Chapters Beige Bandit sneered down at Ruthless, cackling as she flared her wings wide. She backed Ruthless into the back of the wall of the alley way, blocking every exit possible. Ruthless closed her eyes and started to cry helplessly, shaking and shutting down. She pushed her body as close as it would go to the ground, but the dirt held firm.
"You're nothing more than a wimp!" Bandit said as she slapped her hoof straight down onto Ruthless' head. "You know what I do to wimps?"
"Please, s-stop! You're hurting me!" Ruthless cried out, only to be given another whack on the head, this time Bandit's hoof smacking her horn down, mashing her face into the dirt. "Stop!"
"What did I say about wimps?!" Bandit yelled, flaring her wings larger, intimidating Ruthless further. "Well?!"
"Wimps cry and don't fight back!" Ruthless said obediently, like she had been yelled at to before.
"That's right. Now what do wimps get for being right?" Bandit sneered.
"I-I-I-I d-" Ruthless was pulled up by her mane, looking directly into the eyes of Beige Bandit. "I'll give you all my bits, but-"
"Gimme your bits, wimp!" Bandit yelled, smashing her hoof down onto Ruthless' head again.
Ruthless obeyed and gave her a tiny satchel which held ten gold bits, and also angered Bandit.
"This is all?!" Bandit asked.
"Y-Yes!" Ruthless covered her head, ready for another hit.
"Pfft. You're a waste of time, space, and money." Bandit said before lifting her up in the air by her horn, then punching her in the stomach.
Beige Bandit turned on her hoof and pranced out of the alley, leaving Ruthless to lay in the dirt, her lip bleeding. She spit out the blood and laid down and cried some more, once she was sure Bandit was out of earshot. Ruthless stopped when she heard a soothing voice.
"Hey, now," It said, a feminine curl to it. "Dry your tears, little one."
"Wh-Who's there?" Ruthless asked, cowering further into the soil.
"No pony that wants to hurt you," The voice responded. "Follow my voice, we can talk. But only in private."
"O-Okay," Ruthless agreed, trotting out of the alley.
A few ponies looked at Ruthless sideways; she still had blood dribbling down her lip. She limped to where the voice cooed and called, alluring and deep, but beautiful. Ruthless found herself in the Everfree Forest, close to the Everfree Creek. She looked into the creek, and instead of her reflection, she saw a black furred pony with a long, flowing red mane.
"Y-You're quite pretty," Ruthless mumbled.
"Aw, you flatterer, you! There's no need to cry, little one." She spoke, smiling kindly in the puddle.
"Beige Bandit keeps bullying me. T-There's nothing I can do to make her stop. She's so mean! I wish I could make her stop!" Ruthless said, wiping her lip with her fore hoof. "Why are you in a puddle?"
"That's not important right now, little one. My name is Black Rose. What's yours?" Black Rose asked.
"Ruthless. My name is Ruthless." The unicorn said, smiling down at the pony in the water. "Are you a princess? You're an Alicorn."
"I am royalty, I admit, but it's not important. I am the Queen of the Nightmares. Alas, Celestia locked me in this puddle. She views me as a threat, but I've done nothing wrong! My subjects cannot hear me, and I cannot speak to them, for I am trapped in this puddle. Will you be my friend?"
Ruthless put a hoof to her lip and smiled. "I'll be your best friend, Black Rose."
"Excellent," Black Rose snickered from her puddle prison.
"Your magical aura is very strong. You must be very powerful..." Ruthless said, rubbing her chin. "Why did Princess Celestia lock you in this puddle?"
"I don't know, my dear, we were attempting to put an end to the war between our kind, and she locked me here!" Rose lied, faking a frown.
"Maybe I can get you help! My friend Princess Twilight Sparkle can-" Ruthless was cut off.
"No! I mean, one Princess is bad enough for me right now, I couldn't stand to see another!" Black Rose said, black wisps waving from her hypnotic eyes.
"Okay... right, I won't tell Twilight about you." Ruthless said, her eyes staring directly into Black Rose's.
"Come, child, touch your horn to mine, and see what power you can have!" Black Rose exclaimed, beckoning an already hypnotized Ruthless closer.
"Oh dear, I know in the future there shall be fear!" Zecora rhymed. "Twilight Sparkle I must warn, before our nation is simply torn!"
Ruthless slowly cantered to the puddle, touching her violet horn to Black Rose's dark gray one. A rush of magical energy surged into Ruthless' body, sending her flying backwards. Ruthless rubbed her aching head, then noticed her fur. It was a tinge darker than she remembered, and her mane was growing strands of black.
She paid no mind to it and walked up to Queen Black Rose. "Thank you for your magical contribution, my Queen." Ruthless knelt down before the Nightmare Queen.
"Now go, my dear, but return tomorrow, please." Black Rose said, smiling devilishly.
"I promise," Ruthless smirked as she cantered out of the forest and straight to Beige Bandit's conveniently secluded house at the edge of Ponyville, with one goal in mind.
Ruthless stomped her way into Ponyville, dark circles under her eyes. She had a sadistic grin plastered on her face, ready for anything. She glanced at the ponies and Nightmares that looked at her strangely, giving a glare and a stomp of her hoof, scaring them off. She walked through Ponyville, straight to Beige Bandit's house. Within fifteen minutes she reached the house of her filly hood bully.
She knocked on the door with her hoof, and waited, a devilish smile plastered on her face. She kept knocking until the door opened. Beige looked at Ruthless, put off by her sadistic aura.
"What's a wimp like you doing here?" She questioned.
"I'm here to repay you for everything you've ever done to me," Ruthless said, looking at her hoof, inspecting the grooves inside.
"What do you mean?" Beige said, wobbling from hoof to hoof in fear. "I was just kidding around."
"Yes, but this, this will not be kidding around, Beige Bitch ." Ruthless said, pushing her way into Beige's house.
"P-Pl-Please, I didn't do much wrong...?" Beige asked.
"No, my dear, you did very much wrong." Ruthless said. "Is any pony else home?"
"N-No, I live alone." Beige said, shuffling her hooves.
"Then now for the fun part ." Ruthless said, giving a wicked grin and started up her magic.
Cuffs magically appeared around Bandit's hooves, chaining her legs together. She was picked up in a black aura and carried into the basement. Bandit was locked to the wall, a tear sliding down her face. Ruthless summoned a muzzle and strapped it onto Beige Bandit's muzzle, strapping it around her head. She pulled a knife out of nowhere and trotted over to a stoning station that Beige kept to keep her knives nice and sharp .
"Now for the boring part." Ruthless said, starting up the process, grinding the blade against the stone.
"Please, let me go, please, for the sake of Celestia, let me go!" Bandit's muffled voice came.
"I can't do that, Beige Bitch. You're leaving all right, but in a body bag, I assure you." Ruthless said, giving another sadistic grin. "And this will be long and painful . I promise."
"Why are you doing this to me?" Beige cried.
"Because of what you've done to me for the past fifteen years, of course. And for the shear fun of it." Ruthless said as she stopped the stoning station. "Ah, yes, nice and sharp."
Ruthless walked painfully slow over to Beige, playing the knife across her stomach. She jabbed it in quickly, using her magic to hold Beige's mouth closed. She ripped it slowly across her stomach. Beige screamed into the muzzle and magic, tears streaming down her face.
"Please!" Beige begged, forcing her mouth open. "I'm so sorry, Ruth! I'm so sorry!"
"Quiet, wimp
Ruthless ripped the knife upwards, making an upside down 'T' on her stomach, blood drenching the floor, and Ruthless' fur. She snickered wildly as she pulled the knife out and started to sew the wounds closed with magic, but leaving her intestines and organs to bleed inside her.
"Now, I'll let you grovel for a while, before I kill you slowly." Ruthless said, using a smaller, but sharper knife to jab into her hooves, causing immense pain.
Once the bottoms of Beige's hooves were thoroughly gored, she jabbed the knife into her heart, slicing through her rib cage. She then picked up the biggest knife, then went to the stoning station to stone it to make it as sharp as possible. She stoned it for fifteen minutes before walking over to Beige Bandit.
"Now, you'll feel my pain." Ruthless said before forcing Bandit to extend her left wing.
"No! Please, my wings are all I have left! Please, please, please!" Bandit sobbed.
"I said shut up !" Ruthless screamed into her ear, bursting her eardrum.
She tightened the muzzle and Beige Bandit no longer had a way to speak. She jabbed her large knife into her feathers, ripping them out one by one furiously. Once all of her feathers were out, she started to cut off the bones. She cut the bones one by one, and then finally cut off the base of the wing bone.
She repeated this action with the other wing, but doing it much, much slower than with the other wing. She dropped the knives and the red and green mingled in her eyes, fighting for dominance over her mind. But it was too late. She placed her magic around Beige Bandit's beige brown neck, and slowly and painfully slow. The tissue ripped. The bones broke and separated. The tendons bled.
Bandit screamed out in pain as her head was slowly being torn off her shoulders at the neck. Her eyes rolled back into her head and blood poured from her mouth. Finally the screaming died down into a gurgle of blood. Ruthless left the body there, cleaned herself in Beige's shower, and trotted back to Black Rose.
Police ponies crowded the scene. They took notes, pictures, packing evidence, searching for magical residue, but none was found. The ponies body bagged the body and head, putting it in the evidence van. The knives and stoning station were bagged as well, the message taken plenty pictures of. They searched the home, finding various diaries and other things they could use to find the killer. They entered her bathroom and found another message.
You'll never find me. I will reign supreme.
The other message?
This is only the beginning.
"When I reigned supreme, the land was shrouded in darkness. Nightmares were free to eat the dreams of ponies, and the ponies did not fear the Nightmares. Until Celestia and Luna were born. They challenged me, accusing my species of horrid acts which we had not even thought about. I fought valiantly, but it was in vain. They overpowered me and my subjects, and we were banished into the shadows. Of course, Celestia locked me into this puddle, forever to sit alone in my prison of falseness." Black Rose spoke, faking a tear.
"Don't cry, Rose," Ruthless said, reaching a hoof down to the puddle. "I'm here now, and I promise I'll get you out."
"There is a way, but you'd never go for it." Black Rose replied, turning her head.
"I'll do anything for you, my queen. Anything !" Ruthless replied.
"Ruthless, my dear, go to your friend Twilight's home and ask for the Book of Nightmares. Read it all and come back. Don't tell Twilight why you need to read it. Tell her it's a surprise." The Queen said, smiling full and fang filled.
"Of course, My Queen," Ruthless said, bowing then running off to Ponyville in full gallop.
Ruthless ran past Zecora, who shouted out to her. "Be wary, dear friend! Do not be a message send!"
Ruthless stopped and turned around to Zecora, her eyes flashing between red and green. She cantered back to Zecora, the whites of her eyes turning a tinge darker. She glared into Zecora's unchanging eyes. She quick zap of brown rushed through her eyes and she left the zebra, heading for Ponyville once more.
"Oh dear," Zecora said, looking down. "I know her fear."
Zecora cantered back to her home to prepare for it . Ruthless ran through Ponyville, dodging other ponies and jumping over various obstacles, even pushing ponies out of her way. She finally arrived at Twilight's tree house/library and knocked hard.
"Hello, Ruth. How's it going?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"I'm fine, I just need a really old book for a surprise, Twilight." Ruthless said.
"Oh, come right in!" Twilight responded, opening the door fully and allowing the unicorn inside. "Need any help to find the book?"
"No, it's a surprise , silly!" Ruthless replied, trotting off to the 'B' section.
[Ten Minutes Later]
"No... no, that's not it. No. Nope. Nope. No! No- wait a minute..." Ruthless said, a dark gleam shining in her eyes as she spotted a large book.
She used her magic to pry a book from its hold in the tree. Her magic was tinted slightly darker, but she paid no mind to it. She had lately felt her bones ache.
"That's right," She said, remembering her aching bones. "Hey Twilight?"
"Yes?" Twilight asked, dropping her books as she saw Ruthless' book and magic. "What is happening to you?!"
"What..? Nothing, I feel fine, but my bones ache. Do you have anything that could help me?" She asked.
Twilight was already knee-deep in the situation, evaluating Ruthless' body. "We should get you to Princess Celestia, she can-"
"No! I don't want her help!" Ruthless yelled. "I just need to borrow this book for the surprise!"
Ruthless teleported past Twilight and ran out the door, back to the creek. Twilight let out a sigh and used her magic to start her letter to Princess Celestia. "Spike! We have a friend in trouble again!"
"Again?!" Spike asked.
[At the Creek]
"I got the book, but Twilight's being really nosy." Ruthless said, putting the book down next to her.
"That' expected of a princess . Don't go into Ponyville anymore, Celestia has her under a spell." Black Rose responded quickly. "We cannot help her, she's far, far too gone to be helped, as are the other Elements of Harmony."
"I... okay, my Queen." Ruthless bowed, her colors darkening more. "Ah!"
Ruthless fell to the ground as her bones stretched, other bones forming where wings would be on a pony. She let tears drip down the sides of her face, crying out in agony.
"W-What is happening to me?!" She shouted, screaming in pain as her bones got longer and longer slowly.
"It's okay, you're just becoming more accustomed to the truth, my dear. Touch your horn to mine and it'll help, I promise." Black Rose said, her long horn poking out of the prison, a faint yellow spell blocking it.
"O-Okay," Ruthless said, picking herself up and touching her now elongated horn to Queen Black Rose's.
Ruthless let out a scream of relief, the light in her eyes dimming and the green making a permanent home in her iris. Her mane was now longer and had more black like her Queen's, and she had wings the size of a newborn foals. She flapped them in confusion, before she smiled, fangs filling her teeth.
"I feel... powerful." Ruthless said, the green growing deeper in her eyes.
Soon I'll be able to commence my plans. Black Rose thought to herself.
"Okay, start reading so we know every lie Celestia had written down. There should be a spell to free not only me, but my subjects as well." Black Rose said, eyeing the book.
"Of course, my Queen." Ruthless said, opening the book in her now black magic.
[A Couple Hours Later]
"Ruthless!" A voice called, taking her attention and Rose's attention to the source. "We need to talk."
Ruthless turned around to face one of her best friends; Princess Twilight Sparkle . Plus the Elements of Harmony. They looked disgusted and afraid of Ruthless, squeamish before the fight.
"Well, hello, Princess ," Ruthless spat, venom dripping from her words. "Thank you highly for gracing us with your presence."
"Us? What do you mean us?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Me," Black Rose howled from her prison, her shadowy, misty figure crawling out of the puddle. She stood tall, slightly taller than Ruthless. "Okay, Ruthless. I think it's time you test your new powers."
"Ruth, we're your friends!" Twilight called. "We don't want to hurt you!"
"Hurt me? Hurt me?" Ruthless burst out laughing. "They think they can hurt me
"Alright then. Girls," Twilight said, the Elements of Harmony gathering into a circle of friends.
They started to float in the air, Twilight's eyes becoming holes of white light. The beam of rainbow poured down on an unimpressed Ruthless, not affecting her at all. Twilight and the Elements were set back on the ground, confused. Black Rose snickered as she stole the Elements necklaces and crown.
"Hey!"
"These are ours, now." Black Rose said, rubbing the mane of Ruthless.
"How come it doesn't affect her?!" Applejack asked.
"Because I gave up on friendship years ago, stupid . They don't affect me because I'm... more evolved than you are. I'm smarter, faster, better in every way. The Elements cannot affect what's not there, foals!" Ruthless scowled. "Now, what, my Queen?"
"Take them captive, please," Black Rose said, touching her horn to Ruthless', sparks of red and black magic flying.
"Will do."
Ruthless' wings grew to full, the pain imaginary to her. Her horn grew even longer, her mane taking on the colors of Black Rose's mane and tail. Her eyes were red and green, black surrounding her iris's.
In a quick beat of her wings, she was at Twilight's side, using her teeth to pull on her left wing. Twilight gasped out in pain and teleported away, her wing becoming limp. Ruthless scowled again at the cowardliness of her once-friend. She turned to Applejack and in another beat of her wings she was a her right side, shoving her to the ground harshly. Ruthless used her magic to paralyze her, leaving her down for the count.
Rarity growled and jumped to attack, much to the dismay of Twilight's pleas. Ruthless turned and pulled her by her hoof, using Rarity's power against herself. She threw the white unicorn to the ground, breaking her left fore hoof. Rarity gasped out in pain, but laid still, giving up quickly and quietly.
Applejack growled from her spot on the ground. "You'll never get away with this, Ruth."
"I already have," Ruthless responded, kicking her swiftly in the gut, silencing the orange mare.
She turned to Fluttershy who cowered under her gaze, magic shackles holding her to Rarity, then connecting further to Applejack's limp hooves. She looked to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, and snorted. She charged at Pinkie, Pinkie dodging to the left, but Ruthless bucking to her right, hitting Pinkie in the ribs, positively cracking at least two. She screeched in pain as she was added to the lines of shackles.
Rainbow Dash charged at Ruthless, one last hope. She zipped from spot to spot, never in the way of Ruthless' blows. Ruthless growled in frustration and used her magic to stop the wings mid-flight, adding her as well to the line of shackles.
"Five down, one to go." Ruthless looked to Twilight.
"Please, stop this, Ruth!" Twilight called.
Ruthless, in a single beat of her wings, was at Twilight's right side once again, biting down into her wing, leaving both wings limp and useless. Twilight shot a bolt of magic in her right eye, searing it shut. Ruthless recoiled in pain, gasping out as it shut. She spit and glared once more, using her magic to force it to heal slowly but surely. She charged at Twilight, biting her horn. Twilight punched her in the gut, shoving her back, hitting her with another bolt of magic.
She attempted to use magic once more, but the color had drained out of her horn, leaving it, as well as her now white wings, useless. She now only had the strength of an earth pony, and she wasn't going down without a fight. She charged head on at Ruthless, who simply put a hoof up, stopping Twilight in her tracks. Ruthless picked her up in her black-red magic and added her to the row of shackles.
"Wonderful, my loyal subject," Black Rose said, beckoning Ruthless over to the shadows. "I cannot leave the shadows."
"Yes, my Queen."
Ruthless cantered over to her Queen, their horns making contact one last time. Ruthless blacked out, trapped in the magical puddle. Black Rose tested the waters, reaching her hoof into the light. It didn't burn her. She cackled and called out to her subjects.
"All Nightmares attention! Your Queen is back!" She hollered, her voice echoing.
She looked down to the six ponies and with six bolts of magic, knocked them unconscious. She looked out of the forest and to Canterlot, smirking as she gathered her thoughts. She used her magic on the puddle, forcing it to follow her wherever she went. Once all her subjects had arrived, she communicated her plans.
Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack caught only snippets and sections of their words, but they hard enough before succumbing to the darkness' depths of unconsciousness. They knew that she was plotting to overthrow the Princesses and take Equestria for herself and the Nightmares, but they couldn't do anything about it. All they could do was wait for a hero who was locked inside a puddle prison.