No Cave Like Home
Crossing the distance between the barn and the house went uneventful. No sign of AppleJack, now.
The patio is empty, mind for a sole, empty rocking chair. Stepping up and ducking his head from the pony-sized overhang. The boards creak underfoot, drawing Anon from his slow, worried thoughts. If there were others that were still... unchanged is probably the best word for it, then maybe he should leave AppleBloom here, and bring her friends to her? Or bring them all back? But will AppleJack react to them? Scootaloo is a Remnant, and might not play well with this static tingle.
He knocks on the front door -- it rattles loudly in the doorframe, before slowly swinging open, left unlocked.
That's not foreboding at all.
"Hello?" Anon calls out, slowly creeping inside. The only light offered is the dreary splashes of whatever peers through the windows and the open doorway.
"Miss Belle? It's Anon."
The main hall is empty, most of the furniture knocked about. Pictures are askew, or even just broken on the floor.
"He..lLooOo..." A distant, somewhat feminine quiet voice calls back.
And then there's an ungodly groan, and a bubbly gurgle.
... Anon's face scrunches.
Despite being a terrible idea, he slowly steps further. He at least had to check, right? In case someone needed help, or something.
"HHHeEEllOooOo..." The voice calls out again, louder now as he nears the corner of the hall.
Taking a deep breath, Anon slowly peers around the halls bend.
There's Sugar Belle, standing by the door to the Apples basement. But she looks... off. She's smiling at him, and the smile is just too wide. Too sharp.
Still, though. The others have been weird too. Gotta give her a chance, even if he doesn't know her that well, right?
Before he can say anything though, she gestures towards the open door beside herself. The stairs head down towards the family basement, and she waits patiently as Anon looks.
There's... a pulsing, fleshy mass that quivers and moans. It's shape doesn't hold to one form, constantly wriggling and shifting. It hurts his head just to look at the thing.
A slimy, fleshy tendril slowly extends outward, as an apple begins to bud from it. Slowly, Sugar Belle reaches out with a worn basket, snipping it's stem with her hooves and catching it as it lands inside it with a loud squish.
"WaAAaant... onE?" Sugar Belle asks, turning to Anon starting to approach him.
"Oh, uh... no thanks, I'm not hungry..." Anon manages, between dry-heaves.
"YoU shOulD...HaAaAaveEe... neeEedDdt tTO HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO HA-" Sugar Belle starts to scream, rushing towards him.
Anon nearly cracks his head on the doorframe as he sprints back out of the house, tumbling into a roll as he clears the patio. He doesn't stop until he reaches the barn, throwing the door open and leaping inside, slamming it shut. Lungs burning, Applebloom and Chrysalis give him an odd look as he sits against the door.
Safe to say, AppleBloom was coming with him.
"Mister 'Non! Did they say I can go?" AppleBloom asks, bounding up to his face.
Behind her, Chrysalis stares at him with a curious frown.
"Uh... yeah, yup! Good to... good to go! Grab your things!" He huffs loudly, peering out the window, watching the house.
No movement. Nothing following.
AppleBloom grins widely, racing around the barn for... well, she doesn't exactly have much stored around here, so she's basically just making sure she didn't leave a mess and packing what little she did bring. For a moment, she pauses beside the platter of sliced apples, about to grab one -- Anon's stomach twists.
"Oh, uh -- mind saving the rest for me? Just realized how, uh... hungry I am!" Anon calls out. Applebloom pauses, glancing up and nodding with a smile, before skipping off to prep.
Anon exhales in relief. He still feels like he might vomit, quickly grabbing the plate and shoving it behind some of the haybales. Chrysalis creeps closer while AppleBloom is distracted, watching the filly.
"What in Tartarus you see in there to get you that spooked?" She presses, poking at him.
Anon glances over his shoulder, ensuring Apple Bloom isn't listening, before leaning to whisper.
"It's bad in there, and nobody should be eating those. That's all I'm gonna say.""
Chrysalis' eyes widen, words failing the bug queen. She silently looks at where he spilled the plate.
"Yeah. You, uh... good to go? I can carry you, if need be." Anon offers. She probably weighs almost nothing.
Chrysalis looks objectively offended, if not outright horrified at the idea.
"If you lay those grubby, splayed hooves of yours upon my chitin, you'll face my utmost wrath."
"Hey!" AppleBloom huffs, trotting back over. "I'm ready!"
"FASTER!" Chrysalis shouts, wriggling in his grasp.
Anon is hauling across the grassy field, bolting for the closest patch of wheat to get back where he came from. He's got Chrysalis under one arm, and AppleBloom under the other, carrying them both amidst his mad dash.
And AppleJack, screeching like a banshee with a warbly, ethereal scream that carries across the emptiness, is plowing after them. Her hooves tearing up clumps of dirt, billowing loudly. The moment he stepped outside of the barn with the pair in tow, she ripped out of the nearest tree in a fury, storming towards them.
Plan was simple. Run. Didn't pan out so great. Not a great track record for his ideas so far.
"Ah'll be back soon, Sis! But ah' wanna see mah' friends!" AppleBloom shouts back, trying to calm the oversized, skull-faced monstrosity gaining on them.
No dice. She is furious. Yoinking her little sister, and dangling Chrysalis in front of her is not helping. Her once-black eyeholes now burn brightly, and Anon can feel Chrysalis shaking in his arm. Must be terrifying, left pint-sized and without means to defend yourself.
The field of oversized wheat is getting closer, but not close fast enough. They're not going to make it -- the stomping is getting louder, and a glance behind himself shows they're about to be trampled as AppleJack towers over them.
Maybe if he throws them? He can buy them a moment and try to distract AppleJack -- though she's likely to just gore right through him to get to them.
Something loudly slaps against his chest, stopping him in his tracks and surprising him. All three, confused, look at it.
It's a web. And it leads back into the wheat field?
"The fu --" Anon barely gets out before he's yanked forwards, tumbling and crashing into the wheat, right as something large scuttles overtop of him. Chrysalis and AppleBloom make startled noises as they fall from his arms, and Anon scampers to his feet to look.
It's Twilight. Or Spider Twilight. Spidertwi? Twider? She's squaring up with AppleJack, holding herself high with her legs to match her height. She's not as tall as AppleJack, who roars loudly in frustration at being denied her catch, stamping the ground.
Applejack lunges forward with her antlers, swinging them widely -- as Twilight's horn glows brightly, and there's an ear-piercing flash of light that stuns anyone and everything unfortunate enough to have been looking in the direction. This includes Anon, stumbling back.
Before his vision even has a chance to recover, he's yoinked off the ground. Anon can barely hear the objecting voice of the others past the hum in his ears, as he feels wheat hit his face as he's quickly moved. And in a moment, the static hum in the air is gone, as is the stinging of his face getting whacked by stalks of wheat.
He rubs his eyes, squinting as his vision returns.
They're back in the jungle, away from the farm. Anon never thought he'd be happy to be hassled by big-ass mosquito's again. It doesn't look like Applejack intends to follow them beyond the farm, either.
"WHAT is TH-- the SPARKLE?!" Chrysalis refutes, wriggling in Spider-Twi's grasp. She's holding each of them in one of her legs, watching them with her opaque eyes.
"Remove yourself from me at once!"
"Miss Twi', you're lookin'... different. An' awful bright." AppleBloom remarks, eyes practically dinner plates as the filly works through her daze.
She slowly turns her head down to Anon, tilting it sideways before nuzzling his cheek. Still a bit on the grimy side but... they'd get her a bath or something.
"Thanks for the save, Twi. You coming back to the camp with us?"
"Nnnn...ooohnnnnn...eeee." She slowly chitters, before carrying them off in the suspiciously correct direction of their camp. Had she already been there?
Anon watches the wheat behind them dissapear as Twi effortlessly crosses the jungle with her odd limbs. Sorry AJ, but he'll take care of AppleBloom, and try to set things right soon.
AppleBloom sits in a daze for most of the trip, and Chrysalis eventually relents to being carried, again, against her will.
Well, whatever Faust was expecting to see when he got back, Anon doubts that this would be anything even close to her expectations.
"Who is this... benefactor, that you claim will help us?" Chrysalis suddenly asks, a few minutes into their ride home.
"Oh, right, forgot to mention her. Faust. You know her?" Anon offers, curious.
"...You're joking. My Mother?" Chrysalis states flatly.
"You know her mom? She a Changer-lin' too?" AppleBloom pipes in.
Oh boy.
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The story's great! Though I hope that marking it as complete was a mistake. :)
This is awesome in ways I can't explain and I really hope you finish this up after the contest is over.
That mini-Faust is being suspicious the entire time makes it better. I don't think she's lying, but she definitely knows more than she's saying.
That mixed with encountering all of the corrupted townfolks with a side of which ones Anon can pull slightly back from this corruption.
I'm gonna admit, I'm not sure what villain your going to tie into as the cause for this, it doesn't really fit any of the ones I can think of.
EDIT: I was wrong, I just thought of someone. If the nature of this change is temporal in nature...
Well this has been hilariously horrifying. I hope we get more soon. Also I knew it! I knew the chewy apples were sus! And nice that even in this messed up world Twilight still has his back
Really hoping the story gets continued for at least a few more chapters, i love it. The ai images also add a lot to the experience. Glad to see ai being put to good use.
This is fascinating. Like others, I hope this continues. And the pictures really sell the horror of this world.
It's fascinating yeah !
I want to keep reading and see what's going on where Anon explore !
Thank you for writing !
This is absolutely dope. Loving these weird monsterpones.
Im assuming theres going to be a part 2?
Huh, what a coincidence, I have just read this fic recently which also had an Everfree Island:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/513600/50/equestria-girls-the-tale-of-two-sunsets/chapter-70-legend-of-everfree-island
Was this a coincidence or were you inspired by it?
Very neat.
11954487
haven't read, don't like eqg
I wanna read the rest so bad
Can't wait for the contest to be over and for this to continue
PS I'd personally go with Spi-Twi
11954869
There's a reason she's in the tags
Would be neato for the tags to fully include what happened (or coulda happened) to all the main 6. We still haven't gotten any insight on Ponks and Butter. Skittles is a maybe maybe sit going on there. Personally, would like it if somehow everyone just regain rational thinking and just continue similarly to whatever they do in monster mode, just less "roar I wanna consume your meat for the blood god" kinda thing.
Roar!
Is this story gonna get finished? Or was just made for the contest.
11955126
other than a post-contest chapter that's all, just made for the contest
The variety in how the setting's horror manifested was neat. The farm especially being this derelict structure hidden behind a veil was cool. The way you approached the weirder side of the setting reminded me of The Lunar Guardsman. Like how the Crystal Kingdom was only briefly mentioned, with us just knowing that some sort of meat disease is ravaging the cold zones. Had me wondering how Canterlot was fairing in comparison
njnj!
11955129
if you dont plan to write more could you give a summary of what happened, you hooked me and i hate to never knowing how things would have gone
11955129
11955129
A shame really. There is a lot that could be done here. I hope we at least find out the fates of the mane 6 and what's up with Celestia and Luna to keep the sun and moon going, but allowing Equestria to get to this point.
I for one am incredibly sad that this won't be continued, you left me with no closure, man!
Please finish this once that contest is over, the premise is very well-done, the creepiness factor is countered by the sheer mystery as to what the hell happened, and am hoping to see whatever invaded this world get Anon'd into submission before the world is returned back to normal!
The magic being used reminds me of Tirac shtick. Wonder if there's a connection?
Easily my favorite of the other stories.