The Pinkamena Chronicles.

by Perfectly Insane

First published 11th of December, 2015

For the longest time, Equestria was the most peaceful place imaginable. But one day, something changes. Absolute evil is brought to Equestria, and Pinkamena is at the center of it all. She will suffer unimaginable pain, beyond comprehension.

Sixteen years, sixteen years since her home was destroyed by war, a war that destroyed her whole world forcing, her to come here. A decade and a half since she came to this world to escape the war and her family, she had a good run too, made a few friends and even experienced some happiness, but one party changed all of that. Now a past she wished had stayed gone has started to resurface. A life she wanted to stay forgotten, voices that seem to come from nowhere saying things that bother her, things she hasn't thought of in years, dreams and vision she doesn't understand, and it all started with a party. Who would have guessed celebrating the day you came to this world, can be what gets you out of it.

The Prologue.

Author's Notes:

Before you read, I'm going to go ahead and answer some questions. A lot of the characters have changed quite a bit without explanation, so I'm going to make a chapter to explain which characters have changed and why. Also, near the end you may have noticed that I switched between third person point of view to first person, this is a thing I might be doing every now and again where 'Pinkamena' talks about things, it can vary from her past to simple lines of knowledge. Also, those of you who are leaving dislikes, could you please pm me or comment what's wrong and how I can change it. Thanks for reading. By the way, if you see any errors, such as grammar, spelling, left off letters, or anything else, please tell me. And just to clarify, this takes place about a month after The Crystal Empire episode, so sometime in the middle of season three. But, the nightmares began after Party of One, so she's been Pinkamena a little after The Return of Harmony.

No more smiles.

Pinkie Pie awoke in a sweat; her pupils dilated as she awoke from a nightmare, the same one she had been reliving every night, despite how much she hated it. She wanted to pretend that she wasn't having these nightmares: she doesn't think about it, doesn't talk to anybody about it. She can't avoid them when it comes nighttime, but, they were just nightmares, right? She kicked off her sweat-drenched covers and ran towards her bathroom; she had left the door open the previous night because she knew this was going to happen. It's been happening every night for months, why would it stop now? As soon as she ran in, she put her head in the sink, ready to get it over with. But, this time was different.

During the usual rush of getting to the bathroom, before she had an 'incident' like the first time it had happened, she didn't notice that she didn't have the urge to spew the contents of her stomach out of her muzzle like usual. She didn't have to puke, after the horrible things she experienced nightly, the terrible, unspeakable things that happen in those nightmares made her disgusted. She always vomits when they were over, but now she wasn't. Had she gotten used to it? Did these dreams no longer bother her? Or maybe, it was because she didn't eat anything last night knowing she would have just thrown it back up. But what if it was the former?

She wasn't entirely sure how that made her feel, could it be considered good to get used to dreams like that? No sane person would think that's a good thing, then again, Pinkie isn't ordinary. As she got up to try to get through another night of gore, horror, and sweat, she looked in the mirror on her way out; expecting to see her usual state of being covered in sweat and tears with dark circles under her eyes.

She was smart enough to put makeup on them; she didn't want to talk about her sleep problems, it would be best not to attract attention to any after effects. This time was different though, while she wasn't in the sorry state she thought she would be, at least what the mirror showed, what she saw was not pleasant.

She still looked the same physically, but visually was a different story: Her colors were dimmer and less joyful, even when Pinkie is at her worst, her colors never change. Well except for what happened at her last birthday party, but that didn't matter now. Her cutie mark didn't look like it usually did. Honestly, she would have preferred not having one then having a cutie mark as depressing as that. It still had the three balloons on it, but the colors looked like someone took it off, let it gather dust and waited for it to dim for years, and put it back on. It wasn't just the colors that changed either; her hair was straight and silky like seaweed, but pink, beautiful, and wavy.

Pinkie would have thought it looked attractive if it wasn't for her facial features, and yes, Pinkie was a filly-fooler; she had been ever since she realized she was in love with a particular rainbow Pegasus. Her eyes looked horrifyingly unnatural, her pupils constricted as if she was scared, but she could tell this wasn't the look of fear. Her pupils weren't the same color; they were dark red, and her sclera itself was as black as Luna's cutie mark, which looked almost like someone spilled black paint on her flank and painted a crescent moon in the middle, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the smile, Pinkie knew smiles, and this wasn't a happy one; This smile was full of insanity and bloodlust, something she's rarely ever seen.

No more parties.

Pinkamena got on the train with Twilight and the small group of guards that, according to Twilight, they were just meant to be an escort group. They were trotting down the train car looking for a spot to sit in for the train ride, which wasn't very hard because there wasn't a lot of ponies on the train today. There were about four or five on the train, and all of them were in seats. But the few that weren't, only moved out of their way. Well, not them precisely, more like the guards with them. As Pinkie sat down in the nearest empty seat, Twilight tried to sit beside her, but was stopped by one of the guards.

"Princess's orders, Mrs. Sparkle, you're to sit opposite of Mrs. Pie, while two of us sit on each side of you. It's both orders and protocol." the guard thundered, his voice commanding, but gentle.

Twilight sighed at this, but understood that they were merely doing their jobs. She didn't notice that when the guards were stating how they were going to sit, the mare in question had furrowed her brow and whispered " control freaks" under her breath, but since it was so quiet, it went unnoticed. The second Twilight sat down, the guards sat down on both sides of her, doing the same to her 'friend' across from her. The train then started a few seconds later, and that's when the awkward silence started.

The silence had lasted a good hour or so, Canterlot was about two hours away. Twilight understood why the guards were quiet; it's how they were taught to be, not to speak unless spoken to by a princess or someone of high authority. Also not to repeat any heard conversations, whether it be battle plans, or civilians talking about their day at the store.

They're not allowed to speak of these conversations unless Celestia or another princess permits them, or ask themselves. Twilight knows this because she asked Celestia during her youth; she had the thought that one day, Twilight might become an Alicorn princess herself, and that she would have her guards, it was a stupid idea. No matter how much any pony works, they can't become an Alicorn. Pinkie may not know about the guard rule, and that's why she's remaining quiet, knowing what she may say or ask could potentially be used against her.

"You know, Pinkie, the guards are trained not to repeat anything we may say here unless a princess asks them to; And no matter how angry she may be, she would never invade another ponies privacy. So, go ahead and bombard me with the questions I know you want to ask, and I can guarantee that Celestia or any of the rest won't hear a single word of it." The lavender mare said confidently.

Pinkie's ears seemed to perk up at this but then retracted when her eyes met Twilight's, almost like she realized something. When her eye's looked directly into the now confused and slightly scared mare, she knew this wasn't the same pony that Twilight had met when she first came to Ponyville; it was one Twilight had met before, one Twilight hoped she would never see again.

"How can I believe you? For all I know, this could be a ploy, and you made up that rule just to get me to say something you could use against me, you're a teacher's pet after all. You're also the only one who gets any letters from dear old Celestia, and you both could have come up with this idea. Besides, even IF the guard rule is real, how do I know you won't just tell the princess yourself what we talked about anyway? I mean, you're certainly not a guard, there's no reason for you to abide by the rule, you could easily pull it off." Pinkamena said slowly, her voice both suspicious and cocky.

This accusation hurt Twilight, but she was also a little surprised. She would never have considered the possibility that Pinkie would have thought of something like this; not that she felt that the ex-party planner was stupid or anything. Just that she wasn't that smart or cunning, It was so unlike Pinkie; crafty, emotionless, aggressive, and so lacking of joy. While Twilight knew some ponies would think these would be good traits to have, she did not. They were just so unlike Pinkie, so alien, and Twilight didn't like it one bit. It was at this point that Twilight noticed not only the emotional changes, but also the physical changes.

It's true; Twilight had seen that, compared to before, she was almost entirely different; She looked like she had gotten a mane cut, and her hair was straight now, and that her colors were dimmer than before. She didn't leave Sugarcube Corner often, the only times she ever actually saw her, was when Equestria was in danger; she was usually too preoccupied to pay attention to her until this point. Her hair was straight and silky, while it looked good on her, it just simply didn't suit someone like Pinkie. Her colors were dark, lifeless, and so unhappy, it wasn't the colors of a pony who spends every waking moment making others smile.

Her eyes were the worst though; they were the eyes of someone who has lived a life of pain and misery, who has never experienced a shred of joy or happiness in their life, someone who has never given a smile that wasn't fake. That wasn't Pinkie; there was no way the stranger sitting in front of her was the Element of Laughter. Twilight knew why her mentor wanted to talk to Pinkie now; it's because there was something seriously wrong with her friend.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, PINKIE!? What happened to the pony that would spend all of her free time planning parties and making other ponies laugh? What happened to the one who always had a smile on her face, and her eyes were always so full of life and joy. Ever since your birthday party, you've been so different; you haven't thrown a single party since then, and the only times we've done ANYTHING together is when changelings attacked Canterlot or when Sombra came back." Twilight yelled, letting out all the frustration and anger out in her voice.

She didn't notice it, but Pinkie had flinched when she mentioned the dark tyrant.

"So, tell me, Pinkie, what could have happened after that party that could have turned you into such an emotionless, cold pony that used to be my friend!?" she said more quietly than before, her voice full of sadness.

Twilight's near screaming attracted the attention of a few nearby passengers, but they knew better than to intervene in an argument between two mares surrounsed by guards. The guards didn't seem affected by this unexpected outburst; they had kept the same stoic faces they had when they first came onto the train.

"You done?" Pinkie had replied after waiting for the current redder than usual lavender mare to calm down, looking utterly unfazed from Twilight's attempt at breaking down her nearly impenetrable mental barriers.

Twilight only nodded in response, knowing that if she talked, she would just have another outburst.

"Good, now to answer your question I-" Before Pinkie could respond to Twilight's verbal assault, the train came to a sudden stop, and the conductor started talking through the speakers.

"All passengers who wish to go to Canterlot, please go to the sliding doors, we have reached our destination." the conductor said quickly, nervous because of The Royal Guard members on the train.

As soon as the speaker was turned off, both groups of guards got up and stood in front of the two previously arguing mares. The one who told Twilight where to sit, presumably their squadron leader, began to speak.

"The princess told us to escort both of you safely to the castle, so, please come with us." the guard said to Twilight, making sure she understood what to do, as a situation like this wasn't very common.

Pinkie was the first to get up and go to one of the two free spaces in the middle of the guards, the other naturally reserved for Twilight. Before she could get up though, Pinkie looked at Twilight with the same lifeless eyes she had before and spoke with the same emotionless voice.

"Come on, Twilight, you're about to get your answers, and find out who Pinkamena Diane Pie is, and what turned me into this emotionless mare you think I am." She said sadistically, cockiness oozing from her voice.

At that, Twilight got up and got in the spot beside Pinkie without a word. Then the guards began to move in sync towards the exit of the train, straight towards the castle. With Pinkamena feeling bored and Twilight full of curiosity and worry, but she will soon find out that some questions are better of left unanswered.

No more joy

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S STILL ALIVE!?" Five voices screamed in the room, all different, but filled with the same emotion.

The four other ponies, excluding Pinkamena and Princess Celestia, shouted in unison with their voices full of shock sounding almost exactly alike, well, except for Applejack's accent and Fluttershy's usually quiet voice wasn't very loud. Most likely because Fluttershy doesn't often scream, While Pinkamena seemed unsurprised at the news that one of the most powerful enemies that they have fought, not only survived their efforts, but had also made a full recovery and wants to go for round two.

It wasn't that she didn't fear Sombra, while that was true; it was more that, while she didn't want to admit that she's started to believe the voice, it was beginning to make sense. The Voice has told her things that have made her think and put things into a different perspective; but now that The Voice has proved that it's not just making stuff up, and everything it's been saying is the truth, it might just change everything.

"We destroyed him, his entire body was torn apart by magic and spread out across the land, not even some pony as powerful as he could have survived that!" Twilight shouted angrily at her mentor, one of the few times that's ever happened.

Either Twilight was too angry to think straight, or she wasn't as smart as she thought. There wasn't enough information about King Sombra, his abilities, or the Crystal Empire to presume what he was capable of withstanding before death. Pinkamena had a theory or two about how Sombra had survived the magic, and she just wasn't sure whether to tell her opinion or not, her and Celestia weren't on best terms at the moment from before. So, she decided just to wait patiently and quietly for things to play out and determine whether or not to get involved, she had a lot going on personally at the time, she should put a lot of thought into this.

"I'm not entirely sure how or why he is still alive my little ponies, we are having some of the smartest investigating the matter as we speak. But the problem at hand is that he is back, and with allies. Luna and I aren't sure how long he's been hiding, but we have confirmed he has made an alliance with Chrysalis, and now has control over an army of changelings. That is why we have asked you and your 'friends' to help us either buy time or investigate Sombra. Both are equally important, because without knowing how he came back and how to prevent it, he will no doubt keep coming back. We need as much help and time as we can get." Celestia said calmly, as she looked down at all the ponies in the room, except for one.

No pony but her noticed it, but when Celestia said friends, she shot a glance towards Pinkamena, almost as if saying ' You're not good enough to be called a friend of my student.' There was an awkward silence in the room for a little while, as the five only real friends in the chamber considered being asked to either go to war or help the eggheads. It was apparent which choice some of them were going to choose.

"Hay yeah we're going to help! we've kicked both of their butts before, and we'd be more than happy to do it again!" Rainbow said as if she had already won the battle.

There goes Dash talking for every pony else; it almost made her smile at how bouncy and joyful she was, then it made her sad because she used to be that way. It made her think that she didn't deserve to love some pony like Rainbow, but she realized that a long time ago and got over it, right? After all, she was an Earth pony, and Rainbow was a Pegasus. Plus, she didn't even know if Dash was a filly-fooler or not.

Besides, even if she was, if Dash at some point in time had feelings for her, it was for the old Pinkie, not whatever she was now. Whenever Pinkie had realized this, she tried her hardest to ignore her emotions; But she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at the sight of her.

"Or, you know, we could just...not, maybe?" Fluttershy said quietly, not wanting any part of any violence.

Fluttershy tried to avoid as much confrontation as possible, even though she helped fight the changelings, then again, she didn't have much choice.

"Darling! Whatever are you talking about like that? Of course, we have to help! We don't want someone as ghastly as that tyrant to ruin the beautiful city of Canterlot! That would ruin my sales!" Rarity said half serious, hoping to cheer up her shy Pegasus friend.

Of course, Rarity would focus on sales.

"What in tarnation are you'll joking around for now? We've got to help the Princess! Equestria needs us, girls!" AJ said like the Element of Honesty that she was, not getting that they were just joking to lighten the mood.

"Of course we'll help Princess! It's our jobs as the Elements of Harmony to help protect Equestria! We'll help anyway we can!" Twilight said happily, the anger from earlier now subsided from the calmness of her mentor's voice, making her more trusting.

After hearing that, Pinkamena started to think to herself again.

*Jerks, they're acting like I'm not even here, They're probably ignoring me, or maybe I'm so quiet now, they forgot I was here, perhaps a mixture of both, now I know how Fluttershy feels.* Pinkamena thought to herself, really hoping Celestia couldn't read minds.

After hearing that all of them wanted to help, even though they knew they could be risking their lives, Celestia couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, my little ponies, but your efforts would be for neigh if we don't know how to defeat the enemies in front of us. So before we begin to battle, we need to do some research," Celestia said happily, glad all the Elements of Harmony were such kind and loyal ponies. Well, almost all of them.

As soon as the words 'research' left her mouth, the sound of a pegasus grunting filled the room.

"So, please tell me, since you're the only ponies who have fought with King Sombra and survived, do you have any idea how he may have come back?" Celestia continued calmly, hoping her pupils could give answers to a few questions.

After that issue, the entire room became silent, with the whole group becoming lost in their minds to any hints of their battle of how Sombra could have survived that, except for Pinkamena, she already had thought about this long before the news.

"Well, it could be a lot of different things," Pinkamena said quietly, no emotion in her voice.

For the first time through the entire meeting, the Element of Laughter finally decided to speak her mind, Celestia didn't seem to approve of this, but she didn't say anything. The others remained quiet too, as she walked towards the solar princess while keeping eye contact.

"There are a lot of different factors we have to account for, but first, we have to talk about his past more than the present. Where were Sombra and the Crystal Empire for the last millennium? How were he and his kingdom able to retain their physical features, while they should long ago have died of old age? How was Sombra able to gain control of magic like that when that kind of knowledge has long been outlawed and forbidden across before his time? There's one lead, another is related to one of the questions I asked earlier. What if one of the forbidden magic he’s learned was necromancy? If this is the case, then it would explain how both he and the entire empire had stayed alive for so long, because he just continually revives them or keeps them young. Also, who's to say that Chrysalis is his only ally? He could have had an ally beforehand, and say this was a zebra, for example, the zebra could have used a potion that revives him, and they're still working together, and the zebra is their healer. Well, that's all I have for now, sorry I was only able to come up with two leads, but I didn't have a lot of time to think of anything else. If you could give me a little bit more time, I could probably come up with a few more. Don't get me wrong; I still want to fight in the battle, I'd be more than happy to shed some blood for you, Princess. " Pinkamena continued, speaking with the voice of a scientist, a mad scientist.

The room was silent, as Pinkamena finished with a broad, sadistic smile.

No more laughter

Pinkie had just started crying, it was understandable, considering what has just transpired. Twilight already knew beforehand that this was the most likely outcome since Twilight already planned how she and the rest of her remaining friends planned to gently tell Pinkie that they couldn't be her friends anymore, in hindsight, she probably should have realized that there was no gentle way to do that. Beforehand, Twilight had spent the entirety of last night thinking about the possible outcomes since she always overdoes things that she experiences for the first time, she thought up a total of seven results, the one now was simply the most likely considering her personality type.

"Come on girls, let's leave her alone," Twilight said to the rest of the ponies in the room, no sadness or guilt in her voice.

On the way out, they had started to talk about who could potentially be a replacement for the Element of Laughter. The day before, Twilight had done some research on the Elements and learned that if something were to happen to one of them, then it was possible to replace the fallen Element. Most of them agreed that Ditzy Doo could be a suitable replacement because of her bubbly attitude, pun intended, and her ability to almost always be able to smile, despite her...unique mind.

"Well, it's settled then! let's go and tell her then-" Twilight had started speaking, but was interrupted by a smashing sound and a yelp from Applejack.

Pinkie had hit her over the back of the head with one of the seats they previously had been sitting on, seeming to knock her out instantly, also breaking the chair. Before Twilight had the chance to use her magic to subdue her, Pinkamena had tackled her to the nearest wall, hitting her head on the wall. In those few seconds, Twilight had become too dazed to cast a spell accurately, Pinkamena had put her teeth around Twilight's horn and snapped it in half like a toothpick, ruining any chance of her casting any spells.

She didn't spit out the horn though. Instead, she had balanced the horn, so she had a good grip on it. She looked into Twilight's eyes, she had a bigger smile on her face then Twilight had ever seen before, and his smile wasn't a happy one. She had raised her head higher, and if possible, her smile got larger.

"Pinkie, please don't." Twilight looked up at her assaulter, with big, pleading eyes.

That was Twilight's last-ditch effort to save her life, and to reach whatever part of the party pony that left in this monster in front of her that used to be her friend. Pinkamena seemed to flinch at this, but then, her smile got even larger, stretching to the corners of her eyes, and her pupils dilating to pinpricks.

"Pinkie doesn't live here anymore," Pinkamena said as she looked into Twilight's eyes, enjoying every ounce of pain she was inflicting on her.

Her face came down at high speed after those words left her mouth, the horn that used to make Twilight so happy is now penetrating her heart. In the few remaining seconds that Twilight had, she was looking into her killer's eyes; they had a look of such satisfaction in them.

Family, family Is the most important thing in the world, or, at least that's what many have told me. A lot of stuff that I am and have done are because of my family, so, I'd say a family is more like the most powerful thing in the world, at least my world. I grew up with a very wealthy family, I was very spoiled and loved, we were high up the political ladder and had an excellent reputation, sounds like a lovely family, right? Wrong.

Sure, on the surface it seemed like I had a perfect life, but when it was just my family and me, it was very different.

I had three siblings, two sisters, and one brother. I was on ok terms with my sisters, despite them both being snobby, selfish girls. My brother and I were pretty good friends, we hung out and made jokes every now and again, but due to him being the heir to the family, I never got to see him that often. My dad, oh, he was a piece of work. Not only did he blackmail, murder, bribe, and destroy his way to the top.

He was the kind of dad who, if you were a bully in school, he would kill the family of the sick child who was probably just wanting attention. He wasn't abusive or anything, no, abuse would have been too good for him.

He was a greedy soul, not only did he have offspring that were intelligent and beautiful, he wanted soldiers. So, he spent every free moment he had that wasn't used climbing the social ladder, making us fight him or each other or even doing physical challenges that something that young shouldn't have to do. He also wanted endurance, so, he strapped us down and tortured us, just barely enough not to kill us. I never knew my mother, not that she was dead or anything. It was just that he never allowed us to see her; I never knew what she was like or if she even loved us. My family was monsters; we grew up to think killing was nothing more than a hobby.

We took assassination contracts and even killed random civilians for sport. All of us were crazy; we were just raised not to show it. Back then, it seemed like my life was perfect and that there was nothing more I could have asked for, but now, these days, my primary goal is to kill them all. They say when you're killing monsters not to become one yourself, but what if you're something worse than a monster?

These are the type of creatures that would kill the people they love just so they could live a little longer, it takes one to know one, right? Then I guess it takes an insane, psychotic killer to kill her family who is and made her like this. We can't change, even if we could, we wouldn't want it any other way. After all, the family knows best.

Chapter One: The Only Thing Worse Than Loneliness Is Betrayal.

Author's Notes:

Hi all, sorry for making you wait so long for the next chapter, but here it is. This chapter took a lot of time and work, so please enjoy. There was a chapter before this, but I disliked it so I rewrote it. The next chapter will be out around next month. Please like and comment, and pm me if you notice any errors or anything, such as grammar, spelling, or left off letters. Thanks for reading. Also, the next chapter is going to be describing why the characters are different, it'll also be describing the point of this chapter.

Life is full of things, some good, some bad, but both are necessary. In my experience, I’ve only believed in a few things, some of them I've learned, others have burned themselves into me. One of those things is a rule, more like a law. Nothing can exist without its opposite, love can't exist without hate, light can't exist without the dark, heroes can't exist without villains, and good can't exist without evil. I believe this law represents everything, but most of all, it represents ponies.

Look at me for example, I'm an Element of Harmony, yet I have more darkness in me than Nightmare Moon, the difference is, I don't blame my demons on magic. Just proves that the more innocent one appears, the darker they truly are. There are also a few phrases I believe that this law has in common with, one of the few things I still think are true. The ones who are the shyest, are the ones who have had to endure the most. The ones who work the hardest, are ones who have made the most mistakes. The ones who have to focus on fashion are the ones who need the attention. The ones who always have the be on top, are the ones who lived most of their life on the bottom. The ones who have the highest expectations are the ones who have the lowest standards. And finally, my favorite, the ones who smile and laugh the most, are the ones who have cried and suffered more than most. This one represents me because I am the Element of Laughter, and I have suffered and cried all kinds of tears. I put on an act, as a way to keep away suspicion.

As for the rest, well, I'll let you decide. Now, enough with the sentimental stuff, it's time to tell you all a story. The story of who and what I am, how I got here, and why I am the way I am. The tale of Pinkamena Diane Pie, or as my victims call me, The Angel of Insanity.

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Friends.

What are friends? Are they someone you say hi to on the street? Is it a sibling, like a sister or a brother? Is it someone you've known since you were a foal until you were a mare? Or could it be someone you've told all your secrets to and gone through many adventures with to strengthen your bond?

These are questions I've never found an answer. I used to have ponies, who, once upon a time, I believed were truly my friends; I found out the hard way they were not. Some ponies say loneliness is one of the worst negative feelings someone could have, but I found something worse. What's worse you ask, than not having any friends to have fun with, to share your secrets and your pain?

Being lied to, betrayed, used by the ponies you thought were your friends. The thing about being a loner, is you don't have to worry about all the negative emotions of friends. You never have to worry or get angry at someone else or have the feeling of falling In love with a friend, but you're too afraid to confess because you might just get rejected. But, best of all, you don't ever have to worry about being betrayed, and that's one of the few things worse than loneliness. I wish I had the pleasure of being a loner; then I never would've had to feel pain like this.

It had been another beautiful day in Ponyville, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, thanks to Celestia and Pinkie didn't have a lot to do today. It was one of the few times a year where there weren't a lot of parties today or a lot of chores or business. Yesterday was fun though, they had celebrated Gummy's birthday party, and now she was going to invite all of her friends to the after party, before she could though, she had to make sure the party was ready. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, like an average day, but when she got to the mirror, she had a thought, one she hadn't had in years and had no idea why it came up now. Two years, two years since Pinkie's last nightmare.

They started the day she had first seen the Sonic Rainboom; you would think something as beautiful as that wouldn't start such horrible things. They didn't stop until she had become the Element of Laughter, but that doesn't mean they still didn't haunt her. It was something she didn't want to think about, but, when she was alone, or it was time to sleep, she couldn't avoid them then. That's partially the reason why Pinkie always throws parties for any random reason she can think of; she wanted to avoid thinking about it for as long as possible. It's also why she tends to avoid her family if she were to see them again after the things she dreamed of doing to them.

"Ow!!" Pinkie said sharply but tried to make it quiet so that she wouldn't wake the Cakes.

Gummy had bitten, well, more like gummed, her right hoof. She had gasped more out of surprise than actual pain, he didn't have any teeth after all, and she was kind of deep in thought she wasn't expecting Gummy to do that. It was almost like he was trying to say," Don't focus on the past! Concentrate on the now!" Or maybe he was just hungry. She then continued to do her daily hygienic routine, she brushed both her teeth and mane while running the bath, most likely due to the help of a particular toothless alligator, she was able to keep the thoughts from earlier in the back of her mind.

After she got out of the bath and dried herself, she grabbed the invites she had written the previous night and put them in a basket which Pinkie then put on her head, keep balanced as she trotted out the door, leaving Gummy behind to guard the place. She had already prepared the party before she went to sleep last night, so, she could spend all the next day partying with her friends. As she trotted out the door of the bakery, making a ding noise at the door as the ball hit the door. Waving goodbye to a bored looking Carrot Cake, working behind the counter. She started to trot towards the giant tree in the middle of the town that belonged to one of her Unicorn friends, it’s been here since the beginning, and will probably outlive all of them.

She got a weird sensation down her spine, it felt like the Pinkie Sense, but not one she had felt before, she suddenly had a horrible feeling about today. As Pinkie knocked on the door, waiting for Twilight to answer, she started to get Twilight's invitation but considered maybe she should have made one for Spike. Twilight opened the door looking like she usually did as Spike was organizing some books in the background.

"Oh! Hi, Pink-" Twilight was about to speak, but she was cut off.

"It's soon!" Pinkie said quickly, interrupting Twilight.

"Pardon me?"

"You said we should have another party soon... and it's soon! Here's your invitation!"

"You're invited to Gummy's 'after-birthday' party. This afternoon at three o'clock.

"All of our best friends are gonna b there, and there's gonna be dancing, and games, and cake, and ice-cream, and punch!"

"This afternoon? As in, ' today?"

"Yes, indeed!"

"Oh gosh. I wish I could make it, but I've gotten a bit behind in my studies. I've gotta hit the books."

"I understand. Your studies come first, but don't worry. We'll be sure to save you some cake.

"Please do."

"Oh! and Twilight, you shouldn't hit the books. You should just read them."

"I'll keep that in mind."

At that, Pinkie trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres, with Twilight behind her dumbfounded. At the time, Pinkie hadn't noticed that Twilight was only just making up excuses and the look on her face, giving away she was trying to think of a way out of there, she was much too innocent and trusting then. All of her friends had given reasons as to why they couldn't go to Pinkie's parties, that's when she started to get confused about her friends. It wasn't until three out of five of her friends all said the same thing, which they had asked if it was this afternoon, that she had gotten suspicious. But it wasn't until all five of her friends had said that they were busy, that Pinkie had assumed they were making excuses. For the rest of the day, she had tried to see what it was that they didn't want her to know about, but first, she had to go back to home.

While Pinkie was 'talking' with Gummy, Twilight came to the bakery, asking Mrs. Cake for a package, but she left before Pinkie could find out what was in the box, and she didn't want them to know she was on to them, so she didn't follow her. Later that day, Pinkie saw that Rarity was what appeared to be shout whispering at Fluttershy, but Pinkie never was that good at muzzle reading, she had no idea what they were saying, this only made her more suspicious. She and Gummy later agreed that the only way to find out what they were hiding is to either follow one of them or to capture and interrogate one of them. She wasn't going to choose one to catch. Specifically, just anyone she can get close enough to. So, she left Sugarcube Corner with her disguise, waving goodbye to Gummy as she jumped out the window, they would have expected her to use the door.

She put on her costume and hid behind a box of oranges and waited until one of the five would come around. It didn't take long until Rainbow Dash had trotted by with saddlebags on her back, she had somehow seen through Pinkie's disguise and started to fly away, and thus, a chase began. Since she was a Pegasus and Pinkie was an Earth pony. Naturally, Dash was faster. But Pinkie knew every hiding spot in this town and around it, she also almost never runs out of energy. Eventually, Rainbow did. It took a long time, a lot of chasing, and a lot of screaming, but finally, Dash realized she was going to lose to the determined party pony, so she was just going to go to the rest of her friends and let them deal with her. Rainbow took a swift U-turn and started using her remaining stamina getting to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, with Pinkie hot on her tail.

"Applejack, we got a problem!" Rainbow screamed towards the barn, hoping to get AJ's attention.

Said farmer pony was trotting around the entrance to the barn, and certainly didn't seem to be busy harvesting apples, Pinkie added that in her list of questions to ask. Rainbow rammed straight into the barn, with AJ following right behind, as soon as she ran in, then she slammed the door shut right behind her. Pinkie went up to the barn door and knocked on it repetitively then she almost yelled not really towards either of them individually.

"I know you're in there!" Pinkie said loudly and aggressively, as she repeatedly hit the barn door, intent on getting the attention of anyone in the barn.

The door opened by a very anxious looking orange pony.

Pinkie hadn't even begun to question her, and she already looked nervous, she was sweating like she just got done with a workout. Her eyes were dilated and were moving back and forth, it was bad enough that she was the Element of Honesty, but the combination of her apparently being worried made AJ the easiest one to get the truth from.

"Hey Applejack, would you mind if I take a look around the barn?" Pinkie said suspiciously, wondering what Rainbow was doing in The Apple Family's barn.

She seemed to get even more nervous, sweating even more and seem unable to stay still. She was barely able to say anything with how worried she looked.

"Yes - ah mean no - ah say, ya c-can't come in the barn." She finally stuttered out, apparently getting more nervous by the second.

"WHAT'S THE REAL REASON YOU DIDN'T COME TO GUMMY'S AFTER-PARTY!?" Pinkie screamed nearly in Applejack's face, showing just how much she didn't like lies.

If there was a one to ten scales on how nervous she was, that just made her skyrocket straight to eleven, Pinkie could see the gears in AJ's mind trying to come up with a reason why she couldn't come to the party that Pinkie would believe.

"Uh, well, you see, ah, construction! Ya, the barn needs fixing, so I had Rainbow go and pick me up some supplies, that's what was in the saddlebags she had on her." Applejack replied back, really hoping Pinkie bought it.

"Yeah, construction!" Rainbow said, as noises that sounded like ponies making electrical tool noises, which, unknowing to Pinkie, was what that was.

"Okey... dokey... Lokey...." She said backing away slowly and suspiciously, getting a relaxed sigh from AJ and whoever else was in the barn, most likely the only other four ponies who made excuses.

Almost on queue, the fake power tool noises stopped as soon as Pinkie had started to leave. It was at this point, Pinkie realized, she wasn't going to be able to interrogate any of her friends, considering that was probably them making noises in the barn. She was better off trying to trot through the Everfree Forest unharmed then to capture two Unicorns, two Pegasi, and a farmer Earth pony. So, she decided the best course would be to obtain someone else who may know what's going on but would be easy to catch, someone who they trust but would never expect her to go after. At that moment, Pinkie had a eureka moment, and she knew who to capture.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later that day, she invited Spike to the home part of the bakery where she lived, saying it was for a party. But in reality, this was just baiting Spike in. When Spike came into the bakery, becoming very confused as to why he was the only one to show up, he was still much too innocent and naïve to figure out exactly what was going on here; he noticed this didn't look anything like a party. There were no balloons, no streamers, no cakes or pastries of any kind, not even any other ponies, except the pink one that invited him there. The supposed party pony's home looked more like an interrogation room; it was dark and intimidating, the only thing indicating there was any life in the place was the occasional blink of purple eyes, which most likely belonged to Gummy. And the bright smile of satisfaction intended fully towards Spike.

"Spike! You made it! Why don't you sit down and we can get this party started." Pinkie said, in a very obviously fake happy voice, but Spike trusted the not very stable-mare, so he sat down in the chair she had gestured him to sit.

When he sat down, almost immediately, Gummy hopped off the table and grabbed Spike's tail, keeping him restrained, that's when things started getting weird. She had pushed what looked like a small spotlight on the table in front of him; this suddenly felt to Spike very much like he was under arrest, he was half right. Pinkie had briefly planned this out with Gummy earlier before she had invited Spike, not too long ago, she had gone through a mystery phase where she watched and read detective and police books and movies. From those, she learned how to get Spike to tell her what she wanted him to.

There were many different ways to make someone talk, but there were three main ones: Intimidation, bribery and violence, she was fully prepared for whichever one she had to do. She would have preferred to avoid the last one though, with all this pent-up frustration and anger she's been feeling, she had no idea if she would be able to stop herself.

"So, Spike, have the girls told you anything about me lately, or have you heard them talking about me?" Pinkie said as she pushed the lamp onto Spike's face, startling him and making him reconsider coming to this ‘party.'

At first, he thought this was a prank or something, then, he began to suspect this was something else.

"W-what do you mean, Pinkie, they talk about you all the time, like how you're so energetic, and all your parties and-" Spike tried to say quickly, not wanting to spill the beans this close, but Pinkie interrupted him.

"And how I'm annoying and stupid and so on?" Pinkie said quickly and loudly, hoping to catch Spike off guard.

Spike turned very pale at this, as he came very close to voicing his thoughts. She knew! How could Pinkie know about that? What else did she know? Pinkie noticed this and felt a bit of pride that her skills were working, she just had to give him a little push.

"SO, THEY HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT ME! I didn't know anything, but your reaction just proves it, oh, you're going to make this very...interesting." Pinkie said, not to anyone specifically, beginning to sound more and more like a villain.

Spike then had an angry, determined look on his face, he pushed back the lamp in his face and looked straight into Pinkie's crazy eyes and spoke with newfound confidence and loyalty.

"NO! I promised Twilight that no matter what anyone did to me or threatened to do, not to say what I heard her and the rest talking about."

Spike roared, putting his guard up.

Spike finished his declaration of loyalty by crossing his arms and huffing, looking away from Pinkie. At that moment, Pinkie had gotten a little angry at the innocent little dragon, but she was also proud. While it was the wrong thing to be loyal to, he was still a better Element of Loyalty then Rainbow Dash, maybe this is when bribery should come into play. She then slid a bowl of gems she got from the whole Diamond Dog incident; she had been keeping it for emergencies. When Spike saw the bowl of gems, he practically licked his lips in want; it had been a long time since he had eaten any gems, Pinkie smiled at this, being filled with delight as she realized this was going to work.

"I'll make you a deal Spike, if you tell me what I want to know, then I'll give you this whole bowl of gems." Pinkie said slowly, making sure Spike entirely understood what she was offering.

Spike had almost smiled despite his situation; he has been severely considering this offer. Despite the consequences.

"No catch?" Spike said while looking at the gems, his hunger clouding his thoughts.

Pinkie's smile seemed to grow even wider, while Spike's face seemed to get paler at this.

"No catch." Pinkie replied, making her joy known in her voice.

"What do you want to know?" Spike said guiltily, positive he would regret his decision. But, his greed for gems was making him focus on now.

Spike would later regret those words, but he would regret what those words put into action even more. Pinkie's smile faded changing to a face of absolute rage and betrayal.

"WHY HAS TWILIGHT AND THE OTHERS BEEN AVOIDING ME? WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN THE BARN? ARE YOU IN ON IT?" Pinkie suddenly screamed at Spike, releasing emotions Spike didn't even know she was capable of doing

If Pinkie hadn't soundproofed her room forever ago for party planner reasons, every single pony in Ponyville would have cringed at the sudden shrieking. Spike wasn't though, which would have knocked him backward on the chair if it wasn't for Gummy keeping him restrained. After he regained his balance and waited for his hearing to come back, he decided that he should tell her whatever she wants as soon as possible. He had no idea how full of rage and spite she was, and now that he knew just a portion of it, he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"They, they’re planning to have an intervention. A little while ago, they had decided that they all don't want to be your friends anymore. So, they've been using the barn to talk about how they're going to break it to you, and they're also going to have the intervention at the barn." Spike replied quickly and nervously, both afraid of Pinkie, and fearful of how Twilight's going to react.

Unexpectedly, her smile seemed to grow a little wider, but this turned from an insane smile to one of satisfaction.

"Aha! I knew they were up to something, now I can-" She suddenly stopped, as what Spike just said hit her. Her hair deflating and her colors dimming, she suddenly wasn't as confident as she was before.

"So, since I told you what you wanted to know, can I have those gems now?" Spike said shakily to Pinkie, wanting the reward he promised.

The broken mess that used to be Pinkie pushed the bowl towards Spike, he started eating it happily, then grabbed it and began to leave with it while still eating it. He had no idea he had just pushed Pinkie over the edge she was already leaning over, and there was no coming back from that, nor did she want to.

While Spike took his bowl of gems and trotted out, full of ignorance of what he had just done, and joy that he had gotten some delicious snacks, Pinkie was having a psychological breakdown. She had some before, but this one was by far the worst. A good portion of her life has spent her time making other ponies smile, working herself to the bone to make others happy, despite how much it affected her. Now, they think after everything she's done for them after she's sacrificed so much, that they can just do this to her? That they can just wholly abandon her and act like they were never even really friends?

"NO! AFTER EVERYTHING THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH, ALL THE THINGS SHE DID FOR THEM, ALL THE HOPE SHE MADE HER FEEL THAT SHE MIGHT TRULY BE HAPPY, THERE'S NO WAY SHE WOULD LET THEM PULL A STUNT LIKE THIS!" Pinkamena suddenly shouted angrily, her emotions running wild.

She was feeling a lot of intense emotions at that moment, rage, betrayal, grief, loneliness, but most especially, she felt heartbroken. She had a mixture of wanting to break down and cry right there or to find and beat the nearest pony she could see. Gummy had just been standing on the table this entire time, watching as his owner was having a complete meltdown. Eventually, Pinkie had started letting out some of her emotions; she had thrown chairs against the wall to the point of breaking them, then, she had begun popping all the balloons violently and started stomping on all the party decorations, it was an excellent thing that she had soundproofed the room. All the while, Pinkie was taking out her feelings on the nearby objects, surprisingly not harming Gummy in the process. She was crying the entire time, until, at some point, she just broke down and began screaming while hitting the floor.

"THOSE TRAITORS! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO ME?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?! WHAT HAPPENED TO ACCEPTING EACH OTHER AND PUTTING AWAY OUR DIFFERENCES?! SO MUCH FOR FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!" She continued letting out her emotions, both verbally and physically.

These are among the many things she had begun screaming, along with a bunch of vulgar insults towards her ex-friends, which just eventually turned into sobs. All the while, she never once stopped punching the floor, making her hooves bleed and bruise, but the pain was nothing compared to the natural emotional distress. After a while, she stopped and just sat there, no longer sobbing or hitting the floor, just sitting there, staring at her bloody hooves. Then, a smile stretched across her tear-drenched face; this wasn't one of her natural smiles though. No, while it still contained her usual amount of insanity, it was no longer good-natured. After a solid five minutes of her staring at her bloody hooves, she had been imagining what she wanted to, no, what she was going to do to them. She had got up and trotted out the door, leaving Gummy by himself, with only one thought on her mind. Revenge.

As Pinkamena trotted down the street towards the barn, ponies she passed by were giving her strange looks. It was understandable, after all, they were used to her bouncing with every step with a huge smile on her face and bouncy hair, not dull with a straight mane and emotionless face. While she did appear like she didn't have a care in the world, she was feeling lots of emotion at that moment, rage, betrayal, grief, and hate. She had no idea where she learned it; perhaps she had inherited it from her stoic parents. But, for as long as she could remember, she could always keep a straight face. She could feel so angry that she could beat a pony to death, but look as calm as if she was watching a movie.

She most definitely intended to express these feelings, especially the beating a pony to death part, more specifically, five of them. But she wasn't going to beat ALL of them to death, what's the fun in that? She was going to give each of them an unique end. After all, they were her friends; she needs to treat each of them differently. At this personal remark, she seemed to begin to smile that insane smile again, it started to reach the corners of her mouth, and all the passersby seemed to speed up at this. Sure, they wanted her to cheer up and smile, but not like this. That wasn't the usual smile she had; this was the smile of someone who wasn't mentally stable. They've only seen this smile on one pony, Nightmare Moon, the smile of pure insanity. The smile comes from someone who watches others suffer and laugh at it. This smile though, it was different than that. It seemed that this was the smile that belonged to someone with a bloodlust, someone with experience and who's taken life and enjoyed every single second of it, and was getting ready to do it again; they had no idea how right they were.

When Pinkie got there, Rainbow Dash was in front of the barn door, almost like she was guarding it. She noticed her, but didn't run this time, instead, she opened the barn door and gestured her inside. Before she went in, Pinkie had to think about this, it seemed too easy, what were they up to? They have been avoiding her all day, and now they want her in? Then Pinkie remembered what Spike said, that they had an intervention for her or something like that. She hid her smile; this was the perfect opportunity to find out exactly what it was they thought of her. So, she decided she was going to indulge them, and when they least expect it, she will strike like a tiger to its prey, the difference was, she was doing this for fun.

It seems they want to talk to the apparent annoying, stupid and immature party planner they thought she was; they were very wrong. The pony standing in front of her right now was not the Element of Laughter they had once known, but it was the last pony they would ever see again. As Pinkie trotted past Dash to get in the barn, slapping her face with her tail, Rainbow noticed Pinkie's demeanor and hairstyle were very different, almost like she was a whole different pony. Rainbow knew that they had no intention of talking to Pinkie after this, but the way she was acting right now was very different than the way she usually was. Mature, confident, smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Coincidently, this was Rainbow's type; maybe she could secretly date her? No, it's doubtful Pinkie would forgive her after what was about to transpire, but there was no harm in trying, right? Before Rainbow could think about that though, she had to be as mean as possible, to make sure her friends didn't find out she was having second thoughts. If Pinkie had known what Rainbow was thinking then, she wouldn't have waited to torture her.

When Pinkie came in, she noticed that there were six standard wooden stools in a circle, two of them were empty. The other four had, you guessed it, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and AJ. All of them had neutral looks on their faces, Rainbow Dash trotted past her, bumping into Pinkie's shoulder on her way to her stool, she had an annoyed look on her face, on like she didn't want to be here, or maybe it was directed towards her? Pinkie went to go sit down on the stool and looked at Twilight and the rest, it was a lot of awkward silence for a bit.

"Look, Pinkie, this is how it's going to work: all of us agree, for different reasons, why we can't be your friend anymore. We decided to get together and talk about how to deal with this. We also decided that the easiest way to do this was to have something like an intervention, but a little different. We're going to take turns telling you why we think you can't be our friends, then, all of us are going to leave this barn, and after that, we will no longer be your friends anymore. The only reason we would talk to you is if we have a problem only the Elements could solve, and that’s only if Derpy doesn’t work out. Since I'm the one who came up with the idea, I'll start: Pinkie, you are by far the most annoying, dense, and stupid pony I have ever met! You spend all your free time hosting parties that everyone has gotten sick of. You have a photographic memory that's better than mine, and you waste it on remembering birthdays and anniversaries! You can predict the future; you could be using to save lives and preventing disasters. Instead, you waste it! You are so useless!" Twilight started out calmly but finished with the face of a very annoyed and angry unicorn.

Twilight stopped with a very red face and started gesturing for Applejack to go next, Twilight had usually kept a very joyful and happy attitude, either she had been harboring these feelings for a while, or this was how she was. Pinkie was unfazed by this, on her way here, she already figured out they had planned to insult her during this whole thing. So, she mentally prepared herself before this, though despite this she couldn't deny that it had somewhat affected her.

"Sugarcube, now don't get me wrong, you're ah sweet pony with ah kind heart, but you are mighty annoying, and you never know when you're not wanted, and you always bother me when I'm working. You're also a horrible influence on muh little sister Apple Bloom, If it weren't for you, she probably wouldn't be doing all the dangerous stuff she has been doing for her cutie mark! She would be a normal filly with an average life, not running around doing stupid things thinking she's going to get her cutie mark for it! You are a horrible influence on any filly or colt you've ever met or ever will meet! " Like Twilight, AJ had started out calmly. But, instead of stopping with an angry face, she had a much more...insulted look on.

Pinkie had... conflicting emotions about what AJ had said, on one hoof she was partial to blame for the CMC or at least the old Pinkie was, while on the left hoof this still hurt her as she hasn't been able to kill off the old Pinkie thoroughly, so these feelings remained there.

"Darling, I agree with a lot of what they're saying. You always invade someone's privacy and their personal space, you never even try to take care of your hygiene. I have to admit, what you did with your hair makes me a little jealous, but if you spruce yourself up a little, maybe you would get a stallion one day, but you won't if you stay the way you are. You don't have any shame or decency, and you always bother me, whether I'm working or not. Also, your parties are so childlike; you throw parties only a foal would like. When you learn how to throw adult parties, maybe I could tolerate you, but the way you are now you're so childish and immature! You're the most intolerable pony I have ever met!" Rarity started out angrily, ending with a disgusted face that very much suited her.

Pinkie had to hold back a giggle at Rarity's pathetic attempt at an insult, getting a look from Twilight that said ' Do you think this is funny?!' Before Twilight can put that expression into words, Rarity had put her hoof on her shoulder and then gestured towards Fluttershy. The reason Pinkie had almost laughed is that what Rarity said is the opposite of how Pinkie was now; it was hilarious how she thought that Pinkie was still like that. Though she couldn't ignore the part of her that still felt sadness and pain from Rarity's words, she wouldn't show it, but she had no idea how much longer she could hold off these feelings before it started affecting her if it hadn't already.

"Pinkie, you're a nice pony, you spend all your time planning parties for other ponies to make them happy, and I don't think that's a waste. You always offer to help me when I need it, but you're much too loud and social for my liking, you always invade my privacy and my personal space, and you always scare me and my animals. You always talk to me, and your parties take away time I could be spending with my animals. While it's true, other ponies do the same; you do much more often than them. I think it would be better if we just stopped being friends, I appreciate all the hard work you've done, but your personality and mine are just much too different." She finished the same way she started, with a smile.

Instead of a giggle, this time Pinkie had to hold back a sob. Her feelings had been tolerable so far, but if the Element of Kindness is your best friend, and even she insults you, it's going to be pretty emotionally devastating. Luckily, no pony noticed, that, or nopony cared. Pinkie was hurting on the inside, but she was determined to make sure they didn't see it. So, she wiped her eyes on her forehoof, claiming there was something stuck in her eye and gestured them to go on.

"Dash, you're up, I know that you wanted to do this, but could you, by any chance, try to be at least a little nice about it?" Fluttershy said quietly, her tone not changing in the slightest.

Rainbow looked at her and smiled; she probably should have assumed she would try something like this. Knowing Fluttershy, she's kind to everyone, even people who don't deserve it.

"Okay, Flutters, I'll try to go easy on her, no promises though." She said with a smile on her face, that was then replaced with an annoyed look when her face turned to Pinkamena, she still looked beautiful.

No matter how much Pinkamena tried to deny it or ignore it, it's true, that she loves Rainbow Dash, despite it being the old Pinkie's feelings. She loved her like she used to enjoy partying, maybe even a little more. Pinkie had no idea if she ever got the signs she was sending her, not that it seemed to matter.

Honestly, it was probably better if she didn't. Because if she did, and she uses that against her. No, even if she didn't. Just her telling her she can't be her friend anymore, that their relationship will be strictly business, that she'll never get to say to her that she loves her or what she would do for her, that would push Pinkie over the edge she's already falling off of. But, she is just barely clinging on, right now, it was possible to come back from this, but they wouldn't ever let her forget. Before Pinkie could continue her inner monologue, the cyan Pegasus started to speak.

"Pinkie, we have spent more time together than anyone else here, we have probably bonded more than anypony else here." Rainbow began, her voice and face remaining neutral.

Pinkie's heart skipped a beat at this, her hair poofed up a little. Was she considering changing her mind?

"Which makes it all the easier to get rid of you. Pinkie, sometimes you are unbearable, not only do you not know when you're not wanted, but you also don't know when to stop. You always bother me, and you always take everything too far, you just don't know when to stop! You kept bugging me even when I'm direct with how much I don't want to hang out with you, then that's when I realized something. You have feelings for me, we all figured this out and concluded that is why you bother me the most.

It sickens me Pinkie that you would think that of me, that you believe that someone like me: smart, brave, excellent, and responsible. With someone like you: stupid, fearful, lame, and carefree. Pinkie, I despise you, I just tolerated you because we needed you since you were one of the Elements, but Twilight has been doing some research, like the egghead that she is, and found that it's possible to find a replacement. So, I'm going to stop indulging you and tell you the truth. I will never like you; I will never be your friend, I will never even.

Consider dating you; you're not even my type. Most of all, I will never, EVER love you!" Rainbow finished with a strange look on her face; it wasn't anger or disgust, it was something more intense. But much more than any of the others had expressed, it was resent.

NO! NO! NO! This is too much I can't take this; it hurts too much, is what Pinkamena was thinking then, and what her face was most likely expressing. At first, she thought that the emotions weren't affecting her that much, that she would be able to keep composure until she left. Then, Rainbow did what she did, and the dam of tears broke. All the feelings from the old Pinkie began to pour out of her like rain from the sky; the pain was just too much for her to handle. At first, she thought maybe Rainbow was having a change of heart, but she was just baiting her in. Pinkie was crying at this point, she could have held it back until the end, but all the pain just kept piling up, and it just became impossible to ignore.

She could have taken the first four, but what Rainbow Dash did just punch a crack in her emotional dam, and that set all the other feelings in motion. The other five ponies started to leave, abandoning Pinkie to cry to herself. While they were still going, talking with each other like nothing had happened, Pinkie had begun to think hysterically, this was just a prank, right? No, this wasn't a prank, even Pinkie wouldn't go this far with a joke.

How could they do this? After everything they've been through, they want just to stop being her friend? Then, something inside Pinkie snapped, she had remembered all the good times they had had together, and how much it hurt her that they were all most likely faking it. The funny part is, they weren't the only ones putting up an act. For as long as Pinkie could remember, she's always had the urge to kill, to torture, to control life and death in her hoof's, to play god. She's just had a lot of experience hiding it, it might be because she was the literal embodiment of Laughter, but ever since she became an Element of Harmony, things have been easier.

Before she had felt so cold inside, so freezing. She was emotionally dead, she didn't care if she lived or died, or even if she would get arrested for murder, she had wanted to kill somepony, anypony. Then, her life changed the day when she saw the Sonic Rainboom; she had experienced her first emotion that day, joy. Suddenly, Pinkie took over, and everything happened, but now things were entirely different. She's wanted to kill them for the longest time, she couldn't though, because they were her friends, but now they're just the ponies who broke her again.

They think they can make her feel alive again just to kill her like this? They believe they can betray her like this and get away with it? They think they can stop her from ruining their pathetic lives? They think they can run from Pinkamena Diane Pie? No, she wouldn't let them.

SHE WOULDN'T LET THEM! Pinkamena ran towards them and picked up a stool in her mouth, it was heavy, but she didn't care. All this rage they've made her feel, all this hate and spite she has pent up, she just had to release it on somepony, and who better than the ponies who she used to think cared about her?

While they were still leaving, she hit Applejack over the back of the head with the stool, though she didn't look like it, Pinkie was quite strong. All those years at the rock farm did make her strong, despite her not having been there for years, the muscle memory was still there, adrenaline and rage just made it worse for poor Applejack, if it weren't for her body mass due to her farm work, it would've killed her. What Pinkamena didn't know, was that hitting the wooden stool over AJ's head had knocked her unconscious, also breaking the stool. In the shock of everypony not expecting her to attack, Pinkamena tackled Twilight, hitting her head against the wall, making her dazed and temporarily unable to do magic. She took this chance to put her mouth around her horn and snap it off. Twilight screamed but was silenced with a hoof into her face, making her lose a few teeth. As Pinkamena stood on her hind legs, staring down at Twilight, Pinkamena noticed she had an insane smile on her face; she could tell because she could see her reflection in Twilight's eyes, though, it was hard to say with all the blood and tears.

"Pinkie, please stop, I'm sorry." Twilight looked up at Pinkie pleadingly, hoping she might be able to convince her not to kill her.

Her smile just grew wider at that. As her eyes dilated to unimaginable levels, and her head rose more as she spoke.

"Pinkies already dead," Pinkamena replied coldly, shattering the small hope in Twilight's heart.

The life left Twilight's eyes as her horn entered her heart, shame Pinkamena couldn't see her reflection anymore, due to the lack of life in her eyes.

Pinkamena turned around and looked at AJ, who was starting to wake up. She just crossed a line; there was no coming back from murder, she might as well have some fun. So, she trotted over to the Earth ponies unconscious body, and she started beating her. It felt perfect, beating her to a bloody pulp, all that pent-up rage was finally starting to be released. Twilight's death was too quick, too painless. This was precisely what these ponies deserved, and Pinkamena FULLY intended to make all of their deaths painful in there own unique way.

"YOU STUPID LITTLE BITCH! ME, A BAD INFLUENCE?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO LETS HER DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS YOU INCEST, HYPOCRITE, PIECE OF HILLBILLY TRASH!" She spouted as her hits started to become more violent and her insults more vulgar, and she didn't stop for a long time, or at least, what felt like a long time.

She hit her until she couldn't feel either one of her hoof's anymore, there was just so much blood on her hoof's now. It was giving her such a feeling, and she couldn't help but smile wider. She loved every single second of it. By this point, AJ's head was nothing more but a mess of blood, brains, and bone, her body wasn't much better, covered in bruises and such. She wanted to continue beating her, despite her being dead awhile ago, but, she had three other guests to entertain. A certain unicorn was very eager.

Rarity used her magic to pick up a stool and threw it at Pinkamena.

"DIE, YOU MURDERER!" She screamed at her with a look of disgust and malice on her face; she wanted to kill her, she was going to try.

Pinkamena was caught slightly off guard, but not enough to get hit. She dove under the stool and towards Rarity, tackling her to the ground and was now on top of her. Rarity started to scream and push her.

"GET OFF ME YOU MONSTER!" Rarity screamed at Pinkamena, fighting with every amount of strength she could.

"What's wrong, Rarity? Not used to being on the bottom?" Pinkamena replied back, though, Rarity probably didn't hear her with the constant screaming and insults.

She screamed and insulted Pinkamena, trying to push her off, but Pinkamena wasn't going to give. So, she bit off her horn; she only did it fast with Twilight because she wanted them to see she was serious. She was going to kill Rarity slowly, just in a different way. Pinkamena decided to carve out her eyes with her own horn, and this made her scream louder. She eventually got feeling back in her hoofs; it felt weird to move them without touching them.

"Calm down, Rarity, here, have something to eat to make you feel better, it always worked for me," Pinkamena said as she looked into Rarity's eye sockets, which were currently flowing with blood.

Pinkie's smile resembled the smile she had when she threw her first party, except this time it was because she was shoving eyeballs down Rarity's throat, not the first time she's had balls in her mouth. She tried to bite the sadistic pony on top of her, but she was too fast. Then, Pinkamena watched as she choked on her eyes.

"I feel like there's a pun here, but I just don't SEE it, HA! I'm too funny." Pinkamena howled with laughter at her joke, though she was the only one who seemed even to notice it.

Before she could continue torturing her precious little marshmallow, she had choked on her eyes.

"Strange, I thought she was good at choking, with all the 'sessions' I trotted in on with a lot of her clients. Aw well, looks like I will have to move on to my nex-."

Before Pinkamena could get off of Rarity and go toward the still whimpering yellow Pegasus, Rainbow Dash had flown straight into Pinkamena, knocking her over with Dash on top.

"Wow, Dashie, I knew you would want to be on top, but this is cra-."

Before she could finish her sentence, Rainbow hit her in the face; she probably should have expected that. Then, she tried again, but Pinkamena expected this, so she used this opportunity to bite her hoof and then kick her to the side, then, she flipped her over with Pinkamena on top.

"Well, Dash, it looks like I'm on top this time, get used to it!" Pinkamena said as she began her assault on Rainbow Dash.

She broke Rainbow's left leg and continued to break the rest of her limbs. She was pretty tough; she didn't even scream until her wings broke, a moan here or a grunt there, but never any screaming until the wings. Then, Pinkamena forced her head into the ground, so only her muzzle and her eyes were above ground, she didn't want her dead, not yet. She wanted her to be forced to watch as she tortured the most innocent pony left, so Pinkamena bit off her eyelids so she can't close her eyes. She then continued to move forward towards Fluttershy, who was trying to sneak away, thinking maybe she could get away and find help, she wasn't.

After putting Dash where she wouldn't go anywhere, Pinkamena started trotting towards Fluttershy. She didn't intend to torture her, much. She was the one who was nicest to her after all; she was just going to use Rarity's horn to cut off her wings, it was pretty hard since the horn wasn't very strong or sharp. She knew she could have just ripped it off, but that would have been much too fast for her liking. Eventually, it cut through, and she was LOUD, she was screaming and crying the whole time. Dash probably would have too, if her mouth weren't full of dirt from how far Pinkamena shoved her muzzle into the ground, she could still breathe and cry though. Pinkamena then just cut off her head, slowly. It was WAY harder than the wings because it was thicker and tougher. But, it finally came off with the sick noise of flesh ripped from bone, this gave Pinkamena an immense pleasure she's ever felt.

Then she brought over her head to Rainbow and put it right in front of her, so she couldn't see what she was doing and was stuck looking into Fluttershy's cold lifeless dead eyes. Then, she had a thought, as Dash was crying her eyes out at seeing her foal hood friend’s decapitated head in front of her, Pinkamena went to look for the saddlebags she had seen Dash bring to the barn earlier that day. Eventually, she found the bags behind a stack of hay, she wasn't sure what they intended to do with this stuff, but she didn't think they would need it anymore. She found exactly what it was she would need for her specific punishment for her favorite little Pegasus, a roll of duct tape.

"MHHHHHHMMMMMHHHMMM!!!" Rainbow had suddenly let out a series of screaming and other unintelligible noises, due to her mouth being underground, this had startled Pinkamena causing her to drop the duct tape.

What Pinkamena didn't know is that she had accidentally left Fluttershy's head at an angle to where it was slowly tipping forward, this had eventually lead to the head colliding with Rainbows half underground one. It would have looked quite romantic if there was a body under that head.

"Damn it, Dash! I was hoping to be the one to get your first kiss, not Fluttershy! I mean, I always figured you had feelings for her and that you would probably have gone for the first kiss, but I guess her losing her body didn't stop you. I guess you could say she got AHEAD of me!" Pinkamena made another pun, which, once again, resulted in her being the only one to laugh.

Despite Pinkamena losing all her sanity, the part of her that still makes terrible puns never did or will die. She then bent down and picked up the roll of duct tape she had dropped from the sudden outburst, and placed it on a nearby crate of apples. Then, she went over to both Rarity and Twilight's bodies and pulled out both of their severed horns, coming out with a similar popping sound as Fluttershy's head coming off, but not nearly the same amount of pleasure. She then laid both the horns beside the roll of duct tape; then she went over to one of the other apple crates looking for a loose board, she found one.

It wasn't very noticeable unless you paid attention, but it was precisely what Pinkamena was looking for. She used her teeth to pull the board out as much as she could before it bent at an angle to where it was sticking horizontally from the crate. Then she turned around and kicked it with all her might, snapping it off almost instantly, then picked it up and put it with the rest of the things. Pinkamena had gotten a nearby hammer and put it into her mouth, which she used to get the tip of Rarity's horn off, making it look like somepony had broken their horns. She then taped the broken horn to the bottom of Twilight’s, and taped that to the piece of wood, creating a makeshift spear, with horns. The reason behind this is because she wanted to penetrate through both Fluttershy's head and Rainbows at the same time, she could try as much as she would want to, she couldn't do that with just one horn. She needed to be able to apply as much pressure as possible, and now she could.

She put the spear in her mouth and began to move over to the now silent, broken, rainbow Pegasus, and her friends decapitated head. Rainbow had stopped crying while Pinkamena was making her 'special' toy, most likely she finally realized that crying wasn't going to get her anything except dirt in her mouth, or maybe she just ran out of energy and her throat hurt from all that constant screaming. However, before she had begun to use the tool for the punishment she intended, she sat it behind Flutter's head and trotted over to Rainbow and just stared, for the longest time she just stared. Beautiful, that's the first thought that came to Pinkamena's mind whenever she saw the Pegasus she fell in love with, despite her not being the same Pinkie that fell in love with her, that thought still hasn't changed. Rainbow stared back with those beautiful, velvet eyes full of hate and malice, but that did nothing but turn Pinkamena on.

"You know, Rainbow Dash, they say in a situation like this, getting killed first is the worst thing that could happen to you, but that's wrong. Watching as all the ponies, you love and care for as they’re ripped apart in front of you by someone you used to call a friend. Then being killed last knowing it won't matter in the slightest whether or not said murder will be caught. Because even if by some miracle I do get caught by guards right now, you'll have to live the rest of your life knowing you couldn't do a single thing as you watched the pony that's obsessed with you brutally kill all of your friends. That's not why I left you for last though. No, you see, I was hoping maybe you would join me." Pinkamena began to say to Rainbow Dash, being serious for the first time through her rampage.

Rainbow's eyes seemed to expand out of surprise as much as Pinkamena's eyes dilated out of pleasure.

"Because I see insanity as... a special kind of pleasure, it's a feeling you have to experience to understand it, but I'll try to describe it to you. It feels like you're experiencing every single emotion there is at once, but at the same time, you feel empty. It feels like you have nothing to lose like you just don't have a single care in the world. Like you're out of touch with reality, and your mind is in a whole different place. Like you have all the power you could want, but there's nothing to do with it.

Insanity is the most pleasurable feeling there is, but it's also the hardest feeling to get. Some ponies are born with it; others obtain through trauma. Though there are the sporadic cases in which the pony born with it experiences a traumatic event, creating the most beautiful form of insanity, I am one of those. I had fully intended to kill you first before I killed the rest, then this idea came to my mind. If I were genuinely going to release myself onto Equestria with nothing else to do now, then I would like to have a partner in crime.

I've only ever encountered one other pony who was born with it and believe me; she won't want to work with me. So, what do you say, Dashie? Did watching me kill all your friends brutally traumatize you enough to want to help me, no, us. Become the most evil that's come to Equestria in over a thousand years? Or do I have to kill you too?"

Pinkamena bit down on Rainbow's hair and pulled her head out of the ground, leaving it on the ground waiting for an answer.

"Well?! I'm waiting."

After a small coughing fit, Rainbow had said something, but it just came out as an incomprehensible mumble. Pinkamena had leaned down to her, putting her ear almost directly to her muzzle.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I don't speak mumble."

"I said, BUCK YOU!"

Dash then head-butted her in the face, knocking her on her back with a bleeding nose. She then got up and wiped the blood of her muzzle. She walked over to Rainbow and hit her in the face, and then shoving her head back in the hole she pulled her out from, in the same position as before, allowing enough to see and breath.

"In the face of the pony that killed all of your friends, broke all your limbs plus wings, and is completely insane. You head-butt them when they offer you a way out, that's insane, just not the insane I'm looking for. What a shame, having a Pegasus would have been useful. Well, there would have been some setbacks, like how only the ones that act like their civilized go unnoticed and yet be as you would put it 'bonkers,' it's because we've had years of experience. You, on the other hand, would have gone insane due to trauma, so you wouldn't have any idea how to deal with it or how to make it seem like you're normal.

I would have had to keep you hidden until you learned how to act, and I would have to teach you what I know. Ughh! It's just this whole frustrating process I'm not going to have to deal with because I'm going to kill you. Before I do though, I want to tell you I'm incredibly disappointed in you, Dash, I expected better." Pinkamena began once again, seeming to lose the seriousness she had completely.

Pinkamena then walked over to where she left the spear and put it back in her mouth. She then got back in her previous position of the spear pointed towards the back of Fluttershy's head, though, this time, she had bloodlust sparked determination in her eyes. She pulled her head back, almost like she was playing a game of golf, then, she dropped her head quickly pushing the horn-spear full force through the already decapitated head.

The reason she had done this is because she wanted to be able to put enough pressure into the spear to the point where it penetrated through Fluttershy's head and straight into Dash, it worked. With Fluttershy's head angled to where it was right on top of Dash, it made penetrating through both of them easier. It went through her head with ease, though when it got to Dash's head, it had problems. It didn't go all the way out of Flutter's head, so, it was just barely poking the area between her beautiful velvet eyes of hers. Pinkamena had turned around and lifted up her hind legs, preparing to push it through the rest of the way.

"Goodbye, Rainbow Dash."

She kicked the end of the piece of wood that was sticking out of the back of Fluttershy's head, pushing through Rainbow's skin and skull, puncturing her brain and killing her. Any slight amount of sanity Pinkie still had left, was completely gone the second she kicked that wood. She walked over to her best friend's body and smiled, thinking of a great pun.

"Hey , Dash, there's a bunch of jokes I could say, but I'll SPEAR you the details."

She had started laughing at that one, for a very long time. It got to the point to where she fell onto the floor beside Rainbow's body, but in the opposite direction, almost immediately she began to cry, but never stopped laughing. She just laid there crying and laughing for a long time; it wasn't about the pun, these weren't tears of happiness, these were tears of pain.

"G-giggle at the ghosties, snorkel at the spookies, chortle at the kookies. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

Her laughing got louder and sounded more forced, while her crying also got louder but was very much real. Ever since Pinkamena was on the rock farm, she had always heard a voice apparently nopony else could hear, even after the Sonic Rainboom it only talked when she was alone. She could still feel it there though, watching everything she does and thinks, much like a stalker, but in her head and only she knows about. Then, she became the Element of Laughter, and that changed everything, maybe it cleansed her or restored her sanity? She had never really figured it out, but she knew it had never really left. For the first time in a long time, it spoke, not even during her rampage did it so much as whisper, but now, when she lost almost every scrap of sanity, it was there. It only said one sentence, but it was enough to destroy Pinkamena completely.

*How do you giggle at the ghostie, when you are the ghostie?*

She finally stopped crying and laughing, realizing the gravity of everything that just happened, and that realization came with guilt, lots of guilt. She had just killed her friends! Not just that, but she hadn't even created herself an alibi, everypony saw her go towards the barn. Plus, she had killed the star pupil of Princess Celestia herself, there was no way she wasn't going to get caught! Most of all, she felt pain, deep emotional pain, the kind of pain that even if by some miracle, she did survive, she would be stuck with it for the rest of her life. She wanted to kill herself, she truly did. At that moment, probably for the rest of her life, she honestly wanted to die. That was for later though, right now, she was tired, so very tired. Maybe she could just take a short nap, and when she wakes up, if she isn't behind bars, then she'll kill herself, but first, a nap. Pinkamena turned on her side and closed her tear-drenched eyes and fell asleep.

Chapter Two: Rebirth Requires Death.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this up, but I just wanted it to be as close to perfect as possible. Thank you for reading and please enjoy! Also, feel free to tell me if you spot any errors that aren't personnel preferences, such as grammar, spelling, or left off letters. And check out my other stories if you enjoy this one!

Celestia was sitting on her throne, reading through scrolls like any other day in the palace. Some scrolls are from other cities that are asking for help, sometimes financial assistance, but most of the time, it's ponies wanting her there for a special event like a wedding or a funeral. Money wasn’t usually a problem, Celestia had tons of bits in the royal treasury, among other things. But she couldn’t just give out money to every city that requested it, or she would have been broke long ago. She only gave it too cites that needed it or for a good reason, like something, needs to be repaired or something needs to be built. And as for her visiting places, she merely just couldn’t up and leave the castle whenever she wanted. Back in the old days, she could go and visit or go and be there for a wedding or a funeral, but with all the recent events, it was just too dangerous to leave. Things like the return of Nightmare Moon, who was now Luna, the changelings attacking Canterlot, the return of King Sombra and The Crystal Empire, who knows what could happen next.

Ever since recent events, Celestia has to be cautious, even in her free time. But, what always made Celestia smile was the occasional friendship letter from Twilight or her friends, seeing her star pupil grow up and go through life, making friends and becoming an all around good pony always made her smile. It wouldn’t be much longer now until Celestia put her through the test, and she will no doubt pass it, becoming an Alicorn, and one of the best princesses Equestria has seen in a long time. Then Celestia had a thought, almost like a realization.

"Wait, what would she be the princess of?” Celestia spoke softly to herself, as not even the guards were around at this time of night.

They were all either asleep or on patrol in the halls. Celestia had never thought of this before, she was very good at planning in battle or such, but she was never good with these kind of things. She had been too busy with recent events to put much thought into it really; maybe she could be the princess of The Crystal Empire? No, that would be too big of a responsibility for a beginner, she’ll just assign Cadence to that, her and Shining Armor have more experience. Maybe she could appoint her to watch over the twilight? It’s already in her name so that it would fit pretty well. No, it’s too small of a job, as twilight is such a short time, she would have almost nothing to do.

“I can’t think of anything; maybe Luna will kn-“ Celestia began again, her habit of talking to herself becoming apparent.

Almost as if on cue, Luna teleported in front of Celestia, this slightly startled her as nopony had done this for awhile. Celestia immediately noticed Luna’s terrified expression and features, something she hasn’t seen since Luna heard that The Crystal Empire had returned. Her pupils were dilated and moving back and forth as if she was being chased by a murder. She was sweating profusely all over her body, from head to hoof. If it weren't for Alicorns not being able to get sick, Celestia would have assumed she had some horrible disease, but that was not the case. Celestia had a worried look on her face, an expression she doesn’t usually use.

“Luna? Are you ok?” Celestia said slowly, her voice full of worry for her sister.

Luna had been breathing heavily as soon as she came in, so it took a few minutes for her to catch her breath and speak, but even when she did, her voice was very shaky and wavering.

“S-sister? Do you remember when we made a rule that when I enter a ponies dream, that I’m not supposed to tell anypony about it, not even thou?” Luna finally said, her voice shaky and slow, something that seriously worried Celestia.

This made Celestia’s face scrunch up in confusion and worry, a very long time ago, long before Luna was banned to the moon. Luna started to go into the dreams of ponies at night, hoping to help them with their problems maybe or give advice, Celestia had given her a rule. Under no circumstances, should Luna tell anypony what she may have seen in the dreams of the pony she visited that night, not even Celestia. Celestia had few personnel rules of her own, one of them was never to invade a ponies privacy. If Luna had told her the dream of a pony, she would be doing just that.

“Yes I do, why do you ask?” Celestia replies, her voice now carrying curiosity.

“I think thou should make an exception for this one sister, I’ve never encountered something like this before, and I need thine help.”

“Luna, you know the rule. Under no circumstance should y-“

“Sister! It’s one of The Elements of Harmony! Laughter, to be specific. I promise this will be the only time, thou really need to see this.”

Celestia didn’t know how to feel when the rule was made, Celestia and Luna were The Elements of Harmony. But, then times changed, and now there were six bearers of harmony, meaning there were six ponies that had the responsibility to use them when needed. If one of them was having mental problems, and if these issues persisted when the elements needed to be used...it would be bad. Should she make an exception? If she didn’t, she would have to take the risk that the next time there was a problem or a villain, that because she refused to act because of a personal rule, the elements couldn’t be used.

“Fine, but I-“

Before Celestia could finish her sentence, Luna had powered up her horn and shot a bright beam of magic, hitting Celestia’s horn. This was a spell only Alicorns were capable of doing, it was kind of like telepathy, except with memories instead of thoughts. It could transfer a memory from a point in time, or even dreams. But with Luna, it could transfer other ponies dreams, or nightmares.

Betrayal, murder, insanity, pain, bloodlust, these are the things Celestia felt from the dream, along with all the images. In all of Celestia’s time of ruling, all the battles and villains she’s been in and encountered, never once did she experience something like this. Not even Luna when she was Nightmare Moon was like this, what made it worse was Celestia knew this pony, no, this monster.

“I’m sorry, Tia, but I had to do it before thou changed thine mind.”

Celestia remained silent, the scroll she had been reading fell to the ground from lack of concentration to it, probably happened when Luna hit her with that spell. Her face remaining emotionless, no anger or sadness, not even her eyes giving way to any indication that she felt anything at that moment. This scared Luna, as she hasn’t seen that look on her sister’s face for over a millennium.

“Sister?” Luna asked, her now being the worried one.

“Luna, I want you to go to your room and rest. I’m going to go through the rest of these scrolls. When all the guards are back, I’m going to send Twilight a letter, and then I’m going to have an escort get both Twilight and Pinkie when I do, I’ll call you, understand?” Celestia said with a voice that matched her face, emotionless.

While Luna wanted to stay, she didn’t want to be alone with those memories. She also didn’t want to stand by and let Celestia do everything; she wanted to help solve this problem, she’s had more experience with this stuff, she should help.

“But, sister I- “

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?”

Celestia’s voice boomed through the room, making Luna flinch at the sudden loud noise. She’s never heard Celestia use her Royal Canterlot Voice before; it was twice as loud as Luna’s and much more intimidating. If Celestia hadn’t made the room soundproof, every guard in the palace would have heard it, maybe even more.

“Yes, Tia.”

Luna turned around and opened the doors, leaving the room with her head hung down in defeat and fear. The second the sound of the oversize doors shutting filled the room, a sob escaped Celestia’s mouth. She could feel it, while she was experiencing the memories, she could feel that familiar presence. She thought they were all dead, but obviously, they weren’t. She couldn’t tell which one it was, but she knew that feeling. Either Luna didn’t feel it or didn’t pay attention to it, but either way, she must never speak about what happened all that time ago, that horrible ordeal with them.

Celestia stopped her erratic thinking and quiet sobbing, she went back to reading through all the scrolls like before, except this time with haste. This was going to be a horrible day for a lot of ponies, and she wanted to get through it as soon as possible while trying to ignore those horrible memories.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Gummy, get off my chest.”

Pinkamena had just woken up to find a certain alligator had decided to get on top of her and take a nap while she was asleep, he had made a habit of this lately, and it was very annoying whenever she woke up. He was in a cuddled up circle position when he fell asleep; this would have made her think it was cute if she cared about that kind of stuff anymore. When he heard his owner's voice, Gummy raised his head and opened his eyes, he looked at her and flicked out his tongue, touching the tip of her muzzle. Which she wiped off with the blanket she had kicked off in her sleep, probably either from being too hot or just reflex from all the countless nights of sweating.

“You know, if you weren’t such a good pet, I would have killed you by now, right?”

That was when Gummy decided to get off her chest and go nap elsewhere, elsewhere being his little makeshift bed Pinkamena had made out of a pillow and a blanket. She didn’t make it because she wanted to be nice or anything, she just did it so he’d stop sleeping on her, which didn’t work.

Pinkamena halfway got off her bed, with her bottom legs on the floor, but her top still on the bed. She really wanted to stay in bed today, but she had the stuff to do. She looked at the alarm clock she had recently gotten, it used to be a bright pink alarm clock with cake and balloons for numbers. She got rid of that, along with the other party related things she got rid of when she decided to quit partying, except for all the stuff she had hidden around Ponyville. She had long forgotten where those were, she simply just didn’t care for them or partying anymore.

Partying just didn’t make her feel alive anymore, a lot of things didn't make her feel alive anymore. The only thing that’s made her feel alive in a long time was when she killed those changelings, that made her feel happier than any party ever did. The clock had read it was about ten, which meant she had about twenty minutes before Sugarcube Corner opened and her first shift started, which didn’t end until three. The only reason she worked there was because she needed a job, also because she still lived there, she even occasionally watched Pound and Pumpkin whenever she had nothing better to do.

Her room was pretty much the same minus all the party stuff, the door to her room was almost directly in front of her bed, which was an average wooden bed with a blue cover and white pillow. With the door to the bathroom being to the far left of the entrance, and Gummy’s makeshift bed in the corner beside his food and water bowl.

“Shame I woke up; it was just getting to the good part.”

She was referring to the nightmares she’s had lately, though they’re more like dreams now. They had started the night after her birthday party, she had them before when she was younger, but these were with her friends and not her family. It had gotten to the point to where they just simply didn’t bother her anymore, in fact, they bring her pleasure. She would never act on these dreams. Well, no, she would, just not for the same reason or the same way. She decided to stop being lazy and get the day over with, she got up with a groggy groan and started to trot over to the bathroom.

It was a pretty average bathroom; it had a bathtub directly opposite of the door, which had a shower head on top and curtains used to slide across. To the left is a simple sink with a mirror above it, which contains the usual hygienic stuff, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a hairbrush, floss, and some medicine that she used to take. There was a toilet beside the sink with a towel right above it. A good percent of the reason why she’s so different is that she stopped taking them, she had gotten all of it from Zecora in an attempt to stop the nightmares, it didn’t work. She wasn’t even going to try to pronounce most of it; she just knew what they were for. Some of it was for Schizophrenia, some of it was for REM sleep, there was even some that were trying to stop them all together, Prazosin, Clonazepam, and a bunch of other stuff. The only reason she could pronounce these is that Zecora had said them many times when handing them to her, she never figured out why.

None of it worked, Zecora said that the only reason she could think of as to why it didn’t work is that it was either magic or some seriously bucked up shit. She didn’t say any of that exactly, but that’s what she got from it. She also said that if she really wanted the dreams to stop, then to get therapy, but she didn’t. She didn’t want everypony to think she was crazy or anything like that; it would cause too many problems. So, she decided to try to deal with it herself; it didn’t turn out well.

After doing her morning cleaning, Pinkamena had gone down the stairs that lead to the kitchen in the bakery. Mrs. Cake was putting a bowl of batter in the oven, probably making a cake. Mr. Cake was probably upstairs taking care of the foals. The store was still empty and quiet, as there was still about five minutes before the place opens.

“Oh! Good morning, Pinkie! How did you sleep?” Mrs. Cake said to Pinkamena, her voice cheerful and overall happy.

“Fine, I’m going to go ahead and start my shift, tell me if you need anything.” Pinkie replied, making it obvious just how large the gap between her personality now, and her personality then was.

Mrs. Cake went back to working in the kitchen, Pinkamena went to the entrance to the bakery, which was a door with a bell and an open/close sign on it, which was currently facing open to her. She flipped it over, so the sign was facing closed in her direction, meaning the shop was now open. Which meant another day of pretending to be a happy bouncy bimbo for five hours.

“Time to start another shitty day.” Pinkamena whispered to herself, nopony hearing her, she’s learned how to be very quiet. It was necessary, if anypony heard the things she said to herself, she would have a lot of problems and a lot of things to explain.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Finally, Mrs. Cake! My shifts over so I’m going out!” Pinkamena nearly screamed in satisfaction, glad she doesn't have to deal with other ponies anymore.

“Ok, don’t stay out too late.” Mrs. Cake replied, knowing full well that Pinkamena was an adult, and that she should let her do whatever she wanted to.

Pinkamena went out the back door in the kitchen of the bakery, leaving the shop up to the Cakes like she usually did at the end of her shift. At first, ponies and the Cakes thought it was strange, as always after her shift; she would either host a party, prepare a party, join in on a party, or hang out with her friends. But, ever since she stopped doing party related things, which everypony eventually caught on to, she always went outside for the rest of the day, nopony questions it as she can do as she pleases, also because something about her seems to frighten most ponies. Nopony except her knows where it is she always disappears to, not even Twilight knows, as back when she used to follow her to find out why she changed so much, she somehow always managed to lose her.

Eventually, Twilight got her answer, but it wasn’t the one she was expecting or wanted, but it was enough to get her off Pinkamena’s trail, and that’s all she cared about. They would never have anticipated where it was she was going daily, it was too dangerous to be going wandering in and exploring, due to all the plant life, animal life, and all the stuff that’s unknown and just plain bizarre, The Everfree Forest. She didn’t go there for any of those things; she tried to avoid them as much as possible.

While she could, maybe, on a good day, take one timberwolf, but not if they’re in a pack. She wasn’t suicidal; she knew her rock farmer/ baker strength and her strange natural ability to fight well could only take her so far. It was weird how that worked, she hadn’t been in many fights in her lifetime, but the few she had been in had seemed natural to her. She never once studied the pony body or fighting techniques, but when she had gotten into her first fight, which was more like a school scuffle. She could dodge him very easily; his name was Moonlight Star. He was a very short-fused colt, as almost anything negative towards him set him off, he had a dark blue mane with a purple coat and green eyes. At the time, he didn’t have a cutie mark, which was part of the reason the fight started.

She had made a comment which was supposed to be a joke, but from his point of view, she could understand why it would seem like an insult. She had said that it would have been funny if he had gotten a purple cutie mark and it matched his coat, so it would blend in and make it seem like he didn’t even have one. This sparked a fight; filly Pinkie was taught to avoid hurting other ponies, so she just kept dodging and trying to get Moonlight to stop attacking her, while everypony else around them was encouraging it.

Pinkie slipped on a nearby rock, and that caused her to get hit by him, this made her feel something, something she had never felt before, rage. She got up and looked at him with such a face full of menace it made him whimper, she had a strong urge to hurt Moonlight and hurt him she did. She head-butted him in the face, which sent him tumbling back. She took this moment to kick his front legs, knocking him on his side. Then she kicked him, over and over again, until the teacher stopped her. Ever since then, she tried her hardest to not get into any more fights, but sometimes things just happen.

Somehow she’s gotten through every fight without seriously hurting the other pony, but that was the old Pinkie, things were different now. Now, she wouldn't be able to hold herself back, because now, she doesn’t care about other ponies, just herself. But, she couldn’t just go around beating ponies whenever she wanted, she’d get arrested! Even if she did, eventually, she would meet somepony who’s been at this longer than her or better than her, or both. But, that didn’t change the fact that her urge to hurt someone was there, and that it needed to be quenched. She did though, find a solution to this problem, both how to relieve the bloodlust, and to further improve her combat skills. It was the main reason she was in The Everfree, well, that, and boredom. The Legend of the Mirror Pool.

Only a select few know of the Legend, an even smaller amount know it’s real and what it can do. These included herself, Granny Pie, and Maud. Pinkamena would never tell anypony about it of course because then it would probably have a barrier put around it and she wouldn't be able to entertain herself with it anymore. Later she’d get questioned and interrogated about it; then they’d more than likely find out what it was she was doing with the clones, then that would just make a very annoying situation for her. Granny Pie had died of old age long ago, Pinkamena was too young at the time to ask her how she knew this legend when nobody else did, but even if she did, Granny Pie probably wouldn’t have told her anyway. Most likely, she learned it from some old book her parents had collected when they were younger, that didn’t exist today, or she had a very adventurous filly hood. The last one she knew of was Maud, which in itself was weird.

Pinkamena had never told Maud about it, and she was never around when Granny Pie told her the story, she even asked Granny if she ever told Maud the story, but she said she never did. Maud didn’t seem the believing type like she was. She even asked Maud personally where she heard about it, but she either didn’t answer or only said that she read it in a book somewhere, despite there being no books about it.

But, considering that Maud never talked about it unless somepony else brought it up, it was doubtful she would tell anypony about it. Maud was a strange one, but she wasn’t the blabbing type. Occasionally, she would come and visit her in Ponyville, but it was always unannounced and random. Sometimes they would come out to the pool and just talk. On one occasion, Pinkamena tried to instigate a fight with Maud, but she declined. She said that one day she would love to fight with her, but that she wasn’t ready and that she needed more practice. That was just a slight part of the reason she did what she did, every now and again, Pinkamena would try to go to the farm and visit Maud and the rest. But something seemed to stop her, she just lost confidence and never went through with it.

After a long while of walking and thinking, Pinkamena eventually got to the pool, where she always went every day. Nothing had changed about it, or it’s surroundings, it always stayed the same except for the occasional broken rock or chip in the wall. Same glowing pool, same crystals hanging from the ceiling, same everything, and that’s how she liked it.

“And into her reflection, she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly swore not to be scared, at the prospect of being doubly marred," Pinkamena whispered this rhyme to herself as she walked into the pool, she’s been doing this for a while now, she’s had the verse memorized.

She came out the other side of the pool as dry as she came in, seeing a familiar figure in front of her. It was herself, or more specifically, her clone. The other Pinkamena looked identical to the original; she was laid back on a boulder at the end of the cave, looking quite comfortable with her hooves behind her head. Pinkamena got onto her legs after climbing out of the pool, making Pinkamena two open her eyes at the splashing noise.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Pinkamena said in a sultry voice, getting a yawn from the only other pony in the cave.

“No, I was just resting my eyes. We gonna do this or what?” Pinkamena two said, her personality is the same as the original.

Pinkamena two got up and stretched, popping her neck and scratching her ear. Every day, Pinkamena would come here for one reason, fighting to the death with her clone. She got the idea when she was in her room one night, and her thoughts started to wander, she began to recall her fillyhood and such, then she recalled The Legend of the Mirror Pool. And she thought to herself, ‘Hey, what if I cloned myself and fought that? Then it wouldn’t be murder, and they wouldn’t be better than me because It’s me.’ That’s when things changed, the next day, Pinkamena started having death battles with herself.

But, eventually it turned into more than just hand to hand combat, it becomes all-out battles to the death. During the changeling attack, Pinkamena took one of the dead guard's spears, then she hid it somewhere in Canterlot and left it there. A few days later, she returned to Canterlot, luckily, nopony found it, so it stayed there until she came back for it. She managed to wrap it up and take it with her on the train, claiming it was a package for a friend. Surprisingly, nopony suspected her or questioned her, either they were stupid, or they trusted her because she was an element. She also got it through Ponyville without suspicion, except for the rise of an eyebrow from Twilight.

She had found out that it was possible to clone objects too, which meant she could clone anything. So, she made one other spear, so both she and the clone had equal chance to beat the other. But, she didn’t want the battles to be strictly close range, she wanted to be at least decent with extended range. But, Pinkamena didn’t get the chance to get anything long-range until The Crystal Empire came back. When she was there, Twilight had told them to look around the place to try to find anything strange, and what she found was quite strange. She went into the palace and came across a secret door; she was very good at finding these, she used to have plenty herself. It appeared to be an armory, but it wasn’t like any armory she had ever seen before, then again, she’s never seen an armory before.

On the left was a wall lined with swords and shields and spears, it was the basic broadsword and simple shields with handles on the back, the spears were the same kind that the guards in Canterlot had, with the long rod and the pointy end at the top. The thing these weapons had in common was that they all shared a similar color, all the swords were red, all the shields black, and the rods on all the spears green, these colors didn’t change in brightness or darkness for any of the weapons, almost like they were preserved.

While on the right side was armor, such as helmets and chest plates and such. All of them being similar to the kind of armor the guards wear, except they had purple braids coming out of the back of the helmets, they also shared the same colors as the weapons. The helmets were the same red as the swords, the chest plates were the same black as the shields, and the boots were the same color as the shields, there seemed to be a pattern here.

But, what was lining the wall directly in front of the door is what made Pinkamena excited, it was lined with crossbows, lots of them. Surprisingly, none of these crossbows had colors or patterns on them, just simple wooden crossbows. None of them were loaded, of course, but they all did have their own bag of bolts to the right of them. To the left of each one was a hoof grip, it was used to help non-magical ponies shoot them. It was a small circular black piece of fabric with two straps inside of it; the straps had a string connected to them that was attached to the trigger, all it would take was a little push on the straps, and the trigger would be pulled and work as it should.

This was precisely the kind of ranged weapon Pinkamena was looking for, the swords and shields were a nice addition. So, after the whole King Sombra incident, she came back and did with them what she did with the spear, except this time, she had to call in favor with Maud. She repaid that favor with spending a day with Maud, Maud was weird. She placed it with the spear she already had and cloned all of them once, except for the arrow, she cloned that a good twenty times and kept one spare. Then, she had everything she wanted, that’s when things got much more exciting for Pinkamena.

Unless it was due to weather or there were animals, they would usually fight outside. If it was close-combat than they would stay within a square mile of the entrance to the cave. If it was long-range than they can go anywhere in the forest, as long as they stay away from Ponyville and Zecora’s Hut. In close combat, it was relatively simple, kill the other by any means necessary. Long-range was different though, each of them had ten minutes to place traps or prepare, anything went in long-range.

She had also stolen some medical supplies from Zecora while she was away, a book on medical and potion stuff so she could learn what she needed to do. If she needed more of anything, she’d simply just clone it. They’re only supposed to be used on the winner though, if need be, Pinkamena could sow back on a hoof or something, but she wasn’t too sure if she could do a limb.

“Ready when you are, let’s go outside,” Pinkamena said as she walked around the pool going towards the entrance, as the clone walked over to the pair of swords and shields.

“No, leave them. I feel like some hoof to hoof combat today.” Pinkamena said as she looked back at her clone, already halfway out of the cave when she heard the sound of the swords being lifted off the ground.

“Really? Wow, we haven’t done that in a while. If you say so, but we should do crossbows tomorrow. We haven’t done range in a long time, and it would be bad to get rusty.” Pinkamena two replied back, slightly confused in the change in plans.

Pinkamena walked outside of the cave and waited for her clone to follow, which she did, and both of them took their positions. They began to circle each other in a clockwork direction as they always did before they started. Except, in long-range, they go off in different directions and set up. Their faces no longer emotionless or sarcastic, both of them had looks of concentration and focus. If another pony was around, they could feel the tension in the air, and the immense amount of bloodlust.

“Same rules as usual?” Pinkamena two asked, as though she is her clone, she couldn’t read the originals thoughts.

“Yeah, fight to the death. Winner gets to go back to Ponyville and live life.” Pinkamena replied, her voice slightly shaky with excitement.

When this whole thing started, Pinkamena thought she should sweeten the pot, so to speak. So she added a prize for winning, other than not dying. The winner gets to live as Pinkamena if what she’s been doing can be called living. Pinkamena, honestly wouldn’t mind if she lost, it’s her, it has her memories, her personality, her features, there was nothing separating her and the clone except for the fact that she was a clone. So far, Pinkamena hasn’t died yet, or at least, she’s pretty sure she hasn’t. Would she remember dying if she was a clone? There was really no way of knowing, but she was almost positive she hasn’t died yet, probably.

“Alright then, let’s stop with the chit-chat.” Pinkamena two said, just wanting to get straight into the battle.

The clone ran forward suddenly and kicked dust into Pinkamena’s face, making her temporarily blind. She then ran around Pinkamena, kicking up dust as she was doing it, making it harder and harder to see her.

“Playing dirty, eh? You should know better than to do that; I know your p-“

Pinkamena was suddenly interrupted by getting punched in the face; this baffled her, Pinkamena two would usually wait precisely ten seconds before attacking.

“I know, we’ve been doing this for a while now. So, I changed my patterns, something if, in real combat, you would have to do to win, it’s called adjusting.” Pinkamena two said, happy she got the first strike.

Pinkamena two stomped her right hoof down, trying to hit Pinkamena’s chest, but the original Pinkamena had rolled away just in time. She then spun on her back with her back legs out; she hit Pinkamena two’s hoof that she tried to stomp her with, making her lose her balance and fall over.

“What happened to no talking?” Pinkamena said, trying to throw her enemy off guard.

Pinkamena kicked Pinkamena two in the ribs, with a sadistic look on her face. She only got one hit though, as when she tried again, Pinkamena two grabbed her leg and bit on it, taking the opportunity to get back on her hoofs. But Pinkamena didn’t want to give her the chance to get another hit, so the second she saw that Pinkamena two had gotten back up and was directly in front of her, she rammed forward and tried to get her enemy off balance and get her back on the ground. But, Pinkamena two expected this, she had a countermeasure in mind.

So, she pulled in her legs and waited, as soon as Pinkamena was mere inches in front of her, she jumped up above her and kicked the back of her shoulder, it was a well-placed kick as it hit the pressure point behind her shoulder, making her temporarily unable to use her right front leg. She very suddenly stopped running, and smashed head first into the ground, gaining a smile of satisfaction from the attacker.

"I thought you would have learned not to charge in like that; it’s weird how this works, you know? Sometimes I do things that are smart while you do stupid things, and sometimes it’s the other way around, yet, we’re the same pony. I guess just because we’re the same, doesn’t mean we think the same? Well, enough deep thought, let’s continue shall we?” Pinkamena two said as she looked down at Pinkamena, her voice getting cocky and triumphant.

Pinkamena two bit the back of Pinkamena’s hair, pulling her head out of the ground, she then slammed it back down. She did this several times before Pinkamena head-butted her, causing her to stumble back. Pinkamena spits out some blood and jumped on top of Pinkamena two, and started trying to hit her, but it didn’t work. Pinkamena two moved her head and punched her in the stomach; she took this chance to change her position to where she was on top.

“You know, it’s a shame we’ve never had sex before. I feel like we would be the dominant type, but that we wouldn’t really mind being dominated. Just never found the right stallion I guess or mare.” Pinkamena two said, both trying to confuse her enemy, and being somewhat serious.

Pinkamena tried to hit the clone that was on top of her, but it was no use, she had seen it coming. She put both of her legs on Pinkamena’s arms, pinning her down and making her unable to do anything. Pinkamena had a face of anger on her, while Pinkamena two had a sadistic look on hers. She put both her arms horizontally on top of Pinkamena’s neck; she then began to slowly put pressure, paying close attention to the look in Pinkamena’s eyes, wanting to watch every second as the life left her eyes.

Pinkamena began to struggle under her, as it slowly became harder and harder to breathe. Her body began to convulse as her legs kicked back and forth, struggling as much as she could to get out of this situation. But, it was pointless, there was almost no way to get out.

The only way she had any chance of getting loose is if her clone suddenly lost her grip or lowered her guard, but that wasn’t going to happen, she should know, it was her, after all.

“Guess you’ve never been choked before have you? Well, don’t worry, when I kill you and take over as Pinkamena, I’ll do more than enough choking for the both of us. You never had the balls even to try to get laid, despite how OBVIOUSLY sexy we are, why was that? Never found the right pony? Or was it your crush on Rainbow Dash that made you want to stay loyal, even though you aren’t even dating her? C’mon, Pinkie! We both know that there’s no chance of getting with her, if there was any point of time in which she felt for us what we do for her, it was when we were that bimbo, bouncy, idiot, immature us. Not the sexy, intelligent, strong, psychopath we are now! But, enough with the chatter, I want to get laid, so I’m going to kill you now, but slowly.” Pinkamena two began to say again, mainly just trying to inflict emotional and physical pain on her enemy.

Pinkamena two was putting pressure on her neck, but not enough to cut off her breathing completely. Enough to make it seem like she was going to die, but in reality, it was just a lot harder to breathe. But now, the sadistic look on her face became more sinister, as she put, even more, pressure on her neck, nearly crushing her windpipe, making it impossible to breathe.

Eventually, her struggling got weaker and weaker, her legs no longer fraying back and forth as an attempt to get her attacker off. Her body no longer convulsing or moving at all for that matter, her chest no longer moving up and down to indicate she was breathing, she seemed dead. Pinkamena two got off her body, and slowly backed away from it until she backed into a tree, then it was quiet for the longest time. Then, an insane smile stretched across her face, a smile of satisfaction and pride on her face, one that’s never been on her face before, her, or the original.

“HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT YOU BITCH?! YOU DIDN’T WIN THIS TIME! NOW I'M PINKAMENA, AND YOU'RE DEAD! OH, THE THINGS I'M GOING TO DO NOW, AND YOU WON’T BE THERE TO STOP ME!” Pinkamena two screamed all of this at the top of her lungs as she was kicking Pinkamena’s body in the ribs over and over. Nopony would hear her, as the Everfree Forest was way too big and dense for anypony nearby to hear her, even if they did, there would be no way to pinpoint where it came from exactly, there was no point in even trying to look.

“Wait, what about the body?”

Pinkamena two suddenly stopped her assault and walked over to a nearby clearing, putting her hoof up to the bottom of her chin in the act of pondering.

“If it were a clone's body, it would usually dissipate within an hour or so. Occasionally, it might take three, but that’s pretty uncommon. This isn’t a clone though; this is the original. So, what do I do now? Her body’s not gonna disappear like the others since she’s not a clone, and I don’t seem to be disappearing, even though she’s dead, so it seems I’ll have to get rid of the body. I mean, I was going to have to learn how to get rid of a body. Eventually, it’s better for me to learn now. But, how should I do it? I don’t want to throw her body in The Mirror Pool, as I have no idea what that’ll do. And I can’t ask for Zecora’s help, as she’s said she doesn't even know about this. Maybe I could find some timberwolves an-“

A medium-sized rock was slammed into the back of her head, knocking her unconscious almost instantly. Then it was slammed into her head over and over again until it was nothing but a mess of blood, bones, and brain. It was kind of like a smashed pie, except with a pony’s head.

“Don’t ever turn your back on an enemy, even when you think they’re dead. That’s one of the first things I learned when this whole thing started, dumbass.” Pinkamena said to the now very much dead clone, trying her hardest not to laugh.

The previous night Pinkamena had been watching some horror movies. In one of the scenes, one of the characters was being choked to death. During this scene, Pinkamena thought to herself, ‘ Why doesn’t he just pretend to be dead and wait for the killer to leave?’, she never thought she’d be able to try it out herself.

It was harder than she thought it was, the lack of oxygen to her brain made it hard to reason, but, luckily, she remembered her inquiry. It was tough to keep up the act since she had to stop any bodily movements such as scratching or fidgeting, not breathing was easy for her though. When she was looking through books and such on sleep and dreams, she learned a fascinating fact about dreams. If there were low amounts of oxygen in a pony’s brain when they fall asleep, the dreams they have will be more realistic and seem more like it was happening. So, Pinkamena enjoying the dreams as much as she was, decided to hold her breath to the point of passing out whenever she wanted to sleep. Recently, it had been getting harder to do every night, as her lung capacity seemed to be increasing, but, apparently, it helped her in the long run.

“I don’t know if I should be glad or disappointed that I tricked myself, but either way, I learned from it. Now, let's get my ass out of the open and into the cave so you can rot, or melt, or whatever you’d call it.”

Pinkamena kicked away the rock she had lodged into what was left of her clones head, leaving some of the brain and bone on the grass where she was. When the body dissipates, so does any remains that weren’t attached to the body, so there was no point in her trying to clean every spot of blood when it was basically going to clean itself.

Pinkamena put the body vertically to the left of the pool; then she went over to the stash of medical supplies and cosmetics. She didn’t have the makeup and stuff because she wanted to make herself look good or anything like that, she only had it because whenever she gets done stitching herself up, she didn’t want anypony asking any questions, so she puts stuff over the bruises and cuts, so they blend in.

Surprisingly, Pinkamena sustained little injury; this fight was quite tame compared to most. Usually, the fights ended with her having cuts, bruises, contusions, concussions, sometimes even broken bones. But, this time, she only got one bruise, two cuts, and maybe a bruised rib or two. Nothing she hadn’t had before, she’s felt plenty of injuries such as those, and she also knows how to heal them. With lots of trial and error, a couple of books on pony anatomy, and making extra clones to experiment on, she essentially can stitch herself up.

Pinkamena walked over to the pile of weapons she left out the previous day because she thought she would need some of them, then she changed her mind, and now she has to put them up. The weapons always go behind the huge rock right behind the pool, so if by chance anypony stumbled across the pool, they wouldn’t see the weapons and think anything of it. So that’s where she usually put them after she’s done using them, the medical stuff is kept in a different place. After putting the weapons in their usual hiding place, Pinkamena moved over to a small rock to the left of the entrance to the cave.

There was a snake hole in the rock; the owner had moved out long ago. Pinkamena had found it awhile back and decided to enlarge it, now it had the entrance of a snake hole, but if you were to clear away some of the dirt around it, you would find it was quite a large hole with medical supplies. Such as gauze, medicinal alcohol, medicine for headaches and such, needles, some painkillers, a scalpel, and a bottle of wine. The last one was both a personal want and a backup in case the medical alcohol runs out.

She had started drinking about a month after the nightmares had started, it was an attempt to lower the pain the nightmares caused, it worked for a short bit before it just stopped working. It started with a bottle of beer that Mr. Cake had kept in the fridge; then it evolved into wine and vodka. But, she didn’t drink every day, just when she felt like it, and now was one of those times.

After putting some gauze on her cuts, and a few painkillers for the ribs, Pinkamena pulled out the bottle of wine, covered up the hole until it looked like a snake hole again, and leaned up against the rock. She popped the top of the bottle of with her teeth and took a swig, then she just sat there with the bottle between her legs and her hoofs behind her head and relaxed, until a familiar voice spoke up.

*Wish I could have a drink or two, or a drink of anything would be nice.* The voice in Pinkamena's head said, not even slightly surprising Pinkamena.

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you told me when you were there, just a bit scary to have a voice in your head suddenly speak without me knowing about it.”

*Doesn’t seem to bother you any. Besides, you know that I’m always there, I just don’t say anything.*

“That’s because you’ve made a habit of talking at unexpected moments, so I’ve gotten used to it. Plus, you only ever talk after I get done with the clone, so there’s no reason for me not to expect you at this point. After all, you’ve been in my head since I was a filly, but you’ve never told me why you decided to talk to me after the nightmares you don’t tell me a lot of anything. Not your name, not who you are, not why you’re here, if it weren't for your voice, I wouldn’t even know if you were a stallion or a mare

Pinkamena took another drink out of the wine bottle, enjoying the warm liquid going down her throat, giving her such a warm feeling. It wasn’t nearly enough to get her drunk, but she still enjoyed the warmth and tasted it gave her.

*Actually, there is a good reason for that. But you're not ready yet; you’ll know when you are. You're right though; you do deserve an explanation, just not now. But to make sure you know I’m serious, I’ll give you my name. It’s Sylia, Sylia Lanz, Lanz is a family name by the way. And yes, I am a mare. But I can’t really give you a description of my body, as currently, I don’t have one. I remember what the one I had used to look like, but I don’t want to tell you, not yet.*

“Lanz? Never heard of it before, and I’ve met almost every pony in Equestria. Where do they live? What are they like? Do they know where you are?”

Pinkamena wasn’t asking because she cared, it was really out of curiosity and boredom. She didn’t really care about anything or anypony anymore, well there was Rainbow, but that was a… complicated situation.

*That’s… what I can’t tell you about. My family is, as you would put it, bucked up. I used to be a very different pony, more like you. I was ruthless, bloodthirsty, I was a killing machine, and I miss it every day. The only reason I don’t act that way is that you feel most of it, you can’t feel it though as it’s mixed in with yours. I feel some of it when I watch you kill yourself, but not enough to make me happy. I may be in your mind, but I can’t feel even a fraction of what you feel. And I hate it.*

“I hear you there sister, I have family issues too, well, more like family issue. I haven’t seen my actual family in years, but I’ve never had any real issues with them. But, my sister is…different, I don’t know how to explain it, she’s just strange. You were probably there, you know what she’s like, you know what they say, you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. From the sounds of it, it would seem you have it worse off than I do. Whenever you get your own body, I’d be more than happy to buy you a drink. But, until then, I’ll drink enough for both of our problems, family and otherwise. Cheers, to bucked up families.”

Pinkamena drank the rest of the wine, and threw it at the wall across from her, making it smash against it. She just did that for fun; there was no real reason behind breaking the bottle other than her enjoyment of breaking things. At a time, she even considered breaking it against her head, but Sylia managed to convince her otherwise.

*Do.. do you remember anything about your family? Or anything that, never mind, the clones dissipating, I’ll leave you to you now. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, goodbye Pinkamena, and good luck, you're going have some serious problems soon.*

Almost on cue, the clones body began to turn into blue dust that went toward the pool slowly, this was a beautiful process, but Pinkamena had seen this too many times for it to affect her anymore. She had watched this happen to all the clones every single day, and most likely will every day until she dies. Then, once again, silence entered the room, as there were no more voices in Pinkamena’s head talking to her, and no more wine bottles smashing against walls, just silence. Then came the noise of shuffling as Pinkamena got out of her comfortable spot and began her trip home, where there will be an unexpected surprise in wait for her.

While Pinkamena was trudging through the Everfree Forest, avoiding plant and wildlife alike. She began to ponder some things that brought curiosity to her mind, all things from the conversation she had with Sylvia. She then started to talk to herself, a habit she picked up from her preferring talking out her thoughts more than thinking them, she just found it more comfortable.

“Sylia, what a strange name. I wonder what her cutie mark is, or what she’s like. Maybe I could help her get a body; it would be nice to have a real friend. One who shares my interest and… hobbies. I only hope she’s as hardcore as she says she is, or more. Her family name though, it’s a weird one. Lanz, I’ve never heard of it, and I know a lot of families. As much as I hate it, if I want any chance of getting her a body, I’ll have to learn more about her family. So, I’ll have to ask a favor from Twilight, and we are not on the best terms, so it’s going to take a lot of convincing. I’ll have to read some books on a second mind in a body, and magic transitions, Tartarus, I’ll have to call in some favors from Maud most likely. Speaking of family, didn’t she ask me something about them?

Yeah, she said something about remembering them or something about them, I don’t know! Why would she ask that? Is there something about my family I should know? Did I do something to them? No, I couldn’t have, did I see them doing something and repress it? If they were killers it would explain how I turned out, or maybe I was just different than them. Well, whatever it is I-“

“Pinkamena Diane Pie?” A Canterlot guard had walked forward to Pinkamena and interrupted her quiet mumbling.

He was the usual guard, He was bright white with the golden Canterlot armor all over his body, he was a Pegasus, and he had blue eyes with a darker blue mane. She couldn’t tell what his cutie mark was as his armor blocked it, but if she had to guess it was probably two swords and a shield. She didn’t know when, but it would seem she had stumbled into Ponyville faster than she thought she would get there, as there were three other guards behind the one she was talking to, and Twilight was with them.

“Yes, can I help you?” Pinkamena said in her sweetest voice, not wanting to get into any unnecessary trouble with the guards.

The guard in front of her turned his head around and pulled out a scroll, which he opened and began to read.

“‘By order of Princess Celestia, we are to escort both Pinkamena Diane Pie and Twilight Sparkle safely to Canterlot. No questions will be answered, and no excuses will be accepted. If needed, force is permitted to make Pinkamena comply. But under no circumstances will Twilight be harmed neither physically or magically, but magic is also permitted if proven necessary.’ Anything to say, Miss Pie?"

Pinkamena had a contempt look on her face, while Twilight had a look of shock and disbelief on hers, as nothing like this had been done in centuries. Then Pinkamena began to speak with a smirk on her face and the same sultry voice she used with her clone.

“Yeah, who do I have to buck to get out of this?”

If Sylvia had a body she would have face hoofed, luckily, Twilight did it for her.

Chapter Three: A Godly Problem.

Author's Notes:

Please tell me if you see any errors, such as grammar, spelling, or left off letters. Comment and check out my other stories if you liked this one, thanks for reading!

Lots of ponies say things like ‘ I was born this way,' or ‘Celestia made me like this,' but that’s wrong. Nopony is the way they are because they were born like that, high class or low class. Who you are depends on three factors, how you're raised, who raises you, and your environment. For example, if rich ponies raise a rich pony in a rich environment, they’ll act as they do. Snooty, greedy, like they know everything. But if raised by poor ponies, they’ll act differentially. They’ll be hard workers, appreciate every little thing, and be kind in hopes for that kindness to be repaid. That’s why you never see snooty poor ponies. This goes for everywhere, even different dimensions.

Though there are…exceptions. There are specific mental disorders you're either born with or develop with trauma and unpleasant experiences, that make you have certain traits or think a certain way. While some can be cured, but mostly through extreme amounts of therapy or medicine, not all can. Some disorders or syndromes, no matter how you're raised, where, or by who can’t be changed.

There’s few, but there’s more than just disorders and syndromes that dictate who you’re going to be when you’re born. These things aren’t marked as disorders or syndromes but as abnormalities. Killer instinct, natural talent for everything, a constant morbid thinking, and a few more rare things. Like disorders or syndromes, nothing can change these things, and nothing can prevent them. Though, it’s not impossible to cause it. With genetic engineering, trial and error, and chance, some of these things can be produced. This both was and was not the case of Pinkamena Diane Pie, as you will learn in her story.

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After getting off the train, Pinkamena and Twilight, along with guards in a formation around them, began to walk towards the castle. While walking through Canterlot, they received many strange looks, as there hasn’t been an arrest ever since the Nightmare Moon era, and never somepony so important. Many started whispering to one another when they noticed them, some spreading rumors about why they were arrested, others just watching in shock as somepony so crucial as Celestia’s star student was being escorted like a prisoner through Canterlot.

But, most were focusing on the other pony, the one that used to be called the Element of Laughter, the causer of the changeling massacre when the changelings attacked, Pinkamena. It wasn’t her appearance that made them notice her, nor was it that she was also being escorted, it was the look on her face. It was the widest smile they’ve ever seen on her face, even before her transformation. This smile was evil and dark, similar to the look of excitement in her eyes, both were full of malice and lust. Bu,t what it was also full of that scared them, was something they've never seen before, and they hoped would never see pure darkness again.

Twilight, on the other hand, looked entirely different. She was looking down, with multiple emotions on her face. Confusion, worry, and fear. She seemed to be so lost in thought that she was barely able to keep up with the guards, eventually having to focus on other things. Pinkamena stopped her smiling, now having a scowl on her face. Either from annoyance or boredom, that scowl remained on her face all the way to the castle. While Twilight decided to focus more on her surroundings, and think later.

What Pinkamena had been thinking was as dark as it seemed, maybe more. At first, she had thought about killing the guards, leaving Twilight injured, but alive to report to her master, that is what gave her the dark grin on her face. But, then she realized how annoying it would be to be hunted down by the entire Canterlot guard, and the thought of how boring that would be is what put the scowl on her face. While Twilight had been thinking of a variety of things, some good, some bad.

The spat she and Pinkamena had on the train made her think about a lot of things, but she was thinking about more than just that. She was wondering why Celestia wanted both Twilight and Pinkamena to be escorted by several guards; she wondered why her friend changed so much and what happened to her. She was thinking about what she said on the train, and many other things that got her lost in thought.

Eventually, after walking through all of Canterlot, gaining the attention of almost everypony on the streets, they got to the castle entrance. As expected, there were guards on both sides of the gate, prepared to get rid of any unwanted visitors. But even the guards were slightly surprised at sight in front of them, they were informed of what would happen, but it was still relatively new to them. They’ve never seen anything like this before, both the two ponies getting arrested, and the look on their faces. One of hate and annoyance, and another of innocence and fear.

The group of guards that had been escorting them to the castle had left, saying their job was done and just to go in. They also said if they got lost, only to ask one of the many guards in the castle, then they walked off. They trusted Twilight to be able to direct them to Celestia, as she has a photographic memory, and had been in the castle many times. But most of all, they just wanted to get away from the other one. Never in their life had they seen such a pony, nor did they ever want to. Records of a different time, where Equestria was a crime filled place, says criminals think and act differently than regular ponies. The guards didn’t understand what that meant at the time, but now that they’ve met the closest thing to a criminal they would ever get, they wished they hadn’t.

It took a short while for Twilight to get to where Celestia was, both because the castle had been under renovations due to the changeling attack, and because it was hard to get Pinkamena to follow her. But when they got to the door that led to the royal courtroom, or at least, what Twilight hoped was the royal courtroom, Pinkamena seemed to stop wandering off, and just went with it. When they opened the door though, it was Twilight who had needed the motivation to go in the room.

In the room, was only two ponies, no guards, no prankster gods, just those two. Luna was sitting beside Celestia ‘s throne, with a blank look on her face. Though, she didn’t look very well. She seemed slightly pale, and her eyes were bulgy like she had been busy and was physically and emotionally exhausted.

Celestia was something else though, and she’s what made Twilight reconsider. Never in her life, not when Nightmare Moon returned, not when the changelings attacked, not when Discord was released, not even when The Crystal Empire came back, did Twilight see this look on her face. That look, it was filled with disappointment, anger, frustration, spite, and so many more emotions Twilight didn’t even recognize with so many of them in her eyes. The look wasn’t even intended towards her, and it was filling every inch of her body with fear and dread. The one it was intended to was Pinkamena, and Twilight gave up on trying to read her emotions a long time ago. Then, the unexpected happened.

“Nice stare you got, Fluttershy teach you that?” Pinkamena said smugly, noticing the tension, but just not caring.

The look on Celestia’s face didn’t leave, in fact, it seemed to get worse, Twilight would have face hoofed if there weren't so much tension in the room. A smug look came on Pinkamena’s face after her remark, utterly unfazed by the death stare she was receiving from a literal god.

“HOW DARE THOU MAKE FUN OF-“ Luna suddenly lunged forward, with a look of anger on her face, which just made Pinkamena smile a little wider.

Celestia put her hoof on her sister's shoulder, giving her a kind look that couldn’t have been more different than the one she just had.

“Calm down, Luna, I know you’re angry, I am too. But this is a dire situation; we need to remain calm. If you can’t control your emotions, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Celestia said, her voice calmer than what her eyes were telling.

Luna almost had another outburst but decided against it. She sat there and remained silent, choosing to stare at the ground and collect her thoughts. Celestia returned her gaze to Pinkamena, who still had that smug look on her face, which infuriated the sun goddess. Twilight appeared calm, despite being full of dread, she remained standing there.

“Twilight,” Celestia said with a voice that gave no emotion, not removing her gaze from Pinkamena, who still had the sardonic grin on her face. Though her eyes gave away entirely different emotions. Defiance, frustration, and emotions Twilight had never seen before, but it...unnerved her.

“Come and sit by Luna, don’t say anything unless I ask you to. This is a grave matter, between me and that thing!” Celestia said at nopony in particular, her voice raising getting louder and angrier.

Pinkamena’s smile grew even larger and more smug, glad that she was annoying her to this extent, though, she’s not sure why she’s so angry. As far as they know, she hasn’t done anything that bad, unless killing your clone is illegal. Besides, even if it was, there’s no way they’d know about that. The only one who would even have a chance of knowing about her clone is Zecora, and she would know better than that. Both because of what Pinkamena would do to her if she did, and it’s doubtful anyone would trust her about anything other than alchemy and zebras.

“Thing? Really Tia? Don’t you think that’s a bit c-“ Pinkamena started sarcastically, but was interrupted.

“SHUT UP! YOU DO NOT GET TO SPEAK! You are here for one reason and one reason only, you speak only when spoken to, and no more of your sarcastic remarks!"

Everypony in the room was shocked silent, except for Luna. Celestia had never had an outburst like that, and certainly never used the royal canterlot voice. In that outburst, some of her emotions slipped out, frustration and anger came out as her face scrunched into a scowl towards Pinkamena. But, that wasn’t all, there was still plenty of emotion in there that words could never express, Pinkamena would know.

Twilight had never seen her teacher angry, or even frustrated! Not even during all those times she failed during spells or did stupid things, never! She was immensely confused and curious about what could have possibly pushed her to such an extent. Luna, on the other hand, had seen her like this once before and thought this might happen. Once, a very long time ago, the circumstances were much worse back then. But, the situation right now probably reminded her of back then, and she reacted in a lesser, but similar way Luna feared she would.

Celestia calmed herself, not wanting to fall to her emotions after she just told her sister to do the exact opposite. She went back to the look that made The Stare look pathetic, trying her best to keep her emotions from showing on her face, she didn’t want to bring any more satisfaction to Pinkamena.

“Twilight, please, come sit by Luna,” Celestia said, her voice slightly shaky with anger.

Twilight hesitated, not entirely sure what to do. While Pinkamena may be different, she was still her friend, and she wanted to stick by her. But Celestia seemed to know something about her she didn’t, and was both her friend and mentor, and was giving her order. Twilight was full of fear and confusion and slowly moved over to Luna.

Luna barely seemed to notice Twilight sit beside her, as she was startled when she did. But, after seeing the tension in the room, she decided to pay attention in case things got…heated.

“Now, we may begin. Do you know why you’re here?” Celestia said towards Pinkamena, trying her hardest to hold back her emotions.

Pinkamena’s face was blank, finally starting to get serious. The room was silent for a few seconds, as she began to evaluate.

“Well, I know I’m not under arrest, as I would be taken to a prison cell. And I know I’m not being interrogated, if I were, it wouldn’t be by you, it would be someone more…experienced. So, I take it you brought me here to question me about something more…off the record? I just don’t know what, or why you wanted Twilight here.” Pinkamena said, talking more like an analyst than a culprit.

Twilight had a slightly surprised expression on her face, as she had come to a similar conclusion. Luna’s face, on the other hand, scrunched up, knowing exactly how close she was. Celestia just seemed to get further annoyed and frustrated, though her body language gave it away, not her face.

“Don’t you dare play your mind games with me, you know why you’re here, it’s because I know what you are, Meotrizen. I know you’re from Meotrize, though, I thought they were all dead from the war. Obviously, they weren’t. I don’t know why you’re here, or why you’re posing as an Element of Harmony, but I will stop you. If you so much as breath without my permission, I will destroy you like the rest of your species, understand?” There was silence in the room, as Celestia’s words left her mouth, showing only how serious she was.

Her gaze had not left Pinkamena, the emotions remaining in her eyes. Luna’s face remained blank until the war was brought up, which gave a cringe to her face at the memory. While Twilight had a look of utter confusion on her face, there hadn’t been a war in Equestria in an incredibly long time, and even then it was concise and didn’t include anything other than ponies and known species. But a ‘Meotrizen,' as Celestia put it, wasn’t a species Twilight had ever heard if before, she’d have to research it when she got home, and this place called Meotrize.

Pinkamena though was different. She was also confused; she didn’t know a single thing she was talking about and didn’t understand why she was being accused of these things. But, what confused her the most wasn’t the accusations or the whole situations she’s in. It was the foreign feeling that was coursing through her, one she’s gone so long without experiencing, fear. But what made it unfamiliar, was that it didn’t feel like it was her fear.

“Um…ok? I mean, I don’t really have any idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know what a Meotrizen is, or what war you’re talking about. Wasn’t the most recent war that whole thing with Sombra? If you’d even count that as a war, and tell me I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t around a millennium ago. So, are you mistaking me for something else? Because I’m just a bit confused here.” Pinkamena replied, sounding very confused.

Now both Celestia and Luna and confused, as they both knew Meotrizens were proud, but admit when they were caught, depending on what it was they were found with, they were somewhat honorable So, either this one was different, or they were wrong.

“You, You’re not lying?” Celestia said, with mixed emotions. Pinkamena looked back at her, with that look that honestly made Celestia believe she was telling the truth.

“Should I be?” Pinkamena replied, her voice as innocent as someone like her could get.

Celestia looked deep into her eyes, looking for any signs of either she was lying, or if she was right. What she saw in there was the mind of a mad genius, a bloodlust that couldn’t be sated, a darkness that used to be the brightest of light, but not what she was looking for. But that look in her eyes was a familiar one, she’s seen it in the eyes of monsters, villains, and her sister, but never on an Element of Harmony.

She has seen this look too many times for it to bother her anymore, and she knows exactly what will happen if she were to let it be. No doubt that bloodlust that she’s trying to hold back will break her will one day, it’s a miracle she’d kept it distracted to this point, and when she does, she’ll kill without hesitation, and without a stopping point.

But, there was nothing Celestia could do about it, she couldn’t just have her arrested because she was suspicious, she needed reason, proof, and she didn’t have any. The closest thing she had was the memory of the nightmare Luna had, and that can’t be trusted by everypony. While Celestia had forgiven her, that doesn’t mean everyone in Equestria automatically forgives her. Celestia nodded towards her sister, who was looking at Celestia eagerly for an answer, her nodding indicated Pinkamena was not lying.

Luna responded by looking towards Pinkamena, with a look that said she now had more questions than answers. She had felt it too, the presence in that dream, there was no mistaking it, it was a Meotrizen. Twilight was more confused than any of them; she didn’t understand anything that was going on, though she was certainly trying. Pinkamena was also confused but didn’t really care either way.

“Well, that was…unexpected. Either you’re the best actor I’ve ever seen, or you’re telling the truth. While it’s true I am the ruler of Equestria, but, like everypony, I make mistakes. But this one wasn’t one without reason, Luna showed me something that made me believe you were, and I apologize for that. But, you’re still very much under questioning for what she showed me.” Celestia said to Pinkamena, her voice now returning to the more calm and neutral one.

Luna’s face had a flash of fear at the memory, but not wanting to show weakness, she tried to hide it. Pinkamena decided to think more about it now, and decided just to listen; she did notice the strange fear was now lowered, but not gone. Twilight remained immensely confused, but now with curiosity.

“Really? What did she show you that put me in your crosshairs?” Pinkamena said sarcastically, hoping her royal ass hasn’t found out about her little playtime with The Mirror Pool.

“As you know, Luna can see the dreams of everyone in Equestria. Sadly, this is only limited to once a month, but yesterday was that day.” Celestia said, trying to be as vague as possible, Twilight was still in the room, and she's already seen and heard too much.

The gears in Pinkamena’s mind were trying to piece together what she meant, and how it concerned her, Twilight was doing a similar process, but she had fewer pieces of the puzzle.

“What most ponies don’t know, is she can go into nightmares also, and keep herself completely hidden. She could be there for the entire dream, and you would never notice her presence. Yesterday, Luna was looking around for the dream of a pony who needed help, and she stumbled upon not a dream, but a nightmare. This nightmare belonged to someone she knows, or knew, as the Element of Harmony she knew would never have a dream like the one she saw.” Celestia continued, really not wanting to recall the details.

Luna’s face contorted to one of shock, at the memory of the horrible nightmare she’d seen. Celestia sat there quietly, wanting the culprit to come to their own conclusion. Twilight was still trying to piece it together, but simply had no idea who she was talking about. Pinkamena, hearing the hints she was given, realized what she was talking about, and with that realization came fear, this time, her fear.

“You… did you see?” Pinkamena spoke with more fear than she knew, she now understood exactly why she was here.

“Your dream? No, not personally. But Luna did, and she was able to transfer the memory of the dream right before you woke up. Neither Luna nor I have any intention of giving details; I think you’d agree, we want Twilight to stay as ignorant about this as possible. I only brought her as a guarantee you won’t try anything, because no matter how much you’ve changed or try to deny it, some part of you still cares.” Celestia replied, noticing her fear, and internally smiling.

Twilight was now more confused than ever, and slightly hurt they wouldn’t tell her anything.

“HEY! What are you guys talking about, why can’t I know?” Twilight nearly screamed, both sick of the tension, and hate being in the dark.

Twilight was trying to get them to tell her, but the only one paying attention to her was Luna. Celestia and Pinkamena were in a staring contest, with death glares on their faces. Neither of them speaking, as neither had anything to say.

“So? What, is it illegal to have dirty pleasures? Is that it?” Pinkamena was trying to play it calm, but she was filled with emotions.

She knew she wasn’t going to get arrested, or she wouldn’t be standing here. But now that Celestia knew about her dreams, she’s going to be watching her. Which meant she couldn’t go to The Mirror Pool, and if she didn’t find some release for her bloodlust, well, she didn’t know what would happen, she’s never felt the urge to test her call.

“No, that’s not it. If I arrested people for having negative thoughts or dreams, we’d have to build multiple prisons. But you, in my entirety of ruling, I have never once come across a dream like yours. I brought you here to let you know how serious I am, and that I know. Obviously, I’m going to be watching you. I’ll have guards watching you twenty-four seven. They’ll be hidden, of course, we don’t want anyone else finding out about your ‘dirty pleasure’ do we?” It was Celestia who had a smug look on her face this time, as she had known she'd won.

Pinkamena kept a calm look but was filled with more fear than she had before. Twilight was trying as hard as she could to get them to pay attention to her, so she could get her questions answered. The scientist in her was burning to have her curiosity sated, and the friend in her wanted to help Pinkamena, as she used to call her a friend. Then, with an annoyed face, Luna turned towards her.

“Does Thou really want to know? Fine, I shall tell thee about-“

“LUNA! DON’T!” Celestia suddenly said to Luna, very aggressively.

Luna suddenly tensed up and decided to stay quiet. Usually, she would argue or ignore her. But the things she saw, and the memories of the war, it’s had her emotionally shocked. Twilight had also tensed up but looked at Luna’s face with a pleading face, which convinced her to try to convince her sister.

"But, Tia, doesn’t thou think-“

"NO! Luna, I understand your want to tell her, I want to also, but we can’t. If we tell her, she’ll tell her friends. And if she does that, knowing how they’d react, Pinkamena’s only emotional anchor will be gone, and I don’t know if I could stop her before she does something!”

Luna flinched back, with her ears down, she hated to admit it, but she was right. Twilight couldn’t have been more confused and curious; she was fairly sure she hadn’t been more confused and curious in her entire life. Pinkamena cringed at Celestia’s words, knowing exactly what she meant.

It was true, she had realized it not that long ago, but Rainbow Dash was the only real reason why she hasn’t started on a killing spree. It wasn’t that she was afraid of getting caught or getting killed, those were just excuses she told her herself, she didn’t care for either of those things. The only reason she hasn’t is that of how Rainbow would react, how she would think of her, and how she would hate her. If Rainbow were to find out about everything, and she truly would hate her, any restraint she puts on herself every time she thinks about killing a pony would be gone, and she didn’t know if she would be able to stop.

Celestia looked back towards Pinkamena, noticing the look on her face, as she too realizes what would happen if she had nothing to hold her back. Celestia realized it at that moment, that while she had an insane mind, an intense lust for blood, and disturbing dreams and thoughts, she wasn’t entirely evil. Whatever had caused her transformation, whether she was born that way or trauma, the part of her that made her the Element of Laughter was still there.

Celestia wanted to smile at this but knew it wasn’t the time or place for smiling. Twilight would have argued and said she wouldn’t tell her friends, but if this were as serious as she thought it was, she probably would. So, she just sat there quietly, not wanting to increase the tension in the room.

“You both may leave, and continue living your life like you normally would, Twilight can anyway. Twilight, you will get your answers, but not until this whole thing is over with. So, please, remain patient, and you will be rewarded. But for now, both of you, go home. It has been a long and confusing day, and my sister and I need to rest.”

"But, Princess I-“ Twilight tried to retort, hating the situation that was being explained to her.

“LEAVE! NOW!”

Celestia didn’t want to snap at her, but it truly had been a long and stressful day, and she had been dangerously close to telling Twilight everything. Both about Pinkamena, and the war. Luna understood this and nodded at Twilight. Twilight, not wanting upset either of them any further, began to walk out. Pinkamena had already left after Celestia asked them to.

After leaving the room and shutting the gate behind them, Pinkamena and Twilight had walked to the train, bought tickets back to Ponyville, and waited. They did all of this without saying a single word; both had too much on their mind to talk at the moment. And even if they did, they would have nothing to talk about.

When Celestia was sure they were gone, and Luna had left after Celestia told her to get some guards to watch her as soon as possible, she allowed her emotions to take over. She was feeling more than just negative emotions towards Pinkamena, much more. The presence of that thing that monster had brought her the memories of the living Tartarus both her and her sister went through.

The Meotrize war, the only real conflict Equestria has ever been in, and yet so little know of it. The things she had to do, the lives she had to take and sacrifice, ponies aren’t ponies on the battlefield. Then again, not everything that was battling was a pony. It filled her with guilt and regret, emotions she hoped never to fill again. She sobbed by herself, not wanting to share her pain with anypony else, nopony else would be able to.

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Pinkamena was walking through the town, with a very frustrated look on her face. After getting off the train, Twilight had said she was going to research Meotrize and find out everything. She wasn’t sure if it was a threat or a promise but didn’t care either way.

By the time both of them had returned, it was already nighttime. Almost everypony was asleep, which is probably why they weren’t bombarded with questions the second they got back. Neither of them would be sleeping all that much that night. Twilight would be up all night looking through her library for her answers, which knowing how well organized and determined she was, she would get through all those books in one night. She’d use the process of elimination and search through books related to what she was looking for, species, history, wars, and get through them all in one night.

Pinkamena though didn’t think the answers would be in books. If what Celestia said was true, then there would be no record of this war. Nor would there be a record of Meotrize, nor who or whatever lived there. But, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a way to get answers, every question had an answer, or it wasn’t a question. Someone, somewhere, had the answers she was looking for. No secret is kept forever, not even secrets that are better off staying hidden.

But, if this was a secret Celestia herself tried to keep hidden, no one in Equestria would know about it. Although, not everyone in Ponyville was from Equestria. They weren’t on the best terms, and it wasn’t a guarantee she even knew anything, but she was positive she could get answers out of Zecora.

Pinkamena walked through The Everfree Forest like she normally did every day, except this time was for a different purpose. She wasn’t being watched, she knew otherwise. It didn’t matter how urgent her situation was; it had been too long since any of the guards had to do such a task, they wouldn’t really know what to do. Most of the guards that are awake are mainly just for night shift, and too tired to be able to watch her. This was her last night of freedom before she’s going to be observed by the best and brightest.

Lost in thought and not paying much attention to her surroundings other than the path, she got to Zecora’s hut sooner than she thought. And just as she had expected, the lights were still on, meaning she was still awake. Zecora was somewhat nocturnal; she preferred to do her work in the nighttime and sleep in the day. Unless she had to collect herbs or other plants, then she goes out in the daytime to obtain them. As there are many dangerous creatures out in the nighttime, it would be stupid to try collecting herbs when there are things like timberwolves and manticores looking for food.

Pinkamena walked up and knocked on the door, patiently waiting for it to be answered. Which it was, Zecora opened the door with a welcoming smile on her face. Zecora wasn’t aware of Pinkamena’s ‘activities’ in The Mirror Pool, but she was aware of her change in personality. But, being the friendly Zebra she is, she treats everyone with kindness, no matter how twisted they may be.

“Hello, Pink one! Welcome to my home!
But why are you traveling in such a dangerous place alone?”

Pinkamena pushed her aside and entered her home, not really in the mood to deal with her rhyming.

“You don’t have to do that around me, Zecora, I know zebra’s don’t actually talk like that. I don’t mind you doing it to indulge others and be mysterious, but it just annoys me.”

The smile on Zecora’s face disappeared, replaced by a look of seriousness. She thought Pinkamena knew more than what she let on, just not to this extent. She didn’t know how Pinkamena knew she was just acting, but from the tension coming from her, now wasn’t the time to ask.

“I can sense you’re tense, would you like some tea?”

Zecora had spoken to her, her accent and habit to rhyme going. The atmosphere of the room was entirely different the second Zecora spoke, now both of them are serious. This isn’t the first time they’ve had a conversation after Pinkamena became who she was, this was just the first one where there was so much tension.

Pinkamena had already sat down in the chair in front of the table Zecora always kept; she guessed Zecora would offer tea, she didn’t mind.

“Sure, make mine green preferably, thanks.”

Pinkamena didn’t specifically dislike tea, but she wouldn’t go of her way to get some. After a few minutes of waiting, which she spent looking around the hut, trying to figure out one Zebra would need so many potions. Eventually, she just gave up and decided to try to piece together a theory of everything while she was waiting.

Before she could really start though, Zecora had returned with two cups of tea, one in her mouth, and the other in between her hooves. She put the one in her hooves in front of Pinkamena, and the other in front if the chair opposite of the one Pinkamena was sitting in. Zecora then sat in the chair and began to drink her tea. Pinkamena, not particularly thirsty, decided to wait.

“So, pink one, why are you here?”

Zecora said, after putting down her teacup, with a voice that only had curiosity.

“A lot of reasons, but before I tell you them, I have a few questions to ask. The first one, why do you speak in rhymes and do all the things you do? Zebras don’t actually talk like that, or do a lot of the things you do, except potions and alchemy.”

Zecora was silent for a moment, thinking of exactly how to answer that.

“Well, it’s fun. I’m the only Zebra in all of Equestria, which means however I act, is how they’ll see Zebras. So, just because I don’t have a lot to do, out here in The Everfree, I find it enjoyable to indulge them in their rumors and such, is it really that strange?”

Pinkamena seemed to relax, glad the reason was good nature, and that she wouldn’t have made a new enemy.

“No, I was just curious. But, onto a more serious question. Do you know anything about The Mirror Pool?”

Zecora suddenly had a dark look on her face, one of fear. She didn’t say anything; she didn’t have to. Pinkamena was paying close attention and saw her reaction.

“That’s what I thought. You do know about it, good; I was uncertain. I never could figure you out Zecora, why you were here, why you lived in The Everfree, you were just such a conundrum. But then, I started putting the pieces together. I always wondered why ponies thought zebras spoke in rhymes, it was just a rumor, right? Well, yes, but as the saying goes, every rumor and myth has some truth to it, yours is no exception. So, I’d like to make a deal with you, you tell me everything about The Mirror Pool, and I’ll tell you how I know about it, and what I’ve been doing with it. By the way, this isn’t the main reason I’m here; I just want to get this out of my way. So, after this is done and discussed, I have one more thing to ask of you.”

Zecora said nothing, too full of fear. Never once had Zecora been more intimidated in her life, this pony not only found out about a millennium old secret, but was going entirely off of theory and speculation alone, plus, she was an Element of Harmony.

“Under one condition, I want your promise that you won’t tell Celestia or any other royalty about this. If you do, you will have no idea what you’ll be putting in motion. I won’t speak another word until I have your promise.”

Pinkamena sat there for a few seconds, with a huge smile on her face. Like she was on good terms with Celestia, or any royalty for that matter. It’s not like anypony would believe her if she tried to tell them there was a magical pool in The Everfree forest that can clone ponies, who would? Besides, even if by some miracle somepony did believe her, she would just be exposing herself. But Zecora didn’t need to know that.

“I promise.”

Zecora relaxed a little, not really sure how much credibility her word is worth. But, most likely, she was going to get answers out of her one way or another, and Zecora would much prefer the non-violent way.

“Ok, then I’ll start. A long time ago, long before Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, Equestria was booming, but the land of zebras wasn’t so lucky. We went through an era of poverty; there were little resources, money and food were scarce, it was horrible. But, the leaders didn’t want to see their people suffer like this, so they resorted to magic. There was no way to make resources or money with magic, but copying wasn’t impossible.

So, we decided to create a spell that would clone objects, which we did. But, the spell could only clone one object at a time and was gone too quick. We needed something better, something that could clone multiple objects at once. But for such a thing to exist, we would need a location teeming with magic. The land of zebras had no place, and we didn’t have enough skilled magic users to create an equal amount of needed magic, but Equestria did.”

Pinkamena looked up at her, with realization in her eyes.

“The Everfree Forest.”

“Yes, exactly. So, we made a deal with Celestia. The leaders said that there was an herb that was needed that only grew in The Everfree, which wasn’t a lie, as there were much florae that grew there, but that wasn’t the main reason. With a combination of benevolence and pity, she allowed a few to live in The Everfree, which is a deal kept to this day, it is how I am here, in this hut. But, what she didn’t know, was that who we sent to live there were our best spellcasters.

But, they didn’t start right away, of course. While it was true, The Everfree was a dangerous place, which did not mean any venture in it. So, they wanted to cast the spell in an out of sight, safe area, in case something unexpected happens. After a month of navigating and venturing throughout The Forest, they found a cave. This cave was perfect; it was secluded, deep in the forest, and large. They spent a week preparing, collecting the proper things needed, used magic enhancing potions in case what they had wasn’t enough. But, when they did, it was better than what they thought it would be.

Like the original spell, it was able to clone objects. But, unlike the original, it was able to copy them multiple times. For example, if you were to throw in one rock, two would come out. If you were to throw those two back in, four would come out, then eight, then sixteen, and so on.”

Pinkamena already knew that, but it would have been nice to know beforehand, would have saved a lot of time.

“They were also very cautious. In the incredibly unlikely scenario, someone would stumble upon The Mirror pool, as they dubbed it do to both its pool and mirror-like features. They wanted to make sure not just anyone could use it, so, they put another spell on it. To make sure only they would be able to use it; they made it to whoever would want to use the pool, would need to do so with a rhyme. They did this because it was so silly and unexpected, no one would be able to guess how to use it. For example, in your case, the rhyme would be, ‘And into her re-“

“And into her own reflection, she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly more. Yeah, I know, I also know that the rhyme varies by gender and species. It’s completely different if it’s an object though, found that one out the hard way.”

Zecora looked at her with a look of absolute bafflement and disbelief.

“How, why do you know that?”

“Finish the story, and I’ll tell you.”

Zecora looked like she was going to retort, but decided against it and just to continue the story.

“Anyway, after the creation of The Mirror Pool, the land of zebras was booming. There were no longer resource or money issues, not nearly as much muggings and robberies, and best of all, starvation was at an all-time low. But, there’s always a bad to every good. One of the leaders had his family killed by a robber during the poverty, but never could get revenge. He used The Mirror Pool to clone himself and kill the one who took his family away. Others tried to arrest him, for the murder of a zebra, which they had no evidence was one who killed his family, but he seemed sure. He killed everyone who tried to stop him, with his army of clones.”

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Pinkamena said, gaining the rise of an eyebrow from Zecora.

“Yes, well, luckily, he had heart cancer. Which seemed to transfer to all of his clones, and him with them. While this was good, it showed that The Mirror Pool could be used for more evil than the good can outweigh. The remaining leaders decided the risk was too high, and to shut it down. So, they got as many resources as they needed out of it, and never used it again. They never told anyone about it, and never went near it. The only ones who knew of its existence were the leaders and the guardian. The guardian was the one they sent to watch over The Mirror Pool and make sure nothing similar happens again. But, obviously, someone got past. I trusted you too much, and let you and the others do whatever they wanted in The Forest, which I will not do any longer. But, the question is still there, how do you know about it?”

Pinkamena had her eyes closed, and her arms crossed, in deep thought. Her tea having been empty, as she had drunken all of it some time through the story. Then, she opened her eyes and looked at Zecora, with eyes of satisfaction.

“So, that’s the story, huh? Thank you Zecora, you scratched an itch in the back of my mind that’s been bothering me for a while. But, to answer your question, family. As a filly, my grandma told me many myths and fairy tales; this was just one of them. I only came out here to look for it out of boredom; I had no idea if it was real or not. I have no idea how she knew about it, and I have no way of knowing, as she is very dead. I’m just as curious about it as you are, but, I guess neither of us is finding out, huh? And, about what I do there, well, I think telling you wouldn’t be good enough. How about instead, I show you it tomorrow. I’ll come to your hut, and we can go together, sound good?”

Zecora had a mix of emotions on her face. Disappointment at the lack of answers, frustration at the cocky attitude Pinkamena had, but mostly confusion.

“Yes, that’s fine. I would argue, but we’re not quite done here, are we?”

Pinkamena smiled, she was really beginning to like Zecora.

“No, we’re not. As I said, I have one more question and favor. Now, this next question is personal to me, so I want you to think very hard about this one. Have you heard of anything called Meotrize? Or anything that it sounds like or might mean in another language?”

Zecora sat there for a moment, trying to think of anything that might connect. Spells, names, dates, places, words in other languages, plants, species, anything. But, she couldn’t think of anything. Neither names nor species or anything in other languages.

“No, I’m sorry. I can’t think of anything, where did you hear about it?”

Pinkamena closed her eyes, disappointed, but unsurprised.

“I see, well, that’s what I thought. It doesn’t really matter where I heard it if you don’t know what it is, does it?”

Zecora looked back at her and realized she was right.

“No, I suppose not. But, that still leaves the favor you want.”

Pinkamena was silent for a few moments; then a smile stretched across her face.

“Well, it was going to be where I just beg you for it. But now, knowing what I know, it’s blackmail.”

Zecora had a face of anger on her, as she slammed her hooves on the table.

“BLACKMAIL! You’re going to threaten to my entire species for your own selfish reason, AND YOU’RE AN ELEMENT OF HARMONY?”

Pinkamena hadn’t flinched, expecting this response.

“Well, that’s a complicated situation, but yes. Basically, if you don’t make me a potion that cures poison, paralysis, and magical stunning, I will tell Celestia.”

Pinkamena still had the smug smile, knowing she’s won.

“What makes you think I can get ma-“

“Because I did some research on potions, with the right plants, you can make such a potion, especially since you’re a zebra. I would like it to be in a pill, small as possible.”

Zecora’s face got even angrier, veins popping all over her face.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU A-“

Pinkamena slammed Zecora’s head against the table, knocking her unconscious almost immediately. She had stayed patient to get her answers, but now her patience was running low. She never liked getting yelled at, but there were certain situations where she tolerated it, this wasn’t one.

“Huh, first time hurting someone else, I like it. But, I can’t go any further, I need her potion making. Sucks, we were getting along so well, in the beginning, guess I lost another friend.”

Pinkamena got up and began to walk out, leaving Zecora to ‘nap’ on the table, feeling very relaxed. On her way home, her mind still wandered. While she had got answers to some of her questions, not the ones that were more recent and personal. She didn’t mind getting the answers she did; she just didn’t like loose ends.

The reason she wanted the potion was due to recent events, with Celestia who was going to be watching her and Twilight looking for answers, she’s probably going to be needing it. Though in the scenario guards were to subdue her, the potion wouldn’t really help. But, it’s unlikely that would happen, considering how the populace would react.

When Pinkamena got to Sugarcube Corner, the first thing she did was run up to her room, jump into her bed, and closed her eyes. It had been a long, tiring day for her. Both physically and mentally, she’s interrogated a zebra, been interrogated by god, fought her clone and was barely able to hide her wounds thanks to pink bandages and makeup, and lots of thinking.

“I’m so glad I finally get to-“

*Hey Pinkamena, can we talk?*

“Buck.”

Chapter Four: Revelations.

Author's Notes:

Hello, sorry it took so long to get this out. I hope you enjoyed it! Make sure to tell me if you see any errors such as grammar, spelling, left off letters, too many spaces, or just any ways I can improve or make it better. Thanks for reading! Please leave comments and likes, and recommend this to your friends please.

“What? You gonna judge me for blackmailing and knocking out Zecora?”

*No.*

“Tell me we should kill Twilight before she learns too much?”

*No.*

“Ask me to masturbate furiously because you’re desperate for some action?”

*What!? No, what’s wrong with you?*

Pinkamena snickered slightly, enjoying the reaction. The last one was just a joke; she still liked to joke around occasionally, even though they’re dirty most of the time.

“Well, I’m out of guesses. What did you want then? It must be important, considering you only ever talk to me after my daily release.”

She seemed to hesitate, as she took longer to answer this time than she had before.

"It’s…it’s about Meotrize.*

Her voice came out slow and softly spoken as if it was a touchy subject. Pinkamena had always been able to read people, with a few exceptions. Whether it be by looks, body language, or voice patterns. By the way, she was talking, she was afraid. And considering she had said she doesn’t feel as much emotion as she did, it must have been a lot of fear.

Pinkamena sat up in her bad, with an annoyed look on her face. She had been through a very long and frustrating day, now when she finally gets to rest, Sylia decided to choose now to talk. Pinkamena, knowing this was going to be a long night, she began to get comfortable. She put her back to the headboard while straightening herself out; it looked like a very odd position for a pony to be in. But, considering the kind of pony Pinkamena is, she didn’t really mind strange positions.

“Do you know something?”

Pinkamena’s face and voice were previously a joking one, but now it was a serious one, with a hint of curiosity. Out of the possibilities, Pinkamena had thought about anyone who knew of Meotrize, Sylia wasn’t one of them. Considering her whole bodiless situation, it wouldn’t seem like someone like her would know about something like this.

*No, I know everything about Meotrize. I know where and what it was, what happened to it, and the war that involved it. I also know Equestria’s involvement, and why Celestia wants it to remain hidden. I know about because I lived there, I’m the Meotrizen Celestia was accusing you of being.*

Pinkamena said nothing; she had nothing to say. She could hear the guilt in Sylia’s voice and could tell she was sorry. It made sense, while psychopaths like Pinkamena are uncommon, it’s even more uncommon for two to meet each other, especially in this specific situation. And since psychos tend to feel no sympathy or guilt for their victims, would that mean they would for other psychos? Probably, but that wasn’t all on Pinkamena’s mind.

Pinkamena was trying to figure out whether she should believe her, and what to do about it. Sylia could tell she was trying to think, so, she decided to remain quiet, not wanting to annoy her any more than she was already from everything before. While they were friends of sorts, their relationship is…shaky.

“Well, that certainly explains a lot. If this is true that is, which I think it is, you have no reason to lie to me. I have questions, a lot of questions. Both about Meotrize, and other things.”

Pinkamena said slowly, almost like a detective to a suspect during an interrogation. While this was normal, the lack of emotion in her voice was unnerving. Something about it this time was different, it was utterly void of emotion, but at the same time, Sylia could feel mixed emotions coming from Pinkamena. Curiosity was a main, but there was also a few others. The one that truly shocked her though was the ever so slight trace of sympathy.

*I-I will, but, you have to understand, there’s still only so much I can tell you right now. Not because I don’t trust you or anything, I do entirely; it’s just, I don’t think you’re ready. Understand?*

Sylia’s voice was shaky, and cautions. This was the Sylia Pinkamena knew and was friends with. But, according to her, she was once a very different person, more like Pinkamena, apparently. She was only this way because of both her situation and as she had explained once before, her emotions were fading. So, whatever had made her so terrified before, must be something to be cautious of.

“Sylia, our relationship is a strange one. I have no idea what you look like, who you really are, or how you got into my head, but, you’re my friend. The conversations we had, the jokes we shared, and the way you didn’t judge me but sympathized with me when I was killing myself shows that you’re trustworthy. I trust you, and I trust whatever you’re hiding from me, is for a good reason. But, being the kind of pony I am, my curiosity might get the better of me.”

Pinkamena wasn’t lying; she did trust Sylia. But, she wasn’t being entirely honest either. While everything she had said was true, there was a little more to the story than that. Sylia had only ever started talking to her when she changed, so that raises the question, how long had she been there? There were many other questions that made Pinkamena suspicious of her, such as, why did these dreams really start? Is Sylia the only one in Pinkamena’s head? If so, why are any others remaining so quiet?

No, Pinkamena knew there was someone else in her head. She had never told Sylia about this, for multiple reasons. But in the days when she was still Pinkie, something… strange happened. While the dreams were what slowly made her who she is, they were more like light winds that were slowly pushing her over the edge; then there was the storm that forced her over it.

One night, while she had gone to the bathroom to puke like she usually did, which ironically, she didn’t, that’s when the bizarre thing happened. On her way out, she looked in the mirror like she did every night to see what her current state was, but this time was different. There was something in the mirror, something… demonic.

It looked like her, or at least, it had her body. Well, it had her current body, not the one she had back then. Back then, she had the bimbo cotton candy hair. But now, she had the dull curtain hair look, which the thing in the mirror had. What made it demonic though, wasn’t it’s uncanny similarity to her, it was its face.

Its pupils were dark red and dilated, with a black sclera, making it something…unnatural. Those eyes were like a black hole, it was empty, emotionless, pulling on anything that dares to so much as look at it. Something else about its eyes though was the way they bled. It wasn’t normal blood though; it was dark black and thick. It came out of her eyes like tears, in streams. But at the same time, it oozed out, almost like that last drop of ketchup out of the bottle. Slowly going down, but taking its time.

But it's smiling; it’s horrible smile, was traumatizing. It was stretched farther than anything Pinkie could ever have hoped to accomplish, and would ever want to. Its teeth looked old and crooked like they hadn’t been brushed or flossed in years. But the intent behind that smile, the look it was giving her, it was something Pinkamena could never accomplish in her life. What happened afterward is what pushed her, what changed her, it started talking to her.

It was like Sylia’s voice, everywhere but nowhere at the same time, but that’s where the similarities stopped. It sounded dark and deep and was slow and terrifying. It sounded like echoes as if there were seven of them trying to speak at the same time, all with the same kind of voice and intentions. If The Royal Canterlot voice had an opposite, this would be it. It was full of ill intent, and darkness, it sounded as if pure evil had a voice.

Never in her life, nor as Pinkie or Pinkamena, had she ever feared anything. Pinkie would always just laughed at anything scary, and Pinkamena enjoyed the thrill, but this was different. To this day, to this very moment, it’s face and the things it whispered to her, the horrible things she dares not repeat, haunt her to this day. There is not a single day that goes by she doesn’t think about it, not a single day goes by when she’s not full of fear at the slight chance that thing will appear again.

*Pinkamena?*

Pinkamena quickly opened her eyes; not even realized she had closed them. She must have subconsciously done it when she began to remember that night, and begin to think of that…thing.

*Pinkamena? Are you okay? I sensed some fear from you, and you’re not the type to get scared easily. What were you thinking about?*

She was about to respond, but then she hesitated. She couldn’t let Sylia know about that night because if she does, she might learn that Pinkamena was suspicious of her. So, she calmed herself down and made up the best lie at the moment she could.

“It was over coated by your fear, but I did get scared of Celestia. After all, she is a god, so thinking about what happened made me scared, but I’m fine. Just, tell me about Meotrize, and you. I need to know everything, both about Meotrize and you. That’s all I ask, can you do that much for me?”

There was silence in the room, the tension from the silence increasing by the second. For a while, Pinkamena would have thought she left if she hadn’t felt her presence.

*Ok, I’ll start, don’t interrupt me or I might change my mind. The reason why you won’t find anything about Meotrize, and why I’m not worried about Twilight finding anything out about it, is because it doesn’t exist. At least, not anymore. The thing is though, it’s not a forgotten city or an empire, nor is it another land or even a planet. Meotrize is a completely different dimension.*

She paused as if waiting for the surprised reaction from Pinkamena. But then she remembered Pinkamena wasn’t really the type that gets surprised or scared that much anymore and decided to just continue with the story.

*Anyway, as I said earlier, this place couldn’t have been more different than Equestria. There was crime nearly every day, people, as I’ll refer to them as were killed everyday. There wasn’t a single day that went by that someone didn’t either suffer or lose everything. It wasn’t always like that, but it changed one day when the old king died.

I say, old king, because I don’t know his name, it was so long ago, few even do. He wasn’t killed in a battle or anything like that; he simply died of old age. But he didn’t have any heirs to the throne so that no one could take place. The next best choice was to choose an entirely different royal family, the Lanz family. My family.*

Once again, Pinkamena sat there quietly, not reacting in even the slightest. Sylia ignored this and decided to continue her story.

*I wasn’t lying when I said my family was bucked up, under exaggerating. Bucked up would be too good for them. My family took over Carnia Millenniums before I was born, Carnia was the name of the kingdom we lived in, by the way. But ever since they did take over, everything went to Tartarus. Crime rates skyrocketed, murder and rape were at an all-time high, even the amount of corrupted guards was increasing. It was a worse tyranny than Sombra’s reign over The Crystal Empire.

And as you would imagine, my family was behind it all. The details on how would just bore you so, I won’t bother. Ever since my seven times grandfather was the ruler, I’ll explain that later, they became a more aggressive kingdom. They began to take over nearby cities, towns, even other kingdoms. It didn’t stop until they conquered everything.*

“Wait, how were you able to take over other places when your kingdom was in such a horrible state?”

Pinkamena said, no other emotion than curiosity in her voice and on her face.

*I was just going to explain that, you see, as you might have noticed, we’re not ponies. We couldn’t be more different, actually. But since I don’t really have a body, I can’t show you what we looked like. But if I ever get one, I’ll show you. Anyway, no matter what species we were, it still wouldn’t explain why we lived so long, so I’ll explain the best I can.

Ever since the very first member of our family was born, we strived for one thing, perfection. And while nobody’s perfect was still known by us, they wanted to get as close as possible. So, for as long as our family has been around, they tried for perfection. They used magic to artificially prolong our lives, so much so, that it manipulated our genetics. The average lifespan of our species was eighty years, but due to the incredible amount of DNA manipulation, and genetic mutation, any healthy member of our family, is capable of living averagely to five hundred years.

But, as I said earlier, they wanted to be perfect, so they didn’t focus on just a long life. Intelligence, strength, endurance, beauty, and many other traits and features were focused on. Everyday, since the day one could walk, a member of the family is raised with these features in mind. They’re homeschooled by the family, so they're almost always geniuses. Then, they’re trained in battle, by previous family members. They were beaten every single day by their parents to increase endurance, but before they’re trained in hardcore regimens until their body doesn’t have the room to grow any more muscles, which was abnormal on it’s own.

And to ensure all members of the family were beautiful, only people deemed by the family as worthy would be allowed to be impregnated. With all this genetic manipulation that was being done, every generation was a little better than the last. They were faster, stronger, smarter, and prettier than the previous. And this stayed to the last generation, mine, which I will explain later.

At the time, our family was small. But still, they were fully capable of taking on an army. With every location they took over, the family grew, making us capable of taking down bigger and tougher targets. By the time my generation came along, there was a family in each place we conquered.*

Sylia laughed for a few seconds, but this was no normal laugh. This was the laugh of someone who knew they were about to die, but it was different, it had traces of… nostalgia in it.

*My generation, in the only words I could put it, was the best at being the worst. One of the traits that was being focused on, if you can even call it that, was bloodlust. As you know, sometimes people are born with certain…mutations. Photographic memory, ambidextrous, and an unnatural want to kill. While the other ones were also focused on, bloodlust was focused on the most. While they could increase the chance of these genetic mutations through what they do, it can’t be guaranteed. So you can imagine the chances of a single individual getting all these traits, but I’ll talk more about that later.Most people would ask why bloodlust would be something you would want, as it has no benefit or improvements, it’s nothing but an unnecessary urge. Which is true, or at least, it is for artificial bloodlust. You see, what most don’t know, is there are two kinds of bloodlust. There’s artificial bloodlust, which can be caused. Such as a traumatic event, emotional issues, repressed emotions, and other such things.*

Suddenly, she seemed to giggle. But this wasn’t the kind of giggle Pinkamena would get out of her from a joke, it was much darker. Pinkamena noticed this, but she didn’t act on it, she was quite familiar with that kind of giggle.

But then, there’s natural bloodlust, which other than the name, it has no real similarities. It’s something you're born with, something that no matter what kind of family or environment you’re born into, you’re going to live with it for the rest of your life. And unlike it’s sad counterpart, it actually has benefits. A lack of fear, a high tolerance for pain, an ability to think of multiple ways to kill an enemy in seconds, and a motivation to kill. Though, it’s only real con, is it requires a catalyst. To activate it, you need to take a life, a person’s life.

But when it does, the urge it gives you is…indescribable. You’d have to experience it to understand, and I hate to tell you, but your bloodlust is artificial. But, moving on to the previous subject, I hope you can understand why certain kind of people would want this, or want it for their children.

Anyway, as I’m pretty sure you’ve figured out, I’m a part of that family. Or, to be more specific, I am- was a part of the last generation, nor was I an only child. There were three others, my siblings. Talia and Mony, my sisters. There were the snobby, spoiled brats of the family. They acted like they were the best at everything, wanted everything, and did everyone; they were basically like the stepsisters from Ponyella. But they did make up for it; they were smart, good in battle, and pretty.

Then there was my brother, who I personally liked. His name was Brakon, and he was too kind for the family he was born in. I can’t really describe him to you, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that he was hot as Tartarus. I wasn’t attracted to him or anything, even he thought I was hot, it was just a mutual understanding between us. He was always nice to me, and pretty much everyone who wasn’t an enemy, he was kind to. He was strong and smart, and pretty much as close to perfect as possible. Sadly, unlike Talia and Mony, who both had photographic memory, he had no special traits. He was also the heir to the family, or, was. Anyway, now that we're done, let's move on to my parents.

I never met my mother, and I’m still not sure if I want to. I don’t even know if she cared for us or not, or if she was even alive. All I know is what father told us, and that wasn’t much. He said she wasn’t allowed to see us, and that she never will. He never told us anymore, nor did any of us ask. But, since I’ve mentioned him, I might as well start on him, my father.

He was…indescribable. Years of discipline, strictness, and just constant high expectations since he was an only child, made him who he was. He was also one of the rare who got bloodlust, which that alone would make a person aggressive, mixed in with the way our family raised, he was almost never calm. He was brutal, strict, ruthless, seemed to have no sense of shame nor dignity. He did what he wanted, how he wanted, when he wanted, and no one could have stopped him. His punishments always went overboard, and were done for the smallest of things. He expected the impossible, and didn’t care how much others suffered in order for it to get done, even his own children. Now, I could sit here for hours and tell you the kind of person he was, but there would be no point in that. So, I’ll just skip my daddy issues, and move on to me.*

Suddenly, a chill went down Pinkamena’s spine. Something changed, Sylia’s entire mood changed. She felt darker, sadistic, evil, and happy all at the same time. It completely turned Pinkamena on, but she didn’t express it, she was still suspicious. There were certain things Sylia was telling her, and certain signs or voice patterns would change when talking about a specific thing or person, she was hiding something, something important.

*Remember earlier when I mention just how low the chances of someone getting all the traits? Well, in the centuries they’ve tried, my family was never able to procure such a perfect specimen, until me. I was both the first, and the last to be born so lucky. I was the idea of perfection, mixed with my traits, I was beautiful, intelligent, strong, quick to adapt and learn, but most of all, I was a warrior. I was the prodigy among prodigies. Obviously, this made others jealous, which turned into hatred. My brother was the only member of my family who was ever kind to me.

That’s not all though, not even close. I was…different than the others. My bloodlust was abnormal, which is a weird thing to call it. I said it was a hard trait to get, not impossible. Multiple ancestors of the family had bloodlust, and all of them tried to explain what they could about it. Mine was much different than the kind my ancestors had, and my family didn’t like things they didn’t know about or confused them.

Other than giving a stronger urge, the bloodlust I had gave many advantages. In battle, I seemed to grow stronger, faster, and relied more on my primal instinct than the training I went through, which sometimes caused more problems than what it solves. My magic seemed to spike in power, durability, and quantity, but something else changed about it was different. It’s color changed, it was normally bright red, but in battle, it changed to a much darker red, almost black. Members of my family who either trained me or watched me battle said other things changed, they said my eyes seemed to turn into a more purple color, and that my teeth seemed to get sharper, there were many other minor changes, which earned me many nicknames, but there was one I was always fond of, The Angel of Insanity. But I’m sure you’ve heard enough about me and my family. Let’s move on to what you're really wanna know about: The Dimension War.

As I said before, Meotrize is a completely different dimension. But, that doesn’t mean Equestria had absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s true they remained strangers to each others existence for a very long time, but nothing last forever. I don’t know the details myself, as he rarely told me or anyone else anything, but he somehow learned of Equestria, and how their leaders were posing as gods. This is something me and my family had been trying to do for as long as we’ve been around, but it never worked. The populace was more than happy to see us as demons, but never gods, that’s one of the few goals we were never able to accomplish.

This was around the time Celestia and Luna had first taken place as the rulers of Equestria, which is a story all on its own, which I have absolutely no intention of telling you, it’s not my place. So, when he heard they were recently crowned and were already being called gods, it enraged him. Mostly because of all the effort, it took our family to get where they were, and yet they had more than we had with little to no effort on their part. So, claiming it was to dominate another dimension and not because of his jealousy, he convinced the rest of the family with his social status and charm, to declare war on Equestria.

Like today, Equestria was an extremely pacifist nation and tried to avoid bloodshed at any cost. But no enemy had reasoned with us before, Equestria was no exception. Using the extremely talented witches, mages, and other magic casters we had at our disposal, we were able to gain access to their dimension. And so began The Dimension War, the end of my family, and the peace of Equestria, along with millions of lives on both sides.*

Once again, Pinkamena stayed quiet, still not reacting in any way. Sylia really wished she could read Pinkamena’s thoughts, the anxiety of waiting for her reaction was destroying her. But she said she’d tell her story, and she will.

*The war started off as you’d expect, my family started attacking smaller towns and cities, showing Celestia just how serious they were. It took the destruction of three towns, two cities, and countless lives before Celestia retaliated. She gathered every single soldier and guard in Equestria, even going as far as to enlist prisoners from before they were leading, creating a vast and dangerous army. It might have seemed stupid to remove all defenses from the towns and cities, but Celestia realized my family liked at least some fight, so they wouldn’t attack a place with no defenses, which we probably should have, but my father’s pride wouldn’t have allowed us to do such a thing.

Celestia’s strategy was simple and efficient. Using a powerful time potion made by the zebras, which can’t be replicated today, as the ingredients no longer exist, though they can be substituted to make a much less potent potion. Using both the potion and her alicorn powers to enhance it, she was able to see a week ahead of time. She used this to see when attacks would happen, and planned accordingly. She split the army in half, one to defend Canterlot, and the other to defend the place or places being attacked.

If it was multiple places, Celestia would split the army even further, and used Luna to defend a place by herself. If it was one place, Celestia would send the army with Luna, while she stayed at Canterlot, in case something unexpected happened. This strategy worked for a while, resulting in minimal casualties, sometimes even none. But eventually, my father got frustrated with the loss of so many soldiers, though, we honestly had more than we needed. So, he decided to both increase the size of the attacking armies, and to send a little back up. Before, our family wanted to sit back and let the foot soldiers do all the work, like they were used to. But apparently, they underestimated Equestria, and that irritated the entire family.

They decided to send in family members to fight, and it was honestly overkill. Luna was able to handle maybe one or two, but mortals weren’t so lucky. The tides were eventually turned, to the point where they were losing much more than we did. Celestia noticed this and decided to risk sending in the other half of the army, and herself. Celestia had never taken a life before, so she didn’t take it very well. But she didn’t have any choice, the mixture of the side effects of constantly drinking time potions, and killing thousands, she became a mad queen for a while. Sometimes, I still don’t think she’s over it.

This war went on for years, until the point where both sides had more citizens than soldiers. Though for us, that wasn’t an issue, as we forced citizens to fight. But Celestia couldn’t do that, while she lost most of her sanity, she wasn’t completely gone, as Luna was still there to help her through it. This put Equestria at a huge disadvantage, and they began to lose. But as you would guess, something happened.

While on a scouting party in The Everfree Forest, a couple of guards stumbled upon The Mirror Pool. This was after the zebras abandoned it, but before they found someone suitable to be a guardian. So, discovering the abilities of it, Celestia decided to use the pool to recreate her army and make it bigger. To this very day, it’s still used. But only rarely, as there’s no real reason to need an army. That’s the reason why so many guards look so similar, in case you were ever curious about that.

My father was smart, but not a strategist. So, using pure numbers, we started losing. It took years, maybe even decades, but eventually, they won. Sort of. It got down to the point to where we had used every citizen, every soldier, even every family member. Only me and the rest of my family remained to fight, and fight we did. But, of course, no matter how strong one may be, any enemy can be outnumbered.

But my father refused to lose, despite having lost almost everything. So, all of us banded together and attacked Canterlot. But, Celestia knew about this of course. She spent her preparation time cloning her army until she felt she had enough. By the time we got there, there were millions, maybe even billions of soldiers. Eventually, they got us. But my father, he was very persistent. He and he alone were able to get to the castle, but sadly, he didn’t get to Celestia.

Luna had expected we might get through, and was waiting. In his weakened state, Luna was quickly able to finish him off. But my father wasn’t finished, he infused all his remaining magic into Luna, slowly corrupting her, creating Nightmare Moon. But the magic didn’t act on its own, it fed on the envy and hate Luna felt for her sister until it was powerful enough to take her over, and obviously, it did. And, until now, Celestia and Luna thought we were all dead. But if there's one thing my families known for, it always has a backup plan.

As I said before, we had very talented mages and alchemist at our disposal. So, my father, when he realized we were going to lose, asked everyone we had left to make a resurrection potion or spell. Even then, such a thing was impossible, but, they could make the next best thing. They called it the Quetzalcoatl, but what it did, was more like reincarnation than resurrection.

The potion/spell, it was really a combination of both, relied entirely on the amount of magic the user had. There were enough resources to make enough for all of us, so that’s what we did. The potion took an immense amount of our magical power, so when we fought, we were already much weaker than before. But despite the sacrifice, it did it’s intended use.

It takes the mind and soul of the user, and at death, it turns it into an ethereal form. Much like the Wendigoes. As an ethereal, we were not bound by any laws of physics. We were able to go into other dimensions or forbidden areas, which was also its intended use. But our dimension was destroyed, so we had no choice but to go to Equestria. As you would imagine, being ethereal was very, well, unexplainable. You have no sense of time, no sense of self-awareness, the only reason we even were able to go to Equestria is because of our last directive, which was go to Equestria and find a host.

I have no idea how long I was ethereal; I just know it’s been a very long time. Nor do I know if the rest of my family are still ethereal, found a host, or found a host before I did became a villain, and died. You may be wondering why I say villain, or why I chose you, well, I will explain. We can’t just choose any one we want as a host, because if so, I guarantee we would not be here. No, you see, certain standards have to be met, very specific standards.

The host can be any age or species, that’s not the issue. But, the host has to be as similar to you as possible, at least seventy percent. That means traits, mindset, family, those kinds of things. In a place like Equestria, finding anyone even remotely similar to us was immensely difficult. But I was patient, so I waited, and waited, and waited until you happened. I have no idea whether or not the rest of my family have found a host, but, I do know I’ve found mine. You had an eighty-two percent similarity to me, at least, to who I was.

You had a dark perception of reality, you worked every day, you were emotionally suffering, and you were born with photographic memory, those were more than enough traits for me to take over. Then the sonic rainboom happened, and I took you over at that time. The result was Pinkie, the sudden amount of magic entering your body sent you into shock, making your brain go into overdrive. As a result of the immense amount of magic from the sonic rainboom, and my magic, you gained The Pinkie Sense.

You became a happy, bouncy pony, nothing like me. The sudden change and timing made me more like your subconscious, making me unable to control your body. Then everything happened, and I had no choice but to watch. As you know, magic feeds of your emotions. Certain kind of emotions can only feed on negative emotions, and you had none. So my magic was slowly fading, as it both had no substance, and you had been using it every time you were in danger. With my magic, my emotions began to fade, and so did I. While me myself could never fade away, I could become nothing more than a being without soul or mind, I could become an ethereal again, one that would die when you did.

But no matter how much my emotions fade or how I change, my bloodlust would never go weak. Luckily though, with my situation being how it was, I couldn’t act on it. I thought I would have had to deal with it for as long as you were alive, which was a torture worse than anything my dad put me through. But then, something happened, something new.

On the day of your birthday, when everything happened, you changed. For a few hours, you became who you were when I took you over; you became dark. I jumped at the negative emotions, feeding and thriving off of them. So, even after you thought you were okay, you weren’t, not even close. With my emotions, the bloodlust became stronger. But I was still in your mind so that I couldn’t do anything. Though with the surge in magic, what I could do, was manipulate your dreams.

It didn’t get rid of it, but it helped. I don’t think I have to tell you what happened after that. That’s everything I know.*

Awkward silence followed, as Sylia didn’t want to speak anymore, and Pinkamena was remaining quiet. It felt like years, as Pinkamena simply sat there quietly, and Sylia waited for her to speak, full of anxiety. Sylia was about to speak again, but then Pinkamena began to speak.

So, it was your fault then?”

She said this in a strange way, similar to the way Celestia was talking before. Emotionless, but on the borderline of releasing every emotion being held back. Sylia was confused and scared at the same time; she didn't understand the question.

“It’s your fault I’m like this? A bloodthirsty pony who’s lost any connection with friends or family? Who has turned from an innocent, bouncy, joyful mare? Into a sadistic, psychotic, murderous pony? Who has even hurt the people who were once their friends? I’ll ask again, so it’s your fault I’m a monster.”

Sylia didn’t know how to react; this wasn’t the reaction she expected. Pinkamena may have said it quietly, but that’s only because there were others asleep in the house. The way she said the things she did, she was angry, really angry. In the entire time, Sylia’s been with Pinkamena, she’s never seen her angry, not once. But now, it was scary how she was angry, despite not being able actually to hurt her. Sylia was terrified, both because of Pinkamena being angry, and losing the only friendship, she’d be able to have.

*I-I’m sorry, Pinkamena! I didn’t mean to-*

“I’m just bucking with ya! Calm down.”

Pinkamena said, barely able to hold back her laughs. Her angry expression seeming to disappear, as it was replaced with a more joking one. Somehow, this was more unsettling.

*So, you’re not mad?”

“Sylia, I understand. It’s like you said before, the only reason you were able to try to use me as a host is that we’re similar. I was already capable of being like this long before we actually met. You didn’t even start speaking to me until recently, so, you had no real effect on my life. The only thing those ‘dreams’ did was give me the option to give in, and I simply took it. So no, I’m not mad at you.”

Well, that wasn’t true, not at all. Pinkamena wasn’t lying, at least, not until the last part. All the things she said was true, Sylia did not affect how things turned out, so why? For some reason, Pinkamena felt angry, boiling. The thing is though; she didn’t know why. After Sylia said she started the dreams, she just felt…hot. She herself didn’t understand why, she shouldn’t be angry, but she was.

Somehow, the fact that Pinkamena said she was faking scared Sylia even more. It seemed so real, so genuine. She didn’t think there was any way Pinkamena could have been faking it, but, she was. This wasn’t the first time either, Sylia had been there from the beginning, she’s seen everything. But most of all, she’s seen the acting. Pinkamena could fake emotions better than any actor on any movie, and it was scary how good she was at it. No one Sylia’s ever know has been that good, and she’s known a lot of actors. But, she’s thought about this before, and she’ll come to the same conclusion. Pinkamena just has a strange natural acting ability, and she didn’t have that ability. So, other than being a natural born trait, the only other reason would be because of IT, and she really hoped that thing wasn’t the reason, as that would cause a huge issue.

*But, Pinkamena, don’t you-*

“Look, Sylia, it’s been a long and tiring day. I had a rough fight with my clone, I’ve been threatened by a god, I now have a blackmail situation with a zebra, I just learned about an old and bloody war, and that some old, bloodthirsty, warrior ghost lives in my head. So, please, can we stop? I just want to get some sleep.”

Sylia wanted to retort, but, Pinkamena was right. There was no point talking about it anymore; she had told everything, well, almost everything. Pinkamena didn’t need to know about that; there was no reason it.

*Alright, I’ll leave you be. Just, be careful. You’re playing a very dangerous game here Pinkamena, and if you lose, we’ll both die.*

With that Sylia left, or, well, went to sleep. Pinkamena wasn’t really sure what it was, but she just called it sleep. But she wasn’t thinking about that, she was thinking about Sylia’s story. Her suspicions were now confirmed, Sylia was definitely hiding something. Something big, and dangerous. Not only that, but she had just realized just how true the words she had said were. She was playing a very dangerous game and a very stressful one. Her life was now very stressful, and sometimes, killing herself simply wasn’t enough.

And she now had to deal with all the recent events, and the ones bound to happen. She also has to find out what Sylia is hiding, which would be hard enough on its own, if Sylia wasn’t in her head always watching her. This had been a hard day, Pinkamena didn’t need sleep, she needed a drink. Pinkamena put her hoof under her bed, pulling a bottle of wine from a space between the boards, it was her secret stash. She only ever drank from it if it had ever been a stressful day, or Ponyville had come under attack, and she was on her deathbed.

Pinkamena had begun to drink the wine, glad the booze was slowly starting to wash away her anger, which she still hasn’t found out the reason for. After a few minutes, Pinkamena had felt a presence in her mind, Sylia. She had probably come back because she left out a few details or she had questions or something; this happened sometimes. Occasionally, Sylia would randomly come to talk to Pinkamena about various things just wanting to have a conversation; it was extremely annoying.

“Sylia, please, I’m trying to-

*Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not Sylia.*

Pinkamena dropped her bottle, causing it to spill all over the floor. But she didn’t care; she was too terrified even to react. It was that voice, the voice that belonged to that thing she saw that night. Hearing its voice, it’s dark and echoing voice, chilled her to the bone.

“You-You’re-“

*For now, you may call me, The Voice. To answer your obvious question, I came here because you and I, Pinkamena, need to talk.*

Chapter Five: A Demonic Presence.

Author's Notes:

Hello all loyal readers! Sorry it took so long to come out with a new chapter, but I've been working on a new story. If you want, you can go check that out, it's a one-shot, so it shouldn't take long. Please tell me if you see any typos, thanks for reading!

In this world, there are two perspectives: what’s wrong, and what’s right. Whether stealing because you’re starving is wrong or right, whether killing a murderer is wrong or right, whether liking a certain kind of porn is wrong or right, etc. It’s one of the many things that are used to judge, insult, and hurt others. Whenever a person does something that is considered wrong, everyone who shares the opinion that it’s wrong will judge that person for it. No matter what that thing was or why they did it, if it’s deemed wrong in their eyes, they will judge that person for it.

Right and wrong, good and bad, it’s all idea’s and perspectives. They think that way either because of their experiences or because society pushed it into them to create a perfect community, which never works. A person taught from birth that murder is wrong, without personal experience to make them think differently, will always believe that. But an assassin taught from birth that killing is necessary and not evil, without changing experiences, will still believe that. That’s just how life is, and how it will always be. People put their faith and beliefs into the wrong things, and it will destroy us.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkamena was sweating in fear, more fear than she’s ever felt before. More than Discord or Nightmare Moon, more than when Celestia confronted her, more than she ever thought she could handle. Her heart was racing; her entire body was tense, she was clutching the sheets as hard as she could, she wasn’t just afraid, she was terrified.

“W-what do you want?”

She couldn’t see it, but she was sure she could feel it smirk. Whatever this thing was, it was sadistic. It’s sounded like a dark echo, being repeated by dozens of people at once, in such a dark tone. It was everything Pinkamena feared, but everything she currently was, and more

*Oh, what's that I hear in your voice? Is that fear? What happened to the cocky, arrogant Pinkamena? Did seeing me so many months ago, really scare you that much? Come on; I was just playing around! I mean, if I really wanted to scare you,*

Whatever this thing was, it was bizarre. Its voice was terrifying, with its echo and dark tone. But the emotion behind it was very different, it was lighthearted and joyful, almost like the way she used to be. Near the end, it took a turn for the worst. The joy behind was gone, the tone became darker and more sadistic, the echo seems to go into hyperdrive.

*I WOULDN’T USE SOMETHING AS PETTY AS HALLUCINATIONS! I’D MAKE YOU HEAR ME ALL THE TIME! TELL YOU THINGS YOU COULDN’T POSSIBLY FATHOM. I’D MAKE YOU QUESTION REALITY ITSELF! AND TRICK YOU INTO THINKING YOU’RE IN A DREAM AND MAKE YOU KILL ALL YOUR FRIENDS! I’D BREAK YOUR MIND TO THE POINT OF SUICIDE! *

Its voice was booming, making her startle and her body flinch. The voice was so loud and powerful; it made The Royal Canterlot voice seem like a whisper. It gave her a headache and made her ears ring, but it also made her somewhat confused. It didn’t sound angry or threatening; it sounded…frustrated. After everything Pinkamena had been through, she could tell the difference.

*But, I don’t want to scare you, that’s not what I’m here for. Believe it or not, I’m actually here to help you. But don’t think I’m doing this out of the kindness of my non-existent heart, I’m benefiting from this far more than you are. And before you ask what I came to help you with, it’s to answer some of the questions you’ve been searching for.*

The tone of her voice switched back to her more casual one as if the multiple threats she had just made didn’t happen. Though, something about it was different. While it was still light-hearted, it wasn’t as joking or joyful; it was somehow more…serious. It didn’t sound as playful as it did before, it was more intimidating and vicious, it chilled her to the bone. But, no matter how afraid she was, some part of her couldn’t help being jealous.

“B-but Sylia already told me-“

*I KNOW WHAT SHE TOLD YOU! BUT SHE’S LYING! YOU CAN’T BELIEVE A WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THAT WHORE’S MOUTH!*

Its voice changed again, but while it was similar, there was actual anger in it now. It almost startled her. But it didn’t make her any more afraid it calmed her down. She could tell she wasn’t the one it was angry at. To a point, for whatever reason, she can slightly feel whatever it was. Maybe, like Sylia, it was also an entity in her mind. Which wouldn’t make any sense, considering Sylia probably would have told her. Then again, she had this sinking suspicion that Sylia didn’t tell her everything. And considering it didn’t seem to like Sylia, there might be a good reason for it.

*Listen, I didn’t mean to get angry with you. It’s just, well, there’s a lot Sylia hasn’t told you, and plenty she doesn’t know herself. I’m not going to tell you everything either, because I do agree with her on the fact that you’re not ready, not yet. In time, you will know everything; I promise you that.*

Pinkamena wasn’t sure how to feel right now, confused or intrigued. It was true she hadn’t fully trusted Sylia, she didn’t really trust anyone anymore, especially not anyone she couldn’t see. But she couldn’t trust some random demonic entity she’s only ever seen in a mirror late at night, especially since it’ll be giving information on the other entity in her head, what the buck has her life come to?

“Wait, I have a few questions about you first. Sylia and I have been talking for months, which is why I trusted her to an extent. But, I’m guessing you have no intention of answering any of those questions, so, I guess I only have two. Are you another entity in my head? If so, can both of you talk to me at the same time, or can you only talk to me one at a time?”

Pinkamena’s fear had slowly been subsiding, as she gradually adjusted to whatever this thing was. She had theorized what this thing was ever since that night, and she had narrowed down to two things. It was either some remnant from The Meotrize War that had tried to take over her body like Sylia, she didn’t know what Sylia was then, but she speculated she was something like her, or, it was the aftereffect of taking so much zebra medicine. Either way, she really had nothing to be afraid of anymore. She was scared of it before mainly because she didn’t know what it was, the list was long, and some of them were dangerous. But now that it’s connection to Sylia was confirmed, the things it could be were no longer dangerous.

*Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve been watching you for years now, see all your changes and experiences; I expected you might ask that. I won’t go into detail, but, in a way, yes, I am another entity in your head. Unlike Sylia, I don’t intend to tell you my backstory, so don’t annoy me for it. As for my connection to Sylia, I hate her fucking guts! I would kill her if I could! But, due to certain things that have happened between us, I can’t. Maybe one day, you’ll learn our past, but it’s honestly not that important. At least, not all of it. Some things you’ll need to know to prepare you for the future, but I’ll get to that later. As for if we can sense/talk to each other, sort of. The only time we can to talk to each other is if we’re both talking to you, without you conscious, it would be like a conversation between a deaf and a mute; it wouldn’t work. Though, we can sense each other's presence, but only when we’re awake. Sylia is currently in a sort of ‘rest mode,' she’s not really asleep, but she’s not really awake either. What matters is she can’t sense me, and if I’m in that mode, I can’t sense her. So, does that answer satisfy you?*

Pinkamena had her eyes closed; it helped her think. It annoyed her that she didn’t have all the answers because she apparently wasn’t ‘ready.' What for? She had no idea. But some of those answers did give her some clarity. Sadly, it left her with even more questions. Who was this thing? Why didn’t Sylia mention it? How long has it been here? But, she doubted she was going to be getting any answers anytime soon, so it was back to square one. But now wasn’t the time to think about the questions she had, she had to focus on the answers she was going to get.

“Yeah, it cleared a few things up. You can go ahead and start with whatever you wanted to tell me; I’m ready now.”

Her voice was calm and confident, the fear she had before was now completely gone. She cocked her head up to the ceiling; her chin raised in a cocky manner. As soon as she did, she could feel its change in mood change to angry; something had set it off.

*You know, it wasn’t that long ago that I had you trembling. And now here you are, acting so confident. And the thing about cocky people like you is I can’t stand them acting cocky around me! Why aren’t you afraid anymore? Don't you think that just because I’m giving answers doesn’t mean we’re friends! I won’t hesitate to kill you! I’m not anything like Sylia! I still have magic! And I can still brutally torture you without leaving a single scratch on your body!*

The room seemed to get darker, the tension rising, that amplified echo effect returning. While it did give her a headache, she remained unafraid and unintimidated. Her head was still raised towards the roof in a cocky way, a confident smile on her face; her eyes were closed in a relaxed way, she had nothing to fear.

“You can’t.”

She could practically taste the anger coming from it when those words left her muzzle; she loved infuriating people with her mind games. Psychological warfare was her favorite kind, violent being a close second.

*WHAT DID YOU SAY!?*

Its voice was much louder than before, glad only she could hear it. It made her headache worse and her ears ring, she was sure she was probably going to have tinnitus now. But her face didn’t change; she didn’t want to give it the satisfaction of knowing it was inducing pain.

“I said, you can’t hurt me. The only reason I was afraid of you before, is because I didn’t know what you were. But now that I know what you are, I know you physically can’t touch me. Even if you did have magic like you say you do, you can’t use it to kill me. After all, I’m your host. If you were to kill me, where would you go? You’d probably evaporate out of existence, having nothing to hold you down. And as for torturing me or trying to break me,”

The smile on her face widened, resembling that of Nightmare Moon’s or Discord’s, but the confidence remaining. Her eyes fluttered open, revealing a look of beautiful insanity behind them.

“I’ve gone through months of nightmares that would shatter any normal pony, killed myself dozens of times, fought both the god of the night and the god of chaos, performed a massacre of changelings, took down a very powerful dark mage, tamed an entire hoard of parasprites, and I have backup plans for pretty much anything. So, go ahead, try to break me, I dare you.”

Her voice was seductive and daring as if she had everything planned, which she did, sort of. Instead of a string of threats like she expected, it laughed. It wasn’t a laugh of anger or anything; it was a happy, wholehearted laugh. It was almost terrifying.

*Oh, wow! In all my life, I’ve never met anyone like you! You’re so much like me! But at the same time, you’re so much like Sylia! That spunk, that fire in your eyes, that perverted way of thinking, even that unyielding confidence! Oh, Pinkamena, I think we’re going to get along just fine. I was honestly testing you! I wanted to see if the way you act all day was really you or not, and I’ll be honest, you’re a lot better than I expected. I see a great future for you and me!*

The smile didn’t leave her face, but it did falter. She hadn’t expected such a reaction; she hadn’t even considered the possibility. It had seemed so angry before like she had so much rage. She didn’t have any second thoughts about the legitimacy of it; it seemed so real. But it was apparently an act; it wasn’t angry at all! Is this what she was like? If so, it made sense why people would be curious about her. The fact that she was so like it made her feel…uneasy, and she didn’t get bothered by many things. But, this wasn’t the time to think about that, she would have plenty of time to think later. Right now, she had to get answers. She decided to play along and act as she trusted it, it was the only way to get answers.

“Yeah, sure! We can be great friends! We can gossip, talk about stallions and mares, maybe even solve world hunger! But, that’s a later conversation topic. For now, let’s just take a spin back to the reason you came, the truth. And I’m tired, so can we just get straight to it? I don’t want to sound mean, but, as you know, it had been a shitty day! So, I'm asking as a future friend, can we just get to it?”

*Oh, yeah, right. Well, to start off, I need to clear some things up. I will be giving you answers, yes. But not to everything, nor will I be giving hints or anything, I’d prefer to see if you can figure it out on your own. I want to see just how good your detective skills are, without any help. And it's not just answered I’m giving you; it’s also a warning. Which I plan on getting to after I answer some of your questions, as they’re more important. So, before we can begin, I need to assert a few rules. Rule number one: no interrupting. Unlike Sylia, I will not tolerate it. Rule number two: hold all questions until the end, I’d hate for you ask a question and cause me to lose my place. Finally, rule number three: Don’t expect this to become a normal thing. I’m not doing this because I like you, though I do. As I said before, I only do things when it can benefit me, either immediately or in the future, I recommend you do the same. Is that clear?*

Pinkamena’s mind was in chaos; she was nervous, confused, and curious all at the same time. She would have gulped, but that would have shown she was nervous. So, she decided to keep face; it’s all she could do. If she lost face, she might lose her answers, and she was far too close now. She was already curious before, but the part about the warning further intrigued her. If something dangerous was coming, she needed to know so she could prepare and kill it.

“Come on; you’ve watched me, haven’t you? Then you know how good of a listener I am, a lot better than I was. I understand your concerns though; I wasn’t such a good listener a few months ago. But, I can assure you, I am nothing like who I used to be.”

With who she used to be, this conversation would have been extraordinary. Then again, the way she used to be was extraordinary. She used to be random, childlike, immature, stupid, annoying, and so many other horrible traits she used to have. But now, she was better in so many ways, but, in some ways, she was also worse. She didn’t specifically hate anything about how she was now, but she knew some things about how she was, was better. The only thing she would envy about how she used to be, is that was the kind of pony Rainbow would have liked.

*Yeah, I guess you're right. Alright, I think we’ve beat around the bush enough, I’m just going to start by confirming few things Sylia told you. First off, everything she told you about the war, Meotrize, and her family, was all true. Her family was like that, they did live in another dimension, and there was a war between them and Equestria. But she was lying to you about her siblings, explicitly, their current whereabouts. She said she had no idea where they currently are, but that was a lie. In fact, you’ve encountered them before; she just didn’t say anything. And don’t bother asking, cause I’m not going to tell you who it was. But, I am going to tell you that they will be coming back, and soon. That’s not the warning though, that’s after I’ve cleared some things.

As for her parents, she honestly doesn’t know if they're still around or not. Which means you either haven’t encountered them yet, or they’ve already died. But, that’s not the case. Out of both curiosity and spite, I decided to search for them. And I did indeed find them, but whether they're alive, dead, or still ethereal, I’ll never say. Other than them, I don’t know anything else she would be lying about her family. But, that doesn’t mean I’m done. There are other things she didn’t tell you.

Remember when she was talking about rare birth talents, and how she was the first one in her family to be born with all of them? Well, that’s half right. She wasn’t lying about being born with some, like photographic memory and bloodlust. And while she was born with the rest, it wasn’t natural. I mean, I’m sure you knew that, with their genetic manipulation and all. But this was different; it had an outside influence. Something or someone used certain means to ensure that she would get them all, who or what did it, why or how, I can’t tell you. But, before you start trying to figure it out, don’t. It’s not all that important, knowing won’t benefit you in any way, it’ll just waste your time.

Anyway, back to the original subject. I’m guessing you’re probably curious why Sylia was the first one in her family to get them all, even with outside influence, it doesn’t make any sense, I thought the same thing at first. But, after a few years of…observing, I figured out the answer myself. A few dozen generations before Sylia, they lucked out. There’s one trait that is extremely rare, can’t be forced or created, and no matter the amount of research or genetic engineering, can’t be reproduced: Clairvoyance, the ability to see the future.

A trait like that, in hands like theirs, could be an unstoppable weapon. When they first had it, they didn’t even understand it. By the time they did and knew what they could do with it, it was too late. He had died during a revolution, enraging many of the family members, and making sure such a thing wouldn’t happen again. After they learned what they had, it’s the one trait they focused on the most. They did everything they could think of, trying generation after generation. But, no matter their efforts, they never got results. Until Sylia.

But, it wasn’t what they expected. Yes, she can predict the future, just not the immediate one. The one they had before could see weeks into the future, but only in his dreams, so that’s why they weren’t used. Sylia, on the other hand, was much weaker. It didn’t start until a few years after birth, maybe when she was six or seven, I don’t remember. But, at completely random and unpredictable times, she would have flashes of the future. They can last from five seconds to five minutes. As for how far in the future, it could be sometime between the next ten seconds, or the next ten years. It was impossible to tell until it happened, making it almost entirely useless to them. While she did eventually manage to control how often they arrived, she couldn’t control when.

There are many other truths and secrets Sylia is hiding from you, a few of them my own. Some about the war, some about her, some about me, and a few of things you have absolutely no idea about. I understand if you’re angry or frustrated, I’d be too if every answer left me with quadruple the number of questions. But, I assure you, all your questions will be answered eventually. Now, I said earlier that when I was done, I’d answer your questions. But, since I haven’t done this in so long, it’s drained me more than I expected. So, the amount of questions I can answer before having to go into hibernation is going to have to be limited. I know I said any questions, and I apologize, but, I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow. But, for now, let’s get through the questions. I’ll limit questions to about three, that sound good? Good, then start, and hurry, I’m exhausted. And don't think I forgot about your warning, I'm going to give it to you before I leave after your questions. *

Pinkamena had gone back to the same position as before; her head raised up to the ceiling with her eyes. No matter what it said, she didn’t react. It’s not that nothing it said was shocking, it’s just that after everything she’s heard, done, and experienced, she was convinced nothing could shock her anymore. But, just like it had said, the explanation had both intrigued and frustrated her. The only question that was answered was if she could trust Sylia, all other important ones weren’t, and she hated unanswered questions. And she had questions, plenty of them. She didn’t want to have to wait for her warning or questions to be answered, she was tired of waiting. But, she was going to wait, she had to. Besides, there were a few questions she might get answered here.

“Is the Clairvoyance trait always visions or dreams? Aren’t there any other ways it can show? Because, as you know, I have this thing called The Pinkie Sense. I can’t control when it happens either, but that’s the only real setback. Through random spasms of body language in specific orders, by trial and error learning what each one means in specific patterns, I can predict the future. And I’m not talking about a few weeks into the future; it’s usually immediate. The longest one time it took for a prediction to come true was a day, and that was under exceptional circumstances. It’s especially useful for combat, as it helps me predict how and where my enemy attacks from. So, it’s practically impossible for someone to perform a sneak attack on me.”

It didn’t say anything for a few seconds; she wasn’t sure if it was because it was tired or thinking, at least, not until it started laughing. It was much like the laugh before, except it didn’t sound as enthusiastic.

*You’re even better than I expected! You're smart, pretty, and you can analyze stuff like that in minutes! If I had a physical body and swung that way, you would be my ideal person! More or less, considering how my last relationship went. Anyway, back to your question. Yes, I realized it myself quite a while ago. That Pinkie Sense of yours is a form of Clairvoyance, an excellent one at that. True, the ability to see into the far future would be useful, to a point. But the future can be changed with even the slightest decisions, so, in my opinion, yours is far more useful. You’re capable of seeing any immediate threats towards you, making you an adamant opponent to take down in combat. I’d even say you can dodge arrows if you can master it!

But, there are cons. It doesn’t give you specific times, sure, it’s usually soon, but how soon? An estimate is good, but knowing exactly when is crucial. And, this is really a problem only for you, but it won’t help other people. The warnings are only meant for you, meaning, any immediate threats to anyone near you won’t register if it doesn’t damage you. You can save yourself, but not anyone near you. The best advice I can give you to fix that, don’t care about anyone, and you won’t have to worry. Now, before I start getting tired and cranky, onto the next question.*

Pinkamena wanted to think about what questions to ask, but she knew she didn’t have that much time to think. She had so much to think about later, but that was then, this was now. Luckily, there was a question she had always been curious about, it was really irrelevant, but she might as well know.

“Luna had gone through a mental breakdown and became Nightmare Moon, causing her to go to the moon for a millennium. I know this was partially due to Sylia’s father, though not entirely. Sylia told me Celestia become something of a mad queen during the war because of the potion, but she didn’t really do anything to Equestria. The only real difference was her erratic and manic behavior; she didn’t seem to change otherwise. But, I can’t help but think, did Celestia ever go through something similar? Did she ever become something like Nightmare Moon?”

*That’s…not something I can answer. Not that I don’t know the answer because I do. But, I can’t tell you, for a lot of reasons. Yes, during the war she was a mad queen, but more for her behavior, but she did have self-control. I won’t confirm or deny if she went through such a thing because if I told you, you would become a bigger target than what you already are. However, I will tell you Celestia is far from innocent. She is not this pure, all knowing and all powerful god she’s convinced everyone she is. She’s killed, lied, tortured, blackmailed, corrupted, and done so many horrible things you have no idea about. Or, at least, she used to. After exiling her sister to the moon, she’s changed, I think. I won’t say specifics, but there are two possibilities. Either she’s turned over a new leaf after everything, decided to try to become the person she’s always pretended to be.

Or, she got even better. Over the thousand years, she didn’t have to worry about her sister stumbling upon her pastimes, she sharpened her skills of manipulation and such, both are possible. Oh, just a word of advice, don’t bother snooping, all you’d be doing is making yourself look suspicious. It doesn’t matter how talented or skilled you are, experience beats out everything, and she has plenty of experience. And considering she’s already suspicious of you, the odds don’t seem to be in your favor. So, if you plan on trying to take down a god, wait, don't do it while she’s pissed. Then again, she’s practically always pissed. Anyway, go on to the next question.*

Honestly, she wasn’t surprised. Even before she changed, something about Celestia had always rubbed her the wrong way. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but something about her didn’t feel…right. But, as it had said, there wasn’t a point. She didn’t need some evil entity in her head to tell her now would be a bad time, but a second opinion helps. Luckily, she had a plan for that. But, right now, she needed to ask a question, and she had one in mind.

“So, this is something that probably should have been my first question. But, for obvious reasons, it didn’t take top priority. This is more like two questions, but, I’ll ask anyway. What’s your gender and what do I call you?”

There was silence in her head, for a solid thirty seconds. It probably hadn’t expected such a question, and now she was probably considering whether it should tell her. It might have wanted to stay mysterious to keep more of a fear factor, but since Pinkamena was no longer afraid of it, there was no longer any real reason.

*Wow, I hadn’t expected that question for a bit, I thought you’d be focused on current events and wait until everything blows over before trying to get to know me. But, that’s fine if you want to go ahead and try, I have no issue with it. I can tell you my gender though, despite how I may appear, I am female. Then again, I think you already figured that out. As for my name, I can’t really tell you that. If I told you my name, it would be quite a surprise. Let’s just say my origins are closer to home than you think, but that might already be saying too much. If I told you my name, we both know you’d try to dig up anything you can about me. And while I’m confident you won’t find anything, there’s always that one percent chance that you will, and I can’t have that.

Anyway, since that was your last question, I’ll go ahead with your warning. Now, pay close attention, I’m going to be cryptic since I want to test your skills to the max. Here we go: ‘An enemy of the shadow once thought dead, will be returning many seeking heads. Returning with allies in the many, but is he truly foe or family? Your interest in your past will mold your future, causing you to stumble upon the sins of an insane butcher. Your friends and your family depending on your choices may stay, but for every sin you commit, you will pay.’ Now, from your experience with Zecora, I’ve noticed you don’t like warnings with rhyme. But, since I have so much free time up here, I put a lot of effort into that, so you better appreciate that. Now, I’m exhausted, and I can tell you are too. You have a lot to think about, so I’ll leave you be. Have fun with my warning, because I will be watching.*

Pinkamena felt her presence leave, not sure whether she should feel relieved or frustrated. She silently sighed to herself, but she didn’t say anything, nor did she have any emotion on her face. She should have been tired of being frustrated, tired of getting no answers and more questions, tired of having to deal with so many different issues. But, honestly, she was just tired of being tired.

Pinkamena laid her body on the bed, the tension finally leaving as she began to relax her body. She moved her head on her pillow so she could look at the roof, her mind wandering in thought. She had a lot to think about, the warning, her answered and unanswered questions, what she was going to do about Celestia and her guards, so many things that she really didn’t feel like dealing with. But, that was for later, now, she would finally sleep. Pinkamena slowly began to close her eyes, feeling like sleep would come very quickly to her. But most of all, she wouldn’t have to deal with any more pro-

There was a sudden knocking on her door; the knocks were quick and robust, whoever behind them was obviously in a rush.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie! This is the Canterlot Royal Guard!”

A masculine voice suddenly erupted from the other side, loud enough to probably be heard from the house next door.

“Celestia dammit!”

Chapter Six: Tired Of Being Tired.

Author's Notes:

Hey, I've decided to upload a chapter for a story once every weekend, so I don't have to make time thoroughout the week! Hope you enjoy these chapters, if you notice any errors, please tell me! Enjoy!

Pinkamena was getting extremely tired of this, first, she had to deal with a couple of idiot customers, then her clone tried to beat her to death, then she had to deal Twilight and her Royal Ass, then she had to get a bit of a history lesson from Zecora, most parts were boring. Then, when she finally had time to sleep after an exhausting day, Sylia decided to tell her everything, well, mostly everything. It was obvious that she was holding back, Pinkamena was questioning whether to trust her before, but now it was obvious. And finally, to top it all off, some weird demon thingy that Pinkamena was temporarily afraid of appeared and gave her ‘answers,' which gave her mixed emotions. She was already physically exhausted, but now, she was mentally exhausted.

There was a loud banging on the door, causing the door to shake violently, Pinkamena cringed in response.

“WE WILL NOT ASK AGAIN! IN THE NAME OF THE ROYAL GUARD, OPEN THE DOOR NOW!”

And now, these bastards wanted her to go back to the castle, probably Celestia wanting to talk to her again about her ‘sins’. Honestly, she was getting sick of all of this. She didn’t even care about seeing Celestia angry or playing mind games with her ex-friends, all she wanted to do right now was sleep. But, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to be sleeping anytime soon, especially considering she had been talking to the voices in her head until the sun came up, she probably wouldn’t have been able to get that much sleep anyway.

“Alright! Hold on to your horses! I’m coming!”

Pinkamena held back a chuckle, her pun being the cause. It’s true; she had changed immensely over the last few months. But, it was the little things that stay the same. Her sense of humor had remained the same, well, her jokes were sometimes dirtier and more morbid than what they used to be. Sometimes a pun here, a joke there, pretty much the same thing she used to do. But, since she took so little things seriously now, they were more common. Despite being physically and emotionally exhausted, she still made them.

After slowly making her way to the door, purposely moving slowly to aggravate the guards, she opened the door. As she expected, there were two guards on the other side, both with serious looks on their faces. Like the rest of the Canterlot Guard, there were two variations. The bulky white guard covered in gold armor, and gray guards covered in gold armor. They looked identical to the ones that had escorted her to Canterlot, and now, thanks to Zecora, she knew why they all looked alike.

“So, two, big, muscular stallions show up to a young mare’s bedroom early in the morning, how could this possibly go wrong?”

Pinkamena asked sarcastically, looking at both guards in a suggestive, sadistic manner. Of course, she wasn’t serious. As entertaining as it would be to have a gang bang with Canterlot guards, one of her fantasies, it would probably never happen. They’re way too serious all the time, and they probably go through self-control training to restrain themselves. It definitely won’t happen now until the whole Celestia thing blows away, which she feels is going to be a massive pain until it does.

When the guards didn’t respond, the look on her face slowly left, being replaced with a bored one. After sighing, she looked at the guards.

“So, what do you want now?”

She asked in an uninterested response, at this point, with how tired she was, she couldn’t give fewer bucks.
The guard on her life, the white one, began to pull out a scroll. Identical to the one she had seen before, with some overly long, boring letter. She was willing to deal with the one before because she was curious, one had never been read to her before. But now, she had experienced it; she never wanted to again.

She quickly put her hoof on top of the scroll as he was pulling it out, giving him an intimidating stare.

“Don’t pull that out; I am far too tired to deal with another one of those. Whatever it is, you can just tell me. You don’t need some fancied up letter written by Celestia to tell me that, if you start reading that scroll, I can’t guarantee your safety.” She said with an annoyed tone, the guard she was talking to said nothing in response.

He wanted to retort, to tell her just how much trouble she could get in for threatening a guard. But, he and his partner were under strict orders to get her to Canterlot as soon as possible, no delays, no pit stops. Considering the situation, he understood why. He quickly put the scroll back into the bag on his side, making sure to keep an eye on her while he was doing it. His partner did nothing in all this; he wasn't ordered to. He was a backup, just in case anything happened. He was also a recently recruited guard, which meant he wasn’t allowed to talk unless spoken too. They would have sent more guards, but with what recently happened, they need as many guards as they can get.

He was about to speak, then she interrupted him, putting a hoof in front of his face in a stopping gesture.

“Wait, don’t tell me. ‘Dear Pinkamena Diane Pie, please come to Canterlot, I have uncovered new evidence overnight, totally not stuff I made up, so I can now arrest you. I’m going to scream baseless accusations at you because I can, love Celestia.’ Am I right?”

She said in a sarcastic tone, making gestures with her right hoof as she did so, obviously making fun of Celestia. No sane pony would make fun of Celestia by themselves, so much as in front of Royal Canterlot Guards. Pinkamena wasn’t sane, but there was another reason she did this so cockily. She was one of The Elements of Harmony, literally one of the most important ponies in Equestria. Just because she doesn’t talk to the other five, doesn’t mean she isn’t one.

An Element of Harmony wouldn’t get arrested unless the charges were drastic, such as murder, treachery, etc. Even then, they’d still get special privileges. Pinkamena was fully aware of this and abused it to the fullest every opportunity she got.

The guards ground their teeth, anger flooding through them. How dare she make fun of Celestia! Their generous, benevolent, powerful leader! Celestia has given the privilege of being an Element to her, and yet she talks so disrespectfully about her! It Infuriated them to no end! But, there was nothing they could do.

Pinkamena was looking at them expectantly, noticing the anger they were trying to hold back, and enjoying every second of it. There were a lot of things she liked doing, but one of her favorites was getting people angry. Ponies were at their best when they were at their worst when a pony is angry; their true colors come out. Their thoughts, their feelings, their everything. Well, that, and completely screwing people over. That was fun too.

“P-princess Celestia wants you, and the rest of The Elements to come to the castle. Something has come up, or, more specifically, someone. She said this is a potential threat to Equestria.”

Pinkamena could tell he was barely able to hold himself back, and her smiling wasn’t helping. But her smile slowly faded, as the guards’ words hit her. She wasn’t concerned about there being a threat to Equestria, that was a normal thing, and she didn’t care. It was about the timing. Just hours ago, she had been told that some threat mysterious shadow threat would be coming. From voices in her head, but a warning nonetheless. But, it was mostly her curiosity.

“A threat? What kind of threat?”

She asked curiously, wanting to get as much detail as possible. But the guard just smiled, which was unsettling, she had never seen a guard smile before.

“That was in the scroll, maybe if you were respectful, you would know. I guess you’ll have to wait until we get to Canterlot, come on! We’ve wasted enough time!”

The guards separated, one going to the fight side of the door, and one to the left, both on the outside waiting for her. The one that had just been talking gestured her to go, that smile on his facing seeming to have disappeared. She wanted to try to get the information from them, but she knew they wouldn’t give it to them. She knew the how guards worked by now; there was no point in arguing with them. She sighed again, tired of dealing with this political stuff all the time. She was tired of having sleeping problems. Tired of being left to the mercy of the voices in her head. Tired of everything, but most of all, she was tired of being tired.

Chapter Seven: The Terrible Tyrant.

Boredom. It is honestly, by far, the worst enemy of any sentient species. There is a very high number of actions done out of boredom, and even if it’s not, most reasons stem from boredom. Curiosity comes from boredom, because when you’re bored, you consider the details, and start asking questions. Anger can come from a person being bored and initiating conflict, which can either anger someone or give them satisfaction. Depression can happen because, when people are bored and alone, they’re left alone with their thoughts, and people tend to be very self-destructive. Yes, not every reason can be traced back to boredom, but a good portion of them can. People need distractions, entertainment, conflict, drama, whether they're doing it consciously or not, they everything they can to avoid boredom.

But what about things that can’t keep themselves distracted? That they can’t find some form of entertainment to keep them busy, that they’re stuck with their boredom. To bored all the time, to have nothing to distract, that would be…pitiful. But what if there was something worse? Take a god, for example. If they were omnipotent, omnipresent, and all-powerful? If everything was predictable? If they had everything down to a routine because they already know what’s going to happen? That would be the worst kind of boredom, it would take a bit, but not even a god could resist that kind of boredom for too long.

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Pinkamena, with a guard in front of her and behind, walked through Ponyville early in the morning. Occasionally, since she didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, she would drowse off. Luckily, the guards would wake her up. Eventually, she stopped. The reason she stayed awake, was because she noticed something, something strange. There were no other ponies around the town, other than the abnormal amount of guards. There were guards everywhere. Usually, there were maybe two or three. But now, there were squads of them. That letter from earlier was no joke; there really was some huge threat.

She understood that there it was very early, but this was Ponyville! Everypony here was weird in their own unique way, half the town waking up this early isn’t honestly that weird. But, other than the guards, there was not a single pony in sight. They didn’t even use a train to take her to Canterlot; they were a chariot being pulled by four Pegasi waiting for her. The town of Ponyville was seemed to be evacuated, it was then filled with tons of guards, and there was a private chariot to Canterlot just for her, this wasn’t a joke, this was serious.

Slowly and cautiously, she stepped into the chariot. The guards from before not following her, they watched her get in and then signaled the Pegasi to go. She felt a little sick at first, as this was her first time in a chariot, but she got used to it. After she was well into the air, the guards began to walk towards another group and began to talk to them. She was slightly confused, but she understood that whatever was going on, it probably needed as many able bodies as possible. Then, the Pegasi suddenly lunged forward, nearly giving Pinkamena whiplash. It wasn’t anything like with Rainbow Dash; there were four Pegasi instead of just one. But, she adjusted. While four Pegasi were faster one, Rainbow was a very fast Pegasus, so it didn’t take long for her to adjust.

Even by chariot, the trip from Ponyville to Canterlot would be a long one. Pinkamena, both sating her curiosity, and trying to find a way to pass the time, looked down on the ground. As she expected, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. Both from the height, and from how fast the chariot was going. But, from what she could see, was the lack of ponies. She could see all Ponyville from up here, and there wasn’t a single civilian pony in sight, just guards. There even seemed to be defenses outside Ponyville, guards working as sentry’s, all the entries being blocked off.

Even when they left Ponyville, there were no carriages or anything on the roads. No travelers or hitchhikers, just groups of guards patrolling the streets. How did she miss this? It’s like the entire town of Ponyville was evacuated entirely, and replaced by guards in preparation for an attack. Did this happen while she was dealing with Sylia and The Voice? If it were quiet, that would make sense. When she was taken by the guards to Canterlot yesterday, there were still plenty of other ponies around. Overnight was the only time it could have happened; she would have noticed it otherwise. But why didn’t they get her first? Being an Element, she should have been one of the first to be evacuated. Maybe because of the whole situation with Celestia, priorities changed.

Time seemed to fly as she was observing the ground below, thoughts of everything happening to go through her mind. Sooner than she expected, they arrived in Canterlot. Surprisingly, Canterlot seemed to be the same as Ponyville, except more. There were guards everywhere, and no civilians. Except these guards were better armed, they were bigger in number and seemed to be doing more. Since Canterlot had walls, the guards had to patrol them and around the city. There were also in the towers working as sentry’s; it was way more defended than Ponyville. And, like before the changelings attacked, the recognizable pink shield was around Canterlot. Which could only mean one thing, changelings?

The chariot passed through the shield with no problems, for whatever reason, she felt relieved when it did. As soon as the chariot entered Canterlot, it went straight towards the castle. There seemed to be some sort of landing pad for chariots, surrounded by other guards. The Pegasi slowly landed, making her happy she was no longer blasting through the air. The guards said nothing to her as she slowly got out, they only stared at her intently. She still felt slightly sick from the ride, but not the point where she couldn’t keep face. As soon as her hooves touched the ground, she entered the castle, knowing Celestia would want her there as quickly as possible.

The halls of the castle seemed empty, well, more deserted than usual. There were no guards in the hall watching over her or guarding the rooms if she had to guess, they were probably patrolling the streets. The trip to the throne room was usually boring on its own, but now, with no guards to annoy on the way, the boredom was agonizing. Eventually, after what felt like hours of mind-boggling boredom, she arrived at the throne room. Surprisingly, the rest of the main six seemed to be waiting for her. Rarity and Applejack were arguing about something, Fluttershy was trying to calm them down, but going unnoticed. Rainbow was hovering above them and was also arguing. And Twilight was behind them and seemed to be rubbing her temples, probably because of a headache.

But they all stopped when they noticed Pinkamena, except for Twilight, she just continued to rub her temples.

“What took you so long!? We’ve been waiting here for twenty minutes!”

Rainbow shouted at her angrily, throwing her hooves up as she did so. Rarity and Applejack didn’t say anything, as Rainbow seemed to voice their thoughts. Fluttershy was too shy to speak up, and Twilight just seemed further annoyed. Before Pinkamena could retort, Celestia herself opened the doors to the throne room.

“Everypony’s here, good. Please, all of you, come inside, we have much to discuss.”

She said calmly, as she looked down at all the ponies in front of her, except for Pinkamena, she only glanced at her when she came in. She then walked back in the throne room, waiting for them to follow her. They did as she said, after bowing when she came in and entered the room. Other than Rainbow shooting her a glare, they didn’t pay any attention to her. She was happy about this; she was way too tired to deal with Rainbow and the rest right now. She followed behind them, with an annoyed look on her face. As soon as she walked in, the door behind her was shut by Celestia’s magic.

Celestia was sitting on her throne, looking down to the rest of the ponies in the room. Like the halls, there were no guards in here; not even Luna was anywhere to be seen. There were only seven ponies in the room, the main six, and Celestia. Twilight and the rest sat in the area in front of the throne, the same place Pinkamena was in the day before. They all had patient looks on their faces, except for Rainbow, she had an annoyed one on hers, she had grown tired of waiting.

Pinkamena, on the other hoof, didn’t really want to show her interest. She walked over to one of the windows of the windows of the throne room and looked out to the city below. She didn’t want to show how curious she was; she wanted to look like she wasn’t listening when she was. Celestia’s face turned from a calm one to a worried one. She looked down on all her little ponies and sighed.

“Sombra is alive.”

Chapter Eight: Trust Is Earned, Not Given.

Author's Notes:

I wanted to go ahead and give a heads up about this chapter, after the previous one, one of the scenes from the prologue plays out, and then this scene happens after that. While its not necessary, I would recommend reading that scene. Other than that, enjoy!

After Pinkamena’s declaration, an awkward silence, exchanged glances, and short conversations, Celestia declared that she had other things she needed to attend to and that they can leave until they were called back. Which was half right, there were many preparations she had to make under the threat of a changeling attack; she also didn’t want Pinkamena in the same room as the others. Ever since she found out about her mental state, she needs to keep an eye on her and make sure she stayed away from the other elements. Either out of fear of what she would do to them, or she might corrupt them.

She was okay with her not talking; she was only there on the slight chance she would know something. But when she did talk, and the things she did, Celestia realized just how deranged she was. To speak like that not only in front of The Elements of Harmony, but to also take such a disrespectful tone towards the most powerful being in Equestria. That wasn’t just insane, that was fearless! It was hard to believe she wasn’t a Meotrizen because she certainly acted a lot like one. She sent them out of the throne room, telling them she’d call them back if anything happened. And to be on their guard, the changelings could attack anywhere, at any anytime.

“Well, that shined some light on the situation.”

Immediately after the massive doors behind them closed, Pinkamena made a joke, breaking the awkward silence. This wasn’t the first time she’s done this, even after her personality change, she always tried to crack jokes to break the silence, even if they were occasionally dirty. But this time, it seemed they really weren’t in the mood.

“What the hay is wrong with you?!”

Rainbow Dash quickly flew right in front of Pinkamena, her hooves thrown up in the air and an angry look on her face, Pinkamena wasn’t too surprised by this, she partly expected a response like this. But, surprisingly, none of the others did their usual reactions. Fluttershy would try to hold Rainbow back; Twilight would usually avoid getting involved, preferring to observe the relationship than to get in a situation that could become potentially violent. Applejack and Rarity were often the ones who diffuse the situation, and Pinkamena usually just cracked jokes and didn’t take anything seriously. Often, things didn’t get violent. Ever since the whole Canterlot Changeling incident, they’ve been reluctant to resort to violence.

“Sorry, I would offer a list, but I left it at home.”

Pinkamena retorted back sarcastically, she could have done better, but she was exhausted from last night’s endeavors. This seemed to make Rainbow even angrier, the veins on her head popping to the point of being visible, but Pinkamena remained unfazed. But then, surprisingly, she calmed down. Her wings retracted, and she hovered to the ground, she had a look of…worry on her face.

“Pinkie, I’m tired of getting angry with you. I never wanted to get angry with you; I don’t like being angry. Sure, me and Applejack argue all the time, but that’s because we care about each other. And despite everything, I still care about you, we all do. We’ve talked it over, and we’ve all agreed to help you. I’m not sure what happened to you, or why you feel you can’t trust us to help you, but that’s okay. You don’t have to tell us anything.”

Rainbow put her hoof on Pinkamena’s shoulder, a genuine smile on her face, while Pinkamena had a shocked one on hers. The others behind her also had smiles on their faces, even Twilight, though hers looked less genuine. She wanted to believe this was a trick, but she could tell from the looks in their eyes, it wasn’t. She felt a warmth through her body, a feeling she had thought she forgot, happiness. Parts of her straight mane started to curl up, her eyes began to tear up, she was close to becoming Pinkie again.

Then, suddenly, a darkness consumed her. There was no emotion that could describe it, no words, just darkness. It felt evil like something was possessing her, but it also felt familiar. It overshadowed the warmth, as if it was never there in the first place, replacing it with an unsettling coldness, a feeling she knew well. Her hair went back to being straight; her eyes were no longer teary, she no longer felt the happiness. Pinkamena scoffed, knocking away Rainbow’s hoof with her own, any signs of her giving in seeming to disappear.

“Trust you? Do you really think it’s that easy just to trust you? Because it’s not!”

The smile on their faces disappeared after she said that, as the hopes, they had that the Pinkie they loved would come back left them.

“Maybe before what happened I trusted you, but now? After everything that’s happened, I’ve learned trusting others doesn’t work! Trust isn’t something that’s given to someone because of their job or social status! Trust is something earned! You earn it through actions and time spent together; I’m not going to give you my trust just because we were friends once, that’s not how it works!”

She yelled at them ferociously, some of them cringing in response. This was the first time they’ve ever truly heard her angry. Frustrated and annoyed? Sure, but never angry. While some were afraid, others, like Rainbow Dash, were worried. Worried that something was hurting her to the point of anger, she knew she wasn’t angry at them; she couldn’t be, not with that kind of look in her eyes. No, something else was wrong with her, something painful.

“Besides,”

Pinkamena looked down, her mane covering her face, her tone now a sadder one than before.

“Even if I were to tell you, it wouldn’t make any difference; you couldn’t help me. The thing that’s wrong with me isn’t something you can just fix, it’s not that easy, and it’s far too late. I’ve done things, horrible things none of you even know about. And even if I were to be happy and normal again, the guilt that I would feel for all the things I’ve done would destroy me.”

She said, barely more than a whisper, but somehow, they all still heard her. She didn’t sound angry anymore, she just sounded sad and hurt, like someone who had been betrayed. She turned around quickly as if she was preparing to leave. Rainbow was about to stop her but decided not she; she felt that Pinkamena wanted to be alone.

“I…need to go, I have things I need to do. Please, just stop trying to help me, you’re only making it worse.”

With that, Pinkamena ran down the hallway, leaving Rainbow and the rest by themselves, worried for their friend.

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“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

In a black space, like the void, two figures stood in it. They seemed to be floating, or maybe that was because there was no ground. The figure on the left had no shape; it wasn’t even corporeal. It was visible but looked like very thick fog. It had a dark blue color to it, which made it the brightest thing in there. On the right, across from the blue figure, was one almost identical to it. The only difference was shape and color, it seemed to be bigger than the blue one, and had a redder color to it, dark enough almost to be black.

“Do what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Their voices were also impossible to identify; they sounded like dozens of male and female voices overlapping each other, making it hard to tell the gender of the speaker.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about! You can’t just do that to her! She had a chance for happiness, and then you just overlapped it with your bloodlust!”

The blue figure seemed to spike when it spoke, almost as if its emotions affected its physical state. The red figure remained unfazed.

“I had no choice, if I left her the way she was, she would have become that immature idiot again. And if that happens, there’s a good chance she’ll stay that way, and I can’t have that.”

The blue figure seemed to spike even more after that, while the red one remained calm.

“Why? Because of some selfish reason, you won’t tell me?”

The red figure spiked slightly as if it was annoying.

“If she’s happy and goes back to the way she was, then you won’t be able to take her over, which means you’ll fade away. And if you fade away, then so do I! I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on disappearing from existence because you didn’t feel like hurting her feelings. I refuse to go out like that!”

The red figure spiked, but as soon as it happened, it was gone. The blue one noticed this, and shrunk in size in response, not wanting to make it mad.

“S-still, that doesn’t mean you can just take away her happiness like that! She has a life of her own! Just because you’re selfish, doesn’t me-“

Suddenly, the blue figure was silenced. The red one had outstretched a part of itself, almost like a hand.

“Selfish? I’m doing this partly for you. Besides, I have too much planned for her; I won’t let her give up now. I much prefer her the way she is, instead of that bumbling idiot she was. I want her to stay like this so I can see how she can progress, and, when the time is right, you will take her over. Now, leave me, before I decide otherwise.”

The red figure pulled back, and as soon as it did, the blue one disappeared from the room, leaving the red one by itself. It seemed to stay there for a moment, just thinking to itself. An image then appeared above it, lighting up that part of the place. It showed the streets of Canterlot, passing by buildings as if it was looking through the eyes of a pony. Every now and then, pink hooves could be seen under them, as if they were running.

“Oh Pinkie, I have so much planned for you.”

Chapter Nine: Meltdown.

The trip to Ponyville was a long one, but to Pinkamena, time meant nothing to her then. After what happened, she felt very unstable and on edge. She was confused, and her emotions were everywhere, she was stuck somewhere between lashing out in anger, and breaking down and crying, neither is something she’d usually do. After riding a chariot back to Ponyville, she grudgingly walked through the town. Luckily, the only people in the town were the guards, so she didn’t have to deal with any actual ponies.

During her walk home, she kept her head down in a depressed manner, her long hair covering her face. Despite her emotions going haywire, no thoughts were going through her head. Her mind was completely blank, which was something that rarely happened. She usually always had something on her mind, no matter her mood. But now? Either she was still processing, or she just couldn’t think. It wasn’t that there was nothing to think about, there was tons of stuff, but she just… couldn’t.

Eventually, she ended up at Sugarcube Corner. She wasn’t sure if she came here subconsciously, or if this was just where she ended up. Looking up, she noticed how lifeless it was. The building itself was the same, but the lack of ponies just made it seem so…dull. She looked around the town and noticed the rest was the same. Every single building she could see was the same, they seemed dull, gray, lifeless, almost like her friends after the whole Discord incident. Nothing but shells of what they were, except these buildings, was filled with guards, but they didn’t really make much of a difference. Somehow, this dullness wasn’t making her feel any better. Sure, she didn’t care for all that joyful, happy stuff, but, she had grown used to it. While it wasn’t what she was anymore, it was…comforting.

After giving a long sigh, Pinkamena walked into the bakery. The normal sound of the bell dinging as the door opened welcomed her, but after that was silence. Some part of her hop-expected The Cakes to greet her, but, they didn’t. Despite her derangement, they still treated her like they always did. Asking if she’s okay, letting her keep her job, offering advice and help, acting like parents. Even though she had parents, they were her family away from home. If only she could afford to still care for others, they would be one of the few she did.

Deciding to ignore the lifelessness, Pinkamena walked up the stairs, and towards her room, it was where she did her best thinking. When she entered her room, she half expected Sylia or The Voice to start talking to her, but neither did. She noticed gummy was in his corner, sleeping on his bed. His food and water were still there, though he had eaten some, it was still enough to keep him alive for a bit. Pinkamena walked forward and flopped onto her bed, her body sprawled and face down. She closed her eyes, as she felt her exhaustion and fatigue slowly fade in, sleep was becoming a very good option.

But then, almost as if she was in shock, everything hit her. The Changelings, her friends, the voices in her head, everything with Zecora, and most importantly, how close she was to becoming Pinkie again. She was filled with emotions and thoughts; she felt like she was close to crying. But, she couldn’t, she was too tired to cry. She turned over and looked up at the roof, distress evident on her face. At this point, she wasn’t sure how to react. Events were playing out in her head over and over again, like a broken record, guess sleep was no longer an option.

"Heh, no rest for the wicked, huh?”

Pinkamena chuckled to herself, sorrow in her voice.

“Wicked? Not exactly the term I would use.”

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed inside Pinkamena’s head. Making her jump forward and grip the sheets of her bed, she ground her teeth and furrowed her brows in anger; she REALLY wanted to be alone right now, she had some things she needed to sort out.

“What do YOU want?”

Pinkamena spat with venom in her voice, she said it in the direction of the door, but it was obviously guided towards The Voice.

“Ooh! Somepony’s angry! What’s got you so riled up?”

Her voice was the same as before, loud and echoing, but somehow, it sounded more feminine. Before, it was gender neutral. But now, behind the echo, the deepness, and tone was different. Considering how many females she knows, she can recognize the difference between a male and female voice. Maybe because she knew it was a female, it didn’t try to hide it anymore? But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about motives, there was more of an immediate situation.

“YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! Two hours ago, I felt something I haven’t felt in months, happiness! I never expected I would ever have that kind of chance again! They told me, even after they saw me kill dozens of changelings, smart off to the god of Equestria, and they can only guess what else! They told me they forgive! They know I could have done worse things, horrible things! They know I’m not the same Pinkie they were friends with! They know something's wrong with me, even Twilight’s suspicious. But yet, all of them, even her, looked at me with smiles, and told me we could be still be friends! That amount of forgiveness, that kindness, and loyalty, and trust, I don’t deserve that! And yet…”

Pinkamena was screaming at the top of her lungs, tears running down her cheeks, as she gripped the sheets as hard as she could. The Voice said nothing in return; she had nothing to say. Usually, she would be making fun of Pinkamena, for being so emotionally weak and crying like a child. But, she wouldn’t. She couldn’t afford to antagonize her anymore; she needed her to trust her, at least to a point.

“And yet…that darkness still consumed me. That rage, the bloodlust, I could feel it corrupting me. Even in a moment of happiness, a chance of forgiveness, it was right there to pull me back in! I accepted that I had changed, that I’ve done horrible things, that there was something evil inside of me. But to be that close to escape it, just to be pulled back in, it’s…crushing. I didn’t want to feel those emotions again because I knew that even if I became Pinkie again, the darkness I felt, the pain, it would never leave me! Pinkie may have been ignorant and childish, but at least she was happy! E-even if it was fake.”

Pinkamena said nothing after that, her voice cracking too much to speak. Her body was trembling, the tears had stopped coming, but her face was still wet, she was almost sobbing. This was the first time Pinkamena had broken down ever since she changed; this was more than just because of recent events, this was a buildup of everything. This made The Voice smile, internally, she didn’t really have a face to smile with. She had made the right choice in pushing her emotions on to Pinkie when she did, if she hadn’t, Pinkie might have been here to stay.

She had sensed the buildup of emotions in Pinkamena for a while and was looking for a chance to let it out. At first, she thought Pinkamena was just some sort of an act to cope. But no, that darkness, that bloodlust, that cockiness and sadism, the sociopathic behavior and the lack of hesitation when she kills, that was genuine. That wasn’t some act, that was real, that was who she really was. But, she had been taught that was wrong and treated it like it was pure evil when it was a gift, her experiences just taught her otherwise.

Sadly, because of everything that’s happened, she hadn’t completely gotten rid of it. She wants to be good, to do the ‘right thing’ and to ignore her urges and instinct; it was still there. The whole birthday incident just made her suppress it, not get rid of it. But now? Her hope at being the good pony, the laughter everyone wants, was gone. And since she’s not desperately holding on to who she was, she might be able to convince her into becoming who she was meant to be. Even if she was who she really was, she was convinced it was because it was because of her trauma, so she was subconsciously holding herself back. She has so much potential, and now, without her being held back by who she was, it might be put to good use.

“Pinkamena, listen.”

Pinkamena didn’t say anything, but her trembling did stop. She was no longer crying or making noises of any kind. She did nothing but look at the ground, her hair covering her face. But when The Voice spoke, she flinched.

“I’m not like Sylia, I can’t sympathize with you or anything like that, I’m not that kind of person. But, I like you better when you’re not trying to live up to society’s standards for a good pony. So, because I like you better like this, I’ll console you. In your filly hood, it was practically beaten into you by your ‘family’ that the way you were was bad, and it should be shunned. And as a result, you were depressed.

And then, fate zoomed in and gave you a chance at happiness. Suppressing both who you really are, and Sylia. And you were so obsessed with getting rid of it because you thought that it was bad, that any and all negative emotions were completely suppressed and ignored. Which, ironically, was just fueling who you were. And then? When you felt just an inch of self-doubt, everything you were ignoring came out, and you couldn’t ignore it anymore. Your emotions, your pain, it consumed you.

But, subconsciously or not, you were still holding on to what you were. The happy go lucky, ignorant, fake, childish, immature, Element of Laughter. But that’s not who you are, that’s who you were forced to be. And believe me, watching everything that happened to you, it pissed me off to no extent. That’s not who you are; you aren’t even close to what they’ve convinced you to believe. The pony you are, not the bumbling idiot who throws parties, but the one afterward. The one wouldn’t hesitate to make the smart decisions, even if they’re morally wrong. The one who would sacrifice her own happiness, so that she wouldn’t risk hurting her friends.

The one who ruthlessly killed dozens and changelings, saving who knows how many lives! That side of you, while it may not be innocent or smiled upon by society, it’s not evil. It can be used for good, or, whatever you decide is good. You could save, dozens, no, hundreds of lives! It’s not this ugly, evil thing that you’ve been forced to believe, its…beautiful. Yes, you may not be the Pinkie you're used to. But you will be the Pinkie you were supposed to be for so long, maybe even better. And who needs those friends of yours!? They can try, but they’ll never be able to understand you. They were friends with who you were pretending to be, not who you are. You can make new friends who understand you, the real you!

Like Maud, she seems like she could be a very good friend. Or Zecora, you may not be on the best terms right now, but that just means you would be better friends. So, come on, what do you say? Are you going to embrace who you are, or are you going to sulk on who you were trying so hard to be?”

Somehow, her voice was…gentler, more genuine. Even if the words weren’t exactly pure, her tone wasn’t as sadistic or cocky as usual. Still, it made her smile, even if she sucked at consoling, it still helped.

“Wow, that…really sucked. You weren’t kidding; you really do suck at consoling. But, you're right, I can’t be sulking, I need to embrace who I am. I’m tired of being in pain all the time; it’s exhausting. I’m going to stop acting like this isn’t who I am, like this is just some phase. Because it’s not, it’s me, and it can be used for good. Well, my definition of good.”

Pinkamena stood up and smiled, that devilish smile returned, her breakdown from before practically non-existent. It may have sucked, but it worked.

“Oh? It sounds like you have something in mind?”

Once again, The Voice smiled. This was going better than planned, almost too easy. A bad pep talk was exactly what was needed, now Pinkamena completely trusts her. It was like a puppet who hasn’t been played with in a while, begging for someone to pull its strings. It’s been so long since she played with someone like this, it made her nostalgic.

“Yeah, I do, this whole Sombra-changeling thing is exactly what I need. Friends can come after, right now, I need a distraction. Though, I got some preparation first.”

Pinkamena declared defiantly, her cocky personality returning her confidence. Now The Voice’s plans can play into action. But, she still had to be careful. Ponies were like toys, if you play with them too much, they’ll break.

Chapter Ten: Preparation.

It was strange being in Ponyville when there wasn't anyone, considering how she was so used to it being so populated and active. It was now, a ghost town, abandoned and bleak, she kind of liked it. While the quiet and lack of annoying ponies was nice, being alone in this place made it seem so much bigger, and her so much smaller. But, it being abandoned made it easier to get what she needed.

Celestia gave her and everyone else freewill to go wherever they wanted to, but highly recommended they stay in or near Canterlot. Now that there was the threat of a changeling attack with the assistance of Sombra, The Elements would be needed now more than ever. But, since the changelings could be attacking anywhere from Canterlot to Las Pegasus, there was almost no point in keeping them there other than paranoia. And even if she did, that would mean she would have to keep Pinkamena there as well. With things how they are, that was something everypony would like to avoid.

Pinkamena, on the other hand, couldn't care less about Celestia's preferences. With everything that's been going on, Sylia, Meotrize, issues with the other mane six, and now this changeling threat? Her recent meltdown alone was good enough reason, she needed to get away, from everything. It would be for just a few days, nothing major will happen, probably. The changelings won't attack Canterlot anytime soon, not unless they're stupid. First, they need a foothold, somewhere nearby they could hold up for a while. It's doubtful they'll attack any big places, she had no idea where the changelings usually stayed, but it most likely wasn't anywhere nearby.

Then again, these were changelings, they could've already taken over somewhere and no one would be the wiser. They may have another ally, it wouldn't be too hard to pay off the griffons, or even the yaks if they kidnapped and were impersonating the chief. But Pinkamena was of no help right now, not with her state of mind. It's not that she didn't want to fight, it was the opposite. This was more than likely going to turn into a war, the first Equestria has seen since The Meotrizen war, assuming that Sylia wasn't lying. This would be her first, and maybe only chance to kill without punishment. To really push herself, to truly take a life without fear of being taken away or executed. She hated that she couldn't jump into this, which she desperately wanted to do.

But if she did that right now without any sort of plan, or without dealing with her emotions, she'd just end up getting killed. That's part of the reason she was taking a break, she needs to think of a plan. What was her part going to be in this war? footsoldier? Spy? It was doubtful that Celestia would give her any real power, but she still needed to have some sort of strategy.

Pinkamena walked out of the abandoned bakery, shutting the door behind her for potentially the last time. She had a backpack with her, filled with a few snacks for the trip to where she was going, and a few other things she may need. She already left the note for The Cakes, though it was doubtful they'd be back until the threat of the changelings was over. She also left food and stuff for Gummy, though she wasn't entirely sure how much he usually ate. She's never seen him eat before, she just puts food in the bowl and leaves him, and it is eventually gone.

Pinkamena began walking away from Ponyville, going towards The Everfree Forest, she still needed to get that thing from Zecora. It wasn't really something she needed, it was mostly just a precaution. Celestia didn't say it, but that threat of guards watching her all the time was more than likely not going to happen. Now that they needed every able guard, she wasn't going to waste them on following her, especially not without any proof. Besides, she knew she'd just end up losing them anyway.

"Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkamena stopped, looking behind her at the sudden voice, slightly flinching at that name. It was Rainbow Dash, the voice alone was evidence of that. She was a few feet away from her, breathing heavily as she hovered above the ground. She began to lower herself down to the ground, she looked angry.

"What are you doing here? I figured you'd be with the others researching or something."

Pinkamena was genuinely curious, she genuinely didn't expect this, especially after what happened.

"Twilight decided it would be better if we came to Ponyville first and settled any business we had here, so it wouldn't distract us. But, I could tell she was really just concerned. I came to help Fluttershy with her animals, and to drop off Tank. But then, I saw you..."

Pinkamena noticed immediately something was off, her normaly confident and outgoing personality wasn't there. True, she was more gentle back at the castle, but this was different. She seemed more distraught, angry, upset, she's never seen her like this before. Was this because of what happened, or was it something else?

"Why do you have that backpack? Are you going somewhere?"

She asked shakily, but she already knew the answer, she just wanted confirmation. Pinkamena hesitated, things were getting tense.

"I'm leaving for a few days, maybe longer. "

Wind blew past them, causing Pinkamena's hair swaying to the left, revealing her serious face.

"Leave? Why?!"

Rainbow demanded, her voice boomed through the empty town.

"I...have some things I need to sort out, soul searching, if you will."

She said bluntly, trying to say as little as possible.

"We're about to go to war with the changelings and Sombra, we need you! You can't leave right now! Wait, is it because of us? Of me? Do you...really hate us that much?"

The anger left as soon as it came, being replaced with distraught. She looked like she was on the verge of breaking down, tears in the corners of her eyes. Pinkamena was surprised, to say the least. Rainbow Dash was always the tough one, she never cried or never got emotional like this. So to see her so clearly upset and on the verge of crying, made her hesitate on what she should say next.

"I don't hate you, any of you, I just...can't trust you."

Pinkamena wanted to tell her everything, to have someone to talk to about things other than the voices in her head. But, she couldn't. With everything happening right now, it would do more harm than good, who knows what would happen if she did.

"WHY?! What did any of us do to make you think you can't trust us, can't trust me?! We were so close Pinkie, we were best friends! Then, one day, you just changed. You became distant and anti-social, it was depressing just looking at you. All we ever wanted to do was help you! We tried again and again, but all you ever did was just push us away, and that hurt more than you think! So I just want to understand why, what did we do wrong? After everything that we did together, what made you think so cynically of us? What happened?"

Rainbow's voice was cracking, distraught evident in her voice and face, she looked like she would break down crying any minute. Pinkamena opened and closed her mouth a few times, hesitating in what to say, this almost hurt to watch. Pinkamena turned her said to the side, her hair covering her face except for her left eye, which was looking at the ground sadly, she didn't want to see her like this.

"I'm sorry, you wouldn't understand, you couldn't understand what I'm going through. You're too innocent, if you knew any of the things I've done, you'd-"

"I KILLED MY MOTHER!"

Rainbow yelled, louder than before, tears streaming down her face as her eyes clenched shut. Pinkamena looked up at her quickly, her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

"W-what?"

"When I was born, my mother's body was too weak, she knew that. But she was determined to have me, so she did everything she could to put me out into the world. But, I-i killed her! There's not a single day that goes by that I don't think about her! I can't even visit my father, because he says he forgives me, but every time I see his face, all I can think of is how I killed the mare he loved!"

Tears were streaming down her face as she screamed at Pinkamena, her body was shaking. Pinkamena didn't react, she didn't know what to say.

"I-i killed my own mother, I'm a murderer! So don't you tell me that I don't understand, that I don't know what it's like to suffer! You don't get to be that selfish! Whatever you're going through, whatever you think you have to do alone, I can help you. My mother died for me, so, so I could-"

She couldn't hold herself back anymore, she finally broke down crying. She sat on the floor, her face in her hooves as she sobbed loudly. Pinkamena looked down at her, a mare who was always so upbeat and happy, was now crying in front of her. This hurt her to see, both because of who it was, and how familiar this was. Pinkamena felt a strong urge to comfort her, whether because she had been in such a similar situation, or it was a remnant of the friends they used to be. Pinkmena moved closer to her, leaning down and putting a hoof on her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Dash, I'm sorry, I had no idea."

Pinkamena wasn't sure if she meant what she said, but it sounded real enough. Rainbow stopped sobbing, looking up at Pinkie with bloodshot eyes, looking almost surprised.

"No, no it's okay. I've never told anyone other than Fluttershy, it's not your fault. But please, can you tell me what's wrong? I care about you a lot, I don't want to lose you, please."

She put her hoof on Pinkamena's, looking up at her in a pleading and sad way, it made her heart skip a beat. But, sadly, she still couldn't tell her.

"I...I can't, I just can't, I'm sorry."

Rainbow's face fell, her hoof letting go of Pinkamena's as she stood up.

"You're sorry?"

Her voice sounded tense, asking Pinkamena in an almost rhetorical way.

"What I'm going through is worse, telling you would only-"

Pinkamena's body hit the ground, her backpack flying to the side, her words were stopped by a cyan hoof to her face.

"HOW DARE YOU!? You don't get to do that! I just broke down in front of you and told you something that's been hurting me for years, something you clearly don't understand! And yet you still won't tell me? And now you're just going to leave? Just like that?"

Pinkamena slowly began to sit up, blood dripping down her muzzle from where Rainbow hit her. But, unlike when she usually was hit, she didn't feel bloodlust or anger, she just felt...hurt. She wiped the blood off her muzzle, looking up at the mare she does.

"I-

"NO! You know what, that's fine! I'm done trying with you, I just can't do it anymore! We have been doing everything we can, me especially! And no matter what we do, you just push us out! So fine, have your way, be alone! But if you leave,"

Rainbow Dash turned around, were wings outstretched to the side as she wiped a final tear off her face.

"it would be better for everyone if you just didn't come back."

Rainbow flew off into the sky, leaving Pinkamena on the ground, speechless. For a few minutes, she just lay there, not sure what to do or say. But there was one thing for sure, she really needed a break.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*I'm just saying staying with your family would be the best option, better than staying in the woods somewhere like a hermit.*

Pinkamena was walking through The Everfree Forest by herself, her backpack with her. She wasn't going to live here, despite what The Voice might think, she just needed to visit Zecora. As much as she knew Zecora hated her for blackmailing, which wouldn't even work in the first place, she was going to give her what she asked out of fear.

On the way there, The Voice began suggesting, more like pushing, that she should stay with her family. Which was one of her options, though it was quite low on the list, but it was higher than trying to convince Discord to make her own little space of reality to isolate her self in. She intended to go to The Castle of The Two Sisters, which was now completely abandoned. She had enough food to stay there for a bit, and even if for some reason she ran out, she lived close enough to the woods to hunt animals if need be.

There were plenty of things to do there, read books, explore the place, and sort out her emotions like she actually wanted to. But now The Voice, being more persistent than normal, is trying to convince her to stay with her family instead of the welcoming, abandoned castle.

"I haven't seen them in years though, it would be weird to suddenly show up unannounced asking to stay, assuming they'd even let me."

The blood on Pinkamena's face was now cleaned off, her face returning to the normal somber look.

*All the more reason to visit them! Aren't you curious how they've been? Wouldn't be nice to see familiar faces that aren't prying at you all the time?*

"Yeah, but I'm not going there for a visit. I need time away from other ponies. Wouldn't that kind of ruin the point?"

Her tone was questioning and skeptical, she had no real problem with her family, it would just ruin the point, plus she didn't really want to deal with the awkwardness.

*Well, haven't you already tried that? It didn't get you too far, because you weren't doing it right. Now I'm not saying hang out with your old friends, but doing it yourself obviously didn't work. So, maybe the others who have known you, the real you, would help you in ways you wouldn't think. Especially if Maud's there, she seems to understand you better than most.*

They were right, last time didn't work, but she wasn't sure if relying on others was the best option. But, her family did know the real her. Well, more than her friends did. And if Maud's there, which she most likely isn't, it might be semi-enjoyable.

"You have a point, the problem is, I can't trust you're reasons for me going there aren't selfish."

Pinkamena's paced slowed, as she listened to whatever The Voice was going to say next.

*I'm not sure what you mean by that.*

Pinkamena smirked.

"Things have been a little suspicious so far. First, you comfort me after my little meltdown, which I appreciated, but it was abnormal behavior for you. Sylia has been ominously quiet, while you've been suspiciously talkative. I don't know that much about you, but from what I know about Sylia's behavior, you want me to do something for your gain, so what is it?"

She demanded, there was a slight chance she was wrong. But even if she was, she doesn't really lose anything. The Voice hesitated, Pinkamena noticed this.

*Alright, you caught me. The reason is because of Sylia, she's been losing her emotions. Well, I'm sure you know that, but there's a slight problem. You may have wondered why she never talked to you before, whatever reason she told you, was a lie.*

Pinkamena wasn't really surprised when she started talking to Sylia, she told herself everything she said could be a lie.

*To keep herself from becoming completely empty, she goes into a state of deep hibernation. It lasts a few years, sometimes a decade, but it's a small price to pay to be an ethereal. It's not something that's necessary, but once you start, it becomes hard to resist. When she's in this hibernation, her emotions slowly come back, but a little less each time.

She's not in hibernation right now, but she's in and out of it, she can barely talk. But, she's able to see everything. So, I figured since she has her whole family issue going on, seeing you with your family, fixing things with them, it would be a good thing to see before going into a long sleep.*

Pinkamena was surprised, the emotions in her voice sounded genuine. But, she was still skeptical. There was nothing to prove what she was saying was true, but she would just have to go with it. Though, there was one little contradiction she was gonna poke at.

"Okay, but why do you care whether she was happy or not?"

This obviously caught them off guard, she could practically feel the sharp intake of breath.

*Oh, um, well, that's becaus-*

Suddenly, there was a loud snapping sound to the left of her. It sounded like a branch being stepped on, by and that something was trying to remain unnoticed.

"Shut up."

Pinkamena whispered quickly, as she turned to the source of the sound. Her guard was now completely up, something was out there, something dangerous.

"Too loud to be a timberwolf, to small to be a manticore, there are literally dozens of things it could be."

Pinkamena mumbled to herself, thinking of all the things it could be, and thinking which one she should fight or run from.

*Something out here with us, but who's the one in danger?"

The voice said seductively, almost like she was whispering in her ear. Pinkamena looked into the darkness and waited, for something, any kind of movement or sound. But, there was none. After five minutes of waiting and The Voice trying to convince her to pounce into the woods, she decided whatever was there, was either too afraid to attack, or gone. With her guard still up and being extremely cautious, she made her to Zecora's Hut.

After fifteen minutes of paranoid walking and silence, she made it there. But, there was one problem. The lights were out, which meant one of two things. She was either asleep or not home. And neither scenarios were exactly pleasant. Pinkamena scowled.

"Today is just a day full of bucking inconveniences."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What are you doing!? You know what happened with her family, why are you trying to convince her to go there when you know what will happen!"

Once again, the blue and red figures were in the black void. But, this time was somewhat different. The blue one was on the ground, almost pinned there. It's head, or at least what was shaped as its head, was looking up towards the red one.

"You should be grateful, I'm doing this for you."

The red one had it's back faced to the blue one, looking out into the darkness.

"That's bullshit! You never do anything for anyone without you gaining something from what!"

The blue figure spiked, pushing against some invisible force that was holding her down. The red figure turned around to face it, turning away from the endless abyss behind it.

"That is true, but considering our predicament, anything that benefits me will almost definitely benefit you. But, since I'm in such a good mood, and you can't really do anything to stop me, I'll tell you my plans."

The red figure walked to the blue one, crouching down to the blue one.

"For a full take over, you need a moment of weakness. Physically or emotionally, both would be best. And since Pinkamena's clearly not getting near death anytime soon, emotional would be sooner. When she goes to her old family home and sees what's happened, she'll be overcome by pain, anger, despair, etc. And in that moment, you will take over. And unlike last time, this will be successful. And since you'll have a new body,"

"So will you."

The blue figure said sadly, realizing the situation.

"We'll be in the same situation we were all those centuries ago, except this time, there will be nothing affecting my influence. I will be free to do as I please, and I have so many plans."

The red figure leaned down to the blues, almost whispering.

"And If I refuse to take over?"

The red seemed to smile, even if it didn't have a face.

"Then I will."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Changeling Hive.

The home of changelings, and their queen, Chrysalis. Anyone who would see it could tell it was unnatural, something that didn't belong. It was a giant, blue monstrosity. It looked more like an amalgamation of other things than one object, most of it was similar to sharp rocks pointing to the sky. There were dozens of large holes on the outside of it, similar to the inhabitants that live inside.

The land around it was barren, no plants or animals to be seen, almost like every resource had been drained from the land. Usually, there was no life to be seen. Other than The Changeling Hive, it was a wasteland. But today was different, today the hive was bustling with activity. Dozens of changelings were entering the hive, coming from every sub-hive, outpost, anywhere in Equestria that had changelings. It looked like a convention, all these changelings meeting in one place.

But the reason was not a peaceful one.

In the center of the hive, where all the changelings were meeting, two people stood out. On the black changeling throne, sat Chrysalis, smiling as she looked down at her amassing army. And beside her stood her newfound ally, King Sombra. He too was smiling as he looked at the changelings, at all the lives he controlled. His eyes had magic flowing from them, the same purple aura as before.

"I have no quarrel with bringing all my children into one place Sombra, but-"

"KING! King Sombra, I've just temporarily lost my kingdom, which I will reclaim!"

Sombra declared, interrupting Chrysalis. She was annoyed at this, he was a large egomaniac. If it wasn't for his impressive tactical abilities, this alliance would've never been a possibility.

"Right, anyway, isn't bringing all the changelings here leaving us somewhat vulnerable? If Celestia were to attack one of our outposts, there would be no one there to stop her."

"No, they wouldn't make such a bold move. They should only just recently know we are now allies. Celestia will focus on defending her precious little ponies before anything, it'll be weeks before she even considers attacking."

He explained to Chrysalis, in a know-it-all tone that annoyed her. Before either could say anything else, a changeling walked up to her, standing beside her throne. She turned to him angrily, about to ask why he would dare do so without permission. But she stopped when she noticed who the changeling was, it was Annix, the leader of the scout parties. They were ordered to scout out pony settlements and villages, anywhere they could take over.

"Annix, give me a report on the scouting parties, anything important."

There was a series of hissing from the changelings, the language only other changelings and the queen could understand. This somewhat annoyed Sombra, the changelings didn't trust him quite yet. So he had to have all the information relayed to him through Chrysalis, which made things more complicate than they needed to be. When the changeling was done, she dismissed him to join the rest.

"Well, you were correct. All the places near Canterlot are now being guarded, places like Fillydelphia would be impossible to invade. Even the small villages around it have been, they'd be more trouble than they're worth. But,"

"But?"

Sombra questioned, as Chrysalis smiled sadistically.

"There is a town near Canterlot called Ponyville, it has been completely abandoned. No guards or civilians, I guess since it was so close to The Everfree Forest, it would be more dangerous to have patrols around them with the risk of a creature like a manticore attacking the guards."

"This 'Ponyville', does it have walls or anything? Plenty of buildings and space?"

Chrysalis' smile widened.

"No walls or fences, plenty of buildings, enough to support dozens of ponies. It even has a farm with tons of acres, it's perfect!"

She exclaimed excitedly, as Sombra smiled at her. She was right, a place like that near a capitol there were trying to attack? That was a great thing! He figured they were going to have to attack somewhere, which is blunter than he liked. But a place with lots of land they could just walk in and take? It almost made him want to laugh at Celestia's stupidity.

The last of the changelings walked in, now every changeling in Equestria was here, and they were prepared to fight.

"So, what would you like me to tell them? Strategy isn't a problem for me, but you've fought against them like this before and you're still here. So, what shall we do, King Sombra?"

Sombra smiled pridefully, this was it, this is what he craved. An army to do what he wants, the chance to get his revenge, two kingdoms at war. He walked forward, looking down at the changelings.

"We take over Ponyville, in three days."

Chapter Eleven: Amnesia, Part One.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this took so long to get out! I'm trying to readjust to my usual schedule of typing, but it will take a bit. This chapter is shorter than I would have liked, so I kind had to put it in parts, sorry about that. Anyway, enjoy! And thanks for being patient with me!

Fear.

That's what Twilight and her friends felt right now, but especially Twilight. For as long as anyone could remember, Equestria has been a peaceful utopia, with the exception of the occasional criminal. Sure, there have been horrible crises, like Discord or Nightmare Moon, but no one had actually been hurt!

But this was different, this could be war! Sombra enslaved his entire city, Chrysalis was powerful and was the queen of an entire race of love-hungry shapeshifters, and now they were allies! They could be a huge threat to all of Equestria! And it was down to the main si-five, main five to save it! But all problems they've faced before could be solved with friendship, not counting the whole changeling incident. Now? That might not have been an option, both because not all six of them were exactly friends, and this situation might not be able to be solved by friendship.

But uncertainty was only a factor in their fear, it was also all their roles. Fluttershy was doing everything she could to put the animals somewhere safe, not even considering the option of using them to help. Applejack was doing the same, but with her family. Rarity was...surprisingly well organized, she was helping Fluttershy and Applejack find safe places. Twilight, since her family already lived in Canterlot, she went straight to researching ways to defeat Sombra, wanting to help her friends, but felt like she'd get in the way. They all promised after everyone was safe, they'd help however they can.

Rainbow Dash was...doing something. Her family's in Cloudsdale, a safe place for anything that can fly. Sadly, that included Changelings. But, Cloudsdale was home to The Wonderbolts, and was full of exceptional fliers. Cloudsdale was up there with Canterlot in on of the best-defended places in Equestria, it would be stupid to attack there first.

"Ugh! This doesn't say anything either! Spike! Give me History of The Crystal Empire Volume 4!"

Twilight sighed, this was beyond frustrating! She had gone into The Royal Canterlot Library with Spike, doing what she does best, research. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, the answers how to defeat their enemies didn't just show up for any of their previous enemies. Why would this be different? But, this was all she could do. If she just stood by and did nothing...Wait a minute, where was Spike?!

"Spike!"

Spike had, at some point, fallen asleep. He lay on a nearby table, laying on his stomach, sleeping soundly without a care in the world. Twilight felt a little envious, at least someone wasn't stressed about the situation.

"Man Twilight, you're pretty loud for an egghead."

"Rainbow Dash! You're ba-"

Twilight's voice caught in her throat, her face going from to excitement to worry and surprise. Rainbow's eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks were stained with tears, her mane was in a mess, she had been crying.

"Rainbow, what ha"

"We should throw a party."

Her voice sounded almost forced, it was hoarse from sobbing, and her enthusiasm was obviously faked, she was trying. This was bad, ever since Pinkie, Rainbow had been the happiest of the five. She had always been outgoing and kept spirits up, not that they were unhappy. But with Pinkie gone, there were more sad moments than they cared to admit. But now? She looked...damaged.

"A party?"

Twilight didn't want to push her, if she didn't want to talk about it right now, she didn't have to. But she would talk about, ignoring your problems didn't make them go away, it just left them to fester.

"Yeah! A party. With this whole Sombra-Chrysalis thing going on, and considering we really haven't had a good party in a long time, why not? If things are really going to be that crazy, then we need to get together before it does! The five of us, unwinding, spending time together, you know, having fun?"

While her reasoning made sense, that wasn't why she wanted to do it. She was desperate. She needed friends, all her friends. She needed this, Twilight couldn't say no, if she had...

"I think you should do it."

A third voice came from behind her, she would have been startled, but she recognized the voice.

"Spike?"

He was usually a heavy sleeper, so either he was pretending, or he wasn't that deep in his sleep. He got off the table, landing on the floor with a thump. He looked at Twilight and Rainbow, he looked almost...sad.

"I'm scared, Twilight. Not just of Sombra and The Changelings, I'm scared for you. You guys are my friends! But, you all seem so...sad, like your missing something. I don't want you to be sad, but there's nothing I can do to fix it. And, I'm afraid that if this keeps up, you guys might not be friends anymore! And I don't want that to happen, so please, have this party. I...I want to see you happy again, all of you!"

Spike pleaded with her, tears in the corners of his eyes. She hadn't realized how much this had been affecting him, had she really not been paying that much attention? Pinkie was his friend too, she was everyone's friend. She should have noticed this, how could she be so stupid?!

"I-I don't know if my schedule can..."

She looked back at Rainbow Dash, her eyes begging Twilight. How could she say no to that? Twilight sighed, she was going to have to rearrange her schedule later.

"Fine, I'll contact the others. Just don-"

"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you, Twilight!"

As soon as Twilight said that, Rainbow Dash flew towards her, grabbing her in a hug. Twilight tried getting out of it, but her grip was too strong! She teleported out of it, landing beside Spike, who had a huge smile on his face.

"Your welcome! Just, no more bear hugs! Anyway, how and where are you even going to host a party?"

Rainbow Dash looked at her, a smile on her face.

"Pshh! That's easy! I know a few ponies who have the stuff I need, shouldn't be too hard. And as for where, well, Ponyville, of course! There's nopony there right now, it would be perfect for the five of us! You go ahead and tell the others, I'm going to go set it up."

Rainbow Dash began to walk out, but she stopped suddenly as her eyes widened, as if she forgot something.

"Oh, and Spike is invited!"

Rainbow began to walk out of the library happily, singing some sort of giddy tune as she did.

"Dash,"

Rainbow stopped, hearing Twilight call her name.

"Yes?"

Twilight hesitated, she was probably going to regret this.

"I know we've all been down about it, but you were closer to her than most of us. So if whatever happened was about Pinkie, then I-"

"Don't!"

Rainbow's voice echoed throughout the library, making Twilight and Spike flinch.

"I don't need to talk about it, ok?! I just need time, and I'll be fine. So please, just...leave it alone."

Rainbow Dash didn't say another word, she turned her back and flew out of the room before Twilight could say anything else. Spike tried to run after her, but Twilight stopped him, putting a hoof in front of him.

"No Spike, leave her be."

Spike wanted to run after her, but even if he did, he wouldn't be able to catch up, he didn't have wings, yet.

But what neither of them noticed, was there was a third pony in the room. One who hid behind one of the tall bookshelves, listening to their conversation, a malicious smile on their face.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mom! Dad! Did you like the party!? Huh? Didya? Didya?"

Pinkie Pie bounced around her parents with joy and a huge smile on her face, her curly and tangled hair bouncing with her. Her voice was full of pride and happiness, her eyes almost sparkled as she waited for their response. Igneous and Cloudy had smiles on their faces, the couldn't seem to stop themselves from giggling, to the point where they were struggling to talk.

"Oh yes! I've never experienced a tingly feeling like this before, it's...words can't explain it!"

Igneous exclaimed, barely able to hold back his laughter. Cloudy seemed to be laughing too, laughter truly was contagious.

"It was amazing! Pinkie, what was it you called it?"

Pinkie walked beside them, well, bounced. Her smile, like her bouncing, never faltered. Inkie and Blinkie, after the party, had run ahead to the house. They said they had some sort of surprise for her, which was strange, because the party was kind of just impulse.

"A party silly! It's when a bunch of friends get together and have fun! This place is always so sad, it lacks excitement! So, after seeing that magical rainboom thingy, I decided I wanted to throw a party!"

Pinkie seemed to defy physics for a second as she floated in the air, extending her arms outward as she said party. But her parents either didn't notice, or were too busy giggling to say anything.

"Mom! Dad! Pinkie! Hurry up, We can't wait anymore!"

"Yeah, come on! You're going to love it!"

Inkie and Blinkie were standing in the doorway to their old, beat up house. It was a two-story house that consisted of brown and gray, a chimney made of rocks was the first thing most ponies noticed. But, to Pinkie and her family, it was home.

Faster than she had expected, Igneous and Cloudy sprinted past them, almost like they couldn't wait to see what the surprise was. Pinkie couldn't wait either, she bounced forward, getting closer and closer to the door. But suddenly, it shut in her face.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!"

She said as she pounded on the door, not appreciating not being able to see the surprise. But, there was no response, just giggling from the other side.

"You really don't want to go in there."

A quiet voice said behind her, barely more than a whisper. Pinkie turned around quickly, surprised someone could sneak up on her, that was hard to do in such a barren place. The person behind was someone she hadn't recognized at first, she was a foot or two taller than Pinkie, her gray coat fit in the surroundings, her violet mane was straight and went down to her neck at her sides, almost as if it was combed that way. Her bangs certainly were, her turquoise eyes were dull, her eyelids covered half of them, it made her look like she was half asleep. She wore what looked like a dark blue dress, no wrinkles or anything that suggested it was old, it covered her entire body except her hooves, a black band around the middle of it was the only thing on it.

Pinkie Pie didn't recognize this person at first, but the way that mane looked and her eye color could only belong to one pony.

"Maud? Is that you?"

Maud looked down at her, not responding. Something in her eyes bothered Pinkie, it was sad, she looked like she was worried about something. That wasn't a look Pinkie was familiar with, especially with Maud.

"Oh my gosh! It is, isn't it?! How did you get so grown up?! Just a few minutes ago you were a filly, now it's like you had some massive growth spurt! Oh! Wait till mom and Dad see-"

Maud suddenly put a hoof over Pinkie's mouth, stopping her from saying another word. Pinkie tried to move her hoof away, but Maud stopped her with a look. Her grip was firm and her glare deadly, she was serious.

"Shut up and listen, no matter what happens, no matter what you hear, do not go in there!"

Pinkie looked up at her confused, this was unusual, even for Maud. She never got this angry before, and never towards Pinkie. Pinkie pulled away Maud's hoof, looking up at her cautiously.

"What do you mea-"

A blood-curdling scream came from the house, making Pinkie turned around quickly. That was Igneouss' voice, he was the only stallion inside. Pinkie leaped forward, trying to open the door.

"DADDY!"

Maud's hooves wrapped around Pinkie's body, pulling her away from the door. Pinkie struggled, but she was too strong. And just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. She could no longer hear her father's screaming, it was so silent, she almost questioned whether it even happened in the first place.

That was when the screaming started.

Screams come from the house, just on the other side of the door. Cloudy, Blinkie and Inkie's screams came from the house, louder than anything she's ever heard. The screams echoed everywhere, becoming the only thing she could hear. Pinkie thrashed against Maud's hooves as hard as she could, but her grip only seemed to tighten. She pushed against them as hard as she could, but she couldn't get loose.

"Please, let me go! I need to help them! Why won't you let me help them!?"

Pinkie yelled, almost sobbing as she tried as hard as she could, but she just couldn't escape.

"Because, you don't want to see what's in there, or what's behind you."

She somehow heard her voice over the screaming, her body filled with fear as she felt something drip on the back of her neck. Slowly, she turned around, the thing behind her was no longer Maud. Its face seemed to be melting, the skull under her skin could be seen on some parts of her face. The pupils of her eyes were a dark red, piercing into her soul. The sclera was a pitch black, darker than anything she's ever seen. Blood dripped from her eyes like tears, dripping down her cheeks, then to her chin, then to the ground. Pinkie could do nothing but look at her in fear, her body stopped resisting as she was in shock, the sound of the screams became louder.

"DON'T GO TO THE HOUSE! YOU NEED TO RETURN TO PONYVILLE! YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkamena awoke startled, her pupils constricted, breathing erratically. Her body was sweating profusely, she awoke somehow feeling even more tired than when she went to sleep. She looked around her surroundings confused, almost like she didn't remember coming here. She seemed to be in the back of a wooden carriage, completely empty except for her and her backpack. The stallion driving the carriage could only be seen as a figure in the dark, it was extremely dark out, she could barely see her hoof in front of her, she wouldn't if it wasn't for the stars and the moon.

Pinkamena tried looking at her surroundings, but there weren't any building outlines or anything, she could be in a wasteland for all she knew! Then again, it was kind of hard to concentrate when you're breathing fast enough to hyperventilate, sticky from sweat, and full of fear and confusion from a dream she barely remembered.

"Bad dream?"

Sylia's voice was weak, barely louder than a whisper. It sounded strained, like just speaking was an effort for her, a painful one.

"I'm...not sure."

Pinkamena closed her eyes, trying to focus on calming down. She could slow down her breathing, but that fear was still there! What had been in her dream that incited such fear? She could only remember chunks, a party, rocks, a door, and...something else, something important!

"Ugh! Why is this happening?! I've never had problems remembering my dreams before, so why now?!"

Pinkamena grunted in frustration, something was in that dream, something terrified her, but something important. But she didn't know what! The stallion driving the carriage either didn't notice, or didn't care, or maybe he was asleep she didn't really care.

"Maybe some part of you doesn't want to remember? It could be some sort of repressed memory or something."

Sylia suggested, her voice sounding slightly more strained before. If it hadn't been so quiet, with the exception of the rumbling of the carriage, Pinkamena probably wouldn't have heard her.

"Then why dream about it in the first place? If I didn't want to remember it, why would I bother with dreams? It doesn't make any sense!"

Pinkamena let out another sigh of frustration, laying down on her stomach with an annoyed look on her face. One of the bangs from her straight mane fell down on her face, she responded by blowing a puff of air at it. Which did nothing as it just fell back on her face, she used to her hoof to put it back with the rest of her mane. As she did, her eyes widened slightly, as if coming to some realization.

"Speaking of things not making sense, what are you doing here, Sylia? Aren't you supposed to be in some long nap to preserve your emotions, or whatever?"

Sylia didn't respond at first, whether it was because she was too weak, or something else, Pinkamena could only guess.

"Heh, yeah. But, as weird as it may sound, I get really tired of sleeping. I suspect The Voice told you while I was...out. What else did you guys talk about?"

Something about Sylia's voice made Pinkamena cautious, more so than usual. Her tone sounded...wrong, like she was hiding something, it was hard to explain. But somehow, it was familiar.

"Various stuff, nothing important, really. What about you? When you sleep, do you dream? Can you even dream?"

She wanted to ask Sylia what was wrong, but, it was doubtful she'd get a direct answer. Besides, somehow, she felt like The Voice had something to do with it.

"Sort of. They're not really dreams, more like memories, assuming I'm seeing anything at all. Most of the time, It's memories of my life, back when I had a body. They don't seem to be in any specific order, they just kind of happen at random. But usually, I just see-"

Sylia suddenly stopped talking, a choking noise coming from her. She was trying to speak, but something was stopping her.

"Sylia? You okay?"

Sylia's choking suddenly stopped, as if it hadn't even happened in the first place.

"Yeah, just something stuck in my throat."

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, there were so many things wrong with that.

"But, you don't have a-"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Sylia interrupted her, surprising Pinkamena. She's never interrupted her like that before, okay, leave it alone, she got the message!

"What do you mean?"

Sylia wanted to say something, it was obvious. But something, or someone, was preventing her. She didn't like this, her suspicions were almost entirely on The Voice.

"Well, you have problems remembering your dream. Let's try recalling your activities and see if it helps, tell me everything that happened in the last few hours."

Okay...That made sense, sort of. But not in Sylia's case, she saw her memories, in fact, she probably knew what the dream was! But, if she wanted answers, she would have to indulge.

"Well, after leaving Ponyville, and what happened with Rainbow Dash,"

Pinkamena frowned, what had happened with the cyan pegasus had been...upsetting, to say the least.

"I went to Zecora's hut to get a precaution."

Pinkamena opened her mouth slightly, moving her tongue up and putting her hoof in her mouth. A second later, she pulled a small, bright blue pill from her mouth. She hovered her hoof in front of her face, looking at the blue pill on her hoof curiously.

"I know I asked for it to be as small as possible, but I still find it amusing that this little thing is a magic cure-all."

She shrugged as she put it back in her mouth, moving it around to comfortably put it under her tongue.

"And, sometime in between, The Voice convinced me to visit my family, somehow. And I found this carriage, I had the bits, so I decided I would prefer not to go on hoof that far. And, at some point, I fell asleep. Not sure how that was supposed to help me remember my dream."

Pinkamena waited for Sylia to say something, anything. But, she didn't, which was strange. She was usually talkative, despite being as tired as she was. Pinkamena couldn't even feel her presence, she had almost assumed she wasn't there. Until she spoke, her voice even more strained before, she sounded like it took every amount of energy she had just to say a single word.

"Maybe...you...shouldn't...go."

Confusion was evident on Pinkamena's face, almost matching her frustration.

"Shouldn't go where?"

Another few seconds passed in silence, then she spoke again, barely able to be heard.

"Don't...go..."

Pinkamena felt her presence leave, barely noticeable since it was so weak. But, before Pinkamena could say, or think anything, she felt another presence, one she had come to hate and like at the same time.

"Sorry about that! It's seemed Sylia pushed herself harder than she was ready to! While she's sleeping, I'd be more than happy to help you with your dream problem! Have you trie-"

"No thanks, I think I've got it figured out."

Pinkamena cut her off, her voice filled with annoyance and frustration. The Voice's disoriented and echoing voice pissed her off, it was obvious something was happening here, the timing was too perfect. It was doing something to Sylia, and its reason to do so couldn't be good.

"Really? No questions or anything? Cause I can see your dreams, I can tell you whatever you'd like!"

If Pinkamena didn't know better, she'd say it sounded disappointed.

"Nope. Can't be too important if I didn't remember it."

Pinkamena lay her head on her hooves, closing her eyes. She didn't want to go back to sleep, she doubted she even could, but she couldn't really do anything else. Then she grimaced, there was one thing she wanted to ask, but she reallydidn't want to give The Voice the satisfaction.

"Actually, there is one thing I want to ask."

She could practically feel it smirk.

"Ok, what is it? I'd be happy to answer."

She sighed, definitely hated it.

"Well, it's the only clear thing I can remember. It's a word, a name, I think."

Pinkamena held her breathe, this thing didn't have a face she could see or breathing she could hear, all she could do was listen for any change in its voice to indicate it was lying.

"Does the name 'Maud' mean anything to you?"

She felt it, for just a second, she felt it. There was a spike of fear from The Voice, not uncertainty or surprise, fear. But just like that, it was gone, and its usual bravado returned.

"Nope! Never heard of anyone named Maud! Sorry!"

Pinkamena put her head deeper in her hooves, grinding her teeth in frustration. She mumbled to herself, too low for anyone to hear, but since The Voice was in her head, she surely did.

"Liar."

Chapter Eleven: Amnesia, Part Two.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this chapter was so short, but I had recently written a rather lengthy chapter, so I didn't feel like making another long one so soon.

“We’re here miss.” The stallion said as the two earth ponies pulling the carriage stopped, causing the carriage to stop where it was.

“Already? Huh, thought Ponyville was farther.” Pinkamena said as she glanced at the stallion driving the carriage, turning back to the items before her. Her green backpack sat empty to her right. She was unable to get back to sleep, though she honestly didn't want to. And since Sylia was remaining quiet, and she really didn’t want to talk to The Voice right now. So, out of boredom more than anything, she decided to take inventory of everything in her backpack.

Two hundred and seventy-three bits, about a month's worth of food, a first aid kit, some clothes, a bottle of rum, a lantern, a box of matches and a couple of pastries as snacks. She hadn’t intended to be gone longer than a week, but there was no harm in prepping for longer. She especially didn’t plan to be going to her family’s house when she was packing this, so some of this will end up being unnecessary.

She quickly put the items back into the backpack, which she then put on. She jumped off the carriage, trying to avoid any rocks, those were not pleasant to step on.

“Thanks again,” Pinkamena said as she turned towards him, as he already turned the carriage around and was starting to go back the way they came. He only nodded to her as he drove away, beginning to pick up his pace, and was soon out of her sight.

She turned back around, facing the farm. It was still the middle of the night, so it was fairly dark out. But thanks to her long ride on the carriage, her eyes had more or less adapted, and she could now vaguely see into the dark. She could make things out pretty well around her, but everything far away was more shapes than anything. About a half mile away, she could see the farm. She could see the fence around the farm, the silo she threw her first party at, the windmill beside it, and she could see her old house. She could feel nostalgia as she looked at the farm, most memories of this place weren’t good, but it had its highlights.

As Pinkamena began to walk forward, her right hoof hit a rock, causing her to hiss in sudden pain. She held her hoof up as she looked down, noticing that unlike what she remembered, the rocks weren’t organized at all. They were just in random clumps, not put in order or anything like they should be, which was weird. Igneous was always organized, rarely doing anything outside of schedule.

“Dad must be getting lazy in his old age or something, can’t think of why else he’d let the farm go like this.”

*Yeah...you could say that.*Sylia said, her voice sounding just as weak and strained as before.

“Welcome back couch potato, how are you feeling?” Pinkamena asked jokingly as she looked at the ground, trying to be careful and watch her every step.

*Exhausted...but more tired of sleeping...you?*

Pinkamena scowled as she heard that, something was wrong, she was sure of it. And The Voice was behind, It was behind it, that was the only thing that made sense. But, if The Voice was behind it, that made it next to impossible to find out the truth. She definitely couldn’t help while she was trying to solve her own problems, best she can do is act normal, at least until she has things figured out.

“Honestly? I’m feeling more or less okay right now. Which is weird, because I can’t remember the last time I was. But, right now, I am a bit concerned. The Voice seemed...persistent in getting me to come here, and I trust their intentions about as well as I can touch them. I’d ask you if you knew anything, But I’m almost positive that The Voice is monitoring our conversations, and that they’ll stop you if you try to say anything incriminating. Am I right?”

Pinkamena asked as she walked up to the door of her house, glad the rocks seemed to be more scarce once she got inside the fence.

*Sorry…* Sylia whispered as she began to fade, Pinkamena felt her presence slowly vanish.

“Yeah...that’s what I figured,” Pinkamena said as she sighed, realizing that the next few months were probably going to be very frustrating.

She walked up to the door, noticing that none of the lights were on in the house, which wasn’t that unusual considering how late it was. She went up to one of the windows, wiping some of the dust off of it and trying to peer through. But it was no use, the window was far too dusty on both sides to see in. And even if they weren’t, it was probably too dark to see anyway.

She walked back to the door, lifting her hoof up and preparing to knock on it. But then she was suddenly filled with fear and dread, and she didn’t know whether it was hers. She quickly turned around, as if she felt a presence behind her. But there was nothing, just darkness. She peered into the darkness, as if expecting something to walk out of it. But nothing did, despite this feeling in her gut that something was there. Hesitantly, she turned back around facing the door.

Once again, she hovered her hoof just in front of the door, something telling her not to knock. There was this feeling of dread, like something terrible was about to happen, and she couldn’t shake it! She knocked on the door, suddenly noticing how fast her heartbeat was, and how dry her mouth was. She knocked on it once, twice, then three times. Then she waited, expecting to hear hoofsteps or see the lights come on, or anything! But no, nothing happened, everything was just as silent before.

“Ok...that’s really weird, nopony in my family is a heavy sleeper, I’m starting to get somewhat worried.”

Pinkamena knocked on the door once more, louder and more firm this time. Waiting and hoping to hear something, anything to indicate there was life in the house. But, there was nothing.

She couldn’t wait anymore, she slowly pushed on the door, which did more than just open. The door fell off its hinge, falling forward and landing flat on the ground in front of the house, dust from the door and the floor going into the air.

“Something is wrong here, really wrong!” She said as she slowly walked into the house, barely able to see anything. The inside of the house was darker than outside, since there was no light source anywhere. There was a little bit of light coming from the window, a bit more coming from the frame where the door was. This allowed her to see a foot or two in front of her, but anything past that was pitch black.

Pinkamena slowly took her backpack off and set it beside the door frame, not taking her gaze away from the darkness. She unzipped the backpack and reached in, pulling out the lantern. She sat it beside the backpack, opening it to allow access to the candle within. She reached back in to find the box of matches, which took longer than she liked. She opened the box, but she didn’t realize how much she was shaking. She was terrified, and she didn’t know why! She ended up spilling the box, causing matches to fall on the floor.

She quickly reached down and grabbed one of the matches, striking it against the outside of the lantern until it lit. She quickly put the match in the lantern, lighting the candle within and quickly shutting it after putting the match out. She then picked up the lantern in her mouth by the handle, swinging into the darkness in front of her.

But, there was nothing in the darkness, despite her irrational fears. What she did see, was pictures on the wall to her right, one particular picture catching her interest. She walked to the wall, setting the lantern down beside her. She reached forward, grabbing the picture off the wall as she smiled at it, her fear being temporarily forgotten.

It was a picture of her first party, the one that changed everything. She was on top of a table with a pink covering, dancing her heart out with a wide smile on her face, balloons and streamers everywhere in the background. Inkie and Blinkie behind her were doing the same with wide smiles on their faces. To her left was her mother, Cloudy Quartz. She was laughing, her eyes closed and a hoof held against her chest. Her father, Igneous Pie, was to the right of her. He too was laughing with a wide smile on her face, watching his children dance and laugh in happiness. It was the first, and last, time she made her family happy.

A frown came to her face as she looked at Igneous, or more precisely, the spot to the left of him. There was no one there, it was just an empty space. And as much as Pinkamena tried, she didn’t remember anyone being there. But she just had this feeling, this feeling that she was forgetting someone.

Someone important.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ponyville was a quiet and desolate place, the once lively town sat still, all of its residents have left due to the threat of changelings. All of the buildings were dark, none of the lights were on. The only sign of life was the occasional group of guards on patrol, the town was completely abandoned.

Except for one building.

Sugarcube corner was vibrant, it was the only building in the entire town with the lights in it on, making it seem almost like a beacon. The lights shined brightly, illuminating the area around it. Revealing Rainbow Dash who had been standing in front of Sugarcube Corner, as if waiting for someone. She had cleaned herself up, her face no longer stained with tears, she now looked as normal as always. Though right now she had a bored expression on her face as she played with some rocks, though knowing Rainbow Dash, that didn’t really mean she had been there long.

Suddenly, there was the chatter of voices, female voices. A group of mares came out of the darkness towards Sugarcube Corner, causing Rainbow Dash to suddenly jump up with a smile on her face.

“Are you quite sure this is safe? This place is so dark and ghastly! And I think we only saw one group of guards on the way here!” Rarity asked Twilight with a panicked tone in her voice, though Twilight only rolled her eyes in response.

“Yes Rarity, for the seventh time, I’m sure. There are four groups of guards patrolling this place at all time, plus all of us here, who’ve had experience fighting changelings. Besides, it’s not like they’d have a full-on attack on this place! They said a scouting unit or something first, they send a small group to secure, and then move more here as time goes on. We’re perfectly safe.” Twilight’s voice was monotone, as if she’d explained it multiple times. Rarity didn’t seem satisfied, she was clearly distressed.

Fluttershy was pressed against Applejack, her wings stretched out and her pupils constricted in fear as she tried to stay out of the darkness.

“Well howdy, Rainbow! How are ya?” Applejack asked enthusiastically, waving her hoof at Rainbow Dash.

“Great now that you guys are here, I was so bored! It took me like, ten minutes to set this party up, so come on in!”

Rainbow said as she gestured them inside, which they did. They all walked inside Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow Dash walking in behind them and shutting the door behind her. A few moments later, dubstep music began playing from Sugarcube Corner.

A few feet away from Sugarcube Corner, a group of three guards walked outside of the darkness. As they saw the mane five walk into Sugarcube Corner, malicious smiles stretched on their faces. Their skins began to burn with a bright green fire, their skin and armor beginning to burn away. In seconds their illusions were gone, revealing the changelings beneath.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About a mile away from the rock farm, the stallion and his carriage had stopped beside a particularly large boulder. He reached down to the side of the carriage, rapping on it three times. A few seconds later, three changelings came out from behind the boulder, getting into the back of the carriage.

At the same time, the two ponies attached to the carriage burst into a green flame, their disguises burning away, revealing they too were changelings. The stallion rapped on the carriage again, causing the two changelings to turn around and head back to the rock farm. A glint of green in his eye and a smile on his face.

Chapter Eleven: Amnesia, Part Three.

Author's Notes:

Finally, finally, I got this done! This is the longest chapter I've ever written, somewhere around 60 pages! I know that seems intimidating, but I promise I tried my best to make it interesting, though the quality of my writing may degrade/change because I didn't write it all at once.

But anyway, thanks for waiting, and enjoy!

Inside of Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow Dash and the rest were enjoying a party, or trying to, anyway. The inside of Sugarcube Corner resembled a Pinkie Pie style party, all of them have been to them so many times, they would know how to recreate it. The tables that were usually there were all gone, except for one in the center of the room that had a medium-sized cake on it, the frosting being yellow with smaller dots of blue on it. Balloons of varying colors were attached to the counters, some of them weren’t attached to anything and just floated up to the ceiling, staying up there along with some multi-colored streamers attached to the ceiling.

Though this wasn’t a birthday party, so there weren’t any presents or anything. But there was a banner attached to to the ceiling above the counter, the words “Fun Party!” Written on it messily in blue paint.

Rainbow Dash was blushing in what looked like embarrassment as she chuckled to herself, the other four seemed to be somewhat amazed and a little nostalgic, looking around the room they were in. They hadn’t realized how long it had really been since they’ve been to a party like this until they were at one.

“Darling, you really outdid yourself! Though it is a bit childish for my taste, nonetheless, this is amazing! However did you do this?” Rarity asked as she began walking towards the cake, looking up at the balloons and streamers above her.

“Ah don’t know about ya’ll, but that cake looks mighty tasty! Ah can’t even remember the last time ah had cake!” She said as she eagerly walked to the cake, taking a bite out of it, her face now covered in frosting. Rarity seemed to recoil in disgust at this, quickly grabbing one of the napkins from the table and trying to clean Applejack’s face.

“How did you do this? I mean, it’s not like you’ve thrown a party before.”

Twilight asked skeptically as she turned to Rainbow, Fluttershy stayed beside Twilight, looking between her and AJ and Rarity, seeming to be debating with herself what to do.

“Yeah...about that, you see,” Rainbow said as she rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, trying to avoid eye contact. “Back when Pinkie was still Pinkie, she showed me some of the spots where she keeps her ‘emergency party supply kits’, in case there was a party related emergency. She showed me how to set up parties since I am one of the few ponies who could do it fast enough. And, well, she’s not using them anymore, and this seemed like a party related emergency to me!” She said as she smiled bashfully, not used to receiving praise from anything besides flying.

“Well, I think it-”

Fluttershy was interrupted by the sound of the Sugarcube Corner bell opening, and then suddenly slamming as three Canterlot Royal Guards entered, capturing the attention of everypony in the building. Rainbow’s wings quickly opened in anger, her eyebrows furrowing and teeth gritting as she flew towards them.

“GET OUT! I specifically asked Celestia to make sure no pony bothered us! This is a private party! GO a-” Rainbow Dash didn’t finish, as she was suddenly interrupted by the hoof of one of the guards smashing against her face. She was sent tumbling backward, falling back on the ground.

As soon as Rainbow hit the ground, spitting out blood as she quickly got back up and looked at the guards in confusion and anger, the guards burst into green flames, their armor and pony disguise burning away, revealing the black carapace of the changelings beneath.

The one who punched Rainbow Dash seemed to smile sadistically as he looked at the surprised ponies in front of him, licking his lips as if he were about to feast.

“No, this...is your grave!”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This place was abandoned.

She had realized that at some point in time, but she futility tried to deny it. After setting the picture back on the wall, the feeling that she was forgetting someone important still bothering her like an itch in the back of her mind, she picked the lantern up in her mouth and continued exploring the house.

For whatever reason, she couldn’t stop shaking, through the terror inside her seemed weaker than before. She still didn’t know why she was so scared, but, she pushed through it.

She slowly began walking up the steps, barely able to keep balance with her hooves constantly shaking, but she suddenly stopped as she felt a sharp pain in her brain, a sudden headache making her stop. She grits her teeth, but she started pushing through it, her hooves shakingly moving up the stairs as she bit onto the handle of the lantern tighter than she needed to, sheer willpower and a burning need for answers helped her push through the mixture of emotions she was feeling.

She wasn’t positive of the cause for the headache, but she had a pretty good guess.

“What are you doing?” She mumbled angrily, knowing she was heard clearly.

She could almost feel it smile.

*Who, little old me? Oh, I’m just sitting here and watching you try to figure out this little mystery, it’ll really help me get a look at your detective skills.*

Pinkamena slammed her last hoof against the wooden floor as she got to the top to the stairs, more out of anger than anything else.

“But you already know the answer, don’t you?”

The only response she got was a giggle.

Pinkamena saw three doors in the short hallway in front of her, two on her left, and one on her right, all the doors were the same as the ones for the entrance to the house. She opened the first one on her left, which was the room she shared with her sisters. She slowly pushed the door open, it made a low creaking noise as it did, only adding to the terror she was feeling.

And when the door opened enough to let her see into the room, she could the blood in her veins run cold.

The room was dark, but there was a window in the room that the moon could be seen through, allowing her to see in the room enough to make out a few details. The window had dust on it, dust that would take years to accumulate, and mom would never allow any part of her house to become this dirty. Not only that, but the beds weren’t made at all, which was strange because her mother had burned into them that they should never leave it unmade.

There was also rust around the ends of the beds, the frames on the window seemed the also be rusty. But it’s not like they just moved somewhere else, all their stuff was still here. She could see the outlines of a toy or two on the ground, and even the wardrobe against the wall to the right of the room, which had been slightly opened so she could see the clothes that were still in it.

It’s like they all just vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. Inkie, Blinkie, and...someone else.

She hesitated to shut the door, as she tried desperately to remember her last day here, trying to remember anything that might tell her what happened, and whatever it was she seemed to be forgetting. But she couldn’t, all she could remember was the blandness of it all. She woke up, ate, worked, slept, repeat. She barely ever talked to her sisters, or anypony, ever. She could even remember the coldness she used to feel, how depressed and lonely she truly felt, even though she was surrounded by family.

Even as she tried to remember the day everything changed, the day the sonic rainboom happened. But the second she tried to remember what happened after she entered the house, her headache got worse, the pain hitting her hard enough to bring her to her knees, biting even harder on the lantern handle as she brought her front hooves to her head, her eyes clenching in pain.

*No, no, no. No spoiling the surprise, especially not by accessing memories that aren’t available.”

The Voice said in an innocent manner, like it was just treating it like some child’s game. The headache slowly lowered in intensity, at least to a point of tolerance. Pinkamena slowly opened her eyes and hooves, hesitant whether or not The Voice is just playing with her. She slowly got back up, backing out of the room with the lantern still in her mouth as she shut the door behind her, not even remembering when her breathing had gotten so erratic.

When the sound of the door clicked as she shut it, so did the meaning behind the warning The Voice gave.

“Not available? What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I have access to them, they’re my memories.”

She asked as she began walking towards the second door on the left, which was her parent's bedroom.

She grits her teeth as she heard it giggle again, she was really getting sick of that.

*Nope, not telling.”

Pinkamena opened the door, realizing that The Voice was even less useful than she expected. She slowly pushed open the door to her parent's room, the sound of the door creaking was almost exactly the same as her sister's room. But, her parent’s room didn’t have a window in it, so when the door opened, the room was pitch black. She leaned forward slightly, the lantern illuminating the room a little. She walked forward a little, until the outline of the bed came into sight.

Unlike the previous bedroom, the bed still seemed to be made, though the metal parts of the bed were still rusted. It made some sense why the bed would be made, her mother had minor OCD, so even in an emergency, she’d have a very strong urge to make sure things were organized in the things she wanted them to be. As Pinkamena walked closer to the bed, the lantern making a bit more of the bed and the floor visible, her hoof hit something on the floor. She lowered her head along with the lantern, moving it closer to the object she brushed across.

It was a picture frame.

It must have been on the nightstand beside the bed, and got knocked off somehow. It was made out of oakwood, though it seemed to be faded from age. It was face down against the ground, Pinkamena put the lantern down to the spot beside it, then picked up the photo in her hooves.

She felt herself stop breathing when she saw it.

It was an old black and white photo of her and her family, none of them smiling like a normal family picture. But unlike the photos from before, this one not only had the glass partly broken, but had something else on it. On the faces of each of her family members, a red x’s done in crayon had been drawn on all their eyes, the shade of red fade to near black. Her face was different from the others, her eyes had been shaded completely black, a wide, red smile covered most of her face.

Something peculiar about the picture, was a red circle in the spot to the left of her in the photo, but there wasn’t anyone there. The words ‘Get Later’ written above the circle in the same crayon red.

That’s when something broke through.

She didn’t know when or why she started crying, but she felt the warm tears rolling down her face and then dropping onto the picture, and they came with a searing headache, once again bringing her down to her knees.

But this time, there was something else.

She could hear screaming, loud screaming, like someone was in great pain or being killed. But the pain wasn’t coming from the outside, but the inside. She felt memories coming through, but only flashes. She could see the look of fear on Igneous’ face, then she saw herself getting a knife from the kitchen, then the feeling of something warm and wet on her mouth, practically feeling the smile on her face. All she could hear was the screaming.

Then, just like that, it was gone. The headache, the memories, the screaming, all gone. And all that was left was Pinkamena, filled with fear and questions, her face wet with tears.

*You’re getting closer and closer, this is so exciting!*

Pinkamena slowly began to stand up, trying to comprehend what she just saw. She tried to speak, but her mouth felt so dry, and she wasn’t even sure if anything she would have said would have been coherent.

*I know what you’re thinking, and no, that wasn’t me. Those memories are yours, and yours alone. Now, do you want to sit there thinking about what happened, or do you want to get up and find out?*

Despite what it said, Pinkamena still sat on the ground, her heart beating erratically and her eyes moving back and forth nervously.

*Ok, that was a rhetorical question, not a choice. GET UP!*

Its disembodied voice seemed to vibrate through her mind, only adding to the pain of another headache, though this one wasn’t as bad as before. Hesitantly, Pinkamena got up, picking up the lantern in her mouth and began to walk out of the room, shutting the door behind her and leaving the picture on the ground.

One of the things that worried her the most, is that, unexplainably, the shaking had stopped.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After checking the bathroom, Pinkamena had decided to go back down the stairs. The bathroom didn’t have anything interesting in it, actually, it seemed too normal. The bathroom had been very clean, the only thing strange about the bathroom was the mirror. It had been almost completely shattered, something blunt had been thrown or hit against the center of it, the shards of glass were still on the ground of the bathroom, and it was only thanks to her already being so cautious that she didn’t cut herself by stepping on them. Though there was enough of the mirror for her to see her reflection, and she almost looked into it, but…

She couldn’t bring herself to look at her reflection, every time she did, something pulled her away.

She decided that was one of the few things she wasn’t going to question, and went down to the kitchen, which was a complete mess. She only knew where the kitchen was from memory, but after actually getting there, the layout started getting a little fuzzy. She more or less stumbled around in the dark until she bumped into the family table they always ate at, and set it on the center of the table. She turned the dial on the side of the lantern, allowing it to lighten more of the room, though it does burn the candle faster.

The table was made out of wood, but had been painted a brighter green, though it had faded and now looked a lot paler. It was a lot longer than it was wide, intended to let her and her family all eat at the same table, with three chairs on either side, and one on each end. Right now, it seemed whatever had happened, occurred sometime during dinner, bowls of what looked like rock stew were on the table, some of them seem to have barely been touched. Luckily rock stew never spoiled, so it didn’t emit any kind of foul odor no matter how long it lays out, though it seemed a few bugs have made the bowls their new home.

But Pinkamena had a very good sense of smell, something she got after years of working as a baker, along with her extraordinary sense of taste. She could tell something had been left out, or just hadn’t been cleaned in a while. She walked towards the sink area, locating one of the sources of the smell. There were several plates in the sink, most of them weren’t cleaned, scraps of food on the plates causing a disgusting gray and green mold on most of the plates.

Though the smell coming from the mold was horrendous, she could tell that wasn’t the main source. She turned toward a dark gray refrigerator in the corner of the room, something her mom only ever use to store milk and cheese, since their diet mostly consisted of rocks. The door was currently slightly ajar, though that was hard to see in the dark with only the dim light of the lantern to see it. She hesitantly walked towards the fridge, the smell seeming to be more and more familiar the closer she got, but she wasn’t sure where.

She slowly opened the fridge, the second it opened she jumped back, her eyes constricting from the sight inside the fridge. She recoiled backward, both from the sight of it and the smell. She landed on her flank and began to crawl backward until the back of her head hit the table, causing one of the plates on the table to fall off and shatter against the ground, startling her. She recognized the smell now, she knew it all too well from the time with her clones.

It was the smell of death.

Inside the fridge, besides the rotten milk and cheese, were half a dozen dead, mutilated rats. Some of them had been cut open from their pelvis to their necks, their guts hanging out of their bodies. Others were headless, their heads seeming to have been ripped off rather than cut, judging by the way the area around it had hair ripped off, their heads seeming to be nowhere near the bodies. Blood soaked the inside of the fridge, the inside of the fridge looked like a butcher shop. Sure, she killed her clones pretty brutally, but this? This was the work of someone demented!

“Who….who would do this?” Pinkamena whispered, shocked by the grotesque display in front of her.

*Who indeed? Whoever they are, I like their taste. A very...interesting sense of art. Now, ignore that. Why don’t you take a look to your left? On the floorboards, there’s a clue!” The voice cooed, she couldn’t tell whether or not it was taking this seriously.

Pinkamena glanced at the floor beside her, looking for whatever it was The Voice wanted her to see. Then she noticed it, blood. There was dried, dark red blood ingrained into the wooden floor, and there was a lot more of it than a rat would have. Not just that, but there were bits of skin and hair too, too bright to belong to a rat. She followed the trail with her eyes, a strong sense of terror prevented her from moving. The trail of blood seemed to get thicker the farther it went, and it stopped at the back door, leaving her to assume it continued outside.

*Follow it.*

She felt something run through her when The Voice spoke, like something trying to move her body. But she resisted, biting the inside of her cheek as she felt the fear coursing through her veins. She clenched her eyes shut, unable to stop her body from shaking.

“I...I don’t want to k-”

*That wasn’t a request, it was a command. Get up and follow the blood, NOW!* It shrieked, it’s disembodied voice booming in her head, the familiar feeling of an intense headache coming without it as her brain screamed for the pain to stop. But still, Pinkamena refused.

“NO! I won-” She was unable to continue as the pain intensified, she soon lost her sense of hearing as the ringing in her ears intensified, the feeling of blood dripping down the sides of her face as they did. She felt her body convulse as she threw up on the ground beside her, some of what she ate earlier mixed with blood covered the floor.

*I can’t kill you, yes. But, there are many things worse than death, and I have a very creative imagination. I suggest you do what I say, or you can see just what I can do to you without it being fatal, your choice.*

Pinkamena wiped her face, her hearing slowly coming back as the ringing began to fade away.

“I...hate you…” Pinkamena spat as she slowly got up, her erratic breathing becoming stable as she slowly stood up.

She faintly heard The Voice giggle, deciding whether that was worse or better than when it was threatening her.

*I know.*

Pinkamena turned around, staring at the blood trail leading outside. She slowly began to follow it, barely even able to hear her own hoofsteps. She made sure to grab the lantern on her way out, knowing now how dark it was outside. And with her hearing slowly coming back, she could hear the loud booming of thunder and the clicking sound of rain against the house. At some point in time it had started raining, and somehow, she could feel this was going to be a long storm.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Graves.

That’s what was waiting for her in the backyard, graves.

A few feet away from her house, stood four crosses. They seemed to be arranged in biggest to smallest, the one of the far left being the biggest, and the one on the far right being the smallest. She hadn’t even really noticed the crosses until lighting allowed her to briefly see them, though it was too short for her to see anything on them. The storm seemed to be picking up, the wind was getting stronger and so had the rain, the cold water splashing against her not helping the intense fear she was feeling.

Of course, the blood trail she had been following had been washed away years ago, but she didn’t need it now, she had an idea of where it was leading.

She tried lying to herself about who the graves belonged to, even as she moved closer to them, she tried to lie. But, deep down she knew. Four graves, four family members, abandoned house, blood in the floorboards.

Her family was in those graves.

She slowly raised her lantern to the crosses, noticing that letters had been carved into the center of the crosses. Starting from the one on the farthest left, the letters were IG.P., C.Q., I.P., B.P. She wasn’t sure what these were at first, if they were some sort of secret code left by whoever killed them. She began to repeat them out loud, tapping her chin in thought.

She felt her heart freeze when she figured it out.

Igneous Pie, Cloudy Quartz, Inkie Pie and Blinkie Pie, they were initials, initials of her dead family.

She jumped when there was another sudden loud boom of thunder, the lighting briefly lighting up the crosses. In those few seconds of light, she saw the handle of a shovel poking out of the ground a few feet behind the graves. She picked up the lantern and moved closer the where she saw it. It seemed it had been in there for years, dirt had built up around the end, a mixture of that and the rain causing the dirt to become wetter and the shovel to sink deeper in the ground, the shovel itself being halfway into the ground. The top part of the handle seemed to turn a dark red from rust over the years, only tiny bits of the shovel was still the light gray metal color it used to be.

She didn’t know whether it was The Voice influencing her, or if what something deep inside her needed to know. But she didn’t hesitate when she grabbed the handle of the shovel, ignoring the taste of grime. She wrapped her tail around the handle of the lantern, swiftly turning around as she pulled the shovel out of the ground. With a burning desire for answers, she placed the lantern beside her father’s grave and slammed the shovel into the dirt, the storm seem to get stronger as the downpour of the rain increased, another booming thunder lighting up the area around her. But she didn’t so much as flinch, she only bit down harder on the handle of the shovel as she dug into the grave, few things could stop her.

The dirt had hardened over time, a few plants had even begun to sprout from the graves. But thanks to the rain, and how single-minded she could be, it took her barely two minutes before she saw a hoof. Then a chest, mane, coat, and then, finally, a face.

Her father’s face.

His body had slowly began to decay, being buried in the ground left to the elements didn’t help. His amber coat had long faded to a disgusting brown, all of his mane and tale had fallen out except for a few stubborn pieces of his sideburns that were staying to his face. Some parts of his body, like around his stomach, some of the flesh had already rotted away, bits of his decaying rib cage could be seen. But none of that is what caught most of her attention, no, none of that even compared. What really caught her attention, and what caused her to drop the shovel in her mouth, was his head.

Or rather, how much of it wasn’t there.

His face was terrifying, his mouth agape as if he had died in agonizing pain, some of his teeth had been busted out. The eyes, thankfully, seemed mostly untouched. The color of the eyes turned a lifeless gray, looking up, presumably, at whoever killed him.

Then, right where his forehead should have been, it cut off.

The top of his skull was completely missing, it seemed to have been partly cut off and partly cracked open with something blunt, indicated by the cracks in parts of the skull that were visible and still there. And the parts of the skull that were still there were stained dark red with blood, some of this blood had even leaked down to his eyes. But, one of the scariest things, was that inside of the skull was completely empty. There was no brain, it looked almost like someone had scooped it out.

She had already gotten used to the feeling of the cold rain against her face, even so, she didn’t flinch when warm tears began to run down her face. She seemed to be in shock as she stared at the body of her father, her eyes unmoving as the rain hit her, her tears slowly rising down her face. Then her mouth slowly began to open, her pupils constricting as the tears began to stream down her face faster than before. She couldn’t seem to take her eyes away from the sight before her, not even as her mouth slowly began to open.

A loud scream pierced through the storm, only overshadowed by another boom of thunder.

Maybe it was The Voice, maybe it was Pinkamena, or maybe it was something in her subconscious, desperate for some form of comfort after what she just saw. But something compelled her to get out of that grave as fast as possible, and run into the house. And after her scream, that’s what happened. She crawled out of that grave, and ran as fast as she could inside, as if her family were still alive, waiting inside to embrace her and tell her it was ok.

But when she got inside, all that was there was the darkness.

Her knees began to shake and wobble, and she soon collapsed, unable to hold herself up any longer.

The room was silent for a few moments, then there was the sound of her tears quickly dripping on the floor, and then the sound of her sobs, which she was unable thold back anymore.

She looked down at her hooves, only barely able to see them thanks to the moonlight shining through the open doorway. She looked at the dirt and mud covering her hooves, unable to hold back the emotions pouring out of her. Then, for a split second, she saw something else. Suddenly her hooves were smaller, the same size as when she was a filly. Instead of mud being on her hooves, they were drenched in red blood. Her father's body lay before her, a knife poking out the top of his head, and yet her hooves couldn’t have been steadier. She heard a bloodcurdling scream from behind her, causing her to quickly turn around.

Only for her to realize there was no one there, she had come back to reality, there was no one there but her.

Before she had time to react, another searing headache caused her to scream, she reflexively put her hooves against her temples to try to ease the pain.

*Hmm, I don’t get it. Why are you resisting? I thought you wanted to know the truth? But now you’re causing yourself all this unnecessary, but delicious, pain? You’re either really weird, or really stupid.*

Pinkamena slammed her hooves against the ground as she ground her teeth, her entire body shaking from the pain and emotions she was feeling.

“What...in Tartarus... are you ta-”

There was another wave of intense pain, causing Pinkamena to slam her head against the floor to try to ease the pain, unable to do much more than scream in agony.

*Oh! I get it! You think I’m doing this. Well, sorry to burst your ignorance bubble. But those flashes you're seeing? Those are memories, your repressed and ignored memories. I guess it makes sense that you’d be resisting, I doubt anyone would want to see their family die a second time. But, since you’re so desperate for answers, I’ll help you out, just this once.*

Before Pinkamena could respond, the pain seemed to surge through her bad, as her brain seemed to melt from the pain. All she could do was scream in agony, as reality faded away.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nothing.

Pinkamena felt absolutely nothing.

Not just the physical and emotional pain she was experiencing before, but she felt nothing.

As the whiteness and the pain slowly faded away, slightly thankful the headaches were gone, she had slowly lost any and all feeling she had. She couldn’t feel her body, couldn’t feel the tears that were rolling down her face or the mud on her hooves, nothing.

As reality came into focus, she recognized immediately where she was. She was in her home, her real home. Before whatever happened, happened. And the house fell to age and lack of care. It still looked the way it usually did, and now it was the middle of the day, something she could see from the windows outside. She was currently in the kitchen, the rotting food she saw earlier, now looked fresh and sat on the kitchen table, though there wasn’t anypony in there.

Now that she knew where she was, she tried moving her eyes down to look at her body, still curious as to why she couldn’t feel anything.

Then she realized she couldn’t move to look down.

She could move her eyes, sure. But only horizontally, not vertically. Whenever she tried to, it’s like something was preventing the signals from her brain to her eyes, they wouldn’t move.

And the worst part? She couldn’t even panic about it.

“Hmmm, Pink, not sure what other color I expected you to be.*

Pinkamena tried moving her head towards the sound of the voice, but then realized she couldn’t really move her head. So she moved her eyes as far left as they would go, trying to locate the source of the feminine, foal like voice.

“I forgot what it looked like, seeing someone experience nothingness for the first time. It’s...interesting, to watch you squirm.”

Though Pinkamena couldn’t feel her spine, she still felt a chill go down it when she heard the voice again as her eyes fell on the source, recognizing it almost immediately.

“Surprise! It’s me-actually, I’m not going to tell you my name, would spoil the Surprise! Though, it is nice to meet you in person. And, you know, not have to watch the world from your eyes and learning you inside and out from repeatedly watching your memories.*

The voice was sickeningly sweet, to the point where she preferred the disembodied version. The presence before her only seemed to resemble a pony, the figure of one, at least. It wasn’t a corporeal being, it seemed to just be a very thick cloud of fog, though the fog was a dark shade of scarlet, and wasn’t see through. The fog seemed to be in the form of a filly, though it only had the outline. It had no coat, mane, or tail. It also had no cutie mark, or no facial features, eyes, mouth, anything. It just looked like one of Rarity’s creepy mannequins that she used to put outfits on, though this one was in the shape of a filly, a dark shade of red, had no defining features, and could move around and talk despite not having a mouth.

Though despite not having a mouth, she had no doubt it was smiling sadistically at her right now.

“For now, you can call me The Voice, as you have been. It’s not too original, but it’s better than ‘crazy bitch’ or ‘obsessed stalker’. You know, the things you call me when you think I’m not listening. And, hey, while we’re on that topic!”

The Voice walked towards her, though it seemed more like she hovered rather than walked. She made the motions of walking with her hooves, but they didn’t seem to hit the floor. It’s like the entire world was on pause, but she was on play. Not only that, but Pinkamena noticed that despite the fact she was supposed to be a filly, there didn’t seem to be any height difference between them. Even as she got closer, she didn’t seem slightly taller or shorter than her, they seemed to stay at eye level the entire time.

When she was right in front of Pinkamena, she stared at her for a few moments, seeming to just observe her. Then she slowly raised her right hoof a few inches above the ground, just leaving it there. When she stopped raising it, she slightly tilted her head to the left curiously, still looking at Pinkamena. It kind reminded her of a puppy, looking up at its owner playfully.

That image shattered as soon as her hoof slammed against the ground.

Even though she didn’t have a body, excruciating agony vibrated through her. It felt like some invisible force was pushing her against an extremely hard surface, like she was pinned under one of the giant boulders she occasionally saw on the farm. And at the same time, it felt like something had exploded inside of her body, her insides having been torn to shreds. And something, what felt like an invisible hand, had reached inside her body. This hand felt like it had razor sharp claws, and had no issue being rough. It felt like it was tearing apart her organs, or at least what was left of them. And the remaining bits of what was inside her felt like they were being grabbed by the hand and ripped out, crushing her bones in the process.

She couldn’t struggle, couldn’t resist, couldn’t do anything but take the pain. She couldn’t even scream!

“I am always watching! Every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day! I don’t need to sleep or eat! All I ever do is watch you and think, that’s all I can do! And when you’re sleeping, or just doing something I could not give less of a shit about! I take a stroll in the deepest parts of your mind, and I take a peek into your memories. I’ve seen each memory at least a dozen times, I know everything about you, I probably know you better than you know yourself. I know how you work, why you work the way you do, and how to make you do what I like. You may think you have control, but you don’t! I do! You control your body, sure, but that’s because I allow you to!”

As she spoke, the fog seemed to spike, as if unstable emotions can cause it to lose form. It was becoming less of a filly and more of an amalgamation of one, barely even keeping a physical shape. Pinkamena was barely able to hear and comprehend her, the pain seems to get worse as time went on. It felt like her insides were melting, here mind barely able to process anything else except for the pain.

“Celestia might be the god to ponies in Equestria, but to you? I control everything you do, any privilege you think you might have, I let you! I can hear every thought you have, I feel every emotion you do, I could even predict what you’re going to say if I wanted! I am your god! And this is me being benevolent, free will is a privilege you have that I can take away whenever you step out of line! I allow you and Sylia to because it’s entertaining! How many times do you think a decision you’ve made was actually yours? How many times do you think a suggestive thought was really yours? Everything, from the decisions you’ve made, the life you live, the friends you have? They are not yours, they are what I allow you to have. I OWN YOU! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!”

She wasn’t even a poor imitation of a filly anymore, or even anything that could be considered a pony. It wasn’t even red anymore, but was now a jade black. It had grown to be significantly bigger, it was now practically the only thing Pinkamena could see. It was much larger than she was, even if she still had her body, it could consume her whole. It no longer had any single shape, every inch of it seemed to be constantly moving, where Pinkamena couldn’t be looking at just one spot. It seemed to be constantly spiking, switching from growing to shrinking and staying like that. It didn’t seem to have any other features, except in the spot where the face was. Unlike the rest of it, there were two spots on the upper part of the face that was still a scarlet red, and the way they were shaped, they looked like eyes.

The pain suddenly stopped, as if it was giving her the chance to actually answer. She had no mouth or head to nod, really, she had no actual way to answer. All she could do is desperately scream yes in her head and hope it could hear her.

“Oh goody! Now we can be best friends! Now, onto the main show!”

And just like that, her chipper and mock sweetness. And just as fast as it had happened, the shape went from the black beast, right back to the mannequin-like imitation of a filly. It changed from black to scarlett again in an instant, and just as fast, shrank back down to the size of a filly. There were no more spikes in the shape, as she now seemed to be completely calm. She wasn’t even facing her anymore, she had turned around and was now facing the kitchen table, making Pinkamena unable to see her.

“I’m sure you have plenty of questions, like how long I’ve been here or why I’m here. Well, that’s part of the reason I didn’t let you have a mouth, or a body, or any kind of emotions. No, I’m not giving you direct answers, not anymore, you don’t really learn anything that way. No, you see, you're a lot smarter than you think, smarter than when I started off, even. But you don’t know it, and you don’t put that genius brain of yours to work. Instead, I’m going to leave little breadcrumbs, both because it’ll help me watch you put your brain to work, and I have a bad habit of doing that anyway.”

She began to walk around the kitchen, just seeming to examine the place. She stayed just inside her eyesight, even if just barely.

“I will answer one question I know you have though, just because you have no way of figuring it out, you don’t have the pieces. You see, I have absolute control here, in your mind, had years of practice. I know every trick, and every place. So, while we have our party of two in here, I made sure Sylia won’t be bothering us. She couldn’t handle the stress anyway, needs her sleep. What I’m about to show you is going to be very important, so I don’t want you to be distracted by something as pesky as emotions, so I got rid of those.”

She walked back up to Pinkamena, outstretching it and rubbing it against her face, or, at least where her face would be, if she had one, and if she could feel it.

“So just sit there like a good girl, okay? Before we start though, let me explain to you how this works, because that’s something you couldn’t figure out on your own either.”

She pulled her hoof away and moved to the left, right outside of her peripheral vision, though she could almost feel her still there.

“After having literally nothing to do but mess around with your mind, I found out that I could also force Sylia to watch a memory with me, if I so wanted. Though making her shut up and not move took some trial and error, but I eventually got it. And by the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve forced you here, I’ve done it multiple times. It’s just after doing this long enough, I’ve figured out that whatever memories you have in here, I can tamper with however I feel like. Not just that, but it seems no matter how long we’re in here, or how many memories we watch however many times, not a single second passes out there. I can do whatever I want to you, however long I want, so, just remember that. Now, onto the show!”

There was a loud snapping sound, like somebody had snapped their fingers.

She hadn’t been paying that much attention to the room around her, having been in agonizing pain for the majority of the time she’s been here. But now that she had another look at it, she noticed how...still it all looked. It didn’t seem like it was really there, it was like she was in a picture of the place, rather than actually being there, nothing seemed real.

Then after that snap, it was like it had been on pause, and The Voice had just pressed play.

“Now, I started this memory about one minute before the main event, so you can more or less get a grasp. I’m showing you this memory because you are being so stubborn about denying the truth, so I’ll make it to where you can’t deny it. Well, that, and this is one of my favorites.”

As soon as she said that, the front door opened, her father walking in, along with her mother, and her three….why did she think three? Anyway, her two sisters walked in behind them, and all them had wide smiles on their faces, which was a strange sight in itself.

Then Pinkie walked in.

Behind all of them, literally bouncing into the room on all fours, was Pinkie.

She was so bright and colorful, almost to the point of painful to look at. Every bounce was with joy, wide, happy smile on her face, her mess of a hair bouncing along with her every time. Her bright baby blue eyes seemed to sparkle with innocence, innocence Pinkamena no longer had. If she could feel emotions right now, she’s not sure what she would feel.

As she watched them enter the house, she began to wonder why they were all smiling. When did this take place? Then, when it hit her, she felt stupid for not realizing it immediately. This was the day, the day of the sonic rainboom, the day she threw her first party, the day she left,

“The day everything changed, yeah I know, I know. You’re getting it. But, not quite. Think about it, why would I take you back to one of the happiest days of your life? Just doesn’t sound like me, right?”

Pinkamena didn’t need emotions to know she should be dreading what that meant, and all the possibilities.

Even as they got closer to the table, she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Either she didn’t even have a memory of what they said, or The Voice decided it didn’t interest her and just muted them. She watched as they got closer to the kitchen table, the smiles never left their faces, even as they continued to talk. She noticed that Pinkie was lacking behind, she seemed to be slowing down, almost just walking at this point. She seemed to be concentrating on something, as if she was trying to think of something.

She heard the soft humming of the voice to her left, it was a happy tune, one she felt she should know. But, she just….couldn’t quite place it.

Her eyes would have widened if they could, but she could only watch blankly when Pinkie suddenly dropped mid-bounce. All the color seemed to leave her, her curly hair suddenly deflated, going back to the flat mane she had before. When she hit the ground, her body started to spasm and convulse, it was like she was having a seizure! Her limbs frailed back and forth as she did, her eyes had been shut forcefully, as if she was trying her hardest not to open them. Pinkamena was almost worried she was going to bite off her tongue, but she realized that was likely something she would have remembered that.

For some reason, The Voice began humming slightly louder, her humming seemed to be happier and upbeat. She recognized that song now, maybe she would have been better off not realizing.

It was The Smile Song, the one she hadn’t heard or sang in so long.

“Pinkamena! Honey, get the first aid, hurry!”

Igneous said as the smile left his face, running to Pinkie and holding her, place a rock in her mouth so she wouldn’t bite off her own tongue. Her mother, Cloudy, ran towards one of the cabinets, pulling out a small red box with a sun on it, the first aid kit. She began hastily running towards Pinkamena, pulling out some kind of needle filled with something in her mouth, her tongue wrapped around the plunger as she placed the first aid kit on the kitchen table. Her sisters could only watch in fear, unable to do anything.

She remembered now.

When Pinkamena was younger, she used to have seizures a lot. They took her to the doctor for it, but there didn’t seem to be a problem with her, it was a mystery. Luckily, the seizures weren’t usually that bad or that long. But for moments when they did get bad, the doctor had provided some kind of medicine that was made to help with it whenever it got too bad. The medicine was kept in the first aid box meant for emergencies, though it was rarely used. After a bit, the seizures slowed down and seemed to stop completely. She had assumed the last one she had occurred a few weeks prior to the sonic rainboom, but apparently, she had one the day of it. Why didn’t she remember this? Any of this?

As Cloudy got on her knees, preparing to inject the medicine into her, Pinkamena suddenly stopped. Her frailing and thrashing had ceased, her body seemed to completely relax. Her eyes seemed to slowly begin to open, blinking rapidly as they did. Then her eyes suddenly opened, her eyes widened as she suddenly shot up, as if she were just in a dream and suddenly woke up.

She looked up at Igneous, who was looking down at her, confused and worried about his daughter. She pushed himself off of him, beginning to stand up on her hind legs and look down at her hooves. This made Igneous and cloudy glance confusedly at each other, Pinkie may have been weird, yes, but they’ve never seen a pony stand on their hind legs before.

“Pinkamena, dear, are you….okay?” Igneous asked hesitantly, slowly getting up off the ground. Cloudy put the syringe back in the first aid kit, setting it down on the kitchen table, though the first aid kit was still open.

Pinkamena just continued to stand there, staring down at her hooves. Her hooves seemed to be shaking a little, not out of fear or anything, but it was like she just enjoyed moving them. Her mouth also seemed to be moving, but it moved strangely, as if she weren’t used to the mouth she had. She seemed to be mumbling something to herself, though it didn’t seem like actual words, it was like she was first learning to talk. Then, she seemed to fully adjust. A smile suddenly stretched on her face, one she had become all too familiar with.

She could only watch in fear as she realized, that wasn’t Pinkamena in there, something else was controlling her.

“Yes daddy, I’m just,” The thing said controlling her body, sounding just as enthusiastic and happy as Pinkie usually did. But unlike Pinkie’s, it wasn’t faked. Not just that, but there was a tone of sadism and maliciousness was hidden in there, she had used the same tone enough times to be able to recognize it.

The thing walked up to Igneous, that wide smile still on its face. It was still standing on its hind legs, not even seeming to struggle at all with doing so. It then seemed to quickly reach towards one of the bowls still filled with rock stew with her two front hooves, having little trouble with holding it. She then slammed it over Igneous’ head, knocking him out on the ground and knocking his hat off, he barely had time to react.

“Fine! Perfect, actually! Now that I have a body!”

It was then that The Voice began to sing the lyrics to The Smile Song, seeming genuinely happy to be doing so. Her voice sounded so sing-songy and foal-like, similar to a filly singing a foal hood song.

“Come on everypony smile, smile, smile,”

Before Cloudy had a chance to even scream, It quickly grabbed a scalpel out of the first aid kit. It seemed whatever was controlling her was using the fact that is had a small body to its advantage, using its size and agility to move quicker than she could. She didn’t seem to have any issues grabbing the handle of the scalpel either, she held it quite steady actually. Either this thing was used to using its mouth to hold things, or it could adapt terrifying well and quickly.

It quickly jumped up and used the scalpel to slit Cloudy’s throat, cutting deep enough into her windpipe to prevent anything more than a wheezing gurgle to come out. Blood quickly started pouring out of the slice in her throat, her face began to pale out of shock, fear, and blood loss as she quickly put her hooves against her throat at an attempt to stop the bleeding. She quickly fell to her knees, the thing controlling Pinkamena’s body still standing on its hind legs as it watched her, the smile on its face only stretching as its eyes widened.

As blood spurted out of her throat, hitting the body of the thing in front of her, she could only look up in fear and shock, not understanding why she was now dying. Her body soon hit the floor as her desperate gurgling stopped, a pool of blood beneath her.

“Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine,”

Her sisters had backed themselves into a corner, holding on to each other as they shook in fear. Though the thing didn’t seem to have any interest in them, it barely gave them more than a glance. They watched in fear and horror, unable to move.

“Hmm, I wonder, does it taste as good as I remember.” She said to herself, almost like it was meant to be a thought, but she had said it instead.

She turned around, getting on top of Igneouss’ unconscious body. She sat on his chest, looking down at him almost eagerly. She slowly opened her mouth and brought both her hooves up to it, putting the scalpel in between her hooves so she could hold it properly. She then brought her hooves above her head, and then brought them down as she slammed the scalpel into his head, stabbing it in the spot she slammed with the bowl. There was a wet squelching sound as it entered his brain and stabbed into his skull, his body briefly convulsed, but otherwise stayed still.

Both the sisters screamed, but it only smiled wider.

“Bust it out from ear to ear, let it begin,”

She began to….cut Igneouss’ head, instead of pulling out the knife, she began to push it to the left, cutting through his skull and making a line in his forehead, more blood began to pour out of his head onto its hooves, but it didn’t seem to care. It seemed to be struggling a bit, having trouble getting the scalpel to cut through the bone, but the smile never left its face.

As Pinkamena was forced to listen to the sick sound of that thing controlling her body carve into her father’s head like a pumpkin, her sisters only able to watch in terror traumatized, she began to realize why her father was missing his entire upper head when she discovered his body. What she couldn’t understand, was why.

“Just give me a joyful grin, grin, grin,”

“Thick-headed bastard!” Pinkamena heard it mumble as it cut into him, at this point almost making it all the way around.

When she did, she gasped excitedly, like a foal who just unwrapped a present. She quickly pulled the scalpel out, placing it down on the floor carefully. She then put her hooves under the cuts, coating them in blood, and practically ripped off his upper head, a disgusting tearing sound could be heard through the room as she did. She tossed it to the side carelessly, it began to make a puddle of blood beneath it, it looked almost like a wig, if it wasn’t for the fact the skin and the hair were still attached to part of the skull.

“Wow! Pony brains are bigger than I expected! And pinker too! Weird, I thought with how stupid most ponies seem to be, they’d have relatively small brains.” It said playfully, holding said brain in her hooves after pulling it out of his head. Blood and some other kinds of liquids covered its hooves and began to drip onto the floor below, it didn’t seem to care.

For a few moments, she just seemed to stare at it. She poked it once or twice to watch it jiggle, seeming to almost giggle as she did.

“Now, for the taste test.” It whispered as she leaned forward, taking a bite out of the brain, the sick squishing sound as she bit in and the blood and juices covered her face almost seemed to echo throughout the room. So did her squeal of delight as she seemed to enjoy the taste of the brain, and the disgusting sounds of her greedi devouring the rest of it like she hadn’t ate in years.

If Pinkamena had a body, she was sure she would have thrown up. But it seems her sisters had already done that, one of them seemed to have even pissed herself, a puddle spreading from underneath them.

“I really am so happy”

It had consumed his brains in seconds, causing her face to be covered in blood, most of it dripping from her mouth. Pinkamena would have been disgusted at the fact that it was using her body to do so if she could, she was almost grateful The Voice had prevented her from feeling, if she didn’t hate it so much.

“Absolutely delicious! Even better than I remembered, I can’t wait for more! Though, there is one thing I’d like to try first.” It said as it got off of Igneouss’ body, what was left of his head dropped to the floor lifelessly. She picked up the bloody scalpel off the floor in her mouth, her back still facing the sisters. Then, her head quickly turned toward them, her pupils constricted and her smile still wide.

They visibly worsened when it did that, they tried to push themselves as far back in the corner as they could, clutching onto each other as tightly as possible.

“Your smile fills me with glee,”

It turned around and began walking towards them, the blood covered smile never even flinching.

“There’s this thing about brains, something I’ve learned from trial and error. Adult brains are generally better tasting, since they’re fully developed. But children and teenagers are a lot easier to scare usually, and when a body is filled with fear and adrenaline, the brain working at its best, it’s like cream filling! I can feel my stomach growling just thinking about it! So girls, do me a favor, for your little sister!”

It stood right in front of them, holding the scalpel right above its head.

“Be completely terrified of me, ok?”

“I give a smile, I get a smile, and that’s so special to me.”

She would remember their screams for the rest of her life.

She hadn’t realized how much of a mercy it had given her parents, considering what it did to her siblings. They tried to fight back, but were barely able to. They were filled with fear and were traumatized, having just watched the brutal deaths of their parents. This thing seemed to also have almost extraordinary strength, as if whatever it possessessomething, the host becomes more powerful. Or maybe that was just the so-called ‘strength of insanity’, who knows?

Unlike her parents, who it had just knocked out or killed with little to no pain, it didn’t give them that privilege. Blinkie hadn’t really fought back at all, it was Inkie who had even tried, though it was futile, Pinkamena knew that by the four graves behind her house. It had pinned her against the ground, sitting on her chest with it’s lower legs laid on top of her upper arms, preventing her from doing anything but squirming.

Pinkamena and Blinkie could only watch as it did the same thing it did to Igneous, but this time the victim was awake to experience it, and her screams would be burned into Pinkamena’s memory.

It had cut open Inkie’s head, tossed the upper part to the side, and eagerly ate her brain, right in front of Blinkie.

Then it slowly walked over to Blinkie, and did the same, though it didn’t even need to pin her down. Though her screams were louder and higher pitched, Pinkamena was sure if she had ears, they would be bleeding. Maybe the ears of that thing were bleeding, though its blood covered face made it hard to tell.

“There’s one thing that makes me happy,”

After consuming every last bit of brain from Pinkamena’s siblings, its entire front body was now soaked in blood, it went back to Cloudy’s body, not wanting to leave any scraps left. It seemed to rush this time, almost like it was short on time. Though it ate her mothers’ brain just as eagerly, and enjoyed it just as much.

When she was done, she stood straight up and stretched satisfyingly, rubbing her stomach as if she had just enjoyed a big meal.

“It feels so good to eat again! That was the best! But I don’t really like eating with these teeth, they make it kind of hard to chew meat and stuff. Though, I am still a little peckish.”

It sniffed the air a few times, reminding Pinkamena of a dog trying to get the scent of something. It suddenly turned towards the book cabinet walking up to it and pushing it to the side. It then grabbed a nearby lamp, using it to bash a hole in the wall. When it peeked in, it noticed a rats nest in the walls. There were about a doze baby mice in the nest that looked just a few hours old, the mother and father were hovering over them and hissing up at it.

But it only smiled.

It didn’t bother carving the heads of the rats, instead, it just bit the heads off at the neck, tossing the bodies to the side having no interest in them. But about halfway through, it stopped eating them, seems to have satisfied its hunger. But it wasn’t finished with the rats,

It liked to play with its food.

“And makes my whole life worthwhile,”

It brought the rest of them in a pile in front of the fridge, and the scalpel along with it. It began to cut and disembowel the rats, and began to squeeze the guts and blood out of them until they didn’t move or squeak anymore. Then it placed them in the freezer, as if saving it as a snack for later. And all the while, it was humming something to itself, a tone and rhythm Pinkamena had never heard before.

“And that’s when I talk to my friends and get them to smile.”

“Ugh! Only fifteen minutes left? Man, time flies when you're enjoying a meal. Hmmm, what to do? I feel like…..I’m forgetting a family member. Pinkie’s mom has a family picture in her room, might as well double check, just to be sure.”

It suddenly said, slowly standing up. Though it stopped for a moment, looking down at its own hooves. Instead of standing on its hind legs like it had been, it got down on all fours, as if curious what it was like. It then began to walk forward and backward a little bit, and then started jumping up and down. It quickly adjusted to being on all fours, seemed to enjoy it even, judging from the way it smiled.

“Oh yeah! Just like riding a horse! It’s good to have four legs again, though I know it is only temporary.”

It began walking towards the stairs, but seemed to suddenly stop and scowl, as if hearing something it found gross.

“Oh, buck you! That was funny! Your just mad because it’s not your turn yet!” It said aggressively, as if talking to someone else that was in the room, but there was no one. It started walking upstairs, seeming to mumble something else.

“Well, wasn’t that interesting? Come now, the fun parts over, but there’s still more to see.”

The Voice suddenly said, Pinkamena noticed how happy it seemed to be. It walked past her eyes, seems to be following it up the stairs. As it did, Pinkamena seemed to hover behind her, as if The Voice made it to where Pinkamena would always stay where she was, and she could only move when The Voice did.

And though she had stopped singing, The Voice was still humming The Smile Song. Pinkamena still didn’t understand why, or why The Voice had an interest in the song.

When they got upstairs, the door to her parent's room was wide open. They walked into the room, seeing that the thing possessing Pinkamena’s body was sitting in there bed, looking down at a picture frame in their hooves. Pinkamena glanced at the window, noticing how it was still day time. Though the sun seemed to be slowly setting, it was still bright enough to see into the room.

“Let’s see, control freak father, check.”

It was now holding the blood covered scalpel in its mouth, its speak somehow not affected at all by it. She leaned down and drew x’s over Igneouss’ eyes, the blood on the scalpel making the x’s red. Her face already had the red smile on it and the eyes blackened out, though she wasn’t sure how it did that.

“Bitch mother, check.” She drew x’s over Cloudy’s eyes, resulting in the same red x’s as Igneous.

It seemed to be making a checklist of sorts, though instead of tasks it had done or yet to do, it was members of Pinkamena’s family it had killed.

“Shy and tomboy sister, check.”

As it drew red x’s on her sisters, it looked at a spot on the picture curiously. It was the spot that when Pinkamena looked at it, it was empty. But now there was a pony there, though the face seemed to be completely blurred out.

It looked at this pony with a scowl, seeming to be annoyed at her.

“I always forget her name, not sure why. Where was she, anyway? I could’ve sworn she was here earlier, hmmm. Then again, this one was always too smart for her own good. It’s possible she could’ve had some sort of idea of what was going to happen, and left. I wonder, what kind of taste does a brain that smart have? She’s going on my to kill list, no question.” It mumbled to itself as it drew a circle around her head, then writing the words ‘Get Later’ above her.

It then sat the picture frame on the nightstand, putting the scalpel down on the bed and giving a satisfied sigh as it did.

“Alright, I’m done. I know I still got, like, seven minutes left or something. But there’s not too much I could do in that time, and you know how much I hate being bored. So go ahead and take over, do your thing. I’ve enjoyed my freedom.”

It just sat there for a moment with a smile on its face, its eyes slowly closing as if it were falling asleep. Then its body completely relaxed for a moment, like when it possessed Pinkamena’s body the first time, but without the frailing and convulsing. Then, its head slowly began to rise up as its whole body tensed. Its eyes opened slowly, and Pinkamena noticed immediately something was different. There was a different light in their eyes, and it seemed...more relaxed, less sadistic than before. She couldn’t place it, but it seemed too familiar.

“Oh Pinkie, I’m so sorry.” It said sadly, looking down at its blood covered hooves as it did.

It didn’t say anything else, almost like it didn’t think it deserved to speak, or that there just wasn’t anything to say.

It tried to jump off the bed, attempting to land on all fours. But it lost its balance as it landed, causing it to fall on the floor with a grunt almost comically, its four legs spread out. It slowly began to stand itself up, legs shaking like newborn first learning how to walk. It collapsed a few times before it was finally able to stand, it seems whoever was possessing her body wasn’t as adaptable as she was.

After learning how to stand, it walked back and forth for a few minutes, then jumped up and down until it felt comfortable with walking. It took longer than the one previous, but it also stayed completely quiet. It didn’t say a word, not even as it walked through the doorway, right through her and The Voice, and began to walk down the stairs, taking its time as it didn’t want to fall.

Like before, The Voice began to follow, with Pinkamena in tow. At some point without her noticing, The Voice had stopped humming. Now, she was being silent, though Pinkamena still had the feeling it was smiling.

“This isn’t some huge mystery to figure out, I’m sure you’ve already got an idea of what’s happening here. The only things you weren’t given a clue about, is why it happened. Let me give you a hint, the person who’s possessing you now, is Sylia. Though I’m sure you might have figured that out already, and that the one possessing you previously and killed your family, was me. Now what you need to work on figuring out, is why would she cooperate with me so easily?”

The Voice didn’t say anything else, leaving Pinkamena to only think. When they got down the stairs, Sylia had been just standing there, staring at the bodies. She gave out a loud sigh as she looked at them, remaining silent otherwise. She turned around, walking towards and opening the back door and walking outside. She came back a few moments later, a shovel balanced on her back.

She grabbed Igneous by his leg, biting into it and beginning to pull him out the back door, a trail of blood behind him.

“Well, now you know who buried your family for you, huh?”

Pinkamena didn’t respond, she wouldn’t even if she had the ability to.

“This was a fun trip down memory lane, huh? You were having the happiest day of your life with your family, I killed your family, great times! I hope you were paying close attention, because you’ve seen more than enough to answer any burning questions you may have. But, sadly, all the interesting stuff ends here. After burying your family in the backyard, Sylia used the family’s money to get a ticket to Ponyville, and I fabricated the memory of you saying goodbye to them. And after that? Well, you know the rest. So, let’s go ahead and go back to reality. You’ve got a surprise waiting for you!”

And just like last time, reality began to fade away, a bright light consuming everything she could see. Though this time, it seemed The Voice was feeling generous, as it didn’t come with the same searing pain.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The world slowly began to come back, Pinkamena slowly beginning to regain her senses. She blinked her eyes rapidly, both because she wasn’t able to blink before, and there were still tears running down her eyes. She slowly got back the feeling in her hooves, and the mud that was on them. She also got the feeling of pain on her knees from sitting on the hard ground the way she was, and the terrible smell of death in the house. She could tell the storm was still going, she could still hear the pitter patter of rain outside. The Voice was right, no time had passed at all.

At first, Pinkamena didn’t feel anything. She simply just sat on the floor, tears running down her face and hitting her grime-covered hooves. Then, it all hit her at once. Pain, regret, sadness, fear, and every other emotion she should have felt during that memory.

This was the price for not feeling anything in there, when you come back, it all hits you at once.

But Pinkamena didn’t cry, she didn’t scream, sob, she didn’t do anything. No amount of crying or screaming would, these emotions were….overwhelming. It did more than just traumatize her,

It broke her.

It was almost funny, it felt….almost familiar. She felt similar to when Spike told her her friends didn’t want to be her friends anymore, it was that moment where her worst fears had been realized where every negative emotion she had ever repressed so she could be the happy pony they wanted her to be, all overcame her at once. Her friends had been her one pillar of strength in her life, her only thing that gave her a reason to live. And when she realized that they didn’t care about her, that hurt her badly, it left an emotional scar on her, one that had only scabbed over. But this?

This broke her.

Like with her friends, there was almost an audible sound of glass breaking, like her mental state had been crushed. She didn’t have the energy or desire to move even an inch, and she couldn’t bring herself to cry or scream anymore. She only sat on the ground in a catatonic state, the tiny amount of life that had been in her eyes was now gone, they looked almost as dead as her fathers.

She kept staring at her hooves in front of her, some of her tears from earlier dripping down and hitting them, even though she was no longer crying.

She didn’t even flinch when a changeling walked in, she didn’t respond at all, as if not even noticing it was there.

This changeling was alone, though there was almost no doubt there were others outside, or maybe some who had snuck in the house and were waiting for some kind of signal, there was never just one changeling.

Though this one was different, it wasn’t like the drones before, despite it being hard to tell due to the lack of light and the changelings natural dark black carapace. This seemed to be a bit taller, though that could be because it was trying to look intimidating by standing as tall as it can and protruding its chest. It had all the features of a changeling, black carapace with extendable wings, long, fang-like teeth, hooves have large holes in it like swiss cheese, and large light blue eyes with no pupils, that seemed to be looking down at Pinkamena in anger, an evident scowl on its face. What made it look different than the changeling, wasn’t anything about the changeling itself, exactly, but what it was wearing. It was wearing some kind of dark blue armor on the top part of its body, with holes for the wings, and it seemed to extend down to the chest. This armor also had three white ovals on it, one on both sides of the neck, and the last one the back. He also had a helmet made out of the same dark blue material, a hole for his sharp horn was on there, along with another oval and one on the back.

He walked closer to Pinkamena, until he was standing a foot or two in front of her. He looked down at her with an almost disgusted look, that look of pure hatred didn’t leave either.

“Hello, monster.”

He spoke those words with nothing but anger as he looked at her, it was the same look of hatred Celestia gave her when she walked into the throne room. That look of hatred, disgust, and fear, it was almost not noticeable, but it was there.

Though he clearly hated her, he made no physical movement, he seemed to be waiting for a response. But he didn’t get one, Pinkamena still sat there in her catatonic state, not even flinching. He seemed annoyed at this, but wasn’t going to do anything, not yet. He couldn’t see her face, but he could see the dirt on her hooves, though he didn’t really care why.

“I doubt you remember me, you ponies think we changelings all look the same. But I was there, I was at Canterlot. I was just another drone then, we had specific orders not to kill any ponies. While reluctant, we agreed, disobeying our queen isn’t something a changeling would even consider. So, throughout that entire invasion, not a single pony was killed, no matter how hungry we were or how much we wanted to. And yet…..”

He visibly shivered as he slammed his hoof onto the ground, his teeth grounding as he growled at her.

“And yet you slaughtered them! We were just trying to capture you, and yet you brutally murdered dozens of us! You beat us down, broke us, mutilated and killed us, and I could only watch as you did! What you did to them was more ruthless and bloodthirsty than anything we have ever one to a pony, and you did it all with a smile! And yet you have the audacity to call us the monsters!” He screamed at her, spit flying out and landing on the back of her head. He was now visibly shaking, whether that was from rage, or because he was traumatized by the memory of what he witnessed at Canterlot, was unclear.

Even so, no matter how much he screamed or did, Pinkamena did not move. She did not move an inch, didn’t say anything, it was if he wasn’t even there.

“And now….” His anger only seemed to get worse at that, he was grinding his teeth together so hard she could hear it.

“You won’t even look at me. Are you so ashamed of what you did, to the point of being unable to? No, ponies don’t feel guilt for what they do to us, since we’re so inferior! Then is it because I’m such a bug to you that I’m not even worth your attention? Do you even think about the lives you took? Or were they just more bodies to the pile? How many other lives have you taken? How many times have you gone on a rampage, creating orphans, parents losing their children, widows? No more, I will not allow you to kill another. On my honor as a changeling from Chrysalis’ hive, you’re not leaving this place alive!”

At that moment he seemed to lose all sense of self-control, giving in to his rage. He jumped forward, pouncing on her as he pinned her to the ground by her shoulders, sitting on top of her exactly like how The Voice had been when she killed Inkie.

“Nothing I could do to you can amount to the pain and suffering you’ve caused to my hive, but I can try.” There wasn’t a single ounce of sadism or joy in what he said or on his face, just a burning hatred and desire for revenge.

That was when he started beating her.

Changelings weren’t any stronger than the average pony, and she was an earth pony, so she had higher durability than the typical pony. But he was hitting her with every ounce of rage he had been holding in, using her to channel his emotions with every punch. Though she wasn’t resisting in the slightest, it was doubtful she could even if she tried. She remained in her catatonic static, even as she felt her teeth rattle and come loose with each punch, sure her jawbone would break soon if this kept on.

She felt the pain, and yet, it didn't hurt. It was like her entire body was numb, she could feel his hooves pounding against her body, but it was like her brain just couldn’t register the pain.

Besides, even if she could feel it, it was doubtful any amount of physical pain could match the emotional she was already feeling.

Strangely enough, being beat like this felt....almost familiar. Though she knew her father was strict, he had never hurt them. And there hasn’t been a single point in her life where she had gotten beat, well, besides the clone. But the clones never beat her like this, if at all. It was like she had a memory that didn’t belong to her, but yet it was still hers.

*Sylia chose a good time a good time to start the process, though letting you experience the pain of being beat would have been more...interesting.*

The sound of The Voice in her head didn’t bring her distress or fear, not even anger. Whether she wasn’t able to feel those emotions right now, or just didn’t want to, she wasn’t sure. Though she did feel confused, she didn’t quite understand what it was saying.

*Hmmm, since you’re about to, for lack of abetter way of saying it, stop existing, I might as well tell you. You see, Sylia is dying, in a sense. Without a body, she will eventually just fade away, and take her with me. She seemed more or less content with that, but I wasn’t. The thing is, in order for her to permanently take over your body, since I’m sure you’d never let her, you needed to be at your most weak, emotionally, mentally, and physically isn’t necessary, but it helps.*

As The Voice continued to talk, the world around her seemed to almost fade away. It wasn’t like when she was forced to inside her mind, she was still very conscious and aware. It was more like her senses were starting to dull, the sound of the rain seemed to get more and more distant despite her not moving at all. Even the grunts as the changeling hit her sounded like just an echo, the hits taking longer to register, if at all. Something else she noticed was the feeling in her legs, or the lack of it. She couldn’t feel her legs at all, nor could she move them at all, they might as well have been amputated. Not just that, but the feeling seemed to be spreading further up her body, as she slowly began to lose feeling in it. She could barely even hear the words the changeling was saying, it sounded like he was talking to her from miles away in a field.

“I’ll send you straight to Tartarus!”

*And what better way to put you in emotional turmoil than finding out you were forced to murder your own family? This revenge-bent changeling thing was just a lucky coincidence. Now, as you can probably feel, Sylia is slowly taking over your body. Once she’s taken over, you’ll just fade away, the only thing left will be your memories. Then, after Sylia has taken control, we’ll handle these changelings, kind of like a test drive. Then your friends, Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis and the rest of the changelings, Sombra, and the rest? We’ll get to that when we get there, I’m quivering with excitement!*

Her friends.

It had been a long time since she had called them that, were they even that to her anymore?

No, after everything, they deserved better than her. That is one good thing that will come from her death, the people she had treated terribly out of an irrational fear won’t have to deal with her anymore.

“The only regret I have about killing you right here and now, is that you won’t get to see what we’ll do to the rest of the ponies when we win, especially the ones who were with you!”

*Hmmm, or maybe after killing these changelings, just sit on the sidelines for a bit? I’m curious how this war between Equestria and the changelings is going to go, and whoever wins we can just destroy, though my money’s on the changelings, ponies are kind of spineless now, even more so than during the whole Meotrize war thing.*

No.

She couldn't die, not here, not now. The Voice was right, most ponies, including her friends, didn’t have what it took to fight a war, they didn’t have it in them to take a life, and she didn’t want them too. They would try everything they could to resolve it peacefully, even if a changeling was beating them to death. And under the rule of two tyrants seeking revenge, these changelings would stop at nothing to win, no matter the method. They needed someone like her, who wasn’t afraid to kill, someone the changelings were afraid of. Without her, ponies would undeniably lose, and everyone, including her friends, would die.

“I can’t….I’m not…” Pinkamena felt a burning desire inside her, a burning desire to live. She had lost control of her entire body, the only part she could move was her head, but that was all she needed. She began to move her tongue around in her mouth, as if looking for something.

The changeling beating her didn’t seem to even notice she said anything or her movements, as if he had completely lost himself in his rage.

Pinkamena used her tongue to pull the pill out, placing it in between her teeth.

“I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!” She screamed as she bit down on the pill, her voice hoarse and muffled from how damaged her mouth was.

*NO!* The Voice yelled panickedly, somehow having forgotten about the pill.

As she bit down onto the pill, releasing the dark blue liquid inside, there was an explosion of magic from her body as the pills stopped the possession process where it was. The explosion knocked the changeling off of her, he only stopped when his back hit a wall, causing him to roughly hit the ground.

“What in Tartarus! You can’t use magic, you’re an earth pony!” He screamed in anger and disbelief, as the room lit up from the strong amounts of magic pulsating from her body.

Pinkamena’s body began to rise off the ground, hovering above it because of the magic. There was another explosion of magic as a field came from her, working almost like a shield as it entrapped the surrounding area. The magic was an electric blue, and light lighting, it seemed to pulsate and spark, as if the magic could barely contain itself.

Her eyes had been forced closed, though from the look of it she seemed calm, almost like she was asleep. The magic surged throughout her body, some of it even zapping areas inside of the fields, leaving deep burn marks. The magic seemed to be healing her, the bruises and injuries on her body slowly mending themselves, she soon looked like nothing had even happened to her.

The changeling could only watch in confusion and fear, not understanding what was happening.

Something else was happening to her, particularly her coat and moan. The magic seemed to be trying to find something to contain itself, her body being the closest vessel. It began to enter her body, changing it in some ways. As it entered her body, parts of her coat and mane began to change color, going from pink to an azure blue. But it only seemed to do so in lines, almost like streaks or highlights, though they only appeared in threes. It started at her hooves, three three inch wide lines begin to quickly move up her body from the bottom, one on the front, one on the sides, and one on the back. The lines didn’t seem to have any limit, and as they got higher up her body, they left a trail behind them, seeming to permanently change the parts of her coat they touched to that same shade of blue.

The lines soon got up to her face, but strangely, starting at her chin, it stopped changing the color of her coat. Two of the three lines, the one in the middle and the one on the left, went up past her face and to her mane. The one on the right stopped at her left eye, seeming to curve right, go above it, and then go down into it, seeming to enter her eye through the eyelid. As it did, her eye seemed to flash emerald green, changing from the azure blue as it entered. The veins around her eye began to become visible and pulsate the same shade of emerald green, they seemed to almost bulge out of her skin, the magic pulsating through her veins like blood, each pulse seemed to be in sync with her heartbeat, and was visible to anyone who was looking.

Her mane seemed to be changing the same way her tail was, the middle, left, and right part of it was changing color, from pink to the azure blue. Though unlike with her tail, it seems bigger parts of her mane were affected, just as much of it changing to the color blue as is staying pink. Though the magic was changing the color, the shape seemed to remain the same. Her mane was still long and straight, though it seemed to be flowing as she floated above the ground in the magic.

When the tips of her hair had been changed, the field of magic around her began to shrink, almost like it was collapsing in on itself. As it did, streams of it coming from the inside of the field began to stream towards Pinkamena, specifically her chest. The streams of magic seemed to enter her body, as if she were absorbing it. As the field shrank, more and more of the magic entered her body, the magic in the veins beside her left eye seemed to be pulsating even more vibrantly.

When the last bits of the field was gone, her body fell to the floor, collapsing as if she had completely passed out. She lay there for several seconds, unmoving, it was hard to tell whether she was even breathing. The changeling didn’t dare move, he was too shocked and confused, he didn’t understand what was happening.

Then she twitched, just slightly, barely noticeable. Her front hooves then moved, being placed flat against the ground as she pushed herself up. Her hooves didn’t shake at all she seemed completely balanced. She slowly stood up, but not on all fours. She stood on her back hooves, which looked rather strange to the changeling, he could only think of a few animals that stood like that, and ponies were not one of them.

She stood on her back legs, turning to her left as only her right side could be seen by the changeling. She didn’t even look like the same pony as a few minutes ago, her coat and mane striped blue, the rest staying pink. And the calm look on her face, which had been completely unscathed, was a cold calculating look, one he thought he’d never see from a pony.

He hadn’t been able to see it earlier, but her cutie mark seemed to be changed also. It was still the three party balloons like previously, but the colors of one of them had changed. There was still the yellow one in the middle, and the one on the right was still bright blue, but the one on the left was different. The color had seemed to fade, the light blue had changed to the same shade of emerald green that the veins beside her eye had been. Did that happen when the magic reached her cutie mark and he missed it? Or was that a sudden change? He was unable to tell, he did know, however, that it took powerful magic to change a cutie mark. Changelings could imitate the cutie marks of existing ponies, but they could never alter them.

She then opened up her eyes, but he could only see her right one, which seemed to be the same color of blue as before. She slowly brought her left hoof up, holding it just in front of her hoof as she looked down at it. She didn’t express any sort of emotion, her face seeming completely blank, no curiosity or surprise, nothing. Her eyelids were half closed, as if she were about to fall asleep. But it was more like she was bored, her eyes seeming focused on her hooves, but she wasn’t really looking at them.

“Interesting, stopping the possession process when it was almost done seems to have merged Sylia and Pinkamena, making me some kind of hybrid of the two. But am I a new being? Or should I align myself as one of the two? Strange, I have both of their memories, both of their personalities, all in this amalgamation of a body, I could be whichever one I choose to be, and yet I don’t want to be either. And yet, at the same time, what emotions should I be feeling right now? Anger from Sylia for the process failing? Happiness from Pinkamena that I still exist? Right now, I feel absolutely nothing, as I have nothing to feel for. Though I’m sure I still have my own emotions, I’m sure I still have some of their habits. Talking to myself out loud like this is obviously a habit from Pinkamena.”

She spoke in a clear, calm voice, seeming to be talking to no one but herself. This was extremely strange behavior for the changeling to witness, though not one he hadn’t heard of. He had overheard Chrysalis talking to herself on occasion, though she is very stressed and there aren’t a lot of people who she could talk to, at least none she could have a meaningful conversation with. But this? This seemed...different, more like she was the only one she could talk to. What in Tartarus was this pony?

*DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE! YOU FOO-*

“Shut up.” She said in an irritated voice, her eyebrows furrowed as her face formed into a scowl.

The Voice tried to speak again, but it couldn’t. It felt like some kind of force had taken away its ability to speak, no matter how much she tried, nothing came out.

“I have Sylia’s memories, all of them, including the time she spent inside of Pinkamena’s mind, and how she had spent her entire life, when she was alive, dealing with you. Which means I know how to deal with you, and I will. Though I am neither Sylia nor Pinkamena, so I hold no emotions towards you, positive or negative. But that doesn’t mean I’m not aware of the kind of being you are, so, for now, I’m taking away your ability to speak, and I’ll give it back when I feel like it. And by the way, Sylia had figured out how to put up a mental barrier to prevent you from hearing her thoughts, she was going to do so after gaining control of Pinkamena’s body. But since she can’t, I will, starting now.”

She was right, The Voice could no longer hear her thoughts, she could only watch the world through her eyes. Though she was burning with anger and frustration at the failure of her plan, and for the way this new being was talking to her. But she couldn’t do anything, at least, not yet.

The changeling was now completely confused. Not only did this pony seem to be changed, but she was saying the names of others he did not know, and seemed to be speaking to someone else, someone else that wasn’t here or in her head.

“I knew you were a monster, but I didn’t think you were crazy!” The changeling said as he slowly got up, as if trying to insult her. He quickly stood up, though being thrown back by that magic caught him off guard, he was otherwise uninjured.

Her right eye looked up from her hoof, looking straight ahead of her. Then it slowly moved to look at him, that same scowl coming on her face as she did.

“Oh….you, I forgot you were here.” She said with a contempt tone, like he wasn’t even worth the effort of talking to.

“What to do with you, I wonder?” She seemed to ask herself, turning away from him. Her back now faced him as she still stood on her hind legs, she tilted her head upwards and began to look around, as if examining the house. “Let’s take this outside, I…..don’t want to destroy this place.” There was almost guilt in her voice as she spoke, though there was also a sense of disregard, but it was hard to tell what for.

For a moment, the changeling felt nothing. Then there was a sudden burning in his chest, a burning feeling of rage. This was the pony who had destroyed countless changelings’ lives without a care, one who had seen them as nothing more than bugs that she squashed. Now she’s doesn’t want to destroy a building? And she doesn’t even think that he was worth looking at?

No more.

“I’ll kill you right here and now!” He said as his wings sprang out, pushing himself off the ground towards her, his wings rapidly fluttering.

Her left ear twitched slightly, indicating she had heard his movement, though she didn’t seem to move an inch.

“Oh no, you seem to misunderstand. That wasn’t a request,” She said nonchalantly, not even turning her head towards him as she did.

The second he got right behind her, his hooves inches away from touching her, she vanished. It wasn’t quite teleportation, it couldn’t even have been, she had no magic. But there still seemed to be traces of magic where she was standing, the magic being the same color as the field of magic before. There were little vapors of magic, almost like smoke. They seemed to get bigger and thicker the farther right they went, so he tried moving his head right to follow them. As he did, his eyes could only widen in surprise when he saw she was there, the vapers of magic seeming to be coming from her. He didn’t have time to look up at her face, he could only see her stomach as her left hoof was pulled back, as if she were about to kick a ball.

“That was a demand.”

He suddenly felt like an Ursa Major had headbutted his stomach as hard as it could with all its body weight as she kicked him, he could practically hear the sound of his armor, exoskeleton, and ribs being shattered by the sheer force of the kick. He was quickly thrown back, the kick tossing his body like a ragdoll. His back hit the window beside the door and easily broke the glass, the sound of it being broken could be heard by the changelings waiting outside. But the window barely slowed him down, he went soaring across the farm, the only thing stopping him was a large boulder a few dozen feet from the house. And from the way he hit that rock, he was sure his spine had also been destroyed, and the boulder likely had cracks in it. The changelings waiting outside were startled, one of them going to the captain to check on him, the others lowering their heads and hissing as they turned towards the broken window, their night vision allowing them to see clearly in the night time as if it were day. And since the storm had suddenly stopped, they weren’t distracted by the feeling of rain or the sound of thunder.

“That’s what I thought. Since I’m not a unicorn, I can’t use spells or the such. But I am an earth pony, so my body can be used as a conduit. I can use this overwhelming amount of magic and channel it into my body at will, increasing my strength, speed, and durability as I desire. The question is, to what extent? Well, I’ve got about five more changelings out there to help me test this body out. Need to use less magic though, I don’t want to break them too fast.” She said with a chuckle, putting her leg down and walking through the window.

She places her left leg through it, having to duck under the glass above that wasn’t broken, causing her long mane to cover her face. When she stepped through, she pushed it back with her mane, debating whether she should cut it or not later. As she pushed her mane back, both of her eyes were revealed to the changelings, but they seemed to be surprised by her left eye. It was an emerald green, a different color than her right one. While ponies having two different eye colors wasn’t unheard of, it was the way it looked that had them surprised. The veins to the left, above, and under the eyes were entirely visible. Though instead of blood, the veins seemed to visibly pulsate with green magic. She looked at each changeling easily, her eyes not straining at all despite it being very dark out. Somehow, she was able to see in the dark just as well as them. Not only that but the hair was different, a ponies hair being two different colors was also not unheard of, though pink and blue were a strange combination.

It was the cutie mark that confused them the most.

They had come here under the orders of their queen to kill The Element of Laughter, and since all of them remembered what happened at Canterlot, they happily volunteered. Since ponies could be varying colors, they identified ponies by their cutie marks, it was their most defining feature. And while this pony looked very similar to the monster that killed so many of them, her cutie mark was different, even if only slightly. She was supposed to have three balloons, two blue, and one yellow. But she had one yellow, one blue, and one green. And if they end up killing the wrong pony, it would be bad.

The changelings stood where they were, still on guard, but hesitant to attack, they weren’t sure this was the pony they were looking for. Four of the changelings stood in a formation in front of her, preparing for anything that may occur, this was still the only candidate for who hurt their captain.

The fifth changeling was slumped down beside their captain, trying his best to mend his wounds. The captain sat with his back against the rock, his breathing was ragged, sounding more like wheezing than breathing. He was also coughing up green blood, some of it splattering onto the floor in front of him.

“Don’t….fight…” He tried to whisper, but he was sure one of the broken ribs had punctured his lungs, making it hard for him to even breath.

“What?” The changeling near him said, leaning closer to try to hear what he said.

“Don't...fight….her...you’ll...lose.”He said as he coughed up more blood, even just the effort of trying to talk was putting a huge strain on his body. But they needed to hear him, if they fought her….

She’d demolish them.

Pinkamena looked at the changelings curiously, she had been expecting them to attack her the second she walked out. Then her eyes widened for a second, as if realizing something.
Then her eyes closed again, her mouth curving into a smirk.

“I get it, you guys don’t recognize me. That’s understandable, I changed my...well, everything. But, there’s one thing that I’m sure would take away your doubts.” She said almost sadistically, her eyes slowly opening as they do.

Then she smiled. The ends of her lip curved upwards, her teeth showed as she eagerly beamed at them. The pupils of her eyes constricted as she did, her eyes widening as wide as they could. That was the same smile, the same smile Pinkamena wore when she slaughtered those changelings, and unknown to them, the same smile she wore when The Voice murdered her family.

She stood as straight as she could, her arms outstretched to her sides in an almost welcoming way. She also tilted her head back, raising her chin as she kept eye contact with the changelings, as if she were looking down on them.

“Come on! Let me shed some more of that delicious green blood! I couldn’t get enough of it last time, now I’m going to savor every moment!” She screamed with her tongue sticking out of her mouth, in a very similar way to when she first fought the changelings.

And it worked.

The changelings were overcome by rage, all of them may have been siblings, but some of them lost close friends, and all of them were there at Canterlot. All four of them began to fly toward her, shouting as their wings sprouted and began to quickly lift them off the ground and toward her.

“No-” The captain tried to stop them, jumping forward to warn them, but he was unable to.

“First, let’s see what I can do without any magic.” She said as she leaned down, lifting one hoof the ground, not even losing her balance.

It all happened in an instant.

It was obvious she wasn’t as fast as before, her moves were very fast, but still fairly visible. But even so, that level of balance and agility, it wasn’t like anything he had seen before. Not even the best warriors they had, bred and trained from the day they were born to fight, could match her in a fight.

And she was doing this without even using her magic.

First, she turned her body clockwise, dodging the attack of the first changeling, while grabbing his right wing in her mouth. She bit down tight and swung him around, throwing him into another changeling, causing them both to collapse onto the ground in front of her.

The other two changelings reacted quickly, seeing this as an opportunity. One changeling changed his direction downward, wrapping his limbs around her one leg that was still on the ground, and then proceeding to sink his fangs into it. Though this locked her in place, she didn’t even flinch in pain. The other changeling jumped for her head, opening his mouth as his fangs showed, he was going to bite her throat and kill her quickly!

But instead of desperately trying to escape, she pulled her head back and quickly launched it forward, headbutting the changeling between the eyes. The changeling was knocked back, landing on one of their wings and crippling it as they screamed in pain. She then looked down at the changeling attached to her leg. She reached down and wrapped her hooves around the base of his neck, instead of trying to pull him off her leg, she slammed his head against the ground, hard enough to cause his fangs to snap and his nose to break as he was slammed against the ground. She put her other leg on the ground after this, she didn’t need to just stand on one now. The immense amount of pain causes the changeling to briefly lose his grip on her legs, allowing her to pull her leg back and kick him as hard as she could, snapping his neck and killing him instantly. His body was thrown back, falling to the ground lifelessly.

She looked at the changelings before her briefly, before slowly raising her left hoof up to her face. She brushed a strain of her hair behind her ear, then placing that same hoof on the side of her neck, applying a bit of pressure as an audible cracking sound could be heard as she cracked her neck. She closed her eyes and sighed, opening them again and looking at the changelings before her disappointedly.

“I get the feeling that this body is faster and stronger than it should be, I didn’t even use any magic and I’ve already killed one of you! Is this the result of a pony and a meotrizen fusing? Or is it just because I don’t know the first thing about holding back? Hmm, well, I might as well move on, don’t want to break them too fast.”

She lay her arms to the sides of her body, letting out a long breath as her body becomes completely relaxed, her eyes closing again as she did.

“Second, I want to see how durable I can make my body with magic. So I’ll put the magic in my skin and bones, instead of my muscles and tendons.” She seemed to whisper, the changelings unable to hear her.

Suddenly, the pulsating magic in her eye began to spread to the rest of her body. It began to spread and go through all the veins of her body, becoming visible and seeming to almost wiggle like worms as the magic moved through her. Then both her eyes opened, though her left one seemed to be brighter than before, the magic seemed to be almost stronger. The veins in her body were no longer visible, though the veins beside her eye still were, and seemed to still pulsate rhythmically with bright green magic.

“Well, come on now, hit me with all you got. You’re not discouraged just because I killed one of your friends, are you?” She asked with a grin, she knew one of them would take the bait.

One of the changelings, the one she had thrown at the other, slowly got up on his legs. He couldn’t fly, but he could walk just fine. He jumped forward, pulling his hoof back and slamming it into her chest.

But she didn’t move an inch, she only smiled as he screamed in pain, his hoof felt like it had hit a metal wall!

“That tickled.” She chuckled, making sure it was loud enough for him to hear.

He ignored the pain, and began to assault her body, giving everything he had into each punch. But Pinkamena did not flinch, there weren’t any marks or anything on the parts of the body he was hitting. Only small bits of green blood as the parts of the carapace on his hooves began to chip off, though he kept pushing through the pain. Though the only thing she did was grin down at him, which only further pissed him off.

“Come on, what are those, love taps? Surely you can do better than that, I’m giving you the chance to kill me, or were the deaths of all those bugs I squashed not enough to-”

She was interrupted when he decided to stop attacking her body, and aimed for her face directly. He pulled his right hoof back and hit her with everything he had, a sharp cracking noise and a scream of pain as he fractured his hoof in the process. The punch had suddenly turned her head to the left, looking away from him with a splotch of green blood on her cheek, but still no injury.

“Heh, cute. Now,” She slowly turned her head forward to look down at him, that same smile on her face as she seemed unfazed by his attack. “My turn.”

The changeling looked up at her in fear, beginning to pull his hoof back as he tried to jump away from her. But he wasn’t fast enough, she was faster than him. He was soon stopped when he felt something in his chest, a loud squishing sound as he did. He slowly looked down, curious why he couldn’t move or feel his chest. Her hoof had punched straight through his carapace like it was nothing, though it was right below his heart by a few inches, he couldn’t tell if that was intentional or not. He could feel her hoof poking out her back after shattering through the middle part of his spine, preventing pretty much any chance of escaping. Her hoof was coated in green blood, he coughed some up, causing bits of it to splatter on her chest.

“How…” He tried to say, slowly moving his arms around hers to try to push himself off.

“Here, let me help you.” She said she placed her leg on his torso, pulling her hoof back as she kicked him forward, sending him flying a few feet. He landed on his back, struggling to breathe as blood puddled below him. He soon lost consciousness, bleeding to death.

Pinkamena began toward the two changelings, she lifted the hoof soaked in green blood up to her face. She slowly stuck her tongue out, taking a lick of it as she maintained eye contact with them. “Hmmm, more sour than I expected, but not bad.” She said as she lowered her hoof, causing some of it to drip into a puddle below her.

“Three more left. What to do next? I know! I’m curious if the magic can heal me, and if so, how much.”

She seemed to close her eyes and relax again, the veins in her body were now once again visible with bright green magic. Though instead of going down, the magic seemed to retract up her body, going back to her eye. It was a lot faster than before, the veins were only visible for a few seconds.

Though this time, the changelings took it as an opportunity. The changeling that had gotten another one thrown at it had jumped up, his wings bursting into green fire as they changed into Pegasi wings as he rocketed to her, attempting to take this moment and get her in surprise.

As soon as he was about to attack her, her eyes opened and she jumped forward, a lot faster than he did. Her hoof had smashed straight through his head, and also ripping it off his body in the process, causing it to collapse to the ground behind her, blood gushing out of the hole where his hole used to be.

“Ah, so changelings can change only specific parts of their body without changing the rest of it, that’s good to know.” She said as she pulled her hoof out of the removed head of the changeling carelessly, she was going to have to wash herself pretty thoroughly afterward.

“Going to....kill you..” The changeling with the crippled wings said from behind her, slowly pushing himself off the ground, blood dripping from his forehead and his arms were shaking, barely able to support himself. Though she noticed changeling magic begin to come off of him in green vapors, she noticed his body beginning to expand.

“Oh?” She said curiously as she turned around to face the changeling, noticing it had started changing into something, but not a pony.

“Even if it takes everything I have, I will kill you!” He said as his body exploded in changeling magic, the wave of it twice the size of his body, as it seemed to cloak him.

The fire quickly died down, showing a creature she wouldn’t have expected to see out here. Its green eyes looked down at her, it snarled at her as it walked forward, the sound of its body made of wood and trees sounded exactly like the creature it was copying.

The changeling had changed itself into a giant timberwolf.

“Ooh! Changelings can change themselves into other creatures much larger than them? Wow, that must take a lot of magic, I wonder how long-”

She was interrupted by being hit by one of its giant paws, tossing her towards the house, though she managed to catch herself and land on all fours before hitting it though. This time injuries were apparent, the left side of her body was covered in deep cuts and bruises from where it hit her, though she seemed to have no issue ignoring the pain.

“Just as strong as one too, this migh-”

In seconds the giant timberwolf leaped forward, reaching her in mere moments. It opened its giant mouth, revealing the dozens of razor-sharp teeth within. It snapped its head downward, attempting to bite her.

Pinkamena only had a second to jump to her left to try to get out of it, and she almost did. But her right arm got caught in its mouth, causing it to be chomped off. Not even she could remain composed after that, she ground her teeth and clenched her right eye shut as the blood from her dismembered arm splattered onto her face. As soon as it bit down, it shoved its head in her direction, pushing her off her hooves and a few feet away from her.

“Alright, I underestimated you, that’s fair.” She panted as she put her left arm over the stub where her arm was, blood was pouring out of the wound. She looked up at the timberwolf, expecting that it was going to attack her again. But after swallowing her arm, she noticed some kind of green steam begin to come off of it as it seemed to shrink.

“Time up already? Well, that explains why changelings don’t do that often, at least.” She said as she almost fell over, the sudden blood loss was making her dizzy.

Soon the giant timberwolf had been degraded back to a changeling, no signs showing it had changed at all except for its mouth being covered in blood, though the arm it ate was nowhere to be seen.

“That's...fine, you’ll die from that wound. I’m exhausted, but I’ll live.” It said as it collapsed to the ground, still conscious, but the transformation had taken every ounce of energy she had, she wouldn’t be able to fight after that.

“Really now? You think so?” She said cockily, removing her hoof from the arm wound.

“What are you-” The changeling looked up at her, her eyes widening as she does.

Around the wounds on the side of the body where she was hit, the veins were pulsating with that same green magic. Though now, the wounds seemed to be quickly closing, the blood on her body the only signs the wounds were even there at all. Soon the wounds were completely gone, no bruises or scars at all, it looked like she hadn’t even been injured. Even the veins were no longer visible, though they seemed to be quickly moving around her body, going towards the right side of her body.

“Now, my arm will take a bit more magic, but,” She raised the stub of her right arm up, the veins that remained were now pulsating with green magic. As the magic moved towards the end of the stubs, it began to flow out of it, soon turning from a gas to a solid. The changeling watched as the magic turned into a bone, connecting to what was left of one. Soon the entire bone was remade, then the magic turned to different colors as it remade muscle, tendons, and ligaments. Soon even the skin and coat had been remade, the pink fur looking exactly the same as before, almost cleaner, even. The changeling could only watch in terror as her entire arm was grown back in less than a minute, and she made sure to look at the changeling with a knowing smile as she did.

“I could have done that a lot faster, instantly, even. But I wanted you to watch and realize just how futile your efforts were, it was cute to watch you try though.” She said as she began to walk towards the changeling, moving her right arm back and forth, up and down, almost as if testing it out.

“W-what kind of creature are you?” The changeling stuttered, trying to push himself off the ground, his hooves shaking desperately to push his body off the ground. But he collapsed, his body too weak to support him.

She stood over him, that same sadistic smirk on her face. She slowly raised her right leg, not moving her eyes from the changelings.

“The kind that always wins.”

She slammed her leg down on his head, squashing it like a watermelon. His skull was crushed along with his brain, brain matter, bits of crushed skull, and green blood splattered on the floor, some of it coating the bottom part of her leg, particularly her hoof which had smashed it.

“I don’t know if I’m too strong, or if these changelings were just a lot weaker than I expected.”

She said as she stepped away from the changeling’s body, turning toward the last two changelings. The changeling that had been trying to help him was standing his ground in front of the captain, though his entire body was shaking from pure terror after having just watched his comrades be slaughtered brutally without a second thought. He tried to bare his fangs and do his best to intimidate her, but he was too terrified to even hiss.

The captain was barely conscious, it took every ounce of will power he had to stay awake. He wasn’t able to make any facial expressions, only able to focus on his weakening breathing. Though this also means he couldn’t move his head or close his eyes, forcing him to watch once again as the same monster mercilessly kills changelings, and he was unable to do anything about it.

“I-If you t-take another step….I-” Before the changeling could finish its empty threat, she had already sped past him, seeming to only teleport. But strangely, instead of her moving, it was like the entire world had spun except for him. He was now looking behind him, directly at the pony who killed his friends, even though he could feel his body hadn’t moved at all. The last thing he heard was a loud snapping sound coming from somewhere, then the world seemed to stop, nothing else moved or made a sound.

That was when he realized, in a split second, faster than he could react, she had snapped his neck, turning it around completely. It was done so fast his body didn’t even register it, soon collapsing to the ground as he died.

“You changelings have quickly bored me, this isn’t fun anymore, it's just pathetic.”

When she said that, she suddenly heard a loud wheezing sound coming from the captain, causing her to change her glare to him. At first, she thought it was his last dying breath, he surely had some fatal organ damage. But she soon realized that wasn’t it, he was laughing. Not like someone had told a joke, he was laughing like he knew something, something he found funny that she didn’t know about, and that pissed her off.

“What? You find me killing your friends again funny?”

His laughing soon calmed down, more because it was excruciating rather than him not wanting too.

“No….I just find it funny…..that while you were killing my friends….another group of changelings are killing yours!” He said with a chuckle, which soon turned into a coughing fit as more green blood came from his mouth.

That was the first time throughout the entire fight that he saw her face form into one of anger, real anger. Her eyes widened as her eyebrows furrowed into a scowl, she took a step closer to him, her hoof slamming into the ground as she did.

“What?! What do you mean?!” She demanded, screaming at him.

“What? You think we’re just….only going to be attacking you? No, Chrysalis is much smarter than that. She’s had….changelings watching you and your friends for a while, so when she noticed that you were separated from the rest, she took the opportunity to attack. All we need…..is to kill just one of the bearers of harmony, and we’ve won. It doesn’t matter that we failed to kill you, this victory has been assured ours. Even as we speak, the changelings sent to kill your friends either already have, or are in the process of it right now. You’ve lost.”

He began to cough up more blood, some of it landing on her hooves. In an instant, she jumped forward, forcing her arm onto his neck and pushing him against the rock. She began to lift him off the ground, his bottom hooves a few inches above it. He began to gasp for air desperately, the pressure against his windpipe made it hard to breathe.

“WHERE?!” She asked as she slammed her other hoof into his stomach, pushing the broken ribs deeper into his lungs.

He screamed in pain as she did, barely able to stay conscious.

“Ponyville.” He wheezed out.

She dropped him, his broken body falling onto the floor like a doll as he tried to get any air he could. She quickly turned around, her teeth grinding in frustration and her eyes darting back and forth desperately as she tried to remember what direction Ponyville was in, but the fact that it was still dark and raining made that difficult.

“It doesn’t matter, you can’t get to them. I don’t know what happened to you, but you didn’t sprout wings or a horn, you couldn’t possibly make it in time, not even as fast as you are.”

She suddenly stopped looking around, her eyes locking in in a specific direction.

“I know what you’re trying to do, and it's not going to work.”

His eyes began to shut as he lost consciousness, his head suddenly snapped up, attempting to stay awake. He knew if he fell asleep, he wouldn’t wake up again.

“Your body is broken, your broken ribs have punctured your lungs, your spine is shattered, and who knows what other kinds of damage. You're in immense pain and are slowly dying, and you're trying to provoke me into killing you. I’m not a merciful person, I won’t give you such a thing. And as for getting to Ponyville,” She suddenly got on all fours, magic flaring up around the tips of her hooves as she did.

Suddenly, her eyes closed as she seemed to concentrate on something. The veins in her arms and legs soon became visible with the same green magic. When it reached her hooves, her eyes suddenly opened, the veins no longer pulsating with magic.

“Pinkie used to bounce around a lot, didn’t seem to bother her no longer how long she did it. So, I’m thinking if I just put some magic in my arms and legs and do the same thing,”

She lowered herself, her knees bending as they coiled up. Suddenly she launched herself in the air, quickly going higher into the sky than the changeling could see. Moments later, he had a crashing sound miles away, as something big and fast had slammed into the ground.

He looked in the direction of it, barely able to see that far. But in the distance, he could see her. He could see the outline of her body, the pink and blueness of her body sticking out more than anything else.

In just a single jump, she had traveled miles!

At this rate, she’d make it to Ponyville in less than an hour. And that’s just assuming she only jumped that far, he had no doubts she could easily jump farther than that.

“Monster…” He tried to say before collapsing to the ground, finally giving in to his injuries and passing out. The last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him, was her jumping again, this time higher and farther before, straight in the direction of Ponyville.

He died, moments later.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash was the first to retaliate, flying forward and ramming one of the changelings out the door. The others followed, attacking the two other changelings, with the exception of Fluttershy. She had taken the opportunity to hide, too scared to fight. All she could do was wait and get help when there's a chance she could get away, she wouldn’t be of any help anyway.

Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack had managed to force the other two changelings outside, not wanting to destroy anything in this building.

Unfortunately for them, that had been the changeling's plan. Changelings didn’t fight well in enclosed spaces, they preferred more open area, specifically ones without much light.

When they walked out of Sugarcube Corner to help Rainbow Dash, they were attacked by two other changelings in wait.

A beam of dark green magic came out of the dark and hit Twilight, causing her to collapse to the ground. Though her eyes were still opened and were moving back and forth frantically, panicking as she realized she couldn’t move her body, they had hit her with a paralysis spell!

The other one quickly came out of the darkness behind Applejack, hitting the back of her head with a rock, knocking her unconscious as she began to bleed from the wound.

This all happened in a matter of seconds, before Rarity could even react. In the moment of confusion, to two changelings they had forced outside had suddenly jumped towards Rarity, pinning her to the ground. Her horn charged up with bright blue magic as she tried to teleport, but she was soon punched across her face, stopping the spell mid-cast.

“Rari-” Rainbow Dash shouted as she turned around, noticing what happened to her friends and was about to try to help them. But the changeling she had tackled outside jumped on her back, pinning her to the ground also.

“Let go of me you bu-”

“Shut up!” He said as he slammed his hoof on the back of her head, forcing her head into the ground.

The changelings had, in less than a minute, incapacitated almost all of the mane six.

The changeling on top of Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be the captain, looked at the scene before him. The earth pony was unconscious, both of the unicorns are now unable to cast any magic, the white one had one of the changeling's hoof over her mouth the prevent her from speaking, and the blue pegasus was beneath him, though that didn’t stop her from struggling.

“Lanthol.” The changeling on top of Rainbow Dash said, peering in the darkness towards the source of the spell that had hit Twilight.

“Sir.” A changeling said as it walked out of the darkness, looking towards the captain expecting orders.

“We’re missing one, the yellow pegasus, The Element of Kindness. She must be inside, take Tharnix and get her, be hasty.”

“Don’t you touch he-” Rainbow Dash tried to say as she desperately pushed herself up, but the captain pushed his hoof harder on the back of her head, shoving her face back into the ground.

“Yes, sir.” The changeling said as he looked at the changeling who knocked out Applejack, both of them walking inside Sugarcube Corner.

“This mission has been almost a complete success so far, huh captain?” One of the changelings who had pinned Rarity down asked, seeming to had no issues keeping her down.

“Of course, I had no doubts that this would go well. These five didn’t kill any at Canterlot, they’re hardly a threat. I’m concerned about the others though, I know we sent an entire squad to take down that pink monster, but still.”

He said with a visible shiver, preferring not to think of Canterlot.

“I understand the concern, but the squad sent there was Morthrals’, right? He’s been rather...obsessed with taking her down, I’m sure he’s spent months planning it out and everything. Plus there’s more of them than us, and there’s only one of her, I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

The captain seemed to chuckle to himself, though more out of irrational fear than anything else.

“I hope your right. I don’t know though, Queen Chrysalis, and more so King Sombra showed visible concern when discussing the events of Canterlot and how to get rid of her, which is worrying since he tries to hard to keep composure. I guess I just can’t help but feel an-”

“NO!”

There was loud screaming from inside of Sugarcube Corner, followed by the sounds of object clattering and falling to the floor. The voice sounded like Fluttershy, but it was almost hard to tell, most had never heard her raise her voice, so much as scream. Rainbow Dash began to thrash even harder after hearing that, briefly getting her head out of the ground to speak.

“If you hurt my friends, I swear I’-”

Once again she was pushed into the ground, this time hard enough to make her dizzy, as the changeling on top of her hit her in the back of her head.

“You’ll what? Friendship me to death? Come on, we all know the only one of you that kills is that psychotic pink friend of yours! And she’s not here right now, is she?”

As he said that, the two changelings sent inside came outside with Fluttershy, who seemed injured, but terrified, There was one changeling on each side of her, holding her by her arms as they carried her out. She seemed to be trying to resist, though she was weak, a lot weaker than most ponies, and these changelings were soldiers.

They forced Fluttershy on her knees in between Rarity and Twilight, when she saw that Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight had been incapacitated, while AJ had been knocked unconscious, she began to panic.

Her breathing became erratic as she began to hyperventilate, though she tried to calm herself down, it wasn’t working.

“Afraid, are we? Good, you should be afraid.” Said the captain, noticing her sudden hyperventilating.

“Why are you doing this?!” Rarity asked as she tried to get up, but the changelings forced her back down.

“Why?” He said as looked down at her, a sadistic smirk on his face as he did. “Because this is war, something you ponies know nothing about, but us changelings are all too familiar with war. In war, there is no friendship, there is no peace or harmony, only death and victory, by any means. You ponies will either learn this, or perish.”

He says as he looks down at Rainbow Dash, who was still resisting, though not as aggressively.

“Sir, now that we have them all, what did the queen say to do with them?” One of the changelings who was holding down Rarity asked, seeming to require little to no effort to do so.

“Well, other than no prisoners, no.” He said as he looked down at them, as if deciding what to do. “I know, you guys are tired, right? Why not have a snack? These ponies must be just brimming with love, don’t you think?” The captain said as he lowered his head down to Rainbow Dash’s neck, he slowly opened his mouth, his long split tongue licking all the way down her neck.

“There’s five of us, and five of them. Everyone gets their own fill, go on now, enjoy the spoils of war.” He then bit into her neck, causing her to groan in pain as she tried to stop herself from screaming, she didn’t want to give them that satisfaction. Blood began to run down her neck, his fangs that were inside her began to be soaked in it. She began to feel weaker every second as he drained the love out of her, she tried fighting back, but she could feel herself getting weaker by the second.

Soon, the same thing began to happen to her friends, one of the changelings who was holding her down bit into her neck, causing Rarity to release a loud, high pitch squeal of pain. Her struggling soon stopped as the love was drained from her and she became weaker, making it easy to hold her down. The other one who was helping subdue her walked over to AJ’s body and sank his teeth into her neck, and she wasn’t even able to fight back. The same thing happened to Twilight, she was unable to fight back or even scream as a changeling sank his teeth into her, though she was still awake to experience the pain and the feeling of getting weaker.

All Fluttershy could do was watch as they drained her friends, unable to do anything to help them. She soon felt the changeling behind her push her to the ground and get on top of her, she shivered as she felt its long tongue lick her neck. Its warm breathe on her ear as its sharp fangs scraped against her skin, preparing to suck her dry of all her love like her friends.

Then she suddenly heard a soft squelching sound, like an apple being crushed or something. Simultaneously, she no longer felt the tongue or fangs against her neck, nor his head at all. It was like it was suddenly gone, or had gotten off of her. Except for the second she felt it leave, his entire body weight seemed to push down on her, as if it completely relaxed. She somewhat tried to push herself up, but stopped when she felt something on her neck. She felt drops of something warm dripping on her neck, it felt gross, like some kind of juice was being poured on her.

She slowly opened her eyes, hesitant to do so.

When she did, she looked behind her, curious what happened to the changeling and what the source of the liquid was.

When she did, she released a scream that could be heard by everyone in Ponyville, if there was anyone.

The changelings head was gone, it looked like it had been completely ripped off in seconds, the liquid dripping on her was green changeling blood. It seemed she actually got lucky with that, since the changeling was leaning over when he was decapitated, most of the blood was in a puddle in front of her, the blood hitting her neck was what was dripping down.

When she turned around and saw the flesh and bone that normally wouldn’t be visible, she did all she could to push the body off of her after she screamed, barely able to roll the body off of her and to the side.

“Get your hooves off of her, you filthy bug.”

Fluttershy heard a voice to the right of her say, one that sounded familiar, but different at the same time. She looked in the direction of the voice, noticing a green blood trail behind. This pony was only a few feet from her, but due to how dark it was out, she wasn’t able to make out any distinctions, no coat colors or cutie marks, only that they had a long, straight mane. The thing she noticed first was that this pony was standing on their hindlegs, which looked bizarre and uncomfortable for a pony to do.

Her left arm was outstretched to her side, the head of the changeling was around her elbow, blood still dripping from the bottom of it. It seemed in a matter of seconds, she had punched through the head of the changeling on top of Fluttershy hard enough to rip his head off, somehow not taking the body with it. Fluttershy didn’t see any wings on this pony, so she had no idea how they could do that so fast. All she could see was the part that had punched through the changelings head was soaked in green blood, though that didn’t seem to bother this pony at all.

“This anger and desire to protect these ponies may not be mine, but I feel it just as strongly, and it puts me in just as big of a bad mood.” She said sternly as she pulled back her left arm, suddenly flicking it forward and tossing the head to the side carelessly.

As she did, she turned to face the captain, who had gotten off of Rainbow Dash and now was staring at this pony in confusion and disbelief. As she did, her left eye was the only part that could be seen by Fluttershy due to how dark it was. But the left eye seemed to almost glow in the dark, it seemed to be luminescent, even the veins around the eye seemed to glow bright green as they pulstted. Fluttershy had seen a lot of strange things, being both an Element of Harmony and living so close to The Everfree Forest, but she had never seen an eye do that before.

The pony raised her left hoof, which was still soaked in changeling blood, up to her mouth and licked it. Her face then scrunched up in disgust as she suddenly pulled her hoof away from her, looking away from the captain for a moment.

“Eugh, sour.” She said as she lowered her hoof, her eyes once again locking on to the changeling. “So, I take it you’re the captain? You’re wearing the same kind of armor as the last captain I killed, and you’ve just got that look that screams ‘superiority complex”.” She joked as she stared him down, not even paying attention to the other changelings. Slowly, they were getting off of the ponies they had been draining before. They didn’t seem scared or angry. They displayed no emotion as they moved. They remained completely silent as she moved closer to her, intent on eliminating this new threat.

Fluttershy looked at the captain, confused about what armor she was talking about. But now that she looked at him, he seemed to be wearing some kind of blue armor around his torso, and the same color blue helmet, though it was too dark to make anything else out about them.

“Last captain? What do you mean? There shouldn’t be any other changeling captains anywhere near here! Who in Tartarus are you?” The captain said as he stood his ground, noticing the other changelings preparing to attack her. No matter who this pony was, ponies can’t see in the dark as well as changelings can, and it seemed she didn’t even notice them.

Though something about this pony bothered him, why were her eyes so different? The one on the right was blue, while the one on the left was green and seemed to pulsate, the veins around that eye were just as visible. He saw ponies with different eye colors before, but still, something about this made him uncomfortable.

“Who I am is irrelevant, I’m not in the mood to indulge. So let’s just get this over with, shall we?” As soon as soon she said that, the three changelings had surrounded her. One behind her, to her left, and to her right, and since the captain was in front of her, she had no chance of escape. They were prepared to pounce.

And then in an instant, right as they were about to attack, she disappeared. They didn’t even see her move at all, she hadn’t even flinched or took her eyes of the captain, nor was there a flash of magic like when a unicorn teleports, she was just...gone.

Before anyone could even react, she appeared behind the changeling on the right, seeming to come out of nowhere. In a split second her hoof punched through his chest like it was paper, his still-beating heart landing on the floor in front of him.

And just as fast as she appeared, she was gone again. Her hoof pulling out of the changeling's body, causing it to collapse to the floor lifelessly. She disappeared, seeming to blend into the darkness and out of sight, even though the changelings could see in the dark far better than any pony, they still couldn’t see her.

“You changelings think you have the advantage here, just because there are more of you than me, or because you think you can fight better in the dark than me?”

Her voice seemed to come from all around them, making it impossible to tell where it was coming from. The two changelings left got into a back to back formation, trying to see in all directions. The captain peered deeply into the dark, sometimes even seeing something move in the dark out of the corner of his eye.

Or maybe that was the terror getting to him.

“Why…”He mumbled to himself, biting his bottom lip in frustration as he did. “Why can’t we see her?!”

“Sure, you changelings understand war and brutality fine, and you'r not half bad at stealth. But when it comes to psychological warfare?”

Suddenly, her voice stopped sounding like it was coming from all around them. Actually, it sounded like it was coming from behind the captain.

“You lose.” He heard her sadistic voice whisper into his ear, causing his heart to skip a beat and his eyes widen as he realizez she was right behind him.

“Att-” Before he could even get the chance to say or do anything, the knee of her leg smashed against the back of his head with such force that his head was forced to the ground, the rest of his body seemed to almost bounce off the ground.

His skull and brains were crushed the second he hit the ground, but she slammed him down so hard his entire head was forced into the ground, only his neck was visible, this prevented any of the blood or anything else from being seen.

This did not, however, prevent Rainbow Dash, who was only just now pulling herself out of the ground as she recovered from head trauma, from seeing this occur. Her eyes widened in surprise as this pony killed the changeling in a more brutal way than she’s ever seen. And she couldn’t help but feel terrified, was this thing even a pony? She’s never seen something that could move that fast or have that much brute strength, and especially not without magic.

And yet, why did she feel like she knew her.

“I told you, I’m not in the mood to play.” She said as she looked down at the captain, his body still twitching.

The other changelings saw this and immediately sprang into action, their wings spreading out as they jumped forward.

But, as she had proven before, she was much faster than them.

This time she didn’t disappear, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash could see her clearly as she jumped forward of the captain’s back, almost faster than Rainbow Dash when she did the sonic rainboom. They watched as she easily got behind them from the gap in between them, and before they even had the time to react, she had turned around and placed her hooves on both sides of the head of the one on the right. In an instant with a sickening crunch, she had snapped that changelings neck, his body falling to the ground with a thud.

The other changeling turned around and began speeding toward her, intent on ramming into her. But she easily clotheslined him, causing him to fall on his back, desperately gasping for air. Before he even had the chance to try to get up, she slammed her leg down on his chest, pinning him to the ground. He could do nothing to scream as he heard and felt his exoskeleton cracking, the ribs beneath doing the same.

“Hey, let me ask you a quick question.”

She asked sarcastically as a smile stretched on her face, now that she was so close to him, he could easily see that malicious smile on her face as her green eye pulsated. She didn’t seem tense at all, in fact, she seemed almost happy as she smiled down at him. Her long mane draped down as she looked down at him, almost reaching him. She brushed it to the side out of her face as she looked at him, though it quickly fell down again.

He was terrified, this pony, no, this thing, had killed his entire squad in seconds! And it seemed to enjoy it! But still, no matter how scared he was, or what she did to him, she wouldn’t tell her anything.

“You won’t….get anything out of me!” He said as he wrapped his hooves around her leg, trying desperately to pull it off of his chest, though it didn’t budge an inch.

“Oh, you misunderstand, you won’t be answering with words. You see, I’m very good at reading people, no matter how good they think they are at lying. You could bite off your own tongue, but you could still give me answers. Now, as I was about to ask.”

He screamed as she pushed a little harder on his chest, her smile seeming to stretch a little wider as did.

“You changelings have a hive mind, right? Though not in the sense that you’re always connected to each other, but more that you’re always connected to your queen, right?”

He suddenly stopped struggling as she said that, his eyes widening in surprise. But he quickly stopped himself, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of being right.

“Yep, I thought so. Now, this might just be an assumption, but I think I’m right. She can see through your eyes, and listen through your ears, but that’s it. She can’t hear your thoughts nor talk to you, she can’t feel what you feel, and she can’t actually feel what your feeling, she’s essentially just a spectator. But, I must find a way to send her a message, and I think I’ve figured it out.”

She lowered her left hoof to his face, rubbing his cheek almost gently. He tried to move his face away from her, but she just pressed down harder on his chest when she did.

“You see, I have this little hypothesis about my magic, but I need to test it to see if I’m correct. I’m thinking if I focus all my magic on the tip of my hoof, for example, and then push it all out, my hoof will function like a horn, and all the magic being pushed out could be formed into a ball, bolt, whatever I can imagine. But, If my hoof happens to be touching an object when I conduct magic into it. Well,” She chuckled as her hoof began pressing into the changeling's face, almost painfully so. “I’m curious what magic does when it's forced into a foreign body. And if what happens what I think will happen, Chrysalis will get to hear your screams.”

She leaned down a little more as placed her other hoof on the right side of his face, pressing into it as roughly as the other one.

“So, what do you say, ready to be my messenger and test subject?” She asked him, then there was a moment of silence, until she let out a low chuckle, as if laughing at her own joke. “Just kidding, you don’t have a choice. After all,” For a second, the changeling swore he could see the veins in her arms pulsate with green magic, as it seemed to travel down her arms to her hooves. “This is war.”

At first, he didn’t feel any pain when the magic entered his body. It just felt like a jolt, like if someone suddenly surprised him or something.

Then the burning began.

It felt at first like a warm sensation in his stomach, it was almost comforting. Then it began to hurt, burn, even. Soon it felt like his insides were melting, it felt like someone had started a fire inside of him! He began to scream as his insides began to melt, the magic inside him has caused him to start combustion, a reaction caused when magic that doesn’t belong to the creator is forced inside of another living being. His flesh began to melt, though his body still looked normal due to his exoskeleton. His eyeballs soon also began to melt, all he could do was flail his limbs as his body thrashed about, his screams of agony getting louder, if there was anyone in Ponyville, they would be able to hear them.

For the other ponies nearby, his screams traumatized them. Fluttershy couldn’t bare to watch it any longer, she tried to look away and cover her ears, but she just couldn’t block it out! The sight and sound of it horrified Rarity, but the smell of his flesh burning from the inside made her throw up. Twilight was unable to see what was happening, since she was still paralyzed. She could hear the agonizing screams and smell something burning, not understanding what was happening. Applejack was still unconscious. And Rainbow Dash could do nothing but watch in shock, never having seen something so horrible in her life.

In reality, it only took one minute for her magic to cook him from the inside and kill him. But for the changeling, it felt like hours, he was grateful when death accepted him.

For the other ponies, it was the most horrible thing they had ever seen, and would likely haunt their dreams for years.

But for Pinkamena? It was interesting. But most importantly, fun.

“Hm, expected it to kill him faster. But, I was hoping I would be wrong and it was slower, so I feel conflicted.” She said nonchalantly as she got off of him, her smile gone, leaving a bored, almost disinterested look on her face.

“Well, now that that has been handled, I should probably help.” She said as she turned towards the other ponies, no longer standing on her hind legs and she suddenly got on all fours. Not just that, but her right eye no longer pulsated with magic, nor was it even green. It now looked completely normal, the same color of blue as her left eye.

She looked at the ponies before her, Fluttershy was still on the ground, her hooves around her head as she whimpered. Rarity was wiping her mouth of vomit, trying to avoid eye contact. Applejack was still unconscious, the wound on the back of her head slightly visible. Twilight was still somewhat paralyzed, though it seemed to be wearing off as some of her limbs were twitching. And Rainbow Dash was now standing, her head trauma pretty much gone. Though she wasn’t really doing anything, she seemed to be staring at Pinkamena, more out of shock than anything. Her face was completely blank, as if she didn’t know how to express how she was feeling.

In response to this, Pinkamena sighed and closed her eyes, brushing her hair behind her ears as she did.

“Yeah, pretty much what I expected. Welp, might as well get you all fixed and such. I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do, and I don’t like explaining things twice.” She said as she began to move towards Twilight, no longer facing the others.

When she got to her, she crouched down an seemed to be examining her body.

“Hmm, figured changelings were capable of casting paralysis spells, helps them when they need to feed. Luckily, it’s easy to fix.”

She extended her hoof, hovering it right above Twilight’s body. She then moved it left and right horizontally, staying above her body. She then retracted her hoof, standing up slowly as she continued to look down at Twilight.

“There, all better.” She said as she began to walk away from Twilight, going towards Applejack, who had more injured than any of them.

“W-what?” Twilight said as she soon regained feeling in her body, now being able to speak again. She slowly began to stand up, her hooves shaking as she did. Rarity watched in fear and astonishment as she did, in an instant she had fixed her paralysis, what was she?

Fluttershy was still covering her ears and eyes, too afraid to look up. And Rainbow’s eyes hadn’t left Pinkamena, she was still watching her as she got closer to Applejack. Twilight to was staring at her in astonishment, never before had she seen an earth pony cast magic like that, or at all.

She was about the say something, but then she glanced at the changelings. Or, at least, what was left of them.

“Wow, you got lucky, AJ. You barely avoided a concussion, any higher and you would have got one, though you will be out for a while.”

Just like with Twilight, she had crouched down and seemed to examine Applejack. Then her hoof seemed to hover over Applejack, though only the back of her head where the injury was. And when she waved her hoof over the injury, it was gone. The only thing left indicating it was there at all was the blood on her coat.

“Can’t do anything about the headache though, sorry.”

Twilight felt her heart stop when she saw them, she had read about the anatomy of changelings before, but she had hoped she’d never see it. There were puddles of blood, the head of a decapitated changeling lay just a few feet in front of her. One had his heart ripped out, another his neck snapped, one even crushed!

But she could still smell the stench of the burnt flesh of the last changeling, now she knew what all the screaming was for.

She felt disgusted, she wanted to throw up. She was also angry, angry at herself for not being able to fight back, for needing somepony else to come to her and her friends rescue.

But right now, she felt afraid. She felt afraid because there was a creature who was capable of doing these grotesque things with such ease, and that she was standing right here! And yet she didn’t know who she was, or why she was here. She just seemed to be on their side.

But if Twilight wasn’t careful here, that could change very quickly.

“W-who…” Twilight began to say as she turned toward the pony, barely able to stop herself from shaking.

The pony stood up, turning towards Twilight and the other ponies. She still held that look of disinterest on her face, even as she turned her gaze towards Twilight.

Somehow, that look was more terrifying than anger.

“Who….are you?” Twilight asked, trying to figure out the fastest way to save herself and her friends if something went wrong. The only thing she could think of would be to pull all her friends to her and teleport away, but she’s never done so many before. Could she even do it fast enough, before any of her friends got hurt? She wasn’t sure, but she had to try.

She tilted her head, seeming to be confused more than anything.

“What, do you not recognize me Twilight?”

Her mouth curved into a wide smile showing all her white teeth, it wasn’t like the smile she gave that changeling, there was no sadism or maliciousness in her smile. It was pure, innocent, almost childlike. Now that she was in the light coming from SugarcubeCorner, Twilight could see her more clearly. Her coat along with her mane and tail were a dull pink, though she seemed to have streaks of blue in them, it was too dark to tell what shade. She could also vaguely make out her cutie mark, which seemed to be three balloons. Though it seemed the coloring of them were somehow off, it was hard to tell in the dark.

Everypony there had known that face, it had felt like years since they had seen it.

“It’s me, Pinkie Pie!”

.