Truth or Dare?

by Super Spike

Round 4

As Rumble was waving a fan on Gold Watch's face, the front door opened and Diamond Tiara and Pipsqueak, whom had his foreleg wrapped in a cast, walked inside. Upon seeing her brother, Diamond ran up to him.

"What happened?!" she said in shock.

"Gold Watch...well...we had to drink a bottle of laxatives and he didn't make it to a bathroom because Twist and I occupied them first," Rumble said nervously. "He then had to eat his own poop."

"WHAT?!" Diamond shouted. "Are you saying that my brother took laxatives, then had to eat what he let out?!"

"Precisely," Rumble responded.

"Well, why didn't you help him?!" Diamond exclaimed.

"We were in the bathroom at that time," Rumble answered. "We weren't done."

"Is he going to be okay?" Diamond asked.

"I'm not sure," Rumble answered nervously. "He's in bad shape."

Dinky Hooves then walked downstairs and towards Pipsqueak. She rubbed her head onto his unbroken foreleg, causing him to make a sad smile. Then out of nowhere, a piece of the ceiling fell to the floor and it read 'Round 4'.

"We have to finish the game," Pipsqueak said. "My foreleg may be broken, but we can't stop until were safe from any further harm.

Twist sighed.

"He's right," she said. "We still have a game to beat."

As if on cue, the TV turned on and static appeared. The voice then hissed.

"Stab your wing..." it said.

The number nine then appeared on the TV screen and decreased until it reached the number two. The grandfather clock then chimed twice.

"What?!" Rumble exclaimed. "I have to stab my wing?! I can't do that! I need them to fly!"

"You have to do it," Diamond stated. "I'll help you."

Diamond picked up the knife and placed it near Rumble's left wing.

"Hold still," Diamond said. "I'm sorry, but this is going to really hurt."

Rumble began to sweat, but within just a second, Diamond stabbed his wing with the knife. He screamed at the top of his lungs as blood poured out of his wing. Diamond quickly pulled the knife out of Rumble's wing.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I'm sorry!"

"My wing hurts a lot!" Rumble cried.

"I need to get you a bandage," Diamond sobbed as she ran into the kitchen and searched for one. Surprisingly, there were a box of them in one of the cabinets. She quickly ran back to Rumble, who was still crying and putting pressure on his bleeding wing, and wrapped the bandage all over his wing. "There you go. Again, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Diamond," Rumble said, sniffing. "I'll be fine."

Without warning, the kitchen door slammed shut and a message written said, 'Stab Gold Watch'. A knife then appeared on the coffee table.

"WHAT?!" Diamond screamed.

"One minute..." the voice hissed as the grandfather clock chimed once.

"NO!" Diamond screamed. "I WON'T DO IT!"

All of a sudden, Gold Watch got up. He was still pale all over his face and body, but he managed to walk towards her.

"You have to," he said in a raspy voice. "If you don't do it, you'll become a cat for the rest of your life."

"I can't!" Diamond cried. "Not my brother!"

"Please," Gold Watch said as he gave the knife to Diamond. "Just stab me in the foreleg."

Diamond accepted the knife and then, using her hoof, moved it slowly toward Gold Watch's foreleg. However, right as the knife was an inch away from his foreleg, she dropped the knife.

"I can't," she sobbed. "Never! My brother is the one that I care about more than anypony else! Even more than Daddy!"

"You have to!" Gold Watch exclaimed. "There's not much time left!"

Diamond Tiara closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I can't."

"Time's up..." the voice hissed.

Diamond grabbed her chest and gasped in pain. All of the color return to Gold Watch as he regained his senses.

"Diamond Tiara!" he cried as Diamond fell to the ground. Gold Watch watched in horror as he saw his sister's ears become cat ears and her cheeks grew whiskers. "Why?! Why would do this to yourself?!"

"Because I'm your sister," Diamond said as her muzzle reshaped into that of a cat's. Then her nose and mouth fused together as her teeth became fangs. "I would never hurt you, no matter what."

"Please don't go!" Gold Watch cried. "I love you! You're the best sister that I could ever have!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Diamond said as her hooves cracked and formed into cat paws. "I'm just going to live the rest of my life as a cat."

"That's serious!" Gold Watch cried as he picked up the knife and presented it to the nearly transformed Diamond, who's legs and back just snapped and reshaped to change how her standing position would be.

"I'll always remember you," Diamond said as she shrank into the size of a kitten. If Button Mash remembered his mother even after he transformed into a kitten, then I'm pretty sure that I'll still remember you, as well. Please, Gold Watch, for me. I want you to stay strong and show that game what you're made of." She then gasped a few times and then took a deep breath. "Meow."

"NO!" Gold Watch screamed. "PLEASE, DIAMOND! I KNOW THAT YOU CAN FIGHT THIS TRANSFORMATION! PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!"

"Meow," Diamond answered.

"No," Gold Watch sobbed as Twist walked up to him and placed her hoof on his shoulder.

"She'll always be with you," she told him.

"I know," Gold Watch said sadly. "But I always promised to her that I would be able to protect her and I couldn't save her! Now her life has been ruined!"

"But you have to keep going," Twist said. "She's counting on us. We have to get out of this game. The only way we can do that is to finish it."

As if on cue, the voice sounded.

"Break the window with your head," it said. "Two minutes."

The grandfather clocked then chimed twice, causing Pipsqueak gasp.

"This is going to hurt," he said in shock.

He walked to the window next to the front and then back a few feet.

"One...two...three!" he counted.

He then closed his eyes and then charged right at the window. The moment he hit the window, however, the glass shattered and several of the shards cut his face, causing him to scream.

"PIPSQUEAK!" Rumble, Twist, and Gold Watch shouted in unison as they ran towards him.

Rumble hugged his injured friend, who was now bawling.

"Hang on," Rumble said frantically. "I'm going to get those glass shards off of you!"

He carefully pulled one of the shards out. The moment he did that however, Pipsqueak screamed again.

"Stop!" he yelped. "It hurts there!"

"Hold still," Rumble instructed. "If I don't get those shards off of your face, you could get an infection! Gold Watch, can you get some bandages?"

"Sure thing," Gold Watch said as he ran to the kitchen and brought the first aid kit to the living room.

As Rumble and Gold Watch were busy trying to remove the glass shards and stop the bleeding using the bandages, Twist saw Pipsqueak's blood pour onto the floor and spell a message out. Within a few seconds, the message was finished and said, 'Eat the jar of cockroaches.' The grandfather clock then chimed three times and a jar full of cockroaches appeared on the coffee table.

"Groth!" Twist responded in shock.

"What is it?" Gold Watch asked as he pulled a glass shard off of Pipsqueak.

"Thith," Twist said nauseously a she pointed to the jar. "I have to eat that."

"What?!" Gold Watch exclaimed.

"I have to eat that in less than three minutes," Twist said.

"I'll help," Gold Watch said.

"No, I'll do it," Rumble said. "You've had enough hurting yourself, Gold Watch. Get the glass shards off Pip."

"Okay," Gold Watch responded.

Twist opened the lid of the jar and pulled a cockroach out. As she put it near her mouth, she saw the cockroach move a bit, causing her to drop it.

"No!" Twist shouted.

Rumble looked all over the place for the cockroach. After a few seconds of searching, he found it and picked it up.

"Got it," he said as he gave it to Twist.

Twist accepted the cockroach and tossed it into her mouth. Not wanting to chew on its contents in fear of what she might taste, she swallowed it whole. As Rumble plucked another cockroach out of the jar, Twist began to gag. He turned to her and saw that she was choking.

Rumble ran to Twist and tried to give her the Heimlich. After a few tries, the cockroach flew out of Twist's mouth and landed on the table. Rumble caught the cockroach and ate it. After swallowing it, he checked on Twist, who was gasping.

"One more left," Gold Watch said as he used the tweezers to pull the last glass shard off of Pipsqueak's face.

"Ow!" Pipsqueak yelped.

"Here you go," Gold Watch said as he bandaged the last wound. He then turned to see Twist hyperventilating. "Twist!"

"I...have...to...eat...them..." she panted.

Gold Watch turned to Rumble, who was coughing heavily.

"Need...to...finish...it..." he panted.

Gold Watch saw that the jar had four more cockroaches in it. He breathed heavily, grabbed all four cockroaches out, and threw them into his mouth. As he chewed on them, he gagged and accidentally coughed one of them out onto the floor. Immediately afterwards, the jar fell to the floor and shattered. The glass shards then scattered and spelled out the words, 'Time's Up'.

"No!" Gold Watch cried as he saw the message. "We're out of time!"

Twist then grabbed her chest and collapsed to the ground.

"TWIST!" Gold Watch screamed as he ran to her and picked her up.

"No!" Twist whimpered as her ears became that of a cat's and whiskers grew throughout her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry!" Gold Watch cried as Twist's nose and muzzle reshaped into that of a cat's and her nose fused together.

"It's okay, Gold Watch," Twist gasped as she grew fangs.

"There's something I need to tell you," Gold Watch responded as Twist's hooves became paws. "I love you."

"You do?" Twist responded.

"Of course I do," Gold Watch responded. "I always did."

Twist screamed in pain and her back snapped and her legs reshaped into what a cat would have. She then shrank until she was the size of a kitten. Her glasses fell off, but her eyesight improved.

"I love you too, Gold Watch," she said. "Always."

She then gasped a few times and then took a deep breath.

"Meow," she said.

"NO!" Gold Watch screamed.

He placed Twist on the floor and sobbed heavily.

"I'm so sorry," Rumble said sadly.

"This game is toying with us," Gold Watch sobbed.

"What do you mean by that?" Pipsqueak asked.

"It's using our weaknesses to claim us," Gold Watch answered. "Don't you see? The game used Button Mash's love for video games and family to its advantage and the latter cost him. Dinky's love for her mother and Pipsqueak; my sister's love toward me; Rumble's concern about whether or not he can become a Wonderbolt; Twist's love towards sweets; and my goal of becoming a ballerina was used."

"I think you're right," Rumble said in sadness. "The game must have been making me do dares that would physically hurt me in hopes of preventing me from becoming a Wonderbolt."

"Well, didn't you think about whether or not that it was a good idea to go in this house?" Gold Watch asked angrily.

"I didn't know that it was real," Rumble protested angrily.

"Then what was that article for?" Gold Watch asked angrily. "If we didn't go in that haunted house, our friends would still be as they are and my sister would still be with me!"

Rumble then moved his head down, feeling ashamed.

"You know what?" he responded. "I deserve all of this. I dragged all of you into this. But I didn't know that the article was true. I thought that it was just another haunted house that was there to scare ponies. I found articles about haunted houses before, but none of them were ever even a bit dangerous. You know: ponies wearing masks, scary decorations, fake blood, and many other scary things. But I would never hurt any of you, for any reason! I just wanted to have some fun with all of you! I didn't want any of this to happen to any of you." Gold Watch looked at him concerned. Rumble then moved his head back up. "Look, if we don't beat the game, we're all going to suffer the same fate as our friends."

Gold Watch then got up with a face full of determination.

"You're right," he said. "We got to fight back."

"I believe that we can all get out of this," Pipsqueak said. "Let's face that demon!"

Right after he said that, the voice rang out.

"Gold Watch..." it hissed.

"Well, I guess it's my turn now," Gold Watch said nervously. "Then we'll be on the final round."

A barrel moved out of the kitchen and right next to Gold Watch. It had the message, 'Hold your breath underwater for two minutes' carved on it.

The grandfather clock then chimed twice.

"Oh no," Gold Watch said worriedly as he opened the barrel, revealing water in it.

"This is bad," Pipsqueak said.

"How can anypony hold their breath that long?" Rumble questioned. "I mean, magic could help."

"But there isn't any for this challenge," Gold Watch said. "I guess I have no choice."

He took a deep breath and put his head in the water. All of a sudden, he felt a strong force hold his head in the water. Rumble and Pipsqueak look at Gold Watch in horror.

"Come on, Gold Watch," Rumble said nervously.

"Hang in there!" Pipsqueak cried.

Within about thirty seconds, Gold Watch began to struggle. As time passed, Gold Watch was trying desperately to hang in there.

"No!" Rumble cried.

"Come on!" Pipsqueak shouted.

The two colts continued watching in horror, as they saw their poor friend struggling and drowning. After what seemed like an eternity, Gold Watch pulled his head to the surface. He gasped and coughed uncontrollably.

"GOLD WATCH!" Rumble and Pipsqueak cried in unison as they ran to him and hugged him.

"Guys..." Gold Watch gasped.

"You did it!" Rumble cried. "Two minutes!"

"It's over..." Gold Watch gasped. "This round is finally over."

"Only one more round and we can all go home," Pipsqueak said as he got up.

"I know that we can do it," Rumble responded.

"I hope," Gold Watch said. "Because I have a feeling that the last round is going to be the hardest."