Two weeks had passed since Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had let Ray into the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and life had become almost...normal.

The three friends were sitting on top of the recently completed wall, gazing at the trotters wandering around aimlessly.

"Look at that one, his eyeball fell out of his socket. I'm gonna call him...One Eye Guy. Or Pirate Pete." Ray said, watching the brown haired earth pony rub his yellowed fur on the side of the fence outside of the wall. The amount of precautions Twilight took was almost laughable, but Ray understood where she came from.

"One Eye Guy has a nice ring to it." Sweetie Belle said.

"Ooh, that ones got a missing wing! She's a lively one." The undead mare was trying to fly over the fence uselessly. "I'll call her...Spunky Sally." Applebloom wasn't very good at their game.

Ray laughed at that. "Spunky Sally? Really?" Sweetie Belle started giggling.

"What? Its nice." It matched the red and yellow pegasus in a way.

"Alright, Bloom, I'll let it slide. Who's gonna name the one without any legs?"

A moment of silence, everypony lost in thought.

"I got it! Lucky." Sweetie Belle exclaimed suddenly, making everypony jump.

"Good one!"

"Hi Lucky." Applebloom said. Lucky gurgled in response, dragging his top half to the fence.

"What are you three doing?" A voice asked from behind them. Twilight had been patrolling the walls and could only assume the trio was up to no good.

"Naming trotters. It's fun." Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"Naming them? Am I hearing you right?"

"Yep! We've got Lucky, that's the one who's got no legs, and then there's-" Ray started, only to get interrupted by Twilight.

"You know these aren't...ponies, right?" Twilight frowned.

"Oh, yeah. They're like bugs or, or parasites, and we gotta squash 'em!" Applebloom said with a smile, making Twilight frown even more.

"They used to be ponies, and now they're suffering. We have to put them out of their misery." Sweetie Belle said quietly.

"But they eat other ponies." Ray reminded her.

"I know, but...One Eye Guy was the coffee shop owner, remember? Applebloom is right, we gotta squash them." She sighed.

Twilight looked at the ground, mouth open but no words coming out.

"Sorry, Twilight." Ray said quickly.

"It's fine...I just want to make sure you guys understood..." Twilight's voice trailed off. She flew away, back to the camp. Her head spun with what she just witnessed. Naming...naming trotters...It was sick, but they would stop now, right? Maybe they were just bored?

Twilight changed directions, looking for a certain white coat and purple mane.

"Good morning, Rarity!" Twilight called, landing suddenly a few feet in front of Rarity.

Rarity jumped. "Oh, Twilight! You startled me." The mare rearranged her curls, looking up from her watering can. Rarity had taken it upon herself to add flowers around town and arrange house furniture, insisting just because the world was over didn't mean they had to live in filth. Fluttershy usually helped her with the flowers, but as Ponyville's outlying buildings weren't completely safe, she had a lot of work to do.

"Sorry, I just thought of something. You know how we haven't cleared out the schoolhouse yet?" Rarity nodded, listening with a raised eyebrow. "We should do that today. With the CMC."

"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Ray? Hmph. I'll think about it." She returned to the posies she was watering, frowning slightly.

"They need to get out. See the world as it really is. For Celestia's sake, they're up there on the wall naming trotters!"

She dropped her watering can. "Naming...naming them?" She said, voice barely above a whisper.

Twilight nodded, watching as Rarity composed herself. "I'll...I'll go. Are we going right now?"

"After lunch. I'll tell the others." Twilight started to trot back to her castle, but paused. "Rarity."

"What?"

"You should bring Sweetie Belle a gun. She needs to practice with the real things."

Rarity nodded. "And you should give Ray a knife or something."

"What?"

"I said, you should give Ray a weapon as well. Did I mumble or something?"

"No, I just..." Twilight looked at her, frowning.

"I understand. I do the same thing to Sweetie Belle. But we can't shield them from the evils of this world forever, like you said, they don't understand the situation we're in right now."

"And they won't know until they see for themselves, right. I might have an extra knife. Might as well give Applebloom something, too."

"Besides, I made them all matching saddlebags! With sheaths and holsters on one side. I put the Cutie Mark Crusaders patch on the sides instead of cutie marks." Rarity said excitedly.

Twilight started laughing. Rarity pouted. "What? Its a solid idea!"

"You really made them all saddlebags?" She giggled.

"Of course! I was thinking about how we need more hooves for runs, and then I thought of the fillies, and of course they need bags to carry stuff! And they need places to hold weapons, too, so-"

"Where did you get the time for that?"

"I haven't slept properly for a week. Well, nopony has slept properly for a while. Thought I should be productive instead." Rarity frowned. "Do you not like them?"

"No, I do. Really, I do. I think its a wonderful and generous thing you did, making those kids saddlebags. They'll go nuts for them. Thank you."

She smiled, putting a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. Rarity smiled back.

"I gotta go help with lunch, I'll see you after. Tell the CMC, will you?" Twilight said, opening her wings.

"Alright. Bye, Twilight!" Rarity waved as Twilight flew up.

"Wait, Rarity."

Rarity huffed and looked up from her watering can. "What?"

Twilight blew a raspberry and flew off, laughing. Rarity smiled to herself.

"89 buckets of oats on the wall, 89 buckets of oats!" Sweetie Belle practically screamed, voice carrying throughout the empty town.

You know, maybe naming trotters isn't that bad after all, Twilight thought. She was walking in the middle of the group. Applebloom, Ray, and Sweetie Belle were leading, Rarity bringing up the rear.

"Take one down, pass it down," Applebloom sang out, smiling and trying not to laugh.

"88 buckets of oats on the wall!" Ray yelled with equal enthusiasm.

"Sweetie Belle, I think that's enough singing." Rarity snapped.

"But...okay." Sweetie Belle hummed the song instead, earning a fit of giggling from the other two.

20 buckets later, the group had arrived at the schoolhouse. "Oh thank god." Twilight mumbled quietly.

There were no visible trotters on the outside. The windows were boarded up, door blocked with a school chair. The remains of a filly corpse laid under the sign. Applebloom gulped and kept walking with the group.

"Rarity and I are going to check the building. You guys stay close. We'll be out soon." Twilight said. The three nodded and went towards the playground.

"No way, the seesaws intact. Dibs!" Ray called, running to the seat without blood all over it.

"Dibs!" Applebloom yelled before Sweetie Belle could react.

"I call the swings, then." Sweetie Belle said, trotting away with her nose in the air. She passed an upturned park bench and another corpse as she rounded the corner. The wind and the creaking seesaw and hushed voices were the only thing Sweetie could hear. "I'm not afraid of anything." She whispered to nopony in particular. The sound of gunshots and trotters came from the school building. Sweetie Belle stopped, looking at the building. She frowned. What if Ms. Cheerilie was in there? Or Twist? Or Pipsqueak? Or...or...

A trotter groaned in the distance, and Sweetie Belle swung around, levitating her gun.

One of the swings was broken, and the remaining one was occupied by a very familiar pink filly. She was stuck in the swing, chains rattling uselessly as she tried to get Sweetie. The one thing keeping her stuck on the swing was gravity. She swung back and forth, growling, hooves unable to touch the ground. It would of been kind of funny if it wasn't an undead Diamond Tiara.

Sweetie Belle's legs gave out and she sat down on the grass, mouth open. The gun fell to the ground as well. "No..." She whimpered. She hated--no, used to hate Diamond Tiara for what she did to her and her friends, but this fate was too cruel. There was some good in Diamond Tiara, of course. Good ponies do bad things, right?

Diamond Tiara snarled, leaning forward, her front hooves finally hitting the ground. Sweetie Belle shakily levitated the gun. Appleblooms words rang out in her ears. They're like parasites, and we have to squash them. No more suffering.

"I'm sorry, Diamond Tiara." Sweetie Belle whispered. Diamond Tiara slowly advanced forward, legs sliding out of the swing. There was a bite on her shoulder, just like Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle sniffled. "I'm sorry! Okay?" Diamond Tiara's cutie mark and tiara were both gone.

"Look, you're a blank flank forever now. Just like me." She attempted a smile, tears running down her cheeks as Diamond Tiara freed herself from the swing and stumbled towards Sweetie, growling again.

Sweetie Belle raised the gun. "I forgive you." She closed her eyes, pulling the trigger. Diamond Tiara's now lifeless body fell to ground, blood splattering Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle started sobbing as Ray and Applebloom sprinted into view, weapons out.

"Sweetie Belle, you alright?" Ray asked. Sweetie Belle nodded, looking at her hooves. Applebloom ran to her side.

"I can't believe it...Did she bite you?" Applebloom asked, staring at Diamond Tiara's body in disbelief. Sweetie Belle shook her head, tears flying off her face. Applebloom hugged Sweetie Belle, starting to tear up. Sweetie Belle sobbed into her best friend's shoulder.

"So...uh...what happened?" Ray asked, awkwardly sitting down next to them.

"She was stuck in the swings. I got her, though. I squashed her." Sweetie Belle explained. Rarity and Twilight ran out of the building towards the kids.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried at the sight of her sister and Diamond Tiara's body. "Did you...shoot her?" She asked in disbelief.

"Its okay Rarity, she was a trotter." Sweetie Belle said softly. Twilight sat down.

"That explains why Filthy Rich hung himself in the schoolhouse." Twilight said quietly. "The note he left was too bloody to read."

Rarity sat down as well, levitating a first aid kit and cleaning Sweetie Belle up. The group was silent.

Ray cleared his throat. "While I was on the seesaw with Applebloom, I found this." He opened his bag and took out a bloody tiara. "I'm...guessing its hers."

Twilight nodded, levitating it back on Diamond Tiara's mane. Applebloom closed her eyes.

"You think the blood on the seesaw was hers?" Applebloom asked.

"Maybe."

"I think we should bury them here." Sweetie Belle said suddenly. "Diamond Tiara and her dad."

The ponies had a quick lunch and started digging the graves. They buried the two filly corpses in the yard as well, plus the trotters in the schoolhouse. None of them were students or teachers, but Twilight recognized one of them as the Quills and Sofas owner.

As the group made their way home, Sweetie Belle looked back at the graves. Diamond Tiara's tiara, perched on her makeshift gravestone, glinted in the fading sunlight. Filthy Riches tie flapped in the breeze, as if it were waving goodbye.

"You're welcome." Sweetie Belle said quietly, imagining Diamond Tiara and her father standing there, smiling and waving goodbye. It made her feel better.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity called, breaking her from her thoughts.

"I'm coming!" Sweetie Belle said, galloping towards their group. She took one final look over her shoulder and watched Diamond Tiara hug her father before they faded away.