Pinkie Pie sat in her small room on the second floor of Sugarcube Corner, her eyes narrow and her pulse rising. She held in her hoof, today's issue of Equestria Daily. A news article about the latest major crime in Ponyville caught her attention. The brutal murder of Plum Sweet, a simple mare who worked making and selling sweets to foals. Reports indicate an intoxicated stallion approached her in the evening and made sexual advances, to which she refused, then he got violent.

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, then continued reading. He was recently convicted and sentenced to death. After just over a month he faced his sentence, they sat him in a comfortable chair, and gave him a quick injection to the neck. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, painless and easy. "Justice has been served." Or so claimed this article. In Pinkie's eyes, this was the biggest injustice imaginable. She could only think of the confusion and terror in Plum Sweet's eyes as she endured  a pain beyond imagination. A savage brutal rape and beating leading to the death of a young sweet mare in exchange for a calm peaceful death proceeding a delicious meal. Something wasn't right with Equestrian "justice", something had to give. These monsters we were ensuring didn't have their pony rights violated were being rewarded with something most of the kindest ponies in the world would give anything for, a peaceful painless death.

The teary eyed pink pony angrily crumpled the paper up in her hooves and threw it across the room.

***

Pinkie saw each of her most recent party guests out the door, thanking every one of them for attending her celebration. Twilight Sparkle was the last to leave, she stopped and took the time to thank the party mare for having her company. With a quick and enthusiastic nod, Pinkie shut the door and began cleaning the rather large mess left behind by her friends. She never minded cleaning up, she saw it as another part of the party. Less fun, but important. Sometimes a couple of her friends would offer to stay behind and help clean up, but not tonight. It was late and they all were ready for some much needed sleep. She hummed happily to herself as she went along with her chores. As she wrapped up the last bit of cleaning, she realized that she was still strangely wide awake despite how late it had gotten. She looked out her window, the moon was shining dimly through a thin layer of clouds, no stars could be seen. Suddenly she heard an abrupt knock at the door. The startling break in silence caused her to jump, feeling embarrassed she walked towards the door.

“Who is it?” She asked with the utmost enthusiasm.

There was no response.

Pinkie’s interest was sparked, so she trotted over to the door and looked outside. She didn't see anything other than the empty streets, no pony in sight.

“Where’d you go?” She called out, the only reply was her own echo.

She ventured off, peeking around the corners, it was too dark to make anything out. She shuddered in the chilly night air, then turned around to head back inside, looking over her shoulder the whole way back. As she approached her door, she was startled to see a large dark brown stallion looming in front of the entrance. His eyes seemed to be shaking, and his mane was short and choppy.

"Oh hi there. Where'd you come from?" Pinkie smiled, trying to seem as friendly as possible.

"I... I just wanted to say, I think you're, really pretty." The bulky earth pony spoke slowly and with periodic pauses, as if speaking was difficult for him.

"Uh... Thanks?" Pinkie's smile turned into a worried frown.

"I've been watching you, lately, I, I think I'm in love with you." The big stallion stared down at Pinkie, waiting patiently for her reply.

"Whoa there big boy, I don't even know you. That's just creepy." Pinkie recoiled at his strange proclamation.

He hung his head and looked as if he were about to begin crying. "I knew you'd hate me..."

"Oh hey now, I don't hate you. I just don't know you yet. Now lift that mopey head up and smile. Pinkie won't allow any pouty sad heads around here!"

She trotted up to him, putting a hoof on his shoulder, then she put on the biggest most cheesy smile she could muster over the awkwardness of the situation. The large pony took this sign of affection as a welcome to share his own. He tightly grabbed Pinkie with his front hooves, hugging her with a crushing grip. Pinkie coughed as the air was quickly forced out of her lungs. She pushed her hooves up against him and tried to fight out of his grasp, but he was simply too strong and his hooves were tightly interlocked behind her. Tears welled up in her eyes, and began to drip on his shoulder.

"Why, are you crying. I thought hugs made you happy." He finally let go of Pinkie, who fell to the ground gasping for air.

"Not.. Not when they hurt..." Pinkie shuffled onto her hooves, and back away from the aggressive stallion.

"Why are you even here? Please just leave me alone!"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you with the hug, let me make you feel better." He walked up to Pinkie with surprising speed and reached out to grab her again.

Pinkie stumbled backwards, tumbling down to the dirt road. She scurried across the dirt and gravel, trying her best to keep her distance, but the persistent stallion followed, still reaching out for her, walking on his back two hooves. He looked down at Pinkie as she frantically tried to regain her balance and run away. She saw his eyes moving up and down her body, and knew if he caught up to her it wouldn't end well. The brown stallion focused his gaze on Pinkie's eyes, licking his lips as he thought about grabbing her again. Pinkie began to gallop away down the road, she hoped she could get to Fluttershy's house and hide inside until they could call for help.

"Don't run please, I want to make you feel good."

Pinkie tightly shut her eyes, trying to ignore everything he said. She opened them again, Fluttershy's house was in view. She looked back, the huge brown stallion was in full gallop, gaining on her with every hoofstep. She reached the door and began to bang on it rapidly with her hooves. She looked into the windows, no light was coming from within. The door was  locked. It seemed that Fluttershy wasn't home.

Pinkie shrieked and jumped out of the way as the large stallion came crashing into the side of Fluttershy's house. Pinkie looked around. She had nowhere to run that he wouldn't immediately follow and inevitably catch her. She looked into the Everfree Forest, it was dark and she might be able to hide. It was her only hope. Her chaser regained his balance and was once again galloping after her as fast as ponily possible. She made it into the forest and took a sharp turn, hoping to throw him off her trail. She continued running, looking for something to hide in that was less conspicuous than a bush or behind a rock. With no luck she found herself at the end of the trail, the path she followed lead straight into a small lake. She looked back, her attacker was right behind her. He came to a slow trot as he approached her, knowing she had nowhere left to run.

"Don't fight me, please, it'll only make this... harder, for us both."

Pinkie closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. She backed into the icy cold water and considered trying to go across the lake, although she didn't know how to swim. She thought maybe drowning would be a better fate than what she had in store. A big brown hoof gripped her hair throwing her away from the water and back onto the trail. Pinkie desperately tried to keep her balance but the force of the throw was too much. She came crashing down face first into the dirt. Before she was able to get up, a powerful hoof forced her face back down into the dirt trail. She felt the sickly warmth of the huge earth pony's body on her back. Her breaths grew short and heavy, and she began to have a coughing fit as she inhaled the dirt off the trail. Her attacker showed no sympathy as he continued his assault. He reached under Pinkie's stomach, pulling her waist into the air. Pinkie's tears flowed into the dirt and pebbles beneath her. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming pressure on her back, causing her knees to roughly scrape across the ground. Then he fell over onto the ground next to her.

"Oh, oh my. Are you okay Pinkie?" Fluttershy helped her off the ground and brushed the dirt off her face and legs.

Pinkie wiped the tears from her eyes and laughed a little. "Thank you so much Shy, I'd have been dead if you hadn't done... whatever you just did!" Pinkie grabbed onto her savior, hugging her and kissing her cheeks.

Fluttershy blushed. "Well I saw you were in trouble so I knew I just had to do something. I grabbed the biggest rock I could lift, and dropped it on his head."

Pinkie's attacker laid in the dirt, silent and unconscious.

"Well I'm sure glad you did. But.. what are you doing all the way out here anyway?!"

"Oh well you see... I always take my pet possum for a walk down this trail at night. He doesn't like to go out during the day, but needs attention too." She gestured over to her pet with her nose. The cute little thing was lying there on its back with one eye open, playing dead. As soon as it noticed they were looking it closed its other eye and laid perfectly still.

"You're not fooling anyone... but good try."

Suddenly a moan escaped the collapsed stallion. Pinkie panicked and began to stomp on his head repeatedly and surprisingly violently.

"Oh no, oh no, this isn't good." Fluttershy glanced back and forth between Pinkie and the battered stallion. Pinkie was now standing over his bloodied face, breathing heavily.

"This is what he gets for doing what he did. Are you just going to let him get away with hurting me like that Shy? I thought you didn't let anyone hurt your friends." Pinkie looked at Fluttershy, pressuring her to join in on her vengeance. "Kick him!"

"Oh, well okay, if you say so." Fluttershy gave the nearly unconscious stallion a light tap on the head.

"No, too nice. Look at me Fluttershy." Fluttershy looked up and down at Pinkie's wounded body. Her mane was unusually messy and covered in a layer of dirt. Her face was dirty and scraped. Her knees were covered in semi-deep gashes from sliding across jagged pebbles.

"We need to make sure he doesn't try to do this to any pony else. Hmmph!" Pinkie's sharp voice reflected her unusual anger.

"I'm really angry that he hurt you Pinkie... You're right. I'll get payback for you." Fluttershy hit him again, slightly harder.

"Do it again Fluttershy, like you mean it." Fluttershy looked back at Pinkie's face. Small patches of dried blood stained her cute puffed cheeks. She walked up to Pinkie, licking her face, grooming her back to near normal. Then she looked down.

"I should have stopped him sooner, but I was scared. I'm sorry Pinkie."

"It's okay Shy. You can help by making sure he doesn't get back up and try to hurt me again."

Fluttershy thought about what he might have done if she hadn't intervened. Then the anger deep within her heart began to surface. The thought of her close friend being violated by a large, stupid, dirty stallion filled Fluttershy with a familiar rage. She looked down at the stallion, he was beginning to lean up again, his nose was cut and blood dripped into his eyes, blurring his vision.

"I'm sorry, please don't hit me again." He pleaded.

Fluttershy squinted her eyes. "Would you have stopped if Pinkie Pie had asked you to?! I don't think so!"

She then began to stomp on his face, this time with more force than Pinkie herself had originally displayed. She looked around the forest ground for a fallen branch. She spotted a medium sized stick and lifted it between her front hooves. She flew slightly above him and stabbed his left eye with the somewhat pointed stick as hard as she could, twisted it around, and yanked the eye out socket. The large brown pony cried out as he shook his head away from the weapon. She wiggled the stick, flicking the mutilated eye to the ground. Pinkie took a few steps back and smiled.

"Good work Shy, I knew you had it in you."

Fluttershy stopped for a moment and gave Pinkie a polite nod, then continued brutalizing her target. She stabbed the stick into his raw, bleeding eye socket, causing him to writhe across the ground. The concussive trauma to the back of his head left him with no sense of balance, but he could still feel the pain being inflicted quite vividly. Fluttershy dropped the stick and looked at the end, it was now soaked in blood and a clear liquid. The two mares shared a mutual laugh as they watched the now helpless stallion roll across the ground with his hooves covering his bloody eye socket. This feeling was exhilarating, much more satisfying than either one of them could have imagined. A simple act of revenge turned into something much more sinister. Toying with another life, inflicting pain as an act of self recompense, these things ignited a side of the two mares that they never knew could exist in any pony.

"Not so tough now are you ya big meanie." Pinkie mocked the suffering stallion, much to her own delight. "Let's kill him."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. She walked up to his side, forcefully implanting her back hooves into his ribs. She felt a sweet pleasure as they cracked beneath her swift kick. The stallion wailed out in agony.

"No more please, I can't, take, it.."

"Are you sure? I thought you liked hurting ponies." Pinkie Pie enjoyed this moment, a little too much perhaps.

"Here, let me make you feel good!" She kicked in the exact same spot Fluttershy did, causing the already broken ribs to pierce his lung, filling it with blood. He simply laid there now, letting a low pitched whine out as pain overrode his other senses.

"Still not feeling good enough?" This time she kicked him across the face, knocking several of his teeth out. He hardly seemed to notice as he laid there shivering and choking on his own blood. Then he was silent.

"I guess that's it then Shy, lets go home, I need to get cleaned up. Mind if I use your shower?"

"Oh of course you can. You go on ahead, I'll push this body into the lake." Fluttershy began to push on the lifeless mass of flesh, urging it towards the shore.

"Oh you silly filly, I couldn't possibly let you do that all by yourself, here let me help."

The two mares worked side by side pushing the heavy dead weight into the water. He floated towards the center, and eventually out of view.

"Pinkie Pie, I don't want to sound... weird, but I'd like to do this again sometime with you. Maybe we can find another bad pony and teach him a lesson, like this one." Fluttershy looked at the ground.

Pinkie wrapped a hoof around her. "Of course we can, I'd have fun with that, wouldn't you have fun? I like fun.."

"Me too" Fluttershy put a wing over Pinkie as they trotted down the path back to her home.

"I think this is the start of a new and exciting relationship, don't you?" Pinkie smiled, Fluttershy simply closed her eyes and nodded. The two mares disappeared into the night, blissfully imagining what they might end up doing next.

After a night of frantic scrubbing and obsessive cleaning, the two mares woke up. Fluttershy was the first to wake, then she gently nudged Pinkie til she finally opened her eyes.

"Um, Pinkie Pie? I'm afraid we're going to get in trouble for what we did last night." Fluttershy's worried eyes made Pinkie frown, she knew she was the one who pushed Fluttershy to do what she did.

"Don't worry about it Shy, I'll never let you take the fall for something I made you do." It'd kill her if she got caught, the poor sensitive little thing... Pinkie thought, looking out the window.

"Oh, okay then." Fluttershy hugged her ensuring friend, then stood up to prepare for the day ahead.

She walked into her kitchen to find something for breakfast, looking around she spotted a large variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and even sweets. Nothing seemed appetizing at the moment.

EEEEEP!

Fluttershy jump into the air, landing on top of her fridge. She looked back into the living room where she had heard the sudden sound that had startled her. A newspaper had been dropped through her mail slot.

"Shy! Are you okay?! What happened?" Pinkie quickly came wobbling into the kitchen to investigate her friend's distress, her eyes were unfocused and her balance was leaving something to be desired.

"I, uh, I just got scared when the mail came. It happens almost everyday." Fluttershy blushed.

"Well you can come down now, I'll go kill the big scary newspaper monster." Pinkie sarcastically rolled her eyes and walked towards the paper.

Fluttershy winced and gulped. Images of a large ferocious newspaper destroying her home came to mind. She shook her head and fluttered to the floor, following Pinkie into the other room. She had already opened the Equestria Daily paper and skimmed through all the seemingly random articles.

"Aha, look at this Shy."

Mother kills infant and blames ghost, defendant pleas temporary insanity. Mother spends six months in mental facility. She has since been claimed rehabilitated and is scheduled to be back home in Ponyville, today.

Pinkie's eyes narrowed, she loved infants, and she hated the fact that this mare isn't being punished for what she had done.

"Fluttershy, we need to do something. First, think of the poor baby pony she killed, think of all the birthday parties to poor thing will never get to have. Now think of the fact that she will probably do it again someday. I can't allow that, are you with me?!" Pinkie looked into Fluttershy's eyes, her own widening, slightly watering. Pinkie wasn't leaving no for an option.

"I, um... of course I'll help you Pinkie, you're right." Fluttershy's voice became stronger, and more confident. "We can't let this mare get away with what she did. No way!"

"Yes! Okay Shy, we need to plan this out, and make sure you don't tell ANYPONY ELSE! Not even our best friends can know, I don't think they'll understand. I don't like keeping secrets, but this really has to be our secret okay?"

"Got it." Fluttershy smiled.

"Our little secret." Next Chapter: Hatchet To Ya Estimated time remaining: 45 Minutes