Author's Note

Hi there all! I've had this idea for way way way too long, and I figured I'd finally write it out! Before you think this is just another Cupcakes rip-off, I just wanted to make it clear that this will not be a copy paste of the original, and I will not even be referencing the original story aside from the fact that Rainbow is deceased. I want this work to be as original as possible. Any feedback is appreciated! I will post the next chapter as soon as I finish it.

This first chapter doesn't contain any gore!

Missing Rainbow

The door to Sugarcube Corner opened, the bell jingling as the door hit it. Applejack approached the counter, looking for her bouncy pink friend, who worked and lived in the pastry shop.

"Pinkie Pie! Where are you? Did you get a letter from Rainbow Dash yet?" Applejack looked behind the counter, but she saw nopony there. She was just about to yell again when Pinkie Pie sprang up from behind the counter. Applejack was certain she wasn't there a moment ago, but just chalked it up to Pinkie's usual shenanigans.

"Well hiya Applejack! How's my favorite maybe-cousin doing today?" Pinkie Pie was as bubbly as ever, smiling from ear to ear a smile that on any other pony's face would look downright scary.

"I'm doin' fine, thanks. But I wanted to see if Rainbow sent you another letter yet."

"Oh! Of course, yeah, lemme just grab it. I'll be right back!" Pinkie pulled a lever, and whooshed down to her party planning cave. Applejack figured that must have been how she had appeared so suddenly earlier. Applejack nearly jumped out of her skin, though, when she heard Pinkie's cheerful voice from behind her. She whirled around to find that Pinkie was in front of the closed front door, a letter rolled up and held by her hair.

"Gosh darnit, Pinkie! You nearly scared the hooves off'a me!"

Pinkie giggled cutely. "I'm sorry, AJ, didn't mean to spook ya! Wanna read the letter?"

Applejack nodded, reaching a hoof out as Pinkie's seemingly sentient hair placed it gently in her hoof. She skimmed through the letter, written in typical Rainbow dash fashion. In other words, it was written quickly and messily, by mouth.

Applejack let out a snort of frustration. "She cancelled her visit here again!"

Pinkie Pie looked somber, but smiled nonetheless. "She sprained her wing, AppleJack, it would be torture to make her fly all the way from the Wonderbolts headquarters to Ponyville."

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't sayin' she should fly on a sprained wing. What in the blazes gave you that idea?" Before Pinkie could respond, AJ continued, "What I meant was, we should go and visit her! I know that she's strugglin' right now, but so am I! She's my marefriend and I miss her!" Applejack did an uncharacteristic pout. She hadn't been able to see Rainbow in nearly two months! Every visit was cancelled for different reasons, and it was always Pinkie reassuring everypony that there would always be next time, and not to press the matter.

"Yes, but-," Pinkie started before she was cut off.

"Dagnabbit! I'm going to go see her! You don't have to come if you don't want to but I need to-,"

"NO!" Pinkie Pie screeched before covering her mouth with her hooves.

Applejack was caught completely off guard, and simply stood there, jaw agape.

Pinkie quickly recovered. "I- I mean, um, before you go, can you help me with some baking? I was making a care package to send to Dashie, and if you're already going her way, you can bring it to her in person!"

Applejack slowly recovered from her shock, shaking her head and blinking rapidly. Pinkie's scream had been ear-piercingly loud. "Well, ah, ah suppose ah could stay, if yer makin' somethin' fer Rainbow."

Pinkie Pie let out a huge sigh of relief. Her mind was racing. If Applejack traveled to the Wonderbolts HQ, she'd discover that Rainbow Dash wasn't there, and hadn't been there in two months. Then, of course, everypony would become suspicious as to how Pinkie was getting mail from Dash from the HQ, with nopony sending it. Applejack would think the worst, ever protective of her marefriend. Pinkie Pie knew that AJ truly was an extremely honest pony, and that if she even began to suspect for a second that Pinkie had something to do with Rainbow Dash's disappearance, she'd go straight to Twilight. No, Pinkie had to make a tough decision now. It was off schedule, out of order, and not really planned, but it was her only option. It was time to open her secret room in her already secret party planning cave for another night of deadly fun.

Pinkie Pie hadn't prepared for it at all, let alone tailored something specifically for Applejack as of yet, as she was pretty far down the list of the random numbers she had assigned everypony in town. She supposed that she'd have to make the preparations while Applejack was unconscious. That meant she'd have to do a bigger than normal dose of her special ingredient to ensure she stayed asleep long enough for Pinkie to do a proper dramatic reveal. Add that to the fact she'd have to do a higher dose anyways because of AJ's massive muscle mass and sturdy earth pony body, and it seemed like she might actually use up all of her current stock on one pony! Replacing all of it would make a sizeable divot in her bank account, but such was the way life went.

While all this thinking was zipping through Pinkie's mind, she had led Applejack to the kitchen and set her up at a mixing station.

"Just keep mixing this batter until there isn't any lumps left, okay? I've gotta go downstairs to get some more of my super special ingredient, so I'll be right back!" Pinkie Pie hopped away, disappearing around the corner.

Applejack chuckled to herself. Everypony knew that Pinkie's "super special ingredient" was really just some brown sugar, but she supposed Pinkie had to keep up the ruse or else she couldn't call it a secret any longer. Applejack worked her muscles as she mixed what she figured was cake batter, she let her mind zone out a bit as she got lost in the rhythm of mixing. She heard hoofsteps approaching, and looked to see Pinkie with a plate of cookies held in her mouth. The pink pony set the plate down, before turning to Applejack.

"I'm trying out some new flavor combinations, and I figured since you and Dashie are so close, you'd be able to try these and tell me which ones she'd like." Pinkie looked hopeful, and AJ stopped her mixing to inspect the cookies.

"Okay, what are the flavors?"

"I can't tell you, silly! Try them and find out!" Pinkie smiled ear to ear yet again, and this time Applejack felt a sense of unease roiling deep within her. She brushed it off as paranoia, she figured she was probably just tense because she wanted to see Rainbow.

"Alright, lemme have a taste." She grabbed the closest cookie to her, shoving it in her mouth and chewing quickly. The first one tasted like chocolate chips, but there was another flavor she couldn't quite place. She swallowed the cookie, and opened her mouth to comment on the flavors but she was cut off.

"Go on," Pinkie said, before shoving another cookie into Applejack's mouth. "You have to try all of them!"

Applejack had barely managed to swallow down the second cookie when a third was thrust into her mouth, followed by another, and another. They all had unique flavors, but it was hard to review any of them when she had no time between cookies. She attempted to stop Pinkie, holding a hoof up. Applejack wanted to speak, to give her opinion on the cookies, but Pinkie was relentless. After ten cookies, Applejack started to feel dizzy. She wasn't sure if it was lack of air or something else, but her world began to sway a bit.

Pinkie shoved in the last cookie, and helped Applejack's quickly tiring body to finish chewing and swallowing the last bit. A solid thud sounded throughout the bakery as Applejack's limp body hit the floor, hat landing off to the side.

"Wow, AJ," Pinkie mused out loud to herself, "you're stronger than I thought. I was almost certain six cookies would've been enough to send you reeling, but you ate all of them!" Pinkie stooped, and flipped Applejack's hat up, and it landed on her head. The brown of the hat looked drab next to her bright pink mane. She smiled ear to ear down at Applejack. AJ's eyes were spinning in their sockets, her pupils rapidly dilating and contracting in response to the heavy drug coursing through her system.

Applejack couldn't hear Pinkie, even though she saw her mouth moving. There was a ringing in her ears, like she had just stuck her head in a bell and rattled it around. Everything in her vision went fuzzy, colors morphing and seeming to blend together. The last thing she saw before slipping into the ever-welcoming darkness, was Pinkie Pie's smiling face. That too-large smile, spreading farther than a pony's mouth should go. And those empty, empty blue eyes.