Six friends left, but only enough time for four parties. Let's watch.

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Celestia awoke, her head ached, the emptiness where her horn used to be throbbed angrily; trickles of blood flowing down her face with each beat of her heart. A strange humming noise came from nearby and she could make out a flickering light through the thin strip of cloth over her eyes. Warm blood trickled down her face, running into her nostrils and spilling into her mouth.

"Oh good," came a voice a slight distance away. It sounded very cheery, almost as though the owner was given to randomly burst into laughter.

Celestia found herself thinking, 'Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter'. She shook her head, trying to clear it. The last thing she could remember clearly was waiting in the library for Pinkie to return with the trap to use on the monster. There seemed to be an enormous blur right after this, then she woke up tied down with blood on her face and no horn weighing down her head.

"What happened?" Celestia moaned as she tried to channel her natural healing abilities to stem the pain. Even the enormous amounts of magic stored in her alicorn body did little against the screaming nerves in her head.

"Well," Pinkie giggled; the sound of hoofsteps followed her voice, moving closer and closer to the bound ruler. "You took a little nappy, but you're awake now so we can have our party!"

"Party?" the white alicorn was stunned. She was clearly injured, yet the pink mare insisted on celebrating? The cloth whipped off of her eyes, leaving a warm, burning trail of raw flesh. Celestia's eyes seemed to shout out for attention and she winced at the suddenly present onslaught of pain. She tried to close her eyes to alleviate the pain, but nothing happened. She looked around until she found the source of the light she was bathed in and noticed that she could see dozens of red droplets; they stayed in the same place in her vision no matter where she looked.

"Here," Pinkie giggled as she hopped over, "look at the new you!" A decorative hand mirror was held in her hooves.

Celestia's eyelids were gone, thin red streaks seemed to hover above her eyes which appeared to be blood stained. She shrieked, unconsciously trying to blink again; the red lines twitched. She looked at the top of the mirror and could see her forehead; the horn was broken off, just a tiny white stump protruded from the red-stained fur. The end of it glistened with the blood that still trickled from it.

"What have you done?" Celestia was furious. Memories began rushing back to her: the small filly arriving and terrorizing the group assembled to defeat the monster, Pinkie trapping the rulers of Equestria in a large sphere constructed out of ponyleather, the second Pinkie appearing and becoming some sort of immense creature of shadows.

"Just doin my job," Pinkie said as a glow formed around her head.

Celestia found herself moving; the table she was tied to slid along the floor, the metal shrieking as it slid along the stone. She stared in amazement, how was this mare using magic?

Pinkie smiled when she saw the expression on the princess's face; a cross between fear and amazement. Without stopping the magic, she bowed deeply and removed a small object from her head with a flourish. It was a gold tiara covered with small chunks of some purple material, protruding from the center was a long, white horn. Pinkie brushed the horn against Celestia's face, grinning at the response.

She recoiled, that horn, she knew it instantly; it was hers. This mare had somehow attached her horn to a piece of jewelry and could now use it to preform magic. Celestia didn't know what to think, this was beyond anything she had experienced, violence being quite rare in Equestria, especially violence towards her. The table stopped moving, the sudden silence cutting off Celestia's thoughts.

"Hey Tia you wanna see something cool?" Pinkie giggled as she fiddled with some unknown object behind Celestia. Celestia regretted ever trying to get closer to Twilight and her friends, the pink mare had been the only one to really embrace her attempts, and they now came around to make this situation so much worse. Pinkie's use of Luna's nickname for her made it sound sick and twisted, more of a curse than a point of affection.

A light switched on behind her and the strange humming noise from earlier began. A large square of light came into being on the wall. A large black ten sat in the middle of a circle which was slowly getting smaller. There was a beep and it changed to a nine. This countdown, 'for that's what it must be,' Celestia thought, continued as Pinkie bounced over with a jumble of objects on her back.

Pinkie set the popcorn buckets on the ground next to the bottles of soft drinks and chocolate milk. She picked up a leather strap and slipped it over Celestia's head before she could react. It held her head perfectly immobilized, unable to look away from the square of light. Pinkie sat back down, a large beanbag chair suddenly in her hooves. "This is one of my favorite movies," Pinkie said tossing a hooffull of popcorn into the air. She caught each kernel easily as it fell, a few hit the floor and bounced up into her mouth.

Black words flared across the glowing square: Stage 1; Ponyville. The picture shifted to a scene of hundreds of ponies walking along. They seemed lost and confused as to what to do next. Several unicorns walked along the edges, seeming alert for trouble, while the pegasi flew overhead keeping watch over everything. Celestia knew right away what this was: the column of refugees from Ponyville after Celestia ordered it evacuated. She had hoped it would help keep them safe, but she knew that wouldn't be the case if Pinkie was showing her this.

A hissing noise filled the room, but Celestia's attention was too focused on the flickering images to pay much attention. The ponies on the screen seemed to notice it and began running around in fear. Several unicorns and most of the pegasi kept a level head and managed to keep everypony from hurting themselves. The hissing grew louder and strange green clouds appeared on the edge of the screen. Celestia noticed the noise now and realized it was what the ponies must have been fleeing from, she watched trying to block out the images, but the flickering colors drew her in and held her fast.

Ponies encountering the green clouds fell over clutching at their bodies. Blood exploded out of their eyes, ears and mouths. Several ran before this happened, obviously in huge amounts of pain; they crashed into anything in front of them: trees, ponies, rocks, they didn't notice, nor did they care. Dashing themselves against the objects brought a quicker end and eased their pain.

Several unicorns tried using their magic to protect themselves or escape, but the clouds seemed alive and continuously foiled their efforts, completely crushing one unicorn's shield where several ponies stood huddled, terrified by the screams of pain around them. One unicorn appeared to be summoning and controlling shields. He ran up them, going higher and higher above the noxious clouds, but a tendril suddenly grabbed at his hind leg. He fell, dozens of stories lay between him and the ground, but nothing he did could slow the fall as more of the cloud built up above him, pushing him down faster and faster. It seemed to clear before his face, keeping him from inhaling any and distracting himself with pain. He hit the ground with an audible crunch, like that of wet wood snapping. A few moments later a red earth pony fell onto this broken corpse, an exposed rib plunging into his eye, killing him.

Celestia watched for what seemed like hours. Close-ups of each pony's death dominated her vision, their screams echoed through her mind and she began to feel each injury as it befell her subjects. Pinkie lay beside her, popcorn flying through the air every few seconds as she cheered at the carnage. She groaned when the last pony died, a pegasus who had flown into the cloud repeatedly, looking for other survivors she could save it seemed. She found none and eventually forgot herself and breathed in the poison. Celestia could almost feel the pain as the pegasus's eyes burst from the force of the escaping blood.

The light seemed to dim and the images left the screen. Pinkie sighed and began to stand up. She looked at the tiara and smiled, the grin a perversion of such a familiar, happy expression. Celestia knew the blood of countless ponies was on this mare's hooves and it seemed to shine around her, a diseased, shadowy glow that radiated nothing but fear. Pinkie's tiara began glowing again, this time Celestia saw as the light shot through the small purple chunks before shooting out of the large horn. This had to mean that those were pieces of a horn too. "Oh Twilight," Celestia said softly. Her voice was ragged from crying out at the vivid deaths of her subjects and nothing seemed to come out now. She could now say for sure that her prized student was dead, the news, though not unexpected, was a twisted stake plunged deep into her heart.

Celestia heard movement behind her where Pinkie's projector lay. Something moved and it clicked on again. Pinkie settled back down and opened a new jug of milk. There was no countdown this time. Stage 2; Manehattan.

Celestia watched as it began raining in the huge metropolis. The water that fell wasn't clear like usual; it was a bright green, the same color as the clouds that had killed the residents of Ponyville. Each drop splattered against the ground or a building and a small puff of green vapor was released. Soon the city was covered by the strange gas. Celestia watched once again as an entire city of her subjects was viciously killed, thousands threw themselves off buildings to be rid of the pain, only to fall on somepony else and kill both. Hours later she had seen the death of Manehattan. She was broken inside, but knew that there must be more to come.

The films continued as Pinkie changed them out periodically. Every city, every village, every lonely traveler or hermit was killed by the gas. None escaped. Each time Celestia hoped that she could become used to the images and they would no longer rip at her mind so powerfully, but each time the pain seemed to grow more intense, the jetting blood thicker, the deaths more gruesome. Finally Pinkie announced that she was putting in the last reel.

"It's something that we'll both like, I'm very sure." It turned on, the words staying on the screen longer than usual this time. Stage 472; Party Time.

Celestia watched in horror. She had thought that such images could do nothing more to her at this point, she had thought wrong. Twilight awoke in complete darkness. She hadn't needed the name across the bottom of the screen to recognize her. She called out, sounding scared and confused. She quickly lost her composure and began screaming for help. Pinkie turned on the lights and revealed a large cart full of twisted implements; she paused to give Twilight time to take in the room around her.

This didn't bother Celestia; she ignored everything but the sight of her student. Twilight was like a daughter to her and seeing the pieces of her horn molded onto a tiara had finally forced her to accept that she was gone. Celestia wanted to see her one last time, even if it had to be while she was being butchered by Pinkie.

After several hours of torture, Pinkie put Twilight to sleep and left the room. For Celestia and the Pinkie that was watching, the break from the violence lasted only a second. Pinkie walked back in and began again, pausing to tie up another pony that had come crashing through the ceiling. Celestia recognized her as the element of honesty, Applejack.

The images continued. They showed as Pinkie killed her friends, all five of the other elements of harmony. It showed as she set traps and schemed to destroy all of Equestria. She played a game of death with three foals and killed her own pets as mercilessly as she killed her friends. Celestia knew it was finally over as this last scene died. It was a brief image of herself being tied down to a table and her eyelids being cut off. After each one, Pinkie tossed it into her mouth and smiled, seeming to relish the flavor.

Pinkie approached the table with a hammer. The projector had been off for several minutes. Celestia had laid back, the straps holding her were removed, as they both knew she wouldn't try running away at this point. She had curled up and cried, nearly falling off onto the floor at one point. Pinkie had won; she knew this as surely as she knew her beloved country was now a toxic wasteland where nothing could live. Several minutes of the videos had been dedicated to watching the forests wither under the clouds. They dried up instantly, the water seeming to feed the poison. Most of the trees exploded as their water left, others remained whole until they had been drained; they crumbled away, small dry particles with nothing to hold them together.

She smiled, "so how was my present?" Pinkie asked bouncing up and down, the hammer crashing down onto her back with loud crunches with each bounce, though Pinkie didn't seem to notice. "I knew you'd liked it," she continued as Celestia turned away from her. She knew death was coming quickly and she had no desire to play with this demented mare as she took her full pleasure from her current victim.

'She doesn't wanna play,' Pinkie thought irritably as she frowned upon the princess before her. She knew right away that nothing she did now could get a reaction from the broken alicorn before her. She shrugged; sometimes she did push things too far. She lifted the hammer and brought it crashing down, the large thirty pound head put a large dent in the table where Celestia's leg had just been. Now there was a mass of white splinters and red mush, the white fur lying split open beneath this.

Celestia screamed in pain and tried to hold the destroyed limb to herself, but Pinkie quickly struck at the upper part of the leg. It now lay on the table, crushed; the bone splinters dug into the shattered nerves making them scream louder, the meat in her leg was now neatly pulverized, 'ready,' Pinkie thought, 'to make some cupcakes.' Pinkie brought the hammer up and slammed it down once more, now doing to Celestia's other legs what she'd already done to the first one. The white alicorn tried desperately to flee the pain, but each time Pinkie's tiara glowed and she found herself moved into the perfect position for the next swing. Soon, the formerly grand ruler was a huddled mass of shattered limbs that cried out for the end.

Pinkie decided to oblige. She brought the hammer down a final time. Celestia's head seemed to explode on impact. Fragments of her skull flew around the room and the blood splashed nearly to the ceiling. Thick purple-gray sludge splattered Pinkie, mixing with the blood that was already there. It dripped down her slowly as she stood panting. Even with her strength, swinging sledgehammers would always be a good workout for her. She smiled and stuck out her tongue; a falling piece of gray flesh fell on it and she slurped it down. The smile grew wider. "Mmmmmmm," Pinkie said, her eyes closing in ecstasy, "juicy!"

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Spike wasn't sure what was happening. His head and back seemed to cry out, and he felt like his mouth was full of cotton. He felt extremely lightheaded and his vision seemed to waver, even now he thought he could see two Pinkie Pies in front of him. Realization came flooding in; everything he'd seen over the last few days, all of the disappearances, all of the strange occurrences, it all hit came crashing into his mind.

"You murderer," he spat, almost falling over as he yelled. He tried to get up and hurt these two ponies, the ones who had taken Rarity and Twilight from him, the monsters who had destroyed everything he cared about. He began lifting himself up, but couldn't manage to sit up all the way. It felt as though he was buried deep underneath an immense pile of sand; he could move, but not much.

Spike strained, trying to move, but he couldn't find the strength to lift his arm high enough to swing at the pink nightmares, not that he could have hit them from so far away. He looked at himself, only to find that he was covered in thick white bandages. Large red and green stains spread out from behind him and he remembered the spider that had attacked him. Large welts crisscrossed his body, reminders of the burning web he had been bound with.

"What now?" one of the Pinkies asked when he finally stopped moving. He glared at them, especially at the one who had spoken. She wasn't smiling quite as wide as the other one. No, her smile was quite within the bounds of a normal pony's smile; that sat very uneasily with Spike.

"What do you mean?" he asked, though he found that he couldn't speak very loudly. He had thought he would yell out of anger and confusion, but instead what came out was barely more than a whisper.

"Are you done yet? We did have plans you know." She sat back on her haunches, clearly waiting for an answer. The other Pinkie, the one still fully smiling, just stood and watched, the light glinted off of something metallic hidden in her mane.

Spike didn't know what to say, so he just turned his head away from the two ponies. He heard hoofsteps behind him and he tensed, expecting more pain. His back already seemed to be on fire from the bites he'd received. Pressure was applied to the base of his tail and he felt a wave of cold spread through his body completely obliterating all feeling. The relief swept through him as the pains in his back died down.

"I think he's ready now," the happy Pinkie said, a tear forming in her eye.

"Wait, what?" Spike felt his relief transform once more into fear. He tried to see what was going on behind him only to be hit fully in the face with a large needle. He felt it pierce his nose and continue down through his mouth, pinning his tongue down. Hot blood began pooling in his mouth as the needle continued, driven on by an irresistible force.

Spike tried to scream, but the needle held his mouth closed. He could feel the cold metal tickling his throat as his blood pushed against the object, trying to continue on to where it was needed. He managed to open his eyes and found himself looking into the eyes of the smiling Pinkie, only she wasn't smiling much anymore.

"Spike," she complained, "why'd you do that?" She acted hurt, as though she was the one with a huge needle stuck through her and not the other way around.

A deep voice behind her sighed, "Please Pinkie, allow me." The other Pinkie suddenly exploded outwards, now a huge shadowy form of a pony. Its immense red eyes glared at Spike from somewhere around the ceiling. It smiled, its mouth a cavern of teeth. It reached a hoof down towards Spike whose frantic movements did nothing more than cause him to wiggle a little. The giant black hoof rested on his head, blocking out his vision. It seized the needle and ripped it out, splitting Spike's snout down the middle. Spike screamed in pain as hot, red blood poured down his neck and pooled around him on the table.

The happy Pinkie gasped in surprise and stuck a hoof in to taste the new treat. She drew her hoof back quickly though, shaking it vigorously and crying out. The part of her hoof that had entered the liquid was gone, a cloud of smoke rising from where it was. "Wow Spike," she said once she had managed to clear away the last few drops of dragon blood on her hoof, "you're hot." To emphasize her point she licked her good hoof and pressed it against his leg making a sizzling noise with her mouth.

Spike shivered. Something about Pinkie's touch made his skin crawl. Somehow, her laughter made it worse. The repulsive feel of her hoof seemed magnified by the return of her bubbly personality. 'Cupcakes and cupcakes really don't mix well,' he thought absurdly as Pinkie began reaching for something on the ground beneath where Spike lay.

Pinkie noticed his sudden smile. "Ooh, did you think of a joke? I love jokes!"

"Pinkie," the huge shadowy figure said, seeming irritated, though it acted as though this was not uncommon. Spike could say first-hand that this was the usual for Pinkie.

"Especially knock-knock jokes," Pinkie continued, ignoring her companion, "!" The larger figure sighed and nodded, seconds later a small smile played across its face; Spike found himself picturing maggots pushing through a patch of rot.

"Knock-knock!" Pinkie squealed excitedly.

Spike lay where he was, waiting for her to finish so she could kill him quickly. She stood for a few moments, forelegs held high as she smiled, twitching with anticipation for the joke. As Spike didn't answer though, her legs and face began falling, slowly at first, but gaining in speed. She slammed a hoof into his back, reigniting the ruined nerves that were there.

"I said knock- KNOCK!" Pinkie screamed at him, her mane falling limp for a moment.

"Wh-who's th-there?" Spike asked cautiously, the pain began dying down rapidly now that Pinkie had pulled her hoof away.

"FIRE!" Pinkie yelled revealing what she had picked up off the floor. She held an overly large blowtorch in her hooves; a book of matches was somehow balanced on the tip of each of her ears and several lighters lay on her nose.

"What?" spike felt himself regaining control of his body now that the shots were fully taking effect. Even the gash where the giant shadowy creature had yanked out the needle was quieting down under the intense cold of the shot.

"So Spike," Pinkie said, slowly rubbing a hoof up and down the blowtorch, "do you know exactly how it is you breathe fire?" He shook his head. Twilight tried explaining before, but he hadn't listened. "Your spit, all dragons' spit, is incredibly flammable. Now I'm sure your scales are fireproof by now, but what about your insides?"

Spike felt his stomach drop to somewhere around his feet. He could already tell where this was going; no, dragon innards are not fireproof at all.

"You see," Pinkie said while lighting the torch, "dragons just blow out with air heavily laden with spit while a spark is created through their innate magic. Nothing is more flammable than dragon spit Spike, and nothing is filled with more dragon spit than a dragon."

"I am- I mean- that is-" Spike stammered, he could already tell what was about to happen. His fears came true when Pinkie moved the intense blue flames towards him.

"Pinkamena," Pinkie groaned as Spike continued evading the fire, "can you hold him for a second?" Giant black hooves placed themselves on Spike's arms, completely covering them without even getting under the hoof. Spike's mouth was pried open while the nozzle of the blowtorch was forced in.

Spike closed his eyes, he didn't need to watch when he could hear the sizzling flames cook his mouth before the heat could catch. It seemed as though he had inhaled deeply, though he had just breathed out. That's when he knew it was the end.

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Thanks to Saph34 (on fanfiction) for proofreading, hoping to keep him on as an editor for the last few chapters and maybe other stuff if he agrees to it.

For those of you who noticed, yes, Molestia went away the last time she was knocked out. Is that a hint as to what could happen with a later victim? Who knows? (I knows) You'll have to read and find out (yes that's the best cliffhanger I can get right now).

All of my loves to my buddy DWhay. Everypony should go look him up on whichever site you now find yourself reading this on. He's got really good stories and he's a pretty cool guy. If you do look him up, tell him Krushnazag was advertising for him. He's got amazing work, he just needs more people to find it and spread the word, it really is good stuff, go check it out. (None of it is grimdark though *sad face*)

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Alternate cut of Celestia's party:

(This was suggested by my new editor, Saph34. I wanted to put it in the chapter, but it seemed kinda late in the story for that, so it gets to be an alternate cut. If this had come up in an earlier chapter I definitely would've used it.)

The films continued as Pinkie changed them out periodically. Every city, every village, every lonely traveler or hermit was killed by the gas. None escaped. Each time Celestia hoped that she could become used to the images and they would no longer rip at her mind so powerfully, but each time the pain seemed to grow more intense, the jetting blood thicker, the deaths more gruesome. Finally Pinkie announced that she was putting in the last reel.

"It's something that we'll both like, I'm very sure." It turned on, the words staying on the screen longer than usual this time. Stage 472; Party Time.

Celestia watched in horror. She had thought that such images could do nothing more to her at this point. She had thought wrong.

Pinkie began tapping a hoof as music played from hidden speakers. She pulled a large microphone stand out of the shadows and began moving around somewhat awkwardly. Soon the music picked up a little and she began singing.

"We're no strangers to looooove," Pinkie crooned into the microphone, "you know the rules, and so do I." The sound took on an echo with the last line.

"No!" Celestia screamed as she tried to claw out her eyes, "anything but this!"

"A full commitment's what I'm- thinkin' oooo-oof; you wouldn't get this- from any other guy. IIIIIIII just wanna tell you how I'm feelin'; gotta make you- understand! Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you doowwn, never gonna run around and- desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say good-bye!" Pinkie's awkward shuffle continued. Her shadow now seemed to be acting on its own; running around the wall performing backflips and otherwise blending in to the shadows.

"No, please! Make it stooooppp!" Celestia screamed; this hurt her worse than any of the videos had done. She could handle mindless chaos with violent bloody ends, she ruled a country after all, but psychological torture was never her strong point. It was one of the reasons Luna had been banished to the moon, she'd gotten too good at it and Celestia never had a decent response.

"Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you. We've known each other- for so long-" Pinkie continued singing, she now added a small spin every now and then, making it that much worse for the ruler to watch.

Inspiration struck Celestia; there was only one way she knew of to end this despicable crime against pony-kind. She couldn't move the sun because she wasn't outside, but she still contained all of the power of the sun within her. Celestia grabbed this power as though she were trying to move the sun; it built up, an immense flood of power set against the mortality of her physical body. She smiled, the end was near.

"We've known each other- for so looong. Your hearts been aching but- you're too shy to say it! Inside we both know what's been going oooon, we know the game and we're- gonna play it. Aaaaaaand if you aassk me how I'm feeling, don't tell me you're too blind to see."

As Pinkie began the chorus once more Celestia felt something deep inside of her body crack and give way. An enormous beam of light shot out of her chest. It spread along her body, incinerating it and supercharging the air around her. The resulting explosion rocked the cavern and sent enormous jagged faults through the thick stone. Pinkie sat up, she was covered in rainbow colored dust and her mane was smoking. The microphone and her record player were completely melted; the album she had been playing was gone with it. She felt herself cry when a large hoof descended on her shoulder.

Pinkamena looked down at her smaller counterpart. She could feel everything the small, pink pony was going through, but she had an idea on how to fix things; a devious smile spread across her lips.

Pinkie looked up. "What is it Pinkamena?" she asked worried that maybe something else had gone horribly wrong.

"You don't mean to tell me that you haven't heard!"

"Heard what?" Pinkie was extremely confused, Pinkamena's thoughts were blocked to her for some reason and she had no idea what she could be hinting at.

"You haven't heard about the word?"

"What word?"

More to come?

*evil smile spreads across writer's face*

I'd like to thank Saph34 once again for suggesting the inclusion of Mr. Astley's song. I would also like to thank Richard Astley for writing his hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up' back in, I think, 1986. Also, I'd like to thank the Trashmen for writing 'Surfin Bird' in 1960 which was hinted at by Pinkamena at the end (classic! I love that song so friggin much!). Oh, and thanks to the Ramones who wrote the two pieces that the Trashmen stuck together to make 'Surfin bird' ('Papa Oom Mow Mow' and 'The Bird's the Word' [both R&B singles])

There, now you've learned something useful. Go hit your head against a wall while you absorb this.

Next Chapter: Nightfall Estimated time remaining: 56 Minutes