//------------------------------// // An ally and a critical move to make // Story: Berry's Test // by Maple Sunrise //------------------------------// For somepony who had feared death, the mare had put up quite a fight, literally to the death. Berry still couldn’t believe who it was, though considering that she herself rarely mingled with the crowd, she wouldn’t believe who else might be here with her. The lifeless mare lay there, once one of Berry’s drinking buddies. Junebug had given up drinking after getting married, saying that if she ever decided to have a foal, the drinking would be harmful to the foal. The last time Berry and Junebug had a drink together was barely three months ago, before Cheerilee was out of commision. Berry knew she couldn’t show any emotion toward Junebug. She had the eyes of a killer when she attacked Berry and attempted to fire with one of the harpoon guns. Berry knew that if nothing was done, they wouldn’t have much progress. And it was starting to get late, the sun just hovering above the horizon. Berry was lucky that Junebug was killed before she herself or any of her other friends got killed. The other three ponies in the assembly hall watched. The unicorn just stared, body covered with perspiration, as he tried to undo his own trap. Junebug’s trap had been rather swift at killing her, but to try and take off a vest without any assistance was just suicide. At least she didn't get sliced up like I will if I don’t get that key. He stared at the plum-coloured earth pony, her jaw still hanging open. Apparently Berry still hadn't gotten use to the death of other ponies in front of her. Berry still had her jaw hanging when Rarity patting her on the back. "It's time to go. We're wasting time." And that was true. The sun was already beginning to sink into the horizon, and the birds were already flying back to their nests. Berry still couldn't get over Junebug's death. After a short moment, with the other three ponies staring at her planning their next moves, Berry took a deep breath and nodded. The three were still thinking of what they could do to escape, to either go with Berry or to stay in the assembly hall. The three began making their way out the broken window, with Colgate coming out last, having need to get another harpoon gun after throwing it at the mare. "I suggest that you change your gun as well, seeing as to how hard you had hit June back there." Berry set her gun down on the ground and inspected it, and indeed, she probably had to change it later. There was a huge dent in the metal frame of the gun, which could potentially hinder the firing process and backfire. Berry shrugged. It probably still works anyway. "Well at least get another harpoon. You wouldn't want to run out when you're under attack or something." Once again, Berry shrugged. But she had to agree. When in combat, running out on something useful could be the worst possible thing. "Fine, I'll be right back." And with that, she threw her harpoon gun through the broken window into the assembly hall. With a dull thud, Berry jumped in. Her gun hadn't sustained much damage from the throw inside, but who knows. As she was about to pick a harpoon up from the ground, she came face to face with the unicorn that was staring at the three of them, levitating one of the harpoon guns. The harpoon was aiming at Berry's head. Rolling out of the line of fire, Berry scrambled for her harpoon gun, only to be held back by the unicorn's magic. Berry tried releasing herself from the magical grasp by flailing her hooves around, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. “Chill, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Berry glared at the unicorn. “And why would you not, when others would?” The unicorn smirked, apparently enjoying Berry’s continuous flailing despite the fact that it wasn’t getting her anywhere. He sighed, and answered, “Because I believe you possess something of my needing, Berry.” The unicorn pointed at his vest, which ran all the way along his back, until the tail. Along the vest, directly above his spine, were a series of blades. Beneath the unicorn’s jaw, an old pocket watch hung, supposedly the timer to his trap. The hands of the watch weren’t moving. Berry said nothing for a moment, going over her thoughts. She stopped flailing. “How do you know my name, and how do you know I have what you’re looking for?” “Do not play dumb. You know you have what I need. You know you have what EVERYPONY in this place needs.” The stallion let out another sigh. “You see, I woke up roughly an hour ago in this Celestia-damned place with another three ponies who were in just about the same situation as I was. Now, when I first woke up, there was a note, and with the note, a picture. The note gave particulars to my vest and the way out of it, which was where the picture came in. It was a photograph of you, sprawled on the floor of a bar.” The stallion coughed. “There was something written on the back of the photograph, instructing me to look for the mare in the photograph, as she had the key. A-” Berry cut him off. “Are you trying to tell me that everypony in this hellhole is out to hunt me? Because if that’s the case, then they’ll have to try harder.” The magical aura around Berry started shifting, and she was levitated upward. Roughly six feet above the ground, the magical aura disappeared, resulting in Berry tumbling through the air. Berry covered her face with her forehooves, only to be caught by the magical aura made by the unicorn one more time. “The next time you interrupt me, you’re face will hit the floor first.” The unicorn gave a glare that would have scared the other ponies, but Berry had seen sterner glares and was thus unfazed. “What you said was correct. Every. Bucking. Pony. Is after you. So I would suggest that you receive as much help as needed. Which is where I come in. I am offering my assistance, and in return, I want you to free me of this darned thing.” Colgate was about to hop in through the window, but the unicorn had already casted a spell over the windows, making sure that nopony was going in, or out. She set her harpoon guns down and started firing lightning bolts at the barrier, but without success. Rarity looked for another way in. The unicorn set Berry down on the group gently. Berry pondered the stallion’s notion for a short moment. If he were to join, we might have an extra advantage. But.... Seeing as to how the unicorn was desperate to get out of his trap, he might actually pull a trick while the three of us are in trouble. And I left the key in my saddlebags with Twilight and Dash. Would this guy even believe me if I told him I didn’t have it at the moment? He would probably take that excuse as a sign. I mean, I just woke up in this place without my stuff. How can he be mad at me for that? “I do suggest that you hurry, the sun is already setting.” The unicorn urged. Colgate was firing at the other unbroken windows, but neither of them broke. Rarity was nowhere in sight as she had disappeared from the windows. The pegasus in the hall was bucking away at a crack in the ceiling, and the other earth pony was trying to take his trap off. “The only problem is that I don’t have the ke-” “BULLOCKS!” The unicorn shouted, once more surrounding Berry with a magical aura. Left floating in the air, another magical aura surrounded the harpoon gun the unicorn had, and aimed it between Berry’s eyes, the harpoon roughly 9 inches away from her face. “Now I’m giving you 10 seconds to get me out of this thing before I make you a unicorn with this thing!” Berry, however, looked at the unicorn, still unfazed. “If you were to kill me now, chances are you’d be throwing any of your chances to stay alive down the gutter considering how I’m the only pony who knows where your key is.” This surprised the unicorn, who had let go of Berry and the harpoon gun, dropping both of them. The unicorn hadn’t thought of that. Berry hoisted her harpoon gun onto her shoulder, aiming it at the unicorn. “Now if you want your key, you must make a deal with me.” With the threat of being fired at now real, the unicorn once more surrounded his harpoon gun with a magical aura, returning the aim. “I’m listening.” Ready to pull her hoof back on the trigger at any second, Berry voiced out the deal. “If you want the key, you must be able to keep your end of the bargain. If you by anyway go against us, I will make sure that the last thing you see is my harpoon going through your throat!” The unicorn laughed, somewhat amused. “I wouldn’t go against the pony that holds the key to my freedom. What do you take me for, a fool?” “You’d be surprised.” The unicorn furrowed his brow. “I see. So you DO have blood on your hooves.” “Not like I wanted to. Unlike you, those ponies didn’t voice out what they want and just went all crazy for the key. And unlike you, they didn’t offer their assistance in return for the key. Which probably makes you a good guy.” Berry shrugged. The unicorn laughed once more. “So am I in?” The magical aura around his harpoon gun dissipated, and the gun clattered to the ground. Berry still had her harpoon gun on her shoulder. But she eased up on the trigger, only idling her hoof over it just in case. “Yeah, I guess so.” Berry lowered her harpoon gun down to her forehooves. “However, you must remember to keep to your part of the bargain. My key is with another unicorn at the moment, who I’m sure is doing a much better job than I was anyway. Besides, I just woke up in this place anyway.” The unicorn removed the barrier from the windows, causing Colgate to tumble in. Berry chuckled at Colgate as she got to her hooves, hovering the harpoon guns through the window. Colgate brought all her harpoon guns close to the unicorn’s face, almost enough to cut him had Colgate wanted to. “Colgate... Relax, he’s part of us. For now.” At that Colgate pulled back, levitating her harpoon guns away from the unicorn’s face. “Okay then. Let’s get going before anypony else tries to attack us along the way.” Colgate looked around the hall, apparently looking for somepony. “That pegasus is gone.” Berry looked over to the spot the pegasus was bucking at. The pegasus was indeed gone, having escaped through a hole in the wall large enough for herself to escape through. “Where’s Rarity? I don’t want anything happening to her while she’s out there.” Colgate shrugged. “She said she was going to find another way i-” The sound of somepony smashing through a wall stole the attention of the three in the hall. There, on the south side of the hall, opposite where the three ponies stood, the walls had collapsed as the pegasus that had escaped earlier went through them. Rarity stood on the other side of the collapsed walls, a look of self-defence painted across her face. “What, she tried to attack me first!” Berry facehoofed. “You should have helped Colgate. But what’s done is done. Let’s just go already.” The light from the oil lantern flickered, as if blown by wind. The three ponies sat there studying blueprints, ignoring the sounds of water flowing through pipes into the floor below. Unlike the other two of her friends, who were studying their own respective traps, Applejack was reading up on the other blueprints. She scanned the walls, and a single blueprint, out of so many others stood out to her. Quickly, Applejack galloped over and ripped the blueprint from the wall. Setting it down ever so gently, Applejack looked over at the other two, who were oblivious to what Applejack was doing. The blueprint was regarding the pipes that were running down into the floor. Except that the pipes weren’t actually going into the floor below them. As Applejack ran through the blueprint, she felt something else on the back of the blueprint. Flipping it over, a yellow note was revealed. Applejack brought the blueprint closer to the oil lantern and read the words written on the note. Hello Berry. If you’ve made it this far, despite the defences set in place, then I applaud you. This room was the room I had used to plan all the games and tests I set upon my subjects. However, this particular game requires your special attention. Applejack stopped reading. “Hey Twi, Rainbow, get yer’ flanks over here!” She called out to the two. Reluctantly, the two made their way over to Applejack, each of them holding a few blueprints in their mouths. Twilight was first to set down the note when she noticed the note on the back of the blueprint Applejack was reading. “Take a look at this.” The moment you entered this room, you will be met with the blueprints on the walls, aside from the pipes from water tanks around the room. You may disregard these, thinking that it may not mean anything, but believe me, what you do next is critical. The moment the cannon fires the cannonball, the water from the tanks start flowing. This may not be a surprise to you. However, the pipes lead into the floor below, which would mean the floor below the one you’re on now. The tanks on the left wall are full of water. Harmless, clean water. The tanks are separated into two sections, one for hot water, another for cold water. The pipes around the room redirect the water not into the floor below you, but rather the cafeteria’s freezer. Inside the freezer, awaits the next pony you have to save. The water cannot be stopped Berry. So let me offer you a small puzzle that might help you. The lock on the door to the freezer is on a numeric lock. To find the correct number sequence, simply enter the numbers of the offices the three ponies you were supposed to save onto the lock, in an “ascending” order. But you better hurry Berry. Pinkie Pie doesn’t have much time. The three ponies gasped in unison. “This is where Berry would take over.” Twilight took the blueprint in her mouth and dashed out the office, already trotting down the stairs as the other two tried their best to chase after. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author’s note : A million apologies for this late update. First week of school was a mess and new subjects had to be learned. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop. Pinkie Pie’s test will be released in one or two days from now.