Pumpkin's Struggle (Part 4): The Darkest Hour

“Applejack, Applejack,” shouted the young mare, Apple Bloom as she was galloping towards her sister inside the Sweet Apple Acres farm, “please tell me that you saw that huge pillar of light too?!”

“Ah sure did,” Applejack responded worryingly, “What the hay could that even be?”

“Well whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

Applejack knew that something was up and that whatever was going on was unlike anything that they have ever seen before. Her younger sister Apple Bloom was suddenly feeling some kind of weird feeling bubbling in her, like something was telling her to do something.

“Where’s Big Mac?!” she curiously asked.

“He’s in town gatherin’ supplies,” Applejack answered, “why do you ask; is he in danger or something?”

“I don’t know, something in mah gut is telling me that something about that light is signifying… the end.”

Applejack was wondering what her sister was getting at, “The end of what?”

“Um, duh… the end of the world; what else!”

“Well end of the world or not, this could get very dangerous. You should stay here where it’s safe and I’ll find Big Mac and tell him…”

Before Applejack knew it, Apple Bloom was galloping off in the direction of Ponyville with a certain objective in mind.

“Where do you think yer goin’, A.B.!?” she shouted.

“To find Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo; maybe we could all do something to help go against whatever that beam of light is!”

“Oh no,” said Applejack hesitantly, “don’t you even! I’m still your big sister, Apple Bloom, and Ah’m tellin’you to stay here. We don’t even know what this is let alone what its capable of! It’s too dangerous; just stay here and…”

“AH’M NOT A LITTLE FILLY ANYMORE!!!” Apple Bloom shouted at her sister suddenly.

Applejack suddenly became silent hearing her young sister’s words speak up against hers in such an intimidating way.

“Apple Bloom?”

“Ah’m… no longer the little filly that makes numerous mistakes. Look at me Applejack; I’m almost as tall as you, Ah got mah cutiemark, and Ah ain’t exactly defenseless! Ah can take care of mahself, and with my friends Ah’ll be just as fine. Just admit that Ah’m growing up and that I can make my own decisions. Don’t you think that is what Granny Smith would say… if she were here?”

Applejack knew that her little sister was right; she just didn’t want her sis to be grown up even though she already was. Plus, she was just worried that she might get herself seriously hurt one day if she kept running toward danger; but she knew her little sister was tougher than that. She realized that she almost made another mistake herself and became fully honest to her sister.

“You’re right, Apple Bloom; Ah guess I was… just worried for mah little sister, that’s all. Go handle your business and Ah’ll find Big Mac; something big is about to go down, and it’s going to go down hard!”

“Twilight,” said Fluttershy at Zecora’s hut, “I changed my mind; I don’t mind being crammed with all those animals in my hut now.”

“Come on, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “now is not the time to panic.”

“Actually it is, Twilight,” she protested, “If what’s happening is happening then no pony is safe; the world as we know it is doomed! I’m going to where it’s possibly safe and hide!”

“Fluttershy!”

Twilight couldn’t stand to see one of her friends be so terrified; she knew that by only doing that will cause hope to disappear. But… both mares suddenly heard Zecora speak again.

“Any pony could run and hide all they want, but nothing would hinder it to hunt and haunt. Flee if you must, the beast won’t care; it will find you and give you more than a scare. In the sky, underground, it doesn’t matter what you do; it’s… bloody fangs will still find you.”

“Th-th-then… that’s it; it’s over. We’re all going to die!” whimpered Fluttershy.

“Not without a fighting chance we’re not,” Twilight protested, “We’ve all been by Pumpkin’s side this whole time for all these years and never gave up on her. But now the time has come to fight for our survival and ours if needed be. Are you really going to give up just like that, Fluttershy… after everything she’s been through?”

Twilight’s words were awe-inspiring in Fluttershy’s ears and were causing her to calm down some and gain some confidence. Soon, she stopped crying and a determined expression appeared back in her eyes as she finally understood.

“You’re right, Twilight; we can’t let Pumpkin down! If the curse takes over her body and starts attacking everypony, I should be there too to give my support! If we go down, then we go down fighting; yeah! Um… I-I mean… yay.”

“Glad to have you back, Fluttershy” said Twilight with a smirk.

“Beware, beware pony folk,” Zecora suddenly said, “What I say now is not a joke. Two powerful, physical entities I now can sense, plus another totally weak one with no will to commence. Soon one of them will disappear and another will be left alone, and the other will start its rampaging roam. Warn Ponyville of what is about to come, the repeat of a tragic history… m-might soon be d-d-done.”

Then just like that, Zecora collapsed on top of the rug completely unconscious. Fluttershy shrieked and began to panic, “Oh no, Zecora! OMG, Twilight, is… i-is she…”

Twilight went over to the lying zebra and laid her head against her chest only to hear a healthy heart beat and normal breathing.

“Whew, it’s okay,” said Twilight, “she just fell asleep; her body defiantly needs it after what what had happened.

Fluttershy just sighed with relief, “Oh thank goodness; she scared me there for a second. But… what do you think she meant about two physical entities and another that’s weak?”

“I’m not sure, but we can figure that out later,” said Twilight, “Come on, Fluttershy, Zecora should be fine for now; we have to heed her word and warn Ponyville of the… unfortunate news.”

Deep in the Everfree Forest hidden inside a crystal cave, Pumpkin was receiving help from an alicorn stallion named Shadow Star in releasing herself from the evil curse forever. But… that soon proved to be yet another lie; a secret scheme of releasing the curse’s power from Pumpkin and then using it to his own means. When the extraction was over, Pumpkin only woke to up in her view and saw a dark yellow filly that she knew too well; a filly wearing crimson red eyes, a wavy orange mane and tail, and jagged sharp teeth. Pumpkin knew that her worst fear might have happened… but not like this.

“You’re… y-y-y-you’re, you’re, you’re…”

“What’s the matter, Pumpkin?” said the evil spirit with a slight grin, “You seem a bit shaken up.”

“N-n-no… no, no, this is absolutely impossible!”

Pumpkin looked over at the stallion that did this; but when she did, she could see him smiling all menacing-like and he didn’t seem worried for her at all.

“What gives, Mister Shadow Star,” she shouted, “you said that you would successfully extract the curse from me!”

“Well, that’s exactly what I did;” Shadow said with an evil chuckle, “The curse is no longer inside you anymore, but now its power will belong to me!”

Pumpkin couldn’t believe it; she had a feeling that this was all a trick, but she still fell for it somehow and it just made her feel absolutely terrible, “You… y-y-you two-timing, ungrateful jerk; you tricked me!”

“And you’re just figuring this out, you little fool?” Shadow responded, “That’s right, I did trick you; I knew that you wouldn’t bear to be with that curse any longer and you would go to any length to get rid of it! You fell for my trap, and now those who you were just trying to protect will fall right before your very eyes!”

Despite having the curse out of her body, some of its essence was in her and it caused her to stare at Shadow Star intensely as her anger for him grew and grew until she couldn’t take it.

“You, you… I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

She charged at him with her horn glowing bright; but with one small spell, Shadow easily knocked her down on the ground with no effort at all, “Nice try ya little brat, you may still have some essence of the curse’s anger issues, but now that I extracted it from you, you’re now completely weak and helpless; you no longer pose any threat to me.”

“How on Equesria did I let this happen?!” Pumpkin cried to herself as she was wallowing in her dismay.

“Poor, pitiful Pumpkin;” said the evil spirit as it was circling Pumpkin, “You were so fixated on getting rid of me that you were not fully aware of the dire consequences you could cause. But I guess things would have gone the same either way; so don’t feel bad, there was nothing you could’ve done.”

As Shadow Star approached the spirit, he noticed just how familiar it looked, “So… you look just like the brat that housed you to begin with… mostly.”

“Just a little side-effect from being stuck in her soul for so long, but thanks anyway for releasing me; it must have taken some strong magic to do such a thing.”

“Many long years of studying; but it was all worth it to set you free.”

The spirit wasn’t planning to befriend him or anything, but it decided to play along with his little charade, “I give you my… somewhat gratitude.”

Just then while Shadow Star wasn’t looking, Pumpkin rose to her feet and was planning to fire one her powerful spells at him. But just before she did, the evil spirit sensed her and knocks her down with a similar spell; except it was 10x stronger.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

“How about that,” said the spirit, “this little filly was trying to shoot you down from behind. It’s a good thing I still have a somewhat connection to her or I wouldn’t have sensed it.”

Shadow Star glared at Pumpkin furiously and went over to where she was lying on the ground, “Why you ungrateful…”

He then raised a hoof and slammed it against her sending her a few more feet of distance from where she was. A tiny whimper sounded from Pumpkin as she stopped and was feeling the aftermath pain of the impact. Shadow’s horn was slightly glowing as he was planning to strike Pumpkin dead where she laid.

“Shall we kill her now that she is of no use to me?” he smartly asked.

“Nah, I still have plans her,” the spirit said with a grim smile, “Just let her lay here and suffer from her pain.”

Shadow stood down and started to walk away from Pumpkin feeling a slight disappointed of not taking a life today… yet. With her mane and coat all dirty and blood leaking from her nose and sides, Pumpkin looked like a total wreck yet she still slightly rose on her wobbling hooves and was glaring at Shadow.

“You… y-y-ou won’t… get away with th-th-this. Somepony will st-stop… y-you.”

“Quit your constant babbling, brat,” Shadow protested, “you’ve already lost. No pony can match up to my power, and with the spirit of this cruse working together with me, I’ll be invincible!”

“Yeah… working together,” said the spirit with a evil glint in its eye and a hidden grin on its face.

Shadow suddenly used his magic to bring up a giant magical pool that showed the entire Ponyville area. Pumpkin couldn’t believe it; this is how Shadow was able to monitor her and study her actions. Her strength gave out and she dropped back onto the floor not moving a muscle.

“Your precious town will be the first to fall and then… the rest of Equestria!” Shadow shouted with a proud, pleasing tone, “All who don’t abide from my rule will perish and lie in their own blood.”

“You mean… like yours?”

Shadow slightly heard those words but he wasn’t quite sure if he heard right, “Huh… what was that?”

“Surprise.”

Shadow quickly looked under himself and saw the spirit standing under him staring back at him with a menacing grin and its horn was glowing immensely. Suddenly before he had time to react, he felt as the spirit lengthened its horn and pierced into his belly and right through his body from below. He howled in pain and it seemed to be getting worse as the horn’s width widen inside him.

“What… wh-wh-wh-what the hell!” he screamed, “what are you doing to me?!”

The spirit flashed an evil grin; feeling highly ecstatic from Shadow’s blood running down its horn, “Did you really think I was going to work together with you, mere mortal?”

“M-m-mortal?!”

“I am the spirit manifestation of an ancient curse developed by anger and rage; I work with no pony.”

Even in her constant pain, Pumpkin saw what happened and she couldn’t believe her eyes. Just like that the evil spirit turned around and betrayed Shadow Star even though he helped free it from the confinements of her body. This proved to her of just how merciless and evil the spirit really was.

“How could you do this me;” Shadow shouted as he felt his life slipping away, “I am the one who brought you out of this weak foal’s body! I gave you freedom; you should be grateful to me!”

“Grateful my ass;” the spirit chuckled, “the only thing I’m grateful for is the sight of bloody destruction. I’ve sensed you ever since you tried to get the same deal out of that Blackberry colt all those years ago. But now that I am finally free, I have no more use for you. But don’t worry, your death won’t go to waste; I’ll lay waste to all of Equestria in your name. Pleasure doing business with you.”

Shadow suddenly felt the horn in him stretching out even more and his body almost couldn’t take it. He shouted at the spirit in anger, “DAMN YOU!!!”

After his last words, the spirit’s magic finally sprung forth and split Shadows body in half; and from the strong force one half sprung one way and the other half the other way. One of the halves went over Pumpkin and she was lightly sprinkled with Shadow’s blood and her body shivered with frighten chills. Shadow may have been dead, but it didn’t make it any less terrorizing to her.

The spirit just sighed looking upon its fresh kill, “He was a bit too big-headed any way.”

It then turned its attention back to Pumpkin who was still lying helplessly on the ground. It approached her sporting a menacing smile, “Now… back to you. Tell me, how does it feel knowing that your world is doomed and there’s not a single thing you can do about it?”

“Pl-l-lease… I beg of you,” Pumpkin hesitantly spoke out weakly, “d-d-don’t do this; I couldn’t bare the horrific sight.”

“I believe that’s the whole idea, genius;” the spirit said smartly, “but don’t worry, I won’t kill any of them… at least not yet. As I said before, I have something special planned that’s going to be killer; just you wait and see.”

What was the spirit’s secret plan; Pumpkin had no clue at all but it drove her crazy of not knowing what it was. This spirit was still torturing with her mind even though it was not inside of her anymore and it was making her upset.

“Why you… w-w-why don’t you just go ahead and slaughter everypony and get my pain over with?! What’s the matter, don’t have the guts to do it after all?”

The spirit walked over to the lying filly and placed its snout against hers and glared into her eyes, “Oh believe me, darling, it’s very tempting; but doing this will be all worth it in the end.”

The spirit walked away to leave Pumpkin to lie ground and suffer through her agony, then it smiled as it looked back at her, “Oh, and do me a favor and stay alive by staying here, my fun with you is far from over.”

It left the cave and Pumpkin was now all alone by herself with the dead corpse of Shadow Star nearby. With her friends and family and all of Equestria now in danger because of her, Pumpkin couldn’t think of how this situation could get any worse.

Pinkie and Pound just got to the Everfree Forest and began to walk into it. Pound was still resting on Pinkie back but he finally had enough of that.

“Okay Pinkie, y-you can let me down now.”

“No way,” Pinkie responded, “you might still be hurt. Just tell me where to go and…”

“I said… let me down!” Pound shouted as wriggled himself off of Pinkie’s back and back on the ground.

“Okay okay,” said Pinkie feeling a little stirred from Pound’s action, “Sheesh, so impatient.”

Pound was already focusing his mind on his surroundings as he already felt his sister’s energy nearby, “Pumpkin is a bit deeper in this forest… I can feel it.”

“Hey Pound,” said Pinkie as she looked around, “ever noticed of how darker it’s gotten in here; I can barely see a thing!” She then suddenly pulled out a flashlight out of nowhere and turned it on to light up their surroundings, “Good thing I brought a flashlight; I figured we might need one.”

Just then Pinkie noticed that Pound had stopped moving and he standing in place with his whole body shaking and his face looked absolutely terrified.

“Um…P-P-Pound, “Pinkie said nervously, “are you feeling okay?”

“S-s-s-something is… c-coming this way,” Pound responded out of fear.

“Is it… Pumpkin?”

“N-no, it’s not Pumpkin… but, it still oddly f-familiar. Whatever it is it’s g-giving me a frightening chill just sensing it.”

Pinkie realized just how frighten he looked and it began freak her out as well. Pound looking so scared never proved to be a good thing, “Y-you know, I haven’t seen you freak out like this about anything except your sister’s curse. If th-th-that’s what it is, it m-must be Pumpkin, right?”

Both Pound and Pinkie could hear some low eerie sound echoing all around them and they had a feeling that they were being watched. They came together looking on all sides to see if anything was coming towards them.

“Just… stay… still.”

Then without warning, a soft yet sinister voice came from right behind them, “Boo.”

They both screamed and Pinkie jumped into Pound’s arms; but seeing that Pinkie was bigger they both fell down on their flanks. As they looked up, a terrifying pony creature was standing before them staring at them with pure evil eyes glowing crimson red.

“Your screams sound delicious;” it chuckled, “I want to hear more.”

The creature may have looked menacing, but there was something about it that looked very familiar to Pound and Pinkie.

“Wait, is that… Pumpkin?!” said Pinkie feeling shocked, “What’s happened to her?!”

Pound knew something was off about this; the creature looked like his sister in a way, but…

“I can still feel my sister’s energies,” stated Pound, “but… it’s not coming from her; how can that be?!”

“Ah yes,” the creature chuckled, “Pumpkin; you mean that weak, sorry bag of flesh that I have been inside of ever since the very day of her birth? Yeah, I’m not her.”

Then the shocking realization came to Pound feeling the ominous power coming from the creature, “But that can only mean that you’re… no, no that that’s impossible!”

“Oh, but it is,” said the creature menacingly, “I am the spiritual manifestation of the curse that infested inside your sister. I only resemble in her looks because I have been stuck inside her body for all of these years! However… that won’t stop me from having my glorious fun.”

Pinkie was frantically panicking; the curse they feared so much was now in front of them in a physical form, “This is bad; this really, really bad!!!”

Pound tried to show no fear in front of the demonic spirit, but seeing it face to face made hard for him to keep his cool.

“What’s the matter… Pound;” the spirit snickered, “do I leave you speechless. Am I sending waves of chills down your spine? Do I FREAK you out?”

However, thinking about the condition of sister, Pound was able to calm down and stare back at the spirit with hateful eyes, “Where is my sister; what have you done with her?!”

“Don’t worry,” the spirit said coyly, “she’s still alive… as long as she stays where she is; she’s in a rather weak state right now. Can’t you feel it?”

Suddenly, Pound felt a huge painful surge go through his head as he fell to the ground screaming, “Ugh; Ahhhhhhh!!!” He was clutching onto his head trying to wait out the pain, but the feeling was unbearable.

“Pound!” Pinke cried as she went over to Pound and placed her hooves around him to try and calm him down. She was quite worried of how the cake twins were going to go through with this situation now.

“You poor little thing,” the spirit said without a hint of emotion, “it must suck having a twin sibling that you can telepathically feel that feels pain everyday; it must be hell.”

The spirit was enjoying the sight of her former host’s twin brother groaning and withering in pain in front of it, but it soon remembered that it had an agenda, “Oh well, I’m bored now; I think I’ll go and bring my fun to Ponyville now.”

The spirit turned its attention from Pound and Pinkie and began to make its way to the direction of Ponyville. Pound rose up from the ground despite still feeling slight pain and was about to pursue the demon.

“N-no, don’t you dare; we… w-w-we won’t l-let you.”

“Oh dear, courageous Pound; you, your sister, that Pink pony pest…”

“Hey!”

“… as well as all of Equestria know good and well that there is nothing any of you can do to stop me. But you’re welcome to try and stop me if you so chose; however, I wonder how well your sister is doing. Is she alright; I wonder. Oh well, it’s your choice.”

Pound glared furiously at the spirit continued onward away from him and Pinkie towards their home. He didn’t know what to do; should he try to defend his home or should he find his sister?

“Ugh; that wretched, ungrateful, evil little…”

Pinkie quickly grabbed Pound before he did something too rationally, “Pound, come on, let’s go find your sister. Ponyville is stronger than you think and they can handle themselves, so let’s go and make sure that your sis is okay.”

Pound realized that Pinkie was right; at this moment his sister’s life was more important to him than anything. Once he’s confirmed that she’s okay he can figure out how to stop the demonic spirit.

“Okay Aunt Pinkie,” he stated solemnly as he faced back towards the direction of Pumpkin, “let’s go; but… I just hope you’re right.”

After leaving Zecora’s hut, Twilight and Fluttershy were making a beeline for Ponyville to warn all of the citizens of what was happening. They were on the final stretch to their destination hoping that they were on time.

“Hey, Twilight?” said Fluttershy

“Yeah, Fluttershy?” Twilight responded.

“Once we warn everypony in Ponyville, what do we do after that?!”

Not even Twilight could answer that question; she was totally unprepared for this, “Well… I don’t know; I actually haven’t thought that far ahead yet!”

“Twilight!”

Twilight and Fluttershy suddenly heard someone call out to them from above. Fluttershy looked above them while still running and she smiled seeing who it was.

“It’s Rainbow Dash!” she shouted

Rainbow Dash swooped down lower to the ground to get in talking range, “Did you guys see…”

“Yeah, we did,” said Twilight, “and I assume that you have too?”

“A giant beam of light shooting out from the Everfree Forest; its kinda hard to miss when you’re living in the sky. So what up with that fact anyway; I think I have a pretty cool idea.”

The three mares finally arrived to Ponyville; and once they got there many of the citizen were outside and they were all wondering about the weird phenomenon that was going on nearby the town. It seemed so frantic that it seemed that it would take someone with a leading voice to silence the area… and that’s when Twilight steps in.

“Attention everypony!”

One shout of her voice suddenly alerted every pony there to become silent and brought their attention to her. Amongst the crowd, Mr. and Mrs. Cake came through with a slightly injured Acer resting on Mr. Cake’s back. Despite what was going on, they were hoping that it wasn’t what they thought it was.

“Twilight what is going on!?” shouted Mrs. Cake, “Please tell us that it’s anything but our daughter’s curse taking over her body!”

Twilight really didn’t want to disappoint the Cakes, but her sudden nervous expression spelled it out clearly, “Heh… um, actually…”

Suddenly, Acer lifted his head from the back of Mr. Cake and looked at Twilight square in the eyes and said calmly, “It has taken over her… hasn’t it?”

Twilight sighed and nodded her head, “Correct.”

“Heh… I should’ve known.”

“What, you mean it wasn’t the Wonderbolts practicing an amazing spectacle?!” said Rainbow Dash, “So much for my cool idea.”

“Come on, Rainbow Dash,” shouted Twilight, “this is serious!”

Much to Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s dismay, it seemed like the worse had finally came to be and soon Equestria would be in danger of their daughter’s cursed power. Once again, Mr. Cake found himself holding on to his wife’s weight as she was crying on his shoulder. He didn’t blame her though; after all what was to become of their daughter.

“Well that’s unfortunate news,” said a voice nearby, “I had a feeling this was going to happen.”

“Diamond Star,” said Mr. and Mrs. Cake suddenly as they saw him walk up to them.

Knowing the predicament they were all in, Diamond looked over at the Cake couple and gave them a sincere stare, “So Mr. and Mrs. Cake… it’s your call. Do you wish to do my back-up plan, or do you want to risk everypony’s life?”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake still had to think about it hard for a few seconds as they gazed at each other. But in their hearts they knew that the answer was unfortunately obvious. They finally came to the same agreement as they both looked at Diamond Star sadly and nodded their heads… and he acceptably nodded back.

“Alright, now that that’s taken care of,” said Twilight to everyone, “I don’t know how much time we have left to possibly get everypony to a safe place, so…”

“I’m afraid that it’s a bit too late for that.”

Everyone there froze suddenly as they a dark menacing voice nearby that sounded almost familiar. Everyone turned around and saw the last thing they wanted to see at this time; it was Pumpkin… or was it? The form reminisces that of Pumpkin, but she look completely different almost resembling a fiery demon.

“Sweet, merciful mother of Luna!” Diamond Star thought to himself with wide frighten eyes.

Blocking the path behind it completely with fire, the creature stared the crowd down wearing a blood lust smile, “No pony… is going anywhere.”