Monsters can't cry.
That's what Granny Smith had always said. Apple Bloom didn't always remember the morals of her stories—Granny spun so many yarns that they would often get tangled together—but she had never forgotten that one. It was the one surefire way to tell the difference between a monster and a normal pony. Monsters could lie, lie so well that you'd believe anything they said. They could cheat, cheat with such skill that they'd win any contest. They could even steal a pony's shape and wear it like a second skin to hide the darkness that lay beneath. But monsters couldn't cry, because to be able to cry, you needed to have a soul. Ponies had souls, Granny said, but monsters didn't.
So why was she crying?
Apple Bloom couldn't even remember the last time she'd cried. It had been so long ago, before all of this happened. Before she went into the Everfree with Twilight. Before she met Ruby. Before Sunny Town.
Before the nightmare.
But she was crying now. Sweet Celestia, it felt good to cry. Her cloudy eyes had been dry for so long, as parched as her blackened lips, but now they were overflowing with tears, like the dam behind them had finally burst. Her emaciated body shook with the force of every choked sob that struggled its way out of her throat. She could still see the outline of her own ribs through her dry, cracked skin. That used to bother her, like the patches of missing fur and exposed muscle once had. But those things didn't matter. Not anymore.
“Ah love you,” she bawled to the pony in her arms. “Ah love you, ya hear me?”
“Does not compute,” Sweetie Belle said in her characteristic, lilting pitch. “Error. Faulty. Defective.”
Apple Bloom furiously shook her head. “No yer not!” she vehemently replied. “Yer nothin' of the kind!”
“Error,” Sweetie Belle repeated. “Cool-cool-coolant leak detected in optic sensors. Maintenance is required.”
“Huh?” Apple Bloom drew back to look at Sweetie Belle. Her emerald eyes shone with a warmth that belied their artificial origin. A clear, colorless liquid ran out of their corners, glinting in the sunlight along with her metallic skin.
Apple Bloom knew she would never fully understand the intelligence behind those eyes—it was a matter well beyond the comprehension of a simple farm pony like herself—but she knew enough to recognize sadness when she saw it.
“Error,” Sweetie Belle droned on. “Critical heart-drive fail-fail-failure,” she stuttered. “Something is wr-wr-wrong with me.”
Apple Bloom gently nuzzled her robotic companion. “There ain't nothin' wrong with your heart, darlin',” she murmured. “Ah think it's workin' just fine.”
“She'll be okay,” Scootaloo said. The changeling looked upon the embrace her friends shared from a distance, a smile upon her fanged lips. “Out of all of us, she always had the strongest heart, and that was before it was made of clockwork.”
Apple Bloom managed a wry smile of her own. Her teeth were visible through the gaps in her torn, ragged cheeks, damp as they were with her tears. “At least hers is still beatin',” she said. “That's more than Ah can say fer mahself.” Her smile faded, replaced by a frown that looked all the more sullen upon her decaying face. “Scootaloo... are we sure this is gonna work?”
Scootaloo shrugged, the translucent wings upon her back fluttering as she did so. “No. But it's not like we really have a choice, is it?”
“Sure we do,” Apple Bloom said. “We could always go back to town.”
“Are you kidding?” Scootaloo asked. She gestured toward her fellow crusaders with a hole-filled foreleg. “Look at us. We may have been misfits before, but now... now we're not even ponies. We'd never be able to show our faces in Ponyville again. What would we do? Where would we go?”
“We shall ride with the mocking and friendly ghouls on the night-wind,” Sweetie Belle said. She sounded almost forlorn.
“Wait, what?” Apple Bloom glanced at Sweetie Belle, but when the robot said nothing, she turned her gaze back to Scootaloo. “We could stay with mah family,” she said. “Ah'm sure they'd take us in.”
Scootaloo gave a snort of breath. “And then what? Do you think your folks would actually let you come to the family reunion looking like that? What would happen the first time you got into a fight with your sister? The first time you lost your temper?”
Apple Bloom's eyes glowed an angry red in their sockets. “Ah'd never hurt Applejack,” she growled. “Never.”
“All right, never mind getting mad,” Scootaloo said. “What about getting hungry?”
The light in Apple Bloom's eyes immediately dimmed, as if somepony had simply switched them off.
“Oh sure, you might be able to fight it for a while. We both would. But how long would it take, Apple Bloom? How long before we stopped thinking of them as ponies and started looking at them like pieces of meat?”
Apple Bloom recoiled. Despite her gruesome appearance, the undead pony still managed to look horrified. “Ah… Ah couldn't… Ah mean, Ah wouldn't...”
“I know you wouldn't,” Scootaloo said. “Neither would I. But I know what I would do the first time I ever felt myself craving their love.” The young changeling turned her pupil-less eyes skyward. On another pony, Apple Bloom would have described the expression as being wistful. “I'd fly,” she continued, insectine wings spreading out wide. “I'd fly as high as I could go, up where the air gets cold and it's hard to breathe. Just to feel the wind beneath my wings and the sun on my face one more time. And then...”
Scootaloo's wings snapped into place at her sides.
“… and then I'd let myself drop.”
Apple Bloom swallowed. “Ah… Ah couldn't do that, either,” she said. “Ah mean… Ah mean it wouldn't work. Ah'd just get right back up and keep on goin'. It'd be up to somepony else to stop me. Twilight, or Pinkie Pie, or… land sakes, Scootaloo, what about Big Mac and Applejack? What if one of them had to do it? D'you think they'd even be able t'pull the trigger?”
“Applejack is a decorated sniper and would be able to terminate you most efficiently,” Sweetie Belle interjected. “Boom, headshot.”
“That ain't what Ah'm talkin' about, you bucket a' bolts,” Apple Bloom groused. “Ah couldn't stay here. Ah couldn't put mah brother an' sister through that. Ah s'pose Ah'd have to go back to Sunny Town with all the others. At least Ah'd have a place there. But eventually, somepony else would be sure to wander into town, just like Ah did, and then...”
“Girls?”
Apple Bloom never finished her morbid thought. The assembled crusaders turned to face Twilight Sparkle as she approached.
“It's time,” Twilight said. “Are you ready?”
Scootaloo looked to the others. Apple Bloom looked back at her with her hazy, unblinking eyes, but said nothing; Sweetie Belle merely stared at the ground, and remained equally mute.
“Be straight with us, Twilight,” she said, returning her attention to the princess. “What are our chances?”
Twilight frowned. “I'm afraid I don't have a straight answer to give you, Scootaloo,” she said. “We didn't create the Elements of Harmony; we only found them, and to be honest, we still don't know much about how they actually work. They almost seem to have minds of their own, and their effects are… unpredictable. When they were first used against Nightmare Moon, they banished her for a millennium. When they were used again, they freed Princess Luna from her control. But both times they were used against Discord, they turned him to stone. We don't know what makes them behave differently, or why. It could be determined by who wields them, or what they're wielded against, or… or by what day of the week it is. We just don't know. But as I see it, there are three possible outcomes.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Which are?”
“One, the Elements may do nothing. Two, they may return you to normal. Three… they may kill you.”
“Probability of successful transformation is approximately three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one,” Sweetie Belle said.
“I'm not sure I like those odds,” Scootaloo deadpanned.
“But that means there's still hope, right?” Apple Bloom said. She looked up at the princess. Twilight had always been taller than she was—which was to be expected, since Apple Bloom was still just a filly—but now that she was an alicorn, Twilight was taller still, towering over the three of them, the crown atop her head a jagged outline against the blue sky. “Ah mean… there is hope, isn't there?”
Twilight smiled down at her. “When I was very young,” she said, “a little younger than you are now, I was scared of the dark. It didn't make sense, of course—there's nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light—but it still terrified me. We had a big back yard that I loved to play in, pretending that Smarty Pants and I were having some grand adventure, but as soon as the sun went down, I'd come running into the house as fast as my hooves could carry me. I was scared that I might get lost.
“My parents wanted me to feel comfortable on our own property, so one day, they made me a promise: I could stay outside as late as I wanted, so long as I went to bed in time to be well-rested for school the next morning. In return, they would leave the light on in their bedroom until I was ready to come in. It was a bright light right by the window of the highest room in the house, and I could see it from anywhere in the yard. My mother told me, 'Even if you are lost in the dark, all you need is a single light to find your way home.'”
Twilight bowed her head low to Apple Bloom's and gingerly nuzzled her. “There is always hope, Apple Bloom,” she said. “Never forget that.”
Scootaloo sighed, causing her wings to reflexively flutter once more. “I guess a slim chance is better than none,” she said. “Let's do it, then. I'm tired of standing around talking about it.”
Twilight nodded. “Would any of you like to say anything to the others?” she asked. “Just in case?”
“Just in case we don't make it, you mean?” Scootaloo dryly replied.
Twilight flinched. “Well, that's not the way I would have put it, but...”
Scootaloo looked past Twilight. The other Element bearers were gathered at the edge of the clearing. Pinkie Pie appeared to be humming to herself, gently rocking back and forth to some unheard melody, perhaps one that only existed in her head. When it came to Pinkie, any reason to celebrate—or perhaps no reason at all—was a good one. Fluttershy was trembling where she stood and seemed to be trying very hard not to pass out. Rarity looked much the same; despite her snow-white coat, the curly-maned unicorn somehow managed to look pale, as if she might be in need of her fainting couch. Applejack was just the opposite, leaning against a tree with her forelegs folded across her chest and the brim of her hat down over her eyes, grinding a reed to dust between her clenched teeth. Rainbow Dash was standing near her, staring off into the distance, one of her hooves absently fidgeting with the Element of Loyalty around her neck. She briefly glanced at Scootaloo, but when she saw the changeling looking at her, she abruptly turned away.
They were all worried, in their own way. Probably had enough on their minds already. No point in adding to their troubles.
“I'm not into hugging and crying and all that sissy stuff, Twilight,” Scootaloo said. “Besides, I… I wouldn't want Rainbow Dash to see me like that, anyway. Let's just get this over with.”
“What about you, Apple Bloom?” Twilight said.
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Ah appreciate the thought, Twilight, but if'n it's all the same to you, anything Ah have to say to Applejack, Ah'll say to her when this is over.”
“Fair enough. Sweetie Belle?”
“Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...”
Scootaloo grimaced. “Better hurry, Twilight,” she said. “I think she's getting worse.”
Twilight nodded once more. “All right. We'll get started right away. Don't worry, girls. Everything will be fine. Trust me.”
The bookish alicorn moved to rejoin her friends. When she was out of earshot, Scootaloo said, “'Trust me'? That's her big, inspirational speech? 'Trust me'? That's the same thing you said to me when you suggested that we try to get our cutie marks in knife throwing.”
“Give her a break, she's new at this whole 'princess' thing,” Apple Bloom said. “An' that would've worked if mah sister hadn't stopped us.”
A sudden wind blew across the clearing, causing the grass in the clearing to whisper around them and the leaves in the trees of the Everfree to rustle as their branches swayed to and fro, and although the breeze was warm, it made Scootaloo shivered. Overhead, the sky was wide and blue and clear, and the sun was shining bright. She loved days like this. It was a good day to fly.
Good day to die, too, she supposed.
“It was nice while it lasted,” Scootaloo sighed. “Shame that we never got our cutie marks. Especially after everything we went through.”
“Cutie mark acquisition program has encountered a problem and needs to close,” Sweetie Belle said. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Ah know whatcha mean,” Apple Bloom said. The dead pony's dark lips drew upward into a smile. “It was fun though, wasn't it?”
Scootaloo smiled in kind, fangs protruding over her lower lip. “Yeah,” she agreed, “it was fun.”
A warm light emanated from across the clearing, and Scootaloo watched as it surrounded the six ponies there, causing them to levitate into the air. She had never seen the Elements of Harmony up close before, and had certainly never seen them being used. A sudden lump rose in her throat, but she fought it back down. Now was not the time to be having second thoughts. Her swiss-cheesed forelegs reached out for her friends' hooves, and upon finding them, grasped them tightly. One was hard and metallic; the other was brittle and cracked. Both felt cold.
“If we don't make it out of this one,” she whispered, “then I just want you girls to know that I love you.”
“Ah love you too,” Apple Bloom replied. “Y'all are the best friends that a pony could ever ask for.”
“Define love,” Sweetie Belle said. “Love: noun. A deep or abiding liking for something. An intense feeling of affection and care towards another pony, as in the case of friends and family members.”
The light split apart as if it had been run through a prism, bursting into a rainbow that filled the meadow with bright, vibrant colors. It surged upward, streaking across the sky, a ribbon of red and orange and purple against the endless blue.
“Define friend. Friend: noun. A pony whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection. See: friendship.”
The rainbow rose into a high arc, and then bowed downward, racing toward the trio of fillies who waited anxiously below.
“Define friendship. Friendship is...”
Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and let the light wash over her.
“… magic.”
~
