Lost Shadow
“Equestriaaaaaaaaah!”
Three females, one berry colored, the other two fillies with one red mane and the other a unicorn with a small white body. Her horn was torn in half with pieces dotted on the floor. The two fillies huddled in the cold metal wall, their tiny hooves locked away with rusted chains.
“Your brains are my delicacy!” she sang.
The three shuddered and hugged each other with what space they could. Their whimpered cries blanked out from the slam of copper pan and metal fork. The white filly held a tight hold on the other one while being held over the older mare. They shivered and cried from the inevitable approach.
“Your next my little marshmallow, Fizzlepop Berrytwist is your patron for tonight”.
Her dark purple body and vibrant red mane was shadowed by the broken horn she held. The giant metal fork and pan slammed against each other. Those instruments rusted and used with the ichor of blood and flesh.
“No please, don’t hurt anymore poni-”
Fizzlepop slammed the fork straight into her head. The mare shook and then went limp in seconds. Her body limped over the two fillies as they screamed a terrified screech.
“Oh I love it when a pony dies, each scream makes me squeal inside!”
She twirled around and danced, her instruments of meat were used as batons of flare. She crept to the three fleshlings and gave a smile that stretched to the ends of her face. With one pull, the dead mare’s scalp bones cracked with the removal of her tool. Blood shot out from the head and drenched everypony’s faces. Fizzlepop Berrytwist neared her delicious prey, so hungry for more, she chomped close to a face. Her pristinely white teeth and canines were easily bare to them. They shouted at the potential loss of their skin. The two cried an ocean of tears. No pony would hear them except the dead corpse above their bodies. Their agonized screams unable to provide any solace of safety.
She pointed with her stained fork and cried like they were, a twisted way to enjoy herself.
“Look at you helpless worms, you wouldn’t survive a second outside of Equestria, what else is good for useless ponies like yourselves, a mechanism of your pathetic lives”.
From the corner of this mechanical place, covered in metal and electrical cords, was a long metal lever on the corner. She gave a crazed, inordinate laugh as she pulled it down. The fillies and the fresh dead mare fell to the lower level.
“Oh, and I’ll be watching your progress, you two!”
The laughter wouldn’t pause, they fell to the empty place with their hopes and screams.
_
It had been so long that time turned into meaningless darkness. Only the light that was above them comforted their near dead bodies. The two fillies laid there alone. Their stomachs tightened, the flesh bore into their bodies, unable to quench their eternal satiation.
“Ach ah ah ah, Applebloom”
“Don’t waste your energy Sweetie Belle, stop your mouth”
She shambled as she tried to move with her chains that pulled her back. The same as always, a reminder that there was no escape. Their tiny bodies so skin tight and malnourished, you could see their large bellies filled with nothing.
“I could… I could eat something, just a bite, nothing too terrible…” said Sweetie.
Applebloom fought the energy to speak and gritted her teeth. She knew better after all this time of empty futures. All she knew was that somepony would save them. At some point, a savior will come and get them.
Sweetie Belle drooled, her teeth bared for her to see.
“Just one bite, just one taste, that's all I need”
Applebloom screamed with a raspy cough.
“No! We won’t eat her, “Cack” we won’t eat her, we can’t eat her…”
The corpse of the mare was filled with maggots. They crawled over her dead terrified expression. All of them going up her nose, down her open brain, they crawled through her porous eyes. She was eaten alive, and they couldn’t even have a piece of her. It wouldn’t be fair to not share. The maggots had leaped and bit off as much as they could chew. Time had given them an all you could eat buffet and those two were just stuck there, watching. One of those buggers got some guts and crawled to Sweetie Belle.
She looked at it with its small, clear body and stretched her body as far as it could go. With one gollop, the insect was eaten with several fast bites. Sweetie Belle swallowed it with all her love.
“Tasty!” she said before she turned to Applebloom. “You should h-h-have some too before they all fly away, eheheh”.
Applebloom stared at nothing, was nothing, and felt nothing. She didn’t have the words to speak. They wouldn’t come out, her stare was all that was left.
“Stop Staring, just eat, it's tasty!”
Applebloom wouldn't dare to eat such maggot infested flesh. Even if she was nearly a bag of bones. All she could think of was the taste of Zap Apple Muffins that her sister would make for her. But, her insatiable hunger was too insurmountable to ignore. It just prodded and poked at Applebloom to the point where it was skin ripped torture. Sweetie Belle slammed her whole mouth onto the corpse and engorged the flesh with each bite. A piece of maggot flesh ripped out to a long string of meat. A torrent of blood shot out and covered her mane. She swallowed each bite whole with a carnivorous desire.
The door to the ceiling room clacked. These chains were released from their hooves by some unforeseen mechanism. A barrel poked itself through the ceiling door.
“No, Sweetie Belle watch out!” she screamed.
The barrel of the shotgun shot and emptied into Sweetie Belle’s head. She fell over the corpse she was eating with a flop. Her brain matter flew over and was then covered by maggots.
“Hahahahaha, eat or be eaten!” said Fizzlepop Berrytwist. She blew on the smoke of her shotgun and smiled. “Hello there little one, why haven’t you eaten yet?” she said while she aimed her shotgun straight at her.
“Go on do it, you killed Sweetie Belle, I don’t care anymore” she said with a sob.
Fizzlepop laughed with a deep guttural chuckle. Each snort from her came with an uncontrollable urge to slam the butt of the gun at her metal wall.
“You sad pathetic worm, you could die in this hole which I may have caused, or you could live and get your revenge another day, how about it?”
Applebloom laid there and sobbed with no tears.
“Oh boo hoo, fine, you can die just like them, I wonder what Tartarus is like for nice little ponies like you” she said. “Or you could come back from Tartarus and climb back up by holding my shotgun to freedom, it's your choice”.
Applebloom turned away. The sight of their dead bodies and the awful smell that tasted of trash cheese.
“I… want freedom…”
Fizzlepop peered in and put her own hoof near her ear.
“What was that, didn’t quite hear?”
“I… I… give me Freedom!”
The barrel to the shotgun went in. With all her strength, Applebloom wrapped her hooves around the base. She was lifted up to the ceiling and rolled down the metal sheet floor. Sweetie Belle and the other one were no more.
“My my, you are a strong filly after all, didn’t even concede to eating the flesh I’m so proud” she said while she leaned on her shotgun. “Though I only needed one of you so a game had to be played, unfortunate so to say?”.
“I’ll kill you, you monster” said Applebloom with a weak whimper.
Fizzlepop pushed the barrel at her body and flipped her on her back. There, Applebloom’s skin covered rib cage could be seen.
“Now that isn’t something you say to your saviour now, and you’re a tad boned out at the moment to get revenge”.
Applebloom couldn’t move a muscle. Her whole body felt weak and unmovable. To breath was a chore. The ability to speak was agony to even think of.
“Hmm, how about a dinner date then, I do believe there is something sweet and tantalizing awaiting you in the other room, if you behave”.
The starved filly felt her body stiffen before she felt dazed and then she blacked out. An image of a dark silhouette with a wide grin was the last image she saw.
-_-
Applebloom awoke to the scent of fresh pancakes with hot smoking syrup. She opened her eyes and across the table was Fizzlepop scarfing down a fresh batch of blue-berry pancakes. On Applebloom’s plate was a large stack of waffles covered in extra butter and sweetness. She began to eat it like an animal, a sow that couldn’t refuse the rampaging hunger any longer. Her teeth ripped apart the top waffle and with what power she could muster, slurped the sauce down on her plate like an octopus. She breathed in quick breaths of fresh air.
“Wow such a ravenous appetite, can’t even recognize my brand new gift” she said.
Applebloom turned away from eating and noticed a large metal ring around her neck. She tried to pull it off, but her hoof bone nearly cracked at the force.
“If you try anything comedic, I will not hesitate to blow you sky high”.
Fizzlepop pulled out a metal piece with a long stick and a big red button on its face. She pressed the button to which a timer began to tick from it. Applebloom touched her ring and then watched the unfinished waffles, before she pounced and ate upon it without worry of the danger. If it was to be her last meal, she would savor each gelatinous coated bite. The timer ended with her demise and Applebloom ate with the long sound of electronic ringing that played into her ear drums.
And no explosion, so quick the waffles were eaten and stuffed to a ploy. She could have enjoyed the succulent starch but they were put down much too fast.
“Hee hee hee, you fell for it, but I wouldn't take a chance now with a playful joke, this can still kill you... Now that that is done with, why don’t I show you your room, it's quite comfy”.
Applebloom followed her past the dinner table into a long hallway of metal pipes and doors. Fizzlepop paused at one of the metal doorways with Applebloom behind. Her metal ring illuminated green light across the electronic band. The door opened to reveal a small simple bed with a sink and a small white toilet. Applebloom went in with half steps and fell into the bed without hesitation. All sprawled over the clean sheet with limbs all over the place. To Applebloom, it was better than sleeping in a cold dark room with a decayed corpse. The image of Sweetie Belle’s brain lopped over her head caused Applebloom to jerk her body.
Come on Applebloom, get it together, now is no time to cry for a friend
From behind the closed door, Fizzlepop spoke.
“Remember, you’ll get your revenge, in two days okay?” she said cheerfully. “I know how much you hate my guts, isn’t that awful?”.
The young filly didn’t want to hear her gratingly cheerful voice. All she could do was play along for now. She remembered how she woke up in those chains. Being torn away from Sweet Apple Acres in her sleep. Just a sleepover with Sweetie Belle and nothing else. How could it all turn to such a nightmare like this. For what reason did Applejack not save her? If she was there, none of this would have happened. If Big Mac came to their rescue. If there was anything that could have saved their lives.
Her small body relented and then drifted into a deep sleep.
-_-
Applebloom awoke to the motion stopping its movement. It quieted down before it went to a full stop. She went to the sink and looked deep into the mirror. Her eye sockets were black around her eyes, her face stretched and lips pruny. Her hoof dangled and then she smashed into the glass with all her might yet was unable to make a single crack in its frame. She could tell that her strength still hadn’t returned fully. It would take some time to get back to the old self.
The door opened to find a Fizzlepop Berrytwist standing there, waiting with that grin.
“Good morning sunshine, I want to show you something before breakfast”.
Applebloom massaged her eyes with her hooves and followed her as she went. They went towards the end of the hallway where the exit was, past the circular windows. Her stature was so tall and she had a content smile on her face. The look in her eye was difficult to consider. It led to the outside where an open pavilion showed that they were high in the sky. Metal railings that sat on the side and were situated a hundred miles up in the air.
“Don’t be a stickler now, come over to see what wonderful work I’ve been doing”.
Applebloom went near the rails and saw the side part of the air ship they were in. From the right of this place, a metal bar with circular metal wires slid open. A deluge of a black substance dripped down into the sandy earth below. She peered closer and caught the scent of copper and death.
“No” she begged to herself.
To her dismay, the only plausible thing that dripped from the sides… was blood.
“YES, now you understand, there must be sacrifice in order for life to carry on, do you see now, this will nourish this dead land and bring about a renaissance of plants to this world!”
It seemed endless, a waterfall of living juice that poured down in such amounts. She never thought she could have seen such a thing. And even worse, how many lives had to be sacrificed for this.
“Y-your insane”
Fizzlepop grinned with a bug-eyed look in her two eyes.
“Tomorrow is the big day, aren’t you excited, my work here is done and you’ll be able to go home again, won’t it be fun to see all your loved ones hmm?” she said.
Applebloom went towards the blood that seeped out over the earth, it caused her to stare deep into the red. It was almost hypnotic to watch the blood drip out in such quantity. It then went less and less in volume, before it petered out into small droplets.
That day at the table, Fizzlepop Berrytwist hummed to herself while Applebloom ate her meal of hay, carrots, and celery with small hesitant bites.
-_-
Applebloom awoke to the feeling of the ship landing. It shook and throttled along till it went to a full stop. The metallic slides opened without the living terror per usual, waiting there. She peered to the side of the hallway to see if she was waiting. No sign of life, she exited the place with quiet steps. As she looked, there was one particular door that was open. Applebloom ran headfirst out and found her waiting in the blood soaked sand.
She smiled as she always had, but she was soaked in some kind of black oily substance. A large expanse of blood sand spread from beyond towards the horizon. In Fizzlepops hoof was a fire lighter. Applebloom stepped back a few steps before she then walked forward to the beast.
“Here is your final gift my child” she clicked on the lighter and a dull flame burned upward from its crevice. “You wanted your revenge, this is all I can muster”.
Applebloom received the flame starter and peered into its dancing fire. There she looked down and threw it to the floor.
“No, I don’t care if you're a psychopathic monster, I don’t care if you killed Sweetie Belle, I won’t turn into you” She screamed. “You did so much harm to so many, how could you do such a thing, how could you cause so much suffering just for stupid sand!?”.
Fizzlepop fell to the floor with those words.
“It…”
Applebloom scowled at this abomination, she would not turn to such monstrosity.
“None of it matters”
Applebloom eyes stretched apart.
“Don’t you get it, none of anything matters none of this matters, everything is a lie, all of this is meaningless, this is a farce, a game of nothing, I’ll accomplish and go nowhere and never surmount to anything because we are all empty vessels without a single purpose in life because life is a Bucking existence that doesn’t mean anything!” she barked out. “I finally realized it, death, pain, friendship, sadness, happiness, it's all a goddamn empty lie, everything is a lie, you die and it all means Nothing!”
Applebloom spat on the ground.
“I don’t care, I won’t turn into you, I’m not you” she said. “I’m Applebloom and I have my friends, my family, and all those who care about me, who cares if it doesn’t mean anything in the end, I have and always will be me and friendship”.
Fizzlepop screamed and ran towards her. She picked up the lighter and the ecstasy of the flames seared her skin. Her laughter would unpause as the fire burned her skin till she was a laughing bonfire. All that was left was a pony sized figure that danced, she was transformed into mulch in seconds. Applebloom turned to the inflamed monster and closed her eyes before she walked back off into the air ship with a hoof at her heart.
“Poor thing” she muttered.