Everfree Blanks

Everfree

Applebloom hadn't seen Metalhoof all night. She didn't return with Sweetie Belle, like she should've. Instead, Sweetie Belle trotted to Applebloom alone and unaccompanied. The fillies talked quietly for a while before Sweetie Belle returned home. Neither of them were in the mood to mention what was happening in Ponyville, but their minds were full of it. Applebloom was starting to grow apprehensive... wasn't Metalhoof her buddy? Friend? Pal? Friends never leave each other without reason. Her mood became more and more sour as time slipped away.

At afternoon break, Applebloom decided to pay Metalhoof a visit. She galloped off to where she thought the metallic mare lived. Nopony responded to her frantic knocking. To her surprise, the door swung open. The small filly stepped inside hastily. Metalhoof’s house was pretty modest. There were the usual furnishings, along with a few strange devices she had never seen before. Applebloom wondered if they had something to do with the fact that Metalhoof was a cyborg... robot... pony. Shaking her head, she continued to investigate the house. Entering the kitchen, she gasped when she saw the all too familiar blood writing on the wall. Applebloom didn't have to decipher the blood stained letters. She already knew what they spelt.

It wasn’t long before Applebloom stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Summoning all her courage, she slowly advanced forward into the dark woods... and promptly got lost. To her, it seemed like she had been wandering for ages. Deciding to take a break, she lay down in a thick patch of grass. Just as she was about close her eyes for a nap, the stallion heard the soft noise from amongst the bushes and stared at her. Applebloom didn't dart away. She remained seated, staring back at the pale pony. She watched it approach her, all of her emotions flushing out of her small body. It bounded upon her, causing Applebloom to flinch, but Applebloom didn't feel the collision. She felt a cold, weightless sensation, as though she were floating in the air, then a hard surface replaced it.

Applebloom’s eyes fluttered open. Taking in her surroundings, she guessed that she was in Zecora's hut. She had been to see Zecora before. Ignoring the lack of the zebra’s presence or the blood stained floor, the red maned filly exited the hut. When she stepped outside, the forest had changed. Black trees. Dark turquoise grass. This was the alternate dimension she had escaped from some time ago. She stumbled some length into the woods until some blanks appeared around her. Applebloom didn't stir. She simply prayed in her dizzy head for everything to end. She didn’t care how, as long as it was soon.

EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT. THERE IS NO NEED TO HIDE. YOU'RE EVERFREE NOW. YOU WILL REMAIN HAPPILY WITH US. FOREVER.

NO. STOP.

Applebloom’s head suddenly perked up, surprised to hear a different kind of voice... Fluttershy's altered whisper. She turned slowly, and saw the partially coloured Fluttershy she had seen in her dream the night before. REMEMBER WHO THIS FILLY IS. WE MUST NOT TAKE HER.

The blanks wordlessly shuffled off into the Everfree, leaving Applebloom and Fluttershy alone.

"Fluttershy... take me. Please, jus’ make me into one of those... things. Ah don't want to bear any more guilt." Applebloom cried.

WE'RE SORRY, BUT WE CANNOT. IF WE TAKE YOU, THEN WE'LL BE CONFINED TO THAT AREA OF THE FOREST.

"Then kill me another way. Ah don't want to live anymore. Since this whole thing started, my life’s been nothing but a nightmare. My friends, my big sister... ah can’t take it anymore..."

APPLEBLOOM...

"Let me die here. This- this is too much for me. Ah can’t escape no matter where ah run or hide."

Fluttershy's face softened as she looked at the pitiful filly. Colour began to return to her body, and the black of her eye began to drain away, restoring itself to it natural state. The triangle however, remained. Her voice returned to it’s familiar quiet whisper as she spoke. "Please don't think this way. I don't want you dead."

Applebloom simply looked up at Fluttershy.

"I want to leave, but I can't. I've been taken, and I'm forever bound to a death of feeding off souls." explained Fluttershy.

Applebloom's eyes sparkled. "You really do want to leave?"

"Throughout all of my death I only want to live again, but I know there is no life after my death."

"Have you tried?"

"The stallion doesn't want to free any of us blanks. I can never catch him, now matter how hard I try. I understand though. This is my death." Fluttershy looked towards the forest then back at Applebloom. "I want you to go back to the real Ponyville. It is your home, and you have a life to live there."

Applebloom hugged Fluttershy. For a moment, she felt warmth being transferred from the kind yellow mare to herself, but it evaporated just as quickly as it came. "Thank you." she whispered. She then ran off into the distance to find the stallion again.

Fluttershy's colour shrivelled back until it was only on the left side of her face again. COME BACK SOME TIME, APPLEBLOOM.

Applebloom ran over to the stallion that had been watching her in the distance, feeling much better inside. It saw Applebloom and turned to run, but Applebloom launched herself through the air, latching onto his back leg. In an instant, the entire world started spinning and fading. Applebloom felt dizzy from all of the colours racing around her. It felt as though she was being rocketed through the air.

Applebloom shut her eyes, and the dizziness died off immediately. The air around her was calm and still. Cracking one eye open, she looked around. The young filly was facing Sweet Apple Acres. Her home. She opened both her eyes and looked back. The stallion stood at the edge of the forest, near the campsite. Although he had no eyes, Applebloom could tell he was looking at her kindly. Before she could thank him, he turned back towards the forest and ran inside.

Applebloom faced the barn again and sighed. Despite all the trouble she held close, Fluttershy remained in her heart. Applebloom trotted towards the farmhouse, without looking back.

In Canterlot, one of the royal guards was making his way up a tall flight of stairs, being careful not to drop the tray of food in his telekinetic grip. Princess Celestia was, supposedly, studying in the observatory tower, and had requested not to be disturbed. Still, the kitchen staff were worried for the Princess, and ordered for her lunch to be brought up to her tower.

"Princess Celestia, lunch is served- Princess?"

Celestia wasn't there.

"Princess?" the guard called again, looking around the room. Scrolls were scattered all over the floor. The guard carefully made his way toward the desk where Celestia wrote most of her letters. He brushed the scrolls on the right hand side of the desk off of it and placed the food tray in their place.

"She probably took a break." he guessed. He turned back to leave, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something unusual on the wall behind the desk.

There was a single scroll pinned to the wall. A circle of black paint surrounded it. The seal on the scroll was black paint, rather than the orange and cobalt blue stamp Celestia normally used.

"Well that's unusual for the Princess." the guard pondered to himself. He removed the seal and rolled the scroll down, but what was written made his eyes narrow. Immediately he ran downstairs, screaming "Celestia! Princess Celestia! Come quick, you must see this!".

END