Spike and Twilight were in the kitchen having breakfast. They were eating in silence, until spike decided to speak up.
"So, Twi, what are you doing today?" He asked.
"Spike, I have princess work I need to take care o,f remember?" Twilight said while eating her breakfast.
"that's too bad... Because I was hoping we could play a game." Spike said with an innocent? child-like smile.
"I already said, I'm too busy. " Twilight repeated, a little agitation in her voice.
"Ok, whatever you say, Twi... So how's that breakfast I made for you?" Spike asked, with a little pride in his work.
"It's great, Spike. You're a wonderful cook." Twilight said. She thought something tasted off about breakfast today, but she didn't say anything, as to not hurt spike's feelings.
"That's really nice of you to say Twi... but now, since you're a princess, don't you think you should get a royal food taster?"
What Spike had said really surprised Twilight. She found it was an odd thing for him to ask her.
"Why would I need one of those, Spike?" she asked, genuinely confused by the question.
"You know, just in case somepony decides to put something in your food." Spike said, putting emphasis on the word food.
The next thing Twilight knew, the whole room started to spin, making her fall out of her chair.
"Spike, I- I feel kind of dizzy. Spike, what's going on?" twilight said trying to get back on her hooves, but failing terribly.
Twilight could hear Spike's scaled feet as he walked around the table to her side. When Twilight looked up at him from the floor, she could see that he still wore that innocent child like smile on his face.
"Like I said before, Twilight... I want to play a game." Was the last thing Twilight heard before she passed out. But the last thing she saw was a row of razor sharp teeth smiling at her.
Twilight woke up, but she still felt dizzy, and she could feel immense pain on her body. When her head stopped spinning, she could finally see straight. She noticed she was in one of the castles many rooms, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why she was here.
"HELLO? IS ANYPONY THERE?" Twilight shouted as loud as she could.
"Oh, good, you're awake. I was afraid I might of overdosed you." Twilight could hear someone say, but she couldn't seem to pinpoint where
the voice was coming from. it seemed to be bouncing off the walls.
"Spike? Spike, is that you? spike, what's going on?!" twilight said in a panic, looking around the room.
"Like I said before, Twi, I want to play a game. Oh, and don't bother looking for me, I'm in a completely different room from you. I don't know if you know, but this castle has an ECHO." Spike said while shouting the word echo as loud as he could, so it lingered in the air around twilight for awhile, "So as long as I'm in the right room, and I speak loud enough, you should be able to hear me, and vise versa."
Despite what he said, Twilight still frantically looked around the room.
"That still doesn't answer my question, Spike. I want you to tell me, in detail, what. Is. Going. ON."
"What is going on, Twilight, is you are going to play a little game to make up for all the shit I have been put through."
Twilight was genuinely confused by the statement.
"Spike, what are you even talking about?" twilight said with a hint of worry in her voice.
"I'm sick of being ignored and treated like crap! You leave me behind to clean up your messes while you go play with your friends! I have been left behind countless times to watch the place while you go somewhere to have fun, and when I do get to go somewhere with you, its just so I can carry your shit. . . not to mention all the abuse I have been put through, I have been smacked around countless times, and did anypony care? No, I was either ignored are laughed at. That's right, my misery is your enjoyment... And don't tell me you're surprised by this, because this has been a long time coming."
Twilight could feel her eyes filling with tears. Did spike really see his life this way?
"Spike I'm sorry! I- I had no idea you felt this way. let's just talk, okay? I promise everything will be different. There's no need for all this."
"Talk? You want me to talk? I have talked dozens of times about this. And every time, you say how much I mean to you, then we hug, just for the whole thing to start over again. So, no, I'm not talking, because it's pointless. And yes, I know we've had our good times, but the bad overshadows it. So you are going to start acting like a real friend and play my game."
"Game? You're doing all this just for a game?" Twilight said, completely confused. This all seemed to extreme just for a simple game.
"I guess I should get to the point. You see, Twi, while you were passed out I turned your Castle of Friendship into a castle of death. The game is simple; each room has been made to hurt you both physically and mentally, and the rooms I don't want you to go in to have been blocked off so you can't get in to them. If you make it to the end you win the game, simple as that."
Twilight's eyes were ready to pop out of her head.
"SPIKE HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY INSANE?! Why would I agree to play a game like this? Also, how did you even put something like this together?!" Twilight said in a panic, she felt as though this couldn't be real.
"If you want to know how, I'm a dragon of many talents. Plus, you've been out for five whole days now. I had to keep you knocked out. I would've let you wake sooner, but to get the game set up took a lot longer then expected... As to why you should play my game, you don't really have much of a choice. You see, I have injected you with a lethal poison, and the cure is at the end of the game. So if you don't play, you will die."
Twilight couldn't believe what was happening. Spike had put this whole game thing together, just because he hated his life. A game that puts her own life on the line. But then it hit her, she had something that could get her out of this.
"You know, Spike, I'm an alicorn, in case you have forgotten. What's stopping me from just using my magic?"
Twilight could feel hope building up inside herself, she had a way to get out of this.
But that hope was short lived, as she could hear laughter echoing around her. Laughter that sent chills through her body.
"Ha ha ha! I take it you haven't noticed it then, have you? Tell me something, Twi, do you by any chance feel lighter then normal?."
Lighter then normal? what could he possibly mean by that? But then it hit her. The pain she had been feeling since she woke up. Slowly, and with a shaky hoof, she reached up and touched her forehead, just to feel nothing. Nothing but a bony lump where her horn should be. She then quickly put her hoof down, and then turned her neck around to look at her back, just to see nothing but dried blood. At this point Twilight was hyperventilating, and screaming.
"YOU CUT OFF MY HORN AND WINGS!!!!" Twilight shouted so loud that she could be heard, even if there wasn't an echo.
"Wow, you're loud. And of course I got rid of your horn and wings! Couldn't have you cheating at my little game now, could we?" Spike said in such a calm voice it nearly had Twilight in tears, due to how he sounded like he had no regrets about what he has done.
"You said I have been out for five whole days, right? Ponies must be looking for me by now!" Twilight said desperately, wanting to find a way to get out of this.
"Oh, I won't worry about that, Twilight. You see, I told everypony you were off on one of your little missions again, and that you might be gone for a while. So, no, Twilight, nopony is looking for you. And even if they were, I highly doubt this is what they think is happening."
"what about the girls, then spike? I go everywhere with them, they must know something is up!" twilight said defiantly. The other elements of harmony, her friends, were her last hope...
But then it happened again. That laugh, a laugh that destroyed any hope she had.
"Ha ha ha ha! Twilight, did you really think I would put a game like this together and not invite the girls? It wouldn't be much fun without them. Plus, if you're gone and the other elements are still around, it might raise some questions. I did have to think about all this very carefully you know, I'm not an idiot."
"You have the girls playing this sick game, too? WHY?! What did they ever do?!" It was bad enough when she felt her own life was on the line, but now it was also her friends.
"Oh they have, in some way or another, pissed me off. And as for them playing, I wouldn't say they're playing the game as much as they are the game. Do you remember when I said? Each room has been made to hurt you both physically and mentally. Well ,they're the mental part. You see, Twilight, I have put each of the other elements of harmony in a death trap, in each of the rooms. and if you don't free them in time, they will die in probably a painful way. So, now do you wanna play a game?"
"Fine. I'll play your SICK game." Twilight said, realising she really didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Very good, I knew you would. But don't forget there is a time limit, not just for you getting your cure, but also for the girls. You see, they're death traps are going to go off one way or another... but the first thing you need to do is get out of that room. The door's locked and you need the key, what is somewhere in that room. I can't tell you where, because that would just ruin the fun, but I can give you a hint. keep your EYE peeled. Well, thats it, I'll talk to you later then, Twilight. Oh, and don't bother screaming for help, the castle might have an echo to it, but nopony outside can hear, no matter how loud you scream. Have fun, now." Spike said 'have fun, now' in such a creepy way it nearly sent a chill down Twilight's spine.
'Keep my eye peeled? What could he possibly mean by that?' Twilight thought to herself. She started looking around the room for any sign of the key, but she found nothing. The only thing in the room was a mirror up against the wall. A mirror she didn't remember being in this room, which means...
"Spike must have put this here... But why?" Twilight said to herself as she slowly walked up to the mirror.
As she walked closer, she noticed two things about the mirror.
One; She looked like crap. Her coat and mane were unkempt, messy, and had dried blood from Spike cutting off her wings.
But on the mirror itself was something that looked like a scalpel, stuck on the mirror by a peace of tape. Twilight took the scalpel off the mirror. She then looked down at the scalpel then back up at her own reflection. and found she really did look awful, her horn gone, cut away by this monster that she once called her Number One Assistant and friend... but when she looked further down her face, she notice something that disturbed her. Her left eye was bloodshot, around it were stitches, and under the eye was a trail of dry blood that soaked in to her coat.
Twilight just stared at her own reflection, looking at her own left eye. Slowly, and with a shaky hoof, she brought the scalpel up to her left eye, and put it just under one of the stitches. As she continued to look at herself, what Spike said echoed in her head.
'Keep your EYE peeled.'
At that moment, she knew. She knew where the key was, but for the life of her, she really wished she didn't. Using the scalpel, she slowly cut away the stitches, as blood poured out of her open wound, mixed with her tears, from the unspeakable pain she was feeling, from cutting up her own face. With screams and clenched teeth, Twilight managed to cut away all the stitches. When she was finished, a large piece of flesh fell from under her eye, almost like the stitches were the only thing keeping it in place. When she looked at the piece of flesh, blood poured out of her gaping wound, along with a key.
Twilight put her hoof on her left eye to try and stop the bleeding, but due to how bad it was, blood still found its way out, dripping on the floor, as her right eye dripped tears, from the horrible pain she was feeling. Twilight was shaking, from both pain and fear. She had the key, but she knew if she didn't get her wound treated she was going to die from blood loss, never mind poison.
Twilight bent down and picked up the key with her teeth, the taste of blood getting in her mouth. But she found she didn't have a choice, without the use of her magic she had to use her hooves or mouth, and since she needed one of her hooves to put over her wound to stop the bleeding, and couldn't walk on just two legs, she had to put the blood covered key in her mouth.
Now with the key, Twilight rushed for the door, all while holding her eye. Using her mouth, Twilight managed to put the key in the door and turn it. Pushing it open, she walked in to the next room. Twilight now found herself in one of the castles many halls. She walked down the hall, with her hoof still over her wound, what was still dripping blood what was leaving a trail behind her.
While she was walking, Twilight bumped into something. Looking down, she noticed it was a medical kit, and on it was a note written in purple writing.
'Dear Twilight,
This is for your eye. Can't have you dying so early in the game, now, can we?
Sincerely your number one assistant, Spike.
But you can now call me by the name I now prefer. . . SPIKESAW.'