Chapter Fifteen: Of Our Elaborate Plans

The smell, which had been somewhat suppressed by the blanket, hit the ponies before the shock did. A putrid wave of unclean air flew across the room the moment Fluttershy’s body was uncovered. Beforehand it had merely been a tolerable odour. Now it seemed to bathe the room in a thick, sickly air. Every pony except the sadist suddenly felt claustrophobia as much as disgust. Seeing the body made Pinkie’s threat seem much more real and terrifying.

“Isn’t it great that we can get together like this? All six of us?” the pink pony squealed, her friends’ horror elating her mood.

“You’re insane!” remarked Rarity.

“Well, duh. I’ve always been insane,” she replied with a smile, “Now I’ve got the guts to embrace who I am, you know? I’ve really come into my own over the past week. It’s like I understand myself now. I’m not scared anymore. I’m in control of my own life, and finally do what I want.”

“Well, Pinkie, you seem to understand the four of us pretty well,” said Twilight in the calmest voice she could manage under the circumstances, “But you’ve clearly got yourself all wrong.”

“How d’yah figure, Twi?” asked the sadist as she rummaged through the tray. She brought out the butchers’ knife and held it aloft to the ponies’ dismay. Grinning as they recoiled and horror, she placed it on her hoof. Clumsily she bound the sinister weapon to her limb while her friends stared on, helpless. The lavender pony was only momentarily taken aback and she quickly recovered, ready to tell the pink pony exactly how she figured.

“I’d hardly say,” Twilight grunted in pain as she tried to adjust her position, but managed to talk in a calm yet firm tone, as if she was telling off a child, “I’d hardly say this is the action of a pony in control of her life. On the contrary, I think you feel almost compelled to do this.”

“Oh, you think that, do you?” the sadist chuckled, walking to the clever pony’s side on her three unused legs, “Well, every pony is entitled to their opinion. I mean, I’m going to kill you first for mouthing off at me like that, but you’re still entitled to your opinion.”

Pinkie caressed the lavender pony with the blade. She sighed heavily as a smile grew on her face. This was going to be such fun! The two ponies locked eyes. Twilight’s face was stone hard and unemotional despite the pure fear which was consuming her. The sadist was momentarily ticked off by this. She was supposed to be pleading in submission. What was wrong with this pony, and why was she being disobedient? Pinkie quickly brushed off her annoyance and decided that it merely gave her a blank canvas to work with.

She gently pushed the blade into her victim’s skin, just beneath hear left ear. Sinking it deeper, she smiled with anticipation. Once the killer was satisfied with the crimson stream strickling down the metal, she gave a warm grin. The unicorn winced in pain, but refused to break eye contact and kept her reaction minimal. Ever so slowly, the pink pony brought the blade down, cutting deeply into the purple skin. Her weapon left a bright, shining red trail. She took the blade to the edge of the lip and finally drew it out. Blood flowed freely down the steadfast pony’s face, but she made herself ignore it. Breathing heavily, she managed to hold back most of the tears that were flowing down her face and mixing with the blood. She never broke eye contact, and constantly maintained a stone cold expression.

“Tough little cookie, aren’t yah Twi. I’ll peel your face off if that’s what I need to do to get the reaction I want,” Pinkie said, repeating the same action on the other side of the face, “There, now it’s nice and symmetrical. We’re just getting started, by the way. Next up, I’m shoving a metal pole in you.”

“Those dogs completely violated you,” Twilight hissed, forcing a smile, “They robbed you of every ounce of self respect and dignity. They made you feel absolutely helpless, didn’t they?”

“Yea, keep talking!” Pinkie swung her blade heavily across the unicorn’s face, “Make me angry and feel my wrath! I wanna show you what I’m capable of!”

“You really just feel weak and powerless, don’t you? Why else would you need to do something like this to convince yourself you have some sort of control? It’s fairly understandable. You had all your power taken from you. You were humiliated and disempowered. Now you think that putting other ponies through it will return that power. Of course-”

“Aww,” the sadist cut one of Twilight’s ears off in one clean blow as she interrupted, “You couldn’t be more wrong, Twi!” she was raising her voice and becoming increasingly angry, “I’m doing this because I can. Look, you’re in no position to be talking to me like that. One more peep and I’ll make this even more painful than I was going to.”

“Of course,” the unicorn struggled to continue as she was kept conscious only by the adrenalin surging through her veins, “you’ll never manage to reclaim the confidence you had before those dogs had their way with you. Any idiot could grasp that. Honestly, I’m not surprised that it flew-“

“ENOUGH!” Pinkie roared furiously. Once again, she was overcome with blinding rage and thrashed wildly at the arrogant, pitiful excuse for a pony before her. “Oh, Twilight, you’re SOOOO smart. Make me angry! Great idea. Well, I’m not going to let you ruin my night. I planned it VERY well, and it’s going to be a lovely evening. If you won’t join us and cooperate, then you can just die RIGHT FUCKING NOW.”

Pinkie struck her around the face and neck from the left and the right. Twilight initially attempted to keep her posture and demeanour dignified, but the pain was too much. She tried to drag herself away, but was unable to escape Pinkie’s psychopathic rage. Still unsatisfied with the shallow gashes, the sadist screamed and raised her hoof into the air. The unicorn shrank in submission as she was overcome with fear. The murderous pony brought down the blade with all of her might. The blow missed her victim’s head, coming down on the shoulder and breaking right though the collar bone. Her foreleg was hanging by a thread, but she was still alive. She writhed around in pain as the sadist resumed her attack. With all her strength, she struck her friend over and over. Working the body now, the blood was freely flowing. Slicing mindlessly away, no part of the unicorn’s body escaped her rage. The savage attack was exhausting. Finally satisfied that her victim’s whole body had been totally bloodied, broken and bruised, Pinkie’s adrenalin waned and the attack stopped

To the amazement of every pony, Twilight was still alive. The wounds covered her body, and she was barely recognisable. Her entire body was covered in glistening, bright red blood. She was unable to talk, let alone make a defiant remark, but with a great struggle she looked up at her attacker. Remarkably, both her eyes were completely intact; two surviving islands of beauty and hope where the rest of her body had been wrecked. They shone like bright beacons as she looked into the sadist’s eyes. Pinkie Pie returned the gaze with her own dull wells into the abyss. In that moment they understood each other more than they ever could before. The pink pony had clearly seen things no pony ever should. Even after making her friend suffer what would surely be a fatal attack, the murderer saw a glimmer of sympathy in the deep, bright purple.

The room became totally silent as the two continued to exchange gazes. Every pony was waiting for someone else to make a move. Inspired by her friend’s resilience, Rainbow decided to pipe up and defy the beast with the best weapon she had at the time: sarcasm.

“Yea, you’re clearly in complete control, aren’t you Pinkie?”

“Yes, darling, that was a truly impressive display of your power,” Rarity mocked.

“Yah not just crazy, yah weak minded,” added Applejack, who had fully regained consciousness.

All three ponies cringed, awaiting the sadist’s furious assault. They were kept waiting. The pink pony stood on three legs, holding her weapon aloft and gazing from it to the bloodied pulp of her dying friend. Her mouth twitched, and all of a sudden her hair deflated and became straight. Her blank stare had transformed into a confused frown and her eyes began to well up, on the verge of tears. She slowly pulled the tape off her hoof with her mouth, ignoring the blood that she was smearing on her face. The blade fell to the ground with a loud metallic clang that seemed to echo through the room. She gazed around at each pony individually, before allowing her gaze to come to rest on Twilight.

Pinkie started crying as she said in a weak yet clearly audible voice, “You’re right”.

The weeping pony approached Rainbow Dash, who scowled up at her silently. She guiltily tried to avoid eye contact as she undid the bounds. It was a difficult task as the blood and sweat made her slip. She had been very excessive with the tape when she bound the pony, and it took some time to complete the task.

“Sorry, Rainbow,” Pinkie apologised for taking so long, “There’s blood on my hooves-”

Her weak apology was cut off when the cyan pony made a desperate effort to attack her. The newly reformed sadist put up no resistance, accepting in her mind that she deserved whatever came to her. The pegasus was ready to kill the sick pony. She was relentlessly beating her, trying desperately to crush her opponent’s skull in. Froth was forming from her mouth as she screamed in fury. Before she even knocked Pinkie unconscious, she was interrupted by an impossibly shrill scream. Looking up, she saw that it had come from Rarity.

“Rainbow! Doesn’t this remind you of something?” the white unicorn croaked painfully.

The pegasus looked down at the pony who had caused her so much distress. The pony who had fatally wounded one of her friends. The pony who, moments ago, intended to kill her. The pony who lay helplessly before her now. She had the power to kill this pony; to completely obliterate her. It would be so easy, and maybe even give her closure for what she did to Twilight. It felt familiar alright.

“I’m not doing this again,” Rainbow said spitefully as she pulled herself off the earth pony, “I don’t need that on my conscious. You’re not worth it, Pinkie. I’ll let Celestia deal with you.”

The pegasus walked on stiff aching legs to Fluttershy’s corpse. After looking at the remains of her lover for a moment, she said a simple goodbye before pulling the blanket over her face. She then walked over to Twilight’s side.

“I’m not burying another friend. You’re pretty messed up, Twi, but Celestia is coming. She’ll do some crazy alicorn healing magic and you’ll be good as new, ok?”

With much effort, Twilight managed to slowly shake her head and smile weakly. She tried to say something, but the only noise she managed to produce was a low, painful moan. Rainbow attempted to put pressure on the worst of the wounds. It was hopeless. There were too many to cover, and even under pressure the blood flowed freely. The pegasus soon gave up on extending her friend’s painful life and wrapped her forearms around the unicorn’s head, pulling her into an embrace.

“We won’t waste this, Twi,” Rainbow croaked between sobs, “I won’t throw my life away anymore. I’ll just try and talk it out, like you said. I’ll live a life you’d be proud of.”

“Yes, darling, seeing what you went through for us – I’ll never let these two out of my sight again!” added Rarity.

“You’ve done us a good turn, Twi," said Applejack, "Hey, you saved us after all, right? We won’t forget this."

Twilight, through a great effort, looked around at all her friends. She nodded and managed to smile. Her friends were going to be ok. Thanks to her. With a sigh, the unicorn allowed herself to relax. Feeling the waves of affection and appreciation from her friends, she felt oddly comfortable. She wanted to stay in that moment forever, but she was very tired. It was finally time for the peaceful sleep she had been unable to obtain over the past week. Gazing up thankfully at the cyan pegasus, she exhaled deeply before allowing herself to slip into unconsciousness for the last time.