//------------------------------// // The Monster Inside // Story: Pinkamena's Final Act // by MasterFrasca //------------------------------// "What's the situation?" I asked, not even trying to act formal. This was neither the time nor the place for formality. By the message I had received, this was something very serious. "I got the message this morning that something had been found. What is it?" The brown pony I had been asking turned his head to face me. "Princess," he started politely, giving a slight nod. "I think we've finally discovered the disappearances of all the ponies in Ponyville over the last month." We were both standing outside Sugarcube Corner, the local bakery of the town, and an ambulance was parked outside of the front door. The entire block had been roped off with many royal guards keeping an eye on the press ponies snapping pictures and asking anypony around them why there was all this commotion. "Do we know who was behind it?" I asked, looking around to make sure none of the press was within earshot. "We do," the earth pony responded, "but I'd prefer to tell you inside, where there is not a chance of being overheard. I don't want the press running with the story before we know all the details." He waved a hoof at me before entering the bakery. I followed suit and shut the door behind me. Three ponies dressed in surgical masks stood just inside the door waiting patiently for something. "We haven't moved any of the bodies or disturbed any of the evidence," The brown pony told me as I looked over to the open door with wires leading down the steps. "All we've done is set up lighting so we can properly see down there. I'm not going to try and explain anything. I think it better that you take a look yourself." Walking past the still ponies in surgical masks, I started down the steps. Before I made it a few steps, I noticed that the bottom step was half covered in a nasty yellow-green liquid. Somepony had been down here already, and they must not have been able to keep their lunch down. I was almost afraid to see what had caused this. "Do you want a mask, Princess?" The brown pony said noticing I had stopped. "No Mr. Whooves," I replied, taking a few more steps, "I think I'll be ok." Taking the last few steps, I saw the entirety of the room in all its terrible glory. Quickly glancing around, I took a small assessment of the situation. "We have an operation table with various medical tools, a torture wheel, fitted with hoof clamps and many stab marks, and one dead pony in the middle of the room," I mumbled to myself before turning to Whooves. "Do we have an ID on the body?" "Yes ma'am, "He said taking out a notepad. That there is Pinkamena Diane Pie. Didn't you have a case involving her a while back?" Pinkamena Diane Pie was a name I thought I would never hear again. Twenty years ago I had dealt with that monster. I thought I had trapped it forever, back when she had no idea of the force she was dealing with. "Pinkie Pie, you say?" I asked a tear escaping my eye. I couldn't help it, knowing now what I would be dealing with. "Yes, that's correct," the brown earth pony replied giving me a confused look. "Are you ok Princess? "Yes, I'm fine," I lied as another tear escaped from my eyes. Now he needed an explanation, and I needed to be strong. "That case twenty years ago did involve Pinkamena. I fear now that history has repeated itself." "What do you mean, Princess?" Whooves asked me. "Twenty years ago, I had been called out to a lowly farm on the outskirts of Ponyville to investigate the disappearance of the Pie family. When I arrived, I found the entire family in the basement of the house, mutilated beyond recognition in various creative, if not demented styles. The taker of all their lives was lying on the floor weeping when I entered. Pinkie, as all her friends and family referred to her in those days, was Curled up in a ball, bawling her eyes out. She just kept muttering the same phrases over and over again: 'Pinkamena did it,' and 'I couldn't stop her.' "When I finally calmed her down, I asked her who Pinkamena was, and what she did to Pinkie. 'Pinkamena lives here,' she told me pointing to her head. When I asked her what she meant by that, she only said that Pinkamena only came out when she went to sleep, and she always did horrible things to animals when she did. After asking her what she meant by that, she told me she thought they were only dreams, nightmares to be exact. She told me this was the first time Pinkamena had killed an actual pony. "Pinkie had a demon sleeping inside of her and I tried to make everything right by using my magic to sort of lock her up inside of a dark corner of Pinkie's mind. I didn't think she would ever escape. Not after all of Pinkie's resistance training with me. I thought if she moved here to Ponyville and made some friends that Pinkamena would leave her head. I was certainly wrong about that." Looking at the dead Pony lying in the middle of the blood stained floor, I thought about what she must have done. She must have committed suicide to prevent Pinkamena from taking any more victims. "How many bodies are there?" "Dozens have been found down here, your highness," he said pointing a hoof to a closet-like room with a trap door, "But none of the bodies have been recognizable. We did find these down there, if you would like to give them a look. They explain a lot." He held two pieces of paper in his mouth, ready for me to take them. I levitated them over to me and looked them over. The first was a list of crossed-out names with a simple title of "Cupcakes" at the top: Cupcakes Fluttershy Caramel Blues Candy Mane Applejack Apple Bloom Scootaloo Octavia Rarity Sweetie Belle Vinyl Scratch Big Macintosh Twilight Sparkle Roseluck Daisy Rainbow Dash The list continued on to include nearly every pony in Ponyville, if not all of them. Those were the only names crossed off the list however. I knew what that meant, though. Tears were now streaming out of my eyes as I realized that the Elements of Harmony were no more. Moving on to the next piece of paper, I saw a hoofwritten letter signed by Pinkie herself. It was short, but it was evident that she had been crying while writing it. To whomever receives this letter, I want to say that I, Pinkie Pie, am sorry this ever happened. I thought I could control this beast inside of me, but I failed. I've taken innocent lives with these hooves, and now I'm going to stop this demon, even if that means taking my own life alongside it. All of my friends are gone now because of me. Some more also died along the way. I can't stand it anymore. I need to leave this body. I need to end this now. I'm sorry. I'm just so sorry. -Pinkamena "Pinkie" Diane Pie "I'm sorry too, Pinkie," I said finishing the letter. "We better release a list to the papers so we can have some obituaries Mr. Whooves. Then lets get this mess cleaned up and move on with our lives." "Right away, Princess," He said taking the list I was holding and going back up to the steps. "I'm so sorry I ever let it come to this. Goodbye, Pinkamena Diane Pie. You will be missed"