Author's Note: So here's my first one shot. This is my first try at a Creepypasta-esque story and I hope you all enjoy it! Compliments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Rated M for a gory scene towards the end.

Beware the Pink

It's been two years since my friend, Anna, died. We were so close. We spent so much time together and we had the same opinions about almost everything. It's the summer of 2014 now and I've tried my best to move on, but I just can't. What happened back then. What Anna went through. It pains me dearly. To this day I still don't fully understand what happened then. I'll try my best to explain just what exactly happened to Anna and maybe, just maybe, I'll finally find peace.

It happened in April of 2012. Anna and I were seniors in high school and were preparing to head off to college. We both had the same plan: go to community college and aim for our Master's Degrees. I wanted to be a writer and I felt being a quote-unquote Master of English sounded pretty cool. Anna, meanwhile, wanted to go into animation. She was a fantastic artist and she even had a talent with film-making. It was a Saturday and I had gone over to Anna's house to watch the season 2 finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Anna and I both loved the show and she was probably the only person who I could feel comfortable conversing about it with. So Anna and I sat back and watched the two-part finale.

When the finale ended, I was satisfied. Both Anna and I had enjoyed it immensely. Her parents were still out and it wasn't that late. I decided to stay a little bit longer. Anna asked if I had an interest in watching some old Doctor Who reruns but I wasn't in a Sci-Fi mood. I was more in the mood for horror. This was probably the one thing that Anna and I had polarized opinions about. Anna couldn't stand horror. She could get scared pretty easily and she still had nightmares about a traumatic experience from her childhood in which she had ran into a large woman dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West. Still, she had seen a few horror films in her life: sticking to the classics such as Halloween and Psycho without trying to delve into the more "hardcore" horror movies like Saw and A Nightmare on Elm Street. I suggested horror to her and, surprisingly, she accepted.

I tried to find a good horror film on television but most of the horror films on were either cheap remakes or shameful sequels. We tried to watch Jason X but found ourselves laughing too much to even try to be scared. I wasn't in the mood to laugh. I wanted to be scared! That's when it hit me. An idea. It was a simple idea and I wasn't even sure it it'd work. But I was willing to try.

I had heard plenty of things about the fanfic known as Cupcakes. I had never taken the time to read it myself because, due to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie being two of my favorite characters in the series, I didn't want to see my image of those characters ruined by some weirdo's warped humor. However, I figured that tonight would be the perfect night to attempt to read it. Anna, meanwhile, had never heard of Cupcakes. She wasn't really an internet user and she tried to stay as far away from the dark corners of the Brony community as humanly possible. I decided to be a jerk and lure her into reading Cupcakes with me, without giving her one clue about what the story was about. All I told her was that it was scary, she had to read the whole thing with me from beginning to end, and that I would bake her a cake the following day if she had nightmares that night.

So I sat down and looked up the story. It wasn't that hard to find. Just a simple Google search. Anna sat down next to me as I clicked on the link. We were directed to Equestria Daily and the first thing we noticed was a fan art drawing of Pinkie Pie wearing an odd dress with a cruel smile on her face. The picture gave us the shivers but it wasn't enough to convince us to stay away from the story. So I clicked onto the link of the story and began reading.

Anna remained silent as I read the story aloud. It certainly lived up to its reputation. Anna grimaced several times and even gagged when I got to the part of Pinkie disemboweling poor Rainbow Dash. When I finally finished reading the story, which was at least a half hour later, both Anna and I were in shock. I quickly turned off the computer and turned to face Anna. Something was off about her. Her face was pale, her eyes were dark, and her teeth were chattering. I was confused. Sure the story was graphic and horrible but I didn't see it as something permanently traumatizing. I tried to comfort her but she pushed me away. I asked her what was wrong but all she could say was, "She kept staring at me. While you read the story, she kept staring at me."

I was incredibly confused. Who was staring at her? I looked around the room and even out of the nearby window. I asked her if somebody had been peeping in through the window but she simply shook her head. I tried to get a straightforward answer out of her, mostly trying to get her opinion of the story, but all she would keep saying was that this she had kept looking at her. Before I could worm the details out of her, her parents had arrived home from dinner and I figured it was time for me to head home.

I didn't have any nightmares that night. I had read worse stories online and shrugged Cupcakes off as another one of those "troll-fics". I went over to Anna's house that afternoon to cheer her up. I arrived to find her alone again. Her parents apparently had gone out to visit her father's sick brother, leaving her alone in the house. When I arrived, she was curled up in a ball on the couch. She had bags under her eyes and she looked even paler than she had the previous night. When she saw me, she sighed and sat up.

"I guess that story really freaked you out," I guessed. She didn't respond to my statement. I didn't even get a nod in return. "How about I bake you a cake to cheer you up?"

I patted Anna on the shoulder and walked over to the kitchen. I eventually found a box of red velvet cake mix, Anna's favorite type of cake. I was about to begin mixing the ingredients when I noticed that Anna had followed me into the kitchen. She stared at me like a lifeless zombie. All of the happiness that she had had the previous night while watching the season 2 finale had just disappeared from her. Could the story had really been that bad for her? I looked and noticed that she had a simple disposable camera in her hand. It was brand new. She handed it to me and I took it with a curious look on my face.

"I want you to take pictures of me today. One picture, every twelve minutes," she said.

"Why?" I asked. She remained silent. "I have my iPod on me. I can just take pictures of you with that instead of using this piece of crap."

"No. They need to be on film. Nothing digital. Digital will only make it worse."

I was still confused but I agreed to her terms. I looked at the clock and noticed that it was just now one o'clock in the afternoon exactly. I figured that I might as well start everything out now.

"Smile!" I said. Surprisingly, Anna gave a small smile in return. I aimed the camera and took a picture.

"Why don't we walk to the park? A walk really sounds nice right now," said Anna as she began walking towards the door.

"Okay," I replied as I put all of the cake ingredients up.

"Don't forget. One picture. Every twelve minutes."

"No problem!"

I looked at my watch and slipped the disposable camera into my jean pocket. Anna and I then left the house.

It was surprisingly cool that day. It felt like late November even though it was April. I kept my promise to Anna and took a picture of her every twelve minutes. There were 25 slots on the camera and I took a total of five pictures every hour. Anna and I didn't return to her house until all of the slots had been used, which took a total of five exact hours. Her parents were home by then and they invited me out to dinner. I agreed and we went to have dinner at the local IHOP. Anna began to cheer up during the meal but something always seemed to make her become depressed again. I was really beginning to regret reading that story to her. After the meal, her parents dropped me off at my place. Anna hopped out of the car to talk to me privately. She handed me the disposable camera.

"Take it. I want you to develop the pictures as soon as possible," she instructed.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell this is all about?" I asked sternly. She gave a small smile but became serious again a second later. She looked behind me and I turned around. Nothing was there.

"Just develop the pictures."

"Sure thing!"

"Goodnight then. I hope I get to see you tomorrow."

She gave me a quick hug and hopped back inside her parents' car. I watched as her car rolled down the street. Her message certainly sent a chill down my spine. Why did she say that she hoped that she would see me tomorrow? I shrugged my shoulders and headed back inside the house.

I woke up the next morning to find Anna sitting at the foot of my bed. I was shocked at first and then embarrassed since I was wearing nothing but my boxers.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I snapped. She smiled sadly and patted my forehead.

"Don't forget to develop the pictures, okay?" she said.

"Is that really the reason why you snuck into my bedroom? To remind me to develop those damn pictures?"

"I'll see you around, okay?"

As she patted my head again, I saw a shadow with a pinkish hue glide behind her. I simply sat there as Anna quietly walked out of my room and shut the bedroom door behind her.

I didn't see her at school that day. It was certainly strange. I decided to go and visit her after school to see if she was feeling okay. When I approached her house, I noticed a group of police cars in the driveway. A cop was standing next to the front door. I approached him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Who are you?" the cop asked.

"Jesse Hopper. I'm a friend of the girl who lives here, Anna Mason."

The cop sighed and shook his head. He approached me and put one of his hands on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Jesse. I'm truly, very sorry."

"Why? Is Anna okay?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry to tell you this, but Anna killed herself this morning."

The world seemed to fall silent. All I could hear was the sound of a dull wind passing through the trees. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be true. But it was true.

I attended her funeral on Friday. I was still in denial. Everything felt like an incredibly bad nightmare. The reality of the situation came crashing down on me when I approached Anna's casket. She looked comfortable inside of her casket but she still looked pale. That's when I burst into tears. It wasn't until I had gained control of myself that I learned the details of Anna's suicide from none other than the person who discovered her body: her father. He told me that Anna had used a kitchen knife to cut herself open, causing her internal organs to fall out. She had bled to death in mere minutes. The thought of Anna doing that to herself was unimaginable. It was all too much to take in so I went to the restroom to wash my face. As I wiped the water across my face and looked into the mirror, I saw something that continues to haunt me to this day. In the mirror, I saw Anna standing behind me. She was wearing the dress she had been put in for the funeral and her entire belly was slashed open. Her intestines and internal organs hung out like streamers. Blood was trailing down from her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears and there was a large gash in her neck. She smiled sadly and said, "She can no longer watch me anymore."

That's when a butcher knife sliced through Anna's neck, beheading her. What I saw next made my jaw drop like a bomb. Behind Anna there stood Pinkie Pie. But it wasn't the Pinkie Pie from the show. It was a Pinkie Pie who resembled the picture I saw on Equestria Daily that had been based off of Cupcakes. The Cupcakes Pinkie smiled and flashed a bloody butcher knife at me. Pinkie looked at me and held up a handful, or in this case a hoofful, of Anna's remains. She simply giggled and said, "Do you want to help me make some cupcakes?"

That's when I turned around. Nothing was there. I knew something had been behind me. I was certain of that. I couldn't comprehend what I had just seen. That's when I thought about the disposable camera and the pictures that were captured on it.

It took a couple days for the pictures to be developed. When the pictures were finally done, I picked them up as quickly as I could and rushed home to look at them. As I examined the pictures, I felt a sickening feeling rise up in my stomach. Each picture had a ghostly, pink outline behind Anna. The outline was in the form of Pinkie Pie. Occasionally, the outline of a butchered pony would appear with Pinkie also but it was mostly just Anna and the ghostly Pinkie. The last picture was the worst. Anna was smiling at me and was standing in front of a park bench. The image behind Anna was not ghostly. It looked as clear as day. Rainbow Dash was sprawled out on the park bench. Her innards were torn and blood was seeping from her wounds. Pinkie stood behind Anna. She was holding a knife to my friend's neck and a sadistic smile was implanted on her face. The pink pony's teeth looked like shark's teeth and her eyes glowed bright red. As I looked at the picture, I could feel the presence of the killer pony examining me. I looked over the pictures over and over again until I couldn't take it anymore. I burned the pictures and scattered the ashes in a nearby waterlogged ditch just to be safe.

Now, here I am. Two years later and practically none of my questions have been answered. What really happened to Anna? What was that ghostly killer Pinkie Pie? What was up with those pictures? And what evils really lurked behind the text of Cupcakes? I still ask myself these questions to this day though, honestly, I really don't want an answer.

I continue to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to this day and have somebody new to enjoy the show with, my girlfriend Amelia. I mentioned Anna to her a few times but have never gone into the details relating to her death. Like Anna, she's never read Cupcakes and I plan to keep it that way. I don't know if what happened to Anna has ever happened to anybody before, or will ever happen to anybody again. But I just don't want to take the chance. I've always brought up the possibility that maybe Anna had a mental disorder that caused her mind to take the dark, twisted plot of Cupcakes and warp her sanity but how would that explain my experience in the restroom or the pictures? I try not to delve deeper into the mystery because I have a feeling that the ghostly Pinkie Pie is still out there, hiding behind the text of that stupid troll-fic. The only thing that I can hope for now is that Anna is happy and that nobody will ever go through what she went through. Before I say farewell, I say this to all of you who have not yet read Cupcakes and are planning on reading it. It may be a twisted story but if you start seeing pink. Close your eyes and run. Just run.

The End