Special Thanks to Mad Hattie (for Mad Hattie), Rubycast (for Ruby), RushingAutumnLeaves (for Icy Ink), and vader10001 (for Thunder Spark). I hope I did your OCs justice.
Thanks also to Swirling Line (for Swirling Line), nickwengz (for Soda), Leo Heartship (for Leo Heartship), the Princess Rarity (for Disk Spin), and High Tide (for High Tide).
Appleloosa was never really seen as some great bastion of modern society. It was a frontier town full of ponies just trying to find their way in the world through hard work and sweat.
That was the old world.
Now, Appleloosa was a town of refugees. Once word got around that nopony in Appleoosa had been having nightmares of a certain faceless stallion of impossible proportions, the ponies had flocked there in great herds. The town itself was now surrounded on all sides by small encampments and shanty towns. The ponies had nothing in common save one undeniable truth; they were all terrified.
New refugees came in everyday, so nopony was surprised when the carriage pulled into the town limits. The great red stallion stopped pulling just in front on the local saloon and tapped the side. A door in the rear popped out and a rather motley crew of refugees stepped out one by one.
There was a tan pegasus stallion with a strange, jagged tail.
Next came a pale white unicorn with a jagged broken stub jutting up through her pink mane where the horn should be.
Behind her came a second pegasus, this one an icy blue.
Bringing up the rear was an orange pegasus with shifty eyes. She looked around suspiciously and tugged her tall top hat tighter against her head.
Without a word, the five stepped through the saloon's swinging doors.
Every eye in the place fixed on the band as they entered and wordlessly grabbed an empty table. The male pegasus confirmed everypony's drink order and headed for the bar.
Normal conversation quickly resumed.
Two ponies, a unicorn mare and a pegasus colt, entered the saloon, quickly located the table of newcomers, and headed over as quickly as they could. The mare sized up the red stallion and smiled. “Macintosh Apple?”
'Big' Macintosh Apple gave her a slight nod. “Help you with somethin,' ma'am?”
The mare nodded quickly. “Yes. My name is Disk Spin and this is Soda.” She motioned to the colt who also tilted his head in greeting. “We hear you've been wandering the wastes, going from town to town...”
“Eeyup.”
“We wanna come with you!” Soda blurted out before covering his misbehaving mouth with a hoof.
Mac shook his head. “Nope.”
“But... but they say that none of you have had the dreams.” The colt was desperate. “They say that anypony that rides with you is safe!”
The pegasus with the top hat giggled. “Oh, c'mon Mac.” She said in her foreign accent. “Kid's got some spirit. He might be useful.”
The blue pegasus shushed her friend with a disapproving look. “Stop that, Hattie. Don't get his hopes up.”
The unicorn with the broken horn leaned down and gave her gentlest smile to the colt. “Believe me, little one; you want no part of where we're going.”
Before Disk Spin could speak again, the saloon doors swung open once more and a hassled looking unicorn burst in. He spotted Disk Spin and Soda and rushed over to them. “The blazes are you doing in here?”
“Tide, I was just...”
“There a problem here?” The pegasus had returned with a tray of drinks balanced perfectly one one outstretched wing.
The pony called High Tide sized up the newcomer. “Just don't like my friends talkin' to outsiders is all.”
The pegasus smirked. “Kinda hard, considering more than three quarters of the ponies here are 'outsiders.' Or are you an Appleloosan yourself?”
Mac gave him a withering look. “Spark...”
“Give Ruby her drink, Mac. The vets are talking.”
The white unicorn, Ruby, frowned. “No one needs to hand me anything, Thunder Spark.”
“How'd you know I was a vet?” The yellow pony asked.
“Just a hunch. You deserters always have the same look about you.”
High Tide visibly tensed. “Say that again.”
“I said...” But High Tide had rushed him. Without missing a beat, Spark flipped the tray of drinks, covering the upstart stallion in all manner of liquids. Tide had barely finished wiping his eyes clear when he saw the dangerous sparks flickering in the pegasi's feathers.
“What in the name of Celestia...?”
“Answer me this, sailor boy; you ever see what happens when a pony gets struck by lightning while standing in a puddle?”
“Uh... Spark?”
“I'm just scarin' him, Icy. I'm not going to...”
“We should leave now.”
The tone in her voice made him turn and find every pony in the place glaring daggers at him. Several had left their chairs and were now advancing on the table. “Right. Leave. Good idea.”
The posse stood and hastily made for the exit. No one, not even the sputtering High Tide, made to follow them.
Icy Ink finished helping Mac reset his harness and scowled at Thunder Spark as he floated overhead. “It really should be you pulling, you know.”
“Yeah.” Hattie chimed in. “Some of us actually were thirsty, y'know?”
Spark rolled his eyes. “Did you see the way he was treating that mare? Punk had to be put in his place.”
“He's just scared, Spark.” Ruby looked at the shanties sadly. “They all are.”
“Somepony just check the map.” Mac muttered, casting a thankful glance to Icy.
Hattie lifted her hat from her head and pulled a rolled up map from inside. Together, she and Spark pulled it open and held it aloft so everyone could see it.
“Look, Mac.” Icy said, her eyes lighting up. “Ponyville's just two days away.”
Mac said nothing.
“I don't like the look of those woods.” Ruby observed. “Maybe we should find the river and follow that. It should take us all the way to Neigh Orleans.”
“Neigh Orleans is dead.” They all turned to find the speaker was a strange sort of pony; she appeared to be purple with white stripes... or was that white with purple stripes? She smiled gently. "Sorry to break the news to you.”
Hattie eyed the mare cautiously. “I know I went barmy some time ago, but I can't never recall seeing a purple zebra before.”
“Hattie's right.” Icy stepped unconsciously in front of Mac. “What... I mean, who are you?”
The visitor bowed her head slightly. “My name is Swirling Line. I'm here representing somepony who would very much like to meet you, Mr. Macintosh.”
“And why's that?” Came the gruff reply.
Swirling's answer was to toss a piece of paper at the stallion's hooves. “It concerns that.”
Mac's eyes widened slightly at the picture, but he tried to show no emotion. “Icy? Help me get this thing off. We've got somepony to meet.”
As Icy Ink helped to remove the harness once again, she found her eyes drawn again and again towards the scrawled image; an impossibly proportioned stallion with a black coat and no visible face.
/////////////////////////////////////
The lime green earth pony looked up from the book he'd been reading and smiled at his visitors. “Ah! So you decided to come! Welcome, welcome!” He jumped down from his seat and rushed over to shake Mac's hoof as the others filed in behind him. “I was so worried you wouldn't accept my invitation.”
“Couldn't rightly resist.” Mac felt a smile tugging at his lips against his will. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister...?”
“Heartship. Leo Heartship, at your service.” He motioned towards his large table, covered in books, scrolls, and maps. “Swirling, would you be a dear and bring my journal? I believe I left it in the other room.” Once she was gone, he motioned to the table again. “Two room shanty and I'm always misplacing my things. Please, sit.”
Mac introduced each of his comrades as they took their seats. Leo poured them water and made small talk until Swirling Line returned with a huge tome emblazoned with an image of the Elements of Harmony. He opened the journal to it's first page and smiled across the table at his great red guest. “You have no idea what an honor this is for me; the last living citizen of Ponyville here in my shanty.”
Mac nearly choked on his drink. “What exactly do ya mean 'last living resident?'” He managed to choke out.
The pages of Leo's journal were actually long sheathes of paper enchanted to stick together. He pulled the first page and all watched as it stretched out to the middle of the rounded table.
Hattie snickered. “Nice trick.”
“Thanks. Favor from a unicorn friend before she...” He trailed off in mid-sentence as he revisited the unpleasant memory. He returned his gaze to Mac's. “Anyway, as you can see here...”
The collected ponies looked at what appeared to be a multitude of newspaper clippings from all across Equestria.
“I managed to snag a census from the Canterlot Archives before they burned. Using it, I was able to keep track of ponies who disappeared and where they'd come from.”
The clippings were all essentially headlines;
FAMOUS SEAMSTRESS TAKEN IN THE NIGHT
ROYAL FAMILY ABSCONDS AFTER STUDENT VANISHES
SEARCH FOR CAKE TWINS CALLED OFF AFTER PARENTS DISAPPEAR
And on they went.
“Going by census information, it' become quite clear that every single resident of Ponyville has been taken in the past year.”
Mac's hooves shook. “They all ran... and it didn't do 'em any good at all...”
Icy laid a hoof on his back. “Mac...”
“It's not just Ponyville.” Swirling Line chimed in. “Neigh Orleans, Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus... completely dead. Every resident taken no matter how far they ran.”
“What is this thing?” Ruby asked, her heart breaking at all the loss and devastation.
Leo sighed and retracted the page of clippings. He turned the journal's pages to the middle and pulled out a new sleeve. “What do you know about it?”
“Just what my Granny told me.:” Mac took in the scrawled images, mostly done by fillies and colts, of the mysterious menace that was killing Equestria. “She said it was old and that it fed on children.”
“And fear.” Hattie broke in. “Don't forget about fear.”
Leo nodded. “From what I understand, this... this thing has been wandering Equestria for many thousands of years. It's stayed in the shadows, only feeding enough to keep it alive. To us ponies, it was always a boogeyman. Many names, one creature.”
“Mr. Thin.” Spark muttered.
“Slendermane.” Hattie spat.
“The Thin Pony.” Ruby shuddered.
“The Tall One.” Icy added.
“I've taken to calling it the Slender One, myself. Seems appropriate.” He chuckled. “Whatever you call it, it was content with it's quiet life... but something changed.”
“What?”
Leo shook his head. “Not sure... but I have a few theories...”
Mac sighed. “Forget why it's doin' all this. I wanna know where it is.”
“Why?” Swirling Line asked.
Spark snorted. “Isn't it obvious? We're taking the fight to it.”
Swirling gaped. “But... that's suicide!”
“Nopony's ever gone looking for it.” Hattie smiled madly. “Maybe we can throw it off, catch it by surprise.”
“To be fair, there was at least one pony who went looking for it.” Leo said into his cup.
Mac silenced him with a warning glare. “She went alone. We're going together. Now do you know where it is or not?”
Leo looked up with knowing eyes. “Where it's always been, Mac; the Everfree Forest.”
The only sound in the silence that followed was Leo's continuing sips.
“But... but why?” Mac's resolve faded for a moment.
“Think about it. This thing has wandered to and from all the dark corners of Equestria because it didn't know any better. What if it found a place that inspired so much fear from ponies all over? Do you really think it would leave that special place?”
“But that doesn't make any sense!” Ruby caught her cup just before it tipped over.
“Yeah.” Icy added. “If it's still in that forest, how is it taking ponies from all over Equestria?”
“It's stronger now. Stronger than it's ever been.” He retracted the page and closed the journal. “It's reach is beyond your comprehension.”
A mysterious wind seemed to blow through the room and dimmed the candles.
“I'm...I'm going to get some more to drink.” Swirling announced. She stood and hurried from the room.
“I'll join you.” Icy hurriedly followed the strangely colored mare.
Once they were gone, Leo looked again to Macintosh. “I take it you're still going after it?”
Mac could only nod.
“Could you do me a favor then?”
Another nod.
“When you find it... if you beat it...”
“When we beat it.” Spark interrupted.
Leo ignored him. “Send word that it's over.”
Mac nodded a third and final time. He extended his hoof across the table.
With a smile, Leo touched his hoof to the farmer's. “As much as I hope you succeed, Macintosh... I hope you don't find it. I'd rather you survive.”
Inky peered into the darkness of Swirling Line's room. She watched as the purple mare lit a candle and illuminated the walls; they were papered with sketches on the Slender One. “Did you do all these?”
Swirling nodded as she poured another cup of water. “Drawing makes me feel better. Safer, somehow.”
Icy crossed the room and laid a hoof on the other mare's shoulder. “We're going to stop it.”
Swirling smiled sadly. “You don't really believe that, do you?”
The question caught the pegasus off guard. She pulled back her hoof and headed for the exit. She looked back and sighed. “No, I don't. But I'd believe anything... for him.”
She left Swirling Line surrounded by the scrawled images. They waved slightly in the ambient air. The sound seemed familiar to Swirling's ears.
It sounded like laughter.
/////////////////////////////////////
When the wagon and it's travelers crossed Ponyville's town limits two days later, the sun was just beginning it's descent on the horizon. The fading light gave the town a mystic, otherworldly life. The windows and doors remained as tightly boarded and barred as they had been left a year ago. No movement came from the town save the occasional leaf borne on the wind.
At Icy Ink's urging, Mac detached the wagon and left it at the town limits.
Something told her they wouldn't be needing it anymore.
“You ever come to Ponyville, Spark?” Ruby asked her companion as he floated overhead. The trio of pegasi had decided to remain aloft in case of emergency, leaving the unicorn and earth pony on the ground.
“Nah, but I came to Cloudsdale once on leave. Ponyville just looked like another backwoods hick earth pony town.” He bit his tongue when he realized what he'd said. “Er... no offense, Mac.”
“None taken.” Mac replied, the ghost of a smile on his face. The familiar setting seemed to be brightening his normally dire mood. “We might not have been some big city, but we got by well enough.” He started to point out various sites, giving an impromptu tour of sorts to pass the time. “That there's Carousel Boutique; Miss Rarity was quite the seamstress. Over there's the school; I used to date the teacher. And that's the library over there; dated the librarian awhile too.”
“Quite the stud,weren't you Maccy?” Hattie giggled despite a warning look from Icy Ink.
Mac ignored the remark and continued the tour. “That over there was Sugarcube Corner; best cupcakes in all Equestria. And the park, a'course...”
“I don't mean to interrupt, but is that a quill and sofa store?” Spark asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Sounds like my kinda place.” Hattie added cheerfully.
They passed the town proper and soon came to a faded white fence. Mac's good mood faded instantly as he came to a stop just at the squeaking gate. “Sweet Apple Acres.” He muttered. The farm was in shambles. The barn and storehouses were wrecks, pieces hanging off in every which way. The apple trees, the ones still standing, were covered in choking vines and surrounded by weeds.
“Oh Mac... I'm so sorry.” Icy said as she landed next to him.
He shook his head sadly. “I always hoped that somepony would still be here. Granny refused to leave and I...”
A flash of movement from the back of the farm-house caught his eye.
Mac was off like a shot, bursting through what was left of the gates and barreling at top speed toward the house he'd grown up in. The others hurried behind him. He skidded to a stop around the corner of the house and looked up to see...
...a softly creaking rocker on the old porch, empty.
Granny Smith's rocker.
Mac looked down in sadness... and saw. “Look.” He told the others when they'd caught up.
They looked to find a series of hoof-prints leading away from the house and out towards the pasture.
Spark shot up to get a better view. “Looks like they go all the way into the forest!” He shouted down.
“It's... it's never left hoof-prints before...” Ruby whispered.
“What do you s'pose it means?” Hattie asked, trying to ignore the chill that suddenly filled her bones.
“It's an invitation.” Icy Ink growled.
Mac looked from the empty rocker over to the distant tree-line. “It's be rude to ignore it.” He stamped his mammoth hoof onto one of the dusty prints and felt a grim satisfaction as it vanished beneath his weight.
The sun continued to set behind the Everfree Forest casting long shadows that reached the posse and encircled them like tentacles of darkness.
That night they enjoyed a dinner of some canned goods they'd found in town and a few fresh apples they'd managed to find on sickly branches. They mutually agreed that noon would be the best time to head out on their venture. Rooms were chosen and good-nights were shared (save Ruby and Spark who decided to stay up and finish the last reserves of hard cider).
An hour or so of tossing and turning later, Icy Ink found herself at the door to Mac's bedroom. After some hesitation, she knocked.
“Come in.” came the gruff reply.
She pushed the door open and found her impromptu leader and most trusted friend sitting on his bed, gazing at a single flickering candle on the night stand. “Can't sleep?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Me neither.” She crossed the room and sat next to him on the spacious mattress. “Nervous about tomorrow?”
“Eeyup.”
She laughed lightly at his responses. “I thought you and I were beyond those monosyllabic responses of yours.”
He said nothing.
Icy looked at her dangling hooves and tried to ignore the chill that seemed to infest her very being. “I'm nervous. But not for me. For the others.” Her wing stretched out unconsciously and wrapped around his great shoulders. “For you.”
He looked at her. “Icy, I...?”
“Please, let me finish.” She was still staring at the floor. She knew if she looked at him, she'd lose what little resolve she had left. “I thought the world had ended after my sister was taken. I couldn't face my parents... she was my responsibility!” She cracked a small smile. “But then I found you... or you found me, I don't know. Being with you... things just make sense again.” She turned and beamed at him. “It makes me believe we can actually win.”
“Uh... Icy?”
She realized where her wing was and quickly retracted it. “I'm sorry. I... I'll leave you alone now.” She stammered as she tried to run from the bed.
His strong grip stopped her. He turned her back and gazed into her purple eyes, trying to find the words he so desperately wanted to say. To tell her that they were going to win, that things were going to make sense again.
Back in the living room, Ruby and Thunder Spark chugged yet another mug of the hard cider reserves.
Ruby finished first and tossed her mug as hard as she could against the wall with a satisfied mock-roar. “I am all that is MARE!”
Spark finished his own drink a moment later and made to refill his mug instead of tossing it. “If I'd have known how good this stuff was, I would've come here ages ago.”He took another long gulp and let his cup simply drop to the ground. He grinned at Ruby, a prominent foam mustache above his upper lip.
This struck Ruby as hilarious and soon she was doubled over next to the couch, great gales of laughter erupting from inside her.
Spark quickly realized what the issue was and wiped the foam-stache clear. He looked back down at Ruby. “When you're quite finished...I wanted to apologize for Appleoosa.”
Her giggles finally faded and Ruby climbed back onto the couch, wiping tears from her eyes. “For what?”
“I didn't mean to offend you.” When she raised an eyebrow in confusion, he pointed at the jagged stump where her horn should have been.
She blew a drunken raspberry and waved a hoof. “I know how you are, Sparky. I know you didn't mean it.”
He glared at her. “Don't call me that.”
“Call you what?”
“Sparky.”
“Hattie calls you Sparky.”
“Hattie's off her rocker.”
“I'll drink to that.” She made to raise her mug but remembered it's location across the room.
This time they both laughed.
“Spark, why are you here?” She asked as she made to retrieve her cup.
“Figured I'd spend what might be my last night in Equestria getting drunk with a beautiful mare.”
She blushed and shook her head. “No, I mean why are you here? With us?”
He shrugged. “I had a friend I owed a favor to, simple as that.”
“Did she lose somepony?”
He shook his head. “Nah. She just wanted me to watch out for a big red friend of hers.” He refilled his mug. “Weird how he didn't mention her as one of his exploits...”
She rejoined him on the couch and let him refill her mug. “So you're coming with us tomorrow not for revenge or redemption... but just because a friend asked you to?”
He handed the mug back to her with a smile. “When somepony like Fluttershy asked you to do something, you did it.” His smile faltered. “Equestria seems a little darker without her.”
Ruby frowned as she sipped her cider. “You're a good stallion, Thunder Spark.”
He toasted her. “Cheers.”
They drank in silence a while longer before Spark stood and stretched. “That's enough for me, I suppose. Time to go to bed.”
Ruby finished her last drop and stood next to him. “Sounds like a great idea.”
He smiled at her. “Which room did you pick again?”
She shrugged. “I forgot. Damn cider.” She giggled. “Guess I'll just have to share yours.”
The normally stoic stallion found himself suddenly at a loss for words. “What was that?”
She laughed and kissed his cheek. “I'm going after the thing that murdered my entire family tomorrow with very little hope of coming back. Do you honestly think I'm going to spend what might be my last night in Equestria alone... Sparky?”
The two friends and allies wrapped their forelegs about each other for support and began the arduous task of drunkenly climbing the stairs.
Mad Hattie heard the drunken pair come upstairs as sat in the room that had once belonged to Mac's youngest sister. The walls were papered with all manner of schematics and pictures. It seemed the smallest Apple had been hard at work trying to accomplish something when she'd been taken.
And what was with the moth-eaten cape hanging from the bedpost?
“And they call me crazy.” Hattie muttered, stretching out on the filly sized bed. She tugged the brim of her hat down over her eyes and was just settling in for a good night's rest when...
“Tomorrow's the day, eh Hattie?” A familiar voice made itself present.
Hattie groaned and stretched. “Indeed it is, Maddie.”
“Nervous?”
“A little.”
“D'you really think we'll find her? The little nutcase, that is.”
“You're not in any position to be calling anypony a nutcase, Maddie.”
“Neither are you, Hattie.”
Hattie snorted and rolled over. “It's our one chance. One doesn't lose the most precious child of the Lord of Chaos and not try to fix the mistake, do they?”
A pause. “S'pose you're right, Hattie.”
“'Course I am, Maddie.”
Another pause. “I get a sinking feeling that some ponies won't be coming out of the forest tomorrow.”
“Same here, Maddie.”
“...why d'you say it like that?”
“'Cause I hope you're one of the ones that don't come back.”
No response.
“Nothing personal, Maddie. I'd just like my head back, y'know?”
“...that hurt, Hattie.”
Hattie laughed. “You were thinkin' the same thing.”
In the ensuing silence, Hattie felt herself finally falling asleep.
The voice returned, one final time. “...I hope we all make it back, Hattie. You and me included.”
Hattie felt a pang of guilt and sadness in her heart. A single tear fell and she wiped it away. “Me too, Maddie. Me too.”
The mid-day sun was rising. As the sun touched her fur, Icy groaned in rejection and reached across the bed for her bed-mate.
All she found was empty air.
Sudden cold panic filled her heart and she sat bolt upright, ready to shout his name... only to find her Mac lighting a candle in the window. “Mac? What are you doing?”
He looked at the candle's tiny dancing flame. “Old family tradition. When the pioneers settled this land, the Everfree Forest was filled with all sorts of beasts who saw us ponies as easy prey. Before anypony set out, they left a candle in the window to sit there and burn until they returned. If they didn't come back by the time the candle melted...” He trailed off and looked at her. His eyes finished the story.
They left five candles burning in the window that day.
Their plan had been to use the noon sun to avoid the Everfree Forest's darkness for as long as possible.
That plan had been rendered useless when, after less than an hour's worth of traveling, the branches and canopy of leaves overhead dropped them all into pitch blackness. Anticipating this exact scenario, they lit their special lanterns attached to their custom saddle bags. With nary a word spoken, they continued to follow the tracks in the dirt.
Hours passed and it was Hattie who finally slumped against a tree and wiped her sweaty brow. “Don't suppose we could have a bit of rest, eh?” She muttered.
Mac considered, then consented with a nod.
The group relaxed and rested a while, sipping cool water from canteens and munching apples they'd carried from the farm. For a moment, they weren't five survivors on a desperate hunt to purge their home of an ancient evil; they were just five ponies enjoying a dark stroll in the woods.
Perhaps that's why Ruby was so startled when the drums began to sound in the distance. “Uh... anypony else hear that?”
The pleasant mood evaporated in an instant as they all became aware of the rapidly approaching steady thump that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Spark glanced at Mac. “Should we...?”
The light from all five lanterns died.
“Formation. NOW.” Mac barked.
Just as they'd practiced over and over again, the five ponies arranged themselves into a star shape with each of them facing outward in a different direction. They backed up until they could feel their tails swishing against somepony else's. They froze, each staring out into the impenetrable darkness. Spark spread his wings and focused the ambient light he'd gathered that morning, changing it into deadly lightning that lanced between his feathers. The light created a strobing effect on the trees around them.
The maddening beat continued untempered. It surrounded them and filled them. Every moment it seemed to grow in strength and frequency.
“Anypony see anything?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothin' here either.”
Something stuck out in the corner of Ruby's vision. A pale head, a long body... “THERE!”
On instinct, Spark flexed his wings and loosed a bolt of lightning from his body. It shot out, shining them all in it's brilliant light...
...revealing the spindly tree an instant before the bolt reduced it to ash.
“Damn it, Ruby; I've only got enough juice for a few of these!” He snarled, hurriedly building the energy once again.
Ruby's apology was cut off by Mac's exclamation. “OVER THERE!”
Again, a bolt of lighting gave light to the darkness.
Again, a long dead tree was consumed by fire.
“This... is... ridiculous.” Spark almost laughed.
He choked off his laughter just as the maddening beat came to an abrupt stop.
The silence that now surrounded them seemed more frightening and dangerous than the noise had been.
The five companions steadied their collective breath, trying their best to keep their fear reigned in. Their tails flicked erratically, brushing against each other...
...and against something else.
“...is... is that...?” Icy started.
Mac cut her off. “Nopony move a muscle.”
Hattie's eye twitched. “How the blazes did it get behind us...?”
“STOP!” Mac reasserted control and glared out into the woods. "We prepared for this. Run straight forward. How many paces Ruby?”
Ruby swallowed, her throat dry. “Three hundred paces.”
“That's right. Then what Spark?”
“Left one hundred paces. Mac... I think it's touching me...”
“Good, Spark. Last step Icy?”
“Left again, three hundred paces back. Regroup and attack.” She used her peripheral vision to try and see his face. “You promise we're gonna be okay?”
“...Eeyup.” Mac took a deep breath and tensed his muscles. “On three. One... two... THREE!”
The five raced off separately into the dark woods.
It occurred to Icy just before her leg snapped that maybe they should have taken tree roots into their running plan.
She screamed and tumbled to the floor, clutching at her fractured limb. She rolled to a stop and cried out again as she landed on the injury. Adrenaline and fear flooded her and she tried to stand and run, only to fall and cry again as the leg gave out fully. She rolled to the side and looked around in the pitch black. “MAC!” She yelled. “:HATTIE! CAN ANYPONY HEAR ME?!”
At first, her only answer was silence.
Then a steady and rhythmic beat.
Icy began to hyperventilate and tried again to put pressure on the leg. This time the pain was so great that she couldn't even scream. She shrugged off her saddlebag and searched frantically for a match to light her lantern. Her wing got tangled in one of the straps and she flung it off absent-mindedly...
Her ]wing.
A smile crossed her face and she spread her wings, ready to take flight the instant her lantern was lit. Finding her prize, she clutched the match in her teeth and scratched it along the tanned leather of her saddlebag.
The light revealed the impossibly thin stallion standing over her, regarding her with it's pale, blank face.
Icy found it in herself to scream one more time. The match fell to the ground.
Ruby, proud of her decision to relight her lantern after the first turn, had just rounded the last turn and was ready to gallop back towards the rest of the group when some supernatural wind materialized and snuffed out her lantern again.
Not missing a beat, Ruby doffed her saddle-bag, retrieved a match, and reignited the lantern's reassuring glow. She stood, a small grin on her face, and made ready to scorch her way down the home stretch.
Identical forest surrounded her.
She'd become turned around.
She was lost.
The beat returned to her ears.
Panicking only slightly, Ruby looked hurriedly between the two paths before her. She looked first left, then right, then left...
…it was right in front of her.
Ruby gasped and slammed her eyes shut on instinct. The beat was maddening, it's pulse almost seeming to match the rapid thumping of her heart. In desperation, she tried something she hadn't attempted in what felt like years.
She tried to light her horn.
Concentrating felt alien and strange. Her ambient magic flowed about her being, searching desperately for an outlet that wasn't a fractured stump. She willed the magic harder than she had ever willed for anything before. 'Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...' the mantra repeated in her head like a magic spell.
A strange warmth touched her stump.
Relief broke through the unicorn and she opened her eyes, ready to see the forest lit in the brilliant pink of her magic.
The thing was directly in front of her, it's tentacle caressing the place where her horn had been before it had taken it. It tilted it's head.
Ruby screamed as her light was snuffed out by a second tentacle.
Spark caught a glimpse of the thing out of the corner of his eye. Disregarding the plans, the formations, and the strategies, he whirled towards the creature and shot a small bolt of lightning at it.
DIRECT HIT! He watched it spasm from the electrical shock and actually stumble.
Filled with adrenaline and jubilation, Spark spread his wings to their fullest length. The forest around him became lighted by the pure power that lanced between his feathers. He poured every bit of juice he had left into the building charge, intent on wiping this monstrosity from the face of Equestria itself.
The beast actually seemed to shrink away from the growing light.
Grinning triumphantly, Spark took a single defiant step forward. “My name is Thunder Spark, you unholy thing! And this... THIS IS COMPLIMENTS OF FLUTTERSHY!” With as fierce a battle cry as he'd ever mustered, he loosed every bit of energy he had left as a monstrously huge bolt of lightning. It arced in the air, heading directly for it's target...
...but the thing was gone.
And it was now a terrified Fluttershy who faced down the primal energies.
“NO!” Spark screamed even as the lightning collided with his oldest friend. He watched as she convulsed and spasmed as the current passed through her. He watched her fur catch fire, her wings snap in agony...
She collapsed to the ground, a burning remnant of what she'd once been.
“No...” Spark muttered weakly, his legs giving out as his energy faded once and for all. His gaze remained fixated on the smoldering ruin that had been the kindest pony he'd ever known.
It never occurred to him that what he was seeing might be an illusion, one of it's many tricks.
Not even when it's tentacle wrapped around his neck.
“Did you really think you could just keep running, Hattie?”
Hattie, almost back to the original clearing, stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of her master's voice. Her hoof flew up on instinct to keep her hat from flying off. “Who... who's there?”
The serpentine form of the Lord of Chaos, Discord, materialized from the bushes in front of her. His body loomed over hers and he peered at her with quiet fury.
“L...lord Discord...” Hattie felt herself starting to kneel.
“Save your grovelling, you pathetic little failure.” There was no mirth in his voice, no charm or humor. Just anger and hate.
“I'm so close, my lord. I can get her back and then I...”
“And then what, Hattie?” His long body encircled hers and began to tighten. “Even if you do manage to find my precious Screwball, do you think that will take away from your crimes?”
Struggling to keep calm against the pressure of his coils and the pounding of her own latent insanity, Hattie did her best to maintain eye contact. “I committed no crime...”
“YOU HAD ONE JOB, HATTIE! And you failed!” The coils tightened and his hands found her throat. His yellow eyes blazed into hers. “Doesn't the idea of what your punishment might be frighten you?”
Almost completely gone now, unable to breathe, Hattie hung her head in shame. Her precious hat fell to the forest floor. “Yes... I am afraid.”
“Good.”
The voice was not Discord's.
Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the long tentacles wrapped tightly about her. She looked up and it was not her master's eyes she peered into.
The face before her had no eyes at all.
With what little air she had left, Hattie laughed.
“RUBY?!” Nothing. “SPARK?!” No response. “HATTIE?!” Silence. “...ICY?!”
Beyond the light of his lantern, Mac's world was one of darkness and silence.
Something long, dark, and cylindrical shot out from the darkness and knocked his lantern to the ground. In the last flash of light before the flame burned out, Mac saw the monster he sought standing no more than a mere twenty feet in front of him.
Rage and hatred filled his heart and he launched himself at the beast with a defiant cry, intent of wiping the scum from Equestria through sheer blunt force.
The thing actually seemed surprised for a moment, but it recovered quickly and reached out for him with countless black tentacles.
Mac closed his eyes and tensed for the impact of his body against the thing's thin frame... but it never came.
For the briefest instant, he felt like his body was passing through a veil of liquid, as though he were running through a particularly hard rain. The wet feeling passed, the darkness of the Everfree Forest faded...
...into a bright sunny day on Sweet Apple Acres. He skidded to a stop, not fully listening to the bird song in the air and the sweet smell of fresh apples in his nose. Confused, he looked around frantically for his prey. Of the creature, there was no sign.
A gentle breeze picked up and carried a worn leather stetson to his hooves.
Pa's hat.
Applejack's hat.
He started at it, not fully comprehending it.
“Mac!”
His head snapped towards the farm-house at the sound of Granny Smith's familiar call.
“Grab yer sister's hat before ya come on up, would ya? Dern wind snatched it.”
“Eeyup.” He responded on reflex before bending down and grabbing the hat's brim in his mouth. A million thoughts raced through his mind. Had they done it? Had they chased it off?
Had they won?
He took a step towards the farm-house and felt a twig snap beneath his mighty hoof.
The picturesque scene around him faded away like mist with the rising sun. The birdsong and sunlight and apple scents all faded into nothingness before his very eyes. He was still in the woods, still in the darkness...
...and still very much in danger.
He'd only realized that his sister's hat was still held tight in his teeth when an enormous bonfire leapt to life before his eyes. He jumped back on instinct and recoiled from the intense flames. The light made the clearing seem much larger than it had seemed previously.
Three familiar figures stood on the opposite side of the fire, their backs to him.
Granny Smith.
Applejack.
Applebloom.
Overcome with joy, he opened his mouth to say something... and watched in horror as the hat fell into the flames before him.
As the hat curled and blackened in the intense heat, the three figures turned as one to face him. They all smiled at him with the same blank smile.
Their eyes were gone, replaced by gaping empty sockets.
Mac's breath caught in his throat and he whirled to run into the darkness, to get away from the nightmare that his family had become.
Four more figures exited the woods and blacked his path.
Ruby.
Spark.
Hattie.
Icy.
They all wore the same blank smile.
All their eyes were missing.
Mac could only watch in horror as his friends and comrades joined his family by the fire. The maddening beat began once again and the seven figures began to... dance. They cantered and whirled and spun in an awful dance of death around the bonfire. Their hooves kept time with the beat and their undead revelry seemed to draw more figures from the dark woods. More and more came with each passing second to join the terrible dance.
Ponyville's missing foals.
Pinkie Pie, the Cakes, and their little ones.
Rarity.
Cheerilee.
Fluttershy.
Twilight Sparkle.
Numerous ponies came that he did not recognize but could only be the once proud residents of cities like Neigh Orleans, Manehatten, and Fillydelphia.
He even saw a stately white alicorn, her once cosmic mane now a limp remnant upon her head.
Hundreds of thousands of ponies came and joined the dance.
All wore the same smile.
All had no eyes.
The smoke from the bonfire began to coalesce into a definite shape. The stallion's body was impossibly thin, it's coat as black as the night sky, save a single red drop on it's chest. The shape observed the dancers and almost seemed to conduct the grisly beat with it's uncountable waving tentacles. The Slender One, now almost too large for Mac to comprehend, peered down at the great red stallion with it's blank and uncaring face.
Mac, his mind long gone, didn't have even the strength left to scream. He whimpered like a foal as he wet himself.
The monstrous tentacles stopped conducting and the beat stopped with them. The dancers all froze and, as one, turned to face the shattered farmer.
The tentacles pointed at him.
Still smiling their horrible smile, still staring at him with eyes that were no longer there, they advanced on him.
Back at the farm-house, a stiff wind blew from the forest and knocked over the candle in Mac's open window. The candle rolled along the ground... until it's flame ignited the old carpet.
In a matter of minutes, the house was ablaze.
The fire spread across Sweet Apple Acres, consuming all in it's path. The wind seemed almost to be manipulating it, pushing it away from the Everfree Forest.
The dried grass along the road to Ponyville began to catch.
When the fire at last died days later, nothing remained of the little town. Nothing... save cold ashes and old memories.
And ever-lasting nightmares.
Credits and Post-Credits Stinger: Hope for the Haunted
Leo Heartship and Swirling Line watched through the window as Appleloosa fell into chaos.
Shanties were torn apart and fastened into wagons. Families hawked what meager belongings they still had in hopes of gaining passage to someplace safe.
A foal the night before had received the dream.
It was coming for them.
By dawn of the next day, Appleloosa too would be a ghost town, it's residents and refugees gone in hopes of finding someplace safe from the specter that haunted their very existence.
Leo sighed and returned to his table. “Still no word?”
Swirling shook her head and returned. “It's been weeks, Leo. We would've heard something by now.”
Leo looked at his journal and pushed it away with a dejected hoof. “You should leave too, Swirling.”
The purple-striped mare gaped at him. “Why?”
“There's no hope for us now. You see them all fleeing, scurrying away like rats. That's what we've become, my friend; rats. We're now at the bottom of the food chain and nothing is ever going to change that.”
There was a knock at the door. Swirling made to answer it.
Leo stared at the wooden table. “No hope.” He heard the door open and Swirling Line's gasp but paid them no mind. “After all, what hope have we when even the gods have abandoned us?”
“But the gods have not abandoned thee, Master Heartship.”
Leo's neck snapped up to behold a stately midnight blue mare clad in a back hooded cloak. She tossed back the hood, revealing her flowing hair that seemed to be formed from the night sky itself. Her crown was gone, but there was no mistaking the regality in her stance or the defiant pride in her eyes.
“Pr... Princess Luna?” Leo stammered.
“Indeed.”
Swirling slumped to the ground. “But... but where did you go?”
A regretful look crossed Luna's face. “After our sister was taken, we knew that it would take magics beyond our own to set things right. It took us a bit longer than anticipated to find who we needed to find.”
“...and who is that?”
“This creature is not the only being in this world that feeds on fear.” The voice was cold and insect-like. It's owner stepped into the shanty behind Luna and grinned, her wings buzzing slightly. “Some of us prefer to feed on other emotions as well.” Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings offered the stunned stallion a wink.
“Bah, emotions.” Luna's shadow slid away from her and climbed the wall. A powerful jet black stallion clad in armor emerged from the darkness and glared at Leo with burning green eyes. “Emotions only hold you back. I will do what is asked of me so long as I am given what I was promised.” King Sombra turned his eyes to Luna, particularly to the curved red horn that now hung from her neck.
“Quite a merry band, aren't we?” The mocking voice became audible just as the floating form of the last Draconequus became visible. Discord took in the dropped jaws of the two ponies in the room and laughed. “Now, seeing as Lu-Lu only just released me from my stone prison, perhaps you can tell me.” His yellow eyes focused on Leo.
“Tell you...?”
With a snap of his fingers, Discord flashed across the room and right into Heartship's face. “Tell me; what has become of my little ponies?”
