I opened my eyes to the dark. “Hello?” I called, even though I had a feeling I was alone. I stood up on my hind legs and took a few steps forward. As I did so, I heard the sound of chains rattling. Then I realized I was chained to the wall. I winced as a bright flash appeared for a second, giving me a second’s view of the room I was in. From what I saw, it was a very small, stone room. Almost like an old prison cell. The flash came again and I saw blood splattered all up the walls around me and on the ground, making me scream. I remember praying that this was all a bad nightmare, and that I would wake up in Night Gust’s arms, but whenever I’d open my eyes again, I’d always be in that damn room! I sighed and saw a button right in front of my feet. Confused, I pushed it, feeling my wings flap from the unusually high amount of adrenalin pumping through my veins. There was a blue spark in the corner before the entire room lit up, forcing me to look around at the red on the walls and below my feet. I took a look behind me and saw a large box. I walked over to it and opened the lid to see nothing more than a key and a vinyl record. Excited, I took the key and tried it on the padlock keeping me from getting out of this room. I hated every aspect of the room; the smell of blood, the cold chills it sent up my spine, the confinement of the room. I let out a loud “YES!” as the padlock cluttered on the ground, releasing me from my prison. I stood up on my hind legs again and ran up to the door to find a note written in blood. I looked down at my hoof to find dozens of little red slits all over them. The note wasn’t written in just anypony’s blood. It was written in my blood.
There were only six words written in a familiarly messy way;
Find the others and get out.
I put my hoof on the door for a second and took in a deep breath of the cold, blood-filled air and thought for a few minutes. ‘Do I want to do this? ANYTHING could be out there!’ When suddenly my memory drifted off to before the last time I fell asleep…
“C’mon, scaredy pony!” Night-Gust laughed, shaking his white mane out of his yellow eyes. I rolled my eyes and followed him into the cave. “See? I won’t let anything happen to my Kiwi.” The grey Pegasus kissed my forehead, making my cheeks turn pink. “Well,” I began. “I wouldn’t be so sure…”
I blinked and looked down at the note in my hoof. ‘Find the others and get out.’ Find the others and get out…What could that mean? Does it mean there’s more than just me in here? Does it mean somepony I know? My friends? My family? I felt the colour drain from my face when the sudden realisation hit me. There’s a ninety-nine percent chance that Night-Gust is one of the others. That means if I don’t find him soon… It might already be too late as it is. I whined and pushed the door open, frowning as it swung open to a small-ish room with nothing but a record player in it. I walked back to the box in the back of the room and picked up the circular disc. What could possibly be on this? Curiosity got the best of me as I put it in the record player slowly. I was just about to start playing whatever was on the record when another door swung open with a loud, ear-piercing screech. I screamed and flew up towards the ceiling from shock before I saw who was standing in the room. “NIGHT-GUST!” I screamed, landing in front of him. Night-Gust just stared at me wide-eyed. I looked at him and frowned. He had a cut on his cheek, a black eye and a chip of the tip of his ear was missing. I must have been the lucky one wherever we were. I shook my head after thinking about what could’ve happened to me and stared at the most amazing Pegasus in all of Equestria. I blinked again and without thinking I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him again and again, not noticing the tears streaming down my cheeks.
He kissed me back quickly and let a smile spread on his face. “You still look perfect even when you’re crying,” He whispered, brushing the tears off my cheeks with a hoof gently.
“I’m just so happy you’re alive!” I sobbed, burying my face in his soft mane. I wasn’t used to crying around him, especially onto him, but I was sure I’d get used to it. I felt his arm go around my waist. I decided to finally man up as best I could for a girl and took a deep breath. I looked up at Night-Gust’s black eye and held his face gently.
“What happened to my Snuggle Bear?” I whispered, brushing a hoof over the bruise. I took my hoof away instantly when he winced and frowned as a frown took over the smile.
“I’ll tell you when I know,” was all he said before he played the record player. It was silent for a moment before a voice started to talk. An unfamiliar voice. A feminine voice. “Welcome to the Testing Chambers! You are here for a series of tests. Your task is not only to pass, but to find what elements are important. Move on if you dare, or if you want to live!” My ears went back against my skull when the voice let out a loud, dark laughter. The laughter seemed to bounce off the walls for a minute before it went quiet again. I just stared at the door straight ahead, thinking of what the voice meant. Her words were echoing in my head- ‘find what elements are important’. What did she mean by that? It could mean anything! I looked up at Night-Gust slowly when I heard him mumbling something “What was that?” I asked, so low it was hardly audible.
“Find what elements are important,” He muttered over and over again, staring at the ground and rubbing my back slowly. I smiled and leaned against him, oblivious of somepony wanting to see us.
There was a smash on the door that I came from. I could feel the tension rise as the smash happened again, giving us a glimpse of the source of the smash. It was a pony…Hardly. It had the body of a pony, but only just. Instead of eyes, it was black, with blood streaming down from their eye sockets down their cheeks. They had no Cutie Mark, and whatever was their Cutie Mark wasn’t visible under the ‘x’ cut onto their flanks and on their chest right where their heart is. They had some sort of collar around their necks. It looked like it was drilled into their neck or something. And it was making a sound. A bone-chilling, horrifying sound. “Is that you, my love?” it sang. Its voice was more bone-chilling and horrifying than the noise it was making a second ago. Not only was it talking, it was walking. Right towards us. I felt a hoof push me towards a door straight ahead before Night-Gust yelled “Run!” I did as I was told and galloped towards the door, not caring what surprises laid behind it. I kicked the door open and ran in before letting myself look back at Night-Gust. He was only just ahead of the thing chasing him. I slammed the door shut as soon as he ran through the doorway, letting out a sigh of relief when the thing gave up. “Where did you go? Come back! Please, come back!” It wailed, trotting around aimlessly in the room before us.
