Today was nothing special, it was a bright sunny day in Ponyville and everypony was going about their business as usual. Everypony except Twilight, who had nothing to do. She had finished all her tasks for the week and had nothing on the schedule, it was a free day. It was rare Twilight ever got a free day, as usually there'd be something the princess wanted her to do, or there'd be something happening in town she had to attend, but today there was nothing.
She wasn't about to let boredom take over though, there was something she'd wanted to do ever since she moved to Ponyville that she hadn't had the chance to do until now: start a book club.
"Hey Rainbow Dash! Would you be interested in joining me and Rarity's book club?" Twilight yelled at a tree with a napping blue pegasus in it.
Rainbow Dash jumped awake, seeming a lot more on edge than normal. She looked down at Twilight, still half asleep. "What? Twilight?" she grunted.
"Are you ok, Rainbow Dash?"
"Uh, yeah!" Rainbow said unconfidently, "What's up, Sparkle?"
Twilight noticed the unusual behaviour of Rainbow Dash. While most ponies do normally take a second to fully wake up from a nap, Rainbow wasn't just any pony, it was unlike her to be this groggy after a nap. Plus not once since Twilight moved to Ponyville had Rainbow ever called her 'Sparkle'. However Twilight shrugged it off and pushed on.
"Rarity and I are starting a book club, we were wondering if you wanted to join." Twilight said.
"Is that a threat?" Rainbow joked.
"It's an invitation," Twilight sighed.
Rainbow wasn't exactly known for reading, and Twilight assumed that's what her comment was about, however something about it still rubbed her the wrong way. Twilight wasn't worried about that right now though, she'd been trying to get Rainbow Dash to read something for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity.
"I'm sure if you'd just try reading something you'd find you like it! Plus we're going to get Pinkie to make us cupcakes, if you join you can have as many as you want."
"Cupcakes? Pinkie?" Rainbow grit her teeth, something about what Twilight said clearly frightened her. "Ok, I'll join! Do you want me to get the cupcakes from Pinkie? I can ask her if she wants to join while I'm there!"
Twilight could sense something very off about Rainbow Dash, and she couldn't ignore it anymore. "What's going on, Rainbow? You seem on edge..." Twilight squinted her eyes at Rainbow.
Rainbow laughed uncomfortably. "On edge? Why would you think that? I just want to help out with the book club!" Rainbow flew down from the tree to talk with Twilight face to face. "I can meet you at your place in 20 minutes with the cupcakes!"
"You don't have to do that, I've got nothing else to do today anyway so—"
"No!" Rainbow shouted before returning to a calm voice, "I mean, you need to rest, Twilight! You should rest. Go home and get some rest."
"You just told me to rest three times."
"Yeah, I really do think you should rest!"
Twilight grunted, and although she was concerned for Rainbow Dash, she didn't want to ruin this chance to finally get her to read something. She decided to agree to wait for Rainbow at her place. "Ok, Rainbow Dash, you can get the cupcakes. Just don't eat them all on the way over, alright?"
"Sure thing!"
Rainbow's smile turned to a frown as she sighed, before turning back to a more sincere smile and looking at Twilight. "You're a really great friend, Twilight Sparkle. I just want you to know how much you, and the other girls mean to me."
Twilight was taken aback by this, but flattered nonetheless. "Uh, thanks, Rainbow. You're a great friend too!"
"Thanks. Welp, see you in a bit!" Rainbow Dash flew off towards town before Twilight could say another word.
Twilight was at her house, it'd been an hour since she had talked to Rainbow Dash. She was starting to get fed up with waiting, where was that mare?
There was something about what she had said that still rubbed Twilight the wrong way. Why was she so eager to get the cupcakes, and why did she say that stuff about her friends right before leaving? Did she know something Twilight didn't?
With the way Rainbow was acting, Twilight couldn't blame her for being a bit late, since she didn't exactly seem to be at the top of her game. However 60 minutes is a lot more than 20, so Twilight decided to go to Sugar Cube Corner herself to get the cupcakes.
"1, 2, 3, 4..." Twilight counted her bits as Pinkie rang her up for the cupcakes.
Pinkie had a cheeky grin on her face. "Hey Twi, what are all the cupcakes for?"
"I started a book club! At the moment it's just me, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash—"
Twilight was cut off by Pinkie trying and failing to hold in a laugh, "Sorry, sorry, it sounds great, Twi! I look foward to seeing how it pans out!" Pinkie said with her grin widening.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing... Did Rainbow Dash offer to buy the cupcakes, by any chance?" Pinkie asked, trying not to burst out with laughter.
"Yeah, she did..."
Pinkie burst out with laughter, her head falling to the counter.
"What's so funny?" Twilight asked, hoping Pinkie would calm down, however this only seemed to make it worse.
"This is amazing! It's exactly like I envisioned it!" Pinkie was unable to stop laughing.
Twilight started to back away slowly as Pinkie continued laughing.
"Wait, no! Twi, come back! I'll stop, I'll stop..." Pinkie said as she started to calm down.
"So... What was so funny?" Twilight asked again, hoping the strange occurance was finally over.
"You'll see soon enough. The readers have probably already figured it out. Let's just say, don't expect Rainbow Dash to make it to your book club."
"Why not?"
"I killed her."
...
Silence filled the room as Twilight tried to decipher what Pinkie had said. Surely it must be a joke, although it was unlike Pinkie to joke about such serious matters. Not to mention the fact it wasn't very funny.
"No no, Twi, it's not a joke! Good guess, though. Try again."
Twilight stood there in confusion, what was Pinkie talking about? Was this some kind of twisted prank?
"Prank?! What do you mean 'prank'? Isn't that just another form of joke? That doesn't count; try again, Twi." Pinkie said with a smug smile on her face.
Twilight was beyond confusion at this point, was Pinkie... Reading her mind? How did she know what Twilight was about to say? "Pinkie, what's going on?! What happened to Rainbow Dash?!"
Pinkie let out a sigh, "I already told you, I killed her! Do you want me to show you? Come on, I think she's still in my basement."
Pinkie proceeded to open a secret entrance to a basement Twilight wasn't aware she had. She walked down the stairs while humming a happy tune.
Twilight stood there in shocked silence for a few seconds before following her. Was this why Rainbow was off? Are the two plotting something Twilight just doesn't understand yet? Twilight caught up to Pinkie and they continued to descend the stairs.
"Ever heard of grimdark fanfiction, Twi?" Pinkie asked.
"No?"
"Come on, Twi! Help me shatter it! It's too late now anyway." Pinkie said impatiently.
"Pinkie, what in Equestria are you talking about?!"
"Huh, you really don't know? That's odd. I thought you were just playing along..."
"Pinkie, you're starting to scare me and it isn't funny!" Twilight said frantically, the situation causing her to lose her composure.
"The fourth wall, Twi! You know what, nevermind, you'll see soon enough."
"Why are there so many stairs?"
"It's a deep basement!"
Twilight embraced her confusion, took a deep breath, and continued down the stairs. All should be explained soon, right?
When they reached the bottom, Pinkie flipped a switch and all the lights came on at once, revealing a horrifying room like nothing Twilight had ever seen before. Blood splattered the walls. There were organs and bones piled up in the corner of the room. At her hooves was a rug made from the skin of a pony. There were various dangerous tools lined up on a counter next to a bed.
Laying on that bed was Rainbow Dash, her wings had been sawn off and her guts hung out. Horror was etched into her face from her last moments of life, and blood filled her mouth which was dripping out onto the floor.
Twilight was shook to her core, Pinkie wasn't joking, she really had killed Rainbow Dash. Pinkie covered her ears as Twilight let out a scream of horror and sorrow.
"Rainbow! No!" she yelled as she ran over to the body, tears streaming down her face.
"Jeez, enough with the clichés!"
Pinkie's comment snapped Twilight's attention back from Rainbow, she turned around and locked eyes with the murderer. A sea of various emotions came down on Twilight as she started to absorb the situation.
"Pinkie, what have you done?! Why did you do this?!" Twilight wailed.
She slowly picked up one of the knives from the counter with her magic to defend herself.
"Oh please, Twi. Your magic can't stop me. You're currently uninjured and only mildly traumatized, this is grimdark! Forget the magic of friendship, embrace the magic of story requirements!"
Pinkie pulled out a dart that was concealed in her mane, "What's this, Twi? A sleeping dart, perhaps?"
Pinkie threw the dart at Twilight, it landed in her neck, and after a few seconds she fell to the floor.
As Twilight drifted off, she only heard one thing: "Sweet dreams, Twi."
Twilight's eyes slowly opened as she regained her thoughts, the horror of the basement she was now trapped in flooded her vision. She was now restrained to the same bed Rainbow Dash was on, laying on her back with all 4 hooves strapped down. Her horn had been destroyed.
She cried and screamed as loud as she could to try and get the attention of somepony outside.
"That won't work, Twi. You know how deep this basement is." Pinkie said, revealing herself from the dark corner of the room.
"Why are you doing this? I thought Rainbow and I were your friends!" Twilight started to cry as the mental image of Rainbow's corpse came back to her.
"It's not about friendship, Twi. It's about insanity. It's about those twisted thoughts you get but never have the guts to do. It's about sadism."
"What happened to you?! I don't understand anything you're saying! Why do you keep calling me 'Twi'? You never call me that!" At this point Twilight was starting to regain some of her composure, just trying her hardest to understand the situation.
"'Twilight' is hard to type out, Twi. It has 5 unnecessary letters! You really don't get it, do you?"
Twilight had already commited to her confusion, now all she wanted to do was escape. She tried as hard as possible to use her magic, but her horn was no longer there to save her.
"Twi, trust me, you won't have a hope of escaping yet. This is a story designed to horrify! You think you're getting out of here before we've had any fun?!" Pinkie walked up to Twilight and grabbed a trowel off the counter, "If you really can't break the fourth wall then I'll leave it up to you to decide how we start, which leg should I ram this into first?"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Twilight had completely lost her patience, she screamed at a level that even startled Pinkie.
"Whoa, Twi! I didn't think you'd be the first one to swear!" Pinkie said still a little dazed by the sudden outburst. "You're in a fanfiction, Twi! We aren't in Friendship Is Magic anymore. We're in the bronies' hands, and they want to see blood, death, and psychological trauma!"
"You've gone crazy!"
"Oh have I now?" Pinkie said sarcastically before driving the trowel into Twilight's right back leg, it dug in several inches deep. Blood started pouring out and Twilight's body was in shock.
She screamed and cried, the only thing she could feel was the immense pain and the cold betrayal of a pony she thought was her friend. Twilight thrashed around, but couldn't break from her restraints.
Pinkie continued to drive the trowel deeper into Twilight's leg, causing more pain and blood loss. In Twilight's dazed horrified state, she could still make out the sick twisted grin on her friend's face. This was nothing like Twilight had ever been through before, nothing in the world made sense in this moment. All she could feel was pain, and all she could do was scream.
"Man, that's a lot of descriptors for stabbing somepony with a trowel! Good job, Twi. You did good."
After half a minute Twilight's heart was racing and her breathing heavy, but she still managed to speak. "I thought we were friends..." she blabbered out, trying to appeal to Pinkie's empathy. It seemed to work for a moment, as Pinkie was taken aback by this statement.
"Look, I don't want to do this, but the people want to see it and I have to make cupcakes somehow!"
"Cupcakes?!"
"Cupcakes!" Pinkie said excitedly with a massive uncanny smile forming.
She grabbed a knife and stabbed it straight through Twilight's other back leg with no hesitation. The searing pain returned to her, and she screamed again. More blood poured out, Twilight knew that if she kept losing blood at this rate she would surely die.
Twilight thrashed around some more but nothing happened. Pinkie stood there still smiling, as if she had been possessed. She didn't seem the same anymore, something happened to her.
Twilight's mind was starting to give in, and she began to lose her senses from the lack of blood and immense pain.
"Not you too, Pinkie!" Twilight could hear a voice but couldn't make out who it was. She heard laughter, and over the next minute she heard fighting. It ended with a massive laugh followed by coughing and finally silence.
The third pony in the room ran up to Twilight, "Stay with me, Twilight! I'm going to get you to a hospital!"
Twilight lost consciousness.
Author's Note
The next chapter should be longer, this one was only supposed to set up the basic plot of the story moving foward.
This chapter is based on Cupcakes, obviously. I feel that shouldn't need saying. This story won't just be a series of parodies, however the whole thing is inspired by several grimdark fanfictions, and there'll be obvious references to them occasionally.
