“Attention maggots! Wake up and gather in the auditorium for roll call,” A voice said over a speaker josling Crescendo and her siblings awake.

“Come on let's go,” Crescendo said gently nudging Stardust to her hooves,while Cosmic got to his hooves by himself.

Crescendo then walked down halls,with Star and Cosmic following close behind. They soon met up with other foals who were also trying to find the auditorium. They walked in silence until they come across the hallway that was labed Auditorium.

“Well I guess this is it,” A colt around Crescendo age, with a brown coat and white mane, said looking at the sign.

“Maybe we’ll find out why we’re here,” A filly with a blue coat and pinks mane said.

“What do you think?” the colt asked turning to Crescendo.

“M-Me?” Crescendo asked flustered as she took a step back,causing her siblings to squeak and scuttle,Stardust almost falling down, back so they could continue to hide behind her.

“Yes you,so? Do you think we’ll find out why we’re here,” The colt asked getting close to her face.

“Um well I, I d-don’t really know,” She said shyly, now unable to step back for fear of startling her younger siblings again.

“Hey! what's your deal?” The colt asked giving her a glare.

“Back off Stone not everyone is as open as you,” The filly said.

“Yea but she doesn't have to stutter so much Cotten,” The colt said looking frustrated.

“She’s shy and probably scared out of her mind, like we all should be,but you’re just too stupid to realize our situation,” Cotten said returning the glare with one of her own,causing the colt to shrink back a bit.

“Ok sorry sheesh,” the colt said as Crescendo took this opportunity to bolt past them,before scooping up her sister in her mouth by her neck fluff and levitating her brother onto her back.

“Wait hold up!” Stone out to Cress,but she was already down the hall and dashing out into a huge room with hundreds chairs many of them already filled with foals around Cress’s age or younger.

“Look at all the ponies cwensenso!” Cosmic said looking around in shock.

“Yea lets go find seat away from everypony else,” Cress said after gently putting Star back on her hooves.

“Don’t talk to swangers,” Star recited.

“Exactly,” Cress said walking down the rows of seats to a secluded part the auditorium.

“Ok, we shouldn’t be bothered over here,” Cress said sitting down in a chair while Star cuddle up to her,and Cosmic sat in the chair next to her.

After a few minutes one of those monsters in the black armour,this one having gold highlights on his armour, came out on a panel in the wall and was now looking around at all the foals in the chairs.

“Listen up! because I'm only going to say this once,”The monster said, “You now serve Doctor Ivan, in exchange for you meaningless lives you will train you bodies every day so that they will be strong enough for the doctors tests,”

“What are these tests?” a white haired colt with a black coat asked standing up.

“You when know when you need to know,” the monster snapped, “Now you will now head down to the head to the simulation room,if your late you will die, that is all,” The monster said before walking through the wall panel.

“Come on let's go, we don't want to make them mad,” Star said nudging her siblings up and walking back to the hallway and following the group of foals that seemed to know where they were going.

They ended up in a large white room and soon there were ton of foals in the room,but nowhere enough to fill up the room.

“So what are we doing here? What’s a simulation?” one of the foals asked.

None of the foals had an answer and so they sat in silence for a few minutes ,before a large hologram popped where the all the foal could see.

The hologram said, “Test subjects remaining:499”

“It-its keeping count of how many of us there are left!?” Cotton said in shock as she walked next to Cress and her siblings.

“That’s creepy,” Stone said looking unseasy as he joined them.

“Yea,” Cress said looking at the hologram cringing.

Suddenly the white room changed to a large track field,and a voice spoke over the speaker, “You will now proceed to run around this track for the set time,”

The hologram then added a clock that displayed:15:00.

“15 minutes!?” One of foal said in dismay.

“Failure to comply will result in termination,collapsing from exhaustion will end in termination,anything that is not assisting in you continually crossing the starting line until the timer clocks out,will result in termination,” The voice said finishing.

“Anything that doesn't help them pass the starting line huh?” Cress said getting an idea and turning to her siblings, “You two won't be able to run for that long but I can, so hop on my back,”

“Ok cwesenso!” Star said jumping onto her back with Cosmic close behind her.

With her siblings now draped on her back perpendicular to her own body,she took her place at the starting line and waited for the time to start. During the wait she noticed that other eldest siblings had the same idea as her, draping their siblings on their backs so they wouldn’t have to risk them collapsing from exhaustion.

“Ok here we go,” Cress said looking forward in determination as the timer hit zero and everyone was off.

Cress kept a steady pace trying to run the slowest she could and it still be considered a run. All the while,unbeknownst to the foals, the black armoured monster was watching them from a secret perch that looked over the room ,with a smile.

“I see willing to take the extra weight to protect your siblings eh? Respectable, lets see how well that works for you little ponies,” He chuckled before the wall opened up behind him and the doctor stepped out of it with the black cloaked figures behind him.

“I like the purple one,she’ll be quite lovely when she blossoms,” The doctor said referring to Crescendo.

“She was also the first to discover the loophole my lord,” the black armoured being said.

“Oh,is that true Sitou?” The doctor asked in surprise.

“Yes, my lord,” the monster said nodding.

“Hmm perhaps she will be more than a future concubine,” the doctor said walking back where he came from.

“If she doesn’t end up dead first,”The monster said once the doctor left,before returning his attention to the foal and seeing that a few of them have collapsed.

“Oh boy,sniping practice!” the monster laughed before firing his sniper rifle and killing the exhausted foals.

Back with crescendo

Cress.jumped in surprise as three loud bangs were heard and she gave the hologram a quick look it now reading:496 with 13 minutes left. She felt her siblings grip her tightly in fear as she continued to run around the track. For the next 13 minutes five more foals died due to their inability to keep up,and Cress began to feel her legs to give out,but she powered though it barely making it through the last minute and collapsing as the timer ended and the alarm sounded.

As she hit the ground Cosmic and Star quickly jumped of her back and tried their best to get her to her hooves.

“Don't get killedded by the booms!” Star sobbed trying her best to help her exhausted sister.

“Hey its over now they would have killed me by now if it wasn’t” Cress said giving them a weak smile as she laid on the ground panting,her sweat soaking her fur.

“Ok,”Star sniffed as she cuddled up to Cress with Cosmic.

“Attention Maggots you are to head to cafeteria for substance ,failure to comply will result in termination,” the voice commenced again.

“Come on purps let's get out of here,” Stone said walking up and grabbing Cress in his magic and putting her on his back.

“Thanks Stone,my name’s Crescendo by the way,” Cress said blushing in embarrassment.

“Crescendo huh? I’m gonna call ya Cressy,” Stone said as Cosmic ran up to Stone.

“No! I’ll carry big sissy!” Cosmic said puffing up his fur to make himself look bigger.

Stone looked at him in surprise for a second, before laughing and patting his head.

“Sorry kid your to small to carry your big sis,” Stone laughed before walking past him with Star in tow.

“Come on Cosmoc let’s go!” Star said waddling after Stone.

The cafeteria was extremely basic just like the food, just common fruits and vegetables. After that day the foals were set in a routine of jogging on the track,studying several different subjects all of them related to war in someway,such as sabotage and lip reading,and combat training. This carried on for three years and many foals were killed off either by failing a test,refusing to cooperate,or collapsing in one the exercise routines. The current number of foals remaining is four hundred and forty-five.

Cress was talking with Star and Cosmic as they walked down the hallway to the simulation room.

“I still can’t believe we’ve been here for three years it feels so much longer,” Cress said shaking her head sadly.

“Yea it fuckin blows” Cosmic sighed.

“Excuse me? Who taught you to say that?!” Cress said grabbing Cosmics ear in her magic.

“S-sorry sorry! I heard it from Stone, please let go of my ear sis!” Cosmic said trying to pull out of her grip.

“Looks like I'm going to have a talk with Stone,” Cress said storming into the simulation room and towards Stone who realized too late how angry she was as he waved at her before getting slapped.

“Ow what was that for?” Stone asked giving her a confused puppy look.

“You need to watch your mouth around by little brother,” Cress snarled,and even though Cress was much shorter than Stone he still shrunk under her glare.

“What do you mean?” He asked in confusion.

“I just caught him using profanity!” Cress glared.

Stone gave her a look, “Seriously everypony cusses nowadays,”

“Yea sis I’m 11, I can cuss,” Cosmic spoke up ,before folding back his ears as he had earned a silencing glare from Cress.

“I don’t care if everypony is doing it,my siblings are not everypony and we are going to preserve what little dignity we have, if you want cuss then fine,but don't do it in earshot of my little brother ever again or buck your face so hard you wont be able to see straight for a week!” Cress said before walking away with huff.

“Sheesh you sister has become a bit of a bi-” Stone began before Cress turned to him her eyes glowing red and her body surrounded in a demonic aura, “Bi-beautiful and charming young mare,” he said with a big fake smile,which made Cress smirk in satisfaction as Star and Cosmic bounded after her.

“Maggots!” the monster ,that due to their studies they now identify as sangheili, said over the speakers.

“Bitch!” a white haired colt with a black coat said back to it,causing almost everyone present to erupt in laughter,except Crescendo who took out a notebook and added the colt’s name,lighting bolt, to the list.

Suddenly several large metal boxes rose from the ground.

“Today you will be taking a survival exam you will be divided into teams of four,you may choose your team members, you will then select a primary,secondary,and close quarters weapon as well as any projectile based explosives you wish,you may also choose body armour if you wish, you have fifteen minutes to prepare before the mission begins,” The sangheili said.

“And what is the mission,” Stone shouted.

“Kill or be killed, you must kill at least one team other team to survive if you do not you and your entire team will be terminated,” the sangheili said.

“Shit, I'll go get Cotton so we can all be on the same team,you guys go get ready!” Stone said running off.

“We-we’re gonna have to kill somepony!?” Star said looking horrified.

“So that's it,” Cress said sighing, “I suspected it,but this confirms it,”

“Confirms what sis?” Cosmic asked in worriedly.

“They're turning us into a soldiers of some kind,” Cress replied before walking up to one of the boxes which had several weapons on its rack. She grabbed a high tech assault rifle and energy pistol off the rack before grabbing tight fitting body armor putting it on, she then walked over to the melee weapon rack and served the options. A sword with a curved guard caught her eye until she saw a combat scythe.She grabbed it and folded it into its sheathed state,but before she could return to where her siblings were waiting ,they now also armed and ready, one of the sangheili appeared in front of her.

“What? What do you want?” she asked glaring at the warrior.

He then brought out a harness like device and handed it to her, “ A gift from my master,be grateful to have received his favor,”

“What is it?” she asked using her magic to observe the device.

“A energy harness it will create a energy shield to protect you from damage,in fact there is not a single weapon in this room that can damage you as long as you have this device,its state of the artand even better the harnesses honor guards of the covenant prophets,” he said.

“Why all the special treatment?” Cress asked.

“Like I said my master has taken interest in you,if you need anything requests they will be given to you as long as you continue to cooperate,” he said.

“If that's the case I'd like to make request,” Cress said putting on the harness.

“Oh?” the sangheili said in interest.

“I want my siblings to be exempt from this any future exercises that might put their lives in danger, if you do that then you can do as you please with me,” Cress said emotionlessly.

“Oh? So you've already figured it out,” the sangheili said looking impressed.

“I overheard something about the doctor and his concubines from a pair of guards,I've also been receiving risque novels for the past several months,so when you told me that he had taken interest in me, it all fell into place,” Cress said.

“I see,your quite sharp,” he said his mandible taking on what she could only assume was a grin.

“If there is one thing that's hammered into our heads during our studies,its gathered all the information you can when you can and pay attention to every detail,for that is where the answer to any puzzle is,”

“Your request is granted, the doctor will pleased,”the sangheili said disappearing suddenly.

Sundenly the other sanghelian said, “Attention,Stardust and Cosmic are now dismissed from this exercise, furthermore two ponies will terminated at random due the total of survivors no longer being perfectly divisible by four”

“Wait WHAT!!!” Cress said in shock as two shots rang out killing two foals, “No! I-I didn’t know they would…...DAMN IT!” Cress thought in anger.

“Why would they let Star and Cosmic go?” Stone asked coming up to her in full body armor,advanced DMR in his magic, energy pistol on his flank,and a great sword on his back.

“Yea that is weird, well at least you brother and your sister will be safe,” Cotton said,she was wearing camo armour and had high grade advanced sniper rifle on her back,with energy pistol on her flank,and collapsible staff on her belt, “Too bad about those foal’s though,but that's just our life now,”

“Yea I guess,but now we're down a-wait hold on why did you go get Cotton Stone? If you had we would have had five members!” Cress said in confusion.

“Huh what do you mean, it would have been your siblings,cotton,you,and me….oh that is five! My bad,” Stone said face hooving.

The girls giggled before the white haired colt from before walked up to them ,he wore heavy body armour, a tactical assault rifle on his back,he also had double bladed staff that seemed to be able separate into twin swords,.

“Hey you guys got room for one more?” The colt asked.

“Oh hey Lighting, yea sure” Cress said shrugging.

“Cool,thanks cressy,” Lighting said smiling.

“Cressy?.....” Cress asked in confusion, “I didn’t know we’re close enough for nicknames,”

“Were on the same team now,so let’s go out there and have fun!” he laughed.

“F-fun? Were going out there to kill other ponies!” Cress said.

“Oh don't think of like that,think of it like a game!” Lightning laughed.

“Ugh ,you disgusting ,whatever as long as you watch our backs, I don't care how your taking this,” Cress said sighing.

“Times up maggots! Commencing simulation!” The sangheili on the speaker said.

Suddenly the room shifted into a dense forest and the teams were teleported to separate parts of the map.

“Alright we need to find somewhere to lay down and wait,we need the enemy to come to us not the other way around,” Cotton said taking the lead.

“That's it huh? with a single order, ponies we've spent three years with are now are enemies” Cress thought solemnly, “Then let's get this over with,”

“Alright team move out!” Cotton said as they took took flight,but kept below the forest canopy.

Eventually they found a ideal place to set their trap. Lighting and Cress took positions on either side of the forest path,while Stone and Cotton took positions in the trees. Before long a group of four ponies walked down the center of the path.

“Come on Prism! Let's just fly over the canopy, no one would expect that!” one the fillies in the group whined.

“Look we ca-” Prism began before Cotton shot her in the head with her rifle, tears running down her cheeks as she looked down the sight.

“S-sorry Prism, but I have a little sister I need to get back too,” Cotton muttered under her breath.

“PRISM” the filly screamed before Lighting jumped out a crazed look on his face as he gunned her down.

“Die insects,” He laughed maniacally as the other two dashed ,behind the trees using them as cover.

“Sorry, nothing personal,” Cress said flinching as she attacked them from behind and shooting down one of them.

“Damn you assholes were waiting for us? We'll take this,” The last one said throwing a flash grenade blinding cress.

“Damn I can’t see!” she said backpedalling.

“What happened to your no cursing rule,” Stone asked headshotting the colt before he could hitt Cress with his mace.

“This whole thing has shown me that dignity has no place in this tartarus hole,” Cress snapped taking the ammo belt off the colt’s corpse her face downcast.

“That was fun who’s next,” Lighting giggled.

“We only need to kill one of the teams,if you wanna kill more do it yourself,now we just have to wait for the time limit to expire,” Cress snapped.

“Screw that I’m going to get more kills,” Lighting said grabbing the ammo and weapons off the corpses of the ponies and cutting off a piece of hair of the filly he killed, “Good luck losers!”

He flew off laughing madly.

“What a creep,” Cotton said in disgust.

“He’s just like him,” Cress said

“Like who?” Stone asked.

“The Doctor,”Cress growled.

The other nodded solemnly and they all went to hide in the trees. Soon the time was up and the hologram read two hundred and twenty.

“W-wait we lost more then we should have!” Cotton said in shock.

The simulation reverted back to a white room and several robots began taking the bodies out of the room. The trio then saw Lighting,covered in blood,walking towards the disarming station a huge grin on his face and long braid of different colored hair now hanging from his hair.

“Y-you dont think?” Cotton asked in horror.

“You got a better explanation,” Crescendo said glaring at Lightning as he left the room.

“Well let’s go disarm and head to the barracks,I’m sure you siblings are worried,” Stone said sighing, “Seems we can't go a week without somepony dying,”

“Yea I hope my little sis is ok,” Cotton said solmnly

And with that the next few years went by with similar tests,on top of their normal studies.The current remaining number of ponies is fifty and one question plagues the minds of all of them, when will this end and who will survive long enough to reach the finish line.

Author's Note

I've got discord now for those who are interested