The Shadow Behind Her Eyes 2: House of Death

WARNING: The following story has been rated Mature by the author due to disturbing themes such as murder and insanity, and contains strong gore and violence, and brief pony profanity. This story also may affect your appreciation of certain My Little Pony characters, including some members of the Mane 6. Reader discretion strongly advised.

***

Applejack waited for almost an hour outside Sugarcube Corner for Twilight to return. She was growing impatient. Twilight must have had to really talk some sense into that Rainbow Dash since she was taking so long.

Applejack was still a little worried about the way Rainbow had looked when she had landed in front of her and Twilight an hour ago. The Pegasus' pink eyes had been darker, like there was a shadow behind them. Rainbow Dash had looked... Well, kind of crazy. Still, Applejack reasoned with herself, that was no reason to worry. Surely Twilight could talk some sense into that filly.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie bounced out of Sugarcube Corner, stuffing her face with chocolate cupcakes.

"Hey, Affle Jath!" Pinkie Pie greeted, her mouth full of cupcake which caused crumbs to spray all over Applejack's face. Applejack glared.

"Ooth," Pinkie Pie said apologetically with a laugh. She swallowed the rest of the cupcake she was eating in a huge gulp. "Sorry, Applejack! Sorry about that!"

"Yeah... It's fine," Applejack told her.

"Oh! Oh! While you're waiting for Twilight to come back, wanna hear about the cupcakes me and Dashie made yesterday?"

"Uh... Ah guess..."

"GREAT!" said Pinkie Pie excitedly. "So when Rainbow first came yesterday, she looked kind of tired, but she was all like 'Pinkie, stop worrying, I'm fine...'"

***

"...and that's how I was named!"

Applejack looked up, confused. "Wait, ah thought you were just talkin' about the cupcakes you and Rainbow Dash made yesterday."

Pinkie Pie also looked confused. "I was?" she asked. "I don't remember saying that. Do you want me to tell you though? Oh my, silly Rainbow Dash ate so many cupcakes yesterday, she could hardly walk-"

"Ah know that, Sugarcube," Applejack said. "Ya jus' told me that."

"I did?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Okie Dokie Loki." Suddenly, Pinkie Pie screamed, causing Applejack to jump back. "Oh my - I promised Mrs. Cake I would be back inside in fifteen minutes to help her finish that cake, and it's been a lot longer than fifteen minutes, hasn't it?" Without another word, Pinkie bounced back inside Sugarcube Corner.

Applejack thought for a moment. It had been longer than fifteen minutes since Pinkie Pie had came out to talk to her - and it had been over an hour and a half since she had last seen Twilight and Rainbow Dash. What the hay was holding up Twilight? Surely it couldn't take THAT long to talk some sense into Rainbow Dash's head.

"Ah guess ah can head over to Twilight's and see what's takin' so long," Applejack said to herself. "Maybe even ah can talk to Rainbow and try to help her."

Applejack walked away from Sugarcube corner in the direction of Twilight's library. As she passed through Ponyville, she forced herself not to run. In her stomach, she knew something was wrong but she told herself that if she didnt run, everything would be alright when she reached Twilight's place.

After about five minutes, Applejack reached Twilight Sparkle's library. She went to the front door and rapped on it with her hoof, but no one answered. Very worried now, Applejack opened the door - it was unlocked. She went inside the library.

"Hello?" Applejack called nervously. "Twilight? Rainbow Dash? Any of ya here?"

No answer.

Applejack walked into the library and for a moment, she just stood there, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her breath seemed to have gotten stuck in her throat. All she could do was groan in horror.

Twilight was dead, that was pretty obvious. The princess was lying on her side in the middle of the room, unmoving, with a small knife sticking out of her right eye like some kind of grotesque tumor. Her side had been slashed open and her intestines were visible. Blood was splattered all over Twilight's body and all over the library floor and some on the bookshelves.

As Applejack tried to comprehend what she was seeing, she realized something - there was no sign of Rainbow Dash.

***

Rainbow Dash flew towards her cloud house, not feeling the pain of the hole Twilight had blasted through her guts. She did, however, have the strange sensation of her intestines trying to slide out of the hole. It was not a very pleasant feeling. As she flew, blood poured freely from the wound, falling to the ground far below.

Rainbow Dash looked horrible. Her own blood, mixed with Twilight's blood, covered nearly her entire body, turning her beautiful cyan coat gruesome red. She had the strangest expression on her face - an expression of horror, amusement, and disbelief combined into one. Her pupils were tiny, her eyes were bloodshot, and in all, she had the blank uncomprehending eyes of the dead.

Rainbow Dash reached her cloud house and thought of what she had done earlier - or more accurately, remembered what she had done earlier like looking at it through a shattered mirror. Shattered. Just like her mind.

Rainbow Dash was barely aware of what she was doing, and her loss of blood was making her feel giddy. She stumbled to her bedroom and fainted in the doorway.

***

When Rainbow awoke, she got up at once, not even recognizing that she now felt stronger, that her wounded stomach felt better. She didn't even notice the thick, medicine-covered bandages wrapped around her body that her loyal pet, Tank the Tortoise, had somehow managed to get on her when she was out cold. All she saw was broken bits of thoughts and twisted visions of what she had done earlier, replaying over and over in her ravaged mind.

Rainbow Dash stood there for a while, and suddenly, she knew. She had murdered Twilight Sparkle- for what reason? Rainbow couldn't even remember. But she did know that her friends were her enemies. They were going to hunt her down and kill her. They would murder her, just like she had murdered Twilight. They weren't going to give her a chance. It would all be over. Rainbow Dash began to laugh again, bringing a little blood into her mouth from internal bleeding. They were all trying to kill her now. Every single one. What could she do? And then, in the wasteland of what was left of Rainbow's mind, a plan began to form and she smiled, a horrible smile, the grin of a maniac. The remaining four of Twilight's friends couldn't kill her if she killed them first. Rainbow Dash laughed harder, louder, the sound of an insane man screaming at the moon.

***

Applejack ran back into town as fast as she could. She had to stop once, as the realization of what she had just seen hit her hard and made her turn and throw up, but she spat the remaining sick out of her mouth and kept running. She had to tell the others about this.

Applejack was almost at Sugarcube corner when she accidentally bumped into Spike who was walking in the opposite direction carrying an armload of books. All the books fell along with Spike, and one landed on his face.

"Oh- ah'm mighty sorry, Spike, ah need to watch where ah'm goin'!"

Spike stood up and began to pick up the books again.

"Aw, it's alright, Applejack," Spike said. "Accidents happen. But I do have to ask- why are you in such a hurry this morning?"

"Ah have got something really important ah need to tell the others. How about you, Spike? What in Equestria are ya doin' with all those books?"

"Twilight sent me out to get them," Spike said, rolling his eyes. "I've been out all morning getting them, and now I'm taking them back to Twilight."

Alarm shot through Applejack at the thought of Spike returning to the library and discovering what had happened. "Uh... Spike? Ya sure Twilight's even there? Ah mean, I... Thought she went to Rarity's place!" Applejack finished, thinking fast.

"Um, Applejack? Twilight said that if she wasn't there at the library to just drop them off there anyways."

Applejack sighed and decided to tell the dragon the truth. He would find out sooner or later, anyways. "Sugarcube," Applejack sighed, "Ya don't want to go to the library. Jus' trust me."

"Why not?" Spike asked, confused.

Applejack sighed again. "Sugarcube, Twilight's not gonna be readin' books ever again. She's... She's... Dead."

Spike stared in confusion at Applejack for a moment, then began laughing. "Oh man- that's a good one, Applejack!"

"It's not a joke," Applejack said. Spike's laughter stopped.

"Oh, come on Applejack- give it up. I know you're just kidding."

"Ah'm NOT kiddin'!" Applejack said angrily. Spike recoiled a bit, and Applejack's expression softened. "Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube," Applejack said. "But she's dead."

Suddenly, the full realization that Twilight was dead hit Applejack. Twilight, the best leader, the talented mare who had just became a princess, Applejack's friend, was dead. Applejack felt tears come to her eyes and a few spilled out.

Spike stared at Applejack a moment longer, and he finally realized that Applejack wasn't joking. Spike felt tears sting his own eyes. He dropped the few books he was carrying and walked away.

Applejack wanted to go comfort the poor dragon, but she had to let her own friends know what had happened first. She continued on her way to Sugarcube Corner to tell Pinkie Pie what had happened.

***

The old house near the Everfree Forest was perfect. This would be where Rainbow Dash killed the rest of them. Rainbow Dash herself had landed in front of it, and twisted ways to murder the rest of the ponies were growing in her broken mind. She laughed. She seemed to be laughing a lot lately.

"Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow turned, startled, and saw Twilight Sparkle walking right toward her.

"N- n- n- NO!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "It's all your fault all your fault ALL YOUR FAULT DON'T KILL ME OH PLEASE KILL ME!" Rainbow screamed.

Twilight continued to walk toward Rainbow Dash, a snarl on her face. The little knife was still sticking out of her eye, and blood and eye fluids covered her face. Rainbow saw the slash she had made in Twilight's side; the alicorn's intestines were visible.

"I can't kill you, obviously, because I'm dead," Twilight said nastily. "You killed me, Rainbow. So the others are going to kill you. You better watch your flank, Dash. My friends are coming to avenge me for what you did, and they will slit your throat for what you did."

"STOP STOP MAKE IT STOP!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "OH JUST MAKE IT STOP!"

Rainbow laid down in the front yard, closed her eyes, and made a sound between insane screaming and crying. When Rainbow looked up, she saw the image of Twilight fading away. It had just been a horrible hallucination, but with Rainbow's broken mind, of course she didn't know that.

"They can't kill me if I kill them first oh no they won't kill me hahaha I'll kill all of them if I have to," Rainbow said, mumbling to herself and not even realizing it.

Rainbow Dash got up and grabbed the bag of stuff she had stolen from an empty house not too far away from this one. The bag contained knives, rope, and a lot of things. Rainbow's mind may have been broken, but that just made her knowledge of how to kill even better. Rainbow started for the house. She had a lot of stuff to set up.

***

"WHAT?" Pinkie Pie screamed.

"Ah said, Twilight's dead!" Applejack repeated.

"But-" Pinkie Pie said. "But-"

"Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube," Applejack said, struggling to hold back tears. "But ah think it... It was Rainbow that done it."

"Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie yelled. "But why would that silly filly do such a thing?"

"Ah honestly think somethin's gone and messed with her mind."

"We have to find her!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing up and down in alarm. "We have to find her before it's too late!"

"Whudya think ah was just gonna say?" Applejack said. "Now come on! Ah'll go get Rarity, you, Pinkie, go get Fluttershy!"

***

The royal guard lay in the back yard, dead. He had been gutted by Rainbow Dash, and his corpse was covered in intestines and blood. Nearby, Rainbow Dash stood laughing, her face splattered with the guard's blood, holding a long knife that dripped crimson liquid.

The royal guard had came by only five minutes ago, wanting to know if Rainbow had seen Princess Twilight who apparently never showed up in Cloudsdale for a meeting that morning. As soon as Twilight's name had been mentioned, Rainbow had known it was a trick. The guard had wanted Rainbow's tongue to slip for an excuse to kill her. Rainbow never gave him the chance. The fight was short and brutal, and the guard was dead within seconds. His blank eyes stared up at Rainbow, staring at everything but seeing nothing.

Rainbow laughed some more. She was absolutely horrified by what she had just did but she couldn't stop laughing. She couldn't get the images of the ponies she had murdered out of her head- Twilight, her side slashed and a knife sticking out of her eye, and now this royal guard, covered in blood and gore. Then, Rainbow remembered the real reason why she had came to this house in the first place- to set a trap for her "friends". Still laughing crazily, Rainbow Dash grabbed her bag of supplies which was lying near the dead guard and started towards the house. It was time to get prepared, then find a way to get her "friends" to go to the house.