Chapter 15 - Trials
“Going on with life, it only gets more and more intense as time goes by - and the challenges only multiply.”

“... game… game…” Muddy’s last word echoed against the metal walls of the entry room.

“Muddy, just give it up!” I yelled looking for the camera that he was undoubtedly watching us through. “This isn’t a game, Muddy! Make it easy on everypony and just give it up.”

Muddy simply laughed in response. “Oh, but Dust, it is a game. The best kind,” he said with a chuckle. “This game has the highest stakes… life or death.”

Nervously, I glanced around at all of my friends. “C’mon, Muddy. Nopony has to die here,” I said calmly, hoping to defuse the situation.

“You really expect me to believe that?” he scoffed. “Dust, you bring me back to Big Boss, I’m a dead pony. Even if you bring me home, I’m a dead pony. At least this way I go out my way. Anyway, here are the rules. I am sitting here at the lowest level of the laboratory wing. You are going to make your way down here. Along the way, you will be faced with several challenges. If you can make it all the way down here, then I will come with you willingly.”

“If that’s all it takes,” I started to say.

“But!” he interrupted me. “You fail a challenge, it will cost you… a life!” He began to laugh maniacally, causing the speakers in the entry area to buzz trying to duplicate the sound. “I do have to say, the pony who gave me this stable did a great job!” The emphasis he put on the word “gave” sent chills down my spine. “Oh, and Dust, I wouldn’t try to leave. Once you entered the stable, there was only one way out and that is forward.”

The sound of keystrokes clattered over the PA system. One of the sentry guns spun towards me and fired. I felt the impact on my side and I dropped to the floor, having trouble breathing.

“Dust! Are you OK?” Silver shrieked as she ran to my side. She began to run her hooves across my body. The sound of Muddy laughing echoed through the entry room.

I let out several hacking coughs. “Yeah, yeah, I’m OK. The armor caught it all,” I said as I looked the armor panel and saw the mushroomed round implanted. “I get the point, Muddy!”

“Good,” he said with a menacing tone. “You will find there are no other paths through the stable. And, Dust, remember, I know about your affinity for tech. You try to pick a lock, you forfeit the game. Do I need to tell you what the penalty for forfeiture is?”

“I can guess,” I sneered. “Don’t worry, Muddy, we’re coming for you.”

“I can’t wait, Dust!” he laughed a few more times and then we heard the PA click off.

As silence reclaimed the entry hall, I surveyed my friends. Silver was still by my side. I hadn’t even noticed that she was still nuzzling my neck after checking me when I got shot. I knew she wouldn’t leave my side. Brownie and Flower were side by side. They were sharing a concerned look between them. Flower leaned in and nuzzled Brownie’s neck and Brownie wrapped one hoof around her. One, who usually didn’t understand much of what was going on, even looked anxious.

These ponies, who faithfully followed me all over the Celestia-forsaken Wasteland, were now placed at more risk than I ever imagined. I could only imagine what ‘games’ Muddy had planned for us as we progressed through the stable. And somepony was probably going to die. What had I gotten us into?

I gently pushed Silver off of me. She looked mildly hurt. “Silver, sorry, but I need to say something to everypony,” I said while getting onto my hooves. Damn, my side burned with every movement. I would remember to make Muddy pay for that. “Everypony, I’m not going to try and bullshit you and tell you everything is going to be alright. It isn’t. This situation is more fucked up than I could have predicted. And for that, I am truly sorry.” The shame of the situation made me hang my head. “I will do everything I can to get us all out of here, and if a sacrifice needs to be made, I will make it. I won’t ask you.”

The next thing I knew, I felt a hoof around my shoulder. I looked up and opened my eyes and saw Brownie right next to me. “Dust, how many times do we hafta tell ya. We knew this was gonna be dangerous. And it’s not like this has been a walk in the park.” The sincere look in his eyes bored into my doubts and insecurity. “Ah think ah speak fer everypony here when ah say that we’re with you one hundred percent.”

Everypony walked over and put their hooves out and stacked them together. I looked at each and every one of them and they all had a small smile on their faces and were nodding at me. “Well, I guess it can’t really get any worse than it is now, huh?” I said as I put my hoof on top. Everypony chuckled a little.

The PA system shrieked to life once more. “Oh, I think you’ll see that it definitely can get worse… it can get much, much worse,” Muddy said, this time without a laugh. All of the smiles on our faces disappeared immediately. When will I ever learn?

After taking a moment to process Muddy’s comment, we began our trek through whatever the stable had in store for us. The three exits from the entry area that led deeper into the stable stood before us. We didn’t even bother trying the doors for the living quarters and utility wings as the control boxes were not illuminated at all, indicating somepony had cut power to them. Only the door for the laboratory wing had power. I hoofed the control panel and the door slid open effortlessly.

Beyond the door was a typical stable hallway. Gleaming steel walls, rubberized floor panels, and bright fluorescent lights greeted us. The temperature was comfortable and the air smelled fresh.

“Somepony has been doing some maintenance in here,” I said to nopony in particular.

“Eeyup,’ Brownie said with a nod. “I thought the same thing. Everything is too clean, and everything looks like it still works.”

Walking past the various doors that would lead to the different labs, the door control panels were dark for all of them. Finally, we came to a wall and a door with a green-lit panel.

I took a deep breath. “Everypony ready?” I said with trepidation.

After everypony responded with a nod, I carefully reached out and hoofed the panel. The door slid open smoothly with a quiet whir. We all carefully walked inside. The door slid shut behind us and I watched as the light on the panel turned from green to red. “I guess there’s no turning back now,” I muttered.

The room we had walked into was a large, open room. There were no tables or lab equipment in the room. The only objects of note were tall metallic towers. They were evenly spaced throughout the room in an almost grid-like regularity. The only other object of note was the door that sat nestled in the wall directly opposite of the one we entered through.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” I sighed as I began to walk towards the doorway on the far side. I slowed down as I approached the first pair of towers and nervously glanced between them. A quick glance back to my friends showed looks of concern, especially from Silver. Gulping loudly, I took me next step. As I walked between the two nearest towers, a high pitched whine quickly built. A bright flash blinded me as I felt two stabbing pains in my side which quickly turned into a burning sensation.

“Fucking shit!” I yelled as I jumped backwards towards my friends and then collapsed to the floor. My vision returned as and I saw crackling electricity spiking between the two towers and then diminish. The smell of ozone was incredibly thick. The high pitch whine, however, remained.

Silver ran to my side. “Dust! Are you OK?” she shrieked as she clutched me in her hooves.

“Yeah, I’m OK,” I groaned between grunts of pain. “That fucking hurt! The hell happened?!?”

“The two towers ya walked between zapped ya,” Brownie said, pointing towards where I had been standing moments ago. “It happened so fast.”

The PA system whined to life again with Muddy’s laughter. “Have yourself a shocking discovery, Dust?” Muddy said between bouts of laughter. “Hope that didn’t hurt too much!”

“Fuck you, Muddy,” I grumbled. “Is this your idea of a game?”

“Of course!” he said with elation in his voice. “It’s a maze. So, of course it’s a game! And be warned, that was a level one shock. Every time you make a wrong turn, the level goes up. From what I learned from the pony who gave me this stable, level 5 is fatal. Good luck!” The PA system clicked off.

“Dammit!” I muttered. “If that was a level one shock, I don’t want to see level two.” I took several deep breaths to help relieve the pain in my side. “Anypony have any ideas?”

“Dust, did you hear or see anything before you got shocked?” Flower asked surveying the towers in the room.

“Just a high pitched whine, ” I grunted between deep breaths. “But now that whine is non-stop.” I slowly got up on my hooves, grimacing with each movement. “Let’s see what happens this time.”

“Dust, no! You can’t!” Silver blurted out as I made my way back between two towers. “Your shock is level two!”

“I know, Silver,” I said with a nod. “But I am not putting you ponies at risk here.”

Brownie moved towards me to block my path, but I was closer. I moved between two different towers than the two I had crossed before. As I drew closer, I heard the whine pick up in pitch. I was about to reach the space directly between them when I felt two hooves grab my armor and tug sharply backwards. A split second after I was pulled clear, electricity arced between the two towers.

“Now why would ya do a darn fool thing like that, Dust?” Brownie scolded me.

“It’s the whine, that’s the signal,” I exclaimed, pushing his hooves off me. “Watch!”

I walked back towards the two towers. I slowed my pace as I got close. My muscles were tensing, getting ready for the whine to start and for me to jump. I was surprised when the pitch of the whine didn’t change and I was able to walk through the towers without incident.

“Alright, Mister Dust! You made it through!” Dust cried out as he trotted towards me.

“One, be careful, we don’t…” I started to say before I was cut off by the crackle of electricity. One got struck by electric bolts from both towers. He jumped back and crumpled to the floor sobbing.

“But, why, Mister Dust,” One said between gasps. “You walked through no problem.”

The PA system whined to life again. “Oh, did I forget to mention that the maze changes every move you make? Oops,” Muddy said with mock concern. The PA system crackled off once again, leaving only the whine and One’s sobs.

I walked back towards One and as I drew near the towers I heard the whine intensify. I backed off and the whine died down to its normal level again. “Shit! I’m stuck over here. But at least we know I was right about the whine signaling a discharge. At least we know how to get out of here. Everypony, be careful.”

Slowly, we made our way through the room, one move at a time. There were several close calls and we were beginning to become spread out across the room. Flower and One were even forced to move away from the exit door, but I hoped eventually their path would lead back towards us.

After I made it halfway across the room, the whine cut out completely and the room was pitched into silence except for our breathing.

“Aw, crap, that can’t be good,” Flower said with a sliver of aggravation. She moved towards the next pair of towers and the whine did not return. As she was about to cross directly between them, I heard the whine ramp up very rapidly.

“Flower, watch…” was all I got out before the snap of electricity.

Flower crumpled to the floor, writhing in pain. “Fucking A!” she cried out as she pushed herself backwards.

“Flower!” Brownie cried out as he started to gallop towards her.

“Brownie! No!” I yelled.

Another snap of electricity and Brownie was dropped to the floor. He crawled back away from the towers and groaned on the floor. “Celestia be damned!” he cried out between groans.

“Brownie! Flower! You ponies OK?” I asked, making sure to stay still.

“Yeah, Dust,” Flower groaned. “Feels like ah got kicked in the stomach, but otherwise, I’m good.”

“Same here,” Brownie said, still floored. “These towers kick like a brahmin.”

“Alright, everypony. Be careful, move slowly, and be prepared to jump,” I said.

The trip through the room was arduous. One, Flower and Brownie each got shocked twice. Even Silver made a misstep and got shocked once. It took all of my willpower not to run to her aid. I didn’t escape further harm either. I got shocked a total of four times. Level four knocked me down for a good fifteen minutes or so just to recover.

“Dust, please be careful,” Silver said, tears in her eyes. “Your next shock is level five.” She left the rest unsaid.

Flower, Brownie and Silver all had reached the exit door. I was just one move away from them. However, One was stuck in the opposite side of the room in a corner.

“Alright, just one move left,” I muttered to myself. I approached the towers between me and my friends. I moved as slowly as possible, hoping I had enough time to react before I got shocked to death. Fortunately, there was no whine and I was able to walk through unscathed.

“Alright, One,” just take it easy and one step at a time,” I said, trying to reassure him.

“Okay, Mister Dust,” he said with a nod. He approached one pair of towers and the whine intensified until he backed off. He turned and approached the other pair and the whine rose again. “Umm, Mister Dust, what do I do…” he started to say.

Suddenly the floor panel under One gave way and he disappeared from sight. His scream mixed with the thumping of a large object banging against sheet metal. After a short time, the screams and banging died down, and the floor panel reset itself.

“Player neutralized. Remaining players await instructions,” a mechanical, female voice droned.

There was the fucking PA system again. “And round one is over, and it looks like you lost, Dust!” he said threateningly. “Are you going to forfeit or move on to round two?” After some more laughing, the PA system turned off and the door in front of us slid open.

“Muddy! You bastard!” I screamed. “You better not hurt him!”

“Or else what, Dust?” Muddy said dripping with contempt. “What can you possibly do about it? And you knew this was the price.”

I stomped hard, feeling the force all the way up my leg. A growl escaped from between clenched teeth.

“C’mon, Dust. Round two is waiting,” Muddy added, giggling.

“C’mon, ponies,” I said, nearly growling, to the group. “We can only hope that Muddy doesn’t hurt One. We’ll find him, or I’ll die trying.”

“Be careful, Dust,” Brownie said, placing a hoof around my shoulder. “Don’t let yer emotions get the best of ya. That’s probably what Muddy wants.”

Silver walked up to me next. “Dust,” she said as she wrapped her hooves around me in a hug. I immediately felt some of the tension melt away. “This wasn’t your fault, and I’m sure you’ll do everything you can to help One.” I numbly nodded.

The doorway that had just opened led to a brightly lit hallway. We slowly made our way down, checking each door we came to. The activation panels for all the doors were unlit. We stopped at one of the doors so I could see if I could bypass it, but it appeared somepony had ripped out all of the components. The panels were just there for aesthetics.

After a short walk, we finally found a door with a lit panel. I took a deep breath and looked at each of my remaining friends. Each of them nodded in response. I pressed the panel and the door slid open. The room beyond was pitch black, only illuminated by the light spilling in from the hallway.

I entered the room first, followed by the rest of the group. As soon as we crossed the threshold, the door slid shut behind us and we were plunged into pitch black darkness. I reached for the light switch on my Pipbuck and the bright green light illuminated the small area just around me.

The PA system shrieked the life. I was getting sick and tired of that sound.

“Dust and company, welcome to round 2! In a moment, the lights in the room will turn on. You will have 15 seconds to figure out the way to the exit. Then the lights will turn off and will not turn back on again,” Muddy said sounding like one of the DJ’s on the radio throughout the Wasteland.

As promised, the lights turned on as soon as Muddy stopped speaking. The room was completely bare. The only feature, besides the door on the other side, was a red, painted path between us and the door. It snaked around the room, doubling back on itself a few times. As promised, fifteen seconds later, the lights turned back off. The sound of metal sliding against metal filled the room and when it stopped, the silence was broken by a soft beeping sound.

“Ah shit… sentry guns. Well, at least this shouldn’t be too hard,” I said, walking towards the beginning of the paint path. I waved my Pipbuck over the ground until I found the path. “See, this will be a piece of cake,” I said as I took my first step on the paint. I heard a soft whir followed by a gunshot. A sharp impact on my chest knocked the wind out of me and dropped me to the ground. “Fucking A!”

Muddy’s laughter filled the room. “Oh, did I forget to mention one of the rules? No light sources!” Muddy laughed maniacally. “Oh… and that was a rubber bullet. I forget how many of those things I put in before I had to load real ammunition. And the real stuff, is armor piercing! Good luck!” The PA system actually clicked off this time, plunging us into silence, while I was still trying to catch my breath from the rubber projectile.

“Dust, are you OK?” Silver asked.

“Yeah,” I coughed out “It hurts like a mother fucker, but I’m OK.” I remained on the floor, trying to force deep breaths into my lungs. “While I’m catching my breath, anypony have any bright ideas?”

I heard a soft “whump” sound which was followed quickly by a flash of red. Another gunshot fired and I heard Brownie grunt. The sound of a body hitting the floor quickly followed. A red flame slowly grew in intensity in one of the corners.

“Son of a bitch!” Brownie grunted between short, ragged breaths. “Ah fergot how much nonlethal ammo can hurt! Ah’ll be OK.”

“Brownie, what the hell were you…” I started.

“Ah figured the flare can give us light,” he said, still gasping. “Ah just didn’t figure on the gun tracking me.”

“Well, next time warn me,” I said. “This way, I can figure if it is something I would do and, therefore, a bad idea.” I couldn’t help but to giggle a little bit. “Ah geez, it hurts to laugh.” Everypony else laughed a little, even Brownie. Except his laugh, was followed by a groan.

After several deep breaths, I flicked the light of my Pipbuck off and slowly got back to my hooves. I surveyed the room, now lit by the ignited flare in the corner of the room. It wasn’t ideal as it only lit half the room, and not the entire path, but it was better than nothing. Brownie slowly made his way back to his hooves as well.

“Alright, everypony stay close to me and follow my exact path,” I said to my friends as I gazed at the start of the red paint. It was barely visible in the red light of the flare, and it got worse the further from the flare it went.

The first dozen yards or so, the path was easy enough to follow. But we were moving away from the flare, so the red light was fading just due to distance, in addition to the flare burning itself out. The flare sputtered, which drew my attention towards it. Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and another impact on my chest which sent me down to the floor gasping for air again.

“For Celestia’s sake!” I forced out between gasps for air.

“Dust, are you…” Silver asked from somewhere behind me.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be OK. It just stings like hell,” I moaned.

I heard another gunshot. This time, a female gasp was followed by a loud thud.

“Flower? Silver?” I wheezed. “Are you two OK?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Flower called out from somewhere behind me.

The only other sound to come from behind me was somepony gasping. “Holy Tartarus, that hurts!” Silver gasped from behind me.

“Silver!” I cried out. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah,” she forced out between coughs. “It just hurts. I’ll be OK.”

The red light from the flare began to fade. “Ah shit, ponies. We gotta move, we’re almost out of light,” I ordered the group.

“Nah, Dust. Ah got one more flare,” Brownie called out. “Ah can take another rubber bullet.”

“But what if the next one is a live round,” Flower asked, her voice tinged with anxiety.

“Well, then we have health potions, don’t we?” he responded, with a nervous laugh.

From somewhere behind me, I heard Brownie flip open the flare gun and slide the flare round inside. He closed the breach with a sharp click. I heard another “whump” and watched as another flare flew across the room. However, there wasn’t a gunshot. This time, there was a light “fwip” sound.

Brownie grunted in pain. “Ah, shit. That wasn’t…” Brownie said, his voice trailing off at the end.

“Brownie? Brownie! Brownie, answer me!” Flower screamed, fidgeting her hooves.

“Player neutralized. Remaining players will remain still or risk forfeiture,” the female voice droned again. The lights in the room turned back on. On the floor was Brownie. He was lying motionless on the floor, but I could not see any visible wounds. Then I saw it. His sides were slowly rising and falling with breaths. That’s when I saw the metallic cylinder with the small pink fletching of a tranquilizer dart jutting out of his neck.

“He’s alive, just knocked out,” I said, watching Flower’s body relax. “Muddy! Please let us help him!”

Suddenly, from the side of the room, a large panel began to slide away. A pony-shaped robot began to lumber its way out of the hallway that was behind that panel. It was a Ponitron, painted Stable-Tec blue and yellow.

“Players will stay clear. Interference with the robot or leaving the path will result in the loss of this player and forfeiture of another player,” the mechanical female voice informed us.

The Ponitron slowly made its way towards Brownie. Once it was close enough, it used its front hooves to pick up Brownie and placed him on his back.

“Do not touch him!” Flower screamed. The Ponitron did not heed her words and simply turned around and lumbered out of the room with Brownie. The panel slid back into place and the room became silent once more.

The PA system shrieked to life. “Now you’re oh-and-two, Dust,” Brownie mocked. “Do you just give up now or will you continue on?” The PA system clicked off once more. The door at the end of the painted path slid open to a lit corridor beyond.

“Dust, yer not thinkin’ of givin’ up, are ya?” Flower asked, her eyes wild. “If you are, I’m goin’ on without ya.”

“Flower, I am not leaving anypony behind,” I said with a nod. “Don’t forget, One is missing, too.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said dropping her head.

“C’mon, let’s go,” I said, nodding towards the open door.

With the game over, we were able to walk straight to the door and not get shot at. Flower repeatedly glanced towards the wall panel that Brownie disappeared behind. I couldn’t blame her… what if it was Silver that was taken by the Ponitron?

Again, the corridor was lined with doors that didn’t work. We eventually had to climb down two stairwells and two more corridors before we got to a door that had a green light on it.

I took a deep breath. “I am so tired of this shit already, but is everypony ready?” I asked. Everypony nodded in agreement.

After hoofing the panel, the door slid open softly and another long corridor lay beyond. It was wider than a normal hallway and was probably a couple hundred feet long. As expected, once we crossed the threshold, the door behind us slid shut.

Once the door closed, I took a closer look at the room we were in. There were no guns or robots in sight. The floor was covered with square panels and there was a yellow line painted a couple of feet just inside the room. The walls and ceiling seemed seamless, except for the lights in the ceiling. The only other features of any interest were the doors, one on the far side of the room and the one we entered.

“What in the name of Celestia do we do in here?” Flower muttered.

As if on cue, the entire corridor was bathed in green light and a ticking sound started.

“What the?” I mumbled out loud.

After a short period of time, a buzzer sounded and the lights in the hallway shifted to red. The buzzer stopped and the lights remained red.

“Does anypony have any idea what is going on?” I asked out loud.

“Nope,” Flower said, shaking her head.

“Me neither,” Silver replied.

The lights in the room turned green again with the same ticking as before.

“Well, ah can’t see any problems here, and ah need ta go find Brownie,” Flower announced as she started walking across the room. As she crossed the painted line, the buzzer sounded and the lights turned red. The panel underneath her gave way and she started to fall. “Holy shit!”

Turning in midair, she grabbed the edge of the solid floor on our side of the line. I dove and slid across the floor and grabbed her hoof with one of mine. “Flower, don’t let go!” I screamed.

“Wasn’t exactly on my list of things ta do, Dust,” she said sarcastically. “Can ya please just pull me up now?”

Gripping her hoof with both of mine, I began to pull as hard as I could. Looking over the edge, I saw that the floor panels opened up over a three story drop. I redoubled my efforts to pull Flower out of the hole. I felt Silver grab onto the collar of my armor and pulled with all of her strength.

Flower began to rise slowly out of the pit. My legs began to tremble with effort and my hooves were beginning to slip in her grasp. “Hold… on… for… just… a… little… longer…” I grunted out between exertions.

We began to make some real progress getting Flower to rise up above floor level. Soon, she was able to get one hoof on stable ground and she used that to push off and flop down on the solid floor behind the yellow line. Flower, Silver, and I flopped over onto our sides and lay there just breathing in deep, heaving breaths.

After a couple of minutes, my breathing began to slow. “Hey, Flower, next time you’re going to do something Dust-level stupid, please let me know ahead of time. I want to be prepared,” I said facetiously. Silver and Flower giggled back.

After several more moments, we all caught our breath and got back onto our hooves. I walked up to the yellow line and just stared at the panel in front of me. “Now, what are the rules, I wonder,” I said, thinking out loud. “Can one of you please grab onto my armor, I’m testing a theory.”

“Ya sure about this, Dust?” Flower asked as she moved behind me.

“As sure as I can be,” I answered. “Just hold on to my armor tight, just in case.”

The lights in the room were still green when I placed my two front hooves on one of the remaining panels adjacent to the yellow line. I let my weight settle normally and the panel seemed to hold. Suddenly, the buzzer went off and the lights shifted to red. The panel beneath me didn’t shift at all.

“Huh, this is weird,” I said as I turned my head. At that moment, the panel beneath my hooves gave way, and Flower tugged and pulled me back onto solid ground. “It appears we are playing Red Light-Green Light. We can’t move at all once the light turns red.”

“Isn’t that a foal’s game?” Flower asked, gritting her teeth.

“Yeah, but this game has higher stakes,” I said somberly. “Let’s just be careful. And let’s make sure there aren’t more than one of us on a panel at a time.”

The first time the lights switched to green, I moved onto the first panel beyond the yellow line. I kept moving, and when I cleared the first panel, I heard somepony follow behind me. Suddenly, the buzzer sounded and the lights turned red. I froze and tried to remain as motionless as possible.

After several long moments, the lights turned green and the ticking resumed. I glanced over my shoulder and saw my friends behind me, walking forward. After crossing a couple more panels, the buzzer sounded and the lights turned red once more.

Unfortunately, I was caught with one hoof in the air, midstep. I froze as best I could, holding my hoof aloft. After a few seconds, I felt the muscles in my leg start to burn from exertion. After what felt like minutes, the lights turned green and the ticking resumed.

“I can’t wait for this to end,” I muttered while walking forward.

“Me neither,” both Flower and Silver said at the same time.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, the lights flashed to red with the buzzer after only a few seconds. I breathed a light sigh of relief since all four of my hooves were flat on the floor. The time began to drag on, but I was having no problem staying still so far.

“Dust, ah have a slight problem here,” the muffled voice of Flower said from behind me. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold this position without moving.”

“Do your best,” I said, trying my best to not move my lips.

“I’m sorry, Dust,” Flower mumbled.

I heard a loud click from behind me, followed the squeaking of a rusty, metal hinge. The next sound I heard chilled my blood. Flower screamed and it sounded like as time passed, she got further away. I didn’t dare risk turning my head to see what happened. Finally, I heard a mechanical whirring sound and metal grinding against metal.

“Flower!” I screamed through clenched teeth. “Silver, did you see what happened?” I said, still not moving my lips as much as possible.

“No, she was behind me,” she said, clearly concerned.

“Player neutralized. Remaining players will continue playing,” the mechanical, female voice called out. The lights turned green and the ticking started again.

Every other thought fled from my mind. I’ve just lost my third friend in this “game” of Muddy’s. I didn’t know whether they were alive or dead. If they were alive, I had no idea what Muddy had in store for them

Finally, my frustration won out. “C’mon, Muddy! You got your pound of flesh! End this round!” I called out. The PA system remained silent.

I moved forward again and saw a green line as I got closer to the door. I figured that was our goal. I was about two panels away when the lights turned red again. My hooves stopped dead in their tracks, but my momentum was still trying to carry my body forward. My body tried to move forward and I tensed all my muscles trying to stop.

As I felt myself passing the point of no return and about to fall forward, the room turned green again. I fell forward and crawled my way past the green line painted onto the floor. I lay there listening to the ticking clock. The firm ground underneath me was comforting and I just wanted all of this to end. Silver’s voice broke me out of my reverie.

“Dust, I am so stupid,” she said facehoofing herself. “I was so worried about staying with the group, I forgot I could just fly over the floor.

“Be careful,” I called out as she kicked off the floor. As she cleared the floor, I heard a small “thwip” sound.

“Ouch,” Silver yelled. “What the hell…” Her eyelids started to droop and she began to sink back down to the panels on the floor. She semi-crash landed on the panel right in front of me and promptly fell asleep.

“Unauthorized flight detected. Target pacified. Room placed on lockdown,” the female mechanical voice called out. The room immediately plunged into red with a siren sounding every few seconds.

Shit. This wasn’t good. When Silver came to, she would most likely move and I could only assume that would trigger the panel she was laying on. I couldn’t cross back over the green line without triggering the panel I stepped on.

My mind was racing over the possibilities of getting us out of this predicament. Several scenarios played out in my mind, and every one of them ended up with either Silver or I taking a long plunge.

“Urgh,” Silver moaned.

“Silver! Don’t… move!” I shouted at her.

“Dust, what’s going on?” she asked, beginning to fidget.

“Silver! Freeze!” I pleaded.

“Huh?” she asked as her eyelids fluttered open.

“Silver, please stop moving or else you’ll get hurt,” I said with some urgency.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” she said while stopping her fidgeting. “Got any ideas?”

“No good ones,” I replied somberly. I reached into my saddlebags and took out a coil of rope. “Here’s the gist of my plan. I throw you the rope, you grab onto it, unavoidably tripping the floor panel. I pull you to safety afterwards.”

“You’re right, that plan sucks,” she said with a giggle. “Unfortunately, I can’t come up with anything better.

“Alright, I’m throwing it on three,” I said, beginning to swing the rope. “One… two… three!” On three, I heaved the rope towards Silver. It landed right next to her hooves. As she reached to grab it, a loud buzz filled the room and all the panels slammed open at once.

“Oh Celestia!” Silver screamed as she fell through the open hole. I felt the rope pull taut, threatening to pull me over the edge. “Dust! Pull me up!”

“Silver, hold on tight!” I mumbled through the rope in my mouth.

Straining with all my strength, I began to backpedal, slowly gaining ground. I watched as the rope dragged along the edge of the frame where the floor panel used to be secured. Small specks of hemp were flying off the rope as it moved across the metal.

“Silver, when you get high enough, you’re going to need to plant your hooves and jump,” I said, my commands still being muffled by the rope in my mouth. My teeth were starting to hurt from struggling against the weight.

As I kept backing up, my flank bumped against the wall. “Shit, Silver, I’m out of room,” I grumbled. “I’m going to try to pull, but you may need to jump sooner than I thought.”

I picked up my right hoof and wrapped it around the rope and pulled as much as I could. I watched as Silver’s head and then her torso rose above the level of the floor. I closed my eyes and strained as much as I could, trying to pull the rope as much as I could.

Suddenly the rope went slack and I fell backwards against the wall. “Silver! No…” I began to say when I got thrown onto my back by a large object. “What the?”

When reopened my eyes, Silver was laying on top of me, breathing heavily. I wrapped my hooves around her tight. “Oh, Silver! I thought I lost you!”

“So did I, Dust,” she said as she wrapped me in her hooves also.

“Players in safe zone. Opening access to chamber four,” the female mechanical voice called out. The lights in the room returned to normal white light and the door in front of us slid open.

After lying in each other’s legs for several minutes, I cleared my throat. “I wish we didn’t have to, but ready to go?” I said while gesturing towards the door.

“Not really, but don’t really have a choice,” she said, resigned to the fact that we had to move on.

This time it was a small walk down the a corridor until we came to a lit door panel. I paused in front of the door and then hoofed the panel. The door slid open like the others, but it revealed a small room on the other side. I looked at Silver, shrugged, and walked into the room.

The room was barely bigger than one of the Special Operations dorm rooms back at the fort. There were no other exits that I could see, and the only interesting feature was the large mirror on the far wall.

As we approached the mirror, the door behind us slid shut with a loud slam. The PA system shrieked to life, and in such a small space it was deafening.

“Well, well, well, look who fell into the spider’s web,” Muddy said with acid in his tone. “My two little cheaters!”

“Cheaters?” I blurted out. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“In the last room, with the rope,” he said angrily. “You were not supposed to do that! And Silver trying to fly! That broke the rules of the game!” He let out a low growl. “And for breaking the rules, there are penalties!”

“Muddy, fuck you!” I yelled. “This is not a game, my friends are missing or dead! And here you are talking about penalties!”

I heard a hissing sound coming from one of the nearby vents. Soon after, a green gas began to pour forth, filling the room.

“Silver! Hold your breath!” I screamed as I took the deepest breath I could and held it.

“Now, Dust, you will find that is quite futile,” he said condescendingly. “There is no way out and you won’t be able to hold your breath that long!”

I ran back towards the door and saw there was no panel on this side. Damn it! I ran back to the mirror and started bucking at it with my hooves. I was greeting by a hollow “thunk” each time and the mirror did not budge.

Soon, my lungs were screaming for air. I watched as Silver took a breath and slowly dropped to the floor. I dropped down next to her and finally gave in as I gasped and filled my lungs with the gas. At first, my throat and lungs burned, but that was slowly replaced with a soothing numbness. I lay down on the ground and grabbed Silver’s hoof with mine.

“Sorry I failed us, Silver,” I said, fighting the effects of the gas. “I love you.”

“I… love… you…” Silver started to say as I passed out.

When I opened my eyes, I was floating in midair. I had no control over my body except for eyes. Scanning around me, I saw a dense, green cloud beneath me. Through the green haze, I could barely make out two bodies; a pink pegasus mare and a grey earth pony stallion.

“Wait a minute, that looks like Silver!” I blurted out in shock. “What the hell?”

A shrouded figure emerged from the other side of the cloud, floating at the same height as me. “Hello, Dust. Or should I call you, Updraft?” the voice said.

“H...how the hell do you know my name?” I asked, surprised. “And who the hell are you?”

“Well, let’s just say that I’m awesome and leave it at that,” the voice said with a chuckle. “This way it answers both questions at once!”

I turned my attention to the motionless bodies on the floor. “Are… are we dead?” I asked, not really wanting an answer.

“Nah, it’s not time for that yet,” my companion said. “You still have a lot of work to do. But it will come at a great price.”

“Somepony will die?” I asked, staring at the body of Silver.

“No, not thinking big enough,” the shrouded figure said shaking their head. “The price will be much larger.”

“All of my friends will die?” I asked, hopeful the answer was no.

“Bigger,” the figure said.

“I can’t handle that,” I pleaded. “Please don’t make me do it.”

“It isn’t me that decides that, Updraft,” the voice said. “But it appears our time is up. Just remember, sometimes we learn our history so that we can repeat it.”

The shrouded form began to move away from me and disappeared in the mist. “But wait! I have no idea what you mean!” I shouted, to no avail.

The fog around me increased in intensity until everything went pitch black.

Slowly, the sound of the ventilation fans became louder around me. My eyes fluttered open and I realized I was in a pitch black room. The headache I had was monstrous. I used my hooves to massage my temples, hoping it would alleviate the headache.

A spotlight turned on, focused on me. The light nearly blinded me and I shielded my eyes using one of my legs. I started to get up, but was soon interrupted by a voice, which made me freeze.

“So, Dust, you finally caught up with me,” Muddy’s voice said with a tinny quality to it. “I am so impressed you made it as far as you did. From what the previous owner of this stable told me before his,” Muddy said with a little giggle, “little accident… nopony made it past the second room before now.”

“Dammit, Muddy... “ I groaned, my head still pounding, “I am not in the mood for this right now. If you’re going to kill me, just kill me.”

“Oh, no, Dust, I am not going to kill you,” he said. His tone sent chills down my spine and made me shiver involuntarily. “I am going to do much worse.”

Slowly, the room I was in began to brighten from the overhead lights slowly turning on. I was in a small room. One wall was lined with doors and windows. Each door had a number written on it in red paint. At least, I hoped it was red paint. The rooms beyond the windows were still dark. I was laying on top of a small raised platform with a small pedestal attached to it. On top of the pedestal was a small panel with six buttons on it. The only other feature of the room was a large storage container.

One of the rooms behind the windows lit up. It was a small room with a door set into the back wall and a computer panel near the window. On the other side of the glass was a familiar green and yellow pegasus stallion.

“Muddy!” I yelled. I began to trot towards him.

“Nuh..uh..uh… I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Dust,” he mocked. I froze in my tracks. “You leave that pedestal, you forfeit the round… and your players!” He interacted with a panel in his room and the other rooms lit up as well.

Each room was about the size of small wagon, maybe big enough to hold a few ponies comfortably. Each room had a door set into the back wall just like Muddy’s. At first, I was wondering why he was showing me this.

After fidgeting with some more controls, Muddy cleared his throat. “Attention players! Time to wake up… it’s the final round!”

After a few moments, I saw movement in the windows. The first thing I saw was a brown head appear in one of the windows. It turned around to face me. It was Brownie!

“Brownie! You OK?” I yelled out. Brownie didn’t respond, but did begin to bang on the glass. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything.

“Now, now… you will have time to talk soon enough,” Muddy announced over the speaker. “Besides, the rooms are soundproof, so it doesn’t matter anyway!”

In the other windows, Flower and One appeared slowly. Each of them looked shocked to see me and then relieved. They started banging on the glass but stopped when they realized the announcement pertained to them as well.

Finally, I saw the pink and green head of Silver appear. The look of relief on her face was more palpable than the others. She even began to cry. She tried to say something, but I couldn’t hear her just like the others.

“Oh good, everyone’s awake,” Muddy laughed. “We can get on with the game now!”

“Muddy… why are you doing this?” I asked, glaring at him.

“Does it matter, Dust?” Muddy replied, with a sneer. “Or is this the part I tell you my big plan?”

“Muddy, no more games,” I pleaded. “Why did you try to kill me? Why are you trying to kill my friends? This can’t be just because I walked in on you and Silver and the fact that we are chasing you. And please, no vagaries. Just come out and say it.”

“You know what, Dust,” he said, nodding and playing with the controls again. “You’re right. It is larger than that.” Muddy began pacing in his little room. “The General lied to us. We aren’t down here on some short term mission. Midnight? He’s been here for almost a decade! A DECADE! And there are others, ask Midnight about it. Oh, and to top it all off, there is no going back.”

My heart nearly stopped. “No… that can’t be. I don’t believe you,” I murmured in shock.

“Oh, Dust! Grow up!” he yelled, causing the speaker to reverberate a little. “We were lied to… and tricked. I know you found my journal. You know what I was promised. I was supposed to become lead pony in my own flight squad. That isn’t happening now! Whatever you were promised, forget it. The only thing the General cares about is anything that will help him. And I think I found it… or to be more accurate, I think you found it. I took the liberty of checking your Pipbuck while you were out.”

I quickly glanced at the computer strapped to me foreleg. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, I know all about Manny’s little aeroponics operation,” he said. “That alone would have been enough. But you stumbled across something else. And the General will be very interested in seeing that! And what do you think he’ll do to the pony that can deliver it?”

My mind began to race. Being able to seed the clouds more efficiently would help the Enclave considerably. But Cloudy said that there was something bigger I found? What could be be talking about?

“Now that we took care of that… Dust, I have bad news for you all,” he continued with a laugh. He fidgeted with a few controls on the panel in his room. “You lost the game. Not only did you cheat, but you didn’t escape the last room you were in. So now we enter the penalty phase. As you see before you, each of your friends is locked in a room with no way out. I, too, am locked in a room with no way out, right now. I took all your gear, so there is no shooting or breaking your way in or out.

“In front of you, you see the panel with six buttons on it?” he asked. I turned to look at it and saw the six numbered buttons. Well, five were numbered. The last had a skull drawn on it. “You have a choice to make now, Dust.

“If you press the button with my room number on it, I will surrender to you, but your friends will die. And your other choice is to pick one of your friends to die, save everypony else, and let me escape,” Muddy explained, topping it off with a laugh. “Oh, and you have five minutes to make your decision. You can all discuss this during the five minutes. And one last thing: failing to choose will result in all of your friends dying, me escaping, and you surviving. Have fun!” Muddy sat down and pulled out a bowl of something white and puffy and began eating it with a wicked grin on his face. A countdown appeared on the small panel in front of me.

Nopony spoke for the first several seconds. And then, everypony began speaking at once. After everypony realized everypony else was trying to speak, we all quieted down.

“No, I can’t do this, I can’t choose to kill somepony!” I screamed in frustration. “Muddy, you can’t make me do this!” I looked in his room and he simply sat there grinning and stuffing his face with the food he had. “Please don’t make me do this!”

Brownie was the first to speak up. “Dust, if yah need ta pick somepony, pick me,” he said, tears forming in his eyes. “Ah can’t watch ya kill somepony else, especially not Flower. Ah just couldn’t live with mahself if she died.”

“Oh no yah don’t,” Flower yelled. “Yah don’t get ta make that choice fer me!”

“Mister Dust, I don’t wanna die…” One started to say, his head dropping towards the ground.

“But Flower, ah couldn’t live with mahself if ah watched ya die,” Brownie pleaded.

“And ya think ah could?” Flower interrupted. Tears were flowing down her muzzle. “Ah don’t think anypony here wants ta die. This is part of Muddy’s game!”

“I’ll be honest,” Silver said, her voice trembling. “Nopony here wants to die. Muddy wants to torture Dust by forcing him to choose. And if he chooses anypony other than me, I’m sure there will always be the doubt that he let me live for selfish reasons. This is exactly what Muddy wants!”

There was silence for a short time. “Two minutes left, Dust!” Muddy said, his voice muffled by a mouthful of the food he was eating.

“You know what, Muddy?” I asked, clearly stressed. “Go fuck yourself!” His only reaction was to laugh and stuff more of the puffy food into his mouth.

“Mister Dust?” One said unusually calmly.

“Wait a minute, One,” I replied. “Muddy, stop the madness! You want something? I’m sure we can figure something out!”

“Mister Dust?” One said, with a little more persistence in his voice.

“One, wait a second,” I shot back. “I’m sure we can figure out a way to get what you want without hurting anypony…”

“MISTER DUST!” One yelled.

Everypony looked a little shocked, even Muddy. I turned to look at One. He was breathing heavily and was looking at me with determination in his eyes.

“Mister Dust, I don’t want to die, but please, pick me,” he said, his gaze never wavering from mine.

“One, no, I can’t…” I started.

“Mister Dust, please,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to see Mister Brownie and Miss Flower separated. Miss Silver is your special somepony. You all are used to the Wasteland.” He paused and took a deep breath and sighed. “I nearly killed a pony a few days ago, and I don’t think I could have lived with myself. I don’t want to hurt anypony, and I don’t want to get hurt anymore.”

I began to sob softly. “One, no, I can’t…” I said.

“Mister Dust, you have to,” he said. “I’m the only choice left.”
I never took my eyes off of One, but my friends began to chime in.

“No, Dust,” Silver gasped. “You can’t.”

“Dust, don’t yah dare do it,” Brownie said.

“Dust, please, don’t listen to him,” Flower said.

“Thirty more seconds!” Muddy said gleefully. What I wouldn’t do to smack him right now.

“Mister Dust, it’s OK,” One said, his eyes still watering. “Do you think I’ll see my brothers and daddy again?”

Tears were streaming down my muzzle and my nose was running uncontrollably. “Yes, One, I think you will.”

“Mister Dust, please know that I like you and you treated me almost as well as my father did,” One said.

“One,” I said between sobs. “You are a special pony, one of the bravest I’ve known.”

“Ten seconds remaining,” a computerized, female voice called out.

My hoof hovered over the button matching One’s room. I looked at him one last time and he nodded. I moved my hoof down and pressed the button.

“Room one chosen,” the female voice called out. The doors to my friends’ rooms all slid open. I looked at Muddy and saw the back door to his room had opened as well.

“Nice choice, Dust!” Muddy screamed in delight, clapping his hooves.

Silver ran over to me and wrapped her hooves around me. I couldn’t help but to do the same. I heard Flower’s and Brownie’s hoofsteps approach. I pushed Silver off of me. I saw the flash of brown too late as Brownie smacked me across the muzzle.

“Dust, I told ya, ta pick me!” Brownie yelled.

I was about to respond when I heard the sound of running water. Looking back into One’s room, I saw water begin to flow from several pipes in the ceiling of his room. The room begin to fill with water, and the horror of the situation made my thoughts stop dead in their tracks.

“Muddy, no, please, not this,” I pleaded. “Have mercy! Make it painless!”

“Sorry, Dust,” Muddy said. “All I said was you get to pick who dies, not how they die!”

“Muddy! This will be like torture!” I screamed. “You have to stop this!”

“But, Dust,” he said, snickering. “What fun would that be?”

The water level in the room was rising rapidly. I galloped over to the window between the two rooms. I turned and began to buck at the window. One tried to same on his side as Brownie joined me and helped me on ours. The glass held firm.

I watched as One’s horn became enveloped in his magical aura. First the glass glowed and I watched as it bowed, but it never broke. The field dissipated and instead it enveloped the door. I watched One’s face contort in effort, but the door never budged. Soon, his horn sparked and went black and the magical field disappeared completely.

“One!” I said watching the room fill with water. “Be brave! It will be over soon!”

The water was now at the same level as his mouth. I watched as he craned his head as high as it could go. Before it got too high, he took as deep a breath as he could.

For the first several seconds, everything looked peaceful. The room had completely filled with water by this point. I watched as his body tensed and his eyes filled with panic. I placed my hoof against the glass. One did the same, placing his hoof over mine.

One began to thrash, fighting the urge to breath. He even tried to swim to the top of the room, but to no avail. Finally, in a full panic, he tried to bang at the window, trying to break it. With horror, I watched as he began to exhale. Flower and Silver began to cry and trotted away. Brownie moved next to me and placed a hoof around my shoulder.

After the last bubble escaped his mouth, I watched as he took a lungful of water. The look of fear on his face terrified me and forced me into a full cry. As much as I wanted to look away, I knew I couldn’t for One’s sake. I didn’t want him to feel alone as he died.

“Now watch this, Dust,” Muddy said between bouts of laughters. “This is where shit gets real!”

One’s mouth began to move as if he was gasping for air. The sounds and sights around me began to fade. My thoughts were solely focused on One and something, anything I could do to help him. I couldn’t even hear Muddy’s insane laughter anymore.

One began to thrash, seemingly losing control of his body. The motions began to slow, until he finally stopped moving. His body went slack and he slowly sank down to the floor until he dropped from view, and, mercifully, the light in his room turned off, plunging it into darkness.

Level Up!

Perk Obtained: Inspiring - When interacting with a pony in a stressful situation, that pony receives +1 Charisma

Stats:
Speech: 45

Author's Notes:

I haven't commented on a chapter in a while but I felt it was necessary here.

This was the hardest chapter for me to write... I didn't really want to kill off One, but it was necessary to move the story along. Please know it was as hard for me to write as it probably was to read.