A/N - Yeah, this was pretty rushed. Pretty random too, but HERE WE GO!
"...Arthur?...ARTHUR?...WAKE UP, ARTHUR!"
On the trail, Arthur was splayed out on his back, drooling like a madman with his pupils encompassing the entirety of his eyes. His guide, despite his initial claim that he really did not care whether his tourist died or not, was trying to snap him out of his mental shock. He told the rambunctious grade-schooler if he ever got caught in a mind trap, he was completely on his own. Now look at him!
Eventually, Arthur's pupils shrank to their usual size, allowing consciousness to bring him back to "reality". He twisted his head this way and that to make sure he wasn't still in a hallucinatory funk. He experimentally sat up on his rump, scratching his head to get rid of some itch, and with some trepidation opened his mouth.
"...GOOD GRIEF! WHAT WAS ALL OF THAT NONSENSE?"
Arthur rose to his feet with fists balled at his sides, shaking in a cold, clammy bout of disoriented fright, "I thought I was a goner! I could've sworn my skin was bubbling and frying from my bones! JIMMINY CHRISTMAS!"
"You got caught in a mind trap, Arthur. See, you should've listened when I told you IT IS POINTLESS TO RUN!"
"Well how was I supposed to know that I couldn't run? You didn't say anything about, 'The rules clearly state,' Arthur made an insulting impression of the guide, 'that you are not allowed to run!'"
The guide was clearly annoyed by his facetiousness, "You are the one who has to ASK those questions, Arthur! That is part of the point to this ordeal! Those who do not ask the appropriate questions, and simply go gallivanting throughout the countryside, doing whatever they feel like, will not make it in this world for even a minute! Every tip-toe you make should be calculated, and every risk should be minimized."
The raggedy lad rebelliously grunted yet again, "Alright, I get it, I'll just walk if it won't make a difference!"
"Arthur...do you notice where you are right now?"
The student took notice of his surroundings. The bridge that had seemed so far away, and looked like it had disappeared off the face of the plane was just sitting there right in front of him. It gently swayed and, creepily, made no sounds whatsoever, despite its old appearance and steady rocking.
"GEEZ! Why did I have to go through that pan of boiling oil just to get to the bridge? Couldn't it have just like...STAYED here for me?"
"Ah, I see," his annoying entourage derided, "wanting to take the EASY way out, are we?"
Arthur blew a raspberry at him, not amused by his teasing ways. Shakily, still jarred by the traumatic scene he experienced just a few moments ago, he walked over to the supports of the bridge, pleased that the thick, wooden posts, the size of tree trunks, looked burly enough to withstand the weight of a freight train. The planks of the bridge, however, were dotted with greenish white blots, as if some kind of mold had started to grow on them. Some were splintered, just barely hanging onto the heavy duty rope woven around them, with holes going through others. In general, it was a rotten mess that Arthur gulped at the prospect of trying to cross over.
As he took his first step to the end of the bridge, keeping safe on the dirty path for the time being, Arthur made the mistake of peering down the separated cliff-sides, only passable by way of crossing the chasm. To say he was gobsmacked would have to be the understatement of the century. What greeted him was not just a black bottomless pit, seeming to only stop at the ends of the universe, but there were some sort of distorted purple and blue streams of cosmic residue, lacing and bending in, around, over, and under each other. He took note that one wrong move on the bridge would not be a good idea.
"Um..." he never took his eyes off of his impending doom, "g...g...g...guide?"
"I'm all ears..."
"...Would you mind telling me where this scary, flowing stuff in the chasm leads to?..."
"Heh...how funny you should ask that, Arthur," the aardvark could tell from the guide's chuckle that whatever he would tell him would be indigestion inducing, "this is what most of the few beings who survived their trial used to call...The Void... It is the coagulation and manifestation of inter-spacial material between your world and the one you intend to visit, further connected to the vast materials of the rest of space, like a network of astral rivers."
"The who and the whats now?" Arthur was very confused by all of that gibberish.
"...The mechanics involved need not concern you. Just because I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you a freebie hint and urge you not to fall into it, for the ramifications of doing so are...beyond comprehension..."
Wow, how cryptic could you possibly get? Arthur decided not to press it since he at least had enough of a picture of what he was up against, and once again, the guide would just say, "Everyone sees everything differently here."
Deciding to get this show on the road, Arthur made a solid step onto the first plank of the bridge, carefully making sure to center his feet.
CRACK!
"WHOA!"
The wooden board under Arthur's feet picked the exact same moment to give out from under him. Making him fall through the absent support. He gripped instinctively onto the lower set of ropes now above his head, his only salvation from the murky abyss below.
"OH GEEZ, OH NO!"
He started hyperventilating as he watched the broken wood sail into the stream of colors, de-materializing on contact. The frantic explorer tried not to jerk around too much, in case the ropes might give out, but he was wantonly scanning for some way back up to safety. He couldn't get a steady enough grip on the next whole plank, and there was nowhere to grab onto where he started from, not to mention he wasn't strong enough to haul himself up on the rope.
"UH OH, OOOOOH!"
During his panic attack, he had neglected to check straight in front of him. His gaze settled upon a small nook, where a nice, shiny grappling hook and rope line sat coiled into it. Arthur wondered who would be stupid enough to leave something so valuable and crucial to survival in a small outcropping such as this. As he felt his grip give way, he didn't focus on that for long, opting to reach gingerly into the little hole and grasp his new tool.
His one arm started to buckle under the pressure of his weight. Sensing his danger, Arthur quickly but carefully fumbled with the grapple, haphazardly swinging it out to his side, hoping beyond hope that it landed somewhere solid when he threw it. He let it fly with just enough force to make sure it went somewhere stable, but didn't go too far and leave him with no means of escape. Relief flashed on his face as his free arm and hand rejoined the other, giving him plenty of strength, for now, to stay steady while watching the arching line the hook made to its intended point.
After it stopped, giving Arthur just enough rope to grab onto it and climb his way to freedom, he took that opportunity, though it made his arms burn even more as he was forced to hold his weight awkwardly, or plummet. He crept up slowly, pain shooting through them, inching toward the top of the cliff-side.
He thought he was home free, the last half-foot or so of onyx earth above his head, when from the top of the ravine a long, peach-colored hand with five fingers shot out and wrenched around Arthur's forearm. He bit his lip until it bled, keeping himself from screeching, caught off guard, or flailing around frantically, making himself lose his balance and hold. The hand seemed to want to help him, actually, which was accepted gratefully by the tired climber. Putting all of his trust into this mystery person, he let go of the grappling hook, which slid out from under him, losing its hold on whatever it had, sliding down away, meeting the same fate as the plank a few seconds before, and latched onto the hand with his own. They were surprisingly strong, whoever it was, as Arthur was hoisted up with an embarrassing ease.
Arthur's glee at being saved from oblivion was short lived, however, as the trees, hills, mountains, and the path had been replaced by some sort of...game show studio...
"WELCOME, ARTHUR READ!"
A tall human in one of those bright Hawaiian shirts tucked into a pair of khaki trousers, the one who had evidently pulled him up, greeted the aardvark through a microphone in an enthusiastic voice, much like the announcer at the ICEC. He had a jet black, heavily slicked back hairdo, and was motioning for Arthur to follow him.
He took in the flashy, gaudy studio, filled to the brim with lights blinking on and off, and in different patterns. A large table sat in front of a huge electronic screen that was showing a logo of some sort. The screen was mounted on a wall to Arthur's left. On the right side of the place were three podium boxes, two already full with other humans inside of them, one man and one woman. They were smiling and clapping for Arthur, who started to figure out that the last one was for him. He was to be the next contestant.
Behind the elementary-schooler, instead of the bridge and chasm he saw before, there was a huge crowd gathered in a bunch of stands, cheering loudly as the new contestant was told to go behind his podium. The emcee spoke again heatedly.
"You are the next competitor on..." he put his hands toward the crowd to make them chant along, "SAVE...YOUR...SOOOOOOUL!" The crowd drew out the last word, applauding madly and waving their arms around in excitement.
Arthur did not like the sound of that...
"Are you still there, Guide?..." he whispered under his breath. A lack of reply clued the new participant in on his slip into yet another trap. The announcer smiled and waved to the audience in that practiced, professional way that so fit his job description as he started up again.
"Now, I bet all of you are wondering, including our looooovely contestants," he demonstrated to them with his arms, "how do we play Save Your Soul? Well folks, it's as easy as one-two-three, three questions, that is, that will be given to our players to be answered more quickly than their opponents can buzz in!"
He motioned to the big, red buttons sitting on top of the podiums.
"The rules are simple, a question will be displayed to our players on this fabulous electronic board behind me! The player who buzzes in first will be allowed to attempt to answer it! If they get it right, they'll hear a "ding ding ding" and be awarded one out of a possible three points! If they get it wrong, they'll hear a "raaaaant", and another player gets the chance to steal the point! In the event of a tie, we still have plenty elimination questions for them! The winner gets to live with his or her soul intact, and a ten thousand dollar cash prize! The middle-man also gets to live, but gets no cash prize! The loser of the game will subsequently lose their soul, and be transported to one of the lavish, death-ridden locales of our judge's choice!"
Arthur took a glance between his two rivals, who only had smiles ironed on their faces, the kind of creepy, fake smiles that dolls wear. He couldn't fathom why they seemed so happy about this. He felt like he was going to be sick. All the same, he readied his hand at the button, not wanting to take any chances with losing this game.
"ALRIGHT, LET'S GET STARTED! The first question on the board is... How many star clusters currently surround the Wiggedy Waggedy Bop Nebula?
WHAT THE?... There were no words to describe the baffled, dumbfounded look on Arthur's face, but he slammed his hand on that buzzer like his life depended on it.
"ARTHUR READ! What is your answer?"
"...Uh...three hundred million?"
"RAAAAAAANT"
"Oh, I'm sorry Arthur, that is incorrect! Anyone else?"
The mechanical-looking woman on Arthur's left buzzed in.
"MRS. PENNY! What is YOUR answer?"
"TWO!"
"DING DING DING"
"That is CORRECT!"
The little, white counter in front of her podium that read "0" turned abruptly to "1".
"Darn..." Arthur mused to himself fearfully. He was already half-way to losing, and what kind of stupid question was that anyway? There was no way he could've known something so preposterous!
"Great job! Now, onto question number two... If a farmer has three donkeys, and one of them is brown, then...what is the consistency of a planet full of turnips with gravy smothered all over it?"
"...YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Arthur screamed out loud, not caring if anyone was disturbed by it or not. Mrs. Penny decided to buzz in yet again.
"MRS. PENNY AGAIN! What is your answer?"
"Um..." Mrs. Penny put a finger to her face, contorted in concentration, "a golden orangutan?..."
DING DING DING
"That is correct!"
Her own little counter turned to a two while everyone clapped for her.
"HOLD IT, HOLD IT! THIS IS JUST STUPID!" Arthur got out from behind the podium, stomping over to the middle of the studio, raging his head off, "I DON'T KNOW WHO THE HECK INVENTED THIS GAME, BUT THESE QUESTIONS HAVE TO BE THE DUMBEST, MOST MEANINGLESS, BATTY EXCUSES FOR GAME-SHOW MATERIAL I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED AND RIDICULED FOR EVEN BEING IN THE AUDIENCE FOR SOMETHING THIS MESSED UP! ALL OF YOU! WOULD IT KILL YOU," he turned to the emcee, quite incensed, "TO ASK QUESTIONS THAT DON'T HAVE CRAPPY ANSWERS? I SWEAR TO GOD!"
His rant over with, Arthur took himself and his angry, red face back over behind the podium, creating a silence in the area that was incredibly uncomfortable.
"...WELL THEN LETS KEEP GOING THEN, SHALL WE?" the announcer positively gushed again, as if Arthur hadn't even said a single word. The crowd followed his example, practically ignoring the rage-fueled aardvark.
"...UGH..."
"Okay folks, it's two for Mrs. Penny, zero for Mr. Dime, and zero for Arthur! Mrs. Penny has been solidified as the winner, but we still have a little TIE-BREAKER on our hands! This next question will determine who will stay whole and whose head will roll! Mr. Read, Mr. Dime, are you ready?"
"YEAH WOO HOO I'M READY!" Mr. Dime screamed at the top of his lungs, a little too excited for something so death-defying.
"...Let's just get this over with..." Arthur sighed with his head in his hand, propped up on his elbow. He didn't give a crud anymore. He would hit the buzzer as fast as he could, just so he could throw out the first thing that comes to mind.
"Now then, for the tie-breaker question... If nine times ten equals ninety, and sea breezes are composed of a mixture of beard shavings and whale farts, what is the least common denominator of yelling crocodiles in a cramped suburban basement?"
HONK
"ARTHUR READ! What is your answer?"
"...I don't know...YOUR MOTHER?..."
A huge gasp was released from the audience, the Hawaiian shirt-clad man's mouth dropped in apparent offense to Arthur's half-baked, insulting answer.
DING DING DING
The crowd roared with clapping, the sound reaching new decibel levels. Arthur could only unhinge his jaw as he heard the chimes, telling him he was correct. Who would've thought he'd actually win with that kind of obnoxiousness?
"HOLY COW! Arthur, you have just saved yourself from a gruesome fate! With your answer, Mr. Dime is the undisputed loser of "SAVE YOUR SOUL"!
As Arthur turned to look at the face of Mr. Dime, who would no doubt be panicking, he was shocked to find the man applauding and cheering for the younger boy as well, the same plastered on grin adorning his face. Some kind of spacial rift, not unlike the first one Arthur went through, opened up in front of Mr. Dime menacingly, ready to swallow the human whole in a matter of seconds.
"WHOOPEE! I GET TO GO ON A TRIP!" Mr. Dime shouted just as ignorantly of his sticky situation as the portal grew, bringing more and more of Mr. Dime into its clutches with every moment. Soon enough, he had been sucked through the portal with a sickening squeak. Arthur was only too happy to have not lost the game.
"...Boy Arthur...you need to quit getting sucked into these kinds of things..."
The prone Arthur was now face-first on the ground out in the plane world. The guide was starting to get a little exacerbated by how easily Arthur would get stuck in those traps. Oh well, he just had to wait it out again. If the boy wasn't back up in ten minutes, he'd have to declare him insane and dead to move on to the next candidate.
Sure enough, Arthur's fingers started to twitch, which lead to limbs twitching and moving. He started picking himself up off the ground when his consciousness had returned. He must've been getting used to the mental strain since he didn't seem too fazed, though it could also be his mental unbalance kicking in too. He stood silently for a minute, as if contemplating something. The guide took this as his queue.
"...So...have fun?..."
"SHUT IT!"
"Whoa...looks like somebody's a little tense."
"Why shouldn't I be tense? That game-show was so stupid! I wouldn't watch trash t.v. like that if you paid me! It was just...ARRRRRRGH!"
The guide snickered with humor. He always loved hearing about the peculiar experiences of the mind trap victims, and especially their reactions to them. Arthur's was pretty hilarious. He was such a vocal victim...
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, Arthur. Look behind you."
Arthur did as instructed, a little apprehensive to do anything this guide tells him to do anymore. However, it seemed that there was a good thing that came out of all of this, he was on the other side of the bridge somehow.
"WHAT? How did I?..."
Suddenly, it dawned on Arthur that there was something very ironic about all of this...
"I DIDN'T NEED TO CROSS THE BRIDGE EITHER? That's just great! So what, is the bridge just for show or something?"
"Oh no no," Arthur's entourage contradicted him, "I have seen MANY beings cross that bridge, well, one similar to it at least, as each plane is different too. It just seems that with whatever task you completed, it gave you a boost. Consider yourself lucky, for this is pretty rare. I've watched as countless beings dematerialized in that chasm. They lose their physical bodies, and their souls get swept away in the vast ocean of the universe, reuniting with dead loved ones and such. Very poetic if I do say so myself."
To Arthur though, the thought made him inch away from the mouth of the cliff-side cautiously. He turned around and noticed another swirling mass of energy on his way. It was substantially closer than it looked on the other side of the bridge. That must've been the way to Equestria, not but a quarter of a mile away.
The guide seemed pretty psyched about something as his voice came out again, "You're SO close Arthur, my boy! All you have to do now is follow the rest of the path all the way to the portal. There are no more obstacles, so go on, enjoy your prize!"
The bespectacled lad's eyes narrowed in suspicion. This was just a little too good to be true.
"...What are you trying to pull on me?..."
"Nothing, Arthur," he was doing a poor job at sounding put off by the accusation, "I simply want to get onto the next poor sap that wants to cross to another world, as I'm SURE you'll make it out of here just fine now. Let us be off."
The aardvark huffed again tiredly, tempted to take that advice and run with it, since he was just so exhausted and frustrated now. He started briskly walking along the path, a light, quiet breeze still the only sound in the soundless world.
After walking about half of that quarter mile. Arthur noticed a low, glass-like sheet, covering the remainder of the road, just high enough to crawl under, stopping eight feet from the portal. The ground the path was composed of under the protective sheet, however, had taken on an even dirtier, grassy visage. He furrowed his brow in thought.
"Hey guide...what's that glass sheet for?..."
"You'll find out soon enough, YOU HAPLESS LITTLE FOOL!"
A screeching caw filled the boy's ears, making him turn his head up jerkily to the sky. In it, he saw a purple pterodactyl flying by, but this was different from the ones he had ever seen in his science books. This pterodactyl had the head of...a woman...and it had neon blue eyes that were as razor sharp as its fangs and claws. It snarled and growled at Arthur before letting loose some sort of green, slimy projectile, aiming straight for his head.
"You...might want to avoid that..." the guide mumbled unfazed, sounding amused that he had tricked Arthur into believing that he was completely home free.
Arthur, however, took no chances, and ducked just as the green ball of goo flew over his head into a nearby bush, watching as it deteriorated, the slime seeming to consume and eat away at it.
"...W...w?..."
"Mutants, Arthur, that's what those are called, and I'd hurry to the portal, under the glass, of course, because there will be a swarm of them pretty soon..."
As the mutant crowed for its brethren, Arthur saw the horizon completely fill with the foul creatures. As they all started gunning for him, and green slime jetted from every direction, now was his time to run.
He crawled under the glass casing just in time for some balls of ooze to plop against it. The glass, miraculously, held its integrity as fountains of slime gushed all around it. Under all of that stuff, darkness enveloped the case, his only source of light the other side where his destination waited for him. He also noticed that the ground around him was starting to shift and give way.
"Uh oh...OH CRUD...I'm sinking!"
"Better get a move on then..."
The ground was squishy, dirty, and most important of all, pulling him under. He powered through the quicksand-like substance as hard as he could, flailing his arms and legs in some kind of synchronization. The darkness from the probable millions of mutants outside shelling the glass wasn't helping his confidence much either. He was crawling roughly, clumsily, as he made sure his head didn't go under. He'd be fine as long as that glass kept holding up.
Eventually, a nearly tapped out Arthur zoomed out of the glass on the other side, beholding the similar-looking portal to the one he had came through to get here. He used the mutants' unawareness of his exit to buy himself some more time. As he ran up the steps to the portal, he frantically thanked the guide for his help on his quest.
"Well," he started, running for his life while green globs began trickling his direction, "I guess this is it. Thanks for the help."
"You have passed this test, Arthur, go forward into the other world, and revel in your great victory!"
As Arthur jumped into the portal, just in time for a goo shell to barely swipe his foot, his body stopped moving, in fact, time itself had halted as the mutants and their ooze projectiles froze in mid-air. As the rift sensed his presence and insistence on entering, it scanned him, breaking down every piece of the boy's body to suck them in, one by one, until the last piece was completely ingested.
He was free...
A/N - Got everything out, in a nutshell, other than a few things. I wanted to get this whole "plane crossing" arch over with, since this story will probably be long enough as it is without these side things. I apologize to anyone who absolutely hated this chapter, but it should pick up after the inspiration hits me again.