Let's Play a Game

by Zelda Spectrum

Playroom

Being a stubborn opportunitist, he took every opportunity he could get to fly in the sky. No matter how impossible it seemed, or how insane it was, if it gave a chance to spread his wings and soar through the blue sky, he would take it.

Chapter 8

My Items:
1 large oil potion
12 tinderboxes
6 laudanum bottles
Notebook
My Lantern
Hammer and chipper
Mysterious Blue Drink

As I step into the “Playroom”, I start to get unexplainable chills. I descend down the stairs in front of me to enter into a large room dimly lit with torches. It is built with stone bricks just as the Prison was built. There are three doors in the room; one straight ahead and the other two are on the sides. To my left in the corner, is a chair and table with another note on it.

Welcome to our Playroom, friend. I must congratulate you on making it here, no pony else playing ‘The Game’ has made it this far…alive.

Here is your next challenge: One of the pipes to that leads to the Medical Room is leaking, blocking the way forward. Jumping through the leak would just be suicide as if you do, you will...well, let’s say you’ll be dead before you can stand. There is, however, a series of levers that will turn off the gas main if pulled in the right order. To turn off the gas main and pass through safely, you will have to inspect some of our “toys” and find two numbers that indicate which way you should pull a lever. All you have to do is figure out the correct order of numbers for the code to the gas main. I hope you have fun touring our Playroom.

‘T-T-Toys?’ Another chill runs down my spine as I read this dreaded word. Pushing it to the back of my mind, I decide to start hunting for the numbers to the code mentioned in the note. I start by entering through the left iron door. There is a long dark corridor that leads to another iron door at the end. With my lantern still lit, I trek down the corridor to the reach the door. The door leads into a medium-sized room with an Iron Maiden in the middle. I begin to approach the Iron Maiden when its doors suddenly burst open, causing me to spring backwards like a rabbit.

Catching my breath from the unexpected scare, I find a diary page next to my right fore-hoof.

September 28, 784 A.H,

I am glad to see this pegasus managed to survive this long; I thought his wings would have caused him to die sooner. I put him in the Iron Maiden telling him “If you can survive fifteen minutes in here, I will let you go.” In reality, I had no intention of setting him free; I was really just going to leave him in there and let him embrace the needles inside. Seven minutes passed and I was starting to get bored. Just as I was about to fetch my knife and kill him myself, I heard him groan in pain from the inside. He must have accidently twitched as those groans turned into screams followed by silence. I must congratulate him though; no other pegasus has managed to last this long.

My head begins to pound and my legs begin to shake. I imagine this particular diary was written by the Psycho since it is the one who seems to enjoy death and murder the most. I walk over to the Iron Maiden and the smell of blood burns my nostrils. On the bottom of the interior, I see two letters, V and I. I look around the Iron Maiden, but I do not see any numbers.

‘Perfect. No numbers, just useless letters.’

Not wanting to stay any longer, I turn and walk back out into the large room. This time I enter the door across from the one I finished exploring to be greeted by another long dark corridor with a door at the end. This time I find a Brass Bull facing the left wall in the middle of the room with a pipe leading from its mouth into the wall. Next to the right foreleg of the bull is a diary page, no doubt from the Psycho again.

February 2, 381 A.H,

Today’s victim was absolutely hilarious! His confused expression told me he didn't know what to think when we put him inside the Brass Bull. Even when we lit the fire below to heat up the bull, it took him a while to realize this contraption would be his tomb. He finally seemed to get the clue when the bull got hot enough; his own screams echoed throughout the Playroom. I have not had this much fun since the war against Celestia. This is one of those days I am glad our Queen’s blessing prevents us from aging.

Once again, I get a nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach. I walk over to the Brass Bull to start inspecting it for numbers. Suddenly a green pegasus pony with several burns on its coat bursts out of the bull and screams before it falls to the ground.

"Why Moon Seed? Why did you let this happen?! If you had said ‘No’, I wouldn't be dead! Why were you spared? Why am I dead and you’re not?!"

I land on my rump out of panic and cover my eyes with my fore-hooves. I sit there in fear for a few seconds expecting the pony to attack me. The blow does not come. When I take a peek, I see the Brass Bull is closed and the pony is nowhere to be found.

‘Did…Did I just imagine that?! I-I must be going insane!’ I decide to hurry up and find the numbers so I can leave this horrid place. I search around the exterior of the bull to find nothing but its brass coat. Finally, I check inside the bull to see the letters I and IX. ‘Oh, I get it now,’ I realize, ‘these are not letters, they are Roman Numerals.’ I pull out my notebook and quickly write down the roman numerals I have found.

Iron Maiden holds numbers 5 and 1

Brass Bull holds numbers 1 and 9

I put the notebook back in my saddlebags and walk back into the large room. I walk through the last door that has yet to be explored. I start walking down the corridor when I hear muffled screaming. I turn off my lantern as I notice a door on the left with light coming from it. I take a peek through the tiny metal bars to see a lavender pony with a sack on its head and lines painted on its torso tied to a marble table.

I then hear another sound as I shift my gaze to the left of the room. The Psycho is spinning a stone wheel to sharpen some kind of sharp weapon. She has her back to me, so I do not have to worry about being caught unless I bang on the door or yell. The words she speaks send chills down my spine as she playfully sings them like a nursery rhyme.

“Paint the mare, cut the lines. Paint the mare, cut the lines”

She finally gets up from her stone wheel and walks over to the pony on the table, I see her lift a knife above her head and I pray that something, anything, would stop her from what she is about to do. As the Psycho drives the knife down onto the pony, I hear the knife strike flesh and my mind finally snaps. My legs give out from under me and cause me to fall to the ground. My ears start ringing and I begin breathing very heavily. My throat gets dry as my breathing gets hoarse and I begin to feel dizzy.

I hastily pull out the Blue Drink from my saddlebags and start drinking it to hydrate myself. I still do not know what the Blue Drink does, if anything at all, but I am currently too traumatized to consider its special effects. However, after I finish the drink, my nerves begin to calm and my strength returns to my legs. Unfortunately, my panic attack does not go unnoticed.

“What was that sound?” I freeze. “Pony feathers, I hate being interrupted!”

I get up and run back to the door I entered. Looking around, I see the large room is a wide open area, minus the table and chair in the corner, with no clever hiding places. Without thinking, I run to the other side of the room, jump over the table, and I hide behind the chair. I silently curse myself for not thinking this through, but my self-inflicted verbal abuse is cut short as I hear the metal door open.

“Helloooo, Any pony here? You want to join in our little game?”

I cover both my mouth and eyes as I turn my head towards the ground, praying to the royal sisters that the Psycho will not see me. She is obviously trying to mask her anger with her cheery yet insane voice. After a few seconds, I hear her let out a frustrated grunt before returning through the door. I dare not to move from my hiding place, for I fear if I do, the Psycho will surely kill me.

A few minutes pass and still before the Psycho returns into the room dragging something with her. At the same time, the door to the Prison opens and the familiar sound of heavy metal dragging across the ground; the Thing is back. The Psycho lays down whatever she is carrying before talking to the Thing.

“Hey Silver Belle, you missed the fun.” The Psycho says with enthusiasm.

“I don’t really care at the moment.” The Thing responds with a distraught tone.

“Oh come on Silver, you’re not sore about me killing your friend are you? I told you, if I found him, I would kill him.”

“No Anna, it’s not that, I just came to ask you if you have seen the escapee.”

“You mean ‘Leaf Boy’? No I haven’t, but don’t worry, he can’t go far with the front door locked.”

“I hope you’re right Anna Belle.”

“Well, I’m going to see if mom will turn this one into another costume for me; you want to come with?”

“Sure, I have nothing better to do right now.”

The Psycho picks up whatever she is carrying and exits into the Prison with the Thing. I come out of my hiding place relieved to still be alive. ‘I can’t believe that actually worked!’ My relief is replaced by chills as I see a small trail of blood leading into the door where I need to go. Avoiding the blood, I open the door and go back down the corridor. I suppress the urge to vomit as the scent of blood once again burns my nostrils. I enter the Psycho’s room to see a baffling surprise.

The room and the table are cleaned up, like a janitor just finished his work. Putting the amazement aside I look at the marble table to see III and VII on its head. I quickly write down the numbers in my notebook.

The Marble Table holds the numbers 3 and 7.

I put the notebook back in my bag, exit the room and continue down the corridor. As I travel down the corridor, I start to hear the faint sound of air trying to escape through a small exit. Not too much later, I come upon a pipe on the left wall that has a small vertical cut through it where a white gas is spewing forth blocking my path. Right next to the pipe is a panel consisting of six levers and roman numeral above and below them.

V I VI III II IX

O O O O O O

IV V III VII I VIII

I pull out my note book and flip through the pages until I come across my recent notes.

Iron Maiden holds numbers 5 and 1

Brass Bull holds numbers 1 and 9

The Marble Table holds the numbers 3 and 7.

I look back and forth from the roman numerals to the notes. After a while of pondering, I push the levers to make the following code: 513719. As soon as I push the final lever into place, the gas main shuts off and the white gas disperses. A wave of relief passes over me once again as I walk past the broken pipe. I continue down the corridor to shortly come upon another iron door with a pedestal sitting to its right. The pedestal contains yet another note held in place by a curved dagger.

Now it’s time to play doctor. The pony in the next room is your patient and he has a problem. His problem is that he has a key somewhere inside his body and he wants it out. You job is to search his body for the key and solve the patients problem. Once you have the key, you will be able to move on.

I break out in sweat and nausea enters my stomach a second time as I read the note. ‘T-they actually want me to…?’ my lantern immediately runs out of oil. As I refill the lantern with the large oil potion, I realize there is no other way around it. I turn the lantern back on and put the dagger in my saddlebags. I take a deep breath as I attempt to open the door when I see a note tucked under the door. I release my grip on the door handle, take the note under the door, and start reading the note.

To anypony reading this,

I have just made your escape easier by doing your dirty work for you. I have taken the key and hidden it under my mattress in my cell. It is the third cell on the right of the metal door to this torture chamber (if you are facing the door). I overheard those savages talking, and they said this key opens a secret door to the Wine Cellar. I have seen this door myself; there is a pressure switch on the far left wall that opens a hidden passage right next to it. I’m making a break for the exit and I’m leaving the key for you. You’re Welcome

C.R.

P.S: Don’t thank me just yet; you still need to make it out of this Celestia-forsaken place.

‘Cloud…h-he…he made it out!’ I feel both relief and joy embrace me as I finish reading. I quickly turn around and dash out of the corridor and back into the prison.

As I enter the Prison, I turn out my lantern to make sure I don’t alert the Hunter if it is anywhere nearby. After looking both ways, I turn to my left (the right of the door) and stop at the third cell. I open the cell and check under the mattress lying in the middle of the cell. Sure enough, the key is lying there in wait for some pony to take it.

I exit the cell and trot across the hall of cells to the leftmost wall. I begin spreading my hooves around the wall when one of my hooves seems to hit the pressure plate. The wall opens up the reveal the door on the other side of a gate.

“So, you’re still alive after all!”

I turn around to see the Mother just a few feet away from me. The dim light only provides an outline for me to see her. She is a unicorn with a black curly mane and a white coat with cuts scattered on its border. She somehow has razor sharp claws embedded in her fore-hooves and can balance on her back legs. She is running at me with turquoise snake eyes staring at me.

I attempt to dodge her as she takes a swipe at me, but her claw makes contact with right flank. The wound starts burning as I run towards the gate. I take my lantern and throw it behind me; it hits the Mother and slows her down enough for me to open the gate and buck it right in her face. I run over to the door and use the key to open it. I make it through the door just as the Mother breaks down the gate.

On the other side, I catch my breath as I consume a bottle of laudanum. As I rest, I barely hear the Mother say:

“Humph, no matter; he’s as good as dead in there anyway.”

End of Chapter 8