A Type of Insanity

Fluttershy trotted through Ponyville towards the home of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, glad that she wasn’t late. Octavia had invited her over for tea, why? Fluttershy didn’t know. She rarely talked to the musician pony, her shyness a major factor, but maybe Octavia wanted to get to know her more. Fluttershy arrived at the house right on time and knocked softly. Octavia soon opened the door and smiled. “Fluttershy dear, how are you? Do come in.”

“Oh, I’m fine, umm, thank you Octavia, for umm, inviting me to tea” Fluttershy said quietly, nervously, as she walked inside and Octavia closed the front door.

“Good, good and your very welcome dear. This way, do you like Chai tea?” Octavia asked, leading Fluttershy through the house to the lounge room.

“Oh, I err, can’t say I’ve had that sort of tea before” Fluttershy said, looking at some of the pictures on the walls, photos of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia together, Octavia in concert, Vinyl at a gig, some happy shots of family. In all the house seemed to have a very cheerful and music inspired décor. In the corner of the lounge room was Octavia’s cello, an exquisitely beautiful instrument.

“You haven’t? Well I shall make some. Make yourself comfortable and help yourself to whatever takes your fancy” Octavia said, indicating to a small platter of small daisy and rose petal sandwiches, carrot and celery sticks with a guacamole dip, meringues and small red velvet cupcakes. She then went to the kitchen to prepare the tea.

Fluttershy sat on the couch, took a sandwich and nibbled it as she waited. Rose petals were a delicious treat she didn’t often get, as they didn’t grow well in Ponyville and often costed quite a few bits. Octavia soon returned with a tray of tea and two cups, which already contain a creamy pale hazelnut coloured tea which smelled of cinnamon and rose. Placing the tray down, Octavia sat across from Fluttershy and sipped from her cup. “Do try it Fluttershy dear, it tastes absolutely delightful.”
Fluttershy sipped from her cup and smiled, not feeling as nervous as she had before. “Your right, it does taste delightful. Your house is very lovely.”

“Thank you, I do my best to keep to neat, though that can be hard since I have Vinyl Scratch for a housemate, she isn’t exactly the tidiest pony. I think the rose petals make a tasteful edition to the tea, I use them whenever I can get my hooves on them” Octavia said as she ate a sandwich. “So how are you coping with work? I hear there has been a fair few more sick creatures then last year” she queried.

“Oh yes, the poor dears, I have been quite tired lately caring for them at all hours of the night” Fluttershy explained, “but luckily the illness has passed now. And how is your work going?” She finished her tea and Octavia poured her another cup.

“That’s good to hear. My career is coming along nicely; I have at least one performance each week now” Octavia smiled, and her lavender eyes seem to spark for a moment. “You seem to rarely attend my performances, why is that?”

“Oh, err, I usually go to bed early most nights, ah, why do you ask?” Fluttershy replied, becoming slightly nervous again.

“No reason, I was just curious. You’re brilliant with animals, right?” Octavia asked.

“Oh yes, I’m good with nearly all creatures” Fluttershy smiled again.

“Good, there’s a creature living in my sub-cellar. I don’t know what it is but it shouldn’t be there. I’d like you to see what you can do”

“Of course I’ll have a look” Fluttershy said, her interest sparked.

“Follow me then. Just know you’ll have to be deadly quiet or it will run to its hole, and we can’t turn on the lights, though it probably is in its hole anyway so I’ll lead you to the hole, I know my way in the dark” Octavia sounded happy, as if glad to have Fluttershy there to solve the problem of the creature.

“Okay, I understand” Fluttershy continued to smile, the talk of a strange animal excited her as she followed Octavia to the kitchen and down into the cellar, and then to the sub-cellar.

The sub-cellar was pitch black, the floor seemed covered in straw, the air was damp and musty with a strange, not nice, over-perfumed smell of roses and a sound like breathing is the only sound. Octavia walked right next to Fluttershy, leading her right to the wall at the far corner of the cellar, but then, Octavia is no longer next to Fluttershy. She looked around for the musician pony, but of course, it was too dark to see anything.

Suddenly, there was a soft squeal of metal on metal, which in the quiet black sounded loud, and caused Fluttershy to jump back against the wall in fright. Next came the sound of a key locking a lock. A minute later a soft light glowed in the centre of the room from a lantern, and as the light brightened, Fluttershy could make out the features of the room for the first time.
She appeared to be in a sort of cell with two walls of bars, and there seemed to be three more cells along the wall. The floors of the cells are covered in a thick layer of old straw. In the cell next to hers and in the furthest cell from her there were two mounds which she could not identify. Fluttershy could make out some sort of glinting metal objects along the opposite wall, but the light was still too dim to make the objects out properly.

Octavia stood at the centre of the room, the lantern on the table illuminating her truly wicked and sadistic looking grin. Fluttershy was dumbstruck with fear and almost screamed when the mound in the cell next to hers moved and groaned. “Can’t you let us rest for once?” came an all too familiar voice.

“To let you sleep would be to let you recover, and I have yet to break you, so, no Rainbow Dash, I cannot let you rest” Octavia replied in a cruel voice devoid of any of her previous kindness and warmth.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy squeaked in complete and utter shock, as she had seen the rainbow maned pegasus only an hour ago.

“Fluttershy!?” as the light filled the whole room, Fluttershy could see Rainbow Dash laying in the straw, staring at her in shock and horror. Dash’s usually vivid mane and tail were dull from lack of sunlight and are filthy and matted, and her cyan coat was littered with cuts, burns and blood stains, and the feathers of her wings had been pulled out. Getting over her initial shock, Dash stood and with obvious fury yelled, “why the HELL have you brought her here Octavia!? What on Earth could she have done to annoy or anger you!?”

“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, she hasn’t been coming to my concerts, which is utterly unacceptable behaviour” Octavia chuckled evilly.

“That’s no reason! You’re sick, mad, INSANE! PURE EVIL! You have absolutely NO right to hurt ponies for such PETTY things!” Dash screams.

“Oh Dash, thank you for those compliments, but you know I don’t like you yelling at me” Octavia grinned and pressed a button on a remote on the table. Dash screamed in obvious agony and quickly lost consciousness, the cause of her pain seemed to be a thick metal studded leather collar around her neck. “Good, not long now and she won’t be able to stand it any longer.”

The mound in the last cell hadn’t moved yet and Octavia went to investigate. She made a tutting sound and opened the cell door. She went into the cell and dragged out the mound which turned out to be Carrot Top, a Carrot Top covered in sores and scabs and blood, a dead Carrot Top, with a knife sticking out of her neck.

“Y-You k-k-killed her…” Fluttershy whimpered, huddled in the corner of her cell.

Octavia laughed “Oh no, I didn’t kill her, I’ve never actually killed anypony before, only hurt them. She killed herself, as will you, and eventually even Rainbow Dash will.”

“B-b-but I saw Carrot T-top and D-dash earlier today…” Fluttershy whimpered, confused.

“You didn’t see the real Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash dear, you saw their clones” and with that she dragged the corpse of Carrot Top up the stairs, leaving Fluttershy shivering in her cell.

After a while Rainbow Dash moaned, regaining consciousness. “Dash?”

“Oh Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry” Rainbow Dash whimpered, sounding defeated, like she’d lost all hope for life. She leant against the bars and Fluttershy moved to lay next to her dearest friend, putting her wing through the bars in the closest thing to a hug she could give. “I’ve been here for so long… months… I haven’t given in because; I’ve been hoping to escape, but… I’m just so tired…”

“It’s okay Dash, we’ll escape, we will get out of here” Fluttershy whispered, trying to comfort Dash.

“We can’t escape with our lives! I’ve tried… The only way out is… is…” Rainbow shuddered.

“What?”

“The knife…” Rainbow Dash sobbed, indicating to a large knife hanging from a hook at the back of her cell.

Fluttershy saw a similar knife in her own cell. “A-and even if w-we d-d-did escape, our c-clones would f-find us and… k-k-kill us” Dash continued sob, shaking violently with each exhale.

The two sat like this for a long time, Fluttershy with her wing over Dash, Dash sobbing. Dash eventually fell asleep.

Eventually Octavia returned, with another pony, a pony who looked sickeningly familiar. Fluttershy gasped as she saw herself walking down the stairs with Octavia. “H-h-how?”

“Do you like her Fluttershy? She’s an exact copy of you, except, she will NEVER miss my concerts and she will do whatever I want her to do” Octavia said gleefully. When she saw that Fluttershy was still confused she said “she is your clone. We just need to perform a memory transfer and she’ll be ready to go live your life.”

“Y-you can’t do this…” Fluttershy whispered.

“I can and I will. I’ve been doing this for two or three years now. Many of the ponies you know are clones, Bon Bon, Roseluck, Cheerilee, Diamond Tiara, Donut Joe, Cloudchaser, Junebug, the Mayor and even Applejack. There are also traveling ponies and palace guards, I’ve lost count, but now you join the ranks of the cloned” Octavia laughed, a truly insane sound of one who had no ounce of sanity left. Sure when she was out in public she seemed as normal as any other pony, but it is only a clever disguise.

“B-but why? Why d-do you do th-this?” Fluttershy asked.

“Why? I’m insane, what other reason do I need?” Octavia giggled like a young filly might “Oh we will have so much fun, and by we, I mean me.”

Fluttershy stayed still as Octavia took a strange device from the table. It looked like a pair or headphones with lights on it and wires. She also took a thick metal studded leather collar, like Rainbow Dash’s and unlocked the cell door, walking over to Fluttershy, the Fluttershy clone following silently. “Now hold still and don’t try anything, or else” Octavia threatened as she placed the collar around Fluttershy’s neck firmly, securing it, she then put the headphones on Fluttershy’s head. She somehow plugged a long wire from the headphone device into Fluttershy clone’s ear. Octavia flicked a switch on the headphones and the lights light up and Fluttershy felt a sharp piercing pain in her head and she cried out in shock and pain. Rainbow Dash was much too exhausted, mentally and physically, to wake from her slumber at the sound.

After what seemed like hours of intense pain in her head, but what could have only been minutes, the pain stopped. Octavia unplugged the wire from Fluttershy clone’s ear and took the headphones off of real Fluttershy; she then whispered something to Fluttershy clone, which then walked quietly out of the cell, up the stairs, and out of the sub-cellar. “W-what h-h-have you done?” Fluttershy squeaked, terrified.

“I have simply given all your memories to your clone, which is now going to go live your life” Octavia said as she put the headphone on the table and returned with a knife. “Poor Rainbow Dash seems to have lost all hope. It’s been fun having her here for the past four months, she’s a fighter. Are you a fighter Fluttershy? Hmm, no, I don’t suppose you are, you’re much too… sweet and kind, too shy. Oh well, I’ll still get some fun out of you, before you go and kill yourself.”

Fluttershy gulped and removed her wing from her sleeping friend and she backed away from the insane crazed musician pony, who advanced on her with the knife, her voice sounding child-like, but evil. “Time to play Fluttershy dear!” Octavia then lunged at Fluttershy.

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6 MONTHS LATER

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Octavia paced back and forth in her bedroom, frustrated and annoyed. The room was simple, containing only a wardrobe, her bed, a desk with a chair, a lamp and a bookshelf. There was a large family portrait on the wall showing a younger Octavia with her parents and grandparents. Octavia sighed loudly as she sat on her bed and looked out the window at the starry night sky.

It had been six months since she had lured the shy butter yellow pegasi, Fluttershy, down to the sub-cellar, six months of torture, mentally and physically, for Fluttershy, who refused to be broken. Octavia had thought she could break Fluttershy in a week, a month max, but she had somehow managed to survive six months, and most of that time she was alone too, nopony to give her moral support, as Rainbow Dash had cracked and killed herself a mere week after Fluttershy arrived.

SIX MONTHS! Rainbow Dash had last just over 4 months! Octavia struggled to understand how it was possible for the shy mare to survive so long, but somehow Octavia’s torture had caused Fluttershy to become more talkative, angry, defiant, doing whatever she could to upset Octavia. It mostly happened when there were other ponies in the cells, and no doubt Fluttershy was trying to draw Octavia’s attention away from the others, and most times it worked.

The Fluttershy clone had completely adjusted to real Fluttershy’s life within two days of joining the pony community, she was a perfect replica. Perfection… perfection was one thing Octavia craved, a perfect pony community with perfect pony citizens who never missed her concerts, never got her angry or annoyed, never tried to outshine her.

She had converted about a third of Ponyville’s ponies into clones, and she waited for the non-clones to slip up, so she could take them and replace them, and then have her fun with them. At the moment Fluttershy had Colgate for company. The dentist unicorn had criticized Octavia’s teeth and had hurt Octavia’s mouth. That was reason enough for Octavia to replace the pony with a clone.

The sound of movement downstairs snapped her out of her thoughts. She smiled, knowing that it must mean Vinyl Scratch was home from her gig. The unicorn DJ pony Vinyl Scratch was her housemate and her best friend, and pretty much the only pony Octavia would never want to replace with a clone. Vinyl Scratch knew nothing of Octavia’s insanity, or of her insane hobby, and Octavia planned to keep it that way.

Walking down the stairs, Octavia smiled at Vinyl. “Hello Vinyl, how was your gig?”

“Oh hey Tav, it was pretty wicked, lots of crazy party ponies! You got dinner ready?” Vinyl said enthusiastically as she dragged her DJ gear into her sound room, where she made and practiced her music. She took her glasses off and came back into the hall.

“Oh, yes, I have prepared supper, pasta with a tomato sauce, and I baked a lovely Pavlova” Octavia replies with a smile. She trots into the kitchen to serve the food.

“Awesome, I’m starving! I bet if you weren’t a musician you’d work in a snazzy café or something” Vinyl said as she followed Octavia to the kitchen. The two ate happily and Vinyl cleaned up as Octavia headed up for bed. “Hey Tav? I’m gonna work on some new stuff before heading to bed”

“Okay Vinyl, just try not to stay up too long, you do have another gig tomorrow after all” Octavia replied in a motherly tone.
“Course I won’t” Vinyl promised.

Octavia went to bed and soon fell asleep, whilst Vinyl headed to her sound room to work on a new song. After spending an hour staring off into space, listening to the same sample sound over and over again, Vinyl knew there was no way she would get any work done tonight. She was still thinking about what she’d seen last week.

She had come home much earlier than usual because her gig had been cancelled, something about most of the party getting sick from the stomach bug that had been going around. Octavia had said she was going out for tea and to do some shopping, so when Vinyl got home she put her stuff away and lounged in front of the TV. Octavia didn’t really like watching TV, so it never got turned on when she was home.

Vinyl had been watching some random show for a good half hour when she heard a door open, the door to the cellar to be exact. They rarely used the cellar, all that was down there was the water boiler and some junk, but who could be leaving it? Octavia wouldn’t be home yet, would she? And even if she was home, why in Equestria would she possibly want to go into the cellar? The high class grey pony loathed dust and grime, which was why the house was never messy, nothing ever out of place, the reason Vinyl had to keep her hooves clean at all times and the reason her room must be spotless and tidy.

Vinyl had quickly switched off the TV and stood, walking to the hall, and was astonished to find Octavia walking out of the cellar and into the hall, ear twitching crazily, laughing with a barely audible giggle, her face strange, a kind of madness was visible in her eyes, but what had shocked Vinyl most were the tiny flecks of blood on Octavia’s usually pristine coat, and a smeared, bloody hoof print, located on Octavia’s stomach. “Tav?” Vinyl had said, shocked, confused and a little scared by Octavia’s less than sane appearance.

The sound of Vinyl’s voice seemed to snap Octavia back to reality. In an instant the ear twitch and the giggling stopped and Octavia’s face returned to normal. Seemingly unaware of the state of her coat, she smiled at Vinyl and said “Oh hello Vinyl, why are you home so soon?”

“My umm… my gig was, errm, cancelled… What’s that red stuff on your coat?” Vinyl replied, certain that it was blood.
“What?” Octavia looked down and saw the blood. “Oh, it’s paint dear, I thought I’d try my hoof at painting, I guess I accidently flicked red pain on myself in the process. Oh well, I’ve found I have not talent for painting” Octavia explained, and as always she was convincing, very convincing, but Vinyl was unsure.

Curiosity got the better of Vinyl, so she quietly left her sound room and walked quietly to the cellar door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door as silently as possible and went carefully down the stairs, into the cellar. She switched on the single light bulb and looked around. Nothing odd here, just the boiler and some boxes, but then, there weren’t any paints either, nor a painting.

Vinyl was just about to give up and get back to work when she spotted a few spots of rusty brown on the floor by the boxes stacked high against the wall parallel to the staircase. She also noticed the scent of disinfectant and stain remover, not quite masked by the strong smell of flowers which usually filled the house.

Walking over to investigate, Vinyl found that the boxes had been strategically placed to hide the door behind. How long had that been there? She was sure it hadn’t been there the last time she had been down here, but then, that had been a few years ago. Peering around to make sure Octavia hadn’t magically appeared behind her, Vinyl opened the door and started down the dark stairs into the dark, dank room below, leaving the door open for light, only to have the door swing silently shut.

After testing it twice, Vinyl discovered that it was designed to automatically swing shut. “I thought playing with a swinging door would be too childish for you Octavia.” The tired, angry, defiant voice cut through the silence like a knife through hot butter, making Vinyl jump. “Let me guess, you can’t sleep so you’ve finally come to cut out my tongue like you’ve threatened to do so many times.”

Confused, Vinyl casted a simple light spell, one of the first spells a unicorn learns. Her horn glowed brightly, illuminating the room in a soft glow. Vinyl could see the room rather clearly. The floor was covered in a layer of old straw and there was a wooden table in the middle of the room. Behind the table the wall was covered in dangerous-looking things, knives of varying sizes, whips, scissors and chains.

Just across from the foot of the stairs started a line of four cells, two of which seemed occupied. Only now did the sickeningly sweet stench of the room reach her, mouldy old straw and an overly strong rose perfume, which almost completely covered the smell of blood and pony waste.

“Y-you’re not Octavia… Vinyl Scratch?” came the voice again. Vinyl could see that the voice came from a pony in the far cell, a pegasi with tattered, filthy wings, a filthy coat which may have been yellow, though the blood, dried and fresh, the cuts, burns and gashes, and whatever else was dirtying her coat made it hard to tell. The pony’s mane and tail, and half of one of her ears, seemed to have been hacked off.

“Who… Who are you?” Vinyl asked, confused, staying where she was. The second pony stirred and looked up at Vinyl wordlessly. Her coat was nowhere near as bad as the pegasi, so Vinyl could tell it was blue, and that the mane was blue and white. She realised with shock that the pony was Colgate, the kindly dentist unicorn. Colgate had a bloody lump of her head where her horn used to be, and Vinyl realised it must have been hacked off.

“I’m Fluttershy” the pegasi replied “You have to get out of here before Octavia catches you, in her current mental state, I don’t doubt she’ll torture you, even if you are close friends.”

“Fluttershy… O-Octavia did this to you!?” Vinyl gasped, coming down the final steps to the cells. It was no wonder that Vinyl hadn’t recognised Fluttershy. She couldn’t remember them ever having talked and this Fluttershy was so unlike the shy, delicate pegasi she’d seen around town. “B-but why!?”

“She does it because she’s utterly insane. If any pony does something she doesn’t like, she lures them down here with sweet promises, locks them up in these putrid cells, and tortures them until they kill themselves as a means to escape the pain.
She replaces the captured ponies with clones, so no pony notices them missing” Fluttershy explained. Colgate just nodded along; her expression was one of utter hopelessness.

“I-I’ll get you out of here! We’ll go to Celestia, get help, something” Vinyl said.

“Even if we get out of here our clones will hunt us down and kill us” Colgate whispered and Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

“No, I’m getting you two out of here. Where’s the key?” Vinyl asked, determined to help them out.

“Okay. The key’s over on the hook there” Fluttershy said, standing. “We’ll be able to run if we have to, there’s a hidden door that leads to a huge cavern where Octavia likes to chase us” She shivered at the memory.

Vinyl got the key and unlocked the cell doors and quietly led to two out of the fowl, dark subcellar. Going up the cellar stairs first, she checked that the hallway was clear before getting the other two to follow up into the hall. Vinyl grabbed a saddlebag and stuffed it with things they might need, food, water, first aid kit, a map of Equestria, a couple blankets, then, retrieving her glasses, she led them out the front door. Colgate had a limp which slowed her down a little, but by the time they stopped to rest a few hours, they were well away from Ponyville.

Vinyl had thought Fluttershy and Colgate’s wounds weren’t as bad as they looked, but the two dropped once they’d stopped. They had been ignoring the pain until they had gotten a safe distance from Ponyville, but now it was all they could do not to moan in pain. Vinyl applied what meagre first aid skills she knew, and then Fluttershy took over. Years of healing woodland creatures had made her a very good nurse.

Soon Fluttershy and Colgate were patched up and on the road to recovery. Vinyl gave them both a bread roll to eat, then looked for a safe-ish place to sleep the rest of the night. Just off the road she found a cave, the entrance big enough for a pony to crawl into, and the actual cave big enough to stand in. Leading the others into the cave, she moved a big branch over the entrance with magic.

Fluttershy gave out the blankets as the temperature dropped. “Winter is coming” she said as she wrapped herself in the blanket.

“I’ll keep watch tonight, you two need to sleep” Vinyl said.

“But you need to sleep to” Colgate protested, only to yawn loudly.

“I doubt I’ll sleep tonight anyway” Vinyl replied, and soon Colgate and Fluttershy had drifted off to sleep on piles of dried leaves, not the best bedding, but much better than stinking, mouldy old hay. Vinyl stayed awake throughout the night, jumping at the slightest sound, keeping as alert as possible.

As usual Octavia woke as the first rays of sunlight illuminated the sky. She stretched out on her bed, then decided to get some torture time in before Vinyl Scratch woke up. Walking quietly down the stairs, she went down into the cellar and then to the sub-cellar. “Rise and shine my dears” she said, not noticing anything amiss.

She frowned; Colgate and Fluttershy were awfully quiet… Maybe they had given in and killed themselves. She went to the table and lit her lantern, smiling at the flickering flame. Fire was her friend; it came to life at her command, illuminated the darkness for her, and gave beautiful burns to her captives.

When Octavia finally managed to drag her eyes from the flame she gave a strangled cry of shock and horror. “Aaahhhhhhhhhh! Their… Their gone!? How!? How can they be gone, I locked their cells tight… didn’t I!? Oh no no no no no, this is bad, no pony has ever escaped me! I… I have to find them! Before they, before they… Before they, what?”
Octavia was pacing through the room, panicked, but then she realised something “They aren’t going to get away! Ha, no way! Because the moment my darling clones spot them they’ll be dead! Ha ha ha haaa! Yes!” Octavia laughed, sounding less than sane.

“Oh my precious darling clones will drag their mutilated, mangled corpses down here to my sub-cellar and we will celebrate with my most beautiful, beautiful music!” She smiled then, wondering who she would catch next, and took a knife from the wall, scratched a long, perfectly straight line in the table.

As she finished the line she remembered that Vinyl Scratch would expect breakfast when she woke, so Octavia put the knife back and trotted upstairs, ear twitching every few seconds. She cooked breakfast for both her and Vinyl Scratch and began eating without waiting, certain that the smell of food would be enticing enough to lure the unicorn down without Octavia needing to call her, but Octavia soon realised this wasn’t going to happen.

Finishing her own breakfast, she went upstairs and knocked on Vinyls door… No reply… Opening the door she found the room devoid of all life. Had Vinyl Scratch fallen asleep working? It wouldn’t have been the first time. Sighing, she returned downstairs and knocked on the door to Vinyls studio… Again no reply… Opening the door Octavia found no pony, and Octavia realised that Vinyl must be the reason Fluttershy and Colgate had escaped.

Octavia gave a strangled half scream of rage, “Aaaaaaaaaaaah! HOW could she DO this to ME!? I am her VERY best friend, how in EQUESTRIA could she BETRAY me like this!? She is the ONLY pony I wouldn’t lock up and torture, the ONLY pony I haven’t cloned, and THIS is how she repays ME!?” Octavia’s eyes had become bloodshot in fury and her ear twitched crazily.

“Well I’ll show her! She will PAY! When I catch her I’ll lock her up and NEVER give her the option or escape of DEATH! Ha ha haa ha aha ha haa!” Octavia laughed loudly and manically. She went to her room and took a large remote with multiple buttons adorning it from a drawer in her dresser. She pressed some buttons on it, which would call four of her clones to her, Rainbow Dash clone, Fluttershy clone, Colgate clone and Applejack clone.

Once the four had assembled at Octavia’s home, she ordered them to help her find and kill the real Fluttershy and Colgate and help her capture Vinyl Scratch alive. The clones quickly left with Octavia. It was still early morning, and a Saturday, so no pony noticed the five ponies leave the town. The Fluttershy and Colgate clones had a strange sort of bond with their originals, so they led the way towards the real Fluttershy and Colgate.

Just before dawn Vinyl Scratch had fallen asleep, exhausted, so it wasn’t until the group of clones was visible from the cave mouth that Fluttershy knew they were in danger. “Vinyl, Colgate, wake up!” Fluttershy whispered urgently.
“Wha-what? Whats happening?!” Vinyl said, snapping awake.

“Shhh! Octavia’s coming with a bunch of clones” Fluttershy said. She went to shake Colgate awake but stopped with a sad sigh.

“What is it?” Vinyl asked quietly.

“She’s dead, blood poisoning most likely… It’s probably a better fate than she would have had before… Okay, come on, we need to get out of here. We can see them but I don’t think they can see this cave” Fluttershy said, heading to the entrance.
Vinyl grabbed her saddlebags and moved the branch just enough for them to get out a they ran as quietly as possible away from the group. After a few minutes Rainbow Dash Clone spotted them and the clones gave chase, all wielding knives.

Fluttershy and Vinyl ran as fast as their legs would carry them through the woods, but Rainbow Dash clone dived at Fluttershy and had slit her throat before she could even yelp. Vinyl didn't stop though, she continued to gallop, and adrenaline and fear making her go faster.

“YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ME VINYL SCRATCH! GIVE UP NOW!” Octavia’s voice rang out through the woods, almost causing Vinyl to falter. The voice was filled with unbridled fury and obvious insanity. Rainbow Dash clone now flew overhead and dive bombed into Vinyl, who kicked RD clone, knocking her flying and crashing into a tree. Vinyl had allowed herself one glance back to find the group closing in on her. Looking back was a mega mistake though, as Vinyl tripped and fell head over heels, spraining her left ankle.

Vinyl gave a cry of pain, then felt RD clone pin her down. Soon she was trapped by the other clones. “Stand aside Rainbow Dash” Octavia said, and RD clone obeyed. “Oh Vinyl Scratch, why couldn’t you just keep your muzzle out of my business? Instead this has had to happen.”

“Fine, kill me and be done with it” Vinyl said through gritted teeth, her ankle, which was causing her much pain was starting to swell.

“Oh no my dear, I will not kill you, these clones won’t kill you, and I won’t allow you to kill yourself. Unless an incurable illness takes you first, it will be old age that takes you, and I’ll make sure of that.” Octavia sneered, enjoying herself.

“Why?” Vinyl said glancing at the knives the clones held, forming a plan.

“Because you betrayed my trust by freeing my captives, because I don’t have a clone of you, because we’re friends and I don’t want you to die, are those good enough reasons for you?” Octavia asked.

“Nope” Vinyl replied, plan completed.

“Too bad, I’m insane so… Aaaaahhh…” Octavia gave a strangled scream as the four knives from the clone ponies were plunged magically into Octavia’s neck, flank, chest and back. She collapsed to the ground, shaking violently and gasping for breath as her life left her. Octavia used her last breath to mutter “I hate you” at Vinyl before dying. The clones stood still, not knowing what to do.

“Go! Go live your stolen lives, its better no pony knows this ever happened…” Vinyl said, and the clone nodded silently and left her alone.

Vinyl was left alone in the clearing, with only Octavia's bloodied corpse for company as the sun rose higher in the sky, it was looking to be a beautiful day. But that didn't matter to Vinyl Scratch. Despite it all, all the horrific crimes Octavia had committed, Vinyl found herself crying for the loss of her best friend, and she lay there under the tree, in front of Octavia's body, and cried herself to sleep.

THE END