The Se7en

A loud rapping at her front door rouses Rarity from her sleep. Not like I can get much sleep anyway, she thinks to herself as she trots down the stairs to the main showroom area.

“Hold your hooves,” she calls out as the rapping continues. Glancing out the window, she questions why anypony would be up at such an ungodly hour. She opens the door, and …

“I love you, Rarity!” Spike blurts out as he quickly runs up and embraces her in a tight hug.

“WHA? …” Rarity breaks free and takes several steps back, her mind racing. “Spike, what are you DOING here???”

“I’m here for you,” he gallantly answers. “I can’t believe I had to die before I could get myself to say it, but I’m saying it now:” he drops to one knee and stretches an arm out. “Rarity, please be with me for the rest of our time together!”

“Awww, so sweet!” Pinkie Pie states as she bounds through the doorway into the shop, ebullient and effervescent as ever. “Hey, who’s up for an afterlife party!!!”

“Pinkie Pie???” Rarity stammers for a continuation. “But how … I mean … you’re both dead!”

“So are you, now!”

A voice from behind causes Rarity to spin around and come face-to-face with Rainbow Dash. “What? Me, dead?”

“Well you can’t be that surprised to learn that,” Spike deadpans.

“Yeah,” Pinkie continues, “I mean, whoever’s killing us is really super-stealthy and sharp. And did you see the pose I got put in? I mean, that murderer really knows my weaknesses, amiright?”

“No …” Rarity shakes her head in disbelief. “I can’t be dead. I’m just sleeping in my room.”

“You mean like I was?” Rainbow Dash points out. “And I was in the clouds; your place is much more accessible. Admit it: security in Ponyville isn’t exactly top-of-the-line.”

“Ooh, ooh, what do you think her ‘sin’ was, huh?” Pinkie asks as she continues bouncing around the room. “I say ‘pride’. I mean, you are one proud fashionista!”

“Please be ‘lust’, please be ‘lust’,” Spike pleads to himself repeatedly.

“Now look here, all of you,” Rarity announces to the threesome. “I’m not dead … I, I can’t be dead … can I?”

“Nopony’s ever ready for when it’s truly ‘their time’,” Rainbow says, “but once your number’s up, it’s up.”

“Besides,” Pinkie adds, “it’s not like we’re in any pain or suffering.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow adds. “The afterlife is awesome!”

Rarity looks from one to the other, unsure what to make of things. “So it’s true? … I was the next victim?”

“ ‘Fraid so,” Spike says. “But at least now we can be together again.”

Rarity paces around the showroom several times before letting out a sigh. “So this is how it ends. It’s weird; it feels no different than when I was alive. It’s actually … not so bad, I suppose.”

“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheerfully exclaims. “Now who’s up for a party?”

“Really, Pinkie Pie, is that all you can think about? We’re all dead now, and you can’t stop celebrating!” Rarity shakes her head, but cannot suppress a chuckle.

“That’s the spirit,” Rainbow adds.

“At least I can spend my time here with all of you … and I know I should be, quite literally, eternally grateful for that.” Rarity looks down and closes her eyes. “But still, I’m going to miss Twilight and the others … and especially my little sister, Sweetie Belle.”

“You don’t have to miss me.”

Rarity turns to the stairs, horrified to see Sweetie Belle trot down towards them.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

…

“Rarity … Rarity, are you OK?”

Rarity’s eyes flicker open; the faint glow of a worn-down candle sheds little light to her room. Turning to her side, she makes out the features of Sweetie Belle standing over her, a look of concern in her eyes.

“Sweetie Belle,” she quietly states with a tired smile, “you’re alive … we’re alive.”

“Well, yeah. You woke me up with a loud scream; is everything all right?”

Rarity thinks back to the previous night. To breaking the news to her sister that Rainbow Dash was killed in her sleep. To holding her sister as the two wept over the loss of so many loved ones in such a short and sudden period.

“No.”

For much of the trek through Ponyville proper on the way to Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity and Sweetie Belle walk in icy silence. As they reach the outskirts of the town, the younger unicorn starts asking questions, each a tiny barb into Rarity’s psyche.

“Will you and Applejack still be friends after this?”

“I don’t know,” Rarity glumly replies, never turning her head as she speaks.

“Can Apple Bloom and I still be friends after this?”

“I don’t know,” Rarity repeats.

“Do you think Scootaloo knows about Rainbow Dash?”

“I don’t know.”

“Rarity … is Equestria just a bad place?

“…”

Rarity stops in her tracks, shakes her head and turns to face her sister.

“I’m sorry, I truly am. These last couple days have been the roughest stretch that any pony has even had to endure. But know this: Applejack and I will be friends after all this, you and your Crusader friends will remain loyal to each other long after this ordeal passes, and Equestria is a wonderful place.”

“But what about Scootaloo?”

Rarity muses for a moment. “I’m sure she’ll find out soon enough, though I’m sure she might already be aware. And I am well aware how close those two were … this will not be an easy time for her. But with your help … with Apple Bloom’s help … she will get through all this.”

Rarity gives her sister a quick embrace, then resumes her trip towards the farm.

. . .

Passing through the gated entranceway, Rarity inspects the tree-studded area. “I always underestimate the sheer size of the Apple family’s farm. Sweetie Belle, do you see Applejack anywhere?”

Sweetie Belle scans the forested pasture. “I don’t see her either.”

“Well, she might be indoors. Let’s go and …”

Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity spots an orange lump lying on the ground, fallen apples all around. “No,” she quietly comments as she gallops towards the still figure, her sister giving chase.

Darting past one tree after another, she quickly comes upon the lifeless figure of her farmer friend, lying on her side with bruises on her upper hindlegs.

“APPLEJACK, NOOOO!!!”

“Who, what now? …” Jostled awake, Applejack quickly scampers onto her feet and turns to Rarity. “Oh, it’s you!.”

Rarity swarms Applejack in a tight embrace, fighting back fresh tears. “You startled me!”.

“OK now,” Applejack starts as she pulls away from Rarity and lets out a yawn. “Didn’t me to frighten you; it’s just been a long morning is all.”

“Applejack!” a voice calls out. The threesome turn to see Apple Bloom come into view. “Everything alright?”

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle exclaims as the two fillies share a hug. “How have you been holding up?”

“Hasn’t been easy. Big Mac and Granny Smith’ve been at a cultivation conference in Baltimare the past several days, so it’s just been me ‘n mah sister here … and that was before all the …” Apple Bloom closes her eyes and turns away.

“Yeah … have you seen Scootaloo? I’m worried about how she’s holding up.”

“She’s in the barn … tryin’ to fly.”

Sweetie Belle gives Apple Bloom a quizzical look.

“She’s been with me ‘n Applejack over the weekend. When she found out about Rainbow Dash, she …”

“I’m sure she wept a lot last night,” Sweetie Belle comments. “Rainbow Dash was basically her big sister.”

“Actually, no,” Apple Bloom corrects. “She just said nothin’ … no tears, no commiseratin’ … she just went into the barn and been practicin’ tryin’ to fly ever since. Been doin’ it since last night. No words, no breaks, just … all around the barn, flappin’ her wings.”

“Any success?”

“No … but she refuses to stop. Maybe seein’ you will get her to at least take a break.”

“Lead the way.”

The two fillies scamper back to the barn, leaving Rarity and Applejack alone to discuss matters.

“So,” Rarity begins, “are you OK? I didn’t expect to come over and find you … lying on the ground, like …”

“It’s just exhaustion,” Applejack tiredly responds. “Despite all that’s happened the last couple days, life still moves on, an’ the farmin’ ain’t gonna take care of itself. Ah fell behind a bit ‘n ah’m tryin’ to make up for lost productivity.” She bucks a tree behind her as a few apples fall to the ground. “Slow goin’ today, Ah guess,” she muses to herself out loud as she stifles a yawn.

“Are you sure I can’t be of any assistance?”

“Ah’m getting’ mah second wind,” Applejack insists. “And honestly … Ah need this time for distraction purposes. Fer focusin’ and whatnot.”

“Very well.” Rarity sighs briefly before continuing. “Applejack, about last night …”

“Yeah, Ah’m sorry ‘bout how all that went down.” Applejack’s apology catches Rarity off-guard. “Ah know you ‘n Twilight’re doin’ the best you can under these circumstances, ‘n Ah shouldn’t be so quick to snap at mah friends.”

“Wow … you have me at a loss.”

“What’d you lose, now?”

“Nonono,” Rarity quickly corrects, “I mean we should be apologizing to you. You were right that we should not be keeping anything from our friends during our investigations … and I can assure you that we won’t leave you in the dark anymore.”

“Ah appreciate that.” Applejack bucks the same tree a second time, causing another small batch of apples to fall. “So Ah’m wonderin’,” she continues, “do you think both Pinkie Pie an’ Rainbow Dash could’ve just … you know … done in themselves? That maybe this ain’t somepony comin’ after us?”

“I wish that were the case, Applejack.” The twosome look to the sky as Twilight flies over to their location, Fluttershy following behind, and comes to rest. “Glad I found you two … alive and well.”

“Glad to see the two of you,” Applejack replies. “You been together all mornin’?”

“I swung by Fluttershy’s cottage first; this was too important not to fill everypony in.”

“OK then,” Applejack replies, “so what’d you find out?”

“I took a closer look at Pinkie’s and Rainbow’s bodies.” Twilight’s comments cause the others to wince. “It wasn’t … a pleasant experience, I admit. But I had to see if there was anything out of the ordinary … and there was.”

“What did you find?” Rarity asks.

“A pinprick, right next to the cutie mark. Each of them had one. A thin trail of blood leading from the hole … someone injected some sort of poison into each of them. That was both their causes of death.”

Applejack closes her eyes. “So someone is targetin’ us.” She opens her eyes and sees Twilight give a small nod. “But who? And why?”

“Well, who have been Equestria’s greatest threats?” Twilight asks.

“Well,” Fluttershy starts apprehensively, “there was that mean King Sombra when the Crystal Empire returned … but he didn’t survive that, right?” The others nod in agreement.

“And Tirek is still in Tartarus,” Applejack adds. “He ain’t no threat to anypony.”

“Chrysalis is still out there, somewhere,” Rarity muses, “but getting close to us with needles? This really doesn’t sound like her.”

“And anyway,” Applejack continues, “whoever’s been doin’ this was able to creep up on Pinkie Pie … how come her ‘Pinkie sense’ didn’t alert her to any danger?”

“You don’t think it’s somepony we know, do you?” Fluttershy asks.

“Well there has to be someone we’re missing,” Twilight finally concludes. “Someone who knows us. Someone harboring a big grudge against us.”

“I’m sorry Twilight,” Rarity responds, “but we’re not the type of ponies to accumulate enemies. I really can’t think of anyone.”

“Ah can, but … Ah mean, it just don’t seem like it really could be.”

“I’ll take any theory you got, Applejack,” Twilight insists. “What’s on your mind.”

“Well … there is one pony who really hated us. And Ah mean despised us with all her heart. An’ Ah could see her gettin’ revenge in a fashion like this … but …”

“But what?” Twilight asks.

“But … she’s reformed now … an’ she looks up to you now, so Ah don’t think …”

Twilight quickly realizes who Applejack is alluding to. “You’re … you’re referring to Starlight Glimmer, aren’t you?”

Applejack nods in silence.

“That’s impossible!” Twilight responds angrily. “I know she was upset at us, but that was years ago … and even if she harbored bad feelings, she wouldn’t resort to straight-up killing us in our sleep!”

“Well to be fair,” Rarity admits, “Her actions did nearly cause an apocalyptic future … that’s how you described it to us, anyway.”

“There’s NO WAY Starlight could be responsible for our friends’ deaths,” Twilight states, stomping her hoof in emphasis as she turns to Fluttershy. “You agree with me, right?”

“Oh … I couldn’t see anypony doing these awful things to our friends.”

“Besides,” Twilight continues as she turns to face the others, “Starlight and Trixie has been in Fillydelphia the past several days giving stage performances.”

“Starlight does know how to teleport,” Applejack points out.

“Starlight is not going around killing our friends. END OF DISCUSSION!” Twilight’s outburst causes the others to back away slowly, as Twilight takes several breaths. “I’m … I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to …”

“We’re all a bit on edge,” Rarity states. “It wouldn’t be natural if you weren’t a bit more … assertive.”

“Look … Starlight is due to return this afternoon. I’ll fill her in on … everything that’s happened. Maybe she’ll have some fresh thoughts. In the meantime, watch for any suspicious behavior. It’s terrible enough that we’ve lost three dear friends … I don’t want to lose any more any time soon.”

“You take care of yerself too, Twi,” Applejack replies as Twilight spreads her wings and flies off.

“I have to finish taking care of my animal friends,” Fluttershy tells the others. “After that, I think I’ll just lock myself in and wait for one of you to come by. I hope that’s OK.”

“All things considered, sounds like a smart idea,” Rarity replies. “You take care of yourself. I still have … arrangements to make. It won’t be a pleasant day for any of us, I guess.”

“Ah’ll tend to the fillies if ya need me to,” Applejack offers.

“That would be generous of you. Well … I’ll see you all later.”

The threesome embrace each other one last time before Fluttershy flies off and Rarity trots off, leaving Applejack to resume her apple-bucking responsibilities.

For all that Starlight had done in her sordid past, hearing Twilight describe the macabre scenes she and Rarity had come across left her dumbfounded, shocked, saddened, and confused. She walks around the cutie map room, muttering to herself as she processes the loss of several recent friends.

“… and you’re certain that it’s somepony that we know,” she finally says to Twilight.

“I highly doubt some random stranger would carry out these killings,” Twilight responds. “Anyway, only someone Pinkie Pie trusted would have kept her ‘Pinkie sense’ from kicking in.”

“Are you sure about that? I mean, to Pinkie Pie, everypony was a close friend. And as for Rainbow Dash, she did have a tendency to sleep soundly.”

“Well stranger or not, someone is out to get us … and I hate to say this, but that could mean you’re a target too.”
Starlight winces at the thought, but quickly shakes the feeling off. “We’ll catch this killer. I promise you that. It’s only a matter of … time …”

Twilight notices a grin on her protégé’s face. “What’s on your mind?”

“Twilight, that’s it! We just go back in time!”

Twilight ponders Starlight’s idea. “I did find one spell that let me go back in time … but it only lasted for a couple minutes. I don’t know if we could convince Pinkie Pie that somepony was going to kill her in only a couple minutes … she might think the whole thing was a lame joke.”

“What about something more powerful?”

“More powerful? You mean … you mean that spell you put on me and Spike?”

“Exactly … but use it for good this time! You said Pinkie Pie was found on Monday morning; all we need to do is go back in time a couple days, and we’ll catch this killer before he or she can do any harm.”

The thought of literally undoing all the events that had recently occurred raises Twilight’s hopes. “But can you replicate that spell? That was some seriously complicated work the last time, and I thought you destroyed the scroll.”

“It was challenging,” Starlight admits, “but with both of us working together, I’m sure we can recreate that spell in less than a day’s time. What do you say?”

“Follow me to the main library,” Twilight cheerily replies, the thought of once again reuniting with all her loved ones buoying her spirits.

As Scootaloo continues to run circles around the barn, her wings constantly in motion, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle observe in acceptable of their friend’s determination.

“How long do you think she can keep this up?” Sweetie Belle asks.

“Ah’m surprised she’s still goin’. Ain’t no use in stoppin’ her ‘til she stops herself.”

The two turn their attention back to their pegasus friend, who continues to race around desperately flapping her wings. She stumbles after one particular turn, tripping over her forehooves and somersaulting several times before crashing into a wall. The others quickly race up to her.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom cries out. “You OK?”

Lying upon her back staring up at her friends’ eyes, tears well up in her own. She turns to her side and sobs uncontrollably. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle look at each in silence, then turn back to observe their friend.

“It’s not fair!” Scootaloo yells out through her tears. “She was the best sister anyone could have, and now she’s gone …”

Her friends attempt to give her a hug, but she quickly shakes them off and rolls onto her hooves, sadness giving way to anger in her tone.

“All the time she put in with me, all the support, all the practice …” She glances at each of her wings in despisal. “For what? I can’t even honor her legacy. It should’ve been me, not her. She was the most special pegasus ever, and I’m still nothing.” She takes several steps away from the others, buries her head in her forelegs, and lies back down on the ground.

“You’re not nothing,” Apple Bloom angrily scolds. “Everything we’ve done since we met, everypony we’ve helped … that ain’t nothing!”

Sweetie Belle gently nudges Apple Bloom away. “Let he be for now.”

Sighing, Apple Bloom strolls to the barn door; opening it, she is surprised to hear crickets chirping as she eyes a clear moonlit sky. “How long have we been in here?”

Sweetie Belle joins her friend at the entrance. “We must have lost track of time … why didn’t Applejack call us for dinner?” Apple Bloom turns to Sweetie Belle, a look of terror quickly forming on her face. “What, something I …” her friend’s fears soon dawn on the unicorn. “No, she couldn’t have …”

Apple Bloom sprints out into the blackness of the tree-filled farmland. Sweetie Belle’s horn illuminates as she gives chase. Scootaloo raises her head and watches the two dart out; she gets to her hooves and follows, her mind now refocused on her friends.

“APPLEJACK!” her sister repeatedly calls out as she weaves her way past one tree after another, her visibility hampered by the darkness. In her haste, she stumbles over a pair of loose apples on the ground and stumbles into an apple pile, strewing fruit all around a clearing.

Sweetie Belle catches up to her fallen friend, her horn shedding light on a prone figure on the ground. She walks over to the figure and gasps: Applejack lay motionless on the ground, a trickle of dried blood leading from a tiny hole located just below her cutie mark.

Apple Bloom gets up from the apple pile and turns to see her sister lie still on the ground. She cries out in anguish and quickly hugs her sister’s body. Scootaloo reaches the others, but Sweetie Belle blocks her from getting closer and nudges her away from scene. As she turns away, the light from her horn shines upon a group of smashed apples aligned in a way to spell out a word:

PRIDE

Sweetie Belle turns back to Apple Bloom; she and Scootaloo look on in silence as their friend remains attached to her sister.