Back in the triangular room, Lyra and Berry Punch decided to rest. Collapsing on the floor, it was Berry who spoke first.
“So why didn’t you just use your magic to pick up the key?” She asked innocently.
“Oh gee, why didn’t I think of that?” Lyra answered sarcastically, but quickly, her tone turned to anger. “You don't think I would have thought of that? My magic has been disabled! There’s a dampening gemstone somewhere near and it’s been absorbing all the spells I cast.”
Upon completing her rant, Lyra looked upon the saddened and offended Berry. Quickly, she took on a more soothing and comforting voice.
“Sorr. It’s just... I’m afraid... Afraid that I’ll never see the light of day... Afraid that I’ll never hear the sweet sound of my lyre … Afraid that I'll never see my Bon Bon again...”
“OH GOD RUBY” Berry Punch burst out into tears. “I’ll never see my daughter again!” She bawled.
With a painfully loud SLAP, Lyra grabbed Berry and got her into her senses.
“Listen Ber, if you keep thinking like that, you will never survive! The Hare treats this as though it was a game, so we need to play and win!”
Looking up at Lyra, Berry wiped the tears from her eyes, and smiling, she said “Thanks, i needed that.”
Pulling herself together, Berry looked at the hallway she had yet to venture down.
“If we want to progress, we have to head down this way" She said as she started running. She wasn't very far down the hall when she hit herself on the head, causing her to fall once again.
"What's wrong? You seem to he falling a lot here. Don't tell me you're still too hungover to walk." Lyra said, helping her up.
Rubbing her head, Berry retorted, "I’m not still hangover. I was running and I hit something."
Looking up in the dim lighting, Berry saw the silhouette of a small rectangle, hanging on the ceiling by a thread.
“It’s a cassette player... I think...” She said, reaching out her left forehoof, for the other was damaged, she grabbed the player, and pulled...
Then...
It all happened at once.
What was only a second, seemed like an eternity. Upon getting the player off the thread, a twang of vibrating wire echoed through the corridor. Out of nowhere, a jagged stick on a rope came swinging in for the kill, but Lyra acted fast. She tackled Berry to the ground as the stick impaled itself in the wall.
Feeling proud of her efforts, Lyra looked up to the stick. As the first crimson drop rippled onto the floor, Lyra was struck with the pain of guilt. Looking back down, Berry was covering her left foreleg as her tears mixed with the blood gushing out of her wound, in too much pain to utter a sound.
“It’s gonna be alright” Lyra said, trying to calm down her friend, “Let me have a look.”
As soon as Berry released the grasp on her foreleg to show Lyra, Lyra immediately regretted ever saying it. An ungodly amount of flesh was missing from Berrys foreleft.
in anger, Lyra got up. “Hang in there, Punch.” she said as a shadow passed over her eyes. her horn was glowing with a faded minty green aura.
POW!POW!POW!
One by one, the green energy burst into a magnificent explosion at the tip of her horn, causing Lyra to wince at each release. Eventually, Lyra collapsed next to Berry, her horn glowing one last time. Slowly, Berrys wound stopped bleeding and the pain lessened, but that was the calm before the healing rain. As her flesh started to grow back, the pain was a hundred times worse than she ever imagined possible. Eventually, as the spell wore off, the pain lessened until it was a fraction of what it originally was. Berry opened her eyes to look at her wound. it had healed to the point where it wasn't an immediate concern, but was still a substantial laceration.
“Ly... what did you do?” She asked as Lyra half opened one eye.
Breathing heavily, Lyra responded, “I... just bombarded... the dampening jemstone... with magical blasts... so it would weaken... so I could cast... a simple healing spell...I shouldn’t have done that... Kind of a double edged sword...”
“Where did you learn that?”
“Nowhere... important... Let’s take a break...”
Lyra was exhausted having expending a fairly large amount of magic and took a few moments to catch herself.
“In my bag, there is some cloth. You need to bandage your wound.” She said to berry.
“Ok” Berry responded, opening Lyras saddlebag. Wincing in pain from her wound, she fumbled it, thus spilling its contents. There was a large piece of cloth, one side was red, but the other side shimmered as though made of gold. There were also some candies, a thin wire of some sort and...
“A cassette tape?” Berry thought. After dressing her wound, she picked up the tape. Lyra tried to get up, but immediately fell on her face.
“Hello berry,” the cassette played that chilling warped voice, “I believe it’s safe to assume that Lyra is there, alive and well. Lyra, I bet you’re wondering just why are you here... But then again, you probably know.” At this part, Berry looked at Lyra, still laying on the ground. she was looking up away from Berry whilst biting her lower lip, then she sadly turned her gaze to the ground.
“You came remarkably close.” The tape continued. “You came so close, I might as well come clean if you make it out alive. However, if you want to do that, you must survive all the levels. The next level is up ahead and you will be challenged in every way...” And the tape ended with static.
Shocked, Berry turned to Lyra and said, “What’d she mean?” Turning angry, she repeated herself. “What did the hare mean by that?!”
“You know how I’m from Canterlot, right?” She answered with a question.
“Yeah. Every time I go up there, everything is so expensive. I would have never paid that off had I not found you.”
“He he. Fun night. wait!” Lyra face hooved. “Life or death situation here. Bon Bon would kill me if she found out. Getting back on track here, do you know why i moved to Ponyville?”
“No. I had heard rumors ranging from you running from Celestias bananas, to you stalking that bossy purple mare from winter wrapup.”
“Celestias bananas?” Lyra wondered, “You know what, nevermind. Do you know where I work?”
“I just assumed that ponies would pay you to play your harp.”
“It’s a lyre” Lyra said obviously annoyed. “But no, that’s not my job, it’s more of a hobby. I’ve been investigating The Hare for a couple of years now. I've been right working under the captain of the guard, Shining Armor, himself, with another unicorn. We were undercover, but The hare must have found out.”
“Wow! Well... Who was the other pony you were working with?”
“Dunno. We never met. We only spoke via dragon flame. That’s what the eternal candle in my house was for. We used code names. I was Soothing Song and she was Clockwork."
"Oh... Well... Um... What did The Hare mean by you getting too close?"
"Well I had narrowed it down to about 30 suspects, so I was really close to finding out who she was. Considering where it got me, I would say that one of those suspects has an interesting hobby.”
Lyra started to get up. Still struggling, she put her things in her bag. “We should get going.” she said as she slumped towards the end of the hallway.
Berry limped towards her as she moved towards the darkness. She finally caught up, only when Lyra stopped. At the end of the corridor, there was a metal stairwell. Painted on the walls were the wording, “LVL2.”
Berry looked at herself, then Lyra. She was badly wounded and her companion was severely exhausted.
Looking back at the stairwell, she said, “So Ly, are you ready for the second level?”
Sorry for not updating sooner and for the long read. I was busy with school and I was originally going to have this chapter be two chapters but I think it's good as one. You can see where I would have broken it off. OOH, I was re reading and looking over this series to make sure I have consistency and I realized that no one said anything about the tron reference at the beginning. Hell that's about it. Hasta le pasta!
The stone melted away to the metal as the duo ascended up the stairwell, hooves clanging on the cold steel steps.
“So Berr, what do you think the next challenge will be?” The mint musician mustered the might to ask her frail, fuchsia friend.
“I honestly don’t know. I just hope that we come out of it okay...” The berry colored mare responded.
“Well... When we get out of this Luna forsaken hell hole, what will you do?” Lyra asked.
“Hmm...Well first I’ll give up the happy juice for good, then I will pay more attention to Ruby... I’ve been thinking, and I don’t know very much about what’s going on in her life...” Turning to her friend, Berry asked, “You?”
“Well I’ve seen her hanging around that one grey colt...” Lyra started, but saw the look in Berry’s eyes. “Oh! You mean what am I gonna do after getting out of here don’t you? Well, first I’m gonna march up to Celestia herself and force her to meet accept my demands for a Cantorlot wedding IN the castle. Then I’m gonna disown my parents by leaving them off the guest list so they can’t mooch off of my success, and then I will finally marry Bon Bon.” she finished her answer on a whimsical note.
“I’m invited I hope.” Berry responded, trying to ease the tension.
“But of course! We need a designated driver to take us to the hotel.” Lyra’s humorous retort was successful in breaking the dark feeling looming in the air, but her victory was short lived as they ran out of stairs, almost falling over the ghost step. Looking forward, the duo saw a wooden door. Lyra examined it, tapping it with her hooves and even going as far as licking it.
“She’s a clever mare.” the unicorn said. “The Hare stuffed the door with egg cartons, probably stuffed the walls with something more effective, to mute the sound so the challenge stays a surprise until we reach it. - ugh...” she was about to fall over, but was caught by her friend.
“Thanks, but look ahead.” Lyra said.
Berry looked down the hallway, expecting it to be long, dark and ominous, however, it was short with fluorescent lights, beaming down on the steel grate floor with the bulkhead door only about 10 meters away.
Berry looked at Lyra, to see her struggling to take an item out of her saddlebag, still obviously exhausted. “Whatcha doin’?” Berry asked.
Pulling out a hard candy, Lyra responded, “These are a special hard candy that Bon Bon was working on. They will give whomever eats it a short burst of energy, like drinking coffee or eating sugar, but accelerated. However, it is a double edged sword. It gives you large amounts of energy for a short period of time, yet when it wears off, you will feel worse than before.”
“Wait, why are you using it then?” Berry wanted to know.
“Well you’re too hurt to dodge the traps, and I’m too worn out to dodge the first one.” Lyra answered.
“What makes you think that there are traps?” Berry asked.
“Think about it,” Lyra explained, “We’re dealing with The Hare and this seems way too easy...” looking down at the floor below she said, “Probably...” and pressing down on the floor grate, a whirring noise was heard and buzz saws came out of the walls, floors and ceiling, so fast that if you blinked, you would miss it.
Berry fell back out of surprise and stared up to the ceiling as Lyra looked at the hallway. “Hmm... There must be a pattern to it...” Lyra muttered.
“Umm... Ly?” Berry said looking up.
“It was too fast to get a good look... I might need to activate it again...” Lyra continued to think.
“Hey Lyra.” Berry continued to try to get her friends attention as she grabbed the candy.
“I have the feeling that I've seen this before...” Lyra still pondered.
“LYRA!!” Berry shouted after breaking the candy in half.
“Hold on Berr.” Lyra responded, “I’m trying to figure this out.”
Rolling her eyes, Berry Punch popped the half piece of candy into her mouth and charged in. time seemed to slow down as Lyra watched on. Berry ducked as the first saw went over her head, then she somersaulted forward to avoid the saw that came from the floor. Hugging the wall, she had a good inch of air cushioning between her and the third saw. she moved with remarkable agility and prowess that no one would expect from the town drunk, as though she knew exactly where the buzz saws would come from.
Reaching the door, she looked at an awestruck Lyra, mouth gaping and jaw to the floor.
“How did you...” Lyra started to question, but Berry gestured up towards the ceiling.
Looking up, Lyra saw written on it, “You enjoy movies, no? Do you recall the third Darring Doo film?”
“Oh, now I understand.” Lyra said, taking the other half of the candy. Popping it in her mouth, she emulated Berry Punch’s every move, albeit slower, but making it across the room after losing only a tuft of mane hair from the last saw.
“So you remember how she got to the Lunar Chalice?” Berry asked Lyra as the effects of the candy wore off.
“Duh! Darring Doo and the Final Crusade was my favorite one of the Darring Doo films.” Lyra answered, opening the bulkhead door while she could. Taking a few steps into the new room, the duo collapsed into exhaustion...
Looking around, they saw that they were in a simple circular room with a dome roof. Hanging from the dome was a large box with screens like the kind one would see in hockey games. The floor they walked on was a narrow scaffold lined with railing along it except for where a ladder led into the pit filled with gleaming objects below them. In the very center of the room was a circular platform riddled with holes and a figures silhouette being held up by chains. From what they could tell, the chained up figure seemed to be a mare with a mane and tail the consistency of cotton candy.
“Hello Lyra!” A warped voice boomed. Looking up towards the box, Lyra and Berry saw The Hare on the big screens, her pink mask splattered in blood as it grinned in a menacing way. She was in some sort of shack or shed in the edge of the Everfree Forest in the hours of twilight, judging by the overgrowth and sky outside the window behind her. “I’m glad to see that you’re alive... Now as you two may have noticed, there is somepony chained up in the center of this room. You may ask me three questions, and I will answer them. Then you will be presented with a choice to make. Now go on and ask.”
“Who are you!?” Berry was the first to ask.
“Wow! Cutting right to the chase now aren’t we miss Punch? I assure you, I will meet you at the end to tell you” The Hare said in such a way that her pink mask, covered in blood and grinning with such ferocity, stared into the soul with those beaming red eyes.
“Hmm...” The pony on the platform stirred in her slumber.
“Why are we here?” Lyra was the next to ask.
“Well everypony is here for a reason...” The insane murderer answered, looking ‘down’ to the platform before continuing. “Some ponies have dark, dark secrets that they don’t want anypony to know... Now, you have one more question.
“Well, I’ve been wondering…” Berry Punch started. “Where in Equestria did you get the bits for all of this? I mean this can’t be cheap.”
This question had caught The Hare off guard. She put a dark grey gloved hoof up to her chin in though before finally saying, “You would be surprised at how much money you can earn by doing practically nothing. Now for your choice. In a moment, I will send a jolt of electricity through the chains, to wake up sleeping ugly here. You can just walk to the exit, there are no traps that will hinder or stop you from leaving her to her fate, the scaffolding acts as a safe zone. The second choice is, you can help her. Sure she can free herself from her binds and leap off the platform to make her way to the safe zone, but she will be unable to climb up to the ladder.”
“How can we trust you?” Lyra said, trying to buy more time.
“I am a mare of my word. What I say is the honest truth. Speaking of truth, you two can go ahead and drop your charade now, you can’t fool me.” Berry Punch and Lyra hadn’t even noticed that they were standing in the traditional ‘tough pony’ stance, trying not to seem on the verge of passing out. “Now you two should make your decision quickly, for I shall grow bored soon.” And with that, the big box’s screen went black.
Large lights that seemed better fit to be in a theatre turned on, pointing to the figure that was chained up on the hole ridden island in the sea of gleaming objects, now revealed to be shards of broken glass and syringes. The identity of the silhouette was that of a white Pegasus, chained via bloody hooks through her wings. Her mane and tail were gold as Celestias sun and three violet balloons were emblazoned upon her flank. Her head hung low as her deep purple eyes were half opened as though she was half asleep and her mouth was covered by silver duct tape.
With a sudden jerk, the pegasus’s body seized up, causing her eyes to open wide. Falling onto the ground below, she looked around in fear. She tried to gasp when she saw where she was, but was unable to.
Just then, a spike shot out of one of the holes, narrowly missing the white mare and sending her to the edge of her little isle. She tried to go further, but was racked with pain as the hooks pulled on her wings.
“We have to help her!” Berry said to Lyra. They both took a step toward the entrance to the pit before falling down. They were too exhausted to move, but that didn’t stop Berry. As she crawled towards the pit, she saw the spikes coming up from the platform, moving in a wave, but separating when they would have met the mare. “The Hare is playing with her.” Berry thought. She could almost hear the maniacal cackle of the insane murderer.
“Listen!” Berry shouted. “You need to break free from those chains! We can help you it if you make it over here!”
The Pegasus watched as the spikes came toward her. She didn’t know how much time she had left before the spikes got bored and actually hit her, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. In one swift motion, she ripped her wings free from the hooks, trying to scream louder than anyone could think if not for the tape over her mouth, and jumped into the sea of sharp objects.
As soon as the glass dug into her legs, she instinctively jumped up and flapped her wings to fly, however it only achieved more pain and the spray of blood in many directions. Catching herself as she landed as to not go any deeper into the points, she looked at Berry on the edge of the scaffold over the ladder, gesturing for the Pegasus to go towards her and mouthing the words, “We can help you.”
Wading knee deep in sharp objects, tears started to roll out from her eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, the white mare finally made it to the ladder, but it didn’t go down far enough grab on to. The tears rolled even more as a fuchsia hoof extended down. As Berry grabbed the pegasus’s hoof with the least amount of glass embedded, the crying mares eyes filled with hope. In one fell motion, Berry pulled up and the newest member of her party landed on the scaffold, and was finally able to scream in pain once Berry removed the tape.
“Hold on,” berry said to the white pegasus in a soothing voice, before looking at Lyra. “It’s going to be okay. Once we get the shards out, we can fix it up.”
One by one, the glass and syringes were pulled out, relieving the pain. They weren’t in too deep, but it was still a good idea to bandage the wounds. The bigger worry was the wings, but they seemed to have stopped bleeding. Getting the red and gold cloth from Lyra, Berry saw a greenish glow coming from the third member of their group. Running over to her, Berry saw the wounds were glowing a deep green and for a moment, they seemed to have caught fire as they closed, leaving just small scars where the cuts were.
Berry saw the look of deep focus draining from the blond mare, and had just one question.
“Surprise, what’s your reason for being here?...”
Is it me, or are my chapters getting longer. So la st week was finals week and that's why I have a late post, but on the up side, I passed with A's and B's.
Here is a link the the picture for the last chapter (http://deeell.deviantart.com/art/Fair-Game-Lyras-Secret-304005809) and here is the picture for the chapter you just read (http://deeell.deviantart.com/art/Surprise-Surprise-306287309)
Don't forget to watch me on deviant art and tell your friends about this story. Oh and if you are having trouble picturing The Hares voice, it sounds sort of like L when he disguised his voice.
So that's it... Bye
