Lily woke up, shackled to a filthy, rusty wall.
Was it iron?
She looked around, finding the other ponies she had hung out with in Pinkie’s bar, all in the same state as her. No one dared make any sound.
“Good evening, my little ponies.” The queer, bright voice of Pinkie Pie sounded. But between her excitement, there was a hint of malice. A slight hint, yet it was there.
“What is this?” Doctor Whooves asked.
“Oh,” Pinkie said. “THIS?”
The five gasped in horror as Pinkie held up her daughter like a ragdoll. Strawberry was no longer breathing. The rope burn around her neck was a conformation.
“You just sat there and saw her get killed. Murdered. AND YOU DID NOTHING TO STOP HER!” Pinkie’s rage was understandable, but what did it have to do with their current situation?
“Excuse me, but why are we here?” Lily asked.
“Oh…for that.” Pinkie smiled. “Who would take the knife at the heart?”
The five shook their heads.
“If you do it, the others are free to go.” She grinned maliciously. “But if you don’t, then we’ll play a game. Whoever wins goes home safe.” Pinkie allowed the malevolent grin to spread, her eyes glittering dangerously. “If you lose, you may as well as say goodbye!”
Cackling, Pinkie threw the knife, and it had landed right beside Red Marie’s hoof.
“Please let me go.” She pleaded, the knife awakening something inside her. “I have a family. I have a child. I don’t want them to break.”
“Oh? Then why did you let me break?” Pinkie said, raising an eyebrow.
Red had no answer. Instead, she just wept, drops of tears splattering the dirt floor.
“Now, round one begins.” The dreaded words sounded.
~~~
“The rules are simple for this round.” Pinkie said, circling her captives like predator to prey. “Decide who will die.”
A chorus of voices sounded. The sounds of shouting and begging and pleaded did not hilt until all eyes were on Laur. Somehow, the four had found an unspoken agreement.
“Despicable, indeed.” Pinkie declared as she took out a small red vial, studded with crimson jewels and almost dripping with blood. “But the deed has to be done, doesn’t it?” She giggled.
The remaining four turned around and closed their eyes and waited for the screams.
Instead, it was dead silent.
“It’s done!” Pinkie proclaimed, “You can open your eyes now!”
When everyone did, the place where Laur had hung was replaced with a trail of blood and soot.
“Now, do you want to live?” Pinkie asked. The four nodded feverishly. “Then it’s simple. Trade your life for three other lives.”
No one stepped forward.
“Then let’s continue!” The malicious cheer returned as the lights flickered off, and the last thing everyone saw would be Pinkie’s curly tail as it bounced out of the room.
~~~
“Round Two!” Pinkie pranced around, her mane flat. “Now…” She smiled deviously, the gears in her head turning and whirring as the bloodthirsty schemes presented them to her one by one. “So it’s the Doctor, Red, Lily, and…” she scanned the room. “What was your name again? Crimson? Whatever.” She muttered.
“Ropes!” She exclaimed, taking out four coils of twine. “One of you will die the way Strawberry did.”
No one moved as Pinkie strung the twine around their necks, and attached it to strange pulley system had been strategically placed in the area. A blindfold was placed around their eyes, as the world faded into an unfamiliar darkness.
The creaking of wood and metal reminded everyone that all they had left was a single prayer.
As the rope tightened around each of their necks, their screams faded and most just hung limp, like a dead body.
Suddenly, they felt themselves falling, falling down an endless pit. Each of their blindfolds were removed, as the remaining ponies frantically glanced around.
Red Marie was gone.
The only trace of her was a loose streak of her bright red mane, and a trail of smudged hoofsteps on the floor.
“Unfortunately, she’ll not have the time to say goodbye.” Pinkie cackled. “Next!”
Hopping to a wall, she took out three alabaster-colored candles, a faint stain of burgundy on them.
No one wanted to know what the burgundy stain was.
“Game number three!” Pinkie announced, using a similar tone to a reporter. “This time, I’ll light your candles at the same time.” She said, holding out a lighter with three hooves. “Whoever has their candle blown out by carelessness, or if it runs out of wax, will die.”
The three didn’t want to hold the dreaded item.
No one wanted to.
But Pinkie had attached the candles to their hooves, and their fate was set. The only thing to do was to blow out someone else’s candle.
However, they were stuck together. If one died, the others wouldn’t gain anything either way.
“I’ll be back in five minutes.” Pinkie said. “That’ll be three quarters of how long the candles run for.”
Swiftly, she pulled out the lighter and the flames flickered from each candle. The orange-yellow glow surrounded everyone, as they clung to it as their only hopes.
~~~
The candles were all only a penny tall. There was no telling who was going to die next.
The flames seemly mesmerized Pinkie, who was already back, but the anger fueled the strongest fire in the room: her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Lily blew out Doctor Whooves’ candle.
“What are you doing?!” He bellowed, attempting to swipe at her candle as well.
“I’m sorry.” Lily choked out. “I can’t die.”
“You-you-little - ” He looked as if he were to say something more, but Pinkie swiped at him with a large metal rod, and he fell silent.
“No swearing.” Pinkie said, her voice like poisoned honey. “Time to go!”
Crimson closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see anymore of it.
“Round four everypony.” Pinkie held a grin of pure malice. “Here it is…”
It was a single vial. The same one she had used to get rid of Laur.
“Drink it.” Pinkie commanded. “One of you do it.”
Lily and Crimson looked at each other, unsure what to do.
“Drink iiiiiiiiiiiit.” Pinkie drawled.
The lights went off.
~~~
Until this point, Dawna was completely mesmerized by the story. Her curiosity arose. Quickly, she skipped to the last page, but it was missing.
“Dawna, could you please turn on the light? I can’t find the switch.” The voice of her coltfriend, Noir, sounded.
“Sure. Just a minute.” Dawna smiled. “But I’ll finish the chapter first.”
“Sure.” Noir was happy to oblige, and slipped on his glasses. “Wat’cha reading?”
“I don’t know.” Dawna said, shrugging. “Some sort of Manehattan mystery or horror novel. It doesn’t really make sense. Don’t know why the hotel stocks these.”
Three knocks on the door sounded.
“Hello?” Dawna asked.
“Hi.” The faded fuchsia coat of the innkeeper came into view., as well as her curls. “Would you mind to help me? There’s a bit of a problem.”
“Sure!” Dawna replied.
~~~
“That was hard!” Dawna panted, sitting on the wooden bench outside the office.
“It sure was.” The innkeeper smiled.
“I was just wondering though.” Dawna said. “Have you read ’Just a Game’?”
“Yes.” The innkeeper replied.
“Can you tell me the ending? The last page was ripped out.”
“Sure.” The innkeeper said. “They were asked to drink the poison. No one volunteered, so Pinkie took the drink and made it into two, and telling them to each drink a half.”
“So everyone died at the end?”
“No. The miracle had come at last. Lily said that she would drink it. Before though, she was mumbling with tears that Crimson was only a child, and she didn’t deserve to die.”
“So Lily died, and Crimson lived?”
“Wrong! Both of them lived. Actually, all of them did.”
“But how?”
“The poison was just a sleep inducing drug. The blood was fake, and no one was dead.”
~~~
Dawna definitely knew that part.
Because she was Crimson. Dawna was Crimson, and Crimson was Dawna.
She still remembered how Lily had told Pinkie that it wasn’t Dawna’s fault that Strawberry was dead, and nearly drank the poison for her.
Instead, Pinkie took out a key, unlocked their shackles, and told them to go back where they originally came from.
Could the innkeeper…be Pinkie Pie herself?
Could it be possible?