Return of the Blanks

by Veedway

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure
Length: 13765

Applebloom returns to the Everfree forest to face her fears from the past.

A continuation to the story told by game made by Donitz on Deviantart. I thought it was awesome, and after a while of thinking (it hurt) I decided to write a continuation, mostly because I wanted to give the whole story a happy ending.

Published 2013-03-13 01:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-13 01:40:02 UTC

Return of the Blanks

Return of the Blanks
By Veedway
A fan-made continuation to a fan-made product
Story of the Blanks
Inspired by My Little Pony FiM

As the sun rose above Ponyville, the roosters were announcing the beginning of a brand new day. Ponies were slowly getting out of their houses, getting ready for their daily activities… At least most of them. The Sweet Apple Acres seemed oddly quiet, but after a closer inspection, the reason of the silence became more than obvious. The trees were already cleared from all the apples, as it was quite some time past the apple-bucking season. Inside the cottage, some rustling could be heard, as the ponies living there were getting ready to prepare their food, and to spend another day filled with fun, games, and spending time with friends. All the ponies were awake… almost all. Upstairs, in her room, Applebloom was still deep in her bed, and judging from how she snored, she was still deep in the woods. Nobody can sleep forever though, and eventually, even she had to get up – to the noise of her own growling stomach. She rolled slowly in the bed, groaning.

“Ugh… The discomfort of empty stomach… stronger than the comfort of mah bed… time to start the day.”

Finally, despite her unwillingness to get up, she dragged herself off her bed, and stretched her bones. Just one glance at her cutie mark, which she earned just a few months ago, and she was on her way downstairs, getting ready for breakfast. She was very proud of her mark, even if she never thought that something like painting would be her special talent. Yet, there it was. A nice, shiny red apple, with a paint brush dipped in red paint resting against it, right in the middle of her flank – and the not-so-little-anymore Applebloom was proud of it, more than of any other achievement in her life so far. Searching through the kitchen, looking for something to eat (all other ponies already managed to eat) she looked through every cupboard, every bag and pot, yet all she managed to find was some vegetable stew from the earlier day. She shuddered at the thought of eating it re-heated.

“Ah… don’t think ah’m that hungry. Ah’ll just eat an apple on my way…”

Besides, she had bigger problems on her cute head right now. She prepared for this day for quite a while in advance. Today was the exact same day during which, a year ago, she got lost in the Everfree forest. Ever since that day, she had recurring dreams and thoughts of just what happened there, and of what she saw. The thoughts were not haunting her, but were uncomfortable enough to make her freeze in the middle of any action she were performing, and just bugged her out of her mind, and she decided that she will finish the case – even if it meant that she had to return to that forsaken place. And did she prepare for this – the last three months she spent on reading books borrowed from Twilight, that treated about all kinds of magical forces, and doubled the amount of visits and time spent at the place of her friend, Zecora, discussing superstition and everything that the kind zebra knew about this kind of magic. In fact, she was the only pony Applebloom knew, that she decided to share the story of Sunny Town with. The only thing left for the little filly to do now was to take the special order she placed from Rarity. Back in her room, little Bloom packed her saddle bag with what she needed the most. A rope, something to eat, a bandage and a flashlight, not to mention a quite heavy bag of bits that she saved for the past few months, just to pay for the order. Now, only to fix the big ribbon in her hair, and she’s ready to go. On the way out of the hut, as she passed the cart with apples, she took one out of the open crate and bit into it. The shiny, red, juicy apple – just like any other she ate in her life – felt tastier than anything else right now, when she had an empty stomach demanding food.

“Goin’ somewhere, little filly?”

The voice came right from behind little Bloom who jumped in surprise, startled. Turning around, she saw her big sister, Applejack, smiling as usual. Taking a deep breath, the little pony nodded.

“Yes, sis! Ah’m… going out for a longer while. Don’t wait for me with the dinner!”

“What are yah up to this time, little one?” AJ smiled kindly to her sister, not hiding her curiosity. “I thought you were done with all th’ crusadin’ stuff.”

“A Cutie Mark Crusader is a thing for life!” AB smiled radiantly. Yes, she was making up a story to excuse her absence at the farm without making it sound too suspicious to her sister. “Besides, Sweetie Belle doesn’t have her mark yet – we need to help her!” She kept smiling, but in a bit unnatural way, and tiny sweat drops were forming all over her forehead. She never was good at selling stories to others, yet she tried her best not to lose her cool.

“Okay, youngster… just try not to take too long. When will you be back?” AJ asked curiously.

“Tomorrow at earliest!” Applebloom yelled, as she was already quite a distance from her sister and the farm, hoping that AJ won’t decide to run after her. Thankfully she didn’t.

Finally, after Sweet Apple Acres disappeared behind the horizon, the little filly slowed down her gallop, just trotting towards her next destination – the Carousel Boutique. The town gave the impression of half empty. With the weather this good, most of the ponies were away, enjoying the fresh air and the company of their closest ones. This was a good thing for little Bloom, who really wanted to avoid the curious eyes of her friends, and even more curious questions, which she did not wanted to answer. At least not until the whole thing is solved and the case is closed. Approaching the boutique, she peered inside through the window. It appears that Rarity already finished her daily chores, and had free time. Slowly, Applebloom knocked her hoof against the door, and pushed them forward, entering the building.

“H… hello? Rarity? Are you here?” She looked around, and soon turned her gaze towards the rustling sound, just to find her friend, Rarity, happily trotting towards the little filly, with a package floating next to her – all thanks to the unicorn magic.

“Well, of course I am here, my dear filly” She smiled radiantly, opening the package to reveal something that looked like a harness… but all the leather straps were lined with sequins, making it sparkle like a disco ball. “Just like you ordered! I never thought you’d have such a fine taste in clothing! Much better than your older sister… no offense” She smiled and sent a wink to the little filly, who blushed brighter and redder than a setting sun.

“Y… yeah… Fashion” Little Bloom looked down, gulping quietly, thinking to herself. “Ah’m not that mad yet… Ah only hope that Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara won’t ever find about this.” She reached over to her saddle bag, and pulled the sack with bits, handing it to Rarity. “Like we agreed, Rarity. And please… please, not a word to anyone about this.”

“Of course, little filly” Rarity smiled, taking the money from Bloom “And you have to forgive me for the price… I already took it down to the costs of materials alone. Now, if you excuse me, I have one big order to work on. Can you manage on your own?” She gave the little filly a really apologetic smile, before leaving.

After Rarity left the room, little Bloom took the harness and folded it tightly, almost into a ball, and tucked it deep into her saddlebags, making sure nobody will ever notice it. Even if she knew she would need this harness, she muttered to herself, that in other circumstances, she wouldn’t have put it on, even into her coffin. Putting her saddle bags back on, she left her friend’s house, and slowly directed herself towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. The sun was high up in the sky, which meant that she had more than enough of time to get where she wanted. Thankfully, she managed to avoid most of the colts and fillies from Ponyville on her way to the Forest… which could have been easily explained by the fact that almost nobody wanted to even get near the forest. She did felt a heavy guilt burdening her on the inside, slowly turning the walk into a torment for the little filly. She couldn’t risk though. Nobody could know where she was going. The risk of her never making it back was too big, and she did not wanted to make anyone worried. That, and she was really bad at making up stories, and she knew that if someone would start to “interrogate” her, she would be more than sure to mix her facts, and blow her cover. She kept fighting with her thoughts all the way. What if she won’t make it? What if she will get lost? What if… they will remember her? All this was too much for her. She just took a deep breath, and, in a last effort to recollect her puzzled mind, she started to hum the CMC song to herself, just to have something positive to concentrate on. After a while, Ponyville was just a mere frame on the horizon, and Applebloom was standing at the edge of the Everfree Forest. She stopped, and looked back at her town, giving up a sad smile.

“Goodbye, Ponyville… See you tomorrow.” She gulped loudly. “Ah hope”

The first step into the Forest felt like stomping on charcoals, even if she knew she is going to visit Zecora first, for the last advice and preparations. Ever since the events from last year, she never looked at this place the same way. She was simply afraid. There was no time for fear now, not after she got so far with everything. Moving onward, on the stomped path towards the place where her zebra friend lived, she kept humming the CMC song to herself… even if a bit out of tune, and faster now, due to all the stress and racing thoughts inside her head. Her pace was getting faster, without her even realizing it. It came from stress and fear, she just wanted to be at her friend’s hut, where she felt safe. The last few dozen meters she passed with a gallop, jumping towards the door, and knocking on them rapidly, just to be let in. The door slowly opened with a slight creak, and behind them, Applebloom could see an inviting smile on a friendly face. With one lunge forward, the little filly jumped inside the hut, almost slamming the door behind her. Zecora just smiled, taking a few steps back, letting the filly catch her breath.

“Ah… *pant* Ah’m… here. Like promised. Thank you for *pant* Helping me out with all this” The little filly collapsed back on the chair that her zebra friend nudged closer. Without a word, Zecora left the room, and soon came back with a small box that she wielded in her muzzle, and handed it to Applebloom. Upon opening it, she noticed a small necklace, which looked oddly similar to a dream-catcher, only much smaller. Other than that, the resemblance was amazing. It even had tiny feathers hanging from the very bottom of the main circle.

“This amulet…” Zecora smiled. “… will protect your soul, so no dark force will make it foul.” The words felt like a balm to the young filly’s ears, when the zebra continued. “Sadly, the amulet can only do this much. It won’t protect your body from their touch.”

Those words made the filly tense up with stress. So… she is not safe after all? She prepared for this for so long… and Zecora was the only one who knew what Applebloom was up to. She guided her, trained her, passed her all knowledge about the darker aspect of magic, under a strict promise from the little filly to never use it on any bad purpose… or any other purpose, than this particular one. The filly took the amulet and looked up close at it, marveling at the mastery in craftsmanship that was put into such a small shape. Indeed, the whole thing, excluding the thread it was hanging on, was no bigger than a bit. Slowly, she put the thread around her neck, letting the amulet itself hang down her neck, waving in a pendulous movement, before finally settling down. For an item of such a small shape and weight, it had an awful lot of inertia. When AB lifted her eyes off the necklace, and onto her zebra friend, she noticed that Zecora was waving her over, closer to her. As the filly shifted closer, she felt Zecora’s hooves on her forehead, and could see her speaking something silently. She tried to read the movements of her lips, but it turned out that she had no knowledge of this language… and suddenly she felt a very odd tingling in her head, and down her spine, how it washed her stress away. She felt calmer, more confident, ready to take on over the world.

“May the spirits protect your soul” Zecora nodded gently, as her expression turned blank, and she just looked deeply into AB’s eyes. “You are going to need it, when you face your foe”

At this very moment Applebloom felt all her courage and confidence escape her body, leaving her like an empty shell. ”Thanks for the confidence boost…” She thought to herself. Slowly, as if in pain, she got herself off the chair, thanked Zecora, and slowly left the hut. Dang it! Did she really need to say that last line? The filly felt her hooves going limp under her, with every step she took. It felt like an eternity, just to make those few steps to the path leading much deeper into the forsaken forest. She have had many second thoughts on the way… thoughts of giving up. Thoughts of coming at a later day. But this was not an option. She knew that this is the only day of the year when she has the chance to make things right and actually get out of there alive. The sun was slowly heaving down towards the horizon, as the little determined filly found the familiar path, covered in fallen leaves, moss, and crushed tree branches, as if… something big and heavy ran there… or more like, a lot of “something”. She swallowed hard, and took the first step onto the path, that year ago led her to the possibly most bizarre and scary thing ever happened to her. She followed the curvy path deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees were getting taller, bigger, covering more and more of the sky, until they formed a firm, thick canopy of leaves that didn’t let much of sun through. The poor little filly barely managed to see what was right in front of her, and followed the path from memory. Suddenly… as if a light at the end of the tunnel, she saw the opening between the thick bushes of the forest, just like the last time. With a trembling heartbeat, she rushed straight towards the light. She knew what was waiting for her on the other side, but everything was better than the engulfing darkness of the unforgiving forest. Suddenly, the light became so bright that the poor filly felt almost blinded for a moment. When her eyes recovered from the flash, she saw a familiar town, just like last year. Everything was just like she remembered. The tidy, neat huts. The few ponies she remembered from last time, the very small field that was heaving with crops… and the decoration set for a party.

“Ah can’t believe it… Nothing changed. It’s all like it was a year ago” She whispered to herself, unable to believe that she was about to live through the whole thing once again. This time she was prepared, though. Suddenly, she heard a soft clopping of the hooves, and she turned to see who it was, just to recognize a familiar face.

“Haha! Hello there, little filly! Welcome to Sunny Town!” A certain grey stallion with a black mane approached her, with a smile full of glee on his face. “Allow me to introduce myself! My name is…” He were not able to finish, as Applebloom cut in.

“Grey Hoof… party planner extraordinaire” She said it almost mechanically, automated, as if she didn’t even had control of saying it. She noticed what she did after he gave her quite a surprised look.

“Do… you know me, little filly?” He gave her a puzzled expression

“Ah… Ah thought we met before” At this point the little filly was so dumb struck that she had no control of what she was saying. One part of her felt very relieved that they don’t remember her, while other part of her wanted to make sure.

“I… I am pretty sure we never met before!” His smile turned to a nervous one, but soon was replaced by a sincere, cheerful one, as he added “Otherwise I would have remembered such a cute filly as yourself! Maybe you mistook me for someone else? Anyways, please, help yourself to the snacks and drinks over there, we are having a party here – and you came just in time, we barely started!” Grey Hoof gave AB a gleeful smile, and then trotted away to tend to other party guests.

Applebloom stood there for a while, trying to somehow “file” the information she just gathered in her head. Not to mention she were blushing, quite cutely from the compliment of the grey stallion. She quickly snapped out of it though, and repeated in mind what she gathered so far. For sure, none of them remembered her. Secondly, nobody yet managed to notice her own cutie mark, which she found odd. She decided not to push her luck though, and slowly made her way towards the tables, and helped herself with some cake. Remembering the bad experience from the last time, she only touched the slice of the cake with her tongue, and immediately retched. It smelled wonderful, and looked even better, but tasted like a rotting mix of moss, mildew and dirt. Trying not to drag too much attention, she just slid the plate back onto the table, muttering to herself in mind “If magic of the curse makes everything turn back to how it was on that day, why won’t it fix the food… I’m hungry!” She grumbled like that for a while, and decided to help herself with her own prepared food. After all, she has been going by only one apple for the whole day. After she dealt with her sandwich, she decided to move onward, passing a pair of ponies. A beautiful mare with snow white coat, and red hair, which looked longingly towards a colt that sat in front of a hut. The stallion, with blue mane and creamy colored fur returned the gaze at her, worried. Applebloom didn’t even needed to approach them and ask what’s wrong. She remembered very well. She also remembered who was inside the hut, and the only way to get in, was to move the colt away from the door. Luckily, she remembered very well where did she found his lost gift a year ago. In mere minutes she had it in her saddlebag. To her it might have been a simple red gem that Spike would use as a snack after his breakfast. To those ponies it seemed to be much more valuable. Seems back in their days the gems were much more rare and expensive. She stopped for a while, and decided to look at the gem a bit closer. Indeed, it was a perfect specimen. No flaws, perfectly cut, and had an almost opalescent surface, making it seem like a red mirror. With the eyes of her mind she could almost picture Spike consuming it with just one bite, and that picture made her giggle a bit to herself. Soon she noticed that the sun was slowly going down – she didn’t had much time. Speeding up the pace, she started to approach the pony with the blue mane. When she was no closer than a rock’s toss distance from him, she heard someone calling for her. Not by her name, but it was too obvious to be mistaken for anything else.

“Hey, little filly!” The voice said “Why are you in such a rush? Something is on fire?” The question was followed by a hearty laugh. When Applebloom turned around to see where the voice came from, she noticed a pony with a light brown fur and tan colored mane. “Or are you searching for something?” He gave the filly a curious, friendly smile, gently cocking his head to the side, as if examining her. “I haven’t seen you around before… who are you? My name is Gladstone, by the way” He sent her a kind smile that felt almost contagious – she could almost feel how her own lip corners slowly lifted, and in just a few moments she was smiling back at him. Despite the circumstances that made her come back to this place

“Ah… um… hey there!” She stuttered, a bit embarrassed “Ah’m Applebloom… And Ah were looking for something… uh…” She were thinking very hard what to tell him. If she even makes a mention of being here before, things might turn out worse than she thought, and even now, she were thanking whatever was watching over her that they still did not recognized her. She slowly shifted her saddlebag lower onto her flank, to cover her cutie mark. In the same time, as the flap of the bag jumped from the inertia of the shift, the red gem glistened inside, sending Gladstone into another burst of cheerful laughter

“I see you found what Roneo was looking for all this time!” He nodded towards the said pony with the blue mane. “Did he asked you to find it? I haven’t noticed you talking to him, little filly. And for someone out of town…” he gave her a slightly suspicious look “… you seem to know your way around quite well. Is there something you’re not telling me?” He was still smiling to poor Bloom, but something in his eyes was really disturbing to her – almost as if his gaze could pierce through her mind.

“Quick! Think something up!” She thought to herself, took a deep breath and then looked back at Gladstone, trying to look as natural as possible. “Mah home town looks very similar to this one, sir!” She smiled, and went on with making up a story good enough for Gladstone to swallow. “And Ah did not talk to mister Roneo there. Ah just walked around, and found that gem. Thought it might belong to him, since he looked so worried!” She tried to keep smiling in the most natural way possible. “Please, please, oh please, stop thinking and just believe me!”

“This… makes a lot of sense to me!” Gladstone nodded with a reassuring smile, after what seemed like an eternity of silence. AB felt her heart drop back from her throat into its place in her chest. “Sorry for worrying you, little filly! Come, have some cake as an apology” With the most sincere smile he waved her over to the spot he was standing at, near the table with the cake and punch. Applebloom remembered the taste again, and had to force herself not to retch with disgust in front of the kind – so far – pony.

“Ah’m not hungry… So mighty sorry” She tried to sneak herself out of the situation. “Besides, someone is looking for his gem, right? Ah ought to give it back to its rightful owner” She gave Gladstone a very toothy smile, just to get a quiet chuckle and a nod in response.

As she went towards Roneo – much slower and more natural this time, not to raise any suspicion – she took a few deep breaths, thanking whatever was watching over her for the streak of luck with keeping her cover on. “Ah can’t believe he actually bought that… Ah wouldn’t believe me, if ah heard that.” After taking a few steps, she stopped, and sat down on the paved path towards the entrance of the town, where Roneo’s house was, to collect her mind and to think of a plan. She thought of a few possibilities of how to play this without making those ponies find out that she knows way too much. As she was about to get up, she heard sobbing – pretty much like last time. The memory of this made her hang her head lower with sadness, but this time, she promised to herself – this can’t end in a bad way. Not after all she did so far. Getting up and nodding to herself, she decided to approach the cream colored pony, just as he was fixing his mane after the wind had blown it into a small mess.

“Hello? Mister Roneo?” She slowly approached the colt. He sent her a quick smile, and his gaze returned back to the pony a bit farther to the town’s entrance, nodding in answer to Applebloom’s question. “Ah heard you were looking for something you have lost… is this what you’re looking for?” At first he seemed a bit distant, and gave the impression that he didn’t heard the question, but soon his eyes landed on the gem Applebloom was holding in her hoof. His eyes shun up with joy, and he jumped closer towards the filly, giving her an overjoyed smile.

“Yes! That was…” He looked back at the white colored pony with red mane that he watched earlier, and lowered his voice, returning his gaze to Applebloom. “… a gift for Starlet over there. I… I spent every last bit for it, but she is worth tenfold more. When I lost it, I felt my world collapse… thank you, so much! I am in your debt, little filly!” He smiled radiantly and took the gem from AB, trotting towards the white mare.

Applebloom stopped for a while to watch what’s going to happen. Roneo ran up to Starlet, and with a shy smile, offered the red gem, leaving the mare speechless for a while. AB was a bit too far to hear what they were talking about, but Starlet was visibly happy with the gift she got. Suddenly, both turned to look at her. For a while the heart of little filly froze, as she had become filled with fear – last time they didn’t acknowledged her help in this. Have they found out…? Thankfully, they didn’t. Both Roneo and Starlet lifted their hooves and waved to the filly, and the white coated mare shouted her thanks, before returning her focus back to her lover colt. Suddenly, Bloom felt her heart sink. Not with relief, but sadness, seeing how both of the ponies were happy. All this filled her with sense of unfairness, that this town, and the ponies that lived here – in such a happy way, nevertheless – had to end in such a terrible way. Her mind was set back on track soon, though, after she heard another round of weeping from the house that Roneo stood in front of. Slowly sneaking inside, she looked around just to find the crying pony, curled up in a corner. She had a gray coat, almost like ash, and blood red hair. Her eyes were reddened from the constant crying, and slightly swollen, as if she had cried for the past few hours at least. Very slowly, the brave filly approached the crying mare, listening to her sobbing.

“This is not right… that’s not right at all…!” She was repeating exactly the very same thing as last time Bloom was here. The filly gathered her courage and approached the mare. Oddly enough, she noticed how AB approached, and sprung on her hooves immediately – she recognized her. With a low voice she hissed, but her tone showed that she was more worried and terrified with the presence of little filly, than anything else. “You…! What are you doing here?! Have you got bored of your life? I can’t help you escape again… I’m too weary. Too tired to go on, child…” She hung her head low, as tears filled her eyes again. Applebloom gathered her courage, and moved closer to the mare, making sure that nobody was there to overhear.

“Ah have no idea how you remember me, but ah can tell you this. Ah came here to put an end to this mystery. Ever since ah left this place a year ago, the nightmares were bothering me. Nightmares about this place. There is more to this story than ah found out so far” The face of the little filly showed more determination than ever.

“Have you lost your mind, child!?” The pony snarled, and was about to go on, but AB cut her off

“Mah NAME, is Applebloom” She seemed quite irritated

“Fine… Have you lost your mind, Applebloom? This is not a place for fun and games. You are well aware what hath happened here so long ago.” The mare was speaking in a calm manner, yet her face showed concern… and her way of speaking was outdated by hundreds of years, if not longer. “I am called Mitta… and heed my warning, and leave this befouled place. Let us suffer the punishment alone.”

“No” The filly replied with a sharp tone. “Ah have a plan. This is risky… and crazy. But it’s always a plan. Trust me.” She tried to sound reassuring, but this only caused another burst of tears from Mitta

“I am not worth of being trusted myself! You know what fate met the last pony that had my trust!” Her cries were getting louder. Applebloom was getting seriously concerned about attracting too much unwanted attention by now.

“Then you have a second chance!” Her voice was determined, and sounded more like an order, than a friendly offer. Surprisingly enough, this was enough to silence Mitta.

“A… second… chance…?” She sounded desperate and surprised “I… can’t…” Tears flew into her eyes once more, and she seemed like she was about to cry again. Applebloom just sighed in slight irritation. The filly was a good friend, but everything – even her patience – has its limits.

“Do you see this?” She waved an apple that she pulled from her saddlebag in front of Mitta’s face, getting a confused look from the mare. Before anything else could be said, AB pushed it into the mare’s muzzle. “Shove it, and trust me. Just keep low. You have your chance… but Ah will need your help” The mare was struck dumb so hard that she couldn’t muster anything, but a timid nod. “Ah’ll call your name, when the time is right. Will you come?” Mitta just nodded, surprised by all this… but something in her eyes showed that she was determined and actually happy that someone relied on her again. “Oh… and you can keep the apple.”

After that little talk, Applebloom left the building, and slowly directed her next steps to the northern part of the town. As she walked outside, she didn’t heard cries anymore. Instead, all she could hear from that hut was a somewhat crunchy sound of teeth digging into a fresh, ripe apple, and a happy murr. One of a hungry pony that have not had anything in her maw for ages. While walking towards the other end of the town, AB passed a cheerfully smiling mare. She was whole green, but her coat had a brighter shade, compared to her mane. She waved happily to the little filly, and trotted towards her.

“Hi there!” She giggled as she stopped right in front of Applebloom. “Not often we see visitors. I’ll save you the boring greeting and the ‘we barely see other ponies’ speech, as I saw Gladstone taking care of that” She smiled radiantly and shifted closer “My name is Three Leaf. What’s yours?” The smile just didn’t wanted to disappear from her face.

“Ah’m Applebloom. And no wonder ya’ll don’t see other ponies. You don’t even need to leave, you have everything you need in this town!” She exclaimed in a semi excited way, to seem interested and involved emotionally in the talk. Three Leaf tilted her head, and giggled quietly.

“Are you a mind reader?” She sent AB a playful wink. “That’s what I was about to say! Anyways, enjoy your stay, and if you need anything, I’ll be here!” She said with a glee, and trotted away to chat with Gladstone.

Slowly, trying to keep low, little Bloom snuck towards the end of the town. She definitely didn’t wanted anyone else to drag her from reaching the hut in the woods behind the town. Not before the sunset. After sneaking out of the town, Applebloom found the path that she followed last time she was here, and deeper, in the dark woods, she found the hut to be still there. For all the time it stood here, it definitely seemed to be solid, almost indestructible. If it weren’t for all the dust, leaves and dirt, you’d thought that the owner of this house left a while ago. Gathering her courage up and swallowing loud enough for the nearby woodland creatures to hear it, she moved closer, and pushed the door forward with her hoof. The door gave up after a while, and swung open with a loud, ominous creak, kicking clouds of dust into the air. Very slowly, the brave filly walked inside. She could even recognize her own hoofprints in the dust from year ago. Looking around, she didn’t spotted anything, except the fireplace… which was lit, as usual, blazing with fire. Compared to the ever present silence around her, the humming of the fire sounded more like a wild howling, almost deafening.

“R… Ruby? Are you here?”

Voice of the scared filly was shaking, but she knew that this was the place where she could find the filly that helped her last time. Sadly, no matter how much she searched around, and how much she called her name, Ruby was nowhere to be found… or didn’t wanted anyone to find her. A sickening thought crossed AB’s mind. Last time, it all happened after she looked inside the fireplace. The mere thought of having to dread the sight again caused her to take a few steps back, but if it was needed, then she had no choice. Slowly, step by step, hoof by hoof, she approached the fireplace, until she was right in front of it. With her eyes closed for now, she slowly turned her head to face the fire, and opened her eyes, just to see what she remembered from the last time. The fire was flickering brightly, but there was no wood or anything else to keep it alive. Nothing, except for the remains of the pony that was burned alive in there. Bones still white, as if they were unable to age. Suddenly, Applebloom heard something that made her heart jump to her throat and get stuck there. Someone was behind her, but she was too terrified to turn around.

“Friend? What are you doing here?” The voice echoed, as if it came from a cave, yet it was calm and comforting. The poor scared filly quickly recognized the voice, and turned around to see Ruby. Little filly, as young as Applebloom was on the day they first met, her coat bright gray, with blonde mane, and her eyes glowing bright yellow. She was a ghost, alright, but one that AB was happy to see. She looked into Ruby’s glowing eyes and found comfort in the situation. “What are you doing here, my friend?” Ruby sounded very concerned “You shouldn’t be here. I can’t find you ways out of here forever.”

“Ruby! By golly, Ah am so happy to see you… Don’t worry. Ah came here to solve this mystery, and to help you.” She gave Ruby a serious look, trying to seem as confident as she only can.

“Friend…” The ghostly filly replied “I can’t help you, for I don’t have a single memory of what happened before… it happened. When you die, you forget your past life, unless someone reminds you of it…” Her expression turned to sadness, and in the same moment, Applebloom felt an overwhelming sadness consuming her. Apparently staying close with a ghost made you feel its emotions tenfold.

“Ruby…” Applebloom moved closer, trying as hard as she could not to cry now “… Ah promise, Ah will fix all this. You have my word. Ah’ll find out what happened here. One way or another.”

“You will?” Ruby sounded calm, but a smile slowly appeared on her face – it was intoxicating. Less than 5 seconds after Ruby smiled, AB was smiling with her, feeling more positive than ever. “I will help you! Just promise me one thing… don’t hurt them. It’s not their fault… Something… tells me it.” She hung her head low, and soon she returned her gaze to Applebloom, who was silent now. After what seemed like an eternity, Bloom slowly raised an eyebrow.

“… seriously…? They murdered you… and it’s not their fault? THEN WHAT IS THEIR FAULT!?” AB snapped, feeling anger grow inside of her. The ghostly pony that was murdered with cold blood were just admitting that her killers are not guilty for what they did. She panted heavily with anger, but soon she started to calm down, and took a deep breath. “Sorry…”

“It’s okay, friend.” Ruby’s lip corners lifted up a bit, forming a kind, understanding smile. “I understand your reaction. But… I feel it. My memories are gone, but I feel it deep inside me. There is a second bottom to this… whole incident.” Applebloom only lifted her eyebrow – surely Ruby had a distance to all this, if she could call her own demise, especially as gruesome as this, an ‘incident’. “Are you sure you want to do this?” The ghost’s expression showed concern and worry for her only friend.

“Ah am. Ah got prepared. Just to be sure… any bright light can be harmful, or even deadly to undead, right?” Applebloom looked at Ruby, and after she got a nod in reply, the little filly took out a flashlight from her saddlebag, put in a set of fresh batteries, and looked at Ruby. “Will this do?” She turned the flashlight on, aiming at the ceiling, scaring off several spiders and bats that took that spot for their habitat. Ruby’s face showed fear over what she saw, until it was replaced by curiosity.

“Yes… definitely. Have ponies gotten to smart they found out how to carry sun with them? How does that work?” She looked closer at the source of light, with visible curiosity.

“That’s no time to explain, Ruby. Ah’m sorry, but this will have to wait” AB muttered quietly while roaming through her saddlebags, searching for something more.

“Whatever you say, friend” The ghostly pony smiled confidently, following her words with a nod. “I just have one… request. Do not banish them.” She looked at Applebloom, and in return, she got a puzzled, questioning look. Ruby sighed softly, and closed her eyes, collecting her thoughts, to form an answer as clear and simple as possible. “You see… bright light repels evil. But too much of it, can kill. Sadly, it won’t free them. They will just go to a different kind of hell, than the one they are suffering through right now. Is that… wait. What is that?” She looked at Applebloom, who sparkled like a swarm of fireflies – it was her dress from Rarity, all lined with sequins, prepared just for this case.

“This… is mah preparation to make sure none of them approaches from behind!” AB almost exclaimed that sentence with a triumphant grin, and then aimed the flashlight at herself. In the very instant the dress began to sparkle in all directions, sending strong beams of light everywhere around her. Ruby looked at this all in amazement, surprised how well her friend was prepared, even if her ways were at least unorthodox. She was still waiting for her answer, though. Applebloom looked back at Ruby, and snapped out of her victorious trance. “Ah promise, Ruby. Ah won’t use my defense more than Ah need. You have the word of an Apple Family member.” AB almost recited it, but she meant every word she said right now, and then she gazed back into Ruby’s eyes “Ah will need your help, Ruby.”

“Of course! Whatever you want, I’ll try to help” Ruby nodded confidently with determined expression. “What is it you wish, friend?”

“When Ah call your name, come to me as fast as you can” Applebloom looked at her ghost friend with a face that showed a growing worry.

After what seemed an eternity of silence, Ruby gave a nod to the little filly, and disappeared, her last words echoing in AB’s head. ”Good luck, friend”. She will definitely need it right now, especially after making a promise not to harm any of those monsters too much. She just stood there, in front of the opened door, her eyes following the small gravel path, towards the turn it takes, right into the Sunny Town, or more like, what was left of it. She had prepared herself for what was about to happen for the last few months. She re-enacted the whole thing in her mind so many times, repeated any possible outcome and option, she never felt more ready for all this, as she did when she entered the forest today. But now, standing in an abandoned hut that belonged to a pony whose remains lay in the fireplace right behind her took all her courage away. The heavy roof creaked above her head, and some dust and debris landed on her shoulder and the ground next to her. Oddly enough, this didn’t made her jump. Her reactions… no, her emotions were deadened. “Mitta… Ruby… Don’t let me down now. Ah count on you” She thought out loud, as if anyone could hear her, and slowly, she made her way down the gravel path that led into the devastated remains of once joyful town of ponies. As she stood in the northern gate of the town, she noticed that some of the buildings had crumbled even more from the progressing time, slowly consumed by the forest growth. She slowly moved forward, trying to make as little noise as possible. What happened before, with all the ponies, except for Mitta and Ruby not recognizing her as a visitor from before, Applebloom assumed that right now they won’t recognize her as well, and in result, in worst case scenario, she will just have to run from them like last time. Suddenly, near the house of Three Leaf, just like last time, the ground began to part, and a partially decomposed limb began to emerge from the soft soil, followed by another one, and the rest of the body. In just a few moments, the whole skeletal pony was standing there. Its eye sockets suddenly burned up with two red embers, giving it an eerie, ominous glow. The flesh hanging off its bones had a stench of decay and rot, and its jaw was holding up only by a few tendons from falling off the skull. There was something about this pony that made Applebloom recognize it immediately – the mane still had some green like tint on it. It was Three Leaf, not as cheerful and friendly as she was a bit ago. Slowly, the nightmare started to move towards the trembling filly, and stopped a few yards in front of her. The embers in her sockets shun up in a way that made AB feel that Three Leaf was looking right at her. The skeleton sat down, and what was left of the flesh on her face pulled a bit up, in a mix of a creepy and nightmarish smile.

“Soooooo… Decided to visit Sunny Town again, hm?” The sound of Three Leaf right now sounded as if it was echoing from a room partially filled with water. It also carried a hint of unholy hiss in it. But that’s not what made Applebloom scared the most. It was the fact that her assumptions were false, and they indeed remember her. “You will have to forgive me if my voice sounds bad. After so long in the ground, my vocal cords can decompose a bit”. Her voice was filled with false sweetness. She didn’t wanted to trick AB into trusting her. The amount of sugar in her tone was so obvious, that it left little to imagination for the little filly. “Or maybe let’s skip the courtesy part, and just spit it out. Why are you here again… To stay… forever, this time!?” Her voice showed building rage, but she dared not to move closer to the trembling filly – and this filled AB with suspicion. Three Leaf has a perfect chance now to end the little filly right now. Yet, she just stood there and grinned in a way that would burn into the little filly’s mind forever.

“Ah came to find out what happened here!” The filly exclaimed, her voice echoing over the ruins of Sunny Town. Soon, she regretted being so loud, after she heard a rustling right behind her, and in a second, she felt something slimy, cold and squishy press against her flank. She felt how her energy was slowly escaping her, and quickly, she jumped to the side, making sure to keep Three Leaf, and whoever was behind her, in her eyesight, slowly backing off, until her rear touched the wall of one of the huts

“And what is there to explain?” The masculine voice replied. It was dark, but forcing her eyes, AB could see that this was Gladstone that snuck up behind her. “You saw the evidence on your own.” He started to cackle lowly, which caused the broken bones that were inside his ribcage to rattle loudly. The little filly shivered in fear from what was happening in front of her, but she promised to herself, and to her two friends in this town to end this, one way or another.

“There is a LOT to explain! Ah don’t believe you for two bits! There was no reason for y’all to kill an innocent pony just for a mark on her rear!” Applebloom cried out loud to the two nightmares in front of her, as tears were slowly coming into her eyes. She felt defenseless at the moment. Or more like, hopeless, since she knew that she can’t make use of her only weapon. Not until she gets all of them near her. Otherwise, the others, alarmed by the fact that she can defend herself, could run away.

“And did you heard the old saying that curiosity killed the cat, little filly?” Another masculine voice spoke from the darkness. This one was much calmer though, and seemed less aggressive, as if filled with sadness. Applebloom quickly looked towards the source of the sound, and saw another nightmare, slowly approaching her. This one was much slimmer than Gladstone, and not as square shaped in overall. As the scared filly looked at him, she noticed something glinting inside of the partially broken ribcage – a red gemstone! It was Roneo, there was no doubt about it. “You must be very brave… or very stupid to come here after what happened here a year ago.” Before Applebloom could even say something, she noticed that Three Leaf and Gladstone soon had someone more with them, and judging by the remains of fur hanging off his bones, it was Grey Hoof. Sweat slowly started to appear on the little filly’s forehead, as she was cracking. She wanted to defend herself right now, so desperately… but she couldn’t do it yet. Not when the biggest threat was still hiding. She didn’t needed to wait too long though. Suddenly something lunged out of the shadows and landed right in front of the terrified Bloom, showing a set of rotting, blackened teeth surrounded by remains of flesh, that, hopefully, used to be the maw of the formerly living pony.

“Enough with this nonsense! I am hungry!” The newly appeared nightmare hissed, the voice definitely feminine, which would mean that this was Starlet right in front of poor, scared filly. She started to move towards AB very fast, her jaws rapidly parting, wanting to bite her fangs into the filly’s flesh.

That was the moment Applebloom was waiting for. Quickly, with one swift move of the hoof, she pulled out the flashlight out of her saddlebag, turned it on, and aimed it at her sequin lined suit. The light reflected from dozens of them, sending sparkling light in all directions, intensified thanks to many reflecting lights overlaying each other. If someone saw her from a distance, he could think that the little filly was an angel, or some other similar celestial being. The light was so strong it could almost imitate an aura. The light spread all around her, landing on the nearby buildings, trees… and the surprised nightmares. The howls and shrieks, loud and unnatural, as if echoing from depths of hell were reverberating all over the remains of Sunny Town. The skeletal ponies, all of them, were squirming, some standing, some laying on the ground, feeling how the bright light was burning what was left of their flesh, and charring their bones. Their expressions turned from rage, to surprise, and in time, to fear. The scales have tipped to the favor of the earth filly now, and she wanted to use that chance to the maximum. After a few minutes, when the stench of burned flesh and bones reached the her nostrils, Applebloom turned the flashlight off. Suddenly the forest seemed darker, but soon her eyes accustomed to the shadows around her. She could see clearly, how the 6 nightmares in front of her were slowly standing up, and trying to regain their poses – none were as fast as before. Even if they were undead now, they gave an impression of being in a lot of pain. Suddenly Roneo began to back away slowly, still facing Applebloom, whose face crept with an almost evil grin. She noticed that they are backing off, stomped her hoof down, lighting the flashlight once more, aiming it up at the forest’s canopy.

“If any of you move at least an inch, Ah’ll give you a repeat of that, get it!?” She yelled at the top of her lungs, feeling how she got more and more enraged. The whole fear that gathered in her was slowly giving up, and gave place to anger, which she wanted to use – she had the nightmares right where she wanted them. As soon as they heard her threat, all six of them froze in the positions they were in. The embers in their eye sockets seemed bigger, giving an impression of true fear. “Now… Ah am the one asking questions. Any of you bucking monsters move a bit… Just a tiny bit… And Ah’ll break my promise! Ruby! Mitta!” The angry filly yelled out once again, calling for her two friends. She didn’t had to wait for long. Suddenly the ground right next to her, on her left side parted, and Mitta emerged from the ground. The time was merciful for her. Even if she was turned into a nightmare, like the rest, she had most of her fur and flesh on her bones. Her hair were all stuck together with a thick coat of blood, and her eyes burned with red embers. She was calm though, just standing next to AB, and waiting for the flow of events. At the same time, on the right side of the earth filly, a shape began to glow faintly, and right there, out of thin air, Ruby appeared. Her face showed a lot of concern for what happened, since she was observing Applebloom all the time, ever since she left the hut. She did not wanted to jump to any conclusions yet, and decided to stick to plan. Now, bolstered with confidence of not being alone, Bloom took a step forward. “Now… let’s start from the beginning, shall we?”

The skeletal ponies were looking at each other, muttering something that the filly couldn’t hear, and soon Starlet stood up and nodded softly “I’ll try to speak for us all. What do you want to know. And don’t try our patience, pup. I am not afraid to risk and sink my fangs in your young flesh” She hissed angrily, trying to intimidate the little filly, but Bloom knew better. Starlet, and all others were scared of her now. All of them knew, that another blast of light like that, and not even their bones will remain after that encounter.

“Ya watch that filthy tongue of yours, get it?” Applebloom spat on the ground and soon returned her gaze back at the nightmares. “Mah first question. How did y’all ended up in this place? What kind of a pony would make a village in the middle of a dangerous forest?”

“Oh… we did” Starlet nodded, and the embers in her eyes dimmed a bit, giving an impression of blinking. “You see… we are exiles. We came here during the rules of Queen Galacta… May her name rot in the ground forever” Starlet snarled loudly after mentioning that name, as if it filled her with disgust.

“Queen… Galacta?” Applebloom tried to remember when did she heard that name. Suddenly it hit her. History classes with Miss Cherilee! Queen Galacta was the first real, self proclaimed ruler of Equestria, four thousand years before Princess Celestia came to power. And from what she remembers, the queen indeed was a tyrant. This was no time to remember history lessons though, and she quickly snapped out of her thinking, fixing her gaze back at Starlet “You didn’t answered mah questions, sister... speak up, eh?”

“I’m getting to it!” Starlet sounded a bit irritated, but still very cautious not to anger the filly. “We escaped from the bad system we lived in.” She paused, and seeing the confusion on AB’s face, she continued “You see… Pegasus claims superiority over Earth Pony. Unicorn claims superiority over Pegasus. Alicorn claims superiority over everybody. We lived in a world where your… attachments, or their lack determined your social status. So we decided to get away. To find our own place to live, without being looked down upon by anyone else.” Starlet sat down, awaiting a response from Bloom

“Wait… 5 thousand years ago from current moment” AB was trying to remember something. “This doesn’t explain the fact of you not having cutie marks!”

“We used to have them” Starlet replied slowly, and got up, approaching Bloom. She was very slow, not to startle the filly. “Take a look.” Indeed. The remains of fur on Starlet’s flank showed a faded mark. After taking a closer look, Applebloom could recognize a shape of heart, surrounded by two feathery wings embracing it. After showing the only memento of her past, Starlet returned back to her spot, and sat down. “They started to disappear after we spent some time here. At first we thought it was magic of the forest.”

“But Ah’m guessing you found the real answer to that soon enough?” Bloom tilted her head curiously, raising an eyebrow.

“Indeed. The more we lived in this place, the more we felt free. And the more we felt free, and outside of the system, the less we felt the need to fit into our roles in the society. With time, the marks on our rears have just disappeared. That’s when we felt truly free… full of potential. We were no longer limited by anyone from a higher race, or by our so called destiny! We were free!” She started to get excited from merely mentioning the happy moments of the past, the success of achieving freedom.

“Let me guess” Applebloom interrupted quietly. “But Ruby here still had her cutie mark, so you decided to get rid of her, right?”

“Not quite” Starlet let out a long drawn sigh, which sounded like sand rattling against a metal plate. “When we first arrived here, she was too young to have one. She got it on the very night where we celebrated the second anniversary of our arrival here. You know what happened. Roneo…” She stopped here, giving a sad gaze to the said pony. The embers in her eye sockets dimmed visibly, as if she ‘closed’ her eyes, and Applebloom could have sworn she saw something leaking from one of Starlet’s eyes. The silence lasted for what seemed like eternity, before Starlet finally got energy to speak again. “He… lost his gem. He wanted to propose to me. Ruby helped to find it, and with that, she got her cutie mark.”

“Wait a minute! Just because she got her mark didn’t meant you had to kill her! How could you do something so terrible to a pony that escaped the bad queen with you!” Applebloom blurted out in anger, and her nostrils flared out, as if she was ready to attack.

“She didn’t” Starlet said calmly, completely confusing AB with that statement. “She got lost in the forest, just like you did. And she found our little village here. She claimed she had no family, so we let her stay. With a bit of unwillingness, I might add. Others might have come looking for her, and that was something that we did not wanted. If someone would find us, they would also ruin our little piece of heaven we made here for ourselves. Many times we encouraged her to leave the town. Grey Hoof even offered to walk her to the edge of the forest, so she wouldn’t get lost. Seems she… got too attached to us.”

“And after all this, you killed her!?” Applebloom snarled, feeling how rage was filling her, once more. She was ready to aim the light right at them all for what they did, and she would feel no remorse for doing that. Not after what she heard so far.

“We were afraid, alright!?” Starlet snapped, and the other nightmares nodded to her words. “She got the mark… this brought the shadow of our former world back onto us! We wanted to escape that! We wanted to make sure no pony thinks better and higher of others! We didn’t wanted to kill her at first, we wanted to force her out of the town, but no matter what we did, she refused to go! That’s when we… did it…” Suddenly, after hearing those words, Ruby started to weep… and after a while, her weeping turned into crying.

“I’m sorry… so sorry. I should have gone when you told me” She sat there, with her tail curled up and her head hanging low.

“It’s not your fault… Not at all.” Applebloom looked at Ruby, and tried to comfort her at least a bit by patting her on the shoulder with her hoof, but it just flew through her ethereal body. Quickly fixing her eyes back on the nightmares in front of her, she thought what to do or say right now, but nothing came into mind. Just then, she remembered that Mitta was there with them as well, silent and still all the time. AB snarled, looking at her. “And what’s your excuse!?”

“What…!?” Mitta jumped back at the sudden yell from the angered filly. She gave an impression as if she was present in the talk only with her body, and her mind drifted off to distant thoughts. “What in the world are you talking about, child!? I… I have no excuse.”

“Quit with the lies!” Bloom yelled at the top of her lungs, being not as much confused, but more like irritated. More than ever in her short life. “You told this to me last year! Those were your exact words! You said you should have protected her, but you made your choice… Why!?” Applebloom started to cry now. Not with sadness, but with the building anger inside her. She felt like all of them were toying with her now. Suddenly, with the corner of her eye, she noticed that one of the nightmares started to move closer to her. Without thinking much, AB grabbed the flashlight and aimed the strong beam right at the corpse approaching her. The concentrated light, aimed right at one of its forelegs caused it to literally boil. The loud shriek from the monster – who happened to be Grey Hoof, judging by its voice, echoed through the woods. He quickly stepped back into his place. The angered filly turned her attention back to Mitta now.

“Because…” Mitta spoke with a soft, sad voice, as if unable to push herself to speaking more. “Because… I was afraid too. If… If I had saved her, she would run away. Scared and crying, possibly. Someone would find her… and she would tell what she saw here. Ruby was my friend, but after what I heard here from them… I were afraid of getting the bad old times back” She hung her head low and the embers in her eyes died out completely, making it look as if her eyes were closed. “I’m so sorry…”

“And now, you’re doomed, like all of us.” The voice came from the direction of where the corpses were sitting. It was Three Leaf. The way she said it sounded as if she did not cared at all for their current situation.

“Ah, shut your trap!” Applebloom snarled, visibly irritated at how things were developing. “Better tell me, why are y’all trying to trap innocent ponies in here!”

“Isn’t this obvious?” Starlet hissed lowly, trying to get the attention of the filly, still sitting in her previous spot. “We got into this, because we wanted someone out of here. So… The only sensible thing to do is to have someone stay with us. Only then we can move on… I guess.” She made a motion that somewhat resembled shrugging. “Guess we won’t have our freedom just yet. I won’t risk getting closer to you after your little light show”

“You want to be forgiven!?” Applebloom snorted and spat on the ground. “If you really mean it, then instead of trying to trap innocent ponies here, you should talk with Ruby! It’s her that you killed in the first place!”

“I… am afraid. Afraid, that she…”

Starlet was unable to finish her sentence. In the middle of her speech, she was suddenly blinded by a strong, beaming light that spread in all directions. The gathered nightmares shrieked in fear, but oddly enough, the light was not painful to them. It felt much colder in its hue, not like the one from Bloom’s flashlight. Everybody, even the confused filly began to look around for the source of the light. Suddenly, in the powerful light, a figure could be seen, but it was too bright to recognize it. Only after a while, when everybody’s eyes were slowly getting used to the brightness, they could recognize… Mitta! But it was no longer the slowly decaying corpse from before. This Mitta was alive. The holes in her flesh were gone. Her fur had turned to grey, and her mane got its old, red color back. The only difference between this new look, and Mitta’s old look were the eyes. Those were red, as if they had still embers burning in them, but even that glow gave a “living” feeling, natural and warm. There was one more thing to this “new” Mitta that seemed new. The smile that was on her face. She was smiling, as if she had been relieved of a very heavy burden. The nightmares and little Bloom were too shocked to say a word, they just stared. Suddenly, out of the light, another shape emerged. Smaller, in comparison to Mitta, but this one was easy to recognize, mostly thanks to bright blonde hair and the yellow glowing eyes. She just stood there, looking at everybody. Suddenly Mitta stepped forward.

“I understand one thing.” She said with a calming voice. “By killing her… by thinking that she would lead us to trouble, we were no better than our tormentors back in the old days.” She gazed all around, over her formerly living friends. “How are we better with what we did, than the pegasi from our past? How are we better than unicorns and alicorns, who claimed their superiority? Just because she was different… it did not meant she would bring trouble. I understood that… And now I feel so much lighter. As if someone took a whole plane of existence off my heart.”

“It’s okay, Mitta” Ruby stepped forward. “I understand that it was our fault. All of us. I forgave her.” She nodded towards Mitta. “Because I understood her thinking. And she forgave me. Now… my friends.” Suddenly a smile crept upon Ruby’s face. The most cheerful, happy and sincere smile that Applebloom ever saw in her life. “Now… I forgive you what you did to me. Because I understand everything.” She looked at AB. “And I have you to thank for this. Finally I know why.” Ruby turned her gaze back at the nightmares. “So… the last thing I ask for, my friends. Will you forgive me for disrupting the peaceful life you had here so long ago? I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, all was silent. Every single one could not believe their ears. Little Bloom stood there, confused, and the nightmares seemed to be torn – emotionally and mentally. All of them, every single one unable to muster even a single word. The silence was so intense it was almost deafening. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, one of the dead ponies moved forward. He wanted to say something, but before he could say even a single word, something began to happen. His whole body began to tremble, and inside of his body began to glow with a bright light, radiating in all directions through the holes in his flesh. After that, other nightmares began to tremble and glow as well, one by one. After just a moment, all of them were in this state. Gladstone, Roneo, Starlet, Three Leaf and Grey Hoof. Applebloom just stood there, shocked and confused from what was happening. All of a sudden, her ears were filled with mind piercing shriek of all the nightmares. It was not a scream of pain, or anything like that. It was the scream of pure fear, as they had no idea what was going on. They were not hurting, but what was happening filled them with fear. Bloom could swear that she could catch a few phrases in the sea of screaming, along the lines of “I don’t want to die!” and “Not now, not like that!”. Suddenly, the ground began to glow, just like the formerly living in front of her. The intense glow gave a feeling of pure power and good. This wasn’t enough to calm any of them down from what was happening. Applebloom looked around in confused fear. The shrieks of the nightmares, and the intense radiating light made her dizzy, and after long exposure she began to feel really weak. From the intense light, the screaming, and overwhelming fear and exhaustion from all that happened to her that day. Suddenly, she felt her hooves getting limp under her, and as the screams echoed through her head, she fell down on the ground. Everything began to turn dark, as she slipped out of her consciousness…

Some time later

“H.. Huh!? What!?” Applebloom jumped up, as she woke up after falling unconscious. “What happened!?” She started to look around, just to find out she was in her own room in Sweet Apple Acres. “Was this all… a dream? What a nightmare!” She sighed quietly. She was glad she was back at home, safe, and at the same time felt very disappointed from the fact that all her efforts turned out to be just a fragment of her mind. Suddenly the door creaked open and Applejack stepped in.

“Yee Haw, sis! You slept like a log! Never mentioned that you’d be sleeping over at Zecora’s, glad she brought you back here! Now…” AJ put the tray she had on her back onto the table. “Eat your breakfast.” She turned around, about to leave, but suddenly stopped, knocking her hoof against her forehead “Hah, silly me. Ah almost forgot. You got a letter. No idea who is it from, it has no return address.” Anyways, eat up, and then come down help me and Big Mac to fix the plow.” She winked to little Bloom and left the room.

Applebloom slowly crawled off the bed, feeling emotionally and physically drained, and made her way towards the table. Taking a bite off her sandwich, she opened the letter, wondering who might write anything to her, since almost all of her friends lived in Ponyville, and there was no need for letters. The envelope felt a bit heavy to have just paper in it. AB turned it upside down, and much to her surprise something fell out with a metallic cling. It was a very old, rusty key. Very familiar looking key. Bloom gulped the bite of the sandwich down and quickly tore the envelope open, pulling the piece of paper that was inside there, and read it. The whole letter was very short, and said “I won’t be needing this anymore. Thank you, friend. Thank you for everything. Ruby.” Applebloom slowly lifted her gaze from the letter, onto the key, and then outside the window, whispering to herself “So it wasn’t a dream…”

A few months has passed

Quite some time passed since brave Applebloom ventured into the Everfree forest to face the nightmares that were haunting her dreams. After that incident, she had no nightmares. They were replaced with new thoughts. She had so many questions after she read that letter. The whole fall, and Apple Bucking season, she kept thinking of possible outcomes of her visit. All of the winter she couldn’t help but wonder if there is anything left in the place where Sunny Town used to be. She tried to get back there. At least a small glance. But it seems that the place magically disappeared. There was no path leading there, and the solid wall of trees made it impossible to advance further. For Applebloom… the answer would be revealed very soon. It was the next day after the Winter Wrap Up. She woke up in her bed, and as she got up, something caught her attention. Another letter was on her table. It was written in the same style as the previous one, but this one seemed lighter, and somewhat thicker. After opening the envelope, she pulled out the piece of paper from inside. It looked much cleaner this time, and was decorated with beautifully drawn pictures of the ponies of Sunny Town, and the letter read “Greetings, Applebloom. We, the ponies of New Sunny Town would like to invite you for celebration of the first day of Spring. We have no bad intentions and no bad meanings. Please, come by, and let’s celebrate. Sincerely, Grey Hoof, Roneo, Gladstone, Starlet and Three Leaf.” Is this some sort of a trap? “No, it’s not *giggle*” A voice rang inside Bloom’s head. She quickly looked around to see who was playing pranks on her, but nobody was in the room. The voice sounded very much like Ruby though, there was no doubt about that. Gathering her courage, Applebloom decided to pay one more visit to the forest and the town. This time she felt oddly at peace though. The trees didn’t scared her, and she felt natural about the forest. Just like before her first trip to Sunny Town. Following her well remembered path to where the ruins of town should be, she noticed something unusual. The old dirt path that used to be there re-appeared once more. This time it was neatly paved with stones, and right next to the path there was a big sign that said “Welcome to New Sunny Town”. This perked the suspicion of little filly. Sunny Town were “nice” only one day each year, and it was at least five more months till that day. Slowly, she proceeded down the path, until she saw an opening, and right there, in front of her eyes, there was the New Sunny Town. Basked in light, just like in its old times. But this time, she could see a few differences. The houses in the town gave an impression of very old, and restored to accommodate ponies in them. Same with the fences, and even the party decorations seemed as if they were restored from being so old. To the left of the entrance there was a big patch of field that had freshly sown seeds. The party lanterns were swaying in the warm wind, and the tables were full of treats that looked very tasty. She slowly approached one of the tables, and suddenly, she heard trotting behind her. Quickly, she turned around to see none other than Grey Hoof running towards her, with a wide, cheerful smile. He grabbed her, and started to spin around with her in his embrace, making the filly scream, scared.

“Applebloom, kid, it’s so good to see you! You have no idea what happened! Hah! Thank you, thank you!” He laughed cheerfully and happily, and soon put the dizzy filly down on the ground.

“Ugh… Mah head is spinning. W… what just happened?” She leaned against the table, and soon felt how she had a cup with punch stuck right up her lips. She expected an awful taste, like last times, but when the drink touched her tongue, her eyes widened a bit. This was the sweetest and most tasty drink she ever had in her life! Quickly, she downed the whole cup, and looked at Grey Hoof expectantly.

“Remember the last time when you were here? The whole light thing, and how you passed out?” He smiled to the filly, and after she nodded in response, he continued. “You passed out at the most important moment. I have no idea HOW it happened, but we were forgiven! It’s as if… magic itself spoke to us. Ruby forgave us. We found understanding in our hearts, and the very next thing that happened was our bodies slowly growing back to how we used to be when we lived! When you passed out, we carried you out of the town to the hut of your striped friend, and knocked on the door, and then we proceeded with fixing the town. It feels so good to be alive again!” He let out a hearty laugh, feeling delighted from being able to do it again for real.

“So… You mean you’re back to normal? And you can get on with your life?” Applebloom looked surprised at him, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head. In response she got a very happy nodding from Grey Hoof. “Well, Ah am happy for y’all. Can… Can I take a look around?”

“Of course! And feel free to help yourself to the snacks and drinks!” He laughed cheerfully and then took a few steps back, giving the filly some space.

Little Bloom looked around the New Sunny Town, still finding it hard to believe her eyes. If the curse indeed has been lifted, then the forest would be this much less dangerous, and she would possibly gain new friends. Slowly strolling deeper into the town, she noticed Roneo and Starlet, sitting in front of their hut. As they noticed her, both waved to her with wide, cheerful smiles, and shouted their thanks to the filly, before returning to their talk. AB noticed that Starlet had a necklace, with a chipped, old red gem hanging off it. Moving onwards, she passed Gladstone speaking with Mitta and Three Leaf. All three greeted her, and Mitta followed Bloom, wanting to thank her for everything. As they walked, Applebloom directed her steps towards the northern exit out of the town, but much to her surprise, there were none. The spot looked like there never was any exit at all, but the fence that was in that spot looked very new, as if made not long ago, compared to the old planks in the fence just a few yards away.

“W… where is Ruby? Ah wanted to see her” Applebloom looked a bit worried. “Where is she?”

“Calm down. Ruby… lives in a different place now. Come, I’ll show you where she is.” She gave AB a comforting, calming smile and lead her a bit back into the town, and pointed to a small, empty space.

“What is this?” Applebloom moved closer and noticed that there was a small stone structure. When she walked closer, and moved to its front, she noticed it was a tiny altar, looking like a grave. It had flowers growing in front of it, a candle standing nearby, and a painting of Ruby on the front. As she saw this, she felt her eyes tear up. “R… Ruby… No…” She felt shattered from the thought she would never see her friend again.

“Calm down. She is not gone… watch” Mitta sat in front of the tiny altar and lowered her head. “Ruby? You have a friend here.” All of a sudden the picture got brighter, flashed a few times, and right before their eyes Ruby appeared with the most cheerful smile ever. She was a ghost still, but she was there. As soon as Bloom saw this, she tossed herself onto the ghostly pony to hug her… and much to the surprise of little AB, she did manage to hug Ruby.

“Ruby! You’re still here! What…” She wanted to talk, but Ruby put her hoof to AB’s lips, calming her down.

“There, there, friend. No need for tears. I am still here.” She smiled radiantly. “Yes, I am dead. But now, I am closer to my friends. In the middle of the town, where I can spend my time with everybody. And I can watch over them” She giggled quietly “You should have seen your sad face when you saw my new home”

“You find that funny!? Ah thought Ah would never see you again!” Bloom exclaimed, trying to calm down quickly.

“Hush, friend” Ruby smiled “I never left you. I have been with you ever since you got back to your home a few months ago. Your house looks beautiful.”

“T… thanks, Ah guess” AB blushed a bit, with a shy smile, scratching the back of her head. “So… Can I come here sometimes and visit you here?”

“Yes…” Ruby giggled quietly, and closed her eyes while smiling. “You can visit me any time, just by calling my name, and I will come to you. As for the rest of my friends, visit them whenever you want.”

“And we mean it!” A male voice spoke behind Applebloom. It was Grey Hoof, accompanied by Roneo. “The New Sunny Town is always open for you, and you are always welcome here!”

“And I need to ask you for a favor” Ruby smiled, catching Bloom’s attention again. “You gave my friends a new hope. But we were gone for several millennia. We won’t fit in that easily into the new society. Will you… teach them how the world has changed? Will you show them how it is like? Please.” Ruby looked at Applebloom expectantly, almost with a pleading expression.

Suddenly, Applebloom noticed that all ponies in the town gathered around her. They stood around her, some sat… but all gave her the pleading smile, as if they really needed it from her. Closing her eyes, Bloom took a deep breath, and then stood up, nodding. “Ah will… Come, friends! I will tell you about the world!” She slowly trotted towards the other ponies, hearing how they cheered, laughed and thanked her for her decision. Slowly, all group, wandered off into the part of the town where the party was held. All had fun. Every single pony talked to Applebloom, tried to get to know about the new world. Sometimes the things they heard filled them with joy. Some with awe. But all were happy that they could live normally again, and all swore they would never bring harm upon anybody. As for Applebloom… she were happy that she made so many new friends. And she knew, that from this day on, she will be visiting the town more than ever…

Even in the darkest times there is a glimpse of hope for a better tomorrow.

The end.

Author's Note

My first serious story ever, and first MLP fic. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :3