Author's Note

Note; I do not ship Gilda and Corriander, Gilda's still just new to the whole friend-making

Chapter 3: The Journey of A Hero; DaL 1/2

Once again, I wake up in this nightmare that was this horrid killing game. It's hard to believe two ponies, or any creature for that matter, succumbed to the motives... First was Octavia, whose motive was fear of someone dying thanks to Twilight's fake letter who also feared someone dying... Octavia had wanted to kill Vinyl so they could die together but accidentally had grabbed Petunia, even if she mistook the mane, wouldn't the size or weight be obvious...? Then the next motive was our loved ones in danger where Monoluna made an example of Octavia's loved one by having her sawed in half and threatening that would happen to one of our loved ones. Wanting to protect his child, Scootaloo, from dying, Snap took Zecora into his own hooves and killed her... This game is responsible for five deaths...

"Trixie is tired of all this blood, it does not go with her glitter and tricks..." I murmured this under my breath and stretched as I put on my hat and cloak. I heard a knock at the door but before I could answer it, the bell played.
Bing Bong Bong Bing

"Hey, Trixie, it's Applejack."

"I'm here too." Spike chuckled and I saw them nuzzle into each other as I opened the door.

"So, what do you need?"

"We just wanted to see if you wanted breakfast?"
I knew I'd just be third-wheeling, Trixie always seemed to be doing that.

"I'm good, I'm gonna stretch a bit, I'll see if I can catch you both at the end."
They nodded and just walked to the cafeteria together.

"Hope I can talk to Applejack more and become closer, but right now she's pretty close with Spike and I shouldn't mess with that."
I said this to myself but maybe a bit too loudly because behind me I heard

"I think that's noble of you, Trixie."
I jumped and looked behind me to see Thorax.

"If you're doing morning stretches, mind if I join you?"
I smiled, it would be nice not to do them alone... even if that was just a fib to let the lovebirds just hang out.

*** I decided to do some morning stretches with Thorax ***

"So, what exactly is a changeling?"

"We can shapeshift using magic, but I can't exactly do that here, and along with the pegasi and Twilight, my wings aren't as strong as normal"

"Do you think you could be the Ultimate Shapeshifter or Ultimate Changeling?"
Thorax shook his head.

"I'm still unsure of what my Ultimate is, but I know it's not either of those."
We talked about our pasts, or... what we remembered of them, while we did some stretches. I went over my transition from stallion to mare, though mentally I always was a mare. Thorax said the former leader of the changelings was evil until a pony and a dragon helped him defeat her. I wonder if it was Spike and Applejack? I think Thorax and I grew a little closer.

Thorax and I walked into the kitchen, he went to go sit with Dusty and Splash. I go up to the window to get my breakfast and see a group of different tables to sit at. Corriander and Gilda sat together as I think of this and I decide to sit with them.

*** I decided to eat breakfast with Gilda and Corriander ***

"Hey, Trixie." Gilda nodded as Corriander waved me over.

"How are you this morning, Trixie, relatively speaking?"

"Trixie is alright... relatively speaking."

"Yeah... I feel bad for that kid, don't know what I'd do if my daughter have to watch me..."

"Trixie wonders if they're showing them everything?"

"You think they saw Fiddly's death?" Corriander inquired.

"Possibly, but I doubt they're in the same room, probably all in small but comfy prison cells," Gilda grumbled.

"You two seem to have gotten closer over the time we've been here."
Gilda blushed and grumbled a bit.

"Well, yeah we've been stuck in the kitchen together, it's only natural we'd start to get along or hate each other's guts."
Corriander let out a long chuckle.

"So Gilda," I questioned, "How'd you get into baking, from what I've heard Griffonstone isn't the most... resourceful when it comes to agriculture.

"Well yeah, but I got a good deal from a bakery that I forget the needs of, I give them a quarter of my pastries in exchange for ingredients and make around a quarter of what they sell... Hope Griffonstone is doing ok."

"I'm sure it's fine, Gilda, no way they take away this many creatures and also destroys all their home towns"
Bing Bong Bong Bing
We all looked up from our souffles that they'd made as Monodence started an announcement.

"Smiles and Kills, it's Monodence here~!"
We all groaned.

"Don't be sad, sad's no fun, killing is fun~!"
Monodence let out a maniacal laugh as we all silently just chewed our food.

"Anyways, I went ahead and opened those doors blocked by the vines!"

"So we can get in those rooms now?" Dusty questioned.

"Correct, Happy killing~" Monodence sang.

"I don't know if I can go in that hallway..." Spike shuddered.

"It's alright Spike, I'll protect you this time around."
Spike blushed as Applejack darted out followed by Spike floating after her. It almost felt like a cartoon...

Wait what's a cartoon

"While they go find a broom closet, why don't we all search together. That way we'll all know we all saw something together." Splash suggested.
Sunny nodded in agreement and threw his hooves around Splash.

"I'll join only so I don't get wrongly accused again." Twilight groaned.
We all rolled our eyes.

"Yes let's, unlike a radio mystery show we won't split up, Hahaha!" Sunny blurted out making a dramatic gesture with his front left hoof. We all walked out and to be fair, we all shuddered as we entered that hallway.

"Fuck I remember that creepy smile she had." Gilda winced.

"Snap had the right reason but the wrong means," Corriander replied.

"No, he didn't," Derpy said bluntly.
We all remember Derpy's outburst last trial. We can only imagine how she feels as a parent. Derpy then continued her argument.

"Y'know, he made Zecora's mother the same way he would have felt if Scootaloo died. He doesn't get my pity."
Derpy grumbled, stopped slowly flapping her wings, and ran off, slowly to be followed by Thorax and Corriander.

"So much for sticking together, some people can't just take what we have and live with it, going two different directions just like her eyes," Twilight remarked.
I was about to respond, that was just insensitive when all of the sudden

SLAP
We heard the sound of someone slapping a Princess, we all had winced but looked up to see, someone unexpected. I thought it would've been someone like Discord, Gilda, Dusty, or maybe even Splash. But when I looked up, I saw a seething Vinyl.

"Look, Princess first you send a letter to Octavia and make her murder, and next you insult everybody. I don't know why Celestia or whoever made you a Princess. Or, how you even got the Ultimate title, but they need to rethink their fucking life choices!"
Vinyl slapped her again and stormed off. I decided to run after her. I look around for her and find her where Petunia was killed. Nobody had been in there since the murder of Petunia and somehow the machine was completely cleaned out, you'd never have thought a murder would have taken place there. She was sobbing by the machine, trying to hide her tears with her glasses.

"Are you alright, Vinyl?"

"Go away, Prin-!"

"Oh it's you, I thought you all would've made Princess apologize."

"Good luck with that, Trixie's an illusionist but even that's something I couldn't conjure."
We both laughed a little and just talked until Vinyl settled down a little.

"Hey how about we explore the new rooms together, Trixie?"

"Trixie thinks that's a wonderful idea."
We headed up the stairs and skipped over the first two rooms, there wasn't one to the right, instead, there was a bigger one to the left. Vinyl stood in horror. It was the stage Vinyl had sung upon.

"You going to be alright?" I whispered to them.
Vinyl pulled her glasses back over their eyes and nodded. We walked down the aisle and we saw everyone exploring the stage, aside from Applejack, Spike, Derpy, Corriander, and Thorax.

"Oh, you found her!" Splash waved us over. Sunny was loving the idea of this stage. and zooming all around it doing poses. While the others were exploring backstage.

"Seems normal to me..." Cross noted.

"Yeah, it's just instruments props, and wooden planks. Typical school theatre kinda shtick." Discord stated, nonchalantly.
Discord and Gilda were flying, very slowly.

"Celestia, this flying curse is fucking annoying."

"You're telling me, Gilda, I can't even use chaos magic... Who could be powerful enough to kidnap this many ponies and creatures?"
We all scoot into the next room, this time it was another small room and it wasn't a very pretty sight to our minds. It was an artillery closet, full of swords, guns, knives. toxic-smoke bombs and many more lethal weapons.

"We all agree to stay out of this room right?" Rich questioned.

"Yes, that does seem it would be in our best interest..." Splash nodded.

"What if every night we had two creatures guard the door, to make sure of it?" Thorax commented.
Applejack and Spike came in from the other room.

"Welcome back, lovefucks," Discord stated "So how does that whole thing work, with the different species and the whole dragons living thousands of years thing, wouldn't that make Spike, what is he, your age, twenty-four?"
They both chimed in with a twinge of anger, like clockwork.

"Yes, were both twenty-four."
It seems that they've had this conversation before, but it's understandable.

"Either way, that room is just a room with a projector, and some snacks, seems like a movie room."

"Nice, we can watch a cheesy horror movie like The Leponcon or The Foalsitter." Dusty smirked.

"Not horror movies, please." Splash quickly replied.
Bing BoNg bOnG binG.

"Hey, so... like I'm tipsy," Monodence started, slurring her words holding a bottle of Austallion produced beer with her magic, as if to bring insult to injuries to Scootaloo, or us...

"So like, report to the dining area for the motive~"
That sank in like a ton of bricks.