Chapter One- Rules and Regulations
Twilight woke up slowly, noticing she was now no longer on the floor, but in a decently comfortable bed in a stone room. She instantly knew that it was not her room. She rubbed her head, getting up quickly and examining the room around her. There was a wooden bedside table, with a lamp that no longer had a working lightbulb. She also noticed a painting hung up neatly on the wall, a painting of Luna and Celestia standing tall above a group of Equestrian ponies.
"Ngh... Spike? Spii-ke!" Twilight tried to call out to her assistant, but nobody came. She looked at the door, walking over to it and opening it, revealing a dimly-lit hallway and a path to a larger room. She also noticed more doors that had lined the hallway. She looked at the nameplate shown on the first door.
'Pinkie Pie, Super Pony Level Party Planner.'
"W-What?! Pinkie is here too?" Twilight gasped. She looked at another door.
'Vinyl Scratch, Super Pony Level DJ.'
"H-How.. they're all here! All my friends.." She told to no one. She then looked at her own door.
'Twilight Sparkle, Super Pony Level Librarian.'
"I guess we all have titles, then." She sighed to herself. She then saw something catch her eye on her bedside table; a small note in shaky handwriting.
'Hello! and welcome to The Castle of the Two Sisters! i have a game I'd like to play with you, and I need you all here to see it! Come to the throne room, I have a surprise waiting for you~! I have left directions on the bottom of this note. Goodbye, and welcome to...
...the castle of despair.'
"Ok, it should be right here.." Twilight told herself, levitating the note, studying the instructions. "Is it-"
"Hey! There's..." A familiar voice said.
"..Twilight?!" Another exclaimed. A few ponies walked up to her, revealing to be her friends Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie.
"W-What.. where.." Twilight tried to ask.
"Don't ask, as we don't know either," Rarity sighed. "I can't even remember what happend before I came here, honestly.."
"I.. did you all get the note?" Twilight asked.
"...The one tellin' us to go here for a special meeting? Yep. I think we all got the same thing," Applejack replied.
"B-But.. what about the nameplates? The super pony levels? The meeting.." Twilight began listing off.
"I think we'll all get that explained to us soon..." Rarity told her.
"Aha! We're all here now, yes?" A chilling voice called from Luna's throne, despite nopony being there. All of a sudden, Twilight knew something.. she knew that voice.
"Goody! I think I'm ready to introduce myself!" She called again. Then, a pony came flying downwards, sending a chill up Twilight's spine. It was half Princess Luna, and half Nightmare Moon, making a terrifying half-and-half pony hybrid.
"You shall now refer to me as.. NIGHTMARE LUNA!" Nightmare Luna screeched. She pounded her hooves on the ground, two banners rolling down, and covering up the usual Luna and Celestia ones. They both showed a side view of Nightmare Luna, one being the Luna side and the other being the Nightmare Moon side.
"I think it's time for some rules, shall we?" She smiled, showing a large array of sharp teeth. "You should know all these ponies, but don't get too attached! I know for a fact that they will turn your back on you at any moment!" She snarled. Twilight quickly examined the ponies in the room with her.
She saw all of the mane 6, Derpy and Doctor, Lyra and Bon Bon, Octavia and Vinyl, Zecora, Trixie, Cranky, and finally Shining Armor.
"W-What do you mean by 'Don't get too attached?'" Dr. Whooves questioned.
"Good question, Whooves! I shall explain. You see, if you ever want to leave this place, you have to kill eachother and get away with it!" She said surprisingly happily.
"K-Kill?! I-I.. this is some sick joke, right?!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"Nope! No joke here! That's Pinkie's job!" She laughed.
"S-So.. if we want to leave.. we have to.. k-kill..?!" Bon Bon cried.
"Yep! And get away with it, too! You see, when there is a murder," She started.
"If there's a murder?!" Trixie said, stomping hoof on the ground. Nightmare Luna sighed.
"The pressure will eventually get to you ponies, give it time." She growled. "Anyway, we will hold a trial. You will pitch in your clues, and try to determine the murderer. If you guess wrong, the murderer will escape, no charges at all, and everyone else will be killed! If you guess right, however, the murderer is executed and everyone else will live on! Sound fun?" She smiled crazily. Twilight was on the ground, hooves over her head. She wouldn't have to kill her friends, would she?
"You can kill your victim any way you'd like! Drowning, stabbing, suffocating, the possibilities are endless." She said, looking at the group if ponies. "You must in your room at 10:00 sharp. No exceptions." She then told them.
"Food will be restocked daily. You have lunch at 11:00, and dinner at 7:00. Anyone who doesn't make it to lunch or dinner on time, I will make another pony go and get you. Hehe, unless you're dead!" She said happily.
"I think that's all you need to know, call me if you need me! Ahaha! Have fun, my little ponies!" She yelled, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"Oh, this can't be real.." Twilight cried to herself.
"This.. this can't be real!"
Chapter Two- A Pony's Survival Guide
"T-This.. isn't real! It can't be!" Octavia freaked. "We'll be stuck here.. forever?!
" Twilight couldn't stay one second without hearing a screech of terror or a frightening thought about the castle from the other ponies. She wasn't happy, either, but she had an idea forming.
"But, who says we have to kill?" Twilight asked the group.
"N-Nightmare Luna! Weren't you listening?" Shining Armor shook.
Twilight found this as odd, as how when she knew him before he went off to the to the guard, he never once even thought about being frightend by anything. Twilight shrugged it off though, as she knew anypony would be scared from a life-or-death situation like the one they were in.
"She never said we had to! She gave a nice offer of going home when you do, but never said it was mandatory!" Twilight told them. To them, it made quite a bit of sense.
"But.. we want to go home... I think the pressure could get to some people.." Fluttershy said shyly.
"Well.. the ponies who don't follow our agreement... Will be punished." Twilight said in a deep tone. Fluttershy shyed off into the corner, Twilight extending her hoof.
"If you agree to not kill, hurt, or damage others, and follow the agreement, put your hoof here." Twilight said. It took a moment, but finally, everypony's hoof was in the circle.
"Thanks, everypony. Now, we just have to find a way out of here."
"Maybe we should check the storage room?" Pinkie suggested. The group had spit up in pairs, trying to search for a way of escape.
"M-Maybe.. how did they manage to close off those entrances so quickly...?" Twilight thought to herself. A few moments before, Twilight and Pinkie checked the door where they arrived, but found it sealed with a keyhole and keycode.
"...they really don't want us out of here.." Pinkie sighed.
"I-I just don't get it.. How.. this is, dare I say, fun to Nightmare Luna? Watching us scramble around, k-Kill..." Twilight wondered.
"You wanna know why?" A chilling voice came up from behind her. Twilight turned around, seeing Nightmare Luna standing behind her.
"H-How'd you get there so quick..!?" Twilight asked.
"...How am I one pony half another? Anyway, killing is more enjoyable after you've been such a big part of it yourself.." she smiled.
"N-Ngh.. I'll never kill anypony! Never!" Twilight snarled.
"Hey, I wasn't saying you should. I was simply telling you how I have enjoyed it so much that I put you into a castle of despair for my amusement." She said blatantly. "Either way..." Pinkie sighs.
"Also, you need to get to lunch. Everypony is waiting." Nightmare Luna told them, quickly turning around and strolling away.
"Well, I guess we have to get going," Twilight told her.
"Y-Yeah... I'll follow you."
"We saw the door was closed, and that the entrance to the second floor was closed also. We're stuck on the first floor for now," Lyra reported.
"The bars were unbreakable. It wouldn't break even with the force of my most powerful magic!" Trixie, Lyra's partner, told them.
"Hm.. I wonder." Twilight said quietly. None of the ponies in the dining hall were eating, as the thought of killing the other ponies in the room with them made Twilight quickly lose her appetite.
"Hey, Nightmare Luna?" Octavia called to the air.
"Yes, dear Octi?" Nightmare Luna said, smiling smugly as she appeared right next to her, seemingly out of nowhere.
"How do we get to go to the second floor? The third floor, even?" Octavia asked.
"Good question!" She smiled. "You see.. if you manage to get a murderer executed, you will unlock a new floor! Remember, though, if you guess wrong, you know what's gonna happen!" She said sharply.
"Ngh.. that'll never Happen! We made an agreement!" Twilight told her loudly.
"Hehe.. not for long." She told us, disappearing in a cloud of smoke, like always.
"Why.. Why does she have to make us do this..?!" Rarity cried. "There's no point!"
"I have seen many ponies with weird obsessions, that is a fact. But for murder and killing? That is lacked." Zecora rhymed.
"Oh.. she's right, who am I kidding!" Twilight told herself. "We'll all be driven to murder.. someday.." She looked down sadly.
"Twilight.. You just have to have hope... as, that's all we really have to go on.." Applejack told her, trying to be reassuring.
".. Hope, huh..? I'll.. I'll try." Twilight told her.
"I'll try."
A few days passed, no blood spilt or death in any way. They still couldn't find clues on how to exit, but Twilight was calmed by the fact that nopony decided to try to escape.. the way Nightmare Luna intended. As of the moment, they were all in the dining hall, gathered not to eat, but for a meeting.
"So, team, any new info?" Twilight asked them, as she had taken over the project by a vote, as she was an alicorn.
"I think we've searched this place inside and out. I think we've found all there is to see.." Fluttershy said meekly.
"That's where you're wrong!" a voice screeched.
"Oh no.." Twilight muttered.
"Heya! I have a little something to show you ponies!" Nightmare Luna told them, strolling up.
"S-Show us..? I thought we found everything!" Rainbow Dash gasped.
"This isn't a thing in the building, Dash! It's rather.. an inspiration." She told us.
"I-Inspiration? What do you mean...?" Twilight asked quietly.
"Come out here, and I'll show you!" She began walking West, and we all followed unwillingly.
"Here we are! Please, sit down!"
It was a dimly-lit room, chairs aligning the sides and middle of the room. Twilight counted- there were exactly 16 chairs in the room. Everypony scrambled to get to a seat, as Twilight found one in the front row.
"A-Alright.. what do you have to show us?" Dr. Whooves asked.
"Hehe! It's a secret, just sit back and watch!" The crazed pony replied.
Nightmare Luna raised her horn, a light blue aroma of magic surrounding it. A screen appeared, flickering to life and lighting the room as if it were daylight. A small image appeared. A picture of Spike!
"H-Hey Twilight! How's the meeting going? Taking a while. We'll, can't wait to see you come home! All of Ponyville will be here to hear what you did! Unless it's a secret," Spike chuckled. "Well, gotta go! Have fun!" Spike said, and the video turned off. Was Nightmare Luna trying to make us miss home too much, forcing us to kill?
A new video began to play, this one of Scootaloo.
"Rainbow Dash! Hey! How's the flight school you went to? Haha. I know what you're going to say, Rainbow Dash! I bet it's great. I'll say hi to all your Ponyville friends for you, and I can't wait until you cone home and tell me all about it! Well, gotta go! The CMC need me. Bye Rainbow!" Tears nearly fell from Rainbow's eyes.
The videos continued for quite a while, everypony getting a chance to have another pony talk to them. We were all quiet. We all wanted to go home, but is killing the answer?
For some ponies... that answer is yes.
"Spike? What is it?" Twilight asked, levitating a scroll as she wrote down a few facts from the book she had invested into a few days earlier.
"I- I don't know! Maybe a letter from Celestia!" He wondered, holding up the scroll he had just produced.
"A letter from Celestia? That hasn't happened in moons, even since I became a princess, at least. Let me see, Spike," She said, taking the scroll from him and opening it.
"Dearest Princess Twilight,
The princesses have called together a meeting. We have come to discuss the old and new threats heading our way. Please show up at the Castle of the Two Sisters at moonhigh, we are expecting you to show up on time, and we will continue to do so. Thank you, dear Twilight.
-Celestia"
"A meeting? On time? I can do all that," Twilight laughed. "Princess Celestia doesn't know me well enough," She said.
Spike shrugged. "Guess not."
"Hm, I don't see the princesses here, I bet they're coming." Twilight mumbled to herself, reading the letter once again. "At moonhigh.. that's right now, is it not?"
She shrugged it off, walking into the debris-filled castle. She looked around, stopping as she felt a sharp pain hit her head. She fell to the ground, almost instantly passing out onto the hard castle floor.