Sweat ran down the side of Twilight's face. Her heart was beating like crazy, as if it was downright trying to burst out of her chest. She let a hoof run along the side of the jagged blade of her first chainsaw, feeling the cold metal. Nothing ever felt as heavy as when she had to bring this machine out of the shop, especially knowing its eventual purpose.
She gulped and lifted the chainsaw into the air once more, while peeking into the instruction manual that came with it. Skipping right past the clause stating warranty became void if the chainsaw somehow got stuck in bone, she arrived at the actual operating instructions, which were about as detailed as she expected from a machine so simple:
Pull cord and apply to object.
She frowned at the lack of an illustration or a list of troubleshooting options, but she didn't have the luxury to go back and ask for the Extended Version she had seen on the shelves. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the cord.
The chainsaw immediately blared up, ready to slice through just about anything. Twilight savored holding it with her magic and waved it around a little. It was heavy, clunky and carried a dangerous amount of momentum. She spun around her axis and while it followed the movement perfectly, it pulled her along. After a forceful meeting with the ground, the chainsaw followed suit, embedding itself in the ground, just a few inches from her.
“I'll need to be more careful with it.” She stood up and let the machine cool down while she ran through her options.
Pinkie Pie was far deep in town for her to do it without anypony noticing. Rainbow was too fast, and while Rarity seemed like an easy prey, bringing magic other than her own into the equation was a little too dangerous right away. This left her with either AJ or Fluttershy, both secluded enough to be offed without much difficulty.
Twilight's throat ran dry as she realized herself. “What am I doing?” she whimpered, her lips quivering. “I'm thinking about them like they were... bugs or something! They're my friends, my best friends. I... I can't do this...”
She slumped to the ground, feeling sick. Whatever unseen enemy Celestia was dreading, even the thought of killing her friends for the good of Equestria was something so wildly unbelievable, that she hoped to everything this was just a cruel dream. And yet, she agreed to it and she had always been loyal to the princess. She could almost hear them scream in the back of her mind; their dying whimpers mixing together with the most horrible bass tune possible.
Her chest heaved as she took a few deep breaths to calm down. She set her teeth and swallowed, her resolve gaining strength. Regardless how horrible it was if it was for the betterment of Equestria, it had to be done.
Twilight adjusted her saddle, the quicklime container and the binbags nestled safely in the pouches. The chainsaw sprung into the air, the blade reflecting the solemn look on her face. No more self-doubt and no more hesitation. It was time to cut to the chase and commence Operation: Ponemurdered.
~ ~ ~
“Worst album ever!”
Vinyl lifted the muffled from her ear, only to find the infernal screaming was still echoing from her speakers. There was no rhythm, rhyme or reason to this tune, just mindless blathering, incoherent monologues and screaming, haphazardly scrambled into a tone that would have had her kicked from Master Blaster's School for Prestigious DJs. It was horrible.
And yet her audience seemed to love it. Wherever the stranger got this from, it seemed to be an instant hit as the dozens of ponies standing around were all rhythmically bobbing their heads to it. Some of them were downright drooling to it, which she found just plain insulting.
“Maybe Octavia's right and I'm the last pony who still likes this,” she said to herself, convinced nopony would hear it over the music anyway. She slumped behind the turntable, sighing.
All her efforts, all the eardrums she has split, the entire salt mines she helped empty out and every single record she ever smashed after the end of a particularly wild gig flashed before her eyes, fading and rusting into oblivion. She felt old and seething with pathetic anger over a new brand of music she simply could not understand.
“So this is what being Octavia is like,” she mused, ignoring the prickling feeling in the back of her brain.
She flinched as a pony appeared in her peripheral vision, slowly walking up towards her and the turntable. Normally she would have been happy to greet them, maybe even let them spin her around for a brief dance, but her mood was crushed and her legs cramped. Carrot Top moved closer, her mouth hanging loose from the beautiful music. She was crying from joy, messy black streams of thick tears messing up her otherwise pretty face. Vinyl made a mental note to tell her black really wasn't her color.
Carrot Top loomed over the unicorn, a guttural growl rumbling out of her throat. She snapped her jaw a few times, her eyes spinning wildly in their sockets. She trembled and whinnied, stretching her jaw as wide as possible, drool overflowing from her mouth.
“Ew, gross!” Vinyl kicked her legs out right, causing Carrot Top to gobble a mouthful of dirt instead. While dazed, her would-be prey stood up with a hurtful look on her face. “If you want me to go, just tell me, you don't have to spit at me like that!”
With that, she turned around and left without another word. Enjoying the music was in no way a crime, but she wasn't about to be ridiculed like that. She got her shades and cut through the mass of crying ponies, heading straight for home. No money was worth this kind of humiliation.
The record she left on the turntable ran its course and dissolved into the pile of black goo. As the ponies behind her erupted into a series of nerve-wracking howls, cries and growls, Vinyl sniffled just a tiny bit.