> [Misplaced] > by awesomesauce4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 - Isolation > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [GAME LOADING...] [GAME START!] You’re lying on something soft and comfortable. It’s warm, too, not quite unbearably so but rather a pleasant warmth that has spread through your entire body, suffusing you with lethargy. Your eyes are closed, but if they had been open you get the sense that the sun would be shining directly into your face. Howls of wind echo around you, sounding faraway, as though you are lying in a deep pit. Ordinarily, you might be tempted to question these details, but you are in no fit state to do so. Besides, you are entirely too comfortable right now and you know that opening your eyes will ruin the tranquility you have found yourself within. Five more minutes, you think. Five more minutes… An indeterminate amount of time later, you have finally worked up the courage to open your eyes. The first thing you see is the sun, a bright yellow-white circle shining down upon you. Reflexively, you close your eyes to avoid being assaulted by the light, only to open them and blink in confusion. The sun’s light no longer hurts your eyes. In fact, staring directly at it, you are surprised to discover that you can do so indefinitely. There is only a slight afterimage, and certainly not the usual burning blindness that accompanies the usually foolish act of challenging the sun to a staring contest. Your eyes, now further opened by curiosity, take note of the high walls around you, a rusty reddish coloration that fades to a more typical muddy brown. You’re in a hole. A pit, to be more precise. The edges aren’t quite circular, but they are still round enough to make you think this hole was dug rather than created naturally. The red stone you are laying on appears to be a deeper layer of earth, as the brown gradually transitions to red the further down the hole goes. Looking around, you decide to sit up and start figuring out how, exactly, you have found yourself in such a deep pit. The wind above you briefly picks up, the depth of the pit muting what would normally be a high-pitched whistle to a dull roar. The soft things you were laying on earlier turn out to be pillows. They’re gigantic, easily the size of your entire body, and slightly dusty, looking as though they have been laying here in this pit for quite a while. The space your body was in, however, is a clean, pristine shade of white, and looking down at yourself you notice a coating of dust on your clothes. How long have you been asleep? You brush the dust off as best you can, getting your hands coated in the process. That done, you start looking around for ways to climb out of the pit. Unfortunately, the slope is nearly vertical, and there are few handholds. Attempting to climb it would likely just result in you falling and breaking something. With that option crossed off the list, you then lower your gaze to the stone directly around you rather than above you, once again glancing at the pillows. You notice a crevasse on the other side of the pillows, its dark entrance looking strangely inviting compared to the now-hot sunlight. Before you go, however, you realize you can simply call for help on your phone. You do have one of those, right? …Apparently not. Your pockets are completely empty. It occurs to you that someone may have robbed you, and dumped your body in a pit. But that doesn’t explain the pillows… Well, the only way out seems to be forward. You get down on all fours, crawling through the narrow tunnel as best you can. Rocks and jagged edges scrape your torso, but it seems the path is widening up ahead. You crawl more quickly now, hoping that this cave might have an alternate exit. Preferably one that’s a bit closer to the surface. To your dismay, the cave is a narrow, dark tunnel. It’s almost impossible to see unless you use the sunlight of the path behind you. On the upside, the cave is tall enough to stand in. In addition, it smells awful in here. Almost like a wet dog, but the smell is everywhere. Grimacing, you press forward, squeezing yourself against the wall so that the light from the tunnel behind you can illuminate the way forward. Suddenly, there’s a rumble overhead, and you look up worriedly. That sounds like a… you dive forward as a barrage of rock tears through the ceiling overhead, just barely managing to escape being crushed as the cave plunges into darkness. Now you’re afraid. The darkness presses in, an almost physical weight to its presence as your mind frantically tries to remember what the cave around you looked like in an effort to fill the sudden gap in information. You turn around, going back towards the pile of rocks you just escaped, and a few taps with your finger confirms it: You’re sealed in. No going back now. To your surprise, the darkness is receding behind you, to be replaced with a red glow. You can’t quite see where it’s coming from – the tunnel curves around a corner too sharply to see what lies beyond. Curious, you decide to investigate. Light is good. Light means hope. Though, you’re not too sure about the red color. The only red lights you know of are police sirens, indicator lights on machinery, and stoplights. You’re pretty sure none of those would be in a cave. You walk more confidently now that you can see where you’re going, even if not by much. You recall reading somewhere that red was the worst color for picking out detail. Something about the eyes not being able to distinguish many different shades of red, compared to green or blue. You briefly wonder where, exactly, you heard about that. From there, your mind turns to the fact that you can’t remember much of anything, and you stop cold, a rock skittering away into the crimson-tinted darkness as your shoe abruptly scuffs on the wet, rocky floor. Who… are you? Everything’s blank. You have no idea how you grew up, who your parents were, if you had any siblings, your favorite color, anything. But something about this strikes you as still stranger: You know what those things are. If you’ve really forgotten everything, then how come you know what ‘red’ is? Or pillows? Or caves? None of this makes any sense. Stranger even than that, you definitely can’t recall how you got here. Every time your brain attempts to access any form of memory, it’s met with the neural equivalent of a halfhearted shrug. You have no idea who you are. But… even still, one thing about yourself seems clear. You’re determined to get out of here. Whoever you are, it isn’t the kind of person that would sit still and freak out about this. You resume walking, hoping that you can find someone nearby that can jog your memory a bit. You finally round the corner where the red light is coming from, and you have to squint a bit at how bright it is now. The light seems to be coming from something on a small pedestal, sitting in a little alcove into the right of the cave. This immediately strikes you as odd, as you estimate that at that depth into the wall, and with the sharpness of the bend you just walked around, that alcove should be coming out the other side of the wall. You glance back around the bend, dismayed to find that what little you can see is still, in fact, a solid cave wall. That’s just weird. Are you dreaming, perhaps? Hallucinating, even? None of this makes sense, and you’re beginning to worry what little you know of how the world is supposed to work no longer applies. You approach the shining red light once more, cautiously. For all you seem to know, it could be dangerous. The red light is revealed to be a crystal, heptagonal and long. It appears to be a rhombus when viewed from the side, though one end is extended outward a good distance to be much more sharply tapered than the other. The whole thing is about one and a half times the length of your hand, and about as thick as your thumb at the widest point. It looks as though this thing were meant to be some sort of stabbing implement, or a pick of some sort. The pedestal below it is made of white marble, a stark contrast to the gray-black color of the cave rock, and carved exquisitely, almost as if presenting this crystalline crimson spear as an offering to you. You’re tempted to reach out and take the crystal, but something about the pedestal catches your eye. You look closer at the designs, though you can make out little from the angle they are to the only source of light in the room. A human is depicted, oddly similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics in nature. They are clearly holding the crystal, a small triangular thing in the carvings, and swinging it at what appears to be some sort of… little horse? A dog, maybe? It’s really hard to tell, and straining your eyes so hard is beginning to hurt your head. You step away from the pedestal, blinking a few times as you think about what this crystal is. It’s clearly a weapon, judging by the pictures. The human is quite definitively using it to stab whatever creature is in front of it. You wonder if this pedestal serves as a warning: Arm yourself, before going forward. But the little creature in the carving doesn’t look very threatening. It looks frightened, terrified even, if its wide, expressive eyes and tears are anything to go by. Something in you whispers that it might be a trick, that the small creature is attempting to garner pity by appearing non-threatening, but… something else in you argues that doesn’t quite seem right. Whoever left this here would not attempt to trick you into feeling sympathy by leaving a viable weapon. Besides… whatever that creature is, you’re fairly certain you’ve never met one before. Though it does look oddly familiar. Your ruminations are interrupted by the glint of another object, just in front of the pedestal. It’s white, with a red cross set into the front, and you recognize this object as a medical kit. This, too, perplexes you. Why would someone just leave these supplies here? Did they know you were coming? Are they the same person who left you in that pit? It would seem so, as you are most certainly being given a path to follow. They might even have caused that cave-in from earlier, which means they probably want you to pick up that crystal. A surge of defiance rises within you, and you cross your arms, defying destiny. You’re not going to take the crystal, no matter how useful it might be. …But you are going to take the medkit. [ITEM: Medical Kit] [A box filled with useful medical supplies, bandages, and… what appear to be pink crystals.] You strap the handle of the metal box to your jean strap, and immediately regret this as it begins banging against your side every time you try to take a step. Clanks and clongs ring down the corridor as you resume your pace, a newfound determination in your step. If this is some kind of game, then they must be expecting you to play it. Unfortunately for them, you have no intention of doing so. You walk into the darkness, ready for anything. Today’s already so weird, you bet you could take anything this weird cave throws at you. A giant dog with three heads sits at the end of the corridor. Upon seeing you, it quickly bounds forth, all three heads barking like mad as it bounds for you far faster than should be possible for a creature of such hulking proportions. You were not prepared for this. You stumble backward as it slams a paw down where your torso formerly was. “Whoa!” You cry out, scrambling back onto your feet. You briefly glance down, surprised to find something has appeared in the space between you and the monster. [Cerberus attacks!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [PET?] [SPARE] [ITEM] Well, that’s… new. It would appear that you are still in the ‘game.’ It also seems the monster is waiting for you to make your choice, as it is now sitting still. No, wait. It’s not just sitting still, it’s stopped. One of the heads’ eyes is fixated upon something above you, and though its chest heaves from exertion, its feet seem glued in place. You wait for a moment, uncertain. Nothing happens. Hesitantly, you reach out and touch one of the colorful buttons. >>[SPARE] It immediately resumes attacking you, and you hop to the side, shocked that pressing a button didn’t automatically make your problems go away. “Hey, wait!” you call out. “I don’t want to fight!” Now it pauses, looking at you curiously, and you suddenly feel a sharp pain in your chest. You glance back at the mysterious set of buttons, only to find that the textbox above them has contracted into a much smaller box. There’s a pink heart inside, pulsing slightly, and a series of what appear to be white teeth gnashing at various points inside the box. One’s about to touch the little heart, and you get the strangest feeling that would be bad for you. If only it could move to the right! As though responding to your thoughts, the heart begins moving to the right, narrowly avoiding the biting attack. The heart vanishes all of a sudden, as well as all the biting things, and the textbox reappears. [Cerberus attacks!] [48/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [PET?] [SPARE] [ITEM] Okay, so the little heart thing on the left has a tiny chunk missing from the right side of it, looking as though it was shaved off. Maybe that’s your health? You can’t really tell what the number is supposed to be, but you guess ‘health’ is a hard thing to quantify anyway. Looks like this ‘Cerberus’ is idling again, so you have to make a choice. >>[PET?] You reach up and pet the giant dog on the head nervously. “Eeeasy there, big guy. I’m not your enemy,” you murmur in what you hope is a comforting tone. The textbox has contracted into the bullet-hell thing again, but the attacks are… slower. Easier to dodge, too. You make it out without another stabbing feeling to the chest, thankfully. [Cerberus wants a belly rub.] [48/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [PET?] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[PET?] “Hey, who wants a belly rub? Do you want a belly rub? Do ya?” you ask, in a tone best reserved for good puppies and small children. Cerberus’ tail wags frenetically, and he rolls over, an echoing thump resounding throughout the tunnel the two of you are in as he awaits your hands on his massive tummy. The attacks on the… ‘bullet box’ are so slow they’re almost not moving at this point, and you focus on rubbing Cerberus’ belly in the hopes that he’ll go to sleep or something. Unfortunately, as soon as you take your hands off, he jumps back onto his paws, barking excitedly. [Cerberus thinks you’re a great friend!] [48/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [PET?] [SPARE] [ITEM] Reading the textbox, you grin bashfully. That’s adorable. Well, at least your choice is clear now. >>[PET?] You reach out and rub Cerberus on the middle head. “So, we’re friends now?” you ask. He nods, surprising you, and licks you from toe to head with his massive middle tongue, which thankfully is rather dry from all the panting. Laughing and spluttering, you wrap your hands around all three of his necks in a quick hug, which he closes his eyes and leans into before standing back up and bounding away. [You won! 0 experience points gained.] What? Zero? Oh well, at least you won… whatever that was. You wonder how you would have gained ‘experience points.’ By fighting, maybe? But why would you want to hurt such a good doggo? You take a moment to examine the medical kit you’ve brought with you. You’re not quite sure if you’re really ‘hurt,’ considering it was the little heart thing in front of you that got attacked. Maybe that’s what the little pink crystals are for? You hold one close to your chest, and it dims slightly. You feel a bit better, and you put it back in the box, its color dimming slightly. You also feel something tingling within you, suffusing your veins with a similar warmth to the one you felt while sleeping back in the pit. Confused, you restrap the medical kit to your jeans, and continue onward, wondering what’s happening to you. The light at the tunnel is revealed to be a much larger, lit cavern. It’s so big, in fact, that you can’t see the opposite walls, as they vanish into a purple-blue blur of fog. Spires jut up from the immense pit below, their exterior a translucent, jagged purple crystal while the interior glows a cool white. From here, you can see that a few have what appear to be cages inside them. How odd. Perhaps ‘Cerberus’ was once in one of these cages, and escaped? You briefly wonder if you’ve landed in some kind of strange zoo. There appear to be two places to go from here: The entrance path up to one of the spires is to your left, and up ahead there is a separate path that appears to curve around said spire, leading deeper into the chasm. You decide to go left to the spire – it looks kind of interesting from up here, and maybe it’s important? You seem to remember that in situations like these, glowing things are usually very important. The trek up the several stairs of the winding path to the top of the spire leaves you slightly winded, but at least you set foot on the glowing white circle. Looking closer, you find that there are what appear to be letters inscribed in a circle around the glowing white center, though they’re not letters you recognize. One looks kind of like an ‘H’, you guess? Hard to say. There’s a small pile of papers in the center, and you pick one up and read it. It’s in your language, which you’re kind of surprised by. “Prisoner 0062 – ‘TIREK’ has been moved to the new research facility pending recent events. All inquiries pertaining to research on 0062 must now go through Her Royal Majesty or myself. A copy of prior documentation can be found in the Isolation Lab – the password today is: ‘SUN’ -Dr. Shield Array Research Director” Okay, this tells you a few useful things. One, you’re in a prison. Those cages on other spires might, therefore, contain prisoners. Second, three new ‘players’ of the game have now been introduced: ‘Dr. Shield Array,’ and ‘Her Royal Majesty,’ whoever that is, are performing some kind of research on the prisoners, including someone or something named ‘Tirek.’ However, you still have no clue where you are. If you’ve crawled into some illicit research lab somewhere, you’re perplexed by the use of names like ‘Shield Array’ and ‘Tirek.’ Code names, maybe, in case this sort of thing happens? A thought occurs to you. Maybe you’re a prisoner, or were. It would certainly explain why you can’t remember anything. If you were experimented on, they might have removed your memories so you couldn’t tell anyone else. That doesn’t, however, explain why you’re not in a cage, nor does it explain those weird glowing boxes or that crystal. Maybe this is all some sort of particularly strange experiment? You wonder what they’re testing for. Whatever it is, you’re determined to mess with their results. You take the path ahead, finding it curves left and downward around the spire you just climbed. The medkit once again bounces loudly against your leg as you very carefully navigate the strangely tiny stairs. They’re barely half the size of your foot, and quite steep – one misstep could send you tumbling hundreds of feet down to the path below, or further still into the chasm. You make it to the path below safely, although you’re still nervous about falling off. To your left is the rock spire, true, but to your right is nothing but open air. The path ahead is made of a thin stone bridge that extends off into the distance, looking far too thin to support your weight. You’re beginning to feel like this place wasn’t made with your body type in mind. Stepping onto the thin bridge, you find to your surprise that it easily holds your weight, and remains rigid. Looking closer, you realize that the path is not made of stone, but crystal. The same white glowing crystal that was at the top of the spires, perhaps? It’s surrounded by the same purple, jagged crystal on the bottom, so it’s possible. There aren’t any letters inscribed on it, though. Oh well. You resume walking along the path, more confidently now that you know the crystal beneath you will hold. Up ahead, the path splits into a ‘T’ shape. To the left, it fades into the gloom. To the right, there appears to be some sort of building. You decide to head to the building. Maybe there’ll be someone to talk to? To your dismay, the door’s locked. The building itself is a small, marbled white thing the size of a house, set onto a spire of its own, though thankfully without any long and winding stairs this time. There’s a small panel next to the door, with what appears to be a keypad set into it. Looking closer, you find it’s not a keypad, but a puzzle. Eight tiles are set into a stone grid, with a single blank one in the center. Maybe this is the Isolation Lab the doctor in the note spoke of? In which case, you need to find a way to solve this puzzle into a ‘SUN’ somehow. You begin moving around tiles idly. You suppose you just have to make a circle, then? You wonder what the other passwords might be. A while later, the last panel clicks into place, and the door slides open. You step into the warm, sterile lab, the door sliding closed behind you as you examine the room. The lab is sparse, with almost no scientific equipment save for what appear to be a few strange, blue rocks piled in a bin in the corner. The walls are colored a cold, sterile white, looking as though they’re made of the same stone that was glowing white at the top of that purple spire. Papers are strewn about everywhere on a single, wooden desk, and chairs are haphazardly strewn about, looking as though the occupants of this lab had left in a hurry.  Preparing for your entrance into the ‘game’, maybe? They might have left some important information. You begin reading some papers. “P-0061 – ‘Nightmare Moon’ Subject Characteristics: Phenotype: Alicorn Gender: Female Height – 10.65 hooves (1.623 m) Weight – Alicorn Form: 4.61 kg                 - Vapor Form: ~2 g Coat color: Black (much darker than typical) Mane color: Blue (style: Ethereal, starry variant) Eye color: Teal (slitted pupils) Cutie Mark: White crescent moon surrounded by purple, inkblot-like splotch Additional characteristics: Typically manifests a set of blue armor, which blocks most magical attacks. Wings and neck are left vulnerable for unknown reasons. Psychological evaluation, 1003-07-12, Dr. Shield Array conducting: -Subject has lost a considerable amount of HP compared to initial incarceration. While subject is still hostile to Guards, breakout attempts have all but ceased after the introduction of the Lambda-Type BRR System. Subject has lately turned to petitioning for removal of electrum cage, citing redundancy. Requests so far have been denied. Containment Procedures (Updated 1003-07-12): -Lambda-Type BRR (Barrier-Replication Rune) System inscribed into quartz platform. Subject is placed in the center, inside an electrum cage (composition 47% gold, 53% silver by weight) which has been padlocked (padlock is mainly aesthetic in nature). System placed in Isolation Wing under heavy guard to prevent subject escape.” As you finish reading the document, you ponder its contents. They never mentioned what crime this ‘Nightmare Moon’ committed, but you do know where you are. You’re in a place called the ‘Isolation Wing’, probably part of a larger prison complex. They do research on the inmates. You’re not sure what an ‘Alicorn’ is, nor if a ‘Vapor’ form is normal or not, but it seems this ‘Nightmare Moon’ is still safely locked up. You spot an unused clipboard, and thankfully attach the sheet of paper to it – this will save you some space. [ITEM: Clipboard] [A clipboard used to temporarily store papers. Saves inventory space.] Looking under the desk, you spy a far better prize – a backpack. Now you won’t have to worry about the stupid medkit banging against your leg every time you want. You put the clipboard and medkit in the backpack, slinging it over your shoulder. [ITEM: Backpack] [Inventory space increased! You can now carry up to 10 items.] Now that that’s done, you’re beginning to feel kind of hungry. Maybe this lab has some food in it somewhere? You look around, but can’t spot a pantry or fridge anywhere. Pity. You return to the desk, picking through the many papers on it to see if you can find anything else useful. The only thing you find is a note, apparently written by one of the researchers: "Dear Dr. Shield Array, Do we really have to do these dumb puzzles to get in and out of every Celestia-forsaken building in this place? I get that they'll slow any escapees down, but they slow us down too. Why can't we just use passwords, like normal top-secret research labs?" Sincerely, Crystal Carving" "Dear Intern Carving, Yes, we do. I'd rather take our prisoners being slowed down and us being able to catch up to them than the alternative, especially after the incident with 0062. I also note that this is nothing less than the fifth complaint you've submitted this week - while I appreciate a drive for improvement, your comments speak less of constructive criticism and more of whining. Please see me at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, Dr. Shield Array Head Researcher" Ouch. Whoever this 'Shield Array' is, she's harsh. A few blueprints for a cage and sketches of the strange letters inscribed on the ground back on the spire – ‘runes’, apparently – are the only other interesting things you find, and you cast the papers back down to the table with a sigh. At least you found a backpack. You decide to take a moment to rest, now that you’re in the warmed, safe confines of this laboratory building. Who knows if you’ll be this comfortable again? > Chapter 2 - Retribution > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eventually, you decide to get going. You’ve also been eyeing a roll of blank parchment and a pencil that were left on the table – maybe you could start drawing out a map of where you’ve been? Just to keep track. You get the feeling that the size of this place means you’re going to be walking a lot. [ITEM: Parchment] [Useful for writing, drawing, and origami.] [ITEM: Pencil] [Roughly as mighty as the sword. Give or take.] You exit the warm, comfortable Isolation Lab after a moment of scribbling, a clumsily drawn map guiding your path. Approaching the fork in the road you encountered earlier, you keep going, now taking the path to the left into the unknown rest of the prison. Your backpack, weighed down though it is, gives you a sense of confidence with all the useful materials you have gathered. The path is long, and the crystalline bridge is just as narrow as before, which makes you more than a little nervous. Up ahead appears to be another spire, the one with the cage that you saw earlier. You think you can make out a twinkle of blue inside the cage, but it’s hard to spot. You’ve been updating your map as you go, although it’s mostly just a long line at this point. You might have to redraw to fit the new scale of the map. Finally, after what feels like forever, you reach the second purple, crystalline spire in this strangely vast cavern. A sign is present at this one too, and you examine it closely. “0061 – NIGHTMARE MOON” A copy of the document you picked up before is posted below it, as well as some additional documentation. “To all researchers, It seems Nightmare Moon has lately taken to copying the blue attacks used by the Lunar E.U.P. Guard. As most of you will remember from basic training, blue attacks can be avoided merely by standing still. Now that I’ve reminded you of this, there will be no more excuses regarding getting injured by her while on duty. Are we clear? -Dr. Shield Array Head Researcher”  So this is ‘Nightmare Moon,’ huh? You suppose you could go up and ask her where you are. And maybe who you are. Among other things. You sigh, and begin making your way up the ridiculously long and winding staircase to her cage. Huffing and puffing, you make it to the top, and get your first up-close look at the cage, and the being inside it. She’s laying down, but you get the feeling she would be quite tall if she stood, perhaps just a bit shorter than you are. Her coat is such a dark black color that you can’t quite look at it properly, almost as if your brain is refusing to believe that there is simply a black patch of void where part of the world should be. She’s wearing a set of icy blue armor, consisting of a pristine, smooth war helmet, four intricately-designed horseshoes that extend nearly halfway up her leg, and a strange, necklace-like thing that doubles as a torso plate, into which a cold, white crescent moon is inscribed. She has black, feathery wings, like a bird, though they’re hard to make out against her inky black body. A long, spiraling horn juts straight out of her forehead, tapering to a lethal tip. Upon her flanks are tattoos of what appears to be the same crescent moon, this time a brighter white, on a background of what appears to be a purple splotch of paint. Had someone been painting her? You briefly check the documentation. The pictures on her flanks match the description of the “Cutie Mark” attributed to her – perhaps this is the prison’s way of keeping track of their prisoners, as some form of identification? How odd. “Hello?” you call out. She appears to ignore you – maybe she can’t understand your language? Cerberus kind of could, maybe. It was hard to tell, as he only barked. You approach closer. “Hello? Um… ‘Nightmare Moon?’” you try again. She lazily swivels her head over from her resting position to gaze at you, only for her eyes to widen as she takes in your appearance. “Thou art not a Guard,” she remarks, somehow sounding intrigued and aloof at the same time. Her voice is husky and mature, and slightly raw - it doesn't sound like she's spoken in quite a while. “No… at least, I don’t think so…” you murmur in reply. “What are you?” you ask politely. She looks at you incredulously. “What… How couldst thee not know what we art?” she asks disbelievingly. You shrug. “I… don’t remember much of anything,” you confess. “Have we met before? Because if so, I don’t recall.” She gazes at you a moment more, then snorts. “Very well. Mayhap introductions are in order,” she answers sarcastically, before slowly getting to her hooves, adopting a regal poise. “WE ART NIGHTMARE MOON, DESTROYER OF DREAMS, PRINCESS OF ETERNAL NIGHT, ARCH-NEMESIS OF THE DAY, AND THE ONE TRUE PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!” she bellows, the sheer force of her voice catching you off guard. “Or, at least… we were,” she mutters, laying down again. “If you’re a princess, why are you in a cage?” you point out. She glares at you. “Hadst thee any education, foal, thou couldst plainly see that this cage bars us not. Verily, we languish instead in captivity of the…” she trails off, looking in shock between you and the floor. You follow her gaze to find you’re standing directly on one of those letter things, and wonder why she's so shocked. “Th-thou art immune to the containment field…” she murmurs under her breath, and falls silent. You look back, and find that there are a few runes you have already crossed, which seem to be clustered around the entrance to the staircase. You hear a rustle of wings, and quickly turn back to find that Nightmare Moon has escaped her cage and is stalking toward you with a predatory leer. “When we take possession of thy soul, we canst escape and retake our glory,” she hisses, a demented grin coming to her face. “We will be loved. We will be respected. The Night will LAST FOREVER!” she howls, before leaping at you. [Nightmare Moon attacks!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] It appears you aren’t allowed to pet Nightmare Moon. That is unfortunate. >>[SPARE] “Maybe there’s another way out?” you timidly suggest. She begins her attack, her horn lighting up a cold blue as she summons a hailstorm of magical, glowing spheres to attack you with. At the same time, the white spheres appear on the bullet board, as well as the little pink heart that apparently represents you. You dodge the flurry of death as best you can, only to find that you can pass through the spheres unharmed. “What…?” Nightmare Moon murmurs, taken aback by your lack of dying. She narrows her eyes. “It seems thou art immune to more magicks than just runes,” she realizes, before smirking. “No matter – we shalt simply have to get creative.” Her ‘turn’ ends, and you dread what she has in store for you next. [Nightmare Moon is pondering how best to kill you.] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Wouldn’t you need a living body to possess?” you point out. Nightmare Moon throws back her head and laughs, her cackling filling the chamber and echoing around you. “Foal! We canst take control of a corpse as easily as we may a living body!” Her attacks are shaped like blue, sparkling stars that twinkle in and out of existence everywhere on the bullet board, an almost beautiful effect. Instinctively, you reach out to touch one, and instantly regret it as a sharp pain burns your finger – these magical stars are cold. Like, liquid nitrogen cold. Which means they can actually hurt you. [Nightmare Moon has waited for a long time now.] [49/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Enough!” you cry out. “I’m not going to hurt you, and I might even be able to help you if you weren’t trying to kill me!” Nightmare Moon scoffs at this. “Whom in their right mind wouldst help us? Hast thou not noticed whom we art?” The attacks are white and star-shaped now, and rain down from above like shooting stars, forcing you to dodge left and right rapidly to keep from getting struck. [Nightmare Moon doesn’t trust you.] [41/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] Nightmare Moon glares at you furiously. “We art a villain! A demon that all shalt fear! That all shalt bow to!” she howls, enraged. Her horn glows brighter, and a shimmering white sphere pops into existence, larger than the rest. You realize it’s a tiny moon, orbiting above your head, and it’s beginning to glow with an eerie blue light. “Die,” she declares as the moon blasts a laser in your direction. It’s a direct hit, and white-hot agony pierces your torso. Stubbornly, you keep going, moving out of the beam as it dissipates to nothing. Nightmare Moon is panting slightly, still glaring at you. [Nightmare Moon is surprised you’re still alive.] [16/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “You don’t… have… to be a demon…” you cough out, stumbling backward a bit as you fight to keep from falling over and passing out. You’re badly hurt, both physically and from that little heart thing. “You… can be… whatever you want…” She stops, seeing you so wounded and still trying to spare her. “And what if we want to be a demon?” she challenged, although a strange tone is in her voice. “But… why?” you ask. “Why would you want to be hated? Wouldn’t… a friend… be better? Less… painful?” She looks at you, but the glare has lessened, replaced with a sort of resigned curiosity. “And how? Wouldst thee be our friend, after the pain we have caused thee? Wouldst thee accept us back, after everything? Wouldst thee… still care?” she asks, her eyes slightly unfocused. You get the feeling she isn’t quite speaking to you. “I would,” you agree. She looks at you – not angrily, not curiously, but sadly. “…Go on, then. Thou may heal thine injuries, if thou canst.” She looks away, and you quickly dig out your backpack and pull out another pink crystal, dimming to a pale white as you feel better. You then wrap some bandages around your bleeding torso, tying them as tightly as you dare as Nightmare Moon watches with a detached interest. [Nightmare Moon has finally given up.] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] “If thou art going to betray us… please. Do it quickly,” she murmurs. She looks away, and does not see you approach. >>[SPARE] You hug her neck tightly, and she emits a yelp of surprise as you hold her close. “It’s okay,” you whisper. “I’m not going to hurt you.” She seems unsure of how to react to this, and remains as still as a statue. “Even after all we did?” she murmurs, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. “Even then,” you agree. Tentatively, uncertainly, she returns the hug, wrapping her long, slender forelimbs around you and hugging you seemingly as gently as she possibly can. “We… we apologize for hurting thee,” she hoarsely whispers, wings folding back to her sides in a submissive position. “It’s alright,” you laugh, relieved to have won. She breaks away from the hug first, looking at you uncertainly. “Prithee… doth thee carry a means of containing souls?” she asks. You take a moment to decipher her words. “…No? I don’t… think so…” you answer. Nightmare gazes at the ground, a glum expression on her face. “Pity,” she mutters, before returning her gaze to yours. “Hadst thee a vessel for our presence, thou couldst presumably step across our barrier, escorting us both to the world beyond. Unfortunately, it seemeth we shall remain here…” she sighed, glancing at one of the ‘runes’ etched into the stone floor. “Didn’t you say something about possessing my body?” you remind her. Nightmare Moon snorts and whinnies in annoyance. “Verily, what of it? Tis’ not as though thou shalt allow us into thy soul.” You raise an eyebrow. “Why not? It would get us both out of here, like you said,” you reply expectantly. Nightmare Moon gazes at you in open incredulity. “Creature. Dost thee knoweth what thou art suggesting?” You remain silent. “If we doth take thy soul and mortal body, thou wouldst lose control. We couldst simply cast thee out to be a spectre, less than the meanest ghost, and use thy body as we see fit,” she explains angrily, pacing the floor. You shrug. “I trust you not to,” you reply. Nightmare Moon pulls up short at this. “Thou trusteth us, knowing we couldst betray thee at any moment and thou wouldst have no recourse? Thou wouldst sacrifice thy freedom just for the sake of kindness?” she asks you, and you nod. “You don’t seem like you should be trapped down here. I… don’t think anyone should be trapped down here,” you explain. Nightmare Moon gazes into your eyes, and you blink once before she lowers her horn. It alights with blue energy, and you nervously stand still, but before she can complete whatever she is about to do, she stops, her horn shutting off. “…Art thee sure?” she asks softly. You nod one more time, resolute. “I believe in you,” you remind her. Nightmare Moon swallows nervously, and resumes. A jet of cyan light shoots towards you, linking the pair of you. Nightmare’s black form turns blue and starry, following the jet of light into your head… and you suddenly go completely numb, your body collapsing to the floor. A second later, you get up, even though you didn’t move your body to do so. We control thy muscles now, Nightmare’s voice speaks in your head. She stumbles around for a bit, evidently unused to walking on two legs, and makes her way towards the exit. Along the way, her/your foot steps on a rune, and she draws back with a sharp mental gasp, only to tentatively place her foot on it again a minute later – she evidently feels as little pain as you do when touching those now. More confidently, she makes it across the cluster of runes guarding the entrance to the spiral staircase. You watch through your own eyes in an oddly detached manner, viewing your reflection in the stone. Your hair’s turned a deep blue color, and your skin is as black as her coat was. Watch out for the stairs, you warn. They were hard enough on you, and you were used to this body. Nightmare very carefully goes down the stairs, reaching the first landing step before collapsing to her/your knees, exhausted from exertion. Do you want to unfuse? We’ve made it past your prison, you offer. Eager to escape our control? She asks sadly. No, I just think you’d have an easier time with these stairs if you had hooves again, you point out. Nightmare can apparently sense your intentions, as she does not make any more distrustful remarks. Instead, there’s a tingling, sucking feeling at the tip of your forehead as a starry mist seeps out, collecting into a cloud of blue, twinkling vapor. Once all of the strange magical vapor has left you, it coalesces into Nightmare Moon’s original body, and she collapses to the floor. “Are you okay?” you ask, hurrying to her side. “Even without the toils of a new body, we art fatigued. We hath not eaten or slept for three years,” she mutters. You gaze at her, shocked by how bluntly she spoke those words. “Th-three years?! Hold on, I might have something for you,” you remember. You pull out your medical kit, and take out a pink crystal – the last one in the box, as the rest have all been drained. “Will this help?” you ask, holding it out. Nightmare Moon gazes at it hungrily, but looks into your medkit. “That is thy last healing crystal,” she notices. “Doth thee not wish to save it for thyself, shouldst more prisoners attack thee?” You shake your head. “I’m getting us both out of here,” you remind her. “The better shape you’re in, the easier time we’ll have of that.” She gives you a small smile, the first one you’ve seen from her that wasn’t an evil laugh. “Such loyalty…” she murmurs. “Didst thee know we embodied Loyalty, a very long time ago?” You raise an eyebrow at her, and she looks away as the two of you continue walking down the stairs. “Among other things… we were one half of the Elements of Harmony. Six extremely powerful magical artifacts which couldst defeat anything. We hadst possession of Loyalty, Laughter, and Honesty,” she muttered. “The others are Kindness, Generosity, and… Magic.” You wonder why six of the most powerful artifacts in this place would have such… abstract names. “Who had the last three?” you ask curiously. A former friend or partner or hers, maybe? Nightmare Moon sighs and looks away as the two of you reach the bottom of the staircase. “Verily, to answer that, we must tell thee our full story. Tis’ quite long, and doth not have a happy ending. Dost thee wish to hear the tale?” she asks, and you immediately nod. The more information you have about this world, the better. “Long ago, we lived with our sister in the world above. We two were both alicorns, unique among ponykind for our possession of the wings of a pegasus, the horn of a unicorn, and the strength of an earth pony. The world was a chaotic and uncertain place back then, but we two were inseparable. We rose to power, discovered our aspects. We embodied the night, and the moon, and all who dreamed under its glow, while our sister embodied the sun, and the day, and all whose hopes saw its light. We acquired the Elements of Harmony, and defeated Discord, the master of chaos and the plight of the land, among many others. We became Princesses of the new kingdom – Equestria, land of ponies.” “But as the two of us ruled on, we began to notice that we were less loved than our sister. Ponies embraced her day and all it shined down on, while they shunned our beautiful nights in favor of slumber. They took to dwelling in closed-off homes, unable to even see our moon – afraid of the monsters that might lurk outside our borders. How we tried to reassure them that there were none! For we had slain them all. In that time, we were still Princess Luna, still a devoted, loyal, happy little sister.” “Things grew worse and worse for us. Nobles wouldst shun us to speak to our ‘less reclusive’ and ‘more diplomatic’ sister Celestia. Citizens wouldst avoid us outright, hiding their foals whenever we passed. Rumors spread wildly – that we ate ponies, that Celestia kept us locked up for our safety, that we were a monster!” Nightmare exclaims, heaving and panting with rage. You put a hand on her neck and begin rubbing it, and she looks at you, startled for a moment before remembering herself. Her hackles slowly lower, and she makes an effort to calm herself. “We told Celestia of these things, but she dismissed it all as naught more than foalish fantasies. She told us that our problems weren’t real, that they were all in our head, that we needed to stop focusing on the negatives and think of positives. Meanwhile, the ponies in the streets did call for our abdication.” “Finally, we had had enough. We confronted our sister, demanding justice for our mistreatment. She refused, and we… lost control. Our fury, our bitterness, our loneliness consumed us… creating Nightmare Moon for the first time.” “Our sister, frightened by our transformation, sought to use the Elements of Harmony on us. Our own Laughter, Loyalty, and Honesty banished us to the moon, in our sister’s final, desperate attempt to save the innocents from our wrath. There we stayed, for a thousand years, trapped on that lonely, desolate rock we had once moved with but a thought.” “After the thousand years had passed, we hadst regained enough strength to escape back to our home world. We incapacitated Celestia, lowered the Sun, and brought about eternal Night, just as we wanted.” She appeared unable to go on for a second, and you rub her neck comfortingly again. She sighs. “What happened next?” you query, knowing the story wasn’t over. Nightmare snorts angrily. “A mare, a ‘Twilight Sparkle,’ sought to defeat us. She was Celestia’s protégé, more concerned with books and knowledge than magical combat. We thought her naught more than amusement, and allowed her approach, together with five ponies she had just met. To our surprise, they quickly bonded, and bonded so well that the Elements of Harmony took new bearers for the first time in a millennia – and the sixth, Magic, at last took a physical form. With power far beyond her mortal comprehension, Twilight Sparkle overpowered us not with cunning, but with sheer magical force. The Elements of Harmony wouldst grant her deepest wish if it meant protecting her friends, and we braced for the worst.” “But Twilight Sparkle didst not wish to send us back to the moon, or kill us outright, oh no. She merely wanted to eliminate the part of us that wanted to hurt others, to seek revenge, from the part that did not. And thus, Princess Luna was reborn! Given new form, a fresh start, everything she hadst ever dreamed of. But we were not so fortunate.” “We were the part left behind. The part that hated, sought revenge, the part that Luna was most ashamed of. Our half of her soul was split, cast off from the physical being, less than nothing. All we were then and all we are now is raw magic.” “Our own physical self, disgusted by our visage and continued existence, ordered us captured and brought here, to live out eternity in isolation. And here we hath stayed, for three years, with few to speak to and even fewer to converse with.” You stare at her, horrified. “You were betrayed… by yourself?” you ask, shocked. Nightmare Moon shrugs. “Wouldst thee not do the same? Seeing a mirror of thyself, all the worst parts reflected, wouldst thee not cast it away out of shame and self-loathing? We doth not blame our other self for it, far from it.” “But…” you trail off, trying to think of something comforting to say. “But you’re… you. You’re a separate person… being. Doesn’t that mean you have rights?” Nightmare Moon snorts with laughter. “A separate creature indeed. We art not as separated from our ‘good’ half as thou may believeth. Even the Elements of Harmony couldst not split a soul in twain entirely, nay. Twould’st require too much energy. Instead, we art linked by a curious magical bond, perhaps unique in nature. Any thing Princess Luna doth hate most about herself, becomes incorporated into ourself, and the same is true for us. For example, we once spake normally, having stolen the knowledge of a modern lexicon from yon ponies above. But it seems Luna has grown to hate her olden-tongued grammar, and thus… we no longer possesseth the ability,” the alicorn sadly murmurs. “We hath no rights, for we art naught more than a reflection of all the worst Luna has to offer. Nopony loves us enough to grant us mercy.” You stop short, a sharp tap of your feet on the crystalline path causing Nightmare Moon to stop as well. “That’s not true,” you insist. “You granted me mercy. There has to be some good in you, even if you don’t see it.” Nightmare Moon sighed. “Must there? Or, perhaps, didst we spare thee because thou remindeth us of what we once were?” she asked rhetorically. You fall silent. “…Forget we said anything. Anon, there is a path to the surface ahead,” she mutters, trotting off into the gloom. You stare after her for a moment, then follow, wondering about her. To your surprise, you find her a moment later, laying down on the path and whimpering. “What happened? Are you okay?!” you ask, shocked at such a drastic change. “T-thou finally c-came…” she hiccups, shivering slightly. “What… what do you mean? You were only out of my sight for a few seconds,” you worry. “Time doth not follow rules here, nor space. A few seconds for one couldst be a few hours for another,” she explains, slowly getting back to her hooves. “What happened while I was gone?” you ask, helping her up. “The path ahead… is a trap. A magical loop, designed to counter escapes such as ours. And we cannot break the spell… we thought ourselves free, but we hath only expanded our prison,” Nightmare Moon laments. You think hard. “This trap, it’s completely magical. Right?” You ask. She nods uncertainly. “And I’m immune to magic somehow… meaning I can pass through. Right?” you continue. She begins to catch on. “And if we taketh control of thee once more, we may pass through!” she exclaims excitedly, already turning into blue vapor. “Right!” you laugh, holding out a hand. The vapor reaches out to touch it, and you once again slump to the floor as all your muscles are overridden at once. Nightmare Moon makes you get to your feet, walking unsteadily forward as she looks around nervously for something. Nothing so far, you comment mentally. The trap hath not been sprung, Nightmare Moon retorts. She closes your eyes and sprints forward, bracing for the worst… When your eyes are opened, nothing seems to have changed. Looking back, you’ve definitely advanced forward down the path. Up ahead, the wall of the titanic cave looms, a single entrance carved into it at the end of the path. It… it worked! We cannot believe it worked! Nightmare Moon cheered, your eyes glowing blue as she exits your body. “Of course it worked,” you reply, though inwardly you are just as relieved as she to have passed whatever trap had ensnared her. To your surprise, she encases you in an extremely warm and fuzzy hug, rubbing her nose across your forehead… ‘nuzzling’ you. “Thou art a good friend,” she whispers, and you blush slightly. “No problem,” you softly reply. She appears to return to her senses, and steps back hastily, a blue tinge to her cheeks as she grins guiltily at you, showing off a number of sharp fangs. “Er… perhaps we may progress?” she notes, extending a wing for you to get up. You grab it gently, unsure how much weight it can pull, and are greatly surprised when it pulls you all the way up with little effort – the muscles in those wings of hers must be immensely strong. The two of you walk into the alcove in the side of the pit, wondering what the future will bring. “What will you do, when you reach the surface?” you ask, as Nightmare Moon kicks at a rock. It skitters down the tunnel into the darkness, and you’re briefly glad that Nightmare Moon’s hair glows such a vivid blue, allowing you to see. “Verily? We hath never considered it,” Nightmare Moon answered with a small laugh. “You wouldn’t… try to take over again, would you?” you wonder sadly. Nightmare sighs. “Nay… we are both well aware of the likely result of that. Mayhap, instead, we wouldst go… somewhere quiet. Out of the way. Where nopony wouldst bother us, and we wouldst bother nopony… except maybe thee?” she asks hopefully. You consider this. “Well, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go… sure, I’ll come with you!” you answer. To be honest, you were dreading having to go and find your way out in a world where you remember nothing, and having someone to help you takes quite a bit of weight off your shoulders. Nightmare Moon, too, looks greatly relieved. “O-oh! Verily, we art glad thou shalt join us!” she stammers, giving you a bashful grin. At the end of the tunnel, the path forks off into two separate ways: One leading up, the other leading down. “This way, friend. The tunnel into Canterlot doth begin here,” Nightmare Moon directed, heading towards the left, upward-sloping path. You obediently follow, curious about where the other path went. The two of you go up what seems like an endless series of spiraling stairs, and by the time you reach the top, you’re completely winded. You flop to the floor after climbing for hours, while Nightmare Moon examines the gigantic door in front of the pair of you. It looks ancient, rusted over in some places and merely darkened in others. The door is made of solid steel, and appears to be very thick, perhaps even a foot deep of metal. It must weigh a few tons, and looks impossible to move by sheer force. Six symbols are carved into the metal frame, though you don’t recognize any of them. “How… do we get past… this…?” you ask, slowly regaining your breath. “Verily, we art unsure… the Guards opened this door, the first time we entered. It may be that only they knoweth the spell required,” Nightmare Moon muses. “Could you… slip through… and open it from the other side?” you wheeze, and Nightmare looks over. “Art thee alright?” she asks in bemused concern. “Humans… not made… for so many… stairs,” you get out, and Nightmare Moon raises an eyebrow. “Prithee, t’was barely a trek. Thou shalt need much more strength in thee if we art to escape Canterlot,” she chastises. “Sorry…” you pant, finally managing to regain a sitting position. “…Tis’ alright. Thou art clearly of different make than the species we art used to… perhaps thy life was that of nobility, and thou had little cause for exercise?” Nightmare Moon wonders. You frown in thought. That doesn’t sound right… but then again, what would you know about it? You can’t remember anything. “Maybe…” you mutter. You take a moment to rest while Nightmare Moon paces around the door, poking and prodding at it and muttering to herself. What have you gotten yourself into? You’ve made friends with some kind of… magic demon-alicorn thing, and the two of you are escaping a prison together. Does this make you a felon? Are you really doing the right thing by letting her go? It’s hard to tell. You pull over your backpack from across the dusty, dry cavern floor, pulling out your roll of parchment and carefully drawing out an updated map. By the time you’re done, Nightmare has taken a seat across from you, watching you draw with a curious expression on her face. “Wherefore art thee scribing?” she asks curiously. “It’s a map,” you explain, showing her your scribbles. Nightmare Moon picks it up with your magic, a gentle tug lifting it from your grasp as she inspects it, rotating it every which way. “Well… thou art no cartographer,” she snorts. “Even so, tis’ readable enough… Thou encountered Cerberus?” she asks, and you nod. “He was cute,” you note, smiling. Nightmare Moon rolls her eyes. “He is the lone Warden of Tartarus, and hath been so for many, many centuries. Verily, he is quite up to the task – a single blow from one of his paws is known to crush entire bodies.” You swallow nervously. “Good thing I made friends with him,” you mutter. “So… have you figured out a way to get through that door?” you ask, glancing over at the rusted gateway to the world above. “Nay,” Nightmare Moon sighs. “It doth possesseth some spell blocking our egress. We shalt have to find another path,” she explains. “Oh… Is there another exit out of Tartarus?” you wonder. “We once overheard a conversation from a Guard that was quickly hushed by her superior,” Nightmare Moon reminisces. “Something about an ‘emergency elevator’ located deeper in the Pit, able to move all the way to the surface if necessary. If we art correct, this door was sealed from the outside, and therefore the ‘elevator’ shouldst still function.” You look at her worriedly. “So, in order to escape, we need to go deeper…” you mutter, glancing back at the passage. “Fear not, friend. Thou hath us by thy side,” Nightmare Moon promises. Only slightly relieved, you follow her back through the tunnel, leaving the blocked-off exit behind. Nightmare Moon takes the path the two of you ignored the last time, a spiraling set of stairs leading downward into the gloom. You cautiously follow, wondering if anything will jump out at you from the darkness. A pebble, seemingly attached to the ceiling, falls and bounces down the steps, the sounds like thunder to you as you jump. “Afraid?” Nightmare Moon notices, seemingly amused. Embarrassed, you look away, and she chuckles, a dark, throaty laugh that you think would otherwise preclude a full-on evil cackle. “Were thee anywhere else, we might call that cowardice. Here… that is called ‘common sense,’” she wickedly adds, before continuing on. The tunnel stops spiraling at a lone, white door, a golden grille set into the floor just in front of it and a panel with buttons on its side. Nightmare Moon, upon seeing it, sticks out her tongue. “White and gold… our sister’s calling card. Verily, she hath no taste.” Surprised, you chortle at her disgust. “Would a better color scheme be black and blue?” you joke, intentionally picking her colors. Nightmare Moon raises her head regally. “T’would fit the atmosphere! Tartarus is a prison, not a palace. Tis’ not meant to be warm and inviting.” You reach out and press the ‘up’ button on the panel, only to find that it doesn’t appear to be working. “Tis’ disabled,” Nightmare Moon notes, examining it. “Verily, no spell enchanteth this pressing disk. The other, however, doth function normally.” Reluctantly, you return to the original plan, pressing the ‘down’ button. It instantly lights up yellow, and you can hear the hum of a slowly approaching elevator. A while later, the button gives out a loud ding, the sound echoing harshly through the tunnel, and the doors slide open. It’s easily the fanciest elevator you’ve ever seen – red velvet carpet, a golden, engraved design on the other side of the doors, and a golden lever on the opposite side. The walls are paneled and beige in color, with a single, massive glass window set into the right wall. Through it, you can see a harsh, white bar-shaped spotlight, with a metal sign below reading “Level 00 – Isolation” in big, block letters. “Isolation…” you murmur. At least you have a title for the map you’ve been writing now. Nightmare Moon’s nose wrinkled in deepest disgust the moment the doors open, and she takes a seat on the plush carpet. “This must be her elevator,” she mutters. “Nopony else wouldst have chosen such awful, clashing colors.” Amused, you pull away from the window and try to find the panel by the side of the elevator that normally demarks what floors you can visit. “If thee art attempting to activate it, thou mayest notice the giant lever opposite thee,” Nightmare Moon calls over sarcastically. Embarrassed, you immediately move over to the lever. “I thought there were multiple floors to visit,” you mutter. “Multiple floors? Such technology is far too modern for this place,” Nightmare Moon scoffs. “Dost thee hath an idea of the complex magicks required to stop and start an elevator at multiple, separate, addressable points?” An image of the panel you were looking for flashes in your mind, separate floors marked by translucent, plastic buttons that occasionally failed to light up. “…I guess not,” you answer, pulling the lever and taking a seat. The elevator shudders and begins to slowly move downward. More of those spotlights move up past your vision beyond the window, indicating the speed of your movement. You close your eyes, taking another moment to rest. This place isn’t quite as comfy as the lab was, but the floor is nice and it’s warm, at least. > Chapter 3 - Grotto > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The elevator arrives with another ding, jolting you and Nightmare Moon both out of your respective stupors. “How long did that take?” you mumble, getting up and stretching. “Mayhap we summoned it when it was already moving up,” Nightmare Moon blearily replies, stumbling out the doors as you pick up your backpack and follow. As you gratefully leave the harsh, white spotlights of the elevator shaft, your eyes linger on the metal plate that demarks this floor: “Level 01 – Upper Prison” is written in the same large block letters, and you swallow nervously before hastily following after Nightmare Moon. You emerge onto a path much like the one you had taken to get to the elevator, a purple crystalline shell surrounding an off-white, slightly glowing upper surface. To your surprise, the large, purple, crystalline stalagmites that you had skirted around on the level above were still present, although much wider now. “How tall are these things?” you wonder, looking up at the nearest crystalline spire as it towered many hundreds, possibly thousands of feet above you. “Presumably, they extendeth to the base of the Pit… many, many kilometres deep,” Nightmare Moon answers, following your gaze. You can’t even see the top of the stalagmites, nor the bottom – both disappear into the purple haze that clouds this prison. “How many prisoners do they need to keep?” you wonder aloud. Nightmare Moon snorts with amusement. “Verily, few. This vast pit was once a singular prison cell – the prisoners contained within, however, were immense in stature.” You visibly pale, hands shaking slightly, and she glances at you in a kind of half-concern, half-confusion. “They art long deceased,” she clarifies, and you breathe a sigh of relief. “How’d they die?” you wonder sadly. Perhaps you were too late? “Most gave up on life, and chose to end it by their own means,” Nightmare Moon answers, discussing suicide as casually as she had discussed the height of a rock spire. You pause a moment, shocked by her blunt response. “…So, are you the only one left?” you ask after a while, as the two of you set out along the path. “Nay. There art a few of us down here – perhaps just five in total,” Nightmare Moon answered. “We hadst a ‘neighbor’ of sorts, in the adjacent spire for a short while. His name was ‘Tirek,’ and before our incarceration he was the only prisoner in the Isolation Wing. He was moved shortly thereafter, presumably to uphold the ‘Isolation’ requisite therein.” You nod, saving this information for later. “So you, Tirek… who else?” you wonder. “Verily, we hath not been given names. Much of our knowledge cometh from eavesdropping on yon Guards… who used to be quite plentiful,” Nightmare Moon noted, stopping and looking around in concern. “I checked the Isolation Lab, and everything was still running even though nobody was there. What do you think happened to them all?” you wonder curiously. “We knoweth not… tis’ most unnerving, now we art aware of it,” Nightmare Moon murmurs uneasily. “You don’t think another prisoner could have… gotten them, do you?” you worry. “Nay, they wouldst have evacuated had such a breach occurred,” Nightmare Moon answered, still looking every which way for the Guards. “Why? Wouldn’t they try to stay and recapture the prisoner?” you ask, surprised. Nightmare Moon snorts. “Such an attempt wouldst be a redundancy at best. The Barrier preventeth the prisoners from escaping to the surface world already, so all they wouldst need to do is make sure nopony got hurt during the breach.” You stop and look at her. “Wait. There’s a Barrier that prevents us from escaping?” you ask seriously, and Nightmare Moon sheepishly nods. “Tis’ based on the purity of thy soul. Those with impure souls, villains by word and deed, cannot pass. Those of a purer heart, or even a neutral disposition, may come and go as they please.” You level your gaze at her. “So… how, exactly, were we supposed to get past that when we got down to the Elevator?” you ask harshly. Nightmare Moon looked away. “Well?” you demanded. “We planned… to escort thee to the elevator safely, and attempt to cross the Barrier. If it worked, then we wouldst join thee. If not… well, at least thou wouldst be safe,” Nightmare Moon muttered. She glances back at you only to find an incredulous stare on your face. “What?” she replies, perplexed. “The whole point of breaking you out was so that you could escape with me,” you stress. “I’m not going to leave you behind, not even if it means freedom!” Nightmare Moon’s eyes widen, and she stares at you for a moment. “Thou wouldst stay in this terrible place… for us alone?” she asks, clearly touched. You look away, slightly embarrassed. “It’s what friends do,” you mutter. She doesn’t respond for a moment, apparently unsure of what to say. With nothing else to do, the two of you resume walking down the crystalline path towards an unknown, deeper destination. The single path quickly turns into a maze of criss-crossing paths from spire to spire, tunnels connecting various paths. “What’s the point of all these confusing passages?” you gripe, having just traipsed up a flight of stairs only to find you’re on the path directly below the one you started on. “Verily, they art precisely for the purpose thou hast found – to annoy. Were flight magic present in this place, we couldst merely skip the lot – but, unfortunately, we art as land-bound as thou art,” Nightmare answers, shuffling her wings in a clearly frustrated manner. “So this is to slow down escape attempts?” you huff, making your way up yet another flight of stairs. “Aye. The Guards wouldst possess maps of this, allowing them to find the exit without difficulty. Speaking of which… hast thou updated thy map?” she asks, looking over at you. You look back at the maze of criss-crossing paths, and sigh as you pull out your clipboard and pencil. A few scribbles later, you’re actually starting to make sense of this place. There are a few spots where tunnels seem to ‘overlap’ in space, but if what Nightmare Moon told you earlier is correct, that’s fairly normal for this place. “Looks like the only path we haven’t tried is… that one,” you note, pointing at a branch off of a crystalline bridge leading directly into a spire. “We wouldst preferreth to avoid that path…” Nightmare Moon murmurs. “But, given no choice, we must proceed.” You glance at her sharply. “What’s down that path?” you ask. “The smell of carbonous acid… which, if we art correct, indicateth the presence of a changeling,” Nightmare answers. For some reason, you know what 'carbonous acid' is supposed to be. Formic acid, a natural byproduct from most ants and a few other insects. “What’s a changeling?” you ask, curious. “A shape-shifting, insect-like species. They doth feed on emotion, specifically love, draining their victims until soul-less husks are all that remain,” Nightmare Moon explains. “…Oh,” you answer. “Forsooth, there must be some way to bypass them. But with our magical form… we art afraid that a changeling attack wouldst reduce us to less than a husk. To nothing,” Nightmare Moon clarifies, shivering slightly. “Right. Because you’re Princess Luna’s emotion given form,” you realize, and she nods. “Aye. We doth not feel love, but we doth feel, and that is why we doth not wish to encounter such a creature.” You grunt at this, determined to protect your friend. But what if the ‘changeling’ ahead deserved to be free too? A little voice argues. You abandon this train of thought and focus on helping Nightmare Moon. She seems genuinely nervous. “You okay?” you ask softly as the two of you enter the new path. Immediately, the atmosphere changes: This cave is much dirtier and wetter than the ones you’ve been in so far. Additionally, there’s no overhead lighting, a fact you only realize was present after you had already gone through several such tunnels. Drips of running water splash onto the floor, along with an indistinct, high-pitched sound from far away. Grotto, you remember, is the name for a cave like this. “We… we art fine,” Nightmare Moon insists, though she shivers slightly. The two of you trek through yet more confusing, overlapping tunnels, though you do your best this time to mark everything down on your map as you come across it. Finally, the two of you come face-to-face with a small crevasse in the corner of a bend of the gray stone tunnel, with a metal plaque nailed into place next to it. The smell of formic acid is much stronger here, and you pause a moment to wrinkle your noise before reading the sign. “Prisoner 0059 – Chrysalis,” you read. Nightmare Moon hums in dismay. “This be the entrance to the changeling’s containment field. We had hoped we were wrong…” You sigh, pulling the documentation for ‘Chrysalis’ off the wall and beginning to read it. To your surprise, there’s a second document underneath – maybe a revision? You decide to read the one on top first. “P-0059 – ‘Chrysalis’ Subject Characteristics: Phenotype: Changeling (var. Queen) Gender: Non-binary (see form 1082) Height – 12.22 hooves (1.863 m) Weight – 4.82 kg (at last measurement, dropping at a rate of ~0.2 kg/yr) Coat color: N/A. Subject covered in layer of coal-gray, semi-flexible chitinous material. Mane color: Teal Eye color: Green/Teal – outer iris Dark green – inner iris Pupils: Black, slit-like Cutie Mark: N/A. Additional characteristics: Insectoid appearance, including gossamer wings, exoskeleton-based physiology, and an iridescent carapace. Psychological evaluation, 1003-04-14, Dr. Shield Array conducting: -Subject has lost all vestiges of sanity, no longer recognizing or responding to interrogation. Subject’s containment level has therefore been downgraded considerably to save resources. Subject is now safe to approach by all personnel, provided continuation of the subject’s current behavior. Containment Procedures (Updated 1003-07-12): -Delta-type BRR (Barrier-Replication Rune) System inscribed into nearby stalagmites. Stalagmites now exhibit anomalous spatio-temporal behavior, teleporting away from magical sources as desired. No further containment necessary at this time.” You compare this with the document you have on Nightmare Moon. “Delta-type? Seems like they’re trying out a few of these ‘Barrier-Rune Replication Systems,’” you note. “Tis’ the ongoing project down here to replicate the Barrier above us in a portable fashion,” Nightmare Moon explains, evidently annoyed at this. “It hath been a subject of Princess Celestia’s research for many centuries – though, with our return and ‘rediscovery’ of rune magic, many strides hath been made in the past three years.” You look at her. “Rediscovery?” you parrot, wondering why she sounded so annoyed about this. “Our si – Princess Celestia hadst lost the knowledge to time. T’was not particularly difficult magick, but apparently she lacked the skill to reinvent it on her own.” You raise an eyebrow at her, and she glares at the floor. “T’was a reminder of how much we hath lost to the ages due to our foalishness… and Luna hates nothing more than those reminders. Except, perhaps, herself.” Your expression has now passed skepticism and graduated into a full-on grimace. “…What doth the secondary document speak of?” she asks, reminding you of the second paper you picked up. “Um…” you begin, reading aloud once more. “P-0059 – ‘Chrysalis’ Subject Characteristics: Phenotype: Changeling (var. Queen) Gender: Female Height – 12.22 hooves (1.863 m) Weight – 5.162 kg (at last measurement, dropping at a rate of ~0.1 kg/yr) Coat color: N/A. Subject covered in layer of coal-gray, semi-flexible chitinous material. Mane color: Teal Eye color: Green/Teal – outer iris Dark green – inner iris Pupils: Black, slit-like Cutie Mark: N/A. Additional characteristics: Insectoid appearance, including gossamer wings, exoskeleton-based physiology, and an iridescent carapace. Subject has abilities of mind control, night vision, magic-based emotional draining, and shapeshifting into both organic and inorganic forms regardless of size, weight, or composition, as well as hypnotic suggestion, rendering even eye contact a severe hazard. Psychological evaluation, 1003-04-14, Dr. Shield Array conducting: -Subject is still hostile to approach, and still attempting to bypass mental shields of researchers. Her attempts have become significantly more subtle, with the most recent involving a carefully placed cup of coffee that nearly allowed her breach. After the attempt failed, she was observed undergoing emotional and possible mental breakdown, screaming and pounding at the walls while wailing about her desire to escape. Subject still refuses to answer any and all questions. Containment Procedures (Updated 1002-01-30): -Delta-type BRR (Barrier-Replication Rune) System inscribed into nearby stalagmites. Stalagmites now exhibit anomalous spatio-temporal behavior, teleporting away from magical sources as desired. Night Guard only on containment staff due to their superior night-vision and hearing. All personnel overseeing her containment cell are to maintain mental shield spells cast by Head Researcher Shield Array and Princess Celestia, and are also required to wear special mirrored glasses at all times to avoid hypnotic effects. Patrols around the cell will take random routes (as designated by the dedicated random-number generator located in the Level 01 Office) to avoid falling into a predictable pattern. All personnel are to avoid talking, listening to or acknowledging P-0059 in any way to avoid being persuaded, psychically or otherwise, to follow any suggestion she makes. Personnel are to stay outside of a 5-meter radius of P-0059 at all times to avoid effects of emotional draining.” “Quite a reduction in security,” Nightmare Moon wryly observes once you’re done reading. “What happened to her? She went from sounding like the most dangerous prisoner in this entire place to… well, they’re not even bothering to watch her anymore,” you note worriedly. “Subject hath lost all vestiges of sanity… verily, it sounds as though she couldst not handle captivity well. All the better for us,” Nightmare Moon announces eagerly. “But… she went insane because she was trapped down here, alone in the dark with nobody to talk to and nobody to help her out…” you whisper, reading through the cold, clinical document once more. “There is little we canst do about it,” Nightmare Moon insists. “Even if we freed her, and even if she regained her sanity, she canst not cross the Barrier. Tis’ best to leave her alone.” But you had already made up your mind, and set the clipboard aside. Even though your hands were shaking, you had to stick to what you’d decided. “I’m not going to leave her here,” you deny. “I’ll offer her a chance at escape, and if she doesn’t take it, or can’t take it… then… then I guess we’ll leave her behind.” Nightmare Moon gazed at you skeptically. “…Thou art going to get thyself killed some day, with that attitude,” she points out. “Then I’ll die an honorable death!” you call sarcastically over your shoulder as you squeeze into the crevasse. When did this happen? You muse, making your way through the incredibly narrow, jagged and sharply-turning path that leads to Chrysalis. Suddenly, you’re some kind of savior for these trapped prisoners. Why? What good will it do you? Nightmare Moon’s right: Even if you do manage to save Chrysalis from herself, you’re simply leading her on. She can’t cross the Barrier, because she doesn’t have Nightmare Moon’s trick of possessing souls. But… that can’t be the end for her. It’s not fair that she has to die in this terrible place – and she will die, you’re certain of that. That snide quip in the documents you read about her losing more weight over time can’t mean anything good, not for any species. Nightmare Moon also said that neutral or pure souls can cross the Barrier as they please. So what if you left her at the Barrier’s edge, persuaded whoever made it to unmake it… and then came back for her? You’d have a pretty good case, if you can persuade the prisoners down here to be good – even the cruelest of the cruel couldn’t defend keeping good people in a place like this, not in a public forum. You take a moment to wonder whether you can cross the Barrier. You don’t remember doing anything truly bad, but that’s not saying much given what little you do remember. What if you were some kind of horrible murderer in a past life? Would you still be able to cross? Would this ‘Barrier’ punish you for sins you didn’t remember committing? Hard to say. You resolve to ask Nightmare Moon about it when you make it back to her. If you make it back to her. You finally make your way into a larger room, though not quite as large as the vast cavern you’ve been exploring. A single, green glob of… something is the only light in the room, looking as though it had been stuck to the rocky, wet ceiling a long time ago. The light looks as though it barely has any power left, it’s so dim. The room is barely larger than the area at the top of Nightmare Moon’s spire, and the smell of formic acid is so strong that tears come to your eyes. Stalagmites are scattered throughout the room, vibrating slightly in a fashion that makes you uneasy. Slowly, cautiously, you make your way through the room, trying not to blink too much lest you miss something. The stalagmites don’t react to your presence, but you hear a slight buzzing noise every now and then. Towards the back of the room, something white glints in the darkness, hidden beneath one of the stalagmites. You stoop down and try to pick it up, only to find that it’s stuck somehow. Pulling harder, you wrench it free to find a rigid metal keycard with a paper front, the back covered with some viscous, sticky green substance. “Researcher Doped Amine” is written in faded letters on the front, along with a barely-visible photo of a pink, smiling female pony. [ITEM: KEYCARD] [Researcher Doped Amine’s Level 1 keycard. Might be useful to access some areas.] “So that’s what they look like,” you mutter, examining your first real photograph of the ‘ponies’ that apparently run this place. The carvings on the pedestal you found earlier weren’t far off. Her eyes were huge and expressive, though her stature seemed to be much shorter than Nightmare Moon’s. Maybe she was younger? Your expression sours at the thought of teenagers or even children in this place. Whatever age she was, the researcher was adorable. Like a more intelligent puppy… that was conducting amoral research on an unwilling test subject. That… didn’t make her much less adorable, actually, which you’re slightly concerned by. As you stand back up after picking up the keycard, your eye catches something written on the wall right in front of you. You move closer to examine it, only to find that you’ve cast it into shadow by standing in front of the dim light source. Moving to the side, you examine it in the limited light. A carving of what appears to be a tall pony in a dress with a long, crooked something jutting out of its forehead is standing next to a shorter pony with some kind of shield-shaped picture on its flank. The two seem to be happy, and the words ‘Just Married’ are scrawled below them. Unnerved, you back away, only to find that the whole wall is covered with these carvings. How did you miss these? Had they faded into the background while your eyes were adjusting to the dim light? Hearts are the primary motif, covering every square inch of the walls, and even some of the floor and ceiling. Shivering, you back away, only to bump into the nearby wall again and whirl around. Right in front of your face are the words “LOVE ME” in gouged-out block letters that best belonged in some kind of asylum. What you thought were merely cracks in the wall turn out to be repetitions of this terrifying mantra, carved into, through, and across the hearts you noticed earlier. Breathing heavily, you begin making your way for the exit, all thoughts of heroism forgotten. You needed to leave. Right now. You make for the exit, all thought of quietude forgotten, but something seems amiss. There’s nobody in the room with you, but you get the feeling you’re being watched. Where is Chrysalis, anyway? She was supposed to be trapped in here. Maybe she already escaped? Shrugging, you decide to head outside and tell Nightmare Moon you couldn’t find her. As you begin to slide through the narrow crevasse, you hear the sound of flickering flames behind you. Something yanks you back with enough force to send you flying, landing flat on your back and having the wind knocked out of you. The something leaps through the air to land on your chest, pinning you to the floor as it hisses at you, teal-green hair obscuring its face for a moment before it leans down to look at you. It's taller than you, by quite a bit. Two glowing green eyes open, the slitted pupils surrounded by double irises telling you exactly who’s about to end your life. Her legs are impossibly long and slender, even compared to Nightmare Moon’s, and holes seemingly eaten into them reveal that they are composed of a solid black substance, unlike yourself. Her horn is crooked and disjointed, looking like the horn-equivalent of a badly broken leg and ending in a lethally sharp, blade-like tip. Two ovoid wings, again with holes eaten into them, adorn her sides, and occasionally twitch, sending a slight chittering buzz through the air – so these were what you heard earlier. Saliva drips from her maw as she continues to hiss at you, looking as though something’s… fractured behind her gaze. Her mouth opens wider, impossibly wider, as her hissing evolves to a full-on snarl, her lips easily stretching past her eyes and adding to her nearly-feral look. “LOVE ME!” she demands, the screech barely intelligible as more than raw, primal sound. As she lunges at your neck, her jaws open as wide as a snake’s, instinct takes over and you kick her squarely in the chest, sending her flying as you hurriedly jump back to your feet. As she lands, time slows to a crawl, and those colorful boxes that appear to signify a battle appear in front of you. You’re glad for the chance to slow down and consider your next move, but you’d better choose carefully – she’s less of a thinking creature and more of an enraged animal right now. [Queen Chrysalis attacks!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Easy, easy! I’m here to help you!” you cajole, holding up your hands in a gesture of surrender. This seems to have no effect on Chrysalis, and she leaps forward to bite at the screen, still growling and snarling like a rabid dog. You urge the heart thing on the screen to dodge as best it can, narrowly avoiding her vicious fangs. [Queen Chrysalis attacks!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “There has to be something of you left,” you plead. “I can help you! Stop attacking!” She glares at you for a moment, a flicker of intelligent distrust crossing her expression before resuming her attempts to murder you. Her attack this time is small hearts that come from the sides of the screen, white and slow-moving – only to turn green and rapidly home in on your heart’s position as soon as they get too close. You’re taken by surprise, and quickly suffer several sharp, stabbing pains to the heart as a result. [Queen Chrysalis really wants to kill you.] [38/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] Well, you’ve confirmed that there’s something left of her old self in there. That last attack wasn’t the random, enraged biting of a mindless animal – that was a planned deception. How much of her has survived, you aren’t quite certain, but you’re determined to save it. You think hard about what you were told about this ‘Queen Chrysalis.’ Shapeshifter, eats emotions, preferably love… wait. What if…? No, that’s just stupid. And yet… you’d better do something quick. She’s probably going to think of some more deadly attack if you don’t. >>[SPARE] Before she can react, you leap forward and pin her in a bear hug, positioning yourself carefully so that she’s unable to bite you even with the advantage of her sinuous, long neck. Without hesitating, you begin rubbing a hand over her back soothingly, whispering quiet reassurances to her. “It’s okay,” you promise. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m going to get you out of here, and take you back up to the surface. Wouldn’t that be nice? To leave this place?” Something sparks in her eyes, shattered pieces of a long-dead, torn psyche begrudgingly picking themselves back up and beginning to come back together. “Leave this place…?” she whispers, in a voice that sounds like it’s gone unused for a long time. It sounds like other things, too – like three or four of her are speaking at once, a vibrating, many-pitched tone that reminds you of an insect buzzing its wings. There are no attacks on the screen – both of you are too surprised to continue the battle. “…Yeah. We can both escape,” you respond after a moment, still rubbing her back to keep her calm. She shudders slightly as you brush against her neck, and then stiffens, rearing away from you with a suspicious and distrustful look. “How do I know I can trust you?!” she demands, beginning to hiss again. “Because I’m not a Guard. I’m not a prisoner, either. I don’t really know who I am,” you confess. She sneers at you, lip curling in disgust. “An amnesiac. Great. With my luck, you’ll be Celestia’s forgetful right-hand… thing, chosen by prophecy to defeat me and everyone else down here.” You raise an eyebrow at her, and she looks away, glaring at the ground. “…That was oddly specific,” you observe. “Shut up,” she snaps back. “Okay, so now that you’re… sane, how do we disable the runes keeping you trapped here?” you ask. She looks at you with deepest disappointment etched into her frown. “Firstly, insult me again and I’ll rip you in half. Second, we can’t. You’re as trapped in here as I am, now, because those ‘runes’ teleport away from us when we get close.” You follow her imperiously pointing hoof to find a stalagmite, a familiar-looking symbol just barely visible in the dim green light. You slowly walk towards it, as though cornering an unsuspecting prey that might bolt at any moment, but it doesn’t move. “Idiot! You think you’re… somehow…” Chrysalis trails off as you reach out a finger to gently tap the stalagmite, which still fails to move, though it flickers slightly as you get close. “Immune?” you dryly finish, leaning against the jutting stalagmite and finding it surprisingly solid despite flickering in and out of reality. “I get that a lot.” You inspect the stalagmite, tapping at it with a finger – it’s solid rock. You aren’t exactly going to be able to break it with your bare hands, as awesome as that might sound. “Unless you’re hiding a pickaxe somewhere, those are still solid rock stalagmites,” Chrysalis calls unhelpfully from off to the side. “Sadly, I’m not. Any other ideas?” you ask. She saunters over, a sarcastic remark ready to leave her mouth, only for the stalagmite to vanish in a blur, reappearing on the other side of the room. You give her a glare of your own, and she glares right back. “Seems your strange anti-magic abilities aren’t all that good, creature,” she snarks. You briefly consider the possibility of leaving her behind – she’s kind of a massive jerk. Then again, you did promise to get her out of here, and you’d be an infinitely bigger jerk if you went back on that now. You consult your backpack, rifling through in an attempt to find something useful. Unfortunately, the only implement you might have is the Pencil, and… well, you get the feeling that wouldn’t work. There has to be some other way to deal with these runes. “Hey!” Chrysalis exclaims furiously, jolting you out of your ruminations. “What?” you call back, only a hint of irritation permeating your tone. “Do you think this is funny?!” she yells, bounding forward so she’s directly in front of your face and gesturing with a slightly trembling hoof to the walls. “What, the carvings? Those weren’t me!” you deny, pushing her away. “Oh, sure! First you accuse me of being insane, then you decide to play a sick prank on me by making it look like – like I was some love-starved freak! Then, you play dumb?! I’m not falling for it!” she screeches, fangs fully extended and murder in her eyes. “I didn’t put those there! If I did, I would’ve used some kind of tool to do so, which I would be using now to get you out of here if I had one!” you retort, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “Well – that – I – just proves my point – “ Chrysalis spluttered, at a loss for words. She shook her head to steady herself. “You’re lying!” she decrees, shoving a hoof into your stomach. “Why would I? Why is it so hard to accept that you went crazy down here? Most people would go crazy down here!” you shout at her, adrenaline still pumping through you from the fight earlier. “I AM A QUEEN! I AM NOT CRAZY, AND YOU WILL OBEY ME, DRONE!” she screams, before clapping her hooves over her mouth, horrified. “…Drone?” you ask, perplexed. “Not. A. Word,” she hisses, seeing you about to say something else. You obediently fall silent, giving her a concerned look. “Don’t look at me like that! I… I don’t care what you think! I am a Queen, and Queens don’t go crazy!” Chrysalis insists, sounding as though even she doubted what she was saying. “Why not?” you ask, and the question catches her off guard. “Wh… what do you mean, why not? We’re royalty, our word is law! If a Queen tells you something, it’s true, no matter what you think!” She answers, raising her hackles. “Who told you that? Sounds kind of dumb. Queens are people too,” you point out. She falls silent, looking away from you. “Just… go away,” she mutters, walking away from you and laying down again. When you continue to sit there, she swivels her head around and glares at you again. “I said go away! I don’t want your help, you weird… thing! I… I can get out of here on my own!” You raise an eyebrow. “Go ahead, then,” you answer sarcastically, getting up and stretching. At this point, you can safely say you tried. As you head for the exit, you chance one last look back at her. She’s laying on the cave floor again, and you think you can hear a sniffle or two over the faint buzz of her wings. “…Are you sure you want me to leave?” you ask, one last time. She looks at you, not angrily, not sadly, but… exhausted. “Why do you keep doing that?” she grumbles. “Doing what?” you reply, wondering what she’s talking about. “That! Asking me to reconsider, as if I’ve done something wrong! I’m a Queen! I… I never make… mistakes…” she trails off, before burying her head in her legs, muffled sobs wracking her body as she starts bawling. Shocked at her sudden change in emotions, you slowly, cautiously make your way back over to her. “Don’t look at me… I’m not crying…” she howls into her forelegs, the sounds muffled but the shuddering sobs all too clear. “It’s okay to cry,” you reply mildly. “No! Only the weak cry! Only the weak make mistakes! I… am not… weak!” she cries, still unwilling to look at you. “That isn’t strength, that’s lying to yourself. If something makes you sad, not crying is refusing to acknowledge the emotions that make you… you,” you explain. “So, what, changelings who cry their eyes out and play with dolls are the strongest ones among us?” Chrysalis replies sarcastically, her ire evidently roused once more. You chuckle slightly, a bit confused by her specific example but deciding to ignore it for now. “Maybe not. Strength, real strength, is found when you confront the mistakes you made. When you fix them. That’s who a strong person is: Not perfect, not a crybaby, but someone who is honest with themselves, no matter how much it hurts, and always strives to improve. If you can look your failures in the eye and say ‘I am stronger than you,’ then… you win,” you finish, wondering if you’re saying the right stuff. Chrysalis certainly seems to be pondering this, as she falls silent for a while. You sit there contentedly, waiting for what seems like a while. Just as you’re about to say something, Chrysalis looks up at you. “My hive abandoned me,” she stated quietly. She wasn’t angry, or sad about it – she stated it so bluntly that you suspected she’d been thinking about it for a very long time. “They cast me out because I refused to accept I was leading them incorrectly, that I was anything less than perfection incarnate. And they…” she took a deep breath, trembling slightly. “They were right.” You stay silent, giving her a gently encouraging look. She takes another deep breath. “I… I made some bad choices.” You raise an eyebrow, and she looks down. “Okay, okay. A lot of bad choices. But… but it wasn’t my fault!” she insists. Your look quickly shifts to skepticism. “It wasn’t!” she continues to deny. “It… I…” she trails off, sighing. “A long time ago, I… I ran the Hive, just like my mother the former Queen taught me, just like how her mother had taught her, and so on. We… we weren’t happy, but we weren’t starving either. Things were normal. I… was normal. I was… I wasn’t kind, but I wasn’t a monster,” Chrysalis begins. Sensing a story, you cross your legs and place your fists on your cheeks, listening intently. “But… things changed. The ponies on the surface… they kept getting smarter. Building new stuff, learning new stuff… their military got better at spotting us, more organized. The hive began slowly starving because my changelings couldn’t get food fast enough, kept getting spotted and kicked out of whatever towns they infiltrated. I… I did the best I could to keep things going. We lost a lot of changelings because I didn’t want to accept that we were fighting a losing battle. That was a mistake,” she admits, sighing. “Eventually, one of my lowly military drones demanded I do something about it! That I was ignoring the problem, not solving it! I was doing the best I could, I don’t think anyone could have done better!” Chrysalis growls, and you rub her neck a little to calm her down and continue the story. “Cut that out!” she snaps at you, but more subdued. You obediently stop, and she huffs for a moment before resuming. “…Anyway, I… I snapped. I said as much to him, and I banished him from the Hive, never to return. Some of my drones asked what had happened to him, and I told them he was banished and they would be too if they asked too many questions,” she muttered. “I tried to forget about him. I had bigger problems to worry about. The Hive was still starving. I managed to scrape what few changelings we had left into a decent military, and began more subtle, cleverer campaigns to get enough food for us to survive. For a time, it worked. We went back to the way things were before – not starving anymore, but still hungry.” “But then, one day, he had the audacity to return. Worse, he was not only alive despite his banishment – he was full. He had more love in him than I’d managed to scrape together in a week. And he was happy to share. Changelings flocked to his side, eager to learn how he’d managed to keep himself together. It turned out he’d been openly treating ponies like… like food, instead of beings. He’d broken the Law.” “The Law?” you ask, curious as to why she emphasized it so much. “Our Hive has a Law that states that we can never mistreat ponies, even if we capture them, because they’re the reason we’re alive or some other symbolic nonsense,” Chrysalis explains hurriedly before returning to her story. “Anyway, I was about to banish him a second time, but… I hesitated. I was desperate for a solution to our food problem, and I still remembered the time when we were starving. I accepted him back into the Hive, an unheard-of­ act of mercy, in exchange for information on how he went about getting food.” “I followed his every word. I foalnapped ponies, drained them dry, and carted them off to our dungeons to fill back up with their love over and over, in an endless cycle. It worked, too – I could feel myself becoming less hungry, less tired, less… angry. I began to believe that maybe things would finally turn around. That was another mistake,” she spat. You reach out a hand to comfort her again, but decide against it. “But he wanted more, more, more. Forget the hunger of the Hive’s changelings, his was a whole different level. Always promising more and more ‘tactical secrets’ in exchange for a larger and larger share of the Hive’s love supply. We had to invade entire towns by force now, just to keep him sated. Meanwhile, I heard rumors that he was thinking of declaring himself King of the Hive, equal in power to me.” “I stormed his cave, demanding an explanation, only to find my own Guards turned against me. My whole Hive had sided with him, agreeing with him that the Law should be broken and cast aside. He offered me one, final ultimatum: He could either banish me from the Hive, in a sick perversion of the very same act I did to him, or I could allow him to rule as King.” “I had no choice, obviously. Our Hive would die if I were banished; it needs a Queen. So… he became King. He forced me to invade more and more towns and cities, just to sate his impossibly large appetite. He even demanded I invade the ponies’ capital city and masquerade as their Princess of Love, just to gather more. And then when I couldn’t do that, he…” Chrysalis stopped, choking slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut. “He…” she tried again, curling up slightly and shivering. Despite your better judgment, you hug her again, getting her to emit a squeak of surprise as you lay down beside her on the cold, wet cave floor and hold her close. “He’s not here,” you whisper. “He can’t hurt you here. And you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” She looks at you, small and afraid, and you see a flash of a much younger changeling behind her eyes. “When did your Hive abandon you?” you reluctantly press, recalling the both of you to the start of her monologue. “A year and a half ago,” Chrysalis whispers. “One of my drones, a young one named Thorax, had stayed with the ponies. Openly! They didn’t attack him, or deport him, they just… let him feed off of them. I thought it was some kind of joke, but he promised us all things would return to the way they were before. When we had enough, when the King wasn’t taking every last drop of love to feed himself. I… the only thing I could think of was the King, promising the exact same things so many years ago. I snapped. I tried everything to stop him, but he… he successfully deposed me from the throne, and my changelings, my beautiful children, changed into… freaks,” Chrysalis spat viciously. “Freaks?” you wonder. What would she consider freakish? “Colorful, painfully bright, with appendages that didn’t even do anything! They were… they were just like ponies now!” Chrysalis rages, slamming a hoof down on the stone floor. You see several cracks below where her hoof was. “It was just like before, only this time they didn't even want me to stay. I had to escape my own Hive, the only un-transformed changeling left. I hope that thrice-blasted Thorax is happy with himself: Now he has to deal with the King’s hunger.” You let her pant with anger for a moment. “What would you do, if you had the chance to do it all over?” you ask her. She stops and looks at you. “What do you mean?” she asks carefully. “If you went back to the day Thorax came and offered you peace with the ponies. Knowing what you know now… what would you do?” you ask again. Chrysalis snorts incredulously. “Knowing what I know now, I’d happily say no again! Those accursed ponies locked me up here, in case you haven’t noticed!” You look away, frustrated that your message hadn’t taken effect but begrudgingly acknowledging her point. “I suppose you want me to say that I should’ve said yes? Made the same mistake I did years ago?” Chrysalis challenges, clearly catching on. “No… Forget it. You’re right.” you mutter. Chrysalis looks at you, surprised. “Wait. Didn’t you… what did you mean?” she asks suspiciously. “I just… I think it would be better for everyone if we were a little nicer to each other. You especially. Wouldn’t the world be better with more love in it?” you wonder sadly. “As if,” Chrysalis scoffs. “It’d be great if ponies and changelings were friends, but it’ll never happen. We’re love-sucking monsters, and they’re… not. They’ve never had to starve. They’ve never had to invade just to get by. They’re all about friendship and harmony, and other things that make me want to bite them.” You raise an eyebrow at her. “You ever think that their insistence on that might be what keeps them from going hungry? Hard to starve when your friends make food for you.” Chrysalis is unable to form a response to this for a moment. “Change of topic: If ponies are so friendly, then why does this place exist?” you ask, gesturing around in confusion. Chrysalis laughs, a dry, amused chuckle. “This is something I would have dreamed up. But, sadly, it’s not mine. This place was made by the ponies’ leader. Princess ‘Celestia,’ the Raiser of the Sun. She wants to make sure none of us ‘villains’ can threaten her little ponies whenever we want, so she locks us up here when we become enough of a threat to the world above. Then she experiments on some of us to try and find better ways of locking us up.” You raise an eyebrow at her. “…Forget I said anything. Aren’t you supposed to be getting me out of here?” Chrysalis points out. You shrug. “Only if you’re sure you want me to. Besides, I can’t really do much here. The light’s so dim I can barely see.” Chrysalis sighs, and her horn lights up bright green, causing you to wince and flinch away as the whole cavern is thrown into sharp relief. Her stomach grumbles as she does so, and a strange hissing noise comes out of her mouth as her tongue flicks out for just a fraction of a second, but she steadfastly ignores it, looking at you as though daring you to comment. You wisely decide not to. “That’s better,” you mumble, getting to your feet. “Great, now I can see even more of those stupid carvings. Did I really make these?” Chrysalis grumbles. “The Guards could have made them to mess with you,” you amiably call over your shoulder, returning to studying the runes in the stalagmites. "Don't patronize me, creature," Chrysalis spits back. Almost immediately, you spot something useful. The ‘runes’ aren’t actually carved into the stalagmites; rather, they’re their own separate stone which has been carefully inserted into the stalagmites themselves. Hopefully, they’re not glued down… You rifle through your backpack, searching for something to pull them out with. If you just had a pair of pliers… wait, what are pliers, anyway? Whatever. You decide to use the researcher’s keycard from earlier, as most of the runes have very flat edges that will exhibit a lot of friction against the metal of the keycard. You jam it into the slightly-raised side of the rune, and carefully pull up. Slowly, and to your great satisfaction, the rune starts to slide outward, and you hurriedly snatch it with your other hand before it can slide back in. With a firm grip on it, you pull out the stone entirely. You can’t determine color very well in this bright green room, but it might be blue? Hard to say. You wind back your arm, and chuck it as hard as you can against the wall. It breaks in half, the shards falling to the floor and slowly turning a dark, opaque black. “What was that for?” Chrysalis wonders, carefully watching you from a distance. “One down,” you announce cheerfully. Chrysalis’ jaw drops. “Wait. You broke one?” You nod, gesturing her forward. She approaches the ‘disabled’ stalagmite cautiously, only to find it doesn’t move. “I don’t believe it. You actually…” Chrysalis whispers, before dropping to the floor, grunting and clutching her head in pain. The light emanating from her horn goes out, plunging the room into darkness to your newly unadjusted eyes. “What’s wrong?” you frantically query as she rolls around on the floor, groaning and curling inward spasmodically. “Hunggrrryyyy…” Chrysalis moans from the floor, sounding as though she’s in immense pain. You wonder what to do, kneeling down beside her in the darkness. Changelings feed on love. She’s hungry. You have to give her love. But how? Out of desperation, you find her head, grab her by the shoulders (or where they would be, if she were you), and kiss her as hard as you dare. Her eyes shoot open, glowing green, and you could swear your vision turns slightly pink. You’ve no time to think about that now, though. You focus as much of your thought as possible on how much you care for this stranger. How much you want her to be happy, to be loved. To be free. Her eyes widen still further, and the pink tinge in your vision increases. For a moment, the two of you stay like that, kissing as though the world might end if you didn’t. She breaks away, panting slightly, and a trickle of pink fluid drips down from her lips before she hurriedly laps it up, a forked, red tongue poking out to clean the underside of her jaw. “Wha…” she breathes, apparently dazed. Immediately, you go brick red. “I… sorry, I thought you were hurt, so I… panicked…” you squeak. She’s probably going to bite you. In fact, she’s almost definitely going to bite you. You’re so sure of this that when she smiles, you take a moment to register that she’s not biting your face off. “No… it’s okay. I was hungry, and you... you gave me food,” she whispers. You take a moment to appreciate her smile, as you get the feeling it’s a rare occurrence. It’s bashful, for starters, and the muscles around her jaw seem kind of stiff, as though she hasn’t smiled much throughout her life. Her eyes look sad, but her overall expression speaks of an emotion you can’t quite place. The closest you could get is ‘acceptance,’ but that… doesn’t seem quite right, for some reason. With nothing else to say, she lights up her horn again. But this time, she does it differently. Rather than flicking on like a light switch, her horn slowly starts to glow, the cavern slowly getting brighter and brighter. Your eyes still have a little trouble adjusting to the sudden glow, but it’s much better than before, and you watch the green glow cast across the walls with fascination. “That’s a cool effect,” you observe, smiling slightly. “…Thanks,” Chrysalis answers after a moment. As soon as Chrysalis’ horn stops getting brighter, you make for another stalagmite, keycard at the ready. This one’s a different shape, which is somewhat trickier to remove from its stony casing, but you attack it with gusto, oddly contented for some reason. It hits you that you’ve successfully befriended Chrysalis, and as soon as this thought enters your mind, those strange boxes reappear just in front of you, startling you and causing you to drop your keycard. [You won! 0 experience points gained.] “Are you… alright?” Chrysalis asks. She looks as though she wants to say something else, perhaps one of her usual snarky quips, but she refrains. “Yeah, just… thought I saw something. It’s nothing,” you deny. Odd… from that angle, she should have seen that. Are you the only one who can see these strange dialogue boxes and ‘buttons?’” Is that your ability, like with Chrysalis’ shapeshifting and Nightmare Moon’s starry magic? Strange. You continue to ponder this as you successfully remove another stalagmite, chucking it as hard as you can at the wall and watching it shatter with immense satisfaction. Ten stalagmites later, you’ve almost finished removing the last rune from its place. Chrysalis is watching you, looking at the rune with something like the hunger she had once gazed at you with. You attempt to wrench it free, only to have it slide all the way back in, forcing you to start over. You flinch, expecting a sharp reprimand by Chrysalis, only to hear nothing. You look back curiously, only to find her smiling at you uncertainly. “Keep going, you almost had it,” she says simply. Pleasantly surprised, you return to your work. When did she get so… nice? You get it the second time, pulling it out with a triumphant expression. Before you can toss it at the wall, however, a black hoof gently stops you. “Can I try?” Chrysalis asks. “I thought you couldn’t approach these things?” you remind her, glancing curiously between her and the rune. Chrysalis snorts with laughter, another surprising sound from her. “I can override one rune. Not twelve. Besides… you make it look fun.” Smiling, you hand the rune over to her, and she levitates it in a field of green magic. As the magic field gets close to your hand, it briefly feels… warm. Comfortably so. You’re strangely sad to see the rune, and by extension her magic, move farther away as she winds up for a throw, an eager expression on her face. But you shelve your disappointment to watch her destroy the last obstacle in the way of her freedom. The rune explodes against the wall, shards flying everywhere, and you instinctively duck and turn away to protect your eyes. “Are you alright? I think I overdid it,” Chrysalis worries, looking at you. You laugh, and turn back to her to reveal you’re perfectly fine. “No, it was perfect. Nice throw!” you compliment, laughing. She actually blushes this time, which apparently for changelings is a green tinge in the cheeks rather than a pink one. You seem to recall that Nightmare Moon blushes blue – maybe different colors like that are normal here? You think they aren’t for whatever you are, but you’re not quite sure, all things considered. Chrysalis follows you through the crevasse to the rest of Tartarus, moving as slowly and uncertainly as a baby taking their first steps. “And you’re sure they won’t just recapture us the second we step out there?” she frets. “I haven’t seen a Guard this whole time, and I’ve been down here for hours. They’re not on this level or the one above it, at least,” you reassure her. “Who’s your friend, then?” Chrysalis asks. “My friend?” you wonder. “I thought… I heard another voice with you, when you came here. Maybe it was just me being crazy,” she laughs, her laugh sounding as fake as an injection-molded plastic doll. “Oh! That’s Nightmare Moon. I freed her, too. We’re all going to escape together,” you explain happily. “…Oh. I thought… nevermind. I’ve never met her before… but I’ve heard of her. Are you sure she won’t betray us?” Chrysalis asks. “I trust her just as much as I trust you,” you soothe. To your surprise, Chrysalis doesn’t question that, and instead resumes following you in silence. You find Nightmare Moon waiting in the corridor outside, looking at you in surprise. “T’was only a few seconds! Is Tartarus playing tricks on us again?” she asks as soon as she sees you. “Looks like it. We were in there for… what, an hour?” you wonder, looking at Chrysalis. “It felt like longer… but who knows, in this place?” Chrysalis shrugs. She then sizes up Nightmare Moon, who is a full head taller than her. “So, you’re the Dream Demon. The Fallen Alicorn. I must say, you’re… really not as frightening as I heard you’d be,” Chrysalis curiously notes. Taken by surprise, Nightmare Moon stares at her thoughtfully. “Verily, now that thou dost mention it, tis’ the first time we hath heard that… Our thanks to thee?” she replies, bewildered. Chrysalis looked at her in equal bafflement. “…What?” she asks, completely confused. “She said ‘Truthfully, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that,’” you translate, by now used to Nightmare Moon’s archaic speech quirks. “…I see. First thing I’m doing when we get to the surface is getting you a dictionary,” Chrysalis scoffs, her old wit beginning to resurface. Nightmare Moon snorts. “Pah! We hath written dictionaries before, youngling! Respect the wisdom of thine elders.” Chrysalis grins. “Try me, old mare.” You get between them, sensing a brewing fight. “Hey, hey. Let’s focus on getting out of here first, okay?” you try to break up. Both of them look at you in confusion. “Oh! Oh, you thought we were fighting. No, no, this is simply banter,” Chrysalis laughs. “Prithee, hast thee never verbally sparred before? Tis’ invigorating!” Nightmare Moon adds gleefully. “Oh, thank goodness,” you sigh. The two of them laugh raucously, and you blush slightly at being the butt of the joke. “So, he befriended you too, huh?” Chrysalis asked Nightmare Moon a moment later, the three of you walking through the gray, faceted stone caverns. “Verily, he hath… Thou art a ‘he,’ correct?” Nightmare Moon asks after a moment. “I… think so? I mean, that feels right,” you answer truthfully. Who knows? Certainly not you. Then again, you get the feeling that this is something you get to decide, not anyone else. For an amnesiac such as yourself, such a choice feels incredibly important. [Are you a BOY or a GIRL? Or maybe something else?] You glance at the textbox. What would happen if you selected ‘girl’ now, or 'something else'? You just told them you were a boy. Ah well, you made your choice and you’re sticking to it. You reach out a finger and tap ‘BOY’. The textbox vanishes, leaving you to ponder its existence for a moment. Why are these textboxes here? What kinds of other abilities might you have, if only you knew of them? You really wish there was some kind of magic textbox that could tell you more about this whole thing. As soon as you finish thinking that, a new textbox appears in front of you, and it’s positively loaded with options. So much so, in fact, that you spy in the corner a number saying ‘1’, surrounded by two arrows. This one even comes with multiple pages! You take a moment to read some of the options. [What would you like to do?] [TALK] [RESET] [SAVE] [QUIT] You get a very important sense that you should not press [RESET] or [QUIT]. Those sound like they will do bad things. But [SAVE] seems intriguing. You tap that one, and new text scrolls across the screen. The world seems to click into place, righting from some unseen tilt as the [SAVE] button briefly glows a vivid crimson. [Game saved!] [TALK] [RESET] [SAVE] [QUIT] You press the [TALK] option, curious as to why you’d need a button to talk to someone. Call Ruby Talk to Nightmare Moon Talk to Chrysalis >Talk to group “Who’s ‘Ruby’?” you mutter under your breath. “Who?” Chrysalis asks, and the textbox disappears as you stiffen in alarm. “I, uh… nevermind. What were we talking about?” you ask, eager to re-enter the conversation as you realize you’ve been ignoring them for a solid five minutes. “We were talking about you! More specifically, how oddly nice you are. I was wondering why you didn’t react when I called you cute,” Chrysalis muttered. You blush again, your cheeks turning a rosy pink. She thinks you’re cute? Look who’s talking. “Ah, there he goeth!” Nightmare Moon adds, and you blush further as the two of them hoot with laughter. You laugh along with them, glad that they’re bonding so well. If they’re already making jokes at your expense, they must be fast friends. > Chapter 4 - This Night Aria > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the three of you round a bend in the tunnel, Nightmare Moon holds out a long hoof, stopping you and Chrysalis in your tracks as she abruptly stops. “Dare not move,” she commands, looking around. You take a moment to follow her gaze, wondering what this is about. The walls seem oddly smooth around here, looking like carefully-shaped concrete rather than the faceted, dark gray stone or purple-white crystal that Tartarus is usually comprised of. Is that the cause of her concern? Surely not. Nightmare Moon might have oddly specific tastes in decoration, but knowing her, she would simply complain while continuing to walk. What, then, is the reason for her stopping your progression? “There be an ancient magick at work here,” Nightmare Moon murmurs. “What kind of ancient magic?” Chrysalis snaps, clearly worried. “A memory spell,” Nightmare breathes, looking worried herself. “These are extraordinarily difficult to cast. Not even sis – not even Princess Celestia couldst manage the feat. Whom, then, is responsible…?” she wonders, looking around. You continue to look around as well, wondering where this ‘memory spell’ is. You don’t notice much of anything different. “What does a memory spell do?” Chrysalis asks. “Verily, when one is sprung, the target shalt experience a memory of theirs. In our case, it is presumably designed to be a memory which they shalt never leave. Either by choice… or by force.” Chrysalis shivers, and abruptly the walls around the three of you shift. It’s like the world disappeared around you. Everything, even the floor, goes black, leaving the three of you in a formless, shapeless dark void. Chrysalis is shivering, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and you reach out a hand to comfort her. Before you can touch her, she vanishes, causing you to jerk your hand back in surprise as the ground begins to shake. “Chrysalis?” you call out, officially worried. “Tis’ too late,” Nightmare Moon whispers, as horrified as you are at her sudden disappearance. “She hath activated the spell.” You look at her frantically. “How do we deactivate it, then?!” you demand. “We doth not know, we hath never seen such a spell in our quite long living memory, much less encountered one!” Nightmare Moon shouts back, panicked and a little sarcastic. There’s a blinding white flash of light, and you fall to the floor, dazed. When you get to your feet, you’re somewhere completely different. Green pustules were stuck to the black ceiling at irregular intervals, lighting the place up a familiar shade of emerald. Wispy black strands of something made up the walls, ceiling, and floor, some having torn off and some hanging off the walls and ceiling, brushing at your face and feeling oddly silky. Is this Chrysalis’ home? Or… her memory of her home, rather? Nightmare Moon is nowhere to be found, nor Chrysalis herself. You pause a moment, listening hard to try and discern if they are nearby. Nothing. Though, you do hear some kind of thumping noise coming from up ahead, the wisps of black, thread-like substance quivering slightly each time one echoes through the walls. With nothing else to do, you decide to head for the source of that noise, and set forward. You reach for your backpack, wondering if you should update your map, only to freeze when you realize you’re not wearing your backpack. It’s vanished along with your friends! This is not good. You set off at a light jog, unwilling to run into danger headlong but unable to move any slower out of fear for your friends. While you do, you wonder why this memory spell is affecting you. Aren’t you immune to magic? This whole ‘immunity’ thing seems to be oddly picky about what it does and doesn’t affect. A wispy strand catches at your foot like a tripwire, and you stumble forward before hopping over it and continuing to run after your friends. Finally, after some minutes of huffing and puffing and being generally out of shape, you arrive at a massive door. It’s made of a solid black stone, oddly glossy and with weird conchoidal patterns etched into its surface. Obsidian. A mineral created by rapidly-cooling, silica-rich magma, you remember, identifying the stone. Why… do you remember that, of all things? Odd. Anyway, a teal coat of arms is emblazoned upon both halves of the door, looking like a heart whose neatly split right half was being eaten away by something. It kind of reminds you of the holes in Chrysalis’ legs, to be honest. You cautiously push open the doors, stepping into the room beyond. The first thing you see is Chrysalis, on the ground and badly bruised, in front of a small, unassuming throne that has the same insignia on it as the doors. You rush forward, all other thoughts ignored as you focus on ensuring her safety. “How bad are you hurt?” you ask, forgoing the usual question in favor of a more specific variant. “Stop…” she croaks, tears running down her single unswollen eye, the only undamaged part of her left. “What? Is it a trap?” you ask urgently. “Stop… caring… I’m… not… worth it…” she gets out, sounding as though every word is causing her unendurable pain. You look at her in shock. “Wh… what?” you ask, unsure of what else to say. Suddenly, the feeling of a mountain hitting you square in the torso erupts through your chest, and you fly sideways off of Chrysalis to hit the wall with a thump. Sliding to the floor, you look up, gritting your teeth through the pain. Your initial, mountainous estimate was not far off. What you had thought was the back wall of the cavern you’re in is actually a single, gargantuan changeling, bigger than two houses stacked on top of one another. The hoof it used to swipe you aside is easily the size of an 18-wheeler truck. You have no idea what that really is, but you distinctly remember that it was big and heavy, so that seems about right. Its compound eyes, which you thought were more of those green globules that lit up the place until you looked closely, gaze down at you. “So this is the one who’s been telling you such lies,” it rumbles. You feel like it was meant to be a hiss, but the sheer size of the thing’s vocal cords must be lowering the pitch. Is that how that works? You’re not sure. You bravely get to your feet. “Telling her to believe in herself is not lying!” you challenge. The giant changeling merely laughs, and reaches out a lazy hoof to crush you with. [King Cocoonus attacks!] [24/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] Well… this is just a memory, right? This isn’t really King Cocoonus, just Chrysalis’ memory of him. Which means… you can fight back. >>[FIGHT] You jump upward, using one of the holes in his legs as a gap to avoid being smashed to a paste against the cavern wall. Grabbing on, you begin to run up his leg like they did in some movie or other, jumping up to punch him in his massive, compound eye. He roars in pain, and you fall some twenty feet to the ground, landing on all fours and grunting from the impact. Shouldn’t that have broken something? Ah, well, no time to question that now. The King’s getting ready for another attack, and he doesn’t look so amused this time. “Insolent insect! I’ll crush you!” he roars, slamming down a hoof. But you’re already gone, having rolled to the side just in time. “You’ll die trying!” you taunt back, picking up Chrysalis and slinging her over your shoulder. “Why…?” she moans, clearly still in great pain. “Because I care about you and I will not let your memories hurt you anymore!” you passionately declare, holding her close as you sprint across the cavern to avoid getting stomped on. The next time you glance down at her, some of her bruises seem to have receded, the splotchy green having faded to a healthier black. Unfortunately, you’re not exactly as much of an action hero as you’re trying to be right now. Cocoonus hits you with another, sweeping hoof, and you drop Chrysalis in surprise as you go skidding across the floor, the scrapes across your torso and back burning with the fury of a thousand sunburns. “Hah!” King Cocoonus laughs. “So much for your pathetic attempt at heroics. Is this the hero you summon to save you, Chrysalis? He barely lasted a minute against me!” He stalks forward, each step like a miniature earthquake. “Now, back to what we were doing earlier…” he leers, taking on a demented grin. “Not… this time!” Chrysalis asserts, standing up. She quivers in place, whether from fear or exhaustion you cannot tell. But she stands all the same, refusing to give in despite everything she’s been through. Though you can hardly move for pain, you smile at her. “You can do it! He’s got nothing on you!” you call to her. She looks back at you, smiling slightly. “…I can do it…” she tentatively agrees, and something hardens in her expression. She looks back at Cocoonus, a green glow emanating from her eyes, and for the first time, the massive changeling looks afraid. “I can do it, because I am your friend! And I will protect you!” Chrysalis shouts back to you, before charging up her horn. A laser beam the size of a building erupts from her horn, the massive blast physically pushing her back. For a moment, you’re perplexed – if it took her so much energy just to give light to her surroundings, where was she getting the energy to power this awesome, primal fury? It was painful to even look at, the green glow being suffused by a bright white light as she kept pouring out energy. You notice Cocoonus screaming in the background, but the sound is fading just as the world is slowly fading to white. You return to consciousness to find Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon worriedly looking down at you. “You’re awake!” Chrysalis shouts as soon as she catches your eyes opening, and you wince at how loud she is. “Sorry!” she whispers. “Art thou alright?” Nightmare Moon murmurs, gazing down at you in utmost concern. “I’m okay,” you croakily answer, feeling your torso. It feels… a lot better than it should. “It was just a memory,” Chrysalis explains. “All that pain… it wasn’t real, or permanent.” To your shock, she hugs you, wrapping her hooves around your torso as tightly as she can. “Thank you…” she whispers hoarsely. “Thank you for believing in me.” You return the hug, pleasantly surprised to find your arms aren’t exhausted and damaged. “I knew you had it in you,” you whisper back. She smiles wanly at you, closing her eyes and snuggling into your chest. “I never did get your name…” she murmurs. “Nor did we,” Nightmare Moon notes curiously. You briefly introduce yourself, and Nightmare Moon snorts with laughter. “What a strange name!” she remarks. “Can’t think of any species with names like that,” Chrysalis agrees. “I thought it was pretty normal,” you note quietly, unsure if you should be insulted that they’re calling your name weird. “Well… I like it,” Chrysalis decides after a moment. Despite the unimaginable pain you’d endured in that strange memory having vanished, you’re still quite tired, so you make no attempt to move. Your stomach rumbles, and Chrysalis looks at you in concern. “When’s the last time you ate?” she asks. “Um…” you trail off. When was the last time you ate? Definitely not since you woke up. “I… don’t remember eating… so… before I got amnesia, I guess?” you answer. Nightmare Moon looks at you in surprise. “But it hath been hours for thee!” she exclaims. You shrug, even as your stomach rumbles some more. “There’s no food for me around here…” you point out. “That’s no excuse! We’re magic, we can conjure food,” Chrysalis insists. She gently pushes you with a hoof, moving to sit next to you. “Eating’s important, okay? Take it from someone who knows: Starving isn’t fun,” she lectures you. “Now that the memory spell hath been defeated, we canst use its magic to our own ends, including creating food for thee. What dost thou consumeth for victuals?” Nightmare Moon asks. “Um…” you answer intelligently, as a variety of indescribable and unnameable foodstuffs flash before your mind’s eye. “Hrm. Thou canst not answer, can thee? What if…” Nightmare Moon trails off, lighting her horn. A beam of light connects to your forehead, and a moment later one of the foods from earlier lands in your lap. “What is that?” Chrysalis asks, poking at it curiously. “I think… it was my favorite food?” you answer, looking at it. “Good! That is what we were hoping to create,” Nightmare Moon confirms, smiling at you. It certainly seems to be very important to you, as you salivate with hunger just looking at it. You gently pick it up and put it in your mouth, and smile as a familiar flavor greets your tongue, like an old friend you’ve just run into after many years. You take a moment to rest and eat, the other two watching you as carefully as though you were their beloved child. After you’ve rested, you take a moment to stretch out your body, hopping to your feet a moment later. “So how deep is this Elevator?” you ask Nightmare Moon. “Tis’ at the very bottom, or so we were told. We art about halfway down now,” Nightmare Moon answers. “Elevator?” Chrysalis asks, confused. “There’s apparently a secret exit elevator at the bottom of Tartarus that we can use to escape,” you explain. “Forsooth, we shalt have to cross the Barrier through it, though. There art no shortcuts there,” Nightmare Moon warns her. “What ‘Barrier?’” Chrysalis asks, still sounding lost. “Some kind of magical force field that keeps only villains and those with evil souls trapped down here. Neutral or good souls can enter and exit as they please,” you explain, and Nightmare Moon nods in approval. “So… how do you expect me to get out?” she asks skeptically, and Nightmare looks at you expectantly. “Aye, creature, how dost thee aim to secure her escape?” she asks pointedly. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” you dismiss. “Wait. He can probably leave just fine. What about you? You’re in the same boat as me, last I checked,” Chrysalis notices, pointing at Nightmare Moon accusatorily. “We canst possess his soul and body, sharing his talent for magical immunity,” Nightmare Moon explains proudly. Chrysalis raises an eyebrow. “Is that so?” she muses, and green flame washes over her body as she transforms. A moment later, you gape in disbelief as two Nightmare Moons stand to either side of you, identical in appearance. “Then we shalt also possess his soul, verily and forsooth!” the Nightmare to your left announces, holding a hoof to her chest like she were master of ceremonies at some event. “You’ll need to work on your speech first, if you want to be a passable Nightmare,” you tease Chrysalis, recovering quickly from your surprise. She transforms back, disappointed. “Thought I had it…” she grumbles. Nightmare Moon chuckles. “Mayhap tis’ thee who needeth lessons,” she ribs. The three of you find the next elevator to be exactly identical to the first, right down to Nightmare Moon’s snort of disgust at the color choices. You reach out by instinct and call the elevator, pressing the down button before taking a seat by the wall. “What is this thing?” Chrysalis wonders. “An elevator. They move people up and down between different floors,” you explain. “Hmm. Must be nice, not having to fly,” Chrysalis mutters. With nothing else to do, the three of you wait for the elevator to arrive. “So… how’d you shoot a giant laser from your horn, anyway?” you ask Chrysalis, recalling your time shared in the memory. “Well… you fed me so much love, back there, that I was able to just blast it back out again like that…” Chrysalis answers sheepishly. “Changelings become more magically powerful the more love they have inside them,” Nightmare Moon adds, inspecting an armored hoof regally. “Speaking of that awful memory, where were you?” Chrysalis asks her, and Nightmare frowns. “We art made of naught but memory, foal. We were integrated into the spell itself.” She shivers slightly. “Are you okay?” you ask her softly, and Nightmare Moon shakes her head vigorously. “We shalt be alright. Prithee, we shouldst be asking thee. Memory or not, we felt thee suffer considerable injury.” You sigh. “Well, it was painful at the time, sure. But I feel fine now.” You pause for a moment as her words hit you. “You… felt what we were feeling?” you ask. Nightmare Moon looks away. “Aye. We were part of the spell, we felt everything. We felt the courage in thy heart as thou protected the Queen despite being on the brink of death, and we felt her l-… her appreciation for thine efforts in turn as she protected thee.” Chrysalis glances sharply at her, but says nothing, and you wonder what that’s about. “So, you get stronger with more love?” you ask Chrysalis, getting back on topic as she nods after a moment. “Well, logically speaking, then, we should make sure you’re as strong as possible. Who knows what giant laser beams you might need to shoot in the future, after all,” you quip. She laughs, a surprised, genuine laugh instead of her usual dry, snarky chuckles. “Well, if you insist,” she replies deviously, sidling up to you and giving you a seductive look. Chuckling, you punch her lightly in the stomach and then sweep her up into a close hug. She opens her mouth, hissing slightly, and your vision turns slightly pink again. You can see a pink something being sucked out of your forehead, almost like Nightmare Moon possessing you in reverse, and you feel tired again as she happily feeds off of your love. After a moment, she pulls away, licking her lips and sighing wistfully. “I’d better stop for now… Wouldn’t want you getting too drained,” she teases. “Think you’re strong enough now for whatever’s ahead?” you ask curiously. Chrysalis snorts. “With how much love is in you? I feel like I could level a mountain.” You grin at her. “That’s the spirit!” you encourage, and she laughs. “Incidentally, we also became stronger recently,” Nightmare Moon jumps in. “Oh?” you wonder, looking over at her. “We were able to subvert the power of the memory spell, absorbing it into ourselves. Verily, the amount of magick we possesseth now dwarfs what little we had before,” she announced proudly. “Nice!” you compliment enthusiastically. Nightmare Moon giggles demurely. “Oh, tis’ nothing. Somepony must be strong enough to protect thee, after all,” she declares regally. “Wha-“ Chrysalis begins indignantly, but at that moment the elevator arrives with another ding, and Nightmare Moon hops up. “Our elevator hath arrived!” she proclaims, before gesturing to the doors. “After thee,” she beckons to you politely, shooting a smug grin at Chrysalis when she thinks you’re not looking. “What if it’s broken and he falls down? Somebody should go ahead of him, to make sure it’s safe,” Chrysalis sneers, pushing you aside and sauntering into the elevator. “Could you two knock it off? I can survive on my own, thank you,” you answer both of them, irritated as you follow Chrysalis into the elevator. Once Nightmare Moon has entered, you pull the lever with a bit more force than necessary, and they give you identical, sheepish frowns. “We apologize,” Nightmare Moon speaks up. “We thought thee alright with banter.” Chrysalis glumly looks away. “We’re still friends, right? You’re not going to leave us behind… right?” she pleads. You sigh, before hugging the two of them. “We’re still friends, I’m not going to leave you over something small and dumb like that. Just… don’t do that, okay? For me.” They nod mutely, and you let them go before taking a seat by the side of the elevator, waiting for the long ride down. To your surprise, it doesn’t take nearly as long as last time. Looking to your left, the level you’re on now is simply called ‘Level 02 – Prison.’ The elevator doors click open with a ding, and as you step out, you’re surprised to find that the comfy heat of the elevator has followed you out this time. “Is it me, or is it getting warmer…?” Chrysalis mutters, confirming your suspicions. “Tartarus was once an active volcano. Verily, the mountain we call today ‘Canterlot’ was its caldera, many centuries ago. Today, it is mostly empty – but slowly filling with magma once more. T’was a lively subject of debate among Guards and Researchers alike how to prevent the chambers from filling further,” Nightmare Moon explains. “Who builds their capital city atop an active volcano?” Chrysalis wonders incredulously. “The same people who build a prison inside one, presumably,” you grumble, and all three of you stifle snorts of laughter. The path ahead is long, straight, and wide, most unlike the confusing maze of passages in Chrysalis’ area or even the narrow, crystalline bridges that Nightmare Moon’s area was dominated by. It gives you a sense of unease, reminding you slightly of the tunnel with the memory spell in it, and you wonder if something else will attack the three of you. With nothing else to do while the three of you walk, you concentrate on getting that strange menu you found earlier to open again. Almost instantly, it appears. [What would you like to do?] [TALK] [RESET] [SAVE] [QUIT] You select [SAVE] again. You’re not sure if this really ‘saves’ anything, let alone your progress, but it’s nice to make sure. >[SAVE] [Game saved!] [TALK] [RESET] [SAVE] [QUIT] That done, you press the arrow in the upper corner to change the ‘page’ of the menu, and new options appear. [ITEM] [OPTIONS] [STATS] These, at least, make a good deal more sense to you. You press ‘Stats,’ wondering what it will list as your statistics. >[STATS] Health: 50/50 Magic: 2/50 Spared: 3 Killed: 0 Flirted: 0 Ran: 0 Pet: 1 Path Summary: PACIFIST Secrets found: 0/??? Huh. You wonder what increases your ‘magic.’ Nightmare Moon mentioned that you were immune to magical attacks – maybe if that number goes up, that’ll change? At any rate, you’re dismayed that there’s a statistic for how many you’ve murdered, and confused that there’s a statistic for how many you’ve flirted with. You briefly wonder what things would be like if you’d flirted with everyone so far. A lot more complicated, presumably. You resolve to stick with being their friend, and save the romantic stuff for later. Also, no secrets found? You immediately decide to look around harder from now on. The three of you traverse the passageway in a nervous silence, the other two perhaps feeling the same way as you do about the wide tunnel and what might lie at the end of it. Eventually, you come across a giant set of doors, rather like the pair Nightmare couldn’t get through two floors above, but made of stone instead of metal and well-maintained instead of rusted. The edges are gilded, and the door itself is adorned with a strange pattern – six odd, twisting shapes in a circle around the handles. You take a handle and pull, and the heavy stone door slowly swings open, revealing the room beyond. The first thing you’re greeted with is a wall of white, impossibly large, with a sharp edge in the middle of it. The floor below is a light brown, much more inviting and warm-colored than the cold gray of Tartarus’ upper floors. Looking closer, you see the wall is transparent, slight ridges set parallel to the edge in front of you. This reminds you oddly of the giant changeling from inside the memory, and you look up, wondering if this thing is really a wall. The giant entrance door closes and clicks, locking behind you, but you’re too busy examining the strange, reflective wall to care. To your shock, it’s revealed to be a crystal – a massive diamond. The whole thing is easily the size of a small building, and perfectly octahedral and white. The sharp edge you were seeing was merely an edge between two enormous facets of the flawless octahedron. “What a crystal!” Nightmare Moon breathes, evidently as impressed as you are. Chrysalis, however, seems less impressed. “It’s a rock,” she decides. “Come on, you two, no sense getting distracted.” She saunters forward, and you follow after a moment, still staring at the giant, priceless diamond. That thing would be worth a planet’s fortune if it could ever be sold. “Do not touch it,” Nightmare Moon warns as soon as you reach your hand out to it. “Tis’ enchanted with something, yet we cannot discern what.” You quickly withdraw your hand sheepishly. The three of you slowly make your way around the house-sized gem, finding the door on the other side to be largely identical to the first – except now, the circling shapes from earlier have been replaced by holes of approximately the same shape. “Why won’t it open?” Chrysalis hisses, attempting to pull on one of the handles. “Tis’ locked, obviously. Hast thee never used a door?” Nightmare Moon quips. “No. My home doesn’t have doors,” Chrysalis bluntly answers, and Nightmare Moon falls silent. “They look like… keyholes…” you mutter, staring at the six odd shapes. “Then we shalt find the keys!” Nightmare Moon proclaims. “I’ve no idea what a key is, but whatever, let’s do that,” Chrysalis agrees. The three of you begin to look for keys. The room you’re in is incredibly large, so you split up, circling the diamond as you look for something appropriately-shaped to fit into those keyholes. As you travel along the northeast section of the massive room, you notice a section of the wall that has a different texture than the rest. Curious, you tap at it, and stumble back as the section of wall crumbles to dust, revealing a small passageway. It’s lined with a blue-gray stone that contrasts heavily with the surrounding, dusty russet-colored room. “I found something!” you call, and the other two rush over. “A secret passage!” Nightmare Moon exclaims excitedly. “What fun!” Chrysalis smirks at her. “Oh, please, those are everywhere back at my place. After you, then?” she offers, looking at you. Rolling your eyes, you smile and step into the blue passageway. You emerge into a brightly lit room that is literally covered in blue gemstones. Deep blue, faceted sapphires, soft blue fluorites, perfectly hexagonal blue quartz crystals, prismatic chalcanthites, and many more gems are embedded into the walls, twinkling and glittering all around you. On the floor, six gigantic sapphire crystals, each as tall as you are, are embedded into the ground, a circular indent surrounding their elongated, hexagonal dipyramidal forms. “What riches…” Nightmare Moon murmurs, looking around. “Whomever createth this room hadst excellent taste.” Chrysalis snorts. “Who knew that you liked blue?” she joked, and you laugh, taken by surprise at her rhyming prowess. “It looks like a puzzle, but… how to solve it?” you wonder, walking over to one of the giant sapphires and examining it. The circular indent in the floor extends all the way down to the bottom of the sapphire, and perfectly touches each vertex of the hexagon once. You get an idea, and wrap your arms around the gem tightly before stepping to the side. The immensely heavy gem slowly rotates, confirming your suspicions. After you’ve made a quarter turn, you stop and wipe your brow. “Okay, we need to turn these things somehow, and maybe that will get us the key?” you wonder. “Anon! We hath discovered an additional component of this puzzle!” Nightmare Moon exclaims, pointing at the wall by the door you came in from. You follow her gaze, and spy a large, blue lever just by the wall. “Warning – LASER – Do Not Cross Beam,” you read aloud. “Okay, you two stand by me, I don’t know where this thing is aimed at,” you warn as you take the lever in hand. Chrysalis and Nightmare obediently move back into the safety of the passageway, and you pull the lever, grunting with exertion at the stiff mechanism. There’s a low hum, and a cyan-colored laser shoots from a gem just over the doorway, aimed directly at the sapphire you just turned. The blue gem refracts the laser through itself, changing the direction and now pointing it at a wall. To your surprise, the many gems on the wall don’t reflect the beam further, as it seems to stop short and vanish a few centimeters before touching them. “So you have to reflect the beam somewhere?” Chrysalis wonders. “Probably have to make it hit all of these sapphires,” you mutter, looking around. The remaining sapphires in the room are strategically placed around corners, behind walls and in alcoves, making them impossible to hit from the starting point – but not from one of the other sapphires. A half-formed plan in your mind, you begin turning the sapphire the beam is hitting. Half an hour later, you’re exhausted, but you’ve made a lot of progress. The beam now leaps back and forth between five separate sapphires, and you’re about to aim it towards the sixth and last one. As you do so, and the cyan beam touches the gem, it fails to refract, instead getting absorbed by the blue dipyramid. The center of the room opens up like a camera aperture, and a white pedestal slowly rises out of a hidden hole in the floor, a blue, oddly-shaped crystal laying on the pedestal. “Thou hast done it!” Nightmare Moon cheers, and you give her an exhausted smile. “Nice work,” Chrysalis compliments, picking up and inspecting the gem. “This is one of the keys, alright – it’s got one of those patterns on the back,” she reveals, flipping it over for you to see the raised pattern on the back of the stone. Looking back at the pedestal, you can see the same pattern in inverse set into the top. The three of you return to the central room with the diamond in it, which you decide to name the Diamond Room on your map. The small offshoot room to the northeast is named the Sapphire Room, in keeping with the theme. You take a seat against the wall while you update your map, while the other two resume searching the room, this time keeping to the walls to try and find more hidden passageways. When you finish drawing, you place the Sapphire Key in your backpack. [ITEM: Sapphire Key] [A key as blue as the tropical ocean. One of six keys needed.] Now that you’re resting, you take a moment to think about things. You’re miles underground, helping a shapeshifting, insectoid emotion-eater and the dark half of a magic, soul-possessing immortal pony princess escape from a hellish, magic prison. On top of this, you can’t remember where or who you are, nor how you got here, and seem to have strange abilities that you also don’t remember getting. Was your life always this weird, and you just forgot about it? Or is this all new and unsettling and the old you probably would have turned and ran? Hard to say. You think you’d be a bit better off than that, but you don’t know for certain. And then there’s the uncertain matter of whether what you’re doing is right. What if these two really are the worst of the worst, and they deserve what they got? You don’t think so, listening to their explanations and watching how they act, but maybe they’re trying to trick you into thinking they’re normal. Maybe they’re actually serial killers from the world above, or something. Or maybe the world above is evil, and these are the only good ones left. Wait, no, that doesn’t make any sense. If the entire world above was evil, and this was the last good haven left, why would these two want to leave? No, you think it’s more on a case-by-case basis than that. For example, this ‘Princess Celestia’ seems like kind of a jerk. She locked up these two here, and didn’t even care or do anything when Chrysalis began to show clear signs of starving and going insane. In addition, both Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon have mentioned something about a ‘Tirek’ being experimented on, something that makes you think of sterile hospital rooms and bloodstained surgical tools. You shudder slightly. “You okay?” Chrysalis calls over. “Yeah, I’m fine,” you answer, startled out of your reverie. It takes you a moment to realize that since Chrysalis can eat emotions, she can probably sense them too. “We found another entrance. Want to come look?” she offers, trotting over. “Sure,” you agree, getting up and slinging your backpack over your shoulder. The next room’s gems are green in coloration, ranging from an acidic, darker green to a deep emerald color to a radioactive, neon green. Hexagonal emeralds, jagged peridots, sword-like actinolites, smooth jades, octahedral fluorites, prismatic tourmalines, round chrysoprases, mossy aventurines and sharply faceted garnets are embedded into the wall this time, with what appears to be a maze of gemstones set into the center of the room. “Great, a maze,” Chrysalis mutters. Briefly, an image of what appears to be a field of corn with passages mowed through it flashes through your head, and you wonder what that’s about. “Maybe one of you could fly over it?” you suggest. “Tis’ no flight magic here, remember?” Nightmare Moon reminds you. “Who needs flight magic?” Chrysalis scoffs, buzzing her wings as a high-pitched vibration begins to sound from them. To Nightmare Moon’s astonishment, she lifts into the air as effortlessly as a helicopter, daintily hovering over the two of you like the insects she resembles so much. “Thou canst fly without pegasus magic?” Nightmare Moon inquires. “All changelings can. We never grew up with it, so we never needed it,” Chrysalis explains over the buzzing of her own wings. She flies over the maze, looking every which way, and finally her expression brightens and she darts down, vanishing from sight behind the tall rows of stacked gems before returning into the air, clutching a deep green, transparent Key in her hooves. “Nicely done!” you cheer as she lands, and she gives you a smug grin. “Who needs pegasus magic when you have me?” she boasts, handing over the green Key to you as you bump her hoof with your fist and put it in your backpack. [ITEM: Emerald Key] [A key as green as the forest. One of six keys needed.] “Seems like we’re a third of the way there,” you brightly remark as the three of you return to the Diamond Room. “Why do they have so many puzzles for this one room, anyway?” Chrysalis wonders. Nightmare Moon shrugs. “Verily, we art uncertain. Mayhap to confuse prisoners below?” Nightmare Moon theorizes. “The gems might be to distract them and make them waste time trying to rob the place,” you add, and Nightmare Moon nods approvingly. “Aye, tis’ possible,” she agrees. With not much else to say, the three of you resume searching for the next room. Unfortunately, the Diamond Room doesn’t seem to yield any further passageways, and after a while, you revisit the Emerald Room, wondering if you missed something. Also, you’re not quite sure why, but you really like mazes. They’re fun! You explore around the maze, only to find that it actually has a very simple solution. Probably because the room is so small. Still… that’s mildly disappointing. The pedestal Chrysalis lifted the Emerald Key off of is standing there… wait. This one seems… off. You look closer, where the images of a person with the crystal attacking a ‘pony’ had been on the one you encountered earlier. This pedestal, however, depicts something quite different. Front and center appears to be a drawing of the Diamond Room outside, with a third branching path visibly carved just south of the room you’re standing in. But how to get to it…? You return to the Diamond Room to find Chrysalis and Nightmare still searching. “I think it’s over here,” you call, leading them over to where you’re pretty sure the next room is. “Wherefore art thee so certain?” Nightmare Moon questions bemusedly, a lopsided frown on her face. “There was a carving on the pedestal the green Key was on, it showed a third tunnel right around here,” you explain, still poking around to try and find the entrance. Chrysalis winces. “Should’ve looked around more…” she mutters to herself. “You did fine! Anyone could have missed that, it wasn’t exactly obvious,” you comfort. “Now, how do we get this door open…?” you wonder, looking at the blank stretch of wall. “Mayhap it requireth a spell?” Nightmare Moon muses, running her horn along the wall carefully as she apparently ‘probes’ for an entry point. Chrysalis puts an ear up to the stone, flicking it as she taps at the rock wall with a hoof. “It’s solid here, as far as I can tell,” she mutters. You reach out and inspect the wall yourself. It appears to be red sandstone, slightly crumbly but mostly solid. You sigh in frustration. “There has to be a way to open this… they wouldn’t make an unsolvable puzzle!” you exclaim, thumping a fist gently against the unyielding stone. “They might. It’s a useful distraction,” Chrysalis points out. You grumble, but can’t find any counterargument. “Were the Guards present, twouldst surely result in our reimprisonment. But given they hath vanished improbably into the aether, tis’ more of a mockery of our progression,” Nightmare Moon grumbles. “Hold on. That gives me an idea. How would a Guard get past this?” you ask, examining the wall. “They don’t have crazy shapeshifting and starry powers, do they?” Chrysalis raises an eyebrow, intrigued. “They don’t… they’re just regular pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies. Interesting… I’d never considered who the puzzle was made for as part of itself.” You smile at her. “Any puzzle can be solved if you can think like the person who made it. So, unicorns, pegasi, and… earth ponies? What’s an ‘earth pony’?” you wonder, thinking of ponies made of dirt or even gems. “They art the third of five classes of pony in Equestria. Though they lacketh in the flight magick of pegasi, and doth not possesseth the magical prowess of the unicorn, they art tied to the land, more in tune with nature and growth than the other two primary tribes. In addition, they art physically much stronger than unicorns or pegasi couldst ever be. Hence, they art mostly farmers and craftsmares,” Nightmare Moon explains. “Wait, five? I thought it was just the main three and alicorns,” Chrysalis argues. Nightmare Moon tosses her head angrily. “Thou thought wrong! We shalt not have our precious thestrals be ignored, nor ‘lumped in’ with those foalish pegasi!” You look at her in concern. “Political issues?” you guess, and Nightmare Moon growls. “Those thrice-blasted taxonomists! When we returned from our imprisonment on yon moon, we found the foals had lumped them in as an ‘offshoot’ of pegasi! Tis’ infuriatingly wrong!” she ranted. Noticing your and Chrysalis’ concerned and mildly frightened expressions, she quickly calms herself. “They… they art our children. The blood of the Night flows through their veins, and… twould be an insult to our long-ago beloved to let them be so forgotten,” she muttered. “…They aren’t crazy cultists trying to resurrect you, are they? Only, I’ve heard some strange rumors…” Chrysalis mentions, but quickly wilts under the alicorn’s piercing gaze. “Our children knoweth well the terrible price of such magicks. They wouldst not dare attempteth such a foalish ritual.” Chrysalis hurriedly nods, clearly unwilling to pursue the issue any further. “Right, right…” she murmurs, quickly returning her attention to the wall. You continue inspecting it as well. Nightmare Moon’s talk of thestrals and pegasi has you thinking about pegasi now. Nightmare Moon mentioned something about ‘flight magic’ when the two of you were traversing the upper levels, if you remember. “Nightmare Moon, can you fly in this room?” you ask. “We doth not think so…” Nightmare Moon denies. “Try?” you insist. Raising an eyebrow, she complies, and one flap of her impressive, inky wingspan later, she’s shocked to find herself hovering in the air, gently beating her wings at a speed far too slow for a creature of her size to sustain lift. “How odd!” she notes, landing without so much as a sound. “I think…” you trail off, reaching up instead of at eye level. Your suspicions are confirmed when your hand goes straight through a section of the upper wall, the stone crumbling to dust around your fingers as a tiny passageway is revealed. “That’s the hidden door? It’s miniscule. None of us can fit in there,” Chrysalis grumbles. “Can you shapeshift into something smaller and try to get through?” you ask, and she stiffens. “I, um… right. I… forgot… I could do that,” she mumbles, giving you a sheepish grin. She grits her teeth, lighting her horn as green fire washes over her. Blinded, you stumble back, bumping into Nightmare Moon before rubbing your eyes. Before you is the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen. It’s like a tiny version of Nightmare Moon, with a fluffy pinkish-white coat and curly purple hair with a streak of blue running through it. The wings are a bit oddly proportioned to the rest of the body, looking almost oversized, but you suppose it might just be how tiny alicorns look. Her big, expressive cyan eyes look up at you, and you can’t help but melt a little at the sight, scooping her up into a hug. “Who is this?” you ask, in a tone best reserved for babies and puppies. “Dis is Fwurr-“ the baby begins in a high-pitched coo, before clearing her throat in a much deeper tone. “This is Flurry Heart, daughter to Princess Cadance. I foalnapped her once.” You’re tempted to hold her and cuddle the everlasting heck out of her, but an impatient cough from Nightmare Moon reminds you of your mission. Sighing with regret, you boost the fake Flurry up into the small passageway, where she scuffles around a little before dropping out of sight. “You okay?” you call up into the small tunnel, and a green light begins shining from somewhere within the darkness. “I’m fine. This room’s completely dark – looks like the gems here are… yellow? Hard to tell,” she calls back. “Try using white light in your spell,” Nightmare Moon calls back. “Really? Why didn’t I think of that before?” Chrysalis calls back sarcastically as a multitude of flashing colors strobe from the dark vent, evidently mocking Nightmare Moon. “Is the trap in there a dance party? Because if so, I’m disappointed I can’t come,” you call back, deciding to try out this whole ‘banter’ thing for yourself. Chrysalis’ delighted peals of laughter make you grin with triumph. “Yes. It’s the best dance party you could possibly imagine in here,” she taunts. “Dance… party? We doth not understand,” Nightmare Moon puzzles. “It’s exactly what the name implies,” you assure her. She shrugs. “Foals are into some strange things these days…” Chrysalis’ laughter increases, before abruptly cutting off as she gives a grunt of pain. “You okay?” you ask, all mirth forgotten. “Bumped into something and tripped,” she calls back. There’s a moment more of scuffling, and she emerges out the door with a large, yellow Key clutched in her mouth. She spits it out in disgust, transforming back and shuddering. “What was in there?” you wonder. “Some kind of maze like the last one, except it kept moving around. It was annoying,” Chrysalis grumbles. “Any clues as to where the next door is?” you ask, leaning against the wall. “I checked the pedestal, nothing was written onto it,” Chrysalis denies, tossing the newest Key to you. “Hrmm,” you trail off in thought as you catch it. [ITEM: Citrine Key] [A key as yellow as the sun. One of six keys needed.] Isn’t the sun white, though? Weird. You toss the Key into your backpack, where it comes to rest with a clink on top of the Sapphire Key. You take a moment to update your map, drawing a circle with a question mark inside it for the Citrine Room. “Here, I’ll do it,” Chrysalis offers, seeing your lack of cartographic information, and you obediently hand the map and pencil over to her. She erases your work, and begins to scribble, only to grit her teeth in frustration. Looking over, you see she’s attempting to draw everything out perfectly, but is having issues with the scale. You smirk, recalling your similar problems with your first attempt at a map of this place. “Something funny?” she spits, noticing your expression and glaring fiercely at you. “No, I’m just remembering my first attempts at mapping this place. It’s hard,” you defend. Chrysalis growls something inaudibly, still glaring at you intently, but a moment later her expression softens. “This is hard,” she agrees, giving up and levitating the map and pencil back to you. “I thought art was easy. Easier than keeping one’s hive alive and well, at any rate,” she grumbles. “Art’s like… like fighting. You start out bad, but you get better with a lot of practice,” you muse aloud. “Were you an artist, perhaps, back before you lost your memory?” she wonders. You shrug. “If I was, I’ve lost whatever skill I had. My first drawings of this place… Well, here, let me show you.” You dig through your backpack, pulling out the crumpled first attempt you’d made of drawing the Isolation Wing. Chrysalis stares at it for a moment. “Wow,” she comments. “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” Part of you can’t help but feel insulted, and she quickly backpedals as she notices your expression. “That is, compared to your recent works! Every artist starts out somewhere… right?” she attempts to repeat, grinning nervously at you. You roll your eyes, grinning despite yourself. “Right,” you agree, balling up the old map and tossing it away. With nothing much to do, you settle for resting against the cavern wall again. Chrysalis, after a moment of hesitation, curls up beside you as you lazily hold out an arm in invitation. Wrapping it around her barrel, you close your eyes, drifting off for a moment. She’s still learning… both of them are. But they’re already good friends. > Chapter 5 - All That Glitters... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What feels like hours later, you’re feeling rather warm and comfortable. The cold stone on your back has faded to a dull, cool sensation, and you feel something draped across your chest, breathing gently as stray hairs occasionally flutter against your face. A warmth not your own suffuses your torso, and you hear a gentle murmur as something nuzzles into your sweater. You attempt to nuzzle right back, only to find something hard and pointy blocking your way. You open your eyes to find Chrysalis’ bladed horn inches from your face, and aimed directly between your eyes. The warmth you were feeling earlier quickly fades as you reach out an arm to softly push the horn into a less deadly position. Chrysalis murmurs something, frowning, and opens her eyes. “Why’d you stop?” she complains. “Huh?” you ask, looking at her quizzically. “You were giving me love, even in your sleep… and then you stopped. Did I do something wrong?” she asked worriedly. You shake your head. “No… just me being dumb.” Chrysalis looks as though she wants to argue this point, but a well-timed belly rub by you sends her into a dreamy stupor again. But now that you’re awake, you begin to wonder again. You can’t stop thinking about the strange scenario you’re currently living out. Back when you entered, you thought you were playing some kind of game, and that does seem to be the case… kind of. But if you’re in a game… are any of these characters even real? Are Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis just hallucinations, or worse, programmed intelligences? How would you even know? You know you’re not an artificial intelligence, because either you’d be perfectly aware of that or you wouldn’t have gained any kind of self-awareness in the first place. But it’s not like you can read their thoughts… You look down at Chrysalis, who’s staring up at you with an unamused scowl. “Okay, this isn’t working. Whatever you’re thinking of, stop it this instant,” she commands in a surly tone. You look away, embarrassed and a little ashamed. Chrysalis can clearly tell you’re worried about something – she can sense emotions. “Sorry,” you mumble. “I just… it’s hard for me to tell if what I’m seeing is real. This all seems so unfamiliar…” Chrysalis looks at you in surprise for a moment, before a smirk curls her lips. “And here I thought I was the only one,” she mutters, shaking her head. She briefly considers for a moment, before slamming a hoof square into your chest, causing you to lurch forward in shock. It didn’t really hurt, but it was surprising enough to knock the wind out of you. “There. Is that enough proof you’re not dreaming?” she offers, grinning. You take a moment to recover your breath, grinning back despite yourself. Your grin becomes an amused chuckle, then a full-blown laugh. “How would I have ever dreamed up someone like you?” you realize, talking as much to yourself as replying to her. You pull her into another hug, holding her more tightly than you normally do as a subtle revenge for socking you in the chest. Chrysalis grunts as you squeeze the life out of her chest, but she’s laughing too. Nightmare Moon chooses this moment to reappear, carrying no less than three new Keys in her magic. “You solved all the other puzzles?” you query incredulously. Nightmare Moon shrugs. “Prithee, they presented nary a challenge. Thou knoweth we art capable without thee, nay?” she chides. You look away bashfully, but inside you’re secretly happy. If they can carry out actions without your even knowing or doing anything, they must be real people. [ITEM: Topaz Key] [A key as orange as a fading sunset. One of six keys needed.] [ITEM: Aquamarine Key] [A key as cyan as the morning sky. One of six keys needed.] [ITEM: Amethyst Key] [A key as purple as the starry dusk. One of six keys needed.] [Your inventory is now full.] The message pops up just as you manage to stuff the Amethyst Key inside your backpack, shifting around a few of the other ones to make room as crystalline clinks echo throughout the large room. “That’s all six. So, how do we unlock the door with them?” Chrysalis wonders. The three of you wander over to the door, surveying the imposing surface. The six keyholes are just barely within your reach, and you pull out a random Key and view the back of it. “Looks like this one goes… here?” you try, reaching up and slotting it in. It fits perfectly, and the Topaz Key begins to glow a burning orange, shimmering with an inner fire. “Pretty,” you comment, and Nightmare Moon snorts. It’s short work to put in the other five Keys, and as you slot the last one in, the center in the circle begins to glow white, before rotating around once as a massive thunk emanates from inside the titanic door. “Why is this door so big, anyway?” you wonder. “To admit multiple prisoners, mayhap? We hath ne’er seen yon our Isolation,” Nightmare muses. “Who cares? We easily completed their silly little puzzle. I bet from here, it’s going to be a breeze to the exit,” Chrysalis proclaims cockily, strutting forth. Rolling your eyes in unison with Nightmare Moon, the two of you move to join her, finally leaving the Diamond Room behind you. Tartarus is considerably different beyond this door: Torches light an endless hallway of barred cells, the bare orange light casting flickering shadows everywhere. Nightmare Moon, in stark contrast with the somber mood of this section, is smiling and looking around in approval. “Aye, this be a prison proper. No foalish puzzles, no vast, crystalline architecture… just a small, confined space to reflect on one’s wrongdoings.” You raise an eyebrow at her. “Are you… complimenting the prison we’re trying to escape from?” you ask incredulously. Nightmare Moon scoffs and looks away, slightly embarrassed. “We canst appreciate aesthetic, can we not?” she retorts. You roll your eyes as dramatically as you can, and she snorts with laughter. The two of you bump into Chrysalis, who’s stopped moving and is standing as silently and still as she can, judging by the slight trembling of her legs. The smile slides off your face as you follow her petrified gaze. A lone pony is sitting in the middle of the hallway… well, perhaps sitting isn’t the right description. It’s more… drooping in the middle of the hallway, parts of the white, pearlescent substance coating its whole body dripping and melting off of it in a seemingly endless puddle. Its face is half-melted, slipping down its skull, and what appears to have once been a wing is now fused to its side. It doesn’t appear to have legs anymore, and as you stare at it in shock and a little fear, it slowly turns its head to stare back. There are no eyes in its dripping sockets, just twin black pits where the liquid appears to have receded right into its skull. “What is that?” you breathe to the other two, unsure if… it can hear you. “We doth not know,” Nightmare Moon breathes back, trying with all her might to keep her voice as quiet as yours. “It doesn’t… feel,” Chrysalis mumbles under her breath, still staring at it in horror. “Think we can get around it?” you ask. Slowly, so slowly that you’re unsure if she’s moving at all, Chrysalis makes her way to the side of the corridor, and begins edging her way past the creature, her wings raised and ready to fly at a moment’s notice. The creature either doesn’t notice or care, as it’s still staring directly at you, even though both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis are closer to it now. Chrysalis makes it across with little difficulty, and breathes a barely audible sigh of relief before motioning that the two of you follow. Nightmare Moon moves forward, and to your surprise, she moves quite a bit faster than Chrysalis did, skirting around the creature as quickly as she can. “We think… we think it canst not ‘see’ us,” she spoke up, using her normal tone of voice and watching the creature carefully. “Thou mayest advance without difficulty.” Despite her encouragement, you’re still cautious, and edge around the creature quickly but silently. Just as you’re about to make it to safety, it swivels its head around to look at you again, and leaps forward, droplets of the mysterious viscous liquid splattering everywhere as it lunges at you. Time slows, and you stumble back with a choked cry for a moment before realizing you’re not being attacked… yet. [A Melted attacks you!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] Oh. This again. So these things are called ‘Melted’? And there’s more than one. That is… not good for your future prospects. Well, you’d better see if this thing comprehends mercy. >>[SPARE] “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” you cajole, moving the little ‘heart’ on the screen to dodge drops of that white, viscous substance. The Melted doesn’t appear to react. [A Melted attacks you!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Um… hello? Can you hear me?” you ask, a little worried now. The Melted continues to not react whatsoever. Seems like you’d better try something else for now. [A Melted attacks you!] [42/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[DO NOTHING] You wait there, and so does it. The two of you are locked in a staring contest you can’t possibly win, considering it has no eyelids with which to blink. [A Melted attacks you!] [42/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[DO NOTHING] You continue to stand there. The Melted is as still as a statue, even the liquid normally dripping off of it slowing down. [A Melted attacks you!] [42/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[DO NOTHING] The Melted has stopped moving completely, droplets frozen in midair. Seems like you might be able to do something now. [A Melted attacks you!] [40/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Um. We… don’t have to fight. Maybe we could just… you know, be friends?” you try again uncertainly. For a second, it appears to once again be unresponsive, but it gives you a droopy smile for a split second before vanishing entirely. [You won! 0 experience points gained.] “Human!” Nightmare Moon yelps, leaping forward to stand between you and where the Melted was. However, it’s vanished entirely, and she looks at where it was in amazement before looking back at you. “What… what didst thee just doeth?” she wonders, looking at you in surprise. “I… um… I…” you stammer. She should have seen that whole battle – in fact, why didn’t she try to interfere earlier? Weird. And the way she jumped between you and the thing the instant you won... It was almost like she was... frozen, while you were fighting. You look at her for a moment more, still confused and a little terrified, before she sighs. “Prithee, do not worry about it. Come, the monster hath vanished, we may progress anew,” she encourages, wrapping a wing around you and steering you forward. It takes a while for you to calm down from your terror in the aftermath from that creepy… thing. You can tell Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis want to know how you made it disappear, but you’re not quite sure you can bring yourself to answer if they ever ask. How would you tell them you apparently have the power to stop time and fight people? Even here, beside a shape-shifting, love-eating insectoid and a moon-themed demon born of someone else’s regrets, that seems just a touch ridiculous. So, the three of you are mostly silent as you creep down the hallways, ready to run should another one of those things appear. The room gets darker and darker the further you make your way through this prison block, the torches seeming to give off less and less light as you continue forwards. “You know, I get they’re going for a ‘prison’ theme now… but part of me actually misses those crystals back in the other room,” Chrysalis speaks up, reflecting your apprehension. “They were pretty,” you agree. Nightmare Moon, meanwhile, is silent, still apparently lost in thought. “Crystals…?” a voice echoes from around you, and she pales as she whirls around. “Show yourself!” she demands, wrapping her wings protectively around Chrysalis and you both. “Mmph?!” Chrysalis squeaks, face covered by fluffy black feathers as she struggles to escape Nightmare’s grasp. You’re also struggling, wanting to see who’s actually attacking the three of you, and after a moment you manage to duck under Nightmare’s wing and stand up again. The shadows swirl all around you, moving despite the torches remaining in the same place. “How am I to show myself, when I am all around you?” the voice whispers again, a slight chuckle at the end of its hint. “Who is this?” you ask Nightmare. “Sombra… a being of shadow magic. We… we art not safe here,” Nightmare Moon declares worriedly, looking left and right at the shadows swirling all around you, dancing across the walls and ceiling like a twisted mockery of flickering flames. “Oh, Lulu… you’re always safe around me. Unless you’ve sided with your sister…?” Sombra inquires, his voice taking on a deadly edge. “We – we hath not!” Nightmare Moon denies, whirling her head around to try and spot where this ‘Sombra’ was. “Come now, I was only joking… aren’t you going to laugh?” Sombra snarks, and at last he steps into the light. You get the feeling, once upon a time, that this was a very respected… pony? He’s not quite like the picture of the pony you saw earlier. He seems to be quite a lot shorter than Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis, for one thing, maybe a little over four feet tall. His hair moves and shifts just like the smoke he stepped out of, and his eyes glow a bright, vivid green around his crimson irises, translucent purple smoke wafting from the edges as he stares at the three of you. Small fangs peek out from below his upper lip, and the dark, military-trimmed sideburns on either side of his mouth suggest he’s somewhere around middle-age. His horn, unlike Nightmare Moon’s straight jut or Chrysalis’ intricately crooked design, is smooth and curves upward to a perfectly conical and sharp tip, which glows red as though it were nearly molten steel. He wears a crown, a simple steel band with two sets of iron spikes near the ears and two smaller, ruby spikes surrounding an orb of steel in the center. A tattered and frayed red velvet cape with spackled white trim sits unevenly on his back, looking as rumpled as though it hadn’t been ironed straight in a very long time. Perhaps the most imposing thing of all was the armor this pony was wearing, solid steel that encased his neck and chest as well as iron shoes that extended up well past his knees. It’s clear, judging from the armor he wears and his heavyset frame, that this is a pony built for raw physical combat. “And that’s King Sombra to you, peasants. Luna may refer to me by my name, but I do not see you obtaining that privilege in any reasonable time frame,” he snaps at you and Chrysalis, the bark in his voice sounding very practiced. “Hold thy waspish tongue, Sombra. They art of equal status to us,” Nightmare Moon retorts, scooting closer to you protectively. “The insect on your right… hmm, you must be a changeling queen. More of a biological title than a true royal birthright, but I suppose taxonomy never did account for your say in things,” Sombra scoffed. Chrysalis’ hackles raised. “I am a Queen, you insufferable soot-spewer,” she hisses back. “My bloodright was passed down to me by my mother Vespula. What claim do you have to your throne?” Sombra glared back at her, and though he was clearly trying to act nonchalant, Chrysalis’ words had clearly struck a chord. “And what of the colt? He has no crown upon his head. Have you adopted, Luna? Surely you aren’t so desperate that you’d resort to such, not when half the stallions are surely banging at your door?” Sombra jeers, and Nightmare Moon growls. “We art not Luna. We art Nightmare Moon, the destroyer of dreams and the demon of your nightmares!” she snarls back at him. “Oh? A new persona, then? I see… I suppose it would be hard to distance yourself from that blasted sun princess if you still went by ‘Princess Luna.’” Sombra muses, grinning. “But what of my question, Nightmare? Who is this commoner that you are so defensive of?” Chrysalis laughs, shifting Sombra’s attention over to her. “Nightmare is merely showing gratitude. This ‘commoner’ has defeated us both in single combat, and he could easily destroy you should you cross him,” Chrysalis smugly declares. “Oh, really?” Sombra muses, interested, and Nightmare Moon shoots Chrysalis a glare of such clear intention that she actually cringes backward, the words hanging in the air between them even without her voice. Shut. Up. NOW. “Hmm… I’d love to test that. Poor thing looks like he can barely take a good kick… but alas, I’ve more interesting things to do than disprove the claims of a group who can’t even tell down from up. The exit’s that way, foals,” Sombra sneers, and begins walking back the way you three came. The smoke accompanies him, the room slowly brightening as his receding form disappears into the shadows from which he came. “Ugh. I know you’re all about rescuing us poor prisoners, but do you think maybe you could come back for him a bit later?” Chrysalis scoffs once he’s out of earshot. You glance at the corridor where Sombra went, sighing. “I… I don’t know,” you admit. “Well, at least he’ll discover the exit up there’s blocked. That gives me some satisfaction,” Chrysalis commented, a devilish grin on her face. Nightmare Moon, meanwhile, looks at the floor, a pensive frown on her face. “Nightmare? You okay?” you ask, noticing her mood. “Canst thee save him? For… for us?” she asks quietly. “…Why?” you ask. Not petulantly, but curiously. They did seem to know each other. “He was… it matters not now. He is somepony we wouldst like to befriend once more,” she whispers. You think for a while. If anyone could do it, it seems like it would be her. “…Okay. But I’ll need your help. You know him best, after all,” you point out, and Nightmare Moon gives you a hopeful smile. The three of you walk back through the corridor, noting that the place seems a lot brighter and less sinister now that Sombra is no longer occupying it. “What does he like?” you ask Nightmare Moon after a moment. “…Steel. Blacksmithing. Not silversmithing, he hates that. Crystals, especially. He was always fond of diamonds…” Nightmare Moon trails off, before her expression abruptly changes and she breaks into a full gallop. “Wha - hey, wait!” you call after her as you sprint to catch up, only for Chrysalis to easily overtake you. “Hop on,” she orders, and you practically jump onto her, watching her wince as she takes on your weight before racing on to catch up to Nightmare Moon’s suddenly frantic pace. The two of you skid to a stop as you enter the Diamond Room – partially to avoid smacking into the massive, enchanted diamond, and partially because you’ve found Nightmare Moon and Sombra. Sombra’s got a hoof on the diamond, seemingly entranced by its depths as he stares into it unblinkingly. Nightmare Moon is poking and prodding him, seemingly trying to get him to say something. “Guess he’s got ‘more important things’ to look at than you,” Chrysalis quips. For once, Nightmare doesn’t rise to the banter. “He hath been enchanted by this diamond… We knew it couldst not be trusted! And we let him become entranced…” she lowers her head to the floor mournfully. You dismount Chrysalis, doing your best not to accidentally kick one of her wings in the process, and move towards Sombra. You gently push his face so that he’s staring away from the diamond. Slowly, almost magnetically, his eyes return to it. “Do you know what kind of spell it is? Maybe we can break it some other way,” you remark to Nightmare Moon. She sighs and lights her horn up blue, Sombra’s horn glowing blue in turn for a moment, before she steps away with a grimace. “Another memory spell,” she growls. “Whoever designed this place doesn’t seem to have much creativity, then,” Chrysalis remarks, again trying to banter with Nightmare Moon in a poor attempt to cheer her up. You study the diamond intently. Another memory spell, huh? Before Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis can react, you reach out and place a hand on the diamond. The world goes white, and you fall to the floor. You pick yourself up, groaning, and are surprised to find that you’re in an open field, birds chirping off in the distance as morning dew permeates an endless plain of what appear to be wheat stalks. The sky overhead is cloudy and gray, and something about this feels nostalgic to you. Nobody is in sight, but there appears to be some kind of noise coming from off to your left, a bright, ringing tone that starts and stops at odd intervals. With nothing else to do, you decide to make your way towards the noise. Maybe it’s Sombra? As you get closer to the noise, it becomes loud enough to hurt your ears. Fingers firmly over them, you continue to creep through the wheat field, pushing stalks out of the way with your elbows as you try to figure out just where you are. If this is Sombra’s memory, what’s he doing out in the middle of nowhere, anyway? Wasn’t he a King? You finally figure out what the noise is as you encroach upon a clearing, the wheat here having been uprooted and stacked in piles around the edges. This gives you a convenient hiding spot to observe events from, so you stop a moment and look at the only other person in the clearing. For a moment, you think it’s Sombra. He certainly looks the same – black hair, green and red eyes, curved horn – but this pony is older than Sombra, judging by the wrinkles in his coat and his larger size. His hair is slightly different, too, and his expression looks a little less vitriolic than Sombra. Is this… his dad? Whoever he is, he’s working at a blacksmith’s forge, pounding away at a chunk of steel that’s still glowing cherry-red. Your question is immediately answered when a much younger colt enters the scene, pulling a cart full of rusty steel implements. “I’m back… from market…” he pants, evidently exhausted from the weight of the cart. “Did you get good steel?” The older one asks, without looking. “I dunno…” the younger colt begins, but is silenced by a growl from the older one. The colt hurriedly clears his throat. “I knoweth not, Father… yon market didst not offer any steel of… sufficient… character…?” he tries, clearly making an effort to pronounce everything clearly. The ‘father’ rolls his eyes. “Great. Another pile of RUST!” he roars, slamming a hoof down on the floor, and the colt cringes away. “I – I tried, Father! I tried as best I could! Steel is so rare –“ the colt tried to defend, but the father was having none of it. “OF COURSE IT’S RARE!” he retorts furiously, bearing down on the young colt. “THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT OF COVERING OURSELVES IN IT, YOU ABSOLUTE WASTE OF MAGIC!” The colt whimpers something as the father picks up a hammer with his magic. “I told you what would happen if you came back without what I needed, and you still disobey me? Maybe you need another lesson…” the father growled, whirling the hammer around a few times in midair. “N-no! No, I understand! I’ll go! I’ll go get it!” the colt gibbered, tears streaming down his face as he backed away. “Not before I’ve taught you the price of disobedience, Sombra,” the father spits, slamming his hammer down for effect and causing the stones scattered around it to quake. You’d better act. Fast. [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[ITEM] You don’t have any items. >>[FIGHT] You sneak up behind Sombra’s father, sneaking into the forge he just left. Coals and embers scatter as you accidentally scuff the floor with your shoe, but Sombra’s father doesn’t seem to notice. Silently, you grab a length of what appears to be steel rod, sliding it out of a rack of broken steel parts. Sombra spots you, and the young colt’s eyes widen in shock as he continues to back away. His father, meanwhile, is still getting ready to hit him, apparently relishing the moment. You continue to sneak up behind his father, still completely unnoticed. It’s now or never. [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[FIGHT] Wielding the metal rod like a baseball bat, you take aim and swing it at the father’s belly as hard as you can, putting all your strength into it. Wait, what? You only meant to sweep him off his hooves with the metal rod, but for some reason you went all out and smacked him in the stomach. It’s a direct hit, but Sombra’s dad only gets knocked over. You half expected him to be sent flying, but you suppose you aren’t that strong. Sombra’s father groans as he gets to his feet, and turns around slowly, murder in his eyes. “Attackin’ while my back’s turn’d… ye’ll pay for that, creature,” he spits. Is it just you, or… did his accent go from ‘gruff’ to ‘cowboy’? That’s… weird… Anyway, he readies his hammer. Looks like you’ve saved Sombra the trouble of getting his ribs broken... at the expense of yourself getting the same treatment. [Armor Flak readies to beat you into submission.] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[FIGHT] “Let’s go, child abuser,” you growl. For some reason, Armor Flak grins at that, and he launches his hammer at you, the screen showing the same thing aiming for your little ‘heart’. You dodge easily, only for him to pick it back up with his magic and pull it back towards him. Before he can, you firmly plant a foot on it as it’s dragging through the dirt, stopping it from returning to him as you pick it up and steal it. In retaliation, you charge at him, hammer aloft as you swing it at his face. He doesn’t appear to be expecting this, and his eyes widen in shock as the hammer slams into his right temple, somehow bouncing off his skull. His eyes circle around for a moment, and it looks like you’ve dazed him. [Armor Flak is badly hurt.] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] Um. Aren’t you supposed to be sparing others…? Some part of you argues. But it’s viciously clamped down upon and beaten to death by the rest of you. World-ending, sister-killing demons? Power-hungry, mad shapeshifting venomous insects? Fine by you. But you draw the line at child abuse. Your voice of reason points out that that’s kind of not how ‘drawing the line’ works, but you ignore it. >>[FIGHT] You continue to lay into Armor Flak. “This – is for – every time – you made him believe he was broken!” you roar and pant, as Armor doesn’t even defend himself. He staggers back, face looking more like a bruised cantaloupe than it used to. But, for some insane reason, he’s laughing… and his face is healing, black smoke pouring across it as the bruises disappear rapidly. “You heroes. Too easy to manipulate,” he taunts, clearly already back to full strength. He backhoofs you easily, the blow connecting with your midriff and sending you flying backwards, landing in the forge amid a brief clatter of weapons and armor. “Yer’ dealin’ with an umbrum, idjit. We feed on hatred, it makes us stronger. By all means, try and fight me!” he laughs. Armor slams both his front hooves into your torso, making you gasp with pain. [Armor Flak is completely healed and ready to kill you.] [4/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] Okay, so you just got played. Hard. You could try feeling love instead of hate, but you don’t think that’s how it works. So… what now? You need a way to defeat this guy. And, suddenly, an idea occurs to you. >>[RUN] You sprint over to Sombra, kneeling down to face him. “Sombra. This is a memory, this isn’t real. Wake up!” you command. He looks at you, shaking his head in shock, and you’re casually knocked to the side by Armor Flak, whose eyes land on Sombra again. “Sombra! Ah almost forgot about ye, what with that foalish creature tryin’ ta attack me! Now, where were we…?” he pauses for a moment, grinning down at the terrified colt. Sombra scrunched up his face, whispering under his breath. “Just a memory. Just a memory. Just a memory…” he repeats, the terrified mantra doing little more than amusing Armor Flak. “Oh, ah’m more than a memory, little Somby. I’m with you forever. You’ll never be rid of me, even if you kill me,” he jeers, lowering his head down so that his face is inches away from his son’s. “You’ll always be what I made you into,” Armor softly, gleefully whispers. “Always my little dictator… just like I wanted.” Sombra’s eyes widen in horror, before he grunts and scrunches up his face. “You’re… not… REAL!” he roars, sounding like his old self as a shockwave blasts out from him and knocks Armor Flak backwards. He stumbles towards the forge, towards where a convenient spear is sticking out at just the right angle. Armor looks in shock at the spearpoint protruding from his chest, and he gasps for a moment, eyes as wide as they can go. Blood trickles out of his mouth as he grins at Sombra, who shudders and cries out as he sees what he’s done. “Murderer…” Armor groans, smiling deliriously at his son. “Murderer…” And with that, Armor Flak vanishes, disappearing from existence. You pick yourself up, grunting with effort. You’re pretty badly damaged, but this is just a memory, so the real you is fine… right? You probably should’ve asked Nightmare Moon if it was possible to die in a memory before you jumped into this one. You glance over at Sombra, and are somewhat surprised to find that he’s back to his former age. You approach him, only to find him sneering at you. “Well done, creature. You couldn’t even best my father in combat, you had to rely on me to help you. I can see why Nightmare and that insect like you so much – you’re like a weak child, a foal they can protect and feel good about themselves,” he snorts. You’re still getting your breath back, so it takes you a while to respond. “Still the dictator… huh…?” you pant, and his eyes widen in shock before narrowing into a very familiar glare. However, it seems Sombra is at a loss on what to say next, and after a while simply lays down on the ground, facing away from you. Once you’ve recovered a bit, you check yourself over for injuries. To your surprise, you’re mostly fine, despite nearly dying earlier. Memories are strange… You move over to take a seat by Sombra, who’s staring up at the sky. “Shouldn’t we be… getting out of here? Now that the memory’s been defeated?” you ask him. Sombra sighs, a long-suffering, drawn-out growl. “You simpleton,” he gets out between clenched teeth. “This is a diamond. Enchantments on diamonds never break, no matter what… and I fell for it. We’re never getting out of here.” He rolls over to face away from you again, and the sky above looks just a little bit more gray. What feels like hours have passed. Sombra’s still laying there, dead to the world, and you’re kind of bored of staring at the cloudy sky at this point. You get to your feet, working out the ache in your back as you look around the clearing again. You head towards the forge, looking for something to do. Broken swords and ash are strewn about the floor of the forge, and the fires that were once roaring from the crystalline forge pit have almost completely died. A crank-operated metal fan encased in crystal housing is attached to the side of the pit, and you give this an experimental push. The fan begins to blow, and the embers in the pit glow just a touch brighter. This gives you an idea to relieve your boredom, and you go about gathering fresh coals to put on top of the old ones. That done, you begin turning the crank with enthusiasm, trying to restart the fire… only to find a cloud of pale yellow smoke wafting from the coals and suffocating you. Coughing and retching, you escape the cloud, only to find the wind has changed direction and you are now once again engulfed in it. Desperate to escape the sulfurous cloud of death, you return to the fan and feverishly crank it, the roar of the fanblades causing some coals to shoot up from the pit and onto the floor again. Finally, there’s a whoosh of flames, and the whole cloud ignites in a split-second fireball before quickly dying down, the coals now lit and dancing merrily with orange-yellow flames. “So you can light a forge,” Sombra notes, and you turn around to find him watching, something like interest briefly flickering across his tired expression. “A memory forge, at least,” you agree, watching the fire. “What else can you do?” Sombra asks, looking around at the tools and materials haphazardly stacked and strewn about the place. You shrug. “Not much. According to Nightmare and Chrysalis, I’m an amnesiac who’s partially immune to magic.” Sombra raises an eyebrow, moving towards the section of the forge where the most metal is stacked and seemingly pulling off a piece at random, moving around the forge with a practiced but bored air. “Immune? How so?” he asks, half-curiously and half with clear intent. “Not in a way you can control,” you flatly deny, immediately catching on. “It’s just… some stuff works, and some stuff doesn’t. Magical attacks don’t seem to work on me, but memory spells do. I don’t really know why.” You pick up a hammer with a rounded tip, inspecting it. Something about this seems familiar to you… Sombra unceremoniously sticks the end of the metal rod he’s selected deep into the glowing orange coals. “So, you’re stuck in here with me. Forever. I suppose it’ll keep me from going insane for a bit longer, so at least you’re good for something,” Sombra snorts. “I dunno… maybe I can break out of this memory spell? A friend and I broke out of one earlier,” you muse, ignoring his insults. “Again. It’s diamond. What’re you going to do, hit the ground with a stick until you break out of this memory?” Sombra taunts, perching on an anvil. “You got a better idea?” you retort, and Sombra glares at you. “Sure. Stay in this place until I go insane, and then commit suicide,” he growls back. You raise your eyebrows at him incredulously. “That’s your plan? It’s even worse than mine!” you argue, and Sombra rolls his eyes. “Hardly. I can’t escape this blasted memoryscape alive, so I might as well escape it dead,” he mutters, pulling out the piece of metal and snatching the hammer out of your hands before delivering a few well-targeted blows to the piece of metal, which dents as easily as though it were made of cardboard. You watch him for a moment, completely at a loss as to what to do. You may have screwed yourself over this time, if what Sombra said is right. Then again… ‘defeating’ the memory might not be as straightforward as you think. Chrysalis was only able to fight back against Cocoonus because she had a happy memory to focus on – that of your friendship. So what if you found a happy memory of Sombra’s? Maybe then, he could override this diamond’s spell… somehow. You get to your feet and head out, Sombra hardly even noticing you leave. You make for the muddy pathway off to the left, wondering where it leads. If it even leads anywhere. After a short journey, you come to a four-way fork in the road. You could head straight ahead, right, or left. After a moment of deliberation, you decide to head right, as you can hear something rustling from that direction. The rustling is revealed to be water, a babbling creek that is as smooth as glass even as it rushes past you. It cuts neatly through the fields of wheat, the dirt under your feet giving way to mud as you approach. You’re surprised to find a small ‘bank’ appears to have been created, rocks stacked up to divert the river and reveal part of the riverbed, which has been dug up in some places. A metal bucket and crystalline shovel are lying on the bank, and the bucket is full of what appears to be gold nuggets. You pick one up, noting how heavy it is. Is gold really that common? That seems… wrong. You put the nugget back – somehow, you don’t think this would make Sombra happy. Diverting this river and hunting for gold probably took a lot of work, and at his age, he probably wasn’t too fond of working. You’ll have to find something else. You return to the fork in the road, and decide to go to the left this time. It’s a much longer road, and you take a moment to reflect on Sombra himself. He’s… complicated. It’s pretty clear that he was abused by his dad, but… he’s also a dictator, apparently? But Nightmare Moon wanted you to save him, so there must be something good in him. You can still hear him in the background, hammering away at that piece of metal. At the end of this road, you come across a house. It’s made of wood, which strikes you as strange because there clearly aren’t any trees for miles around. How was this house built? You walk up to it, noting its run-down, ramshackle appearance. A window in the front has been smashed in, and one of the steps up to the porch has fallen in. The door squeaks when you open it, and you can hear a pause in Sombra’s relentless hammering. As you slip past, you notice the words ‘The FLAK Family’ chiseled into the front in block letters. The home was cozy, if cramped. The kitchen in the corner had pots and pans stacked haphazardly on a counter, and the stove looked to be coal-powered, an odd choice considering the awful fumes and smoke you noticed earlier when trying to light coal. There was an additional fireplace on one wall, with a few rugs in front of it and several logs stacked neatly on one side. Finally, there was a short hallway just beyond the kitchen that looked like it lead to a few bedrooms, and you decided to explore this after a moment more of looking around at Sombra’s childhood home. It wasn’t hard to find Sombra’s room, as it had his name scribbled on it in childish block letters. You gently push the door open, but before you can glimpse what’s inside, you’re startled by a roar of outrage from just behind you. “HEY!” Sombra yells, pushing past you and slamming the door closed. “Don’t you know not to snoop around in other ponies’ houses?” he snarls, practically headbutting you back into the kitchen. “S-sorry, I just… I was just thinking about a way to get out of here,” you quickly explain. For some reason, this makes Sombra incensed. “How many times do I have to tell you?! There IS NO WAY OUT!” he howls, as he picks you up and hurls you out the door. As you go flying, you manage to flip yourself upright and land without breaking anything, slamming into the ground in a kneeling position. Sombra’s barreling towards you, hate and fury in his eyes. You dodge at the last second, but he turns around and prepares for another attack. [King Sombra attacks!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Wait! Look, I’m sorry I looked in your house! I thought I was on to something, I’ve escaped this spell before!” you protest, holding up your hands in surrender. Sombra growls incoherently, and his horn lights up purple as smoke of the same color surges from his eyes. The ground beneath you begins to shake, and you can see the dirt slowly turning transparent purple as black crystals start to sprout up from the ground. You get the distinct feeling you shouldn’t touch them, as they’re also appearing on this strange screen in front of you, so you dodge as best you can. You brush against one, and immediately feel a surge of burning rage within your chest. But this time, you’re wary. Your fight with Armor Flak is still fresh enough in your mind to make you remember the consequences of letting your emotions run away with you. So, you still don’t fight back, simply dodging and ignoring your urge to punch Sombra in his stupid face. [King Sombra attacks!] [46/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “I’m serious! Are you going to throw away your only chance at escape just because you don’t even want to try?!” you urge him. Sombra ignores you, his horn lighting up again as several spears and swords from the forge behind you zoom forth with deadly intent. You sidestep them easily enough, but he twirls them around and sends them at you for another pass, focused only on spearing you through the midriff. One grazes your stomach, and you grunt in pain. This isn’t working, and Sombra’s being smart about this – he’s using stuff that technically isn’t magical to hurt you with. You need a new strategy. [King Sombra attacks!] [34/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] Okay, what do you know about Sombra? He’s a King, first and foremost, and has something to do with shadow and crystals, like how Nightmare Moon’s attacks were moon- and star-themed. Nightmare Moon was apparently a Princess, but even she doesn’t wear as much armor as this guy, which makes you think he’s more military-oriented than she was. And he did comment about how you were weak for relying on his help and not defeating Armor Flak physically. …This goes against everything you stand for. But… if you can just get him low enough… This is a memory, right? He should be fine. ...Right? >>[FIGHT] You catch him off guard by rushing him and delivering an uppercut to his jaw, before spinning around with your leg out to sweep him off his hooves and send him sprawling to the ground. As you do this, you’re extremely careful not to feel anything – no rage, no hatred. A crystal pokes you in the shoe, and your vision briefly goes red before you fight down the broiling anger within you. Once you have yourself under control again, you resume attacking, and Sombra briefly gives you a look of surprise. [King Sombra attacks!] [30/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[FIGHT] The trouble with this strategy is, you’ve no idea how many hits he can take. You’re fairly certain you can’t actually punch him to death, but you could seriously injure him if you’re not careful. You land another right hook on his face, and he stumbles back, grunting with pain as he holds a hoof to his eye. You’re sorely tempted to ask if he’s okay, but… you’re trying to impress him here, not mollycoddle him. He retaliates after a moment’s delay with another sword, but it’s a halfhearted swing at best. [Sombra is getting tired.] [30/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[FIGHT] You rush forward again and swing your right fist forward, only for him to stop it with a hoof, straining against your force as you add your left to grapple him. He tries to swing his head forward to stab you with his horn, but his neck isn’t quite long enough. “You’ll never win, creature,” he spits. “I am a King, and you are a lowly peasant who doesn’t even deserve to fight me!” You don’t react to this, carefully keeping your emotions in check, and after a moment you swing all your weight to the right, throwing him off balance and sending him stumbling. You follow this up with a quick kick to the chest, Sombra sprawling onto his back before you plant a shoe on his neck. Sombra attempts to struggle, but you increase the weight, and he begins to choke, frantically straining against the weight of your foot on his lungs. If you really wanted to hurt him… now would be the time. [Finish this.] [30/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] You remove your foot from his chest, and he sucks in a desperate gasp of air, coughing and retching. You feel a stab of guilt seeing him in such pain, and hope fervently that you made the right choice. You’ve never had to hurt someone before… what if he’ll have trouble breathing after this? What if you’ve just made him hate you more? But before you can continue your quickly panicking train of thought, you’re interrupted by the sound of Sombra… sniffling. Oh… oh no, he’s crying. Oh dear. You’d better do something. You kneel down beside him. He doesn’t appear to be faking it to catch you off guard, and after a moment you notice he’s still having trouble breathing, only now it’s because he’s half-coughing and half-wailing. Without hesitating, you hug him tightly around his midsection. “Breathe,” you order, and to your surprise, he obeys, drawing in a great long gasp of breath before letting it out again in a rattling sigh of despair. “Again,” you order. “Slower.” He scrunches his eyes shut, but complies, and after a few more repetitions, he’s calmed down quite a bit. You stop hugging him, and stare at the floor. “…I was trying to impress you by showing you I wasn’t weak. I thought… I thought maybe then you’d listen to my idea,” you admit softly, looking away from him. Sombra’s silent for a while, looking down at the ground just like you. “You’re an idiot,” he states after a moment, but the bark in his tone has gone, replaced with a weary sadness. “But… I suppose I have nothing else to do. What’s this idea, that you’re so sure of?” he asks tiredly. “I got trapped in a memory with Chrysalis. We only escaped because I convinced her to remember something positive instead of what the memory was trying to make her feel, and she became powerful enough to override the spell,” you explain. Sombra snorts. “Not much positivity in my life, I’m afraid,” he murmurs. You remember Armor Flak, and fall silent again. “…Well…” Sombra sighs after a moment, looking at you shiftily. “There was one thing. It was… positive, sometimes. I think. I… I’m not sure I even know what that kind of feeling is.” You smile at him encouragingly. “Go on,” you enthuse. “I… well, I suppose I’d better show you. If we’re going to be stuck here for eternity, we might as well try it," Sombra grumbles. To your surprise, he leads you back into the house, towards the very room he’d quite literally thrown you out of. “Take off your shoes,” he snaps as you walk in the door, before pulling up short and giving you a thoughtful frown. “Actually… don’t. That was something my father would say, and…” he trails off, before continuing towards his room without a word, roughly pushing the door open. You find him sitting in the middle of a sparse bedroom. There were no toys, no games, no books, nothing. Just a bed, a nightstand, and what looked like an old, faded journal. You start towards the journal, but Sombra scoffs. “No point reading that. My father made me keep it. It eventually became more of a logbook for his orders than any personal thoughts of mine.” Curious, you open a random page. Winter, Day Forty-Four. Purchased two kilograms of low-carbon steel from market. One piece was rusty, you read. So much for your hope of a personal diary of happy memories. You put the journal back, and notice Sombra digging through a small closet opposite the bed, pushing past what appeared to be miniature suits of armor before pulling out the strangest contraption you’ve ever seen. It looks like… a tiny piano and a violin fused into a single instrument. The strings are laid out along the top, and the sixteen keys are arranged beneath, though there aren't any of those little black keys in between the others like on a regular piano. Sombra looks up at you, awaiting your reaction. “What is it?” you ask curiously. “It’s… well, I don’t have a name for it yet. I had it custom-made because… it sounds… good,” Sombra falteringly explains, seemingly nervous for some reason. “Oh! It plays music?” you ask eagerly. He looks at you in surprise. “Mew-sick?” he repeats, sounding unfamiliar with the term. “Yeah! I don’t remember much, but I’m pretty sure music’s a popular thing,” you happily inform him. Sombra looks at you in openmouthed surprise. “…Oh. Well… I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything else quite like this, so… maybe it’s ‘music’? I don’t know,” Sombra admits. “Play it!” you beg him, but he looks away. “I… I… what if you hate it?” he worries. “Sombra, it took magical compulsion to even make me angry today,” you scoff. “Now play it!... Please?” you add after a moment’s pause, giving him a hopeful expression. Sombra swallows, clearly feeling pressured. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” you quietly note, seeing his trepidation and feeling guilty for trying to push him. “I just want to make you happy. We can wait as long as you need.” Sombra stares at you in quiet wonder, before lighting his horn. The journal you read earlier flips open and scrolls to the back, pages flipping past each other before two tiny sheets are ripped from the very back of the journal. You glance at them as Sombra floats them over, and are surprised to see what looks like sheet music. How does he know to write sheet music, if he’s never heard music before…? Sombra looks over the sheets, muttering to himself, but you’re still too confused to pay much attention. Your train of thought is promptly interrupted and crashes as Sombra begins to play. It’s beautiful. You can’t really say you’re one to appreciate an orchestra, but Sombra’s instrument holds such a quiet power over you that it evokes emotion far more effectively than his crystals ever did. The tune is haunting, a sad yet beautiful melody that speaks of loneliness, of wandering, of keeping your sadness locked away from the world. You don’t know how you know these things, but somehow you know that Sombra has put himself into this song – everything about who he is, and what he’s had to do to survive, expressed by such a simple machine. Tears run down your face, and you bow your head almost reverently as the last note trails off somberly. Sombra looks at you expectantly, and is apparently shocked to find you crying. “Was it… really that bad?” he quietly asks. “No, no! It was… it was… beautiful. Like… I don’t know how to describe it, but it was so sad and yet so pretty…” you ramble, unable to accurately convey your thoughts regarding the piece. Sombra, taken aback by such praise, gives you a hesitant smile. “So… you liked it,” he clarifies hopefully, and you nod fervently. “It was the best thing I’ve heard in a long time,” you truthfully declare, and he grins. “And you’re not just saying that to please me?” he asks once more, and you shake your head as vigorously as you were just nodding. “Sombra,” you say in as serious a tone as you can muster, “I swear I am not lying to you when I say that your song is beautiful. It deserves to be heard by the entire world…” Sombra actually blushes at that, a normal red tone compared to Chrysalis’ vivid green or Nightmare’s neon blue. “O… oh… er… well… thank you, I suppose,” he stammers. “…Why are you so embarrassed? Did others not like it?” you ask shrewdly. Sombra stammers for a moment more, then sighs, shoulders slumping. “Dad… thought it was ‘a waste of time.’ He said it was only a passing fad, that I was investing in something that wouldn’t benefit me in the end,” he grumbles. You scoot around the instrument and bring him into another hug, surprising him. “He was wrong. You know he was wrong. He was wrong about everything about you. You can be so much more than what he wanted to make you into, Sombra…” you encourage. Sombra shivers in your embrace, and you half expect him to squirm away or try to hit you again. But he doesn’t. “I… I dunno… I dunno if I can… I can never forget anything he's done to me...” he admits fearfully. “Don’t worry... You won’t be going it alone, not ever again. Whatever happens, you’ll always have me by your side… and I promise not to be overbearing about it,” you add after a brief pause. Sombra smiles at that, a genuine smile. "And... you don't have to forget. But if you want to move past him, if you want to become something else... then it would probably be a good idea to forgive," you suggest. "Forgive him?" Sombra asks, a bit of his old growl coming back into his tone. "No," you deny firmly. "Forgive yourself." Sombra looks up at you, and something changes again in his face, some indescribably small and gentle relaxation that changes his whole expression. And the two of you open your eyes again. > Chapter 6 - Remnant > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first thing you see is your own face, panicked, wide eyes staring back at you. It takes you a moment to realize you’re staring at the diamond you’d touched, and by extension your own reflection off the facet in front of you. Sombra is next to you, tear tracks running down his face as he looks around wildly. “We… we’re out…?” he whispers, seemingly shocked. “WE’RE OUT!” he cheers a second later, wrapping two sturdy hooves around your midsection and hugging you with enough force to readjust your vertebrae, an echoing crack resounding through the cavern. Sombra immediately lets go, arching his neck back to gaze at you in horror, but you just laugh and reach down to hug him back. “We’re out,” you agree, pulling him back into a tight hug. Sombra freezes for a moment as your arms make contact, but seems to relax a moment later, though he doesn’t attempt to hug you again. “I… I suppose I owe you an apology,” he growled between clenched teeth. “You knew what you were doing, and I… I was being a fool and keeping us both trapped in there.” You laugh amiably, holding up a fist for him to bump. He does so, looking at the offered hand curiously. “Don’t worry about it,” you dismiss. Before you can say anything else, you’re tackled to the ground by Chrysalis, who leans over you, hissing ominously as her eyes glow a vivid green. “Never, never do that again!” she screeches, grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you vigorously, your head flopping back and forth as she manhandles you. “You absolute idiot, touching an unbreakable, bewitched gem! You could have died! I could have lost you, you insufferably, stupidly lucky… you… y-you…” Chrysalis trails off, clearly about to break down crying. You hold an arm up, offering her an awkward laying-down hug, and after a moment she collapses into it. “I’m sorry…” she mumbles, cringing slightly and letting go of your shoulders. You wrap your arms around her belly, and sit up, rubbing her glossy, iridescent backplate comfortingly. “I’m glad you care about me so much… but… maybe don’t shake me like that,” you chastise as gently as you can. Chrysalis openly flinches even at this, and you redouble your soothing efforts. “Hey, hey! It’s okay. This is a learning experience. We all make mistakes, remember? And… you’re right. I shouldn’t have scared you like that, that was a mistake. I just… maybe I’m getting a little too used to my own dumb luck,” you admit with a small laugh. Sombra looks between Chrysalis and you, eyes narrowed in thought. “…Are you two dating?” he asks shrewdly. Both of you blush and look away. “I – I am not! He’s just a good source of food,” Chrysalis defends haughtily. “Um… it’s a bit early to be thinking of that,” you agree, raising an eyebrow at the shadow unicorn. Unconvinced, he looks at Nightmare Moon, who sternly shakes her head. That done, she takes a seat in front of you and stares directly at you with her catlike pupils, the intensity of her gaze making you a little uncomfortable. “We command thee to repeat our words,” she orders, and her tone leaves little room for argument. “We art not immortal,” she begins. “I’m… not immortal,” you repeat, automatically translating it into modern speech. She wrinkles her nose, but presses on. “We art very capable of dying at any time,” she stresses. “I’m very capable of dying at any time,” you dutifully repeat, a little embarrassed. “We shalt not commit such foalish acts again,” she finishes. “I… I won’t do it again. I… sorry, Nightmare Moon,” you mutter, looking away. She smiles, turning your head back to her with a wing. “Mayhap, in thine efforts to teach, thou hath forgotten a few crucial lessons,” she chides with a slight chuckle. You laugh embarrassedly, and get to your feet, pulling Chrysalis along with you. “Okay, well… Looks like we’re a party of four now. Sombra, do you… do you have any means of possessing someone’s body?” you ask him. Sombra raises an eyebrow at you. “…I’m sorry, of all the questions I expected you to ask me if we got out of that awful diamond, that was not one of them. Er… no?” he replies, perplexed. You hum, disparaged. “The other two can, so our plan so far was for the two of them to hijack my weirdly magic-proof body and cross the Barrier that way. Hmm…” you trail off, thinking. “Hold on. Barrier? What barrier?” Sombra demands. “The… magical barrier that only a soul of pure intent and good character can cross? Didn’t they tell you this?” Chrysalis snarked, looking at him. “No… they threw me in a cell and left me here to rot,” Sombra growled back. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Strange. They told her," she noted, jerking a hoof at Nightmare Moon. "Not us, though. Especially not him," she snorts, this time pointing at you. "He… seems to have fallen in from the outside, as far as we can tell,” she adds, motioning to you. Sombra looks at you, and his mouth briefly twitches up into a smile. “Y… you fell. Into Tartarus,” he clarifies, and you nod, slightly embarrassed. When he puts it that way… A snort escapes Sombra, and before long he’s roaring in laughter. “How dumb are you?” he wheezes. “You fell! Into the Prison, the Pit of Suffering Eternal, and you tripped into it like a foal who forgot to walk! Bahahahaha!” he cackles, slamming a hoof down in mirth on the stone floor. Chrysalis growls at him in fury, but is stopped by a chuckle from you. “It’s… kinda funny,” you admit, holding a hand to your mouth to hide your grin. Chrysalis looks at you in open incredulity. “You… you’ll just let him laugh at you like that?” she asks. You shrug. “Why not? I dunno how I actually got in, maybe I did trip and fall in like an idiot.” Chrysalis remains silent at this. As Sombra’s guffaws die down, he finally musters the strength to sit up again, wiping tears from his eyes. “Alright… alright. So… you lot are getting around this ‘Barrier’ by possessing him,” he recaps, pointing at you, and you nod. “Why are you heading away from the exit, then?” Nightmare Moon clears her throat. “The exit above us… is blocked. We knoweth not by what, but the iron door to the Canterlot dungeons hath been bespelled most powerfully. Therefore, we make for a rumored secret ‘elevator’, hidden deep in the Pit,” she explains. Sombra strokes his chin with a hoof. “Can’t say I know about any of that, but I’ll follow you down there. At the very least, we can keep this one from getting into more trouble,” he snarks, jerking a hoof at you. “Oh, give me a little credit. I broke an entire diamond today,” you airily retort, gesturing to the massive fracture running down the octahedral crystal to the group’s right. Sombra snorts. “Dumb. Luck,” he dismisses. “Anyway, I think there’s a tunnel deeper into the Pit past my old cell. If the elevator’s anywhere, it’s past there.” With nothing else to do, the four of you make to exit the Diamond Room again. Before he reaches the door, Sombra stops, and gives the room one last look, paying special attention to the crystals that could be barely glimpsed through the secret passages all around the room. He sighs. “Probably all bewitched, anyway,” he mutters, and makes to turn around again. “I don’t think they are, actually. I also don’t think you can carry them out of here, but… we can go around and look at them, if you want,” you offer. Sombra looks at you warily, and you give him a small smile. “Oh… alright, fine. I suppose I can stand to look at this place a while longer,” he snorts, and makes for the Sapphire Room. “We’ll wait here,” Nightmare Moon calls amiably, and lays down by the door, Chrysalis joining her after a short moment of hesitation. The two of you try to look at the many blue gems in the room, but you’re a bit distracted by the giant blue laser that’s still emitting from every one of the large sapphires in the floor. “A puzzle, then? You solved it wrong,” Sombra notices. “What? We got the Key. How’d we solve it wrong?” you ask, perplexed and slightly insulted. “You’re clearly supposed to line up the sapphires with where the kyanites below them are pointing. See?” Sombra points out. He rotates a sapphire with his magic, which you notice is a dark purple in color. The laser no longer points in the right direction, but the two of you hear a strange clicking noise. “Huh,” you notice. “You might be on to something. Let’s get the rest of them, see what happens,” you decide. The two of you make short work of rotating the sapphires, and as Sombra moves the last one into place, they all briefly light up cyan before returning to their normal color. You give one an experimental push to find that it doesn’t rotate anymore, and Sombra tries as well. “They’re all locked in place. That was clearly the solution… but nothing happened,” he notices. “Maybe there’s alternate solutions for all the other ones? Now I’m curious to see what happens when we re-solve the other five too,” you muse. The two of you move over to the adjacent Emerald Room, and you glance at the maze. “How would one solve a maze in a different way…?” you wonder. “Perhaps there’s a different exit?” Sombra answers, walking into the maze and looking around curiously at the spiky actinolites and radioactive-green peridots. But after a few minutes of searching, neither of you find anything. “Maybe we’ll come back to this one later?” you suggest as you cross paths with Sombra for the fourth time. Sombra grumbles, looking as though he’s about to argue, but sighs and nods. “The others are probably easier to ‘get,’” he acquiesces, leading you onward to the Citrine Room. You glance up at the tiny hole leading into the room. “I can’t fit in that,” you admit, and Sombra glances between you and the hole, humming in thought. He lights his horn purple again, and glares at the hole as though it had personally insulted his honor – a glare you’re quite familiar with by now. His magic seems to… solidify, into a rough cone shape, which he uses to drill through the stone, causing you to step back and cough a little at the onslaught of dust. Finally, Sombra’s horn dims, and he views the enlarged hole with satisfaction. “My father taught me that. We used it to attempt to mine for iron…” Sombra trailed off. “Well… it’s coming in pretty handy. Maybe we can use you to drill out of this prison, right through the Barrier,” you joke, trying to lighten the mood as Sombra scowls at the mention of his father. Sombra snorts. “Maybe,” he mutters, sauntering into the Citrine Room. To your utmost surprise, it actually does look like a dance party in here. Colored tiles cover the floor in front of you, and are lit up in what seems to be a circular pattern, though all except for the closest row are behind a waist-high wall. The pedestal that would normally contain a Key is one tile away from the closest one to you, and slightly tilted. It looks like the Key fell off the top of the pedestal onto somewhere Chrysalis could pick it up. “For this one, I suppose you’d have to arrange the tiles. But in what configuration?” Sombra wonders. “I saw a notice up where Nightmare Moon was, saying today’s password was ‘SUN’ for a similar puzzle to this. But Chrysalis already did that one… maybe a moon shape?” you wonder. Sombra hums for a moment, then steps forward and presses a tile. A few of the tiles in the circle shift, and the lit ones reappear elsewhere, seemingly teleporting. “No…” Sombra mutters, and begins poking around the different tiles. After a while, he gives up. “Nothing doing,” he denies. “There’s no way to get this to make a ‘moon’ shape of any kind.” You stroke your chin in thought. “Okay… how about… a heart?” you suggest. Sombra looks at you in open disgust, and you shrug. “It was the first thing I thought of!” you defend, slightly embarrassed. Sombra rolls his eyes. “Of course it was,” he mutters, and sets about rearranging the tiles again. You’ve learned the patterns from watching him work, so you join in and help, and a moment later the two of you have successfully made a heart shape. The two of you hear that same click as in the Sapphire Room, and the tiles briefly flash pink. “Nice work!” you compliment, and Sombra scoffs. “Easy,” he snorts. The two of you return to the Diamond Room. “What’s taking so long?” Chrysalis complains from across the room, laying on her back. “We found alternate solutions to all the puzzles, I want to see what happens!” you call back. Chrysalis groans, and Nightmare Moon chuckles at her impatience. “Rest while thou canst, Queen. We may have to fight later, and a proper respite beforehoof could be vital,” she admonishes lazily, closing her eyes again. Chrysalis groans some more, but reluctantly lays her head back again. “One would think stretching before a fight would be more appropriate,” Sombra calls over. “Disturbeth not our royal slumber!” Nightmare Moon growls back, and you stifle a giggle at her indignant tone. Sombra goes for the Topaz Room – another puzzle you’ve never seen. This one consists of six levers mounted on a wall, some of which have already been flipped to the ‘ON’ position. A series of six orange bars above them are all lit, and you reach out to pull a lever back to the ‘OFF’ position experimentally. Some of the bars decrease, and Sombra nods. “Seems this one was solved by finding the right combination of levers. I’m willing to bet each one increases the counter by a certain amount, and overshooting or undershooting the right number wouldn’t do anything.” A few more lever pulls confirm his theory, and he surveys the array curiously, pulling a few. You notice that the last two don’t seem to do anything on their own. “What happens if you pull another lever, and then pull one of these?” you ask Sombra. He tries it out, pulling the third lever from the left and watching the counter increase by four ‘bars’ before pulling the rightmost lever. To the surprise of both of you, the counter goes down by two, and is now at two units. “Fascinating… so these ones could correct for an overshoot. That explains why they were pulled for the first solution, but how do we find the alternate one…?” Sombra wonders. “Um. Well…” you trail off. “Got an idea? Tell me,” Sombra demands. “What if we tried to make it add up to negative six? Maybe the other lever is negative four?” you suggest. Sombra tries it, but nothing happens. He pulls a few more levers, until all six of them are ‘ON.’ “That one's… negative five,” he figures out after a moment of thinking. “So then… this should be negative six,” he decides, flipping the leftmost three levers back ‘OFF.’ Another click resounds through the air, and Sombra triumphantly puffs his chest out. “Nice! You’re good at puzzles,” you compliment. “Back in my day, puzzles were a royal thing. Princess Amore’s castle was absolutely full of them, it took me ages to find her and…” Sombra trails off. “And what?” you ask, confused. “I assassinated her, and took over her kingdom,” Sombra growls, looking away from you. “…Oh,” you trail off quietly. The two of you walk over to the Aquamarine Room in silence, and you stare at the puzzle here, unsure what to say. The puzzle seems untouched, a row of tiles similar to the yellow ones in the Citrine Room but unlit and an icy blue. The pedestal lays at the very back, atop a ledge that’s too high for you to climb – maybe Chrysalis just flew over it? “I… I did it on Father’s orders. He wanted me to become some sort of dictator, make every pony in the entire kingdom hate me as much as possible. I didn’t question it. I didn’t ever question the insane things he made me do,” Sombra growled quietly. “…Do you regret it?” you ask. Sombra nods. “I was a Guard, for a while, to her. Princess Amore. She didn’t speak much with me, but… somepony else did. I… I think I enjoyed that part of my life,” Sombra sighs. “Nightmare Moon?” you wonder, thinking back to how she asked you to save him, and he confirms it with a nod. “She called herself ‘Princess Luna’ back then. She’d visit occasionally, and while her sister was off talking with Amore about this and that, she’d strike up a conversation with me. I wonder how she got to be down here?” Sombra muses, looking up at you for answers. “She’s… well, she’s only part of Princess Luna. Both of them exist separately, according to her, because she got something called ‘The Elements of Harmony’ used on her after she tried to overthrow her sister,” you remember. Sombra whistles in amazement. “And the part of her that wasn’t in harmony with the world survived? Impressive,” he mutters. “Is that what they do?” you ask, and he nods. “They’re the most powerful magical artifacts known to ponykind – they tap directly into the force of Destiny. There’s no magic that can beat the six Elements together,” he explains. “I… When Celestia and Luna went after me, I knew they were going to use them. And I knew I couldn’t stop them from doing so. So, with the help of a few… friends, I put the whole Crystal Empire in magical stasis for a thousand years. I figured by then, they’d have forgotten about me… but I was stopped anyway. By a new Princess of Love, ‘Cadance,’ with the help of a purple mare named ‘Twilight’,” Sombra reminisces. “Twilight Sparkle?” you ask, and Sombra looks at you sharply. “She was the one who used the Elements on Nightmare Moon. Weird…” you note. Sombra shrugs. “Destiny’s like that. Put all the burdens on as few ponies as possible, and the rest can live their lives in peace. Or at least… that’s what Luna said, once,” he mumbles. The two of you look at the puzzle again, an awkward silence stretching between you. With nothing else to do, you step cautiously onto a tile, and abruptly hop back as it cracks underneath you. “Watch it!” Sombra growls, lunging forward in an attempt to catch you. You’re already on safe ground, so he mostly just pulls you towards him. “So… if you step on a wrong tile, it breaks and you fall? Normally these puzzles don’t have such… fatal consequencs,” Sombra notes. “Maybe it was designed by a pegasus?” you ask, and Sombra shakes his head. “These puzzles were designed to be solved by any of the three tribes.” He places a hoof experimentally on the cracked tile, and after a moment walks onto it, to find that it holds his weight. He taps his front left hoof on it sharply. “There’s a solid surface underneath, probably more bedrock. Perhaps we have to arrange a pattern?” Sombra wonders. You look out at the rest of the tile floor. “A heart pattern would fit,” you suggest. Sombra glares at you. “What? It’s a theme, maybe,” you defend. Sombra sighs. “You do it this time,” he growls, jumping out of the way. You take a step onto the broken tile, and to your surprise, it fixes itself, pieces resealing into a whole square of aquamarine crystal. “Huh,” you note. “How come it didn’t do that for you?” Sombra peers at it. “Perhaps it remembers who broke it? That is an odd touch,” he agrees. After a bit of tricky walking and a few tries, you successfully make the same heart shape as you did in the Citrine Room, ending up a single tile to the right of where you started. You smile as you hear that satisfying click, and the broken tiles briefly flash pink. “Pink, and hearts…” Sombra trails off, evidently mulling over things. “Maybe… the ‘alternate’ theme is love?” you wonder. “But the topaz and sapphire puzzles weren’t themed like that,” Sombra argues. As if to prove your point, a crystal detaches from the wall and falls to the ground, and Sombra glances over at it. It’s heart-shaped and blue, and for a moment there’s an expression of utter shock on his face. “The Crystal Heart…?” he breathes, moving over to it slowly, and you raise an eyebrow at him as he approaches it so carefully. Picking it up in his magic, he scrutinizes it as closely as a jeweler with a loupe, before tossing it behind him in disgust. “A fake,” he announces. “Likely meant to fool me.” You shrug, and the two of you exit the Aquamarine Room. The only room you haven’t entered yet is the Amethyst Room, and you’re dismayed to find it’s unlit, the room cast into complete shadow. “How are we going to solve this? We can’t even see it,” you complain, edging forward and immediately smacking into something. The surface in front of you begins to glow purple, and you step away from it to find it’s a giant amethyst crystal, glowing and revealing its surroundings in a short radius. “Clever,” Sombra notes, watching the glow slowly fade. “It seems we have to make our way forward using the light of each crystal in turn.” You tap the amethyst again, and it resumes glowing. You peer into the darkness, and spot another amethyst just a few feet away, the path walled off by a few slabs of purple crystal. It doesn’t take long for the two of you to solve the dark maze, and you find a lever similar to the ones in the Topaz Room in the center, along with the pedestal that formerly displayed the Amethyst Key. You flip the lever, and a few lights on the ceiling come to life, flickering a bit as they light up the whole room. It looks… small, now that the lights are on. “So what’s the alternate solution here?” you wonder. “Try turning every single crystal on at once. If we run, we should be fast enough,” Sombra suggests. “Ready, set… GO!” you call, and the two of you take off through two different paths, searching for amethysts to tap. After a while of running around, you hear a click – Sombra must have gotten the last one. “We did it!” you call. “Good work! Now where are you?” Sombra calls back. “Over here!” you call again, heading towards his voice. You find him around a corner. “There you are. That just leaves the green puzzle,” Sombra declares, sounding oddly excited. “It’ll be easy now. We’re puzzle veterans,” you scoff, and he actually laughs, a short bark of mirth that quickly dies. As the two of you re-enter the Diamond Room, Sombra turns to you. “Stay here a moment, I have an idea,” he orders, and promptly turns around and re-enters the Amethyst Room. Raising an eyebrow, you watch him go. “How art the two of thee faring?” Nightmare asks, still laying down next to the door to the Amethyst Room. “Good… we’ve been talking about stuff. About… what he did, among other things,” you answer awkwardly. Nightmare Moon sighs. “Mayhap he canst learn a few things of kindness from thee,” she murmurs. “He always didst seem so… uncertain about his actions. Why, even when he took over the kingdom, he sent us a letter saying… saying he regretted the whole attempt.” You nod. “Seems his dad roped him into a lot of crazy stuff,” you murmur back. The lights in the Amethyst Room flicker out again, and after a moment Sombra steps out of the darkness, too quickly to have traversed the maze. “Shadow-traveled,” he answers to your questioning gaze, and you nod in acknowledgement. “Is that how you escaped your cell?” you ask, and he nods in reply. “Nightmare Moon’s shadow fell over me, and I was able to travel through the bars with it. Doesn’t work on you, by the way, so I don’t think we can use that to get me through the Barrier,” he denies. “Darn,” you mutter under your breath. You’d had your hopes up, for a moment there. Sombra glances over at the Emerald Room, and grins. You follow his gaze to find that the room is now just as dark as the Amethyst Room. “How’d you figure out that?” you ask incredulously. “The spell powering that lever had another line leading over there. I noticed it when I was walking in, but thought it was just an ordinary light-powering line, so I didn’t think much of it,” Sombra explains. You digest this information with a frown. Invisible magic… wires? Weird. You just thought the wires for all those lights above you were hidden in the ceiling, or something. In the darkness, you spot a lone crystal of the maze glowing green, just like the amethysts had glowed purple. More of the glow can be seen peeking around corners - clearly, a few crystals inside the maze are now glowing as well. Sombra walks over to it and touches it, and it dims before shutting off completely. “It’s a reverse puzzle to the amethysts,” Sombra discovers. “We have to turn all these ones off.” He walks forward into the darkness, and you decide to let him do the work – he can apparently see just fine in the dark. A moment later, there’s one last click, and Sombra reappears in front of you so instantaneously that you stumble backward. He laughs at your fright, and saunters past you. Chuckling good-naturedly, you follow, wondering what the two of you have won for your efforts. To your surprise, a pedestal has appeared in the Diamond Room, featuring a red Key. You remember the red crystal you refused to take, what seems like a lifetime ago. Should you take this one? Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis are inspecting the Key, but you look further down, examining the pedestal in hopes of spying more carvings that might give you an idea of what this crystal is meant to do. To your surprise, there are only simple carvings of hearts. Seems this one’s alright, then? Chrysalis tentatively picks it up with her magic and hands it to you. [ITEM: Ruby Key] [A key as red as a dying star. Unlocks a secret area below.] Oh? A secret area? That sounds interesting. You put the seventh Key in your backpack, and shrug at the others. “Maybe it unlocks something else?” you wonder. “There’s no other slot in the door… maybe it goes somewhere up above?” Chrysalis wonders, looking back towards the entrance to the Diamond Room. “There weren’t any slots to put a Key up there… I think, anyway,” you mutter. “It’s probably unimportant, considering how hard it was to get. I don’t think even the people who designed these puzzles would have the time to retrieve this single Key if they needed it often.” Sombra nods approvingly. “It’s likely a hidden area for higher-level Guards, or even the Princesses themselves. They usually put the new recruits up top, so it makes sense that this Key would go to some room deeper below us,” he agrees. With that, the four of you leave the Diamond Room again, heading for Sombra’s old prison block. You can’t help but wonder about the friend you’ve just gained, as well as the ruby-red Key in your backpack. Sombra’s a murderer… but a reluctant murderer. Maybe he’s already good at heart, and just needs a push in the right direction? You’re unsure about befriending a murderer and tyrant, but… hey, you’ve already befriended an attempted murderer and a psychopath, and they seem to be making great progress. You’ll just have to keep at it, then. The torchlight stays constant this time as Sombra passes by, instead of flickering wildly, and the strange creature from before is long gone. “So how come this place has so many different ‘themes,’ anyway? Nightmare Moon was kept in a cage at the topmost spires, Chrysalis was down a bit deeper in some sort of catacombs, and now you were in a standard prison cell. Why not just lump the three of you together to save space?” you wondered, glancing at Sombra. “Isolated, we are powerless to resist the Guards,” Nightmare Moon immediately answers. “That, and the wide-open spaces interspersed with deceptive tunnel layouts are probably meant to confuse and foil rescue attempts… like this one,” Chrysalis adds thoughtfully. “Personally, I think Celestia put me in here just to humiliate me. A king, in a standard prison cell… just like the ones I put too many ponies in before,” Sombra concluded, glaring ahead with such intensity that you swore the path in front of you was looking a little darker in the torchlight. “Isolation, deception and humiliation… wow. Those are some pretty dark themes for someone who’s supposed to be protecting others,” you remarked. “If you ask me, I think Celestia’s… gone a bit overboard with that whole ‘protecting her little ponies’ thing. The prison was around in my time, but it was quite a bit different – ponies could freely visit, among other things. Now… now I think it’s become her own little pet project,” Sombra muses, wrenching open the door at the end of the prison block corridor with little effort. Ahead, the four of you are met with two more of those strange, pearlescent, melting ponies. One looked like it had been a unicorn, once, as a spire still jutted from its head, a string of liquid connecting it to the bridge of the creature’s nose as it burbled at you, mouth opening in a surprisingly toothy smile. The other… The other was different. Despite apparently being made of the same material as the others, this one’s body wasn’t melting – rather, the substance composing it had improbably solidified into a pliable, rubbery substance. Its eyes were closed, eyelids pointing downward as its mouth remained a wide smile. Its general body resembled a normal pony’s – but with the exception that it had far too many legs. Legs were growing everywhere – in the place of wings, attached to other legs, a confusing, intersecting tangle of limbs that made it look less like a pony and more like a pony-shaped flower with a rather complicated root system. “What in Harmony’s name are those?!” Sombra exclaimed, taking a step back. “Dunno, but they’re not friendly,” you answer, feeling them watch you with unseeing eyes. “Then we will destroy them,” Nightmare Moon snarled, a blue bolt of energy charging from her horn. With no reaction from the two monsters, she fired it at one, a direct hit causing chunks of gelatinous white material to fly everywhere before quickly melting back into liquid puddles. As the four of you watched, however, the puddles rapidly traveled across the floor, merging back into the creature from before. It raised its head to look Nightmare Moon in the eyes, and she stepped back. “Can we go around them?” you urgently asked. “Nay, there be a door in the way,” Nightmare Moon spits back, apparently too distracted to be polite. “You got rid of one of these things before – do what you did last time!” Chrysalis exclaims, shoving you forward through the door even as her eyes widen in panic. “WAIT, NO, I TAKE IT BACK-“ she screams fearfully, but it is too late. Both of the creatures have already seen you and dived forwards. [A Melted and M̸̡̀̕͝E͏T͞҉͏̢̕Á̕̕͡ attack together!] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[DO NOTHING] Unfortunately, your earlier tactic doesn’t appear to do much. The ‘regular’ Melted appears to be hacking and coughing, its stomach heaving as it eventually expels a massive wave of white goop at the bullet screen, your heart-shaped thing just barely dodging. The other one, strangely, remains still, gazing at you with those two pinprick eyes. [A Melted and M̨̀È̴͢͠T̢̀͢͜͡A̧̢͟͞ attack together!] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[DO NOTHING] Okay, so the Melted seems a bit slower this time? It’s hard to tell. It does the same thing again, too, and this time it’s a bit easier to dodge now that you know what’s coming. But why isn’t the other one attacking? It’s just… śt̨ar͜i͞n̨g at you. N̕͠ot̸̷h̨͝i͞͏͝ng̀͟͠’͝͞s̨̕ even h̵̶͜app͢͝e̛͘n͡i̡͡͡n̶g on the bullet screen. The three of you stand there awkwardly for a few moments, and you breathe a shallow sigh of relief as the box expands back outward into your options. [A Melted and M̷͘E̷͝Ţ̛͜A̸̸͞ attack together!] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[DO NOTHING] Okay, the Melted is definitely slowing down. Seems like that’s a general way to go for dealing with them, then. It’s also just using the same attack o͞ve͠r ͟an̨̧d҉͘ ̴͝͠ov͡e͟r̛, which makes it easy to dodge. [A Melted and M͟͡͞E҉̧͏T̸̶̡̀A͡͠ attack together!] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] You stare at the ‘special’ one, and it stares back. “What… are you?” you whisper, thinking it won’t h̨́ę̢̡͝á͝͠r̸̢̕͟ ̡y̵o͘͏͟ú͜. After all, t̷͢͠i̧ḿ̨ȩ̡̕ ̶̵͟s̀to̸p̵s̸̀ when you’re making your choices, right? To your h҉̨̀͠ó̀̕͢͟r̨̕ŗ̴̸̵́o҉̡̨r̷̕͠, it winks at you, before reaching out and t̸̴į͜͢͢l̵̵͘͜t̴̕͟͡i̴̵̵͢n͏̴̢̀͜ģ the bullet screen, just a little. Nothing else has ever moved when you’re making a selection, much less touched ý͜o͜úr̶͘͏ ͢s̡ţ͝rà̡ǹ̷g̢͞e͞͡ ̢̧͘ĺ̸͢i̢͞t̴̨t͠l̶̵e͘ ̴͜ş͟͢cr̶̛̛ę̕e̸n͏͟͠. What was this thing? What kind of power did it possess to mess with even ỳ̡̨͘ǫ̢͟u̕͞r̨̕͟͡ ̵́͞͝r̡͟͜e̶͢͡a̷͏̀l̸̕ì̡ţ̡ỳ̨̛? To your continuing horror, it’s not just the bullet screen that’s been tilted. This monster’s somehow tilted your entire field of vision – the cave beneath you is now at a very slight, sloping angle to the left. What the hell? How is it doing that? Realizing you haven’t pressed anything yet, you press the [DO NOTHING] button out of sheer reflex. >>[DO NOTHING] The Melted has stopped completely – if it’s f͡ó̸ll̕o̡w͜͜i͠͞ǹg̡͡ ͟t͞h̶͝e͘ s̵̕a͟͠m͘e̡͡͡ ̴̵͞r͜ųl̨҉̴e̢s as the other, now’s the time to spare it and get it to ǵ̡̧o̸ ́͠a̷̶w̡̕҉͡á̵̧̀͢ý̕. The one with a lot of legs still w͝á̷͜t͏͏̡ch̡̀͝e̕s̶̢͝ ̧͘yo͏͟u͢҉̛, with that unchanging, infuriating smile. As the bullet screen goes away, you reach out a finger to press the ‘SPARE’ button… Only for the other creature to snatch it away. You stare for a moment in openmouthed shock, watching it holding your SPARE button. H…how?? That’s ń̡͝o̶̸̷̕t even a physical object! “Wha – give that back! I need that!” you demand, reaching for it, but the creature’s legs are much longer than your arms could ever h̷͟͟͏o͢͏̡͡p̕͞è̸͞ to be. The other Melted, strangely, has vanished anyway, so you suppose that’s one thing that’s going your way – but you’re still rather overtaken by a v̡̨͡͡͠i͏͟ơ̸͟͟͠l̵̢͘͘͞é̷̶͟n͢͡t̵̕͘ feeling of what the hell is happening?! While you’re trying to get at it, the creature’s face begins to stretch in all the wrong places, and your stomach drops as you realize you’ve been looking at its face entirely w̡̕͝r̶̸̛o҉͞n̸̡g̴̨̕͟. What you thought were two eyes were actually two mouths smiling at you, as they’ve now opened to grin at your m͜i̢s͡f͘o̷͠r̶͞ţ̵unè and dismay. The larger mouth below, conversely, is a giant eye, which is now open and s̸͞t̨͡a̵͡͠ŕ̸̡͞͡ín͞g̸̵̢͡͝ ̶̵̧a̵̧͏̡t̶͟͝ ̴҉͢͞y͏͝o̴̢͘u̡̕͠҉͢ in a way that’s making your skin crawl. [It’s really M̢̭̹͕̗̪͈̭̖̯̩͇̖̲͍̬̙̫͂͂̔̋ͮ͐͋͊͂̅̾ͭͥ̑ͯͧ́̚͘͢͝Ḙ̷̸̹̱̗̰̱̥ͥ̓̽̍̇͑ͯ͌̅͗̏͢T̂̔ͭ͗͜҉͈͉͙̱̬̪̦̦̮͔̬A̩̠̱̻͚̥͛̾̌̔̀͋ͯͣͮͥ͂̄́̂͂͒ͨ͠͡.] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] You don’t want to press [RUN], as that might cause you to permanently lose your ability to SPARE during a fight. “Can I… have that back, please?” you ask, forcing yourself to be polite. The creature simply grins at you, and it finally attacks. The leg that’s closest to you reaches out to t̶̛҉̷͏ǫ̷̛̕͜u̸̡̕̕c͘͟h̛͡ the screen, before elongating, growing in spurts towards your little heart thing as you try to dodge. Each time it ‘grows,’ you hear a slight crackling, like the rustle of dry leaves, and once again you try your best not to feel queasy. Whatever this thing is, it’s m̶̴̧̕͜e̷s̴͢͠s͏͟͏̡i͢͡͝n̷͞͏́g̵͢ ̷͟͡ẃi̧̕t̵̶̵͟͞h̵̡ ́͝y̡̕͜͝o̴̷͝u͏͘ in all the worst ways. [Y̸͎͕̠̯̲̬̱̗ͣ̇̊ͨͥͭ̚͝o͗̓ͪ̋ͬ̔̊̐̿͋̃̆͜͏̶͏̹̺͉̲̱̥͉ũ̧̒͋̎̅͛̈́ͨͯ͘҉̨̦̼̲͙̗̩̼̠̭̟̬̮̥́’̈̆̌͊ͦ̓̒̑ͦ̐͑͂̀̐͐̓͡҉̵̘͕̝͇̥̣̥͍̲͘v̵̦̰̰̗̠͓ͩ͌͂̈̑ͪ̐̄̉̿́ͯ̓̏́͡ȩ̶̼̙̥̺̺̬͈̤̫͖̞̝̉ͪ̑͂ͦͩ̊̑ͬͪ̆̐ͪ͂̆̔ͦ͊͟͝ ̾̈ͭ̑̓̚͏̣̭̗̺̲̦̼̳͝f̷̛̞̣̙̦̬̪̲̱̤̺͇̹̐̿͛ͫ͘ͅi̸̯͍̰͎̙̰̊ͬ̑͒ͮ͐ͯͨ̓̓ͪ̋̚̚͝͠ͅn̵̡̛͎̭͙̗̈́͌̎ͬͫ̅̃̄ͥͮͬ̋ͭ͂͐̓a̶͕͖͈̤͕̗̫̝͎̫͉̭̺̥͋ͣ͐ͭ͂̋͑̒̽̋̀̕͡ͅl̸̢̻̪̙̪͇͕͈̓͂ͨͫͪͭ̉͆̓͌̄̊ͅͅl̶̡̗͇̺͔̯̭͎̻̬̥̙̦̅ͣͤͬͣͦ͝y̶̠̟͙̖̏̓̓̉͛͟ ̷̧̦͈̖̬͋͋̾̆̎̓ͬͨͤ͗̒̅ͤ͟͜ͅf̨̡̛̮̼̺̬͍ͫͦ̈̽͋̐̕ǫ̡̆̋̑͆͒̊ͤ͏̗̺̙̤͚̣̯̰̫͎ư̵̴̸̸̻͕̠̯̼̥̲̰̤̦̹̜̺̮̠̲̜̟̄͆̽͊̽ͯ͛̃̿̐͆̾n̸̶͓̞̮̠͕̲̐̒ͩͬ̽̋ͩ͒ͣ̉͂ͧ̆̓ͤ͐̄͟d̐̌̋̈ͯͦ̑͌̓ͤ͏̛̹͔̯̥̼͚̠̳͕̠͇͍̯̠̟̟̠ ̶̸̸͈̭̦̞͉̲̻̹̳̳̟̝̟͚͇̘̤̖̭͛̈́̌ͧͩ͘h̵̡̪̼͈͇͙̫͔ͯ̒̿͂̚͠ë̶͚̘̻͔̞̗̼͎͉̭͖͙̝̓̊̐̿̊̾̇ͮͪ͆͐͘͡r͇̜̖͖̳̰̫͇̝͍ͧ̽ͥ͛ͯ̂ͧ̚͘.̺̫̘̖͓̯̤̙̺̹͓͍̻̳̖͓̣̭̜̇͑ͤ͌ͬ̋͂̇̑͘͡] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] This thing… is a she? Okay, you guess you’re n̷̢͋ͭ̎͐ͮ̇͢͞ơ̷̎͗͗ͬ͆̊̿ͣ̓̄ͨ̀ͭ́t̋͌̄͗̿̀͟ ̸̡̢̛̛̆̒͐̐ͯ̾̂͛̅ͧ̉̓̿̓̉̚ą̴̔͛̌̂l̶ͮͮ̈́̿ͥͮ̉ͤ̔͐̌͊l̵̑ͧͮ̑͐̂̈́̅ͯ̀̎ͥ͡ȏ̵̈̃͊̅̍̎ͩ̑ͤ̈́ͥͤ̈́̂́w̐̄ͥ̇͗͜͏ě̸͒ͨ̚ḋͤ̀ͦ̈́͌͗̈̀͘ ̢̢̛̓̑ͦͨͧ͗̉ͬt̸̐͂̒ͪ̓̆ͣͦ̆ͯ̽̇͆ͦͣͪ͊ͥ́ŏ̷̧̡͒͊̈͠ ̛̆̍͋ͦ͌̈͡͏̷͝d̶̵ͬ͒ͦ̒ͬ̎ͬͣ͐̊̄̀̽ë̶ͧ̎̆͒ͧ̕͟c̛ͣ͂ͫ̿͋ͥͯ̀͟͟i̵̐ͫ̄̐̊͒̒̀̋̓ͦͩ͊͂͑͑҉̧͝ḋ͋ͯͯ̄̌ͪ̈́̾͏̷̛é̴ͭ͊̓͛̒͑ͪ̉̒͂̌ͥͥ͌̌͜ that for it. Still… You wonder what to do. Doing nothing is likely out, as whoever’s given you this ability probably wouldn’t make it that obvious. You d̛̹̤͚̻̦̪̮͍͖̰̰͈̠̩͢o̵̘͔̱̜̗͓̳̼͕̞̮n̸̵̵̡̥̪͙̯̳̱̞͙̻ͅ'̵̢̠̮̺̲̤̤͇̼̻t͘҉̨͉̻̩͔̟̠͚̮̻̭̖͠ͅͅ ̶̦̘̯̖̘̩͉͎̖̙͙̼͍͚̰͘ͅw̧̧͖̪̟̥̻̟̘͙̤̺͖͇͝á̴̘͙͈̲͍͚̞͇̜̤͔̪̯̳̗̜̠́ͅǹ̡̛̘͎̞͍̥̟̘̹̙̖͎̳̤͙̩̭͘ṯ͎̯͇̬͓̲͔̟̗̗̪̣͙̰̥͞͝ͅ ̷̨̮̦͔̀t̴̜̦͙̳̙̭̮́͠͞o҉̹͈̮̤̳͚̠̖͘ ̷̶̵̢̳̩̪͎͕͙̤̱͚̙̤̯͇̻̘ͅͅf̸͘҉̥͔̲̙͖̺̜͓͓͉į̲̰̠̹̖̖͖͉̣̹̥̤̭̩͎́͜͝g͡͏̸̥͔̗̱͉̗͍̮̥̫͇̬̟͕͓̤ͅh̹̖̺̲͈̬̪̺̰̦̬̮̱̗̜̬͇̹̀̕͞ṱ͍̯͚͍̬̲̭̰̻̯̭͈̳̲͡ or run, and you kind of doubt there’s an item you can use here, so… >>[FLIRT] Um. This is awkward. You’re going to try and flirt with a… well, you don’t quite know what it is, but you do know it’s n͟o̸̶t͞ ͟͜í͡n҉͢͞t̨e͜r̶̸e̵st̨͟ed in you like that. “Hey, sexy, wanna maybe call this a draw? I can make it worth your while…” you try, giving your best (an̛͝d t̵́ę̴̛r̢ri͜b͟ļ̸͞e͢) impression of a ‘purr’. The creature cocks its head, mouths frowning thoughtfully. [If you can read this, please help me escape.] [35/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] …Is the little ‘blurb’ thing broken? Great. Just what you needed. Maybe the creature’s s͘t̕o̴l͢e̶͜n that, too. Hopefully you’re still allowed to ma͢͡ke͝͠ a̢ ͜͜ćh̢͘oi͜c̴̕e. >>[FLIRT] “Come on… surely you’re a little curious about what it’d be like,” you offer, giving your best ‘bedroom eyes.’ The creature seems unfazed, though it glances at the Ş̴P̨͘͜͠A͏̢́R̶̨͡É͘͢͜ button it’s still holding. [Shiny?] [35/50] [YES] [NO] …What. Okay, seriously, what? What do you even say to that? The creature is looking at you expectantly, tapping a hoof against the floor – it’s clearly awaiting an answer, and y͜ou’d be̵s͝t͠ ͞ńot ͘ho͡ld̴ it͠ up͘. “Um… no?” you decide, poking the appropriate button – something tells you pressing the other one wouldn’t do anything. >>[N̢̧͘O̸̴̶͜͡] The creature grins at you again, mouths opening in a silent laugh. As the screen expands to show your little pink heart thing, alone in the box, it reaches up with another creepily elongated leg to press the [SPARE] button it’s holding back into i͢͞t̢s̴͝ ̷͟p͘͜͝r̶̛op͟͝ȩ͘͜r͞ p̸l̡͢ac͟͠e. And, just like that, it vanishes. Immediately, you’re tackled from behind, and slam to the ground, a heavy weight pinning you to the floor. “I didn’t mean it, I’ll-!” Chrysalis yells above you, before stopping abruptly. “Where’d they go?!” Sombra snarls from somewhere behind you. “They’re gone,” you answer, groaning slightly as Chrysalis quickly gets off of you. “You – you took care of them?” she asks, half incredulous and half hopeful. “I… dunno,” you answer, looking around. “I really don’t know.” > Chapter 7 - Inferno > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Are you sure? You didn’t do anything that might’ve caused them to go away?” Sombra pressed, as the four of you continued walking. “Yes, I’m sure,” you answered patiently, kicking at a rock. You still weren’t sure if you should tell them about your abilities, but you weren’t lying when you said you’ve no idea what’s going on with those things. The four of you came across an imposing door to your left, a stark difference from the few, sparse prison cells that occasionally lined this tunnel. “Another lab?” you wondered, staring at the access panel to the left of the door. It looked as though it’d already been set to the ‘SUN’ configuration, but the door wasn’t open. “Anything in there we need?” Chrysalis asked, looking at you curiously. “No idea… but it’s worth checking, if we can get this door open,” you answer, digging through your backpack. [ITEMS] Ruby Key >Lv 1 Keycard Pencil/Paper/Clipboard Pulling out the faded keycard from your backpack, you search for a place to put it. It turns out the panel with tiles on it has a small slot to the right that you can slide your card through, but as soon as you do so, the screen on top flashes red, and reads ‘HIGHER CLEARANCE NEEDED.’ “Well… darn, thought that’d work,” you mutter. “Doth thee needeth higher authority?” Nightmare Moon wonders. “Seems so… hmm. What about this hole, here?” Chrysalis asks, pointing to a cone-shaped indent to the right of the door, opposite the access panel. “Verily, that be a means of allowing Princess Celestia entry directly, forgoing these bespelled ‘keycards.’ Only her horn may allow entrance,” Nightmare Moon answers after a moment, looking at the hole intently. “Her horn, you say?” Chrysalis muses, before a flash of green washes over her. You get your first look at not-really-Princess Celestia. She’s… almost identical to Nightmare Moon. Exactly as tall, exactly the same wingspan, even her hair sparkles like Nightmare Moon’s. The only major differences are that her coat is a bright white tinged golden yellow, and her hair weaves and undulates through the air in a pastel rainbow of soft colors. Her armor is golden, with what appear to be amethysts inset into the peytral and crown. The faux-Celestia’s eyes flash green, and the illusion is broken. “Let’s see…” Chrysalis hisses, inserting her newly-shaped horn into the lock. The panel lights up yellow, and ‘WELCOME, PRINCESS CELESTIA!’ scrolls across it. “Too easy,” Chrysalis scoffs, transforming back into herself and grinning at the three of you. “Not bad,” Sombra allows. “Nicely done. Seems I can toss this, then, if you’re going to be around,” you joke, making to throw the keycard behind you. “Hold onto it, actually. If we get separated by a door, I’d rather you have a means of getting back to me,” Chrysalis denies, taking it and placing it back in your backpack. Shrugging, you follow her into the lab, Sombra and Nightmare Moon bringing up the rear. Almost immediately, you spot the latest documentation laying on a table, and pick it up to read it. “So this is what they think of you,” you note to Sombra, before reading aloud. “P-0063 – ‘Sombra’ Subject Characteristics: Phenotype: Unicorn (var. Shadow) Gender: Male Height – 8.58 hooves (1.31 m) Weight – 45 kg Coat color: Coal gray Mane color: Black (style: smoky, may be side effect of shadow magic) Eye color: Red (Green sclera, cause unknown) Cutie Mark: None (???) Psychological evaluation, 1003-12-15, Dr. Shield Array conducting: -Subject remains as silent and inscrutable as ever. Only growls have been heard from the recording system placed in the opposite cell, and attempts at transcribing or analyzing these have proved entirely fruitless. The most we can tell is that he’s unhappy… but we knew that already. Containment Procedures (Updated 1003-012-12): -Electrum cage disguised as standard prison block cell, fitted into remains of cell 0060 and furnished with similar furniture to that seen in the Crystal Empire’s dungeons. Shadow-magic dampening rune arrays (Type Gamma) hidden in adjacent cells 0059 and 0061 to dissuade escape attempts. All Guards are to avoid casting their shadows over the cell until the lighting system arrives, to prevent P-0063 from traversing their shadows and escaping. -Additional note: Under no circumstances is P-0063 to be allowed any contact with either P-0061 or Her Majesty of the Moon, for reasons that should be obvious. – Her Majesty of the Sun” “Just like the Crystal Empire’s dungeons… oh, how ironic,” Sombra growled when you were done. “A cruel mockery of my attempts at enslavement, is that what they were after?” You shrugged. “Dunno, but I’m wondering what all these different ‘Rune Types’ mean. The Delta ones could teleport, the Lambda ones prevented regular magic, and apparently the Gamma type prevent shadow magic? Maybe there’s some useful information around here…” you trail off, searching for more papers. After a few pulled-open drawers, you finally find one with a few papers inside. “Dear Dr. Shield Array, Why do we have open slots for up to 9,999 prisoners, anyway? We only have 5 right now, and we don’t even know if they’ll die of old age. Historically, as far as I know, we’ve only ever had 13 at most. Sincerely, Crystal Carving” “Dear Junior Intern Carving, It’s a good question, and has a lot to do with the historical categorization system of Tartarus and Princess Celestia’s new mandate for organization. Truth is, there are over 2,000 cells that have been built in the Prison over the centuries, and before the mandate, they weren’t categorized – Guards wishing to view a certain prisoner would have to be escorted by somepony who knew how to get to said prisoner. With the new numbering system, everyone knows where cell 0683, for instance, is located. This particular complaint of yours, having gained… popularity, is being distributed among the upper-level Guards, so that each of them knows what it says in the event this gets asked again. Sincerely, Dr. Shield Array Head Researcher” Hey, haven’t you seen this paper before? You search through the papers you’ve collected so far, but can’t find it. Wait… no, it was a different complaint of Crystal Carving’s. You put this one in the clipboard anyway, and resume searching. A desk drawer reveals just what you were looking for – drawings of runes line the top of the page. “Review: Magical efficiency of various types of Barrier Replication Systems” Researcher Sapphire Spell Interns Crystal Carving, Doped Amine, Metal Wing 1007-2-24 The Barrier Replication System (BRR) has undergone many modifications, changes, and branching attempts over the three short years following its introduction by Princess Luna. Initial versions were highly unstable, magically inefficient, and tended to break more often than work. Their modern counterparts, however, have improved dramatically, and this short paper serves to categorize the findings of other researchers as to the most recent magical efficiency calculations for each known system as a means of shorthand reference.” Alpha: At 83% efficiency, this one remains the undisputed princess of the lot. However, its slow charge time, poor dynamic behavior, and ability to be easily overridden by a skilled magic user mean that this is not a useful metric for considering it for future prototypes at the moment. Beta: 2%. Beta runes were discontinued immediately because of the immense magical strain needed to manufacture just one, putting Princess Celestia in the hospital for three weeks for a cracked horn and minor magical burns around the skull. What little remained of the Beta rune after the incident (a molten puddle) had lost much of its magical enchantment, even when measuring from afar while it was still molten. Delta: 34%. Delta runes, featuring an ability to sense and teleport away from high concentrations of magic while also locking down a specific magical signature, have excellent response time and dynamic behavior. However, their response to nearby unicorn Guards and Researchers is essentially a waste of magical power, and has been included in this figure. Removing this, their magical efficiency improves to 51%. Epsilon: -4%. Because Epsilon runes require a constant magical charge by a nearby unicorn, their efficiency drops into the negatives. If they could be powered by a reservoir of magic, their efficiency is speculated to be somewhere around 20%. Epsilon runes can only be made of diamond material instead of the typical sapphire-amethyst hybrid, making them both expensive and difficult to manufacture. However, they are more or less indestructible. Gamma: 81%, with recent research suggesting these can in theory be improved to 100%. Gamma runes feature a focused beam effect instead of a radial magical emitter, improving efficiency but requiring a complex array of intersecting waves to ensure the target is completely engulfed at all times. Recently, the Head Researcher has suggested we begin looking into alternate methods of containment that don’t utilize runes. So far, only one has been developed and implemented, using research conducted by Princess Celestia in year 603. This ‘memory spell’ serves as an effective means of containment for the short term, but the spells tend to fade after one year of continuous use, meaning subjects can escape simply by waiting. In addition, they require an alicorn to be cast, making repeated manufacture a tedious use of Princess Celestia’s time.” “A tedious use of her time?” Nightmare Moon grumbled. “Hold on, there’s a note here,” you notice, pulling out another paper. To your half-surprise, it’s yet another complaint from Crystal Carving. “Dear Dr. Shield Array, I’m filing a formal complaint on the grounds that four years passed during my coffee break. My girlfriend left me and my house has been resold! Sincerely, Crystal Carving” “Dear Intern Carving, First off, interns don’t get coffee breaks, so I’ll be having a talk with your supervisor. Second, this was all outlined in the contract you signed when applying for work here. Third, time and space aren’t linear here, and so far I’ve woke up one morning and grown thirty years older, co-authored a research project with myself, and exited the Isolation Wing directly into a pit of lava. If it’s any consolation, everypony lost four years, and I’ve had to spend the morning reassuring Princess Celestia that nobody’s died and all her research projects are still going. By the way, the current date is 1007-2-13, and ex-King Sombra of the Crystal Empire is on his way to containment. Also, I’m negotiating repayment funds for everypony who’s lost something due to this jump, but if any of you come to me with frivolous repayment demands, I’ll be the one to personally inform Princess Celestia who’s wasting her time. Sincerely, Dr. Shield Array Head Researcher” “Four years…” Nightmare Moon whispered. “I must have gotten here just before the jump… does that make me four years older?” Chrysalis worried. “I don’t think so…?” you guess. “And I got here just after. It’s only been three years for you lot?” Sombra wondered, and the three of you nodded. He grumbled something unintelligibly. “Somepony should’ve said something. What if we get out there and the planet’s not even inhabitable anymore?” Sombra worried. “…I guess we’d have to find a way to time travel, or go to a different planet,” you remarked in return. “…Those are very high-level spells, youngling. I know of a place we can go to get to a different world, but it’s not exactly easy to find. As for time travel, well…” Sombra trailed off. “Let’s not bother worrying about it just yet. We’ll see what the surface is like when we get there,” you decide. You’re about to leave when something catches your eye – it appears to be a small hatch, maybe half your height, hidden behind one of the filing cabinets. You think it’s probably an air duct or something, so you decide to leave it alone. The four of you step out into the cell-lined corridor, the flickering torches a stark and eye-straining contrast to the even lighting of the lab. The stone corridor, to your surprise, terminates in a dead end. “…Wait. How do we go deeper, then?” you wondered. “Not here, obviously. Maybe that secret Key you found unlocks something around here?” Sombra wondered. You pull it out, inspecting its facets and looking around for anything that might accept a shape like them. “…Well, guess we’ll look around,” you decide. But after a while of searching every cell in the corridor, even all the way back to the ones near Sombra’s own former containment unit, the four of you are unable to find anything that might even suggest a path forward. “Figures they wouldn’t make it this easy,” Sombra spits as he turns away from yet another empty cell. “Hold fast, Sombra. It must be possible. Anon, mayhap we hath missed a clue somewhere – human, check thy scrolls?” Nightmare Moon suggests. Shrugging, you take a seat and pull out your backpack, Sombra and Chrysalis sitting beside you as you start pulling papers off the clipboard. “What’s that?” Sombra snarks, looking at your scribbles. “A map. Not a very good map, but it works,” you defend. “Hmph. Well, we’ll find no clues there. Keep going,” Sombra orders. The three of you each take a paper, and begin reading. You get the one describing Crystal Carving’s complaints about the cell numbering system, and you stare at it. You don’t think the Head Researcher would reveal the whereabouts of a hidden area in Tartarus to a lowly Intern… right? Sombra, evidently, disagrees: He’s stopped reading his own paper and is now reading yours, his horn dangerously close to the underside of your chin as he leans over. “That’s the one,” he declares, reading thoughtfully. “How can you tell?” Chrysalis wondered. “The mention of all the upper Guards having a copy of this, as well as a precise cell number. Let’s see… ‘0683’… that should be…” Sombra trailed off, looking around. “Up there,” you remember, pointing. “Nightmare Moon!” Sombra thundered, catching the attention of the faraway lunar demon. “What?” she calls back, galloping towards the three of you. When she sees you, she slows to an irritable stop, frowning in annoyance. “We thought thou in peril! Wherefore, pray tell, art thee so distressed?!” she lectures. “We think we found the way out. Can you go check cell number ‘0683’?” Sombra asks, reading off the paper again. Nightmare Moon sighed. “Anon, then,” she mutters before flying upward. You can see her shift into her vaporous ‘starry’ form as she enters the cell, searching around and muttering some more before returning, a screwdriver clutched in her maw. “A screwdriver? That’s it?” Chrysalis wonders. “No…” you trail off, a flash of memory hitting you as Nightmare Moon abruptly stops herself from delivering what would have presumably been a furious retort. “I think that’s exactly what we need.” Heading back to the Lab, you return to the cabinet, slowly pushing it aside and knocking over a few bins of paper, which spill over the floor. “…An air vent,” Chrysalis dryly observes. “That’s what I thought, too…” you agree, panting with exertion. “But why would there be an air vent all the way down here… behind a cabinet?” Sombra perks up, clearly processing this. “So this is how the upper-level Guards get to the deepest parts of Tartarus? Not very dignified,” he remarks. “And therefore unlikely for anyone ‘dignified’ to spot and use,” Chrysalis rebuts. “Who, among us, would truthfully think to go through an air vent?” There was a moment of silence. “Him, apparently,” Nightmare Moon points out, jerking a hoof at you, and you stifle a chuckle. Sombra, meanwhile, is inspecting the screwdriver. “Curious…” he notes. “What?” you ask, glancing at it. “This handle. It’s got oil of some sort on it,” Sombra reveals. Chrysalis takes one sniff and recoils. “Sweat. Really old sweat,” she explains in disgust. “Sweat, not saliva?” Sombra clarifies, and she nods. “Then the last creature to use this was not a pony, nor an equine. That… is more interesting still,” Sombra ponders. “It also smells of old ponies… Don’t ask me how I know that scent,” Chrysalis mutters. “An elderly prisoner, then? Hm,” Nightmare Moon trails off thoughtfully. Meanwhile, you’ve taken the screwdriver and wiped off the cold, slightly sticky sweat on your shorts, before setting to unscrewing the cover to the air duct. While you do so, you look back at your friends, making a few quick judgments and determining that they could just barely fit inside if they really stretched themselves. Then again, they all did have some kind of alternate form that would allow them easier access… “Looks like we’re ready to head out, then. Does anyone have anything else to do before we enter this thing? I really don’t want to go back through it, and we might not even be able to,” you note. Hearing nothing but denials from the others, you begin crawling through the vent shaft, and you can hear the others transforming into their various forms and following behind. As you crawl through the darkness, the way lit only by Nightmare Moon’s soft blue glow behind you, you briefly see something peek out at you from far down the shaft, what looks to be more than a hundred feet away. It looked like one of those Melted ponies, except its mouth was set in a horrifying rictus of a grin and its eyes… they were open as wide as they could go, pupils staring right at you even as the eyeballs themselves seemed to rotate in their sockets… Shuddering, you pressed on. The duct slowly began to warm, what was at first a welcome change to the cold, damp caves and corridors of Tartarus quickly turning to an uncomfortable, then unbearable heat from the metallic duct. The air in the shaft, though, was still pleasantly cool, and your clothes protected you from the worst of the hot metal surface. “Ghh… this burns…” you hear Chrysalis mutter from somewhere behind you. “I can see a light up ahead,” you spot. “Not much farther now.” The four of you slowly emerge onto a bright red, rocky outcropping. Stalagmites litter the ceiling, some looking as big as houses, but they don’t catch your eyes quite as immediately as the lake of lava directly below you. The bright orange-and-black surface roils, churns and bubbles, seemingly far too nonviscous compared to the slow-flowing magma you recall seeing… somewhere. There is what appears to be the outline of another tunnel in front of you, but it seems the crystal passageway over to it has crumbled into the molten liquid, the white crystalline stairs being all that’s left. “Looks like our way forward… melted,” you remark, panting and sweating slightly – even up here, the heat is broiling. “We canst fly across… nay…?” Nightmare Moon points out, panting as well – none of you seem to be doing too good in this heat. “There’s a bulletin board on the other side, looks like it has some items next to it,” Sombra spots, somehow seeing through the hazy heatwaves that make everything look fuzzy and indistinct. Nightmare Moon lowers herself to the floor, and you look at her strangely. “Doth thee possesseth wings to fly with?” she snarks. “…No,” you admit with a small smile. “Then we shalt carry thee. Now get on,” she orders. The flight across isn’t very eventful, aside from the burning feeling intensifying due to the updrafts from the superheated lava below. Once the four of you land on the opposing side, Sombra immediately trots over to inspect the bulletin board. “Level 03: Experimental – LEVEL 3 CLEARANCE REQUIRED,” he reads aloud, wrinkling his nose. “Experimental?” you repeat blankly. “A place for experimentation on the various runes, mayhap?” Nightmare Moon wonders. “Or experimentation on us,” Sombra rebuts, and a memory stirs for you. “I read a paper near the surface that said something called ‘Tirek’ had been moved down here after some kind of incident. Anyone who wanted more information had to deal with either the Head Researcher or someone called ‘Her Royal Majesty,’” you recalled. “Her Royal Majesty is undoubtedly Celestia,” Chrysalis hisses in distaste, pausing to flick some sweat from her wings by buzzing them. “The Head Researcher is an old mare named Shield Array. If I recall, she was responsible for my capture,” Sombra notes, equally annoyed. Nightmare Moon, however, looked distinctly fearful. “Tirek…” she whispered. “What is ‘Tirek?’” Chrysalis asked, noting her expression, and even Sombra looked over curiously. “A centaur, from a faraway land. Of all prisoners here, he is one to be avoided. His mere proximity can result in magic drain from nearby creatures, which in turn strengthens him. We – Princess Celestia and Princess Luna – successfully contained him in his rampage, shortly after the Crystal War, with stronger magicks than he couldst handle. We art not aware of what ‘incident’ caused him to be moved down here, but we are aware that the transfer also occurred so that we could be placed in Isolation in his stead,” Nightmare Moon explained. “Come to think of it, I did see a massive cage being transported past my cell shortly before I got here. How’d they get that thing through the air vent, anyway?” Sombra wondered. “Maybe it didn’t used to be just a vent?” you theorized. “Enough talking, some of us are boiling alive here. Can we move?” Chrysalis interjected. “Yes,” Sombra begrudgingly agreed, tugging at his cape. As the group quickly heads towards the next path, a somewhat-solidified magma channel between two massive stone monoliths, you pull out that strange statistics page again. Your ‘magic’ has since increased to [10/50], and the ‘SPARED’ count has gone up by one, but apart from that, nothing’s changed. Shrugging to yourself, you close it and focus on not incinerating your feet as you hop from solid platform to solid platform. As the four of you traverse the channel, you notice even the solidified portions of magma are still extremely hot, and you can feel the rubber soles of your shoes melting when you stay in any one place for too long. Nightmare Moon and Sombra are having an especially rough time of it, wincing every time they take a step – you suppose the metal in their shoes isn’t helping much. Strangely, Chrysalis appears to be largely unaffected by the heat of the ground beneath the lot of you – maybe she shapeshifted the bottoms of her hooves into something heat-resistant? “Maybe turn into… your ‘vapor’ forms?” you suggest, pausing to leap over a particularly wide river of magma. Nightmare Moon sighs and nods, turning into her usual starry mist, but Sombra shakes his head. “Too tired… can’t do it. I’ll just have to bear it,” he explained. Without another word, you bend over and scoop him up, straining against his weight but refusing to drop him as you quicken your step a little. “Wha-“ Sombra exclaimed, initially struggling before seeing your logic. “Don’t drop me…” he mutters, eyeing the small streams of magma around you uneasily. “I won’t,” you promise. The path continues on for what feels like an eternity, but is probably just a half hour or so. Eventually, you come out into another atrium cave, and looking back, you can see that the narrow channel through which the four of you were traversing is actually an area between the bases of two of the giant stalagmites that hold up the structures far above your heads. Ahead, a rickety wooden bridge is suspended over another lake of magma. “Wood? Here?!” Sombra remarks exasperatedly. “Didn’t they like building with stone up above?” you agree, looking at it suspiciously. Beyond the bridge, a grayish-blue, decrepit-looking facility awaits, and you can feel a cool breeze from somewhere in that direction. “Who cares? There’s air conditioning over there, let’s go,” Chrysalis retorts, already making her way for the bridge. “Are we sure this bridge is safe, though? You can’t fly over?” You point out. Chrysalis, looking back at her wings and attempting to buzz them like she normally does, gives up with a sigh. “It’s no use – they’re soaked from all the sweat. It’ll be fine,” she scoffs, stepping onto the bridge without hesitation. Sombra, sensing what’s about to happen, hops out of your arms. This gives you just enough time to sprint forward as Chrysalis’ leg goes through a board, the vibrations causing the other end of the bridge to snap off and begin falling. Without even thinking about it, you dive over the edge after her, ignoring Nightmare Moon’s and Sombra’s anguished cries.