Nothing Like Home

Chapter 8

                She gazed into his eyes one last time, and his into hers. Her eyes were filled with horror and despair; his with flat and uncaring resentment.

“They will stop you”, she choked out.

“I’m sure they will, darling”, Chaos chuckled and sipped his tea again.

At this time, all of the shadow chunks had finally collected underneath Celestia. The shadows started crawling up her legs and ripping off the skin it rested upon. Celestia tried to hold in her anguish, letting out a squeal of pain here and there. Twilight started to open her eyes but Chaos fogged her vision. “Tsk tsk Twilight, Celestia said no peaking”, he chuckled. Doc’s specters turned into mouths and started cracking off pieces of her now exposed bones. Some sounding like a wood splitter, others as simple as a toothpick, but it was all drowned out by Celestia’s curdling screams of pain and terror. Her screams travelled throughout the castle for all to hear.

“Oh dear, it seems like we are going to have some unwanted visitors. We can’t have that now, can we?”, Chaos mumbled, waltzing over to the den’s entrance. He danced to the melodic beat of Celestia’s screams. A pleased look on his mug, he went to lock the door. In the doorway stood Luna.

 “I heard Celestia, is everything al-... YOU!” she screamed, charging towards him. She ran into a wall of shadows and disappeared into thin air.

“What did you do to Princess Luna!?!”, screamed Rainbow Dash. She flew full boar at Chaos who simply brushed her off like a fly.

“Such rambunctious ponies. Does anypony have class anymore?” he sighed.

The fillies, all gathered together, looked at Twilight as Chaos walked back over to Celestia. He stomped on the floor next to Celestia who now was missing her flesh and bones up to her splintered knee caps.

‘Yes father?”, the shadows hissed.

“Speed it up, will you Doc? I don’t have time for this.”

The cracking started to happen faster and the sounds of ripping flesh almost created a blender like sound. Her blood drenched the walls and floor. Chunks of flesh landed on Chaos’s nose that he licked off contently. The shadows started up the wall and grabbed hold of Celestia’s wings and mane. He yanked on her mane and plucked the feathers from her wings, cracking each bone in the wing individually. She couldn’t scream anymore because Doc had gagged her with the fog, just as he did with Spike. She sobbed and flailed like a pig in a slaughter house. Her once gorgeous white coat was tainted with her own blood that now pooled on the floor.

Limbs ripped off, wings plucked, and mane shredded; Doc stopped and returned to his mare form. He brushed up against Chaos and cooed,

“I’m sorry father, I didn’t know it was her, I thought it was the blue one… But did I do well?”

He leaned down and looked Doc in the eyes.

“Yes you did very well, and I do so love your new eyes. Such an improvement!”, he bellowed. Chaos’ shadows hazed over the unconscious princess and turned from a dark maroon to neon green. It turned to liquid and fell to the floor, followed by a hissing, sizzling noise. It was eating her body. The noise faded as the fillies watched in horror. Celestia’s face had melted off the bone. Her stained coat bubbled on the floor, leaving a carcass full of organs. The smell was sweet and vicious; the sweetness of death and the bite of the acid.

Twilight stepped forward, tears welling in her eyes.

“How could you?” she cried.

The ponies created a formation and Twilight bestowed upon them, the Elements of Harmony.

“You were so busy gloating and ‘acting cool’ that Pinkie Pie had time to retrieve the Elements of Harmony!”, Twilight boasted. “Give up now, and maybe your fate will be as kind as your brothers.” She stepped forward once more and smirked at Chaos. He didn’t seem interested. He continued sipping his tea and stroking Doc’s mane. “I guess that’s a no to the surrender?” she smiled. “Good, I was hoping so.”

The ponies’ eyes faded white and they lifted off the ground a good three feet. The gems within the jewelry known as the Elements of Harmony started glowing. The six ponies themselves radiated a whit magnificent light and shot a burst of energy at the devilish pony. He swished a hoof and the burst went through the den’s wall. He chuckled at their attempts and applauded. “Oh dear, it seems I have been defeated! What ever shall I do?”, he remarked as they let out another burst. He brushed it away like the last, but this time, it hit Doc. He screamed in agony and looked at Chaos.

“Father, what is this? I haven’t felt pain like this for centuries!” The mare squealed. He charged at the fillies, but they shot him with another burst. In mid-air, he was turned to stone. The statued Doc fell to the ground, cracking into several pieces.

“Are you done yet?” Chaos asked, letting out a loud and insulting yawn. He grinned with chunks of flesh stuck between his teeth.

“You didn’t think you could beat me with my own personality, did you?” He snuffed and spit in the ponies’ direction. “No matter how special you are, those powers are derived from my body. Why would I let something that draws from my body kill me? Any sensible pony would cut off the power, right? I’m not just crazy, am I?!?”

He started to ramble, going mad with the enjoyment of the situation. He lifted his hoof and scratched his head. “If I can cut the power, maybe I will be able to… Yes!” he exclaimed. He ignored the ponies who still were shooting small bursts at him, the burst growing smaller with each shot. Chaos returned to his seat, sipping the rest of the tea he had. He locked a glare with Twilight and snapped his fingers.

The ponies’ eye returned to normal and they dropped to the floor with a “Thump!” Chaos chuckled at their misfortune as he retrieved the Elements of Harmony.

Staring at the defeated Twilight, he asked,

“What made you think you could possess my beloved traits? These were made for Celestia only. She had my heart sealed, and she was the only one who deserved to possess my power. Not worthless ponies such as you.” He spit again in their direction. Twirling the jewelry around his hoof, he remarked, “I’ll give you to the count of three to run. Stick around, and I’ll kill you. Run away, and I’ll find and torture you for the rest of your days. It’s quite a fun game, if I do say so myself.” Chaos stood up and crushed the gems to pieces. “You have no use for these anymore.” He said crushing the dust remains under his foot.

Chaos started counting.

“One” The ponies didn’t move. They all looked at Twilight, who was frozen, still in shock over the Elements not pulling her out of this jam. She just wanted to give up. The Elements were always last resort, the ace in the hole. They were always the “just in case” option.

“Two” he snickered. Time had seemed to slow down, the ponies started to get anxious on the idea of leaving. Chaos raised an eyebrow to the resilient ponies. He snapped his fingers and Chaos’ companion turned into shadows again. Rarity gasped and looked at Chaos.

“But h-he… we-we turned him…” She stuttered.

“Into stone?”, remarked Chaos. “Oh, my dear Rarity, a young shadow demon like Doc isn’t susceptible to such a power, especially when I held back.”

Doc snickered, “Fool.”

“Three, young fillies. Don’t feel like running? I can’t tell if you are being brave or cowardice. You could be standing up to me, which is a backless threat; or maybe you have accepted that you have been beaten, and just wish to be ended now.”

He returned to his feet and walked towards Fluttershy.

“I guess if you don’t want to run, maybe… you will chase”, he said, encasing Fluttershy in a thick maroon fog. Fluttershy screamed in horror and fainted on the floor, hidden by the shadows.

“I’ll see you all in the Canterlot caves!” he barked.

The two started sinking through the floor as the fillies all tried to grab Fluttershy. Unfortunately, it was too late, and all they managed to grab was carpet. “Oh, and Doc? Do make sure at least one of them gets out alive!”, he chuckled maniacally.

The walls, ceiling, and floor turned black, making the room look like a void.

“You stupid fillies hurt me… You tried to use father against me. And for that, you shall pay!”, Doc screeched in the small room. The ponies backed up to each other to eliminate the blind spots.

“If we stick together, that monster won’t be able to get the jump on us”, Applejack said surely. The floor rumbled beneath them; they dropped through the floor only to fall from the ceiling.

“You dumb bitch, don’t you get it? You are in my world now. You stupid fillies are in a dark room, with a shadow demon. Where do you think you can go? Darkness is my advantage, and it just so happens to be your downfall”, he cackled, and it shook the room. “In my world, you are all worthless, nothing more than food to a treacherous predator.”

Shadows brushed by the ponies tugging at them left and right. He teased them, throwing them around the room with one specter and catching them with another specter. Doc examined each of the young fillies.

“What a pity, your worthless dragon had better eyes than you. I don’t think you are truly scared enough yet. You haven’t given up on the world yet=, which is strange.” He sifted through the ponies with his specters, feeling each of them, as if testing which is fit enough to be used as an example. Doc decided quite quickly.

A pony fell through the floor again. It was too dark, and the scream was snuffed so fast that they couldn’t tell who it was. The ceiling opened again and dead weight thump poisoned the air. Twilight tried to make a light to see what happened, but neither Rarity nor Twilight could create any light, it just disappeared into the void.

“Where are my manners? Let me get that for you”. A candle lit in front of the ponies, who were still huddled for security. The candle lit blue. Its flame had a sorrowful face and Twilight swore that it was screaming “Help me!”. Her interest with the flame was taken away by the squealing of Rarity. She was covered in what looked like organs. They wrapped around her, holding tight. She fell over, twitching on the ground. Rarity didn’t know what to do with herself, she couldn’t stand mud on her hoof, nevermind being wrapped in another pony’s organs. Blood and entrails excreted from the organs all over Rarity. She screamed louder and tried to pull them off.

Pinkie helped pulling at the organs, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash searched for Doc.

“Wait, where did Applejack go?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m right here sugar cube”, Doc mocked. He had peeled off her face and wore it as a mask. He even wore her hat.

“I say we all go to the rodeo and pick some apples and… and… haha, I don’t know what this hick pony does.” He laughed maniacally and shook off her detached face. It hit the floor and instantly melted into a pile of mushy flesh. He put the hat back on and smirked behind the blue flame.

“I do rather enjoy the hat though, it fits just right.” Rainbow, in pure terror, puked all over the floor. The smell still didn’t match the smell of rotting carcass and excreting organs

“You are a horrible house guest, blue one. I invite you into my home, and this is how you repay me? And after I just redecorated too!”, he mocked again. Rainbow Dash trotted over to Rarity, wiping the puke from her mouth. She ripped off all of the organs and threw them aside. “Go on without me”, she said sternly. “I can handle this.”

“No, you can’t!”, Rarity croaked. “He is too strong!”

She picked up Rarity by the scruff and threw her out the door.

Looking at Twilight, she said, “Go with Rarity and get Fluttershy. If someone has to die, I don’t want all of us to die here. Go save her, I can hold this show back!”

Twilight nodded to her and rushed out the door. She looked back at Rainbow and yelled, “I expect to see you in the caves! You need to be the one who saves Fluttershy!”

She smirked and waved Twilight away. “So bold, my young filly”, Doc sang. “It’s not like they will get far.” He hoofed around Rainbow who planted herself in place.

“That door was open for a reason. What waits ahead of them? I’m not stupid”, she said, bucking at Doc. Her hooves went through Doc’s shadowy body and got stuck in place.

“Have you ever heard the story of FrankenPony?”, Doc asked, examining Rainbow’s hind legs. She stared at him with no answer.

“Well my brother is what you could called a FrankenPony. And I’m sure father placed him in check for this lovely game of his.”

He snapped her knee caps and bent her legs backwards. She squealed and flailed her hind legs in the shadows of Doc’s body.

“Please repeat what you said to Twilight a few seconds ago… What was it again? ‘Go save her, I can hold this show back!’ Oh, good fun!”, he exclaimed, throwing her to the floor. “If you are to hold me back, why not have dinner with me, young filly?” He materialized a table and chairs out of shadows, placing the candle on top. He snapped her legs back forward. They were still broken, but now she could sit. His shadows held her pinned on one chair, and he sat at the other. She wriggled in the seat, uncertain of what he was “serving for dinner”. Applejack’s organs, skin and bones danced around the room. They rested in different places, decorating the room. Rainbow sighed, knowing her fate was soon to come.

“What’s wrong, my dear?” Doc croaked. “Do you not like my décor? I am dearly sorry, I do try my best. I hope you will at least enjoy the meal.”

He smiled and disappeared.

~~