We needed a plan.
...of course, none of us had one.
We talked a bit, exchanging what little information we could. We all had woken up in an old-fashioned fancy bedroom, escaped by solving some sort of puzzle (though I was the only one who thought of using brute force), and eventually stumbled across one another.
Angle and Coin had been the first to meet up, and meanwhile, Dawn and Thursday had met. Those two pairs found each other, and later located Uno, Element, and Cloud. Hooves seemed to find them, and when he suggested that there may be more ponies elsewhere, Angle went off to search. That was when he found me.
He seemed to have been named the group’s leader, if only because he was coming up with the most ideas (besides Dawn’s suggestion to use code names). The rest of the group, however, I was having trouble trusting.
Uno seemed a little too analytical about the situation. His telling of what happened had been the most specific, being almost twice as long as anypony else’s. He also had a look in his eyes whenever other ponies told their stories as if he knew what happened to them.
Coin was...well, he was a creep, to put it bluntly. He kept hitting on either me or Thursday whenever he got the chance, and even Dawn at one point, though I doubt she noticed. He barely contributed anything to our conversations aside from that, and if he wasn’t talking, he was staring off into space.
Hooves, despite not seeming shy or nervous, barely said a word. He only spoke when spoken to, and was so matter-of-fact you’d think he had everything rehearsed. He was also rather quick to be annoyed, such as when he felt Angle was bossing him around, but he apologized quickly after when the argument was over.
Thursday was probably the most down-to-earth of us all, but that just made her more suspicious in my eyes. She was way too calm for this type of situation, and didn’t seem to even be paying attention to us, as if she knew everything already.
Element didn’t seem very focused. Whenever he spoke, he stammered and seemed overall awkward, but it seemed to go beyond just a lack of social skills; he didn’t seem to even understand the severity of the situation, yet he absorbed everything we said just the same.
Dawn seemed suspiciously cheerful. She obviously knew how potentially dangerous the situation was, but she simply smiled through it and seemed the most optimistic of the bunch. While she kept everything lighthearted and actually cheered us up, it still felt a little creepy.
Cloud, like Hooves, only spoke if spoken to, but for a different reason. He seemed rather nervous about the situation, which I couldn’t blame him for, but it appeared a little extreme. It was like he knew what was going to happen to us, but denied knowing anything. He kept glancing at his ‘watch’, though, while the rest of us practically forgot about them.
As I thought all this, I realized I probably seemed suspicious to them as well. We were just a ragtag bunch of ponies, all unable to fully trust one another, trapped in some kind of castle. It made me feel so alone, yet at the same time, surrounded.
Then, there was a flash of light...and when it faded, a letter had landed in front of each of us.
My name is of no importance to you, but you may call me Zero. You have been chosen to partake in the Nonary Pegasus Game. It is a game...where you will put your life on the line.
Your mission? Escape.
The bracelets on your hooves are attached to bombs I forced you to swallow while you were unconscious. By now, the bombs should have made their way to your small intestines, and as such it is likely too late to regurgitate them. I suggest you do not try it.
Around this castle, you will find nine doors labelled with numbers. To pass through the door, three to five ponies must use their bracelets on the Recognition Device, or RED, beside the door.
However, it is not as simple as you would think. Each of you has a number on your bracelet. The numbers on the bracelets of the ponies who activate the RED must have the number on the door as their digital root in order to open it. The door will remain open for nine seconds, and then it will close.
When you walk through the door, a timer will begin to count down to the detonation of the bomb in your stomach. You will have eighty-one seconds to use your bracelets on the Deactivation Device, or DEAD, inside the room. If even one pony who used their bracelet on the RED does not use it on the DEAD, all ponies who walked through the door will meet an explosive end. If all ponies use their bracelets on the DEAD, the timer will be deactivated.
All ponies who use their bracelets on the RED must pass through the door, or the ponies who did pass through will be forced to die. In addition, if anypony passes through the door who did not first scan at the RED, using their bracelet on the DEAD will have no effect, and so their bomb will be detonated without any hope of stopping it.
Seek a door with a 9.
Let the game begin.
The note ended. All of us simply stared at the paper, then at each other.
Element and Cloud proceeded to ignore the warning on the note and tried to shove their hooves down their throat to throw up the bomb. Coin closed his eyes and appeared to be in thought. Uno and Angle rubbed their temples in either confusion or annoyance. Dawn started reading the note a second time as if she didn’t understand it. Thursday and Hooves simply sighed. I was practically frozen.
“...I want out of here,” I finally whimpered.
“We all do,” Coin replied, saying the first thing to me that didn’t appear to be flirting. “But we’ve got a lot of questions that need answers, and this note didn’t seem to do anything but raise more of them.”
“Yeah,” Angle agreed. “Like, even if we do get out of here, how are we supposed to get the bombs out of our bodies?”
There was a long, awkward silence. Thursday, Cloud, and I all blushed a fair bit, while everypony else just facehoofed or did nothing.
“...what?” Angle asked.
“We...will figure that out later,” Hooves said with a sigh. “For now, I think we have more pressing matters.”
“Our first objective should be to find one of these numbered doors,” Thursday added. “If we need to find a door with a 9, that means we’ll probably have to pass through other doors first.”
“Makes sense to me,” Uno said, nodding. “Should we split up, or stay as a team?”
“Team,” I hastily answered. They all looked at me. “...you know...safety in numbers?”
They seemed to accept that. There was only one doorway besides the ones we came through, so that’s where we went. Angle and Hooves stayed in front; Dawn, Thursday, and Uno were right behind them; Element and Cloud were next; and Coin and I brought up the rear.
As we walked, Coin leaned closer to me, and I thought he was going to try hitting on me again. Instead, he whispered in a genuinely curious, even concerned, tone. “You sure ‘safety in numbers’ is all you wanted us to stick together for?”
I was quiet for a moment before swallowing my pride and whispering back. “...I don’t want to be alone...”
He spread his wing over me comfortingly. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”
As much as I wanted to push away, I found myself reluctant to at the same time. Not responding, I just kept walking, staying under his wing for even the slightest semblance of protection.