Twilight Sparkle rushed through the halls of her castle. "Spike, hurry up! The train station is about to close."
Spike ran after her, holding their luggage. "I'm coming, Twilight," he groaned. "Isn't there a quicker way to Canterlot?"
"Spike, we both know how scared of my flying you are, and I'm not able to teleport all the way there, especially since there's two of us." Twilight sighed. "Come here; I'll just teleport us to the train station."
Spike darted over to her and—in a flash—the two were gone. The cool, night air rushed over them as they reappeared at their destination. The dim light of the station's ticket booth slightly lit up the dark. Twilight cantered up to the ticket booth and slammed some bits on the counter as she grabbed two tickets in her magic.
Twilight trotted back to Spike, and the two made their way into the train. Once inside, they went to the sleeping car. "Let's get some sleep. We should be at Canterlot in the morning."
"Okay." Spike let out a small yawn as he put their luggage under a bed. "Good night, Twilight."
"You too, Spike." She grabbed a hold of the blankets and wrapped Spike up. Twilight let out a small yawn of her own. "It's time for me to get some sleep too." Twilight flew up to the bed over Spike, covered herself up, and closed her eyes.
/\\/\\
Even with her eyes closed, Twilight could tell how bright it was. She opened her eyes and winced as the light temporarily blinded her. The room she now stood in was white. Very white. The only thing in it that wasn't that horrible color, was a red jar in the middle of the room, which was about five ponies tall. The room held nothing else.
Am I dreaming? she thought as she looked up at the jar, blinking rapidly. If so, this is an unusual dream.
"What is a door when it is not a door?" a voice whispered inside of her head.
She gradually spun in a full circle, taking all of the room in. "Luna?"
Silence.
Twilight looked around the room and, then, to the jar. 'What is a door when it's not a door?' Staring at the only object in the room, she giggled. It's ajar!
She flew up to the top of the jar and stared at its lid. Do I just open it? Twilight surrounded the jar's lid with her magic and removed it from its resting place. She felt a tugging sensation—as if something was dragging away something inside of her. She jumped into the air, attempting to get away from the emptiness it made her feel. However, it was all for naught, for as soon as she had jumped away from the jar, she blacked out.
/\\/\\
Unlike last time, this room held no brightness. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was black. Twilight lit up her horn, but even the attempt of conjuring a simple light spell had no effect upon the room's darkness.
"H-hello? Is there anypony out there?"
A small breeze pushed her forward as if it was urging her to walk follow it. Hesitantly, she walked in the direction it indicated until she hit a wall head on, which caused her to fall back onto her haunches. Twilight stood back up and felt around on the wall until she felt a door handle. Grabbing it in her magic, she warily opened the door. Through the door stood only a hallway lined with stone bricks and a single torch upon the wall. She stepped into the corridor and out of the room.
SLAM!
Twilight whipped her head around and saw that not only had the door slammed itself shut, but it had also disappeared completely. She walked back toward where the door was and gently tapped it with her hoof. Eyes wide and slightly hyperventilating, she gradually turned around and grabbed the torch with her magic, removing it from the wall.
"Could you please not touch the décor?" said a monotonous male voice.
She jumped and looked at the origin of the voice. There, stood a deep blue alicorn with a well groomed black mane and goatee. Oddly enough, he was no taller than Twilight, but he had the look of somepony who had great wisdom—his pale yellow eyes seemed to hold great mysteries inside of them.
Twilight slowly put the torch back upon the wall as she stared at the mysterious pony. "Who are you?"
"I go by many names, but you may call me the Watcher. Now, come with me; we must get you checked in." He walked past Twilight.
Her face scrunched up. "Checked into where?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" Spreading his wings out, the Watcher gave a slight bow. "Welcome to Hotel California."
"What?" Twilight cocked her head. "I've never heard of this place. And I don't remember going to some hotel. I just went to sleep on a train…"
"Of course, my dear. No one has heard of this place until they are here." He smiled slightly and continued to walk away from her. "Now, without further ado, let's keep going."
Reluctantly, Twilight followed after him. "Can you please show me the way out of here?"
The Watcher glanced at her. "There is no way out."
"What? But how did I get here? There has to be a way out. I was summoned by the Princess to go to Canterlot. This is in Canterlot, right?" Twilight scanned the room, whipping her head around while looking for an exit.
"I do not know of this 'Canterlot' you speak of."
"How do you not know about Canterlot? It's Equestria's capital!"
"I have not been to this 'Equestria', but I have heard others speak of it. It seems to be where quite a few of you hail from."
Twilight's jaw dropped. "Are you telling me that I'm out of Equestria?"
"Yes and no. Your body is inside Equestria, and it's still alive, but it's in a coma. However, your soul is in the Hotel in the body that your soul created unconsciously upon your arrival. When your body dies here, your body at your home dies. Now, please cease your questions. I will answer some whenever you check in."
Twilight hesitated, but soon trailed after him. She sighed. I might as well play along. Otherwise, I don't think I'll even get a remote chance of escape.
The two soon came upon another door on the left side of the hallway. The Watcher stopped, looking at the door quizzically.
"What exactly are we doing?" Twilight tried to approached the door, but was surrounded in the Watcher's yellow magic, stopping her from nearing it.
"You will see."
At that moment, the door flew open, and a red pegasus mare leapt into the hallway. The door proceeded to slam close.
She glanced behind her—much as Twilight had—and saw that the door had disappeared. The pegasus supported a shortly cropped black mane and tail. She had a few scars on her face and a few larger ones upon her barrel. She looked to her right, where Twilight and the Watcher waited. She jumped back, flared her wings, and lowered her face and upper body the ground as if she was getting ready to pounce. "Who're you?" she seethed through her teeth.
The Watcher, calm as ever, replied, "I am the Watcher. Welcome to Hotel California. Come with us to get checked in."
"The what?"
"Just listen to him. I don't know where we're at either, but I think we're supposed to listen to him."
"And why I should trust you?" The pegasus glared at Twilight.
Twilight paused. "Well, I do believe you and I are both stuck in here with no way of leaving. We shouldn't fight each other. What we need to do is get out of here."
"And where is here?" She slowly raised herself and did a wide berth around Twilight and the Watcher. "What even are you two? You're pegasi, but you also have horns. Are you two spies of some sort?"
Twilight blinked in surprise. "We're alicorns. Whoever he is and I are a combination between the three races to represent harmony. Who exactly are you?"
"I'm Corporal Stormy Skies." Stormy stared angrily at them. "And you are?"
"I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to meet you, Stormy." Twilight smiled and held out a hoof.
Ignoring Twilight's gesture, Stormy turned to the Watcher. "And what do you have to say?"
The Watcher slowly blinked. "Come with me. Otherwise, you will be forced to come. If you resist even after you're signed in, I know plenty of places I could send you." With that, the Watcher turned away from her and Twilight and continued down the hall, glancing behind at them at times to keep a watchful eye on Stormy as the two reluctantly followed the Watcher.
They continued on until they reached a third door. The Watcher blinked in surprise at the door and stopped; Twilight and Stormy copied him.
The door opened and a head peeked out into the corridor. A hoof hesitantly reached out, and, soon, a peach earth pony stallion had cautiously wandered into the hallway. The door crashed close.
He yelped and turned to look at the door that had been there. Staring in the opposite direction of the trio of ponies, he called out, "Hello?"
Twilight could see the stallion's red mane as it seemed to glow in the firelight of the torch across the hall. His cutie mark, a heart with a bandage around it, also glowed slightly in the torchlight.
"Hello," Twilight greeted.
He jumped back and whipped his head around to look at Twilight. Upon the realization of who she was, his mouth dropped, he bowed, and closed his eyes. "Your Highness."
Twilight took a surprised step back and blinked. "Er… you may stand."
"Thank you. I am Heartbeat. I work as a doctor in the Fillydelphia General Hospital. What a wonderful day it is for me to find Princess Twilight Sparkle herself inside of this place." He paused and glanced around the room. "Er… what exactly is this place, Your Highness? And who are these other two?"
"Welcome to Hotel California. I am the Watcher. Please come with me to get checked in." The Watcher continued on past Heartbeat.
Twilight looked at Heartbeat. "Please come with us. Honestly, I'm not sure where we're at. I believe that only this 'Watcher' knows, but he has decided to not tell us until we're checked in… whatever that means."
"I see. Princess, I thank you for letting me accompany you." Heartbeat bowed once more and turned to follow the Watcher.
"Could you please stop with the formalities? Just call me Twilight. Oh, and this is Stormy—"
"I can introduce myself." She glared at Heartbeat. "I'm Corporal Stormy Skies."
"How dare you interrupt the princess like that!" Heartbeat glowered at Stormy.
"She is not my princess." Stormy moved past the two and after the Watcher.
"I'm sorry that somepony acted like that in your presence, Your—I mean—Twilight."
"It's quite all right, Heartbeat. It's not your fault that she doesn't see me as a princess." The two followed after the Watcher and Stormy Skies in an eerie silence.
The hallway soon widened out into a large room, which held a few things of interest—a desk in the middle of the room that had a white pony with a combed back black mane wearing a tuxedo behind it. Upon the desk was a gigantic, open book. The other two things that adorned the room were two sets of stairs. One traveled to higher floors and the other went downward.
"Please write your names in the book to check in." The Watcher stepped aside to let his guests approach the desk. "Then, I shall explain the things you wish to know."
Heartbeat was the first to walk up to the book, pick up a quill in his mouth, and write his name in the first open slot he saw. A small band materialized around his left hoof. He looked down at it, blinking rapidly. It had the appearance of a digital hoof watch, but there were different numbers on it. It held one large number, which was one-thousand, and a smaller number under it, which was 242.
The second to sign was Stormy, but when she signed, the book lit up with a red light and the pony behind the desk stood up. He stood a good half-head taller than Stormy, which was apparent as he looked down upon her. "Sign your real name."
Stormy took the quill in her mouth and wrote something messily. A hoof watch appeared around her hoof was well, but instead of the bigger number being a thousand, it was only seven-hundred. The smaller number, on the other hand, was bigger than Heartbeat's—243.
Twilight walked up to this desk, the Watcher following close behind her. As she picked up the quill to sign her name, she read the name above the empty slot. It simply read 'Hurricane'.
Twilight looked up to 'Stormy' with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you?"
"That is none of your concern. Just sign your own name and get done with it."
"No." She puffed out her chest and flared her wings, which was copied by 'Stormy'. "I want to know who you are. If we have any chance to get out of here alive, we need trust each other. I don't think we'll be able to get out of here with just any prejudice. Heartbeat and I have been truthful toward you; it's time for you to be honest with us."
Hurricane's intimidating pose faltered for a second but was still held. "Fine. I am Commander Hurricane, daughter to the great late Commander Twister, slayer of the mighty dragon known as Silver Scale, and leader of the Great Pegasus Empire. Anypony of importance should know that. You say you're a princess, but the unicorn king has only one daughter and it's not you. Who are you?"
Unlike Hurricane, Twilight's daunting stance had been completely broken as thoughts ran through her head, trying to logically analyze the situation she was in. "You can't be her. She died thirteen-hundred years ago. Just ask Heartbeat." Twilight glanced over to him.
"Er… actually, it was fifteen-hundred years ago."
"I haven't died! I'm standing before you!"
"But the Commander Hurricane you speak of is—"
"Enough!" The Watcher's eyes glowed like searchlights cutting through the night, his mane waving through the air. He shoved a wing toward Twilight. "You! Check in now!"
The room around them glowed a soft white and the walls shifted as Twilight moved the quill to an empty slot. Upon signing, Twilight got a hoof watch. However, her biggest number was eight-hundred and her smaller one was 244.
Looking back at the Watcher, Twilight noticed that the walls had shifted into a much more homely appearance. The walls and floor now seemed to be made of wood and the torches disappeared; however, light was still strangely filtering in.
"Now that you are officially signed into Hotel California—" the Watcher stared at the three "—ask any five questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability."
"What are these things?" Twilight asked holding her hoof with the band on it in the air.
"Those bands show you your credits and your room number."
"Credits?" Hurricane raised an eyebrow.
"It's money," explained Heartbeat.
"Why is mine less than theirs?"
"That's simple. You were a problem, so we deducted your credits. It's simple, really."
Hurricane glowered at the Watcher and moved into a pouncing position. "I'll show you trouble!"
"Hurricane, no!" Twilight teleported herself in front of her and Hurricane hit Twilight head on… quite literally.
"Dammit!" Hurricane rubbed her head after being shoved back by Twilight. "Why'd you have to that, ya hornhead!"
"Do you really want to mess with the powers of an unknown force that could possibly kill you?" Twilight shouted back, while looking behind her at the Watcher. He stood there, not breaking away from his calm appearance.
Hurricane sneered at Twilight. "Fine, but the first chance I get, I'm gonna get out of here."
"I'm with you there, but we need to find the way out first. Not to mention we still have three more questions to ask the Watcher." Twilight turned toward him. "Where do those stairs lead to?"
"That way—" the Watcher pointed a wing to the stairwell that traveled downward—"is the living areas and is where The Dining Car is. That way—" he pointed his other wing at the stairwell that went to the higher floors—"is trouble."
"What's The Dining Car?" Hurricane asked.
"It is a bar where you will be able to get food, drinks, and find veterans of the Hotel at. It is the usual hangout for anyone here. The bread and water there is free, but other food and drinks are extra. Most of the veterans enjoy searching the higher levels of the Hotel and finding things to turn into credits. If you would like, you could team up with a veteran, and they could help you gain credits."
"Is there a place we can get supplies?" Heartbeat asked.
"There is one store, and it should have everything you can attain in the dimension you hail from. You all start off with one-thousand credits… unless you were trouble. While exploring the lower levels of the Hotel, whenever you pick up an item that you cannot use as a weapon or not use it in general, it will turn into credits.
"Now, I officially welcome you to Hotel California. I do hope you enjoy your time here. I suggest you go get supplies first and then go to The Dining Car to meet the others. It would also be wise to check out your rooms. I now must attend to other tasks. I bid you all farewell." The Watcher's horn lit up, and he teleported away.
"What do you think we should do first?" Heartbeat asked.
Hurricane looked at him. "We need to get supplies first. If we're going to do any exploration of this place, weapons are a necessity."
Twilight frowned. "Wouldn't it be smarter to go to The Dining Car first, though? I believe that it would be smarter to meet some of the veterans of this place before we do anything too brash."
Hurricane snorted. "It's not like they know too much more than what we know. All I want to do is get out of here. I have an empire to run."
Twilight nodded. "We all want to get out of here, and I say that the best way for us to have any hope of getting out of here is to go talk to the veterans. If anyone knows how to get out of here, it'll be them." Twilight looked to Heartbeat. "How about we have him decide what we do?"
"I'd have to agree with you, Twilight. I don't even have a country to run and I want to get out of this place as soon as I can." Heartbeat sighed. "Honestly, I kind of think that everyone here would want to get out here. I don't why anyone would want to actually stay here."
At Heartbeat's decision, Hurricane sneered and stormed off toward where she assumed the armory was. Twilight, thinking about what Hurricane was going to do, chased after her and caught up.
"Wait!"
Hurricane looked to Twilight and groaned. "What? I'm just going to do what any reasonable pony would do and go get my equipment first."
Twilight looked to her, desperation in her eyes. "Please don't go by yourself. We were all put here at the same time for a reason. If we split up, we may never find out why we were put here; we'll be stuck in here forever."
Hurricane let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Fine. Let's go meet these 'veterans', as you call them."
With Twilight leading the way, the three soon found themselves in front of a door that looked like it was made from the side of a train's car. A sign above the door read 'The Dining Car'. They walked through the partly opened door.
The room itself was full of life. A bar stood near the back of the room where imp-like creatures scurried about, filling orders of the establishment's customers. On the room's left side, there was a stage with a performer on it. Meanwhile, creatures of all shapes and sizes were scattered about the room at circular tables, either drinking a beverage of some sort, having a meal, or just socializing with others.
The major thing that stood out was a large minotaur near the center of the room. Steel gray fur covered his entire body. His large, pewter colored horns jutted out from his head and multiple scars covered his muscular body. A huge doubled sided battleaxe lay against the side of the table he sat at and two L-shaped black objects made of metal rested in two holsters upon his belt.
Twilight looked at her companions and saw that Heartbeat was swaying along to the music that was originating from the stage. She glanced at the stage and now noticed that other stallions crowded the stage and were cheering her on. Upon further inspection, she noticed that the performer had a pink coat, a deep red mane and tail, and bat wings with purple socks and a black collar on.
She soon stopped singing after a few stallions held up their hoof watches to her. Heartbeat blinked a few times as if he was confused. "Er… sorry. I seemed to have lost track of what I was doing."
"A succubus… why would one be here?" Twilight murmured.
Hurricane smirked at the sight of the minotaur that sat in the room. "Follow me," she stated as she swaggered over to him. "Maybe coming here wasn't too bad of an idea after all."
"Drownin' yaself in alcohol 'fore you have 'nother escape attempt, are ya, Knossus?" one of the imp-like creatures asked as he handed the minotaur a glass.
Knossus took the glass and took a sip out of it before he slammed it down upon the table. "Dammit, Leroy! This isn't what I ordered!"
Leroy hurriedly grabbed the drink and scurried off with it.
Hurricane walked up to Knossus and grinned. "So you're trying to escape?"
He looked up at her and then to Twilight and Heartbeat. "New arrivals? And three of them at that." He chuckled. "It must be hungry."
Twilight raised an eyebrow questioningly. "'It must be hungry'?"
"Yeah. We haven't had a new arrival in a decade or so, and I've never seen three at once." He looked back to Hurricane. "And to answer your question, yes, I am looking to escape."
"Do you even know the way out?" Twilight asked. "The Watcher said there was no way out."
Knossus let out another small chuckle. "Don't believe that old son of a bitch. He's just doing as the hotel wills. The biggest slave of us all." He sighed. "Now, on that way out, it's been whispered that if you complete the Hotel's final floor, you can get out. I've been trying for years to get out of this damned place." Knossus sighed wistfully.
"How many floors are in the Hotel?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know. In my last escape attempt, my two companions and I made it to the thirtieth floor. In the end, they both died, and I was able to escape back to here." Knossus paused. "I truly wish that they had not died in vain."
"Died in vain? But they got you down thirty levels; that's just closer to the way out!"
"No it's not. When you exit the lower levels, you have to restart from level one if you would like to go back," Knossus explained.
Three jaws hit the floor upon hearing that. "Then how is somepony supposed to get out of the Hotel?" Heartbeat exclaimed.
"That's the point. You're not supposed to." Knossus chuckled. "Welcome to Hotel California. It's worse than Tartarus here. Now then, in all seriousness, if you ponies want to escape, I'll help you. Anyone here who wants to escape is a valuable asset to me."
"Wouldn't most creatures here want to escape?"
He scoffed. "No. Most of them are in their own little world; not caring about whether or not they get out. They just want to live here and that's that. It's rare to find someone who'd like to escape." Knossus stood up from his seat. "But before we can escape, you're going to have to get equipped with actual weapons, get some supplies, and possibly get some armor." He walked toward the door.
Twilight reached a hoof out. "Wait, do you know anypony else who want to get out?"
"Nope. The ones who want to get out are already dead. Believe me, if any others wanted to escape, I'd know 'em." He sighed. "Also, don't ever tell the Watcher that you may know the way out. He'll kill us all." With that, Knossus exited the room, and the three ponies followed after him.