Just a Game

“Where do you think the rest of the girls are?” Pinkie Pie asked her friend.

“I have no clue. Pinkie, we have been walking forever. Are you sure this is the right direction?”

“Yeah, I am pretty sure the sign said-“

Pinkie had stopped dead in her tracks. She had seen something.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie said nothing. She just stared at the Television in front of her. Twilight moved over to see what it had shown. Her heart sank.

“Sweet Celestia…”

The screen had shown a disoriented Rainbow Dash lying strapped to a table. A gigantic pendulum swinging above her. Ready to shed blood.

“We have to help her!” Pinkie pleaded.

The screen cut to jigsaw, his eyes staring blankly at the two. This startled Twilight.

“Unlike my other games with you two, I will allow you to help your friend escape. But be wary, she may yet die at your own hoof if you fail to complete my task.”

The TV had shut off, and the door had opened. The two hurried to greet their friend.

“Twilight! Pinkie! Where are we? Are you okay?”

Rainbow Dash had many questions to ask, but there was so little time.

Rainbow had been slightly relieved to see her friends, but she was still fearful for her life.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash.” A TV had turned on next to Rainbow.

Rainbow turned over to see a strange doll staring into her eyes. It gave her an odd feeling. Something she couldn’t explain.

“While intoxicated, you hit and killed a homeless pony while on your way home. With your minor experience as a forensic scientist, you knew just what to clean. But you couldn’t clean the guilt from your soul, could you?”

The dolls words had sunk into Rainbow’s mind.

“It was an accident! I couldn’t have possibly known he was there!” Rainbow pleaded.

“Oh, but you could have. You could have chosen to stay sober, and make your way back home safely with no harm. You even put an innocent pony in jail for your crime, all to preserve your perfect life. But you couldn’t stop the guilt from eating away at you, rotting you from the inside.”

Rainbow struggled to free herself, but even she couldn’t escape the emotional and physical restraints holding her back.

“Unless the friends you trust everyday can hold the blade, we will see what you really have inside.”

“C’mon Twilight! We gotta help Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie ran over to Rainbow, trying to figure out what how to stop the machinery.

“What are you waiting for Twilight? Help me already!” Rainbow yelled to Twilight.

“You killed sompony?” Twilight looked into Rainbow’s eyes with disgust and disappointment.

“I was drunk, Twilight! I didn’t want it to happen!”

Twilight stared coldly at Rainbow Dash.

“But you chose to cover it up. You even put an innocent pony in jail for what YOU DID!”

Twilight was angry with Rainbow, but she knew she couldn’t keep talking for long. The blade drew closer to Rainbow with every passing second, ready to cut her insides open.

“You didn’t even tell us you had a job before either! Since when were you a forensic scientist?” Twilight asked.

“I-I didn’t have much money. I had to pay the rent somehow! And it was only for a few months, I don’t think it would have really mattered if-“

“You had EVERY right to tell us, Rainbow. Not only was this irresponsible, but it was SELFISH AND CRUEL! I CAN’T EVEN TELL YOU HOW DISSAPOINTED I AM!”

Twilight was furious at her friend, but time was running out.

“Twilight, you got to help me! I don’t know how this works!” Pinkie had yelled to Twilight.

She had walked over to the strange contraption next to them. It looked like some sort of tablet with a few spinning gears.

“Time is running out. I will give you some information. Beside you in a container will be several gears, all different sizes. You must find a way to connect one end of the tablet to the other with the gears. There will be another tablet parallel to where you are standing. Once you complete both tasks, the pendulum will stop. One more thing to add, these gears have surpassed my barrier. I will allow you to use your magic on these gears.”

Twilight kicked over the container, and gears scattered all over the floor. With speed, Twilight connected the two sides with ease. Considering Twilight’s knowledge with these kinds of puzzles, it wasn’t that difficult for her to figure them out. As Twilight made her way to the second tablet, she heard a loud movement of machinery, and the pendulum had dropped about six inches.

“HURRY UP!” Rainbow cried out.

Twilight had found the second tablet to be more challenging; causing her to spend more time on calculating which piece should go where.

“Twilight, don’t you think we should do something?” Pinkie asked.

“I am trying to figure out where these gears should go.” Twilight replied.

“But won’t it be easier just to try them until you figure it out?”

“No, because if I have the wrong gear, I would have to remove it, put it back in the box, retrieve another one, and try that. It would take too long.” Twilight explained.

She thought she had figured it out. She had placed the gears in the right position with her magic, and she heard a loud creaking. The pendulum finally stopped.

“That was close…”

Rainbow Dash was relieved that her friends had saved her from this nightmare.

Just then, the blade of the pendulum had broken, and landed in between her legs, almost cutting her in half. The metal cuffs had released, and Rainbow jumped up from the table.

“Thanks girls. I thought I was going to die back there.”

Although Pinkie was excited about saving her best friend, Twilight still had a cold look on her face. Rainbow Dash noticed this.

“Look Twilight, this happened a long time ago. Can’t we just forget this and move on? We have to find the other girls.”

“You know I can’t forget this.” Twilight replied.

Rainbow Dash sighed, and they moved on through the hallways.

_________________________________________________________________________

Half Track opened the door to his next test, but was greeted by a blinding light and incredible heat.

“This must be a boiler room or something…” He noted to himself.

The door locked behind him, and Half Track tried his hardest to open it. The door wouldn’t budge.

“Shit.”

Half Track looked back to find a catwalk with steam coming out from the sides. There was an audio tape hanging from the ceiling. Half Track took the tape and played it.

“Hello, Half Track. You have seen the flaws in your policy, but what you have not seen is the extent some ponies will go to when faced with death.”

A light beneath him reveals his co-worker, strapped to the wall with chains, and gagged with a piece of cloth. She screamed for Half Track to help her.

“The lawyer from your firm has ninety seconds to cross this room or the device attached to her chest will discharge and pierce her brain.”

“You’re going to be okay! You are gonna be alright!” He tried to assure her.

“She will find that the journey across this room is filled with danger. In order for her to make it, you will need to be there for her and it is you who ultimately holds the key to her survival. When faced with death, will she have the skills to live? Let the game begin.”

A timer had started, and she was released from the chains. She had fallen to the floor, and was now trying to remove the device from her body.

“Spark! Listen to me!”

“What the fuck is this!” She yelled back at him.

Spark banged against the chain-link walls around her, pacing back and forth in frustration.

“GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” She yelled up to Half Track.

“HEY! LISTEN TO ME!!” He desperately tried to get her attention.

She finally decided to listen, and was looking up at Half Track with attention.

“OK, you gotta get through this maze as fast as you can! Move now!” He ordered Spark.

The maze was filled with steam and it was challenging to see a few feet ahead. Spark was already sweating and struggled to keep moving.

“There you go! You can make it!”

Half Track tried to assure her the best he could.

Spark now had to crawl through an even smaller maze, one which triggered her claustrophobia.

“I can’t do this…”

She was sweating profusely and was already feeling lightheaded.

“You can do this! Just go!” Half Track yelled down to her.

“This is insane! I can’t…”

“Yes you can! You have to keep moving!”

Spark leaned down to crawl through the tight space, but steam from a pipe shot into her face, which singed her yellow coat. She cried out in pain. Half Track had a look of sadness on his face, like he knew what was going to happen next.

Half Track noticed a sign that said “Relieve her” with a valve above it.

“Wait! I think I can help you up here!” He called down.

As he turned the valve, it shut off the steam below, but released more above, burning his face. He covered his face from the hot steam, and Spark was waiting on him.

“It worked! Do the other one!”

Half Track moved to the other valve.

“Alright, you ready?” He asked.

“Yeah!”

Half Track turned the valve, and the next set of steam dispersed, causing even more steam to singe his hooves and face. He tried his hardest to hold the valve in place, but the pain was just too much.

Spark was crawling quickly through the cramped spaces, and was almost near the end. Half Track couldn’t hold it anymore, and he let go. Steam shot right into Spark’s face, and the both were screaming in agony from the burns.

Spark quickly escaped the tight space, and moved on through the maze, her flesh melting from the high temperatures.

“Keep going!”

Half Track screamed to her once more, desperately trying to keep her moving through the maze.

In front of her, she saw two steady streams of hot, burning steam. Spark couldn’t move on any further.

“Keep moving! You can do this!”

“I CAN’T!!” She screamed at him.

Spark started to cry, but the intense heat of the maze evaporated her tears immediately.

“I’M FUCKING TRAPPED! I CAN’T!”

Half Track looked everywhere for a form of escape. He had noticed a ladder at the very end.

“No, there is a ladder at the end! Just go under, I’ll help you!”

She was hesitant, but finally decided to move.

“You ready?”

Half Track reached over to the third valve.

“GO!”

He turned the valve, and screamed from sheer agony. Spark moved quickly through the pathway, but was stopped halfway from steam. Half Track had let go, and was lying on the floor from exhaustion. Spark moved climbed up the ladder quickly, burning her hooves on the way up.

“C’mon Spark, climb! Come on, you are almost there!”

Spark had made it to the top, and was leaning against the barrier between her and Half Track. The two stared at each other for a long while. Panting from exhaustion.

“ Okay, look for a key. Theres got to be a key.” He ordered her.

Spark looked everywhere for a key, but could not find anything.

“LOOK FOR A KEY!” He screamed.

Just then, a light had shown on several X-Ray photos, she moved over to examine them. She saw that the key had been placed in Half Track’s side.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?”

She looked at him with surprise in her eyes.

“It’s in you!”

Half Track realized what the scar had come from.

“IT’S FUCKING INSIDE YOU!”

“Oh fuck…” He had no idea what to do.

Twenty Seconds left.

“Okay, I can do this.”

Spark opened the door, and walked over with a saw blade in her hooves.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He asked.

“I NEED THAT FUCKING KEY!”

She swung the blade, just barely missing him by an inch. She swung again, but he dodged this one too. She was temporarily stunned, and Half Track took this opportunity. He punched her with all of his strength, which knocked her back into the wall. She came back and jabbed him right in the chest, knocking the wind right out of him. In return, she took a hard slap to the face. She was leaning over the rail.

Only four seconds left.

Spark needed that key. She needed to stay alive. She walked back over to Half Track and lifted the blade.

“I CAN GET IT, I CAN GET IT!” He screamed at her.

As she was about to lower the blade, the timer went off. She heard a click, and the device strapped to her chest had shot a spear up into her lower jaw, and it drove right into her skull.

“OH GOD NO!”

She stumbled into the railing, and fell over into a boiler. Her flesh melting right off her bones as she sank into the molten ash.

“Oh fuck…”

Half Track turned over to the timer.

Twenty seven minutes left.

He was running out of time.

He opened the door, and he found a key. With anger, he ripped it away and continued down the dark hallways.