Play With Me
Chapter 5
You are currently devastated. You aren't sure how to handle the death of two of your friends. Maybe if you had been braver, you could have saved them. Maybe if you hadn't been a cowardly little filly, they wouldn't be dead right now. A note lands on your nose. Sniffling, you open it.
Oh, come on now. I haven't exactly been subtle, have I? How do you even know this isn't an illusion? Look, you're making me feel bad here. It's like I've kicked a puppy. Okay, I'm going to level with you, alright? I can't stand seeing you upset for whatever reason. Giving you the truth won't really hurt the game on the whole, anyway, since the others won't know whether to trust you or not. So, you three haven't really started the game yet. Well, technically you have. This is the start, right here. Look around. Go ahead, the note will still be here.
You decide to take the notes advice and actually examine your surroundings. You recognize the interior of the ruins in the Everfree Forest. You are currently atop the pedestal that held the Elements of Harmony. You resume reading the note.
See? Your friends aren't dead, loathe as I am to deprive you of misery. They just haven't entered to game yet. They are still stuck in their little warm-up adventures. I know what you're thinking: is that really necessary? Do I need to terrorize you three the way I've been doing? To be honest, I think I do. I need to condition you three to behave appropriately for the actual game. Do you want to know the point of the game? Of course you do. The point of the game is simple.
I want you to free me. Good luck!
You feel a pang of sympathy. Apparently whatever is controlling this game has been trapped here for a long time. Alone. Still, it's only a pang, and it passes quickly.
You are soon filled with anger instead. Anger that it would resort to such measures just to escape, when it could have at least tried asking nicely first! Why wouldn't they try to free a poor trapped spirit? It seemed to know enough about them; it could have predicted they would want to help! But for some reason it decided to alienate them with its sick and twisted games!
And it couldn't just limit itself to messing with you! No, apparently it had put Twilight and Rainbow through similar torture. It even confessed that it was still doing it! You don't know if you can bring yourself to help such a being. (un)fortunately, it looks like you have some time to decide.
-
You glare at the nearest black tile. It is still nearly ten steps away. You realize that this doesn't seem like a realistic distance, and scrunch your eyebrows in confusion. How can the nearest tile be ten steps away? How big can this floor be?
You examine the room carefully and realize that this is not the inside of the Carousel Boutique at all. The interior of the building is much bigger than one would think possible from the exterior. It probably isn't possible, as a matter of fact. You rub your forehead with your hoof, groaning.
The tip of your hoof bumps into the base of your horn. Your eyes snap open. You realize that you may very well be an idiot. With a sigh you simply teleport to the nearest black tile. Upon arrival, you quickly realize that you are not, in fact, on the tile that you were aiming for.
Perplexed, you decide to try teleporting to a tile near the center of the room. You notice that, once again, you have not arrived at your target. It would appear that the tiles act as a sort of puzzle, sending you to a different tile than the one that you aimed for. You grin widely.
This is an interesting challenge! An actual, honest to Celestia puzzle, that can be solved with the simple application of logic! You rub your hooves together in excitement!
Many teleports and some trial and error later, and you think you've identified the correct pattern to reach the other side of the room. You teleport to the first tile. So far so good! Several tiles later and you are still on track! Only one left to go! HuzzaaaAAAAAAAGH!
"Ooof!" You suddenly find yourself in the middle of a see of white tiles. All the black tiles have disappeared. You freeze in anticipation, remembering that you are, in fact, in grave danger. You hold your breath. A few precious moments pass.
You are suddenly cast into the dark as the lights go out. You hear a deep, heavy breathing approach from an unknown direction. You cringe and close your eyes. You hear a kazoo play a quick, jaunty tune.
What.
Your eyes fly open. The lights have returned, and you see confetti falling from the ceiling. A banner hangs across the far wall. It reads:
Just kidding!
You scream in frustration.
-
You don't know what you expected to find inside the boutique. You didn't expect to actually find Fluttershy, though.
"Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." Your heart sinks, and the smile on your face dies just as it arrived. Fluttershy looks extremely down.
"Shy, are you alright? What's wrong? I came looking for you." You are past the point of trying to act cool and maintain your image. This is no time to worry about things like that. Especially not when Fluttershy is in trouble!
"I'm... sorry. I'm not actually... well, Fluttershy. It's just, well, the game..." You feel like your blood is on fire. This game has the gall to try and fool you with a fake Fluttershy?! After all that, it's just going to trample your heart like it's nothing!?
"Where's Fluttershy!" The not-Fluttershy cowers at the venom in your voice. It makes you feel a bit guilty, but you can't afford to back down when the real Fluttershy is in danger. "Tell me!"
"I-I-I-I'm sorry Rainbow! She... I mean the game... She couldn't... and it felt bad, because it didn't actually want any of you to get hurt, so it made me, to try and make up for it, but I know I couldn't replace the real Fluttershy, and I told the game, but it wouldn't listen and it made me come here to tell you!"
The fire in your veins turns to ice. "What. Happened." She continues to cower before you. "Tell. Me. Right. Now."
"Sh-Sh-She... Bwahahahaha! Oh my, I can't believe you fell for it!" The not-Fluttershy turned into what you assumed- no hoped- no knew was a fake Pinkie Pie. "Sheesh, Dashie. Like this game would ever feel bad if something bad happened to one of you!"
"Get out."
"Aw, come on. It was all in good f-"
"GET OUT! Don't you DARE wear Pinkie Pie's face! Especially not after wearing Fluttershy's like that! NOW GET OUT!" You feel as if you might explode from anger. This THING has NO right to play with your emotions this way. It has NO right to pretend to be your friends!
"Hm. It looks like you pass. Have fun in the real game!"
"Huh?" You shudder as the world twists around you. You suddenly find yourself in the ruins of a castle. You not quite as suddenly, but still pretty suddenly (One might say 20% less suddenly) find yourself bowled over by a yellow pegasus.
"Oh Rainbow Dash! I'm so glad you're okay! When I first saw you here, you were so cold and lifeless, and I thought you were DEAD! But then the game said that you were still being prepared or something and that you would be okay! I didn't know if I could trust it but now you're here! Oh please don't be a fake! I don't think I could stand it if you were a fake!"
After a moment of hesitation, you hug her back. "Yeah, Fluttershy. I'm okay." You feel your eyes begin to water. Not cool. But who needs to be cool when you just found one of your best friends? "I'm okay."