Author's Note

If you are looking for a sweet story, then this is not the place for you. You have been warned...

Apple Bloom

This part of the forest looked unfamiliar. The trees were twisted, menacing things, completely unlike the healthy, friendly trees of Sweet Apple Acres, and the woodland creatures were beasts that served no purpose except to frighten young fillies. A cold wind blew through the dead, black trees, scattering their withered leaves to the ground. Apple Bloom tried to make as little noise as possible, but the number of dead leaves that lay on the ground made her attempts at anonymity impossible. With every light step that she took, leaves were crushed to dust under her hooves. Suddenly, the cold wind began to increase in ferocity, stirring the dead leaves into the air. Apple Bloom hurriedly lifted the hood of her cloak to cover her ears and mane. Shivering, she kept walking through the dark forest.

After waking for hours, her stomach began to rumble. Apple Bloom sniffed the air. The icy, foreboding wind smelled sweet, like overripe fruit. A smile of pure joy spread across her face. Apples! She must be getting close to home! Tossing caution to the wind, Apple Bloom’s careful trotting became carefree galloping as she booked it through the forest, following the sweet smell of the apples. She closed her eyes in pure bliss and ecstasy, as she imagined the luscious crunch and delicious taste of those apples… And ran straight into the apple tree.

Rubbing her nose, Apple Bloom looked up into the healthy tree with branches full of luscious, golden apples. She looked around for the other apple trees that should have been present at her home, but saw only the same dead trees that she had been traveling through earlier. "How could this tree be the only live one here?" she whispered in confusion. Apple Bloom's stomach rumbled noisily.

"Oh well. Might as well have a snack while I'm here!" She lifted her back legs and began kicking the trunk of the tree, causing apples to rain down all around her. The tiny filly kicked up her hooves in a celebratory dance as she trotted around the fallen apples that now coated the forest floor. Apple Bloom knelt down and began to nibble on one of the fresh apples that had fallen, when she heard a bush rustle behind her.

She turned to see a pair of bloodshot, yellow eyes staring out at her from a nearby bush. Apple Bloom gasped, and her knees began to quiver. The scared filly attempted to call out, but found that her throat was too dry to make a sound. She attempted to run, but her legs had lost all feeling. Apple Bloom was frozen where she stood.

The Pegasus stepped out from inside of the bush. Her mane was the color of mud and smelled of a number of vile, nasty things. She grinned at Apple Bloom, exposing mossy, decaying teeth. Apple Bloom involuntarily gagged.

"So sorry for this, little filly," said the Pegasus in a tone that clearly implied that she was not sorry at all. She raised one wing, and thrust it toward Apple Bloom. "Fire!" she screamed. In an instant, thousands of yellow eyes appeared from nearby bushes to form a ring around Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom gasped, and turned to run, but it was too late.

The first wave of arrows buried themselves in Apple Bloom's left flank. She screamed, a high pitched cry of terror and pain, and fell on her right side. Blood began pouring out of her wounds, creating a pool that quickly soaked her and the surrounding grass. Her legs squirmed in the air, as if she was still trying to run away. The Pegasus walked up to her face and leaned in very closely.

"Now, where do you think you can run to with your legs in that condition?"

Four more Pegasus appeared from the bushes, and shoved their sharp horns through her knees. Apple Bloom tried to scream, but instead choked on a wave of blood coming out of her mouth.

"Didn't I tell you that I was sorry, little filly? You can't blame me for this, you know. I didn't do this, you did!" said the Pegasus as she strolled nonchalantly through the pool of Apple Bloom's blood. "You asked me for this. Your spirit called to mine and asked me to do this to you. I didn't do this to you, you did!" she repeated more hysterically.

"And now, little filly, our time together is over."

With that, the Pegasus drove her horn up in between Apple Bloom's eyes and through her skull. Apple Bloom let out a great choking sound, her eyes crossed, then spun, and then finally glazed over. Her body convulsed as her lifeblood spilled out of her many great wounds, expanding the pool of blood surrounding the little filly. The once golden apples that surrounded the beautiful tree turned scarlet red and filled with Apple Bloom's blood.

"You know, I've almost grown bored of slaughtering fillies," she mused to herself. "Fully grown ponies would provide much more of a challenge." The pegasus sniffed, and pawed at the small body lying at her hooves. "This one is small, but she will do, I suppose."

"Pegasi, feed!" She yelled, throwing out her hoof in command. The pegasi hiding in the bushes rushed out towards the crumpled body of Apple Boom. They dug their pointed teeth deep into the muscle of her legs and her torso, ripping Apple Bloom's body apart as they struggled with each other for a piece. The small pegasus reached over and plucked off Apple Bloom's signature red bow before it the pegasi reached it. She arranged it on top of her tattered mane, displaying her trophy in a horrific fashion. As the pegasus waited for her cronies to finish the remains of Apple Bloom, she grabbed an apple soaked in the small filly's blood, She strolled over to a large, flat rock that overlooked the gory scene, and sat down atop it. The pegasus took a bite of the bloody apple, and chewed slowly, relishing the sweetness of the apple and the coppery taste of the blood. She watched the other pegasi devour the corpse as she finished her apple.

The pegasus, having finished her terrifying treat, jumped down from the rock, and trotted over to the rest of the pegasi. They all snuck back into the shadows of the trees and the bushes, becoming nothing more than the shadows that they had emerged from.

And nopony ever heard of this again.