A/N: This story takes place sometime after the creepypasta game, Story of the Blanks. Lemme tell you, that game was . . . creepy, to put it. Unexpected should be the word. I seriously wonder how ponies could come up with stuff like that. But there were some questions as to what happens then. That's why I decided to make this fanfic as a sequel to the infamous, yet strangely entertaining, 64-bit NES-style game.
Return to Sunny Town
Chapter 1: Nightmares
By Bron1Delta
Applebloom's eyes snapped open as she sat up in her bed, panting heavily and sweat dripping from her red mane. It was another bad dream about that village she had discovered back in the Everfree Forest: Sunny Town. At first it seemed like a normal, peaceful little village kind of like Ponyville. What was strange was that none of the inhabitants had cutie marks . . . in fact they hadn't the slightest clue as to what a cutie mark was. But what really scarred Applebloom for life were the terrifying events that took place after she'd left that log cabin. The skeletons, the zombified ponies rising up from the ground, their decaying bodies, rotting flesh sliding off from their bones . . . it was nothing a filly should ever see, and she wished she could unsee it all.
She buried her face in her hooves, crying silently at the horrible images that inhabited her mind.
"You okay, sugarcube?" Applebloom, still a bit shaky from the dream, jumped at the sound of another pony's voice. She calmed down after seeing her big sister, Applejack, standing near the doorway.
Applebloom shook her head. "Ah had that dream again. Ah just can't get it outta m'ah head. Everything that happened at Sunny Town was simply unreal."
Applejack trotted over to her sister's bedside. "You've been talking about that Sunny Town fer weeks now. Maybe it's time to start thinking that everything you thought you saw was all in yer head."
"'All in m'ah head?" Apple repeated. "No, no, everything Ah saw that day actually happened! It was all real!"
Applejack sighed. She loved her sister, but sometimes she could get out of hand on a few things. "Listen to yerself, Applebloom. Zombie ponies? A ghost town? Curses? Don't you think those things are bit far fetch, hun? And that filly you said the townsfolk had murdered. If Sunny Town was that much of a paradise to them, why in Equestria would they even consider murdering a filly? Nopony in their right minds would think of doin' that."
Seeing a dishearted look on Applebloom's face, Applejack decided best to end the subject. "Look, we can talk about this later. Right now, you need to get some sleep. You got school tomorrow."
With that said, Applejack trotted out of the bedroom, saying good night before shutting the door behind her. Applebloom wanted to go to sleep, but now could not. She had the events of Sunny Town still etched in her brain. Each time she closed her eyes she would see a zombie pony standing in front of her, its eyes glowing blood red.
She sighed quietly. This was going to be a long night for her.
The next day . . .
Applebloom lifted her head from her desk, bags under her eyes and red mane a tangled mess, after being prodded in her side for about fifteen times. She turned her head to see Scootaloo sitting in the desk beside hers.
"You okay, Applebloom?"
Applebloom shook her head. "No. It's these darn nightmares Ah've been having. They've been goin' on every night since me and Twilight got back from the Everfree Forest – and now, Ah don't know how ta make 'em stop."
"Well you better think of something," said Sweetie Belle, who was sitting in the desk behind Scootaloo. "This is the fourth time you've fallen asleep today. Me and Scootaloo can't keep covering for you."
Applebloom yawned. "I know, girls, but—"
"Okay, class," Cheerlie interrupted, bringing Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo's attention to her. "Today we're going be to talking about the many ancient myths and legends of Equestria."
A bored look was plastered onto Diamond Tiara's face. The only word she could think of when regarding this subject was, "Boring."
"Now," Cheerlie continued, "Today we'll be discussing about a particular legendary town in the Everfree Forest known as Sunny Town." Applebloom's ears perked up after hearing that name. "They say the town was founded a roughly century ago, just before the founding of Ponyville. At first, the town did not have many residents with it being in the Everfree Forest, but eventually it found itself having a major population increase. However, nopony understands exactly how Sunny Town managed to have such a population boom."
"Uh, Miss Cheerlie?" Applebloom raised her hoof. "Do you think we can talk about somethin' other than Sunny Town?"
"Like what?"
Applebloom thought of a random subject to use – so far, anything to get away from talking about Sunny Town. What can Ah use to help me? "How about we talk about humans again? They seemed interestin'."
"We've talked about humans for two and half weeks, Applebloom. I'm really getting tired of that myth," said Scootaloo, an obvious hint of annoyance detected in her voice.
The entire class was in agreement, and Applebloom shrunk in her seat as her teacher continued with the brief history lesson. "Anyway, Sunny Town's residents consist entirely of earth ponies without cutie marks – in fact the story says that, for some reason, those ponies have never heard of a cutie mark. And they were supposedly drawn to Sunny Town by some magical force, which is believed to be the reason why their population grew so rapidly."
"Sounds like the ideal place for a blank-flank," Diamond Tiara muttered over to Silver Spoon, who was sitting behind her. The two prissy fillies snickered at the joke. Appebloom, hearing what'd been said, glared at the pink pony.
"Though," Cheerlie continued, "Because they have never heard of it, they believe a pony's cutie mark to be a curse laid upon them, instead of something to represent their special talent. . ." Immediately, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's expression changed. ". . . Any pony living Sunny Town that was caught having a 'cursed mark' – along with those who assisted ponies with cutie marks – was murdered almost instantly and their bodies buried out in the forest. One of these recorded cases was about a filly named Ruby." That name struck a nerve in the red maned filly. Ruby helped her escape the Everfree Forest alive. "Her cutie mark was a magnifying glass; but when the townsponies found out, they burned her in a fireplace in a log cabin just on the outskirts of the town."
So that was the skeleton Ah saw! Applebloom thought. She looked to see the horrified expressions on Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara's faces, but couldn't help but feel sorry for them. If they had been in Sunny Town, they would have been mercilessly killed as well . . . just like Ruby.
After another lecture about Equestrian history, the school bell rung, signaling the day to end, and the class rushed outside. The warm spring air washed over Applebloom as she made her way out of the school alongside Scootalooo and Sweetie Belle. But this did little to ease her uneasy mind – or help her wake up a little. The poor little filly was still exhausted from having to try and stay up through the whole lecture; and Cheerlie calling her name out did not help much either.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle noticed Applebloom's condition. They saw that her eyes were getting red, and she yawning deeper each time. She staggered to the point where she nearly tripped over her own hooves. "Applebloom, we've been thinking," said Scootaloo, "you seemed really on edge when Miss Cheerlie mentioned Sunny Town. Is there something you need to tell us?"
"No, no, nothing at all!" Applebloom replied, laughing hysterically. "It's just that Ah haven't had a decent sleep in over two weeks, and Ah'm about to go completely insane from it, but aside from that little downfall Ah'm just fine! Why do you ask?" Applebloom's face was mere inches from Scootaloo, who had recoiled from the outburst.
"Uh, no reason…" The expression on Scootaloo's face was a combination of confusion, nervousness, and worriedness for her friend.
Applebloom sighed in contempt. "Ah'm sorry, girls. It's just that almost every time Ah close m'ah eyes and try ta sleep, Ah keep havin' these nightmares about Sunny Town. Ah didn't mean to put you through all this."
"It's okay." Scootaloo placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Maybe we can get you some help."
"I say we go visit Twilight," said Sweetie Belle. "Maybe she has books on this sort of stuff. And maybe we can read a little more about that Sunny Town myth. In the meantime, I think Applebloom should go home and at least try to get some rest."
"That's a great idea!" exclaimed Scootaloo, her tiny wings flapping. "You heard that, Applebloom? Why don't go home and—"
She and Sweetie Belle saw that Applebloom was lying on the ground, eyes closed and snoring.
"Ah'm really worried about her, Twi," Applejack said, pacing across the floor of the library. "Applebloom hasn't been able to sleep for two weeks without having another nightmare about that Sunny Town place. When Ah was a filly, my parents always told me Sunny Town was a myth."
"Maybe she hit her head or something while in Everfree," said Twilight. She had a book levitating in front of her. "She could've just imagined everything in her head."
"But that doesn't explain why she's been havin' nightmares. If it were all in her head, shouldn't it have been over by now?"
"Probably." Twilight flipped a few pages in the book. "Sometimes affects can last for weeks, months at a time."
Applejack's eyes widened. "Months? She can't keep goin' on like this fer months! She can barely hold on fer a few days!"
"I know. I just feel awful about this," said Twilight, her voice growing sorrowful.
Applejack placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Don't beat yerself up, Twilight. It's not . . . entirely your fault."
"It kinda is," said Rainbow Dash. She received a glare from Applejack. "What? She did let her go into the Everfree Forest. A lot of weird stuff happens in there – especially stuff that we don't know about."
The front door of the library opened and Sweetie Belle hurried inside. "Hurry up, Scootaloo!" she called out the door.
The orange pegasus filly came in through the door a few moments later, dragging a sleeping Applebloom by the tail. "It would be nice if you could give me some help, Sweetie Belle."
"What happened to her," asked Twilight.
Scootaloo dragged Applebloom further into the library before letting go of her tail, and replied, "She fell asleep at the schoolhouse. She kept mentioning something about a place town called Sunny Town. Miss Cheerlie told us that it was an old Equestrian legend that took place a century ago."
"Twilight, you don't happen to have any books on myths and legends, do you?" asked Sweetie Bell.
"I think so. Let me check." Twilight trotted over to a bookshelf and used her magic to levitate a book off the shelf. It was titled, Myths, Legends, and All Rumours in Equestria.
She placed it down on the table. Sweetie Belle opened the book and began flipping through the pages, passing chapters about many of the mythical things of Equestria until she finally reached a specific page about Sunny Town. "Here it is!" She began reading. "Most of it is the stuff Miss Cheerlie mentioned in class today."
"Is there anything she didn't mention?" asked Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle read on until she reached a particular paragraph in the chapter. It had a picture of a darkened, zombie-like pony on the page. "It says here that there was a curse placed upon the town after they had murdered that pony named Ruby."
"What was the curse about?" asked Rainbow.
"After they murdered Ruby," Sweetie Belle continued, "the town was destroyed by a mysterious blizzard that killed off most of the population, followed by a landslide that finished everypony off. During the day, Sunny Town seems like a normal village inhabited by care-free earth ponies; but every night for the rest of eternity, the dead ponies will rise from the ground and haunt the remains of their once beloved town as punishment for their acts. Anypony with a cutie mark that enters the cursed town at this time will be trapped and 'never seen again' while those without cutie marks become part of the Sunny Town community . . . forever – never able to return to the 'real world' again."
"Sounds ominous," said Rainbow Dash.
"Doesn't it?" replied Sweetie Belle, closing the book.
"But it's just a myth," said Applejack. "Do y'all really believe that ponies would make a town out in the Everfree Forest?"
"It does seem strange," Twilight said, placing the book back on the shelf. "But so far, everything Applebloom experienced has been extremely accurate, and I don't think she ever knew about the Sunny Town myth until we went into the Everfree Forest. Usually when a pony tries to start a myth, they leave out very important details explaining how it all happened. Applebloom's been explaining everything to us – and even through it may seem unbelievable, she's given us more in-depth detail that any other pony could ever have. Nearly all of what she told us these past few weeks have also been said in the book."
"So you think she's tellin' the truth?" asked Applejack.
Twilight shrugged. "She could be, but I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we should ask her some questions about it when she wakes up. She could help us shed some light on this."
"Maybe yer right. In the meantime, Ah'm takin' her home. She's gonna need a peaceful sleep fer once." Applejack hoisted Applebloom onto her back and started for the door. "Ah'll see ya'll tomorrow."