A/N: this is just a practice fic to get used to writing a lot of gore for my next chapter of my other works. I know it's a bit late to write this in but better late than never.
It was a perfect day in the sweet little town of Ponyville. The sky was crystal clear, the soft breeze cool to the touch as it wafted through the town and out towards a surrounding field. The tall grass swayed back and forth in the breeze, the scent of early spring pollen filled the air. Life here was abundant and pure, reflected by the excited cheers of a young pegasus filly watching her idol soar through the air with uncaring ease.
Rainbow Dash owned the skies; she felt the updrafts and downdrafts, the cool and warm air pockets, maneuvering around and through them, using them to her distinct advantage. She went into a steep corkscrew at blinding speed before pulling up with a barrel roll, followed by a precision double backflip, landing right next to her young admirer.
“Pretty awesome, eh Scoot?” She said, ruffling the purple mane of the shell shocked filly.
“OH MY GOSH Rainbow Dash!!” Scootaloo squealed, quickly recovering from the shock of her idol acknowledging her presence. “That was the best ever!”
“Heh, my best?” Rainbow said with a mischievous grin, “Kid, that was just my warm up. Stop by Applejack’s barn tonight for a real show.” Scootaloo squealed with glee, having just been invited to her idol’s star performance.
“OH MY GOSH this is so awesome!” She said as they headed back toward town. “Can I bring the rest of the Crusaders?”
“More ponies to admire my amazing skills?” Dash said, placing a hoof to her chin in mock ponder. “I suppose I could allow a few more ponies to witness the best flier in Equestria in action.” Scootaloo squealed in delight once again before running to her scooter.
“I’m going to go tell the others!” She said, hopping onto her trusty scooter. “Bye Rainbow Dash!” She called as she revved her wings and took off down the road. Rainbow watched her go, smiling at the filly’s innocence before flying to a cloud to nap until it was time.
Scootaloo sped to her first stop, the tree house that served as cutie mark crusader headquarters. She maneuvered down a dirt path toward the center of the apple orchard, weaving and dodging around trees until she broke through to the clearing. She pulled up to the bottom of the ramp and heard the hushed voices of her friends. Thinking nothing of it she ran up the ramp and burst through the door, startling the two fillies from their drawing.
“Guys! Guess what?!” Scootaloo beamed at them. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle glanced at each other, knowing the answer was soon to come. “We’re invited to a private show of Rainbow Dash’s tonight at the barn!” Scootaloo finished as she hopped around the room with a smile larger than thought possible.
“Cool!” Said Applebloom, “Maybe we could have a sleepover at mah place tonight.”
“I’m down.” Scootaloo said as she looked to Sweetie Belle. “How about you?”
“Well, Rarity has some designs to make for another Canterlot order.” Sweetie Belle sighed, “She does have a short temper when she’s stressed, so I guess I could make it too.”
“Then it’s settled.” Declared Applebloom. “What should we do until then?”
“Duh, the same thing we always do.” Scootaloo deadpanned.
“CRUSADE FOR OUR CUTIE MARKS, YAY!!” All three bellowed toward the heavens, a bro-hoof all around.
And so the day came to pass as three fillies destroyed a fruit stand, five windows, and terrified locals and small animals alike. As the sun was setting the three made their way to the barn, arriving just as the moon was peeking over the distant mountains. As they pulled up to the barn they found Rainbow Dash waiting for them outside.
“Right on time Scoots.” Rainbow said with an air of coolness. “The party is about to get started, come on in.”
“A party? But I thought we were going to watch you do some tricks.” Scootaloo said as her idol led her inside. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle followed in after, excited for the events about to transpire.
Inside the barn stood the remaining Elements of Harmony chatting amongst themselves when the group entered. They soon noticed their new arrivals and trotted over to greet them.
“Hey Twilight,” Rainbow said, “We’re ready. You guys set up yet?”
“Yes, everything is ready. They should be set up.” Twilight said as she glanced at her checklist.
Scootaloo was all for hanging out with her idol, but she was getting confused. Who were they? What was set up? She almost voiced her concerns but let them die on her tongue. She was with THE Rainbow Dash, why would she spoil the moment?
“Well if’n we’re all good ‘n ready let’s get to it.” Applejack said. Applebloom rushed forward to help her sister slide a large steel door across the floor, revealing the apple cellar. Twilight took the lead downstairs, using her horn to light the way. She was followed by Rainbow and Scootaloo, then Applejack and Applebloom, Pinkie and Fluttershy, then Rarity and Sweetie Belle taking the rear. Once Rarity was inside she sealed the door behind her and lit up her own horn.
“Rainbow?” Asked Scootaloo, the edge of fear beginning to show in her voice. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t worry squirt.” Assured Rainbow Dash. “You’ll see soon enough.”
“Yea, we’re here for ya too.” Smiled Applebloom. Scootaloo smiled back, reassured that nothing bad was about to happen since her friends were here with her.
“Ah, here we are.” Announced Twilight. Scootaloo reared up to see that Twilight was staring intently at the far wall of the cellar. Her horn grew a bit brighter as she cast another spell, this time touching her horn to a brick, third from the left corner, fourth from the floor. As her horn made contact, the brick slid back behind the wall, followed by another, and another, until eventually before them was another stone staircase leading down into darkness.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” Cheered Pinkie as she bounced over Twilight and into the darkness.
“Well you heard her, let’s go.” Twilight said as she lit the way with her horn again. Scootaloo was reluctant to go, dark enclosed spaces were never her thing, but a comforting cyan wing over her back urged her to continue forward.
Once Rarity was beyond the threshold the wall began to seal itself once more, leaving no trace of a passageway. The group continued down the stairs, into the solid darkness, for what felt like eternity. Scootaloo was only barley containing her fright, the confidence of her friends and her idol her only comfort in the cold. Slowly a light was able to be seen, and grew gradually brighter the closer they got. They soon came upon another steel door, this having a slide across a small gap to allow ponies to see who was on the other side. As they approached the slide slid back, a pink poofy mane was all that could be seen as a single blue eye stared out at them.
“Password?” The door pony asked.
“Pinkie, we don’t have a password.” Twilight said.
“Yup. You’re clear.” Pinkie said as she pulled the door open to allow the group to pass.
“Huh?” Asked a confused Scootaloo.
“Oh, well when someone is asked for a password they try to come up with a code, so anything other than admitting that there is no password instantly gives them away. See?” Twilight explained as they walked through the threshold.
Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the site before her. The room was spacious, featuring a bar and several tables for games. Plush cushions lay about as various ponies mingled together, some dressed in various exotic garments that Scootaloo’s young mind could not place any reasoning to why ponies would wear them. Others were off in various parts of the room, hugging and moaning to each other.
Big Mac approached from the bar and whispered something into Fluttershy’s ear, who blushed and nodded before they both left the group behind. Scootaloo paid no attention as the group was lead further inside, where they went through another door and stopped before a second. Twilight turned around and spoke to Scootaloo.
“What you just saw was what is called the Common Room, where casual guild members can come to relax and unwind after a rough day, or to simply gamble or procreate.” Scootaloo cocked her head, clearly not understanding several words. “That aside, what lies beyond this door is a guild secret, only members of the guild are allowed access and even fewer still are allowed to know of its existence. Should this ever be spoken of outside of this complex, the repercussions would be dire.”
“Huh?” Scootaloo asked, rubbing a hoof to her temple in a vain attempt to massage the speech into her brain.
“She means it’s a super secret.” Translated Sweetie Belle.
“You could say that." Said Twilight. "You could also say you should be honored to be trusted with such a secret. Beyond this door is a type of factory where raw materials are gathered for use across all of Equestria or traded with neighboring nations.”
“That sounds like a good thing, so why all the secret spy stuff?” Asked Scootaloo.
“Because how we get the materials is, well, looked upon as pure evil.” Twilight said as she pushed the final door open.
A calligraphy of screaming and yelling instantly bombarded Scootaloo’s ears. She was frozen in pure panic as Rainbow Dash shoved her inside the room. All along the walls were ponies locked in various cages, some crying, some yelling, some just sitting with a look of pure defeat. Several ponies sported bleeding wounds on either their head or their back. Scootaloo paled as she realized these were pegasai and unicorns.
“Ah, you noticed.” Twilight said, anticipating what went through the filly’s mind. “We need to harvest wings and horns immediately. The feathers are dyed white and are most commonly used to stuff pillows, mainly due to their extreme softness and astounding comfort. The horns are ground into a paste and exported to the zebra nations to the south. We do this immediately to prevent any escapes, and the horn loses most of its potency upon the death of the carrier. Any questions before we continue?”
“U-um..” Scootaloo stammered as her mind was reeling. “W-won’t-t a-anyone miss-s them?”
“Nope.” Said Twilight, “These ponies are the ones who have no role in Equestria, the homeless bums in the dark alleys of the bigger cities, or the criminals who got the death penalty and such.”
The tour continued on, they were greeted by a large cell with the side facing them made of reinforced glass, allowing them all to see a terrified pony staring back at them. She was hanging from a steel frame, each hoof bound in a shackle and pulled tight to suspend her firmly, the shackles cut into the flesh just above the hoof, the blood running down her sides as it slowly pooled onto the floor.
“Everypony, you remember Roseluck? She used to sell roses in the town square.” Twilight said,
“Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re here!” Roseluck yelled. “You need to get me out of here! Quick!”
“You’re all very lucky.” Twilight said, ignoring the pleas from the cell. “Pinkie is about to harvest this one. Please, have a seat. Roseluck was born and raised in Canterlot slums, her talent simply having a love of roses lead her to find no proper work, so she relocated here to Ponyville, where she began a career as a florist. Unfortunately her talent was not growing roses, nor flowers of any kind. By decree of Celestia she is to be harvested so that she may serve pony kind in death since she failed to do so in life. Pinkie, you may begin.”
Rainbow Dash held Scootaloo in her front legs, offering a comforting hug yet forcing the young filly to watch the process.
“Okie Dokie!” Said Pinkie as she came through the rear entrance to the cell. She was wearing a surgical cap, a mask, and an apron. She beheld a marker in a hoof and traced a multitude of lines across Roseluck’s chest, flank, back, legs, and face.
“Don’t worry, this will be over quick, you have suffered enough in life.” Pinkie said as she rotated the bracket around, forcing Roseluck to hang upside down. Pinkie pulled a large knife from the table nearby.
“No…NO!! What are you doing?! Sto-URK!” Roseluck’s cries of anguished protests were drown out as Pinkie sliced into her neck, severing both major arteries. All was silent save for the futile thrashing and gurgling of Roseluck, blood steadily flowing out onto the floor, then down a nearby drain. Soon her struggling ceased and she hung limply from her shackles.
Pinkie took a scalpel and began to trace along the lines, careful not to cut too deep. Once finished, she grabbed a large pair of pliers. She grasped at the flap of skin on a rear leg, then began to slowly peel the hide from the body. The underside of the skin revealed the complex network of veins. Pinkie ripped the last of the skin off, tossing it against a wall where is stuck fast. Roseluck’s wide, dead eyes stared out at the group watching the procedure, her teeth appearing to be a huge grin, freezing the blood of Scootaloo.
“We use the hide to make leather and leather products, Rarity’s brilliant idea.” Twilight informed.
With a giant pair of shears, Pinkie severed Roseluck’s tail and placed it in a plastic bin. She rolled the harness over another bin, one of the larger in the room. With the giant knife, Pinkie stabbed right into Roseluck’s lower abdomen, then cut straight down to her neck, allowing the various organs and intestines to plop out of her body and into the bin. Pinkie inspected each organ and dividing them into various smaller bins before placing them into a cooler to chill the organs.
“The organs need to be kept cold to prolong their freshness. We use them in various medical transplants should anypony need a replacement organ. We also use the tail hair for the bows of violins and other such instruments.”
Pinkie returned to the carcass and severed the remaining intestines from the inner walls, then firmly grasped the head and pulled. The head popped off the spine with a loud crack, and was held up for Scootaloo to see. The jaw swung open due to gravity, allowing a purple tongue to roll about lazily. A pair of vertebrae were still attached to the skull, along with several arteries and loose flaps of tendon.
The innards cleared out and head removed, she began to cut large chunks of meat from the bones in well-practiced movements. The fat was removed and placed in its own bin, the clean meat was placed in other bins, depending on what portion of the body it was cut from. Soon all that remained was a bloody skeleton, the tendons and ligaments left attached to sway slightly at Pinkie’s touch. She opened the clamps holding the remains of the skeleton, letting it fall with a clatter into the last remaining bin as other ponies filed in and began clean up procedures.
“Wow, she didn’t throw up!” Grinned Pinkie as she bounced over to the glass wall. “Almost everypony does, right Sweetie Belle?”
Scootaloo turned to her friend, now in an advanced state of shock where her brain is just refusing to acknowledge any new information. “What….Why…”
“Well, the thing is,” Twilight said, “Applebloom is a member of the Apple Clan, who founded this place back when Granny Smith was a young mare, and as such she was entrusted with the knowledge of this place since early foalhood. Sweetie Belle we decided to initiate not too long ago, being a direct family member of an Element of Harmony it will be her job to make sure the place stays up and running when we retire, or as a replacement should something happen to her sister. As for you, Scootaloo, the Princess wants to make it so where the entire town is in charge, not just a few guild members. But the process is going to take several generations to complete, so consider yourself a test subject!”
“O-oh…But um... What were those other bins?” Scootaloo asked shakily as the group stood to continue on with the tour.
“Oh, well, the meat goes through a preservation process and is then shipped out to the Griffin colonies to the north. The un-usable organs, like the brain and eyes, are diced and stuffed into the intestines to make hot dogs and other meat products for the griffins. The skeleton, hooves, tendons, and ligaments are ground into a paste before being processed into glue. I guess that in a way, books are my friends.” Twilight giggled at her own dark humor.
“What if word gets out? How does everypony keep this a secret?” Scootaloo asked, slightly recovering her wits as they left the room of death behind them.
“Well, have you seen your classmate Twist recently?” Twilight asked as they stopped in front of a curtain.
“No, of course not. Miss Cheerilee said her family moved to the city.” Scootaloo said, the dark realization coming too slowly as Twilight pulled back the curtain, revealing a very dirty cell. Various tools and instruments stained in blood littered the tables, chains and hooks hung from the ceiling. In the center of all this was a small filly with a bag over her head, her body was bound in barbed wire to a heavy wooden chair in a position most commonly used by a mint green unicorn.
“She tried to tell someone about our little secret, luckily she told a member. The punishment for revealing information about this place is unbearable torture until death. Usually we would save these as a test for new members on the day of initiation, you know, let the noob get their hooves dirty. But you’re still too young and you won’t have to do it until marehood.” Twilight said as she levitated several cushions into the center of the room. “But this new program also opened up a few ways to make some more bits on the side. If any member chooses to, usually the rich, they can pay a handsome fee to do as they please to the product.”
The ponies sat in silence as the back door to the cell was opened, revealing none other than Princess Celestia herself. She walked into the room, removed her royal garments and horseshoes, placing them in a corner before turning to address her small audience.
“I stand before you all, not as your ruler, but as Sol, a member of the guild.” She said as she offered a small bow, which the others returned in kind. “Now, what do we have here as a stress relief?” She said as she removed the bag from the pony’s head, revealing a gagged Twist.
“The product is Twist Cane, youngest of Sugar Cane and Candy Cane, she is found guilty of revealing guild information outside of the security of the guild. She did so knowingly and willfully in an attempt to have us shut down and detained. Her punishment, as written in the guild law and under authority of Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria, is to be tortured until rendered dead.” Twilight announced. “Sol, you may begin when ready.”
“Uhg finally.” Sol said, letting out a long sigh. She turned to Twist, her usual mask of compassion and kindness was removed, revealing an insane mare. “I have had quite an exhausting month, filly.” She said as she stalked around the chair. “Do you know how many snobby bureaucrats come whining and bitching to me every fucking day about petty bullshit?” Sol grasped a pair of pliers in her magic. “And then, to top it all off, I got some little kid going around blabbing secrets?” She got right in Twist’s face and removed the fillies gag. “Do you know how pissed off that makes me? WELL?!” Demanded Sol.
“I’m-“ Twist was cut off, the moment she had opened her mouth to speak, Sol had reached in and grabbed the fillies tongue with the pliers.
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you child.” Sol said sweetly. Twist was sobbing quietly to herself when she made to apologize to the princess, who responded by brutally ripping our Twist’s tongue, peeling off several layers of flesh from the bottom of her mouth in the process. “I’ll teach you to never tell secrets again!” Yelled Sol as Twist screamed out in pain, the blood flowing down her throat making her gag, forcing her to bow her head forward to bleed out onto her chest. “What’s that? I don’t understand, these seem to be in the way!” Sol grasped each of Twist’s teeth in her magic, and then ripped them out of her mouth, eliciting more blood curding cries from the filly.
Sol pranced around, the screams of pain like music to her ears from days long past, since her time as a tyrant. “Oh, little filly, if only you could see yourself now. Oh wait, you can!” Sol picked up a large spoon in her magic, then jammed it into the filly’s left eye socket, renewing the screams of pain and torment. Although try as she might, Sol was unable to remove the eyeball. “Looks like this needs a more measured touch.” She said to herself. Relying on her magic, she pulled with more force at the eye, popping it out of the socket and ripping the optic nerve off the brain itself. “There you go, just look how pitiful you are.” Sol laughed as she made the eye appear to look the filly over. “OH!” Sol Exclaimed. “This reminds me of something I haven’t tried yet. Did you know that some medical ponies are trying their hoof at brain surgery? It’s really exciting, back in my day if a pony’s brain was fucked up they just died or got eaten!”
Twist’s body, numb from pain and shock, never felt the cold of the steel saw blade cut into her skull. Instead her mind recessed in upon itself, focusing instead on her friends, her family, her birthday parties. The image of her parents disappeared, she had no idea why, soon she didn’t care why she couldn’t remember them. She could no longer remember her family, she knew she had one, and friends, but the memories were gone, and soon, too, she forgot herself as she drifted into the deep darkness.
Scootaloo watched as Sol finished removing bits of Twist’s brain, no longer horrified by the sights she saw, emotionally dead she was. Another pair of ponies entered the cell to announce that Twist was indeed dead, then removed the body to the processing facility to be harvested. Sol donned her gear and stood tall as Princess Celestia once more, a large grin on her face as she left the cell.
“And this concludes the indoctrination. Welcome to the guild Scootaloo!” Twilight announced to the cheers of her friends and the Crusaders. “Punch and pie is being served through the last door, I don’t know about you girls but Sol’s performance made me hungry.”
“Come on squirt, let’s get some food in you and after a nights rest you’ll feel right as rain, promise.” Rainbow Dash said as she led Scootaloo into the break room.
As promised, an assortment of cakes, pies, apples, and apple goods awaited them. The other girls talked and giggled amongst themselves as Scootaloo stared at the wall with glazed eyes.
“Hey.” Rainbow said as she nuzzled Scootaloo. “You need to eat something. Here-“ Dash produced a cupcake. “Just eat this, for me? Please?” Scootaloo managed to turn her head toward Rainbow and hold up a shaky hoof. “There you go. Everything will be fine, I promise.” Rainbow stood and comforted Scootaloo as tears streamed down the filly’s face as she slowly nibbled at her treat.
“Ugh…” Scootaloo groaned as she rolled over, resulting in a short fall onto a wood floor. “Owww…” The pain brought with it more alertness as she recalled back to the previous night. She remembered seeing Rainbow Dash, but everything got fuzzy. She did remember the crazy nightmare she had. Ponies killing ponies? You don’t get any more cracked up than that. She heard a rustling next to her and saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle dig themselves out from their sheets.
“Crazy sleepover, eh guys?” Scootaloo asked.
“Oh you said it. No wonder Applejack said ta stay away from the apple juice in the cellar, it was so good but it’s not worth the headache.” Applebloom said, rubbing her temple with a hoof and staring with bloodshot eyes. “How did you sleep Scootaloo?”
“Alright I guess, I’m not sore or anything. Just had a crazy nightmare is all.” Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow. “Forgot most of it already though.”
“Ah well, probably wasn’t that scary then.” Deduced Applebloom. “What do we have in store for today?”
And with that three fillies devised a way to find their calling in life, but unbeknownst to them a certain purple librarian was watching them through a simple scrying spell.
“Spike, Take a letter.” She said, a purple dragon readied a quill and parchment. “Dear Princess Celestia, last night’s initiation went without a hitch. A total of 11 fillies have been initiated, with only 3 needing to be put down, far fewer than the projected amount. We knew Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara would try to use the knowledge to pick on others, but Twist was a rather unexpected result. Preparations for phase 2 are already underway and we all have great expectations of the future. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
This was my fist attempt to write a short fic, seeing as I have difficulty concluding multi-chapter ones. I wanted to write something really gory, and the idea for this came from Hostel part 3, when one guy got his face peeled off. I also should have spent more time on the characters but I was focusing more on the visual and gore aspects. well live and learn and keep moving forward.
