A plethora of activity clogged the square around Sugarcube Corner. The combination of the weather expo and the start of the new season made for a prime shopping day, and most of the town was out to take advantage of it. Ponies of all shapes and sizes wandered up and down the avenues, crowding the stores and outdoor shopping stalls. Up above, pegasi flapped through the air; some on official cloud-pushing business, others simply flying around in leisurely, purposeless paths.

On top of a house directly opposite all the hustle and bustle, Rainbow Dash sat and waited. She was hidden behind a low wall along the edge of the rooftop, crouched down with her wings spread flat. Peeking over the side gave her a pristine view of the brownie-and-cupcake topped building across the street.

For a while, Dash simply stared. She licked her lips from time to time, but kept herself edged down and out of sight. Slowly but surely, her eyes shifted from the bakery to the surrounding square. Like the rest of town, it was jam-packed with ponies, each and every one of them finding something to busy themselves over.

The main source of activity was at the building just a few spaces over. It was roped off on all sides by bright yellow tape, and further separated from the neighboring buildings by several obstructed alleyways. The small wooden sign taped to the door explained in detail the forthcoming demolition, not that its small text could be easily made out from the other side of the tape. A small crew of stallions, hard hat atop each head, stood gathered in front next to a large stack of boxes. One accidentally backed up into the stack, sending a crate to the ground and a few sticks of dynamite rolling around. The ensuing scramble to gather the explosives up without incident was followed by a large shouting match between the group, while the tipped crate was placed haphazardly back in the pile.

A few meters down the square from the demo team, another stack of crates could be found. There were only three here, each marked with a small drawing of soap, and they were being carried on the back of a particularly strained pony. He lurched forward with his cargo, eyes on the ground to watch out for jagged cobblestones or other obstacles. He was completely oblivious of the pony heading his way in identical fashion, save for the fact that his single crate was full of pointed, freshly-cast rebar.

A shadow passed unevenly over the overburdened merchants. It came from the grand piano lurching back and forth through the air, tethered on three sides by three shrimpy pegasi. A fourth pegasus darted back and forth, directing her struggling companions towards a flat rooftop on the other side of the square. All four of them were blissfully ignorant of exactly how aged and worn the ropes holding the piano were, or how close they were to snapping completely in two.

Meanwhile, the crowds of the square mingled freely amongst the many markets of Ponyville. Scattered amongst the workers, shoppers, and general wanderers of the crowd were a number of street performers, each attempting to stand out and prosper in the mob. A small green unicorn cracked a whip with expert precision at bottles kicked into the air, bursting them into pieces and audience cheers. A large stallion with a checkered mane took a long swig from a black bottle, kicked a lighter on, and spit out a huge burst of flame to the awe of the crowd. Further beyond the two, another unicorn revved several chainsaws and began juggling them overhead in a wide loop. This act was met with slightly less appreciation by the crowd, though it did manage to draw the attention of three blank-flanked fillies, who eagerly crowded closer than was likely safe to the smiling performer.

Back on her roof, Dash took a deep breath.

Alright, so not the safest looking day. But that’s no problem. A quick dive down the front here, keep my head low as I scurry through the crowd, and a fast dart through the doors. Down and out in less than ten– huh, what’s that smell?

Dash sniffed in the air. A glance backward was met with a plume of black smoke emerging from the chimney part of her flank was wedged against. Embers licked at her tail, and fire smoked along the hairs towards the rest of her body.

Figures. Better nip this one now.

Dash rolled back, tossing herself over the roof and flying towards the ground. She spread her wings and glided down through the crowd, collapsing into a tight roll to extinguish the rising flames. They puffed out in a few wisps of smoke right away, though she continued to beat at her tail a little longer, just in case. She frowned. The edge of her rainbow now ended in a jagged black line.

“Rainbow Dash, whatever are you doing?”

Dash looked up. Rarity stared at her, eyebrow raised. A small purple box floated next to her, rocking gently back and forth to the beat of her hooves.

“Uh…” Dash scrambled to her hooves. A few other ponies nearby waved at her, tossing out small greetings that Dash only mumbled in response to.

“My dear, you need to stop with all these dynamic entries.” Rarity shook her head. “Beyond the fact that they’re a rather dangerous thing, particularly to the rest of us, they’re doing some awful damage to your mane. You’ll have to let me work on it when I’ve got a spare moment.”

“Uh-huh, yeah, okay…” Dash rolled her eyes and moved a few steps forward. “Gotta take a raincheck on that one, Rarity. Right now I’m on a mission for some grub, so I don’t have a moment to spare.”

“Very well, I’ll talk to you– oh! Wait a moment.” Rarity moved in, popping open the small box. “Before you go, you simply must look at my latest acquisition. Direct from Canterlot, just in time for my fall lineup.”

“Hey, I’m sure it’s something great, but I’ve really got to–”

“Diamonds! Twenty carats each, and perfectly shaped!” Rarity grinned with glee as she tipped the box over. A collection of twenty triangular gems sparkled brilliantly, each one catching the light in twenty different directions. Dash paused for a moment to gape at them.

“Would you just look at those points?” Rarity continued. “As sharp and precise as they come. Why I daresay you could cut through an iron door with the flick of a wrist, and look positively stylish while doing so. My contact in Canterlot assures me they’re of the highest quality hoofcraft, and they’re going to be the centerpiece of my new designs this season. Go ahead, feel one. They’re really something.”

Rarity pushed the box forward, her grin widening.

Dash took several steps back, sweat drops making their way down her cheeks as she eyed the razor-sharp points of each gem.

“Super cool sparkly things there, Rarity, but… gotta run. See ya!” Before Rarity could respond, Dash turned and skated off through the crowd. She stayed so low to the ground that her belly practically scraped the dirt. She bumped past hooves and ankles, always gone before their respective owners could react to her. The front door to Sugarcube Corner loomed ahead. The air filled with the delectable aroma of the treats within, causing Dash’s mouth to water.

“Rainbow Dash! Hey, Rainbow Dash!”

Scootaloo’s chirp was unmistakable. She appeared out of nowhere in front of Dash, forcing her to make an abrupt halt in her path. Scootaloo beamed down at Dash, who did her best to keep her expression from wincing.

“Oh, uh, hi Scootaloo,” Dash said. She glanced over the filly’s shoulder to the bakery a few steps away. The doorknob glinted in the sun. “What are, uh, you, uh–”

“It’s the coolest thing!” Scootaloo shouted. She grabbed Dash’s head and pointed it over towards the chainsaw juggler. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were still crowding around him, alternating between asking him questions and poking at one of the still-running tools. “That guy said he’s going to teach us the tricks of the trade. Cutie Mark Crusader Chainsaw Jugglers, here we come. It’s going to be the coolest, most death-defying cutie mark ever! Wanna come watch us start to practice? I think it’s totally extreme enough for you.”

Dash took a deep breath. “Scootaloo, I’d love to, but… I’m busy now. So very, very busy.”

She eased the filly’s hooves from her head and stood all the way up. She waved Scootaloo away and took a few steps to the side. “So, I normally would stay and watch you three, um, do… that thing… but right now, yeah, gotta fly. I’ll catch you later, alright?”

“Well, alright Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo did a good job hiding her disappointment. She glanced back towards her friends. “We’ll probably be here for a while, so if you still want to check us out later–”

Scootaloo turned back, only to find Dash was already gone. She shrugged, turned, and skipped back to join the others.

Dash, meanwhile, took a slight detour from her path to the door. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

She flapped a few meters into the air, scanning the crowd with a renewed intensity. Finally she laid eyes on her target: a large red stallion with an orange mane and an easy-going demeanor.

Big Mac nodded and smiled at Dash as she landed in front of him. Without a word, Dash pointed at him, and then back at the three fillies. They were currently working on revving one of the mighty tools. Big Mac stared, blinked, and let out a firm “Nope!” before pushing his way through the crowd to put a swift halt to the proceedings.

Sorry Scoots, but last I checked, I’m the only one around here who should be doing stuff like that… even if I probably shouldn’t be doing that today.

Dash smirked, only for the loud growl of her stomach to pierce through the air.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you.

Dash bent over, aimed herself, and sprang out towards Sugarcube Corner. A few fast twists around standing groups of ponies got her to the door, and without a pause she rolled inside. She kicked the door shut behind her and stood in the center of the shop, breathing heavily. A few quick looks around confirmed she was alone. A few more looks confirmed that the store was completely stripped of food, leaving only bare shelves and empty display cases.

…seriously?

The door to the kitchen creaked open, and Mrs. Cake poked her head out. “Hello? Is somepony there?”

Dash waved. “Hi Mrs. Cake! It’s just me. Sorry to barge in like that, but, uh… I was eager to get inside without any more distractions. It’s kind of a zoo out there today.”

“Well, hello there, Rainbow Dash,” Mrs. Cake said. She smiled, trotting out of the kitchen at an easy pace. Her apron was covered in bits of flour and sugar, and her hair seemed more mussed than usual. “Yes, it is rather busy outside today. It’s why Mr. Cake and I are hoping to re-open before it gets too late.”

Dash tilted her head. “Wait, what? Re-open?”

Mrs. Cake pointed to the front door, where Dash made out the backside of a small sign reading “We are closed, please come back later” in neat black letters. She groaned and ran her hoof over her forehead. Yeesh, how’d I miss that?

“Sorry again, Mrs. Cake. I’ve been telling myself I should stop rushing forward without looking. I’m just kinda hungry right now, so I wasn’t thinking very clearly when I started smelling the store outside.”

“It’s quite alright, dearie, really,” Mrs. Cake said. “Come on over with me, I’ve just started baking in here. I’m sorry I don’t have anything to give you right away, but as you can see, we’re completely out of stock.”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with that?” Dash followed Mrs. Cake into the kitchen, eying the shelves the whole way. Except for a few bits of crumbs and one stray cherry gathering dust in the corner, there wasn’t a scrap of food to be found. “What happened to all the food? You guys are always pretty well supplied with, well, everything.”

“We were until last night, yes. But wouldn’t you know it, moments before closing we get a massive order to fill that cleaned out our entire inventory.”

“Wow. Somepony really needed some sweets.” Dash eased inside the kitchen, keeping a careful lookout for any sharp baking utensils or sagging ceilings. However, apart from a few egg shells and an open bag of flour making a mess on the counter, the kitchen was quite clean and orderly.

“Oh yes, it was quite an ordeal. Some poor pony trying to catch the last train to Canterlot, and apparently needed everything for some big party they’re having up there tonight. Apparently it was requested to have our bakery in particular cater for the desert menu.” Mrs. Cake beamed at this last line, then returned her attention to the open ingredients.

“That’s pretty cool of them, but you think they would’ve left you with at least a plate of cookies or something.” Dash leaned against the wall, keeping her wings pulled in close and her hooves evenly set on the floor. Her body was tense, though she managed to keep Mrs. Cake from noticing.

“We were also pretty busy last night. All sorts of ponies coming in and out, many of them from that weather festival thing over in Cloudsdale,” Mrs. Cake said, going from the counter to the sink to prepare another mixing bowl. “Ah well, another day, another round in the kitchen. All part of the life, my dear. Now, if you’ll grant me a little more time we’ll be able to whip up a batch of delic– whoops!”

A metallic clattering echoed around the kitchen. Mrs. Cake frowned and leaned over the sink, watching her spoon finishing falling down the drain. “Oh my, that’s the second time that’s happened. Honestly, these spoons are getting slipperier by the day. Rainbow Dash, could you come over here and do me a quick favor?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.” Dash trotted over to the sink and stared down the small dark hole. She could barely make out the tip of the spoon hiding in the shadow.

“My hooves are never quite able to fish those things out of there,” Mrs. Cake continued. “Any chance you could give it a go? Normally I’d get Pinkie to do it, but I don’t know where she’s wandered off to at the moment.”

“I can’t imagine she’d stray far at a time like this,” Dash said. She bent over and reached a wingtip into the drain, letting the nimble feathertips grip around the spoon. “But then, I can’t imagine much when it comes to Pinkie Pie.”

Mrs. Cake laughed. “That sounds about right. She might be down helping my husband with the furnace in the basement. We had to give the ovens some serious cleaning after last night before we can get going again for the rest of today and tonight.”

She sighed and turned back to the counter, refocusing her efforts on the original bowl. “Now, please be careful in there. The garbage disposal has been acting a little strange lately, and I don’t want you to hurt your–”

Dash yanked her wing out of the drain so fast the spoon launched into the air, landing with a sudden clatter in Mrs. Cake’s bowl. She drew back with a start.

“Uh… thanks?” Mrs. Cake turned to see Dash making a beeline for the door.

“No problem!” Dash called out. “I can see you’re busy, and I don’t want to keep you from backing any longer, so I’ll let you get to it and, uh, go find Pinkie, or something.”

The door had already swung shut before Mrs. Cake’s reply left her throat. Dash flexed her wing back and forth, constantly glancing back to make sure there weren’t any cuts or tears.

Sticking any part of my body down a dark hole with something sharp inside… gotta remember to pass on that in the future.

The door to the basement was slightly ajar, just enough for Dash to knock it all the way open. She looked down the stairs into the cellar, but couldn’t see anything beyond the dusty landing and initial layer of shelves.

“Hello?” she called out. “Mr. Cake? Pinkie Pie? Are you guys down there?”

The sound of metal hitting metal came flooding back up, though no voices accompanied it. Dash gulped and headed down the staircase. She took her time with each step, making sure each hoof was well placed and no loose boards or nails threatened her descent. It wasn’t long before she moved off the final step and around the first shelf crammed with baking supplies. The metallic rattling came from the far side of the basement

The light was dim and flickering, but Dash was still able to make out the large black slice that made up the base of the furnace. It engulfed a full corner of the room, stretching from floor to ceiling in a solid mass of molded iron. The front grill was propped open, revealing a massive maw of fire blazing away within. Embers crackled and flames licked up along the superheated metal as the inferno worked to heat up the kitchen and associated appliances upstairs. Outlined in the orange light was Mr. Cake’s backside, along with the long stick he was using to poke around inside the furnace, scraping off bits of soot and adjusting the logs to better focus the heat.

“Mr. Cake! Hey, Mr. Cake! Can you hear me?” Dash eyed Mr. Cake closely. A pair of construction headphones was clamped securely over both ears, the style matching the thick goggles over his eyes. She moved around a large table to the front of the furnace, reaching out a hoof to tap on his back.

Suddenly Mr. Cake swung around, the long pole gripped in his mouth coming with him. Dash ducked in time for it to swish through her mane and through to the oven for one last adjustment.

“Oh! I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I didn’t see you there,” Mr. Cake said, dropping the pole to the floor. He glanced back and forth between Dash and the furnace entrance. “Those’re some good reflexes you got there. Wouldn’t have been a pretty picture to get your face shoved in there.”

“Heh, yeah, that would’ve been… something.” Dash took a few quick steps back.

Mr. Cake snatched a thick towel up off the ground and pressed against the furnace grill. With a few grunts, he worked against the old spring hinges and shut it into place. The hiss of the flames died down, becoming a simple background noise.

“I swear, this thing gets crankier every time I’m down here. “Mr. Cake flicked the headphones off, lowered the goggles, and wiped his brow. “We’re really gonna have to replace this soon.”

Dash shuffled back and forth by the table. “Um, Mr. Cake? Have you seen Pinkie? I was hoping she’d be able to find me something to eat around here.”

“Oh yes, uh… she’s down in the sugar sub-cellar, I believe.” Mr. Cake nodded towards a slim hallway on an opposing wall, half-obscured by a shelf crammed full of empty cookie jars. “Probably still getting supplies ready. Got a big day of baking to do today–”

“Yeah, Mrs. Cake told me about it upstairs.”

“Right. And since I’m done cleaning out the furnace, that means the ovens are all prepped and ready to go. In fact, I think I’ll go back up and lend the missus a hoof. You come up when you find Pinkie, alright? We’ll get you both sorted out with some food straight away.”

Mr. Cake smiled at Dash as he brushed past her towards the staircase. Midway up the stairs he heard his wife calling to him about the state of the oven, although Dash only heard the beginning of his reply as he entered the main floor.

Dash let out a slow exhale and turned back to the oven. Even with the grill closed, there was still a fair amount of light leaking through. As the orange bathed over her, Dash noticed a few small flashes on her leg: beads of sweat trailing down her limbs, collecting in a tiny puddle on the floor.

It must be really hot here. Guess my body still reacts to the heat, even if I can’t feel it.

She ran a hoof across the surface of the furnace. Her skin sizzled against the flaming metal, and she instantly withdrew it. A small black spot marked her ankle, complete with small bubbles of skin surrounding the central still-crisp burn.

Yeah, I don’t know why I did that either.

Dash shrugged and pulled away from the furnace. Her head had barely turned towards the side corridor when a flash of smiling pink filled her vision.

“Hiya Rainbow Dash! Whatcha doing?” Pinkie’s shout made Dash reflexively recoil, sending her backwards in a scramble of hooves. Her back slammed against the wall of the furnace, wings flared out for a quick escape.

The hinges of the grill twitched ever so slightly. The furnace groaned, and the door sprang open with a tremendous burst of hot air. It snapped right into Dash’s face, crushing her skull like an egg and pushing her eyes right through the slits of iron. They oozed out slowly, cooking and fusing to the grill plate by the heat of the metal. Part of her mouth and a few teeth came out with one of the eyes, mixing with the melted ball into a small cornucopia of multicolored flesh. The rest of her body, still cooking against the outside of the furnace, slid down beneath the remnants of her head until it collected in a pile on the floor, a fresh gusher of blood allowing her skin to slide easily down against the sizzling iron.

With a quick *POP*, the new Dash appeared in front of the grill, next to the table. She stared at Pinkie, mouth opening and closing a few times in search of the right words.

Pinkie simply smiled and clapped her hooves.

“Ooooh, very nice, very nice!” Pinkie said. She scooped up the large pole, and with a quick flick of her neck, she slammed the furnace door shut again. The blood-coated springs squeaked in protest, but offered little physical resistance. As it closed, part of Dash’s brain went with it, with stray strands of flesh bridging over until it created a small red and black cobweb against the metalwork. It sagged under its own weight, pulling more broken chips of skull down towards the floor.

“That’s a really convincing dummy there, Dashie!” Pinkie went on, words escaping her mouth at breathtaking speed. “How’d you make it? What’s it for? Oh! Are we practicing for Nightmare Night already? Because a couple of these babies would scare the candy out of anypony! How’d you make it look so lifelike? It’s kinda hard to tell down here, how does this look outside? It looks like you used raspberry jam for the blood, which is smart! Unless you used strawberry, which might work too, but I think raspberry would get better results in different light. And where’d you get all the jam? And what brand of jam did you use?”

She knelt down next to the body, poking at the legs with her hooves. She slid across a pool of blood and held it up to her face. “Wow, that’s really slick, it really feels just like–”

“Pinkie!” Dash grabbed Pinkie and thrust her away from the remains. She stared her friend in the eye, one wing knocking the blood-covered hoof aside. “Don’t touch that!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break it or anything, even though it’s already broken, since isn’t that the point?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow glanced at the table. “Also, that was a really great reappearance! Just poof, right outta nowhere! I know you’re fast and all, but I always thought I was the best at popping up unexpectedly out of nowhere, but you really took the cake here! Speaking of cake, do you want some? We were going to make some in a minute, we just have to– oh! We should show this to the Cakes! I bet they would get a kick out of it, and they could help you pick out different choices for the insides. Because looking at it now, you’ll really want to pick a different flavor for the goopy parts, they look too fake right now. All black and pointy and whatnot.”

Dash released Pinkie and paced back and forth, hooves gripping her head the whole time.

“Pinkie, that’s no… I mean, it is, yeah, that’s what… no, no, that doesn’t make any… ugh, just, just give me a sec here…”

A shadow appeared at the top of the stairs, causing Dash to freeze in place.

“Hey Pinkie?” Mr. Cake called out. “Did you do something to the furnace? We got a big blast of heat up here just now. Are you both alright?”

“Oh we’re okay Mr. Cake!” Pinkie shouted back. She pointed over to the furnace. “In fact, come take a look! Rainbow Dash just did something really co–”

Pinkie’s call was cut short by Dash’s hoof pressing in front of her mouth.

“Mr. Cake, can I borrow Pinkie for a bit?” Dash asked, ignoring Pinkie’s muffled speech. “I really need her help on a, uh… on a project right now. I’ll have her back soon, promise!”

“Oh, that’d be fine, the wife and I can manage things for a bit,” Mr. Cake said. “She’s earned a break after last night anyway.”

The shadow passed away from the stairs. Dash listened to hoofsteps move across the floorboards overhead, finally re-entering the main kitchen. She breathed a sigh of relief and released her grip on Pinkie.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Pinkie asked. “And what project? What’s going on? What’re you planning to do? Should we bring the dummy? Because you may want to move it soon before it totally melts. The outside of that furnace gets really super-duper hot when it’s all fired up like this.”

Dash didn’t answer as she swept back towards the furnace. Ignoring the pole, she pulled the door halfway open and started scraping her remains off the side.

“Hey, careful!” Pinkie said, a note of concern entering her voice. “You’ll burn yourself doing that!”

“Pinkie, relax,” Dash replied. She gathered her shattered remains and tossed them into the fire. Her head went easy enough, but her body had now fused into a crispy mound against the bottom of the furnace. It took a few tries to pry it free and toss that in, too. A few feathers stuck to the side were all that remained now. They were blackened to their core, and dissolved into puffs of ash at the slightest touch.

“Why’d you do that?” Pinkie cocked her head. “Don’t you want to save it for later?”

“Pinkie, trust me,” Dash said. “There’ll be plenty more where–”

Another groan from the furnace weighed against the springs, and the oven door flew open. For the second time, Dash’s head slammed against the hot iron. Her outstretched hoof, caught mid-sentence trying to point at herself, was caught along with it, providing just enough resistance to keep the metal door from crushing her head entirely. This time most of the skull remained intact, though once again the front half of her face was crunched into a fine paste of sizzling meat and bone.

A shout emanated from upstairs. “Sorry down there! That one was my fault, hit the wrong dial. Be careful of the door, by the way! It swings pretty quick!”

The *POP* came in just in time to catch the end of the remark. Dash stifled a sigh.

They really need to see about fixing these hinges. A pony could get hurt down here.

“Thanks for the warning!” she called up. She brought her attention back to Pinkie, whose head was cocked even more to the side.

“That’s, uh, that’s pretty, uh, impressive?” Pinkie took a tentative step forward. “How’d you do it again so fast? Or replace yourself with the… the dummy. I mean, that is a, uh, dummy or something… right?”

“Pinkie, just let me clean up here,” Dash said. She set to work scooping herself up in much the same fashion she had before, this time making sure to stay well out of the way of the swinging door’s path.

“But that’s… that can’t be, I mean, you’re… you’re…” Pinkie frowned, looking back and forth from the living Dash to the dead one.

“As soon as I finish here, we’ll go for a little walk,” Dash said. “And I guess I’ll explain a few things to you. But please, just stay calm… and maybe grab me something to eat on the way out. I’m still starved.”

In stark contrast to the sounds of activity leaking in from outside, the library remained quiet. It had been like this for the last hour, with hardly any sound louder than a scratching quill or turning page.

Twilight stood hunched over at one end of a large wooden table on the library’s second floor. It was piled high with practically every language, ancient history, and irregular magic book she owned. Half of them lay open, while the other half were recently bookmarked, but none of them were currently drawing her attention. That lay with the little black book, which sat open in front of her next to a few pages crammed with notes. She stared intently at the shifting text, watching each and every letter drift in and out of view. Occasionally she would levitate her quill up to make a new note, or to turn to a different part of the book. Her eyes never left the book throughout all of this.

Meanwhile, Spike sat in a high-backed chair on the opposite end of the table. He was hunched over, claws tapping together and his mouth formed into a small frown. He furrowed his brow and stared Twilight down.

“So, Twilight, I’ve been thinking,” Spike finally said, breaking the silence. “I mean, I can’t help but notice it, but something’s up. With you. Right now, I mean.”

“Uh huh.” Twilight’s head didn’t move, her verbal response more automatic than anything else.

“Something that’s got you concerned. Worried, even,” Spike continued. “Which, of course, is no good. And whatever it is, it’s something that you won’t tell me about. Or let me help with. Or even give me a hint as to what it could be.”

“Uh huh.”

“So, alright, I’ll let you keep doing your thing,” Spike said. He leaned back in the chair, stretching his arms out. “You don’t even have to listen to me. But I’m going to figure out what you’re doing, so I can help you do it, because that’s what I do. As, you know, your assistant and everything.”

“Mm hmm.” Twilight scribbled furiously, her pages filling up almost as fast as she could pull fresh sheets out. She muttered under her breath all the while. “Okay, okay, almost got it now, just a few more translations…”

“Let me just go over the evidence.” Spike hopped down to the floor and began pacing back and forth. “First, this behavior is recent. It started last night I think, and it’s definitely got something to do with that little book you’ve been staring at since you got it from… wherever you got it from. Where did you get it from? No, wait, I’m figuring this out. It’s probably also got something to do with the basement, since you won’t let me down there and keep saying it’s for some special project.”

Spike picked a small bubble pipe off the table and popped it into his mouth. “Second, whatever it is, you’re devoting all your energy to it. All of it. You’ve completely ignored the big cataloging project you’re supposed to be working on, despite the fact that you already did at least a little work on it yesterday, before… before…”

“Uh huh,” Twilight said again. A smile formed on her lips as she spelled out another line of notes.

“Before Rainbow Dash showed up!” Spike snapped his claws. “That’s a big clue right there. She crashed through the windows, told you something that I couldn’t hear, dragged you off for a few hours, and when you came back you were all set on whatever thing you’re working on now. So it’s some secret related to that. Some kind of secret you won’t tell me, and that’ll make you push aside a task given to you by the Princess–”

Twilight’s ears perked up, and her head whipped over in Spike’s direction.

“We don’t need to worry her!” she blurted out. “Everything’s fine! Really, I’ve got this!”

Spike stared at her for a moment. Twilight’s cheeks turned red.

“It must be something big then,” Spike said. He blew a few bubbles on his pipe and moved toward Twilight. “Something big and secretive and possibly dangerous. But also something you think you can do entirely on your own without telling anypony else what it is you’re up to.”

“Spike, you really should relax,” Twilight said. She took a deep breath, her heart rate falling back to normal. “This really isn’t something you have to worry about.”

“Okay, Twilight, every single time you’ve said that before, it turned out to be something I had to worry about.”

Spike blew another bubble. Twilight watched it float to the ceiling.

“Uh, where’d you get that thing?”

“I found it downstairs. I think it’s one of Pinkie’s spares.”

“Why would Pinkie have bubble pipes hidden around the library?”

“Do you really have to ask? But that’s not important right now.” Spike thrust a claw out in Twilight’s direction. “Time to talk! Come on Twilight, let me in on this. Whatever it is, you know I can help, and you know that with me helping it’ll likely be figured out a lot faster. What’s the big secret here, anyway? What’s going on?”

“Believe me, Spike, if it was something I thought you could help on, if it was in any way something that I thought would be better served by me letting you in it all, I’d talk.” Twilight nodded at Spike. “Because you’re right, that’s usually how it goes. But this time, it’s something different, something… well, uh, yeah. Different.”

“Is it some new kind of magic? Or an evil force attacking Equestria?” Spike leaned over the table, trying to get a look at the black book. “I know it’s got something to do with that book there. What’s it say? Are we all in danger here? Because if we are, for once I’d really like to know about it as soon as possible.”

He reached out to touch one of Twilight’s notes, only for all the pages to flash to the other side of the table in a quick burst of purple.

“Can’t I just say no and leave things at that?” Twilight asked. “Just this once, can’t I do some kind of project without everypony trying to pry?”

Spike opened his mouth for a rebuttal, only for a knock at the door to grab his attention. They both leaned over to look down the balcony at the lower level of the library. Another few knocks sounded out from the front door.

“Should I get that?” Spike asked tentatively. “Or is it… a secret, too?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I don’t think you thought that comment out all the way, Spike. Anyway, I’ll get it, it might be Ra– uh, I think it might be for me.”

Twilight moved from the table and trotted to the stairs. Spike made another grab for her notes, only for Twilight to once again teleport them to another part of the library. She ignored his grumbling and walked down to the first floor. Opening the door, she was confronted with Applejack’s face leaning in towards the door.

“Uh, hi Applejack, what’s, uh, what’s…” Twilight trailed off as she noticed what Applejack was carrying: a slumped-over and semi-conscious Fluttershy, complete with vacant expression and incomprehensible mutterings coming out of her mouth.

“Howdy Twilight,” Applejack said. “Sorry to show up with my hooves full like this, but, well… have you by chance seen Rainbow Dash at all today?”

It took all of Twilight’s will to keep from pushing her hoof into her forehead and sighing.

“So you can’t feel pain?”

“Nope.”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Uh-uh.”

“And you can never, ever die, no matter what happens to you?”

“Well, technically I sort of do die, only I come back to life right after it happens, so… yes, I guess?”

“Wowee… this is something new.”

Pinkie took a deep breath and sat back in the dirt. The two ponies sat in a small clearing of trees located on the edge of town, just next over the river and next to the park. In spite of the fine weather, no other ponies were out enjoying the area. That combined with the row of trees and bushes obscuring the view from town proved it to be an ideal spot to talk in private.

Dash rubbed her neck and sighed. “So, yeah, that’s basically what I’ve been dealing with all day. And, until now, what I’ve been trying to keep quiet. So just remember, keep this to yourself! Hopefully Twilight doesn’t get too annoyed, and that’s only if she were to somehow accidentally find out. Which I’d rather not happen.”

“Well why would she?” Pinkie asked. “I don’t see what the big deal is. In fact, why doesn’t she just go ask the Princess for help if it’s something she can’t understand on her own? Do I need to go sing her another 'Your Friends Are Here For You' song? Because that seems like it would help a lot.”

Dash shook her head. “You already sang her, like, two this month. Besides, you know how Twilight gets. She’ll freak out about this for a while, calm herself down, stumble onto a solution, and bam, problem solved. Not that she won’t still freak out when it’s all over anyway, especially if I keep leaving myself lying around all over town.”

A small breeze swept through the clearing. Dash’s wings reflexively bristled against the cold she couldn’t feel. She sighed. “Frankly, it’s a bit of a mess now.”

“I don’t know about that; it seems pretty neat to me!” Pinkie chirped. She sat up and hopped in a small circle. “I mean, come on, as far as ancient evil curses go, you hit the jackpot! You can do all the wacky, crazy, dangerous stuff you wanted to do before, but now you don’t have to worry about getting hurt over it! You’re always super safe, guaranteed!”

“I started out thinking like that.” Dash smirked. “As the day’s gone by, though, things have just gotten kinda irritating.”

“Irritating, but still fun?” Pinkie slid to a halt on the other end of the clearing. “Nothing hurts you, so why not just go with it?”

“Hey, I wouldn’t mind if it was just that easy,” Dash said. “It’s the stupid side-effect that’s got every possible thing out to get me. Seriously, it gets old pretty quick. Can’t even sit in a kitchen or fall asleep without some freakish calamity blindsiding me.”

Dash leaned back against a tree trunk, striking it with her hoof in frustration. A few small leaves scattered down over her head, followed by a fast-approaching buzzing sound. Dash started to look up, but her view was quickly eclipsed by a falling beehive that plummeted from the highest branch of the tree right onto her face. Its crunchy, honeycomb center broke easily around her head, not coming to a halt until it reached her neck.

The buzzing intensified as Dash leapt up. She pushed against the nest, but it was clamped securely over her head. A black and yellow cloud formed around her as a thousand highly volatile bees rose up in a great swarm. In another instant they were upon her, stinging her over and over in a constant poisonous barrage. Every spot on her body was up for grabs as a target, resulting in dozens upon dozens of bees latching themselves onto all her legs, along her back and belly, and right along her spine. A few more flanked out to both wings, aiming for her joints in coordinated stinging raids. Bumps from the stings coated her skin to the point that she was more red than cyan.

Meanwhile, a small company of warriors stuck within the hive threw everything they had at her face. A few made their way through her gaping mouth and down her throat, their venomous barbs busy all the way down. Just as many went for the eyes, the stingers slicing through her cornea and swelling the lids shut. Similar attacks in her ears closed up her ear canals, and shortly thereafter her throat followed suit. With their barbs gone, most of the bees dropped above where they stung, their final duty in life completed as best they could manage.

Dash staggered back and forth along the ground until she finally collapsed in a mixture of anaphylaxis and asphyxiation. A mountain of bees collected around her, every stinger torn free and stuck somewhere on or inside Dash’s body.

Pinkie watched the event take place in a span of a few minutes, frozen mid-stride the entire time. She opened her mouth to say something, only to pause as Dash appeared a half-meter over the ground a few paces away.

Dash caught herself with her wings and lowered herself to the ground. She blinked and looked over at her body. “Ya see? That’s what I’m talking about. It’s always something.”

“Yeah, but you’re still here,” Pinkie pointed out.

Dash shrugged. “Which is nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still irritating.”

Pinkie waved her hoof in the air to shoo away a few stragglers from the hive, and wandered over towards Dash’s remains. A few swift pokes in the swollen, polka-dotted wings worked to confirm what was already immensely obvious. “Well, I think it’s neat. I know what I’d do if I could do this. I’d finally be able to live my dream of eating every single cake, cookie, pie, truffle, tart, fritter, and donut in the shop until I burst, and then I could go back for seconds until I literally burst.”

Pinkie stared into the sky, her eyes glistening. Dash cocked her head.

“You’ve got some weird dreams, Pinkie. But that does remind me…” Dash rubbed her stomach. “All this and I still haven’t gotten anything to eat! I thought you grabbed something before we left. I swear, if I somehow starve from all this–”

“There’s no time for food, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie leapt over dead Dash and ran up to live Dash’s face. “Think about what you said earlier. Twilight’s busy right now, looking for a way to cure you of this, or dehex, or whatever it is Twilight does to make bad magic vamoose. That means you could only have a few more hours to enjoy this, if that! We can’t waste time eating or playing with beehives.”

“Right, that’s fine, because I’ve been meaning to cut back on that anyway.” Dash stepped back from Pinkie to gain some breathing room. “Anyway, what’s really left to do? I’ve done some all-time amazing flying, I singlehoofedly saved Ponyville from a fire-breathing menace… not bad for a day’s work, and all before a lunch I never had. Really, I should probably just go back to the tree and see Twilight. And hope I don’t die before I get there, because you have no idea how hard it is to hide a body on the fly.”

“No, no, I– no, look, just wait…” Pinkie paced back and forth, her tongue pressed between her teeth. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it… hey, I’ve actually got it!”

Pinkie spun around and pointed at Dash. “Quick, die again.”

“…what?”

“Come on, do it for me.” Pinkie’s smile expanded. “I promise, I’ve got an idea, I just need to see something.”

Dash stared at her.

“Pleeeeeeease?” Pinkie pleaded, pressing her hooves together in front of her.

“Uh, sure, okay then. Um…” Dash glanced around the clearing. Beyond the tree the nest had fallen from, all the others seemed relatively sturdy and full of leaves. No large boulders, sharp branches, or loose limbs were apparent.

“I don’t see anything I could use,” Dash said after a moment. “I guess I could slam into a tree a few times, or just stand around until something happens again, but– actually, hold up. Why do you want me to do this again?”

She turned to see Pinkie rustling around in a bush.

“Pinkie?”

“I found it!” Pinkie pulled herself from the bush, a small baggie dangling between her teeth. A collection of four miniature red sticks were bundled up inside, each with a small black line running out one end.

Pinkie hopped over and spat the bag onto the ground, where the sticks spilled out onto the grass. “Here ya go, you can use these.”

Dash kicked at the nearest stick. “Uh, Pinkie, what are these things?”

“Leftover fireworks! I had some from my emergency stash I hadn’t used up for the summer holidays, and I know we’re not really supposed to keep them, so I hid them here for safekeeping.” Pinkie said with a touch of pride. “Why do you think I led you here when you said you needed a quiet place to talk?”

The small black letters reading “Danger! Keep out of reach of foals!” were now plainly visible on the miniature explosives. Dash wrinkled her brow. “So you heard me say we needed a quiet place to talk, after I was squished twice by your big oven thing, and you figured that meant we were going to need fireworks?”

“No, don’t be silly,” Pinkie said. “I figured that we might need fireworks. Now enough chit-chat, just light them and swallow them. That should do the trick in a jiffy. Unless the powder's damp, or the fuse-lighter-dealie’s on the fritz, or a squirrel ate away at them again. Ooh, I hope that didn’t happen again, Fluttershy was really shocked when that big one went–”

“Yeah, alright, gotcha, sure.” Dash waved Pinkie’s comments off and scooped up the fireworks with her wing. A quick tug on their fuses triggered a small burst of flame; they still worked like a charm. Dash gave Pinkie one final look, then opened wide and tossed the fireworks into her mouth. She fought against her immediate instinct to bite down, instead working on shoving them past her gag reflex and down her throat.

“Wow, now that’s an expression I’ve never seen before,” Pinkie said with a giggle.

“Well, you try snarfing some of these down sometime,” Dash replied. Suddenly her face soured, and she let loose with a flurry of hacks and coughs. Small wisps of grey smoke puffed out of her mouth. It was a few seconds before she calmed down enough to brush the smoke out of her eyes.

“I think you’ve got duds here, Pinkie,” she said, suppressing another cough. She turned, only to find Pinkie taking a step back.

“Nope. Time-delayed fuse.” Pinkie grinned and shoved her hooves over her ears.

Dash gulped. “Well, alright, so when do they–”

A muted explosion immediately silenced Dash, and her pupils dilated. Twin gashes sprouted on both sides of her abdomen, spilling out a small torrent of blood, stomach acid, and the chunky, smoldering remains of her digestive tract. She staggered down to her knees, vomiting up a second surge of dark red mush. One of her wings cracked awkwardly to the side, the muscles and bones connecting it to the rest of her body having been shattered into tiny pieces in the blast. After a few more bloody discharges, Dash collapsed to the ground entirely. Her legs twitched back and forth in the growing red pool, and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head.

*POP*

“Alright, there you go,” Dash said. She wiped her hoof off, having reappeared right in the puddle. “So what was that all about?”

“That thing you did!” Pinkie said, pointing at Dash. “After you went belly-up. You just went *POP* and there you were, all nice and neat and alive again."

“Did we really need a demonstration for you to say that?”

“My question is: how’d you do that?”

“I don’t really know. It’s just the spell. Kind of an important part of the spell, as a matter of fact.” Dash chuckled softly. “Without it, I think today would’ve turned out a little differently.”

“Right, but what I mean is: how did you come back to life right there.” Pinkie pointed again, this time to the patch of ground where Dash had reappeared. “I mean, after the bee thing, you reappeared in the air. This time you were right on the ground. Ditto back at the furnace. So what gives? What’s it like when you come back?”

“Again, I don’t really know,” Dash said. “I just, uh, show up where I show up. Which turned out to be a bit of a problem this morning… yeesh, that could’ve turned out badly.”

Pinkie paced back and forth, her eyes focused in concentration. “Okay, so, you die, and you come back. All totally out of the blue and everything, and it’s all good. But suppose, next time before something big and pointy comes your way, you concentrate really ultra-crazy hard on where you want to reappear. Just picture it in your mind, be ready to go there, and then when things go all doomy-gloomy… *POP*!”

Pinkie stopped and turned to Dash. “You show up there! Think about how much easier this would be to manage if you could do that. You could basically get right back into action right away!”

Dash scratched her chin. “I don’t know how helpful it would really be, but then again… it would be nice to have a little control over this. I guess it’s worth a shot.”

Another bee buzzed past her ear. Dash ducked out of its way and turned to face her two corpses. The blood from the eviscerated one had just touched the hooves of the stung one, creating a kind of macabre river through the rough soil.

“Thing is, gotta test that, and I think we’re out of fireworks.” Dash looked back at Pinkie. “I don’t suppose you’ve got another instrument of destruction on hoof over here? I don’t quite think making a run back to town would be a smart idea.”

“Not a problem.” Pinkie did a quick salute and ducked into another set of bushes. After a quick series of rustles she reemerged, pushing one of her party cannons out in front of her. The wheels squeaked loudly at the sudden rush of movement, but Pinkie just kept pushing forward. She finally brought it to a halt right in the middle of the clearing.

Dash raised an eyebrow.

“So, you’ve got those stashed all over Ponyville, or what?” Dash asked. She moved forward to inspect the canon, flicking a hoof against the blue metal tube.

“Only in places where parties may not break out on entirely their own… so yes, all over town.” Pinkie sauntered a few paces past Dash and scratched a small circle into the dirt. “Okay, so right here? Aim for right here, and I mean really concentrate. Imagine yourself here, even more than you know you’re over there. Be so over here that you can’t even believe you’re still there, and can’t wait to get blown to smithereens so that you can be over here.”

Dash smiled and nodded. “Yeah-huh, got it Pinkie. How’s this thing gonna work, though?”

She leaned over, sticking her face up by the barrel. “I realize it doesn’t take much, but I don’t think a bunch of streamers and confetti will be enough to do me in. Unless you want me to choke on it or something, which I’m not all that keen on, to be honest.”

“Of course not, don’t be silly,” Pinkie said. With three quick hops she was back behind the cannon, hoof raised over the trigger. “How about we just– think fast!”

Pinkie slammed her fist down, and the cannon fired. A series of small rocks and sharpened sticks exploded out of the barrel directly into Dash’s face mere inches away. The opening salvo collapsed her skull inward, pressing her nose and teeth clear through her skull into her brain. The sticks sliced through her eyes, though the blast wave had already reduced them to quivering bits of jelly. The rocks punched through what was left of her skull, poking pockets into her gray matter and tearing off a chunk of one of her ears. Her entire head snapped backward, ripping open her neck and revealing the sputtering top of her trachea as it spewed blood and other fluids into the air.

Dash’s body momentarily tensed up in a rather unusual pose, and then she collapsed onto the ground. Just behind it, midway between the cannon and the circle, there was a *POP* and a brand new Dash standing at the ready.

“Hmm… not quite,” Pinkie said. “Still, that’s progress.”

Dash brushed herself off, staring at her new corpse. “Did you just grab a bunch of stuff off the ground to shoot at me?”

Pinkie grinned. “Sticks and stones may break your bones… hmm, actually, probably should’ve saved that until somepony called you something.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever works I guess. Didn’t quite make it, although I guess I wasn’t concentrating hard enough. I mean, I did still think about it. And I could sorta… I guess I felt I was doing something there. Like, literally felt it, which was kinda strange after being numb all day. So maybe that’s progress. Even if I don’t know exactly what it was.”

“You’re right, that’s progress! I mean, you were definitely going in the right direc– ooh, I’ve got it!” Pinkie glanced down at the dead Dash, whose neck was still cracked open and exposed to the elements. “A pony pez dispenser! Yeah, I can live with that.”

Dash shot Pinkie a look.

“Oh, right, sorry.” Pinkie blushed, then shook her head and tapped the cannon. “Wanna go again?”

“Sure, but this time Pinkie, I think I’ll do it my way.” With little fanfare, Dash spread her wings and took to the air. She climbed up until she was level with the treetops, then switched to circling around the clearing. Pinkie hopped along below, following her progress while avoiding bouncing in any of the fallen Dashes.

Dash looked carefully at her surroundings, going from the forest floor to the bushes up to the trees. She paused in place when she spotted a small trunk, slightly off to one side from the others. A stray lightning strike in some past storm had stripped most of the branches to bare blackened crisps, resulting in a lot of sharp points and piercing angles. On the ground beyond it, a good twenty paces from the trunk, was the small circle Pinkie drew in the sand. Dash glanced back and forth between the circle and the branch, a smile forming on her lips.

Yeah, that’ll work.

Aiming for a particularly thick branch near the bottom, Dash pulled her wings up and swooped downward with a burst of energy. She worked to keep her head straight towards the branch, keeping her eyes on the fast-approaching prize.

Think of the circle, think of the circle, be ready for that circle… come on I can do this, not gonna let some stupid curse keep jerking me around…

Unfortunately for Dash, the black color of the branch caused it to blend with another branch immediately under it, betraying its position as slightly to the right of where it actually was. She realized this fact too late, just as her head skimmed past the branch, and the thrusting tip sliced into her gut.

Twilight and Applejack trotted over the bridge and through the park at the edge of town. Applejack stayed a few paces behind Twilight, who’s expression was somewhere between immensely frustrated and deeply concerned. Her eyes darted around the sky, constantly on the lookout for any abnormal signs of rainbow-colored movement.

“So, uh, Twilight,” Applejack said as they passed the park’s fountain. “Care to let me in just what’s goin’ down now? Spike seemed as lost as I am, an’ Fluttershy didn’t seem to be in much of a talkin’ mood.”

“It’s a whole strange, complicated, irritating, and possibly damaging affair,” Twilight said without looking back. “One that I’d like to be over and done with as quickly as possible. And also one that, it seems, requires me to go out and find somepony who really should have been back to see me hours ago.”

“…alrighty then.” Applejack pursed her lips and glanced off to the side. “Well, I take it that somepony is Rainbow Dash, so… see her anywhere?”

Twilight turned at a fork in the path and headed towards the edge of the woods. “Not yet. But Rarity swears she saw her flying off in this direction not too long ago, with Pinkie in tow. So they can’t be far. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re up ahead at that spot where Pinkie had one of her whole summer barbeque things this past–”

“Wait…” Applejack paused, putting a hoof into the air and raising an ear. “Did you hear that?”

“Hmm? What was it?” Twilight glanced around the path and nearby trees.

“Thought I heard voices… over there!” Applejack hustled past Twilight to a small clump of bushes ahead. As the two galloped forward, Twilight heard a voice sound out through the foliage.

“I think I’ve almost got it! Just give me one more sec…”

Applejack glanced back at Twilight. “That sounds like–”

“Yup, it’s her.” Twilight nodded and pushed through the thicket. She stumbled through a series of sharp brambles, which ended as abruptly as they had started. Twilight now found herself running into a wide clearing.

As soon as she stepped in, her legs locked up, and she slid to a stop. She gaped upward at the sight that lay before her. Back in the bushes, she heard Applejack push her way free.

“What’s up Twilight? Did you… find… them…” Applejack’s question got stuck in her throat as she slowed to a stop next to Twilight. Both of them stared at the tall, blackened tree a few meters in front of them.

Dash hung from an upper branch, her head jammed between a tight fork in the wood. She sputtered back and forth, hooves working to free herself from the tree and wings working to push her back into the sky. A long laceration in her stomach bled out a steady pitter patter of blood drops, as well as a length of intestine that almost reached the ground.

Swinging off the bottom of the guts was Pinkie, who had wrapped the intestine around both legs and was actively working at pulling them to the ground. She tugged and bounced around, stretching out the organ to little effect.

“They won’t budge!” Pinkie called out. “Can you scoop something else out maybe? Ooh! Aim for a kidney! That should do the trick real quick.”

“Well, at th-this rate I’ll p-probably just b-bleed out anyway, but I’ll t-try. Hang on, l-let me try for a b-better angle,” Dash grunted, her voice weak and punctuated by random guttural gasps. She flexed a wing against the tree, pushing herself around until her head was facing forward. Quickly her eyes locked on the pale faces of the two newcomers.

“Uh, h-hey Twilight… Applejack…” Dash’s cheeks visibly reddened. “Uh… this isn’t w-what it l-looks like?”

Pinkie spun around to look at her friends, still hanging a good meter off the ground.

“Oh, hi girls!” she said, letting loose a quick smile. “Any chance you could help here? Because I’ve been at this for a few minutes now, and she just won’t die.”