Berry's Test

by Maple Sunrise

The Office

Berry and Rainbow Dash were on their way to the office when Berry asked Dash a question.

“Hey Dash, about just now... me asking about you not breaking your bonds and escaping? Will you forgive me for that? I mean, I knew it was a personal question and all but I was just curious.” Berry looked down at the ground in front of her, trying to avoid eye contact.

There was a moment of silence between the two as they continued walking before Rainbow Dash answered. “I’ve done a lot of things that are really really messed up, but not breaking my bonds was probably the worst thing I had ever done.” She stopped, sat down on the ground and looked up at the sky. The rain had started to fall again as she gazed up at the dark clouds above. As the rain once more showered the land, Berry sat down next to Dash, wondering what she could be thinking of now.

Before Berry could raise a question, Rainbow Dash sighed, and turned to Berry. “Yeah, I guess I can forgive you. After all, I just came to my senses when that thing I was standing on disappeared.” Berry was wondering if Dash even knew what was happening just now. But one thing’s for sure. At least she isn’t being her usual self anymore. I could get used to her being grateful all the time. Berry smiled at Dash, though she was sure she wasn’t looking.

“I guess I was kinda selfish just now. I’m the one who should be asking for your forgiveness. It’s just....” Dash’s voice trailed off.

“Yes?” Berry wanted to hear what she had to say about what happened just now. If she could find out anything about who could be doing this, Berry could start off with Rainbow Dash and what she thinks. What Rainbow Dash said though, wasn’t what Berry was hoping for.

“I think I owe you an explanation for all this happening to m-” Berry raised a hoof to silence Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, I forgive you. But first, let’s settle what we have to first. Time’s ticking.” Which was true. Berry and Rainbow Dash had been walking for half an hour before the first word of the conversation was even said. They hadn’t noticed the time. 2:05pm. They were nearing the office when Dash asked Berry another question.

“That note just now. There was another one in the bedroom with the rigged wardrobe. I’m just wondering if there’s anymore that you’ve found.” Berry felt that it might not be the proper time to show her the rest of the notes that she had picked up along the way, but opted to only show her one note. The one Berry found in the living room of the now charred cottage. She took it out of her saddlebag, and set it down on the ground before Rainbow Dash. Dash scanned the note slowly, then reread it. With every passing word, her pupils grew. She inhaled sharply, and let out a deep exhale before facing Berry.

“So I guess you know a lot now, huh?” Dash hung her head. What else could she do? She’s done a lot of things she knew was wrong, but went on anyway, ignoring her conscience. She had wanted to join the Wonderbolts ever since she was a little filly, and was desperate enough to pull out all the stops in order to join them. It was her own selfishness that had gotten her here in the first place, and now, she must learn to let go of selfishness before it expands anymore.

Berry said nothing. Thinking over what was written in the note. If what’s written on the note is true about Rainbow Dash, then the other notes that she’s bound to find would most probably be true as well. But how does this pony even GET this kind of information?

“Oh hey, we’re here already.” Dash looked up and, indeed, they were there. The assembly hall had once been a place for plays and shows not too long ago. Her majesty, Princess Celestia had even held Princess Luna’s birthday once. But to Berry and Dash, it had all seemed to have happened very long ago. The cafeteria now lay in a dilapidated state as nopony came by to maintain the place. The cafeteria door’s had broken windows and grafittis from the previous ‘residents’. Among the things written, the most eye-catching thing were big red letters sprayed onto the doors spelling out:

Down with Celestia

We want Luna !

Berry facehoofed. Honestly, the two sisters were really no different from each other other than colour and size. Both of them think the same way but ponies keep trying to split them up. The staircase that led to the offices occupying the two floors above the assembly hall was dusty and dirty from lack of use. In the dust, there were clear hoofprint impressions left behind. Rainbow Dash pointed this out to Berry. She nodded and Dash, and the two decided to take the stairs upwards.

Careful not to set off any potential traps that could hinder their progress, they made it to the first floor. The first floor had a steel door that acted as a border between the staircase and the office floor. Berry tried the handle. The door wasn’t locked, luckily for them. Berry pushed the door slowly, just in case there were any more traps waiting for them. There weren’t any. Stepping onto the carpeted floor of the hallways, this floor much resembled a hotel hallway than an office. Offices were separated from other offices via walls, the same way hotels separated room from room.

The moment Rainbow Dash got fully past the door, the door slammed shut behind them, and Dash heard some sort of mechanism start to vibrate. Before the Berry and Dash knew what was happening, the door locked itself. Probably motion sensitive. Little deadbolts started to seal themselves at the door. Surprised, Dash started bucking the door, hoping to break it down, to no success. Succeeding in getting sore rearhooves, Berry gave Dash a facehoof.

“I believe this is to make sure we stay and complete the next test. I think I saw a name or two of some pony who’s supposed to be here.” Berry took out the notes and photographs from her saddlebag and studied them closely.

Office : # 2 & 5

Berry and Dash rechecked the numbers on the edge of the photos. Berry found the two she was looking for.

Twilight Sparkle : #5

Applejack : #2

Dash looked up from the photos. “That egghead’s on the same floor.”

“And how would you know?” Berry was skeptical.

Dash pointed at the directories posted on the walls. Berry couldn’t believe how blind she was. It turns out Dash was right. Office number #5 was on the same floor as they were. The floor they were on had 5 offices, and the floor above had 4.

“Office number 5 is right down the hallway.” Dash pointed to her left. The door behind them remained shut while they walked slowly towards the fifth office. Berry let her mind wander. She was wondering who the madpony was. Certainly, the madpony’s tests can push people to onto the right tracks. But it didn’t have to be so extreme right? Dash held a hoof up in front of Berry. Berry crashed into it, not expecting the sudden roadblock.

“What was that for?” Berry’s word echoed around the empty corridor. Dash turned to Berry, and without looking, pointed to the carpeting in front of them. Berry saw nothing on the red carpeting in front of them and asked, “What am I supposed to be seeing here?” Dash glared at Berry, “I’m guessing that all those years of alcohol must have made your vision poor!” She pointed at the red carpeting again, this time much closer. Berry, still not seeing it, shrugged. Dash touched the carpet and wiped furiously at Berry’s face before Berry could do anything. As if pushed, Berry stepped back a few steps when she felt a familiar warm, sticky liquid trickle down her cheek. Blood? Berry was surprised.

“How could you not see that! Blood all over the carpets we’ve been walking on, and neither of us noticed!” Dash wasn’t happy with this. But neither was Berry. Blood on the carpets meant that either somepony else was on the loose on the same floor, or Twilight had made it through her test and is bleeding from Celestia knows what she had to do to make it.

Berry looked up at Dash. “This is not good.”

“No shit, Sherlock” Dash’s tone, was once again, sour.

Berry sighed and the two continued their way to the fifth office. Careful not to step on the blood on the carpets, Berry looked around at the doors of the other offices. They were all like the metal door that was just sealed when they arrived on this floor. But luckily for them, there were no deadbolts that sealed themselves on either of the office doors.

“We’re here.” Dash had to poke Berry’s cheek with a bloody hoof before Berry realized where they were. Staring at the door to office number five, Berry spoke up. “I hope you’re ready for whatever comes next.” Before Dash could reply, Berry had already bucked the door open. The room was rather bright, lit by an oil lantern that was kept alight by a purple light. Unicorn magic. The oil lantern had set the room to an unnatural purple lighting. The room was a mess. There were papers strewn all over the floor and blood on the floor and walls. One of the office tables in the room had an overturned chair. The other had a mess of blood on the table.

“Looks like whoever was in this room had already left.” Berry pointed to the blood stained door handle. Not that Dash was even listening. She was looking uneasily at the purple light coming from the oil lantern. “Hey, is something wrong?” Dash said nothing for a short moment before replying. “Twilight was here. I’m sure she was!” Hearing sorrow in Dash’s voice, Berry comforted her. “She’s a unicorn, Dash. She can heal whatever came upon her. Why she didn’t however, is something you and I will have to find out. I don’t think there’s anything else useful we can find around this room.” Berry kept her tone low. Somehow, she could feel the presence of another pony nearby, and it wasn’t Dash.

She was unsure, however, if Dash could feel the same thing. Berry kept an eye on the door just in case while Dash continued to look around the room. It seemed to Berry that Dash was ignoring what she said about Twilight. “Yeah, I guess you’r-” Dash was cut off by a stinging sensation in her hoof. Surprised, Berry hurried over to check on Dash. Dash had stepped on a needle while checking the blood on the wall, and now her blood was streaming out of her. Dash was screaming at the pain as Berry tried to stop the bleeding. Raising the hoof to her mouth, Dash tried with all her might to keep from crying and pulled out the needle out slowly.

Spiting it out onto the floor, Dash tried to suppress the bleeding by applying pressure. Berry took the syringe and morphine out of her bag and quickly filled the syringe with morphine. Slapping Dash so she could get a hold of herself, Berry injected Dash with the morphine, and immediately her wailing stopped. Dash had continued to suppress the wound while Berry kept the syringe and morphine and took out some bandages.

“I took more needles to the hoof than you did and here you are wailing your heart out.” Berry said while bandaging Dash’s right forehoof. Dash wiped her tears from her eyes and blushed. Apparently pain was a strainger to Dash, as pegasi rarely obtain any injury while in flight. However, on the ground, they are vulnerable to all kinds of dangers unicorns and earth ponies faced.
“That one took me by surprise.” As usual, Dash was finding excuses. Berry gave a smile while shaking her head at Dash. “Right.....” They were interrupted by the sound of glass breaking in the office opposite the one they were in now. Berry took out the knife that she found when she woke up, and handed it over to Dash. Berry took out the knife from Dash’s cottage, and the two walked out into the corridor. Whoever was in the office most certainly would have heard Dash’s cries of pain.

Carefully, Berry walked over to the door. Signally Dash to watch herself, Berry bucked the door and the two rushed in. The room was bright in comparison with the office they were in earlier. The walls and ceiling were white and there was blood on the floor. Before Dash realized what she was doing, Dash threw the knife at the first pony she saw. She screamed in surprise as she immediately regretted throwing the knife at the first unicorn they came across so far.

Twilight ducked as the knife sailed over her head, burying itself into the wall she was leaning against. Twilight, though surprised from the sudden confrontation, smiled at Dash before taking the knife out of the wall. The office was like the previous one, only it was a bit plainer. A single office table and a chair were the only things in the room, aside from the cabinets next to the door. Twilight ran over to hug Dash, but remembering her condition at the moment, stopped mid-run. She instead nuzzled Dash’s mane.

“Am I glad to see you here! Though I wouldn’t want to know why.” Twilight eyed Dash suspiciously.

“Hey, you’re here as well right?” Dash returned the eyeing as Twilight blushed at the responce. Twilight looked over at Berry, who was trying her best not to get involved in the conversation between the two. “Oh hey Berry! Didn’t expect you to be here as well.” Twilight gave a smile that creeped everything out of Berry so hard that she swore she could just shrink and disappear.

“Now that that’s over....” Berry remembered something and asked Twilight, “Hey did you find a note when you woke up in this Celestia-damned place?” The question surprised Twilight, as well did Berry’s vocabulary.

“Uh... Yes I kinda did. Why?”

“I need to keep it for now, as I did with Dash’s note. We’ll go over it later. Because right now we still have another pony to save, and she’s right above us in the next floor. By the way, what is that you’re wearing?” Dash had wanted to ask the same question but Berry seemed to beat her to it.

Twilight was about to explain when they heard a crash from the floor above. It appears to Berry that Applejack’s test has just started.

Comments

[MacDerpy]

this is getting exciting cannot wait till the next part

[Festus]

Twilight got out of her needle death trap? I wanted to know how!

Anyways, this is a cool chapter. What could honest Applejack do to get herself in such trouble?

57131 she only got out of one of the forehoof braces. Berry asks twilight what she was wearing. The end states that twilight was about to explain when AJ's game apparently started.

[bradhadair12]

Glad to see the back stories are believable. I was worried you were going to play them up too much, but you didn't. Nice going!

[Festus]

57138 Oh, then more violence shall occur!

i can't wait for applejack's turn

[Chill Mists(Chilly)]

I can totally imagine Fluttershy's
Hello Fluttershy, I know you are a mass murderer, you're very presence makes nearby ponies suffer HHHNNNNNNGGG attacks. You never owned up to these crimes. The health service then thought they were just regular heart attacks and spent a lot of money on research to find out why the population was having these attacks. Money which could have been spent curing deadly diseases. In front of your hooves are two keys, shame your forelegs are stuck in binds isn't it? The only direction your forelegs can move is forward, towards the keys, but it's never that simple is it? No, on the side of one of your forelegs is a piece of paper. In order to reach the keys to unlock your hooves, you must give yourself a paper cut.
Let the games begin.

[canius]

noo Heal twilight.. the Collar noooo