//------------------------------// // Main Chambers // Story: Let's Play a Game // by Zelda Spectrum //------------------------------// Every day, I watched that pegasus race through the sky. He was born for this kind of stuff. He wanted to join the Wonderbolts so badly, but he would have to wait another few years. Chapter 3 Items: Elevator Key 1 large oil potion 3 oil jars 16 tinderboxes 4 laudanum bottles My lantern Notebook As I enter the ‘Main Chambers’, I notice there are no lights on, so I light my lantern so I can see in the dark. The room is quite a decent size; it has the same color and pattern as the Main Hall. There are two doors on the left and right of the wall in front of me. I first check the door on the right to find that it is unlocked. I walk in to see the room opens up after walking in; it is a magenta color and there is a window on the wall in front of me where orange light is beginning to shine through. I turn off my lantern to save oil and continue to look at the room. There is a single bed in the top left corner with bright pink sheets. Below the window was a small wooden dresser with three drawers. Sitting against the right wall is a small bookshelf with two shelves filled with books. ‘Jeez, whoever has this room sure likes pink.’ I check the dresser to find nothing of interest, so I head out of the room eager to get away so much pink. I check the next room, but I discover that it is locked. I light my lantern and proceed past the door to where the big room starts to form a hallway. After a few steps in that direction, I come upon a wooden door in front of me. I proceed through the door to find myself in a much wider room. To my right is a sofa with a beige fabric in front on a fireplace that seems to have recently been lit. Above the fireplace, on the mantle, is a acrylic painting of a large metropolis I do not recognize. There are also two windows on both sides of the painting, letting in the light of the sunrise from outside. I turn off my lantern to save oil and use the sunlight to aid me instead. To my right are four closets; there are two on each wall to give off a sense of symmetry. In the middle, hanging on the wall, is an oil-based portrait of a white unicorn mare with a black mane. She looks like she was of royalty, but I do not recall ever seeing her in history books, and I am supposedly an artist who can recognize ancient works of art. In front of me is another door, most likely leading to another bedroom. I begin to walk towards the door when I suddenly stop dead in my tracks to the sound of a motherly voice behind it. “Honey, is that you? You are back earlier than I thought you would be. Did you enjoy having fun with our ‘guest’?” ‘I…uh…’ I do not know how to answer. I do not know who or what the voice is referring to, nor do I want to sound like a fool trying to impersonate this certain some pony. The voice suddenly returns after I fail to give an answer; this time, though, it is filled with venom instead of compassion. “INTRUDERS!” *BAM!* Whoever is behind the door starts banging on it, causing the wood to splinter. I immediately run back to the closets and pick a random one to hide in. I hide in the second closet from the painting on its left side and close the doors. It is filled with various types of dresses, but I do not care. As long as that voice does not find me, I will take what I can get. I hear the wood of the door splintering some more until finally, I hear the whole door burst open. I hear the bearer of the motherly voice step over the remains of the door as she starts searching the wide room. “Come out wherever you are, mommy wants to have some fun!” It speaks in a seductive yet venomous voice. I pray to Celestia that she will not find me here as I hear her starting to walk around the four closets. Strangely, I only hear two hooves against the ground instead of four, and the smell of perfume reaches my nostrils as she comes closer to the closet. “Mommy will not hurt you; mommy just wants to give you some deadly love.” I dare not move a muscle as I hide amongst the dresses in the closet. If I do, I fear I may cause some noise when the hangers make contact and create an audible click. I hear the Mother walk off down the hallway towards the room with the two bed chambers. I begin to slowly open the door to peek out and see if the coast is clear when I suddenly hear the Mother banging on a door in the distance. I quickly, but carefully, close the closet door making sure not to hit the hangers holding the dresses. I wait a few minutes after the banging sound has stopped to see if it is safe to continue my search. Slowly and cautiously, I come out of my hiding place looking in the direction of the recent sound of wood being forced apart. Sure enough, the Mother is nowhere in sight, but I can see light leaking from the room she burst open. I walk into the room she came from to find myself in a rose red room with fancy décor only a noble could afford. There is a large double bed in the upper left corner with dark green sheets spread across and a small round table sitting next to it with an unlit candle sitting on top. There is a large dresser next to where the door used to be not too long ago. It has a large, oval mirror mounted on it, and has about twelve drawers all together. In front of me, up against the wall is a fancy wardrobe that looks like it is brand new. I walk over to the wardrobe and open it hoping to find a rod or a key, or at least something useful. Instead, I find something more disturbing inside. Inside the wardrobe are multiple skins of dead ponies hung up like costumes. The eye sockets are missing and there are big holes in the back big enough for a pony to slip into one and wear it as a costume. The sight of this forces me to my knees, but I resist the urge to vomit. I quickly close the wardrobe as fast as my weakened legs will let me and decide to continue searching the room. I search the dresser to find four laudanum bottles, two oil jars, and three tinderboxes. I then head over to the small table to find a note underneath the base of the candlestick. If you are looking for a rod to the elevator, you will find it in Anna Belle’s room. However, little Silver Belle locked the door to her room and hid it in her room to play a joke on her sister. Little Silver Belle loves to read, one of her favorites is “The Knights of Harmony”. She always wants me to read the ‘Battle between Harmony and Discord’ chapter to her every night before bed. ‘The Knights of Harmony, what does that have to do with anything?’ I read over the clue again, scratching my head in confusion. I then remember the small bookcase in the magenta room near the entrance of the ‘Main Chambers’ and assume the key is hidden in one of the books. Cautiously, I sneak back to the magenta bedroom to make sure the Mother is not still lurking about. I do not see her, but she did a fine job of turning the door into a pile of discarded scrap. I cautiously move into the room and look at the bookcase. I am now faced with a new problem…all the books are written in Old Equestrian, a language I cannot read! ‘Oh great, it’s going to take me forever to get through all these books! There’s got to be a way to narrow it down!’ I grab the first book and look at the title: Legato quoque Trifolium Peritioribus Arguuntur. ‘Maybe the titles can give me clues.’ Looking at the first book, I do not find anything that sticks out. I move it to the side and look at the title of the second book: In Cobalorum et Mannulus. ‘Yeah right, I doubt Mannulus means Harmony in Old Equestrian.’ I move the book off to the side. The next few books did very little to help me. Magni Hiemalia, Demensum Sir Argentum Laminas, Socijs Harmonia, Fur et Princi- ‘Wait a minute!’ I pick up the book Socijs Harmonia and quickly start flipping through the pages. Finally, in one section towards the back of the book, there are a number of pages that have squares cut into them. Inside these squares...is a key! I take the key and put all the books back on the shelf. Exiting the room, I trot over to the only door I have not opened yet and use the key to hear the lock open. I walk in to see the room mirrors the previous, only with grey wall instead of magenta. However, when I turn my head to the left, I see something that causes me to fall to my knees and empty my stomach on the floor. Heads of different ponies are mounted on the wall like trophies. The pegasi wings of their former bearers are mounted on both sides of the head while the unicorns still had their horns intact with their skulls. One mounted head sticks out more to me than the others. It is a yellow pegasus colt with a brown mane and hazel eyes. As I look at the head on display, another memory comes into view. ----- Cloud Runner and I were walking towards the school building while talking about our previous attempts to try and help me find my cutie mark. “Well, as much as I hate to say it, I’m starting to run out of ideas.” Cloud Runner said with a tone of defeat. “Me too,” I said with distraught, “Oil-based paint is too sticky and feels like painting with glue, watercolor is too stressful, clay is impossible to do without magic, and I have no idea where to find material for tempera.” I turned back to my friend and asked, “Hey Cloud, how did you get YOUR cutie mark?” “Oh that’s easy,” he answered with pride, “Last year, I challenged an old friend to a race to see who was faster in the sky. I had never flown so fast in my life, it was like nothing I had ever experienced before; the adrenaline, the speed, the wind in my mane, at that moment, the sky felt like it was my very special some pony. At that moment, I knew what I wanted to be, and BAM!” he showed off the cloud and lightning bolt on his flank, “This baby appeared quicker than you can say ‘Celestia Speed’!” I stared at his cutie mark quizzically, “I swear, it feels like I’ve seen that mark before…Are you, by any chance related to Rainbow Dash?” “Heh, I wish.” he said with a smile, “It would be pretty awesome to be related to the greatest Wonderbolt who ever lived, but no, I’m not related to her. However, she was the idol of my Grandmother Scootaloo.” I immediately came to a stop and my jaw nearly hit the floor. “THE Scootaloo?!” I asked in complete bafflement, “As in the the professional biker and ten time winner of the Equestrian Grand Prix?!” “Yep, that’s my grandma.” “Dude that is awesome! I was such a big fan of her when I was a foal; heck I’m still a fan of her now!” “What’s up, Crash Maker? Come to flunk another test?” Cloud Runner was about respond to me, but our conversation was interrupted by a yellow pegasus with a brown mane and a boxing glove for his cutie mark flying towards us. “Oh great, there he is again.” Cloud mumbled. “Is that…?” I began to ask. “Yep, good old Tough Nut is back to make his usual jokes. Someday, he’ll go too far and I can’t be held responsible for what I’ll do to him.” “So, did ya flunk any new tests lately or is the principle finally gonna expel you?” Tough Nut chuckled to himself. “I’ll have you know I passed that art test with flying colors!” Cloud shot back in irritation. “Likely story,” the yellow pegasus retorted. “Face it; this school has too many rules and not enough nap times for you. You’ll never be one of the cool ponies.” “Really?” I interjected, “I find that very hard to believe, considering he’s the grandson of the famous Scootaloo the Swift.” Tough Nut started laughing catching both Cloud Runner and I off guard. “Well that explains it! Nopony could be lamer than the grandson of a flightless retard!” At this comment, Cloud Runner snapped. He sprang into the air and started flying towards Tough Nut. “YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU SON OF A BI--!” Before he could finish, I grabbed him by the tail and held him back as he was just inches away from the yellow bully. “Cloud! Don’t! It’s not worth it!” I said to him with his tail in my teeth. Not too much later, he touched back down on earth, calmer than he was before. “Yeah Crash Maker, listen to your friend. You don’t wanna get hurt fighting me.” The two pegasi butted heads. “Is that a challenge?!” “What is going on out here?!” Our attention turned to Mrs. Sunny Days, an elder mare with a vanilla coat and a cross expression. Tough Nut began to back away. “Ya know what? You’re not worth it. I’ve got better things to do with my time than to kick you flank.” With that he flew off leaving Cloud Runner to watch him leave with an expression of hatred on his face. “Come on Cloud,” I said, putting my hoof on his shoulder, “let's head on to class.” We walked into the school building in silence, though I could see he was still trying to cool down. ----- The memory fades as I feel sorrow and sympathy come over me. ‘Gee, I always wanted him to get lost, but I never wanted him dead.’ He had always been a jerk to my friend, but at that moment, I couldn’t help but mourn over his remains displayed on the wall. Turning my gaze down, I notice a desk below the mounted heads and suddenly remember what I was in here to do. I force myself back onto my hooves and search the desk. I find the rod I was looking for in the second drawer of the desk; it is pink and marked ‘Balcony’. I feel a sense of relief come over me as I put the rod in my saddlebags. My attention is then turned to what looks like a page from a diary. My curiosity gets the better of me as I turn to read the entry. 17th of April, 1083 A.H. The party was so much fun; Silver Belle and I had a blast! There were so many ponies ripe for the slaughter. I loved how they all just scattered around like a flock of terrified chickens when the first one fell by my machete! The main joy of it was taking out multiple ponies at once as they all tried to escape and now the room has a new coat of crimson and some fresh corpses for decor. Some of them got away from us, but that’s okay, the entrance is locked so they can’t get out. Now Silver Belle and I get to enjoy hunting them down, but I told her to let me kill the cute stallions. She’s only a filly so she doesn’t know how to chop them up properly. Besides I want their heads by my bedsides so I can admire their— I push the page away as I cannot bear to read anymore. The feeling of relief is replaced by a nauseating feeling in my stomach. ‘That page was not written by some pony with a sane mind! The residents of this house are demons! I’ve got to find that key!’ Not wanting to stay in this room any longer, I dash out of the room and exit the Main Chambers. End of Chapter 3