Where is Everypony?

by Late_To_The_Party

Epilogue

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle clung to each other, trembling in fear as Scootaloo finished her story. She held a flashlight under her chin, casting unnatural shadows across her face as she leaned closer to the other two with every word. When she finished, she paused for just a moment, then looked into the darkness past the two terrified fillies.

"Is that..." She squinted as though trying to tell just what it was she was seeing.

"GUMMY!"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shrieked and ran past Scootaloo as fast as they could to escape the tiny toothed terror, which of course wasn't there. Scootaloo laughed in triumph and whipped her head around excitedly to check for a cutie mark. She didn't see one, but she did see Pinkie Pie walking toward her.

"What are you girls up to?" Pinkie Pie didn't seem to notice that two of them were clinging to her forelegs as she walked.

"Not getting our cutie marks in scary storytelling apparently," Scootaloo said dejectedly.

"Scary stories? I know a good one! Wanna hear it? Huh? Huh? Do ya?"

Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm was irresistible. Even Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle agreed to the idea of a story from her. After all, how scary could such a cheerful pony be? Random, yes, but not scary.

Scootaloo handed Pinkie the flashlight and settled down with the other Crusaders to listen to the story. Pinkie replaced her usual smile with an oddly serious expression.

"Have you girls seen Rainbow Dash recently?"

Scootaloo looked at the other girls, their confused expressions mirroring her own.

"No," she said slowly. "Why?"

Pinkie's smile returned in an instant.

"No reason!"

Random, Scootaloo thought.

"Now, the story I'm going to tell you is one I found on the internet. It's-"

"The inter-what now?" Apple Bloom said, interrupting.

"Never mind!"

So random, Scootaloo thought.

Pinkie's serious face returned as she spoke again.

"This story is called Cupcakes..."

Comments

[Late_To_The_Party]

1558292 Why yes, there is more. Kinda. Barely. Aaaand... there it is.

[Written Out]

And the troll train stops at the station.

Didn't see that coming. Nice.

[jdb1984]

Hey girls, let's see if you get cutie marks in staying up all night.

[Late_To_The_Party]

1556076 Thanks! I agree it could have used a bit more detail, but I have a tendency to be too much of a perfectionist; if I'd waited until I thought it was just right I never would have published it.

1556136 1557072 I was not familiar with The Langoliers, but I must say it's pretty cool to have my first published story compared to Stephen King.

1557885 Cool! Sometimes Dark can be fun! ...and sometimes it's just frightening.

1556145 Your comment made my day!

Thanks for reading, everyone. Now credit where credit is due. I would not have written this story if my brother hadn't asked me, "What if Gummy had teeth?" He also made a couple suggestions for revisions when he read my first draft.

Overall, I feel this is not bad for a first fic.

[Magnum the Critic]

...................25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m26nvnNG5o1qkk10ro1_500.jpg

This ending pissed me off. You have no Idea how SICK I am of having perfectly good grimdark stories get ruined by a crappy "epilogue". If you had finished the story at gummy, It would have been far more horrifying. Wondering what the hell happened is ALWAYS going to be more frightening than actually knowing.

Especially if it was all just a stupid "campfire ghost story"

[Late_To_The_Party]

1561159 That's why I put it in there as an epilogue rather than part of the actual story. For those who are satisfied with the ending of the story, all well and good, but for those who desperately need to know what was really going on, have an epilogue.

...and Pinkie Pie scaring the girls far more than my story did.

[Magnum the Critic]

1561174 But thats the thing; not having any sort of conclusion causes the reader to think about it for far longer than they actually should. Thats where the real scares come from. Trying to piece together for yourself just what happened. How about your next darkfic has a sudden cliffhanger with no explanation hm?

[Late_To_The_Party]

1561188 If I do write another one, I'll probably leave it as a cliffhanger.

I had written all of this one before I posted any of it, I just left the epilogue unpublished for a day to put the fear of Gummy into the first readers. Honestly, the idea of Gummy eating everypony was creeping me out enough I wrote the epilogue more for me than anyone else...

[ISKV]

1561174
Might want to put that as a warning at the beginning of the chapter.

[Late_To_The_Party]

1561317 Good point, thanks. Added a note to the beginning of the epilogue.

[7x9000]

Cupcakes...?
CUPCAKES?!
*Goes all Nostalia Critic Bat Credit Card*

[yayme]

Great ending!

[FaceDeer]

Actually, I prefer this ending. Not because the previous one was too grimdark but because it would have broken my suspension of disbelief that Gummy could have just up and eaten everypony - even with proper teeth, and assuming nopony tried fighting back. They just wouldn't fit in there! :) But this is exactly the sort of scary story that a filly would tell her friends when trying to get a scary story telling cutie mark.

[punisher143]

I'm ok with both endings.

[durandana]

Welp.

[silvadel]

Pinkie Pie should know better than to tell the CMC cupcakes. At best it could traumatize them, at worst it could give them ideas.

[Late_To_The_Party]

2362687 Eeyup. At first, I was intending it to be just a joke. Then I decided that this could be in the same continuity as Twilight's Library. And therefore the sequel. It's changed my plans somewhat.

[INACTIVE_ACCOUNT]

Huh. Didn't see that coming