Initiation
Life is much like a painting... One's colors may be common, but the unique forms they take are what make those colors appear so vivid.
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were strolling towards Sugarcube Corner, where Spike had just taken a seat on the front steps. He raised a clawed hand, clutched around a rolled-up scroll, and with a deep breath he spat out a calm wave of green flame that engulfed the document. As mist drifted off in the direction of Canterlot, the dragon lowered his arm, and the fire flowing from his mouth dissipated to reveal a pink pony watching from the doorway. She was noticeably slouched and run-down, no doubt exhausted from the day's events--especially that whole 'don't move or get distracted by anything or anypony lest you get vaporized and imprisoned in the mirror pool for all eternity' ordeal. Nevertheless, her friends continued to approach her in hopes of unwinding.
"Hi, Pinkie Pie," Twilight greeted in an upbeat tone. "We were thinking we should go out and celebrate."
"You up for some wheelbarrow races?" Applejack cut in.
"Or I could take everypony on a cloud ride!" chimed Rainbow.
"I could throw a party with punch and zesty cucumber sandwiches!" Rarity suggested. "Ooh!"
Pinkie Pie backed into the house with a weary smile. "You wanna know exactly what I feel like doing right now?" Without another word, she leaned back and fell to the floor of the bakery, heaving a relaxed sigh. Not a second later, a rumbling snore rang out through the street, her hind leg twitching erratically. The rest of the mares (plus dragon) stared for a moment, before Fluttershy broke the silence.
"That looks like fun," the yellow pony remarked quietly. Everypony burst into a fit of giggles at that, and Applejack murmured an 'oh, Pinkie...' as Twilight gently swung the door closed with her magic.
"Well, you guys still wanna hang out?" Rainbow flew in lazy circles behind them. "The offer still stands for that cloud ride!"
"Or wheelbarrow races," Applejack reminded them.
Rarity grimaced, running a hoof through her mane. "As... exciting as I'm sure that is, darling, I'm afraid I must be off."
"Hey, wait, don't let Applejack spoil your day," Rainbow flew in front of her, disappointment etched on her face. "We don't have to do some boring old wheelbarrow race!"
"Boring old wheelbarrow race?" Applejack cried. "Why, of all the--"
"Actually, I should go, as well," Twilight admitted. "I have a few things I was hoping to check up on at the library, and I'm a bit tired after today." The pegasus stared at her in disbelief, and Twilight quickly added, "Maybe some other time, though."
"I think I'll go, too," Fluttershy whispered. "I'd like to take that nap now."
Rainbow Dash gave a defeated sigh and waved the comments off with a hoof. "Ah, don't worry about it... See you later!" The group dispersed, and Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back as the sounds of Rainbow's and Applejack's bickering faded out behind them.
"So, what do we have to do tonight, Twilight?" Spike glanced up at the sky; sunset was fast approaching, and they had yet to do any work today.
"Actually, I just have some paperwork for the library to fill out, so you can have the rest of the day off, Spike." Twilight flashed a smile over her shoulder at her assistant. Spike grinned back, his tail curling up in delight.
"Wow, thanks, Twilight!"
"Don't mention it." The pair settled into a comfortable silence that stretched until they came to the front door of the library. Twilight and Spike entered their home, Twilight closing the door gently while Spike dismounted from his seat on the mare's back. He tossed a quick farewell over his shoulder as he scampered upstairs--likely to get a few extra hours' sleep, the unicorn guessed with a smirk. Her purple eyes followed him through the bedroom door, the smile remaining on her muzzle as the door closed behind him. After a short pause, she abruptly turned and trotted calmly towards another door embedded in the wall under the staircase, her face expressionless. With a short burst of magic, she pulled it open; light shone through the entryway and illuminated a short flight of stairs descending into a basement.
Twilight made her way downstairs, tail twitching with anticipation. She froze in place as her straining ears picked up a faint noise from nearby; once the sound had died out, she hurried across the room to a spot near the corner and probed the floorboards with her magic until she came across a well-concealed latch on the floor. The unicorn cast a quick glance behind her in search of any prying eyes, and was soon satisfied to confirm she was completely alone. A quick twist and tug resulted in the trapdoor being unscrewed and removed from the floor, leaving a wide hole with yet another, steeper staircase descending further into the depths beneath the building.
As Twilight hopped down onto the first step, a chorus of wails and squeaks echoed around her, and the corners of her mouth curved up to accompany the sudden glint in her eye. Quickly proceeding down the stairs, she came to a short corridor that opened into a rather large laboratory adorned with a few experimental setups.
But the most distinguishable features of the room were the twin rows of vertically-barred cages aligned a few feet across from each other, each occupied by its very own bouncy pink pony. Their murmurs and whimpers were hushed almost immediately as Twilight stepped into plain view of the captives, sweeping her gaze over the long stretch of vaguely prison-like cells.
Excellent, she thought, her smile cracking into a barely-restrained grin.
*ahem*
"Good evening, my little clonies!" The unicorn allowed herself a brief pause to chuckle at her own joke before continuing on with a much more formal tone. "Due to recent... unpleasantness in the area, thanks to you all, the decision has been made to remove you from society.
"Now, I bet you're all wondering what this means for you." Twilight began pacing slowly and deliberately up and down the path between the cages, making sharp eye contact with each of said cages' current residents. "Obviously, I didn't actually send you back to the mirror pool like I had originally led everypony to believe. That was just something I made up to dismiss you from my fellow citizens' minds and prevent any suspicions from arising. The fact is, it just doesn't work that way. You're all flesh-and-blood beings, and the only thing that sending you there would have accomplished would be to create even more of you. While that would fit in with my plans, it would also be quite the challenge to manage two or three times as many of you as there currently are in this room."
Twilight's smile returned as she went on. "Anyway... For the time being, you have the pleasure of being here, with me. Since I am still obligated to erase you all--which I intend to do, as one Pinkie is more than enough for me--I will do so, as time permits. But, as I said before, this does not entail simply sending you away, or reuniting your essences with the mirror pool; as a matter of fact, there is really no such 'special method' to eliminate you as clones."
Twilight's eyes suddenly darkened; she tilted her head, her muzzle pointed at the ground with shadows thrown across her visage in the dimly lit room, and her subtle smile slowly twisted into a maniacal grin. "...so I guess I'll just have to make do."
Twilight spared one more look at the clone closest to her, who shrank back against the far bars of its cage with trembling hooves. The unicorn blinked lazily and turned to walk back to the stairs. As she lay her front hoof on the first step, she came to a halt, facing away from the cages and the rest of the room. Before ascending back into the common world, and without turning around, she uttered one final phrase that sent shivers racing down her prisoners' spines:
"Welcome to the library."
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its a good idea, not really my taste as it seems quite a bit out of character for Twi to be a sadistic pony, but i didnt see any glaring errors in the writing, well except for the fact that Twi somehow was able to lie with a straight face, as it is well known that Twilight Sparkle is a terrible lier
+1 Interest point
Morbidly interested.
Your ideas are fascinating and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
I am intrigued
Psycho-Twilight, huh? Have her fight Pinkamena! Psycho against psycho!
This is an... interesting idea. I've always had slightly philosophical concerns with that episode, over whether they kept the "real" Pinkie, but I managed to keep them at bay with forcing my headcanon into accepting that the spell would simply have failed to work on her, or sent her back to Sugar Cube Corner, or something like that.
Of course, now that you've demonstrated that it's a mere teleportation spell, it's actually statistically very likely that the "real" Pinkie is in one of those cages, which worries me (not that the whole idea of Twilight being a sadistic murderer doesn't anyway, but I've read things along those lines before). You could, of course, use this to your advantage.
One issue I do have is that the characterisation seems off a bit; as someone already pointed out, it's fairly established that Twilight is a terrible liar, but I guess we can explain that through double-bluffing (i.e. she consciously makes it obvious when telling "unimportant" lies, so that people get the impression she's a terrible liar, and when she says something without the obvious tells, people take her word for it). I'm pretty sure that any story where one of the six is a serial killer would have to twist the characterisation a fair amount anyway, as this is, after all, a show for children; therefore, I can let this issue slide somewhat (especially if you've come up with some way to explain this darker facet, or hell, even use mine, I don't mind at all).
These types of stories generally aren't my thing, especially if they get overly graphic, but you've gained a tentative favourite from me, as I'd like to see where this goes.
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I've always just accepted what is (I believe) the episode's intended outcome, that Pinkie was more strong-willed than the clones. I assumed the spell would have worked, but they never tried using it on her because she focused. If the spell wouldn't have affected her, Twilight could have just cast the spell over all of them and only the real Pinkie would remain.
Anyway, that's at least the idea my story follows, so the real Pinkie is indeed safe. (although that also could have made for a cool idea if she was mistaken for a clone.)
Now for the lying... I guess I envision that in most situations like this, the "serial killer" (I think of Twilight more like a mad scientist, actually) shows sudden exceptional skill in lying due to their plans, whether it be conscious or subconscious. I don't really know how to explain that one... that's just my own theory; it'd allow Applejack to do the same.
Well, thanks for commenting - you really got me thinking for awhile. Hope that temporary fav turns into a permanent one!
Psycho Twilight is always a plus to me. I honestly want to know why exactly Twilight is a psycho in the first place so I can have some sort of context for why Twilight has no problem killing/experimenting/etc. on living flesh and blood creatures, also if she has done something like this previously. Anyways favorited and up-voted for now.
Psycho Twilight is the best Twilight
I wonder where this is going...
Psycho Twilight....... F T W!!!!!!
Wonder where this is going
Welcome to the library, you will never leave the library, and while you may be called useless, that is not entirely true.
Hehe, it's been a good while since I've read a decent grim-dark, I'm going to enjoy this immensely.
ohhhh it's been a while since I saw any psycho twilight around, and this one looks reaaaaaly promising
want moar!
I... Want.... MOAR!!!!!!!!
oh... deear.
"You're all flesh-and-blood beings, and the only thing that sending you there would have accomplished would be to create even more of you."
That is a terrifying point.