Silent Graves

"HAAA!!"

Happy Dust leaned back against the sofa and breathed heavily. His pupils had contracted to the point where he couldn't see anything in his periphery, but his focus was unmatched. He wiped the blood and remaining residue off of his nose, licking it off of his hoof. "That's the good shit."

"I told you he wasn't trying to screw you over," smiled Diamond Dew, pushing his mane back over his head. "He works at the bowling alley in Ponyville, so you know he's legit. No way is he giving us fake shit."

"I should have never doubted you, man," smiled Dust, pushing himself forward. "Now, let's go back to work, this thing's due tomorrow."

"I'll prep the next batch, you two keep on track," called Spring Breath, grabbing the razor. "If you feel yourselves slipping, come see your favourite mare."

Almost instantly, the three of them went to work. Dust and Dew were using popsicle sticks and toothpicks to finish their university project; a scale replica of a bridge capable of spanning Fetlock Bay. They had agreed on a suspension bridge with two main struts, and unfortunately for them, they'd put it off. Then Dew's mother had promised that she would buy a wagon for him if he aced the class, and this was a heavy factor in his final grade, so they had to finish it fast. That meant an all-nighter with extreme focus. They'd already lost half an hour going to and coming back from the bowling alley, so they really needed to finish this right away.

When they finished the first arm of the first strut, at a height of seventy centimetres, they all took another hit. Then another at the second arm, the third, fourth, and when the main platform was finished at a meter and a half long, they were ready for another hit. As Dust and Dew moved to the opposite side of the table, they were not met with lines of focus powder, just three empty straws.

"What the fuck, Spring!?" shouted Dew, turning to her. "You had one job! Keep the refreshments flowing!"

"Now we have to cut our own!" agreed Dust. "Where's the damn razor?"

No response came from Spring. Not even an acknowledgement that she'd heard him.

"Wake up!" shouted Dew, slapping her across the face. It didn't do them any good.

"Fuckin' bitch fell asleep on us!" growled Dust, picking her up and tossing her onto the other sofa. "Pull out the couch cushions, see if she dropped it down there."

Dew was already feeling around in the cracks and crevices. "It has to be down her somewh--AAOCH!!" His hoof bolted out of the couch, landing squarely in his other hoof, being squeezed tightly against his chest. "Fuck!! I found it!"

Dust pulled back the cushion and pulled out the razor, quickly rushing over to the brick and chopping up a few smaller rocks into powder while Dew rushed off to the shared bathroom. After a quick snort, Dust returned to work. This was the hard part: he had to create the suspenders for the main platform using thread. He stretched out three strands of equal length and began twisting quickly to bring them together. He managed to do this twice over, connecting the arms on either side through tension.

As the threads strung along the main cable held up the supports for the main platform, the bridge was shaping up nicely. It was nearly four in the morning, and the bridge was almost done. Despite the fact that they'd only started a few hours ago, it was just about ready to present. This was a good thing, as they had to be in the class this was for in three hours.

"That's the last one," smiled Dust. "The bridge is done." He pulled back, proud of his accomplishment. As he climbed over the back of the sofa, he slipped on a pillow and collapsed on top of Spring Breath.

"Ow!" She kicked him in the gut. "The fuck's your problem, Dust!?"

"My problem? What's your problem!?" he growled back. "You passed out halfway through the project! You left us high and dry! And then, because you dropped the razor into the couch cushions, Dew cut his hoof open! I reiterate; what's wrong with you!?"

"Fuck you!" came her response. "You two were taking so long to build the damn thing that I passed out from boredom!"

"Fuck you! You had one job, and you failed!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

There was a pause, then Dust climbed off and made his way to the bathroom. "Dew! You done yet? What say we order some breakfast?" Silence returned. "Dew?" Still nothing. "Don't tell me you passed out, too..."

As he pushed the door open, the scene before him brought him suddenly back to his senses. Dew was collapsed over the side of the tub, having bled out from the cut on his hoof, which was far worse than initially thought. He'd severed an artery along his wrist, and with every beat of his racing heart, massive amounts of blood had poured out. He was unconscious within a minute, and dead within five. Now he lay there, a crumpled heap over the rim of the bathtub.

"Holy shit!!" exclaimed Dust. "We have to go, now!"

"What? Why?"

"Because Dew is fucking dead! We can't let anypony know we were here tonight! The moment they find drugs in his system, they'll come after us next, so we have to vacate immediately!"

"He's dead?"

"Yeah! That's why we're leaving!" Dust stuffed the remainder of the brick into his bag, as well as the razor. "We were never here, we weren't using drugs, we don't know who broke in and killed him! We were in our rooms all night! Do I make myself clear!?"

"But Dust, th--"

"We were in bed, sleeping!"

"Dust, this is--"

"SLEEPING!!"

"In our own beds?"

"That's right."

"Dust... You live here."

Dust froze on his way to the door.

"You and Dew are roommates. That story will never work."

Slowly, Dust lowered his bag to the ground. "Then we'll have to hide the body."

Spring raised an eyebrow. "How are we supposed to do that?"

Dust ran his hoof through his mane. "We'll..." he thought as fast as he could. "We'll drag him over to the window. We'll make him look like that killer that's been going around caught him, yeah. Then we'll toss him out onto the lawn. We were in our beds all night, he never came home. Yeah, that makes sense. Let's do this."

Wrapping him in a shower curtain, they pulled him over to the window, used the razor blade to carve a big cross over his stomach about a centimetre and a half deep, carved out his tongue, and tossed him out the window. He tumbled a bit on the grass, then came to rest at a small tree. They hung the shower curtain back on its rail, and Spring Breath left for the remainder of the morning. She had classes in a few hours, but she figured the memory of this would keep her awake for today's classes. With Dew dead, the reason they'd stayed up all night was gone. A night of restful sleep, taken away in an instant, and perhaps a few more in the process.