“But it really was there!” Spike pressed his nose against the library window and peered outside. “I’m sure that’s what it was. You’re sure you didn’t see it?”

Twilight, nose buried deep within one of her more weathered language books, didn’t look up.

“Spike, I heard what you said, and what you think you saw,” she said in a distracted tone. “But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that. Not at this time of day, not at this time of the month. Now did you get the Encyclopedia of Ancient Curses I asked you to find?”

“Yeah, it’s on the table there.” Spike glanced back and pointed at the massive tome. “Anyway, I’m pretty sure I know what I saw. I mean, what else could it have been?”

“Well, since I didn’t see it, I can’t say for sure… but I really don’t think it was a shooting star. The next meteor shower is still a long ways off. Anyway, it’s really not something I have time for at the moment.”

Spike hopped down from the ledge and wandered towards the desk. “Yeah, you’ve been working pretty hard on… whatever it is you’ve been working on. You’re sure you don’t need any help? I mean, I would think you’d want to get it done fast, especially since we’ve barely started on that organization project for Canterlot Library.”

Twilight shook her head. “I appreciate the offer Spike. But it’s like I said before, this is something I have to do myself. It’s, uh… it’s a personal assignment.”

“Something personal involving ancient curses and every language book in the library?” Spike reached over to look at one of Twilight’s open notebooks, but she zapped it to the other side of the desk before his claw could touch it.

“It’s complicated,” she said, ignoring his confused expression. She returned her attention to her notes. The black book sat open in front of her, while a rough, ongoing translation was scribbled down in the parchment next to it. She frowned at the pages, a familiar expression at this point in the morning.

Spike shrugged and stepped back. “Whatever you say. But like I’ve been trying to say, it’s not too healthy to over-obsess on secret stuff like– hey, there’s another one!”

He ran over to the window and stared into the sky, his breath momentarily fogging up the glass. “Right there, clear as day. Just like I told you. And… and there’s another one! There’s a couple of them even, all grouped together! Yup. Shooting stars, no question about it.”

Twilight turned a few pages, her head staying down. “Spike, it’s probably just… well, hang on, I’ll think of something about it, just give me a chance to… shoot, almost had it. It keeps changing at the last second, but I did get some of the letters down this time.”

She leaned in close. The black book tossed new words around every inch of the page. Her brow wrinkled.

“Well, if you pulled your nose out of that book for one quick second, you’d see them too,” Spike said. “There’s another one there. That’s at least five that I’ve seen all in the last few minutes. And come to think of it, I think I might’ve seen another one just after breakfast. Wasn’t really sure at the time, but now I am.”

“No, no, that’s the same spell again,” Twilight muttered in a voice Spike couldn’t make out. “Come on, there’s gotta be some sort of antidote section. Every spellbook has one somewhere, even before Starswirl’s time. That’s Magic Writing 101. If they’re not with the spell itself, then they’re in the back. There’s always a way to undo things. Unless they didn’t care to write one up here, or didn’t get a chance before they lost the book… or maybe they did write one, and they’ve just hidden it… hidden it just like everything else in this book. Right.”

“Huh, that’s weird.” Spike squinted up into the clear blue expanse. “It almost looks like… like they’re making little rainbows behind them.”

The words had hardly left his mouth before a purple spark flashed in next to Spike, making him jump. He backed up as Twilight leaned against the window, her eyes locked upwards. The collection of multicolored specks twinkled against the noonday sun.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “…oh, you’ve got to be kidding.”

“Hey Rainbow Dash, answer me already!” Applejack leaned over the edge of the well, trying to make out a shape in the darkness below. The old board lay across half of it at an odd angle. Something small and wet at the end of it glinted in the light and caught her eye. She leaned in for a closer look when a cyan blur rushed up to meet her.

“Hey Applejack, how ya doing?” Rainbow Dash said, the wide smile on her face effectively masking her red cheeks.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack stumbled back towards the shed. “Easy with the jumps like that, catchin’ a pony off guard. Makin’ the rest of us twitchy. Anyway, are you all right? That board seemed to give your head quite a knock.”

“Heh, yeah, all good here.” Dash rubbed her head as her smile faded. Hidden from view, her left wing discretely moved up to wipe the nail clean. It took a few brushes, but soon the eye was pushed loose of its iron companion. It plummeted into the darkness, landing with a tiny splash a few moments later.

“Well, that’s good,” Applejack said. “Don’t need you gettin’ banged up on my account. At least, not on some little accident like that.”

“No worries there, trust me.” Dash knocked the board back up onto the ground. Applejack glanced it over, raising an eyebrow at the slick shine on the nail but saying nothing.

Dash coughed and pointed behind Applejack. “So, uh, what are you gonna do about that?”

Applejack looked back over the shed. Another few pieces of wood fell off in front of her, including the board she had kicked back into place. “I think it’s safe to say this thing’s kaput. Best just knock it down an’ get a new one up an’ runnin’ before the harvest starts.”

Applejack turned back to Dash and smiled. “Since you’re here, you wanna do the honors?”

Dash’s grin returned in force. She popped out of the well into the sky, hovering in the air high over the shed. Applejack galloped back to a safe distance. Dash did a few circles in the air, keeping an eye on her target.

Yeah, yeah, I know, still gotta get to town. But what would AJ think if I just turned down an opportunity to smash something? Besides, at least I’ve done this before, so I know I can do it without getting squashed or burned or crunched or whatever else.

With a few deep breaths, Dash revved up and fired herself towards the ground. A quick acceleration pushed her to a tremendous speed, taking her into the shed in the blink of an eye. It crumbled immediately on impact; first the roof caved in on itself, followed swiftly by the remainders of the walls. A cloud of dust went up over the fresh splinters and rotted lumber. As the rubble settled itself, Dash pushed her way up and out. She stood tall, beaming with open wings.

“Done and done, easy as that.”

Applejack walked back over, smiling all the way. “One heck of a job there, Rainbow Dash. I can clear these remains away myself, an’ Big Mac an’ I can get started on building up the… uh…”

She trailed off, her smile waning with it until it turned into a frown. She stared intently at Dash’s side. “Geeze, Rainbow, are you alright?”

“Huh? What?” Dash looked around. She caught sight of a red streak on her shoulder: a few stray lines of blood, though with no injury to match. Moving her wing aside, she got a view of a hefty gash that ran across her abdomen. A few streams of blood oozed out at a steady pace, flowing past the flayed bits of flesh at the edges of the cut. Looking further to the ground, she saw the bloody set of nails sticking out of a piece of what was once the roof.

Figures.

“Oh, uh, don’t worry about that,” Dash said. She moved her wing back to shield the wound. “That’s nothing.”

“Doesn’t look like nothin’ from here.” Applejack trotted up to take a closer look, wincing as she glanced over it. “Yep. That there’s one bruiser of a cut, Rainbow Dash. You’re gonna wanna get that patched up right an’ proper, an’ fast, before it gets any worse.”

Yeah, not really worried about that.

“Okay, well, then, uh… oh, yeah, you’re right.” Dash edged away from Applejack and pointed herself towards the edge of the farm. “I guess I’ll just have to get back to the hospital. Oh darn, twice in two days. Guess I’m a little accident prone, huh?”

“Now don’t you go frettin’ about a hospital now. That’s not bad enough for that, but it ain’t good enough for you to just walk it off.” Applejack motioned behind them in the direction of the house. “Come on in now, I can get you all patched up. I can even get some food in you while I’m at it.”

Dash opened her mouth to protest, but Applejack was already behind her, pushing her forward through the dirt.

“I don’t wanna hear otherwise, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said. “I had you smash my shed up, least I can do is fix you up after the fact. An’ that’s just the way it’s gonna be.”

“Uh, alright, sure, no problem then.” Dash moved her hooves, walking in time with Applejack. It was a short walk past the other sheds and small garden plots to their destination. All the while Applejack’s gaze swept over the fields in the distance; she muttered about harvest plans and chores that needed to be accomplished, though she spoke more as a reminder to herself than to inform Dash of anything.

Food is food is food, whenever I get it, Dash thought as Applejack reached the kitchen door and stepped through. Probably shouldn’t stay too long, though. Don’t wanna risk getting another cut or anything. Quick bite and I’m gone, simple as that.

Dash paused in the open doorway to survey the scene inside. The kitchen was its usual tidy self, though it was now crowded with a few new components. Some spare boards of lumber were stacked against a wall, while another large piece sat on the table. An assortment of hammers, nails, and other tools were pushed against the far wall in a large, barely-organized pile. Across from the pile, a trio of shovels leaned against a corner, along with a small hatchet on an overhead shelf.

Applejack noticed Dash’s hesitance and smirked. “Mind the extra gear. Big Mac an’ I just got them in a temporary arrangement while we do some work on the barn. Fixin’ up some broken spots along the frame, mendin’ some of the facilities, that sorta thing. Also gettin’ a few new cows situated for the winter. Didn’t want some of this stuff gettin’ in the way, an’ we don’t want them to get rusty outside overnight or nothin’. So here they are.”

“Can’t you just stick them in the sheds out there? I figure that’s a better spot than the kitchen?” Dash asked. She fluttered inside at a lazy pace, not the least bit encumbered by her wound.

“Eh, we’re tryin’ somethin’ new this season.” Applejack shrugged and motioned around the room and through the next hall. “We shuffle some of the storage arrangements about, an’ we end up with more room for apples. More apples we can save, more of the harvest we can use before forcing it to market, an’ the better shape we’ll be in for the long haul. Know what I mean?”

“Hey, I’m not doubting you. You guys would know how to deal with that way better than I would.”

“You know it. Still, things are a bit more hectic this time ‘round, since this didn’t turn out to be our most organized project. You saw how the shed outside turned out, an’ that’s not the only one that needs a good fixin’. Granny Smith was grumblin’ about it all mornin’ about all this stuff bein’ at the breakfast table before she an’ Big Mac went into town. Was all I could do to get her to take Apple Bloom along, lest she an’ her friends tried to get involved.”

Applejack shuddered at the thought, then pointed to the sink. “Anyway, you go ahead an’ get a little water in that cut, clean it out a bit. I’ll see if I can find the bandages upstairs.”

She wandered through the doorway, stepped past another stack of farm equipment laid down in the hall, and disappeared up the staircase. Dash weaved her way to the sink and hit the handle: nothing. A soft groan emitted from the pipes below, causing the faucet to wiggle in place, but nothing more than a puff of air emerged into the basin.

“Hey Applejack, I think you’re sink’s busted!” Dash fiddled with the handles a few times, pushing them back and forth to their respective limits. More groans emerged from the pipes.

“Shoot, is it actin’ up again?” Applejack’s voice carried easily from the second story. “Pop the doors below an’ give the pipes a nudge. Sometimes they just get backed up.”

Dash crouched down and opened the panel. A series of thin metal pipes, some wrapped in thick towels, crisscrossed their way along the wall. She flicked a few pipes around, and was rewarded with the sound of a few lonely water drops wriggling their way out into the open in the sink above.

Enough messing around with a sink. Just get some water going.

Dash grinned. She leaned up, pushed the handles open to max, and turned to aim at the base of the largest pipe. She drew her leg in, steadied it, and released a powerful kick.

Immediately the pipe exploded out from its weakened seams and fired into the kitchen beyond. A few smaller bits of metal followed it, along with large jet of water that quickly soaked Dash from head to hoof. She threw her hooves up to shield her face, while another call from Applejack wafted in from upstairs.

“Just be sure to keep the tap shut off when you hit the pipes! Pressure starts actin’ pretty weird if you leave ‘em on.”

Noted.

With a fast crouch and a few quick glances, Dash located the main shutoff valve under the sink. A few turns later, and the water fountain collapsed into a small trickle. Dash stood back up and breathed a sigh of relief.

The relief turned to confusion when only a small gurgle made its way out of her mouth. She reached up and felt around her neck. Her hooves were met by a small, sharp, metallic object protruding from her throat. A small torrent of blood leaked onto the floor, one that increased in volume when she leaned down to try and look.

Okay, okay, I can deal with this, no problem.

Steadying herself with her wings, Dash grasped the object with both hooves and yanked it free. A red arterial spray followed it out, painting the side of the counter and more of the floor in a vibrant and wild arc. Blood poured out of her neck. Dash’s vision blurred, though she remained conscious long enough to see that the small metal object was a piece of the water pipe shot free by her kick. Then she blacked out completely and collapsed onto the floor.

One POP later, Dash stood over her fresh corpse. Almost simultaneously, hoofsteps sounded off upstairs; steps that were moving to the staircase, and they were moving fast. Dash swore under her breath and glanced around the room.

Get it somewhere, anywhere but here… there!

Dash scooped herself up and scurried up to the far window. Kicking the latch aside, she hefted the body out into the yard, where it slumped up against the outside wall of the house. She turned back around and kicked some of the water puddle over the fresh blood. The two mixed well, diluting the pool into a fine red mist.

At that moment, Applejack reemerged in the kitchen.

“What in tarnation?” she exclaimed, dropping the small roll of gauze she’d been carrying.

“Uh, yeah, sorry… I was just trying to get the water on, and your sink kind of, uh… exploded.” Dash continued kicking water around in an effort to clean up the colored remnants.

“Told ya to mind the tap, didn’t I?” Applejack hurried over to a nearby closet, fishing around inside until she found a mop. Biting down on the wood, she moved back and started cleaning up. Dash moved away from the mess and towards the large dining room table pushed against the rear wall, decked out with a few chairs and a floor-length checkered tablecloth. As she walked she caught sight of the gauze, making her wince and swear under her breath again.

Cut’s gone now! No biggie though, that’s an easy fix.

While Applejack continued busying herself with the puddle, Dash bent over by the set of lumber. One quick brush against some exposed nails in the top board, and a fresh cut emerged on her. Dash smiled at the sight of blood and sat down at the table. She planted her hooves firmly on the wooden floor beneath the tablecloth.

“Really sorry about that, Applejack,” Dash said. “Guess I didn’t hear the rest of your instructions.”

Back by the sink, Applejack finished with the mop. “Ah, don’t worry about it. Big Mac did the same thing not three days ago. I tell ya, seems like this place just gets worse right when we’re tryin’ to fix her up. It’s weird, though… I don’t remember the water bein’ quite this red and murky before.”

“It’s rust!” Dash stamped her hoof on the floor again. “Uh… I mean, yeah, just a little rust in the pipes. That can cause some weird colors sometimes. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I don’t know… we replaced these pipes just last spring. They shouldn’t be this rusty by now.” Applejack frowned and looked out the window. “Wonder if there’s somethin’ wrong with our well. Been meanin’ to dig a new one of those for a while now, sure, but I figured we still had a good amount of time left with the old one. Better be sure to check on–”

“So!” Dash cut in, grabbing Applejack’s attention. “You had some bandages for me?”

A low growl pushed itself out of Dash’s stomach.

“And something to eat to go with them?”

Applejack smiled and walked towards Dash, kicking the gauze onto the table as she passed by. “You know I do. Got the roll right here. Lemme toss a quick patch on you, an’ then I can get you some grub. Hopefully you managed to clean it off a bit. I’d figure all that water would do the trick, but you somehow managed to stay dry.”

Dash smirked. “Hey, I’m just quick like that. Can’t touch me and all that.”

With a few nimble tears and some application of bits of tape she’d stuck onto the roll, Applejack soon had Dash’s laceration covered in a firm layer of sterile cloth.

“There we are, all set.” She stood back and looked proudly at her work. “Good an’ proper.”

A few red spots pushed their way through the stark white color, soon merging into one large, maroon-colored blob. Applejack frowned. “Hmmm… that scratch might’ve been a bit deeper than I thought. Looked just as slick here as it did out in the yard.”

Dash fought the urge to roll her eyes. Can’t imagine why.

“Still, that’ll keep you for now. Let’s see about some lunch.” Applejack turned and trotted back to the countertop. “I’ve got a fresh batch of apples here, straight off the tree. Some of the first picks of the season. Doesn’t get much fresher than this. Lemme see about whipping up some fritters for ya, alright?”

“Sounds good to me.” Dash nodded and leaned back in her chair, pressing it against the wall. Applejack busied herself in her side of the kitchen, pulling out a small bowl of some of the reddest apples Dash had ever seen, along with a mixing bowl, rolling pin, and other assorted baking supplies.

As she waited, Dash resumed a soft tapping of her hoof against the floor. This time, her ears perked up to the sound of a distinct metallic clang against the wood.

That’s… not the sound I expected to hear.

After a watchful glance confirmed Applejack was busy with her task, Dash lifted the tablecloth up to get a view of the floor. The small pool of blood was the first thing she saw. It trailed along the floor under the table, seeping into the cracks in the floor. Searching for the source quickly led Dash right to her right rear hoof. Several large nails stood out of it at odd angles, one of them buried deep enough to poke right out the other side of her ankle. She tapped her leg again; the nails clanged out as soon as she hit the wood.

When did that happen?

Dash glanced back up. Looking from the sink to the table, she saw a small, overturned bucket of nails right in the steps she took to sit down.

This time, she did roll her eyes. Can’t take off blind, and now I can’t walk anywhere without watching my every step. Super.

“You know I saw Fluttershy yesterday?” Applejack said, immediately catching Dash’s attention. “Came over for a visit late in the evening, looking her usual nervous self.”

“Well, uh… that’s not exactly an unusual thing to see,” Dash said, fighting back a stammer. She lifted her leg up as best she could when Applejack turned around, and tried to pull a nail loose. She managed to wiggle it halfway out when Applejack turned back around, and Dash dropped her hoof back to the floor with a quick smile.

“True, true,” Applejack said. She set to work rolling some dough, letting Dash’s face fall back down towards the tablecloth. “She was just goin’ on an’ on about a big storm comin’ up, though. One you warned her about.”

Dash struggled with her hooves under the table, working with one to pry out the nail. It finally popped free, falling into the puddle of blood on the floor with a silent splash. She grunted a small laugh, then went to work on pushing out another one.

“Rainbow Dash?” Applejack tried again.

Dash finally looked up. “Huh? What?”

“The storm. Is one comin’ up?” Applejack shot another glance out the window. “Those clouds are still buildin’ up over there. Is that it? Doesn’t seem like the big storm Fluttershy was goin’ on about, but then, it is Fluttershy. Wouldn’t take much of anythin’ to ruffle her feathers.”

“Oh, yeah, uh… well, I’m not sure.” Dash’s gaze followed Applejack as she looked through the open window. A few specks of blood from when Dash tossed her body outside ran along the woodwork, though Applejack didn’t notice.

Gonna have to wipe that down before I leave. And also find a place to stick the other me. Maybe I can just throw it in with the other one, get them both later when Applejack’s not around…

“I mean, I’m not on weather duty right now,” Dash continued. “It may just be something from the weather expo, some big presentation or whatever. Wouldn’t be the first time somepony’s done something big like that.

“Hey, Fluttershy was just tellin’ me what she said you told her.” Applejack shrugged and returned to the cookware on the counter. “Anyway, how many of these are you gonna want?”

Dash grinned. “As many as you can squeeze on a plate.”

Applejack smiled back and commenced rolling fritters together. It didn’t take long for her to whip a small batch up, filling the kitchen with a delicious aroma that made Dash flutter her wings.

“You know, speakin’ of that big weather expo thing,” Applejack said. “You never did tell me about that trick you were supposed to be performin’. You kept braggin’ about doin’ somethin' this week, but now the expo’s nearly over an’ you haven’t–”

Both ponies froze as a loud squeal ripped through the room. Slowly their eyes traveled up, locking with the ceiling just in time to hear a second squeal ripple along the woodwork. The unmistakable metallic echo of pipes creaking and pressing against each other bounced back and forth through the walls and top story of the house.

“Now what?” Applejack placed the rolling pin at the edge of the counter and walked towards the hall. “Sorry Rainbow, you’ll have to excuse me for a spell. Sounds like the pipes are actin’ up again.”

“What’s up with your guys’ plumbing? You doing some work on them or what?” Dash asked, her eyes still trained on the ceiling.

Applejack waved her hoof in the air. “Improvement, general maintenance, same ole’ same ole’. Gettin’ this place set up for winter always takes work. Although I gotta say, this is turnin’ into a mighty peculiar amount of trouble for just one day. You just relax down here. I’ll be back quicker’n a hound trailin’ a jackrabbit.”

At that, Applejack turned the corner and stomped up the stairs. Dash was once again alone in the kitchen. She pulled her hoof out from beneath the table to get a clearer look at it. The nail she had loosed was nearly out now, hanging on only by a few particularly thick strands of flesh. She gripped it between her teeth and yanked it free, producing a small spurt of blood that barely missed splattering over her face. She turned and spit the bit of metal across the room, where it landed in a clatter amongst the other nails and hammers.

Looking back down, she saw one final nail remaining. It was directly at the center of her hoof, driving right into her leg.

I think I’ll leave that one for now. But how in the hay did I get so many that fast? I know I wouldn’t feel them, but they just cut through me like a lazy summer cloud. There’s no way my skin’s that thin, so what’s up with–

The growl of her stomach pierced through her mind. She shook her head and focused on the counter. A few completed fritters, rolled but not yet fried, stared back at her.

Well, I’ll deal with that later. For now, a quick snack… and hey, I can eat them like that right now. Applejack won’t mind, and it’s not like I need to worry about food poisoning from uncooked food.

She grinned and got up from her chair. Her trot across the room produced a small metallic click with each step of her pierced hoof. Halfway across the room, she paused to look at it again.

Alright, maybe I should try to give that yank.

She leaned in and gripped the nail with her teeth. Before she could pull out, a sudden creak rattled the room. Dash paused. Her ears perked, listening for more. They were soon rewarded with another screech of wood coming from directly above her, followed shortly thereafter by a follow-up of the pipes’ whines.

Dash released her grip on the nail. “Uh, Applejack? You up–”

The thunderous crack of wood and metal giving way filled the room, and drowned out Dash’s call, as a large bathtub fell through the floor. It plummeted straight down, like some unstoppable force, tearing through the weakened floorboards and rattled plumbing. Within the span of three seconds, it broke through Dash's spine and reduced her standing form to a red smear of pulp and feathers. The ensuing crash through the floor made every item in the kitchen jump, sending fritter and cookware alike clattering off the edge of the countertop.

The bathtub continued a good half-meter beneath the house, finally slowing to a halt deep in solid ground. Back in the kitchen, its top half leaned back in the newly-made crater. The edge of the lip obscured Dash’s rear-right leg, which was now the only part of her body still intact. The rest of her dripped and mixed in with the dirt, wood, and pieces of bathroom tile.

It took another few seconds for the roar of the crash to stop bouncing around the house, providing just enough cover for Dash’s POP to occur without incident.

“What in the sweet h–” Applejack’s frantic face poked through the kitchen’s new skylight. “Rainbow Dash! Are you all right down there?”

Dash brushed a bit of dust off herself, moving her wing to obscure the blood patch seeping out from under the tub. “Never better! How’s it all up there?”

“How’s it– I don’t know!” Applejack pulled back to look around the backroom. “Can’t even imagine how this happened. That sucker just up an’ pushed itself right through the floor, just like that! Might’ve been leakin’ water eatin’ away at the floorboards, or maybe just some weak wood, or somethin’, but… I don’t know! That’s just one heck of a– you’re sure you’re alright? Didn’t get nicked or nothin’ like that?”

“Believe me,” Dash said, her eyes sweeping over the mess and her mouth grimacing, “I’m as good as can be. Why don’t you, uh, take a look around up there, make sure nothing else is ready to find a new home on the first floor. I can clean up a bit down here.”

Applejack looked down again, the shock still sitting strong on her face. “I, uh, I guess… no, wait, just… look, wait down there. I’m just gonna nose around up here real quick, make sure that… well, yeah, that nothin’ else is makin’ to make that trip. Don’t touch anythin’, neither; I don’t want you to worry about helpin’. Not after what almost happened there. That thing coulda’ squashed you like an oversized moth.”

Dash disguised her chuckles as a few small coughs. She looked up at Applejack and waved her away.

“So just sit tight,” Applejack nodded. “I’ll be back down soon enough.”

Her head vanished from the hole. Dash listened intently as she moved around in the bathroom, a steady stream of concerns and questions spilling out under her breath. Finally, as she moved out into other sections of upstairs, Dash returned her attention to the wreckage in the center of the kitchen.

Okay, okay, you’ve got a minute or two. Work fast.

She threw her back against the tub and pushed. Though it had fallen down in a single motion, striking the floor had tipped it onto its side. It moaned as Dash pressed against it, slowly inching it forward in an effort to get a good look at what was left of herself. It was slow going, as the tub pressed against the broken wood and the spreading puddle of blood made her hooves slip and slide.

Finally, after much pushing and shoving, Dash was rewarded with her flattened cadaver in clear and easy view. Despite the heavy weight of the tub, she was still in one piece, albeit now a piece that had the general shape and consistency of a moldy old carpet. Taking a deep breath, she bent over, rolled herself up, heaved back, and chucked herself out the window. Her intact leg hooked on the sill, making it swing wide to the right as it emerged into the sunlight. Dash heard it scrape against the outside wall and land in the dirt a few seconds later.

Dash simply shrugged at the display.

Not a bad throw, all things considered. I’m pretty light… at least, without all this stuff inside me weighing me down.

A mushed pile of organs and tissue, forcefully pushed out through her abdomen when the tub landed, remained on the floor in a barely recognizable heap. She glanced around the kitchen, perked her ears up one more time to make sure Applejack was still trooping about upstairs, and scurried over to the corner with the rest of the tools. She emptied a small metal bucket and tossed it back by the hole.

The innards squished gently against her skin as her hoof made contact. Though she couldn’t feel the sensation through the usual numbness, she still bristled. Taking another deep breath, she quickly pushed forward, sliding the bright-red meat into the bucket. Blood smeared in morbid tracks, like a babbling brook, as her hoof skated across the floor. She grabbed the handle with her jaws and, in another swift motion, tossed it outside. It landed with a distant clang, one that made her wince but that evidently went unnoticed by the upstairs occupant.

Dash let out a long sigh. She took in the momentary stillness of the kitchen, broken up only by the small red waterfall dripping around the edges of the hole and pooling on the soft earth below. Her mind raced as she reflected on what just happened.

Still some blood on the floor, but I can mop that up real quick. And then… actually, I should probably get out of here after that. Because there’s no way that this would’ve normally happened. I mean, I don’t care how recently Applejack’s house was rebuilt, or who did it, or whatever. Her floors don’t just break open like that. Looks like my little condition is getting eager.

Another loud creak slipped out from the tub. It slid back along the wood, shaving off a few fragments of wood along the way. Dash groaned and turned towards the mop leaning against the wall.

All this and I still didn’t get any food. Maybe I can just grab an apple on my way out the–

Dash’s thoughts cut themselves off as she stepped down on the rolling pin, having not seen it fall off the counter a few moments earlier. She immediately slipped backward, sending the pin clattering across the floor while she tried to regain her balance. Her wings popped open and she zipped up into the air, legs still kicking around reflexively.

Stop!

She reversed her flapping and came to a dead halt in the air. Her sudden lift and momentum had carried her nearly to the ceiling. She brought her head back, only to feel a pinprick of pressure against her neck. Turning in place, she found herself floating in front of the tub’s hole, staring at a large, pointed sliver of wood that had splintered out at an odd angle during the crash. The tip of the wood winked in the light, its jagged edge as sharp as any knife.

Dash gulped, her expression falling. Alright, that one was close. Just another flap and that would’ve been it… again. Except… I stopped myself this time.

Her frown hooked up, and she did all she could to suppress a laugh.

I prevented it! Ha! Not so easy to take me out now, is it? Gonna have to try harder than that!

Her grin persisted as she eased herself to the floor. She didn’t turn back around until her hooves were brushing over the wood. That’s when she heard the clattering sound of tools next to her, following swiftly by a squishy chopping sound and the feeling of a sudden weight in her ankle.

Dash launching into the air had set another chain of events into motion as well. The rolling pin, after rocketing out from under her hoof, rapidly cleared the short distance between her and the wall. It bowled through a small pile of apples, sending them scattering around the edge of the floor. One careened into the mop, causing it to sway and tip over onto the group of shovels leaning against the wall. With a loud clatter these fell to the floor themselves. The tallest one brushed against the loose shelf directly above it.

The shelf buckled and fell forward. The small hatchet, resting idly on its dusty perch, flicked down with it on a collision course with the floor. Its course intersected with Dash’s landing, resulting in the hatchet burying its wickedly sharp head at the bottom of her leg. It was here that Dash found it, her eyes having swept the room and finished on her freshly injured limb.

…huh.

She remained frozen for a few moments, taking the sight in. Applejack must’ve been diligent about regularly putting the blade to the whetstone, as it sliced through Dash’s skin and muscles with ease. Only her bone truly stopped it, and even then it managed to make a firm niche to stick itself in. She lifted her foreleg to get a better look. The hatchet’s wooden handle quivered as her hoof shook, sending small drops of blood showering to the floor.

New sounds appeared in the background: that of hoofsteps descending the staircase.

Applejack’s coming back!

The swears emerging from under Dash’s breath took a creative turn. She quickly wiggled her hoof around in the air. Her wings took her around the room, kicking back and forth in time with her leg. Despite her frenzied efforts, the hatchet remained steadfast in its determination not to be dislodged. As the steps reached the midpoint of the stairs, Dash groaned and gripped the handle with her teeth. In one swift pull of her head and push of her leg, she ripped the blade from her flesh. It was enhanced by a crimson tail that fluttered behind it, spraying blood across the floor and wall.

Alright, alright, it’s out. Just… just hide it and think of something else.

Dash settled back down onto the floor, her jaws still keeping a tight grip on the hatchet. Unfortunately for her, the rolling pin picked that moment to return under her hoof after rebounding from the apple pile. Dash slipped again, forward this time instead of back. Her head flung down towards the ground; the hatchet followed suit with a swift, almost reflexive chop.

Once again, Dash’s leg got in the way of its path to the floor. But this time, thanks to the extra energy reinforcing the swing, that proved to be a poor barricade. With a small crack and even smaller splash, the hatchet finally succeeded in reaching its destination. Dash’s hoof went along for the ride, while the rest of her leg pulled back in the opposite direction.

Dash blinked, her jaw loosing up and releasing the handle. She gingerly held her leg up in front of her face. It didn’t take long to examine her new stump, as there wasn’t much to see. Just an easy-going gusher of blood, which trailed along the chipped edge of bone that protruded past the severed skin. Down on the floor, her hoof twitched a few times, the gasping spasms of dying nerves getting in one last dance.

Dash tried to think up something witty to calm herself. Instead, her mind was blank, save for what could best be described as a high pitched screaming that left her locked and motionless in a trance-like state.

A few moments later, her spell was broken by Applejack’s steady trot approaching down the hall. Her voice pushed through a fraction of a second later.

“…like some kind of tornado hit in here, or somethin’ like that, or I don’t even know,” Applejack said, continuing a conversation with herself Dash could only now begin to hear. “I don’t know what I’m going to tell Granny Smith when she gets back. Hopefully Big Mac an’ I can salvage the tub, but I don’t know how long it’ll be before we can up an’ fix the ceilin’. Add this to the sink, an’ we’re pretty much out of action for the time bein’, water-wise.”

Dash moved with a purpose. In two fast kicks with her one intact foreleg, she knocked the hatchet and her amputated appendage under the tablecloth. She fired back towards the chair, sitting herself down just as Applejack crossed the threshold into the kitchen.

“Hi Applejack!” she said quickly. She pressed her legs together in an effort to stem the bleeding, but the steady trickle of liquid running down her sides and onto the floor told her it wasn’t going to be enough. Still, she kept her face bright and cheerful. “Did you, uh, find anything up there? Anything, you know, out of place?”

Applejack didn’t respond straight away, instead taking a moment to walk around the impact site of the bathtub. Her gaze travelled a dozen places at once, from the tub itself to the fallen cooking utensils and food, to the tumbled tools, and finally to the many streaks and pools of red lying around the room.

“What the heck is all this?” Applejack cocked her head. “More of that rusty water? But that couldn’t come out of those pipes up there, I just used them this mornin’. Come to think of it, this looks a lot… thicker than that other water. ”

Applejack knelt down for a closer look. Beads of sweat appeared along Dash’s brow.

“It’s weird,” Applejack continued, “it kind looks like… well, blo–”

“Hey, it’s just some tomato juice,” Dash cut in, just as quickly as before. She laughed. “A bunch of bottles got knocked over when stuff fell over. I cleaned up the glass already, though, don’t worry about that. I mean, I really wouldn’t worry about it at all anyway. You know, not with that big chunk of your bathroom now stuck in your kitchen. Really gonna wanna concentrate on that right now, you know? And, uh, nothing else at all.”

“Well yeah, I guess, but still… don’t remember having this many bottles of tomato juice lyin’ around in here.” Applejack glanced back at Dash, and her expression fell ever further. “You sure you’re doin’ alright over there, Rainbow Dash?”

“Never better!” Dash practically shouted. She buried her half-leg into her full one ever further. Though she couldn’t feel it, this resulted in her chipped bone cutting a long gash into her skin, producing yet another spout of blood under the table. The liquid gushed out of her at an alarming rate, despite producing very little noise as it spilled onto the floor.

“That’s what you said before, but really…” Applejack took a few steps forward. “You’re just lookin’ awfully… pale right now. I mean, that must’ve spooked you quite a bit, comin’ out of nowhere like that, but you’re really losin’ your color right now, ya know?”

“Uh, I… um…” Dash stammered. Blood drained from her face for a variety of reasons. She felt a fuzzy sensation twinge at the edge of her skull, while the perimeter of the blood puddle expanded closer and closer to the base of the tablecloth. “I’m maybe… j-just… hungrier than… uh… I th-thought?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “An’ did… did your bandage fall off too?”

A black cloud settled around the corners of Dash’s vision. She gulped.

Something, anything, only need a moment to… I got it!

“Wow, what is that?” Dash shouted. She sat up from her chair with a start, pointing out the far window with her wing. “Look! A swarm of fruit bats is descending on the apple orchard! They’re eating all your apples!”

“There’s a what?” Applejack spun like a top and shot to the window. She pressed her nose against the glass, eyes darting around the view outside. Her ears listened solely for the sound of beating wings in the sky, completely blocking out the sound of Dash fainting onto the floor under the table cloth, along with the subsequent POP and the new Dash’s hurried shuffle back into the chair.

“I don’t see anythin’ out there, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack finally said. She turned around and jumped back in surprise. “Whoa! You’re, uh, you’re lookin’ all good again.”

Dash grinned and flexed her clean, complete forelegs out in front of her. “Hey, when I say never better, I mean it. And I guess it was just a weird reflection out there.”

“That’s, uh, well…” Applejack looked over the room slowly, her focus shifting back and forth between the tub and the blood spots. She took a step toward the nearest pool when Dash leapt out of her seat, this time pointing to the ceiling.

“A creak! I heard another creak!” she shouted, this time pointing to the ceiling.

Applejack’s head looked every which way. “I didn’t hear anyth– hey!”

Dash flew into the air and dove behind Applejack, practically shoving her forward towards the hall.

“No, no, I’m certain I heard something,” she said. “You’d better go upstairs and check it out, before something else loud and terrible and dangerous happens down here.”

“Well, if you’re so certain,” Applejack said, uncertainty leaking through her voice. She caught a momentary view of Dash’s bare, unbandaged, undamaged abdomen, and frowned even more. “Hey, wait a second, what happened to–”

“No time for that!” Dash kicked a few bits of wood aside when Applejack turned back around, creating another set of creaking noises. “There! Hear that? If you can’t I’d be worried about your hearing, better check just in case. Up the stairs, off to make sure the rest of your house doesn’t fall down around you before the rest of the family gets back. Go!”

Dash pulled back into the kitchen as Applejack continued galloping towards the staircase, muttering all the way about weird wood and weirder friends. It wasn’t until she completely ascended to the next floor that Dash let out a long, deep sigh of relief. She took a few steps back and leaned against the table, staring at the rest of the kitchen. A near-constant dripping sound came from every corner of the room as various-sized blood drops made their way down the walls and across the uneven floorboards. Down at her hooves, the large red puddle under the table finally crossed out into the open, flowing between her legs towards the broken tub.

Dash chewed on her lip for a moment.

You know what, I think I’ll just leave. Before something else happens to me.

A quick turn under the table produced her corpse, her hoof, and the hatchet. She lugged them all onto her back, grunting under the surprising amount of weight, and staggered to the window.

“Hey Applejack!” she called out, pausing momentarily to kick the rolling pin against the wall as hard as she could. “I just realized I gotta go! So I’m just gonna, uh, you know… I’ll see you later, alright?”

“What was that?” Applejack’s reply filtered through the hole from somewhere upstairs, but Dash wasn’t listening. She stood by the window and body-checked herself out of it, followed by two lobs to send the bloody hatchet and severed hoof out after it. She took one final look around the half-destroyed crime scene of a kitchen, winced, and pulled herself up out the window. As she passed through the sill, she made a point to wipe it clean with one of her wings.

One less thing I suppose.

She landed with a start on solid ground outside. Quickly she looked around for her remnants, ready to move them farther from the house.

“Let’s see…” she muttered to herself, “we’ve got the chopped one, the piped one, the flattened one, the bucket of guts, the bloody hatchet, the– hey, where’d my hoof go?”

Dash poked through the bloody pile in front of her. Everything she had thrown outside had landed in roughly the same place, creating a sort of macabre mountain out in the garden. Her three corpses pressed against each other, organs and loose muscle mingling freely over the increasingly-red soil. The bucket had landed off to the side, rolling over and spilling its gooey contents onto one of her less-mangled wings.

Finally, Dash spotted a small blood trail leading off to one side. Following it, she finally spotted her bloody detached hoof. It was lying directly in front of two very-much-attached hooves, these ones yellow in color. Dash looked up, staring at a frozen Fluttershy face-to-face.

“Uh…” Dash opened and closed her mouth a few times before settling on what to say. “How’s it going Fluttershy? How how’s your day been so far?”

Fluttershy’s jaw was agape, and it looked like it had been that way for quite some time. There wasn’t a drop of color left in her face. Her eyes were a rather compelling mixture of fear and confusion. It took a few seconds, but Dash realized that what she thought was the wind was actually an extremely high-pitched squeal coming from Fluttershy’s throat at an impressively measured pace.

“…Fluttershy?” Dash asked. She took a few steps in front of the body pile in a pitiful effort to shield the sight.

Fluttershy never said a word. Instead, her squeal came to a sudden stop, her eyes rolled up, and she fell to the ground with a rock-solid faint.

Dash could only shrug.

Gonna have to be sure to chalk that one up to her overactive imagination when she wakes up.

There was a rush of movement in the yard. Dash spread her wings to launch forward, grabbing as much of her remains as she could and swinging over to toss them into the well. It took a few loops, but eventually she cleared the entire yard of all solid evidence of her multiple demises. All that was left now was a wet patch of dirt and a petrified pegasus.

Dash aimed up, flying high over the farm. Down below, she heard the clatter of doors opening in the farmhouse, followed by a few distant calls from Applejack. Cringing again, Dash turned and flew towards town.

Okay, so that didn’t go as well as it could have. Next thing I do, I should remember to be much more aware of my surroundings. And I should probably check in on Twilight about a cure. And I should tell Applejack to avoid that well. And Fluttershy… hmmm…

A loud growl reverberated around her.

Actually, first thing I should do is get some food in me. I get the feeling all this dying is really taking it out of me.

Dash shook her head and made a course adjustment. Her nose now pointed down towards her new destination: Sugarcube Corner.