Terror in Manehattan
"C'mon, Applebloom," Golden Rod spoke.
"Look," Applebloom cried, "up ahead!"
"There it is..."
"Manehattan." Applebloom jumped with joy, knowing that they were mere miles from safety.
"We're almost there!" Golden Rod added.
"We can find my cousin Babs here," Applebloom claimed, "she can help us out."
"I'll hold you to those words, Applebloom," Golden Rod said as the two fillies ran into the hustling, bustling city of Manehattan.
Nearby, in the comfort of her own home, Babs Seed was completing some of her homework that her new school teacher had assigned to her for the weekend. The work was a bit out of whack, considering that they were in the second grade and it was Friday evening, but it was work that had to be done.
"What's with her givin' us so much work on a Friday?" Babs questioned, trying to get the work done as quickly as possible.
Currently, Babs was home alone. Her parents were both on a business trip in Canterlot and left her here, knowing that she could handle herself just fine. Babs was old enough where she could look out for herself and fend for herself with no problems at all, and she didn't mind this at all. She continued with her homework, watching the sun set over the beautiful bay, the sun's light being reflected off of the water in the most beautiful way imaginable. This scene was simply perfect enough for a screenshot, but Babs had a little more important affairs to tend to at the current moment.
"It ain't fair," she told herself, breaking some deafening silence, "nopony should have ta do this kinda work on a Friday..."
Suddenly, a knock came on her front door (her only door, when you think about it really). Babs got up slowly and proceeded to the front door. She got up on a stool and looked through the peephole. She didn't see anyone there, so she slowly backed herself off of the stool and started to return to her desk, but before she could reach the desk, the knock came yet again. Babs wasn't too sure if this was a prank or a joke, but she did approach the door once more.
"Who's there?" She asked through the door.
"Babs," a familiar voice shouted, "Babs, it's your cousin, Applebloom!"
"Applebloom?" Babs wondered, quickly unlocking and opening the door to reveal a little yellow filly with a large red bow and a slightly taller golden colored Pegasus.
"Babs!" Applebloom cried, embracing her urban cousin with a hug.
"It is you, Applebloom," Babs replied, returning the hug to her rural cousin.
Applebloom continued while looking at Babs straight in the eyes. "Ah know we haven't seen each other in uh while but-"
"It felt like forever!" the two cousins finished together.
Babs noticed the golden colored Pegasus from before. She was unaware that this Pegasus was with Applebloom, or that she was a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, seeing how she now had a cutie mark, so Babs questioned who she was and what she was doing here.
"Babs," Applebloom spoke, "let me introduce ya to Golden Rod."
"Golden Rod?" Babs repeated, looking squarely at the Pegasus filly.
"Yeah," Applebloom continued, "she's a Cutie Mark Crusader, jus' like us."
"Then why does she have a cutie mark already?" Babs pointed out.
"I just recently got this, umm...Babs," Golden Rod defended.
"Go easy on her, Babs," Applebloom requested, "we've just been through a lot."
"A lot?" Babs repeated, focusing her attention on Applebloom now.
"Yes, Babs," Golden Rod answered, noticing that Applebloom has said too much already and couldn't continue, "Applebloom here was just...umm...attack, I guess you could call it...umm...she was attacked by her older sister – I think her name was Applejack – and almost died."
"What?" Babs scoffed, looking at Golden Rod, then back at Applebloom, then back at Golden Rod again.
"Applejack attacked Applebloom, some things happened, and Applejack is...umm..." Golden Rod couldn't finish that sentence while Applebloom was mere inches away, crying her heart out as she knew that her older sister had tried to kill her and wound up getting killed herself.
"She's...?" Babs asked.
Golden Rod nodded in response.
"How?"
Golden Rod pointed to her cutie mark and simply added, "Through the heart..."
"And..."
"If you're wondering," Golden Rod spoke, standing up for her actions from earlier, "I did it only to save Applebloom. I didn't mean to penetrate her heart, just a simple wound in the leg to slow her down."
"No, I understand," Babs continued, "you did what you had to do. It's just unfortunate as to how it resulted." She placed a hoof around Applebloom, attempting to comfort her. "You didn't mean to...do...what you did, but what's done is done, and that cannot change."
"I'm glad you understand, Babs," Golden Rod replied.
"No prob," Babs answered, "so you're here to get away from that?"
"We're here because the ponies in Ponyville are killing off fillies and colts like you and I," Golden Rod alerted.
Babs grew wide eyed as she heard that. Something penetrated her ears the wrong way and made them vigorously stand up. "Did ya say that they were killing lil fillies and colts in Ponyville?"
Golden Rod and Applebloom nodded.
"An' she tried to kill me..." Applebloom sobbed.
Babs hugged her cousin, the filly in distress, and comforted her as best she could, "There, there, Applebloom, you're safe with me."
Unusually enough, as if there weren't already enough strange things going on in Equestria at this current time, some cries for help could be heard from down below in the streets. Babs, Golden Rod, and Applebloom all neared the window and looked down out of it, noticing that the cries for help were coming from a young filly, who was being pursued by three older ponies. A bit further down the street, another young pony – a colt, more specifically – was also being pursued by three older ponies. Applebloom and Golden Rod looked down as they watched in horror the same exact thing going on in the streets of Manehattan as compared to Ponyville.
"I-It's happening here, too," Golden Rod claimed.
"Why is this happenin'?" Applebloom wondered.
"I don't know," Babs replied, "but alls I can say is dat we ain't safe here..."
"But we can't just run out there and try to run to safety!" Applebloom pointed out.
"We'll be caught the second we step on to those streets." Golden Rod added.
"Yeah," Babs concluded, "you got yourself a point..."
"How do we get out of here safely then?" Golden Rod wondered.
The three fillies thought about that for a quick second, then, Applebloom made an interesting discovery about all these events that were eerily falling into places all around Equestria apparently.
"All these killin's an' pony-nappin's..." she started, "they're all happenin' on Fridays an' Satudays."
"...yeah," Golden Rod answered, thinking about the past events, "even back home, this would only happen on Fridays and Saturdays."
"So if we wait till Sunday," Babs added, "then we'll be perfectly fine."
Applebloom smiled. "So that is what we-"
Suddenly, a heavy knock came at the door behind each of the three fillies. This knock was ridiculously powerful, especially for an area that these fillies were in, and this knock made it feel like the door and its hinges would snap and give way in a matter of seconds, should the knocking continue.
Babs approached the door slowly, seeing who was the obnoxious pony that was at the door. However, before she made it to the door, the ponies had broken into the little apartment and broke the door off of its hinges. Babs jumped back and lined up right next to Golden Rod and Applebloom once more as two older ponies – a unicorn and an Earth pony – entered slowly into the room. With nowhere to go, the three fillies had backed up all the way to a nearby corner.
"Failures," the two ponies said, "failures!"
"Failures?" Applebloom questioned fearfully.
"Failures pay your tolls!" The two ponies shouted, closing in on the three little fillies.
"Who are you calling us failures!?" Babs demanded to know.
"Failures pay your tolls!" The two ponies shouted again.
Applebloom looked around. The only thing that was near these two fillies was a window, but they couldn't sink to jumping out of it, for if they did, Applebloom and Babs would have a bad time while Golden Rod could simply hover down with her wings. She then noticed that the door was still open and it was being left unguarded. Applebloom continued looking around, trying her best to find a way around these two ponies, who had begun to pull out a pair of knives.
Applebloom noticed that these two ponies were taller than the average pony, leaving a lot of space to slide underneath them. Golden Rod could run around the right side of them, Babs around the left, and Applebloom herself could simply slide underneath the two ponies. She begun sharing the idea with the other two fillies.
"We need to hurry if we wanna get outta here!" Applebloom warned, noticing that the two ponies were simply inches away from them.
"Worth a shot!" Babs shouted, deploying out left.
"Come on, Applebloom," Golden Rod added, deploying out right.
"Comin'!" Applebloom confirmed, sliding out underneath the two ponies, whom had barely missed Applebloom and her head, swinging the knives down forcefully and strongly.
The three fillies ran out of the door and looked both ways. Behind them, back in the apartment, the two ponies had begun running after the three fillies. To the left, there were four other ponies, - three Pegasi and one unicorn – breaking into another apartment. To the right, the hallway was empty, so the three fillies ran down this hallway, trying to find either a safe place to hide, or a way out of the building and, ultimately, out of the city.
"This way!" Babs called, leading Applebloom and Golden Rod down a new hallway.
Golden Rod was flying through the air, while Applebloom was running as fast as her little hooves would carry her. The turns were sharp, making it tough for Golden Rod and Applebloom to continue at the pace Babs was running at, but before long, the three fillies made it to a stairwell, proceeding their pursuits downward.
"This way!" Babs called again, rushing down the flight of stairs before them.
Above the three fillies stood seven other ponies and one little colt, a colt that had just been overpowered, sliced through, and murdered by these seven ponies. The seven ponies all heard Babs call out to Applebloom and Golden Rod and started to follow them closely.
"Down there," Babs continued, pointing towards a door on the lowest level possible, "that's the way out!"
"We need to get there fast!" Applebloom cried, noticing that there was a swarm of insane ponies lining up behind them, getting closer with each hoofstep.
Babs saw the swarm of mindless ponies catching up behind them and bursted through the door. When Applebloom and Golden Rod both came out, Babs slammed the door shut and moved a very heavy cinder block in front of it, attempting to trap the ponies in the stairwell. The ponies slammed into the door, with the top of it moving with no problem. The bottom, however, remained shut, thanks to the heavy cinder block, but the ponies began to slam themselves into the door, making the cinder block wobble a bit.
"We need to get out of here!" Applebloom shouted.
"Applebloom," Golden Rod cried, "behind you!"
"Huh?"
Behind Applebloom was several mindless ponies, all of which appeared as if they were zombies, all wanting a piece of Applebloom.
"Pay your toll, failure!" One of the ponies shouted.
The pony swung at Applebloom's hind hoof, but couldn't manage to get a grip on it, allowing Applebloom to get away, but severely slowing her down a bit. Ahead in the distance, Babs and Golden Rod had continued running. When they noticed that Applebloom wasn't directly behind her, both fillies turned around and ran back to pick her up and help her run along.
"Come on, Applebloom," Babs cried, "we're almost there!"
Ahead of the three fillies were several other ponies, surrounding Applebloom, Golden Rod, and Babs Seed. The unicorns and the Earth ponies had surrounded Applebloom and Babs along the ground, while the Pegasi surrounded Golden Rod in the air. The unicorns used their magic to hold down the three fillies and, while all the ponies were approaching the three trapped fillies, they braced for the worst, knowing that there was nothing that they could do against the unicorns and their magic abilities.
"Babs," Applebloom cried, "Golden Rod?"
"Don't Applebloom," Babs replied.
"Not yet, at least." Golden Rod added.
The ponies wrapped a tight circle around the three fillies, all having drawn out knives, rope, and the occasional bat. Oddly, though, all of the ponies stopped and tightly held the circle around the three fillies simply inches away from them.
"Why'd they stop?" Applebloom spoke.
"What's goin' on?" Babs asked.
"Look," Golden Rod added, "up ahead..."
The circle of ponies broke up and formed a hole in formation. Beyond the hole, there were five silhouettes of ponies on the ground, two Pegasus ponies, one alicorn, one Earth pony, and one unicorn. Along with these silhouettes, two more were flying in the air behind them, both of which were alicorns, one being larger than the other. Applebloom recognized each of these silhouettes and clearly and immediately identified each of them.
"Why are they here?" She asked quietly so that Babs and Golden Rod wouldn't hear her.
The five silhouettes that were on the ground approached the three fillies and were soon joined by the two other silhouettes that were flying through the air. The shortest of the three alicorns was the first to speak to the fillies.
"Well, well, well," they began, "look who we have here?"
"Why are ya doin' this to lil fillies an' colts!?" Applebloom demanded.
"You have no right to get rid of the future of Equestria!" Babs added.
"Who do you think you are, questioning the actions of your Princesses?" the unicorn questioned.
"Who do you think you are killing little colts and fillies across the land like this!?" Golden Rod responded.
"You killed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, after all!" Applebloom pointed towards the unicorn.
"How dare you accuse her for something that is clearly your faults!" One of the Pegasus ponies shouted.
The smallest alicorn looked at Golden Rod eerily. They squinted their eyes at her, eyeballing her all over.
"You're an exception," they finally spoke, "why these ponies are chasing you is a little bit unusual. You're not a failure. Release this Pegasus filly!"
The unicorns that were holding down the three fillies released their grasp on Golden Rod. She hit the ground hard, then looked into the eyes of the smallest alicorn once more.
"What makes them failures?" She coughed. "What makes them failures and not me?"
"You achieved yourself," the alicorn replied, "they haven't?"
"What are you talking about?"
The alicorn pointed towards Golden Rod's cutie mark. "You found your destiny in time. These two haven't."
"That doesn't explain why you're goin' 'round Equestria killin' all the lil colts an' fillies, Twilight," Applebloom claimed, "Even the lil lil colts an' fillies."
"That's none of your business, failure!" Twilight shouted. "What we do to your kind is none of your business!"
"What happened to ya, Twilight?" Applebloom questioned. "What happened to all o' ya?"
Twilight ignored the question Applebloom had asked. Instead, she shot Applebloom in her hoof with a beam of magic.
"You do not, I repeat, you do not speak out against your elders, little failure!" She shouted.
"You do not, I repeat, you do not call us failures!" Applebloom and Babs both replied.
"Shut up, you failures," the three alicorns spoke together.
"No!" Applebloom shouted.
"Yous need to shut up!" Babs added.
"SILENCE!" The tallest alicorn shouted, Princess Celestia.
"Why should we!?" Applebloom defended. "Y'all are jus' gonna dispose of us!"
"Shut up, failure!" Princess Luna shouted at Applebloom.
"No!" Applebloom replied. "Why should Ah stay quiet an' put if y'all aren' gonna give us uh chance to prove ourselves!? Why are we considered failures if we di'n't get our cutie marks? We deserve as much time as we need to get 'em jus' like you all did!"
"We had ours by your age, you failure!" The unicorn, Rarity, shouted.
"Then why'd ya kill Diamon' Tiara an' Silver Spoon?" Applebloom questioned. "They had their cutie marks!"
"You failures need to learn how to shut the hell up!" The second Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, yelled.
"Make us!" Applebloom challenged.
"Di-did you just challenge me, failure?" Rainbow Dash laughed. "You must be out of your damn mind if you are challenging me!"
"Dash, hold up," Twilight called, "these two failures may be signing their death notes, but, they may be useful..."
"What do you mean, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Perhaps we may have some use for these failures after all," Twilight explained, turning to all the unicorns that were holding down Applebloom and Babs, "release these two!"
The unicorns all looked at Twilight as if she had just lost her mind. Twilight, however, stood by her decision.
"You heard her, subjects," Princess Luna told the unicorns.
"Release the failures!" Princess Celestia added.
The unicorns followed the orders from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and released both Applebloom and Babs. The two fillies were wrapped in a hug from Golden Rod, who, like she promised, would stand by the, until the very end. Twilight broke up the heartwarming hug and brought Applebloom and Babs up to her.
"Now that you're free," she began, "it's time for you to return the favor."
"And why would we do that?" Babs questioned.
"Because if you don't," continued Twilight, "I'll make sure that you see your fates you bitter, bitter failures!"
Applebloom gulped. She didn't want to die – nor did Babs – but what other choice did they have to end this tomfoolery? Running away wouldn't really solve the problem, considering that Twilight is a master of magic abilities.
"What do we have ta do?" she finally asked.
"Glad you see it our way, you failure!" Twilight laughed.
There comes a time in the life of a filly
Where things don't seem willy nilly.
Those who succeed get to move on,
While those who don't, live like a con.
Pegasus, unicorn, Earth don't matter,
It's only you that makes them sadder.
You had one job to do and you failed,
Now hold on while they watch you wail.
You have proven to us all
That you can't succeed.
To know that you'll fall
And that you won't be free.
You couldn't obtain one simple mark,
You aren't fit to stay alive,
Now, you'll learn to fear our dark,
While you begin to lose your life.
It is our job,
Our moral duty,
To side with the mob,
And kill you with cruelty.
You couldn't obtain one simple mark,
You aren't fit to stay alive,
Now, you'll learn to fear our dark,
While you begin to lose your life.
Applebloom, Babs, and Golden Rod all performed the duty that Twilight had requested upon them. When they delivered what it was they found, Twilight accepted it with delight, then used her magic to trap down all three fillies. Applebloom grew furious at Twilight for holding her down so abruptly.
"Wha's goin' on, Twilight?" She questioned. "You said that we could go free once we did this for ya!"
"Oh," Twilight laughed, "I never said anything like that, failure."
"But...but!"
Twilight pulled ahead, nearing the three captured fillies and pulled out a knife. Laughing at Applebloom's assumption, she continued nearing the three fillies.
"I simply told you what I would do if you failed to comprehend, you failures." Twilight restated.
She walked up to Golden Rod and stabbed her in the heart, instantly killing her. Applebloom couldn't believe her eyes as she was watching Twilight kill each of them slowly. As Golden Rod's body began to lose its life, Twilight released the magic grip on her and watched it fall to the ground. Twilight then approached Babs Seed and pulled the knife out once more.
"It's really a shame, you know," Twilight continued, "you all had such great potential."
Twilight then stabbed Babs Seed in a location similar to Golden Rod's penetration. Babs coughed up blood, then slowly began to lose her life as well as the knife was being driven deeper and deeper into her body. Much like Golden Rod, Babs Seed was slowly dying and, once all life had been drained from Babs' body as well, Twilight released the magic grip on her and watched it fall to the ground as well. She then approached Applebloom and pulled out another knife.
"You had so much potential, Applebloom," Twilight spoke, "it's really a shame you couldn't find your destinies in time..."
"Y'know, Twilight," Applebloom replied, "Ah thought the same thing."
"You did?"
"Yeah," Applebloom continued, "you also had so much potential too, Twilight. You're a Princess, you're young, an' you're compassionate. It's a shame that you had ta fall like the rest of us."
"What are you talking about, Applebloom?" Twilight asked, a bit intrigued.
"This isn't only where Ah finish my life," Applebloom smiled, "this is where Ah finish yours."
"What are-"
As Twilight tried to finish the question, a secret bomb that was placed somewhere inside the room had detonated and instantly killed Twilight. Applebloom was protected by Twilight's leftover magic and remained a bit untouched. The magic ceased as the explosions ceased, leaving Applebloom left almost untouched. She did have plenty of physical bruises, cuts, and scratches, but she was left alive while Twilight had paid her debt to society. Applebloom approached the dead Princess before finally leaving the room for a final time.
"You should've seen this comin', Twi," she spoke, "you were the smart one, y'know."
As Applebloom began to walk out of the room, she felt an unbearable pain form inside her head, which caused her to fall over and lose her balance. Unfortunately for her, on the ground, hidden beneath the pools of blood that formed from Golden Rod, Babs Seed, and Twilight, were plenty of knives, loose wooden planks, and pointed nails. Applebloom fell on top of all of these things and penetrated her skin, causing her to bleed out at an alarming rate.
Before she died and left the room for the final time on Earth, Applebloom saw a faded white light on the end of her flank. When it faded completely, she saw her cutie mark, which was literally nothing; a blank flank, if you would.
"My cutie mark is nothin'..."Applebloom sighed as she entered into the afterlife.