Chapters She was falling. Except she didn't fall. She was pushed. Pushed off her own balcony and was now falling to her death. She could never survive a fall from that height. As she fell, she saw the one who had pushed her; an evil smile was strung across their face. She couldn’t believe who it was, yet it was so obvious. She should have seen it coming. She wishes she had.
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Five Days Earlier
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It was a late morning in Ponyville and the sun was quite high. The sunrays shone through Rainbow Dash’s window and onto her face. She rolled over in her bed to get out of the sun, but rolled too far and fell out of bed.
“Err... my head...” she said as she got back up. She looked at her clock which hung over her doorway. “Oh god, I’ve got to go!”
She flew downstairs, brushed her mane and flew out the door. She landed in Ponyville and looked around. She was going to have a picnic with her friends in the park this morning. It was a beautiful day too. The clouds were away, the temperature was perfect and the birds cheerfully tweeted their sweet song. She would never have suspected what had happened...
“Hello girls.” She said cheerfully when she arrived. Her friends were all there, sitting on a picnic blanket with all sorts of food and drinks spread out. But something was missing. Fluttershy wasn’t there!
“Hi, Rainbow Dash.” Her friends said in unison.
“Where’s Fluttershy? Shouldn’t she be here?”
“Yeah, but we haven’t seen Fluttershy all day!” Pinkie Pie said.
“Well we can’t start the picnic without her. We’ll just have to wait until she gets here.” Twilight said.
“Urr... That’s boring! I’m going to go for a fly. Be back soon.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew off.
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“Where is she? It’s been half an hour!” Rainbow Dash said impatiently as she landed.
“I don’t know where she is. She should be here.” Twilight said.
“Well I’m going to go find her.” She said.
“Rainbow Dash, wait. Let’s all go.” Rarity said.
The five ponies walked over to Fluttershy’s cottage. Rainbow Dash knocked her hoof on the door, expecting some lame excuse like one of her pets are really sick or something like that. Except that wasn’t the case. Instead there was no answer. She knocked again, but louder this time. Still no answer. She was getting worried. She gave it one last shot. She banged on the door with her two front hooves. “Fluttershy?!” she yelled out. Yet there was still no answer. So, as a last resort, she broke down her door.
The wooden door crashed onto the ground and they all walked in. They couldn’t see Fluttershy anywhere. They started looking around the house for her, and Rarity checked the attic.
“Maybe she got stuck up here?” she thought to herself. She took a look in the attic and screamed. She fainted and fell back down the ladder. Her friends heard the crash and came running upstairs. Applejack woke Rarity back up and they all took a look upstairs, except for Rarity. She was too creeped out about what she saw, not sure if it was just her imagination.
The others took a quick look in the attic and all screamed at the top of their lungs. It was the most horrendously atrocious thing they had ever seen. It was horrible. Rainbow Dash cringed when she saw it. It was like a really bad car crash; they didn’t want to look, but they couldn’t stop.
There, lying on the floor was a mangled and blood stained pony, who was lying in a pool of blood. Their coat and mane were almost completely crimson red, making it extremely difficult to identify who it was. But Rainbow Dash knew who it was. She could see her cutie mark, which was three butterflies... She had several gashes in the side of her body and her wings were snapped and nearly torn off.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. It really was Fluttershy. In fact, the mangled pony was so disturbing, it took the other five a moment to realize the message that was scrawled onto the wall in blood. Fluttershy’s blood.
[img] http://i47.tinypic.com/27wsk2a.jpg[/img]
It was really terrifying. The ponies could barely stop screaming. The sight of all of that blood; it burnt into their minds.
“It’s- It’s-“ Pinkie Pie couldn’t finish her sentence.
“It’s Fluttershy.” Twilight said.
Pinkie fainted as well.
“Oh no oh no oh no. This is terrible! This can’t be happening!“ Rainbow Dash panicked. “Somepony, call the police!“
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“Miss Rainbow Dash?” a policepony asked as he stepped out of the doorway, since there was no actual door there anymore.
“Yes?” Rainbow Dash asked. Her ears flicked up. She stood up out of the little chair outside Fluttershy’s house.
“I’m afraid we have some worrying news for you.”
“Yes, what?”
“We have taken a look at the scene and around the attic and we have confirmed that it was, in fact, a murder.”
Rainbow Dash stopped. “A murder? Who would want to murder Fluttershy?” she thought to sadly herself.
“We’re not sure who committed the crime though. There are no hoofprints anywhere.”
She thought about the situation.
“Well you have to find out! There can’t be a killer loose around Ponyville! They could kill somepony else!”
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Rainbow Dash walked home alone in the rain. The pegasi had moved rainclouds in earlier that afternoon. As she walked, so many concerning questions flooded her mind.
“Who would kill an innocent mare like Fluttershy? Is somepony else going to get killed?” It was all too much for her. Fluttershy had been her friend for so long, and now she was just... gone. It was terrifying.
That night, she couldn’t get to sleep. Sweat and tears poured from her body. She tried to stop thinking about it, but how could she? That image was burnt into her mind.
Author's Note
There you go. My story, rewritten from the ground up.
The sun broke over Ponyville, lighting up the town. Rainbow Dash woke up from her rough sleep. She wondered whether yesterday was a dream or not. It seemed so real, but it felt horrible to think about. She got up and slowly walked downstairs.
She looked at herself in her bathroom mirror with shock. She looked awful. Her mane was messed up, her eyes were sore and red, and her coat was filthy. It was a darker blue than normal. She sighed. "What a rough night." she thought to herself.
She still wasn't sure if yesterday was a dream. Did she dream Fluttershy's death? She left her house and flew over to Fluttershy's cottage. She landed with a sigh when she saw the police tape strung around the house, like streamers hanging from the roof at one of Pinkie Pie’s parties, except these streamers were a lot more depressing. She started thinking about Fluttershy, which made her shed a few tears. There were still a few policeponies there, probably continuing their investigation.
"Have you found out anything yet?" she asked one of them.
"Yes. Wait, uh... No, not yet." he replied. "We've checked the entire house and haven't gotten any evidence." He look oddly at her mane.
“Then how'd you know it was a murder?"
"The message on the wall was written in quite a lot of blood."
"Yeah, so?" Rainbow Dash said impatiently.
"She could never have written that message herself. She would have lost too much blood to be able to write it in the first place."
Rainbow Dash thought back to yesterday, about the message that was horrendously scrawled onto the wall in the attic. "SO MUCH BLOOD" it said. It was pretty creepy. It was pretty intense compared to a normal day. She kept thinking about Fluttershy's blood-stained body, lying in that thick pool of blood. She cringed at the memory. She wanted to stop thinking about it, but she couldn't. It was too grotesque to forget.
At that moment, one of the policeponies radios buzzed. "Officer Sunbeam report?"
He picked it up and spoke into it. "This is officer Sunbeam. What’s the situation chief?”
“We have a report of a murder. You might wanna check it out.”
This got Rainbow Dash’s attention. She hoped it wasn’t one of her friends again.
“Another one? Where’s it at?”
“Carousel Boutique.” it buzzed. Rainbow Dash’s heart stopped.
“Rarity!” she yelled as she flew off to Rarity’s house.
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She tried to stop her hoof shaking as she opened the door. She didn’t know what lay on the other side. She walked in and saw Applejack sitting on Rarity’s couch, comforting Sweetie Belle, who was sobbing. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Oh. Hi Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said, with no expression in her voice.
“Hello Applejack. Hello Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle looked up at Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were filled with tears. She sniffled and then dropped her head again. She wrapped her arms around Applejack and continued sobbing. Rainbow Dash really felt sorry for her. They were really close sisters.
“Where’s Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked sadly.
AJ pointed her hoof towards the staircase. “She’s in her room. Twilight and Pinkie are up there as well.”
As Rainbow Dash walked upstairs, she took another look at Sweetie Belle, who was still tightly hugging AJ. Her tears ran down her face and dripped onto Applejack. She hugged Sweetie Belle back, trying to keep herself from crying too.
Rainbow Dash went to open Rarity’s bedroom door, but hesitated for a moment. She braced herself for what was through that door. She slowly swung it open and took a look inside. Once again, one of her friends was left hideously mangled on the floor, lying in a puddle of blood. This time it was Rarity, her mane and coat were also crimson red. She had large gashes in the side of her body, and her cutie mark had a big cut across it. And once again, there was another massage, written in Rarity’s blood.
[img] http://i45.tinypic.com/20syvpe.jpg[/img]
Rainbow Dash stumbled back a bit. Those words, they were so creepy.
“It’s terrible, isn’t it.” Twilight said.
“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash sighed
The police walked in at that moment. “Where’s the murder?”
“Up here!” yelled Pinkie Pie.
They walked in and saw Rarity. “Oh no. It was same guy that killed that other mare.” he said to the other policepony.
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That night, Rainbow Dash once again sat up and thought. She sighed as she hung two portraits onto the wall above her bed. One of Fluttershy and one of Rarity. They were the last good pictures of them by themselves.
She knew she had to protect herself somehow. She grabbed a baseball bat from her cupboard, and strung a tripwire across her door way, which she connected to an alarm system. She wasn’t entirely convinced she was safe, but it was the best she could do. She took another look at the two portraits on the wall, before falling asleep.
Once again, Rainbow Dash woke up from a terrible sleep. She got up and sat on the edge of her bed. She was relieved that she wasn't dead, but she didn't want to go outside today. She didn't want to do anything. She knew what was waiting outside, in the cold, cruel world. She knew that damage had been done in the night. Horrible, irreparable damage.
She took another look at Rarity and Fluttershy's photos. It was painful to look at, but she still stared.
She left the house and went to check on her friends. She knocked on Twilights door.
"Oh. Hello Rainbow Dash. Have you seen the other two yet?" Twilight said when she answered the door.
"No actually. That was why I knocked in your door."
"Oh. Ok."
"I'm going to find the others. Are you coming?"
"Yeah. I'll come."
They arrived at Sugarcube Corner. Twilight knocked on the door and Mr Carrot Cake answered.
"Oh hello girls. I heard what happened to your friends. I'm really sorry for you." he said sadly.
"Thanks Mr Cake." Twilight said. "Have you seen Pinkie Pie this morning?"
"Well, uh, no. She's been really quiet this morning."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, concerned. "We should check on her."
They slowly opened Pinkie's door, trying not to think about what was through the door, even though they already knew. She opened the door and screamed.
It was even worse than the others! There was a lot of blood, a slightly more pinkish colour than the others. Her body was sliced across her stomach and her entrails were hanging out, and her front left leg had been roughly sawed off.
Rainbow Dash nearly vomited. It was disgusting.
They stumbled back down stairs, still affected by the atrocious sight.
"Oh god." Rainbow Dash said as she ran back outside and vomited.
"Girls, girls. What's the problem?" Mrs CupCake asked.
"It's Pinkie. She was, err..." She said. "murdered..."
"What?! Murdered? Not her too." Mr Cake said as he shook his head. "What kind of a monster would do such a horrible thing?"
"Hmm. I can't believe they're all dead." Twilight sighed.
Rainbow Dash patted her on the back. "At least we still have each other. And, of course, Applejack."
"Speaking of Applejack, we'd better go tell her the bad news."
Mr Cake called the police, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash left, but she quickly flew home and framed up a photo of Pinkie Pie.
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They arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, and saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle sitting outside the house.
"Hello girls." they said as they approached the house.
"Hello Twilight. Hi Rainbow Dash." Applebloom said, but Sweetie Belle remained silent.
"You okay there Sweetie?" Rainbow Dash asked.
She still didn't say anything. Instead, she just kicked at the ground.
"She doesn't want to talk about, well, you know..." Applebloom said, patting her friend on the back.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked into the Apple family's house. They saw Applejack sitting at the table, trembling as she tried to eat her sandwich.
"Hey." Twilight said, trying to break the silence.
Applejack flinched as she spoke, but then went back to her meal.
"Hey girls." she said quietly.
"You look tired," Rainbow Dash said. "Get much sleep last night?"
"No." Applejack said. "I was up all night, trying to keep myself from getting sliced up!"
"It was Pinkie Pie last night. We found her body in her bedroom."
“Really? That’s sad.” Applejack said, “Anyway, Sweetie Belle’s living here now. She’s been really glum lately.”
Applejack rubbed her eyes. She got up from her chair and walked into the lounge room, and the other two followed her. Applejack curled up on the lounge, terrified of the fact that her chances of being murdered had just gone up to one third. She was quivering in fear.
She looked out the window at Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, who were still holding their heads high, despite the dark events that had happened. She suddenly started sobbing.
"I don't wanna die!" she cried, her head was lying in her hooves. "The Apple family can't manage the farm without me, they'll go bankrupt!"
Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat next to her on the couch.
"It's okay." Twilight said. "You'll be fine."
Applejack looked up at her, tears flooded her eyes. "But what about Applebloom? Sweetie Belle was heart broken yesterday. I don't want that to happen to Applebloom as well."
Rainbow Dash and Twilight exchanged looks of sorrow.
"I don't wanna die!!!" Applejack cried, but Rainbow Dash slapped her across her face.
"Stand tall, Applejack. Stop your crying, you'll be fine." Rainbow Dash insisted, but she knew that Applejack's chances were as great as her's and Twilight's. "Look. Tonight, Twilight and I will stay here and we'll stay up all night. Won't we Twilight?"
She nodded.
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That night, Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Applejack all sat on AJ's bed. They sat there, keeping an eye on the door, making sure nothing came in. Applejack had a large wrench in her hooves, Rainbow Dash had her baseball bat, and Twilight just had her magic, with which they had armed themselves with.
Applejack couldn’t stay up much longer. She had stayed up all of last night, and she was already really tired. As she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep, Rainbow Dash whispered into her ear. "You won't die. I promise."
Rainbow Dash did a pretty good job at staying awake. She was the last pony to fall asleep, only a few hours until sunrise. She woke up and saw Twilight Sparkle still gracefully sleeping. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She laid her head back onto the bed and closed her eyes. She was still pretty tired. She was lying in between Twilight and Applejack.
She rolled over and felt something pressed up against her muzzle. She opened an eye and took a look at what it was. It was Applejack. She was still sleeping as well. Rainbow Dash sighed with relief that they were all still alive. She rolled back over and closed her eyes again.
She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, but then stopped. Her hoof felt weird. It had something on it. She opened her eyes again and saw the blood that covered her hoof. She looked around her and saw that the bed was covered in blood. She panicked and jumped out of bed, causing Twilight and Applejack to flop out and land on their faces.
"Errr... My face..." Twilight mumbled as she got up.
"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash said.
"What?"
Rainbow Dash pointed at the blood stained bed. Twilight looked at it and then down at her hooves, which made her gasp.
"Ahhh! Blood!"
Twilight and Rainbow Dash were covered in it, but there were no cuts on them.
"Where did it come from? And where's Applejack?"
"It couldn't have come from AJ. She was..." Rainbow Dash paused. "sleeping."
They walked around to the other side of the bed and saw Applejack still lying face first on the ground. She had a cut on her body which ran from her ribs around to her flank. And once again, the killer had left a message.
"She's dead!" Twilight said.
"No. She can't be dead!" Rainbow Dash cried. "I promised her she wouldn't die!"
Twilight put her hoof on her shoulder. "It's not your fault."
"I know, but I made a promise. The last thing I said to her was "You won't die. I promise." And now she's dead. I broke my promise."
"It's okay. It's not like you've never broken a promise befo-" she was cut off.
"It's not about the promise! It's about her being dead!"
They went outside and watched as the policeponies arrived and took a body bag out of the house and drove off. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle weren't there, so they didn't know that Applejack was dead. Rainbow Dash could just imagine the crushed look on Applebloom's face when she found out. Somepony would have to tell her eventually. She felt sorry for the pony who would have to break the bad news to her.
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That night, Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked home together.
"So... It's just us left." Rainbow Dash said as they walked.
"Yeah..." Twilight said.
"One of us is going to die tonight. You know that right?"
"Yeah, I know." Twilight sighed. "I'm really scared."
"Me too, but either way, we're not going to see each other again."
They arrived at Rainbow Dash's house in the sky.
"Well, goodnight Rainbow Dash." Twilight said.
"Goodnight Twilight, and good luck."
Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a big hug and she hugged her back.
"I'll hopefully see you tomorrow."
Rainbow Dash flew up to her house and got into bed, but she didn't dare fall asleep. She was too scared.
Author's Note
This chapter's not supposed to be long.
Rainbow Dash was still awake, trembling in fear of what would come through her door. She stared out the window as she thought of her friends. One week ago, they were having the time of their lives. Now, they were down to just two. She looked at the four portraits which hung above her bed. She still couldn't stop thinking about the horrid sights of her broken friends.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the loud and obnoxious sound of her alarm, which she had connected to the tripwire which ran across her doorway. She looked in fear at the door, and what she saw terrified her. Standing there was a pony, hidden under a brown hood. Their body and head was hidden under the hood, but although their legs were still visible, she couldn't see them in the dim moonlight which shone through her window. She noticed that the hooded pony had a large knife in their hoof.
"NO! Get away from me!" Rainbow Dash screamed when she saw the hooded killer.
Suddenly, they hurled the knife directly at her face. She barely had enough time to get out of the way. She leapt out of bed fast, but not fast enough. She knife blade missed her face, but stabbed into her wing, piercing it. The knife stabbed through to the other side and Rainbow Dash fell to the floor.
She screamed at the pain and agony, but then sucked it in. She looked behind her at her wing, the blade was still sticking through. She grabbed onto it with her two forehooves and slowly started pulling it out. The pain was unbearable! She then gave it a strong, sharp jerk, which removed the blade from her wing. She dropped the knife onto the floor, crying in pain at the hole in her wing. She was losing a lot of blood. But she had other things to worry about; there was a psycho-killer in her house!
The mysterious pony approached the knife and picked it up again. They raised it up high, about to plunge it into Rainbow Dash's chest. What was she going to do? She looked around beside her to see it there was anything to protect herself with. So she grabbed her baseball bat and used it to push back the blade as it approached her chest. She pushed it back and got up; blood was still pouring from her wing.
The knife flew out of their hoof and across the room and hit the wall. Rainbow Dash dived to the ground to get it, and threw it out the window, making it fall to the ground. She hoped nopony was standing down there. She looked back at the hooded figure, but she wished she looked sooner. They tackled her through the glass door onto the balcony, which made shards of glass fly everywhere. She got back up and tried to continue defending herself, trying to ignore the shards of broken glass lodged in her back.
The other pony grabbed a piece of glass and threw it at her. She wasn't quick enough this time. The glass sliced across her eye, which made her fall back onto the balcony floor, which pushed the glass even further into her back. The hooded pony drew back another shard for a punch into her face; there wasn't anything around her to use to defend herself this time. She prepared for the punch, but then she realised something.
Those eyes. They sparkled in the moonlight. Such familiar eyes. Those... violet eyes. There was only one pony that she knew with violet eyes. But that couldn't be her...
Could it?
"Twi- Twilight?" she asked nervously.
The hooded pony dropped the glass and slowly put their hoof back down. They then drew the hood from their head. Rainbow Dash was shocked. It couldn't be her... but it was. Under the hood was Twilight Sparkle!
"No. No! NOO! It can't be you!" screamed Rainbow Dash.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash." Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash thought back. Those four dead ponies, it was all Twilight's fault.
"You killed them?" Rainbow Dash asked, still in shock.
"Yes. It was me. I'm not proud of what I did, but I had to," She picked up the shard of glass again. "And now, I have to kill you too." She smiled an evil smile.
She leapt at Rainbow Dash and forced the glass into her and pulled it down her body, giving her a big cut from her left shoulder down her ribs. Rainbow Dash awkwardly got back up, writhing in pain, and tried to not get killed. She didn't want to die now.
"You don't have to do this!" insisted Rainbow Dash.
Twilight grabbed another large piece of broken glass and went to attack Rainbow Dash, but she swung a punch, which connected with Twilight's face. She fell to the floor.
"Ah. I'm sorry Twilight. But you're insane! Get away from me!"
Twilight got back up. "Don't make this difficult. I'm not leaving this house until you're dead!" she laughed.
She tackled Rainbow Dash towards the edge. She fell off the edge of the balcony and she screamed as she fell, but then she stopped falling. She looked up and saw Twilight's hoof wrapped around hers, holding her up. She pulled her back up until their eyes were about an inch apart. Rainbow Dash saw her blood on Twilight's face. She had an insane expression in her eyes.
"Please, Twilight. Please don't let go." Rainbow Dash said, terrified of falling to her death. Normally, falling wasn't a big problem, but with a hole in her wing it was something to worry about.
Twilight smiled a big and evil smile. "Well well well. I guess that's checkmate."
Rainbow Dash was really terrified. "Any last words?" Twilight asked her.
That sentence, it chilled her to the bone.
"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Why'd you kill them?"
"Why? " Twilight asked, a little angry.
Twilight didn't respond. She just stood there, tightly holding Rainbow Dash up. She thought for a moment, and then took a deep sigh.
"Goodbye Rainbow Dash."
"No!" Rainbow Dash yelled as Twilight released her grip. She swung her hoof around to try and grab onto the edge, but it was too late.
She was falling. Except she didn't fall. She was pushed.
After Rainbow Dash's 'death ':
•Twilight left Ponyville and returned to Canterlot the next day, in order to 'keep herself safe'.
•The police continued their investigation on the murders of Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but Twilight was fairly sure she got away with it.
•Eight months after she had returned to Canterlot, all of their evidence fit together, which concluded the investigation. In the end, they proved Twilight guilty of murder.
•Oddly enough, Twilight confessed to it all.
•The normal punishment for such a crime would have a pony sentenced to death, but Princess Celestia didn't have the heart to have Twilight executed, so instead, she had to think of another punishment...
Author's Note
As for Princess Celestia's "other punishment", use your imagtination. Leave it at that.