Dead in civilization

It was early morning, the town of Ponyville was relatively quiet at this time. The quiet murmur of ponies could be heard around Carousel Boutique. Various decorations were hung around around lampposts and nearby houses. The decorations were a mix of happy bright decorations, such as colorful banners and brightly colored streamers. And leftover decorations from Nightmare night, such as mock tombstones, plastic skulls and fake cobwebs. Twilight was inspecting each of the stations, after giving everything the once over she happily went over to Pinkie.

"Great job with the decorations Pinkie, but don't you think it is a bit much? Ponies might thing we are starting a new strange holiday." Twilight joked happily.

"Well.." Pinkie started. "I was thing about doing something small! But the I thought to myself. 'Pinkie, has Dead ever celebrated her birthday?' I came to the conclusion of no seeing as she can't even remember it! So then I thought... 'Pinkie! We need to make this a super special Birthday to make up for all the birthdays Dead has missed!' And that how I came up with this!" Pinkie gestured to everything around her. "Its like a mix of Nightmare night and a birthday, I think I will call it... Day of the Dead!" Pinkie cheered happily. "So what do you think Twilight? Do you love it?"

"Well Pinkie, it certainly is different. I think we might just have been able to pull it off!" Twilight exclaimed happily. "Have any of the special guest arrived yet?"

"Yup! Cadance got here an hour ago, you remember that? You said hi to her an all." Pinkie nudged Twilight.

"Yeah, I meant the other special guests. You know, Dead's friends." Twilight rolled her eyes at Pinkie.

"Oh those! Yeah they got here five minutes ago. Would have told you but you were busy talking to somepony." Pinkie said ecstatically.

"The only pony I have been talking to is you!" Twilight half shouted.

"Exactly!" Pinkie replied happily. Twilight started laughing and then Pinkie joined in.

After a while Twilight stopped and returned to more serious business. "So Pinkie, is anypony else doing anything to help?" Twilight asked.

"Yup, Applejack is on food and food related games. Rarity is making costumes... Don't know why, maybe for dress up. Rainbow is making sure that the skies are clear of rain clouds. Fluttershy has her hoofs full, a lot of the animal or on edge. And you are planning everything while I am overseeing it!" Pinkie happily explained.

"Alright, good to know Pinkie. I trust that all the activities are set up?" Twilight asked happily. "We need to be set up before Dead wakes up."

"No worries Twilight! Everything is ready, from the apple bobbing to the balloon racing, to the  food bar. We are one hundred percent ready!" Pinkie announced happily. "Oh that reminds me..." Pinkie quickly ran off, shouting something about little snacks and cakes.

"Oh Pinkie..." Twilight sighed happily. "Now lets go see what Rarity is up to." Twilight muttered as she headed towards Rarity's shop. After cutting through a few decorations, that Pinkie swiftly mended. Twilight swiftly arrived outside Carousel Boutique. Twilight gently knocked on the door an waited for a response.

"Coming!" A sing song voice called out. The door slowly creaked open and Rarity was on the other side. "Oh hello Twilight, come to check up on things?" Rarity asked as she ushered Twilight in.

"Only for a moment, Pinkie said you were making some costumes. I take it that they are going well?" Twilight asked. Rarity quickly ran out and emerged with an outfit, the outfit was made for a stallion, it was a basic tuxedo however white fabric shaped like bones were dotted on it. I took Twilight a few moments to connect where the bones were in the body itself. "Wow... You got all the right bones in the right places!"

"This is a prototype, it also comes in a dress form." Rarity happily said. "Skullworthy gave me the idea." Rarity chuckled happily as she set the suit down. "I also have these masks left over." Rarity pulled a small face mask out of a bag and placed it over her lower jaw.

"That's good! I really like the idea for the suit. But don't you think we might be going a bit overboard?" Twilight innocently asked.

"I did think that for a moment, however you were the one who invited a Princess to the party. You set the bar relatively high." Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah... I did kind of do that. Sorry about that Rarity, I didn't mean to make your job harder." Twilight sighed. "I really, really didn't mean to do that at all."

"That's alright Twilight, I rather enjoy all this hullabaloo. The party will be a sight to see." Rarity said happily.

"I just hope it isn't too much, I don't want to attract too much attention." Twilight sighed. "Not everypony is ready for Dead, and visa versa."

"Yes... I have been a bit worried, but the again Dead can handle herself in a sticky situation." Rarity paused for a moment. "Speaking of sticky situations..." Rarity grinned evilly.

"No Rarity, don't wanna know." Twilight interrupted before the conversation could get any worse. "I will be leaving now." Twilight said as she slowly backed out of the house. "Well that was odd." Twilight muttered to herself. Twilight reviewed the decorations one final time and decided that everything was in order.

Dead woke up, it must have been around half six in the morning judging by the light coming in through the curtains. Dead checked the bed to see if Ditzy had forgotten to wake up for her job, like every day she hadn't. After a long sigh Dead got up and out of bed, she gingerly walked down the hall to see if Ditzy had made breakfast. Unlike everyday nothing was waiting for her. Dead sighed form the break of normality and checked the cupboards for food, they were empty.

"Odd, could have sworn that me and Cherilee only just recently restocked the shelves." Dead sighed to herself and decided to check if Dinky was in her room, she might be hiding a stockpile of food somewhere. Dead slowly walked up the hallway towards Dinky's bedroom. The house was strangely quiet. Dead gently pushed the bedroom door open and peered in. It was empty.

"Where is everypony?" Dead asked angrily to the air. Her voice bounced around the empty house. With one final pout Dead decided it would be a good idea to head out and search. Dead walked out the door and locked it from the outside. Dead turned around and saw a sign with an arrow that pointed firmly towards Carousal Boutique. Dead sighed. "Now I wonder what they are up to?" Dead puzzled to herself, she shrugged and decided to follow the signs.

Dead was about halfway to the clothes shop when the signs stopped. The last sign had been turned around and it pointed backwards. "How odd..." Dead started, however a brown sack being thrown over her head cut her off. A purple magic swiftly bound her hooves and flipped her upside down. Dead tried to shout out for help, however a spell kept her silent. Unable to speak, see or move Dead gave in and stopped struggling.

Dead tried to scan her captors with her magic, however some sort of mental block prevented her from identifying their race. Dead sighed and tried a second time, her magic fizzled out and a draining spell took the rest of her energy. Distorted voice mocked her.

"Nice try, but you will have to do better then that!" A voice mocked Dead as she was carried around.

"Mmmmppphhhhh..." Dead struggled against the spell that was keeping her mute.

"Well well, looks like she breaking the silence." The voice noted.

"I'l get that then, don't strain yourself m'lady." Another voice mocked. "Harr, harr harr." Dead rolled her eyes and tried a second time to break the silence.

"Grrrrr...." Dead growled.

"Oh, somepony is getting snappy. Oh and for the record Dead, this wasn't my idea." A third voice said.

"Oh yeah, go figure you would completely wuss out of it. I would have bet bits on it." A forth voice joined in.

"Urmff!" Dead groaned against her mute. "Shut up..." Dead was able to squeak quietly.

"Oh look, she fighting against your spell. Maybe you should try and, I don't know practice?" One of the voice said.

"You try practicing in my line of work! Its downright hard. Why didn't you do it then?"

"Because I don't know that spell..."

"Exactly..! Sorry about that..."

"..."

A silence fell over the ground for the rest of the short journey. When the group finally arrived Dead could hear the sound of a door being opened and then shut. The magical bonds were removed, however the bag remained of Dead's head. The sound of a door opening and closing could be heard again and Dead decided to try and remove the bag on her head.

Dead quickly scanned the room she was being held in. It was... Rarity's house as far as she could tell. Dead got up and tried the door, it was bolted shut. An inky black fog covered the windows that prevent Dead from seeing out.

Grim, Twilight, Cadance, Rarity and Nazz were all stood outside the clothes shop. Cadance was rubbing her head and the others looked rather tired.

"Urgh that did not work well. I can't believe she was able to break that silence!" Cadance groaned. "My head is pounding like a drum..."

"Tell me about it, her magical focus provided her with some degree of defense about my grip." Twilight gently touched her horn and the winced in pain. "Even with no magical energy she struggled heavily... Without even knowing!"

"I was not a fan of doing that, but what do we do now? We still have to finish setting up." Rarity sighed. "Why did she have to wake early..."

"Rarity, I think it would be a good idea to go in an comfort her. She is probably scared out of her mind." Nazz sighed. "Even if she is hiding it..."

"Wait we scared her?" Cadance said sounding concerned. "Did we go to far?"

"What else could we do? She was about to walk into the half completed surprise party." Grim sighed. "Look, if we get the others maybe you could say this was some kind of erotic set-up?" Grim blushed slightly. "Oh gods that sounded bad..."

"That is not a bad idea Grim, I will go round up the other. Rarity you go in an explain what is happening to Dead." Cadance happily said. "Ohhhhh this will be a very fun day..." Cadance said evilly, she started to laugh. Grim and Nazz joined in and the trio were laughing evilly.

"You all scare me sometimes..." Twilight joked. Twilight's horn briefly lit up and then died down. "Alright Rarity, you should be able to pass through the doorway now... Good luck."

Dead sat back on the sofa, she sighed and glanced around. Dead attention was drawn towards the kitchen when her stomach rumbled hungrily. "Still hungry..." Dead sighed.

"Hello Dead..." A voice echoed from behind Dead. Dead quickly turned her head around.

"R-Rarity? How'd you get in here? The door is locked and I didn't hear it open..." Dead quickly stammered, however before she could go on Rarity gently pressed her hoof against Dead's mouth, silencing her.

"All in due time Dead. Now do you have any idea why you are here?" Rarity kept her hoof covering Dead's mouth. Dead gently shock her head, signaling that didn't know why she was stuck in the clothes shop. "Well I was talking to the others and we had a few ideas... " Rarity stopped. "Just say shake your head if you want me to stop." Rarity relaxed, she was sure Dead was going to shake her head. However Rarity was rather surprised when nodded her head to signal Rarity to go on. "Very well Dead..."