That Horrible, Awful Night
This story begins quite unusually. Three pegasi walk through the woods, Everfree to be exact, in search of who knows what. The air was stale as the night sky was pitch black, the only light available for the three wary travelers was the small silvery beams of a crescent moon hung high in the sky. The three; Beta Hammer, the blue pegasus with a crimson mane, Luke Forge with the brown coat and orange maned pegasus with metal braces along his wings, and Flight Path a white coat pegasus with a pitch black mane. The three stumbled forward aimlessly into the darkness of the Everfree, unknown of what awaits them.
“Ok, its been thirty minutes, where are we going?” Beta said with a hint of worry.
“Yeah Flight, where have we been heading all this time?” Luke added.
“Alright. I found something really cool when I was flying over here yesterday and I wanted you guys to help me explore it” Flight Path said while pushing aside the flora around him.
“What is ‘it‘? And why do we have to explore ‘it’?” Beta said curiously.
“This!” Flight Path said as he cleared the rest of the foliage. What once filled the three adventure’s vision with greens and purples had been replaced to a very odd image. A large and very old mansion was made apparent, resting on top of a small hill. The manor was old and broken, shaded underneath the dark sky, no trees over crowding on the sky around the area. Thought the mansion seemed abandoned for years, no windows were broken nor any sign of chipping in the dark oak wood the building was made of.
“Wow. Who’s house is this?” Luke said amazed at the old mansion.
“Let’s see” Beta said while walking over to the sign placed a few feet away. As he wiped away the moss on the sign to read it, the entirety of the house title collapsed, turning to dust. “Ok, that was my bad”
“Its alright! Lets just see what’s inside!” Flight said as he lead the small group towards the door. The entrance to the building was fairly large, dark oak with rusted metal door knobs. Without bothering to knock, the three entered the residence to find something of interest.
“Big place.” Beta said with a whistle. “Wait…..why are we exploring this place again?”
“I thought there might be something cool in here, ya know, we might learn something new ya know?” Flight asked as his friends questioned his better judgment.
“Eh? Why not, you’d probably get stuck and be trapped here for days if we didn’t come along” Beta said while looking around.
“Yeah! We help each other out with whatever” Luke said with a smile.
“Thanks guys, now let’s start exploring!” Flight said with a laugh, excited about what could be in this over sized treasure box. As the group made their way towards the middle of the lobby, a sudden chill ran through the air. The door to the mansion slammed shut behind the three, alarming and terrifying them as a cackle ran through the building, meeting up to their ears.
“Holy, what the hell was that!?” Beta yelled out. Three back up on one another allowing a complete view of their surroundings.
“S-scared B-Beta?” Luke said shakily.
“I-if he’s n-not, then I-I am!” Flight shouted. The cackling continued, becoming more distinct as the source came closer and closer. The laugh became recognized as female but still terrified the three none the less. From the darkness of the second floor of the manor came the source of the cackling, slowly stepping into view. What appeared was something unexpected but still frightening. A tall, dark coated figure stepped into the lobby. From the laughing earlier, it was clear that this creature was female. Her legs were long and slim with and odd array of holes running through them. A pair of large insect like wings draping down her back as a light red tail came from behind. Following up the rest of woman, she had a light red mane with bright red eyes, along with a twisted horn on top of the her head. Sharp fangs were revealed as she smiled down upon the three pegasi.
“He~llo!” She said with a large grin.
“Is that what I think it is?” Luke whispered to his friends.
“A big changeling, trapping us in a big house, with a grin that screams bad news?” Beta said calmly.
“Yep” Flight replied, shocked by the figure before them.
The changeling in question climbed down the stairs to ‘greet’ the three newcomers. The group backed away slowly, fearing what the changeling would do to them. Their retreat was halted by a wall while the changeling continued her saunter towards the pegasi.
“Now who my eager, young, friends, are you?” she asked, drawing out each word.
“I’m Flight Path, and these are my friends Luke and Beta” Flight said, feigning bravery.
“It is a pleasure to meet you three” She said with a seductive smile. “My name is Sydney”
“It's….nice to meet you Miss Sydney” Luke said cautiously, taking note that they were trapped with a being at least twice their size with no where to run. Beta remained quiet through out the formalities, barely moving with his friends, mainly to provide support. He was analyzing, one of the hyperactive traits he was born with and used frequently to help determine any dangers of any given situation. Every person had a tell, it was just a matter of time before he figured out her’s.
“So, Miss Sydney, what do you want with us? Slamming the doors shut and scaring us with you megalomani--I’m sorry I mean, enthusiastic, laugh is no way to make friends” Flight said, worried of what her answer might be.
“Well, I was hoping you could ‘help’ me with something” she said, inching closer to the three. “Would you mind?”
“S-sure. What do you need help with?” Flight answered shakily.
“Well, I am so very hungry, and I’ve been here for so long. Would you three ‘feed’ me?” She asked, grinning ever so slightly.
“Nope!” Beta finally spoke, alarming his friends. He knew exactly what she was leading to and wanted no part of it. “I’m not doing this shit! If I gotta stay here any longer, I’m at least gonna get a sandwich!” he said while walking towards the opened kitchen door.
“What are you talking about?” Luke and Flight said simultaneously.
“She wants to rape us, that’s what I’m talking about!” Beta yelled back. “You guys better start running or your ass is grass!”
“I’m afraid you friend is correct. I can only feed off love so” she said while sliding up behind the two “I have to take it!” With those words, Luke and Flight bolted away from the lobby and Sydney, praying that they would make it out of this horrible situation. Sydney followed soon after, allowing her prey to gain a head start, the way she liked it.
Beta walked over to refrigerator and searched its contents, some fresh produce and condiments left over by the poor bastards who were here before him. He pulled out the various food stuff he needed to make a sandwich or two and placed it a cross the counter top to begin. A simple dandelion sandwich on white bread, after which he started a pot of coffee, seeing how he will need to stay up for the majority of the night looking for a way out. Before sitting down to enjoy his edible creation, he realized that he would need sweetener for the coffee and returned to the small closet he had retrieved it from. As he opened the door to find the small closet filled with flour, sugar, and other non-refrigerated condiments, Beta was greeted with a large hallway with multiple doors leading to multiple rooms. Utterly confused at the sight that was in front of him, Beta slowly closed the door.
An idea quickly formed as Beta walked over to the door that lead him into the average sized kitchen and opened it. Now instead of a large lobby, the door lead to another corridor filled with more doors. Beta closed the door and began to pace back and forth in order to come up with a logical solution. After a small amount of time Beta finally came up with one.
“Well, not only do I have to drink my coffee unsweetened, but now we’re trapped in a cursed mansion that turns into a maze with each new door. Its going to be hell just to find the bathroom” he said to himself. He decided to look past the urgency of the situation and sat down to enjoy his meal.
Unfortunately for Beta his peaceful meal would have to wait as the second door to the kitchen swung open, revealing Luke.
“We need to board up this door, every door!” He shouted.
“Too late for that dude” Beta said while preparing his coffee. “This place is weirder than you think”
“It’s like a maze in this house, it wasn’t this big on the outside!” Luke said while taking a chair and pinning it to the door.
“That isn’t gonna do anything. This place is either under a giant spell or cursed. Haven’t decided on which one yet” Beta said, returning to his seat with coffee on hoof.
“What do you mean, is this place a bigger TARD-”
“NO! Don’t say it!” Beta shouted, cutting his friend off.
“Alright, but what makes you think this place is cursed or something?” Luke asked.
“Every door in this place has multiple paths. Once you open a door for the first time, it’ll lead to where you think it does. But if close the same door and open it again, it will lead to a random place in the mansion. A giant maze.” Beta concluded. Luke was shocked, utterly stupefied at what Beta had just said.
“So what do we do?”
“We need to work together, all of us.” Beta said while taking a drink.
“So lets find Flight so we can figure out how to leave!” Luke said eagerly.
“When I said all of us, I meant we need to find Flight and Sydney” Beta said plainly.
“Why would we want to find the chick who’s trying to RAPE us!?” Luke said in a panic.
“Something tells me we’ve only heard the end of this story, I for one would like to hear the beginning and middle before we leave” Beta said while taking another drink. Beta was serious, a very rare occurrence for him and even more rare for his friends to see it.
“Alright, but you have to make sure Flight and I don’t get the bad touch! Alright?!” Luke said, showing no attempt to hide his shear terror.
“Understood” Beta said while finishing off his coffee. “Let’s go”
With that the two walked out of the kitchen area, leading them to a random hallway filled with multiple doorways. The two pegasi began there way through the unknown, Luke jumping ever so slightly with every creek of the floor boards. Beta kept his breath steady as he began to calculate all the possibilities of what could happen, his heart keeping calm while he lead the way through the dark mansion. Beta was a royal guard member, his training allowed him to access the situation at hand. Luke, however, was a blacksmith for the armory, seeing how his handicapped wings prevented any flying responsibility, and did not have the experience dealing with an unknown situation. Flight Path was an elite, one of the very few to turn down an invitation to join the Wonderbolts, saying ‘I’d rather do my own thing than join a team’ and became a freelancer, separate from normal government activity.
“I can only imagine what Flight is going through” Luke said in concern.
“I don’t want to imagine that. Flight is tough enough to handle himself, but that changeling knows this place better than we do, so we have to be careful” Beta said.
Beta’s ear twitched, alerting him, and with a swift motion, stopped Luke in his tracks. Before Luke could ask why his friend hit him in the chest, a faint sound became audible to Luke’s ears. Hooves pounding against the floor with wing beats following. From the darkness at the end of the hall came a white Pegasus running like a bat out of hell. Flight slowed as he saw his friends, stopping just a few step in front of them while gasping for air.
“Guys, am I glad to see you!” Flight said with a smile.
“Hey, did you survive?” Luke said.
“Kinda, she caught me off guard and trapped me in a ‘hug‘, but I squirmed free and bolted through a couple of doors. This place is huge!” Flight said bewildered.
"Sorry to hear" Luke said, hearing his friends unfortunate occurance.
“Good to hear you got out of there” Beta said while continuing their walk down the mansion. During this time Beta explained why the mansion seemed so big and why they needed to find Sydney. After a few looks to Luke for confirmation that everything Beta was saying was true, Flight finally believed Beta’s reasoning.
“So how do we fined Sydney?” Flight asked, still unsure of this plan.
“Just turn around” a female voice called out. The group, save for Beta, turned to be greeted by the changeling in question.
“Crap!” Luke said, jumping back to get as far as possible from Sydney. Flight began to panic in a similar fashion, annoying Beta while entertaining Sydney.
“We need to talk” Beta said while stepping forward. Sydney was taken aback at Beta’s action. “Why are you here?”
“L-looking for food, which you and your friends were just about-” she was interrupted before she could complete her thought.
“No. Why are you here? The majority of the changeling race attacked Canterlot about a year ago. Since then, all changelings were blasted into the wastelands. So what are you doing here?” He asked sternly.
“I was there! I just-” again she was cut off.
“No. I was there. I fought off the changelings with my fellow guards. I did not see you. So what are you doing here.” Beta asked again.
Sydney remained quiet, her head hung low. Luke and Flight were very impressed with their friends fortitude against the changeling, relaxing as he took charge.
“Now here is my theory. Correct me if I’m wrong Miss Sydney” Beta began. “During the fight at the wedding, a second wave of changelings came in from the south, but instead of turning the battle to their favor, the new changelings only delayed the fights end. Without going into detail into how, I manage to ‘talk’ to one of them before they were blasted away by Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shinning Armor. He informed me that they had a commander that held enough emotional power to help win the fight, but you were no where to be found. He informed me that the commander was last seen in the Everfree. With the information I have pieced together, I have come to a logical conclusion; you were the commander that should have won the fight, but you were trapped here, waiting for someone to come and find you”
Sydney said nothing, only nodded to what Beta had concluded.
“How long have you been trapped here?” Beta asked, actual concern coming from his voice.
“About a year” she said faintly.
“I see. You consumed the power you were supposed to transport for the fight to live. It wasn’t enough to last a year, so you began to starve. That starvation mixed with the abandonment lead to this, feeding off a specific emotion to live. Love.” Beta finished.
“Why would that make a difference?” Luke asked.
“Changelings can feed off every emotion, fighting one requires one to erase their emotions from the fight. While fighting a changeling that can only feed off one emotion, Sydney becomes weaker” Beta answered.
“Then lets get out of here then!” Flight said opening each door in the hallway.
“We're leaving, but she's coming with us” Beta said. Flight and Luke were going to complain, but seeing the changeling in a her defeated state, decided otherwise. “Can you move?”
“Barely, all the power I had left was spent to chase those two” she said, pointing with a shaky hoof.
“Then I’ll have to carry you” Beta said with annoyance. He lifted the changeling onto his back and began to catch up with Flight and Luke.
“You’re pretty strong” said the changeling on Beta’s back. His right eye twitched slightly as he reminded himself that she was starving to death.
“I’m a royal guard for a reason. I use a war hammer and fight with it using my wings” he responded.
“Using you’re wings as another set of legs? That’s actually pretty smart” she stated.
“Thank you”
“So how are we going to get out of here?” Luke asked.
“We’ll be here forever if we don’t think of something!” Flight said panicking.
“I don’t know. This place is a complete mystery” Beta said, ashamed that he couldn’t quell his friends fears.
“Wait I got an idea!” Luke said, bringing everyone’s attention on him. “If we open all the doors to the mansion….”
“…..And made sure to follow a straight path….” Flight continued
“……Then the maze should snap back in place seeing how the rooms can’t randomize!” Beta concluded. “Luke, you’re a genius!”
“I try!” Luke said with a smile.
“Then let’s do this!” Flight said while dashing over to the next set of closed doors. Luke and Beta joined him in the process, opening (and sometimes smash) doors to make their plan a reality. After an hour or two of opening all the doors in the mansion, their path finally lead the group back in the lobby. They walked up to the big doors that lead outside.
“Alright! Moment of truth!” Luke said. He made his way up to the door and push hard against it. The doors split, letting in the fresh breeze and reverent sunlight wash over the four. They made their way out of the house to take in the scenery; lush and full greenery stretched around them, letting nature present itself in full glory under the magnificent sun. The old mansion behind them began to creek and whine as the building behind them soon faded away, leaving the shining particles of dust and metal in its wake.
“Looks like it just wanted one last adventure before leaving” Beta said with a small smile.
“What are you talking about?” Luke asked.
“Nothing”
“Let’s just go back home” Flight said, gesturing towards the path they made last night.
“Ok but I think a punishment is in order” Luke said with a smile.
“What do you mean?” Flight asked curiously.
“You lead us here so…” Beta said while moving closer. “You get to ‘feed’ Sydney!”
Sydney was placed on top of Flight Path’s back as Luke and Beta began to run away. At this time Sydney had woken up and was smiling directly into Flight’s eyes.
“When do you want to start” she said with a wink.
"I need an adult!" Flight said with extreme panic.
"I am an adult" Sydney whispered back.
"HELP!"
The End
