Author's Notes:

For those who'd spent the last two months dwelling in and, of course on this story so far, aside from large word count amongst other errors, let's start off by apologizing for not taking the matter seriously enough to consider myself committed to the whole plot and for not updating as consistently as possible before; nevertheless, I'll take the time to remedy the ever present problems long enough to finish on a high note and perhaps give this another go so until then, I have one thing to say to y'all: see ya in the morning.

Anyways, this chapter, yet another return to the sudden fire and flames from long ago and I mean no exaggeration whatsoever, will now be taking place at daytime as usual to help set up a contrast and by far a pattern as well: a difficult task to accomplish given the time that had been lost doing so, this chapter took a total of five days to write with the help of my partner Dark Colt Sabata; also, another special guest is going to be joining up our fateful protagonist in the chapter below as the story picks up.

Speaking of the word 'up' itself, this is where things also begin to heat up if you, how does one say; oh yeah, get the drift here, you see what I mean…?

Pinkie was snoring quietly inside the circular cot without even a moment’s haste as a ray of sunlight from a nearby window started to poke on through the looking glass nearby only slowly. Aside from the mismatched halter top upon the upper figure, the pink pony was by far completely unclothed; of course, there were no signs of concern at the moment pending. Unless she was truly alone, there was perhaps a sliver of a chance that such a scene would be best appreciated thanks to the most basic of substances present and accounted for.

“Ugh… gotta get the strange voices outta my head; maybe a drink out the tap should clear them,” Pinkie yawned without warning, stretching out of the bedding as the true blue eyes flew open. The pink pony climbed out of there to find the ligneous floor from beneath the hooves, the location being the same as always save for the near lacking of light inside the living room. Cautiously, she began to trek across from her place of slumber in search of a substance to quell her thirst that resounded off of her lips, soft squeaks emitting from footfalls left behind at once.

Pinkie stood nearby a hallway to find her ears standing on endwise in due time, all thanks to a nearby noise that caught her off guard; treading lightly, she came nearby a door frame and placed one nearby the wall.

Within due time, the pink pony then heard some words slowly emanating from the other side, “AJ, are you awake…?”

“Let me have a few seconds…” a tired reply barely made its way through as well, no doubt belonging to Applejack herself, “oh… what is it, Rainbow; you have something on your mind…?”

“A lot…” the first voice from beyond the pinpoint location groaned, revealing itself to be none other than Rainbow already.

A yawn was able to eke out the fading silence as Pinkie listened in onto one of her friends speak, “alright then, Ah reckon that you get it out of your system now and talk.”

“It’s about yesterday, AJ…” The cyan pegasus began to elaborate what had been said before already, “Ever since I was able to escape from the games, I always thought about how happy I was that these bastards were burning. While everyone was out scrambling for freedom, I ended up hiding away in a cave nearby a lake trying to make sense of it all. I was so tired and angry about what I had been through: the beatings, the tortures, the fuckings; the sheer thought of it all ended up making me falling asleep for the entire day.”

“Isn’t sleeping all that you used to do every chance you had got…?” the orange mare asked as the pink pony from the opposite side stifled a short laugh.

Rainbow groaned before continuing onward, “that’s not the point; anyways, I woke up yesterday morning to wash the crap that the fuckheads left behind off of me. As I had remained in the lake, I had seen some red collars walking around near my line of sight and jumped out of there as soon as possible; however, they didn’t seemed to be interested in me at all, if you know what I am saying…”

“How could you have been so sure about it; were they following you?” Applejack asked as Pinkie took a glance at the collar already adorned around her neck, “did they even pay you any mind at all, Rainbow…?”

“Not at all, but after what I had been through, I didn’t want to take any more chances with them; besides, seeing how they sold themselves out very well has left me feeling paranoid already…” Rainbow answered as she stomped onto the floorboard quickly.

A tear started to escape from the corner of the pink pony’s eye as she heard the orange mare respond, “careful there, sugarcube; as much as Ah understand your pain here, we gotta think about what we’re going to do here on out today: aside from the pet show, there’s no way we can all hide out any longer, especially after what’s been happening last night and the day before. In fact, it’s a safe bet that they’re going to be looking for you soon enough as well as Pinkie; after all, we’re very popular people, second to the princesses.”

“I’m sorry, Applejack, but with all due respect here, Cansdunce can go skewer herself in the dark twisted heart for all I care; as a matter of fact, the mares that are following Twilight’s example here aren’t far fucking behind…!” the cyan pegasus shouted at once, her rising voice now piercing their friend’s ears within due time no less, “even then, they’re just nothing more than useless lapdogs at the end of the day to this so-called king of ours, carrying out extremist ideologies with such radical thinking that would make a Saddle Arabian stallion vomit nonstop!”

“Dashie…” was all that Pinkie could choke out as she slumped onto the floor and cried softly. Within second, a deluge of tears started to soak into the pink pony’s hands and the flooring beneath her already as they were being wiped away. In contrast to what she had been listening to earlier, loneliness wasn’t the only feeling that was plaguing her heart and mind; even so, she started to feel like that the escaping tears were just the beginning of what was going on at once.

As Pinkie started to coughed huskily between intervals, she barely had anytime to hear nearby footfalls approaching her location; for what it was worth, it was accompanied by a voice unlike Applejack or Rainbow who began to speak, “Pinkie, are you okay…?”

“Big Mac… I didn’t see you come by here…” the pink pony wept as she found a pair of red hooves within her eyesight, “what are you doing here…?”

“Well, Ah was about to ask you the same thing: Ah was just going to check up on AJ and get her ready for today’s trip; although, Ah didn’t expect you to be up at the crack of dawn, ma’am…” Big Mac answered as he slowly crouched down to meet her at the same eye level face to face, donned in only a gray shirt with some brown shorts.

Pinkie soon wiped her moist eyes away and began to speak to the red stallion within due time, “It’s about Dashie, sir: I was just about to go to the bathroom and get a drink of water but then I overheard her talking to Applejack about what she was doing yesterday and the day before it as well. I never truly thought about the pain that she underwent would be this bad but I never expected this to happen to her at all so badly. I mean she’s just started talking about the red collars again and how even Dainn’s been having them be used as pawns just like last night but this time she’s started mentioning Twilight and–––”

“Calm down, Pinkie… Ah am pretty sure that Rainbow didn’t mean any of it; besides, you’re probably nothing like that mare Roseluck…” Big Mac reply as the pink pony averted her gaze at once, “After all, your arrival earlier reminded me of people like Cheerilee herself.”

“Have I; how can I be either of the two at all?!” she cried loudly as the red stallion winced slightly.

Big Mac watched a puddle form around Pinkie at once and he whispered to her, “Please keep it down; you might be awakening the others already…!”

“I don’t even care; Rainbow’s right about me: I’m no better than a common red collar traitor…!” The pink pony wept, smacking away a hand from the red stallion without any form of a warning, “If she wanted to, then I hope she puts me out of my misery before anyone else suffers more.”

“Do you honestly think that this is what she would have wanted to do to you; if that were the case, then tell me this: why hasn’t she done so yet...?” Big Mac asked, rubbing his knuckles.

As the waterfall began to subside so soon, she sniffled softly, “Because she has no other choice; after what I had done to her long ago, I don’t think she can even trust me anymore...”

“Oh, ya just gotta be kidding me; Ah knew that this would be happening at some point today…!” A feminine voice interjected, belonging to the orange mare whom opened the door nearby them, “alright Rainbow, Ah understand that this could be too much for me to say anyway to listen…”

“If this is about last night, calm down; I’m not going to do any of what she’d been thinking of…” the cyan pegasus quickly responded as she followed the three outside of the very room already.

Applejack looked at Rainbow dead in the eyes and gotten ahold of the latter’s hand saying, “please, you gotta promise me that absolutely no harm must come to Pinkie at all whatsoever…”

“Easier said than done: after what just had happened, I don’t even know what to do with her…” the cyan pegasus replied toward the orange mare within due time, scratching the multicolored tresses with a free hand, “like I had said before, yesterday really affected me greatly ever since I caught up with you two: I never thought that I would be able to see you again Applejack; maybe I’m just spit balling here but I guess I should have considered myself lucky that I was able to escape. I don’t even know about you guys but this happened when they first took over Canterlot long ago: the minute I heard Twilight telling me to go get help in Ponyville, I started to cry for the first time in a long time; I didn’t even know who to turn to for help or how far away the caribou really were from me. I’d like to give her one thing only: had the old Twilight told me not to run away, I don’t think I would’ve not been able to get this far; I mean, fuck, I would have ended up just like the Daring Do from the new books these bastards are publishing right now, especially after what’s she doing. Still, you’re asking me to to put aside my fears and animosity because you think she might want me to kill her for what people like the new Twilight are doing what they are right now; I may had gone down in history as the mare who did a Sonic Rainboom at a young age but telling me to do just even that is like asking me to risk my life, let alone my sanity or health, on such an astronomical possibility.”

“Rainbow, many people not long ago considered the idea of defeating Nightmare Moon to be such a feat too and look where we were before, like heroes but more importantly, friends; Ah ask of you: if ya ain’t gonna do it for yerself or for Pinkie, then please, just do it for mah sake,” Applejack whimpered as Rainbow stared back into the jade irises with concern and contempt.

The orange mare watched as the cyan pegasus averted her gaze from the three observers within due time; quickly, a breath of fresh air escaped from the latter’s lips as the former’s brother and their friend were watching until a reply emerged from the midst: “alright then, I will…”

“Thank you, kindly; Ah knew Ah can count on you always…” Applejack sighed before hugging Rainbow briefly and broke away, “but, we gotta hurry: the morning has just begun so we better get a move on…”

“Whatever, but don’t expect it to be just the same as a certain kind of promise long ago, AJ…” the cyan pegasus slowly grunted as the red stallion began to walk past her all at once.

As Pinkie started to stand back up on both hooves upon the floorboards, the mares then heard him say something at once, “Ah am gonna go make some breakfast now; does anyone want anything to eat before we go start the day?”

“No thank you, sir; after what I had put myself through for so long, I don’t think I wanna eat another batch of kibble to start the day…” the pink pony answered as she dried what remained of the tears, “besides, I don’t think I could stay here any much longer than today…”

“I’ll say; come to think of it, when’s the pet show gonna start, AJ?” Rainbow asked the titular contact within seconds at a time.

Tossing a blanket over from the palm of her hands, Applejack spoke in half the amount, “tomorrow but me and Big Mac are gonna catch a train in less than two hours from now; anyways, Ah gotta go tell him about last night just in case we find others along the way…”

“Are you sure that no one’s gonna know about this; what if the others decide to tell the truth?” the cyan pegasus whispered in the orange mare’s ear after tying the fabric around the waist, “how can we be sure that the other girls won’t say anything about us; what’s he gonna do?”

“Don’t fret about it, sugarcube: it’s just as Rose said last night, there would had been no telling who we could’ve been left with; nevertheless, we can never afford to be a bit too careful here,” Applejack shuddered tremblingly as she’d just caught a glimpse of Rainbow’s magenta irises.

The cyan pegasus stared at the floorboards where their hooves were inches away from touching before groaning, “don’t even remind me of what I already know; just point me the exit so we can be on our way. I bet the longer I stay, there’s no telling what today might bring me.”

“Not even for a small bite, aren’t you?” The orange mare sighed before deciding to follow the path where Big Mac had treaded upon, “What a shame but Ah don’t blame ya…”

“The only one’s who deserves the blame is Dainn here…!” Rainbow snarled before backing away from Applejack at once.

Nodding her head, the orange mare whispered quietly, “Ah could give anything just so Ah can drink a tall cold glass of cider to that instead of from some stallion or stag…”

“Me too; I’m getting sick of this crap…!” the cyan pegasus replied, now suddenly turning her attention onto Pinkie all straight away, “no more sleeping around; let’s get out of here…”

“Okay!” the pink pony chirped, jumping upward to hear a nearby groan from her friend.

Pinkie found herself far away from the farm once more, this time with Rainbow instead of Applejack; of course, the only things that haven’t changed were the abundance of hives and vines throughout their line of sight, its dwindling numbers barely noticed by the former. Nevertheless, the cyan pegasus led the way, refusing to let the pink pony or the environs completely out of their sights as they still trekked across the dirt road: the former stomping about whereas the latter hopped alongside. The dark skies above them were now becoming brighter than they were last night but reminded the two of the ever present dangers already hidden by the fading darkness around.

Rainbow steadily kept herself and her friend out of sight as the former thought silently, “if it weren’t for those fucking sheaths, then I’d be able to see where in Equestria are we already!”

“Rainbow, are you alright…?” Pinkie asked as she stopped skipping to her own beat, “you were awfully quiet since we left Applejack and Big Mac…”

“Why wouldn’t I; gotta keep ourselves from attracting any suspicions now, do we…?” answered the cyan pegasus, keeping her head facing forward. The pink pony maintained a fixed distance while following about within the confines of the dark forestry they were walking in currently no less. Pinkie soon felt one of her ears stand on endwise when a faint sound echoed into there: a low growl made her slightly jump up a bit and neared towards Rainbow by a few inches.

Strangely enough, the cyan pegasus also took notice of it as well, almost stopping in place to examine the origins that hit far too close for comfort.

The pink pony stood still and started to stutter slowly so soon, “R-R-Rainbow, was th-th-that your s-s-stomach growling…?”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about it; not even last time would go this far…” Rainbow steadily gulped as Pinkie started to shudder behind the former with little warning, “it must have come from somewhere nearby us.”

The cyan pegasus found a patchy opening, free of leaves and bark as the light began to show itself to the sole observers in question; when they scurried on toward the egress, all that remained was a cottage. Its roof was drenched in an abundance of foliage, its leaves wilting about into a golden brown a marinated in wet soil save for a dozen vines waving about in synchronicity. All of the windows were completely pitch black save for one, bathed in a yellow glow and it was resting firmly on the ground level next to a russet door nearby. A short wooden fence had one guiding itself away from the metallic doorknob at once whereas another pointed to the road constantly taken that traversed over a lake. On the opposite side of the road, a patch of blue flowers standing out against the brilliant green nearby muddied waters. Amongst the cluttering wooden debris was a solitary gray behemoth a few yards away from it.

Her eyes widen in shock when she started to see another figure below it: the being in question resting below appeared to be a butterscotch pegasus mare, just like her; however, there were some differences. The subject in question donned a rubicund collar, just like Pinkie had around her neck, along with a set of matching sheaths that were set in place of these very wings. The butterscotch pegasus had a long pink mane, just like Rainbow’s friend albeit in a lighter shade and strained with some residual grass and saliva. Unlike the two ponies that were found to be watching it all within a relatively safe distance, she was in a complete state of dishabille. The butterscotch pegasus had irises made of teal but were obscured by the eyelids had hidden away the potential to move heaven and earth at any given opportunity. She sported a wet stain of white throughout her waistline, its texture so loose the point of origin was from the behemoth as the former cooed with ecstasy.

The pink pony watched her friend slowly turned away to find a jaded face scrunched up and shuddering about; suddenly, the former quickly covered a pair of hands over the owner’s mouth as an assorted wayward cluster of lukewarm hues splattered upon the soil. As bad enough as it were since Pinkie had already knew and learned what it was that emerged from Rainbow’s mouth, even the mere sight of it all quickly caused the observer to avert her own eyes away from the ghastly convergence. Although that the spectacle in question was without a doubt over as soon as it started, this display that the butterscotch pegasus was a part of had convinced themselves that it was almost nothing compared to what had happened last night.

“Rainbow… are you alright…?” The pink pony squeaked as the cyan pegasus hacked up a cough in between short but barely silent intervals.

Licking her lips, Rainbow spat out at the puddle and took notice of how there were some traces of residue on the blanket; slowly, shed close her eyes and choked out calmly, “I… had just watched… Fluttershy take it… in the…”

“It’s okay, Rainbow…” Pinkie interjected, “I’d seen it too…”

“I am a dirty whore; thank you very much for fucking me in the morning…!” was all that could be said, no doubt coming from the panting butterscotch pegasus nearby.

After a low purr escaped into the atmosphere, the cyan pegasus turned her irises onto on of the branches nearby and trotted over to pick it up. The pink pony watched as the largest piece of wood upfront became broken up into nothing short of a shoddily made javelin in about under ten seconds flat no less. Whatever disgust that Pinkie became a witness to had now quickly metamorphosed into fury as Rainbow slowly but steadily started to step out of the wilderness they were in earlier ago.

The cyan pegasus locked eyes onto the slumbering behemoth and started to growl lowly, “That’s it: no more fooling around anymore; I’m gonna to screw this into your sorry brain now!”

With the long branch in tow, Rainbow crept up to where Fluttershy lay hiccuping in exhaustion, the latter unaware of the former’s presence. As the cyan pegasus walked along across the bridge beneath her hooves, she remained calm on the outside, but her mind was thinking loudly about what was being seen at the moment in question. The butterscotch pegasus whinnied about as she started to crawled out underneath it slowly with a faint grin while barely being seen. Rainbow was seeing clearly that whatever alternatives popped into mind were for slowpokes and that clever ideas are born from earthly inspiration and other things sent from above. With only lovely silence coming to the cyan pegasus’ aid, the window of opportunity was open for her to crawl into and see to it what she had wished to do.

Meanwhile, Pinkie had held back her sobbing as she began to hear some voices talking to her again, only this time they started to sound like Fluttershy had gotten into the mix: the former could recognize that two of them belonged to the latter albeit in different tones as they accompanied the most dominant one from last night; this was making such vision dimmed again.

“Hello there, Pinkie… never thought that I would hear of you again,” The pink pony heard as something sounding so tender changed drastically, “Oh wait, that’s right… I already did; how was show business treating, you traitorous whore?!“

“Fluttershy… is that you…?” Pinkie peeped as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye.

A severe chuckling pierced the pink pony’s ears before answering, “Not exactly, I’m the cells that compose her, but we share her real thoughts: her fears, fury, pain, sorrow, but most of all, loneliness; people like you amplified them so greatly, even the smile upon her face reflects the truth.”

“What do you mean by that; how could a bunch of cells could even do any of the talking…?” Pinkie whimpered as Rainbow started to raise up the ligneous stake slowly but carefully, “That’s not even possible… even by my standards…”

“Says the red calling the pink out…!” A laugh roared as the pink pony crouched in fear, unable to witness what the cyan pegasus was about to do already.

All of the sudden, Pinkie heard a loud groan echoed out as a sickening poke spurted after; additionally, this was followed by some shrieks coming from an all too familiar source nearby: “STOP IT, RAINBOW; NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

As soon as the pink pony poked upward again, she couldn’t believe what her eyes were now seeing: the gray behemoth from before now had wounds appearing right upon the forehead as they were wet with blood, thanks to the eponymous culprit who now gasped for some air. Pinkie also took notice of how the butterscotch pegasus’ eyes began to water up, shaking around to and fro as a crimson puddle started to form upon the brilliant green soil beneath them both. The wood that once was within the cyan pegasus’ hands had snapped in two, one of the pieces deeply embedded into the skull.

“That’s… the end… of that chapter…” Rainbow panted as she started regaining her composure, wiping some sweat off the forehead, “No more…”

“Why…?” Fluttershy wept as she started to inspect the behemoth which was freshly killed.

The cyan pegasus noticed her butterscotch peer shutting the lids and scoffed, “Why not? At least it’s one less ‘beast to be fucking around…”

“You don’t even understand…!” Fluttershy wept as she backed away from Rainbow in due time, “He was helping me…”

“What… are you… even… talking about…?” The cyan pegasus said as the fury within the magenta irises combusted into confusion and sorrow; however, it was short lived as she came in contact with another sight: a tall caribou with a black rod emerged from the cottage nearby.

Pinkie felt like she was about to lose control of herself as she heard the voice comment on it, “We were about to say to help destroy brain cells, but this guy is just as effective.”

“Grrrrraaaaugh…!” Rainbow had screamed violently as she charged into the individual without any warning whatsoever, “I’m gonna make you bastards pay for what you did to me and Fluttershy ever since you showed up on that day!”

At this moment, both the pink pony and the butterscotch pegasus watched a fist connect with the caribou’s jaw instantly as blood escaped from the lips. Next, Rainbow served up a kick to her victim’s inguinal area as she landed another punch into the forehead with velocity. Then, the cyan pegasus started to raise up her left hand and aim for the target’s neck within posthaste.

As soon as this was happening, the caribou gurgled and started to tackle Rainbow onto the ground quickly as possible, catching all three little ponies off guard with a resounding thud. The cyan pegasus was down but not out as it had seemed in the minds of both Pinkie and Fluttershy; however, this was only the beginning as the opponent began beating the former to a pulp. Suddenly, Rainbow began to sink her teeth into the attacker’s hand as she struggled to escape from his wrath; at that moment, he took up her rod and some sparks began to fly from one end.

“DON’T DO IT…!” The pink pony shrieked loudly, catching the caribou’s attention within only seconds as a vermillion sphere quickly flew up into his face quickly.

Surely enough, the attacker suddenly made contact with the shapely geometric figure at once as both his fur and fabric became illuminated with fire. This sudden change made the caribou stumble off of the cyan pegasus as he landed upon the wooden surface of the door, infecting the cottage with the combustion in tow. Despite all the twitching and toiling about, he had never screamed at all, though it would be best realizing that the two pegasi took the time to crawl away. Rainbow took note of how her butterscotch counterpart widened her eyes in shock from the ordeal as the former quickly dragged the latter to safety. Pinkie felt her jaw drop when the grassy abode went up in flames, eating away the color that once defined the location overall. Even now, there was smoke pouring out into the skies as the clearness became slowly tainted by the sight and smell of the spectacle in which the sun also rose to bear witness to.

The cyan pegasus took note of the pink pony’s shocked state and shouted into the latter's ear, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON’T STAND AROUND; JUST GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!”

Pinkie barely dragged her hooves onto the soil as she, along with Rainbow and Fluttershy, fled from the terrifying scene it had escalated into; needless to say, this was far from over by even a long shot.