Plastic Dream
"So then what exactly is wrong with Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Why is she, like, stuck between being a pony and a monster?"
"The child herself told us her tale, Big Mac told you she encounter those monsters as well. It would seem to get out of a spot that was tight, she felt the need to give one of the candy ponies a bite," said Zecora, re-entering the room. She had on a pair of goggles and a glowing flask that looked as bright as the sun. She sat the flask down and thumped the side once or twice, as if trying to get something to settle to the bottom. "That morsel in her stomach was how she did ere, for the candy corrupts from inside there. Removed quickly enough she would have been fine, but it festered and now on flesh she seeks to dine. Enough of our stories, long and old. It's time your own story, Rainbow Dash, you told."
So Dash told them. She told them about how she had been away last Nightmare Night and had come back to a burnt out Ponyville and a Canterlot in a panic over the many disappearances. She told them about how she tried to get on with her life, even though her nights were plagued by terrible dreams and all her friends were dead and gone. She had wept a little at that part, because now there was no doubt it was true. Except for Fluttershy, all of her friends were dead. Part of her had been waiting and hoping that she'd see everypony again someday, but that part of her had been swallowed up in the tide of horror she had witnessed. The floodgates of her emotions burst, and she didn't even try to hold back from crying this time. Zecora and Big Mac waited patiently for her to finish, the scarred stallion offering her his hanky. They then asked her about what had happened just before she crashed into the Everfree Forest.
She told them about being summoned to Canterlot, and being dispatched to investigate Ponyville. She didn't leave out anything about the search or what they had discovered. She almost choked up again when she got to the part about the ultimate fate of Shining Armor, his soldiers, and Trixie as well. She finished her story with the chase by the flying candy pegasi, and subsequent maiming from whatever had burst through the clouds. That's when Zecora gave her an uncharacteristically tight hug, and said, "You've been through so much Rainbow dear, your tale is a sad one to hear. I know you feel you must return to Canterlot, but I must insist that you do not. Rest here for the night, we will travel with you when it is light."
Big Mac whispered to Zecora, "So it's like you thought huh? And it's going down tomorrow?"
"Yes, it would seem so. Prepare the wagon to go," she whispered back.
Big Mac yawned loudly, and pled it too late for a pony his age to be up and telling sad stories. He left the room, claiming he was heading to bed. Zecora stayed and helped Rainbow Dash to spread around a few cushions to make a makeshift bed. An old tarp would have to serve as a blanket, but the cauldron fire kept Zecora's home cozy, even as the storm still raged outside her windows. "One last thing before you go to sleep, you spoke of a dream that made you weep. As the Princess said, I think in your dreams there may be a clue, if you don't mind I'd like you to drink a special brew." She presented the glowing flask from before. "This is the star fruit juice concentrated, its taste I think will make you elated. But it also may work to dispel the gloom from your dreams, and uncover something that is more than what it seems."
Even though Zecora had been so kind to her, Dash hesitated. Drinking a little fruit juice before sleep didn't sound like it would do much, though she was aware that having a lot of sugar before bed usually just made bad dreams worse. But then again, as bad as her nightmares had been lately, how much worse could they get? She found herself wishing that she was back in Canterlot with Celestia, chatting away until oblivion would sneak up and take her. Maybe Zecora was right though. Celestia had thought that Luna might be trying to send a message, wherever she was now. If there was something about her dreams that would help thwart whatever the Candy Mare was planning, that could only be a good thing, right? She took the flask from Zecora and tried a few tentative sips. It was a little too sweet for her liking, but at Zecora's urgings, she drained it to the last drop. With a burp she gave a slight smile...before the sleeping drought mixed into the potion took her headfirst into a nearby pillow.
Darkness passed through her and Rainbow Dash through it. The dream started the same as usual, but she was immediately aware that she was dreaming. As she looked around it became more and more obvious. Cloudsdale was much too small, looking more like a movie set of the town than the town itself. Even the sky had an unfinished quality. She could've sworn that she saw a pumpkin headed pony using a mountain as a step ladder to paint on the last of the evening stars. The other party goers around her were equally fake, unmoving mannequins dressed in slap dash approximations of Nightmare Night costumes that barely made sense. A few of them were clearly meant to be unicorns and earth ponies standing with the pegasi, two types that couldn't set so much as a hoof on a cloud without a complex spell. As if on cue, a spot light illuminated a tiny diorama of Ponyville only a few feet away from the Cloudsdale stage. An old recording of canned laughter played through a set of busted speakers. Bits of red and yellow paper stood in for the raging fire in the tiny model town. Wires, literal wires, leading up from a harness around her waist carried Rainbow Dash from the Cloudsdale set, and dropped her in a new one. Had her dreams really always been this cheaply produced?
The Ponyville that spread out before her was at least a bit of a better effort. The detail was good, but a little off. Everything was just a little too shiny, like new plastic toys. She glanced over her shoulder and realized she was standing on the edge of the diorama table. She couldn't tell if she had shrunk or the model had grown huge. Red and yellow paper crinkled and shook around her, approximating the sound and motion of flames. She tried, but she just couldn't stifle a laugh. Was this what was behind her horrible nightmare this whole time? She walked through Ponyville, for the first time appreciating how all the houses looked more or less the same. Same color, same thatch, same windows. Only a few buildings stood out as unique. Here was the train station, complete with what appeared to be a working model of the Ponyville Express, though the proportions of the engine and the passenger cars were completely skewed and totally off. There was Rarity's Carousel Boutique and Sugarcube Corner. Everything seemed to be recreated in great detail, but it was all just so wrong. Things that should've stuck out were flat and two dimensional, even the flowers looked like they were pasted on the sides of houses rather than planted in front of them. Indeed, she actually walked over to one house and found that the 'bed of flowers' was just a big sticker stuck to the houses exterior.
Even worse were the residents of Ponyville. They were still here, and indeed some of them were still clearly burned, but it was kind of hard to take seriously. Like in Cloudsdale, they were represented by plastic mannequins. Their cutie marks were stickers, just like the flowers, plastered on their flanks. Some only had them on one side, as if whoever had made them had been lazy and decided they were only ever going to be seen from the one side. They all had the same mane and tail styles, long and straight, though as mentioned a few had burnt hair and melted bits of plastic dripping off. They moved around stiffly. Dash had to admit that was a little creepy, but everything was so bright and pastel colored she still didn't find it frightening. Tiny representations of Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, their hair made of plastic like the rest of their bodies, jumped up and down with a piece of string. It looked like somepony had poured something brown and sticky on the Applebloom model. The Applejack further along had been "impaled" with what looked like a pipe cleaner. There was even a plastic Spike, larger than the baby dragon had been in real life, set up as if he were chatting with a white unicorn doll meant to be Rarity.
It was all so silly she didn't even realize at first when she found herself standing in front of what was meant to be the town library. What was a massive tree in real life was just a hunk of plastic, all one piece in the dream. There was a flash, perhaps the old nightmare trying to re-assert itself, and she stood dwarfed by the burning tree once again. She shook in her sleep, and the dream bounced back to the tacky model version of Ponyville. Still, a wave of foreboding washed over her as she drew near the door. She wasn't sure what waited for her on the other side in this wacky toy world, but she wasn't sure that being eaten alive would be any less terrifying when mannequins were doing it. The door swung open of its own accord and she walked inside. The shelves here were all empty. There were no burning books, though crinkled paper danced and fluttered in a bad approximation of flames inside just as they did in the town outside.
Twilight Sparkle stood before her, though unsurprisingly, she was just another plastic doll. Bits and pieces of another model, this one pink, were scattered at her hooves. Rainbow guessed that this was meant to be Pinkie. Sure enough, she could see her head rolling around just behind the library door. "So are we gonna try again Twilight, huh, huh?"
"Would you cut that out Pinkie! She's scared enough when she sees me!" said the Twilight doll in exasperation. "Whenever you start moving around it just makes things worse! We've been trying to communicate with her for what feels like months now and you haven't been helping one bit!"
"Well pardon me Twilight," said the plastic Pinkie Pie head. "I just wanted to lend a hoof. I think there might still be one behind that book shelf over there." She giggled and snorted and kept rolling around and around on the floor. The Twilight mannequin just sighed heavily. Dash suspected that if the Twilight doll's legs had joints, she would've had one hoof to her forehead.
"Uh...hi. I know this is just a dream, or whatever, but do you have something you've been wanting to tell me?" asked Rainbow Dash, a little confused.
"She can hear us? You can hear us!? Oh thank Celestia!" cried Twilight, "You have no idea what it's been like. Every night it's the same thing. We call you here to tell you what you need to do to stop the Candy Mare and all you do is scream and scream and then disappear. I guess you wake up or something, but Luna keeps trying, so we have to keep trying too."
"Wait Luna? Princess Luna? So she really is behind this dream?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Well of course silly!" laughed Pinkie Pie's severed plastic head. "Do you know any other ponies that can walk through dreams? Of course that's about the only walking she can do anymore now that the Candy Mare has her. I feel really bad for her, you know? I mean, I've just gone all to pieces thinking about it." She burst into laughter and bobbed and spun around Rainbow Dash's legs. Yeah, this might not have been her usual nightmare, but it was still way, way weird.
"Stop that Pinkie!" scolded Twilight. "You'll have to excuse her Rainbow Dash, the jokes are just how she's coping with the situation. It really is quite dire. The Candy Mare is coming back in a big way, and I mean way worse than she ever was before. As one of the only remaining holders of the Elements of Harmony, I think only you will be able to stop her from cursing all of Equestria."
"All of Equestria?" Dash asked, swallowing hard. "What is she planning? What does that monster want?"
"The same thing she's always wanted," said Pinkie Pie. "to gobble every pony up, duh."
"She'll go from consuming ponies a dozen at a time to being able to consume entire towns in seconds. It won't matter if it's day or night, she'll thrive. She'll coat the entire world in a candy shell and snuff out every life but her own," said the plastic Twilight somberly. For just a moment, she twitched and seemed to fade in and out, something darker looming behind her. "Each life she takes just makes her stronger. She's already lived for thousands of years. If she succeeds in performing her rituals she'll have access to enough life force to live forever. Even if you find a way to escape her, she'll catch you eventually. Or your children, or your children's children. She'll never stop."
"Each life she takes keeps her that much further away from the darkness. That's what she's afraid of, you know? She can't stand the light, but she hates the darkness more. That's why she lets our souls shine," said Pinkie Pie.
"Your souls shine?" then it dawned on her, "The jack-o-lanterns."
"Well deduced Rainbow Dash," nodded Twilight as though to a star pupil. "Once our bodies are converted to candy, they are a part of the Candy Mare. But she has to keep our souls for power. I think if you can smash the pumpkins, that would free the trapped souls. She hides the souls now, but if you can find them and destroy them, you'll remove the bulk of her power. All I can tell you is that they're kept in a dark place, where even their combined light can't penetrate the gloom. I'm betting it's somewhere in the Everfree Forest. Probably the same place she's keeping Luna, the old Castle of the Pony Sisters, where we first found the Elements of Harmony."
"If you can free Luna, you defiantly should," chimed in Pinkie's head, spinning around upside down. "She was able to seal the Candy Mare in slumber in the first place. She might even be able to do it forever this time! But be careful Dash, that oblivion is the darkness that monster fears most. She doesn't want to go back to the nightmares of how she was created, but those are the only memories she still has from her old life. It'd be kind of sad if she hadn't, ya know, killed and eaten me and almost all of my friends!"
"Speaking of nightmares, I feel kind of silly," said Rainbow Dash, giving an awkward laugh. "All this time I was seeing you guys as these messed up corpses, but you were just plastic dolls this whole time. I must've seemed like a real idiot for being so scared," the azure pony laughed again. Both the Twilight mannequin and the Pinkie Pie head froze and were quiet for a minute. "Uh, guys, you still there?"
"Yes," said Twilight. "However, we never questioned why you were afraid. I mean it's obvious really. After all we look exactly the way we did the night we died."
"Yeah, you've been standing ankle deep in my guts this whole time. It kind of tickles, to tell the truth, but I don't mind." said Pinkie's severed head.
"And you're nearly cooked through now," said Twilight, one plastic hoof reaching out and giving Dash a little poke that sent pain racing through her body. "The fires have roasted you well. All of your other dead friends will be here soon, and then we'll feast!"
"A real BBQ get together, just like old times!" giggled Pinkie Pie, her eyes rattling around in her skull. "I hope the others don't mind, but I think I want a little taste before they get here. She looks so good, I bet the meat will just fall right off the bone!"
Either Zecora's potion had worn off, or the Candy Mare had retaken control of Dash's dream. All around Rainbow Dash the plastic peeled and melted, pastel colors giving way to darkness and corruption underneath. Flames roared, consuming the paper that had been it's pale imitation. Everything was rotted and burned, a putrid stench flooded Dash's lungs. It was only made worse as she realized it was the stink of her own burning flesh. She raised her hooves and found, just as her friends had said, she'd been cooked through by the flames. The skin on her face had peeled back, making it impossible to close her eyes and her locking her mouth in a smiling grimace. She crumbled to the floor and felt herself involuntarily curling into a fetal position as her muscles spasmed and clenched from the pain.
Just as Pinkie had said she felt herself laying in a slithering, squirming pool of entrails. Not just Pinkie's and Twilight's, but her own. Her stomach had burst like an over cooked sausage from all the internal heat. Twilight loomed over Dash now, her own body ripped to pieces, chunks missing where bites had been taken out of her hide. Twilight's jaw hung open only by a few scraps of flesh and tendon, but even so Dash could see the drool spilling from her mouth as she gazed into that aweful parody of her friends face. Pinkie Pie's severed head was more like an eyeless, fleshless skull that moved around the floor thanks to the thick tongue that slipped and slid from her mouth and through the bloody guts. Dash flinched as she felt it flicking over her burnt flesh. The library door burst open, and the other blood dripping horrors she had passed in the street streamed inside. Those that still had eyes looked at her hungrily. "Oops, too late," gurgled the former party pony's skull. "Guess we'll just have to share! Let's eat!"
Biting, ripping, tearing. Rainbow Dash felt bits and pieces of herself shredded and chewed by jagged teeth, "Let's eat!" She felt herself being swallowed by many mouths and sliding over tongues that were hot against her burns, "Time to eat!" Worse, she wasn't dying, "Let's eat!" No part of her was dying! "Time to eat!" She just kept on living through the pain, every individual part of herself still communicating the feeling of sliding down gore choked throats into the acid filled pits of bottomless stomachs, "Let's eat!" When they ate her eyes would she still see it? "Time to eat!" When they ate her tongue, what would that taste like? "LETS EAT!" Why couldn't her heart just cease it's incessent beat!?
Rainbow woke with a jolt, coughing, her eyes fluttering as the haze of the nightmare faded from her vision. However, the stench still lingered, the smell of burning flesh and putrid decay. "Time ta eat," said Big Macintosh, shoving a plate of sausage, eggs, and toast under her nose. The azure flyer turned a sickly shade of green and threw up right there in the middle of Zecora's living room. Big Mac jumped back, moving the tray of food out of the way just in time. His one good eye swiveled around, uncertain of what to do. All he could think to say was, "Er, we got cereal if ya would prefer that."
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Time out!
Really, sausage? I realize that equines can digest meat but it seems like Mac would go with something more.. plantish.
Time in!
5129500 Maybe they're vegan sausages.....EwwWW
WE GOT CEREAL IF YA WOULD PREFER
OMFG THAT MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD!!!
And also the Twi and Pinkie part gave me hope and made me rlly happy
Keep up the spooks n feels tho
What the hay is sausage. -- Big Mac
Imagining the candy ponies gives my the strange urge to draw them
. And I really wanna see this and the first one made into an animation!
Heh heh, Mac's trying to slip RBD his sausage...
Alright, lol, that was funny.
its like the seen from inside out
You know, Knackerman, it’s good that you made this sequel because it gives backstory for how it is possible but incredibly difficult to defeat her. I’ve seen a few people complain that an completely unstoppable monster is no fun, but you prove with Twilight and Pinkie here that she isn’t, just that she’s one step ahead.
5129500
Actually although horses can digest meat it serves no nutritional value. It would be like us humans eating blades of grass. We could digest it a bit but it gives no energy.
Hay sausage, hay sausage, hay sausage! I mean… there’s hat bacon, right?
Feels bad man
Yeah... the Candy mare is a tragic and sad character. I would pity her if she, you know, tried to think how to deal with revenge instead of going with her twisted feelings all the time.