What if, down in that basement, Rainbow Dash was saved in time before Pinkie Pie killed her?
For starters, I do not own the original Cupcakes story! Credit goes to Sergeant Sprinkles for that. This is simply a story based off of Cupcakes, my version of what would have happened if Rainbow Dash had been saved. What would have happened then?
Suggested official rating: R for graphic horror violence and gore
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING STORY CONTAINS DETAILED DISTURBING DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND GORE AND IS NOT INTENDED FOR YOUNG AUDIENCE. NOTICE: You should have read the original story be Sergeant Sprinkles before reading the alternate ending, so we start off in the basement.
"Looks like I got my "I" on you!" Pinkie had just said with a giggle. Rainbow Dash hardly heard her; she felt dizzy and weak. The pain from the areas her wings used to be burned like fire.
Pinkie reached down and pulled the two flaps of skin on Rainbow's abdomen apart with a sickening wet sound. The loss of blood from Dash's body and the sight of her own guts made the Pegasus more dizzy and sick than ever. Pinkie sliced some more of Dash's innards loose, reached in, and pulled out Dash's intestines. The pink pony threw the guts around her neck, laughing, pretending to be Rarity with a scarf. Blood sprayed everywhere.
When Pinkie was done with the "scarf", she put the intestines in her mouth and pretended to floss.
"The dentist says you're supposed to floss twice a day, Dashie!"
Rainbow Dash barely heard her insane friend. The shock of what was happening to her and blood loss was causing her to slip away.
"Oh, don't go yet, Dash!" Pinkie said in a disappointed voice. She reached inside the gutted pony and began to remove more organs, making a bad joke up for each one. When she was done with that, she tried to play bagpipes with Rainbow Dash's stomach but only got a spray of stomach acid and half-digested food on her tongue.
"Eew!" Pinkie said. "Oh look, Dash, it's your cupcake from earlier!"
Rainbow Dash didn't hear Pinkie. She had lost consciousness two minutes ago. Disappointed with Rainbow Dash for not staying awake, she jammed an adrenaline needle into Rainbow's chest. The blue Pegasus awoke with a gasp, but she was dying. She felt her life slipping away with every second that went by.
Pinkie straddled Rainbow Dash's chest. “Ya know, Rainbow Dash, I’m disappointed. I thought you would have lasted longer. I really wanted to spend more time with you before we got here. But I guess it’s my fault; I should have taken it a little slower. Oh well. It was really was nice knowing you, Dash!”
With those words, Pinkie lowered the blade to Dash's neck for the killing cut.
***
Earlier that day, Unicorn Twilight Sparkle sat in her library in Ponyville, studying as usual. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.
"Spike, would you mind getting the door please?" Twilight said, not raising her eyes from her book.
"Never fear, Spike your Number One Assistant is here," Spike said with a salute. He ran over to the front door, grabbed the knob, and turned it. The door swung open to reveal Applejack and Fluttershy standing on the porch.
Oh... I'm so sorry... Is this a bad time?" Fluttershy said timidly. "If it is, we can go right-"
"Hi, girls," Twilight said, appearing behind Spike. "What brings you here this afternoon?"
"Hi, Twilight," Applejack said. "Ah don't mean to bother ya, but ah was just wonderin', have ya seen Rainbow Dash anywhere? Ah been lookin' for that pony all day to see if she wanted to help out at the farm, an' I can't seem to find her anywhere."
"Rainbow? Oh, yeah-" Twilight began.
"I'm sorry, Twilight," Fluttershy interrupted quietly, "but I had the same question for you about Pinkie Pie. You see, her and I were planning to have a tea party with the woodland creatures sometime, and I wanted to ask her if today would be a good day but I can't seem to find her."
"Yeah, I saw both of them this morning," Twilight replied. "I saw Pinkie heading into the grocery store. I saw Rainbow Dash practicing her flying moves. When she came down for a rest, she told me she was practicing early because she was helping Pinkie with something later today but she wasn't quite sure what it was."
"Darn!" Applejack said. "They're prob'ly still busy. An' there's no way I can get all the work at the farm done without some help."
"It's no fun to have a tea party with no friends," Fluttershy said quietly.
"I'm done studying for now," Twilight said. "We could see if Rarity is busy and if she's not, we can all go find Rainbow and Pinkie and see if they need any help."
"Ah think that's ah great idea," Applejack said.
"Me too," Fluttershy said.
Five minutes later, the three friends stood in the doorway of the Carousel Boutique. Applejack opened the door and they went inside, stared, then gasped at the mess. Pieces of fabric, big and small, were all over the floor. Rarity's cat, Opal, hissed and clawed angrily at one of the bigger ones, her claws tearing through the soft fabric. And right there in the middle of the room, concentrated at a sewing machine, was Rarity herself. Applejack quietly closed the door behind the three and they quietly backed against the wall not making a sound as to not distract Rarity from her work.
Finally, about five minutes later, the sewing machine stopped. Rarity looked up and smiled warmly at the sight of her friends.
"Oh- hello- all of you- I must say, I was not expecting you girls this early in the afternoon but now that you're here, you must allow me to show you the most MAGNIFICENT dresses I've EVER created-"
"Rarity? Is this a bad time?" Twilight asked. "You did look busy and all-"
"Nonsense, my dear Twilight, I was going to be taking a break soon anyways!" Rarity interrupted.
"Well, I guess if you're sure-"
"Of course I'm sure, Twilight!" Rarity said happily. "Now come, you all simply MUST see the- wait," Rarity interrupted herself, suddenly noticing the two absences. "Where is Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash? Surely they must be here, too."
"We actually have no idea where they are," Twilight said. "That's what we're trying to find out. We stopped by to see if you wanted to join us."
"I guess I have some free time..." Rarity said. "Of course I'll go with you."
In a few minutes, the four friends were walking through downtown Ponyville, wondering where their other two friends had gone.
"Of course!" Applejack said suddenly after a few minutes. "Sugarcube Corner! I bet ya anything Pinkie Pie is havin' Rainbow help her bake somethin'. Y'all know Pinkie- that's what she's always doing."
"Of course!" Twilight said. "Why didn't I think of that?"
The four headed towards Sugarcube Corner, about a block away. When they got there, they went inside and saw Mrs. Cake.
"I believe she's in the basement," Mrs. Cake replied. "I can't imagine what she's doing- I myself never go down there. That's Pinkie's place we gave to her."
"Is it ok if we go down?"
"Of course it is dear- I'm sure Pinkie will be happy her friends came to visit her."
"Thanks!" Twilight said. "She then turned to her friends. "Come on girls."
Twilight and her friends went over to the basement door and began to go down into the darkness. They would never expect what they would find at the bottom.
***
As Pinkie pressed the knife into the dying Rainbow's neck, she suddenly turned in surprise as four ponies stepped into the basement.
"Pinkie? Are you down here?" Twilight's voice came. "Why are you here in the dark?"
Somepony hit the light switch and the gruesome scene in the basement was lit up- Pinkie, about to cut Rainbow's face off, guts hanging from the ceiling, blood, body parts, clothes made from pony coats against the walls. Fluttershy was the first to scream, and Pinkie ran at the four ponies, an expression of crazy determination on her face. Twilight's horn glowed, there was a loud BANG and a flash of violet light, and Pinkie was hurled across the basement.
The four ponies ran to Rainbow Dash in horror, who was barely breathing, and slipping away.
"Someone get the medic ponies quick!" Twilight screamed. "We can still save her before it's too late! Applejack, go find Spike! We have to write a letter to the princess about Pinkie Pie, just HURRY, dang it!"
Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash on the table and spoke softly to her. "It's ok, Rainbow. We're getting help for you. Everything will be ok..."
***
Applejack ran as fast as she could, up the stairs and out of Sugarcube Corner, not even noticing Mrs. Cake's gasp of surprise. She ran out into the street, almost getting hit by a carriage, but she didn't notice that either. All she knew was that she had to find Spike. Suddenly, Applejack stopped right in her tracks. She realized that if she went to Spike now to write to the princess about Pinkie Pie, it might be too late to save Rainbow Dash. Applejack turned and ran in the direction of the Ponyville hospital instead.
It took about five minutes to reach the hospital and by the time Applejack got there, she was out of breath and panting. Nevertheless, she ran right through the front door of the hospital and crashed right into the doctor, who was just about to leave. "Applejack!" the doctor said in surprise, stepping back. "What's the big hurry?" "S- sorry doc, ya jus' gotta come quick- Rainbow is dyin'- ah need yer help-" "Dying? Applejack, are you-" "Ah'm sure!" Applejack yelled. "Please, doc!" The doctor stared at the mare for a moment, the shaking, out-of-breath, terrified mare, and decided she was serious. "Let's go," he said.
Applejack, the doctor, and two nurses carrying emergency medical supplies, a stretcher, and a few other things, ran into town. By this time, Applejack was so out of breath, she felt like throwing up, but she kept running.
When the group reached Sugarcube Corner, Applejack led the way in and headed for the basement. They ran down the stairs and for a moment, the doctor and nurses gasped at the scene. One of the nurses turned and threw up all over the floor, and the other let out a tiny squeak of disgust and horror. The doctor just gazed around at the gore-decorated room with his mouth hanging in horror, at a loss for words.
"Doc! Mah friend is dyin!" Applejack shouted.
That snapped the doctor and the nurses out of their horrified trance. They rushed over to where Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity were, crying, crowded around Rainbow Dash who was still lying on the table, hooves nailed down with electric wires attached to them, her guts hanging out of her stomach, her severed wings on the floor, and the two bloody circles of sliced muscle where her cutie marks once had been. The pegasus' eyes had rolled up into her head and she was hardly breathing.
"We need to operate quickly if we are to save her!" the doctor said.
The nurses went to work right away, putting an oxygen mask on Rainbow Dash, giving her a few shots, and sticking a thin tube into her side which pumped blood into her body from a large bag. With that done, they carefully used their tools and took the nails which held Dash to the table out of her hooves.
"We need to get her on the stretcher now!" the doctor ordered. "This stuff will keep her alive for awhile but if she is to live, we need to get her back to the hospital NOW!"
"Will Rainbow be all right, doctor?" Twilight asked in a shaky voice.
"I honestly don't know," the doctor said grimly. "I'm not going to lie here, she's pretty bad. From what I could make out, she's in severe pain, in shock, and she also has severe internal bleeding and a lot of vital internal organs have been cut out. I just don't know."
Twilight began to cry quietly again with her friends as the two nurses began to load Rainbow Dash on a stretcher. None of them noticed Pinkie, lying on the far side of the basement, begin to twitch.
"Let's hurry this up!" the doctor urged as the nurses loaded Rainbow Dash onto the stretcher. "We have to hurry if we are going to save her!"
The doctor turned to talk to Twilight and her friends, but suddenly, one of the nurses screamed loudly. The doctor turned back around quickly in time to see Pinkie Pie pulling a knife out of one of the nurse's back leg. The other nurse forgot about getting Rainbow Dash on the stretcher and she backed away, terrified. The nurse that had been stabbed stumbled around the table while blood dripped from her leg and onto the floor.
Pinkie laughed. "Where are you going, silly, don't you want to make some cupcakes with me?"
Pinkie prepared to take another stab with the knife but Twilight's horn glowed and there was another loud BANG and flash of light. Pinkie Pie had been expecting it this time, however, and although she didn't stab the nurse, she moved out of the way in time and the spell hit the table of sharp instruments, knocking it back and sending all of the deadly tools flying everywhere.
Pinkie laughed again. "Oh Twilight, now I have this mess to clean up!"
"Pinkie! Snap out of it!" Twilight shouted. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but you have to stop! Please! It's us! We're your friends!"
Laughing yet again, Pinkie spoke, still holding the knife. "Oh Twilight, you silly filly, there's nothing wrong with me! I've been doing this before you even moved to Ponyville! And I know you're my friends! That's why I'm doing this!"
"She- she's crazy!" Applejack said.
"And this DREADFUL mess!" Rarity said, staring from Pinkie to the bloodstained floor to the bones and gore hanging from the ceiling. "It's the most horrible mess I've ever seen!"
"Put down that knife right now!" the doctor said suddenly, stepping in front of the four friends.
"Doctor, no, please!" Twilight said. "Please, let me handle this!"
The doctor ignored her. "I said, put down the knife, Pinkie!"
Pinkie grinned crazily and began to walk towards the doctor, who shrank back, suddenly unsure.
We never called for help, Twilight remembered suddenly. It was either get help to get Pinkie, or get help to save Rainbow's life, and we picked the latter. It's up to us to stop Pinkie now.
"Doc, I've heard that a pony, stabbed in the stomach, can take up to three days to die," Pinkie said, still walking towards the doctor. "Want to test that theory? I don't mind waiting three days for a fresh batch of cupcakes."
The doctor was almost in Pinkie's stabbing range now. Twilight couldn't use her spell because she might accidentally hit the doctor instead.
The doctor was looking terrified now, defenseless against the insane pony holding the knife with the crazy grin on her face stalking towards him.
As Pinkie got close enough to take a stab at the doctor's face, the nurse- the one that hadn't been wounded- came out from behind the table that Rainbow Dash was lying on and shot off a spell from her horn. It wasn't a very good spell- she probably didn't do a lot of magic practicing- but it did the trick. The spell hit Pinkie in the side, knocking her away a few yards. She yelped in surprise and the knife fell from her hoof.
It was all they needed. The doctor went over to the nurse and began to help her load Rainbow onto the stretcher while he left Twilight to deal with Pinkie. The doctor hoped that when Twilight had said she could deal with Pinkie, she meant it.
Pinkie reached again for the knife on the floor but Twilight used her magic and flung it away.
"Oh, silly Twilight! I didn't lose! I would only have lost if I didn't have any attacks left to throw at you!"
Twilight frowned. "You don't, though. All your little torture devices are on the other side of the room!"
"I still have Gummy!"
Twilight laughed in spite of herself. "Pinkie, Gummy can't hurt us, he doesn't even have any teeth!"
"You're right, Twilight! He doesn't! Which is why I made him some special false teeth for occasions like this!" Pinkie turned. "Come here, Gummy! Where are you hiding, you silly little alligator?"
Gummy suddenly came out of a gloomy corner of the basement. He ran up to Pinkie Pie and crawled onto her outstretched hoof. He opened his mouth. Twilight gasped in horror. In the light of the basement, she saw Gummy's false teeth. They were made of metal, they were long and curved, they were razor sharp- and they were stained with blood.
Pinkie laughed at Twilight's expression while her other three friends backed away. "Look, Twilight! It's an attack I can actually throw at you!"
Pinkie threw Gummy right at Twilight. Twilight shrieked and moved out of the way and Gummy landed on the floor, but he just leapt at Twilight again. Twilight raised her hoof to protect herself and Gummy's metal teeth sank into her hoof. She yelled in pain and a second later, a spell from Rarity knocked him off, but his teeth tore out a chunk of Twilight's flesh. Gummy landed on the floor and Applejack kicked the alligator, sending him flying. He smacked into the far wall, fell to the ground, and didn't get back up.
Twilight was in too much pain to concentrate her magic, and she laid on the floor, groaning, while blood poured out from her wounded hoof.
The other three ponies turned back to Pinkie Pie and saw in horror that during the distraction, she had picked up two sharp knives.
"This is great!" Pinkie said. "I can make a lot of cupcakes with all four of you!"
Suddenly, all of them were distracted by the doctor and the two nurses.
"I'm coming back with help!" he said. "But if we don't get your friend Rainbow Dash to the hospital right now, she'll die!"
"Jus' GO, doc!" Applejack shouted. "We got this!"
The doctor stared at them for a second longer, then he turned and headed for the stairs of the basement. The wounded nurse limped after him and the last nurse followed her, using her magic to levitate the stretcher that Rainbow Dash was now laying on. A second later, they were gone.
"Silly doctor," Pinkie Pie laughed. "Doesn't he know you can't help dead ponies? Well, I guess he could if he had the power to bring them back to life, but the idea of that is just silly, right?
"Give up, Pinkie!" Applejack said. "Ya hear the doctor? He's gettin' the guards!"
"Applejack, silly, it's going to take awhile to get the guards!"
"Pinkie, there's four of us an' only one of you."
"Gummy hurt Twilight too badly to do anything, silly! There's only three of you!"
"Uh- well- we can still take ya down!"
"Try me!" Pinkie said. "Looks like I'm going to have some more cupcakes then I planned today!"
Applejack and the other two standing shrank back in horror.
"This will be fun!" Pinkie said, and with those words, ran at the four ponies, swinging the knives.
As Pinkie ran forward with the knives, Applejack jumped into Fluttershy and Rarity and knocked them to the ground next to Twilight as the knives Pinkie was holding slashed through the air where they had been standing a second before. Before the pink pony could turn around again, Applejack kicked her, and Pinkie once again went flying and dropped the knives. She smashed into the table that Rainbow Dash had been lying on and she fell to the floor. She struggled to get back up, but Applejack had kicked her hard, and she was in too much pain.
"Applejack..." Pinkie gasped out, in pain. "That wasn't nice... I just... wanted to make cupcakes... with you..."
"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked in a panicked voice.
"We keep an eye on her," Applejack said, "until the guards come. She's dangerous."
"Well, some of us... are cannibals who cut... other ponies open like cantaloupe," Pinkie laughed while gasping for breath.
Applejack glared at the pink pony. "How many ponies have ya killed, Pinkie? How long ya been doin' this for?"
"I don't know... how many... ponies I've killed... silly!" Pinkie said.
"Ya mean to tell me that ya killed so many, ya lost count."
"Yep!" Pinkie Pie answered.
Applejack took a moment for this grim bit of information to sink in, then she spoke again.
"Pinkie, ya still didn't answer mah earlier question. How long have ya been doin' this for?"
"I don't know," Pinkie said. "Applejack, silly, you... can't expect me to... remember exactly when... I started!"
Applejack sighed. "Has it been at least a few years?"
Pinkie grinned and nodded.
Applejack turned to Rarity and Fluttershy, who were standing again, and to Twilight, who was still on the ground. "Ah'd like to say she's just lost it... But the fact is, she's always been like this," Applejack said sadly to them. "But... Pinkie is the Element of Laughter!" Rarity said in disbelief and horror. "We've seen her use her Element- only the pony to whom that Element belonged to would be able to use it! And this... It makes no sense! There's no 'laughter' in anything she's been doing!"
Pinkie Pie laughed, and the three standing ponies quickly turned to her. Pinkie, still laying on the basement floor, spoke.
"You silly fillies! Of course I'm the Element of laughter, and there's 'laughter' in everything I do down here!"
"Oh, puh-lease!" Rarity said in disgust and horror. "There is nothing even remotely funny about-"
"Pinkie's right, Rarity," Applejack interrupted in a faint voice.
Rarity turned to Applejack, fury on her face. "Applejack! How could you possibly-"
"What does Pinkie do down here?" Applejack interrupted again. "She slaughters. It makes darned perfect sense now. 'Laughter' is in the word 'slaughter'."
"I was wondering when you would figure that out!" Pinkie said, laughing.
Twilight stood back up suddenly, but she got up slowly and her wounded hoof still bled heavily. It also shook violently and she looked ready to fall to the ground again any second.
"Pinkie, how could you do such a horrible thing?" she asked with tears in her eyes- from the pain in her hoof or the realization of what Pinkie had been doing for so long finally sinking in, it was hard to tell. "I honestly thought you were our friend!"
"But Twilight, I am your friend!" Pinkie said from the ground. "That's why I'm doing this! That way, I can be with my friends forever!"
"That would make an interesting letter to Princess Celestia," Twilight said, then laughed a little crazily.
"You four silly fillies, I'll always think of you guys as my friends!" Pinkie continued. "In fact, wanna try my last batch of cupcakes? Since I'm your good friend Pinkie, I'm just offering my best friends a snack!"
"NO!" Applejack roared. "Why, you evil little-"
"Applejack, please," Fluttershy whispered in a nervous voice. "I don't think it's a good idea to upset her!"
"Ha, Pinkie can't do nothin', don't worry about her! Why, ah think ah kicked her so hard- well, let's just say that if Pinkie was an apple tree, she wouldn't have no apples left on her now!"
"Who was the last pony you killed for your... baked goods?" Twilight asked Pinkie.
"I can't tell you that, silly! That would ruin the surprise! But you know mean old Gilda? I got her once, but Dashie already knows that."
"You killed GILDA for cupcakes?" Twilight gasped.
"Yep!" Pinkie replied. "It was amazing! She tasted like two different animals at once!"
"Girls, let's just stop and wait for the guards," Rarity said. "Why are we talking to a psycho like her anyways?"
"Good point," Applejack said. "But we still better keep an eye on her till the guards arrive."
Pinkie laughed.
"You've been so busy watching me, you forgot to keep an eye on Gummy!"
The four ponies froze and looked over at the wall where Gummy had been lying on the floor. He was no longer there. Pinkie laughed again.
"Where is the alligator?" Fluttershy asked, terrified.
"Silly Gummy, stop playing hide-and-seek and go and get them!" Pinkie laughed.
Applejack heard something behind her and she moved out of the way just in time before Gummy landed on her.
Gummy landed on the basement floor. Twilight concentrated, then shot a spell at the alligator. Gummy moved in time to avoid the spell which hit the floor in a shower of sparks, and he jumped at Fluttershy, who screamed and covered her eyes with her hooves. Applejack jumped and used her head to knock Gummy out of the air before he landed on Fluttershy, and the alligator landed on the floor again.
"Rarity, look out!" Twilight screamed as Gummy jumped again.
Rarity screamed and by instinct, shot a spell. It was a lucky hit, and Gummy fell to the floor, momentarily stunned.
"Get him, Applejack!" Rarity yelled.
Applejack went to kick the alligator across the room, but Gummy jumped up and bit Applejack's leg. Applejack yelled and shook off the alligator, but her leg was bleeding.
Twilight aimed another spell at Gummy but it missed, ricocheting off the floor and hitting Pinkie's "Life is a Party" banner, blasting a hole through it.
"Aw, Twilight, you ruined my banner!" Pinkie said. "Get her, Gummy!"
Gummy jumped at Twilight's face, but Twilight, barely in time, used her horn to knock the alligator to the floor once again. Applejack ran up and kicked Gummy before the alligator could recover, and he once again went flying across the room. He smacked into the wall even harder than last time, and his metal false teeth fell out.
The four ponies turned back to Pinkie, who was just starting to get up from the floor. They all glared at her. Pinkie stopped and laughed nervously.
After about five more minutes of tense silence, with Twilight and Applejack watching Pinkie, and Fluttershy and Rarity keeping an eye on the motionless Gummy, they all heard footsteps running down the stairs. They all turned as eight Royal Guards ran into the room, four of them unicorns and the other four Pegasi ponies who were holding spears.
Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity all breathed a sigh of relief.
"The doc must have somehow got word to the princess!" Applejack said.
"You four need to leave," one of the guards said in a stern voice to them. "We'll take it from here."
As the four ponies began to leave the basement and the guards moved in to take away Pinkie Pie, Pinkie began to laugh uncontrollably.
When the four friends got upstairs, Fluttershy spoke.
"What do you think is going to happen to Pinkie?"
"We'll worry about that later," Twilight said. "Right now, we need to get to the hospital to check on Rainbow Dash! Oh... I really hope she's all right!"
"I'm sorry, you can't go in there, her condition is too bad!" the nurse said fourth time.
"We are her friends!" Applejack said. "We're worried, an' we wanna know how she's doin'!"
The nurse sighed.
"I'll tell you ponies the truth. Rainbow Dash... Might not make it. She has severe internal bleeding, she's in shock, she's unconscious, and many of her vital organs are missing. I've honestly never seen a pony this badly injured before. We're doing everything we can... But it may not be enough."
"She's dyin'?"
The nurse sighed again.
"I'm not sure there's much more we can do. And even if I was allowed to let you in- which I'm not- you couldn't talk to her anyways. Like I said, she's unconscious."
"If Rainbow Dash is indeed dying, we must see her!" Rarity said.
"She still can be saved!" the nurse said, but there was a hint of doubt in her voice. "And the surgeons are working to save her. If you go in there, you'll distract them. If you want even a chance of your friend surviving, you'll allow the doctors to continue operating on her without you distracting them!"
Twilight suddenly fell down. She got back up, embarrassed, her wounded leg shaking.
"Sorry- my leg's hurting worse now. Pinkie's alligator really bit me."
"Heavens!" the nurse said. "Has that been disinfected?"
"Well, no, but-"
"I'll help you with your leg, dear, that wound must be cleaned and disinfected," the nurse said.
"Um, nurse?" Applejack said. "Ah got bit also, do ah need treatment?"
The nurse inspected the bite on Applejack's leg.
"Not as bad as your friend here, but all the same, yes, that needs medicine. I'll help you two, but then I'm afraid you must go. If you spend all day here in the hospital waiting for news about your friend Rainbow Dash, it will increase your stress and anxiety."
***
"Well, that was a total waste of time," Rarity grumbled as they left the hospital.
"Not completely," Twilight said. "For one thing, my leg already feels better- that medicine they gave me is very effective."
"And we know that Rainbow Dash is still alive," Fluttershy added.
Applejack sighed.
"Ah'm so worried about her. Did you hear that nurse? She made it sound like Rainbow was dyin'. I really hope she'll be ok."
"What about Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked. "What will happen to her?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight replied. "I can write a letter to the princess when we get back to my library."
***
When the four ponies got back to the library, Spike met them at the door.
"Twilight, you got a letter from Princess Celestia!" Spike said, holding out a scroll. "It came while you were gone. By the way, did you ever find Rainbow and Pinkie?"
"Oh, we found them all right," Twilight muttered. She took the scroll from Spike and walked into the library with her friends right behind her.
Once in the library, Twilight opened the scroll and read it out loud for her other friends to hear.
"Dear Twilight, my most faithful student, I got word of what has happened. We have a very serious problem, now that we know what Pinkamena is really like. I need you and your friends to meet me in Canterlot immediately. We have a lot to discuss. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."
The four ponies looked at each other.
"We better get going so we can see the princess as soon as possible," Twilight said.
"Shouldn't maybe one of us stay in Ponyville, in case we get word on Rainbow's condition?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight sighed.
"We all want to stay in Ponyville in case we get a report on Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "but the princess is requesting our presence. I'm sure she wouldn't call all of us unless it was something of vital importance- and I'm sure we can all agree that giving information about Pinkie to her is important."
"Well... Ok," Fluttershy said.
"Come on, girls!" Twilight said. "We're going to Canterlot!"
*** (Part 2)
The eight royal guards marched Pinkamena out of Sugarcube Corner and to the closed carriage waiting outside. The unicorn guards threw Pinkamena in the back of the carriage and then got in themselves to keep an eye on her. Two more of the guards, the pegasi, went to the front of the carriage and hooked themselves up to it so they could fly it back to Canterlot. The last two guards, the other pegasi, were staying at Sugarcube corner until more guards could arrive to search the place.
Mrs. Cake walked for the door, but one of the guards staying behind lowered his spear at her.
"Suspects aren't allowed to leave the building."
Mrs. Cake was confused and frightened.
"A suspect? Me? I don't even know what's going on here!"
"Dozens of ponies, maybe more, murdered and turned into baked goods in your own basement and you didn't know about it? That sounds a bit suspicious to me," the Royal Guard said.
"That's what Pinkie has been doing in my basement?" Mrs. Cake cried, horrified and disgusted. "I didn't know anything about that! I never go down there! I'm... I'm innocent!"
That may or may not be true, but you are still a suspect, and will therefor remain here until more guards come to sort this out."
With those words, the Guard turned to the other guard next to him. "Why don't you go check out the basement? Report every half hour on anything new you found."
"I'm sure I'll find a lot of things down there," the other Guard said, sounding nauseous, but he headed for the basement anyways.
Back outside, the two pegasus guards had finally secured themselves to the carriage.
"Are we all ready?" one of the unicorn guards from inside the carriage called.
"Yes, sir," the pegasus guards replied in unison.
"Then let's go."
***
Halfway on the flight to Canterlot, Pinkamena started laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" one of the guards demanded.
"Nothing, it's just that... that... life is such a... PARTY!" Pinkamena yelled, laughing harder.
The guard that had spoken looked at the others in confusion.
"Ignore her," another guard told him. "She's a psycho."
Pinkamena continued laughing all the way to Canterlot.
***
When the carriage carrying Pinkamena landed in front of Canterlot castle, it was instantly surrounded by twelve unicorn Royal Guards, ready to kill if necessary. These guards had been told that this prisoner was extremely dangerous and that she was not to be underestimated.
The first pony to step out the back of the carriage, her hair hanging over her face in strands and a crazy grin on her face, was Pinkamena. She was accompanied by a Royal Guard. The other three guards stepped out behind them.
One of the twelve other Royal Guards stepped out of the circle and stood in front of Pinkamena.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie," the guard began, "You're under arrest for multiple accounts of murder, kidnapping, torturing other ponies, and... cannibalism."
Pinkamena laughed. "Oh, silly, you make it sound so bad! All I ever did was make cupcakes with my friends!"
The guard sighed and he turned to the others.
"Take her to the Canterlot Dungeons, Mentally Unstable section. High security cell."
***
An escort of twenty-two most elite Royal Guards led Pinkamena into the castle and deep underground where the dungeons were. They led her to a solitary cell with magically enhanced walls that made it nearly impossible to break out. The cell door was made of unicorn-made magically reinforced steel and the door could only be unlocked by magic. This was the cell that they threw Pinkamena into, and they locked the door.
*** (Part 3)
Twilight and her friends met Princess Celestia at the entrance to the castle. The princess was looking unusually grim.
"We came as soon as we got your letter," Twilight said.
"Thank you," Celestia said. "I know you're all worried about your friend Rainbow Dash, and I'm sorry I had to bring you here at such an inconvenient time, but I assure you, I wouldn't have asked for you to be here unless it was very important."
"We understand, princess," Twilight said. "Where is Pinkie now?"
"Pinkamena is locked in the castle dungeons for now," Celestia replied. "I honestly don't know what we are going to do with her."
"Princess, Pinkie is one of the Elements of Harmony. Does this mean that, without her, they'll be useless?"
"I'm afraid so," Celestia said. "That's one of the things I'm worried about. In the event of an attack, one of our main defenses would be useless."
"Princess, do you think Rainbow Dash will be ok?" Rarity asked.
"I honestly don't know," Celestia replied, closing her eyes for a moment. "But if it makes you feel any better, I've sent the best doctors in Equestria to try and help her recover."
Twilight and her friends followed Princess Celestia inside the castle.
"Pinkamena must have talked to you when you discovered her today," Celestia said as they walked. "Did she, by any chance, say anything useful?"
"I think she's always been like that, Princess," Twilight said sadly. "She told us she's been doing it before I even moved to Ponyville."
"It's a very good thing you finally discovered her," Celestia said. "If you hadn't, many more ponies could have died."
"Princess, are ya... are ya gonna... kill her?" Applejack asked.
"I am above such a thing, Applejack," the princess replied, "but something must be done about her."
"Princess," Twilight asked, "if Equestria faced another threat, like Discord or Nightmare Moon, how would it be stopped without the Elements?"
"I'm afraid we'll just have to worry about that when and if it actually happens."
They reached the Throne Room. Princess Celestia led them inside.
"I know how worried you are about your friend Rainbow Dash," Celestia repeated from earlier. "I'll try to keep this visit as short as possible. There's just one more thing I must ask you to do before you leave."
"Yes, Princess?" Twilight asked.
"I need you four to go down to the dungeons with me to talk to Pinkamena."
"Um... Do I have to?" Fluttershy asked in a terrified voice.
***
The dungeons were deep underground. It took almost five minutes to get halfway down the staircase that led to them.
When the five ponies reached the bottom of the staircase, Rarity squealed.
"Oh my, it's so messy and dirty and filthy down here!"
Twilight wondered how Rainbow Dash would have replied to that. Probably something like Well, it is a dungeon. Or maybe, Don't all those words mean the same thing?
Princess Celestia led them down several hallways and finally into a small room where there was a single prison cell in the side wall. The five of them went to the door of the cell and peeked inside.
"Hi, guys!" Pinkamena said. "Ready to make cupcakes with me now?"
Twilight and her friends and even Princess Celestia just glared at the crazy pony sitting in the prison cell.
Gummy lurked in the basement, forgotten about. In the darkness, he slid his own false teeth back into his mouth.
***
The Royal Guard that was keeping an eye on Mrs. Cake at Sugarcube Corner was getting worried about his friend in the basement. It had been almost two hours now and he hadn't came back up to report anything yet. The guard who was upstairs wanted to go check on his partner to make sure everything was all right, but he couldn't. He had a suspect to watch.
Fifteen minutes later, a carriage finally arrived outside with more Royal Guards. They all went inside Sugarcube Corner and the guard that had been waiting for them sighed in relief. Now he could go check on his partner in the basement.
"Keep an eye on Mrs. Cake," the guard said to three of the newcomers. They nodded.
"You two," the guard said to two others, "come with me."
The guard led the two other guards down into the basement. At the bottom of the staircase, one guard flicked on the lights and the guard that had stayed at Sugarcube Corner finally realized why his partner hadn't came upstairs to report before. The other guard that had been sent down to check out the basement was lying near the staircase, dead. His throat had been chewed open and there was a huge puddle of blood that had spread out from where he lie.
"Oh, no," the dead guard's partner said. "We forgot the alligator!"
They called more guards downstairs. They searched everywhere, all over the basement. Gummy was nowhere to be found.
***
In Canterlot, down in the dungeons, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy stood by one of the cells that Pinkamena was contained in.
"What made you start doing this, Pinkie?" Twilight demanded.
"Because everypony in Ponyville is my friend, and I want my friends to be with me forever!" Pinkie said.
"Ya think murderin' yer friends is the best way to do that?" Applejack asked.
"But if my friends are dead, I can be with them forever!"
"That is just messed up!" Rarity said. She turned to her friends.
"Of all the things that could happen, this is the worst! Possible! Thing!"
"Pinkamena... Why?" Celestia asked.
"I already told you, silly! To make cupcakes and be with them forever! Rarity, I should have showed you my Cutie Mark coat that was in my basement, I think even you'd be impressed!"
"I highly doubt it," Rarity said. "That doesn't sound fashionble at all."
"I think we are done here," Celestia said to the four ponies. "I have a lot to think about."
***
At the hospital, Rainbow Dash was still unconscious. It was near the end of the day, and the doctors were still operating. They were doing their best, but Rainbow was still dying.
"What are we going to do?" one of the surgeons asked the head doctor in the room. "The only way she'll live is if we replace her lost insides with artificial ones."
"That's what we may have to do," the head doctor agreed.
"This is going to be messy," the surgeon said. "The missing organs weren't cut out cleanly. In order to put artificial ones in, we'll have to cut the remains of the already missing ones out."
"Will she live?" the head doctor asked.
"I don't know, do I, buck it!" the surgeon said.
The head doctor stared.
"Sorry," the surgeon said. "I'm just so frustrated right now. Princess Celestia has made it a top priority that this pony survives, and right now, that's not going to happen!"
"What do you mean?"
"What the buck does it look like? Look at her! Her stomach is slit open, she's covered with blood, and a whole bunch of her guts are missing!"
"Then you better get your flank moving," the head doctor said calmly.
The surgeon turned to the other surgeons and picked up a scalpel.
"Let's get this done."
Very carefully, the surgeons began to cut away the remains of Rainbow's torn out organs so that they could replace them. The blades of the scalpels were soon dripping with blood. The surgeons put the little pieces of insides in a bucket next to Rainbow's bed.
After three hours of careful work, the surgeons were done.
"Are you ready to put in the artificial organs?" the head doctor asked.
"Yes, we're ready," one of the surgeons said.
The doctor opened the door to Rainbow's room and called out to a pony in the hall.
"Bring them in."
A nurse came into the room, wheeling a cart. The cart contained all the artificial organs on it that Rainbow needed. They were made of light metal and had tiny tubes for carrying blood. Created with unicorn magic, they were made to act just like a normal organ inside the body.
"This is an extremely delicate process," one of the surgeons said. "If one of these organs is not placed correctly, there will be more internal bleeding, and she will die."
The surgeons got to work right away. They carefully began attaching the artificial organs inside Rainbow Dash's body. At one point, blood sprayed up from Rainbow Dash's insides, and the surgeon backed away suddenly.
"Watch what you're doing, dumbflank!" another surgeon hissed. Are you trying to kill her?"
The surgeons finally got done with their extremely delicate work at about the time the sun was rising. After cleaning up the last pieces of guts from Dash's insides, they used a magic needle and thread to sew her stomach back together. The thread would dissolve by itself after a week when the wound was healed and reduce scarring.
"Good. Now, you can start working on the areas where her Cutie Marks got cut-"
"That won't be necessary, doc," one of the surgeons sighed. "Look."
Next to Dash's bed was a monitor that had a line across the screen. If the patient's heart was beating, the line would move. But the line wasn't moving. It was completely still.
***
Pinkie sat in her cell in the dungeons, waiting patiently. It wouldn't be long now.
Pinkie couldn't wait to get back to Ponyville so she could finish what she had started with Dash. She was disappointed that things hadn't worked out the first time, but there was always a next time.
Footsteps approached the cell- the guard coming to check on her. Time to escape.
Pinkie crouched next to the wall right next to the cell door. A normal pony wouldn't have been able to hide there without being seen, but this was Pinkie. She could do a lot of things that didn't make sense to ponies.
She heard the guard's questioning gasp of surprise as he looked into the cell and didn't see anypony there. He used his magic, unlocked the door, stepped into the cell-
Pinkie pounced, jumping on top of the Royal Guard and sinking her teeth into his throat. As warm blood gushed into her mouth, the guard screamed and used magic to throw her off of him but the damage had been done.
The guard stumbled away from Pinkie to the cell door, but his artery had been chewed open, and blood was spraying from his neck. Pinkie ran over to the guard again and stuck her face in the jet, drinking his blood while it soaked her face. After a few more seconds, the guard fell to the floor and stopped moving.
The door was still open. It was time to get out of there.
Pinkie walked outside the cell and walked toward the exit of the room which led to the rest of the dungeons. She snuck through the dark, several times having to suddenly turn down another corridor in order to avoid the guards. One time, a guard spotted her but Pinkie just jumped on him and twisted his head until she heard something crack very loudly.
It seemed to take forever, but Pinkie finally made it to the staircase that led out of he dungeons. She ran up the staircase in a few minutes, and stepped into the bright light of a large, nice room in Celestia's castle. She looked around but no guards were around. She began to sneak around the castle, avoiding the areas that were guarded by Celestia's Royal Guards.
Pinkie finally found a back exit that led to the castle gardens. Pinkie simply escaped to the front of the castle through the gardens, and she began to follow the road back to Ponyville, obviously not actually walking on the road, and with that, Pinkie's prison break was complete.
The surgeons and the doctor stared at the line on the screen, the line that wasn't moving at all, in horror.
"She- she-"
"What are you doing?" the other surgeon asked. "Buck it, I'll do this myself."
The surgeon placed both of his hooves on Rainbow Dash's chest, and began fast compressions. The line on the screen still didn't move. Rainbow was not breathing.
The surgeon growled in frustration; they hadn't just operated on Rainbow Dash the whole night just so she could die in the morning.
"Get the defibrillator!" he shouted at his partner. The other surgeon nodded quickly and passed the device over.
The surgeon turned on the device, rubbed the two paddles together, and slapped them against Rainbow's chest. The body convulsed, but still didn't breathe, and the line on the screen did not move. The surgeon did it again, but it was still no good.
Frustrated, the surgeon tried a third time, and slapped the paddles down. This time, when Rainbow convulsed from the electric shock, she let out a sharp gasp and opened her eyes. The surgeons looked in surprise at the line on the screen; it showed that Rainbow's heart was beating slowly and irregularly, but it was at least beating.
Rainbow Dash slowly sat up and tried to talk, blinking her eyelids, but all that came out of her mouth was a spongy wad of blood. The surgeons laid her slowly back down on the bed.
"Try not to move," the head surgeon told her. "You've been through a lot in the last day, you need to rest now."
***
When one of the doctors went to tell Rainbow's friends that she was going to be ok, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were overjoyed to hear that Rainbow Dash was alive and recovering at the hospital, and they met up and quickly rushed there to see her, however, a strict nurse was guarding the door to Rainbow's room.
"I'm sorry, but she's still too weak to see visitors!" the nurse told the four for the third time. "She can't get too excited, it would not be good for her!"
"We just wanted to see if she's alright-" Twilight began.
"We told you she is going to be alright!" the nurse said. "But not if you go in there now and get her all excited!"
***
Rainbow Dash, after she felt a bit better, spent the rest of the day lying in the hospital bed reading Daring Do books. It still hurt to talk, and her stomach felt very strange because of all of the artificial organs, but other than that, she felt mostly fine. She was still upset that Pinkie had tried to kill her and was very sad that Pinkie's true self was twisted and evil, and she had cried a little, but had stopped whenever a doctor or nurse went in to check on her. She was also upset over the loss of her wings, but the doctors had said that they could be replaced, they couldn't do it right then because they didn't have the materials. The doctors had, however, gotten her cutie marks back on, using a bit of science and magic, and there would be little scarring.
By early evening, Rainbow was also surprised that none of her other friends had came to check on her on how she was doing, but came to the conclusion that the doctors just wouldn't let them yet.
Rainbow began to feel drowsy by the time the sky was completely dark, and she drifted off to sleep.
***
Rainbow had a nightmare sometime during the night. Pinkie was standing over her hospital bed with a knife, and she was about to bring it down-
Rainbow's eyes popped open, and she rolled out of the way right before the knife slashed into her pillow. This wasn't a dream, this was reality. The doctor had told her that morning that Pinkie Pie was in prison, but it looked like the crazy pony had escaped.
Rainbow rolled off the bed and landed on the floor with a thud, causing the stumps where her wings had been to flare with agony. Pinkie was about to jump on top of her, but then both of them heard hoofsteps running towards the door. Pinkie jumped off the bed, ran over to the door, and with a burst of strength, rammed the knife into the door handle, preventing the door from being unlocked from the outside.
"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash gasped.
The crazy pony flipped on the light switch, flooding the room with light, as hooves pounded on the other side of the door, trying to get it open. She giggled.
"I told you I'd finish you, Dashie!"
Pinkie picked up a scalpel that a surgeon had left sitting in the room, and Rainbow backed away, wary.
"What's the matter, Dashie? Don't you want to make cupcakes with me?"
"Pinkie, stop!" Rainbow shouted. "Just stop!"
Pinkie ran at Rainbow with the scalpel, and Rainbow backed away, and suddenly felt light-headed; she was still recovering from what had happened to her earlier, and she fell to the floor. The scalpel slashed right where her face had been a moment before, and Pinkie tripped over Rainbow and fell to the floor herself, losing the scalpel in the process.
Rainbow tried to stand up, but Pinkie got up a second before she did, and jumped on the blue pony, wrapping her hooves around her neck. Rainbow tried to throw her off, but it was no use, she couldn't breathe, and she hadn't had time to take a breath before Pinkie had grabbed her neck. Already, her vision was going black and she had no strength left.
"I wanted... this to be more fun... Dashie... but... this will have to do..."
Rainbow Dash gasped uselessly for air, about to pass out.
As Rainbow's vision went completely dark, the door to the hospital room was blasted open, and the doctor, a surgeon, and four royal guards rushed into the room. All four of the royal guards were unicorns.
"Pinkie!" the doctor shouted. "Did you really think we would leave our patient unguarded?"
Pinkie giggled, still holding Rainbow Dash by the neck in front of the hospital bed.
"Well, silly, you didn't do a very good job, now did you?"
The doctor glared.
"There are more guards on their way now. When they get here, you will be arrested again. Now, put the patient down right now.
Pinkie laughed.
"Have it your way!"
With a surprising amount of strength, Pinkie hurled Rainbow's limp body into two of the guards, knocking them down, and she ran, jumping out the window. The two guards that were still on their hooves ran over to the window and looked down.
"She's still alive," one of them observed. "And she's running away."
"Well, what are you two waiting for?" the doctor gasped. "Go after her!"
As the two royal guards that had been knocked down laid the unconscious Rainbow Dash back on the hospital bed, the other two ran out of the room to go after Pinkie Pie.
