> Pinkamena and Cheese Sandwich > by Malice In Wonderland > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was almost midnight and the sweet looking pink party pony, Pinkie Pie, had just finished off her last victim. She cleaned herself off and started off towards Cheese Sandwich’s house, her super special somepony. Cheese had just recently moved to Ponyville so he could be closer to the mare of his cheesy dreams, Pinkie Pie. As Pinkie was trying to remember where Cheese lived, she was humming one of her songs in her head. Then, she saw them, the sight of them together making her stomach churn, and her head blur together in a mixture of emotions. She was sad, angry, hurt, lonely and, strangely, happy. Her beloved stallion, Cheese Sandwich, was standing next to another pony, a Pegasus! Pinkie Pie watched the two converse for a few minutes until the blue Pegasus left; she flew away into the night. Pinkie then trotted up to Cheese, acting like she hadn't seen any of what had just happened right in front of her. “Hi Cheese!” she called in her normal cheery voice, a huge smile plastered on her face. “Oh, hi Pinkie,” he said back to her, “I wasn't expecting you so late. How’s it hanging?” he asked her. Pinkie Pie giggled to herself before she answered the question, “it’s hanging upside down!” this made Cheese laugh and the two party ponies hoof bumped. They stood together laughing and telling silly jokes for a bit until Pinkie Pie got serious. Cheese noticed her change in attitude, “hey, is there anything wrong? Are you alright?” he asked stepping closer to her to comfort her if she needed it. “Well,” Pinkie Pie said blushing slightly and looking down at her hooves, “we've been together for almost a year now right?” she asked and she looked back up at Cheese her big blue eyes growing even bigger, and those big, gorgeous, sapphire blue eyes seemed to posses Cheese, he just couldn't look away from her. “Yeah,” he said, as though her were in a trance or in a dream, “a whole year.” He was absolutely head over hooves in love with Pinkie Pie, and he planned on telling her one day. He knew she was the only pony in all of Equestria that he would ever love. “So, um… Well...” Pinkie Pie started nervously, her already pink cheeks growing to a darker red color. “T-tomorrow, there’s something I think I’d like to show you,” she stuttered slightly when she said this. She then looked back up at him, her giant eyes pleading him to say something back. Cheese’s cheeks grew red as well, he turned away from Pinkie and said, “Oh, geez Pinkie, I don’t know if I should,” after he said this Pinkie Pie was confused, but she quickly understood what he was thinking and she giggled quietly to herself hoping Cheese wouldn't hear her. Of course, he did anyway and her turned back to face the giggling mare. The redness in his cheeks quickly vanished and he said, “What? What’s so funny?” he was obviously confused. “Well, it’s just,” Pinkie Pie giggled a bit more before finishing. “You’re thinking of something other than what I’m saying.” She said to him, hoping he would understand what she meant. He did and the red returned to his face, but as more of a crimson color, “Oh, sweet Celestia! I’m so sorry Pinkie Pie! Please don’t think of me as some creepy older stallion, I love you so much!” he said shedding just a single tear out of one eye. Pinkie Pie gasped as Cheese said that bringing her hoof to her mouth, blushing slightly. “Oh dear,” said Cheese, “did I say that last part out loud?” he cringed slightly at the thought of rejection from the mare he loved wholly. “Oh, Cheese,” Pinkie said hugging him. Cheese smiled to himself and hugged her back. He knew that at that moment he was the happiest stallion, if not the happiest pony, in all of Equestria. Once this moment of affection passed, the ponies released each other and Pinkie Pie said, “But seriously, tomorrow at Sugarcube Corner, right after closing, I want you to be there, deal?” Cheese nodded, “Deal,” he said kissing Pinkie Pie on the cheek as if to say goodbye and goodnight. She then hopped off back to Sugarcube Corner. Cheese watched her bound off until she was out of sight. He then turned and headed back to his own house, still thinking of his beloved mare. Did she love him back? He wished he could know what she thought of him. He sighed to himself and continued the walk to his home. Once Cheese got home he went straight to his room and sat down on his bed. He opened the drawer to his bedside table; he pulled out a picture and a small black box. He carefully took the box off the picture and he looked at the picture for what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes. Then he said to himself, “Oh Pinkie Pie, when am I going to get the courage to tell you?” he sighed and put the box back on top of the picture and gingerly placed them back inside the drawer, closing it carefully. He lay down in his bed and snuggled underneath his blanket, and then he quickly drifted off to sleep. The pink mare he lived for, still with him in his dreams. When Pinkie Pie finally reached Sugarcube Corner she went right back down to her secret torture chamber. When she reached the bottom of the staircase she saw that the remains of her last victim still lie astray along the length of the chamber. She quickly went to work on cleaning them up. She cleaned the blood of the pony’s skull and placed it on her shelf -- which was filled with other pony skulls of all shapes and sizes – to be painted later. She picked up the hide, along with the rest of the pony’s bones and placed them where she put all the other pony hide and bones. She mopped up some blood and when things were mostly spick and span, besides the buckets full of pony blood, guts and organs, she decided to look around at her decorations. There was a banner along the wall across from the staircase, on it were the words “life is a party” written in pony blood. A couple cutie marks glued onto the banner. She looked to the right seeing her wonderful collection of pony skulls. There were the skulls of stallions, mares, fillies, and colts. They were all colorfully painted, each one unique and different. Next to the giant shelf was a small table with only one item on it; her prized possession, a griffin skull. She had obtained that when Rainbow Dash’s mean friend had come to visit. Pinkie Pie lured her down to her torture chamber. It was much more colorful than all the other skulls, because it was extra special to her. When was she ever going to get the chance to murder a griffin again? On the opposite side of the shelf was another small table. On the other table was a bowl filled with small slips of paper. Next to the bowl was a book; there was a red pen and a black pen on top of the book. Only Pinkie Pie knew what the book was for. She giggled to herself. She then turned all the way around to admire the other side of her torture chamber. On this side there were 4 completely different torture beds. The first two both had backs, they stood up vertically and had four placed to hold the pony hostage. The only difference was the straps, one of them had regular leather straps and the other had chains specially designed to go directly through a pony’s hooves. It was meant for the strong ponies who would try to struggle and get away. The other two were very similar but they didn't have backs, the pony was to be held up by his or her hooves only. They were mostly meant for pegasai so Pinkie could rip, chop, hack or saw off their wings. She turned away from the torture beds to the torture tables filled with all kinds of different instruments. She looked them all over to make sure they were all clean and sure enough, they were all spotless. She then looked over to where her cutie mark dress was displayed. Her cutie mark dress was a dress she had made out of other ponies cutie marks. She even took the wings and sewed them to the back as if to have her own wings. The unicorn horns she cut off, she made into a necklace. She was very proud of her masterpiece. Pinkie Pie yawned realizing that she was tired. She went back up the staircase to her room and hopped into her bed. She quickly drifted off to sleep. She had wonderful dreams about previous times murdering ponies. The next morning when Pinkie Pie woke up, she went about her day normally, starting by making a batch of cupcakes. She made sure to use her freshly harvested special ingredient. The day slowly dragged by, the pink, party pony growing bored tired, and nersvouscited, When it was finally time for closing Pinkie closed up shop and waited outside for Cheese’s arrival. He arrived two minutes later, he saw Pinkie standing outside and he exclaimed, “Oh no! I’m not late am I?” “No of course not silly, we only closed two minutes ago,” Pinkie said casually. “Come on inside,” she said and she opened the door for Cheese to go in. “So, uh…” Cheese started, “what was it you wanted to show me?” he asked. Pinkie Pie giggled, “first I want to give you this,” she reached under the counter. “Pinkie Pie, I didn't get you anything,” he said sadly. Pinkie pulled out a small box, “don’t worry, it’s just a cupcake,” she opened the box, and sure enough, there was a cupcake inside. She handed it to Cheese for him to eat. He took a medium sized bite, chewing slowly to savor the taste. “Wow, Pinkie!” he exclaimed, “This must have been your best batch ever, this is amazing!” he took another bite. Pinkie Pie blushed, “Oh thanks, but it can’t be that good.” She said embarrassed. “Oh, but it is, it really is!” Cheese said still chewing. He finished and added, “What’s your secret?” Pinkie was hoping he would ask that. “Are you absolutely sure you really want to know?” she asked. “Absolutely!” he said excitedly, finishing his cupcake. “Alright,” said Pinkie, “but you have to promise that you won’t tell anypony, ever.” “Deal,” “Pinkie Promise?” Pinkie asked. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She giggled “Alright, come on,” she said, pushing her hoof down on something Cheese couldn't see behind the counter. A wall panel opened up behind her, Cheese stared at it open-mouthed. Pinkie trotted over to it, “well don’t just stand there, come on!” “Uh, right” Cheese said trotting behind Pinkie Pie, once he passed through the wall it slammed shut right behind him. He followed Pinkie down the staircase into her torture chamber, completely clueless. When the two ponies reached the bottom, it was pitch black and Cheese couldn't see anything. Then he heard Pinkie’s voice echoing in the dark chamber, “now I want you to close your eyes, this is the surprise part.” Cheese did as he was told and closed eyes, even putting his hooves over them. Then he heard Pinkie Pie galloping around, not knowing that she was lighting the candles across the room. When she finished she stopped right in front of Cheese. “Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Cheese slowly removed his hooves from his eyes opening them slowly so they could adjust to the light. When his eyes finally adjusted, the first thing he saw was the banner. He turned and looked around, noticing the pony skulls and the torture beds, and tables. He looked back at his mare friend, his face looking confused, surprised, and another emotion Pinkie Pie couldn't place “What? Do you not like it?” she asked sadly. Cheese was startled, “No, no of course not! That’s not it at all, it’s just,” he paused looking around once more, “I thought I was the only one.” “Wait,” Pinkie Pie said starting to get excited, “you like to torture and murder ponies too!?” she jumped up “this is incredible!!” Together, they walked over to the torture tables to look at all the instruments. Pinkie named all of them and what they were used for. Cheese was absolutely intrigued by all the different ways Pinkie Pie used all the different tools. Pinkie Pie also told him about her most energetic victims, especially Gilda. “Could I help you the next time you need some more of your special ingredient?” Cheese asked hoping Pinkie would say yes and of course she did. “Yes of course! That would be amazing! Oh did you see my cutie mark dress?” she pointed at it with her hoof. Cheese stared at it in amazement. “Wow,” he said “and you made that out of all the cutie marks you took from the ponies you killed? That’s incredible!” He trotted over to it so he could get a better look. Pinkie Pie suddenly yawned, “It’s getting kinda late, and I’m kinda tired.” Cheese nodded and they started back up the staircase. Cheese then went home and Pinkie Pie went up to her room falling asleep almost immediately. > Chapter Two: Two Weeks Later > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been two weeks since Pinkie Pie had revealed her secret to Cheese, and she had just run out of her special ingredient. Immediately after Sugarcube Corner closed, Pinkie Pie started off towards Cheese’s house, remembering the promise she made to him. When she arrived she saw that Pegasus again, she was leaving Cheese’s house. “Hi!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. The Pegasus cringed at the sound of another pony’s voice, “What’s your name?” Pinkie asked. “W-who? Me?” she asked, “Oh, I’m nopony important.” Pinkie Pie got a good look at her since it was daylight and not dark. Her coat was the same color as Rainbow Dash’s, if not lighter. She had a white mane with gray streaks in it; it was styled like Fluttershy’s mane, only it was pulled back behind her ears. Her eyes were a light green color. She seemed very shy; her cutie mark was an autumn tree with its leaves falling down. Her wings clung to her sides as though she was scared something was going to rip them off if she opened them. “Oh sure you are,” Pinkie Pie said trying to lift her spirits. “Everypony’s important to me! So, what’s your name? I’m Pinkie Pie!” The mare sighed, “My name’s Candy Leaves” she stood up straight, “It’s nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie,” “Ooh, that’s a cool name!” Pinkie Pie asked pretending she wanted to be friends with the pony who was trying to steal her super special somepony from her. She sighed again, “Sure.” she turned away, opening her wings getting ready to fly away. “Bye Candy Leaves!” Pinkie Pie called as she took off. She then went and knocked on Cheese’s door, “Hey Cheese, its Pinkie Pie!” she called cheerfully. The door opened almost immediately. “Hi Pinkie!” Cheese said excitedly. “Guess what!” Pinkie Pie said in a sing-songy voice. “Is it what I think it is?” Cheese asked as she trotted in. Cheese closed the door behind her. She nodded a huge smile on her face. “Tomorrow I’ll need your help harvesting.” She said quietly in case somepony else was listening to their conversation. Cheese nodded, “So, who will my first victim be?” he asked mostly to himself chuckling silently. “Oh, I think I know the perfect pony,” Pinkie said with an evil chuckle, thinking of Candy Leaves. “Do you know anypony named Candy Leaves?” Cheese seemed startled, “Yeah, actually I threw a party for her once, a super duper long time ago, but I ran into her a couple weeks ago. That’s who were going to kill?” “Yeah, is that going to be a problem? Because I can do by myself if it is.” Pinkie said suddenly worried that Cheese was cheating on her. “What? No of course not, I can handle it.” Cheese said sort of nervous. “Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie Pie said, “So then tomorrow I’ll lure her to Sugarcube Corner and then I’ll invite you over so you can help with the harvest!” “Alright, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” He kissed Pinkie Pie on the cheek and she smiled and then left. Cheese was left alone worrying about tomorrow, he had been so excited for this day to come, but now that he knew who they were going to kill, he felt nervous. The next day Pinkie Pie saw Candy Leaves in the street just before Sugarcube Corner was closing and it was perfect because Mr. and Mrs. Cake were gone for the day to deliver a batch of cupcakes to somepony in Canterlot. Pinkie hurried over to her, “Hey! Candy Leaves! It’s me, Pinkie Pie!” She noticed Candy Leaves hunch over trying to ignore Pinkie Pie, but when Pinkie Pie made it over to her she could pretend. “Hi Pinkie Pie,” She said pretending to be happy to see her, “how are you today?” “I’m fantasteriffic!” she squealed. Candy Leaves cringed. “Hey, you should come with me to Sugarcube Corner! That’s where I work; I’ll give you a free cupcake since we’re friends now! Come on!” Candy Leaves sighed and rolled her eyes, “Fine.” She said and followed Pinkie Pie to Sugarcube Corner. When they got there Pinkie Pie handed Candy Leaves a cupcake with sleeping powder sprinkled on top of it. Candy Leaves took a bite of it and her expression changed. “Wow, Pinkie Pie, this is really good,” she finished it off quickly, "I’ll have to come back here for some more!” She then started swaying back and forth, the sleeping powder taking effect. She started to say something but it was slurred and Pinkie Pie couldn't understand it. Once Candy Leaves fell asleep, Pinkie Pie dragged her behind the counter; she closed the store and then dragged Candy Leaves down into her torture chamber. She strapped her into the backless table with the leather straps. Then she left to fetch Cheese Sandwich. She headed off towards his house and when she got there he was pacing back and forth in his living room. “Cheese, are you alright?” Pinkie asked. “I've got Candy Leaves tied up in the basement, everything is ready.” “Uh, yeah Pinkie I’m totally fine, let’s go,” he walked out the door and started off towards Sugarcube Corner; Pinkie Pie right behind him. When they got there they went right down to the torture chamber, Candy Leaves was still asleep. “So, do we just kill her while she’s sleeping?” Cheese asked. “No, of course not silly, we wait until she wakes up, then we introduce ourselves and then we start torturing her.” “Oh, yeah, of course,” Cheese said like he knew that’s what was going to happen all along. He needed to make a good impression on Pinkie Pie, especially if he was going to reveal his true feelings to her. They paced back and forth for a while until Candy Leaves finally started to wake up. “Oh, look, she’s finally waking up,” Candy Leaves heard the familiar voice of Pinkie Pie. “Huh, where am I? W-what’s happening?” She asked, starting to get frightened. She looked up and saw Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich looking up at her. Pinkie Pie had an evil look on her face and her mane had deflated, becoming straight; Cheese’s mane had also become straight. He also looked evil, or maybe he looked insane, Candy Leaves couldn't tell. She then looked around the torture chamber seeing all the painted pony skulls and the banner. She became more and more frightened. Then she saw the torture tables full of instruments and she screamed. “Do you like it?” Pinkie Pie asked with a crude laugh. Candy Leaves was freaking out and when she noticed Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark dress displayed next to the banner she screamed again. “Oh my Celestia! Are those pony’s cutie marks?” She screamed. Pinkie Pie laughed, “Yes of course, what else would they be made out of?” she trotted over to the torture tables picking up a scalpel. “W-what are you going to do with that?” Candy Leaves stuttered. “I’m going to cut off your cutie mark.” Pinkie Pie said casually, walking over to Candy Leaves flank. “Now stay still, it’ll hurt less.” Candy Leaves followed her advice, staying as still as she possibly could. She bit her lips trying her hardest not to scream, but she ended screaming through clenched teeth. Tears poured out of her eyes as Pinkie Pie removed the flesh off her flank. Pinkie Pie carefully placed it upside down on a table so the blood could dry. She moved to the other side of Candy Leaves’ flank and was about to stick the scalpel into her flesh when she remembered that Cheese Sandwich was also there, “Oh, yeah,” she said to herself and she turned to him, “Cheese, would you like to do this one?” She asked casually. “Sure.” He said walking over to Candy Leaves’ right flank. Pinkie Pie handed him the scalpel and he carefully started cutting a circle around her cutie mark. Candy Leaves screamed this time, it was loud and Cheese flinched going slightly deeper in his incision. Candy Leaves screamed louder, her voice cracking slightly. Cheese finished and pulled her flesh off in the same manner Pinkie Pie did; he carefully set it upside down next to Candy Leaves’ other cutie mark. “And next, the wings,” Pinkie Pie said happily, picking up a chainsaw. “Oh, sweet Celestia!” Candy Leaves cried, “Please, not my wings!” she started crying again, her tears running down her face and her body stinging her open wounds where her cutie marks had been cut off. Pinkie laughed insanely as she pulled the cord that started the chainsaw. It revved up and Candy Leaves shrieked. She started struggling in her bindings, screaming as loud as she could. Her screams were barely audible next to the sounds of the chainsaw running. Pinkie Pie walked on her two back hooves behind Candy Leaves with the chainsaw in her two front hooves. Cheese held out one of her wings and Pinkie swung the chainsaw down on her wing; it came off smoothly, like a knife cutting butter. She went to the other one and sawed it off; just like the first one, it flew off quickly and smoothly. As Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich laughed like insane maniacs, Candy Leaves screamed in horror and pain. Tears poured down her cheeks and blood ran down her lower back and her back legs. Pinkie Pie put the chainsaw back where it had been before and she started searching the torture tables for what she should do next. “Aha!” Pinkie said as she picked up a regular knife. She went up to Candy Leaves and started cutting slits in her torso. She screamed in agonizing pain as Pinkie Pie slowly cut small to medium sized slits in her. Once Pinkie had cut a reasonable amount of slits, she went back over to the table and put the knife back up. Then she grabbed a thin wire and scissors. She threaded the wire through the slits in Candy Leaves. She used the scissors to cut the wire to make it into shorter pieces. She tied all the wires together and pulled on them, gently at first, and then harder. Candy Leaves torso ripped open, her flesh flying everywhere. Candy Leaves looked like she was trying to scream; but the only sound that came out of her mouth was a hoarse whisper. Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich where covered in blood and pieces of Candy Leaves detached hide. “Why?” Candy Leaves sobbed, “Why are you doing this to me?” her voice was quiet and tired; Pinkie Pie barely heard what she had said. “Well you see,” Pinkie started. “Your number came up and I just ran out of my special ingredient.” “Your s-special ingredient?” Candy Leaves asked. “Yeah, you see, when I first started making cupcakes, I just couldn't make them taste perfect. So I went searching for a special ingredient. I accidentally cut myself and licked the blood off my hoof, realizing that it was just the thing I needed to make my cupcakes taste perfect!” Pinkie explained. “Wait, so you kill other ponies and bake them into cupcakes?” Candy Leaves asked, horrified. Pinkie Pie giggled, “That’s everypony’s reaction,” she picked a syringe and walked back over to Candy Leaves. She stuck it in a part of her torso that hadn't been ripped open. “W-what was that?” Candy Leaves asked; starting to feel tired. “That,” Pinkie Pie answered, “was anesthesia; it will make you numb so you can’t feel anything when I rip out the rest of your organs.” She got another syringe, “and this is adrenaline; it will help you stay awake until you’re dying breath.” She giggled and plunged the needle into Candy Leaves’ stomach area, and then she and Cheese waited for them to take effect. They all waited in silence, Pinkie Pie and Cheese both pacing back and forth across the room. After about fifteen minutes Pinkie asked Cheese if he wanted to be the one to rip out her organs. “Don't mind if I do!” He said trotting over to Candy Leaves. Pinkie grabbed the bucket that was meant to hold the organs; and she stood next to Cheese as he placed himself in front of Candy Leaves. He carefully reached for an organ, he pulled out her right kidney, detaching it and tossing it in the bucket. Then he went for her left kidney, doing the same as the first. “You know Candy Leaves, I should really tell you,” Pinkie Pie started as Cheese was pulling out her liver. “You did an amazing job, you hardly struggled and you didn’t scream when I cut your cutie marks off. You have earned my respect.” Candy Leaves tried to be sarcastic, “Gee, that’s such a nice thing to say,” She paused taking in a deep wheezing breath, “especially when you’re about to kill me,” Cheese pulled out her spleen and Candy Leaves’ pancreas just decided to fall out as well. They both slipped into the bucket, splashing in the blood; and Candy Leaves moaned. “Oops,” Cheese said and then pulled out her stomach, but it slipped in his hooves and fell to the ground, its contents spilling on the floor. “Oh, look!” Pinkie said, “There’s the cupcake I gave you,” she pointed a colorful glob of mush and giggled. Cheese continued and he pulled out her large intestines putting them in the bucket as he pulled more and more of them out. He moved on to her small intestines doing the same. Then he ripped out one of her lungs. Candy Leaves eyes went wide and her breathing pace shortened. He ripped out her other lung and as she was struggling to get air, he said, “It was nice knowing you Candy Leaves,” and then he ripped out her heart. Her eyes turned colorless and lifeless as she slipped away into the land of the dead. Cheese dropped her heart in the bucket and Pinkie Pie trotted over to the torture tables and set the bucket down. “Was that fun or what!” she squealed; but Cheese just started at Candy Leaves’ dead body. Pinkie Pie suddenly got serious, “Cheese, is there something wrong?” “That was the first pony I killed that I knew.” He said sort of sadly. He sighed and turned away from her body and walked over to Pinkie. They were both covered in Candy Leaves’ blood and flesh. “I’m sorry Cheese,” Pinkie Pie said sympathetically. “Are you going to be alright? I can clean up myself if you’re not up to it.” “No its fine, I can help,” he yawned, “but maybe we could do it tomorrow?” he asked sleepily. “Yeah sure, but we do need to wash ourselves off first,” she said gesturing to the blood in their manes and on their coats. “Uh… Right.” Said Cheese. The two ponies washed themselves off and then Cheese went home and Pinkie went up to bed. Pinkie Pie slept soundly that night; knowing that the pony she loved accepted her evil doings and that she had a fresh supply of her special ingredient. Cheese on the other hand could hardly fall asleep. He felt as though he were being haunted by Candy Leaves’ ghost. He kept thinking about her and how horrible it had been to torture and kill somepony he actually knew. Her final moments continued replaying in his head. The moment when he yanked her heart out and he started into her eyes as they turned lifeless and gray. He supposed that he would have to get used to it if he was going to start helping Pinkie Pie harvest her special ingredient occasionally. > Chapter Three > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie awoke with a quiet yawn. She felt Cheese Sandwich hugging her from behind, she loved to cuddle with him. Cheese was awake already, but he did not want to get up, for the sake to cuddle with his girlfriend. He was not moving very much, which kind of drove him insane due to his ADHD. But, he tried his best not to wake her; he now knew she was awake, due to her quiet, adorable yawn. “Morning Cheesie,” Pinkie said flirtatiously. “Good morning my little cupcake,” Cheese said before kissing her on the back of the neck. Pinkie turned around, and kissed Cheese full on the lips. The two laid in bed, kissing, snuggling, and the usual couple things. Cheese began to assault Pinkie with kisses, leading down her neck, progressing down her torso. “Hey, I have to work today, silly.” Pinkie laughed. Cheese sighed in disappointment, “Okay…” Pinkie hopped off his bed and left for work at Sugarcube Corner. Cheese watched her leave, a goofy smile plastered on his face. “I really wish she didn’t have to leave,” Cheese thought to himself, “Then we could spend more time together, oh well, guess it’s not all that terrible, I mean… we aren't murdering ponies for no reason. She’s a sadist; I love her, but… I don’t know what to do.” Cheese sighed and he watched her as she walked down the road to Sugarcube Corner. He snapped out of his trance and realized that she usually hops everywhere; he realized she was walking, and she was walking very slowly. “Why is she walking like that? I hope there’s nothing wrong.” Cheese spent the rest of the day moping around the house, worrying about Pinkie. By the time she got home, he had been pacing for so long, that his hooves were red and swollen. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked insane - which he probably was at this point in his life. Pinkie walked in the door and saw Cheese the way he was. “Cheese, what’s wrong!?” Pinkie trotted over to him and put his face in her hooves. Cheese looked into her eyes half-heartedly. “I was going to ask you that same question.” “Cheese, honey, I’m perfectly fine. It’s you I’m worried about.” She gently caressed his face with her hoof. “Are you ok?” She pressed her nose against his and stared into his eyes. Cheese locked eyes with her, “I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ok or not.” He took a step backwards, away from Pinkie. He turned away from her, and looked at the floor. Then, he fainted. * * * A few hours later, Cheese woke up and he found himself tucked into bed. He looked to his left and Pinkie was there, sleeping soundly as ever. He stared at her for a moment, and then looked up at the ceiling. He fell asleep a little while after that. “No! No stop!” Cheese was screaming. It was the middle of the night and he was in bed screaming. He was awakened by the shaking. He opened his eyes and above him was Pinkie. She had her hooves on Cheese’s shoulders, and she was shaking him awake. Her mane was straight and her face was sodden with tears and sweat. “Cheese, please tell me what’s wrong!” Her voice was distorted from all the crying she had been doing only moments before. “Please! I can tell there’s something bothering you, please just tell me what it is.” The tears kept streaming down her face as she spoke frantically to her loved one. “Pinkie?” Cheese asked, confused. “Yes, yes honey, it’s me!” She stroked his face with her hoof. “Now, please tell me what’s wrong. I love you so much and I’m just worried about you.” “I….” Cheese started. “I had a nightmare.” “And that’s all it was, a nightmare, it was just a dream. Now, just try not to think about it and everything will be alright, I promise.” “Pinkie Promise?” he asked. Pinkie smiled, feeling much better now that she knew he was going to be alright. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She leaned down and kissed him. They lie in bed kissing until the sun came up. Then Pinkie got up and went to take a shower. “Do you have work at Sugarcube Corner today?” Cheese asked her while she was in the shower. “No, today I’m going on a picnic with the rest of the girls.” She paused, “and their sisters.” “So, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom will be there?” Cheese asked. “Yes indeedy!” Pinkie chirped happily as she hopped out of the shower. A towel was draped over her somewhat straight, pink mane. “What about Scootaloo?” He asked. “Isn’t she Rainbow Dash’s honorary sister or something like that?” “Well, yeah, but nobody is sure what happened to Scootaloo. She just disappeared; and she wasn’t one of my,” she paused and corrected herself, “our victims, so I’m not sure either.” She said nonchalantly as she dried off her mane with her hooves. “Oh….” Cheese said, a bit saddened by this news. He shook it off and said his goodbyes to Pinkie as she left; completely forgetting to ask her if she was feeling alright. When Pinkie made it to Sweet Apple Acres, she found the other girls and their sisters sitting on a checkered blanket in the west field covered with picnic baskets. She walked to where they were waiting for her and sat on the blanket along with Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were playing with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom by the trees. “Why, hello Pinkie darling. How are you doing?” Rarity asked in her usual upper class accent. “Oh, I’m doing just fine. How are you all?” She asked the rest of the girls. “Well, I’ve been reading this fascinating book about-“ “No pony cares about your egg head crap, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash cut in rudely. “I care…” Twilight mumbled. “I just mastered a double helix 720 spin in mid air.” Rainbow bragged. “Rainbow Dash!” Rarity scolded. “That is beyond rude! You need not treat our dear Twilight like that. Go on darling, you were saying?” Rarity gestured at Twilight with her hoof. Twilight cleared her throat, “I’ve been reading a fascinating book about the properties of anti-gravitational pull between two unicorns that have a special connection with each other.” Twilight had been explaining this with her eyes closed. As she opened her eyes, she realized that all her friends were wearing confused looks. She audibly sighed, and the other girls just looked at her and shrugged. “Um,” Rarity said awkwardly, “Well, I’ve just finished a new line of dresses I think you will all adore.” She paused and looked directly at Pinkie, “especially you Pinkie Pie.” The other girls all looked at Pinkie, and Sweetie Belle giggled. Pinkie put a hoof to her chest, as though she were pointing at herself, “Me?” She asked. “Why me?” “Cheese is going to propose to you, isn’t he?” Rarity asked. “Well… Umm…” A deep blush spread across Pinkie’s face. “T-that’s up to Ch-cheese….” “Oh, darling, he hasn’t proposed yet?” Rarity asked. Pinkie just shook her head. “What!?” All the girls shouted in unison. Pinkie blushed more and looked down at her hooves. “Hey ya’ll, how’s about we drop this subject? Pinkie looks like she’s getting uncomfortable.” Applejack said. “Oh!” Rarity said, getting a moment of realization. “Of course, Pinkie, darling, I’m so terribly sorry.” “No, its fine Rarity, don’t worry about it.” Pinkie said, still staring down at her hooves. “She’s definitely going to be me and Cheese’s next victim. I mean, the way she talks is just… It’s like she thinks she’s better than all of us. And her accent in just soooooooo annoying.” Pinkie thought, disgusted. The girls got on with their picnic, talking about their everyday life, and avoiding talking about all the missing ponies. Considering Scootaloo was also missing, it would put 3 members of their group into depression. This was the first time they had hung out with each other since a large portion of ponies had disappeared, and they enjoyed talking. Pinkie left early so she could get back home to Cheese. It was just starting to get dark outside, and Pinkie was worried that Cheese would be worried that she had gotten home so late, so she trotted most of the way. When she arrived, she realized that all the lights were off, “Cheese must be asleep already,” she sighed happily. She carefully and quietly slipped into the house and made her way up the stairs to their bedroom. She looked at the bed as she walked towards it, but at closer inspection, she realized that Cheese wasn’t in the bed. Over the time they had spent together, Pinkie knew that when Cheese couldn’t sleep he would go down the basement. So that’s where she went. She walked the stone steps and her hoof steps echoed. She reached the bottom and she found Cheese, he seemed to be cleaning one of the knives from the table. “Hi Cheesie,” Pinkie said in a soft, loving voice. Cheese looked up at her with red-rimmed eyes; it was obvious he had been crying. “P-pinkie…” He stuttered. “Who were you expecting?” She said jokingly. “N-no one… I-it’s just…” His voice was quivering and so were both of his forelegs. Pinkie noticed that he was attempting to subtly put the knife back onto the table. “Would you like some help? You’re shaking really bad.” She slowly walked towards him. “No!” He shouted. Pinkie jumped back and tears began to form in her eyes. “I-I mean, no, I can do it on my own.” He looked away from her, shamefully. “Cheese, what’s wrong?” She took a slow hesitant step towards him. She began to slowly move closer each time he didn’t scream and protest. When she was standing right next to him, she looked down at his foreleg and saw multiple small cuts, and blood was dripping down it. He had been cutting himself. “CHEESE!!” She screamed. Cheese noticeably flinched, “Why would you do this to yourself?” She asked, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m not good enough for somepony as amazing as you, Pinkie. I don’t even deserve to live anymore.” Pinkie burst into tears, and collapsed on the floor, crying. “T-that’s n-not true, don’t say th-that,” she sobbed. She took a couple deep breaths and wiped away her tears. “Cheese,” she looked him directly in his eyes. “There’s something I need to tell you, something I’ve been keeping from you for a couple weeks now.” Cheese looked stunned, and hurt. “What is it?” He asked, seeing as it was the only thing he could think to say at that moment. Pinkie’s lips turned up into a tiny smile, and she tried to suppress it by looking away from him, “Cheese…” She said very seriously and looked him directly in the eyes. She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.” > Chapter Four > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “W-what?” Cheese asked, attempting to grasp what she had said as the truth. “Y-you mean like, for real?” Pinkie smiled and nodded. “I’ll only let you be the father on one condition.” Cheese frowned, “and what would that be?” “You need to stop….” Pinkie paused and looked at Cheese’s foreleg. “Stop cutting yourself.” “Oh…” Cheese said, looking down as his foreleg. “I can do that,” he looked back up at Pinkie and smiled. “Why did you start anyway?” She asked, concerned. Cheese averted his eyes from hers and searched for the right words. “Well, the other day when you left for work, I noticed that you were walking, and I know that you usually hop everywhere you go. So, I got all worried and stuff. I thought that there might be something wrong with you and you just didn’t love me enough to tell me. So I thought that I wasn’t good enough for you, so I came down here and…..” he stopped talking, seeing the terrified look on Pinkie’s face. “And you know the rest…” He said. "Cheese, honey, I love you, and nothing in Equestria can change that.” She paused, “well, except maybe Discord, but he’s reformed, so you have nothing to worry about.” Cheese laughed and relaxed. Pinkie nuzzled him and kissed his cheek. “Now, come on.” Pinkie said as she stood up, “lets go to bed.” They started for the stairs and Pinkie heard Cheese wince, and she turned back around. “But not before I put a bandage on your leg.” Cheese laughed half-heartedly and followed Pinkie to the cabinet where the bandages were. Pinkie put some ointment on the cuts and wrapped his leg up. “There,” she said. “Now, lets go to bed.” Cheese nodded and walked up the stairs with Pinkie back up to their room. They got into bed and went to sleep. The next morning Cheese’s cuts had healed up a bit and he was back on his feet, more or less. They had decided that once Cheese had fully recovered, they would kidnap Rarity and bring her to their basement. * * * A few days later, Rarity had showed up at Sugarcube Corner. She wanted to talk with Pinkie about her…. “situation” with Cheese. “This is the perfect opportunity to kidnap her.” Pinkie pondered when she arrived. Pinkie sprinkled some powder tranquilizer on a cupcake and gave it to Rarity. The girls talked for a little while, and Rarity munched on her cupcake, and soon she began to feel tired, and dizzy. Then she fainted. No pony else was in the shop at the moment so Pinkie and Cheese used this to their advantage and dragged Rarity’s motionless body down to the basement. As Cheese tied her up, Pinkie ran back up the stairs to run the shop. There was only a little longer to go until closing time. Once closing time came around, Pinkie flipped the open sign to closed and locked to door. Then she went back down the basement, where Cheese was waiting, making sure Rarity stayed unconscious. “Thanks for waiting,” Pinkie said as she descended the stairs. “You know I would never start without you,” he said and smiled at her. Pinkie smiled back and then looked over at Rarity who was tied up and unconscious. To Pinkie’s surprise, she had a long stream of drool running from her mouth, down her torso and down her back left leg and dripping from her hoof onto the floor. She eyed it and thought, “And I thought she was so high maintenance.” The two of them waited for her to wake up, for the third and final time. She blinked, yawned and looked around. Her eyes grew wide as she looked around at her surroundings. “Where am I?” She asked. Pinkie and Cheese noticed that it wasn’t fear that occupied the main emotion in her voice. It was…. delight. “You’re in the basement of Sugarcube Corner,” Pinkie said plainly, confused as to why she wasn’t screaming and struggling in her restraints. “Oh!” She piped up. She looked around once again, “Well, Pinkie, Cheese, I absolutely love what you both have done with the place. Is that blood dripping down the walls? It looks lovely, and the red color of the blood mixes perfectly with the gray color of the walls. It looks just like taffeta the way it's layered like that." She said with a small squeal. Pinkie and Cheese exchanged confused looks. Cheese took one of their sharpest knives and walked up to Rarity. He chopped her horn off with the knife and to both his and Pinkie’s surprise, she….. moaned? Yes, that was definitely a moan. Pinkie and Cheese were both sadists, but they had never dealt with a masochist before. Cheese looked back at Pinkie and smiled, she smiled back. They were going to have a lot of fun this time around. Unless she got really annoying, in which case they would just kill her instantaneously. Pinkie and Cheese had discussed torturing Rarity so they had many ideas about what to do. They started how they start with everypony. Since Cheese started last time, Pinkie got to start this time. She grabbed a scalpel off the table and stepped closer to Rarity. Then she paused in thought and stepped back. She pulled Cheese away from Rarity and began to whisper to him. “Don’t you think Rarity could make you a cutie mark suit? Like I made my cutie mark dress. She’s not struggling or screaming and I’m sure she would cooperate quite well if we kept her chained to something so she couldn't escape.” Cheese nodded, “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. But, we can still torture and kill her afterwards right?” “Of course. Do you think I would pass up an opportunity to kill Rarity? I hate her stinking guts; she’ll probably make horrible cupcakes. But we should tell her that if she makes the suit that we’ll let her live. Although, I’m not sure why she would want to live without her horn.” Cheese smiled and shrugged, “that’s just how ponies are. They have a desire to live, no matter how deformed they are. Have you ever noticed that even when our victims have no legs and their horns or wings are cut off, and their cutie mark has been removed, they still beg to be set free, for us to let them live?” Pinkie nodded, “Yeah, I know, it’s so retarded.” Cheese coughed and gave Pinkie a stern look. “Right, right, mentally challenged. Sorry.” Pinkie corrected herself, not wanting to offend anypony. Rarity coughed, “Ahem. Are you forgetting about somepony?” she asked, being the attention whore she is. Pinkie smiled at Cheese and he smiled back. They turned around at the same time and Pinkie spoke to her. “So, Rarity. Since you didn’t ask, I’ll just explain this situation to you. So you see, when I was a filly after I got my cutie mark and discovered my destiny, I became the super duper party pony I am today. I began to bake, and I made cakes, cupcakes, muffins, brownies, cookies, you know, sweets and stuff. But I started with cupcakes. Mainly because cupcakes were, and still are, my favorite. I would always get my parents and sisters to try my cupcakes and they would always tell me they were good. Just good. Never great, or amazing, or perfect. So I continued to strive to make the best cupcakes I could. “One day, I was upset because I had made another batch of ‘good’ cupcakes, and I was rummaging through a drawer of knives. I accidentally cut my hoof and I brought it up to my mouth and licked the blood off of it. The blood had a particularly interesting flavor to it, and I thought to try it with one of my cupcakes. I used the fluffy interior of the cupcake to soak up the blood and then I took a bite.” “Was it good?” Rarity asked. “Shut the hell up. I’m getting on with the story.” Pinkie growled, irritated. “Oh, right, sorry.” “Anyway…. I took a bite of the cupcake with my blood on it, and realized I had found the secret ingredient to make my cupcakes perfect. So the next time I made a batch of cupcakes I kidnapped a pony and brought them into my parents old shed. I quickly killed them and cut out their organs and baked them into my cupcakes. I disposed of the body in a large ditch covered with rocks. “My parents and sisters said that my cupcakes were amazing, not just good. I was so happy. The next time I made cupcakes I was caught harvesting my special ingredients-” Rarity gasped, “oh no!” “Ahem…” Pinkie coughed impatiently. “Oh, sorry….” “Yeah…. Anyway…” Pinkie continued. “My sister asked why I was killing them and taking out their organs. I told her and she said it was brilliant. Then she told me that I should torture them instead of just killing them, and I protested by saying they would scream and I would get caught. Then she told me that I should torture them in a cave and then bring their organs back to the shed. I thought that was a great idea and from that moment on she and my other sister joined me and we began harvesting together. We began to cut off and keep the cutie marks, horns, and wings of ponies we murdered and baked for memorabilia.” Rarity was tearing up, “that is such a touching story.” Pinkie smiled, “I know.” At least someone appreciated it. “We have a proposal for you Rarity,” Cheese stepped up. He motioned with his back leg for Pinkie to go. She walked off to go put on her cutie mark dress. “I bet you can’t guess what Pinkie did with the cutie marks she collected.” “I probably can’t. Do tell,” Rarity said eagerly. “Well… She sewed them together and she made a dress.” Then, as if on cue, Pinkie walked back in wearing her cutie mark dress. “Oh, Pinkie, darling. You look absolutely gorgeous.” Pinkie smiled and curtsied, “Why, thank you, Rarity.” “Did you make it all by yourself?” She asked. “Yes I did. Now-” “How long did it take you? How many cutie marks are on it? How many ponies did you have to kill to be able to make it? Wha-” “Rarity…” Pinkie growled. “Yes, terribly sorry darling…. Please continue.” “Cheese and I would like to ask if you would make a suit for him out of cutie marks, in the same manner I’ve made this dress. I’m not sure if I could do it, and I’m pretty sure Cheese doesn’t know how to sew.” She looked at him disapprovingly, and he smiled awkwardly. “Of course, anything for the lovely couple.” She paused, “However, I’m not sure I can work under these conditions.” She tugged on her restraints, as if to prove her point. “Duh,” Cheese said very matter-of-factly. Pinkie nudged him roughly. “Ouch,” he mumbled, “Oh, uhhh...… Yeah, we know that, we’ll let you go if you agree to make the suit.” “Cheese….” Pinkie groaned under her breath. “I mean….. What do I mean?” He asked Pinkie. “I’m still kind of in shock from when you told me-” Pinkie nudged him again, and nodded her head towards where Rarity was tied up. “Oh, right….” He said. “You want to keep that a secret for now.” Pinkie nodded. “Well, in any case, I will most certainly make that suit for you, Cheese.” Rarity said. “Although I’m sure it will be quite the challenge without my horn.” She laughed her fake ‘just-trying-to-lighten-up-the-mood’ laugh. “Yay!!” Pinkie shouted, and she jumped up into the air. Rarity smiled at her friends’ enthusiasm, “now, lets get started, shall we?” “Yes indeedy!” Pinkie left to go get the box of cutie marks they had decided to use to make Cheese’s suit. She set them on the ground in front of Rarity, and then got to work on untying her. Cheese had left the basement to get Pinkie’s sewing machine from their bedroom. He came back carrying the sewing machine on his back. Rarity had been untied and Pinkie was fastening a ball and chain to her back left hoof. Cheese put the sewing machine on the open spot on the table with the torture tools. “Thank you, these working conditions will be wonderful.” Rarity scooched the box of bloody cutie marks to the table so she could have easier access to them while she was working. She picked a few of them up with her hooves and examined them together, and then she began sewing them together. Pinkie and Cheese smiled at each other and then began to walk up the stairs. They were stopped by a harsh, “WAIT!” from Rarity. They turned and walked back down the stairs. “What is it Rarity?” Pinkie asked. “Well,” she started. “If I am to die down here, I would very much appreciate it if I could have some of your delightful sweets to snack on while I work.” Pinkie smirked and swished her tail at Cheese and he grinned at her. “Well of course,” Pinkie said. “We would be glad to accommodate your needs.” “But, you will have to pay for them. Oh and you’ll also have to pay for that cupcake Pinkie gave you earlier.” Cheese added. Rarity’s cheerful smile faded. “Why, why this is an outrage!” She shrieked. “How dare you kidnap me, tie me up, cut off my horn, force me to make a suit out of other ponies cutie marks, threaten to torture and kill me, and force me to pay for sweets!!” Rarity looked like Fluttershy had looked at the grand galloping gala. She seemed to be snorting fire and smoke out of her nose and she was out of breath from all that rampaging. She looked angrily up at Pinkie and Cheese and they both had one of their hooves up to their mouth to try to muffle their snickering. She stared at them in awe. She shrugged it off, and sighed, “Well, if I’m to die anyway, I assume there’s no harm in paying.” “You know what they say about assuming,” Cheese said. “It makes an ass out of you and me.” Pinkie giggled and Rarity made a disgusted face. “Please just fetch me a sweet of some kind. I would really love a cupcake that isn’t poisoned.” She said, her cheery mood returning. “I’ll go grab that for you and I’ll put the price on your tab.” Pinkie said joyfully, and she walked up the stairs. Rarity sighed and got back to work on the cutie mark suit she was making for Cheese Sandwich. “Oh, wait,” she called after Pinkie. Pinkie’s head appeared at the bottom of the staircase, “yes?” “Could you get me a napkin or something? The blood from when Cheese cut off my horn, it’s getting in my eyes, and it’s quite difficult to see.” She wiped a bit of the blood off her forehead. “Sure!” Pinkie said happily and went back up the stairs. She came back a bit later with a cupcake and a napkin. “Here you go Rarity.” she set the cupcake and napkin on the table next to the sewing machine and left, after checking to see how much Rarity had done on Cheese’s suit so far. Rarity thanked her and used the napkin to wipe the blood out of her eyes and then she took a bite of the cupcake. She relished in the flavor and then continued working, saving the rest for later. One day went by. Then two. Then four. Then one week went by and Rarity still hadn’t finished Cheese’s suit. It was pretty close to done, but not quite. Cheese had even been secretly urging her to finish it as soon as possible without Pinkie knowing what he was doing. Finally, one week and three days after Pinkie and Cheese kidnapped Rarity, she finished the suit. Cheese put it on and Pinkie and Rarity examined him in it. “Oh, Cheese,” Pinkie said, “you look wonderful.” She smiled at him and went to go put on her cutie mark dress and get a camera. She came back down wearing the dress. “Ooooh,” Rarity cooed. “You two look absolutely lovely together. It’s like you’re a little serial killer family.” She smiled. “I’m glad you think so Rarity. Would you mind taking a photo so I can put this in our scrapbook?” Pinkie asked, handing Rarity the camera. Rarity took the camera, “Of course. Now, I want you to stand in front of the banner that says ‘Life is a Party’ and smile.” Pinkie and Cheese did as they were told. Once Rarity had taken the picture Pinkie took the camera from her and pulled the picture out of the picture socket thingy and went to her and Cheese’s room to put it in the scrapbook. Cheese stayed in the basement to tie Rarity up so he and Pinkie could finally rid Equestria of this annoying, selfish, snobby, thinks-she’s-better-than-everypony-else bitch. Pinkie came back down to the basement, now not wearing her cutie mark dress. She was ready to torture and kill Rarity. “My only regret is that I didn’t make this bitch my first victim.” Pinkie thought as she walked towards Rarity with her favorite knife, rather than just using a scalpel like normal. > Chapter Five > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “So, we’re getting started now, are we?” Rarity asked, as she watched Pinkie walk up to her with the large knife, assuming she was about to cut off her cutie mark. Like she had explained in her heart-warming story when she had first been captured and tied up down in the basement of Sugarcube Corner. “We won’t be starting anything. We have decided to kill you quickly because we do not like you.” Pinkie said, a scowl on her face. Rarity frowned and looked behind Pinkie at Cheese and he nodded. “Oh, damn it all…” Rarity said, disappointed. Pinkie and Cheese laughed like the insane serial killer maniacs they were. They enjoyed it when Rarity got upset or mad. Then Pinkie walked up to her left flank. “Enjoy this as much as you can, it’s the only pain you’re going to get.” “Ok, I will.” Rarity looked down at where Pinkie had her knife, Barry, pressed against her delicate white fur. She seemed absolutely giddy at the thought of getting cut open by somepony else. Pinkie slowly pressed the sharp blade into Rarity’s flank and cut a circle around her cutie mark. Rarity moaned loudly and stared up at the ceiling, her eyes glazed over from the pleasure she was feeling. Pinkie hated that Rarity enjoyed what was she was doing to her. “Oh, I wish I could just stab Barry into her to make her stop moaning. I wish she hated pain. I wish she would scream and cry like everypony else before her. It would be great if she were hemophobic, then she’d be screaming so much, and she’d be in so much pain and displeasure. This slutty, horny, snobbish, bitch doesn’t deserve the pleasure she’s feeling right now.” Pinkie thought angrily as she sliced through Rarity’s skin and fur. "I've decided that I hate masochists. This just isn't fair." Pinkie pulled away the slab of flesh from Rarity’s flank and handed it to Cheese. Fresh blood ran down her leg, both Pinkie and Rarity ignored it. Cheese set Rarity's cutie mark on the table upside down so it could dry, and Pinkie moved on to Rarity’s other flank. She did the same and Rarity’s moans grew increasingly quieter as Pinkie worked, which she was very grateful for. She finished cutting out Rarity’s opposite cutie mark and set it upside down on the table next to her first cutie mark. She put Barry back in his usual drawer to be cleaned later. “Should we tell her?” Pinkie asked Cheese while Rarity was still relishing in the pleasure. “Tell her what?” Cheese asked, genuinely confused. "You know," Pinkie whispered and touched her tummy gently with her hoof. “Oh!” Cheese shouted, snapping Rarity back to reality. “Since she’s about to die anyway, why not?” “What?” Rarity asked, unaware of the conversation Pinkie and Cheese had just had, and ignoring the crimson blood running down her legs and dripping off her hooves onto the floor. “Well you see….” Pinkie started. She averted her eyes from Rarity's and blushed slightly. “You’ve always been into mares and my moaning has turned you on?” Rarity asked smiling devilishly. “Hell no!” Pinkie shrieked. “Damn it, she’s so fucking full of herself. Maybe she worships Discord instead of Princess Celestia like everypony else. Well, everypony else besides me and Cheese of course, and any other serial killers that happen to live in Equestira. But, really, why did she even have to say that? I think I’m going to throw up now, that’s just…. No. I should have just snapped her neck when I had the chance.” "You are like waaaaaaayyyy off!" “Well, sorry dear, but you were blushing and you mislead me.” Rarity said, with a hint of laughter in her voice. Pinkie shuddered, “You know what? Never mind. You don’t deserve to know.” “Oh, I’m so sorry darling. Wait, please tell me.” Rarity begged, tugging on her restraints slightly, as though trying to chase after her. “No. And don’t you ever call me….. darling. Ever.” Pinkie hissed through gritted teeth, repulsed. Rarity sighed, “Oh, alright. So, are you going to kill me now, or what?” “Great idea.” Cheese cut in, excited to see the mare he hated more than anything in all of Equestria die. “Cheese,” Pinkie said. “Would you like to do the honors?” “Gladly…” Cheese said darkly as he inched towards Rarity. Cheese stood on his hind legs and placed his front hooves on Rarity’s neck. Rarity smiled at him and Cheese snarled. He quickly snapped her neck and went back down on all fours. He trotted back over to Pinkie, smiling, “I've always wanted to do that.” Pinkie went to untie Rarity’s body and while she was distracted, Cheese removed Barry from his usual spot and unwrapped the bandages around the handle and put something inside the wrapping and wrapped it back up, the unknown item leaving a large bulge in the wrapping. He placed Barry in the scalpel drawer. Then he hurried to help Pinkie untie Rarity and dispose of her body. They collected all of her organs in a metal bucket, to be used to make cupcakes later. Even though Rarity would probably make awful tasting cupcakes, they couldn't waste precious ingredients. Spike would probably eat them, since he was sooooo in love with Rarity, Celestia knows why. They burned her fur, skin, mane and tail. Once Rarity’s body was devoid of all flesh, Pinkie and Cheese separated the bones. Pinkie placed Rarity’s skull on the shelf along with all the other skulls of her many victims. She stood back for a minute and admired it. There were skulls of all shapes and sizes, and they were painted all different colors. She spent an extra long time staring at her prized possession, Gilda the griffin's skull. Gilda. Gilda had been her very first victim in Ponyville. "I wonder what it would have been like if I had killed Rarity first and if I never killed Gilda." Pinkie said quietly to herself. Cheese walked up to Pinkie, having not heard what she said, and stood next to her, admiring her work. “Don’t you think you should go clean up that knife you used on Rarity earlier? Since it was the only weapon we used on her, it might be a good idea to go ahead and clean it up now” Cheese said. “Yeah, I’ll go do that now. Thanks for reminding me.” Pinkie smiled at Cheese and she walked over to the drawer she usually kept Barry in, she opened it, but Barry wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Cheese?” She called. “Yes?” He answered. “Have you seen Barry anywhere? I could have sworn I put him in this drawer earlier.” “B-Barry? Who’s Barry?” Cheese knew that knife was her favorite, but he never knew she had named it. He was confused and thought she was talking about a pony, or perhaps some other creature possible for ponies to mate with, like a griffin or something. Although it should have been completely obvious she wasn’t talking about a pony, or any other creature since she literally just said that she was going to go clean a knife. Pinkie sighed, “Barry. He’s my favorite knife. We’ve been over this.” “Oh, right. Barry….” Cheese said, embarrassed. “Have you checked ummmm.......... I don't know, try the scalpel drawer.” He suggested. "Ok, but I don’t know why he would be in there, but I’ll do that now, thanks.” Pinkie walked over to the scalpel drawer and opened it. The first thing she saw was Barry, sitting on top. “Barry? What were you doing in here?” She asked him. But, of course, he didn’t answer, because Barry was just a knife. The blood from Barry’s blade was dripping onto a few of the scalpels beneath him. Pinkie picked up Barry in one hoof, and she was about to pick up the bloody scalpels when she realized that something was off. She stared at the handle of her favorite knife and noticed that the bandages around it were slightly different from the way they had been wrapped earlier. And there was a large bulge in the wrapping. It made one side much bigger than the other. This bothered her, so she attempted to take the bandages off to remove whatever was making the bulge. Cheese walked over to her, wondering what was taking her so long to get a knife, and he saw her struggling to remove the bandages. “Do you need some help with that?” He asked. “Yeah, could you unwrap this and remove whatever that thing is?” she handed the knife to Cheese and pointed to the bulge with her hoof. He unwrapped the bandages easily and held the bulge in his hoof at an angle where Pinkie couldn’t see what it was. He handed Barry back to her and she happily took him, fixing the wrapping. “What was the bulge?” She asked nonchalantly, while trying to adjust the wrapping some more to make it absolutely perfect. Cheese knelt down and looked up at Pinkie. He held out his hoof and in his hoof was a ring. Pinkie gasped and her mane lost it’s dreary demeanor and poofed up into wild, pink, bouncy curls. “Pinkamena Diane Pie, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” Cheese asked. Pinkie’s eyes watered up, and she said, “Oh Cheese, of course I will. I love you so much. Almost more than I love frosting. And you know how much I love frosting.” Cheese laughed and stood up. And, before Pinkie could go into a trance and start drooling over frosting, Cheese leaned in and kissed her. > Chapter Six > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie was on her way to Sweet Apple Acres for a picnic with the girls; excluding Rarity of course. She had gained quite a bit of weight since the last time she had a picnic with girls. That was because she had a little foal growing inside her tummy. She had gone to see Nurse Redheart and had an ultrasound. Nurse Redheart had told her that she was going to have a girl. Cheese was excited about this. He had always been talking to Pinkie about how if they ever had a foal he would want a girl. Cheese had told Pinkie that a boy would be too difficult to take care of. Pinkie countered by saying that twins were worse, and she would know. She arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, a bit tired from all the walking, and all the other girls were already there. Pinkie slowly, and carefully sat down on the checkered blanket, the same one they had used at their last picnic. “Gee Pinkie,” Apple Bloom said, staring at her tummy. “You sure have gotten fat.” “Apple Bloom!” Applejack scolded her, her voice a little slurred, and she lifted a hoof to strike her. “Now listen here, there is no need to be so rude to Pinkie.” Apple Bloom flinched. Pinkie laughed, “Oh, don’t worry Applejack, it’s fine. She’s just a filly after all.” She said in an attempt to save the little filly from being struck. “Well alright, if you say so….” Applejack said, lowering her hoof. Apple Bloom quickly scurried away from Applejack while she had the chance, glancing at Pinkie and silently thanking her. Pinkie looked around at her friends. Fluttershy had lost a lot of weight, and her mane, tail, and coat were all very messy and uncared for. Sweetie Belle had also lost a lot of weight, and she wasn’t the happy go lucky, innocent filly she used to be. Her elder sister had gone missing, so now she was all alone. Lucky for her, Applejack and Big Mac had taken her in. Speaking of Big Mac, he owned Sweet Apple Acres now. Granny Smith had finally passed on and had left the farm to him in her will. Big Mac was always busy bucking apples, or conducting a sale in Ponyville, or Canterlot, or Manehatten. Nopony knows where he is half the time. Applejack had constantly been drinking hard cider and was hardly ever sober anymore. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were always scared of her. Big Mac kept Applejack in check most of the time he was on the farm with the girls. She still did her everyday chores, being one of the only ponies working on it now that Big Mac was always away on business. Twilight had accumulated narcolepsy from staying up so late studying so often. Her eyes were always bloodshot and drool constantly flowed out of one corner of her mouth. It was like she had gone brain dead, but of course she hadn’t because she was still Princess Celestia’s prized pupil. Spike was no where to be seen. Ever since Rarity’s disappearance, he seemed to have gone missing as well. Perhaps he had killed himself - knowing of the massive crush he had on Rarity, it certainly seemed like a possibility - and Twilight never told the rest of the girls. Maybe that’s what happened and maybe that was the reason why Twilight was so out of it now, because she had lost her number one assistant. Pinkie sort of hoped that he hadn’t killed himself. She always thought dragon cupcakes would taste really good. Rainbow Dash hadn’t changed much. She was still her usual, boastful, athletic, loyal self. She was flying around right now, attempting to pull off a sonic rainboom. If Scootaloo had been there, she would have been watching in awe, waving a rainbow colored flag and cheering. “Girls,” Pinkie announced. “I have something to tell you all.” “Is it something about you and Cheese?” Rainbow Dash asked, doing a flip and landing on the ground next to the blanket. “Actually, yes.” Pinkie said, a bit annoyed by Rainbow’s interjection. Or perhaps that was just the hormones acting up. All the girls moved closer to her and leaned in, wide eyed, waiting for Pinkie to spill all the juicy details. After a long moment of silence Sweetie Belle said, “Well what is it?” Pinkie smiled. “Well, you can all see how fat I’ve gotten, yes?” The girls all nodded, though it was hesitantly. “Well, there is actually a reason for it, and it’s not because I’ve been eating too many sweets.” She giggled a little. “Are you……” Fluttershy asked shyly, “Pregnant?” The other girls gasped and looked at her, and then back at Pinkie, in nearly perfect unison. Pinkie smiled, “Yes I am.” Even though Pinkie wanted to break the news herself, she couldn’t bring herself to get mad at Fluttershy, especially not in the condition she was in now. All the girls, except Applejack and Rainbow Dash, squealed and hugged each other. They all started talking about whether it would be a colt or a filly, and what Pinkie and Cheese planned on naming him or her. “Oh… Pinkie,” Fluttershy said quietly after walking over to her and sitting next to her. “I’m so happy for you. You’re lucky that you aren’t too skinny to support a foal.” Pinkie stared at Fluttershy, speechless. Fluttershy recognized the way Pinkie was staring at her and she said, “Oh, yes, I’ve been pregnant before, but Doctor Whooves told me that I was too skinny and frail to support a foal, so he gave me an abortion.” “Oh, Fluttershy, I’m so sorry….” Pinkie said, hugging her. “Oh it’s alright Pinkie, you shouldn’t worry about me, just make sure that he or she grows up healthy.” “Alright, I will. And, she’s going to be a girl.” Pinkie said smiling. Fluttershy smiled back and congratulated her once more before walking back to her previous spot and sitting back down, using her wings to help balance her so she didn’t fall over. The girls continued with usual picnic activities, all of them very happy and excited for Pinkie and for Cheese. Meanwhile, Cheese was back at Sugarcube Corner, doing things that needed to be done. Although he was doing quite a bit of daydreaming in the process. *Flashback* Cheese had decided to travel out to the rock farm Pinkie Pie used to live on when she was filly. Assuming her family still lived there. Cheese’s goal was to ask Pinkie’s father, Igneous Rock, if he would bless their marriage. He had arrived and was walking through the rocky fields towards the small house in the distance, which he assumed was where Pinkie’s parents lived. If they still lived here, they certainly weren’t busy rock farming today. The landscape was barren, aside from the hundreds, possibly thousands, of rocks covering the land. “Oh buck!” Cheese cursed under his breath as he tripped over yet another rock. “I should really start watching where I walk. This happens way too often, and if I trip in front of Pinkie’s father, I’ll look like a complete fool. Which of course I am, but not in that way, and not in front of Pinkie’s father.” After stumbling over rocks of various shapes and sizes, and cursing a very colorful amount of profanities, he finally made it to the door of the small house. Or perhaps this was a shed. A shack? A hovel? A shanty? Cheese wasn’t exactly sure what to call it so he dismissed the idea and knocked on the door. “At least I know that the door is a door no matter what shape or size it is.” He thought. Cheese waited in silence for what seemed like an unbearably long time. Just as he lifted his hoof up to knock again, the door swung open. Cheese jumped, slightly startled by this gesture. “What do you want?” A middle aged brown earth pony with a pickaxe cutie mark and a black pilgrim hat asked rudely. He had a gray mane and tail, and cold, heartless, yellow eyes that seemed to suck the life out of Cheese as he stood there staring at him. And he was chewing on a piece of straw. “Awesome sideburns,” Cheese thought, looking at the gray sideburns that ran down the sides of the stallions face. He stared at the stallion and the cold heartless look on his face and in his eyes.“At least now I know where Pinkie’s evil side came from, her father.” Igneous began to close the door on Cheese because he was not getting an answer from the stunned party pony. “Oh,” Cheese muttered quietly, realizing this is reality. “Wait!” Cheese stuck his hoof in between the door and the door frame, wincing in pain as he did so, and immediately regretting it, having not been a masochist. Igneous slowly reopened the door, only to slam it back on Cheese’s hoof, which was still in the doorway. Cheese cried out in pain, not very loudly though. He glanced at the stallion that was doing this to him and noticed a small grin appear and then disappear from his lips. “And now I also know where she got her sadistic nature…” “I said….” Igneous growled angrily. Obviously pissed off that some random pony he didn’t know would come to bother him for no reason. “What. Do. You. Want?” He said this with great emphasis, even through his clenched teeth. “Uhh…” Cheese started, trying to sound as calm and collected as he could with the pain resonating in his hoof and through his foreleg. “Might you be Pinkamena Diane Pie’s father?” he asked. Igneous’ eyes went wide, as though he never expected to hear that name again. “How did you know my daughter’s full name?” He snarled, rearing up on Cheese, getting ready to attack him. Cheese scrambled back a couple feet and stammered, “Sh-she’s my mare friend, we live together in Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville!” He nearly shouted all this as quickly as he could to avoid getting crushed by the hooves of a strong and powerful stallion such as Igneous Rock. He worked with rocks all day everyday, surely he could crush Cheese easily. He calmed down and returned to a neutral position on all fours. He looked at Cheese and raised an eyebrow at him. “And what is your name, son?” “Wow, he’s calling me his son already? But, I haven’t even told him that I wish to marry Pinkie.” Cheese thought. “ Uhh, Cheese Sandwich, sir.” “No need to call me ‘sir’, son.” He said lifting a hoof. “Why does he keep calling me ‘son’? This is starting to get a little creepy. Or maybe Pinkie writes notes to him about me and says that she wants to marry me. Oh, Celestia that would be great.” Cheese relaxed a little at the thought of Pinkie and then he remembered that older country ponies would call other younger stallion son, or sonny. He relaxed even more as he had this realization. “If you insist, s-” Cheese said politely, resisting the urge to add ‘sir’. “So… Cheese Sandwich?” He said his name slowly, as though it were a vocabulary word he was just learning how to pronounce. Cheese nodded slightly acknowledging that he got his name correct. “You’re screwing my favorite daughter?” he asked. Cheese was astounded by the way her father had put it. “I uhh…” Cheese tried, at a complete loss for words. Igneous raised that eyebrow again, “So, would that be a yes?” “Well,” Cheese tried again. “I ummm…….I prefer to call it making love..…” Cheese said awkwardly, mainly just trying to impress Pinkie’s father by acting like a gentlecolt. “And Pinkie prefers to call it screwing. She’s written me two hundred and thirty seven letters since she moved to Ponyville. One hundred and fifty three of them involve you, and Pinkie likes to include all the dirty little details.” Cheese blushed, “Geez Pinkie. Of all the ponies in Equestria you could have told details to, it just had to be your father?” Cheese asked himself. As though reading his thoughts, a middle aged mare that Cheese assumed to be Pinkie’s mother appeared behind Igneous, a mischievous smile on her face. “Her sisters and I read the letters too,” she sing-songed. He heard the laughter of many mares coming from behind Igneous and Cheese blushed even more. “A-anyway….” Cheese continued. “I would like to ask your permission-” “No.” He said flatly. “But you don’t even know what I was-” “I said no.” His expression remained stone cold. “But sir, please, just hear me out.” Cheese begged. “Fine.” Cheese breathed a sigh of relief. “You have 10 seconds.” “Wha- Huh?!” Cheese said, astounded. He quickly grasped for the right words to say in his mind. “Umm..… Wo- uh, Would you please give me permission to marry your daughter?” “Which one?” Igneous asked smugly. Cheese groaned exasperated, “Pinkamena Diane Pie.” He said just before the ten seconds was up. Igneous smiled, obviously amused by the stress he had made Cheese go though. Cheese let a small smirk creep onto his lips. Igneous frowned once more, “No.” He said again, as flat as ever. “B-but sir, why not?” Cheese practically whimpered like a foal. “Pinkie doesn’t give a flying feather what me and her mother think. She makes her own decisions now, Cheese. You should know that after being with her…” He paused and looked up, searching his memory. Cheese was about to speak up, knowing by heart exactly how long he and Pinkie had been together. “For over a year…” Igneous finished, which wasn’t as accurate as what Cheese was thinking. Cheese smiled, “So it’s totally ok if I marry her?” He asked. Igneous shook his head, “That’s up to Pinkie. Now, go getcha some!” He was finally able to close the door without protest. Cheese stared absently at the closed door for a minute, trying to piece together everything that had happened. He heard more laughter coming from inside the house and smiled to himself. He turned around and walked back across the rock farm, back to the little town, and he hopped on the next train back to Ponyville. *End Flashback* Cheese’s thoughts were interrupted by somepony crashing through the window of Sugarcube Corner. Cheese jumped and almost screamed, but caught it in his throat. He turned to see who - or what - had crashed. Spike was lying face first on one of the tables in the shop. “Spike?” Cheese walked into the room, and asked. Spike lifted his head off the table and looked around. He spotted Cheese and his eyes went wide, “You!!” He screamed. A couple ponies in the room stopped chatting and stared at the scene playing out before them. “What have you done with Rarity?!” Cheese’s eyes went wide, “How does he know? Did Pinkie tell him? Or maybe we weren’t discrete enough and he saw us take Rarity down into the basement. Oh no! What do I do?” Cheese thought. “What do you mean? I haven’t seen Rarity in weeks?” Cheese replied, trying to stay as calm as possible. Spike sighed, “I know…. Nobody has…” Spike began to cry. Cheese breathed a sigh of relief, “At least he doesn’t know about me and Pinkie’s big secret.” Cheese thought happily. Then he realized Spike was crying, “I should probably try to cheer him up.” Cheese walked over to Spike and put a hoof on his shoulder awkwardly, “It’ll be ok, Spike. I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually.” Spike sniffled, “Yeah, Rarity can always get herself out of trouble. She’s beautiful, and smart, and-” Spike stopped, realizing they were in public. “A-anyway…. Like the time with the diamond dogs, when she got out all by herself, and she got all the jewels too.” “Wha-?” Cheese asked, having not been in Ponyville during the events of the diamond dogs. Spike shook it off, “Never mind. Hey could I have a cupcake? And could I maybe get one for Twilight too?” Spike asked. “Sure thing, I’ll go get that for you.” Cheese said as he walked behind the counter. He picked up two of the cupcakes that he and Pinkie had made out of Rarity and decorated like her. With white and purple frosting and small blue diamond shaped candies pressed on the side. He put them in a small, pink to-go box and handed the box to Spike. “Thanks,” Spike said as he walked off. “At least he gets to eat Rarity in some way.” Cheese thought to himself, giggling slightly. “He should be happy about that.” > Chapter Seven > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie was still at the picnic with the girls, about to tell them some amazing news. They were munching on the cupcakes she had brought, oblivious to the fact that they were made out of their missing friend. “Alright girls,” Pinkie announced, “I have some more news for you all.” The girls gradually quieted down and looked at Pinkie, purple and white cupcake frosting covered their mouths and cheeks. Pinkie then pulled out a ring, a gold ring, with a large, roughly cut diamond. The girls all stared at Pinkie, gasping. “Did Cheese finally propose?!” Twilight asked excitedly. Pinkie nodded and giggled, “Yes he did.” A huge smile covered her face, which was as red as a tomato. The girls all began squealing and hugging each other and congratulating Pinkie, while eating more cupcakes. “So, when’s the wedding?” Twilight said through a mouthful of Rarity. “Next week,” Pinkie said without a care as she continued to lick the icing off of a cupcake. Twilight’s mouth dropped open, as well as the others. “Next week?!” Twilight asked, her mouth still full of Rarity. “Yes in-deedy!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “Isn’t it exciting?” she asked taking a small graceful bite of the cupcake she had finished licking icing off of. “But, where is it going to be? And I have nothing to wear and with Rarity being gone……” She paused taking a nervous glance at Sweetie Belle, who was frolicking near the apple trees with Apple Bloom. Both the fillies had frosting all over their lips. Twilight looked back at Pinkie and continued, “It would be impossible for me to get anything presentable in time.” “Oh Twilight,” Pinkie managed to choke out through her cupcake and a fit of giggles. “You’re acting like it’s going to be a formal wedding.” Pinkie said and continued laughing uncontrollably. Twilight stared at pinkie, her jaw hitting the ground and her eyes as large as her head. “Pinkie…..” She started, but then she looked down at the cupcake she had already eaten half of and she broke out in an insane looking grin. “This cupcake is amazing!!” Pinkie smiled and watched as Twilight got up and began to hop around with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Soon, the other girls joined them and Pinkie swiftly cleaned up the picnic area and headed home, leaving them to play until the special ingredient she put in the cupcakes wore off. She patted her large belly with one of her fore hooves and said to herself, “It’s all part of the plan little one. All part of the plan.” Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled up into a sly grin. She picked up the picnic basket in her mouth and began the long walk back to Sugarcube Corner. > Chapter Eight: Spike's Little Adventure > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spike had just arrived back at the library, but Twilight wasn’t home. He looked around for her and when he didn’t find her, he began to search for any signs that she had gone anywhere, but there was nothing anywhere. Spike decided to sit in his bed and read a comic until she came home. He walked up the stairs and set the box of cupcakes on Twilight’s desk. “There,” He thought. “Now that if I forget about them, which would be highly unlikely, then Twilight will notice and we’ll both still get a cupcake.” He fell back into his small bed and pulled out a comic to read while he waited. Soon after Spike began reading he realized he had already read this edition. He set it back down and lie back, staring at the ceiling above him. There was a knock on the door and Spike looked up to see Rarity standing in the doorway. “Rarity, wha-?” Spike began, frantically trying to sit up in his bed. “Hello Spikey Wikey, it’s lovely to see you again.” She said in her beautiful voice. “Oh, Rarity, I missed you so much.” Spike said as he began walked towards her. “I missed you too Spikey Wikey,” Rarity said taking a few steps into the room. Spike leaned towards Rarity, his eyes closed and arms outstretched to give her a hug. Insead his lips met hers and suddenly Spike felt Rarity’s tongue attempting to invade his mouth. He jumped back and brought his claws up to face and stared at Rarity. She just smiled at him seductively. “R-Rarity….” Spike started. Rarity gently put a hoof to his lips to silence him. “Shhh. Spike, let this moment be ours.” Spike nodded dumbly as he found himself leaning towards Rarity and closing his eyes. Their lips met once more and their tongues intertwined. Spike’s long serpent-like tongue wrapped around Rarity’s tongue as the two very different tongues battled for territory. Spike pulled away once again. “Rarity,” he panted, obviously out of breath, “why are you doing this?” “Because I want to Spikey Wikey,” Rarity answered, not even panting a little and already leaning in towards Spike once more. “Rarity, I can’t do this.” Spike admitted, backing away. “But Spike….” Rarity whined, tears forming in her eyes. “But nothing, Rarity. I need you to leave.” He said pointing to the exit. “Spike.” Rarity said sternly, although her voice wasn’t her own, it was deep and hoarse, almost like some kind of monster. When Spike looked back at her, she had a mouthful of sharp teeth and she was covered in blood. “R-Rarity…” Spike stuttered, tripping over his own feet as he tried to escape from what he had previously thought to be the mare he had a crush on. “Spike, I could just eat you up.” Rarity, or what used to be Rarity, gurgled through a mouthful of blood. She…. It grew larger and began to look and sound less and less like the beautiful mare Spike had known. “No! No! Please don’t!!” Spike screamed. “No!! No!! Nooooo!!!!” Spike sat up in his bed, drenched in sweat, which he first thought was the blood of other ponies that had dripped onto him. He looked around and soon realized that it had all just been a dream. Spike let out a sigh of relief and then thought back to the dream. “Darn it! How come all my awesome dreams end with monsters?” He asked himself. The small, sweaty, green and purple dragon pulled himself out of his bed and walked down the stairs of the library to get himself a glass of water. He walked back up into his and Twilight’s bedroom. He looked around and it didn’t take him long to notice the box of cupcakes sitting on Twilight’s desk. He walked over to them, drooling, forgetting for the time being that he was the one who had brought them and that Twilight still wasn’t even home yet. He pulled one of the two cupcakes out and carefully carried it back to his bed. Spike looked at the purple and white icing, he then turned the cupcake around and noticed the three decorative blue diamonds on it. “This cupcake reminds me of Rarity,” he thought, shedding a single tear. Spike sat down and stuck his tongue in the icing, digging a small hole in it with his tongue all the way down the cake part. He stuck his long tongue into the hole he had made and circled it around the hole, enlarging it and taking up pieces of the icing as he licked it. Soon all the icing was gone and all that was left was the cake part. Spike peeled off the wrapper and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth, munching on it sloppily. Crumbs spilled all over the floor and Spike’s bed, and all over Spike as well. Spike looked down and brushed the crumbs off his large stomach and turned around in his bed throwing the blanket on top of himself and falling asleep again. > Chapter Nine: The Foal > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Cheese! Cheese, where are you?” Pinkie called from her bedroom. She was slowly trotting down the stairs trying to find him. “Yes?” Cheese called to her from inside the store. Pinkie made her way down the set of stairs and into the store, “Cheese,” she said, out of breath. “I….. I think…..” Cheese eyes went wide, “Is it time?” He asked, beginning to panic and eying her large belly nervously. Pinkie nodded frantically, still breathing hard, “I th- think so… We need to go… Now!” She said loudly. “Oh Celestia!” Cheese said, running around. “What do I do? What do I do?” He asked himself. He looked a where Pinkie had been just a second ago and realized she wasn’t there again. He looked around and saw her standing by the door waiting for him. “Come on Cheese, we need to leave.” Cheese nodded and galloped over to her, holding the door open for her. She walked out and turned towards the hospital. They made to the hospital a little while later. Pinkie went into the room that she was told to go into and Cheese asked to go in with her, but the Doctor told him that he couldn’t go. “It will all be over quickly,” he said. “I’ve done this plenty of times. It should be over in no time.” “Ok, fine, will you let me in to see her once it’s all over?” Cheese asked, trying to peer around the doctor into the room Pinkie was in. “Yes, of course, I’m not a monster, I’m a doctor.” He said, turning and entering the room, closing the door behind him. “Stupid Doctor Whooves, he probably has no idea what he’s doing. He’s probably never done this before. Oh, I hope Pinkie will be alright….” Cheese thought. Cheese paced around the waiting room for what felt like hours; but it was really only twenty-three minutes. The doctor came out with a smile on his face. “The procedure is complete.” “Procedure? It sounds like he just performed surgery, not helped give birth. But I’m glad its over.” Cheese thought, first scowling and then smiling. “She’ll be out any minute,” he said walking back to his fancy little doctor’s office. “I really don’t like that guy. I should talk to Pinkie about getting him next, but she would probably deny it since he kind of helped give our foal life…. Shit, the foal!” Cheese thought, his mind wandering back into reality. He looked back at the door right when Pinkie walked through it. “Pinkie!” Cheese went over to her quickly. “How was it? Are you ok?” “Yes, I’m fine. And, she’s a girl.” Pinkie said smiling. “Really? A filly?” Cheese said, his eyes tearing up. “Yeah,” Pinkie said, nodding. “Cheese, are you crying?” “What? No.” Cheese said, wiping away his tears. “Cheese…..” Pinkie said moving closer. “Ok, yes, I’m crying. But, it’s only because I’m so happy.” Cheese said, smiling as tears poured down his face. Pinkie smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Come on, let’s go see our little filly.” Cheese nodded and they made their way to the room where all the newborns were kept. Cheese and Pinkie looked at their little one through a glass panel. She was an earth pony. Her coat was a slightly darker shade of pink than Pinkie’s, and her mane and tail were the same as Cheese’s with a pink stripe. “Awwww. What should we name her?” Cheese asked. “I’ve been thinking about that for a while. And I thought we could name her Gala Amour.” “What does that mean?” “It means Party Love.” “Awwwww. I love it. I’m so happy Pinkie, I love you.” Cheese said, nuzzling her. “I love you too.” Said Pinkie. The two ponies left for home, they would return to the hospital the next day to retrieve their little filly. And now that Pinkie had the foal, she could now get married to Cheese. “My timing was really impeccable. I remember telling the rest of the girls that the wedding was next week. It’s just my luck that I gave birth the day after I said that.” Pinkie thought as she and Cheese walked home. > Chapter Ten: The Wedding > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Today’s the day!” Pinkie whispered excitedly as she tucked Gala into her bed. She leaned down to kiss the little one’s forehead. “Today’s the day I get married to Cheese, your daddy.” Pinkie whispered to the already sleeping filly. Pinkie heard soft, quick hoof steps as Cheese walked into the room, “Are you ready?” he asked, being as quiet as possible. Pinkie kissed the little sleeping filly once more and then she nodded. She left the room right behind Cheese and they prepared the basement for their guests who would be arriving soon. They had just finished and were back in the shop when their first guest, Twilight Sparkle, arrived. Of course she would be first, she had always been quite punctual. “Hi there.” Twilight said. “Hi Twilight!” Pinkie chirped happily. Twilight smiled and walked in. She sat down at one of the tables and said, “The other girls should be here soon.” “Wonderful!” Said both Cheese and Pinkie. They looked at each other and smiled. Then, there was another knock at the door and Fluttershy walked in with Rainbow Dash flying in right behind her. “Oh. Hello Pinkie. Hello Cheese.” Fluttershy said quietly as she walked in. “Hi guys,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew quickly in and took a seat next to Twilight. Cheese and Pinkie returned the hellos as the five of them waited for the others to arrive. Applejack came with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The two young fillies looked very excited, but Applejack seemed like she didn’t want to be there. “Big Mac ain’t comin’.” Applejack said very matter-of-factly. “He’s too busy with all the workin’ he’s been doin’ lately.” “Oh, that’s alright.” Pinkie said, not even a sliver of disappointment showing through her cheerful smile. “Ummm….. Could me and Apple Bloom see your foal? Umm… Please?” Sweetie Belle asked. Apple Bloom stood next to her nodding, as if she planned on asking the same question. “Of course girls.” Pinkie said, smiling. “Follow me, but you need to keep quiet, she’s sleeping right now.” The girls nodded and Pinkie led them up to where Gala Amour was sleeping. “Awwww, she’s so cute!” Sweetie Belle whispered when she saw her. Again, Apple Bloom just nodded, her mouth open in astoundment. “Apple Bloom, are you alright?” Pinkie asked quietly. Apple Bloom closed her mouth, looked at Pinkie and just nodded and Pinkie cocked her head. “Apple Bloom stopped talking around the bigger ponies ever since Applejack started her heavy drinking,” Sweetie Belle explained, still cooing over Gala. “”Oh, well, Apple Bloom, honey, you can talk to me whenever you need to. Ok?” Pinkie said, wrapping her foreleg around the little one. “O-ok….” Apple Bloom said quietly, her voice cracking. Pinkie smiled sadly at the poor little filly. “Applejack must be torturing the poor thing. Probably not as literally as I torture ponies but still. I wonder how Big Mac is treating them. Would he neglect them since he works so much? Is he nice to them? Does he treat them with love and care? Or is he mean and does he abuse them like Applejack does? Does he drink as much as she does? I just hope they’re in good hooves. I’ll see to it that I find out and take custody of them if they’re aren’t being treated fairly.” Pinkie thought to herself. “Alright girls, how about we get back downstairs?” Pinkie asked. The fillies nodded and they all made their way back to the others. Pinkie served everyone a small piece of cake, some punch, and a cupcake. Once they had all finished eating and drinking, they chatted with each other until Pinkie decided to start everything, but to their surprise, Pinkie left. Cheese stayed, but Pinkie left to go somewhere. It didn’t seem like she left the store, but she certainly left the room. Most of them just acted like nothing had happened and continued talking, but after a few minutes Twilight started getting suspicious. A little while after Twilight had begun acting strangely, Cheese spoke up. “Alright everypony, it’s time for the wedding, follow me.” Cheese walked to the basement entrance with the rest of the ponies followed him. They made their way down the dark, damp staircase. None of them freaked out. When they made it to the bottom, the entire room was completely dark. Cheese moved behind all of them so none of them could leave, and then he turned on the light. The room was suddenly filled with the sounds of screaming and hooves clicking on the floor as the ponies tried to get away. “Girls, girls. Calm down, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Pinkie said as she stepped out into view, wearing her cutie mark dress. “Pinkie Pie. Oh Celestia, what have you done?” Twilight asked, staring at her. “Are you wearing a dress made out of other ponies’ cutie marks?” “Yes!” Pinkie chirped happily, twirling around. “Do you like it?” “No! Pinkie! This is horrifying, what have you done?” Twilight asked again. “Isn’t it obvious? Cheese and I are the reason that so many ponies have disappeared lately.” “D-did you….” Sweetie Belle swallowed nervously and then continued, “Did you k-kill Rarity?” “Yes, we did.” Cheese said from behind them all. The girls seemed to have forgotten he was there, and they all squealed and turned around. “Everyone hated her, so its not like we made Equestria a worse place.” Pinkie continued, taking a few steps toward the group of scared ponies gathered in her basement which she had used to torture so many ponies before. They turned back around to face her since she was the one talking at the moment. “You got that one right.” Applejack said laughing, her voice loud, and slurred. She was the only one among them, besides Pinkie and Cheese, who wasn’t freaking out. Sweetie Belle glared at Applejack for a moment before bursting into tears. “Wait. What about Scootaloo? What have you done with her? You monster!” Apple Bloom shrieked. “We haven’t done anything to Scootaloo.” Pinkie said plainly. “Then wh-” “It was me.” Said Rainbow Dash. “I took Scootaloo-” “s Life?” Finished Apple Bloom. “No, I took her to live with me. I was scared for her, ever since I started hearing about all the disappearances of ponies. She’s safe, and she misses you girls. All she ever talks about is all the crusading you could all be doing if she was with you.” “Oh, well that’s one good thing out of all this.” Apple Bloom said, giving Sweetie Belle a weak smile. “And Gala,” said Sweetie Belle. “She’s a good thing too.” “Unless she grows up to be like her parents.” Fluttershy whispered. She meant it mostly to herself but because of the way the room was built, to hear echos, everyone heard her, and they all turned to her with open mouths and wide eyes. “Oh… Goodness… I didn’t really mean that…” She said, shifting her hooves nervously. “Oh, its perfectly fine.” Pinkie said. “But there is something I need to tell you all.” “What?” They all asked at the same time. “You see this? What Cheese and I do? We kill ponies and we harvest their organs-” “Harvest them? You mean like you harvest apples?” Applejack asked. “Yes.” Pinkie continued. All the interrupting was reminding her of when she and Cheese had disposed of Rarity. “We harvest their organs and we use them as ingredients in our sweets, mostly the cupcakes. That’s why they always taste so good.” Pinkie explained, carefully studying each of her guests’ expressions. “That’s…..” Rainbow Dash started. “Disgusting!?” Twilight suggested, yelling, her voice echoed through the quiet room, bouncing off the walls and into the other ponies ears, causing them to flinch at the sound. “No.” Rainbow Dash said. “I was going to say, that its… Awesome!” She took off and flew a quick lap around the room, landing back where she had started. “You’re insane Rainbow Dash. And so are you.” Twilight said pointing a hoof at Pinkie and another at Cheese. “Well, Dashie, I’m glad you’re impressed. And as for you Twilight…..” Pinkie said, walking towards Twilight, as an abnormally large, evil-looking grin covered almost her entire face. “W-what?” Twilight said, backing away. “I… I didn’t mean anything by it… P-Pinkie, I… I think what you do is ummm..… Wonderful! Yes! Wonderful…. I uhhh.. Oof.....” Twilight grunted as she backed into a wall, puncturing the lower part of one of her back legs on a spike that was stuck to the wall. Fluttershy gasped when she saw the blood start to pool around the wound. Twilight stepped away from the wall, the spike coming out of her leg. Blood nearly exploded out of where the spike had been and Fluttershy fainted. The other girls gasped and stepped away from both Pinkie and Twilight. “Oh, its alright girls.” Pinkie said, moving closer to Twilight. She pulled out a roll of gauze and began to wrap up Twilight wound. Twilight was shaking all over and tears were pouring out of her eyes. “There we go!” Pinkie said happily as she stepped away from Twilight. There was now a white stripe on her back leg with a tiny red dot on it that was slowly getting larger. “Thank you…” Twilight said cautiously. “Anything for my friends.” Pinkie said smiling. “So, does that mean you won’t hurt any of us?” Fluttershy asked in a quiet whisper as she was getting back up. “That’s right! I would never dream of hurting my friends, that’s why I took all of you off of my list. Unless, of course, if you tell anypony about my big secret. Then I will hurt you.” She said, that over-sized grin appearing on her face once again. “But Rarity was your friend, wasn’t she?” Sweetie Belle asked, still crying a little. “No, I really always hated Rarity. I only pretended to like her because I was friends with all of you.” “Oh…” They all said. “Well, just fer the record…..” Applejack said. “I didn’t really like her all that much neither, I’m kinda glad you killed her. And if ya don’t mind my askin’, how did you kill her?” “I snapped her neck.” Cheese answered. “That’s kind of dull, don’tcha think?” “Yeah, but on the bright side, at least she’s dead now, right?” “Hehe, eeyup.” Applejack said drunkenly. “That’s not the bright side!” Sweetie Belle countered. “Not for you it ain’t.” Applejack said. “Now, now. Lets not fight.” Pinkie said. “We are all here for the wedding of Cheese Sandwich and Pinkamena Diane Pie. Let’s get started, shall we?” The girls all nodded and Pinkie gave Cheese a look that told him to move away from the exit and to get where he was supposed to be. He hesitantly left his previous spot to go change into the suit Rarity had made for him in her last days. When Cheese came back he was wearing his own set of cutie marks and when he stood next to Pinkie they looked as perfect as a serial killer couple could be. “Well…” Pinkie started. “I’m not really sure how weddings are supposed to go.” Everyone looked at each other, exchanging looks of confusion. Twilight stepped up, “Princess Celestia taught me the basics, perhaps I could help?” She took another step forward and then winced and sat down, extending her hind leg so she wouldn’t damage it any further. “Never mind…..” She said awkwardly. Pinkie looked at Cheese. “Lets just say we’re married now and go party!” Cheese laughed, “That works for me. But first…” He leaned in and kissed Pinkie. “Awwwwww…..” Their audience cried. “That’s sooooooooo adorable!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly, momentarily forgetting the fact that they had brutally killed her sister just a few weeks before. “Alright everypony, it's time to paaaartay!!!” Pinkie shouted out, once she and Cheese were done kissing. She carefully pulled off her cutie mark dress, motioning for Cheese to do the same. Then they all went back up to the main store for more cake and celebration. For the rest of the evening, none of the ponies mentioned anything about the whole serial killer thing, until when it was almost time for everypony to go home. They were all standing by the door saying their goodbyes when Twilight asked, “What about Spike?” “Huh?” Everyone said at the same time. “Spike.” Twilight said. “What about Spike? I haven’t seen him in days, did you guys ever do anything to him?” Pinkie opened her mouth to say that they hadn’t but Cheese spoke up first. “I actually just saw him the other day, he looked awful. He was ramping on about how someone must have taken Rarity away and he was crying. I felt really bad for the little guy, so I gave him a cupcake, one of Rarity’s cupcakes.” The adult ponies all snickered while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked up at them with confused looks on their faces. “So, just to clear things up, Spike is alive and you have done nothing to harm him?” Twilight asked. “I don’t know whether or not he’s alive, he could have killed himself or fallen from a tall place on accident. But no, we have done nothing to him. I also have no idea where he could be at the moment.” Cheese said. “Well, now I’m both worried, and relieved.” Twilight said, giving them a faint smile. “Alright, well I’m glad we got that out of the way.” Pinkie said, “Good bye everypony, feel free to visit any time. Oh, I should go check on Gala.” She said, hurrying up the stairs to where her foal slept. “Bye guys, I mean girls…” Cheese said lifting a hoof to wave goodbye. Fluttershy stepped right in front of Cheese, her nose just inches away from his. Cheese stepped back but Fluttershy moved closer to him, she looked angry or upset, or both. “I swear, if you do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to hurt Pinkie Pie, then I will personally find you and kill you in the worst possible way. Do you hear what I’m saying?” Fluttershy asked, stomping her hoof on the ground. “Uhhh….. Y-yes….” Cheese said trying to back up another step. “Good.” Fluttershy said, spreading her wings and gracefully flying out the door. The other ponies stared at her with smiles on their faces as she flew away, and Cheese watched her go with his mouth agape. “Wow…. I never knew Fluttershy could be that scary.” Cheese said. The other girls laughed and they left Sugarcube Corner together, joking about how assertive Fluttershy could get when she really cared about something or somepony. Cheese closed up the shop and went up to see Pinkie Pie. She was sitting next to Gala’s crib, nursing her back to sleep. Once she was asleep, Cheese and Pinkie left her to go talk. “So, what do we have next on our agenda?” Cheese asked. “Oh… You’ll see,” Pinkie said grimly. “The tip of that spike that Twilight backed into was poisoned with a very slow acting poison. She’ll suffer over a set period of time and then she’ll be dead in about a week. The other girls will wonder what happened, and I’ll act innocent, maybe even cry a little. Then, when they least expect it…….” “Hey, Pinkie. Are you alright?” Cheese asked, and Pinkie snapped out of her evil thoughts. “What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking. Lets go get some sleep.” She said walking to their bedroom, and Cheese followed her, still feeling confused. The couple snuggled up into their bed. “Cheese?” Pinkie asked him as they lay in their bed and stared up at the ceiling. “Yes?” Cheese answered back. “I love you very, very much.” “I love you too Pinkie, with every single fiber of my being.” Pinkie turned her head to look at Cheese and smiled at him. Cheese looked back at her and smiled as well. They fell asleep soon after, making sure to keep their door open just in case Gala began crying and they needed to go check on her. > Chapter Eleven: The Plan Begins > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie yelled as she galloped towards her injured friend. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” “I… I don’t know….” Twilight said weakly. She looked up at Pinkie with half closed eyes. Her eyes didn’t seem to have much color either. Twilight tried to get up from where she had fallen on the ground, but her emaciated frame couldn’t hold her up and she fell back to the ground. “Twilight, you need to rest. Come on, I’ll help you get back to the library.” Pinkie said as she nudged Twilight to her hooves. Pinkie walked with her back to the library while giving her words of encouragement. “Th-thank you Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said weakly once they arrived at the library. “Don’t say thank you yet, I’m going to make sure you make it all the way into your warm cuddly bed before I leave you all alone.” Pinkie Pie said helping Twilight into the library. Once Pinkie Pie had gotten Twilight situated, and once Twilight had said thank you to her again, Pinkie asked, “Is there anything else you need?” “No, Pinkie. I think I’ll be just fine.” Twilight said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. “Okie dokie then.” Pinkie said quietly as she left. “My plan is working perfectly. She doesn’t suspect a thing. All I need now is to cry when she finally dies.” Pinkie walked out of the library with an evil grin on her face. She suddenly thought of a horrible realization and her expression changed to a look of worry and despair. “Hey, Pinkie, is Twilight ok?” Rainbow Dash asked, noticing the worried look on her face. “Oh, yeah. She’s just taking a nap. She’s not feeling too well though.” Pinkie explained, the look of worry still etched onto her features. “Oh, alright then. See you later, bye.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew away. Pinkie went back to her thoughts. “What if someone comes up with a cure for Twilight’s poison? What if they trace it back to me? What will I do? Cheese and I will both get caught and go to jail and then Gala Amour will have nowhere to go.” Pinkie’s eyes swelled with tears at the thought of her sweet little filly not having a home or a loving family. She blinked and felt the tears fall down her face. She smiled slightly. “At least now I know what I can think about to make myself cry when Twilight does die. If she dies.” Pinkie made her way back to Sugarcube Corner to tell Cheese that phase one of her master plan had begun successfully. “Cheese!” Pinkie called when she made it back. “Yes?” Cheese called back from Gala’s room. “I have news.” She said as she made her way up to where Cheese was. “I do too.” Cheese said as he also wormed his way through the house to find Pinkie. “I think my news is better.” Pinkie said as she ran into Cheese at the top of the stairs. “I seriously doubt that. You’re going to love the news I have to tell you.” Cheese said, kissing Pinkie. “So do you want to say your news first?” Pinkie asked. “No, you go first.” “Alright, well…” Pinkie started. “You know how I told you I had made a master plan for taking care of everypony? The plan I didn’t give you the details to yet?” “Oh, yeah. What about it?” Cheese asked, as a look of confusion and interest appeared on his face. He tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes, still looking at Pinkie. “Phase one of said plan has begun successfully.” Pinkie said smiling grimly. “Great.” Cheese said, with little or no enthusiasm. “I might be more excited if I knew what the plan was and what all the different phases were.” “It’s fine. I just wanted to tell you that phase one has begun. Maybe this way you could be prepared, and maybe I’ll tell you all the details later.” “Alright. Oh! Can I tell you my news now?” Cheese asked, nearly jumping up and down in excitement. Pinkie laughed softly, “Ok, go on, what is it?” “It’s about Gala.” Cheese said turning around. “Come on, I want you to see her.” “Ok.” Pinkie said, containing her excitement and following Cheese to Gala’s room. “Hi sweetie.” Cheese said to Gala in his baby voice once they got to her room. “Dada!” Gala said happily. “Oh my goodness!” Pinkie cried happily, tears forming in her eyes. “That’s soooooooo adorable.” “Just wait.” Cheese said, the smile on his face getting larger. “Gala, say hi to mommy.” He said using his baby voice again and pointing to Pinkie with his hooves. “Mama!” Gala cried, giggling and waving her fore hooves in the air. Pinkie burst into tears of joy. “Oh, Cheese. This is so wonderful.” She hugged Cheese and they sat together watching their little one play. “She’s growing up so fast.” She said wiping away a few of her happy tears. “So, is my news better or what?” Cheese asked jokingly. “Oh, your news is definitely better.” Pinkie said, snuggling into Cheese. “I know.” Cheese whispered into her ear as he hugged her closer. Pinkie Pie and Cheese watched their little one play around until it was time for her to go to bed. They put her to bed and then got to work on their serial killer business. They went down to the basement so Pinkie could explain her secret, evil genius plan to Cheese so he would understand. Once Pinkie had explained it all to him, they went back upstairs and went to bed. The rest of their plans would follow through soon enough as long as they played their cards right and as long as they were careful. They couldn’t risk getting caught now, the penalties would be too great, and Gala would have no place to go. > Chapter Twelve > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and even Spike stood around a hole in the ground. They all had tears in their eyes. Twilight had died, and they were all at her funeral. Twilight’s body was inside a little black coffin. “Why?!” Spike cried. He was going crazy. His face was soaked with tears, they had dripped down his face and off his chin onto his little black suit, which was also soaked with tears. “Why did this have to happen to Twilight? Why her? It’s not fair!” Spike cried and screamed like a child. “Spike.” Fluttershy said softly through her own tears. She placed a hoof on his shoulder to comfort him. “It’s ok. She’s in a better place now.” Fluttershy said, rubbing her hoof comfortingly on his shoulder. “How could she be in a better place?” Spike asked through tears. “She’s gone, and she’s never coming back, it’s not fair. Why did it have to be Twilight?” “Spike, it’ll be ok.” Fluttershy promised him. “You just need to calm down.” “Ok.” Spike said taking a few deep breaths. “I’m alright.” He sniffed away some more tears. “Poor Twilight…” Sweetie Belle said sadly, wiping away a few of her own tears. Apple Bloom, who was standing next to Sweetie, nodded in agreement. They all stood around Twilight’s coffin, sobbing and talking about all of the great things she had done, about all her accomplishments. She was so smart, it would be a huge disappointment to Equestria now that she was gone. They could have used her smarts for science, but now that would be impossible. Princess Celestia would certainly grieve for her prized pupil. A few stallions came around and lifted her coffin up and put it into the hole that had been dug for it. As they covered it up with dirt, and a few of them said a few words. Spike spoke first, “Twilight Sparkle was a very special pony to me. You could call her my mother, she’s the one who hatched me from my egg. She took care of me all this time. I…” Spike stopped, cried a little and then continued. “I really cared for Twilight, and now that she’s gone….” “It’s ok Spike, let it all out.” Fluttershy said. Spike nodded and stepped away from the view of all those who were watching him. “I’d like to say a few words on Twilight’s behalf.” Rainbow Dash said. “Twilight was an egghead. But she was a cool egghead. She’s helped me out with a lot of things, and she’s always been there for me. She’s always been there for all of us, right girls?” Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all nodded. “Twilight should have had another chance, this shouldn’t have happened to her, not this soon. She was still young, she still had things to do in her life. Things that she’ll never get to do.” Rainbow Dash said as tears finally ran down her cheeks. “She…. Twilight…. I just can’t.” She stepped down and buried her head into Fluttershy’s mane. “Twilight was very special to all of us. Nopony should have this happen to them so suddenly.” Pinkie Pie said. “I hope she’s happier now, wherever she is.” After Pinkie said her words, the stallions had finished filling in the hole. The girls and Cheese and Big Mac stayed and talked for a little bit longer. Sweetie Belle placed a small bouquet of flowers on Twilight’s grave. Then, they all went their separate ways back to their homes. Once Pinkie and Cheese made it back to Sugarcube Corner, they went straight to check on Gala Amour. She was fine and then they went down to the basement to lay out the next phase of Pinkie’s plan. “Alright.” Pinkie said. “So, phase one - Twilight’s Death - is now complete.” Pinkie marked out a square on a piece of paper she had lying on a table in the basement. “So, now is it time to start phase two?” Cheese asked. “Yeah, are you prepared? Phase two involves a number of steps.” “Oh, I’m ready.” Cheese said grinning. “Ok. So, for phase two, we need to destroy the apple family. Not Apple Bloom though. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle need to stay safe, if things go as planned, they’re going to be our daughters.” “What? But Pinkie, we have Gala.” Cheese said. “Yes, I know. Did you think I forgot?” “No.. Just… Never mind, continue.” “Applejack is abusing those poor fillies, we need to get them out of her care. I’m not sure how Big Mac treats them, but to stay on the safe side, we need to kill him and Applejack. Got it?” “Yeah, I got it. How are we going to do that?” Cheese asked, looking over her plans, but not understanding any of them. “I’m not quite sure. I was thinking poison, but we never see Big Mac, so I’m not sure how we’d get poison into him.” Pinkie stared down at her plans, tapping her hoof on the ground in thought. “Any ideas?” Cheese asked. “Not yet. Wait! Yes.” “Well, what is it?” “You need to befriend Big Mac. You need to get close to him and somehow sneak the poison into his food or a drink.” “Why does it have to be me?” Cheese asked. “Because you’re a guy. Guys do guy things, you guys will get along great. Please do this for me, Cheesie. I need this.” Pinkie begged. She looked up at Cheese with large, watery eyes, she gave Cheese the look that she knew he just couldn’t resist. Cheese looked at her stubbornly for a moment, then he gave in. “Alright, alright. Fine I’ll do it.” “Yay!” Pinkie squealed excitedly. “Thank you so much!” She hugged Cheese and kissed him a few times. “Anything for you.” He said smiling at her. “So are you ready to go to bed now?” “Not quite, I’ll be a bit longer. You can go on if you like.” She said, studying her plans. “Alright, well, I’ll be waiting for you to finish up. Hurry, or I’ll be cold and lonely all night.” Cheese said as he climbed up the stairs. “Yeah, yeah.” Pinkie said, obviously distracted by something she was thinking about. She wrote down a few more things on the paper. Cheese sighed and headed up the stairs. He left Pinkie to do her planning thing, and decided he would just wait for her to turn up in bed later that night. Pinkie spent a few more minutes adding and deleting things to and from her plan. She wanted it to be perfect. She wanted it to be simple to pull off, but difficult for other ponies to find leads that led to her and Cheese. It would take a lot of work, but it would be so damn worth it once she had it all sorted out. Once she had done what she needed to do she went up to the bedroom where Cheese was waiting. Pinkie skipped into the bedroom smiling. “Hi Cheesie.” She said happily. “Hi Pinkie, how’d the planning go?” “Fantasterrific!” Pinkie said happily as she skipped over to the bed and hopped in. “I see somepony is in a good mood.” Cheese said smiling. He nuzzled Pinkie and nibbled on her ear a little. “Yes I am.” Pinkie said giggling slightly. “Should we close the door?” Cheese asked, kissing down Pinkie’s neck. “We don’t want to startle Gala.” “I don’t want to get up.” Pinkie whined. Cheese sighed. “I’ll get it.” Cheese got out of the bed and closed the door. He trotted back to the bed. “Now where were we?” “I think you know.” Pinkie said tilting her head up slightly and giggling. * * * The next morning Pinkie Pie was ready to put phase two of her plan into action. Cheese, however, wasn’t. Cheese told Pinkie multiple times that he didn’t feel like doing much today. “Is this because of last night?” Pinkie asked. “What? No of course not.” Cheese said. “Maybe, but only because I enjoyed it so much that it’s all I can think about. I don’t want to be distracted by something and forget about last night.” Cheese thought to himself. Then Cheese looked at Pinkie and how sad she was. “Oh man, I hate seeing her like this. I wish there was something I could do to make her happy. Oh wait, there is.” “Alright, I’ll go hang out with Big Mac.” Cheese said, waiting for Pinkie to jump on him in excitement. “Thank you Cheesie!” Pinkie cried happily, hugging him with such force that they almost fell over. They laughed a little and Cheese hugged her back. “I guess I should get going now?” Cheese asked. “Wait, don’t forget the poison.” Pinkie said, giving him a small bottle. “Please make sure you don’t take it by mistake.” Cheese took it and hid it in his shirt pocket. “I won’t I promise.” “Pinkie promise?” Cheese smiled, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie smiled back. “Thank you. Now go, I can take care of Gala and run Sugarcube Corner by myself no problem. Go on, have fun.” “Alright, I’m going. Bye, see you later, I love you.” Cheese kissed her goodbye and then left the store to go find Big Mac. Pinkie went into the kitchen and started baking sweets for the day. Cheese walked through Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres where he hoped to find Big Mac. Once he got there, he looked around a little to see if he could spot him. He didn’t see anypony, but he did hear some noises coming from the barn, probably some equipment being moved around, so he decided to check there. Once Cheese got closer, he could hear voices. He heard Applejack, and she was yelling. She didn’t sound too happy. Cheese trotted the rest of the way to the barn, he peeked through the partially opened door. Inside he saw Applejack holding a cup of cider and she was yelling at something Cheese couldn’t see. “Now listen here you two!” Applejack screamed. “I don’t want ya’ll to be doin’ things yer not supposed to, ya hear me?” She sounded drunk. The ponies she was yelling at must have been Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Cheese watched as they Applejack kicked a box at them. The girls screamed and dodged it. “Now, get!” Applejack yelled, pointing toward the door. The little fillies nodded and scurried out of the barn as fast as they could. On their way out, they bumped into Cheese. He could see the scared looks on their faces, and the cuts and bruises they had all over them. There were tears in their eyes and tear streaks in their dirty fur. “You shouldn’t be here.” Sweetie Belle said as she left the barn with Apple Bloom behind her. Apple Bloom was in much worse shape than Sweetie Belle. Sweetie looked behind her at Applejack and hurried away quicker, staying slow enough for Apple Bloom to keep up. Cheese watched them scurry away, and then he turned his attention back to Applejack. He watched her for a minute, and then he saw Big Mac come into view. “Applejack,” He said in his intimidating deep voice. “You shouldn’t be treating those poor fillies like that.” Applejack took a couple swigs of the cider she had, “You ain’t the boss of me.” She said, stumbling over her own hooves and falling to the ground. “Actually, Applejack, I kind of am.” He said helping her back up. “And I don’t want you treating those fillies the way you do.” “They deserve it. You should see how bad they act.” Applejack said, taking more large gulps of cider, some of it running down her chin and chest, staining her fur. Big Mac shook his head. “This needs to stop now, understand?” “Yeah, yeah, sure thing, boss.” Applejack said mockingly. “Maybe I don’t need to kill Big Mac. He seems to care for the fillies just fine. Maybe it’s just because he’s so busy that he can’t actually take care of them, so he leaves it to Applejack. I’ve got to tell Pinkie, and if she still wants me to kill him, then I guess I’ll have to.” Cheese thought, turning around to leave. He heard angry screams and banging and crashing sounds coming from the barn as he was leaving. Cheese broke into a run and ran until Sweet Apple Acres was out of sight. He made it back to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie was serving a customer. She looked at him with a confused look and he walked over to her. “Cheese? What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be at work today.” Pinkie said. “Yeah, I know, but there’s something I need to tell you.” He said nervously. “Can we talk in the kitchen?” “Yeah sure I-” Cheese walked into the kitchen, attempting to pull her along with him. “Cheese!” Pinkie said. “Pinkie, it’s urgent, you need to know this now." “Alright, I get that, just please don’t drag me.” She looked behind her and once they were in the kitchen she said, “I’m still sore from last night. Anyway, what is it you wanted to tell me?” “Oh, I’m so sorry, are you ok?” Cheese asked. “Yes, fine, I thought you had something urgent.” “Right, right. Well, I was at Sweet Apple Acres, and I saw Applejack yelling at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, and she even kicked a crate at them. And they had bruises all over their little bodies.” “I already know Applejack abuses them, Cheese. If this isn’t important then I have to get back to work.” She said turning around. “No, wait. That’s part of my point. It’s only Applejack. Big Mac has nothing to do with it, he’s trying to get Applejack to stop hurting them, but he’s just too busy with his work and such. I don’t think I can kill him if he’s innocent.” “I want you to kill him so we can take custody of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I want them to learn how to do what we do and enjoy it. That way when we die, then the little ones will be able to carry on our work.” “Oh, that’s smart.” Cheese said. “Yes, I know. So, you still have to kill him, get going.” “No wait. If he’s dead then there will be nopony to work on the farm. He’s too busy to take care of the girls anyway, you could keep custody of them without having to kill Big Mac. I say we just kill Applejack.” “Alright fine, just go, I really need to get back to work.” Pinkie said hurrying out of the kitchen with a tray of freshly baked cupcakes. “Ok, bye.” Cheese said as he left once again to go to Sweet Apple Acres. On the way there Cheese was thinking up his plan to kill Applejack. “Alright, so I should try to sneak up on her and dump the poison in a pint of cider, then she’ll drink it and be intoxicated with the poison. It’ll be perfect as long as she doesn’t see me.” Cheese thought. He felt his shirt pocket for the little bottle of poison but it wasn’t there. “Oh no! I must have just dropped it, I’m sure I’ll find it. I bet I dropped it when I bumped into Sweetie Belle. It’ll probably still be on the ground by the barn.” Cheese began trotting so he could get to Sweet Apple Acres faster. Once he got there, he hurried to the barn, which was oddly quiet. He looked through the barn doors and saw Applejack lying on the ground on the other side of the barn. There was a pint of beer spilled on the ground next to her. Cheese cautiously walked over to her. “Ummm…. Applejack?” Her body didn’t move or stir, it didn’t even seem like she was breathing. Cheese got closer, and he saw the bottle that had held the poison open on the ground next to her. “She must have seen it, gotten curious and drank it, and now she’s dead. Well, it sure saved me a lot of trouble.” Cheese thought, looking at her dead body. He shrugged and left the barn. He saw Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom doing some work on one side of the farm and saw Big Mac a few trees away from them, bucking trees. Cheese watched them for a moment, smiling. “Well, my work here is done. I should get back to Pinkie now.” He thought as he left Sweet Apple Acres. When Cheese made it back to Sugarcube Corner, he pulled Pinkie into the kitchen again and told her it was done, and then he began helping her work. Part one of phase two had been a success. > Chapter Thirteen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked into Sugarcube Corner with tears in their eyes. Pinkie watched them as they came in and sat down. She picked up two milkshakes and two cupcakes and she walked over to the girls. She set the sweets down on the table in front of them. “Pinkie, we can’t pay for these.” Apple Bloom said. “They’re on the house.” Pinkie said smiling. “What’s wrong girls? You look sad.” “Well, Applejack just suddenly died somehow and Big Mac is always too busy to take care of us, so we have nowhere to live.” Sweetie Belle said, a few tears falling down her cheeks. “Well, you girls could stay with me, I’d be more than happy to take care of you.” Pinkie said giving them a reassuring smile. “Pinkie, that would be great.” Apple Bloom said. “But…. What about… Well, you know...” “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t bother you with that at all.” She said nodding her head at Cheese to take care of the customer who had just walked in. Then she continued talking to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. “Cheese and I even have an extra room the two of you could stay in.” “Wow, Pinkie, you’re the best.” Apple Bloom said. “Thank you so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much!!” Sweetie Belle said, hugging Pinkie. “You are very welcome girls.” Pinkie said, hugging Sweetie back. Pinkie walked back over to the counter, watching as the girls started sipping their milkshakes and nibbling on the cupcakes. She looked at Cheese with a smile and she winked at him. Cheese smiled back at her and then looked at the two little fillies. Pinkie trotted into the kitchen to bake some more cupcakes. She rummaged around for some more of her special ingredient, but she couldn’t find any. “Cheese!” She called. “Coming!” Cheese called back as he trotted into the kitchen. “What is it?” “We’re out of our special ingredient.” Pinkie said. “That or we misplaced it. Did you happen to put it somewhere else?” “Oh, right. No, we ran out just the other day, I forgot to tell you.” Cheese said. “I’m sorry.” “It’s fine, it just means that some pony's name is going to come up tonight.” Pinkie said, smiling slightly. Then she started laughing. Cheese nudged her to get her to stop and the evilness disappeared from her laugh, and it was just a normal laugh. “That means we’re going to have a busy night tonight, right?” Cheese asked. “Yes in deedy!” Pinkie said, skipping back out of the kitchen to the counter so she could mark cupcakes off the menu temporarily. Cheese came out of the kitchen just a minute later and saw Pinkie staring at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. “Why are you looking at them like that?” Cheese asked, shaking Pinkie out of her trance. “Because they are going to help us complete this dirty deed.” Pinkie said, the evil smile appearing on her face once again. Pinkie started laughing again, but she was interrupted by some pony crying. She looked around to see who it was, but everyone in Sugarcube Corner was looking at her like she was the one who was crying. Then she realized it was Gala Amour who was crying upstairs. “Oh!” She said as she quickly trotted up the stairs to go take care of her daughter. Cheese smiled and sighed. He loved Pinkie even though she was completely insane at times. Although her insaneness was the sexiest thing about her, it was also hard to deal with, especially when it went over board. Cheese left Pinkie to get Gala back to sleep as he tended to their next customer. “How can I help-” Cheese started as he turned to the pony who had just walked up to the counter. “Oh, hi Rainbow Dash…. And.… Scootaloo?” > Chapter Fourteen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had overheard Cheese when he had addressed Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. They jumped out of their seats and galloped over to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle cried through tears. “We missed you so much!!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both attacked Scootaloo with hugs. Scootaloo hugged them back with tears in her eyes. “I missed you guys too.” Rainbow Dash and Cheese smiled at each other as they watched the reunion of the cutie mark crusaders. “I figured it was safe for her to live in Ponyville again.” Rainbow Dash said. “Since…. Well, you know.” Cheese nodded, “Yeah, I bet they’re all happy that they’re together again. You girls all missed each other didn’t you?” Cheese asked them. The girls all nodded and hugged each other tighter. Cheese laughed slightly. “How about I get you a milkshake on the house, Scootaloo?” “That would be-” Scootaloo coughed and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom loosened their grips on her. “That would be great, thank you so much.” She said going to sit at the table with her two BFFFs (Best Filly Friends Forever). “It was really sweet of you to bring Scootaloo back to live in Ponyville with her two best friends.” Cheese said to Rainbow Dash as he prepared Scootaloo’s milkshake. “Yeah, but there is one really big problem.” Rainbow Dash said, frowning. “What is it?” “I can’t have her live with me anymore, she hates living with me. She says I’m hiding her from her life. But, if she doesn’t live with me, then she has nowhere to live. She told me she could live with Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom, but she doesn’t know that both Rarity and Applejack are dead.” “That is a problem. Just a second.” Cheese took the finished milkshake to Scootaloo and walked back to the counter to continue his conversation with Rainbow Dash. “I kind of thought she could live wherever the girls are living now, do you know who’s keeping them?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Well….” Cheese started. Pinkie came hopping back down the stairs. The first thing she noticed was that Scootaloo had joined Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. She stopped, stared at them for a moment and then walked over to Cheese and Rainbow Dash. “I see that Scootaloo is back.” Pinkie said, smiling at Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, I figured she would be safe now. All she needs is a place to live.” “Cheese and I would be happy to let her live here with the other girls.” Pinkie Pie said, smiling happily. Cheese noticed that this obviously hadn’t been part of her master plan, but it was a huge asset. “Thank you so much, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said. “I really care about Scootaloo, she’s like a little sister to me, and I want her to be happy.” “We promise to take good- no great- care of her.” Pinkie said. “Oh, would you like anything for the road?” Cheese asked. “No, but thank you, again. It was nice seeing you again, bye.” Rainbow said as she flew away. Pinkie and Cheese both said goodbye and then looked at each other. “Well. This is going to be difficult, but a huge improvement to the plan.” Pinkie said. “Yeah, raising four fillies, I don’t think anypony has ever had to deal with that before, mostly because it’s biologically impossible to give birth to four ponies that are around the same age, but also because it’s a huge challenge.” “Cheerilee seems to handle them all fairly well at the school house, maybe we could get her to help us take care of them some time.” Cheese suggested. “Or we could just scare the girls into listening to us, after all, we are serial killers.” Pinkie said. “I don’t think Scootaloo even knows about all that, Pinkie.” Cheese said. “I’m sure the girls will tell her if Rainbow Dash didn’t already.” “And if they don’t?” “Then we’ll just have to show her.” Pinkie said. “We’ll have to show her tonight when we harvest more ingredients.” “What if she tries to get away?” Cheese asked. “Then we’ll tie her up right across from whoever it is that we’re killing and force her to watch. We can even put a bucket in front of her in case she throws up. We can do the same with the other girls, if they refuse to help.” Pinkie said, unaware that they were still in the shop, with customers coming and going. “We’ll talk about this later.” Cheese said as he took the order of the next person in line. Later that night, Pinkie would draw the name of their victim and she would bring the girls into the basement and force them all to watch. She would even let them help if they wanted to. > Chapter Fifteen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie sat in the basement next to her jar of names, she was getting ready to pull one out so she and Cheese could get more ingredients for her cupcakes. She sighed and reached in, pulling out a small, folded slip of paper with somepony’s name on it. She opened the paper to see the name that was written inside. Pinkie’s eyes went wide as she stared at the small slip of paper in front of her.“I was not expecting that....” Pinkie said aloud to herself. “What was it you weren’t expecting, dear?” Cheese asked as he descended the stairs. “This.” Pinkie walked over to him and handed him the slip of paper. “Oh buck. This is going to be both difficult and very exciting.” Cheese said, handing it back. Pinkie took it back, nodding and staring at it. “Let’s get to work, shall we?” she asked, putting the slip of paper down. “Right now?” Cheese asked. “Don’t be silly, we’ll wait until the sun goes down.” Pinkie said, giggling and hopping back up the stairs. “And first we need to put Gala to sleep.” “Right, I knew that.” Cheese said, following her to Gala’s room. When the sun finally sunk below the horizon, Pinkie and Cheese left Sugarcube Corner to go capture their victim. They made their way to the Ponyville Square, and once they got there, Cheese began hesitating. “Pinkie,” he whispered as they waited for their victim to come out so they could capture her and take her back to the basement. “Maybe we should go back and draw a different name, this could be more dangerous than before.” “Don’t be silly, Cheese. We’ll be fine, we’ve never been caught before, why should we start now?” “But….” Cheese started. He shook it off and nodded to himself, “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do this.” He said as he saw their elected victim walk out of a building. After a few minutes of surprisingly silent wrestling and fighting, they finally had their victim. They dragged her unconscious body back to the Sugarcube Corner in an old, brown, potato sack. They dragged the her in the sack down the stairs to the basement, hearing her head crack on the steps each time they went down one. That would leave a couple bruises, but it wouldn’t make the cupcakes taste any worse. They got her body down to the basement and left the sack on her head while they tied her up. Once they were done tying her up, they pulled the sack off her head, she was still unconscious. They decided they would go get the girls now, and see if they wanted to help; after they tied them up of course. “Cheese, we have to be really quiet so we don’t wake any of them up.” Pinkie whispered to him as they climbed back up the stairs. “And make sure to tie them up before bringing them down just in case they wake up while we’re bringing them down.” “Yeah, I got it.” Cheese said as they carefully and quietly made their way up the stairs. “We also need to gag them so they don’t scream, if they wake up and scream while we’re still carrying them down to the basement we could get caught.” “Yeah, ok.” Cheese said, nodding. When they made it to the room where the girls were staying they carefully tied up their hooves and gagged them. After a few minutes, Pinkie Pie and Cheese had three fillies and a mare tied up in their basement. Sweetie Belle groaned in her sleep and tried to move, when she realized she couldn’t move, she woke up. She blinked her eyes open and looked around groggily. Her eyes widened when she realized where she was, and that she was tied up. She tried to scream, but she had been gagged. Pinkie noticed that she had woken up and walked over to her. “Hi, Sweetie. Don’t worry, you’re not the one being tortured, Cheese and I just brought you down here to watch, or help. If you’re up to it.” Sweetie tried to answer back, but of course she was gagged. So instead she just nodded. “Would you like me to take that off?” Pinkie asked, meaning the gag in her mouth. Sweetie nodded again and Pinkie took it off. “Who are you guys torturing?” Sweetie asked. “She’s over there by Cheese.” Pinkie said, pointing. Sweetie Belle gasped. “Mayor Mare?!” Pinkie smiled and nodded. “Yup. Pretty good choice, huh?” “Ummmm...… No. Not really. Without Mayor Mare, Ponyville will be doomed.” “Not doomed, just ummm…… Mayor-less.” Just then, Scootaloo decided to wake up. She screamed and screamed, though most of it was muffled by the gag in her mouth. She frantically looked around at Pinkie and Cheese, then at Sweetie Belle, who was looking back at her. “Pinkie?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Yes?” “Do you mind if I help you torture her?” “That would be fantasterrific!” Pinkie said as she began to untie her. Scootaloo started struggling and screaming since she thought Sweetie was talking about her. Once Sweetie Belle was untied, she whispered something in Pinkie’s ear. Pinkie nodded and went to the table to grab Barry, her favorite knife, and then she walked back to where Scootaloo was tied. Scootaloo burst into tears, so many that a puddle started forming underneath her. “Now, Scootaloo. I’m going to tell you a little story about my childhood.” Pinkie said. Scootaloo stopped struggling and the flow of tears slowed down a little. She looked at Pinkie with big, tear-filled, bloodshot eyes. “When I was just a filly, my sisters and I were captured by two very large, scary stallions. They tied us up and tried to kill us. They probably would have done worse things if we hadn’t escaped.” Scootaloo stared at her with wide eyes. “I’m just kidding. That never happened. What really happened was….” Pinkie told her story to Scootaloo. Gradually Scootaloo stopped crying. When Pinkie told her that she wasn’t going to kill her, there was an audible sigh of relief, even through the gag. Sweetie Belle let out a small giggle, and then asked Pinkie if she could untie Scootaloo. “No, just take her gag off, then if she wants to help us torture and kill Mayor Mare, then you can untie her.” “Oh, ok.” Sweetie Belle said. She reached up and pulled Scootaloo’s gag off. “Thanks.” Scootaloo coughed. “Don’t mention it. Do you want to help Pinkie Pie and Cheese torture and kill Mayor Mare? I’m helping.” Sweetie Belle asked her. “Sure, that sounds fun.” She said. “But, you were crying like a baby just a minute ago.” Cheese said, walking up to the others. “Yeah….… Well…..… Ummmm……... That was because I thought I was the one who was going to get tortured and killed.” Cheese laughed slightly, “Alright then. Sweetie Belle, you can untie her now.” “Yay!!” Sweetie Belle said. She started untying her. “Excellent. Now all we need is Apple Bloom’s agreement to help us, and Cheese and I will have 4 successors. Assuming Gala Amour will take on our life’s work, hopefully both of them. Torturing and killing, as well as baking and running a sweets shop.” Sweetie Belle finished untying Scootaloo and she hopped down and hugged Pinkie Pie. “Thank you Pinkie. You’re the bestest.” “That’s not a word.” Pinkie laughed and hugged her back. “Neither is fantasterrific.” Pinkie laughed, “Yeah, I know. Oh, look, Apple Bloom is waking up.” When Apple Bloom woke up she looked around without much change in her reaction. She tried speaking, but it didn’t work, and a confused look crossed her face. Sweetie Belle walked over to her and took her gag off. “Are ya’ll gonna torture me?” She asked. “No, we brought you down here to see if you wanted to help us torture and kill Mayor Mare.” Pinkie answered. “I thought you would never ask.” Apple Bloom said, an evil smile forming on her lips. Pinkie smiled as well and untied her. Not soon after, Mayor Mare finally woke up. “Pinkie?” Apple Bloom asked before Mayor Mare was fully awake. “Yes?” “She’s kind of….. What’s the word? Fluffy. Could we bake her into muffins instead of cupcakes?” “That’s a brilliant idea, Apple Bloom.” Pinkie said. “Plus we won’t have to spend more money on icing for cupcakes.” Cheese laughed slightly. “Wha- Pinkie Pie? Cheese Sandwich?” Mayor Mare said as she came back to consciousness. “Oh my. Where am I? What am I doing here?” She gasped when she saw the three fillies. “Girls, what are you all doing here? Why am I tied up? Where am I? Oh, I do believe I’ve already asked that.” “You’re in the basement of Sugarcube Corner. We’re going to torture you and kill you, and then make cupcakes-” “Muffins.” Apple Bloom corrected. “That’s right. Muffins, out of your insides.” “Oh, but why do you have to torture me first?” “It makes the meat more tender, or something. I checked out the science of it once before, but I forgot. I mostly just do it because torturing ponies is extremely fun.” Cheese nodded in agreement. “Oh.” Mayor Mare said. “May I ask how you are to torture me?” “We don’t know yet.” Cheese said. “We’re just going to figure it out along the way.” Mayor Mare nodded and swallowed nervously. She tugged gently on her bindings as if to check their strength so she could plan an escape, but that would be impossible. “Well, let’s get started, shall we?” Pinkie asked. Cheese and all 3 fillies nodded. Pinkie walked over to the torture tools table and put down Barry and picked up a scalpel. “Does anypony remember what we do first?” Cheese raised his hoof, “Oh! Oh! I know! I know!” Pinkie rolled her eyes and tried to keep her smile from showing up, “Anypony else?” “Ummmm...… First you cut off their cutie mark, right? For a keepsake?” Apple Bloom asked. “Exactly. Would anypony like to demonstrate step one for me?” Pinkie asked, holding out the scalpel to whoever would take it. Nopony stepped up to take the scalpel. Pinkie looked at the girls as they looked at each other. “I guess I will.” Sweetie Belle said, walking towards Pinkie and taking the scalpel from her. Sweetie walked up to where Mayor Mare was tied up and she put the extremely sharp scalpel on her flank, piercing it slightly. A small trail of blood ran down Mayor Mare’s leg, and she winced. Sweetie pushed slightly on the scalpel and it easily sank into her squishy flesh. Sweetie carved it in a circle around Mayor Mare’s cutie mark; a scroll rolled up and tied together with a blue ribbon. Mayor Mare scrunched up her features in pain, and her glasses fell off her face and onto the concrete floor. They smashed into little pieces. Sweetie Belle finished cutting out her cutie mark on her right flank. Pinkie took it off and set it on the table upside down so the blood could dry. “Would somepony else like to do the other one? Or would you like to do it, Sweetie?” Pinkie asked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stared blankly and the bloody scalpel in Sweetie’s hoof. Neither of them moved so Sweetie walked over to Mayor Mare’s left flank and started cutting a circle around it. Tears slowly dripped out of Mayor Mare’s tired, old eyes and down her face. Sweetie finished cutting off her left cutie mark and took it off herself. She set it down on the table next to the first one and put the bloody scalpel down in between the two blood covered cutie marks. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stared at Mayor Mare. Tears fell down her face and dripped onto the floor. Thin trails of blood ran down her hind legs and dripped off her hooves onto the floor and mixed in with her tears. The shards of glass from her broken glasses sparkled and glimmered with a mixture of blood and tears. “What are we going to do now Pinkie?” Sweetie Belle asked, surprisingly cheerful for what she had just done. “Oh, ummmmm….…... Any suggestions?” Pinkie asked the two wide-eyed fillies sitting before her. They shook their little heads simultaneously . “Cheese?” “Well, we could cut of her limbs slowly. Or her ears, nose and tongue, piece by piece. Or perhaps we could-” He was interrupted by the sound of thick liquid splashing together in a metal bucket. He looked over at where Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had been sitting, and Scootaloo had her head in a bucket and was retching violently into the bucket. She pulled her head up, her mouth and part of her nose were covered in yellowish brown vomit. Her cheeks puffed out and her face seemed to turn a shade of sickly green. She threw her head back into the bucket and continued to vomit. “Well, I guess she’s out for now.” Apple Bloom said, scooting away from her. The others all nodded. “Cheese? You were saying?” Pinkie said, motioning for him to continue spouting ideas on how to end this old mare’s life. “Uhhh, right. We could, ummm…… Let me think.” Cheese put on his thinking face and brought his hoof to his chin. “Oh, please let me go. I promise I won’t tell anypony what you’ve done.” Mayor Mare had started wailing. “Please, I haven’t done anything wrong.” “But, you’ve lost your cutie mark, why would you still want to live and be set free?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well…. I…. I’m not really sure.” Mayor Mare confessed. “But please, if you’re going to kill me would you please do me the honor of making it quick?” “I’m afraid we can’t do that. If we don’t make you suffer, then the cup- muffins won’t taste good.” “But I have suffered, you’ve cut off my cutie marks.” “Well, yeah, but you still haven’t suffered enough to make the muffins taste good. Well, of course they’ll taste good because I’m making them, but if you don’t suffer as much as I see fit, them the muffins will end up tasting like cardboard, or worse.” Pinkie explained. Mayor Mare began crying more and more. Tears were pouring out of her like water poured out of a broken dam. “Aha!” Cheese shouted, startling everypony in the room. “I’ve got it!” “Got what?” Pinkie asked, forgetting that he was thinking of how to torture their victim. “How we’re going to torture Mayor Mare.” He said. You could almost hear the ‘duh’ at the end of the sentence. “Oh, right. What did you come up with?” Pinkie asked. Mayor Mare had stopped crying loudly and she was staring at Cheese waiting for him to explain what they were going to do to her. “We’re going to brand her.” Cheese said. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom winced simultaneously while Scootaloo dry heaved a few times. “That’s not extremely painful. Can’t you come up with something better?” Pinkie said, looking at the branding iron sitting unused in the far corner of the basement. “No, you don’t understand exactly what I meant. I mean we’ll brand her where Sweetie Belle cut off her cutie marks, on the bare tissue.” “Oh Celestia, please no! Please save me!” Mayor Mare screamed, tears streamed down her face. She continued screaming, her screams getting fainter. “Cheese, she’s gonna pass out, where did you leave the adrenaline shots?” “They should be in the drawer next to the scalpels.” He said pointing a hoof towards the drawers. Pinkie trotted over to the drawers and opened the one to the right of the scalpels. Nothing. She moved over and opened the drawer to the left of the scalpels. There were a bunch of empty syringes. “Cheese, we’re all out. What are we going to do now?” “Why are we out? How are we out?” He asked, galloping over to Pinkie to check for himself. “I don’t know, we must have ran out a while back and neither of us went to get more. Shit, this is a disaster.” Pinkie exclaimed. Cheese coughed and shook his head at the fillies. “Oh, I meant shoot.” Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo exchanged confused looks with each other. They all looked back at Mayor Mare, who had finally passed out. They looked back at the fight going on between Pinkie and Cheese. They all heard crying coming from upstairs. “Oh great, now Gala’s awake, I’ll go put her back to sleep. You all stay here.” Pinkie said, galloping up the stairs. * * * Meanwhile in the Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna was standing on the balcony looking out over Canterlot, searching for ponies’ dreams she could enter. She sensed that somepony had just fallen asleep, and she searched for that pony and entered her dream. Princess Luna soon realized that she was in Mayor Mare’s dream. She was tied up in a basement and surrounded by ponies wielding sharp objects. Luna screamed and stumbled back from the balcony into her room in the castle. “Princess Luna! What happened? What’s wrong?” Shouted a royal guard as he burst into her room, his helmet on sideways as though he had been napping on the job. Luna dismissed that fact and continued onward with the matter at hoof. “I need to see Princess Celestia, immediately.” She said. As the guard left to bring Princess Celestia to Luna’s room, Celestia walked in. “Leave us.” Celestia said to the guard. He straightened his helmet, bowed and left the room. “Dear sister, what’s happened?” Celestia asked, her expression a mixture of confusion, worry, and terror. “Mayor Mare, in Ponyville, she was having a dream. No, a nightmare.” Luna explained, breathing heavily. “She was tied up in a basement and surrounded by ponies with dangerously sharp weaponry. It was all to real, it could not have been just a dream. And why would she be dreaming of such a thing if it had not happened to her recently?” “Yes, she could be in grave danger.” Princess Celestia said. “We must check on her and make sure that all is well. It is possible that this is the source of all the recent disappearances in Ponyville lately.” Luna nodded. Celestia walked out to the balcony and spread her wings. Luna followed her and together they took off towards Ponyville. * * * Pinkie Pie had just put Gala back to sleep and was heading back down to the basement. Once she got back down she realized that Mayor Mare had woken up. She was no longer screaming, just sobbing with her head down. “How did you wake her up?” She asked Cheese. “I didn’t, she woke up all on her own.” Cheese said. He was holding a branding iron over hot coals. “I see you’ve almost got the branding iron ready.” Pinkie said. Cheese nodded and turned it over on the coals. Mayor Mare continued sobbing. Her tears dripping into the puddle of blood beneath her. Cheese pulled the branding iron up from the coals. The metal was red from the heat and smoke floated off of it. Cheese walked over to Mayor Mare holding out the branding iron. “Oh, Celestia save me.” Mayor Mare cried out hoarsely as Cheese came closer to her. “Celestia won’t be here to save you.” Pinkie said, standing back and watching at Cheese got closer and closer. She looked down at the three little fillies who were watching with wide eyes. Just before Cheese pressed the hot iron onto Mayor Mare’s exposed flank, the basement began to shake and rumble. “Pinkie, what the buck is going on?” Cheese asked, dropping the iron on the floor and backing up. “I… I have no idea.” Pinkie stuttered, her voice trembling slightly, perhaps along with the shaking of the building. “Pinkamena Diane Pie!” Shouted Princess Celestia in her Royal Canterlot Voice. “Oh shit….” Pinkie said, her ears flattening against the back of her head as she backed herself into a corner. > Chapter Sixteen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The top of Sugarcube Corner had been blown off, exposing the basement. Mayor Mare looked up at the literally Celestial being flying above her. She began crying with joy. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo all pretended like they were the ones who had been captured like Mayor Mare so they wouldn’t get arrested. Pinkie Pie and Cheese backed themselves into a corner. “Pinkamena Diane Pie and Cheese Daniel Sandwich. You two are in a great deal of trouble.” Princess Celestia said in the royal Canterlot voice. “Princess Luna and I will make sure that your punishment is fitting for your crime.” She said in her normal voice. “Cheese.” Pinkie said quietly to him as the princesses took care of Mayor Mare and the girls. “I didn’t know that was your middle name.” “You didn’t?” He asked. Pinkie shook her head. “You two will be coming with us.” Princess Celestia said. She levitated Pinkie Pie and Cheese and she and Luna flew back to the castle. “What are you going to do to us?” Pinkie asked. “You’ve been asked that question enough times, haven’t you?” Princess Celestia asked. “Just answer it like you would if somepony else asked.” Pinkie and Cheese looked at each other nervously. “She’s going to torture us.” Pinkie thought. Princess Celestia threw Pinkie and Cheese into the dungeon. “We’ll be back to deliver your punishment in a few days.” Princess Luna, who was standing behind her sister, nodded. The Sisters left, leaving Pinkie and Cheese alone in the quiet, empty dungeon. Pinkie and Cheese spent three days in the dungeon. They waited impatiently for Princess Celestia to come back. On the fourth day, Princess Celestia came into the dungeon, followed by Princess Luna. “Are you ready for your punishment?” She asked. “Yes.” Pinkie said. At the same time Cheese said no. “Conflicting feelings I see.” Celestia said, laughing slightly, and evilly. She used her magic to open the door of the dungeon, and Pinkie and Cheese walked out. She used her magic to levitate them again and she and Luna left the castle. “Where are you taking us?” Pinkie asked. “We’re taking you to the old Canterlot Castle, in the Everfree Forest.” Princess Luna answered. “Why are you taking us there?” Pinkie asked. “Oh, you’ll see.” Celestia said darkly. She and Luna continued flying to their destination. When they arrived, Princess Celestia maneuvered her way through the castle. She used secret passageways and hidden tunnels. When they arrived, Pinkie and Cheese couldn’t believe where they were. “This,” Princess Celestia said as they looked around the room, “is why we took you here.” Pinkie and Cheese looked around. They were in a legitimate medieval torture dungeon. There were all kinds of devices that they had never gotten to use before. “How did you…” Pinkie started to ask. “You’ll have to remember that we are celestial being over 1000 years old. We lived through the medieval era. We would torture somepony every other day. That was the good old days, I missed them. But now, we have you two. We’re going to have fun with this, right Luna?” Celestia explained. “Oh yes dear sister. This shall be the most unforgettable experience of our immortal lives.” Luna said, rubbing her hooves together maniacally. Celestia’s horn lit up and Pinkie and Cheese were lifted off the ground. “Wait, wait.” Pinkie said. Celestia put them back down. “Yes?” She asked. “Before you torture and kill us, I just have one question.” “Ask away.” Celestia said. “That night, the one you caught us, how exactly did you find us? We were so careful.” “Friendship is a terrible thing to betray, I'm afraid your dear friend, Rainbow Dash, didn't take well to you betraying Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Celestia answered. “You mean, Rainbow Dash snitched on us?” Pinkie asked, infused with anger. “I knew I should have slaughtered her when I had the chance." She whispered to herself. “I’m afraid so. Now, lets get started, shall we? I’m starting to get impatient.” Celestia said, lifting up Pinkie and Cheese and levitating them to the torture tables. She used her magic to quickly tie them up. “Please, please let me go.” Cheese said. He was crying. Pinkie stared at him open-mouthed. “Cheese. Be a stallion.” Pinkie said. “B-but….” Cheese sniffed. “What should we do first, sister?” Luna asked. “I’m not quite sure.” She and Luna looked around the room for what device they would use on their first victims in centuries. “Should we? No… What about?..… That’s a bad idea.” Princess Celestia was saying to herself as she and Luna looked around. “Oh! I know!” Luna said, hopping over to what Celestia knew to be her favorite device. “Could we use this one? Please sister?” Luna asked. Celestia smiled and nodded. “What is that? I’ve never seen anything like it.” Pinkie said, examining it with her eyes, since she couldn’t touch it. “This is my very favorite.” Luna said, placing a hoof on it. “Its called The Rack.” “Wh-what does it do?” Cheese asked. “It stretches the victim’s body out as far as it will go. And in some cases, the victim explodes.” Luna explained happily as a large, evil smile spread across her face. Cheese swallowed nervously. “Who wants to go first?” Luna asked in a sing songy voice. “How about…. You?” She asked, pointing a hoof in Pinkie’s direction. Pinkie didn’t react, but Cheese yelped. “No, wait. Take me instead!” He screamed. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that, but my stupid instincts made me protect the one I love and put myself in danger.” Cheese thought. “No, I want to torture Pinkie Pie first, and that’s what I’m going to do.” Luna said, using her own magic to untie Pinkie and levitate her over to The Rack and she tied her up there. “Luna?” Celestia asked. “Yes, Tia?” Luna responded happily as she used her magic to tie Pinkie’s hooves to The Rack. “What if we combined my favorite device and your favorite device?” Celestia suggested. “What was your favorite again?” “The lead sprinkler.” Celestia said, levitating it over to them. “Oooh! Great idea. Go heat it up, I’ll start tightening this.” Luna said, using her magic to twist the crank slightly. Pinkie’s forehooves went up one inch and her back hooves went down one inch. She winced slightly as her body was stretched out. Luna’s smiled widened and she turned the crank a little more. Pinkie moaned slightly, and it wasn’t the good kind of moan. Luna laughed and turned it up one more. Pinkie moaned again. Cheese stared at his wife as she was slowly tortured. Tears formed in his eyes and he lowered his head. His tears ran down his cheeks and fell from his chin onto the floor. Celestia soon returned with the lead sprinkler heated up. She laughed the most evil laugh Pinkie or Cheese had ever heard, it bested their own, and possibly Discord’s evil chuckle. Half her face was covered in shadows and the other half was bathed in a faint red glow. At this moment she didn’t resemble the beautiful, kind, loving princess that Pinkie, Cheese, and just about every other being in Equestria, had grown up admiring. Now she was some kind of evil, insane death goddess. Pinkie looked up and the two princess in the act of torturing her. They would soon be torturing her sweetheart, Cheese Sandwich. She only hoped that her sweet, adorable, little baby, Gala Amour, would be saved from the merciless evil of the princesses of this land. > Chapter Seventeen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia laughed as she levitated the lead sprinkler over Pinkie Pie’s immobilized body. Luna tightened The Rack up once more and Celestia violently shook the lead sprinkler. Small, confetti sized pieces of molten hot lead rained down on Pinkie. She screamed as her body was stretched beyond its normal limits and as tiny pieces of burning hot lead burned its way through her plush fur coat and the sensitive skin underneath. Cheese watched in horror as his true love suffered such pain. Celestia ceased shaking the lead sprinkler. She watched the burning pieces of lead burn their way through Pinkie’s fur and skin. Cheese wanted to do something to save her, but what could he do? He was tied up. Luna tightened the crank on The Rack and Pinkie screamed again. Celestia shook the lead sprinkler, watching intensely as the smoldering lead pieces rained down on her, sending steam into the air. Cheese noticed that the princesses were paying very close attention to their victim, and not checking on him. He took that opportunity to try to escape. He started struggling, trying to stay as quiet as possible. He pulled as hard as possible against his restraints. He soon realized how weak they were, being hundreds of years old. Instead of pulling, he carefully rubbed the parts that were worn; and soon enough he was free. He carefully and quietly walked around the torture room, looking for a knife or anything sharp he could use to stab one of the princesses. He soon found a knife that strongly resembled Barry. “Did I just call Pinkie’s knife by his name?” Cheese thought. “And refer to it like it was a living thing? Damn, these are dark times.” Cheese picked up the knife and sneaked his way over to the princesses. When he was close enough, he threw the knife at Celestia and right before it hit her, he galloped over to Luna and bucked her in the face. Luna fell over, unconscious and Celestia screamed as she fell to the floor. She dropped the lead sprinkler on the floor. “Ch-cheese….” Pinkie squeaked. Cheese started loosening the crank on The Rack. “Why, you…” Celestia croaked angrily. She tried to get up and attack Cheese, but he moved quickly and bucked her face, like he did to Luna. She grunted and fell back to the floor. Cheese quickly untied Pinkie and they walked out of the dungeon. Once they made it out of the castle, Cheese started trotting. He looked behind him to see Pinkie struggling to even stand up. He trotted back over to her. “Pinkie, are you alright?” She nodded. “I… I th-think so…” She gasped. “Can you walk?” He asked. Pinkie tried to push herself to her hooves, but she fell back down onto the ground. Cheese looked behind them, back at the castle. He figured the princesses would be after them soon. Cheese lie down on the ground by Pinkie. “Get on my back, I’ll carry you.” “Where will we go?” Pinkie asked. “Just get on my back. I’ll think about it as we’re getting away from here.” Cheese said, scooting closer to her. Pinkie pushed herself up and onto his back. Cheese stood up, she nearly fell off and quickly wrapped her forehooves around his neck. Cheese coughed. “Don’t squeeze too tight.” Pinkie loosened her grip and Cheese started off into the Everfree forest towards Ponyville. “Cheese?” Pinkie asked. “Yeah?” “Its the middle of the night. Are you sure we should be going through the Everfree Forest?” She asked. Cheese noticed that her voice was shaking slightly. He realized that all the time he’d been with her, she had never been legitimately scared of something, and now she was. “I’m sure. Don’t worry, no matter what happens, I’ll be here to protect you.” Cheese said. With that, Cheese walked into the Everfree Forest in the dark of the night. Going in, they passed a sign that read, ‘Beware’. Cheese ignored it and carried on. > Chapter Eighteen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Cheese was walking through the Everfree Forest carrying Pinkie on his back in the dead of night, he began thinking of places he and Pinkie could run away to. “It can’t be any where too obvious. So, we can’t go back to Ponyville. We can’t go to Pinkie’s old home. Damn it, where the hell are we going to go?” Cheese thought. “Pinkie,” Cheese whispered. “Are you awake?” “Yes, what is it Cheese?” Pinkie asked, still a bit groggy from sleep. “Have you thought of anywhere we could run away to?” He asked. “No, but before we go anywhere, we need to go back to Sugarcube Corner. There’s something I want to do there.” She said. Cheese sighed. “Alright. Go back to sleep. Hopefully we’ll be there by morning.” Cheese said, shifting her weight slightly and breaking into a trot. “Even though being out in the open in the middle of the day could put us in danger.” He thought. Pinkie leaned her head on his neck and drifted off to sleep. Cheese trotted through the Everfree Forest. As he made his way through the forest, he saw a light. Being the idiot he was, he decided to walk towards it. Cheese walked deeper into the forest. He nearly tripped and fell down a hill. He saw the light flicker and then go out. He cursed to himself and headed towards where he thought he had seen the light. Without realizing it, Cheese walked right into the outer wall of some sort of building or cabin. He tried not to fall back, so Pinkie wouldn’t wake up. He walked around the small cabin until he found the door. He knocked on it, but there was no answer. He knocked again, harder and louder. There was still no answer. He knocked on it once again, and the door slowly creaked open. Pinkie grumbled and shifted in her sleep, but she didn’t wake up. Cheese cautiously walked into the cabin. It smelled bad, and there was something wet on the floor. Cheese heard the sound of water dropping into more water. He squinted his eyes to try to see his surroundings. His vision slowly focussed on the room he was in. He looked at the floor, it was covered in a dark red liquid. Cheese realized it was blood, and that’s what the smell what. He took another step forward and realized that the blood he was standing in was still warm, fresh. Someone was here. Cheese heard something bigger than a drop of blood splash into the large puddle of blood on the floor. He jumped and turned towards where the sound came from. He heard the sound of hoof steps, slowly walking through the blood. Then he heard a squeak, or a squeal. Suddenly the room flared up with light. Cheese grunted and shielded his eyes with his forehoof. Once his eyes finally adjusted he looked in front of him. There was nothing but that blinding light. He looked down and saw a pig holding a candle. “Oink oink.” It squeed and walked away from Cheese, still holding the candle. After walking a few feet, it stopped and turned around. The little pig squealed again and Cheese decided to follow it, after staring at it blankly for a few minutes. The pig led him to a small room in the cabin. There was hardly any blood on the floor and walls and the room didn’t stink as much as the other room. The pig set the candle down on a table on the far side of the room. Cheese stared at the pig as it trotted around the room. “That is one smart pig.” Cheese thought. Then, there was an even brighter flash of light, and it was green. Cheese couldn’t see anything, but he noticed that the pig wasn’t trotting around or squealing anymore. When the eerie, bright green light died down, and it was just the light from the candle again, Cheese opened his eyes. He looked around but he couldn’t see the pig anywhere. Cheese sniffed and smelled what could possible be the most foul smell he had ever smelled. It was worse than when he had to change Gala’s diaper. He sniffed again and realized it was coming from behind him. He turned around and saw something he had never expected to see. Cheese screamed and jumped back. Pinkie was awakened by his filly-like scream and fell off his back as he jumped back. “Cheese, what is it? What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked. Before Cheese could answer, she got her answer and she screamed as well, jumping behind Cheese. “How the hell did you run into a Timberwolf?” Pinkie asked. “I… I don’t know, I saw this light in the woods, and I followed it. Then I found this house and a pig with a candle led me down here and then there was a flash of light and this thing appeared.” Cheese explained quickly as he and Pinkie were backed into a corner by the giant creature in front of them. “This is why you don’t chase after strange lights you see in the middle of the forest.” Pinkie said. They backed up more until they hit the wall behind them. The Timberwolf growled deeply. “Cheese, what are we going to do?” Pinkie asked. “Can you run?” He asked, tensing up his body as the foul-smelling Timberwolf inched closer to them. Pinkie nodded, “Yeah, I think so.” She said. “Then do it. Run, now!” Cheese screamed as he galloped underneath the Timberwolf’s legs. He looked behind him to see if Pinkie made it and she rushed past him. He followed her out of the house and the two of them ran until they couldn’t smell the Timberwolf anymore. “That was a close one.” Pinkie said when they finally sat down to take a break. They were both breathing heavily. She looked up at the sky and Cheese looked up as well. The stars were beginning to disappear and the sky was getting brighter. “The sun is being raised. That means Celestia is back in Canterlot castle.” Cheese said. “Yes, but what about Luna?” Pinkie asked. “What about her?” “She was banished to the moon for a thousand years. Celestia raised the sun and moon all that time on her own, she could be doing it by herself now. That means Luna could be after us at this very moment.” Pinkie explained. “But I stabbed princess Celestia. She’s too injured to raise the sun and moon all on her own.” Cheese said. “Unless Alicorns have some kind of magic healing power.” “Whether they do or don’t, we can’t dismiss the possibility that she’s on our trail.” Pinkie said. “She could be watching us right now, listening to our every word.” She said as she looked around suspiciously. “Come on, we’ve got to keep moving.” Cheese said. “You can walk okay can’t you?” Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, but you don’t look so good.” “What do you mean?” He asked. “I feel fine.” Pinkie stared at him. His eyes were droopy and he had dark circles underneath them. He was slouching and his legs were shaking slightly from exhaustion. “You need rest.” She said. “We need to find someplace safe where we can rest for the day. Then, at night, we’ll head out.” “But where are we going to go?” He asked. “I’m sure Fluttershy would be willing to take us in for one day.” Pinkie said. “How long will it take us to get to her cottage?” Cheese asked. “Not long.” Pinkie said. “It’s right over there.” She pointed at a small cabin right outside the Everfree Forest and started walking towards it. “Come on, Cheese. We need to get there before anypony else sees us.” Cheese followed her up to the door. Pinkie knocked on the door. Nopony answered. She knocked again and the door flung open. “What do you want?” Discord asked. “Discord?” Pinkie and Cheese asked at the same time, astounded. He laughed sheepishly. “Uhh yes. What can I do for you this fine morning?” He asked. “We’d like to see Fluttershy.” Pinkie said. “Please.” Cheese added. “I’ll just go get her.” He said, closing the door. “You don’t think they.... You know….?” Pinkie started. “No way, it’s impossible.” Cheese said. Then the door opened again and Fluttershy was there, with Discord behind her. “Oh, good morning Pinkie Pie, and Cheese. How are you?” “Good-” Pinkie started. “Actually, we’re not good.” Cheese said. “We’re being chased by homicidal sadistic princesses that want to torture us and kill us. We’re on the run and we need a place to stay for today. We were wondering if you could let us stay here?” Fluttershy stared at him as he explained. Then she looked at Pinkie, who was nodding. Then she looked behind her at Discord, whose mouth was hanging wide open as he started at Cheese and Pinkie. Before Fluttershy could answer Pinkie said, “Please?” Pinkie’s eyes swelled up with tears and she made the most adorable, innocent face. “Of course you guys can stay here.” She said. “After all, a true, true friend helps a friend in need.” She smiled slightly at the memory and then let them into her cottage. “Thank you so much, you’re the best.” Pinkie said, hugging her as she walked in. “Ow….” Fluttershy whispered quietly, hugging her back. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” Pinkie asked, letting go of her. “No. I’m afraid I’m just a bit sore.” She said, blushing and looking up at Discord with a shy, timid smile. Pinkie slowly nodded. “Yeah….. Right…..” She said awkwardly, stepping inside. Cheese followed her a quick glance at Fluttershy and Discord, blushing and smiling at each other. Fluttershy and Discord walked in after them. “Oh, goodness. Cheese, you look exhausted. You should really get some rest.” Fluttershy said. “That would be great, do you have a place that Pinkie and I could sleep?” he asked. “Yes, I have a spare bedroom.” She said. “Follow me.” She led them upstairs to the spare bedroom. “Thank you so much Fluttershy.” Pinkie said. “It’s no problem at all.” She said smiling. “I have one more thing I’d like to ask you to do, if that’s alright.” Pinkie said. “What is it?” Fluttershy asked. “Would you look after Gala Amour when Cheese and I are gone?” She asked. Fluttershy looked at her friend with tears in her eyes. “Pinkie Pie….” She started. “I would be honored.” Pinkie smiled at her, “Thank you.” She said in a dry, cracked voice. She cleared her throat. “Thank you.” She said again. “Thank you so much.” With that, Pinkie walked over to the bed that Cheese was already in and got in next to him. Fluttershy watched them for a moment with a sad smile and then closed the door and went back downstairs to Discord and all her animal friends. > Chapter Nineteen: Fluttershy's House > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Discord?” Fluttershy asked as she came down the stairs. “Yes, Fluttershy?” Discord asked. He was sitting on the couch holding and petting her Angel bunny. “Do you think Pinkie Pie and Cheese will be alright?” She asked, sitting down next to him. “Yes. I think they’re going to be just fine.” He answered, putting an arm over Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Why do you think that?” Fluttershy asked, snuggling into him. “Because… Well, will you promise not to get mad?” He asked. Fluttershy scooted away from him. “Discord...” She scolded. “What did you do?” She asked, looking at him sternly. “Well….” Discord started. “I cast a dark spell on them to protect them from alicorn magic.” He said. “But when did you do it? And how? And where in Equestria did you learn a spell like that?” She asked. “I cast it on them right after Cheese explained why they needed to stay here. I learned it from an old friend of mine, it’s simple really. Well, simple for a draconequus.” He explained. “Ok….” Fluttershy said awkwardly, mostly to herself. “Then, why did you cast it on them?” “Because, my dear Fluttershy, I was in their place once, as were many of my old friends. I felt bad for them. Call it compassion.” He said, rolling his eyes. Fluttershy had teared up. Discord looked down at her. “Oh, Fluttershy, please don’t cry.” He said. She wiped her tears away. “Don’t worry, I’m not crying. I’m just so happy.” She said, smiling. “Er… Why exactly are you so happy?” Discord asked. “You have compassion for somepony other than me or your old friends. I’m just so happy this day has finally come.” She said smiling. She scooted close to him again and he put his arm back around her. “So…” Discord coughed. “What are we going to do today Fluttershy?” He asked. “Well. I think we should stay here today, because we have umm….” She started. She stood up on the couch and reared up to Discord’s ear and whispered, “fugitives.” She sat back down. “We can’t leave them or they might get caught.” She said. Discord nodded. “Fair enough.” He said smugly. “But then, what are we going to do around here? I’m extremely bored.” Discord said, stretching his arms. “I do need to take care of all my little animal friends. Perhaps you would like to help me?” She asked, picking up Angel and taking him over to a food bowl. “Sure, anything for you Fluttershy.” Discord said. “What exactly do I do?” He asked. “Just pour some food into the bowls around the room. I’ll work on getting all the animals to where they need to go.” She said, gently shooing some chipmunks and squirrels over to a pile of acorns. Discord sighed. He snapped and there were piles of food all over the room. Little animals scurried to where they wanted to go. Fluttershy looked over them for a moment and then went to sit down next to Discord. The animals were chirping, squeaking, munching, and chittering rather loudly. “Alright little ones.” Fluttershy said in her sweetest voice. “I need you all to be a little bit quieter. I have guests sleeping upstairs and we don’t want to wake them.” The animals all quieted down and continued eating. “Why doesn’t she ever talk to me like that?” Discord wondered to himself as he watched her tend to all the adorable little creatures. Fluttershy leaned into Discord’s side and sighed. “I really hope Pinkie Pie and Cheese are going to be all right. I just can’t stop worrying about them.” She said to him. “I told you, they’re going to be fine.” He said to her. “I know, I know.” Fluttershy said. She and Discord watched her little animals eating for a little while. Then, Fluttershy got up off the couch. “I’m going to go check on Pinkie and Cheese. Just to make sure they’re ok.” She said. She walked up the stairs to her guest bedroom. She quietly opened the door and saw then both asleep, hugging each other close and breathing calmly and softly. She smiled and closed the door. Then she went back down the Discord and her animal friends. > Chapter Twenty: On The Run > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie woke up next to Cheese in a small bed in a strange place. She jumped up, but then realized that she was in Fluttershy’s house, in her spare bedroom. She looked at Cheese and saw that he was still fast asleep. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but she just wasn’t tired. She carefully got up from the bed, trying not to wake Cheese, and walked down the stairs to the living room, where Fluttershy and Discord were sipping tea and watching the animals play around together. “Oh, hi Pinkie. How was your nap?” Fluttershy asked, putting her tea cup down on a floating platter. “It was good. Cheese is still sleeping though.” She said. “I’m guessing you couldn’t get back to sleep?” Discord asked. Pinkie nodded. “There’s something I’d like to do before Cheese and I leave Ponyville forever.” She said, taking a seat on the couch next to Fluttershy. “What is it? Could I help?” Fluttershy asked. “I want to leave a note for Gala Amour in the wrappings of my favorite knife, Barry.” She said. “I just need to get the knife, write the note, and leave it somewhere she might find it someday. If you can possibly help with any of that, it would be great.” “Ahem.” Discord coughed. Pinkie looked over at him, he was holding Barry in his claw. “How did you…” She began to ask. He stopped her by looking at her strangely. “Never mind….” She said awkwardly. “Here, for your precious daughter.” Discord said, handing the knife to Pinkie. “Thank you.” Pinkie said, taking the knife graciously. “Do you need a piece of paper? And perhaps something to write with?” Fluttershy asked. “That would be great, thanks Fluttershy.” Pinkie said. Fluttershy left the room to get a piece of paper and a quill for Pinkie to write her note with. While she was gone, Discord said, “I’ll tell your daughter all about you and Cheese when she’s all grown up.” “What if you don’t know her?” Pinkie asked. “Then I’ll find her and befriend her of course.” He said, like it was obvious. “And you’ll tell her or show her how to find Barry if she hasn’t already? And you’ll tell her that his name is Barry?” Pinkie asked, holding Barry close to her. “I’ll visit him every day and sharpen his blade if it will make you happy.” Discord said. He had obviously learned the concept of true friendship after being with Fluttershy for so long. “Even visiting him every other day would make me happy, Discord.” Pinkie said, smiling, with tears shining in her eyes. When Fluttershy returned she had a piece of parchment and a quill in her mouth. She put them down on the table near the couch so Pinkie could write the note, and then she sat back down next to Discord. Pinkie went and sat down on the floor next to the table and put Barry down on the table next to the paper. Fluttershy and Discord quietly watched her as she picked up the quill in her mouth and started writing the letter. “Dear my sweet Gala Amour…..” Pinkie started writing. When she finished the letter she folded it up as carefully as she could with her hooves and she put it inside the wrappings. She kissed Barry on the handle and handed him back to Discord. “Could you put him back in the basement of Sugarcube Corner somewhere?” She asked. “Sure I can.” Discord said, taking Barry and snapping. Somehow magically teleporting him back to where he came from. “Thank you.” Pinkie said. She sat back down on the couch next to Fluttershy and just as she did, Cheese came down the stairs. He let loose a big yawn, “Hi guys.” He plopped down on the couch next to Pinkie. “Hi sleepy head. How was your nap?” Pinkie asked. “Nap? I thought that was full on sleep.” Cheese said. “Anyway, it was great. That had to be like, the softest bed I’ve ever slept on.” He said, stretching his legs slightly. Pinkie laughed slightly and looked out the window. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. “Cheese, we need to leave soon.” Pinkie said, suddenly getting more serious. “Right.” Cheese said, nodding. Pinkie and Cheese got up, said their goodbyes to Fluttershy and Discord and then left right at nightfall. Pinkie was feeling much better despite the torturing she had endured earlier, so she could walk by herself. Cheese was still slightly sleepy, but he walked on. “Cheese?” Pinkie asked as they walked in the shadows in the darkness. “Yes, Pinkie?” “What if Princess Luna really is after us? What if Princess Celestia is taking care of all her duties, like she did when Luna was banished to the moon, and Princess Luna is after us right now?” Pinkie asked. “That’s highly improbable.” Cheese said, handing Pinkie a black cloak he pulled out of somewhere. “Now, put this on so we’re not seen by someone who possibly wants to kill us.” He said, throwing another cloak over himself. Pinkie sighed and put the cloak over herself. Cheese looked at her and flipped the hood over his head. Pinkie did the same and they continued walking. After a mile or two of silence Pinkie spoke again. “Cheese?” He sighed softly. “Yes, Pinkie?” He was obviously enjoying walking in silence. “Oh… Nothing, I just miss snuggling in bed with you. And I miss all those nights we spent together.” Pinkie sighed dreamily. “Oh, Pinkie.” Cheese said sweetly. He stopped walking and turned to face her. “I miss all those things too, but we’re on the run now, from murderous princesses. We can’t afford the luxury of staying in bed together all night.” He said. "Do you know what I miss the most?" Pinkie asked him. "No, what?" "I miss our baby, Gala Amour. Oh, I hope she's alright." Pinkie said sadly. "I'm sure she's fine. Someone we know and love is taking care of her and she's happy. I promise." "Pinkie Promise?" Pinkie asked, her voice cracking slightly. Cheese smiled. "Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie smiled and closed her eyes. A single tear slowly crawling out of each of her eyes. “Cheese, I love you so much.” Pinkie said, her eyes still closed. “I love you too, Pinkie.” Cheese said. He leaned in and kissed her lovingly. Pinkie kissed him back and he quickly broke the kiss. “We don’t have time for this, we have to go, now.” Cheese said, seriously. He turned around again and they began walking again, slightly faster than before. The stars shone bright in the night sky; the full moon, even brighter. “Cheese, have you figured out where we’re going?” Pinkie asked. Before he could answer, she added, “Please don’t tell me we’re just wandering around aimlessly until we find someplace we can live happily.” “Uhhhh…….” Cheese said awkwardly. “Yeah, I know where we’re going, but….. It’s a surprise. I’m not telling you until we get there.” Pinkie rolled her eyes, suppressing a small smile and giggle. “Well, I’m starting to get a little sleepy. How about we keep ourselves awake and trot a little bit?” She asked, picking up speed and trotting ahead of Cheese, swishing her tail in his face as she passed. Cheese smiled slightly and trotted up to her, keeping pace with her. She giggled and sped up to a gallop. Cheese followed, both their hoods falling off from the force of the wind blowing at them. Pinkie started slowing down, “What, are you giving up already?” Cheese asked, slowing down with her, while staying slightly ahead of her. “No.... I just…. I’m so tired.” Pinkie said through shallow, hurried breaths, a smile still glowing on her face. Cheese smiled at her, breathing heavily as well. He sat down on the ground next to where Pinkie was hunched over. After they had both caught their breaths, Pinkie began laughing hysterically. She rolled over on the ground, holding her stomach with her fore hooves and she lie on her back with her back hooves in the air. Cheese looked at her awkwardly. “Pinkie, are you ok?” He asked, trying to hold in his own laughter. “Why are you laughing?” Pinkie mumbled a few half words through bursts of laughter. Cheese held his hoof over his mouth as he tried not to laugh. He giggled slightly until Pinkie finally stopped laughing. She rolled back over and sat on her haunches. She took a deep breath and explained to Cheese why she was laughing so hard and so randomly. “I just, I thought this was so funny. This situation we’re in. I don’t know why, it just struck me as funny and so I started laughing and I just couldn’t stop.” She said, holding in small giggles. Cheese chuckled at her explanation. “Come on, we’ve got to keep going.” He said, standing up and pulling the hood back over his head. Pinkie did the same and they continued walking through the barren wasteland they had found themselves in. They walked until the sun had begun to rise once more. They looked around for somewhere to stay during the day, but they didn’t see anything. “Cheese, where are we going to stay?” Pinkie asked. “Oh, being on the run is such hard work.” “You know what.” Cheese said. “I’m pretty sure I saw an uninhabited cave a little while back. If we hurry, we can get there before the sun comes all the way up.” “Ok then, let’s go.” Pinkie said, turning around and trotting in the other direction. Cheese followed her. When they got to said cave, they walked in. Cheese hollered into the cave, and to their delight, no sound came back except for his echo. The duo walked as deep into the cave as they could stand and they curled up together to sleep through the day. Before they fell asleep, however, Pinkie started a conversation. “Cheese, what if we stayed here? It’s not so bad.” She said, kicking an animal bone away from her. “But, you said you already had a place planned, right?” She asked. “Well…..” He started. “I did kind of have something planned… But…. I suppose we could stay here for a little while. For food, and rest and such.” He said. Pinkie yawned and leaned her head on Cheese. “That sounds great, Cheese. I love you. Good night.” She closed her eyes and fell asleep quickly. “I think you mean good morning.” Cheese said, chuckling to himself. “Pinkie?....” He waited. “Pinkie Pie?” He asked again, looking at his sleeping lover. He listened to her soft breathing and soon fell asleep himself in the comfort of the dark, damp, cold cave. When Pinkie woke up, it was still nighttime. She stood up and stretched. She looked at the night sky and realized she had fallen asleep early in the morning, not at nighttime. So she had slept all day. She looked around, but Cheese was nowhere to be found. Pinkie told herself not to worry and that he would show himself any minute. “I’ll only start panicking if I don’t see him for at least 10 more minutes.” Pinkie thought. She sat down near the edge of the cave, waiting for her beloved to show himself. A few minutes later, Cheese approached the cave carrying his cloak in his mouth like a sack. “Cheese! You’re back!” Pinkie said happily, hugging him as he neared her. He set the cloak/sack down on the cave floor. It popped open, and inside was food. “And you brought food! You’re the bestest.” Pinkie said, kissing his cheek and hugging him again, tighter. “I know.” Cheese said, smiling and hugging her back. Cheese and Pinkie sat down and ate what food he had brought back with him. When they were done eating, they relaxed for a little bit. “Cheese?” Pinkie asked as they sat at the mouth of the cave, watching the grass blow in the breeze and small animals frolicking together. “Yeah?” “What are we going to do every day? We don’t have to work, or take care of anything. The only thing we really need to do is find food, and food is everywhere out here.” Cheese was about to answer, but he stopped and looked up at the sky and the clouds. He thought, and he thought, but he couldn’t think of anything productive they could do. “I’m not really sure, Pinkie.” He finally answered, shrugging his shoulders. “Are you absolutely, positively sure that you can’t think of anything? Anything at all?” Pinkie asked, scooting closer to Cheese. “Its obvious she’s thinking of something, but she wants me to say it. I hate it when she does that, but it is pretty adorable sometimes.” Cheese thought. Cheese just shook his head again, not taking his eyes off Pinkie’s eyes. Pinkie sighed and looked away. “Fine…” She started. “I have an idea, but I don’t want to say it.” “What do you have to be embarrassed about, Pinkie?” Cheese asked. “We’ve been together for nearly 5 years now.” She sighed again. “Well, umm…. What if we…. You know…..” It seemed like she was too nervous to say what was on her mind. “Pinkie, you really can tell me.” Cheese watched her struggle as she tried to force herself to say it. He started thinking to himself as he waited for her to spill it. Then he remembered he had seen her act like this once before, the very first time they had slept together. After all, she was the one who had made the first move, and what she was doing now, it was the same thing she had done to try to let Cheese know that she wanted him. “Pinkie, is it that time of the year again?” Cheese asked, guessing that she was in heat. Pinkie looked at him, slightly surprised and then she nodded shamefully. Cheese smiled while she wasn’t looking and then said. “Pinkie, that’s ok. I don’t mind doing…” He paused, “you know what, if you really want to.” Pinkie knew what he really meant was that he wanted it too. She smiled slightly, but then her smile faded. “But, Cheese…” She started. “What?” He replied, his smile fading. “What if I get pregnant again? What if we live long enough for me to give birth? I mean, I’ve done it before and it’s not that bad, but how are we going to explain to him or her when he grows up why we’re living here in the wilderness?” She asked. “Pinkie,” Cheese said smiling, “That’s not going to happen, you worry way too much.” Pinkie nodded. “You’re right. Let’s just go do this, I want you so bad right now.” She begged, sounding needy but also somewhat seductive. Cheese smiled, “Yeah, let’s.” They walked to the back of the cave to perform the dirty deed. > Chapter Twenty One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie woke up in the dark, her back sore and stiff. She heard Cheese’s slow, steady breathing next to her. She wondered why their bed was so hard and cold, and why she wasn’t under a blanket. She heard Cheese start waking up. She rubbed her eyes in the darkness, trying to see where they were. “Cheese, where the hell are we?” She asked. “Did you forget? Really?” He asked. “Forget what?” Pinkie asked. “We’re on the run from sadistic princesses that want to kill us, and we’re living in a cave right now. I can’t believe you forgot.” Cheese said, standing up. “Oh… Right.” Pinkie said, slowly remembering. Cheese had forgotten that she forgot some things after they slept together. Cheese walked around the cave for a bit, “Are you hungry at all?” He asked her. “No, not really.” “Alright,” Cheese walked back over to her and laid down. “Then I’m going to sleep until the sun comes up because I can’t see anything right now.” “Ok.” Pinkie said. She heard Cheese lay down next to her and soon the cave was filled with the sound of snoring. She grunted and tried to fall asleep as well so she didn’t have to listen to it. Suddenly, the snoring stopped. Pinkie figured that now she didn’t have to sleep, so she got up and walked to the mouth of the cave. She sat down and looked up at the beautiful night sky. The almost full moon shone down on the land. The lighting was beautiful, and the breeze was pleasant. Pinkie was suddenly happy that she and Cheese had run away from Ponyville and their life, even though she missed Gala dearly. She stared out into the vast emptiness, and started thinking about what would happen to her and Cheese if they never got caught. If they had another foal. If they lived the rest of their lives out here. She watched the green grass billow in the soft breeze and felt her mane blow against her face. Unexpectedly, a flash of lightning struck the ground in front of Pinkie. She yelped and jumped back. She looked up at the night sky, there were no clouds, just the stars shining down. There was another flash of lightning and Princess Luna appeared in front of her. “We have found you!” She said in the royal Canterlot voice. “Cheese! Cheese!” Pinkie screamed, running to the back of the cave where Cheese was still sleeping. “Huh? Pinkie, what is it?” He asked, waking up from his sleep. “Cheese, its-” “Princess Luna? I know, I told her where to find us.” Cheese said, an evil smile creeping onto his face. He slowly walked towards her, and Pinkie walked backwards to get away from him. She bumped into Princess Luna and screamed. “Pinkie! Pinkie!” Cheese was standing over her, shaking her awake. Pinkie opened her eyes and saw Cheese. “You… You told!” She screamed. “Told what? Pinkie, it was just a nightmare. Everything is fine.” Cheese said. Pinkie nodded. “Right. Just a nightmare.” She was panting, and all sweaty. She looked around, and she could sort of see, the sun must have finally come up. She wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes and slowly stood up. She walked around for a minute, trying to wake herself up fully and to dry up the sweat that was sticking to practically every inch of her body. She walked over to the mouth of the cave, and looked out. It looked much different than it had in her dream. “Nightmare.” She corrected herself. “Cheese?” She asked. “Yeah?” He walked up to her and sat down next to her. “Are you sure that neither of the princesses are after us?” “I’m sure. They’re probably forgotten about us by now.” He said. “I bet they think we died that night in the Everfree Forest.” Pinkie smiled. “That’s good.” “Darn right its good. Listen, I promise you that everything is going to be just fine. As long as I’m here with you, I promise to take care of you and never let anything bad happen.” He leaned in and kissed Pinkie on the cheek. She looked at him and smiled. They spent the rest of the day just relaxing and talking. And they did some eating and napping as well. > Chapter Twenty Two: Surprise! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a little over 6 weeks since Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich had left Ponyville and started living in a cave. Cheese was sitting on a tree stump near the cave munching on some straw. Pinkie Pie was in the small forest being the cave going to the restroom. Pinkie returned from the woodland area. Cheese noticed that she had somehow managed to gain weight, even though they had less food here than in Ponyville. And no sweets either. When Pinkie got to Cheese, he realized she was angry. Her eyebrows were turned down and so was her mouth. “Whatever is wrong my dearest?” He asked. “Oh, nothing.” She said, smiling sarcastically. “Nothing? Oh, that’s great.” Cheese said, pretending not to notice her obvious sarcasm. “Nothing, except….” Pinkie started. “Except what, my love?” Cheese said, taking a piece of straw out of his mouth. “You’re never going to believe this, and I seriously doubt you’re going to have the same reaction you had the last time I told you this.” She said. “What is it, Pinkie?” Cheese asked, genuinely interested in what she had to say. “I’m pregnant.” She said, and then added tiredly. “Again.” “Oh that’s nice.” Cheese said, continuing to munch on his straw. “Wait. How the hell could you tell? I mean, we’re living in the wilderness for Celestia’s sake.” “I’ve been pregnant before, I can just tell. Also, I’m fat, in case you didn’t notice.” “Oh, I noticed.” Cheese said, looking at her belly. Pinkie’s brow furrowed even more and she growled angrily. “Just kidding, you look lovely my dear.” Cheese said. Pinkie seemed to accept that as an acceptable apology and she smiled, “Thank you.” She sat down on a large rock next to the tree stump Cheese was sitting on. “Pinkie?” Cheese asked after a minute of silence. “Yes?” “I love you so much.” Pinkie smiled and kissed him. “I love you too my little Cheesie Weesy.” Cheese chuckled at the silly pet name. “You’re my beautiful little cupcake.” Pinkie giggled. She loved it when Cheese called her that. “So, Cheesie, I was thinking….” “Yes?” “Winter is right around the corner. How exactly do we plan to stay warm?” She asked. “I’m not sure.” Cheese said. Pinkie looked at him sadly. “But I promise I’ll figure it out before winter gets here, and with enough time to get stuff ready before the snow starts coming down.” Pinkie smiled. “Alright, thank you, Cheesie.” She kissed him again and walked back into the cave. Cheese smiled and watched her as she walked away. He loved her so much. “I’m so lucky to be with her.” Cheese thought “It’s not so lucky that we got caught murdering ponies and were forced to run away, but at least we did it together.” . When she was in the cave and out of sight, he turned back to munching on straw until the sun went down, then he also went in the cave to get some rest. > Chapter Twenty Three: Canterlot Castle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Sister!” Luna called from her room. She was currently playing Minecraft on her own private world. She didn’t want to leave to find Princess Celestia, so she figured if she just called for her, then Celestia would come to her, just like her parents used to when she called. Luna waited a few minutes for Celestia to come into her room. She fought off a couple creepers and skeletons, she even killed a cow, but Celestia hadn’t arrived yet. “Hmm… Perhaps she didn’t hear me.” Luna wondered aloud to herself. “SISTER!!” She called out in the royal Canterlot voice. She waited a minute, and Celestia still didn’t come rushing into her room. Instead, a royal guard came running in. “Is there something you need, Princess Luna?” He asked, bowing low to the ground. “NO!” Luna screamed. She cleared her throat. “No thank you sir.” The guard shook his head and nodded, then he turned around and left. Princess Luna walked back into her little hut in her game world and saved it. She quit, put the console down and stood up. “Perhaps Tia is in another part of the castle. I shall go and find her.” Luna proclaimed. She threw her hoof up into the air and spread her wings open, and then she left her room for the search for her elder sister. She wandered down the long, empty hallways, the guards greeting her as she passed. She greeted them all back politely and continued on her way. Luna traveled through the entire castle looking for her sister, but she didn’t find her. She went back up to her room to see if Celestia was in there, borrowing one of her video games as she often did, but she didn’t see her in there. She checked her sister’s bedroom, but it was completely empty, aside from all her belongings. Luna sighed and went back to where she started. “Now I shall start over, and this time, I will ask if anypony has seen her.” Luna walked down the hallway she had walked down the first time she went searching for her sister. She asked the first guard if he had seen Princess Celestia anywhere. “No, I’m sorry Princess Luna, I haven’t seen her all day.” The guard answered. Luna nodded and continued walked. Next, she came up to two guards guarding a door. “Have you seen Tia anywhere?” She asked. The guards looked at each other with confused expressions. “Tia?” One of them asked the other. He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Princess Luna. “Tia is what I call my sister.” Luna explained. “You two must be new, all the guards know that.” “Our apologies Princess. We haven’t seen Princess Celestia all day.” “Speak for yourself.” The other guard said quite rudely. “I mean umm… I saw her earlier today when I went to the restroom. She was out on the balcony, it looked like she was about to fly somewhere, or that she was just getting back.” “Thank you sir.” Princess Luna said, nodding her head in respect. The guards both bowed and bid her farewell. Luna made her way back to the top of the castle where her and Celestia’s rooms were. When she arrived, she made her way to the balcony just in time to see her sister flying in. “Tia!!” She called out happily as Celestia neared. Celestia looked up tiredly and waved a hoof at her younger sister. Luna stepped back into the castle so her sister could land. “Hello sister.” Celestia said once she had landed. “Where have you been all day?” Luna asked. “I was out searching for those traitors, Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich.” Celestia said. “Did you find them?” Luna asked. “No, I’m afraid not. I haven’t even found a trace of them, sadly.” “Is it possible that they’re not even in Equestria anymore?” Luna asked sadly. “It’s possible.” Celestia said. “But not likely.” “Where have you searched?” “I’ve searched all the previous places Cheese Sandwich has ever thrown a party. I searched everywhere in Ponyville, I also fixed up Sugarcube Corner while I was there. I visited the rock farm where Pinkie Pie grew up, and I also checked the closest village to the rock farm. But I didn’t find them.” “Did you ask all her friends if they had seen her?” “All her friends. I’m pretty sure that all she has left if Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and yes, I asked them. Discord spoke for Fluttershy, she was sleeping when I visited. Speaking of Fluttershy, she and Discord are an item now.” “Really?” Luna said, astounded. Celestia nodded. “And since they can’t have a foal of their own because of the species difference, they’ve taken in Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Gala Amour, Pinkie and Cheese’s filly.” “No wonder she was sleeping when you visited, they must be exhausted, taking care of four fillies, and one still in diapers.” Luna said. “They must have their hooves full.” She paused. “And claws, and paws…” Luna added, remembering all of Discord’s strange appendages. “I’m sure they do. I’d love to help them, but I despise that child, Gala Amour. She was born of demons. I’d have killed her myself, but Fluttershy loves her so. And she’s far too adorable to kill.” Luna nodded in agreement. “What are we going to do now, sister?” She asked. “I’m going to keep searching for those two, no matter how long it takes.” She said darkly. Her horn began to glow, and suddenly she sky behind her became dark. Luna jumped into action and raised the moon as quickly as she could. Soon, the sky was filled with the moon and all its stars. “Take care of the night shift, will you? I’m going to sleep.” Princess Celestia said, slowly walking into her room and collapsing on her bed, falling asleep almost immediately. Luna smiled at her elder sister’s adorableness and walked out onto the balcony to watch over her children of the night. > Chapter Twenty Four > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Cheesie?” Pinkie asked. She was lying on her back in the grass outside of the cave, sticking her hooves up in the air. Her swollen belly stuck up into the sky. “Yes?” Cheese asked. He was finishing the final set ups for winter. He had weaved blankets together out of thick grass he had found. He had also weaved pillow cases, because he had found the extra time to do so. He was currently stuffing the last pillow and weaving it up so the stuffing couldn’t escape. “Do you think this foal is going to be a colt or a filly?” She asked, gently rubbing her tummy with her hoof. “I’m not sure.” Cheese said, continuing his work. “I wish I knew.” Pinkie said sadly. She noticed the sun slowly go down and fall against the horizon. She rolled over and forced herself to stand up. “Cheese, I feel bigger than I did when I was pregnant with Gala, do you think I could have twins?” She asked excitedly. Cheese looked up, startled. “Geez, I sure hope not.” “Why not?” Pinkie asked, walking into the cave. The nights had started getting colder, which meant winter was coming very, very soon. “Because they’re a lot of work.” Cheese said, concentrating on weaving the last pillow shut. “Yeah, they are. Did I ever tell you about the time I watched the Cake twins?” Pinkie asked. Cheese snickered. “Oh, yeah. That was hilarious.” He said. “It was fun though.” Pinkie said, lying down in what Cheese had made for a makeshift bed. “I bet.” He said. The sky had darkened and the sun had completely disappeared. Cheese walked all the way into the cave and threw the pillow down where he guessed his head would be. Then he laid down next to Pinkie, he kissed her softly on the cheek, and then he gently kissed her swollen tummy. “Good night,” He whispered, stroking her belly gently. Pinkie giggled softly. “Good night, Cheesie.” Pinkie said. Cheese leaned forward and pulled their grass woven blanket over them. They lay quietly in the dark for a while, slowly letting the exhaustion creep up on them and forcing them to finally fall asleep. > Chapter Twenty Five: Back In Ponyville > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy walked downstairs from her room to find the Scootaloo playing with her animals. She sighed and walked over to her. “Scootaloo, sweetie-” “Yes?” Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle asked in unison. “N-no, Sweetie Belle, I just want to talk to Scootaloo.” “Oh, right.” Sweetie Belle said, feeling dumb and leaving the room. “Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said. “Yes Fluttershy?” “How many times have I told you not to play with my animal friends without supervision from me or Discord?”’ Scootaloo began counting. “One… Two, three… Four, five? No, just four.” She said. Fluttershy stared at her blankly for a moment and then nodded, “Yeah, sure, four times. Anyway, that means you can’t play with them. Do you understand? They need to rest and eat their food.” Scootaloo nodded sadly, “Yes, I understand Fluttershy.” “If this happens again, I’ll be forced to punish you.” Fluttershy said as regretfully as she could manage. Scootaloo gulped nervously, “Yes, Fluttershy.” Discord walked down the stairs, looking tired and annoyed. “Fluttershy, remind me again why we agreed to take care of all these little…” He paused, seeing Scootaloo standing in front of her, and the other two girls peeking over the corner. “Fillies?” He finished. “Because we’re the only ones that can support them.” “As I recall, Rainbow Dash was taking care of this one,” Discord patted Scootaloo on the head, “For quite some time.” “Well, yes, but Scootaloo would have preferred to be able to see her friends.” “She could come down here and visit them whenever she wanted, couldn’t she?” Discord asked. Scootaloo looked down at her hooves sadly. Fluttershy looked at her and then back at Discord. “Actually, no she can’t.” “You mean she still can’t fly?” Fluttershy and Scootaloo both shook their heads. “But,” Discord said, now directing his words at Scootaloo. “You have your cutie mark and you’ve grown so much.” “But I still can’t fly.” She said sadly. She demonstrated by flapping her tiny wings as hard as she could. She only lifted a few inches off the ground and then fell back to the floor. Discord rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I’m done complaining about this. I should be used to it by now, but I guess I’m just not.” Discord snapped and disappeared. Fluttershy sighed and looked back at Scootaloo. Her exhaustion was apparent, she had dark circles under her eyes and her eyes were half lidded. Her coat, mane and tail were filthy, like she was so busy taking care of the girls that she didn’t have enough time to wash herself. She gave Scootaloo a weak smile, “Remember what we just talked about, and don’t let me catch you playing with them again, ok?” Scootaloo nodded, “Yes Fluttershy.” “Do you girls mind watching Gala? I really need to take a nap.” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle emerged from the wall they were hiding behind and Sweetie Belle said, “I would love to watch her.” “Me too.” Apple Bloom chimed in. “I wouldn’t mind either, go enjoy your nap. You need it.” Fluttershy gave them a weak smile and left to go up to her bedroom. The girls went up the stairs as well to the room where Gala was sleeping. They sat in the room quietly, waiting for her to wake up on her own so they could either nurse her back to sleep or feed her or change her diaper. About an hour later, Fluttershy was asleep and the girls were still watching Gala Amour, who was still asleep. Suddenly Discord popped into the room. The girls all jumped back and forced themselves not to scream or make any loud noises so they didn’t wake up Gala. “What are you girls doing?” He asked in what sounded like an angry voice. “Umm… F-Fluttershy asked us to look after Gala while she took a nap.” Sweetie Belle whispered. “Oh…” Discord said, no longer mad. “Well then, carry on.” He started to leave, but then turned back. “Scootaloo, would you mind coming with me?” “Wha-huh? Oh, sure.” She said. She got up and followed Discord back down to the living room. “What exactly did you want Discord?” “Oh, nothing really, I just wanted to show you something.” Discord hugged Scootaloo and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, they found themselves outside a small cabin covered with trees. Discord led her inside, the whole time keeping his paw on her back. Once they were inside, they saw nearly ten other creatures. Scootaloo saw a mantacore, a cockatrise, a chimera, a griffin, a diamond dog, a dragon, a minotaur, a draconequus similar to Discord, a timberwolf, and a bat pony. She noticed that they were all males. She tried to take a step back but Discord stopped her. “D-discord, wh-why did you bring me here?” She asked, her voice shaking. “Because you deserve some type of punishment.” “But… Wh-what kind of punishment involves all these creatures, and why are they all males?” She asked. “Do you think I always looked like this? Do you?” “Well… Yes?” Scootaloo said nervously. “Well, you’re right, because I did. But, what you don’t know is that my mother was a pony. When I was old enough she told me the story of how my siblings and I became to look like this.” He gestured to himself. “And she told me that she was kidnapped, and raped by all these creatures you see here.” He gestured around the room. “B-but…” Scootaloo stuttered nervously. “But nothing. I’m leaving you here to take your punishment.” Discord said. He pushed her forward into the group of strange, hungry looking creatures. “I’ll be back in two hours.” She looked back at him as he was leaving, her face full of fear and sadness, tears running down her face. Discord felt regret for a single second, but dismissed it and left the small cabin. He heard a loud, shrill scream before he closed the door behind him and snapped his fingers. He arrived back in Fluttershy’s house. He walked up to where the other girls were still watching Gala Amour. “Discord, you’re back.” Sweetie Belle said. “But where’s Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “Oh, she’ll be back in a few hours.” Discord said, trying to be discreet. The girls shrugged off where she might be and nodded. “Fluttershy is still sleeping, I presume?” The girls nodded again. Discord left and went into his and Fluttershy’s room. He set himself an alarm for two hours and then climbed into the bed with Fluttershy. He fell asleep quickly, and slept peacefully until his alarm woke him up. He opened his eyes to see Fluttershy still asleep. He quickly snapped his fingers to turn off the alarm so it wouldn’t wake her. He got up and walked down the living room, past Gala’s room, seeing the girls still sitting in it watching the little filly. Discord remembered the promise he had made to Pinkie Pie. That he would tell Gala one day what had happened to her parents. He knew that it would be easy because now he and Fluttershy were together and they basically raised her as their own. He made his way down to the living room and snapped his fingers. He appeared outside the cabin in the woods where he had left Scootaloo. He walked up to it and opened the door to find a scene he hadn’t really desired to see. He stared for a moment with his mouth wide open. He closed the door and put his claw over his mouth. He took a few deep breaths and then opened the door. “I promised you fellows two hours, and it has been….” Discord snapped and a clock appeared out of thin air. “Two hours and five minutes.” The creatures continued violating the poor little Scootaloo who had tears pouring down her face, along with something else that will not be mentioned. Discord growled angrily and forced the monsters to stop. He gently took Scootaloo by the hoof and snapped before the creatures could get a hold on her again. “Come now, we’ll need to wash you up.” Discord said once they had finished teleporting. They had arrived near a small pond. Discord cast a small spell on it and the water sparkled slightly. He snapped and a bucket appeared. He scooped water up in the bucket and poured it over her head. Slowly, her body stopped shaking. He scooped up some more and poured it over her. She had stopped crying and was all cleaned up. “I knew it would be a good idea to learn this spell that made normal water healing water and give normal water the power to erase memory.” Discord thought. “Discord, is this where you wanted to take me?” Scootaloo asked, looking out at the water, having already forgotten about the traumatic experience. “Yes, that’s right.” Discord snapped and the bucket disappeared. He snapped again and the water went back to normal. “It’s just something that I stumbled on and I thought you might like it.” He said. “Ehh… Not really.” She said. “I could have sworn that just a minute ago, the water was all sparkly and magical looking, but now it just looks like ordinary water.” “Oh, I see.” Discord said. “Come on then, we’re going back home now.” He grabbed her hoof and snapped. Not soon after they arrived back in Fluttershy’s cottage. Scootaloo looked at the clock. “Why is it so late?” She asked Discord. “Didn’t you just take me to that pond and back?” “Time goes by faster during teleportation.” Discord lied. “Oh, ok.” Scootaloo nodded and walked up the stairs to where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were watching Gala. Discord walked up as well, but instead he went to his and Fluttershy’s bedroom. “Soon, Scootaloo will realize she’s pregnant with a deformed child, or multiple children. She’ll have no idea how it happened or who the fathers are, and that will be her real trauma.” Discord thought as he lie in bed with the sleeping Fluttershy. “She’ll either chose to have an abortion, or give birth to it/them. Either way, it won’t be pleasant for her.” Discord soon fell asleep knowing his evil plan had been a success. > Chapter Twenty Six > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After an extremely long wait, winter had finally come to Equestria. Pinkie Pie and Cheese were huddling in their cave, watching the snow fall to the ground. “Cheese? What do you think the snow looks like?” Pinkie asked. “Ummmm… Fluffy?” He said. Pinkie giggled, “I think it looks like powdered sugar, or flour falling down from the sky.” She stared out at the snow, her eyes sparkling. Cheese smiled and looked at the falling snow, “You’re right, it does.” “Achoo!” Pinkie sneezed. “Pinkie, are you alright?” Cheese asked. She rubbed her nose with her hoof. “Yeah, I’m sure I’m f-fi…. Achoo! Fine.” “You’re not fine, you might be getting sick.” Cheese said. “Come on, you need to get warm.” Cheese placed her on the cave floor and covered her with the blanket he had made. He started leaving the cave. “Cheese, wait. Where are you going?” Pinkie called after him. “I’m going to get some wood to make a fire to keep you, and myself, warm.” He said. He heard Pinkie sneeze again as he left. Pinkie wrapped herself in the blanket and tried to stay warm. She sneezed again, and again. When Cheese came back into the cave, Pinkie’s nose was red and she was shaking. Cheese dropped all the wood he got onto the ground near Pinkie. He tried his hardest to make a fire, and eventually he got a spark and lit the wood. The fire slowly spread over all the wood and twigs he had got and lit up the cave. Pinkie’s body gradually stopped shaking and her sneezing died down. She closed her eyes and huddled up in the blanket. She sneezed one last time, and then Cheese noticed her breathing slow down. She had fallen asleep. Cheese left to get some more wood so he could put it on the fire when it died out. He came back with another pile of kindling. He went out one more time and added what he got to the pile. He placed a few more twigs on the fire and then laid down next to Pinkie. He soon fell asleep, thanks to the warmth and the steady breathing of his dear Pinkie Pie. Cheese was woken up in the middle of the night by a chill and soft, painful moaning. He opened his eyes and it was dark in the cave. He realized that the fire had gone out. Pinkie was shaking and moaning in pain. Cheese started up the fire and checked Pinkie’s temperature. He placed his hoof on her forehead and removed it quickly. “Ouch…” He said to himself, blowing on his hoof. He went outside the cave and picked up a small pile of snow. He walked back inside and gently placed it on Pinkie forehead. Her face was red and twisted in pain. She opened her eyes and looked at Cheese weakly, “Ch-Cheese…” She whispered softly. “Yes, Pinkie? What is it? Is it time?” Cheese asked, holding her hoof in his. “I-it can’t be… I-it’s too early.” Pinkie whispered weakly. “Are you going to be alright?” Cheese asked, looking into her half closed eyes with concern and worry. Pinkie closed her eyes, her breathing slowed down. She opened her mouth to say something, but cut herself short and took a shaky, deep breath. “Pinkie…” Cheese said with tears in his eyes. “Pinkie, please. Please don’t do this to me, I love you. Please.” He was crying now, his tears splattering on the cave floor next to Pinkie. He felt her hoof go limp and fall to her side. “P-Pinkie?” He whispered hoarsely. He stared at her body, though it was blurry from the tears in his eyes. He sniffed and wiped away his tears. He stared at her a bit longer now that his vision was clear. He saw her chest slowly rise and then fall, and rise, and then fall. Cheese smiled and started crying again, this time with tears of joy. “Thank Celestia, she’s just sleeping. She’s still alive.” He realized the snow he had put on her forehead had melted and he left to get some more. He came back and her eyes were open again. “Ch-Cheese… I… I don’t feel good.” She said weakly. “I know. It’s ok. It’ll be ok, just relax and I’ll take care of you.” Cheese put the snow on her forehead. He added more twigs to the fire and stirred it with a longer, thicker stick he had found earlier. Pinkie had stopped shaking and moaning and her breathing had leveled out. “Cheese…” “Don’t talk, you need to save your energy for healing yourself.” He said, gently placing his hoof on her mouth. Pinkie slowly nodded. Her eyes tried to close, but she tried to force them back open. She looked at Cheese with half closed eyes, like she was begging him for something. “It’s ok, you can go to sleep.” Pinkie’s mouth curved up into a small smile and she let her eyes close. Cheese watched as she drifted off. Her mouth opened up slightly and her breathing evened out, taking a slow and steady pattern. Cheese smiled and gently let go of her hoof, trying not to wake her. He added more twigs to the fire and stirred it. “We’re almost out of twigs and sticks. I should really go get some more, but I don’t want to leave Pinkie alone like this.” He thought. He argued with himself in thought for a minute and then decided that he needed to get more kindling. He left the cave and came back with a pile of twigs and sticks. He threw them in a pile on the cave floor next to the fire and then left to get more. He returned and tossed them in the same pile, then he checked on Pinkie. She was just as he left her, all though there was a thin trail of drool running out of her mouth. Cheese wiped it off with his hoof. He quickly brought more snow for her forehead and then left to get more sticks for the fire. He needed to keep it running all night so she could stay warm. He returned, threw the kindling in the pile and turned to leave again, when he heard a quiet groan. He walked over to Pinkie to see how she was. She had turned onto her side and her eyebrows had turned inwards slightly. “She must be having a bad dream.” Cheese thought. He gently kissed her nose and left to get more kindling. He came back and saw that the fire had died down slightly. He yawned and dumped more sticks on it. He sat down next to Pinkie and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. He would need to stay up without sleeping until Pinkie was all better and could take care of herself again. He yawned again and shook his head as though he were trying to shake away the drowsiness. He left the cave and walked around in the snow for a bit, hoping it would help keep him awake. He walked back into the cave and added more wood to the fire. He checked on Pinkie, her blanket had fallen down and Cheese pulled it up to her chin. He smiled at how adorable she looked when she was sleeping. He figured he was awake enough to sit down for a little bit, so he sat down next to Pinkie. As soon as he sat down, he yawned again. He sighed and went to walk around in the snow for a bit longer. As he was walking around outside in the cold, he kept an eye on the fire in the cave. He needed to make sure it didn’t shrink or grow significantly. After a few minutes of walking, he noticed the fire had shrunk and he walked into the cave to add more twigs to it. He had turned to leave again, but then realized he should check on Pinkie, so he walked over to her. He sat down next to her and watched her. He watched as her chest slowly rose and then fell. He looked at her and how beautiful she was. He smiled and leaned in to kiss her cheek, which was still red from her sickness. He tried to stand up again, but he wobbled and fell down. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he was unsuccessful. He fell asleep on the cave floor, much too close to the fire. He was awakened a little while later by the smell of smoke and the sound of coughing. He jumped up and searched for the source of the smoke. He saw the fire was just fine, if a little small, and that nothing else had caught fire. “Ouch!” He jumped as he felt something on his rear. He turned to look and saw that his tail was on fire. He screamed and galloped out the snow and sat down in it. He let loose a sigh of relief as the fire on his behind was put out by the freezing cold snow. He wandered back into the cave and fanned away the smoke that had accumulated. “Pinkie, I’m sorry.” He said, when he realized that she was the one who was coughing. She coughed a few more times, “It’s ok…” She whispered weakly and hoarsely. Cheese piled more sticks onto the fire and then walked outside. He cursed at himself and kicked around the snow. He buried his head in the snow as an attempt to keep himself awake. He walked back into the cave. He saw that Pinkie had fallen asleep again and Cheese sat down next to her, determined not to fall asleep. > Chapter Twenty Seven: Winter In Ponyville > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snow had started to fall in Ponyville and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were sitting in the bedroom they shared with Gala Amour in Fluttershy’s cottage. They were looking out the window watching the snow fall. Gala was sitting in her crib, sleeping. She had grown a little and she could walk on her own now. Fluttershy walked into the girls’ room with Discord behind her. “Girls,” She said quietly. “It’s time for dinner.” “Yay!! Food!!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said in unison as they rushed down to the kitchen, leaving the others behind. “I think I’m going to skip dinner tonight.” Scootaloo said. “I’ve put on some weight.” “Oh, that’s nonsense.” Discord said, waving his claw. “Come on, you need to eat.” Fluttershy walked with Scootaloo down to the kitchen and Discord gently scooped up Gala Amour and carried her down to the kitchen. They all sat down at the table and ate their salads that Fluttershy had made just a little while ago. Discord finished first and gave Gala her milk. Once they were all finished eating they sat at the table and told each other about how their days were. After they had all finished talking, Sweetie Belle asked if she and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo could play outside in the snow. “I suppose…” Fluttershy said after a moment of hesitation. “But make sure you wear your coats and scarfs.” She said. “Yay! Thank you!” Sweetie Belle said. She hugged Fluttershy and levitated her coat and scarf over to her and put them on. “Come on girls!” She said excitedly to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom hugged Fluttershy as well and threw on her coat and scarf and followed Sweetie Belle outside. “Aren’t you going to go play with them?” Fluttershy asked. Scootaloo shook her head. “I’m not really feeling it today.” “That’s strange. You’re usually the one who’s most excited about doing something outside, especially during winter, I thought that was your favorite season.” “It is, I’m just not in the mood, ok.” Scootaloo sighed and angrily walked up to her room. Discord watched nervously as she walked away, hoping that Fluttershy didn’t notice too many differences too soon. He had finished bottle feeding Gala and she had fallen asleep in his arms. He walked her back up to her room, where Scootaloo was. He walked in, put her in her crib and walked out, ignoring Scootaloo as much as he could. He walked back down to the kitchen without having to talk to her. He sat down next to Fluttershy and kissed her on the cheek. “Do you think Scootaloo is ok?” Fluttershy asked, looking out the window at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom who were building a snow pony together. “I’m sure she’s fine. She is going through her teenage years, perhaps it’s just strong emotions and such.” Discord said, wrapping his arm over Fluttershy’s shoulders. Fluttershy sighed, “You’re probably right. Thank you for staying with me and helping me take care of all these girls.” She said, snuggling into him. “It’s not a problem, not a problem at all.” He said. “So… Do you feel like playing with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom? I sure am in the mood for a snowball fight.” He said; a small smile growing on his face. Fluttershy smiled at his childlike enthusiasm. “Sure, it’s been awhile since I’ve played in the snow with anypony.” They both stood up and put on their coats and scarfs. Discord jumped out of the house and threw a snowball towards the girls. It flew between them and landed in the snow. “Who’s up for a snowball fight?” He said excitedly, picking up snow and making another snowball. The girls cheered and began making snowballs with their hooves. Sweetie Belle threw one at Discord, barely missing. Discord cackled and threw one at Apple Bloom, hitting her side. She giggled and fell to the ground. Fluttershy picked up a small bundle of snow and began forming it into a snowball. She looked up at her cottage and noticed Scootaloo sitting at the window in her room, watching them. Fluttershy frowned, but then smiled and looked back down at the snowball she was making. She tossed it at the closed window, startling Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked down at Fluttershy. She smiled and waved at Scootaloo. She motioned for her to come play with them and Scootaloo shook her head. Fluttershy did her best puppy dog face and Scootaloo broke. She left the window and a few minutes later she emerged from the cottage dressed in her coat and scarf. She trotted over to the other girls and started making a snowball to throw at Discord or Fluttershy. “Aha! So it’s adults against children.” Discord shouted, chucking a snowball at the girls, hitting Sweetie Belle on her horn. The snow splattered all over her face and she laughed, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo laughed too. Discord let loose his most evil laughter and threw another one, this one missing them all completely and hitting their snow pony. The force of the snowball hitting it caused it to collapse into the snow. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom frowned and threw snowballs at Discord as fast as they could make them. One hit his face, and the others in various places on his torso. He grabbed his heart and performed a dramatic fake death. He collapsed into the snow and shouted with his ‘dying breath’, “Fluttershy, it’s up to you to avenge me.” Fluttershy stifled a laugh by putting her hoof to her mouth. She picked up a pile of snow and molded it into a snowball. She tossed it towards the girls but it landed short of them. The girls bombarded her with snowballs and she screamed as she tried to cover herself. The girls stopped throwing snowballs and Discord got up and walked over to her. “Are you alright?” Discord asked, placing his claw on her back and looking into her eyes. Fluttershy nodded, “Yeah, I’m ok.” Discord picked up a strand of her mane. “Fluttershy, your mane is going gray.” “What? It can’t be!” “Oh, wait. It’s just snow.” Discord laughed slightly and shook the snow out of her mane. He got up to continue the snowball fight. “You all need to go easy on Fluttershy.” Discord said. “But throw however hard you want at me, I can take it.” With that, the girls threw snowballs at him as hard as they could. Discord laughed and he snapped. A pile of snow balls nearly as tall as Fluttershy appeared in front of him. “That’s cheating!” Sweetie Belle yelled. “I didn’t know we established rules.” He picked some up and chucked them at the girls. He made sure not to throw them too hard though. Fluttershy was laughing and so were the girls, and Discord too. Even though Ponyville was Pinkie Pie less, it was still a fun happy place. > Chapter Twenty Eight > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie had started feeling better. Her temperature wasn’t as high as it had been the night before, and she wasn’t sneezing as much. Cheese hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous night, but now that Pinkie was feeling better, he figured he could take a nap at the very least. He waited until she woke up and told her he was going to get some sleep. “Can you take care of the fire by yourself while I’m asleep?” He asked. Pinkie nodded slowly. “If you can’t then just wake me up, ok?” Pinkie nodded again. Cheese climbed under the blanket with her. He faced the opposite direction and fell asleep quickly. Pinkie sneezed and got out from under the blanket. She nudged a few twigs into the fire Cheese had made. She gently stirred it around with a larger stick and then snuggled herself under the blanket. “See, I can take care of myself.” She thought. She yawned and closed her eyes for a second. She forced then open. “No! I can’t fall asleep too. I’ve been sleeping, and if I go to sleep, then who’s going to take care of the fire?” She yawned again and closed her eyes. She opened them, yawned and closed them and tried to open them again, but she couldn’t and she fell asleep. Cheese woke up to pitch blankness. He blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly. His first thought was, “Did I really sleep through the rest of the night and all day the next day?” He started to get up but then he remembered the fire. “What happened to the fire? Pinkie?” He yelled. Pinkie jumped up, “What?” “The fire, it went out. What happened?” “Oh… I’m sorry, I fell asleep.” Pinkie admitted sadly. Cheese let loose a sigh of relief. “No, its ok, I just thought something else might have happened.” “You mean besides your tail?” Pinkie asked, pointing a hoof at his tail. “Huh? What?” Cheese looked at his tail. “Oh, that’s right, that happened. Yes, besides my tail.” Pinkie put her hoof over her mouth and giggled. Cheese rolled his eyes. “I guess I have to start another fire.” “How do you do that?” Pinkie asked. “Here, I’ll show you.” Cheese gathered up some old leaves and dead grass he had brought in before the snow started. He placed them on a stick with a small notch in it. He took another stick and rolled it in his hooves against the other stick and dry leaves and grass. Smoke started coming up and Cheese blew on it slightly. Eventually, a spark ignited and a small fire started. Cheese quickly piled more twigs on top of the fire and it grew larger. “Look! It’s starting!” Pinkie said excitedly, watching the fire grow. “Yeah.” Cheese said, he dropped the stick he was turning and it fell into the fire. He and Pinkie stepped back. “That was soooo cool!” Pinkie said, not taking her eyes off the fire. Her eyes were shining with the light of the bright, orange fire. Cheese smiled as he watched her stare at the fire. Cheese’s eyes drifted down to Pinkie’s swollen stomach. “Ummm…. Pinkie…” He said awkwardly. “Yeah?” Pinkie asked, turning her head to look at him. “Is it just me, or is your stomach way bigger than it was the last time you were pregnant?” He asked. Pinkie looked down at herself and gently placed her hooves on her tummy. “Yeah, I guess it is a little bigger.” She said calmly. “Maybe I gained weight before I got pregnant and part of it is fat.” “Or maybe….. Never mind.” Cheese stopped himself. “Maybe what? You have to tell me now. Pleeeeeaaaaaasseee.” Pinkie begged. Cheese sighed and not being able to resist her adorableness he caved in and explained himself. “Maybe you’re pregnant with twins.” He said. Pinkie gasped. “Oh no! What if I have twins? I never thought about that.” She exclaimed, suddenly getting extremely worried and scared. “Pinkie, hey. Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine. I’m here to protect you and I’ll never leave. Never ever, I promise.” “Pinkie Promise?” Pinkie asked after she had taken a few deep breaths and calmed down. Cheese smiled. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He said, ending with his hoof hovering over his eye. Pinkie smiled and hugged him. “You’re the best.” “I know.” Cheese said sweetly. He hugged her back and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. > Chapter Twenty Nine: Spring Arrives In Ponyville > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Winter was almost over and the snow was just beginning to melt. The sun was coming out and Fluttershy was outside waking up little critters from their hibernation. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Gala Amour were sitting it their room watching the snow melt away. Discord was nowhere to be seen but nopony was really looking for him because he usually showed up when they needed him. Discord and Fluttershy had gotten really cozy with each other during the winter. The girls didn’t really like it because they all thought Fluttershy deserved somepony better than Discord. Then they thought that maybe they were only getting so cozy because it was so cold outside and they needed to stay warm somehow. Gala had grown a little bit over the winter. She didn’t need to wear a diaper anymore, and she could speak a little. Her mane and tail were crazy curly just like her parents’ were. Her eyes were a mixture between green and blue and her coat was a dark pink. Her mane was pink as well, with dark brown streaks in it. Every time Fluttershy looked at her, or heard her talk, she was reminded of Pinkie Pie. When she thought of Pinkie Pie she thought of the old days when they all got along and nopony died. But now, Twilight was gone, as well as Applejack, and Rarity too. Speaking of which, Pinkie Pie wasn’t around either. She might still be alive, but she was gone. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the only two of the six that were left in Ponyville. The only two left that could wield their Elements of Harmony. Princess Celestia would be very disappointed the next time a monster trying to kill everypony came into Equestria and they couldn’t stop it. Once winter was all wrapped up, Fluttershy came back inside where the girls were waiting for her. “Happy spring, everypony!” She called as she walked up the stairs to where the girls were. “Yay!!!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom called. They trotted down the stairs and met Fluttershy half way. They each gave her a hug and then continued down the stairs. They made their way outside. They’re practically full grown ponies now, but they still acted like little kids, it was kind of adorable. Fluttershy continued walking up the stairs. She stopped by the girls room and saw Scootaloo staring out the window. “Scootaloo, are you doing alright?” Fluttershy asked. “What?” Scootaloo asked. She turned to her side and faced Fluttershy. “Yeah, I’m fine, just extremely fat, for some reason.” “Scootaloo….” Fluttershy said awkwardly, staring at her large, somehow perfectly round belly. “I don’t think you’re fat.” “Fluttershy, please don’t try to make me feel better. Of course I’m fat, look at me.” She cried, tears forming in her eyes. “No, of course you’re fat. But… There might be a reason for it.” Fluttershy said. “But I haven’t been eating that much and……” Then she realized what Fluttershy was trying to get at. “B-but… But it can’t be, there’s no way.” Fluttershy sighed sadly. “But of course, it is possible. Scootaloo, we need to go see Nurse Redheart, she’ll tell us for sure.” Scootaloo wiped away her tears and nodded. She grabbed her coat and Fluttershy did the same. They walked out of her cottage and stopped outside to ask Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom to watch Gala while they were gone. “Where are you guys going?” Sweetie Belle asked. “To the doctor’s office, Scootaloo might be sick.” Fluttershy said. “Oh, Scootaloo, are you going to be alright?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yeah, guys. I’ll be fine, it's just a little stomach problem, it's really not a big deal. Please don’t worry. Just make sure Gala is ok while we’re gone.” She said. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom nodded and made their way back inside to watch the baby. Scootaloo continued on their way through Ponyville to Nurse Redheart’s office. They signed it and sat down in the waiting room. “Scootaloo?” A different nurse called out. “Yes?” Scootaloo and Fluttershy asked simultaneously. “Would you please come with me?” She asked. Scootaloo and Fluttershy got up. “Umm… Excuse me…” Fluttershy asked the nurse shyly. “Would you mind if I go in with her? You see, I’m her legal guardian and….” Before she could finish the nurse interrupted her. “Of course, I’m sure it would make her feel better.” The nurse said with a small smile. “Thank you.” Fluttershy said. She and Scootaloo followed the nurse into an office. “Please wait here and we’ll send someone in to see you in just a minute.” The nurse said, closing the door behind her as she left the room. Scootaloo sat down on the bed thingy and Fluttershy sad down in a chair next to it. After waiting in silence for a few minutes, Nurse Redheart walked in. “Hello, what was it you wanted to see me about?” She asked, pulling out a pencil and getting ready to write it down on the clipboard she had set down on the table in front of her. Scootaloo looked at Fluttershy anxiously, silently begging her to answer. “We fear that Scootaloo might be pregnant. She’s been gaining a lot of weight lately and she hasn’t been eating much. Though, she’s stopped growing recently, she’s not shrinking either.” “I see….” Nurse Redheart said, scribbling some things down on her clipboard. “I’ll just need to check on something if you don’t mind.” “Of course.” Fluttershy said. “Now, Scootaloo, I’ll need you to lay back on the bed.” Scootaloo nodded and did as she was told. Nurse Redheart rummaged through a cupboard and pulled out a scanning thing. She set up and little screen on a table next to the bed Scootaloo was on. “Now, I’ll just need you to sit still and stay calm.” Nurse Redheart said gently. She gently ran something over Scootaloo’s swollen stomach. Nurse Redheart stared at the little screen carefully. “Do you see anything?” Fluttershy asked, too anxious to wait. “One second.” Nurse Redheart slowly moved the thing over the parts of her stomach she hadn’t gotten to before. “This can’t be right…” She said to herself. “What?” Scootaloo asked, lifting her head up. “Please, stay down.” Nurse Redheart said, gently pushing Scootaloo’s head back down onto the bed. “What is it?” Fluttershy asked. “Well….” Nurse Redheart started. “She is indeed pregnant, but it seems like she’s been neglecting the baby, and it’s heart isn’t beating. From what I can tell, it hasn’t been beating for at least a week.” Scootaloo sighed happily, thankful that she wouldn’t have to give birth to anything. Fluttershy gave a very quiet sigh of relief. Nurse Redheart continued talking. “We’ll need to schedule a meeting to pull the baby’s dead body out of your body.” “Will it be painful?” Scootaloo asked. “It shouldn’t be, but I wouldn’t know for sure. I’m not a doctor and I don’t perform these operations and I’ve never had this happen to me either.” Scootaloo nodded. “Would next week be alright for you?” Scootaloo looked at Fluttershy and Nurse Redheart followed her gaze. “What day next week?” Fluttershy asked. “I might be busy.” “You don’t have to go with her.” Nurse Redheart said. “You can come on your own if you like.” She said to Scootaloo. “I should be fine by myself, Fluttershy.” Scootaloo said. Fluttershy nodded, accepting that Scootaloo probably wanted to be alone going through something like that. “Then what day next week would you like to come in?” Nurse Redheart asked. “When is the soonest you can perform the operation?” Scootaloo asked. “I’d have to ask a licensed doctor. I’ll back to you with a day. Are you free all next week?” She asked. Scootaloo nodded, “Yes, I’m not doing anything, any day will be just fine.” Nurse Redheart nodded and scribbled something down on her clipboard. “You two are free to leave now. There will be no charge since this was just a check up.” “Thank you so much for seeing us.” Fluttershy said. Scootaloo agreed and Nurse Redheart smiled . “Of course. It was nothing. Goodbye now, I hope you two have a wonderful day. Oh, and happy spring.” Fluttershy smiled and Scootaloo got up off the bed. They left the office and Nurse Redheart left behind them, turning the other way. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” They heard a mother asking her foal. The foal had a little sticker on his chest and he was smiling. Scootaloo smiled at how adorable it was and she and Fluttershy continued walking out of the office. They walked through Ponyville and made their way back home. Once they got back to Fluttershy’s cottage they were greeted by a giggling Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. “What are you guys doing out here? You were supposed to be watching Gala.” Fluttershy said, somewhat angry. “Oh… Well, we were watching her, but….” Sweetie Belle started. “But what?” Fluttershy asked. “But then Discord showed up.” Apple Bloom finished for Sweetie Belle. Fluttershy sighed silently and she walked into the cottage to greet Discord. Scootaloo stayed outside with her childhood friends. She told them about the visit to the doctor’s office. Fluttershy had made her way up to the girl’s room and she say Discord sitting by the window, cradling the little Gala in his arms and looking out the window at the girls. “Hi, Discord.” Fluttershy greeted him sweetly. Discord turned his head to see Fluttershy. “Hello.” He whispered quietly, gently rocking Gala in his arms. Fluttershy smiled and quietly walked over to him. She kissed him on the cheek and then kissed Gala’s forehead. She stirred slightly in her sleep and gave a small, quiet, adorable sound that neither Fluttershy nor Discord could identify. They both smiled at her. Discord slowly and carefully stood up. He slowly walked over to Gala’s crib and gently set her down in it. He pulled her little blanket over to tiny body and he and Fluttershy left the room, closing the door behind them. Fluttershy let loose a little yawn. “Are you tired?” Discord asked, mimicking her yawn. Fluttershy nodded and then yawned again. “I think I’m going to go to bed, or at least take a nap. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.” “Yeah, I know. I’ll start checking on her when she wakes up in the middle of the night.” Discord said as they walked to her bedroom. “I think she likes me. She started crying and I picked her up and she immediately stopped crying.” Discord said, reliving the happy memory in his head. Fluttershy smiled and looked up at him. Her eyes seemed half closed and she seemed woozy. She tripped on one of the stairs and Discord caught her before she hit the ground. He carried her into her room and gently laid her in her bed, just like he had done with Gala Amour a few minutes earlier. He tucked her in and got into the bed with her. She had already fallen asleep. Discord gently kissed her forehead and pulled the covers over himself. He yawned and closed his eyes, but didn’t fall asleep. He tried, but he wasn’t quite tired enough. He heard the girls come back inside and loudly play around in the living room. He sighed and got out of bed. He walked down to the living room, where the girls were laughing and playing. “Girls.” He said quietly and nicely. The girls all stopped laughing and talking and looked up at him. “What is it, Discord?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well, I just put Gala to sleep and Fluttershy is also taking a nap. I’ll need you all to be a little quieter, can you do that for me?” Discord asked. “Yeah, no problem.” Sweetie Belle said, lowering her voice. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded, meaning that they could be quieter as well. “Thank you. I’m also going to try to take a nap. I’d like to ask you all to do me a favor.” “What is it?” Apple Bloom asked. “Since both Fluttershy and I will be sleeping, if Gala wakes up and starts crying, would one of you tend to her if I don’t get up after a minute?” “Sure, I really like taking care of her anyway.” Sweetie Belle said quietly but happily. Discord smiled, for once not looking evil and said, “Thank you, girls.” He turned and left them, making his way back to Fluttershy’s bedroom. He hopped back into the bed and closed his eyes, this time, falling asleep quickly. > Chapter Thirty > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The snow was beginning to melt all on its own. There were no pegasi to clear the clouds away. The wind blew them away and the sun came out, melting away all the snow that had accumulated on the ground. Cheese Sandwich and the rather large Pinkie Pie sat at the mouth of the cave, watching as spring showed itself through the remaining snow. They had never seen spring make itself, that had always been the job of the ponies in Ponyville. It was a beautiful thing, seeing this happen all on its own, without a bunch of colorful ponies singing a song about it. Pinkie leaned her head on Cheese’s shoulder as they watched. In turn, Cheese leaned his head on Pinkie’s head. Once the snow had all melted, many hours later, the green grass covered the large open space in front of them. Small critters crawled out of their caves, yawning and sniffing around. “Awww, look at how cute they all are.” Pinkie said. Cheese smiled at his wife’s adorableness and looked out at all the little critters running around as they woke up, “Yeah, they are pretty cute.” He agreed. “Almost as cute as Gala was when she was born.” Pinkie said sadly. “I miss her so much, I hope Fluttershy is doing a good job taking care of her.” “I’m sure she’s fine. Think about how much she’s grown since we’ve been gone.” Cheese said, attempting to reassure Pinkie Pie. A smile creeped back onto Pinkie’s lips. Cheese smiled as well. “How’s your tummy doing?” He asked, gently placing his hoof on her tummy. “I feel fine, really.” Pinkie said. “You need to stop worrying about me so much.” She pushing Cheese’s hoof off her tummy. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I just really care about you and I want to make sure that you’re doing alright.” Cheese said. “Yeah, I know.” Pinkie said. She sighed and got up slowly. She grunted slightly and wrapped her leg around her tummy. Cheese was about to say something, but he didn’t because he knew that Pinkie didn’t want him to. Instead, he just got up and followed her. Pinkie looked at the burning ashes where they used to have a fire going. “Should we keep this?” “I don’t see why we should.” Cheese said. “Well, sometimes spring can get pretty cold.” “Oh, that’s right…” Cheese said. “And it also rains a lot during spring.” Pinkie explained. “We should keep the fire here. Once the snow and water is all gone we should go out to get some more branches for when we need it again.” “Yeah.” Cheese said, nodding. Pinkie sat down and held her stomach. “I’m kind of hungry, are you hungry?” She asked. “Pinkie, you’re always hungry… And we literally just ate…” Cheese said, looking at Pinkie with his head tilted to the side, wondering what made her so hungry all the time. “Oh…” Pinkie said sadly. “Then, I’m not hungry.” She stated happily. “But you just said-” Cheese started, but was interrupted. “It’s the baby who is hungry, not me.” Pinkie said. “Oh…” Cheese sighed and shook his head. He gave Pinkie a crooked smile and left to get her, and the unborn baby, some more food. Cheese came back a few minutes later with some food, only to find Pinkie moaning and groaning and holding her stomach. He dropped the food on the ground and galloped over to her. “Pinkie! Pinkie, are you alright?” He asked. “Ch-cheese….” She managed to choke out. She was breathing heavily and panting. She was even wheezing slightly. She opened her eyes slightly and turned her head to face Cheese. She struggled to take in her breaths. “Is it… Is it time?” Cheese asked. Pinkie nodded and Cheese’s eyes went wide. He began freaking much worse than he had the last time Pinkie gave birth. Pinkie began taking deep, labored breaths, which seemed to calm her down. “I shouldn’t freak out too much, she kind of knows what she’s doing…..” Cheese thought. “I should have watched the first time so I could know what to do in this situation.” Cheese watched as Pinkie scrunched her eyes up tighter and and breathed out slow and hard. She began to breath quickly again. Cheese scrunched up his eyebrows, wondering what in Equestria she was doing. He didn’t know how he could help her, and he was torn between just backing away and watching what she was doing, or asking her if there was anyway he could help. “Pinkie..?” He asked hesitantly. “Is there any way I can help you?” Pinkie didn’t answer with words, she just shook her head. Cheese nodded. “Ok…” He whispered to himself. He scooted away and sat down, watching nervously as Pinkie struggled to give birth. Cheese bit his lip as watched her struggle, knowing there was nothing he could do. He decided he couldn’t watch this, so he got up and made his way outside the cave and he began pacing back and forth. Cheese didn’t dare go back into the cave until he had Pinkie’s approval, he didn’t even look inside the cave. He continued pacing back and forth, listening to his wife’s sounds as she was struggling. He began pacing faster and faster until he was galloping back and forth. Soon, he too was completely out of breath. He continued galloping back and forth because he was too nervous to stop or even go slower. He tripped over a pile of dirt and his face was buried in the damp soil. He pushed himself up off the ground and spat the wet dirt out of his mouth. After he had spat all the dirt out of his mouth, he listened to the sounds coming from the cave. Instead of hearing Pinkie crying and panting, he heard the sound of a small foal wailing. “She’s done it! She gave birth to a foal!” Cheese thought happily. He did a little happy dance and decided to listen in a little bit more before going back into the cave. After listening for about another minute, he realized there wasn’t just one foal whimpering and crying, but there was two. “Twins?” Cheese thought. He smiled and finally decided he would go into the cave. “Pinkie?” He called. “Yes?” Pinkie replied happily, still somewhat out of breath. “Is it over?” He asked, still lingering at the mouth of the cave. “Yeah, it’s over. Cheesie, we have twins.” Pinkie said happily in her ‘mommy-voice’. “Really?” Cheese asked as he began walking deeper inside the cave. His lovely wife slowly came into view as he got closer. She was sweaty and her mane had straightened and was sticking to her. He looked down and saw her holding two little foals. They were both earth ponies and they were both boys. Cheese smiled as he looked down at them and he looked at Pinkie and she looked back at him, a weak, but extremely happy smile on her face. “What are we going to name them?” Pinkie asked. “I… I don’t know… But I’ll think about it, I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He said quietly. He looked down happily at his two newborn sons. The one on his right had a brown coat like his, but a puffy pink mane and tail like his mother. The one on the left had a slightly lighter brown coat with pink spots on it. His mane was mostly pink with a few brown streaks in it. Both of their manes and tails were curly, just like their mom and dad. “This one should be named Skittle and this one….” Cheese said, pointing at the one of the right. Pinkie gasped, “Chocolate Rain! It’s perfect!” Cheese smiled at her. “Yeah, it is perfect.” He said, he leaned down and kissed each of their foals on the forehead. They giggled and looked up at him. Cheese smiled again, tears forming in his eyes. The two foals yawned at about the same time and they closed their eyes. They soon fell asleep while Pinkie was still holding this. She looked down at them happy and slowly and carefully laid down on their makeshift bed. Cheese laid down next to Pinkie and pulled the blanket over all four of them. Cheese and Pinkie kissed gently and closed their eyes, trying to fall asleep. Though Cheese wasn’t tired and he couldn’t fall asleep. He opened his eyes to see Pinkie already asleep, the two foals lying next to her, both asleep. Cheese stared at them until he began to feel sleepy. They were just so beautiful, this brand new life that had just emerged from his wife. He stared at them even as his eyes drooped closed. He fell asleep next to his wife and his two new sons who he already loved more than anything. > Chapter Thirty One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo thanked Doctor Whooves for taking care of her and left the room to the front office. She paid the nurse up front for her operation and then left the office. She walked through Ponyville, feeling much better now that she knew she wasn’t pregnant and that she had her old figure back. She greeted everypony she knew as she walked through Ponyville and made her way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. When she finally got back, she looked into the Everfree Forest for some reason. She stared at in unblinking for what seemed like hours. “Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle called from the doorway. “What?” Scootaloo asked, turning her head to face Sweetie Belle. “Come inside, it’s starting to get cold out there.” She said, waving her hoof at Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked back into the forest once more before turning and walking inside the cottage. “How did the operation go?” Fluttershy asked as soon as Scootaloo walked in. “It went just fine, see?” Scootaloo turned and showed Fluttershy her now small and this belly. Fluttershy sighed slightly and smiled. Scootaloo smiled back weakly, “I just don’t understand how it happened in the first place.” “It doesn’t really matter anymore, it’s all over now, and it’s not going to happen again, right?” Fluttershy asked. “Right. Unless….” Scootaloo started. “Unless what?” “Unless I meet the stallion of my dreams and we get married.” Scootaloo said dreamily. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom giggled. Even Fluttershy gave a small chuckle. “Where’s Gala?” She asked. “Discord took her into town. He seems to be really close to her. It’s probably because Pinkie Pie and Cheese reminded him of himself and he really wants to love her like she’s his own foal.” Fluttershy said. “How would Pinkie and Cheese remind him of himself?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Because of what they did, and how evil it was…. That somehow reminded him of himself. He also told me that he promised Pinkie that he would take care of Gala.” Fluttershy explained. “Oh…..” The girls said in unison. Fluttershy giggled slightly, putting her hoof to her mouth. “Wait…” Scootaloo said. “You said Discord and Gala went to town? In Ponyville?” “Where else would he take her?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t know, but I didn’t see them when I was walking back from the doctor’s office.” Scootaloo said. “He probably just took her by Sweet Apple Acres to see it before Big Mac closed it down.” Fluttershy said. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Scootaloo said. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Since Scootaloo was the closest to the door, she opened it. In the doorway stood Discord, holding Gala Amour. “Sorry, I know it’s been kind of cold outside for a little bit, but we were all the way down at Sweet Apple Acres, I wanted to show Gala what it was like. I heard Big Mac was going to close it because he can’t take care of it on his own.” At that, Apple Bloom looked down at her cutie mark, which had nothing to do with apples. She frowned and look back at Discord, waiting for him to finish his explanation. “I would have teleported so I could back faster, but Gala is too little to handle teleportation.” He said. He walked in, closing the door behind her. “We had a long day, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to put her to bed now.” Discord walked up to her room. “I told you they went to Sweet Apple Acres.” Fluttershy said. “Yeah, yeah.” Scootaloo said. Discord came back down the stairs a few minutes later. “So, what are we doing?” He asked. “We were waiting for you to get back so we could have dinner.” Fluttershy said. The girls all sat down the the kitchen table and Discord sat down next to Fluttershy. Discord snapped and the food that had been on the kitchen counter moments ago was now sitting on the table in front of each pony, ready to be eaten. “Oh! And I made us a cake for dessert.” Apple Bloom chirped happily. “Wonderful! I’m so excited, now, let’s eat!” Discord said. He dug into the book salad that was in front of him. Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all started eating their normal salads. Once they had all finished eating, Apple Bloom served out her cake to the others. The all took one bite cautiously. “Oh, Apple Bloom, this is delicious!” Fluttershy exclaimed. Discord nodded in agreement. Apple Bloom smiled a smile so big that her mouth began to hurt. She shook away the smile and began eating her own piece of cake, realizing that it really was good. She smiled at her accomplishment and continued eating her dessert. The large family all finished their desserts at about the same time and they all left the table to go to bed. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom walked into their bedroom, accidentally waking up Gala Amour. Discord burst into the room and began rocking her. She soon quieted down and fell back asleep. Discord kissed her forehead and placed her back into her crib. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom thanked Discord and he left their room, heading to his own. The girls all got into their beds and fell asleep quickly. Fluttershy was lying in her bed, the blanket pulled up to her chin. “Discord…” She whispered seductively. Discord’s eyebrows shot up and he turned to face her. His ears perked up and turned towards her. He saw the look on her face and quietly shut and locked their bedroom door. “Thanks to all those naps and to you taking care of Gala in the middle of the night, I’m not too tired for you-know-what.” She whispered. A smile creept onto Discord’s face. He climbed into bed with her and kissed her. Fluttershy kissed him back. Discord pulled Fluttershy’s small body on top of him and continued kissing her. He ran his claw through her mane and down her back to her flank. They ensued in an act of love and fell asleep later that night. > Chapter Thirty Two > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie woke up to crying foals and a very very bad smell. She opened her eyes and saw Chocolate Rain and Skittles wailing and flailing about, covered in their own droppings. Pinkie humped out of the bed and away from them. “Cheese!” She screamed. “Huh? What?” Cheese jumped up and immediately covered his mouth and nose with his hoof. “What’s that smell?” He asked. “It’s the foals.” Pinkie said. “We don’t have diapers. Is there a stream nearby?” She asked. “Yeah, of course there is, how do you think I’ve been getting water for us?” Cheese said, still covering his nose. Pinkie laughed nervously. She picked up Chocolate Rain in her hoof and Cheese hesitantly picked up Skittles. Cheese led the way out of the cave and to where the stream was. Pinkie and Cheese gently dipped their foals into the cold water and washed them off, washing themselves off after. Once all four of them were clean, they headed back to the cave. Pinkie was walking significantly slower than Cheese was and she had to stop to catch her breath on the way back to the cave. “Pinkie?” Cheese asked, walking back to where she was. “Are you alright?” He asked. Pinkie was taking short, quick breaths and her eyes were squeezed shut. “Yeah… I’m…. I’m fine.” She panted. She opened her eyes and looked up at Cheese and slowly continued walking. The four of them made it back to their cave and laid down inside. Pinkie was exhausted and she gently set Chocolate Rain down on their makeshift bed. She closed her eyes and lay facing the ceiling. Cheese was starting to get extremely worried about Pinkie. It seemed like she was getting sick, she was extremely weak and Cheese hadn’t ever seen anything like it. Although, he wasn’t very experienced in the medical field. Cheese carefully put Skittles down on the bed next to Chocolate Rain. He put his hoof on Pinkie’s forehead. He quickly pulled his hoof back and blew on it. “Pinkie, you’re burning up.” Pinkie didn’t say anything, but she did open her eyes slightly and turn her head towards Cheese. She was still breathing heavily, the look on her face resonated pain and despair. Cheese knew that what she hated the most right now, was that she wasn’t able to take care of her little ones. “Pinkie, please don’t die. I can’t live without you. You’re the love of my life and I love you more than anything.” Cheese said, tears in his eyes. Pinkie didn’t react, she just lay still, her chest slowly moving up and down as she took in short breaths. Cheese left to get some of the water from the stream they had just been at. He carried it in a thick, cup-shaped leaf. He quickly but carefully made his way back to Pinkie and made her drink the water. Her breathing evened out slightly as she fell asleep. The pain on her face had disappeared and she looked calm and peaceful. Cheese wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes and he gave the rest of the water to the little ones, which they drank up happily. * * * After two weeks, Pinkie’s condition hadn’t changed. She wasn’t any better, but Cheese was thankful that she hadn’t gotten worse. Chocolate Rain and Skittles were barely able to drink up the milk that Pinkie was able to give them. They had all grown weak and frail, even Cheese. Cheese had been taking care of the three of them, as well as himself for the past two weeks day and night. It was hard work and he hardly got any sleep. He knew nothing about medicine or plants so he couldn’t get any for Pinkie or the twins. Cheese was covered in filth, he didn’t have time to wash himself between taking care of his loved ones. He was extremely lucky that he hadn’t gotten sick. He gave Pinkie and the twins as much food as he could manage to find. He himself hardly ate, but he knew he had to do his job as a father and husband to take care of his wife and children. Cheese’s mane and tail were tangled and matted, covered in dirt. He had dirt all over his face and the rest of his coat, and the dark circles under his eyes were incredibly huge and dark. He somehow managed not to fall asleep when someone needed him, and he managed to keep all four of them alive for two weeks. The next day when he woke up, the sun was just starting to rise and Pinkie was still breathing. He gave a small sigh of relief and picked up the twins, carefully placing them on his back, making sure not to wake them so they wouldn’t start crying and wake Pinkie. He walked down to the stream to wash them and he even washed himself because he was just too dirty. Once he and the twins were both clean, and had their fill of water, he filled a leaf with some water from the stream and started walking back to the cave where Pinkie was waiting. When Cheese made it back to the cave, he had expected to hear Pinkie’s soft, steady breathing, but there was only silence. He dropped the leaf with the water in it and, being careful of the foals on his back, he rushed over to Pinkie. He gently put the twins on the bed and kneeled down next to Pinkie. He stared down at her, and for several minutes, he hadn’t seen her chest puff in as she took in a breath and he hadn’t heard her breath in any air. Tears poured out of his eyes and onto her dead body. She had somehow managed to open her eyes before she died, and they were open and blank, staring up at the roof of the cave. The once beautiful, sapphire blue eyes had turned into a light gray. Cheese gently closed her eyelids with his hoof and wiped away his tears. “I wasn’t even there for her when she finally…. When she…..” Cheese couldn’t bring himself to say, or even think, of the word. He continued crying and he couldn’t bring himself to stop crying. He looked at Chocolate Rain and Skittles, both staring up at him with their blue eyes that matched their mother’s. They were both so small and innocent, they had no idea that their mother had just died. Staring at them, more tears poured down Cheese’s face. Cheese had never even cried before, and now he couldn’t stop. “Pinkie, I can’t force myself to keep on living without you.” Cheese said, staring at Pinkie and talking to her as though she could hear him. Cheese covered her body with the blanket he had made. He piled the rest of the kindling on top of her body. He picked up the twins and moved them away from the makeshift bed. He started a fire on the sticks that were on top of Pinkie and they slowly began to burn. Cheese bit on a strand of hair from Pinkie’s tail, which had already started burning, and he yanked on it, pulling the hair out. Cheese managed to tie the strand of hair to his foreleg. “This is all I have left of her.” Cheese thought as he stared at the strand of hair. Cheese stayed in the cave, watching the fire grow and eat everything it came across, blazing violently when it ate through the sticks and reached the blanket on top of Pinkie. When the smell of burning flesh and hair became too much, Cheese took his children and left the cave. He began walking in the direction he and Pinkie had come from all that time ago. His beloved had finally passed on, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He planned to turn himself in to the princesses and face his consequences. He didn’t know if they would believe him about Pinkie dying, but he would tell them the truth anyway. He didn’t care about walking in the broad daylight, and he didn’t care where he walked. The only thing he cared about what the twin foals on his back and the strand of bring pink, curly hair that was tied to his foreleg. Cheese continued walking all day, and he had finally made it back to Ponyville by the time the sun had set and the moon had come up. Cheese didn’t stop to rest, he didn’t stop by Fluttershy’s cottage to see how Gala was doing he just kept walking towards Canterlot. Cheese was extremely determined to turn himself in to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Chocolate Rain and Skittles had somehow remained asleep throughout the long journey. Cheese wandered down the road that led from Ponyville to Canterlot, he knew he couldn’t take the train from risk of being caught before he could get to the princesses. Once Cheese had made it into Canterlot, he contemplated how he would get inside the castle itself to see the princesses. He figured that maybe he could talk to one of the guards and they might let him in, or lead him in. While he was thinking about this and still walking in the shadows through the town, he became distracted and was spotted by a suspicious character. “Hey! You!” He called, trotting over to Cheese. Cheese was startled and jumped slightly, causing Chocolate Rain and Skittles to wake up from their slumber. The suspicious looking stallion reached into his dark coat and pulled out a badge. “I’m a member of the royal guard, I’m in disguise trying to catch criminals.” He started. Cheese interrupted him, “Yeah, I get that. I’m Cheese Sandwich and you’re here to arrest me, right?” The stallion put his badge away awkwardly, “Yeah…. That’s right….” “Well, don’t bother. I plan on turning myself in to the princesses, and I’d rather do it in person, rather than being delivered by a guard.” Cheese said, trying his hardest to coax the little ones back to sleep. “Why are you turning yourself in?” The guard asked. “Because my wife and partner is dead.” He said sadly, momentarily looking back at the guard as he continued gently coaxing the young ones back to sleep. “Pinkamena Diane Pie is dead?” The guard asked, shocked. “Yes, she died because she gave birth to twins, the same twins you see with me here.” He said as they finally fell back to sleep. The guard nodded. “Well, if you’d like, I could escort you to the castle telling the other guards that I’ve captured you, and I could lead you to the throne room so you could speak to the Princess on your own.” The guard said, a sympathetic look on his face. “Really?” Cheese asked. “No, of course not. You’re coming with me.” The guard said, tying a rope around Cheese’s neck and pulling him along towards the castle. Cheese sighed and followed him willingly. After about 10 minutes, Cheese and the guard had made it to the front doors of the castle. Neither of them had said anything to each other, and the guard had been walking surprisingly fast, which forced Cheese to walk faster, despite his sleep depravity. The guard pulled him through the doors and through the castle to the throne room, which was empty. The guard cursed under his breath and led Cheese and the twins out of the throne room. He led them down to the dungeon, the same dungeon that he and Pinkie had been locked up in for three days. The guard locked him in a different cell and left, leaving the twins with Cheese. “Another guard will be back in the morning to feed you.” He said as he walked back up the stairs. Cheese sighed and laid down on the cold, stone floor. He rolled over onto his back, lifting the twins up and resting them on his chest. He wrapped his forelegs around them gently and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep. When Cheese closed his eyes all he could think about was Pinkie, and tears began pouring out of his eyes and dripping onto the floor. The tear drops echoed throughout the dungeon, startling other prisoners. After nearly an hour, Cheese was finally able to cry himself to sleep, with the twins on top of him. Cheese, along with all the other ponies in the dungeon, was awoken in the middle of the night by the crying of two twin foals. Cheese heard a bunch of stallions banging on the bars of their cells and yelling at him to shut them up. Cheese sat up and carefully tried to get them to stop crying, nothing he had done before was working. “Will you all shut the fuck up?” Cheese screamed. The dungeon suddenly went silent, besides the echoes. When the echoes finally stopped, the only sounds were the twins soft crying. Cheese rocked them and sung a little song. The two stopped crying and slowly opened their eyes, looking up at their father. Cheese smiled down at them and they both giggled and smiled back at him. A small tear escaped Cheese’s eye, though he was still smiling. The twins yawned around the same time and Cheese saw their eyelids getting droopy and falling over their glassy eyes. Their breathing evened out and they had both fallen asleep. Cheese heard some stallions groan and they plopped back onto the floor or their beds and they fall back asleep. Cheese stayed up a few minutes longer, making sure his foals were comfortable and sleeping happily. Once he was sure they were good, he laid back and closed his eyes, falling asleep a few minutes later. The twins were able to hold up for the rest of the night and they didn’t wake anypony else up by crying. When morning finally came, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wandered down to the dungeon where Cheese and many others were. “Cheese Sandwich.” Celestia said mockingly. “Princess Celestia.” Cheese said in the same tone. “Princess Luna.” He nodded at each other them. “Where is Pinkie Pie?” Princess Luna asked. “She’s….” Cheese hesitated. A small tear ran down his cheek. “She’s dead.” Celestia scoffed, “I have a hard time believing that.” She said. “But, it’s true.” Cheese said sadly, looking up at the princesses with tears in his eyes. “I think he’s telling the truth, sister.” Princess Luna said, looking down at Cheese and at the tears falling from his face. “Luna.” Princess Celestia said coldly. “We can’t take any chances, if she’s still out there, we need to find her and take care of her.” Luna nodded and looked down at the floor. “But I swear I did. I burned her body myself.” Cheese insisted. He suddenly remembered the piece of hair he had pulled from her tail. “See? I took this off her tail after it had already started burning.” He said, holding out his leg that had the strand of hair tied around it. He looked at both ends of the hair and showed them the end that had been singed by the fire. The princesses both looked at the strand of hair. “That is pretty convincing, sister.” Luna said, looking at her eldest sister who was still staring at the hair. “But not convincing enough.” She finished. “I still don’t believe you, Cheese Sandwich.” The princess said, not taking her purple eyes off of Cheese’s dark green ones and he stared back at her. “Are those foals with you?” Luna asked, looking into Cheese’s cage and startling both Cheese and Princess Celestia, breaking up their staring contest. They both turned to look at Luna, Celestia followed her gaze and Cheese continued to stare at Princess Luna. Cheese finally answered her question. “Yeah, this one is Chocolate Rain, and that one is named Skittles. Pinkie gave birth to them about two weeks before she died.” Princess Luna continued staring at them, a small smile creeping up on her face. The two foals turned to look at her and they both flailed their forelegs and giggled with big smiles on their faces. The smile on Luna’s face grew bigger and she gave a small giggle. “Well….” Princess Celestia started. “Luna, since you like those foals so much, why don’t you take them to an orphanage somewhere in Canterlot, or perhaps Ponyville.” Celestia said, levitating the twins and carrying them out of the cave. She levitated them over to Luna and Luna took then and left the dungeon. Celestia turned her attention back to Cheese. She leaned in extremely close to the cell, forcing Cheese to back up but she used her magic to bring him closer. Once they were practically nose to nose, a sneer formed on Celestia’s lips, “I will be back for you the moment the sun goes down and I will torture you myself.” She whispered menacingly into his ear. Once she released him, Cheese stumbled back, his ears folding back on his head. Celestia smiled at him one more time and then she left the dungeon along with her sister. Cheese waited for night to come in the dungeon; he was now all alone in his cell. He had lunch delivered to him by a guard around the middle of the day, but he didn’t even touch it. “What’s the point of eating if I’m just going to die later?” He asked himself. A few hours later, another guard came down and gave all the prisoners their dinner. He skipped Cheese because he was told to. Cheese didn’t mind, he wouldn’t have eaten anything anyway. A few minutes after dinner had been brought out, Princess Luna walked into the dungeon and straight to Cheese’s cell. She looked behind her before looking at Cheese. She waved her hoof at him in a manner that told him to walk towards her, and so he did. “Cheese Sandwich,” She whispered. “I’ve put your children in a lovely orphanage in Canterlot, they’ll be safe there.” She said. A smile appeared on Cheese’s face, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. “Thank you Princess Luna.” He said. Luna heard the voice of her sister and rushed back up the stairs to raise the moon. Soon after the younger princess had left the dungeon, the older one entered. “Cheese Sandwich, your time has come.” The Princess bellowed throughout the dungeon. The smile that had formed on his face flipped upside down into a frown. Celestia saw the tears running down his face and she smiled. Cheese wiped away his tears and stared up at her. “I’m ready.” He said bravely, standing up as tall as he could. Princess Celestia wore a deadly look upon her face. She levitated him out of the cell and left the dungeon along with the castle. She flew to the old castle that she and her sister had once ruled, over a thousand years ago. She made her way through the castle, levitating Cheese behind her. They finally made it to the torture dungeon that Cheese had been in, and escaped, once before. Princess Celestia tied him up with his forelegs spread out over his head and his back legs spread out beneath him. Cheese hung his head and didn’t try to struggle. Princess Celestia growled and tied a band around his head so he would be looking right at her. Celestia used her magic to pick up a knife. She no longer cared how she tortured Cheese, as long as he died a slow, painful death. She spun the knife in the air with her magic as she levitated it towards Cheese. She stopped moving the knife and held it straight, still moving it closer to Cheese. Cheese didn’t flinch, he just stared at the knife as it’s sharp blade got closer and closer to his torso. She quickly slashed the knife at him, making a small, thin cut along a part of his left foreleg. She did the same on his right, only the cut was deeper. She made a few cuts along each of his forelegs. Cheese didn’t react, since he used to cut himself in the same places, it didn’t bother him too much. Celestia moved down to his back legs, making really deep cuts all the way down his legs. Cheese flinched and his eyes started watering slightly. Cheese willed himself not to cry, not to give the sadistic princess the pleasure she desired. The princess grew angry and began slashing at him harder, the blood coming out of him actually splashing onto the princess and the knife and the floor. The blood from his forelegs was slowly dripping down onto the floor. Once Celestia was satisfied with how much blood was coming out of her victim, she stopped slashing his legs. She used her magic to hold the knife a few inches away from Cheese’s stomach area and then she thrusted it into him as hard as she could. Cheese’s eyes went wide and he coughed up a large amount of blood. Celestia twisted the blade around inside his body. Cheese groaned, trying his hardest to keep from screaming. “What was it you and your little wife always did to your victims?” She asked him sarcastically as she continued twisting the knife around inside him, more blood spilling out. “Oh, that’s right, you always cut off their cutie marks, didn’t you?” She asked. She pulled the knife out of Cheese and he coughed a few more times, blood splattering onto the floor. She moved the knife to Cheese’s left flank and carved a sloppy circle around his cutie mark. Cheese hardly felt it, he was still focussing on the pain in his torso, watching the blood continue to pour out of him. Princess Celestia cut off his cutie mark and, since she didn’t really care about it, she threw it onto the floor. She did the same with the other one once she had cut it off. By the time Cheese had been stripped of his cutie marks, the wound in his stomach had almost stopped bleeding. Celestia stared at him angrily, she thought for a moment about cutting his ears off, but then she realized she wanted him to hear what she had to say, and she wanted him to hear his own screams as they echoed off the walls of the torture room. She used the knife to cut open the flesh on his chest, opening it up to his organs. Cheese gasped and shut his eyes tight as the cold, polluted air stung all his revealed flesh. Before Celestia did anything to his organs or otherwise, she levitated a small salt shaker towards them. She shook the salt shaker over Cheese’s legs. Cheese tried his hardest not to scream and give in to what she wanted; but he couldn’t help himself and he screamed, his shrill, pain infested screamed echoed off the stone walls of the cellar of the castle. Celestia smiled and she continued to shake the salt over his wounds. Cheese screamed and screamed until the salt didn’t hurt any longer. Celestia became upset that she was no longer giving him an overwhelming amount of pain. She shook the salt over his bare flanks and he screamed again, tears pouring out of his eyes. The salt in the tears stung as they fell down his body and into the open wounds on his chest. Cheese was breathing hard and panting, his vision was beginning to get blurry and before he knew what was happening, he passed out, and he never woke up. Celestia knew she would never use this torture room again, so she didn’t bother with cleaning up the body. She kicked his check cavity, crack several bones and splattering many organs. That kick would have definitely killed him if he hadn’t already been dead. She left the castle, still covered in Cheese’s blood. She left the castle and stopped by a nearby stream to wash off all the blood before she flew back to the castle. When she finally made it back, her younger sister was waiting for her. “How did it go, sister?” Luna asked her when she arrived. “It went just fine.” Celestia said. “I think I’ll be going to sleep now.” She made her way to her room and laid down in her bed. She drifted off to sleep, waiting for luna to wake her when morning came the next day. * * * In Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash and Soarin were talking to each other in their house. They had gotten married just two weeks earlier. Soarin had been telling Rainbow that he wanted to have foals, but Rainbow didn’t want foals because it might destroy her chances to make it into the wonderbolts. “Dashie,” Soarin said sweetly. “Do you want foals at all?” He asked. Dash sighed. “I guess I do, I just don’t….” She sighed again. “Dashie, maybe we could adopt.” This caught her attention. She turned to Soarin with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Soarin, that’s a wonderful idea.” She said, wrapping her arms around him. Soarin smiled and hugged her back. “Let’s go now.” She said, breaking the hug and spreading her wings. “Now?” Soarin asked. “Yeah, I know an orphanage in Canterlot we can look at. Let’s go now, Soarin. I really do want a foal or two.” Rainbow said, staring at him with puppy dog eyes. Soarin sighed. “Alright, let’s go now.” He said. He spread his wings and he and Rainbow Dash left her house in the clouds and flew down to Canterlot. “Oh, Soarin, I’m so excited!” Rainbow Dash squealed almost like a filly. Soarin smiled and wrapped his wing around her as they walked down the street. She scooted closer to him and they continued walking to the nearby orphanage. They walked inside and looked around at all the adorable little foals. Rainbow Dash had her eyes on two tiny twin foals with brown and pink colors. They reminded her of Pinkie Pie and Cheese. “Soarin.” She said, tears forming in her eyes once again. “What is it Dashie?” Soarin asked, placing his hoof on her shoulder and removing his wing. “We need to get those two.” She said, pointing her hoof at the two brown and pink twin foals. Soarin looked at them for a moment and then back at Rainbow. Soarin wanted to ask why, but when he saw the tears in her eyes, he knew that there was a reason, and he didn’t need to know what the reason was at that moment. “Alright.” He said. Rainbow Dash and Soarin left to go talk to the mare who ran the orphanage. They told her which foals they wanted and she asked them a bunch of questions from a survey. Once she was sure that they would be responsible parents, she granted them permission to adopt the two foals, as long as they got a house that wasn’t in the sky or in the clouds at all. They agreed, and said they would come back for the foals in a few days. Soarin and Rainbow Dash left Canterlot and flew back to Cloudsdale. “Soarin,” Rainbow Dash started. “Yeah, Dashie?” He said back to her. “How are we going to get a house in Ponyville?” She asked. Soarin laughed slightly. “I have a little house in Ponyville we can live in until we can get a bigger one. Don’t worry. We can move their and then go back and get the twins. How does that sound?” Rainbow Dash smiled at Soarin and they left to start packing. The next day they left Cloudsdale and went to Soarin’s house in Ponyville. They set up the things they had brought from Rainbow’s house. After getting settled, they went to bed, and then the next day they left back to Canterlot to get the foals. They flew Chocolate Rain and Skittles back to Ponyville with them. “Soarin, they’re so cute!” Rainbow Dash cooed, holding Chocolate Rain and hugging him. Soarin was holding Skittles and being very careful with him. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were both very loving parents and their adopted foals would love them when they grew up, even though they weren’t their real children.