Frosting
How much longer was she expected to live with this? She hated this creature, this Candy Mare, this thing that had pretended to be her daughter. It delighted in slaughtering children, in causing suffering and pain. She would destroy it if she could, but so far she couldn't think of any way it could be done. What could you do to candy to hurt it? Eat it? You'd just suffer the same fate as that poor little colt, turned into a candy monstrosity destined to be devoured by the original at best or, worse, used as a freakish puppet for her amusement. Burn it? She watched as bits of the Candy Mare's melted liquorice hair rolled across the floor to rejoin its mistress. No, she'd thought of every possible way she could to put an end to this living nightmare and come up with nothing even remotely worth trying. Honestly she couldn't fathom why the monster didn't simply devour her like all the others. Instead...
Instead she did horrible things like this. The table was set for two, but the Candy Mare's plate was already empty, save for smears of fresh blood. Her own, of course, was still full. She knew she couldn't keep stalling. She could see it in the Candy Mare's eyes as they leered at her from beneath her writhing mane. She was expected to eat. If she didn't soon, the cruel creature would force her.
The little filly was still alive, if you could call her sorry state a form of life. Bits and pieces of her squirmed energetically on the dinner plate, her charred body having been skillfully chopped up and served wriggling in a gravy made from her own boiling blood. The Candy Mare had made sure to carve off a large hunk of the living-dead ponies flank, the pink juices seeping from the steaming flesh threatening to spill over the thin plate. "Eat up," crooned the candy creature. "It's getting colder outside. You need to keep up your strength. This little filly, bathed in the flames of a thousand souls has been imbued with a portion of my life force. It should be enough to give you back a little of the health you've lost trying to starve yourself to death."
She had refused to eat for days now. It hadn't been the first time though. She'd tried to just die, to succumb to hunger so many times, but the Candy Mare wouldn't let her. She didn't know how many times she'd tried, but her body was starting to rebel. The hunger pains and the delirium they brought were beginning to weigh heavily on the old mare. Though a bit of the little girl squirmed on the end of her fork, she couldn't bring the morsel of flesh to her lips. Heaven help her, the horrid meat did smell good. It had all smelled good when it was served to her in steaming bowls of stew. Why hadn't she realized back then what she had been doing? The Candy Mare hadn't let her leave the cottage in weeks, only leaving her alone long enough to go out and lure back more 'meat' for their larder. This wasn't the first child served like this to her on a silver platter. "Why do you keep doing this? You know I don't want to eat this. You know it's repulsive. That it sickens me. That I hate it. That I hate you!"
"Yes. But that's only because you haven't given it a chance," grinned the fiend. "I didn't think I would like it either, but the taste grew on me in time. I was tricked the first time I ate anypony, you know. I have to say, the flavor isn't that different, raw or cooked, but the texture varies quite significantly." At that, the Candy Mare took a delicate bite of a portion of the charred fillies shoulder. Gretel's decapitated head, still semi-conscious, sat eyeless with a candy apple jammed in its mouth. The horrible severed head moaned softly despite the fake bright red fruit, charred flesh still steaming around her lips. It was hard to tell if the unearthly sound was one of pain or pleasure, or even perhaps both. The old mare didn't care to speculate. She kept hoping that insanity would grip her mind and leave her insensible to all the horror around her. Sadly, she had remained stubbornly sane.
"You're a monster," the crone whispered as tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.
"And you're a helpless old mare, starving to death in the heart of an unending winter!" Shouted the Candy Mare, slamming her hooves into the table. "How many years has it been now? How many more will it be before you accept that I'm the only one who cares if you survive? The unicorns have abandoned this land, the pegasi and other earth ponies too. There's no pony that can save you but me! Why won't you just let me take care of you mother?" asked the candy coated cannibal in exasperation.
"You know why!" the hag howled, louder than she had intended. She continued, quieter, conserving her strength, "You know why. I am not your mother. You're the reason they disappeared. My husband. My little girl! I've figured it out. It was you! You're the one that made them disappear!"
"You're so sure of that, are you?" chuckled the Candy Mare, though from the expression on her sugar dusted face it didn't seem like she thought it was very funny.
"Everypony knows you're responsible for the disappearances at the castle town. Just tell me what happened to them. Did you kill them? Did you eat them?" The old mare paused, hoping against hope that somehow they had been spared that misery. Sadly she couldn't doubt such a fate. "I wouldn't be surprised. Or did they escape you? Did you leave them cowering in some hole somewhere for a late night snack? Just tell me! What happened to Cabbage and Pumpkin Patch!?" howled the crone, giving into her emotions once again.
The Candy Mare's eyes flickered, and just like that all the life seemed to fade from her. Her mane hung limp from her sugar skull and she didn't so much as twitch. Piece by piece, the candy that coated the cottage was stripped away, flowing back into the Candy Mare. Soon the kitchen was dark and lonely, the only light coming from the banked embers in the very normal looking stove. With the candy coating now removed the old mare could see the sticky blood that coated every surface, though if it belonged to the Candy Mare or the innocents she had slaughtered, it was impossible to say. Even the light from the kitchen window was washed a crimson hue as the fading light outside just barely managed to seep through the scarlet stains. The red glow spread over the monster that sat shivering at the dinner table, as bit by bit, the candy that composed her body turned within. This wasn't anything the old mare had ever seen her do before. As the candy continued to peel away, she could see tiny misshapen hooves, pale skin stretched over a bony form, and a listless red mane that hung in greasy strips from a tiny shrunken skull. Her eyes, bright green and almost glowing in the dying light from the window, turned to the old mare and made her breath catch in her throat. This couldn't be!
"You want to know what happened to me and daddy so badly? Fine. I'll tell you mama," whispered the broken child sadly, "We went to the castle town and it was everything I had imagined. Only the pony daddy and I were supposed to meet there was a very, very bad unicorn. He took me away from daddy and forced me to do things, things I'd rather not talk about. One of those things I don't want to talk about is him forcing me to eat daddy. He'd killed him, and left him rotting in a midden heap like a dead dog, but that didn't stop him from carving daddy up and serving him to me." Her eyes flickered again, candy swirled madness threatening to crawl back into her eyes. She shook herself and continued. "He'd done horrible things to me. Rotted my teeth, my mind, and my body. However, being tricked into eating daddy, that was too much for me to take. Do you want to know the worst part? He didn't taste half bad. I was so ashamed because compared to everything else I'd been forced to do, eating pony flesh, even that of my father, was actually enjoyable! I liked it! I liked it a lot!"
A deep, terrifying groan rose from the old timbers of the rotting cottage. At first the old mare thought the house was on the verge of collapsing, before she realized that the sound was coming from her own mouth. Her mind was frozen. She didn't want to believe, she didn't want to think it was true. But the evidence sat shivering right in front of her, bereft of the bright colored mantel it wore to conceal itself from the rest of the world. Her husband had died cruelly, but that was merciful compared to her daughters fate.
"I got a taste for it then and, as you know, daddy was only the first pony I ate. That bad unicorn kept pushing me, experimenting on me, trying to break me. But I was already broken! So I ate. I ate and ate and ate to grow strong! The more I ate, the stronger I got. And then I ate that pitiful, rancid little unicorns life! I couldn't stop there mama. You were right. The unicorns didn't care about us, the pegasi wouldn't defend us, and our fellow earth ponies were content to turn a blind eye to all the injustice that we suffered instead of trying to help us, or even help themselves. So why not kill the rest? Why not eat them too? Why not grow strong off the lives of all those terrible ponies? Why should we suffer in the cold and the dark when we can live and live and live and live to kill them all! We can make them suffer the way we've been made to suffer!" Candy and light flooded the cottage again as the sugar coating crept back out of her daughters dead form and engulfed the room. Warmth and sweet scents and terrible laughter assaulted the old mare from all sides. The Candy Mare's fragile form, sheathed in sweets once more, rose from where she had been sitting and came to her side. Her daughter came to her side. The smile on little girls new face was at once predatory and pleading. "You see now, don't you mother? We have to eat to grow strong. We have to make them pay for all they've done to us. I know what the unicorns did to grandma, how you came to hate them for having forced you on her, for making her bare the bastard daughter of the master of the house. You were right to hate them! And it's that hatred that will make you strong! The more I feed you, the more you eat... Very soon, you will be just like me."
Those last words froze the blood in the old mares heart. The moan in her throat turned to a rattling rasp as all the air left her lungs. The decapitated head on the serving plate seemed to look up at her with eyeless pity. Even without eyes, the dead could see just how terrible the fate was that her own daughter had planned out for her. It was true, she had always hated the unicorns and pegasi, but each of the tribes had hated the others. It had always been that way. Though her daughter had been sweet and innocent, it was that hatred that had helped poison and twist her. That had helped to shape her into the creature she was now. She was her mothers daughter, after all, and the sick irony wasn't lost on Strawberry Patch.
A sharp stab in her chest,, a wave of panic, and then a sigh of relief. This revelation had been too much for a mothers heart to take. The old mare slumped forward in her chair and was still.
"Mother? Are you okay?" The candy coated filly nuzzled her mother's side. "The foods getting cold mama, this is no time to nap. Please, didn't you hear what I said before? You have to live, so you have to eat... you have to. Mother?"
A distant wail cut through the snowy stillness, causing Private Pansy to shiver. Though the storm had raged for the better part of a day and a night now, it was beginning to slacken. Commander Hurricane had charged this platoon of pegasi with the evacuation effort, and storm or no storm, they would do their duty. Though they had been able to subdue the Windigos in the new found nation of Equestria, they seemed to be far too numerous and powerful here in the Northern farmlands to drive completely away. Private Pansy didn't really want to think about what that must mean about the hatred and distrust the simple farm folk must feel for the other pony tribes. She was only here to observe the proceedings on the Commander's orders and to remind the other troops that they were supposed to treat the earth ponies with kindness, tolerance, and friendship when possible.
It had been hard enough convincing the earth ponies they could trust the pegasus platoon. The only interaction many of them had ever had with a pegasus before were the sometimes harsh negotiations over weather and crop yields. Private Pansy had thought many times, before the troubles, that it seemed rather silly to threaten to restrict the farmers ability to grow food unless they provided a large share of that self same food supply to the pegasi. Obviously they had no choice but to comply, but what if they hadn't? What if they had all refused to share any food, or even to grow it, so long as the pegasi made such demands? They would've all starved. It really wasn't any wonder the Windigos had come to bedevil the pony tribes. Thinking about it, it was no surprise they'd be thickest around the ponies who had been the most down trodden, who had the most reason to hate the other tribes. It made Pansy's heart ache if she thought about it too much.
Still, such thoughts put things in perspective when, during a particularly nasty squall, the troop had approached a small wagon to render aid and the simple farmers had responded with panic. While it was true that visibility was poor, once they established they were no threat, the earth ponies had still been angry and distraught. Apparently in the commotion their children had run away to escape the perceived threat, and now had likely become lost in the forest. They had been searching for a night and the better part of the next day, trying to find the lost tots and reunite them with their parents. Many of the soldiers were grumbling that the whole thing was a farce, that there were no children and that this was just a wild goose chase, the earth ponies idea of a joke. Private Pansy, for her part, felt the parents distress was genuine. No one would cry as they had in this cold if they could keep from it, lest they lose part of their face to frostbite.
Lost in her thoughts, Private Pansy found herself wandering away from the rest of the platoon and deeper into the darkened woods. Another wail cut through the frosty forest. Though it sounded no less unearthly than before, this time it was followed swiftly by a new sound, the distant warbling sobs of a crying child. It must be the little lost children, Private Pansy thought to herself. How did they manage to get so far away from the road in this storm? I better call the others. But when she tried to retrace her steps, she found that no other pegasi were nearby. Flying above the forest canopy did no good either, as though the storm had slackened, visibility was still poor above the tree line. For better or worse, Private Pansy would have to rescue the children on her own.
Steeling what courage the slight pegasus could muster, the flyer pressed deeper into the forest, until she came to a wide clearing. Everything was coated in thick and ancient snow drifts, save for a distant, dilapidated farmhouse. That struck Private Pansy as odd, given how the storm had raged before, even a truly industrious pony wouldn't have been able to clear off a cottage of even this small size without constant vigilance. Given the abandoned and disheveled appearance of the warped timbers, it was unlikely any pony had cared for the house in some time. Even so, there it was again, the distant sounds of children weeping caught on a gust of frigid wind. It wasn't so distant anymore. She flew over the crust of snow and landed in front of the cabin door. Sure enough, she could hear the crying, slightly muffled, just on the other side of the door. Not wanting to startle anypony, she politely knocked. "Hello, Pegasus Patrol. Anypony home?" A thought crossed her mind, about abandoned shacks and crying children, "I warn you, if you've hurt anypony, it will go easier for you if you give yourself up peacefully." There was no answer. Even the sobs seemed to have paused, before resuming their steady cadence. Pansy reached out to knock again and was surprised when the door creaked open under her hoof.
Inside, the farmhouse was cold and just as ramshackle as the outside. Knickknacks and other bric-a-brac cluttered broken down and stained furniture. Here and there the remnants of a picture frame still hung on the wall, though whatever scene the frames once held seemed to have been torn to shreds long ago. The peeling wallpaper and dusty floor were covered here and there with dark, unidentifiable stains that Private Pansy didn't want to think about. She found herself suddenly wishing she had tried harder to find the rest of the platoon. Maybe the best course of action was to step back outside the cottage door and go get some back up. After all, who knew how many ponies could be lurking in the murky depths of the farm house? Who knew what they might do to Pansy if they caught her. Then again, who knew what they had been doing to the children?
A sudden heart-breaking wail made Private Pansy's decision for her. Without hesitation, she bound down the hallway and into what seemed like it had once been a kitchen. It was hard to tell under all the blood. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, the entire room seemed to be drenched in blood both old and new. Even the windows were soaked, lending a sanguine light to the room from the fitful illumination outside. The rancid rotting scent hit Pansy like a punch to the nose, making her gag and her eyes water. There were still bits and pieces of something wriggling in the scarlet mess. Bizarrely, there was a table, perfectly set for two with knives and forks neatly arraigned around bloody serving dishes and plates. Only this table seemed to have remained untouched by whatever had happened in this room. The table, and the tiny sobbing form that was curled up beneath it. "Mommy..." cried the child quietly.
"H-hello? Are you okay?" asked Private Pansy, trying not to gag. "Are you Gretel or Hansel? Your parents are worried sick about you. They sent me to bring you home." The crying only increased, soft sobs giving way to wails once more. "Shh... I don't know what happened, but we should get you out of here. There's no telling when they might be back, we need to hurry."
"I lost her," Pansy thought she heard the filly say between sobs. "I lost my mommy!"
"It's okay, I can get you back to your mother. Everything is going to be fine."
"No it's not!" screamed the child as it's head twisted around on it's spine to glare at Pansy with empty eye sockets. Thick red tendrils, like writhing worms, spilled out from the eyeless void, reaching towards the startled pegasus. It was only her military training that kept her from being snatched by the grasping crimson tethers. "Nothing will ever be fine again!" Exploded the filly, howling in many voices. Her tiny body ripped and tore as something burst forth from within, ripping to pieces what was clearly the rotten and dead body of a little filly from within. A sugary scent mixed with the stench of rotting meat and putrefied blood filled the room as a mare made of candy flipped the table and sent it clattering to splinters against the wall. "My father! My mother! They both abandoned me! Left me in this rotten world with all these rotten ponies! I tried so hard! I tried to be a good little girl, I tried to protect my mother, but she died just the same. Just like everypony else in this filthy, rotten world!" Rainbow colored tears gathered at the corners of the Candy Mare's lollipop eyes, "Everypony, that is, but me."
Private Pansy was frozen in place. The torrents of shear madness and despair coming off this creature shook her to her very core. She had heard rumors of the Candy Mare, of course, but like most of the other pegasi she had dismissed it as some kind of earth pony urban legend. A way of explaining away loved ones lost in the cold, or families disappearing over night. She'd always hoped it was ponies leaving for warmer climates or. at worst. becoming tragically lost in a sudden white out. She'd never considered that such a blood soaked monstrosity like this could really be at the heart of the Nightmare Night tales. The beast seemed to be occupied with her own grief. If she was careful, she might just be able to back out of the kitchen, out of the house, out of the forest, and out of this country forever. One hind hoof moved to do just that and landed on a floorboard with a traitorous creak.
"It's because of ponies like you!" roared the candied abomination. "Pegasi and Unicorns. Pegasi and Unicorns! You think you're so much better than everypony else, but I have a secret for you." With blinding speed, the fiend slithered across the floor to stand right beside Private Pansy. She leaned in, her breath hot and sweet in Pansy's ear, "You all taste the same." Sharp teeth clipped the privates ear off at the root, leaving a bloody hole in the side of her head. She didn't even register the pain, transfixed by the sight of the Candy Mare slowly chewing the wad of flesh. It wasn't until her own blood dribbled down the side of her face, and into the corner of her own mouth, that she screamed in shock and pain, reeling backwards. She had to get away! She ran down the hallway, knocking over dusty end tables and chairs, trying to block the candy monsters pursuit. She needn't have bothered. When she reached the living room, the sugar coated nightmare was waiting for her with a bloody grin, blocking the door. Without hesitation, Pansy whirled and ran back the way she had come. There was another door, she had seen it in the kitchen. She didn't know how the Candy Mare had beaten her to the living room, but right now that was the only other way out.
The floor itself seemed to conspire against her, turning sticky and gooey beneath her hooves. With a surge of her wings, she pulled herself loose, only to see that it wasn't just the floor, but the walls and ceiling as well that seemed to be melting around her. She had to land again, or run the risk of being crushed. Barely making it back to the blood stained kitchen once again, she froze dead in her tracks. There was another pony now, sitting at the once again intact kitchen table, but it wasn't the Candy Mare. She looked old, haggard, and, from the glaze of her milky eyes, very dead. Had she been sitting at the table the entire time? Something caught her eye, a book that poked out of the ruffles of the dead ponies dress. Despite her peril, the book seemed somehow important to Pansy, as if it were calling out to her. She reached out for the journal and just as the pegasus lay a single hoof upon it a riot of laughter shook the cabin. The walls seemed to stretch and melt all around her, like the images in a fun house mirror. Without warning the kitchen floor fell away, opening like a massive mouth, splinter timbers serving as the jagged fangs of the gaping maw. There was no time to react. Private Pansy tumbled into the darkness, sure that any moment she was going to crack her skull or bust her spine. Instead she had an unexpectedly gentle landing.
The dank basement she had fallen into was without illumination, so before her eyes could adjust the first thing to assault her was the stench. It was the same rotting scent she had smelled before, only now it rose up and surround her. It was strange and spicy, salty almost, terribly bitter and foul. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could see why. The cellar was full of dead bodies, filly's and foal's mostly, though there were a few colts and stallions hanging from hooks on the walls. There were more corpses scattered at her hooves. These, apparently, had been responsible for her soft landing. Private Pansy recoiled in terror. She had been a seasoned veteran for many years now, though she had intentionally avoided any promotions in rank, afraid of the responsibility and preferring her role as Command Hurricane's liaison and confident. But never in all her years, in all the battles she had witnessed, had she seen so many corpses in one place. The empty eye sockets of preserved skulls gazed up at her piteously. She could see where some ponies had been pickled and others coated in salt to preserve the flesh.
Pansy realized with a lurch in her stomach that she had landed in the monsters larder. As if conjured by that thought, the Candy Mare appeared, a high pitched giggle bubbling from her sugar frosted lips. The snake like red whips that served as her mane raised knives, cleavers, and other carving implements that glittered cruelly in the dark. Pansy had no doubt that those blades were razor honed, she probably wouldn't even feel it as they slid through her flesh, not that such a thought was of any comfort. She saw now what fate lay in store for her. There was a row of jars with what she understood from their size were delicate pegasus wings in some kind of sauce. There were other organs, pieces of pony flesh far more disgusting to behold, but she couldn't take her eyes off those plucked appendages in their jar of orange sauce. She didn't want parts of her body to be coated in spices and eaten as a snack when she died.
"Wait! Just wait! You don't have to do this! I swear I won't tell anypony about this. You can just... just keep killing other ponies around here if that's what you want. I'll make sure no pony comes to bother you!" Begged Private Pansy pathetically, "I've got friends in high places in Canterlot. We're abandoning this region anyway, so any ponies that are left behind are liable to be bandits, crooks, or hate mongers anyway. If you let me go, I'm sure I can make the authorities look the other way!" From the grin on her face and the glazed look in her candied eyes, it didn't seem like the Candy Mare was listening. The knives glistened in the dusky light, or at least the parts of them that weren't splattered with dark stains. Pansy raised the first thing to come to hoof to defend herself. "Please don't kill me!" She howled in desperation as she lifted the journal high. The old mare's journal. She trembled, expecting to feel the cold kiss of serrated metal any moment. It was a sensation that never came.
"No. No I think I have a better idea," whispered the Candy Mare. A single tendril reached out and wrest the book from the shaken pegasus grasp, "You will be my emissary. You will tell my story. That way all will know what is coming for them. You will be my messenger, so that all will understand exactly what lies in wait for them in the dark." She tucked the book into Private Pansy's saddle bag.
"R-really? Th-thank you. Thank you so much. I promise I'll do exactly what you say only..." Private Pansy looked around. There didn't seem to be any way out of this terrible charnel cellar. She didn't trust the way the cruel cannibal filly smiled at her. "How do I know I can trust you, that this isn't just some trick? That I'm not j-j-just leading you to more victims?"
The Candy Mare grinned wider as a hole opened up in the roof high above. At that moment, the cold light spilling through the new skylight was the most welcome sight Private Pansy had ever seen. "You'll just have to decide for yourself. Trick or treat?"
There was so much to keep track of these days. This new nation, Equestria, was one founded on love and tolerance. The tribes had found that with their new bonds of friendship and understanding that they could be far stronger and secure working together for the greater good. That didn't mean all of their problems were going to disappear over night, nor that there weren't any new problems on the horizon. Commander Hurricane had been receiving reports of griffins being spotted probing pegasus airs space. While they might just be testing their borders now, the Commander knew how the griffins thought. If they suspected any weakness they wouldn't hesitate to try and take more territory for themselves, regardless of if they really needed it or not. There had been a long standing treaty between the griffins and the pegasi over no flight zones and what counted as international airspace, but it was possible that with their abandonment of their former cloud cities for the newly constructed Cloudsdale that the griffins held those treaties to be null and void.
Commander Hurricane had been discussing just such a possible development with his staff when Starswirl the Bearded let himself into the room. At first the more militaristic pegasus had thought the old unicorn something of a fool, what with the bells sewn into the brim of his hat and the colorful motley costume he wore. Most unicorns were given to extravagances that the more pragmatic pegasi found distasteful, but Starswirl was in a class all by himself. It had come as shock to the Commander then when he found out that the old fellow was not only the most powerful and accomplished magician in King Bullion's unicorn court, but was also kind, respectful, and of a keen strategic mind. It was Starswirl who had foreseen that Equestria could not survive if the tribes continued to be divided, and would simply fall back into their old segregated ways if left to self rule. As such Commander Hurricane, King Bullion, and the good Chancellor Puddinghead had agreed to submit themselves to a ruler who would have sovereignty over them all. A pony who would be charged with the stewardship and protection of each tribe and all of Equestria in the years to come. It had also been Starswirl's genius to seek out such rulers from the Alicorns, one of the most long lived and powerful races, whom embodied the best qualities of unicorn, pegasus, and earth ponies. They had not one, but two such rulers now in the pony sisters, Celestia and Luna. Though young, they carried themselves with a dignity that even King Bullion's daughter, Princess Platinum, had grown to respect.
"Hello old friend, how goes the weather committee? Have you had a chance to look over the plans for the weather factories yet?" asked the bearded wizard. "I see you've got your maps and charts out. Perhaps you're looking for a good source of water for the Rain Factory? I had an idea I'd like to propose to you of perhaps using a different tribes water source each year, so that no one area would suffer a potential drought. Only oh- it seems these aren't my blueprints at all. They appear to be maps and drawings of the Griffin Kingdom. My dear Commander, I hope you weren't planning some sort of military action on your own," said the wizened unicorn arching an eyebrow.
"Nothing of the sort," responded the Commander hastily, quickly rolling up the map of Gregor Griffin's private keep. "Merely discussing measures to secure Equestria's airspace, with all due caution of course." There had been a time that if a unicorn had suggested the Commander of any impropriety, no matter how small, he would've launched into an angry rage. He had learned a valuable lesson about keeping his more negative emotions in check and having such a relapse now in front of so venerable a friend was out of the question. As such, he merely smiled and said, "I'm afraid we haven't gotten around to viewing your plans yet old friend. But we'll get to that just as soon as Private Pansy joins us. I'm awaiting her report about the ongoing evacuations from the north so that we can better gauge the size of our potential workforce."
"A most prudent idea Commander, I should have expected nothing less. Pardon me for my suspicious mind. I'm afraid it's difficulty even for a unicorn like myself to shake the hereditary distrust of the pegasus stratocracy." He removed his hat with a jingle of bells and bowed, showing that his apology was genuine and his last words were meant in jest. Commander Hurricane couldn't help but observe that for all his immense magical prowess, Starswirl did behave something like a jester or fool from time to time, but it was only to put friends at ease. The pegasus also knew that it could also effectively make enemies underestimate the unicorn, much to their later regret.
The doors to the meeting room burst open as a a pair of pegasus guards and a unicorn rushed in. The Commander recognized Clover the Clever, Princess Platinum's adviser and a close friend. "Starswirl, you have to come quickly. It's Pansy!"
"What? What's this about Private Pansy?" asked the Commander, his heart sinking as he looked at the face of Starswirl's apprentice. "What's happened?"
"I'm not sure Commander, but she's been injured. She was on her way to report to you when she collapsed." The unicorn turned her worried gaze to her mentor, "But I fear it's no ordinary wound. I sense dark magic has infected her. The same that wiped out one of the unicorn settlements thirty years ago."
Starswirl's face darkened, "Take me to her Clover. We haven't a moment to lose!"
Private Pansy writhed beneath the sheets. The medics had tried their best to make her comfortable after stitching up the wound on her head where her ear had been, but she had quickly developed a fever. Worse, she had started coughing up blood and bile, so that now the sheets weren't only soaked with sweat but splattered with scarlet stains as well. Starswirl entered the room in a whirl of of his starry robes, his horn instantly blazing with light as the glow of a powerful spell enveloped the injured pegasus. He consulted with the medics while Clover moved to her friends side. Commander Hurricane wasn't far behind, shouting, "Blast it all I'm in charge here! Somepony tell me what's going on! What's happened to my liaison!" His voice broke as his eyes fell on the state of her sheets. "What is wrong with my friend?"
"Nopony really knows," whispered Clover the Clever, one hoof placed over the glowing magic shell that now encased the private. "We've been studying cases when we can, but it's rare to come across any survivors. There were many when it first surfaced, but none lasted for more than a day before... Well, before they had to be destroyed. We've been researching what we can about potential cures, but without a stable subject to try them on, it's impossible to know if they'll be effective."
"And so far none of the subjects have been stable," grumbled Starswirl bitterly. "The spell I've cast will slow the spread of the curse. But given her condition, even with my spells, it's only a matter of time."
"Only a matter of time? Until what!? Spit it out sir, if this is some new threat to Equestria, as it's military commander it is my right to know!" shouted Hurricane, stomping one hoof for emphasis.
Starswirl frowned. He motioned for the medics to leave the room and closed the door behind them. He didn't stop there, moving to the tower window and securing the shutters to be sure no passing pegasus might eavesdrop. With just Clover, Hurricane, and himself in the room with the afflicted Pansy, the bearded unicorn lit a few candles to provide a fitful sort of illumination. "It's only a matter of time, Commander, until we will lose poor Pansy in more ways than one. She is under the sway of a dire curse that saps the life from earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn alike. We've tried to keep this under wraps to prevent a panic spreading through the populace. In the more advanced stages, which I am sorry to say Pansy is on the verge of, the body is destroyed and replaced with a simulacrum that is possessed of nothing but a cruel and violent hunger. If there is anything you wish to say to her Hurricane, I suggest you do so now."
"She...she can hear us? Can she speak?" The Commander, for all his bravery, looked truly shaken.
"Yes. The barrier is for our safety, to keep the curse from spreading. My spell work should have slowed the process sufficiently now that the worst of the pain is over. I only wish that I could do more." Starswirl's brow knit in thought. "Actually... Clover, you're teleportation spells have come along now, yes? You should be able to blink between here and the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Fetch the Princesses, as quickly as you can! Alicorn magic may succeed where unicorn's have failed."
"Of course! I'll return as swiftly as I can!" cried Clover, vanishing in a flash of violet light.
"Is there really hope Starswirl? Can the royal sisters truly help my poor Pansy?" asked Hurricane, all pretense of control or command abandoned.
"I very much doubt it," spoke Starswirl sadly. "As powerful as the Princesses are, they are as yet inexperienced in their abilities. They were very recently blank flanks, after all. While that means little as it concerns their maturity, it does mean that they are still very much coming into their own. I merely sent Clover away so that she might be spared witnessing the end," The unicorn gazed sadly at the fragile pegasus, and at that moment he looked every bit as old as his many years. "She's stirring now Commander, now is your chance."
Indeed, Pansy's eyes, closed tight as she had grimaced and groaned on the bed, fluttered open. She was beautiful beneath Starswirl's shimmering spell, but she had always been beautiful to Commander Hurricane. It was only rank and duty that had kept the old war horse from saying so. A duty he had never once had cause to regret, until this day, this moment. "Private...can you hear me? Are you in pain?"
"I...I was Commander," she spoke slowly, as if in a daze. "Not anymore though. Everything feels so fuzzy. I wanted to see you. I needed to see you, before the end. I heard what mister Starswirl the Bearded was saying, but I knew even before he said it what that monster had done to me. She tricked me after all I guess."
"Who did. Give me a name private, or if you don't have one a description, and I swear I'll bring the full might of the Equestrian military down on them so fast they'll never know what hit them!" Rallied the military leader, fire creeping back into his eyes.
"No! No please don't!" shouted Private Pansy with a rattling cough. "You don't know what she's like. I had a chance to read her mother's journal on the journey here. It's in my saddle bag, it'll tell you everything you need to know." Her eyes welled with tears. It was clear that whatever time Starswirl's spell had bought them was quickly drawing to a close. "I think that's why she let me go. She wanted you and the others to have it. She wanted you to know what she is and what's coming for you. Who is coming for you."
"Who? Who my love?" whispered Hurricane, urgently.
Private Pansy's face lit up, shining almost brighter than the magic spell. The look of joy on her face was quickly replaced with one of anguish. She managed to choke the words out with a fresh spurt of blood from between her teeth, "The Candy Mare..." She writhed then, her skin visibly stretching as something squirmed beneath her flesh. It started from the wound in the side of her head, spreading across her jaw. With a spurt, crimson tendrils shot from her mouth, breaking her jaw. The thick red ropes continued to spread under her flesh but a few strands hooked around Pansy's shattered mandible and twisted her head to the side. With the popping and snapping sound of bone grinding against bone a voice, not the privates own, sang mockingly, "Nightmare Night, what a Fright! Give us Something Sweet to Bite!" The strands of liquorice shot from her eyes, popping them out of socket so they dangled from her face, and jammed themselves into the magical shell. They pierced the barrier as if it were made of paper.
Commander Hurricane fell back, the flailing appendages missing him by mere inches. "Starswirl, what's happening!?"
"I warned you, the victims are never stable!" shouted the unicorn as his horn blazed, trying to batter back the squirming tendrils. "The curse seems to manifest itself differently in every pony, but I've never seen such a violent reaction as this! Most of them don't even speak beyond a few mumbles and a little mad giggling! They don't sing!" For all the powerful unicorns efforts, the tendrils were bursting out from the protective shell in more and more places. Pansy, for her part, was now little more than a swollen mass, her body bulging, inflating from the inside as more and more candy tendrils burst from her flesh. Whatever was inside her was threatening to pop her like a balloon. She grew larger, tentacles bursting from every orifice already, now ripping out of new wet and sticky wounds.
"Do something!" roared Commander Hurricane.
"I'm trying!" shouted back Starswirl.
A flash of violet light filled the room, "I got back as quickly as I could! I found Celestia in her library but it took longer to find Luna down in the organ room-" Clover the Clever's eyes widened as she gazed upon the thing that had once been her friend. "By Celestia's beard! What is going on!?"
"I don't have a beard," came a hurt, though melodious voice, "I swear, you mess up one keratinous spell and everypony remembers it forever!"
"I told you dear sister," came another voice, teasingly, "No good would come from spending so much time with the books from Starswirl's private library."
"This is no time for playful banter!" cried Starswirl, just barely holding back the wall of wriggling worm like appendages with a shimmering wall of magic fire.
"Oh dear, I see what you mean," said Celestia. "Can you speak to it sister?"
"I just tried. Whatever it is, it's not of the natural world," replied Luna. "I'm afraid we're going to have to do this your way."
"Don't be so grim sister. It's not every day we get to save Equestria!" cried Celestia joyously as her horn flared with brilliant sunlight, her wings spread wide.
"Pfft, I wish," replied Luna as her own horn erupted in a more shadowy glow. "Back to the darkness with you cur!"
The sisters twined beams of magic smashed through Starswirl's spell, and enveloped Private Pansy. The ball of candy squirmed like a nest of angry maggots as the brilliant sunlight burned the corruptive candy and the shadows enveloped those pieces that tried to wriggle away. In mere moments all that was left of poor Private Pansy was a small collection of fragile bones amid a few gobbets of quivering flesh. "Ew...what was that thing?" asked Celestia, probing the ponies skull with one delicate wing.
"That was Private Pansy," said Commander Hurricane. "That was our friend."
"Oh...ooooh. Oh," said Luna. "This is bad, yes?"
Starswirl, his expression unreadable, pulled his hat down over his face. All Clover seemed to be able to do was cry. Commander Hurricane, for his part, reached out a hoof to stroke the side of Pansy's broken skull. Starswirl turned to the Private's saddlebag, which had been ignored this entire time, and he opened the journal he found inside. He started to read. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, backed slowly towards the door, and then slipped quickly out of the room.
"Well, I think that could have gone better. Was that thing really Private Pansy do you think?" asked Celestia as they walked quickly out of the barracks.
"I don't think now is the time to ask. We can get the whole story from Starswirl later. Right now we've got other problems," replied Luna as the pair of sisters reached the exit. Without consciously realizing it, the pair took to the sky in perfect synchronization.
"The Hearths Warming festival preparations you mean? Surely those will need to be postponed in light of one of the founders having...passed," said Celestia diplomatically.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. If we cancel the event everypony is going to want to know why. Do you really want to tell them we blew up one of the founders of Equestria?" asked Luna with a smirk. "Regardless of the circumstances, I doubt that's something any peasant wants to hear about their new monarch, let alone the the other founders who were her friends."
"My word sister, are you proposing that we practice some sort of deception?" asked Celestia doubtfully, her brow knit with concern.
"Of course not! I just think it might be a good idea for us to focus everypony's attention on the celebration of Equestria's founding. Meanwhile we, their protectors, can deal with whatever it is that caused the poor private's demise 'privately', so to speak."
"That was a poor pun sister, leave the comedy to the play-writes," spoke Celestia, though with a hint of mirth. "But it is meant to be a merry festival, I suppose. Perhaps it will help lighten the heavy hearts of our friends. It is a good idea Luna."
"Of course," replied Luna, though then she added, "At least, I hope it's a good idea."
The two sisters shared a worried glance. The wind from the north seemed to be blowing a little colder. Though it was the time of year for ice and snow, the pair couldn't help but feel an extra bite to the breeze. And perhaps with their superior senses, they could feel the dark presence that was slipping into their midst. A cold, dark feeling, that Luna and Celestia both doubted any celebration could ever hope to entirely dispel.
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god the mom dying was actually kinda sad
Hi would love it if you got a story on lemondrop and the patch parents
Yeah, the little equinity left of Pumpkin Patch was lost as soon as Strawberry Patch died... All the strings detached, all the bridges burned, leaves the Candy Mare alone but free to roam.
Also, what is up with Celestia and Luna's reactions to Private Pansy's plight? I guess that stoicism may play a part in their rather neutral or quite level-headed reaction, but I still feel that they were detached...
Huh, actually, that makes sense now.
10349853
Yeah, the idea there is this is when Celestia and Luna are first starting out in their rule and their personalities are based on how they acted in The Journal Of The Two Sisters. They take their duty to protect Equestria seriously, but they behave far more childishly than you would expect and had only recently gotten their cutie marks. Think of them basically as teenagers with hero complexes from Starswirl conditioning them to rule Equestria.
Even though they realized they had just screwed up and something bad had happened as a result, they still think of themselves as having done basically the right thing since no one else could handle the situation and their training to deal with the fallout takes over. (Besides, there was some question, at least in Celestia’s mind, if that was even the pony her friends thought she was anymore and not just some ghastly, unnatural thing that deserved to be put out of its misery.)
I’m not saying their detachment isn’t kind of odd but it is meant to be, to try and illustrate their inexperience and relatively underdeveloped empathy having only just begun their rule.
Then why the heck are you eating earth ponies as well? By that logic should you only go after Unicorns and Pegasi? So why eat earth ponies too? Heck you know that your about your grandmother being rape by a Unicorn, which gave birth to your mother and understood why she hated Unicorns.
And yet you eat all ponies just the same; and no i'm not counting when Lemon Drop made you eat your father, thats different.
Seriously F**K Lemon Drop!!!!!
You can't seriously be that blinded by your hatred of how the Unicorns and Pegasi treated earth ponies and then eat the earth ponies as well. That makes no gosh dang sense.
10597462
It’s not supposed to make logical sense. The idea here is that she has a persecution complex and has externalized her own self hatred and loathing and applied it even to ponies who clearly want to help, like Private Pansy.
The ‘ponies like you’ line doesn’t just refer to pegasi and unicorns which she hates the most, but all ponies that she perceives as thinking they are better than her which also includes earth ponies that she thinks must have looked the other way when she was suffering. Obviously it’s more likely that no one other than Lemon Drop knew about what happened to her, but since her sanity has eroded she has ascribed his negative qualities (such as his arrogance and racism) to ponies as a whole.
Thus pegasi and unicorns are not the only races held in contempt but also anyone else that might have ‘looked the other way’ which would be everyone else in the Candy Mare’s delusion. To her all are guilty and worthy of punishment and that is not meant to be a logical conclusion.
I like how Celestia's kind of a jackass. It's clear neither of them is ready to rule yet.