Chapters The House on the Edge of Town
It was a clear and cool fall evening that one of Ponyville’s favorite holidays, Nightmare Night, fell on. Ponies wandered through the town showing off their mix of hoofmade and store-bought Nightmare Night costumes. The younger of the ponies squealed in delight as they went about Trick or Treating while the older, teenaged ponies snuck about pulling pranks. The sounds quickly drifted to areas near the outskirts of town, a hushed quietness gripping the empty streets. All was quiet save for a loud yelling coming from the center of town. A yelling loud enough to wake the dead which overpowered the natural quietness of the empty streets.
“I’m the bravest!”
“No way! I’m the bravest!”
The voices were distinct and easy to pick out. Once again, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were arguing with each other in the town square. The arguing went back and forth with each pony’s face getting closer and closer to each other until finally, their words devolved into a growling sound with each pony pressing their faces together. It almost looked like it was about to come to blows.
Shortly before the arguing had started the pair had been discussing Nightmare Night. More specifically they were talking about pulling pranks, scaring ponies, and eventually, the topic settled on their fears. Ultimately, the discussion on fears ended as the ongoing argument about who was braver. Naturally, Applejack thought she was the braver of the two while Rainbow Dash insisted that she was the bravest.
“That’s it!” growled Applejack, stomping a hoof on the ground instead of striking Rainbow Dash. “We’ll do a challenge to prove who’s the bravest!”
“Fine by me!” replied Rainbow Dash with a similar growl, a stomp of her hoof, and a flare of her nostrils. Thinking quickly, she came up with the perfect idea. She raised a hoof and pointed to a house way on the outskirts of town. “One night in the house on the edge of town!”
No sooner had the words left her mouth a flash of lightning illuminated the sky and the aforementioned house, and a loud peal of thunder split the night. Both ponies jumped in surprise.
“Are y’all crazy!? You’ve heard the rumors! Ponies going in and never coming out!” responded Applejack to the challenge.
“Then admit I’m the braver one then! Besides, everypony knows those are just stories our parents told us to keep us from misbehaving!” retorted Rainbow Dash.
The pair of ponies ended up eye to eye again, growling at each other.
“I’ll never admit that!” replied Applejack hastily. “Besides! If staying in that house a single night will prove I’m the braver pony, then you’re on!”
The dark, foreboding house loomed over the pair of ponies, casting shadows over them. The lawn was unkempt, with grass and weeds taking over the entire yard, save for a single stone path leading from the front gate to the front door. Slowly Applejack glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who had the same idea to look at Applejack. They stared at each other briefly before turning back to stare at the house in front of them. Both ponies had a stoic expression upon their faces, with neither prepared to speak as to not give away how scared they truly were.
Both ponies stepped forward at the same time, walking in unison as they traversed the stone path to the front porch. Once there they both hesitated before continuing their journey.
Slowly and carefully they ascended the front steps of the porch. Each step caused the decaying and rotten boards to creak under the weight of their hooves, a few groaning loud enough to warn of a threat of breaking. With one final step to go, Rainbow Dash took a final step and let out a yelp; her hoof had gone completely through one of the rotten boards! Despite the outburst and the broken board, both Rainbow Dash and Applejack found themselves standing on the dilapidated porch. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Rainbow Dash spoke up first, still rattled slightly from nearly falling through the rotten wood of the steps.
“You know,” Rainbow stated, her voice strained slightly with a tinge of hesitation and fear, “If you just wanna just admit you’re too scared to go in, you can back out now, we can go back to pranking, and we can forget this whole thing.”
“No way! You’re the one that came up with this challenge!” retorted Applejack. “There’s no WAY I’m backing down!” Her voice was tinged with that same hesitation and fear that was in Rainbow Dash’s voice. “But if YOU want to back out… I mean, if you’re too scared, I’d totally understand.”
Rainbow simply shook her head and gave a gulp. “Look, I’m scared out of my mind!” she admitted, “But you know me. I don’t back down from a challenge.”
Applejack gave a nod and a gulp herself. “Me too… to both,” she replied. “So… let’s do this?”
“Yeah,” answered Rainbow Dash. “Sooner we do this…”
Applejack nodded. “The sooner we can get out of here.”
Both ponies approached the front door, porch boards creaking with each step. Once in front of said door, Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to knock on it. Applejack saw this and cocked an eyebrow.
“What? Just cause it’s abandoned doesn’t mean I can’t knock on the front door!” hissed Rainbow Dash in a whisper.
“Rainbow, you gosh darn featherbrain! Who in Tartarus is going to even ANSWER the door! Nopony lives here!” hissed back Applejack.
“Shut up! I’m scared and I fell back to knocking on the front door like I was taught!”
“Grrr, you shut up! I’m not the one knocking on the door to an empty house!”
The pair devolved back to their petty bickering, moving about to face each other. But in doing so, one of them managed to bump the front door.
The door opened slowly. Rusted hinges squealed as metal rubbed on metal, the sound bringing the bickering ponies’ argument to a halt. With how easily the door swung open, either it had been left unlocked for years or the lock rusted away from the passage of time. Now unable to say anything with how scared they were, the two entered the abandoned house and began to look around. Applejack went to the left, while Rainbow Dash went right.
The House on the Edge of Town
Once inside the house, the two ponies decided it would be best to split up. It wouldn’t be a proper bravery challenge if they spent the entire time just arguing with each other. So Applejack decided it would be best if she wandered to the left of the entrance. This led her to the den.
Cobwebs covered most of the furniture, what little furniture there actually was, in the den. And only about half of it was even still intact. A thick layer of dust covered the remains of what looked to be a wooden coffee table, the couch cushions were littered with holes and dry rot, and most of the books on the mostly intact bookshelves were in various states of decay. The state of the furniture at least confirmed one thing: If anypony had been living there they weren’t keeping up with the place at all.
Continuing her search through the house, Applejack happened upon what she could only assume was a parlor. A cold fireplace with logs nearly decayed entirely sat in the center of the far wall. Dirt and dust clung to the floor as Applejack walked to the center of the parlor. There was no question about it now: nopony lived in the house anymore, nor had anypony lived in the house for many years. Well, maybe no PONY lived there. When she stepped into the next room over, the library, she gave a shriek as something swooped down at her hat.
“ACK! Bats!”
The surprise of the bats caused her heart to pound hard in her chest. Realizing that it was just a bat, though, Applejack was able to pause briefly and calm herself down. It was, after all, just, a few animals that had moved into the abandoned house. And with somepony snooping around, it was more than likely they’d get spooked.
Just as she was calming down, however, another bolt of lightning lit up the night sky. The illumination cast a shadow on the far wall vaguely shaped like a large creature. Caught off guard, Applejack shrieked again and almost ran out of the room. The feeling the wind on her mane, however, caused her to turn. What she saw calmed her almost immediately.
A broken window allowed the wind inside the house, which in turn meant that the wind was causing the curtains to blow about. The lightning caused the curtains to cast a large shadow on the far wall and dance about as if it were some large creature. Slowly she began to realize the truth: Everything that she was scared of was just the result of her overactive imagination. There wasn’t anything really scary inside the house at all, it was just old and decrepit. Which meant that the challenge would no longer actually be a challenge for her.
“There’s… ok, ok… there’s nothing in here that can hurt or scare me,” Applejack reassured herself. “Just shadows and animals, that’s all,” Applejack continued as she gave a relieved sigh, “Just shadows and animals. This will be an easy challenge to win. I can’t believe I thought this would be-”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP! APPLEJACK!”
Her thoughts and words cut off when she heard the unmistakable sound of Rainbow Dash screaming bloody murder. At first, she brushed off the scream and rolled her eyes. It would take more than a scream to scare AJ into leaving the house. But a second, more prolonged and more panicked scream told her this was no joke. Rainbow really needed help!
“What in tarnation!?”
Applejack sprinted out of the room, quick as a flash. She ran back through the parlor, then through the den, hooves clopping loudly on the hardwood floors. She rounded a corner and entered the kitchen where Rainbow Dash had wandered off. No sooner had she entered the room she froze and her eyes went wide in fear.
Applejack expected to see Rainbow Dash struggling with something or somepony. Instead, she was nowhere to be found and what she witnessed was a vaguely pony shaped blue glow floating in the air.
“Holy horseapples, it’s a ghost!” screamed out Applejack in surprise.
She stared at the glowing blue blob as it slowly floated toward her. An odd sound accompanied the glow that might have been taken for a form of communication. But with how scared she was, Applejack couldn’t make out anything resembling words. Instead, she let instinct take over and she attempted a step back. She found she couldn’t move, either from fear or from the ghost keeping her in place. A stray thought crossed her mind and briefly pushed some of the fear down back inside of herself.
“Ok, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack cried out loudly, struggling to free herself from whatever was holding her in place. “This isn’t funny! You got me, I give! You’re the braver pony! Just make this stop!” she pleaded.
Instead of stopping, the blue glow sped up its’ approach toward Applejack. She continued to struggle to take even a single step, knowing If she couldn’t free herself from where she was rooted the ghost would be upon her in seconds. Finding she was well and truly stuck, all Applejack could do was brace herself for the worst. Unable to hold back her fear any longer, Applejack closed her eyes tight, then opened her mouth to scream in fear again.
“Ahhh-!”
But the sound was cut off short by… she wasn’t sure exactly what it was at first. It felt thick, tasted like blueberries, and had a consistency somewhere between the smoothness of water and the thickness of syrup. Applejack opened her eyes and stared at the glow as it was shoving itself into her mouth. As more of the glow was forced into her mouth, her cheeks bulged out. Eventually, a portion forced its way deep enough to bump against the back of Applejack’s throat.
She struggled to keep herself from actually letting the glow inside herself, but with each prod to the back of her throat, it was hard to fight her instincts. And more was forcing its way inside! Once enough had slipped inside her mouth she was faced with a choice: swallow or suffocate. So she finally gave a swallow. The first and second swallow brought some of the blue glow down her throat. The third brought a growing hunger. A fourth swallow made that hunger insatiable. And the only food source for her was the blue glow. Spurred by the intense hunger that overtook her, Applejack set aside all her manners to loudly gulp and swallow until finally the blue glow settled inside. And just as suddenly had that hunger started, it ended. Able to move again, Applejack took a step back before glancing at her rounded belly. It lightly glowed the same color as the ghost had been.
“What in tarnation was THAT?” she asked before turning and hightailing it out of the house. “Screw it, Rainbow can be the braver pony, I’m out!”
The House on the Edge of Town
Rainbow Dash turned to the right just as soon as they entered inside. There were only two things she knew would calm her nerves and help her win the challenge: cider or something to eat. So her goal was to find her way to the kitchen. But even as she walked, she suspected that more than likely there wouldn’t be anything edible.
Once she entered the kitchen and looked around her fears were confirmed. A thick layer of dust lay over everything in the kitchen; canisters were filled with old, moldy, and mostly unidentifiable foodstuffs, the range looked to haven't been used in years, and a quick peek inside the fridge let out a disgusting, putrid odor as the rotting foods inside were exposed to the air again.
“Oh Celestia, that’s RANK!” complained Rainbow Dash loudly, slamming the door shut quickly. The movement and the force of the door closing caused another dust-covered cabinet door on the other side of the room to open. Investigating the new open cabinet, Rainbow found a single mason jar with a clear liquid sitting inside. She grabbed it and looked it over, trying to figure out what exactly she had found.
“Hey, what’s this?” she pondered aloud. “It’s definitely not a potion bottle and cider isn’t clear, so what …?” Rainbow’s words cut off when she gasped in recognition. She had figured out what it was, and it was her second favorite drink in the entire world!
“Oh! I know exactly what this is! Clear liquid in a mason jar? This far out of town? Ha! This place isn’t scary at all! The rumors are being used to scare ponies away!” She clutched the jar to her chest. “It’s a front for a moonshine operation!”
Opening the jar, Rainbow wrinkled her nose when the smell hit it. It wasn’t the most pleasant smelling liquid and didn’t smell quite as good as apple cider, but a drink was a drink! Slowly she lifted the mason jar to her lips and slowly took a sip of the liquid. An odd tingling sensation washed over her tongue from the drink and it started to burn. She thought it was just the bite of the alcohol, so she took a larger swig. The tingling spread through her mouth and the burning spread over her entire body. There was definitely something not right with the drink. The burning got almost too much to bear and an odd blue glow overtook her whole body. With no other option, she cried out to Applejack in the hopes she’d hear her.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP! APPLEJACK!”
No sooner had the words left her lips, the burning became overbearing, the glowing became overpowered and then… the burning just stopped. The searing pain was gone but the glow still lingered. Mere seconds after the pain had stopped, Applejack appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. Rainbow Dash started to make her way over, an odd look on her face. Applejack was just staring at her, wide-eyed as if she had seen a ghost. She looked scared.
“Applejack? What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked as she drifted closer to the questioned mare. But as she drifted closer, she felt a sudden urge rising inside of her. She felt drawn forward toward the mare, her eyes trained on the opened mouth of the screaming mare.
“AJ? Pal? Buddy? What’s… going on? Why is your mouth so… inviting?”
Rainbow watched herself as she extended a hoof and shoved it into Applejack’s mouth. That’s when she felt that something was very wrong. Her own body felt soft, pliable, and about the consistency of syrup. Nothing like a pony body should feel like. But she couldn’t contemplate the implications at that moment. No, she had this unnatural desire to shove more of herself into the mouth in front of her. And feed she did. With the glow coming from her, she could watch as the throat muscles worked around her and pulled her down deep into Applejack’s stomach. Slowly she curled up as she was deposited in the inner core of the earth pony, feeling content.
The House on the Edge of Town
“And that’s the reason why I’m late and Rainbow Dash hasn’t arrived yet! WHoooOOoooOOoO!” Applejack punctuated her story with her trademark spooky voice. While she thought it was a decently scary story, everypony else just rolled their eyes save for Fluttershy who was cowering behind her wings.
“Oh… my…”
“Oh, come now darling, that story wasn’t THAT scary.”
Twilight nodded. “Besides, that whole story seems highly implausible.”
“Yes,” replied Rarity, “But remember, spooky stories do tend to be more on the fanciful side.”
Applejack just shrugged. “Well, I thought it was a better story than Pinkie’s, about butter and crumbs getting everywhere.”
“Whaaat?” asked Pinkie in surprise. “I thought Twilight said we were telling toast stories!”
“I do hope Rainbow Dash will be getting here soon,” complained Twilight. “I know she likes to prank ponies on Nightmare Night but it’s getting rather late!”
Applejack felt a pressure building inside of her so stood up. “Something I ate must be catching up with me,” she groaned out as she slowly strode toward the hall leading to the bathroom. “As for Rainbow, I’m sure she’ll be passing through soon,” she finished just as she entered the bathroom and closed the door.
Now with some sense of privacy, Applejack slightly raised a hind leg and lifted her tail, letting out a gust of flatulence. Quickly she sat upon the toilet and relaxed herself. Slowly her anus spread wide and a blue glow slowly began to emerge. Applejack grunted as she passed the first bit of waste of the soul she had devoured earlier. Surprisingly, there was no smell to it. As she continued to empty her bowels as she felt a large pocket of gas working its’ way through her lower bowels. Finally, the flow of soul waste stopped. She wiped herself quickly, cleaning herself of the soul shit and letting the gas build up. Once satisfied, she flushed down the glowing waste and hopped off the toilet, stood in the center of the room, and let rip the loudest, biggest fart of her life. Bright blue wisps escaped, forming into the shape of a pony skull and crossbones. “And that’s the last of Rainbow Dash~,” she said in a singsong voice.
After washing up after her trip to the bathroom, she went to her saddlebag and opened the side pocket. She pulled out a mason jar filled with a clear liquid sloshing about inside. “Who will be next to join the soul shit in Sugar Cube Corner’s septic tank?” Thought Applejack as an evil grin grew over her face.
The House on the Edge of Town
The Results of the Contest
Applejack bolted out of the house, out of the front yard, and to the nearest, safest looking tree. She was out of breath from fear and running and was desperately trying to catch it. Her mind whirled with thoughts about what had happened. Something in the house had appeared that looked like a ghost, said something floated over to her and forced her to swallow it, whatever IT was. As her breathing finally slowed back to normal, Applejack felt her stomach began to churn around her impromptu meal. The sounds of glurps and gurgles came from her belly as she felt herself getting sleepy; her stomach kicked into overdrive to digest the bulk held inside. Too tired from her meal making her overstuffed as well as being scared stiff from the excursion into the house, she passed out underneath the tree.
Hours passed while she napped while her stomach loudly processed what she had swallowed. Chunks of the glowing blue goop were worked over and processed into a glowing blue soup that gathered at the bottom of her stomach. And while what had been Rainbow Dash’s soul digested away, portions of her memories were transferred to the sleeping mare.
Applejack began to dream about the haunted house she had been in. In her dream, she saw the kitchen where the blue glow had been. She looked around, seeing thick dust everywhere, the fridge with rotting food, the mason jar. Out of everything, that mason jar seemed to stand out more than anything else. She became fixated on the jar. She didn’t know why, but something was special with the jar. That’s when she saw Rainbow Dash enter the kitchen.
She watched as the dream Rainbow Dash explored the kitchen before she wandered up to that all-important jar. Rainbow Dash considered the thing briefly before she opened the jar then drank from it. Applejack watched as a familiar-looking blue glow engulfed Rainbow which quickly increased in intensity until there was a bright flash. Where Rainbow once stood was now just a floating blue, glowing, vaguely pony shaped blob.
Applejack understood. Whatever was in the jar did this to Rainbow Dash. She could feel a similar desire course through her that had gone through Rainbow Dash. That need to be eaten. The need to get more ponies to drink the liquid to give them that need. Applejack understood.
In the middle of her dreaming, Applejack shifted slightly and let out a large belch. Light wisps of blue escaped from her lips and her belly visibly became smaller. The blue glow that had settled in her stomach also faded slightly as well as she slept off the soul that had fed herself to her. She would wake up hours later, feeling rejuvenated and full of energy, if just a little late to the Nightmare Night party with the rest of her friends.
