//------------------------------// // Prologue: Knightmarish Obsession // Story: It's Only a Game... Isn't It? // by Ganondorf8 //------------------------------// It's Only a Game... Isn't It? By Ganondorf8 June 11, 2016 Prologue: Knightmarish Obsession. " Where am I?" " You're obviously in a room!" " I need more information than that, you know." " Why don't you just take off that helmet so you can see where you are?" " You're the one who said that doing so would ruin the magic." " Yeah, but it doesn't mean we have to do everything for you!" " Rainbow Dash! You were the one who told me that I would enjoy being a dungeoneer and explore this fantasy dungeon, but did you ever stop to think that perhaps, I didn't want to go through with this? I was perfectly content with having our little get-together, but I wasn't expecting to be trouncing about someplace while being blinded by a horned helmet." " This is the most awesome thing you've ever done, Sunset, so why complain?" " Maybe you should have done this instead of me." " I would've but you were chosen." " That's because you guys volunteered me against my will." " Whatever! It's too late to stop now." " Sometimes, I really question your judgement, but I guess you're right. I'm here in this dungeon--although again let me state that I'm doing this under false pretenses--and I need you, Pinkie, and Twilight to get me through this in one piece." " Want me to describe the room in more depth?" " Yes, that would be nice." I had been through many hardships in my life. They ranged from having a troubled childhood resulting from my family ignoring me, to being framed for actions I never committed during the most festive time of the year. No matter how often I found myself being kicked to the ground, I managed to get back onto my feet and continue. Many would be both jealous and shocked to know what I had experienced for one so young, yet those past experiences paled in comparison with what happened to me one day. I never guessed for an instant that there existed magic that wasn't from my homeland, Equestria, but you never know what might be waiting to surprise you. Magic was my specialty--compared to Her Highness, Princess Twilight, I was a novice--so I always believed that I knew the ins and outs of magic. My friends turned to me to deal with problems that related to magic, and I overcame incredible odds to solve the issue. We used Equestrian magic to save our school, the world I now call home, and the world that I was born in. Had what happened not come to pass, I'd have remained ignorant of magical energies that were beyond the scope of my world. I learned a harsh reality Her Highness should never have to experience. It would be too much for even her mind to comprehend. Were she to learn the existence of other magic, she would do everything she could to understand how it functioned, and fail to grasp the properties behind its mien. It had been about two months since the Friendship Games ended, and things were looking up for me and my friends. The human version of Her Highness, Twilight Sparkle, former top student of Crystal Prep Academy, had integrated into her new surroundings with incredible finesse. There were some issues that stemmed from the transition, but everyone who had gone through the same thing struggled during those early weeks. Twilight was very eager when it came to the pursuit of knowledge, but friendship was something she was still trying to understand. Her life had been hard and I didn't mean her experiences at Crystal Prep. She only had her dog, Spike, as her one and only friend, so she had been a loner for years, ridiculed by her peers all because she was the best student. After the Games, she became more open with the prospect of having friends, and I had been steadily guiding her along the right path. It's kind of ironic actually. Her Highness did the very same thing to me after my brief tenure as a demonic monster who had ambitions of ruling over Equestria. I was given a second chance to change my path, and I took it otherwise my alternative would have been spending the remainder of my days alone. Twilight became a monster in a similar manner to myself, so I knew that I had to take Her Highness' words, and use them to help Twilight overcome her personal nightmare. So far, the process had been effective, and she was well on her way to becoming a better person for it. Even when I revealed to her the secrets I had about those I've interacted with--written down in a secret journal--it only strengthened our friendship. At the same time, I revealed those same secrets to my friends. It took them some time to come to terms with what I had said about them, but they knew that I didn't mean to ridicule them. I was merely expressing my true feelings about them. They had their own opinions of me which they had surely written down somewhere, so the feeling was mutual. Princess Twilight had the strongest reaction of all to what I wrote. She learned a great deal about me that she never knew existed before. One day, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and I were sitting together on the couch at Rainbow's place. Summer vacation was mere days away, and everyone was getting excited about the prospects that would come our way during the next couple of months. I still had my doubts on the whole thing, but I kept that thought to myself. When it came to summer vacation, being negative was the worst thing you could do. " How has the idea of having friends affected you, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. " I must admit that I never knew that students had such riveting experiences during the summer." Twilight answered. " Uh, 'riveting'? Don't you mean 'awesome'?" " Well, my perspective is different from yours, Rainbow Dash, but I'm looking forward to some time away from classes. This will be the first time I've spent the summer with anyone apart from Spike and my family, but you'll forgive me for being nervous about it." Twilight answered. " Don't worry about it! You'll be fine." " I hope so. I intend on catching up on some reading for extra credit." " Seriously!?" " What else would I be doing all summer?" Twilight asked. Even after spending these past couple of weeks getting adjusted to her new surroundings, Twilight still retained the quirks that made her who she was. Someone like Rainbow would prefer to spend the summer doing every last outdoor activity imaginable, but Twilight was much more reserved. She preferred peace and quiet that would enable her to continue her pursuit of knowledge. The students of CHS could learn from Twilight's example and take a more relaxed approach to summer. Most of them were likely to go crazy and spend every day hanging out until school started again in the Fall, and then suffer from withdrawal afterwards. Rainbow shrugged her shoulders and resumed watching the television while Twilight buried her face into a rather lengthy book. I was passionate about reading just as much as she was, but the book she had must have been at least twelve hundred pages. However, my concern was focused on Rainbow and what she perceived as "entertainment". I didn't think she would be a television junkie--someone who sat around and watched pointless drivel all day--but she would surprise me by her choice of programs. She had been watching a channel that dedicated itself to showing reruns of old shows no one had seen in the last thirty years. It didn't make any sense to me--Equestria didn't have televisions and programs--but Rainbow was curious about the kind of shows that once aired. There was one particular show that had piqued her curiosity, but when I look back on it now, I wish she had chosen a different program instead. " Ten minutes and it's on!' Rainbow Dash said, her eagerness showing no signs of wanting to be quelled. " While I can appreciate looking forward to something, I'm just surprised that you're hooked on a television show." I said. " I know, right? Pinkie showed me this channel about three weeks ago and initially I just found it lame. There's a reason why old shows don't exist anymore, and that's because they've had to move aside in favour of new stuff. Then, when I changed to the channel on a whim, the most awesome I've ever seen was on." Rainbow Dash said. " The one you want us all to watch?" " Yep!" " I'm going to regret it if I don't ask, but what's it all about?" " It's all about teams of four kids exploring a dungeon in a fantasy setting. Oh, and they also use magic." Rainbow Dash answered. I rolled my eyes. Considering what we've seen regarding magic, what could an old television show have on that? " One person is the dungeoneer who explores the dungeon, and the other three act as advisors. They guide the dungeoneer by telling them what to do." " Why would they need to be told?" " Because the dungeoneer is blind." Rainbow Dash answered. Blind!? That didn't sound like a fair compromise to the kid who had to explore the dungeon. I mean, they already suffer from not being able to see, but to further degrade them by forcing them to traverse something they can't see? I wasn't sure if this was a show that had a positive message. " They wear the helmet to prevent their eyes from seeing the illusions, but I read online that it was to prevent them from seeing a blue room." " Blue room?" " Twilight might get it more than you." " What would I get?" Twilight asked. " The blue room was used to create the special effects that the advisors and audience see in each episode, some kind of early version of virtual reality. They used really old computers to make it look realistic." Rainbow Dash answered. " Really? Fascinating. You've piqued my curiosity." " Knew you'd be interested." " Makes me wish I were with Applejack right now." I said quietly to myself. Applejack would have been there with us, but she had to stay home at Sweet Apple Acres and do a variety of chores to prepare for some kind of farming festival. Fluttershy was currently at the shelter and would be there until late tonight. They received a large assortment of animals that were in need of care, and all volunteers had to be there on a mandatory basis. I was a volunteer myself, but Fluttershy insisted that she and the others were more than enough to take care of the animals. I wouldn't have minded just standing around and watched them work if it meant not having to endure this mundane experience at Rainbow's. Rarity was also busy, but she was doing her own thing and not involved in a group activity. She had recently acquired some rare fabric and had the desire to make some new dresses. We told her that she could have done it tomorrow, but she wouldn't have any of it. When it came to making fashion, Rarity wouldn't dream of slacking off. Knowing there wasn't anything else to do, I simply shrugged my shoulders and stared glooming at the television as Rainbow's program came on. It certainly had an interesting title sequence, a knight on a horse riding through a forest towards a castle on top of a large peak. Rainbow wasn't kidding when she said that it was a fantasy setting--the sword and shield were a dead giveaway--but I wasn't too thrilled about it. Aside from two monsters appearing, it was a simplistic animation, paling in comparison to what is seen these days. My eyes opened wide upon seeing the name of the program, "Knightmare", an obvious pun on nightmare and knight. For the next few minutes, Rainbow explained what was going on in hopes of getting the rest of us excited. Pinkie would watch anything if it meant getting to see something fun, and Twilight was interested in the technical aspects. Me? I didn't really pay much attention at first, but Rainbow continued to explain only pausing to drink some water. " The man sitting on the throne? That's Treguard, the Dungeon Master." Rainbow Dash said. " What does he do?" I asked. " He's the host who gives subtle hints to the teams, but doesn't get directly involved. In the early seasons, he was pretty intimidating and enjoyed portraying the teams as being the latest victims to challenge his dungeon. Later seasons had him as a genuine good guy who wanted to see teams succeed." Rainbow Dash answered. " How do teams succeed?" " They need to progress through the three levels of the dungeon by interacting with other characters, picking up clues, using items and spells, and ultimately finding the quest object located at the end of Level Three." Rainbow Dash answered. I yawned, thinking her description was dull, but she quickly took offence before grabbing my arm. " You might think the game is easy, yet you'd be surprised at how few teams were able to succeed." The grip she had on my arm began to hurt so I slapped her hand to get her to let go. Rainbow blushed over how she behaved, but quickly turned her attention back to the program. " Many teams died in the dungeon because of making mistakes." " What!? They actually died!?" " Not really. It was all part of the illusion the show became known for." " You said teams made mistakes?" " If they lacked the proper item, magic, or information, they weren't going to survive for much longer. Other teams failed out of sheer stupidity. I still laugh at some of the ways those teams perished." Rainbow Dash answered. This "Knightmare" sounded much more devious than appearances suggested. If it was as difficult as Rainbow Dash claimed, then why would so many kids want to become participants knowing their success was anything but certain? Was there a desire for personal glory? The chance to be on television for several minutes? Whatever the reason, it was a compelling situation that brought many teams to want to try and win. As the program continued, Rainbow revealed how most quests lasted between fifteen and thirty minutes. I was surprised when she revealed the length, but she quickly added that they only allowed a certain number of teams per season. Early seasons featured the most teams who appeared on the show while the latter had fewer teams. It sounded like it was more beneficial to have been able to take part early on, but Rainbow said the later quests were much more epic. It simply boggled my mind over how much she knew about such an old program. Rainbow enjoyed talking non-stop about the different sports teams across Canterlot, but to hear her go on and on about a television show? Her interests were much more diverse than I had originally believed. When the program finished, the copyright year appeared--I was curious to know when it was produced--and it was revealed as 1988. That meant those who had taken part when the episode was filmed must be older now than they were back then or perhaps the worst-case scenario. " Is it finished?" " Yep." " That's a relief." " We've still got another three episodes to follow." " Seriously!?" " Today is a mini-marathon of Knightmare." " I'd prefer to spend that time doing something other than watching an old program from yesteryear." " What about you, Twilight?" " I am truly fascinated by how this show operates." Twilight answered. She had been writing things down on a notepad, but while Rainbow Dash thought she had enjoyed it for the adventuring aspect, I knew she had been intrigued by something that related to her curious nature. " The action sequences were handled competently, but I'm afraid that I can't consider it anything more than an attempt to escape from reality. However, I did enjoy the technical aspects that were used to bring this to life. The technology was clearly archaic, but they deserve a lot of credit for doing something that had never been done before." " Figures you were only interested in the effects." " What were you hoping for?" " Never mind." Pinkie Pie, who had been silent the whole time, finally decided to say something. I had hoped that she would have used common sense and told Rainbow Dash that the program wasn't up to her standards, but I should have known that she could be entertained by just about anything. " That, was, awesome!" Pinkie Pie chirped. " Glad you liked it." " I've never seen anything so amazing like that! I wish that we could go on the show and compete in the dungeon in an effort to conquer it. But, if we did actually conquer it and make it our own dungeon, would that mean others would need our permission to use it?" Pinkie Pie asked. " We can't compete." " Why not?" " That particular episode aired all the way back in 1988, Pinkie. That was around twenty-eight years ago, and the show came to a conclusion in 1994. It's been over twenty years since then, and while it still maintains cult status among fans, the chances of it being revived completely are slim to none." Rainbow Dash answered. " Awww, bummer." If only I had taken Pinkie's words to heart instead of dismissing them as her usual antics in a bid to get attention. I would've been better prepared for what would happen to the four of us later on instead of going about in a blind panic trying to make sense of things. We watched the other three episodes--I just didn't see the appeal--and Rainbow Dash continued to talk about it as though she were an encyclopedia dedicated to its history. I commended her for having so much passion towards telling us every last possible detail, but it merely sailed over my head. I just wasn't all that interested in a program that claimed to be about fantasy and magic, but was merely pretending to give young kids a sense of exploring a world different from their own. Knightmare... I just couldn't picturing it being any different to what my friends and I had already experienced. What we've witnessed was real magic being used to bring about the end of this world--including the time when I was the one using it. This show mocked the fantasy setting Equestria was known for by making it more of a novelty. Yes, my true home could be best described as a world of fantasy. Humans would never be able to comprehend just how different it is from their own everyday lives. In Equestria, magic is everywhere and never runs out unless some crazed maniac wanted to use it for their own twisted purposes. Her Highness told me of those who tried conquering it through such methods. They ultimately were defeated by the Magic of Friendship. By the time we reached the last episode of this mini-marathon, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were on the edge of their seats, eager to see what was going to happen next. My opinion still remained in that I wasn't thrilled, but I was slowly getting interested in how the teams worked together in unison to complete their objectives. Some were clearly struggling to work together, so they ended up perishing in the dungeon. Other teams proved more competent with their skills, but ended up failing due to missing out on something obvious. I supposed there was some kind of challenge after all. Would it be the kind of challenge I'd want to be a part of? Not really. I had my own obligations in the forms of guiding Twilight, and continuing to research how magic worked in this world. Twilight would have a similar viewpoint to my own, but her fascination over the technical points of Knightmare was where we differed. " Now that was classic!" Rainbow Dash said, stretching her arms after the final episode's credits came and went. " I still have goosebumps over that giant spider." Pinkie Pie said. " Shame they wasted that spell." " Yeah, but at least they had fun." " The super-imposed spider was a nice touch in an attempt to frighten audiences, but wouldn't it have made more sense to go with something more computer generated? I mean, creating something like that using what technology they had in those days would have been impossible, yet they could have been true pioneers." Twilight said. " You're over-thinking things, Twilight." " In the pursuit of knowledge, I must question everything." " If you say so." " Now what do we do?" Pinkie Pie asked. " There won't be another mini-marathon until next week, but there is gonna be an episode tomorrow." " I still think it would be fun if we were there exploring the dungeon just like those kids." " Not gonna happen." " Come on, Dashie! Even you would be thrilled if it did happen, right?" " It would be pretty awesome." Rainbow Dash answered. None of us noticed it at the time, but Treguard--the host of Knightmare, according to Rainbow Dash--briefly appeared on the television screen and winked before disappearing. Had he secretly overheard what Rainbow and Pinkie talked about and planned on doing something about it? I shook my head to get rid of such a notion. He was just an actor playing a character in order to bring about a sense of fantasy role-playing. No way did he have some kind of ulterior motive that would involve my friends and I getting the wish Pinkie wanted. Sometimes, I wish that I could be right about that, but usually the worst case scenario happens. " I have a question for you, Rainbow Dash." I said. " What is it?" " You mentioned earlier something about quest objects." " Oh, those. Aside from the first season and three incidents in the second and third seasons, every team had to acquire a quest object." Rainbow Dash said. She reached for a small side table next to the couch, grabbed a large notepad and pencil, and began drawing feverishly in it. I wasn't sure why she did that considering her drawing skills weren't exactly worthy of being placed in a museum, but she acted like she were possessed. Her concentration was so strong that not even the sound of a balloon popping could have broken that stance. I had gained a new respect for Rainbow. " These are the four quest items teams were either asked to collect or they wanted to collect." Again, her drawings were of poor quality, but at least she hadn't done a completely terrible job of it. The first one looked like a lanky stick, but I quickly figured out that it was supposed to have been a sword. The second one was clearly a shield, but it looked like it had been disjointed in a couple of places. Next was a drawing of a crown--it actually looked more like one of those novelty hats sold in party stores--and looked bigger than the other drawings. Finally, the last one was some kind of fancy looking cup. All four items were the kind used in a fantasy setting, but why use items that had been practically done to death? Why not go with something more unique, that you'd never even think of? " Seems simple enough." " You really think so, Sunset? No team ever won the cup." " Really? How come?" " No one knows why that happened, but teams referred to the cup as being cursed." " 'Cursed'? You've got to be kidding me." " How else do you explain why no team won it? Anyway, the prizes they got for winning were trophies in the shape of knights. Pretty sweet huh? I wouldn't mind something like that and showing it off to everyone I know." Rainbow Dash said. " It doesn't sound like a worthy prize." Rainbow was taken aback by my response, yet she didn't press the issue any further. She knew that I just wasn't interested in this Knightmare, and preferred something that I could personally relate to. I know that I came from a fantasy world, but it wasn't really that way to my fellow ponies. They viewed their lifestyle as being typical fare for living in a world where you walked on hooves. Life in this world was much more hectic due to advancements in technology, everyone being in a hurry, and events happening almost every other hour, but I had no desire to change it. I had gotten adjusted to living as a human despite yearning for the day when I could gallop about on hooves instead of legs. I still had to answer for the crime of stealing a national treasure, but hopefully it wouldn't result in banishment to the desolate wastes. Later that day, the four of us decided to go to the park--being cooped up in Rainbow's place for the rest of the day wasn't my idea of fun--to relax and not have to worry about old programs from decades long passed. Rainbow continued explaining all of the various nuances Knightmare became famous for, and I was surprised at her dedication. She normally got this engrossed whenever she competed against Indigo Zap of Crystal Prep or achieving a new high score at the local arcade. To be like that because of a television show? Maybe her watching it had been worth it after all? Tried as she might, however, she failed to get me interested in a fantasy game. I wanted to focus on what was really important, but perhaps I should have paid more attention to her words instead of ignoring them. The park was oddly quiet. Normally at around this time of day on a Saturday, the place would be packed with people going about their business, but we were the only ones around to appreciate such serene beauty. I wasn't worried that something was going to happen, but it just felt odd to be in a public place without any public around. " Wow... Freaky." Pinkie Pie said. " Because of how quiet everything is?" Twilight asked. " I was actually referring to the lack of people." " Yes, I see what you mean. It's very unusual that the park doesn't have as many people as it usually does." " And I was looking forward to playing hide and seek with the local kids." " The weather conditions are perfect so why isn't the park teaming with human life? I wasn't going to call it strange in case there was some kind of event going on that has dragged everyone else away, but now that opinion has changed. It feels like some kind of unseen force wanted just the four of us to be here at this exact moment in time. Maybe I should quickly do some research to find a possible cause." Twilight said, placing her backpack on the ground. She opened it and began fiddling about for her notepad and pencil hoping to come up with an answer, but she was quickly stopped by Rainbow. " Pfft! You don't need to write down something so obvious." Rainbow Dash said. " And why do you say that?" I asked. " Why worry about a lack of people? We can still have fun but in quiet solitude." " Aren't you the tiniest bit curious?" " Nope!" " Why doesn't that surprise me." I said, slapping my forehead. Rainbow Dash didn't mean to test my patience. She was always there when you needed her to be--aside from some incidents where she bailed out of personal and selfish reasons--but her ego and lack of taking things seriously made it difficult to approach her in a positive light. I supposed she did have a valid point. The fact that the park was deserted wasn't something that needed to be investigated. Whenever one of us encountered something that wasn't normal, we immediately chalked it up as being related to Equestrian magic. There were no signs of any magical energy in the vicinity so the idea of people being abducted by a villain from Equestria was slim to none. Still, something just wasn't right. If I had been more attentive, I would have sensed that we were walking into a trap, but Rainbow insisted that nothing was going to happen, so I shrugged my shoulders and thought nothing more of it. That's when we noticed that Pinkie had suddenly wandered off. While she lacked a proper attention span--she couldn't remain fixated on a single thing for no longer than five minutes at a time--she would never intentionally go off somewhere without telling someone about it first. If the park had been filled with the sounds of people, it would have been almost impossible to have found Pinkie, but it didn't take long to pinpoint her location. She had apparently noticed something amongst a group of trees and wanted to take a closer look. I thought she found a rare bird or something similar and wanted Fluttershy to see it, but that wasn't the case at all. " Pinkie Pie! Why did you wander off?" Twilight asked. " I wanted to see this giant door." Pinkie Pie answered. " I'm sorry, but what did you just say?" " I wanted to see this giant door." Pinkie Pie answered. At first, I thought she was just trying to pull one of her pranks, but when she pointed at a nearby tree, it turned out she was being quite serious. To our left was an old oak tree that must have been planted in the park at least over a hundred years ago given its shabby appearance. Embedded in the front was a large wooden door that clearly looked suspicious. " I've seen plenty of giant doors, but this one is definitely the largest." Pinkie Pie said as she walked up to the tree without warning. We tried to warn her to keep away from due to not knowing whether it was safe, but our words fell on deaf ears as she touched it with her hand. " Yep! It is a giant door and not some kind of weird gelatinous form pretending it was." " Why would you touch something you don't know about?" Rainbow Dash asked. " I know it's a door, silly, so now it's completely safe." " That's not what I meant." Rainbow Dash said, slapping her forehead. " What do you think, Sunset?" Twilight asked. " I'm not sure, but I can sense a strong magical presence coming from the other side." I answered. I should have suggested for us to leave the area immediately. I should have suggested us to ignore this suspicious door. Instead, I walked forward in order to satisfy my curiosity, and that turned out to be a big mistake. " It looks like an ordinary door, but look at the craftsmanship. I've seen doors similar to this one back in Equestria, but I never would've imagine I'd see one here in this world." " Let's open it!" Pinkie Pie suggested. I slapped my forehead again. I should've known Pinkie would say something like that. My curiosity proved too strong for me to ignore it, so I reached out slowly with my hand, and grasped the doorknob. It felt cold to the touch, as though it had never been used for centuries, but I persevered and twisted the knob. The door opened without any problems, but what we saw welcoming us on the other side wasn't what we were expecting. Actually, we weren't expecting anything other than old tree bark and maybe some annoyed squirrels. My suspicion about the magical presence were well-founded indeed. If this had been any other kind of door, I wouldn't have had an explanation, but here I knew that serious magic had been used to present what appeared before us. The door had opened up to a room that appeared to be from some kind of ancient castle. Banners hanging on the walls featured a coat-of-arms that was unfamiliar to me, and the magic coming from every last nook and cranny was definitely foreign. Whatever this was, whoever did this had some considerable skill in the magic arts. They might even be on equal terms with Her Highness and the other princesses of Equestria. " Maybe we shouldn't go in." " Where's your spirit of adventure, Sunset?" Rainbow Dash asked. " It's called common sense." " I say we explore it!" " And what if we get into trouble on the other side?" " We can always pony up to get ourselves out of any situation." " I know we can do that without playing our instruments, but it's not like we can control when that happens." " Pfft! No sense in worrying over what won't happen. Come on!" Rainbow Dash, running into the room beyond the door without a moment's hesitation. I couldn't believe she just went ahead and did that without thinking about the potential consequences that could result. " Aren't you guys coming?" Pinkie Pie immediately ran through the door leaving me and Twilight to ponder over our course of action. Knowing that there was something new for her to understand, Twilight walked through making sure to have her notepad and pen at the ready. Me? I hesitated at first. Why would anyone walk into a room they knew nothing about? Anyone who did that deserved a horrible fate on the other side. I had every intention of leaving my friends behind to deal with whatever lurked in this old castle, but I couldn't abandon them even if they were acting without discretion. They were my family and I wanted to ensure they would be okay. When it came to magic, I knew better than they did--even if the magic was foreign to me. After mulling it over for a few moments, I sighed knowing I had no other choice but to follow them. I took a few moments to collect myself and walked through the door not knowing what awaited me on the other side.