//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixty One // Story: HiE - A Hollow in Equestria // by Charlie_K //------------------------------// Chapter Sixty One Ditzy Doo hummed happily to herself as she went about working in the kitchen of her home. She absolutely loved Fridays, if for no other reason than the simple fact that it was her day off from the mail service. That simple fact meant getting to sleep in a little later. That simple fact meant not having to get up quite so early to make lunch for Dinky and Sparkler, before seeing them off to school. Friday also meant simpler things that not everyone appreciated in a uniform manner. But in her case, that simple thing was the fact that Friday was muffin day; and today's batch was banana and macadamia nuts, how awesome was that!? And even though she wished it had been under better circumstances, Dinky and Sparkler were also home for the day. What with everything that'd happened in Ponyville in recent time, the school was still closed until further notice. And with the season switching over to summer, that standard of "until further notice" was probably going to be a few months in duration. She felt sorry for those that had been negatively affected by the attacks on Ponyville. There had been so many losses in such a short stretch of time. Foals had lost parents, parents had lost foals, families had lost their homes... she shuddered anytime she thought about any one of those situations. And every time she shuddered in thought of what was, and what could've been, it made her all the more grateful for what she still had, no matter how humble it might be in comparison to others. Her little family had been so lucky to be at the party at the time of the attack. The extent of their losses, miraculously, had been a shattered front door during the manticore attack. But regardless of being lucky, it was still downright scary to think of what could've been. They'd been so close to what had been termed ground zero. And other than a few nightmares on Dinky's part, they'd managed to escape unscathed. But enough about that! There was no time for depressing thoughts right now. She still had her foals, and they still had their home. There was nothing wrong with feeling sorry for the loss of others, but there was plenty wrong with long-term dwelling on their losses, when there was nothing that could be done about it. Now then, she had a batch of muffins to make, and they sure weren't about to make themselves. And right now she was really looking forward to the results of this batch, as she hadn't been able to get her hooves on any fresh macadamia nuts for months now! "Now where'd I leave that stick of butter?" she asked herself as she began to look around the cluttered kitchen table. If she didn't properly butter the muffin tin, the whole batch would be ruined by them sticking to the cups of the pan. And she'd rather not have that happening; not again. "Mommy?" Ditzy stopped her search for the absent butter at the sound of Dinky's voice behind her. It struck her as strange, as she'd seen both Dinky and Sparkler outside playing catch, before she started getting everything ready. She hadn't heard the door open from them coming in. She hadn't been in the zone yet with her baking, so how'd she miss her daughters coming in? Oh well, that was neither here nor there. She'd been distracted before, it was really no big deal. "What is it, swee-" Ditzy asked as she turned around to face her youngest. However she never managed to complete her question, as a loud scream erupted from her throat at the sight she saw, effectively cutting off the last syllable to the question. Standing in the doorway that lead from the living room to the kitchen was Dinky. But not in any manner that Ditzy ever wished to see her. Dinky's right eye was completely gone, leaving nothing but a bloody, gaping socket behind in its place. Her left foreleg was missing just below the knee, leaving nothing behind but a jagged piece of exposed bone surrounded by torn flesh. Her right cheek had been torn open all the way back to her neck, exposing her teeth as a mix of blood and saliva dripped from her mouth, as she was unable to close it. The skin all along her back was absent, exposing the bare ridges along her entire backbone. "I don't feel so good, Mommy..." Dinky spoke, slurring her words as her tongue proved incapable of staying inside her mouth, the jagged cut to the side of her face flapping with each word spoken. "Can you kiss it and make it better?" Ditzy screamed again and fell backwards, tipping over the table in the process and scattering the gathered items and foodstuffs, as the mutilated form began to hobble forward on its three intact legs, the one good eye never straying away from her. But even as it moved closer, Ditzy found herself paralyzed on the spot where she laid, and totally incapable of moving away. "What's wrong, Mommy? Don't you love your little Dinky anymore?" Dinky asked as her features took on a sadistic sneer. Ditzy desperately wanted to flee, to shut her eyes, to tune out the horrific monstrosity standing before her. But her body refused to obey any commands her brain was currently trying to issue, leaving her rooted to the spot, helpless to do anything but watch as the mutilated thing slowly made its way towards her. And all the while, she could do nothing but listen as the thing's voice shifted away from that of her precious little Dinky, and into something far more sinister in nature. "Mommy!" the abomination yelled as its skin and fur began to darken and crack away, bits flecking away to expose the rotten tissue underneath, as an entire section of skin fell away and splatted on the floor, exposing the forward portion of the skull. "Where are you Mommy!?" it continued to howl as it collapsed onto its stomach, its back legs giving out under its own weight and hanging limp. Regardless of this fact, the thing still struggled to move, and began dragging itself across the ground with its one good foreleg, leaving behind a trail of blood and other bodily substances smeared along the floor and against the underside of its body. "I'm gonna find you, Mommy! I'm coming for you!" it yelled as its one good eye began to glow, as if it were being illuminated by a red light from behind it. Every little movement it engaged in caused greater decay to become visible, resulting in its tiny horn coming loose from its forehead, and hanging limply from a single, pulsing vein, swinging back and forth from its efforts at movement. "I'm gonna catch you, Mommy! And when I do, I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!" Ditzy screamed in response. She screamed as loudly as she could, as the creature slowly made its way over to her, catching up with her prone form with frightening speed. She couldn't move even if she tried, as the thing made its way up her body, working its way closer and closer to her face. She could feel the hot bodily fluids staining the front of her coat, and the sickening feel of internal organs beginning to rub against her fur. "Caught you, Mommy," it sneered, its wicked grin growing impossibly wide, and showing off its mouth full of broken teeth. It then opened it maw exceedingly wide, before biting down into her exposed neck. At the sound of the scream, the kitchen door that lead to the back yard was roughly slammed opened, nearly tearing the hinges out of the wall in the process. And inside leaped a large, vicious beast. It was a three-headed dog, much like Cerberus, but of a considerably smaller stature; more along the size of Princess Celestia than anything. It was also much sleeker than its larger counterpart, and black and tan in coloration. Each neck wore a black leather collar with shiny steel spikes going all the way around. Each head growled, each mouth dripping with drool, and breathing out a noxious green vapor as it snarled, its cerulean eyes narrowed in preparation of conflict. "Leave!" "Her!" "Alone!" The three heads scanned the room. Looking left, looking right, looking up, looking down, and looking at each other, in an effort to find some sign of the commotion that'd caused the scream. What had been responsible for the table being knocked over? And then it looked behind the toppled table and found the cause, that being a terrified Ditzy trying futility to shield her head, while simultaneously trying to curl up into a little ball, and shaking hard. Instantly the hound's body disintegrated, with strands of blue light shining through as the image was unwound, with tendrils of magic being unwound and being sucked back into the horn of Sparkler. The hound itself had been the result of an illusion spell she'd been practicing for some time now, intended to be used for protective situations; like discouraging bullies and the like. But right now her magical aptitude was neither here nor there, as the only thing that mattered at the moment was making sure her mother was alright. "Mom, what's wrong? What happened?" Sparkler spoke as quickly moved around the table to tend to the downed pegasus. There were a lot of other things that she could focus on right now, but all of them were inconsequential at the moment. "Mom, look at me," she said and tried to shrug her when she didn't respond to the sound of her voice. Slowly Ditzy was roused from her terror and looked up at Sparkler. "Mom, what happened? Did somepony hurt you?" Sparkler asked. Ditzy tried to speak, but all she could do was just shake her head. "Mom, talk to me, please," Sparkler begged. "Dinky," Ditzy mumbled in a whisper. "Dinky?" Sparkler asked. What did her little sister have to do with anything? "I saw her. She was hurt so bad and I... a-and I couldn't do anything to help her," Ditzy replied in a shaky tone. Sparkler blinked in a confused manner at what she was hearing, unable to believe it. "Mom," Sparkler replied slowly, "Dinks has been with me all morning. She's not hurt. Except for that black eye she got last week when a fly ball popped her." "But I... but I..." Ditzy tried to respond. But regardless of how much she tried, she couldn't seem to get the words out to explain what she'd seen just moments ago. How could she put into words what she had experienced? How could she tell Sparkler that she'd felt her coat being smeared with copious amounts of curdled blood? Or the vile stench of pus and bile wafting through the air and into her face as she was breathed on? "Mommy?" Ditzy flinched in fright at hearing the unexpected voice of Dinky behind her, afraid of what she might see, but driven by a morbid curiosity to look. As she turned away from Sparkler, she saw her other daughter... only to see that she was perfectly alright, minus the aforementioned black eye that was still present. What... what was going on around here? Immediately she reached out and grabbed Dinky, and pulled her close, before looking at her from every angle, looking for any sign of serious injury, but finding absolutely nothing. She was as unmarred as could be expected with a filly her age. This was a source of both great relief, and great confusion. Sparkler frowned. At the sound of their mother's scream, she had told her little sister to wait outside and go hide while she went in to investigate. She'd made every attempt to impress upon the filly that it was too dangerous for her to be involved, as there was no telling what was waiting for them on the other side of the door. That was why she'd gone in while disguised; just in case there was somepony there that needed to be scared off. Unfortunately her little sister wasn't that easy to instruct. She had her own mind, and when she didn't want to follow instructions, she could be as obedient as a feral cat at times. However as she saw her sister's eyes when she looked over in her direction, she couldn't be mad at her. She'd been upset about their mother as well. So for right now she'd cut her some slack on the matter. "Sparky? What's going on? Is Mommy alright?" Dinky asked as she looked to her older sister for guidance on the matter, grunting as she was hugged close to her mother's chest with just a little too much force. "I don't know, Dinks," Sparkler replied, unable to provide anything of actual significance to her little sister. All she could do was sit down beside her mother as her little sister was hugged for dear life. Whatever had happened, it must've been really bad. But finding out what that something was, was going to be difficult. For the time being, however, she wasn't going anywhere until she made sure her mother was alright. For the time being, she was just going to sit here with her family, in the middle of their upturned kitchen. Surrounded by scattered macadamia nuts.