Many things happened after that moment. Right afterwards there was pandemonium, ponies screaming, all the good stuff that happens after what Rarity would call ‘drama’. But I think we’ve all seen what happens when I come back so I’ll skip that.

I didn’t stick around too much longer after the Sonic Deathboom. Yeah, that’s what I’m calling it. A Sonic Deathboom, so named because the black and white light instead of rainbow colors, the way the world seemed to break around me – and the fact that it sounds really cool. But I couldn’t explain it either, and so I left rather than stay.

I’m sure everypony wanted me to; Twilight was alternating between studying the resurrected mouse and asking me questions, and the rest of my friends were going nuts as well. I might have stayed, but Spitfire flew at me and tried to get me to speak to her.

Yeah. I didn’t have any time for ponies who weren’t my friends. I know that in life I worshiped Spitfire and all the Wonderbolts, but for some reason I just got annoyed when she kept blocking my way and trying to get my attention.

So I let my form fall to dust and watched what happened next. Like I said, a lot of chaos, a lot of shouting. But even if the others didn’t realize it at the time, even if I thought that I’d just learned a new trick, the world had changed in that moment.

And perhaps, not for the better.

----

One month later.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Pinkie Pie skidded into the room. “Am I late? Please let me not be late! I came as soon as I heard!”

“You’re not late,” Fluttershy said, rising from her seat. “Hello Pink—”

“Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie threw herself across the room and swung Fluttershy around, hugging her fiercely. “It’s been forever! All the years we’ve been apart! I don’t know you anymore! Or do I? Have you forgotten all about me? Hey, you’ve got muscles now! How weird is that?”

“Easy, Pinkie,” Fluttershy gasped as Pinkie Pie tried to squeeze the air out of her. “And it’s only been a week since we last saw each other.”

“But it feels like a decade!” Pinkie Pie said. “I’m just super-glad you’re back in Ponyville! What’s the occasion? Are the Wonderbolts stopping by, or is it just you?”

“Just me. Spitfire was too busy to come, so I’m here to talk policy with Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “I asked her to call you all here. I hope I’m not imposing.”

“Nonsense darling, impose all you want!” Rarity waved a hoof from her chair. “Goodness knows we could use a distraction. Things are rather hectic around here, as I’m sure you noticed.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I saw the barricades as I was flying in. Nice work. Is everypony evacuated from the countryside?”

“Almost.” Twilight put down the sheaf of paper she’d been going over and sighed. “There are a few holdouts who refuse to enter Ponyville, but we’ve begun fortifying the wall and building a moat. We probably won’t fill it with water, so it’s a ditch, but…” she shrugged helplessly. “There’s just so much to do. Ponies need new housing, we have to organize patrols, gather food for the winter, make sure everypony’s healthy…”

“You’re doing well, far better than some other towns,” Fluttershy assured Twilight. “It’s like this all over Equestria. There have been problems too, but I’d rather talk about that when everypony’s here.”

“Well, everypony is here except for Applejack,” Rarity said. “Anyone seen her?”

“Ah’m here.” The door swung open and a familiar pony walked into the room. Pinkie Pie leapt up from her seat with a huge smile in her face, but it faltered and disappeared when she saw Applejack.

The orange Earth Pony wasn’t smiling. In fact, her expression was as dark as any of her friends had ever seen it, which was her new default look. Her face was smudged with dirt and grime, but most noticeable was the blood and bits of congealed…flesh on her hooves. She walked into the room, letting the door slam behind her.

“Applejack!” Twilight was on her hooves. “What happened? Was it another attack? Are you hurt?”

“No,” Applejack said shortly. She clomped over to her seat, trailing bits of gray matter on the floor.

“Then what’s with all the ick?” Pinkie Pie asked. “It was another zombie, right?”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said exasperatedly, “I told you not to call them that.”

“Well, what am I supposed to call them?”

“You fought another one of them?” Fluttershy asked Applejack quietly.

The farm pony nodded.

“Another one came back.” Applejack sat in her chair and let out a long sigh. The grey matter on her hooves dripped slowly to the ground. “This time it was at Junebug’s place. She called me over and ah took care of it.”

Twilight hesitated. “I…see. What did you do, with the, uh, remains…?”

“Buried them again. Wasn’t much left.” Applejack shrugged. “It was pretty tough dealing with this one.”

“So we see.” Rarity exchanged a glance with Fluttershy. With her magic she carefully levitated a handkerchief over to Applejack. “That’s the fifth one this week, isn’t it?”

“Sixth,” Twilight corrected. “And I think it’s unwise to go around on our own trying to…to destroy these things.” She pointedly did not look at Applejack. “The Wonderbolts and the Canterlot Royal Guard can handle them.”

Fluttershy coughed into one hoof. “Um. Not exactly, Twilight. That’s why I called this meeting. The Wonderbolts are stretched thin right now, dealing with all the calls for assistance. I can’t speak for the Royal Guard, but I hear they can barely contain the attacks around Canterlot, much less Equestria.”

“Yeah, everypony is super bummed-out,” Pinkie said, “no one comes to any of my parties! But at least Applejack is helping, right? I just don’t get why they all ask you for help, Applejack!”

Applejack shrugged and began cleaning her hooves with the handkerchief. “Reckon it’s because ah’m the only pony who’ll do what’s necessary.”

“As I said, we have organizations dedicated to safeguarding the public,” Twilight said, glaring at Applejack. “Look, I know you’re trying to help Applejack, but we can’t have civilians going out and trying to take matters into their own hooves! Somepony is going to get hurt!”

Applejack stopped wiping and glared at Twilight. “Ponies are already getting hurt. If y’all had more folks fighting in the guard, ah wouldn’t be needed. As it stands, ah reckon there’s less than a hundred guards tryin’ to take down a thousand of them dead ponies walking around Equestria. And there’s more of ‘em rising each day.”

“I know, and Celestia and Luna both know,” Twilight said. “We’ve expanding the royal guard as fast as we can, but there aren’t a lot of recruits. Most ponies don’t like fighting, and we can’t expect them to take up arms at the drop of a hat!”

Applejack adjusted her Stetson. “Ah reckon they’re gonna have to learn quick,” she said grimly. “Or else we’re going to be buried in corpses soon.”

“I’m working on countermeasures,” Twilight said. “There has to be some explanation for this. If you could get me one of them intact without killing them I could experiment—”

“There ain’t any spell that’s going to fix this Twilight!” One of Applejack’s hooves smacked the table. “We need to pull together and start fightin’ back!”

“Like you are, you mean?” Fluttershy asked. “You and the others?”

Every pony was silent, looking at Applejack.

“You and your…group have been making a lot of headlines,” Rarity said carefully. “And I know you all mean well. It’s just…dangerous.”

“It’s necessary,” Applejack muttered. She dropped the filthy handkerchief on the table. “’Least the folks ah’m training can handle the dead. And if they start gatherin’, we’ll put them all down.”

“Your group is an illegal organization,” Twilight said angrily. “Equestrian law forbids ponies to carry weapons! And while I understand the circumstances, couldn’t you have checked with me before doing all this?”

“Ah did.” Applejack met Twilight’s gaze. “Y’all were too busy talkin’ and being scared to listen to my advice.”

Twilight colored. “Our plan is to build walls to defend settlements. There’s no need for violence—”

“The only thing that’ll stop them is violence.” Applejack talked right over Twilight. “And you’d realize that if you weren’t too afraid to fight back!”

A hushed silence descended over the room. Pinkie Pie shrank back in her chair as Twilight stood up, face beet-red. “You can’t take the law into your own hoofs!” Twilight shouted. “And for all you know, these ponies might be thinking – feeling! What if they can still understand us? You could be hurting them!”

“Thinking? Feeling? These dead things are monsters!” Applejack shouted back. “Ah’ll do anything it takes to get rid of them! If ah see a dead pony, ah’ll crush it with my hooves without a second thought!”

“And if you meet Rainbow Dash?” Rarity’s quiet voice stopped both Twilight and Applejack. The unicorn met Applejack’s eyes across the table. “What will you do then?”

Applejack pulled her hat down lower until it covered her eyes. She was silent for a minute, and then stood up. “Reckon ah’ll leave that to her.”

Without another word Applejack began walking towards the door. The others let her go, although Pinkie Pie’s normally cheerful face was downcast and Twilight was still red with anger.

“Applejack.”

The Earth Pony stops at Fluttershy’s voice. “Yeah?”

“Stay safe.”

Applejack doesn’t turn around, but her shoulders tense. “Ah’ll…try. See you around, Fluttershy.”

The door shuts. It’s not quite a slam.

----

Yeah. Zombie ponies. Dun dun dun. Turns out Spike was right to be scared all this time.

I make light of the situation mainly because it sounds sort of stupid even when I say it. I mean, undead ponies? Come on. Who’d believe that?

Anyone having their face gnawed off by a zombie, that’s who. Look, the thing is that dead ponies coming back to life is pretty scary…if you’re alive and don’t want to die. But for me, the only difference between live ponies and dead ones is that the latter screamed a lot less. But you don’t want to hear my stunning insights. Yeah, zombies. Who’da guessed?

The first pony rose a week after my Sonic Deathboom. It dug its way out of the Ponyville graveyard and tried to eat the nearest pony in sight. Nearly succeeded, too.

The pony in question was a visiting Unicorn from Canterlot, which sort of explains how he nearly died. Unlike Ponyville residents who at least know how to run away when monsters attack, this guy just froze up in panic, letting the slow zombie walk over to him and bite him. I mean…seriously? Who does that?

Apparently, most Canterlot ponies. Anyways, he nearly died. Ponies only ran over when they heard him screaming, and even then, it took three stallions to pry the undead pony off of its victim. Only when my friends came running did they manage to get ahold of the situation.

I was there, of course. I’d watched everything from the beginning, including the pony returning to life. Something had called me to that spot, and so I got to see firsthand the first attack of the undead. And while it’s true that I could have saved that guy from being nearly eaten, I didn’t. He wasn’t one of my friends. I didn’t know him. Why should I lift a hoof for someone like that?

I had to return several times to rescue my friends from the undead later, but that was different. They were my friends. What wouldn’t I do for them?

Putting that aside, Twilight and the others figured out what was going on pretty quickly. There were all sorts of clues, like the pony’s rotting corpse, and the fact that it was trying to eat other ponies, and also the fact that the pony didn’t stop trying to kill everything in sight until they chopped off its head and burned the body. Little clues like that give stuff away.

Plus, they’d seen me come back to life. And fair’s fair, they did think it was the same thing happening. It’s both hilarious and sad to see Twilight trying to communicate with a dead pony trying to bite her head off while Pinkie Pie offers it a cake. But they quickly established that these ponies were like me and way unlike me at the same time.

To clarify, they’re like me in that these ponies that began rising from their graves were dead. But they were unlike me in that they didn’t seem to have any brains whatsoever (aside from the ones hanging out of their skulls), and only seemed to want to kill and eat as many living creatures as possible. That was the nature of the dead, or should I say, undead. Pony zombies.

Not other animals, and not even other races besides ponies, mark you. The mouse was different. It came back because of the Deathboom, and returned to death nearly a week later. It acted just like it had when it was alive, yet with the knowledge that was dead, if that makes sense. It wasn’t malevolent, which is the point I’m getting at. And, my friends would find, this only extended to those brought back by my Sonic Deathbooms. They gave all dead false life for a short time.

This rising of dead ponies was a different matter. They were decidedly hostile, and aggressively violent to all things living.

And they were a mystery to my friends as well as to me. And I know what you’re thinking, but I had no idea what was happening either. I didn’t care much as long as the dead didn’t attack my friends, but I wasn’t sure what it was I had done.

And you may think it was the Sonic Deathboom that caused all this. You’d be wrong, at least in part. The first dead pony to come back to life actually came back a few days before I performed the Deathboom. But since it was in a remote part of Equestria it didn’t attack anypony and no one knew about it. No, they assumed it was because of me, and they were partially right. But that’s spoilers and we’ll get to that later.

The dead. The living unloving. The creepy flesh-eaters who desire life. Or something. They were a huge mystery for Twilight and the others, and their origins remained a mystery pretty much the entire time. A whole lot of questions surrounded them that Twilight couldn’t answer. For instance: how were they coming back? Why were they coming back? What did they want? And why were there so many of them?

That last question might sound odd, but it’s not. I mean, just think about it. We had dead ponies bursting out of the soil, or appearing in forests, graveyards, mostly at night. But what we didn’t have were enough bodies for this to be happening.

I’m going to get a bit disgusting here, so stop listening if you don’t like hearing about icky stuff. But just imagine dead bodies. Like mine.

When you bury a pony, or one dies, it rots. If you put it in a coffin, it takes longer to decompose, but even stone coffins can’t stop time. Most ponies decompose into bones within twelve years without a coffin, or longer with one. Now, that may seem long to you, but it means that only ponies within the last twelve years would realistically be expected to rise from their graves if this was some magic spell affecting Equestria.

But the dead didn’t come back in those kind of numbers. Rather, they appeared in masses, and curiously, all whole. At least at the start. Like me, their bodies came back as they had lived, not as they had died, and only when rot and injury tore open their flesh did they start looking deader.

That’s weird, and illogical, as Twilight pointed out about a thousand times when she was trying to figure everything out. She couldn’t explain anything, but in the end the facts were clear. Dead ponies were coming back, and they were dangerous.

Well…sorta dangerous.

Now, I know a lot of ponies panicked and screamed that it was the end of the world when the dead started rising. But in truth, the threat they posed wasn’t nearly as great as it could have been.

I think Applejack summed it up best in her speech to new recruits to her organization. I’m not gonna copy her accent, but she essentially tells ponies this:

-Zombie ponies are undead monsters. Nice. Always feels good to be called a monster.

-They’re not alive, which means killing them is harder than it seems. You pretty much have to destroy their spine or brain to return them to death. You could burn them, but that takes longer and it smells really bad.

-Really bad. The Wardens are banned from using that tactic because ponies kept complaining about the smell.

-These undead aren’t zombies. If you get bit, you’re not turning into one unless you die. You might get an infection, though.

-The dead are strong, tough, and relentless. They’re also stupid, slow, and easy to kill if a pony is equipped with the right weapons. If you’ve got enough ponies, you can take care of any number of the dead.

-Lastly, don’t mess with the rainbow pony. She’s bad news.

I added that last bit, but its common knowledge among even the newest recruits. But that’s a pretty good description of the dangers of the dead. In that I mean they’re not that dangerous.

Oh sure, it meant that Equestria got a lot more dangerous at night, and that ponies started building walls and patrolling the streets, but that was it. No cities fell beneath the hordes of the dead, and there weren’t massive outbreaks of plagued victims corrupting and killing anything they touched.

For some reason, that upset a few ponies. Lyra especially. I think she told Twilight that if the undead weren’t able to run around and infect every pony they bit, what was the point?

But the dead are dangerous in large numbers, and unfortunately for Equestria, there are a lot of dead ponies buried everywhere. And even if they couldn’t catch many ponies, they could certainly batter down any number of barricades given enough time. They might have overwhelmed the standing forces of the Wonderbolts and Canterlot Royal Guards if it weren’t for Applejack and her group of undead hunting warriors.

Yes, you heard me. And it’s not a joke. I don’t tell many of those anymore. Really, the only humor I’ve got left is gallows humor. The humor of the dead. And Applejack? No, I wouldn’t joke about her. Rather, I admire what she did.

How did it start? Out of necessity. Probably because ponies were sick of running and hiding from the dead. After a few months of fear, folks just wanted to start fighting back. Also, there was a certain stubborn Earth Pony that gave them a cause to rally around.

If you hadn’t guessed from that encounter, Applejack had been putting dead ponies down pretty much the day they started popping up. At first it was just her wandering around, kicking things. Literally, that’s how she did it. I mean, it makes sense but it’s weird to say it. Maybe it’s better to say she bucked the hell out of the dead ponies…?

No. No, that sounds really wrong. But she did kick them, just like she kicks apple trees.

Fun fact, Applejack can kick harder than you think. When she hits the trees at her orchard, she’s not using her full strength. One reason for that is because Applejack can seriously hurt both herself and the tree if she strikes full force. She only hits the tree hard enough to knock apples down, not hard enough to break the bark.

And believe me; Applejack could probably kick a tree down if she felt like it. Her hooves are dangerous weapons, and she used them to keep her farm clear of the dead. And from there she just…roamed.

I truly don’t think she had a plan at first. She just reacted to all the dead who were popping up. I think it’s pretty clear she didn’t like the thought of anypony coming back from the dead, even me. So she put them down. Hard.

Your average undead pony isn’t too dangerous if you’re running away, but it’s still deadly enough to kill most warriors in an unarmed fight. Just think about it. The dead don’t really get slowed down by injuries, they’re hard to kill, and they’re freakishly strong.

Applejack’s stronger. The instant she met a dead pony wandering around she’d just turn around and kick them with her back hooves. Boom. Dead pony’s head explodes, or their bones break, and dead pony gets deader.

I don’t know if she was looking for her folks. I can only guess, but maybe she wanted to be the one to kill them again if they came back. Or maybe…she just wanted to see them again. Maybe she was afraid of what she might see. I don’t know.

But where she went, other ponies watched. And followed. It’s a herd thing. Or maybe it’s a leadership thing. All I know is that first it was just Applejack patrolling the area around Ponyville. She’d do it every night, or when she didn’t have work on the farm.

She found a crossbow, somewhere. I think she got it from Pinkie Pie, but why would Pinkie Pie…?

You know what? I just answered my own question. Never mind. Crossbow. It’s a dangerous weapon, although you only get one shot. Takes time to reload, too. Not a good weapon against pegasi or Diamond Dogs, or anything that can dodge or has half a brain, really. Good thing the dead are slow and stupid. It’s almost like crossbows were made to kill them.

In the days just after the dead started rising everyone stayed in their homes or in Twilight’s castle. It was the same all over Equestria – folks were afraid to go out and for good reason. Still, you were pretty safe inside your homes. Even if you were attacked, you could just hop out a window and run for it. Unless there was a horde coming your way you could get away every time.

Sometimes there were hordes. Sometimes ponies died. I noticed of course, but—not my friends, so I didn’t intervene. And aside from Applejack, my friends stayed within Ponyville mainly, trying to help refugees get settled or manage the town. Fluttershy was off with the Wonderbolts of course; we’ll get back to her in a bit. But Applejack?

Applejack fought.

Not with me, mind. I wasn’t welcome by her side. I tried appearing when she caught the attention of a horde of the undead, but she just shot me in the head along with the others. On purpose, I think. I took the hint and didn’t interfere in her business. Not that I wasn’t around when she hunted, though. I was always by her side just in case she needed me.

She never did.

First she hunted stragglers with her hooves. Then she got the crossbow and hunted packs. Farm ponies have a lot of lumber, so she had an endless supply of crossbow bolts. And then she fought hordes.

Carefully. Applejack used her head, which I know, is very surprising. But she dug pitfalls, made traps, and even came up with flasks of burning oil she could toss on clusters of the dead. And she wiped out a horde that was travellign towards Ponyville, and people saw.

And they began joining her cause.

First it was a mare who’d lost her family in the first few attacks. Then, it was another mare that had lost a filly. Then another mare. Five more mares later, a stallion joined. There’s a serious gender imbalance in Equestria, alright? But this was no ragtag band of fighters, no. Unlike the desperate militias that appeared to defend towns when the undead came knocking at their doors, Applejack turned her pones into warriors.

They called themselves the Grave Wardens. Yeah, I think it’s a pretty stupid name too, but Applejack was never great at naming things. Still, they emerged as the first and last line of defense against the undead in no time flat.

And no, they don’t eat the flesh of the undead to give themselves the powers of the undead. That would be unhygienic. And stupid. I don’t know how the rumors got started, but I can personally tell you they’re not true.

Yet at the same time, I can see how ponies might believe the Grave Wardens had supernatural strength and stamina. They were stronger, quicker, tougher than your average ponies, and were able to take on multiple dead enemies at once and come away without a scratch. Magic, right?

Wrong. It’s actually just training. Applejack made her ponies do pushups, situps, run for miles with weights on their backs, and she gave them proper weapons and armor, and training for that.

On that topic: armor. I’ve seen the Royal Canterlot Guard using metal armor and it’s good, but impractical. It might stop a sword, but the dead will just pile on you while you’re panting and trying to run around with so much weight on your back. Plus, it’s not full plate which is what you really need for full protection.

Ditto for Crystal Empire guards. Why would anypony use crystal? I guess it’s cheap and easy to manufacture, but seriously. That’s gotta be even heavier than metal.

Applejack’s Grave Wardens needed to move fast to respond to attacks. They weren’t stand-and-fight soldiers so much as hunters, mobile attacking units that worked alone in groups. They needed decent protection from being bitten or struck, but nothing heavy.

Some ponies suggested leather. That’s…no. Do you even know how leather is made? What kind of sick freak would…never mind.

They used wood. Now, that sounds stupid, but it actually works. Only against the dead, though.

The key is wooden slats layered on top of cloth padding. Think plate armor, but with less plate and made out of wood. It’s not meant to turn away blades or arrows, but it will stop a zombie from biting flesh, and it can handle a few light blows. Plus, you can paint the wood and it looks really cool.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: wood is heavy. Stuff made out of wood is heavy. Therefore, wooden armor is heavy. That’s the kind of thinking that makes you an egghead.

No, Applejack designed the armor well. She used very light, thin slats of wood that would break away when struck, meant as a kind of disposable shield rather than permanent armor. And it worked. Ponies could fight hordes and walk out with bruises and cuts rather than lose a limb when one of the dead ponies latched on and threatened to drag them down.

Her Grave Wardens wore their armor and won battles. They won a lot of battles. And I know, it’s not really a battle when you have a thousand dead ponies walking into a row of traps, exploding oil bombs, and crossbow bolts until only a few break through and get smushed in hoof-to-hoof combat, but it was impressive nonetheless. The Grave Wardens led by Applejack were heroes.

To some ponies.

I know Twilight disapproved of them, but Celestia was in no position to disavow any group fighting back against the undead threat. As for Luna, she didn’t do politics that well, but I hear she supported and even funded the group on the quiet. What am I saying? I didn’t ‘hear’ anything. I know she did that because I witnessed her in spirit form giving Applejack bits and support from her Lunar Guard. I just like to pretend I gossip.

Still, Equestria as a population was split half and half on the issue of the Grave Wardens. Half of Equestria, mainly the rich, well-defended half who didn’t have to deal with the dead threat disliked and feared the Grave Wardens and their militant attitude. The other half that actually had to watch out for death by dead pony thought the Grave Wardens were the best thing since Hayburgers. In fact, in terms of popularity the Grave Wardens easily overtook the struggling Royal Guard, and were only surpassed by the Wonderbolts in terms of popularity.

Yes, the Wonderbolts. They, like the Royal Guard had a lot of trouble with manpower when the undead threat emerged. But unlike the Royal Guard, they were actually useful.

To her credit, Spitfire took the first reports of the dead seriously, and her Wonderbolts would be at every scene, evacuating ponies and fighting the dead. Trouble is, Wonderbolt tactics aren’t designed for killing, much less frequent combat. They’re support fliers, the folks who are first into fires to rescue civilians, or scouts who track down missing ponies. Not warriors. None of the Wonderbolts had ever killed a pony before, and some just didn’t have the same mindset as Applejack and her group.

Still, even if they weren’t good at fighting, they were good at being fast. That’s sort of their thing. Fluttershy had the idea first. Using a system of fliers, they could send messages across Equestria to Cloudsdale and create a network. Then, once any area called for help the Wonderbolts would fly in and either distract the dead long enough for folks to organize and fight them off, or evacuate everypony.

It worked. Wonderbolts might not be the greatest fighters, but they’re good at dodging, and since they could fly, the dead couldn’t really catch them in the sky. They’d fly into an hotspot, attack the dead and lure them away, and help the ponies launch counterattacks. Then they’d rebuild barricades, transport supplies and medicine if needed, and head back to Cloudsdale. Without rest, the Wonderbolts kept at it, saving countless lives by putting themselves in harm’s way.

They make me proud, just a bit. But it was really Fluttershy who helped shape them into that new function. She established herself as Spitfire’s second-in-command and quickly became known as the face of these new Wonderbolts, constantly diving into the fray to keep ponies safe. Compare that to the dour Grave Wardens who just killed dead ponies, sometimes burning down homes to do it, and you can see why the Wonderbolts were a lot more popular.

But regardless of their regard among Equestria’s general populace, Applejack’s Grave Wardens and Fluttershy’s Wonderbolts quickly became Equestria’s shield and spear. Wherever trouble cropped up, the Wonderbolts would be there within minutes to save lives. And when the undead rose as they so frequently did, the Wardens would root out their nests and destroy their remains. Without exception, every ‘abomination’ as the Wardens referred to them was destroyed and ‘purified’, again using their terms.

Save for one.

I don’t know if it was the last lingering bonds of friendship and memory that held Applejack back from seeking my destruction. Perhaps even in her unending hatred towards the dead, she couldn’t bring herself to seek my demise a second time. Or it might simply have been that Applejack understood what the cost would have been if she had attempted such an action. Whichever the case, she wisely banned any of her Wardens from trying to purify me when I returned.

Not that some didn’t try it, mind you. I swatted them away like flies each time. It’s one thing to take down undead ponies at a hundred meters with a crossbow, pots of flaming oil and several pitfall traps, and quite another to fight a being who for all intents and purposes is practically immortal. I was as fast as I ever was when I was alive, and with death, far stronger too. It also helps when you don’t feel pain and can literally regenerate any wound within seconds of taking it.

So yeah. Grave Wardens weren’t ever a problem with me. As for the Wonderbolts, well, I was always one of them, and I guess once a Wonderbolt, always a Wonderbolt even in death. I can’t say they liked being around me, or the fact that I did whatever I wanted, but they weren’t about to cross Fluttershy and go after me either. As far as records went, I still held the title of fastest pony in Equestria as no one ever managed to achieve a Sonic Rainboom again. Neither could I after my death, but when it came to Deathbooms…

I tried not to use them. I really did. But you can’t save lives without punching a few chickens, or however the saying goes. I don’t punch chickens unless I can help it, but I’d kick baby chicks for my friends. So if they were in danger and I had no options left, I’d break out a Sonic Deathboom to help them. My friends were worth a few extra undead ponies.

And besides that, the Sonic Deathbooms felt…good. Really good.

…I’m not talking about sex, so get your mind out of the gutter. It’s different from an orgasm or anything else. Rather, each time I broke the sound barrier and the black light filled the world around me, I sensed something.

A memory. No, that’s not right. A song. Maybe that’s a better word for it. A flash of light? Not exactly, not just literally. A dream?

Yes, perhaps a dream. Or a voice, calling me. Not just one voice, but a choir, a thousand, a hundred thousand…countless voices. Calling me.

And for a brief moment, I would feel alive again. Not just alive, but truly, gloriously alive. The alive you feel so rarely even in life. For one instant, I was Rainbow Dash again.

But then the Deathboom would burst, and I would be dead once more. But I could always regain that brief moment of eternity with another Sonic Deathboom.

I know some ponies might compare this to taking drugs. And I have to say that while I’m a pretty awesome pony, I’ve never touched the stuff. I mean, please. I’m an athlete. Drugs seriously mess you up and you can’t be a Wonderbolt if you do drugs. So I never did. Duh.

As for my friends, I’m sure straight-laced Twilight and Applejack would never have touched the stuff with a thousand foot pole. Meek Fluttershy? Please, she’d run away screaming. As for Pinkie Pie…I’m pretty sure she didn’t actually do any drugs. At least, not if you don’t count sugar as a drug. Really, the only pony you’d have to look twice at is Rarity.

I mean, come on. Can’t you imagine her doing some of the designer drugs like Crystal Salt? That stuff is really popular in Canterlot and Manehatten. Or Seed. Everypony in Cloudsdale claims they’ve done Seed once or twice. I never asked her though. I mean, I wouldn’t have turned her in even if I had known. Still, it’s just not something I wanted to know. It would have made her too…normal, and she was never normal to me.

But uh, where was I? Oh yeah. The feeling I got from Sonic Deathbooms? Better than sex. Not like drugs. You see, drugs wear off. Ponies chase that first high, that first time they used drugs and never get the same feeling. Not with this. Every time was just as vivid, just as strong. You could make me snort enough Crystal Salt to make the entire population of Phillydelphia start eating the sidewalk and it wouldn’t even be a fraction of that feeling. It made me feel so alive. And so dead.

More alive and more dead at the same time. Confusing, right? I really can’t explain it. I’m going to change the subject.

Wonderbolts, Grave Wardens, Sonic Deathbooms, and dead ponies. Put them all together and you get a scarier, and in a way, more awesome Equestria at the same time. True, there was a greater chance of dying horribly and coming back as a flesh-eating monster, but on the other hand, there was actual adventure to be had all over the place!

You know how Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo wanted their Cutie Marks so bad? Well, they got them in the end, and they weren’t too bad – bunch of shield marks with their special talents inside of them. Seems significant, but I didn’t read too much into it since I was dead and all. But those fillies would have gotten them ages ago if they’d been around with the undead popping out of the ground everywhere.

Warrior Cutie Marks are not common in Equestria. Heck, the only fighting force was the Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts were more like elite fliers and troubleshooters. But now with things to actually fight again, at least twenty percent of every new Cutie Mark was geared towards combat, healing, or some other kind of frontline activity. Fillies and colts learned how to fight, and they enlisted either into local militias, or into the Grave Wardens. And sure, constant danger and fighting wasn’t ideal, but neither was Equestria slowly sinking beneath a horde of zombies. Things were stable, and ponies got used to things after a year or two.

And I was active, at least by my standards. The dead were rising, and so too did I. The world was changing, and strangely, I felt more compelled to reanimate myself than before.

When I was not needed by my friends and I was sure they weren’t in danger, I would bring myself back and wander Equestria. Mostly in the forgotten parts, in the dark and magical Everfree Forest, among the empty, endless peaks of the Appaloosan mountain range, and even further north, among the frozen wastelands of the Crystal Empire. It was peaceful, to me. I could go for days just watching trees grow, or seeing snow pile up in odd patterns.

I know that sounds unbelievably boring and I’m sure if I was alive I’d feel the same. But again, I was dead and the dead can appreciate the things the living have no time for. When you have forever, time doesn’t matter at all.

But always I’d return to watch over my friends, because now more than ever I was needed. The undead legions marched across the land, and though they were suppressed by the Wonderbolts and Grave Wardens, other accidents still occurred. In times of peace, this would have been ably handled by the Wonderbolts, but combine an earthquake and ponies coming back from the dead and you’ve got problems.

That is, if you don’t have me.

----

The streets of Manehatten flexed and broke as the earthquake made the earth dance and heave. Ponies screamed as the world shifted beneath them, and only the pegasi hovering in the air were spared as masonry and ponies were flung around like feathers.

Did some die? Yes, perhaps. The weak and the elderly, or those unfortunate enough to be caught in the shadow of buildings as they collapsed. But Earth Ponies had laid strong foundations, and Unicorn magic had made the city strong. Most of the city remained standing, but the more hastily-laid buildings broke under the strain from the earth.

Such as the wall.

It was a slap-dash creation made in the space of a few nights and expanded on over the course of months. It was high and made so that ponies could stand on it and shoot down at approaching crowds of the dead if needed. Beyond that the wall was stone and the dead could not climb nor break through it, and so what need was there of architecture or planning?

Much need. As the ground ripples, the wall buckled and broke. Drawn by the sounds and death, the few undead poured in through the gap. But they were joined by the ponies who had died in the disaster, and then by more, as the unloving sensed weakness and swarmed the city.

The few Grave Wardens in the city were caught unawares and outnumbered hundreds to one. The militias were scattered, caught up in helping other ponies and unaware of the danger until it was too late. The dead herded the living, pursuing them street by street, boxing them in on all sides until the living had to make one last stand or die. And they would die anyways. There were just too many.

And as the despairing ponies cried out for aid, the air rippled. The world bent and twisted, and an alicorn appeared. She’d been flying as soon as she heard of the earthquake and her teleportation spell put her in front of the dead. Yet they came on. She was one, and they were many. Even an alicorn couldn’t hold back so many of the dead, especially such a young one.

But she was never alone. Even as the Princess of Friendship raised her wings defiantly, the world shifted. The dead shifted their ranks uncertain as they felt it. The living ponies looked around in confusion, uncertain, wondering why the horde of death had stopped. Only the Princess waited. She knew.

At this point I entered, and let’s face it, isn’t that all you really need to know?

----

Fighting is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well.

That’s to probably a quote from somepony, but who cares? I’m awesome, and I fight even better than I die.

…That sounded wrong. I kick tail is what I’m trying to say.

The dead throng around me as I open my eyes. Truthfully, I don’t need to, but it always makes ponies feel better if I act slightly alive. But I can sense the undead around me as individuals and a whole. I don’t need eyes to tell where they are.

One of the dead ponies hesitates, and then tries to bite my head. He’s pretty certain I’m not alive, but since I’m not one of his kind, he’s going to try to eat me anyways. Good instints. My hoof pulps his head in one blow anyways.

Yes, pulps. There’s a lot of good words for what happens when I hit something with all my strength. Pulp, smash, destroy, eviscerate…that one’s right out of Twilight’s books. Explode happens sometimes, but mush is always what eventually happens. Let’s just say that rotting flesh and bone meeting my hoof doesn’t end up hygienic, alright?

It’s necessary for me to hit them this hard, though. I don’t want to have to do it twice, and the dead have an annoying tendency to ignore having their limbs ripped off. Normal ponies at least have the decency to scream. But where was I?

First dead pony kill of the day. The other dead immediately lunge at me, but I’m already gone. And so are they. I begin lashing out with my forehooves and back hooves, aiming for faces and spines mainly, putting down the dead as fast as I can strike. And believe me, I can hit really fast. The crowd of the dead around me quickly disappears into a sea of destroyed limbs and broken flesh.

Yes, broken flesh. It’s disgusting. When you hit a pony hard enough to literally shatter all its bones and blow out its insides, you get broken flesh. It’s nasty, and you can push it around with a mop. That’s all I’m saying. Look, this isn’t for the squeamish. I don’t want to get into details here, but did you think combat was ever pretty?

Well, the dead fight ugly. And that’s okay with me because I don’t need to smell what I’m doing, or worry about infection or anthing. I’m just here to kill every dead pony in sight to keep Twilight safe.

Speaking of which, I glance over my shoulder and see Twilight blasting dead ponies back as she raises a magic forcefield around the entire Manehatten population. She’s gotten a lot stronger since I died, although in faireness, all the other unicorns in the crowd are helping with the shield spell. Truthfully, she’s only burning down a few of the dead trying to hammer their way through the magic shield. She knows what to do by know, and that’s wait for me to take care of things.

And also truthfully, I don’t need to look at Twilight to know what she’s doing. My senses aren’t limited to my corpse, and I can practically ‘see’ everything happening within a mile’s radius around me. But I like to look so I can remember.

Anyways. I’m still fighting though. Nice thing about being dead? You can multitask as much as you like. Two hooves strike out in different directions, two dead ponies are missing their heads. Almost all of the dead around here are…even more dead. Time to accelerate.

I flap my wings and disappear into the air. The dead ponies look around, bewildered. They’re really idiots. After a few seconds of waiting for me to appear again, they decide that if I’m gone, it’s time to go back to chowing on living ponies. They cluster around Twilight’s shield—

And half of them disappear.

Not instantaneously. I’m not that good. But it probably looks like that to most of the living ponies. All they can see is a fountain of limbs and gore flying upwards as a blue blur races through the horde of zombies. That’s me, if you hadn’t guessed.

Everyone says I’m so cool for breaking the sonic barrier and doing a Rainboom. Yadda yadda yadda, that’s all they talk about. But I can move plenty fast even without a Rainboom, or rather, a Deathboom now. Look, how fast do you think most animals can travel? I’ll clue you in here and tell you that the fastest bird in the world only goes 242 miles per hour. That’s 389 kilometers per hour for all you non-Equestrian folks out there.

Please. A Rainboom only happens at around 770 miles per hour, and I can go slower than that. Ever seen something move at 600 mph? Ever seen what happens if you hit something at that speed, with enough strength to knock a tree over?

Explosive mushiness is what happens. It’s not so much that the dead explode…more like they deform and just tear apart. It’s gross and awesome if you don’t have a queasy stomach. Again, no gory details but these are the facts. You can’t fight anything without having grossness.

But back to my awesomeness. Undead mob? Gone in moments. I flash through them, hitting them with quick blows that send their dead corpses flying in pieces. Remember, if I can fly at supersonic speeds, I can hit pretty fast too. In moments the threat of the dead ponies, nearly a thousand strong who had cornered the Manehatten inhabitants is no more. Only falling pieces of undead flesh and pools of…y’know, remain.

My work here is done.

I stop in front of Twilight. She’s still holding the forcefield. Not so much to protect the other ponies from me – she couldn’t do that even if she tried, not that I’d ever do anything unless they tried to harm her – but mainly to keep the falling bits of pony from hitting the Manehattenites.

They’re still shell-shocked. Half of them are looking at me like I’m a monster, the other half are throwing up. Maybe there’s another half who are just staring blankly around at everything, but I’m not good at math. Only Twilight’s really composed, well, sorta composed. She’s seen me work before.

I nod once to Twilight. No words. It’s kinda gotten to be my thing. She hesitates, and then inclines her head. A small bow. It’s awkward beyond words, but she can’t really hug me, covered in bits as I am, and I can’t say anything to her. I hold her gaze for another moment, a brief eternity.

And then my body vanishes to dust. I’m gone, and only the dead and the living remain.

----

In spirit form I watch Twilight begin the cleanup. She’s quite good at it, and her qualities as a leader have grown unimaginably from the time when I was alive. She directs ponies to start moving bodies to be burned, has others look for survivors who might be injured, creates an emergency treatment area for any injured ponies, begins assessing wall repairs…

I stop following her once I know she’s got things well in hoof. I begin to leave. If I’m not watching over Twilight, it’s generally Applejack or Fluttershy I’ll follow around. Pinkie Pie and Rarity generally stay in Ponyville, helping others so they’re safe.

But as I go, I hear ponies talking. They’re praising Twilight of course, remarking on how good she is as a Princess, and so on, but some are also talking about me. I stop to listen, and I hear one pony talking about how the Guardian of Harmony is protecting her friends.

Guardian of Harmony? That’s a stupid name. But…it’s slightly accurate.

It seems Fluttershy told my friends what she’d figured out. I didn’t really care whether other ponies got eaten, squashed, run over, etc. etc. but I did care a lot about my friends. So one of the ways in which they got me to help was by running into any trouble spots that emerged so I’d appear and start kicking serious tail.

Anyways, after I stopped a few undead incursions single-hoofedly, ponies started taking notice. There were already legends spreading about me in Ponyville, but the rest of Equestria finally sat up and realized that there was at least one dead pony who wasn’t trying to eat their faces.

And they loved me.

Weird, huh? You save Equestira a half-dozen times and all you get is a crummy window in Canterlot Castle. But kill a few dead ponies and suddenly ponies put up statues to you. Literal statues. How crazy is that?

I guess it makes sense. I was already semi-famous as an Element of Harmony and hero of Equestria, but coming back from the dead…that’s pretty awesome. And me being immortal and able to essentially stop even thousands of dead ponies is cool too. Ponies started talking about me as a legend, and even did things like put out extra placemats for me at Hearth’s Warming and other holidays, as if I was going to stop by for a visit.

I wouldn’t. Not even for my friends. But I let them enjoy their fantasies, and I think Celestia was relieved to have any source of hope for her people to cling to. She made my birthday a national holiday, and I even got a special ice cream made in my name. Pinkie Pie said it tasted like skittles, but…I have no idea what that is. And I couldn’t taste the ice cream if I wanted, because I was dead.

Sorta sucks.

I even got this plushie doll that looked just like me, except that you could pull its head off and detach its wings, limbs, and then reassemble it back together again! Yeah…children’s toys got a little messed up after the dead started to rise. I mean, they got a lot more anatomically accurate, so that’s good, but…it’s still a bit messed up.

Yet I was more famous in death than I’d ever been in life, a celebrated hero, a revered legend, and best of all…I didn’t care. Not one bit. Fame could kiss my multicolored tail, because all I wanted was for my friends to be well.

Was I happy? No. I don’t think the dead can be happy, or at least, I don’t think those that are dead like me can be happy. But I was content, and life was progressing for my friends. I wanted no more and nothing less.

But then it all went wrong. It all went horribly, terribly wrong.

Because she met him, and he met me.

…They were two different ponies, by the way. But if I could go back and time and kill both with my bare hooves, I would.