//------------------------------//
// Second Chapter: What are you? 
// Story: Pony Hill 
// by Dark Spark 
//------------------------------//

Moode: City City of Fear

Pony Hill

The night was black and gloomy, although the moon was in the sky. There were no stars to be seen and the streets were deserted like in a ghost town.
"Hello, anypony here" cried the orange mare whose flank was adorned with three apples. Slowly, she trotted along the road.
"Twilight, Rainbow? Where are you? Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy"
Nothing. She could only hear the wind whistling through the deserted alley.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaa", a sharp scream suddenly cut through the silence. And a pony bolted out of one of the now downright dilapidated , skeletonized houses and dashed away from Applejack. Then the pony was gone.
"Rose! What's going on" the mare called after her but she was already too far away. Slowly, carefully, she crept foreward and then abruptly stood still when she heard a noise from behind the door. It sounded so as if somepony was grinding something heavy across the floor.
"H ... Hello? Is anypony here," she asked anxiously into the darkness.

Carousel Boutique

"Where we are?" Fluttershy asked anxiously, "And how did we get here?"
"I have no idea, my dear, but this place urgently needs a dusting." Rarity acted firmly. She wove a little spell and made a small source of light appear at the tip of her horn.
And had to realize that it was her boutique they were standing in. Scattered all about the floor lay mannequins and cabinets, piled and broken apart items; the wall paint flaked and was crumbling and the windows were smeared and shattered. Rarity’s collections for fall hung in shreds on some leftover dolls.
As Fluttershy carefully examined one of the dolls it seemed to return the gaze of the scared to death Pegasus mare.
"R ... R ... Rarity! It's ... it lives" she shrieked and started to desperately search for an exit.
Rarity slowly walked onto the doll. She anxiously looked it in the eyes. They were purple and there was no more doubt that they lived for the doll blinked and after a few seconds it let out a deafening scream.

Sugarcube Corner

Candy canes and icing, icing and candy canes, candy cane decorated with icing. Large and small, Thick and thin. There were so many possibilities, candy canes in cake or in trees. Muffins with cream fillings, it was like a dream.
All this disappeared as Pinkie suddenly woke up. She lay in Sugarcube corner, right by the door.
"How did I ...?"
She was interrupted by a loud clanking. The Sugarcube corner was almost unrecognizable. Biscuit and cake decorations on the walls looked as if something had been crushed behind them. A red liquid oozed out of some and the furniture was destroyed or completely restructured. The muffins were moldy and the prepared pies seethed with vermin. The light was weak and shone only through a hole in the roof. As Pinkie looked at the doors and windows she noticed that they were blocked and nailed up .
How did I even get in here? she asked herself, and a queasy feeling spread throughout Pinkie’s stomach. As always in situations like that, she began to laugh out loud.
Only this time, it didn’t help one bit and her laughter stopped dead. Then she heard taht rattling again, like metal clanking. Pinkie Pie could locate it, however. It came from the kitchen. Slowly she moved through of disgusting insects and bad pastries, to the kitchen.

Golden Oak Library

It was dark, very dark and tight as Twilight opened her eyes. It took a moment until she understood why she could not see. She was buried beneath a whole mountain of books. As she struggled free, she heard the laughter of a foal.
She turned around but could not see anything. Twilight looked around in her library. The Golden Oak was obviously dead. Half of its trunk was gone and it had lost all its leaves. The wind whistled through a shattered window.
Slowly, she realized something was missing.
"Spike? Where are you Spike" Twilight cried in the hope that he was near. She galloped from room to room, but found no trace of her number-one-assistant anywhere. However, she could notice further changes in her room, as in the rest of the library. It was dark, even though the moon stood right in the middle of the sky. The bookshelves were wrecked and the books had been burnt or torn apart, one heap was even still smoldering. Her bed was broken in half and the feathers in their pillows were literally scattered all over the room.
"Who are you" Asked a little filly’s voice from behind Twilight. She anxiously spun around on her hooves, but nopony was there.
Right as she started over again to search for Spike, suddenly a little Alicorn stood in front of her. An Alicorn filly with a dark blue coat and a mane in light blue.
"Have you lost something" the foal wanted to know.
"No, I am looking for a friend"
"A friend" she asked, confused. "Nopony’s here despite us”
"That’s impossible, he was sitting on my back the whole time"
“Then he has left you in the lurch…”
"NO” Twilight replied in a hard tone. 
"He would never do that"
"I can lend you my friend, if you want"
"Your friend" Twilight asked, confused.
"I'm sorry, but I can’t see anypony here"
"But he is here" replied the filly and turned around. Twilight now saw something she did not expect. On the little pony’s flank was a black spot. Although the filly lacked an actual Cutie Mark it looked exactly like the one on Princess Luna’s flank.
"What is your name" Twilight asked to uncover the truth.
"Luna, but my big sister always calls me Lulu"
Twilight’s jaw dropped. As the foal turned back to her she had a small plush doll in her mouth.
"This is Spike, he is a wonderful friend. I'm sure he would like to be your friend, too”

Pony Hill

Applejack was frozen with fear. In front of her stood a unicorn, or at least she thought so. The light brown and very sturdy built stallion wore a helmet over his face so it was impossible to guess what he really looked like. However, this was not the strange thing: He wasn’t just wearing a helmet; it had the shape of a large pyramid. Out of the front protruded a giant horn, not only big but also broad; sticking to the truth it actually looked more like a sword than a horn. And it was obviously too heavy for the pony's head; he needed to grind it over the floor, it simply made it impossible for the pony to stand upright.
Slowly he stepped towards her, closer and closer. The mare, paralyzed with fear, could only watch as he rose his head and pointed his horn towards her.
Time seemed to stand still for Applejack. It was a moment of complete silence. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was finally able to move. She jumped back just before the giant horn splitted the doorframe in half while also tearing a deep notch through the wall.
"What the hay... What in tarnation are you"
He didn’t answer, only heavy breathing could be heard as the pony, or whatever he was, freed his horn from the wall. And again aimed at her! But Applejack had by now fled, she didn’t know what in Equestria this creature could be, and she didn’t want to know in the first place.

Carousel Boutique

Rarity screamed even louder than Fluttershy and galloped towards the door, trying to remove the boards with her magic the same moment Fluttershy desperately tried to smash through one of them. But without success.
Suddenly she heard a crack behind her. But as she turned around she could see nothing different.  Everything looked exactly the same… Except for one difference!
"F ... Fluttershy? D... Didn’t that doll just now have a h ... h ... hea?" the white mare stuttered. Fluttershy was too scared to answer, she could only make an incredibly high-pitched yet at the same time faint squeal, while she pressed herself against Rarity.
Then they heard a clicking. It came closer, fast, very fast. Rarity couldn’t make a sound even though she had best wanted to cry out loud. That's impossible!
The creature looked as if several dolls were crooked together. It had five heads and at least seventeen legs, the actual body consisted of dolls’ torsos and severed limbs and something that looked suspiciously like bare, red flesh held the whole together. Everything about it was just vile!
"HEY! I’ll get you out of there" they heard Applejack's voice from outside the door.
"Hurry up" both caged mares screamed simultaneously. And suddenly the door burst of its hinges and hit the puppet-monster, right before it could reach Rarity and Fluttershy.
"Quick, get out of here"

Sugarcube Corner

Pinkie peeked through the kitchen door. What she now saw would haunt her forever in her nightmares: She saw a pony, or rather the outline of a pony, lying motionless beneath a cover of swarming insects.
Slowly, she withdrew…
And accidentally tossed a plate off of the counter. As it hit the ground with a deafening clank, whole crowds of insects started to stream out of pounced at Pinkie. She screamed and fed for the banisters to upstairs. Which she slide upwards ... yes, actual riding on top of them...
As soon as she reached the upper floor, the mare bolted onto the balcony and jumped down without hesitation. Any normal pony would have probably been crushed by the height of the fall, but not Pinkamena Diane Pie!
In slow motion she fell, and then pretty gently landed on the ground beneath. Now looking way better, she began to trot towards Golden Oak Library. Hopefully the girls were doing well…

Golden Oak Library

Twilight couldn’t deal with the fabric the Dragon Luna showed her looking exactly like Spike. She tore the stuffed animal out of the filly’s mouth with her telekinetic grip.
"What did you do to him?" she turned to Luna.
"H ... hey give me back my Spike, give back my friend", Luna cried , trying desperately to snatch her plush dragon while tears were shooting in her eyes.
"I’ve got nopony but him," she pleaded. "I'm all lonely without him!"
She had given up and started to sob uncontrollably. "Give him back to me! Tia, where are you?"
To see little Luna so desperate broke Twilight’s heart. How could she be so stupid? Just because this doll looks kind of similar to Spike doesn’t mean that it actually IS him! How could I ever come to that thought? That's crazy, she scolded herself.
"Hey, don’t cry, Luna, please", Twilight tried to comfort her and held out her stuffed dragon.
"Here, I'll hoof him back, you see? I don’t know what has gotten into me all of a sudden… Can you forgive me?" she pleadingly asked the filly.
"Mmmmhhhhhhmmmm… Yes," Luna hesitatingly replied, took back her soft toy with overjoy and crushingly hugged him as tight as she could. Then, after a moment she showed mercy to the plush dragon and embraced Twilight instead.
"You still haven’t told me your name," the foal stated.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Twi ..." Twilight didn’t get any further for suddenly the door flew open and at once four mares stormed into the library.
"TWILIGHT!” they cried out as one.
Applejack had expected a lot as she slammed open the door. But not a little Alicorn filly embracing Twilight. Rarity and Fluttershy felt the same bewilderment; only Pinkie immediately got into a good mood.
"Uh, who are you?" asked the pink mare, bouncing towards the little blue filly.
"L ... Luna" she intimidatedely replied and pressed herself even tighter against Twilight.
"You're soooo cute," Pinkie squealed and ruffled the filly's mane.





The little Luna

Cute