Danganronpa: Pony Nightmare

Sweet sleep…

I wriggled under a comfy, warm blanket, and nuzzled into the pillow. I was still half asleep, enjoying the silent darkness that was enveloping me. I didn't want to move ever again.

Ruby eye.

My body twitched by itself, and now I was fully awake. Monokami… That wolf… That must have been some sort of bad dream, right? I suddenly felt a faint glimmer of hope in my heart. Maybe it wasn't real after all!

I looked around the dark room, trying to figure out where I was. There were two doors, each on either side. A small bedside table was just in my hoof's reach, but there was nothing on it.

I heard a snore from somewhere below me. Confused, I looked down on the floor and saw a pony snoozing on the carpet. Who was that? I couldn't recognize them in that darkness. I fumbled a bit before I disentangled my hooves from the blanket, then left the bed as silently as possible. I started creeping towards the door on the right, carefully avoiding the snoring pony.

I probably shouldn't be lurking around like this. But in my head, I felt a burning need to know. Was all that horrible stuff from yesterday true? I absolutely had to confirm it. I could sleep later, this came first.

I opened the door and saw a bathroom. There was a simple bath with a shower, a toilet and a sink. On the first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary, so I closed the door again and snuck to another door at the other side of the room.

It opened with a silent creak and revealed a hallway I recognized. I was walking down a hallway like this yesterday… My heart left out a beat. So I was still in the Future Academy, and the yesterday's horror was most likely real.

I closed the door behind me. This hallway was still dark, but better lit than the room I found myself sleeping in thanks to a set of magic lamps lighting up the corridor. I walked around a bit and looked at the doors around me. And with each one my hopes were dropping lower and lower. Limpid Lake, Tot He Tei, Octavia Philharmonica, A. K. Yearling, each door had a name written on it. And I knew all those names from yesterday. There was no doubt about it, we were here together, in this mess. I shook in the grim realization that I was locked here with no way of escaping and that me and other students were being harassed by a psychopathic black-and-white wolf. I turned around and went back to the door I walked out of. This one had a name tag "Blue Ray".

I jerked as the door opened suddenly. Blue Ray looked at me with his blinking, tired gaze. "Oh, Twilight. So you're awake, huh…"

"Blue Ray! What's going on?"

"You passed out on your desk. We couldn't just leave you there, so I volunteered to take you to my room. I took the carpet for one night until you felt better, and then I got woken up by the sound of closing doors. I figured it was you."

"I woke you up? Oh no, I'm so sorry!"

"Nevermind that. Are you feeling okay? You scared us big time."

I touched my forehead and tried to put all the information together. "Yes… I think I am. So it was all real, then? We are stuck here, playing this sick game?"

"Yes. Yes, we are," said Blue Ray solemnly. I could feel my head and ears lowering as my hope plummeted down and crashed against the cruel reality.

"Hey." I looked up at Blue Ray, and he gave me a small, confident smile. "Nopony will play along to that wolf's rules. We are not monsters, you said it yourself."

"Yes, but… we still aren't safe, are we?"

"Were we ever? I mean, there's always been some degree of danger in our lives, wasn't it? Now it's just a bit closer."

That sounded… disturbingly true. It was so weird, being stuck in this horrible scenario and seeing somepony who was keeping it all together. How was Blue Ray doing that? He was acting strange ever since Monokami revealed himself. He was giving off this… calm, collected leader vibe. I decided to confront him about it, otherwise it would keep bugging me forever. "Blue Ray, forgive me for asking, but what happened? You were so upbeat and carefree when we first met, and now you are so serious and unshakeable."

Blue Ray let out a short, silent laugh, then answered. "I need to do my best to keep myself and the others safe. I can't afford to be carefree."

He yawned and blinked. "Hey, do you think this could wait until morning?"

"Oh, of course, sorry," I said with embarrassment.

"Nah, it's okay. Your room is in the second hallway, the first door on the left. You can sleep there."

"The… second hallway?"

"There are two hallways running parallel to each other. Then they connect and continue on as one. If you imagine a tuning fork, that's sort of what it looks like."

"Oh, I get it! I think I'll manage to find it no problem."

He smiled again. "Cool. Oh, by the way, we all agreed to meet up in cafeteria tomorrow morning to discuss what to do next. You should be there too, we could use your smarts."

"Oh, okay. Good night, then…"

"Good night," he said and then closed the door.

This whole conversation felt awkward in some way. I didn't know what it was exactly, maybe it was the fact that Blue Ray was acting different. And I felt like he'd been trying to get rid of me…

No. No, Blue Ray wasn't trying to get rid of me. He was obviously tired, and yet he still made sure I knew where to find my room and what to do tomorrow. I can't expect him to stay up all night and babysit me! He even offered to take me in when I was unconscious, how could I ask for more?

I went around the corner and saw a hallway splitting into a shape of T. I went straight, turned around a corner once again, and sure enough, there was another hallway full of doors. It really was shaped like a tuning fork. I looked at the very first door, it had "Twilight Sparkle" written on it. Oh great, I found it! Now I won't have to return to Blue Ray, wake him up and ask him for directions again like an idiot.

Sometimes I worry that I worry too much.

I entered what was allegedly my room, and found out that it looked exactly the same as Blue Ray's. I guess we all had the same rooms, I hope we'll at least get a chance to accessorize them at some point. Although, thinking about that, I had much greater problems weighing on my mind. Like, for example, the whole "killing game" we were all a part of.

I climbed on my bed, although I wasn't feeling particularly tired. I thought about exploring the school some more, but then I remembered that we were supposed to murder each other. I really didn't want to doubt my classmates, but… better safe than sorry. There will be time for exploring once there are more potential witnesses walking around.

And so I spent the rest of the night lying in my bed, thinking things over now that I've had an opportunity to calm down. The mysterious magical wolf, the unanswered questions, the killing game, the troubling fact that nopony came to rescue us yet. Perhaps it would take a bit more time before ponies started getting worried about us, but I had a terrible feeling that no one was going to come to our rescue, no matter how long we'd wait.

"Haven't you heard? Tia resigned! Now I'm the one running the show."

That was about the most worrying thing I've heard, even more disconcerting than the fact that Monokami was trying to get us to kill each other. What happened to Princess Celestia? She couldn't possibly be in on this, something must've gone horribly wrong with her plan. What was keeping her from us? Were we being held hostage? Were we being hidden from her? Or was she just completely unaware of this whole setup?

Nothing was making sense yet, but I knew one thing for certain. We have to get out of here. On our own. We have to find that wolf's weakness, beat him and get out. Before something horrible happens.

"Rise and shine, sweethearts! It is 7 am., and nighttime is officially over! Another day full of joy, friendship and magic, waaaauuu!"

Monokami's voice was omnipresent, yet had no visible source. This, combined with his malicious voice and howling, made it about the worst sound one could wake up to. I closed my eyes as the lights in my room turned on by themselves, blinding me. I grunted and slid off my bed, trying to shake off my fatigue. What the hell? I've been resting for the entire night and most of the day, how was I tired now?

I did a quick exercise to fully wake up, opened the door and headed towards the cafeteria. Today we were all going to come up with a plan. I doubted Monokami would let us win easily, but we were Ultimates. I was sure we could find a way to fight back somehow.

Rainbow Dash and Sunny Day came out of rooms behind me and caught up to me. They were both moving quickly and energetically, I guess that was just a part of their personalities.

"Morning, Twilight!" "Sup!" they both greeted me.

"Hi guys. Are you headed to the cafeteria too?"

"You bet! We'll kick Monokami's ass!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

"Cool." Oh come on, Twilight. Don't you really have anything better to say? This felt so awkward, I didn't know how to continue the conversation. Sunny and Rainbow didn't mind though, they spent rest of the way flirting. I did my best to pretend not to be there and cursed my lack of social skills.

When we entered the cafeteria, most ponies were already there. I could see Tot He Tei, Fleur, Octavia and Limpid Lake discussing something. Thunder Roar, Phoenix and his engineer friend whose name I forgot had their own group. Trixie and Blue Ray were sitting on their own. A. K. Yearling and Twitch came shortly after us, trying their best to ignore each other and everyone around them.

"That will be all," said Caesar with no emotion in his voice. He was… cooking?

I couldn't believe my eyes. Caesar was in the kitchen, behind the counter, and was distributing sandwiches to everypony with his magic. Blue Ray beckoned me to sit with him, and I obliged, still a bit surprised. A platter with two sandwiches floated my way, landing in front of me with meticulous precision. The bread slices were perfect right triangles, and the hay, lettuce and tomato slices between the two slices were evenly spread out. I bet Caesar had calculated the optimal energy intake, too.

"Pvetty amavhing, huh?" asked Blue Ray, his mouth full. I nodded silently and decided to just eat. The food tasted amazing, and I realized that I was hungry like never before. I completely wolfed it down, both sandwiches were gone before Blue Ray finished his first one. I looked at Caesar. He gave me a weird look and sent me another sandwich. I nodded in thanks and dug in.

"When was the last time you ate?" asked Blue Ray in amusement.

"I don't know… I think it was before I got here."

"A full day without food? You're crazy, you know that?"

I blushed in embarrassment. Oh right, I must've looked like an animal, just devouring everything on the plate in a matter of seconds.

Blue Ray looked around the cafeteria. "Alright, everypony's pretty much finished eating. I think we should start the discussion."

He got up from his chair and raised his voice. "May I have your attention, please?"

His authoritative voice silenced every conversation that was going on until now. All the eyes were on him again. He jumped on the table, and A. K. Yearling sighed in frustration. Was she the one who acted so fussy over Rainbow standing on a table yesterday?

"Thanks. You all know why we're here, besides breakfast. We need to get out of this prison, so let's start with what we know."

He looked around the room again. "I searched this school top to bottom, and I concluded this: We are indeed trapped here. The entrance hall is all covered in metal, so much that it is completely unrecognizable. There are no windows whatsoever, and what's weird, the upper floors seem to be blocked off from us with some kind of magical barrier. The only high point we can reach is the central tower connecting all the wings and floors, but every single door in there is blocked as well, so there is no point in going there unless you want to exercise by running up and down the stairs. So to summarize, we are stuck in the first floor of wing one. Other floors and wings are inaccessible."

"Can't we dispel the barrier or break the metal plates?" asked Thunder Roar.

"I'm getting to that. We need to work together if we can even hope to get out of here. Twilight, Trixie?"

I shivered as I heard my name. "Y-yes?"

"You are our magic experts. You are in charge of breaking the barrier, as well as sweeping this school for any enchantments. There is so many things we don't know. What is Monokami's nature? How does he talk to all of us at once? How does he monitor us? Is this truly the Future Academy, or just a replica somewhere else? What does it look like outside? Any mystery you solve, any tidbit of information you find will be useful. How you divide the job is up to you."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie will go break that pesky barrier. Running around like a moron is more in line with Twilight Sparkle's so-called expertise." Oh great, she didn't even ask me what I think, and on top of that she was belittling me.

"Drop the insults, Trixie, seriously," barked Thunder. Trixie just tsk-ed in response.

"Anyway, Phoenix, Bewilderer, your first job will be to look around the school and find anything you could use as materials for some sort of invention. Then you'll analyze the metal plates in the entrance hall, as well as the magic barrier and walls around us. See if you can find a way out with what you have on hoof. If not, any sort of progress will do. You can cooperate with our mages if you see the opportunity."

"You got it, boss!" said Bewilderer. I made sure I would remember his name from now on.

"Next, Octavia and Fleur. You'll be our moral support. I know that things look grim and that some of us will have difficulty handling it. You will be there for everypony else, give them somepony to talk to, give them a shoulder to cry on. Oh, and also try to resolve any conflicts between classmates before they get out of hoof."

"I understand," nodded Octavia.

"I will gladly help!" said Fleur, smiling as always.

Blue Ray took a second to think. "Caesar, measure everything to see if there is perhaps a suspiciously thick wall that a secret room could be hiding in. Also, having a map of this floor could be useful for us, even though I think we'll know it by heart in several days. Think you can handle that?"

"Yes."

"And finally, everypony athletic. Twitch, Rainbow Dash, Sunny Day. You will be the muscles. Perhaps all that we need to break those metal plates is a bit of brute force. Perhaps somepony will need to carry something heavy. That's what you'll be here for."

"How about no?"

All of us turned to Twitch. She looked less aggravated than yesterday, but still had a nasty look on her scarred face.

"When did I let you become my boss? I can't recall."

Blue Ray recoiled from that, but quickly regained his composure. "Uhm, let me be clear: I am not anyone's boss. I just thought that an organized group has better chances of succeeding than a chaotic one. We all want to get out of here, don't we?"

"I want to get out of here. And I know a simple way to do that."

Twitch's words froze me to the bone. She could not mean that…

"Don't say things like that! You wouldn't dare kill one of us!" exclaimed Phoenix. His red eyes crossed with Twitch's gaze.

"Why not? Are YOU trying to boss me around now?" she asked, her voice as cold as death itself.

"That's quite enough," said Fleur. "Twitch, I get it. You do not care about anyone's well-being but yours. You have your own ways and nopony can control you. Am I wrong?"

"…" Twitch kept silent, letting her sneer to talk for itself.

"I understand, nopony will force you to do anything. But let me warn you: Aimlessly threatening us will do you no good in the long run. What if you really decided to commit murder? Remembering what you said just now, we will automatically suspect you! Even if you are not the real culprit, you will still be treated with suspicion, all because of your unnecessary hostility. Please, control yourself. If not for our sake, then for your own."

Twitch's contemptuous smile was slowly being replaced by a grim frown. She turned around and headed for the exit just as Fleur stopped talking.

"Control yourself. That's so easy to say for somepony like you. Fuck off. You don't understand me, at all. I'm getting out of here before you demonize me even more."

She didn't smash the door behind her this time, instead she just let it slowly close by itself. It was strange to realize, but she didn't seem angry to me at all. Instead, she was… Sad? Dismayed? What happened to her?

"That was about what I expected," commented Thunder Roar. "We can't count on her. Any job for me, Blue Ray?"

"Oh, um, yes. You are good at bolstering the talents of all ponies around you, right? You can, I don't know, walk around and help everypony?"

"…Sure can."

"Tot He Tei wants to help too!" exclaimed the little colt. Blue Ray seemed more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. He switched his balance on the table, looking somewhere in the corner.

"Uhh, I don't know, nothing comes to mind…"

And right in that moment, Octavia whispered something in Tot's ear, and he started jumping in place. "Oh, oh, he sees! Yes yes! Tot He Tei will not disappoint, auntie Octavia!"

He grabbed the last platter of sandwiches and rushed out of the cafeteria like a lightning bolt. Octavia just stood in place, shellshocked.

"Did he… did he just call me his aunt?"

Fleur laughed out loud, her voice ringing pleasantly in my ears. "I guess we know who is going to be the foalsitter! That is so adorable!"

I giggled a little myself, seeing poor Octavia flustered like that. She was really a mare with heart of gold, from what little I've seen of her. She'd been taking care of Tot He Tei since day one, and this little moment just made her role as a foalsitter official.

"Alright, anypony else want to say something?" asked Blue Ray. A brief silence was the only answer he got. "Alright then, let's begin. We'll meet here for lunch and see how we've progressed, okay?"

We murmured in agreement, leaving the cafeteria one by one. I sighed and mentally prepared for the taxing day ahead of me. I started assembling a collection of spells I would need for a thorough check, then started casting them one by one. I scanned the cafeteria first, then moved on.

I could already sense some very powerful spell sprawled over the whole school like a huge hibernating animal. That was a bad sign.

I used the opportunity to explore the part of school I haven't seen yet. Leaving cafeteria, I went left and saw a flight of stairs. Trixie was looking intently at a pink magical barrier that was preventing us from going up. I decided to leave her alone, I wasn't in mood for more snide remarks.

I heard a loud smash, then another one. What was that? I went in the direction the noises were coming from, reaching the entrance hall. This was the place where I passed out two days ago. It was truly unrecognizable, the glass doors I remembered were nowhere to be found, replaced by thick metal plating. Bewilderer was examining them, and Rainbow Dash was fiercely bucking into them, hoping to break out of this building. At least I now knew where the loud smashes were coming from.

"Gah! It's no use! There's not even a dent in them!" she shouted in frustration.

"They are pretty thick, I don't think even Twitch could smash through them," commented Bewilderer. I started probing the room for any enchantments, and detected a strong spell coursing through the plating.

"Forget her, she's a lost cause. Oh hey Twilight, what's up?"

I turned my head to Rainbow and responded. "Just gathering information, that's all. I don't think anypony can break this, it's been reinforced by an enchantment and I can't locate the power source."

"Well that's just peachy," grunted Rainbow.

"Can we dissolve it with acid?" asked Bewilderer. I examined the enchanted plates a bit more, then shook my head.

Bewilderer stomped the ground. "Can we blow it up?"

"No, that would end horribly."

"Can we melt it?"

"No."

"I'm out of ideas."

"Some inventor you are, overalls," said Rainbow with a malicious grin.

"Says somepony who never had any ideas to begin with," retorted Bewilderer. "Whatever. I'll just go see how Phoenix is doing."

Bewilderer left. Rainbow Dash continued halfheartedly bucking into the plates with an exasperated look on her face. "I don't wanna be here, come ooon…"

Seeing her, I started to feel concerned. "Rainbow? Do you want me to call Fleur? Or Octavia?"

"No, I just… I'll get over it. I don't like being closed away from the sky, you know?" she said with a sad smile on her face. "Hey, don't you have an uhh… some sort of job to do?"

"Oh, of course," I said, caught off-guard. The message was clear, Rainbow Dash wanted me to leave her alone. I quickly trod further down the hallway, and heard a loud, angry *bang* behind me. Maybe I should've called Fleur after all…

The next room I saw was the nurse's office. Oh no, this must be where Kunai was being hospitalized. I realized with shame that I hadn't thought of her even once today, even though she bravely stood up against Monokami. Am I that bad a friend? Did somepony even bring her breakfast?

I decided to go in and see what I could do. Better late than never, after all. But when I opened the door, I stopped dead in my tracks.

The nurse's office was surprisingly big. There was a door on the other end of the room, as well as some medical equipment. The main feature were three hospital beds, one of which was occupied. And right there, I saw the most adorable thing ever.

Kunai was lying on the bed, bruised and still covered in her shady cape. Tot He Tei was standing beside her, standing on his hind legs and hugging her. She was weakly ruffling his mane, staring off into space. After a while she noticed me and gave me a small smile.

"I got a pet."

Tot He Tei turned to see who came to visit, then squeaked in excitement and rushed towards me. "Twilight! Kunai says she is alright! She just feels a bit dizzy right now! Tot He Tei brought her breakfast, she was so happy!"

So that's where he went with that platter of sandwiches. I saw it lying on a bedside table, empty except for a few crumbs. Tot He Tei was bouncing in front of me, babbling on and on.

"Auntie Octavia said he should keep Kunai company! He is so proud of this job! Kunai says she feels better with me around!"

"That's… amazing, Tot. Can I just talk with Kunai real quick?"

"Yes yes! Kunai likes talking!" exclaimed Tot He Tei as he jumped aside, almost colliding with an empty bed. I walked in the nurse's office and took a closer look at injured Kunai.

She looked so much better than yesterday when Monokami dragged her off. She was watching me with her deep olive eyes, patiently waiting for me to start a conversation.

"So uhh, Kunai, are you feeling better?"

"Much. Tot He Tei told me there was a meeting. What did I miss?"

"Oh, Blue Ray just gave us all work to do. My task is to detect any enchantments and spells, among other things."

"Sounds important."

I wanted to respond, but instead I shrieked as a door blasted open. Bewilderer rushed out of it, his burned, bald head clearly visible. On his back he was carrying Phoenix, who was wearing the red wig on top of his mane, also red. They looked absolutely ridiculous.

"A PAINKILLER BOMB! Phoenix, you're a genius!"

"Huehuehuehuehue!"

The two inventors made a beeline for the other door, the one I entered from, and disappeared in the hallway.

Kunai summarized the situation in one perfectly fitting word. "What."

"I-I don't know what to say to that…"

"Tot He Tei thinks it was funny!"

Suddenly I was of opinion that a big, two-toned magic wolf wasn't the craziest thing in this madhouse. I distracted myself by casting one of my detection spells, and immediately noticed that Kunai was positively soaked with magic.

I focused on her a bit more, trying to identify the spell. I gasped when I realized that it was a powerful healing sequence. Broken bones were absolutely nothing for it. Injuries that would've taken whole months to heal were almost gone already. At that point, I realized two things:

The barrier, this healing spell, Monokami himself, they were probably all being powered from that one huge spell laying over the whole school like a blanket.

And whoever was casting that spell must have had power of an alicorn at their disposal. Nopony else could cast something this potent.

"You look pale," stated Kunai.

"I just… I just found out something disturbing. Celestia… why?" Was Princess Celestia really in cahoots? She couldn't be! She would never do something like that!

The only other alicorn I knew was my old foalsitter, Princess Cadence. No, she wasn't an option either! She was the princess of love, for crying out loud! A killing game is pretty much the opposite of that!

Then who was it? Who was healing Kunai right now? Who was keeping all that magic flowing?

"I have to go now. Uhh, that dizziness is probably just from magic overdose, you are pretty much healthy. Good luck!"

And I ran. Dammit, why did I wish her good luck? Didn't I just say that she was already healthy? Why do I have to be so damn awkward all the time?

I quickly continued with my search. There were two classrooms next to each other, labeled 1-1-A and 1-1-B. I went to 1-1-B first, since it was right opposite the nurse's office, and I found Caesar there. This looked like a class specifically designed to teach maths, it had a huge blackboard with a supply of chalks and large geometry tools hanging off the walls. Caesar was holding a pencil in his mouth and a triangular ruler in his hooves. He was drawing something, presumably a map of this place. I tried not to disturb him as I ran my standard spell check, then quickly left.

Classroom 1-1-A was different, and it immediately reminded me of my years at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. It was obviously fitted with magic students in mind, it had shelves packed with spellbooks, scrolls, and potions. There were even two magic amplifiers, rune catalogue, colored chalk for drawing magic circles… In short, there was everything I could ever need! I squealed in delight, taking in this treasure cove. With this, me and Trixie could cast far more powerful spells, and perhaps we could even break out of here!

I quickly made a magic check and left, promising to myself that I would return here as soon as possible.

Other places were not nearly as interesting. Teachers' cabinet could hold some interesting info, but Blue Ray and Thunder Roar were already rifling through documents and nothing else was of particular value. The central tower was even less interesting, it was just as Blue Ray said: The stairs were leading nowhere in particular, as all exits except the one I used were blocked off by magic barriers. I tried my luck cracking one of them, but it was just as I expected: The magic behind them was simply too powerful for me. Even if all unicorns in our group united, we would be helpless.

I did discover one thing, though. Just in case, I cast my magic check at the very top of the tower, and I noticed that the mysterious power source felt somewhat closer than when I tried finding it downstairs. Did it mean that the power source was somewhere above us?

I started feeling tired from all the repeated casting. Then I remembered that I had only investigated the rooms on the left from the cafeteria. There was also plenty of rooms on the other side: Our dorms, the main classroom, some other places I haven't been to yet…

This was about to be a long day.

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