Bad End

The night was breezeless. For all the world it should have been easy to sleep, no wind clattering the windows or draft under the door, and it was summer so any wind would have been warm and calming, but Applejack couldn’t sleep. Not with a zombie in the house.

She lay in bed, her ears twitching listening to her sister pace back and forth in the room down the hall, bone upon bone upon bone all grinding and knocking. Sometimes she’d hear the bedsprings squeak and know that Apple Bloom was trying to get some sleep too. Then the springs would squeak again and four hooves would hit the floor, in the wrong order of course, and she’d know that no sleep had come to her sister. She could see how difficult it would be to sleep when your eyes had no lids. That was how she felt too, like her eyes were lidless, staring at the ceiling, picturing what she was hearing through the walls.

She was frightened too, no doubt. The walking dead was in her house. It was her sister, sure, but it was also a monster that ate the flesh of the living. She was terrified that any hour now, Apple Bloom would sneak in and try to eat her brain, or another organ she needed. In that event, she would put up as best a fight she could against the zombie without injuring her sister, if that were possible. She had seen a duality in Apple Bloom. There was the zombie, and the pony. She didn’t like to think that they could be one and the same. There was no way.

Down the hall, the doorknob turned, and Applejack froze like a stalked animal, keeping the noise from her turning in the sheets to a minimum. Little bony legs trotted towards her door, and as they drew closer the mare began to work up a sweat. She had to be ready to defend herself.

Her own door’s knob turned now, a soft red glow shining through the cracks and the keyhole. She lay as flat as possible, with one hoof holding the covers and another reaching under her pillow for the rubber mallet she had stashed there in case of this very incident. As the door opened, she peered at the two orbs floating in the darkness and waited for them to move. They entered, and Applejack jumped up in bed with the mallet in her mouth, about to strike.

“Applejack, Ah can’t sleep, can Ah try an’ sleep in here?” The filly gurgled. She noticed her sister holding the mallet and cocked her head. “Whatcha got that fer? You building somethin’?”

“Oh, um, hi Apple Bloom... no, Ah ain’t building anythin’...” she tucked the mallet back under the pillow. “Ah... Ah’m not gonna lie to ya, Ah was scared you were gonna hurt me...”

“Honestly! Everypony thinks Ah’m gonna eat them all up! What’s with that?”

The mare rubbed her head. “Well yer not the most friendly-lookin’ pony Ah’ve seen...”

“Ah thought you learned yer lesson about that when we met Zecora!”

“It’s a hard habit t’ break, sugarcube. Plus, Zecora don’t eat dogs.”

“Ah didn’t eat a dog! Where did that even come from?”

“Ask Winona. Oh wait, she won’t go within ten feet of ya. The poor thing’s terrified of ya.”

The filly sighed purely for dramatic effect. "Well anyways, Ah came in here to ask if Ah could try to get some shut-eye in here with you. Can’t sleep at all, but Ah’m really tired.”

“Can’t y’all zombies get by without sleeping anyways?”

“Ah dunno, Ah’ve only been one for a few days. Ah don’t know any other zombies either. Ah’m tired, AJ, so can Ah get in there?”

Applejack shivered. “Uh, sure... Ah’ll make some room.” She slid over, and Apple Bloom climbed into bed, her back leg wheeling until it got a purchase on the mattress, pulled the covers up and lay back. “You need anythin’?”

“No, Ah’m good. G’night.”

“G’night... AB.”

Apple Bloom turned her head, snuggled into the pillow and slowed her motions, but it was obvious she was awake. With the zombie inches away from her, Applejack was twice as terrified as before, ready to run if need be. She was trying to ignore the red glow penetrating the corner of her closed eyes when a peculiar smell drifted over her face. It smelled like death, evil, and rancid beans from that night’s dinner. She stuck her tongue out.

“Apple Bloom, yer breath stinks. Stop mouth-breathin’.”

“Ah’m not breathin’ at all, AJ. Th’ smell just leaks out.”

It was going to be a long sleepless night for them both.

The following day, a mare sat alone in her living room, reading a coffee table book with pictures of trees. There was a knock at the door, two reluctant ones, then another two that were stronger. Fluttershy jumped off the couch and opened the door to see her friend Applejack grinning weakly in the morning shade cast by the tree nearby.

“Howdy, Fluttershy. Can Ah come in?”

“Oh, hello Applejack! Is everything okay? Did you find Apple Bloom yet?”

The Earth pony tipped her head down a touch. “Not yet, unfortunately. But Ah need a favor from you, if it’s not too much t’ ask.”

“I’m so sorry about that. I’d be delighted to give you anything at all. What do you need?”

“Got any fish?”

The pegasus startled a bit. Her wings flapped once. “Um, yes, I do have some fish...”

“Ah need some fish.”

Remembering a word from a lesson from an old acquaintance, she took a closer look. She began to see the heat pooling in Applejack’s face. She saw her irises contracting slightly and the way her breath rose and fell in her chest. “...Why do you need some fish...?”

“Uh, now’s when we’re planting the corn, an’ th’ fish, well, we put it in the ground so the seeds have lots of nutrients. Growin’ some nice fish-corn bushes by th’ harvest season.”

Fluttershy saw her friend’s eyes momentarily dart the slightest bit to her left. It couldn’t have been more than a few arc-minutes. Maybe ten. She saw the blood vessels constrict at the edges of the eyes, saw the tear ducts pulse.

“Applejack, um, why are you lying to me?”

The response was immediate. The pupils became much smaller. The ducts quivered. The whole eye vibrated like a kitchen timer for a split second. The nostrils flared, taking in a shaky breath. The face grew hot. Applejack gulped.

“How did—?! Aw, dagnabbit Fluttershy, you used yer Sinonian senses, didn’t ya?”

“Why are you lying to me, Applejack?” The normally timid mare put one hoof forward.  “Why do you need fish?”

“Well, uh, y’all wouldn’t believe me if Ah told you. So Ah need some fish, pronto.”

The two ponies locked eyes for a few seconds more. The air grew thick. Eventually, Fluttershy began to feel the heat too. The lights became too bright, the sun’s rays shimmered down like waterfalls. Even the shadows were glowing. Her eyes dry, she blinked. Just like that, it was over. The tension snapped as she hid her face in her hair, all trace of her assertion gone.

“Um, okay, uh, I’ll... I’ll get you some fish...” She snuck past Applejack and went down to the river, opened the trap and landed two flopping salmon, which she snuck back into her house and wrapped in newsprint. A paper bag, wriggling gently, was pushed over the doorstep by a damp yellow hoof.

“Thank ya kindly sugarcube, yer a wonder at a tryin’ time like this. Now don’t you dare use those freaky senses a’ yers again on me. Ah know where you live an’ Ah got dozens a’ pies,” Applejack said irritably. She plucked the bag in her teeth and trotted away.

Inside the cottage, the pegasus collapsed on the couch, overworried, her eyes hurting, and wanting only to feel the comforting blindness of a pillow on her face.

Two cuts of salmon plopped onto the table in front of Apple Bloom, who looked on with a strange mix of disgust and hungry desire.

“AJ! Do Ah hafta eat fishes?”

The mare finished washing her hooves and dried them with a rag. “Either that or we lock you up ferever. Yer dangerous to other ponies if we don’t feed you. Eat yer fish.”

“Why would Ah even want t’ eat fishes?”

“Yer a zombie, Apple Bloom. Zombies eat meat, no matter how gross it is.”

“But—!”

“No buts, filly. This is yer lot in life. Eat yer fish or starve.”

The zombie stared at the cold slices of animal, her chin on the table, ratty forelock hanging over her eye sockets. “They’re not even alive...” she muttered.

Her sister’s ears pricked up in shock. “What was that?”

“Nothing! Ah’m eatin’ ‘em!” Indecisively, she began to nibble on the reddest edge of the meat, taking care to avoid the thin rib bones that striated it. Applejack walked into the living room, where Granny Smith and Big Macintosh were talking but stopped as she entered.

“Hello, dearie! Oh, I was just telling your brother how much I love Apple Bloom’s Nightmare Night costume! She makes such a cute oil spill diver.”

“Uh, yeah Granny, she sure is.” She glared at the stallion, who shrugged. “But remember that we gotta keep it secret. It’s s’posed to be a surprise fer her friends.”

“Oh yes! Little Sweetie Loo and Scootabelle. Now those fillies have good taste in friends. Things weren’t so easy back when there were only five other foals in the whole town, and all of them were the wrong colors to dress up as a pack of crayons for Nightmare Night. And one of them smelled like beets all the time.”

“Gee, Granny, maybe you should write all this stuff down. ...Big Mac? Can Ah talk with you?” The two left Granny Smith in the living room and ducked into the hall. “Nightmare Night costume?!” She whispered angrily.

“Ah needed an excuse.”

“It’s the middle of Ju-ly!”

“Granny didn’t notice.”

Applejack sighed. “Just come around to the kitchen an’ help keep an eye on our sister.” They peeked through the open doorway. Apple Bloom had torn the slab of fish into several pieces and was trying to rank them from fewest to most bones. Her jaw dripped with blood-tinged sticky juices, and though it was plain she was repulsed, she was also very hungry. As she bent to take a bite, she spied her siblings in the doorway.

“Oh, hi! Um, Ah’m just eatin’ mah fishes... num num.” She pretended to chew, creaking all the while. The two adults ducked back into the hall, and when she thought they weren’t looking, she actually took a bite of the piece she thought to be boneless, shuddering with confused pleasure. “Eww...”

“See what Ah mean?” Applejack said. “She’s a devious monster. She’s actually eatin’ meat!”

“You gave her meat, what did you expect?”

“Don’t forget she tore up Smarty Pants.”

Big Macintosh whinnied. “You have no proof a’ that.”

“Winona’s too gentle, she couldn’t tear up a toy if she wanted to.”

He opened his mouth but paused because he heard a sob. They peered back into the kitchen. Apple Bloom had finished one fish and was devouring the second, drooling copiously but with a look of pure nausea on her face, murky tears streaming down.

“Why is it so delicious?!”

“Hi Pinkie Pie! Can I help you with anything?”

The party pony entered the library nervously. “I don’t know Twilight, can you?”

Twilight Sparkle blinked. “I’m the librarian here! Of course I can, if it’s a book you want.”

“Not a book, Twilight. A friend. Fluttershy and I were talking earlier over lunch...” She hesitated to go on, like it might be painful.

“I’m listening.”

She returned. “...Fluttershy is really worried. About Applejack.”

“We all are, Pinkie. It’s been over two days now since her sister went missing.”

“Not exactly that... I’ll get righty-tighty to it. Applejack needed fish, and lied about why she needed them.”

“Applejack lied?” The thought seemed foreign to the unicorn’s mind. “...Fish? What did she say to Fluttershy?”

“Some silly story about growing corn with the fish. With anypony else, even me, it would have worked, but you know Fluttershy...”

“Pinkie, first off, that’s a real thing. Fish is and has been traditionally used to fertilize crops such as corn for hundreds of years. Second, how certain is she?”

“Crystal! Um, wait, that doesn’t work. She’s just really sure. It took a lot out of her to notice this, and I trust her totally.”

“Okay, so why do you think Applejack needs fish?”

The Earth pony regained some energy as she revved up for a One-Breath-Explanation™. “Well, she could be making lipstick or other cosmetic pastes, she could be studying biology for a super-duper hard quiz at the night school classes for adults who didn’t learn so well as fillies so she needs something to dissect, she could be trying to make an army of fish-apple abominations, she could be succeeding in making an army of fish-apple abominations and needs extra genetic material so they’re immune to disease, she could be laboring under the misapprehension that she’s a lonely little fish who can’t find her friends in the deep blue sea, she could be transporting them across state lines for immoral porpoises, she could be taking care of some sickly animal that only eats fish but she’s too embarrassed to show her caring side to tell Fluttershy the truth, she could be founding an aquarium, she could be starting an underwater circus, she could be a fish enthusiast if you get my drift, hint hint, she could be teaching Big Macintosh what’s okay to catch when they go fishing out on the lake in a little boat called the S.S. Sweet Apple that has a patch on the hull where they threw a harpoon wrong and almost sank one time, she could be releasing them into the wild because she disapproves of Fluttershy’s fish traps, she could be obsessing over them in a misguided attempt to relieve herself of the terror of discovering a sea-pony skeleton buried in the foundations of her house where her ancestors killed it for its Seaquestrian gold and entombed it in concrete, she could be expressing a desire to be cold-blooded, she could want to draw or paint a fish and need a reference, she could be an alien who convulses them with lightning rays so they dance for her amusement, she could be going mad with grief over her missing sister and trying to replace her, or she could be making fish food and need taste-testers.” She panted furiously before asking, “Did you catch all that?”

Twilight’s eyes spun in her head. “Uhhh, sure, Pinkie Pie. But, uh, I asked what you thought, not what could be.”

“Why didn’t you say so? My best guess is she’s making a dead fish puppet show.”

“Puppet sh— Pinkie, that’s horrible! Ew! Why would you think that?”

“Hey, you asked. It seems most likely to me.” She pointed a hoof. “Now it’s your turn to dish. I heard Big Macintosh was over here last night?”

“It - it was nothing, just nothing, he was just returning the books he borrowed. He didn’t have a care in the world.”

“What books?”

“Ugh, we’ve been through this before. You do not have the right to know which books other ponies checked out. It’s not any of your business and it’s not allowed. Not even if they’re an ‘enemy of the state’ or whatever you said last time.”

“Even if it could solve all our problems? If it could find Apple Bloom?” Pinkie proposed.

“...That’s debatable.”

Pinkie grinned and was about to argue her point, only to be interrupted.

“But we’re not debating it, Pinkie! The books don’t matter. What matters is that Apple Bloom must be found.”

“Twilight? I really don’t mean to be a downer but there’s always the tiny possibility that—”

“We’re going to find her,” she said firmly. Looking over her shoulder, she pulled a book off  one of the top shelves and floated it to the table. The pages flipped and stopped on an overhead map of the Everfree, more detailed than the parchment copies she had given the search teams.

“Here’s the Everfree Forest. Given Apple Bloom’s average speed, I’ve drawn rings on this overlay that represent how far away she could have gotten within certain times. By now she could be all the way to the Drackenridge Mountains!”

Pinkie pondered. “Or... she could be right here in Ponyville! Thanks, Twilight!” And she bounced out the door. Twilight looked over the map.

“Well that is a possibility... but she’s NOT!” She called after her friend to no avail. Chalking Pinkie’s antics up to too much sugar, she retrieved her cartographic divider from its pocket in the book and continued measuring distances. A thought struck her and she shuddered.

“No way Applejack would do that...”

“Oh shoot, everypony hide! Apple Bloom, get upstairs and under yer bed!” Applejack hollered to her family as she looked out the back window. Two teams of ponies were making their way through the fields of grain towards the farmhouse. Gritting her teeth, she tightened her hat and went out into the strong heat of the day to meet the ponies halfway.

Outside, the teams had wandered from the back gate and in the swelter were tracking a trail in the wheat where the stalks were flattened. Twilight’s horn could be seen bobbing up and down just above the tips. Even in this light, it was glimmering. Applejack soon found herself right in front of her, but Twilight didn’t notice. She was too busy with her spell. She was wearing a blue jumpsuit with black hooves and a Canterlot University baseball cap. The other ponies were wearing the same, but without caps.

“Ahem? Twilight? What are y’all doin’ on mah property?”

Twilight looked up and got dizzy, shook her head and refocused on the cowpony. “Hi Applejack! We, being myself and these seven volunteers, have discovered this strange trail through your crops. Come over here and see this!”

“See what?” The orange mare passed around Twilight and looked where she was pointing. “...Oh. That.” In front of Twilight was a magic bulge in the air, magnifying the ground like a lens. Applejack could see hundreds of times closer than normal. And hundreds of times closer than normal, she saw something disturbing. “Is that what Ah think it is?”

“Yes! It’s blood!” Twilight beamed at her knowledge of forensics, then remembered that blood is not a thing to beam about when it could be your friend’s sister’s blood. “Um, uh... sorry... So, we followed this trail out of the forest, and it led right to your farm. I’m... afraid this doesn’t look good for Apple Bloom...” She retrieved a sample stick from her saddlebag and scooped up the dried droplet to test later. “If this is... her blood, then it could indicate she wandered onto the farm severely injured.” She paused, looking down, then back up. “It’s a lot of blood, AJ. Most of it was in the forest.”

“...Where, in th’ forest?” Applejack asked quietly.

“Actually quite near where I lost her; it was hidden under the brush, in a... puddle.” Twilight looked into her saddlebags again. “We... we got a jar...” she murmured, “Do you wanna see i— no, you don’t wanna see it...”

Applejack blinked. She blinked twice more. Then she put on her horror face. “Oh! Oh gosh, Twilight, that’s horrible! Tell it t’ me straight, is she still alive?”

Twilight gulped. “Judging by the evidence, not likely... But we’ll keep looking. We’ll find Apple Bloom and save her. Whatever was in the forest that did this to her will meet a swift fate.”

“Twi,” Applejack began, suppressing a tear, “thank you fer everything you’ve done so far. Ah really appreciate all y’all helping us look fer her. But if you don’t mind, Ah’d like to take things from here.”

The unicorn sputtered. “But, but, my search teams found all of this, and you, you didn’t even offer to help! She’s your sister, I get that, but you haven’t done anything before now!”

“Trust me, Twilight, when Ah say Ah’ve been working mah hooves off looking fer her day an' night. If yer right, she's somewhere on th' farm, and since this is mah property, Ah think it's best if Ah continue the search mahself."

"But— but wouldn't a team effort be more efficient? This is a matter of life and... death!" She spat out the ugly word.

"Ah'll find her, Twi. Don't you worry none." She turned to go back to the farmhouse, then looked over her shoulder at the teams. "Now git off mah farm. Yer tramplin' the crops."

"Applejack, I—"

"Ah don't want t' hafta remove you by force."

Twilight was shocked. Her mouth agape, she nodded once to her teams, who left the way they had come. She chose her next words carefully. "We'll leave. But I have to ask, what did you do with the fish?"

"...We're planting corn with 'em. Just as Ah told Fluttershy... who told you..." she grumbled.

"Well it wasn't like it was a secret or anything, ri—"

"GET THE HAY OFF MAH PROPERTY!" She stood firm, leering at the unicorn.

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" Twilight trotted off hurriedly. Applejack took a long last look and headed back to the farmhouse. Her tail swept along the ground behind her, scattering bits of dirt and broken chaff to the sides. Inside, she closed the door and latched it, then slumped down to the floor.

"What happened out there, AJ?" A hoarse voice from the stairs.

"This is bad, Apple Bloom, real bad. Twi and the others are gettin' real close to findin' you. They found a puddle of blood in the forest."

"Blood? Mah blood?" Apple Bloom wonderrd as she came downstairs.

"Looks like it." She wiped the sweat off her brow. "Now, what Ah need you to do is tell your brother and me everything you remember from the night you came home."

"Oh, okay! Hey Big Mac, where are you?"

"In the kitchen," the stallion said. The two sisters went in and sat at the table. "What's goin' on?"

"Apple Bloom's gonna tell us all about that night she turned."

"Well, it started that afternoon, after Ah got separated from Twilight. Ah was following this mysterious filly into the forest."

Apple Bloom recounted to them the tale of the weird Sunny Town, of the ponies without cutie marks, of the party with the awful stale food, of the gem, of Mitta, of the crank, of the well and key, of the cabin with the fireplace, and of the skeleton. She dropped her rough voice to a whisper as she described how creepy and terrible the town became after that. She told them about the zombie ponies, who, she admitted, didn't look half-bad to her in retrospect. She reached the part where she was escaping, and culminated with when she got tagged.

"So Ah kicked the creep in the head, but he just keeps draining the life outta me! Golly, it hurt. Ah guess he musta taken a bite or two. The next thing Ah know, Ah'm waking up in a bush, and the moon is high and bright and there ain't anymore zombies around. Ah figured Ah was just lucky, or maybe Ah dreamed it, but in either case Ah felt fine, so Ah found mah way back to the farm."

"And you didn't notice you were a zombie?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Nope! But Ah tell ya, mah sense of smell saved the day. I followed my nose all the way right home to AJ." She frowned. "And then she called me a monster."

"Forgive mah honesty, sugarcube."

Big Macintosh was still having a hard time believing his ears. "How does a pony not realize they're a zombie?"

"Ah dunno, it just didn't occur to me! Same way you dunno if yer face has changed until you look in the mirror."

Applejack sighed. "Well, you know what we gotta do now."

"What? What do we gotta do now?"

"Fake yer death. It's the one an' only thing that'll stop the search."

"And how are we gonna do that?"

Applejack thought for a moment. "Y'know, Granny has those ghost story books of hers up in the attic. Ah bet there's something in there we could use." She excused herself and trotted up the steps. The little zombie looked at her brother and put on her biggest puppy-dog eye sockets.

"Can Ah have a hot dog now? One made of pig? Them pigs smell delect'ble."

The stallion just barely managed to keep his lunch down.

"Twiliiiiight!!" Rainbow Dash burst into the library through the window, careening into the table and getting the Greek horse bust stuck on her head. She tried to pry it off with her hooves to no avail. Suddenly a magenta glow enveloped both the statuette and her head and pulled the two apart, leaving her head decidedly more horse-shaped.

"What is it, Dash?" Twilight was standing right next to her.

Dash shook it off and continued her message. "Come quick, Applejack said she found Apple Bloom! Bring a monster book!"

"I'll be there right away!" She lifted several dozen books into the air, which all fell when a gust of wind made her lose her concentration. "Urgency is still no reason to be rude..." she mumbled. Taking the most comprehensive book, as well as a first aid kit,  she galloped off to Sweet Apple Acres.

The scene was not as pretty as she expected. Well, she hadn't expected it to be beautiful when a filly's been missing for three days with copious blood loss, but this was just disheartening. As she entered the vicinity of the farmhouse, she could hear Applejack wailing, and this only made her hasten her gait. A small herd of ponies had gathered around the back end of the farmhouse. She pushed through them, her objects in tow, to the center of their attention.

A white sheet covered a small and bloody form. A fragment of pink ribbon peeked out from under it.

Twilight fell onto her haunches. This was not what she had hoped for at all. Not at all. Applejack wailed on, their other friends surrounding her. Cautiously, Twilight set down the floating book and the now-unnecessary first aid kit and skirted around the inner edge of the herd to her grieving friend.

"Applejack, I..." she glanced over at the  crimson-stained sheet. It was barely recognizable as the shape of a filly. "Applejack, I don't even know what to say..."

Rarity spoke stiltedly, with an air of detachment. "She was found under the porch, not half an hour ago." She waited for a lull in the sobbing. "Far too late."

Pinkie handed Applejack a tissue, then used the rest of the box for herself in one blow. She was weeping just as hard, if quieter. "So much blood... there was no way..."

"Who found her?" Twilight asked.

"It was Applejack, of course.  From what I heard, it was far too... gruesome a sight for anypony else to gaze upon. That's what the sheet is for," she indicated, "to preserve Apple Bloom's memory." She put her leg around Applejack's neck and hushed her.

"Wh-where's Fluttershy?"

"Over there somewhere," Dash pointed to the fields behind them, "Hiding. She doesn't like the sight of blood."

Twilight couldn't bear to look either. She stared at her hooves, until a thought reached her. "Well, uh, Applejack, did you need my help or something?

The mare choked back her tears. "Yeah... Ah think Ah done found what killed her," she looked over at the Everfree, "but Ah can't figure out what it is."

This was right up Twilight's alley. A problem that had a solution she could find. "Take me there," she said, "I have knowledge."

The five ponies gathered Fluttershy quivering in the corn and left the scene behind them. Two of the farmhands lifted the sheeted body onto a cart to take to the rarely-used morgue. Big Macintosh followed them, and the crowd dissipated.

Applejack led her friends into a clearing in the forest. Immediately Twilight and Rarity felt their horns tingling. "Here it is." She showed the five a small red rock in the ground. "It looks plenty unnatural to me."

"It's just a rock! You think a rock killed your sister?" Rainbow Dash questioned harshly.

"No, wait, I definitely feel something. It's more than a rock." Twilight approached the the stone and cast a reveal-me spell on it. All of them leapt back as a ten-foot column of flame erupted from it. The flame subsided after a moment, leaving a stench of burnt hair in the air. Twilight quickly flipped through her book, ignoring her singed mane.

"What is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy tried to read over her shoulder but the pages were moving too fast. Finally the book stopped on a page with a picture of a rock with a horrendous ghost coming out of it.

"This is a Taraxippus, or at least what remains of one. It's a type of ghost made of fire that is extremely frightening to those who are under physical stress, causing them to injure themselves drastically. The book says it's motion-sensitive, but has to wait for long periods of time between attacks to gather its strength. It's dormant right now, so we're safe."

"Wait," Pinkie balked, "you mean Apple Bloom caused her own injuries?!"

"Yes... The ghost attacked, and she hurt herself in her confusion."

Applejack had snuck to the back of the group during this. "Thank ya kindly, girls. Ah'm... Ah'm going back home now..." She cantered out of the forest.

"Wait, Applejack!" But she was gone. "Okay, um, Rarity. Would you mind carrying the rock back to the library for me? I need to keep reading, and I'd like to do so while we all get there."

"It's no trouble at all, darling, just as long as it doesn't burn my mane." She plucked the red stone out of the ground and trotted away. Twilight, with the book hovering in front of her, fell into line. Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Dash filled out the rear, all consoling each other.

Meanwhile in the farmhouse's kitchen, Apple Bloom was eating the best hot dog ever. Ethically she knew it was completely and unforgivably wrong to consume the flesh of any animal, but she couldn't argue with the succulent flavor and intoxicating aroma the cooked and bunned meat exuded. It was her fourth one. As she gnawed greedily on what was once oinking and playing in mud, she caught a glimpse of a plate she had tossed on the floor. She stopped chewing, swallowed, and double-took. Her char flank stared back at her in the mirrored surface.

"LAND SAKES! AH CAN'T GIT MAH CUTIE MARK IF AH'M UNDEAD!"

At Nemea of the Argives there was no hero who harmed the horses, but above the turning-point of the chariots rose a rock, red in color, and the flash from it terrified the horses, just as though it had been fire. But the Taraxippos at Olympia is much worse for terrifying the horses. Pausanias, Guide to Greece 6.20.19