Pandemic

Rainbow Dash entered the room cautiously avoiding the massive pools of blood and liquefied internal organs. AppleJack lay in the corner, her eyes wide open staring at the door. They were lifeless and glazed over with death. Her legs and arms were sprawled spread eagle and her fur was matted and soaked with blood. Her contorted appearance startled Dash and the shock of losing her best friend and biggest competitor truly sank in. She turned around quickly and walked out and slammed the door behind her while breathing deeply to curb her panic. The room had smelled of decay already and Dash didn’t think she could fulfill her duty of retrieving AppleJack’s body. She had been under far too much stress and she couldn’t handle it anymore. She sank to the floor and stared into space with her mouth hanging slightly ajar. The Running of the Leaves came to mind and she started thinking fondly on the memory. They hadn’t exactly been fair and friendly in the race but she still looked upon the time as one of the good ole days.She remembered the damage to townhall that AJ had so desperately tried to win prize money to fix. She remembered how AJ had tried so hard to always give a helping hand, never once thinking about herself….. Another drop hit the floor beneath Dash’s face.

“I’m gonna miss you AJ” Dash said to herself in a shaky voice. “I don’t know if I can go on without you.”  She pondered for a moment the option of suicide. She wouldn’t have to suffer this brutal and bloody plague, she wouldn’t have this skull imploding stress thrust upon her, and she could be with one of her closest friends again. Then she thought of Fluttershy, alone and heartbroken. She would never recover.

Dash sank her head down and curled up. She hated her options. She knew what was right and what had to be done. She stood up and walked back into the room.

Twilight stood at the edge of a mass grave sullen and broken. Bodies were being piled into the open ground in rows and columns one right after another. There was one offset grave in the pit. Twilight and Rarity had dug it together. Twilight looked down the road toward Ponyville where she could barely make out the outline of her tree and the town hall. As she watched, a Rainbow Maned pony came trotting toward them with a body draped over her back. Blood leaked out of AJs mouth with every step leaving a trail all the way back to Ponyville unbeknownst to Dash. Twilight almost hurled at the sight of AJ. She was already beginning to decay and her eyes had sunk inward. Dash deposited her load in the grave and only then noticed the blood trail. Her eyes followed it for a while and then she looked back at the pitiful sight that used to be AppleJack. Dash took her forehoof and gently lowered AJ’s eyelids. Then dash rummaged in her saddle bag and produced an orange gem shaped like an apple. She wrapped it in cloth and lowered it onto the orange pony and then went back to rummaging. She then produced a ripped, torn, and bloody dog collar that had a barely visible name on it that read: Winona. She lowered it onto the orange pony and then stepped back from the grave.

Twilight went through her own saddle bag and got a seeded zap apple which she laid on AJ’s body. She then joined Rainbow Dash and looked expectantly at Rarity.

Rarity had makeup stains all the way down her face from the amount of crying she had done and was doing presently. She could not compose herself no matter how hard she tried. She simply sniffled and let out the occasional sob as she sorted through the contents of her bag to get a familiar ten gallon hat that she laid over AJ’s forehead covering part of her face. She then broke all out and let her powerful emotions for her friend flow out of her as she grieved. She ran over and buried her head into Dash who, surprisingly, embraced her and began to tear up herself. Twilight joined in the embrace and let her own emotions get the better of her as all three of them expressed their loss.

They left shortly later leaving the best marker that they could find, a piece of planking from what used to be the sweet apple acres farmhouse. They carved the following into it: AppleJack Forever loved for her Truthfulness, kindness, and stubborn selflessness.  Let the strongest and most beautiful zap apple tree grow here as a reminder of an even stronger and more beautiful pony. Never will she be forgotten.