Blade

Ponyville’s hospital was strict about their schedule. Lights out was lights out, no excuses; same for visiting hours and the meals.

It had only been a little more than a week before that a new nurse had been hired. Her name was Blossomforth, who had recently become a registered nurse. Ponyville being her home town, she naturally applied for a position at the hospital.

Blossomforth was a very friendly girl. It was in high school that she decided she wanted to help those in pain. It took her a good amount of time and effort in medical school to get where she was, but the position they gave her was not the best choice. When her application had been accepted, she was employed into the night shift, due to the day shift being packed.

It was the incompetence of her employers that left her the only nurse in the complex after hours (other than Nurse Redhart, who would habitually do nothing but read to the patients all night). Often, all she did during those hours was sit at the front desk and write poetry, either that or take inventory.

It was on the day that Pinkamena had met Tag that Blossomforth didn’t have to take inventory, so unsurprisingly, she had taken out her note pad and started writing all over the page.

The room was illuminated brightly by white fluorescent lights and a faint, constant humming filled the whole establishment.

Blossomforth had just finished a line when the glass doors had been knocked on. It had startled her, seeing she believed in monsters. She looked up after recovering from the slight shock to see two smiling stallion boys. They looked like twins, as the only difference she could make from that distance was that one of them was mustached.

Usually, the security guards would have turned folks like this away, but she guessed that they were off on break. Blossomforth hated how the guards got breaks. It was stupid. All they would do is go somewhere else to continue doing nothing. She knew for a fact that two of the security personnel took advantage of their breaks and used them to have sex behind the building.

Todd and Travis were incredibly irresponsible and probably wouldn’t have turned them away had they been on post anyway. Blossomforth had initially liked Travis and even attempted to date him, until finding out he was gay. It hadn’t been very long, and she already hated two of her colleagues.

Groaning, she put down her pen and approached the double doors. She stopped by the glass and looked at the twins firmly.

“I’m sorry!” she shouted so that they could hear through the glass. “No visitors!”

Their voices were muffled through the glass.

“Oh but please, mam! Please!” pleaded Flim.

“Yes! We’ll only be a minute!” followed Flam.

Blossomforth shook her head.

“I’m so sorry, sirs! But I can’t let you in, it’s not the proper hours!”

“Oh but it’s our dear auntie, Mam!” feigned Flim.

“She’s very, very sick, mam! She doesn’t have much time left!” added Flam.

The two boys put on puppy eyes and smiled widely. Blossomforth turned and bit her lip, conflicted. It was in her nature to be so understanding. She had remembered needing to visit her sick grandmother and how important it was to her. Empathy overpowered her, making her turn back and smile.

“Alright, then.” She said, using her key to unlock the door.

*click*

The doors slid open, and in strolled the stallion brothers.

“Thank you so much, mam. I promise we’ll be out before you know it.” Flim thanked.

“You have to be quick.” Blossomforth insisted. “I could get in trouble if the doctors find out, so try not to be seen.”

The brothers looked at each other slyly.

“Don’t worry about us being seen, miss.”

Flam shot a flirty look at Blossomforth, to which she blushed.

“You should be the one worried about being seen. You might get swarmed by stallions.” Flam told her.

Blossomforth giggled as lightly as she could, trying to maintain her composure.

“Who is the patient?” she asked.

“One Annabelle Smith.” Flim answered.

Blossomforth remembered seeing the name on her favorite room number. She had no reason to look it up.

“Oh! I know that one! She’s on the second floor, room nineteen.” She dictated bubbly.

“Thank you very much, miss…” Flim said, waiting for her name.

“My name is Blossomforth, but my friends just call me Blossom.” She shyly responded.

“Glad to meet you.” Said Flam. “We’ll be quick. We promise.”

Flim started toward the elevator as Flam followed slowly, looking over his shoulder at the nurse’s behind as she re-locked the doors. Flam quickly crashed into the wall and fell flat on his ass, groaning loudly.

“Making yourself look stupid is the price for tomfoolery, brother.” Flim teased from the open elevator car.

“Shut up.” Flam angrily replied.

He picked himself up and joined his brother in the box as the doors began to close.

Pinkamena had been following them all day. Be it in the shadows, or in broad daylight while they were in the square that day, she had followed them every step of the way. She was positive she would have been caught by then if it weren’t for Tag.

It was like magic. Every time they were about to turn around and spot her, Tag would know, and he would tell her.

Duck.

And she would duck just in the nick of time.

It was apparent now that whatever Tag told her to do was likely for the best. She was still worried that Tag wouldn’t hold up his end of the bargain when she finished what he had wanted to do, but Tag had heard these thoughts and re-assured her every time.

I promise. If you play the game how I want, exactly how I want, I’ll go on vacation. I’m your friend, Pinkie. Really I am.

For the time, she believed him. What else would she have done all that day? Probably eat, sleep, and try to figure out if the radio in the living room worked anymore.

She hid Tag in her saddlebags, where he wanted to be. He had said it was warmer than the outside, since it was winter time.

It was very late at night right then, as she looked out from the bushes adjacent to the hospital. She had seen the twins go in and the nurse re-locking the doors. There was no way she would get in. She would have to do what Tag asked whenever they came out.

No!

Pinkamena was startled.

Do it inside! I want to play inside!

Pinkamena sighed.

“Well then how do you think I’m supposed to get in?” She whispered impatiently to nobody into the night.

The windows. The windows are unlocked, I can see it.

Pinkamena figured there was no harm in trying the windows, so she jumped out from the bush and tiptoed toward the building.

When she reached the side, she stood on her hind legs to reach one of the windows. She had to stretch in order to touch it. She couldn’t look up. To her surprise, the window effortlessly slid open.

Gripping the grooves of the window’s opening, she tried to hoist herself upward, only to end up failing, and landing on her back from the fall with a grunt.

Use the box.

Confused, she looked around her to see what Tag was talking about. Sure enough, she noticed there was a small wooden crate pushed off into the hedges. Now having placed it under the windowsill, she climbed ontop of it and grabbed the grooves again, this time much more easily, and successfully lifted herself up into the dark, empty room.

She snuck to the door and peered out cautiously, trying to see how far away from the desk she was. Luckily, she was all the way down the hall and right next to the elevator and stair access. Pinkamena opened the door carefully as to not make it creak and attract unwanted attention. She made the opening as narrow as possible and slid through, while sucking in her gut.

Again, she tiptoed toward the elevator and readied herself to press the up button on the console.

No!

She stopped dead.

Use the stairs.

Tag was right. Using the stairs would be far quieter. Besides, she didn’t want to take the chance that this was one of the elevators that make a loud ring whenever they arrive on a floor. So, Pinkamena moved to the stair access door and turned the knob. She opened it and crept into the bright hallway.

The door made no noise at all when she closed it, as if it was catering to her.

Up. Go up. They’re hiding there, I know it!

Pinkamena felt nervous. That was the only word she could think of. Nervous wasn’t close enough to what she was feeling. She was petrified about what she was going to do.

She was about to murder two living beings.

With Kanker, it was different. He had caused her terrible pain. She didn’t even know these two brothers.

Don’t be nervous, Pinkie.

Pinkamena suddenly collapsed and sat down in the stairwell. She looked at her hooves and saw how filthy they were. She steadily began to cry. She thought back to Ariel and her playing tag. Then she realized how miserably cynical everything had always been. Even then one of the purest memories she had was being corrupted by the voice and it’s evil.

You want me to stop sugar coating it, Pinkie? I can do that.

“Don’t call me Pinkie!” She shouted carelessly through her tears. It echoed loudly.

Kill those two stallions and I’ll return the favor.

“But I don’t want to kill anypony!” She wept.

Pinkamena put her face in her hooves.

You killed Kanker without a problem.

“He wasn’t a pony! He was a monster!”

Remember that apple stand stallion?

Pinkamena stopped.

Would any good pony do what those two did to an innocent stallion? They are monsters, Pinkie.

She remembered the cracking noise that the apple stand stallion had made when his head hit the ground. It reminded her of how helpless she had felt when she was under Kanker’s desk, not sure what he would do if she resisted.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and forced herself to stand up.

You don’t have to like it, Pinkie. Just do it.

Pinkamena looked up at the door that opened to the second floor. It wasn’t very far away. So Pinkamena ascended the staircase and approached the door.

The second floor had the lights turned off. If they weren’t, light would seep into the patients’ rooms and certainly cause some complaining.

Flim and Flam walked down the hall toward room nineteen nonchalantly as they talked about the assets that they were about to cease.

“What do we do with the money? I say we invest in that carrot farm across town.” suggested Flam.

“No dice, brother.” decisively replied Flim. “You know we’re spending it on machinery for the Acres.”

“Yea, I guess we’ll need it when old Mackey offs himself.” Flam agreed.

The two started laughing, but were interrupted by a creak from behind. Flim stopped and turned around to see a mare down the hall, standing on her hind legs and hyperventilating. The light was terrible so he could hardly see her face. Flam turned around and saw the mare as well.

Something in him drowned. He didn’t like the way she was standing. It made him feel all too uneasy. He wanted to start backing away, but his mind had put a lock on all of his muscles. It knew moving would do him no good.

Flim narrowed his eyes to get a better view of her.

“Hello?” He called. Maybe it was a doctor. But no. He recognized her. He never forgot a face. It was the pink girl from the market that day Big Mac had claimed ownership of their apples.

She moved very slowly, but it didn’t take her long to pull something out of her saddlebags.

It was a very sharp object. It took a few seconds for it to register in Flim’s mind what it actually was.

His face went pale and his stomach sank.

It was the biggest carving knife he had ever seen in his life.

Flam couldn’t believe what he saw. It was so unexpected. Instantly, his mind went to panic and he felt adrenalin rush through his veins, but he still couldn’t move. All that happened was his mouth drooped open, staring at the knife as it glimmered from a ray in the moonlight.

The exact same thing happened to Flim, except he had just enough luck to be making some noise. Flim stuttered uncontrollably.

“Kn-n—n…mu-m…muh-“ He blathered.

The mare moved. She put one hind leg in front of her, and then the other in front of that. Oh so strangely she limped her way toward the brothers. And oh so fortunately for her, they couldn’t move.

She began to pick up speed as she advanced down the hall. And Flim’s stuttering got louder and faster. The limp had turned into a walk, and then turned into a sprint in a matter of seconds.

Flim got a glance at her cutie mark.

How curious. He thought.

At that moment the mare came right at him faster than all hell.

Flam watched in raw terror as she lifted the knife high above her head and plunged it into his brother’s throat.

It sounded dreadful.

*STLEEEEAAAKKKKkkk…*

He had seen the knife enter, but it had gone in too easily. He had always pictured it would be harder to get stabbed. He saw his brother’s eyes widen to an insurmountable size. He was still stuttering, but it was getting faster by the millisecond. His brother started babbling faster than he thought possible, until he finally stopped for a second.

The mare was glaring into his eyes.

Flim wailed at a deafening level, and Flam was sure it would have been louder had the blood not been blocking his windpipe.

Little droplets spurted out of his mouth and into Pinkamena’s face. She didn’t seem to notice. All she concentrated on was pushing the knife in further.

Her pushing eventually got him to trip, and Flim hit the floor, while Pinkamena collapsed ontop of him. The fall forced the knife a little further in, slicing right through the other side of his esophagus.

At this, she pulled out. A small splash of crimson cascaded out of the wound, as he tried to scream again. He rolled onto his side and grabbed at his throat, trying to desperately to close the wound. But before he could move enough, she brought the knife down again, this time into his belly and through his stomach.

Flam had gone somewhere else while he watched his brother die. His reality could not be. It was impossible. Instead he had retreated to a place of non-existence, where there was no such thing as thinking, and all he had to do was exist.

Flim’s eyes rolled into his head and he squirmed around as blood filled his mouth all the way up. It spilled a little every time he turned to far on his side.

Pinkamena didn’t think. All she did was work. There was nothing in her while she worked. No soul was occupying her husk. Maybe it was playing tag with Ariel. But wherever it was, it tried not to be in reality. She effortlessly slid the knife out of Flim once again, and stabbed him somewhere else. She repeated this as many times as she needed.

Any shed of sense that was left in Flim wasn’t very effective, as he could hardly focus on trying to resist rather than the pain he wanted to end. With each white hot penetration, he could feel himself getting weaker. Panic was engulfing his mind and not a single thought could linger for more than a couple of microseconds. He knew nothing anymore. There was no more distinction between things. The world and his existence were just a pile of sloppiness. He edged closer to death and began to let go without even knowing it. And soon enough, Flim was dead.

Pinkamena pulled the knife out of Flim and panted for a good ten seconds. Her job wasn’t done. Her sense had returned a bit early, but she could still work. A new sense of being had enthralled her. She saw that once it was over, there was no more pain. It would be much better for both of them if she finished quicker.

She slowly turned her head toward Flam. He simply stared with his jaw on the floor, likely far more gone than he needed.

Pinkamena mindlessly raised the knife again.

Flam’s mind had bidden it’s time. It was ready to react now. It converted all of his shock into pure adrenalin and slung his consciousness back to reality. But it was too late. By the time Flam had come back, all he could do was scream for a moment.

“WAIT! NO-“

He was cut off by the blade that had been charged into his brain.

Everything melted into light. Flam saw everything get incredibly bright and then it became pitch black quicker than anything he had ever experienced.

And Flam was dead.

Pinkamena ripped the knife out of his skull and looked at what she had done.

Good girl. She heard.

And then Tag left. She was alone in the hallway.

Pinkamena looked down at what she had done. The two brothers lay dead in front of her.

Blood was everywhere. She saw that the rips in Flim’s clothes were black around the edges, stained more harshly by the gore. The carpet had gone from bland beige to what looked in the moonlight like a deep, morbid orange.

It was spectacular.

Pinkamena thought of the apple stand stallion. Then she smiled.

She had expected remorse and fear, but all she felt was peace. She was finished. She helped the apple stand stallion just like she had wanted to.

So Pinkamena got off her hind legs and plopped herself down onto the floor, where she sat, looking out the window at the end of the corridor. The moon shone brightly, and she thought of Ariel.

She was happy.