Zero Escape: Nine Hours Nine Ponies Nine Doors

"Chirp.... Chirp... Chirp...." Shining's eyes opened slowly. He could hear the faint humming of various insects , he was lying on the ground, staring at the night sky. He was still wearing his royal guard uniform.

"What the Tartarus..." Shining got up and scanned his surroundings. There were tall bushes surrounding him in all directions. Shining quickly realized where he was: "Canterlot's hedge maze? Whoever did this must have a liking for sick pranks." As he scratched his forehead, Shining felt something on his wrist, he felt his heart practically jump out of his body.

"What's up with this bracelet?" Shining questioned, it was strapped to his left hand. He tried prying it off, and he felt an electrical jolt surge through his body. "Gah! Screw this!" Shining quickly began preparing a teleporting spell, even if it wasn't his specialty, he could still try. As he concentrated, he felt nothing, his horn didn't react. Shining tried another spell, praying to dear Celestia that something hadn't restricted has magic, and almost if the universe was toying with him, he was right. None of his shield spells worked, try as he might.

Shining felt a cool breeze sweep the area, he hugged his chest for warmth, he closed his eyes to concentrate about what to do next. His thoughts however, were quickly interrupted by the sound of paper being carried by the wind. He opened his eyes and saw an old, withered scroll rolling into one of the branching pathways of the maze, instinctively, he quickly bolted after it. He picked up the note, and struggled to read it without any sort of light source.

"Click-Click...." In the background, Shining heard a somewhat mechanical noise, he was too caught up in the note to care. He squinted his eyes, but to no avail, the note remained illegible, much to his frustration. The noise in the background grew somewhat louder as it made a soft flickering noise. As the noise grew considerably louder, the note slowly became more readable, thanks to an unknown light source.

Shining read the note out loud.

Let the sinister path guide your way.

"Sinister path?" Shining repeated to himself. "What could it mean?" He questioned, he was about to sit down and think when-

"Woosh!" Shining turned around, a bush not too far behind him went up in flames, the flame had risen so far up it could be seen from at least a mile away. His retinas burned a little bit just by looking at it. Shining prepared to run when his rational mind kicked in.

"If I just ran following that path, I might end up trapped between the fire. Think Shining Armor, think! What in Celestia's name is a 'sinister path?'" Shining stood like a deer in the headlights as the fire got closer. Then, almost by magic, he remembered something.

"Hey big brother! You know in some ancient cultures, left was considered evil?" Twilight had told him this long ago when they were kids. Shining closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He ran through the hedge maze, acting only on gut instinct. Smoke filled the maze,  and Shining covered his mouth and nose to prevent his body from collapsing. At the first fork, there were three paths, Shining sprinted- no, flew in the direction of the leftmost path. The path seemed to go on for miles, and as he ran farther and farther, the sound of the raging fire grew quieter and quieter.

After a long, grueling run, Shining reached the end of the accursed maze. He stopped to catch his breath, and his heart rate slowly went down. "Where now?" He thought to himself, he looked off into the distance. He noticed the sky had a somewhat pinkish hue, then it rippled, like a stone in the water. "No way... A force field spell?!" Not just any force field spell, Shining had recognized it from an old spellbook Twilight had given him for his 16th birthday, it was one of Starswirl the Bearded's most advanced spells, called "Lock In-Lock Out". Only truly advanced unicorns could pull it off, and even then, not for long, yet whoever was controlling it had an entire castle under a barrier. Essentially, once you're in, there's no way out unless the wielder deactivates it, and vice versa.

Shining shifted his focus towards his immediate surroundings, in front of him, there was a door, left slightly open. Shining reluctantly stepped through it, and locked the door behind him. Inside the building, there was a large, spiraling staircase. Shining jogged up the staircase with caution.

At the top of the stairs, there was yet another door. He nervously twisted the knob, and in front of him stood a grand throne room. On the floor was an ornate carpet decorated with fancy jewel symbols, the room was well lit with chandeliers lined along the ceiling. Along the walls, there were other doors, not unlike the one he had emerged from. Shining turned his attention to the center of the room, eight other ponies had arrived already. They looked as if they were arguing. Shining uneasily walked towards them with his hands in his pockets, they didn't seem to notice him.

"Hey uh, guys..." Shining said, trying to get their attention. None of them listened.

"Guys." He said firmly, no response, once more. The crowd was bickering and shouting at each other, Shining tried to eavesdrop, but all their voices screaming at once made it somewhat difficult to hear what one individual was saying.

Shining sighed. "Alright..."

"Everybody shut the buck up!" The once frantic room had gone silent, everybody in the room directed their attention towards Shining, he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, but could anyone tell me what exactly is going on?" Out of the crowd, a pegasus with fiery orange hair stepped through, she examined Shining's bracelet and grunted.

"So you're one of us too." She said, Shining was confused for a moment, but then he realized what she was talking about. Everyone had on a bracelet identical to his on their wrists, right down to the design.

"If it isn't too much to ask, what is going on?" Shining said, repeating his question.

"Too much questions, you ask. We are blind, as if we are covered behind a mask." A zebra spoke up, who had a pale white face with black-line patterns across her face. She was adorned with golden rings across her body. Her head was mostly shaved, save for the mohawk-like hairstyle that stuck straight up. She wore an odd black and white dress resembling that of a witch doctor.

"Well, ah think we should introduce ourselves!" A younger teenager, who looked around 14-15 years of age spoke up. He was an Earth Pony, with blonde hair and a cowboy hat, his skin was tanned. He was wearing a brown jacket with a plain orange shirt under it, he also wore a pair of torn jeans. He ran over to Shining and offered a friendly handshake. He awkwardly shook his hand.

"I'm Braeburn, nice to meetcha!" He said, very quickly. It was clear he was full of energy.

"Oh, uh yeah... I'm Shining Armor... Just call me Shining, I guess."  He said, looking down at him.

"Lieutenant Spitfire at your service." The pegasus from earlier said, leaning against the wall. She was wearing a tight, sky- blue jumpsuit with the Wonderbolts insignia on the right shoulder.

Another pegasus spoke up "...Lieutenant Soarin' reporting for duty." His hair was a dark shade of blue, somewhat messy. He wore a jumpsuit not unlike Spitfire's, but it was jet-black. Perhaps they were partners in work?

Another pony sighed, "My name is Octavia. Whatever we're here for had better be important." She looked to be a teenager, an earth pony, of 15-16 years of age. Her black hair was frazzled, and she appeared to be in pajamas, a grey t-shirt with a pink music note, and black sweatpants and slippers.

"The name's Sigma, don't wear it out." A dragon in the back said sharply. He had a gruff voice, and looked to be one of the worst kinds of dragons: a teenager. His build was slimmer than most teenage dragons. He was covered in lavender scales, with green scales sticking out of his head like the fin of a shark. Shining couldn't help but feel he looked familiar.

"The name I carry is Zecora, I hope we'll live to see the aurora." Commented the Zebra from earlier. From the back, someone spoke up.

"Do I even need an introduction?" Said a voice Shining had heard before. It was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of all ponies, Shining's eyes widened. She wore a puffy pink dress covered in purple streamers. Her face was a light shade of pink. Her hair was neat and elegant, on top of it stood a golden, shiny crown adorned with gems. Her hair was multicolored, pink, purple, and a bit of white. Her wings were extended and her horn stood out like a diamond in the rough. Shining practically felt his heart pop out of his chest.

"P-p-p-Princess Cadence! It's an honor to meet you in-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're honored to meet me. I've had to go through this seven other times. I don't know why I'm here." She said rather coldly. The beauty and grace from her appearance melted away with that one remark. There were bags under her eyes, presumably from stress. After all, being a royal princess with a legacy to live up to must be quite a weight on one's shoulders.

"Ouch. I guess some ponies don't work well under pressure. Wait a minute, did she say seven? Counting myself and Cadence, there's only six other ponies here..." Shining thought to himself, maybe she miscounted?

"Hey you, in the back, what's your story?" Spitfire seemed to be talking to somepony who was out of his line of sight. From the very back of the room, a pegasus nervously walked forward.

"My... My name is Fluttershy..." She murmured. Her voice was barely audible. Spitfire was clearly irritated.

"Speak up!" She commanded, in a manner not unlike a Drill Sergeant. Fluttershy jumped back, clearly it had scared the daylights out of her. Soarin' facepalmed.

"M-m-My name is Fluttershy..." The pegasus said quietly. She looked to be around Braeburn and Octavia's age, but her meekness made her seem like a child. She had long, flowing pink hair that went down to her waist. She was wearing a yellow wool sweater and a magenta skirt. She was scared out of her wits, biting her thumb nervously.

"That covers just about everybody. Now, could someone explain what this bucked-up slumber party is about?" Spitfire said, with an edge of sarcasm. Once again, the room erupted into arguing and confusion, Shining was about to raise his voice once more, but he was interrupted by the overwhelming sound of static.

"Hello and good evening, everybody." Said a voice over a speaker. Shining fell over out of surprise. He looked around for whoever was talking. He then realized it was coming from a speaker Everyone in the room turned their attention to the voice. The voice was feminine and somewhat robotic sounding, very inorganic.

"I assume you're wondering why you're all here."

"Damn right I am!" shouted Sigma. He seemed ready to rip apart whoever had put him here.

"My name is Zero. You have all been chosen to play a competition of sorts. We call it... 'The Nonary Game'"

"In this game of ours, there are nine doors. One of them is the number nine door. Find it, and you can escape. Sound simple? *It isn't.*

"But, there is a catch. You unfortunately, won't have all the time in the world. In nine hours, this palace will be submerged into the ground completely, straight to Tartarus." Nearly everyone in the room did a double-take.

"In this throne room, there are two doors labeled with numbers, do you see them?" Shining scanned the room, along the right side of the throne room there were two doors with the numbers [6] and [3] coated in red paint, or at least he hoped it was red paint.

"Not everyone can simply walk through the door. There are specific rules. Rule number one: Only 3-5 ponies may go through same door together. Rule number two: The numbers on the bracelets have to match up with the digital root of the door. "

"..Digital Root?" Shining ran the word over and over again in his mind, trying to see if he could remember it from somewhere. It did no good.

"Judging by your confused expressions, none of you have heard of the concept. Quite a pity. Very well, I shall explain it very slowly to you. To find the digital root, add up the bracelet numbers of whoever is going through the door, and then add the sum together. For example, the digital root of six plus six plus six would be nine, by adding together eighteen to get nine. Is that simple enough for you?

"No, no, you've made it quite clear... That you're a psycho." Remarked Octavia with a bit of snark. Shining had to admit it wasn't the easiest concept to wrap your head around.

"Ah yes, about the bracelets..."

"I assume the Unicorns and Pegasi in the crowd have tried to fly far, far away from this horrid place, or just whisk yourself away with a spell. You see, the bracelet restricts your ability to do such things." Shining could have sworn that he heard Zero giggle a bit at their misfortune.

"I'm also guessing once you realized it was on, you tried to pull it off, only to be rewarded with a small jolt. You see, this was a 'warning shot' of sorts." Shining felt a drop of sweat go down his forehead, imagining what might have happened had he been more persistent with the bracelet.

"But fear not, that bracelet isn't attached to you forever, you impatient foals. There are two ways to take off our wonderful little buddy. First, you leave through the number nine door and escape. Secondly, you die!" Zero seemed to take such joy in uttering that last sentence, much to the terror of the participants.

"Now now, you must be wondering 'Zero, how does your magical bracelet do all these things?' It's quite easy, the magic inside it is powered by your life force, when it no longer detects a life force, it automatically detaches."

"Now, for my favorite part. If you continuously fiddle with your bracelet, you explode. If you try to go through a numbered door with the wrong digital root, you explode. And lastly, if you try to go through a numbered door with the wrong number of ponies-"

"We get the picture." interrupted Soarin'. It was clear that Zero was not one to beat around the bush. Shining was thankful that he didn't have to hear that last bit.

"Well, hopefully that covers the basics for you. Ciao!" And with that, the voice disappeared, just like that.

"Alright gang, let's get goin'!" said Braeburn, eager to get a move on. He didn't seem to be shaken by Zero one bit.

"Hold on a sec. Don't we need to know the bracelet numbers?"

"Somepony's a little on the slow side. You didn't bother to look?" said Cadence snidely. Shining scratched his head for a moment. If her alicorn powers were supposedly disabled, how could she have figured the bracelet numbers in such short notice. Cadence ran through the numbers.

Braeburn had the number [1] bracelet.

Octavia had the number [2] bracelet.

Fluttershy had the number [3] bracelet.

Zecora had the number [4] bracelet.

Cadence had the number [5] bracelet.

Shining had the number [6] bracelet.

Spitfire had the number [7] bracelet.

Sigma had the number [8] bracelet.

Lastly, Soarin' had the number [9] bracelet.

Cadence sighed, "There. Now we can decide who's going in which door. Hopefully, you numbskulls can figure it out yourself."

"Watch your mouth, princess." Sigma said, clearly irritated by her remark. Cadence giggled, furthering his annoyance.

Shining thought to himself. "So if I understand this right, you add together the numbers that make up the sum. Seems simple enough." There were two doors, [6] and [3]. Shining could think of two possible options.

Option One: Go through door [6] with Cadence, Braeburn, and Fluttershy while the others could go through door [3].

Option Two: Go through door [3] with Spitfire, Sigma, and Soarin'.

Shining closed his eyes and thought to himself, eventually he decided on...

(Door 6)

(Door 3)