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Not Just Stories1,238 words
The Participants6,020 words
Level 1 - Upstairs2,605 words
Level 1 - Dreamworld2,298 words
Level 1 - Candle Cove4,355 words
Level 1 - Abandoned By Disney8,038 words
Slender Note #12,337 words
A Speech to the First Victors2,049 words

Level 1 - Dreamworld

The moment that Sweetie Belle tumbled out of the portal and back onto the cold ground of the arena, she was embraced by her sister's hooves, attempting to console her.

"Sweetie Belle, are you okay?"

Shaking slightly, the young filly got to her hooves and nodded. "I-It was so scary... there was this thing that looked like Mom but it wasn't Mom and-"

"We saw the whole thing, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo interrupted. She pointed a hoof toward the large screen on which the story had been displayed. "That was pretty freaky."

"And there will definitely be more freaky ones to come!" Crescent Beam called down with an eager smile on her face. The ever-changing colors on her body seemed to shift at a faster pace if she got excited.

"Don't remind us," Gilda muttered with an annoyed flick of her tail. "Being in this stupid place is freaky enough."

"Either way, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Lightning Prism inquired in an almost kind demeanor. The platform on which he and the other hosts were perched on lowered slightly. "Pretty harmless."

"Other than scaring us silly!" Pinkie exclaimed, managing to keep a slight smile on her face. She laughed slightly, though whether it was from nervousness, relief, or an attempt at personal comfort, nopony really knew.

"Exactly," the male Iridescent agreed. "Nothing in this first Level will kill you. They'll almost certainly unnerve you on some level, but nothing will grievously hurt you or end your life."

"And that's supposed to make us feel better?" Trixie demanded.

Lightning's eyes narrowed firmly in response. "Want us to immediately make it so that every story is almost guaranteed to seriously hurt or kill you?"

The blue unicorn fell silent.

There was a deranged bloodlust in Jeff's lidless eyes, but for the time being he was said nothing. It was clear however that he simply wanted to get to the later levels and watch ponies die.

Another portal quickly opened on the opposite side of the arena, its appearance steadying like the first trial's had been. This one bore a silvery border, with a multitude of colors swirling around inside it.

The hosts looked curiously at the portal.

"Dreamworld, huh?" Crescent mused. "Interesting one..." She glanced at Lightning, who looked just as intrigued.

"So what, does that mean we go inside somepony's dreams?" Apple Bloom's wariness gave way to a cautious interest. "That doesn't seem too bad-"

"Knowing these guys, there's probably something sinister about it," Twilight interrupted, eyes narrowed at the ponies overlooking them. "Like sending us into nightmares."

"It's nice of you two to volunteer," Lightning said in an off-hand matter, "but we'll save you two for later."

"Don't worry, you'll get a chance somewhere along the line!" Crescent assured brightly. Her multicolored eyes turned thoughtful as she scoured the crowd below.

"... How about we give this one to Discord?"

Everyone's heads swiveled around to look at the stunned draconequus.

"Me?" Discord's wings fluttered a little and his red-pupiled eyes glanced curiously upward. "Why me if this is just a Level 1?" He bore an expression of genuine puzzlement and irritation as he waved his eagle-clawed hand indignantly. "I would think that I'd deserve to be tested on a higher level."

"Do you want to be killed, you idiot?!" Chrysalis snapped.

"No," Discord replied in a huff. "I just think I deserve better."

"Simple," Crescent said in response to Discord's inquiry, ignoring the changeling queen. "You're the spirit of chaos, aren't you?"

A small smile crossed Discord's face as he put his lion paw to his chest in a pleased manner. "And quite proud of it, might I add."

"Well, it stands to reason that we ought to have a bit of a taste of your chaotic medicine," Lightning explained.

"Care to elaborate on that?"

Lightning shook his head, the faded outline of a horn briefly flashing into existence before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. "The story world will elaborate for you." A smile crossed his face. "Level 1's can't really hurt or kill you, but that doesn't mean they can't have an effect on you."

Crescent waved a hoof toward the portal. "Now go on. Step through."

Discord walked over to where the entryway rested, frankly looking somewhat irritated that he couldn't just teleport. Despite this, he turned around to the others in attendance and gave a dramatic bow.

"Arrivaderci, everypony!" the dranconequus exclaimed, disappearing through the portal.

"Man," Vinyl muttered as the large screen began to flicker to life, "he's a bit full of himself, isn't he?"

"Quiet," Crescent chided as the second "story world" began to come into view. "Let's just see what the Dreamworld brings..."

----

One second, Discord had been walking upright as he stepped through the portal. The next, he found himself in a different perspective as he was repositioned on his his back, staring upward. Wherever he was, he could see nothing, trapped in total darkness.

If that weren't unusual enough, though he had just been put into this position, it felt as if he had been laying on his back for hours rather than seconds. And he felt a bit more drowsy, not wide-awake as he had been moments before...

That's peculiar, Discord thought to himself. I appear to be laying on something... unusually soft... a bed, maybe? At least it's better than being trapped in stone. But it seems too easy, too simple...

The draconequus frowned - or at least, he tried to. And it was then that he realized that something was indeed wrong.

He was completely paralyzed, unable to do so much as twitch. It was just like being encased in stone once again.

Drat it! Discord inwardly snapped. At least when I was turned into stone I knew where I was! Here it's so... dark and quiet.

The darkness and silence irked him for a different reason - as desolate as this place seemed, it had a quiet order to it. Discord, a being of chaos, couldn't stand order - it was so boring. And the fact that this place was so silent was really beginning to get on his nerves. Its silence brought an order unto itself the fact that there was nothing at all gave it a stability that Discord was unable to break.

He wanted to do something to break this silent order. Anything. And he didn't have to wait long for the atmosphere to take shape, and the silent order to end.

The area seemed to slowly become bathed in a faint, ethereal light, the ceiling above shimmering in a writing black mess as if it were alive. The faint outlines of shapes could be seen hovering on the edge of Discord's viewpoint, some appearing so close that he could reach out and touch them with a claw if he were capable of movement.

As the movement and shifting of the walls and ceiling increased, trapped on the bed, it hit the draconequus as to what was going on. Why he felt more drowsy now than he had before.

This was called the Dreamworld. He must be dreaming... but then why did he seem to be awake? And why was he immobile, paralyzed? Ordinarily his dreams were filled with an absence of any sort of logic, where he reigned supreme, but this wasn't anything like that.

There was an order that Discord could do nothing to stop. Like it or not, he had no power of chaotic influence here - he was under the order of whatever this place was.

And in that moment, the ever-rippling shadows began to change in a swirl, color and strange howling noises suddenly being brought forth.

----

The sudden change of the atmosphere caused a few murmurs of confusion amongst the group outside, trying to figure out what was going on.

"It's some form of sleep paralysis," Twilight said. "That's when your brain thinks that it's asleep, even if you're actually awake, and it sometimes causes weird hallucinations."

"I have a feeling these aren't gonna be just any hallucinations, Twily," Shining muttered with a frown.

Doctor, however, glanced up at the hosts at the time, a thoughtful expression on his face as he observed their expressions. The two Iridescents in particular seemed especially intent. As if they were waiting for something specific to happen. Like a code or message meant only for them.

"Clearly they're waiting for something," the Doctor said in a whisper as the Iridescents seemed to peer closer. With a second glance at the shifting ponies, the Doctor turned his attention back to the screen, blue eyes narrowed.

"What is it, Doctor?" Derpy whispered to the earth pony quietly, having noticed his change in expression.

"There's something those ponies up there are waiting for," he mused as the colors and shapes in the other world began to brighten. "And I have a feeling it could be important."

----

The dark space surrounding the paralyzed draconequus began to shift and brighten into a strange mix of colors and shapes, accompanied by the appearance of various strange objects and figures. One appeared to have metallic, long fingers, which carefully danced along the bed where Discord lay, barely grazing his chest and head with its cold touch. But the strange creature disappeared as quickly as it had come. As if it were a messenger alerting the ones who waited, other beings began to spring forth.

As the noises grew louder, more beings seemed to fade in and out from the swirling abyss that surrounded Discord, the likes of which not even he had ever seen. One that appeared to be a pony mixed with an octopus-like creature rose out of the vortex's depths, appearing to stare at Discord with its bright eyes. Another soon replaced the octopus-creature, this one a pale, skeletal being with soulless black eyes and extremely large fingers which seemed to large for its hands, harboring what looked like thin strips of muscle from the tips.

The large-fingered creature came over to the bed and gripped Discord's eagle claw with two of its fingers, seeming to stare directly down at him as if trying to see into the draconequus's mind.

The noises turned into loud screeches and clangs, mixed with the sound of screams within the swirling colors. But there was a muttering as well, a fast-paced murmur in a collection of voices. It seemed to Discord as if a hundred different voices were interacting in a chorus of cries and deranged mutterings of words. A chaos with order.

The thought of which both irritated Discord and unnerved him.

As he attempted to make out a few of the words, but despite the fact that his mind yearned for chaos, it seemed that here not even he could decipher the jumble of words. Then again, he wanted to hear chaos, so perhaps he was just hearing things that his subconscious made up to fill the void. And seeing things, for that matter.

The voices became a frantic babble as the strange creatures and shapes flashed in and out of existence, seeming to have a timed order that only they could understand.

As the creatures occasionally grazed his form, Discord began to feel a sort of weakness overcome him. It was as if his strength, his thought, was beginning to fade a little every time these creatures seemed to touch him. Thoughts of chaos that had been buried within his subconscious - both his silly ones and his far more sinister thoughts - came to the forefront of his mind, almost unwillingly, and momentarily appeared outside him, a faint projection flickering into the swirling mist.

It hit Discord, exactly, what this Dreamworld was doing to him - this place was somehow feeding off of his imagination. Taking mere thoughts and making them a part of this place. Controlling chaos... that's what they were doing.

And if there was one thing that Discord hated - one of the few things that he feared - it was chaos being controlled.

Then, in the constant haze of shapes and creatures, a lone figure stood over Discord. It was tall and cloaked, a bit more wraith-like than the other creatures that had been seen. He could see nothing of its features except for its yellow eyes.

The figure said nothing, only staring into Discord's eyes as the colors around it seemed to slow in their pace. The other creatures seemed to have disappeared, but the shapes and noises remained.

Suddenly, the light touch of a hand was felt at the top of Discord's head, and once more the deeper thoughts of his imagination were brought out to manifest in an ethereal form. Twisted creations of the mind hovered and faded to merge with the vortex of color and sound that made up the walls and ceiling of the Dreamworld. And the sleep paralysis still rendered Discord incapable of movement.

The shapes and voices still swirled within the world's murky depths, the cloaked figure appearing to be the only constant. Everything else, even Discord's mind and imagination itself. But even it began to fade, joining in the endless merging of the forms that were made of the imaginations of the creatures residing there.

And at last the draconequues found himself lifted from the frozen haze of sleep paralysis to be fully awake and upright once again, knocked out of the portal as it shut behind him.

And just as the participant had come back to the group, Doctor shot a quick glance at the Iridescents. The pair had taken on a look of excitement as all those beings and shapes were appearing, but now their faces had briefly flashed to expressions of disappointment and irritation.

Darnit to tartarus, Lightning snapped to himself. If only the Dreamworld obeyed our wishes...

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