The Cutie Mark Killers

The Cutie Mark Killers
Chapter 4: Party of Four

The cutie mark crusaders trotted through the town towards Sugar Cube Corner. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo quietly discussing how their cutie marks were going to look, while AppleBloom lagged behind. She was carrying one of the large jars of AppleJack pie filling she had made the night before in her saddlebag.

As they walked, they saw a familiar yellow pegasus walking towards them.

“Oh, hello girls.” Fluttershy said with a meek smile, “Where are you off to?”

“Sugar Cube Corner!” Scootaloo piped up, “We have a special ingredient for a new pie!”

Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom shot her a warning glare. Fluttershy didn’t notice, however.

“Oh, how nice. What’s the occasion?”

“We were going to bring it to class to share with everypony. Make sure it’s good before we bake some for the summer sun celebration.” AppleBloom said.

“Wouldn’t school be cancelled?” Fluttershy asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Why would it be?” Replied Scootaloo.

“Oh!... umm…” Fluttershy realized that the three fillies would have no way of knowing what happened to Cheerilee. If she told them, they would want to know how she knew. That would lead to some troubling questions about what she was doing that afternoon.

“N-nevermind!” Fluttershy stammered with an awkward laugh. Her eyes darted back and forth. “I really have to be going, Zecora said she would have the medicine I asked for ready today.”

“Umm… Zecora’s? You’re going to her place?” Scootaloo asked. “I thought she was-” Scootaloo was cut off by AppleBloom, who had elbowed her in the side.

“What?” asked Fluttershy.

“Nothing! We’ll just uh, let you go then!” AppleBloom said.

The four ponies stood there, in guilty silence, until Fluttershy finally edged around them and headed toward Zecora’s. When she was out of earshot, Sweetie Belle turned to the others.

“You don’t think she knows about Mrs. Cheerilee?” She whispered.

“How could she?” Replied AppleBloom; “Mrs. Cheerilee is locked up in school, nopony would have seen her all weekend.”

“True,” Said Scootaloo, “but do you think Fluttershy was acting a little… strange?”

The other two nodded. She did seem distracted after she mentioned the school being closed.

“Oh well, we’ll deal with it later,” AppleBloom said; “right now, you two need to get your cutie marks!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

They continued towards Sugar Cube Corner without giving Fluttershy another thought. As they approached the bakery, they noticed something odd. The place was almost empty. Usually it was packed on a Sunday, but today there were only a couple of ponies sitting at one of the tables outside. They trotted in, and saw the bakery was completely empty inside, save for one pink earth pony.

“Hiya girls! Want to try some of my new cupcakes?” Pinkie Pie asked. She seemed ecstatic as usual, despite her shop being empty.

“Sure Pinkie, what kind?” Scootaloo asked. She and AppleBloom approached the counter, while Sweetie Belle stayed by the door a turned the front sign to “closed” behind her back.

“Well… I guess would call them “fireball” flavor” Pinkie said. “But after I gave out a few samples, everypony ran out screaming. Isn’t that weird?”

“yeahhh, on second thought ill pass.” Said Scootaloo, eyeing the cupcakes warily. “Actually, AppleBloom had some pie filling we mixed up yesterday and we were wondering if we could use your oven.”

AppleBloom took the jar of red pulp out of her bag. Pinkie Pie gasped and snatched it from her.

“Ohhhh, mystery pie! My favourite! Let’s see… is it raspberry? No, too chunky… cherry? Strawberry? Ohhhh, the suspense is killing me! I have to try it!”

With that, Pinkie opened the jar and dipped her hoof in. As the cutie mark crusaders looked on in amusement, she brought some of the mush towards her mouth and licked it. As soon as she did, her eyes bulged out in disgust.

“Blegh! What kind of pie filling is this? It’s not sweet at all, it just tastes all bitter and acid-y. Almost like copper or blood or something.”

Scootaloo grinned as Pinkie tried to wipe the taste from her mouth with her clean hoof.

“You guessed it Pinkie Pie!”

“Huh?” Pinkie Pie looked at Scootaloo. Her tongue was still hanging halfway out of her mouth.

“We call it “AppleJack pie” Scootaloo said, her wicked smile growing wider. She walked closer to Pinkie Pie. AppleBloom and Sweetie Belle took up positions on either side of the party pony.

“Why?” Pinkie Pie asked. Her perpetual smile was fading. The acidic taste lingered on her tongue.

“It’s named after the secret ingredient.” Scootaloo responded. She edged even closer.

Pinkie Pie looked between the pegasus and the jar, confused. She was starting to feel uneasy, and the two ponies on either side of her didn’t help. She felt trapped. The taste in her mouth seemed to be growing stronger. That horrible copper taste. She looked at the jar again, and a horrible thought wormed into her mind.

“AppleBloom,” She asked, turning around, “where is your sister?”

“Man, are you really that slow?” Scootaloo snapped, “You’re holding her!”

Dead silence filled the bakery. Pinkie Pie was staring down at the jar, at a loss for words for the first time in her life. That couldn’t be right. AppleJack was back at the farm. She was always back at the farm. This couldn’t be right. It couldn’t be. This had to be a-

Without warning, Pinkie Pie burst into laughter. She dropped the jar, and it smashed on the floor. Red pulp splattered everywhere.

“Ok girls! I have to admit, that was a new one!” Pinkie Pie was nearly in hysterics. “That was a pretty convincing prank! So let’s all go see what AppleJack’s up to!” Desperation was creeping into her voice.

Pinkie Pie was backing away from Scootaloo. Her laughter started to die down, and a horrifying false smile was left plastered on her face.

“She’s dead. You just ate some of her.” Scootaloo closed the distance between them.

“No I didn’t silly! That was pie filling! AppleJack’s back at the farm!” Pinkie Pie was softly giggling in a high-pitched voice. Tears were streaming down her face.

“You really are clueless.” Scootaloo said. She was getting irritated. “Let me break it down for you. We killed AppleJack. We ground her into paste. We fed her to you!”

Pinkie Pie’s giggling grew louder. She looked at her hoof, which was stained red from the bit of AppleJack she had unwittingly sampled. Her chest started heaving. Her vision was starting to fade around the corners. She tried to tell herself that it was all a lie. That it was some horrible, horrible prank. However, as much as she was afraid to admit it to herself, she knew.

AppleJack was dead.

And Pinkie Pie had eaten her.

Pinkie Pie’s deranged giggling stopped abruptly. Her curly mane suddenly lost all of its shape, and it fell loosely to the sides of her neck. She looked like she was staring into space, her manic smile still splitting her features. Finally, she explosively exhaled, and collapsed on the floor. It was too much for her to bear, she passed out.

“What was that all about?” Sweetie Belle said. She was wearily looking over the unconscious Pinkie Pie.

“Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” Scootaloo replied. “Come on, let’s get her to the basement.”

The three fillies dragged Pinkie Pie down the stairs. The basement was spartan compared to the frivolously decorated bakery. The walls were bare stone, with only a counter and a few stools as furniture. A rack of knives hung above, and a massive oven dominated the far side of the room.

Sweetie Belle was starting to warm up her binding spell. Her horn had started glowing as she gathered the magic needed for the enchantment. However, Scootaloo stepped in front of her.

“Save your magic,” She said; “I have a better idea.”

She walked over to the counter and grabbed a rolling pin that was resting there. She walked over to Pinkie Pie. Taking careful aim, she clubbed her front hoof with it several times. Finally, Scootaloo heard a loud crack as Pinkie Pie’s bone fractured. The skin was left bloody and ragged from the impacts.

As Scootaloo was about to give the other leg the same treatment, a small whimper came from Pinkie Pie. She was starting to wake up.

“What… happened?” Pinkie groggily asked. “Did my number come up?”

She shook her head and tried to stand up. As soon as she tried to put any weight on her broken hoof however, a lance of white hot pain shot up her leg. She cried out and collapsed to the floor. Pinkie looked up and saw Scootaloo looming above her, rolling pin in hand.

“What are you doing Scoots?” Pinkie tried to back away from her with her three good legs.

“We’re going to have a little party.” Scootaloo said. Her voice was laced with malice. A now-familiar rush was creeping up her spine. Scootaloo knew what she wanted. Ever since last night at AppleJack’s cellar, she knew.

Scootaloo lashed out with the rolling pin, catching Pinkie Pie in the knee. The joint bent sideways with a sickening popping sound, inciting more agonized screams from the pink mare.

“And don’t call me “Scoots”.

Pinkie Pie was sobbing on the floor, still trying to get some distance from her attacker. Her mind didn’t know how to process this. Nopony had ever tried to hurt her before.

“Why are you doing this?” She whined, “I didn’t do anything to you.”

“You didn’t do anything, Pinkie.” Said Sweetie Belle. “We just want our cutie marks.”

“How is beating up a pony going to get you a cutie mark?” Pinkie sobbed.

“Well, we aren’t just going to beat you up.” Said Scootaloo. “Anyway, it worked for AppleBloom.”

Pinkie looked over to where AppleBloom was standing. Sure enough, there was a cutie mark emblazoned on her flank. Pinkie could make out what looked like a piece of meat with two crossed knives. With growing revulsion, Pinkie thought back to what Scootaloo had told her in the bakery. If AppleJack was dead, and AppleBloom had a cutie mark that looked like… that… then that meant…

“AppleBloom!” Pinkie shouted. “She was your sister! How could you do something like that to her! You… Monster!”

AppleBloom’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. She seemed detached from what was being said.

“You three should be ashamed of yourselves! What kind of pony kills just for a cutie mark! You’re just… sick!” Pinkie Pie had reached a wall. There was nowhere left to back up to.

“You’re getting kind of annoying, Pinkie. Hold on, I’ll fix that.” Scootaloo said. She walked over to the counter and grabbed a thin, sharp knife from the rack.

“Open wide!” Scootaloo grabbed Pinke Pie’s face and shoved the blade of knife into her mouth.

Pinkie tried to shriek as the knife cut into her tongue. However, Scootaloo had clamped her jaw shut around the blade. Pinkie Pie reeled in pain as Scootaloo began to twist and slash the knife around, shredding the soft tissue inside. It scraped painfully against her teeth, and peeled the skin off of the roof of her mouth. Blood was pooling in the back of her throat, making her gag.

Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom grabbed Pinkie’s front legs to ensure she didn’t try to fight back. The trauma of the fillies grabbing her broken limbs combined with the knife in her mouth nearly made Pinkie Pie pass out again. Her eyes fluttered shut.

“Wake up!” snapped Scootaloo, slapping pinkie Pie hard across the face. This snapped her awake.

Scootaloo slashed the knife to the side, cutting through Pinkie’s cheek. Blood splattered across the wall. With her mouth now empty, Pinkie Pie began coughing and spitting up a fountain of torn flesh and blood.

“Hey AppleBloom,” Scootaloo said. “I think we found the perfect addition to your pie.”

AppleBloom smiled and let go of Pinkie’s leg. The blood dripping from Pinkie Pie’s mouth was making her stomach rumble.

“Give me some from the leg.” She said. “I bet it’s nice and tender now.”

Scootaloo smiled and turned her knife to Pinkie Pie’s right front leg, where she had started her assault. Sweetie Belle held it steady while Scootaloo cut into the flesh with in a jagged sawing motion.

Pinkie Pie’s mouth was so torn up, all she could do was whimper. She tried to feebly kick her assailants with her hind legs. She was so weak though, the fillies barely even noticed. She looked over to where Scootaloo was cutting. There was blood pouring from her leg, and a ragged piece of flesh was being slowly peeled away. The burning pain was more than she had ever felt before. She wanted out. She just wanted the pain to stop.

She wanted to die. Anything to stop what was happening.

“There we go!” Scootaloo happily exclaimed, holding up a piece of bloody meat.

“That looks great!” AppleBloom said, staring at the flesh in Scootaloo’s hoof. She grabbed it, and greedily shoved it in her mouth. She moaned as she chewed, it was just as delicious as it looked.

Pinkie Pie looked on in horror. Her whole world was crashing down on her. Nearly all her life, she lived in a constant state of happiness. Nothing ever really went wrong for her. When it did, she could usually just laugh it off. Now three fillies had her trapped in her basement and were slowly killing her. Nothing was making sense. She blinked. Her vision was starting to get blurry from blood loss.

Scootaloo turned back to face Pinkie Pie, knife still in hand.

“Let’s ramp this up a bit.” She said.

Scootaloo’s eyes glinted with sinister delight. She was enjoying every second of Pinkie Pie’s misery. It’s not that she didn’t like the pink party pony; she just couldn’t get enough of the thrill of inflicting pain. She had felt it when Sweetie Belle killed Mrs. Cheerilee. It was even stronger when Scootaloo was stabbing AppleJack. She could have gone on with it for an hour if AppleBloom hadn’t killed her so quickly.

Now, however, she had a pony all to herself. Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom were only there to restrain Pinkie Pie.

Smiling, she stabbed forward with the knife. It sunk right into Pinkie Pie’s left eye. A foul mixture of blood and ocular fluid dribbled from the wound. Pinkie let out a ragged gasp. Her other eye fluttered, then shut.

“No! Not yet!” Scootaloo thought. She started to panic. Pinkie Pie was slipping, she would be gone soon. Scootaloo wanted more. She needed to feel the rush again.

She extracted the knife from Pinkie Pie’s skull. With a savage cry, she slashed it across Pinkie’s chest. A red mist flew from the knife. She slashed again. Again, the air was filled with splattered blood. She kept on cutting. All restraint was gone now, only her brutal sadism remained. She wanted Pinkie Pie to suffer until her last breath.

She continued her frenzied slashing, until Pinkie Pie’s chest was just a ragged mess of tattered skin and exposed muscle. Scootaloo stopped and stepped back to admire her handiwork Pinkie Pie was still breathing, but barely.

“Girls, help me out here” She pointed towards the oven.

The three fillies grabbed Pinkie Pie and clumsily dragged her towards the oven. With a grunt, they hoisted the mare into the front of it. Scootaloo turned a knob, and a fire sprang to life on the inside of the oven.

Through the small window on the oven’s door, they could see everything. Pinkie Pie’s skin began to crack and bubble in places. The fluid from her eye was simmering. Her chest rose for the last time, and then fell as the remaining life was drained from her.

“Scootaloo, you did it.” AppleBloom said in awe.

“Yeah, I guess I did. Pinkie Pie is dead”

“No, I mean your cutie mark! You uhhh… have one!”

With a dim surprise, Scootaloo turned around to inspect her flank. Sure enough, there was a cutie mark shining on her backside. It showed the silhouette of a kneeling pony, with red cuts all over the body. A bloody smile dominated the face.

“Would you look at that” Scootaloo said.

It seemed strange. She had worked toward this her entire life. Now that she had it, it didn’t really seem to matter. Ever since Mrs. Cheerilee’s death, she just wanted to feel the thrill of the kill, cutie mark or no.

“Looks like we have one more left to go.” She said. “Sweetie Belle, the last one is all yours. Who’s up?”

“Nopony, for now.” Sweetie Belle replied. “I want my cutie mark to be special. I know who I’m going to kill, but I’m going to wait until everypony starts to notice that ponies have gone missing. I want her scared when I do it.”

“All right, we’ll wait to get your cutie mark.” AppleBloom said. “What do we do until then?”

“Actually, I might need you guys to help me out with something.” Scootaloo said. Her eyes narrowed.

“I have a score to settle with the newest Wonderbolt flyer.”

--==--

Twilight Sparkle hummed to herself as she walked along the path. It was such a beautiful day out, it rubbed off on her. She had decided to take the rest of the day off, as Spike had insisted he could take care of the rest of the chores. That might have had something to do with Owloysius being in the same room.

Twilight was about to turn the corner that led to the Everfree forest, when she saw Fluttershy trotting towards her. She was wearing a content smile, and seemed to be carrying herself a little bit taller than usual.

“Hey Fluttershy!” She said as she got closer. “You look like you’re in a good mood.”

“Oh yes, Twilight!” Fluttershy beamed, “It’s just such a perfect day. I was just out enjoying the fresh air. Where are you off to?”

“Zecora’s. I need some herbs for a transfiguration spell I’ve been working on.”

“Oh!” Fluttershy squeaked, “You can’t go to the forest now! It’s getting umm… dark out!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. It was only half past three.

“Thanks for the concern, Fluttershy, but I think I’ll be fine.” With that, she continued on her way.

“Oh dear.” Fluttershy whispered to herself, “I hope I hid Zecora’s body well enough.”

She nervously walked away, lost in fear and guilt.

She wouldn’t trade her experience with the dead zebra for the world, though.

--==--

End of part 4