Rainbow Dash was in a thick cloud of mist. Combined with the gloom of the forest, even her superior pegasus eyes were having trouble seeing anything through the mist. But a gap in the mist revealed what looked like…Ponyville!

“What is Ponyville doing here, in the middle of the …Everfree…forest?” Rainbow looked around and noticed that an entire section of the forest canopy had disappeared, allowing sight of a cloudy sky over what was, indeed, Ponyville.

“I couldn’t have been sent back to entrance of the forest….could I?” Rainbow flew straight up into the sky, and had a look around.

As she exited the mist cloud, she looked around and saw….okay, there this wasn’t Ponyville. Ponyville bordered a giant forest full of monsters and unnatural “independent” weather.

Rainbow’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. The Everfree forest was gone. The mist remained, but Rainbow would’ve seen the trees above the mist by now.

Seriously, how can this be “the Darkest Grove” without a single tree? But, this can't possibly be the real Ponyville, either...whatever. I need to find Pinkie Pie first.

“Hopefully, I can track her down in no time at all. This should be doable. I mean, its not like she’s an impulsive, spastic, and completely unpredictable social butterfly with a tendency to prank ponies all…over….town….aw, Horsefeathers.”

“Hmm..maybe I should’ve tried eating the manticore, and not just for irony’s sake.” Rainbow joked. “…well…I suppose I could check to see if this imitation Ponyville has a Sugarcube Corner, to get lunch, AND search for Pinkie.” Dash reasoned.

As she flew off towards the town, the blue pegasus felt the sun on her face, and the wind in her mane. Rainbow felt so alive.

Wait. Where’d that sappy thought come from? She had been talked to death by Zecora, was worried about Pinkie Pie, had been haunted by unnamable demons the night before, been knocked around like a hockey puck by a Manticore’s tail, had to fight off two monsters, all while starving from missing breakfast! …And something she couldn’t put her hoof on was pissing her off!

“I am not turning back.” Rainbow argued with the obnoxious buzzing that was occurring in her subconscious.

“Although…I do worry about what else Zecora had to say about this place.” Now that Rainbow didn’t know where to look or what was what, she had to wonder what Zecora wanted to tell her.

Zecora had seen the Sonic Rainboom, and then a Rainbow blur had darted past her. Not knowing what a Sonic Rainboom was, it took her a moment to piece together that all that commotion might have been Rainbow Dash. She wasn't expecting the Pegasus to come from that direction. Whatever detained her must have blown her far off course.

Zecora sighed. And of course, the pegasus was racing more desperately than ever straight for her doom. She'd never catch her now…

She had more things to tell her. How to the grove would warp things she trusted, things she believed in and use against her. How you couldn't really be killed so much as slowly go mad-IF you were the only one trapped in there at any one time. How the monsters of the Everfree instinctively avoided the grove on the rare chance they did find it well-hidden entrance. (That was a plus, actually, a Chimera would probably have double the chances to have eaten Pinkie Pie by now as it would have OUTSIDE the grove where it didn't have a dark twin.)

She shook her head. This was no time to feel bad for herself. Maybe she could get in contact with the Shadow Watch. She knew a member of the watch slept in an ancient tree near her hut, maybe he could fly off and get in contact with the others.

The Zebra headed off to find him. She had little time to waste. But first….she had to grab something from her house.

Zecora had returned to her hut only to find A white Unicorn running around in there, and all her furniture either turned upside or destroyed. She recognized her as Rarity, one of Rainbow Dash's friends. The frazzled unicorn was apparently trying to comfort something Zecora couldn't quite see behind her overturned caldron, calling it by her own name.

"Zecora, darling, try to calm down. Aaah!" A mighty CRASH was heard as Rarity recoiled. "Oh dear, when is Twilight going to get back here with that bloody spell? I just wish I could take hold of it with magic..." Rarity tried to talk to the thing that was now thrashing and jumping into the air, leaving a "BANG!" with each jump. Suddenly, it came into view.

Zecora had taken a moment to lock the mask in her box before she chased after Rainbow Dash, just as it starting to warm up. What had the creator who enchanted that mask been thinking?

Just then, Rarity tackled the smiling mask. "Oof! Got you, now! I knew there was a reason why I never liked adding masks to my designs! There are nothing but trouble. Really now, Twilight's imagination is just running away with her. This mask probably isn't Zecora at all, just another one of her horrid decorations that is stranger than usual."

Sadly, this had the effect of releasing the mask out from under Rarity, which resulted in it slamming right into Zecora's face.

"Oh! No! Stop! Ah!" Rarity fidgeted in place as the BANGS and CRASHES continued around her.

The next ten minutes of Zercora's life was going to be loads of laughs, she was sure.

She didn't have time for this now... What HAD the shaman who enchanted the mask been thinking?

Dark Pinkie smiled, admiring her handiwork with the Icing. The pink food coloring had died the cupcakes in the exact shade of dark pink as her tail. For the final touch, she grabbed some balloon-shaped sprinkles and littered the pink-on-pink cupcakes with a liberal helping.

Nopony would ever really understand the delicate art that went into her special cupcakes recipe. The meat had to be processed to just the right level. If she chopped it up too fine, the rest of the batter would overpower the taste. If it was too chunky, it wouldn’t blend in with the cupcakes properly and be discovered easily. And then there was the process of drying out the rest of the meat….

As rewarding as the work was, it was a bit of a hassle sometimes and it did make her wish ponies ate more, say, pot pies filled with some kind of meat so she could just….switch it..

“Oh well, all this work just makes the end result take all the sweeter.” She eyed the hot sauce for a minute, but then spoke. “Actually, no. Not this time. The texture is just too delicate…and too perfect. In fact…It makes want to sing!”

“This was a triumph.
The taste and the texture: HUGE SUCCESS. ^_^
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Sugarcube Corner
We do what we must
because we can
It tastes so good, to me at least.
Not to the ones who are dead.

But there's no sense crying over every new slice
Now won't you stop moving, interrupting's not nice -_-
Oh, look at that, I'm all done
See, now, wasn't that fun?
I'm just kidding, cuz you're still alive.

I'm not even angry.
But falling asleep is rather rude. >_<
You very nearly broke my heart
And killed me. T_T

I'll tear you to pieces!
And bake every piece into a pie ^_^
But before that, I'll have to work, because they're so much to do

(Darkie Pie took a moment to remove the vials of Pink food coloring from a nearby rack and replace them with a broad rainbow of colors instead.)

Each and every incision, every beautiful line.
Now I'm done with the knife
Next this time I'll give hacksaw a try
Why do they call it that, huh?
It doesn't hack, it's name is dumb DX
Oh well, let's play once more since you are still alive. XD

I won't let you leave here
Pinkie, you’re missing out on so much fun
I wish there was some way that I could teach you

Oh wait, I got it!
And this time, I'll have help.
It's such a shame you'll probably damage her meat
It'd be so delicious and moist!

Look at me still talking
when there's harvesting to do.
I know you're coming, Dash, I'm sorry you're through!
Although you are kind of late
And I'm about to eat her up
But in a minute, you’ll see she is still alive!
Like the others who are still alive.
Like Twilight Sparkle, she is still alive.
And Fluttershy is still alive.
And Applejack, they are all still alive.
And yes, Pinkie Pie, even you are still alive.
Still Alive…Still Alive”

And with that, Darkie Pie took a savage, carnivorous bite and tore a chunk out of one of the cupcakes. Her eyes shrank into pinpoints as she did so.

“Howdy, Pinkie Pie!” a young filly’s voice came from the doorway to the kitchen. “Oh, yah’ve made cupcakes! Can we some…uh…Pinkie Pie?” Apple Bloom said, as she and her friend Scootaloo entered the Kitchen. “You okay?” Scootaloo asked.

Darkie Pie was too busy choking on her cupcake to answer the fillies. Weren’t they supposed to be in school at this hour?

Pinkie’s vision was filled with the scenery of the misty grove from before. Before the time she…stepped into…it all started to come back to her now.

Cupcakes. Electricity. Punch. Evil Twin. Electricity. Basement. Electricity. Trophies. Electricity! MISTER AND MISSES CAKE!

She felt nauseous. She must’ve been let go….but wait. She was certain she felt her heart just stop at the end and then she died. Was that another dream? How would she even know what heart failure felt like? Or having that much electricity course through her body? How would she recognize that sensation? She had been shocked by static electricity before. But…she had never once given much thought to the subject before.

She might just have passed out and been “rescued” somehow. How would any pony still living know what actually dying felt like? If you died but only “woke up” when you came back to life, you wouldn’t be sure you died at all. If died and stayed dead, you weren’t going to be able to tell anypony what it felt like.

And the pain…the awful pain felt real. Especially when she cut into her hips when she was skinning off her…….

Pinkie had lost her Cutie marks in the basement of the Mystery Sugarcube corner! If they her still gone….

Pinkie began gradually craning her neck over her left shoulder. Heart thumping…

Tha-thump.

Pinkie was kind of worried that it would stop on her again. Her flank was nearly in sight…

Relieved, but still needing to know for sure, Pinkie barely spent anytime time registering anything else behind her aside from her left cutie mark before she quickly turned her head to look at the one on her right side. She did

“They’re back…” Pinkie’s eyes watered. “Oh, I could just kiss them but I think me bending like that would break something so I wAAAAAHHH !!!!”

“MY TAIL’S GONE! TAIL! GONE! WHERE IS IT?” Pinkie got up and spun in a circle.

The faintest glint of light had betrayed a shadow approaching, its shade covering Pinkie’s body. With a quick dart of her eyes she saw the shadow’s source, and she gasped

KRA-KOOM! A strike of lightning obscured the body of her assailant. But she could make out details from the silhouette.

She had wings spread out, but considering what she was wearing last time Pinkie saw her, that was quite easily explained.

And most importantly of all, she was holding a knife in between her hooves. The foreleg pulled back. The blade pointing downwards.

Vast quantities of rain poured down from the sky and combined with the mist to make an impenetrable veil. Although, Pinkie froze up and squealed a little bit when some of the freezing rain touched a sore spot located right where her tail used to be.

She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop! She couldn’t even tell what was appropriate to do for it until she got a good look at it. She was a baker, not a surgeon. And definitely not a Butcher-Surgeon.

And….she really would just as soon take any excuse to not think about her…her beautiful tail.

Pinkie kept running, although she was blinded by the fog and the rain and most of all her own tears. So many tears. She had so much to cry about today.

She didn’t even notice when the trees in the background were suddenly replaced by buildings.

After it looked like Pinkie was settling down from her choking fit, Apple Bloom asked her a question. “Hey, Pinkie, have ya seen Sweetie Bell? She’s gone missin’!”

Scootaloo chimed in “Yeah, and we’re going to pitch in trying to find her! We’re going to be-“

“Cutie Mark Crusader Crime Solvers!” The two fillies shouted at the top of their lungs. Scootaloo lost a little volume near the end, however…

“What’s wrong, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo. “Huh? Oh. I just thought…It’s not the same without Sweetie Bell.” Scootaloo looked down.”

“Yeah…I’m going to look for clues around the, shop, okay?” Apple Bloom ran off into Sugarcube Corner.

Darkie Pie wasn’t worried. Among other measures (some which specifically applied to Apple Bloom), the basement was locked and she had a good excuse for it to be that way.

“Aww…” Pinkie rubbed Scootaloo’s mane. “I’m sorry to say, I don’t know anything about Sweetie Bell. I’d offer you some cupcakes, but these are a special order. Tell you what, if you come by later today, I’ll have a new batch of special cupcakes ready for you, Scootaloo. I hope you find Sweetie Belle.”

Left behind in the Light Pinkie’s wake, a certain pony wearing an oddly shaped poofy pink hairpiece over mane looked on. The hairs of the wig where held together by a tiny layer of pony hide that had been carefully removed. The pegasus removed the pink “wig” to reveal her unkempt, ruffled mane.

The Assailant had started doing what she had done with such resolve. Such anger. Her recurring dreams had driven her on. And after the sudden change in the dream last night…followed by what she found out this morning…it was obvious what she had to do.

She hadn’t expected the removal of Pinkie’s tail to fail to rouse her from her sleep. She looked down at the knife. It was one she had been carrying around in a small pouch strapped to her chest. When she found that even her mid-day naps were no longer safe, she found she could only sleep, even during the day (she had reach the point where nothing at all could allow her to sleep during the night), when she had a weapon on her at all times. Best of all, nopony really questioned her having that pouch everywhere.

She even positioned the pouch so she could just lower bend her head forward and retrieve the knife from the pouch with only her teeth. She’d never be without a weapon.

Still…it was kind of unnerving to think that Pinkie hadn’t felt her tail being cut off. It wasn’t until the Assailant did a little tug to straighten out that last bit of outer hide that was stuck to the rest of Pinkie’s body and she cut at kind of a strange angle when she gasped awake.

The Assailant froze. Fear clenched her heart. She was going looking the other way from her…but she would surely know her tail was gone. She was going to be so angry. In the dream, Pinkie said the Assailant hadn’t done anything wrong, it was just that “her number came up.” What would she do when you cut off her tail? OHCRAPSHELOOKEDRIGHTTHISWAY…and okay, now she is looking relieved and talking to hersel-aaaaawhyisshescreamingnow?!

Scared out of her mind, the Assailant pulled the knife back in preparation to fight off the insane mare, but Pinkie was just spinning around like a crazy lunatic. She felt the oddest urge to giggle at Pinkie’s antics….no. This was no time for that. Don’t forget what’s coming-the reason she’s spinning around.

The Assailant’s heart tingled with guilt as one traitorous thought crept in that maybe she was wrong. Maybe she should have at least waited before cutting her tail off…she didn’t know for sure. It was a stupid impulse and a really bad joke and if she WAS evil, The Assailant should still not allow herself to fall to Pinkie’s lev….

Shut up! IT’S NOT JUST WHO DISAPPEARED THIS MORNING! THERE ARE OTHER PONIES THAT HAVE BEEN VANISHING! You KNOW this. Including Peppermint Twist, who I DO remember. She was always in the dream…I just wish I knew where to find G’s family or something so I could know for sure whether or not she’s really gone.

It was then that the Assailant was brought out of her reverie by the sound of a thunderclap! And also Pinkie’s scream. She had noticed her! The Assailant flinched and her mind raced for how to react. Pinkie ran off, a look of terror in her eyes. The Assailant had just realized she just stood there frozen and let Pinkie get away.

Dammit, with all her sleep-deprivation, the only thing keeping her going was the adrenaline. When she saw Pinkie all on her lonesome, she thought it time for revenge. Revenge for her old classmate. Revenge for all the missing ponies. Revenge for all her sleepless nights of terror. But then she stopped to think, and it just slowed her down, and now she was going to plot how best to ambush her and silence her.

Now that she’d been seen, she was dead! Horsemeat! Well, specifically, she was Cupcakes. What am I going to do?

The Assailant wasn’t going to fall to pieces again. She had been haunted by fear for too long. She always turned into jelly once she stopped long enough to let the tiniest doubt creep in. She couldn’t allow herself to always be so weak.

And now that she was facing a monster even more terrible than any she had faced.

“I know what you are Pinkie Pie. I’m not going to let you escape.” Her heart hardening, she threw the tail over her neck like a scarf and flew in the direction she saw Pinkie disappear to.

The Dark Side

by Lord Xaos

Chapter 7: Whaaaaaaaaaaat is going on here?