• Published 23rd Nov 2011
  • 2,389 Views, 155 Comments

Berry's Test - Maple Sunrise



A spinoff of the famous horror movie series SAW.

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Lyra's test

The levitation spell had some problems at first, but after a retry, the levitation was successful and smooth. However, the strain it was giving on Colgate wasn't little. Though she tried to hide the sign of strain from her face, Berry could still read her face. Either that or the signs of strain on Colgate's face were obvious. Either way, Colgate's going to have continue with the spell. Twilight wasn't light, but rather than to have her being carried around by an already weak Applejack, Colgate had suggested that she use a levitation spell. At first Berry didn't want Colgate to stress herself so much, seeing as to how Colgate still had to bring the harpoon guns with her. But after much persuasion, Berry let Colgate do what she wanted.

Applejack had shouldered one of the harpoon guns, and was reading through one of the blueprints. Next to her, were the photographs and notes regarding the locations of the other ponies. She raised her head for a few moments, hoof at mouth, as if thinking, before skimming the blueprints once more.

Berry looked over to Colgate, who had set Twilight down since the group weren't going anywhere for the moment. Berry sighed. Wonder how the last three are coping. Berry can't imagine what it's like being in a trap for such a long time. What's more the other three might be immobile. After they get out of their traps, their limbs would be stiff, making them pretty useless if their assistance was needed.

Colgate's horn sparked a few times as she warmed up a spell. Nearby, the sound of hooves trotting could be heard. Hooves storming down a staircase by the sounds of it. Berry cracked her neck a few times as Rainbow Dash flew out of the stairwell. Rarity followed suit a few moments later. Rainbow Dash collapsed, panting as if she ran the Running of the Leaves a couple of times over. Rarity wasn't in a good state later as she too collapsed in an exhausted heap next to Rainbow Dash, the scrolls she levitated falling down on a patch of clear ground.

Berry gave the two a few seconds to get ahold of their wits before telling them of Twilight's condition. Right on time too, as Rainbow Dash had already opened her mouth to ask about their dear friend. A couple of minutes later, both Rainbow Dash and Rarity accepted Twilight's condition. Rainbow Dash glanced over to Colgate, who was scavenging through the bundle of blueprints Rarity had brought with her. Sensing eyes on her, Colgate looked up. Rainbow Dash gave a warm smile. Berry was surprised that even after going through a lot today, Dash still had the will to smile.

"I really cannot thank you that much for helping Twilight out." Rainbow Dash said, voice laced with sincerity. "I mean, for saving her."

Colgate merely smiled and shrugged, before responding verbally. "I really wish I could have done more. But there really wasn't. So this is probably the most I can do for Twilight now."

Something about Colgate's tone made Dash feel somewhat uneasy. Rarity, however, was satisfied that Twilight was still alive. Rarity couldn't say anything much to help out, so she just stood there quietly.

Berry sat next to Applejack, who hadn't noticed Berry's presence until Berry poked her. Had Applejack not notice Berry at all, she would have leapt higher than Rainbow Dash could ever have flown. Applejack turned, a look of broken concentration written all over her face. From what Berry could tell, Applejack was probably onto something when Berry had poked her.

"Anythin' ah' can help you with, Berry?"

"I'm gonna need Lyra's blueprints, we're gonna get her next."

Applejack simply nodded, and bent over to pick up Lyra's blueprints. Scooping it up with her mouth, she made sure to do it gently as she didn't want to damage the blueprints with her saliva, using her teeth so that the blueprints wouldn't touch her tongue. After all, better to have teeth marks than to have saliva wipe out some of the details. Setting it down before Berry, Applejack returned to studying another blueprint.

Berry unrolled the blueprint, careful not to tear it. The white words scrawled were slightly messy, as if the writer didn't have that much experience with white marker pens. However, the schematics for the blueprints were enough for Berry to roughly guess the trap that Lyra was in.

The diagram was of, what seemed to Berry, a room with no roof. But upon closer inspection, Berry saw that is was a rough interpretation of a huge hole in the ground. Probably the lake Lyra's supposed to be in. Aside from that, in the centre of the huge hole, was a figure of the pony, to which Berry assumed was Lyra. On both sides of the pony, were small squares, one on top of another. However, from the aerial view, there was another two squares next to the first. There was an arrow that led from the squares to a empty part of the blueprint. The square was labelled as amplifier. Next to the label, was the number 8. Berry took that to mean that there were only 8, though she really wasn't that sure.

One amplifier set on top of the other, and the process is repeated with another three. Berry somehow felt that something would go very wrong, though she wasn't sure why. They had three unicorns, though one out of commission, Rainbow Dash, their only pegasus, and a hoofful of earth ponies to help. Berry hung her head. Pinkie would have been very useful. She sighed. She couldn't save everypony.

She returned her attention to the blueprint. The source of power was from several generators buried a couple of feet beneath the pony. Though no wires were drawn on the blueprint, Berry knew there had to be a few. She would know, she had been to almost every bar and nightclub in both Ponyville and Canterlot. However, when it came to amplifiers, she was lost. She wasn't sure how good the amplifiers in the trap would be.

There was no note on the back of the blueprint. Berry had expected one, but there wasn't any. Applejack came up next to Berry.

"So ah' heard from Rainbow that somepony's blueprints were missin'?"

At first Berry said nothing. Applejack had the right to know who was to be saved and who was to be left on their own, but they had to get to everypony they had to first before trying to get to Octavia.

"Octavia's blueprints weren't there. Well, according to Rarity and Rainbow Dash of course, but they brought down every blueprint."

"Maybe whoever was doin' this made a mistake?"

Berry response was immediate. "I don't think so. I know sooner or later whoever is doing this would slip, make a mistake, but this would downright clumsy if he were to make this kind of mistake it. He wanted us to find the room with the blueprints, if not there would be warning on the door." Berry paused. There was a cannon set to fire on the other side of the door, according to Rainbow Dash. But that means..... Applejack was going to speak, but Berry raised a hoof, no doubt still trying to think.

There was no warning of what was on the other side, yet what was on the other side would have killed Rainbow Dash and Applejack had it not been for Twilight. But that was what surprised Berry. Normally there's be a warning, to make sure that all of them followed the rules.

Whoever was doing this was pulling out all the stops.

The trapped door was probably being set up when the two unicorns that came for Berry and the other three.

A wave travelled through the ground, coursing through everypony's hooves. Berry looked around for the source. "Hey Rainbow!" Berry called out to the cyan pegasus. Berry had spotted lights a couple of hundred yards away, not too far from the building in which they were near now.

“Hm..?”

Berry pointed in the direction of the light, “I need you to go check that out. Now.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, and with a flash, disappeared into the distance.

“Hopefully she reaches there in time. I have a feeling Lyra’s test just began.”


Lyra awoke in a dark room. She groaned at the throbbing pain at the back of her head where she had been struck. By what, she herself did not know. She got up on all four hooves, still a bit groggy. She almost stumbled, and quickly corrected her stance. She tried lighting her horn, only to notice that she couldn't do so. She tried other spells, only to fail to produce even a single spark.

The sound of a crackle resonated in the dark room, and the room was bathed in light. Lyra winced at the pain stinging her eyes. She jammed her eyes shut to stop the pain, only to still feel the pain. A couple of moments passed, and the stinging had been reduced to just a small ache. Nevertheless, it was still pain to Lyra. She attempted to open her eyes slowly, and quickly shut them back as the light still stung. She tried again, only succeeding to glance upon a the ground before her before shutting her eyes again. She repeated the process until her eyes no longer hurt.

She scanned her surroundings, the confusion on her face growing more and more as she tried to analyze. The room she was in was, in fact, not a room, Lyra deduced, but rather a huge hole in the ground, judging by the dirt walls and dirt flooring. She looked upwards, looking through the glass ceiling into the sunrise. Or was it sunset? Lyra couldn't tell in which direction the sun was rising or setting. Guessing it's probably sunset. Princess Luna's stars were already appearing in the sky, her moon in tow.

A lyre was propped up on a musical stand in front of Lyra, as if tempting her to play. Not now. Where the buck am I? The dirt hole wasn't natural by the looks of it. Most of the hole was hollowed out, making the hole look more like a cubic room than a hole. A cubic room with a glass roof. Lyra felt her heart race. And what the buck is going on?! The room wasn't that big. Lyra couldn't estimate the size really well, no thanks to all the bumps still left around the dirt walls even after being hollowed out. There were 4 amplifiers on her left, 2 stacked up on each other, and another 4 to her right, stacked in a similar fashion. Between her and the amplifiers on either side were a few bundles of wire that disappeared into the ground, into the amplifiers Lyra guessed. This is not gonna be good.

The lyre that was on the stand was of pure gold, much to Lyra's surprise. She stared at it for a short while, as if resisting the temptation to pick the Lyre up and strum a few songs like she used to when she was young. But I still do that now..... Lyra shook her head. She remembered she was in Canterlot the night before last night. She earned much more from that gig at the Princess' Castle than she should have. Thanks to a few associates who just so 'happened' to be around as she played. It wasn't the first time that she had let her associates do what they normally did.

Pickpocketing others really isn't that big of a crime. Except it was Canterlot, and everypony's pockets were full of vulnerable treasures in the eyes of Lyra and her associates. Lyra hadn't referred to her associates as associates, but more of a 'crew'.


The sound of sweet music filled the air as the Royal Orchestra played before crowd in Princess Celestia's Castle. This night was going to be a rather big one. Princess Celestia was in a conference with the leader of the Weather Factory and with a couple of representatives from the Apple family and a few rural areas surrounding Ponyville regarding the recent drought that had plagued the area and how many places were being affected by the drought.

Lyra used both her magic and occasionally, her hooves, to play her lyre in time with the rest of the royal ensemble. They played flawlessly in unison, adding to the ambience of the atmosphere. Everypony in the orchestra concentrated greatly on their instruments as the other ponies continued mingling with each other. None of the ponies paid any attention to the orchestra, not that the orchestra minded anyway.

However, while the others are playing diligently, one of the musicians was scanning the crowd, looking for a certain pony who was at work. As she scanned, her skill at tugging her lyre's strings did not falter as she looked for a friend. She continued playing perfectly even as she focused on the crowd before the orchestra. She already saw one of her friends, and proceeded to look for another one, most likely at work as well. A small smirk formed on her face. Perfect. She shut her eyes and continued using her magic to pull the strings.

An earth pony with a yellow coat and a mane with two shades of orange, was moving cautiously among the crowd, moving swiftly, and at the same time, picked into the pockets of several ponies as she moved along. Lyra had seen Junebug at work, and Junebug had nodded to Lyra as she continued to pick the pockets of several other unfortunate ponies.

But Junebug wasn't the only pony at work. A colt with a brown mane and a light grey coat wearing a tuxedo was moving cautiously and 'accidentally' bumping into other ponies, quickly relieving them of their pocket's contents. Like Lyra, a smirk appeared on Iron Anvil's face, but it was more a smirk of accomplishment rather than Lyra's smirk of satisfactory. The pickpocketing had been going on for only a month, but the product of pickpocketing was huge. More than any of the crew's combined salaries can compare to.

A unicorn with a jet-black mane and a sports jacket was sitting by the food and beverage table, watching Junebug and Anvil at work. He had finished his part of the job and had already kept it in the a locker near the dressing rooms behind the stage the orchestra was playing on. The same one Lyra was playing on at the moment. He raised his glass in Lyra's direction, and nodded, before slugging down the contents in a single gulp.

The four had been doing rather well, considering how neither of them had gotten caught yet. This pleased Lyra more, her smirk unknowingly growing into a grin. The orchestra was almost done for the night, and quickly wrapped everything up with The Five Pieces of Orchestra Op.16. After the end of that, the members of the orchestra started to pack up, feeling that their job was done. Lyra’s job still wasn’t done. The results of the pickpocketing will be divided among the crew the next day, so both Iron Anvil and Junebug went on their way home.

The unicorn with the sports jacket had left as well. Lyra hadn’t really known the stallion’s name, but she often referred to him as number six, as it was the number on the back of his sports jacket. Checking to see that the locker did indeed have the loot, Lyra went to the back. Satisfied that it was, Lyra proceeded to pack up. The night was still young. Lyra wasn’t really that bad of a pony. She had told Bon Bon that she was going to teach some music lessons, after tonight’s session, at an orphanage and was going to come home late. The last thing that she had from Bon Bon was a huge hug, and a kiss before Lyra went on her way.

Lyra sighed. This doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t feel right at all. She glanced from side to side, just to make sure nopony was around. She went over to her own locker, and took out a small canister of pills. She disregarded the label and took one. She felt like she needed one at the moment. The folks at the hospital said she did look like she needed the anti-depressants. She, however, didn’t see why she needed to use anti-depressants. She was doing well, evidently by getting a well-paid job at the Princess’ castle.

And she took advantage of it.

She set the canister back in her locker, and closed her locker with a slam. She stretched out a couple of times and cracked her neck twice, before leaving the locker area. She ventured out into the ballroom, where she and her ensemble had performed on not too long ago. There were still a lot of ponies around, most notably the Canterlot ponies, and it would be a shame if Lyra were to go back without snacking up first.

She levitated her lyrecase as she walked on over to the food and beverage table. Se poured herself some gin and punch and took a couple of sandwiches. I’m lucky I’m a unicorn, lest it be hard to carry these things around. She bit into her hibiscus sandwich as she watched several ponies still dancing with each other in front of the stage. No matter what era it was, the tango would always fit the mood of somepony. Lyra couldn’t help but smile at the adorable display. Maybe I should take up dancing. Maybe Bon Bon would like that as well. Hey, maybe Twilight can help us with that! I’m sure she has a book on dancing somewhere.

She hadn’t been contacting Twilight for some time, and neither had Twilight tried contacting Lyra. Lyra didn’t mind, as long as the two still had their friendship bond intact, she was sure Twilight didn’t mind as well. Lyra took a swig of her drink, and immediately regretted it. The gin was too strong, even for her standards. How does Octavia even get through drinking this?

She glanced around. Where is she anyway? Normally Octavia would be having a few drinks while waiting for her marefriend Vinyl Scratch. Lyra shrugged, and finished off her hibiscus sandwich. Her thoughts drifted onto something else. While Lyra was playing onstage, she noticed that some of the notes she played were off. She had to work on that. She wasn’t surprised though. She really wasn’t paying attention when she played, so she considered this to be very good already. And apparently her bandmates didn’t mind either, considering how none of them have confronted her about this matter.

Lyra took another swig of her drink and took a bite of her daisy sandwich. I really shouldn’t be over-thinking things anyway. She finished off her sandwich, and chugged her drink down. She didn’t enjoy the fact that the gin was burning her nose. She set her cup down and shook her head a couple of times. Woah, that stuff sure is strong. She forced herself to cough a bit. One more thing she didn’t enjoy was the occasional essence of a drink being caught in her throat. And this was one of those occasions.

She shrugged it off, and exited into the Royal Hallway. She’d have to walk for another few hundred feet before arriving at the entrance. Her thoughts were about to drift back onto Twilight, when suddenly the lights in the hall flickered, and then went out. Lyra gasped. Despite Luna’s moonlight pouring in through the windows, without lights, the hallway was as dark as a crypt. Before Lyra could gather her thoughts, she heard something levitate over to her, and before she could even turn her head, she felt a sharp sting at her neck.

Her vision, like the lights, flickered before finally blacking out as she collapsed onto the Royal Hallway’s carpet.


Coming back from her flashback, Lyra once more looked around the room. She sat down, pondering a way out. They’re probably just messing around. It wasn’t unheard of for Lyra’s crew to be fooling around. But this was just too far. Besides, Lyra’s crew spent most of their time together. When would they even find the time to hollow out a hole this big?

Lyra turned her attention back to the golden lyre on the music stand. Lyra stepped forward. There was a note under the lyre. Se moved the lyre a bit to the left, and picked the note up. It was more than a note, judging by the amount of words written. It was like a small letter, but nevertheless, Lyra’s heart rate, like the others, accelerated as she read its contents.


Hello Lyra,

I want to play a game. For the past few months, you have been providing insider information for a few… ‘Friends’ of yours as you play greatly well in the Princess’ castle. Your, ‘distraction’, is enough for your ‘friends’ to pickpocket other ponies during the special occasions when you’re needed at the castle. Not only do you earn honest money from your work at the castle, you also earn a lot more from the pickpocketing work of your ‘friends’.

Your ‘friends’ are undergoing their own tests now as you read this note. Oh yes, your ‘friends’, or ‘crew’ as I call it, aren’t that hard to identify considering how well you as a team work together. Now let’s see if you can work yourself out of this test without the help of your crew.

The place you are in now is a dried up lake, in the meadow between Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres. As you can see, eight speakers surround you, one stacked atop each other. For every two seconds that tick by, the volume coming from the amplifiers go up a decibel, and as one of the elite musicians in Canterlot, you will have to play a quick song to get yourself out. No doubt you are familiar with ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’.

This is no joke Lyra. But considering how many notes there are in ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’, the first five seconds will start off with one decibel. But after that the decibels will increase at a rate of a decibel every two seconds, so I suggest you hurry.

In front of the lyre’s music stand is a tracker. The device is to make sure you don’t cheat. The device will match the notes, the beat, and the tempo among other things that you play, to that of ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’. If you miss a note, or play a wrong note, the tracker will cancel out your whole progress, forcing you to start over again. Buried in the dirt wall above the tracker is your timer. You have 210 seconds to complete your test.

I’m guessing that you already know what happens when you fail, but I’ll tell you anyway. The moment the decibels hit a certain level, the glass above you will shatter, and the shards that rain down upon you will impale you. Should you survive, however, you’ll be either deaf from the amplifiers, or blind from the glass shards.

However, not all hope is lost. Should you reach a high enough frequency, your friends nearby can come to your aid. Oh yes, your friends. Not your crew. Twilight Sparkle will most likely be among them, so rest assured, you’ll probably make it out alive.

Now, your test starts the moment the lyre’s position is shifted and you play a note. It doesn’t matter what note you play, but as long as a note is registered into the tracker, your test will start. However, do not delay too long, Lyra. The place is sealed off. If you do not complete your test quickly, you will suffocate in this dried up lake.

Let the game begin.


Lyra swallowed. She had shifted the lyre from its original position, yes, but had it made a sound? She listened carefully, but hearing no sound escape from the amplifiers, she understood that her test hadn’t started yet. She closed her eyes, trying to remember the notes for ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’. She had played it on numerous occasions in half a dozen orchestras all over Equestria, but a couple out of those numerous times had been without the notes. Lyra didn’t want to admit it, but she hadn’t really memorized ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ like many elite musicians had, partly because the lyre position doesn’t really play a key role in an orchestra.

Lyra didn’t care. To be considered elite was already good enough for her, thought she was sure not everypony was okay with that. Being elite had its privileges, but being elite also comes with responsibilities. Lyra had done all she had to. However, she had abused her elite rights by getting involved in pickpocketing, which in Canterlot, was probably considered theft considering the amount of wealth everypony had in their pockets. They were just BEGGING to be relieved.

Lyra shook her head, and stared at the lyre ahead of her. She recalled what the note had said earlier about a tracker, and tried to look past the music stand. Sure enough, right in front of the stand, embedded into the dirt wall, was a tracker. Lyra could only recognize one or two parts of the tracker, one being the equalizer, which she really wasn’t sure of, and a couple of meters. The type of amplifier wasn’t the sort that orchestras normally used, had the orchestras use any at all.

However, amplifiers were often needed when the string section of the orchestra came in. But none of the times the orchestra needed to use amplifiers did they need as much as there is in Lyra’s test. She felt a shiver of nervousness go through her body as she considered how loud it’ll be soon. And then something caught here attention. Right behind the music stand, attached to the other side, were music sheets, all of them for the Lyra’s use.

Well now I don’t have to worry about trying to remember the notes. With the notes now with her, Lyra felt a bit more confident, albeit just a little. Lyra gasped out loud as she remembered that her horn was covered, making her unable to use magic to help herself out. Lyra normally used magic and her hooves to play, but relied more on her magic. Staring down at her hooves, Lyra argued with herself whether or not she should start her test, or wait it out until somepony came by.

Lyra raised her head, looking through the glass ceiling. Luna’s night was going to be full soon, which Lyra guessed to be around 7.30pm or 8pm. It would be a miracle if somepony came at this hour. But what had been written on the note earlier? Twilight Sparkle will most likely be among them. Lyra blinked. How is she even here in the first place? Lyra shook her head in disbelief. Whatever it is, I just hope she’s fine. Now to find a way out of here. Lyra considered digging her way out, but the work will be slow and she’ll probably use up what little oxygen she has in the room she’s in now. And there’s no telling what kind of other tricks this madpony has up his sleeves. For all Lyra knew, the moment she digs out there’ll probably be a landmine.

Lyra snickered at the thought. But hey, I don’t think the way this dude does, so how would I know? It’s probably best not to take my chances. Lyra returned her attention to the lyre on the music stand. A pure gold lyre…. Lyra had doubts on whether or not she could even pick up the lyre, considering that it was made of pure gold. It’s probably going to be very heavy. And this made Lyra’s test all the more harder. Especially when she couldn’t use her horn.

Lyra sat down, looked up at the ceiling, and screamed. She had no idea what to do. She just continued screaming until she ran out of breath. She was hoping somepony would hear her, but at this time of day, there’ll probably be nopony around, much less in the abandoned meadow. Gasping for air, she looked up at the amplifier. Oh sweet Celestia no!

The equalizer was already moving, most likely triggered by Lyra’s scream, and the timer started counting down. Lyra felt time slow down as she tried to analyze the situation that she had just put herself into. Way to go, Lyra. A second went by like a minute as Lyra panicked. She picked up the lyre, finally noticing that it was no heavier than the ones she’s had at home, and then time resumed its regular pace. She carefully spread out the music sheets on the stand. Lyra stretched her hooves out for a moment, and then proceeded to play.

Taking in a deep breath, Lyra quickly strummed the first few bars in under a few seconds, the only sound in the dirt chamber being her heavy breathing and the lyre’s sweet music. Moving onto the other bars, Lyra accidentally cancelled her progress when she played a wrong note. Cursing, she restarted from the top. She made her way quickly through to the spot she had made a mistake and expertly avoided the same mistake. She glanced up at the timer. 00:03:00

180 seconds. The faint sound of the lyre’s melody can be heard coming out from the amplifiers. Lyra doubled her efforts, quickly passing the first sheet. The equalizer rose and dropped as she tried her best to play the complete song without screwing up. Lyra cursed a second time as she overlooked a single note in the bar. Can’t you bucking draw those quavers properly?! She restarted from the top, moving through all of the notes swiftly, not needed to read the first sheet as she had completely memorized it after her mistakes.

The amplifiers weren’t getting any quieter. As time passed by, Lyra could feel the beats resonating around the dirt room, threatening to shatter the glass ceiling above her. Lyra tripled her efforts, completing the second paper, relieved to find that she had a few more to go through. She glanced up at the timer, hoping to see if she could make it in time. 120 seconds. If my calculations are right, the amplifiers should be up to around 60 decibels. Lyra remembered the point where the decibel level would reach 115, which was equivalent to a rock concert playing at full blast, a couple of years ago when a little accident left several ponies deaf due to a malfunction in the amplification of a couple of amplifiers. The only thing louder than that would be a Sonic Rainboom which, by breaking the sound barrier, can reach up to 170 decibels or more.

Time slowed again as Lyra reached a difficult part of the song. Lyra executed every single note in those few bars so perfectly, so quickly, so beautifully, she wasn’t surprised why Princess Celestia had chosen her as the sole lyre playing in the castle’s orchestra. However, the moment was short-lived as she almost played a wrong note again, and slowed down. As time slowly ticked down, Lyra completed the third sheet and moved onto the fourth, which was rather easy considering how she needed to perfect it in order to get through the entrance exams.

Lyra could feel her eardrums beating along with the amplifiers. Lyra once more glanced up at the timer. 75 seconds left. Lyra was afraid of going too fast that she might miss a note. She moved onto her last sheet as the thundering sounds of the amplifiers hammered her ears so hard she swore she was going to go deaf if she didn’t get this over with. She sped up, doing as best as she can to perfectly execute the last sheet. Right on the 60 second mark, Lyra finished the last sheet, and as the last note resonated around the room, the amplifiers’ power was cut, and Lyra completed her test.

Lyra felt triumphant, smiling to herself as she set the golden lyre back on the stand. She could feel dizziness rising to her head as she tried her best to stabilize herself. The glass ceiling above her shifted, and started moving upwards before being placed onto the side of the dirt hole. Lyra let out a sigh of contentment and relief. I did it. Lyra staggered for a few moments before dropping to the ground, unconscious.



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Author’s note : Yeah... Sorry about the long hiatus. I was wanting to post this chapter a couple of days ago but my internet line got cut. Legitimate excuse. Chapter 25 is rolling it’s way down the hill. Also, there’s gonna be a chapter for Q&A so if anypony out there has a question regarding Berry’s Test please let me know ^^. One more time, I beg for your forgiveness because of my long inactivity.