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// 12 - Not All That Kills Is Ugly 
// Story: Raison D'être 
// by mechafone 
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Spark Storm sighed as he made his way through Everfree Forest. His heart was heavy, as were his footsteps. His latest trip to Ponyville was a disaster. Well...maybe not a huge disaster. He'd helped the Apple family to get the farm ready for winter. He'd plowed every day, kept his strength up. He'd even grown a little, gotten bigger and a little stronger.

Plus, he'd seen Apple Bloom grow enough to see her running around on the farm and causing trouble. The little filly was full of energy, and kept everypony who watched her on their hooves at all times. She was definitely going to be a runner.

Spark was much too lost in thought of his old home. As he walked, he moved further and further away from Canterlot Castle, where he should have been heading, and deeper and deeper into unknown territory. Well, it wasn't completely unknown. Celestia herself knew every inch of the Everfree Forest, and what laid in wait for unknowing Ponies to slip into it's borders. All the things in the dark. And all the things in the light.

Not all that kills is ugly.



Ampelus smiled down at the pony in her forelegs. He looked happy like that, snuggled up against her chest, his face buried in her fur. Though the wings had certainly been a surprise, the stallion had wasted no time in laying with the mare. They had made love for hours, the both of them enthralled in wild passion. Afterwards, the two had laid there until he fell asleep.

Stallions were such strange creatures to lay so quickly with a mare. He didn't even know her name, and he didn't seem to care to, either. Her seductive words and motions were enough to invite him closer, to tease him, kiss him, carress him. It wasn't often that her hours of waiting were rewarded with such vigorous passion, but today was such a day.

All that waiting made it much more rewarding as she finally decided it was time to feed. She snuggled closer to him, her legs wrapping around him tightly, tight enough for him to awaken. "Oh, heheh...is it time for more already?" He chuckled and made to mount her once more, but her hold on him was tightening. It was beginning to hurt a little. He was more than a little surprised as her legs began to thin out and wrap around his body in painful rope-like motions. "Wait, wait! What are you do-" He was cut off as an actual vine from the trees nearby wrapped around his throat and cut off his air. He struggled and choked out something like a gurgle.

Ampelus moaned in pleasure as she felt her lover struggle for air. Asphyxiation was her biggest turn on, and since that's how she ate, this served as a double-win. She writhed against him, serving herself one last time before he ran out of fight. Ampelus let out a shudder and a final moan as her victim's body became limp, crushed and suffocated under her coils. Satisfied that her dinner had been well-prepared, the nymph dined.



Almalthea let out a long, drawn-out sigh of contentment. She looked down at the body laying underneath her, completely drained of nutrients and life energy. The mare had given her plenty of play time to enjoy beforehand, so she'd had more fun that just eating. She was about to dispose of the body when one of her youngest children, Orea, came bounding into the area, her adorable little wings fluttering with excitement. "Mother, mother, another has entered the forest!"

Almalthea blinked back her surprise as she stood and walked to little Orea, crushing the body that laid under her hooves with a satisfying crunch. "Another? Such felicitous happenings of late. Our forest has certainly been littered with the ponyfolk these hours. Curiouser and curiouser. Show me, Orea." The bouncy little Nymph flittered out to where she had seen him. It took her a moment, because he was so difficult to point out in the darkness.

"There, mother..." she whispered, pointing a hoof to the young Pegasus stallion. Almalthea's eyes sparkled with curiosity, but then she groaned with just the faintest hint of distaste. "Oh, Orea. He is but a boy. He could not serve us. Lest we all forget, we have all eaten our fill." She smiled and patted Orea's head. The little sprite glared at her mother and crossed her forelegs. "But mother, I want him." "You want him? My little dear, even you are too young for such romps."

Orea shook her head with a telltale blush. "No! I...I just want him. He is beautiful and I am lonely." The mother nymh's eyes widened a bit at this. "Lonely? Have you grown so tired of your companionship with your dear mother and sister as to be lonely?" She added a dramatic swish of her head. She knew this wasn't the case. Little Orea had always been a little different than she and her other daughter. She actually craved real, pony companionship. 'Why do we look like them if we cannot be friends?' was often the argument.

Orea gave her mother one final pout. She didn't like being teased, and she was desperate to make a friend. Almalthea sighed and thought to herself for a moment. One the one hoof, ponies and other creatures were their food. There was no sense for a sundew to make friends with the ants and flies that it trapped for food. It was the same for the Nymphs. They ate the monsters that traveled through their woods, and the same went for the sentient beings, who provided entertainment as well as nutrition.

On the other hoof, she loved and adored her children. Orea especially. Even though she was already over 200 years old, the little nymph had never lost her innocence, and preferred to eat without making a mess. She had eaten ponies before, of course, but she never played with them the way her sister did. Orea wasn't allowed to do that until she was least 500. Almalthea had standards to uphold, after all.

Finally making a decision, Almalthea gave her daughter a nod. "Very well, I suppose..." Orea's eyes grew wide. Was her mother really giving her permission to make a friend? She nearly flew off when she found herself pinned to the floor by her tail. She looked up at her mother with expectant and slightly fearful eyes. "But you cannot keep him, Orea. If you wish to befriend him, that must be all he is. I will not have my youngest daughter tainted by pain and hate if your sister were to find out about this. You know what she would do." Orea's eyes widened as she remembered the last time she had fancied a friend.

"If you understand this, then go, my love. Do not bring him into our woods. If you do, you will lose him." It was not so much a warning as a promise. The little nymph nodded, then hugged her mother tightly about her neck. "Oh thank you, mother! I promise, I will be careful!" She leapt from the trees, and quickly flew after to catch up to the beautiful dark Pegasus she'd seen.

As she flew, mother and daughter were completely oblivious to the vines that slowly crept along the trees, following silently along behind the excited nymh child.