An entry into @ambitiousleather8309’s Horror Prompt, since my plans to stay in a bleak and cruel reality were scampered when Ambi put fucking Lovecraft horrors in front of me.
Hopefully this will be a short series, I do have plans for where it can go. Cosmic horror is usually outside of my wheelhouse but I’m intrigued to try something different and we’ll see how it turns out.
“HNNNGGGGHHHH!! Pwease babbehs, nu come nyo, am tuu soon.”
The lone peach coloured mare struggles through the trees, the heavy rain bombarding her fragile skin, her bloated pregnancy slowing down her desperate escape to safety, wherever that may be.
Her mate had vanished many forevers ago, too long to even remember his face, whether dead or disappeared she had no inkling but she had been left alone to carry their young, forced to abandon the safety of her home in search of food. Now it had been several days since her last meal and she could feel her weakened body beginning to force out her unborn foals in an attempt to save her life.
A sharp blast of icy wind carved it’s way across the mare’s face. “Huu, pwease meanie sky wawa, nu huwt Fwuffy, am soon-mummah. HAAAAHHH, speciaw-pwace hab wowstesh huwties, howd on babbehs.”
Determined to find some form of a shelter, the mare scrunched her eyes closed and pushed forward, even as the bullets of rain hailed on top of her, even as the wind whipped across her back, even as the bright sun warmed her face and…
Wait.
The mare open her eyes and looked around, she had stumbled across a clearing in the woods, a perfect circle of trees with a bright, beaming sun peeking through the top, she looked around, there was no sign of the storm that had brutalised her anywhere around her, in fact other than her soaked Fluff, there was no evidence that there had ever been a storm.
She was confused, but more so intrigued by this new Eden, the grass was perfectly levelled to play and run without getting tangled, flower were dotted in elegant circles around the clearing, and each one of them a vibrant shade of florescence blues, purples and oranges. On one side was a stream of the clearest, bluest water the mare had ever seen, and on the other, a large pile of rocks with entrance set into it’s centre, and a faint pulse of neon pink light coming from the blackness.
The mare looked at the pile of rocks, and towards the pink light pulsing in its bowls. She wasn’t the best at judging distance, but even she could tell that where the light was within this cave-like structure, it shouldn’t exist. The light was several feet within the darkness, but the rocks themselves were only a couple of metres thick, there was no physical way for the darkness to be that deep. The peach soon-mummah felt an unease in his stomach and turned to leave, only her eyes remained locked on the pulsing light, almost hypnotised by it’s steady ebbing.
‘I should check that out’ said the voice in her head.
“Soon-mummah need take cwosa wooksie.” She exclaimed out loud, as though articulating the very thought into existence.
With slow, careful steps, she dragged herself into the cave, despite the soft warmth of outside, the cave felt decidedly cool, and only got cooler the further into the darkness, and the closer she got to the pulsing light, she got. After a few minutes, the mare was able to see the source, this now encompassing, magenta light was pulsating out of a rock; a perfectly spherical rock of, what seemed to be a blackened glass material with evenly spaced craters pocketed across the whole thing. The magenta light was inside the glass-like structure, beating like a heart at it’s core.
The mare stared at the light for several seconds, she could feel her instincts telling her to run, but something about the light was so pretty and perfect, that she just wanted to…
Suddenly the pulsing stopped, the light held steady at it’s brightest point, illuminating the cave but throwing massive shadows across it’s darkest points as well. The mare pulled her attention away from the light just long enough to hear the voice
“What do you desire?”
The voice was soft, delicate, whispering. The mare turned around, trying to pinpoint who was speaking.
“Hewwo? Am aneewun dewe?”
“What do you desire?” The voice repeated, seemingly – as impossible as it was – coming from her own head.
“Hewoo nyu fwiend, Fwuffy am sowwy fow comin intu homesie, bu Fwuffy am soon-mummah an…”
“What do you desire?”
The mare paused for thought, she briefly thought of her mate, and their short but wonderful time together, but in her heart she knew there was only one answer.
“Fwuffy wan babbehs tu gwow up big an stwong, be bestesh babbehs eba.”
A small chill shook over the mare, as through she could feel a thousand eyes staring at her all at once, she took a step backwards just as the voice spoke again.
“Your children are dead. You already know this.”
The mare choked back a sob, she knew the voice was right, she hadn’t felt her foals move in so long, but it still hurt to hear all the same.
“Fwuffy knyo, bu stiww wan babbehs be big an stwong.”
“There is one that still clings to life, he will be gone soon, do you wish for him to live.”
“YEH!” The mare cried out, tears of joy streaming down her face at the news that one of her children yet lived. “Pwease nyu fwiend, Fwuffy wan wastesh babbehs tu wive.”
“What will you give for your son’s life?”
“Aneefing, ebewyfing.”
“So be it.”
From the shadows, a pair of glistening protrusions slinked out and wrapped themselves around the mare’s arms, lifting her high into the air. The limbs were wet and glistening like tentacles, but hard and sharp like glass, immediately slicing into the mare’s skin and dribbling blood down the length of the appendages.
“Huu, nu wike huwties, wai nyu fwiend huwt soon-mummah?”
“For your son to be strong, you must give us everything.”
Seven more tentacles shot out at her, like needles they pierced into her, five into her pregnant stomach – stabbing themselves into her stillborn litter though she couldn’t tell that at the time - and two more into her milk-laden teats. As she winced and struggled against the pain, another, much larger and thicker tentacle slowly emerged from the darkness and lumbered itself towards her special-place.
Something hard and wet wrapped itself around her mouth just before the thick limb pierced her body, blood immediately poured out of the mare as the sharp glassed curves of the tentacle ripped her genitals to shreds, pieces of flesh and organs fell out of her and landed with a wet thug onto the stony floor of the cave.
After several seconds the tentacle removed itself from her body, bringing with it the bile and viscera of her ruined insides. Through her blurred vision the mare saw what was nestled in a crook of the appendage; her son, her last babbeh. He was tiny, not fully formed and his pure white fluff was but a scant dusting of follicles on his body, but he was alive, shivering and scared, but alive.
Another tentacle appeared, softer than the other, closer to actual flesh that glassy rock. It’s tip morphed itself into a curvature, and placed itself over the newborn’s face like a protective mask. At that point, the magenta light began to pulse again, and the needle like protrusions already inside the mare started to push and probe, the sound of several suckling vacuums filled the cave as the broken down flesh and blood of her dead foals, and the sweet, warm milk of her teats, were all siphoned out of her body, travelling down each tentacle until they collided together to form a bloody, milky substance that was fed directly to the white foal, his tiny face suckling down the mixture without a seeming care to it’s taste.
Torn and bloodied, the mare felt the last of her life drip away from her, her vision growing darker as her eyelids refused to stay open any longer. The last thing she saw just before her head fell forward and her world become still and dark, as her son’s pure white Fluffy turning a familiar shade of luminescent magenta.
Time passed. The forest around the Eden Circle grew and changed, trees rose and fell, moss covered the fallen husks before withering and dying itself. But the Eden itself never changed, it remain perfectly still, never growing, never moving, always sunny, always warm, always perfect.
By the time the Eden was found again, the bones of the pregnant mare had turned to dust. What remained had stayed there waiting, silently, patiently. And now it had heard the call to awaken it once more.
“Wook fwiends, Smawty find bestesh homesie.”
Outside, a group of 8 adult Fluffies, plus a handful of foals of varying ages made their way into the Eden, all of them gasping in wonder at the majesty of what they planned to make their new home.
“Dis am SUUU pwetty!” One of the mares, Daisy, a soft yellow Pegasus exclaimed happily. “Gun be bestesh homesie.”
“Smawty am bestesh Smawty fow findin nyu homesie.” The tougie Rex, a green and white Earthie cheered.
“Aww Fwuffies wowk together tu find homesie.” The Smarty spoke, he was known as ‘Skids’, a cruel nickname for a life long ago, he was an orangey/brown unicorn, almost bronze in colour, with a large scar over his right eye that was milky white and blind, a pronounced limp in his front left leg, and a cross-stitch between his legs where his testicles should’ve been.
Still, that was a lifetime ago, and his focus now was the wellbeing of the herd. And he had to admit they had struck real lucky this time, after wandering the forest for several weeks looking for a place to stay, to come across a place so perfect and with nobody already around. It was clear Sky-Daddy had smiled on them.
“Smawty?” Another Toughie, Muldoon the purple and blue Earthie, spoke up. “Dewe am sheh-tah hewe, An dewe am bwite-wite inside?”
“Bwite-wite?”
Skids knew what a cave was, he had had to seek shelter in them before when escaping his old life, and none of the ones he’d come across had any lights inside them. But sure enough, this one had, a bright, pulsing pink light coming from deep inside, it looked… Skids wasn’t sure how to describe it, but he didn’t feel good looking at it.
‘I should investigate that further.’
“Fwuffies need take wooksie at bwite-wite, make suwe it am safe.” Skids was almost taken aback by his own voice, barely remembering that he had even said the words that had just come out of his mouth. Shaking off the odd feeling, he turned to his herd.
“Wex, yu stay wiv fwiends an keep ebeweywun safe tiww Smawty am bak. Muh-doon, yu come wiv Smawty.”
The two toughies nodded and Muldoon followed Skids deeper into the cave. After a few steps it became clear that the cave was much longer than they thought it was, almost impossibly long for how little of it there was outside. Eventually their own source of light was the pulsing magenta beam that occasionally lit up the space, and occasionally left them in near darkness.
Skids could see the usually strong Muldoon was getting uneasy about the whole thing, and honestly so was he. They needed to turn back.
‘I need to keep going.’
“Fwuffies am awmosh dewe fwiend, nu wong nyo.”
Muldoon nooded. “Smawty am wight, bwite-wite am vewy cwose nyo.”
The pair only took a couple more steps before they saw it, a shadow between them and the light started to move. Slowly, strenuously, as though it hadn’t moved in eons, pieces of dust and debris fell away from it as it stretched out it’s impossibly shaped body. Skids and Muldoon saw lights hit piece of wet slime and heard the cracking of rocks colliding from all angles around them, like the cave itself was moving with the shadow.
After what felt like an age, the movement seemed to stop save for a small shape in front of the large rock emanating the magenta light, which had now gone still at it’s brightest point. The shape seemed almost like that of a Fluffy, except it was standing on its hind legs without any issue or notice of being unbalances, and it had two strands of a fleshy, rock-like material coming out of its back and ascending into the blackness above. But in all other aspects, it looked like a Fluffy.
“What do you desire?”
The whispering voice slithered it’s way into the ears of the two stallions, chilling them to the bone, Skids knew it was this standing Fluffy who had said them, but standing in front of the blinding magenta glow, it was hard to see their mouth even move to speak the words.
“Wha du nyu fwiend mean?”
“What do you desire? I can offer it to you, for a price.”
Muldoon and Skids looked at each other, confused as to what the Odd Fluffy was staying. “Wha du nyu fwiend hab tu offa?”
“Anything. And Everything. Name your desire.”
Skids was weary, he was uneasy, and he was tired. But he was also hungry, and he knew every one was as well, he didn’t believe the Odd Fluffy could grant them any desire, but he figured there was no harm in testing the waters.
“Fwuffies am hungwy, nu hab gud nummies in wongesh time. Can nyu fwiend gib nummies?”
The Odd Fluffy was quiet for a moment, and Skids took the opportunity to look them over closer. They were a stallion, their Fluffy appeared to be the same shade of Magenta as the light, with patches of what might have been white but was heard to tell in the darkness. What was strange was that looking at the Odd Fluffy’s face, there appeared to be something missing, but with half their face shrouded in shadow, it was nearly impossible to tell what, if anything, was or wasn’t there.
Eventually the Odd Fluffy spoke again, once more Skids barely sure their mouth move. “What do you offer for this?”
“Um….”
“Uh, dis wocky?”
Before Skids could stop him, Muldoon kicked over a rock towards the Odd Fluffy. It was a decently sized rock, and any Fluffy smaller than Muldoon would never have been able to move it, but it was still a rock.
To Skids’ surprise, the Odd Fluffy contemplated the rock with an intrigues interest, it seemed to let out a sound that was almost akin to laughter but just… slightly off. After a moment, it spoke again.
“This offer is acceptable, if you have any more desires then find me again. But be warned, all desires come with a price, and the price for some desires might be too great for you to pay. But this is a give and take partnership, and I can only give once I have taken. Now go, your feasts awaits.”
As the magenta glow faded away and the Odd Fluffy disappeared into the shadow, Skids made a step to chase after them, only to be interrupted by Zoey, one of the younger mares and a bright red Pegasus.
“SMAWTY! Smawty, come wook!”
Skids and Muldoon followed Zoey out of the cave, Skids almost noticed that the journey out was much shorter than the journey in, until all thoughts were overridden by what they found outside.
A mountain of spaghetti had appeared as if from nowhere, 3 feet high and six feet wide, with the richest, reddest tomato sauce and perfectly cooked meatballs rolling down the sides. Everyone else had dove in and was gorging themselves on the feast.
“DESE AM BESTESH SKETTI EBA!” One of the mares, a pregnant white unicorn called Agnes screamed out. “TUMMAH BABBEHS GUN HAB BESTESH NUMMIES!”
Beside her, Agnes’ mate, a grey and black Alicorn named Sargeant, greedily slurped at a seemingly never ending noodle. Not far from them, nummie finder Harrigan, a dull brown Pegasus, happily chewed on a meatball as he lay on top of it.
Skids was aghast at the sight, he had asked for the impossible, and the creature in the cave had delivered. It took him several kicks with his hoof and licks with his tongue before he finally accepted that the food was real and took a bite. The taste was exceptional, the spaghetti was soft without turning to mush in his mouth, the tomato sauce was sweet and rich and flavourful. It was the greatest meal Skids had ever had in his life.
“Smawty?” Muldoon asked, face smothered in sauce. “Did stwange Fwuffy in dewe weawwy make sketti appeeh?”
“Smawty nu knyo, bu nu knyo whewe ewse sketti come fwom.”
“Wha udda fings yu fink stwange Fwuffy can make?”
Skids didn’t reply, because he had been considering the same question. His herd had finally found a paradise, and now they had a new friend who could create food out of thin air. It was almost too good to be true… it WAS too good to be true. If a lifetime of torture from his old house had taught him anything, it was to be careful about a good thing, because it would never last.
‘I can have anything I want.’
Skids smiled and looked up at Muldoon. “Fwuffies can hab aneefing we want. Aneefing, an ebewyfing.”