“Wow! I look so cool!” Dinky exclaimed, looking at herself in the mirror. The Wonderbolt costume was a real piece of work, with the stitching done by Rarity, modelling it after Rainbow Dash’s uniform. Derpy had initially protested, citing her job at the post office as not paying well enough to afford a hoofmade costume from Carousel Boutique, but, true to her nature, Rarity had insisted, saying that Derpy could pay her back later.
And the grey pegasus mare would always be in the white unicorn’s debt. Even though Dinky was a uni herself, she looked up to her mother in a way that always made the mailmare filled with both pride and misgivings, and the little filly had a soft spot for pretending to be a pegasus. She even had a pair of fake wings, made once again by Rarity, that were pinned to her sides. They looked real enough, and were probably better than what a lot of other foals her age would have on.
Derpy wondered sometimes if it was good for her daughter to look up to her so much. She didn’t think she was the best role-model. She was clumsy, and near sighted, and not the smartest. But, every time her little muffin looked up at her, like she was right now, it filled her to the brim with so much happiness that it nearly made the mailmare’s heart stutter in her chest.
“Thanks, mom! You’re the best!” Dinky said, and Derpy felt a grin light up her face, as she bent down and wrapped her hooves around her little one in a hug.
“Anything for you, my little Muffin.” She said softly, petting the little filly’s blonde mane and ears as she held her close.
“I can’t wait to show it off to the others! Scootaloo will be so jealous!”
Derpy giggled and ruffled the little one’s mane as she stood back up. “Well, come on then, let’s head outside. It’s getting dark, and the games are about to start! We don’t wanna miss any of it, do we?”
Dinky leaped up and ran for the door, her mother close behind, almost as excited as her little filly. Derpy was dressed, perhaps not surprisingly, as a muffin, her costume a large, inflatable muffin, her head poking out the top, her legs poking out the bottom. However, once the door was open, and little Dinky ran out, she realized something. Trying to fit through the door was a challenge.
Dinky came back, looking up at her mom and tapping her hooves impatiently, as the grey mailmare attempted to squeeze herself out through the door. It took a lot of effort, a lot of grunting and a bit of sweat, and more than a bit of help from Dinky, but eventually Derpy popped through the portal of her home and out, into the growing darkness of Nightmare Night.
* * * * *
The cave beneath Sugarcube Corner was dimly lit, the normally bright, cheerful room bathed in darkness and shadows. It was a mirror for the state of the room’s current occupant. She sat at a table in the middle of the room, staring blankly at the cork board before her, plans for Silver Spoon’s birthday party, still several months away, adorning it’s surface. She didn’t see them, even though she had been working on those plans for much of the day, while prepping her costume for tonight.
A strange fugue had overcome her, one which would have left her friends wondering what was wrong. She had grown silent, her mane starting to droop around the edges, as her pupils dilated back and forth. Her eyes looked, but saw nothing in front of them. They were turned inwards, towards the darkness of her thoughts. One hoof tapped on a slim, open file which lay on the table beside her, only delivered today from a contact in Manehattan.
She had gotten in touch with him a week ago, when she had first started experiencing these . . . urges. She needed to know why this was happening again, after so long. So, she had sent word to her friend, and he had gotten back to her today.
Her hoof stroked over the file, almost seductively, and she shivered at the thoughts that flickered past her eyes, her mind wandering from one dark corridor to another within her memory palace. There were rooms in there it was best not to stray too close to. Dark thoughts and carnal ideas, filled with anger, and lust, and other, less gentle things.
It had been a long time since she had felt this way. A long time since she had felt the call of her old urges. Her old hobby.
Her old addiction.
She was better now. She had friends who cared for her, who would be there to take care of her.
But they couldn’t take care of that part of her. No matter how much, sometimes, she wished they could.
No. She couldn’t think like that, again. If they knew of the thoughts she sometimes had about them, they would hate her. They would shun her, and never speak to her again. She would lose them, the only things that still tied her down, kept her mind her own.
And so, Pinkie sat, tapping her hoof on the file, while these dark thoughts kept swirling inside of her, battling with her own good intentions.
She sat and waited.
Waited to see who would win.
Pinkie?
Or Pinkamena?
* * * * *
Dinky pulled her head up from under the water, clutching an apple between her teeth, and Derpy grinned, jumping over and wrapping her wings around her little filly. “Yay! Good job, Muffin!” She exclaimed, nuzzling her little one behind the ears. Dinky giggled and nuzzled her mother back, and all felt right with the world.
After they broke apart, Derpy smiled down at Dinky. “So, what do you wanna do, now?” The little filly glanced around and grinned, taking a bite from her apple, and pointed at the hay cart ride, with Big Mac hitched up to it, dressed up as the grim reaper.
“I wanna go on the hay ride, mom!”
Derpy grinned and she and her filly raced over to the cart, laughing with each other as they went. It made Derpy so happy, hearing her little Muffin laugh. Their lives hadn’t always been the best, and there were plenty of times that Derpy found herself wondering if she was fit to be a mom. But hearing the little unicorn laugh and just be happy. . . . Be a filly. It made it all worth it.
The hay ride was as awesome as it always was, the trip taking them down a pre-planned route through all sorts of scares and spooks the Apples had prepared before hoof. At the end of it, the pegasus and her little horned filly were laughing as they climbed out of the wagon near the hedge maze on Sweet Apple Acres. Of course, Nightmare Night wouldn’t be complete without a trip through the Apples’ infamous maze.
Mother and daughter headed through the arched trees and into the maze, the shadows closing behind them as they turned this way and that, heading deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of greenery.
They did not notice the eyes that watched them, three pairs tracking them, or more specifically one of them, into the maze.
They did not notice the three figures that walked in behind them, and made the same turns as they did.
They did not notice, and were not worried.
It was Nightmare Night in Ponyville.
What could go wrong?
* * * * *
But Pinkie noticed. She was watching the watchers, and she was following the followers.
She had been watching these three since they had arrived from Manehattan a week ago. They had been having a binge of a party since, and normally that would have been exactly the sort of thing Pinkie would be all for. But with these three, there was . . . something. Something dark, that her Pinkie Sense was triggering on. And . . . and there was that Other part of her. That dark half that was eyeing them, watching them like a predator. Wanting them. . . .
She shook herself, biting her lip. No, she couldn’t give in to that. She was just following to make sure they didn’t do anything . . . bad. Yeah, that’s what she was doing. They were clearly following Derpy and Dinky, and given what she had read about these three. . . .
She fell into step behind them, eyeing the trio. The leader of the bunch was a unicorn, burgundy of coat and raspberry blue of mane and tail, his cutie mark a rusty horseshoe. The other two were brothers, pegasi, one teal with a red mane and tail, and the other the same but reversed. She couldn’t see what their cutie marks were from where she was following.
All she knew was that these three meant trouble, and she would make sure they didn’t cause any. And that was all she would be doing.
The darkness in her soul said otherwise.
* * * * *
Derpy and Dinky wound there way through the hedge maze, laughing at the little spooks that had been set up for them. Occasionally accidentally scaring other maze goers, and sometimes getting scared in turn.
They had been wandering for maybe ten minutes without seeing anypony else, when they heard movement behind them. They both turned, expecting to see some of their friends, but instead Derpy laid eyes on a trio of stallions she had never seen before. As the town mailmare, there wasn’t a pony in Ponyville she didn’t know by sight.
Something in her brain whispered a warning, and she pushed Dinky behind her, frowning as the trio came to a stop a few yards away.
“Hey, toots, how ya doin’?” The one in the lead, a big unicorn with a greased back blue mane said, his voice thick with the sound of Manehattan.
Derpy bit her lip, but she had been raised to be polite. “I-I’m okay. How are you, sir?” She asked, and he smirked, looking at his two pegasi friends.
“Hear that, boys? ‘Sir’, she said.” The two snickered, and began to spread out to either side. Derpy felt her heart beat harder in chest, her breathing got rough. The unicorn continued.
“Maybe you wanna be a good girl and take off that dorky looking costume, huh?”
She flinched, and then blanched when Dinky stepped out from behind her.
“Hey! My mom’s costume isn’t dorky! You take that back!”
The unicorn looked down at the filly, taking a step forward, even as Derpy tried to push the little one back behind her.
“Heya, kid. Look at you, the little Wonderbolt. Ooh, I’m real intimidated by a mare in uniform.” He said, then gave a malicious chuckle, which was echoed by the other two.
He looked up at Derpy and leered. “Take off the costume, or I’ll take off the brat’s.” He said, narrowing his eyes at her.
Derpy felt her stomach drop, and she started shaking.
“Mom?” Dinky asked, looking up at her, just now picking up on her mother’s fear.
“Well?” The unicorn said, taking another step forward.
“Hiya, fellas!” Came a high, light voice, and Pinkie Pie bounced into view. She came to a stop between Derpy and the unicorn, and somehow the gray pegasus felt that wasn’t an accident.
“Who the fuck are you?” The unicorn demanded, glaring at her.
“I’m Pinkie Pie! And you’re Rough Shod, right? Pleased to meet you!” She said, grabbing his hoof and giving it a shake. He pulled it away and glared at her.
“Fuck off, bitch!” He snarled, and Pinkie took a step back, her ears drooping.
“That’s not very polite.”
“Do I look like I give a fuck?!”
Derpy’s breathing was hard and fast, at this point, as the unicorn suddenly grabbed hold of Pinkie Pie with his magic, holding her tight with a leer.
“Ya know what? Fuck it. We’ll just throw you into the mix, too. Why not? You got a nice ass, after all.”
“Derpy! Run!” Pinkie shouted, and suddenly, somehow, wasn’t in the unicorn’s magic anymore. She stepped on his hoof, hard, and bit him on the ear.
Derpy didn’t think twice, she grabbed Dinky and took off into the air, heading back to town. She had to get help. She had to find somepony. Anypony!
* * * * *
Pinkie held on for dear life, as she saw one of the pegasi about to take off after Derpy. She let go of the unicorn’s ear so she could step back, wind up and, with a grunt, bucked the other pony in the barrel. He staggered, hitting the ground hard.
Then, something clubbed her over the back of the head, and she dropped. A hoof stamped into her barrel and she felt pain ignite across her torso.
As the unicorn grabbed her once more in his magic, lifting her up to face him, she felt her hair deflating, going limp, her pupils dilating as her darkness started to rise.
No! She couldn’t . . . She mustn’t! She had been clean so long. . . .
“You fucking cunt! You fucking cunt!” He snarled, and his hoof smashed into her face, and she knew her eye would be blacked.
“She got away, Shod!” One of the pegasi said, and the unicorn snarled, hitting Pinkie again.
“Fine! We’ll just have our fun with this little bitch, shall we!? You wanna, whore? You wanna be our fuck toy, huh?!” He demanded, lifting Pinkie up and glaring into her one good eye.
She shuddered at his words, feeling her darkness consume her, take hold of her.
She shivered and spoke, soft, gentle. . . .
“Yes. . . please. . . .”
* * * * *
Derpy raced into town, landing hard and tumbling to a stop. She was pretty good at taking such landings by this point, and knew how to roll to protect herself and, more importantly, Dinky.
She came back to her hooves looking around in a panic. Nopony really seemed to pay too much attention to her, or her rough landing. Most of the town was as used to it as she was, by this point. And, of course, nopony could have known what was going on.
That was fine, though. She wasn’t looking for just anypony, not anymore. She looked all around until she saw her, a figure in a warped, dark version of a Wonderbolt uniform, crouching behind a stall in the town square. She had her garnet eyes locked on a pair of mares walking along together, one dressed as a vampire, the other as her victim.
Knowing her, she was probably getting ready to prank them.
”Rainbow Dash!”
At the sound of Derpy screaming her name, Rainbow spun, locking her eyes on the gray mare, and her look of annoyance morphed into one of concern at the sight of her. As Derpy ran towards her, Rainbow met her halfway, steadying the mailmare with a hoof on her wither.
“What is it, Derps? What’s wrong?” She asked, and Derpy looked up at her, gulping.
Rainbow met her gaze, and evidently saw something there, because her face seemed to close down, her eyes going distant.
“What happened?”
* * * * *
Twilight hurried down the corridor of Ponyville General, her breath echoing loudly in her own head. She was still reeling from the news, something she never thought she’d hear. How could anypony. . . . How?
Why Pinkie? She was a friend to everypony and everypony loved her! But she could still remember the guard’s face when he delivered the news. See the pain in his eyes, the very disbelief that was echoing in her own mind, but beneath that was the pain that said he had seen it first hoof. That he knew it was true, even as he sought to deny it.
She could still feel the sudden jolt of shock that slid through her at his words. The feeling like her entire world had jsut shattered. That something had crumbled and her whole body was spinning. She had wound up on the floor, without knowing how she got there, before the guard and Spike had helped her stand. Then she had taken off for the hospital, after getting the guard to swear that the other Elements were being told.
She just couldn’t grasp it, but it was true. She had to accept that.
Pinkie had been attacked. She had been raped.
Twilight turned a corner and saw Rainbow Dash standing near a door at the end of the hall, staring at it like she could bore a hole through the wood. The guard had told her that Dash was the one who brought Pinkie in to the hospital. She said she had interrupted what was happening, that the perpetrators, three stallions from Manehattan who had been in town for a week or so, had all run off into the nearby Everfree. Dash had gone back out with the guardponies, trying to find them, but they had disappeared.
No wonder, if they’d gone into those woods.
Why they would run there, and on Nightmare Night of all nights, she didn’t understand. She supposed, being from out of town and probably not knowing about the dangers that lurked in the shadows of those trees at night, they had fled to what they felt was the safest place.
She found herself uncharacteristically hoping that they had met a bad end, therein.
“Rainbow Dash!” She exclaimed, running up to her friend. The blue pegasus turned, her garnet eyes locking onto Twilight’s, and the alicorn saw in them a mix of pain and rage the likes of which she had never seen before. It reminded her of one of Rockhoof’s stories, about a battle he had with a vicious troll in the far north.
”. . . And the creature turned upon me, and it’s eyes shone with a cold and baleful light, a rage so deep, that it seemed to have driven all other emotion away.”
That described the look upon her friend’s face, perfectly, and Twilight could almost feel the anger radiating off of her.
“Twilight.” She said, her voice abnormally sharp and clipped. She turned back to looking at the door.
“H-How is she?”
Without looking at her, Dash growled. “How do you think?!”
“Rainbow!”
Dash looked at her again, and this time her gaze softened, and she looked away, blinking. “I’m sorry, Twi. I’m just. . . I should’ve gotten there sooner!”
“Rainbow Dash! You didn’t know what was happening, did you?”
“No! If I had, it wouldn’t’ve happened!”
“Exactly! You did everything you could! At least you got there before they . . . before they could do anything worse.”
They both drifted into an uncomfortable silence as they sat, waiting for that door to open.
Twilight looked up a short time later at the sound of hooves from the end of the hall. Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy rounded the corner, speeding their pace upon seeing the other two ponies. As they came close, Twilight turned looking at them with tears in her eyes. Fluttershy broke down, sobbing and threw her forelegs around Twilight in a hug, while Applejack walked up to Rainbow Dash, the look on her face a strange mix of rage, fear and sadness. Rarity collapsed against the wall, shaking her head, clearly still in shock.
Rainbow Dash didn’t look at their friends. She simply kept staring at the door in silence, her face still wearing that mien of cold rage. Applejack looked away from her, turning her own disturbed expression to looking at the door as well.
They all sat in the hall, lost in their thoughts, their pain and anger, while they waited. Waited for the door to open. Waited to hear if their friend was alright or not.
Twilight knew better. She knew Pinkie would never be alright, not after what had happened. How could anypony be alright, after something like this?
The door opened, and they all looked up, Rainbow and AJ rising to their hooves, eyes locked on the doctor as he stepped outside. He nodded to them, stepping over beside them, and spoke in a low, calm voice, a frown on his face.
“She’s awake. She wants to see you. I advised against it, she needs her rest. But she was insistent, and I feared she would hurt herself if I didn’t allow it. She’s medicated to help with her pain, and to keep her relaxed.”
“Will she be . . . Is she . . . .?” Fluttershy couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence and the doctor looked at her sadly.
“Physically, she’ll be fine. A black eye, bruised ribs and . . . well, there was a little bit of . . . internal bleeding, but nothing severe. Mentally, on the other hoof. . . .”
Rainbow Dash pushed past him, AJ on her tail, and the rest followed them into the room, Twilight nodding her thanks to the doctor.
* * * * *
Pinkie glanced up as her friends came in to the hospital room. Her left eye was swollen shut where the unicorn had hit her, and she could feel every ache in her body.
It was heaven, and that made her sick.
She was not looking forward to this, but her friends needed to know. It was time she stopped lying, stopped keeping secrets from them. If they left her, then at least it was all off her chest.
Still, she felt like she could barely breathe, and she kept her head down, not meeting their eyes. Her mane was as limp as a wet noodle, and she felt like she wanted to slip through the bed, sink through the floor and just disappear.
This must be what Fluttershy felt like all the time.
It was awful.
Rainbow stopped just inside the door, standing to the side, looking at her. Rarity and Applejack stopped, looks of shock and horror, and pity on their faces as they stared at her. Fluttershy, ever Kindness, rushed over and started looking her over, wanting to assure herself that the doc hadn’t missed anything important.
Twilight walked in, her breathing heavy as she stepped up to the bed.
“Pinkie?” She asked, softly.
“Heya, Twily.” Pinkie said, in a hollow echo of her usual, cheerful self. “Why don’t you and the others all sit down. I . . . I guess there’s something I need to say. . . . “
The others all gathered round, Fluttershy staying by her side, while the rest all moved where they could be near her. All but Rainbow, who stayed near the door, her eyes looking at the pink pony blankly, her thoughts hidden behind a morose mask. Pinkie looked at her, feeling her heart twinge, and she held out a hoof to her.
“Dashie?”
The rainbow maned pegasus looked at her for a long moment, before slowly, stiffly, moving forward and coming to rest on the edge of the bed, near Fluttershy. She hesitantly placed a shaking hoof on Pinkie’s, and their eyes met, garnet to aquamarine.
Pinkie took a breath and looked around at her friends, then turned her eyes down to the blanket that covered her. She swallowed roughly, and sighed, closing her eyes.
“I . . . I need to tell you all. . . .”
She hesitated, and felt the hoof in hers press lightly, reassuringly, and she glanced up very briefly towards Rainbow, who’s eyes gave her strength.
“I . . . I . . . I did what I did tonight to help Derpy.”
Silence reigned for a moment, before Twilight spoke up.
“What do you mean, Pinkie?”
“I . . . I knew about those three. I saw them when they came to town a week ago, and I . . . I felt something, a twinge of sorts. . . . “
“You mean like your Pinkie Sense?”
“. . . .Kinda, yeah. I sent off to a friend in Manehattan, and he got back to me earlier today. All three of them were suspects in a series of rapes in the city. But, without any solid evidence, they couldn’t pin it on them. I went out tonight . . . I went out tonight to . . . to keep an eye on them.”
She hesitated, biting her lip, and Fluttershy leaned forward. “What is it, Pinkie? You can tell us.”
The others quickly agreed, all but Rainbow, who simply kept holding the pink mare’s hoof.
“That . . . That was a lie. I went out. . . I went out knowing what was going to happen.”
Gasps racked the group, and they all looked on in shock.
“What do you mean, darling?!” Rarity exclaimed, leaning forward and putting a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. Pinkie looked at her, and her eyes teared up. She looked away, shivering, and Fluttershy moved in, putting her hooves around her, holding her tightly.
“I- I. . . *sniff*, I knew. I . . . I guess I . . . I wanted it to happen.” She continued, not meeting any of their eyes. “When I was younger I . . . I used to . . . to tease the colts in town, to get them to . . . to do things to me. The Cakes took me to see a doctor, and they said I was . . . I was a nyn. . . nyf. . . Nyfo. . . .“
“A nymphomaniac?” Twilight’s voice came soft, quiet into the dim room.
Pinkie nodded morosely, again not meeting any of their gazes.
“Uh-huh. They said I couldn’t control it, that I was like an addict. That I probably didn’t even enjoy it, all that much, and they were right. I wanted it, needed it, but I didn’t really like it. I was always so ashamed, I felt so dirty afterwards. I hated myself, I was a freak!” She broke down crying, and Fluttershy rubbed her back, her own eyes beginning to tear up.
Pinkie continued: “I . . . I . . . I felt it again. It’s been . . . b-been years since I felt the need for that. I had stopped, I was a good girl. I wasn’t her anymore! But when I saw those three get off the train, I felt it. It was like my body knew what they were, even when I didn’t, and it . . . she wanted them. . . .”
“Who . . . Who are you talking about, Pinkie?” Twilight asked, softly.
“Pinkamena.”
“But . . . Isn’t that your name?”
“No! Yes, but . . . I dunno! It’s my full name, I guess, but nopony calls me that! Ever! Except . . . Except my dad . . . “
Twilight’s eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything as she stepped back slightly.
“It’s the name I used for . . . for that part of me. The part where all the bad things live. The part that’s sad, or angry, or wants to do bad things. Bad things like tonight. I saw them following Derpy into the hedgemaze, so I followed them. I stopped them from hurting her, let her get away, and let them . . . I let them . . . . I . . .I wanted them to do it!” She said, breaking down again, burying her face in her forehooves.
None of her friends had ever seen her like this. To them, she was always smiling, always happy. Now she was a weeping, broken mare, shaking on a hospital bed. Rarity looked at Twilight, then back at Pinkie, a look of disbelief on her face. “This . . . No, surely this isn’t true! Twilight, isn’t this just the shock speaking?!”
Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so, Rarity.”
“It’s okay, if none of you wanna be around me, anymore.”
Pinkie’s voice came soft, yet clear to all their ears, and they all turned and looked at her in shock. Applejack was the first to respond, and her words summed up how everypony else was feeling.
“What in tarnation are y’all talkin’ about, Pinkie Pie?! You are family! Whether by blood or just by love, y’all are our family, and we’re yours! Whatever might be wrong with ya, we’ll be here for ya!”
“Of course, darling! Whatever you need!”
“We’ll never leave you, Pinkie!”
“Of course not, Pinkie! Nymphomania is a well known medical condition, with plenty of ways to treat it! We’ll be here, and we’ll help you through it! I know I can find several books on the subject!”
Pinkie glanced once more to the one member of the group who had been silent this whole time, and Rainbow Dash took her by the hoof again, smiling at her. It didn’t reach her eyes, which were still distant, unreadable.
“Pinkie. You’re one of my best friends. Of course I’m not leaving you over this. And, another thing. You’re NOT a freak. What you did tonight. . . . Well, personally, I think it makes you a hero.”
“What?”
“You said it yourself: They were after Derpy. What they . . . “ Here her teeth clinched, and she glanced away briefly, before once more making eye contact with the other mare.
“What they did to you, they would’ve done to her. Do you think Derpy could’ve handled that? No, of course not, it would’ve broken her. She’s a nice pony, and a great mom, but she’s not that tough. Not like you. And, besides, wasn’t Dinky with her? What would’ve happened to her, if she’d seen that?! And that’s to say that they wouldn’t’ve done the same to her.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy’s voice was filled with horror and outrage as she turned on the other pegasus, but Rainbow simply shrugged.
“I’m sorry, ‘Shy! But it’s not always a pretty world, and assholes like those? They could be capable of anything!” She turned back to Pinkie and put her hoof on the other mare’s wither, and finally, a real smile cracked the mask of her face, filled with pride in her friend.
“Pinkie. You saved the both of them. You took something upon yourself that was horrible, but you knew you could handle it. They couldn’t’ve. You’re a freakin’ hero, Pinks!”
FOr a long moment, Pinkie looked at Rainbow, and at the others who were gathered lovingly around her. SHe had kept this secret in for so long, out of fear of how they would react. And now, here they were, not leaving her, not abandoning her, but sticking by her, supporting her, loving her as only her truest friends could. Tears burst from Pinkie’s eyes again, but now she was smiling, and she looked around at her dear, dear friends, and they all came in close, wrapping her in a tight, warm hug, and all was right with the world.
Well, almost.
There was one little thing that still needed to be settled.
But that would be dealt with, soon. . . .
* * * * *
Rainbow walked through the door of her cloud home, slamming it shut behind her. The rage at what those . . . little shits had done to her friend was chewing at her guts, and she felt like she was going to throw up or break something. Or maybe both.
She stalked into the kitchen, got out a glass and poured herself a pint of cider from the bottle of Sweet Apple Hard Cider that was sitting out on the counter. She drained the glass in one swig, slamming it down to the cloudstone counter top and breathing out in a long slow sigh, letting her rage roll out along with the sweet sharp flavour of the cider. It would’ve been better warmed up, but it was good enough as is.
She poured herself another glass and took a slower sip, savoring the taste this time as she turned, walking over to the record player in the corner. She laid a vinyl on the tray and placed the needle down with her nimble primary feathers, turning the switch, and listened as the deep, haunting strains of an organ began to softly drift through the house. She knew it wouldn’t stay gentle for long, just as her current relaxation, brought on by the alcohol, was temporary.
The song was one of her favorite tracks, a cover of a popular dance song that was played at clubs around Nightmare Night. The original was like something DJ Pon-3 would lay down, a hard bass, electronic dance beat. This though. . . . This was something else entirely.
As the heavy guitar riff started to kick in, she started bobbing her head to the beat, the short, unkempt strands of her multi-coloured mane jerking along in front of her eyes as she headbanged to the thrashy metal tune. She turned, taking another sip of her cider and made her way through her living room, up to the flat, blank expanse of wall next to one of her trophy cases.
Without missing a step, she walked through the wall, emerging onto the landing of a tight spiral staircase. She headed upstairs first, stepping out into a study that rested at the top of the domed tower visible on her home from the outside. She had no doubt that most of her friends, having never been in this part of her house before, probably thought she had added the dome to it during construction because she thought it looked cool, and that was fine.
They didn’t need to know about this part of her house.
She walked up and sat her glass down on a low, cloudstone table, sighing softly as she stretched her wingtips out, and picked up the latest part of her collection. The surface was both smooth and yet ridged by the hard spirals that ran along it’s eight inch, tapering length. She always liked these things, they made the best toys. She smiled softly to herself, imagining the fun she would have later with the improvised phallus, and, unable to resist, leaned forward and softly licked her tongue across the softly rounded tip of the shaft of dark burgundy ivory.
She bit her lip, but set the toy back on the table. More time for that, later. For now, she still had other toys that needed to be attended to.
Smiling once more, she picked her glass back up and, turning, headed downstairs to the basement. The sound of her music could still be heard through the walls of the cloudhome, and she softly sang along to the tune as she walked downstairs.
”. . . at the rainbow factory, where your fears and horros come true. In the rainbow factory, where not a single soul gets through. . . .”
Smiling wider, feeling the bounce coming back into her step, she came to the bottom of the stairs, and stepped hoof into the large, open main room of the basement. This part of the house was technically located in the cloudy foundation of the home, not visible at all from the outside. That was because this was her playroom, and it wouldn’t do for anypony else to know about it.
Certainly not her friends.
Thinking about her friends once more made her rage manifest, as the memories of everything that had happened came pouring back down onto her through the haze of liquor. Poor Pinkie, she was so emotionally insecure as it was, terrified to embrace the darker side of herself, the side that wanted to fuck what she wanted to fuck, do what she wanted to do, and not give a damn what others thought. And then these fucks came along and messed her up even further.
Nothing Pinkie had told them that morning had surprised Dash. She’d known her friend had a hidden side to her personality, for a long time. Rainbow considered it her mission to help Pinkie relax about that side of herself, to understand that, so long as nopony was getting hurt, then there was nothing wrong with it.
These fuck ups, on the other hoof, didn’t give two shits about what anypony else was feeling. They only cared about their own pleasure. Well. . . That had been there only concern, before she got to them.
She had found them all as Pinkie was passing out on the ground underneath the red pegasus. The unicorn, she had knocked out first thing, as his magic would have proven difficult to deal with. She had dropped on him from the night sky, her midnight blue Shadowbolt costume blending into the darkness quite well.
With the biggest threat incapacitated, she had turned on the other two. They must have seen something in her face, because their reactions had been as polar opposite as their coat colors. The teal one had turned and ran, leaving his brother and so called friend to die. Such lack of loyalty disgusted her to no end, and she promised herself that his punishment would be most severe.
The other had charged her, screaming in fear and anger. Mostly fear, though. She had dealt with him in short order, simply side stepping and bucking him in the side of the head. Then, it had been a matter of moments for the fastest flier in Equestria to catch up to the last one. She had knocked him out of the air without him even being aware of her coming, snatched him up before he hit the ground and brought him back to the clearing in the maze. Once she had made certain Pinkie would live, she had taken a bit of extra time, tying the trio up, gagging them and sequestering them away inside the maze, in an underground cavern she had learned about a few years back.
Afterwords, she had taken Pinkie to the hospital, dropping her off and alerting the town guard. She knew it would be a while before they were allowed to see Pinkie, so she volunteered to go out and help track down the perpetrators. A chance she used to round up the still unconscious group and take them, one by one, to her cloudhome, where she locked them each away in a separate cell, the little rooms with their barred doors, all made of cloudstone, which formed the four points of a compass around the playroom in the middle of the basement.
Once she had them all here, she had taken a brief bit of time, before heading back to the hospital, to lay the unicorn out on the table in the middle of the room, strapping him down where he couldn’t move, and would be in full view of the cells. She had hooked him up to an I.V. which was full of a potent chemical cocktail she had learned from one of Twily’s books, which would keep him dazed once awake, and would help with the pain.
Didn’t want shock taking him from the world, too soon, after all.
She walked up to the table, looking down at the burgundy unicorn, at the raw nub on his head where she had carefully, skillfully sawed off his horn while he was unconscious. Much as she would have liked to do so while he was awake and screaming, unicorns were dangerous adversaries with their magic, and, while the drugs in his system would probably have made spell casting difficult, it was better to not take risks.
She glanced to either side, looking in to the cells she had put the two pegasi in, and smirked. Walking over to the cloudy wall of the basement, she gave it a buck. With a rumble of thunder, freezing rain poured out of the ceilings in both cells and over the bed.
The three stallions all came to with varying degrees of clarity. The teal maned pegasus groggily pressed himself up against the bars, rubbing his head where she had knocked him out, and blinked blearily at the scene before him, not really seeming to understand what he was looking at.
His brother, however, seemed to come to his senses much faster, grabbing the bars and shaking them hard with his hooves and wings both, before trying to fly through the ceiling, only to receive a rather painful jolt of lightning, which sent him crashing back into the floor, hard.
Rainbow snorted and laughed, walking over and looking in on him.
“You are one stupid motherfucker, ain’t ya?” She said, and he looked at her, fear and hate in his eyes.
“Wh-. . . what are you g-g-gonna do?”
She stepped back, letting him get a good look at his unicorn friend, strapped down to the table and missing his horn. The burgundy stallion was groggily blinking up at the ceiling, weakly starting to push against the binds that held him down, but not really seeming to understand what was going on, or why he couldn’t move.
His forehead scrunched, and a sparkling sound filled the air as he attempted to access his magic. It shorted out with a sizzling sound, and he clenched, his muscles going tight as though he was the one being struck by lightning. His teeth clenched tight and he screamed softly between them.
Rainbow shivered slightly at the sound, and leered at the pegasus.
“I’m gonna make you three regret your choices. I’m gonna make you scream, and cry, and beg me to kill you. But before I do, I’m going to make you sorry your mommies ever spat you out into this world. And I’m gonna make you sorry that you ever thought coming to this town would be a good idea.”
Walking over to stand beside the table, she picked up a pair of old flight goggles, putting them over her eyes, and rolled her neck, tendons popping. She set her glass of cider down on a nearby table, next to a set of very shiny, very sharp implements, most of which would look right at home in a hospital surgical suite, but some others looked like they had come from a hardware store.
She ran her nimble primaries over these tools, smiling and licking her lips as she looked down at the unicorn, who was slowly blinking his eyes, focusing more and more on his surroundings, and on her in particular. She smiled down at him sweetly, lifting a dental drill in her wing.
“Awake? Good. I wouldn’t want you to miss any of this.” She said, before squeezing the trigger on the drill, filling the air with the high, whining keen of the machine, which was soon overpowered by the sounds of screaming, two voices in rage and fear, and one in pure, unadulterated agony.
All the while, the song kept playing, and Rainbow Dash kept bobbing her head along to the tune, a casual, happy smile on her face.
It was good to be alive.
Author's Note
. . . . . . This one . . . really wore me out. I love dark stories, and I like writing them, but it’s . . . hard. It takes diving into the darker side of my own personality and imagination, and it often leaves me feeling drained and a bit depressed. It reminds me how bad I could be, if I cared a little less, or if I was allowed to be.
I may write more in this AU, later. Much later. After I get over this one.
Until next time, ponies! Harmonia Aeternum!
