//------------------------------//
// Fool’s End 
// Story: Pickles & Milk 
// by moonbutters 
//------------------------------//

“Your medicine is death.” said Spades, removing his ACME Husbando Sword from the corpse of the changeling. Without the changeling talking, Spades could hear...

He could hear Twilight and Flash kissing outside? Spades was confused. How did he know who it was that was kissing? It could be two changelings, for all he knew. But it was most definitely Twilight and Flash. He just... knew.

Spades walked to the basement door, but didn’t open it. A changeling queen was down there. Or might be down there. 

Wasn’t Princess Luna on her way? 

Spades was not at the basement door. He was at the kitchen window. He could see ponies dressed up in nightmare night costumes outside. 

“How...” started Spades, trailing off.

He blinked. There was now a giant Pinkie Pie sitting outside, on a pile of changelings. He blinked again. The pile was gone, and so was Pinkie. His wife cried out from the basement. Spades went to the door and opened it. He walked through, into the 8/11. Twilight and Flash were snogging messily on a checkout counter. Luna was watching them, bored. She turned to Spades. 

“Something is...” the lights went out,  cutting her off. But lights don’t stop sound. They cut her off anyway.

Spades opened his eyes. Why were they closed? 

O̷n̸ ̵a̸n̶d̴ ̸o̵n̵ 

He was floating, high in the sky. Below him was his garden, duck pond with too many ducks, and shovel shed. Where was his wife? She should be a few yards down, smashing changelings, right? Or was that actually Kissylips? 

Spades looked. The yards were bare, with no grass or trees.

Spades closed his eyes, not wanting to see more. 

A voice. Faint. He could hear it. Her. Luna.

“Something is... Something... Something is...”

Is what? Spades did not know.

Spades opened his eyes, but his eyes did not open. Luna fell silent once again. 

“Have a swig.” said a voice Spades recognized. 

Spades Duck had four beautiful daughters, all ugly boys.

That’s not right.

Spades Duck. That was his name. 

Wasn’t it?

“Spades.” said Spades. “Spades Duck.”

It felt right, but Spades could not hear the word, so he touched it with his hooves. It was fuzzy.  

a̸̗̤̦̮̳̜̿̄̔́̈́n̴̩̍̓̏̆̄͠d̷̢̯̪̦͐̀ ̸̗̹͊̓̄̿̎͋Ơ̷̹͍͉̍̉͜ń̴͈̲̰͆͠ ̷̘̆Ǎ̶̫̣n̵̛̗̖͈͐̉̄̓͋d̶͖̦̘̝͆̂͛̍́̃ ̵̡͚̻̞̃͌͘Ȏ̴̥̭̍n̸̡̑ ̸̡̛̺͖͕̝̈̈Á̵̡͍̪̙͔͎̓̓̊̿n̸̤̔ḏ̶͝ͅ