One day, on a return trip from the grocery store, Twilight noticed a stallion staring at the side of a building.
She was walking on the main road, channelling magic into her horn to levitate a brown bag full of vegetables, when she slowed and went from a casual trot to a curious meander, and then to a complete stop.
Blinking, Twilight watched the motionless stallion for a full minute, wondering exactly what it is he was doing. Considering that this was Ponyville, home to the bouncing anomaly that was Pinkie Pie and general magnet for all things ‘weird,’ a stallion staring into empty space wasn’t too odd of an event, and yet Twilight felt a strong urge to uncover this mystery.
Making her decision, Twilight readjusted her grip on her groceries before walking on over, her lips forming a disarming smile.
“Hello.”
The stallion didn’t seem to notice.
Stopping beside him, Twilight could see that, no offense intended, he was a rather unremarkable pony – he was handsome she supposed, had bright blue eyes, and an earthen brown coat with a braided, yellow mane; a quick glance to his flanks informed Twilight of a silver brush. Perhaps a talent for hairdressing?
“Hello there,” She tried calling again, giving a little wave. “My name’s Twilight. I live at the library.”
Silence.
“What’s your name?”
Silence.
Twilight cleared her throat, now wishing she had just kept walking. “Are you okay?”
He still didn’t answer.
Twilight followed his gaze and looked the building up and down, left to right, but saw nothing of interest.
Well, aside from a small hole in the wall that was barely an inch deep and half the surface area of the underside of her hoof. If she had to guess, maybe some rambunctious foal had bounced a baseball with too much energy and scurried off for fear of repercussion.
She doubted it could have been Pinkie because that mare would have taken responsibility and fixed the depression herself.
Twilight grunted in her throat and turned back to the stallion.
He was looking at her, eyes half-lidded yet burning with intensity.
“There’s a hole here.”
Twilight jolted. “Ah, yes, so there is,” She chuckled in relief. “I was a little worried for a second.”
“Why?”
“Oh. Well, you were just staring at the wall here and not responding when I said hello. I was beginning to suspect there was something wrong.”
“I wasn’t staring at the wall,” He turned back and stretched out his foreleg. His hoof was inches from the indent. “I was staring at the hole.”
Twilight didn’t know what to say to that. The technical side of her said, ‘yes, that makes sense’ while the social side of her (admittedly still in its development stages) argued that he was just splitting hairs.
The stallion, meanwhile, covered the hole with his hoof. He kept it there for three awkward seconds before pulling back, staring a little more, then covering it again.
“Well, alright then,” Twilight gave an uneven smile and went on her merry way. “Have a nice day.”
“You too.” The stallion managed to reply, though his gaze never wavered from that hole.
Twilight craned her neck to watch him over her shoulder until her hoof scuffed against the road and she focused back on her path with a thoughtful frown.
“Spike?”
“What’s up?”
Twilight narrowed her eyes as she levitated a book up onto a high shelf. “You wouldn’t happen to know of a stallion with a silver brush for a cutie mark?"
“Yeah – Gloss Shine.”
Twilight turned in surprise. “You know him?”
“Yeah,” Spike padded on over and presented a hard-cover that Twilight carefully took. “He’s a hairdresser; I sometimes go with Rarity to his shop when she gets her mane done,” He cocked his head. “What about him?”
“I saw him earlier when I went for groceries,” She paused to concentrate as she slid the book into a gap between two others of its genre. “He was staring at a hole in a wall.”
“Why? What was through it?”
“I don’t know. And nothing; it didn’t go right through.”
“Weird,” Spike grunted. “I don’t know him too well, but he seemed pretty normal; always made light conversation, made a funny joke or two. I think Rarity would know more about him,” Spike’s eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. “Oh wait, he’s married, so you could ask his wife, too.”
Twilight pursed her lips. “Mmm… maybe I’m just being nosy. It’s not like he was hurting anypony.”
“Well, it’s not like you’re gonna hurt anypony by asking, right? Unless you go full ‘Want it, Need it’ on the village again,” Spike hummed in concern and, apparently oblivious to the glare Twilight was sending his way, asked, “Hey, warn me if you feel the crazy coming on, would you?”
Twilight sighed and picked up the next book he gave her. “I deserve that.”
“Maybe.”
“Mr. Hoarder.”
Spike choked and looked away.
Twilight grinned cheekily and put a little notch on the scoreboard in her head. For some reason, she couldn’t seem to imagine it without dust and a general air of antiquity.
And as she went to slot the book in one of the higher shelves, she stopped and floated it back down.
She stared at the front cover and turned to Spike. “Did you do this?”
“Huh? Do what?” Spike grabbed the book for himself and squinted. “What’s wrong with it?”
“In the bottom-left corner,” Twilight pointed. “Right there.”
She moved her hoof away from the three small holes clustered together. The book’s cover was dark and made it difficult to see them, but Twilight was attuned to the wellbeing of her books.
Spike just silently looked at her and shrugged cluelessly, like he usually did when he tried to hide something, but he was making eye contact with her; he didn’t do that when he was lying.
Twilight grimaced and took it back, her ire building as she flipped through the book and found the holes went all the way through to the back cover – as if somepony had grabbed a screwdriver and jammed it in with feverish passion.
Who would do that to an innocent book?
Twilight’s irritation gave way to a sudden ray of clarity. “I think I will go see Gloss Shine tomorrow. Where is his shop located?”
“Rarity’s going there tomorrow, so you can just come with us. Hey, do you really think he has something to do with those holes?”
“I’m not going to assume anything unless I have concrete proof but considering that he seemed so intrigued by a hole earlier today, I think I can afford to be suspicious at the very least.”
Twilight turned to Spike.
“And if he was the one to do this, then he will pay.”
“Closed?! H-how could this be?”
Twilight clicked her tongue in annoyance and glared at the sign mocking her from behind a glass door. She veered closer and closer to the glass, as if Gloss Shine would materialize out of the dimly-lit interior, until her horn bumped against the glass.
“Do you know where he…?” Twilight turned and saw Rarity sprawled out on her fainting couch – how many unfortunate ponies did that thing knock over on its way here, she wondered. “Rarity, do you know where he lives?”
“Hm? Ah, not far; just around the corner. Alas, he does not work at home, so I shall have to seek refuge at the spa once I find the strength to move on.”
“Thanks.”
Twilight turned and started walking. Seconds later, she heard the rapid patter of feet following her.
“So, you’re not actually gonna start throwing spells around when you get there, right?”
“Oh, hush.”
“Because you got that crazy look on your face.”
“I don’t have-” Twilight caught her reflection in a nearby window and took a second to correct it. “Sorry, but you know how I get when I see books getting treated poorly.”
“But it might not be Gloss Shine. Maybe those holes were an accident or… maybe some bookworms got at them.”
Twilight faltered. “That’s true. Still, I can’t shake this feeling that Gloss Shine had something to do with it. Spike, do you think I’m just being paranoid and drawing connections where there aren’t because I didn’t understand what he was doing that time? What if it’s just like how it was with Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense?”
Spike linked his hands behind his head and sighed. “Honestly, after everything we’ve been through, a little paranoia is healthy. But I get where you’re coming from, so I think you should go see Gloss if it’ll help you solve this. I’ll be there with you in case you need anything.”
“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight immediately felt better knowing that she had someone at her side. Speaking of which- “Hey, I’m surprised you came with me and didn’t stay with Rarity.”
Spike blinked and looked around furtively. “So, just between you and me… I think she can be a little dramatic at times.”
Twilight just managed keep her lips from curling at the corners. “You don’t say…”
When they arrived at Gloss Shine’s home and knocked on the door, it was a full two minutes before they were greeted by a young unicorn mare looking very concerned.
“Oh, you’re the librarian. Twilight, was it?”
“Yes. Twilight Sparkle.”
“And I’m Spike.”
The mare nodded. “Yeah, you, uh… stole my good plates a while back.”
Spike flinched. “I gave them back!”
Twilight cleared her throat. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you Gloss Shine’s wife?”
“Yes. My name’s Rouge Tundra,” Rouge’s face gained a few more lines of worry. “Oh no, what did my husband do?”
“Um, nothing. At least not that I’m aware of,” Twilight smiled, hoping it would put Rouge at ease. “Is he here? I just need to talk to him about something. It’s nothing severe. Well, it is in a sense. To me, it is. Probably not to you… unless you like books. Do you like books?”
Rouge smiled faintly. “I do. Crime series like Dawn in Manehattan are my favourite.”
Twilight felt a tickle in her chest as energy seemed to churn within her. “Oh, I’ve read the whole series! The twist ending in the third was spectacular!”
Rouge smiled brightly. “Wasn’t it? I never would have suspected it’d be her brother!”
“I know! I had this theory ever since the first book that-”
Spike snapped his fingers. “Hey, sharing your favourite books is great and all, but we came here to do something.”
“Ah, you’re right,” Twilight took a second to compose herself. “Rouge, about your husband…?”
“He’s here, but…” Rouge paused and seemed to struggle for words. “Sometimes, he isn’t. Please, come inside.”
Twilight and Spike followed her.
The house was nothing special; homely and comfortable, and that was all it needed to be. As Rouge led them past the living room, Twilight saw an unfinished crib near a fireplace.
“You’re expecting?”
“No,” Rouge didn’t turn around. She started going up some stairs. “We’ve been trying, but lately Gloss hasn’t been, um… playing his part.”
Twilight blushed. “Oh.”
Spike snickered. “Sooo, you said that sometimes Gloss ‘isn’t here.’ Is that literally or…?”
Rouge sighed.
They arrived at the second floor and ended up in front of a plain wooden door. The brass handle was slightly tarnished.
“He’s started spending a lot of time in here,” Rouge said. “Lately, he’s started gathering things.”
Twilight tilted her head. “What sorts of things?”
“Things with holes.”
Twilight shared a look with Spike. His face turned a little more serious and his posture straightened.
“May we see him?”
Rouge nodded and knocked on the door. “Honey? Twilight and Spike are here – they want to talk with you.”
No answer.
“Ah, not again,” Rouge lit her horn and pushed down the handle, irritation evident in her tone. “Sometimes he doesn’t… Just go right in.”
Twilight inclined her head. “Thank you.”
She went in, half-expecting to find something frightening, or at the very least unnerving.
She was completely right.
Gloss Shine sat in the middle of a clutter of random everyday objects, rotating a cheese grater between his hooves. To his right were seven golf balls; lined up against the wall behind him were canvases with bright red spots of various sizes painted on, still wet; stacked to his left were ties with a polka dot motif.
“Unorganized!”
She felt Spike touch her leg. “Let it go.”
“B-but it’s-”
“Let it go.”
Twilight sighed and carefully stepped around the clutter; she might not like it, but courtesy demanded she respect this stallion’s property and his… organized chaos. She just hoped the nervous twitch in her eye would be gone by lunchtime.
“Gloss Shine.”
He didn’t seem to hear her, though she was right beside him. Carefully, he put down the cheese grater and rolled a golf ball back and forth, running his hooves over its pockmarked surface with a look bordering on ecstasy.
“Gloss Shine!”
He drew in a breath and turned, blinking rapidly. “Oh. Oh! Twilight. When did you get here?”
“Not too long ago,” Twilight gestured to the clutter. “Gloss Shine, what is all this?”
“It’s my collection,” He grinned at her. “What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful? All these wonderful holes that I can look at all day.”
Twilight’s eyebrows went up as she surveyed the mess. “I’m… happy for you?”
Far be it for her to judge somepony’s hobby, even if it was a little-
Twilight’s gaze stopped on something behind Gloss Shine.
“What are those for?”
Gloss Shine turned around and grinned wider. “Ah well, I was a little annoyed that some things didn’t have holes in them when it look so good, so I just…”
He picked up a screwdriver; it was resting on a book that had been thoroughly perforated.
“Made some myself.”
Twilight lit her horn and snatched the tool from him. He grunted in surprise and stood up, not quite angry but clearly driven to get it back. She stepped back and gave him a warning glare.
“Did you stab one of my books?”
“Your…?” Gloss Shine blinked a few times. “No, I didn’t.”
“Really? I see at least three books there that have been stabbed.”
“None of them are yours. They’re my wife’s.”
Twilight turned to the door as Rouge stormed in. Spike wisely backed off.
“How dare you! You told me you hadn’t seen those books!” She knocked several objects out of her warpath and magically grabbed her ruined books while Gloss Shine scrambled after his stuff. “What has gotten into you these past few days?! Honestly!”
Twilight was dying to give Gloss Shine her sternest lecture yet on the importance of maintaining the condition of literature – especially when it belonged to her! – but as she examined the furrowed brow and clenched teeth of Rouge, she had a feeling that she’d only be getting in the way of true wrath.
Even so-
“You don’t understand,” Gloss Shine grumbled, carefully gathering the things kicked aside. “We are surrounded by holes; we are instinctively drawn to fulfil them in any way.”
“Context, dude.” Spike sighed.
“But a hole can be both terrifying and beautiful,” Gloss Shine leered over a simple sheet of paper that had holes punched around the sides. “When there is more, there is less of you. But then, there is opportunity that it can be filled with something even greater.”
Twilight grimaced. “Rouge, maybe it isn’t my place to say, but have you considered taking him to see someone with medical expertise?”
Rouge’s cheeks burned with anger and embarrassment. “I’m so sorry you had to see this. I’ve been holding off on that, but now I think it’s for the best. And of course, I’ll repay you for the damage he’s done to your books.”
Twilight looked at Gloss Shine, obsessing over his horde, and felt a pang of pity. He really didn’t seem to be in a right state of mind, plus she also felt bad for Rouge. It wouldn’t sit well in her gut if she made them pay.
“No, you don’t need to do that,” Twilight shook her head and willed back her ire until it was only simmering beneath the skin. “It’s just one book and it’s not so damage that I can’t repair it with magic. Besides, he didn’t admit to doing it and I have no way to prove otherwise.”
Rouge frowned. “But who else had a motive for doing such a thing?”
“Regardless, I have no concrete proof. However, since I can see for myself that he’s willing to damage another pony’s property, I’m suspending him from my library until he stops with…” She gestured to the room. “This.”
“Thank you for being so kind,” Rouge whipped around. “Gloss, don’t you have something to say?”
Gloss Shine glanced up. “Huh? Oh, thank you for coming to see my collection.”
Rouge deflated with a pained sigh like the air being let out of a bouncy castle.
Twilight patted her shoulder sympathetically. “Come on, Spike – we should get going.”
Spike turned and dropped a golf ball. “Huh? Oh yeah, sure.”
Much later, a few hours after midnight, Twilight woke to a noise she was familiar with – claws on leather and paper.
Making her way down to the main room, Twilight found Spike using the claw on his index finger to puncture the cover of a book. Naturally, she immediately stopped him and launched into a furious rant.
Halfway through, she stopped.
Spike, wide-eyed and bewildered, told her he didn’t remember even getting up.
“Hey, there’s my favourite egghead.”
Twilight chose to be the bigger mare and let it slide. “Hello, Rainbow. How are you today?”
“Awesome, as per usual.”
Rainbow Dash stretched out with a grunt and rolled over with her forelegs behind her head like she was sunbathing at the beach. She was hovering directly above Twilight, but since it was so hot, she let that slide as well.
“So, what are you up to?”
“I’m on my way to apologize to somepony,” Twilight replied. “Yesterday, I pretty much accused them of doing something that I only just recently found out they didn’t do.”
Rainbow Dash gave a quiet ‘huh.’ “What’d you think they did?”
“Damage one of my books.”
“Ho-hoh!” Rainbow Dash flipped around with a face like she was expecting something spectacular. “Wish I was there to see that scrap.”
“Going by the context, I assume you’re referring to a physical confrontation. Which didn’t happen, thank you very much,” Twilight rolled her eyes as Rainbow Dash moaned in disappointment. “Nevertheless, it didn’t end on good terms for either of us.”
“Is this another friendship problem?” A yawn. “Because I’m still sleepy.”
“Nopony’s asking you to come, you know.”
“Ah, you know me – like a lost balloon, I just go wherever the wind takes me.”
“A hot air balloon, maybe.”
Gloss Shine’s business still wasn’t open, so they ended up back at his house. Rainbow Dash continued to tag along for whatever reason.
Twilight knocked on the door.
Gloss Shine answered, looking rather frazzled; he was wiping his face with a wet cloth. “Twilight?”
Twilight greeted him with a bashful smile. “Good morning. I hope I’m not intruding on anything?”
“No, no, I was just finishing up some work. Would you like to come in?”
“If that’s okay.”
Twilight entered as Gloss Shine and Rainbow Dash exchanged pleasantries before going inside, too.
“Gloss Shine, I came by because I wanted to apologize for yesterday. As it turns out, Spike was the one who made the holes in that book. Apparently, he’s been sleepwalking, though we’re not sure why.”
Gloss Shine nodded. “That so? Well, don’t worry about it: I can see why you would suspect me considering what I did to my wife’s books.”
“Speaking of which, is she around?” Twilight glanced to the stairs. “I should apologize to her, too.”
“She’s upstairs,” Gloss Shine replied, then gave a short laugh. “We had a little spat after you left, but it’s all sorted now. I was wrong to destroy her books but she’s such a darling and forgave me. Right now, she’s helping sort out my collection.”
Twilight beamed, joy filling her chest. She’d been anxious that maybe Gloss Shine wouldn’t accept her apology, but that wasn’t the case at all – he seemed happy and relaxed. He still had his collection, which was still weird, but if Rouge was up there sorting things out, then maybe they’d come to some healthy understanding.
After all, Twilight’s issue was him destroying another pony’s property – if he simply wanted to collect things with holes (collect, not steal), then she saw no reason to make a fuss about it.
“I’m glad to hear you two talked it out.”
Gloss Shine laughed again. “Well, your visit helped clear some things for me,” He nodded to the stairs. “So, you wanted to see her, right?”
“Yes please.”
“So, let’s go.”
As he turned and went up the stairs, Twilight found her progress stopped by a firm grip on her foreleg. She looked back. Rainbow Dash was staring at her rather intensely.
“There was blood on that cloth.”
“What?”
“There was blood on that cloth,” Rainbow Dash had taken a page out of Fluttershy’s book; her voice barely went above a whisper. “Or, well, there was red stuff on it.”
Twilight looked over her shoulder. Gloss Shine didn’t seem to notice; in fact, she only saw him for a few seconds before he arrived at the landing and turned a corner, seemingly oblivious that they weren’t following.
“Red…?” Twilight thought about it, then the answer struck her. “I think that was paint. Yesterday, I saw some paintings stacked against the wall; that must have been what it was.”
“Paint?” Rainbow Dash blinked, the wrinkles in her brow disappearing. “Y-yeah. Yeah, that must have been paint. Jeez, what was I thinking?”
Twilight exhaled and placed her hoof over her heart. “What are you doing saying something scary like that?”
“Sorry, it just jumped into my head when I saw it. Must be all that Daring Do before bedtime, huh?”
They shared a laugh, but it didn’t stop a tense air from settling upon them like a thick haze; their mirth was drained of any energy and sincerity, and they were left staring at one another until Gloss Shine reappeared at the landing.
“Everything okay down there?”
“Y-yes, no, we’re fine,” Twilight trotted up the stairs; she couldn’t let him know they’d been speaking of such a macabre topic, much less one that put him in a negative light. “Just an errand Rainbow Dash wanted to remind me of.”
“I see.” Gloss Shine nodded, suspecting nothing. “Ah, here we are.”
Twilight found herself looking at the door to Gloss Shine’s collection once more. Almost immediately, she noticed something odd about the frame.
It was covered in holes.
Holes that were too small and clustered together to look like it was done by hoof; it looked like a nest of termites had eaten into the wood.
Twilight felt an inexplicable pull of nausea in her gut: images of infested wounds, discoloured and swollen, leaking pus from cratered flesh, jumped into her head and swirled like the contents of a bubbling cauldron. She had to shut her eyes and take a deep breath to stop herself from gagging.
“Hey, egghead,” Rainbow Dash gently grabbed her should. “You good?”
“I’m fine.”
Gloss Shine looked over his shoulder, frowning. “You sure? You’re really pale all of a sudden.”
“I just got a little dizzy,” Twilight groaned. “Your door is…”
She looked at it again and fell silent.
Rainbow Dash walked up beside her and examined the unmarred frame. “What about it?”
“… It’s nothing. I think my body’s just getting back at me for skipping breakfast.” Another lie, but Twilight wasn’t sure what to make of it; she didn’t have an answer, and she didn’t want to make anypony worry.
Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue. “Jeez, you can’t skip breakfast; that’s the most important meal of the day.”
Gloss Shine ‘mm-hm’ed in agreement. “She’s right,” Finally, he reached out, pushed the door open, and walked inside. “Rouge’s always catching me on that. Isn’t that right, honey?”
Twilight swallowed and steeled herself. She walked forward and presented a warm smile.
Rouge was standing in the centre of the room.
“Hello there,” Twilight felt a chill creep up from the tips of the hairs in her tail; her heart hammered in her chest, but she wasn’t entirely sure why just yet. “It’s nice to see-”
And then…
“-you…”
Her mind registered what she was looking at.
“… a… gain…”
The edges of Twilight’s vision darkened; a whine filled her ears; she vaguely noticed Gloss Shine going over to a tray that held a hoof-drill, caked in bits of reddish gunk, and picking it up.
He was talking to his wife about how he kept missing breakfast, laughing at something she apparently said.
Rouge’s mouth hung open; her body swung lightly from the chains attached to the ceiling; the floor beneath her was slick and wet.
Twilight heard Rainbow Dash choke something out, then cut off halfway to heave violently near the door.
This caught Gloss Shine’s attention: he immediately dropped the drill and took a few steps to them before doubling back to grab a fresh cloth lying next to a pile of bloodied ones. He asked if maybe they should go see a doctor, then responded to something Rouge apparently said.
Twilight stared at Rouge, stared at the far side of the room visible through the holes in Rouge’s abdomen and her empty sockets. Her mouth was an abyss, nothing but pure darkness framed by red-stained teeth.
Then, Rainbow Dash pushed her aside and tackled Gloss Shine to the ground, punching and kicking and shouting, ‘murderer, murderer.'
What jostled Twilight from her stupor and sent her running for help, tears streaming down her face, was the way the holes seemed to wobble and grow, seeking to swallow her up.
They took Gloss Shine away, locked him in a padded cell. Twilight heard that he was confused as to why he was being treated this way.
“Murder? Who on earth did I…? My wife?! Nonsense! Rouge is right here. Well, I can hear her, but I can’t see her. She never used to be this playful until she discovered the wonder of the hole. You know, your ear canal is a hole? Isn’t that fascinating?”
Rouge’s funeral was closed-casket; there wasn’t much they could do to make her body presentable.
Twilight didn’t go; she didn’t think she could stand watching them lower the coffin into a hole in the ground.
Speaking of, she avoided holes entirely after that. She removed anything that might have had one and feverishly checked the library for burrows made by insects.
A night after Rouge’s funeral, Spike was going through some of his old stuff and upturned a small box, spilling domino tiles everywhere. Twilight near had a fit and reduced them all to ashes. Spike assured her that he understood her knee-jerk reaction, which just made her feel worse.
To add to her torment, Twilight’s dreams were filled with endless corridors where hornets and spiders crawled out from countless holes that marred the walls, floor, and ceiling. They rained down on her, biting and stinging and trying to worm under her skin.
She decided to refrain from sleeping.
“Twilight, you need to sleep.”
“I can’t.”
“Ya’ll look terrible, sugarcube. Y’can’t go on like this. Ah should know tha’ more than anypony.”
Twilight stared down at the hay sandwich she didn’t remember ordering. Her body was sore and sluggish like liquid mercury was being pumped through her veins, but she was on edge, jolting out of her stupor everytime one of her friends spoke. The sun was hidden behind some clouds, so at least for the moment there were no UV rays making her wish she had just stayed crawled up in bed.
But no, she couldn’t do that, not when she found that hole in her mattress.
“I-I know,” Twilight shuddered. “But I just keep seeing holes everywhere. I keep seeing flashes of Rouge in the corner of my eye, in the shadows. My dreams won’t let me sleep.”
Pinkie Pie walked from the opposite end of the table to hug her. Twilight leaned against her chest, comforted by the lub-dub of another pony’s heart. Spike tried, but he couldn’t make the scales on his underbelly softer anymore than Twilight could straighten the natural spiral of her horn.
“Yeah…” From between Rarity and Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash idly played with the straw in her soda can. Her eyes were dark and unfocused; her wings hung limply at her sides. “I know what you mean.”
“Rainbow Dash…”
“After they took Gloss Shine away, I went home and scrubbed myself hard enough to leave patches of skin. Then, I spent the entire night plugging up any gaps in my house,” Fluttershy hugged her, and Rainbow Dash chuckled mirthlessly. “Always said I’d get around to doing it, but it took somepony dying to kick my ass into gear.”
Applejack took her hat off and plopped it on Rainbow Dash’s head. “Special treat – don’t waste it.”
“Screw you.” Rainbow Dash snorted, but Twilight saw her lips twitch sincerely as she pushed the rim from her line of sight.
“Darling, have you considered writing to Princess Luna for help with your dreams?”
“I have, Rarity. She’s visited me and helped the best she could, but if I want the dreams to stop, then I have to face my fears.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Easier said than done. What about Princess Celestia?”
“There’s not much she can do that hasn’t already been done. The murderer’s already been caught, so the most she can offer is support. I mean, I’m grateful for it, but…” Twilight made a whimpering noise in her throat. “I guess it’s too much to hope for an easy cure.”
Her friends had nothing to say to that. For a while, Twilight just watched them as they ate and drank, the gentle clink of utensils backed up by a chorus of background chatter from the other ponies at the restaurant. The familiarity and intimacy of their bond was an immense help to her frayed nerves.
She just wanted to get better and stop being so afraid over something so ridiculous as a fear of holes.
After a few minutes had passed, Fluttershy nervously cleared her throat.
“I, um… I heard from Nurse Redheart that somepony was admitted last night. They, um… they dislocated their shoulders trying to squeeze into a rabbit hole.”
Twilight swallowed hard.
“Why’d ya have ta go an’ say somethin’ like tha’?” Applejack mumbled with an annoyed scowl, more annoyed than she likely intended.
Fluttershy whimpered. “I-I’m sorry. I just thought I should tell you because… m-maybe it’s connected? Maybe it…”
She trailed off.
Conversation was forced and strained after that.
Time didn’t make things better; the town was plagued by unusual and terrifying events, all centred around what was quickly becoming Twilight’s biggest fear.
Holes.
They appeared spontaneously and without rhyme or reason. At first, everyone thought it was some prank in poor taste until the school had to be shut down when several beehives were found smothering the playground equipment, created by angry swarms overnight.
Then, even walking to the market became difficult as the roads were pitted with holes so perfectly made that it was like a giant ice cream scoop was used. Several ponies had already been admitted to the hospital, and they swore up and down that there hadn’t been a hole in their path and they only glanced away for a second.
A chilling anxiety was settling over Ponyville, but there those that insisted that perhaps these holes weren’t a bad thing and that they just needed to understand it a little more.
Cold sweat poured down the back of Twilight’s neck as she frantically went about searching for any small pits in the walls. She had some clay with her that filled them up nicely, but it was akin to wrapping some gauze over an already-infected wound – it didn’t deal with the issue, just hide it from view to give one false hope.
A wound…
Too late Twilight realized her mistake: she put the clay down and pressed against the wall, clenching her jaw tightly as bile rose from her belly, bidden by the repulsing imagery her mind conjured – ruptured boils, punctured bellies, even the open ends of cardboard tubes made her heart twist painfully.
“S-Spike…” Twilight slurred, heat flashing to her face. “Try again.”
No answer.
“Spike? Spike!”
Nothing.
When she was well enough to keep moving, she searched through the library and found him sitting down and staring at-
“Spike, no!”
She pulled him to her with magic and dashed into the other room, shuddering violently.
Spike mumbled in a daze, “Twilight?”
“Spike, I-I need you to try and send another letter to Celestia,” Twilight realized her cheeks were wet and wiped them harshly. “This… this isn’t right. Something’s not right.”
“I can’t,” He shifted, trying to get out of her hold. “Letters won’t go through. S’like they disappear down a…”
“Hole.”
Twilight held him tightly and stared at her library, now without a single visitor for three days. In a way, this was for the best since she could pull out every book she had to see if there was mention of anything like this in Equestria’s history.
But there was nothing, and there were no secret compartments to be found – not that she’d trust anything she’d pull out from a hole anymore. Her precious books lay scattered everywhere, evidence of her mounting frustration and despair.
“We have to leave. We need the princesses’ help.”
The streets were empty and stricken with holes. Some were large enough for a fully-grown stallion to curl up in comfortably.
She knew this because she saw one as she carried a docile Spike on her back. When the stallion popped his head over the hole’s rim, she just about jumped out of her skin.
“Twilight, I haven’t seen you in a while,” Caramel smiled amicably despite the black dots peppering the whites of his eyes like ink blotches on paper. “Going somewhere?”
Twilight shook uncontrollably and returned his smile with a toothy rictus. “Just to see my friends,” She paused. “Have you… seen them lately?"
Caramel shook his head. “Nope. Sorry,” He placed his forelegs over the rim, staring up at her eerily. “Say, there’s a hole next to me. Wanna try it out? I know it sounds weird, but trust me, don’t knock it until you’ve sat down and stared up at the sky.”
Twilight made the mistake of looking up.
Dark grey clouds stretched across for miles in either direction save for a patch of sky directly above Ponyville.
It was dark. Completely dark like the night sky but without the twinkling stars, nor the gentle glow of the moon; it was like looking at the ceiling of a deep cavern. Twilight had no idea how there could even be enough natural light to see.
Twilight’s head swam – how had she missed this? Wasn’t it a normal overcast just a few hours ago? Didn’t she spy a ray of sunlight when she went past her window applying clay to the walls?
“No!” Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head before taking off at a brisk jog, using her magic to keep Spike steady. “I-I can’t…! I’ll find some way to fix this, Caramel! I promise!”
She heard Caramel sigh behind her. “Alright, but you don’t know what you’re missing out on.”
Twilight jogged. Then, she ran. Then, she started to sprint.
The holes surrounded her: they cluttered the streets, covered the walls of buildings – there was no end to them. Twilight galloped, heart pumping in fear, and almost crashed into somepony as they suddenly staggered out from their house.
Bon-Bon turned to her, one side of her face gone and making a semi-circle cut. Her single eye was wide and desperate.
Twilight started to cry.
“Lyra’s not moving. She won’t move,” Bon-Bon reached to her. “Help. Please help.”
Twilight started to approach, but quickly recoiled as she saw the flesh on Bon-Bon’s neck splitting apart – first the skin, then the muscle and sinew, then the spine (right down the middle), until she could see the other side of the street through the gap.
“Sorry, sorry…” It was all she could say as she stepped around Bon-Bon, shrugged off her weakly pawing hooves- “Sorry, I’m sorry…” -and refused to look at her. “Sorry, sorry, sor-”
When she heard a thump that was followed by Bon-Bon’s full weight falling against her, Twilight swallowed a scream and galloped ahead.
In just over a minute, she arrived at Rarity’s boutique and pounded on the door until she was let in.
She must have looked half-crazed, but Rarity embraced her without a word.
“Deep breaths, darling. Deep breaths.”
Twilight struggled to get the words out. “We have to get out of here now. Wh-where are the girls?”
“Fluttershy’s here. She came over earlier. Her animal friends disappeared early this morning; she said there were holes in her garden, some large enough to swallow a bear.”
Twilight sniffed. She felt Spike sluggishly slide off her and wander off to sit down somewhere; she could hear him grunt as he settled into something that squeaked – a couch, most likely.
“She’s sleeping upstairs now,” Rarity inhaled, her chest rising and falling. “I don’t know about the others.”
Twilight grit her teeth and pulled back, wiping her face. “Let’s wake Fluttershy. We’ll stick together and survive this, just like we always do.”
She was terrified of this malevolent and enigmatic force, but she believed that if her friends were there with her, then there wasn’t anything they couldn’t overcome. That’s what made friendship so powerful, wasn’t it?
Support.
Rarity nodded and pulled back. Twilight noticed for the first time that there were bags under her eyes.
“Of course we will. We’ll get through this. Together.”
With Fluttershy and Rarity at her side, Twilight felt steadier walking the roads. The occupants of the houses they passed didn’t seem interested in joining them. Twilight saw movement by the windows at various points, but they just kept moving on.
They arrived at Sugarcube Corner and found Pinkie sitting outside, her face gaunt and white as a sheet. She muttered to herself and wasn’t really responsive until Rarity tried to enter the shop for Mr. and Mrs. Cake and the twins – Pinkie grabbed her foreleg and pushed her away before collapsing, her whole body heaving with agonized sobs.
Eventually, they managed to console her enough to come along. They left Sugarcube Corner as it was, door shut and covered in countless holes that bristled with centipedes and hornets.
It was Rainbow Dash that found them: she turned a corner on the street they were walking and ran over with a relieved laugh. Exuberant at first, their joyous reunion was cut with a piercing shriek from Fluttershy, who recoiled from Rainbow Dash in terror.
Rainbow Dash ashamedly revealed her hole-ridden wings; it happened recently, which was why she hadn’t flown to their homes the second she noticed what was wrong with the sky. It was a hassle to get down from her home.
Although frightening, Twilight wouldn’t even entertain the thought of leaving their afflicted friend behind, and Rainbow Dash was obviously clear-headed, not like the ponies that curled up in the holes, smiling in utter ecstasy as their flesh bubbled and pitted like the surface of a honeycomb.
Now, all that was left was Applejack and their group would be complete and full. Twilight sincerely believed that once they were together, it’d be easier from there on out.
Rarity’s hoof covered her mouth as she cried silently.
Fluttershy was hyperventilating and shivering.
Pinkie Pie curled up into a ball on the ground.
It was up to Twilight to restrain Rainbow Dash, even though it felt like she was watching through somepony else’s eyes. Rainbow Dash struggled against her magic, but without her wings, she couldn’t get any lift or momentum.
“R-Rainbow, we have to go.”
“No! She might be down there! I have to help her!”
“There’s no way down.”
“You can teleport us, can’t you?!”
Twilight looked ahead, her hopes crumbling as despair threatened to overwhelm her. The hole before her was impossibly, illogically large; it spread over the entire orchard, and where Applejack’s farmstead should have been.
The depth was such that she couldn’t see the bottom, but far, far below a horrible droning noise rose up that she could feel in her bones; the air around the hole seemed to vibrate like the heat haze on a hot day.
“I don’t know where I’d be teleporting us. It’s too much, Rainbow.”
“AJ’s our friend!” Rainbow Dash whipped around, snarling. “We can’t leave her! We can’t!”
“What can we do, Rainbow?! We don’t know what this thing is! Half the town is affected and we don’t even know what’s causing it!”
“But…” Rainbow Dash jerked against Twilight’s magic once, then went still. “If it was one of us down there, AJ would…”
“And what? Somehow, we wouldn’t be in the exact situation if she was here?”
Rainbow Dash hiccupped and rubbed her eyes. “We’re just leaving, then?”
“Our only hope right now is Celestia and Luna. Without Applejack, we can’t use the Elements.”
It was Twilight’s terror that, ironically, saved her because without it, she might have just jumped down that hole, too. But she knew that she and her remaining friends had to survive this if there was any chance to fight and win against this malicious force.
“Girls?” Rainbow Dash implored as her last plea.
Rarity and Fluttershy looked down. Pinkie Pie uncurled and shook her head. “Twily’s right, Dashie. We have to trust her.”
Rainbow Dash no longer struggled, so Twilight released her. She slinked back, emitting fury and despair.
“This is fucked.”
Twilight nodded. “We should follow the train tracks. They go through a tunnel, a hole, but we can hike the mountain, or maybe-”
A thought crawled up the back of Twilight’s neck and attached itself to her hindbrain. She felt as if something was off, that she missed something.
“… Wait, where’s Spike?”
After several long minutes of adrenaline-stricken searching, they found him squashed into a dinner plate-sized hole in an apple tree.
There was no one around that could have forced him in, so he must have done it himself, even though that should have been impossible.
They had been too late five minutes ago.
On the trek back through the town, Twilight saw that more of the holes in the streets were being occupied by the residents.
She didn’t pay them much heed; her head felt loose, her thoughts scattered. She was too numb to cry or scream or do anything besides keep moving forward.
‘The princesses will help. The princesses will help.’
That one thought kept her going. She had to believe in it.
“Fluttershy, you must keep moving,” Rarity said quietly. “We can’t stay here.”
Twilight heard hooves scuffing against cobblestone. “I know, but I just feel so heavy.”
‘The princesses will help. The princesses will help.’
Rainbow Dash was walking ahead of her, but she started to slow down, and Twilight didn’t realize it until she was already past her. Twilight slowed and glanced back. Rainbow Dash was wobbling on her right foreleg unsteadily – the flesh was starting to split in various spots.
“It’s nothing,” Rainbow Dash grunted with a sneer of grim determination. “I’m with you, Twilight. This thing’s not gonna get the best of me – I’m way too awesome.”
What could Twilight do but turn back around and continue walking?
Minutes later, when the train station was just within a stone’s throw, she heard a strange suction-like noise that was followed closely by a shrill cry of terror.
Twilight spun around, her numbness subsiding to fear and denial as Pinkie scrabbled for purchase on the loose soil, her lower half being swallowed by a massive hole that hadn’t been there a second ago.
Rarity shrieked and lit her horn, grabbing Pinkie’s foreleg as she slipped further in. Twilight added her own magic and together, they managed to keep Pinkie suspended as everything but her leg fell into the hole.
Fluttershy took to the air and flew above Pinkie. She grabbed her leg and all three of them went to lift her out-
-but then the hole closed.
A splash of red painted the earth.
Fluttershy screamed and fell down, covering her eyes and wailing horribly.
Rarity let out a low keen and put her head down, pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
Rainbow Dash swore viciously and started to tear grass and flowers out of the ground, howling for the creature, the monster, anything to come out and fight her.
Twilight’s vision darkened as she stared at the pink limb she held in her magic.
‘The princesses will help. The princesses will help.’
Slowly, she put it down.
She licked her cracked lips. “We have to keep moving. Just… keep moving. Keep moving.”
When they arrived at the station, they found several bodies, bleeding from multiple wounds drilled into them.
Twilight knew this because the culprit was just removing the hoof-drill from his latest victim as they arrived.
“Twilight…” Gloss Shine leered in deranged anticipation. He was panting. “Rouge told me you might come this way.”
Twilight quivered as she erected a magical barrier in front of her and her friends. “Wh-what have you done?”
“They tried to escape,” He nodded at the corpses strewn all over the platform. Some of the bodies were so small. “But it’s useless. All of us – the ones who understand what’s happening here will be rewarded.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash wheezed painfully. Twilight wasn’t sure if she was naturally exhausted, or there were holes in her lungs. “Rewarded by what?!”
Gloss Shine rolled his neck, sighing. “I wish you could hear them; their voices are so beautiful. They can’t come into this world, you know – there has to be a path, a hole for them to slip through,” His eyes, riddled with dots, settled on Twilight. “I told you, didn’t I? When it comes to holes, the more there are, the less there is of you. When there are enough, then they’re able to come through, to fill them. We’ll be part of something so great, won’t we, Rouge?”
“He’s mad,” Rarity hissed. “Absolutely mad.”
Twilight grimaced. She hated using her magic against other ponies, but Rainbow Dash was in no state to take Gloss Shine on. Rarity’s magic wasn’t suited for self-defence and her physical prowess was impressive, but Twilight wasn’t about to bet on that when Gloss Shine had a weapon.
No, there wasn’t a choice here.
“Gloss, put down the drill and just leave us alone. You don’t have to do this.”
Gloss Shine cackled. “I know, Rouge. It’d be easier if they accepted, but oh well…”
He charged.
Twilight charged her horn and a splintered arc of electricity zipped forward to strike Gloss Shine in the chest.
Or, it should have.
Instead, a speck of darkness appeared and rapidly swelled to the size of an armoire, eating up her magic without a sound.
Twilight’s eyes widened – a literal hole in reality.
Gloss Shine ran around it, froth specking his lips, and leapt at her barrier.
A hole opened for him to slip through.
Twilight threw her forelegs up as he tackled her to the floor. The world was a flash of colour and sound as pain exploded across her belly; she could feel something piercing through her flesh and glance across her ribs. Twilight screamed and lashed out, catching Gloss Shine across the face. He ignored it and banged her head against the platform.
Then, Rarity came and pulled him off her, but he took the drill with him. Wracked with pain and dizzy to the point that she threw up in her mouth, Twilight’s horn spluttered with violet sparks as her concentration wavered. She rolled onto her side, a scream and some vomit slipping through her clenched teeth, and watched as Gloss Shine wrestled against Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.
It should have been over in a heartbeat, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t muster any real force with all the gaps appearing in her body, Fluttershy wasn’t a fighter, and Rarity had the bad luck of ending up pinned beneath Gloss Shine’s weight with no leverage and momentum.
It all fell apart as the holes in Rainbow Dash’s legs spread to the point where they were able to join and completely remove the limbs from her torso. Gloss Shine smacked her and she tumbled like a rolling pin.
Then, he shoved Fluttershy away.
And then, he drove the drill into Rarity’s throat.
Twilight screamed incomprehensibly and forced the magic she had been building out of her horn in a wave of energy. The backlash put cracks down the length of bone, and Gloss Shine bounced into the air, landing several feet away on his back.
Incredibly, Rarity managed to get to her feet. She ripped the drill from her neck and crawled over. Gloss Shine put his hooves up, but Rarity had enough time to slip past his defence and drive the drill down with a sickening sound like a watermelon being punctured.
Rarity was motionless for a second before collapsing onto her side.
Sobbing, Twilight crawled over. Fluttershy was there, too; her butter-yellow coat drenched with red as she tried to stop the flow coming from Rarity’s neck.
“Rarity…” Twilight grabbed her friend’s hoof and squeezed it tightly, trying to keep her alive through sheer force of will. But the light in Rarity’s eyes was dimming; her breathing was getting shallower. “Rarity, you can’t die! We’re supposed to be together! All of us! Please don’t…”
Words were powerful, but they couldn’t mend flesh or broken bones. Rarity perished before Twilight’s eyes.
“Girls…”
Twilight looked over her shoulder, and she could feel her mind breaking apart as Rainbow Dash started to fade, eaten away by the holes in her body.
“Don’t give up,” Rainbow Dash whispered fiercely. She was crying, but her face was defiant. “You can still make it out of this. I’ll… I’ll kick their butts. Wherever I end up, whatever these things are, I’ll kick their butts. So, just don’t give up, okay? Don’t-”
Her eyes were the last thing to go.
Twilight gave a low keen and fell backwards. The platform’s roof had a hole in it, and the massive abyss hanging in the sky looked down at her.
The ground started to rumble.
Fluttershy crawled over to her. The pegasus placed her head on Twilight’s chest and Twilight lifted her foreleg to stroke her mane, the pain in her side a distant sensation.
“Twilight…”
“I’m here,” She held on to her only remaining friend tightly. “I won’t leave.”
Fluttershy sniffled. “We’ll be fine, right? Th-the princesses will help us, won’t they? They’ll find a way to save all of us, right?”
“Shh, shh.”
“We’ll be okay, right? Please tell me we’ll be okay, please…”
Twilight could see something stirring within the abyss. Her mind tried and failed to comprehend it. She found herself reaching up with her other foreleg.
‘If only I found something sooner. If only we had done something sooner. Girls, Spike, everyone… I’m sorry.’
Holes started to appear in her flesh.
‘Celestia, Luna… please find out what happened. At the very least, make sure this never happens again.’
Something filled the abyss from the other side with an enormous and terrible roar, and then Twilight knew no more.
Author's Note
Note 1: Inspired by one of few stories to ever make me fill genuine dread and anxiety, Uzumaki, written by Junji Ito.
