When The Dead Start To Trot

“I propose we head back for today. It is almost sunset, there is no point in staying out any longer,” Doctor Whooves almost whispered and patted Applejack on the shoulder. “We would have found her by now if she was here. We should go.” He took a step back and turned around.

“Ah don't think Ah can,” she said and stopped him in his tracks. “It's been a day and Rose's still gone. Ah can't stop thinkin' about what happened or where she could have went.” She sighed. “Ah can only think of Ponyville.”

Whooves turned back to her. “I still am not convinced she did, but it would be the most apparent location. But I suppose you will not be at peace as long as you do not go there yourself. We can go there tomorrow.”

“Ya don't have to, Ah can take care of myself,” Applejack put him off. He chuckled shortly. “Come on now, what ya're laughin' at?”

“Do you seriously think that I am unaware of this? I have known you for long enough now to know what you are capable of. If you insist on going alone, I will not stop you, even if I am not happy about your decision.”

Applejack didn't respond and the two of them walked back into the safety of Canterlots walls in silence. She couldn't get Rose out of her head. She felt guilty for having revealed the fate of her friends to her in anger, in such a way that it can only be taken badly.

Applejack didn't think Rose was actually dead, she was strong enough. But she had experienced herself what anger can do to a pony. That Rose ran off in anger nowhere to be found didn't help much. She wanted to find her.

"You know," Whooves began to talk, "ever since the apocalypse started, I expected the world to completely fall apart. Everything ever achieved by ponykind, everything that has developed, gone. But even when so much is on the line, even though so much is lost already, friendship and its importance still exist, more than ever before. And it is fascinating to me." He looked to the sky. "But wonderful nonetheless."

"'Wonderful'?" Applejack asked baffled.

"I am not calling the apocalypse wonderful, would you mind," he quickly said. "I am just saying that it is wonderful how friendship still exists. I would not have expected this result, to be honest."

"But why? 'Course ponies would try to survive together. It's easier."

"I do not know. I just thought everything would… well, go to hell," he answered.

"Didn't that just happen?" she asked rhetorically. They looked at each other and laughed shortly.

"Wow, we're laughin' at livin' in an apocalypse," Applejack grinned.

"No point in denying the facts. Even if everything is so much more difficult, to put it mildly, we can only do so much about it. I will continue to try finding a cure but even if that will work, which is highly unlikely, afterwards it still would not be the same again."

"... Yeah, that's true," she agreed. "Really sad to think about it. But all these ponies who died… How is recoverin' from that even possible?"

"With much time passing by," the Doc responded. "Time heals wounds. But the scar is a constant reminder."

"Ya're gettin' really philosophical there, mister," Applejack smiled. "Where's that comin' from?"

"I do not know. I am surprised myself, I have to admit. But it feels right." He smiled. "Let us just leave it at that."

Canterlot had brought a feeling to Applejack which felt like a sense of peace even though it lost some of its previous beauty. It developed to a new home and a new chance of living for not only her but almost all other residents. When shined upon by the sun during sunset, you could almost forget about the zombies and deaths. Some ponies could. Applejack like many others could not. Nonetheless, she enjoyed this feeling.

"Oh, I forgot," Whooves suddenly said. "I wanted to meet with somepony. Sorry to cut it short, but I really have to go."

"Oh, okay then," she answered. "Guess that's just how it is. See you tomorrow."

Whooves waved and quickly ran off. He didn't like to leave her behind without explaining himself but he hated being late.

When he arrived, another stallion, an unicorn with a brown mane similar to his own and light blue fur, waited for him in front of a small hut. He seemed impatient.

"Almost late. Yet right up on time," he said and entered the building, not waiting a second for Whooves to greet him. He just entered too.

“Yeah, you're getting there. Keep going!” Cloud Chaser encouraged Stellar Eclipse and applauded while he was flapping his wings in the air. Unsure if he was able to keep himself up, he continued.

“Did it take you so long too? Or is it just me?” he asked her and chuckled shortly. “My wings hurt already.”

“That's completely normal, both of it,” she answered and smiled. “I think it took me even longer to get myself up in the air.”

“That's because you were a foal back then,” he told her. “You can't compare this with my situation.” He panted slightly and tried to take a deep breath but had to cough. But he stayed determined.

After a while of staying in the air on the spot while panting and having hurt wings, he decided that he was ready for the next step. “So, what now?”

“Already? Geez, okay,” Cloud said, both sceptically and impressed. “If you say so.” She stepped closer. “The next step would be to move around obviously. Try moving over there slightly,” she advised him and pointed forwards.

He took another deep breath, this time without needing to cough. Slowly, he tried tilting his wings and move forward. And slowly, he got into motion. A few centimetres at first, then he became a bit faster and made his way forwards.

“Don't go too quickly!” she shouted as she saw him drifting up speed. “Your wings are not used to-”

Stellar went to fast and his wings gave in. He fell to the ground and landed on his stomach.

“Damnit!”

“You okay?” she asked and trotted to him. “I told you not to go too fast. What did you expect?” She grabbed his hooves and helped him up in his wheelchair kart. “Why are are you not trying it without it? That thing just slows you down.”

“No, either flying with it or not at all,” Stellar strictly said. “I couldn't run if I had to flee. Just imagine some freak trying to decapitate me and I can't fly because I panic or some other reason.”

“Fine, fine. Are you always this thick-skulled? Or is this more of a temporary thing?” Cloud asked and grinned. “I like your naiveness more than your edgy side.”

“If you say so,” he answered but couldn't hide his smile.

Two mares then approached the two of them. Cloud waved at them and Stellar stepped back carefully. “You know these two?” he asked.

“My sisters,” she answered happily. “Dream Dancer and Shining Wings.”

“Sis!” Dream Dancer, a foal of three years, shouted and ran towards Cloud, throwing her hooves around her. Shining Wings, Cloud's and Dream's older sister, followed her.

“Dream, I told you to keep quiet. We're outside,” she hissed angrily. “You know what's out here.”

“Relax, Wings,” Cloud put her off. “Do you see any walkers around here?” Sarcastically, she looked around. “Didn't think so.”

“That's why I'm glad that Dream sticks with me. I sometimes wish I'd have your optimism, sometimes I'm glad I have not. You don't take things as serious as they are,” Wings said harshly. She then shifted her eyes to Stellar who was just standing and listening to their conversation. “And who's this?”

“Stellar Eclipse. I'm teaching him how to fly,” Cloud responded, cutting Stellar short.

“You know, I could have said that myself,” he mumbled but Cloud didn't hear.

“What is it with you? So you just decided to teach a stranger how to fly because you can? Is it that?” Wings asked, sounding angrier by the second.

“I asked and he accepted. What's wrong with that? What are you two doing out here anyway?” Now, Cloud sounded pissed off too.

“We wanted to take a walk. And during that, I wanted to check if the wall is safe and unharmed. Come on now, Dream.” She lightly pulled Dream away from Cloud. Before they left, she looked to her sister and said, "I hope you know what you're doing, even if I highly doubt it." Before disappearing out of sight, Dream waved again.

A moment of silence followed suit. Stellar wasn't sure if he or Cloud felt more uncomfortable.

“I don't mean to be rude but did anything happen recently? Maybe I could help you with that as a sort of payback?” he asked. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Don't you worry about that. Let's just continue with the training,” she denied. “Okay then, remember to-”

“Come on, if it is a really, really personal issue, I won't bother you with it anymore but if it isn't, just let me try to help. I tend to be the peacemaker in a group. I didn't choose but it just happens every time. Please,” Stellar interrupted her. “We are friends, right?”

She sighed and looked at him with a serious expression. “We met for the first time just two days ago. Why would you consider me a friend already?”

“Well, I don't think I don't have any reason not to,” he answered. “If your intention would have been to slit my throat open, you'd have done it already. You had enough chances too. Plus you actually care about me learning to fly.”

Cloud thought for a few seconds before saying, “I'll still call you naïve.”

“If you want to,” he said sarcastically and began to fly again. “So, where were we again?”

"Seems alright to me," the guard said and looked up from the letter. The other guard looked it over and slapped him in the back of his head.

"Idiot! Of course it is! Don't you recognise princess Celestia's writing?" she angrily shouted, then calmed down in a matter of seconds and handed the letter back to Applejack. "Here you go. But be careful."

"'Course," she nodded and boarded the train. She filled the train with coal and started. Fortunately, she remembered how it worked.

Over night, one of the two trains Canterlot had left was stolen with enough coal for a trip to Appleloosa and back, twice. The city had a large supply on coal, so that really wasn't the biggest problem, but only having one train made a lot of ponies nervous, in case there ever was an emergency and they had to flee. For Applejack, this was more than likely Roses work.

But first, she had to make sure she had the permission to use the train. At home, she had planned her little speech over and over again, expecting the worst. And she still wasn't sure if maybe the worst did happen, just differently. Celestia had given her permission immediately. She didn't seem to be in this world with her thoughts and according to Luna, this has been going on for a good while now. Applejack was worried about her. She apparently still wasn't able to overcome Twilight's death, even after two months. And if she didn't manage after two months, in a world like this, when would she?

The trip took longer than she remembered. However, the circumstances were quite different this time, with no ponys head having been crushed by the train wheels.

Applejack remembered. There was a third train. Daisy, the Doc and she used it to escape from Ponyville but they ran out of coal. They however found another train, boarded by Twilight and Filthy Rich. If Rose has been here, the train should be gone.

After a while, she saw Filthy Rich, still in the same spot as the day he died. His body had begun to rot, naturally, with a crow ripping out some old flesh and flying away with it. Applejack gagged and looked away as she passed his body, trying hard to keep what little remains of food yet inside her actually inside.

Shortly after, she looked closely to spot Daisy's body. She saw some dry blood and flesh a little later but no body. But she knew that this was where Daisy had died. Her body has been taken away and this was enough evidence for Applejack to know that Rose was in Ponyville, even the first train went missing.

When she arrived, she noticed two trains in the train station. Apparently, Rose had found a way to link up the two trains. On one train, she saw Daisys body. She quickly turned away.

Now, she only had to find Rose.

That proved to be harder than expected. Even though Ponyville wasn't that big, Rose still was looking for one specific pony - or what was left of it - in a village. Applejack decided to look if Lily Valley was still where she had been when she left the hospital.

Ponyville didn't change the last months. The streets and buildings were empty, everything looked like it belonged to an abandoned village which was the case, when Applejack thought about it. She still couldn't believe that this happened to her hometown.

On her way to the hospital, she saw Sweet Apple Acres. She stopped and looked to the ground, then quickly trotted to her old farm. She felt the need to at least say goodbye, properly this time.

It looked completely untouched, just like the rest of Ponyville. Most of the trees were dead, some hung on for dear life. Many rotten apples laid on the ground. But between all those dead ones, she found one who somehow survived. She wasn't sure why but didn't care enough to think about it. She took it with her and silently went to the cellar, the last place she had been to before she fell in a coma to wake up in an apocalypse.

There wasn't much to see but she still saw some dry blood from her fall. Otherwise, the cellar had developed a rather distinctive smell.

The farm house looked the same as it ever did. When inside, Applejack felt at peace for a moment before snapping back into reality. She turned to leave, but then decided to check up in Appleblooms room. She found her cape, which she had used plenty of times when being with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She took it as well and left. She didn't want to look into her own room.

She went down the small path from the farm back to Ponyville. Before leaving completely, she looked back. "Goodbye, home," she whispered to herself and walked to the hospital.

On the way, she saw Fluttershys home and Twilight's castle in the distance. She knew it wasn't exactly the right time for it, but still, she walked to the castle.

Just like Canterlot, the castle lost a lot of its former beauty. It seemed cold and threatening yet somehow beautiful. On the balcony, Applejack saw Twilights telescope angled towards the sky. All the windows were closed and nothing was to be heard or seen inside. When she tried to enter, the door was locked, leaving her no way to enter. She wondered where Twilight could have placed the key. Maybe she had some stuff that could be useful for Doctor Whooves. With that in mind, she walked back and paid a visit to Fluttershys home.

Entering her little house wasn't hard. After all, there is no lock on the door. She immediately saw the chaos and blood inside, some if it was still fresh. A lot of dead animals laid around the entrance and living room, decorating it in a macabre way.

Applejack gagged when caught off-guard. She swallowed hard and looked around, careful to not step on a corpse. She however couldn't help but notice how many squirrels and bunnies died in this room. The kitchen was surprisingly clean. Looking through it, Applejack found two cans of beans left in a cabinet. She wasn't sure how to take everything with her and unfortunately, she didn't take her saddlebags with her, so she started looking if Fluttershy had some bags at home.

Upstairs, again, there was some blood but drier and older. Apparently, nopony has gone up here for quite some time. In her bedroom, she found a small bag.

"Better than nothin'," she thought, put all her items in it and strapped it over her back. With Appleblooms cape, there was almost no room left. She'd have to force the two cans in.

Once leaving, she noticed another bunny corpse which seemed familiar. Upon closer inspection, it became pretty clear that this were the remains of Angel Bunny. It appears that he didn't get to flee before some walker got to him.

"Why didn't he turn?"

She then saw a stab wound in his neck. Somepony has indeed been here but she didn't know when. Applejack had hopes though that this was Rose, although she wasn't sure why she would go to Fluttershys home. She took Angels body, quickly picked up the two cans and then buried him next to the cottage. Even though she's never really known him, she still felt sad, especially for Fluttershy who probably didn't know of his death.

Applejack finally was on her way to Lily - or at least where she remembered her - but then thought of Sugarcube Corner, the second last place of one of her friends in Ponyville she didn't check yet. Rainbows home was unreachable.

The bakery looked relatively untouched and on the counter, quite a lot of sweets were still present. Their smell however quickly convinced Applejack to just let them rot more than they already did.

Behind the counter, she saw the corpses of Mrs and Mr Cake. Like Pinkie said, they didn't make it. She promised them in silence to bury them afterwards too, even when she wasn't sure how to look at them, as seeing that Mr Cake had lost his left eye and half his nose as well as the countless bite marks and ripped flesh of both of them would made that task a lot more complicated, tedious and nerve wrecking than it already is.

All the other rooms were safe. The last one she had to check was the room for the foals. Slowly opening the door, holding her pistol tight, she sneaked inside to find the room empty. Nopony and no walkers either. When she saw the bloody baby crib though, she shook her head and immediately went to leave and buried Mr and Mrs Cake.

"Damn, that beer's actually becoming something you can drink without getting poisoned," Charming Blade told Lyra, Caramel and Stellar. "Not quite like beer, but it's a start."

"What kind of expectations do you have?" Stellar asked annoyed. He wasn't sure why exactly he was even here. Possibly just because of Lyra and Caramel, to not let them stay with Charming and him alone. Since he had told him about Warranty, he was really unsure of his intentions.

"Come on, now," Charming said in a sarcastically sad voice. "At least let me have some good beer."

"You know," Lyra said quietly, "what do we even do now? I mean, it's safe here and I appreciate that, but what is there to do expect trying to lose some time?"

Nopony answered.

Silently, Lyra stood up and left, Caramel went right after her. Stellar wanted too, but Charming interrupted him. Loudly, he put his beer down on the table.

"Wait, buddy. I'm gonna go back to Warranty soon. You coming with me now?"

"Didn't I tell you already?" Stellar asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, but I forgot," he chuckled.

"Fine, I'm going with you. Now if you'll excuse me," Stellar tried to escape but was interrupted again.

"The thing is, the way Canterlot is now, the way everything's handled here is a catastrophe. You're gonna need a real leader here."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, now," Charming said, "you know what I mean, don't you? Celestia's not herself anymore and I doubt she will be ever again. If you're not able to handle the death of a loved one after two months, you're fucked. She's not in a position to continue leading this place."

"Canterlot's doing fine. I don't get it," Stellar said annoyed, unsure of what he should say.

"Are you one of these ponies blended by the past? Just because Celestia has been the leader of the pre-apocalypse, she's got to be the perfect leader for the post-apocalypse too or what? Damnit, Stellar, last night I got into yet another bar fight. It ended when everyone was down. No guards, no security, nopony stepped in or did anything to stop us. Two of them had guns and one died. If this continues, it's gonna become a normal thing around here, with everyone constantly armed and ready to fight. And when this happens, it's gonna be the end of your little game of society. You can continue playing society if you want, but I'd prefer a real one. And a real one needs rules, strict ones, and a leader, not necessarily one though, a group of leaders does too, even if not as efficient."

"What do you want to do here? Why did you come here?" Stellar asked seriously, beginning to question Charming Blade even more. He shifted back in his chair.

"Originally, I wanted to come here to trade, possibly reach an agreement to help each other out if needed. But the time I spent here was more than enough to show that this only works with proper leadership. Luna's Releases boss now, she's got rules that are being protected and the ponies there are having the time of their life. Fights and other crimes are immediately punished. I admire her. She's a great leader. What I'm saying is," he shifted closer to Stellar, "I want to replace Celestia with somepony else. I don't know which pony'd be appropriate but somepony else which is more like Luna."

Stellar felt conflicted. He understood his point. But the ponies loved and wanted Celestia as their leader, as their princess. But Release really seemed to have become a safer place since Luna put up rules.

"I see you're seeing my point," Charming grinned. "I'll give you time to think about it. Tomorrow morning at the front gates, okay? Then you're gonna see what Warranty has to offer." With that, he and shortly after him Stellar, deep in thought, left the bar, walking past Caramel and Lyra who were sitting on a bench talking to each other. Stellar didn't quite catch what they were talking about, but it seemed to be an important topic.

He decided to just go home and take a nap. He felt really hopeless all of the sudden. Meanwhile, the discussion between Caramel and Lyra continued.

"I just don't see a point anymore," Lyra told Caramel. "Just all of the sudden. As unbelievable as it sounds. When I started wondering what to actually do now, I couldn't find an answer, any answer. I just don't know."

Caramel didn't exactly know what to say about it. After all, Lyra just confessed to him that she's been having suicidal thoughts recently. He needed to be careful.

"What I think is just that I end up the same anyway. We all end up the same. Why should I put myself through this when I can spare myself?"

Caramel decided to be as directly as possible with her. "Because you'd end up hurting a lot of ponies. Myself included, of course. And Bon Bon didn't die for this."

Lyra quickly looked up at him. At first, he thought he'd done it right. But as he saw how rapidly her eyes filled with anger and hate, he knew he messed up big time.

"She didn't die for anypony! She died because she was bitten! Because she wandered off alone in a house she didn't know! Because she didn't pay attention! That's not my fault! That's not my…" She slowly broke off and started crying. Caramel comforted her, feeling guilty for having brought up this topic and hoping that he didn't aggravate her mental state.

When he retrieved, Lyra shortly looked him the eyes, her anger completely replaced by sadness, stood up and left. Caramel felt a jamais-vu. The almost exactly same thing happened before and it ended almost the same way.

"And we don't have any psychologist here," he thought sadly and made his way to his home.

Lily Valley was still where Applejack had first and last seen here and had barely moved. With only an upper body, it wasn't that unexpected.

Applejack noticed how much more quiet and passive "it" was and it surprised her. She mentally took a note so that she later could tell the Doc about it. Maybe even the undead did die after a while with nothing to eat. If that was the case…

But she didn't bother thinking about this now. She now just wanted to find Rose and bring her back home, so she sat down, a few feet away from Lily and waited for a while. But even after half an hour, Rose didn't show up.

She didn't like being out in the open for too long, uncovered, so she decided to hold out in Carousel Boutique which is near the remains of Lily. From there, she would observe her surroundings and see if she could spot Rose. But first, she had to secure the boutique.

Seeing Raritys old home made her feel extremely uncomfortable, more than her other friends homes for some reason she couldn't explain. She just hoped she wouldn't find anypony there.

Everything seemed secure. When in Raritys room which had been her working room as well, she saw a dress on a mannequin, only done to about their percent. Applejack noticed Raritys desk on which was her sketch for the dress. It was supposed to be winter dress, light blue with a plushy white seam. The sketch obviously hasn't been completely finished. There wasn't even a name for the dress yet. It seemed to be a simpler dress compared to other ones she has made, but reading the notes on the paper made it obvious that Rarity has taken great pride in how simple yet comfortable the dress was going to be. Applejack took the sketch. She wouldn't be able to carry the dress too. Perhaps Canterlot had something for Rarity to sew.

As she stepped outside, she thought she heard something upstairs in the attic. As it was the only room she hasn't checked yet, she went up the stairs, holding her pistol carefully and opened the lock with the key that fortunately was still inside the door lock. She pulled open the door and went inside.

The attic smelled really foully and decayed. Boxes and more boxes, some of them opened, some of them closed for what seemed like a decade, filled most of the surprisingly large room. Every box had something written on it. "Seam", "Silk", "Cotton". As Applejack went further inside, she saw some old mannequins, really old ones she still remembered from the time Rarity had started taking her hobby more serious. She was surprised to see that she kept them all this time.

Behind her, the cotton box fell to the ground. She immediately turned around and held up her weapon. Slowly, she walked over to the box, careful not to lose sight of her surroundings.

Then, behind a few other boxes, she saw a walker, a pretty small one as she immediately noticed, which had heard her and knocked down the box. When it turned to her, it was really slow and quiet, just like Lily Valley. But just like Lily Valley, she also knew this walker. It slowly walked over to Applejack, tripped over a box but stood up and continued.

Applejack stood in shock while looking at the undead Sweetie Belle and continued going backwards. But she knew she had to do it. After all, it was Sweetie Belle. And considering how her ribs were clearly visible through her body, she apparently starved up here with no way out.

Applejack wasn't careful enough and forgot about the exit. The door was still open and when she was about to shoot, she tripped over the doorstep and hit her head on the floor quite badly. Meanwhile, the undead Sweetie Belle made her way over to her. Dizzily, Applejack aimed again and shot. The walker fell to the ground and Applejack fell unconscious.

"See you later," Sweetie Belle shouted over her shoulder to her older sister and was on her way to leave.

"Wait! Wait," Rarity quickly interrupted her sister. "Don't forget to be here by six, okay?"

"What? At six already? Why?" Sweetie complained and tried setting up a puppy face.

"Don't you try that again. And yes, by six. You know I have an important meeting tonight and I want to make sure you're here," Rarity explained while looking away from her sister to avoid her puppy stare.

"Ugh, okay. I will be here," Sweetie said disappointed.

"And now go have fun," Rarity told her and went back to her room. Sweetie was about leave again when she remembered that she wanted to show Applebloom and Scootaloo something from the attic. Her sister however didn't like her possibly looking into her stuff so she usually wasn't allowed to enter alone. She sneaked past Raritys room without being detected, unlocked the door - fortunately, the key was in the lock - and closes the door when she was inside.

"Now, where is it?" she said to herself as she began searching.

About a minute later, Rarity heard screams outside, loud and frightening ones at that. She looked out the window and saw what would later be called a herd marching through Ponyville, some of them basically devouring other ponies. In panic, more than ever before, she locked all the rooms - and with it the attic - and left in a hurry, hoping that Sweetie was somewhere in the huge crowd of ponies fleeing to the train station to evacuate.

The attic had no windows and the walls were pretty solid so that Sweetie didn't hear anything of what was happening outside. She just hurriedly searched for the first dress Rarity had ever made. Today on the CMCs plan was to learn sewing. And Sweetie knew that her sister had kept that dress ever since hidden.

When she found it, she sneaked back to the exit and tried opening the door and was puzzled when it didn't open.

"Hm?"

She pulled some more, stronger, but it didn't help. She was beginning to become somewhat panicked. Banging at the door, having thrown the dress to the side, she first shouted, later screamed for help. To no avail, of course.

And after about a week of being stuck in the attic, wondering why nopony was looking for her, why everything was constantly silent, why Rarity hated her so much, she starved. Three hours, twenty-eight minutes and forty-two seconds later, she turned into a walker.

Whooves followed the light blue stallion to a dark room. He abruptly turned on the light, blinding the Doc for a few seconds.

"Please, inform me next time, okay?" he asked politely. "My eyes hurt."

"Time is money, got no time to waste," he said quickly and tramped to a large desk. "Time to learn, come on."

Whooves followed and stood next to him, observing him mixing multiple potions.

"Talking about crazy scientist…"

"Being able to manifest spells into liquids is quite the charm, you know," he blabbered.

"It is," Whooves admitted. "I wish I was able to do that. I have been doing my work with my hooves and mouth to the best of my ability, but using magic must be so much more efficient."

"Not my fault unicorns are superior," he said and reached over the table for a microscope, almost knocking down multiple test tubes.

"Here, look at this." He put a dissection on the microscope. Whooves looked through the scope and saw a piece of what he believed was skin.

"Say, Tuxedo, how did you find out about this?" he asked and looked up to find him at the other part of the room. Tuxedo searched through a big arsenal of medical instruments but returned with nothing.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something," he said and shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, here." He let a few drops of his mixed potion drip onto the skin.

Whooves looked through the scope again and saw the skin turning a neon green before going back to normal, looking cleaner than before.

"That looks quite interesting, but what exactly did it do?" he asked Tuxedo.

"It cleans the skin and restores it to a natural, healthy state. Or at least it's supposed to. Something is missing and I can't figure out what." He fixed the tuxedo he wore. "Maybe you'll find out."

Whooves shook his head. "I doubt that. I am not familiar with this sort of science."

"'Not familiar with this, not with that'," Tuxedo mocked him. "Whatever somepony asks about your job, you always are like, 'That's not my subject, I'm not familiar with it.' For Celestia's sake, what on Equestria are you doing?"

"Like I said many, many times before, it is a touchy topic for me. I do not like telling anypony about it. It is a... underappreciated field of expertise, I would say," he said. "What about your potion now? You think it could help healing bite wounds?"

"Definitely," Tuxedo suddenly excitingly agreed. "It is just missing one ingredient and I cannot figure out what."

"But why did you want me to take a look?"

"Well, I suppose I hoped you could figure the problem out. Apparently not," he said and pushed Whooves lightly towards the exit. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Shortly after, Whooves was outside again, the door slamming shut behind him. He sighed and tried to calm himself down.

"He's weird, ain't he?" Cloud Chaser asked him. He looked up and saw Cloud together with Stellar standing in front of him.

"Hm? Oh, yes, he is. I am not sure why he acts the way he does. It seems unnatural. Or at the very least not healthy," he agreed. "But I believe we have not met yet. You seem to be an acquaintance of Stellar Eclipse. Pleasure to meet you." He hold out his hoof. Cloud shook it a bit to eagerly.

"Pleasure's mine," she smiled. "We were just passing by though, his training for today's finished."

"Training?"

"Flying practice," Stellar said. "She asked and I took the chance. Feels nice feeling like an actual pegasus."

"Okay. I trust your sense in judgement." He turned to Cloud. "No offense."

"It's fine," she assured him. "I know how it works nowadays."

A bit of awkward silence followed since neither of them knew what to add to the conversation nor how to close it. Stellar wishes he would get along better with the Doc.

"Anyway, like she said, training's finished, so we'll be on our way," Stellar tried ending the discussion.

"Sure, of course. We will see each other, then," Whooves said and waved them a shirt goodbye before walking in the opposite direction. Cloud looked at him walking away.

"He seems a bit, like, dozen off, don't you think?"

"Everypony's got bad days," Stellar said. "And he just visited Tuxedo. It's no surprise you come out confused afterwards."

"Yeah, that's true," she agreed and they started walking. After a while, she asked, "Why's he called 'Tuxedo' anyway?"

"I think that's just his nickname that he wants to be called by. I don't know anypony that actually knows his real name."

Cloud chuckled. “Weird guy. But interesting.”

Applejack woke up and found herself in a black void with no sounds, ponies, whatsoever. Absolutely nothing.

“Hello? Anypony?” she shouted into the void.

Silence.

“Ah could need some help here. Please!”

Silence.

Then, slowly, a dark figure appeared in front of her. Applejack became frightened but felt no need to flee. Continuously, the figure became clearer and sharper. She immediately knew who that pony was.

“Well, how's it going, dumbass?” Daisy asked rudely. “How miserable is it going? Didn't expect you to still be alive.”

Applejack stood there in silence.

“What? Don't remember me?” she asked and waved in front of her face. “Anypony there? You're not that old yet, are you?”

“What- why are ya here?” Applejack asked her confused.

“It's a fucking dream, damnit. Use your brain.” She tapped her hoof against her head.

“Ah didn't remember you bein' this rude, though,” Applejack mentioned and stepped back. “What do ya want?”

“Actually, only one thing. I wanted to ask you something.” Daisy cleared her throat once. “How many ponies did you kill until now?”

“What?”

“Before you killed me, I told you that you'd be killing a lot of the ponies around you. Now, how many ponies are already dead because of you?”

Applejack stayed silent. She didn't know herself.

“Well, I know anyway,” Daisy said and counted. “Me, one stallion at the Canterlot bar, technically Filthy Rich as he died sooner and more painful because of your interference, three Release residents who died during your burglary, two Release guards and of course Twilight. That sums up to a total of nine ponies. Wow, way less than I anticipated.” She grinned. “The thing is, you're not done yet. I know that. A lot more ponies will die at your hooves. There's no way around it. Unless you end yourself, of course. You know, you'd do quite a few ponies who want to live a favor.”

“No,” Applejack insisted and became louder as she continued, more compassionate. “No, Ah'm gonna live. Exposin' Lucky Charms intentions and actions will save many other innocent ponies lives. Ah'm constantly feelin' terrible because of Twilight's death but there is nothin' Ah can do about it anymore except continue livin' and tryin' to help the world become a better place!”

“So, that's what you wanna do? Well, I guess you should start, then,” Daisy stated cheekily. “There ain't too much you've done so far. Better start working your ass off.”

She started vanishing. “But one last piece of my mind,” she said, smiling mischievously, “watch your back. Who knows how even your closest friends are actually like?”

With that, she completely vanished and left Applejack alone.

"By Celestia, you're finally awake. I was worried."

Applejack woke up, this time properly, in a little, dark room. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but when they did, she saw Rose next to her.

"Rose," she whispered. She tried to get up, but instantly felt a headache approaching.

"Relax, okay?" Rose calmed her down. "We have time." She sighed. "I can't say that I'm happy with your decision, coming here for me apparently, though I am flattered that you're worried about me. But believe me, I am capable of managing being by myself."

"Ah don't doubt that," Applejack defended herself, "but Ah didn't like how emotionally unstable ya were when ya left. Ah had to make sure ya're okay."

"It's okay, I guess," she answered. "I can't say I forgive you for the thing with Daisy, even if it was accidental. I'll get over it eventually, I'll forgive you eventually. We're still friends but I'll need some distance first."

"Ah understand," Applejack said. "Ah'd feel the same."

"Better now?" Rose asked. "I'd like to quickly get back to Canterlot if possible. Quickly bury Lily and Daisy and then immediately leave. Oh, and Sweetie Belle too."

"Yeah, Sweetie," Applejack repeated sadly.

"I think you shouldn't tell Rarity, AJ."

"Ah'm not gonna. That'd mess her up."

Two hours later, they had buried Sweetie Belle next to Carousel Boutique, the now finally properly dead Lily and Daisy have been buried on the marketplace where their old flower shop had been. They stood in front of their graves.

"When you told me that my friends were dead, I couldn't believe it," Rose whispered. "And naturally, I'm sad. But I'm also glad to know what happened to them and where they are and that they don't need to live through this crisis."

"Ya sure ya didn't want them in Canterlot?" Applejack asked her as they started walking towards the train station.

"No, I'd feel down constantly, having to see them every day. I'd rather say goodbye once and then concentrate on overcoming my grieve," Rose responded. "I once had an uncle in Manehattan who died. He was buried in the local cemetery, down the street. Whenever I had to go to the city, I had to walk past it and each and every single time, I had think about him. It was miserable."

"Really? Ah'm the opposite. Ah definitely want them near me to not forget about them, to feel like they're somewhat watchin' over me. Couldn't stand thinkin' about them being buried on the outer half of Equestria. Ah need to make sure their graves are all clean and well. Otherwise, Ah don't see the reason why we'd have them."

"If arguing over where to bury ponies was our worst problem, we'd live a rather great life." They shortly chuckled.

After that, they arrived at the station. They each boarded a train and began their trip home. Applejack was in deep thought so that it seemed to take less time back.

After arriving in Canterlot, they put back the train into the garage and went inside. It was sunset and the moon was about to be blooming. One last ray of sunshine shined down on a bush near the the Canterlot walls.

Carefully, Lucky Charm looked up from behind it and saw the two ponies entering. She thought for a second, then sheathed her gun and hid behind the bush again.

She whispered, "Not this time, sadly. But the time will come."