Friendship cant save you

Rainbow Dash didnt say a word, as she looks around the room. She had been shouting at Cadence through the window for 10 minutes, and now her voice has gone hoarse. Twilight watched as Rainbow looked around, which she didnt appreciate.

“Are you going to try and escape or not.?” Rainbow croaked out, slowly walking toward her. Rainbow looked angry, hurt, and betrayed. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying so much, and her hooves were bleeding from hitting the window so many times, with no results. Her right shoulder, also had a large bruise forming on it, where Rainbow had been ramming against the door, though she had been fast enough for the lasers on the door to not detect her.

Twilight looked defeated and hopeless. Her bloodshot eyes looked over at Rainbow, her ears folded flat against her head, and her wings clasped tightly to her body. She didnt know how to respond…
She had lost all of her friends to situations that could have easily been avoided. She didnt know at the beginning, that this test was a set of games leading to death. But as each game went on, she tried her best to keep her friend's spirits up, in hopes of getting them through each game…
She was determined her friends would survive, she believed they’d find a way out, and she had hope that she would be able to get through this test with everyone still alive. But now it was just her and Rainbow left…

Twilight didnt speak, instead just breaking down into tears, openly sobbing as she looked at her one remaining friend. Rainbow’s gaze softened as she saw Twilight’s final resolve finally break, and her tears flowed like waterfalls.
Rainbow Dash didn't say anything further, just walked over to Twilight and wrapped her hooves around her. Twilight returned the embrace, hugging Rainbow Dash tightly and burying her face into her shoulder.

“I thought…” Twilight finally choked out, hyperventilating slightly.
“I thought we could get through it together… I thought we’d all survive… I failed them… I failed everyone… And I failed Equestria…”

Rainbow Dash looked down at Twilight as she sobbed.
“How did you fail Equestria?”
Rainbow Dash asked, talking in a soft voice, doing her best to comfort her friend.
As Twilight sobbed, Rainbow kept her eye on Cadence through the newly blood-stained window, shaking her head to not start the next game, and Cadence obliged.

“I failed Equestria… By letting my friends die… We no longer have control of the Elements of Harmony... How can we keep Equestria safe without the Elements…?”
Twilight asked, still sobbing, her embrace tightening around Rainbow. She knew the elements were the last priority right now, but it was a thought that burned at the back of her mind.

“Well…” Rainbow Dash started, and Twilight looked up at her.
Rainbow didnt have much hope left... She believed that she wasn't making it out of this game alive… But Twilight had done everything she could, to make sure everyone was in high spirits and did everything she could to try and save everyone.

It felt right for Rainbow to return the favor in, what she believed, were her final moments, at least to the best of her ability.
“Even though all of us have passed away… You could still control the Elements... Princess Celestia did it... Many moons ago... You can still keep Equestria safe... Even if we aren't there to see you do it. Maybe Celestia will teach you how… Once you get out of here…”
Rainbow tried her best to reassure her friend that not all was lost. Twilight looked up at Rainbow, her tears still flowing, but her sobbing had settled slightly, and then one final question came to mind.

“What if… I don't get out of here…?”
Twilight softly asked, slowly letting go of Rainbow Dash and drying her face with her hooves.

Rainbow simply put her front hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“You will.”
She responded, with a look of determination in her eyes.

Twilight didnt respond right away, taking a moment to calm down, wiping her face, before nodding.

Almost immediately after Twilight responded, a table appeared just inches in front of the 2 mares, with a single set of playing cards in the middle.
Twilight picked up 2 cards in her hooves, looking at the fronts of them. They were simple cards, with pictures of random objects on the fronts of them.

Cadence then came onto the loudspeaker.
“This game… this final game… is Snap… Its very self explanatory, you know how to play…”
Cadence simply said. Almost as if she didnt want to follow whatever script she was supposed to follow to introduce each game.

The 2 mares looked at each other, before Rainbow Dash approached her seat, seemingly accepting what was to come.
Twilight slowly walked over to the table, before sitting down opposite Rainbow Dash. Once both mares were seated, the cards somehow began to deal themselves out. With one card going to Twilight, then one to Rainbow Dash, and so on until the entire deck was handed out.

The 2 mares picked up their set of cards, having them sit comfortably in their hooves before Rainbow Dash put down the first one, which was a set of yellow and blue balloons.
Twilight then dealt the next card, which was a picture of the sun.

The game continued like this until 2 cards matched, it was a picture of a set of 3 blue gemstones. Rainbow Dash didnt slam her hoof down to claim the pair, instead, she pushed the cards toward twilight, forcing them into her stack.
Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash as she did this, her eyes widening.
“What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash had a look of acceptance on her face, but there was an underlining look of nervousness.
“Cadence said it was the final game… We both know how this is going to go….” Rainbow simply explained as she picked up her stack of cards, shuffling them idly.

“That doesn't mean you can just give up!” Twilight responded, seemingly pleading with Rainbow to keep going.
“We can get out of this to–!” Twilight tried to continue, but she was cut off by Rainbow Dash slamming her hooves on the table.

“OPEN YOUR EYES TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight leaned back in her seat, away from Rainbow, her eyes wide.
“All the games are RIGGED for you to win! They wouldn't stand idly by and allow the next in line to rule Canterlot, die to a random party game!”

“We don't know that!” Twilight tried to argue.
“What about Rarity or Fluttershy?! Those were games of chance! Or Pinkie?! ALL of the games are set on the CHANCES of us winning! There isn't a way to rig them so only I win all of them! It could have been anyone on the receiving end of those previous games! Myself included!”

Rainbow Dash gave a small groan, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her hoof.
“Then how come you’ve come out of all of these games, unscathed or unharmed? You don't even have a mark around your neck from the Hangman game!”

She pointed toward Twilight's neck, showing that there was a lack of injury from the noose, while Rainbow Dash had one around her own neck, and she got out of the game long before Twilight did.

Twilight’s eyes widened again as she realized that Rainbow was right, she raised her hoof to her own neck, feeling nothing but her own fur.

“So let's just get on with it.”
Rainbow almost demanded, sitting back in her chair and slamming her card down.
Twilight reluctantly followed along with the game, continuing until the next matching cards were found. They were pictures of Princess Luna’s cutie mark.

Rainbow shoved the cards into Twilight's pair pile before she could react, then Twilight put her full deck of cards down, not including the pairs, as Rainbow’s pile had run out, and the cards had to be redealt.

The game continued like this, with Rainbow Dash forcing Twilight to accept pair, after pair.
By the time the game was over, Twilight had 20 pairs, and Rainbow Dash had none.

Twilight was now openly sobbing once more, as she looked at Rainbow Dash, who was also crying.
A loud click could be heard, and before anything happened, Twilight leaped out of her chair, tackling Rainbow Dash out of her seat. She landed on top of Rainbow Dash and the 2 of them rolled together a few feet away from the table.

Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight in shock, and Twilight looked at Rainbow, praying that she would be ok.
Twilight went to speak but was only greeted with something splashing all over her face, catching her off guard.

Twilight let out a blood-curdling scream, as Rainbow Dash’s head was pierced through with a thick spike, the tip of the spike coming out of the blue pegasus’s eye socket, and the skull around the socket cracking from the sheer force of the spike coming out of the ground.
A pool of blood began to rapidly grow under the pair, spreading across the floor.

Twilight continued to scream and cry, begging that this wasn't real. Her final surviving friend was killed in an instant.
While Twilight was screaming, crying, begging. Cadence walked into the room. With the door open, it had weakened the magic-canceling forcefield the room provided, Twilight saw Cadence’s horn light up, and Twilight’s anger only grew.

“HOW… DARE YOU!” Twilight yelled, as she stood up, covered in old and fresh blood of all of her friends, she spread her wings as mourning turned into anger. Her horn lit up, her magic finally sparking to life, as she charged at cadence.

“YOU DID NOTHING TO STOP THIS! YOU JUST STOOD BY WATCHING THROUGH YOUR SPECIAL FUCKING WINDOW!” Twilight yelled, charging at Cadence, horn first, her magic sparking as she prepared an explosive spell.

Twilight got within close range of cadence, the spell went off. A large, magenta-coloured explosion rang out throughout the room. Creating giant cracks in the walls, the room shook, and the window finally broke.

Cadence did her best to block most of the spell with a forcefield, but all that did was send Cadence flying against one of the walls, as the smoke cleared, Cadence was revealed to be lying on the ground, her front right leg very clearly broken from the impact on the wall, her leg bleeding from the break.

Twilight wasn't completely unharmed either, as the force also blew her back, causing her to hit her head on the wall, causing the alicorn to stumble dizzily on the far side of the room.

But what the smoke also revealed, was Celestia and Luna, who stormed into the room upon hearing the explosion.
Twilight stood there, panting, angry, and crying, as she stared at Celestia and Luna with a crazed look in her eye, still trying to stay upright.

Celestia and Luna suddenly ignited their horns, casting a strong sleeping spell on Twilight, who succumbed to the spell almost immediately. Falling into a deep sleep where she stood...