Magical Undead Human Princess of Friendship

Chapters

2: Scrambled Egghead
3: Magical World-Ending Cataclysms
4: Zombie Up
1: The Pony Club

2: Scrambled Egghead

By the next morning, Liv had decided that whoever Twilight had been, she was certainly an ordered, inquisitive person. She spent most of the evening rereading medical texts and picking out things that she hadn’t even remembered from medical school. She also found herself writing out a daily checklist several pages long. The final item was make new checklist for tomorrow. Twilight was possibly neurotic, but definitely intelligent.

Taking the leftovers of Twilight’s brain out of the fridge, Liv had scrambled egghead for breakfast and then went to meet her friends. Twilight’s friends, that is. It seemed like everyone had more friends than Liv. Of course, that was probably because they weren’t literal brain-eating zombies.

She called Ravi to tell him where she was going. He understood her extracurriculars and would cover for her.

She stopped at a coffee shop and got six cups to go in the little cardboard holders. One did not simply show up the morning after a tragic loss without coffee. It was Seattle, after all.

Liv came out the front door of the shop carrying the coffee and turned to the back parking lot to go to her car. She hummed while she consulted her checklist. She let go of the coffee, stopping where she stood to take out her pen and mark off get coffee.

“Oh, and one more thing!” she said brightly, adding take thorough notes below the as-yet unchecked box for interview Twilight’s friends.

Liv clicked her pen purposefully and slid it inside the spiral of her notebook. She looked up to continue towards her car, suddenly realizing the coffee was still hovering beside her, right where she’d taken her hands off it.

She jumped back in surprise, and as if released, the six coffee cups in their cardboard tray splashed to the ground. Liv stared at the mess. Why had she unconsciously set the coffee in the air and expected it to stay there? Why had it? How could that have happened? How could it even be possible?

Magic?

Well, that would certainly explain it. But it also drew up several other questions. Was she actively doing it?

Liv hesitantly put out one hand and tried to move the sodden cups on the ground. Nothing happened. Hocus-pocus finger wiggles didn’t help.

She glanced around. Someone could walk by at any moment. No matter what was going on here—magic or otherwise—people would wonder. Collecting herself, she quickly turned and walked back towards the coffee shop to get another round. As she walked, she jotted another note to the bottom of her list: investigate magic.

Liv showed up at Sunset Shimmer’s apartment a few minutes later with fresh coffee. Her knock brought a sleepy yet still tired-looking Sunset to the door.

“Hi, I’m Liv Moore, we met yesterday. I was hoping I could talk to you again.”

“There’s nothing left to talk about,” Sunset mumbled, trying to close the door.

“Please, I brought coffee,” Liv persisted.

“There’s no reason to talk,” Sunset retorted, now pushing at Liv’s foot, which was in the door. “It was an accident. Twilight’s gone. End of story.”

“I know you’re hurting,” said Liv. “Loss is painful. But friendship is everlasting, and even when the person is gone, we keep the memories with us. I know I can’t replace Twilight, but I want to help you, anything I can do. I want to be your friend.”

Liv didn’t know where the words had originated. It didn’t feel like something she would say. It seemed to work, though. Sunset paused, seeming to meet Liv’s eyes for the first time. After a moment, she opened the door.

The other five girls Liv had seen the previous day were all still sleeping, draped over various pieces of furniture. Sunset woke them gently one by one, gesturing to Liv and the coffee.

The six of them stood around the kitchen for a few minutes, just drinking coffee. There wasn’t much talk, but Liv had learned their names. She found herself more willing to accept monikers like Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie at face value today than she had before.

The tall blonde, Applejack, finished her coffee first. As her head tipped back to drain the cup, she glanced at the clock. “We’re going to be late for school.”

“Are you kidding me?” muttered Rainbow.

“Surely we can rest today. The principals will understand,” said Rarity.

“Twilight would have wanted us to go,” said Fluttershy at a near-whisper. The others nodded reluctantly.

“Plus, we need to—” Sunset stopped abruptly, glancing at Liv.

“What?” Liv asked. She looked around, but the rest suddenly found their coffee cups very interesting.

She let it drop. “Well, I can give you a ride to school. It might be a little tight, but we can probably fit in my car.”

“I’ll take my motorcycle,” said Sunset. The rest seemed happy to accept Liv’s offer.

Getting in the car, she asked, “So which school do you go to? University of Washington?”

“Canterlot High,” said Pinkie Pie, who had claimed the front passenger seat. She had the worst case of bedhead that Liv had ever seen.

“You’re high school students?” Liv looked at them. Strange that they all seemed so worldly. Sunset even had her own apartment.

But the new information was welcome. Liv remembered her mission. If they were students, then Twilight had likely been a classmate. Maybe the school could tell her something.

She parked at the school and walked the girls to the front door. They thanked her for the ride and went inside the building. When they were out of sight, Liv went into the administrative room near the front door. A secretary sat at a desk inside. Behind her was a darkened office with the name Principal Celestia on the door.

The secretary looked up. “How may I help you?”

Liv introduced herself, using her official title. “I’m looking for information about Twilight Sparkle.”

“Who?”

“I apologize, that was only the name I was given. She has purple hair?”

The secretary shook her head.

Liv tried again. “She’s a friend of Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack?”

“I do know those names, but I’m not familiar with any Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wait, those are all real names?” Liv asked, incredulous.

“That’s correct. Do you have any further questions?”

Liv searched her mind, berating herself for not keeping her checklist and notes updated in the last few minutes. “No, if I think of anything, I can call.” She copied down the school’s phone number and went back to her car.

Back at the morgue, Liv filled Ravi in on everything she had learned. He was most intent on the possible magic she had encountered. To be fair, so was she. She felt a burning curiosity to experiment.

Ravi grabbed the nearest thing at hand—an erlenmeyer flask—and set it on the examination table in front of her. “Try to levitate this.”

Liv replaced it with a sponge. “There’s no way to tell what could happen. Let’s try something that won’t break if I drop it.”

The two of them bent low over the table, staring intently at the sponge. Liv waved her hands. Nothing. “Abracadaba!” Still nothing.

Both of them were still focusing over the exam table, their heads nearly touching, when Clive walked in. Ravi and Liv straightened up at the sound of his footsteps, but not quick enough to avoid his questioning look. It wasn’t the strangest thing he had ever walked in on at the morgue, however, and he didn’t ask.

“Liv, do you have anything new?” Clive said.

“Twilight’s friends are all students at Canterlot High,” she told him. “And those are their real names, believe it or not. Despite that, Twilight was not a student there. I’m not convinced she’s from Estonia, though.”

“Canterlot High?” said Clive. “I’ve heard stories about that school.”

“What kind of stories?” Ravi asked.

“Just stories. None of them were my cases.” Clive’s tone changed. “But I’ve heard more stories about that school than any other high school in the city. Something strange must be going on there, especially any school that lets its students get away with hair like that.”

Ravi glanced at Liv. Could there be more at work here? More magic, even? That could explain the girls’ reluctance to talk.

The two of them, with all their experimentation, had never revealed Liv’s secret, but that was personal. If they discovered hard, repeatable, and demonstrable evidence that magic was real, could they keep that to themselves? Should they?

“Let me know if you learn anything else,” said Clive, turning to go.

In that moment, Liv was hit with a memory.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” wrote Twilight.

“My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it's the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.

“Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Liv came out of the memory with a gasp. Clive had already gone, so she turned to Ravi. “I saw Twilight writing a letter with an old fashioned quill and ink. The quill was moving on its own, like with magic.”

“Was Twilight a horse again?” Ravi asked.

“A pony, actually. She mentioned it in the letter. But more importantly, she was writing to Celestia, the principal at Canterlot High” Liv frowned. “She was writing about a lesson she’d learned about friendship.”

“Your magical pony girl was writing a loving letter to her high school principal about the nuances of friendship.” Ravi grinned.

“And what’s wrong with that?” said Liv. “Also, it wasn’t her principal. She didn’t go to that school, not to mention the letter was actually addressed to Princess Celestia.”

“Princess!” Ravi crowed.

Liv ignored him. “Either way, it’s pretty strange and I don’t know what to make of it. I’ll need more data.”

3: Magical World-Ending Cataclysms

Liv was back to Canterlot High that afternoon. Canterlot High appeared quite normal on the outside, like the kind of place where normal people went to school. Not the kind of place that would be involved with magical ponies.

Well, maybe the statue of a horse out front gave it away. Liv glanced at it, but it was nopony she knew.

She’d almost made it to the door when she froze. Nopony? She smiled and took out her notebook. Fascinating what this brain was doing to her.

After making a note on her observation, Liv went inside. Using her official title, the secretary told her where to find Twilight’s friends. They apparently had a free period and usually hung out in the band room.

As Liv approached, she could hear instruments being tuned up. They began to play a pop-ish song, slow but with emotion.

Liv’s heart swelled. It was clear they used music to express themselves. From the feeling of rhythm already percolating inside her, she knew Twilight had also been in the band. But what instrument did she play?

The intro was almost over and song’s first verse was coming up. Liv knew what she had to do. She opened the door, just as her part came in.

Every once in a while
When I’m feeling blue
I turn to one thing
That I know will always be true

The girls looked surprised to see her. Stunned, really. But they kept playing, as if stopping wasn’t an option.

My friends will be there for me
Always care for me
Be by my side
Make life complete

Liv sang from a place deep inside her that she didn’t know she had. In fact, she probably didn’t, and that was kind of depressing. But while she was on Twilight brain, she was going to live it.

No matter the strife
My friends make life
Blissful and free
They do it for me

Liv felt a comfortable warmth and rose up to her toes. Were the others glowing? That didn’t seem concerning for some reason.

Sunshine and rain
Nothing can tame
The friendship we share
To the end of time!

The song finished. Liv smiled. She felt like she was floating, and the happiness she’d gotten from a simple song and a moment of companionship with the girls was enough to figuratively warm her literally cold heart.

Rainbow promptly poked her in the chest and demanded, “How do you know that song?! Twilight wrote that!”

That was when Liv realized that Rainbow was hovering a foot off the ground on a pair of blue feathery wings. And she wasn’t the only one who seemed to have sprouted something extra. A few of the girls had wings. All of them had tails and furry, pointed ears.

Ravi was going to love this, and also probably never let her forget it. But for the moment, Liv didn’t care. In the song, the seven of them had shared something beautiful together.

That was when Liv felt strange sensations among her hair and on her back. She reached her hands up and turned her head, realizing she, too, had wings and decidedly equine ears and tail, all matching her pale complexion.

Still, that didn’t excuse her from answering Rainbow’s question. The others were putting down their instruments and coming over. Magic sparkled away, reverting them all back to simply human, or in Liv’s case, humanoid. She didn’t even question magic now.

Rainbow’s boots thumped to the ground. She crossed her arms and stared at Liv. “Well?”

“I’m wondering that myself,” said Sunset coming over to stand next to Rainbow. “Who are you?”

“I told you before, I work for the medical examiner’s office,” said Liv.

“And how exactly does that allow you to sing a song only we know, with no practice, and to pony up the first time you performed it?” asked Rarity.

Pony up? This rabbit hole went deeper than ever.

Fortunately, Liv was saved from trying to come up with a plausible reason for why she spontaneously did a magical girl transformation by Pinkie Pie, whose hair was if anything even bed-headier than in the morning. “Who cares why she can pony up? Now we can close Tartarus to the human realm.”

“Sure, I’ll do anything you need,” said Liv. “Including dealing with that thing you just said that sounded suspiciously like Hell.”

“Are we really doing this?” Rainbow asked under her breath. “She just shows up and she’s in?”

Sunset turned to Liv. “What do you know about Tartarus?”

“Well, my Greek mythology is a little rusty, but it’s a place where ancient, evil monsters are imprisoned so that they won’t be able to spread their wickedness over the lands of peaceful creatures.” That was more than Liv expected to remember, no doubt helped by Twilight. She looked at the girls. “I take it someone is trying to open the door?”

“You could say that,” Sunset allowed. “This isn’t the first evil we’ve fought, but it might be the most dangerous.”

“So you’re like some kind of magical superheroes?” said Liv. “That’s amazing!”

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to pull this off without Twilight,” said Sunset. “She was the spark that brought us all together, and being from Eq—being our advisor, she knew more about what we were facing.”

“Well...I don’t know everything that Twilight knew, but I think I might be able to help,” said Liv.

“If all it takes is a song, then yes, I suppose you can,” said Rarity. “That was remarkably easier than I would have expected. Nothing can replace Twilight, of course, but every helping hand is welcome.”

“Wait a moment,” said Applejack, speaking for the first time. “Isn’t anyone else suspicious? She just shows up, having met us yesterday, and she already knows more about everything that’s going on than any of us did at first. And her name is literally live more. This sounds too perfect to be true.”

“When you put it that way,” Liv acknowledged. “And believe me, this is weird from my perspective, too. But I want to help. It’s...what Twilight would have done.”

And it was, she knew. The girls, most of them anyway, seemed to realize that, too.

Fluttershy met Liv’s eyes for the first time since she had entered the room. “I trust you.”

“Thank you.” Liv smiled and pulled out her notebook. “Okay, if we’re going to prevent literally all Hell from breaking loose, we need a plan.”

“Doesn’t this seem a little out of the scope of your duties as a medical examiner?” Ravi asked through the phone. “Stopping...Hell, was it?”

“That’s right,” Liv confirmed, using the hands free system in her car because that was the responsible and legal thing to do. “And I think it’s perfectly within my authority as a faithful public servant to do everything I can to stop that kind of thing from happening to our fair city.” She didn’t say it, but she thought And I guess it’s also within my responsibility as some kind of magical undead human princess of friendship. Twilight had apparently been some sort of magical prodigy, and Liv was working on a theory that it had somehow transferred to her. Her ability to “pony up” during the song meant she had some sort of connection to these girls.

Ravi made a sound as if he desperately wanted to giggle, but held it back. “Well, be careful,” he cautioned. “Zombies I can handle, magical world-ending cataclysms are another thing.” He hung up.

Liv looked around her car. Five of the girls stared at her.

“So...zombies,” said Rainbow.

“Oh, it’s, a, uh...work thing,” said Liv. She was well aware how badly the lie sounded, but also well aware that trying to explain further would only get her in deeper.

To her relief, no one questioned it, but she was sure all of them wanted to. Not that magical world-ending cataclysms were ever a good thing, but they sure helped everyone get back on topic quickly.

“So we’ll go back to Sunset’s place and plan from there,” said Rarity. “We need to find whoever has been messing with the multiversal dimensions and get them to stop.”

“Do we have any leads?” Liv asked. Her fingers itched to open her notebook, but she had to concentrate on the road.

“Before Twilight—” Applejack began, but broke off. She swallowed and began again with revised sentence structure “Twilight thought it was coming from this world. Someone here in Seattle was doing it.”

“That does help narrow it down,” Liv acknowledged. “I don’t know how many other universes there are besides Equestria, but it’ll be a lot easier to find them if we only have to search one city.”

There was a moment of silence. Rarity said, “Where did you hear about Equestria?”

“Didn’t someone mention it earlier?” Liv asked reflexively. But no, she realized, no one had. She’d picked it up from Twilight’s brain.

“I don’t think we did,” said Rainbow, voice growing suspicious.

Liv laughed weakly. “Well, I said my Greek mythology is a little rusty.”

For some inexplicable reason, Pinkie laughed too. Liv let out a mental sigh of relief at the break in the conversation.

They pulled up to Sunset’s apartment. Sunset herself was just getting off her motorcycle and let them in.

“If we’re going to do this, we need to get Liv up to speed on the situation,” Sunset said, gesturing them to seats in the living room. There were barely enough places to sit for six. Liv was left out, and stood.

Sunset opened a drawer and pulled out a purple notebook. Liv knew at a glance that it must be Twilight’s. Sunset held it in her hands and looked up at Liv. “So...magic. I know that’s a big topic. If I wasn’t from a place where that was normal, I would think it was weird, too.”

Liv nodded.

Sunset cocked her head. “You’re taking this really well. Better, even, than these five did when they first found out.”

“Well, magic is definitely new, but I’ve seen a lot of weird things,” said Liv. She added, “The medical examiner business is never boring.”

Sunset nodded. “Okay, well, the story gets stranger, but I want you to know what you’re getting into. Twilight and I aren’t from Earth. We came here from somewhere else.”

“You mean through a portal from magic pony world?” Liv asked brightly.

Sunset blinked, as if too stunned to react. The others showed more conventional surprise. “Uh…right.”

“Yes!” Liv did a little happy dance. “That’s what I predicted! I’ll need to do so much more research on this.”

“It’s really scary just how much she’s like Twilight,” Rainbow muttered.

But she wasn’t. Twilight was dead, and no matter how much of her dwindling supply of brain that Liv ate, she would never be Twilight. And giving Twilight’s friends glimpses of what they would never have again was just cruel. Liv sobered, making a conscious effort to restrain herself.

Sunset looked at the notebook, as if looking for a distraction. She opened it and scanned over the first page. “We noticed some activity around town and contacted Twilight to help us investigate. We’d gathered a few clues, enough to know what was being attempted, but not enough to identify who was behind it or what their next move might be.”

She showed Liv the page. It was covered in notes made by a hand that was clearly not used to writing. But the pictures drawn on the paper were clear as day, and Liv’s eyes opened wide.

“I...I think I need to...I’ll be right back.” Liv rushed for the front door, grabbing for her phone. Outside, she jumped in her car, phone to her ear.

“Ravi? Please tell me you still have Salvatore Rey’s body.”

4: Zombie Up

Liv and Ravi stared at the dead body on the table in front of them.

“Explain to me again why you need to eat the brain of a man who killed and mutilated four people?” said Ravi.

“Because I think he’s the one who’s been trying to open a portal to Hell and I need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Liv replied, her fingers already reaching for the bone saw to slice Salvatore Rey’s cranium open.

“But if he’s dead, then why would the portal still be opening?” Ravi asked.

“Good question, maybe his brain can tell me,” said Liv.

Ravi stared for several seconds and then crossed his arms. “I’m reserving my right to say ‘I told you so’ now. I want to go on record stating that I believe this is a bad idea.”

“Noted,” said Liv. She began cutting.

Liv had already eaten her lunch for the day and didn’t have anything left to mix the brains with. She’d rather not eat her brains raw or straight if she could help it. In desperation, she got a package of Pop Tarts out of the vending machine in the hallway and used them as the bread in a brain sandwich. It was even less appetizing than it sounded.

Fortified, however ickily, she made some printouts on the office computer and headed back to Sunset’s apartment.

“There you are,” said Sunset, answering the door.

“Hey,” said Liv, pushing past her. In the living room, she brandished the folder of paperwork she’d brought.

“Show me the runes,” she said. Rarity, holding Twilight’s notebook, obediently opened the cover.

Liv held up a picture she’d printed. She’d taken it herself, weeks ago, when the first of Salvatore Rey’s victims had come across her table. The body was covered in macabre etchings and intricate slices. The pattern in the picture exactly matched the notebook.

Fluttershy turned away, gagging. The others looked nauseous.

“Where did you find these runes?” Liv asked.

“Around the city—” Sunset began.

“What were the runes made with?” Liv cut her off. She wondered what kind of person Salvatore Rey was, aside from a serial killer. Her commands felt almost military, or kingly.

“Some kind of dark paint, though not black,” said Rainbow.

“Blood,” said Liv.

A vision suddenly hit her like a physical blow, yanking her into a memory.

It was dark. Liv stood before a brick wall, a blank canvas waiting for her to write her ultimate revenge.

She picked up a sealed plastic container and opened the lid. The humans called it Tupperware, of all things. It was ugly, crystal would have been much more fitting, but only a short while longer and there would never be Tupperware or humans or free ponies ever again.

Liv looked down into the container. It was full of blood, still warm. She dipped a paintbrush in it and began to write on the wall. The language was nothing that had ever been seen on Earth, but she knew every word. There wasn’t magic in it, not just yet. But she wasn’t finished yet.

“Liv! You all right?” Applejack shook Liv’s arm.

“Yes!” Liv said, a little too loudly. She blinked, glancing at the others around her. To change the subject, she asked, “How many of these written runes did you find?”

“Just at two sites,” said Sunset.

“Show me on a map.”

Rarity took a Seattle Scene magazine out of her purse and opened it on the table. The map within that listed the trendiest restaurants and nightclubs was not ideal, but the group of them were able to pinpoint the places the runes had been found, mostly back alleys and secluded places., pointing out on the map.

“Salvatore Rey killed four people,” said Liv. “Besides the two sites you found, there are two more out there.”

“Wait, who?” said Rainbow.

“Seattle PD shot him a few days ago,” said Liv. “He’d carved these same runes in the bodies of his victims. I knew as soon as I saw them the case was related to what your girls found.”

“Well, if he’s dead, then what’s the problem?” said Applejack.

“We don’t know that was the end of it,” said Liv. “I’d just like to be sure.”

“Well, okay,” said Sunset. “Where do you think we should go?”

“Let’s start where the other two bodies were found,” said Liv.

The girls got up and headed for the door. Liv was last in line. Her eyes fell on the coffee table, where the decorative crystals rested. On impulse, she grabbed one up and shoved it in her pocket.

The group of them drove to the first scene. The body itself was long gone, but they were looking for something else. After a few minutes of searching, Fluttershy found the runes on a wall a block from the crime scene.

The message was more of the same. Liv could have told the others what the runes actually said, but didn’t think they wanted to hear.

“Should we...do something with it?” said Rarity. “Take it down or paint over it or something?”

“We don’t have any paint or anything,” said Sunset. “And community service aside, just covering it up might not do anything. This is magic we’re dealing with.”

“Why don’t we track down all of these first and then come back to do something about them later?” suggested Liv.

They traveled to the next scene and uncovered the next inscription. Rarity added it to the improvised map. “There.”

She showed the page to them. The four locations formed a trapezoid, with the longer side facing west.

“I thought it was going to form some kind of pattern,” said Rainbow.

“It does, it’s just not complete,” said Liv. “It’s a—”

“Pentagram,” Sunset broke in.

Liv looked at her and Sunset glanced away. Good, she should know her place, breaking in like that. Liv went on. “So that means the fifth point is…”

Her finger traced over the map and came to rest in the middle of Elliot Bay, west of city center.

“We’ll just get a boat and go out there and stop whatever is going down,” said Rainbow.

“We’ll just get a boat?” said Applejack, cocking an eyebrow.

“Rarity probably has a yacht, or at least knows someone who does.”

They all looked at Rarity. She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yes, I do.”

“But why do we want to go out there?” said Fluttershy.

Applejack turned to Liv. “Didn’t you say there were four bodies? Does that mean the fifth point of this pentagram thing was never completed?”

“We don’t know that for sure,” said Liv. Though, even as she said it, she knew that she did in fact know it. But she also knew she wanted to go out there, just to be sure.

Or did she? Liv had been first bitten by a zombie at a boat party. That alone would have been reason enough not to go. To say nothing of retracing Salvatore Reys footsteps. Reliving his memories was getting to be quite enough.

“I think we should go,” said Sunset. “Just in case there’s something out there we need to deal with.”

Rainbow and Pinkie agreed. The other three did not. Sunset turned to Liv. “What do you think? You’ve taken us this far.”

“I think…” Liv tipped on the edge of decision “...we should go.”

That settled, they drove down to the marina and Rarity showed them to her family boat. It was a rather nice cabin cruiser, more than big enough for the seven of them.

Rarity, fortunately, seemed to know how to sail it quite well, and got them pointed out into the bay. The setting sun was in their eyes, but they persevered. Rarity compared their roughly drawn map to the boat’s GPS.

The coordinates from a makeshift drawing in a magazine were not going to be exact. Plus, none of them knew what they might be looking for out in the middle of the bay, so it was setting up to be a long cruise, trolling back and forth until they either found something or satisfied themselves that there was nothing to be found.

Liv sat in the center of the boat, hands folded in her lap. If the others noticed her nervousness, they didn’t comment.

They kept watch at the rails, looking for anything that might appear to be related to a ritual murder spell. On the calm water of the bay, that didn’t amount to much. Plus, as the afternoon and evening wore on, the sun sank lower and lower.

“Maybe we should call this off,” said Sunset eventually. “We can come back tomorrow.”

“Not only that, but this totally feels like the kind of nasty magic that would come to life after dark,” added Pinkie.

They all seemed to be in agreement, though Liv wanted to stay longer. There was no telling what might happen if they just left the potentially-already-completed spells where somebody could find them.

Rarity turned the boat around, squinting into the darkness ahead, the twilight of the sun sunken behind the horizon. That made the sudden underwater glow directly ahead of them all the more noticeable.

“Look out!” Applejack shouted and pointed. “Turn!”

Rarity swung the wheel and the boat slipped to the side of the strange light. It seemed to be green, and growing brighter. The group of them all crowded over to the side of the boat for a better look.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” mumbled Fluttershy.

Liv agreed with her, but a deeper sense of curiosity and excitement took over. She’d never seen anything like this before. There was no telling what could happen next.

Her sense of personal safety and fight or flight had changed quite a bit since becoming a zombie. She crept closer to the railing, but stayed behind the others. She could clearly see that there was something beneath the surface of the water, but couldn’t tell what it was.

The answer resolved itself as the water bubbled and two giant crystals emerged like icebergs. They rose up, higher than the boat and each several feet wide, glowing from within with a green light. A tingle of pure power vibrated through the air, a feeling that Liv instinctively knew.

“I thought he was dead!” said Sunset, looking at Liv. “How did the spell get finished?”

Liv was beginning to understand that magic was not something that operated with clearly defined laws and rules. There had been murders at the four previous sites. While not exactly the intent of the spell, technically Liv herself was a dead body. Apparently that was close enough.

“We should shut this down,” said Liv. Even as she said it, though, the words sounded hollow. It was the equivalent of reading about an atrocity in the newspaper and saying, Somebody should do something.

“What are we supposed to do?” Rainbow demanded.

“We could certainly try ponying up,” suggested Rarity.

At her word, the others started to change. Despite the darkening night and sinister crystal, friendly rainbow light illuminated the area as the six of them went through their magical transformations.

“How...do I do that?” Liv asked.

“You did it earlier!” said Sunset.

“Accidentally!” Liv argued. “This isn’t me. I’m not…” she gestured “...you.”

“Just look inside,” Pinkie counseled. “You know what you want and you’ve got the power within you to make it happen.”

Liv closed her eyes. She felt for the magic to which she had recently become attuned. She focused on the important things: the people around her, the crystal protruding from the lake, the mission she had to complete.

Opening her eyes, she immediately knew something had gone wrong. Occasionally, when under acute stress or facing a threat to survival, Liv had gone into what she’d termed “full-on zombie mode.” It was typically characterized by boosted strength, dulled pain, enhanced aggression, and blood-red eyes.

This was much worse.

Liv’s unzipped sweatshirt was tight across her broader shoulders and longer limbs. It felt like the middle of her forehead was glowing with power, sweeping her hair along with the updraft. Her fingers had elongated into claws, but Liv barely had time to notice them before her attention was swept away by the huge pair of batlike wings stretching up from her shoulderblades. With everything else going on, it took her a moment to notice the almost liquid shadow streaming from her like a cloak.

“Who are you!?” Sunset demanded, bending her knees and raising her fists. “What have you done with Liv?”

They didn’t even think it was her any more. Fear surged through Liv’s chest. They would find out what she really was and then what would they think of her? She thought she’d discovered real friendship with these girls, but there was no way they would accept her as a zombie, much less whatever she’d turned into now.

She put up her hands, trying to explain her way out, but purple magic erupted from them and the crystals glowed brighter. Not what Liv had intended, but it would help with a distraction.

However, an arc of purple flashed between the two crystals, widening into a disk, and then a hole right there in the air. It was like looking into a window, one that led straight to Hell.

Despite their best efforts, they’d failed to stop the spell. In fact, Liv realized, she might have actually triggered it.

There was no time for that line of thought, though, as the residents of the other side of the portal noticed their new escape hole. Monsters of every type and quite a few that defied description roared and started towards them.

At least the girls weren’t focused on Liv now, though that didn’t solve either problem. The boat wasn’t big enough to fight on, and as the group took up stances to face the new threat, Rainbow inadvertently knocked Liv overboard with a wing slap to the face.

It was more an involuntary reaction than anything else, Liv’s wings popped open and caught her before she even got wet. Turning, she saw the portal to Tartarus was still open, and it wasn’t clear if the girls were going to be able to defend it.

Part of her wanted to see what would happen, to let the monsters loose. She’d seen her share of Seattle’s darker side, and there were people, bad people, who deserved to see what real hell looked like. People like Salvatore Rey—

Live shook her head. No, his name was King Sombra. He knew what petty thieves and murderers were like, and how none of them deserved even a fraction of their ill-gotten gains. He would show them what true power was like. He—

—was not her! Her name was Olivia Moore! She was afraid of boats, she was a doctor, and she didn’t let her zombieism make her a bad person. She was not Sombra, and while she wasn’t Twilight Sparkle either, she definitely knew who she preferred.

But neither one of them were here. Liv may have eaten their respective brains, but she was still her own person. And it was Liv who wasn’t going to let this invasion happen.

The others had arrayed themselves against the oncoming wave of monsters. If they were surprised that Liv joined them, there was no time to show it.

Needless to say, it was Liv’s first experience using magic offensively, but it seemed to do what she willed it. Having no other focus point, she used her hands and blasted something ugly with tentacles back from the portal.

“The harmony magic to connect us isn’t working!” shouted Sunset. “I don’t know if we can close the portal without it!”

“It’s because she ain’t Twilight!” said Applejack.

“She’s still our friend!” Fluttershy told the others.

It took Liv a moment to realize who they were talking about. Did they really believe that? Even if she was a zombie? Even if she was...whatever she was now?

A voice in the back of her head darkly suggested that people lied all the time. After they were done with Tartarus, they would then turn on Liv.

Long experience had taught Liv not to trust voices in her head, though. Twilight Sparkle was a rare exception. What would Twilight do?

She would stand with the people doing right, even if she didn’t know them very well. She would never miss a chance to make new friends.

And if that came with the chance to wield magic against the forces of Hell, Ravi would never forgive her if she didn't jump at the opportunity.

The various flashes of rainbow light from all sides drove the monsters back from the portal, but how long could they hold it? Liv tried to think of anything that could give them an advantage. The dark voice in the back of her mind whispered about the crystal.

The crystal Liv had taken from Sunset’s! She didn’t know why at the time, but apparently Sombra thought it could be a weapon. Liv got a free hand and pulled it out of her pocket. She sought out Sombra’s expertise, demanding an answer.

Just like the crystals that had risen out of the lake, the one in her hand could absorb and channel a tremendous amount of energy. If she could use that, it might be a way to shut down the portal.

She wrapped her claws around it, envisioning the power flowing in. The ordinary crystal started to glow with an unnatural light, tinged purple like Liv’s magic. It got brighter and brighter, even her eyes were forced to squint.

A growing feeling of unease began to overtake Liv. There was more magic than she had anticipated, more than she thought she had been using. Where was it coming from? She looked up. The portal! The crystals were channeling energy into the one in her hand much faster than the structure could handle.

She had to get rid of it, and fast. Even the others had noticed the blinding light. Liv put her foot on the edge of the boat and stepped up, spreading her wings. She hurled the crystal forward, directly at the portal, as it began to overload.

There was an even brighter flash, so bright it negated Liv’s closed eyelids, and a tremendous explosion. It knocked Liv backwards, slamming her onto her back in the bottom of the boat.

Liv convulsed, in pain and trying to get up. But she realized there was no need. The crystal spires and the portal between them had been completely destroyed. After a moment, tiny fragments of crystal began to drop into the water around them like heavy raindrops.

The girls seemed fine. They’d been further from the explosion and shielded by Liv’s form. She looked up and saw them all crowded around her. Liv immediately covered herself, though if she was still transformed it would do little good. She checked and saw that the wings and claws had gone.

But that wasn’t what everyone was looking at. Liv followed their eyes and found a hole in her stomach the size of a golf ball, presumably caused by a shard of exploding crystal. She quickly pulled her sweatshirt over it and sat up.

“You’re hurt!” said Rarity, quite unnecessarily. All of them crowded around Liv, trying to help.

“I’m fine!” Liv insisted, scrambling backwards and getting up, still hugging herself.

“She’s not bleeding,” Applejack observed, eyes narrowing.

They’d stopped trying to get close, respecting Liv’s space. Was it fear she saw in their eyes? No, she realized. It was concern. For her.

“You’re really fine?” said Fluttershy.

“I’ll...I’ll live.”

That seemed to break the tension. Rainbow said, “Well, whatever you are, that was totally awesome!”

“Rainbow!” Rarity admonished. “It’s not about what she is, er,” Rarity turned to Liv apologetically “whatever you are, dear.”

“We’re cool with that.” Sunset faltered, and then blurted, “I’m not even human! I’m a unicorn.”

Liv nodded, appreciative of their efforts to redirect conversation. “So was Twilight. I...I know I’m a poor replacement for her.”

Sunset bowed her head. “Twilight can’t be replaced, and we’ll all miss her, but new friends can make it hurt less. I want to thank you for standing by us, Liv.”

“I’m glad to,” said Liv, meaning it more than a formality.

The conversation lulled. Liv looked out over the water, taking in the city lights in the distance. “So I suppose we all have a lot of talking to do after this.”

“Only if you want to,” said Sunset.

Liv considered it. “Why don’t we get coffee and see what happens.”

Sunset blinked. “Coffee? It’s eight p.m.”

Liv laughed. “You haven’t been in Seattle that long, have you? It’s all right. I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.”

1: The Pony Club

Seattle Sunshine should never be confused with actual sunshine. In a place where rain was more likely, sunshine was more a state of mind than anything else.

And for some people, it wasn’t even that.

“I’m not eating a serial killer!” Liv argued, flicking her hand at the body on the autopsy table.

“Salvatore Rey is not just any serial killer,” Ravi countered, holding up a finger. “You’ll recall he had time to get a psychological examination before escaping and subsequently being shot by police. He kills, certainly, but what he really enjoys is slicing people up.”

Ravi spread his arms to the morgue around them. “If you take any traits from eating his brain, you’ll at least have a safe place where no one will notice you carving runes into bodies. Plus, perhaps we could gain some helpful insight into the minds of ritualistic multiple-murderers.”

The two of them were alone in the morgue. Both wore white lab coats, but that was where any similarity ended. Ravi was tall, British, and of Indian descent, with a full beard and dark hair. Liv was short, petite, and sharply pale, both her skin and hair. Also, she was a zombie, hence the discussion about brains.

“Eating a serial killer’s brain doesn’t strike you as risky in any way?” Liv said.

Ravi’s face sobered. “I’m more worried about the risk if you don’t eat something soon.”

Liv sighed. “What is it with this city? It seems like everything is all sunshine and rainbows lately. People aren’t even dropping dead like they used to.”

It was true. Most of the refrigerated drawers around the room were empty. Which, for a hungry zombie working in a morgue and in need of regular access to brains, was starting to worry her.

Just then, the double doors at the end of the room opened and two paramedics pushed their way in, wheeling a stretcher with a body bag on it. “Doctor Chakrabarti,” greeted one, handing Ravi a clipboard.

He scanned the first page. “Twilight Sparkle, suspected alias. Killed while jaywalking.”

“Over here,” Liv directed. At her call, the paramedics lifted the body bag onto an unused examination table. That done, they left.

“Well, I suppose that’s an alternative to serial killer,” said Ravi when he and Liv were alone again “With a name like ‘Twilight Sparkle’ I daresay this is one from the vegetarian menu.”

Liv’s reply was cut off by the phone ringing. She was closest and picked it up. “Coroner's office, Olivia Moore speaking.”

“It’s Clive. I understand you got a vic with no ID.” Detective Clive Babineaux was a frequent contact at the morgue.

“They just arrived,” Liv confirmed.

“I’ll be down in a few hours. See what you can find,” he directed.

“That’s kind of what we do here,” Liv reminded him. Something about Clive’s tone signaled that there was something special about this case, something more than just a pedestrian traffic accident. He wouldn’t have called otherwise.

Liv hung up and turned back to where Ravi was unzipping the body bag. A girl, probably no older than eighteen, was inside. Her hair was purple, with a few streaks of pink in it. In fact, that seemed to be the theme of her whole outfit. Also, her lower body was mangled beyond recognition. It certainly looked as if she’d been run over by a car.

Putting on her fittingly purple nitrile gloves, Liv helped Ravi move the body out of the bag and onto the table. It was nearly lunchtime, so Liv picked up the bone saw.

She’d brought salad today, a nice leafy mix with habanero-mango dressing. After getting Twilight Sparkle’s brain out of her skull, Liv weighed it, washed it, recorded the medical information, and then chopped up the brain into small pieces to put on her salad.

Ravi stayed on the other side of the office, eating his own lunch. Liv looked over. “It’s not like you haven’t seen me eat brains before.”

“It’s the dressing. It’s making my eyes water. This is coming from an Indian.”

Liv shrugged. “You know, I actually like salad a lot better after becoming a zombie. I can’t taste anything that isn’t measured in Scoville units, so I think I’m actually eating more vegetables now. Can’t think vegetables are icky if you can’t taste them.” There were occasionally benefits to being a zombie.

Clive appeared after lunch. He was a black man in a black leather jacket, and barely taller than Liv. More importantly, he was a good detective and wasn’t afraid to work hard.

He glanced briefly at Twilight’s remains and came over to Liv. “What have you found out?”

“The car hit her from the side. She probably never saw it coming,” said Liv. “It’s interesting how, other than that, she’s in great shape. No calluses, no scars. Her elbows aren’t even wrinkly. It’s like she came out of a test tube or something. Even her dye job is perfect. I still haven’t been able to wash it enough to get down to the original color.”

“It gets stranger,” said Clive. “She had no ID. No records. No purse. Custom made clothing. It’s like she just appeared out of nowhere. Fortunately, we have several witnesses. Friends of hers, I was told. Maybe they can tell us more. Are you free?”

“I’ll come along,” Liv agreed.

She usually wore a hooded sweatshirt against the chill of the morgue. Going outside, she topped it with a maroon faux leather jacket against the weather.

The two of them got into Clive’s unmarked detective car. “Had any visions yet?” he asked.

“It’s not on-demand,” Liv reminded him.

“Right, right, psychic patience,” he muttered.

Liv was not psychic, but that was easier than explaining how she relived memories from brains she’d eaten. Either way, Clive was the only cop willing to overlook the method as long as it got results, and the two of them had solved more than one case based on a victim’s memories.

They pulled up to an apartment building and took the stairs up. Clive knocked on a door. After a moment, a pale girl with indigo hair styled into an extravagant wave opened it. Her eyes were red, blue mascara running down her cheeks. “May I help you?” she sniffed.

“I'm Detective Babineaux, and this is Olivia Moore from the Medical Examiner's office. I’m looking for Sunset Shimmer.”

“This is her apartment,” said the girl. She stood back to let them in. “My name is Rarity.”

Clive looked as if he were skeptical of that, but said, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Rarity showed them into the apartment. It was small, but decorated brightly and eclectically. The living room walls were a friendly yellow, with paintings of landscapes. The coffee table had several crystals on it.

The couch and and a few chairs were occupied by five other girls, all in various states of despair and generally sporting bright, highly styled hair.

Clive introduced them again. “I’m here to talk about Twilight Sparkle. I understand Sunset Shimmer was a witness.”

The girl with red and yellow hair stood up. “We all were.”

“What happened?” Clive asked.

“She was so happy to be here,” murmured a girl with straight pink hair. “But she didn’t know how things are here. You can’t just walk into the street like that.”

“We should have told her!” burst out the athletic-looking girl with rainbow hair. “She didn’t know. She’s from a different—”

The rainbow one’s mouth was abruptly clamped by the hand of a tall blonde who wore jeans. Also a cowboy hat, but even that made her the most normal looking of the lot.

“—a different country,” Sunset finished. “She wasn’t a local. She wasn’t used to lots of traffic.”

“What country was she from?” Clive asked, taking out a small notebook.

Sunset appeared to pause before speaking. “Estonia.”

Just then, a memory flashed through Liv’s mind as if it had happened to her.

“Equestria welcomes its newest princess!”

Around the room, which appeared to be some sort of castle hall, horses applauded. As if that weren’t strange enough, their coats were as colorful as the dye jobs the girls in Sunset’s apartment sported.

A tall white horse—unicorn?—came over and smiled down. “You’ll do great things, Twilight. I’m so proud of the friends you’ve made.”

Liv gasped. She seen some strange things before, but never a hallucination that looked like a cartoon. She was definitely going to look at Twilight Sparkle’s toxicology report when she got back to the office.

Clive gave her a knowing glance and then returned to speaking with the others. “I suppose being from Estonia would be why we couldn’t find any records for her. What was her real name?”

“Twilight Sparkle was her real name,” provided Rarity.

“You’re telling me some parent—in Estonia no less—named their child Twilight Sparkle?” said Clive.

Nods all around the room. Some looking decidedly less convincing than others.

Clive changed tactics. “We have lots of witnesses and footage from nearby security cameras. We don’t suspect foul play at all. This was just an accident. All I’m trying to do is make sure we know who she really was. Won’t her parents want to know?”

A girl with pale pink hair had been sobbing quietly ever since they’d entered, but now she broke out bawling.

Sunset came over, shielding her from the two visitors. “Don’t worry about her family. We’ll tell them.”

Her attitude was clear. Clive put a business card in her hand, which she didn’t look at, instead staring at him and Liv until they went out the door.

Outside, Clive looked at her. “You had a vision.”

Liv nodded, and said deadpan, “Twilight Sparkle wasn’t from Estonia. She was from magical pony land.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” grumbled Clive. “Let me know if you figure out where she was really from.”

Back at the morgue, Liv told Ravi about the memory. He frowned. “There was nothing in the tox report to alter her mind. Liv, if that was in her memory, she might not be a stable person. You could inherit some kind of schizophrenia from eating her brain.”

“What if there’s some other explanation?” said Liv. “If that was in her memory, then she believed it. I saw it through her eyes, after all.” She frowned. “That combined with her suspiciously unblemished body and apparent lack of any personal records…”

“So you’ve got a hobo with strangely good personal care?” Ravi tried.

“No, what if she really was a magical horse and was put in a human body? That would explain why she doesn’t have paperwork, why her hair seems permanently colored, why her body looks like it grew yesterday, why she didn’t look both ways before crossing the street, and why her friends are so reluctant to talk about it—”

Ravi raised his hands. “Liv, slow down. Do you really believe this?”

“Well, no. I need evidence before coming to a solid conclusion. But don’t you think it’s an intriguing hypothesis? Why not magic?”

“Come on, Liv. Magic, really?”

Liv spread her arms. “I’m a zombie.”

“A condition which we are working on medically identifying,” Ravi pointed out.

“Yes, but even if we do, this is not conventionally biological,” Liv said. “If I can get memories from eating brain, then why can’t magic exist? Magic is just science that hasn’t yet been explored.”

“I believe the quote is, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,’ and I don’t think Arthur C. Clarke was talking in the context of the pony club,” said Ravi.

“Speaking of the pony club, I’d bet Twilight’s friends know a lot more than they were telling,” said Liv.

She turned to go, but Ravi put his hand on her shoulder. “Hang on, give them a little time to grieve. They’ll be more lucid tomorrow.”

“Oh. You’re probably right,” Liv allowed. She frowned briefly. Since becoming a zombie, she was constantly considering what other people might be thinking, but she’d had a momentary lapse and was about to charge off to interrogate grieving friends of Twilight in the name of...science? Was this an effect of Twilight’s brain?

Other traits began to show themselves over the afternoon. Liv found herself humming. She idly read the medical reference books. That was something she’d done before, for work, but now she found it fun. Whoever Twilight had been, it was seeming less and less likely that she was a delusional nutcase.