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                     "Strawberry Jam"                      
                      -by ge0_br0ny-                       
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                    Night 1- Moving in                     
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Night 1- Moving in
          Well, looks like I made it
          On the other side of the train car window, the Apple family farm passes by. The ground is almost covered by a blanket of the shadows of apple trees in the moon's chilling beams. As the farm scene peels away, it is replaced by the town of Ponyville, which is almost a perfect image of a ghost town with the only movement being leaves in the night's crisp wind.
          As the train car pulled to a stop, I disembarked onto a very nostalgic stacion.
          Oh dear have I forgotten to introduce myself? Well, my name is Tart, Linzer Tart and I used to live in Appleoosa before the "accident".... You know what? Let's talk about something else. I used to be a baker in Appleoosa at my dad's old confectionery. Sadly since I am trying to lay low, I thought it would be a good idea to go stay with my second cousin, Pinkie.
          As I was walking out of the station, I bumped into somepony and being the cluts that I was, I fell right on my back. I didn't get a good look at who I bumped into, all I know was that she, yes she, was wearing a black... robe? She then took off before I got up.
          She did have a nice flank though, even if she was kind of weird.
           What?!
            So as I was walking down the market street of Ponyville, and I looked at some of the shops. Most of them were barred up or looted. There were some flower shops, restaurants, and a quill and sofa shop..... wait what? There was also a boutique that looked open, maybe I'll check it out later.
          So as I'm trying to find this place my second cousin lives and I think owns, I might as well tell you more about myself correct?
          Well I actually was born and raised here in Ponyville until I was three, then I moved to Appleoosa with my parents and lived there till now, you know after the "accident". I'm still not prepared to tell you about that yet. I can tell you though that it wasn't the first time I did something like that but that's all I'm telling you.
        Actually now that I think of it, I do need some place to stay for the night
"Need help stranger?"
      came a small voice from behind me that I swear to Celestia's behind almost gave me a heart attack
  I turned around to see a small filly smiling up at me, she had a yellow mane, purpleish, grey coat, and two small, blue, watchful eyes that I couldn't tell if they held curiosity of sadness.
"My name's Dinky what's yours?"
          I looked at her in confusion and said
"Ah well no, eh, maybe and my name is Tart."
          She just looked at me again with those little eyes and said
"You need someplace to stay, right?"
         I looked at her, appalled
"Wait... who, what, where?!"
        She started walking away
"Come on, it get 's pretty bad out here at this time of night. Wouldn't want to get yourself hurt, right?"
      I started chasing after her yelling
'Wait! Wait up! Where are we going?"
      She just looked back at me with a smile way too happy for my situation.
" A house not too far from here that you can stay in!"
      It took about a hour or two before we got to a pretty nice house, well at least it was nice compared to the other houses.
     The filly stopped and pointed a hoof at the house.
"You can stay here for the night"
      I just stared at the house in awe
"Wow I mean you have been so nice to me, I don't know how to thank-"
      She was gone
      I just sat there and thought to myself:
WT Buck!?
      That was my first day back in Ponyville.

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            Day 1- Just a brief history lesson             
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Day 1- Just a brief history lesson
      Honestly I didn't know how to fell or what to think.
      I woke up to two small, eyes staring at me.
'Wake up sleepy head, it's like 10 o'clock in the morning'
      Oh how I love having a long dead filly as a roommate
'DINKY!'
      The ghostly filly broke out into a giggle. I really need to remember they she is still a filly no mater how mature she acts.... at times.
      I sat up and got off of the inflatable bed I found in the closet. I whipped the tiredness from my eyes and gave a firm stare at the giggling filly, which made her stop and wait expectantly for me to say something.
'Alright, first, never EVER do that again. Second, I want to talk to you about what happened here. Third, wait for me in the in the other room, I need to unpack.'
'Okey Dokey Lokey.'
      And the filly disappeared in a flash.
      I rolled eyes and walked over to my bags. I opened up my suitcase to be met with a picture of my family. The picture was five or six years old and it was taken not long after my baby brother, Apple Tart, was born. I looked at myself first, goddesses my puberty was ugly. The I looked at my parents, their expressions were a mix of tiredness and joy. Then the tears began to fall. Goddesses I missed them so much. After about a half an hour, I placed the tear covered picture aside and head into the other room.
      Dinky was sitting nicely at the table reading a dingy and soaked magazine when she looked up at me.
'Took you long enough.'
      I managed a smirk.
'Sorry, had slot of stuff.'
      She closed the magazine while still staring at me and continued.
'So you said You wanted to know more about what happened here right?'
'That's what I said, correct?'
      I said gaining a semi annoyed glare and a smile in return.
'Well I try to tell what I know. Ahem
Around a month or two ago, Ponyville was a real fine place to live, till ponies started disappearing all over the place. There are rumors going around like how there was a lottery where if your name came up, you died. Then the users of the Elements of Harmony, you most likely heard of them, either went insane, disappeared , or maybe even died. Then Cloudsdale disappeared. With all this going on, most of the sane ponies left, well left.
      I just had to take a seat after that.
'Let me ask me something Dinky.'
'Hm?'
'Did I choose the worst town to come to or what?'

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        Night 1.5- A good night's rest... hopefully        
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Night 1.5- A good night's rest... hopefully
      I just sat there for a while, thinking about what just happened.
      When I finally got my thoughts together, I headed inside. It was nice to say the least, there was four rooms, one bathroom, one kitchen, a dinning room, and a bedroom, like I said "nice".
      I walked around a little bit, planks underneath my hooves creaking from miscare and softened by rain, almost bent. The dining room seemed to be in good condition, and so did the bathroom even though the water was a bit dirty and the tiles crunched at every hoof step.
      But then I smelled it.
      It was an unfathomable stench the made my nose curl, I knew that nostalgic smell, bodies.
      I walked into the kitchen to see three, rotting bodies of two grown mares and a small filly being hugged between the two. There was also a note on the granite. It read
' I don't why I'm writing this,
guess it's a suicide note now.
It turns out that if your number
comes up, that's it. They already
took the doctor from me, I won't
let them take anypony else.
Sparkler, Dinky' (wait  Dinky?)'
and I have taken ten pills each.
I don't have a lot of time left, so
I guess this is goodbye.
                   -Derpy'
      I just looked at the bodies for a while.... then I threw up on them. Yeah, real respectful Tart.
      Then I started crying, goddesses when was the last time I cried?
      Wait a minute, Dinky's dead?
'"Indeed"
      Came a small voice at the end of the kitchen, but from nopony.
       I just stared at that spot for a while, then quickly  trotted to the bedroom, trying to hide my tears by shoving the note in my bag.
      On the back, there was something else scribbled on.
'Dinky, I'm sorry'
     I looked back at the spot the voice came from, wiping away the tear running down my check.
"Goodnight Dinky"
      I couldn't go to sleep
      I just lay there contemplating my thoughts or how I should feel. To be completely honest, I didn't know what to think. The first person I've met in this town has been dead for who knows how long, I find her body and the bodies of what family she had left, and know I'm laying in probably her dead parents' bed. Goddesses!
      I fell right off the bed onto my face.
"Ow, buck that hurt"
      I guess I'm sleeping in the living room tonight.