Impact slowly strode over to Pinkie, her visage of surprise devolving into a stare of obsidian hatred; a cold, black, sadistic glare that even Fluttershy’s legendary Stare could not surpass.

“I told you that I didn’t want a party.” Impact seethed through gritted teeth.

“Why…wouldn’t you…want a party?” the pink pony asked, still slightly out-of-breath from her rant, “Today’s…your birthday…isn’t it?”

“No, I’m afraid you’re mistaken.” Impact replied, “My birthday is tomorrow. I just wanted to pick up my cake.”

“Well then, happy-one-day-early-birthday!” Pinkie exclaimed as she began to bounce around the room. “Come on! It’s time to celebrate!”

“Did you know that tomorrow also marks exactly ten years to the day since my parents died?” Impact said, raising her voice to an angry pitch.

A collective gasp of horror rose up from the crowd. Everypony took several steps back, giving the birthday pony a wide berth. Pinkie’s blood suddenly ran cold. She froze mid-bounce and crashed to the floor.

“No, I didn’t.” replied a flabbergasted Pinkie as she got to her hooves. “But I…”

“NO BUTS!” she shrieked, as her voice became laced with blistering fury, “MY PARENTS DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY! DO YOU HONESTLY WANT TO CELEBRATE SOMETHING LIKE THAT?”

“No…” Pinkie squeaked, trying to back away from the enraged pony and escape the conversation.

“I DIDN’T THINK SO!” Impact roared with vehemence, “MRS. CAKE WARNED YOU! MR. CAKE WARNED YOU! I WARNED YOU! BUT YOU STILL DIDN’T LISTEN, DID YOU!?”

Seething with rage every step of the way, she stalked the earth pony like a Canis Major. Pinkie tried to run, but as she reached the front door, but she tripped and tumbled head-over-hooves out the door. Before she could react, four white rings of unicorn magic wrapped around her hooves and pinned her to the ground face up. As a fifth ring encircled her throat, the enraged silver unicorn got a galloping start and leapt out the door, into the air, and landed directly on top of the pink pony. She didn’t physically crush her, but planted her hooves around her so that her quarry had no way to escape, their faces almost touching. Her nostrils flared heavily and her muscles burned with anger. From every possible angle, it looked like Impact intended to rip Pinkie’s throat out with her teeth.

“I’VE TRIED SO HARD TO PUT MY PAST BEHIND ME, AND JUST WHEN I FINALLY THINK I’M FREE, SOME INCONSIDERATE PONY LIKE YOU SHOWS UP JUST TO DRAG ME BACK DOWN! IT MAKES ME SO…SO…”

Impact craned her neck back as far as it would go and screamed bloody murder as her coat changed from metallic silver to a blinding white, brighter than even Rarity’s pure-as-driven-snow coat. Her mane and tail began to glow blue, crackling with electrical energy. Lightning bolts started arcing from her mane and tail, leaving smoking black craters wherever they made contact with the earth. One bolt came within a hair’s breadth of setting Pinkie’s mane on fire. Impact had surrounded herself and her prey with an impenetrable cage of lightning that spelled certain doom for anypony who got too close.

Ponies started evacuating the area, fearing for their lives, but one pony stood her ground: Twilight Sparkle. She immediately recognized this phenomenon, remembering the day when she became so utterly furious that she underwent a similar transformation. Impact had entered an altered state of mind known as a rage shift; a downward spiral of unbridled, blood-boiling anger which temporarily transforms its victim into a remorseless, psychopathic, homicidal monster, and Pinkie Pie was trapped in the danger zone. Twilight knew she had to stop it, in order to save one of her best friends and rescue her newest friend, but the only way to nullify a rage shift is with an even stronger rage shift…

For the first time in her life, the party pony of Ponyville believed with absolute certainty that she was going to die. She saw her life flash before her eyes. That clinched it. She swallowed dryly as she realized that no amount of laughter would get her out of this nightmare alive. Not even Princess Celestia herself could save her now. She’d frosted her cake, and now she had to eat every last bite of it, and the confection she’d made was an ooey-gooey seven-layer delight called death by chocolate.

Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and silently waited for death to take her away.

“Impact!” Twilight interjected from behind, trying to divert her anger and shield Pinkie from the verbal, if not potentially physical, onslaught. Her coat began to change from purple to white as her mane and tail burst into flames. “LET. HER. GO.”

“Yeah!” Applejack chimed in, “Pinkie was just tryin’ ta be friendly! She didn’t know. Ya don’t need ta be so dang mean ta her!”

“WHY SHOULD I?” Impact raged.

“This isn’t you and you know it!” Twilight pled earnestly as her flaming mane grew brighter, “Look around! You’re scaring everypony! Please calm down before somepony gets hurt…or worse! Just let Pinkie go.”

“GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON.”

“IF YOU HARM ONE HAIR ON HER HEAD, I WILL DESTROY YOU.” Twilight replied, her voice lowering to a sinister rumble, a sound so disturbingly deep that no feminine set of equine vocal cords should be able to produce it.

As if the death threat had brought her back to her senses, the silver unicorn looked around, glancing upon the horrified faces of everypony around her, and became extremely embarrassed.

“What have I done?” she gasped in horror.

Mortified, she turned to face her fellow unicorn as their respective energy fields faded and their bodies reverted to normal. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy saw an opportunity and quickly pulled Pinkie Pie out of Impact’s range.

“Twilight,” she asked despondently, almost sobbing, “If someone took the saddest day of your life and twisted it into some kind of sick joke, would you find it amusing?”

“Well…no.” she sighed. “I’d be downright furious.”

“I’ve endured more misery and suffering than anypony in Equestria, and I’ve done my best to keep a straight face, but this…” she said with a sneer, shooting a disapproving grimace at Pinkie, “…this is just…HEARTLESS.” Tears began welling up in her eyes, but she steeled her resolve and blinked them back. “I’m terribly sorry, everypony.” she apologized, “Tomorrow may be my birthday, but to me, it’s just another day.”

“But, Impact…” Twilight implored, “Your birthday is supposed to be a special day when you celebrate your life.”

“WELL, YOU DON’T KNOW HOW BADLY I WISH I WAS DEAD RIGHT NOW, TWILIGHT!!!” Impact screamed as tears streamed down her face, leaving everypony within earshot in a state of shock.

Finally, with nothing left to say, the emotionally wounded pony fired an energy bubble at the front door of Sugarcube Corner, resetting the bakery and its surroundings to their previous undamaged state.

As the electrical burns vanished from the ground, Mr. and Mrs. Cake cautiously emerged from their bakery. Pinkie looked up at them, hoping for moral support, but as their stares of disapproval screamed the same five words they’d already told her, she swore she could hear her heart shatter like sugar glass inside her chest.

“We tried to warn you…”

As she teleported away, taking her birthday cake with her, Impact Hammer never saw Pinkamena Diane Pie burst into uncontrollable tears.

She couldn’t see anything through her own.

After the outburst ended, the party didn’t last very long. Everyone quickly left, some blaming Impact for wrecking her own party, some blaming Pinkie for trying to celebrate such a tragedy. Eventually, the only ones left were just Twilight and her friends. Fluttershy didn’t say a word. She just sang a soft lullaby, trying to comfort a distraught Pinkie.

“Did you see…the way she…looked at me?” she gasped between breaths as she sobbed uncontrollably, “My life…flashed…before…my eyes. I really…thought she was…gonna kill me!”

“I’ve never seen such atrocious, distasteful, and unladylike behavior in all my life!” Rarity huffed with her nose in the air.

“Yeah! What a jerk.” Rainbow Dash snorted in agreement, her nostrils flaring, “She obviously didn’t deserve one of Pinkie’s parties in the first place.”

“It’s a shame.” Fluttershy moaned as she switched lullabies, “She seemed so nice at first.”

“Hold up a second, everypony.” said Applejack, “Mah rage is burnin’ like an Everfree wildfire just like yers, and Ah reckon that Impact character didn’t need ta put Pinkie Pie on the spot like that, but she still asked her not ta throw a party.” She looked down at Pinkie, who was still crying. “Ah’m sorry, sugarcube, but you’re just as much tha pony ta blame as her. Puttin’ on this here shindig after three different ponies warned ya not ta seems like a purdy stupid move.”

“That is true.” Twilight added, “I think the best thing Pinkie can do is apologize.”

“Apologize? For what?” Rainbow Dash shouted, “All Pinkie did was throw her a party, and I’m pretty sure that’s not a crime! Impact almost killed her! If anything, that ignorant foal should face the hangmare’s noose!”

Rarity slapped the rainbow-maned pegasus hard across the face.

“How dare you speak such blasphemy, Rainbow Dash!?” the white unicorn spat.

Twilight Sparkle smacked her again.

“Nopony should even consider such a punishment!”

Applejack thumped her across the back of the head.

“OW! Why did YOU hit me!?” Rainbow screamed.

“Ta knock some apple-buckin’ sense inta yer skull!” Applejack shouted, “Don’t even think such horrible thangs! Sure, she was a jerk, but nopony ever deserves ta die before their time!”

“We all know that Pinkie always has the best of intentions at heart,” Twilight replied after taking a deep breath to calm down, “but today she delivered them at the worst possible time. Her best bet is to put out the fire before the bridge burns. Let me talk to her. If I’m lucky, I can get her to tell us her side of the story.”

“Fine.” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed her reddened face, “Just don’t hit me again…”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders raced back to Sweet Apple Acres, zipping along as fast as Scootaloo’s scooter could carry them.

“HURRY, SCOOTALOO!” Sweetie Belle squealed from the cart tethered behind the orange pegasus.

“CAN’T THIS THING GO ANY FASTER?” Apple Bloom shouted.

“I’M GIVIN’ HER ALL SHE’S GOT, CAPTAIN!” Scootaloo replied in a faux Trottish accent as she turned from the main road into Sweet Apple Acres, cranking the throttle on her scooter as far as it would go. “I’ve always wanted to say that!” she said with a giggle.

As they quickly ascended the ramp and burst through their clubhouse door, they saw their friend huddled in the corner, curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth and lamenting her behavior.

“Impact?” Apple Bloom wondered.

“I’m so sorry, Apple Bloom, but I really don’t want to speak to anypony right now…” she sobbed.

“Are you alright?” Scootaloo asked.

“Please…just go…” she pleaded.

“What in the hay happened back there?” Sweetie Belle asked anxiously.

“WHY WON’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!?!?” she shrieked at the fillies, making them flinch in terror.

“Because we Pinkie Pie Promised to never abandon you,” Sweetie Belle said fearlessly as she settled down beside her, “and you need us now more than ever.”

Impact stopped as her breath caught in her throat.

“I…attacked her.” she moaned, the disturbing events replaying on an endless loop she was forced to watch every time she closed her eyes. “It was a birthday party…and I destroyed it…and I attacked Pinkie Pie…and I almost killed her…I almost killed her.”

“We know.” Scootaloo admitted, “We were there!”

“Why’d ya do it?” Apple Bloom implored.

“I don’t know what came over me… Part of me was angry, part of me was scared…and I just…lost it… But the worst part is…I tried to hold it back…but it burrowed into my brain like a disease…controlling me like a puppet… I let it take over…and it made me do terrible, horrible things…” She clutched her forelegs to her chest as she sobbed. “I feel so…impure, so…useless, so…violated… I can't stop hating myself! You fillies shouldn’t be anywhere near me right now. I’m a monster.”

“Ya really need ta stop thinkin’ and talkin’ like that.” Apple Bloom said.

“You made a mistake,” Sweetie Belle said. “Everypony makes them, especially us.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom nodded furiously in agreement.

“But if you lie here and do nothing to make those wrongs right, then yes, you are a monster. If you apologize and take responsibility for your actions, then it means you’re sorry. You just need to believe in yourself and the rest will follow.”

“So what’s it gonna be, Impact?” Scootaloo declared, “Are you a monster or are you a Crusader?”

“I’m…a…Crusader…” she whimpered behind teary eyes.

“What was that?” Sweetie Belle asked, putting a hoof to her ear as she figured out what Scootaloo was doing, “I didn’t hear you.”

“I’m a Crusader.” she replied, strength slowly returning to her voice.

“Still can’t hear ya!” Apple Bloom retorted, coating her response with a sarcastic inflection.

The silver unicorn stood on her hooves and took a deep breath.

“I AM A CUTIE MARK CRUSADER!!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, almost obliterating the clubhouse with her voice.

“SO GET OFF YOUR FLANKS AND PROVE IT!” her fellow Crusaders shouted back.

Her eyes widened as she realized the fillies were absolutely right. She had redeemed herself with them, but if she wanted any chance of keeping the rest of the wonderful friends she’d made today, she’d have to face them, she’d have to tell them everything, and she’d have to confront her deepest fears.

“Thanks for keeping your promise, girls.” the crimson-eyed Crusader wrapped her hooves around her fellow Crusaders and hugged them.

“No problem, Impact!” Scootaloo replied.

“We love you!” Sweetie Belle included.

“We care ‘bout ‘cha!” Apple Bloom added.

“We believe in you!” the three fillies said simultaneously, “But do you believe in yourself?”

“Well, I guess it’s time I found out. No turning back. Sorry, girls, but I gotta flash! Bye!”

Her resolve somewhat restored, Impact thanked her new friends and teleported out of the clubhouse, flashing in and out again and again all over Ponyville. Her intended destination: the Ponyville Library, where she prayed to Celestia that she could somehow face Twilight one more time and apologize, especially to Pinkie Pie, for the mother of all temper tantrums…

Twilight dashed and flashed all over town, searching Ponyville high and low for any sign of Impact, but eventually returned to her home at around 7:00 in the evening to find her five friends impatiently waiting.

“Well?” Applejack asked hopefully, “Did ya find her?”

“No.” Twilight moaned begrudgingly, “I searched all over town and nothing. Not even my strongest locator spell worked. I think she was blocking me…”

“Wow. I thought I was good at hide-and-seek, but she’s really good.” chimed Fluttershy.

“Yeah.” said Applejack, “Fer such a big talker, that pony sure can disappear.”

“I smell something suspicious going on here.” Rarity said, “A pony like that is definitely hiding something.”

Twilight opened the door, where an exhausted Spike was waiting, a sponge and a bucket of water in his claws.

“Hi, everypony,” he said with a weary smile.

“Hi, Spike.” came their simultaneous half-hearted reply.

“Hey, Twilight?” Spike asked, “I just finished washing the windows, inside and outside, so I’m all done with the list of chores you left for me. I’m wiped out. Do you mind if I take a nap?” Twilight surveyed the room and found everything to her liking.

“Everything seems in order, Spike. Go ahead.” she replied, dismissing him with a nod.

“Thanks. I’m so tired.” the purple dragon said with a stretch and a yawn. He started to leave the room, but stopped for a brief moment as he remembered something.

“Oh, and before I forget, Zecora stopped by about fifteen minutes ago. I think she’s still upstairs.” He smiled brightly as he slunk off to bed.

At that instant, hoofsteps resounded through the library as the aforementioned zebra made her presence known.

“Hi, Zecora!” Twilight said with a smile, “What are you doing here?

“I entered town, no need to sneak.
I heard loud shouts, played hide-and-seek
With them and found a red-eyed mare,
Trapped in a pit of deep despair
And haunted by a past most tragic,
Her memory stained with blood and magic.
From said dark hole, I pulled her out
But what, pray tell, were you talking about?”

“We were just wondering why our friend Impact didn’t want to have a birthday party. I mean, who wouldn’t want to celebrate their own birthday?” Twilight sighed in disbelief, “It’s just doesn’t make sense…”

“If you care to take suggestion,
I can quench your burning question
But heed this not-sarcastic oracle.
The truth is quite phantasmagorical!”

Twilight stepped toward the zebra, knelt to the floor as if Princess Celestia had entered the room, and responded with a poem of her own.

“Zecora, dear friend, lyricist most sublime,
Six-syllable words? A true challenge to rhyme.
I bow at your hooves, as I’m vastly impressed
But we fear not your warning, so “Speak!” I request!”

After several seconds of awkward silence, Zecora burst out laughing, so hard that her eyes became wet with tears of joy. She wiped them away with her hoof.

“Well played, Twilight Sparkle. Your flow has improved.
To tears, by your words, my eyes have been moved.
What you want, I’ll provide. What you seek, I shall voice.
Just remember I warned you and gave you a choice.”

The group of friends gathered around to listen as the mystical zebra cleared her throat and spoke.

“Give it time, and she will tell you every single word
Of a story, once complete, you’ll wish you’d never heard.
The tale of Impact Hammer is the saddest tale alive.
A young filly forced to maim herself in order to survive.
With every drop of magic and with every single breath,
She self-inflicts horrific wounds to save her soul from death.
Slashing muscle, cracking bone, flaying skin and nerves…”

Zecora’s morose yarn sent a cold shudder down everypony’s spine as the heavy swish of rustling fabric broke the tension in the air.

“A punishment most foul not even Nightmare Moon deserves.” a familiar voice finished.

Everypony turned to confront the speaker of such illogical words, but when their gazes met her uncloaked form as it emerged from the bathroom, it was clear that her phrasing was perfectly true. Zecora said a rhyming goodbye and left the library posthaste, but her farewell fell on deaf ears as the stunned expressions on their faces quickly mutated into ones of disbelief, revulsion, and dread.

Pinkie Pie was struck speechless. Rarity clutched a hoof to her mouth as her face turned from snow white to toxic green. Applejack’s hat fell off her head. Fluttershy struggled to stand as her legs started trembling. Rainbow Dash gasped as her wings went numb. Twilight Sparkle seemed to be affected most of all. She hadn’t felt this cold and scared since she was turned to stone during the cockatrice incident! For a brief instant, the unicorn’s brain shut down altogether.

It was now crystal clear that Twilight’s houseguest was no ordinary pony. She was an alicorn, a rare and powerful creature just like Equestria’s beloved Princesses, Luna and Celestia. Unlike the royal alicorns, this one had two crucial differences. Firstly, her silver flanks were completely bare, not a Cutie Mark to be found. The second deviation was far more disconcerting. Most of her left foreleg was missing and her left wing was almost nonexistent. Only scarred stumps of flesh marked where her missing extremities should have been.

Not only was she an alicorn…

Not only did she not have a Cutie Mark...

Impact Hammer was hoofcapped.

“By Celestia’s mane…” Twilight gasped, choking on her words.