An Act of Betrayal

by PirateCattheShipper

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Sad, Tragedy, Horror
Length: 4842

Somepony is sick of her friends hanging out with each other more than her. When anger bubbles to the surface, she will put other ponies' lives in danger with the help of a long lost enemy. . .

You thought you knew who your friends and enemies, even crushes were. . .Until a certain somepony decides to turn her back on you and your elders, ushering you to bow down to her words. But who is she, and how will she do it? Prepare yourself for blood to spatter your fur from your closest and a pain to stab through your bloodied chest. . .

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2017-02-25 20:06:23 UTC

The Beginning of It All

Pinkie Pie ran blindly through the dark house, her fur bristling with fear. She could feel her heart racing against her chest, pounding so hard that it roared like dragons in her flopping ears, which were pinned to the back of her skull. Her hoof slipped in a dark, crimson, wet puddle that was pungent with the scent of blood, which clogged her flaring nostrils and suffocated her. She coughed and spluttered, slipping to the ground. A dark, black figure silhouetted gold stood before her, Its eyes burning in the dark.

                                                                                                       ~~~~

     "I just need to blindfold you!" Applebloom pleaded, her eyes glittering desperately and her yellow hackles lifting in panic that her fellow crusaders wouldn't agree to join her on her mission.

     "I-" Scootaloo began, stuttering as she probed her mind for some sort of answer. She glanced over at Sweetie Belle, who tilted her head sweetly and blinked, tipping it towards Scootaloo swiftly. This was all the youthful Pegasus needed to see.

     "Fine. If it makes you happy, Applebloom, then we'll go!" Scootaloo threw her forehooves around Applebloom's neck, and Sweetie Belle stumbled over to them, throwing herself into the hug as well. "Yes! We will do whatever to make you happy, Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle agreed warmly, pulling back. Scootaloo echoed her move and pulled back as well, her eyes narrowed slightly.

     "Okay, y'all!" Applebloom snatched the two white blindfolds in her small jaws, grateful when Sweetie Belle whisked one to Scootaloo and tied it perfectly, leaving a bow where she tied it, at the back of Scootaloo's head, using her green magic.

     After Applebloom had tied a blindfold around Sweetie Belle's head, she called;"Oh, Ah almost forgot! Y'all just stay put, y'here?" Applebloom raced away, not waiting for a reply but acknowledging that her friends didn't suspect a thing but a fun, simple game that they could all get along in.

     Applebloom felt turbulence bounce in her stomach and stick to whatever organ in her belly it touched, or at least seemed to touch. As her little legs worked and she drew closer to the object she needed, it throbbed harder, causing sickness to jolt inside of her.

I-I can't do it! She thought inwardly, starting to quiver as she scooped up a metal bat with her right forehoof, heaving it into her mouth. The weight immediately forced her head down, and she dropped it, staggering back and shaking her head to clear it.

That's truly gonna hurt, A sickly voice whispered from the gloomy corner of Applebloom's head. She suppressed a shudder.

     Not knowing what to do, Applebloom nudged the metal bat over to her waiting friends. They were exchanging nervous whispers, awfully close, at least for the pale, young mare that was ready to get her vengeance. Anger started to bubble up inside of her chest until it rolled up her throat, coming out as a low, throaty growl that would be most likely expected from a dog. Huffily, she stamped up to the two fillies, giving Scootaloo a sharp, hard whack on the head. Applebloom could see scarlet beads watering down Scootaloo's face and she heard a startled gargle, blood trickling out of the pegagus' gaping mouth, until she slumped to the ground.

     Before Sweetie Belle could pull her blindfold up, Applebloom leaped on top of her and whacked her three times in the head, blood arcing onto Applebloom's pale golden face as she watched in satisfaction.

     A pink shape slipped stealthily from the bushes, keeping low, and threw a grainy brown sack over Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, of whom were soaked in their own blood.

     Applebloom lifted her hoof at the purple-and-white maned earth-pony, and they clapped hooves in a complacent brohoof.

     "Are they ready?" Diamond Tiara whispered, her tone foreshadowed a massive amount. Her tiara shone in the glowing golden sun, which beamed down on ponyville and bored into the ponies' fur, glinting in their cheerful eyes, which had bubbles of light dotted in them. But not Applebloom and Diamond Tiara's.

     "Yes." Applebloom replied complacently. "Are Twilight and the girls ready?"

     Diamond Tiara nodded. "They were too easy, but I feel they're gonna try to escape!" She exclaimed anxiously.

     "Nonsense!" Applebloom retorted.

     "Oh, fine." Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes quickly and arrogantly. Applebloom just barely was able to ignore it.

     "Okay. Ya need to bring them to the house." Applebloom instructed seriously.

     "But are you sure it's safe?"

     "It's old and nopony goes there! ever!" Applebloom snapped.

     "Yes, but, the house could collapse on us-"

     "On them, not us. We'll be ready. Plus, we'll be in the basement mostly."

     "Okay. . ." Diamond Tiara agreed reluctantly, scuffing a hoof on the ground before looking up and trotting over to the bushes, dragging the bodies along with her using her jaws. She had a wheel barrel she could bring them to the house with, just lurking behind those lush green bushes.

     Applebloom smirked as she raced into the clubhouse, pushing a blue chest with golden rims, which was resting on black, gray-centered wheels, out of the small house in the trees. She rolled it nonchalantly onto the dirt paths of ponyville, veering into the more barren roads, which were eerily silent and no ponies were playing outside. She strolled over to the house after about a half hour of slinking in the shadows and abandoned roads of the not-so-used part of ponyville.

     Diamond Tiara was somehow already there.

     Confusion latched onto Applebloom like an irritable tick. She flicked an ear, bemused, before scampering up to her sidekick.

     "H-Whah are ya here? Where are the bodies?" Her accent was heavy from the concern building up like blocks inside of her. She felt her heart start to beat a bit faster and her yellow fur was just starting to rise.

      Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. "I used Scootaloo's scooter. Also, the girls were starting to come out of unconsciousness, so I needed to run."

      "The crusaders?"

     "No, Princess Twilight and her friends."

     "So, where are they? Did you get caught?"

     "Nah. Nopony saw me, I was as quick as a flash. And they're waiting in the basement."

     "Good." Applebloom's voice was dark, like a haunted, abandoned house just waiting to trap someone. "Let's get started." Applebloom trotted into the house.

      The house was ragged, the white beams stretching up and holding it up just barely. They had tears and even bite marks in them. Diamond Tiara's tail brushed one and it wobbled excessively; she flinched and darted in to the big blue house, foreboding creeping into her as she squeezed under the broken wooden door, all of its paint faded away, making it a crooked slab of wood hanging off of its top hinge. The bottom hinge would snap any moment and the door would collapse, but luckily it didn't.

     Diamond Tiara's icy blue eyes were locked on Applebloom's swaying red tail, which she could only just make out in the darkness. The small yellow earthpony led her to the basement, which had stony walls closing into it. Though it was very big, both pony's felt apprehension that the walls would close in on them. They were just too determined to get the job done to say anything about it.

     "Are there any lights?" Applebloom asked briskly, examining the pitch-black room she was standing in. She began to walk forward but tripped on something hard and soft. . .

     Diamond Tiara yowled when Applebloom emitted a huge scream, until her lungs ached. She skittered against the wall, her fur bristling and standing on end in alarm.

     "It was just a body!" Diamond Tiara scoffed, kicking the sack, which had a fuzzy body inside it, with a hoof.

     "Oh." Applebloom was thankful that the lights were off, because heat was pulsing from her hide and her face had turned a brilliant red. "W-Well, let's get started. We've much to do." A smile formed on her cunning face.

The Tables Get Turned

     Princess Twilight Sparkle's violet eyes fluttered open, panic rising in her chest and her heartbeat quickening when all she saw was suffocating black. A strange, grainy material brushed her flanks and she thrashed wildly, sparks igniting on her horn as she prepared to shoot magic at whatever this was.

     Applebloom nodded to Diamond Tiara, her orange-yellow eyes shining in the darkness. Carefully, she trotted to the  upright corner of the room and picked up a knife by the grip in her teeth. She scampered back over to Diamond Tiara, who was gingerly opening the grainy sack that held Twilight captive with her teeth. She leaped back, startled, when the alicorn charged at her, desperation flooding into the purple princess' limbs.

     Applebloom bowled into Diamond Tiara, whipping her head and throwing the knife at Twilight before she did so.

     "Be more careful!" She yowled as the knife sunk into Twilight's chest. She scrambled off of Diamond Tiara and faced Twilight, who had blood squeezing out of the gash in her chest, trying to get past the knife. The Princess moaned, shuddering, blood gargling in her throat. The knife had just barely missed her heart.

     Applebloom stood rigid, watching as blood welled in Twilight Sparkle's mouth and droplets came trickling out. She collapsed on the floor, her body racked with shudders and her breathing rapid and strained. Her hooves gripped the knife, though she didn't dare tug it out.

     The farm pony's attention snapped to Diamond Tiara as the filly shakily ran up to Twilight, jerking the knife back. Blood sprayed out as though through a hose, spattering her fur like rain. Twilight uttered a strangled gasp, loud and echoing in the basement of the abandoned house they stood in.

     "Shut up!" Diamond Tiara swiped at Twilight's head with her hoof and the Alicorn's head thumped the ground, her muscles easing. She'd knocked the princess unconscious.

     "That'll be good to wake up to." Applebloom purred, satisfaction attacking her voice like an excited cat.

     "Sure will." Diamond Tiara's voice was also dripping with sweet satisfaction.

     Suddenly, Applejack's sack started to move, along with Pinkie Pie's. They squirmed wildly, and Applebloom and Diamond Tiara exchanged knowing glances.

     This time wary and expectant, the two fillies quickly opened the sacks with their teeth, leaping aside as Applejack and Pinkie Pie came charging at them. They ended up bumping into each other in stead.

     "Git off o' me!" Applejack howled, though her voice was distorted. Pinkie Pie raged back at her; "I never did anything! It was you! You," she blinked when she realized. "Applejack."

     "Pinkie Pie? Well, Ah'll be! What are ya doin' here?" Applejack's voice seeped back into reality. Bewilderment still clung to her insistently, though, as if a tick.

     Pinkie Pie's response was just her shaking voice, no words formed. Applejack could see the whites of her eyes glowing bigger than usual, and this wasn't glowing joy. . .It was shock.

     "Twilight!!" Pinkie stuttered loudly, pounding up to the gored princess, of whom was laying in a puddle of her own blood, which rippled as more blood flowed out. It seemed to be endless, and the puddle emerged into a kiddy pool. It trickled down to Applebloom's hoof, and she lifted it and backed away.

    "Pinkie! Applejack!" Applebloom shouted, her voice commanding.

     "Twilight!" Applejack's accent was thick with sorrow. "What'll we do with out ya?"

     The ponies were interrupted by caterwauls. They were obviously coming from Rarity.

     "You start the. . ."games". Ah'll take care of Rarity!" Applebloom raced to the petty Unicorn's sack, which was shaking and thrashing wildly. Rainbow Dash's was stirring, too, and so was Fluttershy's and Starlight Glimmer's.

     "Did you bring the ball gag?" Diamond Tiara asked anxiously, her voice nearly drowned out from the sobs coming from Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

     "Yeah, but I thought we weren't gonna use it till we absolutely needed it, if so. There's gonna be a lot of screaming. And they're mainly used for. . ." Applebloom gulped. "Older pony stuff."

     Diamond Tiara nodded, her blue eyes fixed on Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

     "She's not dead!" The pink filly growled, making her voice heard by raising it a large amount. "She's just unconscious! Back off!" Her tone was scathing.

     "B-but Twilight! I love you!" Pinkie buried her muzzle in the Alicorn's scruff, blood soaking into her fluffy pink fur.

     "What will we do without ya?!" Applejack cried, tears streaming down her face.

     "Daw, you got Applejack to cryyyyy!!!!!" Pinkie's voice rose into a wail of distress, tears gushing down her face and dripping into Twilight's fur. "We were gonna bake cupcakes together! Why did you have to leave us?"

     "I said; 'BACK OFF!'" Diamond Tiara drew up the metal bat in her teeth and swiped it at Pinkie Pie's leg. The pink earth pony yelped shrilly, standing over Twilight. Applejack joined her, Rarity falling in behind the messy apple farmer. Her deep, dark blue eyes were glittering, and for once her mane was a little dirty.

     "You can go through me, but you can't get to Twilight!" Pinkie hissed, her hackles spiking defensively. Rarity nodded slightly, determination striking in her blue gaze.

     "Fine!" Diamond Tiara bellowed, throwing the bat at Pinkie's head. She ducked just in time, but the bat whizzed over to Applejack. . .

     There was a scream, which rang in Diamond Tiara's ears, causing them to twitch and eventually flatten. "Oh, please!" She whimpered, pawing an ear with her hoof.

     Applejack's eyes glazed over, the intense green fading to a dull green. The world swayed beneath her, and Pinkie and Rarity's cries were muffled as though they were shouting into a pillow. Her stomach churned with a blazing pain that also rang in her head. Speaking of which, her head felt warm and sticky, like a liquid was pulsing from it. It flooded red over her vision for a lot of agonizing heartbeats till it stopped, the large drops turning to small trickles. Her eyes rolled halfway to the back of the throbbing head, and her legs gave out from under her. She collapsed, panting, onto the ground, her chest heaving as she gasped for air.

     A massive weight smashed into Diamond Tiara, forcing her to the ground. Two hard circular things gripped her throat, pushing in-hard.

     "You wanna hurt Applejack?" A raspy voice hissed into her pink ear, the hooves gripping harder. "You wanna take that risk?!" The pony jerked Diamond Tiara closer by tugging her scruff. "Well, think again!" The pony stood up, letting her hooves fall to the small filly's forehooves. She splayed them out on the floor, revealing a thick blue pelt and hard muscle. Her wings spread wide in anger, the Pegasus smacked her head hard against Diamond Tiara's, resting a wing on the side of the pony's belly as she kicked and squirmed, begging for mercy.

     "Please, Rainbow Dash! I'll do anything!" Diamond Tiara's tone was thick with guilt.

     "'Sorry' doesn't fix my special somepony!" Rainbow Dash's tone was biting and her spit flew onto Diamond Tiara's face. Diamond Tiara's forehooves were tensed immensely since she was desperate to cover her face. Tears welled in the small filly's blue eyes.

     Then there was a yowl.

     A bang.

     Rainbow Dash skidded off of Diamond Tiara.

     Applejack shrilled.

     Applebloom tackled Rainbow Dash to the ground, Pinkie's insane cries of horror and Fluttershy's whimpers driving anger into her coldly running blood. Her heart was like a ball of ice in her chest as she sank her teeth deep into Rainbow Dash's neck. The Pegasus howled in sheer pain, her voice scraping harshly against her throat, which was tensing as she uttered more desperate wails.

     Diamond Tiara was on top of the issue in a heartbeat. Darting over to a dark corner of the room, she picked up the ball gag in her jaws and darted back over to Rainbow Dash, struggling to get it on. This caused the Pegasus to thrash even more crazily, drool dripping from the ball in her mouth. She flailed her forearms around wildly, trying to smack anything she could reach. Blood was starting to well where Applebloom had bitten her, but the farm filly had not had her fill.

     Applebloom couldn't stop. She could feel the fur starting to part in her mouth and the skin starting to break and the tang of blood against her tongue sent a jolt down her body. She loved it. She bit down with so much force, giddiness riding inside of her. I can tear her neck, I can tear her neck. . .

     That's when Applejack ran clumsily up to them, her hooves shaking and blood still drying on her face. Applejack barreled into Applebloom, nipping the filly's ear sharply but yet swiftly and tumbling off of Rainbow Dash with her in her grip.

     Applebloom's jaws were reluctant to leave Rainbow Dash's throat, and they were torn free when Applejack crashed into her. Blood gushed from the blue pony's throat but slowed down just barely after it'd started.

     Rainbow Dash shrilled a moan, holding her hooves to her throat and forcing the ball gag off. She spun and hauled herself up, thinking fast, and bucked Diamond Tiara directly in the head, busting her lip and causing blood to spill from her nose. She stifled a yelp of alarm, and Rainbow Dash skittered behind her, forcing down her spine down heavily with her hooves.

     Panic rose in Diamond Tiara's chest and her heart thumped as her belly fur brushed the ground; she was being pushed down.

     "That's a good mare!" Rainbow Dash growled.

     Diamond Tiara allowed herself to go limp, but Rainbow Dash wasn't giving up and she was starting to feel suffocated.

     It took ages for Rainbow Dash to give up and come to Applejack's side, but Rarity was bounding toward Diamond Tiara already.

     As the pink filly fought off Rarity, a thought struck her; How long will we be able to fight them off?

No Escape

     Applebloom kicked out desperately with her hind legs, her brow furrowed and frustration coming down in beads from her forehead.

     She gasped. "Get. . .Off!" She gasped again, between words, but Applejack's weight was insistent on her belly. Rainbow dash snatched up the knife by its handle in her jaws, pointing it for her stomach.

     Applejack shot a glare at Rainbow Dash, and bitterly the Pegasus gave in, dropping the knife at her hooves.

     "Applebloom, Ah ain't got no idea whats goin' on, but ya'll gotta stop! NOW!" Applejack begged, on the verge of tears.

     "This is just the start!" Applebloom grunted with the effort of squirming like a worm in her older sisters grip. "You never understand!" Tears blurred the edges of her vision. "Ah'll be sad and you yell at me for no reason! You call yerself the element of honesty? Well, I think that fits just fine!" Tears streamed down Applebloom's cheeks and Applejack released her grip.

     "A-Ah never knew! Ah'm so sorry, sis'! Are we good now?" Applejack was trying to place her words carefully, but she was just too desperate to get her sister back and escape. A shame. . .

     "So. . .This "apology" is just. . .Just to escape?! Well, I'm not having it! Rainbow!" Applebloom snapped, and the rainbow-maned mare turned her attention to the filly, ears pricked and wings only half folded.

     "Pick up the knife!" Applebloom demanded imperiously, watching furiously as Rainbow Dash apprehensively picked the knife up in her teeth.

     "Okay. Applejack, go fetch a blindfold and put it on Rainbow." Applebloom's sunsety gaze was cold.

     Driven by fear, Applejack obeyed.

     Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's sacks started to move. Applebloom cast a glance at Diamond Tiara.

     The small pink filly was flailing her forehooves against Rarity's flailing own. Luckily, the unicorn was batting pettily, grimacing as though, to an average pony, Diamond Tiara was a homeless colt trying to touch her. Not in a certain way necessarily, but she was still being a bit ridiculous, especially in times like this.

     But, finally, Diamond Tiara threw Rarity to the ground. She pressed her skull against Rarity's horn, which had blue sparks igniting on it. Pain was starting to stab at Diamond's head, since Rarity's sparking horn was pressing very hard against it.

     Grunting with the effort, Diamond Tiara smacked Rarity's shoulder blade with a hard hoof, gritting her teeth in frustration. The older mare scrabbled to her hooves and held Diamond down against her fluffy pink belly, blue eyes gleaming with rage and disgust. Her hooves pressed sharply into Diamond's throbbing spine.

     Applebloom lifted a hoof, afterword slamming it back down. "O-Okay. Then Ah'll do it." Reluctantly, Applebloom trotted over to the sacks, ordering Rainbow Dash to stay put across the room, in one of the dark corners in the far left of the basement.

     She pulled open the sacks carefully with her teeth, her heart racing. She scrabbled back, expecting Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to come flying at her, but instead they charged toward each other, pressing their lips together passionately and throwing their hooves around one another's neck in a big hug. Scootaloo was the first to pull back, daunted by the power of her and Sweetie Belle's love.

     "I-I. . ." She stuttered, but Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her lips, her eyes glistening.

     Fury boiled up inside of Applebloom, hurt spiking her chest like a thousand knives. She bolted for the knife beside Applejack and raced back toward "Scootabelle" with it clamped between her teeth.

"STOPPIT!!!!" Applebloom yowled, dropping the knife at Scootaloo's hooves. It grazed the blue, youthful Pegasus' foreleg and she raised it in alarm, her fur spiking and her pupils thinning. She slowly looked up to Applebloom, staggering back a tail-length.

     Sweetie Belle's face was a deathly pale. Her eyes were practically glued to Scootaloo's hoof and the knife, flicking from one to the other. Horror was plane on her bone-white face and wide eyes. Her pupils were small dots in her green iris. Slowly she dragged her green gaze to Applebloom's.

     Applebloom's eyes were blazing as she imagined Scootaloo crying out on the cold floor, blood clotted in her orange fur-which had turned orange red with blood. Quickly she shook her head and matched up her gaze with Sweetie Belle's horrific own. The small white filly's glistening eyes gave away her exact emotion.

     "You and Scootaloo always ignore me!" Applebloom shouted. A cry sounded behind her, but she ignored it and flicked an ear, anger firing in her sunset-colored eyes. "Y'all are so lost in yer eyes ya can't even see how much it's affecting me!" Applebloom pressed her right forehoof against her fuzzy yellow chest, which had drying blood flecked on the fur.

     Scootaloo's pupils were small dots in her eyes, which had sparks of light scoring through her purple-white iris, giving her a crazed appearance. "I just want to be more like Rainbow Dash!" She gushed hastily. "She likes mares! And, and I do, too! I just really, extra like Sweetie!" She bumped her head against Sweetie Belle's and gave the white unicorn a fervent kiss on the head. Scootaloo was shaking excessively.

     "Wha do y'all get a love and not me? It's just not fair!" Applebloom bellowed, scooping up the knife in her mouth and lifting her head, her eyes blazing. "You had it coming!" She growled around the knife handle in her mouth. In a flash, she jerked her head down, towards Scootaloo's chest. "You were always the most annoying!"

     But her plan backfired, and Sweetie Belle leaped in front of her marefriend, taking the blow. The knife slid into her chest, blood bubbling at the metal that wasn't yet inside of her, causing a strained gasp to heave out of her throat. Her muscles tightened, and pain clouded her green gaze.

     "Agh!" Sweetie Belle moaned and gasped, blood spurting from her chest and spattering Applebloom's fur.

     Scootaloo was too shocked to speak, her vision blurred by tears, of which even they hesitated in a stage of shock. She shook her head, trying desperately to clear it, but Sweetie Belle still had a knife through her chest with blood pressing to pour out. She collapsed, her white fur spiking.

     Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara thrashed wildly under Rarity's grip, but the white unicorn caught a glimpse of Sweetie Belle and her heart stopped.

     "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity hollered, shock piercing her blue eyes. Forgetting about the pink "demon" filly she had been holding down, Rarity galloped to Sweetie Belle's side.

     Applejack twitched as she watched the scene. Her green eyes flitted to Rainbow Dash, who was slowly creeping up to Twilight's limp body, but the Pegasus leaped back, startled, as the Alicorn's body convulsed.

     Twilight's eyes blinked slowly open and a light moan rasped slightly from her throat, which was clotted with blood. It trickled from her mouth and, suddenly, she coughed, blood spraying the floor at her purple hooves. Her pelt spiked as she coughed and hacked, and Applebloom's attention was snapped to the princess.

     "Oh, great, she's woken up." The yellow farm filly muttered darkly. She abandoned the spluttering and bleeding Sweetie Belle and plodded up to Twilight.

     "Shut up!" She demanded imperiously, fur prickling.

     The only response was the start of a sentence, only to be broken up by yet another fit of coughing.

     Pinkie Pie's mouth quivered in an attempt to hold back her tears, but they were insistent, like the lump throbbing in her tightened throat.

     "Twilight! You egghead, get up!" Rainbow Dash hissed, kicking Twilight by her shoulder.

     Blood sprayed Rainbow's hoof. She lifted it, her jaws clenched and her eyes wild with fear and mental pain.

     "Wake up, fully!" Rainbow Dash howled, stamping her forehooves on the ground. Tears blurred the edges of her vision and a lump arched its back in her throat, causing her to struggle for breath.

      "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash's voice was strained.

      "R-Rainbow Dash?" Twilight spluttered, hacking up blood and touching a hoof weakly to Rainbow Dash's. "I-I loved being your fr-friend." She gasped between words, but luckily the blood flow coming from her mouth was slowing.

      "I-I love you! Friend love!" Rainbow Dash cried, an awkward smile quivering on her muzzle.

      "I do, too. . ." Twilight's dull eyes flicked to Rainbow's neck, but almost instantly dropped to the Pegasus' hooves. "I-I'm too weak. . .Rainbow, come closer. . ." Twilight forced out, the bags under her eyes dark and heavy.

      "Me, too?" Pinkie Pie asked, her voice very small.

      "Ye-" Twilight's body jerked and spasmed as a bought of coughing and hacking attacked her and coarsed through her body. Her horn sparked, and she fell limp, blood pouring from her mouth.

      Rainbow Dash and Pinkie and Rarity drew their attention to the knife that was shoved into Twilight's spine. Blood spurted out of it in arcing "chunks".

     "TWILIGHT!!!!" Rainbow Dash bellowed, her eyes sparking.

     "TWILIGHT!!!" Rarity shrieked, her fur spiking.

     "No, guys! She's alive, she's alive!" Pinkie Pie rasped, her ice-blue eyes bright with fear, tears stuck in her tear duct. She crouched down before Twilight, prodding her stiff shoulder with a careful pink hoof. Nothing stirred.

     Twilight's body was stiff, her legs sticking out as though she was stretching. All of her muscles were tensed, as any body would be after death. And her chest, face, and forehoof fur was matted with thick blood. It was still dripping from her mouth, but yet easing as heartbeats among rapid heartbeats went on.

     Applejack forced back tears, but also the urge to go up to Twilight. Her hooves quivered.

     "Okay!" Applebloom hollered. "Everyone, gather around Twilight!"

     Applejack stumbled numbly up to Twilight's blood-smeared body, her striking green eyes glazed with grief and tears, but Diamond Tiara stood where she was, a few paces from the other ponies.

     "This," Applebloom gestured to Twilight's body, then Sweetie Belle's, behind her, "is what happens when you disobey me. These games will go on until one of you is left, or two, if you've grown to hate each other, are left. You will face death in vain, and tests." She drew in a deep breath. "And don't think y'all can escape!"

     Applejack winced. And not even your sister may escape. . .I loved you, Applebloom. Invisible hooves gripped Applejack's throat.