He was right, and I could barely believe it. I was so certain that he was tricking me because of his talent that I hadn’t even thought about why nopony had left. Some I could understand wanting to stay, but surely someone like Rarity would have been gagging at how ‘unfashionable’ the castle was. I felt even worse when I remember what I said to Fluttershy, and that it had turned into a lie without me even wanting it to be. The feeling of despair that I felt when I thought about that hurt horribly, knowing that there was now no way out.
“This… this is insane!” I shouted to no one but myself, as if saying the words would make this all go away.
Those words did nothing but further instill how real this all was. I was stuck in this castle and I had no idea how or when I got here. My body seemed to grow heavy as I looked from the base of the glass dome up to its top before disappearing behind the castle. As I looked on I saw the body of a blue pegasus rushing around above me, zipping from one end of the dome to the other before landing only a few feet in front of me. Her body was tense and her rainbow mane was a complete mess from the velocity she must have been flying at. The growl of annoyance she voiced as her front hooves forcibly slammed into the concrete path in front of us told me everything I need to know about her current feelings.
“What is up with this place?!” She yelled to the courtyard that stood in front of us both. “If that dome was just a little higher I could probably get enough speed to drop into a sonic rainboom, but I can’t. This is so not cool. At least give me the space to fly if you're going to trap me in this place.”
“Are you okay?” I didn’t really know how she would react, but considering that she didn’t turn around and hit me I could see she wasn’t in absolute rage.
“I don’t get it, what reason does the pony who brought us here have for making this huge dome? I don’t even have the space to do a simple ariel roll without having to worry about ramming into that giant stone building with my head!” She took a few breaths, falling onto her back and looking up at me. Looking into her eyes I felt like I knew her from somewhere. “Oh, hey Ditzy. Haven’t seen you in a long time.”
Suddenly it hit me like that packaged piano. “Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow Dash was one of my classmates from back in flight school, and top of her class at that. She was one of the youngest ponies in history to obtain the title of Ultimate, and the youngest pegasus to obtain such a title. She was the Ultimate Stunt Flyer, and considering some of the stuff she pulled off back in class it was no wonder that she earned that title. Despite that, however, most ponies who try to hire her are denied because of her loyalty to friends and family. I was one of those friends, though our introductions to each other were rather rocky.
“Yep it’s me, I’m surprised to see somepony like you stuck in here as well. At least there is one friendly face that I recognize,” I don’t think she was the only one surprised about a familiar face being here. I knew from what A.K. had told me that everypony here was an Ultimate but I didn’t expect one of them to be a close friend. “Let me guess, you also thought we could leave whenever we want?”
“Yeah, but I guess that’s not an option now, isn’t it?” Of course with my bad luck it only made sense that I get caught in a situation like this. I take back what I said about this being the best day of my life. First the muffins and now this strange dome, that was more than enough of a reason to say this day went from best to worst. “So… I’m guessing you’ve already met everypony else.”
“Well yeah, got out of that claustrophobic garden in the castle as soon as I could,” Nothing new there. Rainbow always did hate closed spaces. “I might as well introduce you to those who are outside right now. They aren’t all cool but I’ll give some of them a few points for at least trying to be as cool as me.”
With no idea of what to really do at this point, I decided that introducing myself to those I have yet to meet might be a good idea. It did seem like we were going to be here for a while, and I would like to know who I’d be staying with during that time. As I didn’t feel comfortable flying, Rainbow trotted with me as we explored the large courtyard in front of us. It wasn’t really special, as it was basically grassy plain with two paths going to the left and right near the end. We didn’t even reach it by the time Rainbow called out to somepony up ahead.
“AJ! There’s someone I would like to introduce you to!”
Looking to where Rainbow Dash was directing her voice I made out the figure of an orange earth pony sitting on the side of the past. Without warning Rainbow grabbed one of my front hooves and rushed towards her. Knowing from past experiences just how futile it was to try and get Rainbow to slow down, I let her propelle the two of us forward. As we came within a few inches of the orange mare, who was now looking at us with intrigue, Rainbow suddenly came to a halt and I found my muzzle kissing the ground from force. It took me a few seconds to get my bearings together and wobbly get back on my hooves.
“Applejack, I would like you to meet my friend Ditzy,” I was still rubbing the end of my muzzle when Rainbow started introducing me. “Ditzy, this is the Ultimate Farmer: Applejack. You probably know her from the apples her family sells at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Ah appreciate the introduction Rainbow but ya don’t need to go throwing around the title Ultimate Farmer like it’s special,” Well, if those words were anything to go by then Applejack’s ego was about the opposite of Rainbows. “It’s nice to meet you Ditzy. Though I can’t say that your name really does you any favors, you seem like a mighty fine gal.”
Looking at the mare Rainbow was talking about, I was glad to see a rather pleasant smile on her face. While I could see the orange coat from earlier, I couldn’t see just how much muscle was in her legs. It didn’t pop through the fur in the way some stallions did, but the strength she held was clear just by looking at her figure. It makes sense given her title, but she didn’t seem to really care at all about what that title meant. She didn’t seem to care about hiding her feelings toward the matter either, which was rather surprising to me.
“Applejack’s family run a farm together not far outside of Ponyville, that’s the main reason why she doesn’t see it as very special,” Rainbow’s explanation gave me a much better idea of why she didn’t seem to care about being called an Ultimate. “Apparently the reason she obtained the title of ultimate in the first place was because of the annual cider festival in Canterlot. She was there representing her family and won the ‘best apple cider’ prize for Sweet Apple Acres, which apparently gave her that title.”
“Um.. ah don’t remember telling you anything about the cider festival. How do you know?”
“I pay better attention when flying around than I do on the ground, that’s all there is to it. Heard you talking about it with that diva named Rarity some time ago.”
Rainbow wasn’t lying about that either. Compared to the troublemaker she was when she was in the classroom, Rainbow Dash still did incredibly well in normal school classes. I learned later that she actually does all her studying while flying, and that apparently it helps her out. It was pretty much the exact opposite to me, as my attention in flight was absolutely terrible. Again, it is a completely wonder how I haven’t managed to lose a delivery or arrive off time when my luck is so bad.
“Look, even if you didn’t mean to freak me out that way, could you please not do that?” Applejack asked, clearly feeling as if her personal space had been invaded. “With this giant dome around us and no clear way out I would rather not have somepony constantly listening into everything that I say.”
“Don’t worry, Rainbow may not understand personal space and info all the time but she’s a good friend of mine for a reason,” I told her as I hung a wing around Rainbow Dash. “If she does it again I’ll keep in an eye on her for you, but I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that.”
“Hope so, but it really is nice to meet you,” She said, tilting the western styled hat that was on her head. “Still, don’t go tossing around my ‘title’ like it’s special alright.”
I promised that I would and we bid Applejack farewell, Rainbow showing me the way to the courtyard’s southernmost point. As we made our way down, I could hear the sound of a pony who must have been intimidating some long deceased playwrite. A groan escaped Rainbow, and a look at her face told me she didn’t seem very happy to see the blue unicorn standing not far ahead. She wore a darker blue cape with stars on it and a magician hat, both looked like they have been covered in glitter. Something told me this was what Rainbow meant earlier by not everypony ‘being cool’. She does seem to be rather extreme, or maybe even more melodramatic than Rarity.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlecolts,” The unicorn said as she turned to us, her voice sounding high and mighty. “Have you come today to watch the great and powerful Trrrrixie work wonders? Or have you also come to laugh at my ‘cosplay’ and manner of speech?”
“Nah, not right now Trixie,” Rainbow really didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking to this Trixie right now. “I just came to introduce my friend Ditzy over here. Why don’t you just say who you are so we can leave and never have to talk again.”
“I could smite you for saying that to someone like me, but I will excuse you this once,” Trixie looked to me, bowing and pulling the cape around her body. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ditzy, and you should be please to meet somepony such as I. For I am none other than the great, the powerful, the magnificent Trrrixie Lulamoon,” With that she flung her cape open, allowing for what seemed like hundreds of fireworks to fly out. “Master of illusion magic and Ultimate Showpony, I am known across Equestria for my daring tricks and feats. So, now that you’ve wasted Trixie’s time I would like it if you would leave me.”
She pushed me to the side, mumbling to herself about something that I couldn’t make out. I could see why Rainbow hated her, though the pegasus always seemed to hate anyone with a bigger ego than her own. Trixie also seemed incredibly over the top, which is another thing that I knew Rainbow hated, because she was suppose to be ‘the coolest pony in Equestria’. They both seemed stuck in their own worlds, both of which seemed to revolve around them.
“I… would rather not talk about that pony,” She said, already walking off in the other direction. “Since she’s heading to the training yard I’ll show you the infirmary first. It’s rather likely Redheart is still there, and I had something I wanted to ask her anyway.”
The infirmary was on the left when coming out of the castle, and seemed more along the lines of those clinics you see in war stories. On the outside it was just a standard white building with a glowing green plus, and it seemed much more modern than anything else. The inside didn’t have a check-in desk, immediately opening up to two rows of hospital beds. On the far end was cabinets with many bottles of what I assumed was medicine showing through glass doors. As we walked in we were met with the eyes of a white mare with a pink mane and tail held up in a bun. She seemed to be rummaging through those cabinets at the time of our entrance.
“Ah, Rainbow Dash, it’s good to see again,” She greeted us, her voice calming. She looked to me, and I found that her smile was just as calming as her voice was. “And I see that you’ve brought a friend with you too.”
“Yep, this is my good friend and Ultimate Mail Carrier Ditzy Do,” Rainbow said, pulling her wing around me with a goofy smile on her face. “Ditzy, this is Redheart, the Ultimate Nurse. She lives in Ponyville and from what I’ve heard has never lost a patient in her career. She is also widely liked by those patients from what she has told me, and I owe her more bits than I honestly have.”
“I’m glad to see you remembered Rainbow,” Redheart’s smile quickly dropped after this, instead a more serious look appearing on her face. “Anyways, that feeling you had earlier about this place, I think I found out what it means. As much as I want to be the bearer of good news, you were more than correct about those medication.”
“Is there something wrong with the medicine?” If Redheart had found something disturbing about those medical bottles than I could only imagine what I was about to find out. The very first thing that came to mind was that they were untested treatments, but prescription medicine also came to mind.
“Yes Ditzy, something is very wrong and it worries me about why we might be here,” She took a deep breath, as if she herself was still coming to terms with her findings. “The first thing I noticed was that every medication was branding that I haven’t heard before, and being the Ultimate Nurse I’ve been called before to help with test runs of medical treatments and give feedback. None of them match any medicines, even those that I rejected from testing, and so the first thing I did was check the ingredients. That’s when I realized that these aren’t medicines we are looking at, but... poisons.”
“P-poisons?” My voice wanted to quit all together at the sound of that. Why was anyone housing poisons in an infirmary? What was the reason for this infirmary if none of the medications in it were even helpful? “That couldn’t be right. There is no way it could be right.”
“That’s what I want to think too, but it’s one thing to deny in something and another to be overly stubborn,” Redheart’s words might not have been complete facts, but they were nonetheless true. “It’s not even that they are anti-venoms or could be turned into anti-venoms. Without somepony knowledgeable in that field I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to, and imagine if a foal or somepony in distress grabbed one of these bottles. I became a nurse to help ponies in need, but whoever is running this castle seems to want-”
“Attention everyone!” The sound of a high-pitch, otherworldly voice sounded out from nowhere. Would you all please come to the dining room so we can began the festivities. I will repeat, would you all please come to the dining room so I can give you all a proper welcome. Anyone who doesn’t show up will be punished, and that wouldn’t be fun.”
That voice, to put it simply, creeped me out way more than I wanted it to. It wasn’t normal, sounding as if it was forcefully cheerful or psychotic. That did answer part of the mystery though, as we now knew somepony or something brought us here. Whatever these festivities were they sounded very ecstatic about them, and I only hoped that it would be a large banquet. I mean, why else would we be meeting up in the dining room of all places? If this isn’t something to do with a banguet then I’ll be extremely disappointed.
Rainbow, Redheart, and I silently decided to go see who that voice we heard was. I was shaking as this mystery pony’s words echoed in my head, or specifically the word punished was ringing over and over in my ears. It was like a bad song that you can’t get out of your head, or the lecturing of my boss whenever somepony showed up late to work. The way that this pony stressed the word punish was unnerving, and I could bet that somewhere inside Rainbow was shaking. She didn’t show it, but I’m sure it was only her ego keeping her from expressing that fear.
On our way back we ended up meeting back up with Trixie, much to Rainbow’s annoyance, and saw that there was two other ponies also with her. Both were stallions, but their appearances were so different it was funny, and I had to hold back a rather insult and rude laugh. On one hoof, one of the stallions was a pegasus with a goldish coat with a wild blue mane and hair, cutie mark a blue shield with a lightning strike down the center. On the other we had the most scary, jacked, and at the same time silliest pegasus stallion in existence. He easily toward me, which would have been threatening if it wasn’t the absurdly small wings, lower legs, and goofy smile.
We didn’t have time to say hello to them, but Rainbow filled me in on who they were with some help from Redheart, as the jacked stallion was unfamiliar to my friend. The stallion with the wild blue mane was Flash Sentry, the Ultimate Guard. As one would expect, Rainbow explained, he was part of the Royal Guard and was apparently so capable and proficient with any weapon that he was made one of Celestia’s personal body guards. The crazy part: he had only been a member of the guard for six months before he got that position, and had no training prior to joining. I have no idea how that is even possible, and I have my doubts that it is entirely true.
The other stallion, who was apparently a patient of Redhearts, is Bulk Biceps, the Ultimate Bodybuilder. The reasons his wings are so small is actually due to a defect from birth which stunted their growth, and due to that flying became very dangerous. While Redheart doesn’t know where he got the idea of becoming a bodybuilder from, that was the path he decided to go down after learning this. I felt horrible for wanting to laugh at his wings after hearing tat, especially since we pegasi can do… pretty much nothing weather or flight related without them. Bulk Biceps could still fly like a pegasus, but Redheart was highly against this because of the weight difference in his body compare to his wings.
I felt really, really horrible about how I reacted to Bulk’s appearance now, especially since I could kinda understand. While I had worked with the weather ponies in Cloudsdale before becoming a mailmare, my eyes were a big hinderance and I quit after almost destroying Ponyville’s town hall (why I wasn’t fired before that is still beyond my comprehension). In some ways, me and Bulk Biceps were kinda similar. We both have restrictions in the jobs we could take, as well as having something… different about our bodies. The fact that he was as strong as he was, considering that we pegasi are as light as the clouds we lay on, is something he should be proud of. Unicorn’s are still lighter, but clouds don’t really like magic.
By the time we had arrived at the dining room everyone else was already there, though instead of everyone talking with each other the room was silent. Twilight was looking at us curiously, and then turned to the others in the room.
“And with that sixteen,” She stated, turning back to us. “That should be everypony except for our mystery guest, who has yet to arrive it seems.”
“You seem mighty worried there sugarcube,” Applejack’s observation was spot on, as I could see Twilight was biting her lower lip. “We’re all here, and nopony is hurt it. Ah don’t think there is a reason to feel distressed.”
“I know that but… it just feels like something's wrong,” Twilight took another look around the room, and I decided to do the same. As far as I could tell, nothing was off and everything that had been here earlier was still present. Eventually the unicorn simply shook her hoof. “Never mind, it’s probably just me. I’ve been on edge ever since I woke up here, and I know I’m not the only one. So… let's share our discoveries. Anypony find anything useful?”
“I shall start then,” Flam piped up, sharing that same amount of enthusiasm as earlier. “I’m sure you already know but the other floors are blocked off by barbed wire, so we are stuck to the ground floor. That means something is past there that whoever put us here doesn’t want us to find out.”
“It makes sense, but there's one problem that Trixie has yet to truly understand,” The Ultimate Showpony did not look happy. In fact, she seemed to be fuming with anger at something or someone. “I, the great and powerful Trixie, takes a lot of pride in her magical abilities,” Rainbow groaned as she heard the pony boast. “But simple things like teleportation don’t work in here. Even stranger, Trixie tried to move those barbs and they seem to repel all of her attempts with magic. How is that every other spell is possible except for the ones that we absolutely need?”
“I also tried to break them!” The loud, booming voice of Bulk Biceps was foreign to me at first, having not actually heard him speak the entire way here. “Something like barbed wired should have been no match for me, but the things didn’t even budge! They didn’t hurt all that much, but it doesn’t seem right for it to be that strong!”
“Could you please quiet down you overwhelming sack of muscles,” Rarity’s insult not only shut him up, but also seemed to hurt him quite deeply. The mare could have at least try to act more kindly to him, because that really reminded me of the nobles up in Canterlot, and I would be surprised if she was one to begin with. “However I do agree that it seems impossible to get to the upper levels. Maybe one of you pegasi found a way.”
“If I could get enough speed I could crack the dome open, but with the way the dome is built that isn’t possible,” Rainbow explained with a shrug, and a look to the other side of her told me Redheart was not happy at that suggetion.
“Nor should you be doing something like that anyway!” She yelled in a scolding tone. “That would seriously, maybe fatally injure you, and the damage it would do to your wings would be awful.”
“Yeah besides,” The voice that spoke up next was not that of anypony currently in the room. It was the same one that the pony over the speaker had, if I remembered correctly. “It would be horrible if one of you pegasi died like that before the festivities even started.”
“Ooooo, festivities?” That word seemed to catch Pinkie’s interest, and I honestly shouldn’t have been surprised about that. “Like party festivities? Are we going to play party games or eat cake or open presents too? Are you going to get party ballons so we can blow them up? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Are we? Are we? Are we? Are we?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself Pinkie Pie,” A.K. did not look to thrilled, but whether it was the idea of a party or the mystery pony that caused her discomfort I couldn’t tell. “Alright who is this? What reason do you have for bringing us here? We have lives to live you know.”
“It sounds like it’s coming from the other side of the dinner table,” I told everyone. “But I don’t see anypony.”
“Puhuhuhu, of course you don’t. I’m not here right now, but let's change that!”
As the mystery pony spoke the bottom of the floor covered itself in a thick fog, and I found myself unable to see anything under my neck. I heard Fluttershy squeak in fright as she curled up in one corner of the room, and Pinkie giggling about how the fog tickled. After a few seconds everyone's eyes were on the table, and a figure suddenly jumped into the air. They did a double twist before landing perfectly in the center of the table, and what I saw was that of a creature I didn’t even know existed. The first look, made me feel more despair than I wanted to in a lifetime.
“Ladies and Gentlecolts, foals of all ages,” The absurdly high pitch voice came from the strange bear-like creature that stood in front of us now. It’s mouth wasn’t moving, one half showing a smile of jagged teeth. Their body was half white and half black, and a red metallic eye staring at us. “It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to my lovely castle: Castle Despair. I built it, decorated it, and prepared this events with my own two paws. The names Monokuma, nice to meet ya.”
… what the heck? What the actual hell is that? A mail carrier travels all over to deliver and in all that time I have never seen such a creature. That smile was like a death wish, wanting for me to just curl up and die where I stood. That red eye was like a laser beam in a science fiction novel that could melt your body in a matter of seconds. Yet, with all of that, it was how cheerful and relaxed this thing, Monokuma as it called itself, was that really made me scared.
“Wh-what are you?” I asked in confusion and fear.
“What do you mean by ‘what am I’?” He retorted in anger. “I just told you what I am. I’m Monokuma, the greatest mascot to ever exist in the history of… ever. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of me?”
“I-I’ve seen t-tons of d-different animals b-but none like you,” Fluttershy managed to say, though it seemed like she had to force herself to even speak that. “Y-you remind me a b-bit of Mr. Bear, but he can’t talk ponish, and he is a lot more cuddly looking.”
“Of course he can’t, because Mr. Bear is a bear, not me. I’m just as sapient as the rest of you, and you will be punished if you ever relate me to a normal animal.” Claws poked out of one of Monokuma’s stubby paws, and a look to Doctor Hooves told me he was rather intrigued by what he saw.
“Fascinating, absolutely fascinating!” He shouted, rushing over to the dinner table to get a closer look at the strange bear-like creature. “It took me a second to realize it, but your body is entirely autonomous isn’t it? I could tell just by the way your eye is shaped, and the vicious half smile you have. I would be more than honored to take a look inside of you and see what you are made of.”
“I would suggest keeping your distance, Sir Hooves,” Flash did his best to pull the earth pony away with the help of Bulk Biceps. “If it really is a machine like you said, it could possible be deadly or have some bugs.”
“Oh don’t worry, no bugs in my systems. Also, allow me to quickly state that I have no intention of causing any of you physical harm,” The way Monokuma stressed the word physical sent a shiver up my spine. Whether it was a bug or not, something was clearly wrong with this… whatever he was. “Anyways, enough stalling. I’m sure you all have tons of questions like ‘why am I half black and half white?’ or ‘why did you bring us here?’ or ‘does this edited version of the chapter make the movie canon for this fic?’. Sadly while I can’t say the first or last thing, considering that last one would take another rewrite for the author, I can tell you the second,” He threw his paws up in the air, and he despite the inability to change facial expressions I could tell he was ecstatic right now. “We are going to have… Equestria’s first ever killing game! Right here, right now, and all of you are the participants!”
It took me a few seconds to completely register what Monokuma had said, and when it did I felt my stomach drop like an anvil. Killing game, I thought for a second I had somehow misheard what he had said, but I was completely wrong. I could tell everyone, even Pinkie Pie who had been smiling up to this point, had a look of either horror or disgust on their faces. Monokuma had to be kidding. I wanted to laugh like it was some cruel joke, but it wasn’t. The ear ringing laughter that the mechanical bear let loose as he saw our faces wanted to drown my ears, but I didn’t let it.
“Killing game? As in… you want us to... kill somepony?!” I asked him, only for Monokuma to look at me, turning his body so his strange red eye was the center of my focus, and I once again believed that I was about to be melted through some kinda plasma.
“Not just anypony, but rather everypony currently residing in this castle. I want all of you to kill each other… brutally,” I couldn’t look away from him, and every word he said was as clear as crystal.
“You can’t be serious. Why would we all kill each other?” Bon Bon asked, getting another fit of laughter in response.
“What’s so funny you strange piece of metal?!” Looking to Rainbow Dash, I quietly tried to mouth to her that it was not a good idea to mess with Monokuma. This creature was more than prepared for our reactions, and I’m sure that going against him wouldn’t spell well. “This better be some sick joke, because you’re going to be scrap metal if it isn’t.”
“And I would strongly advise against that if you currently still value your life,” The strange sharpness that came in those last few words made me realize exactly how serious Monokuma is. “I have all the right to laugh at such a silly question. Think about your families, careers, goals, and dreams. In here you are locked away from all of those things for the rest of your miserable lives, and the only way I’m letting you out is if you win.”
“Of course, I’m sure there's more to this than just killing each other, right?” One look to A.K. and you could tell she was fuming with anger, but at the same time her voice remained as calm as it was when I met her. “Sixteen Ultimates, all of different talents and origin, locked in a gothic palace with no way out. Judging by the way you're acting this must have been the festivities you mentioned, and it sounds too simple for you to get this excited.”
“I wouldn’t expect anypony but the Ultimate Author to be able to connect the dots that easily,” Monokuma said, though whether it was compliment or a mockery was wide up in the air. “This may be a killing game, but it isn’t some stupid slasher film, because those are so stupid and predictable I could just gag. Just like in normal society, when a murder occurs and a suspect is arrested, a trial is set up to try and find the murderer. So, for those of you thinking that murdering in front of your peers is acceptable, that just won’t cut it.
“As for how the trials themselves work,” Monokuma pulled down a projector screen from the top of the ceiling. On it was Monokuma sitting on a seat that looked like a throne, with three mares and stallions on each side of him. “You will all be given some time to investigate before the trial occurs, and the evidence collected during that time will be important for the trial. Once it starts, you will use what knowledge you have collected to try and figure out who the ‘blackened’ is. Guess right, and only they will receive punishment, but the wrong answer will send the rest of you to your doom, and you will walk out of here as free as a bird.”
In one way I was still scared. I was terrified and stiff as a board from the very idea of being stuck in a ‘game’ like this. On the other, the fact that it wouldn’t turn into a instant bloodfest made me feel relief. I didn’t want to think about it, but Monokuma, despite being the one who created this entire killing game in the first place, seemed to have at least some idea of how the world works. I didn’t want to kill, and I wanted to believe nopony else could either, but having a chance to bring them to justice made me less concerned.
“We are not going to take part in your sick game!” Twilight’s suddenly yell at the top of her lungs. “If you think that we are going to let you get away with trying to make us murder each other, than you might as well stop hoping right now!”
“Oh really? And why do you say that?” Monokuma asked, tilting his head as if he hadn’t expected this to happen. “Last I checked there was no third option, so what makes you think you can’t participate?”
“Because I have more than enough knowledge on magic to make you disappear,” Twilight answered back, magic starting to flow up through her horn. “I am the pupil of Princess Celestia, and if you think that a machine like yourself can keep me from-”
“No. Harming. Your. Host!”
Monokuma’s words were finished as a strange device protruded from out of the wall, Twilight the only one unaware of it’s existence. Everypony took a step back save for Twilight, who was to busy building up magic to see what we all saw fixed in the device. A buzzsaw, turned on before the wall had even opened, was aimed at Twilight's body. At least that’s what I thought before I heard Doctor Hooves murmuring next to me, making me aware of how the saw blade was slight slanted and the device was tilted up.
“Monokuma must be trying to kill Twilight, he wouldn’t have that device - the same kind used to fire arrows in ancient tombs - otherwise, but why is it in the position it’s lined up in?” The way he spoke seemed to be in an attempt to calm me of my fear, or perhaps it was the shivering Fluttershy that was huddled up in the corner not wanting to look that he was saying this to. “It’s tilted up, which means he’s aiming for the head, but then the saw blade is also slanted. Given the saw blades angle, and the angle of the dispenser’s trajectory than… great scoot the horn!”
That was all I need to know before trying to warn her.
“Twilight! Get out of the way, now!”
I didn’t get any response, not even a look, as the saw blade was shot forward. As it closed in on it’s target I looked away, unable to watch. I heard the blade make contact for a few seconds, followed by a scream of pain and the sound of something sharp hitting the stone walls. I looked back, the first thing I saw being that of Twilight’s detached horn on the floor, sparking. Only an inch or two was it’s former owner, on the floor holding her head as what was left of her horn sparked. Redheart rushed to her side as Monokuma laughed hysterically at the feeling of despair that now filled my heart.
“Let that be a reminder to all of you that I mean business, and that she got off easy,” His voice now sounded like that of monster, or somepony who had clawed their way up from Tartarus into the waking world. “When I say punishment, I mean execution, and from here on out defying any rules will result in your death. Choose to kill each other, or choose to live here till you can’t even walk without somepony carrying you around, those are your only options. Slice, dice, choke, incinerate, or cheaply drop them to your doom, the options for killing are unlimited. So have fun, and do try and stay on good behavior now you straight-A introvert.”
With that Monokuma disappeared, but I was too busy looking at Twilight to even bother watching him. This was no joke, and we couldn’t fight back even if we wanted to. What Monokuma has put us in was something unlike any despair or heartache in my life. Around me were good ponies, all of which forced to play this horrible game with no way out. As Bulk Biceps carried Twilight away to the infirmary, I was left with only one thought flowing through my mind…
… this might just be the worst, most despair inducing event that I have ever witnessed.