When Pinkamena woke up the next day, after very pleasurable dreams from last night, she woke up with a smile. She had lots of plans today, and she no doubt was going to have to deal with more thugs, she was hoping for it. She still felt disappointed that she wasn’t able to fully torture him last night, and that she wasn’t able to get her answers. Her mind was going into overdrive thinking of how to torture them; she was going to have to think of new ways since these guys are a bit more tolerant than her previous victims. Honestly, she loved it. She’s never had to think of new ways before, never had to use her creativity and imagination like this, it excited her.

But she couldn’t just sit in bed and think about it all day, no, it was daytime, which meant she was still Pinkie. She had a shift to get to, ponies to serve, names to know, and make sure to keep her act up. After all, ‘Pinkie’ wouldn’t miss a day of work, even if she were sick, she would push herself beyond her limits just to make other ponies happy. As much as it sickened her to act like such a child, she needed to. She couldn’t stop the act now; it’s been too long. Besides, it helped her stay hidden. No one would suspect a child of murder, even if said child had the knife in their hoofs. The advantage of such an act is just too good to give up, and it completely shocks her victims, making the act worth it. There’s no greater reaction than finding out the most innocent, childlike, trustworthy person torture you to death; it was…orgasmic.

“Pinkie! Are you awake yet? Your shifts about to start!”

Mrs. Cake knocked on her door suddenly, startling Pinkamena. She hadn’t realized she had woken up so late; she usually wakes up an hour or two before her shift. Maybe last night had taken more out of her than she thought? Either way, she had to hurry, Pinkie was never late.

“Sorry, Mrs. Cake! I got busy playing with Gummy and lost track of time; I’ll be down in a minute!”

Pinkamena said in her sickly sweet voice, the same one she’s been using for years to trick so many, perfecting it. It was really quite amazing how well she’s able to trick others, manipulating them, making them think and act the way she wanted. Sometimes, she honestly thought she was a better actor than some changelings, and acting was one of the things changelings were best at. To be able to trick and act better than a changeling, that takes an unnatural amount of talent, and Pinkamena was extremely proud of it.

But, enough thinking about useless things, she had to get ready for her shift. So, after hearing Mrs. Cake walking back down the stairs, Pinkamena did just that. She went into her bathroom, did her normal morning routine: Brushing her teeth, washing off any blood or other fluids she might have missed from last night, made sure to put makeup on any noticeable bruises, and used her brush to curl up her hair in the normal Pinkie fashion. Then, her favorite part was the smile. She couldn’t just smile any smile though; this had to be a childlike, innocent, genuine smile. Any less, then ponies will start to suspect something was wrong, and she couldn’t have that. It would cause…problems, and she had plenty of those right now.

But the secret to the smile wasn’t just to think candy and rainbows; it wasn’t that simple. You had to think of the happiest moment in your life, a moment that no matter how many times you think about it, it always brings a smile to your face. And keep that moment in your head, no matter what. That was the only way to keep a real smile on her face, and it’s worked so far. That moment for Pinkamena, was her first time. Which was also the same time she lost her virginity, it was the best night of her life, without a doubt.

His name was Sparkling Stream, and he was both her first, and last crush. She stopped having romantic feelings for anyone after him; she stopped feeling and doing a lot of things after him. Both of them were teenagers when it happened, the prime of their lives, but only one of them lived on to enjoy it. He was tall and strong, at least as a teenager. He had average looks and intelligence; he was a normal pony. He had a brown coat and mane, his green eyes sticking out because of this. He had a very bold face, with his sharp chin and strong nose, matching his personality. His cutie mark was a hoof ball, something he had discovered while playing sports. He later joined the team, becoming one of the best players in the school. What caught Pinkamena’s eye though, was his personality.

He was a very nice pony, and something about the way he talked and acted just made him so alluring and interesting. But, for whatever reason, he had taken an interest in her. They had begun to talk almost every day, becoming friends. This was when Pinkamena had come back from her journey to see the world; she wanted to spend more time with her family, though this was temporary. While this was the main reason, it wasn’t the only one. This was in her more…innocent days, where she thought killing and such was wrong, it’s almost laughable now. Her bloodlust was already there before, but she hadn’t killed yet, so it wasn’t as strong. For years, she was able to keep it tamed with animals and such, as much as it pained her. But when she got into her teens, her hormones had started. Bloodlust and hormones combined was a terrible combination, almost as bad as emotions. So when they started hitting her, not only did her already crazy sexual urge increase, so did her bloodlust. She was slowly starting to lose control of herself, which, eventually, she did, becoming what she is today. So, to control herself, she moved back with her family. After all, it’s easier to kill someone you don’t know, than someone who loves you. It did help, for a while. Then, she met Sparkling, making self-control a fading idea. Pinkamena never did have that much self-control, at least not back then. But her innocence and morals held her back, but not forever. It wasn’t one big event or anything like that made her lose control, it was something that happened over time. It was much like leaving the water on with a cup under it, slowly, the water filled up the cup. Every single day, filling up more and more, pushing it closer to its limit. Until one day, the cup either overflows or breaks. In this scenario, the cup broke after being overflown.

One day, at school, Pinkamena exploded. She saw him that day, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. So, she seduced him into the janitor's closet and did it there. He resisted at first, but he eventually gave in. They bucked for nearly an hour, both to the point of exhaustion. She never said anything, the only sounds coming out of her were moans, no words. But when they finished, she only acted exhausted. She didn’t intend to just sleep with him; she was going to kill him. Without any warning, she pulled a knife she had always kept on her and stabbed him. But it didn’t kill him; she didn’t want it too.

She instead stabbed him in the stomach, as Pinkamena knew that being stabbed in the stomach was one of the most painful deaths there was. It was slow and painful; it could take up to hours before finally bleeding out, not from experience, just from movies and books. His face wasn’t that of pain though, despite there no doubt he was in an immense amount of it. Instead, his face showed betrayal and disbelief. His pupils were dilated, his breathing was erratic as he sweat profusely, he said nothing. He simply just looked her in the eyes, no fear, no rage, nothing. Pinkamena, on the other hand, felt quite different. She was also looking into his eyes, with a huge smile on her face. A huge, malicious, sadistic smile, which stretched from one side of her face to the other. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth, licking the blood off of the knife, every last drop. She felt joyful and relieved. Relieved that she finally released, making her feel relaxed.

For who knows how long, they just stared at each other, neither saying anything. But, finally, when Sparkling realized his time was almost up, he said something. He said three words, words that took all of the emotion out of her, three words that broke her.

“I love you.”

Those were his final breaths, his final words, his final anything. After that, Pinkamena just laughed, not caring if anyone heard her or not. But, she got lucky, no one had. So, after successfully hiding his body, she started what she was doing today. The torturing and cannibalism is something that developed later on when she had decided to start experimenting. But no matter what she’s done or will do, that memory will always stay her favorite and the one that will always make her smile.

So, after her perfect fake smile came on, and remembering where she was and what she was doing, she nearly ran out the door. Luckily, she didn’t spend too long in nostalgia; the store hadn’t opened yet. She quickly walked towards the door, opening it, and began to walk out. But before she could, something happened, something bad. Her entire body shook violently; the entire world seemed to shake, it was worse than an earthquake. It only lasted a few seconds, but the effect was still there.

Pinkamena then filled with fear and some anxiety. What she just experienced was a doozy, and it meant something big was going to happen, something bad. She doesn’t have doozies often, but when she does, it’s usually something life-threatening, sometimes even worse. Which meant it was either going to happen to her, or someone in Ponyville, most likely someone in Ponyville. Considering how much Ponyville comes under attack or is in danger, it’s probably another monster attack or something. Then again, monster attacks have happened before without a doozy, so why would this time be any different? Whatever it was, Pinkamena didn’t have time to think about it; she had a job to get to.

Pinkamena ran out of the room, bouncing her way down the stairs, acting normal. She didn’t want to worry about it, all it would do was make her anxious. She decided to just go through her day normally; she had enough to worry about already without worrying about the future. She was determined not to let it bother her; she had to be carefree, she had to be happy, she had to be Pinkie.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For whatever reason, it was a pretty slow business day. There were usually tons of ponies that came to Sugarcube Corner every day, either to see Pinkie or because of their pastries. But today, it was very slow. It was so slow, Pinkamena wondered if this was the doozy. That this would happen from now on, and Sugarcube Corner would go out of business. But, she decided that couldn’t be it, the Pinkie Sense was never that simple.

The worst part about it though was the boredom. Pinkamena may have hated a lot of things, but boredom was by far one of the worst. Sure, it was annoying pretending to be an immature child, but at least she was entertained. But with boredom, she was left with her thoughts. She didn’t like that, not one bit. The voices were there, waiting for her, wanting her. Sure, she liked to talk them about various things, when she was working. But when she was alone or bored, they changed. They were more…disturbed, detailed, demonic. It was one of the few times she was ever scared, that’s why she didn’t like not to be working, or be alone.

Then, to Pinkamena’s joy, the bell to the bakery rang. Making her snap out of her thoughts quickly, putting on her smile once again. But the customers made her smile leave her face, her hair nearly going fully flat right then and there. Her emotions were bouncing all over the place; she was shaken to the core. The first customer who came in was one of her ‘friends,’ Fluttershy. Surprisingly, considering her personality, she seemed happy. A smile on her face, which would usually be hard to see because she hid it behind her hair. But she was eagerly speaking to the pony beside her, which was probably why she was happy. But what shook her wasn’t Fluttershy’s personality, it was who she was talking to. She was talking to a ghost, someone who shouldn’t be here, someone who shouldn’t be anywhere. Rainbow Dash.

She was normal, happy, even. She seemed to be laughing at something, probably a foal hood story only her and Fluttershy would know. There were no scratches or wounds on her body, nothing even remotely indicating she’d been tortured. Her wings were still intact, her cutie mark unharmed and still on her flank. Everything about her seemed normal, like nothing happened, like their party never happen. And that both shook, and enraged Pinkamena. For once, she had no words or jokes. She had nothing to say or do, she could do nothing but stare.

Pinkamena did nothing, her body slowly losing the look of joy and laughter, morphing into its normal self, it’s real self. She wasn’t losing her entire joyful appearance; she was still partially aware of her surroundings. She tried her hardest to keep up her look, but it just wasn’t working. Her hair was deflated, her smile was obviously fake, her colors were darker, but not faded. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t. Her mask was slipping, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

As Fluttershy and Rainbow approached, Pinkamena got more and more anxious. Fluttershy’s face slowly changed from happy to worried the closer she got, while Rainbow remained smiling, but differently. It was more malicious, sadistic, dark; it was the smile of a knowing killer. It enraged her even further; it was getting harder and harder to hold herself back. Her face was getting angrier now, despite how much she tried otherwise.

“P-pinkie? Are you okay? You seem…bothered by something.”

Fluttershy said softly, Pinkamena barely noticing, as she was keeping eye contact with Dash. Fluttershy shivered, the tension in the room was immense. It was heavy and thick, making the once joyful atmosphere feel menacing. The tension in the room was so intense, the few ponies in the bakery could feel it from the other side, making them feel uncomfortable and scared. It wasn't just the tension either, it was the look on their faces, though only Fluttershy could see them. Rainbow had a wide, confident, malicious smile on her face, which would have intimidated anyone. Pinkie seemed like she was experiencing a lot of emotions, her face was contorted into a very stressed and angry face. Her smile was obviously fake, her eyes focused on Rainbow, a look in her eyes Fluttershy couldn't pinpoint. What scared her the most though, wasn't the tension, or the look on their faces, it was them. Those looks were coming from her foal hood friend and the most innocent pony she knew, that's what terrified her.

“I-I’m f-fine Fluttershy, j-just had a bad cupcake, that’s all.”

Pinkamena could barely speak properly, the emotions swirling inside her making it hard to concentrate. Even if she could, she doubted she could talk like Pinkie. Pinkie usually talked randomly and in a high pitch, joyful, random voice. But Pinkamena was too distracted to even think of anything to say, and she was creative. She was sure the act was failing, considering what happened last time her mask fell, that was a horrible thing. She needed to go, now. If she didn’t, she would surely break, and that would cause unforeseeable problems.

“Really? But Pinkie, I thought you were really good at making cupcakes. I mean, when I came over the other day to help you make cupcakes, you seemed to enjoy making them. You had a huge smile on your face, and we did so many fun things! And the cupcakes we made turned out great! I hope we can make cupcakes together again.”

Pinkamena couldn’t hold herself back anymore; her smile had dropped, her act had dropped. This didn’t seem to intimidate her at all, if anything, it seemed to make her happier. Her smile stretched farther, her eyes expanding, making her smile seem less innocent. This just made Pinkamena angrier, it took every ounce of will and self-control not to slice her throat right then and there, and she was a very controlled mare. Pinkamena couldn’t decide what angered her more, the look on Rainbow’s face, or not knowing how and why she was still alive.

Poor Fluttershy couldn’t do anything; she was far too shy and ignorant of the situation to know what to do. Fluttershy wasn’t a pony person; she wasn’t good at socializing or dealing with two friends fighting. She couldn’t do anything right now, all she could do was hope nothing would happen. She wanted to stop them, to see what the problem was and get them to stop fighting, to make them friends again. But she couldn’t, that was more like something Twilight would do, not her. The best thing she could do right now got what she came for and went, and to ask Twilight for help. If she wasn’t too busy, that is.

“P-Pinkie? If it’s not too much trouble, do you think you could make a carrot cake for me? Angel’s birthday is coming soon, and I know how much he likes carrots, so I just thought he might like a cake made out of them if that's not too much trouble.”

In the middle of her sentence, Pinkamena had slowly begun to look at her, her face showing nothing but annoyance. This scared Fluttershy even further, she had never seen a look like that on Pinkie’s face, especially not directed towards her. It scared and intimidated her so badly; she had tried to hide her face in her hair, her speaking beginning to slow down and become quieter. She eventually crouched onto the floor under Pinkamena’s gaze, using her hooves to cover her head. Pinkamena said nothing; she couldn’t say anything. If she said anything, just one thing, she might explode.

“Pinkie, what’s with that look? You seem annoyed, is it all that much to ask? I mean, if it helps you need, I’d be happy to put some blood and sweat to help you. C’mon, help a mare out. I’d hate for you to deny poor little Fluttershy, it would hurt her feelings. And you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, would you?”

Fluttershy was more confused; she had never seen Rainbow act like this. Rainbow was always brash, confident, and straightforward. She would have been angry at Pinkie for treating her like that, maybe even instigating a fight. But the way she was acting now, was in contrast to how she usually was. She seemed calm, calculating like she knew something nopony else knew, she was acting like Discord. Pinkie was acting differently too, but she hadn’t talked yet, so Fluttershy wasn’t sure how. But she was getting more and more anxious, the tension was growing every second, it was starting to get suffocating.

Pinkamena had seemed to get even angrier if that was possible. She began to grind her teeth, seeming barely able to hold herself back. She seemed to be on the very edge, and anything can push her off. But, surprisingly, she spoke.

“Sure! I’d love to make you a carrot cake, Fluttershy! We’re low on carrots right now though, so it might take a few days before we can make you one. Is that okay?”

Her voice was perfect; it sounded exactly like Pinkie, it was scary. Despite her angered face and body language, and the immense amount of tension still in the room, she still sounded like Pinkie. Which made Fluttershy think, if she could sound like that while like this, how many times has she pretended to be okay? In her confusion and terror, she almost forgot to answer.

“Um, yeah, t-that’s fine. I’d like to pay for it whenever it’s made instead of early if that’s okay with you?”

Fluttershy could barely speak, too afraid to look at her directly.

“Okey Dokey Lokey, what about you, Dash? Did you want anything?”

Rainbow didn’t say anything for a few seconds; she seemed to be thinking about something. She was surprised; she had been fully expecting Pinkie to lash out at her, at least, that was the plan. But she seemed to have underestimated Pinkie’s tolerance, that’s fine, Rainbow had planned for this, she always kept backup plans.

“Nah, I just came to see if you needed help making cupcakes again. But if you don’t, I got to go; I promised to help Scootaloo with some stunts. Make sure to call me if you change your mind though; I’ll be here in a heartbeat.”

With that Rainbow flew out of the bakery, Fluttershy doing the same, but much slower, and didn’t actually fly. Pinkie though didn’t move, not yet anyway. No, she waited, and waited, and waited. She waited until everypony in the bakery had left, mostly because the remaining tension still in the room made the atmosphere very uncomfortable. The second the last pony left, she blasted to the door, locking and flipping the sign to close. She then wrote a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Cake about Fluttershy’s request; they had gone to get some ingredients that they needed.

She then pressed the button hidden under a loose board, unlocking the basement, which she rushed to get into, nearly forgetting to press the button on the other side of it that closed the door. She was too busy thinking, her emotions already distracting her enough. Her face represented her emotions perfectly, but no one was around to see it. Rage, disbelief, annoyance, despair, and strangely, joy, she didn’t really understand the last one. But didn’t really have time to think, she needed to check something, something important.

She didn’t pay any attention to anything in her basement; she had a higher priority. Instead, she focused on a door to the left of the room, where she kept her projects. It was a white door, with a bronze doorknob, about half the size of the roof. It had a small white sign on it, which said ‘ In progress projects.’ Which was exactly what it was, a bunch of projects and ideas Pinkamena has had over the years, though she rarely has time to work on them.

She quickly opened the door and ran in, looking around for something in specific. When she couldn’t find it, despite everything being incredibly organized, she began to toss things around in search of it.

“Where is it!? Where did he put it? That buck probably took it with him to show to his guy friends! I swear, I’m going to castrate that piece of shit the next time I see him!”

She growled, hoping that was the reason she couldn’t find it. Her frustration grew every second she couldn’t find it, feeding her anger, making her mood worse. After a few minutes of completely tearing apart the room, resulting in multiple toys, tools, weapons, and many other things, she gave up. She had searched every single inch of space in this room, and it wasn’t a huge room. She couldn’t find it; she just could find Rainbow’s body. She was about to walk out of the room and find Grutch. Until suddenly, she saw something out of the corner of her eye, something that didn’t belong. It was a small, clean, white piece of paper. It seemed to have something written on it, which wasn’t in Pinkamena’s hoof writing.

What made this strange wasn’t what it was, but where it was. Other than the sign on the door, there weren’t any pieces of paper in the basement. Especially not in here, Pinkamena had near perfect memory, she didn’t need notes or journals. So, curiosity replacing her anger and frustration, she walked over to the piece of paper. From the way it was written, it seemed to be a letter.

Dear Pinkamena.

Hi! It’s your best friend, Rainbow Dash! I appreciate you taking such good care of me, but, as you can see, I had to go. As much as I enjoyed our time together, I couldn’t stay. As leader of The Rainbow Factory, I have many responsibilities and things to do; I’m sure you’d understand. Also, don’t blame Grutch or Bramble for this, they were outnumbered, they didn’t have much of choice. Don’t worry about them though; they’re still alive, I made a promise to The Underground not to involve them in this. This isn’t over; I hope you realize that you’ve started a war. Who am I kidding? It’ll be a massacre! You’re completely by yourself! You may be good in combat and with weapons, but I like to think anything can be outnumbered. So Pinkie, I recommend you find yourself some allies. I’m only giving you advice as an old friend, also because you’re the first threat we’ve had in awhile, I’d hate for you to be a disappointment. So, please, entertain me.

Love, Rainbow Dash

Pinkamena said nothing as she read the letter, she just stood there, feeling nothing, thinking nothing, just standing. Then, a smile stretched across her face. It was wider than any smile she’s had before; she’s never felt such joy. She then began to laugh maniacally, as the letter dropped from her hooves. Her eyes were dilated, her body shaking with absolute excitement.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! I love you! Not only do you make puns about your torture, but you brag and toy with me like a predator with its food! I’ve only dreamed of meeting someone like you! This is going to be wonderful! I can’t wait to rip apart your henchman piece by piece! To watch the fear in their eyes as I torture them to death! But you! You I’ll let live! I’ll let you watch as I rip apart your precious factory! I’ll make sure to break you and build you back up, just to break you again! I’m going to make you my bitch!”

Pinkamena screamed at nopony in particular, no longer able to hold herself back. She began to laugh again, feeling her body overcome with emotions. The war everyone had anticipated was going to happen, and it started here.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow hadn’t flown far from Sugarcube corner; she just flew fast to make it seem like she was. Instead, she had flew onto the roof of a nearby building, with a grim look on her face. On the roof waiting for her were three ponies, all in the same suits of the ponies that had attacked Pinkamena. They had hidden behind a chimney crown, wide enough to hide all three of them. They were able to see the bakery from where they were, which is why that spot was chosen. When Rainbow had landed on the roof, they had slowly come out from the crown, going into a line in front of her.

“Ms. Dash, what happened to the plan?”

One of them said, worry in their voice. The others said nothing, waiting for her response.

“It seems I miscalculated; she didn’t lunge at me like I thought she would. No matter, I called it plan A for a reason. There are twenty-five other letters of the alphabet, but we’ll only need one, B.”

The others looked at each other in confusion; they hadn’t discussed a plan B, they usually don’t need to.

“And what is plan B, Ms. Dash?”

Rainbow turned around and looked at the bakery, a smile stretching across her face.

“We wait, we can’t do this in the day, secrecy still takes top priority. So, we wait. It will only be a few hours until night time; then we’ll strike. I’ve taken precautions to make sure the Cakes will be gone for a few more hours than expected, but we’ll only be in there for a few minutes. I’m still not positive she’s alone; I don’t like taking chances. Then, like the first plan, we’ll take her to The Factory. We’ll ask her some questions, attempt to convert her if possible. But, if we can’t, we let her go. We have to learn if she’s truly alone or not, by letting her go, we’ll know. When we have, we’ll kill her and any possible allies she may have. You can hurt her, just nothing fatal, understood?”

The three ponies behind her nodded their heads, confirming they understood. Though, they didn’t realize they were being lied to. Well, not really lied to, more like half-truths. Rainbow knew Pinkamena was alone in this; she knew her type, she didn’t trust anyone. But she’ll have to make allies now, whether she liked it or not. Rainbow didn’t like to take chances, that was true. But, because of all the things they’ve been through together, she was going to make an exception. Everything else she had told them was true; she didn’t like to lie to her coworkers.

Even if she didn’t know, she’d still let her live. She should have read the letter by now, which meant she was preparing. But she wouldn’t try to get allies until tomorrow after she knew exactly what she was getting into. Rainbow wanted a challenge, something to excite her, to push her, to make her heart pump, she wanted an enemy. That part wasn’t an act; this was going to the most fun she’s had in a long time.