The Smiling Stallion

The Wheel rolled to the Cupcake!

Pinkie Pie looked in the kitchen cabinet for anything that might be useful for making a meal. Sure, Spike had made some daisy sandwiches and a few oatmeal burgers for the trip, but, seeing as there was actually a kitchen in this cabin, Pinkie couldn't help but look at the supplies to make something to eat.

There were all sorts of supplies that could be used to make some tasty treats. As she searched through the cabinets, Pinkie's hooves came across a book. Pulling out the book, Pinkie cleaned the off the dust to reveal the title on the leather cover: Delicious Pony Treats.

"What an interesting title, I will have to take a look at the recipes at some point," Pinkie Pie said as she tucked the book in her frizzy tail and walked out into the dining room.

Twilight sat at the dining table looking at a few pieces of paper.

"What are you working on, Twilight?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight sighed, "I am trying to think of a costume to wear for Nightmare Night, but I am not sure what I want to wear."

"How about a Weirdo Clown?" Pinkie suggested. In response Twilight gave her a skeptical look. Despite this Pinkie continued to look at her with a sincere expression.

"Thanks, Pinkie, but I am not sure that is the look I was going for." Twilight replied as diplomatically as she could manage.

"Oh. Okay." Pinkie said with a smile.

Pinkie decided to go to her room and take a look at her new book. The wallpaper in her room was pink much like herself with yellow lines that would zig zag across the wall. To another pony this would be annoying, however to Pinkie the wall paper was cheerful much like herself. A picture frame of old mare and stallion holding a pitchfork in front of a barn hung from the wall.

The furniture in the room was an old wooden rocking chair and a bed with pink bed sheets.

She jumped onto her bed and pulled the recipe book out of her tail. As she opened the book, an electrical feeling rushed over her.

Pinkie took a closer look at one of the recipes in the book and read the title aloud.

"Cupcakes! I love cupcakes. I wonder what ingredients the author recommends using..."

Pinkie Pie read on, noting the ingredients the author used: flour, milk, eggs, a pinch of salt and ingredients for flavoring.

"Now, for a special taste none of your friends will forget I suggest that with all your treats you add a pinch of... huh?" Pinkie read but stopped short when she saw that the rest of the page had been torn off, thus obscuring the author's suggestion.

"Aw..."

Pinkie was really curious what the author's suggestion was. Perhaps if she looked around she might be able to find the missing piece of the page.

So, Pinkie Pie left her room and started searched the kitchen over for the missing piece of paper. However, her efforts were unfruitful.

Unable to find it, the pink mare decided to read the rest of the cook book and found notes stating that flavors of the other pastries were mediocre compared to the cupcakes mentioned earlier in the book. She needed that special ingredient.

"Pinkie," Scootaloo spoke, "were hungry. Could you make us something to eat?"

"Okay, I will get started on it." Pinkie said.

As the three fillies pranced out of the kitchen into the dining room, Pinkie started pulling out supplies to make some food. Even if she didn't know the secret ingredient, Pinkie could still make some nice, yummy cupcakes for the fillies.

Then, while trying to open a bag of flour with a knife, the pink mare accidentally cut herself. Blood dripped from her injured hoof.

Looking at the wound, a strange thought occurred to Pinkie Pie and she had a strange urge to see what it tasted like.

The pink pony looked around the room to see if there was anypony else in the room. With no one inside the room she licked up the red fluid with her tongue. It had a metallic taste but was surprisingly sweet.

As the pink mare started making some cupcakes for the three crusaders, she decided to try this new sweetener.

When Pinkie came into the dining room with her cupcakes, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders met her with beaming faces. They were kind of surprised to find that the cupcake's pink frosting had a strange metallic taste to it, but, not wanting to insult the party mare, they told her that they liked their cupcakes.

Pinkie was really excited. Had she found a new special ingredient to use in her pastries? As the party pony relished this, a morbid thought entered her mind. If blood could enhance the flavor, what was to say that skin and muscle tissue wouldn't either?

But where would she get such ingredients? He surely couldn't cut herself and feed her friends... could she?

Suddenly, an idea came to mind, "Maybe there is something in the basement that could help..."

As Pinkie looked around the basement, something in the corner of the room caught her eye. It was behind a shelf covered with other strange materials. These materials varied from jars filled with bizarre plants, to old toys, trinkets and dust covered books.

Walking behind the shelf Pinkie Pie was shocked to find herself looking at a pony skeleton. Examining the bones closer Pinkie recognized them to be the bones of a Pegasus.

Pinkie turned back to the shelf and saw that one of the items it contained was a book on pony anatomy.

"Well, if blood tastes sweet, then I wonder what other parts of a pony might go well in a cupcake."

Pinkie contemplated this as she read the book. As she read Pinkie was surprised to learn that blood and eggs shared a similar protein structure. Ideas on how such a thing could work started to form in her mind.

Darkness and Rainbows

Rainbow Dash was the first victim. Pinkie merely had to tell her she had found something cool in order to lure the rainbow-maned pony into the basement. Here, Pinkie smacked her friend in the back of the head with a rolling pin.

Pinkie wasn't sure why she had picked Rainbow Dash. Perhaps it was her athletic endurance or just her colorful mane. She would admit, it was a little weird to select her best friend to be part of this project, but, as she continued to think on it, it made more sense. The two of them had been great friends for a while; they had pulled pranks and even made jokes together. So, why should Rainbow Dash be the first?

When Rainbow Dash came to she found herself strapped to a table with her limbs spread wide apart.

"P...Pinkie?"

However, she wasn't able to stay awake long and soon found herself under the spell of the sand-mare.

The rainbow-maned mare did reawaken once her friend started cutting into her flesh.

She was awake long enough to see a large portion of her organs yanked out of her abdominal cavity and placed in a bowl for titration. However, due to the excruciating pain and blood loss, the rainbow-maned Pegasus lost consciousness as her friend dispassionately continued to remove her organs.

At one point Pinkie contemplated cutting off her friend's wings and cutie mark for a dress but decided against it for two reasons. First, she didn't have the time, and second, unlike Rarity, she wasn't a skilled tailor.

After mashing the innards Pinkie mixed them with some milk, salt, sugar, flour, and baking powder. Once the ingredients were mixed together, she broke in a few eggs and continued beating the mixture for a few more minutes before pouring the mixture into a cupcake pan.

Pinkie was about to take the cupcakes up to be baked when she heard another pony descending into the basement.

"Hey, Pinkie, whatcha doin'?" Applejack called out casually.

Oh no! Rainbow Dash's body was still out in plain sight! Pinkie Pie couldn't let Applejack see the body or she would be in really big trouble.

The pink mare rushed to the stairs, hoping to keep Applejack from getting a good view of their friend's remains.

"Hey, there Applejack," Pinkie said with a cheerful voice, "What do you want?"

"Just thought ya might like to know that Fluttershy and Twilight made us some dinner," Applejack replied.

"Okay, that's great." Pinkie cheerfully said, trying not to sound nervous.

"Is somethin' wrong?" Applejack asked.

"Wrong? What do you mean?"

"You seem a little bit nervous, Pinkie," Applejack said, "what have you been doing down here?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all!"

Applejack stepped past her friend and walked into the basement. The orange mare was shocked when she saw the corpse of her pegasus friend.

"Pinkie, what have you...!"

Before Applejack could finish Pinkie Pie slammed her rolling pin against the back of the farm mare's head, knocking her unconscious.

Looking at her friend lying unconscious on the ground, Pinkie Pie started to wonder how cupcakes made from the orange mare's body would taste.

Despite her being unconscious, the farm mare's body stirred, compelling Pinkie to smack her a few more times in the head until she began to bleed.

With Applejack lying dead on the ground, the little pink pony got to work with her baking project.

We interrupt this program for a commercial break
No, this isn't a joke, this really is a commercial.

Dear ponies, have you ever had that irresistible urge to eat large quantities of cupcakes?

"YEAH!" yells some random background pony.

Well, then do we have the place for you! Come on down to Pinkamena's Bakery and Coffee shop, where the coffee is great and the cupcakes are to die for.

"That is totally right, formless announcer guy," Pinkamena spoke, "come on down and try some new pastries. This week's special is going to be: applicious."

Some flavors are limited so attend while limited supplies last. Side effects of eating too many cupcakes from Pinkamena's Bakery include the following:
-Diarrhea
-Vomiting
-Sudden shaking or shivering
-Twitchy eyes
-Slurred speech
-Fits of laughter
-An addiction to eat more cupcakes
-The sudden urge to kill your friends

Since you have been warned, Pinkamena's Bakery cannot be held responsible if you experience any of the aforementioned side effects.

End of transmission.

Let the Stabbing Begin!

"Hello Twilight." Fluttershy said, as the unicorn entered into the dining room.

"Hey girls!" Twilight said, as she sat down at the table, "look what I found in my room."

Using her magic Twilight pulled out a rusty silver key and set it on the table. A folded piece of paper was attached to the key by a string.

"What do you think it is for?" Rarity inquired.

"I'm not sure." Twilight answered, "It doesn't seem to match any of the locks I have seen around the house."

"What does the folded piece of paper say?" Rarity asked.

"It says something about the going past the basement but that is all," Twilight answered, "not anything very helpful."

"Maybe it is for a jewelry box." Fluttershy suggested.

"I don't think so darling," Rarity replied, "most jewelry box keys are smaller then that. However it could be for a chest. *Huh!* with jewels in it!"

"Maybe. Perhaps Applejack has an idea what it could be for." Twilight said.

"Speaking of which, where is Applejack?" Rarity asked.

"I'm not sure." Twilight replied, "last time I saw her, she went off to tell Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie that we were about to have dinner."

"She has been gone an awfully long time," Rarity said, "and I am simply famished."

"Well, how about you go ahead and start eating, then," Twilight answered, "I'll go see what's keeping them."

"Maybe I should go with you." Fluttershy said.

"No, Fluttershy," Twilight answered, "you should stay here and eat something."

Out of the whole group, Fluttershy was the smallest in stature, so Twilight didn't wish to risk Fluttershy's health by having her starve any longer.

"I'll go with you." Spike said, "I had a snack earlier, so I am not too hungry."

"Alright, come with me."

Twilight and her trusty assistant looked around the house for their friends. While they had no luck finding Rainbow Dash or Applejack, they were successful in finding Pinkie Pie when they checked her room. She seemed to be busy doing something.

"Pinkie, have you seen Rainbow Dash or Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"Why?" Pinkie asked, not turning to look at her friend.

"Well, we are all hungry, and we figured they would be too." Twilight answered.

"Oh," Pinkie spoke, "they won't be joining us..."

"W...Why no..."

Before Twilight could finish speaking Pinkie, bounced at her and jabbed a knife at the lavender unicorn. The knife punctured one of Twilight's lungs, causing her to cough up some blood.

"Spike... RUN!" Twilight sputtered. However, before the little dragon could even leave the room, Pinkie threw another knife at the dragon, penetrating the back of his skull. Spike was dead before his body hit the ground.

"No!" Twilight called out, coughing up more blood as Pinkie pulled the blade from the unicorn's side.

Pinkie shoved Twilight against the wall; due to the loss of blood the mare wasn't able to resist.

"Why... why are you... doing this Pinkie?" Twilight tried to ask between coughs, as she fought to remain awake. In mere seconds Twilight lost the battle and fell unconscious.

"Oh, you silly," Pinkie giggled, "there is no reason for me to answer your question if you're asleep."

Cautiously Pinkie managed to sneak both Twilight and Spike's body down to the basement.

With Twilight incapacitated, Pinkie Pie cut off her horn so that she couldn't use her magic if she woke up. Perhaps it could be ground up and be used like sprinkles on one of the cupcakes...

As for Spike, his scales could add an interesting flavor to the cupcakes as well. She would admit, she thought it would take more than a knife to pierce his hide and skull, but, then again, he was a baby dragon, so perhaps his scales hadn't fully hardened yet.

"Maybe I could grind his scales to make some green and purple frosting," Pinkie said with a pensive grin, "but I should test it first. Wouldn't want to chip a tooth or anything!"

Spike's eyes were rather interesting. They weren't like a normal ponies' eyes but rather more serpentine yet somehow still innocent-looking. Pinkie didn't think they would be any good in a pastry, but perhaps, she could make a necklace with one of them.

Taking another look at Twilight's body, she noticed that she had a note and a rusty key with her.

"Hmmm... I wonder what this says." Pinkie said, picking up the note and reading it, ignoring the key.

Most of the note appeared water-damaged with only a few legible sections.

"As I was looking around in one of the closets, I found an old book that described events similar to the infamous Black Trance event. When I return to Marehall College I should try to see if I can find other documents referring to similar events in the historical department."

This rest of the note was damaged very badly. The only thing that was otherwise discernible was a signature at the bottom of the page.

"-Lakin Spotson"

"Oh, who cares! I have cupcakes to make!"

Pinkie shook her head and picked up Twilight's body and began to work on another batch of cupcakes.

A Sight to behold...

"Hey, Rarity can I show you something?" Pinkie asked.

Rarity was sitting on the couch in the living room, relaxing while her sister and her two filly friends played outside.

"What is it, dear?"

"There is something I would like to show you in the basement." Pinkie answered.

"What kind of thing would you want to show me down there?" Rarity said with a slight scowl on her face.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash and I have been working on something down in the basement. We thought you might like it."

"Well, in that case I might as well go then," Rarity answered, "after all, I have been curious what Applejack and Rainbow Dash have been up to."

Pinkie and Rarity descended into the basement.

"It is dreadfully dark down here," Rarity spoke, "could we adjust the lights?"

"There is a switch at the bottom of the steps." Pinkie said, "We had to turn off the lights so we wouldn't spoil the surprise."

"Oh, alright then."

As they continued down into the basement, the pungent scent of something metallic filled Rarity's nostrils. The strange scent made her feel uncomfortable, but Rarity continued her descent, curious as to what the gift was.

Reaching the bottom of the steps, Pinkie walked over to the side and held her hoof over the light-switch.

"Alrighty, time for the big reveal." Pinkie said as she flipped the switch.

Rarity gasped at what she saw.

Before her was a table with tea and cupcakes on top. Seated at the chairs around the table were three pony skeletons. One of a pegasus, one a unicorn and the other an earth pony. They were positioned in such a way that they appeared to be enjoying their tea and pastries.

Next to the skeleton of the unicorn lay the remains of a certain purple dragon.

"Pinkie, what have you...?!" Before Rarity could finish her question, she felt a sharp blade cut across her throat. Red fluid spurted from her throat, staining the ground beneath her hooves. Rarity wobbled from the ghastly sight.

The red puddle splattered as Rarity's corpse fell to the ground. The once beautiful white fur was now stained crimson from the mare's own blood. Pinkie leaned down to examine the body.

"I wonder, what I should do with you?" Pinkie Pie thought aloud.

After a few seconds an idea popped into Pinkie's head.

"I shouldn't just make cupcakes. No, I should throw a big party!"

This thought pleased Pinkie. Everyone was going to have SOOO much fun.

"I just need to set up some streamers... oh, and no party is complete without a few games! OH! This is going to be AWESOME!" She nudged the pegasus skeleton but, without noticing the skeleton falling over, asked, “Don’t you think?” and ignored the crash of bones against the floor.

Pinkie returned her attention to Rarity's body, with even more ideas on what she could do for party games dawning to her.

"Don't worry, Rarity, I know exactly what I am going to do with you."

Hey, look what I found!

Fluttershy watched from a window as the three fillies played outside in the backyard. They looked like they were having so much fun.

Looking over at the shed, Fluttershy felt uncomfortable. It was as if she had had some dark memories about it, but, whatever those memories were, she couldn't grasp them.

Feeling somewhat tired, Fluttershy decided to go to the living room to rest on the couch.

"Some sleep wouldn't be too bad." Fluttershy said, "Considering how Angel bunny kept me up last night."

Fluttershy made her way to the living room via the dining room.

"Hey, Fluttershy," Pinkie called out, "look at me!"

Having stepped out of the dining room into the hallway, Fluttershy was caught by surprise by Pinkie Pie who was wearing a white and red mask.

*Huh!*

However, further inspection of the mask revealed to Fluttershy that it was, in fact, not a mask but the flesh of a pony's face. The skin of the face had been stretched, and it featured red stains around where the eyes and mouth should've been.

Pinkie pulled off the mask; Pinkie’s face had drops of blood from where the mask had been. "Ewww... while that was kind of fun, this thing REALLY stinks."

A few drops of blood stained Pinkie's face where the mask had been.

Fluttershy gawked at Pinkie, too astonished to react outwardly.

"No! This isn't good! This isn't good at all!" Fluttershy yelled inside her head.

"What is the matter, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, "Is something wrong with the way I look?"

"I need to get away!"

Fluttershy started to move back to the door to the dining room.

"Oh, don't run away Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie spoke, "It isn't fair to your friends to back out on all the fun."

Pinkie ran toward Fluttershy, her knife ready to strike, but she slipped, and the knife slid across the floor... to Fluttershy's hooves. The yellow pegasus took up the knife and held it in front of her.

"Nopony hurts Fluttershy's friends!" The yellow pegasus burst out with the knife in her mouth.

Achievement Unlocked - Karma is a Pain in the Ass!

The pink mare saw that Fluttershy had not noticed the achievement pop up, so she seized the opportunity and grabbed the achievement. She then proceeded to bludgeon Fluttershy's head in with the achievement.

It wasn't until the sound of bones cracking was replaced with fleshy sounds that Pinkie stopped beating her friend's head to pieces.

With that finished Pinkie began her preparations for her last batch of cupcakes.

Where art thou...

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had come back into the house from their playing and were puzzled at the absence of their chaperones.

"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle yelled.

"Hey, sis, where are you?" Apple Bloom called out.

"Where do you think they are?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'm not sure." Apple Bloom said.

Almost completely out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie appeared before the three fillies.

"Hey, girls!" Pinkie spoke to the Cutie Mark Crusaders with overwhelming eagerness, "would you like to try these cupcakes I just made?"

On the table next to Pinkie was a silver tray with three cupcakes sitting on top. They were yellow with butterflies glazed onto them with frosting.

"Thanks, Pinkie, but we are looking fer our sisters." Apple Bloom said.

"Oh, come on, Apple Bloom, we can get to them later," Scootaloo spoke, "we have been running around playing all day. Some cupcakes would be great."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind having one." Sweetie Belle agreed.

Apple Bloom merely watched as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle started eating their cupcakes. Something about this felt off to Apple Bloom.

"Are you sure you don't want a cupcake?" Pinkie asked.

"I'm fine." Apple Bloom answered.

"These are some great cupcakes." Sweetie Belle remarked.

"Yeah, they're great!" Scootaloo spoke.

"I am glad you think so." Pinkie Pie said.

Suddenly, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle fell to the floor, sound asleep.

"Wha... What?" Apple Bloom said.

"You know, Apple Bloom, you really should have taken the cupcake."

A sharp pain throbbed in the back of Apple Bloom's head before she, too, fell to the floor and drifted into unconsciousness.

The Death of the Party

The three fillies woke up to find themselves bound to some wooden chairs in the dining room. The room was arranged like one of Pinkie's parties, except for some gruesome differences. Streamers lined the walls, but instead of being made out of colorful paper they were the lining on some unfortunate ponies' intestines.

Pinkie could be heard humming a song somewhere from within the kitchen.

The back of Apple Bloom's head throbbed from where Pinkie Pie had hit her. Apple Bloom couldn't remember what she had been struck with, but she was certain it had been made of wood.

In vain, the Cutie Mark Crusaders tried to break free of their bonds; however, all their efforts merely resulted in chafed limbs. Sweetie Belle tried using her magic to untie the bonds but Pinkie had tied them very tight and the little unicorn's magic wasn't very skilled.

Then, the kitchen doors burst open with a humming Pinkie Pie walking, in pushing a cart with various pastries on it. Like before, the pink pony's hair hung low, except now it seemed longer and the pupils of her eyes much smaller.

A long, silver chain with a green serpentine eye attached hung around Pinkie's neck .

"Hi, there kids," Pinkie said as she walked by each of them and placed a pastry on the plates in front of them. Each of the cupcakes seemed to specifically customized for the fillies they sat before.

Scootaloo's cupcake was blue with a rainbow pattern on it; Apple Bloom's cupcake was green and orange; and Sweetie Bell's cupcake was white with some blue sprinkles on top.

"So, what do you think?" Pinkie Pie asked them, "don't they look great?"

"Pinkie Pie, could you please let us go?" Scootaloo asked.

"Sure, Scootaloo," the deranged Pinkie Pie answered, "right after all of you eat your cupcakes. Then we can play a few games, like hide and seek as well as Whack the piñata."

"Piñata?" Apple Bloom inquired.

"Why, yes," Pinkie said as she moved the lights to reveal the piñata to the young fillies. "You take turns whacking it with a large stick until it burst."

The "piñata" was the gutted corpse of a white unicorn suspended above the ground by a long rope around her neck. The unicorn's face was missing.

Sweetie Belle started to cry, and so did the other two fillies upon realizing that the piñata was Sweetie Bell's older sister Rarity.

"Now, now, don't be sad," the pink pony spoke tenderly, "this is a party. Everyone is supposed to be happy at parties."

"How are we supposed to be happy?!" Scootaloo rebutted. "You killed everyone!"

Pinkie Pie's smile disappeared and her right eye began to twitch sporadically.

"You aren't eating your meal" the pink pony noted. "You know, when Pinkamena didn't eat what was given to her, her parents forced her to eat what was on her plate before leaving the table. Now, I have some games set up for us to play, so you better start eating!"

Suddenly, Pinkamena forced Scootaloo's mouth open and shoved the rainbow colored cupcake into the orange filly's mouth. To Scootaloo, the cupcake was sweet with a metallic aftertaste. It was revolting.

The young filly tried to spit it out, but Pinkamena held Scootaloo's mouth closed.

"No! No! No! You are going to chew your meal and swallow! Understand?"

In spite of her attempts to avoid swallowing, holding the sickeningly sweet taste in her mouth nauseated her. She just wished she would wash her mouth clean of the taste. Eventually, Scootaloo relented, shamefully swallowing the cupcake that was stuffed in her mouth.

"Aw... now that is a good little filly." Pinkie said, patting Scootaloo on the head before turning to Sweetie Belle. "Now it is your turn."

She repeated the task with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, forcing them to eat the cupcakes that had been placed in front of them. The three fillies were left gagging.

"There, was that so hard?"

The three fillies coughed and retched, but the pink mare didn't seem to notice.

"Now it is time to play some games." Pinkie cut the ropes that bound the fillies to their chairs.

"So, who would like to step up and hit the piñata first?"

Hearing this, Sweetie Belle began to cry.

"Very well, then..." Pinkie turned and grabbed a knife. "Perhaps we should play a game of hide and seek, then. All three of you hide and I will..."

The pink mare turned around and saw that three filly's had already run off.

"Okay, then I will start counting." Pinkie giggled as she turned around and closed her eyes, "Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One! READY OR NOT HERE I COME!!!"

After a few minutes of searching, the pink mare found Scootaloo hiding in the supply closet on the first floor.

"Heh. Heh. There you are." Pinkie said, giggling to herself.

The young filly tried putting up a fight as Pinkie attempted to pull her out of the closet. It was all fun and games until Scootaloo started biting the pink mare. Annoyed, Pinkie stabbed the filly a few times with her knife. The pink pony was pleased once the orange filly stopped moving.

Next, Pinkie found Sweetie Belle hiding in the upstairs bathroom in the bathtub. Her blood flowed beautifully with her tears down the drain. Almost like a minty swirl, Pinkie noted.

That meant that only Apple Bloom was left.

"COME OUT COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!" Pinkie called out as she looked around the house for the little filly.

Pinkie checked the bed rooms, looking under the beds to see if Apple Bloom was hiding underneath. With no success, Pinkie moved her search to the living room.

Hunting is SO much fun!

Apple Bloom was hiding behind one of the curtains by one of the living room windows, when she heard Pinkie come into the living room.

"HERE BLOOMY! BLOOMY! BLOOMY!" Pinkie called out, "HERE BLOOMY! BLOOMY! BLOOMY!"

The little filly held her breath, trying to be quiet. Not a single muscle dared move.

"Hmmm... I wonder, where she could be?" Pinkie Pie said as she stalked about the living room.

The room became silent as a door opened and closed somewhere in the house. Apple Bloom allowed herself to breathe silently for a few more minutes.

'I think she is gone.' Apple Bloom thought as she filled her lungs to catch her breath.

Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in the filly's chest as something shiny pierced the curtain and stabbed her. Apple Bloom fell forward, and the curtain came with her and to top it off from the curtain rod above crashed down on top of her.

Pinkie leaned forward, putting her mouth next to the ear of the dying filly.

"Found you!"

What have you done?

“Wow isn’t this great!” Pinkie Pie said, “The only thing that could make this better, would be if we had some chocolate rain too!”

As Pinkie looked down at the ground, she saw a scrap of paper. The pink mare picked it up.

Could this be it? Could this be that piece of paper with the secret ingredient to those wonderful cupcakes?

Pinkie Pie looked at the paper and read what it said.

Love.

The secret ingredient for the cupcakes... was love.

At this the pink pony's hair deflated and flattened against her form.

Pinkamena wept for her friends. Why had she done this terrible thing? The book! The cook book must have had something to do with it. After all, she hadn't had this desire until she came across that book.

Who wrote the book, and why had they written it? Did they know this would happen? No, that couldn't be right. Clearly, it had been a genuine cook book. However, maybe the piece of paper had been torn out intentionally.

Overcome with grief, Pinkamena descended back into the dark basement. Perhaps there was something there she could use to take her own life.

She looked around the basement and saw a gasoline can. While she wished for death, she wasn't fond of the idea of lighting herself on fire, not that she felt she deserved any better.

Feeling the necklace around her neck with Spike's eye attached, Pinkamena pulled it off and crushed the disgusting thing under her hoof.

As Pinkamena morosely looked around the room, she noticed something about the dumbwaiter she hadn't noticed before: beside the buttons was a key hole.

This reminded Pinkamena of the key Twilight had discovered. Perhaps that key would fit in this lock. The pink pony didn't know why, but she felt a need to know what the key did.

After going upstairs and retrieving the key from Twilight's corpse, Pinkamena caught a shape outside the window. She turned to look at it but the shape was gone. The only impression she had of it was its outline. It was shaped like a pony with a large circular disk in its head.

She could also see what appeared to be spotlights moving outside in the forest. Had some pony heard the screams and called for the police? All Pinkamena knew was that if she wanted to solve this mystery she would have to avoid capture at all cost.

With the key in her possession, Pinkamena returned to the basement.

Pinkamena inspected the key and noticed the note that was attached to the key, which said, Descend Past the Basement to the Depths Below.

The pink pony put the key into the slot and turned it; the button to go down lit up. Pinkamena crawled into the dumbwaiter and pushed the button. Seconds later, she was descending into the uncharted darkness below.

As she descended, Pinkamena thought she heard something come in through the front door of the house. Continuing the descent Pinkamena noticed a few clear rooms with strange torture devices and surgical equipment inside.

Inside one room Pinkamena saw a strange creature. It resembled a pony, except the fur of its mane, coat, and tail was long and hung low to the ground on account of the sloughs of dirt and grime that clung to each hair like glue. The creature used to be a Pegasus but now it’s long, mud-covered wings wormed into large claws. Where the creature would have had lips there was now only raw flesh with large yellow teeth sticking out of bright red gums. Its yellow, soulless eyes glowed as the creature glared back at Pinkamena from the murk.

The creature roared at Pinkamena as the elevator continued to descend, its enraged cries reverberated off the surrounding metal and concrete framework.

The elevator came to a sudden stop.

"I don't believe you are supposed to be here!" spoke a voice over a hidden speaker.

Suddenly the room began to fill with green smoke causing Pinkamena to cough vigorously, before she fell unconscious.

A Note from Artemis Featherclaw

At first I was reluctant to come to Muleport, but after I heard that the populace of the local animals had started disappearing, I felt compelled to investigate it. Thus when Silver Screen said he was going with a few friends to explore the cabin in Muleport I decided to follow along and see if I could discover what was happening to the animals.

I met Silver Screen a few months ago in Ponyville. Apparently he had tried escaping from a bad date when he bumped into me outside the restaurant! Shortly afterwards, he and I became friends. He is a nice stallion, but until he sheds his habitual self-deprecation, he probably won’t find anyone to live the rest of his life with.

Silver Screen arranged for us all to meet up in Muleport, which is where I met the others. It seemed that Shifting Winds and Lakin Spotson were also eager to uncover the mysteries of the cabin.

When we arrived at the cabin it reminded me a lot of the cabin I grew up in, back when I was a foal, back when my parents were still alive… before the snow tigers came and took them away from me. It reminded me of the ranger Forest Wing, who took me under his wing and raised me, back when he was still alive.

Still, I need to keep my mind on the objective. I need to find out what is causing these animals to disappear. I am worried something could be terribly amiss.

Until I find something I will have to play along with the rest of the group. I have overheard some discussions indicating that most of the ponies here are looking for a treasure left behind by the previous owners. Well, unless this treasure is somehow responsible for the disappearance of these animals, I truly couldn't care less. It is theirs if they want it so badly.

Death by Chocolate

Pinkamena awoke to find herself in a cylindrical glass container. As she had woken up in a sitting position in the glass tube, she discovered her confines were quite cramped. Outside of the tube in front of her stood a familiar face.

"Aw..." The Smiling Stallion spoke, "Glad to see that you are finally awake."

"Let me out of here!" Pinkamena growled, "I am going to kill you for what you made me do to my friends!"

The Smiling Stallion merely smiled as he looked down at the pink pony.

"Oh, I can't let you do that," The Smiling Stallion said, "It would defeat the whole point behind this event. Besides, you should be grateful."

"GRATEFUL!" Pinkamena yelled, "GRATEFUL FOR WHAT?!"

"Well, for one, I didn't eat you," The Smiling Stallion said, his grin widening and a large slit splitting down his forehead, revealing large, sharp teeth. "However, doing so would make the 'Reset' nearly impossible. I mean, it could be done, but then your party-loving self would cease to exist."

The Smiling Stallion laughed, and as he did the vertical slit on his forehead quivered, giving Pinkamena a good view of the teeth behind. A shiver went down the pink pony's spine. Then, the slit closed up and disappeared.

"So, rather than eat you I decided to off you differently," As he said this, the Smiling Stallion pulled a switch, "I know how much you love chocolate rain."

Pinkamena felt something wet drip down her face. The pink mare looked up to see at the top of the tube a shower faucet with a strange brown liquid dripping out. A drop fell into Pinkamena's mouth. It tasted of dark chocolate.

"Now, I know drowning isn't the best way to die," The Smiling Stallion conceded, "but it certainly beats being eaten alive."

As the chocolate shower continued to flow, the Smiling Stallion motioned to somepony in the corner. A pale-blue mare with a straight, black mane stepped forward, pushing a cart with a television on it. Once the screen was in Pinkamena's line of sight, the Smiling Stallion turned it on. Images of her friends flashed on the screen: images of all of them having fun before they had come to the forsaken mansion.

"I figure the least I can do is reunite you with your friends in your final moments." The Smiling Stallion said before he and the pale-blue mare left the room.

Tears fell from Pinkamena's eyes as she watched. How had it come to this? Why had it come to this? The pink pony wept there as the container she was in filled with chocolate milk. In five minutes she was dead, suspended in a tube of sweet milk and bitter tears.