002

[GAME LOADED]

follow voice

The path ends at a brightly lit circle of stone, precariously perched on a stalagmite careening away into the depths below. More stalagmites have grown up and around the circle, and in the better lighting you realize they are made of the same material as the path itself. Inside the circle is a metal cage. Inside the cage… You catch your breath.

It’s a horse, a winged horse. No… something tells you it’s a pony, though it’s far too tall to be classified as such in your opinion. It has a horn too, the same dark ebony black as the rest of its body. Looking at its fur, you get the sense that it must be made of darkness – for what else could be so black? But that isn’t even the most unsettling thing about it. No, that would be its mane – or, rather, its mane and tail. They’re made of stars – as though a small bit of outer space decided to come down to earth and become a pony. They undulate and weave in a nonexistent wind, flowing almost artfully despite remaining attached to the pony. It’s beautiful.

“Wow…” you breathe. Something about this strikes you as familiar, but you can’t quite place it. “Hello?” you call around. Who left this pony here? You walk around the cage, hoping to find your mysterious friend on the other side, even though you can see they’re not there.

“What… art thou?” the voice speaks up, and you whirl around. The pony is staring at you intently. For a moment, you’re unable to believe your ears. Did this pony just… talk? “Speak, knave!” it commands suddenly, and you seize up in fright. You can see it moving its mouth. It’s talking.

“I…” you stutter. “I’m a human,” you answer, finally finding your voice. “Hyoo-mahn?” the creature tries, the word obviously foreign to its tongue. And it finally hits you:

You’re not on Earth anymore.

You don’t belong here.

You fall to your knees, trying to process this. You’re somewhere else. Somewhere with winged, horned star-pony-things. Something whispers to you that you know this place, that you’ve heard of it before. But you’re still so foggy on the details… After a moment, it occurs to you that the creature is asking you something.

“Hyoomahn? Art thou alright?” it queries. You’re almost tempted to laugh insanely at this point. It talks like a person from one of those old drama plays you used to do! Why not? This place is already crazy enough.

“Heh. No,” you answer. “What is your name?” you add, after a moment. You assume that’s the polite thing to ask.

To your shock, the pony-thing rears up intimidatingly, wings flaring out as its eyes turn a glowing white. “I am Nightmare Moon, bringer of eternal night, destroyer of dreams, arch-nemesis of the day!” she imperiously intones, her voice louder than your heaviest music. A second later, she falters, returning to her previous stance. “Or at least… I was,” she mutters. Picking yourself up off the floor, you raise an eyebrow at her.

“’Destroyer of dreams’? That doesn’t sound very nice,” you remark. Nightmare Moon glares at you. “Oh? And what is your name? What do you do for a living?”

She has you there. You can’t remember a thing. “Um…” you try, giving your name, but nothing comes after.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t know why I bothered speaking with thee. It is clear thou art but a simple creature, who cannot free me from this prison,” she dismisses.

[INSPECT] [LEAVE] [DO NOTHING!]

inspect

You inspect the cage she’s in. It’s made of bolted steel, like those cages for animals in circuses. That more than anything else makes you irritated – whatever this ‘Nightmare Moon’ is, she isn’t a circus animal. Circling around to the front, you find a padlock, made of unpainted steel. The symbols on it aren’t anything you recognize.

unlock

You attempt to pull it open, but it’s firmly closed. You click it around a few times, ear pressed to the lock in the vain hope of imitating a trick you read in a book somewhere. Supposedly, hitting the right number made a different sound. But after a few times circulating around the entire wheel, you abandon your efforts in frustration.

“You’re right, I don’t know how to open this,” you tell her reluctantly. Nightmare Moon, who wasn’t even paying attention to your efforts, looks over condescendingly.

“The metal lock is not my cage, foal. That is merely an injurious redundancy, I could escape that at any time. The real problem is the… the…” she trails off, stuttering as her eyes dart between you and the path. “How didst thee get past the field?” she suddenly asks, getting to her hooves almost frantically.

You give her a confused look. “I… walked?” you answer. What field? You didn’t feel any ‘field.’

“Art thou… immune to the containment field? But how…” Nightmare Moon pondered.

Then her eyes brighten once more, and a devious expression settles on her face. “Come closer, I wish to tell thee something,” she murmurs, and you unconsciously take a step forward. Without further ado, her entire body vaporizes, turning into the same starry stuff as her mane and tail. It hurtles toward you, and in the split second you have to react, you reach out your hand, to block her from… doing whatever it is she wants to do. You don’t know what it is, but you really don’t want it to happen.

What will you do?

[FIGHT!] [RUN!] [DO NOTHING!] [SPARE] [FLIRT]

run

You jump backward, bolting toward the path you just came from. You feel something hit your back, and you’re pushed forward, fortunately hitting the path below you and not getting pushed off into the depths. You get up and keep running, leaving the stone circle and returning to the junction you were just at. But something seems wrong… You feel a headache coming on. And, like a bolt to the forehead, you’re suddenly writhing in agony. Your vision slowly fades to black as you question your life choices. Maybe if you’d done something different, you wouldn’t be dying right now.

The last thing you hear is her laughter, ringing through your ears. Your body is moving, getting up, but you aren’t doing anything. You walk forward, confidently taking a right at the fork and heading… somewhere.

You can’t feel your body anymore.

You can’t see anything.

You can’t hear anything.

You are no more.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

Whoa, what? How’d you get here again? You were just writhing in pain a second ago.

…Did you just die?

…And come back to life??

You’re thoroughly creeped out, but decide to press forward again. The path ends at a brightly lit circle of stone, precariously perched on a stalagmite careening away into the depths below. More stalagmites have grown up and around the circle, and in the better lighting you realize they are made of the same material as the path itself. Inside the circle is a metal cage. Inside the cage… You catch your breath.

It’s the pony again. Same as before.

“What… art thou?” the pony says again. You ignore it – no sense talking to it if it just killed you.

[INSPECT] [LEAVE] [DO NOTHING!]

leave

You decide to leave the pony trapped in the cage. Seriously, she can go bite herself. “Wha – wait, how didst thee get past the containment field? WAIT!” the pony bellows. You steadfastly ignore her, heading back to the path. “Please come back!” she calls again. “…Please?”

What will you do?

[GO BACK] [GO FORWARD] [DO NOTHING!]

do nothing

You stand there. Some time passes. “Hello?” the voice tries again. You can still see the pony from here. You continue to impatiently stand there.

[GO BACK] [GO FORWARD] [DO NOTHING!]

do nothing

“Creature? May we speak again?” the voice – er, ‘Nightmare Moon’ tries. She seems genuinely confused. You suppose she doesn’t remember killing you. Not like you do, anyway. You continue to stand there. You look up at the pony again, and to your surprise, she’s escaped her cage, and is slowly walking towards you.

“Creature? Hello? Canst thou understand us?” Nightmare Moon speaks again. She tries to continue past the circle, but something stops her, a blue flash of light crackling in front of her as she’s thrown backward. You raise an eyebrow, curious. If the cage wasn’t stopping her, what was?

You decide to step forward to just beyond where the flash of light was. She’s distracted by something on the floor behind the cage. “Hello,” you try.

Her head whips around to stare at you. “Creature, I am trapped here. Perchance thou wouldst help me escape?” she inquires.

Well, the last time you tried to help her, she murdered you. So… no. “No thanks,” you reply flatly.

She stares into your eyes, and her gaze hardens. “Then we have nothing more to say to eachother,” she murmurs.

[FIGHT!] [RUN!] [DO NOTHING!] [LEAVE]

leave

[PATHWAY CLOSED]

[GAME SAVED]

You walk away, leaving Nightmare Moon to her misery. Coming to the fork in the road, you turn right again, heading towards the unknown. Determined to advance through this strange world, you stride into the gloom.

It isn’t long before you come across the far wall of the cave, where a poorly-tunneled opening signifies the next leg of your journey. The tunnel is very short, and you exit the other side to find you’re in yet another vast room. There is a network of paths and platforms, seemingly random and meaningless – the paths split off for no reason, join up with each other, and generally are completely stupid. Sighing at the maze in front of you, you spot two other exits to this room. One is dark, and you can barely make it out from across the cavern. The other is even further away, to your left, but you think you see some kind of green glint over there.

Which exit will you choose?

[AHEAD] [LEFT]