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Chosen1,341 words
The First Trial: Honesty 2,568 words
The Second Trial: Laughter2,748 words
The Third Trial: Magic2,888 words
The Fourth Trial: Kindness2,889 words
The Fifth Trial: Generosity 2,377 words
The Final Trial: Loyalty2,657 words

The First Trial: Honesty

Chapter 2: The First Trial: Honesty

Rainbow Dash drearily walked out of her cloud home, rubbing her eyes and yawning on the way out. She spread her wings and took flight down to Ponyville and made an early appearance at Sugarcube Corner.

"Hello?" Rainbow Dash asked, walking inside.

"Dashie!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "You're here early, aren't you? I thought you said you were going to practice your moves before you came here?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't really sleep well last night and I'm still pretty tired to say the least," Rainbow Dash said. "So, I thought I'd head down here early. Where's everyone else?"

"The others should be here soon and then the fun can really start!" Pinkie Pie said, looking at Rainbow Dash's bloodshot eyes. "You wanna take a nap upstairs until the others get here? You're not looking so good."

"Thanks for the offer Pinkie, but I'll pass," Rainbow Dash said. "I think I just need something to wake me up," Rainbow Dash said.

"Well, when the others get here, I'll lay out so many different sweets it'd be a crime for you not to get a sugar rush!" Pinkie said.

"Heh, this'll sure be a fun day then, right?" Rainbow Dash said.

"You got that right!" Pinkie said. "Oh! Look! They're here!"

Twilight and the rest of the group of friends walked inside.

"Hi girls! Look Rainbow Dash is here early!" Pinkie said.

"Oh, hi Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "You're here early aren't you?"

"Yeah, I didn't really get enough sleep last night, so I decided to come straight here," Rainbow Dash said. "Did all of you guys sleep well?"

"Why yes, I had a most delightful slumber," Rarity said.

"I did to, I slept wonderfully," Fluttershy said.

"Same here," Applejack said.

"Me too! I slept like a log!" Pinkie said, laughing and snorting.

"Sounds like you're the only one who had it rough last night Rainbow," Twilight said.

"You sure you don't wanna rest upstairs?" Pinkie asked.

"Yeah Pinkie, thanks but I'm fine..." Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her eyes.

"Are you okay Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah...I'm fine...It's just that...Well, it's like I had a really terrible dream that I just can't put my hoof on..." Rainbow Dash said. "I woke up sweating and my body was cold..."

"That doesn't sound good at all," Twilight said. "Are you sure you're not getting sick or something?"

"I know I'm not sick...Or, at least, I don't think so..." Rainbow Dash said, closing her eyes and thinking.

"Hahahahaha!...What interesting friends you have..." The Adjudicator said.

"What!? Who's there!?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking around frantically.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you okay!?" Twilight asked, grabbing a hold of Rainbow Dash.

"W-What?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Didn't you hear that? I heard a voice from somewhere. I swear..."

"Rainbow, we're the only ones here. Are you sure you're okay?" Twilight asked.

Applejack and the others looked at each other, worried about Rainbow Dash's health.

"I...I guess I was just hearing things...Being as tired as I am...It would make sense after all," Rainbow Dash said. "Listen, don't worry about me guys...Let's just have a good time now and when it starts to get dark out, I'll head straight to bed."

"Are you sure Rainbow?" Rarity asked. "We could always do this another time."

"No, no, I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin everyone's fun!" Rainbow Dash said. "Come on Pinkie, bring everything out!"

"Alrighty then!" Pinkie said, rushing to the back to get as much sweets as she could carry.

Pinkie Pie came back with a boatload of deserts to choose from and all six friends sat down at a table, conversing and stuffing their faces like they did the day before. Rainbow Dash had been fading in and out of sleep as the day went on, it's almost as if something was preventing her from falling asleep until nightfall. The day went on and everyone was having a relatively fun time, considering Rainbow Dash's condition, they couldn't feel completely happy.

"Man, it got dark out quick didn't it?" Applejack asked. "I think I'll start heading out now. See you all tomorrow and try to get some sleep alright Rainbow?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack made her departure, with Rarity and Fluttershy following her out.

"You get some sleep, okay?" Twilight said.

"I will! Geez!" Rainbow Dash said, laughing.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow Rainbow Dash, and thanks again for the food Pinkie," Twilight said, as she departed from the building.

"Bye Twilight!" Pinkie yelled. "Get a good night's sleep okay Dashie? Feel free to come back tomorrow if you're still not feeling alright!"

"Thanks Pinkie, I appreciate it," Rainbow Dash said. "Well, see ya later."

Rainbow Dash walked out of the building and took off into the sky, flying back to her home in Cloudsdale. As she arrived back at her cloud home, she went inside and climbed into bed.

"Ugh...I'm exhausted...I hope tonight will be better..." Rainbow Dash said, closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep.

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Nightmare - 2nd Day
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"Time to get up sleepy head..." The Adjudicator said.

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes, lifting her head as all the memories came flowing back.

"Ugh...What?..." Rainbow Dash said, slowly picking herself up from the ground. "Oh, no...Not this place again...I thought it was just a terrible dream!..."

"It is a terrible dream! Well for you at least...Hahahahaha!" The Adjudicator said. "Now let's go! Stand up! It's time to begin..."

Rainbow Dash got up and looked around at her surroundings, she was in a graveyard and by looking into the distance, it looked almost as if it went on forever.

"This is the first trial, The Graveyard," The Adjudicator said. "I've been looking into your life and I've noticed you have some pretty interesting friends."

"What? You mean...That was you I heard before!?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Of course! Who else could it be? It's not like I'm binded to place you know. I can observe your life when you're awake if I want to," The Adjudicator said. "I'm glad I did too. I'm going to make this a bit more interesting for you..."

A bright light started to form in front of Rainbow Dash, it got smaller and smaller until it revealed six floating jewels.

"Those are...The Elements of Harmony!? How did you get those!?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Relax egghead. These aren't the real things just merely imitations," The Adjudicator said. "I noticed you and your friends are...Special, so I thought this would be fun to do!"

The six jewels started to spin in a circle in front of Rainbow Dash.

"Each trial will be based on one of the elements of your friends...Well the end at least, this next part will be just hilarious! Oh, but you'll hate it though, Hahahahaha!" The Adjudicator said.

The six jewels spun around until five of them disappeared, leaving only one behind.

"Your first trial...Honesty." The Adjudicator said.

"Honesty? This'll be easy! What do I have to answer some questions or something?" Rainbow Dash said.

"No, nothing like that at all, as I said that's toward the end...Assuming you make it that far! Hahahahaha!" The Adjudicator said. "No this next part will be far for challenging..."

The floating orange apple-shaped jewel was launched into the distance behind Rainbow Dash.

"Hey! What did yo-" Rainbow Dash said, interrupted.

"Find the plot that holds the element... " The Adjudicator said.

Rainbow Dash quickly sprung into action, turning around and digging randomly into plots.

"Find the right plot!? How do you expect me to do this! There's thousands of tombstones and this place looks like it goes on fo-" Rainbow Dash said, pausing mid sentence as she started to hear large footsteps in the distance.

"Before you meet with a terrible fate..." The Adjudicator said. "Have fun...Hahahahaha!"

Into the distance, Rainbow Dash could see a black figure of a colossal size running towards her. Backing up, it got close enough for Rainbow Dash to see it's face...It was a distorted version of Applejack, her body maimed and bloody, covered in wounds and scratches. Her mouth was bleeding and so were her eyes, which were completely void of any color.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying away in the opposite direction at full speed. The distorted Applejack right behind her, screaming and repeating Rainbow Dash's name in demonic-like voice.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Applejack said, sprinting towards Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh, man! What do I DO!?" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Better hurry up and find it..." The Adjudicator said.

Rainbow Dash flew even harder, trying to at least get out of Applejack's line of sight. When she flew far enough, she made a sharp stop and hid behind a tombstone, hoping the demon would pass by. Rainbow Dash peered out from behind the tombstone and looked at the demon, it was furiously looking around for her, but after a few minutes of searching it sprinted away.

"Oh, man...I'll never find the element with all these tombstones around...There's gotta be a trick to all this!" Rainbow Dash said, hitting the ground with her hooves.

She looked up at the tombstone she was sitting in front of and noticed there were words etched on it.

"Here Lies Applejack...An honest and good friend to the very end..."

"What kind of horrible place is this...?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking down into the plot.

She started to brush away the dirt with her hoof until she noticed a glow emitting from the ground. Excited, she dug frantically until the dirt revealed the bright orange jewel.

"Applejack's element...I found it...Heh...I found it! Yes! I knew I could do it! In your face Adjudicator!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I never said that was all you had to do..." The Adjudicator said.

"H-Huh?..." Rainbow Dash said. "W-What do you mean? I found it! What else is there?"

In the distance, Rainbow Dash could see a red velvet door appear.

"I suggest hurrying up...Looks like your friend is coming back for round two!" The Adjudicator said, breaking into laughter.

Rainbow Dash looked behind her to see Applejack sprinting towards her, the floor collapsing behind the demon as it ran forward.

"Oh, no!" Rainbow Dash said, flying away towards the exit.

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could towards the door, the floor collapsing all around her. Grabbing the knob, she struggled to push it open, but it just wouldn't budge.

"What the heck! Why won't it open!?" Rainbow Dash asked, pulling on the knob as hard as she could.

With Applejack not far behind, Rainbow Dash stared to panic, looking for some king of clue on the door. Upon closer observation, she noticed that there was an indentation in the center of the door, resembling that of a small apple.

"W-Wait a minute." Rainbow Dash said.

She took the jewel that she had picked up before and shoved it in the indentation, hearing an unlocking sound shortly after. Rainbow Dash turned the knob and pushed the door open. Applejack right behind her now, was about ready to slaughter Rainbow Dash where she stood. But after opening the door, a shining white light shot out and pierced through Applejack, stopping her dead in her tracks and causing her body to crack everywhere. Letting out a blood curdling scream and calling out Rainbow Dash's name as light shone through the cracks, her body fell to the ground and shattered all together.

"Whoah..." Rainbow Dash said, completely forgetting the door was open. "Oh, yeah! I better get out of here while I can!"

Rainbow Dash ran through the door, slamming it shut behind her. She then reappeared where she was in the night before, the floating piece of land with other buildings surrounding it, accompanied by the red sky and black clouds.

"Did...Did I do it?..." Rainbow Dash asked, trying to catch her breath.

"Well done! Well done indeed!" The Adjudicator said. "Congratulations! You've passed the first trial!"

"Heh...You see? No problem!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Of course that was only the beginning, it'll get much harder from here on out...Hahahahaha!" The Adjudicator said. "But! You've survived this night, so I guess that's something to be happy about."

"Awesome! So I can go now right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You can...After one last thing," The Adjudicator said. "Could you move to the left a little?"

"What? Why?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Just do it," The Adjudicator said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and moved slightly to the left. After doing so, what seemed to be a large booth, rose up from the ground. It was brown and it had a red curtain covering the entrance.

"Get in," The Adjudicator said.

"What!? No way! You said that if I won I coul-" Rainbow Dash said, interrupted.

"The sooner you get inside, the sooner you can leave, okay?" The Adjudicator said. "Now hurry up."

Rainbow Dash snorted and carefully moved the curtain out of the way and walked inside. It was kind of cramped, all there was inside was a mirror on the wall to the left, and a small red seat.

"Now sit down. Come on! It isn't rocket science," The Adjudicator said.

"Come on, it isn't rocket science!" Rainbow Dash said, sitting down and mocking the Adjudicator.

"Cute," The Adjudicator said. "Now then, this is what I like to call The Confessional. After every trial you complete, you'll come back here and I'll ask you one question. You can choose to answer truthfully...Or not, that's entirely up to you!"

"What's the point of the question?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Just so I can get to know you better," The Adjudicator said. "Alright, are you ready? Two ropes will appear in front of you, a red one and a blue one, pull the one that you think best describes yourself..."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get it over with," Rainbow Dash said.

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Question 1: Which is a better life?

Red Rope: Short and Full Blue Rope: Long and Dull
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Rainbow Dash looked at the choices and pondered them for a bit.

"Well, I am a real daredevil, and I love being adventurous..." Rainbow Dash said. "And I can't stand being bored all the time..."

Rainbow Dash lifted her hoof and pulled down on the red rope.

"So that's your answer...Interesting," The Adjudicator said. "Well, it looks like we're out of time for today...See you tomorrow Rainbow Dash! Hahahahaha!"

Rainbow Dash's eyes felt heavy and she fell to the ground, blacking out.

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Reality
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Rainbow Dash woke up in her bed, sitting up and noticing she was sweating all over and body cold again.

"Oh, man...Another terrible night...I still didn't get any sleep..." Rainbow Dash said, exhausted. "Why can't I remember anything that happened?...Ugh this is killing me..."

Rainbow Dash rolled around in her bed, thinking about what she should do.

"Maybe I should go and see Twilight...I'm sure she's gotta have something to help me fall asleep easier..." Rainbow Dash said. "Or, maybe I really am getting sick or something...Gah! I don't know...But I might as well head down there."

Rainbow Dash drearily got out of bed and left her cloud homes, flying down towards Ponyville to pay her friend Twilight a visit.

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