Horsemageddon

Rainbow woke up, alarmed. Her mind spun a million miles an hour as she tried to collect both her thoughts and breath. She looked around the room. Everything was back to normal. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, the pictures, the windows, the rugs, and even the couch that Scootaloo was sound asleep on. It was day out. At least 1:00 in the afternoon. Rainbow's head throbbed. She must've fell asleep right there on the spot and dropped like a rock. Rock..."Oh snap!" Rainbow whispered. The deal was on. Thinking that it was a race against time, the blue pegasus quietly trotted out of the house. When she got outside, she stopped and put her hoof on her face. She had left the statue in her room. With a sigh, she trotted back into the house to retrieve it.

It had been a weird day for both Pinkie Pie and Twilight. What was even weirder was that they don't remember anything at all. It was as if nothing had happened, despite the bruise on the princess's chest, which was covered up by a vest. Nopony suspected a thing. Not even their friends. Pinkie Pie bounced by the purple mare, "Hiya, Twilight! What's shakin'?" She wiggled her tail in front of Twilight's face when she said it. "Pinkie! Stop! You're tail's in my...mmph!" Twilight tried to warn Pinkie that her fluffy tail was too close, but instead she got a face full of it. Pinkie jumped back, bouncing nonstop. She tilted her head slightly and said, "Oops! Sorry, Twily! I got distracted a little by a cute little ladybug. Twilight sighed, spitting out fragments of her friend's hair, "Oh, it's alright. That wasn't the first time. And I'm pretty sure it won't be the last.

Pinkie squealed as Applejack popped in with a "Howdy!" and fell onto the pavement right beside the alicorn. The cowgirl mare just rolled her eyes. "Has anypony seen Rainbow? Ah've been expectin' her ta show up and show off her little tricks on flyin'," she asked. Both Pinkie and Twilight shook their heads. "No, I haven't seen Rainbow in a while, now. I hope she's okay," Twilight responded, followed by Pinkie, "Yeah, I dunno where she is, either. Now I'm hungry." Applejack and Twilight both stared at the pink party pony, who had just said "Bye." and bounced off towards Sugarcube Corner. "What are ya gonna do?" the orange mare said sarcastically.

The sun had begun to set, creating a fantastical array of warm colors in the sky. The duo gazed at the sight, realizing that it was getting dark, soon. "Ah'll see ya later, Twilight. I gotta get home. Ah'll be needin' to talk to Apple Bloom about that cotton-candy incident," Applejack announced, nodding her head in parting. Twilight said her farewell and walked off towards her castle. The orange mare trotted home as well, to a big, red farmhouse that was surrounded by a forest of apple trees. As soon as Applejack opened the door, a little yellow filly toppled over in the hallway in front of her. The filly was covered in white powder, presumably flour. She looked up at the cowgirl. "Heheh. Howdy, Applejack. Uh..," the red-maned mare said, getting back on her hooves, "Want some cake?" Applejack burrowed her eyebrows into a mean look and responded, "Apple Bloom...what did ya do this time?" "Well, uh, I was just tryin' to do somethin' nice for Scoots. So Ah thought Ah'd try to, uh, make her a surprise cake. Ah haven't seen her in a while." Apple Bloom crossed her front hoof nervously. "It's been two days!" Applejack snapped. She didn't know it, but something uncanny was taking place.

At the instant moment when Applejack snapped at her younger sister, Rainbow Dash slammed a tough, sturdy mallet against the Bill Cipher Statue, causing it to burst in fragmented pieces and scattering all over the place. She had taken it to the center of the clearing where she saw it for the first time. Tiny blue flames flickered near the pieces of granite, consuming them, and flickered out, making the stone vanish with it. She had done it. She held her side of the deal. She'd destroyed the statue. It's gone. She can finally be happy again, knowing that Scootaloo won't be having anymore nightmares, as well as the other Rainbow Dash from her encounter with Bill being well. As for Apple Bloom, things had gotten really out of hoof.

"Sorry," Apple Bloom said, shaking off the remaining flour, "Ah was just tryin'-" "Well it ain't workin', ya hear?" Applejack, usually one of the most laid-back of mares, managed to yell her temper into her own sister's bones, causing her to shiver. The orange mare continued, gradually getting more angry and more louder with each passing moment, "What ya don't understand is is that there's a time when ya just stop and be somepony normal! Somepony grown! And ya still haven't figured that out, yet? It's a wonder how y'all still got yer Cutie Marks! If anythin', y'all should've gotten a hit to the head, at best! Ya know what? Ah'm pretty sure you've managed to give a bad reputation to the Apple Family! To me. To Big Mac. To Granny. To all of us! Ya even broke Ma and Pa! And Ah'm definite that their hearts are broken, so congratulations! Ya managed to KILL OUR DEAD PARENTS!"

That was enough to penetrate Apple Bloom's little heart and shatter it to pieces. Kill our dead parents? The little yellow filly's eyes were glassy, tears flowing freely straight down her face and onto the floor, causing little globs of wet flour to appear. Her mouth shook as she tried to spit out the words. No avail. Her legs shook as she stepped back from her ex-sister. From that thing. She paused for a moment, staring at the monster that used to be her big sis, before turning around and bolted upstairs towards her room, crying sharply and loudly, as if everyone in Ponyville had died. Applejack stood there, motionless. Her heaving, hard and tired. Her mind was completely blank, oblivious to resentment, remorse, and regret. The cowgirl shut the door behind her with a loud BAM as she walked over towards the living room, sat down in a rocking chair, pulled her hat down, covering her face with it, and fell asleep. It wasn't long before the faint, yet audible sobs and wailing of her sister was shrouded by something more sinister.

Something laughed in the night.