Hollow Hope

Sunny pushed the door open, stepping into the town hall. This was supposed to be home. He felt as though he was further from home than ever.

"Cloudy? Petunia?" No answer. He sighed, closing the door behind him, and started walking up the stairs.

There were the bedrooms, and here was the door to his study, slightly ajar. He opened it, wondering if Cloudy and Petunia were hiding there.

Inside, he saw...a body. The head was disfigured beyond recognition, but the body looked familiar--a grey coat, and the tail was a bright white once upon a time. He glanced at the cutie mark, and chills ran down his back.

"Is that...? No, Sunny. You...you must be seeing things."

He turned his attention elsewhere--and saw a bottle of red liquid, lying next to the corpse. As he levitated it, peering inside, his eyes caught on one of the windows--it was wide open. He didn't remember leaving it open.

He tucked the bottle into his saddlebags and walked over to the window, shutting it--only to find that the glass was broken. "What the--who--"

He threw the window back open and stuck his head outside--and he saw something on the ground below: a prosthetic hoof. A hindhoof, to be specific, and one he was quite familiar with.

"What was Kerfuffle doing here?" Sunny muttered to himself. The church's bells began ringing again.

"...never mind. I don't have time for this!" He cantered out of the study, kicking an empty bottle of Glenfilly and sending it flying out over the stairs. He wheeled around, bearing straight for the master bedroom. As he whipped out the key and shoved it into the lock, the walls began to rot away.

He turned the key, and threw open the doors...

The bedroom was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a grand hall of metal, with steam billowing out of floor grates and blood pouring out of aqueducts. Sunny squinted through the clouds of steam, trotting forward...

He stopped in his tracks as he saw it--an enormous machine, fitted with three massive glass tanks and covered in pipework. His eyes grew wide as he saw what was in the tanks:

"Sunny? Sunny! Oh thank Celestia you're here!" Petunia shouted, slamming her hooves against the glass. "Please, you have to do something!"

"Dad? Dad!?" Cloudy was in the tank on the other side, rubbing her bruised shoulder. "I can't get out! This thing's hard as hell!"

In the third tank, in the back, Gilded Glider was sitting in the center, taking deep breaths and fiddling with her knife. Even Sunny could tell, she was just as panicked as the others.

Sunny soon realized why all of them were so desperate to escape: valves clanked open, and a steady stream of the ever-present pus began filling each tank.

"What--oh goddesses--"

"Dad! Help me!"

Sunny ran up to the machine, looking for a lever, a button, anything--

"You only have time to save one, Sunny." Long Night purred, rubbing up against him; he jumped away, yelping.

"When did you--"

"I'm always here, Sunny. Now, let me give you a hint." She grinned, licking her lips; her cream-colored coat seemed to glow in the dim light. "You only have one shell left, don't you?"

Sunny glanced at his shotgun. He pulled the pump back, and sure enough, there was nothing left in the tube; only the one in the chamber. He shoved the pump forward, glaring at Night. "You...!"

"Ah ah ah! Don't waste it, Sunny. That shell will break the glass on one of these tanks. You could save them. But you have to pick one~!"

"Please, Sunny!" Petunia yelled. "I'm--I'm your wife!"

"What about me!?" Cloudy screamed. "I'm too young to die!"

"Come on, Sunny--" Petunia yelped as a blob of slime struck her head, dousing her. "Forget her! You have to--"

"What the hell do you mean, forget her!?" Sunny yelled back. "She's our daughter!"

"She's your daughter! Not mine!" Petunia screamed, slamming her hooves against the glass. "Please! I just don't want to die like this!"

Sunny glanced toward the tank in the back. Glider caught his eye, and winked. Memories swarmed his head; for a moment, he saw Gilda in that tank, alone and losing hope. His head started to ache--he turned away, toward the tank Cloudy was in.

Cloudy had fallen silent, and was staring at him--and now she was desperately treading water, trying to keep her head above the growing pool of sludge.

"Pick one, Sunny. Clock's ticking. Unless you'd rather see all of them drown?" Long Night laughed. "Didn't think you were into that."

Sunny took a deep breath. He didn't have time to think--he lifted the shotgun, took aim, and pulled the trigger.