Warnings - Blood, language, dead bodies, and overall creepiness. Enjoy.

Main Character(s): Vikk, Preston

(Based on the MLP:FiM fan-game of the same name. Don't judge me.)

(DarkDisco7 's horror book made me want to write horror. So enjoy.)

"Dammit Jerome!" Mitch yelled angrily, a stressed look on his face as he looked at the scene in front of him. Jerome, standing shocked next to him, looked with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open.

"W-Well it was hardly my fault!" Jerome shouted back. "How was I supposed to notice?! It's so freaking dark out here!"

"That's what headlights are for, idiot!"

"Well whose fault was it that we're driving through here anyways?!"

Jerome had been driving himself, Mitch, Vikk, and Preston from the airport to the hotel they were staying in for a nearby convention, and Mitch had claimed that the fastest way there, rather than taking the normal road, was taking the side path that cut through a huge forest. Seeing as Rob and Lachlan had already gotten to the hotel before them (they had an earlier flight), they decided to take the 'shortcut', wanting to get to the hotel as soon as possible.

However, due to the fact that it was nighttime, and the fact that the tall trees blocked out most of their view above them, Jerome had run the car into a big tree that had fallen in the middle of the road, unable to see it in the dark. Thankfully, Jerome had slammed on the brakes a few seconds before impact, slowing the car enough that the crash hadn't been bad enough to release the car's airbags, and none of the four passengers were harmed.

Now they all stood by the front of the car, looking at the damage with varying expressions on their faces.

Vikk was watching Mitch and Jerome argue with each other with narrowed eyes and a frown, and sighed at his two friends'... incompetence. Preston was wearing a similar expression, distressed that his friends were arguing amongst each other.

"Guys? Guys?!" Preston asked, trying to catch Mitch and Jerome's attention, neither of them noticing him. Preston huffed, Vikk giving him a side glance as Preston turned and walked to the back end of the car and hopping onto the trunk and sitting on it, looking frustrated.

Vikk followed him, sitting on the trunk next to him. "Hey, I'm sure they'll stop arguing once they realize that they actually have to do something about the car." Vikk chuckled, poking Preston with his elbow, trying to cheer him up.

Preston's smile lifted a little bit, but he just groaned loudly in response. "Yeah, if they ever do stop arguing. I know those two are best friends, but when they argue..."

"Yeah, I've heard plenty of it from Lachlan!" Vikk laughed, "He told me that one time they argued for a straight hour!"

"Well hopefully this isn't when they decide to do it again!"

Preston and Vikk laughed together, having lifted up both of their spirits a bit. They kept laughing when Preston suddenly became silent, his eyes becoming wide as he spotted something in the distance. "Hey, Vikk?"

"Yes?"

"You see the girl too, right?" Preston asked, pointed to the trees a head of them. Vikk rose an eyebrow, and at first he didn't see anything, and was about to tell Preston so when he saw her.

Poking out from behind one of the trees was a girl who appeared to be in her young teens, with long blonde hair and pale, a dull, tattered gray dress hanging from her skinny frame. Her skin was a sickly pale color, and had different colored eyes, one amber and one gray. She was staring at Preston and Vikk with a tilted head and a curious expression on her face. When she noticed Vikk and Preston staring back at her with shocked looks on their faces, she slid closer to the tree trying to hide herself.

"Where did she come from?" Vikk whispered to Preston, who raised an eyebrow in response.

"I was about to ask you that." Preston mumbled, and he and Vikk exchanged wide-eyed looks, both of them gulping before turning back to the girl...

"Hey! She's gone!" Preston gasped, looking nervous. Vikk's mouth fell open a bit, and was about to say something when he noticed Preston hopping off of the hood of the car, his gaze fixed on where the girl had been standing before.

"What are you doing?!" Vikk hissed as Preston began to walk towards the trees, his eyes wide.

"I'm going after her!" Preston hissed back. "Come on! We'll be here for a bit anyways, so we can leave Merome with the car! Let's just go!"

Without waiting for Vikk's response, Preston turned and continued onwards, ignoring Vikk's protests. Vikk looked back at Jerome and Mitch, who missed the whole event, and with an angry sigh, he hopped off of the back of the car and ran to Preston.

Preston didn't react when Vikk ran up next to him, and as they approached where the girl had been moments before, they saw that the girl had indeed vanished, and they also saw what seemed to be a dirt path hidden not far from that spot.

Vikk and Preston exchanged looks, before nodding their heads and heading down the path.

The path wound around a bit, and the further they walked, the darker it seemed to become, each step making their vision dimmer and dimmer, until the only thing that they could see at all was the dark sky above them, which was hardly visible through the thick forestry. Vikk, unable to see, just continued to step forward, only aware of Preston next to him as they occasionally brushed shoulders, both of them remaining silent. They walked a bit farther, until they noticed what seemed to be a light just to the right of them, illuminating the area in front of it.

Vikk felt Preston nudge him, and he turned his head, Preston shape being just visible in the light. Preston tilted his head toward the light, and Vikk nodded, the two slowly heading forward.

As they approached, Vikk realized that the source of the light seemed to be coming from behind a big crack in what seemed like a big rock face, the crack appearing to be just big enough for a person to slip through. Now that they could finally see each other in the light, Vikk looked at Preston with a raised eyebrow. "Are we going in?" Vikk asked quietly.

"Well, we need to find that girl, right? She must have come into here." Preston said with a shrug.

Taking a deep breath, Vikk stepped into the crag, sidestepping inside of the rock face towards the light, Preston following closely behind him. Vikk tried to ignore the rocks poking him, and it only took a few seconds for him to reach the end of the passage, and he slid out of the rock and stumbled onto the grass on the outside, shutting his eyes against the bright light.

When he opened his eyes, he realized that it was... Daytime?

His eyes adjusting to the light, Vikk looked around with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing. On the other side of the rock wall, there was a large clearing, holding what looked like a small village, with scattered wooden buildings and dirt roads between them. Most of the buildings had fenced areas on the side of them, holding crops and cattle. It had a rustic feel to it, as if something straight out of a fairy tale. However, despite the village's size, Vikk could only see a few people outside. It made the village seem... empty.

But the thing that surprised Vikk the most was that despite the fact that it had been pitch black outside only a moment ago, the second he came out of the rock face, it had become daytime. The sun was hanging high in the air, not a cloud present to obscure the sunlight. But how was that possible?

"Wait, what the fudge?!" Preston yelled as he exited the rock face, his eyes wide and his mouth falling open. Like Vikk, he took a second to register his surroundings, but by the look on his face, Vikk was pretty sure that he was just about as clueless as he was as to what was going on.

"You took the words right out of my mouth..." Vikk mumbled.

"We have to still be in the forest, but this shouldn't be possible!" Preston yelled in a confused voice, gesturing to the sky above them. "How can it be day?! How is this village just in the middle of the forest?! Where the heck are we?!?!?"

"Why, you're in Sunnytown, of course!"

Vikk and Preston both jumped at the voice, and after looking around franticly, they saw a man watching them in amusement from the town's entrance (which they didn't even realize they were standing directly in front of). He had tussled black under a big brown farmer's hat, and was wearing a plain gray shirt and long beige pants, his boots covered in mud.

"...'Sunnytown'?" Vikk asked with a raised brow. He shook his head, trying to ignore the raising questions in his head. "Look, who exactly are you, anyways?"

The man laughed, and tilting his hat down a bit as he said, "Well, my name's Grey Hoof! I'm a farmhand here. But that's beside the point. I can't remember the last time we've had visitors here in Sunnytown! What brings you here?"

"We followed someone here." Preston answered, "Actually, we're looking for her. She was wearing a gray dress, and...um..."

"...and she had blonde hair, with two different color eyes." Vikk finished. He had wished that Preston hadn't mentioned their search, but regardless, he continued. "Have you seen her anywhere? We think that she might be from here."

For the briefest moment, the smile faltered from Grey's face, and Vikk could've sworn that he saw something sinister in his gaze, but it was gone in a second, and he was all smiles again, as if he wasn't rattled by Vikk's question.

"I can't say that I've ever seen anyone like that here. Must not be from 'round here. You won't be finding her in Sunnytown! But I wish you the best of luck!"

Vikk mumbled a quiet "Thank you." Before he and Preston continued onwards into the village. Once out of earshot, Vikk whispered to Preston, "I think he knows her. You saw the look on his face when we mentioned her, right?"

Preston nodded. "Definitely. Also, what kind of name is Grey Hoof? Everything about this place is unsettling dude... The daylight, the people... Something's very wrong here."

"You took the words straight out of my mouth." Vikk agreed with a sigh as he and Preston walked through the streets, trying his best to ignore the curious stares of the villagers as they passed. "We should get out of here. That girl probably doesn't want to be found anyway, since she ran from us. Remind me why we are even looking for her again?"

"You saw her. She looked hurt, or at least, distressed. She shouldn't be out alone in a forest! I just..." Preston's voice trailed off, and Vikk looked up to see a strange look on his friend's face. Vikk couldn't tell if he was upset, or angry, or just disappointed, but whatever it was, Vikk didn't like seeing his friend so distressed.

I can't believe I'm going to say this... This goes against all of my better judgement... Vikk thought with a sigh. "Look," he said, "We'll check out what's past the village, okay? Then we'll head back."

Preston smiled a small (but genuine) grin, and they continued together through the village in silence. They eventually ended up at a wooden arch at the end of the street, marking the outskirt of the village. The dirt path they had been walking on continued however, into the deep woods just outside of the village's fence boundary. Vikk and Preston exchanged a glance, and they continued onwards.

As they continued on the dirt path, Vikk noticed how the trees seemed to grow thicker as they continued, and he remembered the same thick forestry when he and Preston had come across the rock face before. The trees caused blotted shadows to drift on the ground, lines of lanterns lighting the path. With a gulp, Vikk realized that the path they were walking on wound around the trees like before as well. Next to him, Preston flashed Vikk a concerned glance, and Vikk realized that he was probably thinking the same thing.

Regardless they continued down the trail until it came to an end at a small cabin. The wood that made up the cabin was old and rotted, and the windows of the cabin were shattered, with the front door splintered and barely hanging on its hinges.

Seeing that the front door was open, Vikk said quietly to Preston, "Do you think she went in there? The door's open."

"Maybe? It's the end of the trail. She must have gone in there."

"Or you know, she ran into the trees. She could have very easily taken off into the trees. I bet she's in the trees."

"Oh, come on!" Preston yelled, interrupting Vikk, who was laughing, both of them completely forgetting about staying quiet. "You said that we could check!"

"I know, I know." Vikk said, trying to contain his laughter. "Come on then."

Both of them fell silent again as they approached the cabin, the door making a loud creaking sound when Vikk pulled it farther open. They both walked inside, both looking around the cabin for any sign of the girl.

"I knew it." Vikk scoffed, while Preston groaned in frustration. "There's no one here."

The cabin was completely devoid of life, the only things filling up the space being dusty and overturned furniture. There were dark stains splattered on the floor, but Vikk couldn't tell what it was, so he just decided to ignore it.

"Look, there's a fire in the fireplace! Someone must have been...here..." Preston said, his voice trailing off.

Fireplace? Vikk thought, just then noticing the flickering light source when Preston pointed it out. He looked up at Preston to find that there was a look of horror on his face as he stared at the fireplace, the flames reflected in his wide eyes. With a gulp, Vikk followed Preston's gaze to the fireplace, and at first he didn't notice anything strange. It was just some wood burning in the fireplace, right?

But that was when he realized that it wasn't wood.

Oh god...!

With a loud scream, Vikk's hands flew over his mouth, and he jumped back, landing on Preston, who grabbed him so that they didn't fall over. "T-That's...! Oh my... What the fuck?!?"

Because it wasn't wood burning in the fire. It was a corpse.

More specifically, it was a skeleton, the bones gleaming white in the flames as the fire burned around it, casting a haunting shadow into the room.

Vikk felt his heart thump loudly and quickly in his chest, only amplified by the stillness in the rest of the cabin. He felt Preston grab his hand, but made no movement to acknowledge him. He tried to look away, only to find himself frozen in fear, his gaze fixed on the fire and the bones of the poor soul who had been murdered there.

Suddenly, Vikk found himself being whipped around, and he was face-to-face with Preston, who had turned Vikk so that his back was to the fire and away from the corpse. Preston looked Vikk right in the eyes, trying to calm Vikk down, who had begun to hyperventilate. "Vikk! Vikk, listen to me," Preston had said, obviously trying to keep his voice from shaking, "We need to get out of here! Come on dude, just breathe! It's okay, just breathe!" Slowly, Vikk was able to control his breathing again; all the while Preston had led him out of the house.

The sky had become dark outside, the sunny air now a pitch black. The duo made no note of it, the two of them pelting down the path back to Sunnytown as fast as they could. As they ran past them ,the lanterns blew out, leaving only darkness behind them.

Screw the little girl, Vikk thought to himself, breathing heavily as he ran, Preston keeping pace with him. We have to get out of here!

As Vikk and Preston approached the arch that led into the village, they both skidded to a halt, the last lantern going out and leaving them in darkness. "Holy shit..." Preston gasped, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

The once happy atmosphere of the village was gone, the whole place in ruin. The wood of the buildings had become rotted, most either collapsed or looking like they were on their last leg. Most of the windows were shattered, and the fences outside in pieces. There was a dreadful smell in the air, like that of a dead animal, and it made Vikk's stomach churn. Underneath their feet, the lush grass had turned into dirt and mud, squishing and squelching as they walked forward. There were no villagers hanging around, the only sounds Vikk hearing being him and Preston's breathing and his own heart thumping in his chest.

"What happened here?!" Preston whispered, his gaze fleeting around in a panic as they passed cautiously through the arch into the village. "We were just here!"

Vikk merely hummed in response. He didn't know how to describe what was happening either, only that it seemed like something straight out of a horror movie.

"There was no other option... We had no choice...!"

Vikk jumped as the new voice filled the air. He looked all around him for anyone who could have spoken, but there was none. He looked to Preston, who was returning a confused, fearful expression. Vikk fearfully stepped forward, ready to continue when he heard a strange noise, one like that of tearing roots or shifting ground.

The sound grew louder until he saw the a patch of dirt a few feet in front of him began to churn, Vikk jumping back with a surprised shout as a hand shot emerged from the ground, covered in grime and rot. Vikk continued to back up until he bumped into Preston, both of them wearing matching expressions of horror. The ground continued to turn as the hand was followed by a whole body, the body pulling itself to its feet with twitches and inhuman growls.

The figure appeared to be a woman, her body decayed and rotted, a shamble of bones and decomposed flesh. Her hair was in patches, and her clothing was mottled and was covered in holes and dirt, seeming to hang off of her frame. She sounded one last bone-rattling call as her head jerked toward them in an unnatural movement, the empty eye-sockets in her skull becoming filled with a ghastly red light.

"She wasn't like us... She was living among us and we hadn't even known...!" The corpse spoke, her voice producing an unearthly echo that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Her jaw hinged as she spoke, and she moved with jerky movements as she shambled closer to Vikk and Preston, the two stepping back as she approached. "She was cursed...! If we hadn't gotten rid of her, we would have all been condemned as well...!"

"So that justifies murder?!" Preston shouted, newfound power in his voice. Vikk tried to push him back, but Preston shouldered past him, walking forward until he was feet away from the corpse, which made no reaction to him. "It was the little girl we were looking for wasn't it?! That's why Grey Hoof got all weird when we asked him about it! You all killed her!"

Vikk's eyes widened in realization, the pieces clicking together in his head. It made enough sense, after all. The girl wasn't just wandering alone in the forest... she had been a ghost.

The corpse made no reaction to Preston's outburst, and Vikk was about to approach them when he heard another voice.

"Please don't leave us... We promise we'll keep you safe..."

Vikk whipped around lightning fast, surprised to see that another corpse had arisen behind him, this time being a man who loomed at least a foot over Vikk's small figure. This corpse was almost completely stripped of its flesh, its gruesome appearance sending shivers down Vikk's spine.

"Don't worry, we'll never let you become like her... We'll protECT YOU FOREVER...!!!"

The larger corpses jaw hinged open as his gnarled voice echoed in Vikk's head, deafening his thoughts as the corpse lunged towards him, his eyes burning like flames in its skull. Aroused by the sudden movement, Vikk just barely dodged out of the way, the corpse crumpling to the ground behind him.

With a sharp inhale, Vikk turned on his heels as fast as he could and began to run, grabbing Preston by the wrist as he passed him, yanking him along as the two set out further into the village, away from the corpses. The two ghouls let out ghastly wails as they attempted to follow the two, but their slow stumbling was not nearly enough to catch up to them.

"We need to go back to the entrance!" Vikk yelled to Preston.

Preston nodded, adding, "That should lead us back to the road, and we can find Mitch and Jerome!"

It wasn't until they approached what appeared to be the center of the town before more corpses began to pull themselves out of the earth, Preston and Vikk forced to jump past them as they formed under their feet. Vikk was relieved that he could see their red eyes glowing through the darkness; otherwise he would have surely walked right onto one or two of them.

They continued to run all the way through the village, arriving at the edge of the town at Gray Hoof's barn, aware of the pack of dead bodies still rising behind them, the once dead-silent air now filled with the ghastly wailing of all the undead.

They approached the rock face where they had entered the village and Vikk frantically ran his hands along the jagged surface, searching for the crack that they had slipped through before. Once he found it, he called Preston over to it, the two quickly pushing themselves through it and back out on the other side.

The forest on the other side of the rock face looked just as they left it, but Vikk hardly paid attention to it, instead taking the brief moment of peace to double over and gasp for air, his lungs burning from the sprint through the village, Preston following suit next to him.

"We did it..." Vikk gasped, "We escaped."

Preston nodded breathlessly, and they both straightened themselves and smiled at one another.

As if on cue, they heard the familiar sound of ground shifting beneath them, as another group of corpses pulled themselves out of the ground. Preston groaned loudly as Vikk clapped a hand over his mouth.

"You just had to open your mouth didn't you?!" Preston screamed with an exasperated voice as they took off running again.

They went to run up the trail they followed before, but they skidded to a halt as another ghoul blocked their path. They forked right, into the trees.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to get far before the strain on their bodies became too much, Vikk now gasping loudly for air as he began to stumble, his heart hammering in his chest as he struggled to keep his pace with Preston, who didn't appear to be faring much better. Regardless, Vikk kept pushing himself onwards. While there weren't more corpses rising from the ground, he could still hear the wails and growls of the others not far behind them.

Vikk yelped as he felt something slimy grasp his ankle, and he tripped over. He heard Preston call out to him, but he didn't seem to hear him, Vikk only focused on the corpse that had risen from behind him and was now crawling out of the dirt with its hand on Vikk's leg, simultaneously pulling Vikk closer towards it with its jaws hanging open. Its eyes were flaring red, and Vikk felt its gaze burn through him. He didn't know what it was, but he felt as if his very essence was being sapped by the creature as he locked gazes with it, and Vikk was unable to pull himself away. He felt Preston grab his arm and try to pull him up, but it was to no effect.

"We'll protect you...forever... please stay with us...!"

As the echo filled Vikk's head, back to the little girl whom they had been chasing, and at the thought of her murder, he let out a scream of fury, his rage surging through him as he raised his free leg, and with all of his might, he drove his foot straight into the monster's skull, the corpse wailing in pain as he did so.

"WE-"

Vikk kicked again, ignoring the feeling of the cracking bone under his shoe.

"DON'T-"

Another kick.

"NEED-"

Another kick.

"YOUR-"

Another kick, and another screeching wail filling the air as Preston watched with wide eyes.

"PROTECTION!"

With one final kick, Vikk finally felt the grip on his ankle loosen, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, the corpse motionless on the ground, the lights gone from its eyes. Huffing, Vikk looked to Preston, whose eyes were wide in astonishment as his gaze flickered between Vikk and the corpse, whose head had been completely bashed in.

Vikk went to say something before he felt his legs wobble beneath him, Preston catching him as he fell over. The effort of killing the ghoul and fighting against its draining of his strength, Vikk had become too exhausted to even keep himself on his feet. Preston slung Vikk's arm around his neck, standing up straight to try to support Vikk.

"Vikk, not to alarm you," Preston said, a panicked look on his face. "But we're surrounded!"

Vikk didn't reply, he didn't have the strength too, but he did indeed see the glowing red eyes of the corpses approaching from the darkness, forming a full circle around them. One of the chambering bodies was ahead of the rest, that of a man. Though Vikk couldn't recognize the body through the decay, he did recognize the voice that echoed from it. It was Gray Hoof.

"Please, stay with us... All we want it friendship...! The girl was cursed... She would have damned us all to suffer, like her...!"

"Well," Preston laughed uneasily, "it doesn't seem that you guys are doing that great now, does it?"

Gray Hoof didn't seem to notice Preston's comment, the group of corpses beginning to close in around the duo, their echoing voices filling the air as Vikk and Preston braced for them to attack.

"We'll protect you..."

"She needed to die..."

"You'll be safe..."

"You can join us..."

"Enough!"

Vikk and Preston's eyes widened as a new voice cut off the others, this voice reverberating in their heads loudly and clearly. The two stepped back as the grass in front of them began to churn, light seeming to pour out of it as a new figure dragged itself out of the ground. Unlike the others, their body wasn't at all decayed or rotted, the only filth on her being on her tattered gray dress. It was the girl that the villagers had killed.

The ghouls all let out fearful wails as the girl got to her feet and stared at them with malice in her eyes. ("Cursed...!" "Cursed...!")

"There will be no more deaths at your hand Grey Hoof. Or any of you. Go back to where you belong, foul beings!"

The corpses continued to wail, this time in pain as the red lights in their skulls turned a glaring white, the same white lights appearing to erupt from the crevices in their rotted bodies as they all began to crumple to the ground, lifeless once more. Grey Hoof was the last to fall, his pained howl echoing in the air until his head finally hit the ground.

Once all of them had fallen, the girl turned to Vikk and Preston, who had watched in a stunned silence.

"Hi." The girl said with a small silence on her face.

A few moments of silence passed until Vikk finally raised his hand in a small wave.

The girl's smile faded, replaced with a frown as she looked back to the dead bodies. "I'm sorry that I dragged the two of you into this. I just got curious when I heard the commotion by the road."

"It wasn't exactly your fault." Preston said with a relieved smile on his face, happy that he and Vikk were safe. Finally safe. "We were the ones that decided to follow you."

"But we do want to know," Vikk asked, seemingly finding his voice again as he felt his power slowly returning to him, "what the hell caused all of this to happen?"

The girl laughed hollowly, before she began to recount her tale. "Sunnytown existed many, many decades ago... The forest blocked off the city from any outside contact, so they were afraid of almost anything strange or unnatural. When I was born, my mother knew that the villagers would exclude me because of my eyes," she beckoned to her differently colored eyes, "and that it wasn't safe for me in the village. She built the cabin to raise me in away from the others, and for thirteen years, it worked. But I got curious one day, and wandered into the village. They took one look at my pale skin and my eyes and decided that I was cursed. They killed me, in fear that my 'curse' would infect all of them. They were punished for their deeds, and all of Sunnytown was put under a real curse, one that made them all trapped inside of the village, cursed to become the undead and live forever as rotting corpses, becoming the very things that they feared I was... monsters. Now I will return to the village, and make sure that Sunnytown is never discovered again."

The girl stopped, and seemingly satisfied with the apprehensive looks on Vikk and Preston's faces, she raised a hand a pointed toward the trees. "The road is back that way. Your friends are searching for you."

The girl turned to walk away, before Preston called out, "Wait, what's your name?"

The girl stopped, before flashing him a sad smile. "My name is Ruby. Now, hurry."

With that, she walked away, her body seeming to fade as she disappeared into the trees, along with the villagers lying motionless at their feet.

Vikk and Preston looked at one another and then turned and walked in the direction that Ruby directed them to go, turning their backs away from the horror they witnessed, knowing that they were lucky to be alive. Preston continued supporting Vikk as they walked, trudging along in silence.

As they arrived back on the road, they quickly saw Mitch and Jerome at the (now dislodged and running) car, the two friends showering them with questions about where they had gone and what had happened.

They brushed off the questions, telling them that they would tell the story when they got to the hotel.

A few minutes later, when the four of them had gotten back on the road, Preston whispered to Vikk, "Do you think they'll believe us?"

Vikk simply laughed. "Absolutely not."

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