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.
The Shadow Behind Her Eyes 2: House of Death
"I absolutely refuse to believe Rainbow Dash could have done such a thing!" Rarity said in horror, standing in the doorway to her shop and talking to Applejack, who had just arrived there.
"Ah'm not lyin, Rarity," Applejack said grimly. "Mah Element is Honesty, and ya know ah wouldn't joke about a thing like that."
"We have to find her!" Rarity said, panicking. "We have to do something!"
"Ah know we do," Applejack said. "When Pinkie Pie tells Fluttershy what happened, we'll get right on it. In fact, ah'm guessin she's probably back already. Let's go down to Sugarcube Corner to meet them."
A few minutes later, Rarity and Applejack stopped in front of Sugarcube Corner. As Applejack had predicted, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were already there. Fluttershy had been crying.
"Well- c'mon girls," Applejack said. "We gotta go an find Rainbow Dash."
***
Rainbow Dash had flown back to Ponyville after setting up the things in the old house. She had to leave a clue there so her "friends" would know where to find her. The insane Pegasus snuck around, not wanting anypony to see her.
As Rainbow approached Sugarcube Corner, hiding in the shadows behind buildings, she began to hear familiar voices talking out in front of the building. It was them. They were plotting to kill her, Rainbow knew that, but she would kill them first. There was plenty of surprises at the old house to make certain of that. She just needed to give them a clue so they could find her there.
Rainbow Dash dipped her hoof in the bag she was carrying and drew out the bloodstained knife she had used to gut the royal guard. Using the tip of the knife, she carved a message on the back wall outside of Sugarcube Corner, giving directions to the old house. Now all Rainbow needed was a sound or something to get the ponies to go back there. Easy. She opened her mouth and-
***
"Oh gosh, what was that sound!" Fluttershy said in a high, terrified voice.
"It came from behind the building!" Applejack said. "Sounded like somepony was screamin!"
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all ran behind the building.
"There's nopony here!" Rarity said.
"Um, girls," Fluttershy said quietly, "I think there's a message-"
"Look!" Pinkie said loudly. "Somepony carved a message into the wall!"
"That's what I was trying to say," Fluttershy said quietly, but not loud enough for the others to hear her.
"Good eye, Pinkie!" Applejack said. "What's it say?"
"It's directions!" Pinkie Pie said. And they're signed by-"
Pinkie gasped.
"Who?" Applejack demanded.
"Rainbow Dash," Pinkie said.
"Ah bet those directions will lead us right to her!" Applejack said. She looked at the directions, memorizing what they said. "C'mon, everypony!"
The four friends took off, running back around the building to the front.
"Oh my, do you think we should tell anypony else about that message?" Rarity asked.
"No," Applejack said. "Rainbow's our friend, and we're gonna help her."
"Our FRIEND?" Rarity gasped. "After what she did to Twilight? Applejack, she killed a princess, and our friend! When Celestia finds out-"
"Rainbow Dash wasn't right in the head," Applejack said sadly. "She needs help."
"What are we waiting for?" Pinkie Pie said. "Let's go save Dashie from herself!"
The four friends took off, Applejack leading because she was the pony that had memorized the directions to where Rainbow Dash was.
Applejack didn't think for a moment that it was wrong to just take off without telling anypony else where they were going. She thought they could just go get Rainbow Dash and help her somehow and that would be it. She was wrong. She should have told another pony where they were going, but she didn't. And although they didn't know it, they were already dead.
***
"THIS is where Rainbow Dash is staying?" Rarity asked, looking up at the old house in disgust. "I've never seen a more HORRID place in my life."
"Rainbow's inside there," Fluttershy said quietly. "And she's probably crazy, too."
"I bet Rainbow's hiding!" Pinkie Pie said gleefully. I say we try to find her! Then when we find her, we can throw a big party and-"
"Pinkie! We are NOT throwin any party!" Applejack said angrily. "Remember what Rainbow did to Twilight?"
"Oh, yeah," Pinkie said, her smile fading.
"Now, ah think we should split up to go into the house," Applejack said. "If two of us go in through the back, and two go in from the front, Rainbow ain't got nowhere to run. We can catch her, and help her. Now, Rarity and ah will go in through the front, Pinkie an Fluttershy, y'all go in through the back."
"G- got it," Fluttershy said in a shaky voice. She was scared.
"Well then, let's get moving y'all."
Pinkie and Fluttershy watched Applejack and Rarity go up to the front door of the old house and open it. Then, they both stepped into the darkness of the house, and Pinkie and Fluttershy could no longer see them.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie said. "Let's go around back!"
"Oh- ok," Fluttershy said in her quiet voice. She followed Pinkie around the side of the house. They turned the corner into the backyard, and then they both started to scream as they saw the corpse of the royal guard lying right in the middle of the yard, covered in guts and blood.
"I- i- i- is he d- d- dead?" Fluttershy cried out in a high voice.
Pinkie Pie went over to the guard. "Yep," she replied in a voice that didn't sound like her own.
Fluttershy thought she was going to faint, throw up, or both at the sight of the mutilated guard with his intestines strewn around him like confetti, but she managed to hold on to herself- barely.
"We have to get in there and find Dashie fast!" Pinkie said. "Before it's too late!"
She and Fluttershy, leaving the gutted guard behind them in the yard, walked up to the back door, opened it, and walked into the kitchen of the house. It was gloomy and hard to see, and the two mares nervously began to walk deeper into the house.
***
Rainbow Dash cried for no reason at all on the old bed upstairs in the bedroom of the house. She was crying and laughing softly at the same time, and she didn't even realize she was doing it. Suddenly, she heard a noise from downstairs. It was them. Her "friends".
Rainbow jumped off the bed, grinning. Besides the fact that her face had the expression of a murderous maniac that had been possessed by a demon on it, she looked a lot better. As she had flown back to the house from Ponyville after leaving the message carved on the back of Sugarcube Corner, she had flown through some thick clouds which had washed the blood off her mane and off of her coat. The clouds had also washed off most of the bandage that her pet, Tank, had wrapped around her side earlier, but the bandage had coagulated around the wound in her side, making it like a piece of strong cloth covering a wound. The medicine in the cloth was also having an effect, soaking into her skin and slowly repairing the internal damage. Yep, Rainbow Dash wasn't going to die today (unless those other ponies kill me for what i did but oh no they won't do anything because i'll kill them all first) Rainbow thought. She grinned. Her "friends" were here. Time to let the fun begin.
***
The house was huge, Fluttershy realized as she and Pinkie Pie walked through it. Much bigger than she had expected.
Suddenly, as they turned down a hallway, Pinkie yelled, "my Pinkie senses! Fluttershy, get down!"
Fluttershy gasped and dropped instinctively, as one of them accidentally stepped on a thin rope on the carpet. A second later, a huge knife was slingshot right over the spot where Fluttershy's head had just been, and it impaled itself in the opposite wall.
Shaken by what a close call she had just had, Fluttershy talked in a quiet, high voice.
"Was- was that Rainbow who set that up?" she squeaked.
Pinkie shrugged. "Probably," she said, not sounding concerned. "Come on, Fluttershy, it's fine! With my Pinkie senses, we're untouchable!"
"Oh- ok," Fluttershy said, getting up slowly.
Fluttershy began to follow Pinkie down the long hall again that they were in. One time, Pinkie had to knock Fluttershy aside as a knife fell from the ceiling and impaled itself in the carpet, but there was no other incidents, except when they reached the end of the hall.
Pinkie turned the corner at the end of the hallway and nearly bumped right into Rainbow Dash. Judging by the Pegasus' look of complete shock, she had not been expecting someone to find her there.
Pinkie grinned. "Hi, Dashie!" she said brightly. "Your hair's sticking up a bit, you know."
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Rainbow screamed. She took off and ran down the hallway with Pinkie after her, leaving Fluttershy alone in the dark hallway.
Fluttershy stayed where she was, but after three minutes had passed and Pinkie hadn't returned, she began to get worried.
"H- hello?" Fluttershy stammered, but too softly for anyone to hear her. She didn't want to go off by herself, but she didn't see any other choice, so she nervously began walking back through the dark hallway. She had almost reached the end when a voice laughed crazily behind her..
"AHAHAHAHA!"
Fluttershy screamed and turned around in time to see Rainbow Dash, with an absolutely insane look in her eyes, swinging a sharp hacksaw right at her face. A split second later, Fluttershy felt a blinding flash of agony... then she was gone.
***
Rainbow Dash laughed and swung the saw as Fluttershy screamed and turned around. The saw hit Fluttershy right in the face, the sharp grooves slashing almost two inches into her head. The saw also sliced one of her eyes right in half, and in less than a second, her face was covered in blood and eye fluids. Even as the yellow pegasus began to fall, Rainbow swung the saw again, tearing most of Fluttershy's face clean off. Rainbow then raised the saw high and brought it down as hard as she could, laughing crazily all the while. The blade sank into the top of Fluttershy's head, but even then, Rainbow forced the saw down until Fluttershy's head had been sliced completely in half. The dead pony fell to the ground and one half of her head broke off her neck and rolled several inches away, splattering the carpet with blood and brains. Rainbow laughed some more, horrified at what she had just done, yet infinitely more happy. She took off, the hacksaw dripping blood, still laughing.
***
A few hours later, Applejack and Rarity stumbled through the depths of the house, exhausted. They still hadn't ran into Pinkie or Fluttershy yet- or Rainbow Dash.
"Ya think Rainbow's still even here?" Applejack asked disheartedly. It's been hours, and no sign of her."
"Well, we best keep looking!" Rarity said. "Besides, we have to find Pinkie and Fluttershy before we leave!"
"Yep, we best go find em," Applejack said. "Wait, ya smell somethin' funny?"
Rarity sniffed at the air, and held her nose. "Oh my- that smell is simply HORRID!"
"Wait- ah think it's comin' from down there," Applejack said, motioning to a doorway to her right, which led down another hallway.
"Well, let's go see what it is!" Rarity said.
The two stepped through the doorway and into the hall, and they saw something lying on the floor about five feet in front of them.
"Oh, shoot, that's not-" Applejack gasped, feeling like she was going to vomit.
Rarity screamed, the sound re-vibrating throughout the whole house.
"FLUTTERSHY!"
"There's nothing we can do," Applejack said softly, then turned and threw up for the second time that day. She heard the sounds of retching, and she turned in time to see Rarity throw up, too. Applejack ignored her and stepped towards Fluttershy's mutilated body.
"Oh Fluttershy," Applejack said with tears in her eyes. "Ah've been so buckin' stupid. We should've told someone where we were goin', and gotten help. This is all mah fault." Applejack hung her head, and tears fell from her eyes and dripped into the carpet of the hallway. "First Twi, an' now you."
"Applejack," Rarity said sadly and softly, "you mustn't blame yourself for what happened here. You had no idea this was-"
Rarity didn't finish her sentence, and instead let out a choking sound. Assuming Rarity was just sad and was choking on sobs, Applejack didn't turn around and continued staring at Fluttershy, crying.
"Ah'm so buckin' sorry, Flutters. Ah wish ah could take this all back."
Suddenly, Applejack noticed that Rarity was still making choking noises. And they didn't sound like sobs.
Applejack looked up in horror, and slowly turned around. Rarity still made choking noises, and now Applejack saw what had happened. Most of Rarity's normally clean, white coat was now almost completely red in the front and down her sides. She was choking on her own blood. And standing on top of Rarity, grinning insanely with a wild, demonic glint in her eyes, was Rainbow Dash. In one hoof, she held the six-inch-long shard of now-scarlet glass that she had used to slit the unicorn's throat, and in her other hoof, she held a garden hatchet.
Laughing, Rainbow buried the hatchet in Rarity's back and flew into the air, and Rarity fell on her side. Rainbow Dash landed next to her, pulling the hatchet out of Rarity's back. She swung it again, right into Rarity's stomach with a sickening splattering sound. Blood exploded out, splattering the hallway floor in a wave of blood, and then the wound opened wide as Rainbow wrenched the small axe out again, and Rarity's guts became visible. Laughing so hard now that tears steamed from her eyes, Rainbow raised the hatchet for a third time and brought it down into Rarity's guts, and her intestines began to spill out. She pulled out the hatchet, and grinned at Applejack.
"You came here to kill me BUT I'LL KILL YOU FIRST I SWEAR OH GOD I TOTALLY SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU ALL BEFORE YOU KILL ME!" Rainbow Dash screamed, laughing and crying at the same time. She raised the hatchet, and Applejack could only stare, paralyzed with fear, as Rainbow prepared to bury it in her head.
