MLP Laboratories- Freak Show

by NeuPferdfurt

First published

A few short stories set in the 'MLP-Laboratories'-universe

Supposed to be read in addition with 'MLP Laboratories- The Outbreak'. Not in chronological order. The 'MLP Laboratories: the Outbreak' -Level at the beginning of each 'Freak Show' episode indicates between which two episodes of the main storyline it taking place.

-

Twilight and her friends struggle to escape the treacherous world created to exploit them. But what is real, and what is merely a nightmare? Who are these ponies, where are they, and when? But most importantly: Will they be able to fight for their freedom- and to survive their horrible adventures?

beastmaster

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(MLP Laboratories the Outbreak Level 16/17)

"Fluttershy... There you are."

Twilight Sparkle had found the pegasus in the ruins of her former home. What Fluttershy once used to think of as her cottage had actually been the entry to a set of smaller laboratories which had practiced animal testing. Now she was standing amidst the broken glass and the lifeless robot arms, staring into the darkness.

"Why have you come here all by yourself? We were worried about you."

"...There is still one left."

"One of the animals?"

Most of the smaller creatures had perished since the cataclysm, but Fluttershy had managed to save some of them, and they were currently sharing the improvised shelters with the ponies. The question about the future of the "non-pony" creatures had been one of the many subjects of discord during the last hours -no pun intended. A great number of ponies seemed to think that leaving them to die was the only option, since the ponies could not afford to waste any efforts on anything else but their own survival. As much as Twilight hated to admit it, this was by far the most rational option.
But what would become of Fluttershy? Under normal circumstances, she would never have abandoned her animal friends. Now her entire world was lying in ruins, including her own psyche. Could she even survive another blow? Pinkie Pie and Spike had told Twilight about horrible things that had happened to their pegasus friend- not the least being the gruesome death of her rabbit Angel.

Yes, Angel was dead. That's what happened. Angel was dead. Something else had died as well, in the grip of metal claws, in a small place full of probes and noises. But Angel was the only thing she could focus on right now.

This Fluttershy was a patchwork of traumas and mutations, and it was all but certain whether this patchwork was viable.

-

It was very dark in here. Twilight's light-spell illuminated little more than a tiny strip on Fluttershy's flank, since the pegasus was standing outside the light cone. Somehow, Twilight didn't feel like coming any closer.

"Fluttershy?"

"...Shhh. It's coming."

Now Twilight heard it as well. Further away in the direction in which Fluttershy was looking, there were horrid, sloshing noises. And they were coming closer.
Then there was the sound of breaking glass.

"W-what is this?"

"...It's almost here. Please step back, Twilight. And be very quiet, it doesn't have eyes, but it can hear you."

Her hooves obeyed, ignoring the half-baked protests of her brain.

The creature started to roar, and the ground under Twilight's hooves was vibrating. A chunk of slime landed in front of her, and tiny drops of the same substance were sprinkled all over her body.

"...Hush now. I'm here."

To her boundless horror, Twilight saw how a great mass of slime- it happened too fast for her to tell whether it was a claw, a tentacle or something completely different - rose from the shadows and grabbed Fluttershy's head, pulling her into the darkness.

"Fluttershy!"

The creature replied to her cry with a bone-shaking howl, rushing towards her position.

The creature's head appeared in the light cone. At least Twilight thought it might have been its head, but there wasn't really a proper term to describe it.
In the very same moment, two yellow hooves rose from the creature's semi-fluid flesh, reached forward, sunk back in- and then there was a cracking sound, like a breaking branch.

-

The monster fell to the ground, its slimy flesh rapidly dissolving, leaving behind a surprisingly delicate, bird-like skeleton. Fluttershy stepped out of the puddle.

"Y-you killed it."

"...It was nothing but pain. It had been waiting for me for a long time."

Fluttershy walked towards the exit.

"...There is nothing left now. Will you walk back to the shelter with me?"

Twilight shook off her terror and awe.

"Sure. Fluttershy... are you alright?"

"...No."

And that was the truth. It would have to do for now.

-

Twilight noticed that Fluttershy was wearing a necklace, a gruesome talisman. It was a plastic string with two white bunny ears, swinging back and forth as she walked.
The unicorn pony shuddered.

pony melt

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(MLP Laboratories the Outbreak Level 0)

Carrot Top was looking into the mirror. She frowned.
Her mane was green. Of course it was. It had always been.

Right?

Sure.

"Green is my color...", she said. But her voice didn't sound very convincing to her.

-

"Orange", she said. She didn't know why she said it, but something about her reflection in the mirror this morning... Well yes, her mane was orange. Obviously. Her natural color. She had not dyed it.

Later, when she was meeting up with her friends on Ponyville's market place, she almost asked them whether they had noticed any recent changes in her appearance, especially concerning her hair color. But that would have been silly, right?

-

When she woke up the following day, her scalp and her lower back were itching again. Well, nothing unusual. It must have been this new shampoo she was using. Yes, and that probably also explained the changes... shifts! the slight shifts in hair color and texture.

The earth pony discovered quite a few hairs sticking to her pillow when she climbed out of bed. Nothing unusual either. Hair fell off at some point. Most natural thing in the world.
It was green hair, of course. Perhaps it looked a little greener than yesterday, but the color itself had not changed.

Ugh. Her legs felt a little shaky. So it was one of these days. No problem. It looked like Ponyville's pegasus ponies had staged a rainstorm, so she really had no other choice than to stay home, wrapped in a nice, warm blanket, drinking hot chocolate.

She sniffed, and something dropped from her nose right into her drink. Ewww. So maybe she was getting a little sick after all. No hard work, no shopping trips for this filly, at least for today. Another rainy day she would stay indoors, reading magazines.

-

Arrrgh! The sun!

She hissed.

Why was it so bright today? Carrot Top was sweating like a horse. Even looking outside her window made her sick to her stomach, seeing the other ponies run around under the blazing sun. And oh, her head hurt so much. Her entire body felt sticky, and she noticed that she was leaving behind tiny, gooey puddles wherever she walked. There was no way she was going outside today. What this pony girl needed was a nice, cold shower.

Bad idea. Now her nose was running again. And her eyes. There were so many hairs sticking to the towel. And there was the sweat again.

Also, she was hungry, but the very thought of food made her feel even worse. Her throat was thick with slime, she wouldn't have been able to swallow even one bit. Conveniently, she had already run out of supplies. Say... how many days had she been at home anyway? Her hair was orange again, so it must have been Tuesday already. Never mind how she knew that.

Maybe she should ask her friends for help.
Ugh. Friends. Talking ponies. Ponies talking to her HEAD. How horrible was that?

-

Something was missing. She didn't know what withdrawal was, but she was starting to show the symptoms. She found herself digging aimlessly through her belongings, not even knowing what she was looking for.

-

Carrot Top was lurking around in her little house, leaving trails of slime everywhere. She didn't even want to do anything anymore. Just lurk around in the shadows... and moan. She was pretty sure she couldn't do anything else now. She couldn't even think straight.

What was happening to her?
She had caught a cold. A very nasty cold. But it would go away. Colds always did. No need to go to a doctor. Colds come two days, stay two days, go two days, that's what her mum used to say.

Now there were teeth dropping out of her mouth.

Oh Celestia...

Carrot Top was crying. She used to be so pretty. And now... now...

There were red, glowing eyes in the darkness. Watching her. Indifferent to her suffering. Waiting.

What day was this? Her mane was green. What was left of it, anyhow.

-

"Did you find the subject?"

"Dude, it's all over the place. That sorry little thing didn't even last a week."

The two remote-controlled drones were hovering through the structure. There was rotting, dissolving flesh everywhere. They were able to locate several organs that still seemed to be in good shape, ready to be recycled.

"We need to be sure there is nothing alive left in here."

"Come on! Nothing can live without... you know... All the things that are supposed to be attached to you."

"We need hard evidence that the experiment was a success."

"Hard evidence? Good luck with that. I'll just scoop up some of that slime..."

"There we go. Have a look at that."

In one corner of the room, there was a blank pony-skull lying in a puddle. There was a single, green hair still attached to it.

-

Many weeks later, after the collapse of the Ponyville-sector.

Spike gulped.

This was it. Everypony was staring at him, listening carefully to every little breath that came out of his snout, turning their large, muscular ears towards him, the openings of their auditory canals gaping like little, hungry mouths. Finally, he got their full attention.

And he was scared. Being of a shy nature is no problem as long as no one is paying attention to you. You are free to rant and gloat and even to make huge public announcements when you know no one is actually paying attention to you. But now...

"For Pete's sake, dragon-boy, spill yah beans already!"

"W-well... Okay then. Listen, girls... We have a huge problem..."

"You don't say! The ponies are cold, hungry, scared, and we have no idea where to go, so we lurk around in this rubble, leading the ponies around in circles..."

"NO! Ahem, no. These are big problems, sure. But I'm afraid we have an even bigger one..."

"Now that's just peachy."

"Mind to tell us what this problem is, Spike?"

"How to put this delicately..."

"Well?"

"Body Melt."

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. You see, I didn't really think about this when there were so many other things going on..."

"Get to the point! You're freaking us out."

"Ponies are unstable. You have no idea how messed up you are inside... Your bodies and brains produce the stuff our creators need, but they were not meant to survive out of captivity. When the system was still working, you received drugs and infusions that would stabilize your bodies on a regular basis. Now that the machines are all destroyed... I have no idea where we can get this stuff. And without it, you will die. Your flesh will rot on your bones."

"SPIKE!"

"Sorry, I got a little carried away... But yeah, I believe that's what is going to happen. They have run tests to confirm this, you know. Remember a pony called Carrot Top?"

"No?"

"There you go."

The ponies were looking at each other.

"I-I don't know about that... I feel fine."

"Yeah, me to!"

"Let's get this medicine-stuff anyway, just to be on the save side."

"YES! On the save side. I like the sound of that."

-

"BODY MELT!"

Pinkie Pie was running through the tunnels, hitting one hoof against a casserole, yelling

"BODY MELT!"

Twilight Sparkle didn't think that was very helpful.

-

They all felt a little itchy this evening.

The patient

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(MLP Laboratories the Outbreak Level -?-)

Twilight couldn't move. Her pose was unnatural, her front legs were tied away by some sort of jacket.
She needed to get up. She needed to get away from this place. She couldn't quite remember why that was, but oh, she was scared, so scared. She felt so overwhelmingly helpless that she started screaming.

Somewhere she heard Pinkie Pie giggle.

"Uuuuh, Tweelee is making the loud noises with her head again!"

Someone was running around in circles, chanting "Head noises, head noises!". Was it Rainbow Dash? And the pale one in the corner, chewing on one ear of a plush bunny... was that Fluttershy?

A door was opened, and two big ones in white clothes appeared, holding Twilight down with their big, strong arms.

"Shhh, quiet, girl... Dude, give me the syringe."

No needle! The needle was bad! Twilight doubled her efforts, but in vain.

"There we go... This one is getting more difficult to deal with by the day."

"She's creeping me out, I can tell you that. Did you hear these screams? Jesus, she sounded like a freakin' horse..."

The voices faded away.

-

When Twilight opened her eyes again, she was sitting on a chair. All her friends were there too. And opposite to her, on the other side of the circle, there was a man, one of the finger-people. He had a long, white beard and glasses.

"There you are, Tara. The tenders told me you have been a naughty girl. Let's talk about that."

"I'm not Tara, I'm Twilight... Twilight Sparkle... Who are you?"

"Why, I'm your doctor, Doctor Fohlman. You have been seeing me for years."

Twilight was shaking her head. She was feeling so very dizzy. She could hardly keep her eyes open.

"Tara... "Twilight", please tell me what is wrong with you. I am your friend. I am here to help."

"Ponyville... It's all a lie... All of this is WRONG! There is tunnels, and pipes, and dark places, and needles, and robots... We need to get out... Out... Out..."

"Yes, Tara. Ponyland is just a dream. That much is true. It is a nice dream, a dream where you could have fun, and play... It was a very good dream. But something happened to that dream. Somehow, it got bad. You're not a happy girl anymore, and you're causing a lot of trouble, you know that?"

"It was a LIE! We needed to break through! Spike told me..."

"Spike? Oh, do you mean this?"

The doctor pulled a little purple plush dragon out of his pocket. He put it on Twilight's lap.

"Did that doll tell you nasty things?"

Twilight was staring down on the plushie.

"Spike is real..."

"No, Tara. Spike is imaginary. Can you see now? It is all in your imagination! But now you're imagining bad things. And that's bad."

Twilight started crying.

"It's not true... It's not true... Spike is real... And you're all just a bunch of trolls... But we'll show you..."

"Tara, I need you to listen to me. You are making everyone miserable. Yourself, your little friends, and us, of course, the people who care about you.
It's your dream, Tara. You control it. You can dream nice things again. We need you to dream nice things. Look around you! Reality is cold and boring and sad.
Just look at yourself..."

Twilight was looking down at her torso, wrapped in a straight-jacket, at her pale legs. Instead of hooves, there were... finger... toe... things. She flexed a few muscles, and they started wriggling around, like a bunch of little maggots. It was freaking her out.

"You and your friends, you were playing ponies, what a pretty idea! The little jackets keep your hands safely tucked away, but you still had your legs to run around, and magic, of course... I understand some of you can even fly! Now that's really cool!
So my request is very simple. Go back into your dream. But dream it nice this time. Don't let this stupid old Spike tell you bad things! Maybe we should send him somewhere else..."

The doctor reached forward to take the plushie away.

"NO!"

The doctor smiled.

"There there, Tara. You can keep him. But teach him some manners, okay?"

He sighted.

"Tara, you and your friends, you have to stay with us. You're a threat to yourself and to people around you.
They see you as their leader, Tara. They will follow you. If you're having scary thoughts, they will get scared as well. Leaders need to be responsible, Tara. You know that, don't you?"

Twilight nodded under tears.

"That's right. You're reasonable. You're responsible. You know your little friends need you. So what will you have to do?"

Twilight snorted. She was still feeling dizzy. Thinking was hard. But the doctor said...

"I... I need to bring them back to the dream. Not make scary noises or say scary things... So we can be happy again..."

"That's right."

The doctor brought his big, friendly face closer.

"I need you to eat your candy, and go back to Ponyland. Where you can heal, and play... And you'll be my little ponies again..."

In a fluid movement, Twilight rose from her chair and kicked the doctor in the face, sending him to the other side of the room.

"WE ARE NOT YOUR LITTLE PONIES!"

"Yeah! You show 'em, Twilight!"

"You rock! Woo-hoo!"

The other girls jumped of their chairs as well, chanting and stomping in approval.

-

"ENOUGH!"

The sterile decor was falling apart. Black robot arms rose from the shadows, grabbing one pony after the other and pulling them away.

The doctor's face was changing. It was made of shiny white metal, with glowing eyes.
Because the doctor wasn't a doctor at all. It was Princess Celestia, with her android voice.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE! You're going to pay for this! My patience is running low! I will break you, Twilight Sparkle, and if it's the last thing I'll do!"

Twilight's mind was drifting away again, but this time, she was smiling.
She couldn't tell what was real and what was not, but there was one thing she knew for sure: That kick... It had felt so good.

An itch to scratch

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(MLP Laboratories the Outbreak Level 20/21)

Rarity had a visitor this night.

It was a little metal sphere with a glowing, red eye. Floating just above her belly.

"Hello, Rarity", it said in an all too familiar voice.

"No", Rarity gasped, paralyzed with fear, not knowing whether she was dreaming or not, "it can't be you!"

"Remember how you murdered me?", the sphere said in the cheerful voice of a young filly, turning Rarity's spine to ice, "I think we both know you are deserving of punishment."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"

"I need to borrow your twisted, ponycidal brain. Don't worry, it won't hurt. Much. Or maybe it will. Guess we'll find out soon enough."

Rarity wanted to scream, but the sphere had started sending hypnotic beams of red light right into her eyes, and Rarity felt her mind fill with ice-cold darkness.

After a while, the metal sphere just dropped to the floor, lifeless, another piece of junk in this decaying junkyard, leaving Rarity panting and shaking in her bed.

-

Twilight Sparkle didn't feel like opening her eyes, let alone get out of bed.
But no. She had responsibilities.

She moaned as she crawled out of her sheets.
"Spike."

Spike was still snoring in his little basket.

"Spike. Get up. It's a brand new... day...period... in psychotic nightmare land."

Spike said something unintelligible and put the pillow on his head. Twilight just flipped the basket.

"Uuugh... That was uncalled for."

"Everything is uncalled for... Be a dear and make me a hot chocolate while I go through the morning paperwork- unless you want to switch places."

"I'm on it!"

"That's what I thought."

Twilight went to her little makeshift desk, the rings under her eyes almost dragging on the floor, but stopped on the way to take a look outside her tent.
As far as the eye could see, there were tents and similar shelters, camp fires, nests and above all, creatures. Creatures of all shapes and sizes. Most of them were ponies- Buddhist ponies being their newest addition-, but they also had manticores, griffins, hydras and -of course - diamond dogs. So many diamond dogs, suffering from gem-withdrawal.

And she, Twilight Sparkle, had become supreme ruler of them all. At least until she would finally figure a way to get them all out of this place. They called her "Sparklakus", which was cute, but it didn't quite make up for her daily efforts and sacrifices to keep them from eating each other.

"SPIKE! Where is that chocolate?"

"You seem a little cranky..."

"You don't say. I've been drugged all my life, I'm trapped in a living nightmare with a bunch of imbeciles, I've got a scalp growing on my..."

"EEE-AH!"

"Someone calm down that donkey! Anyhow, I'm afraid all of this is starting to take its toll."

"There there. I bet it's not all that bad. Let's see..."

He took the first document from the pile on Twilight's desk.

"...The griffins want meat, they say our synthetic food is making them sick..."

"Oh, horseapples..."

"Good thing you're bringing this up. That's another problem. You see, all the different creatures in the convoy need to eat, but that also means that at some point everyone needs to..."

"Please, no... Do we need to talk about that right now?"

"Well, this is leading to important sanitary problems, Twilight..."

"URGH. I hate my life."

-

Like every day before the convoy would start moving again, Twilight was visiting Rarity's tent to check on her newest inventions- even though Rarity herself, in honour of her former career as a dressmaker, still preferred to call them "designs" or "compositions".
But something didn't seem right this morning. Rarity was someone who got up early, so Twilight was surprised to find that it was still dark inside the tent.

"Rarity?"

She found her sitting in a corner, wrapped in a black cloak.

"Don't come near me!"

"Is everything alright? You sound a little under the weather..."

"I think I might have caught a cold."

Twilight was immediately alarmed.
"Is it the body melt? Has it already gotten that bad?"

"No, Twilight, I think I'll just... I had a nightmare, you see. It was exceptionally... unpleasant."

"Nightmares are the least of my worries... Please, let me have a look at you..."

"No!", Rarity hissed, but the purple unicorn pony had already pulled her hood off.

Rarity's eyes were almost black, the same color as the blood dripping from her nose. When her and Twilight's eyes met, she shivered and sneezed.

Black liquid squirted out of her nostrils and landed right in Twilight's open mouth. The other unicorn was hit by a spasmodic cough and sank to the floor. Rarity too lost consciousness, as black liquid filled her eyes and her throat.

-

When they came to their senses, coughing and shaking, it seemed only a few moments had passed.

"Uuh... What just happened?"

"I'm not sure... You came to check on me... I think I was feeling a little under the weather... But strangely enough, I feel all better now..."

"We're all going crazy... I guess there is nothing unusual about that. Do you need help with packing your things?"

"No thanks, Twilight, dear. I think I can hoofle it..."

-

"Twillight!"

Twilight Sparkle looked up. It was Rainbow Dash, who was patrolling from one end of the convoy to the other with her pegasi guard to keep the peace.

"Twilight, I'm afraid we have a bit of a situation back there. It's the griffins again. They have started attacking diamond dogs."

"I told you to keep them separated!"

Twilight's voice sounded unusually sharp. Rainbow twitched.

"We do what we can! But we can't take them all on, and they won't listen to us! Maybe if you talk to them..."

"I'm talking to them ALL THE TIME. I've really had it with these buffoons. Spike, you lead the migration while I go check on these griffins..."

"Eye eye, m'am..."

-

Several griffins and dogs were fighting, using beaks and claws at their leisure. There were no casualties so far, but plenty injured.

"Alright... WHO STARTED THIS?"

At least those fighting closest to her stopped what they were doing.

"It's them!", the griffins and the dogs cried, pointing at one another.

"He was trying to eat me!", one of the dogs complained.

"It was only a nibble, and I said I was sorry! But he just called his zillions of brothers and they started BEATING me... With PIPES."

"This is unacceptable! We can't migrate with monsters like THEM!"

"You're the ones spreading PARASITES to the entire convoy... And you're stealing our eggs!"

"That's not true! So far, we haven't succeeded even once!"

"ENOUGH!", Twilight yelled, "This is ABSURD. We all need to go on, and we have no time for your petty little quarrels! You will BEHAVE yourselves, or we will just leave you behind..."

"Well, you can't just leave us behind", one dog pointed out, "I mean, we would follow you anyway. And if you wouldn't share your food, we'd just attack you. So there."

"Not if we start cutting off body parts."

"Beg pardon?"

Rainbow Dash gasped.

"Twilight, what..."

"You heard me. I have been shockingly nice so far. But if you won't cooperate, I can adjust my approach any time. We have only limited food supplies, and we're running out of time. We don't NEED you. You're a BURDEN on the entire exodus. So I want you to SHUT UP and be GRATEFUL. Or else."

"Or else WHAT?", a griffin girl hissed, stepping forward.

Twilight's eyes started glowing. The griffin was paralyzed and lifted up into the air.

"What are you doing?"

"Rainbow, go fetch Rarity. Tell her to bring her biggest pair of scissors."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Twilight smiled.
"Change your attitude or you'll find out."

"Alright, alright! Geez... You're creepy..."

Twilight put the griffin back on the ground.

"There you go."

In this very moment, five other griffins jumped right at her.

Rainbow couldn't believe her ears: Twilight was laughing. And she sounded downright insane.

All three griffins were stopped in mid-air and thrown against the walls. Again. And again. Blood was raining down on the convoy, making many creatures squeak in terror and disgust.

Finally, she dropped her miserable victims.

"Seconds anyone? I got much more where that came from!"

She stepped forward, laughing.

"Come on! I haven't had this much fun in ages! No one courageous enough to challenge my organizing skills? No? Too bad. Well, here's another suggestion... You there! And you! Follow my lead!"

The unicorn ponies she had pointed at shivered, but did as they were told.

Twilight was levitating griffins and diamond dogs and started to bang their heads together, lending psychic power to the weaker unicorn ponies assisting her.

"Twilight, do you really think..."

"NOT NOW! Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

Finally, Twilight and her henchmen stopped.

"There we go. I don't think I'm going to break anyone's legs today, but who knows..."

As she returned to the front of the convoy, she dragged a few unconscious dogs and griffins with her.

"I'm going to keep these for testing new... disciplinary measures. Let that be a lesson to the rest of you."

-

"Why aren't we advancing anymore?", Twilight said in her new-found, chilly voice.

"We have deactivated all security mechanisms in the sector, but these doors are giving us some trouble. Our explosives don't seem to work... Maybe you could do something with your magic...?"

Spike really didn't like her expression. Twilight's odd behaviour was starting to freak him out.

"Mind you, this is an excellent occasion to implement the new policies I have developed..."

"Policies...?"

She hopped onto the little cart that had all her belongings on it. When the convoy was moving, the cart was usually pulled by Big Macintosh or Applejack.

Twilight was checking a few notes she had written earlier.

"Ah, yes. You see, Spike, when I was taking care of that diamond dog/griffin problem earlier, I figured: Why waste so much time and energy on useless people? We need to find a method to make the exodus slim and energy-efficient."

The general mumble in the crowd grew louder. More and more creatures were wondering why the migration had stopped. And then some started fighting.

"Ah, perfect."

"How is that perfect?", Spike protested.

Twilight levitated a megaphone to her mouth.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to tell them it was the diamond dog's fault, that they were slowing us down."
She chuckled.
"Let's see what's going to happen... This is going to be great..."

"WHAT? Twilight why would you do something like that?"

Spike jumped in an effort to catch the megaphone.

"To teach them a lesson. To show them who is the sole master of their destiny. But most of all..."
She grinned.
"...Because I CAN. I believe that I can divert the chaotic energies within the exodus against one particular minority, effectively calming the situation on their expense. And once they're all used up, we move on to the next minority. That's called putting your ideas to the test."

"NO, that's called toying with other people's lives!"

"With great power comes great privilege."

Spike managed to get hold of the megaphone. He put it behind his back.

"Ohhh, you shouldn't have done that. You should know better than to cross me, Spike."

"Twilight, what's gotten into you? That's not how you think! You want to save them, not torture them..."

"Who are you to tell me what I want? But now you've gotten me another idea..."

She lifted Spike up in the air and threw him into the crowd.

"LISTEN, ONE AN ALL!", she yelled into the megaphone, "WE HAVE A TRAITOR IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS A DOUBLE-AGENT ALL ALONG! WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT CALLS FOR?"

The ponies and other creatures had formed a circle around Spike, who was trembling all over.

"I-I..."

"So you little vermin thought you'd get away with this?"

"We'll show you!"

"Twilight Sparkle said he should be punished..."

"Make him bleed!"

His other pony friends were trying to get him out of the crowd, but even Rainbow Dash couldn't break through, as she was held back by other pegasi. And Twilight? She was laughing, a horrible laugh that was inspiring both fear and anger, a dangerous mixture. And it was all directed against little Spike.

"I say we have him torn apart by two stallions!"

"Forget the stallions! I say GRIFFINS!"

"It's slower and more painful if we do it with ponies..."

"Good point."

"Twilight", Spike whispered.

-

"That's quite enough of that, thank you..."
Rarity had appeared on the cart behind Twilight. Twilight turned around, but Rarity had already paralyzed her.

"T-treachery..."

"Not really, darling. I'd rather call it an... intervention. I think I know what's wrong with you, my dear friend..."

The white unicorn used a second spell. Twilight coughed. Later, she would describe the feeling as someone trying to pull your brain out of your nostrils while removing your eyeballs with an ice-cream scoop. The process was very slow (the crowd was watching and forgot all about lynching Spike), but finally, something that resembled a horrid, black worm was pulled out of Twilight's nose. Everyone gasped.

Rarity released Twilight from her grip. By doing so, however, she also dropped the worm. It crawled away.

"Should we... squish it or something?"

The black worm uttered a mighty roar that should have been ridiculous considering its size, but proved shocking none the less.
Then, in front of their very eyes, its body inflated to match the volume. In an surreal growth spurt, it turned into a tentacled monstrosity, almost the size of a hydra.

"Wow... that was inside my brain?"

"That explains everything!", someone feeling especially helpful exclaimed.

"I'm afraid I created him", Rarity told the younger unicorn, "But They just used me, because, you know... I do create monsters occasionally. It's a bit complicated. He was really meant for you. He's a parasite... I don't think he can cause all that much harm now... Now that we have exposed him... He's just trying to intimidate us."

"He...?"

And really, the monster made no attempt to attack. Instead, it hissed and retreated into the shadows.

"Let's kill it!"

"Yeah! Grab the pitchforks and torches!"

"No", Twilight said.

Everyone stared at her.

"I have a better use for him. You guys, I think we have advanced far enough for today. Why don't you put up your tents? I have... other things to take care of."

And she followed the monster into the tunnel.

-

"Shhh", Twilight said, "It's okay..."

The creature was retreating into the shadows, but Twilight managed to catch one of its tentacles between her front hooves.

She placed a kiss on the slimy surface. It made the monster shiver. She smiled. And then she slowly started to sing.

"I was feeling done in... couldn't win
I'd only ever kissed before..."

Rainbow Dash gasped and turned to Applejack. They were watching the scene on a monitor from a dark room, their faces lit by its spooky light.
"You mean she?"
"Mhm."

"...I thought there's no use getting, into heavy petting
It only leads to trouble and... seat wetting..."

The monster growled in fear, but Twilight had started to wrap the tentacle around her right front hoof.

"...Now all I want to know, is how to go
I've tasted blood and I want more..."

"More, more, more...!"
Rainbow Dash and Applejack moaned.

"I'll put up no resistance, I want to stay the distance
I've got an itch to scratch... I need assistance!"

Twilight leaped forward, embracing a bundle of tentacles with her legs.

"Toucha toucha toucha touch me! I wanna be dirty!
Thrill me chill me fulfil me
Creature of the night!"

The monster managed to shake her off once more. But Twilight didn't give up. She chuckled.

"Then if anything grows (hehe) while you pose
I'll oil you up and rub you down..."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were licking their lips.
"Down, down, down!"

"And that's just one small fraction... of the main attraction
You need a friendly hoof... and I need ACTION...!"

She jumped right into the black, squirming mass, which had finally stopped resisting and started to wrap itself around her, trembling, curious, investigating her skin.

"Toucha toucha toucha touch me, I wanna be dirty!
Thrill me chill me fulfil me
Creature of the night!"

Rainbow Dash chuckled.
"Toucha toucha toucha touch me!", she parroted Twilight.
"I wanna be dirty", Applejack added with a teasing, husky voice, laying down on her back and embracing the pegasus' neck, pulling her down on her belly, away from the screen.

"Thrill me, chill me, fulfil me!", Pinkie Pie said not far away, to a lonely piece of candy she had discovered.

"Creature of the night...", Applejack gasped before Rainbow Dash was covering the earth pony's face with her wings, as if she was closing a curtain.

"Toucha toucha toucha touch ME!", Twilight moaned in pleasure.
"Oh, I wanna be DIRTY!
Thrill me chill me FULFILL me
Creature of the night!"

"Creature of the night...", Fluttershy said, hugging a little owl.

"Creature of the night?", Spike was wondering while checking the MLP-database on a little notebook.

"Creature of the night", Celestia's Discord-core commented with the typical satisfaction of a connaisseur of... unusual romance.

"Creature of the night", Celestia's main core said, in a distant, monotone voice. She was rather shocked by the way her plan had evolved.

"Creature of the night?", the Luna core said with innocent disbelief.

"Creature of the night!", Pinkie Pie exclaimed when she discovered her candy was shaped like a little bat.

"Creature of the night!", a drunken diamond dog howled in his hillbilly-voice.

"Creature of the night...", Twilight whispered as she finally sank down into a nest of exhausted, sweaty tentacles, at peace with herself and the world.

-

NOTE: The musical number is taken from the Rocky Horror Picture Show (1973). All credits go to that unique (if flawed) piece of art.

As for my text, the last scene and ultimately the whole short story were inspired by a pony music video put up on YouTube by QueenCynder ('My little Pony- Toucha Toucha Touch Me'.