//------------------------------//
// Questions Without Answers (Part 2) 
// Story: Canterlot High Ends With You 
// by Golden Flare 
//------------------------------//

In the middle of an intersection a few blocks away from Crystal Prep Academy, Twilight awoke with confusion etched onto her features.

‘Where am I?’ She thought as she stood up and got a better look at her surroundings, ‘Oh, I know intersection, this is part of the route the bus takes on its way to—’ Her thought process came to a screeching halt as she remembered what just happened.

She had unleashed the magic, just as her entire school wanted her to, became an all-powerful monster, fought Sunset’s transformed state, and then...nothing.

‘But that doesn't make any sense! If I blacked out, I should be in the nurse’s office, not in the middle of the street!’ Her mind reasoned.

She checked her pockets to make sure nobody robbed her while she was unconscious, then she felt a foreign object. She pulled it out and saw that it was a black pin marked with a strange looking white skull.

‘Where did this come from?’ Twilight thought as she twirled it in the hand.

When she stopped it, her head was flooded with several voices from out of nowhere.

“Ugh! Going to school is sooooo boring!”

“Can’t believe what Cinch did, she got innocent lives killed!”

“I think I’m gonna stop by Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s café after school today.”

“Is he ever gonna make a pass at me?”

“Wonder what the story is about the Friendship Games? I love some juicy gossip!”

Twilight dropped the weird pin, believing it was the source of all that chaos, and lo and behold, the voices stopped.

‘What WAS that?! Was I...reading people's minds?!’

Suddenly, her cell phone chimed as mail appeared in her inbox, “Okay, after I see what this notification is, I’m calling my parents to come pick me up.”


Reach the Canterlot Clock Tower.
You have 60 minutes.
Fail, and face erasure.
—The Reapers


‘Is this some kind of joke?! I don't have time for this!’ She went to delete the offending message, but it still remains. ‘What…? What's going on?’ “OWW!” Twilight felt a sharp pain in the palm of her hand, “Did something bite me?!” She looked to see the damage, but there was none, just a timer counting down.

59:58
59:57
59:56

‘Wait, TIMER?!?’ Twilight stared at it for a bit when she realized something, “...This is the exact same time as the one on that message. What kind of sick game is this?”

“The Reaper’s Game,” answered two voices.

“Who's there?!”

From atop a building, two men jumped down and glided to the ground with black skeletal wing, they appeared to be siblings with red hair, pale yellow skin, and they look like they belong in a barbershop quartet, but one difference between them was that one of them had a mustache.

“Why, I’m Flim.” Answered one man.

“I’m Flam.” Answered the other.

Then they both spoke at the same time, “And we're the world famous Flim Flam Brothers!”

“Okay…?” Twilight said.

“And YOU’RE in the Reaper’s Game!” Flim, the one without the mustache, declared.

“But what is the Reaper’s Game?!”

“Doesn’t matter,” replied Flam, the one with the mustache, “Once you’re erased, you won’t have to worry about it.”

The two men snapped their fingers and several red symbols appeared and surrounded Twilight.

“What the?! What is this?!” Twilight exclaimed.

Then, the symbols took form of weird looking rattlesnakes; they were three feet long, and their bottom jaws and the tips of their tails had an unnatural, ethereal appearance. They started snapping their sharp fangs at Twilight, forcing her to back away, only to be stopped by more of the strange snakes behind her.

“No! I don't wanna die like this! I'm afraid of snakes!” She blurted out.

Suddenly, the sound of wheels on a skateboard filled the air as a teenage kid dressed in a white tank top, cargo shorts, black and red sneakers, a cap with a skull on it, and way too many chains rode onto the scene, looking ready for a fight.

“Yo! Jump!” He called to her.

She was surprised at first, but she was willing to do anything to get away from her worst fear, so she jumped. The boy kick-flipped in the air and caught her, and as he landed, gravel from the pavement sprayed at the Flim Flam Brothers.

“You alright?” He asked, to which she nodded. “Good! Le’s make a pact, before Stache and No-Stache get us.”

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Flim said.

“A pact? Why?” Twilight asked the boy.

“There ain’t time to explain! Forge a pact with me, Yo!”

“Okay! I guess I have no choice but to trust you! I accept.”

Twilight’s vision was suddenly filled with green light while the boy shimmered in a purple light. When it died down, the boy sneered at the brothers.

“Aight! Time for a beat down, Yo!”

“How?! You're just a kid!”

The boy chuckled, “Really? Check this out!”

He moved toward the snakes while on his skateboard and started doing 180’s and 360’s, backflips, kick-flips, even jumping in midair and ramming into them, damaging the snakes and causing them to vanish into static. Twilight was stunned by this, she was expecting the snakes to be run over and killed, not turned into static, it was impossible! Flim and Flam were shocked, they never thought that any Player would've figured out how to defeat Noise this quickly.

“Uh, brother? Perhaps we should make like a banana and split.” Flim said.

“Well said, brother.” Flam agreed.

The two spread their creepy wings and took off into the air.

“Hey! Get back here! I ain't done with you yet!” The boy yelled.

“Wait!” Twilight stopped him, “We're safe now, so there's no reason to keep picking a fight!”

“Grr...fine. But you owe me.”

“I do. You saved my life...um, I never got your name.”

“Beat. Jus’ call me Beat.”

“Thank you, Beat. I'm Twilight Sparkle.”

“Heh, nice to meet cha! Now c’mon! We gotta get to the Clock Tower!”

“Huh? Why?”

“Didn't chu get the mission mail, Yo?”

“Mission mail? You mean that junk mail that wouldn't delete?”

“Girl, you trippin’! That ain't no junk mail! All Players get a mission on their phones, and if they don't complete it, they get erased!”

“Huh—I don't—what?! What you're saying doesn't make any sense!”

“There's no time for sense! We gotta move! My friend, Phones, and I will explain later! Besides, he's prob’ly on his way to complete the mission by now! Le's bounce!”

Beat ran in a random direction until Twilight called out to him, “But the Canterlot Clock Tower is the other way!”

Beat immediately changed gears and went towards the way Twilight pointed out, “I knew that, Yo!”

Twilight quickly joined him in running, heading for the clock tower and hoping for her questions to be answered.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS (PART 2)
CHAPTER CLOSED