//------------------------------// // Archives // Story: Let's Play a Game // by Zelda Spectrum //------------------------------// I am still reluctant to go to this party Cloud Runner is so desperate to attend. Attending a party at an abandoned house, in the Everfree Forest, at night; in all honesty, I think it sounds creepy instead of fun. Chapter 6 My Items: 1 large oil potion 4 oil jars 12 tinderboxes 8 laudanum bottles Notebook Hammer and chipper As I fall, I place my hooves against the wall and tried to grab anything that might be sticking out of the wall. However, my efforts prove to be in vain as this does little more than to slow my descent. Suddenly, I crash onto what feels like a table and pain shoots through my torso. The table brakes upon impact and I am left laying in the fetal position on the floor of…another balcony? I reach into my saddlebags my saddlebags and pull out some laudanum and proceed to drink the bottles to stop the pain, despite every muscle in my body screaming at me. I drink four laudanum bottles before the pain finally recedes. Getting up, I take a look at my surroundings to see where I have landed. I appear to be on another wooden balcony with the remains of a round table under me. The balcony is about two stories from the ground, so it was not a very long fall, despite the pain it caused. Behind me are two large windows leading into a room with, what looks like a library, on the lower level of a staircase. I feel around my chest and back with my fore-hoof. It does not feel like I have any broken bones; the slow descent and the table breaking my fall must have helped with that. I notice one of the windows has several areas where the glass has been shattered; so instead of shattering the whole window, I carefully reach my hoof into one of the shattered sides and unlock the window. Entering the room, I notice the walls and carpet are the same layout as the Kitchen area. The upper level of the room forms a block letter “C” with a staircase in the middle leading to the lower level. The lower level, on the other hoof, has three rows of bookcases that form a gap in the middle as if to carve a path for the staircase. Seeing that the room is dimly lit with candles, I reach into my saddlebags to grab my lantern. ‘Wait, where’s my lantern?! Dang it, I must have lost it when I was pushed off the Balcony!’ Since my lantern is long gone, I walk down the stairs and walk over to a round table to the left. I pack up a candle and start scanning the bookcases to see if there is anything useful hidden in the bookshelves. Seeing nothing of interest, I proceed through the door at the end of the path through the bookshelf. I am now in a small room that joins with a hallway. There are two doors to my left and right; there is a trail of blood leading to the door on the left, so I decide to check out the door on the right instead. When I enter, I see that I am in a common office room. There are two wooden closets in the back corners of the room and a wooden desk in the middle. To my delight, my eyes land on a spare lantern on top of the desk and I do not hesitate to pick it up and put it in my saddlebags, discarding the candle. ‘It looks like my luck is starting to change for the better!’ Feeling a wave of exhaustion come over me, I open the closet in the right corner to see it is completely empty. ‘Good, maybe I can rest here until morning to save my strength. This ‘Game’ has taken a lot out of me.’ I step into the closet and close the doors behind me. I decide to take it easy for a bit and pace myself for the rest of this ‘Game’, just as long as I do not get caught. The Psycho has probably told the other two about what she has done and they most likely assume that I have met my fate with the ground. As long as those creatures think I’m dead, they will not be looking for me. This, of course, gives me the upper hoof. The next morning, I awake from my slumber in the closet and start to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I carefully opened the closet to see if the coast was clear. Seeing no pony there, I begin to stretch my legs. It was not very comfortable sleeping in the closet, but I could not risk getting caught. ‘Oi, I am never doing that again.’ Exiting the office, I proceed into the hallway. On both my left and right, the hallway makes a sharp turn in the same direction. I decide to go right as I feel it does not matter since they will lead me to the same place. As I turn a sharp left I take quick notice of a trail of blood leading into a room on the left wall. ‘What the hay; why is there blood everywhere?’ I turn into the room to see blood, corpses, furniture, and cider strewn all over the room. It looks as though a tornado and a massacre happened all at the same time. ‘W-What the…What the hay happened here?!’ The answer comes to me through another memory, only this one feels like I have been hit in the head with a brick. ----- I was walking with Cloud Runner approaching the house in which the party is being held. “I don’t know about this Cloud, you know I hate going into the Everfree Forest, especially when it’s dark!” “Don’t be such a scaredy-pony,” Cloud Runner teases, “I’m sure there will be lights inside the house.” “I sure hope your right.” “Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll protect you from all the ghosties of Everfree.” He put his front hooves in the air and waves them around his head as if he is a ghost trying to scare me in a fake ghost voice. I gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. “Screw you, Cloud.” Soon, we approached the front door of the house and entered to see all the lights on, revealing the fancy décor and comforting aura. “See, what did I tell ya? This isn’t so bad.” “Yeah, you’re right,” I admitted, “It actually feels rather welcoming.” We walked up the stairs and came upon the brass gate of the elevator. “I think Tough Nut said he was hosting it in the Archives.” We opened the brass gates and stepped inside the elevator. Cloud Runner hit the “Archives” button and I pulled the lever to start our ascent to the next floor. When we stepped out of the elevator, we turned to the left to meet Emerald Broach. She was a golden unicorn with a green mane and had an emerald for her cutie mark. “Hey, glad you guys could make it!” She greeted us with a smile, “The rest of us are in this room. We already have everything set up. Tough Nut and the others are just jamming out to some music.” As I turned the sharp right of the hallway to follow Cloud into the inner room of the archives, I stopped when a rustling sound hit my eardrums. “Did you hear something?” I ask whipping my head back in the direction of the elevator. “The only sound I hear,” the green pegasus replied, “is the sound of us not partying!” He quickly trotted into the room to join the other ponies. I shook off my curiosity to join them in the party. An hour later, I sat out in the hallway alone while the others continued to party the night away inside. During the first hour, I kept getting the feeling that some pony, or something, was watching me. It kept bugging me to the point where I just was not having fun anymore. “Hey, Moon Seed, Cherry Mane is starting Pin-the-tail-on-the-pony.” Cloud Runner came out of the room to tell me, “You wanna play?” “Um, no thanks Cloud.” I reluctantly declined. Instead of heading back in to continue the party, he stayed while his smile quickly turned into a concerned look. “Hey man, are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine;” I told him, “I guess I’m just not in the partying mood. I think I’m just going to head on home.” “Oh, no problem man, I’ll just go tell Emerald that we’re heading out a bit early.” He turned to go back in, but I stopped him. “No, you don’t have to, Cloud. I don’t want to you to miss out on the party because of me. Besides, I know my way back to Ponyville.” “I dunno Moon Seed, are you sure?” “Yeah, I’m sure. Go on ahead and party; I’ll be fine.” “Um, okay, if you insist.” He turned to walk back in the room. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” “Of course; I will see you then.” As he reluctantly walked back into the room, I got up and walked to the elevator. As I proceeded to open the iron gate, I heard a tiny giggle behind me. I turned around to try and find the source only to have something heavy strike me on the head. My world went black. In my half conscious state, I could hear the sound of three ponies talking; a filly, a teenager, and a mother. “Look mommy, I found a new friend!” the filly shouted gleefully to her mother. “Oh, this one’s a cute one.” I heard the teenage say invading my personal space, “I’m going to put the head of this one by my bedside.” “Hey! I found it first, I wanna play with it!” the filly shouted defensively. “Why wait to hunt down your victims when we could just slice them up now?” the teen argued. “That enough both of you.” The eldest pony interjected. She then spoke in a reasoning voice. “Since Silver Belle found it first, she can play with it.” “Yay!” I could feel the vibrations from the floor and hear metal slamming the floor as the filly seemed to be jumping with glee. The teen let out a very bemused groan. “Great, what am I supposed to do until this pony wakes up?” “Well, it seems some unexpected guests are throwing a party in the study room.” The mother mentioned to her, “While I take this pony to one of the guest rooms, you two can go have some fun with those ponies.” The second oldest mare seemed to be pleased by this as she chuckled insanely to herself. “Mmm, I can’t wait to see them all squirm around fighting for their lives and trying to avoid their inevitable deaths.” She said as she trotted towards the ‘Study’ where the party was being held, “Maybe we can even save some of the cute ones for the Playroom.” I started to feel myself starting to come to as my body struggled to bring me completely back to reality. My head was aching like never before and my muscles refused to work. I let out a groan of pain as I tried in vain to ignore the throbbing in my head. “Uh oh, looks like my new friend is trying to wake up. Back to sleep new friend.” *TONG!* That was it; I was out like a light. ----- As I come back to reality, I realize I now know who I am. My name is Moon Seed; I am an eighteen-year-old earth pony who lives in Ponyville and is still a ‘blank flank’. My best friend is the green pegasus named Cloud Runner; he is the only one I have. We had been cautioned to never enter the Everfree Forest, as it was said to be infested with formidable monsters and untold dangers. We all entered the Everfree Forest despite this warning, and we have ended up in this mess. Looking up at the massacre in the Study, it occurs to me I may be the only pony left who survived. That stallion I heard some time ago on the upper level of the Main Hall must have been a survivor and his friend, but the Thing managed to find them and I know from their screams they did not survive. ‘Whatever became of Cloud Runner?’ I begin to fear the worst as the thought enters my mind. The only ponies I recognize are the remains of Emerald Broach, Cherry Mane, and a few other ponies I knew, but never talked to. With a heavy heart, I walk into the room to see what I can find. The only thing that has not been turned over or covered in blood is a desk in the back left corner. Searching for anything of importance becomes more of a challenge with my newly formed tears impairing my vision. I know adults are not supposed to cry, but after everything that has happened, how can I keep myself from shedding a tear? After a little while of slow searching, I come upon a blue rod labeled “Dungeon and Playroom”. I take the rod and put it in my saddlebags as I walk out the door into the hall. I walk in the direction of the elevator, still in tears, and see the large trunk blocking the elevator and the boxes stacked on top of it. ‘This is my fault.’ I think to myself as I start to remove the boxes, ‘If I had just said ‘No’ to this party, we wouldn't be in this mess.’ I push the trunk out of the way of the iron gate. ‘I could have turned back at any time and Cloud Runner would have followed along because he’s my friend. Instead, I come to this party ignoring all the warning signs and getting us in this jam.’ I step into the elevator, press the button reading “Main Hall”, and pull the lever to operate the machine. ‘He is most likely dead, because of me.’ End of Chapter 6