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Blank Apple

by Chocovich

Chapters

The Blank Apple

After a long day of adventuring with the other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applebloom was making her way back to Sweet Apple Acres. As she made her way home she ran into one of her sister's friends, Twilight Sparkle.

"Good evening Appleloom, why are you out here on your own so late in the night?" Twilight asked before being cut off the eager young filly.

"Hey Twilight! You'll never guess what we did today!" Applebloom started, barely managing to keep her voice at a normal level, "So this morning..."

"That's okay Applebloom, I just..." Twilight tried to interrupt, but was ignored.

"...but then Scootaloo was like, 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Park Rangers!'..."

"Well, I'm sure you..."

"...and she said 'That's not what a bear sounds like...'"

"I'm sorry, but I really need to get going, get home safe" Twilight said, still being ignored by Applebloom.

"...every, single, one!" Applebloom said before curiosity got the best of her, "Where are you going Twilight?"

"I'm bringing Zecora some books she asked for on local herbs," Twiligh paused, looking at the quickly setting sun, "but I better hurry, I'd like to be home before it gets dark"

"Oh! Oh! Can I come with you?!" Applebloom asked as she happily bounced around Twilight.

"I'm sorry Applebloom, but you know the Everfree is no place for a filly" Twilight said, stopping Applebloom with her hoof.

"I'll be extra careful Twi, just please let me come. Please, please, please!" Applebloom begged, pulling on Twilight's leg.

"I don't..." Twilight said, the sight of the begging making it hard to say no.

"PLLUUUUUEEE..." Applebloom started to wail.

"It's just..."

"...EEEEAAAAAAAA..."

"There are many..."

"...AAAAAAAAAA..."

"URGH!" Twilight shouted as she finally caved, "Fine, but you have the stay close to me!"

"YES MA'AM!" Applebloom said, bringing a hoof to her head in a mock salute, "Thank you Twi, c'mon let's go!". Twilight shook her head with a grin before turning to make her way down the path. Applebloom quickly jumped to Twilight's side. Within minutes they were at the edge of the Everfree, the growing twilight making it look more ominous than normal. As they trotted deeper in the forest it became harder and harder for them to see.

"It's really dark..." Applebloom said quietly while looking around her. Unfortunately she didn't see the rock just ahead of her and tripped. When she got back up and dusted herself off she couldn't see Twilight any where, causing her to panic. What if she doesn't know I tripped and I get stuck here until morning?!, Applebloom thought, shivering in fear of the possibility.

"Are you cold Applebloom?" Twilight asked from behind, using her horn to provide some light, just enough to light the area around them, but not enough to attract attention from any unwanted guests.

"No, I'm okay Twi, I just, uh, got a chill down my back?" Applebloom said, second guessing her own lie. Twilight seemed to believe it, or she knew why Applebloom had shivered and didn't want to call out the lie and waste time, seeing as she just shook her head and continued along the path. Applebloom quickly ran up to her side, not wanting to be scared like that again. After a few minutes of walking the pair arrived at Zecora's hut, which made Applebloom fill with happiness. Even after the trouble her and her friends had caused for Zecora she still allowed them to visit during the day, and was one their closest adult friends.

Knock, Knock

Twilight had knocked on the day while Applebloom remembered the fun she has had with Zecora and her friends, bringing her back to the present. After almost a minute Zecora's head could be seen poking out behind one of her windows. She quickly disappeared again, only to open the door a few seconds later, a worried look on her face.

"Hi Zecora," Twilight said with a smile, "I brought those books you asked for"

"Ah, such kind ponies, I thank you for your delivery, but I was in no hurry" Zecora said, looking past Twilight at Applebloom. She quickly flashed Applebloom a smile before turning back to Twilight.

"You two must return home quickly, for there are things in the forest that can make you more than sickly" Zecora said, quickly waving the pair goodbye and making her way back inside, leaving the two ponies very confused.

"What in the hay did she mean by that?" Applebloom thought out loud, raising an eyebrow towards Zecora's hut as if she was going to come back out and answer her.

"I don't know Applebloom, but she's right, we should be getting home now" Twilight said, turning around to head back to Ponyville, and her library. Applebloom looked at Zecora's hut one last time before rushing to Twilight's side. The warning Zecora had given them caused the filly to fear for herself and Twilight. For all she knew Timberwolves could jump out and attack them so fast that Twilight's magic would be useless!

"Brrrr" Applebloom shivered, looking at the ground the try and get her mind off what Zecora said, causing her to bump into Twilight. When she looked up she could tell why Twilight had suddenly stopped.

"How in Luna's name did this happen?!" Twilight said angrily as she walked up the the tree that had blocked their path. Despite them only being gone for no more than three minutes the tree had fallen, and it didn't even make a noise to let them know ahead of time.

"How do we get past it?" Applebloom asked, a small hint of fear in her voice.

"Oh don't worry about it, I'll just toss it out of our way" Twilight said, her confidence in her magic ability showing through her voice. A purple glow quickly enveloped the tree, lifting up and to the side, causing it to be thrown like a twig. Twilight smiled triumphantly when a distant THUD could be heard.

"There we go!" Twilight said, still smiling.

"Uh, Twi...?" Applebloom said, looking past where the log had been, "Look"

"OH COME ON!" Twilight shouted. Behind the one tree were at least a dozen more, each of them blocking the path. With a quiet grunt Twilight attempted to lift the next tree, to no avail.

"Stay there Applebloom, this is going to take me a while" Twilight said, sounding defeated.

"Sure thing Twi" Applebloom said as she sat down, looking around for something to occupy her time with. Suddenly there was a flash of light to her right, causing her to look towards the source. Standing there was a light grey pony with a light yellow mane.

"Twi..." Applebloom said, turning back towards Twilight, only to see her struggling to lift the third log to the side. Knowing that it would be best to leave Twilight be Applebloom turned around, only to see the pony run into the forest. With Zecora's warning coming to the front of Applebloom's mind she quickly ran after the mysterious pony, diving through the trees.

"Hello? Anypony here?" Applebloom said loudly, hoping to grab the pony's attention. When nopony responded she looked around, seeing a faint path laid out ahead of her. Curiosity got the best of the young filly and she started trotting along the new path. After a few turns the forest became noticeably darker, causing Applebloom to shiver.

"ANYPONY OUT THERE?!" Applebloom shouted, hoping to get a response. After a few seconds she heard what sounded like a pony running along the ground. Running after the sounds Applebloom quickly became lost, the sound of running disappearing.

"Ah must have been hearing things..." Applebloom said, shaking her head quickly, "Wait, where am I?". She quickly looked around her surroundings and found herself in a clearing, the way back to the path unclear. With a quick gulp she picked a direction and walked towards it, knowing that if she was lucky, she would eventually get out of the forest.

After what seemed like hours of walking Applebloom heard the faint sounds of music coming from her left. Hoping that it might be Fluttershy singing a song with her birds she ran towards it, a small amount of light starting to cover the ground ahead of her. As she got closer to the light she jumped, hoping to find the yellow Pegasus with all of her animals.

"Fluttersh..." Applebloom started, but quickly stopped when she realized she was nowhere near Fluttershy's cottage. The only pony she could see was a grey stallion standing inside a fenced area.

"Why hello there, welcome to Sunny Town! My name's Grey Hoof, what's yours?" the stallion asked while walking over to Applebloom.

"Ah, Ah'm, Applebloom..." Applebloom said shyly, not recognizing Grey Hoof.

"Well Applebloom, you showed up just in time, a part just started!" Grey Hoof said happily, moving out of the way to show an entire town decorated and lit up, multiple ponies standing around. Applebloom quickly looked around, noticing something off with all the ponies, Grey Hoof included.

"Why don't any of the have your cutie marks?" Applebloom asked, looking at Grey Hoofs flank inquisitively.

"Oh, and help yourself to the food and drinks!" Grey Hoof replied, completely ignoring Applebloom's question. She quickly turned away from him, thinking he wouldn't tell her anything about it, and instead decided to talk to a rather sad looking pony.

"Hi" Applebloom said cheerfully.

"He hasn't said a word to me all night..." the pony said sadly, looking over at a yellow pony standing in a doorway a couple of feet away.

"Who, him?" Applebloom asked, not sure what was going on.

"Yes, I love him, and I think he loves me, but..." the pony quickly dropped her head, turning away from Applebloom. With that conversation over Applebloom decided to go talk the the yellow pony she had been talking about.

"Hi?" Applebloom said shyly, her confusion growing with every pony she talked to, first Grey Hoof and now the mysterious mare.

"Were the one that was just talking to Starlet?" the pony asked, looking over at the mare.

"Uh, yeah, why?" Applebloom asked, not sure why it mattered.

"I was going to give her a really great gift tonight, but I lost it, can you try and find it for me?" he asked, nearly begging for Applebloom's help.

"Sure I guess" Applebloom said, shrugging.

"Thank you, the gift was a beautiful stone, I think I lost it somewhere over there" the pony said waving a hoof towards a well that sat in the middle of town, "I'm Roneo by the way"

"Ah'm Applebloom," Applebloom said, bowing politely towards Roneo before taking off towards the well. The well was fairly dusty, but with a swipe of her hoof she could see a bright red paint covering it. After wiping her hoof off in the grass Applebloom noticed something sticking out of the ground  a little bit away from the well. Walking over she noticed that it was a ruby, like the ones Rarity used on dresses.

"Is this what Roneo was looking for?" Applebloom thought, turning the ruby around before turning back towards Roneo. As she got close Roneo looked over towards her, his face lighting up.

"You found it!" Roneo cheered, taking the ruby away from Applebloom and running towards Starlet.

"Oh Roneo! It's beautiful, but you're love was all I ever wanted!" Starlet said dramatically, throwing herself into Roneo. Over Starlet's shoulder Roneo winked at Applebloom, thanking her for finding his gem. Applebloom smiled back, happy to see that the two of them were now happy, and decided to see why Roneo was standing in the doorway. As she made her way inside she could see crates stacked to the ceiling.

Sniffle

"Is somepony in here?" Applebloom asked, not getting a response. Being confident in her recent skills with making ponies happy she decided to looks for the source of the crying, only to see a small winch sitting on the floor in her way. She quickly picked it up and threw it on her back, planning to take it off once she was outside.

"This isn't right, it's the same thing every single time!" somepony cried from around the corner, causing Applebloom to quickly forget about the winch. When she turned to corner she saw a pony that looked similar to the one she had followed into the forest, only with red hair.

"Hello?" Applebloom said quietly, not wanting to startle the pony.

"Ah!" the pony shouted, surprised by Applebloom, "Who are you?"

"Ah'm Applebloom!" Applebloom replied happily, crossing her legs like she had seen her sister do on occasion.

"Hi Applebloom, I'm Mitta, but forget about me, you have to get out of here!" the pony suddenly said, standing up, her sadness gone.

"What, why?" Applebloom asked, scared of Mitta.

"It's not safe, this place, it's cursed, and if you stay you'll end up cursed like the rest of us!" Mitta shouted, causing Applebloom to shrink away from her.

"Wha, what do you mean cursed?" Applebloom asked, her voice shaky.

"Long ago this town did something it could never be forgiven for, and now we all pay the price" Mitta said, dropping her head.

"What did you ponies do?" Applebloom asked, feeling empathetic for Mitta.

"They killed my best friend..." Mitta said quietly, barely holding back tears, "All because of her mark"

"Because of her cutie mark?" Applebloom asked, her voice cracking due to her surprise and fear.

"I don't know if they are the same, but we called them curse marks" Mitta said, raising her head to look Applebloom in the eyes, "A pony would get multiple of them and then die because they couldn't stop doing whatever the mark depicted"

"They had cutie pox?" Applebloom asked, remembering when she had it, and how she couldn't stop herself from doing what the marks said.

"Possibly," Mitta said, looking slightly confused, "but my friend, Ruby, was different, she only got one mark". After that Mitta broke down into tears, meaning it was time for Applebloom to leave. As she made her way outside she looked over at the ponies she had helped and talked to, not wanting to believe they could do something so horrible. Applebloom shook her head to try and forget what Mitta had said, but after shaking her head she saw the pony she had followed into the forest again, this time waving her over. Applebloom quickly took off after her, hoping to catch her and figure out what was going on.

After a minute of chasing the pony Applebloom found herself outside an old house an the edge of Sunny Town. At first she tried to open the door, but it was locked, so she decided to try and find another way inside. After looking around for a bit she noticed a well beside the house. Applebloom looked down and saw something shiny that looked like a key at the bottom. She quickly looked up to see if there was a way she could get it, but the winch for the bucket was broken. Luckily Applebloom remembered she had a winch on her back, which had somehow not fallen off during the chase, so she used it to get the key.

"This key has seen better days" Applebloom said as she picked up the key out of the bucket. It was old and rusted, but it might be the only way to get into the house, so she decided to try it anyways. After putting it in the lock and wiggling it a few times the door opened, revealing a barren room with nothing but a table and a fireplace. Applebloom's eyes were drawn to the fireplace, partially because it was the only source of light, but also because it looked like there was something other than wood in it.

"What is tha-" Applebloom froze, as she looked closer into the fireplace she could see what looked like...

...a skeleton.

"AH!" Applebloom shouted, running out of the house in fear, hoping to return to Sunny Town and find out it was all a big joke. As she she got closer to Sunny Town she noticed something different about it, in fact, it was completely different.

The houses were in ruins, and the party decor blew in the wind, the tables covered in dust and cobwebs. Applebloom slowly made her way into the town, noticing what looked like a well in the center. When she reached the well she rubbed the dust off, only to find out it was the same well she had rubbed dust off within an hour ago.

"What the hay is going on?!" Applebloom cried, looking around at the what she know knew was Sunny Town. The very Sunny Town she had been in only a little bit ago was not in ruins, looking as if it hadn't been touched in centuries.

"We had to do it" somepony said, sounding like Grey Hoof.

"She had the mark" another pony said, sounding like Roneo.

"She would have killed us all" another pony said, sounding like Starlet.

Applebloom quickly turned around to face the three ponies, or what should have been ponies. Instead she was faced with three black husks, each of them with glowing red eyes that seemed to look right through Applebloom.

"Stay with us, we can keep you safe, we can protect you..." Grey Hoof said as he took a step towards Applebloom, causing her to turn around and run towards the exit of the town, jumping over the rubble that was once Sunny Town. As she made her way through the gate she ran into another husk, but this one was different...

"Mitta?" Applebloom asked, recognizing the red hair.

"Yes Applebloom, it's me" Mitta said, smiling weakly as a tear ran down her cheek, "These fools, even in death they don't understand"

"What?" Applebloom asked, only to be ignored by Mitta.

"I have to suffer along side these monsters for what we did. I should have protected her" Mitta said, another tear running down her face.

"I'm so sorry Mitta" Applebloom said, patting Mitta on the back.

"Don’t be. The ponies of this town deserve every drop of this curse, and I’m no exception to that. I had the chance to stop her, to protect her, but I failed as her friend. I abandoned her when she needed me most. Now I have my own sins to bear alongside these…monsters! Cursed to relive my lifelong regret…But you, you can escape our fate. You aren’t bound here. You still have hope" Mitta said, turning to face the oncoming horde of zombie ponies.

"Mitta..." Applebloom said, understanding what Mitta was about to do.

"Run little one, run as fast as you can. Keep running, and do not stop, no matter what!" Mitta shouted before charging into the horde that was running towards her and Applebloom. As she attacked the group there was a split second of confusion before they turned on her, gnawing her apart, taking chunks out of her already rotting body.

"What are you waiting for, RUN!" Mitta shouted just before she was pulled below the group. Applebloom took her advice and ran, faster than she ever had before, but unluckily ran into another zombie.

"Stay with us, we can protect-" it was cut off by Applebloom's hind leg colliding with it's face.

"AH JUST WANT AH GO HOME!" Applebloom shouted as she realized that by stopping to kick the one zombie she allowed the others to catch up. Knowing that desperate times call for desperate measures she jumped into a nearby bush, loosing the zombies for a little while, but she finally broke down. the entire night's events came crashing down upon her, and she finally realized that her chances of survival were slim at best. The sudden realization caused her to break into tears, and her sobs were quickly followed by the sound of hooves running towards her.

"I'm sorry young one, but we must do this for your own protection" Grey Hoof said as he placed his hooves on either side of Applebloom's body, "I take no pleasure in doing this". After he said that he placed his forelegs on either side of Applebloom's neck, and...

SNAP!

Undead Apple

Celestia's sun was making it's way over the horizon when Twilight got home, her face stained from her tears. After taking Applebloom with her to see Zecora she went missing, and Twilight searched all over the forest for her, only managing to find her hoofprints and part of her bow. As Twilight walked back into town all she could think about was how she was supposed to tell Applejack her sister most likely died in the forest because she wasn't paying attention? When Twilight opened the door to the library she found Spike, and Applejack, sitting at the main table.

"Twilight, where have you been?" Applejack asked, her voice filled with concern, "First my sister goes missin', and then you?!"

"Applejack..." Twilight whispered, still trying to find the right words.

"What is it Twilight, do you know what happened to mah sister?" Applejack asked worriedly, seeing the sad state Twilight was in.

"I, I don't know how to say this but..." Twilight said softly as she reached into her saddlebag with her magic and pulled out a bit of Applebloom's bow. At first Applejack looked at the piece of cloth in confusion, but when she finally recognized the color and familiar smell of Applebloom she fell to the ground, eyes welling up with tears.

"How could this have happened?!" Applejack cried, pulling the piece of cloth away from Twilight, "She was so young!". Twilight couldn't move, all she could do was watch as one of her best friends broke down, her tough shell giving way, her emotions flooding out. After a few minutes the sobs died down and Applejack stood up, looking Twilight straight in the eyes.

"What monster did this to her?" Applejack asked, her voice filled with rage.

"I don't know, all I found was this piece of her bow" Twilight said, nodding towards the piece that was in Applejack's hoof.

"Spike, tell mah brother I'm not coming home for a while" Applejack ordered, not even taking the time to look at Spike before leaving. Twilight and Spike quickly ran outside after her, hoping to find out what she was doing.

"If my brother asks, tell him I've gone huntin'!" Applejack shouted before talking off into a full gallop, leaving the two of them in confusion.

________________________________________________________

"Ugh..."

Mitta's head popped up at the sudden groaning. Was she finally waking up, would she actually wake up this time?! She quickly ran over the nearby door, opening it slowly to make sure she didn't disturb her guest.

"Sis, is that you?"

Mitta's eyes opened wide. The little filly had no idea where she was, she probably thought that night was all just a very bad dream...

"Where am I? Why does my neck hurt so much?"

"Little one..." Mitta said as she reached the side of the bed, putting one of her hoofs next to the filly who was laying in it.

"Mitta...?"

"Yes Applebloom, it's me, Mitta" Mitta replied, tears forming in her eyes.

"Was last night all a dream?" Applebloom asked, still sounding drowsy.

"I'm sorry Applebloom, I failed you..." Mitta said, fully breaking down into tears now. Before Applebloom could say anything Mitta raised a mirror up to her face. When Applebloom looked into the mirror she was horrified. Her yellow coat was dulled and dirty, her bright red mane had darkened to a deep maroon, her eyes had become black holes with a dull orange glow to them, and her precious bow was torn and trashed. Applebloom moved from side to side, hoping to escape the monster in the mirror, but every move she made, it made...

...she was the monster in the mirror.

"They caught me..." Applebloom stuttered, tears welling in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, when I finally came to they were already pulling you into town," Mitta said, pausing to sniffle, "Grey Hoof wouldn't stop saying that there was a new guest for the party"

"But I want to go home!" Applebloom cried.

"I know, but, you aren't part of our curse, you might be allowed to leave" Mitta said, trying to give Applebloom a source of hope.

"So I can go home?!" Applebloom shouted in joy, preparing to jump off the bed and make her way home as fast as she could.

"Not exactly..." Mitta said, her voice filling with sadness.

"What do ya mean?" Applebloom asked worriedly.

"We can't go out in the daylight, it's deadly for us" Mitta said, looking outside at the perpetual darkness created by the thick canopy of the forest.

"Oh, okay..." Applebloom said, sitting down on her flank in defeat.

"There's one other thing," Mitta said, looking at Applebloom with sad eyes, "We have to eat meat..."

"WHAT?!" Applebloom shouted, jumping back against the wall in surprise.

"It's got something to do with keeping our bodies working, but be careful," Mitta said, looking into the mirror, "If you aren't careful when you meet a living pony, you might lose control and..."

"And..." Applebloom continued, afraid of what Mitta was about to say.

"Eat them"

"Oh..." Applebloom said quietly, all hopes of talking to her friends and family now gone forever, unless...

Unless...

"Zecora!" Applebloom shouted, causing Mitta to jump.

"What?" Mitta asked, leaning back due to the sudden outburst.

"I have a friend that lives out here in the forest, she might have a way to cure me!" Applebloom said, barely managing to stay in one spot.

"Ok, well, I'll help you go to her tonight, but just so you know, you're always welcome here with me" Mitta said, leaning forward to rub Applebloom's head.

"Thanks Mitta" Applebloom said, leaning past Mitta's hoof and pulling her into a hug. Mitta smiled for the first time in a very long time because of the hug, and she would be smiling for the rest of the day. After a few minutes they broke apart, with Mitta smiling happily, and with a very determined Applebloom. While hugging Mitta Applebloom had begun thinking of a way to talk to Zecora without her freaking out.

________________________________________________________

Applejack was making her way towards Zecora's hut, hoping to see if she knew anything about the monsters of the Everfree, and if she could tell what killed her sister. It had been mere hours since she learned of Applebloom's possible death, and yet it had felt like days to Applejack. Her only sister, her little sister, was most likely dead. Worse than that, they might not even be able to find her body, unless Zecora can help her find out what killed her.

"Applejack, my close friend, I apologize, I heard of Applebloom's end" Zecora said, poking her head out of a bush.

She jumped at Zecora's sudden appearance, causing her to step on a twig.

SNAP

"AH!" Applejack screamed, causing Zecora to look at her worriedly.

"Are you okay Applejack, screaming at the simplest crack?" Zecora asked, taking a step out of the bush and onto the path. Applejack looked around worriedly, watching for anything that could have been attracted by the noise she made, and when nothing was around she heaved a sigh.

"Sorry about that Zecora, I'm just a little wound up" Applejack said honestly, dropping her head down.

"Do not fret, I can see where you are set" Zecora said, turning towards her house. Applejack simply nodded and made after her, checking the bushes around her for any sign of her sister, or the monster that attacked her. Just a few minutes before reaching Zecora's hut Applejack saw something in the trees, two glowing orbs, both having a very familiar glow...

________________________________________________________

Applebloom was frozen. Just as she found Zecora's hut she saw the one pony she never expected to see again. Her sister. Despite every part of her body wanting to run up and hug her, she stayed put, knowing it wouldn't go over well if she did. After Applejack and Zecora went inside Applebloom quietly made her way to the window, hoping to see what was going on.

"Do you have any idea what could have done this?" Applejack asked, showing Zecora the piece of Applebloom's bow.

"I cannot tell for sure, but it I know it was certainly not something pure" Zecora replied, looking at the piece of bow, examining the odd tearing and bite marks.

"You sure, there's nothing about it that can tell you what did it to her?" Applejack pleaded, hoping Zecora would have something she could go on until she found her body. Zecora looked up to look out the window, noticing the top of Applebloom's bow and mane sticking out, causing her to grimace.

"I know nothing more, but I will get down to it's core" Zecora said, handing the bow back to Applejack, motioning for her to leave. Applejack slowly stood up and made her way to the door, nodding back to Zecora sadly, her hopes of finding her sister's body crushed. After she left Zecora made her way around to the side of her house where Applebloom was hiding.

"Young Applebloom, why must you-" Zecora began to say, cutting herself off as she saw Applebloom's new form. Zecora stumbled backwards, bumping into a tree causing a small branch to fall next to her. As Applebloom turned to fully face Zecora, tears began to form in her eyes. It was going just as she had feared, Zecora was terrified of her, and probably wouldn't want to do anything with her. Sensing that Zecora wouldn't be able to help her Applebloom turned around to head back to Sunny Town.

"Applebloom..." Zecora said slowly, taking a few steps towards her.

"Zecora?" Applebloom asked, not sure what was going on.

"What has happened, to bring you to this sad end?" Zecora asked, her mind filling with thousands of ideas of what form of monster could have done this to her young friend.

"Well, I followed a weird light out into the forest and..."

________________________________________________________

"...and now I'm like this" Applebloom finished, still fairly composed. Zecora on the other hand, had broken down, the sad story of Applebloom's last moments hitting her where it hurts. After a few minutes Zecora calmed down, managing a few words, her usual rhyming gone.

"I am so sorry for what happened to you, you had been so young..." Zecora said, slightly surprised at her own inability to rhyme.

"It's okay Zecora, it's my own fault for wandering away from Twilight after all" Applebloom said, still managing to stay composed. She moved over to Zecora's side, hoping to comfort her when the felt something pulling from deep inside her.

"Eat her..."

Applebloom stopped on the spot, remembering Mitta's words, "If you aren't careful when you meet a living pony, you might lose control and eat them". After realizing what was causing her to hear that weird voice she back away from Zecora, terrified of herself.

"Is everything okay my friend?" Zecora asked, noticing Applebloom's fear. She didn't respond, instead Applebloom just continued to back away from Zecora, slowly making her way towards the door. Applebloom couldn't stay here, not when she had urges to eat what might be the only pony who could help her.

"Applebloom wait, where are you heading?" Zecora asked, becoming worried about Applebloom, causing her to lose her ability to rhyme all over again, despite her almost being able to do it again. After Applebloom made her way out of the hut she ran into the forest, leaving a very confused Zecora behind.

As she ran she noticed a small voice in the back of her heard, which sounded very familiar.

"Why did you run, why did you try to leave the party?!", It was Grey Hoof's voice, the volume raising as he continued to talk, "For leaving our party you will be punished!"

As Sunny Town appeared behind the trees Applebloom slowed down, hoping to find the back side of Mitta's house. If she could find that she could hide inside and Grey Hoof wouldn't be able to-

"Welcome back Applebloom"

Blanks Forever

Applebloom lazily walked through Sunny Town, occasionally stumbling over her hooves, trying to find her way back to Mitta's house. After she got back from her visit to Zecora's she tried to hide from him, but someone Grey Hoof knew where she was and caught her. Despite her pleas they dragged her back to the house outside of Sunny Town, where Applebloom had found the bones, and tortured her, poking and prodding at her with metal rods. Because of her being undead, or cursed, she wasn't too sure, the scratches, and burns from when the decided to heat the rods up, had disappeared already, so unless she told Mitta she wouldn't have any clue what happened.

"Applebloom!" Mitta shouted, causing Applebloom to turn around quickly, noticing Mitta running towards her from the well, "Where have you been?!"

"I, uh..." Applebloom trailed off, not sure what to tell Mitta, "Got lost?"

"We can't get lost, blanks always know where Sunny Town is" Mitta said, eyeing Applebloom worried, noticing a small patch missing from her coat. Applebloom followed Mitta's gaze and shrunk away, trying to hide it.

"They caught you didn't they?" Mitta asked, giving Applebloom a deadpan stare.

"Uh, yeah..." Applebloom said quietly, afraid that Mitta was going to get mad at her for getting caught. As Applebloom continued to back away Mitta jumped forwards, hugging Applebloom tightly. Because of the size difference between the two they fell to the ground. Applebloom tried to get up, but stopped when she heard Mitta's sobs.

"Mitta?" Applebloom asked worriedly, rubbing Mitta's back. After a few minutes Mitta lifted her head, her face coated with tears that were still coming from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Applebloom, I didn't want that to happen to you, I'm so sorry!" Mitta cried, hugging Applebloom tightly.

"It's okay Mitta, it's not your fault" Applebloom said in attempt to calm Mitta down, seeing as the rest of the town was now looking at the two of them. As Mitta continued to cry Grey Hoof trotted over, looking down at the two of them.

"What is going on here?" Grey Hoof asked, pulling Mitta away from Applebloom.

"Nothing Mr.Hoof" Applebloom said, bowing her head to Grey Hoof.

"Then would someone like to explain to me why Mitta is crying like a baby?" Grey Hoof asked, turning to the crowd behind him.

"Mitta was saying something about being sorry for letting something happen to Applebloom" Roneo said, grinning slightly as Applebloom cringed. He had been one of the ponies who would heat up the metal rod in the fire before poking her with it.

"Is that so?" Grey Hoof said, turning back to the two of them, "Looks like two ponies need to learn their place"

"Please no, leave Mitta alone, she didn't do anything wrong!" Applebloom cried, moving to stand in front of Mitta.

"Then who told you how to leave the town?!" Grey Hoof shouted, "There's only one pony in the town that knows how, and that's Mitta!"

"She never said anything, I found it out myself!" Applebloom shouted back. What she said, wasn't actually a lie, Mitta had said there was a way to leave the town, but she didn't show her how.

"Well then, if you're going to be so adamant about it, I guess we'll just have to..." Grey Hoof said, looking up the sky to decide on her punishment, "Remove one of your hooves"

"FINE!" Applebloom shouted, her jaw dropping after she realized what she just agreed to. Before she could say anything else Grey Hoof was on her, ordering one of the other ponies to get him a knife. After the ponies dispersed Grey Hoof turned his attention back to Applebloom.

"You have been with only a short while, yet caused so much trouble" Grey Hoof said, pausing to spit on Applebloom's right foreleg, "I'm going to enjoy this". As he said that one of the ponies came back with a bread knife, handing it to Grey Hoof as two other ponies held Applebloom down. Grey Hoof quickly steadied the blade over Applebloom's leg, and began to cut...

________________________________________________________

As Sweetie Belle made her way into the clubhouse she noticed the absence of talking. She quickly pulled out her notebook and saw a note saying to meet her here today after school, but she wasn't sure if she came at the right time.

"Just come in Sweetie Belle" Scootaloo said from inside, a slight amount of annoyance in her voice. Sweetie Belle slowly made her way inside, looking around for Applebloom hiding somewhere to try and scare her. When she didn't see her anywhere Sweetie Belle made her way to the table where Scootaloo was sitting.

"Where's Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked as she sat down, noticing that Scootaloo was looking at a map of Equestria.

"She got lost in the Everfree" Scootaloo said lazily, still distracted by the map.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked, not sure if she heard her right.

"Applebloom is in the Everfree, we're going to go find her" Scootaloo said, circling a small clearing on the map.

"Why is she in the Everfree?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking at the other circles on the map, noticing a small line between them.

"She went with Twilight and wandered off, everypony thinks she's dead" Scootaloo said, passing the map to Sweetie Belle.

"And we're going to go look for her?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking over the map to try and find out what Scootaloo's plan was.

"Yup, now go pack some stuff for the trip, we might be in there for a while" Scootaloo said, getting up and heading to the door, "We can't let Applebloom get her cutie mark without us"

________________________________________________________

Mitta was carrying Applebloom back to her house, her left foreleg over Mitta's shoulder. After Grey Hoof finished cutting off her hoof he bucked her in the face, knocking her out. She started to come too as Mitta picked her up, and now she was aware of where she was.

"Mitta?" Applebloom asked slowly.

"Yeah Applebloom?" Mitta asked, stopping so Applebloom could get her bearings.

"Let me go" Applebloom said, pushing off of Mitta slightly.

"Why?" Mitta asked, letting go of Applebloom, causing her to fall to the ground.

"I'm going home, no matter what it takes" Applebloom said, getting to her hooves shakily.

"But you can only leave the forest on Nightmare Night Applebloom, you can't go home" Mitta said, helping Applebloom keep her balance with her hoof.

"Then I'll just stay out in the forest, waiting for that night so I can go home" Applebloom said while pushing Mitta's hoof away. Mitta didn't say anything as Applebloom slowly limped away. After a few falls Applebloom had made it to the edge of town, and after checking for anypony that could see her, left the town for the last time.

"Goodbye Applebloom..." Mitta said quietly, turning around to go home sadly.

________________________________________________________

"You know this is crazy right?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking into the darkness of the Everfree.

"Yeah, but I also know that if Applebloom wandered away and made it out okay she might get her cutie mark without us" Scootaloo said while trying to pull Sweetie Belle into the forest.

"But what if she really is dead?" Sweetie asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Then we'll find her body and tell Applejack and Big Mac where to find it, but we can't just leave Applebloom out here alone, dead or alive!". Before Sweetie Belle could object Scootaloo pulled her into the forest, using what wing power she had to make sure they were going to go deep into the forest. After a few minutes of dragging Sweetie Belle they found a large pile of trees, as if someone had tossed them there.

"Didn't Twilight say she was tossing trees when Applebloom walked away?" Sweetie Belle asked. Before they had come to the forest they asked Twilight what happened so they could try and find out where Applebloom could be.

"Yeah, I bet if we look around here we might-" Scootaloo stopped when she read a bush move from behind her. Turning on the spot she stared at the bush, expecting Applebloom to come out of it. Instead a small rabbit poked it's head out, holding an odd colored stone in it's mouth.

"Doesn't that look like a hoof?" Sweetie Belle asked, pointing at what the rabbit was holding, causing the rabbit to run away.

"HEY GET BACK HERE!" Scootaloo shouted as she took off after the rabbit. If that thing really was a hoof it could be a clue as to where Applebloom was, so they had to get it, it was important!

"GET BACK YOU DARNED RABB-"

SMACK

"Ow my head..." Scootaloo said, at the same time as another voice which sounded very familiar...

"APPLEBLOOM!" Sweetie Belle screamed running at her friend to hug her.

"Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?!" Applebloom said loudly, surprised to see her friends here, "What are you two doing here?!"

"We came to find you, and uh..." Scootaloo said, slowing down as she noticed Applebloom's new look, "What happened to you?"

"Well, you see, I'm, uh, dead" Applebloom said quietly, not sure how her friends were going to take the news.

"You're dead" Sweetie Belle said while staring at Applebloom.

"Yes" Applebloom replied, raising a brow at her two friends.

"Then how are you talking to us?" Scootaloo asked.

"Cursed, so I can't die" Applebloom said, turning to face Scootaloo, showing her missing hoof to prove it.

"Wow..." Sweetie Belle said quietly.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Scootaloo shouted, causing both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to look at her in surprise, "What?"

"How is this awesome? She's a zombie now!" Sweetie Belle shouted back.

"DUH! Zombies are awesome, so now she's awesome!" Scootaloo replied, waving a hoof at Applebloom, who had suddenly slumped over.

"Uh, Applebloom, you oka-" Sweetie Belle started to say, before Applebloom's head jerked up and she bit her.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" Scootaloo shouted, whacking Applebloom away, causing her to come to her senses.

"What happened?" Applebloom asked, shaking her head from side to side.

"YOU BIT SWEETIE BELLE!" Scootaloo shouted, jumping on Applebloom, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"I, I don't know, something came over me and..." Applebloom started, getting quieter as she realized what she did. "Oh my Celestis..."

"YOU HORRIBLE MONSTER, HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO OUR FRIEND!" Scootaloo shouted, raising a hoof to hit Applebloom.

"Scootaloo? What are you doing?"

"What?!" Scootaloo shouted, her head jerking around to see Sweetie Belle standing up, looking at her.

"Why are you threatening to hit Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked, walking toward them.

"She bit you remember?!" Scootaloo asked worriedly, not sure what was going on. First Applebloom bit Sweetie Belle, making her faint, and now she was walking around again? She had even stopped bleeding...

"Guys I don't feel too good..." Sweetie Belles said before collapsing to the ground. Applebloom quickly jumped up to help her, but was pushed away by Scootaloo.

"Sweetie Belle are you okay?!" Scootaloo asked, shaking her friend in an attempt to wake her up. When she didn't wake up Scootaloo could feel her eyes filling with tears, but Sweetie Belle suddenly moved. As she continued to move she lost her natural color. Her coat was a dark shade of grey, her mane had dulled, and even her eyes had lost color. She slowly got up, opening her eyes fully, revealing two green orbs where her irises should be.

"What's wrong Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking to see Applebloom crying softly, "Applebloom?"

"No, no, no..." Scootaloo whispered, lightly hitting the ground with one of her hooves. Sweetie Belle quickly walked over to Applebloom, hoping to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry Sweetie Belle" Applebloom said while sobbing.

"For what?" Sweetie asked, still not sure what happened.

"I made you like me" Applebloom said, looking up at Sweetie Belle sadly, tears flowing down her face freely. Sweetie Belle quickly looked around for anything that would allow her to look at herself, and upon seeing a small pond she ran over. When she looked inside she saw herself, but she looked like Applebloom does now, the only distinguishing features being her two tone mane and green glowing eyes.

"Scootaloo, run away" Applebloom said, causing Sweetie Belle to turn around quickly.

"Why?!" Scootaloo cried.

"If you stay you'll end up like us, and I don't want that to happen" Applebloom said, pulling Scootaloo to her feet.

"But..." Scootaloo said, trying to object.

"No, buts, just go home!" Applebloom ordered, pushing Scootaloo along. After a few minutes of poking and prodding Scootaloo started to run home, leaving Sweetie Belle and Applebloom alone.

"So what are we called now?" Sweetie asked.

"Blanks" Applebloom said flatly, "It kinda fits doesn't it?"

"Yeah" Sweetie Belle said as she looked at the ground, "We'll be blank flanks forever..."

Search Party

After what seemed like years Sweetie Belle moved from where she was sitting. A few minutes after Scootaloo had left it finally hit her. She was dead, and not only that, but she would never see Rarity again or get her cutie mark. She wouldn't even get to have her first kiss!

"Ugh..." Sweetie Belle moaned, throwing herself on her back to try and clear her head.

"You okay?" Applebloom asked, poking her head out of a nearby bush. While Sweetie was in shock she decided to go look for some kind of food to eat, coming back with a few berries.

"Yeah, it's just well, hard" Sweetie said while sitting up, taking a few of the berries from Applebloom.

"I know what you mean, and, well, I'm sorry" Applebloom said, kicking the ground slowly.

"Why are you sorry?" Sweetie asked. She couldn't remember anything after Applebloom jumped on her, when she woke up she looked the way she did now.

"I lost control of myself, and, uh, bit you..." Applebloom replied, shrinking away from Sweetie Belle out of sadness. She lost control on one of her best friends and ended up killing her, how could Sweetie forgive her for that?!

"It's okay, as you said, you lost control, meaning you didn't want to do it" Sweetie said while grabbing another berry. Sweetie Belle had managed to come up something smart to say that would make things right between her and Applebloom. Almost immediately after Sweetie stopped talking she turned green.

"Are you okay?!" Applebloom shouted, seeing her friends poor condition.

"THESE BERRIES TASTE HORRIBLE!" Sweetie screamed, causing a few birds to fly away.

"But we've had these before..." Applebloom said quietly, tossing one of the berries into her mouth, "EW GROSS!"

"I KNOW!" Sweetie shouted, trying to wipe the taste off her tongue.

"HOW DID YOU EAT THREE OF THEM?!" Applebloom shouted back.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Sweetie shouted back, the taste now causing both of them to vomit.

________________________________________________________

"Are you sure you want to come Twi?" Applejack asked, making sure her saddle bag was sitting on her back properly.

"It's my fault she's out there, I'm going to help get her back" Twilight said, using magic to adjust her own saddlebag.

"Ok, but if anything happens you should just run, I can take care of myself" Applejack said, staring Twilight right in the eyes.

"Ok" Twilight said, staring right back.

"Now then, let's get going!" Applejack shouted as she ran off leaving Twilight standing in front of the library alone. Twilight sighed and started after her, knowing she would only make Applejack upset by staying behind for too long. Earlier that day Applejack had showed up at the library, asking for every book Twilight had on the animals in the Everfree. Although, Twilight was smart enough to figure out why she wanted the books, so she ended up getting pulled along with her.

Tonight her and Applejack were going to look around Zecora's hut for any sign of Applebloom, or for a sign of what attacked her.

"HURRY UP TWI!" Applejack shouted from up ahead, already at the entrance to the forest.

"I'm coming!" Twilight shouted back, starting a slow run. In all honestly, Twilight knew the chances of finding any sign of Applebloom was small, almost impossible, but Applejack wouldn't listen, she was determined to find her sister, dead or alive.

"Ok, now Twi, we're going to be going through the trees, so can you use your magic to warn me about anything we might run into?" Applejack asked as she made her way into the forest. This was the first time she had shown any concern about what was in the forest, and it made Twilight worry. Now that they were actually here Applejack was scared, was she afraid what got her sister would get her too, or was she afraid of how she might find her sister?

"Are you coming or what?" Applejack asked, slightly irritated  that Twilight had stopped once again.

"Oh, sorry, I just got lost in thought" Twilight apologized, quickly running up to Applejack's side. Twilight hoped Applejack was going to be okay during the search.

________________________________________________________

"Why did those berries taste so bad?!" Sweetie whined after pulling her head out of a pond. After the two of them vomited everywhere they found a small amount of water to wash themselves off with.

"I don't know" Applebloom said while shaking herself dry, "Oh wait..."

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked, noticing the fear in Applebloom's voice.

"I almost forgot about that..." Applebloom continued, much to Sweetie Belle's annoyance.

"Forgot what?!" Sweetie shouted, leaning closer to Applebloom's face.

"We eat meat now..." Applebloom said quietly, lowering her head to look into the water below.

"What? Why?!" Sweetie whined.

"I don't know, but..." Applebloom trailed off, a noise to her left catching her attention. It sounded like...

...Twilight?

"Did you hear that?!" Applejack asked loudly, hearing a small splash that Sweetie made because she lost her footing in the mud.

"Yeah, we should go check it out" Twilight replied, her magic lighting the way towards Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The two fillies worriedly looked at each other, knowing that if they were seen like this they would get in a lot of trouble, or have to be killed...

"Hurry, let's climb up that tree!" Sweetie Belle whispered, pointing to a rather short tree at the edge of the pond. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle quickly ran up the tree, just managing to get in it before Twilight and Applejack entered the clearing.

"Huh, must have been a bird or something..." Twilight said calmly, making her way back to the path her and Applejack had been on before. Except Applejack stayed, she knew something was here, but she couldn't place her hoof on what it was. While Applejack looked around Sweetie Belle started to shake in the tree, gaining both the Apple sister's attention.

"Sweetie Belle are you okay?" Applebloom whispered, her eyes opening wide when she realized what was happening. Sweetie was loosing control, just like she had before. Except this was different. Sweetie Belle's grey coat and two toned mane were disappearing, revealing a skeletal figure underneath. Before Applebloom could do anything Applejack shouted up the tree, getting Sweetie's attention.

"What's up there?!"

Suddenly Sweetie jumped down from the tree, landing on Applejack's back, causing her saddle bag to slide off. in the midst of the struggle something shiny fell out of the bag. Applebloom quickly looked to what had fallen out, recognizing it as her brother's knife. It was usually only used to scare off diamond dogs and to cut the wheat, but obviously Applejack had brought it for another purpose.

To kill whatever attacked her sister.

"Applejack!" Twilight shouted from the edge of the clearing. When she heard the sounds of a struggle she ran back, only to find Applejack wrestling with a strange black beast. As Twilight and Applebloom looked on horrified Applejack managed to throw Sweetie Belle off of her.

"Twilight! Pass me that knife!" Applejack ordered, causing Twilight to flinch. The usual calm AJ was now angry and willing to kill another creature. Seeing that Twilight wasn't going to do anything Applejack turned to pick up the knife, only to be tackled by Sweetie Belle, causing the knife to slant upwards and...

SLICE

"AH!" Applejack screamed, the knife having cut off her left foreleg at the hoof. She continued to scream and roll around in pain as Sweetie moved in for the kill. Twilight and Applebloom watched in horror as Sweetie Belle put her mouth around Applejack's neck, causing her to scream more.

CHOMP

The screaming suddenly stopped, being replaced by a faint gurgling noise. Twilight stood still in horror, watching one of her best friends bleed to death in front of her. Suddenly Twilight's eyes began to glow, and with a pulse of magic she threw Sweetie off of Applejack and teleported out of the forest.

After almost an hour Sweetie moved again. As she got to her feet she could hear somepony sobbing nearby. When she got close to the source she was terrified. It was Applebloom sobbing, sobbing in a puddle of blood.

"Applebloom?" Sweetie asked carefully, moving to put her hoof on Applebloom's shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Applebloom shouted, turning away from Sweetie Belle. Sweetie was surprised by Applebloom's reaction, but after looking around she remembered what she had done.

"I'm so sorry, I just lost control..." Sweetie Belle said quietly before falling to the ground, joining Applebloom in her sobbing.

________________________________________________________

"NURSE REDHEART?! DOCTOR STABLE?! ANYPONY?! HELP!" Twilight screamed, standing outside the Ponyville general hospital, causing all the lights to turn on. After a few minutes of Twilight waiting impatiently Doctor Stable came out, his lab coat askew.

"What is it Ms. Sparkle?" Stable asked, not sure why the student of Celestia herself would be yelling for him in the middle of the night. Without saying a word Twilight levitated Applejack in front of Doctor Stable, causing him to reel back in fear.

"What happened?!" Stable shouted, causing the nurses to run towards him, knowing that him shouting wasn't good. When they arrived they all proceeded to vomit from the revolting sight. Applejack's hoof was missing and her throat was torn out, something most ponies rarely see except for Doctor Stable.

"I'm sorry Ms. Sparkle, but, she's not going to make it, we can't do anything for her..." Stable said quietly, knowing that the pony in front of him was Ponyville's prize winning farmer and the element of honesty, Applejack. Twilight proceeded to break down, sobbing uncontrollably. Not only did she get Applebloom killed, but now Applejack too, all because she couldn't pay enough attention to the world around her...

Cutie Mark Zombies

Sweetie Belle slowly walked away from Applebloom, after what she did to Applejack there was no way Applebloom would want to talk to her ever again. After a few minutes of walking Sweetie Belle found herself standing next to a large lake. The water was so dark Sweetie felt as if she was looking into the night sky. She decided to lay down next to the lake, planning to look into it so she could reflect on what happened to her, and what she did to Applejack.

How could Applebloom ever forgive her for hurting her sister, and even Sweetie Belle knew that with the amount of blood she lost, the chance of Applejack surviving was slim. How could anypony forgive her for killing one of her friend's sisters, let alone an element of harmony. If they ever found a way to go back to being normal ponies she would probably get tossed in a dungeon, or worse, get sent to the moon like Princess Luna. What would it be like on the moon, would she even be able to live on the moon? Sweetie Belle's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud scream from up above her.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Sweetie Belle quickly looked up to see Scootaloo falling towards the lake at a very high speed, as if she had fallen off a cloud...

"SCOOTALOO?!" Sweetie Belle shouted in confusion. It was well known to her that Scootaloo couldn't fly all that well, so the sight of her falling from the sky was extremely out of the ordinary.

"HELP ME!" Scootaloo screamed just before hitting the water which created a large wave followed by a sickening crack. Sweetie Belle slowly made her way towards the lake, waiting for Scootaloo to float up, and when she didn't Sweetie started to get scared. What if Scootaloo hit the water to hard and caused internal bleeding, or what if the lake wasn't as deep as she thought and Scootaloo hit the bottom?! Sweetie's questions were answered when the blackness of the water was interrupted by a quickly expanding circle of red.

"SCOOTALOO!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she ran towards the red circle. When she got close to the circle she felt her hoof touch something hard, causing her to reach into the water hoping to find Scootaloo unconscious, but instead she found only Scootaloo's head...

________________________________________________________

"Zecora? Are you home?" Applebloom asked as she slowly pushed open the door to Zecora's hut. Her face was still covered in tears, and she had managed to take her sister's hoof with her. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed a hoof to replace the one she lost, and the only available one was Applejack's.

"Zecora?!" Applebloom shouted, hoping that by raising her volume Zecora would be able to hear her even if she wasn't in the house.

"Ah, hello young Applebloom, I am laying in the next room" Zecora said loudly, her voice sounding hoarse. Applebloom quickly made her way to the next room over, which she guessed was Zecora's bedroom.

"You okay Zecora?" Applebloom asked when she saw Zecora laying in bed with an empty bowl next to her.

"I am okay my friend, and I am sorry for your sister's end" Zecora said as she sat up, positioning a pillow below her back so she could sit comfortably.

"So, she actually died?" Applebloom asked quietly, the news of her sister's death still coming as a shock to her.

"As much as it saddens me, that is how it seems to be" Zecora said while looking at the hoof sitting on Applebloom's back. Applebloom followed her gaze and realized she had seen the hoof, and probably recognized it as Applejack's.

"Sweetie lost control and my sister tripped over a kinfe, which cut off her hoof" Applebloom explained, her guilt returning as she though about what happened.

"What was that about young Sweetie Belle?" Zecora asked, obviously having not been told of Sweetie's disappearance.

"I, uh, accidentally bit her, and she ended up like me" Applebloom admitted shyly.

"Ah, so now two of your group with no mark on their flanks, have become one of the terrifying Blanks" Zecora said, looking down at her forelegs in sadness.

"Yeah, but I don't know where Sweetie Belle-" Applebloom started to say before being cut off.

BANG

"ZECORA!"

"That sounded like Sweetie Belle..." Applebloom said as her friend came running into the room, jumping onto Zecora with tears streaming down her face.

"What has happened Sweetie Belle?" Zecora asked as she struggled to breath due to Sweetie Belle pushing her head into Zecora's ribs.

"IT'S SCOOTALOO, PLEASE YOU HAVE TO HELP HER!" Sweetie cried as she pulled Zecora out of bed, dragging her towards the main room of her house. Applebloom followed after them in confusion, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw what had happened to Scootaloo. Scootaloo's body was sprawled out across the floor, but her head was placed neatly on the table.

"What happened?!" Applebloom shouted, running over to Scootaloo's body as soon as the shock wore off.

"I was sitting by a lake when she fell from the sky, when she didn't come back up I went in for her, and..." Sweetie Belle said, her tears beginning to flow again. Applebloom quickly started to cry as well, leaving Zecora to do her business. Without saying anything Zecora took Scootaloo's head and body out of the room, leaving to two fillies to cry alone.

________________________________________________________

"hey Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked, her sobs starting to die down.

"Yeah?" Sweetie replied, her own tears starting to dry up.

"I'm not mad at you for what you did" Applebloom said quietly, not looking up at Sweetie Belle.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked, knowing what she was talking about, "But..."

"I know, but you couldn't stop yourself, it was the curse" Applebloom said, walking over to Sweetie Belle and sitting next to her. The two of them quickly hugged, but broke apart when they heard a noise from the room Zecora had taken Scootaloo into. A few minutes later the door opened, an orange blur coming out and running towards Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Hey guys!" the blur said as it hugged the two of them, causing them to do a double take. There's no way she managed too...

"Uh, guys, you okay?" Scootaloo asked, pulling away from her friends, only to be greeted by their blank stares.

"Scootaloo?" Sweetie asked quietly.

"Yeah?" Scootaloo replied, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Is that really you?" Applebloom asked, causing Scootaloo to step away from them.

"What's wrong with you guys?!" Scootaloo shouted, her face softening up when she caught a glimpse of herself in the window. She slowly walked over to look at herself more, noticing a strange glow to her eyes. When she got closer she realized why her friends where acting so weird. Not only were her eyes black like theirs, but her pupils were glowing blue, and it looked like her head had been stitched back on.

"If you would come with me Applebloom, I can help you in the other room" Zecora said, causing all three of the fillies to look at her, suddenly remembering that they were at her house. Applebloom quickly grabbed the hoof she had brought with her before running into the other room, interested in how Zecora managed to bring Scootaloo back to life. As she disappeared behind the door with Zecora Sweetie Belle stood up, deciding to talk to Scootaloo.

"So..." Sweetie Belle said, lightly kicking the floor.

"So?" Scootaloo asked quickly, causing Sweetie Belle to flinch.

"What was it like being dead?"

________________________________________________________

Sweetie Belle sat down with a thump outside of Zecora's hut. Scootaloo had insisted that they go outside to talk about her being dead, but all Scootaloo had said was that she didn't know what happened, it was as if someone had just turned her off, which anoyed Sweetie Belle. Because of her being a Blank, she might never know what it's like to die.

Meanwhile Scootaloo was running around trying out her body, taking note of how stiff it was feeling. She wondering if she would be able to fly now that she was dead, but she couldn't flap her wings at all. When she looked she noticed that the feather's had been mangled and torn, making it impossible for her to get even the smallest bit of thrust out of them. As Scootaloo made her way over to Sweetie Belle the door to Zecora's hut opened.

"Hey guys!" Applebloom said happily, skipping towards them with her new hoof.

"Hey Applebloom" Sweetie Belle said as she jumped up to hug her friend. Even though she had only been inside for less than an hour, her happiness was extremely refreshing.

"Um Applebloom?" Scootaloo asked as she walked over, "Who's hoof is that?"

"It's, uh, Applejack's..." Sweetie Belle said quietly. An awkward atmosphere started to settle before Scootaloo asked another question.

"How does it fit on you?"

"Zecora put something on it, and when she sowed it on it just shrunk to fit me" Applebloom said with a shrug.

"Huh, that's weird" Sweetie Belle said while examining the newly sowed on hoof. Scootaloo looked around for Zecora' expecting her to come out and say something to them, but she didn't.

"Where's Zecora?" Scootaloo asked while Sweetie Belle prodded Applebloom's hoof to see if she could feel it.

"She said she had to go lay down, I guess she isn't feeling very well" Applebloom said, flinching when Sweetie Belle whacked the hoof, "What the hay was that for?!"

"Sorry, I was just seeing if you could feel it" Sweetie Belle said while blushing, embarrassed at what she just did. Applebloom started to laugh, which caused the other two to start laughing. Right then they didn't feel as if they were dead or monsters, they felt exactly like they had before this whole thing started. Young, happy, and with long lives ahead of them. They only stopped laughing when Scootaloo started to cough from her body still being stiff, causing them all to come back to reality.

They were dead, and there was no other way to say it. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were cursed to stay alive forever, and Scootaloo was somehow brought back to life after loosing her head. It almost seemed like something you would hear about in a horror story around Nightmare Night, but it was 100% real.

"So, I guess we can't get our cutie marks anymore" Scootaloo said, looking back at her flank sadly.

"Yeah..." Sweetie Belle said, doing the same.

"Well then, why don't we change our group's name?" Applebloom suggested, her optimism surprising the other two.

"What we call ourselves? The Cutie Mark Zombies?!" Scootaloo said sarcastically.

"Actually, I kinda like that name" Sweetie Belle said shyly, causing Scootaloo to stare at her in confusion.

"Well, why don't we go with that then?" Applebloom asked honestly.

"Well, if you guys want to, then fine" Scootaloo said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Ok, so from now on we are..." Sweetie Belle said slowly, allowing the others to figure out what she was doing.

"THE CUTIE MARK ZOMBIES!"

Make a House a Home

"So what do we do now?" Sweetie Belle asked when the group of friends passed by a tree they had seen many times before. After they left Zecora's house they started to wander around the forest in hopes of finding somewhere to stay. Sadly they didn't find anywhere to stay other than a small cave, which they found out was actually infested with cockatrices. Apparently cockatrices can only turn living ponies to stone, or they believed the three of them were also monsters from the Everfree. In all honesty the three of them were more worried than anything. If the cockatrices were going to leave them alone, does that mean they are now part of the Everfree?

After leaving the cave they started to look for a more protected place to live, but they were having absolutely no luck. At one point Applebloom suggested they hide out in the old ruins the elements of harmony were found it, but when they got there they found a manticore standing guard. They walked up to him slowly, and when he left them alone and let them in they  realized that a family of manticores had turned the ruins into their home. After staying for a while the three of them left, again hoping for somewhere safe to stay as the sun began to set.

"What happens if we have to spend the night outside?" Sweetie Belle asked, hoping Applebloom would have an answer.

"I don't know, I've always been inside when night fell" Applebloom said as a shiver ran down her spine. She, nor either of the other two, could lie. They were lost, scared, and despite having each other, lonely. All they wanted now was somewhere to keep them safe until they found a way to get out this mess.

"Hey, what's that?" Scootaloo said, snapping Applebloom and Sweetie Belle out of their thoughts. When they looked up they some familiar looking thing sticking out of the bush.

"Doesn't that look like Trixie's show cart?" Applebloom said, noticing the familiar framework.

"Yeah, it does..." Sweetie Belle said as she pushed the bushes out of the way, "But what is it doing out here?"

"Didn't she leave it behind when she ran away?" Scootaloo said, thinking back to the Trixie incident, "Didn't Twilight tell Snips and Snails to take it?"

"Obvious they thought she said take care of it, because this is Trixie's" Applebloom said, moving a branch to show a small plaque that said Property of The Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, causing Scootaloo to giggle.

"Her last name was Lulamoon?" Scootaloo said, barely managing to contain her laughter, "That is so lame!". She then burst into laughter, with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle quickly joining her. As mean as it was to laugh at somepony's name, they had no choice, Lulamoon just seemed too funny to them. After a few minutes their laughter died down and Applebloom poked her head inside the broken down cart.

"You know, if we fixed it up a bit we could stay here, it's pretty big on the inside" Applebloom said, kicking around the inside to find it's weak spots.

"How are we supposed to fix it up, we don't have any tools" Scootaloo said while pulling one of the bushes in front of the cart out of the dirt.

"Maybe you can leave the forest unlike us" Sweetie Belle said lazily. During their hunt for a place to stay the three of them talked about the weird circumstances they were in. With Applebloom and Sweetie Belle the only one of them that might be able to leave to get things would be Scootaloo, and it might be really hard given her current appearance.

"I guess, didn't we have some tools left over at the clubhouse from when we rebuilt it?" Applebloom asked as she came out of the cart, "OW!"

"You okay?!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle said at the same time.

"I'm fine, I just got a sliver is all" Applebloom said calmly as she pulled sliver out of her hoof, causing her to make a small squeak.

"Anyways, I think you should be able to go to into town" Applebloom said as she walked towards Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah, we can hold down the fort here, you go and get our tools along with anything else you want to bring" Sweetie Belle said, throwing her foreleg around Applebloom's neck.

"Ok, I'll be back in a little bit" Scootaloo said as she turned away from her friends, "Don't get into anymore trouble"

"We won't!" Applebloom shouted, causing the three of them to start laughing. Despite being dead they were still having a fun time together.

________________________________________________________

After what seemed like hours the are around the cart was finally cleaned up. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom decided to lay down for a little while, to relax until Scootaloo got back.

What are you two doing our there?

"Did you say something Ap-" Sweetie Belle said, stopping when she say how terrified Applebloom looked.

"No..." Applebloom whispered, tears appearing in the corner of her eyes.

"What is it Applebloom?" Sweetie asked worriedly, starting to get scared by the way

Applebloom was acting.

Oh, I've never heard of you before, what's your name?

"Uh, it, it's, Sweetie Belle" Sweetie Belle replied quietly, her voice shaking.

Well then Sweetie Belle, welcome to the herd

"Applebloom, who, who is this?" Sweetie asked, her voice now laced with fear.

"It's..." Applebloom started, so quietly that Sweetie could barely hear her.

Yes, it's me, Grey Hoof

"Wait, you're the one who cut off Applebloom's hoof?!" Sweetie Belle shouted, her eyes opening in fear.

Yes, and if you don't want to end up the same as her you will listen to what I have to say

Sweetie Belle quickly looked over to Applebloom, only to see her nodding furiously, obviously telling her to do what ever Grey Hoof says.

Good choice Applebloom. Now, there are two hikers nearby, I want you two to kill them

"WHAT?!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shouted at the same time, causing some nearby birds to fly away.

If you don't do it we will find you, and kill you

"Okay! Okay, we'll do it!" Applebloom cried, tears coming out of her eyes again.

They are coming towards you, if you hide now you can catch them off guard

"Come on Sweetie Belle, let's hide" Applebloom said in a straight voice with no emotion. When she got up she started to move as if she really was a zombie, and hide behind the bushes they had moved out of the way. Sweetie Belle slowly followed after her, pausing to look at Applebloom in her current state. It really looked as if she was dead. After Sweetie Belle got behind the bush a conversation could be heard from nearby.

"Why didn't we do this sooner? This is so much fun!"

"Yeah, I honestly thought all the stories about this place were true, but I guess they weren't"

"Why would you even believe those stories?"

"What just because I'm a stallion doesn't mean I can't believe in ghost stories"

"It doesn't help that you write horror stories you know"

"I do it because you ask me too!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever"

After that they stopped talking, and a few minutes later they were visible to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. The stallion was a Pegasus, and the mare was a Unicorn. They were obviously a couple since the stallion had his wing around the mare. The pair continued to walk until they noticed Trixie's cart.

"Hey, doesn't that look familiar?" the mare asked, nudging her head towards the cart.

"Yeah it does..." the stallion said, taking his wing off the mare as he started to walk over to the cart, "I wonder if anything is living in this broken down old cart". As he walked towards the cart Applebloom started to move, startling Sweetie Belle. Suddenly Applebloom's features changed to a dark figure with glowing red eyes. As Sweetie Belle watched she could feel something coming from inside her, forcing it's way out. She tried to fight, but it was no use, Sweetie Belle blacked out, only stay conscious long enough to hear the couples reaction.

"Choco! What are these things?!"

RIP

"COLOR PALLET!"

SLICE

________________________________________________________

When Sweetie Belle and Appleblom came to they realized just what they had done. There was blood, everywhere. The bushes, the trees, even the cart, covered in it. It caused the two of them to vomit, but they ran towards the wrong bush. When they stepped behind the bush they found pieces of somepony's wings along with a horn that still had a piece of skull attached to it.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Sweetie Belle shouted just before vomiting everywhere, causing Appebloom to vomit as well.

You did good young ones, but you may want to clean up, your friend is almost back

"Scootaloo!" the two of them shouted. They suddenly started running around the area, cleaning up all the blood, and even throwing the remains into a nearby stream. When they were just about to finish cleaning up they found a saddlebag, and when they looked inside they found some clothing along with a map that lead back to the hiker's camp.

"As much as I hate to say it, we might have to take their stuff" Applebloom said, looking at the bush they found the remains in.

"Maybe we should have given them a proper burial..." Sweetie Belle said sadly.

"What would we have dug a hole with?" Applebloom snapped, causing Sweetie to flinch, "Sorry, I'm just a bit wound up right now"

"And why is that?"

"Scootaloo?" the two of them asked, turning around to find her standing behind them with her saddlebags filled with things from the clubhouse.

"What's with you two, you guys look like you've seen a ghost" Scootaloo said with a laugh, which caused Sweetie Belle and Applebloom to laugh as well.

"So is this all you got?" Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at the contents of the saddlebags.

"It's all I got on this trip, but I can go back if I need too" Scootaloo said as she dropped the bags, allowing Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to get a closer look at what was inside. Scootaloo had managed to bring somethings that weren't in the clubhouse, like the Apple family's axe, and some small toys from their houses.

"How did you manage to get all this stuff?!" Appebloom asked excitedly.

"I told them I was trying out a halloween costume and wanted to decorate the clubhouse" Scootaloo said with a smile, "Big Mac gave me a cool nickname"

"Really, what was it?" Sweetie Belle asked as she pulled out a black marker.

"Scootaboo" Scootaloo said happily, grabbing the axe from the bag.

"That sounds so cool!" Applebloom shouted happily, grabbing the hammer and nails from the bag, "Ok, let's get to work!"

"YEAH!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted, throwing one of their forelegs into the air.

________________________________________________________

After a few hours of constant hard work the cart was looking better than it did before. It even had a deck attached to it and a second room was built on the the back. Over time they planned to add in more rooms as they needed them, including a bathroom, but for now, it was more than enough. They had spent the last hours decorating the inside of the cart with things Scootaloo had brought from the clubhouse, and when they finished they decided to sit outside on their deck.

"Today was fun" Scootaloo said as she laid back in one of the chairs they had built.

"I hope things stay like this" Applebloom said as she closed her eyes.

"Yeah..." Sweetie Belle said the three of the drifted off to sleep. After all their hard work all they could think about was taking a well earned nap.

Their Dark Passenger

BANG BANG

"You may enter"

"Your majesty, you have a message from Twilight Sparkle" the pony said while producing a scroll from his saddlebag, "She says it's urgent"

"Ah, thank you Captain, you may leave now"

"As you wish Princess Luna" the pony left, his sword cutie mark showing to Luna as he left. It was rare for Twilight to send her letters, and if matters were urgent they usually went to her sister, Celestia. As Luna opened the letter she sipped from her cup of coffee. Unlike most ponies it was morning for the Princess of the night,  but like most ponies, she liked to wake up with a cup of coffee. She set her cup down as she began to read the letter.

Dear Princess Luna,

As Celestia may have told you one of the elements of harmony, Applejack, died recently. I was the cause of this because I brought Applebloom with me into the Everfree at night, and now both of them are dead. Along with that two other fillies have gone missing, both friends of Applebloom, who we think might have gone into the forest to find her. It is all my fault that this has happened, and I beg of you to find the monster that killed them and bring it to justice.

Your faithful subject,

Twilight Sparkle

Luna's normal smile had disappeared. She was saddened at the news of Applejack's death of course, but to hear that the three fillies she had loved dearly were also assumed dead? She couldn't believe it. Even though Twilight didn't mention the other two fillies names she knew they were most likely the other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the small group she had grown to love in her visits to Ponyville. Luna quickly finished her coffee and made her way to the armory. Even though Equestria was now a war free country the Canterlot armory was always stocked with all matter of weaponry and armor, along with some pieces from before her banishment. After what must have been an hour Luna exited the armory clad in old fashioned armor made specifically for Alicorns, and a small bow.

If that monster thought it was going to get away with killing her favorite fillies, it had another thing coming...

________________________________________________________

"Scootaloo can you give me a hand over here?" Applebloom asked, struggling to cut a piece of wood. The three of them had decided to make proper beds for themselves, since sleeping on the floor wasn't very comfortable, even for dead ponies.

"Yeah, just a second!" Scootaloo shouted back, "Do you think you can take it from here Sweetie?"

"Mhmm, you go help Applebloom" Sweetie Belle said, concentrating on her work. Because there were three of them they had decided to try and make one part of the bed each. Applebloom had to make the frames, Sweetie had to make the covers, and Scootaloo had to make the pillows and mattresses. Because Scootaloo was able to collect the leaves rather quickly she finished first and opted to helping the other two with their tasks. Applebloom had finished one frame and Sweetie was on the second set of sheets.

"Can you hold that end still?" Applebloom asked as Scootaloo appeared in her sights. Scootaloo nodded and moved to secure the end Applebloom was talking about, and as Applebloom took her swing with the axe something appeared next to Scootaloo, causing her to jump. Because Scootaloo hadn't been holding the end down the piece of wood flew up and hit Applebloom in the head, throwing her to the ground.

"What the hay happened Scoots?!" Applebloom shouted, holding her head with one of her hooves.

"She happened!" Scootaloo shouted back, pointing next to her. When Applebloom looked at where Scootaloo was pointing she was shocked. It was Princess Luna herself, clad in some scary looking armor with a bow attached to her hip that looked like it could do some serious damage to anypony unfortunate to be hit with an arrow from it.

"Scootaloo, is that you?" Luna asked, giving Scootaloo a confused look. The thing standing in front of her definitely looked and sounded like Scootaloo, but the glowing blue eyes and stiches confused her.

"Yeah it's me" Scootaloo said sarcastically, forgetting how she looked, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find the monster that killed Applejack and Applebloom" Luna said in a serious tone of voice.

"What killed me?" Applebloom asked as she got up,  the pain from getting hit in the head starting to go away.

"Applebloom?!" Luna shouted, surprised to see her favorite filly in her current state.

"What was this about Applejack?" Sweetie Belle asked as she trotted over, causing Luna's jaw to drop even further. The three fillies could have sworn the moon got a little bit closer to the ground for a moment while Luna tried to figure out what was going on.

"What happened to you three?" Luna asked quietly, still trying to wrap her head around the current situation.

"Well you see..." Applebloom started.

________________________________________________________

"...and then you showed up which made Scoots let go of the piece of wood that hit me in the head" Applebloom finished, taking a breath of air. She thought she would never stop talking.

"So you two are cursed, and Scootaloo is dead?" Luna asked, her confusion evident in her voice.

"Yup" Scootaloo said, taking a seat next to Applebloom. While she explained everything to Luna the other two got back to work on their beds.

"And you are the only one that can leave the forest?" Luna asked while pointing at Scootaloo.

"Yup"

"Do your families know about this?" Luna asked, her question being answered by the sad expressions of the fillies, "I see..."

"Do you know of a way we could talk with our families?" Sweetie Belle asked hopefully, thinking that somepony as smart as Luna would know what to do.

"There might be a way, but it will require Scootaloo to leave the forest on a regular basis" Luna said calmly.

"I'm okay with that, what's the plan?" Scootaloo asked eagerly, getting to her hooves.

"Well for now I want you to come with me, and we will see how they react to the news of your predicament" Luna said while patting her back, signaling for Scootaloo to climb on. After Scootaloo was situated Luna took off, the two of them waving goodbye to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"So what is your plan?" Scootaloo asked as Luna picked up speed, flying towards Twilight's library.

"You'll find out soon, don't worry" Luna said before beginning to fly at full speed. It was late at night already as it was, and she didn't want to wake any of the ponies from their sleep. Within minutes she was hovering above the library, quickly landing on the balcony so that Scootaloo could get off. When she looked through the door she saw Twilight looking at her with a cup of tea floating next to her.

"Princess?"

________________________________________________________

After explaining the situation to Twilight Luna asked her to get the remaining elements to come over, hoping to explain the situation to them as well. It only took an hour for the four of them to arrive, each of them surprised by both the Princess and Scootaloo's appearance.

"Would you like some tea Princess Luna?" Rarity asked, levitating the tea kettle in front of her as she poured a cup for herself.

"No thank you, I had a cup of coffee before leaving Canterlot" Luna said politely, raising a hoof to put down the cup Rarity had raised for her.

"So what's with the getup, are you guys getting ready for Nightmare Night early this year?" Rainbow Dash asked, laughing to herself.

"No, as a matter of fact Scootaloo is currently dead" Luna said in a matter of fact tone of voice. Much like Twilight the other elements froze in places, turning to look at Scootaloo in surprise, only to be smiled at.

"But she's right there, how can she be dead?" Rainbow Dash asked, skepticism getting the best of her.

"Zecora brought me back since it was only my head that fell off" Scootaloo said with a smile, the sentence not sounding weird to her at all. After the amount of times she had it explained to her she thought nothing of it. When she looked at the ponies in front of her she was surprised to find them all with open mouths. They were stunned by how nonchalantly Scootaloo had said she was undead.

"What of the other two?" Rarity asked after shaking her head.

"Cursed, but also dead" Scootaloo replied, again, the sentence seemed normal to her, but not to anypony else.

"What killed them?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"A type of creature called a Blank. They were once ponies like you and me, but the things they did in the Everfree caused them to become cursed and now feast on flesh and can live forever" Luna explained, pausing to read the ponies' faces, "Applebloom and Sweetie Belle became Blanks after they died"

"Are they what killed AJ?" Rainbow asked, anger in her voice.

"No that was Sweetie Belle" Scootaloo blurted out, covering her mouth immediately afterwards.

"WHAT?!" Rarity shouted, jumping across the room at Scootaloo, "WHAT DID YOU SAY MY SWEET LITTLE SISTER DID?!"

"Scootaloo isn't lying Rarity, but it wasn't her that did it" Luna said as she pulled Rarity off of Scootaloo.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE DID IT, BUT ALSO DIDN'T?! THAT MAKES NO SENSE!" Rarity screamed, tears flowing down her face.

"It was the curse, it took over her and made her do it, it's also why Applebloom had turned Sweetie Belle into a Blank in the first place" Luna said sternly, staring Rarity straight in eyes, calming her down.

"Ok, but what happens now?" Rainbow asked as she helped Rarity sit down, her anger, now directed at herself, causing her to shake.

"I was hoping you would be kind enough to converse with them through letters" Luna said happily.

"Who will send them?" Fluttershy asked, looking over at Spike, who had been in the other room organizing books until Rarity started screaming.

"Scootaloo will bring letters back and forth each week" Luna said, looking over at Scootaloo, who nodded happily.

"Okay, thank you for bringing this news to me Princess, and I'm sorry for my actions..." Rarity said, avoiding Luna's gaze.

"It is okay, your actions are understandable," Luna said as she stood up, nodding to Scootaloo, "but I'm afraid we must go now". After their goodbyes were said and done Scootaloo climbed back onto Luna's back again and they left, allowing the five remaining elements of harmony to talk about what they learned that night.

________________________________________________________

"Applebloom, could you come here for a moment?" Luna asked from the edge of the clearing the fillies had made around their new home. Her and Scootaloo returned almost half and hour ago and Luna had explained what was going to happen to them.

"Okay, I'll be there in a second Princess" Applebloom said as she finished making her bed, which they had managed to finish just before Luna and Scootaloo had returned.

"What is it Princess?" Applebloom asked as she trotted over the the Princess happily.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about this Grey Hoof pony you mentioned" Luna said as she looked up to the sky, which was filled with the image of her moon.

"Do you mean me?" Applebloom said, another voice coming out of her body.

"Applebloom?" Luna asked worriedly.

"Yes, I believe that is this one's name" Applebloom said as she looked at her body, "My name is Grey Hoof"

"How are you doing this?!" Luna demanded, scared for Applebloom's safety.

"I'm not quite sure really, but that is beside the point" Grey Hoof said, moving towards Luna, "I've heard that you are one of the rulers of this land, is that correct?"

"Yes" Luna answered quickly.

"Well then I wonder what will happen if I do... THIS!" Grey Hoof shouted as Applebloom lunged forwards, attempting to bite Luna. Although Luna's reflexes where much greater than a normal pony's she wasn't able to dodge and was bit in her foreleg.

"Why would you do this Grey Hoof?" Luna asked as she held her leg.

"To get rid of you of course" Grey Hoof laughed, "and I believe these two would love to have some food"

"You're sick" Luna snarled.

"I know isn't it lovely?" Grey Hoof said with a laugh as Applebloom fell to the ground.

"Princess?" Applebloom asked lazily.

"It is okay Applebloom, go back to your friend, I..." Luna trailed off as she looked at her leg, "I need to go back to Canterlot"

"Okay, thank you for helping us Princess" Applebloom said happily, not noticing the bite mark on Luna's leg.

"I will come visit you again soon, but goodbye for now" Luna said as she took off, leaving the fillies camp behind. As she flew back to Canterlot she examined her leg. It was unlike anything she had read about before, but she was sure that there would be something in the Canterlot archives that would help her save the young fillies from a terrible fate. After she landed back in her room she cleaned the wound, quickly checking to see if anything had changed about her. If she turned no one would be able to help the fillies, so she had to make sure she was going to be okay.

"Stay strong my fillies, I will help you as fast as I can" Luna said as she headed for her sister's chambers. It was nearly morning, and so it was time for the moon to set and the sun to rise on a new day.

Family Issues

As Luna made her way to wake her sister for her morning duty of raising the sun she noticed a few of the guards staring awkwardly at her legs. Of course Luna though nothing of it, she has caught her sister's guards staring at her many times before, and although it was looked down upon, she liked the attention the stallions have her, it made her feel like a princess. Before Luna could enter her sister's chambers she had to have a small conversation with Shining Armor, to tell him to go and talk to his sister about her troubled thoughts. When his guard post came into Luna's sight she was happily surprised with what she saw.

Inside the small booth were Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, who were seemingly attached at the mouth. Luna waited patiently for them to finish their kissing before speaking up, as she had grown used to it over time.

"A-hem" Luna coughed, getting the two lovers attention.

"Oh! Uh, sorry your majesty" Shining Armor said as he fixed his armor, "Going to wake Princess Celestia for the rising of the sun?"

"Yes, and you don't need to call us majesty or princess anymore, you are part of the family now" Luna said with a smile as Shining Armor looked over to Cadance. As Luna continued on her way she could hear the start of what was bound to be a long conversation.

"Doesn't that mean I'm a prince now?" Shining asked, which was quickly followed by a groan from Cadance. Luna giggled to herself as she stopped in front of the massive white doors that lead to her sister's room. With a quick flash from her horn the doors opened before Luna, revealing her sister sprawled out across her bed in a rather weird way.

"Sister, it is time to rise" Luna whispered as she prodded Celestia with a hoof, causing her to moan.

"Five more minutes..."

"Sister you will wake up now or I will raise the sun myself" Luna said with a hint of anger in her voice, causing Celestia to sit up immediately.

"Nopony raises the sun but me!" Celestia shouted sleepily, nearly falling back into her bed as she did.

"I was only joking sister, but it is time for you to raise the sun" Luna said as she supported her sister with her forelegs, but something caught Celestia's attention.

"Sister, what happened to your leg?" Celestia asked worried, noticing the surprising large bite mark on Luna's leg.

"Nothing sister" Luna said while rolling her eyes.

"That is definitely not nothing! You are going straight the the doctor's!" Celestia shouted as she got out of bed, running to her mirror to make sure her mane was presentable.

"Sister they wouldn't even know what to do about it, even if I was sick" Luna said, putting her sister's brush down with her magic.

"And why is that?!" Celestia shouted, her voice steadily getting louder.

"Because I don't even know what bit me!" Luna shouted back, turning away from Celestia in anger afterwards.

"What do you mean you don't know what bit you?" Celestia asked calmly, her anger turning to confusion.

"Well, the thing is..." Luna said, preparing to explain last nights events to her sister.

________________________________________________________

"So what you're saying is something called a Blank bit you, but it was actually Applebloom?" Celestia asked as she took a sip from her coffee. The sun had risen hours ago during a pause in Luna's story, and now the two of them were just sitting and talking over what Luna had said.

"It's the other way around sister, Applebloom bit me, but was controlled by something called a Blank that went by the name Grey Hoof" Luna explained calmly, finishing off her cup of tea in preparation for sleep.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay sister?" Celestia asked worriedly again, standing to show her sister out.

"I will be fine sister, I've been through worse" Luna said as she hugged Celestia to comfort her. Celestia didn't say anything else as Luna left the room, that last thing Luna heard was a small sigh as the doors shut, allowing Celestia to get ready for her daily duties of running Equestria and Canterlot. Withing moments of leaving Celestia's chambers Luna could feel a strange force tugging at her, pulling her away from reality.

You shouldn't be alive...

Luna continued to make her way to her room, the same sentence being repeated over and over in her head. After she laid down she was able to figure out who was talking to her, and realized it was Grey Hoof whispering inside her skull.

YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!

The voices in her head suddenly stopped, allowing Luna a moment to think about how Grey Hoof was able to communicate with her. More importantly, why should she be dead because of a bite to her leg? She continued to think about it until she had to go to sleep, or else spend the next night tired.

________________________________________________________

Rarity was sitting in her design room quietly when she heard a knock at her door. She quickly rushed downstairs to answer it, finding the filly she had been waiting for on the other side. Before Scootaloo and Luna left the night before Scootaloo had said that she would show up sometime that day to collect their letters for the three of them. For the entire day Rarity waited, looking over her letter a thousand times to make sure everything she wanted to say was in there, and said properly.

"Scootaloo, just the filly I was waiting for!" Rarity said cheerfully, "You did come to get my letter right?"

"Yeah, do you have it ready?" Scootaloo asked, tapping her hoof impatiently.

"Are you that eager to get back to the forest?" Rarity asked, slightly annoyed at the constant tapping noise.

"Oh, sorry, I was just at Twilight's and I had to wait an hour for her to get her letter together" Scootaloo said bitterly, causing Rarity to giggle slightly. It made her happy to see that even in death the little Pegasus was still the same as she was before. She quickly found her three letters, each addressed the one of the three fillies, and put them in a larger envelope so it was easier for Scootaloo to carry.

"Here you are" Rarity said as she handed the envelope to Scootaloo, who quickly grabbed it and put it in her saddlebag. After a few quick goodbyes Scootaloo was off, leaving Rarity alone surrounded by dresses. Although sadly, Rarity's curiosity got the best of her and she quickly locked up the boutique and followed Scootaloo through out the town. When they reached the edge of the Everfree forest Rarity was surprised to see that Scootaloo was going to be going along the path to Zecora's.

After nearly an hour of walking through bushes they arrived at the camp where the girls had set up. Rarity was amazed to see the state of Trixie's cart, along with the area around it. It looked as if someone had been there for years, not a few days. As she looked around the area she saw Applebloom working away on some pieces of wood they gathered from cutting down a tree, and Sweetie Belle was walking out of the house with some finely carved wooden cups.

"Psst, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity whispered, barely loud enough for Sweetie Belle to hear. When she heard Rarity's voice she looked around, seeing the faint outline of her sister in the bushes behind Scootaloo. As she got closer Scootaloo walked up to her.

"Hey Sweetie, I have some mail for you" Scootaloo said, nodding her head back at the saddlebags.

"Mhmm, I'll look at them in a bit" Sweetie Belle replied lazily, her attention completely fixed on Rarity. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle for a moment before turning to walk towards Applebloom, passing off Sweetie's odd behavior as her needing to pee. Sweetie Belle quickly put the cups down on the edge of the clearing before walking into the bush to talk to Rarity.

"Rarity, what are you doing here?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly, not wanting to get the others attention.

"I came to see you, I couldn't sleep at night without knowing you were okay" Rarity said as she moved forwards to hug Sweetie Belle, only to be stopped by her hoof.

"Don't come near me" Sweetie said, her voice cracking as she began to cry.

"But I just want to hug you, is that to much to ask?" Rarity cried, barely managing to keep her voice down.

"Didn't Luna tell you what I did to Applejack?!" Sweetie cried, her voice getting louder, "I don't want to do that to-". Suddenly Sweetie Belle stopped and began to shake violently, causing Rarity to panic.

"Sweetie Belle, are you okay?!" Rarity said worriedly, getting the attention of the other two fillies back at the camp. They quickly rushed over just as Sweetie Belle began to turn, her soft form giving way to a menacing beast. Rarity started to step back in fear, mumbling Sweetie Belle's name over and over in terror.

"Sweetie Belle!" Applebloom shouted angrily, causing Sweetie to turn towards her.

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle is not available at the moment, please leave a message" Grey Hoof said through Sweetie Belle, his voice sounding insane. At that moment Applebloom rushed forwards, charging straight into Sweetie Belle as Scootaloo ran to Rarity.

"Come on, we have to go now!" Scootaloo ordered Rarity, but when she didn't move Scootaloo slapped her across the face, "If you don't move now she's going to lose control of herself, so come on!". At that Rarity began to move, first walking away slowly, but after Sweetie Belle growled at her she took off into a full sprint, leaving the forest the way she came with no further incident. Rarity swore to never go back there again, and she was definitely going to tell the others what happens when you try to see them.

A few minutes after Rarity left Sweetie Belle returned to normal, looking back and forth for any sign of blood.

"You okay Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked as she walked over to her.

"I think so, but where's Rarity?! I didn't kill her too did I?" Sweetie asked worriedly, tears forming in her eyes.

"No, don't worry, me and Scootaloo managed to keep her safe, but we'll never see her again now" Applebloom said sadly, she had hoped that one day they would get a visitor other than Luna, but this incident made sure that wasn't going to happen. Sweetie Belle started to cry as Applebloom walked away to get back to chopping wood. She wasn't crying out of happiness that her sister was still alive, but rather out of fear for herself. She couldn't even control herself when talking to her own sister! How could she ever face another living pony ever again?! All she wanted to do was see her family again...

"Hey Sweetie Belle, could you give me a hand over here?" Scootaloo asked from another part of the camp, as she tried to figure out the squirrel traps Sweetie had created. Seeing as her and Applebloom ate meat now it would be important for them to catch animals. As Sweetie Belle walked over her crying stopped as she realized something. She had a new family, and it was right there in the camp. For better or for worse the three of them were together now, and were going to have to rely on each other if they wanted to get through any obstacles they're going to face.

Expensive Meal

Wake up Luna, it's time to wake up...

Luna suddenly opened her eyes a shot upright in her bed, checking around her room for the source of the voice. When she found nopony but herself in the room she calmed down, taking a deep breath the wake herself up, before noticing the time. It was still early, she didn't have to be up for another few hours, so why was she awake. Did she have a nightmare? Is that even possible? She was the princess of the night after all, she did have a special power over dreams, which means in all her years of being alive she has never had a single nightmare, but then again...

Are you awake yet Luna?

"Who's there?!" Luna shouted, the voice's return causing her to jump.

Oh you know who I am...

"Grey Hoof?" Luna whispered, afraid to speak his name.

Bingo!

"How are you talking to me, I'm nowhere near the forest" Luna asked as she looked out her window towards the forest, it's darkness giving her a chill down her spine.

Remember when Applebloom bit you? Well that was supposed to kill you, but instead it allows me to talk with you the way I do with the Blanks

"But why are you talking to me, you could just leave me alone" Luna said as she moved towards her bed, getting back in in the hopes that Grey Hoof was just a hallucination.

Oh it's quite simple princess, I want to annoy you to no end!. Grey Hoof began to laugh loudly, and when Luna tried to cover her ears nothing happened, she could still hear him laughing from inside her head. After a few minutes the laughing stopped, but every time Luna tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep she was woken by Grey Hoof's insane laughter. Eventually Celestia made her way into Luna's chambers, hoping to wake her to raise the moon, only to find her curled up in fear on her bed.

"Sister, are you alright?" Celestia asked as she put a hoof on Luna's shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Luna shouted, swatting away Celestia's hoof with a pillow. At first Celestia was surprised at Luna's actions, but very soon after she was terrified. What if she was going to become Nightmare Moon again? What if she was cracking under pressure from having to raise the moon every night? What if-

"Sister, I want you to leave" Luna ordered from her bed as she gave Celestia a deadpan stare, watching her every move.

"Sister, are you-"

"I SAID LEAVE!" Luna shouted, drowning out her sister's voice with her own. Celestia started to go towards the door when she heard Luna mumbled something from her bed.

"Why won't he just leave me alone?"

"Who won't leave you alone?" Celestia asked, quickly turning back to Luna.

"I thought I told you to leave?" Luna said coldly as she glared at Celestia.

"You did, but it is my job as your older sister to make sure you are alright" Celestia said in an authoritative tone.

"I don't need your help, I can deal with it on my own!" Luna shouted back, throwing one of her pillows at Celestia.

"I'm your sister, just let me help you!" Celestia said angrily, throwing the pillow back, hitting Luna right on the nose. At that Luna picked up the rest of her pillows and threw them all at Celestia at the same time, giving her no time to react. As Celestia was pelted by pillows she managed to throw a few back, and very quickly Luna's bedroom turned into a war zone, pillows flying back and forth across the room. Every now and then you could hear a muffled cry from one of them as a pillow collided with their faces, and occasionally a pillow would be thrown in such a way that it was impaled on their horns. In the end there were feathers everywhere and both Celestia and Luna passed out from exhaustion. A few hours later Luna woke up and rose the moon and left Canterlot, making sure not to wake Celestia as she left.

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It was an average day at the Ponyville school, except for one thing. All the kids were following Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon around like pets, waiting on their every beck and call. This wasn't extremely out of the ordinary, the pair usually sucked some poor colt into carrying their things, but today the entire school was their slave. Even Miss Cheerilee had started following them around hoping to find out what was going on with them. At lunch break the two of them called everypony over to the swing set and they began to talk.

"So you all know how the blank flanks went missing right?" Silver Spoon said as the crowd nodded in unison.

"Well we overheard Sweatty Butts sister talking to her friends, and apparently they got lost out in the forest" Diamond Tiara said, followed by a chorus of "Ooh"s from the crowd.

"Today we're going to go out there and find them, just to laugh at them one more time" Diamond Tiara said, getting a few disgusted looks from everypony, including Silver Spoon. Although Diamond Tiara didn't notice as she continued to talk.

"We're going to need some brave colts to come with us to protect us, and if you do" Diamond Tiara said while making a kissing face, causing a few of the kids to make gagging noises as a joke. After a few minutes the kids dispersed, realizing the pair had nothing else to say, but one colt stuck around, looking at the two of them intently.

"Are you going to protect us?" Diamond Tiara said in a fake voice, making herself sound weak.

"No, I just wanted to say that you two are disgusting, wanting to laugh at somepony who might be dead" the colt said coldly before walking away to play with his friends.

"Well that was rude of everypony, not wanting to protect us, and him!" Diamond Tiara said angrily, raising her chin up at the colt that told her off. He happened to look over when she did it and he quickly stuck his tongue out at her, making her even angrier. Next to the fuming Diamond Tiara was a very sad Silver Spoon. After what she heard Diamond Tiara and the colt say she realized that going out there was wrong, and that she should be ashamed of herself for  evne thinking it was a good idea.

After school the pair of fillies made their way towards the Everfree, both of them shaking slightly from fear because they had heard the stories of what was inside, but had never been inside themselves. They hadn't talked to each other since lunch, so when Diamond Tiara starting to go off the path Silver Spoon stayed behind, too afraid to venture into the unknown. As Diamond Tiara continued on she eventually heard Applebloom and Sweetie Belle talking to each other about their plans for the camp.

"Do you think we should add a fire pit?" Sweetie Belle asked, pointing at the center of the clearing.

"I don't know, maybe we should deal with the inside first, since winter is coming in a few months" Applebloom said as she looked at the cart, which wouldn't be able to keep them warm for an extended period of time. As the two fillies began to think Diamond Tiara popped out of the bushes, hoping to scare them, only to be seen by Scootaloo, who was on the roof of the cart.

"What are you doing out here?" Scootaloo asked, completely confused as to why the most pampered filly in Ponyville would wander out into the forest alone.

"Me and Silver Spoon came here to find your bodies and laugh at you, but since you're still alive" Diamond Tiara said, pointing one of her hoofs in then general direction of the group and started to laugh. As she laughed Scootaloo noticed Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had started to shake violently, both of them slowly turning into monsters. Since they had never really cared for Diamond Tiara in any way it was extremely hard for them to keep the monster inside them back, but they couldn't hold it back anymore.

Before Diamond Tiara stopped laughing they lunged forwards, pinning her to the ground. Her laughter stopped as they began to bite at her legs. Scootaloo could only watch in horror as her two friends slowly pulled Diamond Tiara apart, her blood curdling screams making her cover her ears. After a few minutes all that was left of Diamond Tiara, their former bully, was a bit of bone and a pool of blood. The two fillies came back as they turned away from the pool of blood, turning around only to run into the cart in fear. They didn't like Diamond Tiara, but it didn't mean they wanted to kill her. For the rest of the night Applebloom and Sweetie Belle just laid on their beds in silence, and Scootaloo stayed on the roof to try and forget what she saw.

________________________________________________________

As Silver Spoon walked along the path she heard loud cries coming from nearby, causing her to start running. After a few minutes she arrived outside a house that somepony had built inside a tree, and when she knocked on the door a Zebra came to the door. She didn't say anything as she let Silver Spoon inside, who noticed a rather large bugle on the Zebra's stomach.

"Are you pregnant?" Silver Spoon asked sheepishly. The Zebra nodded in return, and quickly grabbed a pen and paper. She quickly wrote something down and handed it to Silver Spoon.

Young filly, as you have noticed I am pregnant, but because of nausea I am feeling from the baby I will not speak

"If you're pregnant where is the father?" Silver Spoon asked, only to be quickly handed another sheet of paper.

He lives in Ponyville, but does not know I am pregnant yet, and wouldn't be able to stay to help me due to his career

"Why don't you move in with him then?" Silver asked again, being handed yet another sheet.

His life on a farm does not suit me, and I much prefer my home here. May I ask why you are out in the forest?

"I came out here with a friend, but she wandered off after we got into the forest, I don't know where she is" Silver Spoon said sadly, a small tear falling from her face. When she looked up Zecora had written another note.

If you come with me I will take you home, and I will keep a look out for your friend

"Okay, I guess" Silver Spoon said quietly, following after Zecora who had begun to make her way out of the house. After a few minutes of walking they noticed a squirrel running past them with a bloody tiara in it's mouth. Silver Spoon quickly walked ahead of Zecora, and as soon as she saw the end of the forest she ran, tears flowing out of her eyes. If Diamond Tiara hadn't been so stupid she'd still be alive, and Silver Spoon wouldn't be alone without her best friend. Behind her Zecora continued to walk slowly, the nausea causing her to sway back and forth. Eventually she fell the the ground, passed out from exhaustion, but luckily Big Mac was coming into the forest to see her just as she fell. He felt bad for what happened, and wanted to see if she was going to be okay, or if she happened to have gotten pregnant. As soon as he saw her passed out with a bulge on her stomach he was both ecstatic, and afraid.

He quickly hefted her onto his back and ran into Ponyville, heading straight for the hospital. It was his fault she was like this, and with the death of his sisters he wasn't planning on loosing Zecora or his child due to his own neglegence. When he arrived at the hospital Zecora was quickly admitted and he ran back to the Everfree. He was going to pay his respects to his sisters no matter what happened.

Zombie Mac

As Big Mac made his way through the forest he looked around to make sure nothing was going to sneak up on him as he dodged roots. Every now and then he stumbled as his giant hoof caught on a root that was sticking a bit to far out of the ground. He would usually curse under his breath as he tried to gain his footing again. One time he completely lost his footing and slipped out of the bush, landing right on his face.

"Gosh darn it, stupid roots..." Big Mac grumbled as he struggled to get to his feet, slipping again in the mud.

"Big Mac?"

Big Mac quickly looked up and saw his little sister, Applebloom, but something was different about her. She seemed, darker and more...

...evil.

"Applebloom?" Big Mac asked slowly as he got to his hooves. Mac quickly looked around and saw both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing next to what looked like Trixie's cart, but heavily modified with a deck and some windows. When he looked below Sweetie Belle he noticed a rather strange looking pool or red liquid, it almost looked like...

"Is that blood?" Big Mac asked lazily as he stared at the pool, hoping it was just some kind of juice from a berry they found in the forest.

"Uh, yeah, it is..." Applebloom said sadly as she kicked the dirt slowly.

"Why?" Big Mac asked stupidly as Sweetie Belle walked over, her hooves covered in blood. She didn't say anything as Mac stared at her in confusion. Soon after Scootaloo made her way over, one of the stitches in her neck starting to come loose, revealing a small amount of flesh behind it.

"Well, uh, you see..." Applebloom started to say but trailed off, quickly looking to her left for help.

"We're kind of, um..." Scootaloo said before turning to Sweetie Belle.

"Dead" Sweetie Belle finished, leaving Mac in complete confusion. It didn't make any sense, how could they be dead if they were all talking to him right now, and he's seen some stuff since Twilight came to town, but he's never seen anything like this. Not even the stuff he's seen Zecora do was as weird as this.

"How?" Mac asked slowly when Sweetie Belle noticed the stitching comic loose on Scootaloo's neck. She quickly rushed Scootaloo into the house and Mac could hear them fighting as Sweetie Belle tried to fix the stitch. After a few minutes they came back out, with a small trickle of blood coming out of Scootaloo's neck and with Sweetie Belle's two front hooves coated in a thin layer of blood.

"What is going on?!" Mac shouted as he fell to his knees. Everything he was seeing made no sense, it reminded him of something out of a horror story. Despite his tough exterior Mac was a real softy, and was always scared by any horror stories someone told him or that he read in a book. He would always cuddle up to Zecora when he heard the Timberwolves howled at night, and would always jump into bed with Zecora when something went bump in the night. Seeing his sister and her two friends like this, was just too much for him to take.

"Big Mac, are you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked as she put a hoof on his shoulder. The coldness of her hoof make Mac freak out even more. In every horror story he had heard where there were zombies they were always cold to the touch.

"Uh, Mac, what's going-" Scootaloo said as the stitching on her neck came out again, shooting a small spray of blood onto Mac, "Son of Discord!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Mac shouted as he turned away from the three fillies, he tried to run but tripped on a root, whacking his head on a tree, knocking him out. Applebloom quickly ran over to him, checking him for any injuries, finding nothing but a small scratch on his leg. As she breathed a sigh of relief she felt something pull at her from the back of her head.

Eat him

"No he's my brother!" Applebloom shouted.

Eat him!

"NO!" Applebloom shouted as she turned away from Big Mac

EAT HIM!

"AH SAID NO!" Applebloom cried, both her and Sweetie Belle falling to the ground. Scootaloo knew what was happening, and quickly ran to Big Mac's side, shaking him to try and wake him up.

"Wake up Big Mac! You have to wake up now!" Scootaloo screamed as she looked over to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, who were both shaking violently, a sign that they were going to change any second now. Thankfully Mac woke up and stumbled to his feet with Scootaloo's help.

"What's going on?" Mac asked, still a little dazed.

"You'll find out later, just run!" Scootaloo shouted as she pushed Mac away from Applebloom, who had begun to run at him. Before he could get far enough away Applebloom managed to get a quick bite on his hind leg, causing him to stumble slightly, but he managed to regain his footing and he took off, running towards Zecora's house. Scootaloo quickly jumped between Applebloom and Big Mac, stopping Applebloom as she tried to chase him. With Scootaloo in her way Applebloom quickly changed back, noticing a strange taste in her mouth.

"Scootaloo, is this..." Applebloom trailed off, looking at the ground around her.

"Yeah, but don't worry, he got away" Scootaloo said as Sweetie Belle walked over shakily.

"What happened? We didn't, you know..." she said, shaking her head.

"Naw, I guess he got away safely, but, I must have bit him before he got away" Applebloom said as she spit out the blood in her mouth,  small bits of red fur going with it.

________________________________________________________

Big Mac continued to run until he saw the familiar outline of Zecora's hut between the trees. He slowed down as he got close to it, looking around to see if Zecora was back yet, but when there was no sign of her he decided to simply find a way into her house. Surprisingly he found the door unlocked, but then again it wasn't like anypony was going to go into the forest to steal anything.

"Zecora, are you home?" Mac asked weakly, his eyes trying to shut. He stumbled through the main room, heading to the bedroom hoping that Zecora was just sleeping. As he walked into the bedroom his vision had begun to blur. Before he could get into the bed he fell to the ground with a thud, his chin colliding with the corner of Zecora's bed as he fell.

"Ugh..." Mac groaned as he tried to get to his hooves again. When he was almost back on all fours he lost his footing again, this time through himself towards the wall. Before he hit the wall he turned his face away, choosing to take the hit to the side of his head instead of the front, although the effect of hitting the wall was still there. Big Mac finally slid to the ground, his eyes shutting tight.

A few minutes after Mac had passed out Zecora entered the forest, having been discharged from Ponyville Hospital. She had apparently become sick from something she ate, and when it got to the baby her body tried to stop it. Although her body went a bit crazy and shut her down completely, thinking that she was in danger. Thankfully the baby was okay so they let her out that as soon as she could walk again. When she was close to her house she saw her front door wide open, along with a trail of blood leading into it.

"Hello?" Zecora said quietly as she walked into her house, following the trail of blood towards her bedroom. When she looked at the wall opposite her door she freaked out. As soon as she could she ran to Big Mac's side, checking for breathing. When she found out he wasn't breathing she tried to do CPR, but he coughed before she could start. Zecora quickly looked over hoping to see Mac alive and awake, but instead she saw blood coming up from his throat. When she tried to do CPR again Mac's head slip to his shoulder, and she immediately ran to her other room, looking for her special potion, the same one she used on Scootaloo.

As she poured the potion into Mac's throat he coughed again, spitting some out onto Zecora. She quickly pulled Mac onto his back so the potion could flow down his throat and work it's magic. After a few minutes Zecora walked away, thinking that it was too late. She had to go tell Granny Smith that her last grandchild was dead, dying in the Everfree like the other two...

"Zecora?" Mac groaned from the other room, causing Zecora to turn around on the spot to run to his side. She couldn't speak at all. The father of her child almost died, and she had given up on him, but he was back, and he was...

"Zecora, are you okay?" Mac asked as she ran into the other room, coming back with a pen and paper. She quickly scribbled something down and handed the paper to Mac.

I'm so happy you're alive again

"Again?" Mac asked stupidly, standing up to look into Zecora's mirror. When he looked into the mirror he was terrified. His coat and mane had darkened, and his eyes had blacked out, glowing green from where his irises should be.

"Zecora, what happened?" Mac asked as Zecora started to quickly write on a new sheet of paper.

I came home and you were dead, I don't know why though

"Well, I ran into Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, but they were..." Mac said, pausing as she shook slightly, "Dead". He looked behind him to see Zecora writing something down again, this time taking much longer.

I've known for a few days, but couldn't tell you about it. Did they bite you?

"I think Applebloom got me before I ran away, but..." Mac started to say before he saw Zecora start to lean side to side, "Zecora?". Zecora quickly vomited on the floor, causing Mac to jump back into the mirror, breaking it with his hind legs. After helping to clean it up Mac continued to ask Zecora about what happened to him, only receiving one more answer.

You died, and I brought you back to life. You are now like Scootaloo

When Zecora said that Mac lost it. How could he be dead?! If he was dead he shouldn't be able to talk or think. Unless he's a zombie, or Zecora did something to him, but why? Why him? What did he do to deserve this?! Although his thoughts brought on more question to mind.

"Does this mean Applebloom won't attack me?"

Zecora nodded slowly, still trying to recover from being sick. Mac quickly stood up and hugged Zecora, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before he left. Thankfully his blood trail was still on the ground so he had a way to get back to his sister. If he was going to be dead, and his sister was going to be dead too, then he was going to be the best dead big brother ever.

Guardian Zombie

Applebloom was sitting on her bed when she heard something happening outside. She quickly ran to the window, seeing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle coming up the the house, a familiar looking stallion behind them, he almost looked like...

"Big Mac?!" Applebloom shouted as she ran to the door, throwing it open and running to hug her brother. When she saw his glowing green eyes she knew what had happened. Her biting him must have caused him to die, but he ended up running into Zecora, who brought him back like she had done with Scootaloo.

"Hey sis" Big Mac said as he hugged her back with one leg, a big smile on his face. He continued to hug Applebloom until Scootaloo coughed. The siblings quickly let go of each other, both of them smiling happily.

"So, you died?" Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at Mac's glowing eyes, notcing that they were different from Scootaloo's. Unlike Scootaloo's his eyes seemed to flow smoothly, calming Sweetie Belle.

"Eeyup" Big Mac said, smiling as he looked at Sweetie Belle, his eyes making her smile too. The two of them smiled happily at each other before Scootaloo coughed again, breaking their stare.

"Why did you come here?" Scootaloo asked flatly. After she had to jump in front of Applebloom to try and save him she wasn't too pleased to see him here looking like she did. What was the point of her trying if he was going to die anyways, only difference is he's now a zombie as well.

"Well, I know you three are all alone out here, and I thought that as Applebloom's big brother it was my duty to come watch over hew" Big Mac said, still smiling. As Scootaloo looked at him she felt her anger going away, but only slightly, she was still angry at him for dying, even though it didn't make any sense.

"So you're okay that I got you killed?" Applebloom asked, looking at the ground sadly.

"Eeyup" Big Mac said, smiling at her. It was as if he was cursed to smile forever, which confused Scootaloo. Was his revival not perfect, did it make him eternally happy, or was he really that happy that he could be dead with his sister? Scootaloo walked away slowly, watching him intently. He was eventually going to slip up and show how upset he was, and she was going to confront he when he did. Heck, with his growing green eyes he could even be a changling who just happened to get the image right so he could feed of Applebloom's love.

As Scootaloo walked away Applebloom and Sweetie Belle grabbed onto Big Mac's forelegs and started to drag him around the camp, showing and telling him about everything they had done. Everytime the told him about something they had done he smiled happily, making the two of them smile as well. By the end of the tour Scootaloo was gagging. It was just too happy and sweet, they were dead, and they weren't supposed to be happy. They. Were. Dead.

"Scootaloo, can you come over here for a second?" Applebloom shouted from the other side of the camp as Sweetie Belle pulled Big Mac away. Scootaloo walked over slowly, still eyeing Big Mac as Sweetie Belle pulled him out of the camp.

"What is it Applebloom?" Scootaloo said, not even looking at Applebloom.

"Why are you staring at my brother like that?" Applebloom asked, a hint of anger in her voice. She dind't like the fact that Scootaloo was eyeing Big Mac, watching his every move. All she wanted to do was be happy that she could be with her brother, and then there was Scootaloo, gagging when she looked at him.

"I had to jump in front of you so you wouldn't kill him! I tried to save his life!" Scootaloo shouted, causing Applebloom to shrink away, "But he still died!". Scootaloo turned away from Applebloom quickly, tears coming down her face. Even in death she couldn't do anything for anypony. She hated herself for failing to save Big Mac, and now she has to see him everyday for the rest of time. Could it get any worse?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Scootaloo and Applebloom quickly looked in the direction the scream came from, seeing Sweetie Belle jumping through the bushes, her face covered in some weird liquid.

"GUYS, COME QUICKLY, MAC IS UNDER ATTACK!" Sweetie Belle screamed, turning on the spot to jump back into the bush, making Scootaloo and Applebloom take off after her. Scootaloo wasn't going to fail Big Mac this time!

________________________________________________________

When Scootaloo and Applebloom caught up to Sweetie Belle they found Big Mac standing in a circle of Timberwolves, their bodies shattered.

"Big Mac...?" Applebloom said as she looked at the bodies, looking to see if any of them were still alive. She gave them all a kick in the head, and when none of them moved she looked at her brother. His calming green eyes were gone, looking bleaker than they had before. Applebloom quickly walked over to him and looked to see if he was okay, notcing a small scratch along his ribs.

"Did you kill them all?" Scootaloo asked as she stepped over one of their bodies, being careful not to touch it. Mac just nodded instead of speaking. After a few minutes he started to walk back towards the camp, very slowly, with his head hanging low. The three fillies looked at each other before following after him. On the way back they watched Mac carefully, watching to make sure he wasn't going to do anything crazy. When they got back to the camp he made his way to the deck, sitting down on one of the chairs they had made.

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom all looked at each other one more time before heading off to do their chores. Sweetie Belle was going to go look for water, Applebloom was going to go look for food, and Scootaloo was going to look around for something to make clothes out of. As they went about their business Big Mac was watching them intently, as if something was going to jump out at them. He continued to look until they headed inside to sleep.

"Are you going to stay out here Mac?" Applebloom asked as she passed by, hoping that he would come inside.

"Eenope" Big Mac said coldly, not bothering to look at her. Applebloom lowered her head and headed inside, looking at him once again before closing the door. Big Mac sat there quietly, as if he was expecting something to come and attack the camp...

*Rustle*

His head shot up as he heard something in the bushes. He stared at the spot for a few seconds, looking for something to pop out, but nothing did, so he looked away. When he did a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the bush, staring straight at him. Before Mac could react the beast jumped out of the bush, throwing itself at him, causing them to roll off the deck. Mac tried to though it off, but it grabbed onto him tightly, holding him to the ground.

"Who are you?" the beast growled, drool dripping out of it's mouth onto his face.

"What are you?" Big Mac snarled back, spitting in the beast's face.

"I am Grey Hoof, leader of the Blanks" the beast whispered into Big Mac's ear, "and you had better fear me"

"I'm dead already, I have nothing to fear" Big Mac laughed back, causing Grey Hoof to growl as he climbed off.

"You're like that orange one aren't you?" Grey Hoof asked as he looked over Mac's body.

"Eeyup, which means you can't do anything to me" Big Mac said as he looked over Grey Hoof. The two of them stared at each other for a few more minutes, looking to see which one of them would win if they fought. Grey Hoof slowly backed away, staring Mac down as he did.

"I can't do anything to you, but that doesn't mean I can't do anything to the little one" Grey Hoof said as he walked in the trees, laughing like a maniac. Mac watched him as he left, but when he heard something coming from inside the house. He quickly ran to the door, finding Applebloom and Sweetie Belle climbing out of bed and walking towards Scootaloo. Big Mac quickly ran towards her and pushed the other two away before throwing Scootaloo onto his back. He quickly ran out of the house, running towards Zecora's house, hoping to hide Scootaloo there.

________________________________________________________

"Zecora!" Big Mac said as he opened the door to Zecora's house. He looked around for her, finding her sleeping in her bed, deep asleep. After putting Scootaloo down next to Zecora's bed he wrote a note for Zecora to find in the morning.

Zecora, I'm sorry for leaving Scootaloo for you to find in the morning, along with this note. Grey Hoof came to me tonight and tried to get Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to kill her. I was hoping you could watch her for a little while until everything was okay with the others,

Love, Big Mac

Mac quickly folded the note so it could stand on it's own and put it on Zecora's nightstand. After making sure everything was okay with Scootaloo he made his way out of the house, making sure to shut the door behind him. He turned around to head back to the camp, but as he got into the trees he was ambushed by three Blanks, who had been waiting for him. They managed to pull him to the ground, biting his hind leg before he was able to buck them off. When he got to his hooves he bucked each of them in the face, throwing them back into the trees.

"STOP HIM!" Grey Hoof shouted as three more Blanks jumped out of the trees. Big Mac quickly bucked each of them and ran off towards the camp. As he reached the camp he saw a group of Blanks inside the house and he immediately ran inside, hoping that Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were okay. When he opened the door he saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle sitting in front of Grey Hoof.

"Welcome home" Gery Hoof said quietly, "We missed you"

"What are you doing to them?" Mac growled, lowering his body so he could attack Grey Hoof. Grey Hoof laughed quietly as Blanks came up behind him, but Mac didn't care. He brougt his hind legs up and bucked the Blanks behind him in the faces, using them to launch himself at Grey Hoof. As he hit Grey Hoof the Blanks disappeared, and Mac ended up hitting the wall on the other side of the room.

"Big Mac?" Applebloom asked groggily. Big Mac quickly ran over to her side, checking for any cuts or wounds. He breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't find any, and he turned around to look at Sweetie Belle, but she had already gotten up and was walking around.

"Where's Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking out the window to see if she was outside.

"She's at Zecora's right now" Big Mac said calmly. He managed to keep all three of them safe, as long as none of the Blanks had gone into Zecora's house...

"I'll be back in a bit, I'm going to go get Scootaloo" Big Mac said as he got up and made his way towards the door.

"We're coming with you" Applebloom said cheerfully, with Sweetie Belle standing at her side.

"Eenope, you guys are staying here, just get some sleep ok" Mac said as he opened the door, "I'll be back in a bit.

"Ok..." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said sadly. Big Mac closed the door, smiling at them as he made his way towards Zecora's again. Now that things had calmed down, or so he hoped, he could go bring Scootaloo home.

Safety

"Hello?" Big Mac said as he entered Zecora's house, thinking her or Scootaloo might have woken up, but he received to answer. He carefully entered the house, the worst situation possible running through his head as he did. What if the Blanks came here and decided to kill them to get back at me? He continued to think about it until he heard a loud moan coming from Zecora's room. As quickly as he could he ran in, careful not to break the door down, and found Zecora on her bed holding her stomach while Scootaloo watched, horrified.

"Mac, thank goodness you are here, as you might be able to see..." Zecora was saying, until she was cut off by another a sharp pain. Mac decided to look her over to see what was wrong, and when he looked at her lower half he figured out what was happening. He quickly turned to Scootaloo and put his hooves on her shoulders.

"Keep a close eye on her okay" he said before running off, leaving a confused Scootaloo to watch Zecora moan in pain all alone. Mac's knowledge of pregnancy was about to come in handy, but he would like to have somepony to help him, maybe Doctor Stable or...

AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!

"Oh to the moon with it!" Mac shouted as he turned around, running back to Zecora's side. After he gathered some bed sheets, and what he hoped was soap, he rolled Zecora onto her back.

"What are you doing Mac?" Scootaloo asked worriedly. She had no clue what was going on, nor what Mac needed bed sheets and soap for. Was he going to give Zecora a bath or something.

"Darn it, I almost forgot!" Big Mac said as he looked back at what he had gathered, "Scootaloo, can you go get a bucket or something and fill it with water for me?". Scootaloo nodded quickly and ran through Zecora's house and managed to find a rather large bucket, probably used for washing her bed sheets. After filling it with water she ran back into the room, only to find Mac with his head between Zecora's legs.

"M-Mac?" Scootaloo stuttered, her face turning a dark shade of red. Was Mac really about to do that?

"Did you get the water?" Mac asked quickly, pulling his head out from Zecora's thighs. Scootaloo nodded and he quickly shooed her out of the room. Scootaloo decided to sit on a chair in the main room, waiting for Mac to be done his business so he could find out what was wrong with Zecora.

________________________________________________________

After a few hours of long, painful, moans from Zecora Big Mac came out into the main room covered in sweat. Scootaloo looked at him in disgust until she saw Zecora laying in her bed smiling.

"What did you do Mac?" Scootaloo asked happily, waving at Zecora.

"I delivered a baby" Mac said in an exhausted voice, collapsing to the ground.

"Zecora was pregnant?" Scootaloo asked in surprise. She didn't even notice a bulge on Zecora's belly, but then again, she didn't know anything about a zebra's anatomy, let alone a pony's.

"I guess so, but this wasn't a normal birth" Mac said as he got to his hooves with a grunt, "This baby was two months early"

"Woah..." Scootaloo said slowly as she thought about how long two months was to a baby. When she stopped thinking she found Mac sleeping in a chair next to Zecora, who was also sound asleep. Scootaloo guessed they were tired from the delivery, so she looked around for the baby, finding it sitting in the bucket, splashing around happily. The baby wasn't like a pony baby, but it did have some pony qualities. It was probably mostly Zebra, but it's mane was a bright pink and it's body was somewhat pink, but it still had the same stripes that Zecora had. The baby stared at Scootaloo when it noticed her, but then quickly splashed her with water, making her growl.

"Stupid baby, if you weren't so tiny and cute I'd get mad at you for that" Scootaloo said with a small laugh as she rubbed the baby's head before heading back to the main room. Since Mac was here she might as well stay as well, since he had probably come back to get her anyways. As Scootaloo laid down she thought about how she got here anyways, but she was too tired to think about it now. Withing in minutes she had passed out, and started dreaming about what the baby would be like in a few years.

________________________________________________________

The next week passed by quickly after Zecora gave birth, the other two fillies of the forest coming to visit the new baby, which they decided to name Pink Pearl due to her pinkish color, and because of the rarity of a zebra/pony baby being born. Everyday Big Mac would take the fillies to go see her, and they would spend hours playing with her while he talked to Zecora in another room. As odd as it seemed, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle never got an urge to eat the baby, but Scootaloo jokingly said it was because 'Even monsters have rules', which the other two pushed her for. As Scootaloo got ready to go pick up the letters from the elements she gave Pearl a hug.

"See you in a bit kiddo" Scootaloo said before taking off on her scooter. She had always heard Rainbow Dash say that to her, and now that there was a filly younger than her around she finally had someone to say it to as well. Which reminded her that Rainbow said she would occasionally fly over the forest and find Scootaloo so she could bring her some treats, they just had to figure out a place to meet up. As she ran up to the library door she heard Rarity talking loudly inside.

"And then she tried to eat me, but Scootaloo and Applebloom held her back!" Rarity said dramatically. The other four ponies gasped, but then Rainbow piped up.

"Serves you right for going in there, Luna specifically told us no too" Rainbow said in a moderately angry tone.

"I know she said that dear, but it's my sister, don't you want to go see Scootaloo?" Rarity said defensively, trying to turn the attention towards Rainbow, who she had seen flying by the forest for the past few days.

"Of course I do, but I'm not going to just walk in there after Luna said the other two eat meat!" Rainbow shouted angrily. Being the element of loyalty meant she hated it when ponies were disloyal, especially when it was one of her friends.

"Well I never!" Rarity said dramatically as she walked towards the door, opening it on Scootaloo's face, making her fall backwards in pain.

"Ow..." Scootaloo moaned as she rubbed her nose, looking up to see Rarity with a surprised look on her face.

"Are you here to take our letters?" Rarity asked quickly, acting very uptight.

"Uh, yeah..." Scootaloo said slowly, not sure what was going on. Rarity quickly used her magic to give her the letters from everypony and then trotted back to her boutique angrily. Scootaloo watched her as she walked away, not sure why Rainbow making a good point was making her upset, and it was her fault anyways since Luna did warm them about visits. As Scootaloo got up she felt a hoof on her shoulder, and when she turned around she saw Rainbow smiling at her happily. The rainbow maned mare quickly pulled Scootaloo into a big hug, holding onto her for a while.

"Uh, hi Rainbow" Scootaloo said slowly after Rainbow let go of her. Rainbow just smiled at her, and then gave her another hug before going back inside the library. Scootaloo had no idea what was going on with them, but she knew she couldn't stay for long or else somepony might see her and ask questions, so she got on her scooter and left, heading back to the forest.

________________________________________________________

In Canterlot it was a much different story. The princesses had begun fighting again and many of the guards were worried one of them might, pull a Nightmare Moon, as they called it. Both Shining Armor and Night Wing, the two captains, had tried to keep word from spreading outside the guards, but somepony spilled the beans and now many of the higher ups in Canterlot society knew. As if that wasn't enough both Celestia and Luna haven't come out of their bed chambers in days, leaving  Cadance to try and run the government, and even with Shining and his parents help she was quickly getting overwhelmed. Night knew it was time to talk to Luna about what was going on, and was determined to do so, but every night he tried he would be shooed away without saying anything, but tonight would be different, he could feel it.

Knock, Knock

"Princess Luna? It is I, Night Wing, I would-" he said, but was cut off by her doors opening, with her on the other side.

"What is it captain?" Luna asked coldly, tired of his nightly interruptions.

"Ma'am, if you and your sister don't repair things soon, things may take a severe turn for the worst in Canterlot, possibly even all of Equestria" Night Wing said quickly, trying to get it all out before Luna threw him out, but tonight she didn't.

"What would go wrong captain?" Luna asked as she turned to go back to her bed, which she had been laying in before he had knocked on the door. Night Wing quickly walked up next to her, only to be pushed back a few feet by her magic.

"Ma'am, the nobles have heard that you and your sisters are fighting, some of the more ambitious ones are talking about performing a coupe" Night Wing explained, pausing to take a breath, "And Princess Cadance is not able to run all of Equestria on her own, nor with her husband and his parents help"

"So? Why don't you ask Celestia to things like she did while I was on the moon?!" Luna snapped. She knew what was going on, she could control dreams with her magic, and she had seen the dreams of those wishing to overthrow her family, so none of this was news to her.

"Ma'am, I would rather it if you and Princess Celestia both ran Equestria, that is how it should be" Night Wing said, before bracing himself to be thrown out. It was a good thing he did too, because Luna had had enough of talking to him and being reminded of her sister, so she picked him up and threw him against the wall. He landed in a heap, unconscious due to the force of the hit.

Kill him

"NO!" Luna shouted, waking up the captain.

DO IT!

"NO!" Luna shouted again, bringing her hooves to her head, the captain staring at her in complete confusion.

It will be fun, trust me!

"SHUT UP!" Luna screamed as she picked up a decorative sword she kept on the wall. She held it close to her as Grey Hoof continued to whisper in her head, trying to get her to kill the captain, who was now walking towards her.

"Princess, are you-" Night Wing started to ask as he put a hoof on Luna's shoulder. In her crazed state she spun around, slicing his throat with the sword on accident.

Perfect, now wasn't that fun?

"What?!" Luna shouted, looking around, seeing the body of Night Wing on her floor, blood flowing out of the gash on her neck. Luna realized that she did just as Grey Hoof had expected she would, and she ended up killing her own guard in cold blood. She quickly picked up Night Wing's body and flew towards the balcony, preparing to dispose of his body, framing it so that it would seem as though he was killed in a mugging rather than by a princess.

"I've fallen so far..." Luna said sadly as she flew off her balcony towards the city. No sane princess should ever have to frame the deaths of one of their guards, let alone their captain. When Luna had come back Night Wing was the only guard to speak to her, and now he was dead, by her own hoof no less. As Luna laid his body down in a back alley she started to cry, and when she laid back in her bed she wept, not only for Night Wing, but for herself.

Ghost of a Sister

It had been nearly a month since Zecora had given birth, and she had decided to stay in the forest, despite Mac's arguements. Being the caring pony he was he didn't want to risk his daughter's life just so he could see her everyday, but he eventually caved in and let Zecora stay in her house. Whenever he would go and see Pearl the CMZ were left by themselves, and they usually ended up hunting squirrels for food, building additions to the cart, or just lazing about, to name a few. Today they had decided to hunt squirrels.

"Any idea where they might be hiding now?" Applebloom asked as she checked some of their traps, none of them having been set off. She sighed sadly as she looked down the line of traps, not a single one having been disturbed.

"No idea, but it sure isn't here" Sweetie Belle said angrily as she saw that her own traps were also empty. The two fillies continued down the path angrily. If they didn't find a squirrel soon they would run out of food in a few days, unless they were going to turn to hunting birds...

"Hey guys?" Scootaloo asked nervously from behind, making the two other fillies stop in their tracks and turn around angrily.

"What is it Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle snapped. It wasn't like she had to eat to stay alive, she only had to eat if it seemed like it would be good, what would she know about how frustrating hunting was...

"I think you caught something over there" Scootaloo said, raising a hoof to point off into the distance. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle followed her gaze and saw one of their older traps had been sprung, but when they got closer there was nothing caught in it.

"Dang thing went off on it's own!" Applebloom shouted while kicking the ground. She turned around when she heard another trap get pulled. Without telling the others about it she ran towards the other trap, and as she got closer another trap went off. Applebloom continued to run after the traps until she saw a faint orange glow just ahead of her, right over top of the traps that were being set off.

"Get back here!" Applebloom shouted, trying to make the glow stop. As if it heard her the glow stopped for a moment, but continued to run away. Applebloom quickly picked up her pace to try and catch it, and when she finally got close to the glow it disappeared.

"Where did you go?!" Applebloom shouted as she stopped running, trying to find out where the glow had gone off too. When there was no response she turned around to head back, only to find the orange glow right in front of her. She screamed and fell back onto her flank.

"Ouch!" Applebloom said while rubbing her flank, "What the...". What she saw when she looked up made her freeze in place. Standing right in front of her was Applejack, but she was glowing oddly, even her eyes were different. Instead of their usual look they were completely green, glowing just like the rest of her body.

"Sis?" Applebloom and the glowing figure both said, looking at each other in surprise. They continued to stare at each other for a few minutes before one of them spoke up.

"Applebloom, is that you?" the figure asked, making Applebloom start to shake.

"Applejack, is that you..." Applebloom said quietly, trying to fight back tears as she looked over the figure, "Sis...?". The figure suddenly lunged forwards and hugged Applebloom. As they hugged Applebloom started to cry, she could tell thing giving her a hug was her sister. It warm and familiar, it made her feel like she was still back on the farm.

"What happened Applebloom?" Applejack asked in a strange voice, probably due to her being a ghost, or whatever she was.

"It's a long story, but what happened to you, I thought you were..." Applebloom said, trying to keep back tears, "...Dead"

"I am dead, but something made me come back like this" Applejack said, looking over her own body, "I really don't know why though"

"Huh, I've seen stranger things though" Applebloom said with a shrug.

"Mind letting me in on what's happened?" Applejack asked, sitting down on the ground. Applebloom quickly sat next to her and began to tell her everything that happened over the past month...

________________________________________________________

"So Big Mac's dead too, huh?" Applejack asked sadly, not because her brother was dead, since he was still moving around, but more for Granny Smith. With all of her grandchildren now dead, how was she going to run the farm, or even take care of herself?

"Yeah, but I do have some good news!" Applebloom said cheerfully, as if she had forgotten all about all the grim things she described to her sister.

"What good news comes out of everypony bein' dead?" Applejack asked, not wanting to believe anything good has happened since she died.

"Well, Zecora and Mac had a baby" Applebloom said happily, making Applejack give her a deadpan stare.

"I thought you said I'd only been dead for a month" Applejack said flatly, not wanting to think her brother had been running off into the forest to play with Zecora at night. It wasn't that she didn't like Zecora, it was just the thought of Big Mac keeping something like that a secret from her that ticked her off.

"Well, yeah, it's only been a month, why?" Applebloom asked, not seeing why Applejack wouldn't trust her.

"Applebloom, it takes a lot more than one month before somepony, even a zebra, can give birth to a baby" Applejack said with a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder, "Didn't they teach you about this in school?"

"Eenope" Applebloom said, thinking about what Cheerilee has said about childbirth, "All Cheerilee told us was that only two ponies who loved each other could create a foal". Applejack facehoofed and cursed Cheerilee under her breath so Applebloom couldn't hear it. How could she not take the time to explain to them the concept of sex, or even pregnancy?

"Sis?" Applebloom asked as Applejack continued to curse out Cheerilee, still not being heard by Applebloom. She continued to curse Cheerilee out until she had run out of things to call her. If they were still alive she could just tell Applebloom that she'll learn about it eventually, but with them being dead eventually could mean never, so...

"Now Applebloom, when a stallion and a mare really like each other..." Applejack said, a pinkish glow appearing on her cheeks.

________________________________________________________

"Scootaloo!" Big Mac called as Scootaloo shot past him on her scooter. It had been at least an hour since Applebloom had run off by herself, but with her already being dead they had nothing to worry about, and since it was that time of the week again Scootaloo had decided to go trade letters with the girls.

"Yeah Mac?" Scootaloo asked as she came to a quick stop, tossing dirt into the air. She turned to face Big Mac, who had Pearl on his back.

"Pearl needs some vitamins or something from town, can you ask Twilight to get them for us?" Big Mac asked nicely, surprising Scootaloo. She thought she was in trouble or something for going so fast on her scooter. She quickly nodded and gave Pearl a hug before rushing through the forest, quickly finding herself on the edge of Ponyville. It was still afternoon so she decided to go see Fluttershy first since her cottage was close to the edge of the forest anyways. Within minutes she was outside of Fluttershy's place, finding the yellow pony in her backyard feeding her chickens.

"Hi Fluttershy" Scootaloo said as she walked into the yard, causing Fluttershy to jump.

"Oh, hi Scootaloo, you scared me for a second there" Fluttershy said sweetly. It still confused Scootaloo that Fluttershy didn't have a special somepony yet, but she decided to continue on with her business rather than bother Fluttershy with pointless questions. She quickly pulled out the letters for Fluttershy, one of them being from Big Mac this time, and waited patiently as Fluttershy ran inside to get her letters.

"Sorry for making you wait Scootaloo, I know you're busy getting everypony's letters right now" Fluttershy said as she carried a few packages under her wing, each of them labeled for the CMZ, Big Mac, and Zecora?

"Why is there a package for Zecora?" Scootaloo asked, partly out of curiosity, but mostly out of despair as it meant another big thing to carry back into the forest with her.

"Oh, well, Sweetie Belle said Zecora had a baby recently, so I thought she might like something to help her relax" Fluttershy said quickly. Scootaloo groaned quickly, expecting the package to be rather heavy, remembering the first package Fluttershy had given her two weeks ago. It was full of toys for her, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and it must have weighed a ton. Before Fluttershy could put the packages on Scootaloo's back a familiar multicolored blur stole the packages.

"Fluttershy, are you trying to break her back?" Rainbow laughed while moving the packages around, getting a feel for how heavy they were, "What's even in these things?"

"Just a few things I thought they might need" Fluttershy said quietly, feeling embarrassed that Rainbow had found out how much she was sending out. She slowly shied away from Rainbow, but bumped into Twilight and Pinkie, who had just made their way around the house.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, seeing Rainbow with the packages.

"Nothing, come on squirt, I'll help you carry these back," Rainbow said before turning to face Twilight and the others, "We'll be back for your letters later!". Rainbow quickly pulled Scootaloo with her, taking her straight into the forest.

"What are you doing Rainbow?" Scootaloo asked, not sure why she would go into the forest with her. Before Scootaloo could figure out what was going on Rainbow hugged her tight. Scootaloo hugged back, enjoying the physical contact with her idol.

"Sorry, I just had to do it" Rainbow said nervously, "Until you left I never realized how much I liked you being my #1 fan"

"Oh, thanks Rainbow..." Scootaloo said shyly while kicking the ground. Rainbow went in for another hug, but stopped when there was a loud scream from Fluttershy's cottage. Scootaloo quickly picked up the packages and ran back on her scooter with Rainbow in tow, making sure the packages didn't fall off. When they got back they saw a faint orange figure standing in front of Twilight, meanwhile Rarity was laying in a fancy couch that came from Celestia knows where.

"What's going on?!" Rainbow said, letting go of the packages.

"Hey there Rainbow" Applejack said, turning to face her best friend, managing to scare even her.

"Twi, what's going on?!" Rainbow said louder this time, her fear showing in her voice. There was no way her dead friend was a ghost, it must be a hallucination or something, right?

"I don't know, it just doesn't make any sense, ghosts don't exist!" Twilight screamed as she fell to the ground, covering her head with her hooves. Although the rest of the girls were terrified Pinkie simply walked up to Applejack and gave her a hug.

"Welcome back, long time no see!" Pinkie said happily, hugging Applejack tightly.

"Hey there Pinkie" Applejack said happy to see one of her friends wasn't terrified. She looked over Pinkie's shoulder to see Twilight laying on her side, stroking her tail, which was between her legs, as if she had gone crazy. Seeing a ghost caused her to have a mental breakdown. Everything she had read had always said ghosts don't exist, but then, what's standing over her right now?!

"Uh, Twi, are you gonna be alright?" Applejack asked, putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, making her shake. It felt real, slightly cold and soft, but real. There was just no logical way to look at anymore. Applejack was a ghost, and she was touching Twilight right now. The shock of realizing that everything she had read about the paranormal was wrong caused Twilight to pass out. Applejack worriedly looked at Rainbow.

"Why does everypony keep passing out?" Applejack asked, only for Rainbow to pass out as well. The realization that if Twilight passed out from being touched then it meant this wasn't normal in any way. Applejack then turned to Scootaloo, who was suppressing a laugh.

"What in tarnation got into these ponies?" Applejack thought aloud, as if somepony was going to answer, but nopony did. Now she was surrounded by three passed out ponies, one terrified Fluttershy, and two ponies who were doing everything they could to not laugh.

"Oh boy..." Applejack sighed as she facehoofed, knowing that getting her friends to act normally around her again was going to take a lot of time, and patience.

Under The Dead of Night

"So Applejack's a ghost now?" Sweetie Belle asked when Applebloom finished her story. Applebloom had just gotten back to the camp when Sweetie Belle ran over and started interrogating her on where she had been. She had only been gone for a few hours, it's not like she could have died or anything.

"Yeah, I guess the stress she had when she died ended up tying her to the forest" Applebloom said as Big Mac walked over, interested in what they were talking about. He quickly pulled up a chair before sitting down with a full mug of cider, which came from the barrel of cider he took off the farm a few nights back.

"But if she's tied to the forest then why did it take this long for her to show up?" Sweetie Belle asked. She had a point though. Applejack has been dead for over a month now, so why did she only show up now?

"Maybe she couldn't find y'all" Big Mac said as he finished off his mug, and was getting ready to stand up and refill it when Sweetie Belle turned towards him.

"But the forest can't be that big, and wouldn't she have come back near here, where she died?" Sweetie Belle argued, thinking about all the ghost stories she knew and what restrictions were usually placed on the ghost.

"Eeyup, but Twilight tried to get her to the hospital" Big Mac said while refilling his mug, "They think she died during the teleport". Both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were surprised at how calmly Big Mac talked about Applejack's death, but then again, when you're dead yourself it doesn't really matter anymore.

"But if that's correct then shouldn't she be able to go anywhere?" Sweetie Belle asked, noting a flaw in the story Applebloom had told her. She quickly turned around and saw Applebloom shifting uncomfortably. Sweetie walked over to her slowly, getting Applebloom's attention.

"Everythin' okay Sweetie?" Applebloom asked nervously.

"If she died in the teleport, than why would she be bound to the forest?" Sweetie Belle asked slowly, leaning in so her nose almost touched Applebloom's.

"Well, uh, I'm sure that, uh..." Applebloom stuttered, trying to figure out a lie to say to Sweetie Belle. Applejack had made her promise to not tell any of them that she was going to go see the other Elements and tell them that she was a ghost now. She also swore to not tell Zecora so that she could surprise her and her daughter one day.

"There's something you're not telling us..." Sweetie Belle said while giving Applebloom the stink eye, hoping it would make her speak up. As she had hoped Applebloom cracked, and she quickly pulled Sweetie Belle out of the camp, not wanting Big Mac to know the secret, even though he probably figured it out by now.

"She's going to see the others" Applebloom whispered, looking at Sweetie Belle with sad eyes. She couldn't believe she just broke a promise she made to her sister...

SNAP! THUD!

"What was that?!" Sweetie Belle shouted, looking towards the source of the noise. Her and Applebloom quickly ran over and found what looked like a royal guard, but his bones were bent at weird angles, and he didn't seem to be moving at all...

"Is he dead?" Applebloom asked worriedly, picking up a stick to poke the guard with. As she reached forwards to poke him she heard a noise above her, and suddenly she was being crushed by some unknown object.

"Luna?!" Sweetie Belle shouted in surprise when she looked at the thing that had landed on Applebloom. The princess of the night quickly got to her feet, making sure not to step on Applebloom. She looked around before realizing what had brought the two fillies to where she was.

"Oh no..." Luna said quietly, fear coming over her face. There was no way they could have seen her drop the body right, they wouldn't know it was her that...

Nice job Luna, this will feed them for weeks

"What did Grey Hoof just say?" Applebloom asked slowly, looking at Luna hoping she would answer her. Luna slowly started to shake as Grey Hoof began to laugh. His plan was going to work, he was going to make one of the all mighty rulers of Equestria succumb to the curse and die!

Ha ha ha ha ha!

"Why is he laughing so much?!" Sweetie Belle cried as she held her head, the laughing increasing in volume.

Still haven't figured it out young fillies?

"What?" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle asked, looking at the body and then at Luna, trying to put the two and two together. When the realization dawned upon them their jaws dropped.

Did you finally figure it out young fillies?

Grey Hoof started to laugh again as Luna began to shake on the ground violently. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom went over to help her but she suddenly took off, so fast that she ended up throwing the two fillies back against the trees. After they hit the ground they rubbed their heads, looking over at the guard pony's body only to see a pack of timberwolves pulling it apart.

"Eww..." Sweetie Belle said slowly, nearly barfing at the sight, "At least we're more civilized than that"

"Yeah..." Applebloom said as she turned around to head back to camp, "Let's go back now"

"Deal!" Sweetie Belle said as she ran past Applebloom, eager to find something nicer to look at.

________________________________________________________

"So, you're a ghost now?" Twilight asked slowly, trying to understand what Applejack was saying to her, "But how are you here?"

"I don't know, I just found myself in the forest one day like this" Applejack said, looking at her body, or whatever it was. They had been talking about it for around a few hours now, but all the had managed to deduce was that Applejack had somehow come back to life as a weird glowey thingy, as Pinkie put it.

"Can you walk through walls?!" Pinkie shouted, quickly stuffing her hoof in her mouth so she wouldn't say anything else. Twilight gave her an annoyed look before turning back to Applejack, who was now poking her hoof at a wall. Twilight watched as Applejack faded away momentarily as she put her hoof through the wall.

"I guess I can go through walls" Applejack said surprised that she had actually managed to get her hoof to go into the wall.

"But to do so it seems like you had to lower your density so that you could fit between the particles in the wood" Twilight said, receiving blank stares from everypony else.

"Um, English please?" Rainbow asked sarcastically.

"She made herself lighter so she could go through the wall" Twilight said with a sigh, which made the others laugh. She quickly shook her head before looking back at Applejack. When she looked back Applejack  was gone, but it felt as if somepony was right behind her...

"BOO!" Applejack shouted suddenly, making all of them jump slightly, except for Pinkie. She just sat there calmly with a giant smile on her face.

"Uh, Pinkie?" Applejack asked while leaning over Pinkie's shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Pinkie said happily while turning to face Applejack.

"She didn't scare you like she did us dear?" Rarity asked while shooting Applejack an angry glare.

"Nope!" Pinkie said loudly, making everypony give her a weird look.

"Did your Pinkie sense tell you Applejack was about to do that?" Fluttershy asked quietly, still shaking from the scare.

"I think so" Pinkie said while tapping her chin, "I just felt like she was about to do something scary, so when she did do it, I didn't get scared!". Pinkie looked at the others with a giant smile, which faded away when she saw their confused looks.

"What?" Pinkie asked, snapping the others out of their stupor.

"Sorry, we were just, uh..." Rainbow said, looking to Twilight for an excuse.

"Amazed at how keen you are Pinkie" Twilight said, letting Rainbow breath a sigh of relief. Rainbow quickly mouthed a thank you to Twilight before looking back at Pinkie who was looking at Twilight in confusion.

"What does keen mean?"

________________________________________________________

"That took a long time" Scootaloo moaned as she left Fluttershy's house with Applejack in tow. Twilight had interrogated her for almost three hours, trying to get everything she could out of her so she could tell Celestia. In the end Applejack asked her to not tell Celestia about anything, afraid that she might think that it would be her duty to fix things, which wouldn't end well.

"Are you headin' back to the camp Scootaloo?" Applejack asked as Scootaloo started to enter the forest.

"Yeah, want to come?" Scootaloo asked nicely, hoping she could surprise Big Mac with Applejack's new look.

"Sure, I'll tag along" Applejack said happily, smiling sweetly at Scootaloo as she walked up to her side. The two of them made their way through the forest, running into the traps the girls had set up to catch squirrels. Scootaloo ended up getting her hoof caught in one and was nearly pulled, but Applejack grabbed her and kicked the trap off her hoof.

"Watch where you're walking Scoots" Applejack said while roughing up Scootaloo's mane with her hoof.

"Yeah, yeah, let's keep moving" Scootaloo said quickly, she didn't like being babied like that, especially not by one of her friend's sister. They walked in silence until they got back to the camp. As the walked into the clearing she could hear Big Mac snoring from inside the house, but there was no sign of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"I wonder where they went" Scootaloo said as she headed towards the house, eager to wake up Big Mac first so he could show Applejack to him, but Applejack decided to beat her too it. Using her new found ability to walk through walls she entered the cabin and shook Mac before heading back outside. He slowly opened his eyes, and the looked around in confusion.

"Hi Big Mac" Applejack said from beside him, her head sticking through the wall.

"What the hay?!" Big Mac shouted as he jumped back off his bed, caught off guard by the sigh of his sister's head. Applejack laughed before coming all the way through the wall.

"What in tarnation?" Big Mac said slowly as he looked over Applejack's body, trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or not.

"Nice to see you again" Applejack said while smiling sweetly at Big Mac as she walked around the bed to get closer to Big Mac. He watched her closely as she walked in front of him, hugging him closely.

"Sis?" Big Mac said slowly, recognizing his sister's familiar feel.

"Eeyup" Applejack replied softly as she hugged Big Mac tighter. Big Mac quickly hugged her back, trying to fight back tears. Despite his masculine look her was still crushed by the news that his sisters had both died, and finding Applebloom in the state she was in brought him some comfort, but finding Applejack like this was too much. He slowly broke down, crying into his sister's shoulder as Scootaloo watched from the door. Scootaloo smiled at Applejack before walking away from the house, wanting to let the two siblings be alone.

Rotten Apples

It was a while before the siblings broke apart. When they finally did Mac's face was completely wet, as was Applejack's shoulder, but with a quick shake she was dry again. For a while the two of them just sat there and watched each other, both of them at a loss for words. Now what? Who was going to explain themselves first?

"So..." Big Mac started looking at the ceiling as he tried to figure out how to explain his current situation to Applejack. After a few minutes Applejack coughed and brought Mac back to reality.

"So?" Applejack asked, urging Mac to speak up.

"Well, I, uh, cam out to mourn for you and Applebloom," Big Mac started, thinking about how it all went down, "Then I found this place and Applebloom tried to attack me, only managing to scratch my leg". Applejack gave Big Mac a confused look after he said the last part.

"How did her lightly scratching your leg do this?" Applejack asked, waving her hoof in front of Big Mac's face to show what she was talking about, if he didn't know.

"It poisoned me somehow, but I got to Zecora's before it killed me, and she managed to revive me like she did for Scootaloo" Big Mac said, smiling happily, thinking about his filly that he had with Zecora.

"So how long were you with Zecora for?" Applejack asked, making Big Mac look at her in surprise and confusion.

"How did you know about that?!" Big Mac shouted. Who could have told her? Did she always know? What does it have to do with any of this? Does Granny-

"SIS!" Applebloom shouted as she jumped past Big Mac onto Applejack, making her fall backwards over the bed. The two sister's rolled around playfully before getting to their hooves and sitting back on the bed.

"She told me by the way" Applejack said, nodding towards Applebloom who was sitting next to her with a big smile on her face. Big Mac looked at Applebloom quickly, not happy with her telling Applejack about what happened with Zecora, but then again, who would have guessed she'd come back to life as well.

"So how long have you been with Zecora?" Applejack asked firmly, wanting a straight answer about it.

"Since the Cutie Pox incident" Big Mac said defeated as he lowered his head to look at the floor. He had originally gone to say thank you and apologize to Zecora for what happened, but in the end he ended up staying to help her with somethings around her house. Since she didn't have anything to pay him with she made him dinner, and then one thing led to another and...

"Wow..." Applebloom said slowly, thinking about how long the Cutie Pox incident was. Her eyes opened wide when she figured it out, surprised that her brother had managed to keep things a secret for that long. Applebloom turned to Applejack, who had a smug smile on her face.

"Good job lover boy" Applejack said as she got to her hooves, walking over to put her hooves on Big Mac's shoulder, "When do I get to meet the foal?"

"Can we go tomorrow?!" Applebloom shouted. She loved her niece more than anything in the world and loved to play with her. So did Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, but it meant something different to Applebloom. It let her feel like a real pony again, as if she wasn't a horrible monster from the forest, and it let her feel like a real aunt. Anytime Mac brought up Pearl she begged to go see her, but Mac was afraid she might do something to either Zecora or Pearl, so only Scootaloo got to see her whenever.

"Sorry Applebloom, but you already saw her this week" Big Mac said firmly, making Applebloom lower her head in sadness. Applejack quickly kicked Big Mac in the ribs, making him grunt, but he got the message.

"Okay you can come, but if you anything weird you're coming back here, got it?" Big Mac asked while leaning into Applebloom's face to drive the point home. Applebloom nodded quickly, understanding him perfectly clear. Before leaving the house Applebloom gave Applejack a big hug, quickly dashing out to go see Scootaloo as soon as she let go.

"So, what about you sis?" Big Mac asked, interested in what made her come back as a ghost. Applejack simply shrugged. She had no idea what made her come back as a ghost, but she was certainly happy to be back again, even if she was just a monster from a fairy tale. Big Mac looked Applejack over to see if she was hiding something, but he was able to see that she was telling the truth. She honestly had no idea what made her come back. The two siblings left it at that and went outside to see if the girls needed help with anything.

________________________________________________________

"Come on let's go!" Applebloom shouted, bouncing around outside the house, eager to see Pearl again. She hoped it would be even more fun now that Applejack was going to be there. As she bounced around Applejack came through the door, literally, making Applebloom stop on the spot.

"You can walk through walls?!" Applebloom shouted while running up to Applejack.

"Eeyup" Applejack replied lazily, still half asleep. She didn't know why she was tired considering she was a ghost, but she couldn't care less, the brisk air outside the house was waking her up. After a few more minutes Mac made his way out of the house, a couple of bags in his mouth. When Applejack looked inside she saw food, clothing, and what looked like medicine.

"Who's that for?" Applejack asked, pointing a hoof at the bags.

"Pearl" Big Mac grunted through the bags, finding it hard to talk and hold them at the same time. The three of them quickly left the camp after Big Mac got comfortable with the bags in his mouth, and withing minutes were standing outside of Zecora's house. Big Mac knocked softly, the zebra quickly appearing on the other side. The two of them nodded at each other and the Apples made their way inside. Without saying anything Zecora handed Big Mac the foal and went to her bedroom. A few moments loud snores could be heard coming from inside the room.

"She must have been really tired" Applebloom said, noticing a note sitting on the main table. She quickly read it over before saying anything else.

"I guess Pearl kept her up last night" Applebloom said, putting the note back down. Big Mac chuckled as he held Pearl, rocking her back and forth on his back. Applejack watched carefully, being slightly afraid that Mac might sway to the side just a tiny bit too much and drop the foal on the ground. Applebloom laughed as she watched Applejack watch Pearl like a hawk, just in case something might happen. Knowing that Applejack would probably jump to catch Pearl, Applebloom tapped Big Mac, making him tip a bit too much to one side, causing Pearl to roll of his back.

Applejack's eyes opened wide as she dived for Pearl, only to see Applebloom balancing her on her head,  a smug smile on her face. Applebloom laughed as Applejack turned around, cursing under her breath as she looked for a place to sit. After a while she calmed down and eventually joined Applebloom in playing with Pearl. Despite Pearl having never seen Applejack before she seemed to like her more than Applebloom.

"Why is she going to you more than me?" Applebloom whined as Pearl turned to play with Applejack for the tenth time.

"I don't know, maybe she knows I'm friendlier" Applejack said smugly, laughing as Applebloom stuck her bottom lip out to pout. Pearl seemed to pick up on it and she quickly crawled over to Applebloom, pushing her down on her back. Applebloom quickly started laughing as she rolled around on the floor, hugging Pearl as she did. Applejack smiled before turning to face Big Mac, but he had left the room.

"Mac?" Applejack asked as she slowly opened the door to Zecora's room, finding her brother sitting next to her bed, holding onto her hoof, "Are you okay Big Mac?"

"Eeyup" Big Mac replied quietly as he got to his hooves, rubbing Zecora's forehead before leaving the room. Applejack watched as he took a seat on the couch, watching Applebloom and Pearl roll around with a blank face. She worried sat next to him, putting her hoof on his shoulder, but he didn't turn to her.

"What is it sis?" Big Mac asked, faking interest in what Applejack had to say.

"What's going on with you, you seem down" Applejack asked, receiving a grunt from Big Mac. He got off of the couch and headed outside, nodding to Applejack so she would follow him. When they got outside Big Mac let out a tired sigh.

"I can't take it sis" Big Mac admitted, confusing Applejack.

"Can't take what?" Applejack asked, moving forward to comfort Big Mac.

"Leaving Zecora alone like this, to raise Pearl all on her own" Big Mac said sadly, looking inside at Pearl, who was bouncing around on Applebloom's back, "But I can't leave the girls alone"

"I know it's hard Mac, but maybe now that I'm here..." Applejack said slowly, remembering her own problem. She wouldn't be able to watch the girls as well as Mac. He was big, strong, and was physically there, Applejack was a ghost, they could probably run right through her if they tried.

"Here, what if you stayed here most of the day, and when you're back at the camp I'm here?" Applejack suggested, knowing then Mac might be able to rest easy knowing somepony is always with Zecora. Big Mac looked at Applejack worriedly.

"Are you sure about this sis?" Big Mac asked, hoping she would say yes.

"Eeyup" Applejack said with a smile, "They are family after all"

"Thank you so much sis" Big Mac said happily as he moved in for a hug, only to find himself face first in the mud. When he looked up he didn't see Applejack, but upon looking into the house he found her, scolding Applebloom for doing something.

"I won't tell him this time, but do it again and that's it" Applejack warned Applebloom. She saw her start to turn, her hungry eyes looking at Pearl.

"Tell me what?" Big Mac asked, the door open behind him,

"Nothing!" the two of them said quickly. Big Mac smiled as he made his way to the couch again, laying down on his side with his legs falling over the edge. Withing minutes he was asleep, making Applejack smile. With he worries gone he was finally able to sleep peacefully. Or he did, until Applebloom found a marker and drew on him with Pearl.

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