First

First

By Andysonic1

Suck it, hom3r

A field of soft, green grass stretched away from Ponyville like an ocean. It was a place where anypony could frolic and play, and was often times crowded with them doing just that. But today, on a bright shiny day, the three members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders found themselves alone with full rein of the field.

Applebloom laughed as she kicked the large beach ball to Sweetie Belle. The unicorn used her front legs to kick the ball on to Scootaloo, who dived to head-butt it back.

All three of them were having so much fun that none of them noticed a pink earth pony sit under the shadow of a tree and watch them for some time. It was Applebloom who eventually did notice and point her out to her friends.

“What’s she doing?” Scootaloo asked, the three of them now looking back at Pinkie Pie.

The pink pony was sitting completely still, eyes locked on the fillies. She was too far away for any of them to call out to her. Shrugging, Applebloom said, “I’ll go see what she wants.” The earth filly ran off and her two friends went back to playing.

As she got closer, Applebloom noticed that Pinkie Pie was staring at her, not the others. Her blue pony eyes tracked the filly’s progress as she ran. Under the shadow of the tree it was impossible to make out her expression.

When she got to the tree she stopped, panting. It was unnecessary to run the entire way but she didn’t care. “Hi, Pinkie Pie! Whatcha up to?” Applebloom exclaimed when she got her breath back.

Close enough to converse, the filly saw Pinkie Pie’s smile now. It was somehow different, somehow less moments away from laughter then before and closer to something she couldn’t describe.

“Hey, Applebloom!” Pinkie replied, “I thought maybe you’d want to come over and try out some treats I’m making?”

Even as tired as she was, Applebloom jumped into the air with joy, “Treats?!” Pinkie Pie was an amazing baker. Just recently she had made some rainbow colored cupcakes for everypony in town. “I’ll tell the others-”

“NO!”

In a half turn already, Applebloom tripped on her own hooves as she came to a sudden stop and fall. Her head turned in a question back at the pink pony’s outburst.

Smile wide, “I mean…these are special…they’re for Applejack, so only you would know what she likes…so only you need to come!”

There it was again. Something in her smile, in her eye, in the way she wasn’t fidgeting or chewing on her hair like it was cotton candy that was just so un-Pinkie. It made a shiver run down Applebloom’s spine.

But it was Pinkie Pie. And there were treats. Nodding, “I’ll tell them I’ll be right back than!”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie called after the filly as she ran back to her friends, her energy seemingly boundless. The pony’s smile never wavered.

“So what kinda treats are they? Cupcakes? Mini-cakes? Crumb Cakes?”

“Yooooooou’ll seeeeeeeee…”

“Awwww come on, Pinkie Pie! Tell me tell me tell me!”

“Now, now! That would ruin the supriiiiiise…oh shoot! I left some sugar in the basement, could you get it for me?”

“Oh, okay…down here?”

“Yuppy yup yupsters!”

“Is there a light or-”

“Off you go!”

“PINKIE PIE!”

It sounded exactly the same as when she had tumbled down a pair of horse shoes from the top of the stairs. There was a crack as she slammed into the wooden railing halfway down, but the railing didn’t give. White hot pain shot up from her front right leg.

There was a dull slam as she connected with the final step, but she didn’t hear it.

In the pitch black room the first sensation she could distinguish was pain.

And it was everywhere.

After a few moments the pain began to diminish into centralized locations. What felt like bruises blossomed on her front and hind legs and along her body. The worst pain, though, came from her front right leg. She tried to move to a better laying position but couldn’t. Something pinned all her legs down and wide.

And then like a sun, a light exploded into existence and blinded her. She cried out in pain and tried to get away but still couldn’t move. Tears ran down her eyes from the change from total darkness to agonizing light.

Between soft sobs, the filly heard somepony humming. “Hello?” she called out. Her shut lids were slowly opening, slowing getting more used to the light. It was coming from a large lamp a few feet away from her. When no pony responded, she called again, “Hello? Is anypony there?”

Just as her eyes were starting to bring the multitude of colors in front of her into focus, a giant pink blur burst into view. Pinkie Pies front hooves crashed down onto the table on either side of Applebloom’s head, her nose barely an inch away from the fillies. So shocked was Applebloom that she couldn’t even scream out.

Two blue circles bordering bottomless pits of black stared down into the scared filly’s eyes. A voice barely above a whisper said, slowly, “Good mooooooooorning sleepy weepy head.” Pinkie’s tongue shot out and licked Applebloom’s cheek clean of tears. “Weepy sleepy!” she giggled.

“Pi…Pink…”

“Hmm?” the pink pony turned her head and put her ear to the filly’s lips, “What was that?”

“Pink…Pinkie Pie?”

“Oooohhhh yay, you remember me! I was afraid you had brain damage from the fall!” Pinkie Pie started to jump up and down on the table in excitement, causing it to jump and move.

Applebloom cried out in pain at the motions. “Oopsies!” the pink pony said, “Sorry, I just got so excited that you would remember that I just started jumping for joy!”

“Re…remember what? Where are we?” Applebloom could see clearly now but the rest of the room was obscured by Pinkie standing over her.

“Oh! How silly of me! Oh gosh I’m forgetting everything today, can you believe it?” she jumped from the table to the floor and out of the filly’s view. Front legs up, the pony worked a crank that tilted the table Applebloom laid on, revealing the scene before her.

Like a party straight out of her own nightmares, the room was decorated with things she had only seen in anatomy books in class. Pony organs were hung from along the walls, skulls adorned a long table set against the wall to her left, and a cape of cutie marks hung on a rack on the wall to her right.

And sitting on a chair facing her, more horrific than anything else, was Rainbow Dash. Her eyes, lidless, stared straight into Applebloom’s. Wires ran to the ceiling and held her body and front legs up in the air.

It was all too much, too fast. The world began to spin. Darkness closed in on the edges of her vision.

“Awwww, we haven’t even started yet!”

“Wake!”

Slap!

“Up!”

Slap!

Applebloom’s eyes sprang open, her cheeks bright red from Pinkie Pie’s hoof. The pony in question stood feet away, eye’s disapproving.

“Do you know how rude it is to fall asleep before the party is over? Heck, the party hasn’t even started and you fell asleep!”

The filly took in the room again and began to tremble uncontrollably. “Pinkie Pie…I wanna go home…” she managed through quaking lips.

But Pinkie Pie, facing away, was across the room already, arranging shiny objects on a cart. “Home she says! Hasn’t even stayed for the fun part! Kids, they wouldn’t know a good party if it bit ‘em!” Applebloom could hear Pinkie mumbling to herself.

“I don’t…want a party…”

Pinkie Pie froze, the shiny thing in her hoof cluttering to the floor. It was a long kitchen knife. “What did you say?”

Applebloom couldn’t look away from the knife, couldn’t stop putting two and two together.

In the blink of an eye Pinkie Pie was there, her eyes the filly’s entire world. There was no laughter in those eyes. In a voice so quiet Applebloom almost thought she didn’t hear it at all, Pinkie Pie asked again, “What did you say?”

Tears starting to well up, “I…don’t…”

A pink hoof slammed into the Applebloom’s gut, stealing away her sentence. The giant blue eyes peering into her soul didn’t blink. “What was that?”

Tears overflowing now, the filly could do nothing but shake her head.

Smiling, Pinkie Pie stepped back. “That’s what I thooouught!” she sang, “Oh, you are going to love it! I’ve got games and prizes and a special supriiiiiiiiiiiise just for yyyyooouuuu!” She began hopping around the room singing the same sentence over and over. “Just for yyyyyoooouuuu!”

Applebloom tried to look around the room for an exit while Pinkie was distracted. It became clear in moments that the stairs were behind her somewhere. All that lay before her was horror. She began to cry in earnest.

Pinkie was suddenly beside her, pouting up at her, “You really are a weepy head aren’t you? And here I thought you weren’t a baby…” As she spoke she lifted the long kitchen knife up to Applebloom’s cheek. The tip reflected the filly’s eye right back at her. “I guess we could skip the party if you want to just CUT to the chase…”

“N…NO!” Applebloom screamed, “I want the party, really! Please don’t!”

The knife was replaced against her cheek by Pinkie’s own cheek in a nuzzle, “I knew you’d come around! No one can resist a Pinkie Pie party!” She hopped back to the cart and placed the knife down. “Now than, how about our first game?” the pony said as she walked around the tilted table. Legs screeching on the stone floor, Pinkie pushed the table closer to where Rainbow Dash sat.

Seeing her destination, Applebloom asked in a quaking voice, “What are you doing? What game is this?”

“Just a miiiiiinute!” the party pony sang when the table’s legs collided with the chairs. Applebloom was close enough now to really smell Rainbow Dash. She gagged and coughed. “Awwww, she’s not so fresh anymore, but she still loves games!”

Before Applebloom could respond, Pinkie Pie used a key to unlock her front legs. They fell to the filly’s sides, her left leg sending fresh pain straight to her brain causing her to cry out. Pinkie Pie ignored her and rushed behind Rainbow Dash’s chair. She placed her front hooves into two hanging loops of wire, “This game is called, Patty Cake! It’s one of my favorites!”

Before Applebloom’s eyes Rainbow Dash came to life. The pony’s front legs rose and fell at Pinkie’s whim.

“Hold out your legs, now!” the pink pony said when she found the correct height to line up Rainbow Dash’s legs with Applebloom’s. “Go on! You start!”

Unable to think of anything else to do, Applebloom reached out and touched her right front leg to Rainbow Dash’s.

Suddenly, Rainbow’s limbs waved wildly, “NO NO NO! You’re supposed to use BOTH legs! Geese, I thought kids were supposed to know how to play these games!”

“I…I can’t move my left leg…”

Pinkie’s head peeked around the back of the chair, “Huh?”

“I can’t move my left leg!” Applebloom said angrier.

“Well why didn’t you say so sooner, dumby!” Pinkie Pie said as she took her hooves out of the wire loops. Hopping, she moved around the chair and stood to Applebloom’s left to examine her leg. “Hmmm…” a pink hoof came up to poke the fillies limp leg. Applebloom gritted her teeth and cried out softly. “Yup, it’s broken!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily.

“I can’t play…so I can leave now, right?” Applebloom asked, hope creeping into her voice.

Looking aghast, Pinkie Pie said, “Of course not! We’ll just play Operation instead!”

The filly felt tremors coming on again, “But you don’t know how to fix a broken leg!”

Pinkie Pie just laughed, “How hard can it be? Look, I’ll practice on Rainbow Dash! I put her bones back in with some styrofoam!”

Before Applebloom could process that completely, Pinkie Pie took Rainbow Dash’s front right leg in her hooves and slammed it down sideways against the arm of the chair. There was a loud snap as a bone cracked and appeared from beneath blue skin. Red liquid oozed from the wound.

Smiling, Pinkie Pie bent and licked the breach, “Ketchup!”

The image overwhelmed Applebloom and the filly vomited. It flew forward onto Rainbow Dash and cascaded down the filly’s torso and lower legs. Pinkie Pie cried out in dismay at the mess but all Applebloom could hear was ringing in her ears. Eyes closed, the filly faded in and out of consciousness for a few minutes.

When she regained her senses, Applebloom saw that Pinkie Pie had pushed the table she was on away from Rainbow Dash again and was mopping up her vomit while talking to herself. “Passing out, throwing up!” Pinkie Pie said, voice hard, “I swear fillies just do NOT know how to behave at a party!”

Applebloom’s throat was too raw to respond even if she wanted to. One thought kept racing through her head: I have to get out of here!

“Pinkie Pie? Are you down there?”

In a leap Pinkie Pie soared across the room and hit the light switch, drowning the world in darkness. The basement door at the top of the stairs opened. Soft candle light attempted to push the darkness back and failed. Only a few steps near the top were visible.

From the voice, Applebloom knew it was Ms. Cakes speaking, “What are you doing down in the dark, dear?”

In a voice sweet enough to make Applebloom gag, Pinkie Pie said, “Oh, just fixing the light bulb, Ms. Cakes!” There was a shuffling sound as the pony moved closer to Applebloom.

The filly tried to force words our but a hoof found its way into her open mouth before she could speak. Even in pitch black dark, two blue, wide circles stared at her from a foot away. There was no malice in those eyes, nor laughter. There was nothing at all.

“Oh, well, would you like a light? I could come down and help…”

“No, it’s okay! When I’m close to the burnt bulb my nose will tickle, don’t worry!” Pinkie Pie ended with a little laugh. Her eyes never strayed from Applebloom’s.

“Well, alright, dear…just be sure to lock up when you leave,” the basement door shut as Ms. Cakes finished her sentence.

There were a few moments of silence after both pony and filly listened to Ms. Cakes walk out of Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie Pie breathed a sigh of relief when she was sure they were alone. “That sure was close, huh? I hate party crashers…” she said as she turned the light back on.

Free to speak again, Applebloom choked out one word, “Why?”

“Well duh, party crashers always crash the party! Who would want that?” the pony replied, hopping back to the cart of shiny objects Applebloom figured were more knives.

“No…why…” too emotionally tired by now, all the filly could do was wave her front right leg at the room instead of finish her sentence.

Pinkie Pie got the question, “Oh! Why have a party for you? It’s cause you’re the first, silly!”

At Applebloom’s confused expression, Pinkie explained, “You’re the first of the fillies! You see, I plan on having a party for every filly in town, but I needed to make sure I got you out of the way first! You being the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders would have led the charge in finding your friends, and I can’t have more party crashers, now can I?” While she spoke, Pinkie Pie looked over the carefully placed knives on the cart.

Still confused, Applebloom just shook her head. Sighing, “This is why I don’t bother explaining anymore! No one understands!” Pinkie Pie took a scalpel from the cart and slammed it point down. “I didn’t even try with Rainbow Dash, she would never have understood!” The filly could see Pinkie Pie’s jaw set and teeth gnashing. “Fine! I’ll explain it AGAIN!”

The pony turned from the cart and set her dark gaze back to Applebloom, “It all started when that unicorn came to Ponyville, when she revealed to us our elements, when I became known as nothing more than laughter.” Pinkie laughed humorlessly, “I was well known, you know…celebrated even. I held parties for everypony, cooked and cleaned and scrapped. I worked hard to become who I was. And for Twilight to appear with her magic and suddenly I was nothing more than a clown?!” Her voice rose to a yell, “They were supposed to be my friends, yet no matter what I said or did it was always, ‘Oh it’s just Pinkie Pie!’.” Screaming in frustration, Pinkie Pie kicked out with her back legs and knocked over the cart of knives. The clattering seemed to bring her back to herself slightly.

Pinkie turned to Rainbow Dash, “And then I realized I would never change how they saw me…I had dug myself too deep a hole being someone else for them…” She pushed the chair back so that Rainbow Dash was hanging completely by the wires. Her blue head lolled to the side. “But I didn’t want to leave them…they were my friends…” she said as she stroked Rainbow Dash’s cheek gently, “So I decided…we can still be friends…but on my terms…” The pony got up on her hind legs and placed her front hooves on Rainbow Dash’s shoulders. “I will be the one to label you!” she screamed and slammed her hooves down. Rainbow’s front legs ripped away from her torso as it was forced down.

“We’ll see how you like it, Rainbow Crash!” Pinkie Pie laughed insanely down at the corpse.

Applebloom thought she was going to be sick again but fought it down. “I…I never thought you were a clown…Pinkie Pie…” she managed shakily.

Pinkie looked surprised for a moment that Applebloom was there when she turned back to her. “Oh?” she asked.

Nodding weakly, “I always thought…you were a hard worker…and fu...” The filly bit her lower lip before she got the whole word out, but Pinkie Pie heard it.

The pony’s eyes widened, “Funny? You thought I was funny?”

Applebloom shook her head as much as she could.

“You said it though…” breathing getting heavier, “You said you always thought I was funny…”

The filly started to sob again, “No, I-”

But Pinkie Pie was suddenly there, suddenly so close Applebloom could feel her hot breath on her face. Something just out of her sight reflected light back at her. “Tell me, Applebloom, what’s so funny about wanting to make ponies happy? Hmmm? What’s so funny about wanting to be friends with everypony? TO BE RESPECTED!? TO JUST WANT TO MAKE YOU SMILE?!”

A pink hoof flashed across Applebloom’s face. Blood flew away as the knife cut her cheek open to her mouth. Her scream only made it worse, ripping the wound longer. Red liquid ran like an ocean down her face.

“What’s the matter?! You don’t want to smile now?!”

In quick, precise motions, Pinkie Pie cut smiles into the filly’s torso again and again and again. Each cut was like a lightning strike, sending Applebloom into twitching convulsions. Though shallow, her motions caused each smile to widen, showing muscle teeth.

“Is your broken leg giving you trouble? Let Aunty Pinkie take care of that for you!”

For a few seconds it felt like it was still attached. Pinkie Pie, so practiced and quick, barely seemed to move. Applebloom looked to her left and saw nothing, and the pain seemed to erupt. A wet sound was all that marked the disjoining of her limb from her body as it hit the floor.

Pinkie Pie was saying something, there was a look of sudden disappointment in her eyes, but Applebloom heard none of it. The tremors became convulsions.

The filly’s beating heart ceased.

Table flat, Pinkie Pie carefully cracked Applebloom’s sternum and opened her chest. She was slow and precise, her breathing normal, like a child examining a toy recently broken to find the cause.

A few cuts later the pony held the un-beating heart in her hooves. One of the cut arteries had yellowish buildup within.

Clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth, Pinkie Pie looked down at Applebloom and diagnosed, “Too many sweets…I guess I would have killed you eventually, anyways.” Tossing the heart into a metal tray, Pinkie took up a scalpel and began to skin her latest victim, “I won’t bother telling anyone why, anymore…what a waste of a great party…

“…at least she’ll make a great cupcake…”