Bloodlust Bakery

The first thing Pinkamena noticed was the pain. A sharp stabbing sensation was emitting from her left shoulder. She looked at it in confusion and saw that it had been cut open. She then looked at Eclipse. The pony hung there where he was, grinning that aggravating grin. He hadn’t appeared to have moved an inch. He had not used Moonlight Shadow either, nor had not grabbed one of her knives. Eclipse kept grinning, shifting his right hoof ever so slightly before flinging down in her direction. Realization hit her as he attacked; he had used one of the knives protruding from his forelegs.

Anger flashed through Pinkamena as the knife sliced past her ear. Her grip tightened around the last butcher knife she had.

'There is no way in hell I'm going to be killed by this madpony!' she thought as she swung her knife in a wide, horizontal arc. It sliced through the thin hide of Eclipse’s chest, creating a deep gash that would have sent any normal pony hemorrhaging. Muscle tissue and the cartilage from his sternum became visible as blood exploded from the wound, splashing across Pinkamena’s face in a beautiful arc. The enraged pony snarled with satisfaction, adding a touch of dementia to her already ferocious appearance. Yet to her chagrin, the injury simply caused Eclipse to laugh as he sent back a vicious counterattack.

The sharp bite of a knife blade dug into her forearm and the pony reeled back, frustration evident on her bloodstained face.

"Why the hell won't you just bucking die!?" Pinkamena screeched as she stabbed blindly forward. She felt the knife embedding into flesh and she glared savagely into the half demented face of her prey.

"And let you live?" Eclipse responded with a slight hiss. "You've already hurt two of my best friends, not to mention countless others." His sanguine eyes widened and his voice grew harsher. "No, I cannot allow myself to die until you're thoroughly punished!"

Before Pinkamena could say anything else, a ribbon of pain made its way up her right cheek. Another ran from her left shoulder to her left flank. More stabs of pain made their way along other various sections of her body. Again, it took her a moment to register what was happening. Eclipse was using the knives in his forelegs to cut her to pieces. She didn't even have any time to react, he was moving so fast. Her mind whirled as she tried to find a rational explanation for the blatant impossibility.

Her next sensation was having the wind knocked out of her and landing hard on the floor. Stars burst before her eyes, blocking out the world for just a moment as her mind tried to catch up with her body. It took a few more seconds for her vision to clear up. When it did, she saw Eclipse’s eerie silhouette standing over her, starring at her, still grinning his demonic grin. The sight was so terrifying that Pinkamena couldn’t even cry out in fear. A choked, gurgled sound was the only thing she could emit from the back of her throat. Her body trembled in a mixture of pain and terror.

She watched as Eclipse slowly pulled one of the knives out of his body and threw it. Pain flared up in Pinkamena's gut as it hit its mark, releasing a garbled gasp of pain from the pony. Eclipse repeated the process six times, taking great care to make sure that they hit places that would cause her the most pain without killing her straight away. Pinkamena's vision began fading in and out as her blood poured down from her wounds. She saw Eclipse's grin grow wider and her body went cold. She felt something caught in her throat and she coughed. Blood spattered the floor in front of her. Eclipse walked closer to her causing the party pony to try and squirm away.

“S-stop…” Pinkamena choked out weakly, wanting to be as far away as possible from the madpony before her.

"Oh, I'm not done just yet," he snarled, and he threw his right hoof into the air.

'No more,' Pinkamena silently pleaded, 'Please, no more. Please just end it.'

"Starlight Daggers!" Eclipse called out. At his command, nine white, shimmering spikes of energy appeared.

All of them were aimed at her.

Pinkamena's eyes widened. Through the eyes of her host, she had seen these daggers at work. She knew how Eclipse used them. She knew what was in store for her. She struggled to get up, to run, to be anywhere where this devil wasn't. But her wounds and the amount of blood she had lost made it impossible.

"Don't struggle," she heard Eclipse say, "It really is quite pointless."

Then he brought his hoof down.

"Iron Maiden."

The daggers entered Pinkamena's flesh and slowly began to drive themselves deeper. A sadistic grin twisted Eclipse’s face as he watched Pinkamena’s face begin to contort in silent agony. Her eyes widened to an unimaginable width and blood began to trickle from her open mouth. The pain was unbearable. Finally, much to Eclipse’s delight, she began to scream, her loud sobs mixing with Eclipse’s insane laughter.

Rainbow Dash watched the spectacle in horror and disgust. It was one thing to beat someone to save a friend, but this… this was torture; torture beyond what Pinkie Pie, or whoever she was, had planned to do to her. To see her friend doing this…What the hell had come over Eclipse? What had triggered the change from the Eclipse she knew to the demon standing before her? What had triggered his bloodlust?

  Rainbow’s mind flashed to that morning when she had visited with Eclipse. Her friend had seemed so normal, so calm and incapable of the horrors she was witnessing. Not even when he was going berserk did he act this way.

'I only asked to be saved,' she thought, a sense of despair settling on her chest. 'I didn't ask for this.' She looked at Eclipse and tears entered her eyes. 'Why are you doing this? Why are you torturing her?' she asked pleadingly in her mind. Looking in to the deranged eyes of her friend, Rainbow refused to believe that this was indeed her friend. She had never known him to be so cruel and malicious. This wasn’t him; this couldn’t be Eclipse.

She didn't have much time to think about it anymore though. Eclipse slid his hoof along the floor and the daggers pulled themselves out of Pinkamena's body, blood shooting out of the gashes they left behind. Pinkamena's agonized scream filled the room, causing Rainbow to shudder. The Pegasus pony finally found her voice.

"You," her voice came out hoarse, weak from blood loss and screaming. "You're not Eclipse."

Not-Eclipse paused for a second before turning his insanity laced gaze towards her. A grin flashed across his blood-splattered face.

"No," he said, "I guess I’m not."

The blue pony felt dread fall into her stomach like lead weight. She was right. The pony before her was no longer her dear friend. So then, who was he now, and was he really there to save her? Rainbow took in a deep, shuddering breath, pulling together the last bit of her courage.

"Who are you?" Rainbow demanded, fear still streaking through her straining voice. Not-Eclipse’s grin spread into the most demonic and sadistic smile that Rainbow had seen him make. Her heart began to race at the sight, knowing that there were still more horrors this pony promised. The room seemed to darken even further from the evil atmosphere exuding from the mad pony. Rainbow closed her eyes in despair as the other answered, his deep voice resonating through the room.

"I guess you can call me Bloodshadow."

His gaze slid back to Pinkamena. “Now,” he said, holding her head between his hooves and staring into her eyes, “let’s take a look into that soul of yours.”