...And Then There Were Six

Twilight woke up with a massive headache. Along with that, it seems her sight had gone too. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate, she could only see absolute darkness. She reached out to feel her surroundings when she oddly hit a solid surface. Thinking she fell on the floor during her rest, Twilight turned herself around to stand up again. Pushing up from the ground, Twilight hit her head on a what appeared to be ceiling. She then began to place her hooves on other sides of her. She began to panic as she realized that she was closed in a box, each side unbreakable. Twilight then tried to lift the lid off of the box. She began repeatedly pushing against the top of the chest. However, her heart sank as she heard the light rattling of a padlock. Twilight then curled up and began furiously shaking and breathing heavily. Suddenly the door opened behind her.

Twilight held her breath as she heard hoofsteps behind her. Whoever locked her in the chest in the first place was now in the same room as Twilight. Twilight then felt the chest jerk forward and heard it scrape across the ground. She didn’t know where she was or where she was going, but she knew she wouldn’t like the answer. The mysterious pony pushed the chest through the castle as Twilight remained absolutely silent. Then out of nowhere the chest stopped moving.

Twilight listened for any signs of her captor leaving as she still stayed silent. She leaned against the back of the chest so that she was staring at the top of the chest just in case. As she leaned back, she felt the box tilting back with her. Trying desperately to readjust herself, Twilight felt the chest slide down onto a set of stairs.

The box tumbled down the stairs with loud crashes with each step. Inside the chest, Twilight’s body was flung around, crashing into each side. The box continued falling down the stairs for a few moments until it finally hit the ground with a final *thud*. With the final landing, Twilight’s head hit the ground, knocking her out cold.

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“Pinkie Pie?” Applejack whispered from around a corner. “Are ya there?” She asked, her voice shaking.

Applejack didn’t mean to outrun Pinkie Pie when Rainbow was shouting for help. It was just instinct. Applejack knew her friend was in trouble and she was going to get to her no matter what. By the time that Applejack reached the scene it was too late for anyone to save Rainbow, she was already gone. Realizing that she left her friend alone, Applejack then spent the next few minutes trying to get back to Pinkie Pie. She looked everywhere, it was almost if the party pony had disappeared from existence.

“Poor Pinkie.” Applejack whispered to herself. “She must be terrified without me.” She sighed, taking her hat off and running a hoof through her mane.

Applejack continued to walk through the hallways looking for her friend. Yet, she stayed absolutely quiet, as to not attract any unwanted attention. Turning around a corner, Applejack faced a long hallway, filled with doors on every side. However, the first door on her left was slightly opened and Applejack could hear voices from the other side. Applejack crept over to the door and peered in.

“Well that’s just great.” She heard Rarity say. “Not only does she get a castle, but her throne is bigger than ours.” The unicorn complained.

Applejack rolled her eyes as she watched Rarity walk through a nearby door.

“That mare needs to learn some manners.” Applejack said bitterly as she shut the door and crept away.

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Luna looked into the open party room as she lifted herself off of the ground. She looked behind her at the empty cider barrel on the ground that she tripped over. Brushing herself off, she cautiously called out to the room.

“Hello?” She spoke softly. “Anyone here?” Luna continued, walking into the center of the room.

Hearing no response, Luna decided to look back at the first crime scene.

Spike’s body had been mysteriously moved from the scene. However, the mug he was drinking out of, was left behind. Luna picked it up and looked inside to reveal the leftover plant leaves.

“It just doesn’t add up.” Luna whispered to herself.

She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw something odd sitting under the cider table.

“That’s odd.” She said as she began walking towards the table.

Once she reached the table Luna lifted the tablecloth and looked underneath.. There, in a big bag under the table with the words “Dragonsneeze Leaves” in bold letters on the side of it. Sure enough, when Luna looked in the bag there was a big pile of leaves inside. She then quickly closed the bag and put the evidence back where she found it.

“Interesting…” She said to herself.

As she turned to leave, she heard some noise coming from inside the room. Almost as if someone were watching her.

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Cadence strained her eyes as she tried to see in the dimly lit room. Even though it was dark, Cadence could make out shelves filled with glass bottles and beakers.

This must be Twilight’s laboratory. Cadence thought as she held of a filled beaker.

Cadence continued to look around the room when she came across a table covered in loose leaf paper. On the paper, were strange drawings and scribbles with arrows pointing from one scribble to the next. Cadence continued scanning the paper until she saw that there were two big drawings on the side. One drawing was a picture of lines crossing back in forth between two vertical lines labeled “walls”. The second drawing was a rectangle with pictures of knives sticking up into the air.

Just then, Cadence heard a thumping coming from somewhere in the room. She slowly backed away, hoping that whatever it was would go away. After a few moments of silence, the thumping began again. However, it came from the other corner of the room. Cadence realized that something was in the room with her, and it knew that it wasn’t alone. Cadence continued to slowly walk away and towards the stairs again. Once again, after a short pause, the thumping continued; getting closer with each thump. Cadence, reaching the stairs quickly turned and ran up, hoping to shake whatever was stalking her.

Cadence ran to the top of the stairs and quickly looked behind her to see if she was alone. She saw nothing. Gazing down the nearby halls, Cadence saw that she was alone. All of a sudden, the loud slam of a door and the shattering of glass came from downstairs. Hearing the noise, Cadence began sprinting through the nearby halls, trying desperately to escape. As she turned a corner, she could hear rapid hoofsteps coming up the stairs behind her. Cadence’s eyes began darting back and forth, searching for a safe place to hide. At the end of the hall she saw her safety, a closet door that was opened just a crack. She darted inside and slowly shut the door so it didn’t make a noise.

Cadence’s heart was racing and she hid behind the door. She breathed quietly as she calmed herself down. Yet when she heard the sound of hoofsteps coming to an abrupt halt at the end of the hallway, she knew she was still being hunted.

The hallway was quiet for a moment as both Cadence and whatever was outside stood still. Cadence leaned against the door and held her breath to see if she could hear any movement. At the end of the hall, the sound of hoofsteps, lightly walking across the floor, could be heard. Cadence couldn’t tell what direction the hoofs were going, so she kept listening. Suddenly, Cadence heard the sound of a door being flung open and being slammed shut after a second. Cadence recoiled away from the door and held in a scream by biting her tongue. Then another door flung open and shut, this time closer than the last. She kept quiet as another door was checked and as the figure crept closer.
Then, the door next to her’s flung opened. Cadence stood absolutely still. She continued biting her tongue and tears began streaming down her face. The hoofsteps slowly walked from the next door, inching closer to her. Cadence prayed that they keep walking. Much to her dismay. the hoofsteps stopped right on the other side of the door. She felt faint, Cadence had never been this scared in her life. Then the doorknob rattled. Cadence closed her eyes and prepared for the inevitable.

But nothing happened. The doorknob twisted back to its previous position as the hoofsteps quickly walked away. Cadence, face covered in tears, was both confused and relieved. She felt dizzy as she took a few breaths to calm down. After a few moments, she figured that the coast was clear. She reached for the doorknob and tried to open the door. It was locked.
Starting to panic once again, Cadence kept trying to open the door to no avail. She then resorted to bashing against the door to see if she could break it down. Finding herself stuck after that, she slouched down against the door and decided to wait for help to come. Until she heard the sound of a fuse being lit.

Looking up at what was in the back of the closet, Cadence saw Pinkie Pie’s party cannon, fuse lit, aiming straight for her. Cadence then began banging on the door and shouting out for help.

“Help! Somepony please! HELP!” She cried out, looking back to her impending doom.

The fuse continued to shorten as Cadence then tried to diffuse it. Reaching for the fuse, Cadance found that it was actually inside a glass box on the side of the cannon. She began to cry and scream again as the fuse began to reach the end. At last, Cadence let out one final scream as the fuse finally ran out.

The canon fired, sending pounds of explosive fireworks and confetti out into the small closet space. A bright ball of fire exploded in Cadence’s face as she was knocked back from the blast. The force of impact sent the door flying off its hinges into the opposite wall. The door then broke in two pieces on impact and then crashed to the floor. On top of it, lay a scorched, broken, and lifeless Cadence; covered in confetti.

One opened the wrong door,
and then there were six.

Author's Note

Cadence picture by: Powerfluff on DeviantArt