Twilight Plays a Horror Game
"She sent you a what?!" Spike asked.
Using her magic, Twilight carefully levitated the disc before her assistant, pointing to it with her hoof.
"You heard right, Spike, a horror game."
Placing his claws upon his head, Spike scratched there for a few moments before, finally, speaking up again.
"And she thinks this might be better than that strategy game you played?"
Looking to the disc, Twilight's expression was one of uncertainty, as she started walking towards the computer, still set up from the last time.
"Well, you know Nightmare Nights? Sometimes, it's fun to be scared. Maybe a game like this uses the same principal?"
Spike's face gave away his incredulity to this, which Twilight couldn't help but sigh to.
"I know, I know. But we owe it to Sunset to at least try it, right?"
After a few moments, Spike relented, letting his shoulders slump slightly. Like before, he took a seat beside Twilight, as the latter placed the disc within the computer. A short while passed before, finally, something appeared on the screen. More symbols and options, like the last game, and as they looked over them, Spike turned to his friend, a look of concern upon his face.
"Don't forget the settings this time, Twilight."
Giggling slightly, Twilight placed her hoof upon the young drake's head, patting him slightly before answering him.
"Don't worry, Spike. I won't make the same mistake twice."
Spike seemed to relax at that, but only a little, as he watched the mare start to work with the mouse yet again. She scoured through the screen before, in the end, finding what she was looking for.
"Aha! Here we go! The settings screen! And the options are..."
Slowly, her expression became one of confusion.
"...blatant or subtle?"
Spike raised an eyebrow after hearing that.
"Um...what?"
Twilight pointed to the screen.
"I swear, that's what it says. Blatant or subtle."
Spike titled his head after looking at the screen himself, and after a brief bout of silence between the two, he turned to her.
"So...what do we do?"
Twilight considered this for a moment before simply shrugging her shoulders.
"I guess...we just pick one."
And pick one she did, as she guided the mouse over and clicked the "blatant" option. Immediately, the screen changed, and the scene before them seemed to be an office environment of some sort. It was a grubby, run-down sort of place, that looked as if it hadn't been properly maintained in years. Lights occasionally flickered, there were piles of months-old newspaper clippings plastered to the walls, and overall, the whole place had an uncomfortable feeling to it.
"So...this is...pleasant," Spike said sarcastically.
Twilight briefly frowned at him, but then turned her attention back to the screen. At first, she tried pushing a few buttons, moving the mouse around, and even just waiting around for something to happen, all to no avail. The game seemed adamant that the image before them was all they were going to get.
"I don't get this. I mean, I know it doesn't exactly seem like a nice place to be, but I wouldn't call it scary. Would you, Spike?"
The dragon opened his mouth to reply to that, only to be rudely interrupted when something occurred on the screen. A face of some sort burst out of nowhere and screamed in a loud and surprising manner.
"A-BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA!!!"
"GAH!!!" Twilight exclaimed.
Like her, Spike too jumped in his seat, rushing behind his friend as if to use her as a shield.
"What in the name of almighty Faust was that?!"
Twilight shook her head, still shocked.
"It...it looked like...a giant rotten teddy bear?"
Spike looked to her with a mix of confusion and incredulity.
"Wha...why would anypony make something like that?!"
Again, Twilight shook her head.
"Well...it is supposed to be a horror game, so...maybe that was the scare?"
Spike slapped his forehead.
"That's not horror! It's just something gross-looking jumping out and going..."
But, yet again, the rotten bear popped up on the screen.
"AWOOGA! AWOOGA!"
"GAH!!!" Twilight and Spike shouted together.
Here, Spike frowned, shaking his fist at the screen.
"Stop doing that!"
"BOO!!!" the bear continued.
"No!" Spike demanded.
"I'M SCARING YOU!!!" the bear insisted.
"Badly!" Spike added.
Sighing to all of this, Twilight pushed a few buttons, resulting in the screen going dark once more. After a few more moments, the options menu came up again, and this time, she selected door number two.
"Okay, let's see what the subtle option gives us."
Spike folded his arms, still grumpy after what just happened, and he and Twilight watched as a new image came to the screen. This time, it appeared to be an empty street of some kind. Although, it was hard to see anything about it, as the whole place was covered in a dense fog, causing both of them to squint their eyes at it.
"Can...can you see anything?" Twilight asked.
Spike shook his head.
"No, I can't...wait...I think...yes! There's a building over there!"
He pointed to what he could see, and soon after, Twilight saw it too. Hesitantly, she tried some of the buttons, and found, to her delight, that she could actually move around. Slowly, her character crept towards the building in question, seeing it emerge ominously out of the fog. The two looked to each other, uncertainty plastered over their faces, and they gulped simultaneously as, after clicking on the mouse, Twilight made her character enter the building. On the other side of the door was almost total darkness. If the look of the first game setting was run-down, then this one was positively derelict.
"Geez! Doesn't anybody pay for maintenance in these horror stories?" Spike commented.
Ignoring him, Twilight made her character move forward, which soon caused both her and Spike to jump slightly when the distinct sounds of loud and creaky floorboards were heard with the character's steps.
"Okay...that's better...I guess," Spike said, uncertainty in his voice.
The character kept on moving forward, the sound of creaks and other old-building noises permeating the long silence in-between. It was, naturally, a disturbing setting, and one that caused both Twilight and Spike to lean in closer. They roamed around for a bit, never finding any monsters or other jack-in-the-box moments like the last experience. But, as they entered a nearby room, Twilight saw something.
"Hey...that table there...I think there's a note!"
Sure enough, there was indeed a small piece of paper upon the table, and Twilight was swift to go and pick it up. Slowly, she read the thing, speaking aloud as she did so.
"I...I know what you did?"
Spike looked to her, looking unnerved.
"What you did? What did you do?"
Twilight turned to him.
"I...I don't know. But I feel like I should be worried about it."
Spike nodded, then, soon after, his eyes widened.
"Er...Twilight?"
The fear in his voice was clear, and when the young alicorn turned to him, she saw him pointing at the screen, prompting her to look back at it. And when she did, she too widened her eyes. There was another note plastered on the nearby wall, followed by another, then another, going on and on, almost like a trail of some sort.
"This...doesn't seem good," Twilight said.
The two kept their eyes on the notes, following the trail until, finally, they looked all the way around to the wall they'd come through to get into this room. And there, upon it, were dozens, if not hundreds of notes, all marked in bright red ink. Their comments ranged from "I'm coming for you" to words like "you'll be sorry". Twilight and Spike's breathing was heavy now, and the dragon scooted closer to her, holding onto her as if for dear life.
"Wha...what do we do?"
Twilight shook her head, sweat rolling off her brow now. She opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when, all of a sudden, they heard something. It was footsteps, albeit feint and far-away ones. They squinted, looking down the hallway they'd walked from, trying to see who it was. But, the darkness persisted, obscuring their vision. The footsteps continued, growing louder and louder, making it very clear that, whoever it was, they were getting closer. Spike's grip on Twilight tightened.
"Twilight?"
She too was concerned, but kept her eyes on the screen, as the sounds grew loud enough for her to realise that it had now gone from walking to running. The unseen foe was approaching at high speeds now, and seemed to be almost upon them, with their steps perfectly timed with Twilight's breathing. Then, just as it looked as if they were about to be full-on rushed by this thing, Twilight blinked, and shut the whole computer down. In the silence that followed, the two simply stared at the now-blank screen, to the point where they did not even notice the figure approaching from behind.
"Hey, Twilight!"
"ARGH!!!" Twilight and Spike shouted.
They spun around, and there, they saw that it was just Pinkie, who backed away immediately after hearing that scream. As she looked to them, at their terrified faces, she frowned slightly.
"Fine! I'll borrow some sugar later then! Geez! Some ponies can be really jumpy!"
And with that, she was off, bouncing away in that typical manner of hers, leaving Twilight and Spike still deeply disturbed by their latest experience. Almost a full minute went by, with nothing but heavy breathing from the two of them. When it ended, Twilight looked to her young assistant, offering a weak smile.
"Okay, so...I think we'll take a break from games, if it's alright with you, Spike."
Turning to her, Spike nodded frantically.
"Yeah, I...I think I can live with that."
Slowly looking to the screen, Twilight frowned.
"Instead...we'll just have to worry about the nightmares from this."
To that, Spike sighed and slumped down into his chair.
"Yeah...I was afraid you'd say that."
