The walls seemed to close in around Fluttershy as she cowered in the dark room. She struggled to slow her breathing, but she was terrified. She had never gone through something like this in her life. She wished she could just leave, now, and be done with this sick game. But she couldn't. All the doors were locked and she was trapped. She had no where to go now.
She looked to her wound, once more, seeing her blood beginning to slow in its flow.
The door to her room was blown apart, and a silhouette stepped inside. Fluttershy screamed as the wood splintered and pelted her face. She curled up even tighter, as if she could protect herself from the horror that stood before her.
She thought back to just several hours ago. It had been so peaceful, and she and her friends were all enjoying a picnic together. Until he came.
“Come on guys!” Pinkie Pie bounced around the fields, joyful and exuberant. She always seemed to have an unending source of energy. Fluttershy marveled at this, but never thought to much about it, or else the impossibilities made her brain hurt.
Fluttershy and her friends were all walking in a group, talking to each other excitedly, each one excited to get to the picnic site. It wasn't often all the ponies got together like this, and they were all hoping it would be a great time. They would eat, play some games like tag, and just sit around and talk.
When they arrived at their destination, Pinkie grabbed her party cannon out of nowhere and let it blow. The blanket, eating utensils, and a pillow for Rarity all flew through the air and landed on the ground perfectly, with a scratch or ruffle. She smiled giddily and bounced around. “Let's eat! Let's eat!”
Rarity sat down on her pillow. “Pinkie, dear, please just give us a moment.”
Fluttershy sat down next to her friends. Pinkie sat down as well, though seemed very fidgety. Like her Pinkie sense was going off. But she seemed fine, and everything else did too.
Once everypony was seated, Applejack pulled out the picnic basket and passed out everypony’s food. Once they all had their food, they began to eat. Pinkie ate her food in one gulp then smacked her lips. “Ahh! Tasty!”
The rate at which that pony consumed food, Fluttershy was surprised that she wasn't fat, or at least chubby.
Rarity ate her food in dainty bites, bit by bit, chewing slowly with each bite. She had only made it half way through her sandwich when she started a conversation. “So, I hear the apple harvest this year will be quite bountiful.”
Of course, this sentence was directed at Applejack., to which the orange mare responded. “Yep! Those fruit bats sure did help. Thanks again, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy nodded as she finished her sandwich. “Of course.” Even after that event with the fruit bats, in which Fluttershy had been transformed into a bat pony, and had then been 'cured', she still had a single fang. She never told her friends, and it only showed itself when she was careless and didn’t control it, or wanted it to. So she never had a problem with finding out. Of course, it shouldn't be a problem, right?
She shook those thoughts from her head and focused back on the conversation. Twilight was speaking. “...and I heard that Pinkie Pie is holding another massive party this weekend.”
Pinkie Pie jumped in front of Twilight's face. “Yeah! It's gonna be big! Like, really big! I'm gonna invite Vinyl to DJ, and even quiet old Octavia, so she can perform as well! And I'm gonna have...”
Fluttershy tuned her out. She would probably keep talking until she ran out of words in like, about twenty minutes, or one of her friends stopped her. Fluttershy didn't ever like to interrupt anypony, so she always let her friends perform the latter solution.
Sure enough, about five minutes into the speech of what would happen at the party, Twilight held a hoof to Pinkie's mouth. “Okay. How about you keep the rest a secret?”
Pinkie stood there, wide eyed, then smiled. “Okay!” She bounced off to go find Rainbow Dash, who had flown away less than a minute into Pinkie's rant.
Fluttershy turned back to Twilight. “Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned the party.”
Twilight shook her head. “Yeah, probably.”
The conversation turned to talk of the newest pony in town to what was better, apples or oranges. Of course, you can guess which one Applejack picked. After what only an hour, the sun was beginning to set. Rarity jumped up upon noticing.
“Oh dear! I must get home! Sweetie Belle will be worried!”
Applejack got up slowly. “Unless she's still at ma farm, with Apple Bloom.”
Fluttershy got up. It was getting late, and she had to make sure all her animals were in before it got to dark. She attempted to move to find she couldn't feel her legs. She looked down, expecting to fall over, but instead was held up by an invisible force. She tried to move anything, but like the rest of her body, she couldn't feel anything.
She looked up to see her friends had all disappeared. In fact, the whole world had disappeared. She was in some sort of... darkness. But it wasn't dark. It was... bright?
She shut her eyes against the bright light that burned into her eyes. When it faded away, she looked up to see her friends all standing there, each one wearing a dazed look. She glanced around. She was in a room, small, and lit by only a small candle. She stood up, noticing her legs felt fine now. She carefully stretched out her wings and her neck. She seemed fine.
Her friends repeated her motions, each one checking their own body. After everypony was satisfied, they all looked at each other. Though no one said it, they were all thinking it. Where were they?
Without a word, Rainbow Dash kicked the one door in this room down, sending it flying. She landed, nostrils flaring, wings up, ready to pounce. Pinkie and Applejack followed, then Twilight and Rarity, and finally Fluttershy. She looked at her new surroundings.
They were in a large room, empty, save for the many doors that adorned its walls, and the now empty door frame behind them. Other than that, it was completely barren. There was light, but no light source existed in the room. Fluttershy crouched down. This place was scary. Where was she?
Another door opened, on the opposite side of the room. Rainbow Dash nearly caved the door inwards as it opened out, but stopped short when she saw a pony's hoof. The door opened fully and out stepped four ponies.
The first was a gray stallion, with blue hair and a pair of headphones on his head. His hair was tipped with red, which Fluttershy found odd. His cutie mark was a... a... tombstone? With hands?
The second was a gray/brown stallion. He had had a pair of headphones around his neck, and his hair was red and a dull brown. She could see his horn sticking out of his hair, indicating he was a unicorn. His cutie mark was a little less wired. A pair of headphones with a microphone inside.
The third was a blue stallion. He had yellow hair and shaggy hair around his hooves. His cutie mark was a... something circular, with a line of something like paper coming out of it. She could only suppose it was a movie reel, which were fairly new in Equestria.
The finally, the last one came out. A mare, a sand color, with green and yellow hair. She seemed to be, mad? No... more like... fearless? Kind of like Rainbow Dash. Her cutie mark was... a burning toaster? Really? What was with these ponies?
Well, as odd as they were, maybe they knew where they were. Twilight seemed to have the same idea and trotted over to them. She introduced herself. “Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends.” She gestured to her five waiting friends. “Do you know where we are?”
The blue on shook his head. “No, we were... teleported here. I guess you were too?”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, and my magic doesn't seem to work.”
The one with with headphones around his neck nodded. “Neither does mine.”
The sand colored one spoke. “Who do you suppose is behind this?” Her voice was... mechanical sounding, like she was a robot. Fluttershy couldn't explain it, but it sounded weird.
Twilight shook her head. “I have no idea, but who ever it is must be powerful. Now, I think we...” She trailed off. “Oh! I didn't catch your names!”
The one with the red tipped hair spoke. “My name's Tomb.” He pointed at the grayish one and the sand one. “These are Mic and Glaze.” He pointed at the blue one. “He never tells anyone his name, so we just call him Bron.”
Fluttershy still was looking at Glaze. She seemed, unsettling. Like she had done things no one knew of. It was just the look in her eyes. She was surprised to see it in Bron's eye's too. They were suspicious, and she'd be keeping an eye on both of them.
Another door opened, and out stepped five ponies. Fluttershy recognized them instantly. Miss Cheerilee, the school teacher. Lyra, the town mythology master, especially if it had to do with humans. Bon Bon, the town fanatic. Carrot Top, the town Gardner. And finally, to Fluttershy's great surprise, Big Mac. What was he doing here? Then again, what were any of them doing here?
Applejack rushed up to Mac. “Mac, what're ya doin' here?”
The big red stallion shook his head. “I have no idea, sis.”
Fluttershy turned when she heard a door open up behind them. She jumped behind Rarity, who turned to see what she was scared off. Out of the room, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stepped in. She ran out from behind Rarity.
“Girls, are you alright?”
They turned to their favorite baby sitter. “Oh, hey Fluttershy!” Apple Bloom smiled. “Yeah, we're fine, but do ya know where we are?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I don't. We were just teleported here.”
Sweetie Belle bounced up. “So were we!”
Rarity ran over to her sister. “Sweetie Belle! Why are you here, darling?”
“I don't know. We just got zapped here.”
Fluttershy looked at Scootaloo, who seemed scared. Of course, Fluttershy knew that even though she claimed to be brave, Scootaloo was scared most of the time. Especially of new places, so this didn't disturb Fluttershy too much.
Yet another door opened, and yet more ponies entered. Fluttershy's eyes widened when she saw who they were. The first two of the four, she recognized instantly. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, both know for being like opposites when it came to music, yet still getting along. The other two, Fluttershy didn't know. Both were white, and both had green in their hair. The mare of the two was smaller, of course, and had yet another determined look on her face, just like Glaze. Her cutie mark was a blue note. What was with all these musical ponies? The other one was taller, and to Fluttershy's surprise, had no cutie mark. He appeared to be a full grown stallion, so where was his cutie mark?
She tore her gaze away from them and turned once again to yet another opening door. This time, only two ponies came out. Ditzy 'Derpy' Doo and Cloud Kicker. They both were just as confused as everyone else.
Fluttershy closed her eyes. What was going on? There were to many ponies in one place, and they all had no idea what was going on. She didn't know what was going on, so she was scared. Maybe this was all just a big trick. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it was... maybe it was real.
A loud explosion came from the roof. Everypony looked up to see a large cloud of smoke. A maniacal chuckle came from the center of the smoke. Then a large figure drifted out of it. Fluttershy gasped. Discord.
He laughed some more. “Oh, you should all see the looks on your faces!” He rolled over in mid air, laughing. “Oh, I do love chaos, and making you ponies scared.”
Fluttershy spoke up. “Discord? Is this... a joke?”
Discord looked down. “Oh, Fluttershy, dear, so glad you could make it.” He snapped his fingers and disappeared, reappearing a few feet above the ponies. “No, I assure you, this is not a joke. This going to be fun!”
He pointed at the walls. “You see, you cannot leave. There are four doors that will actually lead to somewhere besides this room.”
He pretended to run, right towards a door. “Should you pick the wrong door...”
He grabbed the door and pulled it open, disappearing moments before it exploded, sending anypony nearby running away. “Well, you understand. And that's just the first part!”
He disappeared and popped up, this time, smaller than the fillies and laying on Applejack's hat. “You must all fight to survive.”
Applejack shook Discord off of her head, sending him flying into the wall, were he passed through it. Seconds later, only his voice could be heard. “Of course, I know you ponies won't just try to kill each other.”
Fluttershy squeaked. Did he say kill?
“So, I will take one of you, at random, and change him or her into a beast. Said beats will try to kill everypony else. It's really simple. The last one alive gets to make it out of here alive. Oh, and the monster. That pony will live as well, though with all the memories of being turned into a monster and killing their friends. Everypony else...”
His decapitated body appeared in the middle of the room, with his head lying next to his neck. “You understand.”
Fluttershy reeled through her many emotions, first fear, then horror, then anger. Why was Discord doing this? She was just about to voice her opinion when Twilight spoke up. “Discord, I thought you were good! Why are you doing this?”
Discord's head reattached to his body. “My dear, dear Twilight. You really think that the king of chaos would just stop being... chaotic? No, I'm afraid not. Not with a mind as dark as mine.”
He grabbed a balloon out of Pinkie Pie's mane, for no reason, it seemed. “I have dealt with the princesses, both of them, so you won't have any worries there. And I just love to see your ugly sides come out. So I brought you all here, so we could play a game. Isn't that just a dandy idea?”
Twilight stared furiously at Discord. Fluttershy glanced around the room. Of those she could see, most of them wore scared expressions. The only exceptions were Glaze, Rainbow Dash, and herself. Except her look of anger was fading, and slowly slipping back into horror. She would have to fight to the death. This wasn't a joke. She would either kill or be killed. The very thought made her stomach churn in protest. Maybe this was still a joke. Discord might let them all go, right?
“Well, have fun. In about, oh I don't know, five minutes, I'll let you know which lucky one gets to be the monster!”
He disappeared. This wasn't a joke. This was real. And there was no way out. Fluttershy had to fight, or else she would die. As she looked into the eyes of her now enemies, she could see which choice would be more likely.