Arc 2- 10 (Midnight Massacre)

“Oh boy, we’re pretty high up,” says Applejack nervously over the chilling wind while peeking over the edge of the upgraded Griffin Chaser, peddling her part of course, with Pinkie Pie up front and steering with undefeatable determination.

“Of course we are, silly,” says Pinkie Pie. “Have you ever heard of a pegasus that was afraid of heights? I mean pegasi live on clouds and if they were afraid of heights they wouldn’t be much of a pegasus; they’d be like a tofu pegasus, and tofu is nasty.”

“So yer saying that a pegasus that’s afraid of heights is nasty?”

“And bland. Just like tofu.”

“And what if Ah told ya that Fluttershy was afraid of heights?”

“Fluttershy is a special, tasty kind of tofu. Oh, goodie! Here we are!”

The clouds part like curtains to reveal Rainbow Dash’s towering household; the Romanic architecture and rainbow waterfalls give it a warm, welcoming appearance. Pinkie Pie and Applejack peddle faster and the Griffin Chaser ascends to the uppermost level where Rainbow Dash’s room is. The balcony is conveniently wide open, giving both mares a clear line of sight into Rainbow Dash’s messy room. They can see the pegasus’s body rise and fall underneath her Wonderbolt blanket with each snore; but her tail is poking out from under the blanket, occasionally twitching with a sleepy giggle.

“Sure, I can do both,” says Rainbow Dash sleepily, followed closely by a yawn and her shifting her position.

Pinkie Pie snickers while Applejack shivers and rubs her hooves together to try to get warmed.

“I wonder what she’s dreaming about,” giggles Pinkie Pie.

“Can we hurry this up? It’s kinda chilly up here,” says Applejack, getting a sudden spasm to shake the shivers away a second later.

“Sure thing, Jackie! Do you have the lasso ready?”

Applejack gets a devilish smile and unclips her rope from the side of the Griffin Chaser.

“Ah got it right here,” she says with a small bit of cruel playfulness in her tone.

“Excellent,” says Pinkie Pie, matching her farming friend’s tone. She pulls out a megaphone, turns it on to the maximum volume and aims it at Rainbow Dash. “GOOD MORNING RAINBOW DASH!!!”

Rainbow Dash screams and flails under her covers until she’s standing upright on her bed; her mane and tail are plagued with the effects of early morning bed-head, and her wings are outstretched from the surprise of Pinkie Pie’s obnoxious morning greeting. Rainbow Dash’s eyes dart around the room until they focus on the two mares on the Griffin Chaser, then her eyes turn to angry slits and she buries herself under her covers in such a way that it looks like a mole digging into the dirt.

“Way to ruin my nap, you guys,” growls Rainbow Dash from under the sanctuary of her covers.

“BUT DASHIE, TODAY IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY AND WE NEED YOU ASAP!!!” says Pinkie Pie, the determination to get Rainbow Dash matching her volume.

“Go away!”

Pinkie Pie sighs and puts the megaphone away, then she looks at Applejack and says: “Do it.”

“One grouchy pegasus comin’ up!”

Applejack carefully twirls her lasso so that it doesn’t get caught in the propellers, then she skillfully throws it over Pinkie Pie’s head, again being careful not to get it caught in the Griffin Chaser’s propellers, and it goes around Rainbow Dash’s tail. With one quick tug, the lasso tightens around the colorful tail and Rainbow Dash is yanked out of her bed and dragged across the floor. Rainbow Dash swears and tries to grab anything her hooves can get a hold of before remembering she has the gift of flight. She tries to fly away, but the rope is on her good and tight and is quickly subdued by Applejack and Pinkie Pie through an airborne hogtie.

“Let me go!” orders Rainbow Dash, ferally thrashing in her bondage. They have to tie her to the Griffin Chaser since her resisting is making it hard for Applejack to hold her and help pilot the vehicle. Rainbow Dash screams and calls for help, causing some of the ponies down below to look up and wave with giant smiles on their faces. One of which was teenage Scootaloo; she finally got her cutie mark, which is helmet on a flaming wheel. “Scootaloo, get help! I’m being kidnapped!”

“Hi Rainbow Dash!” hollers Scootaloo, waving enthusiastically to the cyan pegasus.

“Get help!” cries Rainbow Dash desperately. “Help!”

Scootaloo gallops down the road. “See ya around, Dash, I’m late for practice!”

“No, don’t go to practice! Get help!”

It takes them another few minutes to reach the big, red barn that serves as a staple for Sweet Apple Acres; the whole time having to deal with Rainbow Dash’s protests and threats. The Griffin Chaser lands in front of the barn and Applejack unties Rainbow Dash just enough so that they can take her off of the aerial vehicle, then Applejack carries her to the barn and pushes the door open while Pinkie Pie locks her prized possession to a tree. Once she’s inside she closes the door and the whole barn becomes pitch black.

“What’s going on here!” demands Rainbow Dash.

“Will ya just relax, already,” says Applejack irritably.

“Relax? Relax! I was kidnapped by you lunatics at only Celestia knows what time!”

“But Dashie, we had to become lunatics so that way we can congratulate you on your latest achievement!” says Pinkie Pie while carefully searching the darkness for her angry friend,

“And what achievement is that?”

Suddenly, the barn is lit up by colorful flashes of light that match Rainbow Dash’s vibrant color scheme and confetti falls from the ceiling like raindrops in a storm. The light show illuminates the tables of punch, cider, and pastries like cakes, cupcakes and cookies as well as wafers with bowls of pudding next to them.

“SURPRISE!!!” shouts all of her friends and a dozen extra guests from Weather Patrol and around town.

Rainbow Dash screams and backpedals from where she was, but since she’s still tied up in rope, she ends up tripping over herself and lands on her back with an “Oof”. Applejack chuckles nervously and quickly apologizes before undoing her work. Once Rainbow Dash is free she scrambles to her feet and is about to chew them out for scaring her, but her scowl turns into a wide eyed “Oh my gosh” look when she sees the giant banner that says: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DASHIE!”.

Twilight walks up to the three with the cake levitating in front of her, smiling brightly too. The cake is huge and covered in blue frosting with lightning bolts all along the sides. There is also a cluster of lit candles on the top.

“Happy birthday, Rainbow Dash,” says Twilight happily. “Ready to blow out your candles?”

“Today’s my birthday?” asks Rainbow Dash while cocking her head in confusion.

“Uh, yeah. Don’t tell me you forgot about your birthday.”

“Well, technically today isn’t Dashie’s birthday since she was born on a day that only shows up on leap years,” says Pinkie Pie matter-of-factly. Everyone goes silent and stares at her, and her response is a big smile and a hug for the birthday mare. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate your birthday!”

“Um, thanks. But you said you had to congratulate me on my latest achievement, and-”

“Turning another year older is an achievement.”

Rarity steps forward, saying: “But keep in mind that it also brings you one year closer to getting gray hair. Luckily for you, I can get you great products that will help you keep your magnificent colors.”

Rainbow Dash frowns and says: “Gee, thanks.” while subtly inspecting her mane for any signs of fading. Thankfully it was just Rarity being Rarity.

Twilight laughs nervously and uses her magic to use a rag to wipe sweat off of her face; she then pushes the cake closer to Rainbow Dash. “Can you please blow out the candles, now. The wax is getting all over the frosting.”

Rainbow Dash takes a deep breath and blows out all but one candle, which she blows out a split second later, hoping that no one saw that blunder. The ponies cheer and stomp the ground in applause, and Pinkie Pie stands on her hind legs and shouts: “LET’S PARTY!”

The guests cheer once more and the celebration goes in full swing. The music is blaring so loud that ponies have to shout just to hear each other speak, the food and drinks quickly vanishes in the stomachs of the guests, and everyone is generally happy.

Pinkie Pie does her part in the party, such as dancing with random guests, refilling glasses out of the blue, and “accidentally” pushing Fluttershy into in Big Mac when she was walking by him. The depressed, monster sized stallion was helping himself with some cider in a lonely seat and when Pinkie Pie’s so called mistake made the shy pegasus practically fall on his lap they both blushed and pulled off a classic romance movie scene where it’s love at first sight. When that ordeal was taken care of, Pinkie Pie made her way to Rainbow Dash.

“So, Dashie, how are ya liking the party?” asks Pinkie Pie, the enthusiasm in her tone is enough to make anyone around her smile. Anyone but Rainbow Dash, that is.

“It’s good,” says Rainbow Dash, forcing herself to smile, but Pinkie Pie can hear the sadness in her voice.

Pinkie Pie’s smile fades away and she wraps her hoof around her best friend in a sympathetic hug. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Wonderbolts?”

“Haven’t responded yet.” Rainbow Dash clenches her teeth and looks down at the floor to hide her aggravation. “It’s the same thing every year. Whenever I go to try out, something either happens where they get knocked out, my wing gets broken, they all mysteriously get food poisoning, or they find somepony ‘better’. Maybe I dreamed too big or something.” Pinkie Pie hands Rainbow Dash a mug of Applejack’s famous cider, and the birthday mare chugs it all down in a matter of seconds. Pinkie Pie is quick to refill it while Rainbow Dash continues with her depressing chatter. “I mean I just look around and-” Pinkie Pie hands her the refilled mug. “Thanks. I look around what do I see? Everypony else having their whole world handed to them on a silver platter. Applejack’s farm and the Cakes’ are growing into even bigger businesses. Rarity has shops and deals popping up left and right. Twilight’s got her own little whatever in the royal court because of her fantastic connections. Fluttershy has her vet now. And what do I get?” Rainbow Dash chugs the cider in one sitting and wipers her mouth of the leftover foam. “The same old crap, just a different night. Is it seriously too much to ask to join the Wonderbolts? I mean I’ve been training my whole life for them and I’ve been going to their tryouts every chance I could! And I get rejected. Every. Single. Time!”

Despite Rainbow Dash being close to tears, Pinkie Pie still smiles, and in a provoking tone, she says: “So, all you’re asking for is some Wonderbolt love?”

Rainbow Dash nods, unaware of Pinkie Pie’s tone or smile, and says: “Yeah, but I guess it’s too much to ask for, though.”

Pinkie Pie giggles, hugs her best friend in a loving embrace and points at the barn door. “Well, Dashie, it’s as the old saying goes: ‘Ask and you shall receive’.”

And right on queue, the door flings open theatrically and Scootaloo walks in with pride radiating off of her as she escorts two very important pegasi wearing military uniforms. Soarin and Spitfire. The music grinds to a halt, making a comical scratching sound, and all eyes fall on the trio as they walk inside. The Wonderbolts nod politely at the guests, and Soarin slows down for a moment when he spots a freshly baked apple pie, but Spitfire nudging him with her wing brings him back up to speed. Rainbow Dash’s eyes become dilated from all the positive and hopeful feelings that are taking over her whole body, and when the three pegasi are in front of her, her tongue decided now was a great time to stop working so she can only sweat and shake in her spot.

“Here she is, the one and only Rainbow Dash,” says Scootaloo proudly while flashing a toothy grin and pointing at the subject.

Soarin reaches into his side pocket and pulls out an envelope with the Wonderbolt insignia on it and hands it to Rainbow Dash. It takes Pinkie Pie nudging Rainbow Dash in the side for her muscles too unlock, and the pegasus is quick to take the letter from Soarin with her mouth. Her cheeks burn red from being so close to him and for having their mouths so close together, and her blush doesn’t go unnoticed; Spitfire grins and winks at her while Soarin shifts his gaze nervously, also flushing a little.

Once Rainbow Dash is holding the envelope, Soarin says with a huge, albeit nervous, smile: “Welcome to the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash.”

The crowd bursts into a deafening cheer and applause and Rainbow Dash’s eyes and smile widen to impossible levels and she cries tears of joy. In fact, she’s so happy that she faints, and when she hits the ground-

[[[[O]]]]

A piercing slap goes across Pinkie Pie’s face, waking her up completely, and she blinks the daze away and focuses her eyes on the group of upside down griffins in front of her. Pinkie Pie also feels trickles of blood seep out from her previous injuries and the new scratches on her cheek. She looks down and wants to puke when she sees a puddle of her blood underneath her head.

The griffin that slapped her smirks and turns to Octavia and Winny, saying: “That woke her up.”

Wait. Octavia?

“Octavia?” groans Pinkie Pie.

“Hello, Minty Sprinkles,” says Octavia coldly.

“What’s going on? Who are these guys? And why am I upside down? Where’s Trixie?...” Pinkie Pie looks around, realizing that she’s trapped in a chain cocoon and in a grungy, abandoned warehouse that still has mostly empty racks and random pieces of garbage here and there. “Why-What’s going on?”

“Trixie bled to death an alley, unfortunately. So now it is just me and you,” says Octavia in a tone that sends shivers up Pinkie Pie’s spine. Then she grabs her head and forces her to look at her eyes. “You did what you had to do, remember?”

“Octavia, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” says Pinkie Pie, sniffling and tears mixing with her blood.

“LIAR!”

Octavia’s hoof strike’s Pinkie Pie in the jaw, splitting her lip and more than likely cracking some teeth. Pinkie Pie grunts and awkwardly spits blood out of her mouth as sobs and begs her sister to listen.

“Octavia, please!”

Octavia strikes her again, this time Pinkie Pie starts spinning, and the more her world spins the stronger her need to puke becomes. And she does puke out a bloody mess, and a tooth falls loose too, making the griffins laugh and taunt her.

“She trusted you!” screams Octavia.

“Octavia, please just listen-”

Octavia growls, grabs a metal bar with her hooves and swings them against Pinkie Pie’s side. She cries out in pain as she feels and hears her ribs snap. Pinkie Pie sobs and tries to get Octavia to listen to her through her labored breathing, but she won’t hear any of it.

“She trusted you and you fed her to the timberwolves!” yells Octavia over Pinkie Pie’s desperate begging, and then she turns to the griffins, wiping some of her sweaty mane out of her eyes. “A fitting punishment would be having these griffins beat you to a pulp before I put a bullet in your head.”

The griffins look eager to go along with Octavia’s plan, but Winny steps forward, looking pissed.

“Octavia, that is enough!” barks Winny, “It is bad enough we’re tarnishing griffin honor with this,” Winny motions to Pinkie Pie, “but I refuse to let you use my griffins for something as barbaric as turning a pony into a pinata! Just kill her already so we can go home!”

“Aw, c’mon!” whines a griffin.

Octavia’s eyes narrow, she points at Winny and in a dangerous tone says: “They are not your griffin’s, they are Gilda’s. Also, I am employing you to make Minty Sprinkles suffer for what she did to Pinkie! Now either you let them beat her to a pulp or I’ll pay each griffin separately to do so!”

“Octavia... I’m... I’m...” whimpers Pinkie Pie weakly.

“SHUT UP!” Octavia looks at Winny. “Well?”

Winny ruffles her feathers and flexes her talons, but the prospect of getting paid individually for beating their victim pleases the other griffins to where they eagerly step forward. Winny points at them and barks an order in her native tongue, the griffins stop and one shouts back in their native tongue as well, and soon all the griffins are having a massive argument. Them versus Winny. The argument only stops when Lock limps in with his agents, blood caked on his face and neck.

“The area has been secured, nopony will be able to sneak up on us,” says Lock, then he glares daggers at Pinkie Pie. “Not that anypony is coming for you anyway.”

“Agent Key, your services are no longer required, I’ll give you the bits tomorrow,” says Octavia, casting a quick hateful glance at Pinkie Pie.

“My business has yet to conclude with this pony, and she will not become a bucking bag until I’m finished with her,” says Lock while approaching Pinkie Pie with his escorts trailing him. “So, Minty Sprinkles, it looks like tonight me and Director Brisk Wind will finally be getting the answers we seek.” Lock uses his magic to lift Octavia away and set her behind Winny. When he’s directly in front of Pinkie Pie his eyes lock onto hers and kneels down so that his horn is touching her bloody forehead. “You’re like a ghost, finding anything on you was nearly impossible, but now you’re here and I can finally figure out who you are before Octavia has her revenge.”

Pinkie Pie’s only response is a heavy, shaky sigh of defeat. She can barely understand what anyone is saying, and her Pinkie Senses seem to be the only things working properly. Her whole body is tingling and shaking, and her eyes keep drifting to the different weapons and potential weak spots for the targets. She uses what little energy she has left to strain her neck to look up. Pinkie Pie notices that they chose a very poor spot to hang her in, the chains are wrapped around a rusted steel beam that is poorly connected to the ceiling. Pinkie Pie grunts and tries to ignore Lock’s speech as she weakly wiggles and swings in her cocoon, hoping that she could just wiggle it enough to break free.

“So now you won’t talk? That is fine, I do not need to hear you to figure out who who you are,” says Lock, his horns sprouting a small orb at the tip that sends pinpricks up Pinkie Pie’s spine and around her forehead.

A small beam shoots out of Lock’s horn, straight into Pinkie Pie’s forehead, blinding her and filling her with immense pain. It feels like someone took a chisel and hammered it into her brain and then shot shards of ice into it to be blended. Pinkie Pie screams and thrashes and sees everything from her life go in rewind from today all the way back to the night she died.

===

Pinkie Pie groaned and opened her eyes just in time to see a giant fireball roll out from the construction site, launching burning debris and equipment all over the place. Pinkie Pie’s eyes widen when she saw a burning table saw and wooden beams fall towards her. She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting splattered. The burning splinters flew in every direction upon impact and the blade from the table saw bounced past her, almost slicing her leg. Then she saw Trixie fly backwards, out of the construction site, and land on the ground with a sickly crunch.

At first Pinkie Pie thought she had died, but when Trixie got up, much to her amazement, she saw that the unicorn’s eyes were glowing. Then the construction site collapsed and Pinkie Pie was knocked off of her feet as a burning cloud of dust and debris engulfed her.

~~~~~~~~~~

She woke up a few minutes later to what sounded like artillery shells going off and when she clawed her way out of the rubble with an intense pain in her back, she saw bright flashes of light dot the night sky, just barely past the rooftops. Every now and then there would be a flash lightning or a beam of fire with a small explosion at the end. Pinkie Pie’s ears drooped at the horrendous scene and when terrified ponies galloped past her, screaming, she climbed out of her rubble prison and slid to the ground. Or, more accurately, slipped and bounced towards the ground like a fleshy slinky. When she landed on the ground, face first, she groaned and pushed herself to her feet and watched the blood drip from her body in morbid fascination for a few seconds before a shockwave from a powerful, colorful explosion blew her backwards, into the rubble. She winced painfully as she slumped to the ground, some of her tangly hair getting yanked out in the process, and when she got back up, she shook her head in disbelief.

“What have I done?” she said, her voice cracking and tears pouring down her cheeks and mixing with the blood flowing from her head injury.

She stared at the fire and listened to the screams and cries as the dust kicked up from the explosion lingers in the sky. When she got up to leave, an intense, sharp pain in her back brought her to collapse to the ground, sobbing, and making her puffy mane and tail deflate. After what seemed like an eternity of painful waiting, she bit back her tears, forced herself to stand, despite the agonizing protests from her whole body, and she limped towards away with her eyes focused on the Royal Palace.

===

Lock gasps and pulls away. Both he and Pinkie Pie are breathing heavily; Pinkie Pie is sweating and trembling, eyes closed and her body ready to shut down at any moment. Lock, on the other hand, is surprised by what he saw; his eyes are the size of dinner plates and his heavy breathing is due to shock. He wipes the sweat from his mane and stares at Pinkie Pie, feeling something he hasn’t felt in a long time. Remorse.

“Impossible,” whispers Lock.

“What did you see?” asks Octavia. Lock is too shocked to speak, which only makes Octavia all the more impatient. “What did you see!”

Lock swallows some spit and looks at Octavia, but before he can answer all the lights go out, blanketing the whole building in darkness. The agents get into a defensive position, horns glowing and levitating pistols and SMGs, and Winny shouts orders to the griffins while they cock their battle saddles and call each other to see if they’re okay.

There is an eerie silence that fall on the warehouse and Pinkie Pie, now as alert as her battered body can be, strains her eyes to see what’s going on. The agents look nervous and Lock, Winny, and Octavia inch closer together as Lock raises a pistol with his magic and Winny arms her battle saddle. As the silences becomes more intense the voices become nervous; Pinkie Pie swears she can hear individual heartbeats and fluttering wings. Suddenly there is a pained squawk and something metallic and fleshy crashes to the ground. All the griffins and agents swear and start shooting blindly in the dark, their muzzle flashes acting like flickers of sunlight that illuminate parts of their body.

Pinkie Pie gets a burst of adrenaline and starts shaking in her chains, desperately trying to get them loose while the nightmarish flickers, whizzing bullets and tracers, and painful screams send her senses on overload. When she does manage to break free she lands in her blood on her head, disorienting everything with a blurry, double vision and a ringing in her ears. Pinkie Pie also feels a spike in pain on her side and neck, and as she struggles to free herself from the chains, she coughs out a glob of blood, which feels like another stab to her side. When the chains are off she wipes the blood and puke off of her mouth with a shaky hoof and hobbles towards her targets. Through her blurry vision she can barely see the silhouettes of griffins and unicorns falling one by one.

They are getting knocked off of their feet or out of the air and falling to the ground or on objects with bone crushing velocity by a mysterious, winged pony. The barrage of gunfire mixed with agonizing screams and bullets ricocheting off of metal or breaking off pieces of the walls make Pinkie Pie’s heart race and her breathing even more painful as she hyperventilates. But when she sees her three targets, pain and fear disappear. All that remains is rage.

The battered pony’s hobbling turns to a walk, and from a walk, to a trot. And soon, in spite of all her body’s demands to tell her to lay down and rest... she charges. If she wasn’t nearly dead she’d be screaming in rage at the trio next to her. She has been betrayed again! No one listened to her! No one tried to listen to her! Just like when she tried to explain her gift to Twilight, or with the parasprite infestation, or when she tried to tell them about what happened to Spike. Now her own sister is trying to kill her and the ponies that were supposed to protect Trixie murdered her!

Unforgivable!

Her mane and tail deflate, her eyes shrink to that of pinpricks and her vision turns blood red as she gets a crazed, bloodthirsty smile and maniacal laugh. It is time to punish some bad ponies and griffins. It is time for Pinkamena to come out and play.

Winny and Lock are too distracted to see or hear her charge them, but Octavia sees Pinkamena leap towards them. Octavia screams and makes a mad dash from the psychotic pony and when Lock turns, he swears and turns his weapon towards her.

Before Lock lock fire his pistol Pinkamena jabs the base of his horn with enough power to shatter it. His painful scream causes Winny to turn his head just in time to see Pinkamena buck him in the chest, sending him crashing into, and knocking over, a rack of old materials. Winny tries to shoot her, but the crazed pony somehow avoids most of the bullets and goes to destroy her beak with a single punch. Winny clutches her beak, sobbing, and before she can hit the ground, she’s bucked into the wall. After impacting the wall, she falls to the ground, completely still and silent. Then a bullet tears into Pinkamena’s shoulder and she grins maniacally at the source, which is Lock; he’s barely standing from how much he’s trembling in pain and fear and he has his pistol in his mouth.

Pinkamena laughs. “Oh, does the little pony wanna play!?”

She charges him again and to Lock’s horror, when he pulls the trigger all there is, is an ominous click.

Lock pales and Pinkamena uppercuts him in the jaw at the expense of an intense burning pain in her shoulder that she shrugs off with ease. She cackles as she hears his teeth shatter and he falls to the ground, mouth filled with blood and destroyed teeth. Pinkamena jumps on top of him and starts pummeling him, despite his best efforts to fend her off.

“You’ve been a bad pony!”

She punches him across the face, shattering his jaw.

“You were mean to me!”

Another punch to the face; this time right in the eye. She can hear his bones crack around the eye socket and feel his eye break.

“Just like Twilight!”

She grabs the sides of the head and slams it down on the pavement with a sickening crack. He weakly pushes his hoof against her head while making a begging gurgling noise.

“And Rarity!”

She slams it down again; his hoof drops and the pupil to his good eye expands in shock.

“And Applejack!”

She slams his head down again and he stops moving and breathing, and the life leaves his remaining eye.

“And sweet ole Tia!”

BANG!

Pinkamena is knocked backwards as a searing hot objects tears through her. She lands on her back with a thud and gasps for air. She can hear the gunfire and squawking fading away; in fact, everything is fading away. Her hearing. Her vision. Her sense of touch... And warmth. The only thing that she seems to hear is her heartbeats and ragged breathing. She presses her hoof on the area where she was shot and holds it up to her face, giggling by what’s she’s seeing. Her blood, lots of her blood, on her hoof.

Octavia walks besides her with a pistol in her mouth and looks down at Pinkamena, trembling from fear, but still determined to finish her off.

Pinkamena chuckles psychotically and painfully. “S-Sa-So thi-this is-this is how it ends, huh?” She removes her wig with her bloodsoaked hoof, to reveal her now flat, dark pink mane, and she cackles. “Go on, Inkie, d-do it! Pull the-pull that trigger!”

It takes Octavia a moment to realize what she had done, but when she does, she feels her whole world crash and burn around her from the guilt of her crime.

===

A young Octavia, no older than eight years old, was standing on top of a pile of old books, stretching her hoof out towards a yearbook belonging to her parents. She was not really interested in the pictures of her parents, per se, though they are nice to look at, she was more interested in seeing the marching band. She loved all of the instruments they played and the uniforms they were wearing. Every time she saw those pictures she got a burst of curiosity and her imagination ran wild with all the beautiful music that can be created with such fine instruments.

While Octavia stretched her hoof out to the limit, even standing on the tip of her hind legs, she grit her teeth and urged herself to go just a bit further. Her outstretched hoof touched the end of the year book and she beamed.

Success!

Then she suddenly lost her balance and she wobbled in place, whimpering, for a few seconds before everything came crashing down. The middle books in the stack she’s standing on popped out, making her fall to the ground and dragging the yearbook with it. The yearbook bounced off of her head, making her wince and rub the point of impact tenderly.

Failure.

As Octavia rubbed her sore head, she looked at the yearbook and sees that it opened up to a page of a mare playing a cello. At first she was too captivated by the beautiful instrument to notice that her hoof was rubbing against something sticky, but when she does realize it, she froze. Octavia started fearing the worst. Had her skull split open? Was she rubbing her brain? Is she bleeding black?

She stared at the black stuff stuck on her hoof, confused as to what it is. Then she sees a spilled inkwell lying on the ground in front of her, staining the worn floorboards with the sticky, black liquid. Octavia’s eyes teared up as she thinks about the spanking she’ll get for making such a mess. In an attempt to keep her flank safe, she tossed the empty container in the garbage can and used the crumbled paper from the said garbage can to soak up the menace staining the floor. It is right at that time Pinkie Pie bounced in, singing one of her freakishly happy songs, but Octavia was cutting her some slack since she’s the first of the three to get her cutie mark.

“Hey, Tavi!” giggled Pinkie Pie. “Whatcha doing?”

“Nothing!” blurted Octavia.

She slammed herself down on the paper to conceal the mess, making Pinkie Pie stop and look at her curiously. Then she smiled devilishly and pointed at her.

“You got a little something on your face there,” said Pinkie Pie in a sinister, playful tone.

Octavia brought her hoof up to her face to feel it, and realized that she’s been tricked by her sister! Now her inked hoof had left a large, inky hoofprint on her cheek. She grew red around the face and trembled with anger.

“That was mean!” cried Octavia.

“I’m so telling daddy that you made a big mess,” giggled Pinkie Pie.

“No! Please don’t tell! He’ll spank me!”

“Maybe he’ll change your name to ‘Inkie’. That’d be so cool! Our names would rhyme! Pinkie-Inkie-Pinkie-Inkie-Pinkie-Inkie-”

And on and on Pinkie Pie went, repeating “Pinkie-Inkie” over and over again as she jumped around her sister, ignoring her sister’s begging and crying. Then her father walked in, looking tired and angry.

“What is going on here?” growled their father; then he sees Octavia covered in ink and looked as though he’s about to blow a vessel. “And what the buck happened to you, Octavia!”

Octavia pointed an accusing hoof at Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie threw ink on my face!” accused Octavia.

Pinkie Pie stopped jumping and chanting and glared at her sister as her mane and tail deflate.

“Did not!” cried Pinkie Pie defensively.

“Did to!” snapped Octavia.

“Did not!”

“Did to!”

“Both of you are grounded!” yelled her father with a stomp of his hoof.

The sisters groaned and looked down, sniffling, in perfect harmony.

===

Octavia’s jaw drops and she slumps to the floor, crying and covering her mouth with her hoof, and hardly able to talk with the suffocation her crying is bringing her.

“What’s the matter, huh? You-You wanted Minty and you-you got-you Minty! Now pull the trigger!”

Octavia sobs and presses her hooves on top of the injury she inflicted on her sister and cries over Pinkamena’s insane laughter. “Pinkie, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please for-”

“No!” cries Rainbow Dash.

Before Octavia can react, Rainbow Dash tackles her to the ground from the air and they roll over each other, and when Rainbow Dash gets the upper hoof, it all ends for Octavia. Pinkamena can hear Rainbow Dash ruthlessly beat Octavia to a pulp while Octavia sobs and screams “I’m sorry!” over the crunches of hooves breaking bones.

“So much... blood,” chuckles Pinkamena weakly, stretching out her hoof towards her eyes, ignoring her sister’s rapidly weakening and increasingly more painful screams. “Looks like... Laughter is really... dying... this time.”

Pinkamena snickers and her eyes focus on her bloody hoof without a care in the world. Everyone dies eventually so she sees no point in resisting. Might as well smile in the face of death.

Octavia, now barely audible, whimpers: “Please-”

Rainbow Dash brings her hooves down on Octavia with one final sickening crunching sound and she falls silent. Pinkamena grins as she extends her hoof like an invitation to be helped up to the strange being in front of her. Rainbow Dash turns and runs next to Pinkamena, completely unaware of what she’s reaching for as Octavia lies motionless on the ground.

“It’s okay, Pinkie, I gotcha,” sniffles Rainbow Dash while carefully embracing Pinkamena. “Please don’t go. Stay with me.”

Before Pinkamena’s vision is in almost total darkness and she feels Rainbow Dash grab her like how a mother would grab her injured child, and hears her crying before blacking out completely.

“Stay with me. Please.”

===

Pinkie Pie hugged Octavia outside the Rock Town Train Station, both of them were crying softly and nuzzling each other one last time before Octavia set off for the Royal Academy of Music. Pinkie Pie released her sister so she can hug her parents and other sister. Her mother practically squeezed the life out of her while her father gave her a soft hug before handing her her suitcase and cello. Her other sister also gave a halfhearted hug just because she wants to look tough.

“Hey, we’re leaving in two minutes!” called the conductor to the nearest door pony.

The message was relayed by the ponies at the train doors and Octavia smiled nervously at her family while a unicorn used her magic to pack Octavia’s luggage in the storage cart.

“Well, this is it, I guess,” sniffled Octavia, the overwhelming, life changing event bringing fresh tears to her eyes.

Pinkie Pie nodded, putting on a brave smile. “Just don’t forget about us simple ponies, Inkie.”

Octavia chuckled, and wiped her eyes before giving Pinkie Pie one last hug.

“You know that’ll never happen,” said Octavia, her voice cracking.

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Pinkie Promise.”

“Let me hear you say it.”

Octavia giggled and took a deep breath before reciting:

“Cross my heart

Hope to fly

Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

She even did the crossing heart, flapping hooves, and sticking a hoof to her eye to solidify her promise. Both sisters laughed and her normally stoic father and sister couldn’t help but crack a smile while their mother cried hysterically about how cute that was.

Pinkie Pie released Octavia, saying: “I’ll hold you to it. Now go on and show those sticks in the mud how to really play music.”

Octavia smiled, did one last round of hugs, and barely made it on the train before the door closed. A moment later she poked her head out the window and waved goodbye to her family as the train drove past them. Pinkie Pie waved and stayed on the loading area until the train was out of view. When it disappeared into the sunset, her puffy mane and tail deflated and she sat on the floor, sniffling and eyes glistening with tears.

“Goodbye, Octavia.”

===

~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours after the deadly brawl Winny groans and pushes herself to her feet. Her whole body is aching and when she tries to move her beak she immediately screams, clutches it tight and falls to the ground sobbing. She feels the pieces of her beak get pushed down by her talons, making her cry even harder and kick her legs wildly. After what seems like an eternity of crying and attempts to move, she is finally able to limp towards the exit. But she trips over something and falls to the ground in a warm, sticky puddle. She’s able to fall on her shoulder to prevent more damage to her beak, but she starts trembling when she realizes that she fell in blood and that the body she tripped over belongs to Octavia’s. Winny whimpers and scrambles backwards, only to slide into more blood and trip over another body. This one is Lock, or at least it looks like Lock.

Winny starts hyperventilating and limps as fast as she can towards the exit, being sure to keep her destroyed beak clamped with her talon. She goes through the warehouse blind, tripping over bodies occasionally. She doesn’t know if they are dead or not, and right now she doesn’t care, she just needs to get out and warn Gilda about what happened. She pushes against the door and is greeted by the cool night air, and the sound of a safety clicking off.

Winny freezes in her tracks and stares at a group of ponies wearing armored body suits painted black with a red wrench inside a lightning bolt on her vest. There is one familiar unicorn mare standing in the front of the crowd next to a zebra buck, levitating a revolver aimed at the griffin’s head. Winny closes her eyes, sobs quietly and slumps to the ground. She knows it’s all over.

A few seconds of heavy silence later, Winny opens her eyes to look at the mare in front of her and stands up, then reluctantly lowers her talon so her final moment will be her standing like a proper, proud griffin.

“Ja-Just kn-know... that Ah-I’m sorry... for everything,” says Winny in a pained whimper; the talking alone brings more tears in her eyes and she almost brings her talon up to give her one last bit of comfort before the inevitable.

“‘Sorry’ won’t bring her back,” says Lyra, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Winny nods in understanding and when Lyra pulls the trigger and the bullet goes through Winny’s skull and her blood, brain, and bone splatter on the door behind her. Winny slumps to the ground, and Lyra sighs heavily and blinks tears out of her eyes before holstering her pistol. Her lips tremble as she looks at the lifeless body of the one who murdered her lifelong friend. After what she had done seeps in, her legs give out and she falls to the ground crying in her hooves.

Almost immediately she feels a comforting hoof go on her shoulder, but she doesn’t look up, she keeps her eyes shut tight and trembles at the thought of what she had just become in not even a second’s time. She can hear other sets of hooves carefully go past her and into the warehouse; methodic gunshots follow seconds later.

“Is-Is-This is for life, right?” says Lyra softly while wiping her nose. Another gunshot makes her cringe, prompting the hoof to give her a light, comforting rub on her shoulder.

“It is,” says the zebra. “But you did good. Roar Shock will be proud of you. Very proud.”