//------------------------------// // Round 2: King of the Hill // Story: Doctor Whooves: The City of Toys // by MaxKodan //------------------------------// Doctor Whooves: The City of Toys Chapter 3: Round 2: King of the Hill Max Kodan The oppressive silence from the future Canterlot would have been a million times better than this hoofing elevator music. At least, that’s how Rainbow Dash saw it. At first, it was nice and quiet. Then, they just got a light, jazzy tune that was so repetitive it was driving her mad. The three ponies had been planning. However, knowing nothing more than the fact that they were entering a maze, playing King of the Hill, and that they were at a severe disadvantage and needed every win they could get, there wasn’t all that much strategizing to do. Instead, they focussed on one particular issue. “So, we split up, right?” She frowned and leaned on the colorful, padded wall. If it weren’t so evil, it might just be comfortable. “No way.” Star shook her head violently as she responded. “Splitting up is bad. We don’t know what we might run into, and I personally don’t wanna have to deal with whatever it is alone.” “But we could get so much more done quicker if we travel separately! I bet I could cover this whole maze in a minute, tops. I could fly out, find the hill, and win this stupid round without breaking a sweat!” She fluttered in the air to prove her point. “Moving platforms don’t mean a thing to me, and I practice flying between falling rocks to beef up my agility.” “Star is right.” The Doctor frowned at where the screen had been. “This won’t be any ordinary game. King of the Hill is far too...simple. We should stick together for this round. Obviously, we should try to win. However, if we lose, then we need to take advantage of the increased team size. That’ll be our team for the rest of the game, so we need to work together closely.” “But-!” The pegasus began to protest. “No buts, Dash. I understand your point, and winning the first round would be great. But we can’t risk anything happening to any of us. It’s better to be cautious. When we get a better idea of how these games will be run, then we can strategize more. For now, safety is our first priority. Remember that, ok?” “....Fine.” Dash set herself back on the ground, glowering over at a wall. If it were anypony but the Doctor, she’d have just huffed and done what she wanted anyway, but... The endlessly droning, looping music took over once again. It sounded as if it were being played on an old phonograph. Every time the record jumped, Dash’s eye twitched ever so slightly. She wondered if the Toymaker knew how much he was getting to her. She also wondered how an interdimensional omnipotent demi-deity would react to a broken shin. The seconds ticked away and, finally, the music stopped. Dash breathed in the few seconds of silent solace and smiled. Her face fell, however, when the screen before them crackled to life with static once more. The Toymaker reappeared, grinning, his eyes sparkling with excitement over the upcoming games. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, are you ready? Only one minute now until King of the Hill begins. Do our contestants have what it takes to find the hill? Do they have what it takes to enter it? We’ll see as things continue~!” His image vibrated, though whether it was the poor video quality or the fact that he was so excited that he was shaking it was impossible to tell. The Toymaker’s face was replaced by a counter, which began ticking down from 30. The Doctor stood and stretched out his muscles. “Alright, are we all ready? Remember, no matter what happens, we have to stick together. No wandering off, understand?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at the disgruntled rainbow-maned speedster in particular. She gave him a reluctant nod. The collective breath was held in the room as the clocked ticked its last five seconds. Every muscle tensed. Three. Two. One. As the timer hit zero, the screen turned to static and faded away, leaving an opening in the wall. The trio ran through it and found themselves at the end of a long hallway made from the same sort of material their room had been crafted from. Cushioned, pillow-like walls. These, however, instead of being bright, primary colors, took on a rather lack-luster shade of grey. Racing down the corridor wordlessly, three sets of eyes flicked to every wall, every section of the floor, searching for any kind of trap or obstacle that might pop up. At the end of the hallway, the path branched. Left or right. “Turn left!” called the Doctor. “We’ll follow the left wall, so we can find our way back if we need to!” The two mares, having no reason not to go along with it, complied. Not too far away, their path turned again. Forced to go right, this time, they swerved through the turn, and were immediately met with a dead end. “Well, that worked.” Dash rolled her eyes and turned around. They backtracked, still following the left wall, down the path they hadn’t chosen. Another forced turn, this time to the left. They turned and, almost immediately, stopped in their tracks. “Wh-what?” The Doctor took a step back, narrowing his eyes at their new venue. “Is that...what I think it is?” North Star sat, trying to process what she was seeing. Rainbow Dash grinned. “Seriously? Awesome!” Before them was a long, rectangular room, a good 4 times wider than the hallway they’d just emerged from. At the end of the room, there was another door, and from the position they stood in, it appeared to shimmer slightly. “The hill!” Dash did a little turn in the air and cruised off ahead of them. The Doctor shook his head vigorously. “Rainbow Dash! Wait!” By the time he finished, she’d already figured out what he was trying to tell her. She ran headfirst into the shimmering door and crashed into the ground. She groaned and stood up, taking a better look at the door. The shimmering was emanating from the frame, and beyond it was, presumably, the hill. She came to this conclusion because she could hardly see anything. It was as if the entire room was bathed in light, to the point that the details beyond the first few feet of floor were completely obscured. As she walked on wobbly legs back to her teammates. “Uh...” She rubbed the back of her neck, averting her eyes. “Looks like the hill alright.” “There’s a forcefield projector in the doorframe. We need to deactivate it to get in.” The Doctor said, cutting off the snickering comment Star was starting to bring up. He looked along the room. There were a series of doors that all seemed to lead to other gray hallways. The room itself was a deep purple color, making the lone silvery door at the end stand out all the more. Nearer to their end of the room, against the wall right next to where they emerged, in fact, was a small, red button. Pressing it with a hoof didn’t seem to have any noticeable effect. “Are there any other buttons? Like this one?” He began scanning the wall. “Got one!” Dash had flown along the perimeter and had stopped upon finding another button. It was quite some distance away from the first, on one of the other walls. “Here’s a third.” North star eyed another button, noting that it was nearly straight across the room from Dash’s. “I guess we press them all at once?” The Doctor shrugged. “May as well. I’ll count us off. Three, two, one.” All three buttons were depressed at the same time, and to nopony’s surprise the force field in the door faded away with a light whirring noise. “Easy. As. Cake!” Dash grinned, turning and flying across the room at top speed, again heading for the door. The moment she left her button, however, the force field reignited, and the attempt to breach the door ended up quite the same as her previous one. This time, at least, she managed to slow down a little before thumping her shoulder against the door. “Hey, what?” She cried out, shooting a glare at the door. A few more thumps proved just a pointless. The force field was just as solid as it had been before. Again rubbing her skull, Rainbow Dash walked back to her button. She pressed it, and the door opened. She released it, and it closed again. The Doctor relaxed, letting go of his own button. “So all three have to be pressed at the same time.” He sighed and shook his head. “Of course it would be something like that. I suppose we need to wait for somepony else from our team before we....” He trailed off as he looked at his companions. “....Oh.” His face dropped. “Ooooh. Listen.” He waved the other two over, and the complied, trotting closer. “Don’t tell anypony anything. Nothing at all. Let me do all the talking, alright?” Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t speak her mind. It wouldn’t have done much anyway. Still, she resolved, if things got too dicey, she’d be sure to interrupt. There wasn’t much time to question the Doctor’s sudden urge for secrecy, however. The sound of padded hoofsteps signalled that a new set of visitors had gotten close enough for the muffled sound to reach them. Both Rainbow Dash and North Star traded glances, then looked at the Doctor questioningly. He looked back at them and gave a sigh. “Just think about this game, and when you see the next group walk in, try to figure out as much as you can about them.” He said. He then lifted a hoof to his lips to signify that they should be quiet and turned to face the hallway from which the sound of hoofsteps grew louder. As soon as the ponies enter the long room, Dash set herself to work. Normally, she wasn’t very good at this whole perceptiveness stuff the Doctor seemed to excel at, but she decided to give it a shot. There were three of them, all stallions. One of them was a unicorn, the other two were pegasi. All of them looked rather physically strong, compared to the other three, but she figured she could take ‘em in a fight. Maybe not a FAIR fight, but a fight. As she squinted and tried to glean some more tidbits of information, her thoughts were interrupted by Star. “...Oh...” She said, her shoulder sagging a bit. She gave Dash a look of concern, which was returned with a look of confusion. “Rainbow Dash, don’t look at what you DO know about them, look at what you DON’T.” She whispered. “Think about the game and what we need to do.” The pegasus reluctantly gave it one more try. What did they need to do? They needed to get into the room and claim the hill. How would they do that? They needed to hold all three buttons down and have another pony walk through the door, so they needed somepony else from their team in order to get in. Somepony else...from their team. She felt her face drop the same way the Doctor’s and Star’s had when they’d come to the same conclusion. Everything fit together now, as to what made this game so tricky. As she stared at the other team, she saw what she didn’t know. She had no idea which team this new group of ponies was on. ----- There had been a few moments where the new ponies took stock of the situation. One of the pegasi, a dark brown stallion with a shockingly white mane stepped forward, smiling just a little bit. “Three ponies to hold the buttons, one to go through the shield, right? If it was any different, you would have already won.” “That seems about the size of it.” The Doctor said cheerfully, returning the smile. “So which team are you on?” “Us? We’re on the blue team.” “Ah, so are we.” “...Nah, I’m just kidding, we’re on the red team.” The pony from the other group smiled wider. “What a coincidence, so were we.” They stood there for a while, getting absolutely nothing done. The Doctor seemed to be looking at the others, but his eyes seemed unfocused. Dash shifted uncomfortably, and suddenly the Doctor roused and spoke once more. “Well, we’re not going to make any progress just staring lovlingly into each others’ eyes, why don’t you tell us what you know?” “You start.” The single pegasus seemed to be the only one talking among their group, just as the Doctor was the only one talking for them. “Alright, that’s fair enough.” The Doctor looked up and thought. “We know what team we’re on, that someone has to agree to open the door for someone else, there are several groups of three, and we can’t trust any of the others as far as we can throw them.” “That sounds about right to me.” The stallion replied, tapping his hoof. From behind the Doctor, Rainbow Dash and North Star exchanged glances of aggrivation and bemusement. Dash shifted uncomfortably on her hooves, her wings stretching out mostly because they had nothing else to do. “Well,” The Doctor said, breaking the awkward pause. “No point in just standing around like a bunch of ninnies. Let’s get acquainted, shall we?” He beamed cheerfully. “I’m the Doctor, and this is Rainbow Dash and North Star.” He motioned behind himself at the pair. They shot him a glare while they had the chance, even as they waved to the other squad. The other pony spoke up again, though his tone revealed a small amount of surprise. “Those are...certainly odd names. I am Juvex, and these are Bespin and Dorvar.” He motioned the same way, and they gave the same look to their spokespony that Dash and Star had given theirs. “Well now...” Everypony in the room turned towards the new voice. They each realized that they shouldn’t have been surprised, really, that somepony else had shown up. All of them had had a relatively easy time getting there, after all. The Doctor, however, was more surprised than the rest. Not so much at the arrival of the new group, but at the cadence of the voice. “...You can’t be...” A female unicorn stepped out from a third corridor. An earth pony and another unicorn followed. It looked as though choosing one pony to be the spokespony for the group was a common outcome. She smiled and looked the Doctor dead in the eye. “What’s a handsome stallion lahke yerself doin’ in a place lahke this, Ah wonder?” “Y-you!?” The Doctor’s mouth was agape as he stared at the unicorn. “Who?” Dash quirked her head to the side. Suddenly, she straightened back out. “Oh! You!” She grinned a bit and shot a sly grin at the Doctor, who had begun turning a gloriously deep shade of red. “Whatd’ya know? It’s our helpful guide.” “It’s...it’s not possible! It’s actually not possible!” The Doctor sputtered, blinking at the mare who had so recently been a southern belle doll. “Judging by the density of people in that one area alone there must be...billions! Billions of billions of peo-er...ponies in this city alone!” “An’ yet, here Ah am, darlin’. Funny how thangs tend to work out tha’ way.” She grinned at his expression. “Now si’down, boys. And fix yer jaw, ya look ridiculous.” As she spoke, she padded across the room, keeping her head held quite high. It required a stiff elbow from Star for the Doctor to comply and shut his mouth. “How’re y’all enjoyin’ our little ‘ol planet?” “Wait.” Juvex interjected before the the other three could answer. “These are the visitors?” He narrowed his eyes and looked them over. “So you’re the reason we’re stuck here.” “W-well,” The Doctor cleared his throat, attempting to regain his composure. “Yes, I suppose we are. But we’re also your best shot...out of it...” He trailed off, his eyes widening a little. “Ah! That’s it!” He knocked his hoof hard on the ground. “That’s what we are! We’re the visitors!” Star, apparently quite annoyed at waiting so long to speak and being left out of the know, finally spoke up. “What are you talking about, Doctor?” “Don’t you see? We’re the VISITORS!” He grinned. “The way this game works, the visitors, and by extension their team, have to overcome greater odds than the other team.” “Well, that’s all well and good, ‘Doctor’, but that doesn’t exactly prove which team you’re on.” Juvex said, rolling his eyes. The Doctor looked taken aback, turning towards the pegasi. “We’re on our team. We literally define the two teams. And because of that I can guarantee you that I’m going to be the one walking through that door and winning this round.” “Ok, then let me rephrase my previous statement.” Juvex turned as well, narrowing his eyes. “That doesn’t tell us which team you’re on compared to US, Doctor. Why should any of us let you through unless we have assurance that you’re on our team?” The new unicorn sat a short distance away, watching calmly. “Because, the visiting team winning this round works out best for everypony.” The Doctor said with finality. “...Explain.” Juvex sized the Doctor up curiously. “Yeah, Doctor. You’re gonna have to fill me in here, too.” Dash rubbed her temple lightly. “You’re starting to lose me.” Star, however eager she was to speak out just a moment ago, refrained to silence. “Alright, think about it. We’re the visitors. We need to win three rounds, whereas the other team needs to win two. Therefor, a loss for us puts us on the very edge, teetering on a thin line between success and failure.” He paused, waiting for somepony to reply. Nopony did. “And, the other team gets another life, a freebie. Therefor, a loss for them doesn’t mean nearly as much.” Another pause, and again no replies. “And the losing team gets a bigger boost to their player base.” Again, no reply. “So, let’s say we’re on the red team, and you’re on the blue. If you WIN the first round, you’re up against a larger group of players who are going to fight much more ferociously, since they’ve been backed into the corner. Now let’s say you LOSE the first round. The scorecard has been balanced out, now that each team has 2 lives each, but you’ve got a much larger force to handle the remainder of the game. You’re just trading one advantage for another. So from here on it’s risk management. If you’re on our team, winning is very meaningful, and losing would be catastrophic. If you’re not, then losing is menial at best, while winning could mean a larger disadvantage in the long run.” He finally stopped and took a deep breath, letting out out in a heavy sigh. “See?” Juvex watched skeptically. “I don’t know...” “Ah hear ya loud an’ clear, Doctor.” The southern-sounding unicorn had been all but forgotten while the Doctor spoke, but now her squadmates stood at two of the buttons. Now hurry on up, Doctor, and get through that door.” Juvex and his team snapped to attention and looked looked over at the pair as they both pressed their buttons down. “What? Hey! What makes you think I’ll let you...” He turned to face the Doctor again, but he was no longer where he’d been. Turning, he spotted the chestnut earth stallion dashing off in a blur. “Hey!!!” Taking a hint, Rainbow Dash whistled and leaned on the other button. As she did, the force field dropped and the light of the hill beyond showed brighter through the doorway. Juvex and his squad immediately leaped into action, attempting to sprint forwards and intercept The Doctor before he reached the door, but they all found themselves flat on their faces, their tails pinned to the floor by a glowing, deep yellow light. Star grinned and stood, crouched slightly, her horn glowing the same color. “Eheheh, no offense.” She chuckled. “By tha’ way!” The new unicorn called after the Doctor. “What team ARE you on?” “Red team!” He shouted over his shoulder. “And I never got your name!” “Ah’m Kalee!” She grinned and watched him go. She spoke more quietly, more to herself this time. “See y’all on the other sahde, Doctor.” The Doctor squinted as he approached the hill, then let out a whooping cry of victory as he skidded through it. The moment he passed the door, however, everything went dark. In actuality, it wasn’t that dark. All of the contestants found themselves transported to a large room with an immensely high ceiling. The walls and floor all seemed to be made of a black material, though its exact consistency was unclear. It felt a bit like marble. Rainbow Dash took in her surroundings. Everypony seemed to be standing in the same place, relative to where they were. Juvey, as she’d labeled him just because, was groaning and pushing himself up. The Doctor was hopping around like a maniac a short distance away. Kalee, the southern belle, was smiling and swishing her tail about. Star was standing next to her, and she caught a glimpse of her horn glowing just before Juvey hit the floor again. Star looked away innocently. Before long, The Doctor calmed down and trotted back to the group. “Well that was fun!” He proclaimed, grinning ear to ear. “Fun? Doctor, we’re fighting for our lives against a maniac, what part about this is fun?” Dash narrowed her eyes at him. He looked back, with the same big, grin on his face. She sighed. “Alright, yeah, it was kinda fun.” Juvey stood back up and turned to Star, glaring at her. “I’ll get you back for that.” She smiled and her horn glowed again, the floor beneath the pegasus turned to ice and he immediately lost his balance, falling again to the ground in a flurry of legs with a light ‘thump’. “That was fun, too.” She sat and held her head proudly high, ignoring Juvex’s grumbles as he stood back up once again. The group appeared to be standing in the middle of the large room, and several other groups were scattered about in varying sizes, though always in multiples of 3. Before there was too much time to assess the situation, the ceiling hissed to life with static, and Nollar appeared. He was smiling like a TV show host who was far too into his role. “WOOOOOO!” His cheer boomed through the room, causing the contestants to wince and hold their ears. This wasn’t helped by his ecstatic clapping, for which he was apparently holding his hooves entirely too close to the microphone. He cleared his throat, but still beamed down at the room. “Now THAT was exciting! The titillation, the intrigue, the wits, the decisions, the mistrust! Fabulous!” “Awww...” The Doctor sagged a little. “What?” Rainbow Dash hissed to him, narrowing her eyes a bit up at the enormous screen. “Fabulous! I’ve been trying to think of a cool word to say all the time. I’ve been using brilliant, but I already used that. I should’ve used fabulous...” He frowned dejectedly. Dash turned her full attention to him, trying to find the words. “Just....just no.” “I know, now he’s gone and used it and it’d just be copying now.” He huffed and shook his head. She looked like there was something else she wanted to say, but she decided whatever punishment he was putting himself through for not thinking it up first was probably worse than a stinger she could send his way, which was at the same time slightly amusing and immensely aggravating. “But it was resolved so quickly! So many of the contestants didn’t even make it to the center stage! Next round will have to be a real battle to kick things off in style, won’t it? Time...to reveal the teams!” Immediately, each pony on the floor hit with their own spotlight, each emitting directly from the screen above, resulting in most of them being blinded by the light. As the crowd collectively rubbed their eyes to clear their vision, it was revealed that each pony was bathed either in red or blue light. The Doctor, Rainbow Dash, and North Star were swathed in red. Dash let out a groan and continued to blink for a while. “Was looking right at it. You think he does these things on purpose?” The Doctor held one eyes closed. “I don’t think there’s anything he does that’s not on purpose.” He turned to look around, but his vision was still a bit blurry. The first group he found was Juvex’s. They too were coated in red. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Still regret letting me get through?” “Shut it.” The stallion rubbed a sore spot on his nose. “Now then, Ms. Kalee...” He looked around, trying to find his helper. “Shall we start planning for the next round?” “Doctor...?” Star was looking past him, and she didn’t look happy. “What, has Mayor Nollar come for another visit? Well come on, you old bag of wind, let’s-” He whipped around and stopped mid sentence. “Now Ah do lahke to talk, Mr. Doctor, but old? I’m frankly insulted.” She drawled, her eyes narrowed just slightly. “No way...” Rainbow Dash sat down, still blinking as if maybe she were seeing things wrong. “Oh, Kalee...You should have said something.” The Doctor sagged once more, this time his disappointment being in earnest. “Consider tha’ yer one freebie, Doctor.” She raised her head slightly, closing her eyes, as if soaking in the blue that lit the area around her and her teammates. “Bad thangs happen to tha’ ponies who don’ win the games, Doctor. Ah ain’t aimin’ to be one-a them. From here on out, Ah’m shootin’ ta’ win.” She sighed a bit. “S’too bad, ya’ know. We coulda’ taken tha’ whole thing, tha’ two of us.” “Wait, wait! Kalee!” The Doctor shouted “We can still work together! We can-!” Before he could finish, a loud crack issued throughout the room, and everything went dark once more. A voice filled the void that the trio found themselves in. The voice of Mayor Nollar, the Toymaker. “I hope you’re ready for round 3, Doctor. You’ll be playing Capture the Flag. I have high hopes. I’ll be waiting for you. Mind, soul...” He trailed off and chuckled. “And body.”