3:50 a.m.
Slow clapping sounded in the room.
The bright light shone again. The dunk pool was empty and there was no lifeless body hanging over it.
Rarity was gone.
The clapping continued as it spectated, Applejack, devastated.
“Bravo, bravo…” it said.
“You surely have outdone yourself today Applejack.”
Applejack didn’t turn around. She remained silent, facedown.
“You thought you could save them, but now they’re all gone. Not so tough now are you?”
She still kept quiet.
“Applejack…” the killer taunted, taking a step closer.
She turned, shooting her hind leg out. It stepped back, completely avoiding the attack.
“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?” Applejack cried, tears streaming down her face. “WE WERE YOUR FRIENDS!”
Applejack’s face was mess. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks flared from all her anger and sorrow. It was the face of a pony who was betrayed.
The killer coughed.
“Friends? What friends?”
Applejack gritted her teeth.
“Stop playing games Dash…” she said, her icy cold stare fixed on the pony behind the mask, “I know it’s you…”
There was silence. A wide grin stretched behind the mask.
And it laughed.
It reached for its mask and pulled it off, revealing a blue mare underneath. Applejack growled.
“Of all the ponies in the world,” Dash snickered, “I never would have guessed that you’d find me out.”
Applejack wanted to stay mad at the pony in front of her, but she was no longer the pony she knew. Her rainbow mane has been shaved off, leaving only a few studs of rainbow hair on top of her head.
“What on earth did you do to yourself Dash?”
“Oh this?” Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Just a little something I had to do to stop you from recognizing me,” she continued, “All that hair would never fit under that mask, and it would be very hot too. Heck, I even had to cut my own tail off so I wouldn’t give myself away!”
Rainbow spoke with such light-heartedness, as if tonight’s events had never happened.
“Oh and by the way,” she continued, “I hope you don’t mind if I… cut off your tail too. Kinda needed it for something…”
Applejack turned around, her tail was missing. How come she hadn’t noticed that before?
“You’re sick Dash…” she muttered.
Ignoring her last comment, Rainbow continued to speak casually, “How on earth did you even know it was me?”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. Looking away, she tried to repiece tonight's events together. “The Ouija board, the disappearance…” she said as she racked through her memory. “You and Pinkie’s behavior… It just rubbed me the wrong way… As if… As if you two had something to hide…”
She continued, “And that pile dive you gave me, back at the lodge. I’d know it anywhere…”
“You did that to me once when we were sparring. You threw some sand in my face, then got up behind me to finish me off.”
“You’re a cheater Dash, and I’d know that stinkin’ trick anywhere,” she finished, glaring up at her kidnapper.
Rainbow sneered, “Heh, I never thought I would give myself away like that, but you got me. I gotta admit. You’re much smarter than I thought you were. Heh,” Rainbow continued speaking normally, as if she hadn't done anything wrong.
“YOU KILLED OUR FRIENDS!” Applejack's shout drew Rainbow's attention back to her.
“You killed Pinkie Pie! And you killed Rarity!” Applejack continued, face turning red. “HOW COULD YOU?!”
Rainbow looked away, a sly grin on her face.
“Oh yeah. I ‘killed’ them alright. And I ‘killed’ Fluttershy and Twilight and Discord too. Everyone is ‘dead’. Haha.”
Applejack’s face grew redder. Rainbow wanted to laugh at her so bad. Guess Applejack wasn’t as smart as she thought.
“You… you killed all our friends?!”
“Yeah Applesmack. I ‘killed’ everyone. Whatcha gonna do about it?” she said, continuing to lead her on.
Applejack tugged at the chains, “I’LL KILL YOU! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO OUR FRIENDS!”
Rainbow stopped in front of her, and held her chin, “Well good luck with that.”
She turned to head to the door, just to stop in her tracks.
“Oh yeah, I never did tell you why I was doing this…” she said, pacing towards Applejack again.
“Since I’m gonna let you rot here, I might as well let you know…”
Applejack glared up at her as she stepped closer.
“Second letter O, last letter E. What does that sound like to you?”
Applejack was still confused.
“Zombie,” Dash said, “And here’s another hint if you don’t remember: Cookies.”
Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise.
“That’s what this is all about?!” she shouted, “You killed all our friends because of some silly prank?!”
Dash’s smile was so wide it was almost touching the edge of her face.
“Yes.”
“Except that it wasn’t just some silly prank, Applejack. You got the whole town into it too and it scared me shitless.”
“And so I thought, why not return the favor? Since you gave me a scare of a lifetime, why not I do the same for you too?”
“BY KILLING ALL OUR FRIENDS?!” Applejack had shouted so much that her face was growing hoarse.
Rainbow shrugged, walking away.
“You’re a sick pony Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow smiled as she trotted away. “Enjoy your stay Applesmack. The maggots will really enjoy you…”
And she shut the metal door.
Rainbow sipped her Pony Cola. Tonight was a successful night. Other than Starlight and Spike going missing (they're probably fine), everything went as planned. More or less. Without Pinkie’s help she had to run around the mountain twice the number of times, and flying in the storm was no easy task for her, even with her special weather proof Wonderbolts suit on.
Rainbow twiddled her pencil as she monitored the screens. Applejack hasn’t made any more attempts to escape. Good.
Fluttershy was still locked in her dungeon. Bringing her back wasn’t too hard, she knew how to do mouth-to-mouth from her Wonderbolts training, though the trick she pulled was risky, and might have actually killed Fluttershy. Well at least she didn’t. 2 points for Rainbow Dash.
Rarity was safely trapped in her secret underground room. The rope around her neck came loose from the pole when she fell, dropping her down the trapdoor and landing safely on some pillows. She checked on Rarity a few minutes ago and she was fine. The bag over her head was removed but she was still blindfolded, and the tape over her mouth was still firmly stuck. Don't want her screaming now don't we?
Twilight and Discord were also fine. They were both given an extra dose of sleeping gas to put them back to sleep. The gun shot blanks, but watching them tear each other over it was fun.
Pinkie was still at the shed. She was tied to a pole to ease her. She couldn’t carry Pinkie all the way back and she couldn’t just let Pinkie’s head hung out from the hole. It would choke her to death. Anyways, since Pinkie didn’t want to help her complete her masterpiece, the only thing she could do was just leave her there.
She had to give it to Pinkie though, if it wasn't because of her, she wouldn't have been able to fool Applejack so hard tonight. That fake body she made, out of sewn together cloth and pounds of red icing, was very realistic, even to the point that Rainbow jumped every time she entered the shed. Sadly, Pinkie did not want in anymore and she couldn't let months of planning go to waste. So she had to knock her out, perhaps apologize about it next time?
Rainbow sunk back and spun around in her spinny chair. She thought about what to do for the rest of the night. She was already done with her fun. And she was tired too. Maybe she should just put everyone back in their beds? Tell them it was all just a bad dream the next day? Or reveal to everyone now that this had just been one elaborate prank? Either way, she'll have to tell everyone at some point, whether tonight or tomorrow.
Rainbow shrugged. She didn't have the energy to go through all that right now. And neither did everyone. She should just return everyone to bed and call it a night. Trying to explain everything right now just wasn't a good idea. She might even get punched in the face. Not that they wouldn't punch her tomorrow, but she'd rather have some energy before she gets punched.
As Rainbow got up she noticed a shadow moving across one of her monitors. She looked again but there was nothing.
"Hmmm......" She was so sure that something had been moving in the shed, but it couldn’t have been Pinkie since she was still tied to the pole. Rainbow moved nearer to the screen.
Maybe it was just a squirrel?
Suddenly a face appeared on screen.
“GAAHHHHHH!”
Rainbow fell back over her chair. She got back up quickly, but the screen had already turned blank.
Panicked, Rainbow tried pressing the refresh button a couple of times.
Input not found.
“Fuck,” Rainbow said, staring at the blank screen.
She remembered the face. It was imprinted into her skull like those ghosts she'd see in horror films. It was white eyed, with sharp teeth, and it looked like rotting carcass. She tried to process what she saw, but nothing had prepared her for something like that. She took deep breaths to calm down.
“Fuck.”
She was gonna regret everything.