Stock Still

by seaponytearsandprovolone

Rating: teen
Tags: Featherweight, Silver Spoon, Gore, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Twist, Diamond Tiara, Dark
Length: 5560

Applebloom wakes in the hospital to a silent - and mostly emptied - Ponyville.

After an inexplicable blast, Applebloom wakes in the hospital to a silent - and mostly emptied - Ponyville. Perplexed and virtually alone, Applebloom must plunge into a perilous rescue mission to find the lost citizens – a task that leads her into the most feared of places in all of Equestria: The Everfree Forest. But the forest is forever distorted – and for Applebloom, it’s safe to say that it isn't for the better.

Published 2013-10-14 23:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-14 23:30:01 UTC

Stock Still

The walk back to Sweet Apple Acres from the schoolhouse was not one of great excitement to three little fillies. But they lived in the town of Ponyville, where everything was small and sweet, and these fillies were no exception. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom had great fun with each other always, and carelessly chatted about schoolwork, house life and – of course – cutie marks, or the lack thereof. Their conversation, however, came to an abrupt halt once they reached the town square.

“Excuse me, excuse me, everypony! Can I have your attention?”
Applebloom watched as the purple alicorn trotted toward the mob of ponies gathered in the town square, jostling about and screaming at one another. With a single hoof, she parted the crowd (which seemed to feel an agreed sheepishness in their actions toward the princess and simmered down immediately, some disassembling without care and others still looking nosily on).

Applebloom, being the curious little filly that she was, galloped behind Twilight before her friends could utter a peep either in their agreed investigation or erring more on the side of reason – Applebloom would never know. She looked eagerly in-between the legs of the other horses, desperate for just one glance.

The little filly, wide-eyed, saw a flash, heard the screeches of a few ponies, the slamming of hooves onto the earth. Then, Twilight flew – not in the newfound alicorn way but as though she was bucked into the air. Applebloom gasped, unable to move, and in the now clear path she saw the gleaming eyes set before her. She felt a boom ring out, winced from the pain – and then, nothing. Blackness.

Applebloom blinked her eyes up at the glaring lights, grimacing at the pounding in her head that resulted from this simple action. Her memory, now lost to her, still struggled to obtain any nugget of information. But there was nothing, even as she searched deeper and deeper. She could, of course, remember her sweet family and her friends but everything prior to… Well… School, it must have been – was a complete blur.

“H-Hallo?” The little filly called out. There was no answer. Where am I? She asked herself. The air was sterile with the sharpness of metal. Shifting her weight slightly, she realized she was in a bed, and glancing around the room – though it caused a great deal of pounding in her head – allowed her to identify that it was in fact a hospital room. But there was nopony in sight.

Taking inventory of her state like a neurotic filly with a checklist, Applebloom wiggled her hooves, bent all of her joints – and noticed nothing that was unusual other than the ache in her skull. With little care, as fillies rarely possess too much of it, she hopped out of the bed, a new tremor of pain erupting – but carried on as though nothing were the matter. Growing up on a farm, Applebloom was tougher than most of the fillies in her class, and so she carried on, much too restless to sit in a hospital bed when she could find no logical reason to stay (and nopony forcing her to).

“Hallo?” She called again, “Anypony there?” Trotting through the empty halls gave Applebloom an uneasy feeling, curling in the pit of her stomach like a tired cat. She glanced into the rooms to find that they, too, were empty – so she followed the signs to the nearest exit, logically concluding that there would be other ponies to talk to somewhere in Ponyville.

She came upon to the street, waves of nausea rolling in her stomach when she came to find that the streets of Ponyville, too, were empty. The timber-framed cottages no longer seemed friendly; instead, the thatched roofs, once so distinct and welcoming, were now overhanging, creating intimidating shadows along the dirt roads. Applebloom was a bit wary about approaching the town hall once again, but she was unsure why – so, she mustered up all the courage she had once displayed in her cutie mark acquirement adventures, and strolled on up to the hall like it was nothing to her.

“Hallo?” She yelled again, sick of the silence. She looked up to the hall, the sun beating down glaring in her eyes. She could see nothing. Applebloom sighed, continuing to roam the streets. She finally came upon the Schoolhouse, and from a small distance, she could see a figure by the school bell. With great hope, she galloped toward the building with a great smile upon her face, ignoring the pounding in her head.

“Hallo!” She screamed, coming up to the steps of the schoolhouse. The pony at the top answered by slamming the bell with a hoof. The sound rang out like a boom, and Applebloom covered her ears, recoiling from the noise and contorting her face with the great pain.

“What in the hay did you do that for?” She yelled up at the pony. Maybe it wasn’t so bad being alone, after all, she thought, the ringing in her ear matching the pace of the pounding in her head. The pony didn’t answer, instead stuck their head inside the bell.

Golly, Applebloom thought, what if that pony is crazy? But she remembered her big sister telling her she should always help a pony in need, and that pony could need her help. She climbed the steps of the porch and made her way into the schoolhouse.

The sound of her hooves clacking on the floors echoed throughout the building. It was so quiet that Applebloom could hear the beating of her heart. She climbed the steps all the way to the bell tower, where the lock had been broken off. She stepped cautiously over it, and at last came to see the filly in front of her.

“Twist!” She screamed, running to hug her dear friend. She wasn’t alone after all! This thought brought her great comfort, and she was very glad to have had come up to the bell tower despite her second-guessing.
Twist did not respond, but merely looked at Applebloom with a blank expression and empty eyes. The way Applebloom might look at somebody she didn’t know.

“Twist?” Applebloom asked, “Do you not remember me?”

Twist walked around the bell in a big circle, then stopped once she reached Applebloom once again.

“Of course I remember you,” the beige filly said at last, and then continued walking around the bell.

“Oh…” Applebloom said with confusion, something she couldn’t place unsettling her immensely, “Okay. Say, what are you doin’ up here, Twist?”

Twist paused in her circular movement.

“This is where I live, Applebloom.”

“Come on, Twist, stop foolin’ around,” Applebloom laughed, putting a hoof to her friend’s shoulder. Twist glared back.
“I’m not!” She yelled, and her eyes glowed red. Applebloom’s heart jumped as her head thudded. When Applebloom shook her head, Twist’s eyes were back to normal – Applebloom chalked this up to her head injury. After all, she left the hospital when she probably should not have.

Then, Applebloom realized that Twist’s lisp was gone, but she was so confused and distraught that did not know what to say. The bell tower of the schoolhouse was not, in fact, where Twist lived. And Twist had never yelled at Applebloom like that before, in all of their years of friendship. She decided to take a different route.

“Do ya know what happened to everypony?” Twist ignored her completely.

“Do ya know why ah was in the hospital, Twist?” She asked quietly. Again, Twist ignored her.

“Are you going to help me, or what?” Twist remarked snidely, and then clanged a hoof against the bell. Applebloom, taken aback, was quite offended.

“Help you!” She screamed over the ringing of the off-key bell, “You’re not doin’ anything! I’m trying to find out what happened to everypony in Ponyville, what happened to me! You’re hitting around a bell like you’ve got a screw loose!” And then Applebloom broke out into tears.

Twist, at this, at least stopped pacing, but did not make a move to comfort her friend, either. Applebloom, hiccupping, made herself stop crying and wiped her own tears, as she was used to this self comfort at home and tried often not to cry – she was a strong filly.

“Ah’m goin’ to see if I can find other Ponyville citizens. You can come if ya like,” she offered as formally as she could manage. With one last sniffle, she took off – and, much to her surprise, Twist followed behind. Looking like a lost puppy, Applebloom began to feel sorry for her, and felt bad for her actions. Twist must not know what happened any more than she did. She resolved to be nicer to her friend, and chided herself for having to resolve that in the first place.

Applebloom, as she walked, decided she was very, very scared to go to Sweet Apple Acres. What if her family was missing? Or worse yet, what if they were like Twist? The little filly, strong as she was, was unsure what she would do without her support system, her loving family that had been with her always. She shuddered at the thought. To make matters worse, she no longer felt comfortable expressing this fear to Twist, and so she kept her fears inside her throbbing head.

As such, she decided to check everywhere else she could think of first. She looked to the sky for pegasi, but saw nothing in the clouds. She searched the shops in the center of Ponyville, included Sugar Cube Corner, Carousel Boutique, and Golden Oak Library – in the hopes of finding a familiar face. But there was nopony anywhere. Upon reaching the clubhouse, she called up. There was no answer.

“Let’s try Sweet Apple Acres,” Applebloom finally sighed to Twist, who felt more like a burden then a help. In her young age, Applebloom had not yet babysat a foal – but now, she was starting to understand what it might feel like, dictating her every move to an unresponsive pony. Twist said nothing.

The sun began to set as the two fillies made their way to Applebloom’s home. Once they reached it, Applebloom trotted around, searching frantically in every nook and cranny she could think of. Her family was not there. She did not even have the strength to cry.

Sitting stock still, Applebloom watched the sun, halfway to the horizon. Twist sat beside her, and for once, Applebloom was thankful for the silence. After a long while, Applebloom dictated, “Okay. Let’s go.”

The sun continued to set, twilight sinking onto the drapery of the sky as the stars began to shine faintly. The wind of Luna’s night whistled past her ears.

"Luna!” Applebloom called out. Luna must have brought up the moon! How silly of her to have thought she was all by herself. Just because Ponyville was empty didn’t mean she was the last pony in all of Equestria! There were two very powerful pony princesses in Canterlot! Remembering that Twilight and Spike had not been in the library, and thus could not send a letter to Princess Celestia, she led Twist to the train station. Two silhouettes stood on the boarding dock.

“Hallo?” Applebloom called cautiously. One of the silhouettes reminded her of a very good friend of hers (Applebloom was not sure if this was a blessing or a curse) but there was something perched upon her head. Upon coming closer, Applebloom identified the fillies with ease, heart sinking.

“Oh horsefeathers, of all the fillies I had to come across…”

Now, Applebloom was not a pony to use curse words lightly, but…

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stood before her with a glazed look in her eyes. Much more angry than scared, Applebloom ignored them, and trotted to the end of the boarding dock. There was a train some length away. Perfect! Only a minute or so and she could board the next train to Canterlot.

After waiting for a minute, however, the horrible realization dawned on Applebloom that the train was not moving.

“Oh, horse apples!” Applebloom screamed, throwing a tantrum. She took the only item she had on her, her bow, and threw it from her head, stomping on it. The air puffed from her nostrils as she breathed heavily. Trotting to the train with blinding anger, she saw that it, too, was empty. In her fit, she bucked at the train, which rattled but did little else at the cost of her aching hoof.

She stomped back to the three fillies watching with completely blank expression. If they wanted to follow, then so be it, but in her mind Applebloom did not have the time or patience to coddle the fillies that were now strangers to her. Without a word, she continued on her journey. She was a pony of many things, but a quitter an apple is not.

As she ran to Fluttershy’s cottage, done with the calmness of strolling along the streets, she wondered, what was the connection between the four of us ponies? We’re all fillies, but then… Where was Sweetie Belle? The recollection of the name sent a tremor of sadness through Applebloom’s bones, a loneliness she could not cope with. Glasses? She thought to switch subjects, but of course, two of the four fillies had none. Curly manes? Coat colour? It was useless.

The houses flew past in a blur, and the sun finally set, the moon beginning to rise. She wondered how long it could be until the princesses would notice Ponyville’s absence – but considering their track record, Applebloom was unwilling to hold her breath. She wondered only briefly if she should wait out this mystery, as Applebloom was not a patient filly.

The cottage, to nopony’s surprise, was empty, but what shocked Applebloom was that all of the animals were gone as well. She imagined they simply dissipated along with Fluttershy, their caretaker – but she did not have the time to wonder for long – so she trotted up the trees on the outskirts of the Everfree forest. She looked at the break in the forest, opening with paths that lead into the gnarled branches of the forest, for only a moment. She had been into the forest before, and she was such a brave filly for her age.

Then, a sound came from the forest, a low rumbling of multiple voices, and Applebloom knew she had to step inside. Could it be? She asked herself. The citizens of Ponyville!

“Where do you think you’re going?” Twist’s voice echoed, bouncing through the trees.

“Didn’t you hear that? The other ponies!” She shouted, and forgetting about her fellow fillies, she went again to run into the forest.

“The other ponies!” Twist mimicked her, “Please. Wait, Applebloom,” she finished sternly. Her last sliver of patience left, Applebloom turned to face her long-time friend to listen – just for a moment. A scream rang out through the forest.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment, Applebloom,” she said, and insects began to crawl from out of her ears – long-legged, multi-legged, hard shelled, and wriggly kinds. Others emerged from her skin. Applebloom screamed, and heart pounding from her little chest, she began to run into the forest.

“WAIT,” Twist screamed, her voice unusually low toned and slow. Wide-eyed, Applebloom ran as fast as her little legs could take her, looking behind her at the monster that had once been her friend. Twist’s – what once had been Twist’s – legs exploded in a flurry of hair, and long, spider-like legs began clicking and clacking against the ground as she chased after Applebloom, a flurry of insects crawling behind her.

“We won’t have you ruining the surprise.” Before Applebloom had a chance to respond, and before her hoof made contact with the ground, one of the cold, hard legs grasped her own, and she toppled to the ground. Dozens of insects crawled on her skin as Twist began to wind a web to encase Applebloom in.

There was a flood of tickling, poking sensations all over her coat, swarming over her. Applebloom scrambled across the forest floor, breathless and eyes alight with horror. She wanted to scream but grimaced instead; she was careful not to open her mouth for fear that the bugs would crawl inside and make themselves a home out of her then empty shell. They brushed on her skin, burning as they crept on her; it felt as though they were sinking into her skin. It was an unpleasant mix of pain and tingling, tickling at first, then transitioning into what felt like the sharp poke of a needle.

Applebloom grasped the ground, grass being tugged up as Twist towed her, dragging her from the forest. Twist wrapped her up, the sharp legs stinging as they twirled Applebloom, the forest spinning around her. The pounding in her head increased, and as though coming to a crescendo, sent out one last blast of pain as something made contact with her head, and back into the blackness Applebloom descended.

When Applebloom awakened, she was tied to a post of some kind. She sniffed as her eyelids struggled to open, heavy like molasses, mouth dry like sandpaper. The place, wherever she was, smelt dank and musty – she realized that she must be underground. She blinked a few times, her head again throbbing, and she hung her head downward, completely exhausted. Featherweight, of all ponies, was there, but it is not the Featherweight that she once knew.

He looked… Swollen, was the only way to describe it. His hooves were enormous, and his cheeks were puffed out grotesquely. He was playing with a few dolls, spouting nonsense in a singsong voice, humming the lullabies of foals. Applebloom gulped, chills rising up her spine.

“Hey, Featherweight,” Applebloom said quietly, swallowing thickly. He looked up for a moment, head twisting toward the little colt. She saw then that his face was distorted, his mouth twisting up his cheek, all the way to his eye. He studied Applebloom as though for the first time. She fought the urge to scream.

“Can… Can ah play with you?” She asked tentatively, voice shaking. He looked down and continues playing. Applebloom gazed around the room, searching for an exit.

“You’ll leave,” He said without looking up, tongue sliding out of his knife-gash of a mouth. Applebloom tried to look away, spotting at last a small tunnel across from her.

“Ah promise ah won’t leave,” she said with as much enthusiasm as she could gather without beginning to cry. She was now certain she could fit through the tunnel, and hopeful that the other pony could not. Her heart pounded in her little chest.

“I don’t know…” The pony… is he still a pony? Mumbled, teeth like shards of glass clinking as they gnash together.

“Please? That looks really fun,” she said, struggling to lie. Her breath caught in her throat as she began to hold her breath, waiting for an answer.

“Well… Okay.” The creature stomped over with heavy hooves, and somehow managed to free Applebloom from the web with giant hooves. Seeing the hooves, Applebloom was now confident that she could escape with no problem. Applebloom whipped frantically toward the exit.

“NO!” Featherweight screeched, the sound ringing in Applebloom’s ears. She ran as fast as she could toward the exit, diving into it with little thought. Featherweight followed, the ground shaking beneath his hooves like an earthquake.

She began to crawl up the tunnel as quickly as she could, dragging herself by her forehooves. She could hear Featherweight’s heavy breath behind her. The tunnel narrowed as she continued to climb up the steep incline. She shimmied along, suddenly feeling something wet against her back hoof. The filly screamed with the realization that it was Featherweight’s tongue, unable to hold in the horror any longer. She came to a break in the tunnel angling downward, and overwrought with anxiety for the exit, she followed the path hurriedly.

However the tunnel, being too narrow, trapped the little filly, who soon came to realize her predicament. She was stuck, and unable to move forward. She attempted to budge herself backward, but it was no use. The angle of the tunnel made it impossible. Applebloom’s breath quickened, and her chest heaved with fear.

“Oh no, little filly tried to run away, did she?” A voice mocked from the end of the tunnel. Applebloom froze.

“Good fillies do what they are told,” a different voice sneered – Diamond Tiara’s, it sounded like. The other voice, still unidentified, laughed, the sound jabbing Applebloom right in her stomach. “You know what to do,” it said, and then it disappeared.

Suddenly, something was reaching toward her face. It looked like a hoof, kind of, but the ends were split into five thin pieces that could bend. She screamed as the thing was reaching for her, not wanting it to touch her. It wrapped its tendrils around her, pulling her front leg with great force. Applebloom screeched in pain, a primitive scream escaping the back of her throat, as her back bent at a strange angle. The thing continued pulling regardless, and soon she was being dragged out of the tunnel, falling onto a grassy floor.

She looked up with big eyes, watery with tears, her back and head aching enormously. The thing had been attached to Diamond Tiara! She was standing on her hind legs – and from her front hooves sprouted these gross wiggly ends. She laughed cruelly as Applebloom winced from the pain.

Applebloom tried to run. She started by dragging herself by her forelegs, which made Diamond Tiara laugh even harder. She walked behind her at a slow pace, pinching Applebloom with the weird sproutings coming from her hooves. Applebloom cried as she picked herself up onto all fours, and proceeded at a light sprint, running as fast as she could manage under the shadows of the scraggly branches above.

Diamond Tiara trotted behind her on her two legs, her shadow looming over Applebloom, whose tears rode the wind. She tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her back and proceeded to run as fast as she could through the undergrowth of the forest – but Diamond Tiara was much faster.

Applebloom spotted a branch up ahead, ignoring the deep and rancid decay that oozed from the tree, and grabbed it with her mouth, letting it go as Diamond Tiara approached her. The other filly… If she could still be called a filly… Toppled backward, and Applebloom continued to run into the forest, not caring about where or why so long as she was running away.

She ran for as long as she could, which for her could easily have been many hours, for she was a strong and fast filly even with her injuries. She thought it must have been days that she had been in the forest, but the night never changed into daylight. Applebloom feared that something had happened to the princesses, but this fear was overshadowed by a much more intimate one, and so she kept running without thinking of much else other than not letting the fear paralyze her. She shivered as she ran, unable to remember ever having been so cold.

Finally, she came to a halt and breathed just for a few moments, allowing herself to feel the tension when she inhaled, releasing it all when she let go. She felt no better, but at least felt more calm, more acceptance toward her horrible fate. What did these creatures want with her? Her legs burned fiercely with pain and exhaustion, and Applebloom struggled to steady herself, to take even breaths.

Then, Applebloom saw a flicker of light that shined only for a brief moment - and then it was gone. Applebloom suddenly remembered said flicker, and a pang went through her head. She crouched, holding onto her skull, trying not to whine in the searing anguish. It was unbearable. All she could think was for the pain to end. She thought she’d give anything. The thought could not horrify her now. Not with this torture.

And then it was gone again, as quickly as it had come. Applebloom ducked behind a tree, cowering in her crippled shell.

“Ah… There was a light…” Applebloom’s voice quivered as she talked to herself. She could not yet bring herself to follow it, as she felt very small.

There was a sudden movement in the brush ahead of her. She flinched, dropping to the ground and trying to lower her body so that she looked as small as she felt. When she looked again, everything was still again. But she had sworn she saw something.

There, again - looking into the forest, she saw the eyes glimmering again. She recalled seeing them before, from before she was at the hospital… Sweet Celestia! The boom that had sent her to the hospital! Those eyes were there, she could swear by it. She peered back to the eyes, which were now turned as the creature moved away from her. It seemed the figure was dragging something.

She breathed only once before following the pair of eyes, not allowing herself to truly realize there was no other option, and took another step deeper into the forest, if that was at all possible. She hid behind the trees and moved as slowly as she could manage to avoid being detected. But to her surprise, horror etched into her face – the figure was dragging something behind it. Motionless bodies.

Applebloom choked on her own fear, panic ringing through her ears as she leaned against the cool bark of a tree. The darkness of the forest seemed to swallow her with the jaws of shadows. Her shallow breaths quickened in pace and her fear rattled in her mind. But when she finally looked back, the beast was gone again.

After gathering her breath, she walked very carefully forward and found herself at a familiar place once again: Zecora’s hut. It creaked in the howling wind, its structure so unsteady Applebloom wondered how it stayed upright for so long. Such familiarity, though, promised absolutely nothing for Applebloom at this point, so she approached her once-friend’s house cautiously, peering into the windows with great suspicion.

The figure was inside. Applebloom steadied herself, sick of feeling helpless, of getting dragged, of being a tool for others to wield. She barged into the hut angrily, not caring about being wreckless anymore, though she was worried sick about which pony’s body had been dragged through the forest…

The creature inside was stirring the limp body into Zecora’s pot, along with some other unidentifiable ingredients. It turned to face Applebloom, a gleam emitting from its eyes. A ring sounded in Applebloom’s ears as the pain seared in her head, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to go away.

“You,” she cringed to herself, eyes still shut, “You’re the one that sent me to the hospital. Who are you?”

The figure laughed, and Applebloom recalled the laugh from when she had been stuck in the tunnel. Her nostrils flared and her eyes flew open in sheer anger.

The creature seemed to have skin on top of its skin, as though it hadn’t lined up a costume properly so it sagged around its eyes.

“I wouldn’t be so angry if I were you, Applebloom,” the voice sent out a tremor through the hut, “I would be a little more cautious.” A shudder that she could not suppress trembled through Applebloom’s spine. She was silenced immediately – there was something about the voice, the low warning tone, that made her realize she had never been so powerless than in its presence.

“Who I am is of little importance. Where your fellow ponies are is also irrelevant. A smart pony would ask, ‘what can this pony do for me?’ And that’s precisely what I asked myself when I approached your town.” The voice like silk spread across the room like a spider web, and Applebloom felt entangled, as though she had to move slowly through it, or not at all. She swallowed. Did that mean she was the prey?

“What can these ponies do for me?”

Silver Spoon stepped out from behind the bubbling cauldron in the middle of the room. She looked normal, still, unaltered by whatever this creature had done to Twist, Diamond Tiara, and Featherweight.

“And what can I do for them?” Applebloom watched closely, taking a guarded step backward. Suddenly, the creature’s eyes gleamed again, and a piercing high-pitched sound rang throughout the hut, slicing the stale air. Applebloom threw her hooves overtop of her ears, and wide-eyed, watched as the creature lifted Silver Spoon without contact, but without conventional magic either. The walls waved as though something was moving beneath them, like the bugs under Twist’s skin. He dropped her into the pot and laughter ripped from the creature’s throat.

Applebloom’s breath caught as Silver Spoon screeched in pain, agony, and utter despair. The sound wrenched Applebloom’s stomach and the laughter rose in volume, the masks on the wall rattling. Then, a boom rang out, the pain in her head felt like an explosion, and bottles and pots on the shelves toppled and crashed onto the ground. She fought the oncoming blackness, and when she opened her eyes again, Silver Spoon was back on the ground. But she looked different.

Silver Spoon was an alicorn, but the horn protruding from her head was demented, twisted with an odd color tone. Her wings were not feathery alicorn wings but instead were sleek and insect-like, skeletal-like black protrusions that looked like they would never allow her to get off the ground. Along with these additions, her ears were gone, and her eyes as well. Applebloom shivered in terror and awe.

“As you see,” the silky voice from the sagging skin said, “I help sad little earth ponies to become the superior race. The rewards are different and the risk is grand… But the results.” The creature sighed happily, and the sound sent shivers down Applebloom’s spine.

Applebloom was frozen in place, succumbing to fear and her own inability. She swallowed thickly.
“All you need is the pieces from the other races, a little bit of Poison Joke, and some willing – or unwilling – fillies and colts,” the voice continued, pacing around the once Silver Spoon, “It only works on younger ponies, you see.”
Applebloom did not want to consider how he retrieved pieces from the other ponies, nor was she relieved to find the reason behind the group’s commonalities.

“Some do not survive,” the voice said in mock sadness, and Applebloom pushed the thought of the other earth fillies and colts of the town from her mind, “But the sacrifice is worth the reward of unmatched power.” And with a tilt of his head and the arch of an eyebrow, Silver Spoon knew to try out her new magic.

She pointed her horn toward Applebloom so quickly that the little filly did not know what was happening. Then suddenly, blinding pain. It felt like hours. Applebloom wished for death several times. She imagined this was worse than hell. She could not even scream. But once it was over, there was no lingering pain.

“We take their horns, wings, and even cutie marks… And presto,” The voice rang in her ears, and once she was finally able to come to coherence, Applebloom saw that nothing had changed, that it must have been simply moments.

“You’re a monster,” her voice trembled quietly. The creature howled with laughter as though this was a great compliment, and Applebloom’s stomach flipped.

“And you can be, too. You see, Applebloom, you are a special case. For you are the only of the earth fillies in your town without a cutie mark.” Applebloom started. She had never been called special before.

“And I alone can give it to you.”

Queen Applebloom, now an adult monster with unspeakable beauty and horror, sat upon a giant, quilted throne of cutie marks, studded with unicorn horns and bedazzled with the wings of pegasi. She rested beside the King, watching upon the dungeon filled with once-citizens of a pathetic little town called Ponyville. Unicorn horns and pegasi wings, submersed in vats of liquid, floated, staying stationary only by metal cords. The cries of pain and screams of horror from below as the worker ponies extracted their solitary useful parts only fueled her magical powers, and her cutie mark – the only cutie mark left in all of Equestria - gleamed like a star in the never-ending darkness. She had never felt so proud, so big, and so… Satisfied.

Author's Note

Hey everypony! This is my first time writing a fanfiction despite the fact that I've been writing for years and part of the fandom for years. It was about time to combine the two but I never thought it would be a horror story for Nightmare Night! Content warnings include bugs, small spaces, and only generalized mentions of gore. I hope it meets all of the criteria and that you all enjoy! Thanks if you choose to read!