Cloud. Glorious cloud. Heavy, distant reddish cloud, a hovering shadow in the sky, dampening the moonlight into obscurity. Yet the night remains brighter than day for in the day we are blinded from the darkness, a darkness unto itself. On this night I could feel the howl of the Equestrian wild, not the fauna but the tertiary scum feeding on flowers in the jungle of modern society. In the distance I felt a petal drop and swooped in upon it like a spectrum-maned terror.

The howl also came from within me, a guttural scream of need. The Need that drove me each night to hunt my prey. The Need that made me tremble and jitter and shift in my seat whenever it went unsatisfied. Unfortunately, This Need was rather frowned upon by my fellow citizens of Equestria. But they don't know what I am or what I do, and they are happier for it. Were they to discover my habits they would never understand. So, I decided, it was better if they just didn't find out. Logically.

Of course I prepare first, and I prepare well. That was the first rule of the code of Firefly, cover your tracks and always be 100 percent sure, and then 20 percent more just so you're 100 percent sure that you're 100 percent sure. If everything is just going to fall apart, there was never any point in trying.

Then I stalk my prey. Learn their patterns, habits, daily routines. Work out an opportune moment would be to catch them in my trap and skin them for hide. They are animals, yes, but not stupid. They can tell when they are being followed by one of their own.

Fortunately, I'm good at not being one of their own.

* * *

The time was right. Darling Dash takes the back seat and lets her hungry friend, the Changeling, take the wheel. Now we think as one. The Need harnesses my meticulous methods as we begin to stalk our prey.

We took to the skies and sought out The One. It was still early, so she probably wouldn't be out yet. But this was deliberate - my Changeling knew what it was doing. For nearly an hour I circled the Ponyville skies (doing what was, if I do say so myself, a very convincing impression of practicing stunt routines). When Princess Luna's beautiful luminous musical moon was at the peak of the sky, I saw her. The One. The grotesque and disgusting soul that my Changeling wanted me to dispose of.

I attempted to calm my Changeling. Soon, very soon, it would be satisfied, another little corner of our world would be cleaned up.

My Changeling sang with merciless glee.

There, on the ground, stood Berry Punch. She seemed innocent enough at a glance, but once I went into her criminal record, I started to second-guess that first impression. Seven counts of drunk and disorderly conduct, the third of which came bundled with one count of accidental mareslaughter. That looked suspicious, so I dug a bit further. She used to have two young ones as well, it seemed. One was in a trauma ward, the other in protective custody. Both had been severely beaten by their dear loving mother.

If I had emotions, I'd be feeling sick to my stomach just thinking about it. And that wasn't even the last of the horrors. But as my mind wandered over my research, my Changeling reminded me to keep my eyes front and center.

So there she was. Leaving a nightclub with her pal Carrot Top. When the two friends parted ways for what we gleefully noted would be their final time, I pulled my ShadowBolt-styled mask over my face and went to work. Gently swooping down next to her, I put a hoof over her back and whispered in her ear.

"Hey, hold up there Berry Punch. You sure you can manage? You look absolutely wasted."

With her half-dead wits, Berry Punch jumped, apparently attempting to react to my recent appearance in the vicinity. Oh, how I hated dealing with drunks.

"Oh....hi Rainbow Dash," she said slowly, just barely managing to keep from slurring her words.

"Hello! Hi. Should I walk you home?"

"No....no, I'm fffffffffine."

"You don't look fine. Here, let me walk you home..."

"Ok-kay...."

Well, that was easy. I walked her down the street past countless corner stores and bakeries and all sorts of repair shops. What a glorious and peaceful town Ponyville could be when it wasn't being overrun by murderous fiends.

And no, I am not a hypocrite. But thank you for asking.

* * *

When we reached the crossroad where one would normally turn to got to Berry Punch's house, I lead her instead further down the street we were already on. She put up no fuss. If nothing else, her being intoxicated made it easier to proceed with the plan.

We were probably a half-mile farther down the road before she realized we were headed in the wrong direction.

"Hey, this...isn't the way to my housssssssse," she mumbled vaguely.

"I know, I just wanted to show you something."

"Ok-kay..."

She was more wasted than I expected.

After about a mile, we reached the older Ponyville neighborhood, filled with old, unoccupied houses, most of them dilapidated and almost reclaimed by nature. It was disgusting and beautiful at the same time.

I led her inside a house with boarded up windows.

"This place looks...familiar..."

"It should, this is your old house. Now just hang on a moment."

I sunk into the darkness of the empty house and made my presence scarce. As I circled back around behind her, I flitted my wings and noiselessly found my opportune location, the spot just to her left, just out of view, where she wouldn't pick up on my presence. With a swift and fluid motion I pulled a hypodermic from my saddlebag and cleanly ran it through the vein under Berry Punch's jaw.

She was out like a light.

* * *

I watched as she opened her eyes. I could see in them that a hangover was beginning to grip her.

"Augh, my head...hey, do you have any asprin?"

It amused me that she hadn't even noticed what I'd done yet.

"I already gave you a drug for the hangover. It will be over quickly, but it will be extremely harsh. You'll have to endure the pain for about 10 minutes," what she didn't know was that compared to what I was about to do to her, a hangover feels like a mere tickle.

"Okay, thanks...but hey...why am I being held down by plastic wrap?"

"Oh, that's so you don't try to escape."

Her eyes widened. Perhaps she realized who I was and what I was here to do. Perhaps she was late for some appointment. I had no idea, and it made little difference to me.

"Now, before we begin I'd like to show you a little presentation..."

On a screen right above her, I projected a photo of a young colt with a white coat and blue mane, and an umbrella for a cutie mark.

"This is Brolly. He passed away nearly two years ago. You don't remember when it happened because you were drunk, which is ironic, because you did it."

I could see her begin to hyperventilate. Her eyes narrowed in pain from the hangover. I didn't like this reaction, so I shined a bright light in those eyes. Tears filled them and she just about screamed.

"Hey," I said, "stay with me."

I put the light away and continued. I pressed a button and the slide changed to a picture of a filly and a colt playing together. The filly was slightly older and had an indigo coat and bubblegum-pink mane, while the colt, being younger, had a light-green coat and pure white mane.

"Here we have Berry Crunch and Sweetberry, your son and daughter respectively, both out of your care, in protective custody and the Trauma Ward respectively. But you already knew that. What's next. Ah yes..."

I killed the projector and kicked on the recessed lighting to reveal a dank and unpleasant basement. In this new light, I stood over Berry Punch and looked into her eyes.

"I see your hangover is gone."

"Y...yes..." she was almost in tears, which satisfied me. Satisfied us, the Parasprite and I.

"Good. I need your full attention for the final introduction before we begin our main event."

I stepped aside and pressed a button. The screen above us was pulled back to reveal a horror behind it. A truly disturbing sight that made even a monster such as myself writhe in agony and distress. Fortunately, I had strong nerves. For the satisfaction of this cleansing, I would endure the sight.

Berry Punch, on the other hand, had no such discipline. Her face was a faucet of tears and I was sure if she kept it up, she'd drown before I could have my fun. She squirmed and thrust every mobile joint against the bondage of the plastic wrap.

It was truly a horrific sight. I'm not even saying that hypothetically as though I had feelings - this made even me feel something, deep down. It was painful enough to search for them and dig them up, but it was another thing entirely to string them up to display for her. I was disrespecting their memories by doing that to them, but I hoped the effect of this horrific display would give them peace as their young, unlearned souls attempted to discover what you do when you're dead.

"I swear...I didn't mean..."

"Oh but you did. The only question is....why?"

"I didn't-!"

I'd heard enough for the moment. I stuffed a cotton gag in Berry Punch's mouth and, with a quick flit of my scalpel, ran a cut through her cheek. One quick fluid motion and I'd gathered some of her blood in a dropper.

Drip, drip. The blood found its way onto the microscope slide. I covered the tiny piece of glass, and, with part one of my routine complete, removed the gag from Berry Punch's mouth again.

"Now tell me...why did you kill them?"

"I didn't-!"

"Tell me!"

"They...they wouldn't shut up...Every day I'd come home and the brats would be over...I'd kick them out, and the little monsters who brought them here got what they deserved...but it just got worse, and I couldn't help myself..."

"...I understand."

"You do?"

"Completely. You see, I can't help myself, either. But this, no. I could never do this, not to foals. I could never kill a filly or a colt. It goes against my very existence. And that's why, now, I have to end your precious little life. You've done something to sicken me, and like I said, I can't help myself. I need to take a life. So now, Berry Punch, it's your turn to atone. If you wish to pray, I suggest you start quickly."

"But...but I'm not religious."

"Even better, that speeds things up." I wandered over to a silver table where sat several sharp metallic instruments of all sorts and sizes. I selected my favorite and returned to the operating table, "Well, if you have nothing more to say for yourself...let's begin."

I replaced Berry Punch's gag and went to work. As the pink mare sobbed, my Parasprite sang. And for that moment, as all the life drained from that horrible creature, I felt a surge of life enter my soul. In that moment, I felt alive. I felt Equine. Emotions filled me and consumed me. Nostalgia, pleasure and pain mingled in my heart and I reveled in it. But soon, the moment was gone, and before me sat an empty husk which I would have to clean up.

What a pain.

So I was back to being myself. For a moment, one fleeting but perfect moment, I had been a true mare. But now the moment had passed, and I was once again hollow inside. I returned to being that meticulous beast, the griffon in pony's clothing.

The polite monster, Rainbow Dash.