Tricks and Traps

by Samey90

Jammed

“Ah wonder what will happen to Sweetie Belle...” Apple Bloom muttered. It was two days since their group was split. They were wandering through the dark, narrow part of the maze, with walls covered in ashes so much that it was impossible to guess what they were made of. The floor was made of metal, ringing under their hooves. Under the ceiling, there was a set of pipes made of copper and rusty iron. Something was rustling in them almost constantly, driving Apple Bloom mad. She briefly considered asking someone to lift her and trying to unscrew one of the pipes. After a while, she thought that it’d probably be suicide.

“I’m afraid she won’t come back...” Scootaloo said. “What chances do they have?”

“What chances do we have?” Apple Bloom asked. “Even if we meet them... Will we live to see it?”

Ruby trotted to them, smirking. “I couldn’t care less,” she said. “I didn’t like any of them and I don’t like any of you. I won’t miss any of you and won’t be missed when I die.”

“At least ya’re honest about it,” Apple Bloom muttered. “Which doesn’t mean that Ah want to talk with ya.”

“Oh please,” Ruby rolled her eyes. “There are worse bitches than me here...” She pointed at Silver Spoon who was hiding somewhere between Featherweight and Rumble, staring at the floor. “Hey, you!” Ruby trotted to Silver Spoon. “Not so tough without that pink shit by your side?”

Silver Spoon muttered something incomprehensible, lowering her head even more.

“I’m talking to you!” Ruby exclaimed, pushing Silver at the wall.

“Enough!” Dinky exclaimed, standing between Ruby and Silver Spoon. “What did she do to you?”

“What did she do to me?” Ruby rolled her eyes. “To me, to them...” She pointed at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “Didn’t they laugh at your mother too?”

“Yes, but now we should stay together,” Dinky replied. She turned to Silver Spoon and helped her up. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Silver Spoon replied. Boysenberry walked to her and looked at her, shuddering.

“What’s going on?” Silver Spoon asked, looking at Boysenberry unsurely.

“I just saw...” Boysenberry rubbed her temples. “I don’t know.”

“Am I going to die?” Silver Spoon asked. “I... When Truffle Shuffle...”

“I don’t think so,” Boysenberry replied.

“Oh, come on,” Ruby muttered. “You’re predicting the future now, freak? What will you say about me?”

Boysenberry said nothing. Featherweight walked to Ruby. “Leave her and Silver alone,” he said. “Let’s go.”

---

“I wonder what will happen to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle muttered. They were walking through the maze of walls made of polished steel. Their reflections, garbled by the shiny metal, were staring back at them.

“They’ll be okay,” Zippoorwhill said. “Rumble’s with them.”

“He was with us all the time and you see what happened,” Sweetie Belle replied. “All those deaths... And now we’re split.”

“We’ll be okay,” Tornado Bolt said. “Though I’m worried about Boysenberry and Dinky. They had to stay with Ruby...”

“Stop talking!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed. “We need to go!”

“And you think Ruby is the worst...” Sweetie Belle muttered, gritting her teeth. Their hoofsteps were echoing in the corridor, causing her head to ache.

“No wonder Diamond’s stressed,” Zippoorwhill said. “Remember about Silver Spoon...”

“Meh,” Sweetie replied. “I couldn’t care less about her.”

“Still, it’s like with you, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom,” Tornado Bolt said.

“Oh, come on...” Sweetie Belle sighed.

“Hey!” Snips exclaimed. “Diamond already told us to get faster, why are you doing that too?”

“I don’t,” Sweetie Belle replied and trotted faster to overtake Snips and Snails.

For a while, they were walking in silence.

“Seriously, though,” Snails muttered. “Why are we going that fast? It’s gonna get us no matter what pace we choose.”

“Shut up and walk.” Diamond Tiara groaned.

“We should save strength,” Snips said. “Like, who knows how long those tunnels are...”

“Fine!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed. “I want to find Silver Spoon as fast as possible! I know that you, idiots, don’t get it, since you are so inseparable that you both somehow ended up here! You can go however you want, but at least stop talking!”

“For once I agree with you,” Sweetie Belle said. “Together, we have a bigger chance...”

“Exactly,” Pipsqueak muttered. “When there’s eight of us, the chance that someone walks into a trap is twice as big as when there were sixteen of us...”

“That’s not what I meant,” Sweetie Belle muttered.

“And our little math genius will now walk in front of me,” Diamond Tiara poked Pipsqueak. “How big is your chance of survival now?”

“Hey, I only pointed that out!” Pipsqueak exclaimed.

“Well, you shouldn’t have!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Enough!” Tornado Bolt flew between her companions. “You both behave like babies!” She landed and trotted forward. “Let’s go. I’ll guide you.”

---

“So, do you really think she sees the future?” Rumble asked.

“Of course,” Featherweight replied, staring at Boysenberry who was walking by Dinky’s side. “This maze... It does weird things to ponies.”

“Yeah, right...” Rumble muttered. “It’s not the maze. We witnessed four of our friends die and we got separated from the rest.”

“But who killed them? The maze!” Featherweight looked at Boysenberry once again, then moved his gaze to Silver Spoon and smirked.

Rumble sighed. “If you like this maze so much, why don’t you propose to it?” He shook his head. “Oh wait, you still think you will save Silver Spoon and leave the maze with her, don’t you?”

“How do you–”

“You talk in your sleep, genius,” Rumble replied. “I have a feeling that you think the maze gave you some superpowers or whatever.”

“Well, Boysenberry has visions of the future,” Featherweight said. “And such things happen, you know. I also had a vision and–”

“Frankly? I don’t give a shit,” Rumble muttered. “Unless one of your visions tells us how to get out of here, I’m not listening to it.” He trotted forward, joining Dinky, Silver Spoon, and Boysenberry.

“Hello,” Rumble said, turning to Boysenberry, who shuddered. “How’s the future?”

“She doesn’t see the future, Rumble,” Dinky muttered. “She’s just scared, like all of us.”

“Yeah.” Rumble nodded. “Just what I thought. Featherweight went crazy.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’d better watch out for him.”

Boysenberry nodded and looked at the floor, muttering something to herself.

Rumble turned to Dinky. “So, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Bad.” Dinky sighed. “I miss mom... Not to mention that Tootsie died, Zippy got separated... Boysenberry is my only friend left...” She stifled a sob.

Silver Spoon gave out a groan and wiped her eyes.

Rumble wrapped his hoof around Dinky. “Same with Pipsqueak and Shady...” he muttered. “Button died... And now I’m left with Featherweight, who thinks aliens put an antenna in his brain, allowing him to receive signals from space.”

Dinky smiled through tears. “Is it really that bad?”

“Worse.”

“Just what we needed...” Silver Spoon muttered. Dinky and Rumble looked at her. “What?” she asked. “I just don’t like the way he looks at me...”

“Yeah, I think he has a problem,” Rumble said, checking if Featherweight wasn’t within earshot. Luckily, Featherweight was currently talking about something with Apple Bloom. Judging by Scootaloo’s expression, it was something about the aliens from the maze.

“I was thinking, however,” Rumble said, “what exactly is going on with Boysenberry?”

“I have dreams,” Boysenberry replied in monotone. “Also, I’m still here, Rumble. You can speak to me when you want to ask for something. I have glimpses of the future but I don’t remember them after they’re over. That’s it.”

Rumble nodded. Suddenly, Boysenberry clenched her eyes shut and rubbed her temples, shuddering. The whole group stopped, looking at her.

“What happened?” Scootaloo asked when Boysenberry opened her eyes.

“I don’t know...” Boysenberry panted. “I don’t know!”

---

“Well, that’s something new,” Tornado Bolt muttered. The tunnel they were in suddenly changed into a large hall. Unlike other rooms they’d visited, it wasn’t empty. Numerous rusty devices were scattered on the floor or standing by the walls. Tornado picked up a cogwheel and looked at it before throwing it away. It was rusty and broken – the machine it was a part of had probably fallen to dust ages ago.

“You led us to a trash can,” Diamond Tiara muttered, staring at the screws, pistons, cogwheels, and cylinders littering the floor. “What the hell is that?”

“Well, guess all that stuff in this maze needs some maintenance,” Pipsqueak said.

“Yeah,” Snips muttered. “Wonder who changes the lightbulbs...”

“How many spider-ducks does it take to change a lightbulb?” Snails asked. He went silent seeing the look Diamond Tiara was giving him.

“Okay,” Tornado Bolt muttered, looking at her companions unsurely. “It’s just some scrap metal. No food here and I guess we won’t be comfortable sleeping here. Let’s go.”

“Right,” Zippoorwhill said. “It’s no use standing here, unless you want to suddenly collect scrap metal.”

“Who knows?” Pipsqueak picked up a sharp piece of iron. “Maybe it’ll be useful one day...”

“To think about it...” Zippoorwhill took a piece of copper pipe. “If any spider-duck comes to us, I’m gonna smash its head...”

“How do you know where its head is?” Snails asked. “Maybe it doesn’t have a head. Just legs to make noise in the darkness...”

“Stop sniffing glue,” Diamond Tiara muttered.

“Glue?” Snails looked around. “I can’t see any glue here...”

“Shut up,” Tornado Bolt muttered. “Are you done picking up souvenirs? Dunno how about you, but I’d rather look for some food.”

The group walked through the cemetery of long-destroyed machines, tripping over the scattered parts. They were walking slowly – knocking one piece of metal with a hoof usually meant triggering a domino of falling pipes, scraps of sheet iron, and metal cones. Each time something like that happened, they were stopping, waiting for it to calm down.

“I don’t like this,” Shady Daze muttered. “What if some of those machines are still alive?”

“Machines can’t be alive,” Pipsqueak replied.

“I know, but...” Shady scratched his mane. “You know, robots and stuff...”

“If those were robots, they’re inactive for ages,” Pipsqueak said. “Diamond Tiara is right. This place must be some kind of scrapyard or spare parts storage.”

“Maybe,” Shady Daze said.

---

Zippoorwhill looked at the large metal cube on her left unsurely. “I wonder what does it do?” she muttered.

“I don’t think it was ever doing something,” Tornado Bolt replied, poking the cube with her hoof. “It’s just a piece of junk. Wonder who and why needed it.”

“We’ll never know,” Zippoorwhill said. “Those things aren’t very talkative...”

“Somehow, I don’t want them to suddenly start to talk,” Tornado Bolt said. “Like... I’m not sure what would I hear from them. Maybe more than I’d like to know.”

“Like why they’re killing us?” Zippoorwhill asked.

“That’s something I’d like to know.”

For a moment they walked in silence, interrupted only but the sound of hooves hitting the metal elements and curses of the foals tripping. The room seemed to be endless – they could barely see the entrances of a few corridors on its other end, half-buried under the carcasses of mysterious devices.

Suddenly, they heard terrible screeching, as if one piece of rusty metal slid off another piece. They didn’t pay attention to that – in the pile of iron it was quite a normal sound.

Three explosions nearly deafened them. They fell down, but nothing more happened.

“What was that?” Shady Daze asked.

“This,” Pipsqueak replied, pointing at something that looked like an old sentry gun. It was dirty and so rusty that they wondered why it hadn’t fallen apart. An empty case was jammed in its ejection port, which was why it only fired three times.

“Everypony’s okay?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“N-no...” Zippoorwhill replied, shuddering and staring at the red blot on her fur. Tornado Bolt’s body was lying next to her, in a rapidly growing puddle of blood. A single wound was visible in the side of her chest.

“Shit...” Shady Daze muttered.

“We... we need to get out of this room...” Sweetie Belle muttered. Everypony looked at her. “I mean... We can’t help her and there may be more of those things here.”

“She’s right,” Pipsqueak muttered, looking at Tornado Bolt and shuddering. “Tornado wouldn’t want us to stay here.”

Zippoorwhill whimpered. She ran her hoof down Tornado’s mane and closed her eyes. Then she took a piece of sheet metal and covered her body with it. “That’s all we can do for her...” she muttered absent-mindedly. “Let’s go...”

They didn’t even pay attention which corridor to choose. They ran through the room and into the middle one, hoping to get as far from that room as possible.

Author's Note:

15.

Comments

[Jman14102]

5413556
Sixteen little ponies,
struggled to regroup.
One of them found a turret,
that turned her guts to soup.

[Onyx Heart]

5482818
Why are making these poems?

[Jman14102]

5484028
Because why not?

[Samey90]

5484028
It's a tradition

[dont-panic]

the madness continues