The Pony Dead

“I see,” the voice in Spike’s head replied, “So, after your friend...”

“Applejack.” Spike finished.

“Yes, after Miss Jack found this ‘book’ what happened?”

Spike sighed and closed his eyes, trying to pull the horrid memories out of his head like it was the last cookie at the bottom of a sticky jar. “We found, something else with it... Something strange...”

***

“Hey Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said as she pushed a large grey object onto the table, “what’s this?” The thing that Dash found was the size of a small box, but it looked like it was made of metal. It looked like it had some old tape sticking to the front as well.

“I’m not sure Dash...” Twilight Sparkle leaned in to have a closer look, until Pinkie almost knocked the purple unicorn out with an accidental head bash.

“OH! Oh! I know, I know!” Pinkie Pie raised her front hoof and jumped up and down like a school filly trying to get the teacher’s attention, “It’s a tape recorder! My Granny Pie had one, she used to use it for taping her recipes and thoughts and she even used it for my sisters and my first words, mine was pie, could you believe that? Anyway, it was really really REALLY old when I last saw it, but this one looks like it’s brand new and...”

“Pinkie, darling...” Rarity finally piped up, “could you please try and explain it a little slower? I believe you’ve lost all of us.” The other ponies and Spike nodded in agreement.

“Oh, sorry.” the party pony giggles and started again, “It’s a tape recorder. My Granny Pie used to use one to record sounds, but it looks like this one already has stuff on it.” Pinkie pointed to the protruding tape that perplexed her pals.

“So,” A.J. scratched the back of her head, “Should we play it? I mean, after findin’ that book... I’m not sure if I wana stay here at all. Let alone hear a tape that was made here.”

“Applejack has a point...” Fluttershy whispered, but was ultimately ignored. “I’m sure it’ll be fine girls.” Twilight used her magic to find the switch to begin the recording, “What could go wrong?”

Slowly, the tape began to roll between the two rolls until a voice began to sound from the speakers...

“Hello, my name is Professor Hard Cover of the University of Canterlot,” the shaky, yet booming voice sounded from the device, “I have been tasked by the Dean of the University, Doctor Walk N. Hooves, to studies a strange book that was found in our library a few weeks ago...”

“A book in a library? Dear sweet Celestia, that’s amazing!” Rainbow said sarcastically.

Twilight quickly hushed her friend, “This mite be important Rainbow.”

“Fine fine... Sorry.” the cyan pegasus said just as the tape skipped.

“... The date is July 31, the year is 2000 by the Equestrian calender.” the recording continued, “I have decided to let my wife and two foals accompany me on my investigation. The princess, Celestia herself, has allowed me to use her personal cabin to conduct my research into this mysterious tome. So far, I have finished looking through the first couple of pages of the book, and I have realized it is not written in an ancient pony language, as I first thought.

“It is, however, a form of the language that the fabled race called Sea Ponies may have used.” the professor’s voice drowned on, causing Pinkie Pie to pass out from boredom next to Applejack, “From transcribing the first page, I have learned the title of the book is Ne....”

The tape skipped and stopped for a while, complete silence filling the room as the six ponies and dragon waited. Finally, one of the seven spoke up.

“Hey...um... Twilight...” Fluttershy said quietly, “I’m going to go out for a quick walk, um... if that’s ok...”

“That’s fine Fluttershy.” the purple unicorn said, only half listening as she waited for the tape to begin again. The yellow pegasus began to walk out of the room, stopping only to kiss Pinkie Pie on the forehead and cover the party pony up while she slept. Then, the yellow mare stepped out into the foggy woods, the light of the moon exposing a path through the trees.

Suddenly, the voice of Professor Hard Cover erupted from the tape recorder. “Passage one, paragraph one is very... strange. While most tombs of this type would begin with some form of introduction, this book jumps right into a spell. Unlike most spells, this one is meant to be said out loud... It reads as follows in Equestrian: ‘Upon the fog and darkened skies, there lies a world of which I pine. I call upon you, oh grand Chrysalis, oh Mare in the Moon, and the great Gods of Tartourous below. Unleash the one they call Undeath, and allow them to feast and live within further more.’”

The voice on the recorder paused and all was silent, until the sound of a door slamming could be heard in the background of the tape and the cries of a filly flew from the device. “I’ll continue this on a separate tape.” the professor’s voice called out. Twilight looked at her dragon assistant and frowned, the unicorn had heard Princess Celestia talk about the missing Cover family, but she had never mentioned this.

“Spike,” Twilight said as her eyes looked over at the pony bound book next to the tape recorder, “I think we need to get out of here...”

***

Fluttershy couldn’t believe her luck. The yellow pegasus had found a field full of mushrooms, eatable mushrooms. She was so happy that her animal friends had shown her what the good ones looked like, she’d have to come back with a basket and pick some for dinner tomorrow. The mare leaned down and licked at one of them, nibbling on the bulbous top and swallowing the satisfying vegetable down. If only she could get Pinkie to eat things like this, then maybe the pink pony could loose a little of that baby fat.

“Oh, who am I kidding?” Fluttershy said out loud, “It’s just more of her to love.” Pinkie and Fluttershy had begun a rocky relationship a few weeks after Big Macintosh had broken things off with the yellow pegasus. It started out as a way to get Big Mac jealous, but after a while Fluttershy began to enjoy the... benefits of being with the party pony. She felt that Pinkie Pie brought out the best in her, but sometimes she was a handful. Especially after that last party, the one where AJ had brought over a few barrels of cider, and Fluttershy had caught Pinkie making out with Berry Punch. Needless to say, the pair fought for at least a week after that. Soon, however, they had worked things out and Pinkie apologized so many times that the yellow mare had lost count.

“Still...” Fluttershy said to herself, “I do miss one thing about Big Mac...” The pegasus blushed, then shook her head quickly to erase the thought. She was with Pinkie now, it wasn’t right to fantasize about Big Macintosh... In the fields... with her bent over one of the apple buckets... Fluttershy couldn’t help but lean her back against one of the trees on the edge of the clearing and try and release herself. Just as she came close to her breaking point, Fluttershy heard the sound of something sliding through the brush.

“H...hello?” the shy mare asked the darkness, “Is anypony there?” The slithering noise came closer and closer to her, and Fluttershy began to sweat and her mind started to race with fear. “Pi... Pinkie? If that’s you could you please stop? I... You know how your pranks make me feel...” Slowly thought, Fluttershy began to realize that it wasn’t her beloved pink pony. She screamed as her front hooves became tangled by a pair of tree branches, then a couple of roots laced tight around her back hooves.

“What! WAIT! HELP!!!!” Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, the yellow pegasus could hear soft voices chanting. Slowly, the voices got louder and louder, the noise soon erupting in her ears as she could finally hear what they said.

“Be...A...Tree...” the voices rhythmically chanted, “Be...A...Tree...” It wasn’t long before Fluttershy could feel something thick rubbing on her flank, she turned and saw something that made her jump. It was a large, thick vine that was edging its way to her soft mare-hood.

“No! Oh Luna please no! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” was all that Fluttershy could cry before everything went black.

***

Twilight and Spike finished loading up their bags, just as AJ and Rainbow Dash had successfully woken up Pinkie Pie. The party pony rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her front hooves and yawned, then looked around the room and noticed something important to her was gone.

“Guys... Where’s Flutter?” she asked, and everypony’s eyes went wide.

“Oh no,” Twilight Sparkle said, opening the door in a rush of magic, “she said she was just going for a walk!”

“A walk?” Rainbow Dash asked, “Fluttershy taking a walk alone in the dark? In a spooky forest? Sorry Twi, that just doesn’t sound right.”

“Dash has a point Twilight,” Applejack said, pulling the clip on her saddle bag closed with her teeth, “Fluttershy’s meeker then a yellow bellied chicken trying to fight a lily liveried pole-cat. It wouldn’t be like her too...”

“Ow...” the small cries of Fluttershy interrupted AJ. The yellow pegasus stumbled into the cabin, cuts and bruises covering her coat as she held her stomach with one of her front hooves.

“Flutter!” Pinkie cried and rushed to her marefriend’s side, “What happened? Who did this to you?”

“I... It was... IT WAS THE TREES!” Fluttershy broke down and began to sob, laying her head on Pinkie Pie as she curled up into a ball.

“The trees? Are... Are you sure Fluttershy?” Spike asked, kneeling down by the yellow mare.

“Yes! I’m sure!” The yellow mare sobbed and sobbed, “They held me down with their branches and roots... And then... And then...” But Fluttershy never finished her sentence. Just as the yellow mare looked up, she began to gag and choke. A thick sap filled her mouth and she spat it out, followed by a long line of vomit. It wasn’t long before the sickly mare closed her eyes and nuzzled up to the pink pony she loved, purring. The other five ponies stared at Fluttershy, the purring dying down as the yellow mare stopped breathing.

It was then that Pinkie Pie’s mane flattened out, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. It was then that the sound of wood being chopped filled the air, and Twilight looked outside to see a tree had fallen on their carriage. And it was then that Spike knew the night would be a long one, and one he would wish he could forget for the rest of his life.