"Aaagh!" Ginger Rose sat up in bed shaking in a cold sweat. It had been nearly three months since had heard the stories, but each gruesome detail clung to her like a shadow on a hot summer day. "Just stories, only a stupid tale to keep foals out of the everfree forest" she told herself, But her brain sensed a lack of conviction in her words, and turned them away, sending a chill of fear, and sadness coursing down her spine. Still shaking, Ginger lit a candle from a box of matches on the shelf above her, and lowered her hooves to the floor. Drawing a shaky breath she began to walk over to the wooden washbasin on the far wall, crudely constructed but effective. Reaching her destination, she sat in front of the tub, and stared into the chipped mirror above it. The pale scared face of a tan pegasus mare stared back at her with soft brown eyes.

Using her right forehoof, she pushed the tap into the "ON" position, which with a rusty squeak released a stream of cold clear water that quickly filled the shallow basin to the brim. She took a cup from the counter and scooped up a small amount of the water, *Gulp* in 2 seconds it was empty. A wave of heat took her over, causing a pinkish tinge to come into her cheeks, which appeared to make her eyes glow red in the flickering light of the candle on the nightstand. She gasped and stumbled back before realizing it was a trick of the light."It must have been" she told herself and she laughed,but it was a hollow sound, like speaking into the depths of an empty barrel. Stepping back in front of the tub, she splashed most of its remaining contents on her face. Ginger heaved a sigh of relief, the coolness felt good against her tired eyes, but more importantly, it helped to clear her mind of the stories,... of what she had done."Sometimes I question my own sanity" she muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, no wonder" a voice in the back of her mind spoke up, unbidden but there all the same.
The shaking, which had subsided only minutes before returned full tilt, causing her knees to buckle, and her body to collapse to the floor

"Not my voice" she realized with terror, but it was gone even faster than it had come, leaving her in a state of strange forgetfulness. "Why am I laying on the floor"? She wondered. The shaking had also subsided again and Ginger slowly got to her hooves and walked back to her bed into which she climbed, and tugged the sheets over her body. Again she sighed, and snuggled into her pillow, closing her eyes. All thoughts of the stories were forcibly forgotton, But she couldn't fight her subconcious.

Twists and turns, left, and right. Ginger found herself being chased through the maze of ponyville's backstreets, with no idea why, or how she came to be in ponyville. She could only think of escape, and she was panting but fear drove her limbs to lengths they would not normally endure. She dodged down a side street as the stallions, maybe fifteen or twenty galloped after her, sparks flying from their horseshoes as they grated and slid around the corner in hot pursuit. Looking ahead, Ginger saw that there was enough room to spread her wings, and a flash of hope surged through her like electricity. She spread her wings, but not before looking over her shoulder at her pursuers, however this proved to be a big mistake. While gaugeing the distance behind her, she forgot to do the same for the distance in front of her, and with a sickening crunch, plowed face first into the brick wall at the end of the alley.

Stars swam before the mare's eyes, as shouts of "Grab her don't let her get away"! echoed in her head as though from a great distance. Pain filled her mouth, along with the metallic taste of blood, which she knew meant that her tooth was broken. Ginger felt two stallions haul her roughly into a standing position and hold her there firmly. She struggled to escape the clutches of her imprisoners, and succeeded in breaking the first one's grip by smacking him in the jaw with a bony wing, but he soon recovered, and she got bucked in the stomach for her efforts, knocking the wind out of her. As she lay on the ground, gasping for air, surrounded by jeering ponies, one voice, louder than the rest called out into the night with a mournful tone, "Why"!? it wailed.

One by one, the other voices died out, and the crowd parted down the middle. "Why"!? it wailed again, and this time a dark brown stallion came walking through the gap between the mass tword Ginger with something draped over its back. The stallion stopped five feet in front of her, and gently layed down what it was carrying.
At this point, Ginger was way beyond scared. She was bleeding profusley from her mouth, had already wet herself, and to top it off, she was crying. She was a mess.
Daring a peep at whatever the stallion had layed down, she saw what it was and heaved up her guts onto the pavement.

It was the body of a young filly, seven or eight years old at most, purple with a green mane slick with blood. Where its cutie mark should have been, the flesh had been mutilated. Sickness, like a wave washed over Ginger and she wet herself again. "How could you"? the pony asked with tears of sadness and rage in his orange eyes. Ginger only cowered away in fear. He stood for a second, then seemed to lose it. "HOW BUCKING COULD YOU!" he screamed. "MY ONLY FILLY, MY ONLY JOY AND YOU KILLED HER YOU BUCKING BITCH!"

He reared up on his hind legs and brought his forehooves crashing down on her head with a crunch, slamming her head into the pool she had just thrown up. She tried not to pass out, fighting the black edges creeping into her line of vision. Another flash of pain in her skull triggered a memory from what seemed like ages ago, making it pop into her sight, watching it all go by faster than the wonderbolts top speed record.

She was standing over the sobbing form of a purple and green filly that was trying desperatley to reach a door on the far wall of a dark room by pulling itself along on three legs. Its left hind leg was stretched out behind it at an awkward angle. Its poor attempt at escape pulled the corners of Ginger's mouth into a sneer, and she laughed, cold and cruel. Striding forward, she casually lifted a hoof and brought it down on the filly's good hind leg. There was a snap of bone, and a piercing scream rent the night, which was slowly replaced by choked sobs.

"Make all the noise you want little bitch, she said. We're miles into the everfree forest, and not even the timberwolves can hear you scream". "You bucked up big time, didn't your parents ever tell you to stay out of the forest?"
She began to circle the young filly, who whimpered, but didn't dare move, for fear of more pain.
Between sobs, the pony managed to choke out "buck you crazy bitch".

"Ooh, such language", "Just think of what your parents would s-Ow!"

A hoof flew out and struck her in the right shin, causing her to buckle to one side growling in pain.
"Don't you dare talk about my parents"! The filly screamed in rage. It seemed that her pride overuled her fear.

"For being as injured as that", Ginger thought "she gives one hellava good kick.
"You'll pay for that you stupid foal. hee hee" she giggled madly "ha ha ha, let's find out what I've got in store for naughty little ponies like you.
Turning in a sharp about-face, Ginger walked several ponylengths forward and flipped open the cover of a small white saddlebag, and with a manical grin withdrew a rusty, but still fairly sharp carving knife, and gripped it in her teeth "hee hee" she giggled again glancing at the whimpering foal which was now trying to crawl into a corner.

"Got it"! She giggled. She trotted comicaly over to the struggling filly, any trace of sanity now completley and utterly gone. "Ooh, I love your cutie mark" Ginger exclaimed with mad glee. "Hearts are my favorite".
With the knife still clenched firmly in her jaw, she placed a hoof on the filly's back, pinning it to the dirt floor. It began to cry once again. "What are you gonna do? Please, I didn't mean to hit you, i'm sorry, i'm sorry. No, please please don't!
The sobs intensified until the filly was barely capable of speech. "Oh sweet Celestia, I just want to go home."
But the mare didn't seem to hear her pleas. Bringing the blade to the filly's flank, she began to cut a large x over the cluster of hearts, humming a tune through the foals piercing screams.
Blood spurted out of the open wound in a river of red, splashing onto Ginger, making dark stains that stood out on her tan coat like lit tea candles in pitch darkness.

"No"! She screamed. She was back on the street, all weariness gone from her body.
Not ages ago, minutes ago she realized with horror.
With even more horror, she realized what she had done. Her brain went into a screaming dive, unable to wrap itself around what had happened, there was a mental snap, and the vicious bloodthirsty Ginger was back, but even with her new strength she knew she was facing impossible odds. Jumping up , she flung her body through the glass window of a small shop, which was several yards above the street, and added an ugly gash to her flank on the jagged shards of glass. Pain was nonexistant though as she looked back through the broken window at the stallion with orange eyes filled with tears of rage with a mad grin on her face.
Several ponies tried to climb in after her, but shyed away from the window after recieving a few cuts on its sharp edges.
"Burn it down"! Somepony shouted from amidst the mob. Ginger laughed, even as a lit torch flew trough the empty space in the window and landed several feet away, right next to a cluster of wooden barrels.
Still laughing, she turned around to face the back door, and stopped laughing.

A large wooden sign hanging over the counter proudly displayed the words: Welcome to Joe's Black Powder.
"Oh shit" was the last thing that escaped her mouth before a fiery wind engulfed her entire body and threw it like a rag doll into the back wall of the store. Slam! Ginger hit the drywall with enough force to crack two ribs, and snap her mind back to normal. She groaned and looked up just in time to see a heavy piece of rafters falling down twords her. She dodged, but wasn't fast enough. Ginger screamed in pain as the rafters crushing force landed on her left wing, pinning her to the floor. With growing fear, she realized the wooden beams were on fire, and the flames were slowly inching twords her injured wing. Ginger violently tugged on the appendage, gritting her broken teeth against the pain, but it did little good. She started looking for something to pry up the heavy beam with, but there was nothing within reach that was not already on fire.

Glanging at the back door, she saw bright orange flames. "The same color as the stallions eyes" she thought, threatening to close off the path to freedom.
"They must have left me for dead" She realized, "or they would be in here right now preparing to hang me or something".
A voice in her head, (most likley her conscience) spoke up, "You know it's right for this to happen, for you to die"
Tears sprang to her eyes, knowing it was true, but a fresh wave of pain washed away the voice faster than it had come.
With tears still in her eyes, she realized that she had only one choice if she wanted to live. Sniffling quietly, she lowered her mouth to the wing just behind the joint.

Screaming and crying, Ginger Rose awoke, cradleing her mutilated wing with a gentle hoof, a pegasus no longer.

Author's Note

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter more or less and at my current rate of typing, the next chapter should be out anytime from a couple days, to a week, also on a very important note, THIS IS NOT A NOVEL, IT IS A SHORT STORY!
thank you.