[Misplaced]

by awesomesauce4

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Second Person, Nightmare Moon, Romance, Tirek, Original Character, Mystery, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Adventure, Human
Length: 11647

You've fallen a long way... And you're not quite sure how to get back up. If you had any friends, maybe they could help you.

A human falls into a strange, underground land full of monsters, mayhem, and intrigue. Along the way, they find themselves faced with a choice: Befriend their foes, or eliminate all.

Dying is not an option.

[A parody of Undertale by Toby Fox, set in the MLP universe.]

Featured 11/9/2017!

Published 2016-01-14 06:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2019-07-11 05:38:52 UTC

Chapter 1 - Isolation

001

[GAME SAVED]

[GAME QUIT]

[GAME LOADED]

[START NEW GAME? Y/N]

y

[LOADING NEW GAME]

[COPYRIGHT EQUESTRIA SOFTWARE INC. 2016]

[GAME LOADED]

You wake up slowly. Comfortably. Like the time you realized it was Saturday, and you didn’t have to get up for school. The bed beneath you is warm, if oddly lumpy. Sunlight streams down on your face, warm and bright. What were you doing last night? You can’t remember. You don’t remember much of anything, in fact. Just your name.

You lay there for a moment longer. Are you outside? It feels like you’re outside. The wind echoes hollowly above you, and the sun shines directly down on your face now. Like a temperature-based alarm clock, it becomes warmer, and warmer, until your face is burning. Like that one time you visited a beach. Get up, the sun seems to whisper. Begin your day.

Reluctantly, you obey the massive burning sphere, rolling to the side and immediately encountering the hard, sandy ground. Opening your eyes, you find you’re in a deep crevasse of red sandstone. Strangely, you’d been sleeping on a massive pile of pillows. Who put this here? Did you fall on top of it, or were you moved onto it? You vaguely remember a sensation of falling, like falling in a dream. Except this time, you get the feeling you didn’t quite wake up.

Looking around, it’s clear you can’t escape back to the surface from here. The walls of the pit are far too steep, and your hands were never exactly suited to climbing anyway. You briefly ponder if you should call for help. You can’t hear any voices outside, but it’s worth a shot. You call out to the sunlight: “Hello!”

But nobody came.

After a few minutes of waiting, and calling some more, you reluctantly decide on a new tactic. Exploring around, you find a thin, tall crack on the wall. Just the right size for you to slip through. It’s a way forward, at least, even if only to get out of the burning midday sun. You’re a little nervous – what if you’re nowhere near anyone else? Stranded in some cave, with no hope of ever returning to home. Wherever ‘home’ is, anyway.

The crack widens into a narrow cave. It seems almost perfectly made for a human like you to walk through. As you continue, your eyes adjusting to the darkness, you become aware of a light up ahead. To you, that light means hope. You stride onward, your every step filled with determination.

You notice a large crystal sitting untouched in the middle of the cave. It’s nearly the length of your head, a long, thin, heptagonal thing with a sharp crystalline end. It’s red, too, a crimson-orange shade that makes blood run for cover. If you had to stab someone, this would be the perfect weapon. Alternatively, whatever this is looks like it’d sell for quite a lot. You briefly debate on picking it up.

[pick up crystal? Y/N]

y

[FOUND ITEM: CRYSTAL]

[GAME SAVED]

[PATHWAY CLOSED]

You pick up the crystal. The light from the hole you just exited glints off of it, and you can temporarily see your reflection. Something about your face seems off, though. Well, at least you have a weapon if you ever need to stab somebody. You’re not really sure why you’d need to stab somebody, but at least the option is there. You shrug your shoulders and move on.

The cave is devoid of anything except gray stone, a stark contrast from the red of earlier. You don’t see any other crystals, so you examine the one in your hand. Where could it have come from? Did somebody drop it? It was in the exact middle of the cave, and really easy to spot. Maybe someone wanted you to have it? You’re not sure.

You hear a strange barking sound up ahead, and the cave temporarily shakes. Something very big is coming toward you. You tremble in fear as the thumping noises get louder and louder, and so does the barking. What will you do?

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

[GAME SAVED]

run

You turn and try to run back to the cave you started in, but whatever is behind you is too fast. All you hear is a thump as it slams a heavy paw down on your back. You hear a snap, and feel a split second of agonizing pain.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

Huh? You just had the weirdest dream. Looks like you spaced out a bit.

You hear a strange barking sound up ahead, and the cave temporarily shakes. Something very big is coming toward you. You tremble in fear as the thumping noises get louder and louder, and so does the barking. What will you do?

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

fight

You get into a fighting stance, holding out the sharp crystal point in front of you. You’re ready for anything.

A three-headed black dog runs up, panting heavily and barking like mad. You were definitely not ready for this. Still, it doesn’t exactly look friendly. You shakily hold out the crystal in front of you threateningly. “S-stay back!” you speak. The thing is huge, easily three times as tall as you are. It’s a black bulldog, and each of its three heads has a spiked collar. Its eyes are yellowed with age, and the pupils are strangely red. It growls down at you, as you continue to hold the crystal up to it. You close your eyes, waiting for the end.

But nothing happened.

You open your eyes, to reveal a strange and rather comedic sight: All three heads are fixated on the gem. One head gives an impatient bark, looking up at you. You stare at it in consternation.

…

You have an idea.

You throw the gem across the cavern, and the giant dog-creature immediately bounds after it, panting. Snatching up the red crystal in its leftmost maw, it runs over to you and deposits the crystal at your feet. The leftmost head begins whining for some reason, licking the middle head. The middle head squirms around, but cannot escape. You stifle a chuckle at the dog-thing’s comedic antics. “You’re just a big softie, aren’tcha?” you whisper, reaching up and rubbing a section of the creature’s belly. It immediately rolls over onto its back, a thump resounding through the air as it curls its paws upward, demanding your attention.

[FIGHT!] [RUN!] [PET?]

pet

You pet the dog-creature, rubbing its belly. It kicks out a leg, narrowly missing you. It seems pacified.

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

spare

You won!

The dog licks you once, before bounding away, each doggy head sporting a happy, dazed grin. You smile as it leaves. It seems like you don't have to kill anyone after all.

Finally, you reach the opening of the cave. You can hear a voice up ahead! Maybe they can help you escape. Or at the very least, let you know where you are. “Hello?” you call out from the cave mouth, and it echoes. Quite a lot. You get the sense that you are in a very big cave now. The voice immediately stops.

“Who’s there?” it sharply inquires. “Answer me!”

Well, now the voice doesn’t sound very friendly. You step out onto a small ledge. To your left is a white stone bridge that leads deep into the gloom, towards where you presume the voice is coming from. To your right… a vast, impenetrable darkness. Even the cave wall below slowly disappears from view, and you can’t see the bottom. You decide to remain silent, in case they’re hostile. Maybe you should sneak up on them.

You step onto the bridge. It’s solid, and made of a white, clean stone, easily visible despite the low-light conditions. You begin walking, noting that the bridge is very thin – perhaps the width of your shoulders – and has no guardrails. If you slip off this thing… You shudder to think of the consequences.

After a few minutes of walking, you see a fork in the ‘road.’ One path continues straight into the blackness, the other veers off towards the light.

“Which way should I go?” you wonder out loud.

“Come hither,” the voice immediately answers from your right. “We would speak with thee…” You narrow your eyes. What kind of place is this? It seems like this voice knows the way out.

What will you do?

[FOLLOW VOICE] [LEAVE] [DO NOTHING!]

Chapter 2 - Retribution

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]

Chapter 3 - Grotto

003

[GAME LOADED]

left

You navigate your way across the ridiculously designed platform maze, heading for the exit on your left. This part of this strange place, at least, is well-lit: Orange lamps dot the walls, evenly spaced out so their glow doesn’t overlap. Some of the maze looks like it’s crumbled over time, so you avoid those sections. Finally, you’ve made your way across the pit to the entrance on the left. It isn’t lit, so you cautiously grope your way through the darkness, stumbling for a moment as you feel what appears to be a gap in the wall on your left. In the pitch blackness, you feel around some more, and discover that this is actually another tunnel, branching off from the main one. Curious, you enter inside.

The tunnel goes on for quite a ways, and is narrower than what you’re used to. Strangely, you think you hear something skittering about up ahead. Your pace slows even further as you cautiously listen, trying to keep your breath silent. Nervously, you take out the red crystal, recalling your observation that it would make a decent weapon. Strangely, it begins to give off a red glow, softly illuminating the cavern so that you can see. There is a more open area up ahead, with strange dark stones perched on stalactites scattered around the area. Something’s hiding behind one…

You cautiously approach the thing. It doesn’t seem to notice you, despite the red glow cast over it. It seems insectoid, but has… hair. What could it be?

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

flirt

“Hey, sexy, looking for some fun?” you try.

The thing looks up at you, unamused. “Oh, very funny. Seduce the changeling,” it spits, and promptly goes back to ignoring you.

You feel incredibly stupid.

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

run

Unnerved, you make to leave this place, but are quickly tackled from behind. “Surprise…” something hisses in your ear, before viciously biting into your neck.

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

fight

You cry out and jerk away, flailing about wildly with the crystal. To your surprise, it catches the mysterious creature across the chest, leaving a dark, dripping slash. The thing lets go in shock, and you stumble away, clutching your neck. There’s two small spots of blood, but you don’t feel too injured.

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

run

Resolved, you press on, attempting to flee the area. “Not so fast!” the creature hisses, pouncing past you to block the exit. Its eyes begin to glow with a dark aura, and because it’s just outside the range of the glow of your crystal, you can see that they’re actually glowing green. “You serve only me, your Queen. You are worthless,” the thing intones.

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

fight

Strangely, you don’t feel any mind control happening, so you lunge forward. Taken by surprise, the thing jumps out of the way, and you swing around with the crystal, this time accurately enough to score a hit on one of its gossamer wings. There’s a ripping sound, and the creature screams as its wing is torn away from its body. “I’ll murder you for that!” she screeches, pouncing forward with her fangs bared and jaw opened.

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

fight

However, this time you’re ready. You swing the crystal with the point upward, and with flawless timing, it punches right through her neck. Green blood begins to pool on your hand, and she looks up at you in shock. “You – I – I…m… sorry…” she chokes, before going limp, blood dripping from her mouth. Breathing shakily, you step back, pulling out the crystal and wiping it on your pants.

[You won!]

[EXP Gained]

[GAME SAVED]

[LV 2 achieved!]

You slowly make your way out of the cavern, clutching your neck. The crystal’s still glowing, now providing you with a source of light, even if the red is a little strange. As you creep on, it occurs to you that you just committed murder. That thing… it could talk. It could think.

It could’ve killed you.

And… strangely, you feel pretty good about it. You don’t even feel all that hurt, despite taking a bite straight to the jugular. Is that normal? You’re pretty sure it’s not. You’d better seek some medical attention soon.

You enter a large room with a six-pointed star inscribed on a massive opposite door, and an ornate set of handles below, with a large crown insignia inscribed into the lower half of the doors. The cave itself is practically covered in gemstones. Looking around, you see twinkling sapphires, emeralds, rubies, topaz, diamonds… this all would be worth millions. There’s a huge diamond in the center of the room, too, which would probably be worth billions if you could carry it.You feel strangely drawn to the gems, for some reason, and move closer to inspect some. It looks like they’re all pretty close to the surface, and you think you could probably chip one or two off with your crystal before it breaks.

Take a gem?

[Y/N]

y

You attempt to pry a gem from the wall, only to find that it won’t come off. And now you can’t move your hand away from it, either. The room quickly fades to black, and you find yourself in a dark space. Unable to move. You get the feeling something should be happening, but isn’t.

An indeterminate amount of time passes. You attempt to move. You attempt to scream.

You attempt to die.

It works!

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

You’re back outside the cavern with the insect-thing, weapon still dripping with its blood. It’s not an accident, anymore: Death holds no meaning for you.

You re-enter the room full of crystals, now wary of the shiny little deceivers. Taking great care not to touch them, you ignore them and examine the door. Walking closer, you find the six points of the star to actually be six slots, looking as though something was meant to be inserted into them. You think you spot an oddly rectangular piece of rock sitting against a far wall, so you walk over and look at that.

It’s got a weirdly jagged edge, almost to where it looks like it was naturally broken off of a larger slab. You can’t make out any other identifying markings about it. Maybe there are six identical keys? You look around for some more keys.

It takes you hours, but you finally find all six. One’s behind a wall of gemstones – you solve this problem by using your sweater as a barrier between the deadly gems and your skin. Another’s hidden under a loose bit of the floor, which you find almost immediately. Two are hidden on opposite sides of a teeter-totter style setup, where picking up one caused the other to swing out of reach. Propping one of them up with the crystal solved that problem. The final key is behind a row of crystalline spikes, through which you reach very carefully. Finally, you have all six keys.

Put a key into a slot?

[Y/N]

y

Throwing caution to the wind, you take a random key and place it into the top left slot. Instantly, the door glows white, and you hear a high-pitched ringing as everything around you goes white in the space of a split second.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

Uuugh, all the way back here again? You frustratedly enter the room and find the keys again, this time going through it in the space of just a few minutes. Once you have all six keys once again assembled, you carefully inspect each one, trying to find what might discern one from the other. You find that each one has a spot on the back which looks like it might have been written on at some point… but whatever was on there was scratched off. Irritated, you begin trying the keys, laying them out in the order you obtained them.

[GAME SAVED]

Nope.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

Not that one.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

Try again…

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

So close!

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

Sigh.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

How?!

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

You’re just doing this on purpose, aren’t you.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

You’ve got to be kidding.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

Finally!

[GAME SAVED]

Chapter 5 - All That Glitters...

005

[GAME LOADED]

You continue running for what feels like hours, but must only be a few minutes, and you can hear him yelling behind you. You aren’t looking where your feet are going, and with a mighty *crunch* you can feel the floor break beneath you.

Your fall becomes a slide as the red sandstone that once made up the tunnel walls whirls all around you in a downward maelstrom of terror. A rock bouncing from above hits you on the head, and your vision goes black.

…

“One dead. Two escaped. Pathetic. Can’t you make up your mind?”

…

“Perhaps not. Or maybe… maybe you don’t have much of a mind to make up.”

…

…

“Honestly, you don’t even deserve this. You deserve to go back again and again and again, endlessly trapped in your own special hell. But…”

…

“I never was known for being cruel, now was I?”

…

“Now, your friends on the other hand. They’re just being mean. We’ve been through this five times now, and they haven’t SAVED you once! It’s like they didn’t even read the message back on the first one!

…

“Hehehe. Just kidding.”

…

“DOWN HERE, YOU DON’T HAVE ANY FRIENDS.”

[GAME SAVED]

…

…

…

You slowly come to, bruised and battered. Everything’s dark. You don’t know where you are. You can’t even see your own body in the pitch blackness.

[INVENTORY][LOOK AROUND][DO NOTHING!]

inventory

[RED CRYSTAL]

red crystal

You take out the red crystal, which lights up your surroundings. You’re trapped in a pile of rock, and a boulder looms precariously over you, looking as though it’s going to fall over any moment. What will you do?

[STRUGGLE][DO NOTHING!]

struggle

You attempt to wrench your foot free, but in the process you disturb the boulder overhead. It bears down on you with sufficient force to crush your head. Which it does. Violently.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[GAME LOADED]

You wake up again, still just as dazed as the first time. It seems your injuries aren’t spontaneously healed every time you ‘start over.’ Pity. You once again spot the boulder, wobbling unsteadily.

[STRUGGLE][DO NOTHING!]

do nothing

The boulder crashes down over you… and then rolls past. Thankfully, you managed to duck into the convenient you-shaped pit you made when you landed here, so you’re fine. You wrench your leg out of the hole, and out of the mess of second-person pronouns. That done, you wave around the red crystal, trying to get a sense of where you are.

As it turns out, you’ve slid right into some sort of room. It used to be clean, from the looks of things, but not anymore. Debris covers what was once a perfectly usable countertop, and multiple beakers and flasks have been pushed onto the concrete floor, their contents slowly eating through and giving off an acrid smell. You tiptoe your way over to the exit door, and are surprised to find that it locks from the inside, allowing you to simply turn the lock and progress.

You step out into a dark hallway, and immediately feel the chill of the air conditioning. It’s cold in here, so you decide to make your way through quickly. As you pass by one of the doors, you stop a moment to read it. “Lab B7,” it says. So you’re on the basement floor, then? Strange. You’d think someone would have mentioned an entire laboratory hidden away in whatever this ‘Tartarus’ is. If nothing else, you might at least be able to find some stuff to help you get back to the surface world. You’re not sure what you’ll do once you get there, because you’re pretty sure your world didn’t have evil talking horses, but it would definitely be better than this dump.

Entering one of the Labs, you’re pleased to find that it contains a computer, which you might be able to use to contact help, and some storage cabinets. Looking through a storage cabinet that’s open, you find a sword, which by your standards is very short. It’s midnight black in coloration, and is approximately one and a half times the length of your arm. You take it with you, pleased to have a real weapon, and place the red crystal on a nearby table. You’re tempted to toss the crystal now that you have a real blade, but it’s also your only source of light. You start up the computer, hoping it’s good enough to at the very least have a connection to the outside world.

To your dismay, you merely find a series of documents detailing the height and weight of various prisoners, and other irrelevant details. In addition, the computer is so old-fashioned that you can’t seem to contact anything at all with it, not even other computers. Or maybe you’re not sure how – after all, you don’t even know how you remember what a computer is.

Irritated, you search the storage cabinets some more. There are some rocks that don’t seem to do anything, which you discard, and a strange golden triangular necklace.

Put the necklace on?

[Y/N]

n

You keep the necklace off, stowing it in your pocket. It’s really heavy, and looks to be made of pure gold, so maybe you can sell it later.

Moving on, you think you catch one of the ghost-creatures moving down the hallway. However, when you blink, it’s gone. Still feeling tired from the rockslide, you rub your eyes and keep moving.

Your progress comes to a halt when you find that the elevator to this floor has been destroyed, the doors bent inward just enough to where they won’t open. Disgruntled, you turn your attention to the nearby stairs. It looks like someone attempted to start blocking them off, as there is a wall of dirt in front of you, but never finished the job, as it’s only a few feet high. You kick it over, and proceed up the stairs.

You arrive at the lobby of the building, which looks as though a tornado has been through it. Papers, decorations and even chairs are strewn everywhere, and the whole place gives off a heady scent of mold and decay. A faded sign says “Harmony Labs.” You have absolutely no idea where or what that is.

Looking outside, you’re shocked to find that Harmony Labs comes with its own pre-installed moat. Of lava. It looks to be at least three hundred degrees outside, and with your sweater on, you’d be sweltering in the heat. Good thing this place somehow has air conditioning.

You have two options of where to go: A door on the left of the lobby desk, or a door on the right. You don’t feel like exiting the Lab unless you really, really have to. Approaching the door on the left, you’re irritated to find that it’s locked, the only possible key a small cone-shaped indent in the wall. Trying the right door, you find that it’s open, and leads you to another series of hallways.

You hear footsteps echoing down the corridor almost as soon as you walk in, so you decide to back out and wait. What you aren’t expecting as you walk backwards out the door is to bump into something, and promptly be picked up by the scruff of your neck.

“So here you are again,” a hoarse voice whispers.

You wiggle your body around, craning your neck, only to find yourself thrown to the floor. Quickly recovering, you finally manage to get a view of your assailant.

It looks like someone gave a human the mother of all sunburns, then fused them with a gray horse into a centaur and gave them goat horns to top the whole thing off. The newcomer is male, judging by the tone of voice, and has a silver nose ring. Finally, the lower portions of his arms are encased in what appear to be silvery-gold restraints, broken chains trailing off the sides. He looks quite frail, and very old.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” he rasps. “My name is Lord Tirek. You are a human. And that look on your face… that’s the look of someone who’s used that crystal quite a bit. On one in particular, I suppose. How did it feel, to stab her through the neck?” he inquires.

You back away. “I – I had no other choice!” you argue. “She was going to kill me!”

Tirek smirks. “Was she? Well, that’s no excuse. She wouldn’t have hurt you if you hadn’t gone that way. You had the power to prevent her death, and you didn’t use it. You’re pathetically weak,” he snarls.

You glare back, getting to your feet. “So, what, you’re here to judge me? If you’re down here, that probably means you’re in for a whole lot more than self-defense,” you successfully counter.

Tirek laughs. “Am I? You know, there’s only one species down here that’s ever considered killing another as an act of justice. And it’s not me, nor the changeling, nor the ponies. It’s you. And you’re going to pay for it… if not by my hand, then another.” Without another word, he launches himself at you.

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

flirt

Tirek stops a moment as you adopt a sexy pose. “Sure you don’t want a piece of this?” you ask.

His eyes narrow at you. “You’re not my type,” he flatly answers.

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

fight

You lash out with the blade you found, and to your surprise are able to score a hit. A long gash runs down Tirek’s front, dripping dark red.

“So, you’ve found the sword! And just in time, too,” Tirek taunts, backing away. “It isn’t even rightfully yours, you know that? It belongs to somepony you left behind.”

His horns light up orange, and a beam of magical energy strikes you, knocking you off your feet.

“What’s the matter?” Tirek continues angrily. “Humans are normally immune to magic! But with that crystal… you’re just as weak as those other ponies!”

His horns glow again, and you struggle frantically as you’re lifted up into the air. A millisecond later, you’re tossed to the side of the room, slamming into a portrait and crumpling to the floor. He picks you up, and does it again, slamming you into the ground this time. The sword you just picked up skitters away, out of your reach.

“What are you going to do now, pathetic whelp?!” Tirek questions while he’s attacking you. “Are you going to try to SPARE me? Oh, wait, you can’t! You made that choice long ago!”

By now, you’re too dazed to respond. Slowly, you’re dragged towards Tirek by the inexorable power of his magic, and you can hear the centaur panting with effort.

“What a shame,” Tirek murmurs as he surveys you, upside down and helpless. “You couldn’t even defeat me. What makes you think you deserve this world more than I do?”

While he’s talking, you realize you’re still holding the triangular necklace from earlier. With the last of your strength, you swing it upward and across Tirek's neck, somehow managing to catch his jugular vein and sending a splatter of blood across the room.

Tirek's eyes dilate in shock. He steps backwards, dropping you to the floor and falling to one knee. “S…so that’s how it is, then…” he mutters, clutching his neck as he coughs up blood. "Killed by the necklace my brother made for me... How ironic."

To your surprise, he smiles at you, a grin worthy of someone who managed to gain victory at the last moment.

“Fool. The only thing you ever accomplished was getting yourself stuck down here like the rest of us. Murderers can’t leave the Harmony Barrier… and now, you’ve murdered two. Enjoy living out the rest… of your short, miserable life… in suffering…” Tirek breathes, closing his eyes and dropping to the floor.

You’re too badly hurt to respond, and collapse to the ground yourself.

Chapter 6 - Remnant

006

[GAME LOADED]

…

“So that’s it, huh?”

…

“Two people out of four. A nice, simple fraction if you will.”

“And now, all that’s left…”

“Is me.”

…

“I hope you’re ready.”

“This is the final chapter, after all.”

…

…

…

“…Right?”

You wake up again to find that nothing has changed. You’re still in the lobby of ‘Harmony Labs,’ and the corpse of Lord Tirek is just a few feet away. As you slowly come awake, you stumble away, and you remember what he said.

By committing murder, you locked off your only escape option.

…Or did you?

If you can make it back up to the pit you fell into, you’re sure you can get out that way. After all, it didn’t have any transparent Barrier blocking it off – you could feel wind, and sun, and life out there. All you have to do is find some sort of thing you can climb with. With renewed determination, you press on.

Searching the room, you spy the sword you’d attempted to use on Tirek, hidden in a corner underneath a rock. You stumble over and pick it up, holding a hand to your head in pain. All that slamming around took a hefty toll on your physical health, and if you don’t find some food or drink soon, you’re going to be in for a whole new world of hurt.

You try to open the front door to Harmony Labs, to see if it's possible to go back to the surface that way. To your surprise, the front door isn't just locked, it's no longer there. Just a blank patch of wall... No going back up to the hole you fell into, it seems. You'll have to find another way out.

You attempt to open the door on the left of the lobby desk, but it’s still locked. Frustrated, you punch it, and to your surprise it slides open. Elated, you step through, away from the festering corpse of the centaur you just murdered.

This area of ‘Harmony Labs’ is just as moldy and decrepit as the rest, and you barely stop to look around in each room, searching solely for sustenance. You find your answer in a room whose sign states “Lounge,” in the form of a refrigerator. Opening it, you find a surprising amount of spinach, which you hurriedly scarf down, and a few cold bottles of water, which you guzzle just as greedily.

Half an hour later, you’re feeling much better. You venture out into the Labs again, feeling refreshed and full of determination.

Curious, you decide to poke around some more. You figure out from some of the posters on the wall that this place has apparently been around for quite a long time – almost a thousand years. Whatever a ‘year’ is in this place. You get the odd feeling you’re not on your home planet anymore.

Irritated by the lack of information on how to escape, you poke around some more labs, finding a single lit computer. To your surprise, there is no login, and the desktop is already depicted. You find some vaguely interesting files – an incomplete, pixelated map of ‘Tartarus’, some test logs for familiar-sounding inmates, and a few journal entries from whoever used this computer last. You read through disinterestedly, only to become intrigued as you read about some other human who visited this place. Maybe you are on your home planet, then? You don’t know. You just get the feeling you don’t belong here. Reading further, you’re ecstatic to discover that there is, in fact, a secret escape elevator. Apparently it’s in the same room as the ‘System Defenses’, whatever those are. Honestly, you’re not even sure you care at this point. If you could kill a magic centaur with nothing more than a golden triangular necklace, you’re pretty sure you can take on anything. Besides, they’re probably broken anyway. Or maybe that other human took care of them. The text log says that there are some useful things hidden in the storage cabinets, but you can’t seem to open any. Oh well. You can finally get out of here! Jubilantly, you close the journal file and make your way back into the Lobby, searching along the way for any room marked ‘System Defenses’ or some such.

To your surprise, there’s a new scrap of paper laying on the Lobby floor. You pick it up, and read it.

“Ready?

Go ahead, walk into Lab 00.

I DARE YOU.”

You raise your eyebrow. You never saw a ‘Lab 00’ anywhere. Maybe it was in the corridor you were about to enter? You re-enter the Lobby, only to find that Tirek’s corpse has disappeared. Strange. There’s no trail of blood, so it appears as if he vanished on the spot. But how? Maybe it’s some more weird magic of his, or something.

You decide to check the door to the right of the desk, the corridor you were going to check earlier but were interrupted by Tirek. Checking the doors as you walk along the hall, they all seem ordinary. You come to the end of the hall, and find that the door at the end’s label has been scratched off, a crude ‘00’ written in its place. You attempt to read the writing underneath the scratch marks. “SYS     D    E   S  S” is all you can make out. Smirking, you venture forward, curious as to who could possibly want an audience with you now.

You enter an incredibly large room, halogen lamps diffusing their harsh white glow such that there’s nary a shadow to be found. Unlike the rest of the Lab, this place is still quite clean, and you wonder how that works. To either side of you are rows of cylindrical glass tanks, as large as your entire body. You wonder what they could possibly contain. Looking forward, a massive machine greets your eyes.

The main chassis is roughly egg-shaped, a single tinted-glass circular window occasionally shifting and glinting as though something was moving inside. Several different types of tubes suspend it from the ceiling, hung at disjointed and physically inaccurate angles. The final insult to the standard laws of physics are the thirteen screens floating in front of the strange machine – four on either side, and five arranged in an ominous ‘smiley face’ around the tinted window. Strangely, the screens are dark and cracked.

“So you’ve finally arrived!” a voice gleefully spoke, sounding… wrong. It sounded as though someone had layered pitches of their own voice over themselves, producing a high, childish-sounding… terrifying sound. Sort of like that bug thing, but much worse. The doors slammed closed behind you, and you frantically banged on them in your attempts to open them.

“Not gonna work, buddy! You of all people should know that,” the voice spoke up, as maniacally cheerful as ever.

“Wha – what do you want?!” you demand.

“Hehehe. Don’t you know?” it asked. “I want you to die!” Without further warning, two cannon-shaped objects slide out of panels in the floor, and blast beams of magic twice the thickness of your body at you. You spring forward, and the beams collide in an ‘X’ pattern, the area of intersection glowing white-hot.

More defenses sprang from the walls, the room having gone from a sterilized lab to a deathtrap in a matter of seconds. You’re too stunned to react as spheres of magic begin to weave wild and erratic patterns through the room, and simply stand there in horror. A single sphere grazes your arm, ‘popping’ with a startlingly loud noise, and the portion of your arm that it touched is gone, a spatter of blood following its former trajectory. You scream out in pain, and clutch the portion of your arm it hit, only to be sucker-punched in the chest by another magic ball. More and more begin to home towards your position, and you sink to the floor as the darkness closes in. You haven’t SAVED in a while… maybe you’ll be able to avoid this fight. Go around it, or some…thing…

[GAME OVER]

[JOKER SAVE: resononce]

[GAME LOADED]

You wake up in the middle of the floor, confused. Weren’t you supposed to be in some rocks? “You can thank one of your so-called friends for that one,” the voice snarked. “Oh, I’m sorry, were you not expecting this?” the voice queries, noting your dismay and giggling. “You didn’t think I was only going to kill you once, did you? Ahahahahaha!” it laughed, the sound shrieking through your ears. “No, you’re going to stay here with me until you kill me… or I beat you!”

And with that, the attack began again. This time, though, you’re more wary. You dodge around the magic balls, weaving and ducking with an insane fervor. The cannons reappear, and you dodge the blasts frantically, still keeping an eye out for the errant spheres of death. Some of the spheres bounce off of your sword, and you take a moment out of ducking and weaving to note that it’s unaffected. A plan comes to your head, faint memories of strangely cartoonic people with giant swords blocking impossibly fast shots. Rather like your situation now, in fact.

Was it real?

[is anime real?]

[Y/N]

Regardless of the answer, you take out your sword and begin slashing spheres around you. Out of pure desperation, your aim is perfected, and you are relatively untouched so far. You leap forward, and slash off one of the cables connecting the egg-shaped apparatus to the floor. A large fan quickly unveils itself just in front of you, and a massive blast of air pushes you off the apparatus before you can do any more damage.

“You think I’d make it that easy?!” the unknown figure rants. “You IDIOT. You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?!”

You twist around and land sprawled on your back, thankfully not hitting any of the magical spheres that are still raging above you. With no time to lose, you scramble to your feet and start deflecting shots again.

This goes on for what seems like forever. Sometimes, you die just as you’re about to win. Sometimes, you die in the most laughable of ways. On and on. Over, and over, you just keep throwing yourself at me your unseen foe, so desperate to win that you’d give your life countless times to do so.

Eventually, however, you must succeed.

With a war cry worthy of a thousand mighty assailants, you sever the last cable, and are immediately blown backwards again by the strange fan contraption. The machine topples to the floor, steel groaning and screaming as it is torn asunder by gravity’s now-unopposed force. The bullet hell stops, the magic spheres vanishing into the walls, and all is quiet. You topple to the floor as well, tuckered out by your insane ordeal. And, for just a moment, all is quiet.

You have won.

“….

….

….

….”

[GAME SAVED]

You wake up, dazed and disoriented. You’re still in the massive room, the halogen lights overhead searing into your eyelids. You’re bruised, torn, heavily injured, and exhausted.

But you’re alive.

It seems like hours before you can get up. Even then, each movement is a struggle, every breath a gasp of pain. But you’re determined to finally bring this adventure to a close. After all, you’ve won, right? There’s nothing else to defeat.

You slowly crawl past the broken machine, still wary of it. Despite everything, you can still see movement inside. You take a moment to wonder what could be trapped inside there.

It’s probably nothing important.

Finally, you make it to a door behind the machine. This is it, you think to yourself. You push open the door, and slowly make to crawl through…

Only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.

Looking closer, you notice it’s the same barrier that you’ve seen before. The one that, according to Tirek, keeps all the criminals down here.

And you can’t seem to get through it. Why not?

Wait.

Wait.

aRE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME YOU KILLED SOMEONE YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WIN

HOWCOUDLYOUDOTHISTOMEIHATEYOUIHATEYOUSOMUCHIHATE**

[error]

[error]

[eRroR]

[SYSTEM SHUTDOWN]

Chapter 7 - Inferno

01

[message received from ???????]

[GREETINGS, PLAYER.]

[IT SEEMS YOU HAVE MADE SOME INCORRECT CHOICES.]

[ALLOW ME TO RECTIFY THIS SITUATION.]

[GAME LOADED]

[BEGIN NEW GAME? Y/N]

y

[ERROR: USER ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A CHOICE.]

yyyyyy

[ErROr: DeTERmINatION oVErlOAD]

[GAME SAVED]

[LOADING NEW GAME]

[COPYRIGHT EQUESTRIA 2016]

[GAME LOADED]

You wake up slowly. Comfortably. Like the time you realized it was Saturday, and you didn’t have to get up for school. The bed beneath you is warm, if oddly lumpy. Sunlight streams down on your face, warm and bright. What were you doing last night? You can’t remember. You don’t remember much of anything, in fact. Just your name.

You lay there for a moment longer. Are you outside? It feels like you’re outside. The wind echoes hollowly above you, and the sun shines directly down on your face now. Like a temperature-based alarm clock, it becomes warmer, and warmer, until your face is burning. Like that one time you visited a beach. Get up, the sun seems to whisper. Begin your day.

Reluctantly, you obey the massive burning sphere, rolling to the side and immediately encountering the hard, sandy ground. Opening your eyes, you find you’re in a deep crevasse of red sandstone. Strangely, you’d been sleeping on a massive pile of pillows. Who put this here? Did you fall on top of it, or were you moved onto it? You vaguely remember a sensation of falling, like falling in a dream. Except this time, you get the feeling you didn’t quite wake up.

Looking around, it’s clear you can’t escape back to the surface from here. The walls of the pit are far too steep, and your hands were never exactly suited to climbing anyway. You briefly ponder if you should call for help. You can’t hear any voices outside, but it’s worth a shot. You call out to the sunlight: “Hello?”

But nobody came.

After a few minutes of waiting, and calling some more, you reluctantly decide on a new tactic. Exploring around, you find a thin, tall crack on the wall. Just the right size for you to slip through. It’s a way forward, at least, even if only to get out of the burning midday sun.

The crack widens into a narrow cave. It seems almost perfectly made for a human like you to walk through. As you continue, your eyes adjusting to the darkness, you become aware of a light up ahead. To you, that light means hope. You stride onward, your every step filled with determination.

You notice a large crystal sitting untouched in the middle of the cave. It’s easily the length of your head, a long, thin, heptagonal thing with a sharp crystalline end. It’s red, too, a crimson that makes blood run for cover. If you had to stab someone, this would be the perfect weapon. Alternatively, whatever this is looks like it’d sell for quite a lot. You briefly debate on picking it up.

[pick up crystal? Y/N]

n

[GAME SAVED]

[PATHWAY CLOSED]

You decide not to pick it up. After all, it’s not like you’re after money at the moment. You can always come back for it later. Besides, if there’s one, there’s more, right?

Despite your self-reassurances, something calls out to you as you stubbornly step past the beguiling red scepter. You really want to go back and pick it up…

But you shrug your shoulders and move on.

You notice a small inscription along the cave. “DON’T KILL, AND DON’T BE KILLED” is written in what appears to be a very sparkly red marker. Looking closer, you reveal that the words are in fact composed of thousands of miniscule red crystals, somehow having grown into this formation in the cave itself. How odd. You decide to take the advice to heart, and resolve to not kill any who you come across.

A few feet ahead, you come across another sparkling inscription, this time written in what appears to be very tiny amethysts. “FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC,” you read aloud. That sounds strangely familiar.

You don’t see any other crystals, but the light is getting brighter. You see the mouth of the cave up ahead, though it doesn’t look like it opens into a sunlit area. Rather, now that you’re closer, the light seems… artificial. Hollow. Cold. Like the frigid blue, cloudy glow of a Pacific morning back home. Where are you, anyway?

You hear a strange barking sound up ahead, and the cave temporarily shakes. Something very big is coming toward you. You tremble in fear as the thumping noises get louder and louder, and so does the barking. What will you do?

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

do nothing

You wait for the three-headed dog to arrive... But how did you know what it looked like? Anyway, it leaps toward you, growling. You sidestep out of the way.

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

spare

You adopt a friendly stance. “Easy, there,” you cajole. “I’m not here to hurt you.” The dog seems confused, and gives an inquisitive bark.

[FIGHT!] [RUN!] [PET?]

pet

You reach up and rub the belly fur of the imposingly large dog. It growls uncertainly at first, but quickly warms to your touch. Eventually, the three heads are lolling and panting in satisfaction as your petting becomes more vigorous. You take your hand away for a moment, and it excitedly jumps up, startling you as it leaps around for joy.

[FIGHT!] [RUN!] [PET?] [SPARE]

pet

You continue to pet the dog. It rolls over onto its back, a thump resounding through the air as it curls its paws upward, demanding your attention.

pet

You continue to pet the dog, delivering a vicious belly rub to its upper torso. It’s super effective.

pet

It seems the dog is getting a little too excited. It starts twitching nervously. It doesn’t look like anyone’s petted it this much before.

pet

[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: PRECIOUS PUPPER]

You have reached critical pet. The dog gives one last resounding bark, and licks you from feet to face with the slobbery tongue of its middle head. Giggling, you rub it on the forehead, and it nods before bounding away.

[You won!]

[GAME SAVED]

Finally, you reach the opening of the cave. You can hear a voice up ahead! Maybe they can help you escape. Or at the very least, let you know where you are.

“Hello?” you call out from the cave mouth, and it echoes. Quite a lot. You get the sense that you are in a very big cave now.

The voice immediately stops. “Who’s there?” it sharply inquires. “Answer me!”

You step out onto a small ledge. To your left is a stone bridge that leads deep into the gloom, towards where you presume the voice is coming from. To your right… a vast, impenetrable darkness. “I’m friendly,” you assure the voice. “Where are you?” you ask. Perhaps the better question might have been ‘who are you,’ but the time is long past for subtleties of conversation. At least, that’s the feeling you get.

“Follow the bridge… if thou even can,” the voice sullenly replies.

What’s that supposed to mean? This is all so strange. Stubbornly, you step onto the bridge. It’s solid, and made of a white, clean stone, easily visible despite the low-light conditions. You begin walking, noting that the bridge is very thin – perhaps the width of your shoulders – and has no guardrails. If you slip off this thing… You shudder to think of the consequences.

After a few minutes of walking, you see a fork in the ‘road.’ One path continues straight into the blackness, the other veers off towards the light.

“Which way should I go?” you wonder out loud.

“The other way,” the voice immediately answers from your right. “That way thou can escape.”

You narrow your eyes. What kind of place is this? It seems like this voice is stuck here too, but knows the way out.

What will you do?

[FOLLOW VOICE] [LEAVE] [DO NOTHING!]

Chapter 4 - This Night Aria

004

[GAME LOADED]

You push open the door, and slip inside, feeling elated at your success. This new corridor is long and smooth, and looks recently made. The walls are a smooth gray, almost like concrete, and are definitely not natural. You feel as though something should happen here, but all you can tell is that your crystal is glowing again. You hear a faint snippet of conversation.

“You’re really messed up, you know that?”

Vaguely offended, you continue down the cave and into the next area. You’re beginning to feel tired, and as you’re hit with the scent of mold and decay, you can feel your head beginning to spin. You’d better find some sustenance, fast. This section of this place is less maintained than other sections: Sections of the roof have fallen to the floor, and puddles have collected around divots in the floor. This area appears to be more ‘mass storage’-oriented, as there are hundreds of cells set into the wall, each with the classic barred front, a simple cot, and a bucket. Are you in a prison? That would explain a lot. Some of the cells have been broken open. Apparently from the inside. You swallow nervously and venture forward. Is it just you, or does this place seem… darker than usual?

All around, you hear whispering. Nothing you can make out, but the tone doesn’t sound friendly. The white noise becomes louder, and louder, until you’re frantically looking around for the source. As you whip your head around, you catch a gleam of white in one of the rooms. You enter the cell to find a small golden key on a table. Curious, you pick it up.

[ITEM ACQUIRED: ??? KEY]

You put the key in your pockets, and exit the jail cell. Continuing towards the exit, a simple wooden door, you feel something crawling on your back. You quickly jerk around to find two smaller ponies, pearly white and transparent, looking as though they’d just been in a microwave. Their ‘flesh’ pools around their hooves, leaving them with a saggy, drooped look. You back away in horror as their empty sockets slowly gaze up at you.

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

flirt

Would you smooch a ghost?

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

run

There’s nowhere to run to.

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

spare

You try to tell the ghosts you don’t want to fight. They advance forward, and another one joins them, floating straight through the wall.

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

fight

Panicking, you lash out with the crystal. Instantly, the ghost you touch disappears. Two ghosts remain.

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

spare

They ignore you.

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

fight

You lash out again, catching another ghost with the tip. Like its comrade, it vanishes instantly. One ghost remains.

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

fight

One final time, you swing the crystal in a sideways arc, catching the spirit right across where its eyes would have been. This time, it gives an anguished scream before it vanishes, followed by a gurgling rattle from the spot it once floated in. Breathing shakily, you look around for any more ghosts.

…

But nobody came.

[You won!]

[EXP Gained]

[GAME SAVED]

[LV 3 achieved!]

You cautiously advance forward to the unobtrusive wooden door. As you open it, a giggle sounds from within the darkness, and you whip out your crystal. There’s nothing in the room that you can see, except for a coil of rope laying on the floor. You suppose you could use this for something. You move forward and pick up the rope.

[ITEM ACQUIRED:]

The door closes behind you. Another giggle sounds from nowhere, and you whirl around, trying to exit the room. The door remains firmly shut. You shakily pull out the ??? Key, but it clatters to the floor. You scramble to pick it up and insert it into the door…

The door has no lock.

The door also has no handle. You are locked from the outside.

…

Well?

Only one thing left to do.

You take out the coil of rope.

[GAME OVER]

[LOAD LAST SAVE][RESET][QUIT]

load last save

[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Curiosity killed the XXXXXX]

[GAME LOADED]

You’re back in the corridor. You have the crystal in your hand, glowing with its familiar and by now comfortable red light. You look around, breathing shakily, and it takes you a moment to realize that you’re still immune to dying somehow. This time, though… This time you’re not scared of it.

You’re glad.

Nothing can kill you. You can keep going forever, and nothing can possibly stop you. You charge forward, and right on cue, ghosts start pouring from the walls. Laughing, you slash through them, cleaving through two, then five, then ten in a single hit. They try to hit you with their ghostly hooves. Nothing happens. Some of them hold their horns skyward, as though attempting to do something. Nothing happens. The ones that can fly attempt to dive-bomb you. Nothing happens. You’re invincible.

[EXP Gained]

[GAME SAVED]

[LV 10 achieved!]

Once you’ve slaughtered what must be hundreds of spirits, you slowly calm down from your bloodlust. Er… ectoplasm-lust. Whatever. Where did that even come from, you wonder? You’ve never thought of yourself as particularly violent, but you were laughing up a storm back there.

…

Oh well. Nobody’s around to judge, right?

You continue through the hallway, decidedly ignoring the golden key. To your half-surprise, the imposing door on the other side of the corridor is unlocked, and you wrench it open, grunting at the weight.

You enter a vast cavern. The sky is blocked off by some sort of transparent dome, but you can see stars twinkling. The moon has risen, reminding you of an ordinary night sky back home. Wherever home is.

But shouldn’t there be something else there?

Frustrated by your inability to comprehend your own comment, you continue forward, the moonlight revealing your path. The way is relatively unblocked, though you occasionally have to pick your way around a stalagmite or fallen chunk of debris. It seems as though there was a building here once, but it’s gone now, trapped in this pit beneath the strange dome. You slowly move through the fallen rubble, not wanting to disturb anything. After a while, you come across a scrap of paper laying in front of a cracked moon symbol set into a stone wall. You pick it up, and read it under the moonlight.

“I HATE YOU.”

Well.

It appears paper hates you almost as much as life does.

You carelessly toss the scrap of paper away, and continue forward to the other side. Nearing the opposite wall, you find another scrap of paper, this time much longer. Curious, you read it.

“Legend tells that only one whose soul is as pure as the original seven, one who has enough love in them to lay down their life for those inside, can break the Harmony Barrier.”

You feel as though you would’ve done that… if circumstances had been a little different. After all, having friends is nice.

You reach the opposite wall. There are two doors here, one small and with a keyhole, the other large and just a crack open, clearly unlocked. You attempt to pull out the ??? Key from your pocket, but forget that you never picked it up in the first place. Maybe a different key is required to open this thing, anyway. You’ll remember this place in case you find an extra one. Reluctantly, you move forward and open the larger door, proceeding onward.

It’s another large room of jail cells, except this one has several rows of them, stacked on top of one another almost like storage bins. As you attempt to find the exit from this room, things begin to… whisper to you from the darkness. “Scum.” “Filth.” “Worthless.” “Unwanted.” “Unloved.”

You whirl around as the voices come from all directions, whipping out the red crystal in panic. Your hands shake as you stare around wildly.

“…Human.”

Something’s behind you.

You spin around to find another pony. This one is clad in steel armor, with a red velvet cloak draped over his back and an imposing spiked crown atop his head. He bared his teeth.

“Disgusting, degenerate lowlife. Bow before your new king,” he commands in a deep growl. You narrow your eyes.

“N-no!” you answer, holding out the crystal threateningly. How did this one know you were human? None of the others did.

The new pony goes cross-eyed as he stares at the crystal, eyes widening in surprise. “Such powerful hate…” he breathes. He then grins at you. “How much for the crystal?” he asks.

You stare at him uncertainly. “You want this?” you ask, retracting your reach.

The new pony nods. “Such a powerful tool of fear… this could easily allow me to retake my kingdom. Allow me to introduce myself. I am King Sombra, the rightful ruler of the Crystal Kingdom.”

You raise an eyebrow. “If you’re a king, what’re you doing in a prison cell?” you point out.

He glares at you. “That is none of your concern. And besides, what are you doing in Tartarus?” he counters.

You shrug. “I just sort of fell in,” you explain.

Sombra looks at you for a moment, then starts laughing. His laugh fills the cavern, echoing around every space. You think it’s even in your head. “You fell?!” he snickers. “Must’ve been some fall!” You glare at him, taking a moment to glance around for exits when you think he’s not looking.

“Anyway, I’m not selling this,” you deny. It is your only weapon, after all.

King Sombra glares at you. “Then I’ll just have to take it,” he breathes, and launches himself forward. You spring out of the way, but he counters by kicking his legs out, sweeping you off your feet. The two of you circle each other warily.

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

run

You rush towards him, and Sombra puts up a defensive stance. To his surprise, you continue to rush past him, barreling for an exit tunnel you spotted on the opposite side of the wall, diving through and running headlong through the tunnel. In the second it takes him to realize what you’ve done, you’re already gone.