Game Quest: Home Sweet Home episode 1

by Phantom-Dragon

Chapter 6: Dead End

“Ugh… where… where am I?”

Sunset Shimmer slowly opened her eyes, darting them around to observe her surroundings. Wearily, she sat up to find herself back on her couch, her VR headset sliding off her head. She turned toward the T.V., finding the title of the game she had been playing a while ago:

‘Home Sweet Home’.

“I’m… I’m home?” Sunset asked, confused. “Have I… fallen asleep? Was it all just… a dream?”

The fiery girl picked up the VR headset in her hands, scratching her head with her free one.

“No… no, it can’t be!” Sunset argued, perplexed. “That was all… too real to just be a dream. I was… I-I-I need some rest… my head hurts…”

Putting the headset down, Sunset walked toward the kitchen cabinet. Along the way, she passed the tank of her leopard gecko, Ray, who eyed her curiously. He watched as Sunset took a bottle of ibuprofen, swallowed a single tablet, and took a quick sip of water.

Afterward, she climbed up a set of stairs toward her bedroom. Once inside, she plopped herself down against the bed and immediately fell straight to sleep. Little did she know, however, that for Sunset Shimmer… the night was far from over.

---

Darkness…

At first, all Sunset Shimmer could see was another wave of blinding darkness. All of a sudden, a crack of lightning and the boom of thunder caused her eyes to bolt with a start.

“AH!!!”

Screaming, Sunset immediately sat up only to find herself in a dark wooden hallway. Much to her dismay, the nightmare was far from over.

“Now what?!” Sunset asked exasperated.

Looking around her new surroundings, Sunset found herself in a dark, dusty hall of some building. Judging by the wooden interior, Sunset assumed she was somewhere rural. It almost reminded her of when she was in the wooden cottage, haunted by the giant hungry Thai ghost called a Preta.

After she surveyed the whole layout of the new area, Sunset looked down at her hands. Much to her shock, she discovered that she was carrying a lit candlestick in the left hand and a dagger in the right.

“What the… where’d these come from?” Sunset asked herself. “And… what am I even doing here?”

Ahead of the hallway was nothing more than blinding darkness. Sunset could feel her heart pounding rapidly, unable to anticipate and foresee what danger could be lurking deep within the shadows. Danger waiting for her to approach, to pounce on her at any moment. Still, the girl wouldn’t find any answers by standing still in one place. Despite her worries, Sunset had a mystery to solve.

Swallowing a lump down her throat, Sunset took the first step, followed by another, and soon she was walking through the darkness with great caution. Why she was armed with only a small dagger and a lit candlestick, she didn’t know. Nor did she even know where she’d have gotten either of these items to begin with. All she knew was that somewhere inside this strange building, somewhere in the darkness, there had to be a way out… and Sunset Shimmer was determined to find it.

Sunset passed a few bookshelves, cabinets, and some larger drawers with lanterns. They seemed rather fancy, giving Sunset the impression that people residing in this building are not as rural as Applejack or any person living in the countryside. More or less, they must have some decorative and cultural taste.

*BOOM! CRACK!*

“AAAAHHH!!!”

The sudden flash of light exploded, outside the window and nearly blinding Sunset. The hallway lit up quickly due to the lightning bolt which seemed awfully close. Outside, a storm was brewing loud and strong. Such in a way that it shook the entire building. Sunset felt the building tremble beneath her feet.

In shock, as Sunset tried to regain her composure, she felt certain she heard a woman’s laughter echoing throughout the building. Sunset cast frightening glances behind her, then in front of her to seek out the source.

“H-H-Hello?” She called out, stuttering.

No reply.

“Hello?! Is anyone there?”

Again, no reply. Sunset’s entire body shook with goosebumps running all over her skin. Her hair stood on end as the silence continued. All was silent, apart from the rumbling thunderstorm outside.

Scared out of her wits, Sunset Shimmer kept walking through the building, cautious and frightened. She navigated through the twisted halls, unsure of where she was going. Every turn she made led to another fork in the road – or in this case, hall – and Sunset felt more lost than ever. At one point, she swore she heard a door creak open.

“Who’s there?!” Sunset demanded.

She made a turn towards the creaking door, seeing it was opening and shutting itself.

“Hmm… must’ve been a breeze. At least, I hope that’s what it was…”

Turning around, Sunset continued navigating her way through the dusty halls of the building. At one point, she happened to pass a drawer with a bust head sitting atop. The bust wore a bejeweled cone-shape crown aligned with ridges from top to bottom.

“Wow… looks pretty,” Sunset commented. “Must be worth a fortune…”

Shaking her head, Sunset brushed the crown to the side and continued her descent down the dark halls. At one point, she happened to pass a hall leading up a lit stairway with two doors at the top. She walked over to the stairs, climbing up to turn the doors open. But it was of no avail, the doors were locked. She walked back down the stairs and continued on her way.

Through her journey down the halls, Sunset’s ears perked up by the sound of clinking. They almost sounded like the kind of noise made when coins dropped from one hand to another. She looked behind her only to find no one there.

Turning her head forward again, a crash of lighting startled her suddenly. Before her eyes, the whole hall illuminated just ahead. However, what scared her most wasn’t the lightning bolt itself. Before the light disappeared, bathing the hall in total darkness again, Sunset was certain she saw someone standing on the side of the hall. And all it did was look back at her.

“Uh… h-h-h-hi?” Sunset greeted, sheepishly. “Hello? I’m… I’m sorry if I’m… intruding… I-I-I… I was… I got lost and I…”

However, upon a closer look, Sunset realized the figure she spoke to was nothing more than a wooden mannequin. It was dressed in ornamental clothing, encrusted with expensive jewelries, and a large crown to match.

“Oh! Hehe,” Sunset chuckled nervously. “Just a wooden dummy.”

Feeling another pique of curiosity, Sunset examined the mannequin’s clothing closely. She felt the texture of its fabric between her fingers, as she shined her light along the jewelries sparkling against the light.

“If Rarity were here, she’d be amazed by this,” Sunset thought fondly.

It was then Sunset Shimmer stepped back, examining the statue in its entirety. It held a certain Asian appeal to it. Southeast Asia to be precise. The clothing it wore seemed to speak proudly of its culture, its history, and its heritage. At this moment, it slowly dawned on Sunset.

“Wait… is this… all in Thailand? Am I back again?” Sunset asked. “But how? Why? And… Mr. Tim… is he doing all right…?”

Pushing her concerns aside, along with any burning questions with no answers, Sunset kept walking down the hall. Along the way, she found more wooden mannequins but none of them wore clothing. Some were even missing a head and an arm. One of them fell to the floor suddenly, startling Sunset so much she nearly dropped both her dagger and candle.

After catching her breath, stopping to compose herself, Sunset was well on her way till she came across a locked door and turned back the way she came.

“Maybe I should just… sing myself a song,” Sunset convinced herself. “Yeah… that’s what Pinkie Pie would do. Sing…”

Sunset thought up a song Pinkie Pie would sing whenever there’s trouble. And so Sunset sang it herself, albeit stuttering, as if she ‘tried’ to force the song to be merry:

Wh-Wh-When I was a little girl and the sun was going d-d-d-d-down…

Th-Th-Th-Th-The d-d-d-d-darkness and the sh-sh-sh-shadows, they would always me me fr-fr-fr-froooooooooown…

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I…

“K-K-K-Kind of hard to sing when you’re stuttering so m-m-m-much Sunset,” Sunset stammered.

Her teeth chattered within this cold environment, matching with her rapid heartbeat. The cold grip of fear slowly took hold of her.

“N-Not to mention ch-ch-ch-chatting… t-t-t-t-teeth.”

Sunset’s ears suddenly perked up over the sound of a woman singing in the room next door. Carefully, she placed her ears against the door to hear a rather pleasant tune. Sunset proceeded to carefully put her dagger away, deep within her coat pocket, and brushed herself with her free hand to at least attempt to appear ‘presentable’.

Sunset gently knocked on the door, and the singing stopped.

“Hello?” Sunset greeted, nervously. “Sorry… I hope I’m not interrupting or anything, but… I’m lost and I…”

Before Sunset could continue, the door opened slightly ajar, as if inviting Sunset into the room. Sunset carefully opened the door to the side and peeked into the room. But much to her confusion, there was nobody there. No one but another wooden mannequin, adorned in the same bejeweled clothing from before.

“That’s funny… I’m sure I heard someone,” Sunset told herself.

Shrugging it off, Sunset continued on her way through the halls. Trying to find a way out, she happened to pass a seemingly familiar drawer with the same bust head and be-jeweled crown. The only difference was that the crown and bust head were turned over.

“Did I take a wrong turn?” Sunset asked herself.

Next, Sunset Shimmer happened to pass the lit stairway on her right much like the one before. Only this time, at the very top, there was a silhouette of a woman dancing.

“Uh… hello!” Sunset called out, walking towards the dancer. “I…”

But before Sunset could even reach the stairs, the lights turned off. By the time Sunset reached the top, the mysterious dancer was nowhere in sight.

“That’s creepy…” Sunset frowned.

Walking back downstairs, another flash of lighting lit up the hallway. Before Sunset Shimmer, the lightning revealed the wooden mannequin from before. It stood in the exact same spot where Sunset found it. Sunset walked past the mannequin, giving it a dry look

“Okay, that confirms it… I’m going in circles! I don’t suppose ‘you’ know the way out? Do you? Could you maybe, oh I don’t know… ‘point’ the way out? How hard can that be?”

Sunset Shimmer stood silent for a few seconds, waiting for some form of activity. But just as she thought, the mannequin was as silent as most of this house.

“Of course it’s hard for you,” Sunset groaned. “You’re just a dummy; I’m going nuts! I’m talking to a wooden dummy!”

Turning around, Sunset kept walking, opening the doors, and found herself in the same room where she heard a woman singing. Before she could proceed, a woman’s laughter was heard. But this time, it sounded eerily close… like it was right behind her. With a cautious peek, Sunset looked toward the dark hallway only to see… nothing.

Her eyes couldn’t see, but her ears listened for the sound of clinking. Their volumes increased each passing second, as if to alert Sunset that someone or ‘something’ was approaching her.

Finally, another flash of lighting lit up, with a *CRACK!* and a *BOOM!*. Except it wasn’t the noise that startled her. Sunset could’ve sworn, between the light of the lightning bolt, in place of the wooden mannequin stood a person. With a newfound grip of terror taking over, Sunset turned and ran towards the door to the other side of the room. She pushed it open only to find herself appearing in a separate room, with four support beams in the very center.

One door ahead was closed, but a double door along the side was open. Before she could race towards them, hoping to escape, the doors shut tightly on themselves. Much to her horror, the door behind her creaked open. Slowly Sunset turned around and was horrified to see a scary woman, dressed in the same bejeweled clothing worn by the mannequin stalking towards her.

“Uh… h-h-hello there,” Sunset greeted sheepishly. “My name is—”

But at the moment, the most startling of all was the sound of another woman’s voice.

“Leave me alone!!”

“Huh?”

Sunset turned around, started to see she stood face-to-face with the woman she and Tim had been searching for.

“Jane?!” Sunset exclaimed.

Sunset could hardly believe her eyes but there she stood. Right in front of her, there was Jane exactly how Sunset saw her in both the pictures and Tim’s memories. The only exception was… she wasn’t wearing a white dress. Instead, she had nothing on her but a gray sleeveless sweatshirt, a pair of short jeans, and gray shoes.

“OMIGOSH! Mr. Tim and I have been looking all over for you!” Sunset exclaimed excitedly. “I-I-I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I tell him…”

Sunset ceased talking upon noticing that Jane wasn’t making any responses to her words. The woman didn’t even look at her or even rewarded Sunset with a reply. It was as if she couldn’t see nor hear Sunset Shimmer at all.

“Mrs. Jane? Can you hear me?” Sunset asked, snapping her fingers in her face. “Hello? Hey!”

Unfortunately, the moment was cut short. The sound of clinking jewels brought Sunset and Jane’s attention back to the scary woman, who approached them with a sinister smile matching the look of evil gleaming in her eyes. Quickly, Sunset assumed a fighting stance.

“Hey you! Stay back! I’m warning you!”

Sunset held a pair of fists at the ready but was startled to see she was no longer holding the dagger and candlestick in either of her hands. She looked around the room, searching for the items until she turned to Jane and was gulp-smacked to see the woman was now in possession of the two items. Could it be, was Sunset seeing all these things through Jane’s eyes?

But the woman didn’t comply; instead, she continued to advance upon Jane and Sunset.

“Stay away from me!!” Jane shouted, quivering. “Any closer and I’LL STAB YOU!”

“You heard her!” Sunset told the woman. “She said stay away!”

Sunset threw a fist at the woman but was startled and complexed to see her flying fist having passed through. It was though she was a ghost. Unable to physically stop the scary woman in Thai dressing, Sunset watched helplessly as Jane looked as if she were backing into a corner.

“I said GET AWAY FROM ME!!” Jane screamed.

Without warning, in the blink of an eye, the scary woman lunged towards Jane with surprising speed. Sunset watched helplessly as Tim’s terrified, missing wife struggled to break free. But instead, she was hurled onto the floor with a loud thud, dropping her dagger.

“Mrs. Jane!” Sunset Shimmer shouted, holding out her hand.

Suddenly, as if an invisible hand took hold of her, Sunset felt herself dragged away. The fiery girl was helpless as Jane was dragged away in the opposite direction, deep within the darkness.

“JAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!”

Sunset Shimmer screamed from the top of her lungs, as another bolt of lightning cracked the air, illuminating her whole world in blinding light.

---

At the exact hour of dawn, at the peak of sunrise, Sunset Shimmer awoke with a start. She reeled from the adrenaline of the nightmare which she experienced. It was so nerve-wracking that the girl fell from her bed. Soon as she got up, she only took a few seconds to catch her breath, rapidly breathing. She looked around her surroundings, finding herself back home and fully awake.

“Whoa!”

Her appearance being the least of her concerns, Sunset picked herself up and rushed out the apartment door seeking out her friends. After what she recently endured, Sunset Shimmer had to be with her friends for emotional support. The question was: Would they still accept her? Would they even believe her story? Or would they consider her insane, insisting she’s spent too much time cooped up in her apartment playing video games?

Whatever the case may be, Sunset wanted nothing more than to be with her friends. Not another day binge gaming over horror video games. Speaking of whom, Sunset knew there was only one friend she needed to consult with in this kind of situation.

The one friend Sunset Shimmer knew… who would listen…

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Author's Note:

Sunset Shimmer's midquel for Game Quest is done!

Look out for the upcoming chapters of Game Quest: Super Mario 64!

Comments

[Vimtrust5]

Whoa... Now that was certainly... something. Was any of Sunset's experiences real or a dream? Guess we'll find out some other time. Anyway congrats on finishing the story.

[Phantom-Dragon]

11357882
Thank you. Now, it’s time for me to unpause and resume Super Mario 64.

[Tim Ribbert]

11357893
I will say this after a long wait it's very satisfying reading this story I especially love the details you include in your story very good job

[Omegamorph]

Again was curious how the cliffhanger would have been handled. Good spot to leave off and I'm looking forward to whatever's coming next for the project as a whole after Mario.