Tricks and Traps

by Samey90


The Way Out

“So, how exactly did you end up here?” Rumble asked, watching Uwazi as he trotted through the rocky debris on the floor. The zebra kept poking the stones with the tip of his spear, watching the walls and the ceiling carefully.

“We woke up in a room,” Uwazi replied. “Twenty of us. Before the first night, two were killed. One burned by a fireball we accidentally unleashed, the other electrocuted by the door.”

“That’s how Babs died,” Scootaloo muttered. “We also got poisoned food which killed Button.”

“One by one, we were dying,” Uwazi said, staring into the distance. “Then the dreams started. Not the dreams of home, but rather of creatures that are behind the walls of this maze, mysterious watchers who–”

“Okay, we get it,” Ruby muttered. “You all went crazy like Boysenberry or that little shit Featherweight. Hell, if Boysenberry spoke more, she’d probably tell us the same story. Spider ducks were trying to contact you?”

“Spider ducks?” Uwazi asked. “That is how you call them? We called them Kusengenya, the whisperers. They built that maze and left the signs.”

“Signs? What signs?” Silver Spoon asked. She was holding Diamond Tiara, whose face was hidden in her fur.

Uwazi grabbed his spear and scratched a أمعاء غليظة on the wall. “Those are signs,” he said. “You could not have missed them.”

Scootaloo nodded. “There were a few on our way, but we eventually stopped paying attention to them. We couldn’t make any sense of them anyway. Maybe you know what they mean?”

Uwazi nodded. “This is the name of the place we are in now. Kusengenya find a great liking in the letters of ancient zebras, even though they know many alphabets. It says ‘large intestine’.”

“So, basically, we’re in the ass?” Ruby asked. “I knew it. We’re all gonna die and then this maze will shit us out. Charming.”

“There are other places,” Uwazi said. “We woke up in a room described as ‘head’. Then, somewhere around the ‘liver’, we found a place full of metal stuff... That’s where I made that spear.” He looked at the ponies gathered around him. “That reminds me... We found a pony there, tied to girders. A grey pegasus. Long dead.”

“Tornado Bolt,” Diamond Tiara whispered. “She got shot there...”

“And we later found her too, tied to those girders,” Scootaloo muttered.

“Tornado Bolt?” Zipporwhill asked. “So that was her name...” She tried to open her eyes and hissed, covering them with her hoof. Even the faint light of the corridor was too much for them after spending a few days in a cocoon.

“You don’t remember her?” Scootaloo asked.

Zipporwhill shrugged. “I don’t remember any of you. Or anything, in fact. Is there something outside this maze?”

“There’s Equestria,” Scootaloo replied. “Where you’re not trapped and nothing wants to kill you.”

“How do you know?” Zipporwhill shielded her eyes from the light and tried to open them. “Have you been there?”

“Of course we’ve been there.” Silver Spoon sighed. “For most of our lives.”

“I don’t remember that,” Zipporwhill said. “What if that’s where we lived all the time? Only now we woke up...”

“Oh please.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “That’s the dumbest theory I’ve heard and remember that this retard Featherweight used to think I’m his fan.” She scratched her mane. “Hey, maybe she’s yet another changeling? Or they changed her into one?” Ruby walked to Zipporwhill and pushed her. “Open your eyes. I want to see them.”

“I’d rather not.” Zipporwhill trembled, but her tone remained emotionless. “Exposing them to light may result in permanent blindness.”

“Open them!” Ruby shouted. “I don’t wanna wander around with yet another changeling in disguise!” She grabbed Zipporwhill’s hoof and pulled it away.

Slowly, Zipporwhill opened her eyes. Ruby looked into them and gasped, backing away.

Zipporwhill’s eyes werent like a changeling’s. In fact, one could call them normal pony eyes. However, their sclera were bloodshot – in fact, there wasn’t a single white place on them. There also seemed to be a small pool of blood inside of the iris, moving slightly when Zipporwhill squinted.

“What the fuck happened to your eyes?” Ruby exclaimed, shuddering.

“Too much pressure for a long time,” Zipporwhill replied, shrugging. “Maybe they’ll get better.”

Uwazi stood up and walked to her. “You’ll get some infection sooner. In this place, it’ll surely kill you.”

“So there’d be six of us.” Zipporwhill nodded. “What happens if only one stays?”

“Nothing,” Ruby muttered. “Look at our zebra friend. He’s still with us.”

“Maybe we should stick to him,” Scootaloo said. “What it something shows him the way out?”

“That’s impossible...” Diamond Tiara sobbed. “There’s no way out... Only death.”

“Shh...” Silver Spoon patted Diamond’s head. “We can’t lose hope now.”

Uwazi sighed and shook his head. “You know, I think we should go before you all decide to wait for death here.”

Slowly, they followed him down the tunnel. The lights started to flicker. The ponies’ moves looked unnatural, like an animation with missing frames. The shadows on the walls had a colourful halo around the edges.

“Hope nopony gets a seizure,” Ruby muttered. “That’d suck even more.”

“It would change our situation only slightly,” Zipporwhill replied. “Our mobility would worsen if we had to carry someone.”

“May I poke one of your eyes out?” Ruby asked, sighing. “They’re useless anyway and you’re pissing me off.”

“The chances of me getting an infection in such a situation would increase to–” Zipporwhill was interrupted by Ruby smacking her.

“Ruby!” Rumble exclaimed.

Ruby only sighed. “It would be easier if our striped friend didn’t lead us here.” She pointed at Boysenberry who stopped by the wall, laughing at her shadow. “Those lights are making the retard even more retarded.”

Rumble groaned. “Listen, Ruby...”

Ruby pushed Boysenberry away from the wall and hit her colourful shadow. To her surprise, nothing resisted her hoof. It simply punched a hole in the thin wall.

“Whoa...” Ruby backpedalled. “Hey, zebra! Come here and look at this!”

Uwazi trotted to them, spear in his hoof. “What did you do this time?” he asked.

“There’s some passage there,” Rumble muttered, staring into the hole.

“Let’s find out.” Scootaloo kicked the wall, causing more of it to collapse, revealing the entrance to another tunnel.

“Do you think it’s safe?” Silver Spoon asked. The new tunnel was also brightly-lit. Eerie flickering was making their heads hurt.

“No safer than the rest of this place,” Zipporwhill deadpanned.

“That doesn’t convince me.” Ruby winced, looking around. “This whole place looks like some disco club for retards.”

Boysenberry smiled and walked into the tunnel. She stood there and turned back to the rest of the group, waving at them.

“Okay, let’s go there,” Ruby said.

“What?” Rumble asked.

“Disco club for retards. She fits in here.” Ruby poked Zipporwhill. “I guess even our wannabe changeling agrees with that logic.”

“I can see a few flaws in that train of thoughts,” Zipporwhill muttered.

“Train?” Diamond Tiara asked. “A trainwreck! They hid this tunnel for some reason, right?”

“How is the tunnel hidden behind a wall worse than a tunnel in which most of our group died?” Scootaloo asked. “Maybe it’s some maintenance passage, without any traps?”

“Well, we can always meet the maintenance pony,” Uwazi said. “Which may or may not be a kusengenya.”

“We’ll never find out if we don’t try.” Ruby shrugged and pointed at Boysenberry. “Also, try to tell her that we’re not going there...”

Indeed, Boysenberry was already trotting down the tunnel. Ruby followed her, tripping over the stones. She could hear the others walking behind her; their voices were muffled, but she could figure out that they were calling her.

“Just follow me, dammit!” she yelled back. “Do you want to lose Boysenberry or what?”

“Diamond Tiara can’t go that fast,” Silver Spoon said, trotting to Ruby. “And Uwazi says–”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about what Uwazi says. I–” She tripped over the rock and fell.

She winced, hitting the ground. It didn’t exactly feel like a rock; it was soft and cold, as if it was covered in some peculiar kind of moss. Blinking, Ruby noticed a small gem lying on the ground in front of her.

“What the...” she whispered, reaching for the gem with her hoof.

The light flashed brightly. Ruby closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she found herself in some room. She raised her eyebrows, looking around unsurely. The place looked exactly like the living room of her house.

Well, maybe not exactly, Ruby thought. Everything was much bigger than she remembered. If she wanted to sit on a chair, she’d have to climb on it. The room looked as if it was at least a mile long. Ruby looked around and saw her mother lying on the couch and snoring.

“Mommy?” Ruby asked. Her voice surprised her. It was much more high-pitched and less raspy. “Mommy?”

Berry Punch groaned and turned on the couch. “What’s going on?” she muttered.

Ruby trotted to her. “I missed you, mom,” she said.

Berry rubbed her temples, turning away from her daughter. “Be quiet Ruby,” she whispered. “Mommy’s tired.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. She climbed on the couch and sat next to her mother. “I had a terrible nightmare, mom. We were trapped in a maze and all the ponies from Ponyville di–”

“I SAID BE QUIET!” Berry yelled, waving her hoof blindly. The world before Ruby’s eyes flashed brightly. She felt a brief sensation of falling before hitting the soft and cold surface of the floor. She shook her head; she could feel some coppery taste in her mouth and hot fluid seeping into the back of her mane.

Berry Punch sat on the bed, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry Ruby...” she whispered, running to her. “I’m so sorry... I’m trying but... I’m a terrible mother!”

Ruby closed her eyes. The bright light flashed again.

“Zipporwhill, come here!” Rumble yelled, flying above the chasm. “I can’t hold them both!”

Zipporwhill stood at the edge of the chasm, staring blankly at Rumble, Silver Spoon and Ruby. Scootaloo was holding Diamond Tiara, stopping her from running towards Silver Spoon. On the other side of the chasm, Boysenberry was screaming hysterically, looking into the abyss that had opened in the floor just a few seconds before.

“Ruby stop thrashing,” Silver Spoon whispered through gritted teeth. She was holding Rumble while Ruby was holding her hind legs, flailing around.

Suddenly, Ruby opened her eyes. Her smirk and unnatural shining of her eyes made Silver Spoon cringe; she felt Ruby’s grip tightening around her legs, almost breaking her bones.

“You’re a terrible mother,” Ruby whispered before letting go off Silver Spoon.

“No!” Silver Spoon screamed, watching Ruby’s body disappearing in the darkness below them. She thrashed, trying to reach her, but Rumble grabbed her and flew with her to the other edge of the chasm.

“What was that...” Rumble whispered, holding Silver Spoon to stop her from running towards the edge. They heard a deafening noise, when a part of the ceiling collapsed, wedging in the chasm like a rocky bridge.

For a moment, nopony said anything. They were just staring at each other – Rumble, Boysenberry, and Silver Spoon on one side of the chasm, and Zipporwhill, Scootaloo, Uwazi, and Diamond Tiara on the other. The only sound was Silver Spoon’s crying – Boysenberry was again silent, sitting next to her.

Finally, Scootaloo spoke. “Do you think this bridge is safe?” She pointed at the large rock in front of them.

“It must be,” Uwazi whispered. “They usually take one.”

“I need to get to Silver,” Diamond Tiara said, wincing at her friend’s cry. “Somepony help me...”

Uwazi trotted to her and guided her through the bridge. It was shaking a bit, but the rock was firmly embedded between the edges of the chasms and didn’t break under their weight. As soon as Diamond Tiara reached the other edge, she rushed to Silver Spoon and hugged her.

“Let’s go,” Scootaloo said. Zipporwhill trotted with her across the bridge without saying a word. “May I ask you something?” Scootaloo turned to her.

Zipporwhill shrugged.

“Why didn’t you help them?”

“It was supposed to happen,” Zipporwhill replied.

Scootaloo raised her eyebrows, but Zipporwhill didn’t add anything else.

They were in the middle of the bridge. Scootaloo looked upwards, to see if the rock falling from the ceiling revealed something there. She felt a headrush – the dark void above her seemed as endless as the one below.

Finally, they joined the rest of the group. Uwazi was the only one standing. The rest were sitting or lying on the floor – the fact that they’d just lost another of their friends was slowly getting to them. Rumble was panting heavily next to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who were still in a tight embrace. Boysenberry was staring at the floor, her face covered by her mane.

“So, where are we going now?” Diamond Tiara asked. “There’s no way we can survive...”

“That bridge seemed pretty convenient,” Zipporwhill said. “They’re showing us the way.”

“The way to death,” Scootaloo muttered. Silver Spoon cried louder.

“The way...” Uwazi whispered.

“What’s going on again?” Rumble asked, standing up. “Uwazi?”

The zebra looked into the narrow corridor in front of them. Rumble stood next to him and saw it too – a circle of bright light at the end of the corridor. The light was shifting softly, welcoming them.

“The way...” Uwazi whispered, trotting towards the light. Soon he was galloping to it, leaving his spear behind.

“It’s the way out!” Zipporwhill exclaimed. Even though she could barely see anything, she rushed forward, running behind the zebra.

“Zipporwhill, no!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

Uwazi was already close to the circle, which was slowly getting smaller. He jumped forward and disappeared in a flash. Zipporwhill screamed, tripping on the way. She tried to stand up, only to realise that something was holding her hind leg. She shook it in an attempt to get rid of the intruder, but another vines grabbed her remaining legs and wings.

“Zipporwhill!” Rumble exclaimed, watching as the vines pulled the filly’s limbs. A terrible snap echoed through the corridor, followed by a blood-curdling scream that ended in choking.

The portal disappeared and the lights went out. However, the terrible ripping sound was more than they needed to know about Zipporwhill’s fate. For a while they could still hear shallow breath, rattling, and wheezing. Then it all ended.

“It wasn’t her turn,” Boysenberry said in an otherworldly voice. A single light lit her from the floor, casting eerie shadows on her face. “Uwazi’s back.”

“What?” Scootaloo rushed to her. “What do you mean by that?” She shook Boysenberry, but when she looked into her face, she realised that it was no use – her stare was as blank as it had been since the day they ended up in the maze.

Groaning, Scootaloo dropped on the ground next to Boysenberry and cowered, weeping loudly.