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... Next Chapter: Cutie Mark Zombies Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes