Bad End

The next morning saw a large congregation of ponies mourning in the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Dressed in black cloth despite the warmth of the day, they carried flowers and boxes of tissues. A small applewood casket was displayed upon a flat low table. A framed photograph of the deceased stood on a stand inside a wreath of pinecones. Mr. Waddle, the funeral director, clearing his throat and gripping the lectern, he smiled and faced his audience,  clearing their throats and smiling back at him with the same sad eyes.

“We gather here today to mourn the loss of one of Ponyville’s finest citizens. Apple Bloom was known by all of us, whether for her wild antics or her remarkable craftsmanship, as a dependable and thoughtful pony. She brought much joy and happiness to us in times of darkness and despair. It is tragic for her life to have been cut short before she even discovered herself and her purpose in life. ...Apple Bloom will be dearly missed by us all.”

The crowd began chanting Apple Bloom’s name, loud at first. “Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!” Slowly they became quieter, “Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom,” and slower, “apple... bloom... apple... bloom... apple... bloom,” until the name was a mere whisper, just unconnected words with no inherent meaning. Finally it was gone in the cool, forgiving breeze. The casket was lightly placed in the ground at the edge of the farm, where two other tombstones discreetly hid in the tall grass. One by one the ponies tossed their asphodel into the grave, said their goodbyes, and somberly headed away. Two mismatched unicorn colts left with hoof-fulls of the pinecones chattering about ‘tributes’ and idolatry. Applejack’s friends stood with her after the last flower had been thrown.

“Applejack, we’re so sorry for your loss.” Twilight wiped away a tear. “I can’t begin to imagine the pain you must be going through,” she said, entirely but briefly dishonest.

Fluttershy spoke. “Pinkie and I each know what losing a family member is like, Applejack. If you need advice or support, we’d be happy to help.”

Applejack’s face was down, hiding her eyes under her forelock, and her hat was exchanged for a black velvet look-alike; her hair bands were replaced by black silk scrunchies. “Thank you kindly, girls.” She sniffled, and Rarity offered her a tissue which she accepted. “Ah thought Ah was done with this when my p... my parents...” she swallowed a lump.

“Let it all out, dear. You’ll get through this like you have before. Let it aaall out.” Rarity stolidly handed her another tissue, though her own wet eyes betrayed her.

As usual, Rainbow Dash made a poor choice of words. “Yeah, I mean how would any of us expect Apple Bloom to survive a Taraxa... Taraxip... scary ghost in the Everfree? She was doomed from the start!” Seeing everypony glare at her, she frowned. “My bad, AJ.”

“S’alright Dash, you didn’t mean nothin’ by it... Ah’m going inside fer a drink... maybe some salt...” She meandered towards the farmhouse, head at her hooves, tail between her legs.

“Let us know if we can help!” called Pinkie Pie. “Maybe some cake would be nice!” If Applejack had heard, she didn’t show it aside from kicking up a cloud of dust. Pinkie turned to the girls, befuddled. “...Wouldn’t cake be nice?”

“Yes, Pinkie... but that’s not the point. We’re not celebrating, we’re mourning. It’s the opposite of a party.”

“I know that, Twilight. I just think cake can make anything better.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “If you’ll excuse me girls, I have to get back to my shop to check in all the rental suits.” She trotted off.

“See you later. I’m going home to the library. I've... got some thinking to do...” Twilight left the group.

“Um, do you two want to come with me to feed the birds?” Seeing their knowing nods, Fluttershy left for her cottage with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash behind her.

“Gee, they’re all so sad...” Apple Bloom said to herself as she watched her funeral from the security of her bedroom window. “They think Ah’m dead... and Ah sorta am...” She sat down on her bed to think. Applejack, now wearing her regular hat, appeared at the open door and knocked.

“Well, it weren’t easy fer me to do, but as far as anypony knows, you were killed by some scary ghost called a Taraxippus. Thank Celestia fer Granny Smith’s old horror novels.” Applejack stepped inside the room to comfort her sister, but was repulsed immediately. “PEEYEW! Apple Bloom, just because yer dead don’t mean you can skip bathtime! You stink t’ high heavens!”

“But when Ah washed my hooves the hair fell out...” She jumped off the bed, her neck bones clacking. “And Ah like my hair where it is. Same goes fer the skin.”

“Then at least wear an air freshener. There’re some in the basement.”

“Alright, alright. So, uh... Ah'm bored. Ah don’t like bein' cooped up in here. When can Ah go outside?”

“When it’s dark out, so nopony sees.”

“But they’ll see mah eyes anyways, cuz they’re like big ol’ lanterns!”

“Ah’ll get some sunglasses for you.”

“But then Ah won’t be able to see cuz it’ll be too dark!”

“Then stay inside. Yer a zombie. The Sun’ll burn yer skin if you go out in the daytime.”

Accepting her defeat, Apple Bloom passed her sister to go downstairs, muttering hoarsely, inadvertently dragging her bedsheet behind her wrapped around her hind hoof. Applejack heard her and said, “Don’t forget to eat something while yer down there!”

“Ah’m not hungry!” she lied. Her stomach growled madly at her. It ached for flesh.

“I’m so bored!”

“What do you wanna do, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo sighed, absently glancing around Carousel Boutique. “I don’t know, Sweetie Belle. Nothing’s fun without Apple Bloom.”

Sweetie Belle got out of her chair and started to pace back and forth. “Can we still be the Cutie Mark Crusaders without her?”

“I don’t know that either. Should we come up with a new name?”

“I was thinking, ‘The Two-O Duo’, but then again...”

Scootaloo flopped out of her chair and onto the floor on her back. “We could be Cutie Mark Crusaders 2.0.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Reloaded?”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders II: The Quickening?” She kicked her back legs.

“Quicken-whatnow?”

“I read it in a newspaper.”

“Oh.” Sweetie sat down again, picked up a crayon, and began to draw Apple Bloom. “So what do you think Apple Bloom was doing in the Everfree Forest in the first place?”

“She went in with Twilight to see Zecora, but then she got lost.”

“I guess Twilight didn’t find her in time.”

“I guess.” The pegasus sat up and looked over at her friend. “What are you drawing?”

“Apple Bloom fighting that monster, but this time she wins.”

“I asked Rainbow Dash about the monster and she said it was a scary ghost.”

“What would a not-scary ghost be?”

“I dunno. She said there was no chance Apple Bloom could survive its attack.”

Sweetie put down the yellow crayon and picked up the red. “In my drawing, she ties it up like a cute little piggy.”

“Do ghosts have legs?”

“No, but this one has ten of them.”

“A ten-legged ghost.”

“Yeah. They’re all wiggly.”

Scootaloo sighed again. “I’m so bored!”

“What do you wanna do?”

“Let’s go see Applejack and ask about the ghost.”

“Okay!” Sweetie Belle hopped down from her chair and followed Scootaloo out the door.

“No trespassing?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle said in unison. They were very confused. About every twenty yards, there was a signpost on the fence indicating that trespassing was forbidden on Sweet Apple Acres land.

“How are we supposed to talk to Applejack if we can’t go onto the farm?”

“We could throw a rock.”

“Good idea!” Sweetie Belle picked up a small stone on the ground and, with a great wind-up, threw it over the fence, where it landed about a foot onto the property. “...Dumb rock.”

“Guess we’re not Cutie Mark Crusaders Baseball Pitchers.”

“Or Cutie Mark Crusaders Stoners.”

“Yeah...” Scootaloo looked past the fence at the farmhouse in the distance, trying to find some way to catch Applejack’s attention despite her being out of sight. Then she had an idea. “Hey, isn’t it only trespassing if we get caught?”

“Hey, yeah!” Sweetie’s voice cracked. “Let’s go!”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS 2.0 RULE-BENDERS, YAY!” The two fillies ducked under the fence and onto the farm, heading for the farmhouse where they knew Applejack would be. It took them several minutes to figure out which direction the farmhouse was in.

Some time later, they were about halfway to the farmhouse and right in the thick of the orchard. It felt as though they had never walked so much in one day, and the day was hot.

"How much farther, Scootaloo?"

The pegasus reared up, trying to get a better view. Her wings flapped to help her keep her balance. "Um, between ten feet and a million miles."

"Not even the Sun's a million miles away," Sweetie Belle said, remembering their lessons.

"Well then I don't know. Pretty far."

"That's no help at a—" Sweetie trailed off, noticing something out of the corner of her eye.

"No help at what?"

"Shh! I saw something," the unicorn whispered.

"What? What did you see?" The orange pony whispered back.

"It was white, and it went behind that tree. Come on," she beckoned her friend. The two ponies tip-toed through the orchard, catching sight of the thing getting away from them. It eluded them despite how fast they moved.

"Hey, if it's on the farm, isn't it a trespasser too?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh, it is! Maybe if we catch it we can turn it in and get a reward!"

Agreeing on this point, they continued to follow it. Even at their sneakiest, they could only catch glimpses as whatever it was moved out of sight. It evaded them at every turn. At last, Scootaloo saw it go behind a scraggly old bush.

"I'll go to the left, you go to the right." The two ponies advanced, then at the last second leapt around the bush and tackled the thing. "Yaah! Take that, trespasser!"

“AAAHH!” The thing screamed and fell to the ground in a wriggling mass of fabric. “GIRLS! OW! WHAT - OW! - THE HAY - OW! - ARE YOU - OW! - DOING?”

The two fillies froze.

“...Apple...Bloom...?” the unicorn said uneasily.

“Is... that you?”

The thing shoved them off and stood up, letting them see it clearly. It was about the same size and shape as them, covered in a white bedsheet. A pair of holes in the front revealed the lenses of thick black sunglasses.

“Um, uh... oh shoot... Yeah, it’s me...”

The fillies’ faces lit up so bright a sailor could guide their ship through a storm by them. “APPLE BLOOM!” they cried, and hug-tackled the filly.

“We thought you were dead!” Scootaloo whinnied mirthfully.

“What happened to you? Where were you?”

“Oh, um, now those there are very good questions, an’ they deserve proper answers an’ all...” Apple Bloom started to say, shuffling her hooves, but was interrupted by Sweetie Belle lifting up the edge of the bedsheet. “No! Don’t touch that! Don’t take th’ sheet off!”

“Why not? Are you okay?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Why do you smell so weird?”

“Well, uh, Ah’m not exactly ‘okay’... but Ah’m not dead, fer certain. Jus’ don’t touch the sheet. It protects me.”

“Protects you from what?”

“The Sun, Scootaloo.”

“Why do you need protection from the Sun?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Cuz if Ah don’t, mah skin will burn to ashes and Ah’ll die fer real.”

The two hesitated. “...Apple Bloom, are you really okay?” asked Scootaloo. The filly in the bedsheet sighed, visibly deflating.

“Truth be told, no Ah ain’t. Ah’m... Ah’m a zombie.”

“A zombie?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—” Sweetie Belle screamed, only for Scootaloo to hoof her in the mouth. Apple Bloom spoke up quickly.

“Sweetie Belle! Stop yer hollerin’! Ah’m not a bad zombie!”

“Not a bad zombie? Hold up, Apple Bloom. You’re talking to us like a normal pony would talk to us. Zombies don’t do that,” the pegasus paused, “...Do they?”

“Ah got turned by these freaky blank-flank zombies in th’ Everfree forest, but Celestia musta been smilin’ on me, cuz Ah’m still me and Ah ain’t about to eat yer brains. Promise.”

Sweetie Belle spit out her living friend’s hoof. “Pinkie Promise?”

“Ah would Pinkie Promise but Ah don’t have eyes to stick a cupcake in.”

“Is that why you’re wearing sunglasses?” Scootaloo pointed out.

“Yeah. They cover up th’ glow.”

The white filly sighed. “I’m really glad you’re not dead. We were so bored without you!”

“And we couldn’t think of a new good name for the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Ah missed you girls a lot too. Now listen, we gotta keep this on th’ down-low. Applejack doesn’t want anypony to know Ah’m a zombie, but now you do, so y’all gotta say you won’t tell a soul. Ah could get hurt or worse if anypony finds out.”

“We won’t tell a soul, Apple Bloom.” Sweetie mimed the Pinkie Promise out of tradition, and Scootaloo did the same. “So what were you doing outside if it’s such a big risk you’ll get burned?”

“Jus’ wandering around, looking fer stuff t’ eat, but no luck so far. Ah’m really hungry.”

“Well, there are apples growing right up there!” Scootaloo pointed to a treetop. “Can’t you eat those?”

“Nope. Bein’ a zombie has certain... dietary requirem’nts. Namely meat.” She awaited her friends’ reactions and was not disappointed. The two fillies reared back like fish hooked by the mouths.

“M-m-m-meat?!”

“Meat is murder, Apple Bloom!”

“Ah know, Ah know, but Ah’m a zombie! Ah want it! Ah need it! Its taste borders on heavenly an’ sets every nerve in mah body aflame! An’ y’know, Applejack said that if Ah don’t keep eatin’ meat like Ah am, Ah might get so hungry that Ah might try t’ eat another livin’ pony. Ah really don’t wanna eat somepony.”

Her friends sighed. “I guess that’s understandable,” Scootaloo conceded, “But eating meat is so gross! How could you do that?”

“Ah dunno, Ah can’t help it! Ah know it’s wrong, but it’s delish’us!”

“So... if you’re not eating ponies, what are you eating?” Sweetie Belle said cautiously.

“Ah’m huntin’ squirrels an’ birds an’ mice. Maybe some fishes too.” She stopped to remember the taste, licking her lips. “Ah like fishes,” she said fondly. Then she looked at each of her friends. They looked like they were going to be sick. “Ah swear, Ah ain’t gonna eat ya. As long as Ah’m well-fed, that is.”

“We believe you, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo stated.

“Hey, maybe we could get you some stuff to eat!”

Scootaloo double-took at Sweetie Belle. “Ew! Where the hay would we get meat?! We could get in big trouble! We could go to jail! I don’t want that on my hooves!”

“Hear me out, girls. You know Rarity’s cat, Opal? Her cat food is made of meat! I can get some of that for you and Rarity won’t even notice!”

“Cat food? At this point Ah’ll try anything. Ah’m starvin’ here!”

The pegasus nodded. “It’s settled then. Apple Bloom, we’ll bring you cat food as soon as we can. And, uh, it’s great that you’re not dead! But maybe we should go before—”

“WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOIN’ ON HERE?!”

The three fillies leapt into the air and scrambled in different directions, running in circles before bumping heads with a sound of coconut and falling on the ground. Apple Bloom’s hoof stuck out from under the sheet slightly. Thin gray smoke snaked out of her limb as it smoldered.

“OW OW OW OW!!” she howled in unearthly pain as the bone began to burn in the sunlight, before Applejack flipped the sheet over it again.

“Apple Bloom. Inside. Now.” She said succinctly. The zombie stood up and limped towards the farmhouse. Applejack turned to the others. “You two. Inside with her. Now.” They followed.

“Of all the mindless, careless, idiotic things to do! Ah oughta—”

“Applejack, it wasn’t her fault!”

“It was ours!”

The mare turned out of her tirade and stared down the two fillies. Big Macintosh was behind her, wrapping Apple Bloom’s burnt hoof with a medicinal compress containing embalming fluid. The filly grit her remaining teeth in discomfort as her singed flesh hissed colder, and the stallion’s nose was plugged up since her hoof still gave off a roadkill stench.

“Bull!” Applejack snorted. “T’ain’t yer fault in the slightest! Apple Bloom went out there fully knowin’ she could be found out or burnt up, an’ whaddya know? BOTH happened! If she weren’t already undead, Ah’d strangle her within an inch of her life!”

“Ah, Ah was just hungry, Applejack...” the zombie winced as the wrap got tighter. “There’s nothin’ else t’ eat around here. Ah thought Ah might find a squirrel or somethin’...”

“Y’ coulda just asked me! Ah’d be happy t’ go an’ slaughter another hog if it meant you didn’t kill or get killed!” She then considered what she had just said. “Well, uh, Ah wouldn’t be happy about it, no sir, but Ah’d do it jus’ the same! Cuz yer mah sister!” Applejack looked back at her sister’s friends. They were completely disgusted.

“Applejack, can we, uh, can we just go now?”

“I think it’s the fumes getting to us. Bye!” They scurried away.

“Hold it!” They froze. “Y’all ain’t goin’ anywhere now you know what’s up! We gotta make sure ya don’t tell a soul!”

“We already Pinkie Promised Apple Bloom!”

“Not good enough! Pinkie Promises can be broken!” Applejack exclaimed, nearing tears. “No, Ah need somethin’ better... Big Macintosh, get that book a’ spells fer non-unicorns! We gotta do a truth bind!”

“Twilight...?”

A lone figure opened the door and crept into the darkened library. The outside world threw a harsh light inwards. The curtains on the windows were drawn and sashed; the lights were off. The room was filled with dust and chilled Rainbow Dash to the bone. It felt like a mausoleum.

“...Twilight? You in here?” She waited for a response, but hearing none she carefully went up the curving stairs. The upper room was just as dim, cool, and unclean. Her eyes finally adjusted and she saw a form lying in the bed on the upper ledge. It was breathing too fast to be asleep but too slow to be alert. Dash flew gently to the loft and stood next to the bed.

“Twilight... it’s been a whole day... you’ve been in here a whole day...”

There was no response save for an ear perked up involuntarily.

“Twilight, you... you can’t stay in your bed forever. Nothing could be that bad, whatever you’re upset about.”

“yunowahimussetabbow.” the form under the covers murmured.

“What was that?” She stepped closer, and the figure poked its purple tear-stained snout out into the open.

“You know what I’m upset about.”

Dash took in a quick breath and let it out slow. “...Yes, I do, Twilight. But you can’t blame yourself for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it was.”

“No, Twilight! Apple Bloom... she wandered off on her own. Whatever happened to her doesn’t rest on your withers. It’s not your burden to bear!”

Twilight snorted softly, a mucousy sound that ruffed Dash’s feathers. She turned her head and ducked under the covers again.

“Twilight, no! Listen to me, you don't want to lie in bed like a vegetable and do nothing the rest of your life. I've tried it. Bedsores hurt!”

The snout came back out. “...Don’t want to kill anypony else.”

“You didn’t kill anypony in the first place! You did what you thought was right at the time!”

There was silence for a long while.

“...Dash?” The unicorn asked meekly.

“Yeah, Twilight?”

“Why... why do bad things happen to good ponies?”

“I... I can’t answer that. I don’t know the answer. At a better time I’d say to ask the Princess, but I doubt even she could answer it.”

“Dash?”

“Yeah, Twilight?”

“Am I a bad pony?”

Rainbow Dash felt her vision shake for a split-second. “Twilight, you are not a bad pony. Whatever happens, you will never be a bad pony,” she said resolutely. “You were clearing the path to get home. You never could have known she would wander off and... and get lost. You never could have known she was under the porch. You didn’t know then what you know now. It’s not your fault.”

There was silence again as Twilight processed this. Dash felt a spur of hope when she saw the covers begin to shift, but it was just the snout retreating under the blankets again.

“‘m the worst pony.” a tiny bodiless voice said.

Dash sat down to make her concern clear. “Twilight, you’re really worrying all of us. Fluttershy is chewing her own mane out. Pinkie’s gotten a non-stop case of Pinkie Sense hiccups and they sound like heart attacks. Rarity is spending all of her suit rental dough to make a dress for you. It’s the only thing she knows how to do that could possibly make you feel better.”

There was only silence.

“...it’s a really nice dress. It’s something Hemonian. Y’know, like all those ‘onagers’ wear.”

A moment passed, and a little voice asked, “...What color?”

“A really deep, uh, green? It’s... it’s the color of pine needles.”

“...’sit accurate?”

“Rarity is working her flank off making it accurate. She sent for a consultant who lived in Hemonia.”

“...tell her to get a real onager...” The form in the bed rolled over and appeared to face the wall. Nothing more was going to be said.

“Alright, Twilight. She’ll get an onager. Just remember we’re all here for you if you need somepony.” Dash flew off the ledge and down to the floor below, flapping her wings once as she landed, tucking them in to walk the rest of the way. She was about to step outside and leave the dreariness behind when a scaly hand tugged at her tail.

“Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, Spike?”

Spike let go of her tail. “Please help me, she won’t eat anything. All she drinks is decaf. She’s been sleeping since she got home yesterday, except for like three hours when she went to the funeral, and then when she came back she was crying so much she threw up. She did it again an hour ago. You’re her friend, what do I do?”

“Listen,” Rainbow said, “Uh, I’m not the best with friendly advice, but... don’t try to force anything on her. Just offer her food she likes and maybe she’ll eat it. Tempt her with warm comfort food. Soup, grilled cheese, easy-to-digest stuff. Leave it by her bed so the smell draws her out. That’s what I’d want.”

“Got it.” Spike went to the kitchen with new determination, and Rainbow Dash saw fit to leave then.

“There!” Applejack slapped the tome shut, sending a puff of dust into the air of the farmhouse. “Two truth binds!” She stepped back to admire her hoofiwork. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, small patches sewn into the fur on their necks, winced at each other momentarily, then back to Applejack.

“Can we... have some water?” Scootaloo rasped.

“No! This is a warning to y’all. Yer mouths’ll dry up like th’ Pastel Desert the instant you even consider telling anypony about Apple Bloom being living-impaired.”

Sweetie Belle coughed a bit, looking at Winona’s water bowl out of the corner of her eye. With no inhibition she ran over and drank it all. She lapped thirstily, but when the water was gone, the dryness in her mouth returned with a vengeance. She hacked breathily.

“Alls ya have t’ do,” Applejack continued, “is never tell a single pony and you won’t be thirsty. An’ don’t even think about removing those patches. You’d rip yer throat open.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh intoned sagely, swiping one hoof across his neck in pantomime.

“Now, do we have an agreement?” Applejack smirked.

The two fillies coughed and nodded their heads frantically.

“We... we promise,” Sweetie Belle croaked.

“Double promise,” Scootaloo agreed. Almost instantly they felt relief as the thirst disappeared. Applejack walked over to the stairs and called up.

“Apple Bloom, you can come down and apologize now! Everythin’s set!”

Four bony hooves knocked like falling building blocks against the wood of the stairs, culminating in the young zombie entering the kitchen with a frown.

“...Sweetie? Scootaloo? ...Ah’m sorry Ah let you find out Ah’m a zombie. It wasn’t yer place to know. Applejack says, th’ more ponies that know about me, the bigger th’ chance is that Ah could be killed. All it’d take is a blow to th’ head. So, uh, we can’t risk that. Ah’m sorry you guys had to know. It was stupid of me.”

The pegasus smiled weakly, rolling her tongue over her teeth. “Don’t be sorry, it was our fault for sneaking onto the farm. We’re just really glad that you’re alive, er, not-dead.”

“Even if you are a bloodthirsty monster,” Sweetie Belle said wearily.

“But we won’t tell anypony.”

Apple Bloom smiled, a thin line of tinged drool rolling down her chin. “Thank ya kindly, girls.” She turned to her older sister. “But Ah’m still starving, Applejack. ...We got any chicken?”

Scootaloo took a half-step back but was reassured when Applejack spoke up. “No, we don’t got any chicken. What we got is pig. Ah’ll fix ya somethin’.” She went to the back door, shuddered as she picked a cleaver off the kitchen counter, and left to the pigpens sobbing.

Big Macintosh spoke. “You two better get goin’ back t’ town. You won’t want to see this.”

The fillies hugged Apple Bloom once more and headed for the front door. Just as Scootaloo was about to turn the knob, a squeal and a thwack cut through the air. They gulped and ran to Ponyville as fast as they could.

The bell to Carousel Boutique jingled, but it was not a sound of warmth. It was a sound of grief. Rainbow Dash briefly recalled a line she had read in some book. For whom the bell tolls...

“Uh, hey, Rarity? I just got back from Twilight’s.” She said aloud, hoping her friend was home.

The white unicorn appeared at the top of the stairs, her mane frazzled. She carried about her an air of exhaustion. “Hello, Rainbow.” As she came down she continued. “How is the poor dear?”

“She won’t get out of bed, she won’t eat, she won’t turn a light on. The place smelled like puke and stale coffee.”

“Ah. A deep depression. Well, I can hardly fault her. The situation truly is the classic tragedy.” Rarity thought of the archetypal theater drama. “Two mares are friends, the first mare’s sister dies due to the negligence of the second, the second sinks into a depressive coma...”

“But it wasn’t ‘due to negligence’! Twilight had no part in Apple Bloom’s death!”

Rarity sighed. “I suppose you’re right, as you always are in matter of faith. So, are you here to see how the dress is coming along?”

“Yeah, sure. Twilight did say she wanted you to get a real onager for advice.”

Rarity frowned. “Oh, but none live anywhere near here! I’d have to go all the way to Manehatten to have a chance at finding one! And while Manehatten is quite fabulous... Ah, but I’m getting sidetracked. If it has any hope of making Twilight feel better, I must do it.”

“That’s the spirit! So, uh, have you heard anything from Applej—”

The door burst open, and two fillies galloped in. They collapsed on the floor and groaned, taking deep swallows of air.

“Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo! What happened?” Rarity asked worriedly. “Is something the matter with —”

“Water! We need water!” Scootaloo gasped, lying spread-eagled.

Sweetie had her face flat against the tile floor. “Waaaaater!”

“You guys sound a little hoarse. Be right back, Rarity.” Rainbow flew into the kitchen and in no more than five seconds returned with a sloshing bucket. The two fillies leapt for it and got both their heads stuck inside at the same time. The bucket burbled for some time until Rarity had the sense to float them out before they drowned. Placing them on the floor, they immediately dashed back and attempted the same thing, only to be pulled by a blue glow on their tails.

“Whoa! Where’s the fire?” Dash questioned.

“...Our ...mouths!” They wheezed, collapsing again out of breath. Rarity lifted the two fillies up in the air, inspecting them.

“Rainbow, take a look at their necks. Do you see what I see?”

“Those patches of cloth? Ewww, it looks like they’re stitched in!” She gagged.

“We need to get them to Twilight. Something is dreadfully wrong.” Rarity galloped out levitating the stertorous fillies, and Rainbow Dash flew to Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie and Fluttershy would surely be baking something for the purple unicorn.

Far from the center of town, deep in the Everfree Forest, something stirred eerily. A dying wind momentarily lofted a fragment of pink ribbon half-stuck under a clump of dirty muscle fascia. A creature not entirely unlike a pony yet somehow incomplete and wrong rose from the ground to inspect the billowing cloth.

“She has escaped,” it said with the harshest of undead growls.