> The Ring : Seven Neighs > by Full Bloom > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Ooo, A Manga! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A pale pony abandoned on the darkest night in Equestria. A downpour would drown the earth, wind a wicked howl that could echo for miles on end. Her translucent blue eyes clear enough to burn into your soul, mane that of the blackest night.  Her love stomped through the oak door of her cottage. The stallion was covered in inky darkness, as the icy wind blew sharply behind him. He had fallen out of love with her over the many moons since they met. Another mare with a violet mane had caught his attention, it was at her request he would commit a monstrous crime that night. With hard apple cider on his breath, death would follow him. "Is that you love?" She would ask in a hushed whisper.  "Neigh." "Is something wrong?" She questioned in the living room as the warmth from the fireplace cradled her tiny frame. "Neigh." "Let me see your eyes." The mare pleaded as she lifted. "Neigh." "Please." She caressed his cheek with a loving hoof. "Neigh." "It's her isn't it?" She barely held back tears as her heart shattered. "Neigh." "She sent you." The mare sobbed as his hooves clenched her slender neck tight. "Neigh." "I…love…you." She gasped in terror unable to break his grasp, her delicate body became limp as darkness overtook her sight. "Neigh." On the seventh Neigh, She was gone from this world. The body slumped over into his cold embrace, he would drag her through the filthy mud of the storm outside. The well they once dug together to nourish her garden, now her tomb. With one swift motion, he plunged her down to the abyss, towards the emptiness of Tartarus where no soul could ever know. Yet her legacy would live on. Stealing the lives of others, much like hers had been stolen on that fateful night… "They say if seven Neighs are spoken on a dark stormy night, she would rise from her well and drag all in her path to the abyss." Rainbow Dash giggled maliciously under her breath as thunder boomed outside, a blue flash of lightning illuminating the small cottage.  "Eeeeek!" Fluttershy squealed in utter fear as she shot under a stack of pillows on her sofa. "Boring! " Spike tossed a claw of sparkling gems into his mouth, chewing loudly.  "As if! I frightened Fluttershy!" Rainbow pointed her turquoise hoof towards a shivering pink tail underneath the throw pillows. Spike arched a brow unenthusiastically. "A loud burp could scare Fluttershy. " He narrowed his gaze to the mare who snorted loudly.  "I think I'll make us some tea," Fluttershy whispered under her breath daintily.  "You're just jealous I'm a master storyteller! " Rainbow blew a loud raspberry to the dragon as they were stranded here to wait out the thunderstorm.  Fluttershy gently slid off the couch to make her way into the cottage kitchen."Ooo, a lovesick girl comes to drag you away! So scary!!" Spike continued his argument sarcastically as the teapot began to boil. "She's more than lovesick! She's EVIL!!" Rainbow tried her best to sound spooky but only earned a laugh from the tiny drake. "Whatever, neigh, neigh, neigh!" Spike lifted a tail to fart loudly.  "Um, could we not tempt fate in my home? " Fluttershy felt a shiver run down her spine as the neighs were evoked.  "That's only three! Scared little dragon? " Rainbow pressed her tiny muzzle against his snout mockingly.  "I am, actually I'm quite terrified. " Fluttershy lifted her hoof as she spoke in barely a whisper.  "Neigh, neigh, neigh! " Spike booped the mare on the muzzle as she scrunched it with a flustered gaze. "Only six little one!" Rainbow screamed in his face. "You want the seventh!?" Spike growled under his breath as smoke exited his nostrils.  "Please I can't handle demonic rituals. " Fluttershy squeaked. "I don't want it, I need it! " Rainbow popped her lips. "YOU WANT IT!?" Spike lifted to his feet atop the couch.  "I NEED IT!" Rainbow countered as she flew above the dragon and fluttered in the air angrily.  "Here it…oh it stopped storming!" Spike smirked as he gazed out the window and jumped down to the floor.  "Awesome, I can still make Wonderbolt practice! " Rainbow giggled as she flew to the window near the front door and swung it open. "I need to deliver a potion to Zecora." Spike snugly fastened a beige backpack to his shoulders.  "We'll have tea later!" Rainbow apologetically smiled at Fluttershy who nodded in understanding, before flying off into the growing blue horizon.  Spike smiled in a chipper mood as the young drake hugged the mare."We should get together for spooky stories more often eh?" He flashed a little mischievous grin as he headed out into the world.  "Neigh." Fluttershy giggled with a tiny wave at the front door, as turquoise eyes suddenly widened in utter terror as an icy chill claimed her. A strong gust of wind blew from behind throughout the darkened room of her cottage. The splintered wooden door slammed shut with an otherworldly echo, the mare only able to squeak out in fright. "Um, if we're being fair Spike said six of those neighs." Fluttershy swallowed a growing lump in her throat as a high-pitched hiss exploded from her kitchen.  Fluttershy screamed as she flew haphazardly into the dimly lit room, every candle across the cottage had mysteriously gone out. "It's a demonic mare, of course, she wouldn't play fair." She whimpered quickly, removing the teapot from the open flame of the stove. "Seven neeeeighs." A feminine voice whispered from the abyss. "Eeek!" Fluttershy twirled around in a blur of pink as she looked directly at a kitten poster on the wall.  Yet something malicious had appeared in the poster holding a large basket full of kittens. A pale withered mare with saddened blue eyes, her mane soaked in the muddy water of an abandoned well. Fluttershy screamed, flipping the picture to another in fright. The new photo of Celestia enjoying a slice of wedding cake, set atop the cake covered in frosting was the same sickly mare. "I didn't summon you!" Fluttershy toppled over as she froze in fear on her side. "Seven neeeeighs!" The mare gargled in a waterlogged voice. The pale visage crawled forward out of the cake, annoyed. Her bones popped in and out of position as she drug herself out of the photo, inky black sludge pouring out over the floor with a foul stench of decay.  "Help me…" Fluttershy screamed out in a faint whisper as the color faded from her coat. "Seven neeeeighs!" The haunting mare croaked out as filthy water dribbled out the sides of her rotted muzzle, each step brought her closer to her prey. Within seconds she towered over the doomed pony ready to drag her off into the void between worlds. Her mucky hoof pressed firmly atop a new manga of One Buck Mare before all went eerily silent.  "Oh, is this the newest issue?" The ghostly mare plopped onto her flank with a thud, delicately scooping up the graphic novel as she skimmed through it. "Eeeeep." Fluttershy squeaked paralyzed in fear on her backside, unable to budge an inch. "Noice." The mare giggled in delight, happy to meet another Otaku. Even if she wasn't the most talkative.  > Explosive Friendship. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy let the fear of the moment overtake her delicate frame. Each calculated exhale of air was ice cold as steam escaped her muzzle slowly. The demonic mare simply sat there reading from her first edition mockingly, perhaps planning to pounce forward at any given moment.  Using rotted hooves to strangle the life out of her petrified frame. Or perhaps one single gaze from the underworld itself, would engulf her mind with pure wickedness and stop her heart instantly.  This monster is heinous and full of malicious hate. The simple act of waiting for her doom that of true agony, Fluttershy began to gasp for air as her chest tightened and waves of sweat-drenched her brow. "You wouldn't happen to have any Ramen?" She gazed up from the novel with a polite tone of voice. "REGULAR OR SPICY!" Fluttershy erupted in a shockwave of fear and uncontrollable anxiety before flinging to her hooves as if possessed.  "Uhhh, spicy?" She scrunched her muzzle cutely.  Fluttershy shivered uncontrollably as she let the Ramen cook over her stove. Adding a few spices to the noodles for a bit of added flavor. The ghostly mare suddenly appeared behind her with those large empty eyes, nose sniffing the pleasant aroma emitting from around the pot. "So you're not going to kill me?" Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her coat as the mare appeared from nowhere in particular. "Wow, that's kind of harsh." The mare narrowed her eyes suspiciously to the pegasus.  Fluttershy blushed lightly as her heartbeat began to slow back to normal. "Isn't that what you do?" She quickly began to stir the noodles with a wooden spoon embarrassed. "The neighs just evoke my presence, I get summoned to appear usually during a nap." The mare yawned as a few streams of black sludge trickled down the sides of her muzzle.  "Ooops, sorry I drool when I sleep." She smacked her lips. "Oh dear, I woke you up?" Fluttershy removed the pot from atop the stove and shifted it over to the table. "Kinda, and also then dumped me into some cake which wasn't cool." The mare rolled her eyes annoyed.  Fluttershy fluttered to a high shelf to grab a few bowls with a sheepish giggle. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, my friends and I were just telling scary stories. " She placed the bowls down on the table before filling them. "I get those a lot. Birthdays, bonfires, mostly sleepovers though. " The mare smirked as she hopped up onto a nearby chair childishly.  "Well, I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you." "Sadmarako." She flashed a rotten grin as a leech clung to the inside of her cheek. Fluttershy let a wave of green flash across her cheeks before pushing her noodles aside. "Pretty name. Not many around here like Mangas." She giggled as she trotted to a nearby shelf covered by a cloth. "I got into them after accidentally scaring a Convention Salespony off a cliff," Sadmarako spoke between slurping as her whole muzzle was plunged into the bowl. "Would you like some chopsticks?" "Nah, why?" Sadmarako lifted her muzzle covered in orange noodles out of the bowl.  "No reason, tada!" Fluttershy tugged the cloth free from the darkness of the corner, Sadmarako looking upward in awe as her muzzle fell open and filthy mud water splashed across the table. Limited edition Mangas stacked the bookshelf impressively as more than a few were even signed by their respective creators. Hoofmade figures of protagonists were decorated upon the wooden frame each crafted with love and attention to detail. Lastly, an originally drawn manga prototype sat lovingly atop it all, no doubt a project years in the making. "No way!" Sadmarako poofed into a cloud of black smoke as she reappeared near the collection of beauty like no other. "Dragon Soul Z, Caramel ½, One Buck Mare, and My Harmony Academia!" Sadmarako was sent into shivers of excitement as her filthy hooves dared to touch a single exquisitely drawn cover. "Including the special limited edition Dragon Soul Orb replica!" Fluttershy handed a fiery blue orb to her new friend, who squealed girlishly in the excitement of the moment.  "I…don't make too many friends but I'd be honored if we could be so." Sadmarako blushed shyly as Fluttershy beamed happily ear to ear. "I'd like that." "Awesome, I could bring over my favorite Mangas and we could share ideas on arghhhh…it burns!!" Sadmarako exploded in a sludge bubble of muck and rotten slime. Fluttershy was drenched in the decay of death as her coat dripped in green ooze. "Uhhhh." She whimpered in shock and horror as a wet slug slid slowly down her forehead.  "I saved you, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash gasped for air breathlessly at the kitchen window as she had yanked the curtains down allowing bright sunlight to pour into the room. "She's in my mane." Fluttershy squeaked as an eyeball hung from her pink locks. "What the buck was that thing!?" Rainbow crawled into the cottage to check on her spooked friend worriedly.  "My…friend. " Fluttershy gazed to the floor in a somber gaze. Rainbow scrunched her muzzle confused as she tilted her head. "The dead zombie thing was your friend? " She snorted aloud with a few giggles unsure of how to take that information.  "It's not funny." Fluttershy pouted towards her technicolor companion.  "I'm sorry it's just she popped like a balloon, so much for an all-powerful demonic force! Guess I'm just an awesome ghost hunter!!" Rainbow flew into the living room to pose much like a heroine.  The manga on the floor flipped open before waves of black mane erupted violently from within, like horrible slime-covered tentacles they wrapped around the pegasus in mere seconds. Rainbow screamed in utter terror as she was slammed violently onto the ground, her hooves scraped the wooden floors in terror as she was dragged into the novel painfully. She gasped and screeched for air compacting in size as the mane squeezed her tight, forcibly pulling the mare into the book with a pop. All that echoed was a chilling scream of agony.  "Mm-hmm, I'm going to faint ooooh!" Fluttershy stumbled back weakly to crash into her bookshelf, stopping to regain her composure and swooning before she collapsed in the opposite direction entirely.  As she hit the floor, all went black.