Quick Trick sprinted headlong through the trees. She'd been running for hours, her hooves cracked and bleeding from stress, and her breath came in short bursts. She knew that she had outrun the wolves pursuing her, that had not been an issue. What she was running from was far worse. At least, to her fevered mind, it was. Her desperate struggle to escape the wolves had taken her right through a patch of a strange fungus, a patch she had fallen face first into, sending a cloud of spores directly into her face. A startled breath had been all it took, and now the mare ran from the demons inside her head, shadowy figures with too many teeth, gleaming claws, gibbering voices, or chasing down some figment of her imagination, the hallucinogens managing to convince her that safety was but a few paces away as she moved farther and farther away from the edge of the forest.

She stumbled, fell, kept running. She coughed out another cloud of spores, finally clearing the powerful toxin from her system. The chemicals affecting her mind began to lessen, and she began to feel the exhaustion that came with so much running, staggering drunkenly from side to side as her rational mind warred with the panicked part of her, her shattered psyche spinning in circles until exhaustion finally won out. Even though she wanted nothing more than to collapse, her analytical mind took stock of the situation and determined that she would need to go to ground until the sun rose. Then she could find her way out of this accursed forest, and back home.

Spying a small hollow, she swept it to make sure no predators could approach without her noticing. There was only one opening, and so she proceeded inside the thicket, brushing a few spiderwebs out of her face as she curled up on her side, waiting for her opportunity to flee. Little did the mare know that she would never get that opportunity. She set a simple ward in front of her tiny space in the bushes, and soon she had fallen into a fitful slumber. There was a period of brief silence, undisturbed save for the mare's own breathing. A quiet breeze blew through the dense growth, dislodging a small spider, an inoffensive thing of grey and black. Another followed it. And another. Then two, then four, and ten. The mare shifted slightly. A dozen sets of fangs worked together, injecting her with a quiet venom that sent her into deeper sleep. The trees were illuminated by the bloody light of a newly red harvest moon, revealing what lurked within. Spiders, by the hundreds, by the thousands, dwelling in tangled webs that swung gently from the branches. The soldiers ascended into the treetops, their work was done. Soon, the females dropped down, swaying ponderously from thick strands of silk as they landed on the mare and began their work.

Quick Trick opened her eyes. Something was wrong, very wrong. Her muscles felt strange, like they had simply melted away, leaving her with useless lumps of flesh that weighed her down. She attempted to lift her head, but could not. Curious, she reached for her magic, but a splitting headache drove her focus away before she could summon light. Her whole body itched, and she felt a tingling sensation across her back and stomach. With a titanic effort of will, she looked down, and were she able to scream, she would have.

The young mare's body was pockmarked with holes, dark, blackened holes with bruising around the edges, giving her the look of a desiccated corpse. They were grouped in small patches that combined into a horrific tapestry of pitted flesh. And that wasn't all. Small lumps moved about under her skin. As she watched, a delicate leg pushed out of her coat, followed by another, and then a few more. A spider, almost small enough to be invisible in the low light, crawled out of another freshly made hole, dropping out of her with a chitinous click before skittering off into the darkness. She hardly felt a thing. A weight landed on her head, and Quick Trick felt legs moving down to her neck before climbing onto her stomach. A fully grown spider, loathsome and bloated with eggs that were almost ready to hatch, found a blank patch of skin. She felt fangs sink into her, pumping venom into the tissue in order to soften it and deaden feeling. An ovipositor slid out of the arachnid's abdomen, impaling her neatly. The mother spider held perfectly still as the eggs slid, one after another, into the mare.

The patch of eggs was still for a moment, and then she watched as they began to shudder and move as they hatched and began to burrow away, taking nourishment from her as they tunneled to the top, before punching through to the surface, leaving a neat hole in her hide as they vanished. Quick Trick tried to scream, to do something, anything, but she could not. She felt more spiders landing, more bites, more eggs. She felt the burrowing of the young, and though she was not bleeding, she could feel her life ebbing away slowly as she was slowly consumed from the inside out. The mare laid there, unable to do a thing to help herself, and cried. At least that was available to her.

As the moon set, the mare was used again and again, birthing the colony's young as she lay powerless on the ground. Soon enough, she was completely unrecognizable, and unresponsive. She slipped quietly into unconsciousness after six hours, and it was shortly after that that her heart stopped and her spirit fled to join her comrades in death.

Twilight Sparkle looked out over the fields. They were quiet and dark, lying fallow and untended. The planting would begin in spring, and they had stores enough to get them through winter if they were careful and received regular shipments to the old castle she now occupied. The mare standing at her side was silent, waiting on her to speak as they looked at the blood red moon that was beginning to set.

"Why was it necessary for them to die?" Twilight asked.

The mare sighed. She was as old as this forest, and knew everything about it. It was her life, and she tended to it carefully. Her magic was almost unlimited in the trees of the Everfree.

"Each year, the Forest takes lives in return for giving life throughout the year. One night of violence for a year of prosperity for all living inside. You wish a good harvest next year. This will be done. But until then, I am afraid that the Forest will take its payment, as it always has."

Twilight was silent. The mare continued.

"This is the time of year where every thing must die, Twilight Sparkle. Death is part of life. Rest assured that those ponies are nourishing the forest. The timber wolves have fed. Your friend's apple harvest will be extremely good this year. A family with young has found the strength to leave for new ground. The trees in the forest will bloom beautifully in spring, wait and see. And a new generation of young now walk the land, ready to live because another had died. It's a cycle, young one."

Twilight sighed. "Are they at peace now?"

The mare smiled. Her gaze was far away, as if she was watching something play out in front of her that Twilight could not see.

"Aye, dear, they're at peace now. That I can vouch for. The sun is going up, and you've not slept all night. You've a lover waiting for you to come to bed. Will you go to her?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes. I will. Goodnight, and thank you."

The mare bowed. "You're quite welcome, Lady Sparkle."

The dungeon beneath Canterlot echoed with low laughter, a beautiful and terrifying sound. Contained within its walls were two goddesses, one in chains, another in tears.

"Those five had families, Luna! They were only doing their jobs! You had no need to bring out the blood moon tonight, none at all! Do you have any idea of the suffering you've caused?"

The dark Alicorn smiled. "Aye. They suffered greatly. And I smiled all the while. They brought it on themselves, you know. The Everfree would not have harmed them if they had not entered with the intent to do harm. But you know that, don't you, sister?"

The Monarch of the Dawn was furious. "You can rot down here for eternity, I could care less right now. Maybe you aren't deserving of Harmony after all, if you take pleasure in this."

"In the deaths of innocents? No. In anything that sets you back? It gives me great pleasure, more than you could imagine. And had I the choice once more, I'd spend all of my remaining power over again to kill them all."

Princess Celestia said not a word. A golden-shod hoof swung through the air, leaving a bruise alongside Luna's face. Luna spat at her sister as the white Alicorn exited the cell, shutting the door behind her. A quick trot up the stairs, through a secret passage, and she was in her chambers once more. She divested herself of her ceremonial garb, and naked, stepped onto the balcony. The moon shone a deep blood red, almost full but not quite. There was a reason ponies called this moon Luna's smile. Along the top, hiding the full light, was a crescent of black, a smile the same shade as her sister's coat. A chill breeze blew past, and Celestia shivered. She looked to the forest where five ponies had died tonight, bowing her head in respect briefly, before retreating to her bed, pulling the balcony shut. She would not sleep tonight, and would ward herself against the dark forces roaming the land, just as the farmers did. Because the farmers knew, oh yes.

They knew all too well.