Cutie Mark Trials

by Omega Rain

Rating: mature
Tags: Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Princess Luna
Length: 11399

The Cutie Mark Crusaders have been disturbing the peace and get a lead to supposedly get their CMs.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders have been disturbing Ponyville's peace, and ponies are not happy. When they have no one to help them, a mysterious cloaked pony gives them a lead where they possibly could earn their cutie marks. A cave. But soon, they learn, this is no ordinary cave. Will they survive to see sunlight again, or will they perish?
Shout-out to TEK101! If you read this, thank you for supporting my stories! You encourage me to keep on writing. Thanks to everyone else for taking some time to read this!

Published 2012-11-24 04:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-06-13 02:01:04 UTC

Chapter One: Mysterious Figure

It was a normal day in Ponyville, ponies shopping, working, and what ever else somepony might be doing. Apple Bloom and her friends, still without their cutie marks, looked around town to get inspiration for hunting for their cutie marks. Sweetie Bell was looking towards a stand with accessories for fabulous ponies, ribbons, bows, mane highlights, and eyeliner were just a few things featured in the stand. Scootaloo was looking at a stand that had cutouts of the Wonderbolts, who she hoped to join Rainbow Dash, if Dash ever got in, and was dissapointed about there being no job applications. Apple Bloom was looking towards the vegetable stands that were overpriced, but probably gave good profit in the end. Just ask Fluttershy and she'll tell you the truth. Apple Bloom shook her head with a sad look on her face. The Crusaders have already 'helped' with a stand, and that turned out horrible. What could they help out with now?

"Any suggestions, Crusaders?" Apple Bloom said hopelessly.

They shook their heads in response and trailed off in thought. Sweetie Belle lifted her head and said with excitement, "I've got it! We should ask Twilight for wings and help Cloudsdale with the weather!" ...Nopony objected the idea because they were desperate.

Off they went, riding in Scootaloo's wagon attachment to her scooter. The ride was very bumpy, but they didn't mind, after all, this could be the moment they get their cutie marks and find their special talent. They arrived at the library. No lights were on and they couldn't hear anyone. "Go in, chicken." Apple Bloom teased Scootaloo. Scootaloo shot her an annoyed look and creaked the door open.

Smash! Something like a dish fell on the ground and shattered into a million pieces. "Spike! Why can't you just eat your applesauce!? Now I have to clean the glass off the ground!" Twilight's horn glowed purple and seemingly beautiful bowl shards levitated off the ground.

"You can't fool me, Twilight. I know Zecora put a mixture in there, and I don't need it!" He said cockily. Spike put the spoon on the small table designed for reading and or writing, but big enough to fit a small plate or bowl on the wooden surface and a secret compartment to store quills and small bottles of ink.

"Um... Twilight, we wanted to ask you something." Scootaloo interrupted the argument. Twilight looked towards the fillies and blushed. "If it's okay...?"

She dropped the glass shards into a garbage bin and motioned for Scootaloo to continue. She looed back at Spike to see him sucking on his finger after trying to help pick up the shards. "You okay Spike?" He releases his lips from the cut and nods. She turned her head back to Scootaloo."Go on, my little pony."

Scootaloo told her their plans to get their cutie marks. Twilight looked nervous, but after a long time of the Crusaders begging, she finally gave the two other fillies butterfly wings and used a spell that strengthened Scootaloo's floppy attachments. "Be careful with the wings, all of you."

They had already run out the door by the time Twilight warned them. The three fillies were in the sky, getting a feel for the air against their wings. After a while of practicing, they decided to find a pony to help with weather position. Sweetie Belle found a mare with wall-eyes and asked her if they could help. She accepted the offer, not knowing what these fillies could do. They split up to get most of Ponyville covered. None of the three knew what to do, so they just shook the clouds from left to right. All of a sudden, every cloud started to precipitate large rain drops. Every pony on the ground ran to cover so they didn't get soaked. They met together and drifted to the ground. As they landed, a huge group of the citizens gathered around them.

"Oops." Sweetie Belle smiled nervously. This type of thing always happened when these fillies tried to help out, but they never understood why it happened. The crowd of angry ponies started shouting and cursing horrible words at them. They hung their heads and ignored the vile words spat at them. Twilight came pushing through the mob and stood by their sides.

"Leave these three alone! They meant to do well, not ruin our sunny day. Plus, cussing at them doesn't do anything but make you look terrible." The crowd went silent. She walked forward along with the Crusaders and they made a path out to the town. Twilight took the wings away and said good-bye breifly.

"Did you say you were looking for your cutie marks?" A voice came out of an alley. The three looked at each other. Was she stalking them? Sweetie Belle answered with a nod and the mysterious figure came closer. "Well, I think I know just the place you could earn them. Thanatos Cave. There are precious gems there that you could recover for the mayor." She handed them a map. There were red scribblings that led to the cave, between Canterlot and Ponyville, and a few miles east. "Good luck, Crusaders."

Chapter Two: Thanatos Cave

The three fillies passed through town, ignoring evil stares from civilians. "Y'know, now that I think of it, I think we should pack some food and drink, because we might be in there for a while." Apple Bloom thought of preporation. The other two nodded and seperated. Scootaloo got energy bars that Rainbow Dash had given her, Sweetie Belle got some type of elegant food leftovers from the night before, and Apple Bloom managed to buck an apple tree and took some of last seasons apple cider without her family catching her. They met in the clubhouse and looked at the supplies.

"Applejack let you have apple cider?" Sweetie Belle licked her lips. Apple Bloom smiled nervously and turned her attention to Scootaloo.

"You willin' to part with your 'special' bars? Rainbow Dash would say you're pretty loyal to your non-chicken friends." Apple Bloom teased.

Scootaloo gave her a feirce look and said, "I think you're getting out of hoof with the chicken jokes. And I'm willing to share them if you gals wear long socks there, y'know, to make up for all the times you called me a chicken." She grinned afterwards. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle protested the idea. "You don't want me to pose you, right?" The fillies silenced all at once and stared at Scootaloo as if she had mysteriously grown a horn on the top of her head.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked back into the house with socks that went up to their body. The socks themselves were, easily put, comfortable, except the stares the fillies would attrack would be unimaginable because of the number of citizens out to shop. Scootaloo's wings immediatly sprung up without an apparent reason and she grinned evily. "Let's go, Crusaders." The other fillies groaned and picked their food pouches with wool-covered hooves. Once they reached town, they tried to avoid odd stares to no avail. "Don't hide, you look sexy in those!" Scootaloo pulled the socks down slightly. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other. How badly they hated Scootaloo for this public embarassment. The chicken jokes were terrible, but they were nothing compared to this humilliation.

"We're getting back at her." Sweetie Belle gritted through her teeth and pulled up her white and green striped socks. Apple Bloom nodded and looked at the map. A few miles north and more to the east would get them to the cave. Away from the glances of crudeness.

"T... Than- how do you say it? Thanatos Cave? I wonder what that means. I bet if Twilight were with us she'd be able to tell us what that means." She thought out loud and almost tripped over a large rock. The filly regained as much stature as she could, with all the mares and stallions giving them odd glares as they passed them by. She handed it over to Scootaloo. "You get map duty for making us wear these." Scootaloo rolled her eyes and snatched the map from her. Scootaloo unrolled it and read it upside down.

"We should go right here." She had her face buried in the paper and, without looking up, pulled down Sweetie Belle's socks. Sweetie Belle immediately pulled them up and looked at Apple Bloom. Her socks were sagging, but the "sock mistress" made no attempt to raise them.

They mainly stayed quiet until they reached the cave, then Sweetie Belle asked, "Why socks, Scootaloo? You coud have done something more embarrassing than some long socks."

Scootaloo closed her eyes and tried to think of something to say. "Well... You can use the wool to make stuff. And it might be cold, then you won't be whining then. I'll take them now if you don't want them." She pulled them off and put them in her pack. They didn't care. It's not like they'd be in there long enough to where they'd have to smother themselves with socks.

"So what should we call ourselves when we get our cutie marks?" Scootaloo asked, purely to change the topic.

Sweetie Belle didn't mind the topic change at all and chipped in, "We should call ourselves the Cutie Mark Warriors!"

"Doesn't really make sense, right? I mean, we aren't fightin' for Celestia, or fighting at all. I think we should be known as the Cutie Mark Treasure Hunters." Apple Bloom reasoned. As creative as they could be, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't really come up with any decent names for their group.

Scootaloo scoffed. "We'll figure it out later. For now, let's just get the treasure and get out." They trotted inside the dark cave. The cave filled in with darkness and no light was visible at all. "Grab hooves so we don't lose each other."

Lights flashed on and they could see what now looked like a room. "What is this place? It looks like a room." Sweetie Belle raised her right hoof up to the wall where there was a red, sticky liquid running from a rusty vent in the ceiling. The room extended atleast another 50 feet and the ceiling raised the longer the room developed. At the tip of the room, there was a large clear pane that looked like glass. Sweetie Belle wiped the liquid off on the wall, repulsed after she cautiously licked some off her hoof and noticed it tasted metallic.

The pane lit up and the image of a hooded pony came up. The Crusaders trotted closer to it and investigated. The pony on screen looked just like the one that told them about the treasure here! "Hello Crusaders. I notice you wonder where you are. Thanatos Cave if you'd like. What you will do here, I believe, will rid you of selfish acts as seen in the attempts to gain cutie marks. Yes, if you didn't know, Thanatos means death. I'm being polite and letting you stay in a group through these trials. However, that doesn't mean you are invincible, you will die if you aren't careful. I'll help you on the way, but I will not warn you of any traps or ponies lurking, only guide you to the next chamber. If you are ignorant and untrusting of me, I have something to show you that might just gain your assurance." She lowered the hood slowly and revealed her true identity.

The Crusaders gasped, "Twilight?"

Chapter Three: Sponsored By Luna

"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.

Chapter Four: Twilight's Dawn

"Twilight, I want to have a talk." Luna said in a serious tone. "I think you might be interested in what I have to say." Twilight looked up from her book.

"Oh, Luna. I didn't realize you were here. What is it?" She put a bookmark in the book and closed it.

Luna turned away. "Do you remember Nightmare Night, how everypony was scared of me?" Her hair stopped flowing. She turned towards Twilight again and examined the front cover of the book she was reading. "The Future of Equestria." Luna mumbled.

"I remember, but no one is scared of you. What do you mean?" Twilight looked at her, confused by her bringing up the past.

"Exactly, Twilight! Nopony is scared of me, and nopony thinks of me as a leader! I spend a thousand years on the moon, when I come down on Nightmare Night, everypony is scared of me... Thanks to you, no one is scared of me, but no one thinks of me as a princess!" Luna sighed. "I feel like a pony with no friends. Worthless. In other words, I want to be the ruler of Equestria. To rewrite history and change it forever."

Twilight gasped. "Luna, that's revolutionary! How would you even pull that off without getting banished to the moon for another thousand years?" She stood up and trotted back and forth.

Luna put a hoof in front of Twilight and they stood face to face. "You're Celestia's loyal student, so I know this is awkward. But, I would hope you could be my loyal student someday. I want your help in this. You would, when I rule Equestria, you would be the most valuable pony in all of the land, along with your friends, if just yourself wasn't favorable enough. Maybe even your, what did you call him... Your BBBFF could be alongside me and your friends." Luna leaned in even closer and kissed Twilight's cheek. Twilight blushed and looked down at her hooves.

"I don't know what to say, this is quick. A-and sorry about my lateness to this, but ponies were only scared of you because of Nightmare Moon. Just give me time, Luna, and I'll get back to you." Twilight looked into Luna's eyes and pushed the book she was reading in front of her. "Take it." Then she returned Luna's kiss to her lips. Luna picked the book up and left without a proper goodbye.

Twilight mouthed the words and turned around. Spike walked out of her bedroom and fell down the stairs. "Spike! How much did you hear?" She trotted over and helped him up.

He was drooling. "That was hot."

Twilight held a hoof up to her face and said through gritted teeth, "How much did you hear Spike?"

"Huh- oh. Something about how Luna wants to be the leader of Equestria and her wanting you and your friends to lead with her. But what about me, Twilight?"

Twilight looked at him. "I don't know Spike."

That was over a month ago. Twilight stood up and yawned. The second day of the Trials started in an hour even though she was awake, except Trixie who was keeping the fillies frozen. She picked up a remote and pressed a button. A mug of apple cider slid out of the wall along with a new cape and hood. The cape was black and diamond incrusted and the hood had a hole the right size for Twilight's horn to fit through, but mainly looked the same. The material was heavy, probably made out of dragon skin. "But what about me, Twilight?" She shook the idea of it being Spike out of her head. He'd already pledged to Luna. There would be no reason for her to skin him. She picked up the cape and draped it over her body. A piece of paper descended to the ground. "Hello Darling Twilight. I reward a new outfit to you for supporting my decisions. However, it's not finished, and I will personally deliver the two finishing touches. Thank you for your cooperation. Love, Luna." Twilight read it airily.

"I didn't know you and Luna were lovebirds. I don't mind though." Applejack walked in the control center. Twilight blushed. Damn it! She thought. "There's nothin' to be embarassed about. I promise I won't tell anyone, Darling Twilight." She smiled and took a sip of Twilight's apple cider.

Twilight grimaced at her and said in a stern voice, "Go wake everyone up. Luna and me being a couple isn't your buisness. Get me another cider."

"Hello fillies to the second day of the Lunar Trials! Today is a very important day. Have you noticed those black collars on your necks? What those collars do is explode. This is the day you can get them off. I know it sounds quite simple, but it's more complex than that. In each of your blocks, there is a weakling that has the key imbedded in their body. Fortunatley for you fillies, most of your classmates are dead. Anesthetic, a saw, and a scalpel can be found in a small pack in the center of the blocks. Embrace imminent death." The Crusaders woke up to the sound of Twilight's voice.

Sweetie Belle's stomach growled. "I think we should eat." She dug the leftovers out her bag and took cider from Apple Bloom's bag. They ate all of the food Sweetie Belle provided, but took small sips of the cider so they didn't get drunk and be off their guard. Apple Bloom stood up and peeked out the door. A long hallway led to a central room, probably where the surgical supplies were. Scootaloo lightly pushed Apple Bloom to the side and trotted carelessly down the hall. Blood ran down the walls from long clear tubes in the ceiling. A path to the right led to another room. The door was fully open, stuck in the position by somepony face down. The three cautiously walked down side by side to investigate. They approached the body and Scootaloo lifted the head. Glass shards pierced the eyes and a frame punctured the filly's throat. Silver Spoon. Scootaloo let the head hit the blood stained ground and more blood ran out of the wounds. She looked up and saw the rest of her remains, but almost gagged. Silver Spoon's body was tore open with her intestine stretched to the ceiling. "Let's come back to that later."

They backed away and continued down the hallway. It was longer than it looked, and made fillies calm until they ran into a hidden trap. Apple Bloom took a razor blade and threw it down the hall. Almost at the very end, a saw shoulder height in the air shot across the hall and stuck in the wall. That would have provided a quick decapitation. Apple Bloom moved forward and led them to the center room. "Hold up. I see somepony." Apple Bloom whispered. Rainbow Dash was putting the pack on the table.

"Jackpot! Hey, Crash, get out of the way!" Diamond Tiara taunted her. Rainbow Dash looked at her. Tiara rushed forward, but got knocked to the floor. Dash picked her up by her neck and pounded her head on the table.

"What did you call me? I want you to say it again." Dash yelled at her. Tiara shook her head with her mouth open while blood pooled and ran down her body. "Oh, I see. Seems the little 'princess' is too frightened to speak. That makes me want to kill you more." She smiled and struck the filly's head on the table again. She opened the pack and took the scalpel out. She gouged her eyes out and threw them on the floor. Screams of pain rose out of Tiara. "Now for the final act! To shut this bitch up!" She slit her throat and threw the lifeless body to the other side of the room. Dash turned towards the fillies and smiled. Her blue coat was barely visible from all the blood covering her. She set it back on the table and backed away. "Embrace imminent death. Sorry about taking your kill."

"What just happened? Rainbow Dash! She wouldn't do anything like this. I wouldn't think so anyways." Sweetie Belle got behind Apple Bloom. Scootaloo moved towards the table. It was just enough to lie down on and had restraints like the ones used to tie them on the wall. She opened the pack. A silver rigid saw and a syringe of blue anesthetic were left in the bag while the scalpel was left painted with blood. "I'll take the scalpel."

"This is Luna. Here is a special request for you fillies. You must use all of the tools provided. However, you can not use the anesthetic to knock the weakling out and cut them open during their sleep. You must find a way to use it on your own. You must also use the saw before the scalpel. Dismemberment is key. Oh yes, before I forget, you must perform the surgery while the weakling is awake. Have a fun time like I had on the moon." Luna spoke into the intercom coldly. The Crusaders stared at the supplies.

"I call the blue stuff." Apple Bloom picked the syringe up in her mouth. "That leaves Sweetie Belle with the saw." Apple Bloom backed up to the hall they came from. "We should wait for the one to come then get him." They retreated behind her.

"We need a plan. I think we should put him or her to sleep, tie them up, and start the operation. She said dismemberment is key, right? You know what that means. I don't know what we're going to do with the scalpel. Well I do, but I don't know where the key would be." Sweetie Belle whispered. They nodded and Scootaloo pointed towards the table. Featherweight was vomiting from the sight of Diamond Tiara. She nudged Apple Bloom and she snuck up behind him. Apple Bloom jabbed the needle into his back and pushed down the plunger. The blue liquid filled his body and knocked him out instantly. He slumped to the ground and Apple Bloom signaled to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They ran over and threw him on their backs to throw him on the table. Contrary to his size and name, he weighed a ton. They heaved the body on the table and strapped him in the restraints. He woke up with a shocked look on his face.

"Hello Featherweight. This might hurt a lot, so be prepared." Apple Bloom forced a demented smile on her face. Featherweight struggled in the leather straps. "It's no use Featherweight. Before we start the surgery, say hello to our lovely nurses, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo." She wondered how long she could keep this insane act up.

They dropped the tools and locked their lips together. "What the hell is this!?" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle released lips and a string of saliva streched between their mouths.

"Making sure the patient is happy before he dies. Let's do this." Apple Bloom stabbed the syringe in his shoulder. He closed his eyes and started to weep. "Back legs first, Sweetie Belle." She nodded and picked up the saw. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo got on opposite sides of the table, as if it was a cinema. She brought the saw down on his left leg and moved it side to side. Blood gushed from the already deep cut while he screamed out in agony. The sawing stopped.

"I need some help. His bone is in the way." Sweetie Belle looked up to her friends. Scootaloo pushed down the right side and Apple Bloom the left. Sweetie Belle clamped her mouth on the handle and continued cutting through the bone. The air filled with screaming and a sound like sawing through wood. The tough bone disconnected from the top joint and the saw went right through the skin connecting the leg to his body. The screaming ceased. Featherweight passed out from blood loss, and layed still. Three more limbs to go. By the time they'd gotten to the last leg, they were sure he was dead. No pulse could be felt in his veins. "Last one." She sawed the last leg off with the help of her friends. She dropped the saw on the ground and knocked a leg on the ground.

Scootaloo stabbed into his skin and tore down his abdomen. She pulled the skin apart and revealed his guts. She looked towards his ribs to see if his heart was pumping. The colt's heart stood still. More conformation that he was dead. She looked for the stomach, most likely where the key would be. "Do you know where the stomach would be?" Scootaloo asked and Apple Bloom pointed to a curved muscle under the rib cage. "Help me get his rib out of the way." Scootaloo got on the left side with Apple Bloom and held on to the bones with Sweetie Belle on the right, supporting the body. They pulled all at once and the left ribs snapped off and flew to the floor. "Kinda' hurts just watching this." She slit the stomach open and digestive acid spilled out on to the other organs. She waited for the acid to drain and opened the muscle. To the side, a golden key layed in his stomach. She stuck the blade in the hole and pulled it out. The key dropped in to a pool of his blood and made ripples. They looked at the sight before them. A body with no legs, tore open, with a broken off rib, and stomach acid already eating at the intestines. As unlikely as it would seem, they threw up all at once.

Scootaloo wiped some of it off the side of her lip and grabbed the key. "We should get this over with early. I don't want any of you dying on me." She stuck it into a hole on the black collar Sweetie Belle was wearing, then Apple Bloom's. Then she handed it to Sweetie Belle to get her out of the bulky collar. She took it and stuck it into the keyhole. The contraption fell onto the ground and fell onto Featherweight's left side rib cage. "We should get to our room. I'm tired after this sick operation." She trotted of to the direction of the room, but fell to the ground. The area filled with the blue magic and froze them. The Lunar guards as they would call them would have to do a lot of preperation for tomorrow.

Chapter Five: Evaporation

Twilight twisted and turned in her luxurious bed while she looked at the other's sleeping conditions. Her queen sized bed with a heated blanket covered in stars from her favorite galaxy, specially made and imported from Saddle Arabia. Gel pillow perfectly hoof-knit with a picture of the moon on both sides. Bed frame crafted with mahogany wood from the innermost layer of the Everfree Forest. Fit for a queen with the darkest of bags under her eyes. Ironically, the whole bedstead was a gift to Twilight from Princess Luna. It didn't seem quite right. Her friends had to sleep in mediocre bedrolls while she slept like royalty. She would ask her partner to get at least enough mattresses and blankets to let them all sleep comfortably, but Princess Luna already had a lot of troubles on her hooves.

Twilight was restless. Why couldn't she sleep? Last night she slept like a baby foal after feeding time. She couldn't possibly be an insomniac, right? If she was, she could simply grab some pills from the medical supplies room. She would need to go there soon anyways to get some odd, white powdery medication for Trixie. Trouble staying awake, Twilight guessed. Though, Trixie would say parasprites were after her, or some other crazy story. Twilight hated the green see-through liquid pills, the way they felt going down her throat. And half the time their sole purpose was failed. Sleeping pills that failed to work. Worth the bits to have them sitting around for no reason.

She decided this time she would get up and stretch her legs. That would be good. Most of this week she would or had been sitting down all day, monitoring the Lunar Games and tapping a button to have food or drink delivered to her. Or writing a certain type of letter to Luna. Love letters mainly, but they could be serious at times. Today she'd also have to go into the arena and "clean up" some bodies.

Twilight placed a hoof on an end table next to the bed and drowsily stumbled onto her back hooves. The chill concrete floor caused her to jump back onto her bed. She peaked her head under the bed frame and tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness under. Twilight procrastinated a couple minutes then sighed in random frustration. The urge of using magic to illuminate the space flashed through her mind, but she realized the spell would most likely wake her friends during the attempt. Her hoof searched for a pair of warm slippers that Spike had given to her as a gift on her last birthday celebration.

As she pulled the slippers out of their hiding place, they warmed her hooves like a scarf on Hearths Warming Eve. Twilight could hear quiet clops behind her as she went through the automatic sliding doors, her own hushed by the black material covering her hooves. She turned around and stared at her follower. Applejack. "What's up?" Twilight yawned then rubbed her eyes. No state to start an arument, the one she was in. Applejack waved a hoof then wiped her mane out of her eyes as a strand dangled in front of them. "Can you not sleep either? Jeez, I feel so tired but my mind won't let me sleep."

The blonde mare stretched her legs out and looked back up at Twilight. "I actually just woke up. I'm still a little sleepy though. You wanna' talk and trot? I mean, so we don't wake them up." She said in a whisper, trying to make the least amount of noise ponilly possible. There was a significant change in room temperature as she slid past Twilight. Probably 20 degrees different. Twilight stepped through the door, leaving it to slide shut. "Do you know why they keep it so cold in here?"

Twilight shook her head. "No. I'm wondering the same thing myself. So what do you want to talk about?"

Applejack looked around the tight hallway painted light gray, almost white, checking to see if there were any cameras watching their conversation. "Why do you do this? Help in the Lunar Games? It's horrible what Luna makes them do, the fillies and colts. Give me an honest answer, please. Whatever you say, it won't ruin our friendship."

Why had she helped? Everyone has a motive for what they do, but what was Twilight's? She thought for a moment, her tired mind making it even harder to think. "I know. Applejack, I know. It's terrible what I do here. I should be banished to Tartarus, shouldn't I? Have you ever loved someone so much that you can't say no to any ideas that they produce, even if they were wrong? That's the way I am. With Luna. S-so why do you do it?" She turned her head to the ground as small tears formed in her eyes then rose her gaze back at Applejack wearing a weak smile on her face.

Applejack put an arm around Twilight's shoulders. "No! There isn't anyone here that deserves to go there! Get that nonsense out of your head! Even if you did something this horrible, everyone makes mistakes, whether they're big or small." The motivational speech seemed to cheer her up a little more, causing a bigger smile to form and the tears to be far between each other.

"I guess I had to get that off my chest. Thanks for the speech, it helped a little. But why do you help here? You don't seem like you would do this without any strings attached. For Apple Bloom?"

Applejack nodded and sighed as she looked at the glass doors they passed. "Yeah. I do this for Apple Bloom. My sister must be scared out of her mind about this, the possibility of death at another's hooves. But there's something else that forced me, and well, everyone else to come here..." She shut her eyes and shook her head. "There's the kitchen. See you later Twilight." Without another word she trotted into the dark room and opened a fridge.

"Wait! Why else did you..." Twilight stopped herself before asking the whole question. Nobody would have heard her except the guards she was approaching, for the doors were sound proof. Time to make a mental note of the question, if she would be able to remember it anyways. She slowly trotted in front of the guards and waited for them to respond. They didn't even twitch. "Hello? It's Twilight. I'm here to get some meds." She waved a hoof in front of the one on her left.

"Quiet Miss. Sparkle. Some of our men are sleeping in this hallway, new recruits for the Cause." The stallion with an odd armband put his arm on top of hers and lowered it. "Put your eyes in front of the retinal scanner." He moved aside and revealed an electronic panel with an eye scanner. She stepped into the goggles and looked at the darkness of the space. A green light shined in her eyes for a couple of seconds and identified her. The scan was a positive. "Hold out a hoof. Blood test. Luna has tighter security over the meds now that we have new recruits." The other guard handed him a small syringe and a clear circular tray, probably used to hold the blood. There was a tiny prick felt as he calmly took a blood sample. He squirted the blood into the tray and inserted it into a slot in the wall. They all looked at it like a foal at a guest speaker in the school, Twilight noticing a purple light scanning it and a small metal tube that sucked the blood into who knows where. The machine made a few short noises before part of the wall slid up and revealed the words "Twilight Sparkle." The tray slid back out on the guard's hoof. "Proceed."

Twilight waited for the steel door to slowly slide into the wall, amazed how fast Luna had tightened the security. Just yesterday, the only thing she had to do to get in the med room was say the code phrase, "For the New Lunar Republic." The antiseptic smell filled her nostrels as she stepped into the room and scanned the white metal shelves attached to the same color of wall. It was claustrophobic to say the least, were Twilight's thoughts. She grabbed the sleeping pills and powder from the shelves and stepped out. The pony with the red armband held a hoof in front of her. "We also have to check withdrawling medicene." He slid the boxes next to each other so he could read the names. "Sleeping pills. For you I'm guessing? And methamphetemine? Oh right, for Lady Trixie. You're good to go." Lady? What kind of title is that?

Twilight slipped her slippers under the bed after she delivered the powder to "Lady Trixie." She reached for the box on her end table and pryed it open while she bounced onto the bed. The remote on the stand dimly glowed red as she ordered for a glass of water. It slid out of the wall while she put the green pills on the back of her tongue. As she washed down the pills, the familliar feeling of them sticking in her throat went through her, as always a false feeling. She pulled the sheets over her body and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping she would go out soon.

Apple Bloom opened her eyes as she woke up, trying to move her body after the long slumber. The stasis from Trixie held her in an uncomfortable pose as she desperately tried to stretch her leg muscles to get rid of a cramp. She tried to speak to the other Crusaders, but like her legs, her jaw was unable to move. She was helpless, the only thing she could do was wait to get unfrozen and live with the cramp in her hips.

The light pierced Twilight's eyes as she regained consciousness, causing small tears to form in her eyes while she blinked them away. She wiped her eyes and slid her eyelids open slowly, burning them like any other morning. The warmth felt good though. As she kicked her sheets off top of her, she was surprised to find that the room had been heated to a pleasurable 75 degrees. She yawned and looked beside her to see that all of her friends were awake. What time was it? Twilight looked at the digital clock above the door and was startled about the time. "9:00? I'm late to the clean up!" She jumped out of bed and ran down the hall trying to rush to the Block B entrance for the game-makers to enter the arena.

The same guard with the red armband stood guarding the titanium door. "Miss. Sparkle! What's the rush? Princess Luna has delayed the clean-up to eleven. Take your time. Oh yeah! Miss. Applejack is waiting for you in the kitchen. Your other friends are... Preparing? For the clean-up, they're preparing. Have a good day, Twilight." The happy chime in his voice genuinely annoyed her. It was okay earlier, but it was getting on her nerves now. How could you sound happy when you know you've practically killed whoever knows how many innocent foals?

Twilight trotted through the opening to the kitchen and waved at a groggy Applejack. She blinked a couple times then burped. "Oops! This apple cider bucks hard. Even harder than the stuff at... What was it? Sweet Apple Acres or something like that? Hi Twilight! What brings you here? Want some cider?" Applejack slid her mug of cider to Twilight as she sat on the other side of the marble table.

"Uh. No thanks. What do you want AJ? That guard outside told me you wanted to talk. What's up?" Twilight attempts to slide it back over to Applejack, but the mug stops in the middle of the table. Twilight stood up to get a plate of breakfast. She grabbed a porcelain plate from the counter and took a blueberry muffin out of a basket full of muffins. She took a nibble of the muffin as she trotted back to set the plate on the table. "You ever had one of these, AJ? Believe it or not, it reminds me of my library." She considered what she had just said and decided to abandon the idea. It would get too sentimental for her likings. She poured a glass of cold water for Applejack.

Applejack looked at the floor as Twilight set the glass next to her. "Death. Punishment by death." She gripped the cup tightly in her hooves as she sipped water out as if it was a sippy cup.

"What was that, Applejack?" A puzzled look appeared on Twilight's face.

Applejack dropped the glass on the floor, causing it to shatter. "What I was going to tell you earlier today is..." She fought hard to keep the tears in, failing as she thought she had won the battle. "Luna... She said if I didn't join the Games... She threatened to kill me. She would make sure Apple Bloom would die in the most horrible way. So I said okay, and here I am. Twilight, you will not like what I'm going to say next, okay? But I'm going to say it anyway. I'm getting Luna back for this, even if it's the last thing I do." Rage flowed through her words as her tears relieved the stress of it all.

Twilight stepped into her and Applejack's block with a bag of some spray around her neck. The spray was designed to make sure the bodies wouldn't decompose and to harden the skin so if a foal was hungry and resorted to cannibalism, they would be forced to find a new body, or break their teeth. She threw the pack onto the ground as their squad of ten ponies, excluding Applejack and herself, reached the bloody middle of the block. As a few new recruits saw Featherweight's open body, covered with flies eating away at his organs, and Diamond Tiara's eyeless body with a slit throat, swimming in a pool of blood, they ran back to the hall they came from and lost their breakfasts. The others observed the mess before them then grabbed a can of the spray.

Applejack grabbed a can and looked around the room to see if there were any other bodies. She looked at the Crusaders stuck in the blue stasis and murmured a prayer for them, mainly Apple Bloom, but not praying for the others would be cold. Then she took off the cap and started to spray the navy blue gas onto Featherweight's gory body, listening to see if there any interesting conversations floating around. "Damn, look at that! Sexy fillies in a sexy pose! Hey, Cloud, look at them! They are gorgeous, just look at their beautiful cli-"

The other stallion, probably Cloud, interrupts the other stallion. "Okay, god! I don't need to hear your sexual fantasies. It's bad enough you're actually drooling at their behinds, but telling me how you'd screw them is just fucked up! Seriously, I actually have a wife and filly at home, and I have to hear you planning on how good their rears are. When we get out of here, you should be glad that I won't report your ass to Celestia herself!" He shakes up his can then looks into the dark corridor ahead of them.

The stallion who was attracted to the fillies ignores Cloud and continues describing the "perfection" in fillies. "Just look at the one in the middle! Perfect red mane, perfect bow in there, adding to the perfection of her. Hell, if I could sneak in here during the live Games, I would. Imagine, what's her name, Apple Bloom in front of you, unaware of your presence. Quietly sleeping. You bend down, then lick her vag- Gah!" Applejack dropped the the spray and pinned the pervert to the ground.

"I will break your tiny little neck the next word you speak about my sister or her friends! Do you realize what they've been through? And here you are, describing your sick fantasies! Do you understand what I just said? Do you!?" The white skinned stallion nods his head, his orange eyes shrinking, then blows a bit of his gray mane out of his eyes. She took a deep breath and released her grip on him.

He stood back up, looking at Applejack, then took the bottle back in his mouth. An unintelligible sentence was directed towards Cloud and he turns around and checks one of four corridors for bodies. He trotted a few steps into the dark corridor before hearing an odd noise. He stood in confusment of where the source of the noise came from. Suddenly, a saw blade flew out of the wall and drilled half-way through his head, staining his coat and the wall with blood. Twilight and Applejack looked at the scene, Applejack with a slight grin on her face, as the lifeless corpse slumped to the ground, blade still wedged in his head.

Apple Bloom slid to the ground as the stasis released the grip on her. She stretched her legs and shook Sweetie Belle, hoping to wake her up. When she realized Sweetie Belle was too deep in sleep, Twilight came over the intercom and woke both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo from their sleep. "Welcome to the... Third day of the Lunar Filly Games...?" Static fills the speakers for a couple seconds before Twilight's voice returns. "Yes. The third day of the Games. To Block B, you might see a male gamekeeper near the center of your block. We forgot to turn off the traps for that hallway. He stood still too long and got killed by a saw blade. There honestly isn't much else to warn you about. Oh right! You might want to make a mental note of this. If you don't find an 'exit' by the end of tomorrow's Game day, something bad will happen. Officially, I'm not allowed to say what the bad thing is, but, block B, we'll meet later. Am I forgetting anything else, Dash? No? Okay then. Embrace imminent death."

Why would they meet, Twilight and the Crusaders? Rainbow Dash was the only mare they had encountered, and she was only in the arena to drop off the tools, and maybe she wanted to kill Diamond Tiara, but that wasn't her objective. Was that even allowed, a gamekeeper coming into the arena to contact foals? Maybe Apple Bloom was overthinking this. Twilight wouldn't hurt them if they met. There would be no reason, and Twilight isn't murderous. "Lets go back to the other door." They all knew what door Apple Bloom was talking about. The one where Silver Spoon was crushed between the doorway.

Sweetie Belle covered her eyes as they returned back to Silver's death scene. Scootaloo covered her nose when they came across the gore and was amazed when she looked at Apple Bloom, as she seemed a little bothered by it, but hid her disgust effectively. "How are we getting past this? You want to simply trot around it or do we have to cut through?" Scootaloo quickly gazed at the strung up intestine stuck in the metal door's teeth. A click sounded and metal blockades slid out of the corridor, blocking most of the way, except a small section with the small intestine in front. Scootaloo rose a hoof to her face.

Sweetie Belle uncovered her face and let our a shrill cry, "Oh come on!" She looked at her friends to see their reactions. Scootaloo was in the middle of a face hoof, and Apple Bloom was frowning and shaking her head tenderly. "So we're cutting through, aren't we? I hate this. Nothing can be simple, everything is twisted or gory." The decaying smell of flesh caused her to vomit then cover her nose.

Scootaloo unbuttoned her bag and searched for the scalpel she dissected Featherweight with. All she could find was their blood stained socks they removed after their razor wounds stopped bleeding. "You guys have your tools? My thingy is gone. Scalpel, I mean. Sweetie Belle, do you have your saw?" She double-checked her bag again to see if she missed the last time, only to find an extra energy bar and the same socks. She rose her head back up to Sweetie Belle.

"Nope. Apple Bloom, do you have the stabby-thingy... The syringe?" Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom, who was pulling glass shards out of Silver Spoon's eyes with a purple face, probably holding her breath so she wouldn't smell what caused Sweetie Belle to vomit. "Why? As a weapon or something?"

Apple Bloom dropped the shards next to Scootaloo's hooves. "Something like that. If we run out of the razors, I think we could use these to set off traps. I don't even know how I come up with this, and I don't want to know." Apple Bloom pushed her apple cider to the side as she scouted out the syringe. As she grazed her hoof across the bottom of the bag, the needle pricked her, causing her to let out a quiet, "Ow," and raise the tube and plunger out of the bag. "I have it," Scootaloo yanked the needle out of her hoof, making Apple Bloom wince. She slowly turned her head towards her friend and let out through clentched teeth, "That kind of hurt. A lot."

Scootaloo looked down at her hooves. "Sorry. I thought pulling it out would help. Guess I pulled too hard, huh?" She directed her attention to Sweetie Belle with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Change the subject!" She gritted through her teeth. "Now. Please."

Sweetie Belle raised a hoof to her chin and thought of a less touchy topic. A grumbling came from someone's stomach. "Whose stomach was that? It wasn't mine. Was it yours, Apple Bloom?" There was an awkward silence before a voice broke the silence.

"That was mine, sorry about that. Relax, it's me Twilight. I used an invisibility spell to sneak in here. Was that a good subject change?" Twilight appeared out of thin air behind the fillies. They all turned around and stared at her black outfit. The sleeves entirely covered her limbs and the collar stood up 3 inches from the bottom of her neck. Jewel incrusted slippers covered her hooves and small diamonds dotted down her spine to her tail. "This is a new dress I was gifted. I don't think Rarity worked on it, this, I don't think, is her style." She flattened the collar onto her back and wiped dust off a sleeve. "You fillies look like you've just seen a ghost. I know how to get through that barricade. And I'm sure you know how too. Except, you aren't strong enough to get it out, and that's why I'm in the arena with you, to help you out and hope I don't get caught on camera. We can talk later, if you want to anyways." She turned around and signaled for them to follow along her path.

When they arrived in the center, Twilight took a look at Featherweight and bowed her head with her eyes closed and with lips moving, uttering a prayer for all of the foals who had lost their lives to this unworthy cause. She cleared her throat and turned to the fillies. "If I knew Luna was going to drag me into this mess, this hell, I wouldn't be here in the Games. These aren't even games, this is physical and mental torture, both for the Keepers and the foals, atleast, that's what I think. I'm sorry I dragged you into this bedlam." There was a moment of awkward silence before someone spoke up.

"It's okay Twilight. Better now that we know you dislike these trials. Can we get to this exit you were talking about on the intercom before we have a full conversation though? It's not good knowing that a trap is our greatest enemy right now, right?" Apple Bloom said in a comforting manner, or atleast as comforting as she could manage. Twilight nodded and walked to the white stallion's body in a hallway in front of them.

Sweetie Belle circled the corpse and raised a hoof as she would in school to ask a question. Even she didn't know why she did this. Twilight, playing along, looked around for other hooves and called on her when she saw none. Optimism would be good for everyone in this sadistic situation, Twilight thought. "Who was he? This man? He only looks like a teenager." Sweetie Belle said curiously.

Twilight thought in her mind for awhile. She knew it was a new Keeper, but she hadn't known his name. There were too many new recruits to keep track of. "I don't know. Maybe he has an ID on him that we can check." She slid off her slippers and stepped in his pool of blood to reach into his uniform pocket. As she stuck a hoof into the pony's black pockets, she felt the now cold blood soaked into the fabric. Twilight's hoof tapped a piece of plastic as she pushed it against his body. A purple aura glowed around her horn as she used a levitation spell to extract the ID from his pocket. She brought it in front of her and read it out loud to the fillies. "Name: Omega Rain. Age: [REDACTED] . Eyes: Orange. Coat: White. Mane: Gray. Class: Recruit. He was young, too," She sighed. "I saw how he got killed. He may have chosen to participate in these, but even he didn't deserve to die this young, even though how he was acting was immature." Twilight slid the card behind her and continued on with her plan. "Come help me pull this blade out of him. We'll cut through with it." She cast a spell to protect their hooves from being cut up and gripped a side of the saw blade.

The Crusaders trotted into the blood, disgusted, and took hold of another section of the blade. "On three. One. Two. Three. Go!" They all heaved as strong as they could, failing to cause anything more than more blood to spill from his skull. Twilight repositioned her hooves and took another pull at the blade, causing one tooth to dissect from his skin. "Well, that's progress. Let's try something to make this easier. Keep on pulling at it, and I'll use my magic to follow along. Before you say anything, I'm just going to say sorry for not thinking of that sooner." Twilight divided the magic between use of protection and tug power and jerked her head backwards, as if it added extra strength to the group's brawn. As the blade tore from his head, blood ran from the gash, along with red-white skin tearing from his face and attaching loosely to the blade.

Sweetie Belle examined the stallion's face, only to be introduced to the sight of a dilated eye slipping from the broken orbit, connected to the optical nerve, making her hold back her breakfast. "Can we just go now? I want to get out of here as soon as possible." She turned to Twilight and tried to unsee what she had just seen. But that was the kind of thing that a foal, no, anypony could never unsee. Just like everything else in the hellhole they were forced into.

Twilight bustled over the outline of blood, highlighting the otherwise gray stone floor crimson red. Her quiet incantation returned to its hiding place, Twilight's horn, and recharged its energy for later purposes. The reddened saw blade gravitated to the insipid floor with a ding sounding throughout the area, splatting distinct blotches of red like blots of paint on canvas. Blood could be considered paint in this prison of stone walls and dismembered ponies could be considered a magnificent work of art. To some sick bastard anyway, possibly a deranged cannibal. A soul derived madpony who considers decapitated and gouged foals to be a masterpiece of sorts.

Twilight waited for drops of the liquid to rain to the ground and gathered into uneven cracks before she wiped the remainders into the dark fabric hugging her body. "Yeah. You can never be too concerned about time. I just wish I had a watch," she said as she slid her hooves into the padded slippers. Apple Bloom lugged her numb legs through the puddle and flicked blood at the wall before using Twilight's uniform like a towel to rub claret from her hooves. Twilight opened her mouth to expostulate her decision but sealed her lips together when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle copied her action. "Let's go!"

As Twilight wrapped her magic around the saw blade, Scootaloo rose her forehoof in front of Twilight's chest. "Didn't you say you wanted to avoid being caught by the cameras? I'm guessing they're all over the place and you're not even disguised, let alone invisible. What's up?" Twilight bit her lip as she said this.

"I guess you're right. But are you going to deny help from me? I guess you won't let this go. To be honest, I don't care anymore. All the time I've been in here, before, it wasn't enough to take effect on me. But, the couple hours I've spent in here made me realize what she is doing is terrible. Forcing foals through this is a horrendous feat." She looks at a camera and says, "Sorry darling, but it's true!" Sweetie Belle tapped her on the shoulder, obtaining her attention. "Oh, right. Sorry. Well, let's move on!" Her cheeks turned a barely noticeable light shade of red.

"Twilight? Twilight, are you here? It's Luna!" Princess Luna roamed through the hallways and stuck her head into every room she thought Twilight could possibly be in asking the question in her royal Canterlot tone of voice. As she passed a room with a plaque reading "Keeper Quarters", she backtracked and looked with disgust as she saw Keepers in a slumber or gambling bits while playing Badlandian Poker. When one of the four players folded, he glanced upwards at the vexed face of the Princess, and wrapped his forelegs around a pile of bits and pulled the pile backwards, golden bits clinking together and producing a sort of jingle as they descended into a leather bag. "What is this? You play some obscure card game while there is work to be done around the facilities? You receive good pay to work here and a protected identity while there are hard working ponies out there. Disgusting! Don't just sit there! Get up and do your jobs!"

As one stallion passed by Luna, she raised her foreleg to his chest. "Cloud, may I have a moment with you?" She stepped aside a bunk as the other stallions proceeded out the quarters, each grasping their leather bags of bits made available from their "good" job attending the arena while foals were asleep and services around the base. As they made their way out of the room, Luna punched the door control then sat on the lower bunk of the closest bedset. "Sit." Nearly a second after, she positions herself in a way one pony tries to seduce another one usually of the opposite sex. Cloud glances at her posture quickly, laying on her side, left forehoof holding her head up, right foreleg arching towards her waist area, then scratches a wooden chair out from underneath the table and faces himself towards the metal door.

"Cloud, so as I understand it, you want to receive a larger profit, yes?" Luna rolls onto her back while Cloud unnervingly nods his head. "You do. And with the death of an employee, we have some money to spare. I have a job for you to perform and we can give you that raise you've wanted for a while now. Now, while it may not be highly conventional, we can change the contract a little to let this pass 'legally'."

Cloud appeared puzzled. "You know that I would get all the money I can get to support my family. What is this task you have in mind?" He shuffled his haversack around nervously with his legs.

"It depends on your preference. For a moderate raise, separate Ms. Sparkle from the three other fillies she is giving an unfair advantage. Or for an even larger raise, get in the arena yourself and execute Twilight."