Cutie Mark Trials

"What is this for real, Twilight? You don't mean we're gonna die, do ya'?" Apple Bloom said, terrified.

"Well to put it simply, you do what I say, watch out for traps, occasionally killing somepony, look happy to get people to like you, and don't get killed. Why you need people to like you is because tools break, you run out of food, and after you get out of here, you don't want people to think you're savage murderers. And I believe Luna has set the television up in the town center. She's your first sponsor, so don't screw your reputation up, she's a princess after all." Twilight pressed a button on a remote and had a glass of the red substance Sweetie Belle found on the wall delivered. She slurped it obnoxiously and opened her now bloody lips to something, "Don't be afraid to rely on eating other ponies. Now, embrace imminent death." She pressed another button on the remote and the Crusaders lowered onto a platform.

They descended into a white room with holes in the walls. Apple Bloom gagged behind Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo when she thought of the image of eating another pony. She looked at her filly friends. They were trembling and breathing heavily, while standing in a pool of sweat. Apparently Apple Bloom was taking this better than them, but why? She didn't get time to think about it because the room brimmed with dark red gas that anesthetized them.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes to a room with tile flooring and walling with a mirror that, from the position she's in, reflected the position they're in. They were tied onto a wall with black collars around their necks. She regained her senses and panicked. "Wake up! Wake up you two, there's something there!" She screamed and alerted her friends of a saw proceeding towards them, splattering the wall with blood from other victims slaughtered by the metal blade. It suddenly stopped on the other side of the restroom. Apple Bloom drooped her eyes open and found blood sprayed on her chest. She threw her head from side to side with Sweetie Belle on her left and Scootaloo on her right. They both had the substance splattered on their bodies.

"Scootaloo, wake up!" She yelled into her ear and struggled against her own restraints. Scootaloo sluggishly opened her eyes, and immediately the intercom sounded.

Twilight's voice came through, "Thanks for the damn mess, Apple Bloom. Surprisingly, you have one more sponsor. Anyways, you have four minutes to get out of your restraints. I trust you know what happens if you fail." The mirror showed a timer set to four minutes.

The saw started spinning and slowly came forward, splattering them with more blood. They shook their hooves in the leather straps, trying to break out unsuccessfully. "Oh, yes. I forgot that it's impossible to get out without the knives. Fluttershy, deploy stone knives." Slits opened in the walls and sharp blades slid out. "Embrace imminent death." Fluttershy said into the intercom. Scootaloo moved her head to the side and took the hilt of the dagger in her mouth. She started sawing her restraints and dropped to the floor after cutting free of the last strap.

"Sweetie Belle, start sawing the top straps off and I'll get the bottom ones. You too, Apple Bloom. We aren't dying here!" Two minutes and forty-three seconds left until the imminent death they keep talking about.

In Ponyville Center...

"Welcome everypony, to the first annual Lunar Filly Trials! As the live action has already started, let's, well, get started! I will explain the rules to you uninformed ponies along the way to see who is victorious!" Luna stood before a mob of the residents and turned on a newly added television. The camera focused on the three fillies, now free of their constraints. Luna turned to a freshly built construction made especially for sponsors to bid on survivors of the Trials. "Seems my sponsorship of these fillies was well placed!"

"Where are our bags?" Apple Bloom wondered as she held the knife in between her teeth. The saw retracted back into the wall to send other fillies to their demise. She wiped some of the blood from her chest and dropped the knife to get a taste of blood. She unwillingly swallowed it, repulsed by the metallic taste. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at her with distaste. "Atleast I don't like it!"

"Say that to us when you're ripping somepony open and draining their blood to get a drink." Scootaloo said cautiously, as all three of them had blades that could kill each other in a moments notice. Apple Bloom shook her head. Why didn't her best friend believe her? Something in that gas? No, it couldn't be, Sweetie Belle trusted her, or at least she thought so. Maybe one of Twilight's assistants did something to mess with each others minds. Something different for everypony here.

"Good job, my little ponies... I mean, there will be harder trials to overcome in the future, so don't congratulate each other yet. Check for supplies in every room you see. Including the stalls. Sweetie Belle, you have another sponsor. After you check this room, I am ordered to tell you where to go next." Twilight sounded bored.

Scootaloo bucked open a stall. A fowl stench of rotten flesh filled the air and caused her to be sick. A former classmate lay on the ground as an entangled body and deep gashes in her sides. "Is that Twist?" Sweetie Belle barely got the sentence out of her mouth. They looked at the candy cane cutie mark and nodded. Scootaloo looked at the toilet. It was filled with sharp, small blades that were already bloody. Twist had looked in it and somepony had carved into her body while she was searching for something. "Watch my back." Scootaloo stuck a hoof in the razor blade filled toilet and let out a pain filled cry. She forced her hoof even further into it and caught a hold of a strap. They hid their bags in the toilets? She jerked her hoof out and Apple Bloom's bag came up with it. They looked at her hoof, horrified at the sight of razors stuck on her leg and blood gushing from wounds. "Get my bag." Scootaloo ordered. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other. "Now!" They scurried into the other two stalls. Scootaloo looked at her hoof again and closed her eyes. The blades could be used for traps. She ignored her friend's cries of pain and pulled a blade out of her leg. It burnt and caused the wound to drain large amounts of blood from her body. "Do you have the bags yet?" They carried the bags in the opposite hoof. They both had razors stuck in their legs and were bleeding. "Get the socks out of my bag. One of you help me get these out and the other, get the sock over my wounds. Save the blades."

Apple Bloom bit her lip and said, "I'll help you with the blades. That leaves Sweetie Belle to cover your cuts." She brought her uninjured hoof forward. "Brace yourself." She gently pulled one out and threw it in her bag. For the other blades, she grabbed one in her mouth and used her hoof, then threw them in her bag. "Your turn. Tie it around the cuts for pressure." She moved aside, taking her bag and trying to get the blood washed off the razors.

Sweetie Belle took one of the socks she had to wear out of Scootaloo's bag and wrapped it around as many cuts as she could, but only covering two of the five cuts. She looked at Scootaloo and saw how dizzy she was. "You're going to be okay!" She said, hoping she was right. She clutched another sock and tied it around the remaining cuts.

"Mine next, quickly please." Apple Bloom put down a razor blade. Scootaloo woozily yanked out her two blades. Apple Bloom screamed out in pain and almost passed out. "Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle yelled before she could stop herself. She quickly tied the red striped sock around the close gashes. "Apple Bloom, tie the sock around my cut." Apple Bloom reached for a sock while Sweetie Belle yanked the blade out of its place. Apple Bloom clumsily tied the sock around her wound and laid on the ground.

"I believe that is the end of day one for the Lunar Filly Trials! Come back to the town center for more of the bone chilling, not really, but come back for more tomorrow!" Twilight's voice broadcasted to everyone listening. The mirror on the wall showed what they assumed to be the ponies who died, as it showed the detailed ways that the fillies and colts got killed. Twist's death scene played, and played how they expected it. The worst thing about it, possibly, was that Pinkie Pie sung through it. She sounded depressed while singing about their inevitable deaths and how they shouldn't be sad that their friends are or will be dead. After she stopped playing the clips, the room filled with a blue magic that knocked them out and froze them in place. They wouldn't want the action to go unseen by the residents of Ponyville.