Psychodash

by Axolu

Rating: mature
Tags: Random, Pinkie Pie, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Sad
Length: 5249

A Darker Strange Hyperrealistic look at Dash's new Pinkamena-class monstrous predicament.

Some say Rainbow Dash died.
This is true.
…But not completely.

Forced from the incredible nightmares of her recent past, Dash finds herself bound in more ways than one. Now she must contend with a newly forged friendship, old fears, and herself. Can Dash balance the new struggles of her life, or will it succumb to its monstrous nature?

A Darker Strange Hyperrealistic story. Also somewhat a cupcakes “Alternate Ending”.
I, like many of the newer fimfiction authors, ask that you read the story before voting it one way or the other.

Enjoy ^_^

Coverart by Coporaptor
Edits by Andromeda and Kossokei
Co-Authored by Kossokei in later chapters

Published 2012-09-16 09:24:03 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-28 02:38:50 UTC

Silent Sprint - 1

Psychodash

One - Silent Sprinting

~Axôlú

____----____----_____

Dash was thrust from unconsciousness by Pinkie's latest adrenalin shot.

“Ya’ know, Rainbow Dash, I’m disappointed. I thought you would have lasted longer. I really wanted to spend more time with you like this before we got here. But I guess it’s my fault; I should've taken it a teeny tiny bit slower. Oh well. It was really nice knowing you like this, Dashie!”

The blade sunk into the blue throat and worked its way up to Dash’s chin. Dash opened her jaw, the scalpel pressing further into her flesh.

“Why…Pinkie…” Dash rasped in a final attempt to understand.

“Dashie,” Pinkie giggled, “I only wanted a friend like me.”

Pinkie cut around Dash’s neck and across her skull. The last thing Dash felt was the skin being sliced from her head and the metal of the blade scraping her teeth. Confused thoughts swirled through Dash’s mind, each question leaving her less understanding than the last. Soon these questions faded into nothing as unconsciousness engulfed her.

Then, Rainbow Dash was gone.

_-_-_

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-Thump

Tha-ThumpTha-ThumpTha-Thump

Dash jolted back from her dreams, waking to an almost pitch black room. Her heart pounded in her chest. She flexed her wings, relaxing as she felt all her feathers once again.

‘Phew… only a dream.’ Dash yawned, stretching her mouth. The phantom pains still remained from the harrowing experiences of her recent memory.

Dash yawned again, trying to dispel the strange feeling in her jaw. She tried to reach up a hoof to touch her muzzle, and found her foreleg unresponsive.

‘Ugh…what happened last night,’ Dash twisted her midsection, but failed to turn over. Her legs seemed almost locked in position. She tried moving her lean blue limbs a bit more, then more franticly, then even more forcefully, rattling her steel bindings.

Comprehension dawned on Dash. She was trapped.

She continued to struggle viciously against the bonds, but they held strong, refusing to give way to the pounds of force against them.

Her eyes final adjusted to the dark, revealing pony-shaped silhouettes in the distance.

She screamed at them to help her, but no sound came out. She tried again, only to coat the room in another layer of silence.

A form shifted from the corner of her vision, becoming clearer still as both Dash’s vision adjusted and it moved out of the shadows. The bonds began to crack and the edges of the steel cut into Dash’s hooves, coating the rough metal in a deep, glossy red.

She felt nothing but panic.

“Silly Dashie!” the form stepped fully into the light, revealing the pink coated body of Dash’s nightmare. The form brushed away its flattened pink mane with a foreleg, giving Dash a clear look at its bright blue eyes. Plastered on its face was a wide smile, beaming at Dash in ecstasy.

Dash’s eyes widened yet further, her struggling growing evermore violent.

Snap

Dash fell to the floor, and she scrambled to a standing position. She tried to run, but the cold cement floor was slick with red, and she stumbled to the ground, her head facing the cement block she was bound to just moments ago.

With this sight came two horrible realizations. The bindings were still intact. Her hooves were still bound to the block.

She reached her forelegs in front of her, and gazed upon the bloody stumps that remained of the hooves’ joints.

Dash burst into silent tears, the helplessness of her situation setting in.

Despair washed over her like the blood spread across the floor. Was it real? Was it all a dream followed by a terrible reality? ‘This can’t possibly be real. This is just a hallucination.’

Dash was so enthralled by her own thoughts that she failed to notice the tingling in her torn limbs. The blood flow stopped, her detached hooves disintegrated, and the bone of her limbs expanded. Soon her whole hooves regrew, coating over with cyan skin and regrown fur.

“C’mon Dashie, it’s time to meet the new you!” The pink monstrosity beamed, “we’re gonna’ be late for the Party!” A large knife sliced into Dash’s back, the unsharpened end thrusting upward, pulling Dash to her hooves.

‘They’re back?’ Dash lifted her left foreleg in wonder.

“I’m not waiting for you,” The other being dragged Dash by the knife, causing her to stumble and fall again to the floor, still mercilessly pulled to the ‘Party’

Yet again, realization struck. She felt the cool cement below her; she felt the tingling of her hooves as the tendons finished healing, she felt the strange, wrong feeling of her mouth whenever she stretched it.

She felt no pain.

As if reading her mind, the other being turned its head, lowering its eyebrows and frowning in disapproval, “It’s not like you can feel pain, Dashie! Don’t you know how much effort goes into removing each itty bitty little pain receptor?” Its demeanor instantly brightened. “But now that we’re all done, you get to go to my best party ever! Aren’t you excited?”

Dash continued to slide lazily across the floor, dismissing the whole ordeal as nothing but fantasy.

“Well, here we are.” the other being pulled the knife from Dash’s back, “I just know you’ll love it!” It beamed, standing proudly on its hind legs, and gave a flourish with its foreleg. Dash’s eyes followed its hoof, gazing at the features of the room.

The room seemed smaller than the previous chamber. The four yellow walls curved as they extended upwards. There Dash saw a series of rafters displaying party streamers of all colours, winding down to the wooden floor. Confetti littered the floor and the brightly coloured cloths were draped across the tables. One central table held a large cake framed by several presents. The smell of cake frosting wafted through the room and the sound of classic party music bounced against the walls.

The pink being thrust a rainbow striped party hat onto Dash’s head, snapping the elastic strap below her chin. “Surprise! Oh, wait, that wasn’t a surprise, I already told you this was a party. Hmm. Maybe I should have made it a surprise party, but oh well. Do you like it? Do ya’ do ya’ do ya'?” It jumped up and down, its smile growing wider with each bounce.

Suddenly it halted and gasped, “Oh, what a meanie-beanie pants thing of me to do! I haven’t told you my name. You can call me Pinkamena,”

‘Pinkamena… That almost sounds like…’ Dash jumped up in shock, slamming into the back wall. She received only a questioning glance from the demon known as Pinkamena.

“Is there somepony named Pinkie? Oooh, that name sounds a lot like mine, maybe I should invite her too,” Dash’s fears were confirmed. Pinkamena could read minds.

Dash attempted to groan, her lack of vocal chords causing her to sigh instead, and she slowly trotted towards the central table, a feeling of numbness surrounding her.

“C’mon Dashie! Open your presents first!” Pinkamena disappeared from Dash’s side and popped up from the far side of the table. It grabbed a blue present with a red ribbon, hoofing it over to Dash. Dash sat on her haunches and gripped the present with her forehooves. She opened her maw, once again feeling that strange, almost grating sensation in her gums. The ribbon shredded as Dash bit through it and pulled.

“Let me help you with that.” Pinkamena grabbed the present, biting onto the ribbon and pulling. The top popped open, revealing a pair of sleek black shades. Dash raised an eyebrow, her confusion growing. This Pinkamena character switched from impossibly cruel to as kind as Pinkie with the flip of a switch.

“Don’t you think that the coolest and most awesomest pegasus in all of Equestria deserves some super-duper awesome shades?” It grinned, before jumping back to the table and flung the rest of the presents to Dash.

Dash, with Pinkamena’s assistance, opened the second present. She picked up a smooth light blue mask, one a lot like the masks used by doctors. Dash shuddered, remembering the various crashes that landed her in the Ponyville Hospital. But why would anypony want to give her a mask like that?

She tossed it to the side. Pinkamena’s smile faltered, before returning to its normal breadth. It handed her the last present, once again opened with its help. The present contained two objects. One was a circular band, with various holes on one end and a rectangular metal loop with a thin bar on the other. The second was a thin black ropelike object, tapering at the end to a point. A whip and a collar.

‘And what. Am I supposed to use these for?’ Dash glared at Pinkamena.

It ignored her, instead materializing a large piece of framed glass from somewhere and placed it in front of Dash.

“Time to look at the new you, Dashie!” Pinkamena grabbed Dash and held her before the mirror, still smiling that same wide smile.

Startled, Dash leaped away from the frightening visage displayed in the glass. The thing through the glass had a cyan face, a ragged rainbow mane hanging down its face and across its shoulder. Framed by dark circles were two solid magenta eyes.

“Oh come on, don’t be such a grumpy wumpy sad frowny face. Just smile!” Pinkamena exclaimed with glee, grabbing the two corners of Dash’s mouth with its hooves and pulling them up sharply.

Pinkamena giggled as the thing in the glass smiled too, exposing two rows of razor sharp teeth.

It took a moment for Dash to process the image. There was glass in front of her. It had cyan fur and a rainbow mane. So did she. It had magenta in its eyes. From what she could remember, so did she. It was smiling. So was she. Dash ran her tongue across her teeth, feeling points, rather than the flat teeth she was used to. The glass wasn’t just a glass, it was a mirror. She was looking at herself.

She… It was a monster.

Dash leapt again from the floor, its wings flapping furiously. Its eyes widened, mouth opened in a silent scream of pure terror. Sweat dripped down its furry coat.

‘This can’t be real, I’m dreaming, I’m going to wake up and everything will be fine. I’m not a monster,’ Dash flew around the party room, panic written all across its face.

More memories clicked together. Dash felt all the objects it touched. The room reeked of frosting. The taste of recently lit candles nipped its tongue. The sound of the music invaded its ears.

For a final time that night, Dash knew the extent of her horrific predicament. It was real. Everything was real.

It flew out the nearest entrance with all its strength, as if trying to escape the reality it was brutally forced into. Dash smashed into the walls in its panicked flight, promising not to stop until it escaped a nightmare turned reality.

Pinkamena slowly slid her hind legs forward to sit on her haunches, staring at the doorway that Dash had just left through. Pinkamena’s eyes watered; a torrent of tears threatened to spill.

“C-come back… D-D-Dashie,” she cried.

_-_-_

The door to the basement of Sugarcube Corner opened with a quiet creak, slowly shining Luna’s moonlight into the face of its former prisoner. Dash lifted a hoof to her face, sliding the wooden frame further open as she stepped into the main lobby. She squinted as her vision readjusted. Sucarcube Corner’s lobby looked much like it always had.

A plethora of usually colourful pastries lined the shelves near the walls and counter. The filtered moonlight served only to dull the pastries’ normal vibrancy in the darkened room. Leftover confetti, wrapping paper and sugar lay in the corners, swept away from the earlier parties the confectioner’s shop was famous for.

Parties, like the one just down the steps behind her.

Dash pushed the lingering thoughts of the party dungeon from her mind, instead focusing on her post-panic fatigue. She closed the basement door and snuck towards the entrance, checking warily for the owners of the bakery.

Standing on her hind hooves, Dash leaned into the door, her forehooves resting against the dulled pink wood. She looked out the small window hole near the top. Seeing and hearing no other ponies, she hesitantly opened the entrance, taking in the dry, dusty scent of the nighttime streets.

She stepped outside and searched for the familiar clouds that composed her home. Her gaze found the thatched roofs of the various ponyvillian residents, the thick leafy branches of the library, the steep rocky slopes of the nearby mountains, but no sign of her cloud home.

Clack

Dash’s ears perked up and she turned her head towards the noise. A moonlight tinted pink foreleg extended from the door, matted with blood from earlier. A long drape of deep pink hair followed closely behind. Dash’s eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly. Dash shifted her hind hooves and backed cautiously from the face she knew would appear. The monstrously cruel face, with its sadistically wide smile. Those ice blue eyes, looking with the intensity of a frozen dagger. That murderous, malicious muzzle, with only torture and bloody lust painted across it.

Dash unfurled her wings. She prepared to bolt at the first sight of Pinkamena’s terrifying features.

The pink fur of Pinkamena’s head came into view displaying features in all their-

‘Sadness?’ Dash folded her wings and turned around fully in curiosity.

Pinkamena carefully stepped into the lobby, allowing the moonlight to reflect off her tear stained cheeks. She walked further into the room with bloodshot eyes, the seemingly infinite grin replaced by a thin, wavering frown.

“Dashie, why’d you leave me?” Pinkamena sniffled.

Dash couldn’t answer.

“Didn’t you like my party?”

More silence.

Dash shifted her gaze to the ground, searching her mind for what to do.

‘I barely know her, why should I be dealing with this Pinkamena anyway? She strapped me to a table. She let me rip my own hooves off. She stabbed me in the back. She gave me a whip, collar, and mask… What the hay is wrong with her? I mean, the shades were pretty cool, and even if they weren’t the best, she still gave me presents, but… but… she looks so… sad. I can’t just leave her.’ Dash stepped forward, raising the other hoof towards Pinkamena, head still lowered in thought.

‘She wants to torture me, I can tell. She changed me, made me a monst-No. I’m not a monster. I’m Dash. I just… look like one. She made me look like a monster… She always had that creepy smile, but she was happy, wasn’t she?’ Dash lowered her hoof to the floor.

‘No, I don’t even know if she made me like this. I still can’t leave her. She may not be a friend, but I can’t leave her hanging like that. I made her feel like this, I have to make things right.’

Dash lifted her hoof once again and raised her head to look at the soft sky blue of Pinkamena’s eyes. The shred of hopefulness grew as Dash’s limb moved ever closer. Her hoof brushed against Pinkamena’s shoulder, with instantaneous results.

Her eyes lit up, shining a radiant azure. Her great wide smile returned, genuine and blissful. Her coat gleamed with internal light, a brilliant pink hue. Her mane and tail inflated with a high pitched squee, curls and tangles everywhere.

Dash recognized that look. That was Pinkie. Pinkamena was Pinkie.

She backed up, her curious expression fading back to fear as the memories of her nightmares blotted out her thoughts. The same curly mane that used to bring her laughter gave her only dread.
Dash’s wings flashed out aggressively. She turned around and sped away in a rainbow blur, galloping as fast as she could.

Pinkie cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “And I thought I was random,” she chirped.

Pinkie heard a wet noise beneath her hooves as she bounced up the stairs. She lifted her hooves to her face, squinting with an inquisitive frown.

“I must have left the floor ketchup out!” Pinkie gasped. She licked the tip of her red stained hoof.

“Bleagh! Salty,” she grimaced. Then grinned happily, “Oh well, I’ll just make another batch tomorrow.”

Pinkie hummed her way to the bathroom, a spring in every step.

Whispering Gallop - 2

Psychodash

Two – Whispering Gallop

Axôlú

____----____----_____

Dash ran.

She ran to escape her fears. She ran to find solace in a nightmare. She ran to cleanse her mind of all her worries.

Speed always had that effect on Dash. She could drown out her thoughts with the rustling of her wings, the flapping of her mane and tail, and the whistling of the wind flowing across her coat. Flight was almost instinctual for her whenever she felt fear. The faster she went, the less she thought about her worries. Flight was her best escape, when she could soar through the air with a polychromatic trail; that glorious feeling of freedom was true serenity.

Dash ran.

She couldn’t escape. She couldn’t find solace. Her mind was full of trepidation. A tornado of panic and confusion consumed her as her legs carried her away from Sugarcube Corner. Her hooves kicked up dust from the road, obscuring the shop behind her.

Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t look back, she’s not behind you. All she wants do is be friends, right?’

‘Then why did I leave her? She didn’t mean any harm. She threw me a party! For me. Dash.’

Dash stumbled over a pothole in the road, ‘She stabbed me in the back. Actually stabbed me.’

‘It didn’t hurt, though. She knew it wouldn’t hurt me… then why is it so painful?’

She lost her footing as she sprained an ankle, ‘I left her. What kind of loyalty is that? I’m the element of loyalty. That means sticking with your friends. And I left her.’ Dash’s hoof quickly realigned its tendons.

‘Is she even a friend? She wanted to be friendly, but she’s a monster. Nopony does what she...’

‘Pinkamena did nothing to me!’ ‘She made me into a monst-‘

‘I’m not a monster, I’m’

‘ I abandoned her, I am a’

‘I’m Dash, and I have to go back.’
‘To what.’

‘To her.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I need to show that I’m not…’

Dash turned her head to look through the back window of Sugarcube corner. She looked back, and again saw that curly, infinitely tangled mane. Pinkie lifted her hooves, allowing Dash to view the bloody mess smeared across them.

Dash’s muzzle snapped forward, and she blindly galloped away.

‘I can’t go back! She’s the monster!’

Dash’s hooves carried her past house after darkened house.

‘Wait, why aren’t I flying? Then I could-‘

Wham! “Oof!”

A lavender mare careened through the air, crashing to the ground with a puff of loose grass. Wobbling, she rose to her hooves and brushed her dark violet, well-combed mane back over her horn. The pink and magenta stripe of her hair led to a deep purple eye, one of two, which spun around in their sockets before returning to centre.

Dash quickly hunched down, head turned. She extended her hooves in front of her, pretending to stretch in an attempt to divert the other mare’s attention from her new facial features.

“Rainbow,” the mare groaned, “you can’t just ram into me every time you want my attention.”

‘Oh no… not Twilight. I can’t let her see me like this,’ Dash shook her head. ‘Yeaaaaa, I was practicing for the running of the leaves. Pretty awesome huh?’ Dash thought and mouthed, quickly remembering her lack of speech with a mental groan. She began to trot off, only to be pulled back by a magenta aura surrounding her tail.

“Never mind that. Come on, I’ve just received a new collection of Pegasus anatomy reference books!” Twilight squeed and dragged Dash towards the Library entrance, “I even got the newest Daring Do~”, she said slyly, a smirk on her muzzle.

Dash visibly perked up.

“But wing structure is much more fascinating. Did you know that the pectoralis muscles are actually attached to a layer of something similar to the alicorn in unicorn horns rather than the sternum? It certainly explains the lack of wing size compensation for such an inefficient design for aerodynamics. That must be where the magic-“

Dash tuned her out, focusing on the thought of a new novel from her favorite series, almost completely forgetting her terrified state of mind.

_-_-_

“Here, Daring Do and the Beast of the East, enjoy,” Twilight hoofed the book to Dash, who wordlessly snatched it with her wing, her muzzle facing away.

“You’re welcome,” she rolled her eyes.

‘I said thanks... Ugh, horsefeathers,’ Dash mentally facehoofed. She trotted over to her normal reading spot.

The room had a cozy feeling. A fresh, lively, natural tree mixed with aged and worn books gave the library a pleasant and peaceful scent. The light brown bark and shelves reflected the soft yellow candlelight. Each book was shelved in a precise order, the only spot of visible chaos piled right where Dash sat. Dash’s reading spot contained a variety of multicoloured plush pillows, meant to frame her haunches and to comfort her back from the harder wood in the stairs behind her.

Dash propped the book up with her forehooves to shield her face from Twilight’s occasional glances, and dove into the reading.

‘Daring Do and the Beast of the East,’ Dash mouthed, being used to reading books aloud. ‘Well, here we go,’ she thought excitedly with a grin forming on her muzzle.

_-_

“Rise, Sacrificial Lamb, your time has come,” a gruff, feminine voice shouted from the atrium of the temple.

“Yes, Cult Master,” an olive coated, yellow mane earth pony said as he strode to the altar.

Torches flickered on the mossy stone wall. The stench of decay and the long dead filled Lamb’s nostrils.

‘Yes, it is indeed time.’ He thought as he stepped up the altar stairs. He sat on the far side, and then laid back. His head faced the ceiling of the temple, and he stared into the empty sockets of a skeletal sculpture hanging from a series of stone beams.

Cult Master, a cloaked cultist, stepped from the shadows, a crude knife suspended in an orange aura.

“Great chaotic powers, hear me! You demand the sacrifice of Sacrificial Lamb for your purposes. I implore that you give us great gifts for his noble life!”

Cult’s voice resonated throughout the chamber. The ground shuddered. The skies rumbled.

“Behold, Lamb, for the chaotic powers have spoken. Your sacrifice is to be true.”

Cult Master levitated the knife to her mouth and murmured prayers through the blade. She slowly climbed onto the altar, her hooves framing Lamb’s body as she laid upon him.

“I am to be claimed by the chaotic powers. May my lifeblood ever aid my village,” Lamb closed his amber eyes, then opened them again. “I will not falter, I will not speak.”
Cult master lowered the blade inch by inch, her gaze boring into Lamb’s own.

“NO, YOUR BLOOD WILL NOT SATISFY US.”

The mare gasped, dropping the knife and quickly stumbling off the altar. The knife impaled itself next to Lamb’s neck, whose own eyes widened.

The statue above him moved. Its jaw worked and its eyes glowed a deep red as it peeled itself from the stone framework. It turned its head towards Cult Master. Cult backed up further, tripping over a bump in the stone brick floor.

“HIS WILL NOT, BUT YOURS WILL,” it snarled. It looked back at the colt, moving its stone mouth to what could only be interpreted as a cruel smile. “AND YOU WILL DELIVER IT.”

A beam shot from the statue’s eyes, bathing Lamb in a red inferno. His shoulders bulged, his hooves threatened to rip apart, his muscles expanded, stretching his skin and fur. Soon a towering behemoth of a pony stood where Lamb once did.

“No! Please!” Cult Master crie–

_-_

‘That was… interesting,’ thought Dash uneasily as she stopped reading, ‘not enough Daring Do, bored now, skipping ahead.’

Dash flipped the pages and continued reading.

_-_

Daring Do leapt away from the spinning axe with a flap of her wings. She hit the floor with a solid thump, but suddenly the ground began to sink rapidly.

She dived to the far edge of the newly formed pit, scrambling for purchase on the smooth edge.

“Come on… Come on,” Daring said as she struggled to lift herself. “Wings. Duh,” Daring rolled her eyes and flapped her wings, rising over the edge.

A flurry of darts shot over her pith helmet, forcing her to duck. Daring swung herself over the edge and slid across the floor, avoiding another volley.

“Phew, another close one,” Daring scooted herself along the floor towards the door at the end of the tunnel. A hollow equine skull with ruby eyes lay on a pedestal near the door. The door itself consisted of nine ancient symbols separated by engraved lines. A single beam of sunlight shined from a crack in the wall.

“Hmm… What’s the connection… What’s the connection,” Daring muttered as she studied the symbols. “There’s got to be some pattern... Maybe this skull has something.”

Daring lifted the skull, searching for some clue to reveal the symbols’ meanings. She brought it to the sliver of light for a better view. As soon as the light struck it, red light shot from the skull’s ruby eyes and projected a pattern across the wall.

“That’s it!” Daring exclaimed, “All I have to do is just shift it,” Daring rotated the skull so the beams would line up with the door’s symbols, marking the proper order.

“There,” Daring trotted to the door and pressed the symbols.

A heavy rumbling filled the tunnel. Pebbles and dust fell from the ceiling, causing Daring to cough. A deafening roar sounded from behind the door. Heavy hooffalls echoed, and Daring backed up, a nervous grimace on her face. Cracks started to appear in the door as what sounded like hooves pounded on the other side.

A massive olive hoof broke through the door revealing the monst-

_-_

‘No… don’t think about it,’ Dash closed her eyes, dispelling her thoughts.

‘There’s got to be something without this… thing in it’

Dash flipped further ahead.

_-_

The beast tore through the village, ripping houses from their foundation and uprooting trees in rage. Ponies cried out for help, for a savior from the lumbering monstrosity. They ran about the streets, their legs taking them far, far away from the destroyed village.

Dar-

_-_

‘No,’ Dash flipped ahead yet more

_-_

Daring franticly fiddled with the lever as the beast approached. It was too late. It crashed into her, flinging her outside the temple onto the stairs. It reared its forelegs, threatening to smash Daring-

_-_

‘No!’ Dash’s eyes widened, and she flipped ahead yet more, nearing the end.

_-_

The beast fell off the bluff, its face a visage of fear, then acceptance as it dropped to its doom, and final release.

_-_

“Dash, you’ve been pretty quiet over there, is everything alri-,” The book flew past Twilight’s head, the trailing air blowing back Twilight’s mane.

“Dash! What’s the prob… lem?” Twilight paused to take in Dash. She was hunched forward with her hooves covering her face. Trickles of wetness rolled down her forehooves.

‘I’m not a monster, I’m not going to destroy Ponyville, I’m not a monster’ Dash mouthed.

“Oh Rainbow, what’s wrong?” She stepped forward, laying a hoof on Dash’s shoulder, “Come on, talk to me, Rainbow.”

Dash’s silence continued, her tears still staining the cushions.

“At least look at me,” Twilight shifted her hoof to pull Dash’s own away from her face.

Crack

Dash’s other hoof flew into Twilight’s muzzle, knocking her off balance.

“Rainbow, what’s gotten into you?” Dash raised its head, eyes wide, mouth open in shock.

Twilight stared into the face of what she thought was Dash. She saw the solid magenta eyes, the razor sharp teeth, the deep scar across its neck. Twilight instinctively discharged a magical bolt at Dash. The bolt hit Dash square in the face, throwing it into the wall.

Dash shook its head and spread its wings. It crashed through the window, shards of glass painlessly tearing open its skin, and disappeared into the night.

“Wait! Rainbow! I’m sorry!” Twilight shouted as she galloped to the window.

Once again, Rainbow Dash was gone.

_-_-_

Pinkie bounced out from the bathroom, her hooves finally cleansed of the sticky red mess. Her spring-like limbs took her down the stairs into the lobby as she hummed a newly invented tune, with full xylophone and saxophone accompaniment.

‘Ohhhh, cleaned my hooves, got into the groove, just leave Equestria’s ground and lets everypony moooove,’ she sung in her mind.

Pinkie hopped across the lobby towards the bakery kitchen with the intention of preparing another batch of non-salty floor ketchup, not that she ever remembered producing any before.

‘Time to mix it all uuuuuuuup~ In red, not yellow or Oraaaaaaange~ Gotta’ ask everypony suuuuuuuup~ And bring ‘em to the- Shoot!’ Pinkie grimaced, ‘Missed it.’

Her forehoof landed in a pile of some slick substance.

Pinkie quickly pulled out a dull plaid cap and a magnifying glass from… somewhere. She inspected her hoof from many angles, twisting and stretching her neck in impossible angles, before settling with her head upside down staring at the far side of her hoof. The consistency of the liquid was similar, no, exactly the same as the floor ketchup from earlier.

Next to her was the door to the basement, a small puddle of the same substance. Pinkie squinted as she opened the door, then halted just before she reached the edge of the first step.

“Itcha-itcha-itch,” Pinkie whispered as her back jittered, then grinned, “That means it’s my lucky day! But wait, it’s not day, its night!”

She rubbed her chin with her clean hoof, then took a step down the stairwell.

“Pincha-pinch! That means something scary… but what if it was a delayed combo? This could mean anything!”

Pinkie pulled down her cap and continued down the stairwell, her inquisitive face scrunch picking out random details.

"A streamer on the floor, thirty nine point one four degree angle to the cluster of eight confetti pieces… aHA! This means there was a party here, but I didn’t host a party," Pinkie’s inquisitive stare softened into a subtle frown, "somepony hosted a party in my own basement, and didn’t invite me… Did they invite my friends? Don’t they want me around?"

Pinkie’s fur, mane and tail dulled to a faded pink. Her hair straightened and her eyes lost their luster. She slumped to the floor, bottom lip stuck out while her head lowered.

‘Do my friends not like me anymore?’ Pinkamena sighed.

But then, its mouth stretched, curving upward, exposing its teeth. Its cheeks lifted, its eyebrows raised, its back straightened as it rose to its hooves again. It picked up a cake knife from the floor. Pinkamena was smiling. Utter joy consumed it.

“Or will I be inviting my bestie best super awesome friend for another party!”