The sun had already begun to set by the time Twilight decided to call it a day and go home. Spike had gone out to the Everfree Forest with Fluttershy to help out Zecora and Aaron was busy having a meeting with his fellow investigators so Twilight basically bad the library to herself. Owlowiscious was perched in his usual spot as Twilight trudged through the front door.

"Who," he said as Twilight fell down on the nearby sofa. She groaned silently to herself and closed her eyes. There was a pain in her head that refused to go away. It had something to do with Sweet Apple Acres. She was sure of that.

"Rainbow Dash," she breathed. "What are you trying to tell me?" She placed a pillow underneath her head and tried to get some sleep. She had spent most of her day walking through the apple orchards with Applejack and now her hooves were practically killing her. Then the pain in her head came back. It didn't last long but it was still painful enough to warrant a loud groan from Twilight. She wasn't experiencing this pain for nothing. Rainbow Dash was trying to tell her something and somehow Twilight was going to find out what the message was. "It'd be nicer if you could tell me without these random shocks of pain."

A small bird-like call echoed from upstairs. Twilight sighed as she looked up towards the top of the stairs. Since Spike wasn't there at the moment, the task of feeding his pet phoenix, Peewee, fell on her shoulders. She climbed off the sofa and walked over to a cupboard to get Peewee's food when the doorbell rang. She gave another sigh, walked over to the door, and opened it. A blue pegasus pony with a bag slung over his back and a mail carrier's hat stood in the doorway.

"Special delivery for Twilight Sparkle," he said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a medium-sized box.

"Doesn't Derpy Hooves deliver the mail?" Twilight asked.

"She did but she hasn't shown up for work for several months now."

Then she remembered. The list of missing Ponyville ponies she had examined during her time in Canterlot. Derpy Hooves had been one of the ponies on the list.

"Right," she breathed.

"Anyway, just sign here," said the mail pegasus as he presented Twilight with a clipboard and a quill. Twilight used her magic to sign her name on the order form and the pegasus placed the box at her feet. "Have a nice day, Ms. Sparkle."

"You too."

The mail pegasus walked away as Twilight shut the door and picked up the box. She wondered what it was as she brought it over to the coffee table. She was about to open it when Peewee's hungry cries echoed from upstairs.

"Right. Almost forgot the phoenix," Twilight said with a smile as she walked over to the cupboard. She picked up the can containing Peewee's food and walked upstairs to feed the baby phoenix. It only took her about a minute to give the food to Peewee and she was soon downstairs opening the mysterious package. "Now let's see what we have here."

Twilight untied the last knot and the top of the box opened up. An eerie greenish glow emanated from the interior of the box as Twilight peered inside. She gasped as she realized what it was. She used her magic to bring the object out the box. She placed a pillow on the coffee table and slowly lowered the object onto said pillow.

It was circular and about half the size of a bowing ball. It emanated a dim, green light that seemed to make Twilight feel comfortable and safe. An image was engraved on the front of the object. The image consisted of three pegasus ponies sitting on a cloud together. The largest of the three, which was situated on the left side of the image from Twilight's point of view, was a mare with a pink coat and a purple mane, the pony on the right side was a colt with a yellow coat and a red mane, and the pony in the center was a mare with a cyan coat and a rainbow-colored mane. Each of the ponies had one word engraved above them. The word Stormy sat above the pink mare, the word Dashie sat above the cyan mare, and the word Sunny sat above the yellow colt. Twilight giggled and smiled as she examined the picture. The sight of Rainbow's vision brought to life made a single tear fall from Twilight's right eye. Her attention was then drawn to a sentence engraved on the very top of the glow stone art piece.

Twilight looked at the sentence and read, "For all the moments we shared together and all the moments we will share together."

She immediately had the urge to cry tears of sorrow and happiness but she quickly chose not to. She felt that she had already cried enough recently. Her thoughts then trailed off to an image of her presenting Rainbow's gift to Stormflower and Sunkick. The mere thought of this future moment made Twilight smile with glee. A series of knocks emanated from the door and Twilight quickly placed Rainbow's gift back in the box.

"Just a second!" she called as she hid the box underneath the couch. She walked over to the door and opened it. An extremely happy Pinkie Pie greeted her.

"Good evening, silly filly!" she said.

"Pinkie Pie! I thought you had to babysit the twins this evening."

"Nah. The Cakes didn't go out tonight so, with my night now being free, I decided to come over!"

"Well come in then!"

"Don't mind if I do!"

Twilight stepped aside as the pink earth pony bounded into the library. She found a seat across from the couch and sat down. Twilight walked over to the couch and laid down.

"What happened to you?" asked Pinkie as she noticed Twilight's exhausted features.

"I've been busy today, Pinkie," Twilight replied. "I spent practically the entire day walking through the apple orchards."

"Getting some exercise?"

"Not exactly. I'm looking for something."

"What exactly are you looking for in an apple orchard? You're not going to find much. Well...you'll certainly find a lot of trees, leaves, apples, and dirt but that's about it."

"I'm not searching for any of that stuff."

"Oh...well...what are you searching for?"

"I honestly don't know. All I know is that there's something there that I desperately need to find. Something that could help answer a lot of questions that have been buzzing through my mind recently."

"And what type of questions are buzzing around in your mind?"

"Questions about Rainbow Dash and who killed her."

Pinkie gulped. This is getting bad, she thought. Twilight is certainly a pony to feel threatened by. She's smart, cunning, and could probably find out any secret if she's given the right tools. She might have to die soon.

"No!" cried the voice. "Don't hurt Twilight! Please! You've already killed Dashie! Can you please leave Twilight and the others alone?!"

"Pinkie...is something wrong?" asked Twilight. Pinkie realized that she had been staring off into space and she quickly shook her head.

"Nothing's wrong! I...I just spaced out there for a second!" she replied quickly.

"I'm going to go make some tea. Do you want any?"

"Sure! Make sure to add lots of sugar to mine!"

"Why am I not surprised?"

Twilight stood up and walked into the kitchen. A familiar urge began to flow through Pinkie's body. It has been too long. The time was ripe. This wasn't for the cupcakes. This was to satisfy the unsatisfiable hunger. Pinkie slowly rose from her seat and walked towards the kitchen. She peered inside and saw that Twilight was busy getting the tea ready. Her back was facing Pinkie and the pink pony smiled greedily at this moment of great timing. Nopony was around, Twilight was busy, and Pinkie was too hungry to control her lust anymore. She slowly approached the lavender unicorn. Her eyes turned towards a nearby collection of kitchen knives. A large ten inch blade caught her eye. She slowly walked towards it. The knife was just beyond her grasp when, suddenly, a ghostly cyan pegasus appeared before her.

"Pinkie...why?" asked the ghostly Rainbow Dash. "Why did all of this have to happen? Why did you kill me?"

Pinkie slowly backed up into the wall behind her. Twilight turned around upon hearing the noise to see a frightened Pinkie Pie staring at nothing.

"What's wrong, Pinkie?" Twilight asked as she approached the scared pink pony.

"Why did you kill me?" Pinkie heard the ghostly Rainbow Dash ask. "Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me? Why did you kill...us?"

Rainbow Dash then exploded into a sea of other ghostly ponies. They all appeared before her. Ridley, Gilda, Twist, Trixie, Derpy, and all the others. Pinkie closed her eyes and opened them again. Rainbow Dash and the others were now standing right in front of her. Their eyes were full of red anger and their faces were disfigured and rotting. Blood dropped from their slowly decomposing bodies and covered the floor.

"Why did you kill us?" they asked. "Why did you kill us? Why did you kill us? Why did you kill us? Why did you kill us, Pinkamena Diane Pie?"

Pinkie let out a soft yelp and lost consciousness. Twilight held onto her pink friend as she fell to the floor.

"Pinkie! Pinkie! Pinkie Pie!" Twilight cried. "Oh my Celestia! Pinkie Pie!"

Just then, a giant shock of pain rocked through Twilight's head and she fell back from the unconscious body of Pinkie Pie. Twilight closed and opened her eyes to see a ghostly apparition of Rainbow Dash standing before her.

"What?" Twilight groaned as she slowly became weaker and weaker. The ghostly Rainbow walked over to Twilight and knelt down in front of her. Then she said something. No sound came out of Rainbow's lips but Twilight could make out the words clear enough.

"Pinkie Pie," Rainbow mouthed. Twilight gave one last groan of pain as her eyes rolled up into her head. She then fell back onto the kitchen floor and blacked out.