Everfree Island

by scrungusbungus

The Ponyville Perimeter

---

^Ponyville

Anon leans around the side of the Ponyville Library, Twilight's usual haunt. He'd assumed it would've been doubled the size or some shit with how overgrown and unkempt everything was, considering it's a tree. Instead, it looked shriveled and withered, the ailing oak being stifled and swarmed by the jungle trees that grew far above it -- choking it of sunlight with their impressive canopy. Long, draping vines filtered down, and the midday sun could only gleam so much through this section of the never-ending, Equestria-spanning jungle.

Now it just looks haunted.

The rest of Ponyville looked pretty similar. The buildings were all still around, but old and rotted like they'd been abandoned years ago. Trees and shrubbery overgrown across, atop and around them, with vines and plants crawling up their walls. No part of it was untouched, even the fountain was now drained dry and covered in moss. Anything old was being strangled by the new.

Anon smacks his arm, squinting at one of the bazillion insects that wondered if he might make a tasty treat. At this rate, he'd probably prefer the changelings.

"Looking to borrow a book?" Faust asks, laying atop his head.

"No, uh... just checking if the coast is clear. They typically hover around the Schoolhouse, but I've seen a few stragglers." Anon quickly responds in a hushed tone, eyes scanning the edges of buildings, windows, anything for movement.

"I'd have expected them to claim the entirety of the town. You don't think so?" Faust questions, curious.

Anon shakes his head, Faust rolling off and resuming flight around him.
"It's all their 'Territory', but unless they're prowling, only the Schoolhouse should have the bulk of them."

She raises an eyebrow, scoffing.
"Prowling? Anon, they're foals."

Anon hunches lower, shuffling to peer around the other side. He could see Rarity's boutique from here... and that was not a shop he was keen on getting into. The fact that these little hellions had boarded it up from the outside made it clear enough, whatever was in there should stay in there.

"Well, sure. But they've all kept their old habits. They'll have lunch, and a full foal is a tired foal... so naptime should kick in pretty soon here, too. That should give us enough time to catch a few fish and bug out before they notice." Anon explains, tsking. Nothing so far... not even Sweetie Belle, who usually hangs around the front of the Boutique. His theory must be right. She's one of the only ones he sees even go close to that place. The rest avoid it like the plague.

"Let's hope your theory holds true. Oh, you might want to reconsider picking out a book, too." Faust says idly, coming back from peeping around the tree.

"Huh?" Anon questions, glancing over.

"Well, you've got an orange... thing with a skull on it's head, soaring towards you at a worrying pace. Worrying for you, since I can just poof away." Faust shrugs.

"Ah, shit -- wait. Orange? Flying?" Anon asks, shuffling to look around the other side of the tree again.

Sure enough, soaring down the overgrown plaza of the town, a bright streak of orange was rocketing over the grassy ground, none too different from how Dash normally flies. It looks like a Griffon, actually.

And man, what a wingspan on that chicken. Those feathery appendages easily dwarfed even Celestia's wingspan, twice as large as any of the foals in town. Thing looks properly feathery, too, like her fur was mixed with feathers. That skull it was wearing on it's head wasn't very promising for it's intentions for Anon if he got caught, either.

"Why can it fly?" Faust muses, ignoring the impending danger as she tackles the question.

"Shit, shit..." Anon mutters, quickly moving to the back window. It takes leveraging his spear into the windowsill to crack it open, the greenery that had been growing over it making a resilient layer to ward him out. He's forced to quickly try and cut through the resistant foliage, vines refusing him entry with their grasp on the withered oak.

"Hurry up, unless you want it shrieking and alerting the rest of them. I'm sure you're quite partial to your legs going unchewed." Faust warns playfully, floating around him. He can hear the Griffons wingflaps getting closer, right as the window creaks open, just enough for him. He barrels through the window shoulder-first, landing on the rotted wood flooring with a hard thud. He winces, gritting his teeth to stay silent, pressing himself again the wall.

Faust flutters in after him, landing on the floor, tilting her head as she listens.

...

Anon sits in tense silence, hoping he got through in time. Just barely, he can see the edge of it. It's perching atop the branches of the library tree as cracked chunks of it tumble to the ground below -- instead of hooves, sharp talons grasp the bark. It's head twists around, scanning the surroundings as it's wings are held out wide.

It's... really orange. There's a tuft of purple... feathers? Hair? Sticking out from the top of the mask.

After a moment that stretches far too long, Anon can hear the flap of wings as it lifts off, launching into the air.

He doesn't budge yet -- he can hear it circling, just below the canopy several times before heading back in the direction of the schoolyard.

He waits until the sound of it flying is entirely gone, before sighing to himself.

Faust, who'd been quietly watching beside him, speaks up.
"Well, Scootaloo is gone. For the moment. Still..." She trails off, perplexed. "Why was she almost... Griffon-like?"

Anon groans, slowly pushing himself to his feet, sliding his knife away, not paying much attentions to Faust's ruminations. Too close.

"That was Scootaloo?" Anon questions, giving his companion an incredulous look.

"Felt like her. But... different." Faust muses.

"Whatever that means." Anon grunts, standing.

---

^{Ponyville Library}

Plan was to give them a couple minutes, since they were still active. By then, naptime should hopefully kick in.

For now, he'd kill time in what was left of Twilight's Library. Sorry for the intrusion, Purple, but... doesn't look like you'd really care much, considering the state of this place.

The books haven't been kept well, all overgrown, water damaged, chewed by moths... moss speckles the corners, and various plants and roots crack through the barky exterior of the now out-of-place oak, assailed by its surrounding flora. For shame, Purple.

Anon hopes she's alright.

Faust flutters by one of the shelves, trying to read some of the spines, spinning herself this-way-and-that as she tries to decipher them past their damage. She seems distracted, though, and gives up pretty quickly.

"Hoping to see your friend?" Faust levies.

"Yeah. I don't think she's here, but I hope she's doing alright." Anon nods.

"Well, Twilight is clever enough to avoid hungry foals, magic or not." Faust simply states, returning to her thoughts.

Anon tries to rifle through the place for supplies, but the entire upper floor is collapsed on itself, intruded by foreign growth and blocking off the stairway. Unless he was willing to spend a few hours clearing debris, with the reward being a likely empty bedroom... pass.

"I... have a theory." Faust suddenly says aloud, floating back over to him.

Anon is fairly distracted with his opportunistic but disappointing bout of looting, mostly just checking drawers she wouldn't let him see before, until his gaze catches on the basement. Anon hums to himself, checking it -- the door is locked up tight, but the wood is weak. Might be worth trying to crack it, see what's through here. He's not familiar with what's on the other side.

She takes Anon's silence as confirmatory interest, and keeps going.
"I believe I may have been mistaken about what the Remnants of Magic are."

"Remnants of Magic? How so?" Anon idly responds, checking the door for it's weakest point. The joints looked like they were barely hanging on, so he should be able to ignore the lock...

"Originally, I assumed that magic may have manifested itself into something akin to the Elements. Gems, crystals, objects of power carried over from this lapse in reality..." Faust explains, slowly fluttering down to sit on an old web-covered stack of books. A curious spider is handed a hefty side-eye, and leaves Faust well enough alone.

Anon snorts, backing up and rolling his shoulders, about to charge the door. Ponyworld rules should let him have his cool action movie moment, right?

"I wouldn't do that -- so it has me assuming their forms may be more... alive. Like vessels." ShoulderFaust explains, slipping in a warning that unfortunately goes unnoticed.

Anon barely realizes, before he slams into the rotted door with his shoulder, expecting the weakened structure to give way. It does, and what a glorious scene it is, with splinters flying as Anon sails right through the debris -- directly into the awaiting staircase that leads down to the basement.

Right. Basement. Forgot about the stairs.

Faust's ear twitches with every thud as Anon descends to the lower floor non-consensually, shaking her head before flapping down after him.

---

^{Ponyville Library - Basement}

Anon groans, splayed on his back in the dim, dark underbelly of the library. Down here, it's all roots, the only light being cast down the steps from upstairs. He can't tell if his shoulder hurts from the door with most of him hurting from the fall, a dull throbbing ache firmly settling in.

Faust slowly swirls down the steps, lips pursed as she glances around.
"Hm. Still alive? Doesn't look very..." She trails off, landing atop him, ignoring the groan that wheeze out of Anon.
Then her eyes widen, staring into the dark bowels of the basement.
"Anon."

"Ugh... did it look cool, at least?" Anon mutters, blinking hard and rubbing his shoulder.

"Anon. Get back upstairs, now." Faust whispers harshly. Her eyes are still glued forward.

"What? I need a minute, Faust, that hurt pretty bad." Anon grumbles, shifting to lift his head.

The lighting was pretty shit, but he could see...

It's like a large, circular storage room for books and a variety of doohickies. It looks like nerd science stuff, but for magic. Like someone wanted a chemistry lab for sparkles and glowy shit. Anon doesn't think he's actually ever been in Twilight's basement before... not that she hid it or anything, but they never really had a reason to come down here. It had a smell.

He manages up to his feet, ignoring the pain, using his spear for a crutch as he hobbies forward.

"Anon! Stop!" Faust quietly hisses, holding a hoof out -- she won't budge forward any more, eyes wide. It falls deaf upon Anon's overt curiosity.

"...Huh?" Anon mutters, slowly looking up.

There's something... purple suspended in the air, in the center of the room, with numerous appendages stretching out to the walls. Like a mass of flesh bearing some familiarly nerdy colors, with that pink and purple stripe cutting through some of it. Above Anon's head is an exposed torso, a split-open chest cavity that all these fleshy straps of this 'web' come back to connect to, blood dripping from the whole thing and pooling on the floor. He can see sharpened ribs flared out and pulsing, an oversized beating heart, lungs that pump one at a time instead of together... and intestines dangling in the air.

Anon... isn't really quite sure to how to process that. Something all fleshy and gross, tucked between the obtrusive and overgrowing roots that forced their way down from above, pressing through the walls. Which, he just fell directly into.

Watching the exposed heart quiver, beating in a firm rhythm, brings up a few questions Anon isn't sure he's going to get the answers for. The pain from his fall starts to matter a little less now, pointing up towards it and glancing back towards the stairs.
"Faust... I'm recognizing an uncomfortable amount of purple in whatever that is, and if we go with the coincidental location, is that... Twilight? What's up with her?" Anon asks, thumbing up towards her trembling, main fleshy mass. "Is this a Remnant thing, like Scootaloo?"

Bit of a jump from the orange cripple getting bird wings, to... did she become a fleshy web?

Faust's nose is scrunched. There was a sick stench wafting from that room, one tinged with magic. No relief come to Faust, however -- this was not a familiar scent.
"...Not of Equestrian Magic. I think this is the work of something cruel and twisted, still capable of magics to twist ones form and mind." She says slowly, eyes quietly scanning the edges of the room.
"Now back away, before she notices you. Quickly. And quietly."

Faust had no idea who did this... a few guesses, which makes their excursion hurdles more dangerous, and now unpredictable. Whatever occurred here has altered one of the Ponies beyond her usual expectations.

And yet, Anon just stares up at it. As if enraptured by the visible organs, and the twisted flesh.
"You need to get away from her, now." Faust harshly warns, still hesitant to move any closer.

But he's enraptured, staring up at 'Twilight'. Faust's ears pin back as Anon does the opposite.

"Twi, you up there?" Anon calls, reaching out to brush one of the web-like extensions. Anon was more driven by a concern for one of his friends, then an outright concern for a power he didn't recognize.

Basically, he was a fucking idiot who didn't watch enough horror movies.

His hand meets... it feels like a pony, but bristly, which confirms a few unnerving things. Fur, warm flesh... and covered in blood. Soaked, even. It wobbles as he makes contact with it, vibrations running towards the center. A furred fleshweb.

"SHH!!" Faust hisses loudly, angrily flailing a hoof. "Idiot! Shut up! Come here!"

The exposed, central chests ribs begin to... oh. The ribs begin to twitch, before the entire exposed mass closes, the ribs pulling the intestines back inside itself with a dexterity that bone simply should not have, a squishy sound being made as everything is hidden back inside the fleshy...

Both watch, as the mass sitting central of the web begins to turn. Unlike first assumption, it's not attached to anything -- it was sitting atop the meeting point. Long, spindly limbs that were laid alongside the web, hidden from view, press and grow further outward from the mass, turning and hanging off the web. From the shadows around it, the rest of it slowly emerges, uncurling from it's rest. It almost looks like a pony, but... wrong. Very wrong. The limbs just out awkwardly from it, substituting any real hooves, as a head sporting a messy spatter of a very familiar mane pulls itself from the darkness.

Anon is realizing he probably should have listened. A little late now though, frozen in a mixture of confusion and fear.

It suddenly darts down the length of 'web' towards Anon, before either him or Faust can blink -- and stops, holding it's head inches from his face while hanging off the web.

It's Twilight alright. Mostly. She's weirdly thin like she hasn't eaten in how long, and her jaw hangs open with an unnatural, almost unhinged width with crimson dribbling out between her sharpened teeth. Vivid, glowing red eyes that piece through the shadows replace what used to be two big, curious purple orbs that stared up at him with passionate curiosity. Mandibles slowly chitter from inside her maw, twitching.

'Twilight' stares at Anon, eye level, mouth agape. There's a hunger to her gaze, supporting the idea she hasn't eaten in a while, drool dribbling from her maw. Anon stares back, eyes wide. She might remedy that lack of nutrition soon. On him.

Not great. Doubt he can run. Not keen on either trying to fight, or finding if Fausts ruling still applies to this... twisted, spider-like form of once-Twilight.

Not that Anon was plusses by the idea of fighting Twilight anyway. The others, maybe... but not Twilight.

...But she's staring at him. Just like she used to. Maybe she's... still in there?

Faust swallows hard, weighing her options. She can't afford to lose the human, but his stupidity just waltzed him into a spider-nest formed of the flesh of the Princesses favorite student. She could try stunning it, but her power was limited without her proper magic... she bites her lip, desperately trying to think of an out. Attack might be the only option, just enough to get away while it sizes him up --

"Hey, Purple." Anon says suddenly with a shaky voice, reaching out and ruffling it's mane, around the base of it's horn.
"Uh... funky new look, I dig it, though I didn't think you were big on insects. Seemed more Fluttershy's thing."

It blinks as he touches it, but continues to stare. Undeterred and slightly emboldened by not being ripped to shreds, Anon continues as Faust simply watches, the magic from her horn puttering away.

"Where's Spike, though? He become a spider-thing like you, hiding upstairs or something?"

The twisted Twilight's glowing eyes blink on the contact, shifting its gaze to the offending hand. It's tongue, an abbhorantly long and prehensile thing, traces the razor-sharp teeth that line its mouth.

And then, those opaque, pupil-less eyes and that bristled face seems to... soften. An ungodly noise escapes her throat, hacking up... something fleshy that splats to the floor below.
"Ah...non. Rhaa...riih...ty...eess."

To Faust's complete surprise, Twilight's head slowly tilts to stare at him, remaining sat and still as his hand coasts her fur, her hair. Twilight's poised stance relaxes, head leaning into his hand.

"...What?" Faust mutters, taken aback.

"Figures he's there. You been alone this whole time, Spider-Twi?" Anon laughs nervously to himself, continuing.

Slowly, with flesh that creaks and bones that groan... 'Spider-Twi' nods.
"Ahl... ohne."

"Huh. Well, I've got a camp up the hill, if you ever... web that way?" Anon finds himself offering tentatively, watching her for a moment.

The only response is a quiet, strange noise that's a mis between a chitter and a nicker, Spider-Twi's... Anon thinks he sees the mandibles inside of her mouth helping her make said noise. Interesting.

"Non...ny..."
'Twilight' mumbles, quieter now, seeming to have lost some of the excitement. She nuzzle his face with hers, cheek to cheek -- an act that... smears him with a fair bit of drool and blood.

---

"Anon!" Twilight shouts, startling him from his slumber -- the book slides off his face, hitting the floor loudly as he sits up.

"Weu--huh?" He mumbles, rubbing his eyes.

"You're always hogging my couch. Seriously. Every time, you say you come here to read, and I find you three pages in, snoring on my sofa!" She scolds, stamping her hoof.

The Princess' favorite purple is stood in her living room, glaring at him from beside the couch of which he so helped himself to.

"Alright, alright!" Anon throws his hands in the air, wobbling to a stand as the pouty pony continues to stare.
"Not my fault your place is so comfortable."

"It... huh?" She asks, tilting her head.

"Well, Dash keeps trying to bug me to tell her the differences between my Football, so she can compare it to her Hoofball. She's been hounding me for the last week, and this is the best place to duck away from her. She wouldn't be caught dead reading something that isn't the new... what was it?"

"Daring Do." Twilight retorts bluntly, frowning.
"So you just come here to hide from Dash?"

"Well, you're the Pony I get along with best, so... yeah?" Anon shrugs.

"...I am?"

"Well, when you're not yelling at me."

Twilight frowns.

Twilight's magic scoops the book off the floor, holding it beside herself.
"Well, if you weren't napping all day, I wouldn't need to. Hang on, don't you have work?"

"Oh. Not really, anymore. Applejack fired me." Anon states, pursing his lips.

Twilight double-takes right as she's about to turn around, to return the book to it's rightful place.
"She what?"

"Eeyup."

"But... statistically, your height should prove ample for collecting the missed apples from her bucking! Theres numerous advantages your build should have for working the field!" Twilight objects.

"You'd think that, but that earth pony magic helps them out plenty. Honestly, I kind of just got in the way." Anon shrugs, huffing loudly.
"Speaking of... room and board got canceled with it. You mind if I crash here again?"

"...Is this why you've been trying to hog my couch for the last few days?"

"...Maybe?" Anon shrugs, grinning sheepishly.

Twilight groans, rubbing her face with a hoof.
"Yes, of course you can stay, Anon. Just... help Spike with cleaning up like before."

"Same closet?"

"Same cl -- same room, Anon. It's not a closet." Twilight quickly corrects herself.

"Well, for someone of my size..." Anon holds his arms out.

"What, would you prefer my bed?" Twilight snorts.

"...I was gonna say couch, but hey, if you're offering. A little forward there, Purple." Anon teases.

"What? I wasn't -- I --" Twilight quickly flusters, cheeks taking a flush as she stutters.

"Messing with you." Anon chuckles, leaning down to poke her nose.
"Thanks, Twi. I'll pay you back for this. When I figure out how..." Anon mumbles, words trailing off. He plucks the book back out of her magical grasp, wandering off to go deposit it where he found it.

Twilight stares after him for a long moment, the blush on her cheeks never quite seeming to go away.
"... I mean, you'd probably fit in my bed..." Twilight quietly comments, shaking her head before she trots off to resume whatever task she'd been in the middle of, before Anon distracted her. Again. As usual. She'd figure things like that out later.

---

Spider-Twilight slowly pulls away, turning and scaling up the lengths of web, easily scaling several feet in seconds and pushing towards one of the distant walls. Her chest... slowly reopens, organs exposed to the air again, as the ribs protrude forward. She uses them almost like single-fingered hands, ribs now twisted and sharpened, as they tap the spines of a line of books several meters up off the ground from a wall-covering bookshelf. She's still maintaining her library, even like this. The books down here are in a good bit better condition than the ones upstairs, to note.

Faust has little else to say as her expectations had been subverted. Anon, however, slowly steps after Twilight as he keeps speaking.

"It's a cave, and it's a fair bit more dry than here, if you want to bring your books." Anon continues, blinking out of... was that a memory? Calling up to her before shrugging, continuing from his offer. "If not, I'll try to visit so you aren't too lonely. See you around, Twi?"

No response. Just a strange chattering sound, and bones grinding.

"Figures -- still a nerd." Anon sighs warmly, giving a little wave before he turns to leave.

Faust could feel it. The shift in influence. It felt... diluted. Like there was a gap, a slip in the foul corruption that seeded this place, returning some semblance of the Unicorn, despite her still twisted and misbegotten form. She was absolutely going to have ripped him apart, but... didn't.

Anon reaches the stairs and the awaiting, slack-jawed miniature Faust.
"Anon."

"Mm?" He hums, wiping his hands. And face. Twilight was a bit... grimy, to say the least. Wash himself off at the beach.

"How did you do that?" She questions, concerned.

"Do what?" He shrugs, starting back up the steps. He's careful not to put too much weight down, for the fear of shoving an entire foot through a rotted step and repeating his tumble. Anon looks back, sighing softly before carrying on. He wished he could do more for her, but... for now, she seemed to be in an alright place.

Faust glances back at Twilight, before quickly fluttering after him.
"She was about to rip you to shreds, Anon. I could feel the bloodlust, from whatever has twisted her, oozing from her."

"Twilight? Psshh, nah. We're tight, she'd never." Anon rebuffs, blowing a raspberry.

Faust slowly bobbles up and down on his shoulder as Anon scales the stairs, returning to the properly-sunlit living room, her thoughts swirling. Perhaps the Human would be more impact full on their journey than she thought.

Wait.

"Anon -- why did you invite her to your camp? Avoiding getting eaten once is a fluke, at best. Now she's going to show up and web you up while you sleep."

"Because the basement was kind of gross? She shouldn't hang out down there alone, anyway. She's offered her home to me countless times, I can do the same at least once. In fact... wonder if I can get her to make me some string, get a fishing rod going." Anon mumbles in completely unconcerned curiosity.

Originally, she'd label him an idiot and a moron. But that idiot just subverted a corruption that fully intended to devour him, by... being friendly with it.

Well. Looks like even here, in whatever ruined world this was, Friendship was a magic that refused to quit. She just didn't expect the one to form as it's remnant to be...

She looks at the human, mumbling to himself about bait and fish.

She did dump him in the proper timeline for a reason. Looks like she made the right choice, even if it was an accidental one. She rolls her eyes, fluttering over to catch up and get to her usual spot on his shoulder.

Author's Note:

Another render from the same idea, thanks to [Bad Touch]
for the first render

Comments

[ThunderBasilisk]

Well hello figment of my nightmares.

[Verdauga]

Well that's quite spooky.

[GodOfComedyAndTragedy]

Whelp that's a nice read before bed

[fuvvfonyx]

undertale

[Negativity enjoyer]

11954462
Heh, same