Author's Note

And now, the conclusion to that cliffhanger I left you on last week...

Part 6: Grave Tidings

Sleepy Hollow Town Library

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" was the thought running through Twilight's mind at the moment as the Headless Horse stood in their midst. Trixie's thoughts she didn't know, but from the way she was trembling it could be safely assumed that her thoughts were running along similar lines.

"I'm sorry Celestia, but I failed you..." Twilight whispered with tears running down her face. "You wanted me to become a good student and friend to anypony but now I'm going to die."

Twilight braced for death, and in those moments she thought of her teacher, her brother, her friends and Spike. But nothing occurred, and the Headless Horse was tilting it's neck in such a way that Twilight guess if it still had it's head it would be tilted in a curious manner. But why, it was almost like it was studying them. But whatever was to happen next in this brief shared moment of quietness between the Horse and Twilight, she never found out as with a mighty CRASH! both Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash burst in through the window, with glass shards ripping into Rainbow's costume. Shining stood firm against the Horse, his horn glowing with a magical aura and all of his training as Captain of the Royal Guard forces on display.

"Get away from my sister you piece of filth." He snarled and the Horse let out an ear piercing shriek before galloping forwards towards Shining who blasted it out of existence and into a cloud of black smoke with a shot of magic from his horn. It was gone, at least for the time being.

Twilight rushed forwards and hugged her brother, who whispered "It's okay Twily, I'm here."

Their moment of brother sister bonding was broken by the sound of Rainbow Dash groaning as she tossed off her costume. Twilight quirked an eyebrow in confusion. She thought Rainbow hated that thing.

"Man, it's ruined!" Rainbow complained and Trixie gaped.

"Trixie says she thought you hated that thing with a passion." The showmare stated in disbelief. Rainbow was then blushing in embarrassment.

"Well, to be fair it was getting me a lot of... Er, let's say interesting looks from both stallions and mares. I'm not picky." Rainbow replied with a flirty grin on her face, looking quite unashamed of herself. Twilight facehoofed in disbelief before throwing up a foreleg in frustration.

"So first, you hated the thing and now you claim you love it? Could you at least make up your mind?" Twilight exclaimed before she ground her teeth together in frustration.

"What? It's a free kingdom. Mind changing is allowed." Rainbow retorted. Twilight groaned, she'd never understand her friends sometimes. Now that she thought of it, Rainbow was pretty high up there on the list of friends she never completely understood.

Trixie meanwhile was snuggling up to a certain Captain of the Royal Guard and saying "You are Trixie's hero, c'mon give me a kiss!" and trying to get just exactly that.

Shining on the other hoof was blushing in embarrassment and praying to Celestia or any other deity that Cadence never learned of this little incident, if not for his safety then for Trixie's. Cadence was the jealous type after all, and pretty much everypony back in Canterlot heard of the many humiliating things she'd done to anypony who tried to flirt with her coltfriend. Speaking of which, Trixie was nowhere near done with her flirtations.

"Y'know, Trixie hears things about colts with big horns. I want to be all sciencey and test that theory..." Trixie trailed off seductively while Twilight looked disgusted at Trixie's audacity and Rainbow just burst out laughing. Twilight, blushing quickly found it best to just change the subject.

"S-So, while I was reading... T-This was of course b-before we got attacked by the Horse but I think I found a way to get rid of ghosts." Twilight stammered out, still blushing and quite embarrassed by seeing Trixie's behavior. Rainbow raised an eyebrow inquisitively and looked at her.

"Oh yeah, and how do we do that?" She asked, and Twilight simply smirked.

"Burn the bones."

Sleepy Hollow Graveyard: 10:15 PM

It was cold and dark, and the wind was still blowing through the bare branched trees making them sway, but Twilight and company were thankful for at least one thing. The rain had finally stopped and the clouds were beginning to clear making the task of burning the bones of the Headless Horse all that much easier and along with that they had Luna's moonlight to light their way along the path through the graveyard.

"So, I assume we'll just know the Horse's grave when we see it?" Rainbow asked, and Twilight nodded. As she looked around and glanced at the names on the tombstones her eyes spied a distinct statue, a pony with wings and hooves covering it's face almost as if it were weeping. She turned her head back, but what nopony saw was that the statue was gone almost as if it were never there in the first place.

Finally, she saw it. A name on a headstone. Ichabod Crane, it read. Interestingly, while most of the headstones around here seemed to be well cared for this one was falling apart almost as if anypony never wanted to be near it. It made sense, Twilight mused. After all, Ichabod was supposedly the Headless Horse and nopony wanted to anger his spirit.

The hole to expose the casket was quickly dug, and the casket was ripped open exposing the bones of Ichabod Crane. To everypony's shock, the head was still there. Then again, he'd probably been buried with his head anyway. But the odd thing was, it was almost as if the head... was still attached.

Trixie's horn glowed with a magical flame and she commented "Well, time for the old stallion to finally be laid to rest!" even as Twilight's eyes widened as she realized the truth and cried out a warning.

"Trixie, wait! We've got the wrong-"

But it was too late, as the bones were already aflame and burning quickly their dryness helping them along. Trixie smirked and turned to Twilight.

"You were about to say something Twilight Spark-"

Suddenly, Trixie felt her neck pressed to cold hard stone as a Weeping Angel appeared and grabbed her in such a way that it was obvious it was about to break her neck and snap it in two. Shining flashed back to a conversation he and the Doctor had soon after when they first met.

"Wait a moment, you said ones. Does that mean there are more?"

The Doctor looked sheepish.

"Ah, I did think there might be a slight chance more then one Angel might have landed here. I just didn't mention it before."

"And you failed to mention this to us before because...?"

"Didn't want to alarm you, that's all."

"Well congrats, you failed on that front." Shining snapped at him.

"Looks like the Doctor wasn't kidding when he said more might have fallen through the cracks." Shining muttered, and Twilight and Rainbow stared at him in confusion before they put that question to the back of their minds. Right now, they had bigger things to worry about. But then, there was a storm of pink magical energy appearing around the Angel and a cry of "Geronimo!" was let out as Cadence and the Doctor appeared and as for the Angel... It was gone.

"Well, talk about a Doubleback of a trip..." The Doctor muttered before he realized what he'd just done even as Cadence regained her strength from the trip and Twilight helped her up. She frowned at this, Twilight knew the signs of a powerful time travel spell from her books and last she checked her old foalsitter didn't know about these types of spells. This was a question she'd have to get answers for later, that was for sure.

"So... Uh, where's the Angel?" Trixie asked, rubbing her neck glad to have it in one piece.

"It uh... Dispersed into the atmosphere." The Doctor admitted with a blush as he rubbed his head. Twilight, being the smartest of the group gaped and made a small squeak of shock as she figured out what had happened. Trixie, on the other hoof hadn't quite caught up to her train of thought and was confused.

"And that means...?" She asked and the Doctor sighed and rubbed his temples before he muttered "Ponies, oh why can't you all be as smart as Twilight over there...?"

Trixie heard him and glared at the Doctor for the insult.

"Can you just put it in normal Equestrian please?" She demanded. She quickly learned she probably shouldn't have asked, as evidenced by the Doctor's answer.

"I mean you're breathing it." He stated flatly and Trixie, along with pretty much everyone else began making loud noises of disgust as they realized they were breathing what was left of the Weeping Angel.

"...Well, at least that Horse is finally gone." Rainbow said at last, letting out a loud sigh of relief. But then there came a loud shout from Trixie as she pointed with a hoof to a nearby hilltop.

"Oh yeah, then what do you call THAT!?!" She yelled, as on that hilltop standing between two trees was the Headless Horse...