Water splashed down onto the ground somewhere in the cave, making her jump.
Another drop of water fell. She jumped again.
One more speck, one more jump.
The wind howled. She froze, but not from the cold.
Leaves brush against each other in the wind. She shuddered.
An owl called. She stifled a yelp.
A timberwolf howled. She jumped again.
A twig snapped. She dived for cover behind a large rock. Several seconds passed. She peeked out. Nothing was there
The wind wailed.
The leaves rustled
The drips of water fell.
The timberwolves called to the moon.
The owl kept calling.
The water kept flowing.
The wind kept crying.
The leaves kept moving.
The wolves kept singing.
'Heeeee~llooooooo'
"Who's there?" She called sharply.
'Heeeee~loooooo.'
"What? What do you want?" She asked
'Foooollllllloooowwwww mee~ee' The voice seemed to say.
"Where are you?"
'Over hee~reeee'
"Where?" Her ears swiveled around in all directions, trying to pinpoint the voice.
'Fooooolllllloooowww meee~eeee!'The voice called again.
AROOOOO! She listened for the voice, straining to find it over the other sounds.
'Heeeeee~looooooo.'
'Over heee~reeeee!' There! She found the voice. It came from deep inside the cave.
The wolves howled in the distance. She jumped.
A twig cracked outside. She squealed.
The owl hooted. She ran. She ran towards the voice. The cave grew darker and darker. Closing in on her. Getting closer, and closer.
'Catch me if you caaa~aaan!'
Her terror grew.
The howls were becoming distant.
She screamed as a stone clicked against a rock somewhere near her.
'You're getting coooool~deeeeer!' The voice jeered, off to her left somewhere. She ran towards it.
Her hoof connected with a stone, the stone was sent scattering off into the cave. Fear overcame her completely.
'Coooome and geeeeet meeeee!'
Something wet and warm dropped onto Her nose. She stopped running. Her eyes open wide in fright.
'Yes, come clooooserrrr' She stepped forward, unwillingly.
The warm, wet liquid dripped onto her again, onto her forehead. She stepped closer.
Onto her back. And closer.
And closer.
And closer.
And closer still.
Closer still.
Closer still.
Even closer.
She kept moving.
One hoof forward.
Another hoof.
Third hoof.
Fourth hoof.
She stopped.
'Yeeeesssss. Now we can plaaaayy.' The voice said. A small dim light lit up, just above her head, and a few centimeters in front.
'Heeeeeee~loooooo.'
"H-hello?"
'Heeeeeee~loooooo.'
"What?"
'Heeeeee~looooooo'
"What do you want?"
'Heeeeeee~looooooo.'
"Just tell me what you want!"
'I want to play with you'
"P-play?"
'Yeesss. Plaaaayyy.'
"W-what d-do you want to play?" Her voice was shaky.
'I want to plaaaay' The voice was sugar sweet, as it always had been. 'I want to plaaaaay, follow me.'
Some more warm liquid dripped onto her. She looked up.
Another drip, this time, right in her eye.
The liquid kept dripping, faster and faster.
It eventually became a trickle of liquid.
The trickle of liquid became a downpour.
It Rained down on top of her.
'Coooooomeeeee oooooo~nnnnn.' came the sugar sweet voice. 'Foooollllllooooowwww meeee~eeeee.'
The floor was getting slippery. The light had gone out and she was left in darkness again.
'Oooooverrrrr heeeeer~eeeee'
Liquid kept oozing down her face. It was thick and sticky.
She ran faster
'Aaaaalmooost theee~reeeee!'
She ran faster.
'Thhhrrrrreeeeeee!'
She ran faster.
'Twwwoooooooo!'
And faster.
'Ooonneeee!'
She fell over a soft lump on the ground.
'Zeeeeroooo!' The voice called. The light switched back on. She looked at what she had tripped over. She gasped in shock.
"A-A-Appl-le-j-j-jack?" Her voice wavered.
'Like the surprise?' She just stared at Applejack. Her friend's chest softly moved up and down.
"A-Applej-jack." She called more confidently. She got up and walked over to her.
'She won't respond.' The voice told her 'She can't, not after I slit her throat.' She looked at Applejack.
Blood poured out from underneath her friend.
"Applejack!" She shook her friend violently, then noticed several deep gashes in her side, oozing blood.
The downpour of liquid went back to a drip. She looked at herself. She was covered in a red, sticky liquid.
'I already told you, she wont respond.' She was coated from head to hoof in blood. She looked up. On the ceiling, she saw a figure.
"Who's there?" She called to the figure. But it had already moved into the darkness.
'I am. You are.' The voice said. She looked back at Applejack. She had nails hammered into her hooves.
She felt her friends chest slow in it's pattern. Applejack's breathing was getting softer and softer.
"NO!" She cried. She saw cuts and bruises, all over her friend, where ropes had cut into her skin.
Applejack's breathing got slower.
And slower.
And slower.
It stopped.
"NOOOOO!!" She cried. Part of her remaining sanity broke.
'Ahhh. Don't you like it?' The voice asked. She just cried.
'Awww, come on. You know you like it.'
"Just, leave me alone! I'm fed up with your games!"
'Tut tut. I'm not going anywhere. We still have more games to play.'
"You-you MONSTER!" She yelled.
'I'm a monster? Now, isn't that a bit harsh?'
"NO! NO it's not! You killed one of my friends!"
'But it wasn't me who killed your friend. It was you.'
"I DID NOT KILL HER! YOU DID!"
'Ah, but I'm you, and you're me, so, how can I have killed her, if you did not?'
"NO! YOU ARE NOT ME! GO AWAY!"
'I can't go away. I'm you, you see. So, wherever you go, I will follow.'
"Aghhh! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
'Not until you have played my games.'
"NO! I WILL NOT PLAY YOUR HORRIBLE GAMES!"
'Ah, but you will enjoy them. I promise.'
"HOW CAN I TRUST YOU?"
'How about, I swear on your friends' lives? Would that do it for you?'
"BUT YOU ALREADY KILLED ONE OF THEM! THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME TRUST YOU!"
'Ah, but, I'm you, so, if you don't trust me, how can you trust yourself?'
"I-I-I don't know.." She eventually said.
'Then follow me.'
She got up.
She followed the voice.
'We're going to have a lot of fun you and I.'
*Sniff*
'Come now, don't cry, crying wont make you feel better.'
*Sniff*
'How about we see somepony who will cheer you up? Hmm? Will that help?'
*Sniff*
'Come and catch me!' The voice called. She ran after it.
'Come on, you'll be happier once we get there.' The voice said.
*Sniff*
'You're getting warmer.'
*Sniff* The light that had been following Her suddenly moved in front of her and the glow increased. She skidded to a halt.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed. In front of her, was bloodshed. Several organs were spread out across the floor.
'Here we are.' An eyeball rolled up against Her blood stained hoof. The eye was blue.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She kept screaming. She observed the scene. Blood and guts had been flung around.
'I told you we'd have fun.' Pink puffs of fur and hair were covered in the same red, sticky liquid that covered Her.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed louder. She had finally seen the body.
'Oh do be quiet. You are giving yourself a headache, and that includes me.' She just kept screaming.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She ran over the body. The stomach had been sliced open.
*Sob* She had stopped screaming. The head of the corpse had been smashed to pieces. Bits of skull littered the area around the body.
Only one blue eye remained in it's socket. Teeth were shattered all around the head.
*Sniff* Broken ribs protruded from her friend's, now red, chest.
'See, didn't I tell you we were going to see somepony who would make you happier?'
The corpse's legs were splayed at unnatural angles. The tongue lolled out. Soaked in blood. Pinkie Pie.
"No." It was almost a whisper. A little bit more of Her sanity broke. Her left eye twitched.
'Do you like this one more than the last?' The voice asked. She ignored it. She tore her eyes away from the scene in front of her and ran.
'Ooh, you wanna play hide and seek huh? Ok then. I'll count to ten.' She continued running.
'One'
She didn't stop.
'Two'
She tried to escape.
'Three'
The voice grew ever so slightly quieter.
'Four'
And slightly quieter still.
'Five'
She was leaving it behind.
'Six'
Little by little.
'Seven'
Tears flowed from her eyes.
'Eight'
Some tearing away from her face and falling away as she ran.
'Nine'
Sobs escaped her mouth.
'Ten'
She didn't look back.
'Ready or not, here I come!'
She kept running. The voice was already catching up.
'You can't hide from yourself.'
She didn't listen.
'We still have many more games to play.'
She tried to ignore it.
'You can't run forever!'
"St-stay away from me!" She cried.
'Oh. You seem to have found the next gift.' The voice suddenly said. She stopped in her tracks.
'This one was very difficult to do, it put up a big fight. So it was difficult to make it recognizable.'
A motionless body lay in front of Her.
'See what I mean? You can't tell who it is anymore.' Feathers scattered the floor, telling her that it was a pegasus.
She picked a feather up. It was completely red, no other colour signaled which pegasus it was.
She crept closer to the body. Bones where everywhere, bits of skin still clinging to them.
'I'm pretty sure this one will be your favorite.' A huge, gory cut, had been drawn directly down the pegasus's side.
Squish. She had stepped in something. She looked down. She couldn't tell what she had stood on.
The only way she knew the pegasus had been cut, was the fact that insects crawled in and out of the wound.
And even with the blood, she could see the black, infected, swollen area, covered in puss, that lined the cut.
A knife, of sorts, had been driven deep into the pegasus's chest. More than once.
She crept around the body, trying to find out who it was. She couldn't. The body was covered in blood.
The mane and Tail had been shredded and dyed red. The head had practically been sliced open.
The eyes had been gouged out. A spoon lay in one of the sockets.
Squash. She didn't bother to look down at what she had stepped in.
There were no remains of the pegasus's stomach. Like her side, bugs crawled in and out of it.
*Sniff* She started to cry. She attempted to wipe blood of the flank, but she only smeared more on.
She had walked into a pool of blood. Feathers floated in the blood. Bits of organs were also floating around in the blood.
*Sniff* She back tracked her steps. She turned to the pegasus. Like Pinkie Pie, ribs protruded from the chest.
*Sob* Unlike Pinkie Pie, one of those ribs, carried the pegasus's heart. Another rib, carried a lung.
The pegasus's legs sagged, they didn't have any bones left in them.
On the wing, stuck a single feather. Blood splattered across it, but a small part showed blue. Cyan.
"RAINBOW DASH!" She yelled. Then she picked up the rotting body in her hooves and cradled it. She didn't care about the bugs.
*Sob* She didn't care about the infections.
*Sniff* She didn't care what the pegasus looked like.
"NOOOOO!" All she cared about, was getting her friends back. More of her sanity broke. Only two tiny fragments remained.
*Sob* She squeezed the body in her hooves.
'I think we ought to move onto the next gift. Don't you?' The voice asked.
She slowly nodded her head. She knew what was coming, she might as well get it over with, it might just save her sanity. Maybe.
'Come on then, this way.'
She followed the voice.
'We're almost there.'
The sound of wind was close, signalling to her that they were near the entrance.
She could hear the timberwolves in the distance.
'Here we go. This one is easy to recognize, she didn't put up a fight at all.'
A yellow body was curled up in front of her. It didn't seem to have any damage done to it.
She moved round to the other side.
*GASP* Twilight saw a gaping hole in the yellow body's side, where a wing should have been. Blood poured out of it.
'I can't remember where I put the wings. Sorry.' She just stared at Fluttershy's dead body.
She was grateful that Fluttershy hadn't been completely mutilated.
'I couldn't be bothered to destroy this one, she put no effort into fighting me, so why should I put effort into her looking good?'
"LOOKING GOOD!" She screamed "YOU THINK THAT BLOODSHED IS LOOKING GOOD?!"
'Why do you think it's so bad? You like it too. Don't you?'One more fragment of Her sanity broke.
"J-just, just... Let's go." She choked, she couldn't manage anything else.
'Ok then, follow me.' She got up and followed the voice.
They were getting closer to the entrance now.
Very close.
She could hear the timberwolves clearly.
'We have to go outside for this next gift.' The voice told her.
A twig snapped. She jumped.
'I hope you don't mind going into the forest.' The voice said as the light from the moon shone through the leaves of the Everfree trees.
The sound of the blood dripping was behind her now.
As the voice came out into the moonlight, she saw a figure. It was a large, bony figure. It crawled along the roof of the cave.
Blood dripped from it.
organs hung from thin veins clinging to the bones.
'The next gift is around this corner.' The figure said. It slipped down onto the floor. It looked like a giant skeleton.
She didn't know what sort of skeleton the figure looked like, just, a skeleton.
'I do hope you like this one as much as the others. I had to be very decorative with this one. It wouldn't be happy otherwise.'
She turned the corner and saw Rarity's severed head. She was not surprised.
Her gaze flickered to a severed leg. It was coated in blood, but She could see the white tip Rarity's hoof.
'This piece of art took me ages to complete. Of course, by me, I mean you.' She looked around so she could see the entire body.
Bit's of Rarity's body had been dumped everywhere. her horn, that had been cut off of her head, was jammed into her heart.
'It took me ages to get the horn into the right place. I just kept missing.' The voice said. She noticed several stab marks in the chest.
Rarity's body had been place in a heart shape. With Rarity's real heart in the middle, her horn jammed through it.
'I call this piece, "The Heart of Death", suits it well, don't you think?'Blood poured out from every single body part.
The worst of it, was the fact that the heart was still beating.
You could almost hear Her sanity breaking. It shattered into a million pieces.
'Having fun?'The figure asked. She didn't answer. Her eyes twitched erratically. Her from twisted into a manic grin.
She didn't care about the blood on her coat anymore. In fact, she liked it. She licked her lips.
She picked up Rarity's arm.
She bit into it.
"Mmmm." She picked up the heart.
It was still warm.
She swallowed the pulsing heart whole.
"Delicious." She kept the horn.
'Doooo yoouu waaannaaa plllaaaayy?' The voice asked
"..." She responded
She didn't care about death anymore.
She didn't care about the blood.
She didn't care about the gore.
She didn't care if anypony thought she was disgusting.
She didn't care about anypony.
All she cared about was killing them, and the wonderful taste they had.
She turned to face a certain point in the Everfree forest.
A certain point that lead to a certain hiding place.
A certain hiding place with a certain someone.
A certain dragon.
A certain Spike.
