The Harmony Games

by Antares

Chapter 4: The Maze

As the lights faded, walls of cobblestone as tall as houses became visible all around. Passages left at every angle; hundreds of them, each as unremarkable and plain as the next. Once one was entered, there would be almost no way to tell them apart. The sky seemed slightly discoloured with a rosy glow that Twilight recognized as a barrier spell. Twilight quickly checked herself over, finding nothing changed, although there was a piece of paper with seemingly random lines on it that she was sure she hadn’t been holding when they were in the arena. Celestia’s voice resonated through the maze, although the princess was not in sight.

“This is the Great Maze. There is only one exit, and over a thousand dead ends. Each of you has a shard of a map that may lead you to victory.”

“Excuse me. Pardon me sir, if I could just take a quick…thank you.” Twilight felt a bump from behind, as Rarity politely pushed past her, her delicate nose falling close to Twilight’s hand, before moving on.

“You are not allowed to fly nor dig your way out. Only those able to find the exit in the next hour will be able to move on to the main round. Good luck to all.”

There was an instant of silence after the princess finished, as hundreds of minds processed this new predicament. Then, as a thundering stampede, the exodus began, with people running in every direction. At the head of the pack were Rainbow Dash and Gilda, dragging Fluttershy undignifiedly between them.

“See you fools at the finish line. Tomorrow!” Rainbow Dash called back into to throng, before disappearing round the corner. Soon there was almost no one left in the courtyard, save the trampled and groaning forms of those who had been too slow off the mark.

“Well that was…harrowing,” Twilight muttered, “You all right Pinkie?” She looked around, finding only Rarity and Applejack. The bounding ball of hyperactive energy was gone. Without even a goodbye or warning or anything. Twilight’s mind told her to be happy, that one pest was gone, but something bit at the pit of her stomach. It confused her, and against her scholarly instincts she suppressed it rather than investigate. She had more pressing problems.

Twilight knew this maze, better than she’d care to admit. It was the Royal Maze in the Canterlot Gardens. Originally designed in the early ages of Transcendent Dominance, before the arrival of Princess Celestia, they were made to torment criminals for the amusement of nobles. The irony eluded Twilight. Once, early into her studies with the princess, she had wandered into the maze while reading, becoming hopelessly lost before realizing her mistake. She’d wandered around for hours, confused and frightened, until sunset when Celestia had come to find her. Twilight had been sure she would be punished for her mistake, but the princess, as always, simply smiled and held her, comforting her till she stopped panicking. Then she had shown her the secret to escaping the labyrinth.

A simple spell, encoded into the stones of the structure, would show the caster to the exit. Twilight tapped her horn on the stone, focusing hr desire to leave the maze into the wood. A soft glow appeared at the tip, growing and congealing into a luminous liquid that flowed over the stones, leaving a trail of light. Smiling, Twilight followed the trail through one of the exits.

Meanwhile, Applejack had been scouring the ground, looking for tracks. Her mind had been working overtime since they arrived, determined to win. The map piece was useless, a red beaver. Or salmon. Something red in water. Whatever it was, she didn’t need it. She had a plan.

She figured that, at some point recently, someone had come into the clearing from outside the maze, in order to set up everything. So all she needed to do was follow the tracks coming in. It was brilliant.

Unless they’d all teleported.

Or flew.

Or it had rained.

Or been particularly windy.

Or…

Applejack shut out the doubts. She was the best tracker in Dodge, this would be easy. The moment she let those thought overpower her, she’d lose everything. There was no point to looking to fall, only forward.

A relieved smile spread across her face as her sharp eyes found what she was looking for; a set of prints among the chaos, calm and crisp, headed towards the pedestal at the centre of the clearing. Tipping her hat to hide the smile, she followed the same path down that Twilight. Neither girl noticed that they had been watched, and now followed, by another competitor.

Through all of this, Rarity has been tutting and fussing over somewhere to sit. Finally satisfied, she sat down and began to draw.

---

Silence.

Awkward silence.

It hovered over the two as they walked through the maze broken only by the cracking of their shoes on the cobbles and the occasional frustrated roar from the other competitors. If they didn’t have to occasionally double check their course they may was well have been walking corpses. Applejack was fairly sure she could feel her brain rotting away from the bland routine of it. But the girl next to her, dressed in an even more ridiculous Transcendent outfit than Rarity, seemed so detached, like she was in a different world. Finally, impatience overcame nerves and she broke the silence.

“Heya.”

No answer.

“So…y’all got any stories?”

Nothing.

“Ahm Applejack. Nice to meet you.”

Silence.

“Oh for pity’s sake! Darn stuffy city folk never giving you the time of day and…” Her voice disappeared as she stormed around the corner.

…

“Sorry, what was that?”

Twilight stared after the cowgirl, confused. Had she missed something? She had a habit of drifting off, especially when she was nervous. In truth, she had wanted to talk, but didn’t know where to start
.

She missed Pinkie Pie.

The thought struck her like a sledgehammer. She must be delusional. Eaten something off. Heatstroke. Miss that crazy fool. Preposterous!

But the thought remained.

Then her magic went out.

Twilight stared at the ground where her trail had been, stumped. It was gone, without a trace.

Then the shadows came.

Every point of darkness began to grow, writhing and twisting till they became a sea of darkness on all sides. She was trapped. Her fingers nervously fumbled for her horn, but there was no spark as it touched her fingers. Her magic was blocked. She was helpless.

Frozen in fear, she didn’t fight as the darkness flowed towards her. It whispered terrible things, tearing at the depths of her soul.

“She hates you.”

“You’ll never be good enough.”

“Always having to clean up your mistakes.”

“Just a replacement.”

“Princess Celestia.”

---

“For pity’s sake,” Applejack muttered to herself as she retraced her steps. She’d taken a wrong turn in her huff. “Wastin’ my bloomin’ time.” Rounding the next corner she saw Twilight, on her knees, her limbs limp. Her eyes were bloodshot, staring forward into nothingness, and her skin looked stony and lifeless. Her horn had slipped though her fingers.

“Hey!” she called out. No response. “Hey!” she tried again, louder. Absolute silence. Not even a twitch. “Crabapples!” she swore, and sprinted over to wake her.

As her hands grabbed the Transcendent’s flesh, she saw it. The mass of darkness that had spread to cover everything but Twilight’s head. Applejack felt the radiating despair surge through her. Like a disturbed predator at its prey, the darkness reacted to her presence. It twisted round her hands, its magic gnawing at the cracks in her resolve.

“Weak.”

“Small.”

“You could never live up to someone like him.”

“Like hell I won’t!” Rather than weakening, her resolve tightened, pushing back against the unknown aggressor. The darkness recoiled, unsure, but Applejack pushed further. Grabbing both Twilight’s shoulders, she focused her mind on one thought.

“I. Will. Win!”

With a screech , the thing was finished, and the spell shattered. Twilight fell back, gasping as colour flowed back into her features.

“I…I thought I…the darkness was so…”

“Easy girl,” Applejack cooed gently, holding her hands up like she would for a frightened animal. “It’s ok. Deep breaths. It’s gone now.” Twilight complied, returning her pulse to normal. She looked questioningly up from the ground.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you help me? We’re competitors, shouldn’t you be…” Applejack cut her off with an offended glare.

“Now ah ain’t sure how it’s done in the city, but where ah come from we don’t leave another girl in distress, no matter their sides. We play fair.” She turned on her heels and stormed off for a second time. “And a customary response is ‘thank yah kindly’!”

Twilight gawked after her, slowly realizing how rude she’d just been. “Wait!” she finally managed, scrambling to her feet and sprinting after Applejack. The cowgirl took no notice of her presence. Twilight swallowed her pride, and thought of Pinkie Pie. “I’m sorry, and thank you. I’m Twilight.” Applejack looked over, and for a second Twilight thought she’d made another mistake, but her stern features couldn’t hold out against her smile.

“Ahm Applejack. Pleasure to meet ya.”

---

Left in the shadows, the darkness slithered after them. It may have been interrupted, but its mission was not done. Everything had to be perfect. Not even the smallest thorn could be allowed to interrupt this plan.

---

The two talked non-stop as they walked, discussing everything. It was a new experience for Twilight, just casually opening herself up to someone else, but Applejack just seemed safe. Like she had no hidden agenda. Honest.

“Personal student to Princess Celestia. THE Princess Celestia.” Applejack whistled, making Twilight blush.

“It’s not that special,” she played down. “Just some coaching, magic tutoring, unlimited access, questions…” she drifted off, a cheery smile plastered across her face. It took a good three finger snaps to bring her back to reality. “Sorry. It’s really good, now that I think of it. You said you came from Dodge Junction, right?”

“That’d be true. Furthest west you can go by train. Mah family own an orchard out there. Me an’ Applebloom, Granny Smite an’ Big Mac.” Now it was Applejack’s turn to go distant, as memories of her family flooded her mind. Twilight thought back to her studies of rural Equestria. She remembered that Dodge’s main, and possibly only, export were cherries.

“So cherries grow well out there.”

“That they do, but not for us. We’re apple folk.” This puzzled Twilight.

“But isn’t Dodge all desert? That isn’t good apple weather at all.” A shadow passed over Applejack’s eyes and she bit her lip, making Twilight panic. “I’m sorry! Did I say something wrong again?!”

“Woah Twi, it ain’t that!” a half amused expression crept up her face, but could not reach her eyes. “It’s just…oh finally!” AS if by magic, the end of the maze came into sight, allowing Applejack to gratefully change the subject. “Come on, ahm tired of this wall to wall scenery.” The cowgirl jogged off, Twilight quickening her pace to keep up.

A mere three steps from the exit, both girls simultaneously and completely unexpectedly tripped. They looked back, seeing ethereal rope wound around their ankles and a white haired figure sprinting past them.

“Yes!” The figure screamed triumphantly. “Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie proves her vast reserves of power and knowledge be being the first to emerge from the twists and turns of the inescapable…”

“Hiya!”

Trixie jumped a good six feet at Pinkie’s unexpected greeting, falling in a less-than-great-and-powerful heap on the ground.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called, having managed to dismiss Trixie’s ropes. “How did you manage to get out of the maze so quickly?”

“We were in a maze? That would explain all those weird turnoffs I passed on the way here. I thought we just go dumped downtown or something.”

“But, if you didn’t know we were in a maze, how did you navigate?”

“Oh that’s easy! I just did what I always do when I get lost. I followed my pinkie sense.” Twilight stared at the pink girl like she’d grown an extra mouth that was speaking alien. Her eye twitched, a tick that would only get worse with time.

“Y’all know each other then?” Applejack asked. Lacking Twilight’s natural magic, it had taken her slightly longer to escape Trixie’s spell.

“Yup,” Pinkie replied, grabbing Twilight in an involuntary embrace. “We’re best friends!” Twilight rolled her eyes, but again she felt something stirring within her. A feeling of safety and belonging. It felt…nice.

“Ah guess we just wait till time runs out now.” Applejack looked up at the sun. “Ah reckon there’s about twenty minutes left.”

“22 minutes, 34 seconds,” Pinke replied. Twilight opened her mouth to ask how she knew, but thought better of it. She sat down next to the dishevelled Trixie, desperately trying to escape her own cape and throwing many pointless insults at it, and began it wait.

---

Ten minutes later, and far more stories about explosive birthday cakes and their explosive side effects than Twilight cared to hear in her life, Rarity came into view. A picture of carefree, she waved openly to them as she came into sight, whatever she had been drawing fluttering in the wind. “Darlings, oh well done all.” As she left the maze, she turned to give a final courteous bow to it and walked up to the others. Trixie looked stunned.

“You,” Trixie sneered, having successfully freed herself from the devilish clutches of her own wardrobe choices. “How did you manage to escape?!”

“Simple dear.” Rarity flashed the piece of paper she’d been studying. “I copied the map shards from everyone else. It may be unladylike to snoop, but a true lady knows how to bend the rules.”

“But there must have been hundreds…I mean,” Trixie caught herself, “The Great and Powerful Trixie could have done that, but she found a quicker method.” This was met with a chorus of mutterings and general disbelief. Her pride severely wrecked Trixie resigned to pouting in the corner, but not before she passed one last hushed snap to Rarity as she passed. “Trixie thought she told you to drop out.”

“A lady should never sink to such petty drivel,” Rarity muttered back, her face all smiles in a way that Trixie suddenly found disturbingly similar to a crocodile before it struck. “But know that I will crush you into oblivion.”

The conversation ended there as a series of crashes thundered out from the labyrinth. To the right of the exit, cracks began to form in the masonry.

“Hitss it again!” a coarse voice called. Another crash and the wall collapsed, Garble’s massive form came through with the rubble. Rover stepped past him, earning a snort from the drake.

“Think you could help next time dog breath?” he growled.

“Without usss you wouldn’t have known upsss from downsss, let alone how to essscape. Now close up the wall ssso we aren’t followed.”

“You do it!” Rover growled back at Garble, but put his finger in his mouth and whistled. A cloud of dust rose around the fractured, accompanied by a disembodied scuffling sound. When the cloud settled the wall was rebuilt, albeit slightly crooked and mismatched. Applejack whistled softly herself.

“That’s some strange skill right there.”

“Getting cold feet?” Rarity asked smugly, although she too was curious as to the two newcomers, both now bickering about who would be first up to the group.

“Nah. Just getting excited, that’s all.” She looked back towards the labyrinth, then checked the sun again. “Think sky girl’s got a chance of makin’ it?”

“Absolutely not!”

---

“Rainbow, can we please slow down?” Fluttershy whimpered.

“We haven’t got time,” Rainbow Dash replied without taking her eyes from her path.

“But…”

“WE AREN’T STOPPING!!” Gilda bellowed, making Fluttershy jump and almost trip. Rainbow Dash’s guiding hand, constantly pulling her forward, was all that saved her from a painful face plant.

They’d been running non-stop for almost the entire hour, hitting dead end after dead end. Even if she refused to admit it, Rainbow Dash was getting desperate. She’d thought that, with her speed, they’d be able to exhaust all the maze’s possible routes with ease. But now it seemed they kept going in circles. And time was running out. Fast.

They rounded the next corner, meeting another impasse. Unable to bring herself around, Rainbow Dash collapsed, staring blankly at the brickwork. Fluttershy gratefully flopped down beside her, gasping for breath.

“No,” the multicoloured Sky whispered. She began beating her head against the wall yelling “damn it, damn it, damn it,” in time with her head.

“Cool it Dash,” Gilda said. The display of emotion was making her uncomfortable.

“But…but…”

“Oh come on Dash! Snap out of it!”

“Main street! In a dress Gilda! A DRESS!”

“Uh, guys.”

“Well quit moping and do something.”

“Guys.”

“You can’t expect me to…”

“GUYS!!!”

Both girls stopped, shocked at the usually quiet girl’s outburst. “Sorry,” Fluttersy murmured, shrinking back to her normal size. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I mean, I didn’t know it would be quite so…”

“Point, Fluttershy. Now.”

“Right. I know the way to the exit.” If the others had looked stunned before, now their expressions no w could have gone into the dictionary as an example of gobsmacked. “Or I think I do.” Still neither Gilda nor Rainbow Dash moved. “Guys?”

“H...how?” Rainbow Dash managed.

“He told me.” A tiny rodent, possible a gopher, popped up at Fluttershy’s feet. The pink haired girl patted it tenderly, and Rainbow Dash could have sworn she saw the little creature smile smugly up at her. “He was worried you would cave his home in with you crashing around, and asked what was wrong. I told him we needed to get out of the maze and…”

“That’s ridiculous,” Gilda said dismissively. “How could a little rat possibly…”

“Which way?!” Rainbow Dash said, pushing past Gilda to grab Fluttershy’s hands. “Which way, quickly!”

“Back two turns on the left, then a right, go straight for a while and…” The last of the directions were lost to the wind as Rainbow Dash raced away with new vigour, Fluttershy fluttering around like a ragdoll in her grasp.

---

“Fifteen!” Pinkie squealed, her excitement barely able to be contained as she bounded up and down. Twilight was worried the party girl may begin to vibrate out of existence all together, she was shaking so much

“She can’t possibly be that accurate,” the lavender transcendent thought out loud.

“Ten!” In the last straight of the maze, a rumbling began to be emerge.

“Is that…?” Applejack started.

“No…” Rarity muttered in shock.

“Five!”

“It can’t be.”

“Three! Two! ONE!”

As Pinkie’s feet hit the ground, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Gilda dived past the maze’s boundary. In the same instant, there was a blinding flash of light and a symphony of pops as a massive teleportation spell cleared all the stragglers from the field.

“Made it,” Rainbow Dash panted. She turned to Fluttershy, even more exhausted beside her, and affectionately tousled her hair. “Nice call Flutts!”

Fluttershy beamed.

There was a great crashing of space being torn, and Princess Celestia was among them. Each fell to their knees, some much more willingly than other. Rarity had to be quickly pulled down by Applejack, as the thought of dirtying her dress petrified her again.

“Well done to all of you. You have passed the first round, and succedded where so many others have failed. I am very proud of you all.” The Princess looked down at Twilight, trembling with nerves, and snuck her a reassuring wink. “Now come, the next round is waiting to begin.”

Author's Note:

CURSE YOU SOCIAL LIFE. WHY YOU INTEFERE WITH MY WRITING?!

Comments

[Y1]

Now we get into the games. That's fine, though I still don't really understand how the games are supposed to work. I get the impression that it's some kind of round by round affair but I'm really not certain.
Also of note is that it seems to me like only the mane six plus Trixie those dogs and Gilda made it out of the maze. I'm not really sure as to the number of the people who will be competing in the next round.
Also that was a good job implying the back story with AJ trying to live up to her fathers memory. I don't if you plan on elaborating on it but I liked how it was this chapter.
Oh and maybe it's just me but both Gilda and Trixie seem to be just complete bitches. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to make them slightly more sympathetic than just to stick with the 2d cardboard cut out characters they've had up till this point. I doubt they're going to be important characters but that doesn't change the fact that at this stage their behavior and motivation feels boringly simple.
Oh and was that shadow thing Luna or Discord? I can't quite tell.
Anyway good chapter and I look forward to more.

[Antares]

969517
Thanks. Nice big critique for me to work through.
I know how the rounds are going to work, I just need to find a way to put it on paper in a non-corny and terrible manner.
As a general rule anything I put in I plan to elaborate on. Worry not, it has a purpose, although probably not what you expect.
Yeah, they're both being a bit bitchy atm. I had something planned, maybe I'll have move it forward a bit now.
Not meant to know yet

[Y1]

969592
"Nice big critique for me to work through."
Heh, you should see me when I'm bored. I swear it takes up the whole freaking screen. Here's an example:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/39768/Anything-but-Textbook#comment/957826
My review's the second one from the bottom.
Maybe one night you'll get lucky/unlucky and catch me when I'm looking for something to do. Then I might do one of my sentence by sentence monstrosity's for you.
Anyway you just write this story as you see fit. If you think that Gilda and Trixie don't need stronger motivation for now then don't include it until later. Just remember that if you want us to like or understand them later it will be harder if you've already made us dislike them first.

[partiallygayguy]

Can you please make more?

[Antares]

969606
HOLY... that's massive.

969608
Thanks