"So, have you heard about the new pony in town?" Bon Bon asked Berry Punch. Punch rolled her eyes before responding.
"Of course I have, 'everypony' has heard of Echo. I mean, it's hard to not have..." Bon Bon shook her head slightly.
"Not everyone, I mean, Pinkie still needs to throw one of her welcoming parties, and-" A hyper, excited voice broke into their conversation.
"Did somepony say party?" A blur of pink rushed up to the two startled mares, with a bit too wide of a grin on her face. Bon Bon and Berry Punch looked at each other, nervously. Bon Bon eventually responded.
"Yes Pinkie. Berry and I were just talking about that new pony, Echo. We-"
"Got it!" As quickly as the bright pink earth pony appeared, she was gone, running off to do what Pinkie did best. Plan a party. Bon Bon and Berry Punch glanced at each other, both with a knowing smile on their face. Pinkie was great, but her sudden appearances and disappearances were...unnerving, to say the least. Attempting to resume their previous conversation, Bon Bon turned back to Punch.
"Isn't Echo a bit strange? She's stayed so...quiet ever sense she arrived here. I can't really say I've heard her say anything to anypony." Berry Punch nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, and she's always stretching her wings out, to cover her Cutie Mark. Maybe she thinks her talent is better then ours."
"Wow, how modest of her. Covering up her flank, trying to make everypony else jealous about what wondrous talent could be represented on her flank..." Bon Bon added, rather sarcastically.
"Really makes a mare wonder..." Berry Punch added. Just then, a small pinkish-grey hoof tapped her on the back. Punch glanced behind her, and sighed.
"Not now, Piña Colada. Your big sister is busy talking. Why don't you g-" Piña Colada cut her off.
"Um...Echo's standing right there..." She pointed over at a nearby bush, where the light-gray Pegasus stood. Echo's expression showed that she was obviously hurt by what the two earth ponies had been saying, but she tried to hide it by glancing at the ground. Bon Bon and Berry Punch, quickly realizing their mistake, tried to stammer out an apology.
"E-Echo, we're so sorry. We had no idea you were..."
"We really didn't mean...."
Before any of the mares could finish their sentence, the Pegasus turned away from them. Echo always knew other ponies were whispering behind her back...she just never knew that this is what they were saying about her. Suddenly, she felt a small poke. Turning around, a small, orange filly stood behind her, with a half innocent smile, half smirk on her face.
"Don't worry about what they say, Echo, I think you're cool. Unless Rainbow Dash thinks you're not, but I don't think she does." This managed to pull a small smile out of the normally quiet, forlorn mare. Before Echo could think of a way to respond, a small southern voice called out to the filly in front of Echo.
"SCOOTALOO!" The orange filly turned at the sound of the name, and then turned back
to Echo.
"I gotta go. Time to find my Cutie mark!" The orange filly said, with a voice full of enthusiasm. She then trotted off to join two other fillies, who had just come into view. An overwhelming sense of sadness flooded back over Echo at the mention of cutie Marks. Glancing at her flank, she quickly realized she had let it become partially uncovered. Her wing snapped back over the spot. Had Scootaloo seen it? Hopefully not...Echo swallowed, and made her way back to her abode. She kept her head down, not wanting to catch anyponie's attention. It wasn't her fault she was like this, right? She...she had no control over it... or did she? Something began to come back to her. A memory. Not a happy one, but one Echo desperately had tried to suppress. One that made her the way she is today... Letting her mind travel down that road yet again, she begins to recall small parts. Screaming, the sound of ripping flesh...the warm, sticky feeling of the blood she...she...she had to stop thinking about it...she was already depressed enough. Her mind snapped out of the dark void it was slowly spinning into. Echo had to get her mind off today...
~~~~~
After a few prolonged hours of petty tasks around the house, Echo left for a drink. She would have went earlier, but Celestia highly disproved of alcohol. However, due to how effectively it sold, she allowed it for only an hour at max every day. Of corse, this didn't stop a few of the locals from either A, brewing it illegally, or B, buying an excessive amount, so that they could stockpile. Echo would do this, but her current funds were not so supportive of the idea. So, she had to result to this one hour of the day to drown her misery. A little nervous about traveling back out into public, Echo took the path to Ponyvill's only bar. Halfway down the path, Echo rounded the corner only to find three familiar looking fillies charging at her with remarkable speed. They each had lassos, and were spinning...no, more flailing them in the air rapidly. Out of shock, Echo completely forget about her uncovered flank. She shut her eyes, and braced for impact. She heard tumbling, crashing, and a bit of shouting...but no impact. Opening one eye, she saw the three collapsed on the ground, looking dizzy. The orange one from early this morning, who Echo recalled as Scootaloo, spoke up first.
"I-I think we can cross lassoing off the list..." Once the rest of them had recovered, the red haired one gives a wide grin at Echo.
"Hay there, Echo. Wer suppos' to take yah to..." Scootaloo quickly covered up her friend's mouth.
"What Applebloom was TRYING to say, was that we want you to come with us to the sweet shop! I'm sure you've heard of, 'cause Sugar Cube Corner has the best sweets ever!" Scootaloo removed her hand from Applebloom's mouth, who instantly spoke up again.
"So, will yah?" Applebloom pleaded, her eyes showing hopefulness that the other two fillies soon mimicked. Echo's eyes went from filly to filly. She wasn't sure, what if there were people there? What if they judged her? What if...what if...Echo nodded her reply, the three fillies giving a cheer or two. How could she say no to those eyes? A smile crossed her face, and they began the walk to Sugar Cube Corner.
"Oh, by the way Echo..." Scootaloo pointed to a cream colored pony with a violet and pink-ish mane. "...that's Sweetie Bell, and that's Applebloom." She nodded to the red haired pony from before. Sweetie Bell spoke up.
"Together, we're..." The others joined in, shouting in unison. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" The three sounded very confident in their title. Not wanting to damp their spirits, Echo gave a smile of approval. The Crusaders grinned at Echo. Scootaloo's vision wandered a bit, and her eyes went wide.
"Woah, Echo, is that your Cutie Mark?" Out of instinct, Echo quickly whipped her tail over her flank, blocking the mark from sight. How could she not have realized that her flank was exposed this entire time? The orange filly was confused to why Echo suddenly seemed so nervous about her Cutie Mark. Aren't ponies supposed to be proud of their special talents? Echo seemed more ashamed then anything. Scootaloo also couldn't tell what her Cutie Mark even was. It just looked like a strange assortment of triangles in a circle to the young filly. Echo seemed really embarrassed, so Scootaloo decided not to push it. The rest of the walk to Sugar Cube Corner was awkwardly silent.
~~~
"Well, here we are!" Scootaloo cheered proudly. The Crusaders trotted into the store with an odd spring of confidence. Echo was confused, not only by the three fillies, but by the fact that the place seemed so dark. She's been in the sweet shop once or twice, and she's never seen it this dark. The light gray mare also was intrigued to why they saw almost no ponies on the way there. It was kind of late, but still. Shrugging it off, she took a few steps into the building, right before she had a mini-heart attack.
"SURPRISE!" A wave of many different voices called out. It took Echo a bit to calm down from her shock, but eventually, she was able to quickly come to a realization to what had happened. These ponies had thrown a party. For her. She was touched, but at the same time, scared as hay. Echo pressed her tail tighter against her Cutie Mark, whilst she scanned the, at least, hundreds of brightly colored mares and stallions in the crowd. They were looking at her, if expecting something magical to happen. Then again, due to the amount of unicorns in the room, that could have been entirely possible. Echo realized what they may be expecting. A small, approving-ish smile crossed her face. With that, the occupants of the room burst into laughter, and the party started. The ponies in the room moved in all directions, mingling and all around having a good time. The Cutie Marks Crusaders were quickly lost to the crowd, leaving shy, timid Echo to travers the sea of ponies her own. She tried to scan the room for a familiar face, but she really didn't know too many ponies...she began to navigate her way around the side wall, making sure she knew where the door was at all times, if it was needed. She, eventually, found herself at the punch bowl, where Berry Punch stood, downing her third glass of punch. Judging by the slight rosiness of her cheeks, said punch was alcoholic. Once Punch had caught sigh of Echo, she hung her head, and disappeared into the crowd, still ashamed on the events of earlier that day. Echo poured herself a relatively small cup of punch. Most, if not all, of the other ponies here had no idea that Echo was somewhat of an alcoholic. She wanted to keep at least /that/ part of her record clean. Suddenly, a pink, bouncing burst of color hits Echo's vision. An extremely energetic looking, bright pink mare stands in front of her, bouncing in place.
"Like the party?" She asked, beaming, "I made it myself! Because you're a new pony and every new pony in town gets a super special Pinkie Pie welcome party! It's how I get to know people while making them happy at the same time! I hope you're having fun, because the party's for you! Oh, I forgot! I'm Pinkie Pie, and that's OctaviaColgateShowtimeCarrotTop..." Pinkie continued on like this for a while. Echo was overwhelmed at the rapid speed that this mare could talk. The light grey pegasus could swear that within half a minute of talking, Pinkie had already named half of the ponies at the party.
"...LightningSnapRarityFluttershyDarkShine," Pinkie took a deep breath, "Aaaaaand here's Twilight Sparkle!" A purple coated mare, with a violet and pink mane, walked up. An overwhelmed Echo looked to her, silently begging for help.
"Hello, Echo, was it?" Twilight pours herself a cup of punch, using her magic to levitate the cup. Echo nodded in response.
"I see you've met Pinkie Pie already." Again, Echo nodded, although she wasn't sure if 'met' was the correct word.
"I was introducing her to everyone here at the party!" Pinkie exclaimed, proud of herself for being such a big help again. Again, introducing, Echo thought, wasn't exactly the best word to use.
"So, you know who I am?" Echo nodded again, and Twilight's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"I couldn't help but notice that you haven't said a single word, to anypony. Not to be rude, just...an observation."
Again, Echo nodded. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, with her limited communication functions of a yes or a no.
"Ugh, Twilight, are you going all sciencey on us again?" Pinkie asked. Twilight shook her head.
"No, just thinking." Twilight appeared to be closely observing Echo, which made her a bit uncomfortable. Echo felt more like she was part of a science experiment, instead of a conversation.
"I get the feeling you're not trying to ignore us..." Echo quickly nodded in response to Twilight. She was glad to at least disprove one rumor wrong. A slow smile crossed over the purple unicorn's face, once she figured out the answer.
"It's because you 'can't' talk, not because you're trying to ignore us!" Echo shared in Twilight's grin, nodding again. It was great to have at least somepony understand the situation. A bit of worry sparked up in Echo, though, as she saw the same glint of wonder in the unicorn's eyes.
"When and how did it happen? Were you like this when you were a filly? I read somewhere that mute ponies-"
Pinkie cut Twilight off, which slightly relived her. Twilight was kind of getting into some...personal information.
"Twilight, this is a party, a no-thinking zone! Go off and have some fun and do your sciencey winencey stuff when the parties over!" Twilight, about to burst with questions, sighed, and smiled.
"Alright, I'll go have some fun. See you both later." Echo got the feeling that 'see you later' was being put into literal context here. Twilight, with one last smile, walked off to talk with a cyan colored Pegasus with a brilliant rainbow mane. Scootaloo was standing next to her, looking at her role-model with pure admiration in her eyes. Echo was going to follow Twilight, but Pinkie cut into her thoughts.
"C'mon Echo, I'll give you a tour of the super special kitchen we use to bake cupcakes! Then, I'll show you some of the ones I frosted yesterday! Oh, I even made a super duper special welcome cupcake for you! C'mon!" Pinkie quite literally began to bounce away, expecting Echo to follow her. Echo sighs, looking down at the cup of punch she literally had zero chance to even try. Setting the cup down, she begins to follow Pinkie to this 'super special cupcake baking room.'
~~~~~
Once the two mares reached the kitchen, Echo took a good look around. For the most part, it looked like a normal kitchen, with a few additions. It was also a tad bit messier then a normal kitchen should be. Flour was strewn over a countertop, which had an open paperback book on it. The pages had a bit of red frosting, or cream of sorts on them. Echo could make out a few names she recognized, such as Twilight's. She taps Pinkie on the back, and points to the book, with a quizzical look on her face.
"Oh that? That's nothing. Really, nothing!" Pinkie rushes over, shoving the book into a drawer. She turns to face Echo, who was obviously not buying any of this. Pinkie gives a big smile.
"It's just the people I like baking cupcakes with!" Echo rolled her eyes a bit. She wasn't going to press on. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't anything horrible. It was just something Pinkie wanted to keep private, and Echo could understand that. There's worse things to keep from your friends...Echo would know. Almost on cue, a sharp pain struck her stomach. Echo swallowed. This was not a good time for one of her...moments...Echo took a deep breath. She could hold on for a bit longer, just until the party is over. Then, she could take care of this...
"C'mon Echo! Lemme show you around!" Pinkie was rather quick to change the subject, and to distract her from the slowly becoming overwhelming pain in her stomach. Walking to where Pinkie now was, her eyes fell on a brightly painted rainbow bowl. The paint was a bit uneven in so places, and didn't look like it dried correctly. Echo quickly realized Pinkie must have painted it.
"This is my favorite mixing bowl!" The neon pink pony exclaimed, with a massive amount of enthusiasm in her voice. Echo gave her a polite smile, to her approval, so to speak, of the bowl. Pinkie jumped up a down a bit, then continued on. She over over to a cabinet, which had the same red sort of frosting on it as the book did. However, there were also a few other colors smeared around on it.
"This is best cabinet ever, 'cause it holds all the frosting a sprinkles and of the other yummy decorations!" Pinkie yanked the cabinet open. A wave of multi-colored containers rained down, spilling a tidal wave of sprinkles down on the hyperactive mare. After shaking a few of them out of her hair, Pinkie giggled.
"Oops...I'll clean that up later!" Pinkie laughed, and skipped into a rather larger looking room. Echo smiled, and followed Pinkie, wincing slightly as another pain surged through her body. Echo couldn't help but notice how thicker the walls were in here, and completely made from wood. Echo gave a nod to the walls, and Pinkie was quick to respond.
"Oh, they're soundproof! There's a lot of nasty ponies who wanna steal our recipes. For competitions, you know?" Echo turned her head to the side slightly, starting to get a bit suspicious of Pinkie. First the book, now the walls? Pinkie, however, interrupted Echo's thoughts.
"Anyways, this is our super special baking room, where we make all the treats and stuff!" Echo began to look around. Like the room before, things were a bit too messy in here. She noticed a few non-cooking tools, such as pliers, a hack-saw, (she never understood why it was called a hack-saw. It doesn't do any hacking, nor sawing,) a scalpel, and a blow torch. Echo glanced at Pinkie, but decided not to question what the pink mare did in her free time. Continuing her observations, she noticed a few larger piles of flour, an overflowing bowl, and in the middle of all this chaos, a white colored cupcake, with bright blue frosting. On top, written in gold sprinkles, was the word, "WELCOME!" Echo was rather touched that Pinkie would go through the trouble of baking this, just for her, assuming that this was the 'super duper special welcome cupcake.' A wave of pain made Echo tremble slightly, and a loud growl emitted from her stomach. Pinkie giggled.
"Sounds like somepony is hungry!" Pinkie teased. Echo blushed a bit, but avid fear was in her eyes. If she snapped while with Pinkie...she tried her best to sigh it off. The gray mare would have to leave, and fast, after this entire cupcake thing was over. If not...well, Echo didn't want to think about that. Pinkie was looking at Echo, with a wide, semi-creepy, smile on her face.
"Go on then, try it!" Echo couldn't deny Pinkie. She gently picked up the cupcake with her hoofs, and brought it to her mouth.
"WAIT!" Pinkie shouts, rather suddenly. Echo froze in place, and set the cupcake down.
"You need a candle! I'll go get one, wait right here!" Pinkie then trotted off to find one. Echo, waiting patiently, tries the best to calm her raging stomach. She just had to hold on for a bit longer, then she could leave, and turn safely in the comfort of her home. Or she might be able to go for a small hunt in the forest. She would hate to kill a small animal, but at the moment, it might be necessary. A large animal might be a bit tastier...like a bear...or a po-
"I couldn't find a candle, but I think this will work fine!" Echo's thoughts were, luckily, dispatched by Pinkie, who quickly bound into the room with a lit sparkler in her mouth. She gently plopped in into the top of the cupcake, and gave Echo a cheery smile. Echo looked at the pink mare, swallowed, and gave a smile. She tried her best to blow out the sparkler, but it wouldn't go out. Plucking it out with her mouth, she was forced to wave it out, which Pinkie did not mind in the slightest. The gray mare's vision started to spike from clear to blurry. This was not good. She took a reasonably sized bite of the cupcake, and oddly enough felt her hunger spike, as if it had just been fueled by something. The cupcake itself was good, if anything a bit too sweet. Pinkie was laughing, at what Echo had no idea. She tried her best to manage a smile, but it was getting to be a bit much. She had to get out of her soon. Her knees trembled a bit, she was barley able to stand. Pinkie's look of joy turned to confusion, then concern.
"Are you alright, Echo? You look sick? Oh no, what the cupcake THAT bad?! I used one or two new ingredients, but I didn't expect for it to..." Echo wished that she would just shut up...her voice was piercing through Echo's ears. In fact, all sounds seemed like they were ten times as loud as they should be. Her vision begin to dim and blur. Pinkie seemed more like a far-away shape now...Echo just had to hold out, just for a few more seconds...just for...
Within seconds, Echo had tackled Pinkie to the ground. Her eyes had gone fuzzy, with a blood red tint to them. She was breathing heavily, through a smile that showed both frenzy and pain. Pinkie was taken by surprise, so she didn't respond instantly. The terrified pink mare opened her mouth to say something, but a sharp pain filled her body. Echo had plunged her teeth into Pinkie's stomach, rapidly ripping and tearing at the bubblegum colored flesh. Pinkie, her shock dispersed, began to screen in pain and fear. She tried to grab one of the tools for the counter behind her, but she was just too far away. Her hoof was so close one of the scalpels...just...a bit closer. Echo lifted her now blood soaked mussel from Pinkie's mess of a torso. Pinkie's hand could barley reach the scalpel Echo found this slightly amusing, and to show her amusement, she bit deeply into said limb. Pinkie let out a screen of pain, as Echo chewed and pulled. There was the cracking of a bone, and a sharp, wet, ripping noise as Pinkie's arm tore from the socket. Echo held in her mouth, like a dog with a bone. The mangled, bloody mare whimpered a bit, no energy left to scream. She laid her head to the side, a sad smile and tears on her face, and she spoke her final words.
"Giggle...at the ghosty...." With whatever strength the party pony had left on her, she laughed, fully accepting of her fate. Echo spat the half-eaten limp to the side, and plunged at her throat. It was over in seconds. Echo continued to feast of Pinkie's corpse. It tasted sweet, maybe a bit too sweet for her tastes. She cleaned a good portion of the meat from Pinkie's corpse, leaving bone exposed in many places. With a content smile on her face, Echo trotted from the kitchen, leaving her victim to decompose. A bright assortment of rainbow colored dots caught her eye, however, which struck a small memory in her demented self. She stopped, and desperately tried to remember it. She began to recall a majority of the day, as her sanity slowly returned. The tight, full feeling around her midsection also triggered a few thoughts. Echo's eyes widened when she had fully regained her senses. As quickly as she could, she rushed back into the last room, only for her fears to be confirmed. The bloody, mangled corpse of Pinkie Pie lay gently against a cabinet. Echo just starred, silently hoping she would blink, take a breath, or move, anything to show that she was still alive. Alas, nothing came. Tears began to leak from Echo's eyes. She never meant to do this to her...she...didn't deserve to go like this... Echo hated herself, every aspect of her life, how she brutally slaughtered anyone she was close to, ever. She took a breath. Echo had to remain calm, she had to get out of here. As silently as possibly, she ascended the stairs to check if the party was still going on. It was. This would make leaving hard. The gray mare descended rapidly back down, and to the sink. She tried her best to wash the slowly drying blood from her fur. They could not see this, not in the slightest. After most of the blood was gone, she climbed back up the stairs, back to the party and b-lined for the exit. Echo was just at the door, when she heard a recognizable voice.
"Leaving already, Echo?" The mare Echo met earlier, Twilight, intersected her right before she could leave. Echo turned to face Twi, and gave a nod in response.
"Alright then, I'll tell Pinkie you left early." Echo froze in place at the mention of Pinkie's name. Her head fell in shame, as tears began to come up again. Twilight obviously noticed.
"Echo...is...everything alright? Did I say something wrong?" Echo just shook her head. She had to tell Twilight. Somepony needed to know, somepony who could understand. If anyone could, Twilight can. She simply motioned for the purple pony to follow, as she headed to the kitchen, and to Pinkie's corpse.
Author's Note
Right, I want to go ahead and clear something up right now. This is a collab with a friend of mine who isn't on FIMFiction. She wrote the 'original' version, I simply refined it. I do have a sequel in the works which is completely my work, though. Constructive Criticism is welcomed, if you have any.
