Elements of Treachery

Shadow stood in the doorway looking at the pony still restrained to the wall, he stood there staring at her body, wounds still fresh from the last time he saw her, and new wounds from being tortured and stitches from from where organs were removed, he could tell because those organs were sitting on the table nearby but were no longer healthy, she could only have been there a day, but she looked as though she had been there for weeks, the sight made Shadow want to gag.

"Have you come to gloat," asked the mare.

Shadow shook his head, "How is this possible? How are you still alive and how did you end up here Pinkamena?"

Pinkamena coughed up some blood, "I don't know."

Shadow knew that he could just turn and leave her there, but he wouldn't, he would never leave somepony like that.

"Pinkamena, I want your help, I'll free you on the condition that you don't kill anypony," Shadow said.

Pinkamena looked him straight in the eyes. "Even if you free me, there's no garantee that we get out of here, nor is there a garantee that I survive these wounds while on the move," she said coughing up more blood.

Shadow lit up his horn and after a few seconds all of Pinkamena's wounds were healed.

"I'm offering you a chance to be something more than just a murderer, I'm offering the chance to fight against the one that twisted you into a murderer," Shadow said moving closer.

"You mean Strife right," Pinkamena asked.

Shadow nodded, "So what do you say?"

Pinkamena thought for a moment before she had a look of pure anger on her face.

"If he's the one behind all this, then yes, I may have tortured ponies and turned them into cupcakes, but I never wanted to until he came along, I absolutely hate cupcakes now," Pinkamena gagged at the thought, "however, that doesn't mean I won't kill anypony, but I'll try to restrain myself."

Shadow nodded and shattered the restraints with his magic.

"Okay, lets get out of here," he said galloping out of the dungeon with Pinkamena and the rest of the prisoners.

They all followed Shadow, who had managed to remember the path the guards took when they dragged him to the dungeons, after plowing through several unlucky guards, Shadow and the others made it outside.

"Follow me," Shadow called as he galloped.

They followed him down a path and out of sight of everypony and met up with several rebellion members with carriages, Shadow turned around and did a quick head count.

"Okay, thats everypony, get on the carriages everypony, Pinkamena, you're with me," Shadow said.

Pinkamena nodded and got on the carriage with him, Pinkie and Luna were on the same carriage.

When Pinkie saw Pinkamena her blood ran cold and she had a look of horror on her face.

"Pinkie? It's okay, she's on our side, we need to put our differences aside for now," Shadow said trying to snap her out of it.

Pinkamena couldn't even bring herself to look Pinkie in the eyes let alone look at her at all.

Pinkamena finally let out a sigh and looked at Pinkie.

"I'm sorry," Pinkamena began, "I'm sorry for everything, I didn't know the pain I had caused until I had the pleasure to feel it myself all night as, what I'm assuming is this world's Pinkie, even though you healed the wounds, I can still feel the pain, she removed several organs and the pain was excrutiating," Pinkamena started to break into tears, "I can't believe I did that to anypony, I didn't know it actually hurt like that, I assumed it was all in good fun."

Pinkamena had broken down, Shadow could tell that what she had experienced last night was enough to break anypony, even her, he was still shocked that she could even be broken.

"Shadow, I want to help you, I know you can't trust me, but I really do wanna help you," Pinkamena pleaded.

Shadow was absolutely stunned by what he was hearing, what happened to the mare that he had seen inside the dungeon just moments ago, why was she all of a sudden crying and wanting to change, Shadow wanted to believe it had been because she had seen the error of her ways, but he knew the real reason behind it.

"Nightshade, Strife's influence over her is broken isn't it," Shadow asked mentally.

After a few moments of silence, Nightshade replied, "Yes it is, it was weakened when she was sent here and then broken when she got into the carriage after agreeing to help you.

It seems if somepony under his influence decides to help you, even for a moment, they can be freed." Shadow gave a smile, "Pinkamena, you are no longer under Strife's influence, you have my full trust," Shadow looked over to Pinkie who gave a nod, "and we will help you."

"Shadow, be warned, there is still darkness in her heart, and she is still capable of murder," Nightshade warned.

After a while the carriages arrived at a safe location and everypony unboarded. Shadow paused for a moment, "Anypony else have the feeling that was too easy?"

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth they found themselves surrounded by Celestia's Royal Guards, with the Insane Pinkie Pie leading them.

"Yep, too easy," Shadow groaned.

"So, you think you can just trot in and take away the funnest pony I've had the pleasure of experimenting on," Insane Pinkie growled.

Shadow gave a signal to the rebels, thanks to the training he gave them that morning they knew what it meant and immidiately backed away while covering Pinkie and Pinkamena.

Shadow cracked his neck, "Then why don't you do something about it?"

Shadow threw off his vest and glasses and stood in a defensive position.

Insane Pinkie laughed and ordered all her guards to attack at once causing Shadow to smirk.

Shadow unfurled his wings and used the force from one strong flap to send himself flying at a group and took them out, he then used his magic to create a concussive blast knocking out several guards, Shadow's combat training made short work off the rest of the guards and he had yet to break a sweat.

Insane Pinkie was absolutely livid, "worthless maggots, I'll be sure to make their torment extra long and painful. As for you, I'll handle you personally."

Insane Pinkie took a vial of black liquid from her mane and before she could drink it, it was snatched away by Pinkamena who had immidiately retreated back to the group of rebels.

Shadow couldn't help but let out a burst of laughter, "Now that's just funny."

Insane Pinkie had turned from pink to red and pulled a knife from her mane. "Seriously, how much crap do you have in there? Is your head really that empty," Shadow asked.

Insane Pinkie lunged at him and was prepared in case he dodged.

Shadow stood ready and caught her in his magic and restricted her movements with a simple paralyzation spell.

Insane Pinkie had had enough and decided to use her Element of Treachery which broke her free of Shadow's magic, she used it to launch several beams at Shadow and had finally managed to hit him.

"Gah," Shadow yelled as his mind was being invaded by Pinkie's Element of Treachery.

"Shadow, you have to fight it," Nightshade yelled.

Shadow's sanity was being torn from him, he was quickly losing control over himself.

"Shadow! You have to fight it, for me," Pinkie cried.

Hearing Pinkie's cries was like throwing a match on a pile of dried grass soaked in lighter fluid and gasoline, Shadow's eyes, mane, and tail turned red and he managed to create a barrier around himself.

"So," Shadow said slightly out of breath, "you don't need the other Elements to use them against somepony."

Insane Pinkie laughed, "That's right, they become more powerful when used together though, and the result is having the target blown to pieces," Insane Pinkie let out a much darker laugh, "and that's the best part."

Shadow used the time she was laughing to move in at high speed and grabbed the Element right off her neck, he looked at it for a moment and noticed that it was once her Element of Laughter but was now cracked and twisted, it didn't take much force from Shadow's magic to shatter it.

Insane Pinkie realized what had just happened when she heard it shatter.

"What the hell did you just do?! Are you bucking insane," Insane Pinkie screamed, "Twilight is going to kill me now!"

Shadow shook his head, "She won't have the chance, because you're being locked up for your crimes," he said paralyzing her once again with his magic and signalling the rebels to arrest her.

Shadow moved away and joined Pinkie and Pinkamena but kept an eye on Insane Pinkie until she was contained.

"What was that vial you took from her," Shadow asked turning to look at Pinkamena. Pinkamena took the vial out of her mane, "It was extracted from me last night, this world's Pinkie called it Zalgo blood."

Shadow froze when he heard the word Zalgo.

"Have you heard of it Shadow," Pinkie asked.

"I have," Shadow began, "its only been associated with beings of evil though, those beings are said to be able to survive almost anything, even death, and they have abilities that are far more powerful than magic without even needing to use magic."

Pinkamena gave the vial to Shadow, "You keep it, if you decide to use it then be careful."

Shadow nodded and took it in his magic, after putting his vest and sunglasses back on he put the vial inside of one of his pockets.

"Shadow, if you do decide to use it, do not ingest it, it is far more fatal that way," Nightshade warned.

"How much do you know about Zalgos," Shadow asked mentally.

"Not a lot, but, you'll have evil desires and urges if you use it, however, it will be up to you if you decide to give into them, the power you would get from it is far greater than what you have now though," Nightshade answered.

"Understood, I'll only use it when it's absolutely necessary," Shadow replied mentally.

"Okay so that's one down, just five more Element users to take down. Let's get back to the hideout where it's safe," Shadow said trotting next to Pinkie and Pinkamena.

After about fifteen minutes of walking they reached the abandoned building and went through the secret passage.

Shadow kept an eye on Pinkamena who seemed to still be in pain, Shadow finally came to a stop and turned to Pinkamena.

"Hold still," Shadow said as he passed a wave of magic through her several times, "you still have internal damage, it was far worse than I had thought it was at the dungeon." Shadow charged up his magic and passed a powerful wave through Pinkamena, completely healing all the internal damage.

"How's that," he asked.

"Much better, thank you," Pinkamena replied.

"That's good," Pinkie replied.

Shadow called for Luna's assistant and asked him to find Pinkamena someplace comfortable to sleep for the night.

"It's okay, I'll be comfortable anywhere," Pinkamena replied.

Shadow and Pinkie said goodnight and returned to their room where Spike was already asleep.

Shadow yawned and stretched out on the bed as Pinkie layed down next to him.

"Don't do anything like that again," Pinkie scolded.

"I know you were worried, but I had to free them," Shadow replied snuggling her.

Shadow soon fell asleep cuddling and snuggling Pinkie.