Testing

The floor beneath Rainbow dash started to lower, as it did the foal in her grasp dissolved into orange magic. Her eyes went wide, once the realization hit her, fear and sadness turned into rage and anguish. She had been tricked, at least by the foal...she still wasn't sure about Pinkie. So that hurt.

"I....I'll kill that maniac!" Her eyes burned with the fury of a mare scorned. She had never been betrayed so badly! The platform she was standing on touched solid ground. After a quick glance, she realized that she was back in the room with all of the holding cells. Some of the other contestants were there as well....but one important pony was missing.

Gilda was sitting in a corner, looking down on the fallen form of a white pegasus. Dash didn't know who that pegasus was, and right now...she didn't care. Twilight Sparkle was curled up in a corner, stroking her tail and calling herself a good pony, Jazz was simply leaning against a wall, not talking.

Rainbow simply strode past them all and looked in her room, no Spitfire, no Pinkie Pie. One place down...another to go. She backed out then went to Pinkie's door, it was locked. She pressed her hoof against it, nothing. She hated that room, so quiet. So ridiculously quiet.

Dash, deciding that it was a lost cause for now, went over to Twilight. She sat beside the unicorn and stroked her mane idly, it seemed to calm down the egghead just a little. Her purple eyes connected with Dash's magenta ones.

"R-Rainbow...?" Dash just nodded and gave a kind smile. "N-No magic kindergarten...?" The pegasus responded with a shake of her head.

"No Twilight...just...consider it a bad dream..." She look towards the hole she came down from. "That's all this place is, one big nightmare..."

--

"You're despicable...you know that?" Game Master had Trixie pinned to a wall in the hallway. He snarled at her between clenched teeth. "You're so annoying...so obnoxious...so....damn beautiful..." This happened every year, the two would bicker and fight, and eventually give in to each other.

"Says the ego-maniacal, insane, sociopath...who happens to have the best damn smile I've ever seen..." The mare responded with a sneer.....a moment of silent occurred, then Game Master captured Trixie's mouth in a passionate kiss. The two battled for dominance over the lip lock, several times the colt slammed Trixie into the wall in order to gain her subservience. These acts continued for a few minutes before he finally pulled her away with magic.

"My room...5 minutes. Be there or else..." Game Master skulked off to his room, leaving Trixie to stare at him, biting her lip in anticipation.

--

Harlequin was down in the holding cells with the contestant, it was her job to check up on them all and to make sure they were fit enough to continue...and if they weren't...well, a quick bolt of magic to the head works wonders. She was currently inspecting the one in the worst condition, Ember, the pony had suffered a minor heart attack. She was breathing and seemed fine, but she had now developed a slight arrhythmia that had not been there before. She would be fine, she would also be easier to kill now.

"Right, she's fine. The hyper little thing will be back up in no time." She stood and glanced at the ponies around her. They didn't seem hostile towards her, which was a good thing. Harlequin may be the only one down there that had her full abilities, but they had numbers...no matter how shaken up some of them were. "Are you alright? You took a bad spill." The red and black mare addressed the purple unicorn.

"Yeah...I'll be fine. I have had worse...episodes. Trust me." The mare trotted away, clearly dejected. That always happened, they didn't trust her just because she worked here. She didn't want to...hell, nopony did. it was just the luck of the draw.

"I'm surprised only one of you died..." Harlequin noted aloud, she didn't think anypony would care, but one contestant took notice and blocked her path to the elevator. She recognized this one, the lesbian who had been caught making out with the pink one.

"Who died...?"

"I need to get back upstairs, move." The assistant tried to step around the pegasus, but she was blocked once more.

"Who. Died?"

"Spitfire, the Wonderbolt captain. Snake bites." Everypony was silent for a minute, then the rainbow one spoke up again.

"That means she's still alive."

Harlequin disregarded the statement and made her way to the platform, but surprise surprise, she was stopped again. This time by the musician.

"Hold up right there kitty cat...I think we deserve a little explanation."  He lowered his glasses, his colbalt eyes stared at her intently. "Now I'm not sure who you think you are, or who your crazy pal upstairs thinks he is, but we aren't playthings." He didn't talk in the slang she had studied so she could understand him properly.

"No, you're not playthings in the real world. Here, everypony is his plaything. Here, rules don't apply. He makes the rules, and much like Las Pegasus, the house always wins." She sighed and sat down, the others, sans Gilda, gathered around. "I was in the games once...I was in the very first one actually, ten years ago. I won...and he let me go...I kinda told the cops on him, he got arrested....and sent to a psychiatric ward. Three years ago he busted out and kidnapped me. he planned on killing me, but instead, he decided that I would help him with this...monstrosity." She furrowed her brow at the many innocent ponies she had to kill over the years, their blood still stained her coat.

"Can't you just...leave?" The purple one, Twilight Sparkle, asked.

"No. After he kidnapped me he performed a binding spell....and a transformation spell." A deep sigh escaped her mouth, years of work and repressed feelings coming up. "He made me look like this, his Joker in a sick deck of cards...even covered my cutie mark in the process." She gave a bitter chuckle. "Funny, I don't even remember what it was anymore...years of working with a madpony will do that to you..."

"Can't you break the binding spell? It should be simple, just isolate yourself from the leylines so the connection can't reach you." Oh, what a brilliant young unicorn. But foolhardy as well.

"No. I've tried, trust me.The only way is death...and I'm going to see my family before I die. That's the sad part, I'm...a villain to every contestant who comes here, I'm a bad guy. When really..I'm a prisoner, just like them."