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Business is Boomin

by Krushnazag

Chapter 34: Nightfall

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Nightfall

Hi everypony. It's good to be back. Hope you like what I did while I was gone :3

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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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Spike's eyes burned with the force that he held them closed with. He could feel the heat of the blowtorch drawing closer and closer, searing the flesh inside his mouth. His teeth were sharp bolts of agony plunged deep into his gums. The heat seemed to gather in them for a moment before, one by one, they exploded. White hot bone fragments shot down his throat and out of his mouth back at Pinkie. They bounced harmlessly off the pink mare, but in the soft flesh of the small dragon's throat, huge red gashes were cut as the shards were driven farther on.

Almost as soon as his teeth blew out, Spike's gums were seared shut, causing more pain than if they had been left raw and gaping. His claws jerked involuntarily, causing him to dig furrows in his thighs, the scales not being used to resisting something as hard as a dragon claw. The shots he had gotten minutes before to dull his pain were swept away by Pinkie's fire; as inconsequential as a dove's moulted feather before a manticore.

Pinkie continued inching the blowtorch closer. Spike could smell his mouth cooking and knew it was only a matter of time before his saliva caught the flames, just as Pinkie said it would. Just then, a strange pressure ran through Spike as though he had inhaled deeply. A shockwave soon followed; his body shook violently, even in his restraints. Pinkie smiled and stepped backwards, somehow producing a bag of marshmallows and a stick.

The multi-colored flames licked the air; blues, greens, violets, oranges, flames of every color. The tongues of fire shot out of Spike's every orifice. His eyes bulged outwards and shone with an eerie light before slowly melting and dripping down his face. His eardrums burst as a particularly violent inferno wracked his brain, literally. The fire forced its way out through his nose, forcing the nostrils wider than they were ever meant to go in hopes of getting more air to fuel the blaze. Spike's skin popped and sizzled as the fire ravaged his form from the inside out leaving only a charred, blackened figure covered in cracked purple scales.

Pinkie pulled her marshmallow off the stick and made a final s'more. She and Pinkamena had been snacking as they watched the internal inferno for several minutes. Pinkie was sad that it was over; she still had a half a bag of marshmallows left and nothing made them taste as sweet as being toasted over a burning dragon.

"Well that was fun," Pinkamena said as she pulled a new treat off the pile. "I'm surprised he burned for so long, I was expecting an explosion." She pushed the chocolaty treat into her cavernous mouth as she spoke.

"I know," Pinkie said as she began poking around inside the hollow shell of scales, "I so wasn't expecting it to burn that many colors. I thought each dragon had its own color." As Pinkie sat back up, away from the charred remains, Pinkamena saw that the fur on her face and part of her mane had been singed by standing so close to the escaping heat.

The two ponies sat for a moment, warming themselves on the still searing remains of the baby dragon. They finished off the last of the treats that had been roasted over Spike's dying flames and Pinkie stood with a sigh.

"You know what comes next, right?" she said, looking the immense shadow pony in the eye.

"Yes, I relish the opportunity to crush the false goddess." Pinkamena changed. Her form began shrinking, condensing into a small orb whose surface was a storm of black and purple tendrils. Her voice came from the sphere, "let us be on our way."

"Okie-dokie-lokie then," Pinkie said happily, bouncing towards the door. It had been far too long already, now it was time to finish what had started so many years ago. She shivered with delight at the thought of this great, final test of her abilities.

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For a thousand years I've waited here for you;

waited ev-ery night, for I thought you were the answer to my life.

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Luna awoke. She was alone in a dark room. Somewhere above her, a spotlight was trained on her, putting her in a circle of light. Outside of the light, the shadows seemed to form an impenetrable wall. She found herself fearing what lay beyond the relative safety of her light.

"Do not be so absurd," she told herself, "we are the princess of the night. We do not fear the dark like some whiney foal." A door slammed shut somewhere in the distance and Luna flinched. "Or maybe we are." She said, circling her small area trying to ensure that nothing entered it unknown.

She could hear hoofsteps in the background, but they came, it seemed, from every direction. One step would sound from somewhere to her left, quickly followed by one to her right. The next would be before her and another behind her. Luna turned rapidly, she could feel her skin crawling as she wondered what could be happening. Regaining her senses, she tried to use her magic to light the room.

The power built in her horn, a complex matrix of energies that would create a twin of her moon, something she always found comforting, especially since her exile there. The power built and her horn began to glow, but just as she released the magic, something went horribly wrong. The magic rebounded, not even leaving her horn. The huge power of her spell was focused back into her body, shooting through her causing great pains.

Luna lay on the floor panting, blood running from her horn. 'What could have gone wrong?' she thought. Her eyes crossed as she tried to resist the pain and she saw just what had happened. Her horn was snapped off, little more than an inch remained; the rest had been broken cleanly off. She tried to remember what had happened to it, but her last memories were of trying to set the trap for the monster only to have it sprung on herself. And then-

"No," she whispered, her face draining of color, "oh Celestia, no." She thought carefully back. As they were sitting in the trap, trying to find a way out, she had felt a familiar churning low in her stomach, something that almost certainly meant- "She came out." Her, that twisted other side of the princess that enjoyed preying on the weak citizens of Equestria to please herself.

The hoofsteps were close now, seeming to be just outside of her small ring of light. Luna waited, wondering where she was and exactly what she had done while she was 'away'. Luna took a deep breathe, trying to calm herself. She could feel her mind settling, getting ready to deal with whatever lay beyond her safety.

Pinkie crept up to the edge of the shadows. She was thrilled that she could end everything here where so much had taken place. So many sacrifices in the name of her master, so much blood spilled to satiate the unholy one. Pinkie gritted her teeth, 'Yes, so perfect to take revenge on the false goddess,' she thought.

She could see just where the pretender was lying. Her eyes were closed and she was taking slow, deep breaths. Pinkie smiled, this would work out perfectly. She snuck into the light and leaned into Luna's ear, standing just behind the large alicorn. She inhaled quietly and let out a quick giggle.

Luna jumped up and looked around frantically. "Who's there?" she demanded, fear shaking her voice, "show thyself!" Pinkie was careful to stay just behind the dark princess. As the princess spun, Pinkie had an idea. She signaled Pinkamena and waited for a moment. Soon Pinkamena began making loud noises, just beyond Luna's sight. Pinkie waited until she was fixated on these new sounds and jumped onto the princess's back.

"Yeee-haw," Pinkie yelled as she slammed her hooves into the princess's sides repeatedly. With every kick, another light flashed on, revealing more of the room. Luna ran frantically, unable to grasp what was happening. Each time a new light came on she ran to it, hoping to find calm so she could come to terms with the situation. Soon things began showing in the lighted areas.

Luna stopped quickly, somehow ignoring the thing on her back causing her pain. On the ground before her was a table crafted from bone and skin, a large punchbowl was on it. The bowl itself was filled with a deep crimson liquid. Its ladle appeared to be carved from several hooves, as did the cups arrayed before it.

Soon another light came on, revealing another table, similar in makeup to the first. This one had a pile of foal heads. Their eye-sockets were held open with thick, coarse thread and small pieces of candy spilled out from their skulls. Their mouths had been stitched into a grotesque grin, an eternal perversion of what their happiness must once have looked like.

Everywhere Luna turned she saw more and more disturbing things. She didn't even notice when Pinkie stopped kicking. She was completely terrified; not of who or what had her, but who they had come from. Luna recognized this craft that was displayed before her; only one entity had ever constructed such depraved objects as these. As the final lights came on, she knew her fears were all too real.

Five ponies stood on raised pedestals, each one warped depravedly, but still recognizable. It was her sister's prized student, the one who had been so kind to her since her return from the moon. 'Twilight Sparkle,' she thought, remembering the names of the ponies before her, 'Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity. Where is the pink one?' She remembered how they had destroyed Nightmare Moon, saving her from an influence that she had struggled against ever since making a deal with it. 'The pink one, what was her name?'

"Pinkie Pie," a voice said from her back. Luna continued on for a moment, not paying any attention to this new voice. She took a final look at the ponies before her and began running, looking for a door. Whoever had captured her was a servant of Nightmare Moon and Luna refused to return to that unholy power. She found a narrow stairway and ran up as quickly as she could. The door at the top swung open at her touch and she continued running through it, only to find herself being thrown backward by a grip around her neck.

She caught a glimpse of what lay beyond the door; thousands upon thousands of corpses hung from the ceiling. She recognized the one closest to the door. Celestia, her head a gory mess, large holes covered her side as though she had been struck repeatedly by a round object. Luna felt a tear escape her eye as she fell.

Luna twisted, trying to land on her hooves, but felt herself being dragged downwards to land almost directly on her head. She hit the floor with a reverberating crack. Stars shot before her eyes and her vision was momentarily shot through with a red sheen that faded to black. She resisted the pull of oblivion and found herself being pulled to a metal table that stood nearby.

She was lifted up and dropped onto the table. Pink flashes crossed her vision and tightened straps around her hooves. Suddenly, a pink mare was sitting on Luna's stomach, watching her with a hungry expression.

"Hi princess," Pinkie spat, making the title sound like an insult. "Remember me? Probably not, that was before."

Luna knew what happened. When Nightmare Moon had been destroyed, all of her memories rushed back into Luna, forcing her to believe that they truly had been one in the same and that Luna had been the one to terrorize the land. Now, a string of memories about this mare rushed through her mind.

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Days turned into years and into centuries,

Patience had to fade. Don't you see that there is vengeance in my eyes?

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A dark night. A small pink filly lay in a crude shelter on the shore of a lake. She was cold, hungry, but best of all, alone. 'A perfect target to begin my revenge,' thought Nightmare Moon as she watched from her celestial prison. She gave the youngling a small amount of power, just enough to gain the uncanny senses present in her followers. Then, she spoke in a strange language that seemed to rock the very air around it. The sound-waves struck the loose rock of the cliff and sent a pile of boulders tumbling down. The filly awoke just in time to move away from the rocks. She seemed to realize just how close it had been and began crying, already broken.

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"Good, good," the dark goddess said, praising her student's work. This was her final attempt at a follower, but the mare had already far surpassed all others. Her student didn't seem to agree.

"I promised him a safe place to stay though," she said, "I Pinkie Promised!" The small colt lay before her, broken. His eyes had been slowly destroyed with sewing needles and his wings were bent at odd angles. Clothespins jutted from his body at weird angles and his head was completely turned around.

"Does it matter? He is now free from his burdens, free from his worry. You have released his soul that it may travel the nether as it pleases. You have done him only good. You saw as he came in, his ribs stuck out so far, he was covered in cuts and bruises and his wings had been clipped. Surely you aren't angry that you freed him from pain." This seemed to steady the promising mare. She smiled, tears still clouding her eyes.

"I guess it's better now. Plus we do get to make yummy cupcakes for everypony else to enjoy." She smiled, but a knife flashed into her hoof. The pink pony thrust the knife deep into her abdomen, knowing that it wouldn't kill her at this point, only cause intense pain for hours. She looked up where she knew the moon to be, "if a Pinkie Promise won't stop you then this will. I swear a blood oath on my own life, never again to break a Pinkie Promise."

Nightmare Moon was thrown off, even with their near immortality, all of her previous attempts had avoided even the slightest bit of pain, no matter how crazed. This mare would take watching. "I'm not pleased with it, but it is done," she said. This could limit her assignments for the pony later, but once given, such an oath could only end one of two ways: completion, or death.

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"At last," called the dark goddess excitedly, "the time for my complete revenge has come!" Her laughter appeared to send shivers up the spine of the mare before her. "When I return to Equestria," she said, "be prepared to rule by my side, but don't reveal yourself to be my servant." "Knowing my sister," she spat the word, "she has some way to defeat me once more. Do whatever is required to hold your cover until I give the orders."

"Yes mistress," the mare said, returning to her work. A grey unicorn was thrown across the floor in front of her. His body lay in pieces but he still had life in him.

"Wait, please. Just let me ask one thing." He began coughing, blood jetting out with every push.

"Shall I?" Pinkie asked, looking back to the window constructed for her mistress to watch from her lunar prison.

"Yes, a small mercy before their world is destroyed."

"Please," he asked, his voice now little more than a hoarse whisper.

"Go ahead," Pinkie said, moving forward with her knife. "You may ask me one favor."

"Swear to me that you'll leave her out of this."

"Leave who?"

"My love, my life, my mare; please, promise me that you'll never put her through this."

"Who is she?"

"Duh-Der" he began coughing again, "Derpy Hooves." His head fell, his dying breath trailing off making the end of the name into a snake-like hiss.

Pinkie nodded, crossed her heart and put a hoof over one eye. "Never," she said before quickly setting to work carving up the corpse.

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At last, freedom! Nopony can stop me know. Power surged through Nightmare Moon's form as she stood before the purple unicorn. Her friends had arrived including Nightmare Moon's newest student, but they were powerless. The Elements of Harmony lay shattered on the ground, broken shards of rock. She saw Pinkie give her a joyful look. The same though ran between the two ponies of the night, 'We've won!' But suddenly, things went wrong.

The unicorn stood up. Somehow, she had found a way around the destruction of the elements. As their abilities were confirmed, the assembled mares began glowing and the pieces of the elements began swirling around them. "No," she found herself yelling, "what is happening?"

She looked to her servant for aid. The mare gained very little by helping to destroy her, but gained the world if she kept the others from completing what they had come for. Pinkie looked at her, a strange look in her eyes. 'Is that, is that anger?' One by one, the new elements shot out beams of light; swirling colors that burned Nightmare Moon to the core. Pinkie laughed in the destruction of her former master. In her last moments, the dark goddess placed a compulsion on the mare. "Very soon," she whispered as her power was ripped away, "your friends will be your new victims and you will be powerless to aid them. You will not live to enjoy my downfall for very long."

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Luna won't you cry for me? I'm as lonely as I've ever been.

I am for-ced back into the start. Is there any way to fix a broken heart?

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"We, that is, I remember you small one," Luna was devastated by what she had just seen. Not only had her petty desire for revenge cost hundreds, if not thousands, of ponies their lives, but her final words as Celestia's rival had doomed both the country, and herself. "For what it's worth," she said, fear filled her, fear of what this pink mare would do to her when she stopped talking, "I'm sorry for what I did. I did not wish to ruin your life or that of others. I wish I could undo what I did."

"Well you can't," Pinkie said, a dark gleam in her eyes. "You can't bring them back or take away what I've done, but I'm fine with that. You know why? Because you have always been right, they were much better off dead than alive. You just never said it was because I was here and not there. My friends are safe now, but we both know you won't be joining them, not with what you've done."

"Very well," Luna said, giving in. She had just seen the worst of her crimes flash before her eyes and now the rest began flooding her mind. She knew that a millennium of exile to the moon hadn't cleared her of the stains, but maybe this would finally clear away some. Her sister had always insisted that her penance was finished and that she was not to blame for Nightmare Moon's rampage, only her release, but Luna had always known she would pay for it someday. She just wished that she was the only one who had to pay for it.

Pinkie pulled back a hoof and slammed it into the princess's eye, cracking the bone around the socket. Luna saw that the pink mare was sobbing slightly, her hooves digging into the stomach of the alicorn. Suddenly, a sinister grin covered the mare's face and she looked up. Her eyes were empty black pits surrounded by a thin line of blue. Her teeth seemed abnormally sharp for an equine's. "Let's play then," she said, jumping off Luna.

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Infinite despise and endless jealousy bottled in my soul,

As erupted as I'm tearing through the sky.

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Pinkie returned quickly, a pair of pliers held in her hooves. She leaned in, eager to begin the final destruction of that being which had brought promises of power and immortality but was defeated by a bookish mare and her friends. Swinging the pliers quickly, she crushed the alicorn's jaw, causing it to fall open, dangling while blood spilled out from the stretched and split flesh.

Pinkie grabbed onto a tooth with the pliers and began twisting it around where it sat. Luna's screams of pain increased, but this only seemed to egg Pinkie on. Soon she had ripped the tooth out, pulling a small chunk of the alicorn's gums with it. She continued, tooth after tooth. The small white pile on the floor grew quickly, a large red puddle forming from the drops of blood on the teeth.

The pain shot deep through Luna's head with each pull. She could feel every hole where the roots had once been. Blood poured from dozens of new holes in her mouth and flowed down her throat, its thick, coppery taste threatening to choke her.

Pinkie sat back and looked at her work seeming displeased. A smile crossed her face and she began to gather up the teeth. "Oh Luna," she said leaning in, "guess what?" The dark alicorn just sobbed and tried to swallow as little of her blood as possible. Pinkie shrugged and began jamming the teeth into Luna's body at random points, pushing them in until only a small white dot showed where they were.

Pinkie seemed to be about to pull out another tool when a large black hoof descended on her leg. "Wait," rumbled a deep voice. Luna felt her courage fully give out at that voice. She knew of only one type of creature that sounded like that.

'Somehow,' she thought in her tortured mind, 'somehow she not only has a completely formed darkside, but it has its own body.' She knew now just how far she had gone with Pinkie long ago. She knew she had created something that could only exist as the bane of all life.

"I believe it's my turn now," the voice rumbled. Pinkie turned impatiently.

"Fine, but hurry, I have so much fun planned."

An immense black shape filled Luna's vision. Cold seemed to radiate from it and Luna found herself sighing as the agony in her head died down. The shape seemed to move until a huge eye sat before her face. Its bright crimson seemed almost to burn through the princess, leaving her with a feeling of sorrow and hopelessness. "Hello mistress," the voice said quietly, "shall we play?"

Red hot agony! Something was being forced into Luna's leg and she could hear a loud sizzling noise as though something burned. She looked down. The huge shadowy hoof was slowly pushing nail after nail into Luna's rear legs. Each of them glowed, their edges white from the heat. Luna could feel every movement as they were pushed into her legs. She could feel as the flesh charred and was pushed aside to make room for more of the burning metal. Nail after nail, each one stopping after it emitted a grinding noise. Trying to move her legs produced not only the protest of her split muscles, but Luna realized what the grinding noise was. Somehow the nails had been pushed all the way through, pinning her to the table.

"Okay, okay, now move over," Pinkie said once the final nail had been pushed in. A box of matches was balanced on her hoof. She pulled one out and lit it, the wood hissing to life with a brief flash. Pinkie moved towards Luna's face and pushed the lit end of the match into the alicorn's eye. It hissed and sputtered, quickly burning a hole through her eye. White liquid dribbled out as Luna screamed in pain. Pinkie continued pressing lit matches in until nothing was left of the eye but a small steaming puddle of white in a bleeding socket. Then she moved on to the other, laughing with each newly lit match. Soon she ran out of eyes and moved onto the alicorn's hair. Pinkie pulled out all of her remaining matches and carefully arranged them in Luna's flowing mane. Striking one match, Pinkie quickly lit the rest and sat back to watch.

The hair caught easily, transforming the princess's head into a raging fireball within seconds. Luna screamed and tried to move away, her fear of the fire only increased by the loss of her eyes. Nothing she did could pull her away from her own mane though, so she sat, feeling the approaching heat, unable to resist. Now her skin seemed to burn as well and she knew it was only a matter of seconds before the fire ended everything.

Luna found herself slightly cheered; only a few more moments of pain before it was over. But that was not to be. She felt something pass her and extinguish the fire. She cried out, broken and forlorn.

"Hey," Pinkie yelled angrily, "I was watching that."

"Yes," returned the voice of her other, "but a little longer and our fun would have ended. Why must I teach you patience so often?"

Luna could feel herself slipping away, her injuries dragging away at the last ebbs of her strength. She hoped they didn't notice, she knew how well she had trained this one. If she was almost gone, she would be brought back for hours of these twisted games.

"Even now she is near. We cannot risk another slipup," came the deep voice. A needle plunged into Luna's chest and she felt her last chance of freedom slide away with her new rush of strength.

The two ponies continued their games, back and forth, hammers, wire, teeth, every possible weapon in the room was used multiple times until what was left was a crushed blob of flesh resembling a pony, but still she lived.

Luna gasped for air. Every fiber of her being screamed out for release. They had thoroughly crippled her, inside and out, yet still they showed little sign of slowing. Except-

Pinkie groaned, "that last shot was the last shot. We're all out now, see?" Luna could still faintly hear them as they spoke. She could feel herself sliding away again and knew know that there was little more they could do to her before the end.

"Well then, together?"

"Okie-dokie-lokie!"

Luna heard hoofsteps approaching. She heard the oncoming rush of wind. She could hear as her skull caved in, her brain giving out only after much of it had been reduced to mush spurting from Luna's eyes and ears. She was still alive through the pain, but one though crossed her mind at the very end.

I'M FREE!

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Is there any way to fix a broken heart?

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I'd like to thank Saph34 once again for editing. Thanks for waiting for me while I was gone everypony, I promise I'll do my best not to leave anypony hanging like that again if I can help it.

I'm advising a new writer right now. He has a pretty nice fic out there. It's a ponified remake of the movie "The Fly". It's really good and everypony should go check it out. The story is called "Twifly" and it's in my fav list or you can just look up Gojira123 (he's only on fanfiction as far as I know, sorry fimfiction people.)

Sorry for leaving out details on Luna's torture. Partially, I ran out of ideas, but I also wanted to get this up ASAP.

One last thing, you should all go to my profile and look at the story ideas I have up there. Start telling me now what you want me to work on next. If you wait until this story is done (next chapter) then I'll have already started work on my idea "Out of the Darkness", and very few of those ideas are small enough to do on the side. I'm warning you though, a couple of them I don't know how to start or anything, so you might get a 'no' for it.

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