What to do with the game indeed?
Even though things had gone back to normal, and no one except for Smolder, Gallus, Ocellus, and Silverstream remembered what had happened, that question still needed to be answered. The more they reflected on the intense adventure they had, they all realized that they all got very lucky in getting out alive. All throughout that nightmare, there were plenty of opportunities where any of them, or their teachers could have been killed by this wicked board game. So that only left with the thought of what would happen to anyone who might not be so lucky.
So, what to do with the game itself?
At first, they tried burning it. Sneaking into the pottery class one night, Smolder placed the game into the furnace and, using her breath, sparked it to get it as hot as possible so that the only thing left would be ashes. It seemed to have done the trick when the game had turned to charcoal, so the game was swept up in the garbage.
However, the next morning Smolder woke up to the sound of war drums which she followed into the pottery room. There in the trash can, she found the board game, back in one piece.
Next, they tried to get it smashed into pieces. Taking the game over to Sweet Apple Acres, Gallus, Smolder, Ocellus, and Silverstream used whatever farming tool they could find the smash the game into splinters. Yet, the game would reassemble itself as soon as they were tired out turning it into splinters and shards of scrap metal and ivory.
It didn’t take them long to realize that this game cannot be destroyed.
“But we’ve gotta do something.” By the time Silverstream had said this, the four of them were gathered inside the clubhouse – thankfully still in one piece and clear of Spiders, Panthers, and one psychopathic hunter. “We can’t let anyone play this ever again.”
“Then what should we do then?” Gallus questioned, “We can’t destroy this thing, and I don’t think we should just toss it out somewhere either.”
“Wait, why not?” Ocellus asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Think about it. Even if we tried burying it, or tossing it out to sea or whatever, somecreature is still going to find it. Only we know how dangerous this game is, and we can’t just let anyone come across it. For all we know, someone could die playing this game, or release something far worse than what we’ve seen.”
“Okay, so we can’t destroy it, we can’t hide it away,” Smolder pointed out, “then what can we do? Hand it over to Twilight and Zecora? No one outside of us knew what happened when time got restarted.”
Thinking over this problem, Ocellus rubbed the side of her head in thought, eyeing the cursed game they’ve set down on a table. “You know… I hate to say this…”
“What?” Her friends asked at once.
“…. But with what all of you said, I agree – this game is too dangerous for anyone to play. We can’t destroy it, and we can’t hide it away for the risk of someone coming across it… But what if we can still get rid of it, out from our reality entirely?”
Smolder raised an eyebrow, “Where are you going with this?”
“You know how in Twilight’s library in her castle there’s a portal machine? The one that’s said to teleport ponies and objects to another dimension?”
“Woah, hang on there,” Gallus objected, “You’re not saying we should toss it away in there to let somecreature find it, do you?”
Ocellus shook her head, “Not exactly. And I don’t think I want to use that portal thing either for that very reason either. If anything, I don’t have a clue how it works, and I bet our professors would get suspicious if we tried to operate it. No, it’s got me thinking about other ways to send it to another dimension without letting anyone be any the wiser.”
“Sorry Ocellus, but you’ve lost me.” Silverstream asked, “What are you talking about?”
“Suppose… we go ask someone to send this game in the most random place possible. So random, that there would be little to no chance of this ever returning to Equestria ever again.”
Everyone went silent as they realized what Ocellus was talking about.
“Uh-uh! No way!” Smolder got up, crossing her arms. “I’m not asking that colossal jerk for help!”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to side with Smolder,” Gallus pointed out, “I know what you’re thinking, Ocellus, but there’s no way I’m trusting that guy with something like this?”
“But what choice do we have?” Silverstream inquired. “We can’t give it to Twilight and Zecora since they’ve forgotten what happened all day yesterday. What if they accidently started playing the game?”
“All the more reason to have him send it off somewhere else.” Ocellus said. “I don’t like the idea either, but he might be the only creature that has that kind of magic to send this where no one will find it.”
“Well, I can summon Discord,” Fluttershy said, tilting her head, “But why? Did he do something he wasn’t supposed to again?”
“Not exactly…” Gallus told her. At this point, Fluttershy had dismissed her class for lunch when he, Smolder, Ocellus, and Silverstream came into her classroom. “But we uh… we wanna… talk to him about something.” He nearly vomited when he uttered that. As disgusting as it was to say that, the game that he held under his arm reminded him of what needed to be done.
Spotting the game, Fluttershy pointed out, “Does it have something to do with that? If it’s about Spike and Big Mac’s secret guys night then-”
“We’re not here for that,” Ocellus interrupted. “We just need to talk to him for a minute. Preferably just between him and us.”
“It’s important that we get ahold of him as soon as possible,” Silverstream added.
“Oh, okay. I’ll get him.” Clearing her throat, Fluttershy put a hoof over her heart and said aloud, “Discord, would you come here please?”
Over their heads, a saw blade cut through the air diagonally, tracing out a trapezoid before it was pushed open for Discord to slip in. He was in a yellow, full-body beekeeper’s suit where bees buzzed inside. “You called? I was in the middle of reversing extracting honey.”
“I’m sorry if I was irrupting.” Fluttershy apologized, “But my students wanted to have a word with you.”
“Why? I wasn’t planning on turning the school into lasagna until next week.”
“What? No, they want to talk to you about something important. So do you have a minute?”
Rolling his eyes, Discord snapped his tail, and the beekeeping suit went away. “I suppose I can put my chipotle candles on hold for now.”
“Thank you, Discord.” Fluttershy was about to exit her classroom but stopped for a moment to ask him, “Oh, and do you remember that I’ve moved our tea party to Thursday this week?”
“I know, and I’ve got a new set of tea I’m brewing up.”
After bidding Discord farewell, Fluttershy exited the classroom, leaving Discord and her students alone.
“So, what do you want me for?” Discord questioned, “Last time I checked, I’m not exactly popular around these parts.”
“You’re not.” Gallus went up to him and held up the game, “Let’s get straight to the point – we want you to get rid of this.”
Discord raised an eyebrow. So, taking the game in his paw/claw, he took a whiff at the wood and backed away. “WOO! That is some strong magic there! Where did you find that?”
“You don’t wanna know,” Smolder said. “Can you open up to other dimensions?”
“I can but-”
“So can you toss this somewhere into another universe?” Ocellus asked.
Discord stared at them for a good, long moment. “Since when did you four turn into Starswirl?”
“Listen to us,” Silverstream flew up to him. “We made the mistake of playing that game and it has caused nothing but chaos – and not the fun kind either. More like the if you make the wrong move, you’ll seriously get hurt kind. We can’t destroy it. We can’t hide it unless someone might come across it. That thing is far too dangerous for anyone to play with. So can you please, please, please put it somewhere that thing won’t ever come back. Even if you send it to a world that has nothing but mushrooms, just as long no one would play it.”
Scratching his chin, Discord levitated the game in thought. “I could, but the problem is that even if I send it someplace where it won’t come back, there’s still always a chance someone, somewhere might come across it. I can pick out a universe at random and toss it there, but I can’t promise you that world will be uninhabitable.”
“Why not?” Smolder asked.
“My magic is chaos, and chaos means that I can’t entirely control where it’ll end up.”
The four students looked at one another. It was a risk. But they knew that can’t let that game exist in this world any longer.
Ocellus went over to Fluttershy’s desk, and got out a piece of paper and a pen to write out a note. Then after slipping it in through the folds of the game, she told him to go on ahead and toss it out anyway.
“Alrighty,” Discord used his claw to scratch out a portal. The students saw on the other side a forest that looked… off. It looked like something they would see in the Everfree but there was something about its colors and such that seemed so alien to them. Discord floated the game through the portal and dump it among the leaves before sealing it up. “All done.”
“Wait,” Smolder raised a talon. “Where did you send that thing?”
“Someplace random,” Discord shrugged, “and where it won’t ever find its way back again.”
New Hampshire, 1869.
What a miserable day.
Benjamin couldn’t stop crying since he got out of school. First, he was late this morning, then he embarrassed himself when he had to spell a word, he never heard of, then his lunch got stolen, then he hit a classmate during class when he wouldn’t stop pestering him, and to top it all off, the teacher caned him for it. All the while, Kaleb, his older brother, didn’t help him in the slightest. Never once did he stand up to help him, and he went home without him when he had to stay in the corner for half an hour after school.
None of this was fair. He knew that his mother would scold him as soon as he gets back to the farm. Yet, it will be a while as it’s still a five-mile walk from the schoolhouse to his home. All the while going through the forest where something unpleasant could be behind a tree.
He wished that he could run away from this horrible place forever and never come back. Maybe in the night he could gather up his things and head somewhere on foot. Perhaps go south to Concord or Manchester where he can get as far away from…
That was when he heard it. Nearly quiet at first, he almost didn’t hear it above the rustling leaves above. A low, very deep beating like a distant drum. What was it?
Curious, he went off the train and into the forest where the drumming was getting louder. In his imagination, he thought it might be a forgotten Indian tribe out in the woods, or perhaps a coven of witches. Yet, he saw no one as he got closer to the sound. With every step, it got louder and louder. And the beating got faster and more intense to where he could swear the ground was shaking.
And then… it stopped. Benjamin was confused, why did it stop? And where did it come from? He turned around and around to see nothing about him but trees, leaves, and bushes. He probably would have simply gone right home after that and spun a tall tale of hearing an invisible drum.
However, turning around, he took a few steps forward when he suddenly tripped on something. Tumbling to the ground with a yell, he felt hurt enough to start crying again. He was ready to kick at whatever had made him fall, but he paused to see something underneath the leaves. Something rectangular and hard that he became curious to uncover.
What he found was a box that he had never seen before. On the top was an elaborate carving that had smoking volcanos, strange trees he had never seen before, and palm leaves. At each corner were other carvings of a monkey, an elephant, a rhinoceros, and a hunter in a pelt hat. And in the center where the folds was divided by a spear was a word Benjamin had never seen before.
Jumanji.
Curious, he opened the folds of the box and realized what this thing was – a board game. One that had four winding paths and a green gem in the center. He also found a note within the game. So unfolding it, it read:
To whoever finds this,
If you ever come across this game, please put it back where you found it and walk away. This game is not the kind you want to play with. This is not a game you should play. It is dangerous, and it might hurt you. I beg of you to put this game down. Do not take out the tokens. Do not roll the dice. Whatever you do, do not play this game.
Signed,
- A friend.
That was all it said. Benjamin had played board games before and he couldn’t see why this game was any different. A game is just that, a game. But then… why this strange warning?
Setting the note down, he saw something else written inside one of the panels, so flipping it around, he read aloud what it said.
“Jumanji. A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. You roll the dice to move your token. Doubles gets another turn. The first player to reach the end wins.”
For the young boy, he had never heard of this game before. What was Jumanji? Where did it come from? And why the odd warning? His mind was piling up with questions, and yet… perhaps this might make up for the terrible day he was having. If he was lucky, he can show this game to Kaleb, and they could play with it.
Folding up the folds of the game and tucking it underneath his arm, Benjamin returned to the path, heading home with a spring in his step. Yes, today was bad, but maybe finding this game might do the trick of making things better for a while. Who knows? Maybe this will be fun.
After all, it’s just a game.