Rainbow walked a grassy path. It was day, though Rainbow saw no sun. Only the pale blue sky. A thick fog covered the land, preventing her from seeing very far. She didn’t know how she got here or where she was traveling.

She thought about flying, but something pushed against her wings. It wasn’t powerful, but it would be too taxing to open them fully. So, she decided to keep them pinned to her sides.

As she walked, a putrid waft of wind waved past her. Rainbow froze, gagging on the smell. “What is that?” she thought aloud. She slowly began walking towards the smell, which grew in potency. Finally, something came into her field of view.

A bloody ribcage. Every part of Rainbow’s mind told her not to go any closer, but her body moved anyway. Soon, the rest of the body came into view. All its flesh and muscle withered away, leaving a bloody skeleton full of guts and entrails. The skull appeared to have been bashed open, a still mostly intact brain showing through a hole. Flies swarmed the body, feasting on whatever remained.

Then Rainbow’s eyes shifted down and saw that, hidden in the grass, was the same doll she saw at the dinner party. It lay there, lifelessly.

Rainbow hesitantly took a step back. The blue sky faded into a sea of black abyss. Rainbow turned, looking back behind herself, seeing a door had appeared behind her, along with an endless black wall. Etched into the door was Discord’s name written backward.

Gulping, Rainbow put a shaky hoof to the door’s handle, pushing the door open. After she entered, the door slammed shut behind her, causing her to jump. Soon a light flickered on, acting like a spotlight to the scene before her.

The body from before was now lying in the center of the room. Unlike before, however, it still had most of its flesh and yellow fur.

But three other ponies made their presence evident as they walked into view. There in the room with Rainbow were Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. All three fillies wore a sick, mocking grin on their face.

“I don’t know Apple Bloom. I mean, he said to leave it alone,” Scootaloo reminded.

“Aw, come on,” Apple Bloom whined. “Haven’t you ever wondered what she’d taste like?”

“Maybe she tastes like chicken,” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“Only one way to find out. Scoot? Can you do the honors?”

“Fine,” Scootaloo accepted, pulling a knife out of thin air. Scootaloo jabbed the knife into the lifeless body, spewing blood onto herself. In response, Sweetie Belle giggled. “Ew,” Scootaloo complained, still smiling a toothy grin. “Gross!”

“Here. Let me help,” Apple Bloom offered. She gingerly pushed Scootaloo aside, sticking her forelegs into the body. “Now, the key is ta use a firm grip ta pull out its guts.” With a small grunt, she pulled out a mess of blood-soaked organs. “There!”

“Ooh,” Sweetie Belle cooed at the gruesome sight. “Mind if I try the heart?”

“Sure,” Apple Bloom said, tossing the heart to Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle cracked open her jaw and ripped into the heart, spewing blood into her mane. Sweetie Belle hummed in delight as she swallowed the chunk of heart.

“Oh, and can I have a bite of the liver? I love liver,” Scootaloo asked. The three foals were soon digging into the corpse as if their life depended on it, and the light faded above them.

Rainbow dared to turn back to the door. Now the door had Discord’s name etched in the correct direction, though now small bits of blood spatter stained the lower-left corner.

Worst of all, however, was the foul smell emanating from the door. Rainbow gagged once again, feeling her stomach churn. It was far worse than the earlier smell. It smelled as if meat had been rotted for weeks on end, or maybe even months.

Retching, Rainbow turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. A familiar sight could be seen, as stairs led down to a grassy floor, and in the distance, was the giant mansion.

Slowly, Rainbow descended the stairs, being sure to look out for the source of the odor. Eventually, after what felt like ages, she made it to the door of the mansion.

Despite what Rainbow believed, the smell had gotten even worse. It was as if a thousand rotting corpses were behind that door. She exhaled and lifted her hoof to the doorknob. “Here we go,” she breathed.

She pushed the door open to see a long hallway shrouded in darkness, with a door at the other end. Webs covered the hall, but no corpses could were present. There were no turns and no other doors, meaning there was only one way to go. Forward.

Placing a hoof onto the wooden floor, Rainbow felt a sudden jutting pain in her head, causing her to grunt. “Gotta… get through this,” she reminded.

Step after step, Rainbow felt jolts of pain. What was causing this, and moreover, what was behind that door.

Nearing the end of the hallway, Rainbow finally noticed the red streaks on the floorboards. They seemed to smear in the direction of the door. She also noted that the wallpaper seemed to have long, wide scratch marks. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the room the smell was emanating from. Readying herself for the smell, she pushed open the door.

Inside was a table, with the hoof-made doll of Fluttershy sitting on it. The room was hazy and dark, the only light coming from straight above the doll. “Well,” a deep, echoed voice boomed, “you certainly made quite the show this week, haven’t you?”

The doll was utterly motionless, yet it began crying soft, echoed sobs. Discord, why? Why are you doing this?

“I told you to stay in the house,” the deep voice scolded. “But you just had to run away, didn’t you? And after all I’ve given you!”

Why are you hurting me?

“Quiet!” Suddenly, a knife flew from the darkness, impaling the doll in its chest. Blood spewed from the doll, hitting the wooden table it sat on. The voice sighed before continuing. “If you had just obeyed me, I wouldn’t have had to ask those fillies to take care of you. You would have been whole. But instead, you ran away, without even a word. I hope you’re happy.”

The doll continued to cry for a moment, before murmuring I miss my old life.

“Come again?” the voice hissed.

I said I miss when you weren’t torturing me with those scary images! I miss when you wouldn’t hit me, or punch me, or cut me open, or turn me into some… some freaky doll! I hate you!

As soon as the doll finished, the floor broke under Rainbow. She quickly grabbed hold of the surrounding floor, her heart pumping out adrenaline a mile a minute.

Her left forehoof slipped off the blood on the floor, and before she could grab hold of another part of the floor, her other hoof slipped as well, causing her to plummet into the seemingly endless void below her.

Author's Note

Another brief chapter complete! And on Halloween too! If that's not good timing, I don't know what is. I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. If you couldn't tell, this one leads directly to another, which will hopefully release in a week or two, so stay tuned!

Have a happy Halloween!