Red let Pinkamena hug him a little longer. Then, he gently pushed her off of him. "Pinkamena, we have to get moving. We should take advantage of what time this world lets us have together." "Oh! Do you mean-" "No." Pinkamena groaned. "Fine." Red got up, and began walking to the door on the opposite of the door they had used to get into the room. Red opened the door. He saw rows of bodies of ponies, hung. He closed the door. "What's in there?" "Just bodies." "Well, what was on the other side of the room?" "I don't know, I didn't look that far ahead." "Then go check." "Fine." Red opened the door again, and went inside. Walking along the rows of bodies, Red felt someone breathing down his neck. He turned his head to see, and saw Pinkamena on his back. "Pinkamena, how did- You know what? I'm not even going to ask." Just then, Red walked into a wall.

"You know, you should really look where you're going sometimes." "I know." Looking around the wall, Red saw a lever behind one of the body's. Pulling it, Red heard a panel open. Red looked at the wall, and saw a part of the wall was missing. It looked like Red wouldn't be able to fit, even if he got on his hands and knees. He looked at Pinkamena, and raised a brow. She just shook her head. "Dammit. I wonder where it leads to..." The two walked out of the room, and closed the door. As Red drew closer to the door that came in through, they started hearing static. It was coming from a piece of clothe on a table. Red picked the cloth up, and something fell out. It was a sapphire, in the shape of an alicorn. "Well, I guess this is what keeps us aware of our surroundings." "What do you mean by that?" "The static means that something that wants to kill us is in our general area." As Red explained the static began to die down. "So, when you hear static, get ready for a fight, or run." Then, there was a knocking at the door. Red looked at it, then sighed. Red put the sapphire in one of his jacket pockets, made sure it wouldn't fall out, and walked to the door. Opening it, Red saw someone he didn't think would be in the same place as him and Pinkamena. It was Princess Celestia. "Red, so good to see you."

Celestia was covered in blood. When she walked into the room, the sapphire began giving off static louder than anything Red had heard before. Celestia didn't seem to notice it. "Red, how long has it been since you found the castle in this state?" "Only a few minutes ago, why?" "Good, that means you haven't found anything yet." "What do you mean by that?" "Oh, nothing important." She's not telling me something. Red didn't know how, but he knew she was lying to him. It could have been the way she spoke, the way she walked, the way she looked at him, the way she smiled pleasantly, despite the fact she was covered in blood. Red's heart was hammering. "Celestia, are you feeling okay?" "Oh, not only do I feel okay, I feel better than I have in years." The way she said that made Red's heart beat even faster. "Celestia, have you seen anyone else? Like your sister?" "I can't say I have." Red began to sweat.

"Are you sure? Maybe you just don't remember seeing them." "No, I'm positive that I've been by myself the entire time." Red looked through the still open doorway. There was blood covering almost every corner. Suddenly, Red felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked to see what could possibly be causing the pain. He saw a knife, driven through him. Red looked up, and saw Celestia grinning. "Like I said, I've been by myself this entire time." Red's vision began to go dark. "Shit. Kid, don't you dare pass out!" It was too late, the pain and blood loss had gotten to Red. When Red woke up, he saw that his wound had been bandaged. Looking around, he saw he was in some kind of cage. There was barely any light in the room he was in. Red saw other cages, and the captives shocked Red. In one cage, was Luna. In another, was Twilight.

Red looked at the lock on the door to his cage. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. It made his had hurt just my looking at it. Sighing, Red realized just how bad things were looking for him, and the others. Then, one of the cage doors swung open, and out walked an alicorn Red hadn't seen before. She walked to Twilight's cage and began to pick the lock with what looked like a bobby-pin. Red raised a brow, but didn't say anything. It took half a minute, but the alicorn opened  the cage. Twilight walked out, and Red noticed that Twilight looked paler than he had remembered. Another half minute later, Luna's cage was opened. Luna and Twilight looked at Red's cage. The other alicorn looked at the direction they were looking at, and walked to Red's cage. This time, the alicorn looked at the lock, then to the others, and shook her head, and said, "I should be able to open it, but it may take too long." "Exactly how long?" Luna asked. "Three minutes, at the least." Red spoke up, "Don't any of you worry about me. Get yourselves out of here. If you can, find the key for this thing. Then, and only then, come back or me. Got it?" The three nodded, then walked through a door opposite to his cage. Just as the door in front of him closed, a door behind him opened. Red looked back, and saw Pinkamena. "Pinkamena? How did you get here? Actually, why are you not in one of these cages?" "I managed to get away from Celestia after she stabbed you. Through that panel in the wall that opened up. Took me a while, but I managed to find a way into this place. And I found a key, although I have no idea what kind it is. Found it in a toilet, disgusting." "Wait, see if that key opens this cage." "Okay." Pinkamena walked around the cage, and inserted the key she had found into the lock and turned it. The door opened. "Sometimes I wonder just how lucky I am." "So do I." Pinkamena climbed onto Red's back, and the two walked through the same door the three alicorns had gone through. There was a table, a sink, and two other doors. On the table was the sword that Red had, along with a number of other weapons. Red took his sword, along with half of the throwing knives that were on the table.

Red looked at the two doors. one of the doors was slightly opened, and there was a smell of blood coming from it. Red walked to the other door, and opened it. There, he saw Luna, Twilight, and the other alicorn, trying to figure out a puzzle on one of the walls. "How are we supposed to solve this?" Luna asked Twilight and the other alicorn. The puzzle on the was a giant picture, which was mismatched to the point where it was just a giant cluster-fuck. Red cleared his throat, and asked, "Well, it appears you three are having trouble with this. Would you mind if I gave it a shot?" "Red? How did you- Actually, just help us with this." Luna told him. Red walked toward the puzzle, looked at it closely, then began sliding tiles into the correct position. It only took a minute or two. When the last tile slid into place, a door to the left clicked, then opened. Red walked through, and saw many gears turning, and looked up. "Uh, do any of you know where we are?" Red asked. "No, and that worries me." Luna answered. "It appears we're in a clock tower. Does that mean anything to anyone?" Red asked. Next Chapter: Return Part III Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 18 Minutes