The Inventor's game

"Twilight! Wake up!"

"It's no use. I doubt we're even awake." A cello began playing.

“How did that thing even come with you?”

“I was touching it.”

Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. Twilight. Was that her name? Yes. That was her name. And is. And will be. Couldn't they give her a little rest? Whoever they were. She was just so tired…

"Twilight! Be more awake!"

"Gah!"

"Oh good, She's waking up."

"It's about time."

"I told you, I don't think we're awake."

"We know Octy. We heard."

"Don't call me Octy."

"You call me Viny."

"That's because i-"

"Shh. She's waking up."

"Wouldn't being  louder wake her up faster?"

"Where am I? Who are you? Why is it so dark?" Twilight said groggily.

"We're your friends, and we don't know where we are either. Do we?"

"Nope."

"No."

"Nopie dopie lopie!"

"Why do you think it's dark?"

"Yeah, it's pretty bright."

"What do you mean, it's pitch black!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Err... Twilight? I think I may have a solution to your problem."

"Yes?" Twilight said.

"Open your eyes."

"Oh." Twilight said, embarrassed.

As Twilight's eyes adjusted to the bright light, she noticed three things. The first was Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch leaning over her.

The second was that she felt no pain. Even the slight ache from when she had sprained her right fore hoof last week, had disappeared. As she slowly got up, she noticed the

third thing. The room was completely filled with puzzles, and the mostly blank painting hung on the walls suggested a riddle, although she couldn't make out what it said yet.

“Whoa,” Twilight said. “That’s a lot of puzzles.”

“Yup. We noticed.” Rainbow Dash confirmed.

“So, does anyone know what happened?” Twilight asked.

"Well, my navigation spell isn't working," Discord said. "So, that means either we're dreaming, somepony's jamming me, or we're in a different dimension."

"A different dimension?" Vinyl Scratch asked.

"Or dreaming. Or somepony's jamming me."

"What does the painting say?" Twilight asked.

"We haven't read it yet," Octavia said. "We've had bigger problems."

"Well," Twilight said. "What does it say?"

Pinkie walked toward the painting. "What is at the start of eternity, the end of time, and the beginning of every ending?"

"Easy," Rainbow Dash said. "It's nothing."

"Hm. I don't think that's the answer they're looking for, Rainbow." Octavia said, leaning on her cello.

"I've got it." Twilight said.

"Me too." Sunset Shimmer said.

"Why are we even doing this?" Vinyl asked.

"Have you got something better to do?" Octavia retorted. "I've got it."

"Oh," Vinyl Scratch said. "Hah. I get it now. That's actually pretty easy."

“I know!” Pinkie said. “Right?”

“Wrong.” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Really, Dashie,” Discord said. “You should know this. Fine. I’ll give you a hint. If we used the world garren to mean eternity, this riddle wouldn’t work. The answer is a letter, not a word.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “It’s the letter E.”

“Congratulations,” A voice said. “It took the last group twice that long.”