Thirty Minute Pony Stories

“….Twilight! Twilight, please, react!” The voice pleaded, shaking the lavender unicorn slightly. Only a dull stare replied to Fluttershy’s panicked shaking, and the Pegasus stopped, her eyes watering.

It was a chaos. It had happened so fast. Pinkie had convinced Fluttershy to hold a meeting on her cottage, just to have some fun with friends on the night before Nightmare Night. While it was still early, they stayed outside, chatting, playing. And then suddenly that horrible sound came. Fluttershy shuddered at the memory; it wasn’t a roar, or anything containing rage or fear. Not even pain. She almost cried when she heard it the first time because it was, simply put, a feeling even worse.

It was a cry of misery, pure misery. Not the kind that made others feel compassion, as she soon noticed. It was the kind of misery that is like a poison, who spreads through the souls of everypony around, and dug deep like a black tree. Fluttershy had resisted by a lucky maneuver; in a reflex of panic, she leaped, and hit a table full of pumpkins for carving; the rumble of the fruits falling all around her dulled the sound, and everything else she could feel.

She didn’t really remember what happened after that; Rainbow Dash said something that looked like a black blur rushed from Everfree. Something big and howling; it was also a cry of misery. Rainbow was closest, so when the creature got close, a hit sent her flying; she could only assume the wind rush plus her beatings wings made it so that the cry didn’t affect her.

When both got back on their hooves, they looked around. The whole area was a mess. Tables flipped, pumpkins all around; nightmare night decorations all over the ground. What got to them was their friends, though. Only two in there; Twilight and Applejack, flopped on the ground. Applejack was knocked out, and no matter what Rainbow Dash couldn’t wake her. Twilight, though, was still conscious. And that was frightening.

Because Twilight normally had vivid eyes, full of drive. Twilight, at the time….Did not. Dull eyes stared into theirs, and the mare looked at them as if she was seeing everything through a thick fog. She didn’t answer when they asked, and slowly the recognition left her eyes, leaving only the dull stare. She started to stop moving and just stared into the ground.

“What happened?!” Rainbow Dash asked enraged, snapping her tail and trying to snap Twilight out of it with shaking. It was something akin to desperation, the way she was almost shouting at the unicorn to react. Meanwhile, Fluttershy looked at the scene with tears in her eyes. She tried wiping them, and looked at the Everfree forest.

It had come from there. And if Fluttershy wasn’t mistaken, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were taken, too. But what was it?

“Rainbow…The girls…It…” Fluttershy started.

“I know…” The cyan Pegasus said, narrowing her eyes and looking into the forest. She was looking absolutely livid. “Fluttershy, I’ll go get them”

“No!” The yellow Pegasus screamed, throwing herself at Rainbow Dash. “You can’t go in there alone!”

“Yes…I…Can!” Rainbow Dash said, slowly forcing herself out of Fluttershy’s grip “Like hay I’m letting whatever that was take away my friends! You keep a watch on Twilight and Applejack, I’ll go get Pinkie and Rarity and then we’ll go and take all of them to the hospital! Don’t worry Flutters, I’ll be back soon” And with that, Rainbow Dash flew off, leaving a rainbow streak on her wake. Fluttershy bit her lower lip, getting up again and trying to get Twilight and Applejack inside her cottage and put both under blankets.

The time passed….Slowly. It was almost a torture. Fluttershy’s cottage fell into a dead silence, waiting for something, anything to give a sign from Rainbow Dash and the girls coming back.

The clock ticked. One hour, one hour and a half. Two hours, Two hours and ten, Three hours.

At that point, the smallest sound was as loud as a thunder. So, when Fluttershy heard the sound of blankets moving, she screamed startled, before blinking and turning, in time to see Twilight open her eyes.

“Oh, goodness, Twilight!” She asked, worried, approaching the mare. “Are you okay? We were so worried! Rainbow is off to get the girls and…”

Twilight looked at her, and Fluttershy stopped. Something was wrong.

“…Twilight…?” She asked, on a voice barely above a whisper.

“Fluttershy…” Came the answer. Dull eyes. She still had these damned dull eyes. Twilight pushed off the blanket, standing as if she was sleepwalking.

That was not good. That was not right.

“From Everfree…” The unicorn said slowly, putting a hoof to the side of her head. “So sad…That cry…”

“You heard it…” Fluttershy said, trying to recall what she knew. That cry full of misery that she only heard for a moment didn’t got lost on Twilight Sparkle.

“I heard…It’s inside… Fluttershy…Hel…P…” She said, slowly. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, Fluttershy backed off.

Her eyes were black.

“W-what?” Fluttershy said, and her voice hurt when it came out.

There was silence, and Twilight’s eyes moved on to her. Slowly examining the frightened Pegasus. Her mouth opened, mechanically

“I want food.” Twilight’s voice said, slowly. “Everfree has little….Ponies feel it easy…” And her horn started to glow. Fluttershy was trapped into a dark, moss-green magical aura in a moment, squeaking in fright. “I call for it, and they feel too… Get in, and just find more…”

Fluttershy’s mind was racing. Calling for it…That cry full of misery…With a shudder, Fluttershy realized something. Whatever it was, whatever it did, it fed on misery. Its cry took out the light out of the soul of a pony, and once it was gone and its spot was vacant…

“The other girls…” Fluttershy started, with tearful eyes, as Twilight slowly approached.

“Feeding us…Rainbow too.” Twilight’s voice said again. And when these words left her mouth, Fluttershy’s wings dropped.

The creature’s hunger grew when she realized what a banquet she had. And with nothing else to say, forced itself inside, ready for a feast.

[A/N: And the author promises never to attempt  writing terror ever again as he runs out of time, and sobs himself to sleep. The end.]

Norse Pony’s comments: Nice classic horror vibe here. The theme of being lost to and replaced by an alien creature is a recipe for good horror, and you’ve captured that here. I dig the concept of a creature which makes you feel misery and then feeds on it, and the body-snatching nature of the creature only makes it a more effective terror.