The Masquerade

Chapters

The Escape
Discoveries
Beauty Personified
Discovered
Mourning the Losses

The Escape

Our story begins in the fiery depths of Tartarus. Tartarus is a cavernous realm, filled to the brim with bright, eternally glowing flames, pitch black rocks, which form most of the structures here, and thousands upon thousands of creatures, locked in this hellish realm for the rest of eternity, suffering under the intense heat and their own individual punishments. These punishments are issued to them by the former emperor of the Draconequui, who has had a large, jagged pillar of obsidian driven through his serpentine body, pinning him to the ceiling of this vast pit of suffering and is now the judge of the damned souls who come here.

Amongst these tormented souls is Blanc Masque, who was an actor in life and, as such, his cutie mark consists of two purple masks, one smiling, the other frowning. His mane is a solid, pitch black, as is his tail, and his coat is a pale white. His punishment was to have his eyes gouged out, his tongue sliced out, a white mask bolted into his skull over his face with a circular hole over where the mouth should be, which serve as an opening for a tentacle planted in his mouth where his tongue once was, barbed wire wrapped around his neck, and to get holes poked into his abdomen. These holes now serve as openings for pale-green colored tentacles, the purpose for which are unknown to him so far, but he was told he will know what to do with them once the time comes.

As he was serving his everlasting punishment, he looked up to the gates of Tartarus and saw that Cerberus has, strangely, strayed away from his post. Observing this, he takes this opportunity to escape this miserable, foul-smelling pit, sprinting as fast as his weak, malnourished body would allow him. Jumping from platform to platform, being driven by sheer force of will alone, he raced vigorously to the gates, his body shaking violently from the sudden physical exertion after wasting away in the perpetually debilitating realm of Tartarus.

Finally, after sprinting and jumping for what seemed like forever, he finally made it to the gates and went rushing right through before its usually vigilant guardian could get back to guarding it. After he ran through the massive gates, which was in the form of a large, shimmering, orange-colored and yellow-bordered portal, he stops himself to gaze upon the mortal world, taken aback by the night's beauty.

He stared into the violet-shaded sky, admiring Princess Luna's wonderful night after all these years of suffering in Tartarus. "How long.. has it been.. since I felt the simple natural pleasure of viewing the night sky...?" He choked out in a hoarse, low-pitched croak. "Ahhh... it has been ages, Princess Luna.." He gazed upon the large field of green grass in silence.

Suddenly, he heard a loud roar, which immediately pierced through his entire body. "Cerberus!" He thought ruefully, now pushing his exhausted body as far as he could as he ran away from the source of the roar, which was now running after him. It repeatedly attempted to stomp on him as it pursued him, blowing large balls of fire at him, which he narrowly dodged. He gets slightly singed several times as tiny sparks of flame touch his coat, which he immediately notices and rolls to the right to put it out.

The third time he does this throws the beast off, as it collides with a tree at the beginning of the Everfree Forest. It slammed its head against the tree with great force, hearing a grotesque cracking sound as it does so. It roars in pain as one of its former prisoners escapes. Blanc looked back, pleased to see he's apparently given his pursuer the slip. He then rushes into the Everfree Forest to find a place to rest.

Within the seemingly safe darkness of the forest, he stops to take some breaths. Panting harshly through his mask and brutalized windpipe, he surveys the area. It's dark, as the trees block out the comforting light of the moon with their thick brushes of leaves. It almost feels like his former home.

Then, he hears a low growling sound. He turns to find a large, beastly timberwolf, who looks hungry. As it turns out, Blanc is hungry as well. Just then, instinct kicks in for Blanc and he sprouts his green tentacles from his body, which open up at the tip, and another tentacle emerges from his mask's mouth hole. This tentacle is different from the others, as it's a harsh shade of red, the color of blood. The tentacle rips open at the tip and stretches backwards, revealing a somewhat large, shiny black blade.

The timberwolf, now frightened at this intruder's display of tentacles, takes a few steps back, whimpering. Blanc takes a step forward, the timberwolf backward. Two steps forward, two steps backward. Then, Blanc grabs the timberwolf as it turns to run and wraps it up. "Ohh, no... you aren't running. I have a much better idea..." Blanc croaks out, raising his bladed tentacle upwards. He slams the blade down into the timberwolf's wooden skull, splitting it in half in one, neat slice. The creature's shiny green blood spills everywhere.

"It's chow time..." Blanc says, realizing what his tentacles are for: eating. The rest of his tentacles begin pulling the timberwolf apart, the blade slicing it down the middle to assist them. Eventually, he finally rips its body in half, and his four green tentacles get to work, sucking up the blood, then the innards, which are also green, but much darker, and eventually the tentacles finally succeed in sucking up the entire timberwolf as they swallowed the hard parts of the creature whole. They did the job with surprising speed and efficiency, as the process only took a few minutes or so.

Blanc let out a hoarse moan, this one of pleasure, when the tentacles finished their job. "I require more sustenance..." He said. His body suddenly split open and began to swallow his flesh, it seemed. As it did so, his muscle tissue turned brown and hard, like the bark of a tree. Within about a minute or so, his entire biological structure had changed. His mask was gone. His eyes were now small, green, glowing slits. He had become a timberwolf by consuming it.

"Ahhh... so that's what the tentacles do." Blanc said, surprised he had the ability to consume and shape-shift into the creatures he consumed now, regardless of the law of conservation of mass. He wondered if he had this power since his imprisonment in Tartarus. He turned in his new form and saw other members of his first victim's pack, all staring in fear of what he had just done to the member he just consumed. "Awww.. how nice of them", he thinks to himself. "They all want to help feed me. Well, I'll be happy to oblige..."

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Angel Bunny awoke from his slumber, his stomach growling. He stretched and rubbed both of his eyes, then gazed around Fluttershy's abode. Soft, dim sunlight was shining through the windows. He slowly got up from his small, makeshift bed, lovingly created for him by his owner. He walked over to Fluttershy's bed, quietly wondering why the birds hadn't woken up yet and, more importantly, why they haven't awoken his owner.

He hopped onto Fluttershy's bed and began violently shaking her in her slumber. After a few moments, she woke up and gazed upon her pet bunny in the dimly-lit cottage. "Oh.. good morning, Angel." Fluttershy said in her soft voice, beginning to get up to start the day. Angel sat there and nodded as an answer to his owner's greeting, then pointed to his stomach as a request for food.

"Ohh.. you're hungry, aren't you?" Fluttershy said, getting up from her bed, as did Angel, who nodded impatiently with his arms crossed as an answer. "Here, let me get you some salad."

Fluttershy flew up to one of her cabinets and retrieved a bowl, then flew to another cabinet to retrieve the appropriate ingredients and tools. She laid the bowl on the counter and started to prepare Angel's meal, humming softly as she did so. After a few moments, she heard a soft knock on the door. "Umm, Angel, could you get that for me?" Fluttershy said, turning to Angel, who was standing by the counter, observing his owner. He nodded in response, and started for the door. He opened it to gaze upon another member of his species: a bunny.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly, and stomped on the floor several times to alert his owner to the bunny's presence. Fluttershy, hearing this signal, turned to see what the problem was, and saw the bunny standing next to angel. The bunny was just staring into the cottage.

"Oh.. hello there." Fluttershy said in her usual soft, timid tone, dropping the knife she was using to cut the carrots. "What can I do for you? Is there something wrong?" Fluttershy came down to the door and lowered her head to see eye to eye with the bunny. In response, the bunny slowly nodded its head, and pointed to its stomach, in the same way Angel did. Angel stared at the bunny in annoyance at it for interrupting his owner as she was making his meal. Fluttershy nodded in response to the bunny's charades, understanding it as a plea for food.

Unable to resist a hungry animal requesting food, Fluttershy obliged the creature. "Ohhh, you're hungry, too? Well, come right in and I'll get you some food." As she said this, Angel stomped on the floor and pointed to himself as a demand that she gets him food first. Fluttershy looked at him, closed her eyes and sighed. She turned her head to the other bunny and said "I'm sorry, but do you mind if I get Angel his food first?". Fluttershy cocked her head in Angel's direction as she mentioned his name to the bunny. "You see, he just woke up and he's really cranky if he doesn't get his breakfast immediately afterwards."

Fluttershy's voice slowed down and lowered slightly in very subtle frustration at Angel's attitude as she finished the sentence. The bunny respectfully nodded and came in, walking over to Angel's bed as Fluttershy closed the door. Angel, watching it doing this, immediately got in front of his bed with his hands outstretched to stop the alien bunny from resting on his bed. The bunny just stared blankly at Angel in response.

Fluttershy looked down as this occurred and said "Oh, Angel, let him rest. I'm sure the poor thing is tired. He probably came out of the Everfree Forest, after all. Remember how tired and scared you were when I first found you?" Fluttershy frowned, still annoyed at Angel's selfishness, but she repressed it, as she does with most of her negative emotions. Angel hesitantly moved out of the bunny's way, and the bunny laid down on the makeshift bed.

Angel turned to look up at his owner making his food, when he suddenly heard a quiet, wet-sounding noise. He turned to find the bunny in his bed sprouting odd green tentacles from its body. In alarm and fear, he tried to turn and flee from this abomination, but it wrapped its tentacles around his mouth and body to prevent him from alerting his owner, then it raised him into the air and, as slowly and quietly as it possibly could, it ripped him apart and consumed him, Fluttershy entirely oblivious to the carnage unfolding behind her.

After sucking up all of Angel's blood, it looked up at Fluttershy with a smile. It rose from its bed, and slowly walked closer to the yellow-coated pegasus in flight before him. His mouth split open, his slicing tentacle sliding out and the blade quickly rushed out of the tentacle, ready to eviscerate the creature in front of it.

Fluttershy, hearing an odd, wet-sounding noise, turned and looked down to see the abomination and let out a loud scream. The bunny immediately wrapped its tentacles around Fluttershy, restricting her legs and wings as they wrap around them, two for each, and slammed her to the ground before the bunny, with her belly exposed to it. The green tentacles stretched Fluttershy's legs out of the way, allowing for a nice, clean cut right through her body.

The red tentacle's blade then slammed right into Fluttershy's body, reducing her screams to quiet whimpers and twisting her face into a pained grimace as it quickly sliced her abdomen wide open across its length. The tentacles then began absorbing Fluttershy's body starting with the internal organs that spilled out of the hole. Fluttershy soon went silent, and for the last time.

Discoveries

As Blanc was finishing his meal, he stood there contemplating how he would be able to get more prey like this, as sentient beings were by far his favorite prey. His tentacles frenzied around the remains of Fluttershy's mangled corpse, as if with a mind of their own, grossly slurping up the mess. Blanc determined that in order to obtain more prey like this pegasus, he would have to disguise himself and act like her.

"Hmmm...And so the masquerade commences..." Blanc thought to himself.

Blanc then heard a noise. He raised his head up to find that the birds in the previously silent bird houses were now waking up, stretching and getting ready to fly out to cheerfully greet their master. Sensing this was their intention, Blanc quickly took on Fluttershy's likeness, personality, and all.

"Oh, good morning, little ones!" He said in Fluttershy's soft, delicate voice.

All of the birds fluttered down to him to see eye-to-eye with what they believed was their beloved owner.

"Did you all have a pleasant sleep? I know I did!" Blanc said, quickly nodding his head with short, rapid shakes as he said this.

Blanc knew that he would most definitely have to restrain his persistent hunger around Fluttershy's animals, at least for the now, if he was to keep up with this charade, as Fluttershy has a deep, passionate love of animals. Blanc was shocked to find that she apparently loves them more than life itself, as if they were her children and she was their guardian.

The birds were singing their happy little tunes in greeting to their master, but Blanc turned in the opposite direction, looking back at them.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I need to go attend to something for a little while. Will you all be okay here all by yourselves?" The birds all nodded wholeheartedly. A smile grew on Blanc's face. "Good, good. You all behave while I'm gone, okay?" Blanc walked out the door, shut it, then looked over towards Ponyville.

The town was still somewhat quiet, due to it still being early in the morning, and not too many people were awake at this time of day. Blanc looked back at the cottage, then reverted his gaze back towards Ponyville. He took a mental note that Fluttershy was just as her name suggested: shy. That's why she was perched so far away from the rest of the townsfolk, in relative isolation from the rest of them. She preferred the company of animals, mostly because of how cruelly she was treated when she was a child. Blanc uncovered something rather interesting and, for some reason he couldn't quite put his hoof on, he found this fact hilarious, buried deep, deep down in Fluttershy's mind:

Fluttershy was abused as a filly, by both her parents and the majority of her peers. Her parents kicked and scolded her when she had committed even the smallest and most understandable infractions, sometimes for nothing at all, in the brief time she was with them. Her classmates mocked her and sometimes even escalated it to brief, yet traumatizing physical violence. The only reason she was capable of holding on to any semblance of sanity was because she had a certain companion, Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy, it seemed, has always had a certain admiration and love for Rainbow that extends a little beyond the rest of her friends, mostly because of her actions in fillyhood. She had provided Fluttershy with the only escape from her own personal hell during that time, but Fluttershy was too afraid to tell Rainbow about all of this weighing down on her shoulders for several reasons: fear of abandonment, even though she knew Rainbow most likely wouldn't do that, or fear that Rainbow would confront her parents and possibly end up getting hurt because of it. Rainbow already knew about the bullying at the hooves of her peers, but not the darkest and most painful part, the abuse at the hooves of her parents. So, Fluttershy kept it quiet and kept the full extent of how much she appreciated Rainbow's company veiled in the darkness of secrecy.

"Oh, Fluttershy, you poor, tormented soul...Hehehehe," Blanc said sarcastically as chuckles escaped his breath afterwards. "Well, at least it explains your meek and shy demeanor, hm?" Blanc said this as if he were actually talking to Fluttershy, whose soul was trapped within him, which looks to her like a huge realm of a vast expanse of darkness.

Blanc finally began his search for more ponies to devour as he casually walked to Ponyville whilst humming a tune from his own fillyhood.

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Twilight, awakening from sleep, arose from her bed unusually slowly today, for she had not gotten much sleep last night. She had acquired a copious amount of books from a ruin she found near the border of the Everfree Forest and Ponyville and spent a good portion of the night sorting through them multiple times in order to make sure that they were in organized stacks, with the intention of shelving them in the morning, which meant right now for her.

She glanced over to her beloved little servant, Spike, who still lay in bed, snoring quietly with his blanket slightly drooping off to the side. Twilight disliked the term "servant", because she felt it was a little too domineering for the relationship she and Spike shared. Twilight used her magic to gently place the rest of the blanket over Spike, as she will not need his service at the moment. Owlicious had just went to sleep about ten minutes or so before Twilight woke up, as he saw the soft glimmer of sunlight poking through the library.

Twilight went downstairs and saw the overly, orderly stack of books and decided to just go ahead and re-shelf all of them, as she likes to make sure everything is in absolutely perfect order. All of the books on the shelves of the library glowed with a purple aura, then were levitated out of the shelves and fell to the floor in a huge, chaotic mess. She then used her levitation to begin re-shelving all of the books, the new ones included. She already memorized where most of them went, so putting them back up wasn't nearly as big a chore as putting the new ones up was, but it still wasn't a very big problem for Twilight.

She formed large lines of slowly moving books, shelving them one by one, as she read the titles of the new books she got last night. Twilight was quite surprised to find that many of them all seemed to have one author in common, the pen name simply reading, A Servant of the Universe. Many of the books had interesting titles, often dealing with the universe and all things within it.

Twilight, instantly intrigued, brought all of the books to her attention and used her magic to skim through them all simultaneously before her, briefly glancing at the words that stood out to her and the sometimes surreal and detailed pictures in the books, which were composed with only black and white colors, the black being the ink and the white being the pages themselves. The books seemed to talk about two godlike beings whose power extended far beyond that of Luna's or Celestia's. Twilight shuddered at the very thought of someone having that much power, as they are most likely capable of using the universe as a mere toy if they wanted to.

She found one amidst the books entitled The Journey Into the Maw of Tartarus. She began skimming through this one more intently than she had the others, as she has never read a book about Tartarus before. Then again, she hadn't ever read any books such as these before. This was turning out to be quite the discovery, she found.

The book described Tartarus as a cavernous realm walled with what sounds like obsidian and an unknown metal. Strewn about the place are legions upon legions of creatures, whom the author called the forsaken, screaming, sobbing, or laughing, presumably from madness, in the hellish realm. The author expressed sadness and grief at many of their plights, as not all of them deserved this, he felt. In fact, most of them didn't. The book said that they were cast down there simply because they were of no more use to their creator and their very existence shamed her, so she cast them down here. Also down there were demonic and/or evil creatures created by a shadowy being called, The Destroyer, but whom the author called, Master.

The book goes on to describe various denizens of Tartarus that the author and his colleagues personally encountered during their various trips to Tartarus. Some were centuries old, others were sent down there just recently. Amongst these denizens were the leaders of the nations before they founded Equestria: Commander Hurricane, King Platinum, and Chancellor Puddinghead, all sent down there for "crimes against not only their own race, but against their own gods". Twilight wondered with great curiosity what precisely it was that they did to earn a trip to Tartarus, but the book offered no more explanation.

Several others were briefly mentioned, but not fully described. Blanc Masque, in particular caught her eye, due to how foreign--how alien, the name sounded to her. The author apparently knew Blanc, as he talked fondly about him when he was alive until that one night where he murdered several of his most scathing critics, being an easily angered actor who was rather insecure about his acting abilities. As a result, he was now stuck in Tartarus, taken away from his life of glamour to slave away and rot in Tartarus, scarred with a constant physical reminder and rotting away from hunger, a "certain, strange kind of hunger unknown to you and me", as the author put it.

Twilight was so engrossed in this book, this one single book, that her levitation spell had long worn off and the books returned to their unorganized state of disarray, not noticing the loud sounds of books slamming onto the ground. Suddenly, she heard Spike's voice amidst her own internal voice saying the words in the book.

"Good morning, Twilight. What'cha reading?" Hearing Spike suddenly pipe up amidst the silence in the room, she let out a small yelp of surprise and slammed the book shut by impulse, internally cursing herself for losing her place in this oddly engrossing yet disturbingly macabre read.

"Oh, hello, Spike! Did you have a nice sleep?" Twilight asked with a sheepish smile and awkward chuckle, slowly coming to notice how much of a mess the library was. Spike did the same after she voiced her response.

"Wow! What's with the mess, Twi?" Spike inquired, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "I've never seen you awake with the library looking this messy."

Twilight let out another awkward chuckle and said, "Yeah, I just got really into this book I was reading and I guess I just kind of...Slipped?" Spike looked at Twilight with an odd expression, previously believing that Twilight never allowed herself to get that engrossed in a book in the middle of one of her organization sessions.

"Do you need some help?" Spike asked with a renewed smile, forgetting about the somewhat uncharacteristic behavior. But he still wondered what precisely the book was about, but was too afraid to ask for fear Twilight would go into a really long, boring, overly-detailed ramble about it.

"Oh, no thanks, I go-" Twilight was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. "Oh!" Twilight let out, startled by the knocking.

Twilight wanted to answer it, but she was too worried about getting the rest of the horrid mess she had created cleaned up. "Could you get that, Spike? I'm a little busy here."

"Sure!" Spike walked over to the door and opened it to reveal the familiar, yellow pegasus with long, pink hair. Fluttershy.

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Author's Note

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Hello, everyone! I'm really sorry it took me so long to write the next chapter and I sincerely apologize if this chapter is lacking, I couldn't really think of how else to forward the story without it turning into a monotonous "consume, think, consume, think, consume, think, back to Tartarus" thing for the story. I kind of thought I was rambling a little bit with the details of Tartarus in the book, but I once heard "You can never have too many details", so I was kind of torn as to what I should've done. Don't worry, the senseless violence will resume shortly, so please try to bear with me for a while, hehe.

-Nicholas

Beauty Personified

The yellow pegasus stared at the interior in momentary silence, examining all of the details before it, taking all of it in.

"Oh, hey Fluttershy" Spike said with a smile. "What's up? Why ya up so early?" After inquiring, Spike noticed the odd look in Fluttershy's eyes. She looked as if she had never seen the inside of Twilight's home before.

After a few moments more, Fluttershy brought her gaze down to Spike, examining him as well, but not as long. Spike returned her stare, but with puzzlement.

"What, do I have something on my face..?" Spike began rubbing his face with his claw until Fluttershy finally spoke up.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Spike." Fluttershy piped up, shrinking back a little with a sheepish smile on her face. She had noticed Twilight had begun to stare at her as well. "I guess I just kind of.. zoned out a little." Fluttershy let out an awkward chuckle.

Spike let her in and closed the door behind her, quickly glancing back at Fluttershy as she stepped into Twilight's abode. "That was weird.. oh well." Spike thought as he shut the door. Twilight, in the midst of re-organizing her books, found the concentration required to greet her friend.

"Hello, Fluttershy! What brings you here?" Twilight said, somewhat slowly, so as not to break her concentration and drop the massive amount of literature she was managing with her magic. Twilight let out an embarrassed chuckle as Fluttershy seemed to wait for her to get finished speaking. "Heh, sorry you caught me during one of my organization sessions, I went to sleep late last night."

"Oh, it's alright, Twilight." Fluttershy said politely. "I do have a favor to ask, though. Could you please let me borrow a book or two?" Fluttershy asked as she raised a questioning hoof in Twilight's direction. Twilight nodded in response.

"Of course! Which books do you want?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, then remembered who she was talking to. "Let me guess, a book involving animals? Maybe a specific one?" Twilight tilted her head slightly and raised a hoof towards her books. "I got plenty to choose from!"

"Yes, I need a book about how to cook small birds to feed to one of my new animals, please." Fluttershy nonchalantly asked as Twilight and Spike's eyes both widen simultaneously upon hearing this bizarre and uncharacteristic request coming from Fluttershy, whom would never be so nonchalant when regarding having to sacrifice an animal to feed another, as it usually tears her apart to do it.

Twilight's expression remained the same as she began searching her books for such a publication, circling books around her head before her eyes as she quickly reads the titles. "Umm.. alright, give me a second."

"Grrr..." Blanc growled internally. "I think she's silently criticizing my acting abilities... mocking them, just like the critics I killed during my fall from grace. Ohhh, don't worry, Twilight, you'll get yours.. I could never stomach doubters.." Fluttershy's eyes seemed to have become furrowed and somewhat angry, which Spike noticed. A worried expression grew upon Spike's face as he looked down at the floor.

"HI, TWILIGHT!" A loud cry of excitement and joy piped up amidst the awkward, tense silence. A pink blur flashed before Spike and Fluttershy and crashed into Twilight, slamming her into her bookshelf and scattering books everywhere, creating yet another and even bigger mess than before. Twilight and Pinkie Pie's heads emerged from the mass of books.

"Really, Pinkie??" Twilight let out with an exasperated groan. Pinkie looked down, her smile fading slightly as it turned into an apologetic half-smile.

"Hehe, sorry, Twilight..." A loose book fell to the ground, acting as a sort of punctuation mark for Pinkie's apology. Twilight's angry gaze narrowed towards Pinkie, and her "sorry smile" grew even larger.

The two pulled themselves out of the mess of books and Pinkie produced a small, heavily decorated piece of paper, seemingly out of nowhere. "I was just so excited because I wanted to invite you to the party I'm hosting at Sugarcube Corner tonight!" Pinkie's smile returned to its original state as she delivered this fast-paced sentence to Twilight.

Twilight let out a sigh of exasperation, eyebrows furrowed, and said "Alright, Pinkie, I'll be there, assuming I can get this massive mess cleaned up beforehand!"

"Ooooh, let me help!" Pinkie shouted, and began running back and forth to grab several books at a time and placing them on shelves. Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy all just stared in awe at how quickly and effortlessly Pinkie placed all of the books. Granted, she didn't put them in the right place, but it was the sheer speed of it that surprised them all.

"There we go! All done! See ya at the party, Twi!" Pinkie then began happily bouncing her way out of her friend's home, but then suddenly came to a stop next to Fluttershy and handed her one as well. "Here ya go, Fluttershy! Wouldn't wanna miss out on the party, huh?" Pinkie said, then almost immediately left, shouting "Okay, see ya, bye!", dashing off in some random direction, on her way to deliver more invitations.

"Ohhh, no, Pinkie.. I wouldn't want to miss your party for the world." Blanc thought. "This will be a good chance to meet the rest of my potential victims and choose the one I like the most. Sure, Twilight is quite the catch herself, but I would like to.. work my way up to her, so to speak. Yes..."

"Ugh, what are we going to do with her!?" Twilight said in a mixture of amusement and frustration in Fluttershy's direction.

"That's Pinkie for ya!" Spike said enthusiastically with a laugh. Fluttershy just stared at the two of them, studying them with her eyes, it seemed, as if she hadn't met them before.

"You know what, Twilight?" Fluttershy said with a sigh. "Forget about the books, I'll just go and figure it out for myself, and then I'll get ready for Pinkie's party..." Fluttershy turned and walked out of the door.

"Uhh, you sure.. Fluttershy?" Fluttershy shut the door behind her before Twilight could finish the initial question.

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It was party time at Sugarcube Corner. The air was filled with the smells of various baked goods, courtesy of Pinkie, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and several of the guests. Constant chatter was abound, mostly consisting of everyone's health or well-being. Games were being played by ponies, young and old... except for one. Fluttershy, who simply sat in the corner of the room with a blank expression and stared at everyone else, studying them, while sipping some punch. She seemed to be taking in every single detail.

Several people tried walking up to her and asking if anything was wrong, and she simply shook her head and said "no" every time. Eventually, it got to the point where all others did was just briefly exchange glances with her with an inquisitive look on their faces, and then move on. Fluttershy stayed that way almost all throughout the party.

The one that stood out the most was Rarity, whom was accompanied by her little sister, Sweetie Belle. Her beautiful purple mane, those mesmerizing, deep blue eyes, and that pure white coat of hers. Everything about her, at least her physical appearance, made Blanc think one thing and one thing only: "I must have her inside of me.."

Finally, it came time for the guests to leave. They all said their fond farewells to each other, to Pinkie especially, saying they can't wait for her next party. All of them were shocked to find that it was nightfall by the time they departed. This proved wonderful for Blanc's needs, as it will provide an excellent veil for him as he follows Rarity and Sweetie to their home.

Rarity and her sister began walking back home, yawning from how tired they were. Every now and then, they'd hear the rustling of leaves or the cracking of twigs, but every time they'd turn around, they saw nothing. Rarity figured it must simply be their imagination and reassured Sweetie that no one is following them. This kept occurring sporadically until they finally arrived at the Carousel Boutique.

"Ohh, finally, we're home!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, bursting in through the door with a smile creasing her face. Rarity came up behind her and shut the door. "I'm exhausted from that party!"

"Yes, yes, now off to bed with you, Sweetie Belle" Rarity said, narrowing her eyes as her gaze met Sweetie's. "I've got to stay up and finish my latest design first." Rarity sighed, as she was also exhausted, but she was also eager to finish the dress she's been working on, or else she may lose the train of thought that brought about its creation, thus causing her to have to start over again.

"Alright, goodnight!" Sweetie Belle said, walking up the stairs to the bed room. As she was doing so, however, they both heard a knock on the door. Rarity looked at the door with a puzzled look.

"I wonder who that could be." Rarity said in contemplation, as it's unusual for them to get visitors this late at night. Rarity used her magic to open the door and behind the door was Fluttershy, who was wearing a long, placid smile on her face. This smile, for whatever reason, strangely unnerved Rarity.

"Oh, why hello there, Fluttershy." Rarity said, an uncomfortable smile creasing her face. Rarity wondered, was Fluttershy following them home? "What brings you here so late?"

"Hello.. Rarity." Fluttershy said in a slow voice. "Mind if I come in?" Fluttershy had already begun walking in before Rarity could give a response. This was uncharacteristic of Fluttershy. Rarity felt her unease grow inside of her. Something about Fluttershy did not seem quite right.

Fluttershy walked past Rarity, turned to face her and her smile faded and turned into a serious expression. "Rarity, I have a confession to make..." Fluttershy's voice became deeper and more hoarse, as if she was choking on something and struggling not to cough. Rarity's tension rose even higher, now completely sure that something was wrong.

"Umm.. yes, what is it..?" Rarity's eyes grew large, bulging in their sockets, as she began shaking a little.

"I am.. not who you think I am..." Fluttershy's eyes sank down into their sockets and eventually disintegrated, her teeth quickly decaying and falling out, clattering onto the floor with fresh blood staining them. Fluttershy's gums seemed to change shape, from relatively flat to two sharpened blades. Fluttershy's lips both fell off, decayed. "My real name is.. Blanc Masque... and I am here to consume you..." Fluttershy began slowly meandering towards Rarity, who was now in a total state of shock, as was Sweetie Belle, who watched from the stairs. Fluttershy's voice was now deep and guttural. "I want you.. inside of me."

With those words, tentacles sprouted from each side of Fluttershy, and a thick red one sprouted from her mouth. Rarity tried to run past her, but was caught by two of her tentacles, one grasping her neck. "Ah, ah, ah, no running away." The tentacles lifted her up into the air by her neck and tail as she struggled to get free. She wanted to scream, but the tentacle was closing her wind pipe off, slowly beginning to suffocate her. Blanc heard rapid footsteps and screams come from the right side.

"YOU LEAVE MY SISTER AL-" Sweetie Belle began, but was cut off by another of Blanc's tentacles, which wrapped itself around her neck and lifted her into the air. The red tentacle sprouted its blade and went over to Sweetie Belle, positioned right next to her eye.

"Awww, how touching. Sisterly love." Blanc said, chuckling. "Well, then, both of you can take solace in the fact that you will both die together, in the same time span to boot!" Blanc felt Rarity struggling extra hard now, hearing her try to choke words out, but it was all for naught.

Blanc's bladed tentacle then slashed Sweetie's throat wide open, spraying blood everywhere. Blanc's one free tentacle immediately inserted itself into her neck, slurping the organic material down, flesh, coat, and all. Then, the bladed tentacle flung itself over to Rarity, whom was now sobbing hysterically. She was apparently in too big a state of distress to concentrate on using magic of any kind.

Blanc raised her over his head, staring up at her belly. He then split her down the middle of it vertically with his bladed tentacle, his green tentacle beginning to suck the pieces up. Rarity stopped struggling at this point, now limp. Every now and then, she'd twitch a little here and there, but very little resistance overall. Eventually, Blanc stopped sucking once he got to the skin and coat, the rest of the organic material completely sucked up. He brought it down in front of his eyes for a closer look.

"Ahhh.. looks slightly less beautiful now that there's nothing beneath it... but only slightly. Hehehehe..." He then absorbed the rest and took on his newly acquired form. He turned to the nearest mirror and gazed upon Rarity's likeness, making various poses. He let out a sigh of pleasure and nodded his head.

"Yes... beautiful. Now on to the next victim..."

Discovered

As Blanc stared at the likeness of his latest victim in the mirror, he began to get chills up and down his spine. The air began to feel hot and filled with the same sounds he had constantly heard in Tartarus: a melody of tortured screams, sobbing, and ecstatic laughter. Blanc, panic rising, began to frantically look around the room, which distorted in his vision.

Rarity's mannequins all grew eyes and mouths and seemed to be trying to escape the metal bar that holds them in place. The eyes and mouths were both seemingly empty, blackened by a veil of darkness despite the room being very well illuminated, but over the brief amount of time Blanc remained in there, the illumination lessened and became a harsh shade of red. Seeing this all unfold before him all at once, Blanc ran to the door and quickly opened it, not bothering to shut it, as he knew what was happening inside the Boutique.

Blanc was being hunted by some unnatural force which took notice of his escape, and was apparently now seeking to recapture him and toss him back in there again. Blanc was not even thinking about it now. All he was doing was running, blind panic flaring up inside of his mind. Many onlookers stared in puzzlement, some calling out to him, as he, still in the guise of Rarity ran frantically through the town, wordless and panting.

He eventually arrived at the Apple family's farm, which he only noticed when he slammed headfirst into the side of the barn, not paying attention to where he was going, as well as not caring. He heard a voice pipe up, a voice he recognized, but only vaguely, from some of the memories he's absorbed. It sounded younger than most of his previous equine victims, and it had a distinct southern drawl to it. It sounded surprised and alarmed.

"W-what was that!?" The filly exclaimed, startled. It was Apple Bloom. Blanc heard footsteps come to him and decided to take on the form of Sweetie Belle, whom he knew was close friends with Apple Bloom. "Hello..? Anyone there?" Apple Bloom asked, taking slow, small steps towards Blanc's location. Blanc popped out as Sweetie Belle and greeted her.

"Hey, Apple Bloom!" Blanc said. "Sorry for startling you, I was just so excited! I have a surprise waiting for you inside your barn." Blanc quickly decided that he was going to kill and consume Apple Bloom, who immediately grew a suspicious expression on her face in reaction to Sweetie Belle's mentioning of a "surprise" in her barn.

"A.. surprise?" Apple Bloom asked. "What kinda surprise?"

"Oh, you'll see. Follow me!" Blanc said. Blanc opened up the barn's doors and peered inside, as did Apple Bloom. It was dimly lit with a lantern hanging from the ceiling. He proceeded in there with Apple Bloom following suit.

"This better not be some sort of prank or anythin'..." Apple Bloom said, a scowl slowly growing on her face in remembrance of the last prank Sweetie and Scootaloo played on her.

"Trust me, this will blow your mind, I promise..." Blanc said, slowly closing the barn's doors.

"So, what's the surprise?" Apple Bloom asked, looking around curiously.

Blanc got in front of Apple Bloom with a sly smile on her face. "Here it is..." As he said that, green tentacles sprouted from his body, and the red one slithered out of his mouth, quickly revealing the blade within. Apple Bloom stared in frightened shock as she saw one of her best friends turn into some sort of monster. Sweetie Belle's eyes rolled back in their sockets, a grotesque groaning noise emanating from her mouth, and her legs began to grow in length, getting progressively slimmer until Blanc was towering over his victim and his legs were not unlike spider legs, ending with sharpened bones protruding from where Sweetie's hooves used to be, now sharp enough to penetrate flesh and bone.

"Surprise!" Blanc shouted in a distorted, demonic voice. Apple Bloom began screaming as loud as her small lungs would allow. She bolted off into a sprint beneath the giant monstrosity that stood before her, jumping to avoid the tentacles trying to catch her. Blanc turned around and gave chase, repeatedly trying to slash or grab his victim with no success. He managed to wrap a tentacle around her a few times, but she managed to slip through it somehow before another tentacle could grab her. He also managed to graze her slightly with his blade, but it didn't hinder her from running. She was quite an energetic filly, as Blanc was now finding out.

At last, after a few minutes of this, he finally tripped her up with one of his green tentacles. She collapsed to the floor with a yelp. She flipped onto her back and slowly crawled away, tears welling in her eyes as she gazes upon what she believes is the last thing she will see, which was walking towards her at the same pace she was crawling, seemingly relishing the moments before he sent the blade down into his victim's small, fragile little body.

Suddenly, the barn doors flew open and another voice piped up into the scene.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" A stone went flying right at Blanc's head, knocking him down to the ground with a hard, loud thud. Apple Bloom looked over at the doors and saw her elder sister, Applejack, who rushed forward to the rescue of her little sister. Apple Bloom immediately got up and met her half way, and they both shared a brief embrace. As they did so, Blanc began to get back up, groaning in pain.

"Listen, Sugarcube." Applejack began. "I need you to get out of here and warn Big Mac and Granny. I'll take care of this thing!"

"But Applej-" Apple Bloom began but was cut off by Applejack.

"NO BUTS! GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" Applejack shouted as she sidestepped to the left a little bit, shook off her hat and got into a fighting stance, her legs parted and her head held low. Apple Bloom saw no more reason to argue, because she knew that once Applejack had her mind set on something, she was going to do it no matter what.

"Good luck, sis!" Apple Bloom hugged Applejack's leg for a moment, then turned around and took off running, her mind buzzing with worry.

"Ahh, time for a fight scene, huh?" Blanc said with excitement, now completely back up on his spider-like legs. "Ohh, I've always enjoyed fight scenes! Bring it on!"

Applejack snorted and rushed forward, narrowly dodging the bladed, blood-red tentacle he lunged at her with. As she ran past him, she raised her hind leg and gave one of his a kick as hard as she possibly could, which shattered it. Blanc let out a scream and fell to the floor, angry at both himself, for not switching to a form with a less exploitable weakness, and at Applejack, for exploiting it in the first place. Blanc sprouted Fluttershy's wings and flew upwards so he could transform uninterrupted. Applejack just stared at him in awe.

"What in tarnation..." Applejack said, watching Blanc quickly changing from a grossly mutated Sweetie Belle to what seemed like Fluttershy, except he still had his tentacles out.

"Does this look familiar?" Blanc asked in Fluttershy's voice. Applejack continued to stare, wondering what on earth she was looking at.

Applejack picked up a nearby brick, tossed it upwards, turned around and used one of her hind legs to launch the projectile at him as she had before. Blanc was prepared this time and promptly dodged the brick, which somehow managed to break a hole in the ceiling. Blanc looked back at the hole and laughed.

"Oooooh, we're strong, now aren't we? You will make a fine addition to my steadily growing collection of outfits!" Blanc said mockingly.

"What the?" Applejack said, puzzled. "How'd ya do that? You a unicorn or somethin'?"

Blanc let out a laugh and flew closer to Applejack to explain himself. "No, I'm a refugee from Tartarus. Ever since I got out of there, I've had these tentacles, a huge appetite, and the ability to turn into whoever I eat, which just so happens to include your buddies Fluttershy and Rarity, among others. I was ABOUT to do the same to your sister, until SOMEONE rudely interrupted me..." Blanc gave Applejack a glare with Fluttershy's eyes, another mocking gesture.

Anger was steadily rising in Applejack as Blanc explained himself, coming to a head when he said he ate some of her friends. In response, she turned around and tried to kick him with both feet, but he dodged once again, this time wrapping a green tentacle around her and raising her off the floor, making Applejack let out a yelp in surprise. Blanc raised Applejack up, her face a few feet away from his, his bladed tentacle going up to her abdomen, getting ready to slice it open.

"Any last words?" Blanc asked smugly, smiling. Applejack simply said "Shut up!" in an angry growl and bent her abdomen a little to give Blanc a headbutt, making his blade just slightly graze the flesh on her abdomen. They both fell to the ground. Applejack, getting up first, got a running start and kicked Blanc in the head as he raised it, hitting him square in the eye. He swung his bladed tentacle, but Applejack just barely dodged the blade as she watched it swing right past her face.

"Lemme see the real you!" Applejack shouted. "Show your real face to me!"

Blanc chuckled after hearing this odd request. "Hmm.. an interesting request. Well, you are the element of honesty, after all. Very well, then! I'll consider it your dying wish." Blanc then reverted to his original form, mask and all, as he's never allowed to take the mask off.

Applejack stared in dumbstruck awe at the creature that now stood before her. The mangled neck, the creepy mask with no visible eyes, just black holes. Shivers went down her spine. Blanc just stood there and laughed at her expression.

"Now all that has been said and done.. time for the curtain call for you." Blanc then stood on his hind legs and he opened his abdomen up to reveal just a large, pitch black hole. Applejack turned around and tried to run away, but he grabbed Applejack with all of his green tentacles and began trying to pull her in. Applejack struggled with all of her might, but she knew she was only delaying the inevitable as well as Blanc did. Still, she thought she had to at least try.

After a few moments of struggling, Blanc began thrusting his blade into Applejack repeatedly, causing her to scream. Only after the 4th stab did she finally give up, allowing Blanc to throw her into the black void inside of him along with the rest of his victims.

After all of that struggling, Blanc closed the hole and stood there for a moment, allowing himself to go through all of Applejack's memories to see if there was anything that could be useful to him. He didn't find much he didn't already know.
"Well.. three down, three more to go." Blanc then turned around and saw a crowd amassing, hearing chatter amongst them, mixed with several different emotions in the voices. The remnants of the Apple family lead the crowd.

"There he is!" Apple Bloom shouted and pointed at Blanc, assuming that must have been his true form. Big Macintosh immediately charged at Blanc, fury welling in his eyes. Blanc then sprouted wings and quickly took off, flying over the enraged colt and took off into the sky.

"Well, looks like this is where things get interesting..." Blanc thought as he flew upwards. Eventually, he stopped flying and looked down at the town below him, the town called Ponyville.

"Let the games begin!" Blanc said audibly in an excited tone.

Author's Note

Sorry it took me so long to update it again, I've been lazy xD

Mourning the Losses

'Twas still night, the sky was a beautiful shade of purple as the moon hung in it like an insect trapped in a spider's web. Amongst the clouds, off of which the moon was reflecting oh-so-beautifully, Blanc hovered in place, looking down upon his future quarry.

As Blanc, still in the guise of Fluttershy, surveyed the small town of Ponyville in the night sky, his brain was welling with excitement and anticipation. Blanc had always enjoyed a challenge, and he felt that this town was going to provide him one now that he's riled them up by revealing his existence to them. After all, Applejack put up a huge fight against him, and he hopes the rest will do the same.

"Hehehehe..." Blanc chuckled coldly, contemplating the true futility of the townsfolks' future resistance. He took a seat on a cloud to rest a moment before striking again, when suddenly he heard the flapping of wings nearby...

The town was suddenly entirely awake from the slumber most were encompassed in mere moments earlier, all due to a certain filly who went running through the town screaming and crying bloody murder and, of course, the reason she did so. Obviously, the townsfolk now collectively felt terrified and uncertain, as this was the very first time they ever had a problem like this in quaint little Ponyville. Due to this situation apparently involving magic, the townsfolk decided to take this problem to Twilight Sparkle, as she is the most learned individual the town has on the subject.

A crowd had amassed at Twilight's library, disturbed rumblings amongst the townsfolk abound as other members of the crowd, particularly the remnants of the Apple Family, knocked very loudly and urgently on Twilight's door. Of course, after a few moments, she answered.

Twilight opened the door with a look of worry on her face as she took yet another glance at the crowd, knowing there was something very wrong. Spike stood behind her, his drowsiness turned into sheer dread of what was to come. "Yes?" Twilight inquired. "What's wrong?"

Twilight was greeted with several panicked responses from many different townsfolk all at the same time, the foremost from the members of the Apple Family, who were in absolute hysterics at the loss of one of their closest members. From right, left, and center, Twilight was getting voraciously interrogated from all sides as the crowd members stared her down, almost accusingly. Talk of demons and the supernatural on one side, talk of the first serial killer in the town from the other.

All of these rapid-fire questions finally got to her and her look of puzzlement turned to a look of frustration.

"Everypony, QUIET!" Twilight finally shouted. The crowd members immediately silenced themselves, all staring in anticipation of what Twilight has to say, even though they know what's coming next. "Alright..." Twilight surveyed her audience, slowly scanning them. "Now... SLOWLY and one at a time... explain to me what happened, please."

And so Apple Bloom filled her in on the horrifying goings-on at the Apple Family ranch: how she saw her sister in what she knew were her last moments, one of her best friends turning into a demonic monstrosity and attempting to brutally kill her, and Big Macintosh's attempt to assault the murderer and said murderer's escape. Twilight simply stared in horrified shock, her eyes growing wider as Apple Bloom finished her recap.

"Oh my.. that's terrible!" Twilight exclaimed. "I am so sorry! I will ensure that I get to the bottom of this, mark my words!"

"T-thanks, Twi.." Apple Bloom said glumly, staring at the ground with tears in her eyes, one falling to the floor every thirty seconds or so. "That means a lot..."

Twilight and the elder Apple Family remnants shooed away the crowd, with Twilight assuring them that she'd find out who was responsible for this atrocity and bring him or her to justice immediately.

"I'd better tell Celestia about this..." Twilight said, growing sorrowful and disconcerted herself. "Spike, tak-"

"Ummm.." Spike interrupted Twilight. "I don't think Celestia's in Canterlot. She's out on official business in the Crystal Empire, I heard it was really important..." Spike said, full of regret for having to be the one to tell Twilight this.

"Oh..." Twilight slowly uttered, gradually realizing how grim and hopeless the situation seemed. She sat on her haunches and began to sob quietly. Spike walked over to her and gave her a hug. Twilight hugged back, and the two sat in a sorrowful embrace at the death of a close friend...

The rest of the Main Six were assembled at Twilight's library, having heard the story behind Applejack's death and, to rub salt into the fresh wounds, discovering that Fluttershy, Rarity and Sweetie Belle's lives had been snuffed out, as well.

"H-how could anyone DO THIS!?" Rainbow exclaimed in a mixture of sorrow, shock, and fury as she took to her wings, fluttering about the room as she spoke with tears beginning to swell in her eyes. She tried her best to get her statement out. "I swear to Celestia, I WILL find the one responsible for this and I'll... I'll..." Rainbow collapsed to the floor and began sobbing quietly, with Twilight placing her hoof on Rainbow's back in an attempt to comfort her.

"Rest assured, Rainbow." Twilight uttered quietly. "We... I will find the one who did this."

As all of this happened, Pinkie simply sat there near the corner and watched blankly, apparently unable to process the situation. All of these deaths, all of them being so close to her... and now they're all gone. All in the span of just one night. It was just too much for her and so her mind simply broke.

Twilight got up and made her way toward the door. "I'll go looking for the culprit, you guys stay here." She said in the motherly tone of voice she occasionally uses with Spike as she looked back at her friends "I don't want to lose any more of my friends!"

Rainbow looked up and, despite how much she wanted to go with Twilight, she didn't just want to leave Pinkie there all alone, and she didn't want to upset Twilight. Rainbow reluctantly nodded, slowly. "O-okay.."

And with that, Twilight departed from the relative safety of her library into the cool, dark night.

Rainbow looked back at her broken friend, frowning. She slowly got up, shaking a little, and began walking towards Pinkie. Worried for her, she spoke out.

"P-.... Pinkie?"

No response.

"Pinkie, are you alright?"

Still no response.

Rainbow simply sighed, defeated already, and she walked over to Pinkie to try to get her to lay down and get some sleep, but then she heard a tap on the window...

Author's Note

Hey, everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, this was kind of hard for me to write due to the fact I'm not too good with sobby-sob drama xD I'll try to update this more frequently, especially since it's almost done.