By Any Means Necessary

Gilda realized she was awake long before she managed to open her eyes. Even so, the orange light seeping through her eyelids burned. Everything hurt, as though she had been thrown to the ground and beaten by a mob. It felt like she hadn’t had water for days. She was dimly aware of the vinyl record having long since ended, the player’s needle scratching an endless loop of hisses and pops as it slowly cycled. Next to it, an old photograph of her and Rainbow Dash in front of the flight school office building, posed nonchalantly as though the building behind them meant nothing. She couldn’t look at it right now.

Not when I’m like this. She’d probably laugh- agh!

Even thinking caused dull pain at the front of her skull. This was going to be a bad one.

“Water…” she groaned, barely able to muster anything beyond a whisper.

No one was around to hear, and water wouldn’t come on its own. She remembered she threw Swift Justice out last night. Gilda flopped on her side, curling into the fetal position.

“Fuuuuuuck…”

Gilda couldn’t tell what was worse: the helplessness or the shame that came with being helpless. She wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was independent, tough, didn’t take no shit from nobody. So why did this keep happening?

No, Rainbow wouldn’t laugh at me. She was always too soft. I’d laugh at me. This is pathetic.

Several hours passed before she felt well enough to haul herself out of bed. Beyond the monotonous hiss of the still-spinning album, she could hear nothing. It was hard to tell whether any given sounds were pops from the record or movement from outside.

Voices… why can’t I hear any voices?

There wouldn’t necessarily be any footsteps since most gryphons preferred to fly if they had the option, but there would usually be a cavalcade of voices. Stern orders. Hushed complaints.

Three hard knocks boomed in rapid succession.

“What!?” Gilda snapped, wincing at her own volume.

Silence.

Was there anything important today that she might have missed? Her memory was too foggy. It was probably Swift, there either to apologize or to try and make her do so. “Swift, if you’re here to apologize, I don’t wanna hear it right now.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Fuck off. I ain’t in the mood for this.”

The knocking intensified, but whoever it was on the other side of the door remained silent.

Gilda’s eyes squeezed shut as she yelled through her clenched beak. “Did you hear me? Fuck off! If you wanna get in here, you’ll have to break down the door!”

Without a second’s hesitation, a concussive force blew the door off its hinges and across the room, crushing the record player.

Three figures loomed in the doorway. They looked like members of the King’s Guard, but there was none of the usual light in their eyes. Like glass dolls, they stared straight ahead rather than at Gilda.

“Gilda,” they said flatly. “You will come with us.”

Something was clearly wrong. The King’s Guard never got involved unless it was a matter of national security, and last she checked, that didn’t include being depressed and getting drunk, even if it involved missing out on… it was something important. She couldn’t recall.

“What for?” she asked, glancing at the broken record player. “I haven’t done anything wrong. If a crime or honor violation has not occurred, the arrested party is owed an explanation,” she paraphrased the regulations she’d been forced to memorize upon signing on. Citing regs never endeared her to anyone, but her rights were her rights, and flexing them was a good way to blow off steam after dealing with Swift.

Saying nothing, they advanced upon her slowly. Gilda found herself backing up until she was pressed against the broken door. “H-hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”

When they were mere feet away from her, there was no longer any alternative. Grabbing the door, Gilda swung it with all her might toward the nearest guard’s head. It connected with a loud crack accompanied by the wrenching of a breaking neck. He fell in a heap, glassy eyes still open. Gilda winced at the sound. She’d meant only to knock him unconscious, which movie heroes always seemed to manage without error. What was happening? Her life as a guard was over for sure, but everything else was still a mystery.

Surprisingly enough, the remaining two did nothing to acknowledge the death of their comrade. They still moved forward undeterred.
“C-come on! You want some too?” she shouted, forcing herself to sound confident despite her stomach feeling like it was caught in a taffy puller.

She readied the door, and when they were mere steps away from her, she swung again. This time, instead of the sickening, yet satisfying crunch of a well-aimed strike connecting, there was only a muted thunk as they caught the door. For a while, it didn’t budge either way, but with two against one it wasn’t long before they started pushing her back.

“Damn it…” she hissed, looking for a way out of this. If she stopped pushing, the door would smash her in the face and likely knock her out. She could try sweeping their legs, but it would be risky, leaving her with only half her leg strength for a while.

Without warning, all the force pushing against her vanished and the two King’s Guard slumped to the floor. Gilda dropped the door on them for good measure before taking a look at them. They were dead, arrows protruding from the backs of their heads.

“Gilda, are you all right?”

Oh no... why’d it have to be him?

“Swift?”

Swift Justice stood in the doorway, bow lowered and one hand extended as though she should take it.

“Come with me. I’ll explain everything on the way,” he said with a slight shortness of breath, as though he’d been waiting his whole life to play hero and rescue a damsel in distress.

Unimpressed, Gilda folded her arms. “What makes you think I’d be any safer with you? You all but raped me last night.”

Swift’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, that is such-” he caught himself, wiping his forehead and groaning. “We can’t do this now. I’ll apologize or whatever you want once we’re safe, but I think you’ll agree that we have to get out of here. Now.”

Apologize or whatever? Asshole. Still, whatever’s going on looks serious. I hate to say it, but I need all the help I can get.
“Grr… fine,” Gilda snapped. “Just don’t think this changes anything. I’m still mad at you.”

_ 
“I… I can’t believe it…” Twilight said quietly, barely able to hold her seated position. She wanted to curl up into a ball and scream until she woke up. It would all be some horrible dream. Spike would be cooking breakfast, greeting her with a cheerful good morning as he piled savory greens onto their plates and ground up a few gemstones over his own for flavor. He’d notice her sullen expression and gingerly urge her to recount her dream.

“Oh Twilight, that sounds terrible!” he’d say, brushing breakfast aside to wrap her in a warm hug. “Tell you what. Why don’t we save this for later and head over to Sugarcube Corner for treats? I know, I know,” he’d wave off her inevitable objection to having sweets for breakfast. He was always so good at anticipating her responses. “It’s not good breakfast food, but you sound like you could use a cupcake or two.”

“So, do you really just want to cheer me up, or do you just want an excuse to skip out on our planned healthy, balanced breakfast?” she’d reply with a knowing wink.

“Can’t it be both?” he’d ask with a cherubic smile, and she’d giggle and ruffle the surprisingly soft spines on his head. And they’d go to Sugarcube Corner – it would be a gorgeous sunrise as always – and all of her friends would be there: Dash, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity. And they’d all be laughing and smiling when they saw her. And none of them would be beaten or bruised. And Fluttershy wouldn’t have scars on her neck. And Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be dead. Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be dead. P-Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be dead!

Twilight’s chest hurt, and she realized she’d been sobbing without taking a breath. She had no idea how long. Inhaling sharply, she held the calming oxygen in her lungs for a while before releasing what should have been a slow breath but came out as a howl.

“Sh-she can’t be dead! It doesn’t make any sense! I mean… she’s Pinkie! It’s gotta be some kind of lie, some kind of trick!”

Applejack placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I wish it was, sugarcube. But if wishes came true, none of us would be in this mess. We need to think about what we can so’s we don’t lose any more of our friends. And… we’ll need to figure out what we’re gonna do with Rainbow Dash,” she added solemnly.

Twilight stopped sniffling, looking up at Applejack. “What do you mean by that?”

“You saw what she did, Twilight. How are we supposed to trust her now? I mean, if it came between her freedom and killing you, do you think she’d hesitate?”

“Of course she would. We’re friends!”

“A few days ago, I’da said friends wouldn’t kill each other, no matter what.”

Twilight bit her lip. Something about all this still didn’t feel right. She looked over at Rarity, who’d been crying silently with as much dignity as she could muster. “Rarity, what do you think? Something still seems a bit off to me. I know Rainbow Dash can be very competitive, but she’s also the most loyal friend anyone could ask for. It just… doesn’t seem like her.”

Rarity wiped her eyes before replying. “I… honestly, I don’t know what to think. All at once, part of me wants to tear Rainbow Dash to pieces for taking Pinkie away from us, part of me can’t believe that she’d ever do such a thing, and part of me just wants to start screaming and never stop.”

“I don’t believe she could either, Rarity,” Twilight said with a nod as soon as the other unicorn finished.

Applejack huffed. “Why are y’all acting like we didn’t just see what we did? Like it didn’t even happen?”
_

Less than an hour before, Discord had appeared before them as a dancing puppet and with his usual glee, conjured an overhead view of the arena on the rear wall of their cell. When they saw Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash walk to the center, all three of them had tensed up, having many hopes but no knowledge of what was going to happen.

When Rainbow Dash leaned in toward Pinkie conspiratorially, their hopes had soared. Twilight whispered that they were probably planning some way to escape. It didn’t look like it would be easy, but if anything could solve this problem, it would be Pinkie’s remarkable ability to think outside of the box and Rainbow’s unwillingness to give up. Applejack had reckoned they’d fake a fight and run down the clock. Rarity had countered that there was no clock to run down and sided with Twilight.

“This isn’t hoofball, Applejack. We’re not in school, after all.” she’d remarked wittily, and the mood was light all around. It was almost as if two of their friends weren’t in mortal danger. It was easier to pretend they weren’t.

When Rainbow Dash pointed to something they couldn’t see on the projection, Twilight started to smile.

“She’s noticed something!” she squealed. “They’re going to get out! And then they’re going to come for us, and everything will be okay!”

When Rainbow Dash took the knife from its hiding place under her wing, jammed it into Pinkie’s neck, and yanked it across, a multitude of things happened at once.

Applejack recoiled as if slapped, the color draining from her face as her mouth hung open. She tried to say something for some time, but gave up, gritting her teeth instead. Veins stood out on her neck and her breath became ragged as her stare bored a hole in the floor, refusing to look at the unfolding scene.

Twilight gasped, squeezing her eyes as shut as she could make them before bawling into her hooves. After a second, her eyes snapped open again and she stared at the unfolding scene, unblinking.

Rarity screamed, heaving great sobs, then suddenly turning away from her friends and vomiting.

On the projection, Rainbow Dash stared upward, directly at them as though she could see them through the various magical channels and arrays. Her voice was icily stoic as she spoke slowly. “If you had to, you’d do it too.”

Then the projection disappeared, leaving them to their shock and to their grief.
_

“What were ya gonna say, Twilight? ‘Don’t hate the player; hate the game?’ We all know what we saw. Pinkie was scared, looking for help, and Rainbow Dash murdered her. And- and now Fluttershy’s alone with her and I’m scared more than I can say!”

“You don’t think she’d hurt Fluttershy, do you?” Twilight balked. She’d been prepared to counter Applejack’s accusation – This is Discord we’re dealing with, the one for whom lies and deceit are part and parcel! - , but they’d been arguing in circles about it for an hour, and the mention of Fluttershy threw her off.

“I wouldn’t have thought she’d hurt Pinkie, but I was wrong there.”

“But –“

“No buts, Twilight. Yes, I know they’ve been friends the longest of all of us, ever since they were little, but that’s just the problem. Fluttershy practically worships Rainbow. She could tell her anything she liked about what happened and she’d believe it.” Applejack dug at the ground, sighing before looking back into Twilight’s eyes.. “I really do want to believe what you’re saying, Twilight. I want to believe it more than anything, but we have to consider the possibility that Rainbow really is lost to us. And if she is, I’m worried she’ll try and use Fluttershy’s devotion against us somehow.”

“Use it against us? Applejack, we’re all just trying to survive. You make it sound like we’re going along with this whole competition idea that we’re trapped in.”

Applejack’s answer was cold, and came after a great silence. “Aren’t we, Twilight? Aren’t we?”
_

Rainbow Dash was out cold. She’d fallen asleep after they… after it. Fluttershy still could hardly believe it herself. Trying to figure out what to make of everything was just so confusing. She should be happy about having a – was it a girlfriend she had now? She couldn’t say, and Rainbow was too busy sawing logs to offer an opinion – but she couldn’t because of how horrible everything else had been. Even ‘horrible’ didn’t seem sufficient to describe it. The best thing that ever happened to her happened during the worst days of her life.

Not to mention they might be the last days, Fluttershy thought with a shudder. Would that be better? To not have to face going on for years and years, waking up every morning to face the constant threat of global devastation now that the Elements of Harmony were useless? Fluttershy traced a hoof around the scar ringing her neck. Would it ever fade? Fluttershy had no illusions of going home and everything returning to normal. With one of the Elements of Harmony dead, there would be no going back to the way things were. Never again would they be called upon to defend the land from a changeling invasion or someone like Nightmare Moon, Discord, or Sombra.

Discord… what was there to be done about him? Without the Elements of Harmony, how could he be defeated? She’d thought that befriending him, using whatever emotional core he had left against him to ensure that he behaved, would do some good. Perhaps naively, she’d hoped that the experience of having a friend would engender in Discord a desire for more friends and would eventually bring make him into a happy, healthy member of their society.

I couldn’t do it. This…

“This is all my fault!” she wailed. “I-I showed him as much kindness as I could, but it wasn’t enough.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and whipped her head around to see its source.

“There there, you poor thing,” Discord mewled like a mother cat. “There’s no need to cry. What’s the expression again? Ah yes: ‘tears are a waste of good sorrow.’ Revel in the experience while you can.”

Fluttershy pulled away and shivered. “W-why are you here again? It’s not… it’s not time for another... is it?”

Discord laughed. “Oh, no no no. It’s merely time that I reunite the two of you with your other friends. Your isolation seems to have served its purpose.”

All the blood drained from Fluttershy’s face. Her lips trembled. “Y-you… saw?”

Discord leaned in and patted her head. “Not a word of a whisper nor trick of the tail goes unnoticed by me within these walls, dearest Fluttershy. And you positively reek of sex. You really do need to shower. I suppose I should have built some in. Oh well.”
Fluttershy’s face was caught in a twisted mix of embarrassment, fear, and revulsion.

“Oh don’t look at me like that. If it makes you feel any better, it was frightfully dull. Pedestrian. Amateurish. But enough of this; it’s time the two of you were off. Go ahead and wake Rainbow Dash. Her snoring is atrocious.”
_

The heavy cell door opened to reveal three ponies in not looking at one another. After Applejack’s question, what was there to say? Twilight didn’t want to risk another argument by saying anything. Grief and fear were all too easy to turn into anger and lash out at even one’s closest friends the space of a whisper. Her ears only perked up when she noticed their visitor was

“Fluttershy!” Rarity cried, practically leaping across the cell and scooping her up in her hooves. “It’s so good to see you safe!”

A second pair of hoofsteps, arrhythmic and slow, signaled the arrival of Fluttershy’s companion. She gazed at Rarity wordlessly.
“Oh. And… Rainbow Dash. It’s, um, good to see you too,” Rarity said with a glance back over her shoulder. She saw Twilight tense up a little as they both looked at Applejack. If the latter had noticed the arrival of either pony, she gave no sign of it.

“I’m so glad to see both of you,” Twilight said with her first genuine smile of the day, trotting over to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“Thanks.” Rainbow Dash said without emotion.

Fluttershy winced a little at Rainbow’s response, but gave a hug to both Rarity and Twilight. Twilight caught a whiff of something strange on her friend, but immediately regretted it when she sniffed at the air to try and place what it was. Rarity’s vomit, five sweaty ponies, blood, and whatever else that was didn’t make for a pleasant combination. Even the ordinarily luxurious scents of Rarity’s perfumes and shampoos had faded away.

“I’m really glad to see all of you,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Not all,” Applejack said with a pointed look at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow’s eyes met hers, but she said nothing. She sat down on the floor. Applejack continued to stare.

“Got nothing to say?”

“What’s there to say?”

Applejack shrugged. “Not much. But ain’t this the part where you beg and plead with us to please understand, because you were only doing what you had to? If you didn’t get her first, she woulda got you, right? Ain’t that the gist of it?”

Rainbow blinked. “F-fuck you! What do you know?”

“All that I need to. Now wouldja kindly have a in the opposite corner? I don’t mean to be an inconvenience, but I hope you can understand why I don’t want you near me.”

Rainbow Dash was shaking, coiling like a spring when Twilight stepped in between them. “Applejack, enough! Now, Rainbow Dash, we saw you and Pinkie fight, but some of us have our doubts about what we saw. Would you please tell us what happened?”

Everyone listened intently as Rainbow recounted her version of the events as best she could. Fluttershy had to fill in on several occasions where Dash was too choked up to speak. Twilight and Rarity’s jaws hung open as the story went on. Applejack wore a scrutinous expression, analyzing every detail as it was recited to her.

“You’re saying Pinkie tried to kill you first?” Twilight and Rarity said at once, incredulously.

Rainbow Dash gulped and nodded. “She… she was crying. Like she didn’t want to do it, but she had to. I have no idea why, and it’s eating me up inside. All I can think of is that Discord had some kind of hold over her, but she wasn’t gray or anything. She was still herself the whole time. And still, she tried to….” Rainbow whimpered, but caught herself.

“Oh just quit it,” Applejack spoke for the first time in several minutes. “You’re expecting us to buy that Pinkie lured you in close, then tried to kill you? And you’re just so awesome that you were able to dodge it and take her down? Bullshit.”

Rainbow glowered at Applejack before extending her wing and showing off her scar. “I didn’t dodge anything.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Twilight had her hooves on her inspecting her injuries, emitting a thoughtful “hmm” as she looked over each one in a way that became more and more irritating with every passing second.

“Hmm what, Twilight?” Rainbow demanded impatiently.

“I was right,” the unicorn said with some unintended smugness as she turned from Rainbow to Applejack. “Come over here. Look at her wounds.”

The last thing Applejack wanted to do was get that close to Rainbow Dash, but if there was a chance she might be telling the truth… there was no way Applejack would be able to apologize enough. But that wasn’t the point anyway. She wasn’t telling the truth. Rainbow had a bad habit of lying, embellishing, exaggerating, you name it. Could she ever be forgiven? Maybe, if she fessed up and was actually sorry. Twilight had been right that this was all a horrible, unfair situation where no one could both be a good pony and expect to survive. But still…

Applejack made her way across the cell slowly, and was trying to keep an open mind when she caught a whiff of a certain damning scent on Fluttershy, freezing in her tracks with horror as she recognized what it was.

“Fluttershy…” she said, voice heavy with a forced calm, “please tell me that smell on you isn’t what I think it is.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks lit up like stop lights and she tried to hide behind her mane. “It’s… it’s not what you think it is?”

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked, sniffing the air and grimacing when she realized what that scent was.

“No…” she gasped.

Applejack glared daggers at Rainbow Dash.

“It… it just sort of happened,” Fluttershy tried to explain.

“Oh, I’ll bet it did,” Applejack growled, advancing on Rainbow Dash. “Not only did you take advantage of the situation with Pinkie, but you took your sob story and you… and you used it to manipulate Fluttershy into… into…” she couldn’t finish, preferring to let her hooves do the talking when it came down to brass tacks. “You cowardly, backstabbing, lying, manipulating rapist!” she screamed, winding up a punch.

“Applejack, stop!” Twilight shouted.

“No! Don’t!” Fluttershy squealed too late as Applejack’s hoof made contact with Rainbow Dash’s muzzle.

Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy all gasped as Rainbow Dash fell to the ground. A thin trickle of blood ran from her reopened lip.

“What the hell, AJ? Here I thought we were friends and you go and say that shit and hit me? F-fuck you! You’re in for it now,” she snorted, lowering her head and flaring her good wing.

“Stop it! Just stop!” Rarity cried, unsure who to stop and who to protect.

“Please,” Fluttershy shouted, “she’s too hurt to fight any more!”

“I can take care of myself, Fluttershy!” Rainbow snapped, immediately regretting it.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” she stammered.

“It’s okay…” Fluttershy whispered in a tone that said it very much wasn’t okay.

“Didn’t mean to what, Rainbow? Hurt another one of your friends? For someone who doesn’t want to, you sure seem to be doing a lot of it these days.”

Rainbow Dash leapt at Applejack, her hoof grazing and opening a small gash in her forehead. Immediately, the two of them went to the ground, Rainbow on top trying to hold Applejack’s hooves down.

“Why won’t you trust me? Why won’t you listen?” Dash shook Applejack frantically, trying to hold back hot tears for their dying friendship.

“We have to stop them,” Twilight said, but felt a hoof on her shoulder.

“They’ve stopped hitting each other at least,” Rarity said quietly. “Maybe this is what they needed to clear the air. Let’s hold back for now, but intervene if it starts again.”

Rainbow was still yelling. “Listen to me! Why won’t you trust me? Why won’t you just listen?!”

Applejack wasn’t moving.

“Rainbow, stop! You’ll kill her!” Dash vaguely heard Fluttershy yell. She looked down and realized that she was lying on Applejack’s airway. Immediately, she rolled off and looked guiltily at her friend, who started gasping for air.

“Applejack, are you okay? I didn’t mean to-“

A buck to the stomach knocked the rest of what Rainbow was going to say out of her as Applejack struggled to her hooves, bleary-eyed and panting.

“You… were gonna… kill me!”

“No no no, Applejack. It was an accident.” Rarity said, but Applejack was still recovering from being strangled and in no state to listen.

“Try’na… kill me…” Applejack said again.

“We saw the whole thing. Now just calm down and-”

“I… hate you!”

Everything happened at once. Applejack lunged for Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy screamed. Twilight bolted in between them, ready to be the decisive leader they all needed and put an end to this.

Before she could understand what was going on, Applejack’s hoof was already screaming through the air at full force. Rather than its intended target, her hoof connected hard with Twilight’s jaw, knocking her to the floor.