"I'm home Angel! Everything I needed was easy to get at the Market." Fluttershy quickly opened her cottage door, grinning broadly as she was greeted by her tiny animal friends who happily welcomed her home with open arms. Only Angel seemed to have a slight bit of irritation etched on his face, his paw tapping lightly against the floor. Fluttershy slowly reached around and grasped a small bag with her teeth, then trotting over and dropping the luggage, revealing itself to be two full bags of various vegetables, much to the young bunnies delight. Angel rubbed his paws eagerly, then jumped forward, his eyes locked on their new-found target.
"Oh, Angel!" Fluttershy swiftly dropped down, and her wing swooped up the bunny, carrying Angel up until he was viewing her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, but those are for everyone else as well...not just for you."
She was answered by a hard glare from Angel, causing the mare to become overwhelmed with guilt. They both just stood for a couple moments, before Fluttershy shook the guilt and put her wing back on the ground, allowing her favorite pet to hop off.
"I-I'm sorry...please don't be mad!" Her body was trembling now: and Angel strained to keep his bold, angry look before finally giving in, pity overcoming him for his caretaker. He sluggishly hopped forward, and lightly tapped Fluttershy on the back, then rubbed her mane gently.
Fluttershy refused to look up, though. Her thoughts had wondered into the dark depths of her mind, wrenching a long-buried memory out into the open.
"I-I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, just please don't hurt me!"
"You've done too much to be forgiven with a sorry, my dear friend."
"W-What are you doing?!"
"NO!" The mare screeched, barely noticing Angel being flung away as she pounced up on her hooves, her pupils small and wavering as a swirl of colors and emotions covered her mind like a thick blanket. Her brain was racked and jumbled, all common sense withering away like burning wood. All Fluttershy could remember now was the fear, dread...and overwhelming power of guilt.
"I never meant to do anything," The words came as a soft whisper, Fluttershy's normally calm eyes twitching like mad, disabling her from the outside world. "I-I was j-j-just trying to stand up for myself, l-like Rainbow Dash said."
Most of Fluttershy's animals had wondered into the room now, watching the young mare with expressions and fear and confusion. All was silent, except for the outbursts of small comfort words coming from Fluttershy as she desperately tried to clam herself down and get back into a mental state. It took of few moments, but all the animals released huge sighs as their caretaker's pupils became bigger and lost all their terrified stress, allowing her to slump down on the floor.
"I just...want it to go away..."
Fluttershy's animals still just stood, watching the mare as if she would suddenly attack them in a blind rage. When she didn't, Angel was the only one sigh enough courage to come forward and sluggishly trudge toward the distressed pony. But he only advanced a couple inches before a strange outburst no one expected.
A soft shriek came floating into the room, and all the animals stared around, searching for the source of the noise. Fluttershy had also gotten up as well, her eyes stained with tears up to the point where her sight was almost covered. The scream lasted for a while, straining everypony around before slowly sinking until all that remained was a cold ringing in their ears.
"Does anyone know what th-!" Fluttershy's question was cut short as one of her animals, a tiny doe, shrieked and bounced backward, soon after pointing a shaking hoof toward a small window by the door. The doe's body shook wildly with fear, and Fluttershy turned around and found out why:
The window was swirling and fizzing in and out, almost comparable to moving between dimensions. Fluttershy's breathing again became ragged and short with each passing second, and all her animals fled the room as the window stopped fizzing and swirling faster. As the rotating window sped up, more of the wall next to it was sucked and pulled into the ever-growing circle.
You...
The voice was raspy and chilling, like the owner had been stripped of water for decades. Shivers ran up Fluttershy, and her mind went crazy as the whirling wall finally came to a complete stop, now a portal filled with a mix of dark purple and black, a tiny symbol floating in the other side.
I...need...you...
Right after the dreaded sentence ended, the portal wavered, and Fluttershy almost stopped breathing entirely as two long, pitch black arms reached outward from inside the portal, its fingers gnarly but still sharp. Fluttershy desperately wanted to move, but her fear has glued her hooves to the floor, making her stuck to watch as her new worst-fear came stretching toward, inching with every moment.
Come!
The pain came like a arrow shot, the pure black hands latching themselves onto Fluttershy's wings, flinging her towards the portal with unimaginable force.
She didn't even have time to scream.
****
"Bye, Aqua Floral! Say hi to your mom to me, okie doke!" Pinkie Pie cheered, waving her hoof wildly to a small filly with a sea-blue mane and bright, mystical yellow eyes. The filly was silent as she waved back, but her smile and eyes sparkled with delight and downright happiness.
Behind you, mare...
"Huh?" Pinkie turned, staring around for the voice she had supposedly heard talking. When nothing came into her vision, the pink mare shrugged and bounced around...only to run into the best thing she had seen for a long time, causing her to gasp with surprise delight.
"A flying cupcake!"
Indeed it was. In all it's deliciousness floated a huge vanilla cupcake, covered on top with mounds of pink frosting and wrapped inside a holder with her cutie mark printed all over it. Pinkie Pie couldn't help but drool over the amazing sight before her.
Follow...
With those words the cupcake slowly started to move away, prompting Pinkie to jump and bounce right after, her eyes glossed over as if she was in a trance. Ponies all around stared at the weird sight, most backing up slowly into a store or home in fear the cupcake might take them too.
"Hello, Pinkie," The only pony to come near the weird sight by the name of Frosty Ray addressed, her daughter Aqua Floral standing by her with a heartwarming smile. "I wanted to thank you fo...Pinkie Pie?" Frosty rose her hoof, tapping Pinkie on her side lightly. The mare ignored her, though, and continued to bounce along, now whispering words to quiet for anypony to understand.
We're close...just a bit longer and you can eat this delicious treat.
"Wait," Pinkie froze, her eyes returning to their normal sky blue, but then filling with confusion. She quickly turned to the cupcake, narrowing her eyes in a mixture of suspicion and what seemed to be almost laughter. "If you're the one talking, then why did you say I could eat this treat?"
Unruly silence answered her question, and Pinkie Pie smiled with victory as she watched the cupcake pause in midair, just bobbing up and down for a couple moments. Her victory was short-lived, though, when a loud buzzing filled both Pinkie's ears. The mare flinched, grabbing her head as the buzzing turned to a splitting headache, which made her groan in pain and fall to the ground. The ponies still outside gasped at the site, and almost came forward but stopped when a headache came on for them as well.
You've become suspicious. I cannot let that happen.
The buzzing soon stopped, and outside ponies watched in fear as Pinkie Pie stood again, her eyes now entirely black except for a small prick of white in the middle, most likely her pupil. Smoke curled off her body, and the pink pony smiled widely, only this grin was of vicious control by another being.
"On second thought, it doesn't matter what you are. I just want to eat this delicious cupcake!" And without a second thought, Pinkie jumped and grabbed the cupcake with her teeth, tossing it up and gobbling it straight down.
Yes...Now come join your friend, foolish mare!
Pinkie happily gabbled down the treat, her eyes still black and smoke curling off her at a fast rate, but froze when the smoke started to swirl around her, and she let out a horrified shriek of pure terror before she was completely covered by the putrid mist-like substance.
When the smoke finally cleared, Pinkie was nowhere to be found. And three swirls, bound together by a crossed x, were placed where the young mare once stood.
****
"No...no...oh! Heavens no, that's awful." Rartiy's muttering reverberated through her small workroom, the unicorn's eyes unwavering as she stared at the small cloths passing by her eyes. In just a few seconds a pile about as big as herself had formed to the side of her.
A frustrated, but lady-like scream tore from Rarity's throat, the cloths in her telekinetic hold bursting out in each direction. "Oh dear why?" Her voice dropped with dread. "Nothing is in season! Everypony now just wants those new pop clothes that Sir Wildmane wears. I swear that has to be the most singled-hoofedly outrageous name somepony could think of."
The distressed mare huffed again, slamming her hoof down on the floor as the cloths were delicately placed back in order in the shelves.
"Rarity?" A timid voice called, and said pony's ears flicked when she realized it was her sister, Sweetie Belle. The filly was frozen by the door, her small eyes filling with confusion at the scene before her.
"Are you alright?"
Honestly, Rarity didn't know how to respond to her sister. On one hoof, she could lie and tell Sweetie it was just a small problem with her new design. But she knew her sister would see straight through the fib since there were no new lines at the moment, and even if it did work Applejack would frown at her afterword and then follow her until she told the truth.
And she did not need that to happen again. So she went for the other hoof.
"Nothing's right!!" Sweetie stumbled, obviously surprised by her sister's outburst, but Rarity caught her with a blue aura, her cheeks turning a bit red from the sudden yell. Without even a second passing the filly was brought forward with surprising speed, pressing against Rarity's side as the mare let her tears almost drown the poor filly.
"Uhh..." Sweetie awkwardly started, patting her hoof on Rarity's back slowly, huffing a sigh of relief when her sister's sobs switched to small sniffles. "What happened?" Nothing more was said from two ponies for a while: all that was heard was a terrible gripping silence.
"Sweetie?" A confirmed nod answered Rarity that the filly was still there. "Do you...know of the new pop music everypony's listening to?"
It took a moment for Sweetie Belle to finally register the question, but when she did a cross between a smile and a smirk formed along her muzzle. Silently her horn lit, grasping a small radio from the side of the room, sliding it through the air to where she stood.
"Yeah, I do!" She stretched the last word while channels flicked by, the volume too low for Rarity to hear. "Do you mean.." The channels abruptly stopped, and the volume was slowly increasing, to upmost Rarity's horror. "This music?"
Rarity couldn't suppress the shriek of pure terror that came from her as her new most-hated music blasted from the speakers, rendering her hearing and, somehow eyesight, useless. She dropped to floor like a stone, and stayed there as if gravity had increased on only her for the moment. Rarity's hooves clamped themselves up against her ears, blocking out some sound so she could finally have a moment to think.
"Sweetie, dear?" She yelled over the pounding beats. "If this is payback for giving you that skirt to wear to school and it just happened to attract bees I swear, I'm so sorry! Just please stop this wretched music!!" Her voice caught as she waited for an answer, and when it didn't settle she gasped as her horn flashed. A yell came from in front of her, and the music abruptly stopped, letting Rarity see her sister being tossed out of the room along with the radio.
"Sweetie!?!" Her hooves pounded against the floor and she ran to the staircase, staring worryingly down below. "Are you alright?"
"I'm good!"
"Oh, thank Celestia!" She started down the stairs, but stopped when her hoof crouched against something on the floor. She let out a hum as the object was lifted up, and was surprised to find a small envelope, addressed in her name.
"What? There are no new dress orders. Who sent this?" The envelope slowly tore open, and a letter about three times smaller slipped out.
Rarity-
How y'all doing? This is your friend AJ and Ah just wanted t'say that it was mighty kind of yah t'come by and help with th' chores. Ah know how ya don't always like to get your hooves messy in the dirt and muck unless it's necessary. Nice t'know were both on good terms for the moment!
Also, there's a big sale coming soon for us Apple's and Ah was just wondering, just this once, if y'all would like ta give us a little...style for our stand. It's in need of a lot of eye-catching attention since Carrot-Top will be there competing with her vegetables fer overall favor. Ma and Pa would always like to do ah friendly competition with those Carrots. And ah'm sure they'd could have loved it if it was a bit more interesting.
Anyway hope ya can help.
-Applejack
The letter twisted and turned, and then stopped, facing directly at the receiver. The silence now invading the room was defiant, until a small sob escaped from the unicorn. Rarity felt tears from in her eyes, and quickly tried to grab the tissue box in the far corner.
But she was too late.
She cried in end, her mascara dripping with her tears as they turned an ugly black, representing how her emotions swirled. She pulled her hooves up to stop the flow, but it only added to her sadness as the letter from her friend dropped into the growing puddle of tears and makeup.
"I'm sorry, Applejack...I'm so, so, sorry."
"I am sorry." Rarity assured herself, pulling up a pristine hoof to wipe away to last of the remaining tears. But her body went rigid as before her hoof could ever reach her eyes, a cold touch wiped them away, covering her vision with a quick swipe.
Aww...don't worry, unicorn. You will be able to rid of your sins soon. They will all know...what you have done.
When her sight returned to Rarity, the only reflex she had was to shriek as a creature almost as black as night stared at her with acid-yellow eyes, them showing pity before it lunged, a portal appearing behind it as it pulled Rarity and itself through.
****
Applejack's ear flicked, and she paused her bucking, going silent. The atmosphere around her kept an eerie tone, the wind rustling by her body as she breathed.
"AJ?" with a start the mare shook herself back into reality, whipping her head towards the newly appeared voice. Applebloom stared up at her with curious eyes, scuffing her front hoof against the fertilized dirt. "Are you alright?" She questioned softly.
Applejack's eyes softened at the sight of her younger sister. "Nothing, sis." she murmured, releasing a comforting grin. "Ah just thought ah heard something."
The crooked bridge mocked the mare as she edged closer, body stiffening as she eyed the rocky terrain below. Colors flashed before her vision, and her pupils shrieked to pinpricks.
Applejack!
Applejack's sobbed in response, tears dripping down her frail cheeks as she shuddered. Her hoofsteps were deafening as she backed away from the cliff, twisting her body. "My fault." She whispered shamefully. "If ah hadn't had that fight with Rares..."
She turned back in the direction of the orchards, only to gasp as the weight beneath her seemed to disappear. The mare tensed as memories of the cliff side once again began to relive in her mind, and was so engrossed did not notice the black hand reach from the void beneath her body.
She only pleaded and called out as it finally caused shivers to run up and down her spine.
