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!

Next Chapter: Undead Apple Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 52 Minutes