Fresh Quality Meats

>Equestria is a nice place to live.
>Or rather...it was.
>Or maybe it is.
>Damn it all, this is all so confusing.
>Especially to you, the one suffering from...
>Whatever this hell is.
>Maybe it would be better to rewind a little?
>Yeah, that sounds good.
>Arrange your thoughts.
>Catalogue.
>Sort-and-file.
>Maybe...get lucky and find the moment when everything went wrong.
>Right...
>Start at the beginning.
>Your name is Anonymous.
>You've been in Equestria about...Mmm, a year now.
>It was rather shocking at first.
>A rather natural feeling, what with talking horses and all that.
>But the horses; ponies, were actually quite nice.
>They made you feel right at home.
>All nice, and sweet, and happy, and sappy.
>It was wonderful.

>But...somewhere down the line...
>Things...started to change.
>Not so much with the ponies but for you...
>One day, out of the blue, you...started to see things.
>Horrible, terrible things.
>You were walking through the streets of Ponyville and you just...
>Saw...them.
>Those...those monsters...
>Giant, lumbering...things of meat in the vague shape of a man.
>They stumbled back and forth in the street, it must be because they had no eyes...
>Just blank faces of rotting meat.
>But somehow they still howled and moaned...
>Those howls... Good god... It sound like the howls of the damned.
>And it wasn't just the men of rotting meat...
>Oh no, there was more.
>Along the street ran...thick, bloated, purple-ish veins carrying...
>You didn't dare think about it.

>You screamed.
>You pointed and shouted, "What is that?! My god, what is that?!"
>The ponies in the street just stared at you like you were mad.
>"Can't you see them?! Look! They're right there! Skinless monstrosities! And-And these veins! Don't you see them?!"
>Again and again and again you shouted.
>The ponies started to look around nervously.
>Some started to back away from you in fear.
>But you continued to rant there on the street.
>It wasn't until a friend, a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle came up to you and pleaded with you to calm down.
>Hearing a familiar voice did the trick.
>Slowly, the...creatures and veins fade from view and the world went back to normal.
>You fell to your knees and sobbed into Twilight's shoulder.
>She patted you on the back and cooed reassurances.
"It's all right, Anon. It's ok. Shh, shh, shh... It's ok. There's nothing there."
>You wanted to believe her.
>You so badly wanted to believe her...

>And for awhile you did believe her.
>Even when the horrors showed themselves again.
>You would clamp your eyes closed and count to ten.
>And you would just chant: "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real..."
>And when you would open your eyes again they'd be gone.
>The ritual had worked whenever they'd appear.
>You thought this would just be an...inconvenience; a terrifying one, but it would just go away one day.
>But it didn't...
>It grew worse...
>The sky started to become blood-red, the ground and building around you were covered in...in entrails, and the skinless men... So many of them...
>But worst of all...
>Worst of all...
>Were your friends.
>Oh god...your friends.
>They too started to...change.
>They became bruised, grotesque, misshapen mounds of flesh.
>You could barely tell one from the other...
>And the smell... That odor of rot, and pus, and decay...it permeated off them.
>But the voices were the worst...
>The skinless, writhing men didn't talk.
>But your friends did...

>"Ah tell ya sugarcube, this weeks harvest is top-notch!"
>Applejack--the mound of flesh that -looked- like Applejack--tried to talk to you about her day but...
>Her voice...
>That god-awful voice!
>That isn't speaking!
>That isn't her voice!
>This...thing isn't Applejack!
>This monster is just belching out words in some nightmarish tone you can't even begin to describe!
>You so badly want to tell her to shut up.
>So badly...
>But you can't...
>If you did, you'd be alone right now.
>Alone in this blood-soaked world of horror.
>So you swallow the bile building at the back of your throat and nod.
>Just...let her talk...and just focus on the table in front of you.
>Even if it is covered in gore...
>After meeting with...Applejack, you start to head towards Twilights.
>It's time for your...sessions.
>She says it'll help you with the visions you made only her privy to.
>Again, you so badly want to believe her...

>You talk with Twilight, go over the same things as always.
>It's hard to focus because she's a rotting heap...
>Why doesn't anyone else see what you see?
>Why are you being made to go through this?
>It's starting to get to you.
>It's getting more and more difficult to hang on to your sanity.
>Every day gets a little more trying.
>Every day gets a little more...normal.
>The stink, the blood, the meat...
>The meat.
>You've been thinking about the meat so much lately.
>When Rainbow Dash was yammering on about some stupid Wonderbolts nonsense you wonder how can she talk when she doesn't have a lower jaw?
>The meat is starting to intrigue you.
>And when Twilight mentions "destiny" and "what we're meant to do", things start making sense.
>Things start clicking into place.
>There -must- be a reason for all of this.
>And now, you're sure you know what it is.
>It's the meat.
>Yes...you think tomorrow will be a good day.
>The first good day in a long time.
>Tomorrow, Ponyville will get it's first butcher.