Chapter 8: Nothing There is What it Seems
No one was sure what was going on. After Ven Pelt looked away, they saw their opportunity to escape into the ruins. However, before they could do so, Smolder headed towards the clubhouse, whispering that she needs to get the game first. Twilight told her to meet them in the throne room before they rushed off.
Then there were the two-gun shots. Within the castle, they echoed like claps of furious thunder. No one was sure what had happened, nor could they afford to stop to see what was going on. Upon reaching the dilapidated throne room there was a sense of dread that perhaps something may have happened to Smolder.
“Please tell me she’s alright.” Sandbar looked around the room. “Is she?”
“Of course, she is, darling.” Rarity patted his back, “Smolder is a dragon. If she can swim in molten lava, surely that weapon couldn’t hurt her… would it?”
Everyone turned to Spike for answers. “I mean yeah, dragons, in general, are tough but… with that thing that psychopath has… I don’t know. It’s hard to say since I’ve never seen that thing before.”
Just then they heard quick footsteps that were heading their way. And out from the dark halls, Smolder emerged with the game under her arm.
“Smolder, are you okay?” Ocellus rushes up to her, “What happened? Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine, just…” She looked over her shoulder. “The hunter guy is injured.” Everyone asked what she meant by that. “I was making a run for it. I looked over my shoulder and the guy was about to shoot me. But before he could, an arrow came right out of nowhere and impaled his hind leg. The guy screamed but he didn’t shoot at me. Instead, he turned his gun somewhere else before collapsing.”
“Like accidental?” Silverstream asked.
Smolder shook her head. “No, like he took a split second to aim at something else before he shot again. Like he had a different… target…” Her eyes grew wide. “Wait, where’s Gallus!?”
From above, a shadow flew across the floor and over towards the broken part of the ancient stained-glass ceiling. Gallus came in with tears in his eyes, pain on his face, and clenching a red spot on his shoulder. “Guys, help… this really hurts…”
Landing near the twin thrones, his teachers and Zecora were the first to come to his aid.
“Gallus, what happened to you?” Fluttershy asked.
The griffon’s face was contorted in pain. Trying his hardest not to scream. “I got away… from the jaguar. Long story short I found a crossbow to try to distract the hunter… B-But he was about to shoot Smolder.” Sitting down to lean up against the golden throne he added, “I shot the guy in the leg but… but he got me back.”
Zecora sat on her rump to dig through her bag. “I knew this game would hurt someone if it dared, which is why I came prepared.” She pulled out a few jars, a roll of gauze, a rag, and a pair of long tweezers. “Twilight, do you know any painkilling or healing spells?”
“I remember reading medical spells last year.” She nodded, “How can I help?”
“First, cleaning the wound is a must need, but after that, follow my lead.”
Giving Zecora and Twilight some space to help Gallus, Fluttershy, Spike and Ocellus turned to Smolder. “You’re not going to start up again, are you?” Spike asked her.
She shook her head. “Not while Gallus is hurt.” Sitting on a fallen column, she placed the game down next to her. “I so deserve getting expelled for this.”
“No, don’t say that.” Fluttershy sat down next to her.
“But it’s true! Everything that’s happened today, I’ve started it. The school being burned down, Yona getting sucked into a nightmare for hours, and now Gallus being seriously hurt. I just… I just wanted to have fun, not this.”
“You didn’t know it would result in this. None of you did.” Rubbing her foreleg, Fluttershy added, “I don’t think you will be getting expelled, because Zecora has been taking the blame. Since she was the one that created the game, it gets increasingly stressful every time something bad happens. Yet, even when things are looking grim, Zecora isn’t giving up so easily.”
“But professor,” Ocellus said, “Just because Zecora created the game, doesn’t mean we’re any less guilty for the outcomes. I don’t it matters if we knew what would happen or not, the fact that we participated in this is still something to consider.”
“That doesn’t mean that any one of you isn’t worth being forgiven.”
“But-”
Fluttershy raised her hoof to silence her lips. “Ocellus, have I ever told you about my favorite quote? The one that had has shaped me to the mare I am today, of why out of everyone I could forgive anyone, even Discord – twice.”
“I… don’t think you have.”
“It’s from Shakespur. I don’t remember what the play was, but it’s the one that has a huge impact on me.”
“What’s the quote?” Smolder asked.
Clearing her throat, she recited. “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed: it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown. His scepter shows the force of temporal power, the attribute to awe and majesty wherein doth sits the dread and fear of kings; but mercy… is above this sceptered sway. It is enthroned in the hearts of kings; it is an attribute to Faust Herself; and earthly power doth then show likest her's when mercy seasons justice. Therefore, you, though justice be thy plea, consider this: that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.”
“…. For once, I don’t think I need to ask what that means. Though I doubt Headmare Twilight would be that merciful.”
“You’d be surprised,” Spike commented. “Still, I get that you’re feeling guilty. And Twilight had mentioned this before, you’re not going to get expelled. Neither you nor Gallus is. And I know everyone has heard this about a thousand times already, but the fact remains – we are already over halfway done with this. If all of us were able to save Equestria at least a dozen times when it seems hopeless, then surely this game won’t defeat us so easily.”
“I believe what everyone is trying to say,” Ocellus said, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “If you’re feeling hopeless, keep going. If you’re tired, keep going. If all of Tartarus is rising up to stop you, keep going. If we get hurt or killed, keep going. If that psychotic hunter is telling you to stop, keep going. If you’re scared, keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop. If you want this nightmare to be over and to set things right, keep going. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not stopping until this is finished.”
“I know… I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt is all.”
After a while, Zecora and Twilight had finished helping Gallus. Once they cleaned up his wound and bandaged him up that they were ready to continue with the game.
“So… whose turn is it anyway?” Pinkie asked.
“I know Silverstream went before me,” Gallus said. “That means it has to be Smolder’s turn.”
Gulping, Smolder set the game on the ground and unfolded the panels. Picking up the dice, she held them in her claws, shaking them. “We’re almost there…” she told herself. “Everyone ready?”
With everyone nodding, Smolder rolled the dice that rolled a five.
They all watched as her Monkey token advanced down the path of the game. Reaching its destination, the green gem in the center formed a new rhyme in its sinister yellow smoke. This time it read:
Nothing there is what it seems
Just make believe and scary dreams.
“Huh?” Smolder blinked, “What the hay does that even…?” Her question died down when she looked up to see that not only her friends and teachers were gone, but so was the castle. Without any warning, her surroundings had changed dramatically. She was in a dark jungle with towering trees that had a canopy so thick that barely any light came down. The air was damp and cold like being in a freezing bath. All around were sounds of creepy-crawlies and calls of beasts unknown to here. Yet, most horrifying of all was that her friends were nowhere in sight.
“Guys! Guys where are you!” But no matter which way she turned; she was completely alone. “Where the hay am I? How did I get here?”
Although she had no idea where she was, she was already forming a guess and dreaded the thought of it. She was now inside the game – inside Jumanji’s thick dark jungle.
Suddenly she felt someone touch her arm. Turning around, she didn’t see anyone there, but she did hear something. A wheezing roar from a dying creature, yet something about it sounded… wrong. She felt someone touching her wing, and she turned around with her claws splayed out to attack. Yet there was still nothing there.
“Who's there!” Smolder called out but got no reply. “Don’t you dare try to eat me or I will burn you a crisp!”
As a dragon, Smolder had grown up that she should be able to stand up to anything, even to other dragons. That she must be brave whenever something dares tries to eat her. Yet, she was not prepared for what she saw. In the darkness, she saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes… then another… then another. At first, she thought she was dealing with a group, but the eyes moved and slithered together like a snake. Even going up in the air, weaving between the trees with the swiftness of the wind. In the dim light, she saw a monster that made her take a step back. A creature that had many eyes while being covered in hundreds of thousands of spider-like legs that moved like wallowing seaweed. And the mouth at the front was an impossibly wide grin that showed rows upon rows upon rows of teeth that were thin and sharp like needles.
“Oh no no no nonononono NO!” In that icy-terrified moment, Smolder was so overcome with fear that she immediately took flight to get away from this thing. Smolder may be a dragon, but even she knew her limits when fighting abominations like this. And this certainly was her limit. She needed to get away from it as quickly as possible.
Yet, as much as she tried to fly, that thing was somehow one step ahead of her. Just when she was about to make a break for it through an opening, that nightmarish creature blocked her. She could swear that it was growing longer as it moved and slithered above and around her. And every time she was blocked, those insect legs were slashing at her to either slash or stab at her.
With every chance to escape being closed out left, right, and center with the monster circling, constricting around her, Smolder did what any dragon would do – she took a deep breath and unleashed a fury of fire. Letting out a carnal scream while flames licked away at the creature. Even though it could keep it back, she knew she can’t keep up forever. There must be some way to get out of this.
That was when she felt it gabbing her wings. The bug-like legs took hold of her, dragging her back to the ground. Desperately, she tried to slash blindly at the legs. She felt her claws claw against something, and the creature let out an unholy shriek of pain. Yet, when she tried it again, the leg had moved out of the way. She was trapped!
“No! Let go of me! Get off!” Smolder screamed as her eyes saw the mouth of a thousand teeth coming closer over her head. “No! Don’t! Get away! STOP!” She was terrified, more so than at any time of her life. She was going to die, being eaten alive by a monster, far away from her friends with no one to help. “Please! I don’t wanna die!”
Then the creature’s tooth touched her forehead.
And Twilight Sparkle took its place. “Smolder! Smolder! It’s okay, you’re okay!”
Smolder blinked. The nightmarish jungle was gone, along with the monster. She was surrounded by her friends and teachers. “Wha…” Smolder took in unsteady breaths, trying to calm down from the horror she was in. “W-What happened? Where did you guys go?”
“We didn’t go nowhere,” Applejack told her. “We were here the whole time.”
“But… you guys disappeared. I was in a jungle and-”
“You didn’t go anywhere either.” Sandbar said. “But as soon as you read out that rhyme, you went crazy suddenly; you got really scared. So scared you lashed out at us.”
With her friends letting her go, she looked around and she was shocked to see Silverstream covering the side of her cheek, eyes clenched, and seeing blood leaking out from her claw.
“Oh gods! Silverstream, did I hit you!?”
“It’s not your fault,” Silverstream said before hissing in pain. “Really, it’s not.”
“But-”
“She’s right.” Twilight told her, “After you read that rhyme, your eyes changed. And I recognized it as being like how Sombra controlled ponies. What it did was it gave you the illusion of you being in your worst fears. In other words, you were blinded into a nightmare that, if we hadn’t tried to hold you down and remove it, you’d likely have woken up.”
“Be assured that you are safe and sound,” Zecora went through her bag again to pull out some bandages and ointment she used on Gallus, “in the meantime, I take care of your friend’s wound.”
Taking Silverstream aside to clean up her scared face, Smolder eyed the gameboard with implacable hatred. If she didn’t know better, she would easily have incinerated that game to ashes on the spot. Then its ashes were to be scattered to the winds so that it would never hurt anyone again. However, the only thing that prevented her from doing so, was the knowledge of what the game could do.
‘If we get out of this alive,’ Smolder thought, ‘I’ll be the first to cremate it.’
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Oh shoot he got shot oh no gallus 😱😭
Oh smolder I'm sure you never meant anything like this to happen
Trust me smolder you're not the only one who tried to destroy that game
I'm pretty sure sound and wound (the one you're using here) don't rhyme.
When the teachers and the students got out of there they heard the gunshots fearing the worst that smolder got hurt but remarkably she didn't and she got the game but then they realize the only target he was trying to shoot at was gallus but then he returned to the group and realize he got shot by the Hunter smolder felt even more guilty she almost got her friends and teachers killed but right now they had to keep going they're almost to the halfway point once smolder roll the dice 🎲 she was teleported into the jungle where she was attacked by monsters and she tried to defend herself even trying to breathe fire but when the monster got close to her it transform back into Twilight and smolder thought she was teleported somewhere else but in reality she was here the whole time and she clawed silverstream she didn't realize she was hurting the others when she had the nightmare and I don't blame her I really want to destroy the game as well I wonder whose turn is I guess we'll find out next time
And let's be honest--that probably won't even be the last time he'll need forgiving.
The Merchant of Venice, in case anyone was wondering.
Don't tell me they got Discord to send the game to human world afterward?
Hot damn, things keep getting worse! So someone did get shot regardless!
That latest move by the game was downright dirty, I really wanted to hug Smolder after that one!
My sentiments exactly!