Whew, here comes a new chapter, I'm writing this before the chapter so I have less of an idea as to what will happen as some of you do….. I don't try to guess ahead because it ruins the surprise.

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Thread by thread

Stitching it together

Twilight's dress

Cutting the pattern snip by snip

Making sure the fabric folds nicely

It's the perfect color and so hip

Always got to keep in mind my pacing

Making sure the clothes correctly facing

I'm stitching Twilight's dress

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"Okay Twilight," Pinkie said, grabbing a glass jar. It was painted a strange glossy black so Twilight couldn't make out what was inside of it. "Time for our first game! Bug wranglin'." As she said the last part, Pinkie changed her voice to sound exactly like Applejack.

"Awl ya got ta do is git this here rope around one a' these here critters." Pinkie pulled out a small bundle of strings and dropped them on Twilight's stomach. She opened up the jar revealing that it wasn't painted, it had been crammed full of small bugs, many of them now dead from the lack of air and space.

Pinkie shook out a large hoof-full and tossed them in a small box. "Go git 'em Twalaight!" Twilight lay there on the table and watched as Pinkie stared at her with a terrifying grin on her face. "Well go ahead silly," she said, using her normal voice, "aren't you going to even try to catch one?"

"Pinkie," Twilight said, now able to think clearly after Pinkie had filled her with pain killers, "you strapped me to a table and turned off the nerves in my limbs. How in Equestria am I supposed to lasso a termite?"

"Well fine, be that way," Pinkie said dipping the end of each string in superglue and dropping the ends into the mass of termites. "But in a second you're gonna wish you picked out your own."

"What are you-"

"Quiet!" Pinkie yelled, slapping Twilight's face with her hoof. Twilight's jaw snapped out of place and hung down where it did after Pinkie hit Twilight with a hammer. "I'm getting tired of your questions." Getting louder to be heard over Twilight's sobs, "if you aren't going to play then you can't ask questions. Besides, I'm fishing."

Pinkie pulled several long strings of termites out of the black mass and placed an airtight cover on the box. "There, those should be gone in a few minutes." She began unraveling the strings before the superglue could dry them together. When she was finished, each strand had two termites side by side on the end of it. "These are very special termites," Pinkie said, pulling a chair covered in blue pony skin over to Twilight. "They're specially bred to chew through ponies instead of wood. I've found that they prefer to go just above the nerves, they like the energy from the brain signals. It helps them grow or something. They won't kill you, but they will cause lots of tiny tunnels."

Smiling, pinkie placed the strings of termites on the table near Twilight's rear hoofs. "I put two on each string to make sure we can use the tunnels," Pinkie explained as the insects seemed to sit up and sniff the air. As if on command, they all began running for Twilight's skinned flanks at the same time. The group of termites split perfectly down the middle to go to different sides.

As they began chewing their way in at remarkable speed Pinkie said, "I guess we have some time for girl talk. What's on your mind Twilight?" Pinkie sat as if expecting an answer. Instead, Twilight screamed and tried to squirm away but was held tight by her bonds.

"Ugh, come on Twilight, you know I forgot how to speak yeti."

Twilight lay on the table, her skin seeming to bubble as the termites wormed their way through her body. Her skin felt on fire and there was a deep itch everywhere, but all she could do was yell in pain as the termites ate their way along, somehow overriding the neurotoxin Pinkie had injected her with. Her discomfort only increased as the feeling returned to her entire body, far outstripping the snail pace of the burrowing parasites deep within her body. As feeling returned to her jaw Twilight's screams increased in volume; it now hung more than a hoof below its usual place having been dislocated twice now.

"Wow Twilight," Pinkie said running the tip of a hoof along the lines of depressions slowly making their way towards Twilight's head, "I've never had anypony stay awake for this before. You're so good at these games." She held up the translucent box containing the rest of the insects, "I had no idea the little poking of their feet could wake nerves back up. I wouldn't have wasted so many chemicals if I knew."

Twilight managed a scathing look at Pinkie before another wave of pain shot through her entire body, pinning her to the table more effectively than the bonds ever could.

"What," Pinkie asked, sounding slightly offended, "these things are expensive and really hard to make. I have to sneak into the hospital which means bribing guards so that nopony catches on to weekly deaths, then I hafta try and read doctor handwriting which is worse even than Scootaloo's. Then I need to get the right bottles, close down the bakery for like, two days so that nopony smells the fumes. Then I hafta actually make the right chemicals. It's so tiring!"

The tiny burrows had now reached nearly to Twilight's chest. "Well," said Pinkie, "looks like I need to get the bait so that they come out." She grabbed a nearby skull and shook out a grayish purple mush and spread it all over Twilight's neck. "Whoops," Pinkie laughed, "I almost forgot to let them smell it." She grabbed one of the nails form the jar on her cart and pushed it into Twilight's neck on each side. "There, now they'll come out for some yummy treats."

"Pee-ee, wa ih aaa?" Twilight managed.

"Just some day old brains."

Twilight was now able to smell the noxious goo on her neck and nearly vomited. All that stopped her was knowing that Pinkie would likely mop it up and force it back down her throat.

Pinkie noticed the slight movement as Twilight swallowed the bile before it could come out. "Oh goodie," she clapped, "you're learning." Pinkie turned around and busied herself at the cart, "Back in a sec."

When pinkie turned back around, the trails were just short of the nail holes; Pinkie saw them turn and begin climbing out of Twilight's neck to investigate the new treat. She slapped down the flypaper she had been opening, "Gotcha!" At least one of the bugs from every string was now caught on the squares of sticky yellow paper. She ripped the strings off of the small black forms, causing many to tear in half.

Pinkie wadded up the paper and threw it over her shoulder. It stuck to the ceiling covering part of one of the lights. The shadow formed covered part of Pinkie's face somehow making her look even more disturbed.

"Now for the tricky part," Pinkie said, "I practiced this so that I'd be ready for you, but it's very hard to do." Pinkie grabbed the spools of copper colored wire off of the cart and began unraveling a few. She tied the strings through tiny holes in the ends of the wires near where the termites had entered Twilight.

"We'll do this and then we can see about making some of those cupcakes," said Pinkie, her sinister grin stretching farther. "You're smart; see if you can figure out why I'm putting little wires along your nerves before I'm done."

Twilight actually caught herself trying to imagine all of the horrible things Pinkie could do. 'No,' she thought through a haze of pain, 'don't give in, that's all she wants.'

"You know," said Pinkie seeming to sense the little argument going on in Twilight's mind, "I was going to give you fresh painkillers if you guessed it, but if you don't try then I'll just wiggle the wires along and hope it does enough damage to kill the signals in your nerves without making them useless."

Twilight couldn't help an image of the thin wires tearing through her body from forming in her head. Shaking her head to clear away the worst of her tears, Twilight began seriously trying to figure out what Pinkie would do. She noticed that there was a small controller sitting on the cart. Next to it were several large batteries. An idea had begun to form when Twilight felt a frigid something begin sliding into the small holes in her legs. Pinkie was using the strings to slowly pull wires through the tunnels filling Twilight's body. Every few seconds Pinkie would snap the strings like reins making the wires jump and tear at Twilight's insides.

"Wow," pinkie said, seeming genuinely surprised, "I thought you would have thought of something by now. Maybe this will help." Every few words punctured by another snapping of the strings, "remember that frog experiment you did when you were studying medicine a few months back?" The wires continued slowly, yet unmercifully, through Twilight's body. The cold cutting sensation slowly filling up the many thin depressions that covered Twilight's torso.

"Yoo oh eea-" Twilight began, each attempt at a word punctuated by a flare of pain from her suspended jaw. It dangled comically, flapping each time she tried to talk. Occasionally, the blood coming from the tiny holes near the shattered bone would spray out, turning Pinkie an even darker shade of pink as it slowly trickled down her face.

"Oooh, watcha got?" Pinkie asked, dropping the strings for a moment. Twilight sighed as her tortured body was allowed a few seconds of respite. The alternating waves of cold and pain continued radiating off of the metal trails, but at least they weren't forcing their way ahead any longer. Twilight noticed with a sense of detachment that the cold was slowly disappearing as the strands were heated by the blood coursing through her.

"Ah ooh ahah aae-" Twilight tried to force out through her ruined mouth.

"Oh hush," Pinkie suddenly said, "I'm getting a headache trying to translate. It's nearly as bad as you actually talking." She sighed, "huuuh; here, try this." Pinkie twisted the broken bones and pushed in at the same time, causing Twilight's jaw to slam painfully back together in its usual spot, though still hanging at a slight angle.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Twilight screamed as the pain exploded through her head. It faded quickly and left a small bit of comfort as her mouth could now move how and when it was supposed to. Spitting out the blood caught in her mouth Twilight continued. "Puppets?"

The one word seemed to send a shiver of excitement through Pinkie.

Her ears began flopping causing a look of discomfort to spread across her face. She turned around looking at a narrow staircase in the corner, now looking terrified her eyes rapidly opening and closing. She reached for an axe that was hanging from her cart and slowly moved towards the staircase; her knees jerking with every step. Then her tail began twitching and she turned back around, a smile played across her face.

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Yard by yard

Fussing on the details

Jewel neckline,

Don't you know a stitch in time saves nine?

Making her something perfect to inspire

Even though she hates formal attire

Gotta mind those intimate details

Even though she's more concerned with sales

It's Applejack's new dress

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Applejack began walking home from the market for lunch. As she passed the Sugarcube Corner she saw that the widows were all closed and the door was still blocked by random pieces of furniture.

"What coulda' happened to that crazy pony?" Applejack wondered aloud. "I hope she didn't get into anythin' too big for her ta handle."

She looked around trying to find somepony who could tell her what Pinkie had been doing lately. The streets were clear, everyone having headed home for lunch. The only pony in sight was a rapidly dwindling grey pegasus, her yellow mane flapping as she swerved to avoid a nearby house.

"Well tarnations," she said, flipping her hat off and rubbing her head, "Ah wish ah hadn't been so busy lately. Maybe then ah'd know what that mare was up ta." She shook her head, "that's what ah get for goin' an' slackin' off I guess."

Applejack locked the wheels of her cart in place and covered it with a sheet saying, 'Back in five minutes, thanks for stopping by!' and headed towards the Sugarcube Corner.

The orange cowpony walked up the steps trying to peer into the cracks of the shutters. "Pinkie," she called, knocking a hoof against the door, "are yall in here?" She pushed the door. It opened easily and silently despite the new layer of chair parts nailed into it.

"Pinkie?" she flipped the light switch and saw an overturned teacup by a blue cupcake covered in rainbow sprinkles. As she turned to investigate the kitchen, Applejack saw a note pinned to the wall near a strange looking smear on the wall. She walked over to investigate and saw that her name was written on the note. She picked it up and tore the envelope open with her mouth:

Applejack,

So nice of you to come and join our little party. I'm so happy that you're right on time. I realize it must have been difficult on such short notice, especially since I left your invitation here. Your number came up when I was a little… preoccupied. It's right here if you want to see it. Oh, and don't worry about nopony being here, me and Twilight are waiting for you. There are lots of fun games and ponies ready for you to get here.

The note had been signed with a strange symbol that Applejack didn't recognize. It sort of resembled two hoofs but she had no idea what it could mean. /]*[\

"Ah wonder what that thing is." Applejack stared at it for a second before realizing something, "how did Pinkie know that ah was gonna be comin here? Ah usually only come for pickups and deliveries on Mondays, not Saturday." She thought about it for a second. "Ah well," she said folding up the note and sticking it in her saddlebag, "she must have heard me talkin' ta mahself when she was fixin' that door."

"Somethin' still don't sit quite right with this though." Shrugging, Applejack remembered what the note had said about a number. She looked down and saw a blue scrap of furry material lying on the ground with a maroon 23 on it. She bent over to get it and realized what it was.

"This is ponyskin" she yelled alarmed; almost instantly she realized she knew who it was from, "this is Rainbow Dash's, ah'd recognize the feel of it anywhere! What happened to her?" Applejack looked back for a moment, remembering her friend. Countless afternoons spent exercising together had brought them very close; as close as Applejack was to Applebloom. "Ah thought somethin' seemed fishy about her leavin' like that. She didn't even hint at anything when we were makin' cider."

Applejack stood up furious, "ah always knew something was wrong with that pony, but this is too far, even fer Pinkie."

She was cut short as she felt a sharp prick in the back of her neck. All feeling fled from her legs and she looked up to see a slim pole extending from the wall with a hypodermic needle attached to it. Applejack now realized that the smear was a fresh layer of spackle.

Her vision began to blur and she was now lying completely flat on her side. She saw that there were actually several chinks in the rod for holding needles. She barely had time to winder where they could be when the floor opened up beneath her.

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Dressmaking's easy, for Pinkie Pie…

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Pinkie Pie picked up a remote and pushed a button. A section of the ceiling opened up and Twilight thought she saw two more panels open above it. Something orange streaked through the opening and hit the ground with a sickening crack.

"Whoops," Pinkie said, a slight hiccup in her voice from the scare moments earlier, "that'll be her leg."

Twilight saw something long and pale poking out of the orange pony's leg. A small red pool was forming around her and Twilight realized that the pony was a familiar shade of orange. She looked for a few moments, almost missing it under the glistening layer of blood. On the pony's flank were three apples almost forming a pyramid.

"Applejack," she said softly.

"I guess I'd better deal with her, sit tight for a moment Twilight." Pinkie pulled on one of the strange ropes holding Twilight and walked towards Applejack, humming.

After Pinkie had put a splint around Applejack's injured leg and strapped her to a table, she walked over to Twilight.

She pulled out another large needle, seemingly from nowhere. "Well, I promised I'd give this to you if you guessed what my plan was." She thrust the point of the needle deep into Twilight's abdomen, pausing when it encountered her spine. The needle was completely buried and the cylinder holding the pain killer was pushing her stomach back a little. She slowly depressed the plunger causing a rush of pressure in Twilight's back. This was quickly overtaken by complete nothingness that spread to the rest of her body, easing the pain from Pinkie's previous 'games'.

Pinkie quickly pulled the wires the rest of the way through Twilight's body, ignoring the moans coming from a nearby table where Applejack was tied. "There we go," Pinkie smiled as she broke off the rest of the strings. The spools holding the wires had now become level with the flesh of Twilight's thighs and a lot of wire stuck out from her neck.

Pinkie grabbed a set of pliers and busied herself with the ends of the wires. Twilight took advantage of the lack of attention from the demented mare and the absence of her pain to calm down a little and assess her situation. 'Okay, I have no magic and no chance of rescue unless Spike comes to ask Pinkie where I am.' Twilight remembered what had happened to Applejack, 'I hope he doesn't.' Twilight realized that at this point, she was doomed. No one knew where she was or that Pinkie was a psychotic maniac. 'Besides,' she thought, 'I'm sure Celestia herself would have trouble if she angered Pinkie.'

With these last thoughts, Twilight's hope faded away completely. She lay back and waited for Pinkie to finish and, hopefully, kill her. Twilight noticed that while she had been thinking, Pinkie had bandaged her flanks and neck and had put small cloth sacks around the ends of the wires.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Pinkie aimed a small motion detector at Applejack.

"Well, she isn't going to wake up for a while; I had to use quite a few syringes to ensure she wouldn't resist." Twilight saw several broken needles sticking out of Applejack's back and covering the floor near where she had fallen. "Plus I hafta wait for you to heal a little bit so that the wires don't come loose. O I'm gonna go clean up a bit so that nopony gets suspicious."

Pinkie turned off the lights and began climbing the stairs. "Try and get some sleep Twi, you're gonna need it for tomorrow." The door closed, leaving Twilight in complete darkness for the second time in as many days. She heard a slight shifting as Applejack unconsciously moved off of the syringes a bit. Twilight realized that, after the shock her body had been put through that day, she was completely exhausted. She closed her eyes and managed to fall into a nightmare filled sleep.

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Okay done. This took longer than I expected, but I remembered to look back through BEFORE submitting it this time… Microsoft's spellcheck and autocorrect suck.

I noticed something though, looking back through the chapters, it seems to be getting better as you go farther in. Anyway, there's likely to be more Spike and Rarity coming up soon.

I kinda' wish I had left 'The Art of the Dress' for Rarity's party, but it seemed to work here. Speaking of songs, 'Party with Pinkie' is the best song ever to listen to when writing about Pinkie, especially when it's on a loop with 'Pinkie's Telegram', both versions of 'Discord' and' Rainbow Factory' (both fun and otherwise). Next Chapter: Where Things Heat Up a Bit Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 8 Minutes