A merry fall day in Ponyville is where our story begins, even though this is not where it shall stay.
Pinkie Pie was happily making her way from Sugarcube corner to drop off some sweets to her friends. She had tried out a new recipe that taught one how to make your own chocolate, and she had to admit it had been the most fun she had had cooking in a long time. She looked down at the goodies in her wicker basket and beamed. Red lightning bolts carefully crafted were the first things to meet her eyes. A perfect gift for her best friend. Stars for Twilight, gold apples for AJ, diamonds for Rarity, and pretty pink tulips for Fluttershy. She had initially planned to make butterflies for Flutters, but after being unable to find the mould for them, she decided that her friend would probably like tulips better, since she was going to be eating them and all.
“Pinkie. Over here.”
A cold voice caught her attention and brought the bright pink pony to a standstill as her ears swivelled to find the source of it. After a minute, she found it as it’s owner stepped forward a little. A dark unicorn with a mane as alive as the Princess’s with bright red eyes was smiling somewhat eerily at her.
I don’t recognize him… He must be new. Pinkie noted quickly, returning his smile with a much friendlier air.
“Hi mister! Can I help you?”
Despite having to talk around the basket handle in her mouth, her question came out quite clearly, and the unicorn nodded sagely, his eyes’ mischievous and wicked glint the only hint as to his true intentions.
“Oh, oh yes. There is something very important you could help me with… And it’s about your friend too- Rainbow Dash.”
“Dashie? Is everything alright? Is she okay?” Suddenly the cold aura around him was foreboding, and worry began to claw at Pinkie’s heart.
“No, I would say not… This is very much a matter of life and death I would say… But perhaps you could help?”
The basket hit the ground.
“Of course! I’d do anything to help Dashie!”
The unicorn turned his back on her and began making his way down the alley.
“Follow me then.”
Without the second thought the situation begged for, Pinkie galloped after the dark unicorn… For the two to vanish altogether in the shadows a heart-beat later.
A/N: MORE CRACK FROM ME.
Really I should be working on my other stories but "NOOOOOOO," Inspiration says, "I haz OTHER plans."
Honestly I hate this root inspiration with all of my being, but when I literally dream up something this good, I'm not going to just let it rot in the back of my brain until it fades to nothing Inspiration wouldn't let me write anything else until I committed this thing to paper.
And then everything just started falling in place-
I thought up cover art, (Which I enjoyed drawing a little too much) I found a theme song (Found below) and eventually I even had an epiphany as to the title and short description.
So yeah. Five writing projects on the go now. Woo. :|
Either way, I hope I have peaked your interest, and thank you for your patience of combing through all my ramble.
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Pinkie’s mind buzzed frantically as it struggled to clear itself. As her eyes struggled to adjust to the dark, she shifted in spot, discovering that her legs felt heavy and were hard to move. She blinked rapidly, and eventually the area she was in came in to focus.
The dark unicorn stood beside her, humming contentedly to himself as he watched something in front of them. Her legs were weighed down by four manacles of magic that were rooted to the floor, and a small force-field of magic separated them from a room ahead which was still so darkly lit that all Pinkie could see was faded outlines.
“You know, this is my favourite realm,” the dark unicorn said softly, sounding thoroughly pleased and contented.
Pinkie’s head snapped around to stare at him, her heart pounding in her chest.
“W-who are you?” She asked carefully, narrowing her eyes slightly at him.
“Oh me? You can call me Dues. I’m one of Discord’s children, so to speak… But it has been a very long time since I have visited The First.”
“The First?” Pinkie repeated, starting to wonder if this unicorn was all right up in the noggin.
“The First. The Original. The realm you were born in. Realm, universe, alternate dimensions, all very fun for a creature like me.”
Pinkie may be a little ditzy about some things, but other realms was something her dreaming mind could wrap itself around.
“So you’ve brought me to your favourite realm… Why? Why me? Why this realm?”
“Shows are so much more fun when you watch them with others, don’t you think? As for why you- I think that will become apparent very quickly…”
Pinkie’s eyes swivelled back to the room ahead of her. The barrier shone gently, and made her heart pound faster. If it was a “show” so to speak, why was he so determined to make sure she couldn’t move?
“What’s the barrier for?” She asked slowly, her eyes lifting to meet his blood red ones.
“To make sure we cannot be heard nor seen. As fragile as it is, it is quite effective in that, as we are still very much here. And I do not wish for you to interfere.” He added, looking down at the magical manacles he had crafted with a hint of pride.
Pinkie shifted again, testing them. They were quite tight, and she was quite certain that she wouldn’t be able to get out of them easily.
“Don’t fight them. You’ll just hurt yourself.”
Pinkie looked towards the room again as a soft groan emanated from it. Her ears swivelled forward as she recognized the voice as Rainbow Dash’s. The room brightened slightly as somepony else entered it, and Pinkie’s widened in horror as she seen her dearest friend tied to a table and looking understandably scared. That confused fear had nothing in comparison to what she felt a second later as an all-too familiar voice called out from the darkness.
“Goodie, you’re awake. Now we can get started.”
It took Pinkie a minute to remember how to breath, and she did so with a shuddering gasp. “D-dues.. Th-that’s… She looks like m-me… What-”
“Just watch.”
Slowly she pulled her frightened gaze away from Dues’s knowing eyes and back to the scene in front of her. The Other-Pinkie was cheerily explaining what “cupcake baking” had to do with what was going on before her. When Rainbow Dash also questioned it, Other-Pinkie giggled, and said that the special ingredient she was missing… Was Rainbow herself.
Both Rainbow and Pinkie gave a broken and slightly hysterical giggle. Pinkie was struggling to either wake herself up, or make sense of this all. This… Must be a prank right? A prank! A really super duper mean prank, but a prank, right? Rig-
“Woo, you really got me there, Pinkie Pie. I mean, tricking me into thinking I’m gonna get made into a cupcake? I gotta tell you, this the best prank yet. You win, you’re the best.”
Other-Pinkie just laughed. “Aw, thanks Dash. But I haven’t done any pranks today, so I can’t accept your praise.”
She’s… She’s serious? N-no, this can’t be happening. Pinkie shut her eyes tight as she tried to force herself awake. All it accomplished was reinforcing the bitter and terrifying fact that she was very much awake, and that this was all very real.
“You can’t do this Pinkie! I’m your friend!”
Rainbow Dash’s frightened and hysterical voice snapped her head back up to look at the two again.
“N-no… No Dashie- She’s not your friend, that’s not me!’ She screamed out, the barrier separating them humming gently in echo of her shout.
“Actually, that is you.”
Dues’s cold voice froze Pinkie in place, stopping her breath and causing her heart to skip a beat in its timorous and frantic pounding.
It took everything she had to lift her eyes to meet Dues’s icy and sadistic gaze.
“It is the you of this world. Not a Changling, or shape-shifting monster. No living nightmare or any other fantastic solution your sugar-buzzed brain has come up with.”
“Y-you’re lying,” She muttered, horrified, her protest barely audible above the voices from the room ahead. “You’re lying… You have to be…”
Dues’s twisted smile just grew.
The area suddenly brightened as the lights were flicked on. At first, Pinkie was relieved to not be in the dark anymore… Once her eyes alit on what the light had revealed however, she was wishing to be in the dark once again.
Gory and repulsive party decorations were proudly hung around the room. As the realization that every bit of it was exactly what it seemed hit, Pinkie’s hair deflated into a comforting curtain that almost seemed to be trying to hide the horrors from her. Fighting back her gag reflex, Pinkie stared at the ground between her hooves, earning a disapproving glare from Dues. He said nothing however, and let Pinkie struggle back frightened tears and rising bile as her buzzing mind recoiled in horror.
Time passed, and as the two conversed, begging and twisted laughter in turn, Pinkie choked down a gulp, her chest aching with the relentless drumming of her heart.
“D-dues, h-help her,” She whispered out, unable to lift her gaze from the concrete below, “Please…”
“I don’t want to. I rather like this story,” He replied bluntly, “and I see no reason to change it.”
“You said I could help…”
“Oh, had I? It must have seemed like the most convincing thing to say at the time. Perhaps if you weren’t such a useless earth pony you could have helped… All you can do is watch though… So don’t avert your eyes- Watch your friends last pitiful fight.”
It was a mocking hiss, but she heeded it none-the-less; and as the Other-Pinkie gleefully declared it time to begin, Pinkie locked her gaze on the twisted abomination before her, believing whole-heartedly that Dash would think of a way out, that their friends would come to save her.
She was wrong.
Her voice grew hoarse in pleading begs that echoed her friends, her legs sore as she strained against the manacles in futile effort to reach her side. She threw up once, when the Other-Pinkie literally took a bite out of her friend, her lunch splattering the rusty concrete before her, and earning a perverse laugh from the dark unicorn that seemed to be enjoying this all too much.
“Dues, p-please-”
“No.”
Her gaze snapped back to the scene before her, her already empty-stomach clenching painfully as the Other-Pinkie cheerfully brought out red hot nails.
“NO! DON’T YOU DARE!”
“We’ve been through this before darling. She can’t hear you.” Dues mocked.
When Dash’s begging screams filled the air, Pinkie looked away, her eyes overflowing with tears. She wasn’t sure how she still had tears anymore.
She fought against the manacles again, still desperate to help her friend in any way. Dues just snorted derisively, before magically forcing her gaze back to the two as Other-Pinkie hooked up some crude device that looked like a small generator. Once again, her worst suspicions were correct, and a generator was exactly what it turned out to be. Other-Pinkie danced in sadistic glee as electricity rocketed up into her friend’s body.
Two screams rang into the air again, and Pinkie struggled again, frantically fighting to reach her friend to ease her suffering, to stop the torture that had been going on right before her. She gave up after five minutes, panting and wincing as the spots where she had rubbed her legs raw twinged in protest, as the Other-Pinkie shut off the power.
While the leather-wearing monstrosity walked away to get something, Pinkie searched her friends face. She was clearly in pain, frightened and distressed, tear-tracks darkening the fur around her cheeks. This wasn’t the Dashie she knew, but it was still one she wanted to protect, one she wanted to make smile… This time, was she doomed to fail?
Other-Pinkie had returned with a large syringe.
“This is a little something to take the pain away,” she explained cheerily, as she walked around to insert it into Rainbow’s spine. “In a few minutes, you won’t be able to feel anything below your ribcage. Then you’ll be able to stay awake to watch the harvest.”
Pinkie’s mind refused to try and deduce what she meant by ‘the harvest’ and instead focused on the fact that tears had renewed themselves on Dash’s cheeks. Then, six words that were choked out by a very broken Rainbow Dash:
“Pinkie? I want to go home.”
Dues snorted as Pinkie’s eyes widened, tears filling them once more, and she began to fight against the manacles again.
“Yeah, I can see wanting to do that,” replied the monster before her. “Sometimes, I just wanna give up, just say ‘I’m done with this mess’ and go to bed. But you know what? You can’t shrug off your responsibilities. You got to pull yourself up and meet the challenges head on. That’s the only way you’re gonna get ahead in life.”
An anguished and angry cry slipped from Pinkie, which acquired what would have been Dues’s rather brief attention. Instead, however, his eyes widened in confused horror.
“What are you doing?!” He spluttered, and with a definitive slam that splattered blood onto gray concrete, Pinkie freed a front hoof and anchored it in front of her.
“You’re going to-”
“I. DON’T. CARE!” Pinkie snarled, a furious snort escaping her as she pulled a rear leg free, disregarding the damage she was doing to herself as a single goal rooted in her mind.
Another pained cry escaped her as she pulled her other front hoof free. Her legs wobbled, but determinedly held her up as she fought to free her last hoof. As the pink abomination before her picked up a scalpel and started to step toward Rainbow once more, all cares for her own welfare, the few thoughts of pain that still remained in her mind, were brushed completely aside; and with an angry scream, Pinkie tore herself free and shattered the barrier separating them, leaving a very confused and somewhat scared Dues to flee into the shadows.
“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!”
Rainbow’s eyes widened in confusion as a dull pink blur crashed into the pony before her. The two tumbled and rolled to a stop on the other side of the room. Pinkie struggled to her hooves to glare down her twisted echo who was quick to her own hooves.
“Oh wow! Another guest? Don’t you know it’s rude to-”
“Shut up!”
The two collided once more. The fight was even, just as injured legs hindered her, the long and heavy leather dress hindered her opponent. Bucks and bites were snapped back and forth, neither one gaining any headway, each hoping to subdue the other. From Dash’s view, she couldn’t even see which was her would-be rescuer, and which was the one she had once called ‘friend’, just angry shouts and perverse laughter as blows were exchanged. One was thrown off, to slam against a nearby wall and slump to the floor with a pained gasp.
From where she laid, gasping for breath and clutching bruised ribs, Pinkie came to realize that her hopes of knocking out the monster and handing her over to Celestia was probably nothing but a fantasy. And yet… As reddened light gleamed off a nearby butcher’s knife, rusted with blood, she knew that she had to stop her… No matter what.
That twisted pony just grinned at her, apparently enjoying the fight as she fidgeted with the scalpel she still held. The knife’s splattered wood handle had a cruel metallic taste as she gathered it up in her mouth. It nearly made her gag again.
“Aw, come on. You and I both know that you can’t use that. Twist tried that too!”
The mention of the murdered filly’s name hardened her resolve, and she snarled around the handle in her mouth.
“Try me.”
The two collided once more, this time for the last time. For a moment, they both held still, pain shooting up from their new wounds. Then, leather splattered brighter red as the “Other” coughed up a large mouthful of blood. The scalpel’s metal blade scraped against Pinkie’s shoulder blade as she took a step back. Blue eyes met blue, and Pinkie spat out the handle to grasp it in her fetlock and give the blade one last upward stab, forcing her opponents eyes out of focus as they dimmed.
From Dash’s view, the two slumped almost in unison. One to rest as she pulled a lodged blade out of her shoulder and the other to hit the ground from which she would never rise from again. A long minute passed. Then, the victor pulled herself to her hooves with a wobble, to stare at the corpse in front of her. A stray feather, tore free from its place in the dress landed on her back, startling the pony to shy away and into the light once more. A drop of hope, a feeling she thought she had lost, ran through Dash’s tired body as her tired mind noted that the lack of any dress meant that it was the one who would be her rescuer.
A dull pink pony, her coat a dusty pink, a dark rose mane, straight as silk, hiding a frightened eye from view as bright pink eyes met clear blue.
“D-dashie…” She breathed out, eyes softening in relief for a split second, before widening again in alarm. “I’ve got to get you to a hospital!”
The panicked squeak that sent the rose-colored pony into a frenzy to get Rainbow down and to safety actually brought a smile to the tired pegasus’s lips. She sounded like Fluttershy, and the thought of her friends, along with the hope of seeing them again pushed back her fear for a single heart-beat. She felt herself land gently on the earth pony’s back, which trembled gently under her weight for a second, before lurching forward in a rocking gallop. She weakly wrapped her hooves around her rescuers neck, and held on with the little energy she had.
“Please hang on Rainbow, please,” a soft and sorrowful voice pleaded as it gasped out between quickened breaths. “I promise I’ll get you to a hospital, and make everything right again- So just hang on, please.”
Rainbow nodded, her chin brushing against the dull pink fur along her neck.
“What’s your name?” RD asked softly, her dry and hoarse throat gently aching in silent protest.
“Pink-” Rainbow could feel her swallow between gasps before she was able to finish her reply. “Pinkamena.”
“It’s Pinkamena Diane.”
