The Dark Side

by Lord Xaos

Chapter 2: Calm before the Storm

The Dark Side

A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfic

Chapter 2

"She wasn't even here?" Rainbow Dash asked Mrs. Cake. It had been a rough morning for Rainbow Dash, she had snuck into Pinkie Pie's room to sleep with her, because a terrible foreboding prevented her from sleeping in her Cloud Palace, and now she just learned from Mrs. Cake that Pinkie Pie had gone missing inexplicably. The kindly older mare nodded. Rainbow felt disorienting confusion, and lent words to the feeling. "But…I saw her last night! She woke me up at 4 o' Clock, sad about something she wouldn't talk about." Mrs. Cake spoke up, an idea clicking in her head. "Do you think she was….was saying goodbye to you deary?" Rainbow shook her head. "It couldn't be! Even if it was, she fell asleep…nearly killed herself by doing so, actually…and I brought her back home."

Mrs. Cake tried to take this all in. "So, was that when you decided to sleep in her bed? She snuck out without bothering you?" Rainbow rigorously shook her head. "No, I went back to my house briefly and…." Rainbow didn't want to admit she got scared for no apparent reason. "…I couldn't get back to sleep. …there was a…draft." Rainbow lied. "So I decided to sleep over with Pinkie. All I saw was that lump of sheets in the bed, thought that was Pinkie, and I just carefully got in bed, not disturbing Pinkie at all. All the covers were exactly as they were before you unfolded them just now… Its almost impossible she snuck out of the bed without changing the sheets a little." Mrs. Cake wore a skeptical look about something near the end of Rainbow's story, but didn't seem to find it important enough to press her right now.

"So in about an hour's time, she woke back up, and left before you got back?" Mrs. Cake repeated. "You said she was sad about something. Do you have ANY idea what it could've been?"

Rainbow thought for a moment. "Well…she did say something strange. When she first woke me up she was just standing there, crying and hugged me. Then she started examining me all over, and I got mad, not knowing what was going through that filly's mind. Oh yeah! She said …she 'had to make sure I was still all there.'" Rainbow looked down. "She wouldn't tell me anything more than that, really. She seemed…I don't know…scared to talk about it. She just held on to me and fell asleep afterwards. She didn't seem troubled when she fell asleep this time." Rainbow suddenly realized she needed some information. "It was 5:30 or so when I came back, what time is it right now?"

Mrs. Cake pointed to the clock in Pinkie's room, which was a small alarm clock with bells fashioned after spotted toadstools (and it was all, of course, Pink). The hands read 8:30. "Its been three hours deary, but we don't know where she could've gone."

A knock came from the door, and a yellow Stallion which Rainbow Dash recognized as Mr. Cake walked in. "Excuse me, hun. But I just want you to know that Pinkie Pie couldn't have used the door. It was locked this morning and all our keys are still inside, so she couldn't have locked the door behind her. She apparently took a step ladder, and length of rope which was outside the shop, from the utility closet. Anything new?"

Mrs. Cake told her husband "Well, Pinkie's friend here tells me that she saw Pinkie an hour before she spent the night here, but that Pinkie was already gone when she came back to the Corner." Mr. Cake took a second to absorb this. "Wait, what were you girls doing so late at night?"

Rainbow ignored him and instead asked "Pinkie used window? Again? She left the window open and probably used the first ladder, which I kind of left at my place (Sorry), to climb down. I know she's Pinkie Pie and she does weird stuff all the time, but why didn't she want to go out the door? What's down on the first floor?"

"Just sweets and party favors, really. Most of them owned or made by Pinkie herself." Mr. Cake chimed in.

"Actually," Mrs. Cake spoke up "I found Pinkie's bucket in the bathroom. It had been washed, but it still smells like vomit. Maybe she got sick?"

That's odd…why would Pinkie be afraid of SWEETS of all things? She's scarfed down so many cupcakes that it's a miracle she isn't toothless like….SNAP!

Rainbow jumped from the noise, and then looked at her tail, which felt like somepony-er, gator was pulling on it. Sigh…like Gummy.

"Gummy!" squeaked Mrs. Cake. "Bad Alligator!" She admonished the tiny mindless reptile.

"Its okay, he just surprised me. No teeth, remember?" Rainbow shook her tail until Gummy slipped off. "Wait, if Pinkie Pie was running away and not coming back…why wouldn't she take Gummy with her? He's her pet." Rainbow Dash noted, then thought.

Pinkie had refused to go downstairs to leave the building, twice. She had thrown up for some reason. There was nothing but sweets downstairs. She most likely had a disturbing nightmare last night that involved Dash not being "all there", whatever that meant.

And, she hadn't packed anything for her second trip, not even her pet.

Okay, so that last one didn't really fit the others, but Rainbow could see a clear connection between Sweets and her nightmare. Maybe she dreamt she baked up a giant killer cupcake and it went around town eating ponies, starting with Rainbow Dash?

---

"RAR! Thank you, mistress, for giving me life!" Cupcakezilla roared! "Now, I'll get revenge on all of Ponykind for devouring my cupcake brethren! Now we'll see who eats who around here!"

"No! Don't eat the ponies! They're my friends! I promise I won't eat another Cupcake again, just don't hurt anypony!" Pinkie pleaded.

"What? *YOU* ATE CUPCAKES! I was going to spare your friends out of respect, Mistress, but now you must be taught a lesson! Let's see how you like it when I eat your friends, starting with your fellow prankster!"

And then Cupecakezilla pounced on Rainbow Dash, who happened to just be standing there.

"OM NOM NOM NOM"

"Pinkie Pie! Help me! Oh no, its chewing me up with its peppermint teeth! Ow! ARG! What possessed you to give a giant cupcake PEPPERMINT TEETH? Why, Pinkie Pie, whyyyyyyyy…"

Cupcakezilla slurped up Dash's rainbow tail and belched, releasing a single sky blue feather, that floated down to earth so gently you could swear a sappy power ballad was playing in the background.

"Dashie! NOOOOOOOOO!"

---

"Deary, I don't find anything about this situation funny at all. Why are you chuckling?" Mrs. Cake said, looking at Dash with a worried expression.

Dash managed to stifle her snickering. "I'm sorry, I tried putting the pieces together and just thought of something stupid." Rainbow cleared her throat. "Actually, I think her nightmare might be important, and it has something to do with Sweets. Try getting in contact with Twilight, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I can't sit around any more. I'm going to look for Pinkie Pie on my own!"

"Deary, wait!" Mrs. Cake called out, but the eager young Pegasus had already flown out the window. This was how it should be. She wasn't Rainbow Dash: Ace Investigator. She was a doer. Pinkie had been gone for 4 hours at the most, she couldn't have gone too far.

---

Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but notice how perfect the morning was going. The young purple Unicorn had gotten up early to a gorgeous morning Sun, courtesy of her wonderful mentor, Princess Celestia. Her assistant, Spike, had fixed her some delicious grass pancakes, topped with the freshest tasting dandelions she had had all year. She had just found a old book on magical charms that wasn't even in Canterlot's library! (She knew, she had memorized all the titles by category before, even if she hadn't read them all.) And best of all, she felt that today was going to be just as peaceful as yesterday. Sure, a Return visit by Nightmare Moon or a Zombie apocalypse was probably forthcoming tomorrow-actually scratch that. Aliens. Aliens are cooler than Zombies- but for now she let herself get swallowed up in the prospect of having a perfectly stress-free day. Ahhhh…

"Man, today is so boring! I've never felt so annoyed not to have any chores left to do!" Spike groaned. The young dragon had been lounging on the stairs for the past ten minutes or so. "I wish something exciting would happen like it usually does! Ponyville is like, Fun Central, normally!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike, you should learn to appreciate peaceful days like these. How'd you even get by in Canterlot, when everyday was as peaceful as this one?" Spike sat and thought for a moment. "Doughnut shop?"

Before Twilight could respond, a Knock came from the door. She heard Mrs. Cake's voice. "Twilight? Deary? Pinkie Pie's gone missing. We need your help."

Twilight groaned. Spike fist pumped the air, shouting "Yes!" Twilight admonished her baby Dragon "This isn't a game, Spike. For all we know, Pinkie could be in serious trouble..."

"I know, I know…" Spike said, still with that gleam in his eye. She went to the door, and greeted her guest. "Hello Mrs. Cake, please tell me what happened."

"Well, it started when we noticed Pinkie hadn't come down yet, so we went upstairs…"

---

Pinkie Pie ran through the Everfree forest, bounding over vines and dodging low branches, desperately chasing after her prey. She couldn't let it get away, even if she had yet to understand how the escape had happened…it shouldn't be possible! She bounded over a thicket her quarry had disappeared into, and was relieved to see she had easily caught sight of her target again. She didn't bother with reason, that would just be a waste of energy. The prey was hers. All hers. She wasn't going to just let it get away because it broke a few laws of common sense to escape.

She had to catch the equine form fleeing from her…even though she was aware she was going deeper and deeper into this dangerous forest. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea…. Oh wait! There it is! "You're mine now!" Pinkie cried with ferocity as she pounced! Victory was hers!

"grrr….." The manticore growled. Pinkie's ears drooped, as she realized she had ambushed the wrong shadowy figure. "Eheh…oopsie?" She walked backwards, away from the snarling monster.

---

Rainbow Dash, who had decided to investigate the worse possible scenario first, was in the area above the forest when she heard a scream, it sounded like Pinkie's! "Hold on, Pinkie! I'm coming!" The scream sounded so terrified, she hoped she was not too late.

Comments

[Lord Xaos]

778 Giygas? I-I don't know what you're talking about.

*Shifts eyes*

(Actually, the answer is: Whatever is deemed suitably awesome enough to shoe horn in without breaking the narrative's internal logic.

Which is to say: "Who the hell knows?")

bad things! u make happy now...

[Draco Dei]

Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but notice how perfect the morning was going.
-A scene-break line before this sentence wouldn't go amiss.

[BraxAttacks]

Hmmm... Interesting so far.

[Aaronmaster2007]

Cupcakezilla? That just beat out the Rarity line from chapter 1. I think I'm liking this story the more I read it.