The Crow: Red Sins

by 2wingo

V

The Mancrow flew in circles around her, its vocalizations falling somewhere between caws and laughs. As its wings spread the sky darkened, all joy turning to sorrow as the sun was devoured by darkness.

" Good morning to you, Pinkie Pie, so far from home," sang Mancrow in raspy tones that made her shiver. "What seek you, Pinkie Pie, so far from home?"

"Good morning to you, Mancrow, bird of darkness," sang Pinkie in reply, her voice trembling. "You will die this bright morning."

"Good morning to you, Pinkie Pie, so far from home." Its tone was mocking. "I have already died, Pinkie Pie, so very far from my home."

Mancrow landed in front of her and drew itself up to its full height. "Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man shall her blood be shed!"

"Prophet!" shouted Pinkie. "Thing of evil! Prophet still, if bird or devil! Take thy beak from out my heart and take thy form from off my door!"

Mancrow replied, "Nevermore."

Pinkie's eyes shot open. Her spine was tingling, her knees were pinching, and her kidneys were aching. Any one of those things she might have ignored, but all of them together with such a bad dream? Her Pinkie Sense was trying to tell her something. Well, whatever it was, it would have to wait; her left ear began to twitch, a sign that the twins needed something.

Something about Sugarcube Corner felt wrong. Pinkie could feel it as she crept down the hall toward the babies' room. Cup Cake and Carrot Cake were snoring louder than usual, and something was off about the creaking of the floorboards.

A much louder creak came from the nursery, as though somepony was sitting in the rocking chair by their cribs. But if the Cakes were both asleep, then who . . .?

"Come in here, Pinkie," said a raspy voice. "You should say goodnight to the twins."

Her hooves felt like lead, but Pinkie managed the next few feet to the nursery. She swallowed hard against the feeling of abject horror at what she saw: the human, sitting in the rocking chair, holding Pound and Pumpkin in his arms. He raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Quiet now, don't want to disturb them."

Pinkie relaxed slightly; the babies were burbling contentedly, their diapers had been changed, and they seemed to be falling asleep again. The human's black lips brushed against Pumpkin's forehead, causing her murmur softly as her eyes closed.

"Go back to your room and wait for me," he said quietly, "We have some business to discuss. If you aren't there by the time I arrive, I'll come back here and wring both of their little necks. I'll do the same to Cup Cake and Carrot Cake if I still can't find you after ten minutes. And don't bother trying to wake them; I put ground valerian root in their milk. Understand?"

Pinkie nodded and, woodenly, walked back to her room. She sat on her bed, her heart pounding like a drum in slow motion. After a minute that seemed like an eternity, he entered the room, closed the door behind him, and sat backwards on one of her chairs. For several minutes more he sat, staring at her without saying a word. Finally, Pinkie got up the courage to ask, "What do you want?"

"Let me answer that question by posing a few of my own," he said. "What is my happiest childhood memory? What is my saddest? What kind of jokes do I like? What is my favorite flavor of ice-cream?"

"I - I don't know," Pinkie stammered.

"Let's try some easier ones," said the human, bitterness rising in his voice. "What's my favorite color? What kind of parties do I like? Where do I live? How did I come to Equestria? What good deeds did I do before coming here? What crimes have I committed SINCE I came here?!"

Pinkie wracked her brains, but no answer came to her.

"You're missing too many questions, Miss Pie," he snarled, "Keep this up and you may have to repeat the course. But I'll tell you what; answer one little extra-credit question and I'll give you an A+ for the semester: What is my name?"

"I don't know." Pinkie hung her head in shame. "I don't know anything about you."

"And yet you judged me," he said, swallowing hard. "You and all your friends judged me unworthy of the friendship you claim to want to spread to all of Equestria's inhabitants, all because I was different. You knew nothing absolutely nothing about who I was, yet you saw nothing wrong with starving, ignoring, hitting, or even outright TORTURING ME!!!"

He was trembling with rage by this point. With a great effort of will, he forced himself to calm down. "My name is Jason. Say 'Jason,' Pinkie."

"Jason," she whispered, shaking in fright.

"Say 'please don't hurt me, Jason.'"

"Please don't hurt me, Jason."

"Say 'have pity, Jason.'"

"Have pity, Jason."

"Pity?!" He shouted the word as if hearing it for the first time. "Why should I? You never did!" And he placed his left hand upon Pinkie's forehead.

Comments

[Mr Dorito]

I'm liking it, but the chapters need to be longer.

[2wingo]

7618096

I can't stretch them out longer than I think they need to be. There will be longer chapters in the future, however.

[Moon_Dew]

7618101

If you can't make them longer then make them faster.

[2wingo]

7618131

I'll try.

[Moon_Dew]

7618159

Trying your best is all anyone can ask for.

[Edgeblackstar]

These chapters are on the short end, but they got a nice pace

[Starlight Nova]

7484576 Well... I have no idea what "The Crow" is.

[Grif_Bladefeather]

7618297 he's a person whos been killed in a horrible betrayl and then is brought back by 'the crow' a spirit of vengence who allows them to strike back at there betrayers.

[2wingo]

7618297

here's everything you need to know:

[2wingo]

7618288

The next few will be about the same length, with some longer ones to finish the story off.

[HIEfan]

Something that kinda freaked me out was when he held the twins in his arms, softly and gently kissing their foreheads and at the same time telling Pinkie that he would wring their necks if she didn't do as he said.......that was frikking morbid.

That aside great chapter, loved the Edgar Allen Poe reference in the beginning.

[Even Evil Has Standards]

Great. Now I got Boris Karloff in my head.

[Pete100]

I was a little bit confused about the first half.