In the residential district of Ponyville, in a small, run-down house, a stallion pegasus lay on his stomach in the center of his living room. His eyes were shut tight, his forelegs covered his head. He layed there, shivering as a cold draft blew over him. Voices were talking to him. The bad kind of voices. Screaming into his mind, reminding him how insignificant he was. He wanted them to go away. He just wanted them to leave. They gradually died away, getting quieter and quieter until they were virtually inaudible. They were gone, for now.

He slowly opened one eye, glanced around, then opened the other. His eyes were bloodshot and heavily bagged, as though he hadn't slept in weeks. He took his forelegs off of his head, and used them to lift his body off the floor. His unwashed fur was a dark shade of purple, almost black. His frizzy mane & tail were a brilliant shade of violet. The cutie mark upon his flanks was a black lightning bolt with a bright yellow outline so as to be distinguishable from his almost-black fur. His name, of course, was Shadow Flash. As his recent hallucinogenic episode would suggest, he had a case of paranoid schizophrenia.

He looked around, his eyes twitching, his face showing a mix of fear and confusion. He spun himself around, and spied an open window next to his front door, the source of the cold draft blowing through the room. I better close that, he thought to himself. He slowly walked towards the window, wobbling slightly as though his legs weren't used to his weight. When he made it to the window he lazily threw his hooves onto the top of its frame, and pulled it shut.

He stared out of the glass window. He wasn't exactly sure what time it was, but the sun was still high in the sky. He looked across his overgrown lawn to the empty dirt road in front of his house. He his eyes trained left towards the neighboring property, and there he saw her. She had a watering can in her mouth, and she tilted it over a beautiful flower bed lining the border between their properties. He narrowed his eyes. It was her. The one who sent those voices to torment him. It wasn't the first time. She'd been mentally torturing him for as long as he could remember. And quite frankly, he was getting sick of it.

Next door to Shadow's home, there lived a young mare. She was a pretty creature, bearing light blue fur, a short, orange mane, and a cutie mark of a waterfall. Her name was Aqua Rush. She was watering a bed of flowers on the edge of her property, flying and hovering around a white picket fence that marked where her property ceased, and the next one began. She led a simple life in Ponyville. She was raised in a loving family, had a college education, worked at a local grocery, and dreamed of touring across Equestria. Aqua was happy, and it seemed as though nothing would ever change that.

As she finished watering her garden, the pegasus glanced at her neighboring house. It was so run-down, it looked more like a shack than a house. She wasn't even sure that anypony lived there, the only hint of there being a possible resident was the lack of a 'For Sale' sign at the foot of its poorly-mended lawn. She thought she saw the outline of a stallion in one of the house's windows at first glance, but a double-take showed otherwise. Deciding it was irrelevant whether or not she had a neighbor, Aqua shrugged, then flew into her house to continue on with her day.

Shadow was laying flat against the floor underneath his window. He had very nearly been seen by his evil tormentor. Slowly, he lifted his head toward the window, to see if he'd been spotted. He looked up and down the fence that separated his tall grass from her flower bed. He was relieved to see she was no longer outside. He abruptly shut the curtain, then took a few steps backward and sat down on a raggedy old couch. He laid back, looking up at the ceiling. He couldn't put up with that witch's antics any longer. But how? How could he make her stop? His eyes suddenly popped open as an thought sprung into his head. He sat up, looking forward intently. He had an idea. A good idea. An idea to make her stop, and to exact revenge at the same time. Shadow was going to torture Aqua Rush to death. It was such a good idea, he had to get started immediately.

One week later

The sky was dark, the streets were mostly deserted.. The sun had only just gone over the horizon, putting the city of Ponyville in the eerie half-darkness of twilight. Aqua's shift at the grocery had just ended, and she was currently walking home. She trotted gracefully down the street, passing countless ponies with a gleeful smile on her face. She had a good reason to be so cheerful, her manager at the grocery had just bought another shop on the other side of town, and Aqua was selected to become the new manager at the second establishment. She held her head high with pride and confidence. Things couldn't be going better.

She made a turn into a back alley between two modern commercial buildings. It wasn't an irregular deviation, she used this alleyway every day while transiting to and from work. It was a shortcut between the commercial and residential districts of Ponyville, which gave her a few more minutes every evening to outrun the blinding darkness of night. It was only about three meters wide between two multi-story buildings, which gave it a distinct lack of light even during the day. It was intimidating to her at first, but she's come to get used to its deep ambiguity. Without giving it a thought, she trotted between the buildings toward her home.

Shadow Flash was propped up against a dumpster in the very same alleyway that Aqua called a shortcut. His chest inflated and depressed rapidly, his eyes were wide with excitement. Despite having sat in the alleyway for nearly fifteen minutes, he was hyper with anticipation. A short extension cord was wrapped around both of his forelegs, creating a makeshift garrote wire spanning his front hooves. Everything was ready, and he was about to set his plan in motion. He'd been studying his prey for the past week, and he knew she'd be here soon.

He heard hoofsteps; somepony was coming. He pulled his front hooves apart, tightening the wire between them. His entire body tensed up as he saw her trot right passed him. This is it, he thought. He sprang up, and a quick few flaps of his wings landed him right over her back. He quickly threw the extension cord around her neck, and pulled hard. Taken by surprise, the mare started clawing at her throat as the taut rubber wire crushed her windpipe. She put up a desperate struggle as the stallion strangled her, trying to put out any sort of scream for help, but she couldn't yell without her breathe.

The two collapsed on the ground, Aqua squirming around like a fish out of water, and Shadow maintaining his composure, a look of pure, professional focus on his face. She kept up the fight for another twenty-five seconds or so, until the lack of oxygen finally made her pass out. The cord was released from her neck, and Shadow stood up. He checked the mare's pulse to make sure he hadn't choked her for too long, then he wrapped his forelegs around her chest, flapped his wings, and took off with her under the cover of the night.

It didn't take him long at all to reach his destination. A rickety old shed in the Everfree Forest, similar in appearance to his own house, though relatively smaller. He pushed the front door open, still carrying his victim, and flicked on the light. A single light bulb hanging in the center of the shed flickered, and came to life. Directly underneath the light was a large wooden platform, about the size of a single bed, except slightly shorter. There were four metal half-loops embedded in each of the corners, and four plastic ties stacked neatly on the edge of the platform.

Off to the right of the shed was a table, similar in size to the platform, bearing several different items on top, and a chair sitting off to the side. Shadow hovered himself over to the platform, and softly laid Aqua Rush down on her back. He spread her legs apart, and carefully tied each of them down with the plastic restraints. Satisfied with his work, he sat down at the table, and pulled up a book to wait for her awakening. He sighed deeply. He was finally ridding himself of her evil antics.

It wouldn't be long, now.

Author's Note

Okay, so I haven't written or read a story in a while, so I have no idea how well I did with this first chapter. I suppose the like/dislike ratio will tell. Until that comes up, I can't say for sure whether or not any more chapters will be written. Only time will tell.

P.S. Please point out any spelling/grammar errors in the comments, I was really tired when I wrote this.