Rainbow After The Storm
by milesprower06

Chapter 7
Realization and Confrontation

SWEET APPLE ACRES
PRESENT DAY

Applejack found herself unable to think as she stared into the menacing blue eyes of the Cupcake Killer. Her long, desaturated mane dropped down the left side of her head, and nearly nearly touched Applejack's neck as Pinkamena slowly lowered her face toward the farm pony's. As the inches decreased between them, Applejack's eyes darted for a split second over to Rainbow, still sleeping soundly next to her. Barely centimeters from her face, the killer finally spoke.

“I see you're having your own private party with Rainbow out here!” she said, in a frighteningly cheery tone. Applejack wasn't sure if she was dreaming, but she decided to treat Pinkamena as a very real threat.

“Ah don't know what you're doing here or how...” AJ began, fighting through her fear, “but you touch her, and I'll make you regret ever coming back.”

Pinkie seemed to completely ignore AJ's threat.

“So, how does she taste?” she asked seductively, licking Applejack's neck. “I just tried one of her meaty thighs, but I see you went for the juiciest part...”

AJ continued leering at Pinkamena as she was pinned to the ground.

“What's the matter, Applejack? I can't come to visit my friends?”
“You're not my friend. You're a sick twisted freak in her mind.”

“Same body, same mind, Applejackie. Besides, I still consider you my friend. Even after the rude way you interrupted her very special party. Isn't that nice of me? To forgive and forget? I paid Lyra a visit last night, too.”

“Ghosts don't last forever.” Applejack stated, saying it as much to herself as she did to Pinkamena.

“Oh, and I suppose you're Ponyville's expert on ghosts? I'm not going anywhere. She'll never get rid of it. And soon, I'll be strong enough to continue my parties. I'm sure Dashie is eager to finish hers.

AJ felt a surge of anger rise up in her chest.

“You lay one hoof on her, and I swear to Celestia, I will find a way to make ghosts feel pain.”

Pinkamena looked astounded.

“You'd go so far as to hurt me when all I want to do is keep my friends forever?”

Applejack leered at her.

“Yes. The kind of unimaginable pain you put her through. And I don't care what you say; you are NOT my friend.”

“You should learn to not say such mean things, AJ. Even after I forgave you!” Pinkamena said, sounding insulted. “It's weird, all the friends I made, all the ponies I threw parties for; you brought an end to it all...”

She placed her front hooves on both sides of her head, finally releasing Applejack.

“Don't worry, Applejack. The stage isn't set just yet. First, things have to be shaken up a bit for my greatest party ever!”

With that, Pinkamena twisted her head violently to the left, snapping her own neck.

Applejack screamed at the sickening crack, and Pinkamena vanished.

Roused by the scream, Rainbow sat up.

“Hey, what's going on?” she asked, her sleep suddenly disturbed, She then saw the frightened look on her friend's face.

“AJ, are you alright?”

Applejack simply stared wide-eyed at where Pinkamena had been.

“Applejack...what's wrong?” Rainbow asked, her concern growing.

AJ didn't have an opportunity to respond before they both noticed something wrong beneath their hooves.

The ground had begun to vibrate.

“What on earth...?” Rainbow asked quizzically at the phenomenon.

Then came the jolt, as both ponies were nearly knocked off their feet as the shaking increased tenfold.

An earthquake.

The apples swayed on the branches in the orchard. Some fell to the grass. Applejack and Rainbow Dash managed to keep their footing, and soon, got their bearings.

“Come on, we gotta get back to the house!”

They galloped as best they could back towards the farm house. Arriving in a matter of minutes, they were about to burst in the front door when they heard someone screaming at them from over by the barn.

“Rainbow! Sis! Over here!!!” they heard Applebloom cry out to them. They turned to look, and saw that the rest of the family had taken cover in the apple cellar underneath the barn. Rushing to join them, AJ and Rainbow descended the stairs, and Big Mac immediately closed the doors, hearing a window shatter in the shaking.

Sitting in the cellar with nothing but a dim lantern under a shaking barn was unnerving. But about five minutes later, it finally came to a stop. Waiting perfectly still to make sure there weren't any immediate aftershocks, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, and headed back outside to survey the damage, of which, fortunately, there was very little. A bunch of frightened and spooked farm animals, and a few broken windows, but other than that, everything else seemed to hold together.

“We've gotta get into town. Make sure everypony else is okay.” Rainbow said, her thoughts falling to her other friends.

Big Mac, Granny, and Applebloom agreed to gather up what spare supplies they could and would head into town after them. Together, Rainbow and Applejack headed through the night towards Ponyville, which was understandably in a bustle after the quake. Coming in the east side of town, one of the first things Rainbow took notice of was no one was attending the Feed 'n' Seed. Marty was no where to be seen. The streets were full of disturbed and confused ponies, some who had most likely woke up when the quake was just coming to an end, and were wondering what had just happened. Fortunately, most of the damage seemed to be limited to broken windows and minor structural damage.

That is, until they came to the center of town, and Rainbow's heart sank in her chest.

The memorial fountain had been reduced to a pile of rubble.

“No way a normal quake could do that...on something that small and sturdy?” she wondered aloud.

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy had likewise rendezvoused in the center of town.

“Y'all okay?” Applejack asked, the five of them getting together.

“Yeah. All I have to deal with is a bunch of un-shelved books.” Twilight reported.

“Just a lot of spooked critters. I've gotten them all calmed down.” Fluttershy commented.

Their individual damage assessments were brought to a halt by a commotion heard over by Sugarcube Corner.

“Honey, we don't even know what causes it!” they heard Carrot Cake say to his wife.
“Exactly, and until somepony figures out what it is, I'm not setting hoof in that building!”

“What's going on?” Twilight asked, the group approaching the couple on the steps of Sugarcube Corner.

“Cup Cake's been hearing weird noises in the basement the past few days.” Carrot Cake claimed. Cup Cake nodded.

“Mostly it was just soft whimpering, barely noticeable. At first I thought I was hearing things. But during the quake, it turned into full on screaming. It was earsplitting. And I'm not going back in there until we get an exorcist in there or something!”

With that, Cup Cake ran off to see what she could do to help, her husband in tow.

“Something is wrong here, guys. Something is very, very wrong.” Rainbow cautioned.

“Let's go check out the basement.” Twilight suggested. She immediately turned to Rainbow. “If you want to stay up here, we'd certainly understand.”

“And let you guys deal with it alone? No way. I don't care what happened down there. I'm still the Element of Loyalty.” Rainbow immediately rebuked.

Together, the five friends entered Sugarcube corner, and descended the steps into the basement.

The lights flickered, the old electric wiring not holding up considerably well against the quake. Some of the cobblestone wall had also fallen to the floor. As they turned the corner, they were shocked at what they saw before them.

Blocking the door to the back room entirely, from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, was a shimmering, flaming green barrier. The attempts to approach it were futile. Some otherworldly force blocked all progress as they closed in to about 10 feet. Twilight tried spell after spell, to absolutely no effect. Beyond the thrums and humming of the barrier itself, they all heard the soft whimpering, barely audible above the ambiance of the barrier.

“Alright. Who could possibly know anything about something like this?” Applejack asked.

After a moment of thought, Twilight had an idea.

“Zecora!” she exclaimed.

With nods from the group, the five ponies ran out of the basement back up to the black Ponyville night. They continued south through town, and continued along the path into the Everfree Forest. It was here they had to slow their pace considerably, keeping out of the way of plants like the Poison Joke, not to mention the increased darkness the forest canopy brought.

Once they caught sight of Zecora's mud hut, they made a break for it.

“Zecora!” Twilight called. The mohawk-haired zebra poked her head out into the forest night, and saw her quickly approaching guests.

“Ponies, come in, come in for goodness sake. It is good to see none of you harmed in the quake.”

The five of them entered her hut, escaping the chilly breeze of the forest.

“Now, what can I do for you at this hour? I certainly hope it is within my power?” Zecora asked.

“Do you know anything about spirits and ghosts? Not to mention what might have caused this quake. Ponyville isn't anywhere near any major fault lines.” Twilight said.

Before Zecora had a chance to speak, Applejack stepped up.

“Now hold on guys...I...I think I know what the problem may be here.”

All eyes were now on the workhorse.

“And what would the problem be?” Twilight asked.

“Call me crazy, but...Pinkie.”

Nopony immediately replied to what was just said.

“Darling, how would that be possible?” Rarity asked after a few moments of silence.

“The same way that magical field down in the basement is possible. I saw her, tonight. Not the Pinkie we were friends with. No, the crazy one, the one who wrote most of that journal of hers.”

“I think AJ is right, guys. I think Pinkamena is trying something. Something bad.”

“You've seen her too?” AJ asked, turning her head to Rainbow.

Rainbow nodded. “A few nights ago, after our first night together, just before Luna showed up with the journal.”

“She seemed to mostly want to scare me, it seemed like.” AJ added.

“By drawing out your fear, the ghost may thrive. Because you two were the last to see her alive.” Zecora hypothesized.

“She only came to you in your dreams?” AJ asked. Rainbow nodded affirmatively. “She seemed awfully real to me. Pinned me to the grass, snapped her own neck, and then she vanished. That's when the earthquake started.”

“So what's that got to do with the voices Mrs. Cake's been hearing? The force field in the basement?”

Something clicked in Rainbow's head.

“In that journal, there were two distinct personalities. The Pinkie we all knew, and then this “Pinkamena” personality, that first appeared the day of her surprise birthday party. As the journal went on, and the murders continued, Pinkie became effectively trapped in her own mind. Forced to watch, unable to control anything. But it was still the same body.”

Zecora sensed what Rainbow was getting at.

“If this Pinkamena is after you, then the friend you knew is around here too! I'm sure by now we can all see, that only a supernatural occurrence can this quake be. As she feeds on the town's fear, her power grows. What she'll do then, no one knows. Pinkamena is creating fear, and we must stop her, now and here!”

“But...how?” AJ asked.

“This evil, back down to the depths we must send, and the only one who knows how, is your long lost friend!”