Psycho Pony Killer

It was tragic what had happened to the Cake family. Nopony has been able to find the two foals but it's obvious the majority of everypony presumes them to be dead. If there was one thing they had learned about this killer it is that he or she does not hold mercy. We have seen our friends cut open, gutted like fish as well as many other horrid atrocities. The worst graphically speaking would have to be Red Rush who was forced to eat his own eyes before being split open and hung by his large intestine. I remember the pony who wrote that particular article got hell for titling it, 'Killer Gets Sick Red Rush'. Dark humor is not what Ponyville needs in a time only filled with death and suspicions and fear.

And now Twilight had all new problems to deal with on top of her already overwhelming troubles. Somepony had left a key near her doorstep the other night, and she had decided it was surely the killer taunting her in her failure at capturing them and bringing them to justice. The other problem being her good friend, Pinkie Pie, who is now completely overwhelmed as she goes from assistant baker to trying to save the proud business of her dead friends from ruin. It was not an easy job and Twilight could see it was having its toll on her friend. She has gone half a week with barely a wink of sleep and is visibly losing weight. She wasn't herself before due to not being able to throw any parties because nopony wants to celebrate when their friends are dying, but now, it's like she is slowly becoming just a shell of the old Pinkie Pie. When Twilight looked at her it took a minute of staring before she could see a faint glimmer of the old Pinkie she loved.

Twilight and the gang agreed it was about time they tried to cheer up their friend in need. She was hurting and becoming somepony unrecognizable as the old Pinkie Pie, or any pony with the spark of life for that matter. She was just a baking mass of depression and gray, and so it was time. Time to... Party!

The girls come into Pinkie's house and are greeted by...anger, confusion, and hurt. They had only gotten a sentence or two out, but the words: 'party', 'cheer up', and 'worried' really drove home, just not in the way they had hoped. "A party?! You want to throw me a party, when all of our friends are dying? When nopony is safe and nopony can have fun!" Pinkie turns her back on her friends, still in the entryway, baffled by how much their dear friend has changed. Of course she was right, but they were worried about her. They feared she was much too close to being too far gone and none of them knew how to handle that anymore than they knew how to catch the killer. Then came the finisher; the nail in each of their hearts. "You disgust me."

Applejack was the first to get over being stunned by her friend's behavior, as the anger invaded her now. "Now you don't have any right to talk to us like that Pinkie Pie! We are your friends and we're only trying to help you."

Pinkie Pie spins around, glaring angrily at the five worried mares. "If you wanted to help you wouldn't be interrupting me. Do you know how many things I've got to bake just this week to keep the Cake's store open?" Her head bowing towards the floor she adds quietly, "I thought you girls were my friends...and you don't even care."

"Hey now, we do care." Applejack starts moving toward Pinkie Pie, trying to reassure her friend. "That's why we came over, don't you see? We're all worried about you sugar. You've been acting strange and you've stopped eating and sleeping. We just want the old you back."

Applejack stops suddenly in front of Pinkie Pie, whose eyes are now narrowed at her friend. "Want the old me back? And just what is wrong with me the way I am? Why do you all feel the need to change me? You aren't my friends, you're just a bunch of...a bunch of Pinkie Haters!!" Once again she turns her back to the group but this time she takes off in a run, and out the window she goes, fleeing her friends and hiding in the darkness of the night.

"Well that didn't go quite as I'd planned..." Twilight murmurs, bowing her head temporarily defeated. "Alright, let's go girls. We'll just have to try a different approach next time. We are not giving up on her."

Rainbow Dash scratches behind her ear with a hoof, "Huh, you'd think she would've just asked us to leave." Everypony turns to face her, wondering if she figured something out. Rainbow Dash just shrugs, "I mean, this is her place; she's got a right, ya know?" Four ponies simultaneously facehoof before leaving, downhearted and crushed, missing something essential in them. Missing the friendship, that bond they were so proud of and tried to protect so hard was shaking, breaking slowly and most painfully.

Twilight gazes up at the large, bright moon. "Oh, Pinkie..." She stays there a moment, gazing up at the full white orb in the dark starless sky before rejoining her still walking friends. Will they ever be the same again? She wonders, holding tight onto the remains of her bond with Pinkie. Is it too late already?