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Chapter 1: the Nightmare lives3,076 words
Chapter 2: Calm before the Storm1,846 words
Chapter 3: Shadows and Nightmares, part 12,970 words
Chapter 4: Shadows and Nightmares, part 23,383 words
Chapter 5: The Part Where She Kills You, pt. 13,293 words
Chapter 6: The Part Where She Kills You, part 24,022 words
Chapter 7: Whaaaaaaaaaaat is going on here?3,502 words
Chapter 8: Reciprocation!3,868 words
Chapter 9: Rocket to WTF?6,326 words
OMAKE! Now with extended "Smores"3,280 words
Chapter 10: The Pink Dragon3,878 words
Optional chapter: Shadash's torture5,387 words
Omake files 2! (chp 11: Deleted scene changed!)2,852 words
Chp. 11 + 12: DOUBLE CHAPTER, OMG!7,839 words
Chapter 13: ANSWERS! ...kind of.5,610 words
Chapter 14: Tea with Cthulhu7,246 words
Omake 3, part 1: Oh my god, this author is totally f'ing insane.7,680 words
Chapter 15: Everyone is sad except the mystery girl7,401 words
Omake 3, part 2 (EDITTED. Extended Dream sequence, Quadratus fight, descriptive text, etc.)21,308 words
Chapter 16, part 1: Title Pending7,505 words
Chapter 16 part 2: Title still pending12,511 words

Chapter 5: The Part Where She Kills You, pt. 1

The Dark Side

A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction by Lord Xaos

Chapter 5

Rainbow Dash stared up at the Manticore flying above her. Its fangs gleaming in Celestia's bright sun. Its tail whipped back and forth, and Rainbow remembered the first time she fought a Manticore…she had all five of her friends with her there, most importantly Fluttershy. Was there no monster that filly couldn't cope with?

The Manticore dove down with all his claws outstretched, and Rainbow just barely dodged. The Manticore whacked her with his scorpion's tail, however. Rainbow rocketed towards the trees, breathless from all the air that was knocked out of her, but at least she wasn't stung by the tail...

Rainbow managed to recover and pull up, flapping her wings once more, winded though she was. She didn't know something so big could close a gap like that so fast. This thing needed her complete attention if she was to survive. Focus, Dash! Its Action Time! Rainbow chided herself. Pinkie Pie…you better just hold on for just a moment longer...

Pinkie Pie, flooded with memories from her nightmare where she tortured her best friend Rainbow Dash, was staring at the spitting image of herself from the dream leering at her with a smile. And she was racking her pink little brain for anything that could prolong this period of time where she wasn't being skinned alive…even for just a moment longer.

So, she skimmed over the room she was in, hoping a burst of inspiration.

She felt bad about thinking this, considering all the other ponies around, including poor little Twist, but she was so, SO glad there wasn't a stuffed Rainbow Dash in the room. No really…as bad as today has been so far with all the desecrated remains of other ponies, the prospect of finding THAT pony had terrified her the most, and she was certain the image of a stitched-up Rainbow Dash here among this party of the damned would have destroyed her.

Speaking of the other ponies, the Other Pinkie was wearing THAT dress. Oh Luna! It was even worse than she remembered! It was made with dried pony skin, emblazoned with cutie marks on different straps (Pinkie only now realized the Moon-shaped one at the front of the dress. Princess Luna! Oh. No, wait. its...similar but its much too skinny...maybe. Possibly. Its impossible she'd be able to get away with THAT particular crime. Right?), and decorated with six pegasi wings of a different color that bounced as she moved. Around her neck clanked her necklace of unicorn horns.

Pinkie thought for a moment. Unicorns can still use magic even they are bound. Its not like you can tie up their horns! So, does that mean the first thing she had to do was saw off the horns of each Unicorn, or…okay, yeah, this train of thought isn't getting me anywhere. She needed to escape, not work out the nuisances of Unicorn horn harvesting!

…STOP IT! Pinkie had to mentally bark at herself to finally get her off the subject.

The first thing she had tried to do was wiggle free from her bonds. Not many ponies knew this, but Pinkie's joints were especially limber and oddly jointed, so she could break out of restraints other ponies couldn't. A few seconds of struggling against the braces that held her and an "Uh-uh-uh!" from the other Pinkie told her everything. Of course she have prepared for that. Pinkie was going nowhere. So now she was trying to find a way to stall.

In the back of her mind, she thought there might be some hope that her friends might rescue her or something, but realistically, it was just because not being skinned, crucified, electrocuted, dismembered with a hacksaw while the pony who did it wondered why they called it a hacksaw, and being numbed so you could stay awake for the DISSECTION at any given moment was something ponies generally strove for, even if they didn't have much hope...

Wait, I've got it! Pinkie thought. "LOOK BEHIND YOU!" The other Pinkie craned her head over her shoulder and looked behind her. She noticed nothing was there and turned back to Pinkie, who, after all, was still strapped in place. That….okay, that was three seconds, what now? Pinkie's mind went blank. Ah, nuts.

"Ooooh. You're pranking me!" the other Pinkie said, her eyes sparking with realization. She giggled and turned to Pinkie with a smile. "I guess you really are me, after all. Pranking ponies to the very end!" The other Pinkie gleamed. "I mean, sure, its kind of weak, but I can respect that you are kind of…ahem…handicapped at the moment."

I refuse to accept that I'm anything like you. And that wasn't a prank at all. Wait… "That's it!"

The other Pinkie blinked again. "What's it?" She looked at Pinkie quizzically. The imprisoned mare knew there was something very important she had to ask her captor.

Rainbow couldn't waste anymore time against this Manticore. "You want me, see if you can keep up, slowpoke!" Rainbow dived below the trees and flew as fast as she could towards the Darkest portion of the Forest. She could play with the Manticore later, she was determined to rescue Pinkie! Its not like dodging these trees was going to be hard or anything. Even if it was getting hard to see in all this darkn-

"RRROOOOOOOAAAARRRR!" an earth shattering noise came from behind her. "DRAGON!" Rainbow cried, freezing in mid air and causing her to go careening down to earth. She landed on a section of the forest floor that was carpeted with vegetation, rolling as she landed.

She shot up, wondering if the dragon could see her before she shook her head. ARGH! Rainbow Dash, you totally blew it! You already know it's the Manticore, and not the dragon! Its good that nopony saw that... The Manticore's silhouette flew by her in a blur, and another roar came from the direction where it disappeared.

Rainbow decided to stay put for just a moment longer, hiding in the overgrowth. The Manticore wasn't coming back, but just when she breathed a sigh of relief, she heard from behind a hissssss….

Rainbow turned around quickly and her dilated eyes saw only teeth…..

Back at Zecora's hut, two unicorns were looking around the completely deserted inside. "Zecora?" Twilight called "Are you in here? We need your help looking for Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, too!" There was no answer. Rarity regarded the various masks and other artifacts with an air of disdain. "Really now, I never quite understood why Zecora has so many of these dreadful things hanging on her wall." Twilight sighed. "Rarity, we've been over this, they're from her home. They are probably sentimental or even sacred to her."

Rarity huffed. "Yes, yes, I know. But Twilight, think about where she is. She's in the middle of a forest full of savage beasts! Forget how she avoids being killed by them when she's out looking for herbs, how does she, whenever she gets up in the middle of the night, avoid mistaking one of these gruesome things for a monster of some sort?"

"I mean, how IS she secure from nightly attacks from Chimeras or Manticores or"

"COCKATRICE!" Twilight sudden screamed and hid behind Rarity! She cowered. "No…don't turn me to stone again! It was so lonely as a statue. I felt the slugs slithering over my eye…."

Rarity looked quizzically at Twilight and then saw where she ran from. Indeed, there was a cockatrice. Not a mask or some kind of fetish of a cockatrice. It was a real cockatrice. But…something was wrong with it.

"It's okay, dear. Twilight, I don't think it can hurt you."

"Huh?"

"Its dead. Its been…." Rarity gulped. "Stuffed."

Indeed. What they beheld was the taxidermy of a cockatrice.

The White unicorn shook her head. "Really, now, THIS is what I'm talking about. How IS she supposed to tell a real cockatrice from this monstrosity?"

Twilight seemed to be recovering as they walked towards Zecora's bedroom, AWAY from the chicken-snake. "Well, I guess you kind of have a point. I'm sure we could ask Zecora herself about the cockatrice at lea-"

BANG! BANG! BANG BANG!

No sooner had they opened the door to Zecora's room that a loud banging sound had started to emit from within. Both unicorns jumped at the noise.

It was coming from a chest that was hopping up and down under Zecora's hammock. With a look at each other, Twilight and Rarity ran over and opened it to reveal…a mask with a demonic grin.

The Mask continued to bounce and pound against the chest. The ponies just looked at it.

"Z-zecora?" Twilight asked the mask uncertainly.

It would be another hour of precious time wasted before the two unicorns would get any answers as to what was happening…

Pinkie Pie asked her captor the question she had failed to answer before. "How is any of this possible? You're me from my nightmare….the nightmare that's the reason I can't eat cupcakes anymore, but just a nightmare that shouldn't actually be real in any case! I mean, if I'm sure if Twilight was here, she'd just explode from all this unscientific…stuff! This has to be a dream."

The other Pinkie had been fiddling with her sharp metal toys humming a song to herself, when that question seemed to strike a cord. She froze, and stopped singing. She looked up at Pinkie Pie, and smiled. A wide, toothy grin spread across her face, a gleam sparkled in her eye. "Well…I suppose the best way to put it is to say that we traded."

"Traded?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes, traded!" The other Pinkie stated.

"Traded what?" Honestly, between this doppelganger and her runaway shadow, Pinkie had experienced more annoyance than she had over her entire life. "Speak so I can understand you, why don't you!"

"We traded lives, silly! I dreamt I was you, and you dreamt you were me! Actually, we dreamed, then we went to each others' Ponyville for real! Its what the little bird told me!"

"Little bird? I didn't get any little birds!" Pinkie asked. "Oh, I cooked him in a pie!" the other Pinkie gleefully recounted. "Say! Do you want some pie?" she offered her captive. Pinkie wasted no time shaking her head no.

"Anyway, I knew exactly what I was going to do in your Ponyville! I paid Dashie a visit! Her number hadn't come up, but come on! It's another Dashie! I wasn't going to pass that up!" The other Pinkie looked up at her captive's face and giggled. "Oh, you can relax. I ran out of time before I poofed back home. She's kind of strapped to her bed, and a little shaken up, but I didn't get to really play with her very much, sadly."

Pinkie stammered. "Th-that's a lie! When I woke up to chase my shadow to this Sugarcube corner-which isn't near a Ponyville at all by the way- the closet was missing that same stepladder I used to check up on Dashie after I saw the dream of what YOU do with your time...that I don't remember the return trip from…wait…how'd I get back in my bed from there?"

"Huh?" The evil Pinkie had to stare at Pinkie for a moment. "Ooooh! Oh! Oh wow! That explains it! I woke in your world with Dashie hugging me…it was confusing, but it was where I wanted to go anyway. I happened to have brought along some harvesting supplies, and not just that, but MY dream about being 'you' taught me that neat cloud-walking trick you know."

Pinkie gasped. She could see it. Dashie was being so gentle and comforting her one minute…and then, she turned into a sadistic monster. She would be totally helpless and unsuspecting. No…no..no…Dashie, I'm so sorry!

That moment last night was one of her happiest with Dashie.

She went there to make sure Dashie was okay…that she hadn't hurt her

And then, just when she saw that Dashie wasn't chopped up by a monster Pinkie-

She transformed into one. Oh Celestia. It was too much.

Pinkie sobbed a little before she was interrupted by a burning in her cheek

"My Dashie didn't share that trick with me! Boooooo!" the other Pinkie pinched Pinkie's cheek with the toes of her hoof and pulled forcefully. It wasn't as cute as it might sound, as she was quite forceful, causing Pinkie's face to ache. "Oh well…Anyway, you became a Pegasus in this world, or that's what I'm given to understand, and played with my Dashie for a while. And then our time ended and we returned to our respective bedrooms. At least, that's what happened to me. I was so disappointed."

I Became a Pegasus? When did…"Oh! Ooooh!" Pinkie's eyes lit up. She flew! She actually flew! It wasn't just a dream! Then she remembered what the implications of this meant. "Oh."

"Oh well…now that I know your cloud trick, maybe I can just go straight to my Dashie's house when her number comes up and finish what I started in your world. Its going to be. So. Much. Fun."

The captive Pinkie's eyes widened for a moment….and then narrowed.

Rainbow Dash screamed and bucked the lower jaw of the oncoming Dragon, and ran into the forest, screaming all the way. It was back…whatever spell Fluttershy had cast on it had worn off! It was back to devour her and all her friends!

It took her a moment to get her wings working again, or maybe she had simply forgotten she had them. She flew up above again, and hid in the branches of a tree, but looked back at the Dragon, wondering if it would follow her.

It was a Snake. A giant snake. It was still terrifying, but it couldn't reach her while she was flying, even when it rose its head up into the air. "Oh. Its not the dragon. Its just a snake….a giant snake with sharp teeth that flense like knives…such a wondrous bounty of nature the Everfree forest is." Rainbow chuckled nervously.

The serpent advanced towards her tree with frightening speed and started coiling around its trunk. The sky blue pegasus jumped into the air and flew above the forest canopy. Surely the snake couldn't follow her up here.

Still…she had to admit that she didn't want to retreat. Not anymore. She was angry at both these monsters for making a fool of her….and angry at herself. But there was no time for that. Pinkie pie had to be saved, she had to find the trail before she lo-

THWACK!

Rainbow crashed into the leaves of a nearby tree. It took her a moment to recover and look up at what had hit her….it was the Manticore. "Aaaaargh! Where were all these monsters before, when me and Zecora were trailing Pinkie?"

Rainbow unsteadily returned to the sky. She was sturdier than most Pegasi, but being hit AND crashing into a tree like was seriously causing her body to ache. She would have to finish this quickly and hopefully she could just stay above the ground to...OHGEEZWHATISTHAT?

Rainbow dodged an arch of strange liquid she didn't recognize, and looked down to find its source. Oh. Oh. OH. That stupid snake didn't just crawl up the tree to start spraying venom at her. This freaking forest was quickly starting resemble the Death Star from the Movie, "Pony Wars". If this kept up, Rainbow would have be saving Pinkie Pie from a trash compactor room with red-eyed tentacle monsters AND closing walls.

Well…unfortunately for her carnivorous friends, she just happened to have recently developed a new "proton torpedo" they could stick down their thermal exhaust ports.

Pinkie Pie had long given up wondering if this encounter was a dream or not. By the sounds of it, she had a Rainbow Dash to save. Even if she was technically helpless.

"You hurt my Dashie…but now you're going to go after yours? Aren't you friends? Didn't you get your cutie mark from her Sonic Rainboom! Doesn't that Cutie mark represent your wish to spread the happiness you felt to everyone around you?"

"Happiness is important…can't go without my daily dose of making ponies smile with the help of my delicious cupcake recipe!" the evil Pinkie grinned. The good one didn't return it. The Evil one didn't care and continued "You see...I really just want much more than just their smiles. I want to hear their shrieks, their screams, their reactions to pain and looks of broken hearted betrayal! And then…hehehe…" The psychotic mare bounced over to Pinkie Pie and licked her face. "I wanna see what they taste like. I suppose I could satisfy myself with just a nibble…but if I let them go, they'll go tattle and nopony will come to my parties so I might as well go and make neat little arts and crafts such as…oh, where was it again?" Dark Pinkie went searching for something in the back of the room.

"You aren't me. You aren't Pinkie Pie. Why…? CAN SOMEPONY PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOUR CUTIE MARK DOESN'T JUST VANISH OFF YOUR FLANK!? DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH A HAIR ON DASHIE'S MANE! EITHER OF TH-omph mph!" Suddenly, a peppermint flavored cupcake was shoved into Pinkie's mouth. Pinkie couldn't quite stop her eyes from glancing over in little Twist's direction. Oh Celestia! Her nausea was coming back in force.

"I'm sorry, but I think I answered your question. Now its time to play a game I wanna play. You didn't forget, did you?" Dark Pinkie smirked. "I nearly lost control of the tone there, but well, I guess when you're talking to yourself, you have a lot to say. Well, hopefully that was nice and therapeutic. Still, we're burning daylight here!" Dark Pinkie went fishing through her cart, looking for something as Light Pinkie spat out the cupcake. "Now…I've actually set up something special for you. Its still a work in progress, don't judge me yet…" The evil Pinkie prattled on and on… but something had caught Pinkie's eye. Something that she couldn't believe she didn't notice until now….

Pinkie let out a terrific SHRIEK that actually caused the evil Pinkie to jump and nearly cut herself with a hacksaw that flew into the air and came crashing down to earth. Her captor turned around, her face full of fury, but she was confused to see Pinkie's cheeks bloat up before she vomited up mush that once was the grass she ate in the forest earlier…the mush was stained the purple color of the punch.

Pinkie continued crying at what she beheld. All her fighting spirit just broke as she saw it, along with something else. Something…irreplaceable.

"No….please, no…"

The Dark Pinkie looked around the room for whatever could have upset her captive so much. "Huh? Oh..ah! eeeeeeeeee! Oh no, I'm so embarrassed!" She just blushed like a school girl whose love letter had been discovered as the Light Pinkie wept and wept at the sight.

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