A few months ago I wrote my first truly grimdark story, and in a bit of a sickening way I'm quite proud of it.
Note that this is a censored version of the original story, to meet with FF's rating guidelines. The full uncensored version can be found on FIM Fiction, under the same name.
Anyway, without further ado, on with the show!
xx
The evening air was humid and warm, Celestia's sun just beginning to dip below the horizon. Young fillies and colts were being herded back home by their parents for supper before bedtime. Eventually the Ponyville Centre as deserted, except for one silhouetted earth filly.
Her black-furred face was pressed into the dirt, leaf-green eyes wide and darting to and fro and similarly coloured mane dragging in the dirt. Suddenly she gasped and scooped something up with her hoof. A tiny ladybird, antennea twitching curiously looked up at the strange creature that had lifted it. It took off with a flutter of its wings and left the filly gazing after it in wonder.
All day she'd been searching the dirt, looking for creep crawlies and interesting bugs to look at. Most of the other foals avoided her, preferring to keep to their games and gossip groups while she scanned the soil with engrossed interest everyday. She knew they thought she was strange, but she didn't mind. At least she had a few friends.
The filly had just began to turn towards her home when a peculiar clicking sound had reached her ears, drifting through her mind. She'd never heard such a thing before, a combination of a cricket chirping and a bee buzzing, with a slight hint of the rustling wings of a beetle. It was the only sound in the air, the birds and wind having gone to rest.
Usually, any foals caught outside after the de-facto curfew time would be called back by their parents and scolded for carelessness. However, the filly's parents never knew when she got home from her daily 'adventures'. Such was the advantage of having guardians who were early-workers.
The musical sound was still there, louder than ever. It seemed the more the young mare thought about it, the more the volume increased. Almost as if it was encouraging her.
'I could stay out for a little longer,' the filly mused. 'They'd never know I was gone. And I can see what's making that noise!' And so it was, the foal's mind made in a typical split-second descision of youthful arrogance. She'd find the source of the sound, and be back before nightfall.
Lifting a pointed ear comically high, the filly galloped in circles to see where the noise was coming from. North, west, south, aha! The Everfree forest, so gloomy and dark before now seemed like a wonderland of undiscovered mysteries to the filly. She approached the overgrown grass and roots that marked the beginning of the forest's territory, not hesitating to cross over the boundary. The sound was no longer a mere noise, it had evolved into something the filly had only ever heard i fancy music boxes. And it only grew louder as the she followed it. Skeletons of trees had started to pepper her surroundings as the filly ventured ever further from the safety of Ponyville, the forest itself in galloping distance.
Still the filly kept a steady canter, leaping over scattered tree logs and stumps with unnatural ease. She frequently stumbled on straggling roots and knotted grass, but she was no less endurant even as scrapes started to form on her tiny legs.
The sound swirled around her, filling her with excited numbness, making her deaf to everything else. The filly swerved between the spindly spines of the Everfree trees, carving a path in the leaf mulch that littered the floor. The nocturnal mice and birds scampered to avoid the intruder to their natural habitat, but the filly paid them no heed. All that mattered was the noise that she was so determined to find the maker of.
Luna's moon was beginning to rise, and still the filly showed no need for concern. She was getting closer, she knew it.
As she neared the center of the forest, the air was devoid of any animal sound other than the encapturing music, now mantaining a consistent tempo. It made her start to slow to a trot, her green eyes fixed ahead of her. The sound led her to a stack of boulders, over it, and into a clearing so small that the fully had to squeeze herself in to fit. Then the music aruptly stopped. A small hole, it looked like a rabbit burrow, had materialised in front of her. Ferns and fallen branches adorned the entranc and hid it well from view, making it impossible to detect unless you could manouvere yourself right in front of it.
The filly peered into the darkness of the hole, straining her eyes and ears. There it was again, the noise faintly playing. But for once, she was hesitant. In that one second, her resolve collapsed as she just began to realise where she was. So far away from her home, in this terrifying mass of foliage and all sorts of deadly creatures. It was already dark, and the temperature had began to lower dramatically.
The filly placed a trembling hoof behind her, poised to run and get of the murky woodland. She could roughly remember how she came to this point in the forest, and she prayed to Celestia it would be enough.
The sudden faraway hoot of an owl prompted her to sprint, but she didn't even get out of the clearing, Something had clamped around her foreleg, dragging her into the burrow. When she opened her mouth to scream, her mouth was covered and filled with some sort of sticky liquid, like honey. She had no choice but to swallow the sugary substance and struggle helplessly as she was dragged into the abysmal pit.
Stones and dislodged rocks scraped and scratched the filly's back as she wrestled with whatever had captured her. It was even darker in the hole, the only thing visible the icy blue orbs that the filly took for the creature's eyes. They never stopped looking at her, the gaze so intense it was as if two holes were being burned into the filly's body.
She tried to keep her head aloft, away from the path of the stone that was shredding the rest of her up. But she was overcome with a sudden exhaustion, her eyelids forcing themselves together and all feeling leaking from her limbs.
The tinkle of the music was the last thing she heard before she went into slumber.
xx
The first thing the filly felt when she awoke was the rhythmic pounding of her head, making even thinking a painful feat. The ground was moist and cold under her limp form, making her shiver uncontrollably.
With her eyes were firmly pressed closed, the filly didn't notice the five forms entering the room, blue and amber orb eyes narrowed and vocal's clicking subconsciously.
"It is awake," one of the creatures hissed, nearing the unresponsive pony and prodding it like a dead animal. She whimpered in pain as the sharp hooves scraped her flank.
"Excellent. Hold her up," a confident, feminine voice commanded her subordinates. They complied by roughly hauling the filly up by her front legs, leaving the back legs dangling in mid-air. The claw-like hooves cut into the filly's skin, causing bruises and making her yelp. Something pulled her eyelids open, revealing the horrific blue orbs staring at her with open disdain. She tried to scream, but her mouth was still stuck shut.
"Which of you has the formula?" the female asked, being answered by a series of sycophantic clicks. Through the darkness, the filly could only see the glowing irises of the creatures.
"Turn on the lights." Another click, and the chamber was slowly filled with an ambient green light. It only barely illuminated the filly's captors.
Even in the low light, the female was obvious at first sight. A tall and pony shaped shadow, with a crooked shape portruding from her head and shining transcluecent wings. Two glinting fangs showed from under her lips. She reminded the filly of somethng she'd seen in her storybooks. The other four she couldn't see.
The female was levitating a vial of acid-green liquid, emitting an orange glow from her -the pony assumed- horn. She neared the writhing filly, and opened the vial.
"This will hurt, little one. But it's for the greater good," she said ominously. Before the filly could answer, a small portion of the liquid was dripped onto her right front leg. The drop split into three, and hit the surface of the limb.
Instantly, her black fur started crackling when the substance made contact, emitting the unmistakeable smell of singed hair. She'd only smelt it once before, when her unicorn friend was showing off fire spells and one went astray. It caused the filly to crinkle her nose in disgust, and left her as baffled as ever. The liquid soaked through her thick fur, smoke rising from the tiny pools. The filly was breathing heavily in terror, still oblivious as to what the substance would do. It met her skin in no time, and she soon found out.
The liquid flowed through her skin, muscle and bones, a new level of noise coming from the filly as each layer was eaten by the corrosive substance. Somehow the filly had managed to swivel her bloodshot eyes to meet the observant female's begging for mercy, or an explanation for what was happening. Her face remained blank.
Finally, the liquid got to the other end of the skin and dripped onto the rock floor, followed by a river of blood. The pain remained, the draughty air blowing through the holes now scattered on the filly's leg. The pony's cries had subsided to choking sobs while the stench of burned fur hung in the stuffy air, forcing itself into the pony's nostrils.
"Very good," the indifferent female commented, judging the filly like a slab of meat. "Now for the other legs..."
xx
When the ordeal was over, the filly's vocal cords were strained from the unstoppable screaming. Her legs were throbbing and numb, and patterned with large holes that went from one side of skin to another. Several times she almost reached the point of sweet stupor, but another wave of pain always snapped her back to cruel reality.
She was unceremoniously dropped to the ground like a bale of hay, her broken legs hopelessly twisted and the holes compressing painfully from the sudden weight that was put on the mutilated limbs. They couldn't take the pressure, and collapsed underneath the filly. She loooked up at the monster staring down at her with a mocking smile, amber eyes glowing. "B-but why?" was all she could ask. She'd never thought anypony could hurt another so much, it was an unthinkable prospect that all but shattered her innocent vision of the world.
"You'll see why, my dear," the evil thing answered with the gentleness of a mother mare. She waved a shadowed leg to her blue-eyed subordinates, and then the filly noticed it. The clean-cut holes in the leg that let the light stream straught through them, so familiar to the ones now scarring hers. What did it mean?
The minions had gathered in front of the filly, looking at her with less contempt than before. Instead, with soething that seemed almost like approval.
"My Queen, we have the augmentations ready," one said with a slithery voice that was reminiscent of a snake.
"Bring them to me," she ordered, still gazing at the filly with faux sympathy. At least, the young pony interperated the look as such. Another duo of minions approached, holding something in their fanged jaws. The queen lifted them with her horn, hovering them in the air and studying them.
"Yes, yes, they'll do," she muttered, letting one object drop to the floor. "We'll start with the wings and thorax and then the horn." The filly didn't even try to understand what she was saying, curling up in a foetal position. Sobs racked through her again, salty water leaking onto the floor. The creatures loomed over her, met with little restraint as they held her crippled legs down. She held her eyes shut, tears still leaking out. The queen held the levitated object, which looked like a pair of wings like her own, over the filly's back. The glowing of her horn began to intensify as another vial of neon-blue liquid appeared. The ones holding the filly down began to chirp in excitement as the stuff was positioned over where the wings barely grazed the surface of the fur. The noise prompted the young pony to open her eyes a fraction, seeing another strange liquid about to hit her back. She struggled and cried, despite the new wave of pain that hit her legs as she did so. But the creature's held her with a vice-grip, digging their hooves into her. The substance hit her back, spreading a cold numbness over the area followed by a very uncomfortable stretching sensation. The filly couldn't see it, but her back skin had started to sprout into two thin pillars, growing to meet the ends of the wings still held over her. As they joined with the wings, a new scream forced past the filly's lungs. The artificial nerves in the wings fused to her. The back skin grew very tough, coloured a shiny green, and split into three segments. It looked like the body of the insects that the filly loved so much.
Still the wing-ends burned like an inferno, causing the pony to sweat and shiver. They started fluttering by themselves, which intensified the pain. The queen, watching the grotesque spectacle with guarded interest, flashed a toothy smile.
"The augment is responding. Excellent. Now for the horn." The thought of more torture was too much for the filly to take. She broke down and weep uncontrollably. "N-no, please! N-n-no more! P-please," the rest of her plea was lost in the gasping sobs.
The queen was unmoved.
She lifted the other object, a crooked sharp horn, and placed it on the pony's head just above her watery eyes. With the casualness of dropping sugar into tea, the queen poured the last of the blue liquid around the horn.
The filly felt like a supernova had just happened in her head, and her brain ebbed a cold so intense it was achingly similiar to eating a thousand ice-creams all at once.
Another series of worthless tears was all the filly could produce to express her torment. The horn began to burn up as the magic stored within it connected with the pony's spirit, ascending to hellfire level and contrasting unbearably with the freezing in her mind.
The minions repressing hooves had removed themselves from the pony's form, but she hardly noticed. They gathered beside their monarch, icy eyes wide and blinking furiously.
"The rebirth is almost complete, my queen," one buzzed, licking his fangs. The queen nodded, and turned her hard-plated back on the suffering filly.
"The cocoon should form in mere minutes. Afterwards, we shall begin the assimilation," she said passively, pausing before exiting the prison to face the young pony.
"You will make a fine queen," she praised, and with that she left.
Over the filly's wailing, the mocking melody of the cursed music played on uninterrupted.