"Hey!" Rainbow Dash called from outside of Silence.EXE's house. She pounded on the window after taking a glance inside to find that the recording had ended. "Future love birds! Is that weird video over yet? Let me in!"
Silence flinched at the sound of the mare's speech, which was eerily similar to the crazed and chilling voice that had recently entered his ears. He blinked hard, trying to focus, and ejected the tape, making sure that Rainbow couldn't see where he'd hidden it. He then walked over to the door, undid the lock, and let the Pegasus push it open. Silence checked Rainbow over, scanning for any evidence that the Pegasus had stolen a peak at the recording. Thankfully, Silence found no signs that she'd disobeyed the orders that she'd been given.
"Twilight, can you please reason with Mr. Mysterious over here and tell him that I should watch the recording too? I mean, I'm pretty sure I'll need to if he wants my help and- Twilight, a-are you okay?" Rainbow Dash noticed that Twilight wasn't sitting down, but instead curled into a tight ball on the floor, eyes glazed over, tears matting her cheeks. She was mumbling to herself, a puddle of throw up located just in front of her in which her forelegs were dipped. The purple Alicorn met Rainbow's concerned expression only to shriek horribly and back away.
"Silence, what did you show her? Tell me right now!" Rainbow Dash charged up to the black stallion, who stepped away. Her nostrils were flared and her multicolored tail flicked with anger and anxiety. "What did you do to my friend!"
"I checked in with her throughout the recording, but she insisted that we continue!"
"I don't care, you should've just turned it off anyways! And you didn't answer me! What did she see?"
"She . . . she saw you, well, another version of you from the GrimDark reality . . . She saw that pony m-murder a foal who failed the Cloudsdale Flying Test . . . And she owned an entire factory dedicated to the painful butchery of ponies for the production of rainbows . . . the Rainbow Factory . . ."
"Twilight knows that what she saw wasn't me!"
"These tapes . . . you have no idea . . . the dark magic leaking into your reality must've influenced her brain, making it hard for her to differentiate between-"
"Well then show me the tape, because otherwise I'm not going to believe you!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward, her hoof slamming against the floor, her wings clenched and quivering with strain. Her eyes were narrowed; locked onto the stallion in front of her.
Silence let out a shaky sigh, succumbing to Rainbow Dash and her rather aggressive tactics. He agreed to show the blue pony a different recording, one that didn't involve the Pegasus that resembled her, who he'd begun to call her Mirror Mare. After Rainbow Dash regained her composer, she agreed to the conditions, hoping the information she'd receive would help her decipher a way to return her friend to normal.
Once the beaten tape was inserted, the screen crackled unpleasantly with static. However, the erratic movement of the pixels soon shifted into a more organised pattern, each small dot gaining color as it did so. It wasn't long before a pink mare revealed herself, a bloody apron tied around her neck and a knife between her teeth. Rainbow Dash cocked a brow as the pony's amazing resemblance to Pinkie Pie, though she could tell just from the mare's eyes that something was greatly wrong, despite their similar shade of blue. Pinkie Pie, her hair flat, adjusted the camera so that her image was less foggy before beginning, the now sharply clear smile on her face sending chills through Rainbow's spine.
However, after that, the mare refused to move, and it appeared as if the recording was experiencing difficulties. Just as Rainbow Dash moved to readjust the recording's position in the VCR, a voice boomed out for the screen.
"Why hello, Silence! Finally figured out how to get those tapes working, huh?"
The black Unicorn jumped before turning away, fear running through his body.
"Now, now, don't pretend your not watching this. Even if you decided to hide, I'd still be able to feel your presence from the other reality you've foolishly hidden in. Besides, I want to see those lovely eyes of yours. I'll make sure to take them for myself once I find a way to bring you back home to the GrimDark reality! You can't hide from me forever, you silly stallion! Oh, and you were kind enough to bring a guest for my show. Howdy, Dashie!"
Pinkie Pie energetically waved a hoof, taking amusement in Rainbow Dash's beyond disturbed expression.
"Let's get to business, shall we? I'm sure you're wondering about my friend and- ha ha! I'm blocking you view, aren't I? Let me help."
Pinkie Pie shifted out of the way to reveal an icy blue Unicorn mare with an deep, purple mane. Three X's made of thread were on each of her flanks, and she was tied down to the operating table she was laying on. A thick, leather strap pinned her head to the cool metal behind her mane, just bellow her horn, and her legs were spread far apart, in an uncomfortably . . . revealing manor. Even so, Rainbow Dash found it a challenge to look away from the screen.
"This is Hidden Stitch. Today, she'll be helping me make some extra special cupcakes! She should be waking up soon, the drug only lasts an hour or two."
As if on cue, Hidden's eyes fluttered open.
"Pinkie Pie? Is that you?"
She looked down at herself after recognizing her odd position.
"Why am I strapped down? I thought you said we were baking cookies!"
"Cupcakes, actually!"
"P-Pinkie, please stop looking at me like that. It's . . . unsettling. Can't you just help me out of these?" Her voice was beginning to sound desperate. She tried to use her Unicorn magic, but the dark stone that had been sprinkled about prevented her from doing so. Pinkie Pie simply giggled as she began to examine Hidden's body, visualizing where she would make her incisions. After grabbing a scalpel, she slowly stepped over to the defenseless pony that she'd kidnapped. Hidden's breath quickened as Pinkie closed in on her.
"Pinkie, please! This isn't funny! Just let me go!"
"No can do! You'd just run away . . . you don't want to be a party pooper, do you?"
"You're not really gonna hurt me, are you? We're friends!"
"You know Stitchy, all this talking is really very distracting. I think we should jump right in! Get started! But where to start?" Pinkie's eyes went back and forth between Hidden's thighs and forehead until settling on the latter, an unnaturally large smile on her face. She raised her weapon of choice as Hidden Stitch struggled against the thick ropes that bound her, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I usually start with a pony's cutie mark, but I've been wanting to try a new method for removing horns for a while now. I usually saw it off, but, hey, why not mix it up?" With that, Pinkie stabbed into Hidden's head, an ear piercing shriek sounding from her toy for the day. She continued to scream as the scalpel circled around her horn, blood trailing down from the bottom-most incision.
Pinkie Pie dropped her instrument of torture to the ground and began pulling at Hidden Stitch's horn. Aside from a slight wiggle or two, it refused to move. Pinkie rubbed her chin in confusion, blood staining her coat, before her face lit up once again.
"Silly me! I forgot to angle to cuts!"
"Pinkie stop! Please! It hurts so bad!"
Pinkie's scalpel once again entered Hidden's head, the sound of metal scraping against the roots of her horn entering her ears as she cried out in pain and fear, her eyes losing focus. Pinkie Pie pulled her prize from her victim's head, gory bits of flesh and even muscle clinging to the underside. Pinkie began to suck on it like a lollipop, blood washing down her throat. She obviously enjoyed the taste, and didn't remove it when she started to talk.
"Elifious! I fud o fif more ofen! Ow ven, ef gut scarhed on yowr cuihe murk!"
"Silence, turn it off! I get it, I'm sorry, just turn it off!"
Silence rushed up with a jolt and removed the tape, clearly eager to avoid the events about to take place himself, even if he knew that he'd still have to finish the recording later. Unfortunately, he paused it just as Pinkie's scalpel had entered Hidden's calf. Her face was contorted in agony, and her mouth frozen mid-screech. Despite this, Silence.EXE was too terrified to resume the recording in hopes that he could find a better picture to pause on.
"This tape possessed an even stronger connection to your world . . ." Silence began, his voice wavering. "This can't mean anything good."
"I-I dunno, Pinkie Pie-" the blue Pegasus shuddered as she spoke her friend's name, "has always been able to do impossible things. Maybe that Pinkie just used her powers for evil . . . o-or something." Hardly a shred of confidence was evident in her voice.
"Rainbow Dash, wasn't . . . wasn't Pinkie Pie looking at Hidden Stitch when I stopped the recording? Please tell me she was actually looking at the camera the whole time . . . "
Rainbow refused to think back to recent events, knowing that she wouldn't like what she found. She forced herself to imagine something else, like flying through the sky at thrilling speeds, but her mind kept coming back to the horrible actions that she'd just witnessed. Without asking, Rainbow opened her eyes and zipped over to the nearest outlet, planning to yank out a cord of some kind and prevent any more visions of a murderous Pinkie Pie being branded into her head. However, instead of doing so, she stood completely still, like a statue, and found it nearly impossible to speak. As soon as she did, Silence.EXE began to wish that Rainbow Dash had been petrified forever.
"Silence . . . the TV . . . the VCR . . . they were never plugged in . . ."