Gut Feeling

   Rainbow Dash walked into the bakery alongside Twilight and Applejack. It was a warm, yet overcast day, the kind of day where you feel like you could just float into the air; the perfect temperature. Pinkie Pie was standing behind the counter, cheerfully filling in a cupcake pan with her famous sparkle batter. It was her sparkle batter that rose to popularity two years ago, and finally got her enough money to lease her own building. Pinkie's Perfections, she called it.

   Once she saw Rainbow Dash, she stopped, and put the ladle back into the bowl beside her. Twilight looked around the bright pink room, and breathed in. "Smells great, Pinkie!" Twilight said, still looking around. "And - did you redecorate?"

   "Looks a lot better in here!" Rainbow Dash said, glancing at the newly refurbished tables.

   "Thanks, Dashie," Pinkie replied, smiling widely. "I did it all by myself... along with these cookies!" With this, the pink mare opened up the oven behind her and slid out two pans full of blue and pink cookies, dyed to perfection by the master baker behind the counter.

   "Gee, sugarcube!" Applejack commented. "Those look good enough to eat!"

   "Well, they are to eat, silly! You guys are gonna take 'em to the baby shower today, right?"

   "Yeah," Twilight replied. "I can't believe Fluttershy is pregnant. And it's only been a year and a half since she and Glen got married, too!" She giggled. "Do you think it was an anniversary pregnancy?"

   "I don't know, but we have to get there soon, or well be late!" Rainbow Dash interjected. She took the plate of cookies from the counter in front of Pinkie, and then the group turned to leave. They began to trot quickly away when Pinkie shuddered. What was it about Rainbow Dash that always made her so uneasy?

   She tried to shrug it off, but she couldn't. Not this time. Because she had remembered her dream.

   Celestia had once told her that all dreams were special, and that all of them came from the Great Beyond. She just needed to listen to her dreams. But what if those dreams told her something she didn't want to know?

   In her dream last night, although she could barely remember it, there was Dash... standing at a counter. Or a table. Pinkie was behind her, and shadows blocked the pegasus' face. Then she divided cleanly into five, like a breaking mirror. She couldn't remember much else, but... she remembered one last thing. There was a terrible smell in the air... like fire, or sulfur. The dream became unclear once more and faded out of her memory.

   She shook her head. She was just being stupid. She had known Rainbow Dash for so long; how could she dream something like that? She sighed and turned back to her oven.

   Little happened over the next few days, except the parties and the baking and the taxes... everything was just so normal. She decided one day to head over to the library, maybe check on Twilight. She just had a strange desire to do this, from the pit of her stomach.

   She knocked twice on the door, and waited for Twilight to answer. She stood for a few minutes and knocked again. What was Twilight doing? She eventually just looked through the small window next to the door. Twilight was literally right in front of her, looking down at one of her books while sitting at her desk.

   She knocked again, but on the window. Twilight looked up for a few moments and finally registered that Pinkie Pie was there. She got up and walked over to the door, letting her friend in. "Hey, what took you so long?" Pinkie complained, walking annoyedly into the treehouse.

   Twilight grinned sheepishly. "I, uh... sorry, Pinkie, I guess I was just caught up in my new book."

   "What's it about?"

   "Well, three hundred years ago, there was a demon named Thalshorron who dominated the minds of ithose who were closest to it, one by one. Thalshorron hypnotized them until they started to look more like itself physically. It's really an interesting story."

   "Ok, yeah, so, anyways, do you wanna go do something? Like go out for a picnic, or go shopping, or-"

   "Wait, slow down, Pinkie! I can't today. Maybe tomorrow?" she suggested.

   "Sure. Okay! Yeah!" Pinkie said happily, and skipped out of the library. At least she had something to do tomorrow... but what about today? She eventually decided on going over to Rarity's for a quick visit. Again, though, she was denied; apparently, Rarity just had too much work to do.

   She tried everypony she knew, all to no avail. Either every pony really was too busy, or nopony wanted to play with her. By the time she was finished, it was almost dark... she trotted back home to make herself some cupcakes, and then it was off to bed.

   With a shrill ring, Pinkie's alarm clock went off. She was lying on her stomach, and pushed herself up with her hooves. "Damn it, right in my ear!" she grumbled, and stretched her back a little. Feeling a few satisfying snaps and pops, she groaned and rolled herself out of bed.

   She began to make the first order of the day just after dawn. If the eleven pies were going to be ready by eight, she should start now. She was alone in the bakery, with the smell of batter and sugar, and the sounds of the early-morning birds and the light wind brushing against the shutters. This was the time of day she really enjoyed... just starting a few treats alone in the bracing chill of the early morning.

   The first pony in the shop was, not surprisingly, Grassy Lane. She was supposed to be picking up the eleven-pie order, which Pinkie happened to have right on time. However, as customers came in and out, some having ordered ahead, some preferring to just sit and eat their breakfast muffin or donut at Pinkie's new dining tables. At around noon, though, Applejack came into the shop, looking rather tired.

   "Heya, Applejack!" Pinkie greeted her. "How are you?"

   "Ah'm fine, Pinkie. I just wanted to make sure that you got the shipment of apples we sent to ya."

   "Why would you need to check? Of course I have them!"

   "Alright, good. 'Cause it was mah cousin's turn to fill shipments, and he's kinda new on the job." At 'new', Applejack's voice jumped.

   "Woah, Applejack!" Pinkie giggled. "Did your voice just crack?"

   "Uhm, yeah, ah think it did. How in the hay did that happen?" She seemed confused; apparently that hadn't happened to her before. Pinkie looked back at the orange mare, who seemed to be caught up in her thoughts.

   "Well, do you want anything? I just made a fresh batch of cookies!" Pinkie asked, interrupting Applejack's thoughts.

   "Oh, no, ah'm sorry, Pinkie. Ah just can't take a break from work today. Jist came to check, that's all," she finished, walking out of the bakery.

   Pinkie planned to meet Twilight and Fluttershy for a picnic soon, at about one, so she gradually closed up shop and bounced over the the Picnic Tree, duly named for its shade capacity and the multitude of picnics held under it. She arrived a little bit late, apparently; the other two mares had already finished laying out the blanket, and had started setting out the main courses.

   "Hi, Pinkie Pie!" Twilight said, turning to look in Pinkie's direction along with Fluttershy.

   "Hello, Pinkie," Fluttershy said softly.

   "Hey, guys!" Pinkie said enthusiastically, laying the basket of sparkle-batter cupcakes she made 'special for the picnic' on the clichéed checkered blanket. "I brought sparkle cupcakes!" she grinned, and squee'd. Squee-ing happens when one smiles broadly and a pocket of air is caught in the upper cheek; it releases from the mouth as a squeaking sound, which has come to mean joy and happiness.

   "Oh, by the way, Fluttershy, congrats! I wish I could've been at the shower, but I had to keep Perfections open."

   "It's alright. I understand that your job is more important than a party."

   "It's, uh... it's really not. But I have a responsibility, and, well..."

   The three friends had a conversation about this, along with cats, jewelry and avocados before Pinkie noticed something slightly odd:

   "Twilight, are you getting... lighter?" Pinkie asked quizzically.

   Twilight shook her head. "I don't... what do you mean?"

   "I mean, are you turning a lighter shade of purple?"

   "Pinkie, you know that can't happen."

   This encouraged a bit of laughter between the three, and conversation resumed. But Pinkie knew that... she could see that Twilight was lighter! She wasn't blind! She was a little pissed that the other two shrugged it off, and she dismissed herself at a quarter till two, saying she really needed to get back to the shop.

   Feelings and dreams of... happiness... sunny days, cold nights, and - fire. So much fire.

   Pinkie woke slowly, her eyes opening tiredly to the light of a new day. She didn't really want to get up, but she managed to push her willpower over her fatigue. It's a good thing it was Saturday, because she knew she wouldn't be able to do anything serious. For now, she was just so... totally uninspired.

   Have you ever woken up one day and had nothing to do? It's nice, because you think you're going to be able to relax. But then, you just get up again and start working or pacing, because you don't feel like rest. Then you just get more and more bored until you just go comatose in front of the TV. Well, there ain't no TVs in Equestria.

   Pinkie walked around the shop, made some green dyed cupcakes, ate three, put them away, wrote a poem, put it to a tune, elaborated, wrote it down onto musical leafs, ate a cupcake, changed her hairstyle, changed it again, changed it back, and fell back into bed, groaning, in less than an hour. She had NOTHING TO DO.

   Then, she heard somepony humming outside the window. It was Rarity, waking alone down the road that led alongside Pinkie's Perfections. "Hi, Rarity!" Pinkie shouted through the window. She was relieved to have somepony to talk to.

   Rarity looked up, and found the source of the outburst. "Hello, Pinkie!" Rarity greeted her. "How are you today?"

   "Bored!" Pinkie cried, and trotted down the steps as fast as she could to meet Rarity. She was panting when finally arrived. "I - haah. I have nothing to do," she finished, out of breath.

   "Well, it's a nice day, you could go for a walk, or visit somepony, or -"

   "I just don't feel like doing anything!" Pinkie complained.

   Rarity thought for a second. Pinkie had a... short attention span. Rarity's face lit up as she opened her saddlebag and took out a little metal puzzle. "Here," Rarity said, bringing the puzzle to Pinkie with her horn, "do this." Pinkie took it from the air. "It took me about a week to figure out how it worked, so, you know, don't feel bad if-"

   "Done," Pinkie interrupted. The puzzle was lying in three pieces on the ground.

   Rarity looked down at the puzzle, and up at Pinkie, who was standing there, still bored-looking. She giggled sheepishly, and brought the puzzle back into her saddlebag. "Well, maybe you could visit Fluttershy. But I have to leave. Goodbye!" Rarity finished as she trotted away.

   "Wait!" Pinkie said, her pulse increasing. She'd seen something that disturbed her as Rarity was leaving. "What's wrong with your back?" Rarity turned around and gasped a bit.

   "What- what are those?" Rarity asked, not really to any specific pony. Out of either side of her back were growing two small nubs, as though bones had broken and they were pushing up against the back of her skin. Pinkie approached her, enthralled. It was obvious that Rarity hadn't seen them before.

   "We should ask a professional," Pinkie said.

   Rarity was sitting anxiously in the clinic, with Pinkie Pie next to her. The doctor called her. "Rarity?"

   Rarity stood and walked quickly and nervously to the door. "Wait, Rarity," Pinkie said. "Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?"

   The white unicorn looked behind her and grinned. "I mean, well, if you don't mind, I suppose I could use a... little bit of company." It was obvious that Rarity was afraid. It could be a tumor, or worse. Pinkie stood and accompanied her frightened friend into the room.

   The doctor was already standing near the table, which Rarity slowly laid down upon. Pinkie sat in a nearby plastic chair, in the corner of the room. The doctor looked over Rarity, mane to tail. "So your problem is... these, on your back, right?" Rarity nodded. "Well, there's almost no way to tell what this is unless we take an ultraviolet scan of the area." Rarity nodded again, still looking very worried.

   Long story short, Rarity was made to stay in the hospital for the rest of the day, and two nights afterwards. She was scheduled to be released Monday at eleven. Pinkie stayed near her, making sure her friend was alright. If anything happened to Rarity, she didn't want it to be told to her secondhand.

   However, Rarity's vitals were normal the entire time, and nothing else seemed to be affected... until about ten AM on the release date. Pinkie had been tired of the entire endeavor, and had to get home to open Pinkie's Perfections. She was late already. But, before Rarity was even taken out of the bed, she started to wince in pain. Pinkie noticed first and pressed the call button for a nurse.

   By the time the nurse arrived, Rarity was groaning in pain and her eyes were watering. Grabbing onto Pinkie for balance, she leaned forwards and the small nubs had grown - by almost two inches. And it looked like they were continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The nurse trotted off for a doctor, and a small team of the doctors were finally able to flip Rarity onto her stomach.

   The pain had stopped since, but the nubs had grown in length and width. They were now more like semi-thick bars coming out of Rarity's back. The doctors were confounded - until the bars started to bend. "Somepony call a higher authority!" one of the doctors shouted.

   "Can we reach the surgeon general?"

   "To hell with that! Can we get to Celestia? Something pretty damn weird just happened."

   Pinkie was asked to leave the clinic soon after the growths began moving. Rarity was taken away, still relatively calm (especially for the drama queen that she was). Thoughts had been flying through Pinkie's mind during the entire hospital visit, during which she did not sleep. She felt... unbelievably tired, more tired than she was when she stayed up for four nights in a bet. Maybe it was stress, or... she shook her head, trying to straighten her vision.

   She had no idea what Rarity had, and she may never know. Right then, she wanted to comfort the one friend of hers that was in pain, both emotional and physical. But she couldn't. She decided to walk home and... get some sleep. That was the one thing she was focusing on.

   But... she had a strange little nagging thought, a gut feeling to visit Twilight. It felt like she would have had something to... give to her? Say to her? She couldn't make out what her sense was trying to get across. She sighed, turned direction, and headed across town for the library.

   She arrived to an open door. That wasn't abnormal; after all, it was still a library, and therefore still a public place. She walked in, and saw Twilight sitting on the balcony, reading a large, old green tome. Pinkie's eyes widened, and she shouted, "Twilight, what the hell is wrong with your coat?"

   Twilight's coat had grown so light it was a baby blue color... one that Pinkie had seen before. "I don't know, I've been researching it all day." Pinkie gasped again, and galloped up to the balcony. Twilight's voice had cracked, twice. She grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her forcefully down stairs.

  "You have to see a doctor!" Pinkie said, almost letting go of her. That's when she saw it; the two nubs that had come out of Rarity's back were beginning to emerge out of Twilight. She remembered Rarity and the pain she seemed to be in; she could think of Twilight going through that same thing. She began to gallop faster, and slumped Twilight over her back. Tears began to slowly well up in her eyes, but she had to move.

   She arrived at the clinic within minutes, and pushed her way through mares with colds and colts with broken limbs. Twilight was more important right now. "PINKIE!" she heard from behind her, and turned. "What are you doing?!" Twilight said, glaring at her. She was holding on to the pink earth pony for dear life. "I could've just walked! I'm fine!" Twilight said with indigence. She rotated herself until she was standing on the floor. She was still a bluish color, and her voice continued to raise in pitch, ever so slightly. What was happening to her friends?

   Pinkie was deeply asleep in the clinic waiting room. Her dreams had become more and more intense, varying ever so slightly... lemons and cupcakes and happiness were always common in Pinkie's dreams, but they seemed... twisted when she dreamed them that afternoon. And there was always fire.

   She woke to the sound of her name being called. "Pinkie, wake up!" It was the voice of Rainbow Dash.

   Pinkie sat up instantly, as though she had just awoken from a bad dream. She moved over, allowing Rainbow Dash to sit beside her. She didn't tell her the real reason she had moved away from her. Rainbow took the invitation and turned to Pinkie. "I helped Applejack here about ten minutes ago. Apparently she doesn't feel well." Pinkie could hear a contemptuous tone in Dash's voice. Pinkie wondered why... no, she was just being dumb again. She leaned over to Rainbow Dash.

   "Twilight doesn't look well, either, so I brought her in." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "She looked... pale."

   "Wait, so you brought her to a hospital 'cause she was pale?" She laughed. "Of course she's pale, smarts! She's a scholary... type pony. They're all kinda pale."

   "Yeah, but so was Rarity when she came here."

   "Rarity's white. And wait, Rarity's here?"

   "Yeah, she had a... growth... or something on her back. I don't even know." Pinkie could feel the concern for her friends deep inside her, and her eyes began to sting. "They wouldn't let me stay with her."

   Rainbow Dash uncomfortably patted Pinkie on the back. "They're gonna be fine. Especially if they all have the same thing, that just means they don't have to go looking for a cure."

   Pinkie's eyes got wider, and her breathing slowed. Her pulse became rapid, and she stood quickly. She'd remembered something direly important. She turned tail and ran, out of the hospital, into the deep parts of the town. She stopped herself when she came to the library, and hurried to the best of her ability to open the heavy wooden door. Rainbow Dash was the fastest pony she'd ever seen; if she was following Pinkie, Pinkie didn't have much time to do what she needed to.

   She raced up the stairs of the library, ramming into Twilight's desk and rifling hurriedly through the neatly organized papers. "Where... dammit, where is it?!" she cried to herself, until she was able to secure and extract a small bluish book from the deep recesses of the desk.

   She heard the door open behind her. "Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash called, as Pinkie flew hurriedly threw the old pages of the book, until she came upon and scanned the pages that Twilight was talking to her about. She heard Dash's voice now, right behind her. "Pink-"

   Pinkie's emotions snapped, and, with the book in her mouth, she whipped her head around and slammed it against the side of Dash's head, who collapsed to the left, hiring her head again against the base of the wall. Half of Pinkie's mind saw her friend, one of her best friends, in pain by her own measure, but a restless, sleepless, demented part of her brain saw nothing except a source of pure evil, one that had harmed her friends...

   A source that had to be killed.

   She leapt upon the blue mare, her head swinging back and forth, the relatively heavy book laying blows on the pegasus' face over and over. Dash was stronger than Pinkie, and could have easily overpowered her, but she was taken by surprise. She would have never expected this from a friend. She couldn't speak, and was only able to release her feelings through tears.

   Thick, red blood began to spray against the walls, spurt after spurt, at the same time confused and terrified tears were beginning to drip from Pinkie's bloodshot eyes. Pinkie began to sob openly, and dropped the book, hitting her victim's face before falling to the floor. She began to lean on the mare's throat with all her weight.

   "It'll be alright, though, won't it, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie cried, sobbing. "I - I can't hurt you..." Blood flowed profusely out of the remains of Dash's mouth, which was now split open in many different places. "No - Dash, please help me! Stop me from - from hurting you any more!" The weight of the pink earth pony became too much for Dash's trachea to bear, and it collapsed, leaving no expression left on Dash's face except a slowly dying light in her rose eyes.

   Pinkie saw that the book, by her force, had created huge gashes in the pegasus' baby-blue flesh, one eye had been rendered blind before she had been killed, and her cheek had an open hole in it, as did her lips.

   Pinkie heard yet another voice form the entrance of the library. The sound of her name mixed inharmoniously with the sound of Pinkie's cries. "P-Pinkie?" a quiet voice behind her said.

   In the midst of her tears, Pinkie looked behind her. "NO!" she cried, tears continuing to pour from her eyes. "STAY AWAY! P- Please! Please, Fluttershy..." she faded away, gradually flowing into a fresh wave of tears.

   Meanwhile, Fluttershy had floated up to the balcony. "Why did you kill Rainbow Dash?"

   Pinkie almost stopped sobbing; what Fluttershy said confused her. It would make more sense of it were in a horrified or saddened way, but Fluttershy said it matter-of-factually.

   A final recognition occured in Pinkie's mind; her heart almost stopped. Growing wings - turning lighter - higher voice...

   Oh no.

   Fluttershy's voice became terribly distorted as she began to laugh satanically, evilly. "Oh, well," she said coldly, amusedly. "The damage has been done." Pinkie turned towards Fluttershy, who was still floating in midair, but had undergone a terrifying transformation. Her eyes had become a deep, dark red, and strands of her mane had risen until it was floating around her like pink snakes.

   A huge glowing red circle had arisen behind her, its markings opening to reveal fire and darkness. The worst part of this had been the transformation; she still looked like Fluttershy, like one of Pinkie's friends. And that terrified her. She couldn't scream, or speak: her throat was numb.

   "How fitting it is, that the last one the be taken," Fluttershy whispered with a deep overtone, "will also have died in the most exquisite manner..." Fluttershy now full revealed what she had been standing in front of. "To be thrown into the gates of hell itself!!" Thalshorron screamed, now fully having taken over Fluttershy's small yellow body. Pinkie could not avert her gaze quickly enough. Hell... with so much death and pain... Pinkie couldn't control her emotions. A thick red liquid began to drip down her cheeks.

   Fluttershy had come within inches of Pinkie's face, and a blood-red tongue had whipped out from behind a row of bright, sharp teeth before a blinding white light had filled the room. Fluttershy (or the shell that it once was) screamed an unearthly scream, and fell to the ground with a sickening thump.

   Before Pinkie's fatigued eyes was none other than Princess Celestia herself, a huge white ray beaming out of her horn, directed point-blank at what was left of Fluttershy. Fluttershy began to melt away, like an ashen husk slowly blowing away in the wind. Celestia touched down to the ground, in a graceful manner, before racing up the stairs to the shocked Pinkie Pie.

   Pinkie gasped, and shuddered, before curling up in a fetal position. Almost her entire life had just been ruined, in less than ten minutes. Celestia hurriedly picked Pinkie up and curled up next to her, holding her tight as tears rolled down her cheeks. Pinkie gasped, and sobbed deeply into Celestia's chest. Fluttershy - or Thalshorron - was right. The damage had been done.

   "Why - why didn't you come for me before anything happened?!" Pinkie wailed. Celestia leaned her face against Pinkie, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

   "I didn't know... not until I felt one of my little ponies vanish."

   "I - I didnt mean -"

   "I know, Pinkie," Celestia said, grasping Pinkie tighter. "I know."

   Pinkie stood under the old willow, totally silent. She had come as she was, only bringing a small bouquet of flowers. Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack joined her, their proto-wings and paleness long since disappeared. It had been almost two years since that horrible afternoon, the darkest in Pinkie's memory.

   The thoughts and emotions, not to mention the memories, still remained as vivid as they were when they occured. Except, of course, for her friends. Pinkie confided in Celestia, but she couldn't bear to have her friends think less of her. The cover-up story that Pinkie had almost come to believe was that Thalshorron had killed Rainbow Dash.

   Pinkie still vistited the site every day since the burial. Two friends, joined together through eternity. Two nearly-identical headstones over two weed-covered graves. Two lives... ended.

   Pinkie laid the small gift across the graves, sighing. She laid down, underneath that wide willow, and cried until the tears couldn't come anymore.