Carrot Top packed only the bare essentials; pepper spray and a flashlight. As she once told her mother, pepper spray is the one thing you cannot do without. Random criminal trying to mug you? Pepper spray. Hungry bear running your way? Pepper spray. Carnivorous witch with a thirst for killing and no value for life? Pepper spray. It was lightweight, portable, and extremely painful. The perfect combination. Carrot Top grabbed a flashlight because the Everfree Forest was probably dark 90% of the time. After she ensured that the two tools were secure around her waist, she set off for the Everfree Forest.

"Twilight... here, girl..." Carrot Top clicked her tongue a few times, as if she was calling for a cat. The wind in the willow trees would have freaked her out a few days ago, but she was starting to get desensitized to the whole thing. "Why can't you just be a good witch and come out from your bushes..."

"I truly would prefer 'Doctor'." Zecora stepped out of the bushes to greet Carrot Top.

"Zecora! I didn't see you there... if it's any help, I was looking for Twilight Sparkle. I didn't mean to offend you."

"Sparkle? I know the monster." Zecora was a bit off today. The demons in the forest must really be sapping her energy.

"Could you guide me there? I'm in a small rush. Ponies have been disappearing left and right." Carrot Top moved closer to Zecora.

"You are only now aware of the blight? Follow, and tell me your plight." Definitely trying too hard. Carrot Top followed Zecora and recounted everything in a brief manner. She started to break up when she got to Berry Punch, and she stopped where she was to cry for a little. Zecora gave her a hug and stayed by her side for what seemed like an eternity.

"How you feel I too have known, but we must hurry to my home." Zecora's face was extremely worried.

"What's wrong, Zecora?"

"No time for rhyme." Zecora slung Carrot Top over her mane and galloped off with amazing speed.

"Wh-what's going on, Zecora? Why are you going so fast?" Carrot Top takes back the thought about being desensitized.

"The Mist is arriving, the clues I have seen. To stay within my shelter is keen." Carrot Top tried to see the mist, but could not.

"What mist?" Zecora's hut was in sight now. A minute layer of fog could be seen in the distance, but it was getting bigger by the moment.

"Not just any mist... The Mist. We will be missed if we are caught in The Mist." Zecora put Carrot Top down and began sealing the windows with large lids. She turned and jumped when she saw Carrot Top was still outside

"I- I don't understand..."

"Get inside, I do not kid! Don't take your chances, Gods forbid!" The pair of them rushed inside as Zecora sealed the door. a small puff made it in, but evaporated.

"What's going on, Zecora?"

"I'm afraid that in my haste, I forgot about the haze." Barely a rhyme, but Zecora didn't care at this point.

"What I'm to recall is from when I was small. There once was Trees and once there was Breeze. They did not get along, so tells the old song. One day a Book tainted the Breeze, and The Mist did contract an evil disease."

"Did you just say... a book?" Carrot Top was wary of her volumes these days.

"You know yet of the beast I speak? I thought few knew of this ancient antique."

"When Twilight found The Book and tortured a few of us, I was on the guest list. When I close my eyes, I can still feel the cold of the metal table resting under my organs." Carrot Top gave a shiver.

Zecora sniffed in the air. "I thought I smelled a memory. Thought perhaps the smell was me. I can smell the death on you. What exactly did she do?"

Carrot Top was thrown off by this comment. Did Zecora say the smell of... death was on her? "She..." Carrot Top paused, carefully picking her choice of words. "She freed me from death."

"As I hoped, you are as they say. The one for who Death does not neigh. Some folk said this day would not come. Who knew that you would be the one?"

"I'm afraid I- I don't understand."

"You can try to hide behind a lie, but your face shows no such guise." It was true; Carrot Top understood every word. It was her job all along, wasn't it?

"I'm just not sure- not sure how to kill it, I mean."

"Did Zecora ever say you were alone? I have another visitor in my home." Zecora pushed a large cauldron from the center of the room. Carrot Top saw that there was a large, round trapdoor with an iron knocker. Zecora pulled it open, revealing a long spiral staircase.

"Do not think, for one hard minute, that Spike is also not on in it." Zecora led Carrot Top down the stone steps and into an underground clearing. There were various test dummies scattered about the room, most of them singed. A medium-sized bench press lay nearby. In the middle of the clearing, Spike was meditating on a tall bamboo pole.

"You have an important visitor, Spike."

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time..."