Current unpublished projects · 6:54pm Mar 11th, 2015
Checking in with all of you lovely people with what I've been working on (but haven't published yet)
The Maze:
The soundspeaker above Flim's head rings and a crackly voice sounds in the eerie hall. "Welcome, contestants, to the Maze. Some say fate is immutable, irrefutable, but I have different ideas."
Derpy stands, staring at the speaker, the cut on her foreleg now scabbed over and caked with dirt from the floor.
The speaker rings to life again. "Some of you have made poor business decisions," Flim looks down and scuffs at the floor, "some of you just had a run of bad luck," a diamond dog in the corner softly whimpers, memory of some unfortunate event rising, "some of you were just born that way," Derpy's eyes remain fixed on the speaker, "whatever the cause, you are unhappy with the life you have. I offer to give you a new life, a better one."
Derpy's eyes narrow. "You kidnapped us and shoved us into a small room, why should we trust you?"
The speaker laughs. "If you don't trust me, you have the option to leave the contest at one of the designated exits. They're well lit and will transport you back home. But if you do think there's a chance to get a better life, do you think it's a good idea to just trot away? You're not alone, in fact, you're in one of four rooms in this same maze, each with three contestants. Winning is simple, at certain points in the maze, there will be puzzles to traverse. If you beat the puzzles and reach the center first, you win your new life. Seem fair? Keep in mind, though that while you are allowed to work together, there is only one new life. Enjoy the game, contestants. Your first puzzle starts now."
The speaker dies down and the three turn to face the door.
The door doesn't open.
Derpy's eyes widen. "The first puzzle starts now."
There's a hiss and the room starts filling with water, turning the dirt floor to a thick mud.
Derpy clenches her teeth. "Fine. Game on."
Moonlight Runelight:
I stand in the middle of a great hall. Banners hang on either side, slightly moving from an unseen breeze. To my right is Celestia, past her stands a guard by the name of Fluttersting. I can remember his family, his love of bees, I think he even had a few apiaries in the royal garden. I remember he had a pregnant wife, almost due. I even remember his smile every time his shift came on, like he had when he was with his bees.
Please no. Not again.
I can remember everything about him.
I plunge my spear into a gap in his armor, then pull it out slightly, turn it and stab again.
I can even remember the way he looked at me that day. He couldn't have known it was me, logically that would be impossible. From what he saw he could only have assumed his fellow guard had killed him for no reason.
It was no reason.
But the way he looked at me that day, it was almost like he already knew who I was and the only thing he wondered was why I chose him.
Because I was a monster.
Because he was the only guard where Celestia truly relaxed, like she believed he could protect her from me.
I cheated.
I proved her wrong.
When I felt the effects of the poison I ate a few minutes before, as I was surrounded and held by guards, my magic cut off from my access, I can also remember Celestia. She just sat there, dumbfounded. She knew who I was, it was obvious to her but she never imagined I'd be able to pull it off.
She never imagined I'd sink so low.
Her expression was so funny I almost laughed.
I did laugh. I laughed at her horror filled expression because I found it funny.
That was probably the best part, the poison ate away at the rest of the body but I kept my eyes just long enough to watch that glance till the very end.
I'll never forget it.
I'll never forget it.
*****
"Luna?"
I swallow hard, breaking free of my stupor. I turn to Celestia and smile, weakly. "I'm here."
Celestia dismisses the guards accompanying us and we continue trotting down the hall.
"This isn't a thousand years ago, Luna. You can talk to me when you need to."
I don't say anything for a few minutes. "It's... difficult. There's too much about that time I don't remember," I look down at my hooves, "and not enough I can't."
Celestia keeps trotting forward. "It would be better to look at the past as a pool of water: you can look at it for awhile and it reflects you. But the reflection is of the past, distorted by the water, you can't make yourself the you in the reflection and you can't replace other ponies with the reflection either."
I smile. "I fear I have not your skill for metaphors, but your advice is not lost. Thank you."
A Game of Chance:
"Well, congratulations, my little pony. You've been elected to participate in the game."
I breathe heavily.
"Game?"
He takes his eyes out of their sockets and rolls them on a ponopoly board that suddenly appears in front of me. The eyes turn into dice somewhere between him throwing them and then hitting the board but I don't have a clue when.
"Yes, game. You're not the brightest pony in your class, are you?"
A dim and flickering lightbulb appears above my head. Before I can say anything, he grabs it and stuffs it into his mouth, spitting shards of glass that become raindrops on top of me. I stand up, weakly.
"How do you play?"
He eats his tail until he disappears then reappears beside me.
"Oh, it's very simple: you get to pick one of my abilities, then you have to take the one thing that has the most meaning to the other contestants. Collect them all, and you win."
I think I hear rustling in the bushes near me but I keep my eyes locked on the thing beside me.
"What would I win?"
He smiles and his grin spread all around his face until it connects in a circle, then it snaps shut.
"You would win me, of course. My title, my position, my powers would all be yours. If you won."
The rustling gets closer.
"I accept."
He claps his hands together and the sound of an elevator ding occurs.
"Excellent. I did neglect to mention that you only get to talk about the game with other contestants and one other pony of your choice. So which pony will it be?"
I consider carefully. Ideally, it would be somepony who would be useful in the game but also somepony who would help me. Shining Armor would be of use but I haven't talked to him since when we were in school together and he definitely won't help me if Princess Sparkle's playing. Should I get Caramel? He's probably the most likely to help me. Yeah, Caramel will help the most. I'll pick him. The rustle in the bushes is right next to me now. I turn.
"Lucky?"
"Fluttershy?"
"Excellent choice. I'm sure Fluttershy will be of great help in the game."
I'm going to die. I turn to the strange creature.
"You planned this, didn't you? You cheat."
The creature shrugs.
"You'll find yourselves unable to talk about the game to anypony but the players and their helpers and if you don't keep your operations a secret then you lose. Good luck, everypony."
Fluttershy turns toward the creature.
"Discord, come back here right now."
But 'Discord' is already gone and I'm left with the most ineffectual partner in all of ponyville, assuming she even helps me.
"Hello? I didn't pick an ability yet."
I sigh.
"Leave it to me to muck up a chance at cosmic power."
I turn around to see an angry looking Fluttershy.
I'm so dead.
How about that? Have any favorites? Any questions, comments, or concerns? Post what you'd like to say in the comments below!
Thanks for reading.
Moonlight, runelight, I assume its twilight?
2867770 Luna, actually they say it as the first word in the next scene. Do you think I should put in a little of that for clarification in the teaser?
2867782
I wasn't expecting that.
I really thought it was twilight.
I assume she is being controlled?
2867786 Close.
I added a bit of the next scene to make it clearer.
2867805
ah, that's what I thought, the past.
seems interesting.
So does the maze. In fact they all are.
2867815 Thank you. A lot of times, as a writer, I worry I'm just writing the same stories over and over again but when I put them next to each other like this, I feel a bit better.