Twilight Sparkle has been crowned the new Princess of Equestria! With all the fanfare, and introductions to foreign dignitaries she hasn't had much time for the ponies nearest and dearest to her heart. That all changes when she receives an invite from Pinkie Pie for a weekend get together that will reunite her with her friends! But everything may not be as it seems. Maybe this time it wasn't the pink pony that sent out the party invitations after all...
(Based on the manga Doubt by Yoshiki Tonogai/SQUARE ENIX Co. LTD. and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic by Lauren Faust/Hasbro)
With a heavy sigh, and a last fleeting flutter, Twilight Sparkle settled down gratefully on a nearby park bench. "Whew...I sure hope this is the place Pinkie's invitation meant. If I have to fly another inch I think my wings are going to fall off." The majestic purple alicorn slumped slightly, her entire body aching from the long journey from Canterlot to Ponyville. No wonder Princess Celestia always took a chariot when visiting the little town. How did Rainbow Dash manage to make flying look so easy? As she contemplated this, Twilight looked around at her surroundings. She could tell from the air as she was flying in that the park was mostly empty today. Gazing from her perch on the bench, it was very quite and peaceful, if a little eerie after the bustling streets of Canterlot. The seemingly endless parade of dignitaries that had insisted on meeting the new royalty, herself, had been especially exhausting. It would be nice to have a small gathering of her closest friends again. It would be just like old times. Or so she hoped.
If Twilight were honest with herself, she'd admit that she had her doubts. How could anything ever really be the same? She'd been Celestia's student, sure, since she was just a little filly and she had always had an affinity for magic. Could a set of wings and a crown really make that much difference to her friends? They had all been so supportive...and well, proud, at her coronation, or at least so it had seemed. Still, after being away for so long, would they really be happy to see her again? Shaking her head, she tried to clear the doubts from her mind. Of course her friends would be happy to see her! Picking an empty corner of the park to meet up was just a smart way of avoiding a big scene in the middle of town. She had to hand it to Pinkie Pie, that had been some particularly shrewd planning on her part to avoid the swarming paparazzi. Actually, was that maybe a little too shrewd for the party pony?
"Guess who?~" the voice right next to Twilight's ear shocked her from her revery and caused her to nearly jump out of her skin. She turned and looked into a grinning face that was wreathed in a crown of curls, not unlike pink streamers. "Twilight, its really you! Oh my gosh, it's sooooo good to see you!" Bouncing excitedly up and down, the pink bundle of energy couldn't be mistaken for anypony but Pinkie Pie! Her grin stretched from from ear to ear, "Hey, didja just fly in from Canterlot? Boy, I bet your wings are tired! Get it? No? Hmm, maybe I should work on that one a little longer then. Anyways I missed you SO much!" Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a huge hug, physically lifting the purple alicorn off the park bench and squeezing her until her spine cracked.
"It's....good to...see you too Pinkie," Twilight struggled for breath due to her friends crushing embrace. "Could you maybe...put me down now?"
"Of course silly!" With that the hyperactive pony bounced up and down around her friend. "I'm so, so, SO glad you were able to come! I guess you got my invitation then huh? What a relief, I've been having such trouble with the mail pony lately. It seems like hardly anypony gets their mail on time."
"Oh really?" asked Twilight politely, if lamely.
"Yeah, and then of course...oh wow, did you know that Pound and Pumpkin Cake said almost a full sentence last week? Well Pound said one part and Carrot said the other, but I think that just shows a remarkable amount of team work for a pair of toddlers. And then there's Carrot Top's new garden and..." Pinkie Pie continued on and on, trying to fill her friend in on every little thing she might have missed in Ponyville in the time she'd been gone.
"Pinkie...Pinkie Pie. Pinkie that's great but honestly..." Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath, "PIIIINKIE PIIIE!"
"Yes Twilight?" the excited pony smiled.
"Its great to see you again, but do you know when the others might be getting here?" asked the slightly exasperated Twilight.
"Here? Oh, I dunno." answered the pink pony slightly puzzled. "Were you expect-" but she was suddenly cut off as an explosion tore through the otherwise silent sky. Concentric multi-colored rings spread from the apex of the heavens, reaching to the horizon in every direction. Such a display could only mean one thing.
"Rainbow Dash has arrived!" shouted the mare herself triumphantly. Dressed out in her uniform from the Wonderbolt's Flight camp, it was clear that Dash was just getting into town as well. It was so good of her to take time out from her training to attend their little gathering. A quiet get together wasn't really the pegasus ace's style, and knowing this, Twilight appreciated her presence all the more. "Hey Pinkie Pie! Twilight, looking good! You been keeping up with your wing sprints like I told ya?" The rainbow maned mare elbowed Twilight's aching rib muscles conspiratorially. Seeing her friend wince, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but giggle. "Looks like you could stand to do a few more."
"Hey, not everypony was born with wings you know! Twilight's got a lot of catching up to do with a pegasus like you." chimed in Pinkie Pie playfully in her friends defense.
"Well she's got a long way to go if she's gonna catch up to a pegasus like me!" Bragged Rainbow as she posed in mid-air. "Their having to invent new records at the Wonderbolt's Academy just so yours truly can break them." She pointed at herself with both her forelimbs, smiling smugly.
Still wincing slightly, Twilight couldn't help but smile, "It's nice to see you Rainbow. I'm glad your training has been going so well. Have you heard from any of the others?"
"What?" asked Dashie as she settled briefly on the top of the park bench with one hoof. "Oh, those slow pokes? Well Fluttershy will probably be late as usual. She has always taken her sweet time saying bye to all of her little critter friends. Applejack said something important was happening at Sweet Apple Acre's but that she'd be here as soon as she could. And Rarity..."
"Is right here darling!~" came a musical voice that simply dripped culture and poise. Rarity trotted from behind a copse of trees, sunglasses perched on her perfect nose and a kerchief wrapped protectively over her perfectly quaffed mane. "Oh Twilight, you simply must tell me about your time away from us. It must be so wonderful to be royalty, having all those little ponies waiting on you hoof and....hoof." The elegant pony gave a very unladylike like squeal. "A clandestine meeting with royalty! Oh this is just simply to die for!"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a clandestine meeting, but it's wonderful to see you too Rarity." Twilight noticed that as Rarity had joined them, other ponies seemed to be gathering in the park. It was probably a fair guess that Rainbow Dash's impromptu aerial show had attracted their attention rather than their new Princess's presence. All the same, she really didn't want to be in the middle of a crowd right now. "I'm sure we'll have lots of time to catch up at the party tonight, but why don't we meet Fluttershy halfway? I think her cottage is on the way to the party grounds anyways, right Pinkie Pie?"
"Um...tonight?" mumbled Pinkie Pie uncertainly, before adding more cheerfully. "Sure Twilight, whatever you say. I'll lead the way!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh my, I'm so sorry girls. I didn't mean for you to go to the trouble of picking me up," the yellow pegasus whispered sweetly. She hovered just at the entrance of her cottage, saddle bags draped over her back. "I just couldn't decide what to bring. I've got so many pictures of all my little woodland friends, Twilight. You're just going to love them, and I especially made sure to get pictures of your friends from the last winter wrap up. They were so sad when they found out you were away in Canterlot, but they wanted me to be sure to give you their best." Fluttershy beamed as only she could, while holding pictures of bats, snakes, and skunks in her mouth.
"Er...that's...great Fluttershy. Be sure to give them my best as well." Twilight looked to her other friends for sympathy, but Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash seemed to have already bound on ahead and Rarity was inspecting the tiny sweater that Fluttershy had apparently knit for the long suffering Angel bunny. The yellow pegasi's pet must have been the most irritated looking bunny Twilight had ever seen.
"Fluttershy dear, however do you get your animal friends to wear your darling little creations?" asked Rarity. "Especially this late into spring! Why, I tried to get opal to wear a charming little chiffon ensemble and she just simply wouldn't have it. You don't have to use...The Stare, do you?"
"Oh no, I would never," said Fluttershy, truly shocked. "it's just even now it gets so chilly in the fields, especially around sunset. I couldn't live with myself if I thought my friends were suffering." Fluttershy hugged angel close, not noticing the somewhat sickened look on his face. Twilight stifled a giggle, "I guess we'd better catch up with the others."
"Okay," replied the nature loving pony as she set her pet bunny back inside her cottage. "Oh wait, I almost forgot! I'll be just a moment." With that she whirled and flew quickly back inside and up the stairs to the second floor.
All Twilight Sparkle could do was sigh. So far her quite little gathering with her friends had been a lot louder and more rambunctious than she had thought it would be. Even so, she felt her heart swelling with affection for these, her dearest friends. She could put up with a few lame jokes, bragging, swooning, and a few pictures of cuddly critters; if it meant being with them, that is. Besides, Applejack would be there too, and even though the farm pony could be loud and rambunctious as all of her other friends combined, she had a steady, stabilizing presence that seemed to make it all okay. Twilight had to admit, she was really looking forward to tonight. In fact it couldn't get here soon enough.
When it all suddenly went dark, she almost thought she had willed the night to descend. If only that was the cause for the dying light. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight woke up sprawled out on a cold stone floor with a headache the size of the moon. She reached tentatively to the back of her throbbing head and felt a sizable knot swelling there. When she pulled her hoof away, she felt something sticky and warm. As she opened her eyes to see what it was, she realized the room she was in was pitch dark. She didn't need to see to tell what the sticky substance on her hoof was though. She could smell the blood. Somepony, or something, had cracked her skull hard. "Hello?" her voice came out as a whisper. Her throat was dry as if she'd been out for some time. She wet her lips as best she could with her tongue, swallowing a little spit to try to free up her vocal cords. She tried again, "Hello? Is anypony there?" her voice echoed away into the darkness.
"Twi, is that you?" The voice was familiar, and would have been comforting if it wasn't so full of fear. "Ah can't see a dang blasted thang in here. Are ya alright sugarcube?" Twilight felt Applejack's presence in the darkness as she drew near. The farm pony was cold and clammy, but then so was the place they were in. Still, it was a relief to know she wasn't alone.
As some of her own terror subsided, Twilight was able to weakly stand, "I think so. Something really did a number on the back of my head though."
"Me too darlin'," said Applejack as she lent her shoulder to her friend to help her stand. "Ah was on mah way to meet up with the rest of y'all when something crashed right inta me out of nowhere. Ah swear it struck faster than a thunderbolt durin' a zap apple storm. Then Ah woke up here in this dark an' dank cellar or...or where ever this is..." The usually brave pony's voice faltered and trailed off. Twilight wasn't sure how long Applejack had thought herself alone in the dark, but she could imagine what kind of effect that might have on the earth pony.
"Hold on. I might be able to shed a little light on our situation." Twilight felt the back of her head throb, but it didn;t seem to impede her magic. As a soft purple light suffused her horn, it spread throughout the room. Applejack audibly gasped, but that was nothing compared to Twilight's reaction. In that single moment, the purple alicorn almost gave in to the pain in her head and the siren song of the oblivion she had so recently awakened from. Part of her hoped she was still knocked out and that she was in fact dreaming. She didn't want to be here. Not again.
Feeling the strength going out of her friends legs, Applejack tore her gaze from the room to swiftly prop Twilight up. "Easy now darlin', easy. Nothing to be afraid of, they're just reflections. We're in some kind of house of mirrors or..."
"No." Twilight cut her friend off tersely, a note of despair creeping into her voice. "No, I know where we are." With Applejack propping her up, the alicorn fed more light into the room. That's when she noticed the small pink form curled up in one corner. Twilight and Applejack shared a glance and she could see the apprehension in her friends eyes. The farm pony gave Twilight a questioning look that seemed to ask for permission. Twilight nodded, able now to keep herself upright using her wings for balance, even if she was still a little shaky.
Applejack made her way to the still form of Pinkie Pie and nuzzled her carefully. A long, sleepy groan made the country pony sigh with relief. Checking her over, Applejack asked,"Pinkie, are you alright? Do ya hurt anywhere?"
"Whoa...Applejack, is that you? Ugh...can you make the room stop spinning for a moment? I think I'd like to get off." Pinkie Pie rose into a sitting position and almost immediately fell over again. Her eyes were glazed and she looked around the room in a daze. "Hi, Twilight...and other Twilight, and other Applejack...and other me. Did somepony open up the Mirror Pool again?" Pinkie gave a little giggle and shut her eyes, clearly confused by the reflective surfaces all around her.
With a soft snort, the farm pony looked over her fellow earth pony. "She's a might loopy, but Ah think she'll be fine. It doesn't look like anypony hurt her, but I've seen this kind of behavior a-fore now. Looks like sompepony drugged her." She put her ear next to the prostrate Pinkie's chest, eliciting another giggle from the pink pony. "Ah think she's comin' out of it though. It'd probably be a good idea if we didn't try ta move her for the time bein'." With that, the earth pony turned back to Twilight, "So where are we then, exactly?" she asked anxiously.
"We're in the caves beneath Canterlot." Twilight replied slowly. "Or at least I think we are. This chamber looks similar to the one Queen Chrysalis trapped me in at Cadance and my brothers wedding." Moving around the room Twilight came to a thin crack in one wall. "If we are, I think we might be in trouble." Using one hoof she pried the crack open, and seemed a little surprised when the mirror like hunk of crystal swung open like a door. That was nothing compared to the sight that awaited her on the other side. "Oh sweet Celestia...Applejack, come quick!"
But any aid the able earth pony might have been able to render, or any spell that Twilight might have been able to cast, would clearly be too little, too late. The shear volume of blood made that quite clear. The thick crimson pool was already semi-hard and going black around the edges, coagulating into a horrid mess that marred the otherwise spotless surface of the crystal floor. Poor, poor Fluttershy. She hung like a puppet that's strings had been cut. Sharp spikes were embedded in her body at various angles, leaving her pinned to the wall. Her wings hung limp like her hind legs. Her forelegs were impaled above her head, which lolled gently to one side, a thin track of blood extending from her half open mouth drizzled down to the ruin of her chest. Her eyes were still open and held a look of serenity that belied the carnage that had been done to her body.
"What a horrible accident. What do you think happened?" wailed Applejack.
"I don't think this was an accident at all," replied Twilight, drawing as close as she dared to what remained of her gentlest friend. "No, not at all."
"Whaaaaaat!?" The sound, halfway between a gasp and a scream came from the room that Applejack and Twilight had awakened in. Pinkie Pie had managed to sit up in such a way that her gaze fell on the open door and the horror that lay within. "Fluttershy!? Wh-what happened? Who did this!?" The pink pony was in tears, her large blue eyes somehow even bluer than usual as thick sobs threatened to overwhelm her speech. Applejack hurried back to try and comfort her friend, tears welling up in her eyes as well.
Applejack hugged Pinkie Pie tight as the pair cried together, Pinkie's crying loudly while Applejack just barely managed to hold her own sobs in check. The country pony turned back to Twilight as she stroked Pinkie's mane comfortingly, "So neither of ya think this coulda just been an accident? Ah'll grant ya, Ah don't really see how this could've happened on accident, but who would want to do something like...that...to Fluttershy?"
Before Twilight could answer, a rattling sound came to all three pairs of ears. Leaving the room that housed the pegasi's grizzly remains, Twilight Sparkle made her way back into the room with her still living friends and moved cautiously to the wall opposite of where they were huddled. Pinkie Pie's sobs had quieted as the three ponies stared at a hunk of crystal embedded in the wall that vibrated violently back and forth. It sounded for all the world like something was scratching at the other side. Without warning the hunk of crystal began to glow and slide slowly open. Something ghastly white suddenly landed on the floor with a sickening thump. "Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried it was just me down here!"
"Rarity!" the other three ponies shouted as one. "How did you get in here?" asked Twilight.
"Oh I just haven't the foggiest dear. I woke up in the dark and started fumbling may way along the wall. I tried to lighten things up a bit with my horn, but it didn't seem to help much at all." The fashion minded pony paused, raising one hoof to her face. She still had on her sunglasses. She blushed gently before removing them. "But I see now what my problem was there. *Ahem* So does anypony have any idea how we came to be here?"
"Ya don't remember anything either Rarity?" questioned Applejack.
"I'm afraid not, one moment I was admiring Fluttershy's darling little ensemble she had made for Angel," Rarity didn't seem to notice her friends wince as she continued, "and the next everything just went dark! The next thing I know, I'm banging against this shiny...lump of...gorgeous crystal." As the suddenly enraptured Rarity moved closer to the slab of stone that had moved to allow her entry, something just below her throat began to glow.
Twilight moved closer to have a look. "Rarity, what's that on your chest?"
"What's wha-ha-ha-aaaaahh!?" Rarity scrambled back as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the crystals surface. An ornate sigil pulsed a haunting white against her alabaster coat. The emblem was strange, almost like a serpent coiling around a sword, twin heads splitting in two different directions. It's glow faded as the unicorn backed away from the stone, and flared again as she leaned in for a closer look. "Why I have no idea where this thing could have come from!" She brushed at it frantically with her hooves. "It won't come off!" she shouted, panicked.
"Now just calm down sugarcube," soothed Applejack. "Twilight, have ya ever seen anything like that before in yer studies?"
"I'm not sure," replied Twilight as she studied the glowing rune. "The symbol seems familiar but...I don't think I've seen it in a very long time." The purple princess turned her attention from Rarity to the portal she had come through. "But from what I can tell, it looks like that sigil is what allowed you to open this pathway. It's tied to this stone now." It seemed the room Rarity had awoken in was much larger than the one they had found themselves in. Twilight's light extended several feet in front of her, but only barely illuminated a distant set of stairs, that lead downward, that seemed to be carved from the cave itself.
"Is there anyone else here?" Inquired Rarity, following Twilight's gaze.
A look of shock crossed Pinkie Pie's face and Twilight herself felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. How were they possibly going to break the news to Rarity? "Ac...Actually..." Twilight began. A sharp thump stopped her from continuing.
"It's just us." Applejack said quickly, leaning nonchalantly against the slab of stone that she had closed over the doorway to the room where Fluttershy still hung in silence. With the stone door back in place, it looked just like any other wall in the room. "It's just the four of us ponies locked in here. We were just about to try and figure a way out. Good thing you came along when ya did." Why was Applejack lying? "Why don't ya and Pinkie Pie sit tight here while me and Twilight have a look around out yonder. That way we don't have to leave Pinkie here in the dark. Ah don't think she's well enough to move just yet." Applejack motioned for Twilight to follow her as she slipped passed Rarity
"Twilight, be careful," called Pinkie Pie piteously, tears still visible at the corners of her eyes.
The alicorn princess followed swiftly after Applejack, as the farm pony was already at the end of the landing and gazing down the stairs into the deeper darkness of the cavern below. "Applejack! Why didn't you let me tell Rarity about Fluttershy?" she demanded.
"That was...wait just a minute, do ya hear that?" Applejack seemed to be straining her ears to hear some sound rising from below. Cautiously, the earth pony began to make her way down the stairs. Now that she was closer, Twilight's magical light just reached to the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey, answer me!" Shouted Twilight as loud as she dared.
Applejack glanced back over her shoulder. "Do ya really think tellin' Rarity about that in this situation would be wise, Twi?" The farm pony drawled, as she continued making her way down into the darkness. "She would've lost it, just like Pinkie Pie. Ah don't know about you, but Ah'm thinkin' we're gonna need to stay calm and collected until we figure out just what's goin' on here. Trust me, Ah'm no happier about keepin' Rarity in the dark than you are, but we've got bigger problems on our hooves right now." With that, she reached the last step and turned her head back and forth, trying to see if she could hear the sound she had heard before once more. She paused and squinted into the darkness to her right, "Ah think Ah see somethin'..." was all she said before she trotted off into the darkness.
"Applejack?" Twilight was only about halfway down the stairs, but her light wasn't doing anything to illuminate the part of the room her friend had slipped into. Shadows twisted and danced into macabre shapes as she sought vainly for even a glimpse of the blonde maned pony. "Applejack, this is no time to mess around...please answer me!" Testing her wings, Twilight hovered, and then glided the rest of the way down the stairs, hoping that she'd have a better chance of finding Applejack once she reached the bottom. She landed roughly, not yet practiced at using her wings in enclosed places. "Applejack?" she called out again. The texture of the darkness just beyond Twilight's light seemed to shift and change. Suddenly something rose on ebony wings, soaring out of the darkness. It's yellow eyes flashed in the light as it moved to pounce. Without thinking, Twilight let a surge of magic pulsate from her horn, slamming the creature to the cavern floor. "So it was you! You're the one who murdered Fluttershy!"
As Twilight drew closer to get a better look at the monster she had brought low, she gasped and immediately felt a wave of guilt. Rainbow Dash, still in her Wonderbolt uniform, lay sprawled on the crystalline floor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight found Applejack just a bit further along, lying on the cavern floor dazed. A small amount of blood trickling from her head where she had been struck once again. Rainbow Dash had apparently attacked her in the dark, thinking she was the pony responsible for their being there. Together the two fliers helped Applejack back up the stairs, to the room that they had started out in.
"Dashie!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily as the three returned. "Am I glad to see you! Wait...is Applejack okay?"
For her part the earth pony slumped next to the door and, taking off her hat, prodded her head gently with one hoof, surveying the damage. Wincing slightly Applejack said, "Don't worry about me sugarcube, Ah'm tougher than that. Ah'll be fine if Ah just take it easy for a bit."
"Can somepony please tell me what the hay is going on!?" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled. "I opened my eyes and everything was blacker than a storm cloud in the middle of the night. As soon as somepony started sneaking up on me in the dark I figured they were the pony responsible but...I guess not." It seemed like she was as upset that she had hurt Applejack as she was with their current situation. "Well? Does anypony know why we're here?"
"I'm afraid not darling. That's just what Twilight and Applejack were trying to discover when they, er...bumped into you. Although," here Rarity paused, a look halfway between delight and concern suffusing her features, "if we're all here, then maybe there's a good chance Fluttershy is locked up somewhere around here too! Oh the poor dear. We should probably make finding her our top priority." Pinkie Pie immediately burst into tears. "Why whatever is the matter Pinkie? Was it something I said?"
Twilight glared at Applejack and with a regretful look, the earth pony nodded. It was time. "Actually, there's somethin' ya'll might need ta see. Rarity, there's another doorway in this room over yonder. Do ya think you could use that sigil, or whatever it is, ta open it up?"
"Oh...I suppose I could give it a try." Rarity moved to the section of wall that Applejack had indicated. Her rune flared briefly, and then its light was suddenly extinguished. The door remained motionless. "It doesn't seem to be working. How strange.
"I...might be able to open that door," Pinkie Pie sniffled as she lifted herself off the floor. Much of the curl had gone out of her hair, so she had to brush her mane from the side of her face before the others saw what she meant. Another sigil, much like Rarity's, was branded into the flesh just at Pinkie's throat. A little timidly, the pink pony crossed the room. As she drew close her sigil flared a deep, rich red and the door responded in kind, gliding open silently. Pinkie took a step back as Rarity and Rainbow Dash approached the door curiously. Immediately Rarity fell to her knees, a look of abject shock etched on her face.
"F-Fluttershy?" The little pony still hung as she was before, her dead eyes staring serenely into the void. Death had done nothing to mar her beauty and grace save where the cruel spiked shards jutted through her chest and legs. She floated like an angel in a shroud of crimson.
"This is a joke right!?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash in disbelief, "Some sick, twisted prank one of you thought up to give us a little scare? This can't be real!" The infuriated flier hovered closer to Fluttershy's remains, but she cringed back at the scent of the coagulated blood. "No...no...this just can't be. I know she's timid, and kind of weird and a little lame sometimes, but this is Fluttershy! She wouldn't harm a fly! Who would DO this!?" The blue pegasus slammed one hoof into the wall, trying hard to choke back tears of sadness and rage, her face inches from the friend she'd known since fillyhood. The blow to the wall shook Fluttershy's body, and the one wing that had been pinned to the wall before slumped down to her side, revealing a message scrawled in blood.
"What's that? 'A sin for which a single death alone is not enough to atone'," Twilight read. "'The liar must die', what is that supposed to mean?" And why did this all sound so familiar, like something out of a fairy tale. Or maybe something simpler. Like something from, "A game. It's a game."
"A what?" asked Dash in a whisper.
"It's a game. The sigils, the words, this whole set up. It's just like a party game we used to play in Canterlot." Twilight grew excited and moved to inspect the symbol etched in Pinkie's flesh more closely. "That's where I remember these runes from, though they were never this elaborate! The idea was to get a group of friends and have them work together to solve a puzzle. Usually the puzzle was something simple, like finding a stuffed toy or a present. Usually the setting would be a manor or some kind of hedge maze with locked doors or other obstacles that only party guests with the right enchantment could pass through. But The real object of the game was to figure out who was lying about helping the others."
"Why would anypony want to do that?" asked Applejack confused.
"Because the real twist was that one of the players played the role of the changeling!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle triumphantly. "You see, that pony's job was to mess with the other guests and try to throw them off finding the prize. If she could separate pony's off from the rest of the group, she could 'tag' any pony by herself and then that party guest was out of the game. If by the end of the game no pony could figure out who the changeling was, then the changeling won and the game was over."
"That's sounds like a positively dreadful game." said Rarity, unable to peel her eyes from Fluttershy's corpse, even as a look of disdain curled her dainty lips.
"Well a lot of games fillies and colts play when they're little seem dreadful when you're older," responded Twilight. "Like Ring Around the Roses or Blind Mares Bluff. If I remember my folklore, the game originated as a way to teach foals about the dangers of changelings trying to infiltrate pony society and to help them try and catch out liars that might try to take advantage of them. It's really quiet an interesting teaching tool if you think about it," the alicorn finished as she moved to more closely examine Fluttershy's corpse. It was faint under all the blood, but it looked like a sigil had been etched into her left leg, just above her cutie mark. "Though this is pretty extreme for a game."
"How dare you," Dash growled through clenched teeth. "How dare you sit here and talk about party games and folklore while Fluttershy hangs there dead!? What does all that nonsense even have to do with the fact that she's gone!? Does it even matter, huh? Do you have something you're trying to say!?"
"What I'm trying to say," replied Twilight calmly, "is somepony here might not be who she says she is." Rainbow Dash backed away, a look of confusion on her face. The others began to look at one another, a worried expression crossing all their faces. All except for Twilight, as she continued, "We're in the caves below Canterlot, or at least a series of caverns very similar to them. The last time somepony tried to imprison me in a place like this, that pony turned out to be the Queen of the Changelings. Then we find we have all these elements from a game where the object is to discover a changeling in our midst? I'm sorry, but I don't think that's a coincidence. The fact of the matter is, Fluttershy's murderer could be in this room, right now!"
"One of us?" asked Pinkie Pie in confused disbelief, but trying to keep up.
"Yes...well no, not really. Not the real one of us, I hope, but rather a changeling in disguise!" concluded Twilight. "From opening these two doors we've determined that once a rune is used it becomes the key for that door. As far as I can tell the sigil won't work with any other door. Add to that the crystalline nature of these caverns and it makes it highly difficult to escape using either magic or conventional means aside from the sigils provided. So as it stands, we have at most three more chances to find the right door that leads us out of here. But just finding the door won't be enough...we have to find out who, or what is behind this game or..." the alicorn swallowed uncomfortably. "Or we might all end up like Fluttershy."
"No! No way! I can't...I can't take this!" Rainbow Dash was breathing rapidly. She began to dart around the room frantically. "There's no sky here. No room! We need to get out of here! We need to get out of here now and tell somepony whats going on!"
"Whoa there! Just simmer down Rainbow," said Applejack.
"Yes, losing ones composure, while understandable under these circumstances, will do nothing to improve our situation," cautioned Rarity rising from the floor.
"You guys, I don't think that's it," cried Pinkie Pie. "I think Dashie might be having a panic attack! I think she might be claustrophobic."
"Clauster-whut now?" asked Applejack.
"Claustrophobic," said Twilight Sparkle rising into the air to try and grab Dash by her shoulders. "It means fear of enclosed or tight spaces. It's going to be okay Rainbow Dash, just keep breathing."
"Breathing? Breathing? Oh sure, keep breathing while I can right? Because one of my friends is secretly a monster and I might not get the chance to breath again if I get left alone with her right!?" The blue flier struggled violently, thrashing back and forth in midair. "Get OFF ME!" With a powerful pulse of Dash's elite class wings, she broke free of Twilight's grasp, but in the process sent her friend flying back into the cavern wall. It wasn't on purpose, but the back of Twilight's head slammed right in the spot where she had been hit before. A wave of pain and nausea assaulted Twilight's senses as blood suddenly poured out of her nose and dripped down her face. Her wings faltered and she slumped to the floor, losing consciousness once again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The party has already started. Won't you please attend? There are so many games and secrets to discover! It will be so much more interesting than those dusty old books. You should really think about getting out and making friends. After all, what's the worst that could happen?
Slowly, painfully, the room swam back into focus. "I think she's waking up," Twilight's vision swam back into focus, only there was something wrong. Everything was so bright. The light hurt her eyes as she tried to focus on the world around her. How was it so bright? Were they outside? There was no way her magic would have been able to keep the cavern lit up while she was out. So why the sudden change? In fact, how long had she been out exactly? Though her vision was still blurry, it was clear she was in a larger chamber than before. Her head rested against a cool, hard surface, what looked like the bottom step of the stairs she and Applejack had gone down earlier. But those steps had been completely shrouded in darkness the last time she had seen them.
"Here darling, you must be positively parched. Drink this." A cup of what looked to be clear, cold water suddenly appeared in front of Twilight. With only a moments hesitation she took a sip and found it to be deliciously refreshing, though with the slightly metallic taste that sometimes taints water with a high iron content. She gulped the cups contents down. However it tasted, it seemed to do the trick of bringing her the rest of the way around. As her vision cleared she found that she was surrounded by her friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. It was the latter who's magic held the glass for Twilight to drink from.
"Thank you Rarity. Where did you guys find water?" Twilight asked, taking another sip.
"The toilet." Twilight suddenly spurted water everywhere, gagging and trying to brush the remaining flecks of liquid off her tongue with her hooves. "No, no dear. I meant from the sink in the toilet. We found a restroom shortly after your little spill. It's perfectly clean."
With a look of relief on her face, Twilight took another sip of water. She felt slightly embarrassed. Of course Rarity wouldn't give her toilet water to drink, what had she been thinking. "Rarity, I notice your horn isn't glowing, but I can still see you and the others. What's going on?"
"Isn't it just marvelous? I admit that usually I'm not one for using semi-precious stones in my craft, but I'd simply love to take some of these crystal formations with us when we leave. Just a little bit of magic is all they need and they give off the absolutely most brilliant glow." Rarity herself seemed to be glowing. It took a certain kind of mind to appreciate beauty even in such a dire situation as theirs.
"Rarity, that's amazing, how did you know the crystals would react that way?" asked Twilight. Sure enough, she could see dotted here and there on the ceiling small clusters of tiny crystals giving off a ghostly illumination.
"It was Pinkie Pie what pointed those fancy geodes out," responded Applejack, leaning against one wall. "We were lucky Pinkie was able to recognize them in the dark."
"I guess there's some good from growing up on a rock farm," said Pinkie Pie a little wistfully. Of all of them, it seemed the usually jovial pink pony was taking things the hardest. Despite the fragile smile she wore on her face, her eyes were still red from tears.
"So how did I get down here?" asked Twilight.
"Well, after Rainbow Dash knocked ya out, she started dartin' all over the cavern down here. It was her that went and used the sigil on her hoof to unlock the door that lead into the bathroom down here," Applejack explained. "We couldn't get her under control and watch you at the same time, so we brought you down here with us for safe keepin'. Ah figured better that than leavin' ya alone in that room with Fluttershy."
Twilight shivered. She was thankful she hadn't awoken to see that sight again. The alicorn princess looked around the cavern, but saw only crystal corridors leading off in multiple directions. Down one hall she could just make out a half open door and what looked like a rust stained sink inside. Every other door on this level was closed. "Where's Rainbow Dash now?"
"Well, about that..." A sound like a train smashing into a brick wall made a section of crystal not far from where they sat dance and vibrate. A few moments later and the same sound echoed around them, causing the entire hall to reverberate. "Ah kinda locked her up. For her own good."
Twilight blanched at that, her eyes going wide. "You locked a pony having a claustrophobic panic attack in a room by herself? What were you thinking!?"
"An' just whut would you have done if the roles were reversed, Twi?" asked the farm pony as she stood up straight. "If Ah didn't corral that filly, she'd still be stampedin' all over the place. Don't cha get it? She went off by herself and used one of our only keys to open a door she had no way of knowin' what was behind, and then just kept goin' like it was nothin'! We were darn lucky it was just a glorified outhouse she stumbled into instead of whoever it was that's doin' this ta us!" Applejack paused to catch her breath, her eyes softening. "I know it seems cruel, but Rainbow Dash is safe in that room for now. While you were out cold we were able to have a little look around this floor. The room she's in was the only room that was already open when we got down here, but all that's inside is a bed and some old dusty shelves." She scratched a little picture of the layout of the floor into the dust with one hoof, then she put an X in the room where Rainbow was being held. "There's no other way in or out, Ah checked it pretty thoroughly. Once she's calmed down she can just take a rest and keep out of our hair while we try to figure a way out of this here mess."
There was a pause before the sound of Rainbow Dash slamming herself into the door came again, louder this time. "And what if she hurts herself while she's in there? It's not like she's behaving rationally right now. Besides, don't you think it would be wiser for us all to stick together? Any of us that get separated from the rest run the risk of being killed by the murderer. It's not like we're completely sure the killer is one of us. There's still a chance it's somepony we've never met before," said Twilight grimly.
"That's right! That's what I was trying to tell them," shouted Pinkie Pie. "So Twilight, please, why don't you use your glowy symbol thingie to let Dashie out? I'm sure if we just talk to her she'll calm down." Twilight froze. With everything that was going on she hadn't realized before. Pinkie Pie's sigil was on her throat, Rarity's on her chest, Rainbow Dash's had been on her right front hoof and Applejack's was on her left. But where was her own?
"Don't do it sugarcube. We gotta think about this logically. I know it's tough, but there's nothin' else we can learn from that room. We only have two keys left and three doors that we know of. So at best we've got a two out of three chance of finding the way out of here." Applejack had pain in her eyes as she said this, but also a look of resolve firmly set her chin. "Not to mention she's still kicking up a fuss in there. Letting her out now will just put us right back in the position we were in before and we'd be down ta one key."
"Twilight, please?" Pinkie Pie looked at her pleadingly, and tugged on Twilight's dress like a lost child.
"Maybe...maybe Applejack is right." The look of stunned disbelief in Pinkie's eyes made Twilight want to take back those words almost immediately. But what choice did she have? "It's just as she said. We should focus on finding a way out. Once we've done that we can come back for Rainbow Dash."
"You can't be serious," whispered the pink pony, falling back on her haunches.
"If Twilight agrees with Applejack, then I suppose I should as well." said Rarity. "Honestly I wouldn't want to be in Dashie's position, locked in one of these wretched dingy rooms, but she has nopony to blame but herself. I'd rather spend less time debating the matter and more time getting out of this dreadful place."
"Yeah..." said Twilight a little uncertainly as she stood up. Her head still hurt, but there was something she had to do. "Um, could you excuse me for a moment. I think I need the little filly's room." She rushed away before her friends could respond. The restroom, like the rest of the rooms so far, was just a hollowed out part of the cavern. The sinks, stalls, and toilets however were all made from old, yellowed porcelain. Though they were stained with rust and cracked here and there, they were relatively clean, even if they had a look of disuse that made Twilight extra careful not to touch anything as she locked herself into one of the stalls. Carefully, she lifted up her dress and scrutinized every inch of her body, front and back, including the bottoms of her hooves. At last, she opened the door a fraction and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, checking all the intimate places she couldn't see for herself. It was just as she feared. "I don't have a sigil," she whispered to herself. "Why just me?" Smoothing her dress back into place her mind began to turn as fast as possible. So far nopony had thought to question that she might not have a rune. What was the right thing to do here? If it turned out she was the only pony unmarked, that would make her look suspicious. But her friends were relying on her to open one of the locked doors.
"Is everything alright in there dear?" called Rarity, making Twilight jump half out her her skin.
"Yes, I'm fine, I'll be just a minute!" Twilight called back once her heart had stopped thundering in her chest. She didn't like the idea of keeping secrets from her friends, but all this could do is cast her own innocence into doubt and distract them from finding the real killer and the way out. No, for the time being she'd just have to keep them in the dark. Besides it wasn't like they really had less keys than Applejack thought. There was still the sigil carved into Fluttershy's leg.
As she thought of Fluttershy, impaled upstairs and the pain she must have endured, the glowing crystals in the bathroom began to flicker. Something skittered behind the toilet and she heard a splash from one of the other stalls. It was then that she realized that she was all alone. A perfect time to strike. The lights began to flicker out, one by one. With a whimper she rushed out of the stall and ran out of the bathroom. She darted back in and quickly washed her hooves in the sink, all the while her eyes glancing back at the stalls where the lights were flickering, her hind legs doing a little worried dance as she looked around for anything to dry her hooves on. She eventually gave up, dried her hooves on her frilly dress, and ran back outside with her friends as fast as she could. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rainbow Dash has gotten pretty quiet in there don't you think?" asked Pinkie Pie, concerned.
"Tired herself out most likely, poor thing," said Rarity, refreshing the glow of the magic geodes. It seemed they needed to be refreshed periodically when the magic they stored ran out.
"All these doors look roughly the same," said Twilight Sparkle, now significantly calmer with the lights back on. Truth be told after all the trauma to her head, even concentrating on something as simple as a light spell was too taxing for her at the moment. "How do we pick which one to try?"
"Nah, they don't look the same. This one here's different." Applejack said as she drew close to a slab of crystal that was slightly larger than the others.
"How so?" asked Twilight.
"Well that room that Rainbow is in happens ta be a might smaller than the others we've seen so far. From the general layout, It looks like most of the rooms are relatively the same size, except for this one. It's gotta be a little bit bigger than all the others if for no other reason than to account for how much smaller that room Dashie's in is. Frankly, that strikes me as a might suspicious," She paused and held up her left front hoof. The sigil there was already pulsing, a flaming green glow enveloped her limb. "If'n it's all the same to y'all, Ah reckon Ah'd like a peek at what's behind this here door."
The others looked at each other. Rarity nodded, while Pinkie merely shrugged. It looked like it was up to Twilight. "Go ahead Applejack. But be careful."
Giving a nod, the farm pony placed her hoof against the door. The green energy flared, engulfing the stone as it was pushed gently out of the way. The portal beyond yawned with darkness, the faint lights above in the cavern ceiling doing little to pierce the gloom within."I'll just pump a little magic into the crystals in here shall I?" asked Rarity, stepping across the threshold first. As the room began to lighten, she made a rather disgusted face. "Ugh, it smells like an old ponies home in here." As she fed more magic into the crystals, the room brightened even further. "Oh my word!"
"What is it!?" shouted Applejack as Rarity's friends piled in behind her. She needn't have asked, she could see with her own eyes. The walls were lined with shelves. Each shelf was crammed with bottles and flasks, some securely stoppered, others long since broken and fragmented. Strange shapes floated in formaldehyde that the little ponies tried very hard not to look at too closely. Against the far wall, there was what looked like a dilapidated hospital bed. A straight backed metal chair, similarly with straps, sat nearby it. A tray of scalpels, scissors, needles, and other medical implements was set up between the two. Many of the implements were filthy, covered in dark stains no pony wanted to think about. Indeed the entire room seemed dingy and ill used. Broken glass and what might have been torn bits of leather littered the floor. It looked like there might have been a struggle in here long ago, but most of the signs were muted by a film of dust.
"What is this place?" asked Twilight, her eyes moving back and forth.
"Is it some kind of hospital?" questioned Pinkie Pie, stepping carefully over the shards of glass to inspect the unbroken vials still on the shelves.
"If so, its pretty unsettling. I couldn't imagine trying to treat somepony in these conditions," said Twilight, eying the hospital bed. The sheets were stained through by fluids that were probably best left to the imagination, and moved stiffly as she tugged them back. The mattress itself seemed mostly clean, except around the areas where the leather restraints met the bed.
"Well whatever this here place is, it doesn't look like it's been used in years," commented Applejack as she scraped a film of dust off a low desk against the opposite wall. The wood beneath was a deep, rich, glossy red. Too glossy, the farm pony realized, especially her body blocking the crystalline illumination from the ceiling. There was no way the desk could look so bright in the relative darkness without there being another source of light. She looked around sharply, shielding her eyes with her hooves until at last she saw what she was looking for.
It had struck Applejack as they had entered the room that it was smaller than she had expected. The entrance to the rest of the room was cleverly hidden by a reflective curtain that mimicked the look of the rest of the walls. If it wasn't for the thin, fuzzy light spilling out from beneath it, Applejack would never have noticed it was there at all. Without uttering a word, she walked over to the wall and peeled back the curtain. Twilight Sparkle followed swiftly after her, the alicorn's eyes going wide as she saw what waited on the other side.
The crystal walls in this room were all wrong. Instead of casting reflections, they seemed more like windows, showing scenes beyond them that couldn't possibly exist. She immediately recognized the bathroom, the stairwell, even the room that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were still exploring behind them. It took a moment for her to wrap her head around what she was seeing, but when she realized what it was, the thought hit her like a ton of bricks. Scrying crystals. The entire wall had been enchanted, so that each facet showed a different room. Twilight knew that such spells existed, but had never seen them used on such an expansive scale before. Sitting here, it would be possible to see everything that was going on inside the cavern at anytime. Twilight looked right into the stall where she had taken her dress off earlier. Somehow this was even creepier than what she had imagined.
Twilight Sparkle moved to enter the room and have a closer look at the wall of ever shifting images when Applejack put a hoof in front of her, stopping her. She didn't understand why the farm pony had stopped her until Applejack brought her hoof to her lip, making a shushing motion. As Twilight's eyes adjusted to the light given off by the chaotic display, a hole seemed to open up in front of the monitors. No, not a hole...a silhouette! Somepony sat before the crystals, staring intently. Their head was grotesquely misshapen, with what looked like long horns and wiry whiskers jutting out through clumps of mangy fur. Twilight could of sworn they had been alone in the room. How had she missed the terrifying figure?
Without uttering a word, Applejack motioned for Twilight to follow her lead. Together the two ponies crept silently into the room. Applejack found a length of pipe on the floor and picked it up. She motioned for Twilight to do the same with a broken piece of board that lay by her hooves. Thus armed the pair closed in on the creature that, from all appearances, just might be responsible for them being here. The pony who might well be responsible for Fluttershy's death!
How had she not heard them coming? With all the monitoring crystals, how had he not seen them coming? Just as the thought crossed Twilight's mind, Rarity entered the room. "Have you girls found something...over...here?" The figure seated before the monitors slowly began to turn. Rarity couldn't help it, she screamed. Losing the element of surprise, however, was not an option.
"Now!" shouted Applejack. They attacked as one, Applejack aiming high while Twilight struck low. It was over much more quickly than Twilight had expected. The creature lay prone, unmoving, not even so much as a twitch. Applejack poked it a few times with her pipe. "Ah think...Ah think she's dead."
"He's dead? Just like that!?" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle. They had hit the killer pretty hard, but she hadn't intended to kill him in turn! Pinkie Pie and Rarity had now crowded into the room as well. Rarity was holding herself, shivering slightly, still shaken up from the whole ordeal. Pinkie seemed distracted by the scrying crystals.
"She, actually. Look," Applejack prodded the beasts prone form, rolling it over. Just as she said, the killer was clearly a young female pegasus. The reason her head had looked so strange from behind was because she wore a grotesque mask. What Twilight had taken for horns were in fact long rabbit ears. Red plastic eyes stared blankly up at her from the floor. The mask was somewhat unsettling, but mostly made the pegasus look all the more pathetic laying there on the floor. "I think she might'a already been dead when we hit her. Look here." Applejack picked up a bottle that had rolled away from the grey mare when she'd fallen and gave it to Twilight.
"Morphine. You might be right Applejack," said Twilight after a moments thought. "Morphine is a powerful pain killer, but it's also a narcotic." Twilight examined the ponies body more closely. Sure enough, she found a tiny wound on one leg, a perfect needle hole. "If she was trying to administer the drug herself and got the dose wrong, it would be easy for an accident to occur. This was likely death by asphyxiation, caused by the respiratory depression resulting from the muscle relaxing effect of the drug. Combined with the mask she's wearing, it would be hard not to suffocate."
"So that's it then. The changelin' is dead. We survived," said Applejack grimly, taking off her hat.
Pinkie Pie drew closer to have a better look. "Twilight...you've got kind of a scary look on your face."
"Could it really be this simple? Don't changelings usually change back to their real forms when they're dead or unconscious? Was this seriously just some pony that randomly decided to mess with us, to murder one of our friends for no reason?" A strange mixture of anger, sadness, and disbelief roiled inside Twilight's heart. "We need to be sure." Carefully, she pulled back the mask from the young pegasus face. The mare was blond, with a gentle looking face, and looked almost as if she were sleeping. "Does anypony recognize her? Anypony at all?"
"Actually," spoke Rarity, "I think I've seen her around before. She's one of those ponies that always seems to be around but never really in the spot light. What was her name? Dizzy...Dumpy..."
"Derpy," said Pinkie Pie quietly. "Her name was Derpy. She was one of the mail ponies for Ponyville. I think she was the courier between our town and Cloudsdale. Why would she be the one behind all this?"
"Well you know what they say about postal workers dear," was Rarity's only reply.
As if in response to that, a loud banging rumbled from outside the room. It roared and shrieked, making the crystals and everyponies' teeth shake. "Whut was that?" asked Applejack, steadying herself against a nearby desk.
"Was it Rainbow Dash again?" wondered Twilight aloud.
"Can't that filly just sit tight and wait quietly?" groaned the farm pony crossly.
Something flashed in Pinkie Pie's eyes and an uncharacteristic scowl crossed her face. "I think I've had just about enough of that from you! How would you like to be locked up all alone in a place like this with no idea of what was going on, huh!?" The pink pony almost growled as she advanced on Applejack.
Moving quickly, Twilight intervened, placing a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Calm down Pinkie. If you're worried about Rainbow Dash, we can't waste time fighting each other. If this pony was the one responsible for all this, then that means there has to be an exit around here somewhere. Once we find that we'll figure out a way to let Dash out." Twilight brushed away a few of the loose hanging locks in front of Pinkie's face and looked her friend in the eyes. "We have to stay calm, okay?"
"I...I guess if you say so Twilight." the usually jovial party pony's anger subsiding, she merely looked sullen as she had before. Twilight had never really seen Pinkie Pie act this way. This situation was taking its toll on them all. They really did need to find an exit, and fast, before...
The thought froze in her mind as something wrapped around her hind leg. She looked down, panic gripping her heart as a low groan rose from the floor. The grey pegasus was moving! Her eyes were open, yellow mismatched eyes that seemed to bulge in their sockets. The look on her face was a mixture of pain and hatred. Without warning she pulled Twilight to the floor and began to climb on top of her. As the pair rolled over and over each other across the filthy cavern floor, Twilight struggled to break free. It was no use, however weak Derpy had been before, she was strong as an ox now.
"Get off her! Get off of her now!" screamed Pinkie Pie as she grabbed the struggling Derpy by the tail and tried to tug her off her friend. All she got for her trouble was a buck to the chest as the pegasus continued to writhe and struggle.
"Help..." the words came from Derpy as a choking gasp, "please...help me....hurts..." Twilight noticed the tears in her attackers eyes. Derpy wasn't attacking, she was convulsing! "Make it...stop...please!" Without warning, the grey flier vomited a stream of blood, splattering Twilight's dress. Sickened, she tried to pull herself away, the blood slicked material allowing her to slip more easily out from under Derpy's increasingly violent seizure. Twilight quickly looked around for a stick, a strap, anything she could put in the pony's mouth to keep her from swallowing her own tongue. She needn't have bothered. With one last gurgling whimper through blood stained teeth, a gout of blood gushed from Derpy's throat and she slumped over dead. Though it seemed to have lasted forever, the entire scene only went on for a few seconds.
"What in the world was that about?" asked Rarity, cringing from the terrible sight.
Applejack put one hoof to Derpy's neck. "Well she's defiantly dead now. Sorry Ah didn't check before, y'all. That was mah mistake." She took off her hat again and bowed her head in mourning for the dead.
"Are you okay Twilight?" asked Pinkie Pie, having come to Twilight's side after recovering from the kicking she had taken.
"I'm...not sure," it was difficult for Twilight to process what she felt. She was pretty sure she had just watched a pony die. For all her magic, she had been helpless to stop it.
"Ah think Ah know what happened. Look here," Applejack had turned over the mask. It looked like it was made from a strange mixture of ceramics and paper mache, with a soft fuzzy exterior. What the farm pony pointed to, however, was a small, sharp thumbtack taped to the inside of the mask. Pinkie Pie reached out to touch it and Applejack hurriedly pulled the mask away "Don't touch it! Ah'd be willin' ta bet a whole bushel of apples this here little prick is what did Derpy in. It was rigged in such a way that it would prick her skin if'n the mask were removed. There'd have ta be some mighty powerful poison coating it to get a reaction that severe, that quickly, from a full grown mare."
"If the mask were removed? Then that means..." it took a moment for Twilight to absorb the full horror of that statement. She covered her mouth with one hoof, but quickly pulled it away as it was covered in the grey pegasus' blood. "I'm the one who killed her. I'm a murderer!"
"Don't go blaming yerself just yet sugarcube. It was rigged so that if anypony took the mask off she'd die. Ah mighta taken it off if'n you hadn't. Even if we'd left it alone, Derpy herself woulda likely taken it off after she'd come around from being drugged," said Applejack logically. "Ah'm sad to say it was bound to happen one way or the other. Poor thing."
"But wait a moment. I thought she was the changeling, or murderer, or whatever." said Rarity perplexed.
"Ah doubt it," the blonde pony said sadly, putting her hat back on. "Ah think she was just another victim. Which means this sick and twisted game ain't over yet. Not by a long shot."
Unseen by the others, their eyes still upon the sad corpse of a pony they barely knew, Rarity took the opportunity to pick up a rusty scalpel and hide it in her mane. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight did what she could with her dress. Washing it, and herself, off in the bathroom sink gave her time to reflect. Even if it weren't for the fact she could see that the bloodstains weren't coming out, she knew she wasn't going to wear this dress ever again if they got out of here. She was about as useless at cleaning cloths as she was at saving her friends. What good had being a princess done for them? She was just as trapped as they were in this horrible pit. Her fledgling wings were of little use underground. Twilight's head was still throbbing, but at least she'd managed to make her horn glow a bit again. That was about as strong of a spell as she felt she could use comfortably without passing out again. The truth of the matter was she blamed herself for everything. She was convinced that whatever was going on, it was somehow her fault, her responsibility, and it was her friends that were paying the price for her not being the kind of princess they deserved.
Lost in her own thoughts of grief and self-loathing, Twilight didn't notice as Pinkie Pie crept up behind her. "Hey." Twilight jumped, startled. "Sorry," said the pink pony. "Applejack was wondering if you were almost done. She wants to open up another door." If Pinkie Pie saw the sudden expression of guilt on Twilight's face, she pretended not to. "Are you okay? I mean as okay as anypony can be given, you know, everything that's been going on."
Smiling as tears spilled from her eyes Twilight replied, "No...no I'm not okay." Pinkie Pie wrapped her in gentle hug, ignoring the dampness of her dress. "I should be. I mean obviously I shouldn't be okay with any of this, but I should be strong enough to...to put that aside and figure a way out of this mess. I shouldn't be...be worried about my stupid frilly dress, or just how much my head hurts, or how useless I've been so far."
"Shhh," said the pink pony, stroking Twilight's mane comfortingly. "You haven't been anymore useless than the rest of us. It's okay, Twilight."
"No it's not okay and we both know it! I'm supposed to be the smart one! I'm supposed to be the alicorn who's talent is magic! So far the most magical thing I've done is watch another pony die!" Twilight couldn't help sobbing now. "She was clinging to me for dear life and I didn't even realize it. I was holding her when she died! I should've realized what was happening sooner. I should've noticed the signs of a seizure. But no, I had to scream and freak out, just like who ever's sick game this is probably wanted!" Twilight wailed.
"Twilight there was nothing you could do," soothed Pinkie. "We were all there and we were all just as afraid as you were. You can't beat yourself up about this."
"I know, I know, it's just..." Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She swallowed hard and tried to compose herself. "It's just in the end she was only another victim of this stupid game. We didn't even have a chance to talk to her before she..." Twilight's eyes suddenly went wide. She pulled away from Pinkie Pie's embrace, missing the hurt expression on her friends face as she whispered. "Another victim!" Twilight darted out of the bathroom and ran back to the room that could best be referred to as the clinic. Rarity and Applejack had both been busy, shifting Derpy's body onto the ruined hospital bed. They looked up, surprise on their faces at Twilight's sudden entrance.
"Has something happened?" asked Rarity, alarmed.
"Yes! There's another, we just have to find it! Help me turn her over!" exclaimed Twilight in a feverish babble.
"Slow down there Twi,"said Applejack as she watched Twilight scrabble at Derpy's corpse, turning it this way and that. "Just what are ya lookin' for?"
"This!" as the others looked where Twilight indicated, they saw the soft glow of another sigil, this one blazing gently on Derpy's right shoulder. "She was another victim, just like the rest of us, so she had a key as well!"
"Ah see...well, Ah guess Ah'd better give ya a hoof then," sighed the farm pony matter-of -factly, positioning herself on the other side of the hospital bed.
"Give her a hoof with what?" asked Rarity, perplexed.
"What the hay are you girls up to?" asked Pinkie Pie from the open doorway.
"Well, Ah reckon miss Derpy has got one more job ta do..." said Applejack, smiling joylessly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Supporting the dead body between themselves, Twilight and Applejack guided her shoulder to the nearest of the doors they had yet to open. They pressed her against the crystal, causing a thin trickle of blood to spill from her mouth and puddle on the floor. "Nothing?" asked Rarity.
"But I was so sure that her sigil would be like ours! Why wouldn't it be!?" shouted Twilight in frustration.
"Easy. So it don't work on this here door? Fine, maybe the spell, or whatever, is broke. Lets try the other door down yonder." Applejack shifted her weight beneath Derpy's corpse and started moving to the other door. The sound of Derpy's hooves dragging along the ground, and the occasional splash of blood as they went, was enough to turn anypony's stomach. Pinkie flinched with each step and couldn't seem to take her eyes off the smeared scarlet trail her friends were leaving behind. Rarity, for her part, was covering her mouth and nose with the shawl she had been wearing earlier. The scent of blood was too much for her delicate sensibilities.
"Is this really necessary?" moaned Rarity.
"If'n ya want to get out of here darlin', yes," replied Applejack. "The more of these doors we can get open, the better chance we have of findin' a way out." Applejack drug Derpy the last couple of inches to the next door, while Twilight guided the grey fliers shoulder to rest against it.
If this doesn't work, Twilight thought to herself, next up will be...
But a soft grey glow suddenly lit the rune on Derpy's shoulder. Apparently even with the host dead, the magic was still strong. The grey light enveloped the crystal door and with the slightest push, it slowly swung open. "Please be the exit, please be the exit, please be the exit..." Pinkie Pie chanted under her breath with her eyes tightly closed, willing the doorway to lead outside, or to a mine shaft, or anywhere but here where her friends were dying and there dead bodies were being used as little more than keys.
However, as the door swung open, it revealed just another room, about the same size as the others. The walls here were covered in shelves and the shelves themselves were filled with dusty books, binders, and old file folders. Cobwebs clung to the moldering paperwork and there was the distinct, damp smell of mold and old paper filling the room. "Is this...some kind of library?" asked Twilight. Applejack dropped Derpy's corpse, leaving its full weight leaning against Twilight. Without warning she rushed into the room and started sweeping books off the shelves. "Applejack what are you doing!? I know this is frustrating but there's no reason to...wait." The other three ponies noticed it at the same time. The reason Applejack was sweeping the books and folders out of the way was to reveal what she had already noticed. The room should have been dark, but instead it was lit by gentle moonlight. Moonlight streaming in from a window that was hidden just behind the shelves.
"It feels like it has just been ages since I've seen it. The outside world..." murmured Rarity, enraptured. She and Twilight had let the light of their horns fade so that the room filled with the soft silvery glow of moonlight streaming through the gaps in the shelves. They could have only been in this pit for a handful of hours, but it felt like days. Even a hint of the outside world was enough to send a thrill through their hearts.
Twilight, after setting Derpy's body down gently, helped Applejack clear away the old books and binders. After a little work, and with one at each side, they hefted the shelving out of the way. With the shelf at last out of the way, the window proved to be out just slightly out of reach for the little ponies. "Can ya fly up there Twi? Or do ya need me ta give ya a boost?" asked the farm pony.
"I think I can manage it Applejack." With a soft flutter, Twilight rose slowly in the air until she was level with the window. On the other side of a few inches of glass she could just make out a starry sky dotted with a few scraps of clod. A forest bathed in soft light stretched out below the window, leaves wafting in a gentle breeze. "But that can't be...this can't be right."
"What is it dear? is something wrong?" asked Rarity apprehensively. "Is the window stuck? I should think we could break it if that's necessary."
"I don't think it would matter if we could break it or not," said Twilight pensively. As she watched the trees moved in the same rhythmic motion over and over again, like the waves of the sea. Though a few clouds drifted across the moon, they seemed to be replaced moment by moment by clouds that looked almost identical. Twilight reached one hoof toward the window. As her hoof touched the "glass" the image wavered and shook, twisting around her touch. She pulled her hoof away again and the image returned to its tranquil repetition. "It's not real. It's just another scrying crystal." As she said this, the image suddenly shifted to that of a face stripped of all its flesh. A horrible blood stained grin and eyes filled with madness and hatred hovered just in front of Twilight, laughing. Twilight screamed and fell back, forgetting her wings just long enough to fall heavily to the cavern floor. Abruptly the image and the light it cast winked out of existence, plunging the room into darkness filled with haunting laughter. Somepony was toying with them.
"That's not funny. That's not funny at all," said Pinkie Pie backing slowly out of the room. Her eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty.
"HELP!" screamed Rarity. "Can anypony hear me!? WE'RE TRAPPED IN HERE, PLEASE HELP US! PLEASE JUST LET US GO!" Rarity was weeping as she spun around in a panic, pleading for help that would never come or with their captor, it was hard to tell which. Perhaps even she didn't know. It was clear from the little giggles between her shrieks that she was swiftly dissolving into hysterics.
"Just stay calm and stay together," said Twilight getting back on her hooves and lighting the room up with her horn. "Who ever is behind this is just trying to make us panic. If we keep our heads we'll be fine."
Rarity suddenly shot a glare at Twilight so full of rage and despair it made her physically flinch. "Then open it!" Twilight just looked at her, unsure of what she was saying. "The door Twilight, the last door. There had to be a way inside for us to get here in the first place, so surely there is a way out. It has to be in the last room. So use your sigil and open...the...door!"
"Now just hold on Rarity," began Applejack, inserting herself between the two more magical ponies, "Twilight's sigil is our last key. While it's true that if we're gonna find an exit, it's liable to be in that last room, there ain't no guarantee. All this hocus pocus we got goin' on around us, Ah'm inclined to think we ought to take our time checking this here room before we go gallivanting off to the next."
"After all, when Twilight uses her sigil on that last door, she won't be able to use it to let Dashie out anymore." The others all gave Pinkie Pie somewhat dumbfounded looks. "What, have you all forgotten about her!? Or were you just hoping I had!?"
"Pinkie!" gasped Rarity, surprised. "How could you say that?"
The pink pony's head drooped. "I'm sorry, that came out meaner than I meant it to. I'm just worried about Dashie...and all of us, okay? I don't want anypony being left behind. Or ending up like..." she gestured to Derpy's slumped form just beside the door.
"Me either Pinkie. It's just the only way we're going to be able to do this is if we work together. The killer wants us to be suspicious of each other and...well...honestly we shouldn't trust each other completely right now," each of Twilight's friends flinched and looked away as she said that. "But we should still probably do as Applejack suggests and check this room. There's tons of books and papers in here. Surely there's something in one of them that can give us a clue as to where we are or who might have done this." And besides, thought Twilight to herself, it's not like I actually have a sigil with which to open the last door or free Rainbow Dash either. This might be our only chance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie busily began to rifle through the folders and books in the room. Most of the folders were full of old invoices for medicine, food, and other goods purchased, by somepony who had initialed only as C, from an undisclosed supplier. Whomever 'C.' was, they had gone through an alarming amount of disinfectant, painkillers, and a large supply of sodium hydroxide. This later component Twilight tried not to let her mind dwell on too much, but there were only so many uses one could have for that much lye and she hadn't seen any soap down here. Most of the books were just out of date technical books and manuals for bits and pieces of machinery. There were even one or two old architectural journals. None of it seemed overly helpful to their current situation. If their need weren't so dire, she would've relished a chance to read through such a varied collection.
While the others struggled to glean anything useful from the glut of what increasingly seemed like misinformation, Rarity sat far away from all the dirty and dusty tomes, chewing her lower lip pensively. Though she'd managed to enchant a few crystals to suffuse the room with light, her mind was still dwelling on the laughter in the darkness. Laughter that had sounded almost familiar. Rarity let her gaze sweep over the room. She didn't like to think of it, but any one of her friends so diligently searching for clues could be the psychotic killer. It made her reluctant to cooperate with them, beyond getting her coat filthy with dust. As she tried to figure out which, if any, of her friends looked like a deranged murderer, her eyes fell on something that didn't quite belong. It took a moment for her to realize what it was, but unlike everything else in this room, the binder she was looking at seemed new and untouched by dirt or grime. Glancing up to see if any of her friends had noticed, Rarity stealthily swept the binder close and nonchalantly opened it.
As she rifled through the binders pages, her eyes grew wide. "What is this?" wondered Rarity quietly under her breath. "What in the world is something like this doing down here." She flipped the pages back and forth frantically as if searching for something, anything that would make what she was looking at make sense. Then realization dawned. It wasn't what was in the binder. It was what wasn't.
"What are you looking at Rarity?" asked Pinkie Pie curiously. Rarity had been so engrossed in the binder she hadn't noticed the pink pony staring her in the face.
"AAAaaah ah...a, a very boring thing indeed! Hardly worth discussing," said Rarity, her scream turning into a rather hamhooved bit of subterfuge. "Just old technical papers and things, nothing important."
"You look a little pale," said Pinkie Pie, her brow knitting with concern. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
Rarity paused for a moment, and then dramatically draped her forelimb across her forehead. "Oh dear, now that you mention it I feel rather dreadful. I've felt terrible ever since that horrible business in the clinic. I've been wanting to go to the bathroom for quiet some time, and freshen up a bit, but I'm far too frightened to go by myself. Pinkie, would you be a dear and come with me?" As she made this request she batted her eyelashes pleadingly, though even with how terrible their predicament was, she still found a way to over sell the drama of her situation.
"Sure I guess," Pinkie responded without a trace of suspicion. She turned to the others and called, "Hey guys, Rarity isn't feeling well so we're going to go to the bathroom real quick!"
"Alright, but be careful," called back Twilight, her head still buried in a book of old invoices. "Try not to be out of each others sight any longer than you have to and don't wonder off by yourselves. We're safest in a large group, so hurry back." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sorry for making you come with me dear," said Rarity from behind the bathroom stall door. Pinkie Pie was running the faucet to cover the sound of Rarity's business at the unicorn's request. Rarity might have been afraid, but she was still a lady.
"Don't worry about it, it's completely fine. To be honest, I needed a little break too," responded Pinkie with a touch of sadness in her usually cheerful voice. The pink pony held one hoof beneath the flowing water. It was pleasantly cool to the touch, yet offered no real solace. If Pinkie were honest with herself, she'd realize it was because more than anything she'd love to have a bath. Everything that had gone on had left her feeling filthy. "We've been through an awful lot in a very short time..." She caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror. Almost all of the curl had gone out of her hair now. Was it the dry conditions in the cavern? Or was it her mood? Why was it she felt so sad, but her reflection seemed to be smiling back at her? "So, so much."
"Still, I have to imagine that this has worked out the worst for you," replied Rarity as she exited the stall. "Here you were planning this fantastic party for all your friends and instead it all ended up like this. Some cruel prank, perpetrated by a monster skulking in the dark. It's so unfair after you went to the trouble to send us all invitations."
"Yeah..." said Pinkie wistfully, turning off the faucet, so that only the steady drip, drip echoed inside the tiny tile room. "Saying this was all just bad luck would kind of be unfair to all of you, though. Especially to those who've...who've died. If I had known things would turn out like this, I would've never invited all of you back to Ponyville for my birthday."
"For your...really? I confess, I'd forgotten. So that's what you think this was all about?" asked Rarity, her voice hollow and strange.
"Well of course. I invited everypony here for mine and Gummy's birthday," said Pinkie Pie turning to face her friend. As she did, she just caught a glimpse of something sparkling in the crystalline light. A thin sliver of polished metal that curved ever so slightly just above Rarity's head. She'd never forget the way Rarity looked at that moment for as long as she lived. Her face, usually so beautiful and meticulously cared for, was now distorted by fear and rage.
"Liar!" was all that Rarity said before she brought the scalpel down hard, sending a spurt of Pinkie Pie's blood gushing up and staining her panic twisted face crimson. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A scream of pain and fear rose and rebounded off the cavern walls. Even distorted by distance, Twilight and Applejack immediately recognized it as Pinkie Pie's panicked plea "Twilight, Applejack, somepony help, HELP!" As quickly as it had risen, the screams were suddenly silenced. Throwing down the books they had been looking through, the pair rushed out into the hall, only to find a bloodied Rarity waiting for them.
"Rarity, what happened!?" demanded Twilight. "What's going on!?" As Twilight's eyes had a moment to take in the sight of Rarity's normally pristine self, she saw the splotches of blood staining her coat. Without looking at her friends, Rarity reached out with her magic, and slammed the bathroom door. A magic rune flared on the surface of the crystal door, sealing itself into the wall, and essentially locking it so no pony could go in or out. No pony that is, except for Rainbow Dash, the filly who had originally opened it and thus bound it to her sigil. Rarity turned slowly, her eyes in shadow beneath her magnificent, blood dripping mane. Twilight swallowed hard before asking again, "Rarity...where's Pinkie Pie? Don't tell me that you just..."
"Here," said Rarity suddenly, shoving the new looking binder in Applejack's direction, "read this."
"Why won't you answer me?" asked Twilight. "What happened to Pinkie Pie!?"
"Just read it!" exclaimed Rarity, shouting angrily. Applejack flipped open the binder and hesitantly, keeping one eye on Rarity, Twilight joined her. They were all there, each of her friends had a file. Each had several pages of background history, biometric data, even a list of their personal tastes and private fears. There were also old newspaper clippings and extensive genealogical record detailing the backgrounds and various close relatives of each of her friends. It was all there, every last detail...except for one thing. "Looks like you see it too," said Rarity, her horn glowing brightly. "In all those pages, in all that data, why isn't there a single page about you?"
It was true, there were a few bare bones mentions of her name, but Twilight Sparkle wasn't represented in this dossier. "How should I know?" asked Twilight. "Maybe there's another binder somewhere or..." Twilight was cut off as something sharp suddenly pressed against her throat. A rusted scalpel, its blade still wet with Pinkie Pie's blood, pricked ever so delicately against her carotid artery. Rarity's magic held it there, her eyes boring into Twilight's own. "What are you doing?" Twilight tried to move away, but the blade held firmly against her throat, "Cut it out Rarity!"
"That seems like an exquisitely bad choice of words Twilight, so for the moment I shall do you the favor of ignoring them. Of course, that's only if that's who you really are." Rarity quipped, her eye lashes fluttering ever so slightly. "Don't worry about Pinkie Pie. She's safe and sound, locked in the bathroom. Rainbow Dash can let her out once we've settled things here. That is, if it's safe enough to let her out. I have a feeling she's quite mad." A manic grin spread across Rarity's face. "But enough about her, why don't we talk about you? Why don't you just give it up now? Why don't you just admit that the "Changeling" that you were so quick to have us hunt for has been you all along?"
Twilight could barely breath. The straps cut deep into her chest and her legs. Even her wings were strapped securely to the uncomfortable metal chair that had become her one pony prison cell. The buckles of the straps, cold against her flesh, cut even more deeply into her skin. She would have complained about it, except for the strap firmly wrapped over her mouth. That strap and the one over her eyes secured her head to the back of the metal headrest, giving her not one ounce of freedom, allowing not one inch of movement. Twilight Sparkle's head throbbed with pain. She tried to summon her magic, using her sense of touch to try and find where all the buckles were fastened so that she could free herself. But even as she tried, she could feel that wave of pain in her head awake nausea in her stomach. She fought it down as best she could, unsure what would happen if she made herself sick in the position she was in. Choking on her own vomit wasn't the last experience Twilight wanted to have in this world.
If she were honest with herself, it was less the pain in her head and more the pain in her heart that made her hesitate. She wasn't in this predicament because of the workings of some evil entity, (though the ultimate blame could still be said to lay with who ever had kidnapped them) but rather with the ponies she thought of as her best friends. Rarity and Applejack had been responsible for binding her like this, securing her so that they could continue to try and find a way out of a trap they now suspected the alicorn had sprung. The worst part was, Twilight couldn't stop wondering if she were worthy of their doubt. Had she done something to them to give them pause? To make them worry about her intentions? Had she been a bad friend? Was it because she had become a princess and moved on to deal with the responsibilities that entailed? Was it because she had lied to them, even if it had only been once? She couldn't help going over and over in her mind what had happened, what had been said, and what it all really meant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What do you mean I was the changeling?" asked Twilight. The cold kiss of the razor at her throat was overwhelmed by the sudden sensation of something warm and wet, the first bead of blood forming where the tip of the blade bit just a little too deep. She hadn't even felt the cut. "Why would I warn everpony about it if it were me? That's crazy talk!"
"Is it Twilight? Is it crazy!?" demanded Rarity, the smirk twisting her lips doing nothing to hide the fear and contempt in her eyes. "Or is it just you being clever enough to shift suspicion from yourself while you continue to conduct your horrible experiments on us? Don't play coy Twilight, I know this little 'party game' was all planned out by you and your little helper Pinkie Pie!"
"Just calm down Rarity," said Applejack, trying to put herself between Rarity and Twilight, for all the good that would do. "Twilight and Pinkie Pie are responsible for this, is that what ya'll are tryin' ta say? Them are some powerful accusations ya've got there. Do ya have any proof aside from a binder and a lot of guess work?"
"Well shucks, you know that Rarity. It was a party to honor me for organizin' the best harvest Ponyville has seen the past two years runnin'," replied the farm pony blushing. "Though Ah did have a lot of help, everypony pitches in for Winter Wrap-Up after all."
"No dear, actually I didn't know that," Rarity replied rolling her eyes. "I, on the other hoof, was invited to a party in my honor, to commemorate my recent delivery of my five thousandth ballroom gown, and to celebrate the announcement of my upcoming summer line. Or at least that is what I was led to believe." Rarity paused, turning her attention back to Twilight. "And then I had a little chat with Pinkie Pie. It would seem that even though the letters were written on her stationary and very clearly in her hoof-writing, she was under the impression we had all gathered for her birthday. I don't think I need to remind you of the fiasco that happened last year. Rainbow Dash could only keep what Pinkie was up to while we planned her surprise party to herself so long. Remember how she had all those...inanimate objects gathered around for gummy's 'after party' party? The little voices Dashie said she gave them? Her rage at thinking we were giving her a going away party? Her violence."
"Yeah, I remember all that," said Applejack darkly. "But that was all just a misunderstandin'. She cheered right up once she remembered it was her birthday." Applejack paused and kicked at the cavern floor, "Shoot! Ah knew Pinkie's birthday was comin' up, but I plum forgot it was comin' up so soon! Ah've just been so busy lately it musta' completely slipped my mind."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Twilight, wondering how far she could get if she tried to run.
"What does that have to do with anything?" replied Rarity rhetorically. "Pinkie Pie's birthday was two weeks ago! I should know, I sent her a card informing her of my regrettable absence. But with Dashie training with the Wonderbolts and dear Twilight here off being a pretty princess, I'm not entirely sure anypony else remembered."
In fact Twilight Sparkle hadn't forgotten. Though she wasn't able to attend Pinkie's party herself, she had sent her a present to celebrate the occasion. She found herself regretting not being able to tear herself away from the duties of state to share the day with her friend, but surely one missed birthday wasn't the end of the world. Was it? "All this proves is that whomever is really behind all this fooled us each into thinking the party was for some other reason. That's all," said Twilight, uncomfortable with the trickle of blood dripping down her chest. "So what, you think our not coming to her party made Pinkie Pie some kind of lunatic bent on killing off her friends? I don't buy that and neither should you two. You saw how hard she cried when we found Fluttershy...when we found her the way we did."
"Oh no dear, I don't think she did any of this on her own. One pony couldn't possibly do all this on her own. The magic doors, the scrying crystals, even...even dear Fluttershy's untimely demise. All those things, I think, would require the talents of a pony who was particularly skilled in magic. Now, do you happen to know anypony who has such rare talent?" Rarity asked, her words as sickly sweet as cyanide, twisting the knife at Twilight's throat for emphasis. "No, I think it far more likely that you capitalized on Pinkie's instability, using her to set this all into motion and then winding her up and letting her go."
"Ah think Ah get what yer sayin' Rarity, but why would Twilight do all this?" asked Applejack
"Maybe she isn't really Twilight." said Rarity, bluntly. "Maybe she really is a changeling and her disguise is just so good she can keep it up even while she's unconscious." Rarity's left eye started to twitch. "Or maybe she hasn't been unconscious at all this whole time, and she's just been pretending. Listening to us worry about her, laughing privately to herself," the unicorn began to shake, a fleck of foam forming at the corner of her mouth. "Or maybe this is just the kind of thing a princess does with her subjects. A game, a test, to decide which ones of us are worth keeping and which ones are a nuisance now that she stands as one of the rulers of Equestria!" Rarity barked a harsh laugh that was completely unbecoming of a lady. "Or maybe this is just what she had planned for us all along. Don't you remember how against having friends she was when she first came to Ponyville? What if she just pretended to be friends with us so she could harness the elements of harmony, to ultimately use them to become an alicorn? Molding and manipulating everything up until this point...up until the elements were a threat to her power instead of a boon? Whatever happened to the original wielders of the elements Twilight. Did your books tell you that? Did they!?"
The knife gouged deeper into Twilight's throat, causing a thin veil of crimson to dribble along the edge of the blade. Without warning, Applejack kicked the blade away, sending it skittering down the corridor and into the darkness. "That's enough of that! So far all you've got is speculation and conjecture. Yer soundin' mighty paranoid Rarity. Twilight's been doin' nothin' but tryin' ta help figure this mess out, which is more than you've been doin' refusin' to get yer hooves dirty!"
"Oh yes, she's been so exquisitely helpful leading us from one chamber of horrors to another. But ask yourself this, why hasn't she opened any of these doors herself?" Twilight felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. "If she's so worried about Pinkie Pie, why doesn't she rush over and let Rainbow Dash free so she can let her out of the bathroom? Does she even have a sigil?" Applejack looked at Twilight Sparkle questioningly, as if she were waiting for a denial or some kind of proof that Rarity had just lost her marbles. All Twilight could do was stare back. Rarity continued with all the inevitability of the tomb, "I saw you know. When you were struggling with that mail pony before, when your dress fell back on the floor, I got a good look at your body. You don't have so much as a scratch."
"Is it true Twilight? Do ya not have a sigil? Can...can we not open anymore doors?" The hurt and fear that crept into Applejack's voice broke Twilight's heart. What could she say?
"You've got it wrong. It's true I don't have one of those runes carved into my body, but that doesn't mean..." she fell silent as Applejack laid her hooves on her shoulders. The look in her eyes would haunt Twilight's dreams. It was a look of disillusionment and something more. Betrayal.
"Ah can't be trustin' a liar," the Element of Honesty stated flatly.
Twilight Sparkle fell to her knees. She couldn't believe this. She wasn't a monster, she wasn't a killer! And yet one little lie, a lie by omission, and her friends lost all faith in her. Seemingly, that was all it took to lose her friend forever. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight was about to replay the entire scenario again in her mind when a shift in the quality of light trickling in from beneath the strap over her eyes let her know she wasn't alone. As she waited anxiously, the strap was suddenly tugged away. Rarity stood before her, a look of exhaustion creasing her features as she asked, "Feel like talking yet?" She tugged down the strap that served as a gag so Twilight could answer.
"It's not me. I wouldn't...couldn't do something like this!" cried Twilight, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.
A dark look crossed Rarity's face. Without warning she reached out and knocked a jar of some unknown fluid to the floor. The jar shattered and its contents sloshed at Twilight's hooves, the cold liquid stinging where it touched. "That's not what I want to hear!" shouted Rarity, her voice full of anger.
"We ain't gettin' anywhere like this," said Applejack. She had been sitting on the bed next to Twilight, apparently flipping through a few more books from the archives. That is, up until Rarity's latest outburst. The earth pony got up and walked away from the pair of ponies.
"And just where are you going?" asked Rarity petulantly.
"Ah reckon Ah'm gonna have a look at them scryin' crystals. Most of them are steady, but a few of em swap from place to place. Maybe, with a bit of luck, we can at least get a glimpse of where the exit might be." Applejack looked down, her eyes drooping. "Besides, seems like that's the only way Ah'll be able to check up on the others fer the time bein'."
"In that case..." Rarity suddenly gripped Twilight with her magic and ripped the sitting pony from the chair. Rarity then flung Twilight to the floor, narrowly missing the shards of glass from the broken jar, "Take her with you! I'm not about to be left babysitting a cold blooded killer." The fall hurt, but not as much as the contempt in Rarity's voice.
"And what about you?" asked Applejack.
"I'm sick of this suffocating place. I'm going back upstairs. Besides, I think I might be better off by myself, don't you?" Rarity paused. "After all, if you're right and Twilight isn't the 'changeling', then doesn't that mean it could be you?"
"Rarity, don't! We need to stick together," pleaded Twilight from the floor.
"Don't talk to me!" The white unicorn snapped. "You make me sick, you murderer!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Rarity left, Applejack half carried, half dragged Twilight into the surveillance room with her. She'd been kind enough to leave Twilight's eyes uncovered, but had put the strap over her mouth back in place and left her tied up on the floor. Though she was laying on her side, if Twilight cocked her head at the right angle, she could see most of what the crystals had to show. At least those that were not obscured by Applejack herself. Just as she had observed before, they seemed to be trained in various corridors, rooms, and places they had already discovered. A few of the crystals were dark, lacking even a reflection from the glow of the other crystals around them. These Twilight took to be enchanted, but not currently broadcasting their image. If this was because the magic had slowly worn off or because the spell was somehow obstructed, Twilight could only speculate. The crystals that Applejack was most interested in, the ones that showed her friends and the ones that shifted from scene to scene, were both blocked by her body.
Staring at the screens made her eyes hurt after awhile. Twilight's mind began to go back over her predicament, and her regrets, and as her thoughts wandered so did her eyes. Her gaze moved around the room, settling on Derpy's corpse. Applejack had apparently brought it back here after they had strapped Twilight down. That was another thing to fill the Princess with guilt. Derpy, a pony she didn't really know, had struggled for her life, filled with pain and fear as she died. And what had Twilight done? She'd acted like she was the one being killed. Granted at the time she had no way of knowing that the pegasus had been poisoned. There was also no way for Twilight to know she had been the pony who had unwittingly done the poisoning when she had removed the weird bunny mask the mail pony had worn. But still, her death was on Twilight's hooves. The blood on the grey pegasi's cracked, blue lips had dried into a horrible black smudge. Derpy's eyes had rolled up into her head so only the bloodshot whites showed. Is that what Twilight would look like if her friends found a way out and decided to leave her here? She couldn't help picturing herself laying beside the pony she had unwittingly murdered, moldering here in the dark beneath Canterlot for the rest of eternity.
Twilight was shook from her morbid revery as Applejack suddenly got back to her hooves. The earth pony glanced down at the bound unicorn, a strange look in her eyes. "Now you sit tight for a moment Twi. Just stay put and behave yerself." Saying only that, Applejack left the room and went out of Twilight's line of sight. Where could she be going?
As Twilight pondered that thought, her eye caught a flicker of motion. Now that Applejack had left, she could easily see all the scrying crystals and all that they had to show, including the ones that shifted there images. Such a shift is what had drawn her attention...that and the bright pink coloration that only one pony she knew could possess. The image had settled on the bathroom where Pinkie Pie was clearly visible. Her left shoulder was injured, a horrible gash left a nasty red crescent in her skin, but aside from that she seemed to be fine. It was clear Pinkie had been crying, but her injury looked to be minor. A wave of relief flooded Twilight. Even if she was locked away, at least she was safe for now. Rarity, and more importantly whomever had kidnapped them, couldn't hurt her anymore.
The image changed, growing fuzzy as it shifted to another scene. Rarity sat in what she could only assumed was the upstairs room that this had all started in. It looked like she was waiting for something, but what? She stared at the ground with listless eyes, only shifting her body weight every now and then as comfort dictated. Twilight wriggled on the floor, trying to drag herself closer so she could get a better view. As she did, the image shifted once more, now changing to show a room she had never seen before, though it shared many of the hallmarks of the other rooms in this facility. A stripped down bed with a sagging, soiled mattress took up the majority of space in the room. That wasn't what drew her attention, but rather who was lying in that bed. Rainbow Dash! She seemed to be sleeping, which almost made Twilight laugh. For all her friends energy, Dashie had a habit of falling asleep in such odd places. Twilight's mind drifted back to happier times, when Rainbow Dash might be found sleeping peacefully on somepony's roof or draped across a lamp post.
It was when Twilight was reflecting on those times that the axe blade drifted into the scrying crystals frame. What!? Twilight's eyes grew wide as she stared at the image. Some pony in a grey robe, their face obscured by a floppy eared mask, stalked slowly into the room. The mask looked like a half finished copy of the strange mask Derpy had worn before. As the figure drew closer, step by step, it raised the axe over its head. Twilight tried to scream a warning; to Rainbow Dash who'd never hear her, or one of her friends who could do nothing about it, she didn't know, but the urge was overwhelming. It was a pity the strap over her mouth held tight in place, driving home just how helpless she really was. The murderer raised the axe as high as it would go and then...
And then the image changed back to the stairwell. The crystal was cycling back again. Twilight's mind raced. How could it be possible. No pony should be able to get into that room. Not without...without dismembering Fluttershy. She found herself reaching out with her mind if not with her magic, willing somepony, anypony to hurry to Rainbow Dash's side. Willing somepony to realize something was wrong. In the meantime she did what she could to work the strap off from her mouth. Mustering her magic, she manged to unclasp the buckle just as the image shifted back to Dash's room. She was about to scream, but her voice caught in her throat.
"No...it can't be" she sputtered, tears blurring her vision, but not enough that she couldn't see the horror before her eyes. "This can't be real!" Twilight howled. Real or not, Rainbow Dash was no longer on the bed. The mattress, now freshly stained with rich red blood, was also covered in blue feathers. The pegasus herself hung limply, a noose around her neck. Her usually rainbow colored mane and tail were dyed a deep crimson. Her Wonderbolt uniform hung in tatters, and it took Twilight a moment to realize that the reason why was that she had been chopped repeatedly all over her body. Blood still gushed from wounds that reached down to the harsh white of her bones. Even her wings seemed to have been chopped up, hanging in a bedraggled, bloody mess.
Twilight closed her eyes, but the image was burned into her mind. There was nothing she could do but scream, for all the good it would do Rainbow Dash. For all the good it would do her.
Her tears stung her eyes, dripping over her muzzle and salting her lips, but Twilight couldn't stop crying. Another of her friends had died. When would this nightmare be over? Even behind closed lids, she could sense when the lights went out once again. This alone wasn't enough to startle her from her gloom, but a sudden sound of metal jangling against metal from the clinic made her freeze mid sob. She tried to choke down her sorrow as she writhed on the floor, staring wide eyed into the darkness. A memory rose, unbidden, of the table in the clinic that had been covered with scissors, scalpels, knives, saws, dental hooks, and other metal devices of surgery.
Twilight cursed herself for staring at the glowing scrying crystals for so long. She could see nothing in the sudden darkness. If the killer were to find me now, all tied up like this... the very thought made Twilight's blood run cold. Desperately she began wiggling toward an old desk. It wasn't much, but it was the only spot she could think to hide. She crawled, agonizingly slowly. If she had even one limb free to drag herself, she would've made faster progress. She could hear hoof steps now, drawing closer from behind her! She started crying again, unable to control her panic. Twilight couldn't help herself, it was just too much for her. As tears and snot began to pour from her face, she still struggled, even though she knew there was nowhere to go, no where to hide. She just wanted to get away. She wanted to live!
A hoof shot out of the darkness and pinned her to the filthy cavern floor. Twilight screamed and began to wriggle like a worm caught in a birds beak, uselessly, if energetically. Her eyes grew wide as a knife drifted into her field of vision. She struggled harder as the hoof that pinned her down covered her mouth. This was it! She was as good as dead! "Easy sugarcube." Applejack looked down on Twilight, a concerned look on her face. As the alicorn's eyes drifted to the knife, Applejack set it down on the floor beside her, "don't worry none, Ah just grabbed that in case Ah ran into any trouble. Ah heard ya screamin' from down the hall. Whut's goin' on?"
Applejack pulled Twilight up into a sitting position. "It was horrible! Rainbow Dash...she's dead. I saw it on the crystals! I saw it all!" blurted Twilight.
The farm ponies eyes narrowed. Without hesitation she hoisted Twilight up and draped her across her strong back. "Lets go." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The corridor was as dark as the rest of the cavern. The enchantment on the illuminating crystals must have worn off since Rarity had gone off by herself. Twilight did what she could to muster some illumination from her horn for Applejack to see by, but she worried about making them a target. She feared who ever had killed Rainbow Dash could still be lurking somewhere in the dark. Applejack stopped without warning. Within the feeble circle of light Twilight could manage, she could just make out the door to Dash's room. The stone was shifted only slightly, leaving a barely perceptible crack. How had it been opened? There was no pony left that should've been able to open the door on her own. Unless...did the "changeling" have a way of opening all the doors?
As Twilight contemplated this, Applejack shifted from underneath her, setting her down on the cavern floor. With a flash of the scalpel she had brought with them she cut the straps that bound Twilight. "Since ya've got the light an all, Ah think it best ya go on ahead of me," Twilight looked on her friend with a smile. "Don't get the wrong idea sugarcube. Ah'm still not sure Ah can trust ya, but if'n there is somepony in there with a thirst fer blood, Ah'd like to see em comin." Twilight's face fell. There was nothing to do but grit her teeth and get on with it.
Drawing closer to the door, Twilight tried to wedge one hoof into the slot and open the door the rest of the way. It moved slightly before grinding to a halt. Try as she might it wouldn't budge any further. "Somethings...jamming the door. I don't think it will open the rest of the way." She tried to feed more magic into her horn, increasing its light. Her eyes widened. She could see, just through the crack, Rainbow hanging from the ceiling. The body turned gently as the rope creaked. The soft pitter patter of blood oozing from her friends wounds, her friends corpse, squeezed Twilight's heart. The alicorn crouched down and put her foreleg through the door. If she could just find what was jamming it, she could open the door the rest of the way and take Dash's body down. She could at least do that much for her friend. It just seemed far too cruel to leave her hanging in that room, all alone. "I think...I think I've got something." Twilight felt something cold and hard just on the other side of the door. Hooking her hoof around it, she drug the object into the light.
Twilight Sparkle clutched Rainbow Dash's hoof, cut through at the shin, its sigil still clearly emblazoned on the end. The stump was still moist and left a trail dripping from the severed end. Twilight screamed, dropping the limb to the ground. As if on cue, the door to Dash's room slammed, sealing tight once again. Twilight could only stare at the limb as it lay lifelessly in a growing pool of her friends blood.
It was up to Applejack to take the initiative, as she knelt down to the sad blue lump of flesh to examined it, turning it this way and that. "Looks like whoever did this didn't take her hoof of in one blow. It's been hacked at somethin' fierce. Ah'd say with a big blade of some kind...probably an axe." How could Applejack say that so dispassionately? Wasn't she horrified at what was going on? Realization dawned behind Twilight Sparkle's eyes as she slowly got up from the floor. Her magic might not be back at full strength, but she knew what she had to do. Charging, Twilight slammed her body into Applejack's, sending the earth pony's hat flying and her body crashing to the floor. Without wasting a moment, Twilight was on top of the Applejack, pinning her down as best she could, making sure to straddle her chest so as to be away from her strong hind legs. "Whut in tarnation has gotten into you!?" demanded Applejack from the floor.
"Before, when Rainbow Dash was being killed, I was watching the images of the crystals the whole time. I could see almost every inch of the facility. I could see Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. But do you know who I didn't see!?" Twilight Sparkle paused and looked down on her friend with a glare. "I never saw you. You were the only pony who didn't show up anywhere! So that means the murderer has to be you!"
To Twilight's surprise, Applejack burst out laughing. To her ears it was a cold and cynical laugh, one she'd never heard from her friend before. "That's it!? That's yer reason?" the earth pony laughed again, "That's hilarious. Ya got some real impressive powers of deduction sometimes Twi..." Twilight's hoof smashed Applejack's mouth, cutting her off mid-sentence.
"Don't laugh!" yelled Twilight, punching Applejack again. "You're laughing while our friends are dying all around us!" and again. "How could you be so cold-hearted!?" Each exclamation was punctuated by the loud smack of hoof smashing into Applejack's jaw. "How could I not suspect you!?" One final smack and Applejack's head lolled to the side. A thin trickle of bloody spittle dripped from the edge of her mouth where her lip had been busted. Twilight's friend was out cold.
What had she done? How had it come to this? Twilight's eyes drifted to Rainbow Dash's severed hoof. The sigil engraved there still glowed slightly. There was no time to waste. If Applejack really was the killer, it would only be a matter of time before she woke up. Twilight had to get the others and find a way out before that happened! Twilight mustered her magic, feeding it into the crystals in the cavern. Within moments the crystals soft glow filled the halls again. Her magic spent, she almost retched as she picked up Dash's hoof in her mouth. She tried to ignore the taste as she ran down the corridor. She was heading to the door to the bathroom, the room Pinkie Pie had been trapped in, bleeding and alone all this time. She wouldn't let what happened to Rainbow Dash happen to Pinkie. She wouldn't allow it!
Despite its owners death, the enchantment placed on the blue hoof held, flaring a brilliant azure that allowed Twilight to push the stone door aside. Spitting the severed limb out of her mouth, Twilight rushed into the bathroom. "Pinkie...Pinkie Pie are you okay?" she called. The last time Twilight had seen the party pony she had been hurt but conscious. Now she lay on the bathroom floor, a trail of blood between one of the toilet stalls and where she lay motionless. Twilight rushed to her side, fearing the worst. What had looked like a minor cut on Pinkie's left shoulder in the scrying crystals was clearly much deeper than it had appeared. It seemed blood loss had caused Pinkie to fall unconscious. Twilight grabbed the hem of her dress in her teeth and, giving a sharp tug, ripped off a swath of material. Working quickly, she used the material to make a make-shift bandage to bind the wound and staunch the flow of blood.
"There, that should do it for the time being," said Twilight. "But it's no good staying here. Pinkie...can you hear me? Can you wake up?" Celestia's former student nuzzled the pink pony's prone form tentatively and brushed her pink hair away from her face with her wings. Twilight tried gently, but firmly, to rouse her friend, all the time worrying that she might not wake up ever again if they didn't hurry. Pinkie's eye lids began to flutter and Twilight felt a smile spread across her face as her friend opened her soft blue eyes.
"Twilight...is that you?" asked Pinkie Pie groggily.
"Oh thank goodness," responded Twilight. "I've managed to stop the bleeding, but you should probably rest for a moment before we move."
"You came for me. I was so worried that you were just going to leave me in here all alone..." Pinkie Pie hugged Twilight hard, sobbing. "I was so scared Twilight! Why would Rarity do that to me!? Locking me up, just like Applejack did with Rainbow Dash...she knew how upset I was about that!"
Somewhat uncharacteristically, Twilight seemed to be at a loss for words. "I...I don't know Pinkie. I don't know why any of this is happening anymore." Tears began to pool in the corners of her violet eyes. "Maybe...maybe if I hadn't lied about my sigil, maybe none of this would've happened. Maybe Rainbow Dash would still be alive." Pinkie Pie's eyes widened, but she didn't interrupt Twilight as she continued, "I couldn't do anything to save Fluttershy either. How can I call myself their friend when they died right in front of me? When I was just so helpless to save them? What right do I have to pretend I know what's going on!?"
Pinkie Pie pulled the weeping Twilight into a tight hug, laying her hoof on her friends back and holding her close. When the pink pony spoke it was with deep tenderness and understanding, "I know you've been doing the best you possibly can Twilight," Pinkie pulled away and looked Twilight straight in her eyes. "That's why, you can't blame yourself for what's happening, okay?" Twilight looked deep into her friends impossibly blue eyes. She saw no blame there, no hatred or disappointment. Only love.
"Okay...okay," was all she could manage to say as she wiped her face with her tattered dress, brushing away the blood, snot and tears. She slowly stood up and Pinkie stood with her, wincing slightly as her left forelimb took her weight and the wound on her shoulder clearly made itself known. "Are you going to be okay?" asked Twilight.
"Yeah...I think I can manage," responded Pinkie Pie. "Twilight...I need you to tell me. What happened out there while I was locked in here? And don't...don't spare me any details. Will you tell me, please?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight didn't tell Pinkie Pie everything right away, but she told her enough so that she could buy herself some time to take care of a few things. Once she was a little more sure of Applejack, she asked Pinkie Pie to join her in the library/record room. "So it was Applejack that killed Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?" asked Pinkie Pie disbelievingly once they were reunited. "Why in the wide world of Equestria would she do such a horrible thing?"
"I don't know," responded Twilight truthfully. "Maybe out of hatred, or envy. Under normal circumstances it would be easy to think something like that, but right now I'm not even sure she's the real Applejack. I can't even begin to imagine the motivations of somepony who would come up with this insane game to begin with. I doubt we'll ever be able to understand."
"But in that case, maybe if we just ask Applejack about the exit..." Pinkie began, but Twilight instantly cut her off.
"No. If she really intended to kill all of us off, then there's no way she'd ever tell us."
"Where's Applejack now?" asked Pinkie.
"For the time being, I have her tied up in the clinic," answered Twilight. "So long as she's in there we should be safe. I never really got to finish looking through the files in this room. If you and I work together, maybe we can find some kind of clues to what's really going on. I'd ask Rarity to join us, but since she seems to be convinced that we're the killers I don't think that would go over very well. Our best hope is to find something here and then try to clear the air with her afterwards."
With a nod from Pinkie Pie the pair began to delve into the books and binders that still lined the cavern walls. Even as she focused on the task at hand, Twilight's mind couldn't help but wander just a little. She remembered the words that had apparently been written in Fluttershy's blood, the liar must die. That should've been a clue to begin with. Applejack was the Element of Honesty after all, so did that mean that Fluttershy had lied about something and was that why she and Rainbow Dash had to die? If so, then did that mean that she thought the rest of them were liars too, worthy of similar punishment? Even if that were true, what kind of lie could possibly be worthy of death? Even if Applejack were a changeling, this just didn't make sense. A changeling fed off of the love of those around her. The instances of changelings actually killing their hosts were very rare, usually due to over feeding or negligence on the changelings part, not from any direct action. A changeling was usually devoid of the kind of animosity that led to murder.
As Twilight flipped through an old almanac the sound of steady breathing came to her ears. Looking for the source, she found Pinkie Pie huddled against a wall, an open book in her lap and another on top of her head. Twilight hadn't realized how long they had been at it, what with one thing and another, neither of them had gotten any proper rest since they'd been down here. Pinkie's injury and subsequent blood loss had probably made her extra tired. Slipping out of her dress, Twilight draped the tattered garment over her sleeping friend. It wasn't much of a blanket, but at least it might help keep the chill of the cavern out of her friends bones. Twilight turned back to her almanac, though it wasn't long before she too slumped fast asleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight woke with a start, disoriented. She'd been having a nightmare about giant rabbits with razor sharp teeth chasing her through their warren. Given her circumstances it wasn't surprising she'd have bad dreams, what shocked her more than anything was that when she awoke she wasn't bleeding, she wasn't tied up, or wounded in any way. Her head still ached slightly but for the first time in what felt like days she'd slept without someone first knocking her unconscious. Natural sleep had become so unfamiliar a concept to her she didn't recognize it at first for what it was. All she knew is that she had an unaccountable gap in her memory in which she'd gone from a sitting position to laying among a pile of books on the floor. Groggily she looked around the room, half thinking she was back in the library in Ponyville where she had lived once upon a time. She found herself wistfully remembering those simpler times from before she became a princess. Not just because of the realization she was still sealed under Canterlot with a murderer and the corpses of her friends, either, but there was still that. Pinkie Pie had slumped into a more comfortable position beneath her makeshift blanket. She rolled over and opened her eyes. "Oh...I'm sorry...did I wake you up?" Twilight asked, stifling a yawn.
"No...it's fine. I guess I fell asleep huh?" asked Pinkie, shuffling out from beneath Twilight's dress. "I don't suppose you found anything?"
Twilight gave up and yawned hugely before she replied, "No, nothing at all. I thought there would be, I don't know, something. I guess I ended up falling asleep as well."
"Twilight?"
"Yes Pinkie?"
"I'm hungry."
She hadn't been thinking about it, but Twilight's stomach cramped with emptiness. If they were down here much longer they were going to have to find something to eat. Twilight didn't want to have to think about that, but they weren't making any progress here. There was only one other option. Pulling her dress back on, Twilight sighed heavily, "I guess we don't have a choice. It's time we had a little chat with Applejack."
Applejack was right where Twilight had left her, not that she had really expected her to be anywhere else. The same straps that had been used on Twilight before now secured the orange mare firmly to the lone metal chair in the middle of the room. The farm pony's verdant eyes almost seemed to glow in the gloom as she glared at the pair entering the clinic. The bags under Applejack's eyes said that if she had gotten any sleep, it had been fitful at best. Twilight swallowed hard, unable to meet the earth pony's intense stare as she said, "We have a few questions for you. There's no use lying to us now. If we starve to death down here you'll die too." The alicorn princess stole a glance at her captive to see the impact of her words. Applejack's glare had only intensified. "I'm going to take the strap off your mouth now, okay?"
Applejack wet her dry lips as the strap was drawn away. For a moment, she didn't speak, her eyes still steely beneath her hat. "Well go on, ask what ya came ta ask," she whispered, not taking her eyes off Twilight.
"We just want to know how to get out of here," said Pinkie Pie tremulously. "It won't do you any good not to tell us. You're caught now. So just tell us what we need to know to leave...please?"
The farm pony sighed, some of the steel going out of her glare as she closed and opened her eyes. "Ah wish Ah could Pinkie, Ah truly do, but Ah ain't no changeling and Ah sure as shootin' ain't no killer!"
"That's enough lies Applejack, if you really are her!" shouted Twilight. "You were the only pony who the crystals didn't show when Rainbow Dash was killed! By simple process of elimination, you, and only you could possibly be the culprit!"
"Is that so, Twi?" asked the farm pony as her voice grew hard and gravely. "And Ah reckon ya could see Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Dashie all at the same time then?"
"Well...no, the crystals shift through different perspectives. But you didn't show up on any of them while the killer...w-while the killer was hacking Dash to p-p-pieces," stuttered Twilight with less confidence.
"An that's yer whole reason for ya knocking me senseless and trussin' me up like a calf at the rodeo. Well then Princess, Ah got a question for ya," said Applejack, tipping her head towards the scrying crystals in the observation room, "Where's Rarity now?"
Twilight and Pinkie Pie watched as the crystals glowed and shifted through a full cycle, but the fashionable unicorn was no where to be seen. It was as if she'd completely vanished. "What did you do to her?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Well not a whole heck of a lot given Ah've been strapped up in here all night!" shouted the earth pony huffily. "Though Ah'll tell ya this much fer free, Ah've had nothin' but these crystals for company and though Ah've seen the pair of ya going to and fro, Ah ain't seen hide nor hair of the pony that was accusin' the pair of ya of being killers. Now then 'through a simple process of elimination' that tells me one of two things. Either y'all done killed her and are gettin' some sick pleasure out of torturing me by pretending ya ain't gonna do me in too, or..."
"Or the killer was Rarity all along," finished Twilight. "But how could that be. I know I saw her on the crystals. She couldn't have been in two places at once."
"Not unless she tampered with the spells on the crystals," offered Applejack. "Ah already thought of that. Rarity might not be as good with magic in general as you are Twi, but when it comes to gems, jewels, and other precious stones, that's where her talents shine. Ah ain't sayin' that Rarity is the killer for sure, but it's mighty suspicious that neither of us have bumped into her since before the lights went out and Dash was done in."
"I guess it does kind of make sense. I mean she did stab me and...Twilight you said after they tied you up that she went off on her own," said Pinkie clutching her wounded shoulder, clearly growing more and more nervous by the moment.
"She was making some pretty wild accusations before," mumbled Twilight uncertainly, before shaking her head and continuing in a louder voice. "Just because we can;t see her right now, that doesn't mean she's the killer! I'm still sure she was there before when you weren't. For all we know you're just making up this story about her so we'll let you go. I'm sorry but I just can't trust you right now."
"Well Twi, Ah ain't gonna ask ya ta trust me if ya don't want to," said Applejack, bowing her head so that her eyes were hidden behind the brim of her hat. A single tear trickled down her muzzle, but she didn't betray any emotion as she said, "Ah just think it might be wise for ya to check up on the friend ya don't suspect of killin' everypony off one by one." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rarity, are you in there?" Twilight tried knocking on the crystal door again, but she wasn't sure the dull thudding she was making would really carry all that well through the stone. She and Pinkie Pie had left Applejack in the clinic and had gone to search for Rarity. After checking all the rooms that weren't locked, they had finally arrived at the upstairs room where Twilight last remembered seeing Rarity on the crystals. That it was also the room that they had started out in made her anxious. It didn't help that the door was sealed shut, and since Rarity had been the one to unseal the door in the first place, she was the only one that could open it. At least, so Twilight thought.
"Maybe she's just sleeping and can't hear us?" asked Pinkie Pie hopefully. "It's kind of smart for her to lock herself behind the door that she has the key for. None of the rest of us would be able to get to her then."
"None of us except for the killer," said Twilight in frustration. " You forget that Rainbow Dash was locked up in a room that none of us had any way of opening. For all we know Rarity could be dead on the other side of this door. I'm pretty sure that whenever we find the killer, that ponies sigil will be able to unlock all of these doors. It's the only explanation that makes sense."
The pink pony looked as if she were about to start crying. Pinkie suddenly grabbed Twilight's shoulder, "Did you hear that?" There was an unmistakable sound from below. A door was being unsealed.
"Rarity?" called Twilight. Could it be true? Was Rarity really the killer all along? Could she really have had the ability to open any door she wanted all along, and just been pretending otherwise? As Twilight and Pinkie Pie carefully picked their way down the stairs, the alicorn princesses' mind raced. Why would Rarity do something like this? For that matter why would Applejack? One being the killer made about as much sense as the other, but that was only because either being the killer didn't really make any real sense at all. Nothing made sense in this awful place.
Twilight froze mid-stride as she realized which door had been unsealed. The final door. The only door in the cavern that hadn't been unlocked so far was open just a crack, just wide enough to allow light to spill into the hall from within. "It's the last room. If Rarity was able to open this door, then that means she definitely is the killer..." whispered Twilight as she moved to push the door the rest of the way open. "And that she's just on the other side."
"Be careful Twilight," Pinkie Pie whispered back. The earth pony backed away from the door, perceptibly shivering in apprehension. Slowly, carefully, Twilight pushed aside the stone door.
It was like opening a door into a waking nightmare. A thick, horrible miasma wafted from the room, causing the ponies to physically gag. All the smells of a slaughter house; blood, sweat, fear, and a myriad of other stenches, assaulted Twilight's nose and brought tears to her eyes. And the faces! There dozens of them! Racks upon racks of faces glared eyelessly from the walls. It took a moment for all those 'faces' to register as masks. Set in recesses within the cavern walls, hanging from the ceiling, rabbit masks stared in silent judgement. Nooses hung in perfusion from the ceiling like some macabre moss, while chains and straps littered the floor. A box filled with rusted and stained tools sat just beside the door, its contents partially strewn about the room. The very axe that the killer had used on Rainbow Dash, still sticky with blood, leaned against the wall in one corner. That was the source of the stench; blood, both old and fresh, was splattered all over the room.
As Twilight stepped tentatively within the room she could see that many of the tools scattered around were crusted with gore, fragments of skin and hair matted in black filth. Small white objects, teeth, littered the ground by a pair of pliers. Hooks jammed into the cavern walls glinted and gleamed. It was from these that most of the masks hung slack, button eyes vacant, scraps of brightly color fabric making each mask somewhat unique. Something about those bunny hoods struck Twilight as strange, but before she could analyze them further she found her eyes, at last, drawn to the source of light that illuminated the room.
Really, she should've known. Of course there would be another door. Just because all the doors they had found had been opened, that didn't mean that there wouldn't be one, or a dozen more. However, the spells layered on this door were intricate and numerous enough that the writhing, slithering mass of spell work filled the room with its light. If this wasn't the door that led outside, there had to at least be something on the other side that somepony didn't want them to find. Where the spells on the other doors might have been dispelled with enough time and effort, it would take longer than Twilight feared she had to live just to start unwinding one of the spells placed on this door. The key, as before, was readily apparent. Carved into the door was a sigil not unlike the ones that had been inscribed on the body's of her friends. A sigil stained with fresh blood. Did that mean that Rarity had already gone through this door? Had she left them to starve to death? Then why lock herself in with them to begin with? Twilight couldn't say.
Behind her, she could hear a steady, ragged breathing. As Twilight turned she caught a glimpse of Pinkie Pie wide eyed and breathing heavily just behind her. The party pony seemed utterly entranced by one of the masks hanging from the wall. She reached out a single shaking hoof to touch it, perhaps to pick it up. "Pinkie, are you okay?" the strange grin, or was it a grimace, faded from the pink ponies face so suddenly Twilight couldn't be sure that it had ever been there to begin with. Pinkie Pie's large blue eyes just stared at her for a moment as if she wasn't sure where she was.
"Oh, yeah Twilight, I'm fine." said Pinkie Pie. "I must have zoned out for a moment. This room sure is creepy, huh?"
"Well you shouldn't mess with these masks," admonished Twilight. "They might be rigged like that one Derpy was wearing. Don't handle them carelessly."
Pinkie's hoof hovered for a second. The party pony looked at it as if she hadn't even realized it was there. It fell back to the cavern floor under her gaze. "R...right, of course." Pinkie still seemed a little dazed, but she turned to follow after Twilight.
The alicorn let her eyes roam over the rooms contents before she continued, "This room is beyond creepy. I don't even want to think about what half this stuff is for." Nudging a sack of what appeared to be sharpened stakes aside, Twilight discovered a cardboard box filled with papers. "Are these more files like the ones we found in the other room?" She opened one binder and started to flip through it, turning the pages faster and faster. Twilight picked up another book with her magic and did the same, not pausing on any single page. File after file was levitated, examined, and discarded as she looked through each. "It's all been blacked out. Every page. What could have been in these files before, and why go to the trouble of keeping them if they've all been blacked out like this?"
Twilight kept going, until at last she came to a file that hadn't been completely obliterated. "Is this...Derpy Hooves?" The picture looked a lot like the grey pegasus, though in what appeared to be much happier times. She smiled obliviously, a half-eaten muffin in one hoof. All the other pictures and information on the page had been blacked out. All except for her. "Why is it just her? Who were all these other ponies? Are these all...from another 'game'?" A clattering behind Twilight pulled her attention away from the binder. Pinkie Pie lay sprawled on the floor, her hair splayed out around her head in a nimbus of curls. She seemed to be struggling to catch her breath. Twilight touched her forehead with one hoof. "Are you alright Pinkie?" Twilight asked, concern flooding her voice.
Her friend was soaked with sweat and her head was burning up. Pinkie wouldn't, or perhaps couldn't, open her eyes. "Sorry...I just got a little dizzy," moaned the pink pony as she tried to roll into a sitting position. She winced as her shoulder brushed the ground, adding a fresh a spurt of stinking blood to the cavern floor. Pinkie froze in pain and shock before curling into a tight ball on her side. The makeshift bandage Twilight had wrapped around the wound from Rarity's attack was soaked through, almost black with blood. Despite the heat coming off of her head, Pinkie shivered as if she were freezing.
"Oh Pinkie, have you been suffering in silence all this time? Why didn't you say something!?" cried Twilight, a mixture of irritation and desperation creeping into her voice. Had Pinkie lost too much blood? Was she sick? Twilight Sparkle hopped from hoof to hoof trying desperately to think of what to do. If her first aid hadn't been enough, what could she do to help her friend? If only there was some kind of...clinic! Twilight hoisted her friend on her back as carefully as she could manage, ignoring the sticky blood that dripped down her side as she did, and left the twisted room as quickly as she could.
If only she hadn't been distracted from the masks...
"That should take care of her fer now. Ah did the best Ah could with the medicines that we've got here. We were lucky that most of em were still in date," Applejack wiped her hooves on a bit of rag as she turned away from Pinkie Pie. The pink pony lay on the mattress in the clinic, her fresh blood a bright crimson against the browns and blacks of the already soiled linens. Applejack had just finished sewing up the wound on her shoulder so now all that was left of the wound was a smile shaped scar of puckered, angry looking flesh and a little blood crusted fur. Pinkie moaned gently, but she seemed to be resting more easily now than when Twilight had first brought her in. "The wound was startin' ta fester so Ah had ta lance it ta take some of the pressure off, but she ought'a be more stable for the time bein'." Applejack turned to Twilight. "Honestly after y'all ran off an' left me tied up like that, Ah can't believe ya came to me fer this."
"It's not like I had much of a choice. The fact of the matter is, if you are Applejack, you've always been better at the practical side of things. Rudimentary knowledge of how to treat a wound like this wouldn't be beyond my friend," said Twilight, somewhat defiantly. The truth of the matter was she hadn't entirely trusted Applejack to administer care. It was just that, even with the straps on the bed, without any pain killers somepony needed to hold Pinkie Pie still while another tended to her wound. It was that or run the risk of hurting Pinkie further.
"Well whatever, Ah guess ya can owe me one." Applejack moved to a basin of water beside the bed and washed the any remaining blood and pus off her hooves.
"Pinkie Pie's going to be okay then," said Twilight with relief.
"Now Ah wouldn't go so far as ta say that," responded Applejack coldly.
"What is that supposed to mean!?" thundered Twilight, losing her temper. Given all the stress she'd been under, it was surprising she had lasted this long. Her magic flared from her horn and she turned Applejack forcefully around. Twilight's eyes glowed with magic even as the pain behind them deep inside her head welled up, threatening to knock her out. "You just said that this would take care of it! Stop messing with us and give me a straight answer!"
"Ah said 'fer now', Twilight! Calm yer hooves," the alicorn realized that she was holding Applejack several inches off the ground. Reluctantly she let the farm pony sink back to the floor. "Her fevers too high for it ta just be from the wound festerin'. It ain't much of a surprise given how unsanitary things are down here, but mah thinkin' is she might have gotten an infection. With the tools we got here there ain't much we can give her 'cept temporary treatment. We need to get her to a real hospital as soon as possible."
Easy enough for her to say. Twilight didn't think she could unravel the spells on the final door fast enough to keep from starving to death, let alone in enough time to save Pinkie. There had to be something she was missing. "I'm going to go back and check the last room again," she said. "There might be more to that place than what we saw at first glance."
"Ah'll be comin' with ya then," said Applejack putting on her hat, "Ah want to see what this 'final' room is like with mah own eyes." The farm pony froze, unable to move. A soft purple glow enveloped her body.
"You're staying here Applejack," Twilight sternly intoned as nearby straps drifted up from the floor and wrapped themselves firmly around her helpless friend. Once they were secure, she allowed Applejack to settle gently into a waiting chair. "It's not that I'm not grateful for what you did for Pinkie. It's just I can't leave her here alone..."
"And ya can't trust nopony, right?" spoke Applejack bitterly. It was less of a question and more a statement of fact.
"I want to trust you," said Twilight, her voice filled with genuine regret. "It's just that with Rarity's sudden disappearance I don't know who to trust anymore. So all I want to think about right now is how I'm going to get Pinkie Pie the help she needs, okay? If I find a way out, I promise I'll come back to save you...but for right now you're staying put. I'm sorry." Having said that, Twilight turned and left the room, a look of determination on her face despite the tears at the edge of her eyes.
"Is she already gone?" Applejack turned this way and that to make sure. "Sorry, she says," the mare laughed under her breath as she tipped her hat backward and something shiny and sharp fell into her waiting hooves. The sound of a blade sawing into the straps that held her could just barely be heard as she said, "what a silly pony." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight rummaged through the boxes, coming up with nothing more than a look of frustration on her face, "Nothing in here either," she sighed heavily. She really didn't know what she hoped to find. A spell book, maybe? Something to give her the first clue about how to go about deactivating the seal on the door? Or maybe a sledgehammer. The door was only stone and crystal after all. If it weren't for the spells already writhing over it's surface, she'd try just blasting her way through...but mixing magic could be unpredictable at even the best of times, and bringing down the entire cavern on their heads might give them a way out but it would also most certainly crush them like bugs. Twilight looked at the masks with their rabbit ears and vacant eyes. The cavern certainly felt like a warren, twisting this way and that. When rabbits were in their warren they were safe for the most part, provided no predators tunneled down after them. Was there some kind of significance there? Twilight found herself with the sudden and odd urge to learn more about bunny rabbits. If knowing more about them meant finding some clue to save herself and her friends, then so be it. She felt her stomach drop as she remembered that the pony who would be the best to ask about such things was already dead.
"Wait...Fluttershy's corpses had a sigil carved into her leg. How could I have forgotten?" Twilight's mind raced as she turned to leave the room. "It was never used to unseal any of the other doors, so we could use it on this one! We can finally escape from..." a realization stopped her in her tracks. "But...no that won't work. Without Rarity I can't open the door to the room we all started in. Without Rarity there's no way to pass through that room to even get to Fluttershy." Another dead end. Her eyes flashing, Twilight lashed out, not with magic, but with her hooves, bucking the wall with enough force to send several of the masks bouncing off their hooks. While most of them landed softly, one landed with a solid thunk and a splash of blood. Twilight's eyes went wide as something rolled from within the mask she had knocked to the floor.
Rarity's blue eyes stared vacantly from her decapitated head. Her mouth was a ragged, bloody mess. It seemed whomever had jammed her head inside the mask had first taken the liberty of removing all of her teeth to make sure the head fit without her horn being shoved through the fabric. It gave her head the look of a rotting pumpkin, wrinkled and caved in around her mouth, bits of bone and bleeding gums exposed. Twilight felt like she was going to be sick. "I thought...I thought Rarity escaped. I thought she was supposed to be the changeling. Then...who killed her!?" Twilight tore her eyes away from the grizzly sight at her hooves. She had left Pinkie Pie with the pony who had suggested Rarity might be the changeling. She had left Pinkie alone with Applejack! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Applejack is the one that killed Rarity, thought Twilight as she ran please, please still be alive! As Twilight rounded the hallway that lead to the clinic, she could already tell that something was wrong. Broken glass had been spilled into the hall. It crunched beneath Twilight's hooves as she picked her way gingerly to the door, trying not to hurt herself. The inside of the clinic brought no relief from her fears. The entire room looked like a tornado had hit it, shards of broken glass and surgical tools lay everywhere, mixed with splashes of blood. The meager desks and chairs had almost all been knocked over. Even the mattress of the bed had apparently been flipped. Twilight moved cautiously, looking for any signs of her friends...or their bodies.
"Are these the straps I used on Applejack?" They had been cut neatly through. Where had she gotten to? Twilight crept through the clinic as carefully as possible, moving towards the room of scrying crystals. The flickering glow from the crystals just barely lit the room. As best she could tell there was no one there. So then, where had they gone? As the image of a bloodied pony flashed on to one of the screens Twilight gasped. Had Applejack already killed Pinkie Pie in the short time she had been gone? No...no she had to catch her breath and slow down her heart beat. It was just Rainbow Dash, still hanging from the ceiling by the noose around her neck. "No, if Applejack had killed Pinkie Pie she would have still been in the clinic. She's probably just taken her to another room. But where?" The image of Dash fuzzed and flashed away, bringing up a new one. Applejack crouched beneath the stairs that lead to the higher level. It was hard to make out, but she seemed to be hiding. Waiting perhaps? "Why is she there all by herself? Where's Pinkie?" Twilight had to find her quickly if she was going to protect her friend. The only thing she could think to do was confront Applejack directly. Changeling or no changeling, she would force her to reveal what had happened to Pinkie Pie.
As she was turning to leave, the image changed once more. Unlike the other images this one seemed to fade in and out. On the wall, inscribed in blood, were written the words "The liar must die." The angle was terrible, so Twilight was unable to see a face, but she could still make out the form...another body. A body that could only belong to Pinkie Pie hung from the ceiling just like Rainbow Dash, punctured repeatedly with sharpened stakes, one jammed directly into her heart. It felt like something was piercing Twilight's own heart as part of her realized the last of her friends had already died. Even so, how could she accept this outcome? "I don't believe it. I was talking to her just a short time ago. It's not real. It can't be real!" Twilight's scream laced with magic and despair sent out a wave of force that shattered and shorted out each of the scrying crystals one by one. "I promised her we would get out of here together. Even as she was being killed...I'm sure she thought I was coming to save her. Pinkie Pie," she sobbed, "I'm so, so sorry..."
Twilight turned away from the shattered crystals at a sound just behind her. Through tears of sadness and fury she saw the person who had killed all her friends. "You...it was you this whole time Applejack. You killed them all!" The farm pony stood watching Twilight impassively, a sharp scalpel clutched tight in one hoof. Twilight launched herself at the earth pony, wings spread wide and teeth clenched tight as she knocked her to the floor and the knife from her grasp. Her hooves pressed in around Applejack's throat and in that moment Twilight didn't know if she intended to kill her or not, and she didn't care. All the horror, all the pain and sadness had to stop. It had to stop here and now!
Applejack, however, had other plans. Kicking out with her strong hind legs, she bucked Twilight right in her stomach, breaking her grip. She then brought her forehead up hard, head butting Twilight in the mouth and sending her staggering back. As Applejack rolled to her hooves, however, Twilight seized the scalpel, whipping it away with her magic before Applejack could even reach for it. In one swift movement she brought the blade to the farm ponies throat. "You were the changeling all along. You killed them...and now...now..." Twilight's words failed her. All she could do was think of her friends, happy and smiling. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie...their smiles were now things only of memory. Memories that were forever stained with blood.
"That's quite the act ya got there sugar cube," said Applejack.
The words were like cold water trickling into Twilight's ear, "What did you just say?"
"You really plannin' on keepin' up this here charade?" asked the earth pony as she glared at the alicorn princess. "As soon as you left the room, we were attacked...by somepony wearin' a rabbit mask."
"Do you really expect me to swallow such an obvious lie!?" demanded Twilight.
"It ain't no lie," said Applejack, her eyes like steel even as the sharp blade at her throat drew a single bead of blood. "Ah got knocked out, and when Ah woke up Pinkie was gone. There were only three ponies left down here according ta you, so the explanations obvious. It's you. You're the changeling, right? You can drop the act now. If'n you're gonna kill me, ya can at least do it honestly." The set of the farm ponies jaw let Twilight know she meant it. Or at least, if she really were Applejack, she meant it.
"Stop it...stop messing with my head! There's no way I'd ever kill Pinkie, or any of my other friends! Just cut it out!" screamed the alicorn.
"Yer the one who ought'a cut it out darlin'," drawled Applejack. "You really don't have one? A sigil I mean?"
"What does that have to do with anything!?" cried Twilight, truly confused."I told you I didn't have one, and then you and Rarity tied me up."
"But that was also a lie, wasn't it? You told a lie about lying, a lie ta cover up what ya were really tryin' ta hide." said Applejack.
Twilight felt her grip on the situation slipping, "What lie?"
"About the sigil that can unlock all the doors," answered Applejack "The sigil only the changeling ought ta have."
"What makes you think I have something like that?" Twilight asked, her grip on the scalpel loosening.
"The seal on the final door. There ain't no sigil left that can unseal that door, so someone must have the changelings sigil. But it goes without sayin that Dash, who died trapped in that room didn't have it. Everypony else checked that their sigils couldn't be used to open other doors aside from the one they had first unsealed." Applejack knocked the scalpel out of the air and away from her throat as she finished. "Everpony that is, except for you! You've been playin' the victim this whole time, while inwardly sneerin' at the rest of us behind our backs."
"No..." whispered Twilight.
"You were watchin' us descend inta chaos, while killin' us off one by one. Just admit it!" yelled Applejack.
"NO!" screamed Twilight. "I haven't killed anyone! And I don't have a sigil!"
Applejack moved faster than Twilight could follow, going not for the knife, but for a broken desk leg that had been lying on the floor. She smashed Twilight across the face and once more on the top of the head for good measure, sending Twilight to her knees. "Ah'll listen ta yer explanation later 'princess'. But right now, Ah got all the proof Ah need that you are the changeling right here." Applejack gripped Twilight's dress, right over her chest. She paused, patting the area, before pulling the collar of the dress aside to expose the flesh underneath. "That's impossible. You ain't got a scratch on ya. Where's the wound on yer chest!?" cried the farm pony in disbelief. "Then who was just...oh...oh Twilight. Ah'm so sorry." Applejack quickly backed away, letting the desk leg drop from her hooves. She turned to leave the room, but almost as an after thought, scooped up the scalpel she had before and tucked it into her hat brim. "Just stay here Twi. Ah'm gonna go finish this right now."
"Finish what!?" cried Twilight, still groggy from yet another round of repeated blows to her aching head. "I can't possibly understand if you don't explain it to me! Applejack!"
"Twilight..." said Applejack. "The chageling's gotta be...hrrk..." Applejack flinched. Her back had been to the doorway. As she staggered back into the room with Twilight, the alicorn princess could see the hunting knife that had been jammed into the farm ponies back. She crumbled into a heap, as a pony wearing a rabbit mask melted out of the darkness, axe raised high to bury into Twilight's head. All Twilight could think to do was raise her forelimbs, desperately trying to shield herself from the blow. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the sensation of cold steel chopping into her flesh. A sensation that never came. As she opened her eyes, the pony was gone.
"I'm...safe, I guess?" whispered Twilight. "But...why didn't she kill me?" A groan drew Twilight's attention. Applejack coughed, bloody spittle flecking the floor by her face. "Applejack, you're alive! Thank goodness. Just hold on, I'll tend to your wounds right away. I'm so sorry I suspected you. I should've known better than to doubt the element of honesty. Just hold still." Carefully, so as not to cause further damage, Twilight pried the knife out of Applejack's back. The wound was deep and it bled freely once the knife was freed, but it didn't look like it had pierced anything important. "I have to at least disinfect the wound. Just hold still. There has to be something in the clinic we can still use." Applejack reached out to Twilight and grabbed the torn hem of her dress. The look on her face was a mixture of thanks and pain. "Just...just don't die, okay!?"
Twilight scrambled among the broken glass, trying to find any bottles of disinfectant or rubbing alcohol that were still intact. Trying to salvage anything that could be used as bandages, anything that could be used to treat her friend. Applejack wasn't the killer, she was Twilight's friend, and there was no way she was going to let another friend die! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had taken longer than she would have liked, but Twilight had at last been able to scrounge together enough supplies to treat the wound and staunch the flow of blood. Tearing up a spare set of sheets she had found in a drawer beneath the bed, she had bound Applejack's wound with strips wrapped and layered around her chest and back. Applejack lay unconscious but breathing on the mattress on the floor, her teeth grinding in pain even in her sleep. "Applejack was telling the truth all along. There's somepony else down here. Somepony who's been spying on us, watching us fight with one another and laughing." Twilight leaned over Applejack and covered her sigil inscribed hoof with her own. "Just hang on Applejack. I swear I will get you out of here,"she paused before grimly adding," or die trying."
Twilight left the clinic and went back to the final room. Rarity's disfigured head still lay on the floor where it had fallen. Twilight tried to ignore it, and the teeth that clearly must have been the unicorns still scattered around a set of pliers, as she went to the tool box. "I'm sure I saw it around here earlier..." Twilight whispered to herself. She rummaged through the hammers and wrenches until at last she found what she was looking for. The crowbar rose from the tool box, gleaming in the crystal light. She had thought about using it to pry open the last door if she couldn't figure out any other way to get out...but now she was going to put it to another use. Chains slithered magically across the floor to Twilight as she used the metal links to bind the crowbar to her right forelimb. The sharp ends of the grooved metal were angled away from her own flesh. "I'm going to hunt this pony down, and I'm going to take her key. It's a one on one match now. Time to bring an end to this game!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight Sparkle checked the first library. Though the room was now quiet a mess from their many previous searches, there was nowhere a pony could really hide and not be spotted. She double checked behind the shelving that there were no hidden doors or other surprises before moving on. Now that she was alone, the silence of the caverns was starting to play on her mind.Twilight's nerves had already been pushed to their limit, but now it seemed she was becoming hyper aware of her surroundings. Every distant plink of dripping water, every beat of her own heart, echoed in her head. She almost felt as though she would be deafened by the roar of her own blood rushing through her veins.
Twilight came to the door that had been jammed before, behind which she knew Rainbow Dash's body still hung. She couldn't be in there, could she? The door is stuck. But whoever the killer was, she'd had a way of getting into that room at least once before. As Twilight reached her hoof to the door, it swung open easily. Earlier Applejack and Twilight combined couldn't force it open, and now it swung open with such ease? Twilight stepped into the room cautiously, the limb to which she had tied her crowbar raised to ward off any sudden attack. She needn't have worried, the room was small, the only thing in it was a bed. That, and Rainbow Dash's corpse of course. This was the first time she'd been able to see the sad remains in up close. Dashie's jaw hung open, tongue lolled out. The killer had slashed the edges of the pegasus' mouth, giving her a crimson grin from ear to ear, a smile that looked all the more disturbing with only the whites of the flier's eyes showing.
Twilight had to marshal her will to turn away from the sad remains of her friend and scan the room to make sure there wasn't anything she had missed. Her eyes were drawn to a pool of blood far away from Dash's body near the door. How could the gore from her friends demise splash all the way over here? She looked closer at the floor next to the door and noticed a patch where the crystal had been severely scuffed and scratched up. It's as if something was really forcefully scraping against it. Was the reason we couldn't open the door earlier because something was wedged into it from the other side? Twilight thought to herself. Could the killer have shoved that axe into the gap beneath the door to jam it? Then would that mean somepony else had been in this room that whole time? The thought made Twilight shiver. Loud noises suddenly echoed through the cavern, one after the other, like cannon fire. Outside, the hallway was suddenly plunged into darkness. Twilight abruptly found herself blind.
Taking several deep breaths to calm herself, Twilight focused her magic around her horn. Her head still ached from all the trauma it had suffered over the last day and a half, but she was finding it easier to work through the pain. Everything was alright. The glow crystals had just lost their charge again. It wasn't a surprise really. She hadn't recharged them in some time. Focusing her power she willed her magic to recharge the crystals...but instead only managed to make a shimmering fog around her hooves that flared and died. The glow crystals had been smashed to dust. Was that the plan then? Was the killer going to try and sneak up on her in the pitch black darkness? Why even bother? "What's wrong? I'm the only one left right? Why don't you come out and kill me then!?" Twilight suddenly screamed, "COME OUT, YOU COWARD!"
She panted for breath, not so much from shouting as an effort to rein in her roiling emotions. Part of Twilight didn't even care if she died at this point. At least then this would all be over! I can't let her keep toying with me like this. I'm playing right into her hooves. Standing in the dark, the only source of light spilling from her horn, was likely only serving to make Twilight an easy target. If she was going to end this, she needed to be proactive, and not just wait for the killer to seek her out. Steeling herself, she moved on to the next room. The bathroom seemed even more menacing without any lights. Somehow it rendered the foul stench of the place more urgent, assaulting Twilight's nostrils with a repulsive bouquet the source of which she did not wish to speculate upon.
Her light swept back and forth in the darkness. She's not here? Twilight paused. Had she just caught a flicker of movement, or was it a trick of the light playing over the crystalline walls? No. She might be hiding in one of the stalls. One by one, Twilight went down the row of stalls, kicking in each door one after the other. When she got to the last stall, she grit her teeth, ready for whatever might be waiting for her on the other side. What she saw she wasn't prepared for. Nothing. There was nothing. No pony was in here. In a fit of frustration, she buried the hooked end of the crowbar in the stall wall. The metal stuck fast there, leaving the chain dangling between Twilight and the wall. Calm down, calm down, Twilight thought to herself, though the muscle beneath her right eye was starting to twitch. If she's not here then where is she? A soft, steady plink came from directly behind Twilight, like dripping water. Only the sinks were over by the door. Oh no.
The killer, dressed in a loose fitting robe and bizarre rabbit mask, raised it's bloody axe high and brought it down at Twilight's face. Reacting more on instinct than anything, Twilight stretched her chain taught between herself and the killing blade just in time to block the lethal edge. She could have sworn she saw sparks. "So you've finally come out huh? Well it's about time!" Before she could say more the killer's axe fell again, breaking the chain and burying itself in the stall door next to Twilight's head. As the murderer struggled to pry the axe free, Twilight saw her chance. With a quick burst of magic she freed her crowbar and slammed the hooked end into the killers forelimb, and then again into one of her hind limbs, sending her attacker crashing to the floor. "Hah! Now I've got you..." but before Twilight could do anything else, her assailant slammed her forehead into her own, smacking her horn and causing her light spell to sputter and flicker. Then she did something Twilight hadn't expected at all, and started trying to hobble away. The enraged princess was not about to let her friends killer slip away again, "Oh no you don't!"
Not trusting her magic to light her way and manipulate objects at the same time, Twilight picked up her crowbar in her teeth and chased after the masked killer as quickly as she could. A tell -tail trail of blood splattered the stairs leading up to the upper floor. "I won't let you get away!" she hissed through clenched teeth as she flew up the steps. The killer turned as she drew near and took a wide swing with her axe with enough force to cleave through the metal banister. If Twilight hadn't anticipated the move, she would've lost her head there and then. With a surge of strength fueled by her righteous anger, she slammed the killer into the door of the upstairs room. The stone gave way easily, as if it had no longer been sealed. Within hung the body she had seen on the monitor before, stabbed through with multiple stakes. Twilight couldn't afford to let yet another grizzly scene distract her from the killer beneath her hooves, "I've got you! Lets see who you really are!" Twilight cried triumphantly. Using the crowbar, she flipped the mask off the killer, revealing her true face at last. Twilight's eyes grew wide in shock. "It can't be! You're dead!" Her eyes flickered between the hanging corpse and the killer pinned to the floor. In that moment of hesitation, the killer capitalized, slamming the blunt side of the axe hard against Twilight's shoulder and knocking her off. Rising slowly, the murderer loomed over Twilight. "I don't understand...why would you kill everyone!? Are you really a changeling after all?" but the only reply Twilight received was another blow from the blunt end of the axe, to the side of her head. As the light of her spell died so did the light behind her eyes, and she collapsed to the floor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight awoke and almost immediately plunged into the darkness beneath her. It was a close call and one that made her already aching head swim with vertigo. She tried to back away, but found herself pressing against metal bars. It took her a moment to realize she was on the wrong side of the upper floors banister. She only had her hind hooves to stand on, as her forelimbs were tied behind her back. The same rope that held her limbs was also bound tight around her wings. How had anypony managed to balance her in such a precarious position while she was unconscious? "Careful. You shouldn't move around too much," came a voice from behind Twilight. "You're smart aren'tcha Twilight? You should know all about carotid arteries. If you cut off the circulation, you can die a painless death. But if you were to fall like you are now, you'd just crack your head open and I'm sure that would hurt." Twilight felt something slip over her head. A noose tightened around her neck. "There, now it'll be okay," whispered Pinkie Pie sweetly in her ear, "Now you don't have to feel any pain Twilight."
"Why are you doing this Pinkie?" asked Twilight. "Why are you playing this sick game?"
"Because you lied," said the pink pony matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean I lied, Pinkie?" When she didn't get a response, Twilight almost started to cry. "What lie is so bad it could possibly justify all this madness!? Well!? Answer me!"
"Hush. If it means that much to you, I'll explain. This world is full of nothing but secrets and lies, secrets and lies! So I decided to punish the liars." Pinkie tugged on the noose, forcing Twilight's head back just enough so they could look at each other eye to eye. Pinkie's eyes were almost completely blank, glazed over with insanity. "Can you honestly say you've never lied to me?"
"What reason...would I have to...lie to a friend?" Twilight struggled to ask, the rope cutting into her windpipe.
"Then what about your sigil Twilight? A lie by omission is still a lie." Pinkie relaxed her grip on the rope. Twilight's head fell forward as she gasped for air. "You know, at first, I intended to put a sigil on everypony. A lot of ponies think I'm silly, but I know a lot about old stories and legends that even Celestia herself has forgotten. Magics so old that they could be used by any kind of pony who if she knew the right words, the right inscriptions. All it really takes is a little blood and, wouldn't you know it, there's just bucket fulls of the stuff inside a pony!" Pinkie said with a sinister little giggle. "So I gathered everypony here while you were all still knocked out. After that I was planning on tricking all of you into killing each other. But I just couldn't do it. I thought maybe if you were the only one who didn't have a sigil, you'd be the very first pony they'd suspect. That way you'd be bound to get locked up...and while you were I could just kill everypony else. Then once everypony was dead and the game was over, the two of us could escape from here together..." Twilight felt Pinkie's forelimbs wrap around her torso suddenly. As Pinkie's warm body pressed into her back, Twilight realized with surprise she was being hugged. "If you had only told the truth, honestly, I could just have let things run their course and then I'm sure from that point on, we could have been together. Just like always." Twilight cried out in pain as Pinkie bit down hard on her ear. Something warm and wet dribbled down her neck, blood or saliva, neither were welcome options. "But you lied!"
"No!" cried Twilight. "That isn't fair! I was just scared of being the only one without a sigil. Besides, I only lied that one time!"
"You only lied that one time, huh?" asked Pinkie sadly. "Then I guess you really don't remember." Pinkie pulled away from Twilight, but stayed close. "Fluttershy told me that she had been out of town helping to care for a very sick manticore in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy! She's been a bit braver since making friends with Discord, but there's no way she'd go into those woods alone for something as simple as that. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, said she had to go to mandatory Wonderbolt's training. Only, it couldn't have been very mandatory given none of the other pegasi in Ponyville who are in training attended." Pinkie kicked the metal railing in anger, causing it to shake and Twilight to almost lose her footing. "And then Rarity...our dear little miss Rarity. She sent me a card saying she was dreadfully ill and just couldn't make it. Funny how she was healthy enough to still go to all those fashion shows in Canterlot. Apparently she had become quite the sensation among the social elite. I wish they could've seen her, mascara running, her stupid fake eyelashes peeling off of those big blue blood-shot eyes when I chopped off her head!" Pinkie giggled again. "See? They're all liars. Come to think of it, there's one other liar aside from you who isn't dead yet."
"You mean...Applejack?" Twilight asked. "Pinkie you have to stop this. What good will come of continuing this insanity? Yes, we missed your birthday and I'm sorry, I really am, but that doesn't justify killing all of your friends! Besides, I know Applejack would never lie to you!"
"You really don't know anything, do you Twilight," the party pony said through clenched teeth. "Oh, sure, Applejack says she's been going off to compete in rodeo's to make money for her family, but despite the multiple championships she claims to win, she's never brought home any money. It turns out she hasn't even entered any rodeos. She's just been going off and laying claim to accolades she hasn't earned, all the while leaving her poor, overworked family to take care of the farm. Not to mention abandoning the friends she no longer has time for. Tell me Twilight, what kind of 'Element of Honesty' does that sound like to you!?" As Pinkie said this Twilight felt the rope of the noose slip between the ropes that bound her wings. With a few tugs, Pinkie tied Twilight securely to the banister. "You know Twilight, I really believed that you would tell me the truth. That's why I gave you, and only you, a second chance. But you failed. And now I really can't forgive you." Pinkie started trotting down the stairs. It was only then that Twilight got a good look at her in the gloom. Her usually curly hair had gone completely straight, and the madness glowing in her eyes shone brightly through the darkness. "Don't bother trying to undo your ropes with your little magic tricks. Were you getting any headaches when you tried to use your powers before? If you were a unicorn, you wouldn't have been able to do any magic with the drugs I gave you. But that's fine, I've upped the dosage now. Even an alicorn shouldn't be able to use magic without sending an icepick of pain stabbing into her brain. But you know? It wouldn't surprise me if you tried anyways. You've always had a real knack for hurting yourself." Pinkie disappeared into the darkness below, singing a happy little song.
Was she bluffing? Was there really some kind of drug that could do that to a pony? Twilight tried to concentrate but just as Pinkie had warned, she immediately felt a pain sharper than any she had ever known run from the tip of her cracked horn straight down through the base of her skull and into her spine. Waves of nausea welled up inside her, causing her to gag and dry heave. For the first time she was glad she hadn't eaten anything in over a day. The ropes were too tight to wriggle free of. For all intents and purposes Twilight was trapped. From below, she could hear the sound of something heavy being drug along the floor. Then a steady thunk, thunk, thunk, as Pinkie reappeared on the stairs. She was dragging Applejack behind her by her tail. The steady thumping was the sound of the farm ponies head bouncing off of each step. Pinkie didn't seem to notice, or perhaps she just didn't care. The pink pony grinned up at Twilight, her smile shining like a scythe blade in the darkness. "Pinkie, I don't believe you'd just be doing this because your friends were a little too busy to pay you enough attention. I know you, and this isn't like you at all. Please, can you just tell me what's really going on?"
Pinkie heaved Applejack's unconscious form onto the balcony's landing, her smile turning up at the corners as the farm ponies head made one final, sickening thud against the cavern floor. "I guess it's a fairly common story. My father was the type who never learned to distrust other ponies. So when one of his friends told him about this fantastic investment opportunity in Manehatten, well it never occurred to him not to jump at the news and take out a mortgage loan. You have to understand, my father wasn't greedy, he honestly thought he was doing a favor for a friend. The profits he should've made would have gone to pay back the loan and maybe pay for a few new tools around the farm. That was it. So when the investment fell through and my fathers friend left him to shoulder the weight of all that debt...well." Pinkie mimed putting her own head in a noose and choking. "Since his was the only name on the loan agreement, it was the only way he could think of to keep from losing the farm. Mom found him hanging from the gantry in the silo. The doctors told her it was a painless death, but the scratch marks around his throat where the rope cut into his neck make me think otherwise. I guess you could say it's just another example in a long line of liars." Tears spilled from the pink ponies eyes, but she never stopped smiling. "My dad was way too nice to go on living in this world full of liars. Meanwhile the ones who lie go on living, and laughing without a care in the world. So I decided, if because of them innocent ponies will die, I'll just kill the liars!" Pinkie grunted as she finished tying Applejacks limbs behind the ponies injured back. "You know, I don't think I brought enough rope to make another noose. I'll be right back. Don't worry, I'll try not to keep you waiting." Pinkie winked cheerfully as she bounded down the stairs and was completely enveloped in darkness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
How had it come to this? The ropes biting into Twilight's body were cutting off her circulation. Her wings were already numb and her hooves were starting to fall asleep. Standing up in such an awkward position was also taking its own toll on her body, making her feel like she was going to tip forward any moment.
"Twi..." came a quiet, pained voice behind the alicorn.
"Applejack? Have you been awake this whole time?" Twilight asked, struggling to turn her head.
"Sorry, no, Ah only heard the last part of Pinkie's story," croaked the injured earth pony.
"Why isn't Pinkie Pie dead? I could have sworn I saw her body hanging in the room behind us, but it was too dark to make out any details. If that wasn't her corpse, then who's was it?"
"Ah can explain that. That was Rarity's corpse. Ah'm the one that set it up," said Applejack, a shade of disgust in her voice at what she had done.
Twilight was shocked. "Why would you do that? Why would you mess with Rarity's body like that? What could you possibly hope to accomplish?"
"Just listen, alright Twi? Ah ain't proud of what Ah dun," Applejack took a deep breath before she continued. "After Ah took care of Pinkie's shoulder and ya left the room, Ah used the scalpel Ah'd hidden in mah hat ta free myself from the straps ya'd tied me up with. Ah moved to a different room so ya wouldn't find me and the first room Ah picked to try and hide in Ah found Rarity's body. Now she'd already had her head cut off, but Ah had an idea 'bout how Ah could agitate whichever one of ya had killed her. So yeah, Ah messed her up and pushed some stakes Ah'd found in the other room inta her body pinning her ta the ceiling, so it'd be hard ta figure out who exactly she had been. As a Royal Guard Ah did it only ta expose whichever one a y'all was behind this here game."
"Wait, what? As a Royal Guard!?" exclaimed Twilight. "Applejack, you never had anything to do with the palace."
"Princess, please, just listen ta me! There ain't no tellin' when Pinkie will be back," the farm pony groaned. "After yer coronation Princess Celestia and Luna approached me with an offer. They knew what it was like to suddenly go from bein' a regular mare to bein' royalty, and they knew what that could do to a pony. Ya ain't the first filly ta get a mess of power and responsibility heaped on her all at once after all. Princess Celestia thought of me as one of your most reliable friends, so she asked me ta become a member of the Guard, in secret, ts keep an eye on you. She figured that Ah could protect ya in secret and at the same time make sure ya didn't start acting too different from how ya used ta be. Luna thought one of yer friends would know ya best and would know best if ya started actin' a bit funny." Applejack paused to let that sink in, "But ya see, that ain't all. Shortly after ya became a Princess, ponies started comin' up missin'. At first Ah didn't think it had anythin' ta do with us. That is, up until somepony figured out that there was a common thread linking almost every victim together. All of em, every last one, had known ya before ya had become an alicorn. That can't be a coincidence Twi."
"So then it's true you haven't been making the rodeo circuit?" asked Twilight. "And you haven't been neglecting Sweet Apple Acre's?"
"Of course not Twi," replied Applejack. "Ah'd never abandon mah family, but Ah've also got ta watch out for mah friends. That's why Ah locked Dashie up by herself and why Ah played along with Rarity's suspicions. Ah was tryin' to figure out which one of us might be an imposter, pretendin' ta be one of our friends but really plottin' to kill us off one by one. Ah'm convinced now that this wasn't the first game. All the other ones were just practice runs leadin' up ta this!" The earth pony gasped in pain, she'd let herself get too worked up and reopened the wound on her back. "In the end Ah guess Pinkie was just a little bit too clever fer me."
"How do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"Ah wasn't lyin' when Ah told ya Ah got attacked after ya left. It never occurred ta me that the filly Ah'd just got done patchin' up would be mah attacker. Ah managed ta drive her off by stabbin' her in the chest with mah scalpel. That's what Ah was lookin' for when Ah checked under yer blouse earlier. Pinkie's really somethin' else to still be movin' around with wounds like those." Applejack coughed, blood dripping between her teeth, "then again maybe Ah was just easy ta fool." Twilight could hear her friend shuffling, trying to wriggle her way closer. It must have been hard going with the knife wound in her back, because she whimpered with each motion. Finally, Twilight felt something soft brush against one of her bound hooves. "Please Twilight...Ah'm beggin' ya, Ya have ta trust me! She didn't think to check mah hat anymore'n you did. Just feel along the brim and you'll find something sharp. That's our ticket out of here, but ya've gotta hurry, before she gets back!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm sorry Twilight. I'd really wanted to hang Applejack right beside you, but all the rope I could find was rotten. It'd just snap as soon as it took the weight of a full grown pony, even a little one. So I guess I'll just have to do it this way again," said Pinkie Pie with glee in her voice as she drug her axe along the cavern floor. "It's too bad. I really wanted you to see what was in store for you. Let you see the funny little dance a pony does as she's dangling in the air by her throat. That way at least you'd finally have some idea of how to dance and wouldn't look so awkward when it was your turn." She giggled as she started climbing the stairs, "Whats the matter Twilight? Giving me the silent treatment? It's no use pretending you can't hear me. Twilight?" As she made the top of the landing, Pinkie's voice suddenly rose in anger, "Where did you go!?" All that lay before her were severed lengths of rope and a trail of blood leading back the way she had come. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I guess she's realized thought Twilight to herself as the murderous pony's scream echoed through the caverns. Pinkie hadn't noticed Twilight or Applejack in the darkness, hidden beneath the very stairs she had just ascended. Lucky for them, especially since the farm pony wouldn't have been much help, having collapsed again right after they had managed to break free. Twilight had half carried, half dragged her as far as she could before she had heard the terrible screech of Pinkie's axe being scraped along the floor. That had worked out much better for them than Twilight had feared it would. Regardless of whether what Applejack was saying is true or not, my next move is clear. I've got to find a way to force Pinkie to open the exit, one way or another. A loud thumping came from above. Good, she's checking the upstairs rooms. Now's my chance. Twilight hefted Applejack on her back as best she could, using her wings to make sure the farm pony didn't accidentally roll off. First things first, without my magic I need to find something to counter that axe of hers. Some kind of weapon or something to use as a shield. As Twilight reached one of the doors to the other rooms, she found it completely sealed. It was hard to tell in the darkness of the cavern, but from where she stood she couldn't see any open portals anywhere. Had Pinkie resealed all the rooms? This is bad, Twilight thought, panicking, All I've got right now is Applejack's scalpel. There's no way I can defend us both with just that!
A scream of mixed rage and frustration twisted and turned into a wail of anguish, quickly accompanied by the sound of an axe repeatedly smashing into metal and rock above. Pinkie was going crazy with her axe, swinging it this way and that as tears poured from her eyes. "I can't believe you Twilight! Even when I tie you up you still just have to run away from me! I trusted you Twilight! Didn't I tell you before!? Didn't I tell you that losing a friends trust is the fastest way to lose that friend forever!? Where did you go!? Where are you!!?" Pinkie stopped screaming and started to cry instead. "I hate this...I really hate this. Are you going to disappear from my side again? Are you just going to abandon me like everypony else?" Pinkie started pulling at her hair, ripping out bloody pink hanks. Thankful for the moment for Pinkie's distraction, Twilight turned to try searching for another door, any other door in the cavern that might be unlocked. She must have turned too quickly because Applejack gave a muffled groan. Pinkie stopped crying immediately, an excited, almost rapturous tone entering her voice, "Twilight, is that you?"
There was no time to lose, Pinkie would be on them any moment. What should I do? there's nowhere left to hide! Twilight's eyes fell to the end of Applejack's hoof dangling over her shoulder. That was it! She could use Applejack's sigil to open the door to the clinic! But that will be the first thing she'll expect me to do. Twilight could hear the pink party pony bounding down the stairs. What should I do? At that moment, Twilight remembered there was still the hunting knife inside the clinic. She also remembered what she had discovered earlier in Rainbow Dash's room. Hesitation melting away, she quickly used Applejack's sigil on the clinic door. With an almost blinding flare of green light, that she knew would attract Pinkie's attention, she quickly flung herself into the clinic.
For her part, Pinkie took her time, laughing as she bounced down the hall. "Come out, come out where ever you are!" She headed straight for the clinic and her smile brightened as she noticed the door was still ajar. She reached out to push it open, but it stuck. The hunting knife had been jammed beneath the edge of the door. "Little pigs, little pigs, won't you please let me in?" The party pony giggled as she pushed at the door crack, her hoof scrabbling and scratching at the inside of the door, slowly forcing it open inch by inch. "Come on Twilight, how about I make you a deal? If you open up right now, I'll save you. I'm telling the truth, believe me, I would never lie to you Twilight. So just hurry up and open...the...door!" Pinkie roared as she forced her muzzle through the door, tongue lolling wildly from her mouth. But the room was empty. "What!?"
A sudden slash from the darkness caught Pinkie across her leg, causing Pinkie Pie to drop her axe. Twilight was there beside her, the bloody scalpel she had used to slice Pinkie Pie clenched tightly in her teeth. The hunting knife jammed underneath the clinic door had served well as a distraction. Twilight tucked the surgical instrument to the side of her mouth, like a lolly-pop, as she took up the fallen axe with her own hooves. "I don't know what lie you think I told you. But Pinkie, no matter what your reasons were, I'll never be able to accept what you've done. Even if I have to hurt you in the process, I'll do whatever it takes to stop you!" Twilight hefted the axe, her eyes glowing with residual magic as her wings flared out behind her.
"Twilight Sparkle will stop me?" whispered Pinkie almost in disbelief. The smile drained from her face and her eyes grew wide. She stared at Twilight, her face blank, her voice monotone, "Twilight, you really don't remember what the lie you told me was right? Before you 'stop' me, don't you want to know what it was?"
Despite herself, Twilight hesitated. Whatever this wreck of a pony was now, she was her friend once. With her weapon taken from her, what threat did she pose now? It was clear she needed help. Maybe talking things through could help her heal the wounds that had so clearly stripped away her sanity. "Go on."
"It was just after that mess you made of our lives. You remember, right? Where you changed around our cutie marks by mistake and I was stuck on that horrible farm...just like my childhood all over again. No time for fun, no time for parties or games. Just an endless list of chores, chores, chores, without a shred of hope." Pinkie slowly moved forward, her eyes never leaving Twilight, yet staring off into the distance as if she were looking straight through her. "We were able to get everything switched back, but do you remember what happened next? Poof, just like that, you were gone. We didn't know what had happened to you. Nopony said it, but I think we all thought you had died. When I thought about it, thought about how we'd never be able to party together again, never share a slice of cake, or a dance, or anything like that at all, I felt something just...break inside." Tears spilled from Pinkie's eyes, though her face never so much as twitched as she spoke. "But then later that evening, you were back! Only, it wasn't you, but it was you. You were an alicorn. No, more than that, you were a Princess. We were so excited for you. It seemed like all your studies, all your hard work for Celestia, had culminated in that moment. Then came the coronation, all the pomp, all the well wishers. It all happened so fast, and you were officially a ruler of Equestria. It seemed like nothing could ever be better. It was the best party, the ultimate party." Twilight raised her axe defensively as Pinkie stopped in front of her.
"And then it happened. After your speech, after the cheers and streamers, that's when you told your lie. Not just to me, but to every single pony in Canterlot! You said everything was going to be just fine!" Pinkie roared as she whipped out a wrench she had hidden in the folds of her robe and smashed it against the side of Twilight's face. This knocked the scalpel out of her mouth and the axe out of Twilight's hooves. Pinkie didn't let her fall, however, instead she grabbed Twilight by the front of her dress and pulled her close so they were face to face. "But everything wasn't 'just fine' Twilight! My father killed himself! My mother and sisters were left struggling to run a farm they could barely manage while he was still alive! I had to quit my job with the Cake's to move back home to help them! I had to go back to the life I'd left behind working on that dank, joyless rock farm! And one by one my closest friends drifted away, so I didn't even have anypony to tell about it! Does that sound like things were 'just fine' to you Twilight!? Was everything 'just fine' when you abandoned your friends for your new life as a Princess!?"
Pinkie pulled back to smash Twilight's face with the wrench again when Twilight suddenly screamed, "It wasn't like that!" The crazed pony hesitated, the tension draining from her body as Twilight spoke. "I admit that I wasn't there for you. But you and the others were always in my thoughts. Yes, my responsibilities as a Princess meant I couldn't be all the time anymnore, but I swear on my crown you were all always in my heart." Twilight stared at her friend, pleading in her eyes, "Didn't you get the present I sent you for your birthday? Wasn't that proof I care?"
Without making a sound, Pinkie let go of the front of Twilight's dress, letting her fall to a kneeling position on the floor. "Oh Twilight. Of all the times to lie to me, now really was a bad one. I haven't gotten any mail from anypony in months." With that Pinkie picked up the axe and sent it slamming into Twilight's front legs. Twilight cried out in pain, the sharp wedge biting down to her bones. "There now, no more running away for you!" Twilight looked as if she were going to try to say something else, but the pink pony cut her of. "No! No more of your lies! Whether you wanted to be there for me or not, you weren't...but now you don't have a choice. We've got all the time in the world now. The rest of your life in fact." Twilight's wings fluttered madly as she tried to back away from Pinkie's grin. "Oh, now that's just cheating! I guess I'll have to clip your wings like I did with Dashie."
As Pinkie raised the axe one last time, Twilight kicked out with her hind legs, purely on instinct. Her hoof connected with the injury she had given Pinkie before with the crowbar, sending the pink pony toppling forward. As she fell, she lost her grip on the axe. The blade was so sharp that, as it fell, it cut cleanly though the side of Pinkie's throat. A gush of blood stained the mares straight pink hair crimson as shock filled her face and the lights went out in her eyes. Pinkie Pie slumped lifelessly against Twilight, a second red grin on the side of her neck, right through her sigil. Twilight was speechless. She couldn't believe what had happened. The pink pony was still breathing, but only barely. "Pinkie, are you alright? Answer me if you can." Twilight held her friend tight. "There's no way I can just let you die with this misunderstanding still between us." As carefully as she could, she drug Pinkie over to the final room. Fortunately it seemed the door was already unsealed. "Don't die on me Pinkie. Just bear with it a little longer. We can get out of here with your sigil and we'll get you the help you need." But as Twilight pressed Pinkie's throat against the final door, nothing happened. The writhing mass of spells didn't even react. "But that doesn't make sense. This is the 'changelings' sigil. It should be able to unlock all of the doors! Unless..." The sound of hoof steps from behind her made Twilight turn. There was a light moving out there in the darkness, drawing ever closer. "Applejack..?"
As the light reached the door, something Twilight never expected peaked around the corner. It was Angel bunny, holding a flashlight beneath a furry face in a grimace of pure annoyance. "Rawr!" a familiar voice called cutely, followed by a demure little laugh. As Fluttershy set her pet down and stepped into the doorway, she smiled. "What's the matter Twilight? Why, you look as if you've seen a ghost."
There were no words to do justice to just how dumbfounded Twilight felt. She could only gape at the yellow pegasus, unable to process what she was seeing. Fluttershy was unscathed, unblemished. More than that, she had the same sweet smile on her face that she had seen the last time they were in...well for want of a better term the 'real' world. "There's no way this is real. This has to be a lie."
"What 'has to be' a lie?" asked Fluttershy, tilting her head to one side.
"This isn't like Applejack's trick. I looked into your cold dead eyes, I could smell your blood pooling beneath your body. There's no way you could survive that...no way you should be walking around here like nothing is wrong!" Twilight felt her own legs wobble and slip from beneath her. It was a wonder she'd made it this far with the wounds from the axe's cruel bite still streaming blood.
"It seems there's no way that you should be walking around, Twilight," said Fluttershy with a note of sympathy in her voice. "I can help you walk, if that's okay with you. I should warn you though, it might be wise of you not to trust me. You see...I'm the 'changeling'." Fluttershy's smile stayed sweet as honey as she said, "Though I never had to get my hooves dirty before. Everything Pinkie Pie said is true, to an extent. The poor dear was a mess long before she came to my sanctuary. It really seemed like she was losing the will to live. I couldn't just turn away a friend. The sense of loneliness and despair after losing a loved one...in order to alleviate that grief, even just a little, I guide my friends to the path of revenge. For some it's the only kindness I can offer. All they have to do is look into my eyes and all their troubles melt away."
"You don't mean...The Stare!?" asked Twilight in disbelief.
Fluttrershy laughed and took a seat on one of the many cardboard boxes in the room. "Don't be silly. It's a nice little trick but nowhere near powerful enough to work on adult ponies. Well...it isn't usually, but with the right mixture of herbs and chemicals, it's amazing what the power of suggestion can do for these poor lost souls. With Pinkie Pie it was particularly easy, the poor dear. I'm afraid she would've been quite lost without me." Fluttershy gazed down at the pink pony, her eyes showing nothing but sympathy behind her own rose tinted tresses. "After you left for Canterlot, I'm afraid it was all downhill from there for poor Pinkie. Why, she didn't even have time for her family anymore. Her parents were worried sick about her, I'm sure."
"Her parents...what do you mean her parents?" questioned Twilight as she tried to piece together what Fluttershy was saying. "I thought she said her father was dead!"
"Well, yes and no. It was just something I suggested to her to help her deal with the real pain of loss she was suffering. Having her kill her father served both as a test and as a way of dealing with the suppressed hatred she felt for him. I'm sure if she could only remember what she did to him, she'd thank me for my help." Fluttershy leaned in close as if she were about to impart a particularly delicious secret. "Want to know the loved one she really lost that upset her so? It was you, Twilight. When you disappeared for half a day and never came back...or more precisely came back as a whole different pony. To her, you died that day and you still haven't come back. I could tell she was so angry beneath all her tears, but the only thing she could lash out at was herself. So I had to make a little story for her, a little lie, to make it easier for her to work out her...urges."
"Fluttershy, why? Why would you do something like this to your friends!?"" demanded Twilight.
" 'Hunt down the changeling, work together with your friends, but always remember the changeling is not one of you' " whispered Fluttershy. "You already know that when I was a little filly, I wasn't a very good flier. For a pegasus of Cloudsdale, this made me a shameful failure and an object of ridicule to almost everypony I knew. But not my parents. They loved me even though I could barely fly from one cloud to the next without them by my side. Eventually though, the teasing and torment got bad enough that we moved down to the ground. I could tell it hurt my parents that they were no longer up among the clouds that were their birthright, but they wanted a better life for me, one where I wouldn't come home everyday from school in tears. Sadly, that wasn't to be." The yellow pegasus gazed off into the middle distance, picking up Angel and giving him a snuggle. "Children can be so cruel...they'll find anything about you that's different, anything at all. Anything that makes a pony different can make her a target for everypony else. Since I wasn't a blank flank for very long, at least that obvious torment was taken away. Instead, they made fun of something that was much more hurtful, much more personal. They laughed at the fact I was afraid to fly. 'She can't possibly be a real pegasus,' they'd say 'she must be some kind of overgrown chicken.'"
"The worst was when one little colt, who had once lived in Canterlot, overheard the others and started accusing me of being a changeling. I guess he took the idea of the game Doubt a little too literally. I don't know if he really thought I was a changeling or not, and I probably never will, but all the other children started treating me like I wasn't even a pony. Like I was some kind of freak. It was horrible." Fluttershy's expression darkened with the memory. "Despite all that though, my parents continued to try and protect me. They were convinced that the other ponies just needed time to get to know me better, when really the opposite was true...everypony treated me with much more kindness and courtesy when they didn't know me at all. When I told them I just wished everypony would leave me alone and forget about me they would gently scold me and tell me not to say such things. 'After all we love you, and we'll be together forever,' they said. I think that might be the first time my parents lied to me, though I can't be sure. What I do know for sure is that after the Timber wolves came out of the forest, there wasn't enough left of my parents to bury."
Twilight just stared at Fluttershy, completely at a loss for words. She'd known her for so long, yet she'd never heard any of this, not even from Rainbow Dash. The yellow pegasus continued, "With my parents gone I did what I had to just to survive. I dropped out of school, stopped going into town, I tried to drop off the face of Equestria. But it wasn't all bad. Since my parents were dead I could finally enjoy the one thing about living on the ground I truly loved. Animals...that's about the time I found Angel Bunny here, and he's been my comfort and companion ever since. I decided that while I might want to live apart from pony society, I enjoyed the company of animals. For any other pony my age, it would've been suicidal to go out looking for animals to make my own private zoo, and maybe I was kind of hoping something would happen to me so I could be with my parents again, but I discovered a talent I'd never expected. I discovered The Stare." Fluttershy's smile lit up the darkness as she continued, "It made things so easy! For the first time in my life, other living creatures were listening to what I had to say, doing what I told them to do! And then I had an epiphany. If I had only been there when my parents were attacked, they might have still been alive. Worse, if I had only know about this ability sooner, I might never have had so many problems with other fillies and colts my age. I wonder if you can imagine the depths of self loathing and hatred I felt for myself when I figured that out." Flutterhy reached out a hoof and stroked the side of Twilight's face. "But there's only so much you can hate yourself, before that hatred turns outwards. I realized I had just been a little filly. The world had no business being so harsh and unforgiving to me. It took a long time, but I realized I hadn't done anything wrong, it was everypony else who lied about there being something wrong with me! It was their fault my parents were dead, not mine. If only they had shown me a little kindness, things might have gone very differently. But instead, I decided that if that was how the world really was, then only revenge would make it right."
"So your vengeance was to have all of your friends kill each other? That doesn't make any sense!" cried Twilight in confusion.
Fluttershy laughed gently as she said, "Don't be silly, this was a long time ago. There have been many, many games and there have been far more 'changelings' than just me. You see I learned early on I wasn't the only one who was pushed around and tormented in this world. There were other ponies just like me. And just like frightened animals they responded to The Stare. It didn't take me long to find the right mix of herbs to enhance the effect, after all this was what I used to tame most of the animals I kept at my house. Derpy was a good 'changeling' you know. She was the winner of so many games." Fluttershy paused. It took a moment before Twilight realized, with complete disgusted, that the pegasus was basking in the memory. "You'd be shocked at the amount of grief Derpy has gotten over the years for her slight disabilities. I mean at least she wasn't afraid to fly. However the world, in its cruelty, still managed to push her from one job to another, from one tormentor to another. Nopony ever satisfied to keep her around longer than it took her clumsiness to manifest itself. I was actually a little sad to see her go. She never failed to kill everypony else in the game. Watching her unconsciously act out her revenge fantasies was quiet...stimulating." A sick smile spread across Fluttershy's face, causing Twilight to cringe. "She was already pretty badly deteriorated though. What with the drugs I used on her, well she just became more and more erratic. But she was still somewhat useful, I suppose. Knocking you all out and bringing you here was very helpful. It's just I was already planning for a new 'changeling' to take over from her." At this Fluttershy stood and moved over to Pinkie Pie's sad, slumped form. The pink pony was still gasping for air as a steady stream of blood gushed from her throat. "She just couldn't compare to Pinkie Pie! There was so much pent up aggression behind her smile. So much suppressed pain and anger. But..."
"You stay away from her! She's not some pawn for you to play with! None of us are!" screamed Twilight. She immediately regretted it as Fluttershy locked eyes with her. Twilight had gazed into the eyes of Nightmare's and of Chaos itself. She had seen the unfeeling, insectile eyes of true changelings sweeping calculatingly over her form. She had stared down dragons. But never, in all Twilight's days, had she looked into a set of eyes so choked with such cold, controlled, hatred. A killing lust sprung up from the otherwise adorable pegasus, stabbing into Twilight's mind through her eyes. It let her know that here, sitting before her was death, and not a natural death but one long and protracted and filled with the kind of tender affection and attention to detail that could only be manufactured by the truly disturbed. Twilight had never experienced 'The Stare' before, and she never wanted to again. She could now understand how it had been used to tame lions, tigers, and bears.
"Hush. You were so full of questions before. Don't scream when you find out the answers." Fluttershy continued to hold Twilight in her gaze. "Of course she's not just a pawn. A pawn would've done as she was told. But everytime, at every turn, when it came time for her to act against you, Pinkie balked. It happened first when she was helping me inscribe the sigils on each of you. Those are less magic than a clever parlor trick, but it gets the job done. Even so, Pinkie couldn't be moved to mar your flesh. Before my eyes she snapped out of her hypnosis. It was uncanny. Everytime you were by her side the story I had crafted for her would crumble. I figured it couldn't be helped and just left you without a sigil, since doing so would lead for you to be suspected and isolated. Perhaps one of the others would even kill you, thinking you were behind everything." Fluttershy opened her saddle bag and tugged a small package out of it. It was the present Twilight had sent to Pinkie Pie weeks ago. "You see, this was in motion for quite some time, but you just had to keep thinking of your friends. You, among all of them, just had to show that goofy, sweet pink pony the attention she so desperately craved. You ruined all my careful planning, Twilight."
"What planning?" asked Twilight eying the package. "You still haven't told me what this is really all about. Why us? Why now?"
"Isn't it obvious Twilight?" asked Fluttershy as she scooped up Angel Bunny and placed him in her saddle bag where the present had been. "As I said, I've been doing this for a long, long time. What I do I see as a kindness beyond anything else in this world, and to stop now would, well...I couldn't imagine leaving all those poor ponies to suffer alone. To continue doing this, I need my privacy. Didn't you ever wonder how we could save Equestria twice, stand before all of Canterlot, and still live in relative obscurity? Didn't you ever wonder how it was I was chosen to reform Discord, instead of you? I can control how other ponies think, I can bend even the most powerful to my will. But there's only so much I can do when everypony is looking. Becoming a Princess, Twilight, was just about the worst thing you could do. All eyes being on you means all eyes were on your friends. It would only be a matter of time before I was caught...so I had to take measures to make sure you were eliminated and then I, well, I'd just disappear." The yellow pegasus stepped around her fallen and bleeding friends and walked right to the door. Standing before it the spells twisted and turned, but they didn't respond to her. Instead she held out a small crystal key...and unlocked the final door. "It's not a total loss though. You three will just starve to death down here instead. I doubt anypony will ever even find the bodies. We won't be meeting again. So this is goodbye, Twilight." With that she stepped through and slammed the door behind her, leaving Twilight in total, blood soaked darkness.
Ponyville Hospital had never been so busy before. Royal Guards were everywhere, at every door and window of the building. There were even a few Crystal Guards on loan from the Crystal Empire, in their more fleshy forms this far from the Crystal Heart. The Night Guard, the eyes and ears of Princess Luna, seemed to peek out of every shadow. An attempt had been made on the life of the newest Princess, and while there was still some confusion on what exactly had happened, every possible precaution was being taken."And now an update on the tragic story coming out of Ponyville," a nearby radio droned, "It would appear that, in the case of the accident which reportedly occurred in the mines beneath Canterlot several days ago, the Royal Guard has confirmed foul play is suspected. While there has been no positive identification of the suspect as yet, we can confirm that she is a young mare. At present the suspect remains unconscious. Consequently she has been hospitalized where authorities are awaiting staff to revive her. That it has been revealed the deaths of four ponies, as yet unidentified, could be attributed to this unnamed assailant has shocked the kingdom at large. We'll be bringing you more information on this as the story develops."
While some reporters, a few from as far away as Manehatten, had noticed the heightened security around Ponyville Hospital, none had been able to gain entry. For her part, Twilight was grateful and irritated at the same time. She was grateful to be spared from having to try to answer a dozen questions from the media that she wasn't sure she had a clear answer for. On the other hoof, she wished she could tell them to get their facts straight. "It wasn't four, it was three," she muttered to herself as she limped down the hospital corridor, "And it was definitely no accident." She wasn't supposed to be out of bed yet, which was clear from the I.V. stand she pushed along beside her. Twilight had been lucky to keep the operation of her limbs, but it was rough going with her head and forelimbs tightly bandaged, the later with stiff wooden planks to make sure she didn't bend them too far and re-open her wounds. She still had the use of her wings though, and while weak, they helped take some of the strain off her legs and allow her to move more quickly down the hallway.
"Stop right there miss," came an authoritative male voice as two Royal Guards blocked her path. "This area is restricted, only authorized personal may proceed."
Twilight looked up at the pair of unicorns. If this was the level of intelligence the Royal Guard had sunk to since her brother had moved on from his post as Captain of the Guard, it was no wonder they hadn't been able to find Fluttershy. "I realize I'm not wearing my tiara right now, but I kind of thought the wings and the horn would give it away. You do know who I am, don't you?" The other guard, who appeared slightly older than his partner couldn't help but crack a small smile.
"Yes your majesty, we know full well who you are." In a stage whisper he continued, "Please excuse the boy, I'm afraid he's been rehearsing what he'd say if anypony tried to come this way for a little over half a day. No offense is intended my lady."
Despite herself, Twilight found herself smiling as well. She whispered back,"And no offense is taken sir, but you still seem to be standing in my way."
At that the old guard leaned back and with a look of true regret responded, "Ah, well, as it pertains to that we do have our orders your grace. I'm afraid even Princesses of the realm aren't allowed to be near the suspect without express permission. It's a necessary precaution, you understand. I'm afraid my hooves are tied."
"There a problem here partner?"said a familiar voice. Applejack rolled around the corner in a wheelchair. Though her injuries hadn't initially seemed to be as severe as Twilight's, it had turned out the hunting knife to her back had managed to nick her spinal cord. The doctors were hopeful she would eventually recover the use of her hind legs, but for the time being she couldn't get around without the aid of the chair. For a mare who's livelihood depended greatly on the strength of her legs, she had taken her condition in stride. Truthfully, Twilight suspected that Applejack, like herself, was just happy to be alive. "Y'all gettin' in the Princess's way?"
"Captain Applejack, we were just explaining to her majesty that no one is allowed to see the suspect by order of..." started the young stallion until Applejack cut him off.
"Easy with this 'Captain' nonsense. Mah rank's supposed to be a secret, remember?" The former farm pony winked at the obvious new recruit and continued, "Ah'll take responsibility for her majesty. She'll be safe enough with me if you fella's will let it slide just this once." As the guards made a path for Twilight Applejack smiled brightly. "Thank ya kindly! Y'all keep up the good work, ya hear?" The two injured ponies continued down the hall. They came to a small waiting area that doubled as a commissary. Twilight needed to stop a moment to give her legs a rest. Applejack gave a little sigh and then went to get a couple of apples from a nearby cart. As she brought the fruit back to the table where Twilight sat, she said "Ya know movin' around and such ain't no good fer yer wounds Twilight. Ya really ought ta still be in bed. It ain't even been a week since the Royal Guard found us. Don'tcha think ya might be over doin' it?"
"Pinkie Pie is a victim too," responded Twilight, out of the blue. This wasn't the first time she had said this but she hoped that she was finally with a pony who would listen. Applejack's blank stare, however, wasn't encouraging. The frustration of being ignored for days welled up inside Twilight as she shouted, "Why won't anypony believe me!? Fluttershy used some kind of hypnotic suggestion to force her to kill everypony! The string of missing pony reports you told me about before were all her doing as well! So why is it only Pinkie taking the blame for all this!?"
Applejack took a bite of her apple, chewed and swallowed before she responded. "The authorities don't think Fluttershy had any connection to this case."
"What?!" asked Twilight in disbelief. "But she was there!"
"That ain't what the evidence says I'm afraid," continued Applejack. "There is no proof that the pony known as Fluttershy was ever down in them mines with us. Accordin' to the forensics team there were no hoof prints, blood, or hair samples collected at the site belonging to anypony other than the six of us, including poor Derpy, who were there."
Twilight's wings unfurled in agitation, "But you were there Applejack, you saw her? I mean we weren't imagining her!"
"I know Twilight, I know. Trust me, even in all these horrors that's one image I ain't soon going to forget," said Applejack darkly, taking another bite from her apple. "But the last I saw Fluttershy she was a broken marionette hanging on the wall. It's mighty suspicious her body's gone though, Ah'll grant ya that, and even more so since there's no trace of it ever bein' there."
"What are you trying to say?" questioned Twilight, hurt. "You don't believe that I saw her? That I talked to her?"
Applejack sighed heavily, "Honestly, sugarcube, Ah ain't sure whut ta believe at the moment. We both got put through some serious torture down there, both physically and mentally. It ain't stretchin' things too far ta say ya might've had a little breakdown and started seein' things whut couldn't be. Lord knows a lesser pony would'a long since broke under the stress ya've been through." Applejack said this matter-of-factly, impressed by Twilight's resilience. "The fact is there's zero evidence, aside from our testimony, that Fluttershy was there. On the other hoof, there's plenty of proof that Pinkie Pie was the killer."
"But...but she was compelled to do all of those horrible things by Fluttershy," Twilight said emphatically.
"Ah hear ya Twi, but just listen to yerself fer a moment. 'A pegasus, with no magical powers, forced an earth pony through hypnotism an drugs ta become a ruthless murderer.' Do ya really think the authorities, do ya really think Princess Celestia, is gonna be able ta believe somethin' like that? Settin' aside the lack of evidence, we ain't got any way of verifyin' a word of it." The earth pony looked at her apple in disgust, it had started going brown and mushy they had been sitting and talking so long. Her appetite lost, Applejack threw the rest of it in the waste basket. " It won't be too long before they'll file charges against Pinkie Pie. But their only suspect is unconscious. Until she wakes up Celestia is just going to bide her time. Nopony has seen Fluttershy in days. She's just missin' fer now, but most folk connected to the case are presumin' her dead based on mah account of whut happened. But Ah'll tell ya the truth, the fact there ain't a shred of evidence of Fluttershy being down there, on top of her body goin' missin', don't sit well with me at all. At the very least Ah'll see if Ah can get another forensics team ta head down there. If there's so much as a hair outside of that room where she was hangin', that would corroborate yer story and we can go from there. Meantime, I suggest ya stay by Pinkie's side if yer worried about her. Nopony but doctors and nurses have been in her room since she got here. Who knows, maybe a familiar voice'll bring her around."
"Applejack..." started Twilight before she threw her forelimbs awkwardly around her friend in a hug. "Thank you."
"Don't get me wrong Twi, she was my friend too," said Applejack pulling out of Twilight's grasp. "But even if she was forced ta do it, she still killed our other friends and there ain't nothin' we can do ta get them back. She ain't gonna be like she was, one way or the other. Frankly, she might be better off stayin' asleep forever..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight Sparkle sat quietly for some time in Pinkie's room. It seemed like the rest of the floor had been cleared. There were still guards posted at each end of the hallway and the occasional nurse would trot by, but aside from that the ward was quiet save for the steady beep of the machines hooked up to monitor the unconscious pony. Twilight stared at her would be murderer, her friend, the pony who had killed so many of her other friends. She was filled with such a potent mix of emotions she wasn't sure she trusted herself to stand. At the core of it all, however, was that little ball of frustration, that knowledge that Pinkie was as much a victim as any of them.
"Who would've ever thought your birthday would turn out this way, eh Pinkie?" Twilight asked with a sad smile. "Why did you hold it all in? Why did you let it come to this?" Pinkie Pie lay perfectly still in the hospital bed. Stripped of her robe and now dressed in a simple hospital gown, it was easy to see bloody gauze bandages wrapped around various parts of her body. As much as she'd hurt Twilight, the alicorn couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt every time she looked at the bandages around Pinkie's throat. The pink pony's breathing was steady but shallow. Twilight worried about permanent damage. It was funny, no one had mentioned the word 'coma' but that was exactly what it seemed like she was in. An untouched apple set on a plate in front of Pinkie. with a small knife and fork. was rendered laughable. How did anypony expect her to eat like this? "If only you'd talked with me about it sooner, I'm sure things could've turned out differently." Twilight reached out and placed her hoof over Pinkie Pie's. She was so cold, even under the blankets, and seemed so very fragile. Twilight felt her grief and the massive burden of guilt swell inside her heart. "No, that's not true! I should've realized! If I had I'm sure no one would've had to die..."
Her tears gushed from her eyes, falling fast and free on the white linens. These tears were a long time coming. Twilight hadn't allowed herself to cry since they had been rescued, she hadn't allowed herself to feel the full weight of her emotions. Sitting here it was impossible not to let her mind play back over everything that had happened and find her own actions lacking. In many ways she had failed. She had certainly failed as a Princess, as a leader, and she couldn't help feeling she had failed as a friend as well. "I'm so sorry," Twilight whispered. "from now on I swear I will protect you!"
After Twilight said this, the door to the hospital room opened. Twilight hurriedly backed away from the bed and did what she could to dry her eyes. She knew she must look like a mess, but more than appearances she was concerned that the nurse had come to send her back to her own room. "I'm sorry, I'm a friend of the patients, I have permission to be here!" blurted Twilight all in one stream of words. She almost immediately regretted saying all that, anypony could say they had permission to be here, now she'd given the nurse a reason to be suspicious. The nurse for her part, however, went about her business, checking Pinkie's charts and making some slight adjustments to the machines hooked up to her. She was dressed much like the other nurses Twilight had interacted with so far, a white uniform and a mask over her muzzle to prevent the spread of infection. After she added some medicine, probably an antibiotic, to Pinkies I.V. drip the nurse then moved to the other side of the bed where Twilight sat. She waited there expectancy until Twilight realized she was in the way. "Oh, I'm sorry!" The injured alicorn hurriedly stood and apologized. Twilight tried to shuffle past the nurse but suddenly she felt something snake around her throat and cover her mouth as a needle was rammed forcefully into her back. As the plunger jammed home Twilight's scream was muffled by the nurses hoof.
"Shhh...hush now, quiet now, no need to worry your little head Twilight," said a familiar voice in her ear. "It's just a little Vecuronium. I have to say I wish I'd come to the hospital more often before. They have so many interesting things here." Twilight struggled and tried to shout, but the nurse only dug the needle deeper. Within seconds Twilight could feel her body stiffening and going numb. It started inside her hooves and traveled slowly up to her torso. She could feel the tip of her tongue stiffening, and when her jaw fell slack, the nurse finally moved her hoof away. As Twilight fell limp, her attacker took the brunt of her weight and dragged her back to the chair she had been sitting in previously. Losing control of her body wasn't the terrifying part for Twilight. It was the knowledge of who it must be that was holding her.
With care and precision, the "nurse" arraigned Twilight in what looked like a comfortable position and propped up her head in such a way that Twilight could get a good look at her. Her coat had been dyed from pale yellow to white, and her mane from its usual pink to a pale blonde. She had found a way to change her cutie mark to a caduceus, a symbol of medicine. She probably had her wings hidden beneath her nurse uniform. Even so, even before she tugged down her mask there was no mistaking her, or her cold, merciless eyes. This was Fluttershy. Twilight's heart continued to thunder in her chest even though she couldn't so much as twitch a muscle. She was trapped in a way that was far more complete than mere confinement down in those dank caverns. "Comfy?" asked Fluttershy sweetly. "You know I was a little worried we wouldn't get to speak. All these big, strong guards were very intimidating. But then when they had me changing your bed pan I realized that nopony at this hospital really pays attention to interns. It's funny really. All that security and they didn't even know I was watching you sleep...giving you your medicine. It's a good thing too, or that shot I just gave you would've paralyzed your lungs. We simply couldn't have you suffocating after all this work."
Twilight couldn't even blink now, it was a struggle just to keep breathing. She tried to concentrate on that, hoping in vane that somepony, anypony would check on her. "Oh don't give me that pained look. I'm the one that told the authorities where to find you. They didn't tell you about the anonymous tip they received about hearing screams from the mines below Canterlot, did they? I suppose it would make them look bad if they had to admit they had lost a Princess and had no idea what had happened to her." Fluttershy bent the needle on the syringe she had used to inject Twilight and replaced the cap on it before she dropped it into the pocket on her uniform. "Of course, planting a 'changeling' in the Royal Guard makes covering up that kind of thing a breeze. Why, he was able to scrub almost all the evidence from the cavern during the forensics investigation. Any new investigation would be problematic. They'd be bound to find something down there if they looked hard enough. Of course it's just so nice to have useful 'changelings' around, ready to 'take care' of those pesky loose ends." Fluttershy grinned. "I'm sorry Twilight, I hope you didn't have anything terribly important to say to Applejack. She's going to die in the dark, just as she was meant to....just as you were meant to. Don't worry though, it won't be too painful."
Fluttershy brushed an errant strip of hair out of Twilight's eyes. "There, much better. I suppose that a Princess does deserve better than to die in the dark. So how about I 'enlighten' you?" The pegasus in disguise chuckled as she turned from Twilight and walked slowly across the room to Pinkie's bedside. "I'm afraid I told you a little lie the last time we parted. You see, this 'game' I set up for you? It won't be the last. Even if my life ends, it will keep repeating over and over forever. For the ones I love, for my mom and dad, who loved me." Fluttershy clasped her hooves over her heart and bowed her head sadly. "Just disappearing wouldn't be enough now. There would always be questions. So I didn't plan on surviving this last game. I wanted to die surrounded by my friends. But then you had to go and ruin it by taking out poor Pinkie Pie." At this she stroked Pinkie's sleeping cheek tenderly. "My perfect 'changeling'. She was always more to me than just another pawn. She is my heir, my replacement." As she said this Pinkie's eyes fluttered open. She slowly began to sit up, her movements slow and clumsy as if she were in a trance. "This last week I was able to perfect the drugs necessary to make her the ultimate 'changeling'. In her mind her life will be a never ending party with an endless stream of party guests, no two exactly the same." Pinkie's hoof moved slowly to the knife set beside the apple on the food tray beside her bed. It was a dull steak knife, not even really suitable for slicing fruit. "She'll never be alone...and she'll spread lots of smiles!"
Pinkie Pie grinned dreamily, showing gums that were bleeding from how hard her teeth were grinding together. She giggled, a high, frightening noise that pierced Twilight's mind. Every fiber of her being just wanted to run, but Twilight still couldn't move. She couldn't even close her eyes as Pinkie Pie dug the knife into the side of Fluttershy's neck and ripped a horrible jagged gash across the serenely smiling pegasus' throat. The blade gouged rather than cut the flesh, sending a spray of crimson over the floor and bed. Fluttershy crumpled to the floor, still twitching, still smiling, as she wrote in her own blood 'The Liars Must Die'. Pinkie stepped shakily out of her bed. She moved jerkily, like a broken marionette, moving closer and closer. She knocked over the lamp that was the rooms sole source of illumination. As the lamp clattered to the floor, it threw their shadows in stark relief against the wall. Pinkie's shadow, smiling as madly as the pony who cast it, loomed over Twilight's own. Twilight wanted desperately to recoil from Pinkie's touch, but there was nothing she could do as her friend lay one gory hoof gentle on her shoulder.
The knife bit deep into Twilight's stomach first, rising through her bowels and into her chest. She could feel it scraping across the inside of her ribs and her spine, prying under her skin and twisting around in her muscles. Twilight's heart pounded faster. Steady, rhythmic, wet noises rose and fell matching the metronome like motions of the knife as the shadows met and parted over and over. Twilight could feel it, she could feel everything as the blade punctured her flesh. As it went on her soft guts were being wound like spaghetti around the knife as it cut into her kidneys. Why didn't Pinkie bring the blade just a few inches higher? Why didn't she just bury the blade in her heart? Why wouldn't this end?
The Royal Guards burst into the room, but immediately froze, unable to process the horror spread before them. Pinkie twirled about as if her blood slicked dressing gown were a party dress. She leapt to embrace the guards, dragging poor Twilight's guts out on the floor in a steaming slushy mess. Pinkie's knife flashed back and forth, it's blunt edge ripping the stallions apart in seconds. With a manic grin still on her face, and a song in her heart, Pinkie left nothing but bloody hoof-prints and bodies behind as she moved through the hospital. Everything was so clear now. It was time for a new party. It was time for a new game! And Pinkie Pie just knew that, win or lose, she was going to have fun! Fun! FUN!
Twilight Sparkle sat gurgling gently as her life's blood spread in a puddle beneath her on the floor, obliterating Fluttershy's final message. If only eradicating the pegasi's legacy would be so easy. But those were not Twilight Sparkle's final thoughts. They were on a party she never made it to, with friends she dearly missed. They were on a sunny spring day full of potential. Her thoughts were on Rainbow Dash showing off, Rarity beaming over a new dress, and Applejack finally relaxing after a hard days work. Her thoughts were on Pinkie Pie managing to make even the grumpiest among them laugh until they were fit to burst. She even couldn't help but think of Fluttershy cooing over a pair of new born baby birds. She remembered her friends and all the good times they had shared. She didn't waste any thoughts on her own death or theirs, but rather watched as her life seemed to dance before her eyes. A life of love and friendship is what she thought of, and everything that could've been.
