I Know What You Did Last Winter Wrap-Up
The snow was melting that day as Caramel searched for the seeds he had once again lost. Winter wrap-up had been slow in the making that year, and the snow was still not fully melted, even though it was two days past the deadline. Caramel snorted irritably. It wasn't his fault he had a knack for losing things! It just happened, no matter how hard he tried. He had finally accepted the fact, and had decided to focus on finding things he had lost, instead of trying not to lose things. He had been scouring the hay snow-covered hay fields of Sweet Apple Acres for hours now, and had worked his way to the edge of the property. Exhausted, frustrated and cold, Caramel prepared to return to Applejack and just face the inevitable wrath that awaited him. As he turned to leave, however, he spotted something sticking out of the snow just past the Apple family's property line. Curiosity got the best of him, and hope rose in his chest as he realized that he may have found the seeds after all. Holding back tears as a freezing gust of wind hit him full in the face, he made his way over to the bag lying on top of the snow. Gripping it with his teeth, Caramel began to leave, but found that the bag would not budge. The straps were still buried in the snow, and they must've snagged on a dead sprout, or bush, or something similar. Expecting it to come off easily, he pulled harder, but it remained stuck. With an impatient huff, Caramel began digging it out of the snow, but his hoof almost immediately hit something hard. He dug a little bit around the bag, then set to uncovering whatever was under the snow. He could now see that the bag was tied to something. He started to brush the snow away, but almost immediately stopped and reeled back in shock and horror with a loud yell. He galloped as fast as he possibly could back to the farmhouse. In the snow, the frozen body lie motionless, its lifeless eyes continuing to stare skyward.
By the time the police had arrived, Caramel had stopped babbling, and had contented himself with hiding up on the hay loft of the barn, quivering violently. All he had managed to get out before collapsing into incoherent rambling had been, "Filly.... Dead.... Field.... STARING AT ME!" Applejack had instantly taken off towards Ponyville to alert the authorities; cleaning up Winter would have to wait.
The police arrived shortly after, and with the help of some of the more civilized Diamond Dogs, quickly found the body of the small filly, just as Caramel had described to Applejack and Big Mac. But to the officers' horror, the Diamond Dogs not only found the filly, but several other bodies as well. The Dogs told the police in no uncertain terms that there were a very large number of bodies frozen in the field, and the police knew they were far out of their area of expertise. The Neigh York forensics team was contacted; they were the best of the best, and they made haste to Ponyville. Something that big, however, could not remain quiet for long. Speculations became theories, theories became rumors, rumors became 'fact', and 'fact' became news. 'The Sweet Apple Graveyard', as it was dubbed by the newspaper, was the most horrific thing seen in Equestria since before Nightmare Moon had begun her reign of terror over 1,000 years ago. Despite all the attention, the culprit, the motive, and the means remained a total mystery.
Twilight paced the library worriedly, contemplating the events of the past month. Over 3,000 bodies had been recovered, preserved in ice. Yet, earlier in the year that field had been green and alive, so whatever had happened must've happened during the winter. A tap on her fore-leg alerted Twilight to Spike's presence. "Can you please go to bed?" he groaned. "You've been up all night pacing, and I can't sleep when you do that..." The young dragon rubbed his eyes, then trudged back to his bed. Twilight briefly considered what Spike had said, and decided that he was probably right. She had been doing this every night since they had begun exhuming the bodies, searching her thoughts for an explanation, a reason, anything. Her insomnia was effecting Spike now, too, so she stopped pacing and went to bed. She didn't stop thinking about it, though.
Sales had plummeted at Sweet Apple Acres, but that wasn't what had kept Applejack awake that night. It was those EYES, the eyes that begged, pleaded with her, imploring her to save her from the icy coldness of death. Applejack had gone to the field and seen the body for herself, and since then, the filly's eyes had haunted Applejack's dreams and was constantly in her thoughts during the day. Those eyes...