Blood.
There is blood everywhere.
No organs. No skin. No bodies. Just...
Blood.
I can hear a terrible ringing, as well as a thumping, much like this entire building is some kind of beating heart.
I look around, awestruck, and see Rainbow Dash. My heart sinks as I take in her appearance.
Her eyes are sunken in, and her wings seem to be turning to dust. My eyes widen as she speaks, her voice young and full of energy despite her appearance as a cadaver.
"Peter! You're back!"
She runs up to hug me, and I panic. I sidestep her, and run to the far end of the room, pressing myself against the wall in fear as I take shuddering gasps of air.
"Peter? Are you okay?"
I turn, and see Pinkie Pie. Her mane and tail are both straight, and rotting. Her eyes are sunken in, and one of them has gone milky, as if she's blind. One of her ears are torn, and the only thing left of her hind left leg is bones.
"Stay away from me!" I cry, fear gripping my very soul as I leap over the bed next to me, causing a shower of blood to coat the walls as my feet take off from the blood-soaked ground.
I try to find a hiding spot, where I can be safe from these ghouls, and I feel something tug on my shirt.
"P-Peter?"
I look down, and my heart breaks.
Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom are all standing there, their eyes full of fear and confusion. Apple Bloom's tail is missing, and her pink bow tie is sagging and rotten. Scootaloo's wings are bent at odd angles, and blood has stained her face, presumably from being face down in the stuff. Sweetie Belle's horn is broken, and a glowing substance leaks down from the wound.
"Oh, God," I whimper, speechless at the appearance of these three, poor children. I tear myself away, tears streaming down my cheeks as I dive into the bathroom.
"Ugh! Do you mind!" I hear. I turn, and see Rarity, wearing a bathrobe and a towel on her head. The bathrobe is rotten, as is the towel. Through the towel, I can see her skull, and a small amount of brain matter. Under the bathrobe, I can see muscle and bone, and almost no skin.
"Oh, God," I repeat as I dash out of the bathroom, barely holding the contents of my stomach down.
I look to the door, and start making a beeline for it. However, it slowly swings close, and I throw myself against it, uselessly. I turn, my chest heaving as two ponies close in on me.
"Peter?" Twilight asks, her horn dripping blood from its base. "Are you okay? You're acting like you've seen a ghost." As she walks forward, bits of her fur fall off, and her tail and mane rot away. Her eyes progressively sink in, and become empty husks of what they once were. The carpeting is treated with a new coat of blood as her skin peels off, and falls to the floor in flakes.
I turn my attention to Applejack, who is slowly approaching me, due to the hoof that she drags behind her, the muscle barely hanging on as it slides across the carpet. "Peter? Ya' feelin' okay? What happened at the castle that yer' so jumpy?"
I begin to shake, and bolt away from them before I can lose my stomach. As I run towards a bed, I notice that Granny Smith is sleeping in her rocking chair.
I'd say she looks horrifying, but after a moment, I realize that she looks the same as she always does.
"Am I going crazy?" I ask myself, my voice high pitched as I feel my stomach churn. I shake my head, and turn to see Big Mac, raising an eyebrow at me. Unfortunately, his eyebrow rests above an empty eye socket, through which I can see bone and blood. I hold my stomach, ready to vomit any second now...
I turn around, and see Fluttershy, watching me cautiously. Her mane is rotten, her tail is gone, and her hooves have been worn down to nubs of bone. Bite marks line her legs, and her bent, disfigured form suggests that she was toyed with quite a lot before she was finally...I don't even know what.
"Peter?" I turn, backing up as five ponies approach me. I hyperventilate, and realize with a thud of dread that my back is pressed against the wall. My vision begins to shake, and I begin to cry.
"Please," I beg, "don't hurt me..." I fall to the ground, and assume a fetal position, whimpering and shuddering as I try to ignore the ponies around me. "Don't hurt me..."
I feel a hoof on my arm, and I'm embraced by a tender hug.
"Peter," I hear Rainbow Dash whisper softly, "nopony is going to hurt you, sweetheart...please, look at me."
As she holds me, the thumping slowly goes away, and the ringing slowly fades into silence. After a little while, all I can hear is the ticking of a clock, and the concerned whispers of ponies.
I open my eyes, fearing that my senses are playing a trick on me, and that everything is still dead.
However, as I open my eyes, I see whitewash walls. Shuddering and gasping for air, I dare to look around, and see that I'm surrounded by normal ponies, all looking down at me in concern.
I look up to the pony that holds me, and see that she's beginning to cry. I take in every one of her features, appreciating her beauty and her simplicity in one moment of clarity.
Relief washes over me as I realize that everything is back to normal. I tackle the cyan Pegasus in a hug, and begin to cry into her shoulder, relief and fear washing over me and causing me to release another wave of tears.
"Oh, Rainbow," I say, "thank goodness you're okay! Oh, Rainbow, I was so scared..." Words cannot define how relieved I feel right now. I feel my heart bursting with utter...I don't know what. So, in a way to express this oddly wonderful yet horribly scary feeling, I kiss Rainbow Dash, right on the lips, crying onto her face as I touch every inch of her body, just to make sure that it's all still there.
Shushing me, the cyan Pegasus pats me on the back, and kisses me back. "It's okay, Peter, it's okay," she whispers to me, I open my eyes again, and sigh in relief as I see that all the ponies are back to normal. I hug Rainbow tighter, and press my face into her shoulder as she slowly rocks me back and forth, comforting me as if I were some sort of child.
"Peter," she asks me, softly, "what happened?"
I shudder, and simply hold her tighter, collecting myself before answering. When I finally do, I answer in stutters and stammers, unable to describe what I saw without crying.
"Peter," Rainbow says softly, "stop talking. You should get some sleep. C'mon, honey, let's get you into bed. How does that sound?"
I nod, and she helps me stand. I feel weak on my knees, and I have to lean on her in order to make it over to the bed. As I lay down, she pulls the curtains shut, and kisses me on the forehead. "Just go to sleep, babe. Okay?" She whispers as she lays down behind me, and wraps her forelegs around me, holding me close and snuggling up to me. I turn, and reciprocate, holding her for dear life as I attempt to recover.
Within five minutes, I've fallen asleep, my face now buried into Rainbow's chest as Io snuggle into her, occasionally whimpering in my sleep.