Dante's Meal

MLP Grim/Dark Fanfic: Dante’s Meal
By Dante Shadowstar

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, blue sky devoid of clouds, Sun beating down on the ground. Twilight Sparkle couldn’t resist the outdoors, so taking a book, notepad and quill, she walked outside the library. Her bluish mane rippled in the wind, stripes momentarily distorting. How could anything go wrong today? She thought to herself. Perhaps if she finished her studies early, she could go hang out with Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. Smiling at the idea, she sat down on one of the park benches. Many ponies were outside, resulting in a flash of bright, fluctuating sea of color. But for one black spot.
The pony sat alone. He was a unicorn colt with short, black hair shot through with bright green. It peaked up on either side of a perfect part. He had vibrant, peridot green eyes set into a dusky gray coat. His tail was reminiscent of his mane, but hung down, a bit spiky. His cutie mark was a light green book with a rune of knowledge on it.
Twilight knew everyone in Ponyville, but never before had she seen this pony. She decided to meet this newcomer. “Hello,” She said cheerily, approaching slowly. “Are you new here?”
He looked up, appearing startled. “Sorry? Ah yes, I’m new here. I needed a new place for studying, and so I came here.” His voice was calming, reassuring, as if you could entrust him with all your secrets and be sure that they would never reach anypony else’s ears. Twilight liked him for some reason… Maybe she could show him the library.
“Well, Ponyville does have quite the calming aura, so studying is good here,” She continued. “The people here are friendly, so you won’t have trouble with making friends. The town square is a beautiful place to go when you need a break from your work, as it is relaxing.”
“I see,” He said. “I appear to have lost myself here already!” Laughing a bit, he turned to face her better. “Speaking of losing, I appear to have forgotten to ask your name… I’m Dante, by the way.” Dahn-Tay, he pronounced it, rolling it off the tongue like a filly pushes a toy carriage.
“Twilight Sparkle,” She replied happily. “So, where are you staying?”
“Near the edges of the city. I didn’t want to be disrupted.”
“Close to the center is the library,” Twilight said helpfully.
“I have a book room of my own, thank you. You seem like the intellectual type. Do you wish to see it?” He offered.
“I would very much like to, Dante!”
She didn’t notice the peridot glow of his horn as he led her through the town. They passed the town square, Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Orchards, and a small segment of the Everfree Forest before they got to a stone tower surrounded by a stone wall. He pushed open the wooden gate to admit the two ponies. It was nice and cozy inside. A fire burned in the fireplace at the center of the room. Several paintings adorned the wall. Two staircases were in the room, one leading up, the other down. He led her to the one leading down. She followed him obediently. It was dark in the stairwell, so he lit up the hall with green light. Once they got down, there was a flurry of movement. Straps and chains whistled down, ensnaring Twilight in an iron grasp.
“Welcome, Twilight. To this, my meal…” Dante’s pupils were tiny now, showing off more of his vibrant green irises. His voice had changed into a sinister drawl, broken sometimes by maniac laughter. “Stand still, “He said as she tried to wiggle free. Holding a hammer and nail, he smashed the nail deep down into her hoof, nailing her to the wooden table she now lay on, trickling blood dousing it. He repeated the gesture with the remaining hooves. She screamed in pain, metal grating against the tender, fleshy inside of her hooves. The chains, only serving to hold her down, retracted, scraping themselves against her skin.
Dante held a bonesaw now, advancing slowly. She tried to tap into the magic that she had stored up, but there was a blockage. Magic was useless. “I see you have found my magic nullification spell…” He said thoughtfully. Placing the edge of the saw against Twilight’s horn, he moved it spasmodically, severing nerves and arteries as well as her horn. Even if she escaped, she had no magic.
She probably wasn’t going to escape anyway.
“What to eat, what to eat…” Dante walked around the room for a while. He took a knife and chopped off some of Twilight’s flesh. “Be it boiled, fried, steamed or keep it raw and eat it as tartar…” He popped the morsel into his mouth, biting down. “Nice and tender. You try!” He sliced off another piece and shoved it into Twilight’s mouth, forcing her jaws up and down with magic, chewing it, and then swallowing. Her eyes bulged in disgust as she threw up on herself, remains of meat and her breakfast pouring themselves onto her chest. Twilight began to cry, from pain, the psychological torment she received, and distaste, tears running down her face. Dante’s eyes lit up as he saw this. “Maybe I will marinate it in salt water for an hour, and bathe your wounds in the excess water…”
“HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP MMEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!” Twilight cried out mournfully. “PLEASEEE!!! HE-----” She coughed and sputtered as he deftly reached in and severed her tongue, cutting off her pleas. Unable to form words, she just lay there moaning, blood filling her mouth. “GHHNNNNGGGFFFFF!”
“Don’t do that. It’s annoying.” A quick green flash brightened the room as Dante lit a fire under a cauldron. She whimpered as he strolled towards her, grabbing a butchering knife in one fluid gesture. The knife fell. Blood spattered the walls, dirtying the wooden board further. Raising it again and again, Dante repeated the actions, until the ordeal was over, and Twilight’s left hind leg was in his hooves. He smiled at her as he swiftly removed the flesh from the bone, skinning it, and diced it up, collecting her tears in a jar. Her body gave a small spasm. She cried out, almost fainting as she saw the bony stump poking out of the flesh. The gray colt disregarded this and shrugged.
Moments later, he emptied out the jar and poured the contents in with the meat. Setting this aside, he eyed her. “What are you in the mood for?” He asked the purple mare. Blood drenched her chest some more as it dripped from her mouth, the taste of iron filling it, seeming to coat it. A quiet moan was all Dante got in response. He looked up at her, scratching his chin. “Liver!” He said, brightening up. “Liver! Seasoned with… Mint! Boiled alongside carrots and celery.”
Taking a scalpel from a nearby table, he carved open her body at the midsection, blood welling up. Twilight screamed until her throat was raw, and hurt from attempting to make any sound. Dante tore off the piece of flesh he carved, splattering himself with crimson dashes. He rummaged around her innards, finally moving the liver close to the incision so he could get it better. He diced it up before giving her some adrenaline shots to keep her awake. Leaving the pieces on the cutting board, he added coals to the fire, placing a branding iron inside it. The poor mare cried softly, would have been wailing, but she had no tongue. Dante tossed her diced liver with herbs and other spices while chopping up carrots, celery, and tossing it all in the cauldron.
She closed her eyes for what felt like the last time… but came instantly awake as a small pressure pierced her skin. She wanted to die. But just quickly. She didn’t want to see herself being made into food. How would Rainbow Dash and the others react when they never saw their best friend ever again? She was only barely aware of Dante talking to himself as he sliced off her other leg and pressed a branding iron against her severed stumps to stop the bleeding. How would they feel? What if they went looking for her, and chanced upon this strange tower? They would die, tormented, forced to eat themselves, just as Twilight was now.
“Legs have been marinated long enough… Now to cook them.” He heated up a stone slab and placed the meat against its hot surface, smiling as it burst up in a steam cloud. He poured a bit of vegetable oil on it, humming pleasantly. The meat sizzled nicely. “Ribs,” He decided, “Ribs will be nice.” Washing Twilight’s chest with warm water and soap was easy, using the bonesaw to carve the area out was easy, but not damaging the internal organs was difficult. But years of practice had honed Dante’s skills. Putting it barely over the point where the ribs ended widthwise, he quickly had a piece of Twilight to cook and devour. Placing it on a grill of iron made in Appleooza, he soon had it cooking nicely. He pulled the boiled liver out of the cauldron and shoved some into the mare’s mouth. “Eat it, or I will draw out this session longer than usual,”
Twilight had no choice but to eat the meat. Her pony teeth were not used to eating meat, and had trouble chewing the morsel.
Dante was muttering to himself again, under his breath. Twilight cocked her head but couldn’t hear anything. “Hmm. Slightly larger than expected… There is a chance I could sell some flesh to the black market…” He turned to look at her. Her eyes pleaded with him. Kill me… They said. End it quickly. “All I have to do is cut out her innards, remove some unwanted meat, and then profit… Or hold a party… Nah. Profit.” He approached her again with the scalpel, giving her more and more adrenaline shots. He chopped some heart drawings into her skin, before taking the branding iron and shoving it against her flesh, burning her, eliciting wails, cries, and tears from her eyes. He smiled and prodded the stump of her severed horn. Her eyes bugged as he took the magic nerve in his hoof and tore it out of her skull, placing it aside.
He took her intestines next pulling them out in loops to get to her core. Setting those in a bucket full of blood, he raised his knife to her face. “Sleep tight…” And he slashed it across her face in a brutal gesture. But she wasn’t dead, no. He had just cut out her eyes. Panic overwhelmed her. Pain came from an unknown source. She cringed as far as she could, attempting to hide, but she couldn’t run. The serrated edge of something long and cold plunged itself into her prone body. She emptied her bladder uncontrollably, terrified out of her mind. Blind. She wanted to black out, but adrenaline and pure terror coursed through her veins.
His work was almost done, reaching in from a hole he opened in her back, Dante removed her lungs. Strangling as well as dying of blood loss, unable to inhale despite the rapid intake of air she needed to sustain her racing heart. The clock was ticking, and he needed to inflict massive pain. He tore out her internal organs, ripping into her opening another hole with his bare hooves, skinning her alive, and finally, right before her heart stopped, he wrapped a hoof around it and tore it out, blood spewing everywhere. And Dante smiled.
He sat down at the great wooden table, eating his dinner. Almost forgetting that this dinner was made of a friend he had made that day.
At least she sort of saw him in her final moments.
Which left a single question.
It was never a question of what, but who.
Who would his next meal be?