> Equine Royale
>  by MemoryLane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Petty Ideas
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		Princess Celestia paced around her private quarters, a tired and exhausted look spread all over her face. Things have never gotten this bad before, and they only seemed to get worse. Her mind was plagued with ideas, thoughts, and many, many possibilities.

Things only seemed to be corkscrewing in Equestria. No one has any sense, it seemed. Everypony was off, doing whatever they pleased, it just didn't make sense...

Ponies where murdering others, taking their belongings in midnight raids, there has also been many cases of stallions verbally, mentally, and sexually abusing mares. All of which are strictly banned, and can be punishable by either jail or, depending on the severity of the crime, public execution, which they hadn't had to resort to since very long ago. It was a shame they had to resort to it again.

What also bothered her was that no pony cared.

But it was strange. Whenever there were executions, which at this time, there were an unusually large amount, no pony seemed fazed. They'd laugh and cheer for the soul who was captured and sentenced to death for his or her misdeeds. They would sneer, throw things, urging the executioner to commence the death itself. Celestia was more so sickened at the fact that others actually enjoyed the public executions other than felt sympathy, than the fact that Luna and her had to resort to such terrible methods.

They would watch other ponies burn to death, or killed by the masked executioner, the blood splattering all over the floor as his axe came down on the convict's frail and scandalous necks as they lied in a guillotine like bed, and their heads fell into the bin below. They didn't feel intimidated for some reason. It only urged them even more to do such things. It's like they didn't care at all! They weren't threatened. It somewhat frightened Princess Celestia. If they weren't intimidated by royalty, then they definitely won't be afraid to overthrow monarchy.

This could get ugly if something wasn't done.

Celestia was still pacing the quarters as Princess Luna poked her head through the door, knocking ever so softly as to not disturb her sister incase she was busy.

"Sister? Are thou alright?" Luna asked her, her head fully peeking through the door. Celestia stopped pacing and simply looked at her younger counterpart, sighing lightly.

"Yes, I'm fine." She simply stated, not bothering to look at her family. Luna frowned, she did not like it when she was being lied to, and it wasn't difficult to figure out that she was.

"No, thou are not." Luna asserted, opening up the door completely and walking into Celestia's chambers. "Tell me the truth."

Celestia sighed, and shook her head at her naive sister. She's a princess as well and it should be obvious as to what is wrong. But Celestia didn't want to start an argument. Last thing she needed was more chaos.

"Equestria." 

"What about Equestria?" Luna replied. Celestia still couldn't believe that Luna hadn't caught on. Luna is never this clueless. The sun princess was starting to get a little annoyed.

"The state of it!" She grunted, but then soon hung her head. "Have you looked outside, Luna? With all this...mayhem going on. Equestria is falling apart. I'd have thought you'd known." She explained. It's true, Luna's always on duty during the night. She should have known what was going on since most of havoc occurs at night. Luna let out an exasperated sigh. "We're losing control of Equestria, my sister." Celestia finished.

Luna stared at her, taking in and reading the emotions coming from her sister. Luna had never realized how big of a problem this was before, strangely. It was very unbecoming of her, and quite frankly it upset her.

The dark blue alicorn princess walked over to her sorrowful sister, informally wrapping a single hoof around her shoulder, and giving a two-sided smile.

"There is no need for thee to worry." Luna breathed. Celestia said nothing, nor implied any sign of her giving a response. Luna thought carefully as to what she was about to say. "There must be something we can do-"

"Like what!?" Celestia shouted, unintentionally interrupting her and causing her sister to flinch. But Celestia was restless, and she had no other choices. "Execution is still being done! But it's still not doing much. Neither is jailing ponies! Our jails are literally running out of space!" Celestia calmed herself down, she was not one to usually get angry like that suddenly, but all of her bottled up worries came out at once. She looked back at the floor.

"Thou might have an idea..." Luna said, pondering said idea in her head. Celestia looked at her sister with curious eyes.

"What would that be..?"

"Instead of thou trying to intimidate them, why not let them intimidate each other?" Luna replied. Celestia furrowed her brow, she had no idea what her sister was getting at.

"What do you mean?"

Luna grimly smiled as she finally realized that she may actually be onto something.

"Let them kill each other. Broadcast it to every pony in the nation. Ponies killing others. If citizens like watching death and gore so much, then give them a bloodbath to watch."

Celestia was attempting to take a hint, reaching to understand it, until an idea of her own ultimately clicked in her head. She figured out exactly what Luna was talking about and grinned. 

This...is perfect!

A pony death match. Enough to make common citizens realize their errors, that killing is wrong. They'll realize it as they watch ponies they used to know die at the hands of a complete stranger. They'll be afraid that they will be next to be in the death match, as they will choose specific ponies. Maybe those in jail? Or who recently have a jail record, for that matter. The reason for said jail time won't even matter! That's what makes it interesting. Celestia could almost see the future: Equestria, how it used to be. Happy, tolerant, loving, it was all so clear what they needed to do.

"That is brilliant!" Celestia stated, gazing off into the distance as she thought loudly to herself. Luna chuckled at her sisters prude compliment as she turned towards the door.

"Thank thou, I will let thee tend to thy business." She retorted, as she walked out of Celestia's chambers, proud that she was successfully able to aid her sister.

The sun alicorn stood there, a smile spreading across her lips.

It's so perfect...

"Guards!" Celestia shouted, almost instantaneously, a single solar guard appeared in her doorway, bowing down to her and showing her the proper respect she deserved. His armor rattled with every move he made.

"Yes, my dear princess?" He said in a gruff voice, looking up at her with eyes full of wonder.

"Listen carefully. I want you and a few other guards to go all around Equestria." She spoke. "Gather up 30 convicts. Their crime does not matter, their gender nor age or such does not matter either. Just bring me 30, sedate them, and put them on a private ship to the family's 'private' island." She stated. The solar guard stood up as a sign of obedience as he heard her finish naming her requests.

"Yes ma'am!" He spoke.

"I expect to have all of them on that ship by nightfall. I pray that you will not fail me, Serenity" Celestia replied, smiling down at the green pony in front of her.

"Yes ma'am!" He repeated, before making his way down the hall, calling his fellow comrades to aid him from their quarters. Most where sleeping at this hour.

Celestia closed her door and walked to the other side of the room to her window. Through her window she could see almost all of Canterlot, one of the cities not so much effected by the crime as others. She stared out as she saw the sun beginning to rise, ever so slowly making it's journey to the top of the sky.

It was just another day, and it was only just beginning.


************
Author's Note

I just want to thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of this story. Indeed it is short, but most chapters to come will be longer.

If you have any suggestions, or comments, or feedback or anything, please feel free to tell me. I'm very much open to things like that. ^_^

Thank you again, and have a wonderful day!

-Cyneryk

	
	
> Gather
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Celestia smiled eerily, her prayers have been answered! Finally, things can go back to they way that they were! Peace, and harmony will rule over chaos and neglect! It was so simple, now all she had to do was wait patiently. She left her quarters and noticed that Serenity and a few other guards have already left to gather up the 30 unlucky "Felons". She wondered who they would even be. Even though she told Serenity and the guards to pick 30 felons at random, she hoped he picked ponies worthwhile. It's too late now, nevertheless.

She was eager to get this started. Her mind was racing with possible things that she could do to enhance the match, to make it more...impactful.  

She rose up, not even knowing exactly where to get started and made her way for the Throne Room.  She decided that she must tell the citizens of Equestria what is going to happen. Let them taste fear first. They will be frightened, especially the ones who have a criminal record, since their chances of getting picked skyrocket.

Since Equestria has barely any amount of modern technology, Celestia summoned a Canterlot-born journalist who owned and led the company for the nations newspaper, the "Equestria Weekly" as it was called. As soon as Celestia called her guards to go fetch her, the mare was there within minutes. The guards wittingly don't like to keep the princess waiting.

The gray unicorn stubbornly made her way through the Throne Room, watching the sun princess intently and carefully with her brown eyes. Bringing Celestia to do the same thing back to her. The mare's turquoise mane and tail hung daintily at her sides as she spoke. Her cutie mark almost shone when she stepped in view of Celestia, who believed it to be some sort of purple book.

"Princess? You summoned me?" She asked, willingly keeping her distance. Celestia hoped for some reason that this mare wasn't like the others, that she would show some proper respect.

"Stringer." Celestia spoke as calmly as physically possible. "I have summoned you here for a simple reason." She said. She didn't want to just come out and say it.

Stringer raised an eyebrow at the princess in anticipation.

"What would that be?"

"I have a story for you."

Stringer smiled, this should be good. She levitated out a pen from her backpack, and her brown journal as well and flipped to an open page. A story from the Princess herself? What could be better? Front page here I come!

"But first, I have a simple question..." Celestia purred, turning around and looking out a nearby window, it was roughly noon at this point, and the sun hit Celestia square in the face, she moaned happily as she felt the sunshine on her. "What would you do, if you were in a simple situation: Kill or be killed?"

Stringer stopped cold. "W-what do you mean?"

"Would you kill strangers to protect others?" Celestia stated. She knew the obvious answer of most ponies in this society, but she knew Stringer enough to know what she would say.

"Uhmm..." Stringer didn't know what to say, at first she thought this might be a trick question. Was she being questioned for murder or something without knowing? Stringer was losing some of her concentration and the pen and journal she was levitating lowered closer to the ground. "Well, at the cost of my own life, I'd have to say that yes, I would. But only if the situation has no other possibl-"

"Well, great!" Celestia interrupted. Stringer was very confused, and quite unnerved as well. She wasn't sure if she liked where this is headed. "Because that is what we are going to do."

Stringer didn't believe what she just heard. What!?

"What are you talking about?!" Stringer asked in a rude tone. Celestia didn't mind though, surprisingly. She was to excited to care for petty things like that. Plus it's only a natural response, right?

"What would you say to 30 ponies around Equestria, forced to kill each other?" Celestia said bluntly. Stringer's jaw literally dropped. 

"Stop asking questions!" Stringer suddenly shouted. "That's my job."

Celestia bore a bemused smile. "30 strangers, all forced to a fight to the death..." She concluded, not willing to give out other specifics. Knowing Stringer was a journalist, it was apparent that she was going to try to get that information anyways.

"But why? What for? Why do this to innocent ponies?" Stringer spoke, getting angrier at the sun princess.

"Equestria is losing control. Spiraling, as it seems. Crime and chaos has plagued the land, and it's only getting worse. Ponies killing and robbing each other," She said. "If they want to kill, then so be it. Do it where everyone can watch them. Do you understand now?"

Stringer completely disregarded using her pen and journal to take notes, she didn't need to anymore. "But what about the  innocent ponies? That's you're plan!? Kill of innocent common folk?" She interrogated. 

"No. Only those with a criminal record, who deserve this." Stringer's eyes went wide. "You now have something to worry about Stringer, don't you?" Celestia stated knowingly. Stringer's eyes shifted from left to right.

"I...I have no idea what you're talking about! I have never done any time in jail in my life! My record is completely clean!" Stringer argued, only causing Celestia to close her eyes and give a hearty chuckle.

"Maybe so," She took a few steps closer to Stringer. "Well, I think it's just that you've never been caught before. Until now."

Stringer was utterly confused, and frankly a little bit angry. "What?!"

"Don't act like you don't know. Blackmail is a serious crime, Stringer, getting ponies to spill the beans for you in exchange for life changing and humiliating information-"

"But-"

"But! It's your job to get information. I know. But it's not your job to blackmail. That would look terrible on a criminal record wouldn't it?" Celestia finished. Stringer looked at the ground, defeated. "You have just enough of a chance of getting into the death match as all these other felons out there. Don't lie to me and say what I am speaking is anything but the truth."

Stringer continued to look at the ground, genuinely scared for her life. "I'm sorry...please don't make me go..." Stringer cried, she didn't want to blackmail those ponies, but she had to! Her business was in a slump! They needed more copies of her newspaper to be sold or else her business would go bankrupt! She had to...

"Only time will tell, Stringer." Celestia said, walking closer to the grey mare. Tears were filling up Stringer's eyes as the little voice in her head told her that she was going to be picked. Celestia whispered in her ear: "Now go write your article."

***

Meanwhile, Serenity and the four other guards were traveling across Equestria at breakneck speeds, they didn't have much time, and as of right now they only had eight ponies.

"Captain!" A white bodied guard shouted as they flew. "What prison are we headed towards anyways? At this rate we won't get the mission done!"

"Fluorescence!" Serenity yelled over the loud whistling of the wind. "I told you, the Ponyville Penitentiary!" 

"Ponyville? Why there?" 

"Look Flora, you may not know much about Ponyville, but a lot of the nation's crime actually happens there." Serenity explained. "We can get most of our ponies that we need."

Something clicked in Flora's head. "When we get there, I know exactly who I want to take with us..."

***

A short while later, they arrived at the Ponyville Penitentiary, where they landed at the outside gates. Almost immediately, a Security Guard stood in front of them.

Ugh, great...him again... Serenity thought.

"Hey! Halt! What are you doing here?" The security pony asked them. Serenity just sighed.

"We are because we were given special permission from Princess Celestia to require at least...22 more ponies from jails all around Equestria." Serenity said, pointing to the royal emblem on his armor. The Security Guard looked at them wide eyed and backed down, realizing his mistake.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'll tell the Warden what you gentlecolts-"

Flora coughed.

"-and ladies will be doing. Just tell us which ones you end up taking."

"Thank you..." Flora stated before trotting ahead, passing the guard. Serenity and the other guards quickly followed her as they all disappeared inside the jail.

"Ditzy is in here somewhere...and we're going to get her." Flora muttered under her breathe. One of the other guards raised an eyebrow at her, but decided not to ask questions.

There were many cells containing ponies, big ponies to small fillies that range in various different colors. Serenity almost pitied them as he thought about what they had all done to deserve this incarceration. The ponies all wore orange jumpsuits that bore their name on them, along with their prison numbers.

The guards came prepared for this, and brought tranquilizer darts to make this extraction easy and clean.

One by one, the guards shot the dart inside of the cells, breaking contact with the jail tenants skin and causing them to slowly fall asleep. One pony in particular saw what was going on and wasn't going to have any of it.

"What are you doing?! You can't just come in here and do this to us!" She wailed. Serenity didn't look over at the greenish mare as he was busy aiming at a cream colored pony in an adjacent cell.

"We have special permission" He explained, firing the dart at the meek mare, the beige colored pony slid to the floor, unconscious.

"No! Stop! You can't do this!" The green and white maned mare shouted as her friend was carted off by a different guard.

"Yes." Serenity stated simply as he fired another dart at her.

***

In a different part of the cell, Flora had finally found the mare she was looking for.

"Why did you do it?" She said in a monotonous voice. "Tell me the truth or the next dart is aimed straight for your neck."

The charcoal colored pony hung her head low, the memories flooding back to her. Blonde hair stuck to her face as tears fell from her cocked eyes.

"It was an accident! I-I swear!" She cried. Flora didn't believe that for a even a second.

"No it wasn't. Everyone knows it...you deserve this." Flora said, raising her dart gun and pointing it at the defenseless mare.

"Wait!"

Flora lowered it again. "What?"

"You have to believe me! It was an accident!" She repeated, Flora was starting to get sick of the grey pegasus quickly, and the fact that she pretty much repeated what she said just a second ago.

"No it wasn't! How do you 'accidentally' set a house on fire and kill a family of five!?" Flora shouted. More tears came from Ditzy Doo's eyes. It truly was an accident, why did no one believe her? She didn't want to think of that day again, even though it was already burned into her mind.

Flora spoke eerily slow at the mare. "Look, here's the deal. I'm going to shoot you with this dart. You're going to go to sleep, and when you wake, you will die." Flora said, realizing how awkwardly she phrased that. She didn't care, she didn't want to give out too much information anyways. Ditzy's eyes widened as she said that.

"No! Please...I have a daughter...she's expecting me to be there for her when I get out! Please..." Ditzy begged. Flora smirked at the pony's sorrow.

"Yeah, well I bet the family you killed wasn't expecting to die in an inferno!" She yelled, Ditzy got as close as she could to the ground, expecting to be shot, but the dart didn't come. "You deserve to perish after what you did!"

"But I didn't mean to! Hones-"

"It doesn't matter if you meant to or not! You killed a poor family, and at least two fillies." Ditzy didn't know what to say. No matter how many times she said it was an accident, Flora was deaf to her pleas. She sighed loudly.

"You deserve this." Flora deadpanned, raising the dart gun to Ditzy's neck and pulling the trigger. The mare grabbed the dart as it pierced her skin and threw it across the room, but the damage has been done. The drug had already entered her body, and she felt her frame go limp. She lied there on the ground and saw Flora standing there, a wicked smile on her face, just before things went black.

***

A short while later, the team of guards had successfully gathered at least 22 convicts. One of the guards had recently acquired a cart in which to haul the unconscious bodies in. After a while of shoving and effort, they loaded up the bodies. Serenity sent the most well built pony of them all, a blue pegasus named Raybeam, to send the ponies to the awaiting ship that rested on Canterlot Harbor, which also contained the other eight ponies they had captured. Serenity gave a relieved sigh as he realized that his mission was complete.

"I noticed you found Ditzy Doo." He said as he passed Flora, who smiled at him.

"Yep, I did..." She stated. Serenity scoffed as he took to the skies to tell the Princess that he had succeeded. He thought about how weird Flora was acting when they got there, and when they left. Did Ditzy do something to her? Ugh, whatever.

He quickly reached Canterlot Castle, as he was flying full speed, and rudely barged into the Throne Room, where Celesita was eagerly awaiting him.

"My Princess!"

Celestia smiled at the sight of him, a great feeling of joy entering her heart. "Serenity! Please, tell me how it went! Did you acquire the total number or ponies I requested?

Serenity finally took off his helmet, and grinned.  "Yes, the deed is done."

"Wonderful..."

"How do you plan on doing this?" Serenity asked her, raising a brow quizzically.

"I already have everything greatly planned. It's perfect! The rules I set up are flawless, and I will inform the ponies of said rules tomorrow when they awake..." Celestia explained, her giddiness getting to her.

"So, you set them free...and they just, kill each other?" He asked her. It seemed, simple. Too simple. "Any weapons of some sort? Or food or supplies and things?"

"Yes. There will. All three of them, in fact. You will know more as the story gets printed tomorrow." She said, hinting to the stallion. Serenity didn't ask, and just assumed the obvious.

"What happens to the winner?" Serenity proposed. Celestia stopped, that had not been brought to her attention.

"Winner...?"

"You say this is a fight to the death? What happens to the last one standing?" He explained. Celestia thought for a moment and immediately came up with a clever response.

"Simple. They get to live free."

"They are freed?! What if some deranged killer wins?" 

"By the end of the death match, they already will be a killer. No matter what." She replied.

"Touche."

"Anyways, I'm going to go help the servants prepare for tomorrow. I hope you will be there to help at some point to help, Serenity." She said, as she began to walk away into the next room.

"Don't worry 'Princess'. I will..."

***

Authors Note

Second Chapter is up! Took a while to write, and I'm very glad it's...up? Haha.

Thanks for reading. Comments and feedback is appreciated! 

Next chapter is when the fun begins...

-Cyneryk

	

	
> Inauguration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Vinyl Scratch woke up before everyone else, her electric blue mane spread out all over the place in a jumbled mess. She shielded her scarlet colored eyes, as the room was dark, but a single light lit up the whole room dimly. She noticed how the walls were made out of steel, and that there was only one door. She sat up, but sickness brought her back down. Her head throbbed like nothing before, which says something, since being a DJ usually gives her an immunity to such things. She almost felt like vomiting, but held it back for sanitary reasons. The alabaster mare looked around to see 30 or so ponies sprawled out on the floor just like her in random places throughout the room. The only part of the room that didn't have some sort of a large rack that was right next to the door full of small backpacks. Vinyl sat up and looked around confused.

There various mares and stallions gathered  all around her. They all laid sprawled out in some sort of unconscious state.

"What the-" Vinyl was interrupted when the room violently shifted to the other side of the room, tossing every pony up into the air, and down with a thud, which was just enough to make every pony jolt awake.

Everypony groaned and rubbed themselves, comforting their injured bodies. It didn't take long for the room to be filled with panic, however.

"Where are we!?"

"I was bucking shot!"

"The door won't open!" Said one rainbow maned pegasus, as she desperately pulled on the door, and failing to open it.

Vinyl searched through the room of hysteria for her best friend, finding her almost balled up in a corner with a yellow pegasus.

"Octavia! You're here too!" She almost screamed, trotting up to her and hugging her best friend. The grey earth pony smiled at her happily.

"Vinyl!" She exclaimed, hugging her friend back.

So many thoughts were running through the former DJ's mind. Where were they? What were they doing here? She was just glad that she had her best friend with her, she didn't know what she would do without her.

Octavia and Vinyl had been friends ever since college, and then some. Although it really didn't make much sense. Octavia was a cellist in the Philharmonic Orchestra, while she was, still, a DJ. Ponies would often come up to her just to ask how they are such good friends. She didn't even know herself, but it made her happy nonetheless. The good times in her life were mainly due to Octavia, and her caring attitude towards life. Vinyl admits that she could be a jerk to her every now and then, but she never truly means it. Vinyl broke the hug and looked around.

"Where are we!?" She yelled over every pony else's chatter, having to literally hold onto her friend to avoid getting separated. Octavia looked at Vinyl pitifully.

"How should I know? All I remember are some sort of guards, and tranquiler dart..." She stated, he her eyes getting bigger as the realization hit her.

Vinyl tried to remember, and it slowly came back to her, some kind of guard. Wait, she remembered the armor that they were wearing, it looked familiar, could it possibly be the Royal Guard!? What did Princess Celestia want with everyone?!

Vinyl looked around, it was apparent that they were on some sort of ship. A room can't just shift like that on it's own. Suddenly a loud and deafening excuse for a noise erupted from some sort of hidden speaker system. Everypony else held their ears and fell to the floor submissively, shouting to make the sound stop. Octavia even fell to the floor, she wasn't used to such loud noises unlike Vinyl, who simply stood there as every pony else flailed around. Vinyl even found herself chuckling a little bit.

After a whole five minutes of the noise, it finally stopped. The injured ponies finally made their way to their feet, clamoring silently. A blue magic covered the wall nearest the door, and on the 'screen' appeared none other than Princess Celestia. Many ponies in the audience gasped.

"Hello, my little ponies," She said monotonously. "I bet you are all wondering what you are all doing here, on my ship, on the coast of the Royal Private Island" She said. Many of the ponies in the audience agreed, especially one yellow stallion in particular.

"Ya darn tootin' I am! What's the meanin ah this!?" He yelled.

Celestia laughed and looked directly at what he was standing. "Braeburn..." The yellow pony took a step back when the Princess acknowledged him. Must be some sort of...visual telephone? "You will find out soon enough. All of you will."

"I have summoned you all here because, frankly, you're all bad ponies." Celestia said. Some ponies shouted remarks back to the Princess in protest, while some couldn't deny the gruesome fact. "For one reason of another, you've all done terrible things in your lives, so I decided to let you all be...how should I say this..." Celestia put a hoof to her chin, thinking before saying the next combo of words. "Test subjects."

The room became increasingly quiet until a mare spoke up from the crowd, a very slim and regal looking mare. "What do you ever mean by 'Test Subjects'?" She asked.

"I'm so glad you asked, Fluer de Lis...because I am just getting into that."

Fluer de Lis? Vinyl knew that name from somewhere, but couldn't remember where exactly...

"Take a good look around you, because either one or two of these things will happen: You will kill them, or one of them will kill you." Celestia stated.

W-What did she say?

"You're all the test subjects in a new style of...death match. Take a good look, I'll be back in a few minutes with more updates." And with that, Celestia disappeared from the wall, but the blue screen remained there. Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other nervously.

"What did she say?!" Vinyl said as the whole room exploded with nervous cries.

"We're going to...kill?" Octavia repeated. But...but why!?

Vinyl did as Celestia said, and looked around the room at the ponies that she'd have to "kill".

Or worse, get murdered by.

Instantly, her eyes landed upon a sobbing grey pegasus mare literally right in front of her, her hooves were buried in her face and her cries were deafening. Vinyl put a hoof on the mares shoulders.

"Hey, hey calm down it's alright..."

"No...i-it's not!" She shouted in-between sobs, Vinyl Scratch didn't know what to do when it came towards comforting others, so when Octavia moved closer to the pegasus, Vinyl didn't object.

"Yes it will, tell me, what's your name?" Octavia cooed. The mare looked up at her, showing Vinyl and Octavia her odd yellow eyes.

"My name is Ditzy Doo..." She murmured, looking down. Octavia gas her a kind smile, her purple eyes showing nothing but compassion.

"Ditzy Doo, well it's nice to meet you!" Octavia exclaimed, the room had finally started to calm down now, as everyone was talking about. "My name is Octavia, and this is my best friend Vinyl Scratch." Octavia pointed at Vinyl, who waved.

"Yo."

Ditzy gave a reassuring nod, although a frown still bore her face.

"I'm going to die...but I can't." She whispered.

Octavia looked at Vinyl and raised an eyebrow. She then looked back at Ditzy. "What does that mean?"

"My beautiful filly, Dinky...she's expecting me to come home any day now..." Ditzy said, tears filling her eyes again. Octavia let out an audible "aww" sound and rubbed the mare's back.

"Don't worry Ditzy. We're going to make sure we get you out of here." Octavia assured, provoking a smile to finally appear on Ditzy's face. Octavia wanted to comfort the mare anyway she could, stretching the truth couldn't hurt at a time like this.

Vinyl took the time to look at the other strangers in the room, some of them she knew before her and Octavia spent some jail time together.How was she supposed to know the guy she was seeing was a thief, secretly stashing things at her place? Vinyl was not pleased after that, and Octavia wasn't either after they were both sent to Ponyville Penitentiary. 

She noticed that her childhood teacher, Cheerilee was here, chatting with...is that...Photo Finish?! What's she doing here? She's famous! She practically runs the fashion industry! Vinyl noticed that Photo Finish wasn't even wearing her designer clothes, showing off her blue body and letting white hair flow down her sides. She actually looked very pretty. Vinyl already missed her signature purple shades...

Vinyl saw Spitfire and Soarin together chatting, before the rainbow pegasus from before showed up again, visibly freaking out. She must be a big fan?

She looked to the other side of the room to see Pinkie Pie...the only pony that was happy right now. Vinyl Scratch wasn't surprised at all the she was here...she's always doing...weird things. Crazy things for that matter. She was literally bouncing around the room, singing to herself. That doesn't exclude the fact that Pinkie and her used to be pretty good friends a while back.

Vinyl Scratch also noticed ponies that she had never really seen before, but had heard of.

Snowflake, she remembered him. The stallion is unstoppable. He murdered three ponies in a single evening, single hoofed. He stood their, eying up every pony intently, as if he was imagining what he was going to do to every single one of them. When his eyes met Vinyls, he gave a toothy smirk before going back about his business.

Trixie Lulamoon was here. That's...odd. Vinyl knows that she does have a criminal record after running around spreading lies, apparently that's falsifying information, or something, and is taken seriously around Equestria. That Ursa Minor incident was pretty terrible though, many ponies homes got destroyed. Vinyl noticed Trixie was eying up Twilight Sparkle on the other side of the room, glaring at her.

Next to Trixie was...Prince Blueblood? Vinyl wasn't at all surprised. He was recently caught embezzling bits from "Auntie Celesia". Vinyl had a feeling in her gut that she'd see her here. But it also unnerved her. He must have had previous access to this ship, and the 'Island'. Which puts Blueblood at a he advantage.

Vinyl jerked her heard back to the screen, along with Ditzy and Octavia as the 'visual telephone device' flicked back on.

Celestia once again appeared on the screen, with a confident glow radiating from her face.

"Hello all, I have returned. I trust that you have all got acquainted when I was gone?"

No response.

"Good." Celestia cheered. "I will go through the rules. Pay attention."

Everypony looked at each other nervously.

"First off, I will call your name, where you will randomly grab a bag and head out the door. In each bag there is one full canteen full of fresh water, three days worth of food, and either a weapon, or a useful survival tool, along with a sleeping bag. Each pony that leaves will get a five minute head start to run before I call the name of the next pony. So best hurry. As time goes on, area's of the island will be magically blocked off, forcing you to get closer and fight. If you are in one of those zones when it closes, a magical shield will come down and, let's just say your death will not be pleasant. But don't worry. I'll tell you when the area's are blocked off..." Celestia said.

"But what if none of us play?" Fluer de Lis asked.

"Oh you will. Either you play, or all of you will die." Celestia commented. A black pegasus with a light blue mane leaned over to a grape colored pony with berries and grapes as her cutie mark and whispered.

"Psh, I'll just fly out of here..."

"Nice try Thunderlane, but the island is magically sealed off to prevent escape, best not be flying anywhere over restricted areas, because you will be killed." Celestia crudely remarked, Thunderlane didn't respond.

"Any questions?" Celestia asked, searching through the crowd. No one said anything.

"Why are you doing this?" A soft voice said. Vinyl wasn't very sure who actually spoke that time. Celestia was getting tired of explaining this, so she just decided to give them the short version.

"This nation is falling apart. Murderers, thieves...everything of the sort. So, ponies want to kill each other, then here's there chance. You are my test subjects right now, whether you like it or not." Celestia spoke. "Now, if that is all, then I would like to get this underway..." Celestia took out a piece of paper and read it out loud.

"Number one....Scootaloo."

Scootaloo? 

Vinyl watched as an orange pegasus pony slowly walked up to the rucksacks, shaking immensely. She looked as if she was on the verge of tears. Vinyl was outraged. A filly?! Doing something like this!? This whole thing is inhumane, and then she throws a filly in the midst!? Vinyl was seething with anger. She didn't need to even be here...

Vinyl looked at Octavia, who gave her thatWe have to help her stare, and Vinyl nodded. 

Scootaloo grabbed the first bag she could reach, jumping as the doors to the exit, and to the island, unlocked and opened. She took one last look at every pony who was watching her go, before letting a tear fall down her cheek as she ran out the door. The door clicked and locked behind her.

Five excruciating minutes pass before Celestia takes out her paper again, getting read to call pony number two.

"Number two...Lyra Heartstrings..."

A mint colored pony stood up this time, she was about to go up and grab her backpack, but a cream colored pony stopped her and gave her a passionate hug. They exchanged a few words, and Lyra walked away to the backpacks. The cream colored pony ultimately cried as soon as she broke the hug, and was having trouble calming herself down.

"Bon Bon!" Lyra shouted, as randomly grabbed a backpack and put it on. The beige mare known as "Bon Bon" looked at her. Lyra only smiled, and saluted. Bon Bon did the exact same thing back, a smile now on her face.

The door opened, and Lyra disappeared outside, letting the door click and lock behind her.

"Number three...Zecora." Celestia said, five minutes later. What Vinyl didn't know was that there was a Zebra on board. She watched the zebra silently grab a bag before trotting outside, not even bothering to save face.

The zebra seemed...fine.

"Number four....Octavia."

Octavia's heart stopped and she looked over at Ditzy and Vinyl, expecting them to say something, even though she knew they couldn't. Vinyl grabbed both of Octavia's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

"You're going to be okay. Ditzy and I will find you. Just keep running. Ok?" Vinyl told her. Octavia looked over at Ditzy Doo, who sheepishly smiled. Octavia felt a little bit of hope inside of her, as she slowly walked over to the rucksacks. She looked carefully, and decided to go with a slightly larger one than the others. With one last goodbye, she disappeared out the door. As Vinyl heard the door close, she felt as if her life is over.

Even though it might just be.

"Number five...Fluttershy?" Celestia said, five minutes later. Celestia knew who Fluttershy was, and was very confused as to why she was here. But it was still to late now.

Vinyl turned to look at the yellow pegasus behind her, who was still shaking in a corner. When she realized that her name was called, Fluttershy's head poked up, and she stood. Tears were flowing from her face like a river, and she quickly grabbed a bag and trotted out the door.

Vinyl had a bad feeling about her...

Five minutes later, Celestia continued. "Number six...Ditzy Doo."

Ditzy sighed, she knew her name was going to be called sooner rather than later. She was always gifted with bad luck. She hugged Vinyl before randomly grabbing a bag, which seemed smaller than the rest, and flew outside, almost running into the door itself.

"Lucky number seven...Carrot Top."

A mare with giant orange hair stood up from the front of the room, grunting loudly. Vinyl noticed that she had already had a bandage around her left foreleg, and limped every time she took a single step. Her green eyes scoured the room as she picked up the first bag she could reach, and painfully walking out the door. Vinyl felt extremely bad for Carrot Top. This was all so unfair...

"Number eight, Trixie Lulamoon."

"Finally, The Great and Powerful Trixie is called!" She bellowed arrogantly. She shoved her way up to the front and dramatically threw her bag on her back. "This will be easy for Trixie. The win is almost guaranteed!" She made her way for the door, but not before stopping to glance at Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting in the front row closest to the bags.

"I'll see you on the island, minor." She rasped as she literally ran out the door. Twilight looked like she was going to give a decent rebuttal, but remembered the Princess' presence and ultimately stayed quiet.

"Number nine....Vinyl Scratch." 

Vinyl was glad her number was called sooner than later. It'll be easier to find Octavia and Ditzy, who she hoped she could trust. Hopefully they'd be able to find that little filly as well, Scootaloo, Vinyl thinks her name was. She trotted up to the bags and picked one from the bottom, causing all the rucksacks on top to come crashing to the ground. No one said a word as she headed for the door.

"Good luck guys. Let's all try to have a good time." She said, as she left the room, the door clicking and locking behind her.


> Bonds We Almost Had
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		Spitfire was the last pony to run out of the ship, lucky her. She hoped and prayed that she'd be called first, so that she could get a head start. She feared that some pony may have lingered around the ship instead of taking of, running to wherever this place is...

She peeked her head through the ships door and looked outside, and what she immediately noticed was that the ship was right on the beach, and there was a stairway leading to the hot sand below. 

She walked down the grey stairs and walked around the ship itself, which, surprisingly, wasn't very large at all. She stared out into the open sea, her heart dropping as she saw what must be miles upon miles of water, seeing no other land at all. She looked up and saw a blue shield over the whole island, or at least the part of the island she was currently on, anyways. But she didn't get her hopes up.

Spitfire smiled, she had nothing to be worried about. This wasn't real, there is no way Celestia would make them do something like this. Maybe it's just some very thought out and elaborate prank of some sort? She felt the fear that she had previously had moments ago leave her body.

On the other side of the beach, was a lively and lush jungle. Spitfire looked around to make sure the coast was clear, and when she was sure she was, she bolted inside the cover of the jungle. 

The jungle was large, many trees all over the place, with vines that hung almost to the ground. Spitfire realized that the trees will most likely be very difficult to fly through, and the vines wouldn't help much either. Great, her one advantage, stripped away from her. Again.

The floor was visibly wet and muddy, at least where she was, anyways. Various green plants which names Spitfire couldn't recall scattered the ground, making the jungle even more beautiful, and ominous.

Spitfire was starting to get a little nervous. She knew how to deal with pressure, she was a Wonderbolt after all, with her pal Soarin.


She gasped as she remembered Soarin.

"SOARI-" She started to scream, but seeing the error in her ways she clasped her hooves over her mouth.

She tried to tell her how stupid she was in her head, since this wasn't even real, but the thought didn't stick around for long.

Spitfire thought about Soarin, they were both superstars in many places of Ponyville and Canterlot for the speed and aerodynamics in the sky. Celestia even hired them personally, which filled her with the utmost pride.

Soarin was a great friend. Spitfire had been training and exercising with him for as long as she could remember, and to be frank, she kind of liked him more than a friend. He was quite handsome, and very fun to be around. Spitfire found that out right in the beginning, and her thoughts of him hadn't changed since. Spitfire also found his love for pie amusing, especially since he once went to extreme measures to get it: stealing from a local pastry shop. Spitfire was dumbfounded when she found out, but Soarin somehow charmed his way out of jail, and into her wallet. She had to bail him out that day.

She stopped running and hid behind a large bush, she took off her backpack and began to randomly pull things out of it, looking through her items.

She wasn't very happy with what she got: Some food and water like Celestia promised, a sleeping bag, and an orange box cutter.

How was she she supposed to 'defend' herself with a box cutter?!

She lied down now, quite angry. She should've picked a different bag...Ugh

She missed Soarin already. She wanted to find him, so they could try and figure a way out of this. Also, she just generally missed his presence. She calculated the chance of running into him, and not any pony else, and decided that the chances were slim. It wasn't going to be easy, even though he did leave the ship 25 minutes before she did, but knowing him, he probably wouldn't go too far. He's not one to be very independent, and during practice routines, would encourage Spitfire to do it with him, even if it's a stunt he's practiced a million times. She never really understood why.

"SPITFIRE!?" A loud voice boomed behind her, making her visibly jump and instinctively reach for her box cutter. She stood up and aimed it at the Stallion right behind her and gasped as she stared into her most trusted partners eyes. She dropped the box cutter.

"Soarin!" She yelled as she trotted up to him and hugged him, ever so glad that the 'chances' the came up with just a few moments a go were wrong.

"Hey! There you are! I waited for you when I got off the ship!" He exclaimed, setting down his backpack as the mare hugged him. He happily returned the hug, but didn't want to awkwardly bask in it.

"I'm so glad I found you! I don't want to be out here alone." Spitfire realized what she just said and gave Soarin a sly look. "I know it's a prank, you can stop now."

Soarin looked from side to side, confused. "What do you mean?"

"A 'battle to the death'? Haha! You expect me to believe that?" She laughed and punched her friends foreleg. "You had me going there for a second though."

Soarin's eyes softened at his friends lack of understanding. "Spitfire...this isn't a prank, I think this is for real." 

"Okay, you can cut it out now..."

"Spitfire, I mean it! This isn't a prank! Well, I don't think so. If it is then I didn't have anything to do with it!" He explained. Spitfire's eyes started to water as realization set in.

So...this is...real after all?

"But...I don't want to play..." Spitfire said, lying back down on the ground pitifully. Soarin walked up behind the mare and rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"We don't have to, I'm sure there are others who don't want to play either. They can probably help us." Soarin said smartly. Spitfire nodded. It's true, maybe they could form a group, and somehow all together find a way off the island? Spitfire didn't know. She didn't know any of the other players, and who she could trust. Right now the only one was Soarin.

Soarin lied down right next to the mare and sighed.

"Things are going to be fine. We're going to make it out of here." Soarin spoke, Spitfire was going to object and say that apparently only one pony could leave(Which almost killed Spitfire inside, having to know that), but decided not to remind Soarin of it in an effort to not upset him.

"I guess."

Soarin looked at Spitfires backpack, and all of the contents that were spilled out all over the ground, also noticing the box cutter, since he had failed to notice it before. He scoffed. "I see you actually got a weapon in your bag...lucky." He stated. As he held up his randomly selected item: A box of matches.

Spitfire laughed at him, and she thought she was having bad luck. What's good for the both of them is that both of their objects could come in handy at some point or another. Soarin put the matches back in his backpack, eying her intently.

Spitfire decided that it would finally be the time to spill the beans. Only one pony was allowed to leave, so when it was all over it really wouldn't matter anymore.

"Soarin..." She was blushing like mad. "Have you ever loved any pony before?" She asked. Spitfire immediately grasped his attention. Soarin didn't know how to respond, and his cheeks as well turned a light red hue.

"I-I...well yes." Was all he could say.

"Since neither one of us is probably not going to make it out alive...I just want to tell you something..." Spitfire paused and looked into the stallion's eyes, giving him the most sincere look she could muster. "I really like you..." She caught herself. "More than a friend, I should say."

Soarin was shocked at her brashness at what she just said. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and it almost frightened him. He smiled down at the mare. "You may not believe this, but I really like you too..."

Spitfire's heart fluttered. Did he just say that? She was cheering in her inner mind, this was too good to be true. Soarin looked at his surroundings for a moment, before rolling over to lie on his back, causing Spitfire to correct her position as well. She rested her head on his stomach. Soarin's mind was all over the place, almost like hysteria. There was no other options.

"I'm so happy you said that!" Spitfire said honestly. She's never had anyone in her life like Soarin. He was always there for her, and was always kind and sweet by nature. She wanted this moment to last; she just wanted to be able to lie with him there forever, and look at the sky with him, where they both reign indifferently.

"I'm happy you said that too." Soarin said. He stealthily grabbed the box cutter that was lying on the ground to his left, and wrapped his forearm around Spitfire's neck, hoisting her up to a sitting position along with him, he extended the blade and held it up to her neck. Soarin was panicking, and feared that she would one day forgive him for this.

"Soarin! Soarin what are you doing!" Spitfire yelled as she saw him bring the blade to her neck. He wasn't going to kill her! She knew it!

"You said it yourself, only one pony wins!" He said maniacally, cackling slightly. "I have a future! I can be a Wonderbolt Captain! Maybe I can help out fellow ponies overseas one day! Save LIVES!" He pressed the blade deeper into her neck, causing Spitfire to flinch. The blade was barely piercing her neck. Spitfire was pleading, her brain seemed like it was shattering inside of her mind.

"Why? Why are you doing this..." She sobbed, tears soaking into Soarin's foreleg

"What about you!?" He screamed. "You're nothing! You showed me everything you know, and then some. And with your moves along with mine, I'll be the new superstar around here!" He laughed. His eyes bugged out like a madpony. Spitfire felt tears fall down her face as she begged for her life, trying to push Soarins foreleg away from her neck, but the words he said stuck to her like glue. The words 'You're nothing' was nothing that she hadn't heard before, especially when she was younger when she was with her parents. She would hear it almost everyday, and Soarin's repetition of it only brought those feelings back again.

I'm nothing...

Spitfire's stopped trying to remove his forelegs from her neck, and Soarin took the chance. He raised Spitfire's chin and dug the blade into her cervix, ripping through muscle and skin as he dragged the blade to the other side of her neck. The line wasn't visible at first, but seconds later, blood began to pour from Spitfire's wound, once again soaking his coat along with her own. Spitfire tried to breathe, tried to speak, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was blood. She gargled as she felt her brain shutting down as blood continued to pour from her deep cut. Soarin let go of her as she fell to the ground. 

I'm...nothing...

The amount of blood she was losing was to much for her body to ever recover from, and she died right there next to her murderous lover.

***

Soarin stood up, attempting to wipe the blood off of his coat, but ultimately smearing it.

I did it! I actually killed her! It was actually much easier than her would had imagined. He almost felt as if he had just cut through butter.

"I'm going to win this!" He shouted. He tossed the box cutter far away into the bushes, since it was pretty useless at this point. There's no way he's going to kill again with it. He needed something else. Something more deadly...

But how was he going to get one?

He ran over to his and Spitfire's things, placing Spitfire's food and water into his own bag, he was sure Spitfire wouldn't really mind, anyways. He put the backpack on his back just as he heard a rustling behind him. He swiftly turned around to see a bright pink mare peering through the brush with manic eyes.

Soarin knew her, everyone did. "Pinkie Pie?" He called out to her. Pinkie didn't move at first, but she stood up, soon enough. Soarin noticed how...odd she looked. Her hair was as straight as seaweed that came down to her knees, and a freakishly large smile bore her face.

"Soarin...how nice to meet you. I see you found Spitfire..." She said, motioning over to Spitfire's motionless body. Soarin knew where this was headed, he had two choices, run or attack. Unfortunately, he had just unwittingly tossed his only weapon.

"She...she threatened me! It was self defense!" He yelled.

"Tsk tsk." Pinkie said, "I can tell when your lying, especially when I just saw everything." She said, pulling out a kitchen knife. Soarin was frantic. Pinkie waved the knife in the air towards him, taking little steps in his direction, and emitting a high pitched giggle. "Poor Soarin, you did have potential, didn't you?" She rasped, the smile fading from her lips, making her look so monotonous that it only frightened Soarin even more. "Too bad you just killed the only person who cared for you."

Soarin was starting to regret his decision.

" 'Superstar Found Stabbed To Death After Taking Out Equally Famous Flyer', I can almost see the headlines now..." She inched closer to him.

"Stay away from me!" He hollered, getting ready to turn tail. His eyes wide with fear. This can't be happening!

"Do you know who is going to kill that superstar of a stallion?" She asked, eying up her knife wondrously. Soarin had had enough, he ran towards the direction of the beach, anywhere, he'd do anything to get away from Pinkie. He turned and blindly started running full speed, but to his surprise, Pinkie was in front of him now, holding out her knife. Soarin's momentum prevented him from stopping and he ran straight into Pinkie's knife, piercing through his chest. Pinkie whispered in his ear as Soarin groaned in pain.

"Pinkamena."

She tore the blade out of the stallion's chest, and he promptly fell to the ground, holding a hoof over his wound. He stared up at the mare, who was cackling hysterically. His vision began to blur as she walked away. Death slowly, and painfully, crept over him.

I'm so sorry Spitfire...Forgive me...


#30. Spitfire, dead
#25. Soarin, dead

28 to go



	
	
	





> On The Edge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Berry Punch was now wandering the lush jungle alone, confused and alcohol deprived. This couldn't be happening, she didn't want to believe it, but she knew it was. She could hear some mare screaming a while away, along with some Stallions hollering. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what just went down.

Berry Punch adjusted her bag, she was somewhat glad with what she had acquired, the usual food, water, and sleeping bag, and a fairly sharp ice pick. She gripped it in her hooves as she walked, just in case. There's no telling what's in this Jungle. But she felt so foolish holding it. There was no doubt someone got a better weapon than her. Probably one with a longer range. She found herself frantically turning her head from left to right, looking for other ponies. 

She felt as if she could almost see the future. She would be walking and out of the blue a knife would fly through the air and strike her in her forehead. Or she would be attacked and stabbed.

She felt as if death was right around the corner, and it only increased her paranoia.

"Come on...Berry..." It was weird saying her own name, especially which sober. She hasn't went this long without taking a sip of her wine in a long time. Maybe she could make her own, this place has to have some sort of berries here....

She would drink anything right now.

"Dammit...this is exactly why I'm here." She told herself, which was true. Her many Public Intoxication charges would agree. The things she does when she's drunk. It's almost as if she has two personalities: One that's the actual her, and one that's just who's just a self-destructive alcoholic. She almost missed her old self.

Ugh, her schedule was also the same every day! Wake up, have a drink, go out, have a drink, come home, have a drink. Repeat. She can't even keep a simple job for more than a week. She's losing money fast, and things were only getting worse for her.

Maybe...this is good for her. Maybe she just needs to die. It'll make her life, and everyone else's easier. Who would care, anyways? Maybe she should just kill herself here, or just give up and let someone stick a sword into her heart. 

Berry Punch walked on in a seemingly endless depression. She looked at the sun, and given it's place in the sky, it looked to be around 6:30 AM, she sighed sadly.

She felt like death. She wanted to take the ice pick and shove it into her chest, even though she knew she couldn't do that. She knew it wouldn't kill her if she tried. She'd have to experience so much pain, in that case. She wanted someone else to do it, if it came to it. And she wanted it to be quick and painless.

She came to a grass clearing. She took in the sights as she noticed a roundly 200 foot tall cliff was in front of her, she didn't get close, her acrophobia prevented her from doing such thing.

But it would be painless...

No! Anyway but that.

She took a look around, and saw a slightly muscular brown pony with a short, tan mane looking over the edge. In his hoof were a pair of scissors.

Meadow Song stared down below at the sharp and jagged rocks and then at his scissors.

"There's no way..." Tears formed in his eyes. "I can't win this...It's pointless...." He muttered. He kicked a nearby rock off the cliff and down to the water below, creating a soft splash. The waves that hit the cliffside were monstrous, and would probably kill him within moments of impacting the water. He took his bag off his shoulder and tossed it over the edge, and almost exploded seconds later as it make contact with a large boulder.

"It's over."

"Hello?" Called out Berry Punch to the stallion. He was so frightened by the sudden voice that he almost fell over the edge. He held up his scissors at her, dumbly.

"Don't come any closer!" He shouted. He realized how stupid he must seem as he remembered that he was only holding scissors. "I may only have scissors but I will kill you!" Berry could see the scissors trembling in his hooves. Berry raised her ice pick at him, not taking any chances.

"No you won't!"

"Haha!" Meadow Song mocked. "An Ice Pick? Good luck killing me with that!" He laughed nervously. Both ponies were feeling fear of the other under their disguises.

"I don't plan on killing you!" Berry yelled, keeping her pick raised.

"I don't believe you!" Meadow screamed, taking a few steps away from the cliffs edge. "You want to kill me! Everyone wants to kill me!" He seemed frantic and his eyes were trained on Berry Punch. He wasn't going to die by the hands of another pony.

"You were about to jump!" Berry argued. To her, this didn't make any sense.

"You don't know that!" Meadow stated.

"Yes I do! You just tossed your bag over the edge!"

"Don't come near me!" Meadow was beginning to profusely sweat.

Berry felt as if she was talking to a wall. This pony was obviously scared for his life(Much like her). She didn't know what to do to get him to calm down.

Meanwhile, a yellow pegasus pony was watching the whole thing unfold. She watched as both ponies screamed at each other. She couldn't handle it, she hated it when ponies fought! She was scared out of her wits, but she finally crept out of her hiding place.

"Stop!" She said in a loud whisper. Berry Punch noticed her and lowered her weapon. Meadow, on the other hand, was losing his mind. He alternated the scissors from Berry Punch, to the pink maned pony, back and forth.

"Both of you! Go away! Don't hurt me! I will kill you both!" He said manically. Fluttershy could tell that he was desperately hurt, and tried to comfort him.

"Please, calm down! Neither one of us are going to hurt you." Fluttershy said sweetly. Meadow was shaking immensely at the situation. They were both trying to get him! He was not going to be killed here! No!

Meadow took a half step back away from the two mares.

Fluttershy walked towards the hysterical stallion, his eyes widened. She kept smiling at him as she got closer, causing Meadow to hold up his scissors at solely her now.

"Stop! Don't make me kill you!" He meagerly threatened.

"I know you're scared...we all are." Fluttershy continued. Meadow figured out what she was trying to do, although he knew that the mare walking towards him was empty hooved. Berry Punch watched the situation in awe.

Meadow knew that this was some sort of trick! She's acting all innocent, but she's going to kill him! Right then and there! He wasn't falling for it!

"I WILL KILL YOU!" He shouted as Fluttershy was now but a few feet away from him now.

"Please Meadow...trust me." She said

"Trust? Trust!? Who can you trust anymore!? This is me vs everyone! Everyone wants to win! Everyone wants to kill me!" He screamed at her, in emotional pain.

"You can trust me." Fluttershy said, as she got too close to him.

"No!" Meadow said, but to his surprise, the yellow pegasus reached up and hugged him. Softly wrapping her arms around  him. The impulse to stab her was immense, but he forced himself not to act on it as he regained a little bit of his sanity.

"You're going to be okay." Fluttershy whispered. Meadow was dumbstruck, and ultimately dropped his scissors and almost wobbled to the ground.

"I'm not going to hurt you! I'm sorry!" Meadow apologized, hugging the mare back. Berry watched, unsure of what to do at this point. But she did take the initiative to show Meadow that she was also not a threat.

"It's okay. We're all scared right now. I understand. " Said Fluttershy as she broke the hug. 

"I am too." Berry said, finally speaking up. "Look, all we have to do is work together, and we can get through this!" She assured. Meadow Songs face softened. He actually had someone to turn to. He thought he was going to be alone forever.

They all walked away into the Jungle together, planning and talking about their previous lives, carrying their things on their backs, except for Meadow, who had thrown his over the cliff. They poked through the jungle and sat down together in a circle.

"So, how did you guys end up here?" Berry asked, pretty curious to see how Meadow and Fluttershy ended up with a criminal record.

Fluttershy timidly looked away, a blush on her face. "Uhm...I'd rather not talk about it." She seemed to be going back to her usual timid ways.

Meadow Song poked her. "Oh it can't be that bad." He assured, before looking directly at Berry Punch. "Thievery charges." He said. Berry Punch made a half audible "Ohh" noise.

"Thievery? What did you steal?" Berry Punch asked curiously. Meadow gave a prideful smile.

"Tried to steal a few books from the library."

Berry just looked at him.

"...What? I didn't have a library card."

Berry Punch only face hoofed, and Fluttershy laughed a little bit at her response.

"Yeah, well what about you?" Meadow asked, hoping her charges would be worse than his. Berry Punch looked away. 

"Public Intoxication..."

"Oh."

"Yeah..." The moment became fairly awkward before Berry spoke up once again. "Fluttershy, you must have done something to get here."

She sighed as she apprehensively hide behind her pink mane. "I found a Ceberus egg in the forest a while back, so I took it home and raised it for a little while...uhm...and then it rampaged..."

Berry Punch and Meadow stared at her wide eyed. That was the worst offense either one of them had heard yet.

"Yeah, a few ponies died, and a lot of houses where destroyed, and I was blamed for it. But I don't blame the poor baby for getting mad. It was my fault. I didn't make it's favorite snack correctly..." She exclaimed.

"Wow..." Berry Punch replied. That was random...and unexpected. Meadow Song said nothing.

"Yeah...it was bad." Fluttershy added. It was odd, usually she was great with animals. Even though it didn't take long to calm the ceberus down(Herself, actually), it did all it's damage in about 15 minutes total.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that..." Berry Punch replied. Fluttershy only nodded at her before hiding behind her mane once again.

"Hey Berry, just a random question...was that you screaming that day onto of Sugarcube Cor-" Meadow began, but was interrupted by a loud groan from Berry. She had hoped everyone forgot about that horrid day where she got so drunk she climbed to the top of a local bakery and began shouting obscenities, and worse: dancing. It was something she'd rather not remember.

"Ugh, yes..."

"I thought I saw you somewhere before..." Meadow added, Berry felt like dying in a hole.

"Look, that never happened. I don't care, it was a fricken optical illusion. Got it?" Berry asked, seriously. But a single look from Meadow made all three of them erupt into laughter.

"Look, before we go any farther, I just want to say that I believe that we're all going to get out of this together, and when we do, we'll all be best friends. I can tell." Fluttershy blushed, Meadow's eyes watered.

"I have a feeling that this is the beginning of something new." Meadow whispered, before looking at his new friends and giving them a happy smile. "I'm just glad I could spend this time with y-" Meadow Song was cut short as his head jarred forward, and his facial features went limp. He sat there, unmoving. Berry Punch and Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at him and looked at each other.

"Meadow?" Berry said, poking him. When he did, his head fell forward into the dirt, dead. A tomahawk jammed in the back of his skull. Blood was profusely leaking from the wound as Fluttershy and Berry Punch leapt back in surprise.

"Meadow!" Berry yelled. She didn't notice as a caramel colored earth pony appeared right behind her, but Fluttershy did.

"Run!" Fluttershy yelled, too scared to possibly move her body or run away. Berry Punch looked behind her in time to see the figure pick up another tomahawk and send it hurdling towards her face. She felt a slight stinging pain as another tomahawk   became embedded into her forehead. She fell, lying right next to her new friend. Something snapped inside of Fluttershy's mind, and she finally made up the courage to run back, not knowing where to exactly, as her tears were blocking her vision.

The earth pony behind her laughed slightly at the entertainment of all this, and ripped the tomahawks out of Berry and Meadow's skulls, wiping their blood of his tomahawks with his tongue.

Fluttershy found herself back at the cliff, at a dead end. She forced herself to turn around, to see the stallion standing there, deadpanning. A few seconds on silence, before the stallion dropped his tomahawks and walked towards the mare.

"No!" She yelled, as she  backed farther away from him. Fear filled her mind and her heart at the thought of being murdered like her new friends. She looked back to see that she was literally at the edge of the cliff, and that she was stuck. "Why?!" She said, crying. The looked in horror as the stallion said nothing, but kept moving towards her.

"Everyone's gotta die sometimes, hun." He muttered. Fluttershy tried to convince him otherwise.

"Please! It doesn't have to be this way!" She argued, her knees felt very weak. "Let's just talk this out?" Fluttershy asked him. Unfortunately, the stallion did not making his was towards her. "Please!"

"I'm sorry, but now's your time." He declared, he ran at the mare full speed in an attempt to buck her off the cliff, but at the last second, Fluttershy ducked and the stallion was send soaring over her. His screams echoed as he tumbled down the cliffside.

THUD

Fluttershy was trembling and remained crouched down for a moment. She was too stunned to move, but when she looked over the edge, she wished she didn't.

The stallion's body rested on one of the blood stained, sharp rocks. His body literally ripped open on impact, sending various body parts sprawling out over the rest of the rock, and into the water below. It was visible that most of his legs were broken, as his forelegs and left hind leg where twisted to a point that was physically impossible. Fluttershy flinched at the sight that she saw and stepped away from the cliff.

"No! No! I didn't...mean..." Tears formed in her eyes once again at the realization.

She was a murderer.

"I-I-I..!" She felt herself get light headed and collapsed onto the ground.


#23 Meadow Song, dead
#29 Berry Punch, dead
#12 Caramel, dead

25 to go

	

> Decisions and Delicacies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Vinyl Scratch continued to walk through the Jungle, searching for either Ditzy Doo or Octavia. She had been searching this island for what seemed to be around two hours. At first she thought it would be easy to find either of them due to her assigned item, a very detailed map of the island. It'll come in handy when Celestia announces which areas will be off limits. 

Vinyl expected to find Octavia near the beach at first, but she scanned it up and down for at least an hour and didn't see a thing, and she didn't know Ditzy well enough to figure out where she might be.

She scanned the map, and deeply wished that she was better with directions. What's the point of getting a map if you can barely read it? She guessed that she was near some kind of cottages, and as she walked over her suspicions were confirmed. 

The looked in awe at the row of cottages, there appeared to be five of them, making a circle. There was a cottage for each color of the rainbow: Red, orange, yellow, green and purple. She expected them all to be the same, since they surely looked it from the outside. She walked over to the yellow one(As it was the closest to her, right now) and walked up to the door, she put her ear to the door to see if anyone was hiding inside. If there was, and she entered, and they actually had a weapon, it would almost be a death sentence.

She listened, but didn't hear a thing coming from inside, it was dead silent. She checked the door handle, but only to notice that the door was locked. She cursed under her breathe. Now how was she going to get in?

Vinyl Scratch took this as a challenge.

She walked around the house, finding a small window. Lucky for her it looked just big enough for a mare to fit through, but not a stallion. She tried to open the window, but it refused the budge, causing her to curse under her breathe again. She picked up a rock and tossed it through the window. She could have swore she heard a high pitched scream coming from inside as the glass shattered and fell onto the floor. Vinyl Scratch took precautions. She looked through the window and didn't see a thing. Figuring the yelp must have been a figment of her imagination, she hoisted herself through the window, and landed face first on the floor, barely missing the glass. She picked herself off the ground and rubbed her head.

"Augh! Dammit!" She groaned. She was going to feel that in the morning. She looked around when her head stopped throbbing. It was a nice, cozy little cottage. It was fairly bright, and inside was a kitchen(Hopefully with more food, a living room with many comfy chairs and couches, and a very small bathroom. As Vinyl walked further into the house, she heard what sounded like a footstep come from the kitchen. Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly made her way to the kitchen.

"Hello?" She called out, a little frightened.

Suddenly, a bright glint of metal shown under the table as an orange figure thrown itself at her, giving a weak war cry. Vinyl had sidestepped the attack at the last second as the metal object sliced through the air. Vinyl created enough room between her and her attacker to get a good look at her.

"Scootaloo?" Vinyl said in disbelief.

"You'll never take me alive!" She yelled, getting ready to charge. Vinyl held her hooves over her head in submission.

"Whoa whoa wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" Vinyl weakly assured. The filly surprisingly lowered her weapon, which ended up being a full sized sword. How the hell do I get a map, and this little filly gets a sword which she can barely hold!? Vinyl thought as she noticed that the filly struggled to keep the thing in her grasp.

"You're not?" She asked. Vinyl was surprised that Scootaloo was this gullible. If Vinyl had been someone else who was actually playing the game and they had pulled the "I'm not going to hurt you" charade, she'd be dead by now. Vinyl Scratch was not playing, however.

"No! I just came in here for shelter! Honest!" She said, trying to assure the filly to put down her weapon entirely. Even though she wasn't familiar with the weapon, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be able to stab someone with it.

"Good...sorry about that." Scootaloo said, throwing her weapon down on the ground, making a loud clanging sound. Vinyl put her hoof to her lips to tell Scootaloo to be quiet. She still wasn't sure if the rest of the houses were safe. If she randomly picked a house and there was Scootaloo in it, then there has to be ponies in the other houses. Well maybe.

"How did you even get in here?" Vinyl asked after looking at the door, with was bolted shut, making entry from either side improbable.

"Oh, well there was a tiny hole outside the cottage, probably due to termites or something." Scootaloo explained. Well that answered why she came into this cottage and not the others.

"Oh...I'm Vinyl Scratch." She introduced, the filly smiled at her. "When we noticed you were here, we wanted to help you." Vinyl explained. Scootaloo furrowed her brow.

"'We'?"

"Ditzy Doo and Octavia. We got separated from the beginning. I'm trying to find them, but I found you, which is equally as good. Octavia should be glad." Vinyl explained. She walked over to the couch and plopped herself down. Scootaloo went over to Vinyls bag and pulled out the map that she had.

"Nice..."

Vinyl leaned up and smirked at her. "Shut up, you can barely hold that sword of yours." 

"So? I bet you can't even read this map."

Damn, she's good.

"Wanna switch?" Vinyl proposed. Scootaloo sighed.

"Fine. You'd probably get us lost in a heartbeat." Scootaloo replied, taking a look a the map.

"You're totally right about that." Vinyl said, flicking her blue mane out of her face. She thought about taking a nap, but given that everyone was trying to kill her, she decided it might not be the best time or place, so she sat back up.

"So, what's the plan?" Scootaloo asked, looking for guidance. Vinyl raised an eyebrow.

"Plan?"

Scootaloo face hoofed. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Oh," she stood up again and dramatically picked her up so they were looking eye to eye. Scootaloo tried to squirm out of the alabaster pony's grip the whole time, failing miserably. "Well probably to find Octavia and Ditzy of course! But first," She dropped Scootaloo on the floor.

"Hey!" Scootaloo said, rubbing her flank.

"We need to make breakfast!" Vinyl said, digging through her bag now. Scootaloo didn't know if being around this mare is a good idea, or a one way ticket to her untimely death. Scootaloo looked at a nearby clock, which read 7:15 AM. She had known that it was early, but was too freaked out earlier to do anything. Right when she left to ship she just ran blindingly into the jungle, and these cottages were the first thing she found.

Vinyl took out some bread out of her backpack and began to munch on it. "You would have though that since Celestia is behind this she would have packed us some decent food..." Vinyl said. The only other thing in there besides the load of bread was some fruits. How was this supposed to keep her going? She had the appetite of a rhino.

Scootaloo followed Vinyl's example, and began to eat some food out of her own bag as well, picking through the fruits that she didn't like and taking out an apple.

"Scoots," Vinyl asked, her mouth full of bread. "Why are you even here?" Vinyl asked curiously. She didn't expect a filly to have a criminal record.

"Don't call me 'Scoots'" Scootaloo replied. Taking another bite of her apple. "And I really don't want to talk about it..."

"Aw now ya got me even more curious!" Vinyl whined. 

"I'm not telling." Scootaloo declared firmly. Vinyl just decided to accept it.

"Fine...be that way. But sooner or later, you're going to tell me." Vinyl said, smiling at little bit at the purple haired filly. Scootaloo politely smiled back. She wasn't too sure about this...

Suddenly, a knock at the door. Vinyl and Scootaloo stopped cold. She motioned to the filly to quiet down and to hide, which Scootaloo promptly did. Vinyl made her way to the door where she heard the knocking and stood there. Waiting to see if the visitor had left. But when they knocked again, Vinyl knew that the visitor knew that they were indeed there. Vinyl held her sword close to her as she spoke up.

"Who is it?"

"Special delivery!" A sharp, male voice said. At that moment, a green object flew through the window that Vinyl had come in through. She heard laughing and hoofsteps as the visitor trotted away. Vinyls eyes dilated at the sight of what the object was.

A grenade.

"Run, run, run!!" Vinyl screamed, literally picking up Scootaloo, who was still holding the map along with her apple in her mouth. She  ran through the cottage and stood over the grenade itself to get them both through their only exit. She pulled Scootaloo off of her back and pushed her out the window head first, and when Vinyl made sure she was good to go, she hurled herself out of the building as well. When she hit the ground, she rustled Scootaloo to her feet.

"Go!" She screamed, running away and pretty much dragging Scootaloo with her. She only got a few feet away before the grenade exploded, turning the cottage into a flaming ball. Vinyl and Scootaloo got tossed 20 feet by the blast, and landed on the soft grass. Vinyl sat there for a moment, dazed. She felt a strange warmth on her head, and put he hoof to it. She pulled her hoof away to find blood on it. She had been cut, but it could have been worse. She looked over at Scootaloo, who was lying 10 feet away from her. Her eyes were open, but she laid there, unmoving. Too traumatized to move. Vinyl's eyes widened as the black pegasus from before walked over to her, sidestepping the parts of the grass that were still on fire. He picked up a sharp piece of wood from the ruins of the cottage and stood over the little filly, and raised it over his head.

"No! Don't!" Vinyl screamed, but she was unable to get up in her current state. The mohawked pegasus looked over at her surprised. Although he ignored her and raised the debris farther over his head. Scootaloo, no!

"Stop!" A voice came out of the smoke. Vinyl looked around, along with the black pegasus. The voice seemed familiar.

Ditzy Doo and Octavia emerged from the smoke, a little dirty and dusty.

"Leave that filly alone!" Ditzy stated. Octavia stood next to her. She knew that Ditzy was the best job for this. Ditzy took out a kunai.

"Ha! This filly'll be dead by the time that knife thing hits me!" Obviously this stallion was not the brightest, Vinyl thought. He quickly raised up the wood again and brought it down, but not before the Ditzy tossed the kunai, which became embedded in his neck. Scootaloo screamed loudly as the stallion fell ontop of her.

"Get him off me! He's crushing me!" Scootaloo said with the last of her break. Octavia ran over to her and threw the pegasus off of her, resulting in Scootaloo exhaling deeply.

"Thanks..." She said. Ditzy flew over to Vinyl and helped her off the ground. 

"I see your eye doesn't tamper with your accuracy, hm?" Vinyl said, as she finally stood up. Ditzy Doo just smiled at her. Meanwhile, Scootaloo got off the ground and dusted herself off, she looked around, looking for the map. To everyone's amazement, the map remained unsoiled. It took a few minutes, but Vinyl managed to recover the sword as well. Though their food and water was now destroyed.

"Great..." Vinyl said. Octavia nudged her and pointed to her own bag.

"Don't worry, Ditzy and I will share our food." She smiled brightly.

"Great! I'm starved!"

Everyone sat down and ate, nearly eating half of their food supply, to their dismay. It seems that Ditzy and Octavia got better luck with their assigned items. Ditzy now only has two kunais(She refused to take back the one she used on Thunderlane) and Octavia got some sort of small royal shield. 

"I got a map..." Vinyl stated, proudly. Octavia burst out laughing at her friends bad luck. Even the filly got a better item than her. Vinyl was not amused. "Shut up."

They finished eating and packed up the rest of their food, and quickly ran off, away from the wreckage, to look for more shelter and safety.


#18 Thunderlane, dead

24 to go
> Amity Eternal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The time was about 7:20 AM, and Colgate felt groggy. She wasn't used to these hours, she was usually asleep right now, lying in her comfy bed, dreaming of cute things. At the moment, she explored the island, and didn't see so much yet. Either this island is just plan huge, or she isn't good at navigation. Her conscience as leading towards the second one, however.

BOOM

Colgate jumped at the sound of what seemed to be an explosion. She looked up so see a giant mushroom of flames fly into the air. She knew that at least a few ponies died in that explosion...she wanted to know for sure, but she didn't want to go alone, so she kept on walking.

The warm dew of the morning made Colgate shiver tremendously. She was never one for the cold. She liked warmth. She couldn't wait for the sun to shine down on her again, and warm up the planet as well. She held her axe in her hand carefully, in case someone snuck up on her, but even still she didn't plan on using it. There was no way she's contributing in playing this stupid game. 

Various bugs and mosquitoes nipped at her, aching to quench their thirst with her sweet and tangy blood. She swatted them away restlessly.

"Ugh...I would have preferred my weapon be bug spray..." She muttered out loud to herself.

The only things she heard so far that morning was a few screams from ponies she'd rather not know whom. It let her know that this is serious. She knew that she would most likely die out here. She didn't have the kind of "Killer" instincts. Nor any "Survival" instincts. All in all it just proves how screwed she is.

She reached into her bag and took out a canteen, sipping on it briefly before putting it back. This is lame...

The wind began to pick up, so she assumed to be going into the right direction. Suddenly, a voice was heard.

"Hello every pony!" Celestia bellowed from some sort of speaker system. It broadcasted loudly throughout the entire island. Colgate groaned, What does she bucking want now? "I'n quite impressed to say that in only two hours, we have six deaths!" Colgates heart dropped. Six!? That's insane! 

"First to go are number's 25 and 30, Spitfire and Soarin. Looks like the Wonderbolts are going to be recruiting sometime soon." Colgate was getting angry. Celestia was acting as if this was a sick joke! "Then we have number 29, Berry Punch," Colgate remembered her. She wasn't surprised that she'd get eliminated so early in the game, being the clumsy drunk she is. "Number 23, Meadow Song. And number 12, Caramel!" 

Colgate didn't know Meadow Song, but Caramel? Wasn't he that colt cuddler that dated Big Mac a while back? "And lastly, number 18, Thunderlane! So far so good, keep it up everyone. Also, to start, take note, that there will only be one area that will be blocked off as of right now, the temple!" Colgate didn't even know that this place even had a temple. But she made a mental note to steer clear of it. 

"And with that, I bit ye all a good day!" Celestia said, before the speaker cut out. What nerve she had. She's enjoying this too much!

Colgate sighed, she knew death was coming for her soon, but she didn't care. She tried to make the best of what she had right now...which all in all wasn't very much...just a bag. But even still.

She walked into some sort of grass clearing and immediately noticed some sort of cliff. She also noticed a yellow object right on the edge...no...that couldn't be...

"Fluttershy!" Colgate yelled, running over to Fluttershy. Colgate didn't know what to do except to poke and prod her to make sure she was still alive. Celestia didn't say she was, but she sure looked it. "Wake up!" Colgate yelled, Fluttershy barely even breathed. 

Colgate took out her canteen again and poured the cold water right over her face, and after much coughing and sputtering, Fluttershy opened her eyes.

"Huh?" She said. Colgate hugged her.

"You're okay!" She said, Fluttershy just looked up at her. 

"Who are you?" 

"Colgate."

Fluttershy got to her feet and dusted herself off, a little disoriented and woozy. "Please don't come near me..." Fluttershy said backing away. "I don't want you to die too!"

Colgate cocked her head. "I'm not going to die. I'm perfectly safe right now!" She assured. Fluttershy continued to back away.

"My friends are dead...and I killed their murderer..." She confessed. "I'm a bad pony! I don't want to get you killed!" Tears fell from Fluttershy's eyes.

"You don't have to worry about getting me killed..." Colgate said, looking over the cliff. Seeing Caramels remains at the bottom. "Whoa! You killed Caramel!?" She asked, Fluttershy hid behind her mane and sobbed a little louder. "I mean, did he attack you?"

"...yes. He killed Meadow and Berry..." Fluttershy replied.

"No way!" Colgate replied, she decided that maybe meager conversation would get Fluttershy to calm down a little bit. After all, she did just see three ponies die. "So you just threw him off the cliff? Never knew you had it in ya."

"Yeah, me neither..." Fluttershy looked at the ground, enveloped in memories.

"Hey look..." Colgate comforted, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay, things happen. It's not your fault. It was self defense." Colgate said. A smile appeared on Fluttershy's face.

"Thanks." She whispered.

"You're welcome."

Colgate turned to walk back into the jungle, expecting Fluttershy to follow her. Instead, she stopped her.

"Don't go that way."

"Why? What's over there?"

"Meadow and Berry."

Colgate felt a twinge of sadness before turning left, and entering the jungle that way instead. "Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine. I just didn't want you to go over there and discover them, since it's pretty...um...grotesque." She replied. Colgate felt terrible now.

"Come on, let's get going. I heard a really big explosion earlier that I want to check out." Colgate said, making her way down a paved trail through the jungle, Fluttershy trotted along right behind her.

"But-But what if the ponies that caused it are still there?" Fluttershy asked. She really couldn't handle losing another friend...

"I doubt whoever was close enough to that blast is still alive...to be honest. That's probably how Spitfire and Soarin di-" She covered her mouth. She forgot that Fluttershy wasn't awake to hear the radio announcement.

"Both wonder bolts are dead!?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes formed water in them. Oops..

"Anyways...it's best to stay away from a temple of some sort. Just so you know.." Colgate replied, Fluttershy only nodded this time and continued to follow the blue earth pony.

Colgate and Fluttershy trotted in the direction of where Colgate saw the blast earlier, and to be honest it was quite farther away than expected. As they walked, Fluttershy's hope began to grow. She hoped that this time, no one could get in the way of her friendship, that's her and Colgate could make it out of there together. 

Fluttershy had never had any friends, and she knew exactly why. She had a slight tendency to be very shy. It always hurt her chances to meet other ponies, as she would freeze up most of the time, not even speaking. She had always wished that she had had more friends, but instead she resorted to making friends with many woodland creatures near her home. Although it wasn't the same,  it had to do...

But now, everything was going to change for the better.

Meadow Song flashed through her head. Those were his last words before...

"I think we're almost there.." Colgate said back to her. To be honest, she was surprised that Fluttershy was the only pony she had met so far. Fluttershy snapped back to reality as she saw smoke begin to form in the sky.

Colgate was the first to see the remains. The blast must have been huge, since the cottage that was there is completely gone. All that's left is some wood, and a large black burn mark on the ground. Fire and smoke filled the  area. Colgate noticed that the orange cottage right next to it has also taken some significant damage, as all the windows have been broken.

Fluttershy noticed the remains right behind her, and gasped at all the destruction.

"Who could have done something like this...?" Fluttershy asked, Colgate just shook her head unknowingly.

"I have no idea, but what I'm wondering is what even did this in the first place..."

"Maybe some sort of gas leak?" Fluttershy proposed. Colgate just shrugged, she had no clue. Although a gas leak seemed likely. "I also think I know who caused it.".

Colgate's ears jolted upright. "You do? Who?"

Fluttershy said nothing and pointed to the pool of blood on the ground near the cottage. Colgate ran full speed towards the strange pool of blood, only to find a black stallion. Colgate stared in awe at the body, while Fluttershy almost vomited.

"Whoa...this must be Thunderlane..." He was lying on his back, with a few burn marks on his body, next to him was a few grenades. Colgate didn't touch them. She didn't know how they worked and was afraid of setting one off.

"This is a lot of blood coming from a grenade...do you think he purposely blew himself up?" Fluttershy asked her.

"No, he'd probably be in pieces, he was at least 20 feet away." Colgate curiously flipped him over, and gasped as she saw the kunai stuck in his neck. As she did, it unjammed a little bit, causing blood profusely squirt from his neck. Colgate took a few steps back when she realized she almost got covered in his blood. "That's disgusting!" She yelled. Fluttershy looked away.

"I don't think it's safe here..." Fluttershy stated. Colgate sighed.

"Look, it's safe. Who ever was here obviously left." She stated. 

"I'm not too sure about that..." A very rough voice said right behind them. Both ponies stopped and looked behind them to see Snowflake, emerging out of the bushes. Colgates eyes widened as she saw what his was holding in his hooves: a crossbow.

"Fluttershy get out of here!" Colgate gestured to Fluttershy to run, but she didn't move. Snowflake raised the crossbow and fired the arrow straight though Colgates right eye. Fluttershy could literally hear the pop her eyeball made upon impact. Death was instantaneous for Colgate and she slid to the ground.

"No!" Fluttershy cried. "Not again!" She lied down and cried on Colgates stomach. "...Don't leave me too..."

Snowflake let out a hollow laugh at Fluttershy's pain and lowered his crossbow. He was going to have fun killing the timid little mare. He made his was closer for her. Fluttershy stood up, and observed the situation. She can't duck this time, or jump for that matter. There was nothing she could do...or wanted to do either. She had given up. All of her friends were dead...she didn't care anymore. She wanted Snowflake to kill her. Everypony she met died anyways. It's better this way, otherwise she might meet some other unlucky, fortunate soul.

She closed her eyes and waited for Snowflake to get closer. When Snowflake was close enough to her, he laughed again at her puny stature, as he towered over her. Fluttershy was shaking uncontrollably from fear. She hoped that it would be quick.

Snowflake picked up the mare by her neck, slowly hoisting her up into the air. The poor mare struggled to breathe, wheezing and gasping for precious air. He walked forward to the foundation where the cottage used to be. Where he found a foot long piece of metal still sticking straight up into the air that still survived the explosion. Fluttershy's eyes didn't open at all, and didn't know what to expect. 

Suddenly, he body slammed her fragile body onto to foundation, the piece of metal easily pierced her skin, and her lung. Fluttershy opened her eyes and immediately spat out blood, which got on her cheeks, chin, and chest. The pain hit her like a wall of bricks. She coughed and lied there, afraid to move. Afraid to make the pain worse.

"Haha, now you stay there." Snowflake said, walking away, he looked into her bag which she had previously dropped and pulled out her weapon: A climbing rope. Snowflake shrugged and tossed the useless item away. Then he went over to Colgates back, his eyes lit up in joy as he saw her axe, he took it and swung it around in the air for some simple fun.

Fluttershy watched as her and Colgate were robbed. She moved her gaze over to Colgate's body, as death finally came for her, slowly and painfully.

"I....I'm c-coming...fri...ends..." She wheezed,for it hurt her to speak. She smiled at the fact that she would soon be reunited with her friends. Eventually, death took her, a smile still spread across her bloody face.


#16 Colgate, dead
#5 Fluttershy, dead

22 to go 

	


	
	
> Aromatherapy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Trixie wasn't doing so well. She felt like doing nothing but vomiting at this point. Her mind was starting to elude her, but lucky for her, she was able to keep her sanity. She felt as if death was just moments away, and it frightened her beyond belief. When she first left the ship, she had no idea what to do first. She didn't have the first clue when it came to things like survival. After she made a big scene inside of the ship, so she had to learn how to, quickly.

She really didn't want to play, much like other ponies in this game. But unlike her companion, Blueblood. He almost killed her on the spot when he found her, but good thing she boasted about winning earlier. Because instead of killing her, he asked her to accompany him, as she would be a "useful asset". Trixie feared about him finding out about her unwillingness to play. 

She didn't even want to encounter Twilight Sparkle, because if she did, she knew that she was going to have to make a scene when she has to kill her, to keep up the charade. She was going be forced to kill at that point.

Trixie looked up at the reflective and indestructible shield that towered over the island and sighed. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one. Maybe, she would end up winning, somehow.

Blueblood and Trixie were simply walking through the forest, not speaking. The more Trixie spent time around Blueblood, the more scared she became of him. He was just so creepy. And his disregard for other ponies made him more nerve-wracking to be around. Trixie's surprised he didn't just go on a killing spree already. She didn't even know why he needed her in the first place. She as considering attacking him, with her weapon, a rusty, hoof sized gardening spade. But she knew for sure that he would kill her fast with his weapon, a very sharp and long swiss army knife. 

As time grew on, she noticed that Blueblood must not trust her either, since she was usually walking in front of him the whole time. That, or he just liked staring at her flank, which only infuriated her. But she contained her anger, and instead tried to slow down, so they would soon be walking side by side. But the more Trixie slowed down, the slower Bluebloods steps became. It came to the point that Trixie had thought that she was moving so slow that they had actually stopped.

Trixie did not like this at all.

After a little while of walking, Celestia's booming voice came out of no where once again. Did two hours pass that quickly?

"Hello, players!" Trixie wasn't happy with being referred to as a 'Player'. "It has been two hours, and it's time for the daily updates." There was an audible rustle of what sounded like papers in the background, and Celestia cleared her throat. "Only two deaths this time. #5 ,Fluttershy, and #16, Colgate. So sad." Her tone made her sound very insincere, but no one could tell for sure if that was intended. "Once again, I will block off another area. You have 5 minutes to leave the cliffside if you happen to be there. Alright players, keep going and hang in there!" Celestia said before the recording cut. 

"Only two? That says something." Blueblood stated, still behind the blue mare. Trixie sighed as she remembered the stallions presence.

"What does it say?" 

"It means that there needs to be more deaths. Otherwise this game could take days...I haven't got time to waste." He muttered. Trixie got nervous at the way he phrased that.

Trixie didn't even respond, not even knowing how to reply to him. Suddenly, a strange noise filled her ears and she stopped, causing Blueblood to run straight into her rump.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" He said loudly, but Trixie shushed him. She knew what she had heard, voices. As soon as she shushed him out, they stopped and got eerily silent. Trixie peered through the bushes and saw an orange mare, with green eyes and large hair, standing next to another beige colored filly, with a scarlet mane. They almost looked directly at her as they spoke.

"I heard someone! I know it!" The orange one said, hugging her backpack, staring hesitantly into the brush where Trixie and Blueblood resided. The red maned mare looked on as well, standing up and declaring dominance.

"Whoever you are...show yourself!" She demanded, holding up a machete. Trixie didn't dare move. "You have five seconds before I come over there myself!"

"Rose..." The orange one moaned. She didn't want her new friend to leave her here. The beige mare turned toward her.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." She turned back to the jungle.

"One...!"

"Hello!" Blueblood said joyously as he stood up, and gave a friendly smile to the mares. You nitwit! What the hell do you think you're doing?!

The two mares looked at him, and Trixie knew the jig was up, so she stood up as well right next to Blueblood.  "Who are you?" The orange mare asked. Blueblood gasped, hurt.

"You don't know me?!" He fumed. He quickly calmed himself down. "I am Prince Blueblood...royalty among these parts..." He motioned over to Trixie, as a que to introduce herself.

"And I am Trixie! The Great and Powerful!" She boasted arrogantly, and reluctantly. She could have swore she almost saw the scarlet maned mare roll her eyes.

"Well, leave. We don't want to be associated with you." She said, before turning away from the two. "We wish to have nothing to do with you." She swished her tail. Blueblood looked like he was going to explode at the mare for her rudeness, but decided against it. Wow, he's really good at holding in his anger...

"Wait...Rosie come here for a second..." The orange mare said, hobbling a ways away from Blueblood and Trixie. Her friend obeyed. With her injured leg, she knew that if she was going to make an attempt to move, what she has to say must be serious. They walked far enough way so their visitors couldn't hear them, and even still, they didn't take any chances. They leaned in close and whispered to each other. "Look, I think you're being rash about this..."

Roseluck shot her friend a determined stare. "What!?" Carrot Top was intimidated, but didn't back down. 

"I think we should give them a chance. Let them hang with us for a little b-"

"Are you crazy!? They'll both kill us!" Roseluck argued. She sighed loudly. "Carrot Top...I suppose you weren't there when she was called on the ship. She was right after you and bragged about how 'she's going to win this' and that this'll 'be too easy'. She's playing the game just like the rest of them." She exclaimed. Carrot Top didn't know how to respond at first, until she just let her feelings do it for themselves.

"I have a feeling that says we can trust them. I have a feeling that the blue pony is faking anyways. No one can be that arrogant." She said, smiling. Roseluck face hoofed before finally giving in.

"Ugh...fine..." And with that Roseluck was about to walk away, but almost forgot her friends condition, and helped her back to the campsite to and awaiting Trixie and Blueblood.

"Sorry about my friends rudeness." Carrot Top stated. Roseluck just huffed.

"Oh it's quite alright," Blueblood assured, a generous grin on his lips. "And if you don't mind me asking, who are you two lovely mares?"

"This is Roseluck," the orange mare pointed to her friend, and then to herself. "I'm Carrot Top. Nice to meetcha!" She laughed. Roseluck almost pitied her friends lack of understanding and common sense.

"Likewise." Blueblood said. Trixie watched on silently. Carrot Top almost shoved Trixie and Blueblood(Who put up a good fight when being touched. Especially when her hooves touched his "Luxurious" mane.) to the campsite. Which was fairly small. It was nothing more than the mares' sleeping bags around a campfire, which was crackling loudly. At this moment, Trixie noticed how late it has gotten. It seemed to be about 5 pm.

Carrot Top was pleased with how well she thought everything was going to turn out. She was glad that she was able to get through this, and also that she had Roseluck to help her. She couldn't do much on her own, especially with her leg. It hurt even to put just a little pressure on it. She had recently broke her leg in an accident caused by a root in her garden that she tripped on. It had healed since then, but it still hurts, nonetheless. When she left the ship she was overjoyed when she found Roseluck, and she offered to help her out, and flabbergasted when she found out they both had a love for gardening.

As night dimmed down, and the stars came out to play, everyone sat around the campfire for warmth, even Blueblood, as the night's chill effected everyone equally.

Everyone was partaking in idle conversation, such as life back home, their occupations, and such. But eventually, things just got awkward.

Trixie was not one for awkward conversations, so she excused herself into the restroom. 

"I'll go with, to make sure every things...alright." Roseluck added. As much as she didn't like Trixie nor Blueblood, she didn't want them to get killed because they went into the woods alone, and at night. Carrot Top seemed a little concerned, but Roseluck comforted her.

"I'll be fine, and so will you. I'll only be gone a few minutes." She assured, before her and Trixie disappeared into the woods, leaving Carrot Top and Blueblood alone near the fire.

After a few seconds went by, and Blueblood knew they were alone, he scooted closer to Carrot Top and smiled coyly. 
"So, just for the sake of conversation...are you a virgin?" Carrot Top blushed immensely and gave Blueblood a look of disgust.

"What!? No!" She lied. She didn't want to just blatantly say it, also she didn't want to talk about her love life, which in all honestly wasn't much...

"Oh really?" He got inappropriately close to her face and whispered in her ear, "I know when you're lying." He stated. Carrot Top tried to stand up and run away, but Bluebloods magic held her down. He also used his magic levitate out his swiss army knife. Carrot Top was afraid for her life now. Blueblood released the spell holding Carrot Top in place, as he was sure she wasn't going anywhere out of fear. "No, stay with me a while. Won't you?"

Carrot Tops heart started to beat faster as Blueblood made his way on top of her, his weight almost crushing her. 

"No! Go away!" She struggled, but her injured foreleg prevented her from properly removing Blueblood off of her. "Don't!"

Blueblood was patient, but her incessant struggling was beginning to annoy him to the point where he pinned her down using his magic once again, causing Carrot Top to scream loudly.

About a half mile away, Trixie and Roseluck heard the screams.

"Carrot Top!" Roseluck shouted as she began to run back to the campsite, fear hitting her. Trixie wasted no time following her, she didn't want to be left back there in the dark, after all.

Blueblood, meanwhile, heard Roseluck's shouts for her friend. He analyzed the situation thoroughly, and he knew that he must not let the orange earth pony live, or risk giving away his and Trixie's charade. He levitated out the swiss army knife and with one quick magical jab, stabbed her in her throat.

He released his magic when her blood squirted all over him, getting on his face and mane. Carrot Top immediately covered her neck with her uninjured hoof when he removed himself off of her. She let out an agonizing wail full of pain and sorrow at being tricked, and almost used.

"Rose...!" She cracked, the blood wetting her chest and the soft grass below her, a darkness tried to overwhelm her, but she forced death away from her. Adrenaline coursing through her veins, but unfortunately exited out her knife wound. At that very moment, Roseluck shoved her way through the brush, only to see what was going on.

She saw Carrot Top, blood and tears stained her face, and an appalled Blueblood on the other side of the campfire, a mock look of shock and fear on his face.

"She attacked me! She tried to kill me! I had to do it!" He wailed in desperation in another attempt to fool Roseluck, who didn't believe even a single word. She ran over to Carrot Top, and knelt by her, hoping to speak to her one last time. But it was too late, she had passed.

"You...! You can't just...." Roseluck was fighting back tears, she was on the verge of breaking down.

"She attacked me!" Blueblood repeated. But Roseluck still didn't listen. She looked up from her dead friend, and glared at the prince. Her face contorted into a look of pure hatred and she screamed into the sky unintelligible words of frustration. Trixie backed off into the brush out of fear.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" She screamed, tears ran down her face, but her face still remained devilish. "She trusted you! I trusted you!" 

"But she-" 

"No she bucking didn't!" Roseluck argued. "I know her, she wouldn't attack you! She's the one who convinced me to trust you too!" Roseluck yelled, looking over at Trixie, who ducked down back into the brush. "You really expect me to believe that she attacked you with her injuries?!"

Blueblood was dumbfounded, he hadn't known any of the previous information about the mares conversation, and didn't put it into thought. His eyes widened as he knew what was going to happen if he didn't figure a way out of this fast.

"B-But it's true, honest!" He argued.

"You're a prince, since when are you ever honest?" Roseluck said, taking out her machete. Before Blueblood could get up from his position on the ground, Roseluck was on top of him. In an instant, she took the machete and began to slash his stomach, all the while screaming with fury. Blueblood screamed as his insides where being tore open, blood from Carrot Top mixing with his own. He groaned in anguish as he felt one of the slashes tear into smaller intestine. As Roseluck kept blindy cutting, Blueblood's screams began to die down, until Roseluck finished him off by jabbing the machete into his heart. After the attack when the mare decided to catch her breathe, the prince died.

Trixie watched on, disgusted and afraid by what she had just witnessed. She didn't know what to do, and was away that'd she'd be next. She was glad that Blueblood was gone...but he didn't have to be massacred like that...

Roseluck got off the stallion. Blood stained her already red mane, along with her face, and most of her body. She got up and stared at Trixie intently, whom ducked back down into the brush. Roseluck silently walked over to her and hauled her out of the brush by her mane, still hate filled.

"I better not see you for the rest of the time I spend on this island. If I see you, I'll come after you next." Roseluck said, dropping the blue mare. Trixie nodded. "Good, now go!" Roseluck shouted. Trixie hesitated, before walking away from the scene of Prince Bluebloods and Carrot Tops murder. She heard footsteps as she walked away either headed towards Carrot Top, or the jungle itself. Trixie didn't know what to do this. This is her first time being independent ever since this bloodbath started. She was clueless.

Trixie heard Roseluck's scream as it echoed throughout the entire island, a sound full of anger and serendipity, but she didn't dare turn back.

Meanwhile, Pinkamena picked up Roseluck's already bloodied machete and slipped it onto her own backpack. She cackled silently to herself. Oh, how this is my favorite kind of game...


#24 Blueblood, dead
#7 Carrot Top, dead
#10 Roseluck, dead

19 to go
> Serendipity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	What everyone in this game didn't know was that there was a pair of relatives inside the battle arena: Applejack and Braeburn. No one had known of their relativity, because they had kept it a secret, because neither one of them liked the other. Ever nice the game started, all they've really done is bicker. They couldn't even remember what fueled their hatred, but all they did know was that it stemmed back from when they were just foals. Applejack didn't even want to travel in the first place with him, after all, all he did was drive her bonkers. But she decided that he's, somehow, better than no one. Also that's it wouldn't be safe to travel alone.

"Where are we even headed?" Braeburn asked her. Braeburn liked to let her cousin walk in front of him, for some reason.  Applejack concluded that this was incase they were attacked. The attack would go for her since she would most likely be closer, and he can make a break for it. But she didn't jump to conclusions.

"Ah don' know!" Applejack shot back. She reached into her bag and pulled out her weapon, night vision goggles. Oh how she was glad that she got this instead of something stupid, although she was a little jealous of Braeburn and the two smoke bombs he somehow acquired. Although she didn't know what use they could possibly have.

They were hesitantly trotting through the jungle, jumping over various plants and foliage on the ground. While they were walking they discovered that there was indeed a path, but she decided that since Braeburn didn't see it, that it's best to stay off the trails where most other ponies would travel.

Applejack felt a slight chill on the top of her head, and habitually reached up to pull down her hat, only to realize that it's not there for the umpteenth time that night, and groaned.

"Ah just don't get why they had ta take our hats..." Applejack commented. Braeburn nodded along with his cousin. Right now, he was quite scared, although he didn't want to show it. Applejack would never let him live it down if she knew. Also, he didn't feel like fighting either.

"It just makes no sense as to why ah'm even 'ere." He moaned. As far as Braeburn knew, he lived a good and honest life, much like Applejack.

"So that little incident down at the train station that one time was just-" That was enough to jog his memories and quickly hushed her.

"Shut up!"

"Hey!" Applejack, being the older of them both, stopped and turned around to her cousin. Applejack glared at him, but he couldn't tell due to her thick green goggles. "Don't talk ta me like that!"

"Ah'll talk to ya as ah see fit!" He huffed.

Applejack ignored that last comment before scoffing loudly, reminding her of their situation. "Quite down! Do ya want us ta get kill out 'ere, consarn it!?" She asked, before turning around again. Braeburn was going to continue arguing, since he was now indeed in the mood, but didn't. He couldn't mistake the fact that her cousin was right, and ultimately quieted down.

After a few more minutes, Applejack spotted something in the darkness and ducked down. It was too far away to make out what it was, but she did know that it wasn't a tree. Braeburn looked around for a moment confused at what was going on before Applejack grunted and shoved him down next to her.

"What's the big deal?" Braeburn asked, not enjoying Applejack's roughness towards him.

"There's somethin' over there." Applejack replied, messing with the knobs on her goggles. "Either it's ah building or somethin'...."

"Well...you're the one wit the goggles. Ya tell me!" Braeburn said. Once Applejack finished focusing her goggles, she looked to see that it did appear to be some larger wooden building. It was pretty worn down, most likely from rain and rust, and the sign was very difficult to read. But Applejack quickly discovered what it said, "Saloon".

"It's...ah tavern?" Applejack said, confused. Braeburn's eyes lit up and promptly grabbed her goggles and put them on his own head. Applejack became quite dizzy as her eyes adjusted to the dark. "Hey!"

"Hold on ah minute..." He ushered, before taking a look himself. When he saw the tavern, a great smile pierced his face. "It's just like the one in Appleoosa!" He cheered, he tossed the goggles to the ground(Almost breaking them, which would have infuriated Applejack. Luckily they were fine when Applejack picked them back up) and ran towards the Saloon, cheering the whole way.

"Hey! Don't just run off all willy nilly!" She yelled at him, remembering to keep her voice down, before grabbing her bag, the goggles, and Braeburn's bag, since he had forgotten it in his hurry.

Braeburn entered the alehouse, which was substantially dark and musty. A smell instantly filled his nostrils upon entering. He looked around for a light switch, which took a him a while. By the time he had found it, Applejack was already in there with him, and had set their things on the table nearest the door. She switched on the light with the help of her goggles. She hadn't thought about the mixture of the light with the goggles until the last second when the light began to burn her eyes, she almost tossed the goggles off of her face and onto the table.

"Gah!!" She yelled, rubbing her eyes. Braeburn just laughed at her as he inspected the room. The tavern had many tables used for drinking all around, along with a bar. His eyes lit up once again as he looked behind the counter to see many bottles on apple cider behind the bar.

"Hey look cuz!" He pointed, grabbing a bottle and holding it proudly. "Just like back at home." Applejack couldn't help but chuckle at her cousin's excitement.

Braeburn eagerly grabbed a cup and began to pour the cider, his lips drooling before Applejack stopped him. 

"No!" She said quietly, not sure if anyone else was in here, although she doubted it. "Do ya really think that now is ah good time for that?"

Braeburn grinned. "All the time is ah good time when it comes ta apple cider!" He replied. Applejack only rolled her eyes before tossing the cup over her left shoulder. "Don't. That's not a good idea." She gave Braeburn a cold, hard, and serious stare. "This is ah death match, the last thing ya wanna do is get drunk."

Braeburn sighed and stared at the apple cider in front of him and put it away. "Aw..." Applejack  looked to her left and saw a small hallway, on the wall right next to it, was a sign that read "Kitchen", and an arrow pointing down the hall.

"Come ahn." She hoisted her cousin away from the drinks and towards the hall. "There might be food in the kitchen." She stated. She was making a mental checklist of the things she needed. Shelter, she could check that off for right now. Water and food? They had about three days worth, but food and water are always a necessity. 

They made their way down the dark hall, unfortunately, there were no light switches that they were able to find. So they had to manage with the darkness. A bright light shone in the distance coming from a doorway. They both quickly trotted towards the door and into the room.

Applejack smiled happily as she gazed upon all the food in the room. There were literally shelves upon shelves of food, including fruits, vegetables, and various meals. Her mouth watered. Braeburn shoved her aside and ran into the room, almost knocking her over.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed. "Lookit all this food!" He was running to and fro, looking inspecting all the food.

"Be careful Braeburn...I have a bad feeling about this...." Applejack said cautiously. Braeburn didn't seem to want to listen.

But in all seriousness, this place completely creeped Applejack out, she really wanted to leave. To Braeburn, this was a dream come true, he thought that this couldn't get any better, they have shelter, water, and food. But he's not seeing the big picture.

"Braburn..." She started. Braeburn still didn't seem to be listening as he was investigating the room. 

"What do ya want now?" He asked, not even looking in her direction.

"Ah don't think it's a good idea we stay 'ere." She replied. Braeburn stopped and looked at his cousin, stunned. 

"What do ya mean!? What else could we ask for? Water, food, an' shelter! Ah don't know much about survival, but what ah do know is that's what ya need!" He argued. Applejack shook her head.

"None o' that would matter if this whole place isn't safe to begin with." She said, looking around. Something here just threw her off...

Braeburn laughed. "What makes ya think this place ain't safe?" He asked her, a smirk on his lips as he knew she wouldn't have a thoughtful answer. Applejack sighed. 

"Something 'ere just doesn't seem right..." She said, beginning to inspect the room herself. She looked down at the glossy tiled floor, up to the light blue ceiling. the kitchen was much more clean and sparkly than the actual tavern part of the building. Braeburn, with a victorious smirk, went back to investigating.

Besides the food, there was nothing very special about the kitchen, the only other things that were in there was a stove, and an empty refrigerator. Braeburn took out his bag and starting stuffing food into it.

"We're gonna have a great dinner tonight!" He hollered. Applejack just rolled her eyes again. When Braeburn grabbed an old jar full of fruit, it only tilted.

"Hey what gives?" He said out loud. Applejack turned just in time to see her cousin drop down as a 3 by 4 slab of the tiles slid out from under the yellow stallion. He yelped out and desperately tried to grab the edge of the floor, but failed and fell down 20 feet below to the hard dirt pit and landing on his stomach, dropping his bag, and most of the jars and food in it breaking upon impact. "AUGH!"

Applejack ran over to the pit and looked down, Braeburn had a scrape on his chin, but other than that he looked fine. 

"Are ya okay Braeburn!?" She yelled down to him. Braeburn looked sadly at his backpack and unwittingly dumped out the contents.

"Aww the food's all banged up now!" He exclaimed. Applejack deadpanned.

"Are ya kiddin' me?"

"What?"

Applejack looked around for something she could use to help the stallion out of the hole. "Ah told ya this there was something odd about this place." She sad pridefully. Braeburn only grumbled angrily to himself.

The orange mare grabbed a mop and ran back to the hole, and lowered it down. "Here, grab on ta this!" She suggested. the second Braeburn grabbed onto it, feedback was heard coming from a speaker.

Uh oh.

"Hello everypony! I trust you all are getting a good night's sleep? I only have three deaths to report for the last few hours..." Applejack was starting to wonder if she was only reading out names when she felt like, since she was pretty sure that the last few deaths before these were many hours ago. "We have lost #7, the beloved Carrot Top..."

Carrot Top? Applejack knew her! She used to run the carrot stand right next to her in the market! She was so nice though...she'd always exchange goods with the mare on the off days...

"Also we have #10, Roseluck. And..." Celestia paused, and let out a hurt sigh. "My dearest nephew...Blueblood...poor baby..." She said sympathetically. Like most ponies, Applejack and Braeburn were both glad that he was gone. "Now, the next place that will be off limits is the Tavern."

Applejack and Braeburn's hearts both stopped cold.

"You have five minutes to leave, or else..." Celestia let out a cold laugh. "Well, you know. Have a good night everyone!" The announcement then came to an abrupt end.

"Help me up consarn it!" Braeburn yelled, bringing Applejack back to reality. They need to get out of here!

Applejack lowered the mop and Braeburn grabbed the end of it, but when Applejack tried to lift up, the stallion lost his grip and the mop fell down the hold next to Braeburn.

"Come ahn!" Applejack's heart was racing, she was running out of options. She was afraid of dying, and what she didn't know was the her cousin was subconsciously losing his mind. Fear was coursing through the blood of both the relatives.

"I'm sorry!" Braeburn yelled as he raised the mop back up so Applejack could grab it again. It took a moment for her to realize that he had done so, since she had left to go find another object. "Come back ere'!"

Applejack ran back to the hole, and noticed what Braeburn was trying to do, and promptly grabbed the end of the stick carefully, gripping it as tightly as she could. Braeburn picked up his back and grabbed the mop. The weight was too much for Applejack to carry, and she dropped the mop once again.

"Forget the bag!" Applejack shouted angrily. Her patience was slowly dying.

Braeburn grunted and threw the bag to the side of the pit. Smoke bombs really wouldn't come in handy anyways. He picked up the mop again, and raised it up to Applejack slowly. "Third times the charm?". The mare swore she could see tears coming down the stallions face as he said that, pleadingful eyes looked up at her.

She was starting to lose hope, and a part of her mind was telling her to leave him. To make a break for it and save yourself while she could. But she refused to listen. "Ah'm not leaving family behind dammit!" She screamed as she grabbed the mop. Braeburn smiled up at her, as he held onto the mop for dear life, as Applejack backed up, hauling the yellow earth pony up from the pit. As soon as Braeburn was close enough, he hopped from the mop and clung onto the edge of the pit. The mare dropped the mop and helped up her cousin.

"Thank you! Thank you!" He yelled, as he hugged his cousin. She gave him a quick hug back before she grabbed him by the mane and ran full speed into the hallway.

Braeburn and Applejack jogged to the exit of the hallway, only to see the doors to the entrance of the saloon. They both let out a relieved sigh as they thought about their safety. Applejack picked her things off of the table that she had recently left as Braeburn opened the door and dropped to the floor.

"No!" He shouted. Applejack ran to him to look outside herself. 

They were too late.	

A blue shield cut them off from the rest of the jungle, almost like a dome. Applejack ran for the dome and kicked it with her hind legs, screaming and grunting subconsciously.

"No! That's not fair!" She shouted. Braeburn picked himself off the ground and stepped out of the tavern.

A few kicks later, and the dome is still intact. Applejack's legs were throbbing in pain.

"It's too late, cuz." He said, tears stained his face and his eyes were bloodshot.

"No! It's not! Help me break this thing!" Applejack argued.

With those words, Applejack looked a the top of the dome and noticed a large hose spouting from it, pointed straight at the tavern. The spout silently leaked out a purple gas, and Applejack knew exactly what it was.

"It's poison gas!" She yelled, bucking the walls once again, grunting in pain. "Help me!" She pleaded to Braeburn. The earth pony shook his head.

"Applejack, it's too late." He whispered. Applejack's eyes dilated to microscopic proportions as she saw the purple gas completely overtake the tavern that they were just in, and slowly make it's way toward Braeburn.

"Braeburn, please!" She begged, kicking the wall one last time. Braeburn didn't even respond. He just turned around and watched as the gas made it's way toward him.

"It's too late." He said, as the gas passed through his legs. The stallion inhaled the noxious poison, the poison stung his lungs, as if his insides were full of angry bees. He groaned at the pain and clutched his chest. His throat burned like never before and he felt his knees give way. He fell to the ground.

"No! Braeburn!" Applejack shouted, pounding on the walls. She looked out the shield only to see the rainbow maned mare that she saw inside the ship. Applejack hollered to her, and the cyan pegasus eagerly turned her way. Apparently, the shield's weren't sound proof. The rainbow maned pegasus walked over to the shield and tapped it, and shrugged.

"Help us! Please..." She begged, as the poison was mere inches away from her body. She looked back to her her relative, lying on the ground, completely covered in the poison. He wasn't breathing.

The rainbow mare peeked over Applejack and to see what she was looking at, her heart dropped as she saw the stallion lying dead on the ground. The mare didn't know what to do however.

"Please..." The gas was now crawling up her body. The pegasus looked around desperately, trying to think of something she could do to help.

That's when she realized she couldn't. If she broke the shield, the poison would kill her as well. As well as half the island. 

Applejack unwillingly breathed in the poison, and clutched her neck with both of her hooves. The poison burned her throat and her lungs like sulphuric acid. The earth pony's vision got blurred and her mind soon began to die. The rainbow pegasus sobbed, unable to help in anyway.

"I'm so sorry!" She wailed as she rested her hooves on the outside of the shield. Applejack was losing consciousness and turned around from the cyan mare. She felt her award winning legs begin to get out as she slumped to the ground and rested against the shield. It only took a few more moments before both the relatives died.

Rainbow Dash stared wide eyed as she saw the strangers die right in front of her. She felt helpless, she should have done something. She just felt so bad. She lied down, right there next to the shield, and cried.


#17 Braeburn, dead
#21 Applejack, dead

17 to go
	
	
> Safekeep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was the dead of night, almost two in the morning, when Bon Bon jolted up from her sleep in a cold sweat, rustling her sleeping bag. For some reason, her ears rung like bells. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes while yawning like a foal and looked around for her companion.

"Lyra?" She called out. Bon Bon and her were both alternating keeping watch incase there were attacked during the night, and it was her friend's turn as of now. Bon Bon was dead tired, although she couldn't sleep if her friend wasn't there next to her. "Hello?"

The only sound she heard was the crackling of the fire, and the nearby crickets. She looked around, she didn't see her friend anywhere. She scooted herself out of the sleeping bag and stood up, the fear of loneliness slowly filling her. As soon as she did, her head began to spin to the point where she thought she was going to pass out. Ugh...stupid high blood pressure. she deduced that it was caused by all the sweets she makes from time to time. But there's nothing she could do about it now.

Bon Bon reluctantly left the campsite. Lucky for her, she already had a slight idea where she went, since their campsite it right next to a trail in the jungle. She looked at Lyra's side of the campsite to see that her items are still there, including her randomly selected First Aid Kit(Bon Bon couldn't stop commenting on how lucky she was), and her backpack.

The beige mare walked down the path, slowly and carefully. She squinted to see in the dark, but failing to see. But she forced herself on. She used the light from the campsite to light her way for a few feet, but as she gained some distance from it it very much began to dim.

"Lyra?" Bon Bon called out again, hesitantly. Her nerves began to get to her as she imagined getting attacked in the darkness, and not being able to defend herself.

"Bon Bon?" A voice shot back, the cream pony's ears flew up at the sound of her friend's voice. She let out a relieved sigh, and looked around frantically.

"Lyra! Where are you?"

There was a slight pause before Lyra shot back at her. "Over here."

Bon Bon groaned. Yeah, that's helpful... She walked over in the direction that she thought she had heard her friend.

It didn't take long before Bon Bon's eyes adjusted to the dark, but even still it was fairly difficult to see. She caught herself many times before she ran into objects. Eventually, she say a bright turquoise object in the distance, a shining color that she could recall from a mile away. "There you are!" She shouted. The turquoise pony turned around to look at her, but quickly looked back in front of her.

"Oh, hey!" She said half enthusiastically. Lyra was wishing that her friend was still asleep.

Bon Bon looked around in the darkness and shrugged. "What are you doing here?" Lyra said nothing, and pointed out to where she was looking just a few moments ago. What Bon Bon didn't notice was that she had been walking up hill, as they appeared to be on top of a large hill. They could see for miles, even though all they saw was the lining of the tall trees. Bon Bon stared, awestruck at the beautiful sight, as the moonlight shone down on the area perfectly.

"Wow..." She uttered, not taking her eyes off the gorgeous sight in front of her.

"Yeah, it's beautiful, isn't it?" Lyra looked over at her friend, snapping her out of her trance. They both gave a small smile to each other. Bon Bon didn't say a word and looked at the ground, a tear falling down her cheek. "Hey...hey what's wrong?" She scooted over to her friend side.

"Well...you know only one of us can get off this island..." Bon Bon whispered, looking at the ground.

"Hey! Don't talk like that!" Lyra exclaimed, but her friend didn't seem to listen.

"I doubt that I'm going to be the winner, it just pains me to know that I'll never see this kind of beautiful sight again." The depressed mare explained. Lyra was going to offer a rebuttal, but didn't after she realized she was right. Lyra wasn't sure if she was going to be getting off the island either. The last thing she wanted to do was kill some pony. But to win, she was going to have to kill at least one pony, say if it came down to her and one other pony. She just hoped that it wouldn't have to be Bon Bon, and that her friend won't have to perish here. In all truthfulness, she cared more about Bon Bon than herself. They had been best friends since grade school. They've both been through thick and thin, and that wasn't about to change.

"Look, Bon Bon..." Lyra rested a hoof on Bon Bon's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. We're going to figure out a way. Okay?" She responded. Bon Bon looked at her buddy with hopeful eyes.

"But how?"

Lyra hesitated, and the beige mare's hopes fell once again. "Just trust me on this. Okay?" Bon Bon sighed and gave a quick nod. Instantly, putting a smile on her friends face.

A rustling noise was heard at that moment, and Lyra and Bon Bon both turned to look at the jungle behind them. A few moments passed of pure silence, but nothing happened. Bon Bon was a little spooked however.

"I'm sure it was just the wind." Lyra assured.

"Let's go back to camp..." Bon Bon suggested. Lyra didn't really want to leave this beautiful view, but she decided that it was for the better that they headed back to their makeshift camp.

They didn't say a word to each other. Lyra was mainly lost in thought for most of the time, and Bon Bon was genuinely scared, almost sprinting to the camp. The mint pony jumped into her sleeping bag, as it was her friends turn to keep watch. Bon Bon reluctantly sat down on a nearby rock, but not before grabbing her sleeping back and using it as a blanket, wrapping it around herself like a foal.

"Night Bon Bon, sweet dreams." Lyra said, before turning away from her friend to get comfortable.

"Yep..." She simply uttered. The thoughts running around in her mind were killing her. She couldn't help but shake the thought. Bon Bon had been keeping track of how many ponies were left, and as far as she knew, there were 19. The odds were dangerously low of her winning, and the same for Lyra.

Bon Bon didn't want to die, but she also didn't want to leave Lyra. If she died, then Lyra would be all alone. But if her mint companion died, then she would be alone...it was all so, unfair! She wanted to be friends with Lyra forever. That's what they promised each other a long time ago. 'Best Friends 'Til The Very End!' was there motto back then. But the saying has never been more relevant than it has right now.

It didn't take long for the mare's eyes to begin to betray her. The heaviness was too much to bear.I'll only rest my eyes for a second... she lied to herself, she slumped down off of the rock, her rump on the ground and her head hanging down, and she was quickly overtaken by sleep.

Bon Bon didn't know how much time had went by, but she knew it wasn't long. Due to the fact that the night sky hadn't changed a bit. Her eyes jarred awake at the sound of another familiar rustling noise. She didn't move out of fear. Lyra was still asleep, and didn't move as a figure was literally 5 feet away from her, scrounging through her bag. Bon Bon saw the figures eyes beam at the sight of the first aid kit.

"Hey!" She loudly yelled, causing Lyra to shoot upright from a sound sleep, and the dark figure to jump and stagger back. Lyra looked at her friend, and then to the noise behind her, noticing the figure.

"What the hell..."She asked, rubbing her eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness of the fire. In the back of her mind she was still wondering how the fire didn't burn out yet. The dark figure was tall, but not much taller than Bon Bon, who saw it give her a nervous stare, before the eyes suddenly went soft on her.

"Bon Bon?" The figure asked politely, and rather formally. Both mares raised an eyebrow. The figure looked at Lyra and laughed. "Lyra too! Am I glad I found you two!" He/she chuckled.

"Who are you?" Bon Bon asked, wanting to know how the figure knew their names. The figure apologized and stepped in front of the fire, lighting his body up entirely. His dark coat and blue eyes almost shone in the light, along with his hourglass cutie mark.

"Doctor Whooves!?" Both mares questioned, surprised that his presence. Whooves simply chuckled again.

"Yes, 'tis I." He said. Setting down his own backpack. "Am I ever so glad I found you girls! I was starting to get worried. I thought I was going to be alone in this...monstrosity forever!" He exclaimed, humbly closing his eyes.

Neither Bon Bon nor Lyra had seen him on the ship, and wanted to question his presence, but they both unknowingly called the bluff their own and decided not to question it. Lyra glared at the Doctor.

"I'm glad to see you're safe!" Bon Bon smiled, unwrapping herself from her sleeping bag cocoon she had made during her sleep and walking towards the stallion. She stopped just a few feet in front of him just as she remembered something. "Wait...why were you going through Lyra's bag?" She questioned. Whooves' eyes darted around suspiciously.

"Oh, yes. Well...uh...that was my mistake. I mistook you both for one of those ponies that were actually playing the game. I deeply apologize." He announced. Bon Bon seemed to believe it, but Lyra wasn't so sure...

"Oh, well that's okay! I understand why you would think that." Bon Bon trotted next to the Doctor, and she hugged him. Whooves was also a friend to her, much like Lyra. But they haven't really been talking very much anymore. Actually, this is the first time she'd seen him in what...a year?

Lyra got out of her sleeping bag and shoved Bon Bon away from him, while the beige mare profusely objected. "Lyra! What are you doing?!" She asked her, as she continued to push her to the other side of the campfire.

"The 'Doctor' is nothing but a fake." She explained. "He was going for my bag, and say I had a good enough weapon, he was going to kill me with my own weapon!"

Bon Bon furrowed her brow. "How do you know for sure? Whooves is a great guy!" She waved over to the Doctor, who kindly waved back, looking around.

"I can prove it using simple logic. You see his bag he dropped?" She pointed, Bon Bon followed her gaze and saw the Doctor's bag on the ground which he had previously dropped. 

"Yeah? So?"

"If you look, his weapon fell out." She looked back herself to make sure she had seen everything right, which she had. Hanging out of his bag was, indeed, a weapon which no one else in the death match had: An air horn. The Doctor had unluckily grabbed a dud backpack whilst inside of the ship. Bon Bon knew what Lyra was getting at, but she explained anyways. At this point, Whooves looked down and had realized his error, and put the horn back into his bag.

"Since he had a weapon that he couldn't possibly use to murder anyone, when he saw us, he was going to steal a weapon from my bag. It was simple. If I woke up, then he'd kill me with my own weapon, and if not, he either got off scot free, or he would have killed me in my sleep." Bon Bon's jaw dropped at her friend's logic. Nopony ever knew it, but Lyra had a keen eye for detail.

"Is this true, Whooves?" Bon Bon asked her friend, who's eyes continued to dart around nervously.

"That's ludicrous!" He exclaimed, quite hurt at the accusation. "We're friends remember? Why would I kill one of my friends?"

"Because you're playing the game, Doctor." Lyra added. The Doctor's heart dropped upon hearing those words. It was true that he did plan to steal a weapon for self defense. But he honestly hadn't known from whom he was stealing from, as when he approached the mares he couldn't see Bon Bon, as she was camouflaged with her sleeping bag, and Lyra was facing the opposite direction as she slept. But he wasn't going to kill them! He's not a murderer! He wouldn't stoop that low.

"T-That's not true!" He argued. "Okay, I was trying to steal a weapon, that part was true...but I didn't know it was you two! If I had known then I wouldn't have done it!" He added. Bon Bon wasn't sure to believe anymore.

"Leave Doctor!" Lyra demanded. She was not going to be fooled, and she was not going to get killed because of him either. Bon Bon alternated glances between Whooves and Lyra, conflicted.

"Bon Bon, please! You have to believe me!" The Doctor shouted. The beige mare finally made up her mind.

"You don't talk to me for a year, and even after said year the next time I see you, you're trying to rob me and my friend?" Bon Bon said calmly. Whooves' eyes dilated at the thought of being abandoned.

"Please! Don't leave me alone out here!" He shouted once again, and in return, getting hard stares from the two young mares. The Doctor had tears in the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry!"

"Leave!" Bon Bon shouted, following Lyra's previous tactics. She wasn't much for being demanding, but now's a better time than ever. Tears began to stream down Whooves' cheeks as the feeling of loneliness struck him like lightning. He didn't know what else to say, or do to convince them that he was on their side. He was just going to have to accept that his friends are ditching him, and that he's going to have to continue this deathmatch without his only friends. How can one win this alone?

The Doctor passively hung his head in shame, and turning around to disappear into the woods. He looked back at the two mares with pleading eyes. But Lyra only pointed her hoof down the trail, silently motioning him to leave. As tears stained his cheeks, he ran down the trail, a pit inside of his stomach.

Lyra turned to Bon Bon and smiled. "Do you care if I go back to sleep?" She asked, yawning, and acting as if none of that just occurred had even happened. Bon Bon nodded again.

"Go ahead...I'll try not to fall asleep this time." She giggled, wrapping herself in her little sleeping bag cocoon again. Lyra didn't even bother getting inside the sleeping bag, and just slept on top of it. Neither mares were sure that they were going to get much sleep anyways.


************

WHOA! No deaths? That's a shocker!

Once again, thanks for reading, and I plan to post more chapter as soon as humanely possible!

Have a great day!!

-Cyneryk
> Desultory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	All over Equestria, Stringer's newspapers made it's way to everyone's doorsteps. The story that Celestia had given her was plastering the front page. At first, Stringer was afraid of writing it. It almost drove her crazy when she got the thought of her "not writing it correctly". Or maybe it was just her going crazy again, no one knew. Not even her.

At first, no pony took this truthfully. They all passed it off as some kind of sick joke. Ponies would throw rocks and other heavy things through Stringer's studio, causing many bits-worth of damage, which only put her in more trouble. She knew that this story was only going to cause trouble, but she didn't have a choice. Either write it, or face the unknown consequences. A few hours after the newspaper hit the shelves, and after her studio(and house, for that matter. She practically lived there, so she took the liberty of making her studio livable by adding a bed, a closet, and a makeshift lavatory with the help of a few trustful friends), there was a knock at the door. It was the dead of night and Stringer had been peacefully sleeping, despite what had happened earlier. She had had to literally board up her house due to the high chance of someone seeing her broken window and climbing through. The sat up in her bed,  grumbling the herself. She didn't like being up this late, no matter the reason.

She sluggishly leapt out of bed, almost running into her work desk as she made her way to the door, only to trip over an end table. She crashed onto the floor in a heap.

"Ouch! Dammit!" She cursed out loud. She rubbed her foreleg, as it took most of the pain from the fall. 

Another knock.

Stringer sucked up the pain, and slowly began to limp over to the door, which only seemed to be moving farther and farther away from her at this point. She opened the door, almost ready to shout at the sleep-interupting fiend. But no one was there. Stringer peered out her door and looked left and right down the street. But whoever knocked was definitely gone. She was about to close the door and head back to sleep before something on the ground caught her eye.

It was a brown envelope. Stringer peered at the envelope before picking it up and looking it over. It appeared not to have  a return address, all it said on it was "To a very special pony."

She laughed to herself, by the way this is titled it sounded like someone was trying to hit on her. But she doubted it. She closed the door and turned on the lamp on the end table that almost killed her. She opened up the package, and out fell what seemed like 15 photographs, and a note.

Stringer picked up the note and read it first.

Dearest Stringer,

I hear that the story that you have written for me is not doing to well. Well that is alright. I just need you to write another story for me.

Stringer groaned "Come on Celestia my house can't take another beating..." She mumbled to herself.

In this envelope contains the proof needed to prove to everyone around Equestria will need. The photographs of the ponies that have already died during the last 24 hours, with also a list of various ponies that are still playing the game. I tried to include as much information as I could to intrigue your readers. 

Stringer stopped reading. Did the Princess really send her pictures of dead ponies?

She almost dropped the note as she picked up a random card off the ground, and almost gagged. On it was a picture of an orange mare, with a similar orange mane. She could see her cutie mark, which were three carrots. The photograph was very detailed, as if the pony who took the picture was only three feet away at the time. The mare had blood leaking from her neck to the soft grass below it. Her foreleg was being held up to her neck. Stringer could guess that it was an attempt to stop the bleeding herself.

Her emerald eyes were still open, and staring Stringer, the glossy and familiar look of death was in her eyes. Stringer flipped the card over to read a few words that were scribbled on the back which read "21st place, Carrot Top. Deceased."

"No way..." She exclaimed, throwing the card on the ground. It wasn't a joke, Celestia was doing this for real! She continued to read the note.

 I want to thank you for what you are doing, as it cannot be easy for you to do this.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

Stringer didn't know what to say or think, except that she better get working on it. After looking at that lone photograph, she had lost all will to sleep. She picked up the photographs and brought them to her work desk, where she promptly got started on her new story.

***

By the next night, the story was on the shelves. Once again, the story spread like wildfire, but so did panic.

The headline "Pony Bloodbath Continues! No One Is Safe!" was bolded on the front page. Most people would snicker at Stringer lack of common sense as they picked up the obviously fake article and read it. But their smirks soon became frowns, ultimately leading to disgusted scowls. On the page was a picture of what used to be Soarin with a caption under it saying "Soarin was the first to murder in the games, and the second to die after killing a fellow Wonderbolt, Spitfire, with a box cutter to her neck." Many ponies were upset, as well as angry at the fact that their favorite Wonderbolts are dead. Many ponies also vomited at the sight of the gruesome picture.

Relatives of the deceased ponies were grieving rigorously over their lost, sickened at the sight of their dear family murdered, as the picture of it was most likely in the paper. Stringer had tried to use them all.

As some ponies continued to read, they read the part of the article that shown who else is playing the game. Some ponies cried at the thought of their best friends not surviving, and prayed that they would be the last one standing. Other's simply gave up on them. Not expecting to come back at all.

Everyone was devastated by this news, and Equestria was on the verge of a riot. That was until the one line in the paper read "Convicts were chosen". That stopped everyone in their tracks. Everyone was afraid of being convicted, and were afraid of being next.

Meanwhile, Serenity read the newspaper himself and frowned, sighing to himself inside the throne room.

"What kind of world is this..." He whispered, he hadn't heard the hoof steps behind him.

"What was that, Serenity?" The voice formally spoke. Serenity jumped and turned his head so fast in the direction of the voice that he could have given himself whiplash. To his dismay, Celestia stood behind him. He looked at the ground meekly, and hoped that the Princess hadn't head what he had just said.

"Nothing, my dear Princess..." He said submissively. Princess Celestia glared at him before noticing the newspaper in his hooves, instantly wiping the mean glare off her face.

"I see you read the paper!" She laughed. Serenity only nodded, his dark blue mane falling in front of his face meekly.

"Yes. I have. Princess..." Celestia already knew what he was getting at by reading his expressions and blatantly ignored it.

"Are you not excited?" She asked the stallion. "In the last 24 hours, there have been 13 deaths! This is going marvelously!" She cheered. Serenity continued to stay at the ground. 

"But...but..." He was going to argue how some of the ponies didn't deserve this, but that was his fault. He and the other guards did pick out the unlucky contenders, after all. "Princess...I don't see what good this is going to do..."

"Nonsense!" She pointed outside forcefully. "Everyone is scared, everyone is grieving! Crime rates are predicted to drop by over 132 percent! It's not what this is going to do, it's what it can't do!" She argued. Serenity just shut up, and bowed to the Princess.

"May I please take my leave?" He politely asked. Celestia nodded and the stallion quickly hustled for the door, and upon opening it was immediately met by a familiar face.

"Flora!" He exclaimed. The mare uncharacteristically smiled at him as the doors to the throne room, and Celestia, closed.

"Good evening, Serenity." She replied, as they both began to walk down the royal halls, the metallic clangs of their suits almost echoing through the empty hall. "Have you read the paper?" She casually asked. Serenity nodded, and Flora's eyes lit up as she turned to look at him.

"Can you believe it? 13! And in only 24 hours!" Her expression quickly changed upon remembering a certain grey mare. "I also heard that that klutz Ditzy Doo is still alive..." She let out a frustrated grunt.

Serenity raised at eyebrow upon Flora once again bringing up her name. "What do you have against Ditzy?" Serenity asked. He knew Ditzy back in elementary school, and although she was a little...well, ditzy, she as the kindest mare he's ever met. Flora backpedaled.

"No reason. I just don't like her." She stated promptly.

"You can't just hate someone for no reason, Flora. Spit it out." Serenity interrogated. The mare stuck her nose in the air.

"I just don't like her face. That's all." Flora replied, the stallion next to her rolled his eyes, but unfortunately, she saw. "Don't roll your eyes at me!" She growled, her patience finally depleting.

Serenity was starting to get annoyed himself with his friends lack of compliance, but once again, he dropped the conversation and quickly changed it. "I just can't believe that Princess Celestia would do something like this...she used to be so kind and considerate-"

"Used to." Flora interrupted, putting emphasis on the word 'used'. "I'm on Celestia's side. After how many years of all this crap that's been going on recently. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. Especially those in charge who are unable to fix it."

Serenity sounded out Flora's rambling from his ears as he got lost in his own thoughts. He was imagining what ruthless and chaotic things are going on on that island. It must be a living hell. Deep inside the light blue stallion was happy that he himself wasn't on the island, but it also made him feel worse at the thought. He wanted this to stop. It was insane. Ponies killing each other. What's that going to solve? Most of the ponies on the island probably weren't killers themselves! For some of them it was just like a game of cat and mouse.

It was disgusting, disturbing, and it needed to be stopped.


***

A/N

I really felt like adding this chapter because, well, this is getting difficult...hehe

Anyways, thanks for reading, and feedback and comments are greatly appreciated.

I want you all.

Yes, sexually.

-Cyneryk
> Define Demeanor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Ugh! Stupid jungle!" Rarity whined as even more mud stuck to her hooves. So far this has been a nightmare for her. Not exactly when it came to all the ponies around her dying, but for her figure. She was literally living off bread and small helpings of fruit. It wasn't bad for her, but how is she supposed keep up such a spectacular physique.

Although the sights itself were beautiful and it took her mind off her looks, it was short lived as she began to grow exceedingly tired. It was very dark out, and Rarity knew that it was well passed two thirty in the morning. She had been looking for a nice, clean place to lie down and rest for at least three hours to no avail. Almost a few times did she fall almost fall asleep whilst walking. She didn't even want to imagine that happening. She could fall over into a mud puddle or something!

Rarity was almost stumbling through the forest at this point, her eyes and thoughts begun to drift as she walked, but she managed to stay away. She hoped that she wouldn't run into anyone. Her weapon didn't prove very useful, unless she was a mechanic. She's barely even held a screwdriver before. Luckily she has magic on her side.

The crickets and the owls chirped louder than Rarity would have preferred. It almost seemed like the sounds were right in her eardrums.

Rarity just wanted to go home. She has a little sister to worry about. She can't die here! Who will look after poor Sweetie Belle? Her parents are barely ever home. They're both all that the other has. As time went on she couldn't get her dearest sister out of her head. It seemed like Sweetie was the only thing keeping her going right now.

Also, it was the blatant fact that she did not wish to die. She had so much to offer the world, in all seriousness. Ever since she as a filly, she wanted her designs to change the world, even change fashion completely. That was her goal back then, and it's the same now.

She was walking on the trail now, her eyes burning from lack of rest, until she stumbled on what could have been the discovery of a lifetime.

She emerged from the jungle into a clearing to see a single, two story, white painted house in front of her. She had to rub her eyes just to make sure that this wasn't some trick that her eyes were playing on her, and a victorious smile grew on her face as she realized that her endless walking hadn't been in vain. She almost ran inside, struggling to keep her backpack on her back as she did so.

She softly knocked on the door habitually, and to make sure that no one else was in there. When there wasn't a response, Rarity felt overjoyed and slowly opened the door. Her heart began to beat fast as the thought of someone else being in here clouded her thoughts, but she knew that it was safe. She had a gut feeling. 

Inside the house, it was fairly modern. Nothing up Rarity's alley thought. Infront of the doorway was a staircase that lead to the second floor. Rarity assumed that she would be safer on the second floor, should anyone come in and investigate. Upon taking another step into the house, she noticed that there was a kitchen to her immediately right, and a living room to her left. She curiously peered into the living room as a strange scent intrigued her, only to see a magenta colored pony on the ground, blood completely covering the white rug below her. Rarity dry heaved at the sight.

"Cheerilee..." She muttered. She remembered Miss Cheerilee. She was her teacher back in elementary school. She was always so kind towards everyone, especially her students. Rarity thought for a moment why she would even be here, until she remembered reading a newspaper article, changing her views on the former teacher forever. Apparently she had had an "intimate relationship" with one of her students. Rarity was disgusted at the time she read it, and was just as disgusted as she remembered it now. The student that she had had said relations with was from Sweetie Belle's very own class. Rarity was just glad that the teacher didn't dare lay a finger on her sister. The more she looked at Cheerilee, the more angrier she got.

The magenta earth pony had a clear gunshot wound to the side of her head, hitting her temple in what must have been instantaneous death. Rarity didn't want to look at the scene any longer, and made her way upstairs.

There only appeared to be a single room up the stairs, but in Rarity's eyes, it was one fit for a princess. There a was a glass chandelier that hung over the king size bed, draped in was seemed to be some kind of thin and beautiful fabric. The wall's were a light blue, much like the sky, along with the closet and a few dressers.

"Oh my..." Rarity said in awe. She was even more glad that she hadn't given up hope whilst walking now. She trotted over to the large bed, and hopped on top of the red comforter and snuggled inside of it. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, as the bed itself was as soft as cotton. She felt the warm embrace of sleep finally hit her as she rested.

***

"Hello?" A bold voice said next to the bed. Rarity was to tired to care, not taking in the seriousness of the situation, and rolled over from the mysterious voice. The unknown mare prodded her with a hoof in a lame effort to wake up the sleeping alabaster pony. "Who ah you?" 

Rarity's eyes reluctantly fluttered open. "Go away!" She mumbled, subconsciously throwing a pillow at the earth pony, who saw it coming and was able to sidestep it.

"How dare you throw things at muah! Do you know who I ahm?" The pony said arrogantly. Rarity thought to herself, that voice are did sound familiar. No...it couldn't be. 

The unicorn sat up in her bed and looked at the mare on the other side of the bed, only to see Photo Finish, in the flesh, looking back at her. Rarity's heart skipped a beat as she flew out of bed and squeaked fan girlishly, deciding that personal space is not an issue and coming so close to the celebrity that their heads were only a foot apart.

"Photo Finish!? What are you doing here?" Rarity asked, quite dumbly.

"Oh, yust taking in ze sites..." She replied, sarcastically. Obvious she had been wandering around and had found Rarity asleep. Rarity blushed at her stupid question.

"You don't know how much of a fan I am!" She squealed. Photo Finish rolled her eyes. Now was not the time for this. "I'm a designer, you know. And I've been dying to give you some ideas for future dresses and other clothes that I have." She said, boasting proudly. At first, Photo Finish was intrigued, but then she remembered that it was pointless due to the fact that only one pony gets out alive of this stupid deathmatch. She sighed as she remembered.

"Good tew know...and you ahre?" The earth pony spoke, her germanic accent never failing to shine through. Rarity gasped as she realized that she never introduced herself and grabbed Photo Finish's hoof and forcefully shook it. 

"I'm so sorry! My name is Rarity, fashion and designing genius." Usually Rarity didn't brag this much, but she was really trying to impress the celebrity. Who was definitely not impressed in the slightest, as she was more annoyed if anything.

"Nice tew meet you...Rarity..." Photo Finish said, looking around the room, and putting her bag on the floor next to Rarity's.

Rarity decided to calm down as she picked up on Photo Finished uneagerness, and once again apologized. The celebrity just ignored her this time.

"So...how are you managing so far?" Photo Finish shot her a confused stare as she continued to look around the room, curiously. "With the whole...blood bath going on?"

Photo Finish sighed pitifully. "Terrible. Ah heard dat Spitfire and Soarin have yust recently died...I yused tew model vith them long ago to ahdvertise various flight gear." Her eyes became less harsh as she looked at the ground. "Ve vere so close..."

Rarity walked up to the white maned star and comforted her. "It's going to be alright. We're going to get out of here. Don't you worry." She stated. Photo Finish ever responded, but a few tears did fall down her cheek. She wiped them away and hid her face from her new acquaintance and made her way for the stairs.

"Ah'm going tew clean up...ah'll be back in a moment..." She whispered as she strutted down the stairs.

When she made sure that Photo Finish was gone, Rarity plopped back down on the bed and groaned. "My one chance with an actual fashion designer, and I manage to make her cry..." Rarity said. She knew that she had very clearly blown her chances of the celebrity maybe advertising or using her designs. She rested her head on the side of the bed, and saw her idol's bag. She looked left, and then right, mischievously. She jumped off the bed once again and knelt down by the bag and silently looked through.

She found the usual, food and water, a sleeping bag, and her weapon, a hammer. Rarity was about to close up the bag, until something else inside of the bag caught her eye. She used her magic to levitate it out and gasp. It was a pistol.

At first, Rarity thought nothing of it, until she realized that each pony in the beginning of the game only had one weapon. She also remembered that Cheerliee also had a gun wound. Rarity thought about the possibility that maybe Cheerliee had the pistol and committed suicide, and that Photo Finish picked it up...no...that didn't make sense. Rarity would have seen it...

She wanted to believe that her idol was really innocent, but the evidence...

Was her idol really a murderer?

At that moment, Photo Finish came back up the stairs and into the bedroom, and Rarity quickly hid the gun behind her back. 

"Photo Finish..." She hesitated. Afraid of what might happen say if she was wrong with her suspicions. "Did you happen to see Cheerliee downstairs?" Photo Finish looked a little pale, but she regained her stature quickly.

"Uhm...did yew mean dat purple mare downstairs? Yush, it is very sad..." She stated. Rarity started to get just a little more concerned.

"Yeah. She was shot in the head...I used to know her. She did some bad things in her life..." Rarity added.

"Yush, indeed. Vare are yew getting at?"

Rarity just decided to come out and ask her. If she was wrong then she could just explain her suspicions later. "Did you kill her, Photo Finish?" She asked bluntly. Photo Finish was immediately taken back by the accusation.

"Vhat!? Of course no!" She gritted her teeth. "I walked in ze house and she vas like that!" She argued. Rarity thought for a moment before offering up a rebuttal. She removed the gun from behind her back and levitated it in front of her. Photo Finish's mouth dropped at the colorless unicorn's discovery.

"No!" Photo Finish argued. "My weapon vas ah simple hammer. Ah did no such thing!" She yelled. Rarity rolled her eyes. It was obvious the star was lying. "I found her on ze ground, and ah had picked up the gun when she had...shot herself." She stuttered.

"But I came inside the house before yo-"

"No yew did not! I heard yew knock, ah vas yust afraid to open ze door." Photo Finish countered. 

"You still killed her. That only proves my point. She was dead when I walked in, remember?" Rarity smirked as she pretty much had thrown Photo Finish into a corner, but the blue mare refused to back down. "Look, I know you're lying. You only start out with one weapon. I know you started out with the hammer." She stepped closer to Photo Finish, levitating the gun with her. "You killed Cheerilee with her own weapon. Otherwise, why is she now dead?"

Photo Finish seethed with rage at the very intuitive pony in front of her. She let out a loud yell before charging Rarity, knocking her down and sending the gun flying to the other side of the room. Photo Finish sat ontop of the mare, hitting her repeatedly in the face. It only took Rarity a few moments for adrenaline to kick in and buck the azure pony off of her, but not before blood began to leak from her nostrils, and her cheeks were a light purple color. When Photo Finish landed on her back, Rarity took this moment to get her sweet revenge.

"My turn!" She screamed as she jumped on top of Photo Finish, delivering the same blows that her opponent had just done to her, punching her all over her face. Photo Finish was the weaker of the two, and was unable to buck the white pony off. Blood pored out of her nose as well and her face was bruised before Rarity felt like she had enough. She got off of the beaten pony, and looked around for the gun. She saw it lying on the floor, far away from where they both were. She levitated it closer to her, just as Photo Finish began to get up and was about to charge. Rarity stood in front of her, her back to the closet.

Rarity levitated the gun barrel resting against Photo Finish's forehead, who's eyes widened in terror.

"Please no! Ah'm sorry! I vas scared, okay?" She pleaded. Rarity wanted none of it.

"You're a killer! A murderer! And to think I looked up to you! I will never be you!" She screamed. Photo Finish smirked grimly, and Rarity tilted her head. "What the hell's so funny!?"

"Head's up." She whispered. What Rarity didn't notice was that the closet door opened up behind her. She looked behind her just in time to see a large axe swing down and impale her in the head, driving deep down into her skull, and her brain. Rarity immediately fell to the ground due to the weight of the axe itself, and the blow being near instantaneous. Inside the closer, a large white pony emerged.

"Snowflake..." Photo Finish sighed, relieved. "It is about time..."

Snowflake only laughed. "Yeah, I was having a good time watching the cat fight." Photo Finish shot him a death glare.

"Ah told you ve vould make a good team." The blue earth pony said, fixing her mane, as it has gotten quite messy during the brawl. Her face also stung as well.

"Yeah..." Snowflake drawled, picking the gun off the ground. Photo Finish was too late to dodge as Snowflake pointed the gun at her, and shot her in the flank. Photo Finish screamed, dropping to the floor, writhing in pain. She held a hoof to her gunshot wound to prevent further harm.

"No!" She screamed. "Ve vere a team!" She screeched. Snowflake gave her a cold, and hateful stare, and walked over to the fashion icon in front of him. He put the gun to her head, and gave her a small grin of satisfaction.

"Yeah. Were."

Snowflake pulled the trigger.


#14 Photo Finish, dead
#20 Cheerilee, dead
#22, Rarity, dead

14 to go

***

A/N

Whooo! Passed the halfway point. Who will make it? Who will perish? Who do YOU want to win?

Remember, if they are a background pony, mane 6, or any kind of somewhat known pony in the show, then they are in this story.

Thanks for reading!

Now get me my royal bitches.

-Cyneryk



	




> Irrationality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	For Zecora, this whole experience had been just awful, and downright depressing. She literally saw that innocent yellow pegasus killed by that muscular white pony earlier. The Zebra didn't know Fluttershy all to well, but she did see her tending to the animals inside of the Everfree Forest where she lived. It was a gruesome sight, impaled on that single piece of foundation. It was...difficult to stomach to say the least. She wanted to stop Snowflake, but was intimidated by his brute size and strength, causing her to be forced into submission, and it made her feel terrible, to say the least.

It didn't take long for the Zebra to get used to her surroundings. This jungle bared a similar resemblance to that of her home. Even some of the same plants and foliage were on the ground. She wouldn't be surprised if she turned around to find her house. 

Zecora was quite happy with her randomly chosen weapon, a blowgun. Even though it only came with three darts. At first she didn't know how she was going to protect herself with this, until a thought hit her. She scoured around the area, picking up various shrubs, juices, and other things she found lying about to make a toxic poison.

She sniffed it, and grinned at her creation. Just from the scent she could tell that it was very deadly. She carefully dipped the end of all three darts in the poison, careful not to actually get the poison onto her body, before wrapping all three up in an assortment of leaves and vines to prevent the poison from leaking all over her food supply, and preventing the darts from maybe poking through the bag, and accidentally injecting herself.

With a satisfied smirk, and when the darts were all wrapped up, she put it away next to the blowgun itself. She didn't know how accurate she was with it, and if she wanted to practice, now would be a good chance. But then again, she didn't have very much poison left, and would prefer to save it just incase. She trusted her abilities in shooting, also, how hard could it be? She did use one before, but only for a little bit. As far as she knew it's simple, point and blow.

After everything was packed up, she continued to trudge through the jungle. This was too easy for her. Zecora was fond of brush and it was almost like a sixth sense to swiftly make her way through the terrain. She couldn't help but wonder how everyone else is doing right now, as she knew that there were indeed many ponies that weren't used to this kind of monotonous hiking.

Zecora made a mental note to look for Pinkie Pie, as she knew that she would be able to aid her. Pinkie was always there for the zebra, and is probably out laughing and giggling somewhere, and was very concerned for her safety. Pinkie was always so kind and carefree...she didn't deserve this.

The zebra knew that it would be either very easy, or very difficult to find her. Pinkie Pie was always known for popping up places, and then randomly disappearing through thin air. But she wouldn't be that hard to find either. She's not very known for being quite. One can practically hear her giggling a mile away! Zecora just didn't know what to expect.

It was late, about 3:45 in the morning, as she guessed by looking at the moon and it's placement in the sky. Which only reminded her of the Princess'.

"The Princess' ways to handle conflict are cold, this is not the way to cease the uncontrolled." She muttered to herself, in her usual rhyme-like fashion.

To be frank, she didn't even know why she was here. When the guards took her, she was only in jail for that one day after an accident with one of her potions almost destroyed the whole Everfree forest. Good thing she decided to do the spell outside, otherwise she wouldn't even have a house anymore.

She easily made her way thought the darkness, not even wasting her time flinching at the unknown sounds of the jungle around her. She wasn't very frightened by such things, after living with them around her for so long. Infact, she had a little bit of a smile on her lips as the nostalgia hit her. 

Even though it made her quite homesick.

A thin fog had made it's way throughout the island, chilling the air. Zecora shivered, her bag didn't come with anything to cure the problem. Maybe there was something she could make...

No, that would take too much time. She decided to just deal with the cold for a few more hours. It'll warm up as the day went on, she just had to be patient. As the zebra exhaled, a small mist exited her mouth. Zecora was used to mornings, but not the cold. This wasn't going to be fun at all.

The zebra squinted through the early morning fog as she made her way. What she didn't notice was a figure a bright pink figure made continued to follow her, madly giggling. Zecora continued to make her way, until she came across a stone wall that reached up to 30 feet in the air, and sighed sadly. Great, now she was going to have to backtrack. She turned around, to see rustling in a bush near her.

Zecora called out to the figure.

"Stanger, please, do not fret. I come in peace, and not a threat." She called. Her only response was that of the owls and crickets. Her heart began to beat faster in anticipation. She had a terrible feeling in her stomach that someone was going to pop out at her.

The zebra began to sweat as a breeze came by, rustling the brush even more. Confusing her mind, and trying to decided what was the wind, and what was...unknown.

Suddenly, a blue blur flew passed her at sonic speeds. Zecora jumped back in surprise. It flew not even a foot away from her! They almost collided. Zecora looked over in the direction of where the pegasus had flown to, but they were no where to be found. A stinging pain hit her hind leg. When Zecora looked, a bright read gash was there, and it looked pretty deep.

"What the-" Zecora was interrupted when the blue pegasus flew by again, this time leaving a rainbow streak through the jungle as she flew. The zebra had almost seen it coming, but was too late to dodge. This time, the pegasus didn't fly back into the shadows, but reappeared in a flash about 15 feet away from the zebra, with a dagger in her hoof.

Zecora looked down to see another gash in her foreleg this time. She scowled angrily.

"What are you doing, leaving my legs with a gash, are you trying to kill me, Rainbow Dash?" Zecora rhymed. Rainbow Dash's ears perked up as she heard her name. She hadn't expected the zebra to know her after all, but then again, everyone does.

"What do YOU think!?" Rainbow yelled. Zecora looked at the rainbow maned pegasus, who's mane was even more rugged and scruffy than usual. "I'm surprised you've lasted this long in the game, and also that you've had to resort to murdering!" She yelled. Zecora glared at the pegaus, not letting her guard down.

"What are you talking about, what are these lies you try and spout? I have done no such thing, what good does murder ever bring?" She questioned. Rainbow Dash was starting to get annoyed with the zebra's incessant rhymes.

"Cut the crap, zebra! I saw what you did to Fluttershy!" Zecora raised an eyebrow, but was unable to protest as Rainbow cut her off once again. "You were there! You killed her! I saw you standing right in front of her body!" She yelled, tears filling her eyes as she remembered her dead friend.

"No, no, you have it all wrong, it is not because of me that your friend is gone!" Zecora argued, Rainbow Dash's eyes grew manic, as her mind beckoned evil thoughts to her.

"You were standing right there! You obviously did it!" She continued to shout. "I know you at least saw what happened to her! If you didn't do it, then why didn't you help her!?"

Zecora was stunned at the mare's directness. "Snowflake is the one you want, not me, for his is on a dangerous killing spree." She replied, calming herself down a little bit.

Rainbow Dash knew about Snowflake, how could she possibly forget. He's the biggest pony she's ever seen. But Rainbow didn't give in, she knew that Zecora could've tried to save her. Or maybe she assisted Snowflake?

Yes, that was it.

Now, I will have my revenge. 

Zecora knew that this wasn't going to end well, so she took off her bag and held it in front of herself. Her intuition proved right as Rainbow Dash flew at Zecora at super sonic speeds, holding out the dagger as to slash her once again, this time down her body. The blade hit the zebra's bag, slicing it open and dumping out all the contents as the flyer flew into the shadows once again. Zecora didn't think twice when she saw her blowgun on the ground. She picked it up quickly, as well as the wrapped poisonous blowgun darts. She unwrapped it hastily, throwing it on the ground before she popped a single dart into the dart, and brought the blowgun to her lips.

She waited.

Rainbow Dash was somewhere in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Zecora was backed up against the stone cliff, unable to flee without being vulnerable to another attack by Rainbow.

She had no choice.

"Do not make me do this Rainbow Dash, please, there is no need to be brash." She warned her one last time. Zecora kept the other darts on the ground nearest her, just incase she missed.

With a mighty yell, Rainbow Dash charged at Zecora from the zebra's right side, Zecora turned her head and blew the dart. Rainbow, however, saw it coming and swerved upwards and high into the sky, a rainbow streak radiating behind her.

"See! You are a murderer!" Rainbow screamed as she dipped back into the woods. Zecora failed to point of the irony of that statement, and she was also getting tired of this game Rainbow was playing.

Once again, there was silence. Zecora picked up her second dart and entered it into her blowgun. She only had two more chances, otherwise Rainbow would most likely kill her right then and there.

This time, Rainbow appeared from Zecora's right. But by the time that she had begun to pick up speed, Zecora had already blown into the gun. Unfortunately, her aim was way off, and Rainbow had figured that out mid-flight and continued to charge with her knife. The zebra quickly ducked, sending the pegasus soaring over her. Dash let out a loud cackle before hiding once again in the treetops.

Zecora was starting to find Rainbow Dash a coward, even thought she knew that the pegasus wasn't. It was very weird, but that's definitely what it seemed. The zebra picked up her last dart and entered it into her blowgun. She uttered a silent prayer, saying that she would make this shot count. She closed her eyes and meditated for a moment. Rainbow Dash, had thought that the zebra was giving up, and emerged from the trees again, this time charging her head on. Zecora heard this and aimed the dart straight in Rainbow Dash's direction and forcefully blew into the gun.

The dart hit Rainbow Dash directly under the chin, which threw off her balance during mid-flight. She hit the ground and tumbled on the ground, bouncing and painfully rolling until she smacked into the stone wall. She was very bruised, and her wings looked visibly broken. She stood up, and felt the blowdart on her neck. The whole area was numb. Rainbow Dash quickly pulled it out and tossed it far away. The poison was very deadly, and Rainbow dash dropped onto her stomach. Zecora walked over to the injured pegasus, not saying a word as she patiently waited for Rainbow Dash to die.

"Murderer!" Rainbow screamed whilst grounded. It hurt her to speak as she was shot in her throat. "MURDERER!" She gargled. The pain was becoming too much to bear. Her body felt like it was being invaded by fire ants. She was becoming numb...

So numb.

"I miss her..." She cried on the ground. She knew what Zecora had done to her. She knew that she was going to die. Her vision blurred, and her heart slowed down tremendously. "I miss her so much..."

Rainbow Dash then closed her eyes for the final time.

Zecora stood in front of the wannabe Wonderbolt's body as she was instantly struck with the realization of what she had just done. But she didn't feel very much remorse. It was self-defense.

She looked around for a moment, she was going to need to find her darts. If not then she was in deep trouble. She turned around and saw a quite a sight.

Pinkamena was behind her, dangling all three darts in front of her face, a wicked grin on her lips. Zecora was a little uneasy about her, something didn't seem right. Especially her mane...it was like a curtain was draped over her head.

"Pinkie Pie, I am so ever glad you have shown. I cannot get through this game on my own!" She rhymed, smiling. Pinkamena simply glared at her with insane, and dilated eyes.

"You know Zecora..." She said in a deep, monotonous tone as she dropped the darts individually on the ground. "Celestia was right."

"What are-" Pinkamena cut her off, she didn't want to here the zebra's incessant rhyming either.

"This world is full of terrible ponies. But deep down, none sicken me more than murderers." She declared, not taking her eyes off Zecora, who was starting to feel a little nervous.

"Nothing!" She yelled, revealing a sharp kitchen knife. Zecora instantly ducked at the sight of it. Before she could blink, the knife was in a tree right next to her, sticking out of it like a branch. Zecora stood up and backed away defensively.

"Rainbow Dash charged me, tried to kill me, you see! It was self-defense, honest! I plea!" Zecora replied, starting to feel a little scared of the creepy pink mare in front of her.

Pinkamena let out an eerie giggle. "Hehehe...that's exactly what Soarin said, right after she killed Spitfire..." 

Soarin? Spitfire? Zecora wasn't sure she knew them.

"Since Soarin decided to convert to one of those..." Pinkamena looked for the right word. "...slaughterers, I had to be the one to put him in his place. Which at this point, was a nice, cozy spot in Hell."

Zecora's eyes widened. Did Pinkamena just confess to murder. Well, yes, she was technically a murderer herself, but it was all in the name of self defense. But Pinkamena did it for her own insane reasons...

Pinkamena stared at the body of Rainbow Dash, gears seemed to turn inside of her psychotic mind before she turned her gaze back to Zecora,  a smile brighter than ever before. The zebra was surprised the mare's cheeks haven't bursted yet.

"And it looks like you just converted yourself..." Pinkamena reached into her back that was on her back and pulled out a large machete. Zecora's eyes widened in fear. "I think you know what this means-"

"Pinkie Pie, I-"

"SHUT IT" She boomed, fully annoyed with the Zebra's rhymes. "You need to learn how to speak NORMALLY." She waved the machete in the air, making her way towards the Zecora.

This wasn't looking good at all. She had three choices: either continue to try and befriend the derange mare(Which wasn't very likely), run and try to get away(Which didn't seem likely either), or attack Pinkie Pie(Which seemed pointless, as she didn't have a weapon. Wait...

She turned to look over at the kitchen knife that was embedded in the tree right next to her, only taking her eyes off Pinkamena for a moment. She grabbed the knife, and pulled, but it refused to budge. She looked back over to where Pinkamena was standing...

But she had disappeared. Zecora looked left and right, sweating in anticipation for the party pony to make a random appearance. She was frantic, and frankly wished that she would appear. She didn't like to handle this kind of stress.

She looked back to the knife, only to see Pinkamena, with a single hoof ontop of it, as she forcefully pulled it out of the tree. Zecora let out a loud scream, as it had scared the living daylights out of her.

"Run." 

Zecora jumped back and obeyed Pinkamena's wish as she run as fast as she could away from the mare. Unfortunately, Pinkamena's kitchen knife proved to be faster as it flew threw the air, and embedded itself into the zebra's mohawk, almost aligning it perfectly.

Zecora died within seconds after hitting the ground.

Pinkamena casually trotted out of the jungle's early morning fog, and unlodged the knife from zebra's skull, making a loud crack as it split open her skull. Pinkamena whipped off the blood with a nearby leaf, and put it back inside of her bag.

"This world is full of terrible ponies. I'm going to kill all of them. Starting with this game. I will win and rid Equestria of all these abominations." She cackled madly. Apparently, speaking to Zecora's body. 

"Everypony will pay."


#3 Zecora, dead
#28 Rainbow Dash, dead

12 to go

***

Whoa, Pinkamena's creepy.

Well, here ya go. I might write another chapter later tonight, so be on the watch.

Spread this story around, we need to try and get this featured!

Thanks for reading, and I love you all.

-Cyneryk

PS Don't look in your closet.

	
	
	

	

> Tinker Toys
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Doctor!" Twilight Sparkle shouted, fiddling with her creation, moving various wires and other things about on it. Doctor Whooves came out of the brush right after hearing her voice, attempting to catch his breathe as sweat poured down his face.

"Yes?" He wheezed.

"I need you to do me a favor..." She asked politely, smiling up at him. Doctor Whooves groaned. He's been helping her all morning. Mainly by running to get various supplies, wires, conduits, batteries and other things. His legs were already sore from all the running he had done. It was going to be a long day, and it wasn't even 5 in the morning yet.

After his incident with Bon Bon and Lyra, the Doctor was pretty upset. He didn't know where to look or who to turn to, until he found this purple unicorn in the brush. When the Doctor found her, she looked exhausted, and was beginning to grow a little...loopy. She told him that she had been working on making a radio so that they might be able to contact someone back in her home of Ponyville. She had a plan, it seemed, although it she didn't explain much more than that.

"Please Hooves? I just need a few tools." She begged. The Doctor truly didn't feel like going out and searching this woods for simple supplies, but he couldn't say no. He didn't want to be alone again...

He sighed. "What do you need now?"

Twilight Sparkle beamed at the Doctor's compliance and looked back at her contraption and at the other parts that were scattered about the jungle floor. She thought momentarily before giving him a direct answer.

"Well, I need a hammer, a wrench, a screwdriver, five bolts, six screws, a few more batteries, a new conduit, a rubber band, rubber gloves, maybe a drill,"

Doctor Whooves wasn't sure he caught all that, but he knew that it would just be easier to look for a simple toolbox. He cut Twilight short. "Uhm, yes, yes, alright. I'll be back in a moment." He stated. Twilight looked back at her mess of a creation with intrigue and nodded gently and the Doctor, once again, took off.

To be honest, he had no idea where he was going to find a toolbox, but since this is the Princess' island he figured that they have to have tools lying about somewhere around this island. He didn't even know where to start. True, he had been wandering around it for the last last...what...24 hours? 36? Bah, he didn't know. But even still, this island was huge. It could take him forever just to find some sort of toolbox.

The weather is fairly cold, but the temperature definitely seemed to be rising. The sun was no where to be found, although it was visibly becoming brighter, much to the Doctor's relief. He pondered maybe going that one of the cottages might have one nearby...but didn't they become off limits? He decided not to risk it anyways, he was sure that the area was decimated after that explosion. It was practically heard by the whole island.

Maybe if he just kept looking, maybe he would find one. He wanted to believe that there might be some sort of garage somewhere, but due to the lack of any trails he very much doubted that.

But what about a shed?

Ugh, this was going to take forever.

An hour passed, and then two, the sun was finally showing itself and peering out from behind the clouds. The Doctor was in pain at this point. His legs were throbbing like never before. He could say quite truthfully that this was the most walking he's done in a while. He was going to sit down, when he saw something white in the distance.

"Please...tell me that is what I think it is, and NOT a hallucination..." He told himself. Luck was on his side, where he stumbled upon Celestia's living quarters; A large white two story house loomed in front of him. 

Whooves contemplated going inside, but remembered that he had a job to do. He walked around to the back of the house curiously, hoping to find some sort of shed or something to help his on his quest. His heart dropped as nothing stood behind the rural home.

Except...

"A cellar?" Doctor Whooves asked himself. He had a habit of occasionally talking to himself. Especially when he got lonely. The cellar had two doors, but unfortunately, there was a large padlock on it. The Doctor felt like screaming in frustration

"Why can't anything be in my favor!" He muttered. He picked up the lock and inspected it, it seemed very rusty and old. IT even appeared to jingle a little bit when the Doctor pulled on it. Hooves smirked to himself, as an idea formed.

"No problem, I can easily just break this. I just need to find something heavy..." He told himself. "Great, even more things to find." He chuckled, attempting to put himself in a better mood than what he was just in a few seconds ago. To the Doctor's pleasure, he found a large, head shaped rock right near the jungle. It took a lot of effort to pick it up and carry it, but soon enough, he was standing over the cellar with the massive rock rested on his bag, which was on his back. A good balancing technique, if he does say so himself. He set the rock on the ground and put his hooves under it, using all of his might, he lifted it over his head, and stood on his hind legs. But when he pushed off the ground to do it only sent him plum on his back due to the new weight over his head. The rock only missed his head by a good six centimeters, scaring the earth pony beyond belief.

"Oops! To much 'Oomf' I guess..." He stated. He made a mental note not to push that had off the ground the next time he attempted it. He picked himself up before trying again. He lifted the rock over his head, and threw it down onto the lock, creating a loud BANG as the rock also came in contact with the wood.

The Doctor cheered as he looked at the lock which was now broken.

"Yes!" He shouted. He pushed the large rock out of the way, removed the lock, and lifted open a single door to the cellar. It was very dark, which would only cause more problems for the poor Doctor. So far, it seemed like all he had received on this island was even more bad luck. "Hello? Is anyone down there?" He called, taking a step down the stairs. He left the cellar door  open to help him see a little better. He could only see down a few stairs. He looked at the wall on his left, and sighed at his stupidity as he quickly pressed the light switch. The lights turned on one by one, illuminating the dark cellar. Even though a few of the bulbs were burnt out, it was still quite easy to see.

The cellar was disgustingly old and run down. Mold and other things like spiders roamed the walls, and and the floor was an unusual amount of cockroaches. As the Doctor moved on and reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed the abundance of flies, as they were landing on his coat and mane frequently, the swatting didn't really seem to help as the flies didn't really care.

"Ugh, this is disgusting!" He shouted, quickening his pace. He hoped that there was a toolbox down here and that he didn't just bust the lock and make his way down there for nothing.

The Doctor wasn't watching where he was going, as he was scanning the many shelves for useful supplies. His eyes beam as his eyes FINALLY came across a bright red metal toolbox. He brushed most of the dust off of it, before turning back to the doorway.

"Finally!" He stated. He was about to leave when something caught his eyes, something in the corner of the room. Whooves squinted, as he spoke to himself. "What...is that...?" 

It appeared to be a white body, with a bright lavender mane. She appeared to be standing on her hind legs, the Doctor simply raised an eyebrow. Does he know this mare?

As Whooves got closer to the mare, his eyes widened, and his pulse quickly skyrocketed. "But...but...no!" He yelled. 

It was Fleur De Lis, and as the Doctor(reluctantly) got closer, he found out that the slender mare was not standing. She had a makeshift noose around her pretty little neck. The rope was tied to a nearby hook used for lifting heavy items that was stuck inside the wall nearest her. Her limbs hung there, like noodles, and her face seemed to be very wrinkly. Possibly from the stress of being on this island. The doctor dropped the toolbox and reached up to pet her mane, only to notice that she was ice cold.

"She must have been here for a while..." The Doctor confirmed before sighing. "'tis a shame. Such a beautiful mare as yourself resorting to such drastic measures." He felt like he needed to take a moment to mourn the loss of Canterlot's most beautiful mare, but he didn't have time. He kicked away the chair that the mare had used to hang herself, and looked over to her bag that was lying propped up against the wall. Whooves' eyes shifted from left to right before making his way towards the bag and dumping the contents on the ground. He realized that the mare might've stood a chance, say she actually played the game. The Doctor picked up her weapon, which appeared to be a dull stick. He flipped it over, and looked at it all over before finding a button in the middle of it. He pressed it, and a blade shot out of the end of the stick, almost slicing the Doctor's foreleg.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed, pointing the dangerous weapon away from himself. He looked at the mare hanging in front of him before pressing the button again, sheathing it, and putting it in his bag. It might come in handy. Also, it was better than his weapon. He was still angry with himself for not choosing a better bag in the beginning, but he was more mad that some of the bags had dud items. I mean, come on, an air horn? What's he going to do with it? Press the button and wait for some pony to come, attracted to the noise and kill him? It's practically useless!

The Doctor put his own bag back on his back, and balanced the toolbox on top of it before making his was out of the cold, and quite depressing, cellar. When he exited, he remembered to close the cellar door. He didn't want anyone else to discover the gorgeous mare's body like he did. He felt a tinge of sadness at the loss. How would Fancy Pants feel about this?

"Psh...Who cares about him..." He replied to himself, as he continued to walk to find Twilight.

***

After about 30 minutes, Doctor Whooves finally saw the lavender unicorn through the brush. She was holding the contraption in her hooves, eying it intently. The Doctor almost scared her to death, as he had unintentionally snuck up on her.

"I got the tool-"

"EEP!" She yelped, immediately placing a hoof over her mouth. She gave Whooves a dark stare, and he was laughing uncontrollably at the situation.

"Sorry, my dear Twilight." He said, handing over the tools. "You owe me so much. It took me forever to find them." He said. He didn't want to complain and bring up the cellar. Or Fleur De Lis for that matter.

"Thanks!" She said, her mood quickly changing as she looked through the toolbox and pulled out a hammer, using her magic to hammer a single nail into place on the creation. Whooves could definitely tell that she was close to completing the radio, and she had been working very hard during her absence.

"No problem..." He said, looking at the ground. Twilight turned to the brown earth pony, a little concerned.

"Is everything okay?" She asked him. Doctor Whooves couldn't help but blatantly lie.

"Couldn't be better."


#19 Fleur De Lis, dead

11 to go

***
A/N

Aaaand another one bites the dust. To be honest I was planning on getting rid of Fleur earlier but hey, what can you do?

We are down to our final eleven! To those not keeping track, I will provide a list of those still going:

#1 Scootaloo
#2 Lyra
#4 Octavia
#6 Ditzy Doo
#8 Trixie
#9 Vinyl Scratch
#11 Snowflake
#13 Doctor Whooves
#15 Twilight Sparkle
#26 Pinkamena
#27 Bon Bon

There we go! Don't forget to cheer! It's all going down! Shit will hit the fan!

Stay tuned folks, things will heat up for the next few chapters!

Have a good one!

-Cyneryk

PS I know you looked in your closet
> Pieces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	While Doctor Whooves and Twilight Sparkle were working on their makeshift radio, the team of four was finally waking up from a sleepless night. Vinyl Scratch particularly, as she woke up many times during that night to find Scootaloo mumbling in her sleep, having nightmares. Vinyl would do through the rigorous routine of waking the filly up, comforting her, and making sure she gets back to sleep. Only to have Vinyl wake up again an hour later to another shaking Scootaloo.

Ditzy Doo and Octavia were sleeping pretty peacefully, given their circumstances. They all slept in a small, 30 foot high treehouse and Ditzy was lucky enough to come across. Well, more like crash into. The other three ponies had heard the now undeniable smack and she ran into it.

No one knew why it was here, although Octavia had a guess that Luna and Celestia used to play up there when they were foals. But there's no way to be sure, and it's better not to ask questions and to just accept their luck. It took a while to even get up there though, since there was a lack of a ladder. And since Scootaloo couldn't fly, and was too weak, for that matter, everyone had to rely on Ditzy to fly every pony one by one up to the treehouse, except for Vinyl, who simply teleported up there. It went exactly as everyone planned, by the time everyone was on the treehouse, almost everyone was rubbing their heads and their flanks after being repeatedly knocked into trees and branches.

The treehouse was quite pleasant. It had two beds, which Octavia and Scootaloo, Vinyl and Ditzy insisted they slept on the floor that night. Along with a few kindergarden-like drawings on the wall, a circular purple rug, a wooden toy chest(Which Scootaloo was more than pleased about).

After waking up multiple times, Scootaloo was the first one to actually stay awake. She shun shone in her face through a window, almost burning her eyes. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that she was sleeping in sun princess' bed. She tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. She was completely awake now.

Besides for almost being killed in that explosion, the experience there wasn't too bad. She had the death of Thunderlane replay in her mind as she was sleeping, and while she wasn't. She yawned as she jumped out of bed and immediately rummaged through Octavia's bag for food. The coal maned mare had told her to grab something to eat out of her bag if she ever got hungry, since hers got destroyed in the explosion. She pulled out another apple and munched on it quietly, wanting to let the others get their "beauty sleep".

Scootaloo didn't know what time it was, but luckily there was a clock in the treehouse. It read 9:49 AM, to her amusement. She was quite surprised that her and the others slept in so late.

She didn't want to wake anyone up, but was unable to leave the treehouse since she wasn't able to fly. Out of sheer boredom, she took one of Ditzy's kunai's and had a little target practice with one of the drawings on the walls. At first, she was failing miserably, hitting several different parts of the wall. When she almost sent one of the kunai's hurdling out the window, she realized her error and, using one of the markers she found in the toy chest, drew a target on the windowless wall across the wall with the actual window. As she kept practicing and getting the throwing motion down, it just kept getting easier from there.

Octavia didn't appear to be a morning person, however, and when the THUMP of the kunai hitting the wall accompanied by the sound of skittering hooves as Scootaloo went to retrieve it, then walk back to her spot of the end of the room woke her up, she was not happy.

"Knock it off..." She grumbled, subconsciously and softly, tossing her pillow at the orange filly. At first, Scootaloo wanted to frown, but she didn't. She simply put the kunai back in Ditzy's bag and sat on the middle of the rug between the blonde and the blue haired ponies, sighing loudly.

She tried so hard to be, but she wasn't very patient. It got to the point where Scootaloo could't take it anymore, and walked out the door and stood on the porch of the treehouse, taking in the fresh air and letting the suns rays his her body.

"Ahh..." She sighed in a state of pure bliss. The birds seem to sing to her, as if they were beckoning her to dance to their whistling songs. The air flowed through her purple mane. She almost felt as if she were on top of the world right now.

Once again, not so much like clockwork anymore, the speakers all around the island flickered on, and everyone was once again BLESSED by Celestia's soft voice. "Good morning, my ponies. Everyone sleep well?" Scootaloo looked back at the rest of the group, who were sleeping right through the announcement.

"Darn right..."

"Good!"

"Wha-?"

"I'm here to give you all the updates! I am pleased to let you all know that, if you are hearing this. You are one out of just the eleven ponies remaining! Now, it seems we all had a pretty active night since seven ponies had died. We have #3, the zebra, Zecora..."

Scootaloo had no idea a Zebra is...WAS...on the island.

"We have #14, the fashion goddess, Photo Finish..."

"Aw..." Scootaloo groaned, she was kind of upset that she never got to meet her. She saw her on the ship, but since she was picked first, she never got a chance to actually speak to her.

"#17, The country stallion, Braeburn, who I might add, died of 'brae-burning' lungs." Celestia giggled at her own terrible, and downright cruel joke. When she realized how unfunny her joke was, she cleared her throat and continued to read. "We have the fashion model, # 19, Fleur De Lis..."

Scootaloo had heard of her. She was a fashion model who occasionally worked for Photo Finish...she was very skinny, and looked to be very unhealthy. The filly was honestly surprised that she had made it this far in the game.

"#20, the schoolteacher, Cheerilee."

Scootaloo flamed at the sound of her name. Cheerilee... Scootaloo was glad she was dead. She's kind of wanted to kill her herself. She will never forgive her teacher for what she did to her. She trusted her, listened to her. But all that came out of it was hurt feelings and pain. Celestia kept on reading.

"#21, the apple bucking champion, Applejack..."

Scootaloo knew her, that was Applebloom's sister! Scootaloo dreaded having to tell her best friend the bad news...

"#22, the fashionista, Rarity..."

"Are you kidding me!?" She said out loud. Now both her best friends sisters are dead. Poor Sweetie Belle, poor Applebloom. What are they going to do now...

"And finally, #28, the speed demon, Rainbow Dash..."

"No..." She said, slumping to the ground. Not her idol too. Everyone's dead. Everyone is slowly dying around her, and she was just now realizing it. Her childhood hero was now dead. If she ever finds out who killed her-

"And that's all. Good luck, every pony. Fight like you mean it. Like I said, only ten other ponies stand in your way! Oh, and by the way, I will not be blocking off any areas today. Tahtah~" She sung before the speaker shut off.

Scootaloo was speechless, and now that she thought about it, she should be dead herself. She was defiantly the youngest competitor by a longshot, and if SHE manages to make it to the final eleven, something must really be out of whack. It didn't make any sense. How do 19 strong mares and stallions, such like Applejack and Thunderlane, die before a small filly like herself.

Well, she partially has Vinyl, Octavia, and Ditzy to thank for that. If it weren't for them she would most certainly be dead by now. She probably would have been one of the first few ponies to die, really. She will be eternally grateful for their gratitude towards her. They saved her life more than once, and in many different ways.

Underneath her, she heard what sounded like hoof steps. Scootaloo's heart froze, and she stood as still as physically possible, even forgetting to breath. It took her a moment, but when the realization hit her that she couldn't be spotted up here, she slowly began to breathe again. She gazed over the side of the porch and waited for the pony to show themselves.

After a few more seconds, Scootaloo saw a dark blue unicorn make her way through the brush.

"...Trixie?" She asked herself, immediately covering her mouth. Trixie looked around as she heard her voice, spotting Scootaloo up in the treehouse. Stupid Scootaloo, STUPID!

Scootaloo knew this mare, she almost got Ponyville destroyed after lying about the Ursa Major. Even though most of it was Snips and Snails' fault, Trixie did lie about it. She left Ponyville after being perceived as a fraud!

"S-Scootaloo?" Trixie asked. Finally, someone who can help her. She was so tired of being alone in this game, she would take anyone she could find at this point. "How did you get up there?" She asked as she took a look at the pegasus' small wings. Scootaloo frowned.

"I got help. Ditzy Doo, Octavia and Vinyl are up here too." She covered her mouth again.Stupid, Stupid, STUPID!!

"Can you please help me? I've been wandering around all night alone! I don't want to be lonely anymore..." Scootaloo stared into the unicorn's deep and sincere eyes. "Can I please hide with you guys? I'll do anything! I'll share my food and everything!" She pleaded, desperate for help at this point.

"But...I can't..." She said, before turning to look at Ditzy Doo, who was still sleeping amoung the others. Scootaloo didn't really like Trixie all that much, but she couldn't just leave her for dead. She sighed and called down to her. "Sure, just hold on a second!"

Trixie beamed as tears of joy fell down her face. Finally! Someone safe that she can turn to! Maybe there can help her get out of here! 

She hoped.

"Octavia! Vinyl! Ditzy!" She called, running back inside of the treehouse. Ditzy almost immediately sat upright at her name being called. Octavia refused to get out of her bed, and Vinyl was sleeping like a rock due to her lack of sleep. But with a little help from the blonde mare, they both manage to get them out of bed. Forcefully.

Octavia rubbed her head tiredly. "What do you need Scootaloo?" She asked, letting her eyes adjust to the light.

"This better be good..." Vinyl mumbled. Scootaloo ignored her.

"Trixie's outside," Before Scootaloo could say anything else, Vinyl Scratch rolled her eyes and put the covers back over her head. Ditzy was starting to get annoyed with Vinyl's early morning attitude and pulled the covers off her entirely, bringing out the wrath hidden inside of Vinyl.

"What the hell!?" She asked. Ditzy just gave her usual kindly smile

"Listen first!" She gestured to Scootaloo to continue, who thanked her.

"As I was saying, she's alone and she's scared. We can't just leave her out there, even if no one likes her, it's not justified." She said, already trying to convince them to help before they can even object. "Look, you three have been helping me out since the very beginning. Now I'm trying to pass it on. Trixie really needs out help. Why won't you guys let me help someone who needs it?" Scootaloo sighed. Vinyl looked like she was about to respond, but Octavia noticed this and spoke up first.

"Alright dear, we can let Trixie come up..."

Scootaloo cheered and ran outside to tell Trixie the good news.

"Hey! Trixie guess what! You can join...us...." Scootaloo trailed off as she looked down below her, her mouth almost hitting the floor. Ditzy looked at Octavia and Vinyl before walking over to the little filly.

"Scootaloo? What's wrong? Oh..." She stated as she looked down. At this point, Vinyl and Octavia were curious themselves. They walked down to the porch and looked down with them, only to see their hearts drop into their stomach.

"H-help...!" Trixie squealed as a knife was being pushed up against her blue neck. Both her, and the pony holding the knife were standing on their hind legs. The pink mare grinned wickedly as she saw the four ponies staring down at her and Trixie, the sunlight bouncing rays off her knife.

"Good morning!" She shouted. As soon as she spoke, the birds songs no longer began to play, and the wind nearly stopped.

"Pinkie!?" Octavia shrieked, unable to comprehend what was going on here. "What are you doing!?"

Pinkamena laughed loudly. "I'm here to offer you a proposition..." She whispered eerily, right in Trixie's ear, she visibly shook with fear as she did so. Tears fell down her face as she assessed the situation.

"What do you mean!?" Vinyl shot back. Nobody noticed Ditzy had quickly retrieved her kunai's from her bag.

"Inside of that treehouse lies a murderer." She spoke, calmly and somewhat serenely. "If they give themselves up and come down here, I'll let Trixie go, if not." She forced the blade higher onto the unicorns throat, making her let out a loud groan.

"But...But no one here has killed anyone! We're all innoc-" Vinyl stopped, and everyone looked at Ditzy Doo. She was a killer, technically. She ended Thunderlane's life to save Scootaloo. She was whom Pinkamena wanted.

Ditzy backed up defensively. "Wait a minute! It was self defense, I ended a life to save one!" She told Pinkamena, who simply scoffed. 

"You're still the same. You're like all those other monsters inside of Equestria. I heard you also killed a family of what...five?" She sneered. All three other mares looked at Ditzy Doo unbelievably. 

"What...?" Scootaloo asked. Ditzy began to sweat and actually felt quite sick. 

"It was an accident!" She cried, as Trixie began to squirm in Pinkamena's arms. "Honest..."

Pinkamena's expression didn't change as she stared into the mare's cock eyes. "Doesn't matter. You're still a murderer. And that's what you're going to keep on doing. Killing!" She screamed. "Killing until everyone is dead! That's why you must be stopped!" She looked at the ground through her long and straight pink mane that dangled in front of her face. "Before you hurt others again!"

Ditzy began to cry. Why did no pony believe her when she said it was an accident? She was telling the truth. She didn't even know if her new friends were believing her.

"I didn't mean to!" She told her three friends, who were saddened at the position that Pinkamena had put the poor mare in.

"The clock is ticking!" Pinkamena yelled. Trixie's tears wetting her knife wielding hoof as she cried uncontrollably.

Ditzy looked around at her friends, and then back to Trixie, and then to Pinkamena before sighing. It was time to give up. There was no choice. Trixie did not deserve to die like this. Not for something she herself did.

"Alright...I'm coming..." She said as she opened up her wings, but as she was going to take off, a force pulled her tail, keeping her back.

"No!" Scootaloo growled as she continued to pull Ditzy's tail back to the treehouse. "You're not going! Pinkamena isn't going to do it!" She argued.

"Yeah! If she killed Trixie she'd become a murderer herself! There's no way she would do it!" Vinyl added. To Ditzy Doo, it did seem to make a lot of sense, but she was still scared for the poor unicorn, she didn't want her to die in her place. But she did have a filly to look after when she got home. She can't afford to lose. Ditzy took a step away from the edge pridefully.

"Oh, I see it's going to be the hard way..." Trixie's eyes widened as she envisioned the inevitable. She began to frantically squirm.

"No! Wait!" Trixie screamed, wrestling to try and push the knife away from her neck.

"So be it..." Pinkamena whispered as she jabbed the edge of the knife deep into the fleshy part of Trixie's throat. Trixie was unable to scream at this moment. But when Pinkamena twisted the blade while it was still in her neck, she mustered the last of her energy to let out one last scream. Her last cry of agony out of many. Pinkamena let go of the unicorn as she slumped to the ground, presumably dead.

No one inside of the treehouse watched, as they had all covered there eyes. They were wrong. Pinkamena was a murderer herself, and now Trixie paid the price for their resistance. Octavia was the first to shuffle back inside, everyone else quickly following her example as everyone sat down and shivered in random corners to the treehouse.

"She actually did it.."

"Trixie is dead!"

"Oh my..."

Scootaloo sat on the toy chest, screaming as she has a new memory to have nightmares about.

"She can't get up here? Can she?" Octavia suddenly asked the ground. No one said anything as they ran out the door and looked over the edge of the porch, only to see that the party mare was now gone. Scootaloo was visibly losing her mind out of fear.

"She's gonna kill us!" She cried, invoking another shaking fit. Vinyl Scratch put an hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry kid," She told her. "Ol' DJ Pon3 will make sure that you never get hurt. Alright?" She spoke. Scootaloo simply nodded, and Vinyl let out a satisfied chuckle. She was getting better at 'comforting'.

Suddenly, the treehouse shook, shaking the beds and rustling all the leaves on the trees. "What was that!? Octavia shouted, as she and the others attempted to gain their balance.

Another shake, this time is was harder. It nearly sent Scootaloo flying out the window, but she ultimately plopped on the floor instead after losing her balance. Octavia looked out the window the foal had almost fallen out of.

"Pinkamena's cutting down the tree!" She screamed.

"Heh heh heh..." She cackled as she hit the tree with another swing of the blood stained axe. Oh, she was glad that Snowflake had left it in Rarity's skull, making it easy for her to find. It's all about being at the right place at the right time.

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted. By the time they had looked out the window with Octavia, the axe was already almost entirely through the tree. With another tremendous swing, the tree gave way. All four friends seemed to float in the tree house in slow motion as it slowly toppled into the ground, knocking into trees that happened to get it its way. Scootaloo was the first to go airborne, as she was the lightest. Her head painfully hit the ceiling and was instantly knocked out upon impact. The other three were forced to deal with the incoming pain as the treehouse hit the ground, sending wood and large rusty nails all over the place.

***

When Octavia woke, she was hit with a giant headache before she even opened her eyes. Luckily, she wasn't injured and only sad various scrapes and bruises on her body. Scootaloo lied next to her, her eyelid twitching in fear after what had just happened. Scootaloo looked at her and helped Octavia to her feet.

"Are you ok?" She asked, looking the mare all over. Octavia sighed and rubbed her head, but smiled to show that she was. Octavia looked down to see that Scootaloo had a single, deep cut on her flank, right where her cutie mark would be. Scootaloo followed her gaze and gasped as blood ran down her leg.

Scootaloo looked scared, but Octavia shushed her. "You'll be alright, it's just a cut..." She looked around a little more, expecting to see a certain white mare. "Where's Vinyl and Ditzy?" She asked.

Scootaloo reluctantly pointed to Ditzy, who sobbing and looking down at the ground pitifully. Her blonde mane mangled and wild. Octavia did not want to know how her mane was looking like at this point in time. She walked over to Ditzy, but as she became closer, she noticed that Ditzy was actually looking at something on the ground, something...white.

Octavia put the pieces together and starting galloping at full speed.

"Vinyl!" She screamed, as she stared at her unmoving best friend. Vinyl had blood coming from her nostrils and her ears. On her right cheek was a piece of wood from the crash. It seemed to stick there. Ditzy already knew why, as there were other sharp nails scattered around the ground. Octavia screamed and put her ear up to the alabaster mares mouth, praying for any sort of sound, or breathe. But none came. She pounded the ground in frustration as she cried out in anger and sorrow, sobbing on the mares chest. Scootaloo and Ditzy shed a few tears at the sight. The one pony who was there for them was gone. A trustful friend.

"Vinyl!!" Octavia's sobs intermingled with various "No!" and "Please!" noises. Octavia begged for her friend to come back. She didn't care if someone killed her at this point, or if someone heard the noise she was making. She just didn't care. She wanted her best friend back

From the bushes, Pinkamena cackled to herself. "My dear Octavia, now two sacrifices have been made for your demon friend Ditzy Doo...I wonder how many will be necessary..." She said, as she casted her gaze on the orange filly.


#8 Trixie, dead
#9 Vinyl Scratch, dead

9 to go

***

Record chapter. Also, it tore me up inside to write this, as me and Vinyl go way back...

Down to just nine...getting down to the wire here...

I'm really going to hate Pinkamena after this.

Anyhoo, thanks for reading!

-Cyneryk

Stay nice and plump for me, my kiddies... 
	


	
> Justification
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon were still hanging around their makeshift base camp. Both ponies, using their method of sleeping and keeping watch, resulted in both ponies getting a decent amount of sleep. Leaving them feeling quite refreshed as they stood up and stretched their tired limbs. Bon Bon, after failing to keep watch, had actually fallen asleep on the very same rock that she was supposed to be keeping guard on.

It was fairly early when Lyra had awoken. She jolted up from her sleeping bag, drenched in sweat. It had been a rough night, and she had only slept for about an hour. 

She rubbed her eyes and searched for her best friend, who was lying a little bit away from her, and let out a great big sigh of relief.

"Haha! What do you know. I got to live through another night..." She muttered to herself. She didn't sleep at all because of her paranoia. She was deathly afraid of, well, death. She didn't want to die, and Bon Bon didn't know how much fear and psychosis was pent up inside of her.

She was more afraid of being killed in her sleep, where she wouldn't have a chance to at least defend herself. That someone would like to make her an "easy kill". No. She won't have it. If someone's going to try to kill her, she's going to at least put up a fight. And she wouldn't give up, even if she had a bullet in her chest.

She knew in her mind that it wouldn't happen, but she also feared of being killed by Bon Bon. Sure, she ha the most gentle soul, and that she wouldn't hurt a fly, but even still, the thought was beginning to kill her. She didn't want to be double crossed, and her friendship is mainly what kept her going.

But it also cursed her.

She felt her mind slowly begin to snap.

Various voices in her mind plagued her, and spoke evil thoughts to her.

Kill her now! While she's asleep! They shouted inside of her head. It'll be quick and painless! I bet she'll be thankful!

"No..." She muttered to herself, trying desperately to get the voices out. She was not going to kill her best friend. There was no way. And she knew that Bon Bon wouldn't kill her either. She doubts that she had even thought such a thing yet. She was such a kind, and fairly innocent mare.

Quick! Strangle her to death! Find a sharp stick! Do it now!

"No! No! No!" She shouted, before covering her mouth. She knew that she needed to stay quiet to win this game. Luckily, the beige earth pony didn't stir.

Only one of you can win! It's either you or her! Do it now!

"GrrrrAGH!" Lyra shouted before tossing the nearest thing into the brush, which happened to be a very heavy rock. The rock smacked against a thick tree and landed on the ground. This was enough to wake Bon Bon up, to Lyra's dismay.

"Lyra? What are you doing?" She mumbled as she rubbed her eyes, her back aching after sleeping on a rock all night. Lyra blushed slightly, not wanting to explain herself.

"I thought I saw a bug..."

"Wha-?"

"How did you sleep?" Lyra asked quickly, hoping to change the topic before Bon Bon grew suspicious. Bon Bon quinted at the turquoise mare, before yawning.

"I slept alright, my back hurts though." 

She could kill you at any moment!

Lyra sighed as she knew the voices where right. She didn't even know what weapon Bon Bon had. And she wasn't just going to go searching through her bag. She still wasn't going to murder, however.

"Are you okay? You seem...off?" Bon Bon asked, standing up and off the rock. Lyra just shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired..." She mumbled. She was totally out of ideas for what to do. One of them has to die. Whether either of them like it or not. Should she just kill her friend now and get it over with?

Do it!

But...they've been friends since elementary school.

Everyone's time comes!

She wanted to tell the voices to shut up, but she knew they wouldn't. Her obsessions were only getting deeper, and darker, to the point that she might want to take her own life instead.

"I'm kind of hungry..." Bon Bon muttered, before going through her bag. Lyra jumped at first, afraid that her friend was going to pull out a gun, but saw that she had only taken out an apple, she let out a loud sigh, and Bon Bon furrowed her brow.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'M FINE!" Lyra shouted, a little too loud. Bon Bon just shook her head and continued to munch.

Lyra walked over to her own bag, and looked through it, she rummaged through her bag, which had her first aid kit, her water, and....wait...

"My...my foods gone!" Lyra cried, emptying out the contents onto the ground, when no fruit came out, her suspicions were confirmed. She immediately glared at Bon Bon.

"What!?" Bon Bon's mouth fell open. "Who the hay did that!?"

"Don't act like you don't know! Mrs. 'keeping watch'!" Lyra shouted, pointing her hoof at her friend. Bon Bon gasped, and dropped her apple on the ground. She felt her blood boiling at being accused.

"What!? I didn't touch your food! I was asleep all night!" Bon Bon tried to defend herself, but Lyra didn't want to hear any of it. She knew it was her. And nothing was going to convince her otherwise.

"Don't lie to me! I knew it was you!" Lyra's mane became increasingly messy, as she occasionally ran her hooves through it, trying to contain her paranoia.

I told you! She can't be trusted! Kill her NOW!

"Lyra! We're best friends, I didn't touch any of your food! Honest!" Bon Bon replied, before taking a step back. She had a feeling that her best friend's mind has snapped.

"Liar!" She shouted, tears streaming from her eyes. She began to circle around the earth pony. "Trying to starve me to death, eh! So that was your plot all along!"

"What? I-"

"I bet the Doctor was on YOUR side the whole time! Steal my food, take my first aid kit, maybe even have him kill me!" She accused, her crying beginning to become uncontrollable. "Then you both can run off into the sunset, knowing that I'm bucking dead!"

It was Bon Bon's turn to let a few tears fall down her cheek. "L-Lyra...n-no..."

"Admit it! You were against me this whole time!"

"Lyra just calm down!" She tried to ration, hoping and praying that this would end well.

"Only one gets out of here Bonnie! Only ONE! You were planning on having me killed by that Doctor! So you wouldn't have to do it yourself!"

"Lyra...p-please stop..." Bon Bon didn't know how to defend herself when Lyra kept yelling and screaming at her like this.

"No!"

Quick! Kill her! Before she kills you!

Lyra couldn't take it anymore, and let her mind take over. She charged at Bon Bon, yelling a loud battle cry. She didn't have a weapon herself, but she figured she'll do it herself! With her own hooves!

Bon Bon will die.

Bon Bon screamed as she ran away, tears streaming down her face as her psychotic friend chased after her. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and she hoped that the adrenaline would kick in sooner rather than later.

To Bon Bon's dismay, Lyra was faster. She quickly caught up to the earth pony and tackled her to the ground.

"Lyra! Don't!" She screamed as sat ontop of her friend, burying a hoof into her eye, which began to immediately swell. Bon Bon kicked off the unicorn with a swift kick, and with her earth pony strength, and began to back away. "Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" She cried, holding a hood to her throbbing eye.

"Yes I do! We may have been friends! But now we're enemies.." The word "Enemies" hurt Bon Bon more than anything else. "One of us has to die! And it's not going to be me!" Lyra picked herself off the ground, and charged again, this time more angrier than before. Bon Bon stepped to her left, hoping to get out of the lunatic's way. But what would happen would immediately make her thing otherwise.

In Lyra's fury, she smacked her head into a very thick tree. She smacked into it very hard as her speed and force was undeniable. A large CRACK was heard, and Lyra slumped to the ground. Bon Bon put a hoof to her mouth, realizing what she had just done.

Lyra's horn was now broken into two pieces, and blood poured out of her ears. Her glossy eyes, replaced her normal ones as the effects of her broken neck took over. She died within seconds.

"No...No! Lyra!" Bon Bon cried uncontrollably, looking around and calling for help. "Help! Someone help her! Please!" She cried, before staring down at what she had just done. She didn't care if anyone killed found her and killed her at this point. She just didn't care anymore. "I didn't mean it!" She repeated to herself.

What...have you done...? The little voice in her head told her.

"I...It was an accident..." Bon Bon sat down, trying to cope with her feelings. "I'm so sorry...Lyra..."

Lyra Heartstrings, her best friend in the world, was now dead. 

Because of no one else but her!

She didn't know how to cope. She didn't know what else she could do. She can't go on in these games without her best friend. She was all alone.

She turned to her left, where she saw the cliffside, she could hear the ocean waves colliding with the rocky shore.

Which is off limits.

She knew what she had to do. It's what Lyra would want. She stood up, getting her bearings before taking a few careful steps to the off-limits area, her cheeks stained with her own tears.

Either we both make it together, or we both die together.

It was now or never. She took a few more steps.

She could already feel the poison in the air. She knew that her time was up, and that it was also time to give up.

Lyra, we're doing this together...


#2 Lyra Heartstrings, dead
#27 Bon Bon, dead

7 to go.

	


	
	
> Nostalgia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Meanwhile, the alliance of three made their way away from the treehouse in silence. Memoirs of Vinyl Scratch was infiltrating the mind of Octavia. Her best friend was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Are you okay Octavia?" Ditzy Doo asked, wondering if there was anything she could do to console the poor grey pony. Octavia simply shook her head, and Ditzy looked at the ground. "Oh..."

It was Scootaloo's turn to try. She stepping in front of Octavia, cutting her off in an attempt to gain her attention. "Octavia, she may be gone. But her soul isn't. I knew Vinyl Scratch for just a short time, true..." Scootaloo was beginning to choke up a little bit as well, but held back her tears. "She would want you to keep going. She would want you to win."

Octavia smiled at the filly, but didn't notice when the orange pegasus stared nervously at the ground. If Vinyl Scratch wanted her to win, and that drove her to actually win, wouldn't that mean she would have to die? Sure, she wanted to win herself. She wanted to win this game just as much as anyone else. She couldn't remember how many ponies were left in the game. Less than ten, if she took a guess. Anyways, she herself felt more determined than ever to win, even though she was a great disadvantage due to her size. But that doesn't matter. What she wanted for Octavia contradicted what she wanted for herself, and she was running out of Options.

"Thanks..." She sighed, rustling up the filly's mane, causing Scootaloo to grin back.

Octavia felt a little bit of hope when she heard the filly's kind words. She just hoped that she realized what that would mean if she would win...

The cellist didn't want to think about that. She only wanted to keep trudging forwards.

The three of them eventually reached a large river, one that looked almost impossible to cross. It was very loud, even though the water ran very slowly.

"Wanna make camp here?" Ditzy asked, looking over the surroundings. Octavia shrugged, trying to not remember what happened the last time they stopped to rest...

Scootaloo grabbed the paranoid Octavia's hoof and walked her over to the water. "It'll be okay." She comforted. "No one is going to get us here..."

Octavia didn't know how to respond, and was going to call Scootaloo out on her bluff. There was no way she could be certain that it was safe, but since she'd rather not cross the river, it looks like they had no choice but to set up camp. "Alright then..."

Scootaloo cheered, trying to lighten up the mood, but Ditzy nor Octavia was in the mood, so she quieted down and blushed.

Everyone set out their sleeping bags, and began to sit down on them. Scootaloo had done with honors off getting a campfire started, somehow, by getting twigs and using some sort of technique Cheerliee had taught her long ago in class.

"Pretty impressive..." Octavia admitted, as she lied on her back on her sleeping bag. Scootaloo once again blushed meekly.

"Oh, it was nothing..." Scootaloo admitted, before sitting down on her own Sleeping bag. Octavia took out Vinyl's sword, which she had managed to grab from the wreckage before they had left. 

Ditzy took one look at Scootaloo and spoke up. "Uhm, you have...blood on your face..."

Scootaloo brought a hoof to her cheek, and looked at it, only to reveal that there was now Vinyl Scratch's blood on her hoof. "Oops...uh, I'm going to wash this off..." She stated, before walking over to the river. She thought for a moment, deciding that Octavia and Ditzy should do something to take their mind off Vinyl. "Why don't you guys go explore the surroundings? Maybe there's something useful we can use around here."

Octavia laughed at the little filly, who was finally starting to take charge. She stood up, and once Ditzy saw her do it, she stood up as well. "Alright...just be careful." Octavia stated, before putting the sword in her bag and trotting off with Ditzy, just in case something were to happen.

Scootaloo smiled as she finally felt herself being taken seriously. She can be tough when she wants, and brave. Just like her idol. She trotted about a fourth of the ways into the river, where the water reached up to her belly, and she began to furiously scrub herself, attempting to get off all of the dried blood.

What she didn't know, was that something was in the water with her. 

Suddenly, a loud splash.

Scootaloo turned around, only to see that there was nothing behind her. Everything was the same as it once was  just a minute ago.

She shrugged and continued to scrub furiously. "Why won't this come off!?" She yelled at herself. 

Another splash. This time much closer.

Scootaloo looked left and right, slightly becoming paranoid. She appeared to be alone, maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her-

She stopped mid though as she saw a shadow form from behind her. She turned around to see a familiar pink mare. Before she could scream, Pinkamena placed a hoof over the filly's mouth.

"Mmmph!" She tried to call out for Ditzy and Octavia, but to no avail. Pinkamena stared into the filly's eyes, who where full of pure fear. She didn't want to die!

"Such a cute little foal..." Pinkamena taunted, running her other hoof through the filly's mane. "It's a wonder what you're doing here in a terrible place like this..."

"MMMPH!" 

"Shh...it'll all be over soon." She told her, Scootaloo felt tears fall from her face, and she began to shake uncontrollably. "You know what you're doing? You're helping a murderer. You're a co-conspirator." She accused, her voice getting more and more ferocious with every word. "It's almost as if your the killer yourself. So you know what that means?"

Scootaloo couldn't take it anymore, and did the only thing that she had sense enough to do. She bit down with all of her might onto Pinkamena's hoof, which was still in her mouth. The mare left out a shriek before letting go, giving Scootaloo a single chance to escape. She tried to run out of the river, but was slowed due to the water resistance, and the fact that the water was much higher on her due to her size. It took mere moments for Pinkamena to swim after the filly. She grabbed the filly by the mane and held her underwater.

"TIME TO DIE!" She cackled, getting sick pleasure from this. Scootaloo tried to scream under the water, she wanted to breathe. After a few seconds, her lungs began to burn and she accidentally tried to breathe under the water, intaking a large amount of water.

It...it burns!!

Scootaloo flailed helplessly, trying to kick the mare off of her, but Pinkamena was stronger, and she was also an earth pony, which didn't help. Scootaloo's chest was on fire as the cold water invaded her nose and mouth, onto to reach her lungs. Her efforts began to deplete as each second passed, until she finally stopped moving entirely.

When Pinkamena was sure that the little filly was dead, she let go, smiling at her work. "Don't worry, it was bound to happen eventually..."

A voice in the distance made her jump, and she quickly exited the scene, passing right near the campsite.

"Scootaloo?" Octavia called as she walked into the campsite. She was starting to get a little nervous. "Scoots?" She called out again, no response.

Ditzy called out as well, searching for the little filly. It didn't take long for her cock-eyes to find something small, and orange floating in the water.

"Octavia!" Ditzy screeched pointing in the direction of the filly. Octavia's heart dropped at the sight. Scootaloo was dead, lying face down in the water.

"No...No!" Octavia called, she hopped into the knee high water, and grabbed the filly, taking her to shore.

No! She's just a foal! No!

Octavia set the poor filly on her back and put her ear up to her mouth. Scootaloo wasn't breathing. Octavia didn't know CPR, but now's a good time to learn. She did, however, take a few lessons a few years back. Although all the information was cloudy at this point. She pinched the filly's nose and tilted her head back, before putting her lips to Scootaloo's, trying to put breathe and life back into her. Octavia then put her hooves together and tried to pump Scootaloo's chest, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Wake up dammit!" Octavia cried. She tried to resuscitate the filly for a good ten minutes, but it was done. Scootaloo was dead. A few tears fell down Ditzy Doo's cheek.

"Ditzy!" A voice called out from the forest. Both mares snapped their attention to the woods, whoever was speaking was clearly out of sight. "Are you happy now? This is what happens when you don't give yourself up DITZY!"

Octavia seethed with anger and stood up, ready to charge into the forest and kill the pink mare herself. "I'll bucking kill you!" She threatened as Ditzy Doo held her friend back.

"Don't Octavia!"

"This is what happens! Now..." Pinkamena's voice finally softened. "Are you going to give yourself up? Or am I going to have to kill that pretty little friend of yours?" She asked, obviously talking about Octavia. Ditzy Doo sighed, and Octavia was hoping that she wasn't going to do what she thought she was going to do.

"You can't honestly be even CONSIDERING-"

"I'm sorry..." She moped, She knew that it was her time now, and that there was nothing she could do to stop it. She must either sacrifice herself, or her friend.

"But...but you have a daughter! What about her?" Octavia blurted out. Ditzy began to sob, her large, hopeful eyes looking up at the cellist. She already knew that it would come to this. She had spent her whole time on this island debating if it would be a good decision. But now she was more sure than ever.

"I want you to win..." She cried. "I want you to take care of Dinky..."

"What!? Ditzy...!"

"No!" She interrupted Octavia, shutting her up completely. She can't believe the words that came out of Ditzy's mouth. Take care of her daughter? She can't be serious! "I've known from the start that I wasn't going to win..." She confessed, looking at the ground. "I've been thinking ever since the start of this game, who I want to look over my baby. And I have picked you."

"Ditzy...I-I can't!" Octavia blubbered, on the verge of tears herself. "Please don't go!"

"I'm doing this for you. And my daughter!" Ditzy gave Octavia a strong hug, before looking her in the eyes once again. "Win for me. Take care of Dinky."

At that moment, she pushed Octavia away and charged into the woods, ready to attack Pinkamena with her own two hooves. Octavia could only stand and watch as Pinkamena immediately popped out of the forest and tossed her machete at the pegasus, piercing her heart and sending her hurdling into the ground. Octavia felt herself go weak, and plopped onto the soft ground right next to Scootaloo.

"Ditzy..."


***
#1 Scootaloo, dead
#6 Ditzy Doo, dead

5 to go.	
> Ambition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I...almost got it..." Twilight Sparkle uttered, as she was turning the last few screws on her makeshift radio. She was very proud of herself, and she was glad that she was lucky that she got the weapon that she did, which was a coat hanger. If it wasn't for that, then this radio probably wouldn't even work! Doctor Whooves stood over her shoulder and carefully watched her.

"So...what's this radio going to do for us?" Doctor Whooves asked, slightly confused. Twilight still hadn't told him what her plans were yet. Twilight scoffed slightly.

"What do you mean! It's going to do everything!" Twilight exclaimed as she finished up her contraption, turning the final bolt. "There!"

"You're all done?" Doctor Whooves asked her. Twilight Sparkle beamed as she picked up the radio and set it down on a nearby stump. 

"Yep!"

"About time." Doctor Whooves deadpanned, seeming very unenthused. He was glad that he wasn't going to be running any more errands, at least he hoped so.

"Oh hush." Twilight Sparkle said, before pressing the power button on the radio. "Let's see if this works..." At first, there was nothing but static. She tried to scroll through different frequencies, but to no avail. "Come on..." She told herself. Her hope began to fall with every passing second.

"Hello...? Is someone trying to contact me?" A shaky voice said over the radio. Twilight Sparkle almost jumped in surprise. 

"HA! It's works!" They cheered, almost feeling like dancing.

"Who is this?" The voice asked.

"This is Twilight Sparkle, here with Doctor Whooves..." A gasp cut her off, followed by little sobs. Twilight Sparkle was a little confused at first. "Uhm, are you ok?"

"You're alive..." The voice trembled.

"Yes, but not for much longer!" Twilight got ready to explain. "The princess put us, and about 28 other ponies on this island for-"

"-a battle to the death?" The voice finished. Both groups sat there in silence. Twilight thought to herself, how did they know that?

"It's a Equestria wide thing. Everyone knows about it...it's broadcasted throughout all the newspapers..." The voice told them. Twilight's heart dropped, and the Doctor remained speechless. "How many are left?"

Twilight Sparkle wasn't sure. She was sure that a few ponies have died since the last announcement, she could hear the screaming. She took a shot in the dark. "Uhm...five or six, including us..."

"Oh..." Twilight knew that the voice was going to ask who exactly was left, but they knew that Twilight nor Whooves would know for sure. So the voice remained quiet. "She says that they're doing this every year..."

"What!?" Twilight shrieked. Mass battles to the death every year!? What is that going to do? Or even prove? This didn't make sense. She knew it was because of the crime rate, but this can't really be putting a stop to it? This is not the way to solve problems!

"It's true...it's...sad...my sister was in the arena, she just died recently, the newspaper say she was killed by that celebrity..." Twilight stopped for a moment, there was a celebrity in the game?

"I'm..so sorry to hear that."

This was all so unreal. Well, it seemed unreal from the beginning. Now this was going to be happening every year, for the next how long? Knowing Celestia, it would probably be 100 years! Twilight felt like sobbing.

"But...can you help us?" The Doctor added. Instead of killing ponies and winning that way, why not just try to escape. Twilight quickly jumped on his bandwagon.

"I was told no..." The voice squeaked. "That's what the papers say."

"Can you give someone who might be able to help us the radio?" Twilight asked, there was a little static feedback, but she could hear the voice loud and clear.

"I'll try. Just, give me a second." And with that, the voice was gone. Twilight and Doctor Whooves jumped for joy immediately afterwards. For once, since the game started, they felt safe. They felt like everything was going to be okay. They felt...invincible.

"We're gonna get rescued!" Doctor Whooves announced loudly. Twilight shushed him. 

"Well, maybe. She's going to find someone who can possibly help us...so there's no telling." The Doctor just shrugged, to excited to care. He did realized that he did just make a lot of noise, and grabbed his spear just incase someone heard him. Twilight put her hooves up defensively as the Doctor unwittingly pointed it at her.

"WHOA! Where did you get that!?" Twilight questioned. Whooves just chuckled at her. He wasn't going to hurt her and she knew it.

"I...found Fluer De Lis. She killed herself, and this was her weapon..." Twilight's jaw dropped, and the Doctor tried to make it look better than it actually sounded. "She wasn't going to be needing it anymore!"

That didn't help, and Whooves backpedaled.

"I mean...look! I don't even have a proper weapon. It's the least I could do, since I'm walking in the woods on my own!" He shouted, before lowering his voice. Twilight Sparkle just rolled her eyes and looked back at her radio, self-satisfaction filling her mind.

"Uh huh...I still can't believe that this worked!" She was ecstatic, and this time, it was the Doctor who rolled his eyes.

About thirty minutes later, feedback was heard coming from the radio, and Whooves and Twilight both gathered around it anxiously. This time, a different voice came through. "Hello? This is Mayor Mare?"

Whoa! Mayor Mare! Twilight furiously grabbed the radio, being sure to speak loud and clear. "Hello! This is Twilight Sparkle, along with Doctor Whooves. We are trapped on this island with no way off, is there any way you can help us?"

There was clamoring going on the other end of the radio, eventually, Mayor Mare spoke up again. "No."

Doctor Whooves' and Twilight's hearts simultaneously dropped in despair. The Doctor grabbed the radio from Twilight Sparkle angrily. "What do you mean! There has to be a way off! You can't just leave us here!"

There was a long pause before the Mayor decided to speak. It was obvious she wasn't alone and many other ponies were with her. "If we so much as try, the Princess' will have us killed..." She explained. Twilight wanted to protest, but she knew she shouldn't. She's the Mayor, she can't put herself at risk like that.

"Please! We need your help!" Twilight begged, desperate for help. They can't get off this island alive without...SOMEONE'S help. She could hear the Mayor sigh. The Doctor angrily picked up the radio before Twilight had a chance to react.

"There's no way-" Whooves tossed the radio at a nearby rock, shattering it to a million pieces, infuriating the unicorn.

"BUCK!" He swore, losing his composure. Twilight Sparkle angrily got up and shoved him, almost wanting to strike him, but Celestia knows what that would lead to.

"Are you out of your mind!?" She screamed. The Doctor shook his head, and buried his face in one of is hooves. "We could have gotten out of here!"

"Didn't you hear her!?" He screamed back. He felt like crying, the realization hit him way too hard. "It's impossible!"

"There was still a chance!"

"We're all bucking de-" Twilight flinched as the Doctor's neck seemed to suddenly explode, splattering his blood all over her face. Twilight screamed as the Doctor hit the ground, a fatal bullet wound through his neck.

"Whooves!?" She screamed, dumbfounded. She looked behind the Doctor to find a very large, and muscular pony standing behind him.

"Well, good to finally meet you Mrs. Smarty Pants." Snowflake grinned. Twilight levitated Whooves' spear and aimed it at him. The Doctors sudden death still fresh in the mare's mind. She felt her blood boiling angrily, and she started to see red.

"What was that for!?" She screamed. Snowflake shrugged nonchalantly.

"No reason. He was starting to annoy me..."

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. One of her friends was just killed for no REASON. Snowflake is playing the game.

"You won't get away with this..." She seethed, causing Snowflake to laugh uproariously, he took out his crossbow, after dumping his now empty pistol on the ground.

"Yes I will. I can kill you too. Come on Twilight. This has gotten boring." He spoke, every word piercing the air like a dagger. "Come on. Just for once, I'm hoping that some pony will give me a good fight."

"I'm not fighting you!"

"Yes you are!"

Twilight turned tail, levitating her spear with her. Snowflake gladly gave chase, finally excited for some action. Twilight wasn't very good athletically, so she only ran for about 100 feet before she hid behind a tree.

When Snowflake seemed to lose her trail, she slowed down to a walk and began to call out of her, in a sing songy voice. "Come out, Twiley...I know you're here..."

She felt Snowflake get closer and closer to her location. Her eyes looked left and right, desperate for an escape plan. She silently sighed when she realized that she had no other choice but to fight. Twilight waited until Snowflake was right next to her, before she struck. She lifted up the spear with her magic and buried it in the stallion's chest, who refused to fall down. Twilight ripped out the spear, causing fresh blood to leak from the stallion's wound.

"BRING IT!" He shouted, raising his crossbow, he didn't get a chance to fire as Twilight continuously used her magic to stab the stronger pegasus. She grunted every time the spear made contact with his flesh, until he finally fell to the ground.

She wanted to make sure he was dead, so she continued to stab him repeatedly, adrenaline still coursing through her. After stabbing him a total of 15 times. She stopped, and plopped on the ground.

"I did it...he's...dead..."

Snowflake wasn't dead. With the last of his strength, he grabbed his grenade and pulled the pin. Before Twilight knew what had happened, Snowflake had her in a chokehold. Twilight felt the timer in the grenade slowly ticking.

"NO!"

"YEAAAAAAAH!"

BOOM!


#11 Snowflake, dead
#13 Doctor Whooves, dead
#15, Twilight Sparkle, dead

2 to go.
> Everlong
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	No...

There's no way...

Octavia's mind was running at a thousand miles a minute as she adjusted her deceased friends sword on her back. How had she made it this far? Why her? She wasn't any pony special. She was just a cellist! Vinyl was was more suited to win that her! Why did she have to die in that accident...why couldn't have she have just died instead?

Now it was just down to her, and that pink demon. The one who had single handedly killed those near to her. She brutally murdered a young filly, and a mother, for what? To win this sick game? She spoke up getting revenge, and that killers need to perish. It was not justifiable, and if anything, Pinkamena deserved to lose this game.

Octavia had never wanted to play in the first place. It was because of a stupid mistake that she ended up in jail in the first place, along with Vinyl Scratch. And now, instead of wasting her life away in jail, she predicts her end will come much sooner than preferred. Octavia literally dry heaved at the utter nervousness of what might stand before her. Celestia was a monster, it was not because of Pinkamena that Scootaloo, Vinyl, and Ditzy were dead. It was because of her.

Octavia could not help but wonder what exactly happened to the other competitors. There had been around thirty, as the announcement had said earlier, but they are all dead. Octavia could have sworn that she saw Lyra in that room earlier. They were actually pretty good friends, although they were not the closest by any means. And now, she was certainly dead.

A few tears fell from Octavia's eyes. Her body became exceptionally limp. Her mind almost seemed to evade her as her eyes rolled to the top of her head and lost balance. She promptly slammed into the ground, smacking her forehead on the forest ground.

***

"Get up." A gristly voice barked at Octavia, soon before she felt an sharp pain in her chest. Octavia groaned and coughed, clutching her now throbbing ribcage. However, Octavia refused to stand. Her attacker, once again, kicked Octavia in the chest, as she was quickly losing her patience. "I said get up!"

Octavia grunted, after realizing just who the pony kicking her must be. She slowly got to her feet, albeit rather dizzily. Pinkamena had managed to create some space between the two, about ten feet exactly. For some reason, Vinyl's sword was still on her back. Why hadn't Pinkamena taken it? Once Octavia's vision finally cleared, she stared softly at the pink pony in front of her. Octavia must have been out for at least a while, as it was almost dawn. Just a little bit of light managed to emerge from the trees, shining radiantly off her dull coat. Mildew littered the air, although it made Octavia sick to her stomach after thinking that that may be the last thing she may ever smell.

Pinkamena seemed to be doing just fine physically. Her mane and tail were are straight and depressing as ever, and not one speck of dirt covered her body. However, Octavia could tell that Pinkamena was not doing so good mentally. Her eyes were almost like dinner plates, staring intently at her next target. She had a permanent scowl on her face that made Octavia shiver.

Octavia's heart dropped deep into her body. She almost felt like breaking down into a bawling mess. She was afraid of death. She did not want to die. She was still an aspiring musician. She wanted to play in front of crowds of millions, it's been her dream for years. And the pink pony in front of her may just keep her from doing so. 

"Oh hey! How's it goin'?" Pinkamena stated. It was rather creepy to Octavia, because she could not tell if Pinkamena was being sincere, sadistic, or something else entirely. Octavia looked away, not wishing to give proper eye contact. 

"I...I've been better," she admitted. Well, it was true.

"Well, that's good to hear," Pinkamena said, a small smile beginning for form. "So, it looks like it's just down to us two,"

Octavia had to mentally force herself not to stutter or hesitate, although her own efforts were in vain. "I-I guess so..." she stammered. Was it her, or did it seem like Pinkamena was rather unsettled? She shifted her weight very frequently.

"I see. I've been keeping track of the days that went by." Octavia's eyes widened. Oh no! She had completely forgotten about the time limit! How many days have passed? Uh...she couldn't remember. "It's been approximately 71 hours, and 45 minutes."

Once again, Octavia almost felt like vomiting. Her throat was so parched that it was actually beginning to hurt, although she just swallowed some of her own saliva just for the time being. "Look, in fifteen minutes, one of us it going to be dead."

Octavia was not planning on saying anything in particular, but was surprised when Pinkamena actually continued. "So, do you want to be the one that dies? Or me?"

There was a very strange pause that wrung through the forest. What was she talking about? Which one of us? She can't be serious. "Uhm. I don't understand."

"One of us has to die. As much as I would love to kill you, I cannot." Pinkamena stated, bringing a hoof unto her chest. Octavia saw a glint of something silver on her, which she presumed was a knife. "You see, I'm not a murderer. I ended the lives of those in the area because they were. Unfortunately, you did absolutely nothing wrong-"

Octavia snapped out of her passive trance when she finally realized something. "But...but you killed Vinyl! And Scootaloo! They did absolutely nothing wrong, and you killed them!" Octavia shouted. After realizing what this might lead to, although she did not wish for it to come to this, she pulled the swored off of her back. Pinkamena did not seem to be fazed in the slightest. If anything, she was having a ball idly twirling the knife.

"But, Ditzy Doo was. Don't you understand? Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good." Pinkamena explained. "Besides, I did a favor to Scootaloo."

Octavia's mouth dropped upon hearing those fatal six words come out of the pony's gullet. "What!?"

"Look at it this way." Pinkamena's scowl quickly returned, showing her distaste for having to explain herself. "For a little filly like her, what do you think is more traumatic? Say she actually won this..." Pinkamena was not quite sure what to call it. "...game. Imagine her going home with all those memories. The memories of those three days were she was absolutely shrouded by death." Octavia let out a weak cry. Pinkamena simply sighed. "What do you think is more traumatic for her? Being unable to breathe, only for it to be over it a matter of seconds, or growing up remembering those around you that died. I presume you, Vinyl Scratch and Ditzy were close to her? Hmm? How do you think she would feel upon seeing the three of you die?"

"She did see Vinyl die!" Octavia shouted, desperate to get in her two-cents.

"True. But seeing Vinyl go, alone, was better than seeing the rest of your little group perish." Pinkamena argued.

"She was just a little filly! She had no way to defend herself!" This time, tears of fury were cascading down Octavia's cheeks, gripping her sword just a little tighter.

"It was a miracle that she made it as far as she did." Octavia was going to open her mouth, but Pinkamena once again continued. "Now, I'd love to stay and chat. But we only have ten minutes to come to a consensus."

Octavia tilted her head. "Concensus?"

"Yes. You see, like I said, I'm not a murderer. I cannot kill you without becoming a murderer myself. And you, Octavia, do not wish to kill me in the first place." Octavia finally understood, although she did not want to. 

"I...I'm not going to kill you!" Octavia stammered, taking a few steps back, causing Pinkamena to simply take a few steps forward. "I can't!"

"Good for you. But if one of us does not die in the next..." Pinkamena took out a watch, only to have her eyes widen not even a second later. "Six minutes, we're both going to die. I'm letting you choose, but if you refuse, I will choose for you." Pinkamena explained. Octavia's mind was absolutely rattled. She felt as if she was slowly and surely losing her sanity. She either needed to kill Pinkamena, and leave, going against everything she believed in. Or, she needs to stall, and have both of their collars explode. Octavia couldn't help but notice that both of their collars were flashing red, most likely as a warning that it is about to explode soon.

"I...I can't!" Octavia cried. She contemplated running away, but that will no doubt get her killed in the long run. Besides, she knew that Pinkamena had a good arm. All it would take was a swift toss of her knife.

"If you do not chose in the next few seconds, then I will choose for you. If you're too much of a pansy to do it, then I'll be forced to kill you myself."

Octavia could not speak. Every word got lodged in her throat, and it only seemed to be getting harder and harder. Pinkamena waited about forty-five seconds before gripping her knife tighter. They were running out of time. If Octavia wasn't going to finish this, then she was.

"Time's up!" Pinkamena screamed, before sprinting diabolically in Octavia's direction.

She was paralyzed. There was absolutely nothing she could do. The tears had stopped flowing as a new found panic rose up inside of her. Pinkamena galloped in slow motion, her eyes dead set on her brand new target. Pinkamena held out the knife, as if she was going to skewer Octavia right into a nearby tree.

Octavia closed her eyes for a split second. For a moment, she accepted her fate. But that was when she remembered something. The reason why she simply didn't kill herself earlier, the thing that was driving her to win this game, for the pony who absolutely deserved to have her last wish fulfilled. 

She must do this, for Dinky and Ditzy Doo.

Octavia grabbed her sword and swung it through the air blindly. She did not even have her eyes open as she waited for Pinkamena's blade to pierce her.

Suddenly, blood splattered on one of the ponies, and a guttural cry was heard. It choked and coughed, before one of the ponies collapsed on the ground.

Octavia opened her eyes, glancing down at the sight in front of her. Pinkamena staggered back, her eyes wide wide with fear. She was very off-balance, and had various amounts of trouble standing before she finally fell to the ground. Octavia gasped as she saw what she had just done. Pinkamena had a clean cut straight through her stomach. Blood, tissue, and various organs spilled out of the stomach cavity, staining the green grass in her residue. Octavia bent down to the dying creature, her entire body shaking vigorously. 

"I'm...I'm so sorry!" Octavia cried, but Pinkamena simply nodded. Pinkamena coughed, causing blood to splatter on the grey mare's coat. She let out a pained groan, and Octavia could see the amount of blood that was in her throat. A great quantity actually spilled out of her mouth, down her cheek, and to the forest floor.

"I...I don't want to die." Pinkamena choked. Octavia, not knowing what else to do, she petted the pink mare's straight mane, a few tears running down the bleeding pony's face. Soon, Pinkamena's facial features became extremely limp, and her eyes almost seemed to glaze over.

Pinkamena has died.

There was a long pause. Octavia was all alone. Not knowing what else to do, she let out an angry scream that ricocheted though the forest. She was all alone now, for she had won the Equine Royale.

***
#26, Pinkamena Diane Pie, dead

Winner of the first annual Equine Royale: #4, Octavia.

End Game.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There Octavia sat, looking down at the carriage floor. Her eyes were absolutely red with tears. Just occasionally, she would sniffle, but she would hide it with a cough as so the guards at her sides would not be able to differentiate.	 It was a dreary day,  as Celestia's sun was covered by various grey, low hanging clouds. Octavia could have sworn that she actually felt a few raindrops hit the top of her head, although she did not pay much attention.

She had way too much on her mind, although the carriage's bouncing would frequently snap her back into reality. However, it was short lived. She always found her mind going right back into the depths of which she could not escape. The memories of Scootaloo, Ditzy and Vinyl still hung in her head, and she refused to let them go.

They all died untimely deaths. Terrifying and relentless ones. They died in a way that no pony ever should. Octavia could not help but think of Scootaloo's last moments. Drowning is one of the most terrifying ways to perish. The feeling of not being able to breathe. The unrelenting panic that must have surrounded Scootaloo. Octavia could see Pinkamena murderinging Scootaloo in her head; the pink mare smiling maliciously as Scootaloo thrashing the the way, silently and desperately pleading for precious air. Scootaloo must have been conscious for at least a little of it. There was no doubt in Octavia's mind that Scootaloo knew in her mind that she was going to die, right then and there.

Ditzy did not deserve to die either. Octavia was not quite sure what she had done to get into prison in the first place, much like Scootaloo. Octavia presumed that Scootaloo was convicted of a smaller felony. Scootaloo was physically active, maybe she tried to steal a candy bar or something? Either way, what Ditzy did surely was not deserving of her death. Octavia could clearly remember Ditzy falling to the forest floor in a pile...

Octavia did not like to think about Ditzy, nor any of the other ponies.

Octavia was going to miss Vinyl with every single fiber of her being. Vinyl Scratch was her best friend, ever since elementary school. Ever since that day where Vinyl Scratch lent her a few crayons in the third grade. Ever since then, they were unable to be separated. Vinyl helped her with everything, stallion troubles, money issues, you name it. Vinyl had Octavia's back, and Octavia had hers.

Octavia could faintly remember those nights where her and Vinyl would stay up all night playing music. They had always had a vastly different music preference, but that didn't stop them from making sweet noise. Octavia played her beloved cello, while Vinyl would play a very fitting melody in the background. Octavia suddenly found herself smiling, she still had the records at her home. At least she would have that to look forward too.

That devilish pink pony always tore at the back of Octavia's mind, beginning for its much needed attention. However, Octavia refused to acknowledge it. What Octavia did, yes, she regrets it with all of her heart. She wished that she did not have to kill Pinkamena. If anything, Octavia wanted to die. She had almost killed herself in the arena after Vinyl's death. But that was before she made the promise with Ditzy, and there was no way she was not going to follow that promise through. It was Ditzy's last wish, after all.

Eventually, the carriage reached Canterlot, her hometown. She was more than happy to be back. As she made her way through town, no pony said a thing. The ponies walking down the street stood wide eyes, some even had their mouths agape at the sight. Octavia had tried to wash Pinkamena's blood off of her coat, but the only way it was coming off was with a much needed shower.

The ponies off the town actually began to follow the carriage to its destination, although Octavia was not sure as to where it was going. She assumed it was the castle, but it was not for certain.

Octavia fiddled with the shackles that were tightly wrapped around her fore hooves, restricting her from any sudden movements. She had not planned on going anywhere any time soon. If anything, she was more than eager to get to her destination, to get home. Besides, the guards next to her were both armed with weapons, she would have no chance.

Octavia's ears perked up at the sound of a voice in the distance. It seemed to be broadcast through a megaphone. As time went on, the louder the voice seemed to get. Before she could make any sort of noise, her world suddenly went dark as a brown cloth was wrapped around her eyes, preventing her from seeing.

"Hey!"

"Shut up!" The one of the guards shouted before promptly smacking her across the face, a loud smack ringing out through the area. Octavia whimpered and a few of the townsfolk began to protest. However, the other guard simply held up a sword and gave them a hard glare. Each and every one of them silenced themselves.

With a rough shove, the guard brutally shoved Octavia out of the carriage, causing her to flop onto the ground, her shackles preventing her from effectively cushioning her fall. She felt her head almost want to give out, but the guard was in no mood to let her suffer. With an unamused groan, he pulled her off the ground.

Octavia was pushed and shoved down the street, the voice on the other end of the megaphone was only getting louder as time passed on. Eventually, Octavia could hear the voice perfectly, and it hurt her ears. It sounded like...Celestia? How...why? What could she possible have to say after that?

Octavia's hooves hit something wood, and she almost tripped as she met the stairs. She let out a sharp cry before she regained her balance. She really found the shackles to be unnecessary, but she knew better than to argue.

"Ah! Our guest of the evening has arrived. Welcome, my little pony," she said, almost kindly. Octavia was sick to her stomach. "Undo the blindfold, guards,"

And about five seconds later, Octavia's eyesight had returned, and the sight in front of her made her extremely uneasy. Princess Celestia stood directly to her left, and to the Princess' left, stood something rather tall. It was much taller than Celestia, and Octavia was wracking her brain over what it could possibly be, as it was covered with a blue tarp.

They were on a brown wooden stage in the middle of the towns park. Octavia could see a fountain in the distance, and the light green trees that littered the area, along with the almost endless crowd of ponies all watched in either awe, or nervousness. "I would like to be the first to congratulate you on winning the games. Marvelous work, Octavia."

Octavia said nothing.

Celestia turned back to the crowd, speaking gloriously. "I present to everyone, the winner!" The crowd was absolutely silent, as they all stared at Octavia expectantly. 

"D-does this mean I can go h-home? Please?" Octavia almost begged. She held no regard for her dignity anymore. She won the games, she should be able to go home and parent Dinky like she was instructed. Much to Octavia's surprise, Celestia shook her head. 

"I'm sorry, Octavia. But I can't let you go." Octavia's mouth trembled as she took in the words. She...wasn't allowed to leave? I thought that was the rules! If you win, you to leave...

"But...you said-" Octavia started, but was imminently cut off.

"The rules stated that you would leave the island and be stripped of your demeanors, allowing you to exit from the prison. However, you are not convicted of a new crime," There was a long pause, and a gigantic lump had started to form in Octavia's throat. "murder."

Before Octavia had any chance to move, yet again, two guards forcefully grabbed her forelegs, uncomfortable making her stand on her hind legs. Her eyes widened as the tarp was removed, showing everyone in the audience exactly what lied underneath it.

A guillotine.

"What? No! You can't do this!" Octavia beckoned to the Princess, who completely disregarded her argument. The guards began to slowly drag her towards her doom, the giant blade of the guillotine glinting menacingly despite the lack of proper light.

"This is the price you pay for murder, Octavia," Celestia stated. The guillotine was slowly getting closer and closer to Octavia, who began to promptly thrash in the guard's hooves. "You killed Pinkamena. Murder is unforgivable."

"No! This isn't fair!" Octavia shouted, her heart beating a mile a minute. No, she cannot die like this. She went through all of that Hell inside on that island, seeing her best friends die, only to be put to death. She had her hopes up, only to have them fall once again. She stared out into the crowd with soft eyes, silently praying for some pony, anypony to help her. However, no pony did.  However, her eyes did land upon a small filly near the front of the stage. Her eyes are bloodshot and a little lopsided as they stared sadly at the earth pony. The purple unicorn filly bowed her head, wiping a few tears off of her face. That blonde mane and tail were extremely familiar. Something clicked in Octavia's mind.

That was Ditzy's daughter.

"No! You can't! I have to look after Dinky! It was Ditzy's last wish! Please!" Octavia begged, hoping to use this to convince the Princess to change her mind. However, the guards continued to move Octavia closer and closer.

"I know of this, Octavia. Dinky will be put in a foster home, where a caring family are willingly waiting to adopt her." Celestia stated. Octavia's head was forcefully shoved through the hole of the guillotine as tears streaked her face yet again. 

"No! Please!"

Suddenly, a very large pony, which Octavia failed to notice, grabbed the large rope that kept the blade from slicing her neck. The pony was white, and had a large black cloth over his face so Octavia could not see him. "This is what happens when you murder! This is what occurs when you disobey authority! This royale will be a yearly occurrence until I deem it fit to cease!"

Celestia turned to Octavia, who was a bawling mess at this point. "Do you have any last words?" she asked grimly. Octavia sniffled, composing herself as she though about what the last words to come out of her mouth would be. She took a deep breathe.

"Dinky!" She shouted. The small unicorn lifted her head, almost with hope. "I tried to save her! Your mother loved you very m-"

Octavia's sentence was cut off, as the cloth-wearing pony let go of the rope, sending the blade headed straight for the cellists' neck.

***

#4 Octavia, dead