Upon a Pale Mare

by CrispySparrow

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Discord, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Other, Original Character
Length: 13510

I looked, and behold, a pale mare, an ashen mare; and there upon her back and woven within her, was the one called Death. Authority was given to them over Equestria, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and all beasts of the earth.

In far age of Harmony long since dead, I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! How her mane rippled with no wind, and how bright was the mark upon her flank. Before her with her magic was bent a bow, and she was given a crown, and she galloped out, a conqueror bent on conquest.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. How her hair was like rays of the sun, and how bright the mark upon her flank. To her was given power to take peace from the earth and to make friend turn upon the other as foe. To her was given a large sword, blooming as a false sunbeam from her mind.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Upon the stallion's flank stood a set of golden scales. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two bits of wheat for a day’s wages, and six bits of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a pale mare, an ashen mare; and there upon her back and woven within all she was and is and ever would be, was the one called Death. Authority was given to them over Equestria, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the all the earth.

Are you confused?

Do not fear, I am too.

Most of it was written like a year before I even started going on this website. So a while ago. It was tired of living unseen in a shadowy, cobweb covered corner of my desktop.

This tale is based on the bible, which happens to be a very rapey kind of fanfiction about God. Yes...Be upset at my description of one of the most bloodstained pieces of literature of all human time. Don't be upset at the book. Be upset at me. . Think about the bible right now. A lot of things should come to mind. If you have problems with reading about rape, genocide, slavery, war, pestilence, prostitutes, or any other common biblical fodder, you should just steer clear.

There are two ships in this that will probably make some people unhappy.

Here you go: TwilightXDiscord and FluttershyXDiscord

Published 2016-09-17 05:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-10-22 17:14:12 UTC

Prolouge?

Author's Note

To the Angel of the Church of Ponyville write:

These are the words of she who is holy and true, who holds the key of Dave. What she opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name...Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth...

Prolouge?

"...And remember, dear ponies," boomed the voice through the town,

"We are Stretched Thin!"

I ignored the voice proudly erupting from the lips of the unseen stallion.

I grimaced, as I was now able to fully hear my patient's raspy, moist breaths. He broke into a coughing fit, as I retracted my stethoscope, and draped it over my neck.

I brushed my white mane from my face.

"It's best if we monitor your brother for a couple days," I said to the pony, bearing the arrow on his flank. He nodded. I barked instructions at the nurse, and withdrew from the room. Back down the hall, to my office I went. I returned to my desk, with its lovely stacks of papers, and musty textbooks. Outside, the silence gave way to the murmur of voices, gradually returning to the daily commotion of the square.

The flock of sheep in the square faded like ants leaving the carcass of a bird.

The salmon colored colt; He was the third to be admitted for a moist cough that week. Likely not a coincidence. For the rest of the day, I tended to the patients, and endlessly rifled through my papers, often falling into almost a trance. The whispers of paper can be quite soothing, like the sound of the sea, and I often lose myself in the comfort until I am no longer reading the words...just simply staring at them...but I digress.

Anyway....The night came.

This night, well, it was an odd night. Not odd in the way that all nights are odd, with the customary chants in long dead languages, and the wailing of the Everfree forest. No, this night was odd BECAUSE of the absence of these things. Unease gripped my heart like a snake coiling around its prey. Before the rest of the staff departed , I asked a nurse if he noticed the peculiar way in which the darkness was creeping into the town. He simply gave me an odd look, before closing the door behind him. I tiptoed past the rooms, back to my office.

"Didn't I close the window?", I spoke aloud. I closed the window, and suddenly noticed the chill in the room.

I poked at the fire.

My brown fur glowed crimson in the warm light.

Glass shattered.

I turned.

A flask was sprawled as puzzle pieces on the floor.

My grip on the poker tightened.

The wail of foals broke the silence like lambs screaming before the slaughter.

I did not think.

I galloped downstairs, still clutching the fire poker.

The foals screamed in unbridled terror, and it slunk into the room.

What could only be called its face, was contorted into a wide grin. Its many tendrils whipped and pulled the air, as it dragged itself toward its targets.

A terrified shriek escaped my muzzle, not a cry of my own making, but of this mortal mouth reacting instinctively to the danger. My body mimicked my mouth in its terror, as my foreleg flailed and the poker flew from it.

I am one lucky mare, I am. By a stroke of dumb luck, the poker met the center of its disgusting smile, like a pitchfork protruding from a hay bale.

It gave a terrible, soul piercing scream. The poker was still hot, and its dark flesh boiled and sizzled. Its tendrils spasamed frantically, as it pulled itself back through the window. I note the droplets of melted ooze spattered on the floorboards.

I'l have to collect some of that later.

It's interesting that in times of terror and panic, ones thoughts often turn to things so mundane as stains on the floorboards.

I rushed to the window, and slammed it shut. I yanked the curtains closed, as if it would do any additional good, and turned to the foals.

I hold them tight, my hooves gently cupped over their manes. Their faced were pressed into my shoulders. They wailed into my mane, and my soothing words passed over them like tired waves over sand.

I told them, "Everything will be ok,"

I told a terrible lie that night.

Oh, How I Loved to Love Books,

Author's Note

I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord Mare, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Oh, How I Loved to Love Books,

Twilight Sparkle's eyes snapped open. She laid still for many moments, staring at her bedstand. After a little while, she extended her wings, expecting them to connect with somepony who had lain there till a couple minutes before, but they straightened without resistance.

She was not surprised.

She sat up, and the covers slipped off her body.

She opened the curtains, and before her eyes, the moon slipped down and the sun replaced it.

Also, not surprising, and conveniently one less thing to that she personally would have to deal with today.

She donned her crown, as she always did, before exiting the bedroom, and walked down the hall to the room where she spent most of her days. As she passed the kitchen, she magically pulled the cord of a bell, which hung beside the doorway. With the ring, there was an uprising of voices and clattering cookware.

She trudged the familiar path to her desk, as she magically tied up her mane in a knot. Before she sat down, she removed the protective, conjured sphere. She gathered blank parchment, and her quill and ink, setting them down beside her. From the desk, she pulled a thick, black, leatherbound book.

This book was not like other books.

It could appear as an ordinary tome, to those prone to deception.

At first, you might only see it's cracked leather raiment, blacker than the deepest abyss. Your eyes might have read the peeling golden letters, and seen whatever it wished. Your heart might have felt anything, as long it was what it desired of you.

Even the strongest ponies, the ones who could never lose hope, could be broken down into dust by this tome. Even the weakest ponies, the ones whom hope had long since abandoned, could be lifted out of the ashes, if it so chose. Perhaps it does not need to be said, that the latter was the rarer of the two.

Twilight saw the truth. Her, now great, magicks allowed her.

Behind a fog of wickedness, upon the stained leather binding the book, which now whispered dark things in her ear, the golden words read, ‘Marecronomicon’.

Her hoof brushed over the burnt and broken lock on its side, as she opened it.

She flipped to where she had left off the previous evening, somewhere in the beginning. It has taken her many, many moons to decipher what she has, and it will take another many, many moons to complete. In the several life times that have passed since she recovered this book, this is as far as she has gotten.

She fell into a kind of trance, her eyes transfixed on the strange symbols. As she concentrated her energies, the strange symbols shifted and swirled to form new images, decipherable writings. She ripped her eyes from the page, and quickly jotted down from memory, what she had read.

As the last words left her quill, a voice from before her said, "Your Majesty, your breakfast is ready, and I have the list of your tasks you requested,"

Twilight looked up at one of her many adolescent assistants,

"Thank you, just set the list down here, and my breakfast down there," she said, as she pointed to a table piled high with books.

As Twilight rifled through an adjecent pile of texts, the bright blue unicorn set the list down, and then shifted the various piles of books to set down the food. As the young mare was leaving, Twilight called her back.

Twilight levitated the list before her face, her eyes quickly darted back and forth across the page. "I need you to move my meeting with The Master of Bits to a diffrent day, a day that’s not today"

The adolecent swiftly procured a schedualing book and rifled through it,

"Princess, your next available day is in three moons,"

"That's fine, thank you,"

The young mare excused herself, and hurried off to tend to her various tasks.

The voices in Twilight's ear grew louder, their taunts more sinister, their words more wicked.

She shook her head fiercely, before returning to her magickal trance.

It's all your fault...

She shook her head again, breaking her focus, as if she could shake loose the wicked whispers of the tome.

You'll never make it right...

Doing her best to ignore the voice, her focus returned to the symbols. She should be used to it by now, having heard it almost everyday for a few centuries now. But it was a kind of thing, whose strength grows with time. There is a neighing, ‘It is not the mountain which opposes you, but the pebble, which you wear day to day, inside your shoe’. If this book were a pebble, it would be made of needles, and with each step forward, it drove itself deeper and deeper.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

They're dead,

all dead, all dead, all dead,

Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead...

As each word is whispered is whispered from lips, the last minutes of her friends' lives flashed before her eyes.

Applejack...

She grinded her teeth,

Rainbow Dash...

Her eyes narrowed,

Pinkie Pie...

Her lip twitched upwards into a snarl,

Rarity...

Upon the desk, the corners of papers fluttered in a nonexistant breeze,

Even nice little Fluttershy...

She almost cried out, as the tides of blood rolled out from her memories. Red waters washed out from her mind, rolling over the books and her table, trickling down to pool upon the floor.

Almost.

The quill levitating before her quivered violently,

The strange symbols again shifted into words, she then again ripped her eyes from the page, and scribbled down the writings.

The voice stopped.

For a while, she studied the page in silence.

Hey...

Hey...

HEY!

Guess who you forgot? Hmm, somethings never change...

The vision crashed over her,

A dragon's massive body thrashes about, shaking the earth with every tremor. Crimson waterfalls weep down his violet sides. His huge tail knocks aside both friend and foe, but loses momentum with every swing, soon settling to the earth, as the life leaves his body. He gives one final scream,

The sound ripped itself out of the box in her throat, and bounced off the walls.

She slammed the book shut, and violently pushed it away.

When it hit the floor, it made no sound.

But her crown did, when she threw it at the wall.

Oh, How I Loved to Love Butterflies,

Author's Note

The Revelation, which the Mare gave unto her, to shew unto her servants things which must shortly come to pass; and she sent and signified it by her angel unto her servant...

Oh, How I Loved to Love Butterflies,

"Discord," she says in her soft voice, "This is really just too lovely,"

"Oh it was nothing really," he said dismissively, yet not without that underbelly of pride. He brought his paw and claw together, as if holding an invisible ball. In the void materialized a vibrant flower bud. As he handed it to her, it bloomed to reveal a steaming cup of chamomile tea.

"But you really didn't need to go through all this trouble just for me,"

"Like I said my dear," he cooed, as he gently took her chin in his paw. "No trouble at all, and even if it was"-his thumb traced the contours of her chin-"anything for my special somepony," he finished.

She smiled as she looked up at the night sky. She seemed pleased with their surroundings, blissfully and yet not completely ignorant of the scene's design, where the pink and yellow auroras swirled and entwined like snakes in the throes of mating, the heavenly bodies softly shimmered, and the great trees almost hummed in their peace. It was quite boring to him for sure, but he did not craft it for his own eyes.

Speaking of heavenly bodies...

Stop it.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

From behind where she sat, a miniature Discord had materialized in a puff of purple smoke. The mini Discord wiggled his eyebrows at his full sized counterpart, and suggestively ran his paws down his hips in a feminine fashion. He mouthed the words of their desires, aggressively in Discord's direction. While he escalated to obscene sexual gestures, another miniature draconequis, wearing a green knit sweater with a sickly sweet image of the couple inside a pink heart, stomped angrily out of a nearby patch of tall grass, and slapped the first hard across the face. The more obscene rendition of Discord held his cheek, bearing a slightly offended expression.

She still stared dreamily up at the sky as she whispered, "Its so beautiful..."

Go..away!

He thought aggressively at his miniatures.

Can you fools not see that I'm slightly too occupied to deal with your nonsense?

She did not see him glare at his duplicates, and they dissipated into the air.

It would have been a dark night, if not for the sheer number of stars, the luminescent gases that shimmered in their light faraway, and the multicolored lamps that hung down from the apparently ancient oak trees.

Birds sitting in the boughs sang in an irritatingly harmonic fashion.

A soft breeze breathed, and the tall grass brushed against his hocks.

"Oh my, bread and butterflies!" she gasped, as the bread winged critters flutter by.

The small Discord wearing the sweater smiled, and silently applauded while nodding from a nearby bush.

Discord's elbow sinks down into the plush mushroom table, as he rested his chin in his claw. He gazed at her over his smile and across the tea ware and assorted table accessories that had sprouted from the fungus below. She sipped her tea, her eyes now meeting his.

The bread and butterflies gracefully landed on the plates before them, and shifted back into their natural bread forms. He waved his paw and strawberry jam spreads its self on each piece.

She took a bite.

She even chews timidly.

An elegant creature composed of a large salad bowl with long gangly legs gallops up to us and deposited a, rather decadent, salad into her bowl before galumphing off into the forest. He reached over the table, and from within her mane he procured a seed, which he then threw over his shoulder. In the blink of an eye it sprouted into an apple tree, which then extended a bough over her salad and dropped its fruit, which split into slices as they landed. For himself he conjured an especially large milkshake, from which he drank only the glass, and then set the contents down to be suspended above the table. He took take his empty plate, and nibbled on its square corner. He felt surprisingly famished, so he then swallowed it whole.

They talked for a while. About her animals, about ponies they knew, about the scene they occupied. He struggled to pay attention to most of it, he smiled and nodded. She almost did not notice how, with each passing minute, his chair inched around the table, until he was sitting next to her. As he placed his pawed arm around her shoulders, he whispered,

"I have a surprise for you,"

She almost didn't see him flick his tail, and bring forth a light breeze in the air before them. It brought with it a flock of breezies, who squealed and waved at her. She gasped with delight, and giddily returns the wave as they pass from our view. "Oh Discord, how could you possibly know?" she squealed. She continued, asking all manner of questions to which she already knew the answers. He gave her an answer she would believe. All lies, he had conjured those breezies, because he knew she enjoyed them.

He assured himself that it was not a complete lie, he was sure they were still quite alive, and going about their peaceful and dull lives happily. She leaned into him, and pressed her head against his furry chest.

He ran his paw through her mane.

The Discord wearing the sweater crossed his arms, and gave a harsh look, his distaste with his creator's lie evident in his eyes. (Ugh what a dweeb) He sat on a red mushroom, next to the other, who was happily puffing on a pipe(Ugh smoking?). The smoking Discord gave a thumbs up. Discord ignored them, and she asked if that was the surprise.

"No," he whispered.

They were now sitting atop a giant, softly luminescent mushroom, in a forest of the things. Their hooves sank deep into its plushy surface. With a flick of his tail, the trees began to hum, and beat out a rhythm with their branches. They nodded their tree heads with their tree faces and really got into the whole thing. Stringed instruments flew astride powerful wings, each played by a phantom bow. Then one by one the rest of his orchestra emerged from the trees, each playing their part. They arranged in formation upon a nearby humongous fungus. (...Among us...hehe)

She was still in his arms, her head buried into his chest. Her eyes were closed, and she softly hummed the familiar tune.

They remained that way for a short while.

He whispered her name, and she looked up at him.

He gestured toward the sky.

A scene of lights exploded above them. The stars danced, and they together formed spectacular, if he did say so himself, images of creatures frolicking about, and then the couple, big beautiful pictures made from little points of light so very very far away.

How droll...

She was speechless for many moments, her body pressed close to his, gazing in awe at the stars. She looked deeply into his eyes. She caressed his cheek with her hoof, and smiled.

His heart fluttered like the bread and butterflies.

He gazed down at her, and slowly leaned in. Surprisingly bold, she took his beard in her hoof, and pulled his face down to hers.

They kissed.

His claw ran delicately through her mane, and cradled the nape of her neck. His tail curled around her, and the tip traced her spine gently. She shivered. They fell back upon the soft surface.

His paw ran down her back, passed her hips, and moved down, down, down...

But she stopped him.

He unraveled his tongue from hers, and gave her a puzzled look as she grinned back at him.

Her eyes flashed with mischief, and her voice was playful, but sharp, as she said,

"Oh but we can't do that just yet, Discord,"

His mind absent of questions, he thought,

Ah, playing the tease I see,

Alright, I'l bite...

"O, but why ever not, my dear Fluttershy?" he inquired innocently.

"Because, Discord," she said softly, as she took his face in her hooves.

...

Her voice suddenly turned to a cruel screech,

"I'M FUCKING DEAD!"

The music stopped.

The grip on his face tightened. The skin of her face peeled back. He struggled to escape, but she only pulled him closer. Her eyes boiled, then dribbled down her cheeks. All the while, her once beautiful face laughed hard into his. Her flesh putrefied before his eyes, and it oozed away. Her mane fell out in large clumps, the pink strands surrounding them.

What was her face, pooled beneath them.

The white skull remaining continued to laugh hatefully, the empty sockets aligned with his.

He woke up screaming. Her wicked laughter still ringing in his ears.

Salt?

Only a hooffull of buildings remained standing. The rest were little more than heaps of stone and blackened wood. What were long ago trees reached up at the sky with gnarled claws. As if to add to the already grim mood, a gust of wind blew through the ghost town, causing the buildings to croak ominously, as if they would fall over at any instant.

The three of us crossed the river.

I flew over and waited on the opposite bank, while my companions crept across the bridge. At one point they are forced to inch along a narrow edge, where most of the bridge had crumbled away.

I walked ahead of my companions, my ears on alert for suspicious sights, or sounds.

Across the river and on the rolling hills beyond, the grass grew tall and untamed, but within the abandoned town was told a different story. According to all we have heard, Ponyville had been abandoned for many moons. Vegetation should have claimed the ruins long ago.

But the dirt here was arid and bare,

almost as if somepony went and salted the earth...

It was an eerie place. I could almost hear the voices of those who lived here many years ago, their whispers, their cries, their screams.

They were scared...before the end.

The truth...of whatever came to pass here...

They knew.

We passed the first structure which I could still refer to as a building, when she gasped, and stopped abruptly. The baby dragon and I turned to see what shocked her.

A sign that read 'Sugar Cube Corner' whined as it swung in the wind. Half of the roof was missing, the windows were all gone, and the paint had been peeled and blacked by fire. One wall wore a large hole with rough chewed edges, no doubt leading to a nest long since abandoned. For whatever reason, despite it's decay and the town's frightening atmosphere, in my mind I could imagine the building as being painted with bright happy colors, filled with happy ponies. Smiling...and laughing. And imagining that, while seeing it in its current state, made the whole place feel that much more lonely,

That much more dead.

The door hung at an angle, only the bottom hinge remained intact. Nailed to it was a board bearing faded letters,
it read:

Are you burdened with severe tax? Do you feel you can't relax?
Here you only need to say, oh woe is me! I cannot pay!
If the tears fall from your eye, We will smile! and wipe them dry!
If you're very hungry, here you won't be grumpy!
If you're eager for a snack, we'll stick a cupcake in your sack!
The Pie family is here to say, we would love for you to come and stay!

Yeah I know it doesn't totally rhyme, sue me.

The corners of the letters were severely pointed, and the writing was hard, like who ever wrote it was holding the quill down with force, as if angry, or scared. Despite the shadow of death and decay, I felt warm fuzzy feelings for the 'Pie Family', whoever they were.

This isn't what scared her.

What scared her, and the rest of us, were the other inscriptions. Hastily scribbled words, bearing messages of horror and loss. They were faded, but less than the sign left by the Pie Family. They cover Sugar Cube Corner, and we now notice, every other structure still standing.

Four passed today

CELESTIA HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOULS

THE END IS NOW

These are the tamest of what was written. I felt my stomach drop. 'THE END IS NOW' was painted with something thicker than paint, when I felt it with my hoof, I could feel the letters raised above the wood.

Her shoulders were shaking as she sat back on her haunches, with her head in her hooves. He tenderly placed his claw on her shoulder. He seemed just as rattled as her and I. He looked at the ground before I asked,

"What really happened here?"

"I t-t-thought I knew," he replied, his voice wavering in pitch from word to word, "If you w-were to ask most ponies and, before t-today, me; T-t-they'd t-tell you t-that t-this place burned to t-the ground a couple years ago in a freak accident. T-they t-told everypony t-to stay away, cuz somepony might get hurt by falling rubble. I guess t-thats why...why no pony ever mentioned anything like...t-this..."

He looked down at his feet.

I did not think to ask, who he ment by ‘they’.

I saw that the sun is inching closer to the edge of the earth.

The fading light reflects off something in the distance. We all must be going blind, for no pony to notice something like that. The ominous messages momentarily slip from my mind.

Lets sleep in with class, and style...

He and I clawed and kicked, respectively, at the abnormal spiked vines that had somehow, despite the barren soil, grown large enough to tangle themselves about the golden door. We heaved, strained, and managed to work the door open. It screeched angrily, like an old cat rudely awoken from a peaceful sleep. It carved a deep groove into the stone below.

The three of us slipped through the narrow opening.

It was completely black. The castle had not been touched by whatever had desecrated the entire town, but had been overtaken by aggressive black vines, which had grown across the windows, thus keeping out the light.

"Hold on just a second,"

There is a click, and he breathed a flame into his palm. It waved merrily, his claws cast long shadows up the walls.

We quickly surveyed the kitchen,

We found a barrel of water and quenched our thirst.

We did not notice that the barrel was covered in considerably less dust than the rest of the space.

Now with one thing in mind, we tore into the bedroom.

He and I charged forward, jaws flapping about, emitting random grunts of joy. We lept atop the bed like crazed beasts, and leap around, cackling like mad-ponies.

She did not join us, but instead sat down in a small round bed, on the floor not far from the one we overtook. She wiggled her tush further into the cushion, closed her eyes, and smiled. She sat as serenely as a wise old monk, so rooted into tranquility that the world could grow old and die in the blink of an eye, and she would never take notice.

Every collision into the mattress, from either him or I, sent a big cloud of dust into our faces. Every jump caused the bedspread to grow slightly more purple, and nearly sent us into wheezing fits.

"You were so wrong!" I exclaimed with glee,

I glanced at the white mare, sitting there with that serene smile of hers, at the baby dragon frollicking with me like we were two schoolfillies in a meadow, at the flame dancing gleefully on the crystal vanity.

Look how it all turned out, sitting in that cell not a full day ago, we never thought it would end up like this. We didn't think anything would ever be alright again...

But look at us now! We are happy! Everything's fine! Everything's gonna be ok!

"I am so glad you both were wrong!" I exclaimed with glee,

"You were so wrong! Every things gonna be-"WHO DA FUCK AR YOU?"

She yelped.

The strange new voice sliced through our joy like a hot blade.

With the distraction, we leapt into eachother. We crash into the cold floor.

Oh, How the Phoenix Loved to Fly,

Author's Note

...Who bare record of the word of Mare, and of the testimony of her daughter, and of all things that she saw...

Oh, How the Phoenix Loved to Fly,

The lingering traces of a scream left Discord's mouth as he lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

The bed in which he laid was still, so the mare had not awoken...somehow. he did not take a second glance at the purple mane protruding from the blanket beside him, before kicking off the covers.

That dream...

A blasphemous retelling of the date, on which Fluttershy and I first...

The dreadful shadows of his dream lingered within his mind, but they slowly faded.

His mind was now empty, but his heart was heavy still.

He rose, and yawned silently, before sauntering out of the room. He heard the mare's quiet snoring as he exited.

He descended the stairs. Past the thrones, past the array of stained glass, he strode. He barely acknowledged the, now not so new, additions. His hoofsteps echoed across the marble hall.

The butterfly pendant, on its long gold chain, bounced heavy against his chest.

He paused for a moment, at the sight of a caged phoenix.

It angrily squawked at him, as he tauntingly wiggled his finger through the bars.

He pulled back when it snapped.

He strolled out unto the balcony where the moon was still out.

How odd...

He almost forgot.

He checked a watch that appeared upon his wrist. It was apparently 10 am.

Oh yes, I'm helping with that now arn't I...

He was only one of two remaining, who possessed sufficient power to do so.

With a flick of a wrist, the moon slipped down, and the sun replaced it.

I'l have to remind her to set an alarm...

He gazed out over the drearily peaceful landscape. So calm, so,

borrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnngggggg.

His spine suddenly spasmed

What's this now?

The change was magical, of powerful emotion.

Joy...

Somepony, or something, somewhere, was ecstatic. This happiness was not benign. He had been feeling these emotional disturbances more and more as of late, but never as powerful as this.

Somewhere, something was extremely happy.

An uneasiness festered within his belly.

He had his suspicions, as to the origin of the emotions in question.

However, there was nothing he could do...at the present time.

He was not all mighty, despite his somewhat great powers, and his pretendings.

He figured he might spare a minute to mention it to the Princess. He spread his wings, and left the balcony.

Rainbow Dash would have been proud to see the plaid pattern laid across the sky in his wake. Some force tugged at his heartstrings, and he found himself flying towards a familiar place. As he passed over the Everfree forest, he could not resist the urge to diversify the wildlife.

He left a few particularly large rabbits uprooting trees behind him.

But then...

Something caught his breath and his eye.

Fingers?

"WHO DA FUCK AR YOU," he screamed again.

His salmon fur stood on end, the tip of his arrow aligned with my third eye.

His flank was blank.

He's just a foal...

My rear was cold and throbbing from the collision with the floor.

I raised my hooves in a surrendering gesture, as my friends did the same.

Gently, I said, "Hey, hey, we arn't looking for any trouble,"

"A LIKELAY FUCKING STORY!"

The mare's face could have been made of stone.

Replacing fire, snot and spittle streamed from the dragons nose.

"We arn't here to hurt anypony, honest," my voice shivered like a wet lamb left in a draft.

"We were just in a bad way, and we came in here for shelter,"

"HOW CAN AH TRUST Y'ALL?"

She held her breath. So did I, when I met his grey eyes.

I swallowed before saying, my voice still like mountains,

"You can't."

His eyes narrowed.

He stared.

He lowered his bow. He slung it upon his back, and his forehooves once again contacted the ground. One friend immediately stopped crying, and the other breathed a sigh of relief.

His voice was stern, like mountains, as he asked, "Wat ar y'all doin here anywho?"

We explained what had transpired.

Briefly.

I spoke of many miles crossed, the unspeakable evils that were constantly almost upon us. Of what we sought, I gave only a vague description.

"A Truth," I called it.

I told him of the whispers, rumors, and signs, that had brought us to his doorstep.

Briefly.

He asked us our names.

"Myrrh," she said.

"--------------" the dragon answered, but only when it was his turn.

Then my friends both looked at me, concern swaying behind their eyes. The salmon colt stared at me questioningly.

I stopped. I almost said that I did not remember, but indeed that may be too truthful.

I gave the name that I will wear as raiment,

"Sage,"

But that is not really my name.

It was just a dark carpet hastily draped upon a scarred wooden floor with its dapples of water stains.

Occasionally a smell, or a sound, or a word would bring about a surge of disconnected images, faces, and feelings. I could not contextualize these sensations. The more I thought about it, the more the fear and frustration grew.

Even words could play no role, for they always fell short; The most important thing would always remain unsaid, held in the back of the mind, until the time came to try again, and again, and again.

Certain doorways slammed in my face with familiarity, as I passed through them.

The Foal looked at my flank. He could not see my mark for the dirt and grime caked over it. None of us had seen my mark. Even I had no memories of my seal, or the one of my friend. Ever since I could remember, we had been caked in filth.

Our true selves are always unknown to us, for something as simple as the clothes of the earth...

"Well, we'd bedder git y'all in the bath, and maybay git some grub in yer bellies," he said. Myrrh and I followed the salmon colt out of the bedroom. The other Child rushed after us, the flickering flame in his palm cast long shadows on the walls.

An equine who did not pay attention, might have quivered in fear, for the tall dark shapes indeed appeared to be insidious and frightful.

But I could only smile, for I knew that such terrible visions were only the shadows of children's fingers.

We entered a large round room. The table at the center mirrored the space in form, and was piled high with crates and barrels bearing the words 'Sweet Apple Acres', along with piles of assorted junk. Most of the crates were empty, I paid little attention to the rest of the items. The salmon colt stopped at a barrel filled to the brim with murky water. The light from a single lantern reflected off the still surface.

"Well, here be ma bathin wahter," he said, as the other child wrinkled his nose in disgust, and closed his claw, snuffing out the flame.

"Ah know it ain't da cleanest, but it be somthin, and its plenty safer than washin’ in da river," he finished with a nod. In the end, none of us really cared too much, about the cleanliness anyway. It was not dirtier than anything we had seen already.

However, nopony thought to ask about the river.

I would later come to regret that.

The salmon colt threw us each a sponge.

I swirled the sponge about in the grey water. Liquid streamed from it as I rubbed myself vigorously. The water pooled on the crystal stone below, brown from the dirt, blood, and other things, as the three of us heartily washed ourselves. Myrrh was having trouble reaching around to clean her cutie mark region, no doubt due to her terrible wounds which still had yet to heal.

"I can lend a hoof with that," I said.

I pressed the sponge to her flank.

The child was almost sparkling, as scales proved easier to wash than fur. He offered me a claw with my bathing, and I accepted.

I finally scrubbed her flank clean, and I stared in awe at the incredible image of a-

"W-w-woah, you might w-wanna look at this," he said, his sponge halting on my flank, his voice vibrated in perfect symmetry with its matter of composition.

I ripped my gaze away from Myrrh, and turned my head to look at my flank.

I dropped the sponge.

It caused a splash it landed in the puddle, as do all things, when they land in puddles.

Ripples blossomed out from the center of the pool like a lotus flower.

I screamed.

The Fat Black Cat Plays with Slaves in the Industrial Park

Author's Note

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! On his black flank, there stood a set of golden scales...

The Fat Black Cat Plays with Slaves in the Industrial Park

A pastel green unicorn mare, with a fizzy champagne bottle for a cutie mark, examined the shine of her hoof, bearing a listless expression, while the black stallion entered her from behind. Upon his black flank, he bore a set of golden scales. With every meager thrust, her short curly mane bounced un-enthusiastically. The high pitched squeals he made disgusted her, and she cringed slightly at every wail. Every time he opened his mouth, he sprayed her back with spittle.

Ugh.

She hated her job. But it paid the bills, and she was rather more well off than most citizens.

Financially, anyway.

In her mind, she made plans. She made plans for house cleaning, plans to make plans, and plans for a career change...maybe.

Her legs trembled under his immense weight, as she looked at the clock upon the wall. These sessions hurt her back and her pride more than anything else. The realization that it had only been ten minutes passed through her mind, and she silently rejoiced.

An age seemed to have gone by.

It should only be a couple more minutes now.

And, with a wail that would be more appropriate for an angry cat, he finished five minutes later and rolled off of her.

The mattress cried out in agony as he landed upon it.

She noticed, with disgust, the speed at which his seed dribbled out of her as she took long strides towards the door. As she left, the familiar words were spoken,

"You may retrieve your bits from my secretary,"

The door slammed.

The stallion yawned.

He laid on his side on an, unnecessarily large, ridiculous, heart shaped bed. On one hoof he rested his chin, the other hoof softly stroking his massive belly. He patted it proudly. Upon his gold plated bedside table, a bottle of fine wine caught his eye.

He extended a hoof, but he could not reach it. With a pang of sadness he thought, for the millionth time,

It is truly a shame that I am not a unicorn.

He had everything he, or any other mortal could ever possibly desire right at his hooves, except for that one thing he wanted the most, the one thing he had always wanted the most.

He stretched further for the bottle, but to no avail.

He sighed with displeasure.

He asked nopony, or perhaps some pony who was not there,

"Do you see the injustice I must regularly put up with?"

"How much longer will I be made to put up with such torture?"

He shook his head slowly, and then screamed, "JASPER!" He waited impatiently for moment.

As he screamed again, "JASPER!", the door swung open. A stiffly dressed earth pony stood in the doorway. He did his best to appear eager, as he said, "Yes, sir?"

"Pour for me a glass of wine, and fetch my pipe,"

Jasper did as he was told. He did not need to be told to place the pipe in the stallion's mouth. He lit a match, and set an ember to the mottled substance within. Jasper removed and replaced the pipe as necessary. With assistance, the black stallion smoked for a time, the silence occasionally broken by his wet, hacking cough. He periodically sipped his wine. The black stallion says suddenly,

"Jasper?"

"Yes, sir,"

"Look at my dick Jasper,"

Poor Jasper did as he was told. In truth, he saw it as he entered, he just did his best to avoid eye contact with it. It was shamelessly unsheathed. When his eyes meet the dick, he knows better than to remove his eyes from it until he is permitted, or else he might end up like the last servant to do so.

"Do you think it is a large dick Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," lied Jasper.

"Are you lieing to me Jasper?"

"No, sir," lied Jasper.

"Are you sure Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," lied Jasper.

"Does the size of my dick, simply dwarf your own, Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," lied Jasper.

"Do you wish you had a dick, as gargantuan as mine, Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," lied Jasper.

"Are you pleased to lay your eyes upon such a glorious dick, Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," lied Jasper.

The black stallion pauses for a moment.

"Is there any mail for me, Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," said Jasper.

He did not mean to say 'yes', but thankfully, there actually was a letter for the fat black stallion. That letter saved poor Jaspers life. But, in hindsight, he should have been prepared for a curve ball question. The master rountinely called him in after his sessions with prostitutes to boast about his dick.

"Very well, open it and hoof it over," he paused and then says, "You may now remove your eyes from my dick, Jasper." Poor Jasper silently praised Celestia.

Jasper removed the scroll from his pocket, breaks the royal seal, and held it before the black stallion.

"Ah, the Princess-Praise Her in All Her Oneness- has rescheduled her audience with yours truely,"

In that moment, the black stallion decided the silence he usually demanded from his servants was extremely irritating.

"Do. you. wish. to. know. why. Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," lied Jasper.

"In about two moons time, I am requested for an audience with the Princess, to review the taxation plan her highness and I had instated so very long ago,"

Jasper took the master's lazy hoof wave as an indication to remove the letter.

"That is all,"

As Jasper closed the door behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief, and thought,

Why didn't I stay in school?

Enough of Princesses, Does Discord Dream of Magic Sheep?

Author's Note

...Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hoof...

Enough of Princesses, Does Discord Dream of Magic Sheep?

Little clouds of dust puffed up around his hooves as he walked the familiar dirt path. The sun was blinding, the birdsong was unbelievably irritating, and the flowers in his claw were leaving a trail of petals behind him. He passed into shadow as he strode beneath oak boughs that had grown over the path. He noticed that the flowers were wilting, normally something he might normally enjoy, but it would not do. They sprung back into youth as he flicked them.

The wood thudded beneath his hooves and he crossed the bridge in two strides. The creek softly whispered below. He barely noticed the new fencing, unusually close to the forest cottage, behind which stood an extremely unfamiliar flock of sheep.

That's new...that's...very new...

However, he was not surprised. One particular one stared hard at him from across the paddock. He made a noise of disgust, and turned to the cottage.

He knocked on the door.

The animals within growled, barked, squawked, howled, clucked, meowed, cawed, and made a whole host of other noises I care not to list, in response. He heard a soft voice call, "Just a second," before it spoke soothingly to the creatures. The door was ajar, as a green eye peered through the crack.

"Oh, Discord!"

The door swung open.

"I'm so glad you could make it," she said in her breathy voice. Angel peered around the door frame.

"Come in...if you'd like,"

He revealed the flowers from behind his back.

She gasped, "Oh, they're so lovely,"

He smiled, as she took the flowers from him, and turned to put them inside. Angel glared at him, and Discord grinned and raised his eyebrows at him, before following her. As she walked towards the kitchen, he materialized a vase in the air before her. She smiled before thanking him, and placed the flowers within the vase upon the little table adjacent to the sofa.

There was a poof of purple smoke, and he was suddenly sitting upon the couch, as she adjusted the flowers within their container. She looked at him as he patted the seat beside him with his paw. Angel thumped his leg angrily. "Now, Angel," she exclaimed,

"That isn't anyway to treat a guest!"

He crossed his arms, and glared back at Discord angrily as she ushered him along.

She didn't see Discord victoriously wave at him, and Angel stuck his tongue out, for which she scolded him further.

Discord chuckled under his breath.

She returned to the living room, and offered him some tea. He accepted her offer, if only so he could watch her turn and busy herself in the kitchen. He found himself enchanted by her cute little rump, as she bustled about.

Another Discord appeared on the couch besides him. He was wearing a sickeningly sentimental green sweater. He whispered in his ear, 'How rude! Such objectification!

"Friend, please do me a favor" he whispered.

He looked into his own eyes eagerly and expectantly.

The original finished off his double with a, "fuck off," as he narrowed his eyes at himself.

One then disappeared with a 'pop'.

"Did you say something?"

"No, no, nothing at all, my dear"

She returned carrying a tea tray. He levitated it up out of her hooves, and it set itself down upon the table. Her tea cup hovered before her. She took it from the air and delicately sipped the steaming liquid. His cup has now materialized in his claw, and he gazed at her over it.

"When would you like to depart my dear?"

"Um...well...whenever you want is fine,"

He inched closer to her.

"Now, now, Fluttershy,"

She looked at him,

"I am taking you out, so you will-ahem- be taking the reins on this one,"

A butterfly crown then appeared on her head.

"Well...we can go now...I guess,"

He could not shake the lingering feeling of dread as they exited the cottage. As she closed the door, she told her animals that she will return soon and to behave, and he met the gaze of one particularly interesting sheep. It leaned over the fence at him, and he met its many gazes.

Well that's rather odd, however nice it may be...

The lamb bore upon her brow, seven horns.

And below, there were seven eyes.

He racked his brain, trying to remember if he did that. He had no recollection of such a thing.

He almost didn't hear her softly say his name. As he turned to face her, she took his paw in her hooves. She looked up at him, and her eyes begin to water. Suddenly the scene felt very wrong. The space which they occupied ebbed and flowed.

And a tide, like that which pulls the crustaceans back to sea, rolled back and the world around them whispered away. The last tendrils were pulled off into the darkness, leaving them, and the seven eyed lamb, suspended in the void.

It hovered beside them, slowly chewing its cud, as its seven eyes pierced deep into his being.

Her hug was forceful.

She looked up, the tears streaming down her cheeks. Behind her eyes, something till now unseen, shined. The curtain of dream haze cast before her eyes had been pulled back like curtains, and something beautiful and yet terrifying now stabbed deep into the windows of Discord's soul. She whispered,

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble...Could you do me a favor?"

He leaned towards her, their lips nearly touching. "Anything dear," he said quietly.

She whispered in his ear,

"You have to wake up,"

The Beggar is an Empty Shell, God Laughs at the Weak

The cough of the beggar was lost beneath the screams of church bells,

The veteran pushed herself upright with her wooden leg, and she moved to stretch her wings. In her mind she felt them extend, but the dirty burlap she cloaked herself did not shift. That little motion, that desire for space, was but an old dream that still held on to her being, where her wings used to be. Habits often fail to die, like the old war mare.

She was very, very old now.

How she wished she could die.

The church bells rang out, their seven chimes calling out to the city. They sang out the tides that once belonged to the sun, each resounding clang like a shout, barks that demanded order and obedience.

She recovered her battered sign from beneath her grimy pack. She propped it up against the marble church behind her.

The sun did not slowly creep up from behind the city skyline, as it had done so long ago. No, it shot up like a stone flung from a slingshot, and the moon tumbled down as if kicked.

The streets were filling up, the notes of horseshoes on cobblestone played this mornings music, with voices arranged harmoniously between small moments of peace.

The music in volume and vibration strengthened. Ponies moved in the beggars direction.

Her eyes widened.

Quickly she shifted her blankets to reveal the worn half-sphere that often supported her weary head. She took it into her lap, and tenderly ran one hoof along its length. Long ago, this object might have caused her to shed a tear, but she no longer had any to give.

She flipped over the tortoise shell, and placed it on the side walk before her. She tore her eyes away from its emptiness.

One couple of silent church goers passed the beggar, and went up the marble steps.

She did not look at them, only at their shadows, slithering over uneven stone, juxtaposed to her empty shell.

Another group passed, speaking with hushed words.

She watched a few bits pass through her vision. They clinked against the dry spine within the shell, and sent a shiver up her own. She raised a hoof in gratitude. Many more passed. Few would breathe upon the beggar even the smallest sigh of kindness.

The heavy doors of the church slammed, all the church ponies hidden carefully beneath roof and steeple. The streets fell silent, and she would have some moments of peace.

She took the shell in her hooves again, and cradled it in her forelimbs. The change rattled softly inside.

She rocked herself and the empty shell back and forth and back and forth, staring at the sunlit patch of uneven stone at her feet.

But it became dark, and she looked up. Two figures stood before her, their backs to the morning sun, their faces hidden in shadow. Her old eyes made out a patch of silver on each horse's chest. Words left their muzzles, but their spoken tongue to her was long forgotten, and upon her ears was little more than gurgles and hissing.

She paid them no mind, she stared at the ground and clutched her tortoise shell.

Suddenly rough hooves grasped her and yanked her upward, and her hooves were ripped apart.

Her eyes still cast down, she saw it fall to the stone.

The tortoise shell was crushed beneath the hooves of the shadowy strangers with their strange badges.

The change was lost amid the dust.

She let out a roar, a stream of curses and foul words. But the guards only heard gurgles and hissing, and were assaulted with unwelcome glimpses inside the beggar's mouth. They saw, long ago her tongue had been cut out.

She ripped her cyan and wooden limbs from their grasp, her clouded rose eyes lit with fire, spittle leapt from her lips. She promptly punched both of them in the face. They staggered, but her strength was only a fragment of what used to be.

Rough hooves pummeled her cyan body, and forced her down the the ground.

The shards of tortoise shell cut into her skin, as her face was slammed into cobblestone.

The mares discovered that they could not shackle her remaining forelimb to a wooden leg, so they took her under the armpits, lifted her up, and dragged her away.

At first she did not struggle, letting her body hang limp within the grasp of the law.

But then, as she was pulled from the front of the church, the haze was lifted from before her eyes.

The cardboard sign that read What is Loyalty? was like a splash of mud upon the church of bright white marble, brighter than the sun. Woven within architecture were elaborate carvings, and expensive jewels. Above grinning golden doors, upon its face it bore a single stained glass window. A kaleidoscope eye, menacing in its size, its iris painted with a thousand rainbows stolen from tears of ancient and long forgotten gods.

As the guards dragged her away, she saw what had been taken from her so long ago.

Rainbow Dash saw, as she flapped the wings which were no longer there.

She saw, in the center of that kaleidoscope eye, the bolt of lightening that was hers. The bolt of lightening that was once ruby, fasted to a collar of purity and gold.

The element was afixed in the center of the eye. It was no longer ruby, but black, and inky roots of shadow extended from it, and were wrapped about the building, pulsating in time with the beat of some unseen heart.

The tears that were lost to her for so long, came forth remembered.

If anypony within the church heard her cries, it was of no concern to them.

In Which We Remember Our Main Characters (We have those?) Who We Have Most Certainly Forgotten By Now, But They Were Taking Baths Three Chapters Ago

My companions, and the earth pony colt with the salmon color fur stood around me. Their eyes were wide with horror, their jaws hung open, stares fixed on my flank. The lack of baths on our trek was indeed a blessing, for if they had known...

"No, no,"

"NO!"

I was still spinning. Maybe, if I spun fast enough, I would wake up from this terrible nightmare.

"Nonononononononononononono,"

I slapped myself across the face. I was hyperventilating. My head felt light, as if it would float up into the air, and away, and I sway.

I looked up at the ceiling, at the stars now unseen behind thick layers of granite and marble.

I wanted to scream,

'O WHY GOD? O WHY ME WHY ME?

But I did not.

I met the eyes of my companions.

The meaning of this new insight was not known.

All we knew, is that dark days were ahead.

The salmon colored foal could not know. How could he?

He had not seen what we had seen.

The full extent of our horror was lost on him.

I stared at my cutie mark.

My cutie mark stared back.

* * *

"Since y'all ar all spick and span now, hows about fillin yer bellies? Ahm sure y'all ain't eaten good in a long while." The salmon colt sifted through a barrel near the table, and he pulled from it a sack of alfalfa pellets. "Ah figure it goes without sayin, that thure ain't been apples round these parts for a long while. Ahve been livin off a lifetime supply of dis here foodstuffs," he says, and before he can sling the sack upon his back, I took it from him, and swung it over my shoulder. He thanked me, and I nodded in reply. "Wellp, lets head off to ma dinin’ room,"

We followed him down the hall.

"You eat in a libary?" Myrrh asked, surprise evident in her tone.

"Wellp, it's nice ta make full use o' ones space, dis is a castle after all. An' Ah never did finish learnin' ta read, so Ah ain't got much use fer a library! 'Specially one with books as fancy an' complicated as deese..." his voice trailed off, as if there was something he left unsaid.

"An' deres not too much junk floatin about in hurr anywho, makin fer a nice place ta sit,"

He indicated where I should set the sack down, and I did so. He tossed a lantern at our small dragon friend, with a, "If ya'd be so kind," He took the hint, and we no longer stood in near total blackness. He set the lantern down on the floor. The dragon's scales were a dark violet, now clean and shimmering in the light. The salmon pony rummaged around in a pile of junk, before he procured four bowls. He filled three with pellets, before handing one to each of us. He apologized for not having anything more suitable for a dragon. The child exclaimed, while he simultaneously sprayed everypony in the vicinity with moist alfalfa particles, "It's food!"

The three of us sat around the lantern. The salmon colt filled his bowl and joined us. He slowly ate his pellets, one at a time, while the rest of our faces were shoved into the bowls as deeply as possible. We were snarling like the starving beasts we were, as we gulped down the pellets.

"Wow, y'all must be really hungry,"

The three of us made, what were little more than happy grunts, in reply. His voice was barely audible over the sounds of my own mastication, "Wellp, Ahm sure glad Ah could be sum help,"

"Ahm just glad y'all didn't make me have ta shoot ya,"

Myrrh swallowed a large chunk with difficulty, before she asked, "Have you had to do that before?"

He did not reply.

A cold haze fell upon his eyes.

You don't learn that kind of stare in Sunday school.

I thought about asking where he put the bodies, but I decided against it. I looked up from my pellets. He looked older than I in the warm glow of the lantern. He was staring down at the bowl in his hooves. I was about to change the subject, when the salmon pony looked up, and pointed while he said, "Ya think ya might wanna feed dat dere critter? Ah bet hes as starvin as y'all"

I could barely make out what the young dragon said, with his mouth so full. I thought he said 'What critter?'. With the muffled words, he sprayed us again with alfalfa clumps. I grunted in disgust, as I wiped the wet hay bits off my neck.

I repeated his question.

"That critter," he said.

He pointed behind us.

The Rape of the Ponyville, Angels and Apples Carefully Hidden Among Ruins

I felt my companion's hearts nearly stop, along with mine.

I slowly turned around. A long menacing shadow was cast upon the wall. I could hear its teeth gnash together. The fear bubbled up within my throat.

But from the darkness, hopped a white rabbit.

Myrrh gasps. "Aw, its just a little bunny!"

The fear was gone, but a strange sense of dread still remains. I did not remove my eyes from the creature, as Myrrh moved to sit beside it. She stroked its head, and it thumped its foot weakly, but happily. It was thin, very very thin. She placed the bowl before it. It proceeded to devour the contents.

I watched its skin shift over its ribs.

"I have never seen this creature before in my life," I lied.

But I had seen it.

Pictures formed in my mind, but they faded, like a memory of a memory.

Unseen fear continued to bubble and swell within my belly, its exact cause I could not specify.

"Welp, Ah jus' assumed it came here with y'all," said the salmon colt, "Ah ain't never seen it before neither,"

"Whatever," said child between mouthfuls of pellets, "It's here now. It's hungry. We have food. It's fine."

Then it was silent, but for the crunch of alfalfa pellets.

I realized that none of us had bothered to inquire about our host's name. But who can blame us, being so weak and famished.

I asked.

"Wellp, Ah'd bedder start with the way beginnin'. Ah was born in a big red barn, in a place called Sweet Apple Acres. Sweet Apple Acres has been in our family, every since Ponyville was first founded! Its been in da family, oh ah dunno, at least a couple hundred years! Meemaw were a tan mare named Apple Biscuits, and ma Peepaw were called Cluckles Pie.

Paw's real name weren't Cluckles o' course, but he yapped so much as a little colt, he git his rooster cutie mark, an' da name Cluckles stuck. Meemaw went up yonder ta da big barn in the sky, as a result of ma birthin'. Peepaw got real sad like, and he couldn’t lay his peepers on an apple biscuit without cryin' for a real long time after dat.

Ma name's Salmon Pie, I guess cause o' ma here salmon colored coat, butchya can calls me Sammy. Ah've never liked ma name, an' Ah suppose ders nothin' stoppin' me from changin' it now, but Meemaw was livin long enough after Ah came ta dis earth ta give me dat name, so fer her Ah've kept it.

Paw said dat Meemaw was always fond o' readin dem big fancy books, da farmwork kept her from doin' all travlin' she wanted, so books were how she git ta see da world. She had always dreamed o' a big city education, but she couldn't leave all my kinfolk behind ta work da farm by demselves.

Ya might wonder were I picked up dis style o' diction. Well, Ah simply spent too much time with ma brother, an' he picked it up from Maw an' her folk. Paw always thought it was a real hoot dat a town pony like him had two slow country talkin' sons.

Paw said dat one day, she were readin' a book 'bout animals livin' in faraway places, an' in dat book she read somthin' bout a critter called a salmon.

A salmon be a fish critter, and when it comes time ta make more little salmons, they go backs ter da river were dey was born. Dese salmons loves der unborn youngins somthin' fierce, dey swim back up da river dey were born in ta lay der eggs. When dey swim up da river, lots o' other critters wanna eat dem. Dey have ta swim up da river, even jumpin' oer waterfalls, watchin' all der friends git picked off around dem. Everythin' fights da salmon, da currant, da waterfalls, da other critters.

Den when dey get ta their birthin’ place, an' dey lay der eggs, dey die jus' like dat. Dey die so dat der little fish babies can have happy childhoods an' grow up ta be big strong fish critters. Lots o' da salmon don't even make it ter da river in da firs’ place, da ocean bein’ a dangerous place for fish critters, and when dey set out fer da journey, dey know dey might die.

It sure is a looooooonnnnggggggg an' wild cycle kinda thang, ain't it?

Da las' thang ma Maw said before she died, was dat Ah was her beautiful little salmon. Ah always wonder if she ment somthin' by dat, or if it just be cause o' my light pink fur.

I were always sad Ah never got ta meet Meemaw, but Ah had ma Peepaw, an' ma big brother, an' we were happy togethers.
Af'ter Maw died, Paw, and ma brother, and baby me moved outta the big red barn. Maw's family were real nice an' hostitible like, but stayin dere made Paw sad, so we moved back in with ma grandmama at Suger Cube Corner. Paw took up workin' the storefront, ma big brother True Arrow helpin' him, and we lived there happily for a while. Ah was too young ta notice all da political turmoil dat had been poppin up. Equestria had been turnin' sour ever since before Paw was born. Paw never wanted us ta be afraid, but Ah think True knew wats were goin's on. Cause o' the great war, an' den dat other war, an' da civil war we be currantly wrapped up in, da royal coffers got real thin.

When Ah were first startin' ta go ter school, dey started taxin' everypony. Dey would tax yer fer any little thang dey could think of. Lot's o' their reasons were just excuses ta take all da bits dey could. Dey taxed ponies per foal dey had, or fer da foals dey didn't have, dependin' on der mood dat day. Eventually, dey taxed da food worst o' all, forcin' ponies ta pay as much a whole days wages fer a days worth of food fer one pony.

Now, dey didn't wanna do da food tax all public like, afraid dey might cause an uprisin'. Ta inforce da tax all slow and creepin like, they tried ta recruit da ponies dat sold or growed da food. Dey tried ma Paw first, him bein' sich a popular pony, dey thought he could git all dem other food growers and sellers on der side. When dey first tried ta recruit Paw, dey did it all gentle like, promisin' tax cuts and sich fer helpin' dem. Dey wanted ta git all da ponies ta raise der food prices all at once, an' give da extra bits ta dem, thinkin' dat den dey could keep it all hush hush.

Ma dear ol' Paw, bless his heart, said no. He went an' told all dem other sellin' an' growin' ponies what da goverment folk tried ta do, so when dem tax ponies showed up at der homes, all dey got were doors slammed in der faces. Dey left us alone fer a little while, an' we thought dat dey were gone fer good. Soon though, dey assigned a whole bunch o' guards ta da town, some ponies out from Canterlot I reckon. Den all dis propaganda nonense started comin' in. Everyday, from big ol' magic projectors, a picture of a fat black pony with a set o' golden scales on his flank would appear in the town. Dem guards would make us gather round in the center o' town, once a day, ta listen to da pony talk.

Everyday he'd give us a speech, somthin' about how Equestria needed all o' her children ta band tagether, ta support our mother country. How we all needed ta fork over more bits ta da goverment, cause da rebels be tryin ta take down Equestria from da inside. How those who didn't wanna pay no tax were traitors, who hated Equestria an' even Celestia harself. O' course he said it alot nicer dan Ah just did, dat pony sure knew how ta talk sweet. We was never told his name, but we all called him Streched Thin, cause at da end o' every speech he said:

Remember, we ar' Streched Thin!

Despite da sure an' steady way da taxes climbed, dem speeches started gittn' ta ponies. Da mood was sure gettin' grim in Ponyville, soon ponies who once called demselves friends were at eachothers throats. An' when ponies got into real bad fights, dey would sick da goverment on da other, sayin stuff 'bout dem talking trecherous or bein' in da rebellion. Paw did his best ta keep everypony happy but he were only one pony, and depite bein' related ta da element o' laughter harself, dere came a point when even he couldn't make dem other ponies smile no more. Soon most o' dem other sales ponies raised their food prices ta da taxponies likin’, but not ma Paw. He git most o' his foodstuff from my Maw's family at down at Sweet Apple Acres, and together dey agreed ta not raise da food prices. Soon da taxponies got word o' dis, and it pissed dem off somthin' fierce. Dey started sendin' threatinin messages, but Paw just laughted 'em off.

One night, dere was a loud knock on da door. Paw opened it, and sure enough, it were dem taxponies. Paw told True Arrow ta take me upstairs, dat he didn't want me ta hear dem talk. But Ah could hear dem talkin, sure enough, dey were loud enough dat all critters in the Everfree forest probably heard dem. True Arrow covered my ears before Ah heard wat da taxponies said dey would do ter us. True Arrow later told me dat Paw told dem dat if dey thought dey could scare him, den dey had another thang commin', and laughed as he slammed da door behind dem.

Ah wish Paw would've just raised his food prices.

Paw had always been da proudest son of a bitch Ah've ever had da pleasure of knowin. He lowered his prices, an' he stopped forkin over ALL da tax money. On one summer day, after ma brother and me had spent da day out an' about, we come home ta find grandmama dying on da floor. Ah held her hooves in mine, and her head layed in True's lap as she told us how da taxponies had come with da guards.

Grandmama had answered da door, and when dem bastards saw dat she weren't who dey were after, dey cut her down, an' left her dere ta die, like some rabid dawg. As she left dis world, she told me and ma brother dat dey had taken ma Paw, an’ he was likely dead or worse now, an’ not ter go after him.

Her dying wish was dat True Arrow would keep me safe. Ah think if grandmama were here now, she would think if ma brother did nothin' else in his whole time upon dis earth, he kept me safe. We buried grandmama in her favorite meadow, next ter grandpapa and ma meemaw. Ah wanted ter make Paw a headstone, ta put next ta Maw, but ma brother wouldn't let me. He said dat we must always hope fer da best, no matter how close da darkness gets ta swallowin' us whole.

If Paw were da proudest pony Ah've ever known, den True Arrow were da bravest. He an' our folks at Sweet Apple Acres stopped chargin ponies fer food. At dis point, da school had been disbanded, accordin' ta da goverment, dere was no time fer learnin' no more. Everypony had ter work, ter make bits fer der tax. So True Arrow took up runnin Sugar Cube Corner, an' da first thang he did was put up a sign on da door, sayin' how folks need only pay if dey could afford it.

Ah remember when he put up dat sign, he was tellin' me how no pony in Ponyville would go without eatin' fer another night. Soon da other ponies were inspired by wat he did, and dey too followed in his hoofsteps. Soon da entire town operated on a trade basis, all secret like o' course. When told about what happened ta ma Paw, the townsponies git real angry like.

They chased out dem Canterlot guards, even killin' a few o' dem. Dey broke da magic projectors in da town square, and ripped down all dem propaganda posters with Stretched Thin's face on dem.

We was happy fer a little while.

Then, Ah caught a sickness. Not THE sickness mind ya, thank the Lord Mare Almighty, the Lamb born from the womb of Horse.

Ma brother took me to see the new doctor mare. She weren't da town doctor fer dat long, took over a couplo years back. She sure picked da wrong time ta come ta Ponyville, Ah tell you hwat."

Sammy's face changed to bear a strange expression. A strange new look, which I can only surmise is bound to some strange dark emotion no foal was ever ment to feel. He takes a deep breath, and continues,

"Ah were sick, so Ah were ta spend da night at da clinic. Dere was another foal there, Morning Dove, she were in ma class when we still got ter go ta school. We were sleepin', when we got woken up by da sound o' glass breakin' upstairs. D-den, the thing came through the window.

Ah dunno what dat thing was, but Ah tell ya, it sure weren't from Equestria. Da doctor saved us! She came a runnin downstairs roarin' like a warrior angel with a big ol' fire poker, an' oh boy did she sure beat da crap outta dat thang.

We tried ta tell da others. But none o' dem believed us, well cept fer True Arrow o' course. Sure didn't help that Morning Dove wouldn't breathe a damn word about it. In fact, she pretty much stopped talkin' alltagether. Not ta mention da fact dat folk don't really take kindly ta weird ponies round these parts, or learned ones neither, so da doctor didn't wanna go blabbin her mouth off. She got even stranger after dis all happened. Oh sure, she'd still see patients an' such, but she always seemed real distracted. Started leaving alot of da patient interaction ta her nurses an' interns. Spent alot o' da day locked up in her office. Folk said when deyd see her around town, they could hear her murmuring. Different folk said different things, but da one phrase dat came up alot was

'Follow the Pale Lagomorph?'...whatever dat means...

The only one she'd REALLY talk to was ma brother.

He began to stockpile food an' water, in dis here ol' abandoned castle, an' in da basement o' Sugar Cube Corner. O' course, all da food in dis castle were hidden better dan it is now. He told no pony but me, an' probably da doctor as well, about it. Our Mayor asked True Arrow for advice so much, he'd might as well have been runnin' da town. In his spare time, ma brother taught me how ta shoot dis here bow, and in a itty bitty while, Ah got reeeeeaaaal good at it. We had only about o' couple moons o' peace, when da sickness started breakin' out.

When da first pony got sick, True Arrow got real scared like, and he wouldn't let me eat any food but fer what he stockpiled. He told da other ponies about da food, but even though they had believed him lots of other thangs, they didn't on dis one. Dey didn't believe da doctor neither, at first. At first dey laughed at dem, da doctor an' ma brother. Dey stopped laughin' real quick when da first ponies started breakin' out in oozin' boils, and bleedin' from dere eyes until dey died. We stopped seein' da doctor altogether. Dere were ponies walkin' inta da clinc, but dere weren't no ponies walkin' out.

Ah remember da last day Ah saw Morning Dove. It were when dey were still makin' coffins fer all da folk dat past. She were with one o' da bigger colts from our class, he used to make fun o' me fer ma blank flank. He had a peacock feather fer a cutie mark. Ah remember how he were climbin on da coffins, while squealin' 'blank flank! blank flank!'

Mornin' Dove didn't say nothin', she jus' climbed up dere with him.

Soon after dat, almost half o' da town were gone.

So many ponies, dat dey could no longer keep digging everypony dere own graves. Ya might have seen a couple o' unnatural lookin hills walkin' over here...

Wellp, dose weren't no hills.

One night, Ah was sleepin in ma bed at Sugar Cube Corner, when ma brother shook me awake. I remember wonderin' why Ah could see so much light through da windows, an' wonderin why ma brother had his bow an' arrows on his back, an' a knife in his hoof. Ah remember how I burst inta tears when he told me dat we had ta git out now. Ah had never heard him sound so scared before. He took ma hoof, an' without another word, dragged me down the stairs an' out da door.

The town was burnin'.

Ma brother dragged me through da shadows, as Ah could hear da screams o' da townsfolk. Dere were solider ponies everywhere, killin' folk in da streets. Da soilders were settin' fire ta da buildin's, even shovin' some o' da townsfolk inside, an' barrin' da doors before doin' it. Dey didn't kill all da ponies outright, some o' da mares an' fillies dey gathered up, and shoved dem inta carts with big cages. Dey captured stallions too, but only da prettiest ones.

Ma brother pulled me behind a flamin' sales cart, as a mare Ah knew ran screamin' from three big stallions.

She usta sell roses, outta one of dem flower carts in da townsquare. Ah remember dat Ah tried ta get away from ma brother, Ah wanted ta help her. But he held me still, and waited for da stallions ta be ontop o' her, before he pulled me away. When Ah try ta sleep, Ah can still hear her cryin', and dem stallions laughin' an' cheerin'.

Da clinic were on fire like all da rest. As we ran past it, da whole buildin' crumbled and shot fire an' sparks up inta da sky.

We ran through an ally, an' one of dem tried ta git us, but ma brother's cutie mark shown true when he put in arrow through her brains.

We just kept runnin'.

Dere was a pregnant mare, a knife in her teeth, with two foals cowerin' behind her, out front o' Quills an' Sofas. Dere was a soilder tryin ta git her foals, but she screamed at her, an' a little flame o' hope ignited in ma heart when Ah saw her tackle dat mare and cut her down. But dat flame died right quick, when a passin' gang o' dem saw dat, and d-dey...d-d-dey...dose bastards cut dat baby from her belly...right in fronna her screamin' foals.

We just kept runnin'.

We finally git clear o' da town, an' ta dis ol' castle. Ma brother pushed me in da door, and shoved his bows an' arrows inta my hooves. He told me he were goin' back. Ah cried...oh Ah cried hard fer him not ta leave me. He said he gotta try ta help dem townsponies. Ah tried ta make him take his bow an' arrows, but he wouldn't take 'em, he said Ah'd need em more den he did. He hugged me tight fer a second, an' kissed me on da forehead. He told me dat he loved me, an' dat he would be back real soon, an' not ta worry 'bout him fer even one minute.

Ah cried dat Ah loved him too, as he slammed da door behind him.

Ah watched da town burn to da ground from da windows, an' dem soilders haul off da ones dey captured. Dey burned da dead ones, throwin’ dem ontop o’ da buildins dat dey already set on fire. Ah waited fer ma brother ta come back.

He never did come back.

An', whenever I feel real bad about it, Ah always think of ma grandmama's final wish, fer him ta keep me safe. Ah think dat if ma Maw an' Paw an' Grandmama knew what ma brother did, dey'd be real proud o' him. Like Ah said before, ma brother was da bravest pony Ah've ever known..."

Sammy's voice wavered then, and a single tear slipped down his cheek.

Author's Note

This chapter was inspired by a forgotten historical event known to history as The Rape of Nanking.

The people of Nanking had no angels.