A secret from Rainbow's past comes back to haunt her when rumors of an infamous serial killer resurface
Years before Rainbow Dash preformed the sonic rainboom she was famous for another reason. Rainbow was given up to an orphanage years ago by her mother but for good reason. Enter Firefly, mother of Rainbow Dash and one of the original 6 heroes of Equestria, even before her daughters heroic deeds. However there is a side to her and her family that only she and Rainbow Dash know. Soon that family trait will awaken in Rainbow Dash and she may be too late to stop it.
Old Coverart credit goes to both AirDasher and myself
New Coverart is credited towards my friend Jacob Hester
It was a quiet night in the sleepy yet prideful city of Cloudsdale most windows had a dark color to it, as the inhabitants had gone to sleep many hours ago. Except for one unfortunate stallion who was limping through the back alleys of the infamous place. The muffled sounds of his hooves sent echoes through the darkened streets while he was running as fast he possibly could. The pain in his back could only be described as a flaming inferno, the memory of something clenching itself right around his right wing sent shivers through his spine. The moon provided him just enough light not to crash into the garbage and trash cans that were scattered around.
The blood that flowed down his coat was a constant reminder for his hooves to keep moving no matter what. Though his mind simply panicked the moment he heard something behind him. He frightenly shot a look over his shoulder in the hope to see something. Something that was a big mistake. Because he tripped over something and fell to the ground. The stallion quickly pushed himself up again while his heart was racing, the eyes looked in every possible direction. Cold sweat ran down his neck as his eyes searched for anything moving.
A loud flap and a few agonizing seconds later he found himself pushed down against the cold clouds that made up the city’s floor. He was tackled by the shadow that hounded him ever since the night began. The poor stallion forced his eyes open and looked up at the shadow that pinned him to the clouds, the moonlight reflected in its mane. It was as dark as the night, the moon reflected the edges of the mane and the silhouette of a pegasus appeared clearly to his eyes.
The stallion's eyes widened as he came to the eyes of the being. The moon reflected them perfectly and he witnessed the violet rims. Rims that seemed to glow with a fire of a near sickening passion. He felt fear building up in his body as the stallion could only look into the cold unforgiving eyes of his soon to be murderer but noticed a certain remorse. Almost as if it didn't want to kill him.
The pegasus only looked down disappointingly at the prey which wasn't as fun as the usual food it hunted. He sweated some more in fear as a grin slowly formed on it's face, revealing a set of dark grey fangs.
As if it wasn’t bad enough for him already. At the sheer sight of the fangs, he struggled to find his voice and make his plead. "P-P-Please w-w-whoever s-sent you to do t-this I-I'll double whatever it is they p-paid you." The stallion’s voice stammered from all sides and prayed for the best. But he only got a low chuckle in response and not much after that there was a mares voice that filled the cold night’s air. A voice that in and of itself was as cold as the night.
"I'm not doing this for bits you moron and nopony sent me. No you foal, I'm doing this for a whole other reason~" The being leaned closer to the death terrified stallion. He was given a glance to the face of the being which was revealed to be a mare, but he closed his eyes almost the moment he felt her breath on his right ear. And then she whispered the most terrifying words of the evening slowly, but eerily joyful. "I do it simply, because I'm hungry."
Those words caused his eyes to shot back open but something also seemed to have gotten his throat in that exact second. When he looked up, he saw her forelegs going right him. The poor stallion followed them and saw how a set of metal claws had closed itself around his throat. The metal had dug itself in his skin and he know what was going to happen next. The mare then simply ripped it open in a manner a wild beast would.
A yell of agony left the throat of the stallion, but quickly fainted in the air as the head of the mare had traveled over to his wound and the shocks of pain returned just as quickly. His frightened eyes managed to look back at her after she had removed herself from his neck again. And in his eyes he saw how the blood was glistening from the ponys fangs while, some meat dangled from the side of her mouth, his voice box to be exact. The stallion tried to breath out of desperation but the only sound that was escaping him, was low gurgle sounds. His front hoof reached out in the darkness toward the pegasus.
She looked cold as her prey reached out a hoof, her eyes followed from the tip of his hoof up to his chest that was as covered in blood, the dark red glittered like a ruby in the night, she tore her gaze away from the blood and up to his eyes. A set of eyes that slowly lost the fire with in them, his hoof thumbed down in the cloud as she tilted her head. Simply watching the last life leave his eyes.
It was only then that she swallowed the meat in her mouth without much chewing. Then the mare kicked from the clouds that made up the street in order to soar through the skies above. Simply leaving the dead stallion in the back alley for others to find.
Once inside her own comfortable home after a zigzagged flight, the cannibal closed all windows and curtains quietly as to avoid waking up the foal upstairs. "Why do I still do this? I have a family, a daughter even, I can't keep doing this." she whispered to herself and proceeded to wipe the black makeup off her face above the kitchen sink.
And what was revealed below the makeup was a hot pink coat and a light blue mane to accompany it. It was only after she had removed her outfit and fake set of teeth that she looked in the mirror in the hallway and sighed deeply. “Oh Firefly, how low have you sunken in life?” the pegasus mumbled to herself before glanced to the staircase because she heard a cry coming from her daughter’s room.
Oh sweet Celestia, Rainbow! was all that Firefly thought to herself in a millisecond before she raced up the stairs and up to the room. But only to find the child in her crib, there was no sign of anypony else being in the room with her. Something that came as a relief. Firefly walked up beside the crib and noticed that the only light came from the open door to the hallway. The hot pinked coated pegasus carefully picked her crying daughter up. She held her with her front right hoof and sat down against the bed where she cradled the ever so young Rainbow in her hooves in an attempt to calm her down. "It's okay my little Dashie, it's okay, mommy's here now it's all going to be okay." she said with the softest voice she could muster to the little filly.
Firefly felt the foal calming down again and rose to her hooves in such a manner that she held Rainbow close to her chest. The pegasus remained like that for a little minute before she walked back over to the crib. But when the mare placed her back in the crib, she noticed in the light of the hallway falling in and therefore the reason she had cried. It delivered her a sight that would haunt her until the very day she died.
For Rainbow Dash, her pride and joy, had a giant bite mark on her right fetlock. Blood had soaked the fur in the corner of her mouth and dried over time. Firefly was shocked to say the least as it meant only one thing to her. And that was the fact that she had done it to herself.
As that thought dawned on her, she gave Rainbow one last stroke before fixing the blankets again. Firefly couldn't help but to slowly back away from her little bundle of joy and started to gain tears below her eyes. At the moment she closed the door to her baby's room she completely broke down without a care of who was watching, be it Grogar or Tirek themselves. She couldn't bear the thought of her daughter being a monster like herself.
Just like us wouldn't you agree, sister? was spoken through her mind. Firefly suddenly shot her head up in anger. "Why can’t you just leave us alone?! You took my husband already, why do you still torment us?!” she yelled to the voice as she stood up and looked over the hallway with a huff. Calm down sis, or you'll wake the foal up and we can't have her seeing mommy in a moment of weakness, now can we? it asked in a mocking concern.
Unknown to almost everypony she met, was the fact that Firefly had put up with that voice for most of her life. It caused a literal split personality but the one thing she knew in her heart, was that she couldn't bear to see Rainbow Dash become another monster. It was something that resulted in the hardest decision of that life. A decision that would change both their lives forever for certain.
She held Rainbow Dash in to her hooves for the last time, tears flowed from her eyes as she had trouble to actually do it. Once placed, there wouldn’t be any return from the plan. It was literally their final goodbye for a long time to come. Firefly gave her daughter one last and motherly kiss on the forehead before she dropped her off just outside the Cloudsdale Orphanage's front door.
As she stood right next the orphanage, the pegasus couldn't help but to feel a little taken back by what she was about to do. Something which was basically removing herself from her daughter’s life before it came back into her head. That sickening voice. Hmm maybe you should keep her. After all how will she know how to hunt but from two of the best hunters in Equestria after all she is our daughter it said in a tone that sounded so logical and so simple which just made Firefly hate it even more.
It was the very reason she never had a normal life, it was the reason her husband had gone six hooves under and thus unable to see his daughter’s bright smile. All of this happened because it wanted to be fed fresh meat, fresh pony meat was especially high on its overall gruesome food list.
With all of her courage, Firefly knocked twice on the door before she gave her daughter one last look of pure sadness. She sniffed aloud a few times and then she walked closer to the basket her daughter laid in, she kissed Rainbow on the forehead again just before she whispered the words on her mind. "My dear daughter I'm sorry I failed you as a parent but maybe you will find a better life with the ponies here so farewell and I-I pray that we never meet again. For your well being." Firefly had to force that last part out and then gave one final kiss on her daughter’s cheek before she flew off.
And that place happened to be nowhere else then the police station. Are you sure about this sister? the voice asked her, I mean we could just disappear into the badlands or something. But deep in her heart, Firefly knew this had to be done she had to fess up so she walked into the police station and started talked with the officer at the desk.
"Hello my name is Firefly and I would like to report a murder." she said motion dead in her voice.
The police officer looked up lazily from his desk. "State where the murder occurred and if you saw it." he said in a dull tone as the night had been slow. But what happened next would wake him straight away.
"It occurred between Nimbus and Stratus street, you’ll will find the body in an alley. I know this information because, because I caused it!" Firefly spat the last sentence out like nothing and mere moments later she found herself surrounded by several pegasi that were ready to tase her if needed. .Her eyes looked over all of the policestallions and then calmly said the one statement that would lead to the shortest trial in Equestria history. "My name is Firefly, and I am, the Cloudsdale Cannibal." While the events in the bureau unfolded themselves, on the opposite end of Cloudsdale, just outside the orphanage, there was a little cyan coated pegasus foal that cried out for the mother. A mother who she may never see again.
Two years came and went since Rainbow Dash was given to the Cloudsdale Orphanage. Two long years it had been since the infamous Cloudsdale Cannibal was imprisoned for several accounts of murder and even cannibalism. But Rainbow Dash herself would never know any of the information, never would she known that with one final act of bravery, her mom saved her from years upon years of ridicule. Instead she was raised ignorant of all of it and had to endure the bullies of flight school that teased her non stop. A matter that, given the other option, seemed to be like heaven itself.
"Hey look everyone it's Rainbow Crash!" was one of the many calls they usually shouted to announce her appearance. In the beginning it was difficult but over the months Rainbow learned to get used of the calling. Times were looking somber for the cyan coated filly but she somehow knew to make the best of it, she just had to. And even through all of the events, she still had one friend that stood by her side. A yellow coated, pink maned pegasus filly who always looked like as if she would faint at the mere thought of being seen by anyone other than Rainbow Dash.
The two fillies met back when Rainbow first started flight school and by luck it was also the same day she earned the name Rainbow Crash from the local bullies. The reason for it was just because that was how she saved Fluttershy. What had happened was the fact that she was trotting on into the school to start her first day with slight annoyance. But as she entered, her ears overheard something that sounded just like whimpering of utter sadness. The curiosity of the rainbow maned filly got the better of her she went to investigate. Something that led up to finding a pair of colts that were pushing a frail looking pegasus.
"Come on goat girl, do it. Just one more time." were some of the words that Rainbow heard them say. In her eyes she saw that the filly was close to bursting out in tears and that the colts were not going to stop picking on her. That was unless she did something to stop it. The flares came to the magenta red eyes and being as agile as she was, Rainbow flew straight in their direction without a warning given to them.
Though one of the colts yelled something which she was unable to hear over the wind in her ears. Her target was the leader of the pack and he was barely able to dive down to the floor and dodge her attack. What happened a split second afterward was that her head exploded in pain because of the face that she had rammed a locker on impact. As dizzy as the filly happened to be, she still managed to rise gingerly.
"Well now who are you now little girl?" the leader of the bullies asked after he had raised back from the floor and gave her pretty much a stare that could kill.
The cyan coated filly collected herself for a second or two before she responded with a great pride in her voice, the kind of pride that every citizen of Cloudsdale had for their city. "I'm Rainbow Dash the fastest pegasus alive."
But at the words, the four bullies just broke out in laughter at her. The leader even had to wipe a tear from his left eye before he gained control of his breathing again. "Rainbow Dash? more like Rainbow Crash!" he said earning more laughter from his companions. By crashing into the lockers right behind them, the rainbow maned filly managed to spare the frightened filly from being harassed even more by the colts who were trying to make her do a goat faint.
After a while though, Rainbow's nickname was soon used up and was eventually treated as a cool nickname. So they eventually found another way to get at her and it was this that really sent her nearly over the edge.
"Hey Rainbow, how's the Orphanage is it still standing from the amount of times you ran into it?" they said whenever they were both in public so she couldn't do anything without getting punished or expelled. But if they had any sense in their heads, they would've stopped when one of them had claimed that he heard an animalistic growl emanating from their rainbow maned victim.
But as foolish as they were, they pressed on, and on, and on. Until that one day came along that they said something that didn’t just make her snap, but managed to shut down her mind and let it be filled with a primal rage. "Hey guys, look at the poor little foal! I wonder if her mommy was even a real pony or was she just a freak like the little foal here is?"
After the words had entered the ears of Rainbow, she turned herself around and just tackled the unfortunate colt to the ground and stared at him with a gaze that would be amplified by her words. "I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!" she screamed on the top of her lungs every time her hoof made the connection with his jaw. She sat on top of him and pinned him down by his shoulders with her hind legs.
When the last hit was given by her, it send a splatter of blood onto the floor. The enraged filly kept on hitting him until one of the teachers finally managed to pull her off. With a stern voice that then echoed through the hallway, each of the ponies that were involved detention. Including Rainbow. A thing which left the poor Fluttershy completely exposed to the bullies once more for a few weeks and then that un- or fateful day occurred.
It started out normal like every other day that she lived. Rainbow would fly by on her way to school and being late as per usual. But she saw that Fluttershy was being picked once again by the same four bullies that normally pushed her around. "Hey you four! What the hell do you think your doing?!" the cyan coated filly shouted just before she flew down in between the bullies and their victim.
"Oh get out of the way Rainbow Crash, we were just having a little fun. That is all." the leader said to her with a grin. In response did the rainbow maned filly just roll her eyes as the leader spoke smart-like like he had any brain cells left inside of the skull.
"Yeah right, you call picking on a defenseless little filly, fun? You guys are nothing more but a joke." Rainbow retorted with a glare to each of them. She turned her back to the four bullies in order to help Fluttershy get to school when the unexpected happened.
"Yeah, that's right go ahead and run you, chicken!" were the words that were shouted angrily by the leader, obviously he was still furious of her last comment. At least he got the response he wanted out of the filly as Rainbow Dash froze almost dead solid in her tracks. The both of her ears perked up and she gently turned around with a fire in her eyes that might even have struck fear in a manticore. The leader of the bullies didn't even flinch, his companions on the other hoof took a long step back, leaving him in front and alone with her.
"Who you calling chicken? Last I checked you were the one who refused to fight me a few days ago." Acid literally dripped from her mouth as she said the words against him with a growl.
"Because I don't hit girls and you, sadly, are still considered one." the leader taunted with a voice that could only be described as a stone cold one. Something that fell into the wrong gullet for Rainbow, yet she managed to keep herself cool. Somehow.
"Yeah how about this, you and the other three stooges meet me at the old racing ground near the school. There we shall settle this." Rainbow returned in a taunt of her own. Mere seconds later she saw the desired effect. Because the four bullies looked at each other with smirks on their faces, as if they couldn’t lose from one simple filly.
"Deal. We'll meet you there after school, that way everypony can see what a klutz you really are." the leader said with a smirk. The old racing ground wasn't old in the sense that was abandoned but that it was just not as often used as the others. And today wouldn’t be any exception to that rule. The school day had went slow for the cyan coated filly, her anticipation for the race to high on her mind to really focus on classes.
"O-Okay racers on your m-mark." Fluttershy stuttered and all five of the racers flashed their wings in the ready position and then she waved the flag never expecting the speed and fell off into the forest below. The racers were neck to neck for the most part, but the head bully made sure Rainbow stayed in the back by bumping her every time she got beside him and soon only were stuck tied for second place.
"You know it's almost a shame." he yelled ather in a mocking tone. "I mean, here you are in second place and either way, you lose like you always do." He taunted her and that was when Rainbow did something incredibly stupid as a response. For she turned around and out right head butted the colt who then went sailing into the forest below. The filly turned around and was about to speed up when she heard a voice.
Damn I was wondering when you were going to shut him up. Rainbow nearly stopped right in mid-air to survey just where the voice came from when she heard it speak again, don't bother sis. I'm in your head and let me tell you something, it’s not very spacious to be honest. Rainbow didn't know whether she should punch herself or just float around with a derp look on her face.
She opted for a third option which was to finish the original race. As soon as she reached the hill portion of the track, the filly suddenly plummeted straight down. She easily picked up some speed enough for a mach cone to form around her and suddenly Rainbow sent her first sonic rainboom across Equestria never knowing that the action also caused five other fillies across the land to gain their cutie marks as well as her very own.
But she didn't dwell on the fact that she had her cutie mark, no what she focused on was the fact she saw the lead bully crash into the Everfree and no one else noticed that little detail. So in a moment of pure insanity, she zoomed down into the forest to hunt the little brat to show him what would happen when somepony came on her bad side.
She found the colt lying on the ground, bloodied and beaten up to the point where he probably couldn't fly again and that sight alone made Rainbow snort in amusement. "Hey punk get up." she ordered him. Not much afterward, he tried to stand on his legs but one of them was bent in an odd angle, most likely being broken at several places.
Oh, oh, oh let me handle this sis, the voice said and Rainbow noticed that it had a darker tone hidden within its tone. But the filly shook the thought away before she pressed down on the colt's wounded leg. It was something that caused him to scream in pain for a few minutes. Tears shot in his eyes but crying he never actually did. Curses and threats were yelled at the cyan coated filly who on her own turn just shrugged them off as if they were nothing.
Yet perhaps the most oddest part of the entire thing, was the fact that Rainbow looked at the leg with a lust in her eyes. A lust that seemed to be of a starving hunger. When the scream had finally died down, the filly suddenly drew her head down and did something she had never even thought about doing.
For her teeth set itself right in his flesh and she rose her head up at a good enough speed to just take a chunk off of his right leg. But the horror didn’t stop there, because the filly actually started to chew it. Yet it took Rainbow a moment or two before she realized what she had done and spat the piece of meat out of her mouth, right next to the horrified colt with a bleeding leg.
Aw come on, don't be a wuss now, the voice whined inside of her head before the filly could retort in any way, she felt herself getting light headed and passed out in the middle of the woods. Oh well, guess I'll handle this one, the voice mumbled as it made Rainbow's body glide down to the soft pedal of grass.
Pain, that was the only emotion that the fallen pegasus felt. A pain unlike anything else he had ever felt before he tried locating it. His eyes were shut down with force as he didn’t wanted to see anything else that the cyan coated filly had in store for him. Yet soon did the cruel realization hit him. As he turned his head slowly down to his legs and he nearly fainted upon the spot. For within his eyes he caught the dreaded horror of his leg being torn open just below the knee in order to reveal the flesh beneath it.
At first he didn't know whether to scream or just continue to stare at it as even the broken bones were visible through the gaping hole. But none of it mattered as he caught the very bitch that bit him starting to rise up in the top of his eyes. It was something that made his worry to become a pure anger. "What the flying buck Rainbow!? Are you insane?!" he yelled in a painful voice.
Yet the filly simply looked over to him with a quizzed expression. Almost as if she didn’t even had the slightest idea anymore of who she was. "Who?" Rainbow dared to ask. A question which was dumb in and of itself to begin with.
"Oh, haha Rainbow! Very bucking funny! Now please, stop bullshitting me and tell me why you nearly tore my leg off!” he shouted at her in response. Yet then something happened that send shivers down his spine and drained whatever courage he still had...all because of the fact that she simply laughed. Laughed like the devil himself.
After the sinister laughter had died down, the filly shook her head gently from side to side. "Why did I do it, you ask? No foal, the question should be: why didn't I do this sooner? I mean, come on, all you ever did was push other ponies around and proclaim how stallions are better than mares." Rainbow said before she started to walk towards him. With what little energy the colt had left inside of him, he started to try and crawl away from the insane filly. Sadly all of his hopes were flown away quickly as he made the discovery to be trapped by several rocks and he certainly wouldn’t be able to fly away from her anytime soon.
Terrified for his life, he turned himself back to the ever closing coming filly and gulped deeply. "W-W-Who are y-you?" the colt dared to ask her as he watched the body coming to a standstill pretty much right before his.
Rainbow then started to gently stroke her hoof across her chin as if she had all of the time in the wide world. Yet after a few seconds she gave up and shrugged a bit. "Eh I don't have a name yet, but what I do have though is this one big hankering appetite for colts~ And you look just right." the filly replied to him in a somewhat demonic tone. Yet it would be have been that tone that would be the last thing that the colt heard before the very teeth of Rainbow Dash had closed in around his throat and with one powerful yank, just ripped his throat right open.
When the filly started to open her eyes again after her strange black out, she was completely oblivious to the things what happened to both herself and the colt. Yet the secret wouldn’t remain long away from her. When her eyes sharpened themselves, the rainbow maned filly saw a scene that almost made her stomach turn inside out. For that what she assumed was the bully, was nothing more than a bloody mess with limbs strewn about in various poses. But the worst, had to come.
Because just after she had managed to crawl back up on her hooves, a scream that went through marrow and bone could be heard within her ears. Rainbow Dash quickly turned herself towards the origin of the sound and noticed somepony she knew all too well. And that pony was nopony else then her friend, Fluttershy.
They both of them just stared at each other for a couple long and tedious seconds. The eyes of the pink maned filly started to water and she just took off for the skies. Wanting to leave everything behind her and forget. Sadly enough for her, it wasn’t something that became much of a plan as Rainbow also took the skies. A few seconds later, the cyan coated filly had managed to pin her friend down in the grassy floor of the forest. "Flutters calm down! It's me remember! Stop flailing cause I'm not going to hurt you!" Rainbow said as she tried her best to avoid Fluttershy's hooves as they were, in fact, going everywhere without thought.
Yet it did seem to help. Because the hooves lowered themselves in speed before they landed on the chest and wrapped themselves around those of Rainbow. The anxious expression of the yellow coated filly turned itself into a stern one as she spoke the words of worry in her mind. "Is that what you told that bully, before you killed him?"
Those words caused the rainbow maned filly to look at her in confusion. That was until she noticed a small stream just ahead and released Fluttershy from her hold. With four trembling legs did she walked over to the water and could only pray for the best. The yellow coated filly turned herself around and rose up on her legs, ready to go to her friend if she needed.
The magenta red rimmed eyes of Rainbow stared down into the waters and she wanted to scream in terror at the sight given to her. The reflection that she was was one that had a bloody mouth, even bloodier hooves which looked like tried to rip open something. Her mouth fell open as she couldn’t believe the facts as they were. But with the mouth open, one other, massive thing was revealed. The fact that bits and pieces of meat hung onto her front teeth.
But the one thing that scared her the most was the fact that when she moved her head, so did the monster in the stream. Her young mind simply couldn’t and didn’t wanted to believe that what was shown in the water, was herself. The filly then did the only natural thing that she could think off in the time of crises. And that was to scream her head off in the middle of the wilderness.
Rainbow awoke with a jilted start. The mare simply shook her head as the nightmare was fresh on her mind. The stone cold sweat ran down her forehead just before the eyes noticed a couple of dark spots on her covers. The sweat had not only ran from her mane and body, but also drenched her duvet and sheets. Why the buck is this happening to me? Rainbow kept asking herself each night that went by. It was only then that the cyan coated mare dared to look out the window and saw the lights from Ponyville illuminate the night sky. A sigh escaped her lips as she threw her bed cover away from her hooves and allowed a breeze of fresh air to travel over her sweat covered body. It was only then that she actually climbed out of bed. Her hooves all made a muffled thump as she landed on the clouded floor. The mare yawned out loud and started to stretch her stiff joints, cracking them back in their places. But happy she wasn’t, for night time meant nothing else than hunting for her dear sister.
I gotta give you credit sis, you took that little stroll down memory lane better than I thought you would, the other voice inside of her head spoke up. Rainbow glanced around the dark room with the faint hope of actually seeing somepony else being there. Yet those hopes soon died as the room as empty as it ever had been. At first she was naturally curious about just how her supposed sister communicated with her. But that curiosity soon turned itself over into nothing else but anger. There had been many times where the voice also presented a rather sick sense of humor. For instance, there was the time when Rainbow and her friends were about to throw a party for Pinkie and then saw how depressed she got. The voice only after that entered its two bits worth of sense. You know, it would've been funny if Pinkie somehow turned out to be another cannibal. Wouldn’t you agree Dashie? Then it was followed by an insane laughter. Yet to make matters even worse, it also had a seriously perverted mind set as well. Most notably was the time it made Rainbow have a wingboner when she saw Applejack raise her rear and bent down to get a fallen apple, something that gave her a clear view from behind.
Rainbow finished the routine of preparing herself and then closed her eyes. The all too familiar feeling of utter worry washed over her. Something wasn't right and it never had been. It was the feeling that the mare always got when ‘she’ was about to ‘hunt’. The rainbow maned mare looked out the window with her worries clearly visible within her eyes, she didn't want to do it at all. She wanted to go back to sleep, she wanted to get a normal night of sleep. One without having to wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in cold sweat with a voice in her head. Rainbow Dash her eyes had finally adjusted to the dark surroundings as she craned her neck to get the closet that stood on the other side of the room in her eyes. The mare sighed once again before her hooves brought her slowly over to the closet. The clouds out of which her home was made, felt soft against her hoof and offered some comfort. About the only comfort she would get that night.
Come on sissy, hurry up! the voice complain as it almost looked like it was nothing else than a spoiled child. But the pegasus simply stared at the closet doors right in front of her. The looks in her eyes gave away that she was terrified for a monster that could be living inside of it. Yet she gathered the strength to lift her front hooves to the handles and yanked the doors wide open. With a pant of relief, she looked at all the cloths that laid inside of it, but it was far from over. For Rainbow looked lazily as she pushed some of the cloth to the right and found what she was looking for.
And that was nothing else than a rather new looking saddlebag that was filled with what was needed for the night. Rainbow leaned in and bit down on the leather before the bag was pulled out of the closet. The mare then shut the door with her right hind hoof, allowing it be actually slammed shut. It was something that almost made the cloud door disappear of the hard thrust. The mare turned herself around and dropped the bag to the floor and opened it against her will. The first item that she pulled out was a black fabric hoodie. The mare huffed towards it before the thoughts vanished from her mind and it was placed aside.
Her hooves then fumbled around inside the bag to continue the search. One of her hooves made contact with something and she pulled out a cylinder like box. Rainbow Dash placed the cylinder box on her bed as she kept digging for the last piece she was missing. However, her hoof recoiled when something locked around it. In her attempt of removing her hoof, she accidently sent the object flying across the room. The thing itself landed with a surprising loud clunk on the cloud floor before it skidded across. The object eventually came to a halt against the wall. Rainbow shook her hooves and glanced at it to make sure that it wasn’t bleeding. Luckily for her, that was the case and then Rainbow turned herself around before her eyes glared daggers at the dark object. “Darn piece of metal.” the pegasus muttered as she rose up on her hooves and trotted over to the metal piece.
Yet that caused the voice inside of her head to meddle itself in the situation. So that’s what it’s like to get bitten by me? Those idiots don’t know what real pain is that freaking tickled me! Rainbow lifted the object with her hooves up to eye level. She was then face to face with a set of razor sharp, fake teeth that had the appearance of the fangs of a dreaded timberwolf. Her magenta red rimmed eyes glanced at it for a few seconds. Emotions were had to describe for her at that point, but pleasant wasn’t one of them. She then trotted over to the bed and laid it down beside the hoodie. That very piece of cloth was taken and lifted up looking at it with little enthusiasm. Her eyes could make out some dark spots on the hood itself and at the right bottom, there where her hoof was going out. The mare looked at it with disgust before another pony’s presence let itself known. Oh the one on the right hoof was by far my favorite kill!
The cyan blue pegasus tore her gaze away from the dark red blood stain and tried getting the pictures of the slaughter out of her head while the memory flashed back to her. A memory that made her look like a wild dog on the hunt, a manticore having toyed enough with its prey. A feast of flesh, ready to begin.
In the dead of night she was running along the ground and heading towards the creature that so foolishly dared to try and outrun her. It took her some time, but finally she had cornered it and the darkened pegasus was soon upon it. Not even time to scream was given to the hopeless prey. "P-Please d-don't hurt me." the figure managed to beg to her. Yet the response it got, was that the mare merely laughed at him before the head lowered itself and the horrible sound of metal cutting and tearing away flesh was being heard.
The cyan coated pegasus shook her head once the horror was relieved and wished she could forget it just as quickly. Yet then the mare pulled the hoodie quickly over her head and tried to get her wings out of the two holes on her back put failed. Rainbow kept flailing her wings trying to get them out of the holes, her anger flaring up as she was still fumbling with the holes her wings flailing under the cover of her hoodie.
Oh come on Dashie! You want to join the wonderbolts? They have to wear those skin tight, sexy uniforms which you have on in ten seconds but you have trouble with a little hoodie? I’m starting to doubt you more and more, the voice said mockingly as the mare closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. All of the anger then slowly faded as the seconds went by. She sat down on her haunches and adjusted the holes with her hooves before one of the wings was moved out of the hole, while the other soon followed up. She then proceeded to open the cylinder box and exposed the black cream that was inside of it. The mare soon put her hoof into the cream and smeared her face, as well as her hooves, with most of it. She made sure to avoid the snout so that the gas didn't choke her to death, something she discovered the hard way.
The pegasus then glanced down at her hooves in order to make sure that her coat was covered as a whole and thus not exposing any of her true coat color that could possible give her away. But just looking at it in that manner wouldn’t have been enough, so she walked over to the mirror by the wall and looked at herself with mixed emotions. Aside from that, the only thing that was recognizable, were her magenta eyes. Only then came the hardest part of the job, putting in the fake irises, or better said: contact lenses for cosmetic purposes, that she got from Rarity thanks to a little lie. The lenses changed the eye color from their magenta origin, to a true devilish, if not demonic, red. A sight of horror for anypony unfortunate enough to cross her. The mare glanced over her shoulder and saw the fangs that were calmly resting on her bed. Rainbow shuddered at the thought of putting them inside of her mouth.
The covered pegasus lowered her head in utter defeat and strolled over to her bed. With a shaking hoof she grabbed them and held them in front of her snout for a few seconds. The eyes looked at them as she tried her best not to release a tear. But then it was the moment to complete her change and opened her mouth. The teeth were turned around and brought cover and closer to her. There was the near freezing sensation of the metal inside her mouth that sent a shiver down her spine. Her tongue suddenly made contact with something and she felt her stomach tightened, if not turned inside out.
Almost instantly she spat the teeth out on her bed, which dripped some saliva as the mare sat down on her haunches. Her tongue was sticking out in utter disgust and the eyes closed. Aw come on! the voice inside of her head muttered, that was one bad piece of meat and you gag over it? Wuss that you are! Rainbow still felt the urge to puke but instead, she took the fangs from her bed and gently removed the piece of meat that was hanging from it. Another shiver went down her spine because of it before inspecting whether or not there was still anything else left inside of them.. Only then, she took one deep exhale and just, forced the teeth right inside of her mouth and adjusted it for a good fit. Make sure you put them in right this time. After all, it would be just plain stupid to bite off your own tongue.
Rainbow glared to her right to look directly into the mirror and was met by her own glare before the words came to her mind. Words she wanted to speak so desperately. “Okay sis, could you please just shut up! So I could get us ready for tonight?” the pegasus irritatingly asked her. The voice inside her head just gave up trying to talk and let the mare continue getting prepared for the hunt. Rainbow stared at the mirror almost expecting a reply. But the eyes kept staring into the mirror for seconds as they went over to minutes before she finally zipped up the hoodie and trotted for the door.
The pegasus closed the door to her bedroom behind her and descended down the stairs to the living room. She walked down the final step and did a turn towards the kitchen. The changed pegasus trotted to a shelf and opened it. Her demonic red eyes looked over an orange box and took it off the shelf. In the darkness of the night, the coloring had more something away of a dark brown but it was quickly taken away from her mind. For she had found a bowl which had the inscription ‘Tank’ on it. Rainbow filled the bowl and placed it down by the sleeping tortoise, after that she gave her beloved pet a quick smile and nuzzled his shell.
Aw, look at the cute little pet of yours! He looks so good I could just eat him up, haha! But Rainbow ignored the mocking voice in her head as she walked out the door that was connected to her living room. She quickly opened the outer door that lead to her front porch and closed it before glancing around looking for any pony at all. It seemed a little bit unnecessary as her home literally hovered near the outskirts of the town, but better safe then sorry. Her wings spread themselves and before she knew it, Rainbow was airborne.
The destination of the pegasus would be Fluttershy’s little hut near the Everfree forest. Rainbow did a barrel roll to her left and came to a halt in a cloud where she laid inside. her ears perked themselves and she just listened for anything, everything. But she couldn't hear anything, nothing at all.
That was with the exception of a faint voice which grew in volume as it got closer to the cloud she was hiding in. The darkened pegasus started to sweat as it wasn't only one voice she could hear, but two. She couldn't make out what they said as it was drunk rambling only drunk ponies could understand. The voices then grew fainter and fainter before she poked her head out from the cloud looking in the direction of Ponyville where she saw two dark figures fly in a pattern that literally corresponded with their speech.
Rainbow knocked three times and started to wait for Fluttershy with quite the little bit of patience. You know, we wouldn't have to do some of this sneaking around if Flutters wasn't such a big issue, her ever so loved sister told her in a rather serious tone. Rainbow on the other end tried to force it away from her mind but she just kept coming back. -and let's not forget we haven't even tried pegasus stew yet. I heard that it's a delicacy in Griffonia.
And that were the words that caused Rainbow to nearly erupt out in nothing but anger. The nag actually considered killing Fluttershy and, on top of it, eat her to hide the crime. That was something that she couldn’t and wouldn’t even allow to actually happen. Why the buck would you want to kill Fluttershy huh?! She has done nothing but help us this whole time and you just want to kill her! Rainbow yelled at her sister mentally.
Not like anypony would ever notice her missing though. the voice chuckled darkly in return.
That's the thing you stupid, they would notice her missing after a while! Rainbow hissed at her sister again before she heard the door finally being opened from its locks. In her eyes she saw Fluttershy standing with a look that showed a mixture of pity and sadness. “Hey before you say anything, I’ll have you know that Dull was the one that made me so late tonight.” Fluttershy simply gave a nod and allowed Rainbow to enter her little hut. Dull was actually the short version of the name that was given to her sister, the full one being Dull Sloth because she loved to eat so slowly. Yet the odd part was, it was accepted by the voice in her head.
“I found another animal for you to hunt. I, I mean if that’s okay with you?” Fluttershy said quietly after she had closed the door. Rainbow nodded to let her friend know she understood and even accepted the offer. The yellow coated pegasus explained that there was a wounded manticore in the woods that needed to be put down fast to save any more misery to the animal. Rainbow jokingly asked if this was the same one she, Fluttershy and the others met when they were hunting the elements and got a sad, “Yes.” in response. Something that made her feel bad almost instantly. In order to not give the other pegasus more pain, Rainbow took off into the woods and headed towards the area that the beast was seen last. It would be there, that the pegasus herself allowed her sister to take over and soon was she surrounded by nothing but darkness.
Dull Sloth opened her eyes just in time to avoid hitting a tree square on. “Dammit sis. You couldn't have at least landed before you fell asleep?” she said aloud and continued forward. In her nose she caught the scent of blood from the beast and as luck would have it she saw it before she even smelled the actual horrid scent of the manticore carried. She landed on a small open spot of just grass and right in front of her was the manticore she was hunting on. And as per usual she breathed a sigh of disappointment. Really sis you couldn't make this a little more fun? she thought to Rainbow Dash as she wanted to actually lay in wait, lurking her prey before striking it down with a deadly precision. But she rowed with the oars she had and closed in the distance and Dull remembered that this one was actually one of the few creatures that were actually nice towards her sister. Not to mention her friends, so she decided to be a little nice today. Even though it most likely would have been used to keep Rainbow at bay. Dull hunted through Dash her brain in the hope to find that lullaby Fluttershy taught them both a while back.
Didn’t it go ‘Hush now, quiet now’ or something like that? Dull thought to herself as she couldn’t actually wake Rainbow up to ask. A few moments later she found herself face to face with the wounded animal and saw that it still had some fight in it. The darkened pegasus jumped back to avoid a slash from one of the manticore's claws and then flared her wings as she flew straight at the beast. Reaction time for the beast was far too slow and the sharpened fangs of the fake teeth had set themselves right into the neck of the beast. The wounds created caused the creature to lose even more blood and slow died in front of her as the lullaby was sung in an oddly calming tone. “Hush now, quiet now, lay your sleepy head to rest. Hush now, quiet now time to go to bed.” As she said the last part of the rhyme she suddenly felt light headed for whatever reason and brought a hoof over to her head. No not now you fool! I still have to get back to the bucking cottage so she doesn't piss herself in fear, Dull thought bitterly to herself as she started to take off towards the small house. Without having been able to have a feast from the fresh meat of the manticore, her stomach rumbled in hunger while she landed outside the porch. The very spot where Rainbow would be taking control again over her body.
As Rainbow opened her eyes, she already saw that she was losing moonlight and that made her a little panicky, if not a lot. The pegasus left one of her claw pieces behind to let Fluttershy know that the hunt was successful and then headed home to get some more sleep in order to appear normal the next day.
She arrived a little while later and just got into bed when the sun broke through the skies as it does every night. You know, for once I would actually like to sleep a whole night instead of doing this over and over, Rainbow thought to herself and got out of bed for the second time on that day and headed out to work up in Cloudsdale itself. The mare had promoted and given the opportunity to work right inside of the city’s famed weather factory. Little did she knew, that on the desk of her workstation laid an invitation that would shock her world.
Rainbow made it to the weather teams headquarters merely minutes before she was counted as late. Something that was a new record for her. The pegasus trotted up the stairs to the third floor of the could build building where her office and crew of the day had made their residence. Once she had arrived, she found an open spot between a butter colored mare with a light blue mane, her cutie mark was three water drops. Her name was therefore Raindrops. On Rainbows right side was a grey pegasus with a blond mane, her cutie mark happened to be three bubbles. The name of that mare was Ditzy Doo who was better known as Derpy Hooves. Though for some reason, Rainbow never understood the name other than the fact that the eyes went cross of each other. Other then that, nothing she could discover.
Rainbow looked lazily around the crowd that was waiting for any news. Waiting long enough for her own standards, which weren’t much to begin with, the cyan coated mare finally spoke up what was on her mind. “So what’s the schedule for today?” was being asked out loud.
In response there was a big, black, burly looking pegasus who turned in her direction and rested the golden rimmed eyes upon her. “Well we’re supposed to start up a storm at about noon that ends at midnight but other than that same weather as yesterday.” After the words were spoken, the pegasus gave a shrug and turned around again.
Rainbow on the other end closed her eyes and let a sigh escape her lips. Glad that for once, the day was at least going to be a smooth one. But celebrating too much wasn’t high on the mare her list as there was still one thing that could throw soot in the events. Don’t bet on it sissy, she heard another voice say. Confused by those words, she nearly asked Thunderlane, who sat across her, about it when she realized just who they belonged to. Oh come on don’t tell me this isn’t what you always wanted? Dull asked ironically before releasing a snicker.
The mare had to use all of her willpower to avoid flatout punching herself in the face in front of the others to shut her mental sister up. It was bad enough that she had to deal with her constant badgering before a hunt alone. But recently she had actually begun to judge her during her work hours. And that was something that irritated the most, as it were those hours, she needed her focus on completely.
She suddenly felt a piercing pain that raced inside her head and her sister’s comments didn’t help at all. Aww look at the poow wittle baby. What’s wong baby, something wong with your wittle head? Dull asked snickering at her sister’s minor pain.Rainbow Dash forced her eyes close and shook her head.
Then it was Thunderlane who turned back Rainbow and was about to give her some orders. Though the plan changed as a look of concern washed over his face when noticing her grimace. “Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” The cyan coated pegasus could only look up at her boss and pray on her life she could come up with an excuse.
“Yeah... Yeah I’m fine Thunder. Just a minor headache, that’s all.” Rainbow shook her head and noticed that most of the ponies in the group were heading for the stairs down to the first floor. Not wanting to stay behind, she quickly joined her co-workers and found her way outside in the big blue skies. The mare took her place and started to buck the clouds to darken them up in preparation. Following up, they were brought over to the nearest lake in order to make them moist. A little thing done so that the rain was good and clean as it would possibly get. The last thing they wanted was another manure rain incident. Once that was done, they were carried and then placed in the storm clouds themselves.
She kept up working with her co-workers, her headache would only grow in agonising pain as she went way past her boundaries. For instance, whenever she got near the rain clouds to darken them up for the storm, it was her head that would suffer a splitting pain that was almost worse than being near a cloud just as a thunderclap started. Not to mention, her sister’s constant comments were anything but helpful.
“Sorry Thunder I got to call a rain check on this one. My head’s been killing me sorry.” the mare apologized to her superior who looked at her before he nodded in response. With his approval, Rainbow flew away and stopped by the office to see if she had gotten any mail at her desk. And much to her own surprise she found a letter addressed for her personally, just resting on her desk. Curious to the content, she opened it and saw that it was a newspaper clipping from an old Equestria Daily news print, one that was dated years ago actually. It also had a note stuck below it, one which read: I know who you are. And that was it, nothing that said or indicated who it was from or anything. After Rainbow had placed the note into a nearby garbage bin, she unfolded the newspaper clipping and started reading the headliner.
Cloudsdale Cannibal Nightmare Finally Over!
As of twelve forty six last night the infamous Cloudsdale Cannibal, now revealed to be none other than Firefly herself, actually turned herself in after giving the police a run for their bits for over several years. The most puzzling thing about this though is that no-one has seen her dau-
The newspaper ended before the headline could finish but even Rainbow could figure out what it meant. This particular mare, whoever she was, apparently had a daughter but what also had her stumped was that there appeared to be a picture of Firefly. However, it was just a pink hoof in the corner. Only then did the pain in her head return with extreme prejudice. Rainbow struggled against it as it continued to increase. Though it was a losing battle and her pained expression was a clear indicator of just that.
Yet all of the sudden she remembered a mare’s voice in her head saying what seemed to be calming words. Almost like a mother would say them to an upset filly or even foal, it’s okay my little Dashie, mommy’s here now, it’s okay. And just as quickly as it came it vanished. Rainbow rubbed her head in utter confusion. Just what was that all about? She held on to the newspaper and figured she would, if not needed to, ask Twilight about it during the sleepover that night and made the decision to head home.
When she returned to her beloved cloud palace, she found tank as usual sitting where he was when she left, snuggled down into his bed sleeping peacefully. This just disgusts me, Dull spoke up through her mind before she made a vomiting sound as well and that was when Rainbow lost it all. The cyan pegasus left for her bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her, once more nearly dissolving the clouds it was formed out of, and proceeded to utterly trash the room like it was nothing.
Her table was the first to go as it was smashed into pieces and the rest of her room nearly dissolved in response for the utter rage she felt having to deal with her sister every single bloody day of her life. That’s it sis! let it all out! I haven’t had this much fun in a very, very long time! the voice in her head snickered of the insane laughter.
But what Dull could, Rainbow could return. Except she didn’t spoke it mentally. “Shut up! Shut, the buck, up, you bucking nag!” she yelled at the top of her lungs before she continued with her rampage.
It was only after a good fifteen minutes of pure raging, throwing everything across the room till either it went into thin air by the sheer force or it went sprawling across the room to break by the impact of the wall, that Rainbow then broke down and wept in silence. Yet the fact that surprised her the most, was to hear her sister actually try to comfort her. Hey sis, come on. Chin up the day isn’t over yet is it? Besides, Dull said in an almost soothing tone, you still have that, ugh, sleepover to go to right?
Those last words got Rainbow’s attention and almost instantly the cyan blue mare sat up and nearly fell over once again due to her ‘teeth’ that laid on the floor, hidden under a scarf she had gotten from Rarity. A beautiful thing which caused a happy memory and her sadness to collide, resulting in something far more powerful.
The pegasus instantly froze as she saw it flashing before her eyes. Horrible pictures of animals ravaged and bloodied shot through her head. She tried to shake the pictures out of her head but to no avail. Rainbow did the only thing her mind could think of and that was to grab the fangs and she placed, if not threw, them in her not so secret ‘hunting’ closet.
Her hooves tried to close the door but it wouldn’t shut properly because of the heavy beating it received so she removed the teeth out of it and and looked for the scarf. Once it was found again, the hellish thing was wrapped inside of it before being place carefully in the realms of the closet again. She made it look like it was just a hump of scarf piled upon one another before closing the door as shut as it would go.
Her legs then started to descend down the stairs and once downstairs, she saw the two dark eyes which reflected the moonlight perfectly. A moon who provided a dim light as it ventured through the window and was reflected in those two sorrowful, red rimmed eyes. “Hey Tank...” was the only thing she could say as she made for the final step. Like Fluttershy, he was one of the few beings that knew the other side to Rainbow Dash but also knew that her sister wouldn’t kill him due to her also liking him. Which was odd but literally his saving grace.
Rainbow gave the tortoise a brave smile to let him know that it was her and not Dull. His face brightened up a little as his propeller started up and he headed towards the kitchen to his food bowl. The room itself went darker and she couldn’t help but look out and saw the storm raging she helped create. It calmly floated across the night sky and with its thick clouds, blocked out the silver light originating from the moon itself. The gigantic dark cloud was huge, almost akin to a hurricane and in her mind it described what was going on in her head to the letter. A raging storm nearly destroying the dam she built inside her mind so that Dull Sloth wouldn’t even think about hurting her friends. Cracks had appeared, but only time would tell if it would be broken or not.
But like all things, mental or physical, the dam was getting weaker and soon, she feared that not even she could stop the flood that would come gushing out. And then as quickly as the thought came to her, it vanished vanished. She then kicked off from her front porch and a few hard beats of her wings she found herself heading towards the sleepy town of Ponyville.
Her wings brought her near the Golden Oak Library where Twilight lived and tucked them back against her body. With a confident walk she entered the living tree house and found herself in a room dark and devoid of light. Huh reminds me of home, Dull spoke up. Though before Rainbow could pursue the subject, she heard some giggling coming from a nearby source. Her ears couldn’t pinpoint it,, despite her obvious advantage of being a hunter. Something doesn’t sit right with- Holy sweet Celestia, what the buck?! the voice in her head yelled the second the lights flickered on and the rest of the gang yelled out, “Surprise Rainbow!”
What the buck were they thinking!? I nearly had a heart att- Oh wait, that’s right...no real heart, Dull said while Rainbow merely snickered in response to the greeting.
The group of six had decided at a small harmless game of truth or dare in which they used an empty bottle of Applejack Daniels. “Okay then Rwainbow Dahssr” Twilight slurred, drunk from the seven bottles of liquor that she had downed in her throat, “truth or burrrrpppp!” The once so proper unicorn, reduced to a drunkard.
Do the burp. The burrrp! Dull hammered, somehow being drunk as well. Rainbow on the other end, decided to go for truth and opened her mouth to give her answer…but ended up giving the loudest burp heard in all of Equestria and possibly beyond.
The rest of the girls merely looked at her before Pinkie decided to break the silence. “Oh, my, gosh,” she said looking at her friend in amazement, “that was totally awesome!” and the rest of them cheered the same thing until Twilight actually managed to use a sobriety spell and while they were cleaned up, it came with the price tag of a small hangover.
After a few moments spent with a headache and quite a few barfings Applejack decided to see how Rainbow handled their old game of hoof wrestling. “Hey! RD, old butterhoof!” Applejack shouted and got the pegasus’s attention immediately.
The cyan coated mare turned around and saw that Applejack had set up a table and had one hoof on it which meant one thing. “Seriously AJ? You wanna try your hoof against one of the best hoof wrestlers alive?”
I think the hangover is still effecting her, sisterly dear quipped. Rainbow floated down towards the cowgirl and sat down in front of her holding her own hoof on the table and the two began the match. At first it wasn’t clear who was winning as both mares had a strained look on their faces and both were giving it their all. Both hooves were shaking massively under the pressure that was given by the both of them.
However, it was Rainbow’s sudden headache who decided to make a comeback and that was something that costed her dearly. For Applejack noticed her hesitation and in response just yanked the hoof down as hard as she could. While she did manage to get Rainbow’s hoof down she also managed to throw her friend into a nearby bookcase, a rather unforeseen side effect of her massive strength.
Rainbow landed against the bookcase with a hard crack and sounded like it had broken her back together with her left wing upon sliding down to the floor. Her head seemed to have been hit pretty hard and actually drew blood from the impact. With the strength left inside of her body, the mare tried to touch the spot but when she did she winced in pain.
“Shucks sugarcube, Ah’m sorry!” Applejack exclaimed before she tried to help with the blood on her friend’s head. The rest of the group rushed forward and all tried to see if Rainbow was alright.
But while that happened, Dull Sloth was having a field day with their so beloved friend. What the buck was that, you bucking mule?! she yelled at Rainbow Dash. Something that caused her to actually shrink back from her friends. The combined voices were almost too much for Rainbow to handle on her own.
“Dashie, are you okay?” Pinkie Pie asked with a little worry in her tone.
You had her! You, bucking, had her! Dull yelled at her in a manner similar to how a parent yells at their child when being punished...more than it deserved.
“Darling is something wrong?” Rarity asked in a concerned manner before she brought a hoof to her mouth.
I should’ve been in control, then we wouldn’t be in this mess! But nnnooo, you had to be bucking miss Smartass, didn’t you?! You see this, this is the shit I’ve been telling you about! They never cared for you! They onl-
“Shut, up...” Rainbow suddenly spoke up in a whisper. “Shut up. Shut up! Shut up and get out of my head you sadistic bucking nag!” And with that Rainbow kicked off from her spot on the floor and jetted home to try and escape the voices.
The remaining mares just sat in Twilight’s treehouse in utter confusion, all of them except one. Oh Rainbow I thought you said you had her under control? Fluttershy thought to herself as she was the last one to turn away from the window.
“What in tarnation do ya think that was all about?” Applejack asked. She was genuinely confused as to the pegasus and her behavior.
“Well you did throw her against a bookcase, Jackie.” Pinkie said. The farm pony had an embarrassed look on her face as she remembered what caused her to bleed in the first place and was about to retort when Twilight spoke.
“But...it happened before at the farm months ago and she laughed it off like it was nothing. Not to mention, that doesn’t explain however why she yelled ‘get out of my head’ at the top of her lungs though.” the cowgirl spoke up in her defense but also with curiosity.
“I wish I knew what was wro- hey where’s Fluttershy?” Rarity suddenly asked and the rest of them noticed that she was gone as well. Something done while they were talking, the pegasus had snuck out the backdoor and headed towards Rainbow’s cloud mansion in the covers of darkness. The cold night air blew in her face as she sped towards her friend’s home.
As Fluttershy landed on the front porch she knew instantly that something was wrong. The front door was missing for one thing and the inside wasn’t faring any better from what she saw. “H-Hello? R-Rainbow are you, here?” the yellow coated mare asked in a near whisper and heard two voices that were almost eerily similar shouting at each other in the upper levels.
“What would you know about my friends huh?! It’s not like you ever talked to them yourself and no, those memories you leech off me don’t count!” was yelled by the first voice. a voice who Fluttershy could identify as Rainbow herself but then the other voice cut in and its sound nearly caused her to run right out the door again and hide under the clouds.
“I know them better than you ever did, Rainbow Crash! I know for a fact that the only one that even has a slight chance at being a real friend to you, is a bucking little recluse and that should be saying something to you! I told you we should’ve ditched them for Gilda, who we should thank Celestia and Luna for, for actually believing our story! Tartarus we’re lucky she even stuck around afterwards and hung in Cloudsdale so that we could explain things to her!”
Those were were yelled by the second voice and although she never heard it before Fluttershy knew instantly just who the owner of the second voice was. The sick twisted version of her friend that was nopony else then Dull Sloth herself. She heard another loud noise like a crash and the sound of clouds disappearing. With concern for her friend in mind overshadowing her fears, the shy mare started to go up the stairs to Rainbow’s bedroom and gently nudged the door open. And at the sight she was presented, released a gasp and a silent ‘oh my’.
If what she saw downstairs was chaos, then the bedroom she just walked into was nothing else but Discord’s playhouse. For the whole room was totally wrecked and she also saw hints of what appeared to be dried blood on the wall. How that happened she didn’t want to know. But then there was Rainbow herself. Fluttershy had seen her friend bruised before but never in such a condition as she was in then. For starters she seemed to be unconscious but still alive as cuts ran across her legs. Her wings looked worse for wear but still looked functional. Yet then there was her face. That was absolutely the worst part to be looking it. Cut, torn, bruised and so on, all of it had happened, somehow, somewhere.
When Rainbow finally opened her eyes, she turned towards the pastel yellow pegasus mare in the room and tried to form some words. “F-Flutters?” she stammered out. Almost instinctively did Fluttershy rushed forward. She draped her wing around her friend in an attempt to help comfort her to the best of her ability.
“It’s okay Rainbow I know it wasn’t you that flipped out at the sleepover. I’m sure the others cou-mrph!” Fluttershy cried with a look of surprise on her face. But it came out muffled due to a cloth being shoved at her muzzle. Dull Sloth nearly had to put a hoof on her own mouth to prevent the small chuckle she had inside of her. After all it was just too easy, the mare figured but one couldn’t have everything.
A moment later, Fluttershy ceased her struggling and slipped into a state of unconsciousness. The cyan coated pegasus stood up and carefully took her pink mane in her mouth. Only to drop her into one of the other rooms. Sleep tight Flutters. Sorry about knocking you out, but I couldn’t have you spoiling the surprise just yet, she thought to herself. As the body of Rainbow but the mind of Dull closed the door behind her, she made sure that the door was blocked on the outside with something heavy like a chair. She then headed back to her bedroom and opened her hunting closet, ready for another hunt. And I know just who to visit, Dull spoke up to herself as she put on the hoodie.
“Geez Twi’ that storm out there looks pretty rough. Yall reckon tha’ Rainbow and Flutters is still out there?” Applejack asked with a look of deep worry to her friends. Friends who were huddled together in Twilight’s oak house. A few hours had passed since both of the pegasi left the library and then the group actually were concerned due to the ferocity of the storm outside.
“I’m sure the darlings are okay Applejack, they’re probably waiting this storm out just like we are. And considering this is a sleep over, we might be best doing that.” Rarity said but with a little doubt in her voice. Yet just after she had finished her words, a massive crash could be heard over head, a crash loud enough to startle each of the four mares.
“What was that Twilight?” Pinkie asked who tried her hardest to sound upbeat about the situation with a smile on her face. But being her, it was rather difficult to see if it was genuine or set up. The mulberry mare herself couldn’t respond due to sorting through numerous answers to one simple question.
When Applejack saw the hesitation from the group she spoke up her words. “Ah’ll go an check it out Twi, don’t yall worry none.” The cowgirl rose to her hooves and headed for the door that led over to the staircase. The rain pounding on the window only increased the effect. The rumbling of thunder was heard as bright flash light up the room as she opened the door and looked over the staircase that led to the upper levels.
As she ascended up the stairs, the cowgirl was careful to avoid tripping over any debris that might have fallen from the window ceiling and any puddles caused by the rain. She finally reached the first floor and saw right away what caused the loud crash. A tree branch that had somehow broken off from its spot and was flung through the window at violent force spraying glass shards from the broken window all over the basement floor.
When Applejack realized that, she sighed in relief and went back down the stairs to tell Twilight. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of somepony’s presence off, almost like something was watching her from the shadows. The cowgirl shook the thought out of her head as she felt her heart skip a beat. “Nah, it’s nothin’” she said more to comfort herself than anything. She started to climb the stairs again but still couldn’t shake the feeling. She glanced over her shoulder while cold sweat formed on her forehead as she kept a steady pace for the door. But suddenly she stopped dead in her track and listened. And that was when she heard it, a loud audible creak as though something was on the stairs with her. Quickly she turned around to see if there was somepony with her, but nothing was there.
The cowgirl took one final glance on the upper floor and when she saw that it was clear outside of the caused mess, she headed down and closed the door behind her. As the storm kept on raging and delivered a flash of lightning, it was revealed to nopony that the limb wasn’t simply broken off. Instead it was torn from it’s spot by what could only be described as bite marks from a large predator.
As the rest of the group huddled together in worry they heard several loud cracks and soon saw Applejack appearing again. She explained that it was a branch from a tree that broke off. A revelation which earned a chuckle from Rarity due to the same thing happened at her last sleepover at Twilight’s and that they had nothing to worry about.
As they blew out the last of the candles they all thought back to how weird their sleepover was and headed up stairs. With Applejack the last one to go up, but she suddenly had that feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it would be soon. Though before Twilight went to bed, she walked over to the sight of impact and conjured a magical shield before the open gap. The branch and glass was being collected before reduced to ashes by her mind.
With the door of Twilight’s bedroom closing and Applejack still down, the cowgirl suddenly heard another creak and turned around. Yet as she did that, she nearly tripped on her hooves. At that point she started to panic as she knew there was no way somepony was following her. Her green rimmed eyes darted around the room and scanned for anything at all.
She jumped at a sudden flash of lightning that lit up the dark library and in that mere second thought the cowgirl that she saw a reflection from the corner of her eye. The silence was the worst part about standing in the stairs, engulfed by darkness she could barely see her own hooves in front of her. Applejack felt her heart hammer in her chest and throat when a sudden warm breeze caught her off guard.
The rough and tough mare turned around the instant it made contact with her neck and she looked bewildered in the direction of the breeze. Her eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the darkness enough yet but she thought she saw something reflecting in the bright flash of another lightning bolt that bursted through the air outside.
But nothing could prepare her for that what she was being greeted when she turned herself back around. For only then there was a sudden punch to the muzzle delivered. Groaning from the impact, the second punch was actually a hoof shoved right into her mouth. As she continued to struggle against the unseen assailant, Applejack tried to get a good look at her attacker’s face. But all she got was a pair of blood red eyes that showed no remorse in any form. The cowgirl continued to fight against the hoof shoved in her face, she did the first thing that came to mind. Bite.
Her teeth set themselves in the hoof which recoiled immediately from her mouth. With it being free again, she yelled out to the others that one simple word of, “Help!” Soon afterward though, she heard an irritated growl that could only be made by an animal of some sort, followed by the feeling of weightlessness. Confused by that alone, the mare looked down and saw that she was in fact several feet above the ground.
The mysterious attacker soon threw her against the wall near one of the bookcases. Applejack glanced up from her spot on the floor and she could swear that the figure actually grinned at her pain. The figure then unfurled its wings and thus revealed itself as a pegasus. But it still could have been everything. It took off as the vision of Applejack blurred thanks to a tremendous pain from her head. it forced her to shut her eyes in agony as she soon slipped into unconsciousness state.
The other mares headed downstairs after they heard the cry for help. Once arrived in the library itself, they all saw the body of the cowgirl on the floor and surrounded by books that were strewn about from the shelf they fell from. Pinkie Pie nearly gasped in pure shock at how brutally her friend was banged up, Twilight nearly had a panic attack followed by a breakdown and Rarity fell back at the sheer barbaric nature of her friend’s wounds. Twilight tried looking around to see what the source was but could only hear the rain pounding on the old oak yet forgot to turn on the lights in the haste of the situation.
“T-Twilight what do we do?” Pinkie asked nervously. Her hair had deflated into a sad heap, as she started to shiver in pure fear. Twilight tried to answer but heard a soft raspy chuckle from the shadows. A chuckle that caused all of them to startle and be on their guard more than anything.
“Pinkie, get Applejack out of here now.” Twilight said as she tried to assert herself while she tried to hide her own fear. Pinkie complied and went over to the orange coated mare. She just got Applejack’s hoof over her shoulder when she felt something warm rolling down her own leg. She looked down and nearly fainted in pure horror. For the leg had a huge chunk of flesh missing and had a hole with blood seeping from it.
Applejacks hoof landed with a dull thud back on the ground as the pink pony screamed out in horror. Pinkie’s cry of terror was cut short and she yelped as a pain shoot through her right hoof. Something had grabbed her leg and began to lift Pinkie up to the ceiling. She started flailing her three free legs and tried to get out of the painful grip. Her right hoof pulsed in pain and the blood that rolled down her right hoof felt cold against her coat and skin.
Pinkie could feel her heartbeat throbbing as the pain shocked through her hoof, a heart that continued to pound against her chest before climbing to her throat. A warm and wet tongue licked her wounded leg and she heard the being actually smacked the lips in satisfaction, somehow. She was soon brought muzzle to muzzle with the new creature who only looked at her with a sick grin on her face. The metal fangs glistened after another lightning bolt flashed across the sky and revealed the blood on them. Not to mention those red eyes, those piercing red eyes seemed to have drilled into her very soul. Terror struck Pinkie more than ever before
After what seemed like an eternity, she felt the mare’s hooves let her go but instead of Pinkie falling she was still floating surrounded by a violet aura. Twilight was trying her hardest to keep her friend afloat, something their attacker was none too pleased about. The being gritted the teeth in anger and was about to charge her but then she heard Twilight yell her words. “No! No don’t throw it yet!!”
The mysterious creature stopped for a moment, confused as to why that was being yelled. But then something hard came in collision with the head. The being dropped out of the skies and smacked down on the floor. It stood up and shook its head before turning to face Rarity. Who hit the thing with another chair.
Rarity looked around trying to find more furniture when she noticed the assailant’s eyes were blood red. But something about them was familiar. And that’s when it hit her like a brick. Those are my contact, that brute! she thought to herself and actually managed to pick up the creature in her magic. The move itself surprised both of the beings as they looked with a set of widened eyes. The assailant suddenly broke free of her stunned gaze and tried to break free of the bindings the pale unicorn’s magic placed on it, but to no avail.
As Rarity struggled to keep the rambunctious being under her control she suddenly saw that one of the contacts was missing. Rarity decided to press on her advantage and forced the dark creature to turn around with her magic and saw the eyes once again. Though that time she saw something that nearly made her lose focus on the spell. The eyes of their attacker were two colors. One was red flaring with a fierce fire that could even burn a thousand dragons the instant a gaze was given, the rage in them was evidence enough that this pegasus came here with one goal in mind, to really hurt her friends or worse. But the other one, it was a magenta red eye filled to the brim with tears. The sorrow in it made the unicorn feel pity for the poor soul.
The magenta eye had a familiar fire to them. It was a long shot but she couldn’t shake the idea out of her head. “R-Rainbow is that...you?” she asked the creature who stopped its struggling. Only to actually cry out in sorrow and remorse for the deeds sone. As Rarity gently started to lower the creature back to the ground, the other two mares merely stared at her in horror. Though it was the white coated mare who noticed that the red eye suddenly flared up again. She tried restraining her possible friend again but the strength she had left her and with a roar did the creature escape from the magical cage and charged directly towards her.
A zapping bolt of Twilight’s magic met the cloaked creature before it could reach Rarity and it slumped to the floor barely moving the only indicator that she was still alive was her chest rising up and down slowly. The trio just stood there staring at the unconscious body. A body that revealed a rainbow colored mane. For all three of them it was clear as crystal about who it went, but that still left the questions. “W-Why would Dashie, do this Twilight?” Pinkie asked her lavender friend unable to even make an attempt to hide the sorrow in her voice. The unicorn mare found herself unable to answer due to her actually being stumped for once.
Rarity shoot a glance over her shoulder at the two mares “W-What should we with, her?”
Twilight closed her eyes and focused herself on the task at hoof. “We need to tie her up.” That answer, caused both of the mares to look at her in shock.
Pinkie limped up beside Twilight and shook her head violently in protest. “B-But it’s Dashie!”
Rarity looked from Rainbow Dash’s body to Pinkie’s hoof. “I hate to say it, but I think she’s right darling.”
Pinkie pie was unable to hold back her tears. “But...” Twilight's horn charged itself up up and one of the chairs Rarity had used as ammunition was lifted up. It was placed in the middle of the room before her eyes opened up again with a determined look in them.
“She knocked Applejack unconscious, bit off a chunk of your hoof and...who knows what she did with, Fluttershy.” Both mare stood frozen in their tracks, in all the commotion they had all but forgotten their butter colored friend and with those words they were realized to that like hammers.
It was something that settled the score as they trotted forward and hauled the body into the chair and bound her with some magical ropes that both Twilight and Rarity had conjured in existence. The farm mare on the other end, actually started to get back on her hooves groggily, but still able to stand by herself. The mare shook her head and turned towards the others. Only to see they had the varment who grabbed her all tied up with magical rope and were using what looked like a black wash cloth to rub the face for some reason. The farm mare snorted in irritance and trotted forth angrily at the mare who just attacked her and her friends. She tried to get through but was stopped by Pinkie.
“Out of mah way sugarcube! That little nag right there done tried to hurt me and look what she did to yah for Celestia’s sake!” Applejack shouted at the party mare who still stood her ground. After several more attempts to get past her failed the farm mare practically yelled in anger and shoved her out of the way. The two unicorns stepped out of her way as she was about to punch the pegasus. But when she saw her face and mane though she stopped. Her eyes filling with tears, unable to process who it was that attacked them and instead hugged her in pity.
Before Applejack even got the chance to ask anypony what had happened, the front door burst open revealing an extremely angry looking Fluttershy. She galloped forward not towards Twilight or any of the other four mares in the room but to the unconscious hooded mare on the chair. She pushed Applejack out of the way with no effort and reared her hoof back. What followed was a loud audible smack from the butter yellow mare’s hoof as it hit her sky blue coated friend. As the hoof retracted the tied up pegasus jolted awake with a look of fear on her face. She looked around the room, taking in what just transpired. She turned back towards her frightened and angered friends before she let the water works flow out.
After a few seconds had passed by, she suddenly remembered who was controlling the body and what her entry had been in. “The first floor! Is Spike okay Twilight? She, she didn;t hurt him, did she?!” Rainbow yelled out loud earning a few strange looks from them all with the exception of Fluttershy.
Confused but still needing to answer, the unicorn shook her head. “No Rainbow. He’s fine... Answer me this though, why the buck did you try to kill us?” she then asked angrily.
“Yeah, that wasn’t nice Dashie!” Pinkie yelled at her as she was jabbing a hoof at her injured leg and winced deeply.
“I can’t believe yah threw me up against that blasted wall sugarcube. THe buck is wrong with you?” Applejack berated at her, the fires in her eyes rekindled as she wanted nothing more but answers from her.
“And to think you used my lenses for such...horrid deed, shame yourself Rainbow Dash!” Rarity scolded her before she went to inspect on Pinkie’s wound.
But the scolding of the mare wasn’t over there. Each of them had spoken their lovely little words of rage with the exception of one. And that being nopony else then Fluttershy. “You think they had it rough Rainbow?! I seem to remember you dragging me into a closet and then blocking it with a bookcase!” the pegasus her words were the loudest out of them, much to everyponies surprise and the cyan coated pony lost control again, releasing the devil inside of her once more.
“How about, all of you just shut the buck up, and let us explain you little pieces of shits!” she yelled in a tone and voice that wasn't like the Rainbow they knew and loved. The group looked stunned before they all noticed the grin that crept up the side of Rainbow’s face. “Oh yeah, didn't she or Flutters here tell any of you yet? Sorry about that earlier though butterscotch.” Those last words were aimed to Fluttershy followed by an obvious wink.
Fluttershy gasped because she knew what would be coming next. “You think Rainbow’s bad? I don’t see any of you yelling at Fluttershy even though she knew I might get out. Also Pinks you might wanna lay off the sugar...the blood tasted way too sweet to be remotely normal.” the mare said before she threw her head back in a sickening laughter of some cruel inside joke.
“Oh wait where are my manners to you all?” she spoke up while looking specifically at Rarity for some reason. “Hi, I’m Dull Sloth. Rainbow’s older sister and your resident cannibal.” Dull said with a bow of her head.
