The Cupcake Killer
A 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' Fanfiction
by milesprower06, in collaboration with Ace2401

Chapter 1
Remembrance

PONYVILLE OUTSKIRTS
THE NEXT MORNING

As the first rays from the rising sun began to shine on Ponyville, Rainbow Dash walked somberly up the dirt path towards the town, her Wonderbolt hoodie snug around her body as the crisp morning air moved past. She was still very conflicted inside; Applejack was right. Pinkie and her victims were no more, and that was why she wasn't quite sure how to deal with that feeling. Was she supposed to talk to someone? Just wait for everything to feel...right?

As she came into the first parts of town, she passed a turquoise unicorn sitting on a bench. She was holding something small in her hooves, and she looked as if she was quivering. Rainbow came closer, and realized she had seen this pony around town before.

“Hey there. Lyra, was it? How're you doing?”

Lyra looked up at Rainbow, with golden, watery eyes.

“Oh, h-hi Rainbow Dash. Glad to see you're recovering well. That was...was quite the race you ran last week.”

Her voice was shaking, and it seemed like she had done a bit of crying recently. Rainbow took a seat next to her on the bench.

“What's wrong, Lyra?”

Lyra turned her hooves towards Rainbow, showing she was holding a small gold pendant necklace.

“It's...it's Bon-bon...” she said, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears again.

Suddenly, a flashback hit Rainbow.

In the basement – strapped to the planks – Pinkie – her dress – sewn from all the cutie marks of her past victims...

One of them was three wrapped candies...

'Oh no...' Rainbow swallowed.

“She left for a candy fair and convention over in Hoofington several weeks ago. She was supposed to be back last week, but no one had any idea where she was. I started to fear the worst, as those disappearances had been happening for months and...and...”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she took in a staggered breath.

“They just told me last night. This was found in the basement of Sugarcube Corner, and her cutie mark was on that psycho's dress...”

Lyra fell into a sob, and Rainbow felt helpless. She had been just seconds away from the same fate.

Rainbow felt the subtlest sense of irony. Through her recovery, she had been the victim, brought through her ordeal by very dear friends. And now here she was, trying to figure out how to help someone else, who had lost a very dear friend. She put her arm around the shuddering figure of Lyra.

“I...I know it's hard, losing someone very special. Thinking that life will never be the same. But if anything, I know she'd want you to be strong, Lyra. At least it's over.”

Lyra gave her a teary nod.

“Thanks Rainbow, you're right. I have to find my way through this, just like you are. I can't imagine it's easy for you. Always being on the ground now.”

“I'm finding ways to adapt. It hasn't been easy in any sense, but I've been doing a lot of thinking. And the Running of the Leaves was something of a distraction, as well.”

“Rainbow...I – I have to know. What happened to you? What happened to Bon-bon?”

Rainbow went wide-eyed for just a moment.

“You don't want to know, Lyra.”

“Rainbow, I saw you when you first came out of the hospital. I see the scars on you-”

“And if those don't give you enough mental images, I'm not going to give you any more.” Rainbow said gently, but sternly. “You don't want to do that to yourself, Lyra.”

“I-I just don't want to think that she suffered...” Lyra said shakily.

“Then don't think about it. Remember her for who she was. Don't focus on what happened down there, okay?”

It didn't look like Lyra was satisfied, but she sniffled and nodded. Rainbow gave her a comforting hug, and was on her way into town.

Honestly, the Running of the Leaves had been a distraction. She needed something to focus on other than those lingering thoughts in her head, and AJ wouldn't let her do any chores yet, so that's why she ran.

But now those lingering thoughts were back. She couldn't help but feel partly responsible for what Pinkie had done...

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO...

“Thanks a lot for coming, guys! It was a blast! Happy Birthday Spike!” Pinkie yelled out, waving from her bedroom window on the second story of Sugarcube Corner. She had just thrown Spike a surprise birthday party.

Spike sheepishly waved back up at Pinkie, and thanked her for the festivities.

“See ya tomorrow, Pinkie!” Rainbow waved goodbye to her along with the others, then they were on their way.

With Spike happily munching away on a bowl of leftover gems, Rainbow looked up at the starry sky as she glided above her friends.

“Guys, I have an idea I've been thinking about.” she announced.

“Oh? Go on.” Twilight encouraged.

“Well, Pinkie's birthday is in a couple weeks. I know she always plans and organizes the parties around Ponyville, but I thought it would be awesome if we could throw her a surprise birthday party!”

“Rainbow, that's a great idea! She'd never expect it!” Applejack heartily agreed.

“But where could we organize it? Pinkie's all over the place.” Rarity inquired.

“How about the barn over on the Acres? There's not much in there right now, plenty of space!” Applejack offered.

“And I'm sure the Cakes could keep a secret if I placed an order for a birthday cake for her.”

“I could decorate the barn! It'll look fabulous!” Rarity chimed in.

“Fluttershy and I could bring you decorations from around town, and Cloudsdale.” Rainbow offered.

“What about Spike? Wouldn't he want to help?” Fluttershy asked.

“Puleeze. He can't keep a secret for 10 whole minutes. You want him to try and keep a secret for weeks?”

“So that settles it. Surprise party for Pinkie!” AJ proclaimed.

PRESENT DAY

She had been the one to initially suggest the surprise party that had caused Pinkie to snap. But how was she supposed to know? It was supposed to be a friendly gesture, and because Pinkie had been so determined to find out what they were up to, she had convinced herself that her friends didn't want anything to do with her anymore.

'So how can it be my fault? If matters were completely out of my hooves, why am I feeling this way?' Rainbow thought to herself as she made her way into Ponyville.

It just wasn't the fact that Pinkie had snapped into a schizophrenic episode; Rainbow kept linking her surprise party to the lives that were lost. And for every pony that Pinkie had butchered and mutilated down in the basement of Sugarcube Corner, there were friends and family members who were now affected. And for some reason, she felt responsible.

Her first stop was the library, where she told Twilight those exact thoughts.

“Rainbow, you had no control over what Pinkie did in that basement. It wasn't your fault.”

Twilight's reassurances weren't doing a whole lot of good.

“Why is this coming up all of a sudden?” her bookworm of a friend asked.

“I-I haven't been sleeping well. I don't know why, but I'm feeling guilty for the lives Pinkie took away.” Rainbow answered.

“I wonder if it's survivor's guilt?”

“Huh?” Rainbow cocked her head to the side quizzically.

“When you make it out of something a whole lot of other ponies didn't, sometimes you feel guilty and responsible for the lives that were lost. They call it survivor's guilt.”

“No, Twilight! I'm not talking about me being the only one making it out! I'm talking about, what if we could've stopped this? Helped Pinkie when we realized what had happened to her! I...”

Tears welled up in her eyes again.

“I never told you guys what I saw right before the surprise party. I didn't tell anypony until it was too late...”

SUGARCUBE CORNER
SEVERAL MONTHS AGO...

As the sun set behind the horizon, Pinkie woefully cleaned up the mess in her bedroom. It had been a very trying day. She had led herself to believe her friends wanted nothing to do with her anymore and then...

...then...this happened.

Pinkie righted the stool next to the table when there was a soft knock on the door. She turned to see it open, and reveal Rainbow.

“Hey there, Pinkie Pie. How're you doing?”

Pinkie looked at her friend with a sad look on her face, and looked around the room. The majority of Gummy's after-birthday cake was still on the table, joined by a slice on the floor next to the stool Pinkie had set up on it's legs just now. The bucket of turnips were still where they fell when Rainbow and Pinkie had gotten into that short scuffle.

'Sir Lintsalot' and 'Madame LaFlour' were still at their places at the table. 'Rocky' was still on the floor in front of the table where Rainbow had tipped the stack of rocks.

The surprise party had been very delightful. It had just put a downer on the whole day having to come back to this mess, remembering what had happened.

“Just...just cleaning up, that's all.” Pinkie replied sheepishly, trying to convince herself that the events in this room earlier today never took place.

“Listen, Pinkie. I wanted to talk to you, make sure you're okay.”

“Well sure, why wouldn't I be okay?”

“Well, because of this for one.” Rainbow replied, motioning to the mess around the table.

“I...I really don't know what came over me. I was so afraid of losing my friends...” Pinkie admitted.

Rainbow came up to her and put a leg around her friend's shoulder.

“Maybe you should see a doctor, Pink. Just make sure that, you know, everything's alright up there.”

“No no, I'm fine. That side of me is gone as far as I'm concerned. As soon as I get this mess cleaned up, I can forget all about it.”

“Are you sure, Pinkie? You're my friend, and I want to know you're alright.”

“I'm alright, Rainbow Dash, honest. I know now never to doubt my friends again.” she said with a smile.

“Well, alright then.”

PONYVILLE LIBRARY
PRESENT DAY

Rainbow began to cry.

“I never told anyone. I knew something was wrong and I just lied to myself, convinced myself that it was over, just like she had. And...and look what happened to her...” she said, sobbing.

Twilight set her book down and came over to her friend.

“Rainbow...”

“I could've stopped it. I could've stopped this all from happening.”

Twilight rubbed Rainbow's back in an effort to get her to calm down.

“Rainbow, what you did wasn't wrong. You were being a friend to Pinkie. You didn't want to hurt her feelings or your friendship by insisting that she get help. If you keep on going over past events like this, believing it could have been different, you're going to drive yourself insane.”

“It's not just that...I don't...”

She swallowed and sniffled, and tried to get back her composure.

“How am I supposed to remember her? How are all of us supposed to remember her? As one of the most energetic full-of-life friends ever? Or as this...'Cupcake Killer'? Is that the best way to honor her memory?”

Twilight didn't answer Rainbow's question right away. Rainbow and Pinkie had been closer friends than the rest of them, which was understandable. In any group of friends, some were closer than others.

“I just...just need to find some peace. Some closure to all this...”

“Well Rainbow,” Twilight began, motioning to the library's front door.

“It's a beautiful day out there. I'd say take a walk around town, get some fresh air. Talk to some of our other friends, get more perspectives, or maybe go for a swim. Just let your mind wander, maybe it'll solve this problem all on it's own.”

Rainbow wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.

“Thanks, Twi.”

The two friends hugged each other before Rainbow made an exit into the bright Ponyville morning.