WARNING: IF آپ HAVE A WEAK STOMACH, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS!
CUPCAKES: VOLUME 2:
Chapter 1 - No, Not Pinkie Pie!:
It had been a week since قوس قزح Dash had left. Pinkie had told everypony that she had gone off to be with the Wonderbolts, and had shunned all the others.
"Well tarnation!" applejack کی, اپپلیجاک had exclaimed. "Who needed her anyway?"
But Twilight was skeptical. She went back to the لائبریری to mull things over. ‘First سیب, ایپل Bloom, then Twist, and now قوس قزح Dash. Why is everypony in such a hurry to leave Ponyville? And why do they keep leaving exactly once a week?’
Suddenly, a horn sounded. The town had called a meeting. The mayor came up and made the announcement. "Rarity has left a note at my door stating that she will be leaving Ponyville to design dresses for تصویر Finish in Manehattan. She will be leaving her Boutique to Twilight Sparkle.”
“Just yesterday Rarity told me that she would meet me in the spa”, a tiny, timid voice sounded from within the crowd. A tiny, timid voice that could only belong to Fluttershy. “She would never back down from a promise like that without telling me.”
A loud southern drawl rang out from the crowd next. “They’re all a buncha flakes is what they are!” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک yelled. “Rarity, Dash, and the rest of them. Y’all shouldn’t be surprised over them.”
Fluttershy protested, “But Appleja-”
“But nothin’. Rarity had her own thing to do, and figured us ponies were in the way.” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک paused, then turned to Twilight and spoke in a less irritated voice. “You take that Boutique and make something nice out of it.” Twilight کہا nothing as they slowly walked towards the building.
Twilight poked her head inside and opened the door. Everything was gone. The ٹٹو mannequins were bare, and the rolls of fabric were gone. The store rooms were dry and bare. All that was left was one roll of سونا silk.
“That’s strange,” Twilight mused. “Fluttershy told me that Rarity wouldn’t stop talking about this stuff. Why wouldn’t she take it?” As she was leaving the closet, out of the corner of her eye she caught a small card. Twilight lifted it up. It was a business card that read ‘Photo Finish Complete Gallery’, and had an address on the back. Twilight sent a letter to the address inquiring about Rarity, and got one back saying that they had never spoken with her. ‘Okay, now I’m worried. Where is Rarity?’ Twilight wondered.
The اگلے day, Twilight confronted the mayor of Ponyville. Twilight approached the large wooden door of her house, and knocked three times. On the third knock the door slowly creaked open. Twilight poked her head in and decided to announce her presence. “Hello? Is anypony here? Um, I’m just gonna let myself in, if that’s oka- AUGH!” Twilight’s train fo thought was derailed سے طرف کی the sight of a shivering, frightened Mayor rolled up in a blanket.
“Mayor? Are آپ alright?” Twilight inquired.
“Yes, yes, perfectly fine!” the Mayor nervously announced. “Now! Why don’t آپ trot on out of here before somepony gets hurt?”
“I’m not leaving until I know what really happened to Rarity,” Twilight asserted.
The mayor turned to reveal that she was wearing a headdress of knives and a look of absolute terror. Their gazes locked on each other for a moment, then the mayor charged at Twilight. Twilight levitated her up and pressed her against the wall. The headdress came off and turned on the mayor as Twilight calmly and forcefully stated, “The royal court will find آپ guilty of attempted murder, Mayor. آپ could spend your whole life in the dungeon. But, if آپ tell me what really happened to Rarity, I might forget this horri-”
Twilight was interrupted again سے طرف کی the mayor’s frantic sobbing. “It’s not me, it’s her!”
“Who? Tell me!” Twilight yelled.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” the mayor bitterly stated. “She کہا I would get a higher number, that I would be the last to go if I kept my jaw tight. I can’t even look at myself, most days I’m in here like this.”
“This isn’t making any sense, give me an answer. Where is Rarity?” Twilight pressed.
“I don’t know, alright?!” the mayor cried.
“You know. Tell me یا I’ll notify the Royal Guard.” Twilight threatened.
“No! Okay! Pinkie she, er, has taken Rarity. Her number came up. It’s Pinkie’s standard procedure. Perhaps too standard. She’s gotten lazy, but she کہا she needed at least one a week. Too many orders, too little cupcakes. Tomorrow, go to Sugarcube Corner. She will probably have something planned for you. Get the guard, get her behind bars. It’s going to take a lot of horsepower to take her down.” The mayor explained, sighing. “She’ll find out I told you… I’m as good as dead.”
“If آپ think that’s the case, I’ll have the Guards give آپ protection.” Twilight responded.
The mayor looked down sullenly. “I hope that will be enough.”
Chapter 2 - Dress-up Time!:
Drip, drip, drip.
Rarity tossed and turned, eyes closed. ‘Is the roof leaking again?’ She wondered.
Drip, drip ,drip.
‘This will be the third time I’ve had to get those colts to fix that thing.’
Drip, drip, drip.
“No, it’s time to get up, get dressed.” Rarity sleepily yawned, opening her eyes. She noticed it was so dark she could hardly see a hoof in front of her. She looked down at her bedsheet. “That’s strange, this doesn’t feel like a بستر sheet.” It took Rarity a few moments to notice that she was actually sleeping on a pile of her dresses. She looked up, and saw a large hole with light coming through it. Suddenly, a head popped out.
“Hi Rarity! Looks like you’re finally awake!” a high pitched voice squeaked from the edge of the pit.
“Pinkie, is that you?” Rarity probed.
“Yep! Looks like آپ hit that one right on the nose, یا should I say horn? Hee hee!”
Rarity slowly pulled her hoof to her head, and felt a wet spot, but no horn. “Pinkie? Wh- what did آپ do?” she stammered. Hearing Pinkie Pie snickering mischievously, she looked back at her hoof in the light to find that it was stained with dark red, contrasting with her white coat. The dripping she had heard was coming from her wound. She began to scream in shock and despair.
Pinkie spoke over her cries, “Wah, wah, wah, just like a baby. Twist didn’t cry this much. Well, I’d have to say, آپ are quite a lucky filly. When your number came up, my first thought was cupcakes, but then I remembered it was fashion designer Rarity I was talking about. I think that after all those dresses, آپ deserve to be served one. No wait, I mean served as one. Hee hee hee hee! Well, I can’t talk forever, orders to fill and whatnot. Bye!”
Rarity shook her head, trying to convince herself this wasn’t happening. ‘Pinkie’s my friend, this is probably all some practical joke,’ she thought. She called out nervously, “Ha ha, Pinkie, آپ have surely fooled me into fright, what with the well and the ironic death and all. But I must say, how did آپ pull off such an impressive missing horn illusion?”
Pinkie laughed and retorted as she was trotting off, “Who کہا that was an illusion, silly?”
Chapter 3 - It's A Bad Apple:
Twilight had woken up the اگلے دن in a cold sweat after having terrible nightmares the night previous. She had shaken her feeling of dread with some difficulty as she prepared to begin the hunt for Pinkie Pie.
She was standing apprehensively outside of Sugarcube Corner. Behind her were several of the legendary pegasi of Celestia’s Royal Guard. After some time of preparation, they stormed in, prepared for the worst. Upon entering, however, they noticed the store was empty, save for a plate of cupcakes on the table. As the pegasi tore the place up, Twilight used her magic to spot a loose floor board. She pried it aside, revealing a button. When she pressed it, an تندور swung open. Twilight approached it, but a guard pushed her aside and started walking toward the entrance.
“Lady, if what you’ve told me about her is true, then I want to be the guy who catches that monster.” The guard took one step into the newly opened passageway. The one step happened to land on a برداشت, ریچھ trap. The sharp metal teeth کبوتر into his leg, splintering the bone and producing a horrible crunching sound. The guard’s bravado immediately ended, replaced سے طرف کی blubbering and screaming. “My leg! It’s got my leg!” he yelled. The مزید he writhed in pain, the deeper the trap’s fangs sunk into his leg.
“For Celestia’s sake, get him outta there!” Another guard piped up. He rushed to the injured guard and began pulling apart the trap, but as he eased the pressure, a blood vessel decided to rupture, sending a spurt of blood into his eye. His hooves slipped, and the trap came down again, this time all but severing the unfortunate guard’s leg, leaving it connected سے طرف کی just a small piece of skin. The guard was finally pulled out of the trap, and put on a stretcher.
As he passed سے طرف کی Twilight, he looked in her eyes solemnly and کہا “I hope it’s worth it to you.”
Twilight lit the path up, finding and springing the rest of the traps. There were seven, one for each guard she had brought with her. As she and the remaining guards went down the narrow stone stairway, Twilight noticed a certain smell getting stronger and stronger, a smell that reminded her of the dissections they had done in magic class. She’d always pretended to be sick on those days. Twilight knew she knew what it was, but she couldn’t quite place it.
They arrived at the bottom of the staircase, which emptied out into a dark room. The lights went on, revealing what had to be the single most sickening thing Twilight had ever seen. The room was decorated in a disturbing yet light-hearted manner. Lungs and hearts filled with helium floated at the corners of the room like party balloons. Two skinned ponies sat at a میز, جدول covered in hide on chairs made of bone. Intestines hung from rafters like streamers. Mounted on the دیوار at the back was a banner saying ‘Happy birthday, Twilight’ written in blood. Twilight finally remembered what that smell was - formaldehyde. Pinkie had used it to preserve the corpses.
Twilight noticed a note nailed to one of the ‘streamers’. She ripped it off and started reading.
Hi Twilight!
You’re probably so wrapped up in this investigation that آپ forgot that today is your birthday! Well, I went ahead and planned this whole thing JUST FOR YOU! I hope آپ like it, because I went ahead and got آپ a present! Use it well!
P.S. Behind you.
As Twilight turned, one of the Guards spoke up. “Twilight, I think آپ need to see this.” In a dark corner of the room, a different, fouler stench filled the air. In a rust covered cage, surrounded سے طرف کی the bleached skulls of foals was a small, dark shape. Upon closer inspection, Twilight discovered it was سیب, ایپل Bloom.
“Get her to a doctor, it looks like she’s alive,” called Twilight.
As the guards forced open the cage and grabbed her, she sprung and bit viciously into the face of the one that freed her. "Get her offa me!" he yelped as she clung on, her teeth digging deeper into his flesh. It took two guards to restrain her, and another to fit a muzzle onto her snarling face.
Chapter 4 - No, Not the Mayor!:
wilight sighed, asking herself when this torture was to end, and crept up the stairs. When she reached the باورچی خانے, باورچی خانہ upstairs, she noticed a calendar. “Hey, what do آپ know, Twilight dolefully کہا to herself. “Today is my birthday. Thanks for the present.”
Twilight walked towards the mayor’s house, her mind swirling with جوابغیر questions. She opened the door and called out, “Mayor? I have a lot of سوالات for you. Pinkie wasn’t there, so if آپ could provide some information, that would certainly be helpful.” No one answered. Twilight walked down the hallway, when she noticed she stepped in something wet اگلے to a doorway. She opened the door and went inside the unlit room. Just as she did, the lights turned on to reveal the mayor, hung from her front hooves, her stomach cut open, and her organs hanging out.
“Please,” a raspy voice whispered. “Please make the pain go away.” Over the mayor’s head was scrawled a familiar phrase:
Losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.
The rest of the walls were covered in the word ‘forever’. Twilight closed her eyes. She wanted out, but there was no escape. She knew what she had to do. She knew she had to face Pinkamena Diane Pie.
Chapter 5 - Interviewing سیب, ایپل Bloom:
“She’s getting up.”
“Good, Ah thought she was in a coma یا something.”
“Actually, Ah almost hoped that would be the case.”
“Oh Big Macintosh, what in the world are we gonna do now?”
“We live, Applejack. We’ll get her to be alright in the head, we’ll give her her life back. We’ll take back what Pinkie has taken from us. But right now, she just needs to rest.”
“Hi bro and sis! Whatcha talkin’ about?" سیب, ایپل Bloom piped up, shooting down Big Mac’s suggestion.
“Apple Bloom! What happened in there? What did she do to you?” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک half-cried, hoping her sister hadn’t been too traumatized.
“Oh, nuthin’, just some arts and crafts, a bit of paintin’, and a lot of نہیںملتیں makin’.”
applejack کی, اپپلیجاک blinked. “You helped her? But…” She couldn’t bring herself to think of her sister becoming like Pinkie Pie.
“Oh, it’s no big deal, I was just playin’ with my friends. Pinkie Pie did most of the work; I just helped a little every now and then. Now why am I in this funny-lookin’ glass stable?”
“The doctors s-said that آپ w-weren’t right in the head, سیب, ایپل Bloom. That Pinkie did some terrible things to ya. That you’re a d-danger to yourself and everypony around you.”
“Pinkie کہا that this was a special way of playing,” سیب, ایپل Bloom continued, ignoring that her سوال had been answered. “A way that would bond us as دوستوں forever. She even کہا that since Rarity loved making dresses so much, she’ll make Rarity a special dress! یا was that make Rarity into a special dress?”
applejack کی, اپپلیجاک reeled in horror and disgust. Her own sister had been transformed, had been changed from the sweet little filly she knew into a broken-down monster.
As applejack کی, اپپلیجاک numbly trotted into the باورچی خانے, باورچی خانہ to grab a drink, Twilight let herself into the room. “Applejack, I need to speak to آپ about سیب, ایپل Bloom!” she shouted. “I’m here on Princess Celestia’s behalf.”
applejack کی, اپپلیجاک looked at Twilight and slowly کہا through her teeth, “What do آپ wanna know, Twilight?”
“I need to interview سیب, ایپل Bloom. She’s vital to this case.”
“Sorry, no can do,” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک replied. “But, seeing as that was مزید of a statement than a question, Ah can assume you’re going to anyway.”
“Well, yes…”
“Come with me." applejack کی, اپپلیجاک led her down the long twisting hallways of the farmhouse. “The doctors کہا to not to get close to the glass. Items may be exchanged through the sliding metal tray, but do not give her anything sharp.”
“That’s all?” Twilight asked.
“One مزید thing. Do not, do not let your guard down. She’s been, ahem, trained سے طرف کی Pinkie Pie.”
“Can do,” Twilight کہا confidently, but internally mortified at what she might hear یا see in that stable. As she approached the stable, she saw a stool, and quickly sat.
“Why so quick to relax, Twilight?” سیب, ایپل Bloom asked coolly. “Didn’t applejack کی, اپپلیجاک tell آپ not to let your guard down?”
“You let that guard down, سیب, ایپل Bloom. He’s still receiving treatment. Doctors say that they might not be able to recover his right cheek.” Twilight paused, glaring at the filly in the stable. “Why did آپ do it?”
“I ate his cheek, and had some fava beans later on the side. Pinkie always told me that the cheeks were the tastiest part of any creature. She also left me in there with no food for six days. I can imagine that’s what’s happening with poor little Rarity right now.”
Twilight froze. She realized it all now.
“You see,” سیب, ایپل Bloom continued, “Rarity might not be dead yet. Pinkie kept talkin’ about it, how one needs to starve a ٹٹو for a few days. Loosens the skin. And then-”
“Pinkie’s going to make a dress out of Rarity?” Twilight interjected, horrified سے طرف کی this revelation.
“Yep! She’s been talkin’ about it for a while now. Ah don’t know how far she’s gotten, but if she’s doin’ that, then you’ve definitely got some time before she kills her.”
Twilight was taken aback سے طرف کی the filly’s excitement for Rarity’s death, but relieved that her friend was still alive. “Do آپ know where she’s hiding, سیب, ایپل Bloom?”
“Well, this has to end sometime. But Ah can’t help آپ with that, Twilight. Ah’ve never been with Miss Pinkie to the hideout. All Ah know is it’s somewhere in Manehattan. She’d been makin’ cupcakes there too, but that place had been just a temporary holdout.”
“Why are آپ helping me like this, سیب, ایپل Bloom? Aren’t آپ Pinkie’s helper?” Twilight choked on the last word. Unlike Applejack, she simply could not see سیب, ایپل Bloom as a monster.
“She forgot about me, Twilight. Ah was her faithful student, Ah had screamed for days on end for her to release me, but she never did. She acted like Ah wasn’t even there. She ignored me.”
“How did آپ end up there in the first place? What did she do to you?” Twilight hurriedly started questioning سیب, ایپل Bloom.
“Well, Ah can’t share that story with آپ right now.”
“Why not? Is the pain too much to bear?”
“No,” سیب, ایپل Bloom replied with a smile. “Because my sister is right behind you.”
“Come on, Twilight,” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک کہا wearily. “My poor sister has been through enough, it’s time for آپ to اقدام them hooves outta here. Little سیب, ایپل Bloom needs her rest.”
“I’ll be back soon, Applejack. I hope آپ know that.” Twilight کہا sternly.
“Oh, Ah know that,” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک whispered, mostly to herself.
“Twilight!” سیب, ایپل Bloom yelled. “Remember! Rarity still has time. She still has…”
Chapter 4 - Rarity
“…Time to check up on my پسندیدہ little pony!” Pinkie Pie gleefully shouted as she hopped across dimly-lit the room towards the pit.
Rarity had dressed her wound with the fabric from her dresses. She’d been there for two days now. The pain medication had worn off though, so it had been burning in her forehead. She had been enduring it for hours, too afraid of her fate to sleep. The searing pain in her forehead had made every other limb in her body ache. She had grown very weak.
“Soiled yourself again, Rarity?” Pinkie mocked her. “That isn’t very ladylike.”
“Pinkie, how could you? I thought we were friends!” Rarity sobbed. It was true, there had simply been no place to go to the bathroom, and either way, she was too weak to move.
“Well, that won’t do, we can’t have your کوٹ and mane getting all dirty.” Pinkie hopped away, and quickly returned with a large hose.
“Pinkie, what are آپ doing?” Rarity asked, trying to delay the inevitable.
“Washing you, silly!” Pinkie turned on the water and it rushed out of the hose onto Rarity, chilling her to the bone and nearly drowning her. Pinkie shut the water off, and Rarity just sat there, shivering and coughing, looking down at the ground and wondering how this was actually happening.
Her eyes were quickly caught سے طرف کی a basket that was being lowered down. It had a towel and a small light on it. As soon as it arrived, she took out the towel and dried herself off, then set it aside. Then she noticed a small bottle that کہا ‘special lotion’.
“Take that rag of your head,” Pinkie called down to her captive. “It looks silly.”
Rarity reluctantly complied, slowly peeling her makeshift bandage off and wincing at the feeling of the fabric coming off. The spot where her horn had been had gotten infected, and there was a steady stream of yellow pus flowing out from one of the smaller sores that had formed, some of it leaking down into Rarity’s eye.
“Oh no, that won’t do. Well, like Granny Pie always said, ‘It puts the lotion on the skin یا else it gets the hose again.’” Her alligator, Gummy, scurried up and waggled his tail. “Yes she will, Gummy, she will get the hose.” Pinkie کہا in a childish tone to her scaly friend. Again, Rarity complied, squeezing out a bit of the off-white mixture and putting it on the infected area. It stung unlike anything Rarity had ever felt before. Her head reeled back from the pain, but she ground her teeth and continued applying it. She knew that Pinkie was keeping her alive, and that there was a chance someone was looking for her.
“Now it puts the lotion back in the basket!” Pinkie said.
“Please Pinkie,” Rarity sobbed. “I want to go home!”
“Funny, that’s what قوس قزح Dash said. And Twist. And Gilda. But that’s beside the point. It puts the lotion back in the basket!” Pinkie repeated, this time مزید forcefully.
“Please-” Rarity began, only to be interrupted سے طرف کی Pinkie.
“Put the lotion back in the basket!”
Rarity put it back, and as the basket rose, its light revealed several bloody scratch marks on the walls of the pit, and in between two pieces of cobble, a broken piece of hoof. Rarity backed up, hunched over, and began to scream.
Pinkie just looked down and started mocking her again.
Chapter 5 - Shy Fluttershy:
Rain dripped loudly against the window of Twilight’s library. She was trying to sleep, but couldn’t. She knew that Pinkie knew where she was. She also knew that even with the Royal Guard’s protection, she was exposed. She tried to calm herself down, but nothing seemed to work. She had read کتابیں about the subject of psychology, and knew what she was suffering from, but that didn’t help her cope with it at all.
Her fearful reverie was interrupted سے طرف کی three muffled knocks that rang through the house. Twilight sat up with a jolt. She paused, waiting for something to happen. ‘Must be my imagination,’ Twilight کہا to herself as she laid her head back down on the pillow. Then the sound came again, three مزید quiet knocks. “Is someone there?” Twilight called, walking towards the door.
“Twilight? Can I talk with you?” A soft voice spoke through the door. Twilight was already sure who it was, but she still wasn’t taking any chances. She looked through the peephole and saw a drenched, shivering Fluttershy standing outside.
“For Celestia’s sake, get in here!” Twilight کہا as she undid the deadbolt and chain. “Fluttershy, why would آپ need to see me at an گھنٹہ like this?”
“I’d like to help you, but I can’t risk getting caught; I don’t want anyone to know.” Fluttershy spoke softly but clearly.
Twilight wore a puzzled look for a moment, then shook it off and said, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but this is too-”
Fluttershy interrupted. “Too scary? Too gruesome? I’ve seen far worse than anything Pinkie Pie could do, and after what happened, I don’t think I could live with myself if I let another one of my دوستوں die.”
“What do آپ mean, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“The winter before آپ came here, during Winter Wrap-Up, since we were so unorganized, the pegasus ponies, they-” Fluttershy stopped, choking up.
“They melted the snow too early, didn’t they?”
“Yes. Oh, how those poor little woodland creatures wailed and screamed. The birds could fly, and I was glad they were safe, but all the others, there were simply too many to save.” Small tears ran down Fluttershy’s pained face. “I figured if could save just one, I would be happy. That’s how I got Angel.”
“You just wanted them to stop screaming, didn’t you… آپ just wanted silence.” Twilight کہا with a strong, solemn look.
“Please Twilight, if there’s anything I can help آپ with, I’d be honored to.”
“Well, there is one thing. I’m positively stumped as to the whereabouts of her hideout. I got a map of Manehattan, and a فہرست of where the ponies that had gone missing were last seen, but I can’t figure out where she’s doing this from.”
“Well, Twilight, I can’t seem to pull anything from this either.”
“That’s okay, I’ll talk with سیب, ایپل Bloom tomorrow, and I’ll start investigating the neighborhood, starting with this house.” Twilight marked a house down.
“Hm. Okay, see آپ later.” Fluttershy کہا as she walked out into the night.
Chapter 6 - سیب, ایپل Bloom's Confession:
The اگلے morning, Twilight headed for Sweet سیب, ایپل Acres, ready for a torrent of protest from Applejack. She was willing to put up with it. She knew that she had to speak with سیب, ایپل Bloom again.
“You know Ah don’t like it when آپ come over here to stress my sister.” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک complained.
“I’m sorry Applejack, but this is too important to worry about staying within your comfort zone.” Twilight retorted.
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک said, stomping her hooves in protest. “You think just because آپ got special permission and whatnot آپ can come in here and make the house yours? Ah’m telling آپ Twilight, when this is over, we’re going to need to have a serious talk.”
“I’d love to. When this is over, of course.” Twilight replied with finality as she approached the glass stable.
“Hi Twilight!” سیب, ایپل Bloom greeted Twilight almost cheerfully. Then she noticed a small saddlebag draped across Twilight’s side. “What’s in the bag?”
“Apple Bloom, I need آپ to help me find where Pinkie is.”
“Really? Well, دکھائیں me what’s in the bag then.”
Twilight pulled out a map of Manehattan, which was covered in dots, and slid it through to سیب, ایپل Bloom. “I need آپ to use this to help me find her.” Twilight said.
سیب, ایپل Bloom stared blankly at the map for a moment, then turned back to Twilight. “Tell me Twilight, are آپ afraid of losing somepony else? Pinkie told me all about it, about the, uh, abso- absolution in a pony’s eyes as they’re about to die. But she lied to me about one thing: That she could actually care for anypony. She کہا that Ah was her favorite, that Ah was too good for cupcakes… But she forgot about me.”
Twilight tried to think of something to say, but she could only let her mouth hang open dumbly. She stared into سیب, ایپل Bloom’s eyes, seeing the tortured soul trapped inside.
سیب, ایپل Bloom started again. “Ah’ll help آپ Twilight, but promise me this: آپ find the real thing that keeps pulling آپ along, the real reason آپ haven’t just passed this on to somepony else.”
With that, Twilight got up and left. She thought about what سیب, ایپل Bloom said; she knew why she was doing this, but she couldn’t express it.
Twilight spent that entire night with her spare map, trying to figure out where Pinkie was hiding, but all the disappearances seemed random. She eventually got an idea that Pinkie could have hidden at the rock farm سے طرف کی the town, the one she had grown up on. Twilight didn’t have a تلاش warrant, however, so she decided to continue her investigation in Manehattan. She sent a letter to Princess Celestia outlining her suspicions, and quickly got her reply:
My faithful student, Twilight:
We have had the same suspicions, and are now on route to capture Pinkie Pie. I guess great minds think alike. Hope to see آپ soon.
Soon after Twilight had left to check on the first house on her list, Fluttershy passed سے طرف کی the لائبریری and saw a small stack of papers on Twilight’s front porch. She decided glanced over them, and saw that they were some of Twilight’s case files. ‘Why would she leave them here?’ Fluttershy wondered as she started sifting through them. She stopped at the map. ‘Twilight, doesn’t this random assortment of disappearances seem a bit strange?’ She thought about it as she scanned the map. She froze when she noticed that each disappearance was along one route that lead back to one house in Manehattan.
“Oh, no.” She کہا aloud.
Chapter 7 - Beauty and Grace can be cannibalistic:
Wakey wakey, rise and shakey!” Pinkie sang. “Today, I have a special surprise for you! Cupcakes! I thought I was all out of my very special ingredient, but I guess I still had some left! Now eat it.” Pinkie lowered a نہیںملتیں down the pit on a string.
Rarity opened her eyes. She had not eaten anything for days. Her whole body ached and wobbled as she crawled over to the cupcake. She ate it without a thought, cramming it in her mouth and taking most of the string along with it.
“Wow, Miss Piggy, aren’t you?” Pinkie mocked her prisoner. “I guess beauty and grace does fade. Well, here, since آپ liked it so much, I may as well just give آپ some مزید of the special ingredient.” Pinkie threw a blood-soaked strip of flesh onto Rarity’s face.
“Pinkie,” Rarity کہا weakly. “What is this?”
“Do آپ remember that friend of ours, the one who like to, erm, dash?” Pinkie giggled sadistically.
“No, not Rainbow, why?”
“Her number came up, just like yours. She was weak, weaker than most ponies actually. I only got to play with her for fifty minutes. Well, at least I got to play with آپ for much longer. And I think you’ll make a great dress; that’s what’s important.”
As Pinkie turned and left, Rarity had a million thoughts racing through her head. She was stuck in a pit. She was going to be made into a dress. She had just eaten قوس قزح Dash.
Chapter 8 - Rarity's Attempt:
Pinkie was in a room سے طرف کی herself. The walls were covered in missing ٹٹو notices. The بستر was dressed in dyed-pink hide. Near the door was a mirror surrounded سے طرف کی light bulbs, but only a few were still working. She reached her hoof over to a record player and started it up. Pinkie sat looking into the mirror as she retrieved a small vial of blood and smeared it on her lips. “Do آپ want be my friend?” she spoke to her reflection. “I’d like to be your friend. I’d be your friend forever and ever.” She backed up and started putting on her ‘special dress’ made from a patchwork of colorful ٹٹو hides and cutie marks emblazoned across the sides. “Ooh!” She lit up as the song on the record changed. “This is my jam!” She started to dance and sing along, creating her own lyrics.
Meanwhile, Rarity had managed to concoct an escape plan. She tied a piece of string over the chunk of قوس قزح Dash, and threw it up to the edge of the pit. “Here, Gummy,” Rarity called out for the crocodile. “Come over here, boy!”
The مگرمچرچھ, گھڑیال waddled towards the piece of meat, wearing his usual half-perplexed look.
“Come on, آپ carnivorous little ruffian, eat the meat.”
Gummy looked down at her, then turned and started ambling away.
“No, no, oh, no, come on آپ horrible little creature!” Rarity called out, trying to restrain the utter hatred she felt towards quite literally everything at the moment.
Pinkie Pie set up a camera in front of herself. “Now introducing Ponyville’s finest. It took so long to make, but I think it adds just the right touch, don’t you?” As she was dancing, she heard a tug and a whimpering cry. Pinkie Pie rushed over to the hole.
Rarity looked up at Pinkie with mad determination on her face. “I have Gummy, Pinkie Pie! He broke his tail on the way down here; he needs to go to the hospital!”
“Gimme back my alligator!” Pinkie yelled in a childish tone.
“I’ll kill him, I swear I will, I’ll snap his neck!” Rarity called back shrilly.
Chapter 9 - End of the Horrow?:
Pinkie gave a harrumph, then rushed back to her room and snatched up a crossbow. Just then, she heard a loud knock. “Visitors!” she happily squealed, and rushed up the stairway to the door, quickly donning a disguise on the way.
“Hello, is anyone there?” a voice spoke. There was no response.
“Just a second,” Pinkie said, taking on a deeper tone.
“Hello there. I’m Twilight Sparkle, here to investigate a series of disappearances. Would آپ mind if I took a look around?”
“No, not at all,” Pinkie replied, yielding to her ‘friend’. The upper part of the house seemed to be done up hastily. Most of the surfaces were very dusty. The whole place seemed to lack a certain quality that a house has when someone lives in it. Everything seemed to be brand new, but neglected. The floor was unpolished, and the walls were white.
“Just moved into town, I see.” Twilight said.
“Nope, been living here all my life,” Pinkie said, in her fake voice.
“This house could use a little more, erm, life, don’t آپ think?” Twilight asked.
“Well, that’s your opinion,” Pinkie retorted. She paused before adding, “So, these disappearances, they found what caused them yet?”
“Yeah, this ٹٹو named Pinkamena Diane Pie, we’ve tracked her down to a rock farm outside of town. Well, it looks like there’s nothing suspicious in this house, so I’ll leave آپ be.” Twilight said, walking towards the door.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie کہا in her regular voice.
Twilight quickly turned around.
“Oops.” Pinkie stared at Twilight for several moments, then bolted into the basement.
Twilight followed her, but Pinkie had already ducked into one of the many winding hallways. The basement was dimly lit and damp, and reminded Twilight of a dungeon. “Pinkie Pie, آپ are under arrest!” She yelled as she ran down one of the hallways. She looked through a doorway and saw Pinkie’s room. She noticed a sewing machine and the dried skin of some unfortunate pony. She gagged at the sight, but pressed forward. She kept running until she heard a voice.
“Twilight? Is that you? Oh, Twilight, please save me!”
She raced towards the pit to find Rarity glaring pitifully up at her. “Hold on Rarity, I need to find Pinkie, just hang tight.”
“Twilight! Twilight, come back here! Don’t leave me alone, please!”
Twilight backed into a corner, horn at the ready. Suddenly, all the lights in the basement shut off.
Pinkie Pie could smell Twilight. She knew her house سے طرف کی دل and could smell out exactly where Twilight was. She got close to Twilight as she was fumbling around in the dark, but as she pulled the drawstring on the crossbow, Twilight heard it creak, swung around, and pinned Pinkie in place with magic. Pinkie thrashed and strained against it, but to no avail. Twilight lit up the rest of the room, then stood where she was, panting, exhausted but relieved that her ordeal was over.
Twilight watched several guard pegasi carrying Pinkie away in a straightjacket. “How did آپ know I was here?” she asked one of the guards.
“Somepony named Fluffershy یا something sent a message that Pinkie was here.”
Chapter 10 - A Happy Ending:
As the pegasi pulled Rarity up out of the hole, Twilight went outside, and was surprised to find Spike waiting for her. “I had to come out here and see it for myself,” he said. “Thank آپ so much for saving Rarity.”
“You’re welcome Spike, now take a letter to the Princess.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” he replied enthusiastically.
“That won’t be necessary, Spike,” a voice کہا from behind them. Twilight and Spike turned to see Celestia walking towards them. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, آپ have served Equestria well. We are finally past the horror that was Pinkie Pie.” She paused. “You have something to say, don’t you? Go ahead.”
Twilight saw that the Princess was acknowledging her in front of the crowd that had been forming outside Pinkie’s hideout. “Princess Celestia, I do have something to say. Over the past few days my دوستوں and I have seen some of the most horrid crimes committed in ٹٹو history. They were atrocities beyond comprehension, but they showed that even in times of hardship, the power of true friendship never fades.”
Celestia looked at Twilight solemnly. “That is all we needed to hear, Twilight Sparkle. For your actions, آپ will be receiving the Honorary ٹٹو Award!”
The entire crowd burst into fevered applause, but Twilight looked sullen. She was relieved that this was finally behind her, but she couldn’t ignore that she had just lost two of her closest friends.
Chapter 11 - A Happy Ending Gone Wrong:
The air in Ponyville was chilly, its sky dark and cloudy, in stark contrast to the usual sunny weather. The entire town looked like its color palette had been muted for the day. Twilight’s voice rang out over the town square. “We will never forget those lost in this massacre. Seeing as قوس قزح Dash was the only ٹٹو who was completely recovered, she will be commended to the clouds.”
قوس قزح Dash’s hideously taxidermied body was raised up onto a بادل سے طرف کی a single grey pegasus. A signal was given, and the بادل was set ablaze and fired into the heavens. The crowd was overcome with hushed whispers and soft crying as the burning بادل winked out in the horizon. Some کہا that on that day, as قوس قزح Dash rocketed away, that they could hear a faint ‘boom’ and see a tiny, multicolored دائرے, حلقہ in the sky.
The rest of the procession went on as planned, and afterwards, Twilight, Spike, and applejack کی, اپپلیجاک went to see Rarity in the hospital. “You’re looking better already,” کہا Applejack.
“Oh stop, just stop! I look terrible! This scar is simply revolting.” Rarity complained.
“At least آپ got your horn back,” Twilight reminded her. “Those doctors are amazing.”
“And I still think آپ look beautiful, Rarity,” Spike کہا softly.
“Girls, come quick!” Fluttershy burst in, half yelling and half whispering.
“Fluttershy! آپ were supposed to come here with us, weren’t ya?” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک asked irritatedly.
“Well, yes I was, but somepony stopped me on the way and told me to bring آپ this.” Fluttershy dropped a note in front of her دوستوں and started reading:
Dear Friends:
Hi! Looks like we had lots of fun that time, didn’t we? Good thing آپ didn’t just kill me on the spot, because سیب, ایپل Bloom was clueless on how to get out of that asylum آپ sent us to. But no hard feelings. Anyway, I think you’re just too good for me, Twilight. So I’ve decided to take a separate way, to separate ponies limb from limb. Hee hee hee!
Your friend, Pinkamena Diane Pie.
P.S. You’re welcome.
As if on cue, there came a knock at the door. “Room service!” a voice outside the door called out. Twilight cautiously approached the peephole.
“Twilight, no!” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک pleaded quietly.
Twilight peered through and saw that the ٹٹو outside holding a tray was not Pinkie. “Uh, hello? Anypony there?” he asked again. Twilight let him through. As he entered, he felt an array of stares fixated on him. “S-somepony se-sent these up here. I don’t know who though.”
“If آپ ever get that figured out, give us a call.” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک said.
“What’s on the tray?” Spike asked after the ٹٹو had left. Twilight slowly picked up the cover. Everypony was expecting the worst, but all that was on the plate was a single blue cupcake.
THE END
CUPCAKES: VOLUME 2:
Chapter 1 - No, Not Pinkie Pie!:
It had been a week since قوس قزح Dash had left. Pinkie had told everypony that she had gone off to be with the Wonderbolts, and had shunned all the others.
"Well tarnation!" applejack کی, اپپلیجاک had exclaimed. "Who needed her anyway?"
But Twilight was skeptical. She went back to the لائبریری to mull things over. ‘First سیب, ایپل Bloom, then Twist, and now قوس قزح Dash. Why is everypony in such a hurry to leave Ponyville? And why do they keep leaving exactly once a week?’
Suddenly, a horn sounded. The town had called a meeting. The mayor came up and made the announcement. "Rarity has left a note at my door stating that she will be leaving Ponyville to design dresses for تصویر Finish in Manehattan. She will be leaving her Boutique to Twilight Sparkle.”
“Just yesterday Rarity told me that she would meet me in the spa”, a tiny, timid voice sounded from within the crowd. A tiny, timid voice that could only belong to Fluttershy. “She would never back down from a promise like that without telling me.”
A loud southern drawl rang out from the crowd next. “They’re all a buncha flakes is what they are!” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک yelled. “Rarity, Dash, and the rest of them. Y’all shouldn’t be surprised over them.”
Fluttershy protested, “But Appleja-”
“But nothin’. Rarity had her own thing to do, and figured us ponies were in the way.” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک paused, then turned to Twilight and spoke in a less irritated voice. “You take that Boutique and make something nice out of it.” Twilight کہا nothing as they slowly walked towards the building.
Twilight poked her head inside and opened the door. Everything was gone. The ٹٹو mannequins were bare, and the rolls of fabric were gone. The store rooms were dry and bare. All that was left was one roll of سونا silk.
“That’s strange,” Twilight mused. “Fluttershy told me that Rarity wouldn’t stop talking about this stuff. Why wouldn’t she take it?” As she was leaving the closet, out of the corner of her eye she caught a small card. Twilight lifted it up. It was a business card that read ‘Photo Finish Complete Gallery’, and had an address on the back. Twilight sent a letter to the address inquiring about Rarity, and got one back saying that they had never spoken with her. ‘Okay, now I’m worried. Where is Rarity?’ Twilight wondered.
The اگلے day, Twilight confronted the mayor of Ponyville. Twilight approached the large wooden door of her house, and knocked three times. On the third knock the door slowly creaked open. Twilight poked her head in and decided to announce her presence. “Hello? Is anypony here? Um, I’m just gonna let myself in, if that’s oka- AUGH!” Twilight’s train fo thought was derailed سے طرف کی the sight of a shivering, frightened Mayor rolled up in a blanket.
“Mayor? Are آپ alright?” Twilight inquired.
“Yes, yes, perfectly fine!” the Mayor nervously announced. “Now! Why don’t آپ trot on out of here before somepony gets hurt?”
“I’m not leaving until I know what really happened to Rarity,” Twilight asserted.
The mayor turned to reveal that she was wearing a headdress of knives and a look of absolute terror. Their gazes locked on each other for a moment, then the mayor charged at Twilight. Twilight levitated her up and pressed her against the wall. The headdress came off and turned on the mayor as Twilight calmly and forcefully stated, “The royal court will find آپ guilty of attempted murder, Mayor. آپ could spend your whole life in the dungeon. But, if آپ tell me what really happened to Rarity, I might forget this horri-”
Twilight was interrupted again سے طرف کی the mayor’s frantic sobbing. “It’s not me, it’s her!”
“Who? Tell me!” Twilight yelled.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” the mayor bitterly stated. “She کہا I would get a higher number, that I would be the last to go if I kept my jaw tight. I can’t even look at myself, most days I’m in here like this.”
“This isn’t making any sense, give me an answer. Where is Rarity?” Twilight pressed.
“I don’t know, alright?!” the mayor cried.
“You know. Tell me یا I’ll notify the Royal Guard.” Twilight threatened.
“No! Okay! Pinkie she, er, has taken Rarity. Her number came up. It’s Pinkie’s standard procedure. Perhaps too standard. She’s gotten lazy, but she کہا she needed at least one a week. Too many orders, too little cupcakes. Tomorrow, go to Sugarcube Corner. She will probably have something planned for you. Get the guard, get her behind bars. It’s going to take a lot of horsepower to take her down.” The mayor explained, sighing. “She’ll find out I told you… I’m as good as dead.”
“If آپ think that’s the case, I’ll have the Guards give آپ protection.” Twilight responded.
The mayor looked down sullenly. “I hope that will be enough.”
Chapter 2 - Dress-up Time!:
Drip, drip, drip.
Rarity tossed and turned, eyes closed. ‘Is the roof leaking again?’ She wondered.
Drip, drip ,drip.
‘This will be the third time I’ve had to get those colts to fix that thing.’
Drip, drip, drip.
“No, it’s time to get up, get dressed.” Rarity sleepily yawned, opening her eyes. She noticed it was so dark she could hardly see a hoof in front of her. She looked down at her bedsheet. “That’s strange, this doesn’t feel like a بستر sheet.” It took Rarity a few moments to notice that she was actually sleeping on a pile of her dresses. She looked up, and saw a large hole with light coming through it. Suddenly, a head popped out.
“Hi Rarity! Looks like you’re finally awake!” a high pitched voice squeaked from the edge of the pit.
“Pinkie, is that you?” Rarity probed.
“Yep! Looks like آپ hit that one right on the nose, یا should I say horn? Hee hee!”
Rarity slowly pulled her hoof to her head, and felt a wet spot, but no horn. “Pinkie? Wh- what did آپ do?” she stammered. Hearing Pinkie Pie snickering mischievously, she looked back at her hoof in the light to find that it was stained with dark red, contrasting with her white coat. The dripping she had heard was coming from her wound. She began to scream in shock and despair.
Pinkie spoke over her cries, “Wah, wah, wah, just like a baby. Twist didn’t cry this much. Well, I’d have to say, آپ are quite a lucky filly. When your number came up, my first thought was cupcakes, but then I remembered it was fashion designer Rarity I was talking about. I think that after all those dresses, آپ deserve to be served one. No wait, I mean served as one. Hee hee hee hee! Well, I can’t talk forever, orders to fill and whatnot. Bye!”
Rarity shook her head, trying to convince herself this wasn’t happening. ‘Pinkie’s my friend, this is probably all some practical joke,’ she thought. She called out nervously, “Ha ha, Pinkie, آپ have surely fooled me into fright, what with the well and the ironic death and all. But I must say, how did آپ pull off such an impressive missing horn illusion?”
Pinkie laughed and retorted as she was trotting off, “Who کہا that was an illusion, silly?”
Chapter 3 - It's A Bad Apple:
Twilight had woken up the اگلے دن in a cold sweat after having terrible nightmares the night previous. She had shaken her feeling of dread with some difficulty as she prepared to begin the hunt for Pinkie Pie.
She was standing apprehensively outside of Sugarcube Corner. Behind her were several of the legendary pegasi of Celestia’s Royal Guard. After some time of preparation, they stormed in, prepared for the worst. Upon entering, however, they noticed the store was empty, save for a plate of cupcakes on the table. As the pegasi tore the place up, Twilight used her magic to spot a loose floor board. She pried it aside, revealing a button. When she pressed it, an تندور swung open. Twilight approached it, but a guard pushed her aside and started walking toward the entrance.
“Lady, if what you’ve told me about her is true, then I want to be the guy who catches that monster.” The guard took one step into the newly opened passageway. The one step happened to land on a برداشت, ریچھ trap. The sharp metal teeth کبوتر into his leg, splintering the bone and producing a horrible crunching sound. The guard’s bravado immediately ended, replaced سے طرف کی blubbering and screaming. “My leg! It’s got my leg!” he yelled. The مزید he writhed in pain, the deeper the trap’s fangs sunk into his leg.
“For Celestia’s sake, get him outta there!” Another guard piped up. He rushed to the injured guard and began pulling apart the trap, but as he eased the pressure, a blood vessel decided to rupture, sending a spurt of blood into his eye. His hooves slipped, and the trap came down again, this time all but severing the unfortunate guard’s leg, leaving it connected سے طرف کی just a small piece of skin. The guard was finally pulled out of the trap, and put on a stretcher.
As he passed سے طرف کی Twilight, he looked in her eyes solemnly and کہا “I hope it’s worth it to you.”
Twilight lit the path up, finding and springing the rest of the traps. There were seven, one for each guard she had brought with her. As she and the remaining guards went down the narrow stone stairway, Twilight noticed a certain smell getting stronger and stronger, a smell that reminded her of the dissections they had done in magic class. She’d always pretended to be sick on those days. Twilight knew she knew what it was, but she couldn’t quite place it.
They arrived at the bottom of the staircase, which emptied out into a dark room. The lights went on, revealing what had to be the single most sickening thing Twilight had ever seen. The room was decorated in a disturbing yet light-hearted manner. Lungs and hearts filled with helium floated at the corners of the room like party balloons. Two skinned ponies sat at a میز, جدول covered in hide on chairs made of bone. Intestines hung from rafters like streamers. Mounted on the دیوار at the back was a banner saying ‘Happy birthday, Twilight’ written in blood. Twilight finally remembered what that smell was - formaldehyde. Pinkie had used it to preserve the corpses.
Twilight noticed a note nailed to one of the ‘streamers’. She ripped it off and started reading.
Hi Twilight!
You’re probably so wrapped up in this investigation that آپ forgot that today is your birthday! Well, I went ahead and planned this whole thing JUST FOR YOU! I hope آپ like it, because I went ahead and got آپ a present! Use it well!
P.S. Behind you.
As Twilight turned, one of the Guards spoke up. “Twilight, I think آپ need to see this.” In a dark corner of the room, a different, fouler stench filled the air. In a rust covered cage, surrounded سے طرف کی the bleached skulls of foals was a small, dark shape. Upon closer inspection, Twilight discovered it was سیب, ایپل Bloom.
“Get her to a doctor, it looks like she’s alive,” called Twilight.
As the guards forced open the cage and grabbed her, she sprung and bit viciously into the face of the one that freed her. "Get her offa me!" he yelped as she clung on, her teeth digging deeper into his flesh. It took two guards to restrain her, and another to fit a muzzle onto her snarling face.
Chapter 4 - No, Not the Mayor!:
wilight sighed, asking herself when this torture was to end, and crept up the stairs. When she reached the باورچی خانے, باورچی خانہ upstairs, she noticed a calendar. “Hey, what do آپ know, Twilight dolefully کہا to herself. “Today is my birthday. Thanks for the present.”
Twilight walked towards the mayor’s house, her mind swirling with جوابغیر questions. She opened the door and called out, “Mayor? I have a lot of سوالات for you. Pinkie wasn’t there, so if آپ could provide some information, that would certainly be helpful.” No one answered. Twilight walked down the hallway, when she noticed she stepped in something wet اگلے to a doorway. She opened the door and went inside the unlit room. Just as she did, the lights turned on to reveal the mayor, hung from her front hooves, her stomach cut open, and her organs hanging out.
“Please,” a raspy voice whispered. “Please make the pain go away.” Over the mayor’s head was scrawled a familiar phrase:
Losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.
The rest of the walls were covered in the word ‘forever’. Twilight closed her eyes. She wanted out, but there was no escape. She knew what she had to do. She knew she had to face Pinkamena Diane Pie.
Chapter 5 - Interviewing سیب, ایپل Bloom:
“She’s getting up.”
“Good, Ah thought she was in a coma یا something.”
“Actually, Ah almost hoped that would be the case.”
“Oh Big Macintosh, what in the world are we gonna do now?”
“We live, Applejack. We’ll get her to be alright in the head, we’ll give her her life back. We’ll take back what Pinkie has taken from us. But right now, she just needs to rest.”
“Hi bro and sis! Whatcha talkin’ about?" سیب, ایپل Bloom piped up, shooting down Big Mac’s suggestion.
“Apple Bloom! What happened in there? What did she do to you?” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک half-cried, hoping her sister hadn’t been too traumatized.
“Oh, nuthin’, just some arts and crafts, a bit of paintin’, and a lot of نہیںملتیں makin’.”
applejack کی, اپپلیجاک blinked. “You helped her? But…” She couldn’t bring herself to think of her sister becoming like Pinkie Pie.
“Oh, it’s no big deal, I was just playin’ with my friends. Pinkie Pie did most of the work; I just helped a little every now and then. Now why am I in this funny-lookin’ glass stable?”
“The doctors s-said that آپ w-weren’t right in the head, سیب, ایپل Bloom. That Pinkie did some terrible things to ya. That you’re a d-danger to yourself and everypony around you.”
“Pinkie کہا that this was a special way of playing,” سیب, ایپل Bloom continued, ignoring that her سوال had been answered. “A way that would bond us as دوستوں forever. She even کہا that since Rarity loved making dresses so much, she’ll make Rarity a special dress! یا was that make Rarity into a special dress?”
applejack کی, اپپلیجاک reeled in horror and disgust. Her own sister had been transformed, had been changed from the sweet little filly she knew into a broken-down monster.
As applejack کی, اپپلیجاک numbly trotted into the باورچی خانے, باورچی خانہ to grab a drink, Twilight let herself into the room. “Applejack, I need to speak to آپ about سیب, ایپل Bloom!” she shouted. “I’m here on Princess Celestia’s behalf.”
applejack کی, اپپلیجاک looked at Twilight and slowly کہا through her teeth, “What do آپ wanna know, Twilight?”
“I need to interview سیب, ایپل Bloom. She’s vital to this case.”
“Sorry, no can do,” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک replied. “But, seeing as that was مزید of a statement than a question, Ah can assume you’re going to anyway.”
“Well, yes…”
“Come with me." applejack کی, اپپلیجاک led her down the long twisting hallways of the farmhouse. “The doctors کہا to not to get close to the glass. Items may be exchanged through the sliding metal tray, but do not give her anything sharp.”
“That’s all?” Twilight asked.
“One مزید thing. Do not, do not let your guard down. She’s been, ahem, trained سے طرف کی Pinkie Pie.”
“Can do,” Twilight کہا confidently, but internally mortified at what she might hear یا see in that stable. As she approached the stable, she saw a stool, and quickly sat.
“Why so quick to relax, Twilight?” سیب, ایپل Bloom asked coolly. “Didn’t applejack کی, اپپلیجاک tell آپ not to let your guard down?”
“You let that guard down, سیب, ایپل Bloom. He’s still receiving treatment. Doctors say that they might not be able to recover his right cheek.” Twilight paused, glaring at the filly in the stable. “Why did آپ do it?”
“I ate his cheek, and had some fava beans later on the side. Pinkie always told me that the cheeks were the tastiest part of any creature. She also left me in there with no food for six days. I can imagine that’s what’s happening with poor little Rarity right now.”
Twilight froze. She realized it all now.
“You see,” سیب, ایپل Bloom continued, “Rarity might not be dead yet. Pinkie kept talkin’ about it, how one needs to starve a ٹٹو for a few days. Loosens the skin. And then-”
“Pinkie’s going to make a dress out of Rarity?” Twilight interjected, horrified سے طرف کی this revelation.
“Yep! She’s been talkin’ about it for a while now. Ah don’t know how far she’s gotten, but if she’s doin’ that, then you’ve definitely got some time before she kills her.”
Twilight was taken aback سے طرف کی the filly’s excitement for Rarity’s death, but relieved that her friend was still alive. “Do آپ know where she’s hiding, سیب, ایپل Bloom?”
“Well, this has to end sometime. But Ah can’t help آپ with that, Twilight. Ah’ve never been with Miss Pinkie to the hideout. All Ah know is it’s somewhere in Manehattan. She’d been makin’ cupcakes there too, but that place had been just a temporary holdout.”
“Why are آپ helping me like this, سیب, ایپل Bloom? Aren’t آپ Pinkie’s helper?” Twilight choked on the last word. Unlike Applejack, she simply could not see سیب, ایپل Bloom as a monster.
“She forgot about me, Twilight. Ah was her faithful student, Ah had screamed for days on end for her to release me, but she never did. She acted like Ah wasn’t even there. She ignored me.”
“How did آپ end up there in the first place? What did she do to you?” Twilight hurriedly started questioning سیب, ایپل Bloom.
“Well, Ah can’t share that story with آپ right now.”
“Why not? Is the pain too much to bear?”
“No,” سیب, ایپل Bloom replied with a smile. “Because my sister is right behind you.”
“Come on, Twilight,” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک کہا wearily. “My poor sister has been through enough, it’s time for آپ to اقدام them hooves outta here. Little سیب, ایپل Bloom needs her rest.”
“I’ll be back soon, Applejack. I hope آپ know that.” Twilight کہا sternly.
“Oh, Ah know that,” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک whispered, mostly to herself.
“Twilight!” سیب, ایپل Bloom yelled. “Remember! Rarity still has time. She still has…”
Chapter 4 - Rarity
“…Time to check up on my پسندیدہ little pony!” Pinkie Pie gleefully shouted as she hopped across dimly-lit the room towards the pit.
Rarity had dressed her wound with the fabric from her dresses. She’d been there for two days now. The pain medication had worn off though, so it had been burning in her forehead. She had been enduring it for hours, too afraid of her fate to sleep. The searing pain in her forehead had made every other limb in her body ache. She had grown very weak.
“Soiled yourself again, Rarity?” Pinkie mocked her. “That isn’t very ladylike.”
“Pinkie, how could you? I thought we were friends!” Rarity sobbed. It was true, there had simply been no place to go to the bathroom, and either way, she was too weak to move.
“Well, that won’t do, we can’t have your کوٹ and mane getting all dirty.” Pinkie hopped away, and quickly returned with a large hose.
“Pinkie, what are آپ doing?” Rarity asked, trying to delay the inevitable.
“Washing you, silly!” Pinkie turned on the water and it rushed out of the hose onto Rarity, chilling her to the bone and nearly drowning her. Pinkie shut the water off, and Rarity just sat there, shivering and coughing, looking down at the ground and wondering how this was actually happening.
Her eyes were quickly caught سے طرف کی a basket that was being lowered down. It had a towel and a small light on it. As soon as it arrived, she took out the towel and dried herself off, then set it aside. Then she noticed a small bottle that کہا ‘special lotion’.
“Take that rag of your head,” Pinkie called down to her captive. “It looks silly.”
Rarity reluctantly complied, slowly peeling her makeshift bandage off and wincing at the feeling of the fabric coming off. The spot where her horn had been had gotten infected, and there was a steady stream of yellow pus flowing out from one of the smaller sores that had formed, some of it leaking down into Rarity’s eye.
“Oh no, that won’t do. Well, like Granny Pie always said, ‘It puts the lotion on the skin یا else it gets the hose again.’” Her alligator, Gummy, scurried up and waggled his tail. “Yes she will, Gummy, she will get the hose.” Pinkie کہا in a childish tone to her scaly friend. Again, Rarity complied, squeezing out a bit of the off-white mixture and putting it on the infected area. It stung unlike anything Rarity had ever felt before. Her head reeled back from the pain, but she ground her teeth and continued applying it. She knew that Pinkie was keeping her alive, and that there was a chance someone was looking for her.
“Now it puts the lotion back in the basket!” Pinkie said.
“Please Pinkie,” Rarity sobbed. “I want to go home!”
“Funny, that’s what قوس قزح Dash said. And Twist. And Gilda. But that’s beside the point. It puts the lotion back in the basket!” Pinkie repeated, this time مزید forcefully.
“Please-” Rarity began, only to be interrupted سے طرف کی Pinkie.
“Put the lotion back in the basket!”
Rarity put it back, and as the basket rose, its light revealed several bloody scratch marks on the walls of the pit, and in between two pieces of cobble, a broken piece of hoof. Rarity backed up, hunched over, and began to scream.
Pinkie just looked down and started mocking her again.
Chapter 5 - Shy Fluttershy:
Rain dripped loudly against the window of Twilight’s library. She was trying to sleep, but couldn’t. She knew that Pinkie knew where she was. She also knew that even with the Royal Guard’s protection, she was exposed. She tried to calm herself down, but nothing seemed to work. She had read کتابیں about the subject of psychology, and knew what she was suffering from, but that didn’t help her cope with it at all.
Her fearful reverie was interrupted سے طرف کی three muffled knocks that rang through the house. Twilight sat up with a jolt. She paused, waiting for something to happen. ‘Must be my imagination,’ Twilight کہا to herself as she laid her head back down on the pillow. Then the sound came again, three مزید quiet knocks. “Is someone there?” Twilight called, walking towards the door.
“Twilight? Can I talk with you?” A soft voice spoke through the door. Twilight was already sure who it was, but she still wasn’t taking any chances. She looked through the peephole and saw a drenched, shivering Fluttershy standing outside.
“For Celestia’s sake, get in here!” Twilight کہا as she undid the deadbolt and chain. “Fluttershy, why would آپ need to see me at an گھنٹہ like this?”
“I’d like to help you, but I can’t risk getting caught; I don’t want anyone to know.” Fluttershy spoke softly but clearly.
Twilight wore a puzzled look for a moment, then shook it off and said, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but this is too-”
Fluttershy interrupted. “Too scary? Too gruesome? I’ve seen far worse than anything Pinkie Pie could do, and after what happened, I don’t think I could live with myself if I let another one of my دوستوں die.”
“What do آپ mean, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“The winter before آپ came here, during Winter Wrap-Up, since we were so unorganized, the pegasus ponies, they-” Fluttershy stopped, choking up.
“They melted the snow too early, didn’t they?”
“Yes. Oh, how those poor little woodland creatures wailed and screamed. The birds could fly, and I was glad they were safe, but all the others, there were simply too many to save.” Small tears ran down Fluttershy’s pained face. “I figured if could save just one, I would be happy. That’s how I got Angel.”
“You just wanted them to stop screaming, didn’t you… آپ just wanted silence.” Twilight کہا with a strong, solemn look.
“Please Twilight, if there’s anything I can help آپ with, I’d be honored to.”
“Well, there is one thing. I’m positively stumped as to the whereabouts of her hideout. I got a map of Manehattan, and a فہرست of where the ponies that had gone missing were last seen, but I can’t figure out where she’s doing this from.”
“Well, Twilight, I can’t seem to pull anything from this either.”
“That’s okay, I’ll talk with سیب, ایپل Bloom tomorrow, and I’ll start investigating the neighborhood, starting with this house.” Twilight marked a house down.
“Hm. Okay, see آپ later.” Fluttershy کہا as she walked out into the night.
Chapter 6 - سیب, ایپل Bloom's Confession:
The اگلے morning, Twilight headed for Sweet سیب, ایپل Acres, ready for a torrent of protest from Applejack. She was willing to put up with it. She knew that she had to speak with سیب, ایپل Bloom again.
“You know Ah don’t like it when آپ come over here to stress my sister.” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک complained.
“I’m sorry Applejack, but this is too important to worry about staying within your comfort zone.” Twilight retorted.
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک said, stomping her hooves in protest. “You think just because آپ got special permission and whatnot آپ can come in here and make the house yours? Ah’m telling آپ Twilight, when this is over, we’re going to need to have a serious talk.”
“I’d love to. When this is over, of course.” Twilight replied with finality as she approached the glass stable.
“Hi Twilight!” سیب, ایپل Bloom greeted Twilight almost cheerfully. Then she noticed a small saddlebag draped across Twilight’s side. “What’s in the bag?”
“Apple Bloom, I need آپ to help me find where Pinkie is.”
“Really? Well, دکھائیں me what’s in the bag then.”
Twilight pulled out a map of Manehattan, which was covered in dots, and slid it through to سیب, ایپل Bloom. “I need آپ to use this to help me find her.” Twilight said.
سیب, ایپل Bloom stared blankly at the map for a moment, then turned back to Twilight. “Tell me Twilight, are آپ afraid of losing somepony else? Pinkie told me all about it, about the, uh, abso- absolution in a pony’s eyes as they’re about to die. But she lied to me about one thing: That she could actually care for anypony. She کہا that Ah was her favorite, that Ah was too good for cupcakes… But she forgot about me.”
Twilight tried to think of something to say, but she could only let her mouth hang open dumbly. She stared into سیب, ایپل Bloom’s eyes, seeing the tortured soul trapped inside.
سیب, ایپل Bloom started again. “Ah’ll help آپ Twilight, but promise me this: آپ find the real thing that keeps pulling آپ along, the real reason آپ haven’t just passed this on to somepony else.”
With that, Twilight got up and left. She thought about what سیب, ایپل Bloom said; she knew why she was doing this, but she couldn’t express it.
Twilight spent that entire night with her spare map, trying to figure out where Pinkie was hiding, but all the disappearances seemed random. She eventually got an idea that Pinkie could have hidden at the rock farm سے طرف کی the town, the one she had grown up on. Twilight didn’t have a تلاش warrant, however, so she decided to continue her investigation in Manehattan. She sent a letter to Princess Celestia outlining her suspicions, and quickly got her reply:
My faithful student, Twilight:
We have had the same suspicions, and are now on route to capture Pinkie Pie. I guess great minds think alike. Hope to see آپ soon.
Soon after Twilight had left to check on the first house on her list, Fluttershy passed سے طرف کی the لائبریری and saw a small stack of papers on Twilight’s front porch. She decided glanced over them, and saw that they were some of Twilight’s case files. ‘Why would she leave them here?’ Fluttershy wondered as she started sifting through them. She stopped at the map. ‘Twilight, doesn’t this random assortment of disappearances seem a bit strange?’ She thought about it as she scanned the map. She froze when she noticed that each disappearance was along one route that lead back to one house in Manehattan.
“Oh, no.” She کہا aloud.
Chapter 7 - Beauty and Grace can be cannibalistic:
Wakey wakey, rise and shakey!” Pinkie sang. “Today, I have a special surprise for you! Cupcakes! I thought I was all out of my very special ingredient, but I guess I still had some left! Now eat it.” Pinkie lowered a نہیںملتیں down the pit on a string.
Rarity opened her eyes. She had not eaten anything for days. Her whole body ached and wobbled as she crawled over to the cupcake. She ate it without a thought, cramming it in her mouth and taking most of the string along with it.
“Wow, Miss Piggy, aren’t you?” Pinkie mocked her prisoner. “I guess beauty and grace does fade. Well, here, since آپ liked it so much, I may as well just give آپ some مزید of the special ingredient.” Pinkie threw a blood-soaked strip of flesh onto Rarity’s face.
“Pinkie,” Rarity کہا weakly. “What is this?”
“Do آپ remember that friend of ours, the one who like to, erm, dash?” Pinkie giggled sadistically.
“No, not Rainbow, why?”
“Her number came up, just like yours. She was weak, weaker than most ponies actually. I only got to play with her for fifty minutes. Well, at least I got to play with آپ for much longer. And I think you’ll make a great dress; that’s what’s important.”
As Pinkie turned and left, Rarity had a million thoughts racing through her head. She was stuck in a pit. She was going to be made into a dress. She had just eaten قوس قزح Dash.
Chapter 8 - Rarity's Attempt:
Pinkie was in a room سے طرف کی herself. The walls were covered in missing ٹٹو notices. The بستر was dressed in dyed-pink hide. Near the door was a mirror surrounded سے طرف کی light bulbs, but only a few were still working. She reached her hoof over to a record player and started it up. Pinkie sat looking into the mirror as she retrieved a small vial of blood and smeared it on her lips. “Do آپ want be my friend?” she spoke to her reflection. “I’d like to be your friend. I’d be your friend forever and ever.” She backed up and started putting on her ‘special dress’ made from a patchwork of colorful ٹٹو hides and cutie marks emblazoned across the sides. “Ooh!” She lit up as the song on the record changed. “This is my jam!” She started to dance and sing along, creating her own lyrics.
Meanwhile, Rarity had managed to concoct an escape plan. She tied a piece of string over the chunk of قوس قزح Dash, and threw it up to the edge of the pit. “Here, Gummy,” Rarity called out for the crocodile. “Come over here, boy!”
The مگرمچرچھ, گھڑیال waddled towards the piece of meat, wearing his usual half-perplexed look.
“Come on, آپ carnivorous little ruffian, eat the meat.”
Gummy looked down at her, then turned and started ambling away.
“No, no, oh, no, come on آپ horrible little creature!” Rarity called out, trying to restrain the utter hatred she felt towards quite literally everything at the moment.
Pinkie Pie set up a camera in front of herself. “Now introducing Ponyville’s finest. It took so long to make, but I think it adds just the right touch, don’t you?” As she was dancing, she heard a tug and a whimpering cry. Pinkie Pie rushed over to the hole.
Rarity looked up at Pinkie with mad determination on her face. “I have Gummy, Pinkie Pie! He broke his tail on the way down here; he needs to go to the hospital!”
“Gimme back my alligator!” Pinkie yelled in a childish tone.
“I’ll kill him, I swear I will, I’ll snap his neck!” Rarity called back shrilly.
Chapter 9 - End of the Horrow?:
Pinkie gave a harrumph, then rushed back to her room and snatched up a crossbow. Just then, she heard a loud knock. “Visitors!” she happily squealed, and rushed up the stairway to the door, quickly donning a disguise on the way.
“Hello, is anyone there?” a voice spoke. There was no response.
“Just a second,” Pinkie said, taking on a deeper tone.
“Hello there. I’m Twilight Sparkle, here to investigate a series of disappearances. Would آپ mind if I took a look around?”
“No, not at all,” Pinkie replied, yielding to her ‘friend’. The upper part of the house seemed to be done up hastily. Most of the surfaces were very dusty. The whole place seemed to lack a certain quality that a house has when someone lives in it. Everything seemed to be brand new, but neglected. The floor was unpolished, and the walls were white.
“Just moved into town, I see.” Twilight said.
“Nope, been living here all my life,” Pinkie said, in her fake voice.
“This house could use a little more, erm, life, don’t آپ think?” Twilight asked.
“Well, that’s your opinion,” Pinkie retorted. She paused before adding, “So, these disappearances, they found what caused them yet?”
“Yeah, this ٹٹو named Pinkamena Diane Pie, we’ve tracked her down to a rock farm outside of town. Well, it looks like there’s nothing suspicious in this house, so I’ll leave آپ be.” Twilight said, walking towards the door.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie کہا in her regular voice.
Twilight quickly turned around.
“Oops.” Pinkie stared at Twilight for several moments, then bolted into the basement.
Twilight followed her, but Pinkie had already ducked into one of the many winding hallways. The basement was dimly lit and damp, and reminded Twilight of a dungeon. “Pinkie Pie, آپ are under arrest!” She yelled as she ran down one of the hallways. She looked through a doorway and saw Pinkie’s room. She noticed a sewing machine and the dried skin of some unfortunate pony. She gagged at the sight, but pressed forward. She kept running until she heard a voice.
“Twilight? Is that you? Oh, Twilight, please save me!”
She raced towards the pit to find Rarity glaring pitifully up at her. “Hold on Rarity, I need to find Pinkie, just hang tight.”
“Twilight! Twilight, come back here! Don’t leave me alone, please!”
Twilight backed into a corner, horn at the ready. Suddenly, all the lights in the basement shut off.
Pinkie Pie could smell Twilight. She knew her house سے طرف کی دل and could smell out exactly where Twilight was. She got close to Twilight as she was fumbling around in the dark, but as she pulled the drawstring on the crossbow, Twilight heard it creak, swung around, and pinned Pinkie in place with magic. Pinkie thrashed and strained against it, but to no avail. Twilight lit up the rest of the room, then stood where she was, panting, exhausted but relieved that her ordeal was over.
Twilight watched several guard pegasi carrying Pinkie away in a straightjacket. “How did آپ know I was here?” she asked one of the guards.
“Somepony named Fluffershy یا something sent a message that Pinkie was here.”
Chapter 10 - A Happy Ending:
As the pegasi pulled Rarity up out of the hole, Twilight went outside, and was surprised to find Spike waiting for her. “I had to come out here and see it for myself,” he said. “Thank آپ so much for saving Rarity.”
“You’re welcome Spike, now take a letter to the Princess.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” he replied enthusiastically.
“That won’t be necessary, Spike,” a voice کہا from behind them. Twilight and Spike turned to see Celestia walking towards them. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, آپ have served Equestria well. We are finally past the horror that was Pinkie Pie.” She paused. “You have something to say, don’t you? Go ahead.”
Twilight saw that the Princess was acknowledging her in front of the crowd that had been forming outside Pinkie’s hideout. “Princess Celestia, I do have something to say. Over the past few days my دوستوں and I have seen some of the most horrid crimes committed in ٹٹو history. They were atrocities beyond comprehension, but they showed that even in times of hardship, the power of true friendship never fades.”
Celestia looked at Twilight solemnly. “That is all we needed to hear, Twilight Sparkle. For your actions, آپ will be receiving the Honorary ٹٹو Award!”
The entire crowd burst into fevered applause, but Twilight looked sullen. She was relieved that this was finally behind her, but she couldn’t ignore that she had just lost two of her closest friends.
Chapter 11 - A Happy Ending Gone Wrong:
The air in Ponyville was chilly, its sky dark and cloudy, in stark contrast to the usual sunny weather. The entire town looked like its color palette had been muted for the day. Twilight’s voice rang out over the town square. “We will never forget those lost in this massacre. Seeing as قوس قزح Dash was the only ٹٹو who was completely recovered, she will be commended to the clouds.”
قوس قزح Dash’s hideously taxidermied body was raised up onto a بادل سے طرف کی a single grey pegasus. A signal was given, and the بادل was set ablaze and fired into the heavens. The crowd was overcome with hushed whispers and soft crying as the burning بادل winked out in the horizon. Some کہا that on that day, as قوس قزح Dash rocketed away, that they could hear a faint ‘boom’ and see a tiny, multicolored دائرے, حلقہ in the sky.
The rest of the procession went on as planned, and afterwards, Twilight, Spike, and applejack کی, اپپلیجاک went to see Rarity in the hospital. “You’re looking better already,” کہا Applejack.
“Oh stop, just stop! I look terrible! This scar is simply revolting.” Rarity complained.
“At least آپ got your horn back,” Twilight reminded her. “Those doctors are amazing.”
“And I still think آپ look beautiful, Rarity,” Spike کہا softly.
“Girls, come quick!” Fluttershy burst in, half yelling and half whispering.
“Fluttershy! آپ were supposed to come here with us, weren’t ya?” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک asked irritatedly.
“Well, yes I was, but somepony stopped me on the way and told me to bring آپ this.” Fluttershy dropped a note in front of her دوستوں and started reading:
Dear Friends:
Hi! Looks like we had lots of fun that time, didn’t we? Good thing آپ didn’t just kill me on the spot, because سیب, ایپل Bloom was clueless on how to get out of that asylum آپ sent us to. But no hard feelings. Anyway, I think you’re just too good for me, Twilight. So I’ve decided to take a separate way, to separate ponies limb from limb. Hee hee hee!
Your friend, Pinkamena Diane Pie.
P.S. You’re welcome.
As if on cue, there came a knock at the door. “Room service!” a voice outside the door called out. Twilight cautiously approached the peephole.
“Twilight, no!” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک pleaded quietly.
Twilight peered through and saw that the ٹٹو outside holding a tray was not Pinkie. “Uh, hello? Anypony there?” he asked again. Twilight let him through. As he entered, he felt an array of stares fixated on him. “S-somepony se-sent these up here. I don’t know who though.”
“If آپ ever get that figured out, give us a call.” applejack کی, اپپلیجاک said.
“What’s on the tray?” Spike asked after the ٹٹو had left. Twilight slowly picked up the cover. Everypony was expecting the worst, but all that was on the plate was a single blue cupcake.
THE END
My Corvette
