Equinox Kingdom: The Corruption spreads

Chapters

The Equinox-Gorgonia war and the planted seeds
Growing dead plants
Stones to gory
Still wings
Loving too far
Zalgy Pie

The Equinox-Gorgonia war and the planted seeds

In a not-so-far past, Princess Blackhole and her sister, Princess Eclipse, once ruled together with a firm conviction that they could make Equinox a perfect place for their ponies. Queen Blackhole had a long and flowing blackish mane and tail, both representing a rather shadier side of the sun. Her eyes were of a golden hue, however, and her cutie mark was that of a black circle surrounded by swaying lines.This mark was supposed to represent her conviction in bringing in all the evils of the world and destroying them. Her sister, Eclipse, however, had a rather brighter and more orange appearance, her physique representing that of the sunset. Her mane and tail flowed just like her older sister's, and within it sparkled the little twinkles of early stars. Her eyes were just as golden, though, which said much about their close connection. Eclipse used a more direct approach as to bringing to heel all evil. Her cutie mark was that of two crescent moons touching at their centers. Although not of much significance, it showed the two sides hidden by a moon when a sun covered it during the rare events each year.

Yet, despite their best efforts, the two sisters could not avoid a war to come. In the wastelands of Equinox existed a strange race of creatures called the Gorgonis. These pony-esque creatures possessed three eyes on their face, a hair made of serpents, and a snake's tail. They had similar powers to the Gorgon of ancient myths, showing where this race's name came from, atleast by some ponies. Others believe that the myth stems from them. Whatever the truth, they were more than capable of turning any who looked at them in these eyes into stone. They weren't as colorful as the ponies, although they still had colors more alluring to simple forms of stone, such as yellow or gray. They wanted to take over Equinox and expand their statue collection, which the sisters said no to. Therefore, a war ensued with the Gorgony soldiers turning everypony they met into stone.

The beginning of this war wasn't looking good until somepony found a way to protect themselves from their glare, which brought the war to a stalemate. Death was abundant. Even the war machines, like catapults and trebuchets, weren't enough to break the line. There were breakthoughs here and there, destroying much territory for both sides, which brought grief and distress. Several gorgonies preferred to leave their country to live in more peaceful regions. Several believed that Equinox would win the war, which is why they would plan their leaving in secret. Of course, as the adults could turn any living being they looked at into stone, they had to devise a method of protecting the others around them. Blindfolds were the simplest method as they could still use their serpents to see around them, although not with the same peripheral vision or detail.

When a gorgony left its country during times of war, this was considered treason, and they would be banished afterwards. However, since certain families were still found out, they would recieve a punishment defined by the gorgonies of that settlement. The results were grueome, to say the least. As the war neared its end, Equinox and Eclipse took everything in hoof personally and went to battle the leader of the gorgonies: Black Entity. Being alicorns, these beings destroyed much of the gorgony army and made a path straight for the castle of Black Entity which laid within a mountain wall. Although, even after storming the castle with their troops, the mares did not find the leader of the gorgonies, and raised the flag of Equinox atop the flag post, proclaiming the Equinoxian victory. However, the throne room was filled with an indistinguishable black mist. This would have repercussions on the princesses later on.

As time passed on, the two princesses began to change appearance, and not for the best. Blackhole grew two new pairs of eyes, the four smaller one underneath the original. These eyes had become pure red, and Eclipse's body had become darkened, although her mane and tail retained their black outlines with the weird, viscous membrane possessing bizarre black dots swimming around in it.

Eclipse, however, had only grown a second pair of eyes, but they remained golden, although they stretched more along her face and had a shape similar to a crescent moon, although barely. Her coat had started to become a dark mist and her mane and tail had turned into what looked like ink within water.
These transformations weren't immediate. They were progressive, and the two sisters suffered through them rather painfully.

"It's not mine yet. I need it all."

Blackhole paced along in her room, the dreary setting of this place bringing about a powerful strength of fear. The bed had begun to distort and twist while the walls began to take a sinister, smoky appearance. Everything seemed to be turning into a nightmare. Even the tapestries on the walls began to mutate the pictures, showing what was once a simple pony posing for a picture to have become a dark abomination of its former self.

"I've grown tired of her. She will have to leave, whether of her own accord or not. Time to go, Eclipse." the alicorn's smile grew.

Being careful not to alert anypony, the alicorn left her room and walked through the still normal walls of Kestrel Castle. The mare slithered through the hallways, avoiding the gaze of the servants and guards, as Blackhole wanted to show herself once she could do what she wanted, the pony reached the room of her sister at the other side of the castle, although she was not in it. She was overlooking Equinox from her balcony. She seemed distressed about something, so, as any real sister would do, Blackhole came to her 'aid' with soft steps.

"Sister?" Eclipse asked aloud.

"Yes, Eclipse. I sensed a disturbance. Are you alright?"

"No. I feel a darkness growing within me. It gnaws at my mind. I fear I might succumb to it one day."

"Do not fear, dear sister. If we are together, nothing will corrupt us. We will stand strong like the mountains against the wind."

"I did not see you as much of a philosopher, dear sister." Eclipse said.

"Because I see the future, and it is grand." Blackhole's voice took a menacing tone.

"But how can we see that future if we show ourselves as we are now? Perhaps this was the plan of Back Entity. Our ponies will no longer accept us"

"Then we simply have to get them to see themselves as they see us."

"What-HRNGH!"

Eclipse had turned around to see her sister impale her with several black spikes coming from the membranous portion of her mane. It was the black dots that had done it. Blackhole simply simply looked at her with a smile filled with her jagged teeth. Eclipse tried to utter a word, but she simply crumbled upon the floor, lifeless. Her eyes showed that their owner felt hurt by betrayal from a family member rather than the stabbings. Sometimes, emotional wounds subsist more than physical ones, and this held its all as well.

Taking a moment to take in what she had done, the remaining alicorn turned away and called one of her subjects who slightly cringed at her frightening appearance.

"Send an announcement to the citizens of Kestrel City that I will be making an announcement within the hour."

"Yes, m'am." the stallion executed.

After said hour, the alicorn poked out from the curtains to witness an immense amount of ponies waiting for her and mumbling to each other about what was going on. They were all very curious as they hadn't seen her and Eclipse for several months. Putting on a royal composition in her appearance and all-around presentation, the alicorn came out from behind the curtains and stepped upon her balcony to greet the huge crowd of ponies awaiting her announcement. She was met with huge gasps of shock and surprise. Many mumbled about what had happened to her. Was she cursed? Had she become something more? Was she a mutant?

"SILENCE!"

The crowd obeyed.

"I have called you all here to share some things with you. One, is that my sister has been killed by some vile pony."

"An uproar began.

"I don't know who it was, but he or she will be find."

Rumors about it being a gorgony began.

"The second is that I've noticed that many of you have been feeling too compressed. You've all hid away your true abilities and nature, and I have a way to free them all."

One of the ponies stepped up and asked:

"What do you mean? I mean, I understand that many of us have sides we wish to hide, but that's for our better well-being and those of everypony around us."

"But that is exactly the reason why you were invaded and had such trouble pushing the Gorgonies away until my sister and I intervened."

"Then how do you propose to 'cure' us?" the pony asked with irritation.

"During our storming of the castle, Eclipse and I came upon an empty throne room. After entering it, we came to a realization."

"Wait, is that why you look like you are?"

The alicorn smiled.

"I will free you of your corruption, and you will love our new world, ruled by Queen Blackhole of Vereor Castle!"

The alicorn rose high into the sky, then spread her wings apart. There was a resonating thunderclap as her mane and tail literally exploded and threw a weird black smog everywhere. The air was being invaded by the wave of monstrous gasses that devoured the clouds and sky like a ravenous parasprite. Not being special, the sun was just as much a victim as everything else. Blackhole laughed evily as she watched the crowd begin to run in panic and try to flee the castle grounds, but it was futile. To their dismay, instead of slowly rising upwards and descending at about the same speed, the smog suddenly burst outward, engulfing the whole of Equinox in a matter of moments. Everypony stopped in their tracks as they began to mutate and change, turning into contorted, nightmarish versions of their former selves. But, you know what? They didn't care. They felt liberated. A new reign had begun in a better world...At least, better for those accepted by the Queen's gift.

Author's Note

Okay. The first chapter of the story with a rather descriptive detailing of events. The other chapters will have the usual build with details, character dialogue, and so forth. I tried my best to fill in the gaps of the Equinox Kingdom, so, I hope you like this story.

Epic Brony 4 Life helped me narrow down what we could of the Equinox Kingdom.

Growing dead plants

Dimmed Star fumbled with her vials in her laboratory. This dark nightmarescape was the perfect place for a crazed scientist. The world outside was dark as ever and the sky was only rarely freed from the thick black smog that engulfed the world, although it was never bright enough to bring any difference from the dark shadows of existence, but nopony cared. The tree in which Dimmed Star lived was locked away from the rest of the citizens in Duskville, and it showed, with weird sludge-like protrusions growing on it and moving slowly back and forth. Even its leaves looked like scalpels. The interior wasn't better. It stunk of medication and dark magics. Dark symbols were strewn about, along with slightly torn books pertaining to long forgotten magics. Dead planets and destroyed frames littered the whole building while twisted book shelves seemed to fill the darkened gaps of this place.

Dimmed Star, though, was in the basement. It was the largest place in the house filled with exotic scientific equipment and other constructs. The mare herself was just now going down the stairs, a few vials within the grasp of the tentacles created by her ability. She seemed happy with what she was going to do. Her mane and tail were of a basic purple, but they were in terrible ruffles and they oozed with a sticky black sludge, which covered the mare's light purple hooves more then the rest of her body. Her eyes were black pits while the pupils were three, small blue dots that seemed to 'aim' at whoever looked at them. The smile Star portrayed was that of a psychotic mare with sharp teeth.

"Heehee. I am sure Queen Blackhole will be proud of my progress in black magic, isn't that right my little Spear?" the mare asked her assistant as she set a hoof onto the blackened, solid floor.

"BRRRAH!" Spear snarled as he snagged onto his chains.

"Silly Spear. I wonder if I should take a fang of your again to make sure this experiment works well..."

Spear was a mutated wyvern, and he was chained up against the wall in the laboratory. He had stolen some utensils and made himself a nest of metal by melting everything and building them up on each other. His scales were a deep blue whilst the spikes on his neck, head, and back, as well as the fleshy portion of the wings integrated into his fore-arms. His mouth was surrounded by a row of fangs whilst the interior had several spinning rows of tiny teeth with a long tongue to drag in prey. His eyes were just as black and toxic as his owner's, and his pupil's were the same, although an extra dot accompanied the darts and were a lime-green the same as his spikes and wings.

"You'll never guess what Queen Blackhole asked me to do. She wants me to bring her a report in new magics."

The mare put the vials and certain tools on a great white table sitting in the middle of this laboratory. She quickly ran upstairs and came back down, a large white bag thumping on the stairs. She eagerly tossed the bag onto the table and tore it away like an eager little filly wanting to see her present. It was the half decayed body of some unknown mare. She had died after some unforeseen circumstance, although it wasn't of too much importance. Several flaps of skin and such had been dangling off of it. It truly looked like an angry spirit.

"Well then. Let's get started. What should I turn her into...Hmmm." the living mare pondered this question.

"Maybe turn her into a battle pony? Nnno. She doesn't have the physique...at least what's left of it. Hmmm. Oh! A worker pony! Yes! That's perfect. She could slice the thick bark of the trees if I sew in some blades into her hind legs. Yes. Perfect. Well then."

Dimmed Star went through her cabinet holding many different objects. These could range from eyeballs to leather. The mare simply took six pointed blades from the holder and grew six tentacles from her body to hold them. She then concentrated hard, and forced the dripping extensions of her body to break off the rest of the weapons. Taking a closer look at them, the mare immediately whispered in victory as she grabbed some sewing needles and thread. She was working at an incredibly fast speed for somepony so willing to violate the laws of nature, but in shadow, what laws are there to follow?

She immediately sewed the blades into the hind legs by jamming them directly into the bone with resounding cracks everywhere. The stomach and its organs were torn and hanging out, so she sowed those pieces back together, simply tossing the organs back in and calling it a moment. Her ears had also detached themselves from the rest of her body and had fallen onto the ground. As Twilight worked on sewing the body, her mucky tentacles picked the ears up and began sewing them back onto the skull as well. Everypony was taking their part in this new form of art. Finally, after half an hour of work, the dead pony found even her mouth sewn shut. The strange thing about these threads is that they somehow "decayed", yet stayed present and revealed themselves on this mare's fur. Said fur had turned green by the moss inhabiting the hole she was in, although her gray mane and tail were hard and crispy, they still retained a few bits of their once sapphire luster.

The mare giddily hopped from side to side as she traced a rather bizarre symbol around and under the table. This mark resembled her own cutie mark comprised a four-point, black star with two similar, but smaller, white stars to the upper right and lower left of this one. Taking a moment to admire her work, Dimmed Star picked up a book and began to chant evil wards as the objects she placed around the dead body began to levitate and glow. The whole laboratory began to shake and glow brightly as dark spirits arose from the floor and moaned in anger and pain, but the summoner ignored them.

"Almost there." she thought to herself.

The walls began to "melt" as more spirits began to invade the room. Spear grabbed one with its tongue and swallowed it, only to roar in frustration as it phased through his stomach. The spirits began surrounding the corpse and levitated it slowly into the air as another soul, from further away, seemed to be fighting against its captors and shouting in displeasure at what was happening to it. The whole room seemed to have been filled with a white smoke as a few came through the wall and seemed to have been holding a particularly bright spirit. As Dimmed spoke the final chants, the spirit was tossed back into its old corpse despite its protests. A resounding explosion echoed through Duskville as much as a bright light blinded everypony there.

The crazy scientist stared at its experiment with joy and excitement as the corpse moaned. It rolled slowly to the side before falling violently onto the floor. Black mist began to fill the room more than it already had. The corpse coughed a bit, then stood up, tilting occasionally from side to side.

"Good. Now turn and face your master." Dimmed ordered.

The corpse weakly turned around one hoofstep at a time. Her eyes were still closed, but she seemed able to still "see" her creator.

"Good. Now walk towards me. We're going to do some tests to see how good you are at cutting down trees."

The zombie opened its eyes to show them to be black orbs, a common trait of this world. Although her pupils were of a bright green and looked like a sword pointing downwards.

"Yes! It can see! Oh, the Queen will be so proud of me! I might get another forbidden piece of magic."

The zombie analyzed its surroundings and frowned as it noticed its appearance. It was fully aware of what was going on. It even stretched the threads of its mouth, tearing the skin a bit and letting some sort of decayed ooze leak out. Dimmed Star noticed her facial expressions and frowned in turn.

"Are you aware of your surroundings?"

The zombie did not answer, but its eye movements said otherwise. Dimmed Star grated her teeth together as her eyes widened and she backed off a bit.

"You will do as I tell you and clean this mess first."

The zombie did not execute her orders.

"Do it!" Dimmed Star shouted as she lost her patience.

The zombie stopped looking at its hoof and looked up directly at the mare who revived her and spoke with a rocky voice:

"No. I am not your slave. I'll be...Rottenbunch."

Mud on the rotten pony's flanks cracked and fell off, revealing what seemed to be a dead plant in the ground. Dimmed Star only looked in horror and anger as the zombie quickly galloped away. The scientist melted into a pile of black goo and rushed after her creation in an attempt to keep it from fleeing, but it was too late. When Star arrived at the door, it had been sliced off, and the zombie was long gone. She resumed her puddle form and returned to her laboratory to reform there. The disappointed mare thought to herself for a second as she put a hoof onto the table and passed her hoof slowly on it as if she were petting it.

"...She was revived as a zombie, but was already too intelligent to be one. It barely took a moment for it to happen. Grrrrrr. I'll never get that spell to create life."

"GRAARGH!"

"What's wrong, Spear? You hungry. Hmmm. I haven't fed you in awhile."

Spear bounced up once and let his tongue swirl along his fangs. Dimmed Star went to the back of her laboratory and grabbed something that began to yell. It was a non-mutated filly.

"Here you go." Star said with a smile as she tossed the screaming filly at the mutated wyvern.

Needless to say, the wyvern was satisfied with its treat, but the mare was disappointed in her experiment.

"This spell doesn't make them obey the one holding the cutie mark painted underneath the corpse to control it after its revival. It must be a defective spell. I'll have to write a message and send it to the Queen."

A few minutes of writing later, Dimmed Star exited her home to see a pony in silver armor placing letters in her mailbox. The armor was literally sewn into this pony's skin, although tufts of gray fur and trickles of blood passed through the seams a bit here and there. It was a pegasus.

"Dharma, could you bring this letter to Queen Blackhole?" Dimmed Star asked with a decrepit smile.

The pony in armor looked at the letter, then said, very slowly and with a voice that sounded like scraping metal echoing in a large supply depot:

"YYYYYEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS."

She snatched the letter from Dimmed Star's hoof, slowly paused for a moment as her foreleg remained curved in the air, then put the letter in her bag. Dharma slowly turned around. Everything she did was accompanied by the sound of creaking, rusty metal, and although she was very slow and static, she still somehow delivered her mail on time. The purple unicorn would have to find other methods of getting her Queen's approval.

Stones to gory

The war was nearing its end. It had been notified a few weeks ago that the alicorns had pierced through the Gorgons' defences and were heading towards the castle. The Equinox wastelands were going to fall, yet no Gorgony wasready to surrender to the enemy. Why would they? They were a proud and powerful species! If the Earth Gorgonies were the walls, then the Unicorn Gorgonies were the spears, and one cannot last long without the other supporting it. However, as noted by history before, some gorgonies hated this war and just wanted to live in peace, but those found out were harshly punished after discovering their treason. Stone and Perish Chime were two such ponies who were going to leave with their family. Now, by nature, a full-blooded gorgony is a feral beast of extreme violence. Stone and Perish were only half-blood gorgonies. Their father had married a unicorn of Equinox during the war and both lived in the wastelands, for a time...

Stone and her young sister Perish Chime had just come back from a stroll outside. They played a bit, looked at the fights from far away, and told stories to eachother. Perish Chime was a young gorgony; A filly. Unlike her sister, who possessed green serpentine parts, she possessed yellow serpentine parts. And being young, the filly could not turn anything to stone even if she tried. The two entered their house with smiles, until those washed away. The place seemed ransacked. The entrance was damaged, with holes in the walls and pots overtrurned.

"M...Mom? Dad?" Stone shouted.

Not thinking, the mare rushed through the house, ignoring her sister who slowly walked into the living room, the dim lighting of this place bringing out her instinctive fears. The little filly reached the room, and looked around. Destroyed seats, broken windows, torn sheets, things she didn't recognize plastered into the walls, and then...The filly started to cry. She didn't know what it was, but she somehow also knew what it was.

"Perish?" Stone yelled aloud. "Perish, where are you?"

Stone followed the cries and reached a scene she would have preferred to never see in her life. On the wall to the direct right of the living room's access, there were words written in blood:

Traitors. Betrayal. Traitorous scum. How dare you betray the gorgonies. Filthy traitorous scum.

Stone began to cry as she put a hoof to her mouth. Her parents had been murdered. Their mother had to put on a disguise to live in the wastelands, but, after the war had broken out, their father planned on getting them back to Equinox and live their with them all. The others must have discovered his plan, and when they figured out she wasn't a real gorgony, and that their children were half-breeds, then they must have gone one step further. Wait. If they knew...

"Perish, stop crying. We have to go!"

"Why?"

"Now!"

"But what about--"

"No time."

Stone and Perish left the house in a rush, leaving everything open. There was nothing left, but they couldn't stay there. Unfortunately, they didn't pay attention to the freshness of the blood words. Several eyes of gorgonies began to glow through nearby bushes. They had an agressive glow about them, even more so than usual, and they were staring at the two gorgonies who just now left the house.

"Stay close to me." Stone whispered as she cast a face of uncertainty."

The eyes followed their every movement with an unnerving silence reminiscent of the situation when two armies would face eachother before the ensuing battle. It was a terrifying sight, even for a fellow gorgony. Stone's soon earned her name as large rocks were starting to get chucked at her and her sister. Bumps and bruises were followed by hissing:

"Traitors."

"Half-breed filth."

"Disgusting disloyalists."

The rocks began to arrive faster, and in larger quantities, until it became unbareable, making the two gorgonies start galopping away into the wasteland in the direction of Equinox. They never got to retrieve their personal belongings. They never got to atleast get a picture of their family back. It was too late to do anything anyways. Stone and her little sister were going to have to rush across the dangerous wastelands and into Equinox itself before their own species tries to kill them, which they were actively trying to do as they chased them with various weapons.

The couple ran as far and as fast as they could, letting their house disappear slowly behind them the further they went. It was a race for their lives, one which the two couldn't stop. This race lasted for several days on end. While Perish Chime would stay behind and wait, Stone would go around towns and houses and steal food, but just enough for them to survive. During one of their 'escapades', the two had stopped in an abandoned mining site. The tools and mining carts were still there, and although their rust gave a metallic smell through the dry air, nothing really special occured.

The best place for the two to sleep was in a small tool shed, which they did. Its doors creaked and it was the old hom of several rodents by the looks of it. Some spiders lived here too, but there was nothing left. Perish Chime sat on the ground and yawned. Gorgonies don't need to eat much per day, so they had no need for more than atleast one meal. The two were completely exhausted from their traveling. The solid hooves of the two sisters seemed to have more in common with stone jelly if anything else.

"Stone, do you think they'll like us in Equinox?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think they'll take too kindly to somepony they're at war with."

The little filly didn't have enough time to speak before falling asleep next to her sister, who smiled faintly. Looking around and listening to every sound being made, the mare noticed a large white sheet hanging in the corner of the shack. She used her magic to tear it off and levitate it towards her. She couldn't move, though, so she simply focused hard to make the sheet tear and smooth out its edges into what looked like a bandana. Thinking a bit, the mare then placed it around her face and covered her three eyes with it. She was ready to go to Equinox. After all, she wanted it to be a surprise.

The mines were quiet and the sky dark, all this accompanied by a crisp, cold wind that soothed and cooled down the gorgonies' bodies to help them sleep better. Tonight was going to be a calm one.

The two gorgonies suddenly awoke from their calm and peaceful slumber by the sound of screaming spirits and screeching metal. The light outside of the window flickered wildly as if it were dying.

"What's going on?!" Perish squeeled.

"I don't know. Stay here!" Stone ordered.

The mare left outside to see the sky being engulfed by a racing cloud of darkness. That same cloud seemed to be punctured with wide holes of various shapes and sizes, although what was consistent was its need to engulfe the world, shown by the gorgony becoming engulfed in the black substance. That event was preceded by Stone seeing other gorgonies running out of the mines, screaming, while a few others were tossed through the various exits, their bodies mangled and twisted beyond recognition.

The mist didn't seem to do anything to anypony around, although, seeing the actual terror on the fleeing gorgonies, Stone was starting to have her doubts. That's when an ear-piercing noise was heard from within the mines. It sounded like a train breaking violently with the tones getting higher and lower.

The hill began to crack and break, announcing something huge coming. Stone immediately ran back to the shed and grabbed Chime, urging her to follow her big sister. The filly was too confused and full of fright to properly move, so Stone had no choice but to put her on her back. As soon as that was done, the mare used the same path she had used to get within the mine: A little mud road made to bring in large mining equipment. From far below, despite her increasing elevation, the mine just seemed to slightly tilt isometrically to the left.

Stone preferred to keep her eyes in front of her while Chime looked back. The little filly soon regretted this action as the whole mine exploded with a violent, tremendous force, sending rocks, debris, and metal flying everywhere. Several pieces slammed into the trail Stone was galopping on, tearing pieces away with them as the rocks impacted the surface. An immense, mutated beast rose forth from the debris, giving that shrieking noise that the two gorgonies had heard previously.

This thing was terrifying to look at. Its body was rather bulky even when it seemed to only be skin and bones, but as the flesh reached its neck, the creature's body simply narrowed and elongated itself into a "blunt" spear shape. One eye on each side took the entirety of this elongated shape. It was quadrupedal, like the ponies, but it didn't have a tail, and its feet possessed two claws-like protrusions. Its sickly gray-blue coloration showed that this creature never left the mine, but it was never capable of entering it either.

Once Stone reached the "surface", she continued her path towards Equinox. Every now and then, a gorgony from the mines would be thrown over head...atleast pieces of one. Even if the beast had playthings, they wouldn't last. This was shown by the creature literally jumping several hundred feet into the air, then slamming back down onto the ground outside of the mining site. Stone was worried that it would spot her and chase her, but it did not. Instead, it ran in the complete opposite direction. The gorgonies sighed in relief and let their new path lead them forward.

Several hours had passed, and Stone had reached her limit. Perish was trying to urge er to keep going, but Stone had had it.

"C'mon big sister. We've got to keep going."

"I'm...I'm too tired."

"But there's a town right there."

"What?"

On the horizon lay a small town currently engulfed by the black smog. It seemed quite normal, despite its semmingly abandoned state.

"Fine. Just let me rest a few minutes and then we'll go."

"Okay. Please hurry in resting up."

Stone just looked at her little sister and rolled her eyes.

The sisters had finally reached Equinox. It took several days of theft and hiding, but they had finally made it. It just so happened that the town they got to was called Duskville, and the sight of the ponies there was the last thing they were expecting. They all had blackened eyes and many had spiked teeth, but they seemed a bit off with their...features.

"I think we'll fit right in." Stone said to her sister.

The filly didn't say a thing. She was still disturbed by the disappearance of her parents.

Author's Note

This one isn't my best, but I didn't have much to work with here. It can always be better. Two of the remaining three characters are like that too, but they have enough backstory related to the main-verse for me to put the person in cement shoes and toss him in the river.

Next is Dull Sloth, Rainbow Dash's counterpart.

Still wings

(Disregard the constabulary)

"Get the harnesses secure!"

"I can't! The wind is too strong!"

In the floating city of Stormsdale, a storm of beastly proportions had suddenly erupted. This all happened when that black smog came out of nowhere and literally exploded through the sky. Everything was changing, yet there were still many pegasi who were working hard to stabilize the buildings in clouds. Surprisingly, the clouds had suddenly become dark and sturdy like bricks, and they seemed to be taking the shape of brick buildings as well. The pegasi were ill-equipped for such dangers, yet they persisted.

"Quickly! You two, grab strings of mane-rope and throw it around that collapsing building, then pulllllll!"

Two pegasi saluted the overseer and rushed out to perform their tasks. Thunder erupted everywhere and the sky seemed to even protest the existence of these ponies in its sky with the powerful winds blowing in random directions. The leader was a gruff stallion with a strangely torn right wing which seemed to allow him to fly despite its injuries. His coat was of a tannish hue while his mane and tail were a dark black. They weren't very well groomed and "bloomed" around everywhere. As for his eyes, they somehow blended with the usual blue sky, making it seem as if he had no pupils. All of these features were being torn away by the wind and the black smog flowing through the sky like a rabid animal frothing at the mouth.

"No! You idiots!" he shouted to a few pegasi panicking on the 'ground'.

They were starting to panic because of what was happening to their bodies and the ground around them suddenly turning into the starts of a brick pathway with stones of several different shapes and sizes. The overseer tried to rush and scoop them out of their predicament, but a yellow flash swooped in and tossed them all high into the sky. They went high enough to regain themselves and start to flap their own wings. The yellow bolt had flown far off but suddenly curved back around after a short distance and avoided another strike of lighting by a hair. The yellow streak then stopped in front of the overseer and flaunted her wings.

Her whole body was of a yellow hue mixed with a fainter orange, and her mane and tail both had darker variants of that color on their sides as a huge streak of brown flew through the middle of both. As she flaunted her large wings, the stallion sighed.

"Dull Sloth. What are you doing here? You usually just sleep."

"Hey. I can't just sit around while everypony around gets hurt; I may be lazy but I have a reputation to uphold!" the mare hit her chest.

The bemused stallion simply answered in a dull tone:

"You have no reputation."

Sloth turned and glared at him.

"That's harsh, stallion."

"Too bad. While you're here, try and save as many ponies as you can. This black smog worries me."

Dull chuckled and blasted off using her unusual speed. The overseer sighed in irritation. She was annoying and full of herself, but she was fast enough to save more than the others. Even the Umbrasparks, despite them being some of the best fliers in Equinox, couldn't seem to turn corners like Dull, although that was pushing it quite a lot. Even with the extra hooves, things seemed to getting out of control. More and more ponies began to collapse to the smog, and the clouds continued to morph and twist, and all this at an increasing rate.

Unfortunately for both the overseer and Sloth, they both began to feel the effects of the smog, and even the Umbrasparks were reported to have succumbed to its mutating effects. As Sloth's speed began to wane, she had just saved and a newly transformed foal from crumbling debris, but the view Sloth got as she saw that...deliciously scrumptious being in her hooves would affect her forever. Especially as, through the chaos and horror, the mare spotted, from afar, that one of the buildings was falling over a few pegasi that had lost consciousness prior to the incident.

The mare used all the strength left in her body and charged downwards like a lightning bolt, leaving a yellow streak behind her. It was at a hair's length, but she managed to push the unconscious pegasi out of the way. This didn't save her wings when one feather managed to snag itself onto a solidifying piece of cloud the building had jutting out of its wall. The mare suddenly found herself under the consequences of physics and found her body thrust forward while her wings remained behind her, and were ultimately crushed by the buildings.

Dimmed Star smiled evily as she sharpened some of her medical utensils in her lab. Spear licked bones from his previous meal. He seemed on the verge of collapsing into a deep sleep.

"Grrrr. It won't disinfect!" Star roared as she threw the utensils against the wall, nearly impaling a few birds taped to it.

The mare pouted and put her foreleg on the table to let her head rest on it, until a few pegasi entered the room. Their skin was fused to what used to be purple suits. These suits had decorative shapes along the stomach and chest which spiked violently but rarely as it reached their heads. All three no longer had mouths. Instead, they had three exhaust hatches in place of their mouths which constantly spewed smoke, supposedly from burning coal. The first, Number 20, possessed bat wings and fins along the back of his legs. His eyes were permanently covered with yellow scissors, and his black mane and tail was now made from somewhat solid soot. His cutie mark had seeped through the uniform and showed a flaming skull.

He had led the way for his partners, Number 21 and 22. All three had similar circumstances with their outfits, but with minor differences. 21's mane was green and rested along its owners neck. 21 also wore yellow pilot goggles which covered his black eyes. His pupils were a light sky-blue with very thin, vertical black slits serving as pupils. His dragonfly cutie mark matched his new dragonfly wings that batted several times as he carried Dull Sloth in his foreleg. Number 22 did the same, but she seemed to be spewing more smoke from her "mouth". Unlike the other two, her mane and tail looked like white fire with very light blue flames surrounding it, and, unlike the other two, the skin surrounding her eyes stretched into thin points from the top and the bottom of said areas, but only towards the back. One cold also see the threads of the uniform's tissue dug into the delicate skin around the eyes of this mare, eyes who only had what one could consider three-fourths of a blue circle as a pupil.

"Here." 20 said as the other stallion and mare tossed the yellow pegasi onto the surgery table.

The yellow mare only had stubs at what was once proud wings. She didn't seem like living anymore despite the new urges she was getting. If she could no longer fly, she had no purpose to live. No more of that cold air sliding off her body like ice. No more up and downdrafts for fun little acrobatics. None of that was left.

"And what do you want me to do?" Dimmed Star asked as she lifted the mare's head up.

"Return her ability of flight." 20 answered calmly.

The Umbrasparks "mouths", when they spoke, lit up like an engine and glowed a bright orange, letting out even more smoke with each word. Their voices even sounded like somepony who had smoked a bit too much in their lives.

"OOO! I have the perfect method! I've been wanting to experiment with integrating technology into flesh." the unicorn was all giddy.

"GRAAAAAAAAAH!"

Spear lashed out at 22 when she tried to poke and prod his face. The mare retracted her foreleg, blinked a few times in disbelief, then roared back, the sound being like that of a motorcycle in full throttle. She even managed to spit out a few pieces of burnt rock. The two just stared at each other aggressively.

"When will this be ready?"

"In a few hours if I can do this right with my new tools."

"Okay. We prefer to keep the 'hero' of Stormsdale alive for recognition by our queen. We might get preferential attention. Let us go, and stop hissing at that thing, twenty-two."

The mare snapped her head sideways and left, following the leader as she did so. Dimmed Star glared at Spear who slid back slightly. The unicorn followed up with her procedures by grabbing several pieces of synthetic flesh and bone, as well as anti-bodies, disinfectants, and what looked like two rockets. She cut out the stubs to place the synthetic bones on the previous ones' place and glued them there using a special, sticky compound. The synthetic tissue was then wrapped around the bones and a thin film was used to make the wings look like they were skin, muscle, and bones.

"Now for the fun part." Dimmed Star rubbed her forehooves eagerly.

"First, I'll carve out her back tissue...Toss this to Spear."

The draconic creature jumped out and grabbed the hunks of meat tossed towards him. The mare then took her mechanical monstrosities and dug underneath all the bleeding tissue and linked wire with nerve cluster, ensuring that the signals would pass without much trouble. The skin was then wrapped back over the rockets and sewn shut. Everything was ready.

"Ow. My head. Huh? Why am I still alive?! I jumped off of Stormsdale!" the yellow mare roared.

"Shaddap! You can fly now." Dimmed Star answered as she cleaned her medical tools.

"Huh?"

The pegasi looked around and noticed she was in the messiest room she had ever seen...and she was sitting on a metal table.

"What do you mean I can fly now?!" the mare suddenly smiled and looked at her back.

There sat two wings...that were opened and strangely static. After a few efforts of trying to get them to move, Dull Sloth's rage came out in full swing.

"What is this?! You think this is a game?! I should...eat...you...I'm so hungry..."

Dull Sloth turned around with a smile and a black goop dripping from her mane which slithered across her face like water.

"That's because of the rockets I attached to your back. Since you can't use any combustibles, it uses your internal energies."

"And..." She gasped. "...What does that mean? I need to eat more vegetables?"

"Well, while you were out, I checked your body. You're a carnivore now."

Carnivore. That word pleased Dull greatly for some reason. It was like she had a new, better calling in her life. Was she blessed?

"So I eat meat?"

Dimmed look at her with a "serious?" face.

"And how do these...rockets work? Do I...Do I just think about them?"

"I dunno. Let's go outside and find out."

Star tossed her medical equipment back in the sink full of disinfectant near a pile of books and accompanied her new patient upstairs and outside, using arms created by her black goop to the keep the pegasi steady. Dull put a hoof to her and moaned in pain.

"Don't worry. It's the neural pathways I created for your new extensions. It should wear off in a few weeks."

"A FEW WEEKS?!"

"Hey, before complaining, think about soaring. Imagine the rockets being your new wings, and you need to take off as fast as possible."

"Okay..."

The pegasus closed her eyes tightly and thought long and hard. Dimmed Star just stood to the side and tilted her head from time to time, analyzing the situation. Finally, after several minutes, the rockets began to glow inside and sputter, before belching fire and taking Dull Sloth with them. The mare burst off in a random way, preventing her from being in total control. Dimmed Star gasped in surprise and chased after her new patient.

"Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap!" Dull shouted as she dodged in coming trees and other ponies.

The speed she was going at was unbelievable. Her heart was beating a-mile-a-minute, but she didn't want it to stop, so she used her prosthetic wings to control her trajectory, which worked great, although she was still wobbly. She didn't notice, however, that he was becoming thinner and thinner with each passing moment.

Two ponies, one mare and one colt, were fleeing Duskville. Unlike the other ponies, they didn't seem to have "mutated" properly. They weren't favored by the queen. They had gotten pretty far from the town.

"Come on, Nutberry." the mother told her son.

"But what about dad?"

"He's gone! He's lost! It's too late!"

"But--"

"NO BUTS! Come on. We've got to find a better place to live, where nopony will find us."

"But I'm tired."

The mother cursed silently as worry and panic filled her mouth. The mare forced her child to keep going despite his protests. Unfortunately for them, they were spotted by Dull Sloth.

"They look...tasty. Unlike those at Duskville. Mmmm. The little one looks dead tired. Well...that unicorn didn't say anything about what kinds of meat..."Dull licked her drooling muzzle and curved downwards.

The rockets in her back were roaring with vigor as the mare swooped down at a steep angle then went straight for the colt.

"What the...NO! NUTBERRY! QUICK! COME OVER HERE!"

The child was too tired to gallop out of the way, even when he saw his mother start galloping towards the left of the path into the trees lining the road. He began to stress and cry as he saw the incoming hawk.

"Mom!"

The colt began to grunt and struggle as he tried to get to his mom. His mother got out of the bushes to grab her son, but it was too late. A last 'mom' was shouted before all the air in the colt's body was forcefully exhaled after he was impacted by the strong kinetic force that hit him. He was killed the second Dull touched him, and the two slid to a halt farther away. The mother saw the ravenous yellow pegasi lift her head, lick her lips, then start chomping into the poor colt. The sounds of flesh tearing, a mouth voraciously opening and closing as it flavored the meat and skin inside filled the air and frightened the slowly approaching mother. She could tell that the mare was growing bulkier with each gulp. The mother simply stayed in place and collapsed to the ground as the pegasus turned around and showed the remains of her victim's child; Blood covering her muzzle and putting emphasis on her carnivorous, fanged teeth.

"Maybe if I eat you, I'll get more energy?"

The mother shook her head and began to cry as she got up and ran away from the rocket-pegasus. Dull went after her, but this one was too agile. She kept turning and twisting, and with her new engines, Sloth could no longer cut corners as easily. Frowning and getting angrier was all she could do as she landed back next to the child's corpse and began to dig away at the remaining flesh and bone.

"Hmmm. I should only go after the non-agile ones then. I guess I have to go after the foals and the elderly. Mmm! This foreleg is delicious!"

Author's Note

Spiderlock is next!

Loving too far

Spiderlock rested in her cottage surrounded by the thousands of animals she had been suddenly taking care of. Ever since that black smog blotted the sky and covered, her colors had darkened, but her feelings had increased. Spiderlock needed to be with the animals. She needed to stay with them. She needed to sleep with them. She needed to eat with them. She needed to BE one of them. The mare squirmed around in her bed as she thought about how she could become an animal herself. A costume wouldn't do, and she wasn't ready to look for dark artifacts in the Amberveil forest. The only other solution was to visit a mare that had a very close connection to Queen Blackhole and was known for performing feats impossible for the average unicorn. Perhaps she could grant the yellow pony her wish?

Hurriedly, she rose from the comfort of her bed and the hundreds of furry creatures serving as a living comfettor. The pony then stumbled back onto her hooves and quickly galopped out of the door. As she ran down the path to Duskville, the mare looked at the warped forest and the darkened, nightly skies above. While the sky was mostly a darkened shade of black and blue, the smog remained high in the sky and frequently flowed about like a plague of insects. The trees, themselves, had literally become twisted and the leaves black and crispy, yet animals strived on it, albeit mutated from the smog and the leaves themselves.

Each step brought more stress to the pegasus as she didn't know how the pony would react to her, yet it was too late now. The mare had entered the town, where many frightening and scary ponies walked about, some stranger then others, like the armored mailmare fused to said armor.

"Come on, Spiderlock. Where does she live...Oh. I can't remember...Maybe...I should...ummm...ask somepony?"

Spiderlock was standing in the middle of the town as ponies came and went. She felt herself lock up the second she wanted to ask help from somepony. Finally, though, after gathering her courage, she decided to ask the closest pony to her. This pony had a turquoise mane with some white streaks in them. Her mouth looked like it was made from a sock puppet, what with the strange stitching around the lips. The same could be said for her eyes that looked like a thin, black film of plastic which would reflect light to show two yellow lines next to eachother. They seemed to refract in the direction the pony would be "looking" in.

"Um. excuse me." Spiderlock said almost inaudibly.

"Yes?" the mare answered.

"Hi. I'm Spiderlock."

"Oh. Well, I'm Lyrabon."

"Hello, Lyrabon. I was just wondering if you could show me where Dimmed Star lives."

"Dimmed Star?" the mare rubbed her head in confusion and frowned.

"I'm afraid I can't remember. Maybe Lyrabon would know."

Spiderlock became confused.

"But you just said you were Lyrabon."

"I am."

"Then why did you say that you would ask yourself?"

"Not me. Lyrabon."

Spiderlock frowned.

"She means me."

The turquoise pony turned around to reveal the half of a vanilla colored mare stitched to her back. She was tanned with a blackish-blue mane which curled at the top at her forehead, and near th end of her mane which extended to the back of her neck. This mane even had a very large, pink streak going through its middle. She had the exact same black eyes as the turquoise one, although they seemed to have been "punched in", what wit the "deep" looking, blue creases in the eyes.

"She lives in the house over there. The one that looks like a tree." the mare smiled as she pointed towards a treehouse a few blocks away.

"Thank you." Spiderlock said with fear.

"You're welcome."

The "two" ponies then continued their path forward, passing Spiderlock who slowly turned around to see Lyrabon casually walking away, and the vanilla pony smiling and waving at her. Spiderlock felt shivers run down her spine. That was efinately one of the solutions to "love" that Princess Lolung was famous for. After that little incident was done, Spiderlock hurried towards the house ans eagerly knocked on the door. Her heart was pounding in her chest as excitement filled her every being. Unfortunately, it didn't avail to much as nopony answered. Frustrated, the mare began to knock a few times against the door, then several times, then began pounding violently against it. Finally, after such a long wait, the door swung open violently and powerfully, revealing a purple mare with strange eyes and black liquid dripping off of her. SHe looked mad.

"WHAT? WHAT IS IT? STOP HITTING MY DOOR!"

The unicorn clenched her teeth as she stared at the yellow pegasus, who simply gulped in response.

"I was t-told that you w-w-would help me with a pr-pr...a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"I want to become an animal."

Dimmed's eyes sparkled.

"Really now? Well, come in. I haven't tried morphing magic on living creatures yet. Only on objects."

Spiderlock stared at Dimmed Star for a few moments as she looked at the terrible mess on the first floor.

"Uhhh...were they succesful?"

"Pretty much, although a few of them exploded."

Spiderlock felt cold sweat trickled down her head.

"Come downstairs. I'll get you ready for the spell."

The pegasus did as she was told, and, when she saw the laboratory down below, was awfully scared and shocked at what she found. The mess was unbearable, but she had to make do.

"This is where I do all my experiments." Dimmed Star said as she rummaged through a shelf.

"R-really?"

"Oh yes. A few haven't always been great successes...like that green one...but they've generally come out good."

"Green one?"

"Nothing."

"Do I have to sit on that metal table?"

"Nope. I'll just inject you with this." Dimmed Star said as one of her black tentacles pierced Spiderlock's hip with a needle."And maybe this too."

"Ow!"

The purple mare turned around with an evil grin on her face. and kicked the door to her closet close, bringing about the rattling of glass. The unicorn then placed her horn on her guest's forehead and began to mutter something. It first simply started off as a tingle, but then started to turn into a burning sensation, like something was growing with Spiderlock. As the unicorn's horn glew brighter and brighter, the color in the room began to lter as well. It had started from its typical dull and dark demeanor, then began to phase into a bright red, and then into various shades of blue and purple. Spiderlock couldn't really see anything despite her eyes being open. It was the spell doing all the work and preventing her body to function normally. Finally, however, after an immense sparkling mist of magic swirled around the lab, it finally dissipated gently, and quietly. Dimmed looked around with confusion, occasionally eye-balling everything from left to right with puckered lips.

"That's it? No explosion? No shockwave? Well, that effect is disappointing."

"N-no. I think I'm good like this...Why am I still a pony?"

"Huh? OH! I forgot about you."

This comment stressed Spiderlock who showed it clearly in her facial features.

"It's a lag spell. Before you even ask, it takes effect little by little in a short span of time."

"Oh! Thank you so much, Miss Star." the pegasus shouted with joy as she squeezed the uncomfortable unicorn in a big hug.

"Yeah. Okay. Leggo!" Dimmed Star exclaimed as she pushed her assailant off.

The mare hurried out of the tree and back to her shed. She was so overjoyed with her future appearance that she didn't even wait to tell her animals, who didn't really seem to care much. Spiderlock started to play around with them all and clean others up and do pretty much all the previous tasks she had ready for the whole week. She was now clueless for what she wanted to do. So, she decided to take a walk in the forest to see if her abilities would wake up eventually.

This wooden creep was twisted and somewhat "damaged" by the arrival of the mist so many years ago. Several twisted shapes lurked within the shadows of the forest, some looking like shadows of the now jagged trees, but with red eyes added in place of holes and knots made within their bark. There wasn't much to say about this place aside from its dark and twisted shapes, the inky fog climbing from tree branch to tree branch like a slim cat. The birds, sometimes screaming when Spiderlock would pass, looked like skeletons with light glaring through their bodies. The pony was still fascinated by this tainted Gaia and looked in aww at it. She did feel a great hunger starting on her. She even felt like something was skittering on her skull and trying to get to her brain. Faint, the pony tumbled towards a tree and grabbed her head with a groan.

"I don't...feel so good..."

Two antennas grew out from her forehead, reminiscent of black twigs. The exit points began to bleed, if only lightly. Once she put a hoof to her forehead and felt these long tems, the pegasus hopped up with joy. It was starting!...But why was she so hungry and in pain? She could feel a seering pain pushing through her sides and her left eye as well. It even felt as though something was trying to burst through her lips. Ignoring this, the mare began to eat all the grass that she could, but it wasn't enough. She then began to devour the dead leaves...but it wasn't enough. She ate non-poisonous mushrooms, then poisonous mushrooms, and nothing would change. The living beings nearby were looking mighty tasty to Spiderlock, especially with her new mandibles now out.

She quickly realized what had now come out and screamed in pain as she put a hoof to her left eye. It was being pushed out. The pain was unbearable, but as the orb slid out, taking tissue and veins with it, a multi-faceted, insectoid eye took its place. It looked around and made Spiderlock run towards the new prey, but it found the mare slow, so it pushed out four, extremely long, brown legs from her sides, and continued its path forward, devouring everything in sight. Even though the parasite felt satisfied, it felt itself weakening and dying. In its voracious devouring, it had forgotten about its host, so instead of taking all the nutrients, it would only sap off what it needed to survive, although it would need to bring the mare to its nest. It was quite a sight to see: A fainted mare with one eye open and four legs walking it back to her house.

Spiderlock went to see Star about her new condition. Apparently, the unicorn had miscalculated her spell and, instead of imbedding Spiderlock with a new, animal form, she imbedded her body with a new animal form...she put a parasitic form of parasprite in her body. The first of its kind. Surprisingly, despite its appetite, it hasn't killed its host, denoting atleast a MINIMUM of intelligence, by Dimmed Star's standards. However, Spiderlock might have gotten several advantages with this new bonding, such as increased reach, and better stamina, but her appetite grows ten-fold at sunset, which is why she is waiting in the forest near the trail at night for some food...an animal, preferably.

The cold breeze of the night wind barely ruffled Spiderlock's feathers. She was extremely impatient and waiting in the bushes, letting their leaves fluster in the cold embrace of this wind. Like usual, the moon was unviewable due to the mist, but that was something many ponies no longer moaned over. A few foals had left their houses and were laughing as they walked along the trail. The ambusher caught sight of them and gasped quietly.

"Um. Excuse me." she asked with a gentle and timid demeanor.

"AH! WHAT WAS THAT?!" a colt shouted in fear while the other two stood in place with mild irritation.

"Over...here."

The three looked to their left to see a red dot in the bushes.

"What are you?" a filly asked.

"A pony. Just like you."

"What are you doing in there?"

"I'm waiting for somepony. I'm sorry to bother you, but have you seen any animals nearby?"

The three looked at eachother and shrugged.

"No. Sorry. Did you lose a pet?"

"Not really."

The figure in the bushes began to slowly rise to great heights, dragging the foals eyes along with them. Their mouths followed in the opposite reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I need something to eat. If I don't get any, I'll die. I'm terribly sorry about this."

"NO! MOMM--"

The mare pounced, and there were no more sounds. Just the calm, immaterial form of the wind brushing against the trees and bushes, and the occassional pitter-patter of certain substances falling on the floor. A new mare had been created...and she was quite happy for gaining a new "friend" in the process.

Author's Note

Now for Zalgy Cake.

Zalgy Pie

Author's Note

Sorry for this one being so short and not too fleshed out. Unlike the others that had a semblance of backstory, Zalgy had none, and considering Riygan said she wasn't cruel, I couldn't manage anything without warping the idea, and I wanted this to be faithful to the source material. Also, do be aware this was made before the season where Maud was introduced, so there isn't Lime, Marble, and Maud Pie; Only Pinkie, Inkie, and Blinkie.

Three years this has been gnawing at my brain. I can't make a painting out of random splotches, a single color, or none at all. There needs to be coherence.

Zalgy Pie

Ah, Pinkie Pie. An innocent mare with her equally innocent family. he pink pony always found amusement in baking, parties, and pulling off harmless pranks, then came the black miasma. Sickening, gooey thing it was, washing over the lands like a wave of death and disease. Pinkie had visited her family's rock farm for the week and was helping her sisters out while the parents were out, purchasing supplies. Inkie, a wee gray pony, stopped tending to the stones and looked up towards the sky, curious.

"Hey, what's that coming towards us?" she asked.

Pinkie and Blinkie both stopped tending to their stones and looked upwards to see a veil of black mist rushing towards them.

"Looks like clouds," Pinkie squinted from atop Blinkie's shoulders.

"Hmmmm," Blinkie hummed. "First, get off my shoulders. Second, Maybe it's a sign of rain? I've never seen a phenomenon like that before."

"Maybe we should get inside before--"

Inkie was cut short by the miasma engulfing the farm and blasting the ponies across its lands like they were hit by a massively powerful hurricane. The three ponies took some time to recover from the blast and checked the farm and its lands for any damages. Pinkie wiped her forehead in relief and slumped against a rock.

"I don't know what that was, but it surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre was fun," she said.

Inkie looked back at where she first viewed the miasma and frowned. "I still think it's weird that it only blew us away."

"I guess you could say that it...blows," Pinkie snickered.

Blinkie resisted the urge to strangle her sister.

"Well, if that's all there is," Inkie started. "then we should get back to work."

"Can't we have a wind party, just because we weren't blown away?" Pinkie hopped in place. "I've never done a wind party. I just want to do one here!"

The other two ponies looked at each other bemusingly and rolled their eyes in unison. "Yes. Fine. Okay," they both said.

"Yay!"

Not all ponies are immediately affected by the miasma, and some aren't affected at all, but in the case of the former, the afflicted ponies never pay attention and start viewing 'normal' ponies as disgusting monsters. Pinkie's pranks to the ponies in the towns around her home farm became more and more extreme in execution, with some being absolutely terrified and some outright hurting a pony, but not killing them of course. She wouldn't think of doing that...at least, not to 'fellow' ponies. Just as the three sisters' continued their daily lives through the week and the absence of their parents became a distant memory until they were the only ones remaining, so too die the changes to their forms and names continue. Pinkie's coat went from hot pink, to pale red, and then a dark red. Her mouth lost consistency and became a morphing addle of black holes while her eyes turned into ever-leaking orbs of a black substance and her pupils became little gleams of red lights. Her name was now 'Zalgy Pie', and she had a passion for extreme parties.

Inkie's body became a sheen of gray while her hair puffed up like her energetic sister's, and changed to a glowing white. Her teeth broken and reshaped themselves into a solid row of sharp clamps that glowed in the dark, much like her mane and pupils, pupils which had adopted the form of an angular spiral in seas of dark. Her body now secreted oils whose properties she could manipulate at will. Now long was Inkie Pie so adamant about helping at the farm and growing the best rocks. Oily Pie was more concerned with creating the best rocks from any source of minerals.

Blinkie's entire body warped into the same shade of deep cerulean blue while her eyes, still black like her sisters, had their pupils turn into four-point stars of a bright cerulean, staring at you from across the cosmos. Her teeth receded and her lips morphed into jagged edges more than capable of serving their purposes, and the ends of her mouth were twirled, making her smile for all eternity. Now called Dready Cake, she was the calmest of the three and always had a smile on her face no matter what task she performed. How exhilarating.

"Hey, let's take a picture together," Zalgy suggested. "It's been a while since we did one."

Oily patted her face, making oil splatter everywhere including Dready's smiling face. "Sure. What do you think, Dread?"

The blue pony lifted her forehooves up in semblance of giving a thumbs up. "I'm all for it."

"Then get ready for the picture!" Zalgy cheered.

She gathered with her sisters and smiled. The camera went off, but Zalgy wasn't happy with it when she picked it up from the floor.

"Ah, some jam fell onto it. Let me fix the hold for the camera."

A muffled scream was left ignored by the two waiting ponies while Zalgy adjusted the camera.

"Pranking sure does have its advantages," Zalgy commented. "Alrighty then. It's fully functional now, hopefully. I don't like readjusting the camera holder." She wrapped her forelegs around her sisters and smiled. "Say 'party'!"