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- >You are Anon
- >And your life sucks
- >You've always wanted to be a wizard
- >Not like those new age power of thought kind of wizards
- >But an actual wizard
- >And here you are
- >Living in a world of colourful, magical ponies
- >And the queen of magic tells you that you can't use magic
- >Why?
- >Something to do with biology
- >You didn't get any of that
- >You were too busy holding back your tears
- >But as a token of friendship
- >She gave you access to her private study, where she keeps her..."special" books
- >On the condition that you never to speak to anyone of it
- >Turns out she has been collecting and studing scriptures regarding the black arts
- >And since you can't possibly do any sort of magic
- >Forever
- >It won't matter if you read them or not
- >And here you are
- >Going through tomes and tomes of books
- >Basically just skimming through them
- >Hoping to find some sort of way that Twilight overlooked to become a true wizard
- >So far you haven't found anything of worth
- >Maybe they would have had worth
- >If only you could actually do anything
- >You close a weird, flesh covered book and get up from your chair
- >You go through the shelves
- >Dusty old tomes
- >And clean new ones
- >She has been writing essays on some of the practices and ways they could be improved
- >On theory of course
- >As you look through the books something odd catches your eye
- >Not a tome with an unsettling aura, as someone might suspect
- >But a rather ordinary looking notebook
- >Squished between "Souls: a greener power source" and something you can't possibly pronounce
- >It's almost like the notebook was hidden in plain sight
- >No one would pay attention to a small notebook when you have all these manuals of the unholy
- >You take it out and examine it
- >Nothing out of the ordinary
- >It's in perfect condition
- >The edges just seem a little bent
- >The cover is a shade of yellowish brown
- >At the bottom right corner there is a sticker
- >"Research on Shadow Games"
- >What the hell
- >You like games
- >And it is pretty light compared to the bricks you had to go through
- >Might as well give it a read
- >You list trough the notebook
- >It's filled from beginning to end
- >Formulas
- >Incantations
- >Instructions
- >Symbols
- >"...dangerous..."
- >"...forbidden..."
- >"...death..."
- >...madness
- >"...soulless husk..."
- >"...gambling..."
- >"...use of enchanted items..."
- >Hold on
- >You go back
- >"In shadow games normally an enchanted item is used. A deck of cards or a chess set are more traditional examples, but there are items that can evoke a shadow game in any situation. No real magic is required by the used, however..."
- >No real magic is required by the user
- >Well now
- >There seems to be a light in the tunnel
- >You put the notebook in your backpack and get back home
- >Finally, you'll have a nice bedtime read
- >By morning you have basically memorized the entire thing
- >The short version
- >For anyone that might be reading your mind right now
- >Is that shadow games are basically magical gambles
- >You and a opponent have a competition in which cheating is strictly prohibited
- >If any cheating occurs or the losing party doesn't fulfill their part of the bargain, there will be a
- >"Penalty game"
- >In a shadow game anything can be gambled
- >From material things
- >To knowledge, memory and souls
- >Lives as well
- >But that really didn't need explaining
- >A penalty game can also have a horrible effect on the cheater
- >They range from physical injury, hallucinations to madness, death and soulloss
- >Where does the soul go?
- >Who knows?
- >Doesn't matter
- >The important thing is that you will be able to do magic
- >Well not exactly do magic
- >More like do something to activate a magical game
- >But all in all
- >It's the same
- >It's morning as of now
- >And you've already bought yourself all sorts of games
- >You've bought yourself playing cards
- >A chess board
- >All manner of dice
- >Jenga
- >The shopkeeper offered you some sort of new collectable card game
- >But you refused
- >You used to play one back on Earth
- >Your savings went by you pretty quickly
- >In her notebook, Twilight describes a pendant she has that can supposedly evoke a shadow game in any situation
- >It's supposed to be some sort of ring with a triangle in it an an eye
- >In any case, she'll probably be reluctant to hand it over
- >You are dealing with black magic that you are actually capable of using in some way
- >So, the best procedure would be to just take it from her
- >It's probably in her private study
- >Where else would she keep it?
- >Probably under her pillow
- >Or maybe in her dungeon
- >Does she even have a dungeon?
- >If not, she should get one
- >What's the point of having a castle if you don't have a dungeon?
- >Well, besides the power symbol
- >She isn't really wagging any wars
- >But then again, she does have all those forbidden books
- >And now that she has real political power...
- >Oh
- >You are at the front of the castle already
- >You do lose yourself in thought quite often
- >Anyway
- >You knock on the door
- >...castles shouldn't have doors
- >Twilight was delighted to see you again
- >After some tea and a quick chat, she allowed you to go to her study
- >She is all-for learning, regardless of the subject or ability of the student
- >Bless her heart
- >You enter the room and start looking around
- >It's actually quite big
- >Besides the desk and the bookshelf
- >She has all manner of knick-knacks
- >Bones
- >Medallions
- >Ragdolls
- >It's astonishing how much you didn't pay attention to this place when you first entered
- >This place seems more like an attic than a secret space for the study of the arcane
- >And there is no way in hell that you can believe that 3 moldy pillows are actually an essential part in a ritual
- >Who knows, maybe it really was an attic at first
- >It is in one of the towers
- >In any case, you start rummaging
- >Hoping that you find the ring
- >Two hours later and nothing
- >At the very least you did clean her room
- >You sit on a chair and hold your head
- >Where could this thing possibly be
- >You went through her stuff
- >Checked the chests
- >The desk
- >All of the bags
- >Maybe it really is in the dungeon
- >Or maybe
- >One of the books on the shelf is hollowed out and the key is in it
- >You walk towards the bookshelf
- >Going through the names of every single book, one by one
- >Trying to find the odd one out
- >"Necronomicon"
- >"Soulconsumption"
- >"Eldritch and unholy: basic guide to the other side"
- >"Faust"
- >Faust?
- >The play?
- >It's probably this one
- >Of course
- >What else could it be?
- >A story of a man trading away his soul
- >Perfect allegory for gambling
- >You slowly pull the book out
- >You open it and
- >Words
- >Just words
- >It's just the play
- >Why would she have a play on her shelf of evil books?
- >You throw the book at a supply shelf
- >Accidently hitting the ink bottles
- >They all break and ink starts dripping on the floor
- >Oh shit
- >You quickly pull the rug before the ink gets to it
- >You get the moldy pillows and start soaking the ink up
- >Great
- >Now you have to clean this mess and buy Twilight more ink
- >You look through one of the chests
- >You remember seeing a pair of gloves there
- >You put them one
- >Pony gloves have to be the most uncomfortable thing you've worn
- >You start picking glass pieces from the shelf
- >And every piece you pick up, you lose hold of
- >This will take forever
- >You just swipe your hand through the shelf, hoping you'd get all the pieces
- >And you feel a sudden pain in your fingers
- >Your first reaction is to put them in your mouth
- >That was a bad reaction
- >Turns out pony ink tastes as bad as human ink
- >You spit it out and look for what hit you
- >It's an ink bottle
- >A still intact one
- >Weird
- >You grab it and jerk it
- >It's stuck
- >You try to pull it by force, but can't seem to manage
- >You pull even harder
- >There click
- >The whole shelf starts turning
- >A secret room?
- >In Twilight's secret study?
- >We are getting into deep shit now
- >You walk into the hidden room
- >It's dark
- >You take slow, cautious steps
- >Suddenly a rows of torches fire up revealing a hallway
- >Pretty big place for a secret room
- >In a tower...
- >At the end of the hall, you see it
- >The pendant
- >It looks exactly the same as the one sketched in the notebook
- >You run towards when everything starts to get
- >Misty
- >Purple
- >Dark
- >Oh shit!
- >It's a shadow game!
- >You read about those!
- >But how does it work?
- >You look around and notice that the last five rows of tiles are glowing slightly
- >You turn towards the walls
- >A message slowly appears
- >"To reach the Millennium Ring, you'll have to pass the five judgments of body, strength, mind, will and soul. With each row, you will be faced with a challenge. You can not pass through a row without completing it or there will be a penalty game. Good luck."
- >So
- >It's a test to determine if you are worthy
- >You are pretty sure you are more than worthy
- >You are ready to beat this
- >Ponies are pretty short compared to you
- >You stretch your hand and grab the pendant
- >Since you haven't actually passed through any row, you aren't cheating
- >You wait for a moment, just in case if the shadows decide you've cheated
- >Nothing
- >The mist is still here though
- >You can actually decline a shadow game
- >You turn your back and leave the room
- >As you walk away the mist disperses and the torches die down
- >You exit the room and close the shelf
- >You look at the pendant
- >A wooden ring, in it a golden triangle with an eye
- >From the ring, five golden pendulums hang freely
- >The rope on it is kind of small for you
- >But that can easily be fixed
- >Right now, you have to finish up cleaning this place and get gaming
- >The mess takes you about 20 minutes to clean up
- >You pat yourself on the back for a job well done
- >You put the pendant in your backpack and get going
- >On your away to the door, Twilight stops you
- >"Are you done for today, Anon?"
- "Oh, yeah, yeah...I gotta...go for a drink...you know...too much black magic haha"
- >At the utterance of those last words, her eyes got wide and she jumped on you, putting her hoof on your mouth
- >"Anon! Never say that! Ever! Do you know what could happen if anyone found out? Public execution! And that's if I'm lucky! You'll get it much worse!"
- >You gulp
- >She slowly lifts her hoof from your mouth
- "R-right...I'll keep it in mind."
- >"Don't make me regret this, Anon"
- >Her tone turned cold
- >You quickly get up, say goodbye and exit
- >Until nightfall, you didn't take the medallion out
- >What was it called?
- >The millennium ring?
- >That was it, yeah
- >You bought yourself a nice string and went home
- >You were thinking of what kind of game you could play and with who
- >The local bar seemed like an easy target
- >Filled with drunks all ready to get a free beer
- >Might as well hit the bar and test this sucker out
- >You run the string through the hole at the top and made a knot
- >You slowly put it around your neck
- >You wait to feel the magical powers engulf you
- >And you are left waiting
- >Huh
- >Maybe they'll engulf you at the bar
- >The Fox and Owl bar
- >A gathering for lowlifes
- >They serve cheap whiskey to cheaper clients
- >Enter
- >You
- >Anon
- >You open the door with the wind waving your blazer
- >Some of the ponies look at you
- >None of them care too much
- >You walk in
- >The stench mold and tobacco assaults your nostrils
- >You sit at the bar
- >The bartender walks up to you
- >"What will you be having?"
- "Give me a beer"
- >Your answer is a cool as a razor blade
- >"What kind?"
- "What?"
- >"What kind of beer would you like?"
- "Well...umm...lager?"
- >"Alright. What brand?"
- >"Umm...amm...Goblincatcher?"
- >The bartender leaves you to take a look
- >Well
- >Morale got a bit low
- >But that doesn't matter right now
- >You take the notebook out for one final time
- >You quikly check the more important parts
- >You put it back and you are ready to find your victim
- >You find a lone pony sitting in a booth
- >He's the one
- >The bartender returns with your beer
- >You paying him and drink it up for courage
- >It's game time
- >You walk to the booth and you stare at the stallion
- >He seems older than you, has unkept beard and smells like he hasn't washed in days
- "Drinking alone?"
- >He only moves his eyes towards you
- >"What's it to you?"
- "Oh, nothing, I thought you might enjoy some company or a game maybe"
- >"What kind of game?"
- "Geemu no jikan da"
- >Those were the supposed words to activate the shadow game
- >"Whatcha say, boy?"
- >You ignore him and sit at the table
- >You take out the 4 aces from your deck
- "It's simple"
- >You shuffle them and lay them facing down
- "You have to pick out two cards. If you pick out the two aces of the same colour, you win."
- >He scratches his chin
- "Two out of three. If you lose, you buy me a drink. If you win, I buy you a drink. Deal?"
- >He takes a swing from his cup
- >"Deal"
- "Geemu start"
- >"Whatcha say, boy? Speak up!"
- >You ignore him again and push the cards towards him
- >He picks one up
- >The ace of spades
- >He picks a second one
- >Ace of diamonds
- "Oh, too bad. You lose the first round"
- >He gets visibly annoyed
- >That's good
- >Supposedly a shadow game can also disrupt a person's calm and make them act more irrational
- >Or this could be attributed to the fact that you are teasing a drunk stallion
- >You take the cards, reshuffle them and lay them
- >He picks up the ace of hearts and the ace of diamonds
- "Very good. One on one. This one's a tie breaker"
- >"You sure talk a lot for a bar gambler"
- >You shuffle and lay the cards again
- >Ace of hearts and ace of clubs
- "Heh...too bad. You lose"
- >"So I did. Ain't buying nothin though"
- "You sure? We had a deal. It's only fair..."
- >"Listen, kid, I know how this game works. On my second turn, there is a one in three chance of drawing the right card. I just wanted to humour ya. So now you can buzz off and be happy I'm not smashing your head in"
- "I really think you should honour our deal"
- >"The hell did I just say?!"
- >He starts to get up
- "Batsu geemu!"
- >"What are you yap ugh!"
- >He fell on the table
- >That was the incantation for the penalty game
- >And it worked
- >You check his pulse
- >He's still alive
- >Maybe the penalty game is to fall asleep?
- >You should reread how penalty games worked exactly
- >But you can do that later
- >The important thing is
- >Now
- >You are a shadow gamer
- >You really did it
- >You can do magic
- >Kinda
- >sorta
- >Not exactly
- >But still
- >You get up from your seat and push the stallion on his
- >You look around
- >You notice the darts board
- >You look at it a bit and remember how you got the ring
- >You go in the center of the bar
- >You clear your throat
- >And you start yelling
- "I've got a proposition to everypony here. Whoever beats me, get's to drink the entire night! I'm paying!"
- >You are Twilight Sparkle
- >And what do you know
- >It won't be the quiet Saturday you were hoping for
- >You were called to the hospital because of some strange incident
- >Seems like last night ten ponies at a bar suddenly dropped
- >Not dead
- >Just in a coma
- >The occurrence was a bit too suspicious and that's why they called you for your expertise
- >You examine the ponies
- >Lifeless
- >Yet still alive
- >You are pretty sure what this is
- >Black magic
- "Where did you find the bodies?"
- >A local guard turns towards you
- >"At the Fox and Owl bar, ma'am!"
- "How where the situated?"
- >"Around a darts board, ma'am"
- >Darts board
- "Anything out of the ordinary?"
- >"No, ma'am"
- >Strange
- >No killings
- >No death
- >No blood
- >No signs of resistance
- >This wasn't a ritual
- >But a darts board?
- >How does it tie to all of this?
- >Were they playing when this happened?
- >Wait
- >Oh, no
- "Officer, it seems that there might have been some magical anomaly going on. A realease of energies from with the planet. It happens quite often really, but it seems this was stronger and it his these ponies a bit too much. They should be fine in a week or so. You don't really need my help. There's nothing to investigate"
- >"Yes, ma'am! Sorry to bother you"
- >You are running in toward you secret study
- >Something like this couldn't be happening again
- >Shadow games should have been lost by now
- >Someone has been poking their nose, where they shouldn't have
- >You reach the study room
- >Turns out Anon cleaned this place pretty well
- >You should thank him next time around
- >You search your bookshelf
- >You can't believe you have to do this all over again
- >Where did you put that thing?
- >It's supposed to be between "Souls: a greener power source" and the deep sea seapony dictionary
- >There's nothing there
- >Did Anon mess your books up?
- >Wait
- >You turn towards the supply shelf
- >There's only one ink bottle
- >Oh, no
- >You pull it
- >The shelf opens
- >You walk through the corridor
- >The torches light up
- >Oh, no, no, no
- >The ring is missing
- "Jesus pony Christ, Anon!"
- >"Anon! Get out here, right now!"
- >You are Anon
- >And you have been most rudely awoken by some carzy pony banging on your door
- >You check the clock
- >It's 9 o'clock
- >You get out of bed
- >Get dressed
- >Just as you are about to open the door it comes crashing down
- >On the other side an angry Twilight is glaring at you
- "You are going to pay for that, right?"
- >"Anon, what did you do?"
- >She most rudely dodged the question
- "I think it's more important what I didn't do, which is not break your door down"
- >She trots in (uninvited)
- >Magics the door up
- >And leans it where it normally was
- >"Anon, what have you been up to?"
- >You scratch the back of your head, trying to think
- "Mostly sleeping"
- >Twilight is obviously frustrated
- >"Did you perhaps take something of mine? Accidentally?"
- >You scratch your chin
- >"Something resembling a circle. With golden pendelums"
- "Hm..."
- >"Perhaps you found it behind a shelf?"
- "Sorry Twilight, I can't say that I have"
- >"JesuschriYOU ARE WEARING IT AROUND YOUR NECK!"
- >You look at your chest
- >You notice the ring
- "OOoohh...you mean the milenium ring?"
- >Twilight pounces on you
- >"Shhh! Be quiet!"
- "Pfff"
- >She removes her hoof from your mouth
- "Why? What's the matter?"
- >"The walls have ears..."
- >Aaaalrightie...
- >Ominous
- >"Anon, do you know what you did last night? Do you remember anything?"
- "Yeah. I went to a bar and challenged everypony there to a shadow game and..."
- >"No! You do not do that!"
- >She climbs off you
- >"You do not just go around challenging ponies to shadow games left and right"
- "Well...why not?"
- >She looks dumbfound
- >""Why not"...You just don't do that sort of thing!"
- >You cross your arms
- "Pff...you said that there's no way I could do magic, yet I did magic. There's no reason for me to trust you in regards to these subject matters. Now begone"
- >You motion her with your wrist to leave
- >"First off, technically you aren't doing magic. You are just evoking preexisting magics. It's, like, a totally different thing. Second..."
- >A magical aura envelops you and viciously bends you towards her
- >She buries her muzzle in your ear
- >"You do not go around practicing the dark arts, risking the lives of many and exposing yourself"
- >She let's you go
- >"The only reason to use that thing is for self defence and I doubt 26 drunkards were posing a real threat to you"
- >The extends her hoof
- >"Hand it over"
- >You clutch the ring
- "N-no. It's mine now. I took it fair and square"
- >"You stole it and you are irresponsible. Hand it over. I promise I'll give it to you when you are worthy"
- >Her hoof is still out
- >You are still clutching it
- >No way in Hell you are going to give away your only source of magic
- >An idea springs to mind
- "Well, Twilight, I could just give it over, buuuut..."
- >You start playing with the pendant's rope
- "...that'd be too simple, now wouldn't it?"
- >She's undeterred
- "I suggest we play a game. If you win, I'll give you this medallion back. If I win..."
- >You tap your chin slowly
- "...IIII...get your castle. We can play a simple, one round game of rock-paper-scissors. Deal?"
- >Her expression doesn't change
- >"How do you play?"
- >You smirk
- >Geemu no jikan da
- "You have to choose either rock, paper or scissors and form your choice with your hand"
- >You quickly show her the three signs
- "Rock betas scissors, scissors beats paper and paper beats rock. Ready? Geemu start!"
- Of course, it's obvious that you'll choose paper
- >Horses don't have fingers, so any sign can automatically be viewed as rock
- >Easy game
- >Easy life
- >You throw your arm, fingers extended
- >As expected, Twilight just rose her hoof
- "Paper beats rock, Twi. I think I'll be moving in today. After lunch. Be sure to make Spike clean the main hall. I want it so clean that I could eat off the ground. I've always wanted to do something like that in a castle"
- >"I'm sorry, what?"
- "I said be sure to have moved out after lunch and make Spike clean the whole place?"
- >"Why?"
- "I'll be moving in there! I beat you in the shadow game!"
- >"No, you haven't"
- "Yes, I have"
- >"No, you haven't. I never accepted the challenge"
- "Yes, but..."
- >Wait
- >What?
- >Twilight smirks
- "You can't do that!"
- >"Why not?"
- "Erm..."
- >She blows her bangs out of her eyes
- >The fall in the same place, but the gesture is what counts
- >"I knew it. There was no way you could have defeated 26 ponies without a sever handicap"
- "Not my fault you are all short"
- >"It's a miracle you passed the judgment of soul"
- "The what?"
- >"The judgment of soul. One of the five judgment laid on the tiles."
- >You scratch your neck
- "Sorry. Doesn't ring a bell"
- >"The things you had to do to get the ring"
- "OOOOooo...nah. I skipped them. I just grabbed the thing and wazoo!"
- >Twilight slaps her face
- >"This can not be happening"
- "Fraid it is. Now be gone! I have breakfast to attend to"
- >You flick your wrist back and forth
- >Twilight magics the door away
- >"I'll be back for you, Anon. And I will be taking my ring"
- >She slams the door behind her and it falls on your feet
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