Zero Escape: Nine Hours Nine Ponies Nine Doors

"Hey, uh Shining. You alive in there?" Soarin' asked with a semi-confused look on his face. Shining blinked and shook his head. He had been staring off into space for quite a bit, thinking on which door to go through.

"Door Six." He blurted, not thinking. He had to pick sooner or later, so he just went with it. Once again, he was met with a look of confusion and bewilderment.

"Cadence, Fluttershy, Braeburn, and I will go through Door Six. The rest of you will go through Door Three, got it?" Shining felt a drop of sweat go down his forehead as he said this. Moments passed, yet no one spoke up, they all looked at each other, waiting for someone to talk.

"What're you guys waiting for? Move!" Spitfire commanded, with a jolt, everyone ran towards their respective door. Door Six opened up automatically with a groan. Shining walked through the door with care.

"Beep." A sound came from Shining's bracelet, followed by Cadence, Braeburn, and Fluttershy.

"W-what was that?" Said Fluttershy, clutching to Shining's shoulder.

"I'm sure it was nothing Fluttershy. Don't worry about it." Shining said reassuringly, her scared, shy nature reminded Shining of his own antisocial sister in some ways.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was nothing. The explosion will be quick and painless, so you won't feel anything." Cadence said with a smug look on her face. Fluttershy's eyes grew wide.

"P-P-Princess Cadence! Don't say something like that, you're scaring Fluttershy!" Shining scolded, pointing to the cowering Fluttershy.

"My name is not 'P-P-Princess Cadence' you dimwit. If you're going to address me at least get my name right." Said Cadence, looking at her nails. Shining felt a bit irritated at that remark, but he could see some truth in it.

"Detonators have been activated. 90 seconds until explosion." A mechanical voice rang through the air like nails on a chalkboard. Shining felt paralyzed as the word 'explosion' echoed through his head. He had no clue what to do.

"Everybody, keep movin'!" Braeburn shouted. Shining looked around the room, for a clue, for anything. He desperately ran around the room trying to find what could possibly save his life.

"Beep. Beep. Beep." Shining turned around. Across the room, Cadence, Braeburn, and Fluttershy were standing over by some kind of device. Out of curiosity, he ran over to them. As he reached them, he could make out the device. It was in the shape of a hand, maybe a scanner? Shining didn't have time to question it, he jammed his hand into the scanner.

"Detonators have been deactivated. Please resume the Nonary Game." Shining stopped and caught his breath.

"Zero.... You lying sack of...." Shining was still gasping for air, but he felt outraged. Zero really couldn't have bothered to mention something as important as this? Shining turned to look at the other three contestants. Cadence was crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Just an idea, but I think we should start looking, please." Murmured Fluttershy. Cadence and Shining gave each other a scowl and reluctantly nodded.

Seek a way out!

Shining took a minute to absorb his surroundings. The room they were in looked to be a large ballroom, with multiple chandeliers brightening up the place. There were many ice sculptures scattered across the room, positioned on tables. At the back of the room there was a curtain presumably hiding something.

Shining looked once more at the scanner, there was a piece of paper hanging next to it. It had a chart with a multitude of dots making up columns and rows. On the top there was some unreadable backwards writing that he couldn't make out. He stashed it away in one of his pockets for safekeeping.

Shining walked over to one of the sculptures. It depicted a man in fully-clad royal guard armor charging towards a battlefield. Shining instinctively touched it and he was met with a surprise.

"Ow!" He jumped back, there was a small burn mark on his hand.

"Anti-Vandalism spell. Celestia uses it to keep cute boys, or as she calls them 'ruffians', from 'accidentally' knocking over the sculptures." Explained Cadence, making gestures with her hands to accentuate her sarcasm.

"Celestia uses this spell? You don't think..." Shining Armor said, tiptoeing around what he was trying to say.

"No, of course not, you simpleton! Auntie would never do this." Cadence said, she looked ready to strangle Shining.

"I didn't know you and Celestia were so close, princess." Said Fluttershy, biting her thumb.

"There's gotta be a catch to all this... One of these is gotta be the one to get us outta here!" Braeburn said, and with that, he began tapping each sculpture, getting more and more burn marks on his hand. It was almost pitiful, but Shining had to hold in a few chuckles.

"M-maybe we should help him...?" Questioned Fluttershy, she unlike Shining and Cadence, wasn't amused by Braeburn's repeated (unintentional) self-abuse.

"Give him a minute." Said Cadence, who had already taken a seat to watch this unfortunate display of persistence unfold. Eventually, Braeburn gave up, his hands charred from electricity, he still had his trademark upbeat grin, but there was a look in his eyes that suggested embarrassment.

Shining, tired of his group's shenanigans, took the initiative of seeking a way out of this particular room. The ice sculptures were all identical to each other, right down to each microscopic detail. The sculptures were all arranged in neat rows, spread out about four feet apart from each other.

Taking a deep breath, he navigated the room carefully, as to not shock himself even more. He narrowed his eyes, looking for a possible odd-one-out. "This might take a while..." He thought to himself as he wandered the seemingly endless rows of sculptures. Then, he had an idea.

Shining turned around, and jumped back a bit out of surprise. Braeburn, Fluttershy, and Cadence had been following him the whole time. "W-when did you guys get here?" He questioned, clearly surprised.

"I don't really know, Mr. Shining.... Ah guess you're just one of those uh... leader types." Braeburn said, scratching his head.

"That's great, I guess. Anyways I've got an idea. Fluttershy, get on my shoulders." He said, somewhat hesitantly. Shining felt his cheeks go red as he looked at Fluttershy. Braeburn's face radiated confusion and Cadence seemed quite irritated.

"O-okay, if that's okay with you, I-I suppose." Shining squatted down at Fluttershy was hoisted onto Shining, he expected her to be at least somewhat light.

"Nnnrg...... Hurgggggg...." Shining grunted as he struggled to stand up carrying Fluttershy. "C-can ya see anything up there? Try and find one that isn't like the rest." Shining said, hardly able to speak.

"Umm.... No, I can't see past the heads of the ice sculptures." She replied, trying her best not to disappoint Shining. He barely managed to lift her up a few feet off the ground.

"How many gym classes did you skip, exactly?" Cadence said smugly.

"Uh... Mr. Shining? Ah don't wanna rain on your parade or anything, but ah think I'll over." Within seconds, fourteen-year old Braeburn grabbed Fluttershy and hoisted her up with ease. Shining let out an embarrassed laugh.

"Can you see anything up there, Ms. Shy?" Braeburn asked.

"Y-yes! There's one that looks different in the back! T-there!" She pointed to the bottom-left corner of the room, Shining couldn't see exactly what she was pointing to, but he nodded and started jogging towards the corner of the room without making contact with the sculptures. A few minutes passed until the group managed to find the unique sculpture.

The sculpture itself stood on a wooden stool, unlike the other sculptures, which stood on fancy tables. It pictured a scholar sitting upon a stump, reading a book of some sort. There was something shiny inside the core of the ice, but nobody could make it out.

"What now?" Shining asked, they had found a possible lead, but had no idea how to use it.

"Outta the way!" Without warning, Cadence jumped at the sculpture and kicked it against the wall, shattering it. Everyone looked at her with clear surprise. "What? I got some anger to work out. Hey, uh, look!" Cadence quickly pointed to the key that lay in the corner, along with the shattered ice. Braeburn picked it up and examined it.

"Where do ya think it goes?" Said Braeburn, looking at it from different angles. The others huddled around it.

"Whoa uh, slow down there, Brae. Maybe we should look around a bit more. I mean, Zero wouldn't make it that easy." Said Shining, who was still curious about what secrets this large room could hold.

"Ah guess you're right. Let's split up, gang!" Braeburn declared rather suddenly. The group nodded and spread out in different directions. Shining walked with his hands in his pockets as he tried not to get bored from looking at the same sculptures.

Shining stopped and looked at one of the sculptures, same as the rest. "So, how's life goin'?" He said to the inanimate sculpture. "What, you're giving me the cold shoulder?" Shining chuckled a bit at his own pitiful pun. "Ignoring me, huh? That's just cold..." He said with a snicker. The sculpture still kept it's stone-face as always.

"E-e-Excuse me! Everyone, over here, please!" Cried Fluttershy. Shining had a rough idea of where she was, by the sound of her voice. The sculptures felt malicious to Shining as he carefully navigated a safe path to Fluttershy, as if they were blocking his way from the exit. Shining, Braeburn, and Cadence reached Fluttershy at about the same time. Fluttershy was standing in front of a large stage of some sort. Shining rubbed his eyes, making sure he was seeing things right. He was surprised he didn't noticed it earlier.

"I think it's a stage..." Fluttershy said quietly. The curtains were a very light shade of purple, with vibrant, yellow stars placed all around the corners of it. The curtains seemed to be held together by a lock with a keyhole.

"Guys, I know this one!" Braeburn exclaimed, and with that he jammed the key into the lock and twisted it with great force. The lock snapped off instantly, and the curtains slowly opened. The stage was mostly empty, save for a large, adjustable mirror in the middle. A light from the side of the stage shone on the mirror, and Shining squinted to protect his eyes.

"Hey Shining, come help me out with this!" Braeburn called Shining over as he ran behind the mirror.

"Whatever you say..." Shining said doubtfully as he walked over to the mirror.

"You gotta be my eyes and ears, Mr. Shining! Tell me where to point this thing! We'll turn these ice cubes to nothin'!" Shining blinked, for a moment and shook his head. He must have underestimated Braeburn's intelligence. Sure, he wasn't the brightest guy sometimes, but damn, was he quick-thinking. Cadence and Fluttershy cautiously moved out of the way of the intense light.

"On second thought... What are we even supposed to do with this? The ice sculptures are pretty clear, so I doubt we'd miss anything odd from the angle we're standing at." Shining questioned.

"Well it's not like we can just fry them all, I mean just look at how many of these there are." Cadence said. Shining gulped as he looked at the large, frosty army before him.

Shining closed his eyes and took a breath. "C'mon Shining, they're counting on you for this one. The more cooperative you are, the less time you have to spend in this Tartarus-hole..." Shining put on his metaphorical thinking cap and began to concentrate.

"Wait a minute..." Shining pulled out the paper from earlier, he looked down at the chart and back at the sculptures before he put two and two together. There were four marked red dots in a square in the middle of the chart. That had to mean something. Meanwhile, the backwards writing held no significance yet.

"Braeburn! Turn the mirror towards the center sculptures, near the middle!" Shining ordered.

"On it!" He eagerly responded. Slowly, one of the sculptures began to emit sparks, presumably from the spell on it, and then spontaneously burst into shards of ice, scattering across the floor. This process repeated three more times until Shining could make out some sort of odd tile on the ground. Without a word, the group jogged over to it. It was a trap door, leading further downstairs.

Shining, however, stayed behind. He was still curious about something. He walked back upon the stage and readjusted the light so it wasn't facing the mirror.

"Hey." Shining turned around suddenly, caught off guard. It was Cadence, standing with her arms crossed.

"Hey, what's up?" Shining said, trying to sound natural.

"You weren't with the rest of the group. Of course I got curious." She replied calmly.

"Whatever. Just come over here and check this out." Shining took out the paper from earlier, and put in front of the mirror. The writing was clear through the reflection, and it was written in a fancy cursive, there was no date given, but the paper was withered and old.

It read:

To whomever may read this. I'm quite frankly, scared. I'm alone. As of now, I feel like just one half of a whole. It almost feels empty. The cries of help I imagine plague my thoughts on and on, like a recurring nightmare, it brings me very little comfort to know that I still have many years to prepare for this, but still, how can I bring myself to do this?

-A distressed writer

"What the..." Shining said. He and Cadence could find little words to describe what they had just read. The atmosphere about the supposedly abandoned castle was already foreboding, but now something like this? Shining knew this would probably make sense later, but he didn't want it to make sense. He hoped it was just a bad dream, and it would all be over in an instant.

"Hey! You two comin'?!" Braeburn cried out from the trapdoor. Shining and Cadence looked at each other and nodded, and ran off. Shining folded and stuffed the note into his pocket before catching up with the others.