The Pony Dead

“Interesting,” the voice mused as the sound of hoofbeats filled Spike’s head, “and you say that you and the Element Barrers didn’t bury Miss Fluttershy?”

“In that place?” the young dragon replied, “Would you want to be buried in a forest that... That hurt you so much?”

“Touche, either way please continue.”

***

Pinkie Pie’s hoof beats could be heard throughout the cabin as she tucked her fallen lover into her bed, tears falling onto the cold, yellow fur. Fluttershy had been good to her for the past couple of months, always looking after her and trying to get the pink pony to eat healthier foods.
“Why didn’t I listen to her?” Pinkie asked herself as she laid her head next to Fluttershy’s body, the memories of their small, yet beautiful, relationship flooding her mind. How the yellow pegasus looked in the morning, the sound of her soft voice, the smell of her freshly washed mane. It was all gone now, and nopony could ever bring it back. Slowly, Pinkie turned to leave the room, her eyes focused as she knew what had to be done. She would get her Fluttershy out of this damned place, if it was the last thing she ever did.

***

The main room of the cabin was quiet with grief, the only sound stirring was from the kitchen as Spike made tea to try and help everypony through what had just happened. Applejack had her Stetson’s brim pulled down over her eyes, hiding her tears, while Twilight paced slower than she usually did, as if she was the only member of a sad parade. Even Rainbow Dash, who usually put on the strongest of faces in any situation, laid curled up on the couch, trying to hold back her tears. It had taken an hour for Rarity to come out of the bathroom, and even then the evidence of her tears still showed in her reddened eyes. The only one who didn’t cry was Pinkie Pie, but each pony knew that Pinkie had her own way of showing grief... And it was worse than any of the others.
Suddenly, the pink party pony walked into the main room and sat next to Rainbow Dash, her hoof rubbing the cyan pegasus’ back as if to tell her it was ok... Soon after, Dash began to let loose the river of tears for her fallen best friend.
Twilight gritted her teeth, “Girls...” she began, “I know it’s hard, but we need to find a way out of this place. I... I don’t want Fluttershy to wind up staying here any more, I don’t want any of us to be here any more-”
“Then why the hell are we here?!” Pinkie yelled, the colors in her coat fading to and even darker shade of grey, “You brought us here Twilight! You wanted us to have this little bucking trip, and look what happens! I lost Fluttershy!”
“Pinkie,” AJ tried to interject, “calm down sugarcube. Twilight couldn’t have-”
“Oh shut up Applejack!” the pink pony continued, “I don’t need a bucking lecture from the worst liar in our group! Element of Honesty my flank...”
Applejack took a deep breath and kept her mouth closed, she knew Pinkie was in a bad state of mind... But that didn’t stop her from wanting to buck the party pony in the jaw.
“Stop it! All of you!” cried Spike, his small fist slamming against the table that the tape recorder sat on, “This isn’t solving anything... Pinkie, do you really think Fluttershy would want you to be fighting with your friends?”
Pinkie opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it and shook her head. The colors in her coat lightened slightly, but her hair stayed straight as the tears in the pink pony’s eyes began to finally fall. Suddenly, Pinkie felt a hoof rubbing her back in the same way Fluttershy would rub when Pinkie was upset. Slowly, the pink party pony turned, and what she saw made her eyes widen.
“Pinkie?” Fluttershy said, her hoof on her lover’s back, “What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?” Before Fluttershy had time to react, Pinkie Pie locked lips with the yellow and pink pegasus. Their kiss was full of passion and love, their eyes closed as they stood on their hind hooves... Unfortunately, this ended in the pure pink pony falling, flank first, onto the table next to the tape recorder. The table creeked, until it finally snapped under the shock force of Pinkie’s rump.
Pinkie Pie giggled, her mane now in its usual cotton candy-like shape and her coat restored to the bubblegum pink they rest of the ponies were accustomed to. “Sorry guys, guess I’ll have to buy the princess a new table, huh?” she glanced up at the rest of her friends, but their eyes were not on the party pony. Instead, they all looked at Fluttershy, as if she was some sort of freak at an old time Equestrian sideshow. “Girls? What’s up?” Pinkie asked as she turned her head to her lover, and that’s when she understood why her friends were staring at Fluttershy.
It was the most disturbing sight Pinkie Pie had ever seen in her life. Fluttershy’s coat was torn in places so bad that her muscles and bones could be seen, the worst was under her chin where a long, green tongue hung like a limp hoof. One of Fluttershy’s wings had been broken off completely, the wound spraying blood onto the floor every few seconds, but the most grotesque feature on the former Barrer of Kindness as her eyes... Or lack there of in this case.
“Pinkie? What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?” the thing that used to be Fluttershy said, “Pinkie? What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me like that? Pinkie? What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me like that? Pinkie?...” Over and over the creature repeated its last sentence, until finally it lowered it head slowly. As the fractured and festering face of her former lover drew closer, Pinkie Pie felt her entire body froze until the creature was looking into the pink pony’s eyes with its cold, red, empty sockets. When it finally spoke, the monster had a deep voice, a familiar voice... The voice Fluttershy had during the incident with the Poison Joke. “How about a kiss cutie?”
The Flutter-thing opened its maw wide, showing off a new set of teeth. Teeth that looked like they belonged to a hacksaw, teeth that were now digging into the warm flesh of Pinkie Pie’s right front hoof.
As Pinkie screamed, the other ponies tried to pull the monster off their poor friend, all except two. Rainbow Dash felt her body freeze, much like Pinkie’s had. All she could do is look in terror as her former best friend chewed on Pinkie Pie, that is until Spike ran past her.
“Rainbow!” the dragon cried out, his little legs guiding him to a small cellar door in the floor of the cabin, “Get that... that thing over here! We can lock it up in the basement!”
Quick as lightning, Dash rammed head first into the Flutter-thing’s side causing it to stubble into the open hole in the floor, a huge chunk of Pinkie Pie’s flesh between its teeth. Spike then slammed the door down hard, replacing the large padlock to ensure the monster wouldn’t get out.
The group turned to Pinkie, who was sobbing and holding her hoof close to try and stop the bleeding. As Spike walked over to his injured friend, his eyes caught something shining from the hole in the broken table.
“Twilight, look...” the purple and green dragon said, pointing at the exposed tape reel in the table. Twilight nodded, then turned to Applejack to ask her to look for any bandages to cover Pinkie’s wound. The lavender unicorn pulled the tape out, her dark purple aura surrounding the object.
“It looks,” Twilight said, “like the professor had more to say... But why hide this in such an odd place?”
“Twi,” Applejack interjected, “I think the better question is did Princess Celestia know about this?”