“Where are we?”
“Ah don’t know.”
“It… It’s dark…”
“Yea, I can’t see a thing!”
“Hold on everypony.”
The room lit up as Twilight’s horn began to glow brightly, shedding light to fend off the looming darkness. The six ponies were in a hexagonal room, each side adorned with the entrance to a hallway, each one blocked with a grate. Above each hallway door, there was an engraving of a cutie mark, one for each of the six ponies.
“Ah still don’t know where we are.” Applejack said, looking around confusedly at the hallways.
“I don’t either,” Twilight said, examining the hallway that was decorated with her mark. “But it’s obviously meant for us.”
“Indeed it is.”
“Eep!” Fluttershy squealed, hiding behind Rarity and shivering in fear.
“Who are you?” Rarity asked in her posh accent, looking around for the source of the voice. “It’s rather rude to not introduce yourself in person.”
“I believe that is the least of your concerns at the moment, Miss Rarity.” The mysterious Voice bellowed. It was a deep, resonating tone that seemed to come from everywhere inside the chamber.
“What do you want with us?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying around the room for a way out. She kicked at the grate over her hallway door, trying to move it or dent it. The grate held firm.
“I want to play a game.”
“A game? I LOVE games!” Pinkie Pie squealed happily, beginning to bounce up and down. “Is it a guessing game? Board game? Video game? Trivia game?” She began to count on her hooves. “Arcade game? Chess? Tic-Tac-Toe? Battleship? Captain Marvin and his Journey Across the Galaxy?”
“No!” The Voice yelled in aggravation. “It is a different type of game.”
“What kind of game is it, then?” Twilight questioned, directing her light towards different parts of the room to examine them. The room was bare except for the six hallways.
“You shall see.” The Voice said cryptically, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Who would like to go first?”
The six ponies looked around at each other, silently asking each other who would accept the challenge. The silence continued for a few seconds before Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“I will!” She announced bravely, flying to stand in front of her hallway.
“Fluttershy it is!” The Voice declared, just as the grate over Fluttershy’s hallway opened.
“What?!” Rainbow Dash yelled in confusion and anger. “You said we could choose!”
“I changed my mind.” The Voice said, before adding “And besides, I never said you could choose. I simply asked who would like to go first.”
“Ah don’t think that’s fair.” Applejack stated.
“Where in the rules does it say I can’t change my mind?”
“You never said any rules!” Rainbow Dash yelled.
“Oh right, how silly of me!” The Voice cleared its throat before continuing. “Rule 1: You must play the game alone. Nopony can enter a hallway that isn’t theirs.”
“Rule 2: The object of the game is to collect all six keys, one at the end of each hallway. When you get a key, place it in the basket in the center of the room.”
“What basket?” The six ponies asked in unison before noticing the basket that suddenly sat in the center of the room.
“How did that get there?” Twilight asked.
“Rule 3: Well, not really a rule, but still important: When you get all six keys, you may leave. Have fun!” The Voice cut out with a crack, leaving the ponies standing in the room, confused. Twilight stared off into the distance, trying to make sense of the situation. Her minor focus on the light spell slipped, plunging the room into darkness for a second before she regained focus.
“Sorry about that.” Twilight said sheepishly.
“So, does anypony have any idea what in tarnation is goin’ on?” Applejack asked.
“Well, we woke up in this dark room then Twilight lit it up then this weird voice thing started talking and said we should play a game and then he said the rules and now we’re all confused!” Pinkie Pie said happily.
“Thanks, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.
“Nooooooo problem!”
“What are we going to do?” Rarity asked. “We can’t send Fluttershy into the unknown all by herself.”
“Get on with it!” The Voice said suddenly and angrily.
“Hold your horses!” Rainbow Dash shouted back. Fluttershy stood up from behind Rarity and tried to at least lessen the shaking that dominated her body. She failed rather miserably.
“Uhm… Girls…” Fluttershy mumbled, just barely audible. “I… I don’t mind going…” The other five ponies looked at her with utter astonishment.
“Fluttershy, darling,” Rarity cooed in her sophisticated accent after a second of pause. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I’m getting tired of waiting!”
“No, it, it’s alright…” Fluttershy said, gracefully fluttering over to the entrance to her hallway. “It’s not like the nice voice-pony would do anything mean, right?” She looked away from her friends and down the long, dark hallway. She gulped as she took her first steps down the hallway.
“Good luck, Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled after her once she had made it a fair ways into the hallway.
“Yea, good luck!”
“Good luck, dear!”
“Good luck, Fluttersha!”
“Hey Voice! You got my cutie mark wrong! The colors aren’t right!”
“Pinkie Pie, it’s all stone. It’s all the same color…”
Fluttershy had made it far enough down the hallway that she was just barely unable to hear her friends’ words. The long, dark abyss finally seemed to end in a light filled room just around a corner. Fluttershy looked around the corner cautiously, only to be taken aback by what lay inside.
Fluttershy stood in the doorway to the large room for what seemed like an eternity, taking in the sweet serenity of the garden before her. It was even more magnificent than the Royal Canterlot Gardens. Exotic plants she had never even heard of decorated the garden, and a tiny stream ran through the middle of the garden. A little bridge crossed over the stream and led to the other side. Aside from the wide assortment of plants, Fluttershy was awe stricken by all of the animals playing about in the garden. There were squirrels and bunnies, chipmunks and chinchillas. So many animals to play with and cuddle! As with the plants, there were some animals even she couldn’t identify. On the opposite side of the room, across the stream, was a pedestal with a large key on it.
Fluttershy took a step onto the green grass from the cold concrete of the hallway and felt immediately at home. She ran into the garden and was greeted by a horde of cute cuddly animals. They snuggled up next to her, burrowed into her mane, and played with her tail. Fluttershy giggled as a squirrel sniffed her foreleg, making it tickle a bit.
“Hey now,” Fluttershy said, stopping to giggle a bit. “That tickles!” The squirrel stopped sniffing her leg and climbed up her side onto her back. It ran up to her neck and began sniffing that, too. Fluttershy giggled again, not being able to bear the tickling the squirrel’s sniffing created. She was about to get up when she saw the squirrel rear its head back, showing its unnatural fangs before piercing them through into a vein in Fluttershy’s throat.
Fluttershy screamed in pain. She shook the squirrel and the other animals off of her and ran towards the stream. She looked at her reflection in it and saw a line of crimson running down her neck. A high pitched squeal came from behind her, causing her to turn around and face the large group of animals. They were advancing slowly towards her, each one looking very hungry and scarier than before.
“Now, now,” Fluttershy pleaded. “Let’s all be nice, alright?” She was answered when a bunny lunged at her, just barely missing her and landing in the stream behind her.
Fluttershy galloped for the bridge as fast as she could, tears gathering in her eyes as the animals picked up the speed of their chase. The animals reached the bridge just after she did. A badger reached out and managed to leave a deep gash in Fluttershy’s leg, making her stumble but keep running. As she neared the pedestal, a familiar white figure appeared on it, just in front of the key.
“Angel!” Fluttershy cried out, collapsing in front of the pedestal and looking up at her favorite bunny. “Angel, help me!” The white bunny looked down at Fluttershy bleeding on the ground, then to the approaching swarm of bloodthirsty animals. Angel looked again to his owner, who had lovingly cared for him through every hardship of his life. He jumped down from the pedestal, landing between her and the horde of animals. The animals stopped in their tracks. Angel turned back to Fluttershy and stared into her eyes.
“Thank you Angel!” Fluttershy squealed happily. “Thank you!” The bunny continued to stare at her for several seconds, not moving his gaze or any other part of his body. “Angel?” Fluttershy asked, her feeling of happiness quickly moving into that of concern, and then of fear. Angel narrowed his eyes and smiled, revealing teeth sharpened to a fine point.
He lunged at Fluttershy, grabbing onto her side and ripping into her abdomen. The other animals joined him, covering Fluttershy and tearing at every part of her. Squirrels plucked at her wings, chipmunks nibbled on her legs. The badger from before was slicing at her cutie mark. She screamed in agony as Angel moved on from her abdomen and up her throat, which was being slashed at by some sort of exotic creature. He sat on her muzzle and stared into her eyes, wide with the look of agony and betrayal. He tore into her left eye, biting it free from her head and eating away at it. He seemed to enjoy it. Fluttershy screamed a heart-shattering scream before being finally silenced by the throng of animals devouring her.
“What’s taking Fluttershy so long?” Rainbow Dash asked, pacing through the air in front of Fluttershy’s hallway entrance.
“I don’t know,” Twilight answered, growing more concerned for her friend by the minute. “But I’m starting to get worried.”
“Maybe she got lost?” Applejack suggested in optimism.
“Down a perfectly straight hallway?” Dash replied.
“I’m sure there’s a good explanation…” Twilight said worriedly.
“Fluttershy will not be joining us for the rest of the game.” The voice echoed through the room.
“What?!” the five remaining ponies yelled simultaneously.
“What have you done to her?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, darting towards the open hallway entrance. She slammed right into the grate as it slid closed. “Twilight!” She yelled, making Twilight turn towards her. More light began emitting from Twilight’s horn, releasing into a bolt of magic that shot towards the grating. When the light had dissipated, the grate was still intact, if a bit bent.
“It doesn’t matter. The game continues.” The voice replied. Rarity quickly remembered the rules of the game, as well as a loophole that just might save their friend.
“But, if Fluttershy isn’t coming back until the game ends, what about her key?” Rarity asked, waiting for a few seconds for the voice’s reply but receiving none. “How can the game continue if we’ve already lost?”
“You have a good point, Miss Rarity.” The voice finally said after a minute of contemplation. “I shall return your friend, as well as give you the first key for free.”
“Thank you,” Rarity said appreciatively, satisfied in her victory. A hidden door in the ceiling of the room slid open slightly, and a large, yellow key dropped out of it, dropping to the floor with a clank at Rarity’s hooves. The door slid closed once again, its edges unrecognizable once it had closed fully.
“What about Fluttershy?” Twilight asked after waiting for another door to open.
“Later.” The voice declared. Lights in the room suddenly snapped on, and Twilight finally stopped her light spell.
“What do you mean later?” Rainbow Dash asked angrily.
“I mean, later,” the voice said simply. “Now on to the next subject: Who’s next?” The five remaining ponies looked around at each other, both fear for themselves and sympathy for the others in their eyes. None of them wanted to go themselves, but they didn’t want any of the others to go in their place. Well, everyone except Pinkie Pie.
“Ooh, ooh! Pick me, pick me!” Pinkie Pie squealed, beginning to bounce up and down and around the room. “Pllleeeeaaaaaassssseeee pick me!”
“Pinkie Pie!” The voice said happily. Pinkie Pie cheered and bounced over to her hallway door.
“Yes! I’m so excited, aren’t you guys excited? I’m excited!” Pinkie Pie was still bouncing when she got to the grating, which began to open when she approached it.
“Pinkie, are you sure?” Twilight asked, surprised her friend’s cheery personality was still intact when the status of their friend was unknown and they were being stalked by a mysterious voice.
“Of course I’m sure Twilight!” Pinkie said. She started bouncing down the hallway once the grating had opened a sufficient amount. “I love games! And I always win games when it comes to playing with you girls so why should this be any different?” she exclaimed over her shoulder before continuing her journey down the hallway.
“Ah’m startin’ to get a bad feeling about this…” Applejack said as she watched Pinkie Pie disappear into the darkness of the hallway.
“Starting to?” Rainbow Dash asked in sarcasm. “I haven’t gotten a bad feeling yet. I still think this is a fantastic situation.”
“Not the time, Dash.”
Pinkie bounced down the hallway until she came upon a room. It was dark, but noticeably bigger than the hallway she had been in. Pinkie Pie looked around the room, trying to figure out what laid inside. Suddenly, bright lights snapped on, blinding Pinkie for a second. Once her eyes had adjusted, she looked around the room and was immediately filled with joy.
The room was filled with balloons of all colors and sizes. Tables lined the walls with snacks and drinks, and confetti rained down from the ceiling. A banner hung from the ceiling alone the back wall that read ‘Happy Birthday’ in big pink letters. A huge frosted cake sat on a table in the center of the room, with plates and forks circling it.
“How do you like it Pinkie?” The voice asked, interrupting Pinkie’s joyful stupor.
“It’s AWESOME!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed like a little schoolfilly, bouncing around the room with glee. “How did you know it was my birthday?”
“It isn’t your birthday.”
“Then why does the sign say happy birthday?” Pinkie asked.
“Good point.” The voice said. A spotlight turned on and pointed to the center cake. “Why don’t you have some cake?”
“With pleasure!” Pinkie Pie said happily, darting over to the table with the cake on it. She completely disregarded the plates and forks and placed her hooves on the table. She opened her mouth wide and snapped her jaws shut over the entire cake, devouring it in one huge bite. Pinkie’s eyes went wide when she realized she’d made a terrible mistake.
Pinkie Pie cried as the pain gathered in her mouth and throat. Blood escaped through her lips as she slowly opened her mouth to try and see inside. She spotted a convenient mirror on one of the tables and dashed over to it, holding her mouth open so she could see it. Through the sea of red liquid pouring from her gums, she could make out several pieces of metal stabbing into her gums and tongue. A couple of loose pieces slid around in her mouth in the mixture of saliva and blood. Pinkie spit them out onto the table along with some of the blood that had gathered and some cake bits. The nails landed on the table with a clank, covered with blood and icing.
Pinkie looked around franticly for something to soothe the pain, or to remove the nails. She grabbed a glass of water that sat on the table not far from her and poured the entire thing into her mouth. After sloshing it around in her mouth for a second, the pain in her mouth became unbearable. The salt in the water had seeped into the open wounds. Pinkie spit out the water with some blood, but the salt stayed behind. Pinkie cried quietly, unable to scream no matter how much she wanted to. She collapsed as the pain worsened, hitting her head on the side of the table and slumping to the floor. Blood poured onto the ground from her mouth and the gash that the table had left.
Pinkie looked around weakly. She spotted the doorway to the room, open for escape. She placed a hoof out on the floor and dragged her body behind it. Blood streaked behind her and smeared onto her coat. Minutes turned to weeks as she slowly dragged her body across the floor to the doorway. The door was so far away. It seemed to get farther and farther from Pinkie’s desperate eyes. She finally crossed the distance and made it to the doorway, placing one hoof over the line in the floor that separated the hallway from the room. If only she could scream, she could alert her friends. She had her head over the line now. They could help her, save her. She was almost halfway across the line. She had a chance, she thought, to survive.
Pinkie got halfway across the line before the door dropped on her, its edge slicing through her midsection and separating her into two halves, one trapped in the room forever, and the other frozen with the hope of survival.
“She didn’t even look for the key.” The voice said to itself in disappointment.
The grating over Pinkie Pie’s hallway slid closed.
“I take it Pinkie Pie isn’t coming back until the end either then?” Rarity asked, at this point annoyed at the voice.
“You would be correct.”
“Fabulous.”
“Where are they?” Rainbow asked angrily. She hovered just off the ground, ready to fight anything that moved. “What have you done to them?!”
“Don’t worry about them.” The voice said simply. “You’ll see them soon. Anyway, onto the next contestant!” The voice announced rather happily.
“And who might that be?” Rarity asked.
“Why, you, my dear Rarity.” The voice said in a noticeably fake accent as the doorway to Rarity’s hallway opened. Rarity stood still, not moving towards the door or making any signs of movement at all.
“Are you ok, Rarity?” Twilight asked, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder.
“I’m just afraid of what might have happened to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, is all.” Rarity said.
“We all are, but this seems to be our only option.” Twilight said somberly. “If anything goes wrong, I can always teleport you back here.”
Rarity began to walk towards the doorway with her friend’s reassurance. “Alright, Twilight.” She started down the hallway, walking elegantly into the darkness that engulfed it. She stopped and turned to speak over her shoulder. “Try to convince that voice to make us some tea, won’t you? I’m simply parched.” was all she said before disappearing down the hallway.
“Is she serious?”
“Ayep.”
“Should… Should I actually make tea?”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
Rarity continued walking down her hallway, her nose in the air as she trotted with distinction. She finally came to a rather simple room, small but large enough to be comfortable in. Along a wall was a long, short window that looked into another room, with a similar window and room opposite it. In front of each window on a stand was a button, both stereotypical big red buttons. In the center of the back wall, also on a stand, was another button of the same variety. A fourth and final button sat on a stand in the center of the room. Rarity noticed that all of the buttons were labeled. The ones on the sides reading the letters A-J and R-D, the one along the back wall reading M-E, and the one in the center reading A-L-L,
“What do you expect me to do with these?” Rarity asked after examining the buttons for a few minutes.
“Nothing, yet.” The voice said, closing the door that lead into the room. “Just wait a little bit.”
“Wait for what, exactly?” Rarity asked, sitting down on the cold, hard floor. “Could I have a pillow?” She asked absent-mindedly.
“No.”
“Please?”
“No!”
Rarity pulled out the whiniest tone she could. “Pleeeeeeeaaaaaase?”
A door opened in the ceiling and a fluffy red pillow with gold trimmings fell from it. Rarity snatched it up as the door closed and sat on it with a little smile. “Thank you.”
“I hate you.”
“How rude.”
“Alright then!” The voice boomed, startling Twilight so she almost spilled her tea. “Who’s next?”
“Before we go any further, I want to know where Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity are.” Twilight demanded. “Are they ok? Are they safe?” The voice seemed to wait a second before answering.
“Yes, they are just fine.” The voice assured, ignoring the first part of Twilight’s demands. “Like I said before, you’ll be with them again very soon.” Something about how the voice said that sent a chill down Twilight’s spine.
“Ah’ve still got a bad feeling.” Applejack said.
“Don’t worry about it.” The voice reassured. It seemed to pause for a second to remember what it had been talking about. “We’re going to mix things up a bit.” The voice declared.
“And just what do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked. The three ponies waited for a response, their anticipation worsening with every passing second of silence.
“I mean both of you: Dash, and Applejack will go at the same time.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said, “I guess that isn’t so bad.” Dash was already floating in front of her hallway before she had finished her sentence.
“Nope.” Applejack agreed, trotting over to her own doorway. She looked back at Twilight standing alone in the hexagonal room and frowned. “Won’t Twilight be all by her lonesome?”
“I’ll be fine.” Twilight assured, realizing herself that she was the last one. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll keep her company.” The voice offered, raising the grates over the two mares’ hallways. “I’ve been told I’m easy to talk to.”
“Right.” Rainbow Dash said with a slight roll of her eyes. She dropped to the ground and began trotting down her hallway. “Don’t worry Twi! I’ll be right back!”
“Ah will too.” Applejack said before beginning down her own hallway. Twilight watched as the last of her friends disappeared down their respective hallways.
“They’ll be ok, right?” Twilight asked, now worried about all of her friends’ fates.
“Absolutely.”
“It’s awfully cold in here,” Rarity complained. “Voice, could you be a dear and raise the temperature?”
“In a minute.” The voice replied. Lights turned on in the rooms adjacent to Rarity’s, revealing them to be identical, empty rooms. “It’s time for the game.”
Rarity stood up from her pillow with a sigh. “If we must.” She said, beginning to walk in the voice’s direction before remembering it had no direction. She looked around the room and into the other rooms, but still stood with no objective. “Uhm, excuse me? What is it I am doing exactly?” Before the voice could answer, the door to the room on Rarity’s left opened, revealing a very familiar orange mare standing behind it. She entered the room and began looking around it. “Applejack?” Rarity asked, confusedly walking over to the window between the two rooms.
Applejack noticed the window and walked over to it, looking at it with a confused expression. Rarity waved her forelegs over the window to get the mare’s attention, but to no avail. Applejack stopped just in front of the window, turning her head from side to side in front of it. Rarity knocked on the window, making Applejack jump back from the sudden noise before examining it closer.
“Hello?” Applejack asked to the window. “Is anyone there?”
“Yes, Applejack!” Rarity said happily. “I am here!” Rarity’s small smile dissipated when Applejack gave no response, or sign that she had heard her. “Can she not see me?”
“Nor hear you.” The voice answered. “She doesn’t know you are here.”
“But I can hear and see her?” Rarity asked.
“It’s a one way mirror,” the voice explained. “There’s a speaker system in the room so you can hear her as well.”
The door in the opposite room opened, taking Rarity’s attention. Rainbow Dash darted through it and immediately began examining the empty room, her eyes quickly falling on the mirror in her room.
“Same deal with her.” The voice answered before Rarity could ask.
“Alright, I am now truly confused.” Rarity admitted.
“Hey voice thingy!” Rainbow Dash yelled into the mirror. “What gives? What’s the game?”
“I will be with you in a moment, Ms. Dash.” the voice echoed through the speaker system as it was broadcast in both Rarity’s room and Rainbow Dash’s. “Now, Miss Rarity, for the game.” The voice said, this time coming from Rarity’s room only. Rarity waited for a few seconds for the directions, but found only silence.
“Well?” Rarity asked after a minute of waiting. “What is the game?”
“Sorry, I was pausing for dramatic effect.” the voice said.
“What’s the game?” Rarity asked, keeping her patience with the voice. The lights in all three rooms changed, turning from their regular white color to an ominous red. All three ponies took steps back in confusion and anxiety. Four white spotlights turned on in Rarity’s room, each one shining down on one of the button pedestals.
“What in tarnation?” Applejack asked herself, looking around the room and realizing the door had closed.
“If you think you can scare me, you’re totally wrong!” Rainbow Dash boasted, quickly shaking away the confusion, puffing out her chest and overall trying to make herself look tough. Her door had closed as well, sealing her into the empty room with only her reflection.
“What is going on?” Rarity asked, warily examining each button. She reexamined their labels, realizing that A-J meant Applejack and R-D meant Rainbow Dash. The buttons were positioned in front of their respective windows, aligning with the mares they represented. “What is the game?” She asked again, this time a bit of a waver in her voice.
“Choose.” The voice said, leaving Rarity waiting for more of an explanation but receiving none.
“What do you mean choose?” Rarity asked, now filled with confusion and fear.
“I mean choose.” The voice said again. “Choose between them, or choose yourself.”
“What am I choosing them for?” Rarity asked. She looked between her two friends, both of them looking around their rooms. Rainbow Dash was yelling at the voice to come out and fight, while Applejack did the same in a more composed, friendly manner.
“Perhaps I should explain what happened to your other friends first.” The voice said ominously. “I’m sure it will help you figure things out.”
“What has happened to them?” Rarity asked, her heart leaping with optimism while her brain wallowed in dread. “Where are they?” There was a long pause before the voice finally answered her.
“You will never see them again.” The voice said, pausing before continuing. “They’re dead.”
Rarity’s heart sank as she went over every letter in the voice’s last sentence. “Wh… What?” She asked disbelievingly, tears welling in her eyes. She felt wobbly on her legs and sat down, neglecting to search for her sitting pillow. “What do you mean… they’re dead?” She asked in denial.
“I mean, they’re dead.” The voice repeated. “I killed them.”
“You what?!” Rarity asked, backing up into a corner of the room. “Why?! Why are you doing this?!” She screamed through sobs. The gravity of the situation hit her like a train. The terrible voice stalking them and killing them, already claiming the lives of two of her friends as far as she knew. She didn’t know Twilight’s fate yet. Maybe she was already dead too. Rarity couldn’t wrap her head around the whole thing. It must be a dream. Yes, a terrible nightmare. She could wake up from it and be safe in her bed, her friends still alive.
“Because they deserved it.” The voice said bitterly.
“Now choose.”
Rarity understood now. She understood the game and what she had to do. She couldn’t do it, though. Especially not now. She wanted to sit alone and mourn the loss of her friends, and the presumed loss of another. She wanted the demonic voice to leave her alone. To let her go. To let her friends go.
“No…” Rarity said weakly, looking through the windows at her two friends in the adjacent rooms. They were still confused, oblivious to what she now knew. If only she could warn them. Maybe they could escape if they knew, somehow. “I cannot choose.”
“If you do not choose, then you all three die.” The voice boomed, beating into Rarity’s ears with each syllable. “You have one minute. I’m getting bored.”
Rarity stood up from her mournful corner and approached the buttons. She stopped when she reached the middle button marked A-L-L, looking left and right at the buttons marked with her friends’ initials. She looked forward again and moved past the center button towards the button on the far wall. She stared down at it for what seemed like an eternity. She couldn’t choose to doom her friends over herself. It would shatter the very fabric of her being. She raised a hoof over the big, red button marked M-E, but stopped just before bearing down on it. She was pouring out tears, her face wet with them. She had to do it. She had to press the button. She couldn’t have much time left. It was the only way to save her friends. Rarity finally clenched her eyes shut and threw her hoof down on the button, compressing it with a terribly happy click.
“There.” Rarity said, stepping back from the button and attempting to regain her composure. “I have chosen.”
“Good choice.” The voice said wickedly.
Several panels opened up in the rooms on either side of Rarity’s, revealing menacing black tubes. Rainbow Dash immediately flew towards one of the tubes and peered down it, trying to see inside. Applejack looked around her room, not sensing anything good from the sudden appearance of the pipes.
“Voice, you’re really bad at explaining games!” Rainbow yelled as she continued peering down the tube.
“Ok, now this can’t be good.” Applejack said to herself, trying to back away from the tubes but only running into another. The tubes sat stationary and dormant, staring at the ponies blankly. Rainbow knocked on the slightly exposed side of her pipe, trying to figure out its purpose.
“What’s going on?” Rarity asked, confused by what was happening. Why hadn’t the voice killed her yet?
“I’m just going with what you chose.” The voice said simply. A humming noise radiated through all three rooms, growing louder and louder as some unseen machine powered up. “Rarity, didn’t you say you were cold a bit ago?”
Flames burst out of the pipes, slamming into Rainbow Dash’s face and immediately setting it ablaze. She flew wildly around the room, trying to put out the fire but only running into more as the room turned into a seemingly unending inferno. Fire spewed from the pipes that surrounded her, burning every inch of her already scorched body. Rarity could hear her agonizing screams through the speaker, ripping apart her heart with every second passing.
“No!!” Rarity screamed, banging on the window. She tried her hardest to break through it, but it gave no indication of breaking. She watched helplessly as her friend was cooked alive, her flesh boiling and mane burning as she continued to thrash about in the air. The fire and smoke filled the room to the point where Rarity could no longer see her friend through it. She collapsed on the floor in tears, still screaming for Rainbow Dash’s salvation. Rainbow Dash’s screams echoed through her head, mixing with her thoughts and haunting her. Dash has ceased screaming, signaling the fire to be switched off and the room cleared of smoke. She lay still in her room, her rainbow mane completely burnt off and her cyan coat black and charred. Rarity continued her sobbing for an all too short minute, before the monster came back to haunt her again.
“We aren’t done yet.”
Rarity looked up from where she lied, her eyes bloodshot and wet with tears. “No…” She pleaded through sobs. “No... Please…”
“Is anypony there?” Applejack asked, having waited alone in the room for quite some time. “Can somepony please explain what’s goin’ on?” She went back to the mirror and tried to look through it again. Rarity stood up quickly and ran to the window, placing her hoof on the window next to Applejack’s image. She knocked softly, still crying as she did. Applejack showed no signs of hearing her knocking. A small orange glow began emitting from one of the tubes.
“Applejack!” Rarity screamed, suddenly pounding on the window and startling Applejack. “Watch out!” She cried, desperately trying to warn her friend. Applejack still couldn’t hear anything but her pounding, which only made her more confused. The orange glow finally reached its climax, bursting out of the pipes in the same brilliant flame that engulfed Rainbow Dash. Applejack spun around quickly, eyes going wide with the sudden appearance of fire. She turned back to the mirror and began pounding back as the flames reached for her. She cried for help while pounding as hard as she could, but even her strong strikes were not enough to bust the window. The fire reached her tail, igniting its tip. She panicked and lunged to put it out, only to ram herself into even more flame. Rarity could hear her friend’s screams as the flames engulfed her, sending her flailing body into the abyss of fire and agony.
Rarity slumped to the ground, her eyes still wet with tears but unable to produce any more. She sobbed, but no noise came from her mouth. She lied there, silently crying, for a full minute before it came back.
“You chose to save yourself.”The voice said, piercing into Rarity’s mind. “You betrayed them so that you could live.”
Rarity’s eyes widened in horror while she examined what the voice had said. No… It couldn’t have been her. But it was. The voice was right. She had brought on their deaths.
“I thought the buttons meant death!” She cried out, desperate to prove to both the voice and herself her innocence. “I was trying to save them!”
“Were you?” The voice asked. “Or were you secretly hoping you would be saved?”
“No!!” Rarity cried, finding more tears from somewhere.
“You selfish, horrible monster.” The voice continued. Its tone grew more bitter with each word. “You let them die. You didn’t even try to save them.” Rarity covered her ears with her hooves to try to block out the voice, but to no avail. “I bet you secretly wanted them dead. They were just a liability, weren’t they?!” The voice yelled through the room.
“Stop!” Rarity yelled, now sobbing again with tears she didn’t have.
“YOU WERE NEVER THEIR FRIEND!!” The voice boomed furiously. “YOU THOUGHT OF THEM AS A RESPONSIBILITY DIDN’T YOU!! YOU WANTED TO BE FREE OF THEM, SO YOU CONDEMED THEM TO DIE!!!”
Rarity continued crying as the voice’s final words range through her head. The voice’s words were somewhat true. She did condemn them to death. They were dead, because she chose. It was her who pressed the button. It was her who chose herself, even if she meant for it to go the other way. The screams of her friends’ agony filled her head, mixing in her head with the still lingering echo of the voice’s accusation. It was too much. She couldn’t take anymore. She jumped up from where she sat and threw herself upon the center button, compressing it before falling off of the pedestal and hitting the ground.
Rarity made no attempt to get up. She lied next to the button, staring at the ceiling as the panels opened up and the orange death spewed out. Flames engulfed her vision and evaporated her tears, singed her styled mane and scorched her snow-white coat. She could finally awake from the nightmare this must be. She did not scream, even as the flames boiled her flesh and melted her eyes shut. She will wake up soon, and be with her friends once again. Safe and sound.
Twilight paced back and forth in the center room, thoughts racing with worry for her five friends. Were they ok? What if they weren’t? What if something terrible has happened? What if Discord has returned and is playing another game with them? No, Celestia would have warned her. She would have seen it coming, done something before Discord got hold of them. Right?
Three brightly colored keys fell from the ceiling, clanking on the floor a few feet from Twilight. She jumped at the sudden noise before realized quickly it was simply the keys hitting the floor. Three more keys symbolizing the unknown fates of her friends.
“And finally, Twilight, it is your turn.”
“I have some questions first.” Twilight declared. She waited for a response, but heard only the hum of something off in the distance, so she continued. “I want to know where my friends are, if they are ok, and who you are.”
The voice seemed to wait for a moment before answering. “You will find all of the answers you seek during your challenge.” The voice said cryptically. The final grate in the room opened under the six-pointed star cutie mark, and quickly spiraled into a dark abyss. “By the way, you are not allowed to use spells or you forfeit.”
“Of course I can’t.” Twilight was slightly annoyed that she couldn’t use magic, but she had to find out what happened to her friends and who this pony was. She stood in front of the doorway, peering deep into the abyss ahead of her. The shadows of the hallway seemed to creep towards her, but were stopped by the line on the floor that marked the doorway. Twilight wished she could use her light spell and find out what was inside, but she knew she couldn’t. She placed one hoof over the threshold of the doorway and into the dark. The floor seemed colder across the door than in the room. Twilight walked the rest of the way into the hallway just beyond the door. Once her tail had cleared it, the grating slammed shut and was covered, blocking all light from the center room from entering Twilight’s hallway. The grate suddenly closing startled her, but she quickly turned back forward upon realizing her path of escape was blocked. With no other alternative, she gulped, took a deep breath in, and began walking, blindly, into the darkness.
The hallway seemed to go on forever. Twilight had been walking for several minutes and come across nothing. She was beginning to wonder if this hallway even led anywhere. Maybe it went on forever? Was that even possible? Twilight dismissed the thought as silly. There couldn’t be such a thing as an infinite hallway. Or could there be?
Twilight finally came to see a light in the distance a few minutes later, and she began galloping towards it. It was fast approaching, turning from a dot, to a hole and then finally to a doorway. Twilight slowed down a bit before she reached the doorway. She stopped just in front of it, perplexed by what she saw. The door shone light, but that’s all it did. There was nothing beyond the doorway, no room or challenge or anything. Just light. Twilight stared at the light for a few seconds before she noticed there was a door handle. She quickly realized that the door simply had lights on it for some reason, and wrapped her hoof around the door’s handle. The door slid open slowly and quietly, and as it did, Twilight peered inside.
The room inside of the door was a huge, hemispherical control room with monitors and wires decorating every wall. Streamers were hanging off of some of the monitors, and wires around the room held up a few balloons. A bit of happy, upbeat music played softly in the background, mixed with hums and hues from the machines that scattered the room. In the center of the room there was a raised platform, with stairs encircling it that ran up to the top. In the center of the dome was a large mainframe, hanging down from the ceiling and connecting to the platform. A microphone sat on a stand on the platform, connected by a wire to the mainframe.
A single pony sat on the top step of the stairs to the mainframe, staring straight forward with her head on her hoof. Her hair flowed down straight from her head, brushed aside enough to show her melancholy expression and frown, and her tired, dreary eyes. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re ok,” She breathed, pushing the door the rest of the way open and approaching the silent pony sitting on the steps. “I was worried sick.”
Pinkie looked up at Twilight standing at the bottom of the steps with her tired eyes, but went back to staring straight forward after a second or two. Twilight walked up the steps and stood next to her friend.
“Pinkie, what’s wrong?” She asked. Pinkie turned her slowly to look in Twilight’s direction, staring up at her through cold, emotionless eyes. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked again, but received no response. Pinkie looked back forward and picked up something from the floor next to her, holding it behind herself out of Twilight’s view. Twilight was too busy trying to decipher her friend to notice. Twilight sat down next to the pink pony and asked her once more what was the matter. Pinkie made a quick motion with her hoof in Twilight’s direction without looking at her. Twilight felt a small sting as something pierced her skin, and then started feeling drowsy all of a sudden. She collapsed, tumbling down the stairs and hitting each one with a loud thump. She landed, sprawled on the floor and unable to move. She was quickly falling asleep and her eyes were closing. Before she blacked out, however, she could see what she thought was the outline of a pony pull the syringe from her leg and throw it to the side.
“Wakey Wakey, Twilight.”
Twilight stirred awake from the water that was thrown on her, drenching her mane and coat. Water dripped from her as she regained her senses and memories, and looked nervously around the room. It was the room from before, except she suspected she was on the other side of the mainframe from where she came in. Twilight tried to move, but found her fore and hind legs shackled to a cold metal table behind her.
Pinkie threw the bucket to the side, ignoring it once it landed with several clunks as it bounced away. She climbed the stairs of the central platform and leaned the microphone over to her mouth. She looked at Twilight with a grin.
“Hello Twilight.” She said sadistically yet happily into the microphone. Her light, happy voice echoed and distorted around the room, taking on a deep bellowing tone to mask it. Her eyes were filled with energy, and yet were red with tiredness and had heavy bags under them. “How are you feeling?”
Twilight was confused for a moment before she realized where she had heard the deep voice from before. “Pinkie?” She asked, her mind racing with explanations. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”
“I should probably explain.” Pinkie said, leaning the microphone away from her. She trotted over to the mainframe and tapped a few things into a keyboard. Computer monitors lit up around the room. Several of them played different images, but some of them played the same image. One was a view of a luscious garden with a little stream running through it, and two others were just bland rooms that erupted into a bright orange before losing the feed and starting over. Twilight looked around at the various monitors, unable to properly see any of them. The only thing she could make out was that they were all on a loop. She tried to focus on one of the monitors closer to her, and saw that it was a room filled with decorations and snacks. A familiar pink pony bounced into the room, her expression going from happy to absolute joy.
“What is this Pinkie?” Twilight asked, watching the screen as the pink pony on it bounced around the room with glee. A voice from the screen told her to eat cake, to which she happily agreed. “ Really Pinkie, what is-“ Twilight stopped mid-sentence when she saw the mare on the screen flash a look of agony across her face. Twilight became even more confused when blood began pouring from her mouth, and she rushed over to a mirror. The camera Twilight was looking through zoomed in on the mirror, revealing the image of several nails stuck into Pinkie Pie’s gums.
Twilight gagged as the rest of the scene played out, finally throwing up as the door slammed shut. She looked up at her friend in confusion and mortification. Pinkie looked down at her with a small smile.
“Did you like it?” She asked terribly calmly.
“What do you mean?!” Twilight yelled, breaking her confused silence. The multitude of questions running through her head poured from her mouth as if some invisible dam had burst. “What the hay was that?! Where are the others?! How are you alive?! If you’re here, who was that poor pony?! What the hell is going on?!?!” She screamed, yanking at her restraints to no avail. Pinkie waited for her friend to calm down a bit before she turned back to the mainframe and typed a few commands into it.
A large screen lowered down from the ceiling in front of Twilight, switching on and playing multiple videos at once. One was the one Twilight had just witnessed, another the setting with the luscious garden, and 2 others being blank rooms. The last was a room with a bunch of buttons, and one part of the screen was left blank. “You see,” Pinkie said, walking down the stairs and standing next to the screen so she could look at Twilight. “This is what happened to each of our friends as they went down their hallways.” Pinkie explained. She spat the word ‘friends’ with as much acid and bitterness she could. “You already saw what happened to Pinkie Pie.”
“But you’re Pinkie Pie!” Twilight yelled, still confused with all that was going on.
“Do you really think the mirror pool only has one entrance?”
Twilight turned her attention away from the pink mare and back towards the screen, which had begun to change while she was looking at Pinkie Pie. In the garden, a yellow pegasus had just entered and had begun playing with some of the animals. Twilight gasped when one squirrel bit her in the neck. “Fluttershy!” She screamed, watching helplessly as the animals pursued the pegasus over the stream and to a pedastal, then began mutilating her with the help of Fluttershy’s most beloved pet. Twilight wept away from the screen, unable to watch her friend get devoured by what she cared for the most.
“I always did like that bunny.” Pinkie commented, watching the video much more calmly than Twilight. Twilight looked at her absolutely mortified, tears pouring from her eyes.
“What?!” Twilight yelled, a mixture of confusion, anger and sadness welling up in her throat. She quickly realized it was Pinkie that had killed Fluttershy, and killed the clone of herself. Twilight could only assume the other images were of her other friends’ deaths. “What is wrong with you?! She was your friend!!”
“NO!” Pinkie yelled suddenly, smashing the screen away with her hoof and walking away from Twilight. She turned back at the base of the steps to the center platform. “She was never my friend!”
“What are you talking about?!” Twilight yelled back, tears gushing out her eyes. Her mind was muddled from figuring out what was going on, and now that she had she could barely handle it.
“She was never friends with me!” Pinkie answered, pointing to herself with her forehoof. “I was like a child to her! Like I was her responsibility!!” Pinkie screamed, kicking over some monitors and computers and turning back to Twilight. “It was the same for the rest of you! You weren’t my friends!!” Pinkie ran up to Twilight, holding her shackled hooves with her own and screaming into her face. “YOU PITIED ME, YOU LITTLE BITCH! YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD TO TAKE CARE OF ME BECAUSE I WAS HELPLESS AND STUPID!!”
Pinkie lowered herself from Twilight’s cowering form and laughed a bit to herself. “But I showed you,” She said, breathing heavily and looking up at Twilight with murder in her eyes. “Who’s weak and helpless now, huh? Who’s the stupid one?” Pinkie turned away from Twilight and walked up the stairs to the central platform, ignoring Twilights sobs. “I already got my revenge on the others,” She continued, trotting over to the microphone and leaning it in front of her lips. “And now I’m going to kill you.”
“Pinkie… please…” Twilight sobbed, hanging from her restraints as Pinkie Pie typed commands into the mainframe console. “You don’t have to do this.” Twilight pleaded as several robotic arms descended from the ceiling, wielding a whole manner of gruesome looking instruments. One arm had a already spinning saw blade attached to it.
“It’s too late to beg, Twilight,” Pinkie spat, turning from the mainframe and trotting down the steps as the arms approached Twilight. Twilight tugged at her shackles, desperate to rip them off but could not budge them. “Who’s helpless now, Twilight? Who?” Pinkie taunted, laughing a bit to herself as the arms got even closer to Twilight. Twilight suddenly stopped moving and tugging at her restraints, instead righting herself and closing her eyes.
“What are you doing?” Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow at the unicorn as the arms were within a couple of feet of Twilight.
Twilight’s horn began to glow a light violet, its light intensifying as the arms moved towards her. Pinkie Pie’s eyes went wide when she realized what the purple unicorn was doing. “No!” She yelled, even as the purple unicorn covered herself in the same glow her horn had donned. “No! No! No!!!” Pinkie screamed, leaping at Twilight from where she sat. “You don’t deserve to live!!” She screamed as the purple unicorn vanished into thin air, leaving Pinkie Pie to slam into the metal table she rested on. The instruments on the arms behind her finally reached the table; beginning the procedure Pinkie had laid out for Twilight. Four of the arms replaced her hooves in the shackles, spreading her wide and exposing her stomach. Pinkie screamed as the saw blade arm cut into her chest, spewing blood from it and ripping down her entire front side. Several arms with drill bits in them drilled into her fore and hindlegs until they hit the table, then drilled back out again and moved onto a different spot of her body. Two arms pulled apart her chest, revealing her breathing organs and beating heart. One of the arms began pulling out each organ one by one, while another ripped apart her rib cage and stabbed the ribs into the holes created by the drills. Tears of pain poured from Pinkie’s eyes as her intestine was pulled out and tied around her neck like a scarf, hanging down on one end and tieing tightly around her throat at another. The arm ripping apart her ribs stabbed one into each of her ribs, causing her to gag and stop screaming, now gasping for breath. One of the arms grabbed hold of the other end of the intestine around her neck, and held it up as the shackles around her hooves were released. The arm pulled the intestine, and Pinkie choking along with it, up to the ceiling of the room and attached it to a large hook that hung from it. Pinkie squirmed around as the arms retracted into the ceiling, but stopped as her visible heart beat at a terribly slow pace.
Twilight witnessed the entire scene from the center platform, watching her friend get mutilated by the arms that were after her not moments before. Pinkie stared at her with pleading eyes as her heart stopped beating and the last of the life drained from her. Pinkie hung there, clutching her throat with her forehooves and missing most of her organs inside her ripped out chest. Her ribs stuck out of multiple holes all over her, and blood dripped to the floor under where she hung.
Twilight turned away from the bloody spectacle, and lied down on the cold metal floor of the platform. The room had grown quiet once the arms had retracted into the ceiling. The only sound that could be heard was the soft creaking of the hook that Pinkie hung from as she swung slightly back and forth. Twilight closed her eyes only to hear a snap and a loud thump behind her, making her whip her head around to see what had happened. Pinkie’s corpse lied on the ground, half of her intestine still running around her neck and the other half hanging from the ceiling. Twilight turned her head back around and closed her eyes again, this time resting her head on the floor. She slept surprisingly well, despite the smell.
Author's Note
If you aren't gagging right now, I haven't done my job right. Please tell me so I can pump more blood into my gore-producing gland in my brain. Hope you enjoyed!
