Zero Escape: Chambers of Nightmares

"I choose... Door 4."

...

"I'm sorry, Silver. I know you wanted to go through door 6, but this way, most of us get what we want."

...

"Silver, please. We need to-"

"Didn't you drag me through door 3?"

"Huh?"

"I didn't get a say in that. Did I? Or did I imagine it somehow?"

"Silver, I"

"Whatever. I'll just accept whatever everyone else wants like a good girl." I leave the room. If they want to talk to me, too bad.

I head over to door fuck me and sit in front of it.

...

"Silver? Are you alright?"

"No."

"Well, let's go through, and you can wait in there."

...

*Beep Beep*

...

I scan my bracelet in and pull the lever. I'm tempted to stay out of the room just to spite them, but I go through. We scan into the DEAD. Good. I'm not gonna die in here. I head off to a side room to hide.

...

"Silver. Let go."

That's right. In another timeline, Sandbar killed Cozy using that cage there. It lifted her up and dropped her in the crushing machine, and I wasn't strong enough to lift the cage.

"Woah! That looks dangerous!"

I look at Sandbar. "You know what that is, right?"

He shakes his head.

"It's a crushing machine. You throw junk in it, and it crushes the junk down so it can be more easily reused or removed."

"Uh, I hope that doesn't include ponies. Though, knowing this place, it probably does. Oh, yeah!" Sandbar holds out a bag to me. "Cozy suggested you should hold on to this."

I take the baggie and watch Sandbar head back out into the other room. Come to think of it, Sandbar was acting strangely when he killed Cozy. As if Cozy had killed Ocellus or something. Well, it's not worth dwelling on. I just need to keep track of these baggies.

"Howdy." Cozy floats up to me and gives me three more baggies. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll be fine. I think I got most of my pouting out of me."

"Is there a reason you wanted to avoid me?"

I shake my head. "You aren't the one I was trying to avoid."

"Sandbar, then?"

"I'm worried that he's Zero. I don't have proof, but I have a bad feeling about him."

"Ehehe. Let's hope you're wrong about that."

"Why is there an ax?"

... What? Cozy and I peek around the corner. Sure enough, Sandbar has an ax. "Could you put that down?"

Cozy re-enters the main room. "Of course there's going to be a lot of weird stuff in here."

Sandbar sticks the ax in the box he's next to. "Why?"

Cozy shoves the ax in enough to leave just the head sticking out. "It's a storage room, you idiot!"

Sandbar's ears shoot up, then back. "Hey, don't be rude. And that doesn't explain why there's an ax."

I wave my claw around. "Guys, could you please focus? We need to get out of here."

They both look at me, then Cozy rolls her eyes. "Alright. Fine."

They both go to opposite sides of the room. All I can do is wait for them to bring me the baggies. I head over to the panel in the side room. It has some instructions on it, but I'm only concerned about the first part. It says there are fifty baggies, including the one in the case we can't open yet.

So, all I can really do is keep track of the baggies they bring me. And thus, I wait.

10...

15...

20...

30...

40...

45...

...

"Hey, Silver!" Cozy cries out to me. "How many baggies do you have?"

"45!"

"45? I thought we brought you 44!"

"There was already one in here!"

They enter the room with the last five baggies. I point at the case that has the last baggie and a key in it.

Sandbar taps on the glass. "How do we get this open?"

I look at the cage at the other end of the room. I look back at Sandbar as his eyes move up then over.

"Oh, man. One of us has to get in that cage?"

"What are you waiting for? Hop in."

We look at Cozy.

"Me or her?"

"You, Sandbar."

He looks right at me.

I give him a smile. "It's okay, Sandbar. I'll get you out."

He sighs and moves towards the cage. I thought he would be more resistant to the idea.

*Clang*

"Hey, Silver? Remember how I said you didn't need to worry about me?" I look at Cozy, who has the baggie from the case in her... hoof. "What I meant to say was, you aren't the one that needs to worry about me."

I shoot towards the baggie as she tosses it, but she gets in the way. Not by much, just by enough. By the time I reach the rail, it's gone.

"COZY GLOW!" I look at Sandbar. "YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU!"

I don't know what's more unnerving; Sandbar screaming, or Cozy Glow laughing.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU FOR THIS! I'LL GET YOU! SILVER! SILVER, DO SOMETHING!"

I bite my beak. I tried in another timeline. I can't do anything.

"SILVER! DO SOMETHING!"

"I'm sorry."

"... DAMN IT! FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF FRIEND ARE YOU SILVER? YOU BITCH! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"Cozy... why?"

"Mmm... Let's call it revenge."

I hear him scream right before he's drowned out by the crushing of metal.

I sigh. It's done. I turn to take the key.

...

"Cozy, where's the key?"

"It should still be there."

Wait. "Was it tied to the bag?"

We stare at each other.

That face hoof means yes.

I turn around and leave the room. Once in the main room, I move to the exit door.

*Rattle Rattle*

It's still locked. How are we supposed to get out now? I turn around.

Cozy is biting her lip. "Are we stuck?"

I fly to the entrance door. It opens up, for some reason. "No. We just have to face the others." I barely see that ax from earlier. I really want to introduce it to Cozy's wing right now, but we still have to work together.

I head through, not bothering to check on the filly. As soon as I get back to the waiting room, my heart sinks. Smolder and Rain are there. I step through.

"Hey, Silver."

There she is. Ocellus is just off to the side. "Hey, Ocellus."

"Where are the others?"

"I'm right here."

!!! I immediately grab Cozy by the neck.

"Wah! What are you-"

I put my claw over her mouth. "Is there anything you want to tell them?"

I remove my claw, but she remains quiet.

Ocellus' eyes are as wide as dinner plates. "Where's Sandbar?"

...

I grab Cozy's mane and yank it. "Well? Are you going to tell her?"

Cozy's yelp of pain was followed by more silence.

Ocellus shoves past me and out of the room.

"Wait! Ocellus!" Rain follows her out.

I let go of Cozy and she follows Rain.

"Silver!" Smolder runs up to me. "What happened?"

"Cozy destroyed something we needed to get out, killing Sandbar in the process."

"What? What the hell was she thinking?"

I sit down. "I don't know. We should probably just wait, though. I'm sure Ocellus is giving Cozy a nice screaming."

"I think Ocellus should get a kill on the brat for that."

I want to talk back, but I don't disagree with her.

The first time through, Sandbar acted weird and killed Cozy Glow. The second time through, Cozy acted weird and killed Sandbar. What is up with that room?

"Hey, shouldn't Rain be back by now? I can understand Ocellus and Cozy Glow, but not her."

I look at Smolder, then sigh. "I'll see what's going on." I get up and head out of the room.

Huh? What's Ocellus doing here in the hall?

"Oh. Hey, Silver." She seems... calm.

"Uh, where's Rain?"

"She wanted to check something out in room 8." Scratch that, she seems robotic.

"Okay. I wanted to ask her something."

"She wanted to be left alone." ... Why isn't her face moving at all?

"Well, I needed to check something in there anyway." What kind of excuse is that?

"... Okay." She moves past... she has the ax on her back.

As soon as she's out of sight, I hurry to room 8. I barge through the door, knowing exactly what to expect.

Rain is lying on the floor of the room, surrounded by blood. I dart over to her and hold up her head. Her eyes are wide open, but they aren't moving at all.

I look around. I don't see Cozy Glow anywhere. I head into the side room. I see Sandbar's blood on the grinders where he was dropped into it. I slowly lift myself onto the rail.

There's another blood stain below.

"You shouldn't have come in here."

!!! OCELLUS! She's smiling, but not in a way that makes me comfortable!

"When I saw that blood, I knew what happened. I was mad. I needed to avenge him."

"Ocellus, stop!"

"I crushed two of Cozy Glow's legs and one of her wings before Rain jumped on me. We fought for a bit before I saw my new friend." She moves the ax from her back and lifts it up in front of her. "I like him, but I don't think Rain did. You saw how their first meeting went, right?"

I bite my beak. Is there any way out of this? AH! SHE'S APPROACHING!

"After that, I picked Cozy up and dangled her over the edge. Right behind where you are right now. I let her plead for a bit before dropping her in. It was quite fun to listen to."

I look at the crushing machine behind me.

"After that, I went to talk to Smolder. She turned unpleasant, so I had to treat her like I treated Rain. She put up a good fight until she lost her eyes. And axes are designed to take out thick things, so her scales weren't very useful to her."

I clutch the rail behind me with my right claw.

"I think we'll have a discussion with the others when they get out of room 6. After all, they deserve to know what happened, right?"

"And by "we," you mean you and your ax, right?"

"That's right. I just need your bracelet, and then I can leave."

I take a deep breath. "I don't have a way out of this alive, do I?"

"No, you don't." She lifts the ax above her head.

I put my weight on my claw and leap over the rail. The ax misses my throat but cuts my claw clean off. I drop towards the crusher.

"SIIIIIILVEEEEER!"

That scream... That makes all the pain I'm about to feel worth it.

*CRUNCH*

Ending 4
Changing a Changeling

...

......

............

"Uh, Gallus?" I look over at Cozy Glow. "Why... Nevermind."

I look at Ocellus. She seems perfectly normal. For some reason, I feel like I need to watch out for her.

"So, who's going where?"

"Yak want door 7!"

"I'd like door 7 as well." Huh? It feels like Ocellus just said something... strange.

"I'd like door 2." Rain holds up her bracelet.

"Door 2. Door 2. Door 2. Fine." Pfft. Smolder definitely said something strange.

We talk it out a bit more. Bramble, Sandbar, and Cozy Glow team up, and Gallus and I team up.

"Which way, Silver?"

"Door 7."

"Alright. Let's get going." Yona, Ocellus, Gallus, and I scan into the RED for door 7. Once through the door, we quickly scan into the DEAD for the room.

"Well, no time to waste."

"Yeah. Let's get looking."

TIME TO SEARCH!

*CRUNCH*