//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Sweetie Belle and the Carniverous Castle of Terror // Story: Ponies Playing Doom // by obake //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle was extra careful opening the blue-key card door, peeking from the sides just to make sure she wasn't looking face to face at a whole gang of monsters. The room before her was an empty, stonewalled corridor, lit dimly by green torches, and a peculiar red light from a small alcove. The coast was clear. She ventured ever so slowly, sluggishly, into the dark room. Sweetie knew she was too far now to go back to where her sister and the marine were. The only hope he she had was to go forward and possibly find herself back in Rarity's embrace. But things were getting bleak now, as if they already weren't. Sweetie Belle shed a tear, before quickly sidling up to the wall, out of the green torch light. Coming from the left at the end of the hallway were heavy footsteps, but they didn't sound natural. From what Sweetie Belle could hear, there was a lot of...clanging. She searched her memory far and wide to see if she could pinpoint what monster this was in Doom that made that sound. She realized she had not played the game far enough to tell. Gulp. The clattering stopped. At the far end of the hall, Sweetie could see the silhouette of a wide figure atop segmented legs, standing and staring in her direction. She braced herself for what she was sure were going to be her final moment, and... The monster resumed its pace, the opposite way it arrived. The end of the hallway must have had a connecting passage to both the left and right. Silently, Sweetie sighed, and let herself rests. Whatever that thing was, it didn't see me... Sweetie told herself. She looked at her hooves. "In fact, I...can't see myself...either." Believing she must have gone insane, Sweetie was nearly ready to cry out, when she realized what had occurred. The small alcove with the red light... I picked up Invisibility! Sweetie Belle smiled. She did know stuff about Doom! Weren't her friends going to be jealous when they learned she had gotten powerups in real life! She cautiously ventured towards the end of the hall. There were two long, wide passageways she could take. She took the one the creature had arrived from and left. No sense in trying to meet up with the creature. The hallway was not as dark as the one she had been in, as torches lining the walls were far more plentiful. Sweetie ran while her invisibility was still in effect. She knew if the powerup wore off, anything else within the room would instantly spot her. She had to keep up the pace, even if it meant running noisily on the cobblestone floor. Unbeknownst to Sweetie Belle, she passed by five open rooms with monsters looking in. Luckily for her, they didn't care about the loud stamping of the fillie's hooves, as they could not see her in the first place. Quick as a flash of lighting, Sweetie ran down and down the halls. Slowly as each corner she turned, the walls would be covered in more and more layers of blood and skin, until every wall and floor was coated in flesh. This was the descent into Hell. Sweetie pulsed back and forth into visibility, until she was normal once more. She grimaced. Why did only the lightamps last a long time? She continued on, now walking. She was not tired, but cautious. From the looks of things, the setup of these hallways were like an...office building. I must be in one of the wings she told herself, Yes! Over there are cubicles! Sweetie shook her head. What on earth was happening? Office buildings in Hell? She saw that the floor she was now on had ceiling lights. Befuddled, she trudged forward, seeing rows of doors flush with the wall. The doors seemed only half finished, and the ceiling above her was now made up of water. "Oh..." Sweetie moaned. Groans sounded from all directions. A mishmash of monsters began teleporting in, in seemingly random locations. A gang of spectres muddled around a corner, unable to get past a floating fence. A Spider Mastermind teleported into one of the cubicles. It stammered around in vain, helpless to get out of its confinement. Other monsters could be heard but seemed stuck in whatever rooms they were in, unable to teleport. Sweetie gave a wily grin. I'm too good for this. Sweetie was taken out of her boasting when three fireballs fired forward from different directions, one of them nearly singing the top of her tail. She dodged just in time to see there were at least a few imps coming towards her. "Well, I guess some of you guys are competent." she said. She darted to and fro away from and towards one of the imps. Ultimately, Sweetie ran circles around its legs, causing it to turn around too fast until it dived into a spinning fall. "Oof!" it went. The other imps chased after as Sweetie kicked on a nearest door not big enough to fit its texture. The room before her was a hideous amalgamation with a marble ceiling, floor made of computers, and...ugh...walls of Fireblu. Sweetie closed her eyes and ran forward without looking. She smashed into multiple walls, but by this time, she did not feel hurt, or tired, for that matter. In fact, thought Sweetie Belle, I feel completely anew! Before her was a drop into a giant square room with a lava floor, and to her left was a small hall with one door. A bungle of rad suits simply floated on top of the lava. "I don't want to go there if I don't have to." said Sweetie, not noticing she was talking to herself. She chose the hallway, kicking the door. A trapezoid room with very strange, angled corners. The floor seemed to be some sort of grating. Sweetie could hear the tap, tap, tap of her hooves as she walked across the metallic plates. The ceiling was a dark, grungy brown. Hanging parallel to the walls were white cubes, and in the middle of the room... Sweetie's heart skipped a beat, her eyes widening as the most wily grin brushed across her face. "Could it..." Sitting at the far end of the room was none other than the B.F.G. 9000! The BIG. FANTASTIC. GUN. Sweeties drooled as her mouth drooped open. Stuff was about to get real. She picked up the weapon, oblivious that when she did, a breathy voice whispered in her ear "You've fallen for my trap." Sweetie Belle continued to admire the weapon, posing and aiming it at the walls, imagining monsters in front of her that she could shoot. The voice grew impatient. "Ahem." it said. This startled Sweetie Belle. "What, who?" "I was saying how you fell for my trap." "Trap?" "Exactly." The voice cackled. "You didn't notice the door closed on you, did you?" Sweetie looked towards what should have been the door outside. Instead, there was solid wall. Before Sweetie could say anything, the floor began to quiver, as if there was an earthquake. The ceiling and floors began closing in on each other. Sweetie suddenly realized what was going on. She was in the mouth of a giant monster, the white cubes lining the back floor and ceiling being teeth! She acted quick, dashing to the wall where the door had been. She kicked it multiple times, but nothing happened. The ceiling was closer than ever. She cowered down, knowing surely this was the end. The ceiling nearly reached her when it all suddenly stopped. The "teeth" cubes were crushed together, and must have been attached to the mechanisms of the regular ceiling and floor. Both still tried smashing in towards each other, but the teeth were in the way. Sweetie sighed, relieved that her small stature was just enough to fit between the empty space. Though she still had to crouch. If Doomguy or even Rarity had encountered this room, they would have surely been flattened into pancakes. Sweetie dragged the BFG towards the now open door. The wall that had closed earlier must have gone back up, and the light emanating from the other room was more inviting than ever. She landed back on her feet into the hallway. An Archvile stood waiting for her. It spoke into a microphone, it's raspy voice the same of that as the whisper in the crushing room. "You jerk," it said, "you've only made your fate worse." It was about to start its ritual summoning fire, when it noticed Sweetie Belle was still clasping the BFG. Unfortunately for the Vile, she noticed as well. "I don't think so." Sweetie replied, running forward and blasting green goop all over the emaciated being. Its microphone fell with a deep CLASP, as its body slumped into a heap. It was dead. But Sweetie knew that killing a demonic spawn from Hell was not a sin. In fact, it was likely something considered to put you on good terms with the Stallion upstairs. She looked back at the BFG. The meter on the side now read "Low". "Darn." she said, "I gotta find more cells." She looked into the exaggeratedly large lake of lava. As before, there was a circle of radiation suits floating in the middle. She perked up her ears and shrugged. "Time to swim." She jumped from the ledge into the lava, expecting to plunge deep into the molten liquid. Instead, she landed on top of the lave with a soft grunt. The burning hurt every few seconds, but it was slow enough for Sweetie to quickly grab one of the radiation suits from the middle circle. She simply "picked it up" without even attempting to put it on, and she was already fully equipped with the suit. At least she didn't have to go through any extra work. She traversed the molten lake at fast speed, running to and fro towards every wall, kicking to see if there were any hidden doors. When she glanced back at the ledge she had jumped from, she could see that a set of stairs connected the ledge to the lake. It was at such an odd angle that she didn't notice until now. Suddenly, an otherworldly growl emanated from the middle of the room. Teleporting in was none other than a Spider Mastermind! She scoured the room hastily. Sweetie Belle stood in shock for a few moments, before realizing the Mastermind was confused. "I'm right here!" Sweetie said. The spider turned towards her immediately. Its eyes glistened, drool dripped from its open mouth. It grunted in anticipation, and began shooting. Sweetie dashed across the room, hoping to find cover quickly. She noticed that alongside the spider, there were a number of pinky demons and spectres that had teleported into the room as well. She decided they were the best cover she had at the moment. She ran up to them, causing the spider to shoot the demons. They instantly turned and ran towards the Mastermind, angry of its blatant disregard. Sweetie weaved around the still oncoming horde of spectres and pinkys teleporting in, finally reaching the stairs and dashing up as quick as possible, going around the edge of the wall out of the Mastermind's view. She was safe here. The demons would not even be able to follow her, as the stairs were too narrow. Sweetie took deep breaths. She was going to need more cell ammo in order to deal with the Spider Mastermind. It would only be temporarily stalled by the infighting pinkys. Sweetie knew she had to backtrack.