Popped

The sweet scent of freshly baked blueberry muffins filled the air as Mrs.Cake opened the oven door. Equipped with her oven mitt, she carefully leaned into the furnace, feeling the hot air against her face as she removed the scalding hot metal tray. She placed it carefully onto the counter top in the middle of the kitchen, returned the oven mitt to its proper place, and called out to her assistant in her usual motherly tone. “Pinkie, dear, could you come here a second? The muffins are ready to be put on display.”

She waited patiently for a few seconds, but received no reply.

“Dearie? The muffins are out of the oven." She called in a louder voice, scrunching her nose slightly. "Could you spare a minute?”

She waited for another few seconds, but still failed to hear the response she had hoped for.

With a roll of her eyes, Mrs.Cake removed the oven mitt from the rack and picked up the tray. She trotted towards the bakery’s main room, a slight scowl adorning her face. If there was anything Mrs.Cake disliked more than anything, it was being ignored. As soon as she passed through the saloon-style doors, however, her jaw dropped, nearly causing the hot tray of muffins to fall onto the floor.

The bakery was absolutely swarming with ponies. Lacking any kind of organization, they filled every inch of her vision. Today was the day before Hearth's Warming Eve, which meant that Sugarcube Corner was having its annual holiday sale. Mrs.Cake knew that business would be moving much faster than usual, but this was unlike anything she had ever seen. Sure, on particularly busy days the line could sometimes extend out the door, but such a thing would be a luxury at the moment. There were at least four ponies at the counter all trying to order at once, and the mare in charge at the moment was quite visibly stressed out.

A young mare piped up. “Can I get a dozen chocolate cupcakes please?”

“Sure thing! A dozen chocolate cupca-”

Another pony shoved his way up to the counter. “Hey! Can I get, um...half a dozen scones?

“Of course sir, but could you wait a mi-”

The young mare spoke again. “Yes. No, wait. Could you make that a dozen cupcakes and a slice of red velvet please? To go?”

As quickly as she could, Pinkie Pie scribbled down the torrent of orders on a small sheet of yellow lined paper.

Another stallion pushed his way up to the front and placed three bits on the counter. “Two banana bread muffins, please.”

Pinkie scribbled down orders at an ever-quickening pace. Her usually cheerful visage transformed into one of frustration, her handwriting becoming more and more illegible as the page filled up.

Taking a step back, Cupcake turned to the mob and raised her voice. “Excuse me?”

Expecting everypony to comply, she scanned her eyes across the crowd. Not a single one of them looked up.

She took another step back and stamped one hoof on the ground as hard as she could. “EXCUSE ME!" She yelled. "Would you all please stop acting like foals and form a single-file line? I swear! The nerve of you ponies!”

An awkward silence hung over the room. With many looks of shame and embarrassment quickly forming among the crowd, everypony hung their heads and formed a somewhat organized line which eventually extended out of the building and down a few blocks. As they did so, Pinkie let out a small sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness...”

* * *

The bell of the cash register rang as the final customer collected his food and wished Pinkie and the Cakes a happy Hearth’s Warming. As soon as the door shut behind the satisfied customer, Pinkie collapsed onto the counter top.

“Phew...” she sighed. “What a day...do you think he’s the last one?” Pinkie inquired to nopony in particular. “Oh, please tell me he was the last one today!”

Mr.Cake poked his head in from the kitchen. “I’m not sure, but we’ll need you to man the register for the last thirty minutes of your shift, Pinkie.”

“Okay...” she uncharacteristically mumbled, laying face down on the counter. “See ‘ya tomorrow, Mister and Misses Cake.” Pinkie watched the two spouses as they trotted up the stairs and down the hallway, toward the room which housed their children.

Before turning the corner, Mrs.Cake turned around to glance at Pinkie, who without words told them that she could handle it with a slight, exhausted smile.

They continued calmly down the upstairs hallway and entered the nursery. “She really is a good mare, that Pinkie Pie." Cupcake said, turning to speak to her husband as they approached the twin's crib. "What say we give her the next week off? I’m sure she’ll want to visit her family.”

Carrot Cake nodded in approval. He opened his mouth to speak, but his reply was delayed by a long, drawn out yawn. "Sounds good to me, honeybun."

Meanwhile, on the bakery’s ground floor, Pinkie stood in place, staring mindlessly into the wall across from her. She tried her best to stay awake, but with nothing to occupy her time, the fatigue set in. Over and over, her eyes would close before abruptly shooting open once again. I'll just rest my eyes for a few seconds, she thought. Gently, she closed her eyes...and...

Ding!

“Gah!” Pinkie’s eyes flew wide open. However, with her senses overcome with the sudden change in light, she instantly closed them shut, cringing from the stinging sensation in her eyes. “Wha- Huh? Who’s there?!” When her eyes finally adjusted to the bright luminescence of the bakery, She stopped herself mid sentence, looked up, and with an adorable giggle put on her biggest grin. “Oh, it’s just you! Hiya! Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner! What can I get for you tonight?”

A tall, well-built unicorn with a dark blue coat and curly white mane stood in the doorway. His name was Pokey Pierce. He froze in place for a moment with a surprised expression before sluggishly walking up to the counter, donning a nervous grin on his face. “Well...hey there, Pinkie. Are your..." Pokey paused for an unusual amount of time in the middle of his sentence. "Are the Cakes here?” he spoke spoke slowly, drawing out each syllable , almost as if he was speaking a foreign language that he hadn't quite mastered. Pokey, however, was very fluent in Equestrian.

Letting her tired eyes wander, Pinkie glanced at the clock above the front door.

Oh my gosh! 2:07 in the morning! She thought, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

Her face turned a delightful shade of red. She glanced back towards Pokey, who was now standing in front of the counter. "Silly me, I fell asleep and forgot to close up!” She giggled.

Pokey grinned and leaned in closer. “I noticed...” he said, his unusually pointy horn nearly jabbing Pinkie in the face.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow and leaned away, going straight-faced for a moment before returning to her trademark smile. “Well, um...thanks for wakin’ me up, Pokey! Can you imagine if I had accidentally left the lights on all night? The Cakes would be furious!” She said, placing a hoof over her mouth to muffle her loud giggling. “You did what, Pinkie? I’m not made of money! Rawr!” She mocked, doing her best impression of Mr.Cake.

Pokey quietly stared at Pinkie for a moment before opening his mouth to reply. “No problem. Uh, hey...do you mind, um, taking an order?” he mumbled, leering into Pinkie's eyes. “I’m, ah, awful hungry.”

Pinkie frowned slightly. “Well gee, I dunno, Pokey. It’s awful late, and Gummy needs to be put to bed.” She yawned. “Heehee! And apparently so do I! Don’t worry though, come sunrise you’ll be first priority!”

A brief flash of rage could be seen in Pokey’s eyes for a split second. He looked down, mumbling something to himself before once again locking his eyes with Pinkie's. “You sure? I could really use something to eat right about now...” He lamented, doing what he could to twist his face into what he hoped looked like a frown. “...seeing as I’ll be all alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“Aww...” Pinkie pouted, her gaze drifting downward. “Tell you what, Pokey! You wait right here. I’ll whip something up for you! What’ll it be?”

In an instant, Pokey’s cheeky grin returned, bigger and brighter than ever. “Oh, ah, I'll have a chocolate chip muffin or something. But I, ah, I gotta...I need to leave for a few minutes." He stuttered, mindlessly playing with a loose floorboard below one of his shaking hooves. "I-If I’m not back by the time you’re done, could you bring them out to me? My cart is parked right behind the shop.”

Pinkie put on her sweetest smile and gave her customer a wink. “Okey Dokey, Pokey! One chocolate-chip muffin comin’ right up!”

“Great. See you in a few.” Pokey said, turning to exit. The bell above the door chimed brightly, and before long, Pokey Pierce was out of sight.

With a spring in her step, Pinkie turned around and trotted into the kitchen. She preheated the oven to four-hundred degrees and took the muffin tray from the cabinet, all the while humming to herself an improvised melody as she gathered the ingredients. Then, once everything was prepared, Pinkie closed the oven door and waited patiently for her culinary concoction to come to life.

With nothing better to do to occupy herself while she waited, Pinkie wandered over to one of the wooden bookshelves on the far end of the kitchen. Scanning the various books on the shelf, She found herself overcome with an unpredicted wave of nostalgia when she discovered an old, dusty cookbook among many others. The once pristine, white pages had now faded to a dull beige, and the cover was ripped in some places. She opened it, and felt butterflies in her stomach when she read the message written in the margin of the title page:

“Happy 9th Birthday, Pinkamena!

From: Mom”

This was her first cookbook. The one she had brought with her when she moved to Ponyville.

Mom...I haven’t seen her in years...or the rest of them... She thought, beginning to feel the oven’s cozy warmth as it slowly filled the room. She stared at the writing, now faded to a dull blue, and felt her throat tighten up.

Just like the last two years since they had been brought together, she had made plans to spend Hearth’s Warming with her friends, but as she gazed longingly at her mother's hoofwriting, she felt an uncomfortable pang of guilt deep in her stomach. Sure, her family was a bunch of boring old rock farmers, but they were just as important as her friends in Ponyvi -

Her train of thought ended abruptly, the bright chime of the oven bringing her back into reality. Carefully setting the old cookbook down on the counter, Pinkie Pie trotted towards the machine. She grasped the oven mitt with her mouth and carefully took the muffins out of the oven before finally placing them in a paper bag. She had made three instead of the one Pokey had requested, putting an extra one in the bag for him and another for a late-night snack.

Before she began towards the bakery's front counter, Pinkie made a beeline towards a large coat rack in the corner of the kitchen. She stood on the tips of her hooves, squinting and sticking her tongue out as she attempted to reach a long, blue and yellow scarf that hung on one of the pegs. Then, with one swift movement, the scarf was wrapped snugly around her neck.

Sufficiently prepared for the harsh winter air, Pinkie grabbed the bag of muffins and started toward the front entrance of the building, before, with a giggle, halting in realization.

"Wait a sec, where am I going? Pokey said he’d wait for me behind the bakery! Duh!" .

Correcting herself, Pinkie turned around and began trotting in the opposite direction, feeling a distinct, slightly painful pinch in her knee. She was too preoccupied with her current train of thought to pay any attention to such petty things, however.

Like usual, many thoughts ran through Pinkie's idle mind. But in that moment, one in particular stood out among the others.

She tilted her head slightly. Behind the bakery...that's kinda weird when ‘ya think about it.

* * *

Pokey Pierce waited anxiously behind the bakery. Come on, Pokey, you can do this. Just one swift kick. No sweat. He could feel his body filling with adrenaline as he watched Pinkie's shadow grow longer.

Sugarcube Corner's back door gave a slight squeak as it opened, announcing Pinkie's entrance as she walked out into the cold gravel street. With a spring in her step, Pinkie approached her customer with his order.

“Hey, you okay? You seem kinda frightened.” Pinkie asked with genuine concern.

Pokey twitched. “Why don’t you just ah...put them on the...on the ground over there, okay? Could you do that for me?” he replied, his slow paced, nervous diction returning from earlier.

Pinkie gave a quick smile and a nod. “Sure thing!” She chirped, making her way over to the spot where Pokey had told her to go.

When she turned her head to face the ground, Pokey readied his kick.

This is it. This is my chance. Okay. Let’s do this.

Pinkie placed the bag on the gravel road next to Pokey's cart before retracting her head from its position near the ground. “Okay, Pokes! Anyth- AGH!”

After a single, swift kick, Pinkie Pie fell face-first into the ground. “Ow! Ow ow ow ow! What was that for!?”. She cried, holding her head between her hooves in pain.

Pokey turned around to face his victim. No! She's not supposed to be conscious! Panicking, he pounced on top of her and grasped her head between his hooves. Pinkie tried to bat them away, but her efforts proved to be in vain as the full-grown stallion easily overpowered her. The instant he gained a firm grip, Pokey lifted Pinkie’s head off of the ground before quickly slamming it back down again against the cold gravel.

“Ow! Stop it! What are you doing?! Stop!” she cried. Pokey picked up her head and slammed it down once again, harder and more aggressive this time.

Why won’t this stupid mule just pass out already? Pokey thought. He picked up the pace, slamming her head against the ground again and again as blood began to stain the gravel below her. Each time she remained conscious after taking a blow, Pinkie’s cries grew louder and Pokey became more and more enraged. Pokey's plan wasn't working, and at this rate, Pinkie would wake up the entire town with her cries.

Tears rolled down Pinkie cheeks as she hollered in pain. “HELP! PLEASE! SOMEPONY HELP ME!”

“Shut! Up! Be! Quiet!” Pokey growled, slamming Pinkie's head against the ground after each word. He grabbed both ends of her scarf, pulling each end as tight as he could, suffocating his victim as well as muting her desperate cries. Pinkie weakly clawed at his hooves while trying her hardest to be as loud as possible. However, all she could manage to muster up were a few weak cries, which were much too soft for anypony behind closed doors to hear. A smile grew on Pokey’s face as Pinkie’s movements gradually slowed down, before stopping altogether as she finally passed out.

* * *

“Nnngh...owww...”

Pinkie Pie awoke with a blaring headache. Blood pumped to her head every second, accompanied by terrible throbs of pain. She opened her eyes slowly, but found that the inadequate lighting of the room prevented her from seeing anything. Despite this, she could still sense that something was wrong.

She was in quite an irregular position for a pony: standing up vertically on her hind legs, which would otherwise be impossible without the assistance of some sort of device.

Pinkie grunted, attempting to shift her weight forward so that she could stand more comfortably on four legs, however as she did so she quickly found that this wasn’t possible at the moment. She couldn’t see it, but it felt like her two front legs were suspended in the air by cuffs, which were in turn suspended in the air by what sounded like chains.

Her head was in pain. She was uncomfortable, and she was very confused. Maybe she had a hangover? She had gone overboard with cider before. That would explain the throbbing headache and the confusion, but it still didn’t explain why in the world she was suspended in the air by chains in a dark, musty room.

Within a few minutes, Pinkie's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, which enabled her to see a few feet in front of her. She was in a square-shaped room with four brick walls all around her, with herself in the center. There was about 5 feet of room in each direction. In front of her was a large wooden door with a rounded top and a window with thick iron bars. The floor was either very filthy or the earth itself, as it was absolutely covered with dirt. That was all she could see. And it was definitely not her room.

If anypony had been there to gaze into them, they would have noticed that the look of panic in Pinkie’s eyes grew with each passing second. Pinkie soon realized that she wasn’t dreaming. That this was real. And it terrified her.

Pinkie hanged there in silence for minutes before thinking to call out to anypony who may be able to help her, or at least tell her where she was.

“...Hello?”

She waited a few moments. Nothing.

“...Is...is anypony there? Hello?”

Another few moments passed. The only reply that she received was the faint echo of her own voice reflected off of the walls. Pinkie felt a shiver shoot down her spine. She called out several more times before finally giving up. She hanged there, whimpering, confused, and scared for what seemed like hours.

Eventually however, due to the lack of sensory stimulation, Pinkie began to doze off to sleep, despite all of the factors that would have prevented her from doing so. Perhaps this was all a dream, and she would wake up in her own bed, away from wherever she was. Perhaps...

* * *

Hours later, Pinkie Pie’s eyes shot open upon hearing a loud clanging sound.

“Wha..huh? Who’s there?!”

The door to Pinkie’s cell slowly creaked open, revealing the shadowy figure of a pony.

A unicorn.

Pinkie’s ears perked up, and she smiled in relief. “Oh, thank Celestia! Can you help me? I don’t know where I am and I’m super duper scared and it’s Hearth’s Warming today and I really wanna go see my family and my girls and stuff because I think I’m in jail or something but I don’t think I did anything bad and if I did I’m super duper sorry and you can have as many cupcakes as you want at Sugarcube Corner 'cause I’ll take it out of my paycheck or if you don’t like cupcakes we have other stuff too like cookies and cakes and pies and donuts and rolls and scones and brownies and biscuits and croissants and eclairs and fudge and strudels and tarts and truffles and taffy, and, um, well that's about it. B-but if you don’t like any of those either Mister and Misses Cake are saving up for an ice cream machine so you can have that too if you want!” Finally finished with her tirade, her head fell forward as she took a deep breath.

Unfortunately, her efforts turned out to be a waste of breath. The unicorn didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, he appeared to be focused on setting up some sort of device in front of her.

“...H-Hello?”

The unicorn continued to ignore Pinkie’s rambling as he finished setting up the device.

Pinkie huffed, scrunching up her snout. “Could you at least, like, talk to me? Hellooo?” She complained, drawing out the word for emphasis.

The unicorn walked to the leftmost wall of the room and pulled a string that hung from the ceiling.

And then there was light.

And then, immediately after that, there was terror.

Pokey Pierce.

Pokey casually turned to Pinkie and gave a hearty laugh. “Don’t you worry, Pinkie Pie, I'm well-off enough to afford all the sweets I need. It’s a shame you won’t be able to give them your special touch, but, uh, I think I’ll make do.” He levitated and empty bag adorned with Sugarcube Corner's logo in front of Pinkie’s face. “Thanks for the extra muffins, by the way. That was thoughtful of you.”

Pinkie's eyes widened. As she examined at the bag, encased in Pokey’s dark blue magical aura, she could feel adrenaline rushing into every last nook and cranny of her body as she recalled the events of the previous night. Or, rather, perhaps it was yesterday night. She had no idea how long she had actually been down here. Pokey had attacked her, choking her unconscious. And now she was here. Chained up in a dark dungeon with only her assailant as company.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was panicked, unintelligible babble. Shutting her eyes, she took a deep breath to console herself and tried again. “Wha...what is this place? Where am I?”

Pokey looked his victim in the eyes. “Where are you?" He said, smiling. "That should be the least of your concerns right now."

“Wha- What do you mean?" Pinkie asked, turning her head to avoid Pokey's intense, unsettling gaze.

“I’m going to make you scream. I’m going to make you cry. I’m going to make you beg for mercy.”

Pinkie grunted, writhing in her bonds, the sound of rattling chains echoing off of the walls. Her voice became gradually louder as the fear set in. “N-no, you’re lying! I know you, Pokey! You wouldn't hurt me, you're my friend!”

Pokey turned on the camera he had set up. “To be perfectly honest, Pinkie, nopony really likes you. You’re annoying. Everypony just humors you because they don't have the heart to tell you to go away. Including me. Turns out some ponies have a darker side.”

Pinkie looked like she was about to cry. “What? But lots of ponies come to my parties...”

“That was unfair. Sorry. It’s more of like a third of the town that can’t stand you. Anyway, we should get on with this torture business.”

“W-what? No! Please don’t hurt me! Just let me go, a-and I’ll be less annoying, I swear!”

Pokey laughed. “That’s not what this is about. I just thought I’d point that out to you. You’re here because you’re stupid. An easy target. You're so naive that I knew you would never suspect a thing."

He pressed the “record” button as a flashing red light appeared on the screen. “Pinkie Pie, session one.”

Pinkie thrashed erratically in her bonds, “No! Get away from me! Don’t touch me! Somepony help!”

“Oh wow, you're a natural, already putting on a good show. Keep that up while I get my tools and decide how to start you off.” Pokey said before trotting out of the cell.

Pinkie hanged there, paralyzed with fear. She babbled incoherently for a while, too shocked to form any clear words.

On the bright side, now that the lights had been turned on, Pinkie had a clear view of the room. She turned her head in every direction, inspecting every nook and cranny for anything she could use to escape. Pinkie inspected the wall in front of her and what she could see of the walls to her left and right.

Nothing.

She looked up towards the ceiling, only to find it made of old, rotting wooden planks.

Finally, she looked down, towards the floor. It was just dirt, like she had thought, but there was something else below her.

Pinkie Pie did a double take before giving a deafening shriek that echoed throughout the entire basement. Below her was a deep pit lined neatly with a ring a bricks. What frightened her the most, though was the ring of dried blood surrounding it.

Pinkie’s heart rate shot through the roof. “HELP ME!” SOMEPONY, PLEASE!” she sobbed, her screams accompanied by the rattling of chains. “PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Before long, Pokey Pierce made his way back into the room, using his unicorn magic to levitate a large metal bucket next to him. He set it down on the floor, allowing Pinkie to see the faint orange glow that radiated from inside.

“Wow, what a voice! I might actually be afraid of somepony hearing you if we weren’t in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. But hey, maybe somepony'll decide to take a trip up here this Hearth’s Warming, and you can have a friend to suffer with you! Would you like that?”

Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and looked down towards the dirt floor, careful not to remind herself of the gruesome sight below her. Tears ran at a steady pace down her face, periodically dripping off of her chin and mixing with the dried puddle of blood underneath her hooves. “No! J-Just please let me go! You’re crazy!” She said, struggling violently and screaming as loud as she could. “YOU’RE CRAZY! LET ME GO!”

Pokey's face stretched into a cheeky grin, watching his victim thrash back and forth before him. The first day was always his favorite. They were always so full of energy, kicking and screaming like it was the end of the world. It was always a nice change of pace after finishing off the previous mare, who had by then become so weak and broken she could barely even speak.

Pokey shook his head, snapping himself out of the train of thought. Then, without a moment of hesitation, he levitated one of the glowing pieces of metal out of the bucket and lobbed it toward his victim. “Shut up!”

Pinkie had little time to respond before the red-hot metal made contact with her chest, gasping in shock for the shortest moment before howling in agony. While the metal had only touched her skin for a split-second before it fell to the ground, it was enough to sear her skin and leave a serious burn where it had made contact.

As she screamed, Pinkie twisted her hips back and forth in an effort to generate enough air flow to cool down the burn. The pain persisted, however, and the intense heat leftover from the metal continued to destroy her skin as the burned area slowly expanded.

"Why are you still making noise?" Pokey asked with a frightening amount of aggression in his voice. "I told you to shut your mouth!"

Pinkie tried to gain enough composure to form some sort of apology, but the pain on her chest had only now begun to fade. She was only able to remain silent for a few seconds before the urge overcame her, and she bursted out into another wave of sobs.

“Shut your mouth!” Pokey yelled, lifting another piece of metal out of the bucket with his magic.

The bright glow of the metal stood out against the darkness of the cell. No matter where she looked, Pinkie Pie couldn't ignore the warm, orange tint that graced every surface of the small room. "NO! STOP, PLEASE!" she screamed, preparing herself for the coming pain.

Pinkie shrieked as another piece of scalding hot metal made contact with her chest, followed by three more pieces which landed on her cheek, forehead, and shoulder, respectively. Each one left red, uniquely-shaped wounds which expanded at an easy pace as the layers of Pinkie’s skin slowly burned away. The chains that held her in place rattled around loudly as she jolted around, an instinctive movement necessitated by both the intense pain and the desire to decrease Pokey’s accuracy as he mercilessly tortured her.

“STOP! PLEASE STOP! I’LL BE QUIET! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!” Pinkie wailed, still clinging on to the hope that Pokey had any shred of empathy in him.

Little did she know, this was just the beginning.

Pokey lobbed three more pieces toward his victim, one of them hitting her on the chest, and the other two clinking against the wall behind her. He grunted. “Hold still, you stupid mule! Stop moving!”

Pinkie did her best to follow his orders. She wanted to stop moving. She wanted to stop her suffering. But as her skin slowly burned away where the metal had touched her, the intense pain prevented her from doing any such thing.

This wasn’t regular pain. Pinkie had been hurt lots of times. She had stubbed her hoof. She had skinned her knee. But that kind of pain only hurt for a little while before going away. This was a different kind of pain. It was the type of pain that kept hurting for days and days. Sure, Pinkie had been burned before too. She works in a bakery. She’d had experience with it..

But never like this.

Pokey continued to pelt her, the smell of burnt fur filling the air. But for every three pieces he threw, only one actually managed to hit her.

Seething with rage, Pokey yelled in a tone so vicious it could tame a dragon. “STOP MOVING OR I’LL MAKE YOU!”

Pinkie Pie sobbed loudly and babbled phrases that somewhat resembled “I can’t” and “I’m sorry”, with the occasional “please stop”. Along with the burns accumulated on her body, slowly expanding, the skin around Pinkie’s forehooves deteriorated with each thrash as it rubbed against the tight cuffs encased in a layer of red rust.

Pokey grew more and more frustrated with each passing second that Pinkie didn’t hold still. He levitated the remaining contents of the bucket, their orange glow complementing the blue aura that surrounded them. Pokey thrusted the seven remaining pieces at his victim, which impacted her body, scattering like shrapnel.

With all but two of the pieces striking her body at once, Pinkie roared in misery as her body was engulfed in tremendous pain. She attempted to speak, but all she could do was shriek and writhe in her suffering.

Furious all but a few seconds ago, watching his victim get her punishment for disobeying calmed Pokey down considerably as he smiled with a satisfied sigh.

After Pokey stopped, Pinkie continued to scream and writhe in agony for another few minutes. Eventually, as Pinkie’s screams gradually turned into sobs, Pokey took the opportunity to make small talk. “You really do have a great voice.” He said as he approached her, being careful not to step on the metal that littered the floor. “No, really, do you sing?”

Pinkie Pie ignored his question and continued to cry as the ground around her was slowly soaked with tears. There was even the occasional hiss to be heard when one of Pinkie’s teardrops hit the still hot metal below her.

“Right then. I see we’re not in the mood to talk. That’s fine. Are you thirsty?”

Pinkie was still for a few moments, but eventually surrendered a weak nod.

“Aww. I’ll get you some water.” Pokey began walking towards the cell door, but stopped when he saw the opportunity to lift the mood. “Stay right there” he said, enjoying the irony.

A short while later, Pokey came back, struggling to levitate a rather heavy bucket filled to the brim. “Here you go. Happy Hearth’s Warming.” He remarked, before dumping ice cold water on top of her. Pinkie gasped due to the initial shock, but then moaned in relief as the freezing water relieved the burning pain for a few seconds.

“Thank you...” She mumbled, before groaning once again as the pain quickly returned.

“How cute! I see you’re already warming up to me!” Pokey said, standing directly below Pinkie. This assumption was quickly disproved as Pinkie suddenly lashed out.

“No! I hate you! I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you!” she repeated, the phrase going from being screamed to being sobbed with each successive repetition. Pokey simply laughed, and Pinkie took the opportunity kick him in the nose. Hard.

Pokey recoiled with a grunt of pain, but quickly recovered. “You’re going to wish you never did that, you little runt!” he said, picking up the empty bucket with his unicorn magic.

Fear and regret could be found in Pinkie Pie’s cerulean eyes at that moment. “No, wait! I’m so-”

Pinkie cut her apology short to make room for screaming as Pokey viciously beat her head with the bucket.

“I’ll! Teach! You! To! Dis! Re! Spect! Me! You! Dumb! Mule!” He yelled, striking her skull with each syllable much like he did at Sugarcube Corner the night before. Pinkie Pie could only whimper pathetically as she was punished.

He continued to slam the metal container mercilessly against her head until it was sufficiently covered with blood. He slammed it one final time so that it covered her head and she was wearing the bucket, dripping with her own blood and covering her chest, mixing with the water, thinning it as the mixture lightly stained her pink coat.

Thoroughly satisfied, Pokey made his way over to the camera to end the recording. “Go on, Pinkie, wish the camera a happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Pinkie simply cried to herself before mumbling some indecipherable phrase, which was further distorted by the bucket she was wearing on her head. “What was that now?" Pokey said, lifting the bucket off.

“...H-happy...Hearth’s W-W-Warming...”

“That’s my girl.” Pokey remarked, before aggressively slamming the bucket back on her head. With that, he ended the recording and turned off the camera.

Pokey collapsed the device and carried it out of the cell. After a few minutes, he returned, turned the lights off, and locked the door. As he made his way upstairs, he slowed down to listen to Pinkie as she softly cried to herself, accompanied by moans of pain. Pokey smiled. Today was a good day, He thought, locking the basement door.