for us. They're assuming we're gonna be here awhile..."

"Well, better to have than have not!” Flash said enthusiastically. “At least we don't have to worry about surviving like wild animals." After a few mumbles of agreement Flash said,

"Good. Not that's all for my report! Let's move on to whoever's next!" Seeing the floor open Twilight decided to speak up.

"I wanted to try and find some clue as to who's responsible for imprisoning us here. But unfortunately, I made no such discoveries. That's all from me..."

"Really? That's it?" Flash asked, looking a bit gob smacked at Twilight’s report, or rather, lack thereof.

"If I'd uncovered anything, naturally I would have had more to say. But I didn't. So I don't,” she huffed in annoyance causing the pegasus guard to flinch at the tone.

"R-Right, understood..." he stuttered.

"Well I suppose since Mr. Sentry is busy bumbling over his own words I shall give my report,” Chrysalis spoke up and all eyes turned to her. “Ms Fluttershy, Mr. Spike, Ms. Dash and I traveled all up and down the school, double-checking the windows in all the hallways and classes. We wanted to see if we could get any of those metal plates to come off. And what happened was-"

"Nothing! Not a damn thing! We couldn't get a single one to budge even a little bit!” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"Y-Yeah.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “There wasn't any h-hope of escape anywhere, the school really has been totally cut off."

"Ugh...this sucks so much,” Spike said in dejection, lying his head upon the table. A few more sighs followed his, before Princess Cadence spoke up.

"I guess it’s our turn. Iron Will, Bulk, Gilda, and Myself thought maybe we could find some way to communicate with the outside, so we went looking all over the school. But we didn't find a thing. Sorry..." Rarity put a comforting hoof on the princesses shoulder to try and cheer her up, and as she did Iron Will decided to speak up.

"Iron Will went back to the main hall, thinking maybe we could do something about that giant hunk of metal barring our escape. But even with Bulk’s strength, Gilda’s raw animal ferocity, her Majesty’s Magnificent power and Iron Will’s words of encouragement, it wouldn't budge. If we're gonna get out of here, it's not gonna be through there."

The others nodded their heads at this before Gilda spoke up and said,

"After that bust we started looking around. We found some stairs leading to a 2nd floor in both the school and dorm areas. But the bucking things were blocked off by gates and there was no way of opening them."

Twilight hummed at this fact before asking,

"So what you’re saying is that we're basically confined to the 1st floor of the school and dorm? If that's the case we can further assume that there is potentially something above the 2nd floor as well, which means there could be a way to escape on the upper floors."

"Excellent Hypothesis!” Flash declared. “Now, Rarity, Discord, Applejack what have you to report?!"

"Well if I am being honest, I can't quite say we acted as one…” the fashionista chuckled nervously. “Rather, we did *nothing* as one. We spent the entire time in the gym. I'm not the type to go running around a school like junior detective after all."

Applejack rolled her eyes before saying,

"The only reason ah stayed back was to keep an eye on these two. Ah didn't want miss prim and proper to have another fainting spell, and Discord...well he's *Discord.*"

At the mention of his name Discord, who I was pretty sure was pretending to be asleep the whole time, 'woke up' and said,

"Huh!? Wha...oh that wasn't a dream? Well I guess that's what I get for doing nothing chaotic for so long. Too much boredom *cannot* be good for my health." He then punctuated this with a snap of his talon, and in a Flash of light, Rainbow Dash’s mane turned a shade of green.

“Hey?! What’s the big idea chump?!” the pegasus growled in his face while several of us chuckled. Even Twilight smiled in her cruel twisted way.

“Oh don’t get your tail in a knot skittles, I’m just making levity of the situation,” the god defended.

“Well change it back right now pal, or you’ll be sorry!” she threatened with fire in her eyes.

“Yes, please do. Green is such a horrendous color,” Rarity said in disgust, averting her eyes. A few of us took offense to that, with Chrysalis giving the fashionista the stink eye, while Spike held his head spins forlornly, and I covered my cutie mark with my tail.

“Wow, anger issues much?” Discord drolled as he snapped his claws and Rainbow’s mane was restored. Satisfied, the pegasus sat back down in a huff, while Discord sighed at his claws in melancholy.

“Just simple gags…this is going to drive me crazy,” he muttered to himself.

“You’ll get through it soldier! Just remain diligent!” Flash commanded and we all rolled our eyes. “Now! What other info have we gathered?” At the prompt, Sunset raised her hoof and began to speak.

“While you all were out, I explored this kitchen and dining hall. There’s all the basic amenities, ovens, sinks, refrigerators and the like, but the biggest thing I discovered was the stockpile of food.”

“Stockpile?” Applejack mused. “As in, canned goods and such?”

“Exactly. The pantry in the kitchen is filled to burst and then some with what looks like enough food to feed an army,” Sunset explained. As if to emphasize that statement, several growling stomachs sounded off.

“Well at least food won’t be an issue,” I said listing the one good thing we’d discovered.

“Says you,” Gilda snarled. “I bet it’s all just pony food isn’t it? Nothing but veggies and grain? What about us that eat meat too?”

“Iron Will Agrees! Herbivore food is sustainable, but how else can Iron Will keep his rock hard body without some meat?!” the minotaur punctuated with a flex.

“Well actually,” Sunset started.

“You could just drink a gallon of protein shake mix every morning like I do!” Bulk Biceps shouted.

“No can do roid master! Those nasty powders affect my acid reflux!”

“Guys!” Sunset interrupted the two powerhouses, causing them to look to her. “There actually is…omnivorous options in the pantry.”

Gilda and Iron will seemed pleased at this news, but nearly everyone else paled.

“Oh get over yourselves you wimps, it’s not like we’re gonna make you eat it,” Gilda harrumphed.

“Still, it is kind of unsettling,” Cadance gagged.

“Well then don’t watch us Princess,” Gilda snapped. “You’ve got a Griffon, Minotaur, Dragon, Draconequus and Changeling here. We don’t all follow your ways.”

“Actually, I prefer gems over anything,” Spike interjected.

“Pure unadulterated sugar for me,” Discord added.

“And none of your food truly gives me what I need,” Chrysalis muttered under her breath.

“Fine! More for me and the big guy then,” Gilda rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you ponies have got to get over your freaking-"

A voice cut through the noise, interrupting Gilda.

"Hey guys! Lookie what I found!"

We all looked over to the entrance to see Pinkie Pie grinning from ear to ear. While some of us were relieved she wasn't...that she was okay, others...

"Pinkie Pie! Where the heck have you been!? We already started the meeting without you!" Flash admonished, but the Pink Pony ignored his outrage and hopped over to our table and unfolded a large piece of paper onto it.

"Huh? What's this?” I asked as she unfolded it before me.

"It's a map of the school silly!" she announced.

Everypony's eyes went wide at that.

"Wh-What the? Where did you find this?" Flash spluttered.

"It doesn't matter where I found it silly! Besides the original plot never explained so I'm not gonna either!"

"Wha-What does that even mean!?" the guard asked as we all stared at her in confusion.

"Ah don’t worry about it. This map on the other hoof confirms one thing though,” she said with a sly smirk.” Looking at the map in front of me, I saw the layout, and the labels upon it, and I immediately understood.

"That this place *really* is Hope's Peak Academy?"

"In terms of construction at least. From the looks of things there were a number of strange...renovations done to it" Twilight's deduction was met with stares from the others before she rolled her eyes and said, "Obviously those gates at the stairwells weren't there before if this place was a school. From what I can see of the blueprints it only contains information about the 1st floor."

"B-But then...if this is the school then we weren’t kidnapped and brought somewhere else,” Fluttershy stuttered.

Gilda, probably enraged at the truth behind Fluttershy's words, grabbed her head in frustration as she growled out,

"So stupid it's not even possible. This is where the nation's future elite are supposed to come and learn?"

"But if this really is Hope's Peak, where are all the other students?" Rarity hummed in agreement.

Before anyone could give her an answer Spike began speaking.

"Hey, come on, guys. Let's just stop focusing on the...you know, negative stuff..." I couldn't help but send Spike a confused look at that.

"How can we not? Aren't you worried?”

"Worried? Nah,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “What's there to be worried about? If this is Hope’s Peak, then that means we’re exactly where we should be, which means that all of this is planned by the ones in charge of the school. They’ve given us food and rooms, so this whole thing with the bear is like a test or something.”

“A test for what?” I asked.

"I don’t know, character building or something? Either way, all we have to do is pass this test by obviously not killing each other and everything will turn out alright. Good things come to those who wait, right? So we just gotta chill and everything'll work itself out."

Everypony could only stare at Spike with stupefied looks at his comment, until...

"Ha ha ha!" Suddenly, Chrysalis began laughing in an almost gleeful like manner

"U-um why are you la-laughing Ms. Chrysalis? I-If you don't mind me asking of course..." Fluttershy asked, which quickly ended the Queen’s chuckles.

"I am just happy is all, plus this Drake’s comments are quite humorous, even if he is depressingly wrong.”

“Hey…” Spike whined at the insult.

“Your wrongness aside, It seems splitting up to investigate was a good idea after all with this information we’ve gained."

"Weren't you paying any attention?” Rainbow Dash growled in annoyance. “This whole thing was pointless! We still have no idea how to get out of this dump, and we still don't know who the bucker is that put us in here in the first place! We know absolutely *nothing* and your buggy brain is telling you it was a good idea!?"

"Huh? Is it not crystal clear to you what is going on?" Chrysalis responded in mock surprise, before leaning in with an intense look and monotone voice, "It is perfectly obvious. The drake is right on one account, those in charge of this school are to blame, but there is no waiting to be done. This school is our prison now, and there’s no way out.”

None of us had any response to that. We didn't want to accept that reality-but it was staring us right in the face.

"Now now Chrysie did you really have to go and say that? You've made poor Fluttershy shake like a leaf," Discord scolded. Sure enough, the yellow pegasus was indeed shaking profusely in her seat.

"N-No way out... We're t-trapped here. What are w-we supposed to d-do...?"

"That’s already been explained to us,” Twilight answered. “If you want to leave, you just have to kill-"

"Don't even joke about that lady!" Iron Will interrupted. “Iron Will doesn’t know if this is really just a test or not, but that is clearly not an option here!”

Seeing as things were getting out of hoof Sunset tried to intervene.

"Everypony just calm down, please! We need to stop and think about what to do from here."

"Y-Yeah. There's gotta be something we can do..." While she sounded confidant, Rainbow's face clearly showed just how panicked she was.

"All we can do is adapt. Adapt to living our lives here from now on," Chrysalis said with conviction. The others and myself sent the Queen varying looks of disbelief.

"Live here? Are you saying we should just accept this horrendous situation?” Rarity asked.

"What other alternative is there?” she countered, her face looking intense. “For a changeling, lack of adaptability is a lack of survivability. Survival is not based on who is the strongest or the smartest, It comes down to who can adapt the fastest.”

"But ah thought you changelings got that whole peace treaty? Doesn't that kinda negate the whole need to adapt?" Applejack countered, which earned a sneer from the Queen.

"While that so called 'peace' treaty has helped boost our species survival chances, all you ponies are keen of our presence even to this day, so our need to adapt to survive still stands." Chrysalis punctuated by giving a glare at Princess Cadance who returned it.

"But never mind that. Since I have the most experience when it comes to adapting, may I make a suggestion to ensure our survival?"

“Absolutely,” Flash answered. “If you have some method to ensure our-“

"We all can agree that we are trapped here which means we will be spending the night, and perhaps subsequent nights. However, you all remember the rule regarding nighttime, right?"

"Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

"As regards to these rules go, I believe we should add one of our own."

"What do you mean?"

"Why Mr. Lucky it is simple. Going out at nighttime should be prohibited altogether. The school regulations don’t actually tell us to not go out at night. I would like to make it official."

"B-But why...?" Chrysalis merely sent Fluttershy a glance, causing the mare to 'eep', before continuing,

"The way things are now, every time night comes we will all start to get worried and anxious. We will all be afraid someone might try to come kill us." All our eyes widened at her words, causing her to smirk.

"If we worry about that night after night for who knows how long, it will wear us down in no time. Anxiety does not a good bed fellow make."

"I getcha,” Bulk nodded in agreement. “You wanna limit our time at night as a ‘just in case’ measure right?" Chrysalis nodded her head at this and was about to say something when Gilda said,

"Yeah so what? What's to stop one of us if we decided your new rule was lame and went out anyway?"

"Why my feathered friend I'm glad you asked,” the Changeling smirked. “For you see Mr. Sentry here shall patrol the halls at night to make sure we all stay in our dorms." Chrysalis sent a smug look towards Flash before continuing, "He is the Ultimate Guard after all. What better pony to make sure we all follow the rules but him?" Flash sent Chrysalis a confused look.

"I am? Ah, I mean I am! Trust in me to keep you all safe! But to ensure that everyone, including myself gets enough rest, I will draw up an evening patrol chart for us all to engage in. That way we know who is watching at every hour!" Everypony either rolled their eyes or chuckled at Flash's display.

"So I take it we are all in agreement?" Chrysalis asked the table. At our nodding heads (reluctant or otherwise) she said, "Good, then if you excuse me I shall take my leave. It is almost nighttime and I would like to take a shower before it arrives. So...goodbye."

Moving with pure elegance, Chrysalis left the dining hall, Her behavior seemed so natural, I couldn't imagine anypony even trying to stop her.

“Wow…she really takes charge huh?” I said aloud.

“She’s a newly crowned Queen. She thinks she can order anypony around, and take what she wants without argument, even if this isn’t her land…” Cadance said in bitterness.

“Yeah, well someone had to do it,” Sunset said, and several of us nodded.

“Better her than...somepony else,” Spike trailed off, looking at Twilight in the corner of his eye.

Soon after that, Flash called an end to the meeting and we all began to follow after Chrysalis’s example one by one.

“Since tonight is the first night I shall of course take the first watch until the rotation system has been drafted, but until then I’d better not catch anyone outside their rooms!” Flash barked as we all did our best to ignore his enthusiasm.

As I reentered my dorm room I couldn't help but look around and think,

Is this really where I'll be staying for the foreseeable future?

Deciding to save myself a headache I collapsed onto my bed. It came slowly, but eventually sleep took me on my first day.

...

The first day of my life in the school of despair.

Chapter 01:

To Survive

(Daily Life) Part 1 END

Author's Note

Upupupupu, my my how long has it been since the author posted a chapter?

Why, two years! He must have put a lot of time and effort into this chapter if he took this long to make it. So you better all respect his creative decision to take this long to make it!

Oh, but the despair he would feel if his work was mocked, and if you all complained about the time wait would be...absolutely delicious.

Upupupup...I have a gloriously despairing idea! Why don't all you nosey meddlers, sitting at home in your comfortable chairs watching this joyful killing game, comment on how long the wait was.

Truly that will push the author into total despair, and then I'll get more screen time! Bwahahahaha!

But such a boring note to end this chapter on! Where's the blood!? Where's the gore!? I want my death and despair!

If I have to wait another two years for the author to write more screen time for me I'll-!

Upupupu, oh so that's what's happening next chapter? And he'll work on it as soon as possible? Why isn't that just perfect!

I just heard the most despair inducing news! But I won't tell you~

Who will live? Who will die? Who will succumb to despair and become the blackened!? Or will they cling to their worthless hope and survive?

I KNOW THE ANSWERS! AND YOU'LL ALL FIND OUT NEXT TIME! TILL THEN!

UPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUP!