Incubus

Applejack stayed numb and limp in her bed, not even bothering to listen in on her friends discussing everything they damn well pleased. From why Sweetie Belle died, to why they kept targeting foals. Rarity was missing. She was on one of Twilight's rooms in the crystal keep. Whoever spoke, spoke in a strained whisper. No words were easy to say. Twilight brought her tankard to her lips and drank deep from it, letting the lid clatter against itself while she grew soaked in cider scents.

"Okay, girls... We know Sweetie Belle was targeted because she was related to Sombra. What else do we know. Applejack isn't related to anypony bad, as far as we know. So..." Her highness hushed, fixing her glasses up.

Fluttershy rest her chin on her hoof, flinching softly, not used to the metal on her foreleg boot. It was both surprising and completely uncalled for to see her dressed in her old attire. If Rarity were there, she'd ask why Fluttershy wore such a curious blend of a tanktop, a leather jacket and metallic boots. And that peculiar cross on her necklace, which was golden and elaborate with the words 'santificado sea tu nombre.' Something from her roots. The pegasus answered with her hoof squishing into her cheek.

"What if it's not just Sombra or the other evil people. What if it's us. They could be using the Sombra excuse to distract us. We aren't fighting anyone dumb anymore, you know...?"

Rainbow Dash sat to her right, dressed in her wonderbolts combat uniform, which consisted of composite plastic ceramics and spider silk in various pads around the original suit. She made sure to glance around the room, checking for spies. Pinkie Pie dawdled about, pacing and admiring the lush forestry outside. If she wanted to, she could slip outside and goof around on the empty ramparts. Her spy suit and night vision goggles were more than enough to brave the depths of the Everfree. Pinkie spoke at the window.

"Hey guys, do you think we should retrace steps toward the Red Scarab. I mean- the ponies who got Sweetie Belle were all... you know, weird in the head. What if all these bastards are just crazy and wanna find an excuse to bring evil back into Equestria. I dunno, I mean, what if they're making us paranoid to distract us...?"

Everypony stayed silent and pondered that theory. How frightening was it not to feel safe in their own homes. How it stabbed the heart to know that somepony, sometime, somewhere, would want them dead. Twilight fixed her eyepatch, scratching where the wound was and doing her best to not touch the grafted skin. She stepped out her table seat when striking pain stung her cranium. A flash of magic sparked around her horn, black, red and purplish blue. Applejack watched her excuse herself and leave for not five minutes.

All that time, she waited, judging the main cast before her, weighing where their loyalties lay. Pinkie. Rainbow. Rarity. Fluttershy. And then... Twilight. The princess galloped in, completely weak and out of breath, clutching her cellular in telekinetic binds.

"Rarity... she..." Twilight sobbed, muffling her choppy, airy cries.

They all rushed over to comfort her. Everyone but Applejack.

"I... I can't believe she's gone. Some... somepony broke into the castle a-a-and-!"

Scootaloo stayed laying against the freshly-dried grass, learning to love being where she was. She'd lazed about the past few days watching the painting endure rain and wind alike. Storms all across Equestria couldn't tear her painting off the stone if they tried. Sweetie Belle was sleeping below her, somewhere gone and somewhere next to her. In her heart. In her head. Scootaloo liked to sleep with her beloved and curl up against the tombstone. Maybe then, some part of her thought, they'd rise up from the soil and laugh with her again. The green grass below had turned a deeper blue, stained there with tears that said 'I miss you.'

Something inside her stomach flipped. Because all she could do was muffle her lips and press against them, shielding both her snout and her mouth. A sickly, rotten stench pricked her nostrils and forced her to collapse in every limb. The sky grew darker as something struck Ponyville. Sickly, toxic lightning flashed before her very eyes. It was green, hateful lightning. Scootaloo watched the sky twist till a dark raincloud cluster grew pregnant just above.

She shut her eyes and felt the earth stricken just over her head, leaving several locks singed away. She stumbled to her feet when she realized the sparking electricity sunk into the ground. And with it came something... inequine.

A torn, death-eaten hoof jutted from the stricken soil. And up clawed her beloved, in their white wedding dress, a sickly green illuminating her bloodshot eyes.