The Final Test

"Perhaps we should give her her vision back for this test," Limestone suggested.

"But that ruins the entire point of my test!" Apple Bloom whined.

"Think of the greater good, Apple Bloom," Rarity said softly. "It'll be all the more worse for her if she can see what's happening to her."

"But won't it be scarier for her if she can't see it?"

Rarity sighed. "Alright. We'll let Big Mac decide."

Starlight heard the sound of somepony spinning around. "Big Mac, should we give Starlight her vision back for this test?" Apple Bloom asked.

Starlight held her breath hopefully, but almost directly after Apple Bloom spoke, Big Mac replied with, "Nope."

"But my eyes-" Starlight protested.

"'Are unnecessary for my brother's test," Apple Bloom chirped.

Starlight heard Limestone snort. "Well, she's having her vision back for my test."

There was the sound of somepony turning, then Starlight felt warm breath on her face. "Now listen close," Apple Bloom insisted. "My brother don't say a lot of words too often, so this is a rare occasion."

Starlight heard Big Mac clear his throat. "It's possibly one of the worst tests," he began. "There's hooks on the ceiling and on the floor, I'm not sure if you noticed that when you could still see. They're spread far enough part that if a pony were to be hung by strings that were connected to each hook, they would be right in the center. It's a little higher than you were on the table previously. Pieces of twine are currently being strung to each hook by Zephyr and Scootaloo. Once they are finished, Sunburst is going to lift you up into the center with his magic. Once he does, Zephyr and I will work together to tie the twine to your hooves. Every piece of twine is connected to a wheel, which will be controlled by me. The twine will be very, very tight. And when the wheel is turned, it will slowly tear each of your limbs away. And once that happens, and all four of your limbs have been successfully amputated, we'll move onto the second part of my test. There are two more hooks smack dab in the center of the bottom and top hooks. We're simply gonna connect you to the twine on those before you die from blood loss, and then I'm going to spin the wheel and watch your head rip off."

"Somepony simplify that for me!" Sweetie Belle cried. Starlight heard Rarity murmuring to her, and Sweetie Belle began aggressively writing.

Starlight swallowed hard. "Can't you just... cut them off?" she squeaked weakly.

Big Mac barked a laugh. "Ah, but the point is to see how long this will take. It'll benefit the princesses greatly."

"How?" Starlight cried, her voice cracking. "How will this help them? How will this help anypony?"

Starlight felt warm breath on her face, and the scent of apples filled her nose. "It benefits us by letting us see the pony that hurt our loved ones suffer," Big Mac hissed lowly.

"Twine is all tied!" Scootaloo chirped. Starlight heard her tiny wings flutter happily.

"Is it connected to the wheel?" Shining Armor asked.

"It is now," Zephyr replied.

Starlight felt Big Mac pull away, then heard his hoofsteps trotting away.

"H- How did you get a wheel in here?" Starlight stammered quietly. Maybe they were just messing with her. Maybe they were taking advantage of her blindness to scare her. She hadn't seen a wheel before, so maybe-

"Oh, Starlight, this is a very well-constructed area," Rarity replied. "You should know, you performed our tests here."

Starlight froze. "You found it?" she questioned quietly. "How?"

"Is she really that stupid?" Apple Bloom said bluntly.

"You aren't the only pony with magic, Starlight," Princess Cadance taunted.

"Come on, we're wasting time!" Zephyr called authoratively, clapping his hooves. "Sunburst?"

"On it."

There was a quiet sound around Starlight. She hesitated, then tentatively reached out her hoof. She was met with no reaction. She let out a quiet sound of relief. She had been right, that was the sound of the ring disappearing.

There was another sound, then Starlight was being lifted into the air. Once she stopped moving, a thin metal string was wrapped around her left hoof. She winced, feeling the cool string dig into her skin. Three other strings were attached to her other hooves. The sound of magic disappeared, and Starlight drooped down from the twine. It painfully dug deeper into her fur and skin. Starlight yelped.

"She's loose," Scootaloo said disapprovingly.

"That's no big problem," Zephyr replied. "We can tighten it."

Somepony scampered across the room. Scootaloo began grunting and huffing, sounding strained. She finally gasped, and Starlight heard her stumble backward. There was a quiet thud as though the orange pegasus had collapsed to the ground.

"This wheel is really hard to move," Scootaloo breathed.

There were heavier hoofsteps. They stopped by Scootaloo, and then there was a small squeaking sound like something was being used for the first time in a while. Starlight felt the twine begin to move, tightening its grip on her. She let out a small cry, but as predicted, it was no use. She was lifted up higher into the air by the top twine, and the bottom twine pulled on her back legs. She was held firmly in the air. She felt blood running down her legs.

"Good thing we got Big Mac," Apple Bloom chuckled. "Gotta have a strong stallion on our side, right Big Mac? Oh, revenge tastes so sweet!"

A moment passed, and then there was a familiar sound.

One tick.

Two ticks.

Three ticks.

"Begin."

The wheel started up again. The twine pulled hard on Starlight's limbs. She screamed instantly. The twine dug further into her skin. It was sharp, and it delivered so much pain for such a thin piece of metal. There was the sound of wingbeats above Starlight.

"Ignore me," Zephyr told her as she continued to cry out in pain. "I'm just setting up for the second part of the test."

He flapped over to Big Mac, who instantly snapped at him. "Back up!"

"We need to be prepared," Zephyr insisted. "We're going to have to attach these to her immediately."

Suddenly the wheel stopped. Starlight was stretched out in an uncomfortable way, like a wide star. She heard Rarity and Sweetie Belle fumbling around.

"Warn us next time," Rarity huffed.

"A few seconds mean nothing," Big Mac snapped.

"Accuracy is key," Sweetie Belle shot back.

"Cool it, Twilight Sparkle," Big Mac retorted. "We'll be back on track in no time."

"Watch your tongue," Shining Armor snarled, and there was the sound of a horn lighting up.

"Oh, must we be so hostile?" Discord said in a bored tone. "Think of the bigger cause here. We can't afford to be turning on each other."

"He's right," Flurry Heart agreed. "We need to work together, that's the whole reason why Rarity brought us all here. So let's get our hooves untwisted and continue."

There was a minute of silence, and then somepony spoke. "What are we going to do?" Zephyr asked.

"We may as well mix the tests," Big Mac replied. "You have a point; the second part would need to be done quickly. That's extra stress and may not even work."

"Oh, yes, let's make last minute changes and give Sweetie Belle more work to do," Sweetie Belle grumbled irritably. Nobody responded to her words, leaving the irritated unicorn to scribble down more notes and scratch things off.

Wingbeats fluttered above Starlight again. Twine was suddenly tied around her neck. She gasped desperately, not because of the string, but because of her fear.

"No," she breathed quietly. "No, no, no, no, no. Please, please!"

Zephyr tightened the string, then flew back in the direction of Big Mac. A few minutes later, he announced, "All tied down. We're good to go."

"No!" Starlight shrieked, writhing. The twine cut further into her skin, sending more blood oozing out of the newly formed wounds.

"You'll come back," Apple Bloom spat angrily. "Quit being so fuckin' dramatic, would you?"

"May we continue?" Rarity snarled.

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied simply.

"Alright, and... resume."

The wheel began moving again. The strain on Starlight's neck made her gasp and shriek at the same time.

"Save your air," Apple Bloom snickered.

Starlight hesitated, then drew in a long breath and held it. She was right. If Starlight screamed, it'd make this 10x more painful.

The wheel continued turning, pulling on the twine. There was suddenly a sickening tear, and Starlight involuntarily screamed. She felt her legs slowly tear where they connected torso. She felt like an old toy being torn apart by a filly who didn't need it anymore. Hell, with all that was being done to her, she may as well be.

"Yuck!" Sweetie Belle shrieked as there was another tear. Starlight felt the blood spurting from the rips, and she could imagine that it had hit Sweetie Belle and the others, simply judging from the sounds of disgust.

"Uck. Sweetie, get behind me," Rarity ordered.

"Why?" her sister asked.

"So you get less messy, and we can protect the parchment."

"But that's not fair to you," Sweetie Belle argued.

"Don't argue and just do it. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, you too. If all three of you crowd together and get a little lower, it should be enough to protect you. As long as I stand like this."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Scootaloo said, and Starlight heard her hurry over to Rarity.

"Apple Bloom?" Rarity said as the twine pulled Starlight's limbs further, spitting out more blood. "Come on."

"I appreciate the offer, but I quite enjoy this," Apple Bloom chuckled. "Nothing's better than seeing and feeling a criminal pay for what they've done."

And they say I'm sick. Are they not hearing her?

Another tear. Starlight was aware of how thin the threads of skin that kept her together were getting. Starlight's breathing grew harder as her head began to separate from her neck. Blood ran down her body. She was sure by now, with all the blood staining her fur, she looked crimson with tiny spots of lilac here and there.

Starlight wanted to scream, but all that came out were gurgles. Blood spilled from her mouth.

There was another rip. Starlight felt herself slipping from consciousness. Each tiny strand of skin began to snap. It was slow, one snapping at a time. All Starlight could do was hang there, waiting for the final snaps to come. Suddenly, the wheel began turning slower. Big Mac was going to make these final moments as painful as possible.

It felt like eternities had passed before Starlight was holding on by a single thread. She was barely alive. She was quite literal on her last string, and once it snapped, she'd be gone. As if on cue, the final threads connecting Starlight to her torso snapped.

Starlight's torso collapsed to the floor, no longer held by anything. Her other limbs hung from the twine, and they dangled like some kind of star streamer a filly would have in her room.

Rarity shuddered and stopped the timer. "At the rate Big Mac was going at, it took about 35 minutes. Though it must be accounted for that he was going fairly slow."

"Already down," Sweetie Belle announced.

Rarity looked down at her fur. Her pretty white coat was stained crimson. The blood splattered across her like paint, as though somepony had taken a paintbrush and carelessly splashed the paint onto Rarity. She sighed. She'd just have to deal with it for now. Once they were out of here, she'd be able to wash up.

Rarity adjusted her ponytail. Apple Bloom cackled. "Awesome!" she squealed. "That was by far the best test yet! Oh, Starlight, you are only just beginning to repay your debt."

Big Mac stepped away from the wheel and untied Starlight's back legs from the twine while Zephyr untied everything from above. The two stallions tossed everything beside her torso, all except for her head. As Zephyr was about to put it with the rest, Big Mac stopped him by holding out his hoof. Zephyr hesitated, then gave the head to Big Mac.

The red pony tossed the head in his hoof like a ball, studying it. Starlight's eyes were dark from being burned. Big Mac glanced at her torso, which was revealing her underbelly. There were burn scars there shaped like lightning bolts. He assumed it was from her jumping over the ring and inevitably killing herself.

Big Mac turned his attention back to the head in his hooves. Her mouth hung open a little, her gaze blank and lifeless. Blood dripped over his hooves and down his foreleg. He looked at the head a little longer, then suddenly grew violent. He reached down and snapped her horn off with his teeth. Everypony gasped in shock at the sudden switch in behavior.

Big Mac spit out the horn. He screamed and threw the head at the back wall. The head cracked open upon impact. When it hit the ground, a whole new puddle of blood began to form. Big Mac stalked up to it, glaring at the head of the pony who had killed his sister.

"Next time," he snarled, "think about who you're fuckin' with."

With another yell, Big Mac stomped on the head. There was another crack. His hooves were covered in blood, and there were hints of a darker red on his fur.

"Careful there, Big Mac," Rarity said softly. "We don't want to make it impossible for Discord to bring her back."

"Let him have his fun," Discord cooed. He was draped over Shining Armor's head with his arms propped on the stallion's snout. Shining Armor didn't say anything, but he looked pissed. "I can bring her back no matter her condition."

"My fun is over," Big Mac spat, kicking the mangled head to the wall. He stomped back to the others, then turned to face the dismembered body on the floor. He was breathing heavily, clearly still angered. Zephyr wrapped his wing over his friend's back to offer support. It seemed to successfully calm Big Mac a little.

"Welp," Rarity said, clapping her hooves together. "That concludes this test. Let's get this all cleaned up. Who's going next?"

"Me," Princess Cadance replied instantly. Due to being so far back in the room, she and the other princesses were covered in little to no blood.

"Alright," Rarity said, raising her voice to address everyone at once. "Come along everypony, it's time to move into the next room!"