It was a dark, stormy night - lightning and thunder was striking and storming almost constantly... It drowned out all noise around the town.
Everypony was struggling to sleep because of the constant noise, it was hard to go to another pony's house as it was jet-black outside, everypony was stuck in their house.
No pony knew what could of happened to eachother, for all everypony knew Fluttershy could of had a heart-attack because of the storm, it seemed like something that would happen to her, but they didn't know she was long gone - And so were the rest of them.
Far away from PonyVille, the Mane 6 slowly pulled themselves from their sleep, waking up slowly they were in a pile in the corner of the room, the first voice they could hear was a soft voice, a complaint from rarity
"Ngnh... Applejack... Get your hoof out of my face, it's dirty..."
Rainbow Dash was on the top of the pile and slowly climbed off of them, looking around the room - They all then followed suite, climbing down from the small hill they made... They all looked restless but they were all unconscious for hours.
The ponies found themselves trapped in a small cage made of iron-bars only.
"What is this place?" Applejack muttered as she looked at the many corridors, all heading a different direction
"It's a maze... Do you seriously not know what one of them is?" Twilight Sparkle turned to face her
"No" Applejack says softly, still trying to figure out the purpose of all the corridors.
Twilight sighed, looking at the bars "Don't worry, I'll get us out of here" Twilight began to grunt, unknowing her horn was gone.
A loud voice quickly spread across the maze
"Trying to break a rule?"
It was like a PA System, booming around the entire maze - They could hear it echoing further down the hallway.
"Here is how it will work..."
The voice suddenly turned quite posh, which made Pinkie Pie giggle, she clearly could not see that their lives are possibly in danger.
"You're not allowed to use magic - You're not allowed to fly"
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and smirked
"We'll see about that!" Her wings vanished, causing her to fall face-first, the chuckling turned into maniacal laughter
"You make me laugh, Rainbow Dash - You really do..." You could hear in the tone of voice that it was smiling
"Final rule - You are not allowed to look behind you..."
There was a loud mechanical whir, one side of the cage is taken down and quickly replaced by septic tanks, three of them, with three people inside - Well, they were not people nor ponies... The 6 had no idea what they were
"In exhibit number ONE..." The lighting in the tank flared up, and the eyes of the figure shot open "The stalker!" The PA sounded proud to announce.
It was a black figure, that of a human form but with deformed limbs in the shapes of cubes, it stood out rather well against the green liquid surrounding it - The most menacing part of it was the bold red eyes it had, you could see no pupil or iris, just RED...
"In exhibit number TWO..." The first tank darkened, the body of the figure completely invisible - Was darkness it's friend?
"I call him Ralph..." The PA says calmly, it was just a suit of armour with a sword, you could see no sign of anything inside, but it's head still turned slowly, examining all the ponies in line, the sword was steel and sharp, no sign of rusting or dents anywhere.
"And last but not least, my favourite, exhibit number THREE!" Tank #2 darkened, but the sword was still slightly visible, as where the eyes of 'Ralph' They were crystal white.
The lights of Tank #3 took a moment, probably to add effect to the character.
When the lights flickered on, all the ponies gasped in surprise "O-Octavia...?"
The PA burst into laughter, the microphone making a loud bang as the voice behind the PA smacked the desk - It sounded too powerful to be a human hand.
"T-That is not Octavia! This is... THE FRAUD!" It sputtered, the figure inside the tank was clearly Octavia
"THIS is Octavia..." It said calmly, a small compartment in the roof opened slowly, a loud screeching noise could be heard from the gears grinding to force the door open.
Through the hole in the roof dropped the carcass - The dead body of Octavia.
The ponies screamed in fear as they stared at the dead pony, it had a large hole ripped into it from it's stomach, it had nothing inside it anymore, and the eyes were missing.
"It can change into anything it's killed" The PA seemed to take a rather big disliking to Fluttershy, as The Fraud began to change into every single one of her animals, each time, it dropped the carcass of the animal into the room with them.
"D-Don't you do it..." Fluttershy said angrily, but her voice was still very low.
The Fraud stood idle for a second, before flashing into Angel, Angel's body dropped from the ceiling...
It slowly rolled down the hill of bodies and landed by Fluttershy's hoof, who just stared at it, before bursting into tears.
"Oh, it can also change into you!" The Fraud quickly swapped through all 6, causing Fluttershy to cry more.
Twilight Sparkle went to walk over to her to support her, but they were all quickly separated by large brick walls
"You'll all have to find yourselves or each other - Oh... Only one of you will make It out of here alive..." The PA let out another soft chuckle
"Good luck..." It said finally "You'll need it..." The microphone cut off into a small static whining noise.
"We'll be alright, guys... We'll make it out together..." Twilight says in her usual determined attitude
The only noise for a few seconds was the noise of soft-trotting hooves, before Pinkie Pie began to squeal her favourite fruit, it was like a form of torture
"Kumquat! Kumquat! Kumquat!" She says eagerly, before everypony else shouts "SHUT UP!" through the walls... Ah, silence.
The side two, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle headed left and right, it was their only option - The middle 4 head forward, so far it was easy for them as they all immediately ran into each other, while Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash headed further away from the group.
Since Fluttershy had seen all of her animals dead, she was bottling up her emotions - As soon as she saw the group she flooded, letting her tears out like a fountain.
Rarity trotted over to her and hugged her, trying not to get her own fur wet by her tears - She put Fashion over Friends, how irresponsible.
The sound of metal scraping filled the maze, the group of 4 looked around "R-Ralph?" Applejack softly muttered, scanning each corridor harshly
"Nothing..." She whispered, relieved.
"We've got to look for the other two..." Rarity said in her usual, posh voice "It'll be faster if we split up"
Fluttershy shot a glare at her "If we split up, we'll die!" Death wasn't a situation Fluttershy took softly, she began to push Rarity with her head
"I am not separating from this group to risk dying now!" Rarity began to back up against the wall.
Fluttershy was a beautiful, kind pony... But even Rarity knew when Fluttershy was angry or mad, she'd stab a pony.
Applejack ran over and put her hooves between the two
"We've hardly been here 20 minutes and y'all are already fighting, what's wrong with y'all!?" She turned her head to face Fluttershy "Come on, Sugarcube... Calm down..." She says softly, worried for her life as she stared at the hyper-ventilating yellow pony.
She then turned back to Rarity "But I do agree with Fluttershy..." She whispers "If we separate, we'll get killed faster"
She took her hooves away from the two, planting them firmly on the floor "Let's go find them... Together!"
The four slowly made their way corridor through corridor, peeking around every corner to make sure nothing was coming their way, throughout the maze there were notes scattered everywhere such as
"EYES FORWARD"
and
"ALWAYS WATCHING"
The notes did not raise the ponies hopes for survival in any way, just made them fear more for their life - Rarity stayed back from the group, trying to avoid Fluttershy in hopes she won't murder her.
A loud bang could be heard from the starting room, before the maze quickly filled with an evil chuckle
"They're free..." The PA announces, the voice was distorted and slow, demonic in a way.
Rainbow Dash whimpered, her legs beginning to quiver and buckle with every step that she took - She hated being alone at times like this, usually her friends were always there to support her soon enough.
Something caught Rainbow Dash's eye in the corridor to her left, a yellow tail appeared quickly and disappeared, it looked like Applejacks
"A-Applejack...?" She mumbled out softly
No response.
She ran through the corridor after the figure
"Fraud or Applejack? Applejack or Fraud!?" She thought to herself
She watched as the orange pony continued walking as if it was normal business, Rainbow Dash went to run up to her but as soon as she got within metres, the pony turned around to face her
"Applejack...?" She muttered, peering in
The eyes of the pony turned blood red and the body flashed white for a second, beginning to sprint full-speed at Rainbow Dash, who was already running the opposite way.
"Aghhhh!" Rainbow Dash screamed in agony as she sprinted, she was fast but she was not cautious, as she tripped over her own hooves as she ran, only barely managing to catch herself and continue running
Her yelling filled the maze, it was an ear-piercing scream - The other ponies perked their ears up as they heard her, immediately running to attention, running toward where they heard the noise coming from.
In a flash, a cyan blue pony ran straight past them, screaming as she ran for her life - A few meters back, The Fraud was chasing her in Applejack's form, flashing white with red eyes as it ran.
"Hey!" Applejack yelled after The Fraud, who paid no attention - Applejack was already on hot pursuit.
Since she was a trained pony and she had been running and bucking all her life - She had more leg-power than The Fraud, she caught up to it and dived onto it, causing the two to fall into a roll, until they rolled into a wall at high speed, Applejack was the one to hit the wall.
She took a moment to refresh her memory, her focus in a daze as she found it hard to keep her eyes open "H-Huh.." A fast, mechanical whir filled her ears, as she looked up - The Fraud had caught her.
It brought it's hand - Or, rather, a table-saw now upward, spinning it rapidly.
Applejack desperately tried to back away against the wall "H-Huh! Wha- NO! -" Silence.
The Fraud pushed it's saw into her neck, beheading her in a matter of seconds.
Blood splattered onto The Fraud, around Applejack's body and on the walls, ceiling and floor.
A cannon-shot was fired, like the Hunger Games.
The PA announced, rather proudly "One down! Four to go! The rest of you say Hello to Applejack for me..." It's voice slurred in a rather smug way.
The Fraud pulled the saw away and began to push it into the life-less body's stomach, cutting it open and ripping her insides out, using the coat of blood around them to write on the walls
"You will BLEED" with Applejack's lifeless body beneath it, her head had rolled a few feet down the corridor.
The Fraud chuckled, stepping over to it and ripping it's eyes out, pretty much sticking them together and forcing them above the I in "will" of his note - Sick bastard.
Rainbow Dash turned to look back and saw The Fraud mutilating Applejack's body, her eyes immediately filled with tears and her stomach turned upside down, feeling as if she was about to throw up any minute.
She began to cry harshly as The Fraud walked away from the two
"O-Oh god, I killed Applejack!" She whimpers, wishing she never ran past the 4 "W-What am I gonna do!?" She turned around "Do I go by m-myself...?" She swallowed her breath "Or..." She turned back...
Her heart was racing "I-If I go to them then... They'll die..." She cries
"But if I go alone... I-I'll die or I'll find T-Twilight..." Her breathing was heavy, how will she choose?
She fell onto her arse and buried her face in her hooves, wishing that she could be ended there and then so she wouldn't have to get the others killed and so she won't live with the guilt of being the reason Applejack was dead.