Amy was dumbfounded, millions of questions raced through her mind, along with smart remarks. But all she could say was, “uh…”
Sweetie lept forward and hugged Amy, “you got your cutie mark! Hooray!”
Amy pushed her sister off, “forget my cutie mark. Who is SHE?”
The filly had grey fur, and her midnight blue mane had begun to cover one of her eyes. She stared at the floor, her mane covering her face.
“Well-” Sweetie began.
“I’LL TELL IT!” Clyde shouted, “okay, okay. So me and Sweetie were playing by the river, telling stories. When Sweetie said, ‘what happened if there was a storm.’ I thought that was silly, but I said. ‘We can hide in the cellar.’ Then she was like: ‘I don’t think the Pie’s have one.’ And I was like, ‘sure they do, they probably hide it under some rocks or something.’ And then she was like: ‘I don’t think so.’ And I was like-”
“Okay. I think she gets it,” Sweetie scoffed. “Anyway. We decided to go to the Pie’s house and a secret mission. We left no stone unturned, literally, until we found a pile of rocks. We pushed it aside to reveal a cellar. “See I told you, they hide it under some rocks,” I stated. We opened it and descended the stairs. “Mama?” Some voice said, “Stop it Clyde. Your not funny.” “I didn’t say that,” Clyde promised.
Amy furrowed her brow, “so you mean. That filly over there lived in a cellar? Seems pretty messed up.”
“Yeah. We were terrified! And then the Pie’s came, and scolded us. But Miss Cloudy looked like a foal getting caught doing something bad,” Clyde said, she fell back laughing.
“We asked her why that foal was down there, she said: “girls don’t worry. She’s a bad pony...she wants to hurt you guys and me. We have to keep her down there, for your own protection.”
“NO! YOU’RE EVIL,” the filly suddenly yelled. She covered her face with her hooves.
“Aww poor Minkie,” Sweetie cooed, giving ‘Minkie’ a warm hug.
“So. That’s why we’re in trouble?” Amy asked.
“Yeah, than that bitch, told Mama that we locked a foal from the village down there, but she caught us ‘before it was too late.’” Clyde sneered.
“But that’s a lie! Mama can’t just-”
“Adults are so trusting! What if a foal told them that somepony was gonna kill them, then they wouldn’t listen. And they’d be dead,” Sweetie frowned.
“But at least you got your cutie mark,” Minkie said quietly. They had a hard time hearing her.
“How did you get your cutie mark,” Clyde asked incredulously.
“Me and Dazzy went mining by one of the caves.”
“That’s it,” Sweetie said.
Amy gave a slight nod, “what are we gonna do with Minkie? Well...you know what I mean.”
“We stole some food to give her,” Clyde pulled an old potato sack from under the bed. The contents of the bag began to roll out.
“B-But that’s a lot of food!” Amy screamed.
“Yeah but she could have been in there for years! She needs all the food she can get,” Clyde said.
“Can ponies survive years without food,” Amy asked.
“Maybe…” Sweetie trailed off, pondering it for a moment. “Anyway, Minkie Pie want something to eat?”
Minkie nodded, a smile stretching across face. “Can I have those brown circles!?”
“You mean the hash browns,” Clyde asked.
Minkie nodded vigorously.
“We ran out...we have one-” Clyde eyes fell on Sweetie, who was trying to stuff the last hash brown into her mouth and keep it hidden at the same time.
They all rolled their eyes at Sweetie, Minkie still wearing the sly smile.
“Jasper, Amethyst, Garnet!” Crystal Sapphire, their mother, shouted. “Come here.” The fillies slowly trotted toward their parent. Their father, Rough Stone, was also there, looking equally cross.
“Yes Mother,” Clyde asked.
“Cloudy Quartz told us that you locked her daughter in a cellar for many years now. That is sick, and you’ll likely go to Hell for that act!” Crystal explained.
“You’re lucky that God is forgiving, otherwise he’d smite you down.”
“Papa listen. We-,” Sweetie was cut off by a hard smack to the face.
“Don’t take back to your father, you should be very ashamed.” Crystal stated. Rough Stone picked up a stick that was lying on a shelf. It was long and thin, made of wood and covered with leather so it would last longer. The stallion used this device to punish his daughters because it caused pain, but not permanent damage. Rough Stone raised the stick…
It was midnight and Crystal Gem and Cloudy Quartz were sipping wine and chatting. They needed to relax over what has happened over the few months.
Cloudy rubbed her temple, “my own daughters serial killers. How long would it have been before they came after me? How long would it have been before I noticed?” Her voice soft and solemn.
Crystal put a hoof on her cousin’s shoulder. “We could not have known. Nopony could have known.”
“B-But...when ponies disappeared, there was no investigation. Nopony looked into it, maybe if they did...so many ponies would be alive.”
Crystal sighed, “they're with God now. God felt it was their time.”
“But not to serial killers! God wouldn’t have wanted them to be tortured and made into pastries, and oh Celestia we all ate pony meat!” Cloudy felt sick, but she swallowed the vomit attempting to come up.
“Just drink. It will help you forgot about what happened...for a moment at least.” And they did, drinking so much that they finished the bottle.
Cloudy was a lightweight so by now she was unaware of her actions. However Crystal hadn’t drunk most of the bottle, so she was still coherent.
“I beat my children…*sigh* I feel terrible,” Crystal said, swirling her last cup of wine.
“*hic* have you seen that stallion at daaaaaaaa church. He *hic* cute.” Cloudy slurred randomly.
“Cloudy!” Crystal laughed, “I don’t know what to do with my children. Stone and I are thinking about sending them to the nuns.”
“I think you should, ahhh...lock them outside. And treat them like their locked in a cellar,” Cloudy said.
“Hmm. How are we supposed to feed them?”
“Give dem a slice of bread...dat’s wat I gave Minkie Pie,” Cloudy said without thinking. Crystal was puzzled, what I gave Minkie?
“What?” Crystal stated.
Cloudy began to laugh.
“You locked Minkie Pie in that cellar.”
“*hic* maybe,” Cloudy smiled.
Crystal stood up quickly, thinking about her children, she felt sorry for them. She felt sorry for Minkie Pie. As fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, Crystal let the wine glasses shattered against the floor and exited.
“Where ya going,” Cloudy asked following behind Crystal.
Minkie had seen what happened to her ‘friends.’ They had been beaten by their parents, this enraged her. She had been hiding behind the couch, clutching a knife desperately. She heard the door swing open followed by drunken chatter. Minkie bite down on the knife handle and inched her way toward two dark figures. She waited until they reached their bedroom, assuming that they were the Mother and Father.
Once they entered the room, Minkie slammed the door shut behind herself. Minkie raised the knife over her head, eyes locked on the cowering figures.
Clyde awoke to bloodcurdling screams, Clyde groaned and slipped out of bed. Clyde saw blood running out the door to her parent’s room. Scared Clyde slowly pushed the door open, she saw Minkie Pie standing over her parents and Cloudy, a knife between her teeth and that unmistakable red staining her fur.
Clyde screamed. Amy and Sweetie rushing to her aid, until to scream themselves. Minkie was shocked, “what?”
“WHY DID YOU KILL THEM!?!”
“They hurt you...I-I-”
“YOU DON’T JUST KILL WHOEVER HURTS YOU! THAT’S NOT THE WAY!!”
Minkie began to sob, collapsing in the pool of red.
“We have to burry them…” Amy frowned. “Then...turn ourselves in.”
“WHAT!?” Clyde said, “WHY US!? WE DIDN’T KILL HER!”
Sweetie said, “yeah! Why us?”
“Guys, we could have prevented this.” Amy whined.
“How,” Clyde asked.
“Maybe if we were more observant then we’d seen Minkie Pie leave.”
Clyde sneered, “bullshi-” Suddenly, there was a blinding flash, allowing them to see every detail in the room for a second. Yep, their parents weren’t coming back. They all looked at Minkie’s flank, there was a black lock branded on her grey flank.
Despite Minkie getting her cutie mark, Minkie didn’t perk up. Amy trotted over to her Mother and grabbed a limb. She pulled on it, dragging it across the carpet. Clyde cursed and went to help her sister. Instead of helped, Sweetie went to clean the blood. In an hour the whole room was clean, they left the bodies outside.
Clyde, Amy, and Sweetie stood over the shallow graves of their parents and cousin. They were crying heavily. Minkie watched from inside the house, the fillies even put on their best black dress. Minkie wondered why they cared so much, she had killed the one’s who hurt them. They should be happy! Minkie looked at the bloodstained knife on the floor, then to her ‘friends.’ They cared for her. Was she really gonna do this?