The three mares had arrived at a door after a half an hour of walking through several hallways and completing puzzles. They were all tired, and ready to complete their next task. As they walked through the door, it had closed shut behind them.

“Let us out!”

Rainbow Dash banged on the metal door, hoping to damage it and free her and her friends from the room. This proved useless.

“Rainbow, quiet down a little. I think I hear something.” Twilight said.

“Well I don’t hear anything. And I am sure not going to play another one of this psychopath’s games!”

The three of them were too tired to argue, and they decided to rest while Jigsaw prepared his game.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Half-Track had only one thing on his mind while following Jigsaw’s path, and that was finding his family. It had been the only thing keeping him going through all these tests. He finally had reached the door leading to his family with ten seconds to spare, and he let out a sigh of relief.

“I fucking made it…”

Half-Track walked into the room, and with no surprise, the door locked behind him. The room was dark, but he noticed two cages on each side of him. He could not believe he would be able to return to his loving wife and son.

“I MADE IT!” He yelled at Jigsaw.

Two walls slid open, one revealing Twilight and her friends, the other revealing his family. Half-Track and Twilight just stared at each other for a moment, a look of shock on both of their faces.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

“Half-Track!” Faith called out.

He turned around and ran to his wife and son. It has been so long since he had seen their faces.

“I’m so glad you’re alive, dad! I missed you so much.” His son said, barely able to control his excitement.

“I missed you too. Both of you.” He replied tearfully.

“Are you alright?” He asked both of them. The two nodded.

“LET THEM GO! I MADE IT, I WON!” He screamed at Jigsaw.

There was no reply.

Anger was building up inside Twilight. She had known this stallion very well before all this.

“You…” Twilight muttered, almost furious.

Half-Track turned to Twilight, a hint of sadness shown across his face.

A Television tuned on behind the girls. The doll greeting them once more.

“Hello Twilight. I am sure you remember this stallion very well. The two of you were…Remarkably close. We will see if this certain history affects your decision.”

Her friends looked to her in confusion.

“What is he talking about?” Pinkie asked.

“I…I don’t know…”

“You know I don’t take kindly to lying, Princess. Why have you not even mentioned this to the ponies that you convince yourself to be your friends? Is it from repressed emotions, or something much more? Please explain to us why this stallion is so special.” Jigsaw wanted her friends to know the truth.

Twilight looked around at all the faces staring at her, and she finally realized it was time to confess.

“Before I met you girls, after I worked at this asylum, there were several cases of murders around the towns I had visited. The police wanted my knowledge to assist them in finding the murderer. I was paired up with Half-Track. This is why I know him. We later started dating. One day he got a lead on the killer, and decided to investigate.”

Twilight’s voice had started to waver.

“This was the day he saved Rarity from one of the killer’s traps. He started to call them the “Jigsaw Killer” from the many jigsaw puzzle drawings on the walls. He was obsessed with Jigsaw. He kept insisting on finding this maniac. He just disappeared altogether later on. It was only until a few weeks earlier that I noticed something was wrong with Rarity.”

“I’m sorry Twilight. I couldn't help it. I just didn't want anypony else to die…” Half-Track pleaded.

“But with this obsession, you led another life to its end. With your constant bombardment of questions and forceful authority, you drove this mare insane. Causing her attempt to end her life on several occasions, isolating herself from society. This is what brought her here.” Jigsaw interrupted.

“Twilight, the pony before you just made the sacrifices to save the lives of his only family. However, this is also the pony that brought Rarity’s life to an end. Now you will be given the power to save a life. Will you grant this stallion the opportunity to continue living, or will you dispense the same death sentence he issued your friend. Live or die. The choice is yours.”

Half-Track had a sudden realization.

“It’s not my game…”

He walked over to Twilight’s cage, and pleaded for her to let him live.

“Just please, don’t do this…”

He looked into her eyes, but even he could not pin down her true thoughts.

Twilight had some time to think.

“What are you waiting for? Just kill him! He is the one who brought Rarity here!”

Rainbow was angry at Twilight’s hesitation to immediately eradicate his life.

Twilight made her decision quickly.

“No.” Twilight decided.

“WHAT!?” Everyone in the room gasped almost simultaneously.

Twilight was confident with her answer.

“I don’t want to kill him. Taking revenge on sompony is not the correct way to resolve things, even if they caused the death of your friend.”

Jigsaw was furious from this.

“NO! THIS IS NOT HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!” He screamed at Twilight.

His whole plan was ruined, and he would now have to start a whole new one.

Then he had an idea.

“No matter. I had made minor preparations, if you for some reason decided to spare him. You will now learn that every choice you make in life has repercussions.”

Half-Track turned back to his Wife and son, and heard a small beeping.

“What is that noise?” He asked.

Faith had reached around to the back of her head, and felt a small scar behind her ear.

“Oh no…”

Quickly, his wife and son’s heads had burst outward, creating a mess of brain matter and fragments of skull. Their bodies slowly slumped to the ground.

“NO!!” Half-Track screamed.

“What the fuck…”

He started to cry over the bloodied carcasses in front of him.

He pounded the ground in anger. After all that has happened, after all he went through to see his family. They were gone forever now.

“FUCK YOU!!!” He screamed at the ceiling with tearful eyes.

Twilight was devastated. She thought she had made the right choice by letting him live.

“Why would you do this?” He asked Twilight.

The only thing she could do was stare at the ground.

“Why didn't you kill me? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!”

Twilight had nothing to say.

The cage walls had lifted, allowing them all to move towards their next objective.

“I hope you understand the true consequences of your decisions, Twilight. It may not seem like the right thing to do, but you must think about others. Think about what would happen to them if you made this choice. Now you will have to live with the burden of murdering a pony’s family. All of you must work to complete my next test cooperatively. If you fail to do so, you might have a challenging time. Learn to accept others mistakes.”

“Accept my ass.” Half-Track muttered.

There was still an ever lingering tension between Twilight and Half-Track. Rainbow and Pinkie decided to stay out of their way for the time being. They didn't want to start anything that could be potentially harmful to the group morale, if it wasn't already dead.

_________________________________________________________________________________

They arrived at four doors, each one with the sign “Observation”.

“Hello. If you remember anything from our last lesson, it is that every choice has repercussions. This is a prime example of that lesson. Before you are four doors, each one a separate room from the other. I would like you to step into these rooms.”

The four reluctantly did so.

“You will choose the fate of two ponies. Ones that you hold most dear to yourselves.”

Two curtains lifted, revealing a cowering Fluttershy in one room, and an aggressive AppleJack, each with contraptions on their heads.

“The devices latched on to their faces are one of my prized possessions. Like I said, you will be deciding the fate of these two ponies. But it will not be in the form you are expecting. You will vote for who lives, and who dies with the two buttons in front of you. The pony with the most votes gets released from the device. The other, however, will meet a much worse fate. The Death Mask has spikes built in. Once the mask closes, her head will be impaled several times at once from both sides. Imagine it as a…Venus Fly Trap. Although I doubt you have any knowledge of Flora from indigenous parts of Equestria. If there is a tie, both ponies will die. You are all in total control of these mares’ fates. Which life will you sacrifice to save the other? You can have as much time as you can.”

No other test has had as much of an effect on Twilight as this one did. How can anypony be this cruel? Twilight wished she didn't have to vote on one of her best friends. But wishes don’t come true here. There will never be happiness even if Twilight escapes this nightmare alive. Nothing will be the same no matter what she does to stop it. Jigsaw is finally starting to make sense.

Author's Note

Sorry if I am taking too long to put in chapters, or if they are a bit shorter, or if maybe my wording is a bit off. I just have real life work to do, and I am pretty tired by the time I get home and write out the chapter.This is more of a hobby. Had a harder time to get on track from my long weekend off work. Also, I made a typo in the comments from my last chapter. I actually get home at five, not four.