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“C’mon girls,” Twilight commands, beckoning for her friends to follow her into her castle. “The sun’s about to set, we can’t be outside.”
“Oh, I’m well aware darling,” Rarity nods, trotting quickly inside. Rainbow Dash and Applejack follow along, with Pinkie Pie in tow, dragging a cart full of desserts behind her.
“It’s not a slumber party without snacks!” She grins.
Today is Equestria’s fourth annual purge, and the first purge since Twilight Sparkle became the Princess of Friendship. Because of her new status, this will also be her first purge as a pony granted immunity. But her five best friends have not been bestowed with the same privilege. So, Twilight’s made it her goal to protect her friends at all costs.
She locks the castle door behind Pinkie and ushers her friends into the throne room. Inside, Spike races around, checking the locks on windows, and Fluttershy sits, curled up in a ball under her chair.
“Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash questions.
“She’s been here since this morning,” Twilight fills her friend in. “Just to be safe.” Fluttershy nods.
“All the windows have been locked!” Spike reports.
“Oh, thank you Spike!” Rarity hugs the little dragon, who blushes. Just then, a siren rings through the castle, bouncing off the walls. The ponies freeze. They know the siren well. It can be heard across Ponyville now, across all of Equestria, signaling the beginning of the Purge.
The six ponies, and Spike all take a breath. Fluttershy quivers with a whimper. It’s going to be a long night.
An hour into the purge, and nothing’s quite happened yet. Besides the occasional shrieks and noises coming from outside, the castle is relatively peaceful. The ponies sit around the table, eating Pinkie’s snacks and sharing fun stories, trying to distract from goings-on outside the castle.
“And then I told him, ‘of course! There’s always an alligator in my bathtub!” Pinkie Pie bursts into a fit of giggles. The others laugh along with her.
Suddenly, Fluttershy’s face goes blank. Everyone looks at her in confusion.
“Fluttershy? Are you okay?” Rarity asks, but before she can respond, Fluttershy’s eyes close, and she falls forward, passed out.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouts, flying out of her seat to rush over to Fluttershy. The blue pony presses a hoof to her friend’s chest, pausing. She looks up, eyes blown wide.
“Her heart… it isn’t beating,” she stutters. The rest of the ponies' mouths drop open.
“Fluttershy is dead!?” Spike shrieks.
“How could this have happened?” Apple Jack asks. “Nobody else is here but us!”
“Could it have been…” Twilight trails off, looking at the crumbs all over the table, left over from the treats they’d all been eating. Her eyes widen, and she looks from the baked goods to Pinkie Pie.
“Don’t look at me!” Pinkie says in shock. “You think I did this? Fluttershy’s my best friend!”
“How did you know I was going to accuse you of anything?” Twilight’s eyes narrow at her pink friend.
Pinkie Pie pauses. “... Pinkie sense?”
Now, everyone is looking at Pinkie, fear in their eyes.
“Pinkie Pie, did you…” Rarity whispers.
“You think I’d poison my cupcakes?!” Pinkie scoffs, shocked. “How are people supposed to enjoy my baked goods if they’re dead, huh?”
“But if the cupcakes aren’t poisoned, then-” begins Rarity, but is immediately cut off by a sharp pain in her back. She screams, falling to the floor. A knife sticks out of her flank, dark blood quickly staining her perfect white coat. The ponies scream.
“The lemon bars were, though!” Pinkie Pie says gleefully. “Thanks Spike!”
Behind Rarity, Spike gives Pinkie a thumbs up, and then reaches down to pull his knife out of Rarity's flesh.
“Such a shame, Rarity,” he sighs. “We really had something going there.”
“Spike what the hay are you doing?!” Twilight shrieks. “What are both of you doing?!”
“What do you think?” Pinkie giggles. “Killing you all!”
“But… but why?” Applejack stammers, backing away from Pinkie and Spike.
“Because I’m bored,” Pinkie says. “Every year you hole us up in here, and we don’t get to have any of the fun!”
“The 'fun' is murder!” Twilight shouts. “I was keeping you safe!”
“What if I don’t wanna be safe?” Pinkie responds. “I’m done with hiding away. It’s my turn to purge!” She giggles gleefully.
Spike laughs along with her. “And it’s your turn to die!”
“But… I have immunity from the purge!” Twilight protests at Pinkie, who’s stepping closer and closer to the remaining ponies, cornering them.
“Oh, that’s right,” Pinkie hums. “I wonder what’s worse… dying, or having to watch all your friends die in front of you…” A wide smile spreads across her face. “I think the latter!”
Out of nowhere, Pinkie grabs Spike, picks him up, and without missing a beat, snaps his neck. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash shriek.
“Spike!”
“Weren’t you two working together?” asks Rainbow Dash.
“That’s the fun of the purge!” Pinkie smiles a terrifying, toothy grin. “No rules! No alliances! Betrayal! Murder! Fun, fun, fun!!!!”
“We have to get out of here,” Twilight says to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. But Pinkie Pie just laughs at that too.
“You’ve got a better chance in here with me than out there with every pony else, you do know that, right? Here, let’s make it fun! I’ll close my eyes and count to twenty-four and a half, and you three go hide! If I find you, game over!”
“We really don’t have a choice, do we?”
“No,” Pinkie smiles. “No, you don’t.” She covers her eyes and begins to count. The three remaining ponies dart out of the room.
!!!!!!!
“Quitting on me so early?” comes a voice from behind Twilight. The princess freezes in place, hoof hovering over the door knob to the front of the castle.
“You think just because you have immunity out there, you can’t play my game?”
Twilight turns around to see Pinkie Pie standing in the hallway. She wears the widest grin on her face, and her coat and main are splattered with blood.
“That’s no fun,” Pinkie pouts.
“What happened to Rainbow Dash and Applejack?”
Pinkie’s grin grows wider. “They lost.”
“You’re sick, Pinkie.”
“Maybeeee,” the pink pony giggles. “But what of it?”
“What are you going to do with me?” Twilight asks. “I have immunity, you can’t kill me!”
“TO HECK WITH IMMUNITY!” Pinkie pie screeches. “You think you’re soooo special just ‘cause you’re princess. Well I hate to break it to you, ‘Your Majesty’, but you’re nothing now, not without the other elements of harmony! You’re the only one left. You’re useless.”
Tears well up in Twilight’s eyes. Pinkie reaches over and grabs a candlestick off a nearby table, weighing it in her hooves. “This should work well.”
She walks slowly to Twilight, who backs up into the wall. Pinkie raises the candelabra over her head, readying herself to bring it down, but before she can, she’s knocked to the side by a blur of pink and yellow.
“Fluttershy!!” Twilight gasps. “How are you alive?”
“I’m immune to all poison,” the pegasus says. “Let’s get out of here, we don’t have long until she comes to.” The two ponies look down at Pinkie Pie, who lays motionless on the ground, knocked out from the impact of Fluttershy’s hit.
“We can’t leave, you’ll die!” Twilight cried.
“That doesn’t matter, you can’t die. You’re the princess of friendship, Equestria needs you!”
“Not anymore! Pinkie was right, I can’t be the princess of friendship if all my friends are dead!”
“But-” Fluttershy is cut off by the ‘thunk’ of the candlestick hitting her in the head. A stream of blood trickles down her face before she falls to the floor, revealing Pinkie Pie.
“Now you’re really alone.”
!!!!!!!!!!
Pinkie Pie sits on Twilight’s throne in the castle’s throne room. On the massive table lay her five dead friends, along with Spike. Their bodies sat, unmoving, cold, each of them covered in blood.
The blood coating Pinkie’s own face has begun to dry and crack, and the night sky has begun to lighten, hinting that dawn was just a few minutes away.
Soon, the other princesses would wonder where Twilight was, and go to find her. Soon, Pinkie Pie would be discovered. No matter. She’s had her fun.
She reaches out to grab the knife laying on the table. Smiling, she plunges the knife right into her heart.