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. Next Chapter: Under The Dead of Night Estimated time remaining: 15 Minutes