37 - Leap of Faith
Pinkie looked around, but there was little more than darkness on all sides. Her calls for the others got nothing but soft echoes to bounce back at her. She fished around in her mane for some solution to the dark and found something round. She tossed it and it began to glow and float in the air before splitting into several sparkling motes that buzzed around her. Pleased, Pinkie Pie took another look around to see she was in a room with mirrors on all sides. She could see other Pinkies looking back at her, though each had a different expression. Some were sad, some were angry, but none of them wore her curious expression.
She tried frowning at them, but they all changed, swapping expressions to anything but what she wore. A bright smile brought about a similar reaction and she lapsed back to critical and pondering. She looked down at her hooves and saw countless more Pinkies stared up at her from there, and more of the strange writing Twilight was reading was there, indecipherable to her. "This is like the mirror pond all over again," she said to herself as she trotted to one side of the room and reached out a hoof. Her copy there put out their own hoof and they collided at the glass, seemingly holding one another back from passing through the mirror.
"I hope the others get here soon..."
Twilight leaned over the edge, peering into the darkness as she called, "Pinkie!" in a long desperate cry. There was no response. Long Road pulled her away from the edge with a shake of his head.
"She's gone."
Twilight wheeled on him, "She can't be gone! I will not lose all of my friends to this... place!" she angrily declared, hair frazzled with stress.
Dawn spoke with calm confidence, "She is alive and well, but not here."
Spike started to ask how he knew when the agitated Twilight ran him over verbally, "How do you know that for sure!" Her angry words sent Soft Mane to hide behind her shield, known previously as Spike.
Dawn cocked an ear at Twilight, "The gods whisper to me that she is fine."
Twilight leveled a hoof at him, "You say that about everything! The truth, now, please." She half deflated, looking defeated and worried.
Dawn released a soft sigh as he cantered towards the edge, "While you slumbered, I laid a spell on her that would tell me if she became hurt in any way, including poison or disease. She is healthy, but not here. Let us join her."
Spike spoke softly to Soft Mane, "I think she's losing it."
Soft Mane shook her head, "She's a good mother, like my mom. She cares about her friends."
Spike waved a claw, "Like anything could happen to Pinkie Pie? She's been through worse."
Soft Mane suddenly danced to the edge, "Have I?"
Spike lunged for her as she threw herself off the edge, grabbing her hand and both vanishing.
Pinkie leaped in place as Spike appeared under Soft Mane in the center of the mirror room. "Hey Spike! Soft!" she cheerfully greeted, "I haven't figured this place out yet, any ideas?"
Spike extracted himself from the tangle and got to his feet even as Soft Mane found her hooves and stood beside him. The dragon looked around, seeing countless Pinkies, Softs and Spikes gazing back at him with a variety of expressions, "That's weird..."
Soft tapped on the ground with her hooves, producing the soft tink of struck glass. "Really strange," she agreed, "Pinkie, what are those light things? Were they here with the room?"
Pinkie's light motes were still orbiting around her in varying hues. She shook her head quickly, "Nuh uh. I had some spare lights and I took one out 'cause it was way too dark in here."
Spike looked like he wanted to argue it, but instead leaned towards Soft, "Pinkie is going to be Pinkie. It's best not to argue it."
The hole before Twilight suddenly sealed, the passage forward plain and unhindered. She looked back at Dawn quickly.
"They are unharmed," he promised, "They whisper the foal and the fool are both well."
Long Road stepped beyond Twilight, pressing a hoof onto the new ground. "Feels secure. They must have figured out the next puzzle. Let's go." He led the way by Twilight's light until the passage began to slant upwards, bringing them to a simple wooden door that Long Road stayed back from. "If only Spike were here," he lamented.
Dawn worked his way to the front, "I may not have the eyes of a dragon, but my eyes should be sharp enough." He looked left and right over the stone until he reached the door, "I don't see a handle, or writing."
Twilight gave a loud groan of frustration, "There has to be some writing. They wouldn't just lead us to a dead end!"
Long Road turned around, to find the hole had returned behind them, "And why wouldn't they?" he asked, frowning at the gaping hole that taunted him from where an escape route once was.
Twilight sunk to her haunches, "OK everypony. Let's put our heads together, there has to be a logical way out of this."
"Booorring!" cried out Pinkie, on her back and hooves waving in the air. "I don't think they're coming." She rolled back onto her belly to see Spike exploring one corner and Soft at another. She waggled her brows as an idea came to her and she moved to a Spike reflection, "Oh Spike, I can't live without you!" She planted loud smooches on the glass.
Spike turned a soft red as he saw what Pinkie was doing, all of his reflections blushing similarly, though they wore scowls and grins and any other expression other than the shock he currently wore, changing as he turned to anger, "Pinkie, cut that out! That's not going to get us out."
Soft Mane seemed to disagree, now looking from Spike to Spike. She started to skip along, delivering small pecks on each one.
"Urrg, not you too Soft, c'mon!" begged Spike as Pinkie rolled onto her back and laughed uncontrollably with mirth.
Soft found the saddest looking spike, near the center of the room and crouched down to kiss him. As her lips met the forlorn reflection, the room's walls, ceiling, and floor darkened to black, and a door slid open.
"Love will find a way," sang Pinkie as she quickly sprang to her hooves and headed for the exit. Soft was soon after her with a smug expression.
Spike brought up the rear with a scowl, "There's no way you figured that out. That was a lucky guess." She neither confirmed nor denied it as they walked out onto a balcony over a vast, lit, chamber.
A soft voice spoke in the common tongue, "You have made it this far, those who would find love. Can you help your allies find theirs, or will the challenges be too much for them? Press the large red button, then help your friends find the love within them before they are overcome." A bright red button rested on a panel that seemed to be built into the railing of the banister, with many buttons on either side of it.
Without waiting, Pinkie reached up and pressed the red button.
The door before them swung open silently, revealing what appeared to be an open-topped maze. They could see how the corridor they started on branched to the left and right, but no further. "They did it!" excitedly claimed Long Road as he advanced into the room, "Now I wager we have to get through this maze to get them through the next part."
Dawn was next, nodding, "That would be logical. Let us stay to the right and hopefully that will get us through."
Twilight was last, the door closing behind her. "I didn't need to retreat anywhere," she said awkwardly before she hurried to join the males and they trotted together, sticking to the right side as they went. "This room seems very large. Should I try flying?" Though she had asked, she was already lifting off the ground, just to bounce off the invisible ceiling ten feet up and crash to the ground with a few new bruises for her effort. "Ow."
Long Road helped her to her hooves, "Same kind of tricks that kept Spike from getting across the pit."
They could see Twilight, Long, and Dawn wandering through the tunnels like rats in search of cheese. Different buttons lit up as they went, shaded bright violet, dark red, some even black or white. "Which ones should we hit?" asked Spike, peering at the collection.
Pinkie waved her hoof over the console in deliberation before hovering over a bright violet, "We're supposed to bring love, right? Bright red probably does that but that's way too fast. Let's try this one." Logic confirmed in her own mind, she depressed the button.
Twilight took a sudden hop back as the wall in front of them slid backwards and off to the side. Suddenly Twilight's parents stepped from the dark passageway as it illuminated. Her ears fell back in shock, "Mom, Dad? How did you get here?"
Twilight Velvet, Sparkle's mother, frowned at her, "We're very disappointed in you, young lady. Here you are, adventuring with your friends and having a grand time instead of returning home. Celestia trusted you!"
The wizard shrank in place, "But... I was trying..."
Night Light, Twilight's father, shook his head, looking down at her with scorn, "You were goofing off and letting everyone else do all the work. We expected better of you." He hefted the surprised looking Long Road up effortlessly in a field of magic, turning him to face Twilight, "Look at how you've treated your new friends, to say nothing of the ones you abandoned at home."
Twilight collapsed on the floor, hiding her face in her hooves, "No! I wanted to go back to them! I'm trying my best, honest..."
Dawn placed himself ahead of Twilight, blocking her view of her parents. "Begone, foul simulacra. You have troubled her mind enough for one day."
Twilight Velvet sneered at Dawn, "And who are you to tell us how we treat our daughter? She's been a no-good layabout and we're going to tell her as much."
Night Light stepped forward, chest out, "Get out of the way. No one can come between us and disciplining our own foal. It's for her own good."
"I will not," spoke Dawn, advancing to meet Night Light, "She has done her part under my hire, and she will not be abused by anyone, wearing the faces of her parents or not."
Long Road was tossed to the side as the combined ire of the parents focused on Dawn Event. Twilight Velvet scowled as wings burst from her back, large and bat like, "Foul priest. Know your place. She is ours! Step aside and you may be allowed to continue." Night Light exposed terribly sharp teeth as his fur began to show streaks of blood red fur, flame seemingly rushing to escape from the seams.
"Begone!" cried Dawn with a slam of a hoof. His magic slammed into the bat-winged mother and she vanished abruptly with the smell of sulfur. Night Light surged forward only to meet the blade of Long Road, who had recovered.
"Face me," challenged the donkey, swinging his longsword at the creature that had once been Twilight's father, "I will die before you touch her."
Twilight looked up from where she had fallen, peeking to see Dawn Event and Long Road dealing with a demonic version of her father. As the truth of it came to her she got to her shaking hooves. "You are not my dad. You don't get to hurt my friends!" she cried even as the demon clashed against Dawn's ready mace and dodged back away from Long's extended sword. With a quick word of power, Twilight sent angry motes of purple light to slam against the beast, knocking it off balance before her friends descended on the fiend. As they proved victorious it vanished like its fellow, leaving nothing but the stink of sulfur.
Twilight collapsed again, panting softly, "Thank you... They just seemed... so right, even when they were making me feel awful."
Dawn turned to face the lavender alicorn, "Foul creatures of the abyssal planes are well honed in the art of deception. It is not your fault." He offered a hoof to her.
She took it and rose, "I think that may be the first nice thing you said in a long time. Thank you, again."
Pinkie's ears wilted, "Ok, wrong button. You guys try something this time." She sat back. Surely any button Spike or Soft picked would work better.
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I call bullshit.
An adventurer waited until the end of the speech before pushing the Big Red Button? This is madness!
In my experience they would've ended up rolling initiative to see who gets to push it first.
5501467 Neither Pinkie nor Spike nor Soft are proper adventurers. Someone has to teach them the etiquette of smashing red buttons faster.
Red = Succubus?
5501500 Mayyybe! Horrible wicked things bent on making Twilight cry in either event.
Very Good Chapter
Now this is a challenge. I just love how Pinkie and Soft Mane handled the first part of the puzzle. And I am anxious to see Spike show his stuff in the second part of this test. As for Team Twilight they had a pretty good battle, nice to see some good old fashioned monster slaying in this dungeon, It was a little over due.
So two part challenge eh, Team Twilight must navigate through the maze and Team Spike must figure out which buttens will help them I gotta say very cleaver I did not see that coming. Team Spike really has a brain buster of a test and or puzzle, and I have to say I can't make heads or tails out of Team Spike's part of the puzzle but I'm sure they will figure it out.
I look forward to seeing Team Twilight and Team Spike reunite and I cannot wait for the next chapter.
5501604 Glad to hear you're enjoying it. Surely they have to get together... eventually... maybe.
With Spike, Soft, and Pinkie at the helm, surely nothing can go wrong for Team Twilight in the maze.
Yes! Really fast updates I love this story really interesting.
5501712 I aim to please.
A dungeon designed to split the party? Surely this the work of evil most foul. The fiends merely confirm that.
Looking forward to further shenanigans.
5501812 pinkie split the party up and got soft killed
What went through my mind when the button appeared:
Pinkie, NOOOOOOOOOO!
5805903 Pinkie means well.
Wait, is Dawn a stallion or a mare? Cause the picture from way back when is a stallion, and you used the male term a bunch of times, but here she's a good mother. Might want to nail it down one way or another.
5845996 Where did I call Dawn a mother?
5846135 My bad, I mistook the line about Twilight being a good mother (and some of the accompanying "shes") to be about Dawn.
red button rested on a panel that
Dad
5987583 Thanks, applied!
Confirmed nor denied.
6242827 Fixed!
Confirmed nor denied.
Thought I had another, but that was two days ago, I just hit paste to see one...
6247786 Fixed!
Surely.
6762543 stop calling me Shirley!