Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jnQSivCZRFzXVTlJQCDcOVyTngpceQ2JWYXuQnHcvxs/edit

“Pffff, don’t make me laugh, Melly. All of Everfree City knows your fruits are horrible,” Honeydew mocked.

“Hmph! But at least mine are still growing, unlike your stupid melons!” Watermelons countered.

“Well, even so, your melons are just horrible! They are nothing but water!” her sister replied.

“And you think your honeydews are any better?” the purple earth pony mare questioned.

“Of course! How else do you explain that nopony wants your fruits and mine are being taken as soon as I offer them each time?” Honeydew asked back.

“Please, girls! Both of you, calm down! It doesn’t matter anyway, since we barely have enough crops left to make it ourselves and we still don’t get any money for offering them,” a third mare replied.

“Oh, be quiet, Lindy! Why are you in here anyway? Go back to the kitchen and finish those fruit cakes!” Watermelons shouted.

Intimidated, the yellow-grayish teenage filly slowly backed away and returned to the kitchen.

Just one day after the sun returned to Equestria, the two sisters were already behaving like always again. The Melon family never was a very big one, but the de manis and reapers had nearly extincted them. Honeydew and ‘Melly’ were pretty much the only two members left. The siblings never got along well, but they somehow managed to put their differences and sisterly competition aside during the crisis. Now that it was over, the bickering between the two of them was as bad as ever.

When Lindy was done washing her hooves and returned to the dough for the fruit cakes, she sighed. Never did she imagine that, when she first came to Everfree more than a year ago to look for work, this small mixed fruits farm would end up being her permanent home due to losing her parents. Before Nightmare Moon came, she planned to return to Manechester. But that was impossible now.

The first time Lindy heard that the city got entirely destroyed, she refused to believe it. But then she got the notification of her parent’s death. Reading that letter was one of the most painful things she had ever done. She could only hope that the rest of her family was still alive.

Now, she was on her own, stuck with these two mares constantly teasing each other. Yet, something was strange. She knew they were occasionally pranking and mocking one another. But lately, their fights started getting out of hoof. Lindy never heard them shouting like that before and they looked even a lot more stressed than during the era of Nightmare Moon. Especially Watermelons was acting oddly. Sometimes, it seemed like she was talking to herself. This would not be so super strange if it wasn’t for the fact that, when she did that, she tended to not notice other ponies around her. This went so far that she could not even hear others speak to her anymore. Only a tap on her shoulder could snap her out of it, which always startled her heavily.

Lindy was glad that the sun had finally returned and the de manis were gone. But she had no idea how things were supposed to go on now. So much had been destroyed. So many had died. Equestria was in ruins and everypony was a complete mess.

A sweet aroma filled the air, signaling Lindy that the fruit cakes were done baking. Already while opening the oven, she could see that they turned out great. This was not a big surprise, though, since baking was her special talent. But it still was difficult to pull off a decent pastry with the very limited resources the fruit farm still had. The yellow-grayish mare just hoped that they would taste just as good as they smelled. Hopefully, this will calm the sisters a bit.

---

Ten minutes later, Lindy served the fruit cakes to Honeydew and Watermelons. At first, it seemed like her plan worked out, since they thanked and complimented her while hastily devouring the cakes with happy faces. Like most ponies, they were half starved. Lindy herself wasn’t quite at the peak of her health either, but she was used to being hungry. The farm had never been running very successfully. There was hardly enough money to feed the three of them, so Lindy had to learn how to deal with hunger. For now, she was just happy she could make the sisters happy.

But after a while, they suddenly stopped eating and stared at their fruit cakes with suspicion filled expressions. Lindy already started getting worried. Did she mess something up? Was something wrong with the flour she used?

“Lindy,” Honeydew finally spoke.

“Y-yes?” Lindy replied.

“What type of melon did you use for them?” Honeydew wondered.

“M-Melons?” the teenage filly asked back.

“Yes. You did use a honeydew, right? I can taste it in there,” the orange mare stated.

Watermelons instantly placed her plate hard to the ground and gained a furious expression.

“Again?! Are you kidding me, Dew?!” she shouted.

“Hey, its not my fault my melons are better than yours!” Honeydew shouted back.

“A-a-actually. I-I didn’t use-” Lindy tried to explain, but couldn’t bring the attention back to her.

“Having you as a sister is like a curse! You never ever shut up about your damn honeydews! I had it with you! I so very had it with you!” the purple mare shouted.

“Oh and you think I enjoy being stuck around you? Guess what! I’d rather die than spending just another day in the same house as you! But we are both stuck here and thats just how it is!” Honeydew shouted again before returning to her fruit cake.

Watermelons had enough. She needed to leave the room and quickly went past Lindy and into the kitchen.

She just couldn’t take this anymore. She never appreciated her sister much, but in the last hours, she learned to hate her with all her heart.

If only she would shut up just for once. If only she could make her shut that constantly bragging mouth.

“I’d rather die than spending just another day in the same house as you!”

This line suddenly repeated itself in Watermelons’ head. Something caused her to stop.

“I’d rather die!”

Watermelons’ eyes wandered around the room in search. Something told her that she could solve her problems easily with just a single tool in this room.

“I’d rather die!”
“I’d rather die!”
“I’d rather die!”
“Die!”
“Die!”

Her eyes wandered over to the sink. Inside was a knife. Lindy had just used it to cut the fruits for her pastry. It seemed oddly attractive to her.

“Die!”
“Kill!”
“Kill her!”

Watermelons’ eyes slowly went wide open as she realized what she had to do. As the thought wandered through her head, growing more and more in appeal, she started grinning in anticipation.

The purple mare picked up the knife with her mouth and went back to the living room. Lindy tracked her, but Honeydew refused to honor her sister with a glance.

Watermelons stepped in front of her sister, moving the knife from her mouth to her right front leg. Such an arrogant thing. If she would only look to see what was coming. But actually... no. It was better this way.

“Dew?” the purple mare started.

“What?” her sister replied in a very annoyed tone, still eating her fruit cake.

“You said you would rather die than live another day with me?” Watermelons resumed.

“Yeah. So what?” Honeydew questioned.

“That can be arranged!” the purple mare replied in a hysterical tone.

Lindy was watching the whole time. She saw Melly approach her sister with a knife, but she honestly did not expect her to actually ram it in her chest.

Honeydew’s eyes went wide open and she dropped her plate as the knife pierced through her lung. As she lifted her head, she saw a face that was creepier than any de manis. Watermelons was grinning at her like a maniac with wide open, blood-shot eyes.

Watermelons withdrew the knife from her sister’s body, only to ram it inside once more. This time, she pierced her heart. Honeydew placed her front legs on her sister’s shoulders, looking for support. But that only encouraged her to keep stabbing her over and over again.

Lindy stood in the door frame, watching the scene in trauma. The blood sprayed all over the purple mare and slowly, the wooden floor became soaked as well.

Ultimately, Lindy brought herself out of her shock and started running away. Panicking, she fled out of the house and cried heavily while she instinctively aimed for Everfree Castle.

---

Just one day later, as the festivity came to an end, Honeydew’s funeral was being held in Everfree’s graveyard outside the city. The only ponies partaking were Lindy and Princess Celestia. The reason why this ceremony was held so swiftly after Honeydew’s death was due to the very special and tragic conditions. All of Equestria was still covered in rotting pony corpses and they all needed to be buried. So, the funeral was cut very short.

The yellow-grayish teenage filly was still traumatized and she kept crying in front of the grave the whole time. Even after both Celestia and she decided to go, she could not stop crying.

The demi-goddess of the sun unfolded her left wing over the teenager, trying to comfort her. The era of Nightmare Moon had left its marks on Celestia and changed her behaviour. She now cared a great deal about other ponies feelings and tried to help them with limitless tolerance and patience.

“What is your name, my dear subject?” she asked gently.

“I... I’m... Lindanella Christine Pie... but all my friends call me Lindy Pie,” the young mare replied.

“A very unique name,” Celestia commented.

“Yeah... its an ancient Equestrian... My family is a very old one. We were one of Equestria’s first inhabitants. The roots of my family tree go all the way back to the foundation of the land,” Lindy explained.

“I see,” the princess of the sun responded. “What do you plan to do now?”

“I... have no idea...” the teenage filly answered.

“If you wish to, you can stay in the castle for a while,” Celestia offered.

“That would be... nice, I think... Thank you,” Lindy agreed.

“You are very welcome,” Celestia replied with a smile.

Lindy had stopped crying by now, but she still looked very depressed. She had seen more than she should have seen at her age. No. Nopony should ever have to see something like this. The bright demi-goddess sighed shortly and spoke up again.

“I am so very sorry you had to see this. I do not know how your relationship to her was, but I imagine that you liked her alot. If you ever wish to speak to somepony, you can come to me. I may not be available all the time due to all the work I need to do, but never be afraid to let me know if there is anything I can do for you,” she offered.

Lindy smiled weakly in response and they both headed back to the castle, while Celestia slowly let the sun go down.

---

Despite the ponies being very drained after three full days of constant sunlight, they still were terrified of the night. Just like before Nightmare Moon’s rise, the subjects instantly hid away as the moon began to wander across the sky, begging it would go down again soon. But ultimately, they had to admit that they were all very tired and needed the dark hours to sleep.

Celestia, though, did not even think about resting. She stood on the castle balcony and watched the moon. It felt like it gazed down on Celestia in hate and disgust over her actions, which seemed appropriate to her. Still, the demi-goddess of light could not allow herself to drown in her guilt. She needed to push those memories in the far back of her mind in order to concentrate on what was important.

After a while, Celestia turned around and started walking to the castle dungeon. Even though she was still recovering and drained, she needed to use every single moment she got to research this curse Nightmare Moon had spoken upon Equestria.

While on the one hoof, it was tragic to see how soon it started showing its effects, it also gave her an advantage. This very early discovery enabled her to begin her research and take measures to prevent things from getting worse. Hopefully, she would find a way to lift Maledictum Insania before another pony would have to die.

---

It was silent in the Everfree graveyard now. Nopony, not even the graveyard keeper, had come here for a few hours. It was now that something strange started happening to Honeydew’s grave.

Noises could be heard from beneath. Slowly, it seemed like the freshly shoveled dirt started to move. The noises gradually became louder, until they became recognizable as desperate, agony-filled and exhausted crying.

Finally, an orange hoof rose out of the grave.

---

“I will repeat my question: Why did you kill her?” Celestia asked, trying hard to maintain her patience.

“Melons... Always melons. All day long... Hehehehe! Never shuts up. She just never shuts her mouth. Needed to mute her. Close that mouth... Hehehe! Silence! Sweet, sweet silence!” Watermelons kept on mumbling, giggling in a high pitch every now and then.

Celestia sighed. It seemed hopeless. This murderous pony was completely absent-minded.

“Fine. If you don’t speak to me, I am unable to help you. I will just have to keep you in here until-” she started.

“Shut up, Celestia! Just shut up!” The insane mare suddenly started yelling. “I need to silence you, too! Come on! Come in here! Let me see your blood!”

The bright demi-goddess watched as the crazy mare reached her right front leg out of her prison cell, trying to grab her with this demented expression of her’s. Such irrational behaviour. It made no sense to Celestia.

She tried to interview Watermelons for a while now, but it seemed like she was barely paying attention. The crazy mare kept on babbling things that made no sense or kept on repeating herself over and over again. This sudden reaction to Celestia was actually the most focused one she had gotten from her so far.

Watermelons slowly turned around, looking into the prison cell next to her.

“Hey! Reapers! Lend me a scythe, will you? I want to chop her head off!” she demanded.

The reapers did not react to her at all. They just maintained their meditative positions and kept their eyes shut. Only one of them actually stood at the prison cell door, watching Celestia and Watermelons with no kind of expression. The same silvery gray stallion who had spoken to the bright demi-goddess yesterday: Silverstream.

Yet, he as well ignored the curse afflicted mare’s request and just kept watching. He seemed to be the only one still interested in what was happening around him. The only one who was not just waiting for his execution.

Still, Celestia hated him just as much as she hated all the other reapers. He may behave differently, but he is just as guilty as all of them. After giving him a despise-filled gaze, she returned her focus to Watermelons.

By now, the insane mare had given up on the reapers and let herself drop to the ground with a frustrated sigh.

“It was fun. I want more. Wanna kill more ponies. So much better than growing fruits... Silence... Hehehe! Sweet, wonderful silence!” she mumbled, at first bored, then manic again.

Celestia slowly shook her head. It was useless. Her research on the insane mare gave her no progress. She decided to end it here and return to the castle archives.

“Guards! Keep a close eye on the murderer and the reapers! Report any suspicious behaviour to me immediately” Celestia ordered.

“Yes, your highness!” the five royal guards currently present in the dungeon responded.

While several things Nightmare Moon said about Celestia were correct, she certainly was not cruel like the queen of the de manis. With the help of the spells she was researching, she hoped to uncurse Watermelons and return her to normal.

Now that she was on the matter anyway, she also researched the reaper curse. She already had an idea how she would be able to lift it. Maledictum Insania, though, was a lot harder. The princess of the sun could not even begin to understand this curse.

---

The hours went by and Celestia started getting very tired. Due to her research, she was now capable to at least manipulate the reaper curse. But Nightmare Moon really outdid herself. It was extremely complex and well thought through.

It seemed like the reaper curse completely centered around the role of a mistress. Silverstream was correct when he said that only direct greater authorities of the reapers had power over them. But so far, that was all Celestia understood.

Since it was very late and she could hardly concentrate anymore, the bright demi-goddess decided to end her research for tonight. On her way to the bed chamber, she stepped out on the balcony again to gaze into the stars.

Celestia never showed much appreciation for Luna’s work. Now, she was regretting it. She could spend hours just watching the sky. There was so much to explore and each night, it looked a little bit different. It was too late now, Celestia knew this. But still, she felt that she owed Luna showing some appreciation for this great masterpiece.

Then, the princess of the sun lowered her head down to the city. At night, it looked so different. No lights, no ponies on the streets, no noises. Everything was silent and dyed in soft blue moonlight. How could she have missed all this out for such a long time, Celestia wondered.

Suddenly, she spotted something move on the streets. It had the silhouette of a pony, but it was moving oddly, as if it was heavily injured.

Celestia became suspicious. Could it be a de manis, trying a new trick to get into the city? She definitely was not going to wait until morning to find out.

Casting a teleportation spell, she brought herself right in front of the creature. The bright demi-goddess’ eyes went wide open in disbelief of what she was seeing.

This mare... she was the victim of the fruit farm murder! Honeydew! How could she be alive?

The orange mare gave off the smell of rotting flesh and looked horrible. Her eyes had lost the shine of life and she gagged and moaned in agony, tear trails washing down her face. She still had mortal injuries, but they were no longer bleeding, which was paradox. But the more Celestia tried to understand what she was seeing, the more it got through to her.

Even though Honeydew was walking around, she was still dead.