Even with Uno’s worrying and my general helplessness, it wasn’t too long before we were able to find a way out of the kitchen. Part of the wall was loose, and we soon discovered that by opening and closing specific cupboard doors, we were able to make the wall retract and reveal a hallway. I wasn’t sure how that worked, but it was a way out, and I was happy to take it.

The hallway was dark and cramped, but fortunately, it was short. We walked for a minute or two, turned left, and found ourselves facing what looked like a wall. Tapping against it caused it to move, revealing it to be a door, so I pushed it open and crawled out into the brightly-lit…

“...bedroom?” I questioned, looking around.

Sure enough, the room we had entered into was a moderately fancy bedroom. It didn’t seem like the room of whoever ruled this castle; perhaps the quarters for a servant or guests. Nevertheless, it was still greater than a bedroom you would find in an ordinary house; the bed was big enough for four ponies, the floor was covered in a carpet that was softer than clouds, and the entire room was at least twice as big as my own back in Ponyville.

...well, it isn’t just mine…

Trying to keep myself from getting distracted, I turned around and saw that the door we had come out through was actually that of the closet. Strangely, nothing else was in the closet; no clothes, no possessions, nothing. I deduced that the closet must have been cleared out so the secret passage could be built. However, that didn’t answer the question as to why a secret passage was built.

That question was answered when I tried opening the door, only to find that…

“This isn’t a door.”

Uno and Hooves, who had been looking under the bed and in a vanity respectively, turned to me in confusion. “Pardon?” the feminine stallion asked.

I gestured to the not-really-a-door I had tried to open. “This...this isn’t a door. It’s just part of the wall, designed to look like a door.” I demonstrated by pulling on the handle, which turned normally, but didn’t cause the not-really-a-door to budge at all.

“...or it could just be locked,” Hooves deadpanned.

I shook my head. “There’s no crack in between the ‘door’ and the floor, nor is there any noticeable space between the side of the ‘door’ and the wall. It was just made to fool us.”

“Why, though?” Uno asked, scratching his head. “If there’s no way out, why go to the trouble of putting in a fake door? Why not just...I dunno...make it be all obviously a wall?”

“He’s going for realism,” Hooves murmured, just loud enough for us to hear. “This castle...Zero must have found it and cleaned it up, or perhaps built it from scratch - though that’s an unlikely option. Either way, he’s rebuilt parts of it to confuse us, while seeming real.” He gestured to the closet. “That’s why everything is secret and fits in with the room, like the secret path. We came out of the closet because, from the outside, the inside of the closet is the only part of the room that can not be seen.”

I tilted my head. “Why go to the trouble of realism, though? We were going to find out the door was fake after a few seconds anyway.”

“...that, I do not know.” The caped stallion sighed. “Maybe he’s just a stickler for that sort of thing, or maybe he somehow didn’t expect us to try the door. I can only explain what he’s going for, not why he’s going for it.”

Uno cleared his throat. “You know, while you two were debating over why the door is fake, I was thinking to myself the more important question.” He looked between us, making sure he had our undivided attention. “If the door is fake, how do we get out?”

“The closet,” I answered.

“No, that just leads back to the kitchen, and the door back there was locked because Zero wanted us to go through the secret passage.” Uno shook his head. “There’s something in this room that’s important. The only question is what...and where.”

I smirked. “That’s two questions.”

“Potayto potahto.”

[Third-person perspective]

Back in Ponyville, the rest of the Winter Solstice were going crazy. One of their members had vanished, and the only thing they knew was that her bedroom was full of smoke when they opened the door. That, and the window was open.

They had no clue what to do or what to look for. Nopony in town knew where she had gone, nor did they know of any frequent cases of rooms being filled with smoke. They didn’t know if this was article-related or not, but either way, they were completely at a loss.

They were heading back home, defeated, when they slowly began to notice a fourth pony walking alongside them. From the looks of things, he was a silver earth pony with a pure white mane and tail, both of which were extremely short even for a stallion. His cutie mark, along with most of his body, was covered by a long black cloak. They eventually stopped to look at him, and he stopped along with them, looking back with captivating blue eyes.

“...um...who are you?” Risk asked, trying to be polite but coming off as annoyed, which was understandable given the situation.

“...call me R.” The stallion spoke with a quiet and deep voice that didn’t sound natural. “If you want to know where your friend is, help me first.”

False glared and stormed up to him. “You tell us where she is right now or I’ll break your damn neck, got that?!”

R, as he had introduced himself, was completely unshaken. “That would be unwise, for breaking my neck would render me incapable of giving you information, and you only have a few more hours to find her.”

Risk’s eyes widened. “A few more…? Where is she?!”

“She is...playing a game.” He closed his eyes. “A game that all pegasi should be afraid of.”

“What are you going on about?”

R opened his eyes again. They seemed...fearful. “Please...help me. If you do, I can take you to where the game is taking place, and you can save her. But...I need help.”

False and Risk exchanged a look. As they did so, Nimble stepped forward. “What is it...you need help with?”

R looked at the young colt, expression still neutral. “The one who is running the game your friend is caught in...they have recently learned about where I live. My family is there, and I cannot get to them anymore because of what the game has done to me. I need you to get them away from that house as soon as possible.”

False blinked. “You can’t get to them anymore? What the game has...what do you mean?”

The stallion closed his eyes and sighed. He turned his head, took the cloak in his mouth, and pulled it off.

The three other ponies gasped. On his sides, where wings would be on a pegasus, were little more than scarred stubs.

“The game has taken away my wings. Just as it is supposed to do to any pegasus pony who gets caught up in it and does not die outright.” He looked back to them. “I was supposed to die, but I escaped like this...and now the one running the game wants my family dead in revenge. They live in Cloudsdale, and I can’t fly there anymore, nor can I afford a balloon trip there.” He took a step towards them.

“Please...warn them...and I can help you make sure your friend does not suffer the fate I did, nor the fate I was supposed to.”