Prologue:
*ring ring ring ring ring* is all that could be heard before the mob of young fillies left Cherilee’s class.
“Schools out!” - one of the young ponies yelled
A massive cheer can be heard, that seems to resonate with the entire crowd of ponies...
“The cutie mark crusaders are done with school for the summer!” - announced all 4 of the young CMC hoof bumping together in celebration.
Still stuck in the seemingly ever growing crowd of people, as the wave of people seemed to bring the 4 fillies into town, where pinkie was throwing a “last day of school party”.
Seems kinda silly now that they think of it, but it’s pinkie, so can anypony ever really tell?
The CMC didn’t stay at the party for long, they all had to grab some of pinkie’s famous cupcakes, but besides that, the party looked quite fun but they couldn't stay long they had some stuff to do.
After they left, they decided to meet at the clubhouse to reconvene. They set off in their little group, marching as proud as they come.
The 4 young fillies reach the clubhouse, weird, before that day I hadn’t remembered the last time we had actually gone inside the clubhouse as the CMC,
we were so young and innocent.
Lately, Applebloom had been working out at the farm with her family, seeing as Big Mac has been sick for the past 2 weeks.
Scootaloo had been training every single day with Rainbow Dash, spending hours upon hours practicing for the flight school exam.
Could it have really been that hard...
Sweetiebelle had been spending time with her marefriend, Buttonmash.
Babs Seed had been mostly in Manehattan most of the visiting time in Ponyville usually ended with hanging out with just Applebloom. Babs had come up to visit her friends and her favorite cousin, hoping to spend as much time with them as she could, since it had been awhile since they last hangout. She was currently staying at the farm with AppleBloom.
They walked up the steps into the clubhouse and opened the door.
All 4 stepped inside, 1 by 1. They saw how much of a state of disrepair it the clubhouse was in. There were spiders on the walls, and dust bunnies littering the floor.
"Whoa, we really let this place go" Babs said as she looked around,
"eh...it's not that bad.." Sweetie Belle said trying to sound positive but failed,
"not that bad! Your kidding right? Look at this mess" Scootaloo said pointing out all the webs dust and spiders, she looked very displeased.
Applebloom suddenly stepped in a grin beginning to form on her face,
"Aww come on Scootaloo it's nothing a little TLC can't fix" she said, her smile growing wider with the comment.
"Yea! But i don't think you'll need a little TLC more like a lot of TLC", Babs said sarcastically
A strange force seemed to be pulling their attention towards the middle of the room..
"Girl's look" Babs pointed
at this thing it appeared to look like a spider.
A very dark black, spider. They all stared intently at it, expecting something to happen.
It felt as though it was sucking all the life out of the room...
It appeared to be the source of all the webs in the clubhouse.
The giant spider sat on a web that spanned the entire room.
The 4 fillies made an attempt to remove the web, without disturbing the giant spider, but to no avail.
Applebloom, now extraordinarily terrified, seemed to be getting pulled towards the web
"We gotta get her out of there" said Scootaloo looking to both Babs and Sweetie Belle,
they looked at each other and nodded
"I'll try and pull her out, Sweetie Belle you help me pull, and Scootaloo you make sure we don't fall into another web".
Scootaloo looked confused "What! Why me why not Sweetie Belle"
"Because you have more strength then her"
"Hey!!" Sweetie Belle suddenly said looking slightly mad and offended
"Sorry i just meant she'll be more likely to break are fall if we lose are balance"
"Oh, Right Babs, so that way i fall into these webs, right so that you and Sweetie Belle don't have to" She said rolling her eyes and letting out a huff
"Ah! Come on Scootaloo you’ll be fine just use that wing power of yours....unless you know you're not the student of the best flyer in all of Equestria who can handle anything" Babs said, facing Scootaloo with a smirk.
"What do you mean?! Of course i can handle anything...it's just am not so sure about this" Scootaloo tried sounding confidence till she looked at the web again.
"Which part? The part where you can handle anything or the part where your a chicken!" Babs let out a small laugh.
"Chicken...i'm not a chicken" Scootaloo faced Babs
"Are too" Babs stepped towards Scootaloo.
"Are not" Scootaloo butted heads with Babs.
"Are too"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!!"
"Are too!!"
"Are not!!!"
"GIRLS!! We don't have time to argue we need to get her out of there now!" Sweetiebelle said forcefully slamming her hoof into the wood getting both of the girls attention, she pointed at a now even more afraid Applebloom who looked scarred for her life.
Babs and Scootaloo both saw this and nodded at each other, feeling sorry for their actions.
Babs stepped as close as she could towards Applebloom without touching the web, Sweetie grabbed one of Babs’ hooves, getting a good grip, Scootaloo stood a few feet behind them, she braced herself.
"Come on Applebloom grab my hoof" Babs could see desperation on Applebloom's face,
"O-Ok...." Applebloom said,
quickly reaching out taking Babs Hoof,
Babs pushed but Applebloom didn't seem to move much
"Sweetie Belle are you even pushing?" Said Babs pushing a little harder,
"what do you think I'm doing, sightseeing?!" She said bracing her back hooves into the floor and tucking as hard as she could with her front hoofs.
After about a minute of this Babs said
"I think we've almost got ya, just one more push, Ok?"
Sweetie Belle Nodded
"Ok...1...2....3!! Push!"
And suddenly Babs and Sweetie Belle both fell backwards hitting Scootaloo and falling to floor. Luckily, nopony smashed into another web.
Applebloom lay in front of them seeming dazed from the sudden crash, she slowly got up and blinked a few times, then she smiled and did a little hop,
"hooray! I'm free I'm free!"
"See there Scoots told ya you'd be fine" Babs says looking to Scootaloo patting her on the back,
"Yea...Yea.." Replied the Pegasus
Sweetie Belle dashed up to Applebloom hugging her and said
"are you alright Applebloom?" She said, worry plaguing her voice,
"I'm fine now ugh.. I'm so glad I'm out of that web..." Applebloom looked frighten saying her next words
"that definitely ain't no normal spider web ya...we need to leave" they all nodded and said "Yea!"
They all head straight for the door to leave when suddenly
*SLAM*
the door shuts with a large crash..
“Ahhhh!” - the 4 fillies screamed
*Applebloom begins to cry*
All 3 of the others go to comfort her
*Babs begins to bang on the door with all her force but the door doesn't budge*
Scootaloo, damnit, why did you have to be brave…
*scootaloo steps forward*
“What do you want with us?” -her voice shaking a little bit
*silence filled the room*
*minutes of pure silence*
Applebloom looked around the clubhouse, and was surprised.
‘This wasn’t the club house!’ She thought to herself.
The other 3 fillies, seeing applebloom’s look of confusion gave her a blank stare.
After a few more moments of silence, they all started to realise that they were not in the clubhouse at all, but instead, inside some sort of place. It didn’t seem real or fake. It was like a dream.
“OUCH!” All 4 of the fillies started to scream as they felt a sharp pain in their flank.
Their cutie marks were… glowing? This is new. This is not like when the map was calling them, it almost felt like it was a burning sensation. Like something was wrong, This makes no sense! In the void, you hear a noise, the grinding of metal on, what is that, something sinister. Something horrible? Pony flesh? Could it be? The 3 fillies in the room noticed something odd about scootaloo, she seemed to be, crying?
They watched in horror, as she said her final words
“You have… beautiful eyes!”
And just like that, scootaloo, right before their eyes was shredded into pony meat.
Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Babs all lost their breakfasts on the eerie mystical plane of existence. They all watched as their best friend, like a sister to them all, connected through the power of cutie marks themselves was grounded into nothing.
A jolt of pain hits the other 3 ponies. It feels as though they too were being sucked in, but in reality, the Pegasus device had claimed it’s last victim for the day.
Somewhere up above the screaming houses of rarity and sweet apple acres, there were rainbows being projected into the sky.
Chapter 1: Denial
“It’s ok sugarcube, everything is alright, your big sis is here for ya” Applejack said in a comforting voice
“Wha-, whaattt happened? Where’s Scootaloo? Where’s Sweetiebelle?” - Applebloom and Babs asks together frantically, looking shaken up.
“What in the hay are you ya talkin about? Is this a prank or something? I think ya were havin dem nightmares again.” - Applejack said, still trying to comfort her frantic sister and her cousin.
“It all felt so real! Scootaloo, was with us and we were trying to get out of what we thought was are clubhouse but it wasn't and we got locked in” - Applebloom now said with an even more panicked voice.
Babs Nodded looking as frighten as Applebloom was.
Applejack just stared at the young fillys
“I thought she went off to flight school today?”
“Well, she didn’t! I remember dat she was with us at school today! It was dah last day of school! Can’t you even remember that Aj? This is my graduation from fillyhood.” - said Applebloom, seeming more upset with every minute.
“That was almost 3 weeks ago, sugar cube!”
a long silence filled the room...
“What?!?!” both Fillies say then paused and looked around the room,
she was definitely not in the club house. No mysterious aura either. They were.... home???
could it have been all a dream?
“We need to talk to Sweetiebelle, right now!” Applebloom said, with a strong and powerful voice, nothing like the shaken filly that had been screaming for help just moments ago. It was as if it wasn’t even her that was saying it, but like, a voice more than her own.
“Alright, just be careful! And be sure to tell Rarity-“
the door slammed behind Applebloom and Babs as they dash out of the room with tremendous speed, they seemed to be moving as fast as Rainbowdash or Pinkie..
“Nevermind” -Aj said with an exasperated whine.
Applebloom and Babs galloped across sweet apple acres with the speed that they didn’t even know They had.
Babs asked Applebloom, "Do ya think Applejack could been right?...that...that it was all just a dream?"
"No Way! It couldn't had been it was too real to be a dream"
Applebloom said sounding confident, "i hope Scootaloo’s ok..."
Babs Nodded, and said "Yea, me too"
"Babs wait...."
Babs had stopped
"what is it?" She looked at Applebloom,
"Ya see that?" She pointed at something off in the distance, they both looked at it.
They noticed something odd. The acres seemed to feel like something else, something more sinister and dark. Some sort of, factory?
Applebloom was about to slow down to let the still shocked Babs catch up when suddenly.
CRASH
Applebloom smashed head first into an apple tree, a thin trickle of blood rolling down her forehead.
“What in the hay?” She said rubbing her head trying to soothe the pain
Babs stood over her with a worried expression on her face,
"are you okay Applebloom"
"Yea...yea i'm alright" she said preparing to get up, but Babs quickly reached out to her hoof and said
"here let me help you"
After being helped up and dusting herself off she, thanked Babs.
"No problem, that’s what family and friends are for, right?"
they both started at a more moderate pace. Applebloom Tried to think about what she saw.
Suddenly, Applebloom hears a name go through her head, as if someone is shouting in fear into her ear.
“Orion”
The voice sounds familiar, but Applebloom couldn’t put her whoove on it.
Why did that name seem so familiar?
"Did ya hear that Babs?"
She looked at her cousin, "hear what?"
“The name”
“What name?”
“You know, that voice that be soundin kinda familiar?”
“What I’m the hay are you goin on about?”
At this point, both the fillies are confused.
‘Am I really losing it?’
She didn’t have much time to dwell on this question before applebloom’s ears were gifted with another name,
“Aurora”
“Ok, now I think I’m just losing it, who in the hay is that?”
"Who in the hay is what?" Babs looked even more confused.
"Aurora"
"Aurora?"
"Yea! Didn't you hear it" Applebloom said hoping she wasn't crazy.
"Nope i didn't hear that either...i think that tree may have knocked a few Apples out of ya head Applebloom,"
Applebloom stops.
So does Babs.
“This all has to be all just dream, Are friend ain’t dead! She is alive!” The words bursting out of her mouth, like they were being forced out of her
Babs didn't reply. She simply frowned at Applebloom.
Applebloom halted to a stop and let out a scream which made Babs ears fold back with its sheer volume and pitch
“Argghghhhhhhhhhh”
“This can’t be true. Scoots practiced every day! With Rainbow Dash! THE BEST FLYER IN EQUESTRIA!”
Babs just sat there, trying to act calm.
“You, and your little, nightmare, think you can scare me”
Babs moved closer to applebloom as she could feel the filly slowly losing her sanity.
“Arggggggghhhhhggh”
CRACK
Babs watched in shock as Applebloom bucked forcefully at the wooden fence that protected the orchard from the outside world of ponyville.
the fence cracked, but not without leaving gashes running down her back legs
Applebloom noticed nothing, she was too far gone.
“Scootaloo is the strongest pony I have ever met! She would never fail that lousy test!”
Babs still sat there, trying to hold her tongue.
Applebloom kept thinking to herself ‘this is just a bad dream! Scootaloo is still here! She has to be!’
Suddenly Babs picked up Applebloom and placed her on her hooves on the ground.
SMACK
Babs slapped her cheek, only a little harder than she had intended,
and nearly yelled at Applebloom
"Applebloom get a hold of yourself, losing your mind isn't going to help us or Scootaloo!!"
Applebloom rubbed her cheek which had become red now,
"Ow! Hey! That hurt"
It seems as if her sanity were back, at least for the time being.
Babs said with an apologetic on her face, "Sorry..."
she pauses for a second, her face turning cold as stone,
"But you were totally losing Applebloom I had to do something. You were acting all crazy!"
"Oh...sorry about that, all this is really getting to me" Applebloom said looking a little embarrassed,
Babs suddenly placed a hoof on her shoulder and looked into her eye's,
"it's alright Applebloom, you’re not alone. I’m here for ya and I won't let anything happen to you" she paused for second,
"remember that ok"
Applebloom nodded, looking back at her.
Sweetie belle
Applebloom remembered the entire reason they had galloped all this way.
She trotted into ponyville with Babs right behind her, blood trickling out of Applebloom's cuts in her legs.
She noticed something odd, everypony was, staring at them!
She began to feel a bit panicked.
‘Have I done something wrong?’
"What the hay wrong with these Ponies?" Babs questioned as she stared back at them,anger in her voice.
"I....I don't know let's just keep moving" Applebloom said tugging at Babs.
They darted through town as fast as they're legs could carry them. They finally stopped when they got to Rarity’s Boutique.
“RARITY!!! Open up! Please Rarity!” A sense of pure urgency in Applebloom's voice.
‘why are you so urgent? Are you going insane?’
Babs stood behind her, almost in a guard like position, her brow frowned in anger from the sight of all these nosey ponies still watching them in the distance she let out a slight growl.
“Yes, Darling, what is it?” Rarity said opening the door with a confused look.
“Sweetiebelle, where… is… she” a wave of nausea passing over her as another strange flash back rushed through her thoughts.
She kept the dream to herself.
‘It is just a fucking dream!’
“Darling, are you alright? What ever seems to be the matter? You look frightfully ill!” - Rarity said with a concerned look.
“We just need to see Sweetiebelle, like right now!”
"We?" Rarity looked behind her and saw a dark brown pony with red hair almost covering one of her eye's.
“Oh well Hm, she has been upstairs all day! It’s kind of unlike her, but I have been working on a massive order so I let her sleep in. You two can check on her, if you would like?”
Applebloom nods, they both walk up the long staircase to Sweetiebelle’s room.
Applebloom knocked on the door with her hoof.
silence
“Sweetiebelle? It’s Applebloom and Babs. Is everything alright?”
silence
"Come on Applebloom just open the door" Babs
said with a noticeable amount of worry in her voice
“We are coming in, I’m sorry, sweetie!” - both fillies said simultaneously.
Applebloom slowly creaks the door open.
Creaaaaaak
“Huhhhh” - A shocked Applebloom said, as she saw her friend lying on the floor in a little ball of blanks rocking back and forth. She was...sobbing?
“Go away!” Sweetie yelled, tossing a nearby lamp with her magic at Applebloom,
Babs quickly bumped her to the side, the lamp just missing Applebloom.
“What the hell sweetie?” Applebloom said with a look of confusion and slight anger
"Yea you could've really hurt her!" Babs said slightly angry
“Oh my god, fuck, I’m so sorry. Applebloom, I thought you were her!”
They all paused for a moment, in all the time they had known each other, they had never felt so oddly connected.
Even though Applebloom, now covered in dried blood, she didn’t mind. She knew what she meant. Somehow, someway. It wasn’t a dream.
It.
Was.
Real.