Bloodlust Bakery

For about 15 seconds, nopony moved, nopony spoke, nopony did anything. To Rainbow Dash, those 15 seconds felt like an eternity. Eclipse's gaze never left Pinkie Pie, his almost evil grin never faltered. Finally, he slowly began to walk toward them.

"So," he said, his voice deep and resonate, "she finally lost control over you." A cold chuckle escaped his throat. "Can't say as though I'm surprised; I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later." He stopped and cocked his head slightly to the right. "Of course, this isn't the first time you've surfaced, isn't it. How many times have you sacrificed ponies in order to get your 'secret ingredient'? Never when I was around, of course; then you would have been discovered in an instant. No, it was always when I was off visiting my sister and the rest of Seraphim."

His grin grew slightly wider. "But you made your mistake this afternoon when you came to visit me. You assumed that my pain would dull my other senses, yes?" He didn't wait for an answer. “Well, you were wrong. Because my body was weak, all my other senses grew sharper to compensate." He waited half a second to let it sink in. "I didn’t understand it at the time, but I sensed you the instant you entered my room."

"What the hell are you even talking about?!" Rainbow shouted, but instantly regretted raising her voice; she grew dizzy and she nearly fainted from the effort.

Eclipse turned her attention to her, seeming to only now notice her. "Ah, Rainbow Dash. You look lovely." A strange edge entered his voice. "Blood is defiantly your color."

"Cut the creepy and just explain what’s going on already." The Pegasus countered. She felt uneasy about the way that Eclipse was staring at her. It reminded her too much of the last time the dark pony lost control, only this time she wasn’t so sure he could be stopped.

"Why, didn't you notice?" Eclipse feigned astonishment.

"Notice what?" The pain in Rainbow’s flank and the amount of blood that she had lost was making her frustrated.

"Look at her. Her mane is strait; that should have been the first thing to tip you off. Also, notice that her color is darker and duller than usual."

"What's your point?" she asked, struggling to stay conscious. This round-a-bout conversation was beginning to take its toll.

Eclipse's grin grew another few degrees wider and a new chill entered his voice. "Those with Darksides can always sense other Darksides."

"What does that have to do with any-"Rainbow stopped mid-sentence, realization dawning on her. Her magenta eyes grew wide in trepidation. Her voice came out in a barely audible whisper of fear. “You don't mean?"

"Yes. That is not the Pinkie Pie we know." He once again turned his gaze to Pinkie Pie. "This one's a Darkside."

Rainbow was still trying to take it all in. "But- but you said only Safers of the royal bloodline had Darksides."

"Yes, that's what I had always been told as well," his eyes began to glow with a new intensity, "but apparently, that is not the case. And that is what makes you so interesting, Pinkamena." He addressed the Darkside directly this time. "Your host is not even a Safer, much less a royal Safer. Your very existence is an impossibility."

The edge from before reentered his voice, harsher this time. "Not that it matters! Darkside Pinkamena Diane Pie, I’m going to kill you and consume every last drop of your blood!"

'Okay,' Rainbow thought to herself, 'this has gone beyond creepy. Eclipse may be kinda... passionate when it comes to fighting, but this is different. This is actually...' Then it hit her. ‘Bloodthirsty.'

She thought back to one of her only times actually meeting Queen Black Rose. They had talked about this and that, and eventually the subject had gotten onto Eclipse. "He wasn't easy to handle once he officially joined the Praetorian Guard," the queen had said, “He doesn't show it much now, but he used to have this insatiable bloodlust, even when he wasn't engaging his Darkside. I got complaints about it all the time from both Cutting Edge and other members of the Guard."

It only now occurred to Rainbow Dash that Rose had meant it literally. A cold sensation settled in the pit of her stomach. Eclipse had a hidden thirst for blood; and she was about to witness it firsthand.

Eclipse and Pinkamena starred each other down, neither of them receding and inch. Then, the tension cracked and they were lunging at each other, Eclipse with his Moonlight Shadow attack and Pinkamena with one of her knives. For a split second the two clashed. They then stood with their backs to each other. Blood dripped from Pinkamena's knife. She grinned at her handiwork. This fool had seriously underestimated her. She would make sure he died slowly.

But then she noticed something: a drip of blood rolling down her cheek. It took her a second to realize that it was her blood. There was a deep cut on her cheek, right under her left eye. She spun around to face her opponent, an enraged snarl plastered across her face. Eclipse was raising his hoof to his mouth. His tongue slid along its side, the side with Pinkamena's blood.

"Sweet," he commented, “Figures."

Pinkamena's eyes grew wide in fear and panic. ‘He’s really going to do it,' she thought, 'He's really going to kill me and drink my blood.' The party pony stood frozen in place, trembling from mane to flank. Her heart fluttered wildly in her rib cage. Then she regained he composure and snarled. 'Well, he won't be able to if I kill him first.'

"You know, Eclipse," she said, “I’ve been needing a partner to help me in another little hobby of mine."

"Oh?" Eclipse responded in a teasing manner, "And just what would that be?"

In what seemed like an instant, Pinkamena had pounced on Eclipse and tied him up in a similar way to Rainbow Dash. Just for good measure, she stuck two knives into his arms to hold him in place. She walked over to a table that had several large butcher knives on it. She picked up seven.

"I need you to help me practice my knife throwing!" she announced.

She threw the first knife. It stabbed Eclipse straight through his gut. Pinkamena laughed hysterically as she threw the other knives. One went through his diaphragm; another pierced a lung, another hit the middle of his chest, all of them getting vital areas. Oh yes, she was not going to let his death be an easy one; she would see to it that Eclipse painfully bled out and died slowly. Pinkamena relished the horrified look that would soon come to his features as the knowledge he would die by her hooves sunk in. Finally, she ran out of knives.

Eclipse hung where he was bound a pool of blood forming around his hooves. He looked very much dead.

Rainbow turned her head, tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t stomach to watch her friend hanging there. The bitter taste of bile hung in the back of her throat as she gave in to the desolate truth. Eclipse was dead, and there was no chance of her being rescued.

Pinkamena laughed, relieved. "Looks like someone was all talk," she said. Then she turned to Rainbow. “Now," she said, advancing on her victim, "where were we?"

Neither of them was given the chance to find out. The same cold, evil chuckle from before filled the room again. Pinkamena stopped moving, stopped breathing, stopped everything. "No..." she whispered, head shaking in disbelief. "No. That's not possible."

The chuckle was followed by a shriek of hysterical laughter that resounded throughout the room. Rainbow wished she could plug her ears; it was the most terrifying sound she had ever heard.

Both ponies looked over at Eclipse. He was very much alive. And he looked like something from a nightmare. Tied to the wall, the seven butcher knives sticking out of him, blood flowing freely from the wounds and from his mouth, Eclipse hung grinning like a demon from hell.

"What's wrong?" he said his voice a strange mix between a hiss and a snarl, "Is that all?" His eyes were wide &bloodshot, filled with a wild, hungry gleam. And they stared straight at Pinkamena. "Come on, hurt me some more. Hurry up; I hate to be kept waiting!"

Pinkamena could only stand there, pinned in place by sheer terror. She had killed this mad-pony; she was sure she had hit every vital area she knew. It was a complete impossibility that Eclipse was still alive. So how…?

"Well then, if you’re not going to hurt me, then I guess I'll just have to hurt you!"

With that, Eclipse ripped free of his bindings& flung himself at Pinkamena.

It was amidst the raging turmoil of panicked thoughts that realization finally dawned on Pinkamena. She wasn’t dealing with a pony.

She was dealing with a monster.

"IT'S SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME!!!!!"