Author's Note

When you finish reading this chapter, vote for who you think is the traitor/mastermind here: https://linkto.run/p/582NTJY3
If you've already read the whole story, like patrons, please don't answer or answer who you thought it was at this point.

3. Welcome to Despair

Tuesday, 6/28/2078
POV: Figure Eight

The world ended eight months ago.

After so long inside this dull, sterile shelter, the radiation readings outside only recently dropped below the most their sensors could detect. To step outside would mean death, or worse.

Worse because as their few working cameras on the surface showed, not every dead in the city stopped moving. The unlucky ones became irradiated ghouls, reanimated by the dark necrotic energy required to create such horrific megaspells. Most were feral, shambling around, usualy performing whatever act they had died doing on repeat. Dead civilians huddled shivering in corners, dead suppliers stood behind counters or trotted rounds with supply wagons, and dead soldiers continued to fight, doing their best to kill their already-dead enemies. In a way, the battle never ended.

Some were sane enough to scratch at the door and beg for entry. They couldn’t let them in though. Even if it wasn't radioactive outside, the ghouls were. The Overmare ordered they not respond to them over the speaker to the outside, hoping they'd assume no one was alive in the stable and desist.

Figure Eight felt guilty that she made it to safety when the world was in flames above her; so many dead deserved to make it here. Stable 27 wasn't a terrible place to live: she had a nice room to live in with Berry Brew, food and decent recreation areas, and enough raw material to last centuries if used well.

The Overmare even let Berry brew 'futa' potions, as she called them for some reason, so that the mare couple could conceive their own foals. Figure and Berry were now both happy and pregnant with their wife's offspring, each only a month from bearing. That didn't keep them from having to work as much still needed done, but at least they got extra days off.

They didn't have everything she wanted though. They'd spend the rest of their lives here, but the stable didn't have room to build a skating rink. As she feared, Figure would never use her special talent again. Instead, they put her to work in the hydroponic farms where their food grew. It wasn't a bad task even when difficult, but it wasn't her destiny.

“Eighty?” a garbled voice broke Figure's thoughts as she lay in bed.

She blinked awake, realizing that Berry wasn't in bed with her. That wasn't too unusual since Berry worked in medical and was often called away for an emergency. A stable full of frightened and panicked ponies had a lot of sudden injuries.

“Figure Eight!”

Figure realized it was coming from her pipbuck, the personal computer and communication device strapped to her right front leg. Everyone was given one and were required to wear them at all times. They were told to wear blue 'stable barding' too, though almost nopony did and the Overmare hadn't bothered to enforce that rule so far. She pulled it up and flicked the screen on to find static, but that was Berry Brew's voice.

“Berry?” asked Figure. “Where are you?”

“Figure, listen carefully,” Berry sounded serious. “I need you to come down to the magi-tech lab on the lower level. Tell nopony you're coming, just come.”

“What's wrong?” asked Figure. “Is that section even open yet?”

“Trust me,” Berry said and cut the communication.

Figure punched in Berry's code again, but the radio wouldn't connect. So she staggered out of bed and tried to get her wits about her before leaving her room.

The magi-tech lab? They hadn’t even scheduled that section to open yet. For now, most worked in vital areas like hydroponics and water services to make sure they had those in complete working order first. Still Figure trusted Berry, so she had to have a good reason for calling her down there. Perhaps she just wanted to get frisky somewhere no pony went. They weren't the kinkiest couple, but they had their moments.

Not telling any pony was easy. Figure slept in on her day off and most ponies had gone to the areas they worked. Ponies that could work did since the alternative to making oneself useful wasn't pleasant. The Overmare acted nice up front, if eccentric, but she felt like the type that would banish somepony to the surface for stepping out of line, and her wife had a tendency to randomly lick her lips at ponies.

And that griffon she made head of security didn't pull punches. Owning a young sex slave and viewing rape as a valid punishment didn't hurt his intimidation factor.

There were no guards stopping her from going into the unused levels, which Figure always thought was odd, but maybe they couldn't spare them. Crimson restricted it since Stable-Tec built labs were not safe. She wanted to have time for their brighter minds to scavenge through it before others stumbled in unawares. Figure was sure Berry hadn't gone anywhere dangerous though.

Upon entering the wing, Figure found it to be far larger than she expected. An attempt to pull its map up on her pipbuck proved fruitless, and there wasn't even a map on the wall here as there was in most sections. However there were arrow signs pointing to different places like everywhere in the stable. It looked like the scientists would live in this area as it had its own rooms, dining hall, and kitchen. Most of the rest of it was various labs and warehouses.

Figure didn't like this. It'd upset her if Berry brought her here for silliness, but all she could do was to go. After another failed attempt to call Berry, the only thing Figure had to go on was a recently-drawn arrow pointing towards the dining hall. It looked drawn with a crayon, but was so straight that it must have been done by one of the automagic cleaner bots.

“Don't fucking move,” a deep voice behind her said. “Wait... you? Why would you ponynap my daughter?”

Before she turned to see who it was, Figure heard the click of a gun priming. She thought better, instead sitting up on her haunches and raising her front hooves into the air.

“W-what?” Figure said. “I wouldn't do anything like that! I came here because my wife called me down here!”

Figure jerked as she felt the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of her head, but hoped they wouldn't shoot a pregnant mare without being very certain. She shivered as a second figure walked in front of her, Devil Rose, a mercenary that had helped with the evacuation on the final day. That meant the one holding a gun to her head was Shadow, his cyber-monstrosity of a friend. She didn't know Shadow well, but he was rather hard to miss. Devil had a gun, though not drawn, and his signature sword and dagger. He didn't come unprepared for a fight.

But Shadow's daughter had been pony napped? Who would do that?

“She doesn't seem the type,” Devil admitted. “Why are you here, though?”

“M-my wife Berry Brew called me down,” Figure stammered. “She said to come and tell no pony, she had something to show me.”

“Is that so?” Shadow moved the gun from her head and stepped around in front of her, still cautious. “I got a message saying if I didn't want my daughter rammed up the cunt with a hot fire poker, I'd come with nopony other than Devil.”

“It'll confuse them when they do that and she moans,” Devil smirked. He seemed to take this as a bad joke.

“Shut up,” growled Shadow.

“But why would they?” Figure shook her head. “Did you confirm if she was here?” As security, Devil and Shadow should be able to track pipbucks.

“We tried, but the whole place is a dead area,” said Shadow. “I can't get any readings on who is down here, but can't find her anywhere else.”

“My radio is dead too,” said Devil. “I hate to sound like a chicken, but we should take this up with other security regardless of what they told us.”

As if on cue, a high-pitched beep signified that the door into the magi-tech labs had sealed shut. It locked with a loud clanging.

“That can't be good,” Figure said.

A few seconds later, the announcement screen in the entryway activated. There was one in every room in the stable, so that wasn't unusual, but all it showed was static with a pony-ish figure buried somewhere beneath it.

“Ahem! Ahem!” an odd voice said. “Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the lab broadcast system! Am I on? Can every pony hear me? Ooops! I mean can every CREATURE hear me? Racism is bad, kids!... anyway, well then!”

The voice was playful and cartoonish. It filled Figure with an unnerving dread as she might feel if she saw somepony pointing and laughing at a pile of murdered civilians.

“Ah, to all incoming game participants,” the voice continued. “I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at... right now! Please make your way to this wing’s dining hall at your earliest convenience... That's all. I'll be waaaitiiing!”

As abruptly as it came on, the screen flickered off again.

“Game?” Devil arched his eyebrow.

“Whatever it is, looks like we're stuck for now,” Shadow confirmed after checking the exit. “These doors are the same metal as the stable door, so there's no getting out. Anything that would get through it would kill us in the process.”

“Stay behind us,” Devil sighed to Figure. “Watch for anything coming from behind.”

He drew his own pistol, which lay on his head as he held the trigger in his muzzle and crept towards the dining hall. He even had a knife and a sword within easy reach around his midsection. He really came prepared.

The worse scenarios surfaced in her head. What if Berry was ponynapped and forced to call her? But who could commit a double ponynapping here? Their pipbucks could only be removed by the wearer and informed security and medical of anomalies. The system was so psionically sensitive that Figure had security show because she got scared after having a nightmare, so getting ponynapped or knocked out should sound stable-wide alarms.

They headed down a long hallway with doors on either side. Devil and Shadow showed their military side by opening each one and waving their gun around the room to make sure no pony was there before continuing onward. As they continued, they heard a conversation around the next corner of the hall.

“So I look our sensei right in her dick,” one voice said as if telling a story. “And I was like 'Yep! You're a real chi hero'.”

Devil and Shadow shot around the corner, both training pistols on the ones conversing. Who they found was the Overmare Crimson and her wife Tella, having stopped for story-time in the middle of the crisis, but why were they even here?

“I would have stabbed you up the cunt for saying that, not just tried to cut off your ears,” Tella responded to the Overmare's last statement without appearing to notice the two soldiers that pulled guns on them. Or perhaps she didn't care; she was hard to read. The Overmare was probably telling her 'how I got my ear cut' story again. It was always different.

“Overmare!” Devil lowered his gun slightly. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, it's you guys,” the Overmare smiled. That smile always seemed ‘too friendly’. “Nothing like having guns pulled on you by your own security force first thing in the morning!” She sighed wishfully. “Gives me fond memories of working at the Ministry of Magitech. That Starlight knew how to throw a going away party!”

“Get your guns out of our faces,” Tella growled. “Before we have your other guns cut off and fed to you."

“Overmare, please focus,” Shadow said. She was a competent enough ruler, but every pony was used to her eccentric tangents, and he’d learned to ignore her protective wife. “Why are you and your wife here?”

“Because Crimson has been ponynapped, and I was to come here alone if I want to help ki... save her,” said Tella. “Though she doesn't look ponynapped.”

“I was just promised candy,” shrugged the Overmare.

“They tricked you into coming down here?” asked Figure. “Just like us...”

“I think we need to continue on,” Devil said, raising his gun again and heading down the hallway.

Figure Eight moved to walk between the soldiers and the Overcouple, feeling more safe in a larger group.

They met no one else on the way, but the dining hall was packed. Most faces she recognized, though she didn't know any well other than one. Figure galloped straight for where Berry Brew stood, embracing her as they both sighed in relief. They hugged, standing on their haunches, though their pregnant guts got in the way a bit as they embraced.

“Eighty!” Berry said. “I was scared you were hurt! I got a message from you telling me to come down here, but it looks like every pony here got similar weird messages to trick them. And then that announcement...”

“I got the same message from some pony that sounded like you,” confirmed Figure. “What's going on?”

“That's what I'd like to know!” Gale said, standing next to them. “I was promised extra rations for a few hours in my holes and I expect to get it.”

“Um, aren't you days if not hours from laying an egg?” Sunburst, sitting nearby, asked Gale as he arched an eyebrow.

A lot of females in the stable were near to giving birth, actually. Maybe the near extinction of life had encouraged them to make more of it, though in Gale’s case it wasn’t her choice when or if she did.

“And I'm one more day than that from having another one in me, knowing 'Daddy',” smirked Gale. “He loves this underage cunt.”

Security Chief Thunder, Gale's twice-her-age 'owner', glared at Gale in warning for her to be quiet, but she only smirked.

“Well, your pussy isn't underage thanks to recent laws,” said the Overmare. “But I can raise the age back if that'll make it kinkier for you. I keep forgetting I can change laws and stuff now!”

“H-how can you talk like that with a straight face?” Sunburst stared.

“I'm about to ram my hoof right up her straight ass if she keeps it up,” Tella glared at her wife. She'd never made her aversion for Thunder and Gale's relationship a secret. Figure imagined that the Overmare got regular ear fulls from her wife for allowing Thunder and Gale's 'arrangement' to stand.

Figure looked to see who else was here. Gale stood with Thunder while Sunburst sat next to Night Light. It figured they would be together since Sunburst was one of the few friends the poor unicorn had. Cream Heart was nearby hugging her son Button Mash, and there was Winter Quill with a shivering Ginger Snap curled up on his back. The filly wore her filly guide uniform as she often did. There was also the strangely named Dangerous Magic, one of the few not-pregnant females Figure knew fairly well.

Regardless, this was an odd assortment.

Shadow went to where Smokey Quartz stood, his daughter, giving her a reluctant but relieved hug. Devil took a stance beside him, eyeing the room and not lowering his gun too much. Smokey wasn't pregnant either, but that was less unusual since it'd become fairly well known that she had a penis.

“Did they tell you I was hurt?” asked Smokey. “They told me the buck ball team that made it in wanted to...”

“Shut. Up,” Shadow cut her off, but did not cease his hug. “For Break's sake, why are you such a pin cushion?”

“Upupupupup,” that same laughter echoed over the intercom, followed by a gagging and a throat clearing. “Sorry. Hiiiii.”

The screen in the dining hall flickered on, this time showing a large green eye, as if somepony stood far too close to the camera. When she stepped back, they saw the grinning face of their tormentor. She didn't look especially special, though familiar somehow. She had a gray coat and short purple mane styled so straight that it might cut somepony.

She wore a pith helmet and a green shirt covering her upper body, like she was planning on trekking through the jungle or something. Her cutie mark, a quill crossed over a letter opener, also seemed a bit familiar. When she backed away from the camera, one could see a number of monitors on the wall behind her, one of which showed the currently full dining hall and another the entrance through which they entered this wing. Was she watching them?

“Paper Cut?” the Overmare blinked.

Anything catching their weird leader off-guard wasn't a good sign, but Figure Eight now realized why she seemed familiar. This was the character from the cover of the book series that Crimson wrote. Figure never read them because they were apparently rather gory, but they'd been fairly popular before the world melted. The Overmare claimed to have gotten inspiration from someone at the Ministry of Forgotten Knowledge who wanted to write about her own adventures, but couldn’t due to them being classified.

“Oh hello there, Mistress!” Paper smirked. “Weren't expecting me? What were you expecting?”

“To be honest, I expected a robot teddy bear,” Crimson shrugged.

“Cute,” Paper narrowed her eyes as she sat back in a chair. She picked up a glass of wine next to her and took a sip. “Okay then! Welcome to all participants of the killing games! We got 16 participants not counting fetuses, right? I'll be your ultimate host, Paper Cut!”

“What in Tartarus kind of prank is this, Overmare?” Thunder growled. “That's the main character from the novel series you wrote, right? What is it doing in the maneframe?”

“Tsk,” Crimson said. “First, it's not 'wrote' because I'm still writing and doubt I'll ever stop. Second, you say that as if I put her there. I haven't perfected my method quite that much yet; that'll take another hundred years at least. This has to be an AI.”

“Hold on,” Winter said. “I think we should be more worried about what she said... killing game?”

“I'm glad you asked!” Paper smirked. “Let's go over the basic rules! Then you can all bitch at me how you refuse to participate. Then you can ignore what you said, refuse to do the obvious thing by working together against me, and kill each other! I know how this goes.”

“Get on with it then!” Gale growled. “Once this prank is done, I have half a nap to finish!”

“Don't worry, the rules are easy!” Paper chuckled, spinning in her chair and then rising to dance around the 'room' she was in like a mock ballerina. “First, I should clarify that you are trapped here with no way to communicate with the rest of the stable. They'll realize you're in here fast, but won't dare try to rescue you since they know I'll murder you all and possibly them all if they so much as try. I've had plenty of time to infect every system in the stable, so you're all at my mercy.”

“Don't be stupid,” Shadow said. “How would you even do that?”

“Enough side convo!” said Paper Cut as she sat back down. “I've altered your pipbucks, well the traitor may have helped. I can zap you all with magical feedback!”

“Can anyone other than it confirm if that's possible?” asked Thunder.

“Um, maybe?” said Sunburst. “Pipbucks are powered by a Glimmer cell that could last five centuries. I guess if it discharged it all at once?”

“Isn't that an interesting thing for you to know when the Overmare didn't,” smirked Crimson as she peered back at Sunburst.

“Whoa now!” Sunburst shook his head. “If I had anything to do with this, I wouldn't be volunteering how it's done and risk you stopping it! Besides, Winter knows just as mu-”

“You mean trying to stop it,” Paper cut in. “If you attempted, you'd set it off and kill everyone. Oh but you won’t believe me, so I’ll demonstrate.”

The sniffling of the colt in the back changed to screaming as his body arched with energy. Button's mother grabbed him with a panicked look, then clenched her teeth to absorb as much of the energy blast as she could with her own body. The result left them smoldering, but still alive, given his sobbing and her stroking his head.

“Stop it!” screamed Cream Heart. “I swear if you hurt him again...”

“You’ll shriek at me again?” Paper Cut rolled her eyes. “Brave of you to absorb the energy to save his life, but I wasn't going to kill him, yet… okay I might have killed him. I got excited! Couldn't really help it... it was my first time!”

“Why would you demonstrate on a foal?!” Figure demanded, too shocked to be timid.

“Because the sound of foals crying makes me So. Wet,” Paper Cut licked her lips, then chuckled. “Okay, I’m sorry. That was a lie. As an AI, I can’t actually get wet. That’s usually a bad idea for electronic life forms.”

“She's not wrong,” said Tella, rolling her own eyes back at the sound. That mare freaked Figure right the buck out.

“Even if she couldn't,” said Crimson. She wasn't laughing anymore, but she didn't seem as worried as she should be. “The magitech labs have a sterilization system in case experiments get out of hoof. If she can get into our systems enough to turn off our pipbuck communications, she can turn on the neurotoxin down here too. We can find gas masks and even cake in the lab warehouse, but that stuff is toxic if it so much as touches your skin.”

“What?” Cream cried from her corner. “Why would they even have a system like that? This is insane! Just let us out of here!”

“Overly complicated and dangerous systems are what Stable-Tec did best,” sighed Sunburst. “Those damn Flim Flam brothers… We've done almost nothing but deal with their weird and lethal design choices since we arrived, though this is the first time one put our lives at risk.”

“This is why we wanted no one down here,” Crimson said. “And yeah I know, I walked in here too, but I'm bananas. What's your excuse?”

Figure wasn't doing better. All she could do was cling to Berry Brew as her wife petted her head. She resisted hyperventilating as tears streamed down her face. Could this be real? If it was real...

“Good, good,” Paper Cut came close to the screen, then crouched, 'peeking' over the bottom edge. “And now the rules! Well the BASIC rules. I'll explain what I mean by that in a moment.”

As Paper read off the rules, they printed on the screen above her. The group was too stunned to comment until she finished.

Rule #1: There is a traitor among you. If the traitor dies or three days pass without a death, you win. I will unlock the exit on this side so you can leave.

Rule #2: Only face-to-face communication is allowed. That means no magic, no pipbucks, not even writing things down.

Rule #3: The Body Discovery Announcement plays whenever a dead body is discovered by three or more participants. This includes the killer if they left the scene and returned, but not if they haven't returned yet after the murder.

Ruler #4: An NG Code Violation Announcement plays whenever a participant breaks a rule. The other participants then have one hour to kill them or they die instead.

“These horse-apples just keeps coming, amiright?” Paper commented as a second screen filled.

Rule #5: Some have extra rules assigned, but if you suspect someone has figured out your personal rule, you must kill them within one hour.

Rule #6: Dead bodies cannot be moved horizontally more than 63.7% of a hoof step or preserved until the game is over.

Rule #7: No destroying equipment vital to the continuation of the game, including security cameras and monitors.

Last Rule: Paper Cut must also follow the rules and is not allowed to lie to participants. She may add new rules, but she may remove none.

“You can't be serious,” Danger gasped. “But why?”

“Traitor from where?” Thunder locked on to the military aspect.

“Who knows?” shrugged Paper Cut.

"The only faction we know of that may still exist is the New Lunar Republic," Winter pointed out quietly. "Didn't we detect scans from them a few weeks ago?"

But we faked a reactor overload signal when we detected them!" Sunburst said. "Nightmare and Midnight would think we're all dead down here!”

“Well, Midnight at least,” commented Crimson. “All information shows that Nightmare defected from the NLR when she found out Midnight engineered Daybreaker's rather kinky assassination."

"Apparently having her sister raped to death was a step too far," Tella commented. "What a prude.”

“With all the defections, it's hard to keep track of who is on whose side!” Paper Cut giggled. “But anyway, that's what makes the stakes in this game so high! If the traitor is from the NLR, they might get a message to Midnight! You better believe if they told her, she'd be on her way as soon as the radiation clears, even if it's generations from now. So I guess you're doing this to save your grandfoals, but I'm sure none of you are selfish assholes that hate your grandfoals.”

“Why like this?” Night Light asked. “Why make a game of it instead of just sending the message?”

“Well if I were an NLR traitor doing this, the answer would be for fun,” Paper Cut leaped up and splayed all fours, floating around the screen in a somewhat lewd pose with her anatomically correct AI avatar. “Like the BEST kind of fun. Believe me, if I could masturbate I'd be taking both my front legs to the shoulder right now! Damn being a bodyless AI!” She shook one hoof at the ceiling.

“Oh, you would like that wouldn't you,” mumbled Cream at Night Light, barely audible over the sound of Ginger and Button crying. “You would want them to just send the message.”

“She's right,” Winter Quill added. “Everyone here knows who the most likely traitor is.”

“What?” Night Light shook his head. “That's insane! What would be the point of making a game of it if the answer was that obvious!”

“That would be too obvious,” said Danger, one of the few willing to come to Night's aid. Somepony saving her life would have that effect though.

“Or,” Tella said. “You made the game less obvious by making it seem too obvious?”

“Um, before you go accusing each other, there's something you should do,” Paper Cut added. “I advise you to check if you have extra rules, lest you break them on accident. But remember, show no indication you have one if you do! I'll be nice and give you a minute to look for them before you have to obey them, since it'd be unfair to ding you before you knew. It's on your stats screen, by the way.”

Figure Eight pried herself away from her shock enough to pull up her pipbuck. She moved to the screen that showed her health, which were still there, but something imposed words over it. She scrolled down the rules, finding an extra one in red appended at the end. Her whole body felt cold as she read it.

That wasn’t fair! How was she supposed to follow that?!

Next to her, Berry Brew looked at her own. She clenched her teeth as she flipped the screen away, taking a deep breath. So she and her wife both had extras? Of course neither could tell what their codes were, or show they knew the other had one, but Figure's would be difficult to explain later without giving away that it was a rule.

Figure glanced around the room, feeling sick at herself as she considered how to manage it. She didn't want herself or her fetus to die because she broke it, or for any pony else to die for her to live after breaking it, so she had to try. She just hoped they’d forgive her for following it...

The others looked at their own one by one. Figure just looked up, pretending to look relieved as if she didn't have one.

“Eh,” Crimson sounded bored when she looked at hers. Or was she disappointed she didn't have one? She would be. Though it beat Tella, who took a full minute to even glance at her pipbuck, as if not considering it too important to check, before smirking for seemingly no reason.

“Oh thank Break,” sighed Devil unconvincingly. “No code for me.”

“Oh dear,” said Danger, breathless, then turned it off again. “I mean, I wonder who has them.”

“What,” Gale deadpanned, then added. “I mean, saying you don't have one is pointless since we aren’t allowed to say.”

Thunder, standing next to Gale, just sighed and looked over at Crimson, specifically at her plot. This was an odd time for him to oogle at his lesbian superior, especially given he didn't prefer ponies.

“Right,” Winter swallowed hard and put his pipbuck away too, but looked at Paper as if she’d just shot his childhood pet. Ginger still looked scared on his back, but at least she'd stopped crying.

“Monsters,” Night Light took a deep breath. “So that's why you wanted us to read them before we made accusations. There's no telling what it required ponies to do.”

Sunburst had the least reaction, perhaps being the most logical about it. He took one look at his screen, turned off his pipbuck, and walked to one side of the room to sit by himself. Figure started to think everypony had one aside from the traitor. Maybe that was why they couldn’t say if they had one.

“Sorry, everypony,” Sunburst sighed. “I mean... I should have noticed an AI intrusion like this.”

“Yes, you should have,” Crimson peered at him. “You may as well paint 'I'm the traitor' on your forehead making comments like that.”

These comments didn't make Figure feel well and had no idea which referred to rules. If they had rules like Figure's, this would get very unpleasant very fast.

“Don't worry,” Paper rolled her eyes. “None of them are unfair, like I didn’t tell you to kill anyone or something. Well... you might have to kill them in self-defense, depending on how they react to what it requires you to do.”

"Are you sure security can't rescue us?” Smokey asked, then looked as if she regretted speaking and added towards Paper Cut. “You um... bucking horn-head.”

“Please,” Paper Cut rolled her eyes. “Everypony knows security forces are next to useless in these situations. If they do show up, they get waxed by the villain to show how badass the villain is! Do you really want to put your hope in such an unreliable bunch of losers?”

“Everyone stop talking to it,” Thunder raised his voice. “It wants us to stop thinking logically and we can't do that. Now first, Overmare? Can we agree that crimes committed while here will not necessarily be pardoned? If ponies think they will be, it will make that thing's job easier.”

“Sure, I'll go with that,” Crimson smirked. “It's cute how you think you're in charge though.”

“It's disgusting it what is is,” said Tella. “A male that thinks he can command females, even own one?”

“I'm head of security,” said Thunder. “And this is a military situation which means I am in charge. And that ownership was allowed by your wife.”

“I have a question for both 'it' and the Overmare,” said Sunburst.

“Are you sure?” Paper waggled her eyebrows.

Sunburst sighed. “Geeze... never mind, I have no questions.”

“I'll ask one. I can't be the only one thinking it,” said Gale. “Regardless of who knows what about pipbucks, isn't the Overmare the only one that can alter pipbuck data? You yourself said before that you change the main password every week to make sure, so how did someone else get in?”

“Well, Stable-Tec created these systems,” said Crimson.

“That is a legit defense for any failure in a stable,” sighed Sunburst.

“Hey!” Tella growled. “Don't go thinking you can accuse her! She's already in control of the stable and has access to all the communications equipment. If she wanted to betray us to the NLR, she wouldn't have taken steps to hide us from their scans to begin with!”

“And,” Berry pointed out. “Her own book character being the AI persona seems a little too... overt. I mean why not have a Midnight Sparkle AI?”

“Because she's not as funny as me,” said Paper. “Seriously! Midnight freaks the buck out at the drop of a hat. She really needs a nice relaxing vacation.”

“She didn't freak out that much,” Night Light said, looking ashamed of his own words. “She was just... under a lot of stress.” The defense of the daughter he always claimed to have disowned drew a few glances.

“Stop it,” growled Thunder. “My disagreement with her aside, I think we can rule out the Overmare.”

“Oh?” asked Paper. “And who else are we 'ruling out'? We could rule out the foals since no foal could be secretly evil. How about the military types that fought so faithfully for Equestria? If they were paid to, at least.”

“No,” chuckled Crimson. “Ruling ponies out, including myself, without very compelling reasons isn't any better than blindly accusing them, don't you think?”

“A decent point,” admitted Thunder. “Regardless, as head of security it is my duty to protect the lives of everyone here, including this traitor, so I can question them.”

“Well aren’t you a clever little birdie?” asked Paper Cut. “Implying you’re not the traitor without actually saying it!”

“We need to stay calm,” Thunder ignored Paper. “And we need to forgive any uncharacteristic things ponies do since they might just be adhering to an unknown extra rule.”

“B-but you said crimes won't be pardoned,” Figure said, then bit her lip afterward, wondering if she shouldn't have.

“Will not necessarily be pardoned,” corrected Thunder. “It depends on what the result of said crime is, and how hard the perpetrator tried to minimize damage while following their 'rule'.”

“I can tell you,” said Crimson. “Every one of us, including myself, is going to cryo-rehab after this. We’ll all need it. So I guess the worst you act, the further we'll dig around in your head with a rusty spoon.”

Should that make them feel better? Because it made Figure Eight feel worse. She didn't want Stable-Tec brand psionics trying to 'make things better' in her brain.

“Sorry to bring this up again,” said Shadow. “But weren't there rumors that Crimson was an NLR spy?”

“Oh yes,” Crimson rolled her eyes. “Definitely a spy. That's why Daybreaker let me keep my post as Minister of Propaganda instead of letting her faithful student Starlight chop me into pieces for science. More than we can say for you, mecha-dragon. Do you have a metal cock by the way?”

“Would it be that bad if he did?” chuckled Smokey nervously. “Um... demon horse.”

“Maybe I wanna try it out,” smirked Crimson. “Dirt pony.”

“Can we please stop with the racial slurs?” Cream growled, covering Button's ears.

“Um, wasn't your position Minister of News?” asked Berry.

“Isn't that what I said?” Crimson quirked her torn left ear.

“Overmare,” Thunder tried to get the conversation back on track. “This is your book character, right? That means whether you're responsible or not, you may be able to predict the way it does things. Any ideas?”

“Oh yes,” said Paper Cut. “Please explain your brilliant plan where I can hear you. Then again, I can hear you anywhere you can go right now. I suppose you could always pass notes... oh wait no that's against the rules. You could always sacrifice yourself by passing a note and then killing yourself?"

“I have ideas,” shrugged Crimson. “But she's got a point. So I'll just say... if I scream strangely specific orders, obey them without question.”

“Oh, I like that!” Paper Cut said. “You should scream 'Stab your eye with a fork!' in the middle of dinner or something. That'd be hilarious!”

Crimson and Tella held their muzzles as if trying not to laugh at that joke. No one else seemed amused.

“The solution is obvious,” said Thunder. “We stay in a group, even going to the bathroom as one. Don't give the traitor an opportunity to get anyone alone, so they can't kill anyone without immediately being revealed.”

“Oh,” Paper paused for a moment, then swam through the air on the screen. “That's a good point. OK! New rule! Number seven?... no eight! All participants must spend at least eight hours of each day alone. If they don't, they'll get the same alarm that NG code violations get. Oh! But I’ll exempt you from this rule on any day you commit murder... actually I'll go easy on you and say any day you sincerely attempt murder. I'm no monster.”

“You can't just add rules!” Devil growled.

“Current rule nine says I can,” pointed out Paper Cut. “Oh wait! I get it!” She giggled as if Devil had told a joke.

“Buck...” Devil's eyes got wide and backed against a wall. His expression said 'that was a close one' but he didn't utter another word.

“No!” Button screeched. “That's unfair! You can't do that cause... cause...”

“Oh don't get your underage dick in a knot,” Paper Cut rolled her eyes. “I bet it’s not big enough yet, anyway. Your Mommy can help you measure it to check.”

“You can't ask me to leave my son all by himself!” Cream complained.

“I'm not 'asking',” smirked Paper Cut, then waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe you can do something nice for him to make him feel better though.”

“Shut up!” screamed Cream so loud that she gagged afterwards.

“Yes, can you please shut up!” Thunder roared. “This is why I fucking hate AIs. I swear, it’s a 50/50 chance if they’re helpful or decide to kill everyone.”

“Got it, boss! Shutting up now!” Paper Cut zipped her muzzle closed.

“Let's face one problem at a time,” said Thunder. “Our first challenge is to know our environment, since our pipbucks have had the maps for this area deleted. We will split into groups of three or four each to search different sections of the facility.”

“Who will go with him?” Cream asked, motioning to Night Light. “Because me and Button sure as Tartarus won't be in a group alone with him.”

Night sighed and looked to Sunburst. “You at least?”

“Uh, no,” Sunburst shook his head. “I don't feel like searching.”

“Excuse me?” asked Thunder. “But we need you and Winter searching the magitech labs, you'd know the most about it. Unless you want to sit in here alone?”

“Uh, right,” Sunburst nodded. “I'll go... but only to keep myself safe!” He looked up at Paper Cut as if to see if that was the correct answer. He looked relieved when Paper didn't react.

“Um, I'll go with them,” Danger mumbled. “They saved my life on my way here, so I owe them at least that much trust.”

“You three take the east magitech labs,” said Crimson. “Me, Tella, and Thunder will go together too. That way we can argue about command and my wife will know I'm not off bucking him somewhere. We'll check out the warehouses or something. Actually those things are huge, we'll check out the east side of the warehouses.”

“I'd rather group with Gale to be honest,” admitted Thunder.

“Are you protecting your favorite pussy, 'Daddy'?” smirked Gale.

“I’m protecting my investment, bitch,” growled Thunder.

“You could go with me and Ginger if you didn’t go with him,” Winter offered. Odd; Figure was sure he didn’t like Gale.

“Yeah,” Gale smirked. “I’m going with Winter and his filly guide.”

“Excuse me?” asked Thunder.

“Come on,” Gale rolled her eyes. “I got catching up to do. And besides, what do you think's gonna happen? He's gonna rape me right in front of an eight-year-old? Even you waited until I was ten and consenting to ram my little cunt.”

“You're uppity for a buck-slave whore,” Danger huffed.

Thunder growled but Figure just shook her head. No creature here looked down on spa-brothel ponies, but selling herself as a full buck slave earned her quite a reputation. Then again, Figure doubted Gale expected that Crimson would uphold the 'purchase' when she agreed to it. Figure still couldn't believe the Overmare okayed it when she found out, especially with the rabid hate boner her wife and sometimes her had for males.

“Okay,” said Crimson. “Gale's team can check out the west magi-tech labs since Winter did... something or another with that.”

“Navigational systems,” said Winter.

“You mean megaspell navigational systems,” said Tella. “Not sure why you'd leave that part out. You've indirectly racked up more kill count than everypony else in the stable combined.”

“I didn't know how they'd use them!” Winter protested. “Initially. Besides the balefire missiles I did most of my work on were toys compared to the CME blasts that destroyed most of the world.”

“Um, me and Berry could help check out the other side of the northern warehouse?” Figure Eight offered before that conversation got out of hoof. Anyway, she thought she saw a sign pointing to those warehouses on the way, and it showed they stored food on that side. She could go for a meal.

“Me and Button will go with them,” offered Cream.

Figure Eight nodded to her. She didn't know Cream well, but a pair of pregnant lesbians was probably the least intimidating group for Cream.

“That leaves us,” Shadow motioned to Devil and Smokey. “We work together well, I guess we'll check out the residential section where the scientists would have lived.”

“Mmmph!” Paper Cut gave them another hooves up, her other hoof covering her muzzle and still being quiet. They could only hope that lasted.

Even if she didn't speak though, she pointed to the bottom of the screen. Red words scrolled across it that said:

Surviving Participants: 16

Behind the text, a series of 16 silhouettes glowed, each one appearing to be in the shape of one of the participants.

The screen turned off, save for those words scrolling across the bottom and the image behind the letters. Figure glanced at her pipbuck and confirmed they were scrolling across the bottom of those screens too. She couldn't help but wonder how low that number would get before this ended.