Zero Escape: Nine Hours Nine Ponies Nine Doors

by Kewlinthehood

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Anthro, Crossover
Length: 10195

Shining Armor awakens in Canterlot Palace to find himself held captive to play "The Nonary Game", in which nine players have to seek a door marked with a nine to escape.

"Ask yourself…. Who do you trust?"

Nine ponies. Nine Hours. One game. A fatal consequence for failing. These make up the key pieces of the deadly "Nonary Game". Shining Armor awakens in Canterlot Palace after being abducted by a strange, cloaked figure. There he meets eight other ponies, each of which could be the key to his survival… or his doom. To escape the treacherous Nonary Game, you must find the door marked with a nine. Who will be sacrificed in this? Only fate will tell. Let these words guide you:

"Everyone is not who they seem…"

(Note: There's only a crossover tag because it has to do with Zero Escape, none of the 999/VLR characters will appear here. However, I highly recommend you read this only if you know of 999/VLR.)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-27 18:03:34 UTC

Prologue

                                                                    (Three years before the start of FiM)

Shining Armor plopped onto his bed at 10:45 PM, he had just started his enrollment as a royal guard. He had vowed to his parents and his sister he would return home as a different pony, one with courage, smarts, and strength. So far, being a royal guard was not what he had expected. Yes, he got his own bed in Canterlot, in a run-down apartment. There was hardly any action, unless you can call waking up every morning at 6:00 "action".

As hard as he tried, Shining couldn't fall asleep. "Is Twilight doing alright without me?" He wondered. "I hope she hasn't found those magazines I ordered.... Mom and Dad would kill me..." Shining shook his head and got out of bed. To take his mind off things, he went to get a glass of water. He sluggishly walked to the kitchen to grab a glass, then he trudged his way over to the bathroom. He flicked the light-switch and a dim light illuminated the bathroom. As he sipped a bit of his glass, he saw his own tired reflection, "What're you doing to yourself, Shining?" he thought to himself. For a brief moment, he almost fell asleep standing up.

He looked into the mirror again, and he dropped his glass. In his reflection, there stood behind him a cloaked figure, before he could open his mouth to cry for help, a whitish gas filled the room. It slowly suffocated him, and he dropped to the floor. "Help..." He said, as he slowly lost consciousness.

(This next part is an intro sequence, reading it adds nothing to the plot, but in case you wanted to, listen to this while reading this: Here.

"Ask yourself..."

"Who do you trust?"

"If you can't trust anyone..."

"Your fate is sealed.."

"Do you believe in the occult?"

"In the end, the smart will survive and the foolish will perish..."

"Morphogenetic Connections...."

"Dawn of a new era..."

"Not all of us can survive."

"I... I-I don't want to die!"

"Betrayed by your ally.. It's a sad, sad truth, isn't it?"

"Come with me, we'll get out, together!"

"In nine hours, this place will cease to exist."

"To stop that day from happening will save us all..."

"Please... Stay by my side...."

"Memories of what never happened..."

"Someone among us is the killer."

"Inside each bracelet, is a detonator."

"Let these words guide you... Everyone is not who they seem. "

"Seek a door that holds a nine..."

"Trusting someone else is like playing with a double-edged blade."

"I don't care about the nonary game... We're all getting out alive!"

The garden of knowledge and a meeting of fate.

"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)

Door [6]

"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.

In the depths

Cadence and Shining ran to catch up with the others, but not before Shining shoved the rather ominous note into his coat pocket. The two took their time walking down the eerie, spiraling staircase. The only thing that lit the blackened staircase were but a few dimly-lit torches.

"Hey, Cadence, you read that note too, right?" Shining said, holding onto the railing as he walked.

"Well yeah, I have eyes." Cadence remarked, rolling her eyes.

"I'm guessing you know a lot about Equestria's history, am I right? What was up with that note?" Shining asked, although the note had a certain creepiness to it, he had to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Well, it sounded pretty gloomy, so I can assume it was written in the Era of Disharmony." Cadence said, her voice sounded intelligent and calm, in sharp contrast to before.

"'The Era of Disharmony'? What are you talking about?" Shining asked, who had never heard of such a time. Cadence give him an amused look.

"C'mon, they didn't teach you that at Peasant school? It's basic history, Shining." She said, her voice had a mix of bafflement and snark. Shining scratched his head and tried to think of a comeback.

"Oh sweet Celestia, you really are that dumb." Cadence sighed, before beginning to explain. "The Era of Disharmony was when everyone got screwed over by Discord. There." She said bluntly.

"Uh.... A little more explanation?" Shining said, he couldn't possibly feel more embarrassed at the moment. Cadence groaned.

"Alright, whatever. Basically, it all started with this... Thing called Discord." She said, unable to find the proper words to describe it.

"Discord was, for lack of a better term, a jackass. A pretty big one, actually." She said, strangely enough, it sounded like she herself had some personal grudge for Discord, as her nose twisted as she spoke.

"I mean, he doesn't sound that bad. What'd he do, steal the Magic of Friendship or something?" Shining asked with curiosity. History had never been a fun subject, especially when Twilight was spouting random facts about a bunch of long-gone civilizations all the time when they were kids.

"Eh, kinda. He only made the entire country, no, the world, plunge into a state of complete chaos. Hence, the 'disharmony' part." Cadence explained, it almost sounded as if she was reciting an essay from memory. "There were crazies everywhere, some people had little-to-no grasp on reality, while the survivors grew depressed and even suicidal from seeing former friends being turned into nutcases by Discord."

"So... Uh, what happened?" Shining asked. The suspense was practically killing him.

"You really are hopeless, aren't you?" Cadence said, looking rather baffled. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used their combined power to turn him to a stone statue."

"Oooooooh, I think I saw that once. I was with my little sister on a field trip, or something like that, and I saw it on display... I just thought it was an abstract piece of art." Shining said, suddenly remembering what he had seen.

"Well, the more you know." Cadence said sarcastically. Shining took a breath and closed his eyes. He actually enjoyed himself for a few moments, that is, until he remembered where he was.

"Oh crap!" Shining took off without warning, focused on catching up with the rest of the group.

""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."" The very thought chilled Shining to the bone. He had a deadline, no time to screw around. And if he didn't.... No, that wasn't an option. He was getting out, away from this nightmare. The spiraling stairs seemed to go on forever. Meanwhile, a very pissed-off Cadence ran after him, wondering why he ran off on her.

Eventually, Shining reached the bottom of the stairs after a long, tedious run.  He could hear Cadence's footsteps drawing closer, but he continued on his way. At the bottom of the stairs, Shining found a branching path splitting three ways into separate corridors. After nervously looking around, he turned to his left and carefully walked down the path. Eventually, Shining found himself at a dead end. There was a foreboding steel door with a red 'X' painted onto it.

"Uh, no." Shining turned around, not wanting to risk stepping into Zero's death trap. Zero, Zero, Zero, the facilitator of this facility. It was then that Shining began to think, who is Zero? And for that matter, why was he playing the Nonary Game? He wasn't special, his magic was average, he was a normal Joe in every sense of the word. So then, why? The more he thought about it, the more his head began to hurt. He let out an annoyed groan, and shifted subjects to his original question. Who is Zero?

Braeburn, owner of the number [1] bracelet. The answer seemed relatively obvious for multiple reasons. He couldn't be Zero. Although he was a nice guy, he seemed far too naive and plain nice to be Zero.

Octavia, owner of the number [2] bracelet. A strange girl, who seemed to know more than she let on. She could very well be Zero, judging by the way she acted. She looked so... Uninterested. Although Shining did have her doubts about the girl, he didn't have enough leads to go off of. He groaned out of frustration.

Fluttershy, owner of the number [3] bracelet. She couldn't be Zero... Right? Now that he thought of it, Fluttershy did seem, at the very least, a little suspicious. She seemed distant from the other players at the beginning, possibly because she was hiding something? Shining shook his head. Once again, he didn't have any solid facts to back up his reasoning. Before he could move on to the next participant, he heard thundering footsteps that could be heard from miles away. Shining looked down from the ceiling, and looked straight ahead of him. Cadence, who was understandably irritated at him running off earlier.

"Hey! What was that?" Cadence scowled, she was trying to catch her breath from running after Shining.

"We've kind of got a deadline. I figured we should keep moving." Shining retorted.

"You don't seem in a hurry now." Cadence said, crossing her arms.

"Well, I uh-"

"Whatever, I can have the guards beat you up after we've gotten out of here. C'mon, let's go. " Cadance said, leading the way at a jogging pace, holding her dress up slightly to ensure she didn't trip over it. Once again, the two reached the same branching path from earlier, but this time, Cadence made a left, going down a path Shining had yet to explore.

The two were mostly silent as they ran, consumed in their own thoughts. The hallway had a tiled floor, checkered with black and white squares. The walls were far from tidy, and the paint was cracking. The floor was tiled with dusty white squares that felt like they hadn't been walked on in ages. The walls were a simple beige color, although it looked as if the paint was cracking off little-by-little. The hallway went straight, and as Shining's legs began to tire, a fine door stood in front of him.

The door was at least three times Shining and Candace's size. It was divided into two, with a handle on each half. Shining and Cadance both grabbed hold of a handle, and pulled with all their might. The door let out an ominous moan, and the two entered carefully. It appeared to be a large chapel, with rows of seats lined up neatly, one grand stained glass portrait lay on the wall at the very back of the room, while a podium stood tall upon a small stage. This didn't exactly catch Shining's attention, no, he was surprised to see five others had already arrived.

On the stage, five other ponies stood, discussing among themselves before noticing Cadance and Shining. Spitfire, Soarin', Sigma, Octavia, and Zecora. They must have escaped faster than Shining's group. "I guess there is power in numbers." Shining thought.

"Hey, you two. Glad to see you made it back in one piece." Soarin' said. He looked genuinely relieved to see that they were okay.

"If I recall correctly, you had a group of four. What happened to Braeburn and Fluttershy?" Octavia asked, crossing her arms. Although her voice was calm and collected, Shining could see a bead of sweat on her forehead.

"Good question, kid. What did happen to those kids, huh, you two?" Spitfire said, accusingly. Suddenly all eyes were on Shining and Cadance. Shining opened his mouth as his cheeks reddened, wanting to explain.

"Well I uh... I wanted to inspect something really quick, so I stayed behind for a minute." Shining said, hoping that would keep them from tearing him to shreds. "Could I be any more screwed right now?" Shining thought.

"What's your excuse, pretty-face?" Spitfire scowled.

"M-me? I was watching those two when they ran off, I don't know where they went!" Cadance said, trying to sound distressed. "You can do better than that, Princess..." Shining thought. Nobody was gonna buy that excuse. Spitfire's eyes narrowed, and she walked down from the stage to Shining and Cadance.

"The hell, guys?! You left two kids who don't know what they're doing alone? You may as well have killed them!" It was then that the true seriousness of the Nonary Game struck Shining. He and Cadance left Fluttershy and Braeburn unattended, alone, to die.

"Nonononono, what did I do?!" Shining staggered over to one of the chapel's seats and sat down, contemplating his possibly fatal decision towards the two others in his group. Cadance merely stared down at him, showing little-to-no remorse for her actions. Her indifference on the subject wanted to make Shining wipe that constant smirk off her face. He facepalmed, regretting his curiosity that influenced him to stay behind. Spitfire walked over to him and bent down to his level and decided to take a different approach.

"Look Shining, you screwed up, but there's still a good chance they're both hanging in there. So why don't you and I look around a bit until they pop up?" Spitfire suggested. Shining felt reassured, they could be alive. Spitfire offered him her hand and he gladly took it, regaining his confidence. Shining turned to look at the others. Soarin' looked visibly embarrassed, Sigma rolled his eyes, unamused. Zecora merely smiled at the two, and Octavia yawned, looking disengaged from the situation at hand.

"Well, I think that settles it. I'm gonna go out for a stroll, anybody mind?" Cadence said, looking at everyone in the room. Nobody objected, well save for one person.

"Perhaps this isn't my business, but a stroll seems awfully casual for a life-or-death situation, don't you think?" Octavia questioned, she brought up a valid point. She cocked an eyebrow, waiting patiently for Cadance's response.

"Yeah, you're right. This isn't your business, Pajama Girl. So stay out of it." Cadance said, in a spiteful tone. Octavia opened her mouth to retaliate, but she closed her eyes, and sighed, holding back an immature response. She seemed to show maturity far beyond her age, despite being roughly the same age as Fluttershy and Braeburn.

"Hey! I'm comin' with." Sigma said, Cadance didn't seem to mind nor care that the dragon was accompanying her, as they walked out of the leftmost door of the chapel without a word.

"Hmph. Leave her be. Hey, Shining let's get moving!" Spitfire barked. Her tone quickly shifted back to her normal, angry drill-sergeant act. Spitfire power-walked towards the right exit of the room, as she was about to walk through the exit, she looked at Shining and gestured for him to come on. Shining blinked, and shook his head, once again contemplating the sheer absurdity of his current situation. Determinedly, he followed Spitfire at a brisk running pace, eager to right what went wrong.

In stark contrast to the barren, confined hallways that Shining had been to only minutes ago, he stood in a wide-open, circular room with many doors, the only decorations being a few pillars spread out far across the room. A ginormous round light lit the room. Shining shifted his eyes from place-to-place across the room, to ensure he wasn't being spied on.

"Where... Where... Where... Where..." Spitfire repeated the words to herself as she stood in the center of the room, pacing back and forth, looking clearly distraught. Shining felt uneasy walking towards an angry lieutenant, but did so anyways out of concern.

"Spitfire?" Shining said, once he had gotten closer. She showed no signs of registering his presence. She continued to pace, muttering to herself. "Spitfire."He said, once more. She shook her head, and paced even faster, almost as if she was sleepwalking.

"Spitfire!" He cried, one last time. Spitfire stopped, and looked up, with weary eyes. She looked calmer now, well, about as calm as you can get with the Nonary Game. "Are you alright? You looked kinda..." Shining said, searching for the right word.

"Like a zombie? Yeah, sorry about that. My bad." Her tone was tired and low-key, as if she wasn't the same Spitfire. This made Shining a bit nervous, wondering if she had been replaced.

"No, no, it's fine. I guess this kind of situation can drive people crazy. Just try to relax a little, Braeburn and Fluttershy are going to be okay..." Shining said, awkwardly trying to reassure her.

"Relax? Relax?!" Spitfire's voice slowly rose. "They're in danger! I have to help them!" Spitfire quickly turned around and made a mad dash for one of the doors.

"N-no! Hold on a second-!" Before she could outrun him, Shining grabbed hold of one of her arms to restrain her.

"What now? We're on a deadline, Shining!" Spitfire reared her head towards Shining as she struggled in his grasp, who was using every ounce of his strength to hold her back.

"We can look for them, that's fine! Stay cool! Be cool..." Shining instructed, losing his grip on Spitfire little-by-little. Slowly, to his relief, he felt Spitfire's struggling come to an end. He let go of her arm, and she turned to face Shining.

"Alright, fine. I'll relax. But there's a bajillion doors here. How are we supposed to know where they are?"

"Uh..." Shining searched his mind for a rational answer to the question, yet he could find none.

"I'm waiting." Spitfire crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

"Well, maybe we should just go through all of them and see which ones lead us to them?" Shining saw no other option than trial-and-error.

"Alright, no time to waste. Let's get moving, private!" Spitfire said, walking towards one of the many doors in the room.

"Private?" Shining questioned, following closely behind. Spitfire stopped at one of the doors, and cupped her hands against her ear, and leaned on the door, presumably listening for any noise. She then grabbed hold of the knob, twisted it and pulled as hard as she could.

"Locked." She simply commented, she went over to the nearest door and did the same process once more. Shining grew increasingly bored with each 'check' of the doors. Eventually, however...

"Shining, come here, quick!" Spitfire was standing at one of the doors, placing her ear against it. Nodding his head, Shining ran to her location, and placed his own ear upon the door.

"Heh heh... Mmhmmh... Haha..."Shining's eyes widened as he realized what he was hearing.  Laughter. Earlier he had criticized Spitfire for acting on impulse, but now? There was no stopping him. He looked back at Spitfire, who's eyes looked like a reflection of his at the moment. They both rammed the door with their shoulders continuously as it slowly began to falter and collapse.

"Graaaaaaaah!" Shining let loose a triumphant cry as the door fell down with a dramatic 'CRASH'. The two of them ran down a long hallway, hoping their search would quickly come to an end. As the noise seemed to become closer and closer, Shining forced his legs to sprint even faster. At the end of the hallway there stood a lone wooden door. Shining grabbed hold of the doorknob, twisted it and cautiously opened it, praying that they were still there.

Shining immediately felt a sense of déjà vu overcome him as he entered the corridor. In front of him was a set of spiraling stairs that led upwards. He walked forward to see the same three-way path from before. "What the..." Shining uttered.

"What's the problem?" Spitfire questioned.

"I-I've been here before. Only about twenty minutes ago, I think. If we go straight forward in this path, we'll be back at the chapel. I must've missed this when I was in a hurry." Shining explained.

"Good. At least that means they're nearby." Spitfire ran down the corridor to the right, Shining followed, he felt his heart toss and turn as the suspense began to rise within him.

"Hmph." Spitfire stood in front of one of the steel doors Shining had seen earlier. It was identical to the other door in all senses of the door. It even had the same 'X' painted on in red paint. Spitfire grabbed hold of the handle and-

"Wait!" Shining cried. Something about the door... It bothered him.

"What is it?" Spitfire questioned, unamused. Her hand was still tightly grasped on the handle.

"That door, it looks kinda suspicious. Maybe we shouldn't open it?" Shining said, his argument not sounding very convincing. Spitfire gave him a look and began to pull on the lever-

Something grabbed Shining, he opened his mouth to scream, but his breath was all gone. He quickly spun around to see his possible murderer.

"Hahahahha! Gotcha, Mr. Shining! That was a good one, right guys!" Shining turned to see none other than Braeburn and Fluttershy, the former seemed to take great amusement in Shining's horror. Even Fluttershy was trying her best not to giggle. "Are they serious...?" Shining's nose twitched as he tried his best to hold back his anger. Spitfire however, looked absolutely livid.

"Is this a joke to you?" She scowled at Braeburn, too caught up in his own 'hilarious' prank to notice Spitfire walking over to him. "You disgust me.." What Shining saw next was something that he couldn't possibly prepare for.

Braeburn's body flew back as Spitfire's fist made contact with his face. A stream of blood dripped from his nose as he lay on the cold floor, writhing in pain as he rolled, covering up his nose with his hands. Shining stood, paralyzed by fear.

Spitfire picked Braeburn by his collar, staring directly into Braeburn's now tear-stained face, looking petrified and scared as Spitfire yelled at him.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! I'M SORRY!" Braeburn cried as he struggled within Spitfire's grip. His voice was far different. The liveliness was gone. All that remained was despair and fear. Spitfire's eyes were cold and unforgiving. Fluttershy buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

"Listen to me, dammit!" Spitfire yelled. "If you treat this fucked-up 'experiment' like a game, you are going to die! And if we don't escape in time because you and Fluttershy decided to go screw around, we are ALL going to die! So quit acting like a goddamn kid and grow up!" With that, Spitfire dropped Braeburn, and his body sunk to the floor, Fluttershy crumpled to the ground, shaking her head and hysterically sobbing.

"Let's go, Shining." Spitfire said.

"But-" Shining questioned. This was wrong. He couldn't leave them, not like this.

"I said, let's go." She said. She walked back towards the entrance to the chapel, Shining turned to look one last time at the two, and followed Spitfire.

Dyscredennea

Shining and Spitfire entered the chapel silently, not saying one word to each other. After what Shining had witnessed, perhaps it was best for him to stay silent for a while. Everyone in the room looked at them with curious eyes. Shining didn't need to ask. He knew what they were going to ask.

"You guys found them, right?" Soarin' asked, trying to sound optimistic. Of course, he was right.

"Yeah. They're just beyond this door here, to your left." Spitfire said, referring to the door they had just emerged from.

"That's great! Good work, guys." Although Soarin''s words had no malicious intention, Shining felt a twinge of guilt come over him as the words hit him. If he had stayed with the group, this wouldn't have happened. Soarin' walked past the duo, seeming blissfully unaware of what conspired behind those doors.

With Soarin' gone, only Octavia, Zecora, as well as Shining and Spitfire remained.

"You can drop the act. Something happened." Octavia said, her eyes practically piercing Shining's soul.

"Indeed, we can see through your facade. It's quite obvious, you're both frauds." Zecora commented. "They saw right through me..." Shining thought. Well, someone was bound to see them eventually.

"W-what? Do I look like a liar? We found Braeburn and Fluttershy! That's all there is to it." Said Spitfire defensively. No part of what she said was a lie, but she was leaving some details out about what happened. Shining was beginning to feel like an accomplice at this point, even though what Spitfire did wasn't terrible, it was at the least, morally questionable.

"Okay, maybe you're not lying. Perhaps Shining would like to speak up?" Shining never thought the day would come when he would be emotionally manipulated by a girl in pajamas, but now this was reality. "Dammit, I'm screwed! If I confess what happened, Spitfire's gonna clobber me, but if I stay silent, I'll look even more suspicious..." Shining's eyes shifted left and right, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

"Well, what happened was..." Shining began.

"Shining Armor, don't you dare." Spitfire spoke in an angry whisper.

"What happened was..." Shining repeated. If Celestia could hear him, he desperately hoped for some kind of Divine Intervention to get him out of the spotlight. He shut his eyes tight and crossed his fingers.

"Hey!" Shining looked at the door to the left and saw Cadence, and Cadence alone.

"Have any of you guys seen Sigma?!" Her voice sounded urgent, already a bad sign.

"What has befallen our dragon friend? Surely he hasn't met his end?!" Zecora questioned.

"He's gone missing!" Shock quickly filled the room as the words escaped her lips. Things were going from bad to worse, fast. Shining took a few breaths, hoping his rational mind would offer a solution.

"What are you standing around for?! We need to find him, now!" Cadence seemed oddly concerned. Perhaps they had some connection to each other? Shining shook his head. That wasn't important right now.

"Yeah, let's find him!" Without a doubt, he wanted to get everyone back together. He ran towards one of the exits until-

"Gong, gong, gong..." The sound echoed throughout the chapel, it took only moments to realize what it was. A clock. There was one positioned at the center of the chapel, Shining ran over to it instinctively. It was three o' clock. Everyone else stared at the clock nervously.

"Quick, what time was it when we were in the throne room?" Cadence questioned, her face losing color.

"When I checked, it was one." Octavia said. Her voice tried to sound calm, but her stress and anxiety distorted it.

"It's already been two hours?!" Shining said, not realizing how much time had passed. He gulped, and tried to avoid reminding himself of the consequence of failure.

"I'm afraid, children, we must continue on ahead! Or we may reach a conclusion that I dread!" Zecora said. Although he hated to admit it, Shining bitterly accepted it.

"What about the others? We can't just leave! Someone, agree with me!" Spitfire said. No one spoke up for her, unfortunately. Spitfire clenched her fists. "Fine! If you wanna ditch your companions, go ahead. Be my guest!"

"Same here. I may despise this place, but I'm not willing to kill to leave here."

"Well, Shining? What are you gonna do?" Spitfire said, crossing her arms. Shining had two choices. Either stay behind, and lose precious time, or move on ahead, leaving everyone else besides Zecora and Octavia behind.

"Spitfire, I..." Shining looked into Spitfire's eyes and sighed.

"I'm sorry!" He looked towards Octavia and Zecora, and nodded. He took off out the left exit of the room, Zecora and Octavia followed behind.

"No! Get back here! You backstabbing little-!" Spitfire was chasing the group, and quickly closing in on them. At the end of the hallway, Shining could see it.

"An elevator!" He cried. "Hurry up, we're almost there guys!" In the clatter of footsteps, he could hear Spitfire's getting closer. "No... The fear should make me run faster!" He forced every muscle within his legs to move faster, and faster. Finally he was in range of the elevator.

"Yes!" Shining slammed his fist onto the 'up' button with excitement. The elevator doors slowly opened, and Shining jumped in as soon as possible. Zecora and Octavia followed suit. Shining pressed the highest button he could find, ensuring that the elevator wouldn't be coming back down for a long time.

"No! You're not leaving!" Spitfire sprinted with all her might towards the closing elevator doors and attempted to throw her arm inside the gap, but by then it was too late. The door closed just before she could reach in.

"Shi... ing Ar..or! STOP! I'm goi..ng.. to..." Spitfire cried, her voice muffled by the cold, steel doors that separated her from Shining.

"Ding!" The elevator began to hum as it moved up the long passageway. The three were silent. Then, something crossed Shining's mind. "Why did I do this?" He questioned to himself. Well, that could be for several reasons.

One, it was the [logical] thing to do. After all, on a deadline, you can't possibly waste time with trivial things. It's either leave alone, or die together.

Two, it was the right thing to do. The other participants were Shining's friends, right? Perhaps they want him to escape, so he can live to tell the tale. Yeah, that sounded right.

But above all, he didn't trust them. Each of the participants wanted to get out just as badly as Shining. Whose to say they wouldn't betray their way to victory? Shining was merely following instinct. There was nothing wrong with that. "Of course..." A strange sort of smile formed on his face. There was nothing wrong with that. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"Ding!" The elevator came to a halt.

"We're here." Said the dark-haired girl, stating the obvious. Shining looked at the girl with cautious eyes, how did he know she wasn't Zero?

"Please, advance with care. We have little time to spare." The strange woman commented. Was Shining being manipulated? Were her words of advice really advice? Or were they just white lies solely made for tricking him?

In front of the trio, stood the number [3] door.

"Impossible... We saw that earlier, right? There was already a number [3] door!" Shining said, bewildered.

"In case you didn't know, Zero lies. Zero lies a lot. It would make sense for him to fake some details." The dark-haired girl said rather cynically.

"Whatever. Let's get going." Shining said.