Equestria Revived

It was a dark morning. In a small town just off the edge of Ponyville, a young Earth Pony mare in a little bakery woke up to a blinding light filling her room from the small little window. With a yawn, she got up as the light dissipated, leaving her confused and disoriented as a harsh rapid tapping at the door woke her up.

With a tired sigh, she went to the door and was hugged by what seemed to be a strange pink blur. "Good morning, Crumb Cake!"

"That's not even close to my name. It's Autumn by the way, in case you forgot. No big deal we've only known eachother for what, ten, fifteen years?" The earth pony laughed a little. "How did you get in here anyway?"

The pink blur revealed herself to be a tall elegant pink unicorn with a bright smirk scrawled across her face. "Oh, I have my ways." She smiled, looking to the dining room window. "Did you see that light? It was so pretty! I think there was an eclipse, or maybe..."

Autumn lightly pushed her off her. "So, what do you want anyway, Rose? I just got up, you know."

"Oh, I know. I've been sitting in your kitchen waiting for you to wake up, but I just couldn't wait anymore!" Rose giggled. "By the way, your mom left this morning. She made muffins!"

With a smile, Autumn brushed past her to the dining room. "Oh, how thoughtful of her to make muffins for me." She stopped to sniff the air. "Oh, she made coffee, too?"

"Nope. that was all me. I got tired of waiting." Rose's horn glowed and levitated out a coffee cup, then quickly gave it to Autumn as she sat down at the benched off table, along with a warm muffin wrapped in a brightly decorated napkin. "Need anything else?"

"I should really tell my mom not to let just anypony into our house claiming to be my friend. That's how stalkers take pictures of me sleeping and poison my coffee." Autumn lifted an eyebrow and smirked, wiping the muffin crumbs off her muzzle. "What do you need?"

"Now, I know you don't like social events..."

"Here it goes..." Autumn rolled her eyes as she savored the delectable fresh baked muffin.

"... but it's so boring! It will be far more enjoyable with you there, please, please, please say you'll come! It's an early birthday party. For me." Rose rolled her eyes. "My mother's idea. It's her kind of excuse to show me off to all the 'eligible stallions' of the Canterlot crypt. She's hoping that I'll run off and get married to some rich pony so our family can keep it's super-duper elite status."

"As if. I'd chew off my own hoof before I'd go marry one of those stuck up Canterlot jerks. I can't imagine any of them would even be your type." Autumn took a long sip of her coffee. "Not that I really would know what your type is nowadays anyway."

"It's not really like that." Rose sighed. "Some of them are... nice. But in the end... that won't really matter." She cleared her throat. "Either way, I guess if you want to stay here... I'll just take an order..."

"Geesh, if you insist. Let me get ready and I'll take the cart to the party. Maybe I'll stay."

"Yay! But just be ready for her- Royal-highness to go off at you. The party is at the park." Rose smiled. "Actually, could you get there early? I'll run it by my mother. Don't worry, your going either way."

Not that Autumn really wanted to go anyway. She wasn't really sure why she was going to go in the first place. But, hey, at least she'd get to sit around and eat cake instead of sitting around her bedroom reading books. She debated in her head what would really be worth it, but she already knew it was set in stone. Rose just had that strange way of persuading her.

After Rose left, Autumn, still half asleep, decided to take a quick shower then load the cart and trudge her way to the inevitable. At the very least, Rose would pay her for them.

"Are you mad?!" Primm slammed her hoof in the ground for some kind of enthesis on her point. "You invited an Earth pony to the social gala? What were you thinking, Tea!"

It was midmorning and Rose already felt emotionally exhausted. "I was thinking that I would invite one of my childhood friends to my birthday party. Like a normal adult pony my age."

Primm frowned. "I will let you get away with this. For now. But young lady, we have a reputation to uphold. You can't just act like a spoiled filly who can get whatever she wants." She smiled a little. "To lighten the mood, you will be pleased to hear that Prince Dragon Blood is coming this evening~."

Rose blushed a little. "Dragon Blood?"

"Don't act like you don't know the poor stallion. Well, he's not poor, he is in fact very talented and has royal ties to the princess!"Primm nearly squealed in happiness. "And do you know what I heard? I heard that he is interested in you!"

"I know who he is." Rose glanced away.

"He is in the Royal guard, you know!"

"Yeah... I know."

"Have you been doing your exercises?"

Rose blushed even harder. "Mother!"

"What? oh, and Rose, maybe you should gain a little weight. I hear that stallions these days like a more rounded figure, that and it might help your chances to getting me grandfoals!" She smiled. "And remember to smile and be pleasant. Stallions don't like grumpy flanks." Primm looked around and noticed an earth pony trot into the park with a cart of cake, cupcakes, and other dainty assortments. "That must be that baker mare. Oh, what is she wearing!"

Rose glanced over. "She's not wearing anything."

"Exactly!" She looked away in disappointment. "Direct her to that one dressmaker friend you know. Nothing too expensive, but nothing to commoner looking. And for Celestia's sake, have her fix that rat's nest of a mane and tail."

Rose quickly trotted over. "Autumn!"

"What?" Autumn said as she set up the dessert table.

"Good news, my mother says you can stay..."

"That's good in your opinion."

"But I need to take you to Simple Stitch's. To get a dress." Rose sighed. "To be... 'refined'."

"As refined as a bleached bag of flour, got it." She decided just to go with the flow.

Autumn had passed by the dress shop every now and again- it was a small town after all with only two streets, more of just a city revolving around tourists on their way to the historic Ponyville. She never really had a reason to go in and wasn't even sure what the tailor looked like these days, despite going to school with her for years. Inside the shop was a small creamy coated unicorn with curly grey purple mane, dark blue glasses framing her face. "Oh, Rose, I'm not ready yet, I was going to wait for Star... oh, hey there Autumn!" Simple Stitch smiled as she trotted over. "It's been so long! How've you been?"

Autumn teetered uneasily. "Oh... you know. The usual."

"Oh. Well, what can I do for you? Need an outfit for a baking convention?" Simple Stitch was already flipping through racks of clothing in search of a cute apron when Rose interrupted her train of thought.

"She's going to the party too. My mom wants her to find something nice to wear." she said calmly.

"Primm is letting you go?" She was momentarily perplexed by that. "Did she say any kind of outfit in particular?"

"Something cheap yet presentable." Rose frowned. "I should go. I'll see you at the party Sitch." Without another word, Rose hurried away.

Autumn sat in awkward silence until Stitch trotted over with several dresses in tow. "Now, what color would look nice on you...."

"I don't know. My work uniform is red. why not red?"

Simple stitch cringed a little. "Oh, deary, um... I'm not sure if red is your color... maybe blue?"

"Ick, blue? Like sky blue?"

"Oh, heavens no! I was thinking more of a navy... maybe with a brown jacket?" she floated out several examples. "Maybe this one?"

"Ugh, why do I even need to wear a dress? Can't I just throw on an apron and put my hair in a bun or something like that?" Autumn paced impatiently. "And jacket? Isn't it to warm for a jacket?"

"Oh, I don't know... winter is just around the corner. we have been getting a lot of wind lately." Stitch levitated out a measuring tape and quickly noted the numbers as she dug through the racks. " Do you even want a dress? Why not... a dressy jacket?"

Autumn was a little relieved at that. "That sounds a lot better actually."

She smiled gently and took out a few examples. "These are a little last season, but I think they will make a nice... Autumn look." She giggled a little to herself. "I even have some cute pins you can dig through if you want. And, bear with me here, do you mind if I alter your mane style a little? Actually I think a nice little updo might be cute... or maybe we could curl your tail a little so it matches your mane? Your mane does have a nice natural wave."

"Oh, uh, I guess that would be okay. Just... do whatever as long as it's comfy." Stitch dropped three jackets and a box of old pins in front of Autumn as she started quickly fixing up her mane and tail. She pointed to a simple brown button up jacket. "Yeah, this one is cute I guess."

Simple Stitch glance over while magically adding a curl to Autumn's tail. "Oh that one is ancient! I suppose vintage is going back in style." She laughed a little to that.

"Are you ready to... what the hell are you doing?"

Autumn spun around and saw a pony she definitely recognized, a blue unicorn mare with bangs that flipped over one eye and a large star cutie mark. Simple Stitch smiled. "Hey, Star! It's Autumn, remember her from school? She's going to Rose's party so Primm wanted me to dress her up a little."

Starburst smirked, "Good luck trying to turn a turd into a dirt clump."

Autumn rolled her eyes. "AS pleasant as usual, Starburst."

She smiled harder and slipped on a flowy white dress edged in blue. "So what are you going to dress her up in?"

"Oh, well..." Simple Stitch floated up the jacket.

"Ha! That's it?" Starburst nearly knocked herself over laughing. "Sure, I'm sure that'll be soooo impressive." She snorted and turned to Simple Stitch. "Are you almost ready?"

Simple Stitch got a hair pin out of a drawer. "After I'm done with Autumn, Starry. Why don't you wait outside? I'll just be a minute."

Starburst reluctantly stepped out, and Autumn decided to chime in. "Why do you hang out with her? You seem nice and she's so... you know!"

Stitch sighed as she pinned back Autumn's mane and helped her get the jacket while Autumn glanced through the pin box. "I know Star can be a little... crude... but she's been my best friend for years. She can be a really nice pony... once you get to know her."

"Yeah, sure."

"No, I mean it! Star is... well, it's the way we were raised. All of us. Personally, I don't have a problem with Earth Ponies. I'm sure if she got to know one better she wouldn't be as..."

"... racist?"

"...difficult." Simple Stitch smiled. "Alright, you're all set to go. Did you find a pin you liked?" She slipped on a simple soft yellow dress.

Autumn picked out a little pin that made the most sense. "This one's nice."

She turned to Autumn and smiled, helping her pin it to her jacket. "You should get going to the party. Star and I will be leaving a little later."

Autumn counted in her head how many unicorns were there as she sat at a bench eating small dainty orderves. Twenty-Two. She looked around and tried to list off any pegasi she saw. Three. How about earth ponies? she looked down and smirked. One.

It wasn't a particularly cold morning, but it wasn't too warm either. She seemed to perfectly mesh into the background, Rose the only one to come over and say how much her jacket looked swell or how much she loved her mane. Simple Stitch waved to her when she and Starburst arrived a little after she did, Which was followed by a scowl from Starburst. Autumn laughed to herself a little thinking about her conversation with Stitch. 'As if THAT'S ever gonna happen.'

"That's an interesting outfit."

Autumn jumped and turned, seeing a tall reddish purple stallion next to her at the table, his accent reminding her faintly of someone Canterlinian. "Yeah, I guess. It's nice."

He smirked. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you don't really seem like the type to go to a party like this." He levitated up a few crackers.

"Well, it's my friend's birthday party."

"Oh, your friends with Tea Rose?"

Autumn's eye's widened. "You know her?"

He laughed a little. "You could say that. I must say, I am surprised that you haven't heard of me. Most mares I meet at these gatherings quake at my presence."

Autumn laughed a little. "Really? You must be pretty seizure inducing."

The stallion laughed at that. "You are interesting."

That stagnated her thoughts. "Oh, I doubt you mean that."

"Really, you are... different."

Autumn smirked. "Really?"

"Really." He sat down and ate a caramel apple cupcake. "So, what do you do?"

"Well, I made that cupcake you're eating."

His eyes widened. "Seriously? This is amazing! Are you sure you're not a unicorn? Because these cupcakes are magical!"

"That was so cheesy I could make nachos out of it." Autumn giggled a little. "But you weren't to far off, I am part unicorn... technically. Both of my parents are unicorns. I guess that makes me a rarity?"

"Genetics are so complicated."

"Oh, um... my name is Autumn, by the way. I realized I've been sitting here talking about myself and I didn't even say my name!"

"My name's..."

"Prince Dragonblood!" Autumn jumped at the sudden arrival of Primm, plastering on a smile. "Oh, Prince Dragonblood, won't you come with me? I don't think I've introduced you to my husband!"

"Oh really?" Dragonblood frowned, then turned to Autumn with a smile. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Autumn. I hope we can talk again sometime."

As Autumn watched Dragonblood be dragged off by Primrose, she didn't expect the sudden appearance of Starburst who couldn't help overhear the conversation. "You know...," Starburst smiled, "... he doesn't like you."

"What do you mean?" Autumn said, only half caring.

"I mean he isn't interested in you or your outfit or your 'quirky', 'cute' little puns and punchlines." Starburst laughed, nearly falling over. "And you were just playing into it! Like you actually thought he would dirty himself by falling for you? Ha! He just want's your muddy blooded dirt pony plebeian butt THRUSTING on his..."

Simple Stitch gently tapped her shoulder. "Um... Star... you've had to much to drink, you should keep your voice down..."

"Not now, Stitchy, I'm just having a friendly chat with our friend, Autumn, here!" She promptly burped and winced. "Dang them cupcakes are nasty."

"Come on, Starburst." Simple Stitch smiled. "Don't you want some nice super special sandwiches? Over here!"

"Yes I would." Starburst smirked, following Simple Stitch after making a thrusting movement with her flank and laughing.

Autumn decided after that uncomfortable bit of drunkenness to go find Tea Rose. Eventually, she did find Tea Rose talking to, of course, the tall mysterious cheesey Prince Dragonsblood. "Hey, Rose."

Tea Rose looked over at Autumn and sighed. "Autumn, not right now."

"No, it's alright." Prince Dragonsblood said with his nonchalant attitude coating his words with as much innocence as glitter and hugs. "Please, join us! I was just talking to Ms.Tea Rose about those delicious cupcakes you made."

"No you weren't..."

"Well, I was about to get to it." Dragonblood smiled. "They really were good, by the way. Perhaps you would be interested in catering for me sometime?"

"C-catering?" Autumn's eyes widened at the idea of potentially expanding her parent's business to the wealthy galas of Canterlot. 'We could finally fix that draft!' she thought, Joy sprawling across her face. "That would actually be amazing!"

"Excellent! You know, one thing these parties could definatly use is food that actually tastes good, you know?" Dragonsblood smiled. "We can talk business later. Right now, I am curious, how do you two know each other?"

Rose glanced away. "Well... um..."

"Oh, Rose and I have been neighbors ever since we were cutie markless fillies!" Autumn smiled brightly on a business opportunity high. "I see her almost every day, if it wasn't for her I'd be sitting around on my days off!"

"How cute," Dragonsblood said, "You've really known her that long?"

"Yep!"

Rose scowled at her. "Autumn. Please."

"What?"

Primrose trotted over quickly. "Oh, Prince Dragonblood, I have just gotten done talking to your father!"

"Oh?"

"Yes, and I am proud to announce that my daughter is going to be married to Canterlot Royalty, a member of the royal guard as well!" Primm made sure to say it as loud as possible, drawing attention from the party goers.

"Really? It will be a pleasure to meet them." Dragonblood said with a dim-witted smile across his face.

"She means you, son," said an old stallion in a pristine fancey shirt, "we both agree that it is the best decision for everyone."

"It's for the best, Tea." Prim Rose smiled at Tea Rose, staring in shock. "You two probably have a lot in common, your cutie marks are both flower related, and both of you are sure to provide our families with beautiful pure blooded unicorn foals."

Rose frowned and looked over to where Autumn was, hoping to just look for an excuse to run away from the whole situation, but, to her regret, she was already gone.

Autumn did a lot of thinking in the bathroom. Of course Dragonsblood would end up with a pretty mare like Rose. She shook her head of thoughts of even considering him in any romantic way. 'I mean, what kind of name is "Dragonsblood" anyway?! Sounds like some kind of foal's Battle Brigade character!' She thought, wiping her eyes of tears, her face feeling warm and flushed. 'And besides, Rose is your friend! Now get out there and... oh, do you really want to support her? I doubt Primm would consider her feelings... did you even consider her feelings?' She shook her head of any doubts. 'Oh, buck up and face it, Autumn Darling! Be there for your friend.'

As Autumn began to leave, she heard a loud scream outside and froze as several other screams overlayed on top of one another. 'What was that?' She thought. Did she even want to know? 'Screw it.'

Autumn slowly went to the bathroom door, and after she opened it, she briefly saw a blur of Primrose as she pushed her out of the way and onto the grass and cement, followed by the thunderous trotts of several other ponies from the party.

Then Autumn looked up.

Blood splattered the ground as she heard the gurgling moans and squishing of teeth gnawing at the flesh of the ponies in front of her. The colorful unicorn's were now all nearly dulled to a putrid off grey and muddied red, their eyes rolled back and glossy, mouth agape in the last scream they would ever utter. Autumn trembled as she saw the creatures responsible for this; thin as bone creatures with limbs on the cusp of being snapped like twigs yet someway, somehow, staying together. They didn't even look like ponies, they looked more like living mud- covered Nightmare Night decorations. Autumn slowly got up, staring in horror as they chewed flesh off the bones of the ponies she saw living and enjoying their lives only moments before. She felt as though she was paralyzed after she got up, her hooves shaking and quaking as her eyes just wouldn't look away. Slowly, her eyes focused on somepony in particular that filled her with grief, Simple Stitch, the creatures left her, her neck bit open and her jaw hanging down as she laid, dead, on top of the desert table.

Autumn slowly backed away when the unicorns softly glowed with a white aura, their eyes rolling back, then with a slow sloshing crack of bones, they began to get up. Then Autumn realized something even more terrible.

She was screaming.

Quickly, she ran towards town, tens of creatures squirming towards her. To safety. 'There are no safe havens in hell.' she thought grimly to herself. "Shut up!" Autumn yelled to herself, which in hindsight only attracted more of those things towards her way.

The streets of her home were decorated in a pureed pulp of her neighbors, her classmates, the few ponies she could call 'friend', a putrid viscous blood and gore mural splattered about the stone streets. She sloshing sounds wouldn’t let up. They were chasing her. They were trying to kill her.

“Over here!” Autumn looked over and saw a tall older looking stallion holding open the door to his house. “Get inside, hurry!”

She ducked over and rushed through the door. “What’s happening?!”

“Hell if I know.” He said simply. “Go inside, I’ll hold them off!”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“Better than having them bust down the door!” Autumn saw the unicorn light a stick of sparkling fireworks, chucking it at the hoard. “Go inside, and hope that this works…” He pushed her in the open doorway and slammed the door behind her.

She heard the fireworks explode down the street, then large smaller explosion noises. Then, suddenly, screaming.

Then she didn’t hear anything as the room filled with deafening silence.