Aegis

by Fluttercheer

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Other, Horror, Profanity, Violence, Sex, Gore, Slice of Life, Babs Seed, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 51417

Aegis. An ancient word that means parental love. When five foals get locked inside a mall at night, they discover that not all entities grant them such love. If they survive the tortures, they might find out what the absence of Aegis truly means.

Aegis. An ancient word that means "care", particularly, the care and love of parents for their children.

Fast Bun, Curtain Call, Corn Pops, Starlet Radiance and Babs Seed are deeply loved by their parents, unconditionally and eternally.
An innocent game of Hide & Seek traditionally played by them in one of Manehattan's malls results in darkness when they find themselves locked inside the mall for the night and something starts to mess with their minds. They aren't alone in the large building and soon, each of them has to discover that not all entities are willing to grant them parental love.

Nurture. Comfort. Company. Solace. Protection. The mall holds a secret and if they survive the tortures planned for them, they might just find out what it is and what the absence of Aegis truly means.

A psychological-horror story for Nightmare Night. Set roughly two years before Twilight came to Ponyville, so Babs and the others are younger foals here.

Published 2018-10-08 22:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-07-23 21:29:45 UTC

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Author's Note

A fair warning before you go into this story: Contains copious amounts of Manehattan accent, some of it very thick!
It's mostly a matter of spelling; there are dropped consonants at the end or in the middle of words and, in rarer cases, an added "r" at the end of a word.
The "aw" sound should be easy to read in any case, it's just like you combine an "o" with a "w" and stretch out the vowel.
If you pay attention to the letters and don't attempt to read this too fast, you should be fine.
In case the accent is too much for you, I'll add a version with reduced accent to each chapter. Here's the link to the accent-reduced version of Chapter 1:

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/421752/2/aegis/hide-accent-reduced-version

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Aegis

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“1”

“2”

“3”

“4”

The numbers found their way into the ears of Fast Bun, but the little filly did not listen. Her eyes were fixated on the sight in front of her, on what she clasped tightly with both of her hooves, to ensure it wouldn't go anywhere. She squeezed it tighter and a thick liquid began to leak out of what was left of it. Fast Bun's eyes gleamed with fascination as it trickled over her hoof and sullied the short hairs on it. Full of delight, she leaned forward with her head, finally ready to take the last bite of what she valued so much. Her mind was so enthralled by the experience, so eager to taste the delicacy that was still slightly warm since she took it from the pony minutes ago, that she did not pay attention to the hasty, thrusting hoofsteps that began to approach her. No, only her price, her precious possession, counted now. Opening her mouth wide, she moved the warm bit to her lips and readied her teeth to chew it to tiny shreds.....

“Bun, what're you waitin' for?!”
A hoof got thrusted onto the back of Fast Bun's head; not enough to hurt, but enough to let her face become planted into the delicious treat that was right in front of her mouth. Her face glistened and the same liquid that was supposed to find its way into her stomach was smeared all across it now. She growled as she looked after her assaulter.

“Babs, you're crazyr?! I bawgh' dis fraw' m' las' pawcke' money, your gawnnar pa' mer backr!” Fast Bun snorted angrily.

The other filly skidded to a halt and turned around. “Fawget about youh caro' dawg, Bun! Curtain Call's countin' already!”

“Seer how I care! Curtain's slo' anywa' an' dis caro' dawg is–” Before she could finish her sentence, Bun felt pushed off her seat by Babs, who had quickly dashed behind her.

“Now isn' time for dis! You can bea' me for it lata, now we need a place to hide!”

Fast Bun growled more, but let herself getting pushed reluctantly. After a few steps, she finally set herself into motion and galloped down the hallway, Babs following in her tracks. Behind them, the numbers kept getting counted.

“8”

“9”

“10”

Both fillies twitched, as the phrase they dreaded sounded through the mall. “Hidde' aw' nawt, I'm comin' for your!” the colt yelled at the top of his lungs. They heard him laughing in delight, faintly.

The fillies increased their tempo and took a sharp turn to the left, entering another hallway. Shops rushed past them left and right, until Fast Bun pointed at one in the distance. “How abou' wer hide, like, dere, Babs? Wer can hide between da clawtes!”

But Babs shook her head. “Uh-uh. Bad idea. The shawp's about to clawse already!” Instead of running further down the hallway and towards the boutique, Babs turned right and pulled Fast Bun with her. The orange-maned filly saw the mare inside the boutique wave at them with a smile for a moment, before the lids rolled down and covered her face.

“Let's get up the escalata!” Babs huffed, now slightly out of breath. She loosened the grip around her friend and stampeded up the still metal stairs. Bun followed her.

On the top of the escalator, they found themselves greeted by dim lights. “Pehfec'!” Babs shouted. “Dat'll make it hada for Curtain to find us!” She pointed down another hallway, just opposite of the direction they had come down a floor below. “Let's hide ova dere!”

Fast Bun ran after her not knowing what her friend meant, but then she saw Babs jumping between the thick leaves of a large plant situated in a plant box between two benches and her mind became clear. Not wasting a moment, she followed Babs' example and dove into the leafage.

Inside, the two fillies fell into silence. Bun rubbed over her face to clean it, helplessly, but only ended up making it worse. Sighing, she ripped off one of the leaves of the plant, flashing a guilty expression. She gave Babs a cold glare as she rubbed the mayonnaise and the fat off her face with the leaf.

“I wan' da money I spen' on dis caro' dawg backr,” she whispered.

“Why?” Babs looked at her, honest cluelessness in her face. “You could've still eaten it.”

“No, becawse I tre' it awa'!” Bun huffed.

“Youh faul' den..... Should've kep' it.” Babs shrugged.

“It's nawt m' faul'.....” Bun's glare increased. “Your destrawyed dat caro' dawg!”

“Destrawyed?” Babs blew her bangs. “Why? Would've been fine if you jus' ate it, no big deal!”

“No big dea' for your.....” The voice of the other filly increased slightly. “I awnl' eatr fas' foo' if it's in a pehfec' cawnditio' an' unhamed an' your–”

“Come ou' whereva your are, I'm goin' tor fin' your anywa'!” the high-pitched voice of the colt cut into their eardrums. Instinctively, Fast Bun pressed both hooves on her mouth. Her eyes darted over to Babs, fear in them. “Come oooooooou'!” the colt shouted again. “Your kno' I wi' ge' your!”

“Jeepas.....” Babs said. “Does he have to do it so creepy?” She shuddered.

“W-Where is her?” Fast Bun asked, teeth clattering slightly.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” Curtain Call's voice shook them once more.

Babs pricked her ears. “Sounds like he's righ' below us..... Quie'!” she whispered sharply.

“Um-hm.” Fast Bun nodded her understanding.

The faint clops of the seeking colt's hooves invaded their ears as he trotted over the tiled floor in the hallway under them.The lamps on the second floor were still dim and barely any light found its way into their hideout. Combined with the hoof clopping and the occasional shouts by the colt, it created an eerie atmosphere that made Bun start shuddering.

Babs flashed her a look. “You okay?”

“Um..... Um-hm!” Fast Bun's head bobbed up and down. “I-I a'. It's jus', like, so creepyr righ' now.....”

“Yeah,” Babs agreed. “He's tryin' to scare us so we reveal ouhselves, bu' no chance! He's gotta try hada!”

Another nod by Bun, which she followed up with a smile.

The fillies lapsed into silence again. They listened to Curtain Call moving away and trotting down another hallway on the first floor. As they couldn't hear his hoofsteps anymore and his voice had become a very faint sound in the distance, a creaking noise made them twitch.

“Jeepas, what was dis?!” Babs said, a little louder than it was wise in their situation, and looked up. Between the leaves above her head, her eyes found only darkness. “Sounds like it came from the uppa flawrs, bu' I can' see a tin' up dere!”

“Prawbabl' a dawwh gettin' awpened,” Fast Bun suggested. “O' mayber Curtain Call too', like, a' elevata. Your kno' her hate' climbin' u' stairs.”

“Maybe,” Babs answered. But she cocked her head and her mouth twisted slightly.

More minutes spent by the two fillies in silence passed. This time, it was broken by Fast Bun.

“I a' wawnderin', like, how Corn Pops is doin'.....” she whispered, eyes darting around in the near darkness once more.

“Maybe found ahready,” Babs guessed, looking out between the leaves. “If no', he's lyin' unda a bench and cryin' for his mom.”

Fast Bun nodded silently. “Dis time I can' blame hi'..... The maw' is scar' to-dey.”

Now it was Babs who just nodded. “I'm sure he's found. Knowin' Pops, he tawld Curtain where he is jus' so he won' have to be alone any lawnga.” As if something wanted to confirm her words, she could suddenly hear hoofsteps approaching them. “You heah dis?” she turned towards Fast Bun.

“Um-hmm. Sound' like twor paih awf hooves. Where dey come fraw'?” Bun looked around, trying to identify the source of the clopping.

“Clawse,” Babs whispered. She held a hoof at her mouth. “Same flawwh” she added in an even quieter voice.

Seconds went by and the hoofsteps became louder. The two fillies could discern them now; one pair of hooves sounded firm and confident, the other one made only soft sounds, like somepony was putting their hooves down very carefully. It was also unsteady, like the pony was unsure about continuing.

Babs' eyes narrowed. “Curtain Call and Corn Pops,” she whispered to her friend.

“Where?” Bun inquired, now gulping. She inched a little closer to Babs, careful to not make any sounds.

“Righ' dere.” Babs pointed her hoof at a small opening between the leaves. Corn Pops and Curtain Call trotted past them, their silhouettes visible in the window light of a bakery. Curtain looked around and scrutinized his environment, while Corn Pops trotted slowly behind him, his head low. Holding their breaths, the two fillies watched them. They observed each of their steps and did not let them out of their eyes.

As the two colts had disappeared behind a corner, the translucent signs at the ceiling above them showing illuminated shapes of a mare and a stallion and an arrow to the left, Babs and Bun relaxed. They did a last, observing glance at the corner under the fluorescent, blue lights of the signs, then leaned back with a relieved sigh. Just in case they retreated a little bit further into the leafage, but both of them felt more relaxed now.

“Looks like we found a really good hideou'!” Babs said triumphantly. “He's neva goin' to find us!”

Fast Bun grinned. “Yea', like, nor chance!” She lifted a hoof and bumped it against the one of her friend.

More minutes passed. It was once more completely silent around them but, unlike before, this circumstance didn't last long. Curtain Call and Corn Pops soon came back, the former flashing an unsatisfied expression.

“Notin'.....” Babs and Bun heard him say. “An' I wa' sure I woul', like, fin' dem dere!”

Corn Pops, who still trudged after him, looked up. “I told you dey won't be in the fillies' toilet. You shouldn't have gone dere, Curtain.” His voice was quiet and his face showed discomfort.

Curtain Call turned around at him. “Bu' it wa' ar goo' gue'! Twor fillies hidin' in da fillies' toile' while ar cawl' searche' for dem, dat's cleva!” he countered while they trotted past the plant boxes.

Babs' and Fast Bun's eyes shrunk and they cringed a little. “Her seached in da toile' for fillies, disgustin'!” Fast Bun said, almost spitting out but quiet enough to not be heard by the colt.

They could hear the hoofsteps of the seeker and his companion become quieter again, as they left the plant boxes behind them. Just as both of them wanted to breathe another sigh of relief, though, Curtain Call unexpectedly turned his head around. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned their hideout.

Alarmed, Babs and Bun retreated a bit, watching him anxiously. As Curtain turned around completely and began to trot into their direction, not leaving the eyes off the large plant, the fillies lied down and pressed themselves flat against the soil. Their hearts pumped blood through their veins twice as fast than normal as they heard the colt approaching and eventually stopping in front of the plant box. Agonizing seconds of silence went by, then his voice rang out loudly.

“AHAR!” they heard him shout and twitched. Leaves rustled, then Fast Bun felt grabbed by hooves and lifted up. Gasping, she found herself looking into Curtain's face.

“Foun'!” he cheered. “Now I jus' nee' tor fin' Babs an' I have almaws' wo'! Is sher in dere wit your?”

Fast Bun did not reply and looked to the side trying to conceal what she knew, but her face betrayed her. Curtain Call grinned in response, then he let the filly down and reached into the leafage once more. After a few seconds of tapping around, he pulled out Babs. The filly gave him a smirk.

“Nice!” she said, her tone a little teasing. “Bu' no' ova ye'!”

She climbed out as Curtain had loosened his grip around her and joined Fast Bun's side, who was already standing in front of the plant box, busy with brushing the dirt from her coat. Babs followed her example. There were four of them now, but Curtain Call was not pleased just yet.

“Ahrite, now time tor fin' Star!” he exclaimed, stretching a hoof into the air in determination. “I'm goin' tor wi' dis time!” He set himself into motion and the other three foals followed him.

Fast Bun joined his side. She was wearing a slightly disgusted look and a faint blush on her face. “Curtain,” she addressed him. “Loo' evehywhere, bu' don' gor intor, like, anoda fillies' toile' agai', oka'?”

Curtain Call turned round at her and raised an eyebrow, confusion building on his face. “Wh' naw'?” he asked. “It's sor awbviou'.”

“Yea', bu'..... Your kno' wh' your shouldn' gor dere. It's for fillies.” She emphasized the last word. Behind them, Babs and Corn Pops just frowned at Curtain Call.

He rolled his eyes. “Yea', I dor..... Bu' wha' if, like, your an' Babs woul' have hidde' in dere? Wha' if Star doe'?”

“Den your don' gor inside anywa'!” Bun clarified, stricter. “It isn' righ' tor dor dat. An' I don' tin' Starlet woul' hide, like, dere awf a' place' if ar cawl' is da seeka, nor fill' woul'.” She gave Curtain a caring, but stern, look.

“Your reall' tin' so, huh?” he asked. Then Curtain shook his head. “Bu' mayber sher doe', because I wouldn' expec' heh dere!” Then he increased his pace and marshed ahead, eyes already fixated on the next, blue-glowing signs in the distance. Fast Bun stayed behind, hanging her head.

Unfortunately for the determined seeker, his guess turned out wrong again. The door of the second fillies' toilet on this floor got flung open in front of Babs, Bun and Corn Pops, a visibly frustrated Curtain Call stomping out of it.

“Cra'!” he yelled and kicked the wall. “Wh' is nor fill' hidin' in dere, I ha' such ar cleva idear!”

Corn Pops and Babs stared at him, their disapproving frowns even deeper than before, but Fast Bun trotted up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “I tawl' your, nor fill' woul' dor dis if ar cawl' is seekin'.” She gave him a smile, feeling compassion for the frustrated colt.

Curtain Call closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Mayber you're righ',” he said, then looked into the face of his friend, lip quivering.

Fast Bun wrapped his hooves around his neck and gave him a quick squeeze. “Now let's seahch somewhere else!” she chimed. “Dere are, like, sor man' mawe place' sher coul' hide in lef'!” Bun nudged him, which earned her a grateful smile, then they joined their two friends to continue the search.

The group of foals explored the second floor of the mall diligently, all of them focused and concentrated on Curtain's task, while Curtain Call looked under benches, squeezed himself behind soda machines, checked inside a colts' toilet (earning a facehoof by Fast Bun), crawled into more plant boxes and overall sniffed around in every corner of the floor. Time began to drag on and half an hour later, the colt sat down and let his head hang. He breathed strongly now, sweat trickling down his coat. “I give u',” he whispered dejectedly as he had some of this breath back.

Fast Bun approached him and put a hoof over his shoulders, sitting down at his side. “Your di' grea'!” she complimented him. “Naw', like, pehfec', yea', bu' a' leas' Starlet didn'', like, come ou', hersel' becawse it too' your sor lawng, like da las' time your were seeka.” She nudged him again. “Tree ou' awf fouh isn' ba', Curtain!”

He sniffed and wiped over his nose, then he flashed his friend a smile and crushed her with a hug.

With their game now over and their last friend still hidden, they concluded it was time to call her. Babs put her head back. “You can come ou' now, Starlet! Curtain gave up!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, sending her voice through the empty hallways of the dimly-lit mall.

After a few seconds of silence and without a sign of the missing filly, Babs repeated her call. “Starlet!” her voice rang out once more. “The game's ova, now come ou', we need to go home soon!”

Silence answered her call and as they did not get a response after another few seconds, the four foals looked at each other, confused and dumbfounded. They swarmed out, shouting their friend's name over and over again while amplifying their voices with their hooves around their mouths.

After a few minutes like this, their voices got interrupted. A clopping sound rang into their ears, faint like it was far away and at the same time graceful. The clopping became louder and louder with each second that passed and, finally, their missing friend stepped out of the shadows.

Starlet Radiance held a hoof at her face and yawned, then she looked at her friends sleepily, rubbing over one of her eyes. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I fell asleep while I was hiding, so I couldn't hear you calling me.” There was a noticeable, drowsy tone in her voice, but it still sounded elegant.

“Star!” Curtain Call shouted in relief and rushed over to the filly, his friends following closely behind. “Wer thawgh' someting's wrawng.....” he said, face full of concern.

Starlet Radiance yawned again. “Nothing is wrong, I'm alright.” Now she finally flashed them a charming and adorable smile. Before anypony else could say something, it had eased their worries and calmed them down.

Babs stepped up. “Ahrite, now we're back togeda, let's leave! It's gettin' late!”

The words got met with broad approval by the other foals and so, they began to head for the exit.

“He', where di' your hide?” Curtain Call asked Starlet, as they trotted down another still escalator.

The filly turned around, the dark, pink streak in her steel-blue mane coming into the colt's view as her long mane waved around her neck, and she gave him a proud smile. “In one awf the fillies' toilets on the third floor.”

Fast Bun stopped dead in her tracks. “W-Wha'?!” Her face fell apart as disbelief took it over.

“An' I tawl' your it's ar cleva idear!” Curtain Call shouted and pointed a hoof at Fast Bun, feeling triumph.

Starlet Radiance trotted past the shocked filly and stuck out her tongue, then a high giggle escaped her which soon turned into laughter. It eventually spread to Curtain Call, then to Babs and Corn Pops. All four of them were laughing loudly about the unexpected reveal.

“Dat's, like, toor wrong tor ber troo.....” Fast Bun mumbled as she trudged after them with a red face.

The next minutes were spent with laughing by most of the foals, then with the subsequent slow recovery from their fits. As they had reached the exit of the mall, though, it was ultimately something else that stopped their laughs:

A massive metal shutter, coming from the ceiling and reaching all the way down to the floor.

It took the five little foals a minute to realize what this meant while they stood there and stared at the shutter, their mouths opened in surprise. As it dawned on them that they couldn't get out, their ears flattened simultaneously and they turned away from the door in hesitation.

They looked around in the hallway; from the floor to the ceiling, over the various shop windows and their pale lights and then into the darkness that sprawled out in front of them. It was only now that they noticed just how dark it was in the mall, a fact that came crushing down on their young minds together with the realization that they had completely lost track of time during their game.

“We are locked inside the mawll.” It was Corn Pops who first found his speech. The face of the little colt immediately broke out in sweat. “W-We can't get o-out. M-Mommy.....” Corn Pops lied down on the floor and covered his head, then started to shake. High-pitched whimpers escaped his throat.

Fast Bun gave him a look filled with concern, then she shot an angry glare at Starlet Radiance. “Now Corn Pops is upse' an' it's aw' becawse awf your!” she shouted.

“Me?” Starlet asked puzzled, placing a hoof on her chest. Confusion was all over her face.

“Yes, your!” Fast Bun huffed. She trotted up to Starlet, her hooves pounding on the floor. “If your wouldn' have insiste' dat we shoul' le' Curtain Call ber seeka, wer woul' ber ou' awf da maw' now! Your kno' how slo' her is!”

Behind her, Curtain Call flattened his ears and looked to the ground.

“And, so what? I gave him a chance to show dat he can finally win a round of hide and seek for awnce! Dat we are trapped in here now is not my fawlt, it's his, because he didn't even try to move his fat legs faster!” She gave Curtain Call a look full of disgust.

Fast Bun gasped and a hurt expression appeared in her eyes. She looked over her shoulder at Curtain Call, seeing him creep away and then sitting down on a bench, where he started weeping.

“Seer wha' your di' now?!” Fast Bun shouted at the other filly again, even more angry than before. “It isn' oka' tor hur' his feelings like dis!”

“B-But Starlet is right,” Corn Pops suddenly interferred. He was still crouching on the floor, but looked up at them now. “I mean..... I wouldn't say it so nasty, but..... S-She has a point, Curtain really slows us down very often.” He lowered his eyes, afraid of Fast Bun's response.

The filly gave him only a brief and sad look, though, before her attention got drawn back to Starlet.

“See? Corn Pops understands! It's Curtain Call's fault, not mine.....” She sniffed a little and glanced away, now looking hurt herself.

Out of words, Bun looked to the floor, her eyes darting around as she followed the pattern of the tiles. She bit her lip for a moment, then her head shot up again. She was glaring at Starlet Radiance once more.

“No, it's naw'! Your shouldn' have le' hi' dor sometin' your kno' her can!” She put a hoof on Starlet's chest and pushed her a bit.

Starlet didn't budge an inch and looked up at her challenger with a cold stare. “If you say so..... But you're outvawted, it's two against one. So what are you going to do now?”

Fast Bun showed her teeth and started to growl. “Your.....” She did a step forward and came umcomfortably close to Starlet's face. “I'll show your, I'm goin' to–”

“HEY!” Babs stepped between them, gently pushing Fast Bun away from Starlet. “You're crazy, o' wha'?! You're friends!”

The intervention worked. Fast Bun did a step back and looked to the floor once more. There was still anger in her face, but traces of guilt slowly got mixed with it. Starlet Radiance crossed her hooves in front of her chest and looked to the side, eyes closed.

As Babs was sure that a fight was averted, she breathed out sharply. “Ahrite,” she said then. “We aren' trapped hea.”

The foals looked up in surprise. Curtain Call even stopped his weeping and Starlet Radiance stared at Babs, big-eyed.

“We jus' need to go to the night guard and tell him wha' happened, he will le' us ou'!” Babs explained.

The other four foals gasped simultaneously. Corn Pops got up from the floor and gave Babs a sheepish smile and Fast Bun rubbed over her foreleg, blushing. Only Curtain Call and Starlet Radiance didn't show any reaction aside from their initial surprise. Curtain just sniffed and dried his eyes and Starlet trotted past Babs, not paying any more heed to her.

“Fine with me,” she said taut and kept trotting down the dark hallway, not turning around.

The other foals followed her swiftly.

After just a few minutes, Corn Pops, Fast Bun, Starlet Radiance and Curtain Call had forgotten the ruckus at the mall's exit. They all followed Babs, who took the lead on their way to the night guard's office, quietly. The darkness around them, the silence in the mall that they knew as such a loud place, how the sounds of their hooves echoed through the empty building, it all drove the agitation out of their minds and replaced it with fear.

A few times they saw shadows skirring around in the corner of their eyes, only to disappear when they looked straight at them. And sometimes there was a creaking sound coming from an unknown direction, not unlike the one Babs and Bun heard while they were hiding. The other three foals had heard it, as well, and it made them equally uncomfortable in this situation.

As Fast Bun couldn't take the anxiety and fear anymore, she decided to distract herself by finally doing what had been on her mind the entire time since they had set out to find the security guard. Her heart bumping fast, she carefully approached Starlet Radiance. “He',” she began. “I..... I'm sawr'. I shouldn' have blamed evehytin' awn your, Starlet. I jus' gaw' wawried whe' I saw dat wer gaw' locked inside da maw' an' whe' Corn Pops starte' to pani', I fel' sawr' for hi' an' I panicked a little, toor.....” Her eyes took on a pleading expression. “Bu' I shouldn' have sai' a' awf dese tings, Babs is righ', wer are friends. Can your fawgive mer?”

For a few, painful seconds, Starlet did not respond and just stared coldly into the distance. But then she sighed and looked at Fast Bun, setting up a sympathetic look. “I am sorry, too,” she spoke quietly. “It hurt when you gave me the fault for everything even though I just wanted to help Curtain..... But I shouldn't have talked about him like dis, I know how much awf a good friend he is to you.” Regret spread out in her face. “I should have guessed how much it would hurt you to say dat and kept my mouth shut.” She sighed again, deeper this time. “Can you forgive me?”

“I can.” Bun nodded. “Wer a' have bee' sill'.”

The acceptance of her apology cast a broader smile on her face and a gleam appeared in her eyes. “You're right.” She nodded in return. “We are all at fault for it. I'm at fawlt, because I wanted Curtain Call as seeker. Curtain Call is at fault, because, well..... because he wasn't fast enough at finding us.” She whispered the last part of her sentence. “And all of us are at fault, because we didn't notice dat the mawll was about to close..... We are all to blame for dis.”

“Um-hm. Bu' wer don' nee' to wawrr' abou' it, Babs knows a wa' ou'.” She wiped a hoof over the back of her mane. “So, uh, are wer sti' friends, Starlet?”

“Of course! We never stopped being friends.” Starlet gave Bun one of her special, adorable smiles.

Happy that the dust has settled, the two fillies exchanged a relieved grin. Smiling, Babs watched the scenery from the top of the group, before something caught her attention and she looked ahead again.

“Hey! Dere we are!” she shouted to alert her friends. In front of her, they could see a wall with a large glass window embedded in its middle. A plain, grey metal door was situated to its left. Most importantly, though, the room behind the window was brightly lit and a brown stallion in uniform sat on a chair behind a panel that was filled with buttons in a variety of colors. On the left side was an assortment of monitors. Their backside faced at them, so they couldn't see the screens.

Excited, the five foals rushed closer to the window. Babs reared up, placed a hoof on the narrow edge before it and knocked on the window with the other hoof. “Hey, mista! We go' lawcked in hea when we played hide and seek, could you le' us ou'?”

The guard didn't respond. In all their excitement, they had missed a crucial detail about his appearance: His eyes were closed.

“Awesome,” Babs said, voice ripe with sarcasm. “The night guard hea likes to sleep trough the nigh' shif'.....” She turned to the others. “We gonna have to wake him up!”

Babs began to pound her hooves against the window and Starlet and Corn Pops joined her. The heavy glass produced a dull sound as the tiny hooves thudded on it, but the guard did not move. “HEEEEEEEEEY!” the three of them shouted. “We can't get out, wake up!” There was no reaction from the guard still.

Corn Pops broke out in sweat again. “C-Can he even hear us?” His teeth started to clatter.

“He should,” Babs responded. “The glass is tick, but he needs to be able to hear wha' happens outside.”

“If he can still hear.....” Starlet suggested, now speaking in an ominous voice.

“Huh?” Babs stopped pounding on the glass and turned around. She raised an eyebrow and looked at Starlet confused.

Starlet lowered her eyes. “Does he still breathe?” she asked, sporting an expression that gave them all shudders.

“Not funny!” Babs scolded her. “Awf cawhse he's breatin', jus' has a deep sleep, is all.”

“Fiiiiiiiine,” Starlet retracted. “Sorry, dat was a dumb joke.” She tried to appear serious again, but couldn't stiffle a giggle.

To their left, Curtain Call approached the door. He turned around, bent down and thrust his hindlegs against it. The impact they made on the metal sounded like an explosion as it echoed throughout the mall. Buck after buck, his hooves came down on the door, but neither the metal, nor the lock gave in. After his tenth attempt, Curtain gave up and sat down, panting heavily.

The other four foals looked at him, then back to the guard, who still didn't move. They sighed.

“So, wha' now?” Fast Bun asked, looking at her friends.

“We can ty wakin' him up again lata. For now, we have to stay hea,” Babs concluded.

“S-Stay here?” Corn Pops started to shake. “T-The entire night?” His face showed terror at the imagination.

“No, jus', like, unti' he wakes u',” Fast Bun answered his question, trying to calm him down. “And dere are mawnitaws in his awfficer.” She pointed at the monitors behind the glass. “Mayber we're lucky an' her wi' seer us whe' wer are, like, in frawn' awf ar camerar.”

“Exactly!” Babs agreed. “We jus' need to make the bes' awf the situation.”

The other foals grouped around her. “But what should we do now?” Starlet asked. “The shops are awll closed. Should we play more hide and seek?”

“WITHOUT ME!” Corn Pops yelled. “I'm not playing any games in the dark!” He crawled closer to Babs, the shaking of his body increasing. “I just want to go home!” the colt whined.

Before Babs could give an answer, though, a deep and loud growl that suddenly surfaced around them took care of this for her. The foals twitched and Corn Pops finally crouched down under Babs in an attempt to find protection. As they realized what had caused the growl, they gripped their stomachs.

“Maws' awf u' haven' eate', like, since lunch,” Fast Bun said, grimacing. “An' I'm statin' tor ge' hungr' agai', toor.” Her friends nodded, all of them wearing similar, unhappy expressions.

“Okay, den let's go find sometin' to eat!” Babs decided.

“A' dis time?” Curtain Call asked slightly out of breath, his voice sounding worried and somber.

“We have to see if sometin' was trawn away. Come!” She waved after her friends, then set herself in motion, pulling a still shaking Corn Pops with her.

Hesitant to leave the lights behind the window, but the hunger forcing them, Curtain Call, Fast Bun and Starlet Radiance followed Babs and Corn Pops into the darkness of the deserted building.

Hide ----- Accent-reduced version

Author's Note

Here is an accent-reduced version of Chapter 1!
If you have problems with the thick accent of Curtain Call and Fast Bun, you can read this instead and it should make things easier for you.
However, for the full immersive effect, reading the standard version with fully-realistic accent and varying levels of accent between the foals is recommended.

Hide ----- Accent-reduced version

Aegis

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Hide

“1”

“2”

“3”

“4”

The numbers found their way into the ears of Fast Bun, but the little filly did not listen. Her eyes were fixated on the sight in front of her, on what she clasped tightly with both of her hooves, to ensure it wouldn't go anywhere. She squeezed it tighter and a thick liquid began to leak out of what was left of it. Fast Bun's eyes gleamed with fascination as it trickled over her hoof and sullied the short hairs on it. Full of delight, she leaned forward with her head, finally ready to take the last bite of what she valued so much. Her mind was so enthralled by the experience, so eager to taste the delicacy that was still slightly warm since she took it from the pony minutes ago, that she did not pay attention to the hasty, thrusting hoofsteps that began to approach her. No, only her price, her precious possession, counted now. Opening her mouth wide, she moved the warm bit to her lips and readied her teeth to chew it to tiny shreds.....

“Bun, what're you waitin' for?!”
A hoof got thrusted onto the back of Fast Bun's head; not enough to hurt, but enough to let her face become planted into the delicious treat that was right in front of her mouth. Her face glistened and the same liquid that was supposed to find its way into her stomach was smeared all across it now. She growled as she looked after her assaulter.

“Babs, you're crazy?! I bawght dis frawm my last pawcket money, you gawnnar pay me back!” Fast Bun snorted angrily.

The other filly skidded to a halt and turned around. “Fawget about youh carrot dawg, Bun! Curtain Call's countin' already!”

“See how I care! Curtain's slow anyway and dis carrot dawg is–” Before she could finish her sentence, Bun felt pushed off her seat by Babs, who had quickly dashed behind her.

“Now isn' time for dis! You can beat me for it lata, now we need a place to hide!”

Fast Bun growled more, but let herself getting pushed reluctantly. After a few steps, she finally set herself into motion and galloped down the hallway, Babs following in her tracks. Behind them, the numbers kept getting counted.

“8”

“9”

“10”

Both fillies twitched, as the phrase they dreaded sounded through the mall. “Hidden awr nawt, I'm comin' for you!” the colt yelled at the top of his lungs. They heard him laughing in delight, faintly.

The fillies increased their tempo and took a sharp turn to the left, entering another hallway. Shops rushed past them left and right, until Fast Bun pointed at one in the distance. “How about we hide, like, dere, Babs? We can hide between da clawthes!”

But Babs shook her head. “Uh-uh. Bad idea. The shawp's about to clawse already!” Instead of running further down the hallway and towards the boutique, Babs turned right and pulled Fast Bun with her. The orange-maned filly saw the mare inside the boutique wave at them with a smile for a moment, before the lids rolled down and covered her face.

“Let's get up the escalata!” Babs huffed, now slightly out of breath. She loosened the grip around her friend and stampeded up the still metal stairs. Bun followed her.

On the top of the escalator, they found themselves greeted by dim lights. “Perfect!” Babs shouted. “Dat'll make it harda for Curtain to find us!” She pointed down another hallway, just opposite of the direction they had come down a floor below. “Let's hide ova dere!”

Fast Bun ran after her not knowing what her friend meant, but then she saw Babs jumping between the thick leaves of a large plant situated in a plant box between two benches and her mind became clear. Not wasting a moment, she followed Babs' example and dove into the leafage.

Inside, the two fillies fell into silence. Bun rubbed over her face to clean it, helplessly, but only ended up making it worse. Sighing, she ripped off one of the leaves of the plant, flashing a guilty expression. She gave Babs a cold glare as she rubbed the mayonnaise and the fat off her face with the leaf.

“I want da money I spent on dis carrot dawg back,” she whispered.

“Why?” Babs looked at her, honest cluelessness in her face. “You could've still eaten it.”

“No, becawse I threw it away!” Bun huffed.

“Youh fault den..... Should've kept it.” Babs shrugged.

“It's nawt my fault.....” Bun's glare increased. “You destrawyed dat carrot dawg!”

“Destrawyed?” Babs blew her bangs. “Why? Would've been fine if you just ate it, no big deal!”

“No big deal for you.....” The voice of the other filly increased slightly. “I awnly eat fast food if it's in a perfect cawndition and unharmed and you–”

“Come out whereva you are, I'm goin' to find you anyway!” the high-pitched voice of the colt cut into their eardrums.
Instinctively, Fast Bun pressed both hooves on her mouth. Her eyes darted over to Babs, fear in them. “Come oooooooout!” the colt shouted again. “You know I will get you!”

“Jeepas.....” Babs said. “Does he have to do it so creepy?” She shuddered.

“W-Where is he?” Fast Bun asked, teeth clattering slightly.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” Curtain Call's voice shook them once more.

Babs pricked her ears. “Sounds like he's right below us..... Quiet!” she whispered sharply.

“Um-hm.” Fast Bun nodded her understanding.

The faint clops of the seeking colt's hooves invaded their ears as he trotted over the tiled floor in the hallway under them.The lamps on the second floor were still dim and barely any light found its way into their hideout. Combined with the hoof clopping and the occasional shouts by the colt, it created an eerie atmosphere that made Bun start shuddering.

Babs flashed her a look. “You okay?”

“Um..... Um-hm!” Fast Bun's head bobbed up and down. “I-I am. It's just, like, so creepy right now.....”

“Yeah,” Babs agreed. “He's tryin' to scare us so we reveal ourselves, but no chance! He's gotta try harda!”

Another nod by Bun, which she followed up with a smile.

The fillies lapsed into silence again. They listened to Curtain Call moving away and trotting down another hallway on the first floor. As they couldn't hear his hoofsteps anymore and his voice had become a very faint sound in the distance, a creaking noise made them twitch.

“Jeepas, what was dis?!” Babs said, a little louder than it was wise in their situation, and looked up. Between the leaves above her head, her eyes found only darkness. “Sounds like it came from the uppa flawrs, but I can't see a thin' up dere!”

“Prawbably a dawwr gettin' awpened,” Fast Bun suggested. “Or maybe Curtain Call took, like, an elevata. Your know he hates climbin' up stairs.”

“Maybe,” Babs answered. But she cocked her head and her mouth twisted slightly.

More minutes spent by the two fillies in silence passed. This time, it was broken by Fast Bun.

“I am wawnderin', like, how Corn Pops is doin'.....” she whispered, eyes darting around in the near darkness once more.

“Maybe found ahready,” Babs guessed, looking out between the leaves. “If not, he's lyin' unda a bench and cryin' for his mom.”

Fast Bun nodded silently. “Dis time I can't blame him..... The mawll is scary to-dey.”

Now it was Babs who just nodded. “I'm sure he's found. Knowin' Pops, he tawld Curtain where he is just so he won't have to be alone any lawnga.” As if something wanted to confirm her words, she could suddenly hear hoofsteps approaching them. “You heah dis?” she turned towards Fast Bun.

“Um-hmm. Sounds like two paih awf hooves. Where dey come frawm?” Bun looked around, trying to identify the source of the clopping.

“Clawse,” Babs whispered. She held a hoof at her mouth. “Same flawwh” she added in an even quieter voice.

Seconds went by and the hoofsteps became louder. The two fillies could discern them now; one pair of hooves sounded firm and confident, the other one made only soft sounds, like somepony was putting their hooves down very carefully. It was also unsteady, like the pony was unsure about continuing.

Babs' eyes narrowed. “Curtain Call and Corn Pops,” she whispered to her friend.

“Where?” Bun inquired, now gulping. She inched a little closer to Babs, careful to not make any sounds.

“Right dere.” Babs pointed her hoof at a small opening between the leaves. Corn Pops and Curtain Call trotted past them, their silhouettes visible in the window light of a bakery. Curtain looked around and scrutinized his environment, while Corn Pops trotted slowly behind him, his head low. Holding their breaths, the two fillies watched them. They observed each of their steps and did not let them out of their eyes.

As the two colts had disappeared behind a corner, the translucent signs at the ceiling above them showing illuminated shapes of a mare and a stallion and an arrow to the left, Babs and Bun relaxed. They did a last, observing glance at the corner under the fluorescent, blue lights of the signs, then leaned back with a relieved sigh. Just in case they retreated a little bit further into the leafage, but both of them felt more relaxed now.

“Looks like we found a really good hideout!” Babs said triumphantly. “He's neva goin' to find us!”

Fast Bun grinned. “Yeah, like, no chance!” She lifted a hoof and bumped it against the one of her friend.

More minutes passed. It was once more completely silent around them but, unlike before, this circumstance didn't last long. Curtain Call and Corn Pops soon came back, the former flashing an unsatisfied expression.

“Nothin'.....” Babs and Bun heard him say. “And I was sure I would, like, find dem dere!”

Corn Pops, who still trudged after him, looked up. “I told you dey won't be in the fillies' toilet. You shouldn't have gone dere, Curtain.” His voice was quiet and his face showed discomfort.

Curtain Call turned around at him. “But it was a good guess! Two fillies hidin' in da fillies' toilet while a cawlt searches for dem, dat's cleva!” he countered while they trotted past the plant boxes.

Babs' and Fast Bun's eyes shrunk and they cringed a little. “He searched in da toilet for fillies, disgustin'!” Fast Bun said, almost spitting out but quiet enough to not be heard by the colt.

They could hear the hoofsteps of the seeker and his companion become quieter again, as they left the plant boxes behind them. Just as both of them wanted to breathe another sigh of relief, though, Curtain Call unexpectedly turned his head around. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned their hideout.

Alarmed, Babs and Bun retreated a bit, watching him anxiously. As Curtain turned around completely and began to trot into their direction, not leaving the eyes off the large plant, the fillies lied down and pressed themselves flat against the soil. Their hearts pumped blood through their veins twice as fast than normal as they heard the colt approaching and eventually stopping in front of the plant box. Agonizing seconds of silence went by, then his voice rang out loudly.

“AHAR!” they heard him shout and twitched. Leaves rustled, then Fast Bun felt grabbed by hooves and lifted up. Gasping, she found herself looking into Curtain's face.

“Found!” he cheered. “Now I just need to find Babs and I have almawst won! Is she in dere with you?”

Fast Bun did not reply and looked to the side trying to conceal what she knew, but her face betrayed her. Curtain Call grinned in response, then he let the filly down and reached into the leafage once more. After a few seconds of tapping around, he pulled out Babs. The filly gave him a smirk.

“Nice!” she said, her tone a little teasing. “But not ova yet!”

She climbed out as Curtain had loosened his grip around her and joined Fast Bun's side, who was already standing in front of the plant box, busy with brushing the dirt from her coat. Babs followed her example. There were four of them now, but Curtain Call was not pleased just yet.

“Ahrite, now time to find Star!” he exclaimed, stretching a hoof into the air in determination. “I'm goin' to win dis time!” He set himself into motion and the other three foals followed him.

Fast Bun joined his side. She was wearing a slightly disgusted look and a faint blush on her face. “Curtain,” she addressed him. “Look everywhere, but don't go into, like, anoda fillies' toilet again, okay?”

Curtain Call turned round at her and raised an eyebrow, confusion building on his face. “Why nawt?” he asked. “It's so awbvious.”

“Yeah, but..... You know why you shouldn't go dere. It's for fillies.” She emphasized the last word. Behind them, Babs and Corn Pops just frowned at Curtain Call.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I do..... But what if, like, you and Babs would have hidden in dere? What if Star does?”

“Den you don't go inside anyway!” Bun clarified, stricter. “It isn't right to do dat. And I don't think Starlet would hide, like, dere awf all places if a cawlt is da seeka, nor filly would.” She gave Curtain a caring, but stern, look.

“You really think so, huh?” he asked. Then Curtain shook his head. “But maybe she does, because I wouldn't expect heh dere!” Then he increased his pace and marshed ahead, eyes already fixated on the next, blue-glowing signs in the distance. Fast Bun stayed behind, hanging her head.

Unfortunately for the determined seeker, his guess turned out wrong again. The door of the second fillies' toilet on this floor got flung open in front of Babs, Bun and Corn Pops, a visibly frustrated Curtain Call stomping out of it.

“Crap!” he yelled and kicked the wall. “Why is no filly hidin' in dere, I had such a cleva idear!”

Corn Pops and Babs stared at him, their disapproving frowns even deeper than before, but Fast Bun trotted up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “I tawld you, no filly would do dis if a cawlt is seekin'.” She gave him a smile, feeling compassion for the frustrated colt.

Curtain Call closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Maybe you're right,” he said, then looked into the face of his friend, lip quivering.

Fast Bun wrapped his hooves around his neck and gave him a quick squeeze. “Now let's search somewhere else!” she chimed. “Dere are, like, so many mawre places she could hide in left!” Bun nudged him, which earned her a grateful smile, then they joined their two friends to continue the search.

The group of foals explored the second floor of the mall diligently, all of them focused and concentrated on Curtain's task, while Curtain Call looked under benches, squeezed himself behind soda machines, checked inside a colts' toilet (earning a facehoof by Fast Bun), crawled into more plant boxes and overall sniffed around in every corner of the floor.
Time began to drag on and half an hour later, the colt sat down and let his head hang. He breathed strongly now, sweat trickling down his coat. “I give up,” he whispered dejectedly as he had some of this breath back.

Fast Bun approached him and put a hoof over his shoulders, sitting down at his side. “You did great!” she complimented him. “Nawt, like, perfect, yeah, but at least Starlet didn't, like, come out, herself becawse it took you so lawng, like da last time you were seeka.” She nudged him again. “Three out awf fouh isn't bad, Curtain!”

He sniffed and wiped over his nose, then he flashed his friend a smile and crushed her with a hug.

With their game now over and their last friend still hidden, they concluded it was time to call her. Babs put her head back. “You can come out now, Starlet! Curtain gave up!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, sending her voice through the empty hallways of the dimly-lit mall.

After a few seconds of silence and without a sign of the missing filly, Babs repeated her call. “Starlet!” her voice rang out once more. “The game's ova, now come out, we need to go home soon!”

Silence answered her call and as they did not get a response after another few seconds, the four foals looked at each other, confused and dumbfounded. They swarmed out, shouting their friend's name over and over again while amplifying their voices with their hooves around their mouths.

After a few minutes like this, their voices got interrupted. A clopping sound rang into their ears, faint like it was far away and at the same time graceful. The clopping became louder and louder with each second that passed and, finally, their missing friend stepped out of the shadows.

Starlet Radiance held a hoof at her face and yawned, then she looked at her friends sleepily, rubbing over one of her eyes. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I fell asleep while I was hiding, so I couldn't hear you calling me.” There was a noticeable, drowsy tone in her voice, but it still sounded elegant.
“Star!” Curtain Call shouted in relief and rushed over to the filly, his friends following closely behind. “We thawght something's wrawng.....” he said, face full of concern.
Starlet Radiance yawned again. “Nothing is wrong, I'm alright.” Now she finally flashed them a charming and adorable smile. Before anypony else could say something, it had eased their worries and calmed them down.

Babs stepped up. “Ahrite, now we're back togeda, let's leave! It's gettin' late!”

The words got met with broad approval by the other foals and so, they began to head for the exit.

“Hey, where did you hide?” Curtain Call asked Starlet, as they trotted down another still escalator.

The filly turned around, the dark, pink streak in her steel-blue mane coming into the colt's view as her long mane waved around her neck, and she gave him a proud smile. “In one awf the fillies' toilets on the third floor.”

Fast Bun stopped dead in her tracks. “W-What?!” Her face fell apart as disbelief took it over.

“And I tawld you it's a cleva idear!” Curtain Call shouted and pointed a hoof at Fast Bun, feeling triumph.

Starlet Radiance trotted past the shocked filly and stuck out her tongue, then a high giggle escaped her which soon turned into laughter. It eventually spread to Curtain Call, then to Babs and Corn Pops. All four of them were laughing loudly about the unexpected reveal.

“Dat's, like, too wrong to be true.....” Fast Bun mumbled as she trudged after them with a red face.

The next minutes were spent with laughing by most of the foals, then with the subsequent slow recovery from their fits. As they had reached the exit of the mall, though, it was ultimately something else that stopped their laughs:

A massive metal shutter, coming from the ceiling and reaching all the way down to the floor.

It took the five little foals a minute to realize what this meant while they stood there and stared at the shutter, their mouths opened in surprise. As it dawned on them that they couldn't get out, their ears flattened simultaneously and they turned away from the door in hesitation.

They looked around in the hallway; from the floor to the ceiling, over the various shop windows and their pale lights and then into the darkness that sprawled out in front of them. It was only now that they noticed just how dark it was in the mall, a fact that came crushing down on their young minds together with the realization that they had completely lost track of time during their game.

“We are locked inside the mawll.” It was Corn Pops who first found his speech. The face of the little colt immediately broke out in sweat. “W-We can't get o-out. M-Mommy.....” Corn Pops lied down on the floor and covered his head, then started to shake. High-pitched whimpers escaped his throat.

Fast Bun gave him a look filled with concern, then she shot an angry glare at Starlet Radiance. “Now Corn Pops is upset and it's awll becawse awf you!” she shouted.

“Me?” Starlet asked puzzled, placing a hoof on her chest. Confusion was all over her face.

“Yes, you!” Fast Bun huffed. She trotted up to Starlet, her hooves pounding on the floor. “If yourwouldn't have insisted dat we should let Curtain Call be seeka, wer would be out awf da mawll now! You know how slow he is!”

Behind her, Curtain Call flattened his ears and looked to the ground.

“And, so what? I gave him a chance to show dat he can finally win a round of hide and seek for awnce! Dat we are trapped in here now is not my fawlt, it's his, because he didn't even try to move his fat legs faster!” She gave Curtain Call a look full of disgust.

Fast Bun gasped and a hurt expression appeared in her eyes. She looked over her shoulder at Curtain Call, seeing him creep away and then sitting down on a bench, where he started weeping.

“See what you did now?!” Fast Bun shouted at the other filly again, even more angry than before. “It isn't okay to hurt his feelings like dis!”

“B-But Starlet is right,” Corn Pops suddenly interferred. He was still crouching on the floor, but looked up at them now. “I mean..... I wouldn't say it so nasty, but..... S-She has a point, Curtain really slows us down very often.” He lowered his eyes, afraid of Fast Bun's response.

The filly gave him only a brief and sad look, though, before her attention got drawn back to Starlet.

“See? Corn Pops understands! It's Curtain Call's fault, not mine.....” She sniffed a little and glanced away, now looking hurt herself.

Out of words, Bun looked to the floor, her eyes darting around as she followed the pattern of the tiles. She bit her lip for a moment, then her head shot up again. She was glaring at Starlet Radiance once more.

“No, it's nawt! Your shouldn' have let him do somethin' you know he can't!” She put a hoof on Starlet's chest and pushed her a bit.

Starlet didn't budge an inch and looked up at her challenger with a cold stare. “If you say so..... But you're outvawted, it's two against one. So what are you going to do now?”

Fast Bun showed her teeth and started to growl. “You.....” She did a step forward and came umcomfortably close to Starlet's face. “I'll show you, I'm goin' to–”

“HEY!” Babs stepped between them, gently pushing Fast Bun away from Starlet. “You're crazy, o' what?! You're friends!”

The intervention worked. Fast Bun did a step back and looked to the floor once more. There was still anger in her face, but traces of guilt slowly got mixed with it. Starlet Radiance crossed her hooves in front of her chest and looked to the side, eyes closed.

As Babs was sure that a fight was averted, she breathed out sharply. “Ahrite,” she said then. “We aren't trapped hea.”

The foals looked up in surprise. Curtain Call even stopped his weeping and Starlet Radiance stared at Babs, big-eyed.

“We just need to go to the night guard and tell him what happened, he will let us out!” Babs explained.

The other four foals gasped simultaneously. Corn Pops got up from the floor and gave Babs a sheepish smile and Fast Bun rubbed over her foreleg, blushing. Only Curtain Call and Starlet Radiance didn't show any reaction aside from their initial surprise. Curtain just sniffed and dried his eyes and Starlet trotted past Babs, not paying any more heed to her.

“Fine with me,” she said taut and kept trotting down the dark hallway, not turning around.

The other foals followed her swiftly.

After just a few minutes, Corn Pops, Fast Bun, Starlet Radiance and Curtain Call had forgotten the ruckus at the mall's exit. They all followed Babs, who took the lead on their way to the night guard's office, quietly. The darkness around them, the silence in the mall that they knew as such a loud place, how the sounds of their hooves echoed through the empty building, it all drove the agitation out of their minds and replaced it with fear.

A few times they saw shadows skirring around in the corner of their eyes, only to disappear when they looked straight at them. And sometimes there was a creaking sound coming from an unknown direction, not unlike the one Babs and Bun heard while they were hiding. The other three foals had heard it, as well, and it made them equally uncomfortable in this situation.

As Fast Bun couldn't take the anxiety and fear anymore, she decided to distract herself by finally doing what had been on her mind the entire time since they had set out to find the security guard. Her heart bumping fast, she carefully approached Starlet Radiance.
“Hey,” she began. “I..... I'm sawrry. I shouldnt have blamed everythin' awn you, Starlet. I just gawt wawrried when I saw dat we gawt locked inside da mawll and when Corn Pops started to panic, I felt sawrry for him and I panicked a little, too.....” Her eyes took on a pleading expression. “But I shouldn't have said all awf dese things, Babs is right, we are friends. Can you fawgive me?”

For a few, painful seconds, Starlet did not respond and just stared coldly into the distance. But then she sighed and looked at Fast Bun, setting up a sympathetic look. “I am sorry, too,” she spoke quietly. “It hurt when you gave me the fault for everything even though I just wanted to help Curtain..... But I shouldn't have talked about him like dis, I know how much awf a good friend he is to you.” Regret spread out in her face. “I should have guessed how much it would hurt you to say dat and kept my mouth shut.” She sighed again, deeper this time. “Can you forgive me?”

“I can.” Bun nodded. “We all have been silly.”

The acceptance of her apology cast a broader smile on her face and a gleam appeared in her eyes. “You're right.” She nodded in return. “We are all at fault for it. I'm at fawlt, because I wanted Curtain Call as seeker. Curtain Call is at fault, because, well..... because he wasn't fast enough at finding us.” She whispered the last part of her sentence. “And all of us are at fault, because we didn't notice dat the mawll was about to close..... We are all to blame for dis.”

“Um-hm. But we don't need to wawrry about it, Babs knows a way out.” She wiped a hoof over the back of her mane. “So, uh, are we still friends, Starlet?”

“Of course! We never stopped being friends.” Starlet gave Bun one of her special, adorable smiles.

Happy that the dust has settled, the two fillies exchanged a relieved grin. Smiling, Babs watched the scenery from the top of the group, before something caught her attention and she looked ahead again.

“Hey! Dere we are!” she shouted to alert her friends. In front of her, they could see a wall with a large glass window embedded in its middle. A plain, grey metal door was situated to its left. Most importantly, though, the room behind the window was brightly lit and a brown stallion in uniform sat on a chair behind a panel that was filled with buttons in a variety of colors. On the left side was an assortment of monitors. Their backside faced at them, so they couldn't see the screens.

Excited, the five foals rushed closer to the window. Babs reared up, placed a hoof on the narrow edge before it and knocked on the window with the other hoof. “Hey, mista! We got lawcked in hea when we played hide and seek, could you let us out?”

The guard didn't respond. In all their excitement, they had missed a crucial detail about his appearance: His eyes were closed.

“Awesome,” Babs said, voice ripe with sarcasm. “The night guard hea likes to sleep trough the night shift.....” She turned to the others. “We gonna have to wake him up!”

Babs began to pound her hooves against the window and Starlet and Corn Pops joined her. The heavy glass produced a dull sound as the tiny hooves thudded on it, but the guard did not move. “HEEEEEEEEEY!” the three of them shouted. “We can't get out, wake up!” There was no reaction from the guard still.

Corn Pops broke out in sweat again. “C-Can he even hear us?” His teeth started to clatter.

“He should,” Babs responded. “The glass is thick, but he needs to be able to hear what happens outside.”

“If he can still hear.....” Starlet suggested, now speaking in an ominous voice.

“Huh?” Babs stopped pounding on the glass and turned around. She raised an eyebrow and looked at Starlet confused.

Starlet lowered her eyes. “Does he still breathe?” she asked, sporting an expression that gave them all shudders.

“Not funny!” Babs scolded her. “Awf cawrse he's breatihn', just has a deep sleep, is all.”

“Fiiiiiiiine,” Starlet retracted. “Sorry, dat was a dumb joke.” She tried to appear serious again, but couldn't stiffle a giggle.

To their left, Curtain Call approached the door. He turned around, bent down and thrust his hindlegs against it. The impact they made on the metal sounded like an explosion as it echoed throughout the mall. Buck after buck, his hooves came down on the door, but neither the metal, nor the lock gave in. After his tenth attempt, Curtain gave up and sat down, panting heavily.

The other four foals looked at him, then back to the guard, who still didn't move. They sighed.

“So, what now?” Fast Bun asked, looking at her friends.

“We can try wakin' him up again lata. For now, we have to stay hea,” Babs concluded.

“S-Stay here?” Corn Pops started to shake. “T-The entire night?” His face showed terror at the imagination.

“No, just, like, until he wakes up,” Fast Bun answered his question, trying to calm him down. “And dere are mawnitawrs in his awffice.” She pointed at the monitors behind the glass. “Mayber we're lucky and he will see us when we are, like, in frawnt awf a camerar.”

“Exactly!” Babs agreed. “We just need to make the best awf the situation.”

The other foals grouped around her. “But what should we do now?” Starlet asked. “The shops are awll closed. Should we play more hide and seek?”

“WITHOUT ME!” Corn Pops yelled. “I'm not playing any games in the dark!” He crawled closer to Babs, the shaking of his body increasing. “I just want to go home!” the colt whined.

Before Babs could give an answer, though, a deep and loud growl that suddenly surfaced around them took care of this for her. The foals twitched and Corn Pops finally crouched down under Babs in an attempt to find protection. As they realized what had caused the growl, they gripped their stomachs.

“Mawst awf us haven't eaten, like, since lunch,” Fast Bun said, grimacing. “And I'm startin' to get hungry again, too.” Her friends nodded, all of them wearing similar, unhappy expressions.

“Okay, den let's go find somethin' to eat!” Babs decided.

“At dis time?” Curtain Call asked slightly out of breath, his voice sounding worried and somber.

“We have to see if somethin' was thrawn away. Come!” She waved after her friends, then set herself in motion, pulling a still shaking Corn Pops with her.

Hesitant to leave the lights behind the window, but the hunger forcing them, Curtain Call, Fast Bun and Starlet Radiance followed Babs and Corn Pops into the darkness of the deserted building.

Isolation

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Isolation

The surrounding darkness came down on the five foals as a thick blanket of fear. Their search had been fruitless, so far. For more than half an hour, they had checked in every trash can they came across, but all of them were either empty or filled with cardboard and wrappers. Sometimes there was a crumpled sandwich package or a crushed tin of their favourite lemonade teasing them, but no actual food. Fear of starving got added to their fear of the darkness as time passed and it didn't take much longer until they resigned and slumped to the floor.

“We won't find anything.....” Starlet Radiance breathed weakly, holding her stomach that emanated a grumble.

Fast Bun and Curtain Call were sitting back to back on the floor. They responded with weary nods. Corn Pops' response came in the form of crying.

“Is dis really it?” Babs asked. “We can' give up seahchin'.” But even Babs was not able to get up, despite the motivating words she just spoke.

Minutes went by without any of the foals moving and their fear of the darkness became fully replaced by the fear of dying from starvation and thirst. All of them felt weak and their eyes became heavy. Just as his eyes were about to fall shut, Curtain Call noticed something in their corner. Looking up, he forced his eyes open and stared right into what his attention had been caught by.

“W-Whawt's dis?” he asked, in a drowsy, distant voice.

A light shone into the hallway, mere meters away from them. Curtain's friends followed his glance, too exhausted to care, but too curious to ignore his discovery. At first they thought it was the light of the moon that shone into the mall somewhere. But after a minute, they realized that it came out of a door. None of them had noticed that a door had been opened. It was a supposedly scary occurrence in the mall that was abandoned except for them and a lazy, sleeping night guard, but nonetheless, they felt suddenly drawn to this light like moths.

One after another, they got up and staggered to the open door and its inviting light. There were no sounds coming from behind the door, but as they got closer, they could see that it belonged to a diner. Pictures of hayburgers, fries and milkshakes were drawn on the window right next to the door and it made their mouths collect water.

“Wh' is it sti' awpe'?” Fast Bun questioned, but only a small part of her mind cared about getting an answer. She could have asked who had turned on the light or who had opened the door, but these were questions that did not even occur to the starving filly.

As they stood in front of the door and took a look inside, their exhaustion was like blown away by what they saw..... One of the tables, a large one in the middle of the diner, was decked out in food! Five trays stood on top of it and on each of them were two hayburgers, still inside their wrappers, a large box of fries and a huge cup. Their mouths fell open at the sight and their stomachs grumbled even louder than before. Drool began trickling from their lips and they wiped it away with one hoof.

“What is it doin' hea?” Babs wondered, as they crept closer to their find.

A remaining sense of caution made them approach the table carefully but neither of them could escape from what they saw, especially not as they noticed the smell. As soon as it entered their nostrils, it became clear to them that the hunger did not give them hallucinations. The food was real and it beckoned them to come closer.

“Maybe the ponies who sat here didn't finish and the staff forgot to put it away,” Starlet suggested.

“Bu', liker, aw' awf it?” Bun questioned. “Notin' is missin'.” She reached out to the food and touched one of the hayburgers. A comfortable warmth caressed her hoof. “An' it's haw'!” she shouted, surprised. “Jus' liker it wa' served awnl' now!”

Starlet shrugged. “I only care about it dat it's dere.” The other foals did not move just yet, but she sat down on one of the chairs, unwrapped one of the burgers and bit into it demonstratively. “Mmmmmmm,” she moaned in delight, closing her eyes.

“Should we take dis?” Babs asked. But instead of Starlight, it were their stomachs that answered.

Reminded on their hunger again, Curtain Call, Fast Bun, Corn Pops and Babs finally sat down, too, and reached for a burger on their own. As soon as they had bitten into it, the same sounds of delight came from their mouths. It took each of them mere seconds until the first burger was gone. They reached out for the cup and gulped down some of the juicy content of it. Only then they noticed that their thirst was almost worse than their hunger. None of them questioned the unexpected feast anymore and they kept eating away at it, wordlessly.

After half of their portions were gone, they leaned back in their chairs, rubbing their full bellies. Curtain Call gave way to a tiny burp, which was rewarded with a poke into the side by Fast Bun. “Di' wa' goo',” he said, ignoring the poke.

Their moods had significantly increased since the moment they realized that they had become locked in the mall. They felt so comfortable now, that none of them even bothered to get up and close the door of the diner. After another round of sips from their cups, the diner was filled with munching sounds again as the foals began to slay the rest of the food they had so luckily found.

Only one of them wasn't eating anymore all of a sudden. The worst hunger gone, Corn Pops became more aware of the situation again. “I-I miss mommy..... I-I w-want to go h-home.....” he began to whimper.

His friends looked at him. Starlet rolled her eyes. “You're the only awne crying all the time..... Can't you go five minutes without staining everything with tears?”

Corn Pops looked straight at her, hurt in his eyes. But Starlet Radiance did not flinch or change her disapproving scowl.

“Hey!” Fast Bun scolded her. “Don' ber liker dis, oka'? He's jus' afrai', dat's nor reaso' tor ber nasty. Awlso.....” She looked down at the table for a moment. “Don' ac' liker your don' mi' yawh parents righ' now.” Bun dropped her head and eyed the tabletop with a sad expression. Babs, Curtain Call and Corn Pops reacted the same way.

“My parents always prawtec' me when oda foals pick on me,” Babs said and her ears dropped.

“An' mom neva say' 'no' t' anytin' I'm askin' heh,” Curtain Call added.

“I miss the lullabies.....” Corn Pops leaned forward and rested his head on the table, new tears flowing from his eyes.

Starlet Radiance's face faltered, the sentence of the other filly still ringing in her head. Her mouth twisted and began to point downwards, the skin around it wrinkling, forming a heartwrenching frown. Under the short hairs in her face, the skin took on a red color and her eyes became narrow. A second later, big tears dropped out of them and onto the table. Starlet looked down and started to shake.

“O-Of course I miss dem,” she said, her voice distorted. “I-I miss dem more dan a-anything.....”

Fast Bun held a hoof at her mouth. Shocked, she stared at the filly whose mood had changed so drastically. “Starlet.....” she whispered, her eyes becoming watery. “I'm sawr' for sayin' dis, I didn' kno' your taker it sor har'.” She watched her friend at the other side of the table with a mix of compassion and guilt.

Starlet did not respond. She covered her eyes with her hooves and started to cry, loudly and without restraint. Her ears flattened.

Babs looked over to the distraught filly, then she cleaned her hooves improvisedly by wiping them over her coat. “I'll go and check the nigh' guard,” she announced. “Maybe he finally woke up to le' us ou'.

The rest of the foals, save for Starlet, nodded and Babs slipped down from her chair. She flashed a sad glance at Starlet Radiance before she trotted out of the diner.

She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go alone. It was just an empty mall and Babs was aware that being inside of it at night was very likely safer than being outside of it, with Manehattan's high crime rate. It was a thought that did nothing to soothe her. But despite the uncomfortable, eerie feeling that was crawling all over her skin, her way back to the night guard's office was completely uneventful. Only an occasional strange, high-pitched noise that sounded like it came from nowhere and from everywhere at the same time startled her, but it was calm otherwise.

Unfortunately, it was apparently calm enough to sleep too, as Babs found the guard still motionless in his chair. Like the last time she was here, Babs pounded against the glass, twice as hard now as she was the only one doing it. But nothing happened. No matter how much noise she made, the guard did not wake up or move. Starlet's words entered her memory, but she shook them off.

“Grea', so much for dat,” she said, dejectedly. Babs blew a few strands of mane out of her face. “A' leas' we aren' hungry anymore.....” She turned away from the window and began to make her way back to the diner. It was as uneventful as before, eerie silence wrapping around her.

“Sory, guys,” Babs said as she trotted through the door into the brightly lit diner again. “The guard's still sleepin' and I couldn' wake him up, so I guess we–” The words got stuck in her throat as her eyes fell on the table. It was empty!

Babs blinked to make sure that what she saw was right. And the sight remained. The seats her friends had sat on just a few minutes earlier were all empty and even the food was gone.

“Guys?” Babs asked. “What is goin' on?” She looked at the empty table, puzzled and in disbelief. “Where are you?” she shouted. “Guys?”

There was no answer. Babs was alone in the diner now.

At the large table, Curtain Call, Fast Bun and Corn Pops continued to eat the remnants of their food while they listened morosely to Starlet's intense weeping.

“I wawnda wherer Babs is..... Wha' is takin' heh so lawngr?” Curtain broke the silence after a few minutes.

“I don' know.....” Bun answered. “If sher doesn' show u' soo', wer shoul' gor lookin'.” She gazed out the window, checking if their friend returned. “Bu' I'm surer she's ahrite,” she added then. “Mayber it's ar goo' signr dat she's takin' sor lawngr. Mayber sher, liker, talks wit da guar'.”

Curtain Call nodded, absentmindedly. The colt looked out the window, too. All of a sudden, Curtain's face became brighter. “Dere!” he shouted.

Fast Bun's head shot up and she followed his hoof into the direction he was pointing at. “Wha'? Is Babs returnin'?”

Curtain shook his head. “Nor, bu' dere was, liker, ar shadow on da waw' awva dere! It wa' bi' an' it wa' a pawny, I'm surer it wa' da nigh' guar'!” Before Fast Bun could say anything else, Curtain Call jumped up and ran out of the diner.

As fast as his chubby legs could carry him, he ran after the shadow that he could see in the distance. He could not quite catch up with it, but he didn't leave it out of his sight. The shadow took a turn to the right and disappeared in a corridor. Increasing his tempo, Curtain Call followed it. But as he had entered the corridor himself, all he saw were the metallic doors of an elevator.

The corridor was a short one and there weren't any doors, so Curtain Call approached the elevator and pushed the button. But the lights above the door stayed dark and the elevator wasn't making any sounds.

“Wherer di' her gor?” Curtain muttered, now out of breath.

Unsure what to do now, the colt pondered his options but realized soon that all he could do was returning to the diner and so, that's what he did. He expected an upset question by Fast Bun because he had left so suddenly but when he entered the diner, he was greeted by a surprising silence. A silence that was caused by an empty table, as he realized almost immediately.

“Uh.....” he stared at the table blankly. “Bun?” He trotted up to the table, wheezing, and sat down on his chair. Curtain looked around. “Pops? Star? Wherer di' your gor?”

A shudder went down his spine, as he fully realized that nopony was here anymore. More unsettling than that, though, was his realization that even the table was empty now. “He', wh' is, liker, aw' da foo' goner?” he yelled and frowned. He was still feeling a decent amount of hunger.

Neither of his questions got answered. He had to admit it, he was alone in the diner now.

The three remaining foals began to feel cold. Starlet's weeping had become reduced. She was still whimpering, but how she wiped the last tears off her reddened eyes now indicated that she was recovering from her crying fit.

“Dor your fee' betta now?” Fast Bun asked her. She gave her a smile, one that she tried to make look as uplifting as possible.

“Uh-hm.” Starlet Radiance and her lips formed a crooked smile.

“I'm surer Babs wi' retur' wit da nigh' guar' soo',” Bun tried to further calm the other filly. “The' wer ca' aw' gor hawme!”

Starlet Radiance sniffed and a few more tears trickled out of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. “You're..... You're right,” she pressed out.

It became silent again in the diner, that is, until Corn Pops began to make himself heard. Starlet and Bun looked up at him as he erupted into another round of whimpers.

“W-W-W-Where are Babs and Curtain?” he began to stutter. “Why didn't dey return? Something has t-taken dem.....”

Now it was Fast Bun who rolled her eyes, but she tried to do it in a funny and ridiculous way. “Come on!” she said. “Dat's jus' sill', it's awnl' u' an' da nigh' guar' in hea! Dere is notin' dat coul' taker dem, Pops!” She reached out and patted his back, reassuringly.

The touch made him twitch. “B-But what if? You heard the sounds, too.”

As if on cue, a loud, metallic creaking entered the ears of the foals. It increased Corn Pops' heartbeat and the little colt jumped up. “Dat's it!” his voice shrieked. “It's here!”

He left his chair and galloped for the door, loudly screaming. His panic was taking him away from the diner quickly and soon, the sounds of his hooves and his screams had become faint in the distance.

Corn Pops ran and ran, the lit-up shop windows blurring past him. It took him several minutes to realize where he was and as he did, he skidded to an abrupt halt. “N-No.....” he whimpered, as he looked around, seeing that he was alone in the darkness now. He did not waste any time on thinking what to do, instead, his panic made his hooves moving again and he ran back the way he had come.

As he saw the illuminated door of the diner in front of him, he did a leap and jumped right into it. Hastily, he got up and smashed the door shut. “Bun, Starlet, please, we need to go and find a way out of the mawll!” he shouted as he turned around. And his eyes fell on an empty table.

Corn Pops twitched. “BUN? STARLET?!” He gulped and his whole body started to shake. “Dat's not funny, come back, please come back!” he began to mutter. As he did not receive a response and Fast Bun and Starlet Radiance did not show up again, he crouched down on the floor and covered his head with his hooves.

“Please, come back! P-Please.....”

Fast Bun looked at the open door of the diner and sighed. “Her shouldn' gor alawner..... He's goin' tor, liker, we' hi' coa' ou' dere.” A nervous smile appeared in her face and her upper lip twitched slightly.

The remark caused a giggle by Starlet Radiance, who had fully calmed down now. She received a glare from Fast Bun and stopped. “I go and bring him back,” Starlet announced more seriously then.

Fast Bun nodded. “Oka'. I'll gor tor da toile' in da meantime.” She looked at her empty tray. As the only one of them, she had eaten everything that was on it.

Starlet gave her a nod in response. “It won't take lawng, I bet Corn Pops didn't come far with all his fear. I'll be back soon.” She got up and left the diner.

As Starlet was out of sight, Bun stood up, as well. She trotted around the counter and approached the door that had a sign with a red mare on it. Swiftly, she disappeared inside.

Starlet Radiance searched the mall around the diner in a narrow radius. The darkness made seeing hard, but she knew that she could rely on Corn Pops' crying to lead her to him. Except, there was no crying. The mall around her was completely quiet, even the creaking sound did not return. The longer her search took, the more impatient Starlet became. About ten minutes had passed when she decided to stop bothering.

“Okay, dat's enough,” she said. “He should be back in the diner by now.”

Starlet turned around and went back herself. As she had entered the diner again, she was greeted by loneliness. “Dey're all gone.....” she observed while looking around. Tired of searching, Starlet Radiance sat down at the empty table.

The door of the toilet opened again and Fast Bun came out of it. She sighed in relief and brushed some remaining water off her hooves. “Sti' naw' backr?” she wondered as she was in front of their table. She wrinkled her forehead. “Wh' arer da trays gawne?” she asked out loud. “Starlet? Corn Pops? Di' your, liker, retur' an' pu' da trays awa'?” Neither of them answered.

“Hmm.....” Fast Bun approached her chair, having decided to wait for the return of her friends, as she felt a cold chill on her back. Instinctively, the filly turned around. As her eyes fell on the wall behind the table, she did a step back.

The wall had changed. Something was written on it now, in crooked, red letters. This clearly hadn't been there a moment ago and Fast Bun was unsure what to make of it, while a feeling of dread began to crawl through her insides. She inspected the letters. Her reading skills from preschool proved just enough to identify what was written there.

“A-E-G-I-S,” she read, loud and slow. Her mouth scrunched. “Aegis? Wha' doe' dat mea'?”

Right when she had spoken out the last word, something else changed. Her vision became blurry suddenly, then black at its edges. Fast Bun began to feel dizzy. She stumbled backwards, attempting to sit down on her chair. But before she could reach it, everything went black around her. The last thing she heard was the dull sound of her body hitting the floor of the diner.

Her faint made her miss the cold eyes that were staring at her.

Isolation ----- Accent-reduced version

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Isolation

The surrounding darkness came down on the five foals as a thick blanket of fear. Their search had been fruitless, so far. For more than half an hour, they had checked in every trash can they came across, but all of them were either empty or filled with cardboard and wrappers. Sometimes there was a crumpled sandwich package or a crushed tin of their favourite lemonade teasing them, but no actual food. Fear of starving got added to their fear of the darkness as time passed and it didn't take much longer until they resigned and slumped to the floor.

“We won't find anything.....” Starlet Radiance breathed weakly, holding her stomach that emanated a grumble.

Fast Bun and Curtain Call were sitting back to back on the floor. They responded with weary nods. Corn Pops' response came in the form of crying.

“Is dis really it?” Babs asked. “We can't give up searchin'.” But even Babs was not able to get up, despite the motivating words she just spoke.

Minutes went by without any of the foals moving and their fear of the darkness became fully replaced by the fear of dying from starvation and thirst. All of them felt weak and their eyes became heavy. Just as his eyes were about to fall shut, Curtain Call noticed something in their corner. Looking up, he forced his eyes open and stared right into what his attention had been caught by.

“W-Whawt's dis?” he asked, in a drowsy, distant voice.

A light shone into the hallway, mere meters away from them. Curtain's friends followed his glance, too exhausted to care, but too curious to ignore his discovery. At first they thought it was the light of the moon that shone into the mall somewhere. But after a minute, they realized that it came out of a door. None of them had noticed that a door had been opened. It was a supposedly scary occurrence in the mall that was abandoned except for them and a lazy, sleeping night guard, but nonetheless, they felt suddenly drawn to this light like moths.

One after another, they got up and staggered to the open door and its inviting light. There were no sounds coming from behind the door, but as they got closer, they could see that it belonged to a diner. Pictures of hayburgers, fries and milkshakes were drawn on the window right next to the door and it made their mouths collect water.

“Why is it still awpen?” Fast Bun questioned, but only a small part of her mind cared about getting an answer. She could have asked who had turned on the light or who had opened the door, but these were questions that did not even occur to the starving filly.

As they stood in front of the door and took a look inside, their exhaustion was like blown away by what they saw..... One of the tables, a large one in the middle of the diner, was decked out in food! Five trays stood on top of it and on each of them were two hayburgers, still inside their wrappers, a large box of fries and a huge cup. Their mouths fell open at the sight and their stomachs grumbled even louder than before. Drool began trickling from their lips and they wiped it away with one hoof.

“What is it doin' hea?” Babs wondered, as they crept closer to their find.

A remaining sense of caution made them approach the table carefully but neither of them could escape from what they saw, especially not as they noticed the smell. As soon as it entered their nostrils, it became clear to them that the hunger did not give them hallucinations. The food was real and it beckoned them to come closer.

“Maybe the ponies who sat here didn't finish and the staff forgot to put it away,” Starlet suggested.

“But, like, awll awf it?” Bun questioned. “Nothin' is missin'.” She reached out to the food and touched one of the hayburgers. A comfortable warmth caressed her hoof. “And it's hawt!” she shouted, surprised. “Just like it was served awnly now!”

Starlet shrugged. “I only care about it dat it's dere.” The other foals did not move just yet, but she sat down on one of the chairs, unwrapped one of the burgers and bit into it demonstratively. “Mmmmmmm,” she moaned in delight, closing her eyes.

“Should we take dis?” Babs asked. But instead of Starlight, it were their stomachs that answered.

Reminded on their hunger again, Curtain Call, Fast Bun, Corn Pops and Babs finally sat down, too, and reached for a burger on their own. As soon as they had bitten into it, the same sounds of delight came from their mouths. It took each of them mere seconds until the first burger was gone. They reached out for the cup and gulped down some of the juicy content of it. Only then they noticed that their thirst was almost worse than their hunger. None of them questioned the unexpected feast anymore and they kept eating away at it, wordlessly.

After half of their portions were gone, they leaned back in their chairs, rubbing their full bellies. Curtain Call gave way to a tiny burp, which was rewarded with a poke into the side by Fast Bun. “Dis was good,” he said, ignoring the poke.

Their moods had significantly increased since the moment they realized that they had become locked in the mall. They felt so comfortable now, that none of them even bothered to get up and close the door of the diner. After another round of sips from their cups, the diner was filled with munching sounds again as the foals began to slay the rest of the food they had so luckily found.

Only one of them wasn't eating anymore all of a sudden. The worst hunger gone, Corn Pops became more aware of the situation again. “I-I miss mommy..... I-I w-want to go h-home.....” he began to whimper.

His friends looked at him. Starlet rolled her eyes. “You're the only awne crying all the time..... Can't you go five minutes without staining everything with tears?”

Corn Pops looked straight at her, hurt in his eyes. But Starlet Radiance did not flinch or change her disapproving scowl.

“Hey!” Fast Bun scolded her. “Don't be like dis, okay? He's just afraid, dat's no reason to be nasty. Awlso.....” She looked down at the table for a moment. “Don't act like you don't miss yawh parents right now.” Bun dropped her head and eyed the tabletop with a sad expression. Babs, Curtain Call and Corn Pops reacted the same way.

“My parents always prawtect me when oda foals pick on me,” Babs said and her ears dropped.

“And mom neva says 'no' to anythin' I'm askin' heh,” Curtain Call added.

“I miss the lullabies.....” Corn Pops leaned forward and rested his head on the table, new tears flowing from his eyes.

Starlet Radiance's face faltered, the sentence of the other filly still ringing in her head. Her mouth twisted and began to point downwards, the skin around it wrinkling, forming a heartwrenching frown. Under the short hairs in her face, the skin took on a red color and her eyes became narrow. A second later, big tears dropped out of them and onto the table. Starlet looked down and started to shake.

“O-Of course I miss dem,” she said, her voice distorted. “I-I miss dem more dan a-anything.....”

Fast Bun held a hoof at her mouth. Shocked, she stared at the filly whose mood had changed so drastically. “Starlet.....” she whispered, her eyes becoming watery. “I'm sawrry for sayin' dis, I didn't know you take it so hard.” She watched her friend at the other side of the table with a mix of compassion and guilt.

Starlet did not respond. She covered her eyes with her hooves and started to cry, loudly and without restraint. Her ears flattened.

Babs looked over to the distraught filly, then she cleaned her hooves improvisedly by wiping them over her coat. “I'll go and check the night guard,” she announced. “Maybe he finally woke up to let us out.

The rest of the foals, save for Starlet, nodded and Babs slipped down from her chair. She flashed a sad glance at Starlet Radiance before she trotted out of the diner.

She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go alone. It was just an empty mall and Babs was aware that being inside of it at night was very likely safer than being outside of it, with Manehattan's high crime rate. It was a thought that did nothing to soothe her. But despite the uncomfortable, eerie feeling that was crawling all over her skin, her way back to the night guard's office was completely uneventful. Only an occasional strange, high-pitched noise that sounded like it came from nowhere and from everywhere at the same time startled her, but it was calm otherwise.

Unfortunately, it was apparently calm enough to sleep too, as Babs found the guard still motionless in his chair. Like the last time she was here, Babs pounded against the glass, twice as hard now as she was the only one doing it. But nothing happened. No matter how much noise she made, the guard did not wake up or move. Starlet's words entered her memory, but she shook them off.

“Great, so much for dat,” she said, dejectedly. Babs blew a few strands of mane out of her face. “At least we aren't hungry anymore.....” She turned away from the window and began to make her way back to the diner. It was as uneventful as before, eerie silence wrapping around her.

“Sorry, guys,” Babs said as she trotted through the door into the brightly lit diner again. “The guard's still sleepin' and I couldn't wake him up, so I guess we–” The words got stuck in her throat as her eyes fell on the table. It was empty!

Babs blinked to make sure that what she saw was right. And the sight remained. The seats her friends had sat on just a few minutes earlier were all empty and even the food was gone.

“Guys?” Babs asked. “What is goin' on?” She looked at the empty table, puzzled and in disbelief. “Where are you?” she shouted. “Guys?”

There was no answer. Babs was alone in the diner now.

At the large table, Curtain Call, Fast Bun and Corn Pops continued to eat the remnants of their food while they listened morosely to Starlet's intense weeping.

“I wawnda where Babs is..... What is takin' heh so lawng?” Curtain broke the silence after a few minutes.

“I don't know.....” Bun answered. “If she doesn't show up soon, we should go lookin'.” She gazed out the window, checking if their friend returned. “But I'm sure she's ahrite,” she added then. “Maybe it's a good sign dat she's takin' sor lawng. Maybe she, like, talks with da guard.”

Curtain Call nodded, absentmindedly. The colt looked out the window, too. All of a sudden, Curtain's face became brighter. “Dere!” he shouted.

Fast Bun's head shot up and she followed his hoof into the direction he was pointing at. “What? Is Babs returnin'?”

Curtain shook his head. “No, but dere was, like, a shadow on da wawll awva dere! It was big and it was a pawny, I'm sure it was da night guard!” Before Fast Bun could say anything else, Curtain Call jumped up and ran out of the diner.

As fast as his chubby legs could carry him, he ran after the shadow that he could see in the distance. He could not quite catch up with it, but he didn't leave it out of his sight. The shadow took a turn to the right and disappeared in a corridor. Increasing his tempo, Curtain Call followed it. But as he had entered the corridor himself, all he saw were the metallic doors of an elevator.

The corridor was a short one and there weren't any doors, so Curtain Call approached the elevator and pushed the button. But the lights above the door stayed dark and the elevator wasn't making any sounds.

“Where did he go?” Curtain muttered, now out of breath.

Unsure what to do now, the colt pondered his options but realized soon that all he could do was returning to the diner and so, that's what he did. He expected an upset question by Fast Bun because he had left so suddenly but when he entered the diner, he was greeted by a surprising silence. A silence that was caused by an empty table, as he realized almost immediately.

“Uh.....” he stared at the table blankly. “Bun?” He trotted up to the table, wheezing, and sat down on his chair. Curtain looked around. “Pops? Star? Where did you go?”

A shudder went down his spine, as he fully realized that nopony was here anymore. More unsettling than that, though, was his realization that even the table was empty now. “Hey, why is, like, awll da food gone?” he yelled and frowned. He was still feeling a decent amount of hunger.

Neither of his questions got answered. He had to admit it, he was alone in the diner now.

The three remaining foals began to feel cold. Starlet's weeping had become reduced. She was still whimpering, but how she wiped the last tears off her reddened eyes now indicated that she was recovering from her crying fit.

“Do you feel betta now?” Fast Bun asked her. She gave her a smile, one that she tried to make look as uplifting as possible.

“Uh-hm.” Starlet Radiance and her lips formed a crooked smile.

“I'm sure Babs will return with da night guard soon,” Bun tried to further calm the other filly. “Then we can awll go hawme!”

Starlet Radiance sniffed and a few more tears trickled out of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. “You're..... You're right,” she pressed out.

It became silent again in the diner, that is, until Corn Pops began to make himself heard. Starlet and Bun looked up at him as he erupted into another round of whimpers.

“W-W-W-Where are Babs and Curtain?” he began to stutter. “Why didn't dey return? Something has t-taken dem.....”

Now it was Fast Bun who rolled her eyes, but she tried to do it in a funny and ridiculous way. “Come on!” she said. “Dat's just silly, it's awnly us and da night guard in hea! Dere is nothin' dat could take dem, Pops!” She reached out and patted his back, reassuringly.

The touch made him twitch. “B-But what if? You heard the sounds, too.”

As if on cue, a loud, metallic creaking entered the ears of the foals. It increased Corn Pops' heartbeat and the little colt jumped up. “Dat's it!” his voice shrieked. “It's here!”

He left his chair and galloped for the door, loudly screaming. His panic was taking him away from the diner quickly and soon, the sounds of his hooves and his screams had become faint in the distance.

Corn Pops ran and ran, the lit-up shop windows blurring past him. It took him several minutes to realize where he was and as he did, he skidded to an abrupt halt. “N-No.....” he whimpered, as he looked around, seeing that he was alone in the darkness now. He did not waste any time on thinking what to do, instead, his panic made his hooves moving again and he ran back the way he had come.

As he saw the illuminated door of the diner in front of him, he did a leap and jumped right into it. Hastily, he got up and smashed the door shut. “Bun, Starlet, please, we need to go and find a way out of the mawll!” he shouted as he turned around. And his eyes fell on an empty table.

Corn Pops twitched. “BUN? STARLET?!” He gulped and his whole body started to shake. “Dat's not funny, come back, please come back!” he began to mutter. As he did not receive a response and Fast Bun and Starlet Radiance did not show up again, he crouched down on the floor and covered his head with his hooves.

“Please, come back! P-Please.....”

Fast Bun looked at the open door of the diner and sighed. “He shouldn't go alawne..... He's goin' to, like, wet his coat out dere.” A nervous smile appeared in her face and her upper lip twitched slightly.

The remark caused a giggle by Starlet Radiance, who had fully calmed down now. She received a glare from Fast Bun and stopped. “I go and bring him back,” Starlet announced more seriously then.

Fast Bun nodded. “Okay. I'll go to da toilet in da meantime.” She looked at her empty tray. As the only one of them, she had eaten everything that was on it.

Starlet gave her a nod in response. “It won't take lawng, I bet Corn Pops didn't come far with all his fear. I'll be back soon.” She got up and left the diner.

As Starlet was out of sight, Bun stood up, as well. She trotted around the counter and approached the door that had a sign with a red mare on it. Swiftly, she disappeared inside.

Starlet Radiance searched the mall around the diner in a narrow radius. The darkness made seeing hard, but she knew that she could rely on Corn Pops' crying to lead her to him. Except, there was no crying. The mall around her was completely quiet, even the creaking sound did not return. The longer her search took, the more impatient Starlet became. About ten minutes had passed when she decided to stop bothering.

“Okay, dat's enough,” she said. “He should be back in the diner by now.”

Starlet turned around and went back herself. As she had entered the diner again, she was greeted by loneliness. “Dey're all gone.....” she observed while looking around. Tired of searching, Starlet Radiance sat down at the empty table.

The door of the toilet opened again and Fast Bun came out of it. She sighed in relief and brushed some remaining water off her hooves. “Still nawt back?” she wondered as she was in front of their table. She wrinkled her forehead. “Why are da trays gawne?” she asked out loud. “Starlet? Corn Pops? Did you, liker return and put da trays away?” Neither of them answered.

“Hmm.....” Fast Bun approached her chair, having decided to wait for the return of her friends, as she felt a cold chill on her back. Instinctively, the filly turned around. As her eyes fell on the wall behind the table, she did a step back.

The wall had changed. Something was written on it now, in crooked, red letters. This clearly hadn't been there a moment ago and Fast Bun was unsure what to make of it, while a feeling of dread began to crawl through her insides. She inspected the letters. Her reading skills from preschool proved just enough to identify what was written there.

“A-E-G-I-S,” she read, loud and slow. Her mouth scrunched. “Aegis? What does dat mean?”

Right when she had spoken out the last word, something else changed. Her vision became blurry suddenly, then black at its edges. Fast Bun began to feel dizzy. She stumbled backwards, attempting to sit down on her chair. But before she could reach it, everything went black around her. The last thing she heard was the dull sound of her body hitting the floor of the diner.

Her faint made her miss the cold eyes that were staring at her.

Nurture S͟ta̡r̷va̧t̡i͜ǫn̷

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Nurture S͟ta̡r̷va̧t̡i͜ǫn̷

As Fast Bun awoke again, her stomach convulsed and sent a wave of pain through her body. She managed to get up only slowly, while clasping her stomach with her hooves. “Ouch.....” she moaned. Fast Bun trembled, hardly able to stay on her hooves. Rubbing over her stomach, she looked around in the environment she found herself in now. “H-How di' I ge' hea?” she whimpered, a single tear in the corner of her eyes.

She was in her bedroom. There was no doubt. Fast Bun recognized the colorful, round carpet she stood on. Her bed, made of wood and painted white. The bright, blue walls. And the collection of plush animals that sat in a corner of the room on the floor. She was at home again.

As she tried to keep balance, she revelled in all the familiarity around her. Only the elephant gave her an eerie feeling. Did it always have such a wicked grin?

Fast Bun would have spent time pondering this question, as well as trying to remember how she got here, if it weren't for the cramps she felt in the middle of her body. “Ouch,” she moaned again, her entire body shuddering. “Wh' am I, liker, sor hun-gr' ahready?”

Only as she had spoken this sentence, the scales fell from her eyes. Everything that happened in the last few hours, it had all been just a nightmare. Her memory was lacking, especially in regards to the reason why she was sleeping on the floor, but Fast Bun figured she probably came home from preschool and that she was so tired that she didn't even make it into her bed before she collapsed. It would explain everything, even the enormous hunger she felt. Her stomach convulsed again, painfully reminding her that it had to be true.

The hungry filly wasted no time anymore now. She staggered to the exit of her room, reared up to reach the handle and pulled the white door open with the last strength she could muster. As she stood outside of her room, she started huffing. It was an arduous trek down the stairs, her condition forcing her to go at it slowly despite her hunger, but Fast Bun eventually managed to reach the kitchen.

Her dad was sitting at the table, face hidden behind a huge newspaper at first. He put it down and revealed his face when he heard the hoofsteps of his daughter entering the kitchen. The brown stallion with the dark-orange mane smiled as Fast Bun came into his vision. He scooped her up as she had gotten closer and, placing her in his lap, gave her a kiss on her bright, orange mane. “How is m' pehfec' dawghta doin' toda'?” he asked, a playful and proud tone in his voice.

“I'm hun-gr',” Fast Bun answered simply. Despite the familiar embrace by her dad, she squirmed uncomfortably.

Her dad laughed. “We', the' wer shoul' taker carer awf it dat yawh tumm' get' filled, shouldn' wer?” He laughed again and booped her nose, then sat her down in her own chair right next to him. “Yawh mudda is doner preparin' dinna any mawmen'.”

Now the smell wafted into Fast Bun's nose. She held it into the air and sniffed strongly, taking it all in. Her stomach grumbled in response, making her grimace again. But the filly handled the pain easier now, knowing how close she was to eating something. And the delicious smell, this wonderful, perfect smell she could never mistake with anything else, it made her immediately realize what it was that her mom was cooking for dinner.

“Caro' dawgs?” she asked, licking her lips.

“Caro' dawgs!” the cheerful voice of her mother rang out behind her back.

Fast Bun could hear the clinking of plates and the hissing of fat as the carrots were taken out of the pan, two very anticipated sounds. Her stomach grumbled again, eager to fill itself with the delicious treat.

More clinking found its way into her ears, then the hoofsteps of her mother finally approached the table. The mare with the blue mane and the white coat presented her daughter with a wide and warm smile as she put a huge plate filled with carrot dogs in the middle of the table. Having put down the plate safely, she gave her daughter a noogie, bringing her mane in disarray. “Now grab dem whiler dey'rer haw',” she said, then took seat opposite of her daughter.

It was nothing she needed to tell Fast Bun, of course. Eagerly, the filly reached for the plate and pulled one of the carrot dogs into her hooves. Without a moment of hesitation, she lifted it to her mouth and bit off a huge chunk. As soon as the taste of the carrot and the mayonnaise that was on top of it caressed her tongue, Fast Bun began to feel better. She barely chewed the bit in her mouth before swallowing it. It made her belly feel nice, full and warm, and she let out a comfortable groan as the pain began to vanish.

Her mom and her dad watched her, both wearing huge grins in their faces, then they reached for a carrot dog, as well.

“I ha', liker, da wawhs' nightmarer,” Fast Bun began to tell, feeling better. She bit off another chunk.

“O', a nightmarer, reall'?” her mother asked. She smirked, then looked at her husband and both shared a chuckle. An exuberant sigh left her mouth. “Wha' wa' yawh nightmarer, m' littler hone'?” another question rolled from her lips. It sounded sickly sweet.

The second warm bit slid down Fast Bun's throat, then she answered. “Wer werer trapped in da maw'!” she exclaimed. “Mer, Babs, Curtain, Pops an' Starlet. Wer werer playin' hider an' seekr, bu' fohgaw' how later it wa', sor da maw' clawsed befawrer wer coul' ge' ou'. An' Starlet wa' mea' an' nasty, sher hur' Curtain an' de' sher hur' Pops!”

Her face became serious for a moment, but then she remembered the carrot dog and a third bite disappeared in her mouth. She chewed with satisfaction, cheeks red.

“O'.....” her mother answered. “O', littler hone', I'm surer Starlet didn' mea' it dat wa'.”

“Righ' sor,” her dad agreed. “Starlet is ar fill' wit her hear' a' da righ' placer.”

“Um-hm.” Fast Bun nodded, moments before swallowing again. “Sher wa', liker, jus' upse' an' sai' sher misse' he' parent'. Your should'ver see' heh cryin', I fel' ba' for heh.” She lowered the carrot dog, but only a little.

“O', deah, surer sher doe'!” her mother gave Fast Bun confirmation. “Ever' faw' woul', isn' it?” She exchanged a smile with her husband. “Your woul' miss u', I be'.”

“I..... yea'. I di'. I missed your.” Fast Bun cocked her head now. “Mommy? Is evehytin' ahrite?”

“O', deah, surer it is, littler hone'! I'm sawr' for wawryin' your.....” Suddenly, there was concern in her face.

Fast Bun looked over to her dad, who eyed her with a stern expression. Some fear creeping onto her face, she looked back at her mother. “Mommy? Wh' arer your an' daddy lookin' liker dis?”

“O', it's notin' seriou'..... Daddy an' mer arer jus' ar littler wawrie'. It look' liker da foo' is spoiled, littler hone'.”

“Spoiled?” This came as a surprise to Fast Bun, but now she noticed how neither her mom, nor her dad had started to eat their carrot dogs. Resting in their hooves completely untouched, they looked the same as they had when they were taken from the plate.

“Wh' spoiled, mommy? I jus' ater it, it tastes goo'!” Fast Bun looked down at her own carrot dog, intended to demonstrate that her parents must be mistaken. As her eyes fell on it, all the color drained from her face.

Instead of a fresh, orange carrot inside a nice, long and soft bun, there was now a green and squishy, moldy piece that barely resembled a carrot anymore. The bun around it was hard and it was covered in a pelt of white spores. Yet, this was her definitely her carrot dog, the one she grabbed from the plate earlier. Despite the mold, she could still see her bite marks on it. Shrieking, Fast Bun dropped the carrot dog.

“Seer?” her mom asked. “It's spoiled. I'm sawr' I didn', liker, nawticer earlia.” The sickly sweet tone in her voice was back.

Fast Bun looked up. Now the carrot dogs in the hooves of her parents looked just as rotten and so did the others on the large plate. The beloved taste on her tongue suddenly changed. It now tasted foul and old. Fast Bun retched a little. How did she not notice any of this?

“Let's traww it awa',” her mom said. She grabbed Fast Bun's carrot dog and put it back on the plate. Then she and her husband did the same with theirs. The mare carried the plate over to the bin and let the carrot dogs glide inside, then she put the plate into the sink.

Fast Bun shivered. Her stomach started to turn itself upside down and a loud grumble emerged from it. Her face took on a slightly green color. She wrapped her hooves around her body and fought back the urge to vomit, while her mom opened the fridge and took out a couple of sandwiches. The mare placed them on two smaller plates and carried them to the table. She put down one in front of her husband, then sat down with the other one.

It was just then that the food poisoning became too strong for Fast Bun's little body. Finally failing with her efforts to keep herself from throwing up, Fast Bun leaned forward and vomited the contents of her stomach on the table in front of her. She started to breathe heavily. Her face was red now. “I'm sawr',” she said, embarrassed.

The sweet smell coming from the combination of the rotting food and a bit of stomach acid that drifted into Fast Bun's nose made her retch. A second later, another stream of vomit came from her mouth until her stomach had emptied itself. The liquid parts of the green, stinking mass trickled over the table's edge, some drops landing on Fast Bun's legs.

Weakly, Fast Bun leaned back in her chair and started to breathe in and out repeatedly. She felt ill, both from the process of vomiting her food and from the hunger that had returned now. “Ca' I haver ar sandwich, toor, mommy?” she asked between two breaths.

Her mother and her father exchanged a furtive glance.

“O', littler hone', nor.” Her mother shook her head. “Your shoul', liker, gor into yawh roo', lier dow' an' ge' somer slee'.”

“Um-hm.” Fast Bun nodded weakly. “I jus' nee' tor, liker, ge' dis taster ou' awf m' mout firs'. Pleaser giver mer ar sandwich.” Her voice was pleading now.

Her mother's face took on a more serious expression as she shook her head a second time. “Nor. Foo' poisonin' isn' tor ber take' lightl'. Your nee' tor res' u'.” The voice of her mother had become very strict all of a sudden. Hearing it made Fast Bun shiver.

“Bu' I'm hungr' agai'.....” Fast Bun moaned, gripping her stomach stronger. She frowned.

Her mother did not respond. She concentrated on her meal and her father also ignored her.

Feeling suddenly weaker than before, Fast Bun slumped down in her chair even more. She closed her eyes for a moment and as she opened them again, they widened in horror as she observed how her stomach began to swell. It grew and grew, until its size had become tripled. Fast Bun held her hooves at her cheeks, looking in despair at the monstrous growth. Her cheeks felt squishy and bloated now and she felt the same as she touched her lips. Terror building in her face, she stared at her mother.

“Mommy?! What's happenin'?!” Fast Bun trembled and began to cry.

“O', notin', deah.” Her face was rigid and cold as she answered. “Your arer jus', liker, stahvin' tor deat, dat's aw'.”

“Stahvin'? T-To deat?” More fear invaded Fast Bun's mind and she held her hooves in front of her face, ready to cover her eyes and to wet them with her tears, but then she flinched away from them. Just moments earlier they had looked strong and sturdy, but what she saw now was pitiful. Her forehooves appeared thin and fragile, the skin looking like it had been wrapped directly around her bone. She could not spot any muscles or fat on them.

The fear gave her new energy. Fast Bun stood up in her chair and climbed on the table. She reached to the plate in front of her mother, weezing, and tried to grab one of her sandwiches. Her mother, though, swiftly pulled the plate out of her reach.

“Ah, ah!” she said, lifting a hoof. “Ber ar nicer fill', Fast Bun. Dis is mommy's foo', I di' naw' allow your tor haver sometin' awf it.”

Fast Bun sniffed and slumped down on the table. She was crying without restraint now. “Bu'..... Mommy..... Wh'? Wh' dor your naw' le' mer ea'?” She lifted a hoof to her face. It twitched uncontrollably and it took her three attempts before she could wipe away the tears that blurred her vision.

“Awww.....” her mother said, once again in the sickly sweet tone. “Don' cr', littler hone'. Seer, dese sandwiche' arer, liker, da las' foo' lef' in da houser an' mommy an' daddy nee' tor ea', toor.” She gently stroke over the edemas in her weeping daughter's face.

Fast Bun lowered her eyes, her glance now fixated on the surface of the table. Her eyes looked glazed. She swayed slightly.

“It's awnl' bee', liker, ar mont, littler hone', I'm surer your ca' hawl' ou' unti' mommy bawgh' noo foo' tomawrow. An' eve' if naw'.....” Her voice became colder. “Your lover yawh mommy an' yawh daddy, righ'? Your wouldn' wan' u' tor starver, righ'?”

Fast Bun did not respond. Suddenly, she felt like the words came from far away. Her vision blurred even more and her swaying became stronger. Only as she felt a sharp pain flaring up on her right cheek, she was reminded where she was. Confused, she looked up and into her mother's face. It expressed rage and hatred now.

“Wi' your liste' tor mer!” her mother shouted into her face. “Wha' if yawh mommy an' yawh daddy arer goin' tor dier? Wha' woul' your dor den?” She gave her daughter another slap in the face.

This time, Fast Bun's lip popped open from the impact and blood spilled on the table. She barely felt the pain.

Her mother grabbed her at the shoulders and shook her violently, while her father just watched with a disappointed glare. “Dor your naw' wan' tor sacrificer yawhself sor yawh parent' ca' liver, Fast Bun?! Dor your naw' lover u', your disgustin', littler FREELAWDA?!” She screamed the last word.

Fast Bun twitched as the words washed over her, but she still didnt respond and her eyes kept their glazed look. Emotionlessly, she continued to stare into her mother's rage-filled face.

As her mother had finally stopped shaking her, Fast Bun lowered her eyes again. More spasms made her hooves twitch now and she could barely see the table under her anymore. A second later, Fast Bun fell over. With a thump, her head hit the surface of the table. The food right in front of her eyeballs now, she breathed laboriously and her heartbeat became slower. Now she was too weak to try and reach for any of it.

Something hard coming down on her head with full force was the last thing Fast Bun felt before her vision turned black and she stopped to perceive her surroundings.....

Comfort V̷ͩ̔ͧ̆͆̾͛a͝nͪ̏i̛͋͆̑̏́t̨̒͒ͤ̎ͨ̚y҉

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Comfort V̷ͩ̔ͧ̆͆̾͛a͝nͪ̏i̛͋͆̑̏́t̨̒͒ͤ̎ͨ̚y҉

The air in the dinner was filled with deep and loud growls. The lamps on the ceiling flickered, as if the light tried to flee from the sounds in terror. Mixed into the growls were long-stretched moans, coming from a table in the middle of the diner and being emanated by one lonely colt.

Curtain Call had his head placed on the table, his lips pointing downwards and his eyes radiating a piercing sadness. It was more than half an hour since he had seen Fast Bun, Corn Pops and Starlet Radiance the last time and the hunger almost drove Curtain Call nuts. His stomach hurt, yet there was nothing he could do about it, as the food he had left mysteriously vanished.

He moaned again and turned his head around, facing the other side of the diner. The open door came into the edges of his view, but Curtain Call had no energy to trot outside and search for his friends. Another painful growl came from his stomach. Whimpering, Curtain Call closed his eyes. As he opened them again a few seconds later, when the current wave of pain lessened, he found himself staring at something.

A reddish glow had attracted his attention and where it came from, on the counter, Curtain Call could see a large hayburger resting on a plate. Hayfries and a cup of soda stood right next to it. Curtain Call swallowed in anticipation and began to drool on the table. New strength forming in him, he lifted his head off the table, taking a closer look. The delicious meal that greeted his eyes sat right in the middle of the strange glow. The back of his mind wondered how it got there but the thought was suppressed by the active part of it, the one that craved the food to sate his enormous hunger.

The young colt slid off the chair, then he let this chubby legs carry him over to the counter. The smell coming from it made him drool more and his stomach responded to it with another growl. As he had arrived at the counter, Curtain Call reared up. He placed one forehoof right next to the plate and reached for the burger with the other one. He was close to touch the tasty treasure he had discovered as suddenly, he felt his hoof slapped away with full force.

“He', kiddaw!” a deep, angry voice to his right bellowed into his ears. “Whoser foo' dor you touchin' hea?”

Scared, Curtain Call twitched and retracted his hoof. He looked into the direction the voice had come from. A brown stallion sat there, on one of the high, black stools, and he looked at him grimly. Too confused to say anything, Curtain Call just stared, his mouth opened wide. All of a sudden, he felt grabbed at the neck and pulled away from the counter.

“O', I'm sawry, mista, m' littler Suga' enjawys ar goo' hayburga ar bi' toor much!” a voice coming from behind increased Curtain's confusion tenfold. It sounded nervous and hectic and a little ashamed. “Now finally comer, Curtain, your ha' youh mea' ahready!” the voice continued as somepony kept dragging him away from the counter and out of the diner.

It was a voice Curtain knew well. He reached behind his neck and shoved the hooves that held him away. “I can wawl' alawner, mommy!”

Free, Curtain Call turned around and, indeed, there was his mom, Bubblegum Blossom. The mare with the blue and slightly curly mane glared down at him disapprovingly. She was wearing a small, yellow bow in her mane and a pink earring in her left ear. Both accessoires vibrated slightly as she shook her head.

“Your can' jus', liker, gor for oda ponies' foo', Suga',” she said, a reprehensive tone in her voice. She looked down, sighing. “Your ain' sti' hungr', arer your?” She reached out with a hoof and rubbed over his mane, gently.

Curtain Call did not respond. He just stood there, staring, while a ton of different impressions came down on him at once. The mall was full of life again. The hallway they stood in was brightly illuminated and ponies were rushing by left and right, the air filled with their chatter and the clopping of their hooves. Another impression got added as Curtain Call noticed the feeling in his stomach. Irritated, he reached down to it and stroke over it with a hoof. It was round and felt full and it was then that Curtain Call realized that he wasn't hungry anymore.

The colt looked around, letting his eyes fly over the various shops, all of which had opened, and the ponies who bustled in and out of them. As he looked back at his mom, only one question left his mouth.

“Wh' isn' it nigh' anymawer?” He blinked at his mom, dumbfounded.

“Nigh'? O', suga', it ain' nigh' anymawer for, liker, ten hour'!” Her face distorted into concern. “Arer your ahrite, Curtain? Your loo' liker your ha' ar ba' drea', or sometin'.”

Curtain Call blinked again, then he shook his head. He did not understand what was going on but with his hunger gone and the mall suddenly not being a dark, scary place anymore, this explanation was as good as any for the little colt. Besides, he did feel very tired this morning. So his mom had to be right, he figured. He didn't get locked up in the mall with his friends, it had all just been a nightmare.

“You're righ'. I tin' I fe' aslee' a' ta tabler, mommy.” Following a sudden impulse, he approached his mom and wrapped his hooves around her for a hug. Fluttering up a little, he snuggled his face against his mom's cheek.

“Aww, suga', dat must've bee' ar rea' nightmarer,” Bubblegum Blossom said in a soothing voice. “Bu' now it's awva, don' wawr'.” She placed a hoof on Curtain's back and squeezed her son.

“Hmm.....” Curtain cooed, enjoying the moment of intimacy. Feeling better now, he let go of his mom a few seconds later and fluttered back down. He gave her a cute, thankful smile, heart full of relief that everything was alright again.

“Now comer, Suga',” his mom waved him closer. “Wer sti' gaw', liker, somer stuff tor bu'.” She laid a hoof on Curtain's back in a slight embrace and together, they began to move down the hallway.

While they trotted, Curtain Call suddenly realized that he had absolutely no memory on why they were here, or, how they had entered the mall today. The little colt taxed his brain to retain these memories, but nothing came to him. Once more confused, Curtain looked over to this mom.

“Mommy? Wha', uh, wha' elser dor wer bu'?” he asked carefully, feeling like he shouldn't make the situation even more strange.

“O', naw' much anymawer, Suga', jus' smaw' stuff. Wer awlmaws' gaw', liker, everytin' for youh cousins' Heart's Wawmin' presents!” She gave Curtain a smile.

“Huh?” Curtain Call stared at his mom. “Heart's Wawmin' present'? Bu' isn' Heart's Wawmin' Eve sti', liker, twor monts awa', mommy?”

Now it was Bubblegum Blossom who became confused. She stopped in her tracks and looked into her son's eyes. “Uh, no, Suga'. Your know it's nex' wee' ahready.” A new expression of motherly concern built on her face. She removed her hoof from Curtain's back. “I hoper your don' haver, liker, feva, Suga'.” She laid her hoof on Curtain's forehead, then moved it over his face, touching his chubby cheeks and then his neck. “Hmm.....” she murmured as she could not feel any increased temperature.

Curtain Call shook his head. “Um-um. Nor, I'm feelin' oka', mommy. I tin' I'm jus' tire'.” He let out a demonstrative, semi-believable yawn.

“Aww, Suga', don' wawr'! We're doner hea, liker, an' minuter, den wer gor hawmer!” She stroke her son's face affectionately.

As they continued their way through the mall, his mom occasionally stopping at a shop to buy something, Curtain tried more to squeeze the memories he needed out of his brain. After a couple of fruitless attempts, his head began to feel cloudy so he stopped. Clueless what to do now, the colt decided to distract himself.

Curtain Call moved his eyes over the various shop windows he and his mom passed, looking at the various goods he saw. The window shopping did its job to get him away from thinking about how strange everything, especially his loss of memory, was. But it was ultimately the window of a toy shop that took Curtain's thoughts off the entire mystery.

Gasping, the little colt stopped, his eyes fixated in awe at a huge, red fire truck. Like hypnotized, he moved closer to the window and pressed his nose flat on it while he took in every detail of the massive toy. His eyes sparkled at this sight.

Ahead of him, Bubblegum Blossom noticed that her son was not at her side anymore. She turned around and looked at him. “Suga'?” she asked. “Comer alawng, wer sti' nee' ar few tings.”

Hearing the voice of his mom, a thought began to form in Curtain's head. It quickly gained domination. Curtain Call removed his face and hooves from the window and whizzed into his mom's direction, wings buzzing.

“Can wer ge' dis, mommy? Can wer, pleeeeeeeaser?” He shoved himself into his mom's face, squeaking adorableness leaving his throat.

Bubblegum Blossom followed the direction her son had come from with her eyes, until they rested on the firetruck behind the window. She scrunched her face as she looked back at Curtain. “I don' know, Suga', mommy ahready bawgh' ar Heart's Wawmin' presen' for your.....”

“Pleeeeeeeeaser!” the colt squeaked even louder. “If your bu' it, I won' nee' ar presen' nex' yeah! Pleee–” his pleading stopped abruptly, as his mom her held a hoof at his mouth.

“Ahrite, ahrite.....” she said. “I supposer wer can ge' awner mawer if wer coun' it as nex' year's presen'.” She rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Um-hm, um-hm!” Curtain's head bopped up and down, then he whizzed into the toy shop. His mom followed, sighing slightly.

A few minutes later, the mare and the colt came out of the shop again, Curtain clasping the package with his new toy truck tightly. A cute, satisfied smile was plastered on his face.

They trotted through the mall once more, silently, until his mom started to speak again. “How abou' your bu' mommy ar snack, Suga'?”

Curtain Call removed his gaze from his new toy and looked up to his mom. Her hoof pointed at a sandwich in the vitrine of a small food stall and Curtain followed it with a confused look. Then his gaze went back to his mother, who was wearing a greedy and lusting expression. She licked her lips. “Now, Suga'?” A tiny, barely audible growl came from her stomach.

“Buyin' your ar sandwich?” Curtain Call asked. “Wh'?” He blinked.

“O', mommy ha' gotte' ar littler hungr', Suga'. Can your dor dis for mommy, pleeeaser?”

“We', yea', bu' wh' dor your wawn' mer tor bu' it? Wh' dor your naw', liker, bu' it yawsel'?” Curtain Call scrunched his face.

“O', Suga', becauser mommy jus' bawgh' your an expensiver to', sor wh' won' your bu' mommy sometin' in retur'?” There was a slightly sarcastic tone in her voice and Curtain was not sure if his mom was teasing him or not.

“We'....” Curtain put down his toy truck and rubbed over the back of his head. “I'm naw' surer.....”

Bubblegum Blossom quickly bent down down to her son and pressed his face against his cheek. “O', pleaser, mommy jus' wants tor haver, liker, sometin' fraw' your for awncer, Suga'! Can your dor dis for mommy, please, please, pleeeeeeeease?” She pressed harder and nuzzled him.

Curtain Call scrunched his face more and answered the stares some ponies who trotted by gave them now. “Uh..... Oka'. I-I tin' I can,” he said then. Pondering the request by his mom more, his unsure expression turned into a smile. Why not? She just bought him another Hearth's Warming present, the least he could do was paying her back with a little favor. He nuzzled his mom's face.

“O', tan' your sor much, Suga'!” Bubblegum Blossom squeaked. She put her hooves around her little colt's neck and squeezed him tightly.

Curtain Call turned around, opened his left saddlebag and pulled out a green wallet with the picture of a frog on it. He unzipped it and looked inside. Ten bits of his pocket money were still left, he observed. Curtain looked back to the sandwich in the vitrine, the price tag saying “10 Bits”. He sighed a little as he saw that buying the sandwich would use up all of the money he had left for this month but regardless, he took out the bits, placed the wallet back in his saddlebag and then cantered up to the food stall.

As he had finished the purchase, he quickly zipped back to his mom, carrying the sandwich in one hoof. Bubblegum Blossom took the sandwich with a grateful smile. She rubbed over Curtain's mane appreciatively, then took a bite from the sandwich. As Curtain had picked up his toy truck again, they continued their way.

It wasn't long after she had finished her snack, that Bubblegum Blossom looked down on her son again. She directed his attention to a shop window located to their left. They stopped in front of it and as Curtain followed the hoof of his mom again, his eyes landed on a watch. It was golden and tiny diamonds where embedded around the numbers on its face. They glistened seductively in the lights of the window.

“Wha' dor your tin' awf dat watch, Suga'? Wawnna bu' dat for mommy?” She looked at him and grinned, her face forming another greedy expression.

“Wha'?” Curtain Call did not understand. “How, mommy? I haver, liker, nor pawcke' money anymawer an' your don' giver mer enough.” He pointed at the price tag, which said “2,000 Bits”. Huffing now, he put down his truck and placed it at the side of the window.

“O', I know, Suga'. Bu' if wer user aw' youh pawcke' money unti' you're grawn up, your can pa' mommy da money backr.” Her eyes took on a pleading expression.

“Bu'.....” Curtain's ears flattened and he began to look sad. “Bu' den I won'' ge' pawcke' money anymawer unti' I'm, liker, eightee' year'!” he cried out, voice sounding whiny.

His mom's expression did not change. She leaned down and crushed her son with a hug. “O', now comer on, Suga'!” she wailed, sounding disappointed. “Mommy ha' bawgh' your sor much awvapriced stuff, wh' can' your dor da same jus' awncer?” If Curtain would have been able to look at her face, he would have seen how her lip quivered.

A few sobs rang into his ears and he lowered his eyes. The little colt wrapped his forehooves around his mom's body and sniffed. “O-Okay,” he said. “I dor it for your, mommy, I don' wan' tor maker your sa'.” His heart stung over the thought that he would never get pocket money again now, but he was determined to keep his promise.

Together, Curtain Call and his mom trotted into the jewelry store. His mom ordered and the stallion behind the counter brought the watch she wanted. Bubblegum Blossom emptied her wallet demonstratively, pulling out two one-thousand bit bills and hoofing it to the jeweller. The stallion nodded and gave her a receipt. Bubblegum Blossom put the watch around her right foreleg immediately, then she left the shop with her son.

Curtain let his head hang, still wearing the sad expression. The picture of the toy truck on its package coming into his view did nothing to change how he felt.

After a few minutes, he sighed and looked up to his mom. She was holding up her right foreleg and looking at the watch with a dreamy expression.

“Di' I maker your happy, mommy?” the colt asked, expectation in his voice.

“O', surer, Suga'. Your mader mommy ver' happy,” Bubblegum Blossom answered. She gave him a quick kiss on the head, then returned her attention to the watch.

“Okay.....” he whispered, looking on the floor again.

Curtain Call was trapped in his thoughts, pondering the events that had transpired just now, as his mom suddenly poked him in the side. “Curtain!” she said. “Loo' at dis beautifu' purser in dat shaw' awva derer!” She pointed excitedly across the hallway, to yet another shop window. “Mommy woul' reall' liker tor haver dis awner!”

Curtain gave the black purse with the white patterns on it only a short look, then he eyes his mom. “Bu' aw' m' pawcke' money is ahready used u'.....” His eyes looked slightly wet.

“O', ye', Suga'. An' mommy doesn'' haver an' money wit heh anymawer now.” She bent down and brought her mouth close to his ear. “Dat's wh' mommy woul' liker your tor stea' dis purser for heh.”

Curtain's eyes became wide and he gasped. “Stealin', mommy?! Bu' I can'', stealin' isn'–” He felt a hoof shoved onto his mouth.

“Pss'!” his mom said, lifting a hoof to her mouth. “Don' sa' it sor lou', Suga'!” She looked around nervously, but none of the ponies who trotted by payed them any attention. She grabbed Curtain's neck and pulled him into a corridor that branched off to the left.

“Mommy wi' wai' hea,” she said, bending down to him. “Your jus' gor ova derer an' stea' da purser I showed your!” She pointed at the shop, which was now directly opposite of them.

Curtain's expression was full of concern as he looked into his mom's face. “Nor, mommy,” he said. “I lover your, bu' wer shouldn' stea' sometin'. Your scolde' mer whe' I awlmaws' too' da hayburga of da mista in da dina.”

The argument rolled off his mom's shoulders, like he hadn't said anything. “O', Curtain, don'' ber such ar spoilspawt! Mommy awnl' ask' for dis awner las' tin' in retur'!” She nudged him, playfully.

“Bu', mommy..... Wha' if somepon' see' mer? I don' wawnna gor tor priso'.....” There was fear in his eyes now.

“O', Suga', don' ber sill'! You're ar, liker, fiver years ol', your won'' comer intor priso', da law doesn' wor' dat wa'.” She smiled at him, reassuringly, and petted his mane.

“Bu' it's sti' naw'–”

“Pleeeeeeeaser, Suga'!” Pleading returned into her voice. She bounced up and down in excitement. It looked ridiculous for a grown mare like her.

“For awncer, mommy awlsawr want' tor haver ar few nicer tings! I prawmiser it's da las' timer!” She kissed his cheek.

Curtain shuddered. “F-Finer..... I' gor. Bu' is it reall' da las' timer your as' mer for sometin'?”

“Suga', awf cawser! I sweah I won' as' for anytin' elser afta dis!” She crossed her heart.

“O-Oka'.....” Curtain nodded and put down the package with his toy truck. “I wi' dor it fas',” he said, determination mixed with fear visible in his face.

“O', ahrite, Suga'! Jus' gra' it an' comer backr. Mommy wi' ber hea whe' your retur' wit her purser!” She nudged him into the direction of the shop.

Curtain nodded again. He turned around and gulped, then started trotting across the hallway.

He entered the shop as casually as he could and looked around. The purse was hanging from a low rack right next to him, just two steps away. There were a few customers in the shop, but they were at the far end of it. Too far away to notice, he concluded. And the shop assistant was nowhere to be seen right now.

Curtain let his eyes glide over the entirety of the shop a second time, then he quickly trotted to the purse, pulled it down and marshed for the exit. Just as he passed it, a howling alarm rang out. Red lights flashed up around him and he twitched.

“Hey, young colt!” a voice came from behind. A second later, Curtain felt grabbed and turned around. He looked into the face of a young stallion, who frowned at him grimly.

“A foal your age is stealing something?!” he asked, shocked. “Where are your parents?”

Hemming and hawing, Curtain tried to think of an excuse while looking around nervously. Before he could find one, he heard the voice of his mother and her approaching hoofsteps from behind.

“Curtain Call!” her horrified voice pierced into his ears. He felt a sharp pain as his mother grabbed his ear and pulled him over to her with force. “Wha' arer your doin', littler mista?!” her angry face shouted at him.

Bubblegum Blossom huffed, pressing the toy truck package against her body with her free hoof. “Ha' mommy naw', liker, tawgh' your dat stealin' ain' oka', naw' eve' if your reall' wan' tor haver sometin'?! Brin' dis purse backr righ' now!”

A few tears showed up in Curtain's eyes. He obeyed and went back to the rack, his chubby, little legs trembling.

While he was on the way, Bubblegum Blossom gave the shop assistant an apologetic smile. “I'm sawry, I awnl' lef' hi' ou' of m' eye' for ar minuter. I mentioned how much I liker dis purser, her prawbabl' trie' tor ge' it for mer as ar presen'.”

The shop assistant's stern expression cleared up only slightly. “Bring your son away from here, ma'am, or I will call the police!”

“Awf courser,” Bubblegum Blossom said, meekly. She grabbed Curtain's ear once more as he had returned. “I'm ver' sawry,” she apologized again and bowed her head a little before turning back to Curtain. “An' your comer wit mer,” she said sternly and dragged him with her.

Curtain Call whimpered over the pain in his ear, but his mother did not acknowledge it. “Awncer we're a' hawmer, you're goin' righ' tor be' an' I' haver tor tin' if your reall' deserver ar presen' for Heart's Wawmin' Eve dis yeah!” she shouted instead, loud enough for the shop assistant to hear.

Only as they were out of his hearing range, she stopped scolding her son and let go of him. Curtain rubbed over his now reddened ear, still flinching in pain. “Ooooow!” he wailed.

“Dat wa' ar rea' failurer, Suga',” his mom said, her voice accusatory. “I should've expecte' your can' dor it.....”

“Bu' your tawl' mer tor dor it!” Curtain complained, still rubbing his aching ear.

The mare ignored the remark. Instead, she set herself into motion again and pulled him into a different direction. “Don't wawry, Suga', mommy knows how your can maker dis u' tor heh!”

Curtain Call just frowned.

As his mother had finally stopped pulling at him, Curtain Call found himself inside a furniture store. Around him stood numerous beds in various shapes and sizes, all of them covered in clean, white bedding. Curtain was angry now, but the newly risen confusion over this sight pushed back the anger quickly.

“Wha' arer wer doin' now?” he asked, some dread in his voice. He scrutinized one of the beds. “I can' stea' a' entirer be', mommy, it won' fi' trough da dooh!” he then added, quieter.

“O', Suga', no!” His mother laughed. “I'm naw' askin' your tor stea' ar be',” she said as her laughing fit was over, her voice low. “Dis timer, mommy want' sometin' elser.....” The lusting, greedy expression was back in her face.

All of a sudden, Curtain Call felt very uncomfortable. He did a step back. “W-Wha' is it?” he asked. There was caution in his voice.

His mother came closer, then she brought down her face in front of his. “Dis timer, mommy want' your, Suga'!”

For the umpteenth time on this day, Curtain Call blinked at his mother in utter confusion. “Mer? Bu', mommy..... Your ahready haver mer. I'm hea.”

“Nor, naw' liker dis, Suga'. Mommy want' tor haver ar ki'. Woul' your giver mommy awner?”

Curtain's face cleared up. “Ooooooh! Surer, mommy, I've kissed your befawer!” He smiled. Leaning in, he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

“Awww, thank', Suga'! Bu' dat's naw' wha' I mean'. Mommy want' tor haver ar ki' on da mout dis timer.”

This was weird. Curtain raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, simultaneously. He had kissed his mother a dozen times before, but she never asked him to kiss her mouth.

“Hmm.....” his forehead in wrinkles, Curtain pondered the request. He knew what his mother asked for was unusual and thinking of doing that felt somehow wrong. But at the same time, he could not come up with a reason why it was wrong, no matter how much he taxed his little brain. The mouth was really close to the cheek, so it wouldn't be a real difference, he figured.

Having come to that conclusion, he nodded. “Oka', mommy!” the colt said, smiling.

“M' goo', littler bo'.....” Bubblegum Blossom looked over the store. Unlike the one with the purse, this was one was crammed with customers. She placed a hoof over her son's neck and pulled him gently into a corner of the store. They stood behind a large bed with a white curtain at the sides now, shielded from the eyes of other ponies. She put down the toy truck there, freeing her hooves.

Curtain Call felt a sudden, inexplicable excitement rising in him. “How does ar ki' awn da mout fee', mommy?”

“Aww, your wi' seer now.” Bubblegum Blossom chuckled over the innocent question. “Mommy wi' show your.”

She didn't waste any more time and leaned in on her son's face, pressing her lips on his. A moan left her throat. As she felt how Curtain opened his lips, surprised by the new experience, she stretched out her tongue and let it glide into his mouth. Curtain Call's eyes shot open wildly as he felt the intruder.

A sultry look on her face, Bubblegum Blossom moaned again. She played with her son's tongue for a few seconds, before she released the kiss and retreated from the colt.

Curtain Call gasped for air as he was free. His heart was racing and he felt weird emotions rising in him, somewhere between curiosity and the desire to gag in disgust.

His mother looked down at him, wearing a satisfied expression. She licked her lips. “How di' your liker it, Suga'?”

“It.....” Curtain Call tried to decide for a word to describe the experience. “It wa' slim'.” He spat out a little. “I'm sawry, mommy..... I-I didn' liker it.” A shudder went down his spine.

“Awww, it's oka', Suga'! Your wi' liker mawer wha' mommy is goin' tor dor nex'!” Bubblegum Blossom grinned at her little colt.

“Doin' nex'?” The uncomfortable feeling from earlier returned. Curtain Call stepped away from his mother. “I don' wawnnar dor anytin' nex', mommy..... Can wer gor hawmer now?” His eyes looked at her in sadness, once more fear mixed in them.

“Aww, Suga', nor, naw' ye'. Mommy need' jus', liker, awner las' tin' firs'.” She turned to the bed and lifted up the curtain next to them, then placed it in the bed and pushed it back a little. There was now some free space, just enough for a little colt like Curtain to sit on. His mother turned back at him.

“Si' dow' dere, Suga', it won' taker lawng,” she chirped.

Curtain did not follow the prompt. Instead, he did another step back. “W-Wha' mommy?” he asked. “Wha' dor your wan' tor dor?”

“Notin' bi', Suga'. Jus' anotha ki'.” The mare smiled widely.

“O-On da mout agai'?” Curtain Call shrunk a little, eyeing his mother with a good portion of wariness now.

“Nor, Suga'. Now, mommy is goin' tor ki' youh peer peer.”

A wave of heat flared up inside Curtain Call. “Bu', mommy, your tawl mer dat nopon' is allowed tor touch mer dere!” Curtain felt bewildered hearing his mother suggesting something she had always told him was wrong to do. Feeling his little world view getting shattered, the colt remained still in a state between surprise and confusion.

His mother refused to explain her sudden change of mind. “Mommy want' tor ki' an' lickr it.,” she said, her eyes looking as dreamily as they had when she admired the watch earlier. “Awva and awva agai'.....”

Somehow, Curtain Call could feel that her eyes were directed between his hindlegs. A very faint blush was in the colt's face now. “B-Bu' your can', mommy! If you dor dat, da oda ponies in da stawer wi' nawticer!”

He turned around and ran a few steps to the other side of the bed, to direct his mother's attention back to the many ponies in the store. But when he stepped out from behind the bed, nopony was here. Suddenly, Curtain Call noticed that it was completely still around him. All the sounds of chattering and bustling ponies that had found their way into the furniture store were gone. A second later, the lights suddenly turned off and it got instantly dark around the colt.

“M-Mommy?” he asked and winced. The mall was the same as before now, like he had seen it in his nightmare..... But his mother was still here, as her voice soon confirmed to him.

“Suga'! Comer backr hea, mommy jus' want' tor haver somer fu'!”

Curtain Call understood nothing anymore. But now that the darkness had returned, he was afraid, so he turned on his hooves and went back to his mother behind the bed. Her face greeted him with the same lusting and greedy expression still. Behind her, a word was written on the wall all of a sudden, the letters red and crooked. “Mommy?” Curtain Call asked. “What's dis wor'?”

Bubblegum Blossom turned around, then back at her son. “I don' know wha' your mea', Suga'. Dere's jus' a waw'.

Curtain Call scrunched his face. He could clearly see the word. And, as much as he could tell with his underdeveloped ability to read, the word on the wall was “Aegis”. It made no sense to him, so Curtain Call turned to the next thing that surprised him.

He was not supposed to see his mother's face in this darkness, but then he noticed something that had slipped his attention earlier. There was a nightstand next to the bed and on it stood a small lamp. It glowed brightly, so his mother must have turned it on after the lights went out. The shine of the lamp fell on the bed, right on the spot his mother had freed there. And this was the spot his mother patted now.

“Come, Suga', si' dow' hea,” she spoke the same prompt again.

Curtain Call still felt unsure about the situation. He looked around in the mostly dark store, the shapes of the furniture looking creepy and scary in the darkness. He heard a rustling somewhere in the store and he could not tell if it was his mind playing tricks on him or if it was real. Curtain Call looked into his mother's eyes.

“D-Dor your sti' wan' tor dor dis?” he stammered, fearfully.

“Suga', awf cawser mommy want' tor! Now si' dow', finally!” There was impatience in her voice now.

Curtain Call heard something dripping on the floor. As he followed the source of the sound, he saw a small puddle under his mother, right between her hindlegs. His youthful mind wondered if his mother was scared in this darkness, too, so much that she had peed herself.

“I-I'm scared, mommy.....” the colt whimpered. “C-Can wer gor hawmer awncer your.....” He trailed off mid-sentence, unable to complete the weird sentence immediately. “Awncer your.... Awncer your kissed an' licked m' peer peer?”

“I prawmiser, Suga'!” his mother reassured him. “Awncer mommy ha' heh fu', wer leaver dis dar' placer an' gor hawmer tawgeda.”

“O-Okay.....” a small smile formed on his lips. Obediently now, he came closer to his mother and the small, lit-up corner. He sat down on the free space of the bed, then looked up to his mother expectantly. All of this still felt weird to the colt but in his fear, he was willing to do everything to leave the creepy, dark mall as fast as possible.

“Wha' now, mommy?” he asked, sounding impatient himself now.

“Now, Suga', sprea' youh leg', liker, reall' wider, so dat mommy's mout can ge' tor youh peer peer,” she instructed her son.

Curtain Call followed her words and spread his legs apart. Looking down, he saw that his pee pee was a little stiff all of a sudden, just like when he had to pee. But right now, he felt no urge for this.

Her mother looked down at the slightly stiff penis of her son, licking her lips once more, while a grin formed on her face. She kneeled down in front of him, admiring the sight more.

Curtain Call watched how his mother rested her sight on his pee pee. He desired to bring this behind him as fast as possible. But the longer his mother stared, the more uncomfortable the colt became. Beads of sweet began to trickle down his forehead and his face began to show more and more uncertainty.

As his mother finally brought her mouth closer to his pee pee, after minutes of lustful staring, the second thoughts Curtain had developed reached their peak. He squirmed, inching back a little.

“Mommy, nor,” he suddenly said. “I-I don'' wan' tor dor dis. Pleaser, let's gor hawmer!”

His mother followed his movements, ignoring the pleading request. “Jus' ar littler, Suga'! Mommy is jus' gettin' heh rewaw' for alway' bein' sor nicer tor your.”

Curtain Call started to grind his teeth. “Mommy..... Pleaser sto'.” Cold fear began to rise in him.

This time, the mare did not respond. She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. After she brought it close to the stiff, little penis in front of her, she let it hover above it, increasing the tension for herself.

Curtain Call's tension increased, as well. He was shuddering all over his body now, in fearful anticipation what would happen soon. He tried to plead to his mother again, but only whimpers managed to escape his mouth. He shook his head, fast and repeatedly, while he starred in horror at the scene between his legs.

Finally, his mother did not want to wait any longer. Curtain Call watched her lowering her tongue and bringing it in front of his pee pee. When she let it leap forward and did the first, quick lick across the tip of it, Curtain started to protest again.

“NOR!” he shouted loudly. He inched further back in sheer panic, almost getting tangled up in the curtain that hang down the bed. “MOMMY, STAW' IT NOW AN' GOR HAWME!” he pleaded.

As his mother didn't listen and came closer again, his left hindleg twitched beyond his control. With all the strength that was in his little body, it came down on his mother's face. The mare howled in pain and covered her face. As she removed her hooves, Curtain Call could see that her nose was drenched in blood. It looked flatter than before and new blood was steadily trickling out of the nostrils. Small, red dots appeared on the white sheets as it dripped down from her chin.

For a moment, the shock dominated but then Curtain saw what he had done. “Nor.....” he whimpered, tears now flowing down his face. “Mommy..... I'm sawry.” He inched a bit closer again, while covering his pee pee with one hoof, intended to give his mother a hug. But as her face became distorted in sudden anger, he flinched and moved away again.

His mother showed her teeth to him. “YOUR!” she let out a scream of hatred. “MOMMY JUS' WANTE' TOR GE' AR REWAR' FOR ALWAY' DOIN' EVERYTIN' YOUR WAN'! AN' DIS IS HOW YOUR TAN' MOMMY?!” She reached for his face. “COMER HEA!”

Curtain Call jumped on all four hooves. In panic, he tried to escape through the curtain on the other side of the bed, ripping it down in the process. He fought and kicked to get rid of it and as he had managed, he jumped down the bed and began to run. Hearing the furious hoofsteps of his mother following him, Curtain Call ran through the store and right to the exit. Without stopping, he pushed the door open with his head and leaped outside.

The hallway outside was as dark as the store, but Curtain kept running, the fear letting him find the way somehow.

“STO' AN' TUR' AROUN'!” the hate-filled voice of his mother came down on him from behind. “DOR WHA' YOUH MUDDA WANT', YOUR BEGGIN' FREA'! LE' MER BER YOUH WHAWE, I DESERVER IT!”

Curtain Call's heart began to race faster and faster, both from the fear he felt and his increasing exhaustion. His mother was faster than him and he only could stay ahead of her because of the fear that controlled his legs. But now, his sides began to hurt and he felt how he got slower and slower. Knowing that he would have to stop running soon, Curtain did the only thing he could think of. He took a sharp turn to the left and ran into the corridor under the familiar, blue-glowing signs. Huffing, he reached the door of the nearest toilet and began to pull it open. But before he could slip inside, he felt the strong hoof of his mother coming down on his neck and pulling him back.

Bubblegum Blossom stared down at her son with her bloody face, unrestrained anger all over it. “You're naw' escapin',” she whispered. “Mommy wi' ge' wha' sher WANT'!”

Curtain Call choked. “Mommy, nor..... P-Pleaser.....” His face was thick and red from crying and his usually happy expression replaced by deep fear and desperation.

“YE'!” his mother shouted. She spat into his face. “Mommy wi' ki' an' lickr youh cawck an' ge' your da firs' awgas' awf youh lifer, Suga'!” She let her tongue lap over her lips. “Den your arer goin' tor lick mommy an' repay da favaw, da times wherer mommy di' ting' for your witou' askin' for sometin' in retur' arer AWVA, Curtain!”

She moved closer to the frightened, crying colt and pushed him down, exposing him once more. “An' afta dat, your wi' user dis–” She stopped and poked against the, now limp, penis of her son. “– an' FUCK mommy into heh CUN' as lawng as sher want' your tor!” A greedy cackle left her mouth.

Curtain Call tried to scream, but his throat felt like he was getting strangled. His mother had used new words, words he never heard before, and it increased his fear tenfold.

“Now, let's STAR'!” his mother announced, licking her lips once more. She came close to his penis once more, tongue already sticking out now.

The fear in Curtain Call increased once more. Giving him new strength, it let him turn around and reach for the door again. “NOOOOOOOR!” he screamed. His mother grabbed his flank and held him in position, too tight for him to escape. Curtain flailed his forehooves around, desperate to find something to hold on to. Suddenly, he heard something splinter, and sharp pain flashed through his forehooves, making him scream again.

As he looked up, he saw something to the left ot the toilet's door. A faint outline of something that hadn't been there before. He was unable to make out what it was, but in his panic, the colt reached for it. It was strong and sturdy and as soon as he had pulled it out and held it firm in his hooves, he swung it against his mother's head.

Immediately, the pulling at his flank stopped. He felt the hooves letting loose and used the time to get up on all fours, protectively holding the object in front of him. Regaining his breath, he waited for his mother to lunge for him again. But nothing happened. The corridor lay silent and dark in front of him. Hesitantly, he let the object sink. As he had done, he could suddenly hear voices. Busy chatting once more, as well as the sound of many hoofsteps. The lights went on around him and, just like that, the mall had its life back.

Ponies were bustling and hurrying around in the hallway outside of the corridor. And in front of him, in bright light, Curtain Call could see his mother. She stared at him, eyes wide open, and her mouth still showed the same, greedy expression. There was no sign of blood in her face, nor of a broken nose. Her face looked pristine. But on her head, on the right side of it, gaped a large hole. Blood came out of it in streams and dropped down on his mother's shoulder, then on the floor.

The little colt, still scared and now additionally shocked over this sight, removed one hoof from the object he clasped and held it as his mouth. “M-Mommy?” he whined. As he looked down by instinct at the object he was holding, he finally saw what it was. His left forehoof was bleeding from cuts and in it was a large, red fire axe. The darker blood of his mother was still discernable from its colored surface.

Then, a sharp scream pierced the air and Curtain looked up. A mare had stopped at the entrance of the corridor and pointed at the corpse that laid there. She was screaming and screaming. Other ponies stopped at her side to check up on her and their eyes had to see the same. Their glances wandered from the dead body to Curtain Call and the bloody axe in his hoof. The ponies gasped.

“D-Did you do this?!” a stallion asked in disbelief. Curtain Call noticed him, it was the shop assistant who had caught him stealing earlier.

“N-Nor.....” he stammered. “I-I mea', y-ye', b-bu'..... I..... I.....” He did not know how to finish the sentence and stopped. A stream of fresh tears began to run down his face. He dropped the axe in disgust.

More ponies came and soon, a crowd had gathered. All of the ponies reached the same conclusion. They pointed hooves at him and then, the crowd started to shout.

“Her is ar murdara!” a mare shrieked.

“This colt killed his own mother! Wasn't stealing enough, you creepy, little bastard?!” the shop assistant shouted.

“Lock hi' u' in Tartaru'!” several ponies demanded.

The entire crowd agreed. Collectively, the gathered ponies started to shout the same word over and over again. “Tartaru'! Tartaru'! Tartaru'! Tartaru'!”

Shocked, confused and still scared, Curtain Call's hooves gave in and he collapsed to the floor. He covered his ears trying to drown out the word, without success.

“Mommy.....” he whimpered. “Pleaser comer backr.....”
.

Author's Note

“Huh?” Curtain Call stared at his mom. “Heart's Wawmin' present'? Bu' isn' Heart's Wawmin' Eve sti', liker, twor monts awa', mommy?”

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It's not too immersion-breaking to poke fun at weird release schedules, right?

Also, this is probably the closest I'll ever get to write Foalcon here.....

Comfort V̷ͩ̔ͧ̆͆̾͛a͝nͪ̏i̛͋͆̑̏́t̨̒͒ͤ̎ͨ̚y҉ ----- Accent-reduced version

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Comfort V̷ͩ̔ͧ̆͆̾͛a͝nͪ̏i̛͋͆̑̏́t̨̒͒ͤ̎ͨ̚y҉

The air in the dinner was filled with deep and loud growls. The lamps on the ceiling flickered, as if the light tried to flee from the sounds in terror. Mixed into the growls were long-stretched moans, coming from a table in the middle of the diner and being emanated by one lonely colt.

Curtain Call had his head placed on the table, his lips pointing downwards and his eyes radiating a piercing sadness. It was more than half an hour since he had seen Fast Bun, Corn Pops and Starlet Radiance the last time and the hunger almost drove Curtain Call nuts. His stomach hurt, yet there was nothing he could do about it, as the food he had left mysteriously vanished.

He moaned again and turned his head around, facing the other side of the diner. The open door came into the edges of his view, but Curtain Call had no energy to trot outside and search for his friends. Another painful growl came from his stomach. Whimpering, Curtain Call closed his eyes. As he opened them again a few seconds later, when the current wave of pain lessened, he found himself staring at something.

A reddish glow had attracted his attention and where it came from, on the counter, Curtain Call could see a large hayburger resting on a plate. Hayfries and a cup of soda stood right next to it. Curtain Call swallowed in anticipation and began to drool on the table. New strength forming in him, he lifted his head off the table, taking a closer look. The delicious meal that greeted his eyes sat right in the middle of the strange glow. The back of his mind wondered how it got there but the thought was suppressed by the active part of it, the one that craved the food to sate his enormous hunger.

The young colt slid off the chair, then he let this chubby legs carry him over to the counter. The smell coming from it made him drool more and his stomach responded to it with another growl. As he had arrived at the counter, Curtain Call reared up. He placed one forehoof right next to the plate and reached for the burger with the other one. He was close to touch the tasty treasure he had discovered as suddenly, he felt his hoof slapped away with full force.

“Hey, kiddaw!” a deep, angry voice to his right bellowed into his ears. “Whose food dor you touchin' hea?”

Scared, Curtain Call twitched and retracted his hoof. He looked into the direction the voice had come from. A brown stallion sat there, on one of the high, black stools, and he looked at him grimly. Too confused to say anything, Curtain Call just stared, his mouth opened wide. All of a sudden, he felt grabbed at the neck and pulled away from the counter.

“Oh, I'm sawry, mista, my little Suga' enjawys ar good hayburga ar bit too much!” a voice coming from behind increased Curtain's confusion tenfold. It sounded nervous and hectic and a little ashamed. “Now finally come, Curtain, you had youh meal ahready!” the voice continued as somepony kept dragging him away from the counter and out of the diner.

It was a voice Curtain knew well. He reached behind his neck and shoved the hooves that held him away. “I can wawlk alawne, mommy!”

Free, Curtain Call turned around and, indeed, there was his mom, Bubblegum Blossom. The mare with the blue and slightly curly mane glared down at him disapprovingly. She was wearing a small, yellow bow in her mane and a pink earring in her left ear. Both accessoires vibrated slightly as she shook her head.

“You can't just, like, go for oda ponies' food, Suga',” she said, a reprehensive tone in her voice. She looked down, sighing. “You ain't stil hungry, are you?” She reached out with a hoof and rubbed over his mane, gently.

Curtain Call did not respond. He just stood there, staring, while a ton of different impressions came down on him at once. The mall was full of life again. The hallway they stood in was brightly illuminated and ponies were rushing by left and right, the air filled with their chatter and the clopping of their hooves. Another impression got added as Curtain Call noticed the feeling in his stomach. Irritated, he reached down to it and stroke over it with a hoof. It was round and felt full and it was then that Curtain Call realized that he wasn't hungry anymore.

The colt looked around, letting his eyes fly over the various shops, all of which had opened, and the ponies who bustled in and out of them. As he looked back at his mom, only one question left his mouth.

“Why isn't it night anymawe?” He blinked at his mom, dumbfounded.

“Night? Oh, suga', it ain't nigh't anymawe for, like, ten hours!” Her face distorted into concern. “Are you ahrite, Curtain? Your look like you had ar bad dream, or somethin'.”

Curtain Call blinked again, then he shook his head. He did not understand what was going on but with his hunger gone and the mall suddenly not being a dark, scary place anymore, this explanation was as good as any for the little colt. Besides, he did feel very tired this morning. So his mom had to be right, he figured. He didn't get locked up in the mall with his friends, it had all just been a nightmare.

“You're right. I think I fell asleep at ta table, mommy.” Following a sudden impulse, he approached his mom and wrapped his hooves around her for a hug. Fluttering up a little, he snuggled his face against his mom's cheek.

“Aww, suga', dat must've been ar real nightmare,” Bubblegum Blossom said in a soothing voice. “But now it's awva, don't wawry.” She placed a hoof on Curtain's back and squeezed her son.

“Hmm.....” Curtain cooed, enjoying the moment of intimacy. Feeling better now, he let go of his mom a few seconds later and fluttered back down. He gave her a cute, thankful smile, heart full of relief that everything was alright again.

“Now come, Suga',” his mom waved him closer. “We sti'll gawt, like, some stuff to buy.” She laid a hoof on Curtain's back in a slight embrace and together, they began to move down the hallway.

While they trotted, Curtain Call suddenly realized that he had absolutely no memory on why they were here, or, how they had entered the mall today. The little colt taxed his brain to retain these memories, but nothing came to him. Once more confused, Curtain looked over to this mom.

“Mommy? What, uh, what else do we buy?” he asked carefully, feeling like he shouldn't make the situation even more strange.

“Oh, not much anymawe, Suga', just smawll stuff. We awlmawst gawt, like, everythin' for youh cousins' Hearth's Wawmin' presents!” She gave Curtain a smile.

“Huh?” Curtain Call stared at his mom. “Hearth's Wawmin' presents? But isn't Hearth's Wawmin' Eve still, like, two months away, mommy?”

Now it was Bubblegum Blossom who became confused. She stopped in her tracks and looked into her son's eyes. “Uh, no, Suga'. You know it's next week ahready.” A new expression of motherly concern built on her face. She removed her hoof from Curtain's back. “I hope you don't have, like, feva, Suga'.” She laid her hoof on Curtain's forehead, then moved it over his face, touching his chubby cheeks and then his neck. “Hmm.....” she murmured as she could not feel any increased temperature.

Curtain Call shook his head. “Um-um. No, I'm feelin' okay, mommy. I think I'm just tired.” He let out a demonstrative, semi-believable yawn.

“Aww, Suga', don't wawry! We're done hea, like, any minute, den we go hawme!” She stroke her son's face affectionately.

As they continued their way through the mall, his mom occasionally stopping at a shop to buy something, Curtain tried more to squeeze the memories he needed out of his brain. After a couple of fruitless attempts, his head began to feel cloudy so he stopped. Clueless what to do now, the colt decided to distract himself.

Curtain Call moved his eyes over the various shop windows he and his mom passed, looking at the various goods he saw. The window shopping did its job to get him away from thinking about how strange everything, especially his loss of memory, was. But it was ultimately the window of a toy shop that took Curtain's thoughts off the entire mystery.

Gasping, the little colt stopped, his eyes fixated in awe at a huge, red fire truck. Like hypnotized, he moved closer to the window and pressed his nose flat on it while he took in every detail of the massive toy. His eyes sparkled at this sight.

Ahead of him, Bubblegum Blossom noticed that her son was not at her side anymore. She turned around and looked at him. “Suga'?” she asked. “Come alawng, we still need ar few things.”

Hearing the voice of his mom, a thought began to form in Curtain's head. It quickly gained domination. Curtain Call removed his face and hooves from the window and whizzed into his mom's direction, wings buzzing.

“Can we get dis, mommy? Can we, pleeeeeeease?” He shoved himself into his mom's face, squeaking adorableness leaving his throat.

Bubblegum Blossom followed the direction her son had come from with her eyes, until they rested on the firetruck behind the window. She scrunched her face as she looked back at Curtain. “I don't know, Suga', mommy ahready bawght ar Hearth's Wawmin' present for you.....”

“Pleeeeeeeease!” the colt squeaked even louder. “If you buy it, I wont need ar present next yeah! Pleee–” his pleading stopped abruptly, as his mom her held a hoof at his mouth.

“Ahrite, ahrite.....” she said. “I suppose we can get awne mawe if we count it as next year's present.” She rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Um-hm, um-hm!” Curtain's head bopped up and down, then he whizzed into the toy shop. His mom followed, sighing slightly.

A few minutes later, the mare and the colt came out of the shop again, Curtain clasping the package with his new toy truck tightly. A cute, satisfied smile was plastered on his face.

They trotted through the mall once more, silently, until his mom started to speak again. “How about you buy mommy ar snack, Suga'?”

Curtain Call removed his gaze from his new toy and looked up to his mom. Her hoof pointed at a sandwich in the vitrine of a small food stall and Curtain followed it with a confused look. Then his gaze went back to his mother, who was wearing a greedy and lusting expression. She licked her lips. “Now, Suga'?” A tiny, barely audible growl came from her stomach.

“Buyin' you ar sandwich?” Curtain Call asked. “Why?” He blinked.

“Oh, mommy has gotten ar little hungry, Suga'. Can you do dis for mommy, pleeease?”

“Well, yeah, but why do you wawnt me to buy it? Why do you naw't, like, buy it yawself?” Curtain Call scrunched his face.

“Oh, Suga', because mommy just bawght you an expensive toy, so why won't you buy mommy somethin' in return?” There was a slightly sarcastic tone in her voice and Curtain was not sure if his mom was teasing him or not.

“Well....” Curtain put down his toy truck and rubbed over the back of his head. “I'm naw't sure.....”

Bubblegum Blossom quickly bent down down to her son and pressed his face against his cheek. “O', pleaser, mommy jus' wants tor haver, liker, sometin' fraw' your for awncer, Suga'! Can your dor dis for mommy, please, please, pleeeeeeeease?” She pressed harder and nuzzled him.

Curtain Call scrunched his face more and answered the stares some ponies who trotted by gave them now. “Uh..... Okay. I-I think I can,” he said then. Pondering the request by his mom more, his unsure expression turned into a smile. Why not? She just bought him another Hearth's Warming present, the least he could do was paying her back with a little favor. He nuzzled his mom's face.

“Oh, thank you so much, Suga'!” Bubblegum Blossom squeaked. She put her hooves around her little colt's neck and squeezed him tightly.

Curtain Call turned around, opened his left saddlebag and pulled out a green wallet with the picture of a frog on it. He unzipped it and looked inside. Ten bits of his pocket money were still left, he observed. Curtain looked back to the sandwich in the vitrine, the price tag saying “10 Bits”. He sighed a little as he saw that buying the sandwich would use up all of the money he had left for this month but regardless, he took out the bits, placed the wallet back in his saddlebag and then cantered up to the food stall.

As he had finished the purchase, he quickly zipped back to his mom, carrying the sandwich in one hoof. Bubblegum Blossom took the sandwich with a grateful smile. She rubbed over Curtain's mane appreciatively, then took a bite from the sandwich. As Curtain had picked up his toy truck again, they continued their way.

It wasn't long after she had finished her snack, that Bubblegum Blossom looked down on her son again. She directed his attention to a shop window located to their left. They stopped in front of it and as Curtain followed the hoof of his mom again, his eyes landed on a watch. It was golden and tiny diamonds where embedded around the numbers on its face. They glistened seductively in the lights of the window.

“What do your think awf dat watch, Suga'? Wawnna buy dat for mommy?” She looked at him and grinned, her face forming another greedy expression.

“What?” Curtain Call did not understand. “How, mommy? I have, like, no pawcket money anymawe and your don't give me enough.” He pointed at the price tag, which said “2,000 Bits”. Huffing now, he put down his truck and placed it at the side of the window.

“Oh, I know, Suga'. But if we use awll youh pawcket money until you're grawn up, you can pay mommy da money back.” Her eyes took on a pleading expression.

“But.....” Curtain's ears flattened and he began to look sad. “But den I won't get pawcket money anymawe until I'm, like, eighteen year'!” he cried out, voice sounding whiny.

His mom's expression did not change. She leaned down and crushed her son with a hug. “Oh, now come on, Suga'!” she wailed, sounding disappointed. “Mommy has bawght you sor much awvapriced stuff, why can't you do da same just awnce?” If Curtain would have been able to look at her face, he would have seen how her lip quivered.

A few sobs rang into his ears and he lowered his eyes. The little colt wrapped his forehooves around his mom's body and sniffed. “O-Okay,” he said. “I do it for you, mommy, I don't want to make you sad.” His heart stung over the thought that he would never get pocket money again now, but he was determined to keep his promise.

Together, Curtain Call and his mom trotted into the jewelry store. His mom ordered and the stallion behind the counter brought the watch she wanted. Bubblegum Blossom emptied her wallet demonstratively, pulling out two one-thousand bit bills and hoofing it to the jeweller. The stallion nodded and gave her a receipt. Bubblegum Blossom put the watch around her right foreleg immediately, then she left the shop with her son.

Curtain let his head hang, still wearing the sad expression. The picture of the toy truck on its package coming into his view did nothing to change how he felt.

After a few minutes, he sighed and looked up to his mom. She was holding up her right foreleg and looking at the watch with a dreamy expression.

“Did I make you happy, mommy?” the colt asked, expectation in his voice.

“Oh, sure, Suga'. You made mommy very happy,” Bubblegum Blossom answered. She gave him a quick kiss on the head, then returned her attention to the watch.

“Okay.....” he whispered, looking on the floor again.

Curtain Call was trapped in his thoughts, pondering the events that had transpired just now, as his mom suddenly poked him in the side. “Curtain!” she said. “Look at dis beautiful purse in dat shawp awva dere!” She pointed excitedly across the hallway, to yet another shop window. “Mommy would really like to have dis awne!”

Curtain gave the black purse with the white patterns on it only a short look, then he eyes his mom. “But awll my pawcket money is ahready used up.....” His eyes looked slightly wet.

“Oh, yes, Suga'. And mommy doesn't have any money with heh anymawe now.” She bent down and brought her mouth close to his ear. “Dat's why mommy would like you to steal dis purse for heh.”

Curtain's eyes became wide and he gasped. “Stealin', mommy?! But I can't, stealin' isn't–” He felt a hoof shoved onto his mouth.

“Psst!” his mom said, lifting a hoof to her mouth. “Don't say it so loud, Suga'!” She looked around nervously, but none of the ponies who trotted by payed them any attention. She grabbed Curtain's neck and pulled him into a corridor that branched off to the left.

“Mommy will wait hea,” she said, bending down to him. “Your just go ova dere and steal da purse I showed you!” She pointed at the shop, which was now directly opposite of them.

Curtain's expression was full of concern as he looked into his mom's face. “No, mommy,” he said. “I love you, but we shouldn't steal somethin'. Your scolded me when I awlmawst took da hayburga of da mista in da dina.”

The argument rolled off his mom's shoulders, like he hadn't said anything. “Oh, Curtain, don't be such ar spoilspawt! Mommy awnly asks for dis awne last thin' in return!” She nudged him, playfully.

“But, mommy..... What if somepony sees me? I don't wawnna go to prison.....” There was fear in his eyes now.

“Oh, Suga', don't be silly! You're ar, like, five years old, you won't come into prison, da law doesn't work dat way.” She smiled at him, reassuringly, and petted his mane.

“But it's still nawt–”

“Pleeeeeeease, Suga'!” Pleading returned into her voice. She bounced up and down in excitement. It looked ridiculous for a grown mare like her.

“For awnce, mommy awlsaw wants to have ar few nice things! I prawmise it's da last time!” She kissed his cheek.

Curtain shuddered. “F-Fine..... I'll go. But is it really da last time you ask me for somethin'?”

“Suga', awf cawse! I sweah I wont ask for anythin else afta dis!” She crossed her heart.

“O-Okay.....” Curtain nodded and put down the package with his toy truck. “I will do it fast,” he said, determination mixed with fear visible in his face.

“Oh, ahrite, Suga'! Just grab it and come back. Mommy will be hea when you return with her purse!” She nudged him into the direction of the shop.

Curtain nodded again. He turned around and gulped, then started trotting across the hallway.

He entered the shop as casually as he could and looked around. The purse was hanging from a low rack right next to him, just two steps away. There were a few customers in the shop, but they were at the far end of it. Too far away to notice, he concluded. And the shop assistant was nowhere to be seen right now.

Curtain let his eyes glide over the entirety of the shop a second time, then he quickly trotted to the purse, pulled it down and marshed for the exit. Just as he passed it, a howling alarm rang out. Red lights flashed up around him and he twitched.

“Hey, young colt!” a voice came from behind. A second later, Curtain felt grabbed and turned around. He looked into the face of a young stallion, who frowned at him grimly.

“A foal your age is stealing something?!” he asked, shocked. “Where are your parents?”

Hemming and hawing, Curtain tried to think of an excuse while looking around nervously. Before he could find one, he heard the voice of his mother and her approaching hoofsteps from behind.

“Curtain Call!” her horrified voice pierced into his ears. He felt a sharp pain as his mother grabbed his ear and pulled him over to her with force. “What are you doin', little mista?!” her angry face shouted at him.

Bubblegum Blossom huffed, pressing the toy truck package against her body with her free hoof. “Has mommy nawt, like, tawght you dat stealin' ain't okay, nawt even if you really want to have somethin'?! Brin' dis purse back right now!”

A few tears showed up in Curtain's eyes. He obeyed and went back to the rack, his chubby, little legs trembling.

While he was on the way, Bubblegum Blossom gave the shop assistant an apologetic smile. “I'm sawry, I awnly left him out of my eyes for ar minute. I mentioned how much I like dis purse, he prawbably tried to get it for me as ar present.”

The shop assistant's stern expression cleared up only slightly. “Bring your son away from here, ma'am, or I will call the police!”

“Awf course,” Bubblegum Blossom said, meekly. She grabbed Curtain's ear once more as he had returned. “I'm very sawry,” she apologized again and bowed her head a little before turning back to Curtain. “And you come with me,” she said sternly and dragged him with her.

Curtain Call whimpered over the pain in his ear, but his mother did not acknowledge it. “Awnce we're at hawme, you're goin' right to bed and I'll have to think if you really deserve ar presen for Hearth's Wawmin' Eve dis yeah!” she shouted instead, loud enough for the shop assistant to hear.

Only as they were out of his hearing range, she stopped scolding her son and let go of him. Curtain rubbed over his now reddened ear, still flinching in pain. “Ooooow!” he wailed.

“Dat was ar real failure, Suga',” his mom said, her voice accusatory. “I should've expected you can' do it.....”

“But you tawld me to do it!” Curtain complained, still rubbing his aching ear.

The mare ignored the remark. Instead, she set herself into motion again and pulled him into a different direction. “Don't wawry, Suga', mommy knows how you can make dis up to heh!”

Curtain Call just frowned.

As his mother had finally stopped pulling at him, Curtain Call found himself inside a furniture store. Around him stood numerous beds in various shapes and sizes, all of them covered in clean, white bedding. Curtain was angry now, but the newly risen confusion over this sight pushed back the anger quickly.

“What are we doin' now?” he asked, some dread in his voice. He scrutinized one of the beds. “I can't steal an entire bed, mommy, it won't fit through the dooh!” he then added, quieter.

“Oh, Suga', no!” His mother laughed. “I'm nawt askin' you to steal ar bed,” she said as her laughing fit was over, her voice low. “Dis time, mommy wants somethin' else.....” The lusting, greedy expression was back in her face.

All of a sudden, Curtain Call felt very uncomfortable. He did a step back. “W-What is it?” he asked. There was caution in his voice.

His mother came closer, then she brought down her face in front of his. “Dis time, mommy want' you, Suga'!”

For the umpteenth time on this day, Curtain Call blinked at his mother in utter confusion. “Me? But, mommy..... You ahready have me. I'm hea.”

“No, nawt like dis, Suga'. Mommy wants to have ar kiss. Would you give mommy awne?”

Curtain's face cleared up. “Ooooooh! Sure, mommy, I've kissed you befawe!” He smiled. Leaning in, he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

“Awww, thanks, Suga'! But dat's nawt what I meant. Mommy wants to have ar kiss on da mouth dis time.”

This was weird. Curtain raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, simultaneously. He had kissed his mother a dozen times before, but she never asked him to kiss her mouth.

“Hmm.....” his forehead in wrinkles, Curtain pondered the request. He knew what his mother asked for was unusual and thinking of doing that felt somehow wrong. But at the same time, he could not come up with a reason why it was wrong, no matter how much he taxed his little brain. The mouth was really close to the cheek, so it wouldn't be a real difference, he figured.

Having come to that conclusion, he nodded. “Okay, mommy!” the colt said, smiling.

“My good, little boy.....” Bubblegum Blossom looked over the store. Unlike the one with the purse, this was one was crammed with customers. She placed a hoof over her son's neck and pulled him gently into a corner of the store. They stood behind a large bed with a white curtain at the sides now, shielded from the eyes of other ponies. She put down the toy truck there, freeing her hooves.

Curtain Call felt a sudden, inexplicable excitement rising in him. “How does ar kiss awn da mouth feel, mommy?”

“Aww, you will see now.” Bubblegum Blossom chuckled over the innocent question. “Mommy will show you.”

She didn't waste any more time and leaned in on her son's face, pressing her lips on his. A moan left her throat. As she felt how Curtain opened his lips, surprised by the new experience, she stretched out her tongue and let it glide into his mouth. Curtain Call's eyes shot open wildly as he felt the intruder.

A sultry look on her face, Bubblegum Blossom moaned again. She played with her son's tongue for a few seconds, before she released the kiss and retreated from the colt.

Curtain Call gasped for air as he was free. His heart was racing and he felt weird emotions rising in him, somewhere between curiosity and the desire to gag in disgust.

His mother looked down at him, wearing a satisfied expression. She licked her lips. “How did you like it, Suga'?” “It.....” Curtain Call tried to decide for a word to describe the experience. “It was slimy.” He spat out a little. “I'm sawry, mommy..... I-I didn't like it.” A shudder went down his spine.

“Awww, it's okay, Suga'! You will like mawe what mommy is goin' to do nex!” Bubblegum Blossom grinned at her little colt.

“Doin' next?” The uncomfortable feeling from earlier returned. Curtain Call stepped away from his mother. “I don't wawnna do anythin' next, mommy..... Can we go hawme now?” His eyes looked at her in sadness, once more fear mixed in them.

“Aww, Suga', no, nawt yet. Mommy needs just, like, awne last thin' first.” She turned to the bed and lifted up the curtain next to them, then placed it in the bed and pushed it back a little. There was now some free space, just enough for a little colt like Curtain to sit on. His mother turned back at him.

“Sit down dere, Suga', it wont take lawng,” she chirped.

Curtain did not follow the prompt. Instead, he did another step back. “W-What mommy?” he asked. “What do you want to do?” “Nothin' big, Suga'. Just anotha kiss.” The mare smiled widely.

“O-On da mouth again?” Curtain Call shrunk a little, eyeing his mother with a good portion of wariness now.

“No, Suga'. Now, mommy is goin' to kiss youh pee pee.”

A wave of heat flared up inside Curtain Call. “But, mommy, you tawl me dat nopony is allowed to touch me dere!” Curtain felt bewildered hearing his mother suggesting something she had always told him was wrong to do. Feeling his little world view getting shattered, the colt remained still in a state between surprise and confusion.

His mother refused to explain her sudden change of mind. “Mommy wants to kiss and lick it.,” she said, her eyes looking as dreamily as they had when she admired the watch earlier. “Awva and awva again.....”

Somehow, Curtain Call could feel that her eyes were directed between his hindlegs. A very faint blush was in the colt's face now. “B-But you can't, mommy! If you do dat, da oda ponies in da stawe will nawtice!”

He turned around and ran a few steps to the other side of the bed, to direct his mother's attention back to the many ponies in the store. But when he stepped out from behind the bed, nopony was here. Suddenly, Curtain Call noticed that it was completely still around him. All the sounds of chattering and bustling ponies that had found their way into the furniture store were gone. A second later, the lights suddenly turned off and it got instantly dark around the colt.

“M-Mommy?” he asked and winced. The mall was the same as before now, like he had seen it in his nightmare..... But his mother was still here, as her voice soon confirmed to him.

“Suga'! Come back hea, mommy just wants to have some fun!”

Curtain Call understood nothing anymore. But now that the darkness had returned, he was afraid, so he turned on his hooves and went back to his mother behind the bed. Her face greeted him with the same lusting and greedy expression still. Behind her, a word was written on the wall all of a sudden, the letters red and crooked.
“Mommy?” Curtain Call asked. “What's dis word?”

Bubblegum Blossom turned around, then back at her son. “I don't know what you mean, Suga'. Dere's just a wawll.

Curtain Call scrunched his face. He could clearly see the word. And, as much as he could tell with his underdeveloped ability to read, the word on the wall was “Aegis”. It made no sense to him, so Curtain Call turned to the next thing that surprised him.

He was not supposed to see his mother's face in this darkness, but then he noticed something that had slipped his attention earlier. There was a nightstand next to the bed and on it stood a small lamp. It glowed brightly, so his mother must have turned it on after the lights went out. The shine of the lamp fell on the bed, right on the spot his mother had freed there. And this was the spot his mother patted now.

“Come, Suga', sit down hea,” she spoke the same prompt again.

Curtain Call still felt unsure about the situation. He looked around in the mostly dark store, the shapes of the furniture looking creepy and scary in the darkness. He heard a rustling somewhere in the store and he could not tell if it was his mind playing tricks on him or if it was real. Curtain Call looked into his mother's eyes.

“D-Do you still want to do dis?” he stammered, fearfully.

“Suga', awf cawse mommy wants to! Now sit down, finally!” There was impatience in her voice now.

Curtain Call heard something dripping on the floor. As he followed the source of the sound, he saw a small puddle under his mother, right between her hindlegs. His youthful mind wondered if his mother was scared in this darkness, too, so much that she had peed herself.

“I-I'm scared, mommy.....” the colt whimpered. “C-Can we go hawme awnce you.....” He trailed off mid-sentence, unable to complete the weird sentence immediately. “Awnce you.... Awnce you kissed and licked my pee pee?”

“I prawmise, Suga'!” his mother reassured him. “Awnce mommy had heh fun, we leave dis dark place and go hawme tawgeda.”

“O-Okay.....” a small smile formed on his lips. Obediently now, he came closer to his mother and the small, lit-up corner. He sat down on the free space of the bed, then looked up to his mother expectantly. All of this still felt weird to the colt but in his fear, he was willing to do everything to leave the creepy, dark mall as fast as possible.

“What now, mommy?” he asked, sounding impatient himself now.

“Now, Suga', spread youh legs, like, really wide, so dat mommy's mouth can get to youh pee pee,” she instructed her son.

Curtain Call followed her words and spread his legs apart. Looking down, he saw that his pee pee was a little stiff all of a sudden, just like when he had to pee. But right now, he felt no urge for this.

Her mother looked down at the slightly stiff penis of her son, licking her lips once more, while a grin formed on her face. She kneeled down in front of him, admiring the sight more.

Curtain Call watched how his mother rested her sight on his pee pee. He desired to bring this behind him as fast as possible. But the longer his mother stared, the more uncomfortable the colt became. Beads of sweet began to trickle down his forehead and his face began to show more and more uncertainty.

As his mother finally brought her mouth closer to his pee pee, after minutes of lustful staring, the second thoughts Curtain had developed reached their peak. He squirmed, inching back a little.

“Mommy, no,” he suddenly said. “I-I don' want to do dis. Please, let's go hawme!”

His mother followed his movements, ignoring the pleading request. “Just ar little, Suga'! Mommy is just gettin' heh rewawd for always bein' so nice to you.”

Curtain Call started to grind his teeth. “Mommy..... Please stop.” Cold fear began to rise in him.

This time, the mare did not respond. She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. After she brought it close to the stiff, little penis in front of her, she let it hover above it, increasing the tension for herself.

Curtain Call's tension increased, as well. He was shuddering all over his body now, in fearful anticipation what would happen soon. He tried to plead to his mother again, but only whimpers managed to escape his mouth. He shook his head, fast and repeatedly, while he starred in horror at the scene between his legs.

Finally, his mother did not want to wait any longer. Curtain Call watched her lowering her tongue and bringing it in front of his pee pee. When she let it leap forward and did the first, quick lick across the tip of it, Curtain started to protest again.

“NO!” he shouted loudly. He inched further back in sheer panic, almost getting tangled up in the curtain that hang down the bed. “MOMMY, STAWP IT NOW AND GO HAWME!” he pleaded.

As his mother didn't listen and came closer again, his left hindleg twitched beyond his control. With all the strength that was in his little body, it came down on his mother's face. The mare howled in pain and covered her face. As she removed her hooves, Curtain Call could see that her nose was drenched in blood. It looked flatter than before and new blood was steadily trickling out of the nostrils. Small, red dots appeared on the white sheets as it dripped down from her chin.

For a moment, the shock dominated but then Curtain saw what he had done. “No.....” he whimpered, tears now flowing down his face. “Mommy..... I'm sawry.” He inched a bit closer again, while covering his pee pee with one hoof, intended to give his mother a hug. But as her face became distorted in sudden anger, he flinched and moved away again.

His mother showed her teeth to him. “YOU!” she let out a scream of hatred. “MOMMY JUST WANTED TO GET AR REWARD FOR ALWAYS DOIN' EVERYTHIN' YOU WANT! AND DIS IS HOW YOU THANK MOMMY?!” She reached for his face. “COME HEA!”

Curtain Call jumped on all four hooves. In panic, he tried to escape through the curtain on the other side of the bed, ripping it down in the process. He fought and kicked to get rid of it and as he had managed, he jumped down the bed and began to run. Hearing the furious hoofsteps of his mother following him, Curtain Call ran through the store and right to the exit. Without stopping, he pushed the door open with his head and leaped outside.

The hallway outside was as dark as the store, but Curtain kept running, the fear letting him find the way somehow.

“STAWP AND TURN AROUND!” the hate-filled voice of his mother came down on him from behind. “DO WHAT YOUH MUDDA WANTS, YOU BEGGIN' FREAK! LET ME BE YOUH WHAWE, I DESERVE IT!”

Curtain Call's heart began to race faster and faster, both from the fear he felt and his increasing exhaustion. His mother was faster than him and he only could stay ahead of her because of the fear that controlled his legs. But now, his sides began to hurt and he felt how he got slower and slower. Knowing that he would have to stop running soon, Curtain did the only thing he could think of. He took a sharp turn to the left and ran into the corridor under the familiar, blue-glowing signs. Huffing, he reached the door of the nearest toilet and began to pull it open. But before he could slip inside, he felt the strong hoof of his mother coming down on his neck and pulling him back.

Bubblegum Blossom stared down at her son with her bloody face, unrestrained anger all over it. “You're nawt escapin',” she whispered. “Mommy will get what she WANTS!”

Curtain Call choked. “Mommy, no..... P-Please.....” His face was thick and red from crying and his usually happy expression replaced by deep fear and desperation.

“YES!” his mother shouted. She spat into his face. “Mommy will kiss and lick youh cawck and get you da first awgasm awf youh life, Suga'!” She let her tongue lap over her lips. “Den you are goin' to lick mommy and repay da favaw, da times where mommy did things for you without askin' for somethin' in return are AWVA, Curtain!”

She moved closer to the frightened, crying colt and pushed him down, exposing him once more. “And afta dat, you will use dis–” She stopped and poked against the, now limp, penis of her son. “– and FUCK mommy into heh CUNT as lawng as she wants you to!” A greedy cackle left her mouth.

Curtain Call tried to scream, but his throat felt like he was getting strangled. His mother had used new words, words he never heard before, and it increased his fear tenfold.

“Now, let's START!” his mother announced, licking her lips once more. She came close to his penis once more, tongue already sticking out now.

The fear in Curtain Call increased once more. Giving him new strength, it let him turn around and reach for the door again. “NOOOOOOO!” he screamed. His mother grabbed his flank and held him in position, too tight for him to escape. Curtain flailed his forehooves around, desperate to find something to hold on to. Suddenly, he heard something splinter, and sharp pain flashed through his forehooves, making him scream again.

As he looked up, he saw something to the left ot the toilet's door. A faint outline of something that hadn't been there before. He was unable to make out what it was, but in his panic, the colt reached for it. It was strong and sturdy and as soon as he had pulled it out and held it firm in his hooves, he swung it against his mother's head.

Immediately, the pulling at his flank stopped. He felt the hooves letting loose and used the time to get up on all fours, protectively holding the object in front of him. Regaining his breath, he waited for his mother to lunge for him again. But nothing happened. The corridor lay silent and dark in front of him. Hesitantly, he let the object sink. As he had done, he could suddenly hear voices. Busy chatting once more, as well as the sound of many hoofsteps. The lights went on around him and, just like that, the mall had its life back.

Ponies were bustling and hurrying around in the hallway outside of the corridor. And in front of him, in bright light, Curtain Call could see his mother. She stared at him, eyes wide open, and her mouth still showed the same, greedy expression. There was no sign of blood in her face, nor of a broken nose. Her face looked pristine. But on her head, on the right side of it, gaped a large hole. Blood came out of it in streams and dropped down on his mother's shoulder, then on the floor.

The little colt, still scared and now additionally shocked over this sight, removed one hoof from the object he clasped and held it as his mouth. “M-Mommy?” he whined. As he looked down by instinct at the object he was holding, he finally saw what it was. His left forehoof was bleeding from cuts and in it was a large, red fire axe. The darker blood of his mother was still discernable from its colored surface.

Then, a sharp scream pierced the air and Curtain looked up. A mare had stopped at the entrance of the corridor and pointed at the corpse that laid there. She was screaming and screaming. Other ponies stopped at her side to check up on her and their eyes had to see the same. Their glances wandered from the dead body to Curtain Call and the bloody axe in his hoof. The ponies gasped.

“D-Did you do this?!” a stallion asked in disbelief. Curtain Call noticed him, it was the shop assistant who had caught him stealing earlier.

“N-No.....” he stammered. “I-I mean, y-yes, b-but..... I..... I.....” He did not know how to finish the sentence and stopped. A stream of fresh tears began to run down his face. He dropped the axe in disgust.

More ponies came and soon, a crowd had gathered. All of the ponies reached the same conclusion. They pointed hooves at him and then, the crowd started to shout.

“He is ar murdara!” a mare shrieked.

“This colt killed his own mother! Wasn't stealing enough, you creepy, little bastard?!” the shop assistant shouted.

“Lock him up in Tartarus!” several ponies demanded.

The entire crowd agreed. Collectively, the gathered ponies started to shout the same word over and over again. “Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus!”

Shocked, confused and still scared, Curtain Call's hooves gave in and he collapsed to the floor. He covered his ears trying to drown out the word, without success.

“Mommy.....” he whimpered. “Please come back.....”
.

Author's Note

“Huh?” Curtain Call stared at his mom. “Hearth's Wawmin' presents? But isn't Hearth's Wawmin' Eve still, like, two months away, mommy?”

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It's not too immersion-breaking to poke fun at weird release schedules, right?

Also, this is probably the closest I'll ever get to write Foalcon here.....

Company L̵̡̓͐̊̈́̂̐͡o̶ͥͩ̀n̡ͦ̓͒ͨ̃ͩe͂ͬ̒lͥ̆̒̋͊̋̚͡i̎̚͘͝҉n̂̋́e̛͌̏ͬ̄̒͆͆s͌̌͝҉s̡̿͆ͫͪ͜

Author's Note

No accent-reduced version dis time. Dis chapter is about Starlet Radiance and she barely has a Manehattan accent, so you will be able to understand the dialogues here without a problem.

Company L̵̡̓͐̊̈́̂̐͡o̶ͥͩ̀n̡ͦ̓͒ͨ̃ͩe͂ͬ̒lͥ̆̒̋͊̋̚͡i̎̚͘͝҉n̂̋́e̛͌̏ͬ̄̒͆͆s͌̌͝҉s̡̿͆ͫͪ͜

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Company L̵̡̓͐̊̈́̂̐͡o̶ͥͩ̀n̡ͦ̓͒ͨ̃ͩe͂ͬ̒lͥ̆̒̋͊̋̚͡i̎̚͘͝҉n̂̋́e̛͌̏ͬ̄̒͆͆s͌̌͝҉s̡̿͆ͫͪ͜

Starlet Radiance was sitting upright in her chair. She was quiet, not filling the diner with any sounds except for the incessant knocking on the table by her right forehoof. Starlet was staring at the window of the empty diner; stoically, patiently. Like something was about to happen outside, something that wasn't to be expected late at night in a deserted mall. Nothing was happening, of course, but the filly kept staring regardless. The sound of her hoof on the table rang hollow throughout the diner. It sounded eerie and creepy, but Starlet Radiance did not twitch.

It was after a while, maybe ten minutes, maybe twenty (Starlet had nothing with her to count the time, as the clock above the counter had mysteriously stopped), that Starlet Radiance gave in. She arranged her forelegs neatly on the table and placed her chin on them. Bored, she kept staring. The darkness behind the window began flickering the longer she looked at it and Starlet did not know whether it was her mind that tried to entertain itself to ease the crippling boredom or..... something else. The possibility of something else did not unsettle her, as one might have expected. On the contrary, she stayed rather calm about the prospect that something else might come to try and get her.

After a few more minutes, the flickering turned into swirling, then the swirling formed a picture, then the picture started moving. A mare appeared. Tall, with a pink coat and a dark, blue mane. Her appearance looked strict, because of the size of her body and the clothes she was wearing, but her face was graced by a caring expression, that felt mismatched in comparison.

More swirls appeared as the mare leaned over something. They formed a rectangular structure, with soft and comfortable curves at the top. The part of the structure that was directly under the mare's face looked like the faint outline of another face and as all of this got colored, Starlet Radiance recognized and remembered.

The structure turned out to be a bed and inside of it, Starlet saw herself. Her face was red and puffy, her eyes bloodshot and she was coughing loudly. The mare, who she now finally recognized as her mom, sat down at the side of her bed and brushed a gentle hoof over her sweaty mane.

“My poor daughter,” Starlet heard her speaking. “I'm so sorry. If only I had known you would become sick, I would not have went into the office today.”

The illusion of herself managed to form a smile between the coughs. She wrapped her tiny hooves around her mother's forehoof and nestled her face into it.

New tears ran down the face of the real Starlet Radiance. The filly got up from her chair, hastily, and staggered towards the window. “Mommy, don't go away!” she cried out. The movements of her lips were strangely simultaneous with those of her image, that spoke the same sentence.

“I'm here now, Starlet, don't worry.” Her mother gave the image of her a kiss on the forehead. It caused Starlet's heart to sting and she began to cry louder.

“Daddy will be home in an hour and until then, I will make some tea and hot soup for you.” The mare stood up and trotted to the other side of the bed, where she fiddled around with something. “I turned up the radiation for you,” she said. Then she turned around and trotted away, until she had disappeared. A second later, the bed and the image of herself fell apart and turned back into swirls.

“Mommy, NO!” Starlet cried at the now empty window. It burst in front of her, a shower of glass splinters raining down on the floor of the hallway behind it. Starlet twitched and stumbled back, fright appearing on her face now.

The glass was gone, but the swirls remained in its place. They wafted outside into the hallway, like they got blown at by an invisible gust of wind. Starlet still couldn't figure out if they were actually there, or just products of her imagination, but she followed them. Haste in her step, she climbed through the now broken window and stepped into the hallway. The swirls had a headstart, they were floating above ground level just at the height of the filly's eyes in a couple meters distance. Starlet Radiance hurried after them in a fast trot, as they began to take on a concrete form again.

They turned into solid, erect structures, with a poofy-looking extension at the top of them. Others formed much smaller structures, long in shape and each of them right next to one of the other manifestations. Starlet Radiance began to hear sounds around her, singing and laughing of other foals that got interrupted by the occasional excited squeal. More swirls appeared and the mare with the pink coat and blue mane, her mother, returned into Starlet's view. The swirl at her side took on the form of a stallion, his coat of a turquoise color and his mane a fiery red.

“DADDY!” Starlet cried as loud as she could, but the stallion did not look up at her.

He was sitting on a bench, his wife closely held at his shoulder. He kissed her mouth tenderly, which she redeemed with a passionate and comfortable sigh of pleasure.

“DADDY!” Starlet's voice rang out again. But her lips hadn't moved this time. In the distance, the swirls had formed a playground. Once more, Starlet saw herself. She was standing at the start of a long slide, waving ferociously. “Daddy, Mommy! Look what I can do!”
The parents looked over at their daughter, smiling gratefully.

The picture of herself above the slide waved one last time, then she suddenly flopped onto the floor, gave herself a push and slid down, face-forward and on her belly. She squealed and squeaked from joy all the way down. At the bottom, she jumped off elegantly, pinwheeled in the air and landed on monkey bars at the other side. She turned around, her hooves not once slipping from the strut she stood on, and threw her forehooves into the air. “Tadaa!” she shouted over to her parents.

“Oooooooooh!” her parents voiced their astonishment from their puckered lips. They sat up and clapped their hooves together in awe, giving their daughter a bombastic applause.

The illusion of herself bowed down gracefully, bathing in the applause, then the entire scenery vanished all of a sudden and the mall around Starlet Radiance was just darkness again.

Starlet gulped and her body started shivering. Unable to stay on her hooves, she sat down, then covered her face. “MOMMY!” she shrieked, loud enough to produce a resounding echo that seemed to reach through the entire mall. Her tears soaked the coat on her forehooves.

“DAAAAAADDY!” a second, longer shriek followed from her throat. “Why did you leave me alone?” she added then, her voice noticeably weaker. The distraught filly expected an answer. She hoped to get one. But nopony answered her question.

For a good amount of time, because of the crippling loneliness Starlet Radiance felt since this memory had flooded her mind, she was too weak to get back up. The swirls were still there, in the air around her, and they seemed to beckon her to follow them. But Starlet was lacking the motivation for anything that required more energy than crying bitterly and kept sitting at her spot, wetting the floor and herself with more and more tears. It wasn't until she heard something that called for her attention that Starlet Radiance finally found the strength to get back onto her hooves.

“Staaaaaaarlet!” she heard her name getting called. It was undoubtedly and unmistakably the voice of her mother again.

Albeit still crying, the little filly trudged ahead once more. The swirls were now far away and she could only catch a small glimpse of them before they disappeared behind a corner on the left side. Still too exhausted to run, she approached the corner in a slow tempo and with rising desire to catch up with the swirling, wild patterns.

“Staaaaaaarlet!” she heard the voice again, louder this time. Closer. “Starlet? Mommy is here for you. Come! Come and follow my voice, my sweet, little pie!”

Each word let Starlet's heart race faster, as her yearning became stronger and stronger. “Mommy?” she managed to ask as she had almost reached the corner, but it came out only weakly.

Having turned around the corner and looking into another hallway now, Starlet could finally see her mother again. She was entering one of the side corridors, the ones that led to the elevators and the staircases, and Starlet increased her tempo as she chased after her. “Mommy! Wait!” her voice rasped, still impaired from all the crying.

Her mother did not turn around, then got swallowed up by the darkness of the corridor. As Starlet arrived in it, she was greeted by nothing than this darkness. Her mother was nowhere to be seen and as she rasped another cry for her, she once again received no response. Starlet wiped over her eyes, rubbing old tears away while new ones came streaming out. She was close to collapsing again, as she heard her name getting called behind her.

“You can open your eyes now, Starlet!”

She turned around and found herself looking at another large scenery. It had become built up quietly behind her, while she had been looking for her mom. She saw herself again, sitting in the middle of many scattered gift packages. Behind her image towered a large Hearth's Warming tree and she could hear the crackling of the fire in the chimney at the left side of the illusion. The colorful dress she had put on for the occasion and the red ribbon in her mane almost made her look like a gift herself.

Starlet sniffed up and bit her lip, another fresh torrent of tears running down her cheeks, as she witnessed yet another memory, projected by her mind or maybe unseen forces around her.

She saw herself squealing and holding her cheeks in awe, with hooves that were even tinier than Starlet's hooves currently were, looking around and trying to decide which of the packages she should try as the first one.

“Open this one!” her dad said after a minute had passed without a decision. He put one of the larger gifts right in front of her image.

Eagerly, her younger self flopped on her flank and pulled the package closer. With zeal and a wild strength that seemed uncommon for a toddler, she ripped off the wrapping in large scraps. Mere seconds later, she had uncovered a large, blue package. Through the transparent front, a filly made of plastic and in the cheesiest pink colors smiled at her. To its left and right, it was framed by an assortment of dresses and other clothes, differently-sized brushes and several other accessories. White shutters were painted around the transparent plastic, making it look like the items could be seen through tiny windows.

The image of herself opened her mouth widely, shock and surprise written on her young face, eyes gleaming at the discovery. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to find any words, then she suddenly jumped into her dad's lap, wrapped her tiny hooves around his waist and snuggled into his chest.

“Daddy, Daddy!” she shouted in glee. “Thank you, Daddy, it's the doll I wanted! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She rubbed her face into his coat, a few tiny tears of joy trickling out of her eyes.

Her mother came into view. She sat down behind her and stretched out her hooves, wrapping both her little filly and her husband into a tight embrace. Squeezed by her beloved parents, her image cooed and smiled in comfort while the real Starlet erupted into yet another round of sniffing, whimpering and crying.

“Just what our best daughter deserves!” she heard her dad speaking, his hooves grasped around the back of her projected image. He laughed.

The image of Starlet moved her tiny head and looked into her dad's face. “Am I, really? I'm really the best daughter?” Her eyes started gleaming even more.

Her mother turned her head slightly and the parents exchanged a grateful glance.

“Yes, Starlet,” her mother answered softly. “You are the best daughter in all of the wide, wide–” Her mouth stopped moving abruptly and the words fizzled out.

Starlet gasped. The body of her mother was completely still all of a sudden. She did not move anymore and neither did her dad. The color vanished from their bodies and they suddenly appeared dull and gray. Only the image of herself was still colorful and still in motion. Tenderly, her younger self kept snuggling into her dad's chest without noticing any change around her.

“Why?” Starlet whimpered. She sniffed up again.

Somewhere in the distance, she could hear a bang and, like it was a signal, the grey bodies of her parents dissolved into tiny flakes. Once more, it was like there was an invisible gust of wind as they got blown up into the air, until Starlet could not see them in the darkness above her head anymore. Only the image of herself remained for a little while longer, snuggling the air in front of her. Then it disappeared, too.

“Why?” Starlet whimpered another time. Her head started to hurt and her tear-filled eyes were barely able to follow the swirls in the darkness that proceeded further down the corridor and aimed for another corner.

“Starlet!”

She twitched as she heard the voice of her dad coming from the darkness.

“Come to daddy! You don't have to hide, it's just me! Please, come to me, Starlie!”

Cold shivers crept down Starlet Radiance's spine. This was a nickname only her parents called her with. She was sure, no, she knew, that she didn't tell any other pony about this nickname, not even her friends. But her parents weren't here, there was no way how they could be here and they had no reason to be looking for her at this place. Starlet was young, but she could put together that her parents searching for her inside the mall was impossible.

“Starlie!” the voice of her mother chimed again. “Come, Starlie, Mommy is here, Mommy wants to see you!”

Starlet looked around, now fear rising and fighting for dominance with her loneliness. Both feelings swirled around inside her.

“Starlie!” “Starlie!” “Staaaaarlie!” “Starlie?” “Staaaaaaaaaaaaarlie!”

The voices seemed to come from all sides and from all distances. Starlet could not figure out if the closer ones were echoes or really near her, but her fear gave her a boost and she trotted down the hallway, still following the shadowy swirls. The fear of the voices and the dread of what could be around the corner let Starlet alternate in her trotting speed, but she managed to reach the corner faster than the one before. As she went around it, she almost wished she hadn't reached it.

The entire corridor in front of her was filled with colors. Left and right, in the small side corridors, inside the shop windows, even on the galleries above her and on the ground, several scenes were playing at once. It looked like somepony had built up multiple, magical screens and activated them all at once. From her position, Starlet could identify different locations on almost each of them; there was her favourite playground, the living room of her home, her bedroom, other rooms in her house and pretty much every place in Manehattan she had went to with her parents in the past. And one thing was always the same, she was there with her parents and could see a happy moment she had spent with them.

Starlet did not dare to venture further. She shuddered as sobs, that caused her entire body to shook and tremble, rang out of her throat.

“Stop it,” she whimpered, voice stiffled by the tears. “Please stawp.”

Behind her, in the vast darkness of where she had come from, she suddenly heard a loud gasp, then somepony talking. “Starlie! Starlie, turn around!” There was some shivering in the voice.

The young filly did not listen. Instead, she screeched and jumped. Then she started galloping at full speed. The scenes rushed past her, most of them having become a blur, and her mind was too busy with her fear to reminisce about the ones she could still identify. Starlet ran to the end of the corridor, then took a sharp turn to the left. She tripped over a bench, almost fell, caught herself and kept galloping. By now, she had started to scream. She could hear hoofsteps behind her and nothing in her desired to stop and check if they were real or not.

It was when she approached another corner, that giggles and laughter filled her ears. Starlet twitched, but she was running too fast to stop before the corner. She skidded around it and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

Another scene was playing there, but something was different this time. She could see herself, sitting on one of the benches. There was another filly at her side, happily dangling her cream-colored legs over the edge of the bench. She could hear her bright, blue pigtails rustle in the silence around her every time she moved her head. Her parents were there, too, as it was to expect. They sat on the bench next to them and were talking, but not without sending the occasional glance into the direction of her image and the other filly. But unlike all the other scenes, this one did not show a different place.

Starlet noticed how the images of the benches she saw herself, the other filly and her parents sitting on appeared white and bright. The real benches, that were merely intimidating shadows in the darkness, were covered up by the illusions. Only a tiny bit of the darkness on them could be seen behind the images, not quite enough to make them look grey.

The cream-colored filly giggled again. It sounded muffled and now Starlet could see that she was holding a brush in her mouth. A set of watercolors lay to her left and a strong, thick piece of paper was on her knees. It showed paintings of trees and buildings. The lower part of the picture showed tiny figures, ponies that were cheering and clapping. The filly drew a few more ponies right in front of the trees and buildings. They were holding each other's hooves and bowed down with smiling faces, the other ponies undoubtedly an audience of some sort.

The filly took the brush out of her mouth. “Now it's finished,” she spoke in a low, timid voice. She put down the brush and placed it on the box with the watercolors. “I think that's how the stage should look. What do you think, Starlet?” She turned around expectantly.

Starlet could observe how her image clapped with her hooves. “Dis looks so great!” she cheered. “I'm sure she will like it!”

The eyes of the other filly started glowing. “Really? You really think so, Starlet?”

Her image nodded, wearing a confident smile. “I bet! She will choose your design once she sees it!”

The other filly squeaked from joy and she fell around her neck. “I am so glad you helped me, Starlet, thank you! I'll owe it to you if my design wins!”

Her image grinned widely and wrapped her hooves around the other filly. “I'll always help you, Pommy, no matter what!”

Starlet was staring at the scene for a few more seconds, shaking and crying stronger than before. Then she broke down right in front of the bench, to the hooves of her image who was still hugging the other filly. From tear-filled eyes, she could see how, once more, the image of her parents turned gray and stopped moving, their mouths frozen mid-sentence. It was the same for the pigtailed filly, frozen in the embrace of her image and her entire body gray. The gray bodies were reminiscent of ash that remained of burnt paper.

A sob left Starlet's throat and she averted her eyes. Looking down on the floor, she gripped her head with both forehooves. “Make it stop!” it escaped her. “Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it STOP!” she yelled and let her hooves come down on her head, while the bodies of her parents and the cream-colored filly dissolved into flakes and floated into the air. Her image remained, giggling happily and hugging an invisible filly, just like the last time. After a minute it disappeared, as well, and the corridor fell silent again.

Nothing could be heard anymore, save for Starlet's sobbing and the thumps when her hooves knocked on her skull.

The breakdown lasted for a couple of minutes, then Starlet's energy left her and she let her hooves drop to the floor. She breathed heavily while she tried to recover from the attack. Her eyes were dry now. They hurt as she looked ahead and, much to her surprise, found herself looking at the diner she had left earlier. The shards on the floor glistened in the moonlight that shone through a window. In her distraught state, and with all the sadness, fear and panic she had felt, Starlet hadn't noticed that she had been going around in a circle. It must have been half an hour since she left, she estimated, and now she was back from where she started.

Trembling, she slowly brought herself into an upright position. Her wobbling knees made it likely she would fall again, but Starlet managed to keep standing. Weak and tired, and exhausted from all the running and crying, she motioned back to the diner.

It was where she belonged.

Protection Ņ̴̨̛̜͔̻̮̼̫̙̹͍̖̞̜͕͗̃̐̐͋͐̊ͮ͗̽ͭͬͤ͐̾ͤ̎̒̊ë́̆̅͗̾̅ͣ̈ͭ҉̷̪̯͙̭͕̘͔̲̥̝̳̳͍̮̮̯́g̷̴̡̦̳͔̭̤̣̱͆ͧ͗ͬ͆͗̿̓́͂́͛ͣ̾ͬͤ̑̚̚͠ͅl̢̡͈̦̘̀̏̊̑͗ͩ̽ͬͤ̅͟e̸̬̺̜̣̟͎̭̜̙͍̱̻͛̓ͭ̂ͬ́ͪ͢c̶̨̨̟̪̭̰̩̻̲̼̤͐ͮ͛̂ͣ̊̌́̿͑̾ͩͬ̉ͨ͘͠t̴̨̛̓ͤͯͭ̍͜͏̺͍̜͓̬̞͚̣͓͚̠̞̺͕̤̻̥̮͖

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Protection Ņ̴̨̛̜͔̻̮̼̫̙̹͍̖̞̜͕͗̃̐̐͋͐̊ͮ͗̽ͭͬͤ͐̾ͤ̎̒̊ë́̆̅͗̾̅ͣ̈ͭ҉̷̪̯͙̭͕̘͔̲̥̝̳̳͍̮̮̯́g̷̴̡̦̳͔̭̤̣̱͆ͧ͗ͬ͆͗̿̓́͂́͛ͣ̾ͬͤ̑̚̚͠ͅl̢̡͈̦̘̀̏̊̑͗ͩ̽ͬͤ̅͟e̸̬̺̜̣̟͎̭̜̙͍̱̻͛̓ͭ̂ͬ́ͪ͢c̶̨̨̟̪̭̰̩̻̲̼̤͐ͮ͛̂ͣ̊̌́̿͑̾ͩͬ̉ͨ͘͠t̴̨̛̓ͤͯͭ̍͜͏̺͍̜͓̬̞͚̣͓͚̠̞̺͕̤̻̥̮͖

“Guys?” Babs kept staring at the empty table as she heard the echo of her own voice fading away in the darkness. “Where did dey go?” She tilted her head and scrunched her face, displeased about the absence of her friends.

Unsure what to do now, Babs trotted back to the entrance of the diner and peeked outside. “GUYS!” she shouted out into the hallway. Once more, her voice got reflected off the walls and echoed back into her ears. As she didn't get an answer again, Babs trotted out of the diner completely. “Dey mus' have gone to seach for an exi', bu' why witou' me?” she mumbled as she proceeded down the hallway back into the direction of the sleeping night guard.

Around her, the mall was still quiet. There were no sounds of her friends, neither their voices nor their hooves on the tiled floor. The silence made it all the more easy for Babs to hear the sound of shattering glass that suddenly sliced through the darkness. A second later, she could hear thumps. One, two, three, four and five. Babs followed the sounds, perking up her ears in attentive concentration. She didn't have to go far before she saw small, black silhouettes and the light of the moon shining into the mall through a broken window.

“Are you nuts?!” a voice found its way into her ears. “This mall has a night guard, if he hears us, we're going to get busted!”
The voice gave Babs chills. Before she could step into the moonlight and reveal herself, she stopped in her tracks and immediately trotted backwards. Her effort was in vain, though. Before she could hide, lights flashed up and pointed right at her. A collective gasp of surprise from five different throats rang out.

“Babs Seed!” the voice from earlier addressed her, making her flinch. “What is the foul and dirty excuse of a filly that you are doing here?!” The voice was searing and its eagerness to insult her was proof for it that its owner was quite used to doing that.
Babs kept stumbling backwards, but the five colts in front of her followed her swiftly.

“I-I go' jus' lawcked in hea by acciden' when the mall clawsed!” she spoke in her defense. “Bu' wha' are you doin' hea, huh? You brawke intaw the mall!” Immediately, Babs cursed herself for voicing her observation so carelessly. She brought her forehooves to her mouth and pressed down on it tight.

“Sher ha', liker, see' evehytin',” another colt leaned in to the one who had just spoken to her.

The colt at the top of the group nodded grimly. “Oh, I know already!” he snarled. “But she's not going to tattle on us, peeps! Flashing a vicious grin, he reached behind his back and zipped open a backpack he was carrying, not leaving Babs out of his sight. Babs' eyes widened in horror as she saw how he pulled a long, sturdy metal chain out of it. It glistened menacingly as the moonlight fell on it.

“N-No!” Babs almost tripped over her hooves as she stumbled backwards faster. As the other four colts pulled objects out of their backpacks, as well, one of them a similar chain, the remaining three a long knife, a club with crooked nails in it, a lighter and a can of hairspray, Babs did not waste any more time with flinching in horror. Instead, she did a leap forward, which surprised the five colts, and galloped past them in the fastest speed she managed. “They're no' gettin' me, they're no' gettin' me!” she thought in panic as her hooves thundered over the floor.

Behind her, though, the could hear that her hooves weren't the only ones that tormented the floor. “Don't be scared!” it came from behind. “You already know some of these weapons from the schoolyard, Babs, not like you aren't familiar with them!” Mocking laughter rang out in response to the statement.

Babs increased her pace. “I jus' need to ge' to the nigh' guard, I hope I can wake him up now!” she muttered under her breath.

Luck wasn't on her side, though. One of the five colts, their leader, was clearly faster and soon, he had galloped past her. He cut off her path and Babs skidded to a halt, fear dictating her reaction as he swung the chain through the air, menacingly. A moment later, the four other bullies caught up with her. One pushed her down to the floor immediately, his club leaving a sharp pain on Babs' flank as it came down on it.

The colt wielding it sat down on her. His weight pressing her down, it was impossible to escape for the young filly. “L-Le' me go!” Babs whimpered. “Guys, I swea, I won' be tellin' anypony!”

The colt who was sitting on her laughed loudly. “Where woul' ber dar fu' in da'?” he asked. To underline his words, he lifted his right hindleg and brought it down hard on Babs' head. It got pressed down onto the floor by the colt's hoof and pain began to spread out in her face.

“P-Please!” Babs pleaded, tears streaming down her face now. “I won' tell anypony wha' happened, I swea, I swea!” Her voice sounded muffled now, but the panic still came through clearly.

The colt laughed again. He lifted his hoof off her head for a second, only to bring it down again much harder. He proceeded with smashing her face against the hard floor, repeatedly. Waves of pain flashed through Babs' face and nose. Eventually, she felt a warm puddle soaking her face as blood began to shoot out of her broken nose. Her injury created amusement among the bullies, as all five were laughing loudly now. Gone was their fear of alerting the night guard, it was too much fun for them to see her suffer.

As their laughing fits had subsided, the leader trotted closer to Babs, still swinging his chain. He gripped her head under her chin and pulled up her face so she had to look at him. His mouth twisted into a wicked grin as he saw the blood that was smeared over her face and the fresh supplies that were still leaking from her nose. It increased as he heard the drops hitting the floor.

“Maybe you will tell somepony or maybe you will just piss your coat and be quiet,” he deducted. “But why would we take the risk? We're not going to youth prison because of you freak!” After the last words had left his lips, he spit into her face. A gooey mess of spit and yellow snot got mixed in with the blood. Then he punched his hoof onto her right eye, making her cry out from the impact. Her eye turned black immediately and began to swell shut. “You're not going to tell anypony. You're not going to tell anypony anything ever again.”

Babs' eyes widened in horror as the colt began to cackle in glee. As he was finished, he turned around and waved one of the other colts over. It was the one with the lighter and the hairspray. “Let's have some more fun before we blow her lights out,” he commented the gesture. The other colt nodded. He bent down to Babs, turned on the lighter and brought it close to her face. Letting it linger there for a minute, he gave Babs the opportunity to watch the flickering of the flame. As he deemed that it had been long enough, he held the flame at her cheek. Babs screaming, he watched in delight how the flame was burning the short hairs on it and how her skin turned brown, then black afterwards.

He was just about ready to move the lighter to a different spot of her face, as he saw a shadow coming closer from the corner of his eyes. The others saw it, as well, and the bullies moved their heads into the direction of the unwanted visitor.

Babs did her best to crane her aching head into the same direction. As she had succeeded with the task, her eyes lit up with hope and joy, recognizing the two ponies that stood there.

“Mom! Dad!” she shouted. “I'm so glad you're hea! Dey trapped me and hur' me!”

Her dad nodded. “We've seen, Babs. We are here for a while already and have watched.”

The meaning of the words not yet dawning on her, Babs smiled as the voice of her dad washed over her. “Te' dem to stop!” she shouted.

Now her mom talked and she shook her head while she did so. “No, Babs, we won't.”

The answer came so swiftly and was spoken so naturally, that the sheer surprise over it knocked the fear out of Babs. “Why no'?” Babs asked, her response sounding just as natural. “Don' you see wha' they're doin'? Dey broke my nose, gave me a black eye and burned my cheek!”

“We have seen it.” It was her dad again who spoke now. “We just don't care, Babs.”

Only now, Babs noticed how apathetic and emotionless his voice sounded. It brought the fear back and it creeped down her spine like somepony was moving an icecube over it.

“W-Why?” Babs asked, new tears shooting out from her eyes. Her parents did not respond anymore, they only stared, with cold eyes.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” the leader of the bullies broke out in unrestrained laughter. “Looks like there isn't any help to expect from them, huh, Babs? What did you do? Forgotten to clean up your room?” The remark found broad approval and once more, the group erupted into laughing fits. At the peak of his mood, the leader punched Babs' lip with his hoof. It popped open immediately, letting a fresh stream of warm blood pour out.

Whimpering loudly, Babs looked at her parents again, but they still didn't move. Their eyes showed no emotion and no care. They did not even blink. Babs buried her face in her forehooves and erupted into loud cries. She could not look at them anymore.

Noticing the movement, the colt on her back climbed off and freed her. To him, it was clear she wouldn't try to run away anymore now. The colt with the knife approached her now. “I hawper wer can sti' haver, liker, somer fu' wit littler Babs befawrer wer finish heh awff!” He snickered.

“Sure thing!” his leader confirmed. “What do you want to do?”

“Sometin' specia'.” He grinned and licked over his lips. Gripping his knife harder, he brought it down on Babs' back and sliced it open, cutting deep wounds into the flesh. Then he stepped away and reared up. He reached between his legs and grabbed his member with one hoof. “Hawldin' it in for ar whiler ahread',” he said simply, then a stream of warm, yellow piss left the tiny hole at the tip of his member. It soaked Babs' coat and filled up the bloody trenches the knife had left.

The urine burned in her wounds and Babs cried out in pain. Feeling helpless, she looked at her parents again, her eyes pleading them to help. But they just turned around, wordlessly, and began to trot away in a slow, pathetic tempo.

Behind her, the colt was finished with using her as a toilet. Babs retched as she smelled the stench of his piss on her coat. “Ahrigh'. No' your ca', liker ki' heh,” the colt announced, his voice sounding just as careless as the voice of her parents had sounded before.

His friends nodded collectively.

“You heard him,” their leader spoke to Babs. “Time to blow out your lights before you become a snitch.”

Babs' eyes widened in horror once more, but now, she had lost all energy to fight back. She buried her face in her forehooves, quietly accepting her fate.

The leader stepped away from her. “Alright, let's end this bitch and then do what we came here for. Let's just make sure there is nothing left to identify her.” Next to him, the colt with the hairspray and the lighter nodded.

Her heart just as broken as her nose, Babs felt no care for herself anymore. She had resigned to her fate by the time two metal chains and one club came down on her head repeatedly. She whimpered and cried out in agony automatically as the weapons teared out flesh and parts of her mane, as her head popped open at different spots and gave free look to the bone of her skull, but something inside her had died already.

The last thing she should feel was fire. As her head was nothing but a bloody, almost unrecognizeable blood pool anymore, the colt with the hairspray and the lighter stepped up last. Holding the lighter close to her mane, he set it on fire by spraying over the flame. As it was burning brightly, he did the same with her tail.

Babs wasn't feeling much. As the flames began to devour her face, her legs and her upper body, she had nearly passed out. The laughs of the colts who had succeeded with torturing her to death became quieter and quieter, as her parents kept trotting away, still not looking back at their daughter who burned alive behind them.....

Protection Ņ̴̨̛̜͔̻̮̼̫̙̹͍̖̞̜͕͗̃̐̐͋͐̊ͮ͗̽ͭͬͤ͐̾ͤ̎̒̊ë́̆̅͗̾̅ͣ̈ͭ҉̷̪̯͙̭͕̘͔̲̥̝̳̳͍̮̮̯́g̷̴̡̦̳͔̭̤̣̱͆ͧ͗ͬ͆͗̿̓́͂́͛ͣ̾ͬͤ̑̚̚͠ͅl̢̡͈̦̘̀̏̊̑͗ͩ̽ͬͤ̅͟e̸̬̺̜̣̟͎̭̜̙͍̱̻͛̓ͭ̂ͬ́ͪ͢c̶̨̨̟̪̭̰̩̻̲̼̤͐ͮ͛̂ͣ̊̌́̿͑̾ͩͬ̉ͨ͘͠t̴̨̛̓ͤͯͭ̍͜͏̺͍̜͓̬̞͚̣͓͚̠̞̺͕̤̻̥̮͖ ----- Accent-reduced version

Protection Ņ̴̨̛̜͔̻̮̼̫̙̹͍̖̞̜͕͗̃̐̐͋͐̊ͮ͗̽ͭͬͤ͐̾ͤ̎̒̊ë́̆̅͗̾̅ͣ̈ͭ҉̷̪̯͙̭͕̘͔̲̥̝̳̳͍̮̮̯́g̷̴̡̦̳͔̭̤̣̱͆ͧ͗ͬ͆͗̿̓́͂́͛ͣ̾ͬͤ̑̚̚͠ͅl̢̡͈̦̘̀̏̊̑͗ͩ̽ͬͤ̅͟e̸̬̺̜̣̟͎̭̜̙͍̱̻͛̓ͭ̂ͬ́ͪ͢c̶̨̨̟̪̭̰̩̻̲̼̤͐ͮ͛̂ͣ̊̌́̿͑̾ͩͬ̉ͨ͘͠t̴̨̛̓ͤͯͭ̍͜͏̺͍̜͓̬̞͚̣͓͚̠̞̺͕̤̻̥̮͖ ----- Accent-reduced version

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Protection Ņ̴̨̛̜͔̻̮̼̫̙̹͍̖̞̜͕͗̃̐̐͋͐̊ͮ͗̽ͭͬͤ͐̾ͤ̎̒̊ë́̆̅͗̾̅ͣ̈ͭ҉̷̪̯͙̭͕̘͔̲̥̝̳̳͍̮̮̯́g̷̴̡̦̳͔̭̤̣̱͆ͧ͗ͬ͆͗̿̓́͂́͛ͣ̾ͬͤ̑̚̚͠ͅl̢̡͈̦̘̀̏̊̑͗ͩ̽ͬͤ̅͟e̸̬̺̜̣̟͎̭̜̙͍̱̻͛̓ͭ̂ͬ́ͪ͢c̶̨̨̟̪̭̰̩̻̲̼̤͐ͮ͛̂ͣ̊̌́̿͑̾ͩͬ̉ͨ͘͠t̴̨̛̓ͤͯͭ̍͜͏̺͍̜͓̬̞͚̣͓͚̠̞̺͕̤̻̥̮͖

“Guys?” Babs kept staring at the empty table as she heard the echo of her own voice fading away in the darkness. “Where did dey go?” She tilted her head and scrunched her face, displeased about the absence of her friends.

Unsure what to do now, Babs trotted back to the entrance of the diner and peeked outside. “GUYS!” she shouted out into the hallway. Once more, her voice got reflected off the walls and echoed back into her ears. As she didn't get an answer again, Babs trotted out of the diner completely. “Dey must have gone to search for an exit, but why without me?” she mumbled as she proceeded down the hallway back into the direction of the sleeping night guard.

Around her, the mall was still quiet. There were no sounds of her friends, neither their voices nor their hooves on the tiled floor. The silence made it all the more easy for Babs to hear the sound of shattering glass that suddenly sliced through the darkness. A second later, she could hear thumps. One, two, three, four and five. Babs followed the sounds, perking up her ears in attentive concentration. She didn't have to go far before she saw small, black silhouettes and the light of the moon shining into the mall through a broken window.

“Are you nuts?!” a voice found its way into her ears. “This mall has a night guard, if he hears us, we're going to get busted!”

The voice gave Babs chills. Before she could step into the moonlight and reveal herself, she stopped in her tracks and immediately trotted backwards. Her effort was in vain, though. Before she could hide, lights flashed up and pointed right at her. A collective gasp of surprise from five different throats rang out.

“Babs Seed!” the voice from earlier addressed her, making her flinch. “What is the foul and dirty excuse of a filly that you are doing here?!” The voice was searing and its eagerness to insult her was proof for it that its owner was quite used to doing that.
Babs kept stumbling backwards, but the five colts in front of her followed her swiftly.

“I-I got just lawcked in hea by accident when the mall clawsed!” she spoke in her defense. “But what are you doin' hea, huh? You brawke intaw the mall!” Immediately, Babs cursed herself for voicing her observation so carelessly. She brought her forehooves to her mouth and pressed down on it tight.

“She has, like, seen everythin',” another colt leaned in to the one who had just spoken to her.

The colt at the top of the group nodded grimly. “Oh, I know already!” he snarled. “But she's not going to tattle on us, peeps! Flashing a vicious grin, he reached behind his back and zipped open a backpack he was carrying, not leaving Babs out of his sight. Babs' eyes widened in horror as she saw how he pulled a long, sturdy metal chain out of it. It glistened menacingly as the moonlight fell on it.

“N-No!” Babs almost tripped over her hooves as she stumbled backwards faster. As the other four colts pulled objects out of their backpacks, as well, one of them a similar chain, the remaining three a long knife, a club with crooked nails in it, a lighter and a can of hairspray, Babs did not waste any more time with flinching in horror. Instead, she did a leap forward, which surprised the five colts, and galloped past them in the fastest speed she managed. “They're not gettin' me, they're not gettin' me!” she thought in panic as her hooves thundered over the floor.

Behind her, though, the could hear that her hooves weren't the only ones that tormented the floor. “Don't be scared!” it came from behind. “You already know some of these weapons from the schoolyard, Babs, not like you aren't familiar with them!” Mocking laughter rang out in response to the statement.

Babs increased her pace. “I just need to get to the night guard, I hope I can wake him up now!” she muttered under her breath.

Luck wasn't on her side, though. One of the five colts, their leader, was clearly faster and soon, he had galloped past her. He cut off her path and Babs skidded to a halt, fear dictating her reaction as he swung the chain through the air, menacingly. A moment later, the four other bullies caught up with her. One pushed her down to the floor immediately, his club leaving a sharp pain on Babs' flank as it came down on it.

The colt wielding it sat down on her. His weight pressing her down, it was impossible to escape for the young filly. “L-Let me go!” Babs whimpered. “Guys, I swea, I won't be tellin' anypony!”

The colt who was sitting on her laughed loudly. “Where would be da fun in dat?” he asked. To underline his words, he lifted his right hindleg and brought it down hard on Babs' head. It got pressed down onto the floor by the colt's hoof and pain began to spread out in her face.

“P-Please!” Babs pleaded, tears streaming down her face now. “I won't tell anypony what happened, I swea, I swea!” Her voice sounded muffled now, but the panic still came through clearly.

The colt laughed again. He lifted his hoof off her head for a second, only to bring it down again much harder. He proceeded with smashing her face against the hard floor, repeatedly. Waves of pain flashed through Babs' face and nose. Eventually, she felt a warm puddle soaking her face as blood began to shoot out of her broken nose. Her injury created amusement among the bullies, as all five were laughing loudly now. Gone was their fear of alerting the night guard, it was too much fun for them to see her suffer.

As their laughing fits had subsided, the leader trotted closer to Babs, still swinging his chain. He gripped her head under her chin and pulled up her face so she had to look at him. His mouth twisted into a wicked grin as he saw the blood that was smeared over her face and the fresh supplies that were still leaking from her nose. It increased as he heard the drops hitting the floor.

“Maybe you will tell somepony or maybe you will just piss your coat and be quiet,” he deducted. “But why would we take the risk? We're not going to youth prison because of you freak!” After the last words had left his lips, he spit into her face. A gooey mess of spit and yellow snot got mixed in with the blood. Then he punched his hoof onto her right eye, making her cry out from the impact. Her eye turned black immediately and began to swell shut. “You're not going to tell anypony. You're not going to tell anypony anything ever again.”

Babs' eyes widened in horror as the colt began to cackle in glee. As he was finished, he turned around and waved one of the other colts over. It was the one with the lighter and the hairspray. “Let's have some more fun before we blow her lights out,” he commented the gesture. The other colt nodded. He bent down to Babs, turned on the lighter and brought it close to her face. Letting it linger there for a minute, he gave Babs the opportunity to watch the flickering of the flame. As he deemed that it had been long enough, he held the flame at her cheek. Babs screaming, he watched in delight how the flame was burning the short hairs on it and how her skin turned brown, then black afterwards.

He was just about ready to move the lighter to a different spot of her face, as he saw a shadow coming closer from the corner of his eyes. The others saw it, as well, and the bullies moved their heads into the direction of the unwanted visitor.

Babs did her best to crane her aching head into the same direction. As she had succeeded with the task, her eyes lit up with hope and joy, recognizing the two ponies that stood there.

“Mom! Dad!” she shouted. “I'm so glad you're hea! Dey trapped me and hurt me!”

Her dad nodded. “We've seen, Babs. We are here for a while already and have watched.”

The meaning of the words not yet dawning on her, Babs smiled as the voice of her dad washed over her. “Te' dem to stop!” she shouted.

Now her mom talked and she shook her head while she did so. “No, Babs, we won't.”

The answer came so swiftly and was spoken so naturally, that the sheer surprise over it knocked the fear out of Babs. “Why not?” Babs asked, her response sounding just as natural. “Don't you see what they're doin'? Dey broke my nose, gave me a black eye and burned my cheek!”

“We have seen it.” It was her dad again who spoke now. “We just don't care, Babs.”

Only now, Babs noticed how apathetic and emotionless his voice sounded. It brought the fear back and it creeped down her spine like somepony was moving an icecube over it.

“W-Why?” Babs asked, new tears shooting out from her eyes. Her parents did not respond anymore, they only stared, with cold eyes.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” the leader of the bullies broke out in unrestrained laughter. “Looks like there isn't any help to expect from them, huh, Babs? What did you do? Forgotten to clean up your room?” The remark found broad approval and once more, the group erupted into laughing fits. At the peak of his mood, the leader punched Babs' lip with his hoof. It popped open immediately, letting a fresh stream of warm blood pour out.

Whimpering loudly, Babs looked at her parents again, but they still didn't move. Their eyes showed no emotion and no care. They did not even blink. Babs buried her face in her forehooves and erupted into loud cries. She could not look at them anymore.

Noticing the movement, the colt on her back climbed off and freed her. To him, it was clear she wouldn't try to run away anymore now.

The colt with the knife approached her now. “I hawpe we can still have, like, some fun with little Babs befawre we finish heh awff!” He snickered.

“Sure thing!” his leader confirmed. “What do you want to do?”

“Somethin' special.” He grinned and licked over his lips. Gripping his knife harder, he brought it down on Babs' back and sliced it open, cutting deep wounds into the flesh. Then he stepped away and reared up. He reached between his legs and grabbed his member with one hoof. “Hawldin' it in for ar while ahready,” he said simply, then a stream of warm, yellow piss left the tiny hole at the tip of his member. It soaked Babs' coat and filled up the bloody trenches the knife had left.

The urine burned in her wounds and Babs cried out in pain. Feeling helpless, she looked at her parents again, her eyes pleading them to help. But they just turned around, wordlessly, and began to trot away in a slow, pathetic tempo.

Behind her, the colt was finished with using her as a toilet. Babs retched as she smelled the stench of his piss on her coat. “Ahright. Now you can, like, kill heh,” the colt announced, his voice sounding just as careless as the voice of her parents had sounded before.
His friends nodded collectively.

“You heard him,” their leader spoke to Babs. “Time to blow out your lights before you become a snitch.”

Babs' eyes widened in horror once more, but now, she had lost all energy to fight back. She buried her face in her forehooves, quietly accepting her fate.

The leader stepped away from her. “Alright, let's end this bitch and then do what we came here for. Let's just make sure there is nothing left to identify her.” Next to him, the colt with the hairspray and the lighter nodded.

Her heart just as broken as her nose, Babs felt no care for herself anymore. She had resigned to her fate by the time two metal chains and one club came down on her head repeatedly. She whimpered and cried out in agony automatically as the weapons teared out flesh and parts of her mane, as her head popped open at different spots and gave free look to the bone of her skull, but something inside her had died already.

The last thing she should feel was fire. As her head was nothing but a bloody, almost unrecognizeable blood pool anymore, the colt with the hairspray and the lighter stepped up last. Holding the lighter close to her mane, he set it on fire by spraying over the flame. As it was burning brightly, he did the same with her tail.

Babs wasn't feeling much. As the flames began to devour her face, her legs and her upper body, she had nearly passed out. The laughs of the colts who had succeeded with torturing her to death became quieter and quieter, as her parents kept trotting away, still not looking back at their daughter who burned alive behind them.....

Vengeance

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Vengeance

“What are you doing here at night?” The question rang through Corn Pops' head again. He could not see who asked it, his vision was blurry. Corn Pops looked to the right. As the milky-white fog disappeared and his sight cleared, he could see Fast Bun. A mare kneeled in front of her. Carefully, she helped her up and back on her hooves. Fast Bun leaned forward and retched, gripping her stomach with both hooves. “Fast.....” Corn Pops whispered, then the fog in front of his eyes returned. His eyes rolled over, revealing the white of his eyeballs, then closed.

The stallion who was holding him felt his body go limp as he passed out.

The mare noticed it and looked over. “What's with him?”

“He is just unconscious.” The stallion lifted Corn Pops and rested him on the nearest table.

The mare approached the table, supporting Fast Bun while they trotted. As she was in front of it, she moved a hoof over the colt's short mane, sunken in thoughts and eyes lowered. “Do you think she did this?” Her voice sounded broken.

“Sher, whor?” Fast Bun asked. The filly patted her head, checking it for any injuries.

Before she could get an answer, a piercing scream cut through the air. In front of the diner's exit, Babs had woken up.

Startled, the three of them shot their heads at her. At the same time, Curtain Call woke up. In contrast to Babs, he just stood there, shaking and tears leaking from his eyes. “Mommy,” he whimpered.

“You check up on the other filly!” the stallion shouted and turned around. Hasty steps carried him at Curtain Call's side.

To his right, the mare who had come with him approached Babs, who was still screaming, in the same way. She reached for her shoulders. “Whatever happened, you need to calm down! Everything is–”

“DON'T TOUCH HER!” A shriek suddenly made her stop in her movement. A second later, Babs got lifted up by an invisible force and thrown against a shelf behind the counter. Glass shattered and her screaming immediately stopped. Babs fell down and she left the mare's view before she hit the floor behind the counter with a thud.

The mare shot her head at the entrance of the diner, dread building up inside of her. She saw exactly what she suspected.
In the door stood Starlet Radiance, her mouth sputtering with rage and her eyes bloodshot, the air around her flickering. Her face was so distorted, that the mare did not recognize her own daughter anymore.

Behind her, Starlet's dad took position in front of Curtain Call and pushed the colt behind him. “Does this answer your question, dear?” He gritted his teeth as his own eyes fell on Starlet.

Pushing Curtain along, he trotted backwards to the table Corn Pops was lying on. More instinctively than planned, Curtain Call slipped behind the chair at the far end of the table.

Fast Bun reached for Corn Pops and pulled him off the table and into their hideout. Her eyes brushed over Starlet Radiance only for a brief moment, but it was long enough to count 1 and 1 together.

“Wh' is Starlet doin' dis?” she shouted. “An' how?” She cowered behind the table and lowered her head as a large bottle hit the table's surface and broke into pieces.

Neither of Starlet's parents answered the question. “Starlet, sunshine, stop!” her mother pleaded, trotting into her direction. “You have to leave, you can't stay here anymore!” Her voice shivered, ripe with desperation and fear.

The eyes of Starlet flared up as the words washed over her, suddenly adorned with an otherworldly fire. She shoved her mother out of the way and closed the distance between her and the table. She didn't hesitate and in the blink of an eye, the table caught fire and burnt to ashes. Yelping, Fast Bun grabbed Corn Pops and pulled him away from the flames that reached for his legs.

Now they had free view of Starlet. She came closer, until her face almost touched Fast Bun's. “How was the feeling of starving to death? Did you know it was similar with me?”

“Wha'?” Fast Bun gasped, but her face was full of confusion.

Starlet came closer, pressing her face so hard against the one of her friend that Fast Bun felt forced to retreat. “I want dat you feel the same as I do,” her voice hissed. “Now you will burn.”

As fire began to shoot from her eyes, something pushed her out of Fast Bun's view. To her left, Starlet's mother was holding her down. Her dad left the side of the three foals. Following his wife's example, they held their daughter in place.

“Dis won't save dem.” Starlet closed her eyes. She didn't try to fight herself free.

Feeling that there was a moment to breathe, Fast Bun and Curtain Call moved into a more relaxed position. Tears glistened in the eyes of both foals. Their faces asked the questions that were on their minds.

“We know that Starlet is your friend. But she shouldn't be here,” her mother began to explain.

It deepened the confusion of the foals. “All of us shouldn't be here anymore. It's night,” Fast Bun spoke.

Starlet's dad shook his head,slowly. His face was grief-strucken. “Not in this world.”

The faces of Fast Bun and Curtain Call gave the parents another confused look, then the confusion slowly vanished from their faces as they began to realize. They lowered their eyes and fixated them on their trapped friend.

Starlet's mom looked down on her daughter, as well, and her hoof moved over the strains of her mane, gently. A gesture in stark contrast to the violent incapacitation, yet fitting at the same time.

“Starlet was always allergic to peanuts, but we didn't know about it until this day. She died here,” Starlet's dad completed for his wife.

Shivers went through Fast Bun and Curtain Call, who now knew the truth about their friend.

“Dis won't save dem,” Starlet repeated. “Dey will die, too. I've been alone here for so lawng, but not for much longer.” She opened her eyes and instantly, the hooves of her parents grasped air. Her body became nebulous and she was free of her parents' grip.

Starlet grinned as she approached her friends. “Now you know how it feels when dere are no parents who care for you. And you will die with dis feeling.” She began to laugh, wickedly.

“Wh'? Aw' awf dis becauser you'rer jealou'?” Curtain Call asked as they retreated. The grin in Starlet's face was enough answer for the colt.

“Your can' dor dis!” Fast Bun shouted, dragging Corn Pops with her. “Should wer en' u' herer, toor? Dor your wan' da samer for u'? I tawgh' we'rer friend'!”

“SILENCE! BE SILENT!” Starlet shouted her down. She was gripping her head, like she was in pain all of a sudden. “You just stumbled intaw my trap and now you will feel the same as I do, forever!” She forced them further back, until a wall blocked their escape route.
“And now you can't get away anymore.” She began to close the last distance.

“B-Bu'.....” Curtain Call's eyes shifted around, looking for a way out. “Bu' I awlway' liked youh actin', Starlet!”

The vengeful filly stopped in her tracks, but only for a moment.

“E-Eve' youh las' perfohmancer! Your tricked u' aw' b' pretendin' tor ber ouh frien' an' your werer grea' a' it!”

Starlet stopped again. Only the hint of a smile appeared on her face, before her expression turned cold again. “I know what you're trying. It's not working.” She sat herself into motion again, but the short pause in her movement was exactly what her parents needed.
Starlet had just taken on a more physical form again, as she suddenly felt a ribbon getting wrapped around her body. It ignited, hit by a burst of magic from behind, just as she turned around in surprise.

Her parents looked at her with grieving expressions, yet with a small smile of relief on their faces.

As she looked down, Starlet noticed that her body dissolved quickly. She shot her parents a hateful glare. “You betrayed me!” she hissed.

Their expressions resisted her glare. “Keep waiting for us, Starlet. We'll see us again one day.” Then their daughter vanished completely, nothing but smoke remaining at the place she stood.

Curtain Call and Fast Bun eased up. “Wi' sher ber oka'?” Curtain Call asked.

“Now she will be,” Starlet's mother said while she draped Corn Pops over her back.

Her husband did the same with Babs, who was thankfully just unconscious and the wound on the back of her head wasn't too bad.

Starlet's parents cast a last glance into the diner, joined by Curtain Call and Fast Bun, then they closed the door and left the fateful place behind them.

Vengeance ----- Accent-reduced version

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Vengeance

“What are you doing here at night?” The question rang through Corn Pops' head again. He could not see who asked it, his vision was blurry. Corn Pops looked to the right. As the milky-white fog disappeared and his sight cleared, he could see Fast Bun. A mare kneeled in front of her. Carefully, she helped her up and back on her hooves. Fast Bun leaned forward and retched, gripping her stomach with both hooves. “Fast.....” Corn Pops whispered, then the fog in front of his eyes returned. His eyes rolled over, revealing the white of his eyeballs, then closed.

The stallion who was holding him felt his body go limp as he passed out.

The mare noticed it and looked over. “What's with him?”

“He is just unconscious.” The stallion lifted Corn Pops and rested him on the nearest table.

The mare approached the table, supporting Fast Bun while they trotted. As she was in front of it, she moved a hoof over the colt's short mane, sunken in thoughts and eyes lowered. “Do you think she did this?” Her voice sounded broken.

“She, who?” Fast Bun asked. The filly patted her head, checking it for any injuries.

Before she could get an answer, a piercing scream cut through the air. In front of the diner's exit, Babs had woken up.

Startled, the three of them shot their heads at her. At the same time, Curtain Call woke up. In contrast to Babs, he just stood there, shaking and tears leaking from his eyes. “Mommy,” he whimpered.

“You check up on the other filly!” the stallion shouted and turned around. Hasty steps carried him at Curtain Call's side.

To his right, the mare who had come with him approached Babs, who was still screaming, in the same way. She reached for her shoulders. “Whatever happened, you need to calm down! Everything is–”

“DON'T TOUCH HER!” A shriek suddenly made her stop in her movement. A second later, Babs got lifted up by an invisible force and thrown against a shelf behind the counter. Glass shattered and her screaming immediately stopped. Babs fell down and she left the mare's view before she hit the floor behind the counter with a thud.

The mare shot her head at the entrance of the diner, dread building up inside of her. She saw exactly what she suspected.

In the door stood Starlet Radiance, her mouth sputtering with rage and her eyes bloodshot, the air around her flickering. Her face was so distorted, that the mare did not recognize her own daughter anymore.

Behind her, Starlet's dad took position in front of Curtain Call and pushed the colt behind him. “Does this answer your question, dear?” He gritted his teeth as his own eyes fell on Starlet.

Pushing Curtain along, he trotted backwards to the table Corn Pops was lying on. More instinctively than planned, Curtain Call slipped behind the chair at the far end of the table.

Fast Bun reached for Corn Pops and pulled him off the table and into their hideout. Her eyes brushed over Starlet Radiance only for a brief moment, but it was long enough to count 1 and 1 together.

“Why is Starlet doin' dis?” she shouted. “And how?” She cowered behind the table and lowered her head as a large bottle hit the table's surface and broke into pieces.

Neither of Starlet's parents answered the question. “Starlet, sunshine, stop!” her mother pleaded, trotting into her direction. “You have to leave, you can't stay here anymore!” Her voice shivered, ripe with desperation and fear.

The eyes of Starlet flared up as the words washed over her, suddenly adorned with an otherworldly fire. She shoved her mother out of the way and closed the distance between her and the table. She didn't hesitate and in the blink of an eye, the table caught fire and burnt to ashes. Yelping, Fast Bun grabbed Corn Pops and pulled him away from the flames that reached for his legs.

Now they had free view of Starlet. She came closer, until her face almost touched Fast Bun's. “How was the feeling of starving to death? Did you know it was similar with me?”

“What?” Fast Bun gasped, but her face was full of confusion.

Starlet came closer, pressing her face so hard against the one of her friend that Fast Bun felt forced to retreat. “I want dat you feel the same as I do,” her voice hissed. “Now you will burn.”

As fire began to shoot from her eyes, something pushed her out of Fast Bun's view. To her left, Starlet's mother was holding her down. Her dad left the side of the three foals. Following his wife's example, they held their daughter in place.

“Dis won't save dem.” Starlet closed her eyes. She didn't try to fight herself free.

Feeling that there was a moment to breathe, Fast Bun and Curtain Call moved into a more relaxed position. Tears glistened in the eyes of both foals. Their faces asked the questions that were on their minds.

“We know that Starlet is your friend. But she shouldn't be here,” her mother began to explain.

It deepened the confusion of the foals. “All of us shouldn't be here anymore. It's night,” Fast Bun spoke.

Starlet's dad shook his head,slowly. His face was grief-strucken. “Not in this world.”

The faces of Fast Bun and Curtain Call gave the parents another confused look, then the confusion slowly vanished from their faces as they began to realize. They lowered their eyes and fixated them on their trapped friend.

Starlet's mom looked down on her daughter, as well, and her hoof moved over the strains of her mane, gently. A gesture in stark contrast to the violent incapacitation, yet fitting at the same time.

“Starlet was always allergic to peanuts, but we didn't know about it until this day. She died here,” Starlet's dad completed for his wife.

Shivers went through Fast Bun and Curtain Call, who now knew the truth about their friend.

“Dis won't save dem,” Starlet repeated. “Dey will die, too. I've been alone here for so lawng, but not for much longer.” She opened her eyes and instantly, the hooves of her parents grasped air. Her body became nebulous and she was free of her parents' grip.

Starlet grinned as she approached her friends. “Now you know how it feels when dere are no parents who care for you. And you will die with dis feeling.” She began to laugh, wickedly.

“Why? Awll awf dis because you're jealous?” Curtain Call asked as they retreated. The grin in Starlet's face was enough answer for the colt.

“You can't do dis!” Fast Bun shouted, dragging Corn Pops with her. “Should we end up here, too? Do you want da same for us? I thawght we're friends!”

“SILENCE! BE SILENT!” Starlet shouted her down. She was gripping her head, like she was in pain all of a sudden. “You just stumbled intaw my trap and now you will feel the same as I do, forever!” She forced them further back, until a wall blocked their escape route.

“And now you can't get away anymore.” She began to close the last distance.

“B-But.....” Curtain Call's eyes shifted around, looking for a way out. “But I awlways liked youh actin', Starlet!”

The vengeful filly stopped in her tracks, but only for a moment.

“E-Even youh last performance! You tricked us awll by pretendin' to be ouh friend and you were great at it!”

Starlet stopped again. Only the hint of a smile appeared on her face, before her expression turned cold again. “I know what you're trying. It's not working.” She sat herself into motion again, but the short pause in her movement was exactly what her parents needed.

Starlet had just taken on a more physical form again, as she suddenly felt a ribbon getting wrapped around her body. It ignited, hit by a burst of magic from behind, just as she turned around in surprise.

Her parents looked at her with grieving expressions, yet with a small smile of relief on their faces.

As she looked down, Starlet noticed that her body dissolved quickly. She shot her parents a hateful glare. “You betrayed me!” she hissed.

Their expressions resisted her glare. “Keep waiting for us, Starlet. We'll see us again one day.” Then their daughter vanished completely, nothing but smoke remaining at the place she stood.

Curtain Call and Fast Bun eased up. “Will she be okay?” Curtain Call asked.

“Now she will be,” Starlet's mother said while she draped Corn Pops over her back.

Her husband did the same with Babs, who was thankfully just unconscious and the wound on the back of her head wasn't too bad.
Starlet's parents cast a last glance into the diner, joined by Curtain Call and Fast Bun, then they closed the door and left the fateful place behind them.

Nurture S͟ta̡r̷va̧t̡i͜ǫn̷ ----- Accent-reduced version

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Nurture S͟ta̡r̷va̧t̡i͜ǫn̷

As Fast Bun awoke again, her stomach convulsed and sent a wave of pain through her body. She managed to get up only slowly, while clasping her stomach with her hooves. “Ouch.....” she moaned. Fast Bun trembled, hardly able to stay on her hooves. Rubbing over her stomach, she looked around in the environment she found herself in now.
“H-How did I get hea?” she whimpered, a single tear in the corner of her eyes.

She was in her bedroom. There was no doubt. Fast Bun recognized the colorful, round carpet she stood on. Her bed, made of wood and painted white. The bright, blue walls. And the collection of plush animals that sat in a corner of the room on the floor. She was at home again.

As she tried to keep balance, she revelled in all the familiarity around her. Only the elephant gave her an eerie feeling. Did it always have such a wicked grin?

Fast Bun would have spent time pondering this question, as well as trying to remember how she got here, if it weren't for the cramps she felt in the middle of her body. “Ouch,” she moaned again, her entire body shuddering. “Why am I, like, so hun-gry ahready?”

Only as she had spoken this sentence, the scales fell from her eyes. Everything that happened in the last few hours, it had all been just a nightmare. Her memory was lacking, especially in regards to the reason why she was sleeping on the floor, but Fast Bun figured she probably came home from preschool and that she was so tired that she didn't even make it into her bed before she collapsed. It would explain everything, even the enormous hunger she felt. Her stomach convulsed again, painfully reminding her that it had to be true.

The hungry filly wasted no time anymore now. She staggered to the exit of her room, reared up to reach the handle and pulled the white door open with the last strength she could muster. As she stood outside of her room, she started huffing. It was an arduous trek down the stairs, her condition forcing her to go at it slowly despite her hunger, but Fast Bun eventually managed to reach the kitchen.

Her dad was sitting at the table, face hidden behind a huge newspaper at first. He put it down and revealed his face when he heard the hoofsteps of his daughter entering the kitchen. The brown stallion with the dark-orange mane smiled as Fast Bun came into his vision. He scooped her up as she had gotten closer and, placing her in his lap, gave her a kiss on her bright, orange mane. “How is my perfect dawghta doin' today?” he asked, a playful and proud tone in his voice.

“I'm hun-gry,” Fast Bun answered simply. Despite the familiar embrace by her dad, she squirmed uncomfortably.

Her dad laughed. “Well, then we should take care awf it dat yawh tummy gets filled, shouldn't we?” He laughed again and booped her nose, then sat her down in her own chair right next to him. “Yawh mudda is done preparin' dinna any mawment.”

Now the smell wafted into Fast Bun's nose. She held it into the air and sniffed strongly, taking it all in. Her stomach grumbled in response, making her grimace again. But the filly handled the pain easier now, knowing how close she was to eating something. And the delicious smell, this wonderful, perfect smell she could never mistake with anything else, it made her immediately realize what it was that her mom was cooking for dinner.

“Carrot dawgs?” she asked, licking her lips.

“Carrot dawgs!” the cheerful voice of her mother rang out behind her back.

Fast Bun could hear the clinking of plates and the hissing of fat as the carrots were taken out of the pan, two very anticipated sounds. Her stomach grumbled again, eager to fill itself with the delicious treat.

More clinking found its way into her ears, then the hoofsteps of her mother finally approached the table. The mare with the blue mane and the white coat presented her daughter with a wide and warm smile as she put a huge plate filled with carrot dogs in the middle of the table. Having put down the plate safely, she gave her daughter a noogie, bringing her mane in disarray. “Now grab dem while dey're hawt,” she said, then took seat opposite of her daughter.

It was nothing she needed to tell Fast Bun, of course. Eagerly, the filly reached for the plate and pulled one of the carrot dogs into her hooves. Without a moment of hesitation, she lifted it to her mouth and bit off a huge chunk. As soon as the taste of the carrot and the mayonnaise that was on top of it caressed her tongue, Fast Bun began to feel better. She barely chewed the bit in her mouth before swallowing it. It made her belly feel nice, full and warm, and she let out a comfortable groan as the pain began to vanish.

Her mom and her dad watched her, both wearing huge grins in their faces, then they reached for a carrot dog, as well.

“I had, like, da wawst' nightmare,” Fast Bun began to tell, feeling better. She bit off another chunk.

“Oh, a nightmare, really?” her mother asked. She smirked, then looked at her husband and both shared a chuckle. An exuberant sigh left her mouth. “What was yawh nightmare, my little honey?” another question rolled from her lips. It sounded sickly sweet.

The second warm bit slid down Fast Bun's throat, then she answered. “We were trapped in da mawll!” she exclaimed. “Me, Babs, Curtain, Pops and Starlet. We were playin' hide and seek, but forgawt how late it was, so da mawll clawsed befawre we could get out. And Starlet was mean and nasty, she hurt Curtain and den she hurt Pops!”

Her face became serious for a moment, but then she remembered the carrot dog and a third bite disappeared in her mouth. She chewed with satisfaction, cheeks red.

“Oh.....” her mother answered. “Oh, little honey, I'm sure Starlet didn't mean it dat way.”

“Right so,” her dad agreed. “Starlet is ar filly with her heart at da right place.”

“Um-hm.” Fast Bun nodded, moments before swallowing again. “She was, like, just upset and said she misses heh parents. You should've seen heh cryin', I felt bad for heh.” She lowered the carrot dog, but only a little.

“Oh, deah, sure she does!” her mother gave Fast Bun confirmation. “Every fawl would, isn't it?” She exchanged a smile with her husband. “You would miss us, I bet.”

“I..... yeah. I did. I missed you.” Fast Bun cocked her head now. “Mommy? Is everythin' ahrite?”

“Oh, deah, sure it is, little honey! I'm sawrry for wawrryin' you.....” Suddenly, there was concern in her face.

Fast Bun looked over to her dad, who eyed her with a stern expression. Some fear creeping onto her face, she looked back at her mother. “Mommy? Why are you and daddy lookin' like dis?”

“Oh, it's nothin' serious..... Daddy and me are just ar little wawrried. It looks like da food is spoiled, little honey.”

“Spoiled?” This came as a surprise to Fast Bun, but now she noticed how neither her mom, nor her dad had started to eat their carrot dogs. Resting in their hooves completely untouched, they looked the same as they had when they were taken from the plate.

“Why spoiled, mommy? I just ate it, it tastes good!” Fast Bun looked down at her own carrot dog, intended to demonstrate that her parents must be mistaken. As her eyes fell on it, all the color drained from her face.

Instead of a fresh, orange carrot inside a nice, long and soft bun, there was now a green and squishy, moldy piece that barely resembled a carrot anymore. The bun around it was hard and it was covered in a pelt of white spores. Yet, this was her definitely her carrot dog, the one she grabbed from the plate earlier. Despite the mold, she could still see her bite marks on it. Shrieking, Fast Bun dropped the carrot dog.

“See?” her mom asked. “It's spoiled. I'm sawrry I didnt, like, nawtice earlia.” The sickly sweet tone in her voice was back.

Fast Bun looked up. Now the carrot dogs in the hooves of her parents looked just as rotten and so did the others on the large plate. The beloved taste on her tongue suddenly changed. It now tasted foul and old. Fast Bun retched a little. How did she not notice any of this?

“Let's thraww it away,” her mom said. She grabbed Fast Bun's carrot dog and put it back on the plate. Then she and her husband did the same with theirs. The mare carried the plate over to the bin and let the carrot dogs glide inside, then she put the plate into the sink.

Fast Bun shivered. Her stomach started to turn itself upside down and a loud grumble emerged from it. Her face took on a slightly green color. She wrapped her hooves around her body and fought back the urge to vomit, while her mom opened the fridge and took out a couple of sandwiches. The mare placed them on two smaller plates and carried them to the table. She put down one in front of her husband, then sat down with the other one.

It was just then that the food poisoning became too strong for Fast Bun's little body. Finally failing with her efforts to keep herself from throwing up, Fast Bun leaned forward and vomited the contents of her stomach on the table in front of her. She started to breathe heavily. Her face was red now. “I'm sawrry,” she said, embarrassed.

The sweet smell coming from the combination of the rotting food and a bit of stomach acid that drifted into Fast Bun's nose made her retch. A second later, another stream of vomit came from her mouth until her stomach had emptied itself. The liquid parts of the green, stinking mass trickled over the table's edge, some drops landing on Fast Bun's legs.

Weakly, Fast Bun leaned back in her chair and started to breathe in and out repeatedly. She felt ill, both from the process of vomiting her food and from the hunger that had returned now.
“Can I have ar sandwich, too, mommy?” she asked between two breaths.

Her mother and her father exchanged a furtive glance.

“Oh, little honey, no.” Her mother shook her head. “You should, like, go into yawh room, lie down and get some sleep.”

“Um-hm.” Fast Bun nodded weakly. “I just need to, like, get dis taste out awf my mouth first. Please give me ar sandwich.” Her voice was pleading now.

Her mother's face took on a more serious expression as she shook her head a second time. “No. Food poisonin' isn't to be taken lightly. You need to rest up.” The voice of her mother had become very strict all of a sudden. Hearing it made Fast Bun shiver.

“But I'm hun-gry again.....” Fast Bun moaned, gripping her stomach stronger. She frowned.

Her mother did not respond. She concentrated on her meal and her father also ignored her.

Feeling suddenly weaker than before, Fast Bun slumped down in her chair even more. She closed her eyes for a moment and as she opened them again, they widened in horror as she observed how her stomach began to swell. It grew and grew, until its size had become tripled. Fast Bun held her hooves at her cheeks, looking in despair at the monstrous growth. Her cheeks felt squishy and bloated now and she felt the same as she touched her lips. Terror building in her face, she stared at her mother.

“Mommy?! What's happenin'?!” Fast Bun trembled and began to cry.

“Oh, nothin', deah.” Her face was rigid and cold as she answered. “You are just, like, starvin' to death, dat's awll.”

“Starvin'? T-To death?” More fear invaded Fast Bun's mind and she held her hooves in front of her face, ready to cover her eyes and to wet them with her tears, but then she flinched away from them. Just moments earlier they had looked strong and sturdy, but what she saw now was pitiful. Her forehooves appeared thin and fragile, the skin looking like it had been wrapped directly around her bone. She could not spot any muscles or fat on them.

The fear gave her new energy. Fast Bun stood up in her chair and climbed on the table. She reached to the plate in front of her mother, weezing, and tried to grab one of her sandwiches. Her mother, though, swiftly pulled the plate out of her reach.

“Ah, ah!” she said, lifting a hoof. “Be ar nice filly, Fast Bun. Dis is mommy's food, I did nawt allow you to have somethin' awf it.”

Fast Bun sniffed and slumped down on the table. She was crying without restraint now. “But..... Mommy..... Why? Why do you nawt let me eat?” She lifted a hoof to her face. It twitched uncontrollably and it took her three attempts before she could wipe away the tears that blurred her vision.

“Awww.....” her mother said, once again in the sickly sweet tone. “Don't cry, little honey. See, dese sandwiches are, like, da last food left in da house and mommy and daddy need to eat, too.” She gently stroke over the edemas in her weeping daughter's face.

Fast Bun lowered her eyes, her glance now fixated on the surface of the table. Her eyes looked glazed. She swayed slightly.

“It's awnly been, like, ar month, little honey, I'm sure you can hawld out until mommy bawght new food tomawrow. And even if nawt.....” Her voice became colder. “You love yawh mommy and yawh daddy, right? You wouldn't want us to starve, righ't?”

Fast Bun did not respond. Suddenly, she felt like the words came from far away. Her vision blurred even more and her swaying became stronger. Only as she felt a sharp pain flaring up on her right cheek, she was reminded where she was. Confused, she looked up and into her mother's face. It expressed rage and hatred now.

“Will you listen to me!” her mother shouted into her face. “What if yawh mommy and yawh daddy are goin' to die? What would you do den?” She gave her daughter another slap in the face.

This time, Fast Bun's lip popped open from the impact and blood spilled on the table. She barely felt the pain.

Her mother grabbed her at the shoulders and shook her violently, while her father just watched with a disappointed glare. “Do you nawt want to sacrifice yawhself so yawh parents can live, Fast Bun?! Do you nawt love us, you disgustin', little FREELAWDA?!” She screamed the last word.

Fast Bun twitched as the words washed over her, but she still didnt respond and her eyes kept their glazed look. Emotionlessly, she continued to stare into her mother's rage-filled face.

As her mother had finally stopped shaking her, Fast Bun lowered her eyes again. More spasms made her hooves twitch now and she could barely see the table under her anymore. A second later, Fast Bun fell over. With a thump, her head hit the surface of the table. The food right in front of her eyeballs now, she breathed laboriously and her heartbeat became slower. Now she was too weak to try and reach for any of it.

Something hard coming down on her head with full force was the last thing Fast Bun felt before her vision turned black and she stopped to perceive her surroundings.....

Solace T̴̑ͤ͐ͥͨ̂̌ͬͯ̓̋ͨ̔̈́ͥͤ̆̚͏́é̏͒̽̃ͩ͌ͩ̅͗͋ͥ̊̓ͨͫ̉̂̀͢͏͟ŗ̷̏̆͂̓̌̑̀ͮ͛ͪ͜r͛ͯͧ̈́͋ͫ̌̇ͩ͑͆̌̋͝͡ǫ̴̵ͧ͊̓ͫ̈̾ͭ̀́҉r̴̊͂̏ͯ̎͂ͬͣ͑̎̀̃̃͂ͦ̒̆͡

Author's Note

Once again no accent-reduced version. Like Starlet Radiance, Corn Pops has not much of a Manehattan accent, so it's not needed.

Solace T̴̑ͤ͐ͥͨ̂̌ͬͯ̓̋ͨ̔̈́ͥͤ̆̚͏́é̏͒̽̃ͩ͌ͩ̅͗͋ͥ̊̓ͨͫ̉̂̀͢͏͟ŗ̷̏̆͂̓̌̑̀ͮ͛ͪ͜r͛ͯͧ̈́͋ͫ̌̇ͩ͑͆̌̋͝͡ǫ̴̵ͧ͊̓ͫ̈̾ͭ̀́҉r̴̊͂̏ͯ̎͂ͬͣ͑̎̀̃̃͂ͦ̒̆͡

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Solace T̴̑ͤ͐ͥͨ̂̌ͬͯ̓̋ͨ̔̈́ͥͤ̆̚͏́é̏͒̽̃ͩ͌ͩ̅͗͋ͥ̊̓ͨͫ̉̂̀͢͏͟ŗ̷̏̆͂̓̌̑̀ͮ͛ͪ͜r͛ͯͧ̈́͋ͫ̌̇ͩ͑͆̌̋͝͡ǫ̴̵ͧ͊̓ͫ̈̾ͭ̀́҉r̴̊͂̏ͯ̎͂ͬͣ͑̎̀̃̃͂ͦ̒̆͡

Corn Pops did not dare to move. It was around him, he could sense it. Something, whatever it was, stared at him. He did not open his eyes, nor look around. But the little colt could feel the eyes on his body, burning, like they wanted to set him on fire.

His whimpers still filled the air around him. There was something here with him in the diner, something that hated him, and it frightened Corn Pops more than anything that had ever frightened him. Trapped in this disastrous state, his mind began to drift off, to flee into a more pleasant world.

Behind his closed eyelids, in his imagination, Corn Pops could suddenly see himself. He was sitting on his tricycle and rode it over a gravelly path. He could hear the shouts and giggles of other foals playing in the park where his mental image was driving around. He could see them, chasing each other and playing Hide & Seek between the trees. It was a soothing scene. His lips curled up into a smile and he began to forget where he was. “My tricycle,” he whispered.

Suddenly there was his mom. She ran behind him, playfully slow, while he turned around and smiled and laughed. “Catch me, mommy!” he shouted and the darkness outside the diner swallowed the words.

With the scary atmosphere around him and the eyes that still rested on his body, it was not hard to flee into another reality inside his mind. Corn Pops had done this before when something scared him a lot. But this time it was different. He was used to see and to hear things in his imagination but, so far, he could never feel them. Now he could feel something.

His eyes were still closed, but under his flank was something hard. He felt eruptions coming from a few inches under it. A breeze hit his mane. “Flowers,” he whispered. He could smell them. Then the voice of his mom rang out. “Corn Pops, open your eyes! You know that driving with closed eyes is too dangerous!”

For a moment, Corn Pops felt so confused that he forgot his fear. He opened his eyes.

What he saw made him gasp: He was not in the diner anymore. He was in the park of his imagination. And as he looked down, he saw his tricycle under him. He was sitting on it, his forehooves were holding the steering rod and his hindhooves were pedaling. His fear disappeared lightning-fast and he began to feel comfortable and happy. As he turned around, his mom was standing behind him.

“Look where you're driving, Corn Pops,” she warned him. There was a stern, but benign, expression on her face.

Corn Pops could not explain this situation. Why had his eyes been closed? Had he fallen asleep while driving? And had he even managed to dream such a horrible nightmare, all while his hooves kept pedaling? Was it even possible to sleep and dream and to ride a tricycle at the same time? Corn Pops felt irritated. But given that the park was so much better than the mall at night, what was there to complain about? He was safe now and that's what counted.

Carefree and happy, Corn Pops increased his tempo. He looked behind him again and laughed. His mother became smaller in the distance, he easily left her behind now. Then he closed his eyes, knowing well that his mom could not see it. He felt the breeze tugging at him and the vibrations of the graveled path giving tiny shooks to his body. Laughing, he removed his forehooves from the steering rod and spread his arms wide.

Corn Pops kept pedaling and increasing his tempo, until the wheels of his tricycle hit something. He felt it tilting and his heart jumped. The colt opened his eyes, but it was too late. The tricycle leaned to the left, then fell over and buried him under it. Crashing like this at full speed and on a path scattered with tiny pebbles, he soon felt a searing pain in his left hindleg. Instantly, Corn Pops' face turned red and he started crying loudly.

Having witnessed the accident, his mom galloped closer. She hastily pulled the tricycle off of his body, fear in her eyes. “Corn Pops!” she gasped. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?!”

Corn Pops did not answer and kept crying as she turned him around to inspect his body. A long abrasion shimmered through his yellow coat; tiny, bloody dots that covered his entire left hindleg.

“Oh, Corn Pops, see? This is what happens when you close your eyes while riding your tricycle!” she scolded him. The mare shook her blonde, curly mane and sighed.

“Mommy, mommy, mommy, it hurts so much!” the colt whimpered and looked at his mother from tear-filled eyes.

Her face fell apart at the heartbreaking sight. “Oh, I know, I know, Popsy.” She only called him with this nickname when he really needed it. She leaned down and kissed his mane with a loud and exaggerated smack.

Corn Pops sniffed repeatedly and closed his eyes. “Make it stop, mommy! It hurts saw much, make it stop!”

“Aww, Mommy will! Mommy will make the hurt stop once we're at home, Popsy! You just need to wait a little longer, we'll be back at home soon!”

“No!” he shouted. “Not later, now mommy, now!” His crying increased in volume.

Corn Pops' mom reached down to her crying son and sat him on her back. Then she raised the tricycle and set it upright. “Let's go home, Corn Pops. Mommy will patch this up in no time!” She turned around and nuzzled his wet, reddened face.

The apartment complex she lived in with Corn Pops was right next to the park. While she moved the tricycle down the path and towards it, she did not speak more words. Only the crying of Corn Pops persisted in the same volume and intensity, drowning out the noises from the foals and their parents around them.

As they were inside the apartment complex, the mare parked Corn Pops' tricycle in an alcove. On the way to the stairs, she opened the mailbox of their apartment and took out a few letters, that had been in there since the morning, before heading up the stairs.

Arrived at the apartment door, she unlocked it with her keys and trotted inside. The door got closed with a bang by her and she locked it again. Then she tossed the keys and the letters carelessly into a corner and turned around to her colt.

“Okay and now we take care of you!” she spoke. Corn Pops' eyes were still closed while he kept crying and so he could not see that the face of his mom had turned grotesque. She plucked him off her back and sat him down on the floor, face pointing at her.

Startled by the rough impact with the cold, marbled floor, Corn Pops opened his eyes. His vision of her face was blurry, as the tears had formed a thick film over his eyeballs. He pointed down at the injury. “Mommy, can you kiss it?” he sniffed up. “Make it good again!”

His mom clicked her tongue. “Awww.....” it came from her mouth. “You are such a mommy colt, Corn Pops!”

Corn Pops looked at her, bottom lip quivering. His mom lifted a hoof and slapped him in the face. His head got yanked and a sob rang out of his throat.

“BUT NOT ANYMORE!” his mom screamed. “Corn Pops, it's time we make a strong colt out of you!” Her voice had a shrieking tone suddenly, one between madness and conviction.

Corn Pops looked at her and, almost instantly, began to crawl back in panic. But it wasn't long until his back hit the wall behind him. “M-Mommy?” he whined. The slap had swept the tears out of his eyes. The face of his mother scared the little colt. He gulped.

“Mommy, mommy!” the mare mocked her son by imitating his voice. She moved close to his face. “What if mommy wouldn't be here? What would you do? Huh? HUH?” She brought a hoof down on his forehead and pushed it back.

“I tell you what would be,” her shrieking continued. “You would die! DIE, Corn Pops! Hahahahahahahahahaha!” She exposed her teeth to him. Her skin was pale suddenly. There were wrinkles in her face, far too many for her age. It looked worn and old.

Corn Pops tried to move further back, only to get reminded of it that the wall was still there.

“There is nothing you can do alone!” his mother hissed. “You want something from the fridge, mommy has to get it for you! You want something cooked, mommy has to cook it for you! You want to go to the park, mommy has to go with you!” Her voice raised in volume and tone with each sentence.

“And then you are dumb and hurt yourself and mommy has to disinfect the wound and patch you up! Really, Corn Pops, there is nothing you can do alone. You are a worthless, little scumbag!” She pointed at his injured leg, demonstratively. “But we can change that!” She grinned at him, exposing her teeth once more.

In front of her, Corn Pops started crying again as little worms suddenly crawled out from under his mom's lips. The slimy, fleshy worms wiggled their yellow bodies disturbingly as they crawled over her teeth.

“I have to help you again with it, as always. But once we are done, you will be a new colt, Corn Pops!” the wicked mare shrieked and pressed a hoof down on his injury with force.

The little colt started screaming, fresh tears running over his cheeks instantly.

“STOP YOUR FUCKING CRYING!” His mother slapped his face again. Her other hoof did not let go of the wound.

“You need to endure this, Corn Pops, it's the only way! Do you want to be a pussy forever? If we don't get you fixed, you will be an adult and I will still have to feed you!” She increased the pressure and Corn Pops cried out.

“I said STOP!” She slapped him again, harder this time.

Now it worked. The shock of the impact silenced Corn Pops instantly and he just looked at his mom anymore, fear in his eyes.

“That's better,” the mare said. “Maybe we can make a strong, brave colt out of you.” She released his leg.

His mother got up. “Now wait here. I'll go and get something for that leg.” She scurried away and opened a door.

Corn Pops heard his mother rummaging in something inside another room. Hearing this scared him and he started to whimper again, but he did not dare to get up. The sounds stopped and his mother appeared in the doorframe again. She was holding a large drinking glass, filled with water, in one hoof and a sharp kitchen knife in the other one.

Corn Pops shrunk back against the wall. “Can you get band-aid, mommy?” he whispered.

His mother growled as she scurried closer. “You don't need band-aid,” she hissed. “What you need is a treatment that makes you a tougher boy.” She put down the glass and the knife, both objects just out of his reach.

Corn Pops didn't dare to imagine it, but he knew what this meant. “No more hurt, mommy,” he pleaded. “Please, mommy.”

“SHUT UP!” the shrieking was back in her voice. She grabbed the knife and held it in front of his eyes. “Shut up or this will become more painful than you think!”

He shrunk back a little more, gulping. Now the back of his head almost touched the floor. Corn Pops nodded, not leaving the knife out of his sight.

She gave him the wormy grin again. “Good boy.” The knife was put back on the floor.

Corn Pops crouched there silently, as he watched his mother reaching for the drinking glass instead

“Now let's get started and make a tough, little boy out of you.” She smiled at her son, then poured some of the water over his abrasion.

The result became apparent immediately. “WAAAAAAH!” Corn Pops wailed.

“That's some good salt-water-solution, isn't it? Just what you need, my son.” She poured some more on it, then put the glass away. It was still half-full.

Eventually, Corn Pops' wails became reduced to a series of sobs and whimpers. “M-Mommy..... Why are you doing dis?” he spoke as the pain had begun to wear off and he felt the strength to speak again.

His mother brought a hoof to his face and stroke it. “To make a strong colt out of you, Corn Pops!” She grinned. “But we can't waste time with talking. You need a lot of work before we can call you 'strong'!”

Next, she reached for the knife again.

“NO!” Corn Pops cried and finally tried to get up. But his mother pushed him back down and held him in place.

“Oh, I look forward to the moment you stop being such a wimp, Corn Pops. Then I can finally do this without making you CRY!” She broke into a series of hysterical giggles, then cut the knife deep into his left foreleg.

Corn Pops threw his head back and a gurgling scream filled the room.

His mother forced the knife deeper and moved it around in the flesh wound, uncaring. “There we have it,” she said after a while. She put the bloody knife next to Corn Pops' leg. Reaching into the wound with both hooves, she spread the flesh apart until something white could be seen in the center of the hole in his leg. “There is your bone, Corn Pops,” she said, looking into the face of her son. “Doesn't it look nice?”His heart constricting in fear, Corn Pops forgot the pain and looked down at his leg. His pupils shrunk as he saw his own bone.

“M-My bone? W-Why, mommy? Why?” He felt cold panic rising in his chest.

“I already told you why, you idiot!” his mother shrieked again. “By the princesses, stop asking me the same question all the time, Corn Pops!”

Corn Pops wanted to respond something, but got distracted as he heard a loud bang. He looked at the apartment door, where it had come from. His mother didn't seem to have noticed anything.

“What are you doing?!” a male voice spoke. It sounded stressed. “You can't go inside there, you know that's where she.....” The voice suddenly trailed off.

A few seconds of silence followed, then a female voice rang out. “And what else would we do?” the voice shot back, sharply. “This might be our only chance, we must save her!” The voice sobbed.

Corn Pops' mother still noticed nothing. She took the knife again. With the methodical movements of a doctor, she left more cuts in Corn Pops' leg.

“Please, help me!” Corn Pops used the chance and shouted at the door in tears.

“Who are you talking to, son?” his mother asked, confused. She did not look away from his leg. “We are the only ones here.”

Corn Pops ignored her. “HEEEEEEEEEELP!” he screamed at the door now.

“Did you hear this?” the female voice said.

“Yes.”

“I'm going inside there with or without you. She needs our help and maybe somepony else does, too.”

Corn Pops heard hoofsteps and the male voice cursing. A door creaked as it got opened. He stared at the apartment door expectantly, desiring salvation. But it stayed closed.

“Please help.....” the colt whimpered, weakly.

His mother looked up at him, grinning. “What? Are you losing your mind already? Save that for later, we aren't done here yet,” she said and kept slicing into his leg.

Corn Pops heard somepony gasping and shivering. It was the female voice. “What is this?” she said. “Who are these foals?”

Hoofsteps could be heard again and the door creaked a second time. Another gasp followed. “What are they doing here?” the male voice asked. A few seconds of silence passed. “There are two more over here, fillies. One of them is unconscious, the other just stands there and stares at this table. What is going on?!”

Corn Pops could hear more hoofsteps. They moved into his direction, yet he could not see anypony.

His mother put the knife away and reached for the glass with the saltwater again. Corn Pops' left hindleg was covered in cuts now, so many, that the abrasion could not be seen anymore. He felt somepony grabbing his shoulders and starting to shook him, just as his mother brought the glass close to one of the bigger cuts.

“Enjoy it, Popsy. This is just for you from your mommy.” She giggled hysterically again as she began to tilt the glass.

“No, mommy, no. Please, no!” Corn Pops whimpered. “No! No! No!”

“Hey, wake up!” The male voice rang out again and the shaking became stronger. “Wake up, young colt!”

Drawn in by the voice, Corn Pops opened his eyes. The blue face of a stallion looked at him. The stallion looked away. “This one's awake!” he shouted back behind him. Corn Pops could not see who was there.

“Hey, how do you feel?” the stallion asked him. “What are you doing here at night?”

Corn Pops did not answer. He only stared at the stallion, shocked and confused.