Ursula found the house as described: overgrown yard, small. She tried the door and it was locked, so she went around back. Forcing her way through the back door, she was greeted with an overwhelming stench. Her pony body did not enjoy it, but to Ursula it smelled safe, happy, like home.

Following the inviting smell, she quickly discovered the sunken purple corpse of Ursula, teeming with life and civilizations. Or should have been. Peering closely, Ursula thought she recognized where she had grown up, her favorite places, her childhood playground, remnants of what was her palace. But it was just remnants. It must have been months since the old loner pony had died and in that time had never been discovered, and it was many weeks since Ursula had set off from her home. It was not rich with life, but dried and decayed, with bones showing. It was not a place for maggots to live anymore.

What is the fate of a maggot when its earth dries up and dies? Do they die? If so, where did the first maggot come from, whence the heroics of Urlsbook and Mandy, and their heroic descendant Ursula? If she was not old enough to die, then her subjects should still be alive too. Unless she was too late. Ursula called out, her voice gutteral and strange through the pony’s mouth but hopefully understandable. “Anyone home? It is Ursula, I have returned triumphant!”

She strained her ear close to the dried mass on the floor, trying to catch the voices of her family and comrades. She called out louder, “It is I, Ursula, your queen! If any loyal subject remains, come to me now!”

Again no response. She called out with her own voice, from within the head of Orange Blossom. She doubted it would carry outside, but she had to try. The pony ears picked it up and Ursula experienced the strange sensation of hearing herself through two sets of ears at the same time, one with a slight delay.

Where could her subjects have gone? Could they all be dead? Fortunately Ursula had inhabited this body long enough that she knew just where to find answers to questions like this. The library!

***

Ursula found the library easily enough, the tall treehouse sticking out above the tops of nearby buildings. She opened the door and entered, greeted by walls of books. This looked promising! She moved purposefully towards the nearest stack but was impeded by something purple and furry.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” It was the purple pony, Twilight Sparkle.

“Yes, I am looking for books about maggots. I want to know about maggots. Where do they come from? Where do they go? How do they live?”

“Woah, slow down there. Maggots, huh? Well its not my usual course of study but I think I have a few books and I am always happy to help a pony as eager as you to learn!”

“Yes. I want eager. I mean I am eager.”

Twilight chuckled to herself as she and Spike gathered a few books and set them in front of the filly as she struggled to be patient. “I’m sorry I don’t have any books directly about maggots, but each of these books should have some pages.”

Ursula quickly tore into the first of the pile, reading as quickly as she could having just learned to read in the past few weeks. After some minutes, as Twilight was passing by to check on her progress, she called out loud, “its pointed anterior end contains one or a pair of mouth hooks. The blunt posterior end has a pair of posterior spiracles...” Ursula closed her eyes in consternation. “But what does it meean?” she whined.

“It means the head is pointy and has hooks around the mouth, and the butt end has air holes.” Twilight offered. “Here, maybe I have a book with simpler language for you.”

But Ursula interrupted, “no, no, this is all wrong. This isn’t right at all! The shape, the color, the habits, they live much longer than this!”

“...ok.” Twilight was kind of freaked out. But handled it. “Maybe the thing you saw was not a maggot. Here, search through these books and see if you can find it.”

Ursula was frustrated at being stumped so quickly. She had picked up the word maggot from hearing Orange Blossom’s conversations and thought that was what she was. It was only a name, but still strange to find that what you thought you were was a misconception.

Twilight laid a thick taxonomy reference in front of Ursula, and taught her how to use it. Ursula searched for hours. It was time consuming because she couldn’t read well, but she was picking it up quickly. At first she had to ask Twilight, what is this word, that word, but soon she was almost independent - and became independent when a frustrated Twilight handed her a dictionary as well.

Eventually Twilight interrupted, “isn’t your mother worried about you? No? Well, aren’t you hungry?” At Ursula’s response, Twilight supplied her with some dinner, glad to meet another pony as studious as herself. In fact, Ursula had not felt any hunger pains as she was surrounded by food and ate as she needed to, but reflected that her pony body needed its own refreshment and shouldn’t be neglected. Unsure of how much to eat, she carefully ate the same amount as she watched Twilight do. After the short break Twilight left her alone again for hours, but eventually interrupted again.

“What are they like, can I help you?”

Ursula wasn’t sure how much to tell this other pony, how much she should give away, but at her wits end after the day she conceded a simple description. “Pale gray, fleshy, smaller than a maggot, round, with stubby, fleshy antennae and many legs. Shuffles around. Can live for months. There is a queen, but she does not birth all of them, she just rules over them.”

“Wow, you sure know a lot for not knowing what they are called.”

“Yes... I’ve seen them.”

“Well I’ve never seen such an insect. Perhaps it is new!” Twilight looked upward considering the possibilities of discovering a new creature, right here in Ponyville, and what that would entail. Such notoriety. Such noted entomologists who would visit! She noticed the clock. “Wow, it is getting late! I don’t care if you stay, but I will call your parents to make sure they know you are here.”

“No!” Ursula yelled a little too loud, then remembered herself. “I will go home.”

On the way home, Ursula reflected on whether or not it would be worth going back to the library tomorrow, or whether some other tactic would be better - such as running through the streets yelling like she did last time. Somehow, she managed to quickly fend off her parents by merely mentioning that she had spent the day with Twilight, and went to bed, unsatisfied and for the first time truly worried for her subjects, and not just for the fame and adoration she had lost.

***

Orange Blossom had left, but Twilight felt sorry for the persevering little pony who had worked all day with no result. She quickly wrote down the short description Orange Blossom had given her, and did her own quick search through the books. Eventually Twilight had been at her task long enough that Spike had wandered by and taken interest in what she was doing.

“What are you looking for, Twilight?”

“It’s just this strange maggot-y insect that Orange Blossom was here looking for, it really isn’t in any of these books!”
Spike thought for a moment. “Well, if it wasn’t in these books about normal creatures and insects, perhaps it is in another book, a book about rare creatures?” He dashed off to fetch a dusty tome about magical beings. “This is the most comprehensive book you have, but there is no index.”

Twilight used her magic to quickly ruffle through the pages. In less than one minute she flipped the book open to a double page ornate illustration, colored with foil, depicting a horde of fat, gray, maggot-like creatures with stubby fleshy antennae and many legs marching across a landscape with burning buildings in the background.

“Spike! You are truly the world’s best assistant!”

Spike beamed.

“But what are these things anyway?” She turned the page from the illustration to the text. “Let’s see... The Woordenworm: fat, gray, stubby antennae, many legs, well we knew that already... civilization, rudimentary tools, terrible infestation, mind control... MIND CONTROL?”

Twilight thought to herself the implications of this. No more noted entomologists seeking new insects. She needed to ask Orange Blossom where she saw these things, so they could be dealt with. But, it was so late, she shouldn’t bother young, growing ponies, they need their rest. It could probably wait for tomorrow morning, when Orange Blossom would be back. Twilight slept.

Author's Note

Citation: The sentence fragments about maggots were taken from Britannica.