His eyes opened slowly, pain suddenly shooting throughout his body and especially around his head. Swift tried to reach up to hold his head, but realizes he is unable to move his forelegs, or any of his legs.

''What the...'' Swift croaked out, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light. ''Vinyl...'' He moaned out, his eyes searching for the DJ, spotting her after a few seconds.

Several more bruises covered her beautiful face, and more cuts ran down her then before, their attacker had decided to work on Vinyl some more while Swift was unconscious.

Swift struggled against the rope that had him tied up, but soon gave up, he was bound to tightly to wiggle free.

The throbbing in his head increased, and something warm trickled down the side of his head, blood.

He hadn't noticed it before, but now he realized he was bleeding. Whatever the pony had whacked him with had been heavy.

Swift began to struggle again, he had to get to Vinyl, he had to find Big Mac, but the ropes weren't going to let him go that easy. After a few minutes, he stopped struggling. ''Erg...this is useless, maybe if I find something sharp I can cut myself free...''

Swift started scanning the room, looking for his longsword, but his weapon was nowhere in sight. ''Damn it...'' Swift muttered.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves approaching filled his ears, and they perked up, their captor was approaching.

Swift grit his teeth, and watched the door, waiting for the pony to step out into the light, and reveal themselves so he could beat the shit out of them when he figured out how to get free.

Finally, the pony trotted into the room, but stayed in the shadows, the pony seemed to have a scalpel clutched in its mouth, and Swift began to hyperventilate, this didn't look good.

Slowly, the pony stepped out of the darkness, standing in the dim light of the stone prison Swift and Vinyl were trapped in, and when Swift realized who it was, his pupils dilated, and his brain started trying to come up with reasons of why this couldn't be right, it just couldn't be.

Standing out in the open now, a grin filled with malice stretched across his lips, was Big Macintosh.

''No, no bucking way...Mac, You Did This!?'' Swift gasped, angered and shocked that the farm pony would do this, Pinkie he could understand, but Big Mac doing this was something he never could have imagined.

The red stallion chuckled, ''Eeyup, its me.'' His eyes glinted evilly, and he let out another chuckle, somehow keeping the scalpel clutched firmly in his mouth.

Swift's eyes narrowed, and he tensed up, wanting to lunge at the pony who had kidnapped and tortured Vinyl, but still couldn't move, so he merely moving an inch from where he was. ''WHY!? Why the hell would you do this!?''

Big Mac's eyebrows raised in amusement, and he moved closer to Swift Blade, giving the bound swordstallion a look of sickening joy, the look of a complete madpony. ''Why? Because I want ta, I coulda done this ta anypony, but I find mares to be the best victims, they scream the most, and it wouldn't feel right to rape a stallion.''

Swift's mind felt like it was going to break, he had thought of this monster as his friend, and he had trusted him, not realizing that there was a monster in their ranks. ''But why Vinyl!? Why her of all ponies!''

Swift wouldn't have wanted Big Mac to do this to anypony else, but seeing it happen to Vinyl was the worst.

''It wouldn't feel right to torture ma sister, at least not yet, and Pinkie is just a little to crazy an unpredictable to grab just yet. Scootaloo's back at tha farm, which just leaves you two...'' His voice filled with malice, and his grin stretched wider across his face, holding the scalpel in his mouth like it was a piece of wheat.

Swift Blade stared back at him, his mind focused now on only two things, freeing Vinyl, and beating the shit out of Mac, but it didn't seem like he would get his wish.

Swift began struggling again as Big Mac turned away from him and advanced on Vinyl, who spotted him and gave him a hatful glare as he approached. He merely scoffed, and held up the scalpel in one hoof, his eyes turned joyful, and he began cutting a long slice across Vinyl's forehead, blood slowly seeping down from the cut, as her eyes teared up, and she began to sob, the pain so agonizing it made the calm collected DJ lose her grip on her normal personality.

Macintosh, still slowly running the blade across her head, chuckled gleefully, and pulled back, watching as the blood fell down Vinyl's face and coated her white coat with the dark red substance.

Swift began, yelling, rage building up to a climax at the sight of Vinyl being cut open for no real reason. ''YOU BUCKING ASSHOLE GET AWAY FROM HER!''

Big Mac laughed, and made another cut right down Vinyl's cheek, receiving more sobs from the unicorn.

She could have teleported her way out, or blasted Big Mac with her magic, but a special headband Mac had forced onto her head, which he had gotten from the black market before the outbreak (he had been doing this for a long time) which negated a unicorns magic when worn, made any hope of escape using magic useless.

Swift's screams of rage began to quite down, as Big Mac stepped away from Vinyl, and turned towards the doorway, ''Don't worry, I'll be back, and then we can have some real fun.'' He sneered, a combination of malice and seduction in his tone.

Trotting out with scalpel in his mouth, the red stallion left Swift Blade and Vinyl alone, with the only sounds being Vinyl's sobbing, and Swifts deep breathing.

''Don't worry Vinyl, I will find a way to save you, I promise...'' He tried to sound reassuring, but his fear betrayed him. He had hope that they would get out of there, but first he had to find a way to free himself, if only he could find something sharp, anything would do.

Unfortunately, Big Mac had removed Swift's longsword from the room, and everything else that might have been used to cut himself free.

Swift let out a small growl, before he heard small, quiet hoofsteps approaching, and he glanced at the doorway. Was Big Mac coming back already?

The little orange filly who poked her head through the doorway however, wasn't Big Mac, but a very welcome sight.

''Scootaloo!'' Swift hissed, trying to alert the filly of his presence, without alerting Macintosh of the intruder.

The filly looked around again, searching for any sign of the voice.

''Scootaloo, over here!'' He hissed again.

Scootaloo turned in his direction, and quickly galloped over as quietly as she could, ''Swift! What the heck happened to you guys!'' She asked with slight panic, as she noticed his bounds. ''You guys were gone for a day, that's what AJ's clock said anyway.''

Swift quickly tried to explain, ''We got attacked by a horde, so we came here, and then Big Mac attacked us... Wait, how in Celestia's name did you find us here!?'' He whispered, taking a quick glance over her shoulder.

''I got really worried, so I snuck out of the farm and followed your trail, I was listening when you were discussing where you would go you know.'' Scootaloo said with a grin, which quickly faded, ''Wait...Big Mac attacked you!? Why? And where's Vinyl?''

Swift knew it was better if the little filly didn't see the state Vinyl was in, and shook his head, ''I'll explain later, first, find me something to cut myself free with, but be careful, Big Mac's in there somewhere...'' He cautioned her.

Nodding her head, and thankfully not noticing Vinyl strapped to the wall, Scootaloo quickly snuck out of the room.

After what felt like hours, but in reality was only a minute, to Swifts great relief, Scootaloo returned, struggling to balance Swift's longsword on her back.

Swift exhaled, letting the breath he had been holding in out, ''Thank Celestia.'' A thin smile creeping across his lips.

Scootaloo gently lowered the blade to the ground, and then picked it up again in her hooves, her small muscles struggling to hold the sword up, she shakily lowered it to the ropes holding Swift and looked at him uneasily.

''Just be careful...'' Swift said, slightly worried that the little filly might slice him open.

As carefully as she could, Scootaloo began rubbing the blade against the ropes, slowly slicing through them with ease.

Every few seconds, Swift would glance towards the doorway, hoping with all his might Big Mac wouldn't suddenly appear there and begin tearing the filly saving him to pieces. However, Scootaloo finished cutting through the ropes without incident.

Feeling the last of the rope fall away, Swift stood up, stretching his legs, feeling the blood flow back into them. He turned to his rescuer and smiled, patting her on the head, before taking his sword from her little hooves and twirling it, rage returning to his mind.

Swift turned to Vinyl, and Scootaloo followed his gaze, her eyes widened, and she let out a little gasp. ''OMC! What has Macintosh been doing to her!'' Her voice was to loud, and bounced off the walls.

''Shit'' Swift's brain thought, and hoofsteps began running towards them.

Turning quickly to Scootaloo, Swift quickly said ''Find a way to get Vinyl down! I'll hold Mac off!''

Swift faced the doorway, and Big Mac appeared in it, he looked slightly shocked to see Swift free, which gave Swift the time to begin swinging his blade wildly at the stallion, not really aiming, just simply swinging at the red stallion to hold him back or if he was stupid enough to charge, turn him into diced meat.

Big Mac finally recovered from dodging enough to swing the woodcutters axe he had carried with him at Swift's blade, sending Swift off balance and disarming him.

Swift staggered back, and Mac took the opportunity to bring the axe up and swing downwards at Swift, intending to chop his head clean off.

Dodging quickly to the side, Swift lunged and swung his right foreleg straight at Big Mac's face, connecting with a dull whack!

Macintosh fell backwards, dropping the axe onto the floor. He let out a little groan, and turned to face Swift again.

Swift's hoof met him again, driving itself into Mac's face, sending the stallion back towards the doorway.

Swift's hoof met the handle of his longsword, and he lunged once more, aiming the blade at Big Mac's chest, but Mac jumped out of the way, and his back hooves met with Swift's injured side, sending him flying, colliding with stone doorway and onto the ground. He let out a gasp of pain, and began to groan, as he tried to stand up and keep his hold on the longsword.

Big Mac wasn't going to give him a chance though, and one of his forelegs connected with Swift's head, sending back down again. Mac grinned evilly, and grabbed the combat knife he had pulled from Spike's head earlier from off one of the boxes littering the room.

Stilling grinning, he raised the dagger over his head and spoke, wanting to savor his victory. ''You know, since I wont have ta listen to your annoying screaming, its going ta be really fun when I rape and cut Vinyl to pieces, and as for Scootaloo, well, she will get to experience the same thing.'' He began to laugh, and brought the blade down, but Swift had heard enough. This asshole didn't deserve to live.

His sword, which he had managed to hold onto, clanged against the dagger, stopping it before it could be plunged all the way into Swift's chest, but some of the blade managed to cut into his flesh, making him groan in pain.

Sparks flew, showering between the two combatants, as the blades remained locked for a few more seconds, before Swift sent the bloodied dagger twirling through the air, out of Big Mac's hoof, hearing the blade embed itself into the floor somewhere to their right.

Swift's back legs lunged out, bucking Macintosh, sending him staggering away from Swift, giving him the chance to stand up.

Swift Blade let out a groan, ''My sides on fire'' his mind shouted at him, but he ignored it and charged Big Mac. However, the farm pony was ready for him, dodging to the side and taking a big swing at Swift's side with an old pipe. The pipe connected and shot showers of pain through Swift's body.

The swordstallion's eyes closed for a second, so he didn't see Big Mac swing the pipe again, but he felt it when the heavy piece of metal bashed into the side of his head, sending him end over end, slamming against a wall.

He lay there for a few seconds, his blood seeping from cuts on his face where the pipe had smashed into him, and more blood trickling from out of his chest where the knife had cut him.

His longsword was a few hoofsteps away, but he couldn't find the strength to stand. Was this it?

Now Swift remembered how it had come to this. Now he knew why this was happening.

Big Mac stood over Swift's limp, injured body, the woodcutters axe in his hooves again. His bruised and battered face could still sneer however, and he laughed at Swift. ''Say howdy to Apple Bloom for me, and don't worry, I'll take good care of the mares.''

Swift's mind broke, he was going to kill him, rape Vinyl, and torture and kill her and Scootaloo, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

This was to much, his mind seemed to dim, and slowly, the only thought left in Swift Blade's head were: Death.

Big Mac got ready to bring down the axe, cackling louder as he did.

A loud, primal scream suddenly rocked the room, as Swift's thoughts faded to black, and Big Mac brought the axe down.

Silence.

There was only silence in the room he was in, no sounds of screaming, or fighting, just an empty silence.

The blue stallions eyes slowly opened, and he blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted. He was still in the basement, but there was nothing in there, other then a few boxes, and some other objects he couldn't make out.

''Was it all just a dream?'' He thought to himself. ''Did I just knock my head on something really hard and I just dreamed it all up?''

Swift Blade sighed happily. That had to be it, he must have just hit his head on the doorway or something, and none of that horrible nightmare ever happened.

Vinyl and Big Mac would probably be worried about where he was, he would have to remind them not to drop their things and just leave them like that, they had scared the crap out of him.

He stood up, but noticed something felt wrong, he raised one of his hooves, his longsword held in the hoof.

It was covered in blood, and so was his hoof.

Swift raised his other hoof, letting the one holding his weapon drop to support himself. It was also covered in blood.

Swift's gaze, slowly dropped down, already knowing what he would find when he saw the source of the blood.

Lying in a bloodied, mangled heap in front of him, lay Big Macintosh.

His face was stretched out in a silent scream of agony.one of his eyes were missing, a large hole drilled in where it had once been. His body was covered in stab wounds, and great chunks had been torn off of him with a blade. His stomach had been sliced open, his intestines laying spilled out on the floor in front of the dead stallion. His left shoulder had been sliced into, almost cleaving the large farm pony's left front leg off. His other leg, was fine up until where the bottom of it should have been, but it had been sliced off, the blood trail leading from the severed spot to behind some boxes. Finally, a huge cut lay across his frontal lobe, meaning he hadn't died from blood loss, but from a blade caving through his scull.

Swift gasped in horror, and more blood dripped off his face, his coat was now a stained purplish color in some places now.

Realization of who the culprit was shocked through his body, and tears welled in his eyes, streaking down his face like the blood from his head injuries.

He had done this. He had brutally murdered this pony in a way so gruesome it was even more sickening then the undead.

Swift may have wanted to kill Big Mac, but not like this, something inside of him had snapped, something had awoken deep inside of him, something he thought had been sealed away a long time ago.

He let out a small whimper, as more tears fell down his cheeks, hitting the bloodied floor with small plips.

''Swift?''

A voice pierced his thoughts, and he looked up, spotting the beautiful white unicorn standing in the doorway leading the room where they had both been held.

''Vinyl!'' he choked out and stood up, ignoring his body's protests, and ran towards her, the bloody longsword dropped to the floor behind him.

''Swift, what the hell hap-'' she was cut off by Swift's weight pressing into her, as he embraced her, his tears pouring down harder then before.

The DJ couldn't do much, so she wrapped her own front hooves around Swift and returned the embrace.

After a minute, Vinyl pulled away and looked Swift up and down, slowly noticing the red that had rubbed off onto her coat. ''thank you so
bucking much for saving me, and good job kicking his ass.'' A thin smile growing on her lips.

''Your...'' Swift sniffed, and wiped away some tears. ''Your cool with the fact that I'm covered in blood and basically tore Big Mac into pieces?''

''Yeah'' Vinyl replied, wiping at some blood running from her cheek. ''after what he did, and what he was planning to do, he deserved whatever he got, and the bloods little trouble, I'm already cover in it.''

Somehow, Vinyl's calm manner had come back, it may not have been appropriate, but it soothed Swift.

''Can I come out now?'' Scootaloo's voice came from the other room, sounding a mix of annoyance and fear.

''Yeah, just...shield your eyes until we get to the stairs.'' Vinyl called to the little filly, ''Me and Swift will help guide you.''

The orange Pegasus stepped from the safety of the room, and closed her eyes, waiting for the two older ponies to help her get out of there, and grumbling a bit.

''How did she free you?'' Swift asked, as he began trotting on one side of Scootaloo.

Vinyl walked on the filly's other side, seeming to think a second before speaking, ''At first, she tried just tugging at the straps with her teeth, but that did nothing, so she stacked up some boxes and took that headband off my head, allowing me to magic my way out.''

''Why didn't you do that in the first place?'' Swift asked, he had a few ideas why, but he wanted to be sure.

''The headband prevented me from using magic, Mac said he got it off the black market or something, he explained it to me before he started slicing me up when I started trying to use magic.''

Swift nodded, and stopped, they had just reached the stairs, and he nudged Scootaloo, ''You can open your eyes now.''

She grumbled, ''I'm a big girl, I can deal with death...'' She muttered.

Swift broke away from them and went back to Big Mac's corpse, picking up his longsword and shaking it a few times to rid it of some of the blood.

''So long Big Mac, may you rot in hell.'' He said to the corpse, before sheathing his weapon, and following Vinyl and Scootaloo up the stairs.

Author's Note

Well, that was unexpected wasn't it, I thought, what better twist to throw in then not having Pinkie Pie being crazy and make it Big Mac?
The reasons why Pinkie was acting so crazy will be revealed in the next chapter.
also, please check out anything else I might publish.