//------------------------------// // Chapter 1. Moving to Ponyville // Story: Final Corruption // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// It was a beautiful day in Canterlot but Twilight was stuck in a train watching the city slowly drift away forever into the horizon. She felt like it should be raining. The sunshine outside felt almost cruel. But at least it was very near sunset now. Twilight had a book next to her but read less than ten words in the past few hours. She couldn’t focus on it. Canterlot, still visible high on its mountain, and whatever passed her by as she left it were all she could concentrate on. And each time she looked the city got smaller as she got closer to Ponyville and to that forest. The train stopped again. Every time it stopped, she felt a small bit of worry that somepony would sit next to her and ask her what was going on. She was exhausted and didn’t want to go through it all yet again. Mercifully, there was only one pony at this station, a yellow pegasus. Meanwhile, the entire car Twilight was in was empty. Not many ponies were going to Ponyville. The pegasus walked into the same car Twilight was in and Twilight looked briefly over at her. Like she had some magic sense, the pegasus locked eyes with Twilight and smiled at the exact second Twilight glanced up. Then Twilight felt like she’d just made a terrible mistake. She took out her book as fast as she could and pretended to read it. The pegasus came right up to the empty seat next to Twilight and stopped. She stood there for a moment, quietly studying Twilight, then sat down next to her. “Hello,” her voice was soft but with way too much cheer for Twilight to handle. “My name is Fluttershy. What’s yours?” Twilight dared to give her another weary look. This Fluttershy had a good number of bags too, though she just left them all in the aisle. She’d already unpacked maybe twenty stuffed animals and set them all around her. The ponies got crazier as you neared Ponyville, Twilight heard. “Twilight.” Twilight buried her muzzle deeper into her book. “Are you moving to Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked. “Huh?” “You have a lot of luggage and it’s the only stop after this one,” said Fluttershy. “Nowhere else to go after that.” “Oh. Yeah. I’m moving there.” Twilight was a little embarrassed to admit it. She looked back outside. “I’d say it’s strange you’re moving there, but I’m doing the same thing. Um.” Fluttershy leaned forward and half-whispered, even though the entire car was empty. “You do know what’s been happening there, right?” “Um.” Twilight glared at a passing tree. Did this pony think she was stupid? “Yeah?” “Hm? Oh, sorry. I wasn’t talking about the forest itself. I meant more recently. Like the last few months?” Fluttershy waited a moment, then took Twilight’s lack of response as a no. “Starting about six months ago there’s been a lot of ponies turning up dead or not turning up at all. Even by Ponyville standards, that is.” “What?” Twilight turned back to Fluttershy. This was not something Twilight needed right now. “Like- like how many?” “Like a lot a lot. It was really spooky.” Fluttershy hugged one of her animals, a stuffed rabbit. “But we know why it was happening now. Have you ever heard of an animal called a dreadstalker?” Unfortunately, Twilight had heard of those. She’d read about them in ‘World’s Most Dangerous Monsters’ and the Official Canterlot Monster Bestiary back in school. They were the largest species of spider, save maybe something horrible that might live deeper in the Everfree Forest. But amazingly, being five times bigger than a stallion wasn’t what made them intimidating. Dreadstalkers were permanently invisible and were nearly impossible to detect even with magic. One could follow you around for hours or days, waiting for you to be alone before they moved in for the kill, which was how they got their name. And on top of that they could shoot out hundreds of poisonous spines and the poison of the forest was so strong that if even one of them hit you, you were basically dead. They were incredibly dangerous monsters, but- “But those never come out of the forest, right?” Twilight wanted to believe that this rash of deaths was just Ponyville ponies being stupid. “They can’t hurt you unless you actually go into the Everfree Forest. Right?!” “That was true.” Fluttershy petted her stuff rabbit carefully. “This was the first time one got out of the forest without burning up. It was bound to happen eventually, with the way things are going. But that’s why it took us a while to realize what was going on. Eventually, I took care of it. I know I don’t look very intimidating, but I handle dangerous animals for a living. I’m the one who caught it so I know for a fact that's what happened.” “Oh! Well that’s good.” Twilight laughed and relaxed a little again. “I guess you’re like a hero or something. At least that’s over with.” “Well.” Fluttershy frowned and scratched her stuffed rabbit behind its ears thoughtfully. “But the thing is a second one showed up right after that. And I took care of the second one but now it looks like a third one is there. Basically, they can just get into Ponyville now. But only there since it’s, you know, surrounded.” Oh great! This was what Twilight got for taking the first place she could afford. This was why the house she bought was so incredibly cheap, wasn’t it? Twilight was so certain that things were already at rock bottom, but now this?! She was totally going to die! “I’m moving there to help with the problem.” Fluttershy took a little orange pamphlet out of her bag and handed it to Twilight. “I have a pamphlet about it.” Twilight looked the pamphlet over. The title was ‘Dreadstalker Safety Guide’. There was a big empty frame in the center where a picture should go but didn’t. The caption of this read ‘Dreadstalker not pictured because they’re invisible’. “The most important thing to remember,” Fluttershy said, “is that dreadstalkers will never attack a group and don’t come out during the day. So try not to go out alone at night too much.” Except Twilight was always alone. Twilight was absolutely going to die here. One of these things was going to get her. She probably only had a week left to live! “Also I have these bug lights I’m handing out. It won’t keep you completely safe, but if you put it on your porch or-“ Fluttershy took out a little glass candle from her bag, but quickly put it aside when she saw Twilight’s expression. “Oh, my. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you so much. It’s just important to raise awareness of this. Awareness is key. It even says that on the front of the pamphlet.” Twilight looked back down at the pamphlet and it did say just that. “The rate of ponies disappearing is already down over ninety percent since I started this awareness campaign and I’ll probably get it down a lot more,” said Fluttershy. “If you just follow my pamphlet’s advice, the chances of you even seeing one are actually really low. Or, I guess zero since, um-“ “Yeah, invisible. I Get it.” Twilight slumped her head against the window, her horn supporting her. “Hm.” Fluttershy, as Twilight could see in the window’s reflection, leaned over to one side, frowning a little. “There are lots of other things I’m doing about this too. I’m going into the Everfree Forest myself tomorrow. I want to see if anything strange is happening in there.” Twilight’s ears twitched when she heard that. Up till now, she thought Fluttershy was some kind of government agent, not a crazy maniac. “You do know that’s incredibly illegal,” said Twilight. “Even if you don’t die, which you will, you could go to jail for a long time.” “It’s not illegal for me. I have an extra special license, see?” Fluttershy held out a little card, shaking it a little so Twilight would see it out of the corner of her eyes. Twilight turned and saw something she’d never thought she’d see outside of a textbook. It was an expedition license, one officially marked with a platinum seal from Princess Celestia herself. “Wait. Is this for real?” Twilight took the card and looked it over. Ponies like her used to be considered heroes. “I thought they stopped sending ponies into the Everfree a long time ago.” “They stopped giving these out, but there’s a few of us who still have one.” Fluttershy tapped on a stuffed turtle next to her, like she was playing a little song. “I think there should be four besides me? Though you never really know who’s still left. I mostly have to go out there alone these days.” “But this is a platinum card.” Twilight looked over the seal carefully, hoping she wasn’t misidentifying it. “Isn’t that like, the highest one? You must be incredible!” “Well, maybe a little.” Fluttershy laughed. “I can certainly deal with a few dreadstalkers, at least. I used to run into them almost every day. But I’m not really supposed to talk about inside the forest.” “Do you know Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight couldn’t resist asking. “If you’re this high ranking you have to! What’s she like?” “Well.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and smiled wider. “She’s really good at magic! I bet you are too. Your cutie mark looks like it’s for magic.” “I-“ Twilight bowed her head; her brief distraction was over and it was back to misery. “No, I’m not good at it. I’m never going to be a mage or- or anything.” “Magic is harder than it used to be,” Fluttershy reassured her. “That’s now what I meant I-“ Twilight didn’t want to repeat all the terrible things that happened to her again. She was getting exhausted with it. Hopefully, this would be the last time for a while. “I got kicked out of the academy. They’ve been cutting everything magic-related recently. So they took away my scholarship and now I can’t even afford to live in Canterlot or anywhere but Ponyville.” “Oh my. No wonder you’re so upset. Do you have family in Ponyville?” This was it. The weight of the question was already heavy on Twilight's heart. “No.” Twilight looked back out the window. “My family is- they all died recently. I’m alone.” Twilight tensed and trembled. She didn’t want to think about this, she didn’t want Fluttershy to ask her what happened. Everypony always asked her what happened. Fluttershy sat there thoughtfully for a while, but in the end, didn’t ask for any details. “I know what that’s like.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and put away her platinum card. “Everything bad seems to happen all at once and it’s hard to think anything good can happen anymore.” Twilight remembered then that she was talking to a pony who’d been deep inside the Everfree Forest several times, enough to get a platinum card. Fluttershy must have seen incredibly messed up things, must have been surrounded by death. Twilight almost felt like she didn’t have the right to complain anymore. Getting trumped made her just a little angry. “But I learned I was wrong to think that,” said Fluttershy. “Lots of wonderful things happened too. I met most of my best friends after the times I felt like that. There are lots of ponies who would care about you, even if you haven’t met them yet. You should focus on trying to make some friends when you get to Ponyville.” “That’s easy for you to say.” Twilight kept her eyes fixed outside, though she wasn’t looking at anything anymore. “You’re like this amazing adventurer and you can just walk up to ponies like this. I can’t do that. I never had any friends. And I never will.” “Well I wasn’t always an adventurer. I used to be very shy, actually. I had trouble making friends when I was your age,” said Fluttershy. “But if I can make friends, I’m sure you can too! In fact, you can be friends with me if you want.” “Hm?” Twilight finally turned to look at Fluttershy again, the pegasus smiling wide with hope. “Really?” “Sure!” Fluttershy smiled a moment longer, but then took on a more thoughtful expression. “Though, I do have to go into the forest for a while. But I’ll definitely come to visit you when I get back. In maybe a few months.” Fluttershy wasn’t coming back. Twilight’s mind went straight to that. She was going to die in that forest and deep down Twilight couldn’t believe anything else. Even if she did come back, would she still remember Twilight? Probably not. "Thanks," Twilight muttered anyway. The train finally came to the end of the line, to Ponyville. At least it was sunset now, which felt more appropriate. “I have to go now, but there’s other nice ponies in this town too. You just have to give them a chance.” Fluttershy put a little stuffed cat next to Twilight before getting up. “I’ll see you in a few months. And I promise you’ll meet somepony nice very soon.” Fluttershy waved one more time before taking her legion of stuffed animals and leaving the train. Having more luggage, Twilight took a bit longer to gather all her things. Twilight sighed at the stuffed cat Fluttershy left her. She wasn’t sure what to make of that encounter. Fluttershy seemed friendly if a bit weird. So maybe the town wasn’t as bad as the rumors made it out to be. But still, ‘make some friends’? It wasn’t like it was that easy. In the end, Twilight decided to put the stuffed cat in her bag. With all her stuff finally gathered, Twilight got off the train and took her first step into Ponyville. And the moment Twilight stepped off the train, a stranger jumped right in front of her and hissed in her face. Twilight took a step back in shock and stared at this bizarre new pony. It was a pink earth pony with a long mane brushed to one side, pink with black stripes dyed into it. And she was dressed up like a punk. She had a spiked choker, wore sunglasses and two small bracelets with blunt metal spikes on them. Then there was her black leather jacket. It had two rips on the back right where wings would go if she had them, as if a pegasus had torn them in as makeshift wing holes. Her cutie mark was printed on both shoulders of the jacket. On the back of the jacket was a much larger design, three blue diamonds. The one on her back was probably somepony’s cutie mark too, though not one Twilight recognized. Her ears were pierced in four places each with little skull earrings inserted into each of them. And she had eyebrows pierced too, which was something Twilight didn't even know you could do. There was a small patch of fur missing on her left foreleg too, like it'd been burned off recently in a crazy fight. She looked like one of those delinquents straight out of some PSA about social order. Twilight didn't even know ponies actually dressed like this, thought it was an exaggeration. But here she was, face to face with the villain of a PSA. Even if this delinquent hadn't hissed in her face, Twilight would half expect her to try and pass Twilight some subversive literature. “Did you just hiss at me?” Twilight wasn’t ready to accept that this was her life now. "Huh?" The pink pony blinked, looking utterly shocked. "No way! Why would I hiss at you? That's like something a total psychopath would do." “Well, yeah it is. But I’m pretty sure-“ Then the pony hissed at her again, even louder than before. Twilight took a step back after that one. So there were legitimately crazy ponies in this town. That was good to know. Twilight vowed never to talk to this pony again and backed away as far as she could while the earth pony laughed and laughed. But at least she left Twilight alone after that, moving down the platform and peeking through the doors and windows like she was looking for a new target. Twilight decided she needed to get out of here as fast as possible before any more of these delinquents showed up. Moving slowly to avoid suspicion, she started making her way to one of the rental carts and began loading her luggage into it. But then a second delinquent showed up, a pegasus with rainbow hair. She was dressed like a punk too, with sunglasses, plenty of piercings including her nose and the exact same jacket with the same three blue diamonds on the back. The only difference was her own cutie mark was on the shoulders and the wing slits made sense. That could only mean one thing. These were gang members! “Yo, Pinkie!” The pegasus called out to her fellow gang member. “What are you even doing out here? Everypony’s in the station. We’re gonna be late.” Twilight was very careful not to make eye contact with this one either. “Not yet, Dashie! I want to make sure I get all of them,” said Pinkie. The train doors closed, and the train started moving forward. Pinkie ran after the train and hissed at it as it departed. “I’ll give you this,” said Dashie. “Anypony retarded enough to get off the bucking train now has it coming. But baring that we got too many bucking things to do tonight and hissing at these filthy dorks ain’t on the list.” Twilight stopped briefly when she heard that language. That pony just said the D-word! And the B-word! Twilight looked, but there weren’t any police around. In Canterlot, there were police everywhere. In Canterlot, you would absolutely not get away with that! Ponyville was striking out fast. “Ha!” Pinkie jumped in front of Dashie, making a sort of play bow in front of her. “No one tells Pinkie what to do! Especially not you, Dashie!” “Pfft!” Dashie laughed and grabbed Pinkie in a headlock. “Hey, you can ignore me all you want, but the boss is saying this. If you’re going against the boss, I have no problem dragging you there kicking and screaming.” “Oh, I’ll do one of those things!” Pinkie squirmed out of the headlock and pounced on Dashie. Dash threw her off and got pushed in turn. Soon the two of them were fighting, shoving one another back and forth and laughing like mad. This was the weirdest fight Twilight had ever seen. They were clearly insane! Luckily, Twilight did have her things fully loaded and now she could go from slowly packing everything to running off as fast as she could. But before she could get away, Dashie got thrown by Pinkie and rammed into Twilight’s cart, knocking some of her luggage off. “H-hey!” Twilight jumped back. “Sorry!” Pinkie yelled far too loudly like she was calling to somepony across a mountain or something instead of ten feet away. Dashie decided that her friend’s apology was good enough. She got up, brushed off her jacket, and started walking away. “Wait!” Twilight blurted out in frustration. “You can’t just-“ Then Dash turned back to look at Twilight, waiting for her to speak. Twilight regretted speaking up immediately. That was a horrible mistake. “What can’t I do, dork?” Dashie asked. “Um.” Twilight gulped. She wasn’t sure if she should answer that question was a good idea, but Dashie didn’t look like she was going to leave without an answer. “Fighting is, um, bad and stuff. You shouldn’t curse either cause that’s illegal and- And you're not supposed to go past the yellow line. So, um, yeah. You shouldn't do that. But I- I’m not gonna stop you or anything. I’ll just- uh” They snickered for a second, then both of them broke out into laughter. Twilight held her breath and blushed. She had no idea what to do right now. “Let’s not waste our time on this lame dork, Pinks.” Dashie motioned for Pinkie to follow her and this time her friend (or whatever) actually started following her. “Hey! You two leave that poor filly alone!” A voice with a southern accent called out exactly what Twilight had been thinking. She looked in its direction to see an orange earth pony wearing a hat. “Speaking of lame ponies,” Dashie muttered. “Here comes Applejack.” The earth pony marched right up to those two in a huff, stopping inches in front of Dashie and staring daggers at her. Dashie looked like she was about to get stuck listening to her aunt drone on about the old days, sighing miserably. “You can’t just do this to whoever you want.” Applejack came up close to Dash. “I can if they’re lame,” said Dashie. “And stop using that word. The crippled have feelings too!” “Not in their legs they don't!” Pinkie called back. She and Dash burst out into laughter at that. Twilight couldn't believe what she had just heard! She'd heard ponies curse a few times before, sure, but here was someone who just got called out for it, and instead of apologizing she doubled down and said something even worse! And they were laughing on top of it! In a more fitting reaction, Applejack stomped her hoof and gritted her teeth. “I have had it up to here with the three of you!” Applejack shouted at them. “You think you can just do whatever you want? One these days you’re gonna go too far and you’ll regret it.” “Oh yeah? Tell me where ‘too far’ is and I’ll go there right now,” said Dash. “You don’t get to threaten me.” And now she was coming back! One of them stood on either side of Twilight and suddenly Twilight was feeling the opposite of helped. Valiant as her attempt was, Applejack's heroism had backfired. “If I want to mess with this pony, then I’m gonna mess with her.” Dash rubbed her hoof against Twilight’s mane, messing it up. She'd just touched Twilight! Twilight froze in utter disgust! This was an unacceptable amount of harassment! “Why you-!” Applejack looked like she was about to do something and now Twilight was happy to have her around again. But just then the door to the train station opened. The door hardly made a noise, but it still got everyone's attention. They all got silent for a second, like a lion had just walked through the door. But really it was just a unicorn mare wearing the same getup as Pinkie and Dash came. The three blue diamonds were on the back of her jacket and the shoulder, Twilight just now realizing that all three of them had this unicorn’s cutie mark on their jackets. The unicorn was beautiful. That wasn't something Twilight normally paid much attention to, but with her, it was something different. Even in a leather jacket and sunglasses she just oozed elegance and grace. Her fur was the purest white Twilight had ever seen and all her features were absolutely perfect. This, Twilight decided, was the most beautiful pony she'd ever seen. “Uh oh! Rarity’s here!” Pinkie pumped her hoof into the air. “Time’s up!” Rarity simply ignored Pinkie and kept walking towards the group of ponies, taking stock of each of them. She walked with the sort of attitude a princess walking among the masses would have. “What's going on here? You’re keeping us waiting.” Rarity stopped just inches away from Dashie. She casually looked to Dashie, then to Applejack, then back to Dashie, and lowered her sunglasses just a little. “Didn't I tell you not to talk to Applejack?” “Hey. She came up to me.” Dashie shrugged. Rarity gently, tenderly put her hoof on Dashie's shoulder, then shoved her away with enough force to send Dashie staggering several steps away. Then Rarity turned to Applejack, Applejack freezing as soon as Rarity's eyes turned to her. “And didn't I tell you not to bother us?” Rarity asked Applejack. Applejack didn't say anything. She just clenched her jaw and glared at Rarity, like she wanted to shout but couldn’t. Rarity smiled at that and moved in closer to Applejack, putting the tip of her muzzle an inch from Applejack's, taking her sunglasses off for a moment. “Oh. But maybe you did have something very important to say to me? Maybe you wanted to try fighting me again?” Rarity asked. “Did you want to try again? I’m fine with it.” Applejack said nothing, breathlessly staring Rarity in the eyes for what seemed like a long time. Eventually, Applejack blinked and glanced away. This promoted Rarity to laugh and put her glasses back on, taking a step away. “I say you be the bigger mare and just walk away.” Rarity flicked her hoof, shooing Applejack away. Applejack made a noise of protest but lowered her head and trotted off out of sight, grumbling angrily to herself once she was a safe distance away. “Heh.” Dash came trotting back to Rarity and slapped her on the back. “You got that dork tucking her tail between her legs as soon as you show up! Looks like that dingus knows what's up.” “You're the best, Rarity!” Pinkie glomped onto Rarity, hugging her from behind. “You don't need to tell me I'm the best, darling, we all know it. Even Applejack, apparently.” Rarity returned Pinkie's gesture with a one-foreleg hug and nuzzled her mane lovingly. Pinkie just melted into the gesture of affection, nuzzling Rarity's chest in return. So there they were, out and out cuddling in public. That was not something you were supposed to do! Twilight once again found herself staring at them in disgust, mouth slightly agape. What was wrong with these ponies? She wanted so badly to get out of here, but they were right in front of her and her luggage was piled on the ground behind her. Twilight tried picking it all back up as fast as she could. Rarity's ears twitched and she turned to Twilight. She gently picked the other two up with her magic and moved them aside before walking over to Twilight. Rarity looked Twilight over, staring at her horn and working her gaze down to her hooves. Then she started to walk around Twilight in a circle, looking over every inch of her. Twilight blushed heavily. She felt paralyzed by sheer embarrassment. She could almost feel Rarity studying her butt right now but couldn't even turn her head right now. Twilight just kept her tail down and stared forward with her face beat red and her eyes wide open. “You're very pretty.” Rarity said. “But you don’t seem to be taking good care of your, well anything. You should really let me change your mane.” Twilight's mouth opened, but she didn't manage to say anything. “But seriously, who the buck is this?” Rarity turned back to the other two, letting her sunglasses slide down her muzzle just enough to reveal her eyes. “No idea who this loser is, Rares,” Dash reported. “We were just minding our own business and she comes up and starts giving us bucking lectures.” “Is that so?” Rarity turned back to Twilight with the same kind of smile she gave Applejack just moments ago. “I could hear a good lecture right now. What did you have to say to me?” “Well, I didn't have anything to say to you.” Twilight felt her heart beating hard. “Just to those two, kind of. Sort of.” “They're right over there, darling, they can hear you.” Rarity got a little closer. “It really wasn’t that important.” Twilight took a step back. “But how will I know that if you don’t tell me?” Rarity took a step forward, staying in Twilight’s face. She was smiling, but Twilight didn’t like that. “I want you to say it.” “Well,” Twilight said with some hesitation, she just wanted to bolt but there didn't seem to be any way out of this. “They were roughhousing in public and near the train tracks and, um, even went over the do-not-cross line. Oh, and they were cursing too. They said the l-word and the d-word. And then you hugged in public. That's all, you know, bad and illegal and stuff. But I’ll leave now! Sorry.” Rarity giggled a little. Twilight felt like a total moron right now. “The 'd-word'? Oh my.” Rarity grinned and looked back at Dash and Pinkie. “Now what did my Dashie have to say about the d-word?” “Oh,” said Pinkie, “Dashie just couldn't stop talking about how much she adored-” “She means 'dork'.” Dash jabbed Pinkie's barrel hard enough to silence her. “People were being dorks, so I called them dorks.” “Wait, is there another d-word?” Twilight asked. That got a laugh out of the three of them. Twilight blushed heavily and lowered her head, remembering too late the word ‘dweeb’ also existed. Rarity turned back to Twilight, the smile on her face was suddenly less threatening. “Cute! I think I like you,” said Rarity. “Tell me your name.” “Twilight Sparkle?” “Well, Twilight,” said Rarity, “I don't think there's anything wrong with saying any word, regardless of what letter it starts with.” “But it is wrong. Cursing is wrong. Obviously, I can’t stop you, but it is wrong.” “Why?” “It’s against the rules.” “Why?” “W-why?!” “Yes.” Rarity just smiled through the absurdity. “Why would somepony make a rule that stupid? I say we should just ignore any rules that… lame.” It took Twilight’s brain a moment to even register that. Who would ever have the guts to ask a question like that?! They wouldn’t make a rule against something unless it was bad. “Okay.” Twilight felt a sudden urge to indulge this. “The rule isn’t stupid. It makes sense. You can get fined for all that stuff you were doing and, well it’s just rude. It creates social disorder hurts people’s feelings.” “And did hearing the d-word hurt your feelings?” Rarity looked left and right. “Do you feel morally corrupt now?” “I-“ Twilight looked around too, noting nopony else was there at all. She knew where Rarity was going with this. It hadn’t hurt Twilight or anypony. Not that she was going to admit that. “Um. Yes.” Rarity giggled and the other two laughed, but Rarity quickly silenced them with a wave of her hoof. “Then I apologize.” Rarity made a slight bow of her head. “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.” Rarity touched Twilight's cheek with her hoof. It felt nice. Twilight's withers relaxed for the first time since she came off the train. But then Rarity turned and walked away, the other two following her inside the train station. And then she came back to her senses and shook her head hard. A stranger had just touched her! That was harassment! But Rarity was already gone, and this probably wasn't bad enough to go to the police or anything. There didn’t seem to be any responsible adults to complain to at all. Twilight had to get home before the sun went down, she wasted too much time with this already. She vowed to never talk to anypony wearing those blue diamonds again as she got her stuff back into the cart and hooked herself onto it. But before she got far, Twilight heard a pony calling out to her. She glanced behind to see that other pony from before. Applejack, she believed. “Hey.” Applejack called out to Twilight. “They didn’t do anything to you, did they?” “No.” Twilight kept walking. “They were just really rude for some reason. What was their problem? I’ve never met ponies that brash.” “Sad to say we got a lot of delinquents in this town nowadays, those three being the worst in my opinion.” Applejack started walking alongside Twilight. “Their gang is called the Blue Diamonds. They’ve been hit with more fines and tickets for their shenanigans than I can count, even got thrown in jail a few times, but nothing ever sticks to 'em." “Really?” Twilight asked. “What’d they do to get in jail?” “Rarity was handing out banned books.” Applejack shook her head sadly. “Course she got out the very next day. I swear, it’s like there’s no way to- well you want to stay far away from them.” Banned books? So those three really were PSA villains. “Yeah, I figured that out on my own,” said Twilight. “I like to think I’m smart enough not to get involved with some gang.” “How long are you staying here anyway?” Applejack looked back at Twilight’s cart. “That’s a lot of luggage.” “There’s more, already down at the place. I’m moving in.” “Really now?” Applejack brightened up at that. “That’s swell! Feels like ponies are always moving out of here. Always nice to see somepony moving in. My name’s Applejack. What part of town are you in?” “Oh, my name is Twilight. It’s at, uh, 12 Saddle Way.” Twilight took out her little map of Ponyville and tried to find it. “That’s, uh, over…” It was close to sundown and Twilight was starting to worry about getting lost on the way. “Ah hey, even better. That’s where Golden Harvest used to live. It’s right next to my place, you can follow me thataway. Used to go over there all the time. Course, it’s been empty for a long time. Lot of places are.” Applejack frowned at one of the houses they passed, empty with a for sale sign on the lawn. Now that she mentioned it, Twilight was starting to notice a lot of them. It seemed the lawn of every other house was overgrown from neglect. She expected the town to be empty compared to Canterlot, the largest city in the world, but this was a little too empty. Worryingly, there was a distinct lack of police in this town. In Canterlot there were police and guards everywhere. You couldn’t go for a ten-minute walk without seeing any sort of enforcer. Usually going out at sunset or night meant getting asked where you were going. But here there was nothing so far. It was like they’d given up on this town. “What made you decide to move here?” Applejack asked. “It’s the only place where I can afford to live at this point,” Twilight wanted to leave it at that. “I found an entire house for like thirty thousand bits. In Canterlot I’d be lucky to find a cardboard box that cheap.” “Yeah.” Applejack bowed her head down, the answer dampening her enthusiasm a little. “Suppose that’s the main thing. The cheap housing tends to bring in a lot of ponies who are, uh-“ Applejack stopped herself before making an accidental insult. “But I can tell you’re one of the good ones!” Applejack was quick to go back to smiling. “It’ll be nice having a neighbor again. But just be careful, you know? There’s a reason this place is so cheap. The place you’re moving into is real close to the Everfree Forest.” “I-it is?” Twilight lowered her ears. “How close?” “Pretty close.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Did you not look at the place before you took it?” “Well-“ Twilight looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “I had to move on short notice.” “I see.” Applejack got a bit more somber, trotted along in silence. “You uh, know about the dreadstalkers, right?” “Yeah. Guess it’s good you’re walking back with me. Thanks.” Twilight looked up at the sky. She wasn’t going to make it there by dark. “You know.” Applejack put on a smile. “My family’s been dealing with the forest for generations now. Most ponies just move away when the forest starts overrunning their land, but my family stayed and fought. That’s a big part of why all the neighboring towns are gone but Ponyville is still here. I’ve lived right next to the forest my whole life. I know a thing or two about dealing with it.” That did help a little. This pony lived next to the Everfree and she wasn’t dead. Yet. Applejack seemed nice. So maybe it was the case every other pony in this town was okay. That was two out of five so far? “So is it not that dangerous?” Twilight didn’t let her hopes get up too high. “Cause I heard it was really dangerous.” “You gotta know what you’re doing,” said Applejack. “But it’s fine for the most part. Most folks outta town think you get attacked by a monster every day, but that ain’t the case at all. For the most part, you only run into jackalopes and yetis and they ain't so bad. They ain't too aggressive towards me, anyways. Think it's just the matter of not being too scared of them. And hey- don’t forget I live next door to you. You can always come get me if something does happen. And I can teach you what you need to know.” “Thanks.” Twilight smiled. “That does make me feel a little better.” Her story did explain why Ponyville had the Everfree Forest bordering it on three sides. “I’m surprised this town was able to hold it back at all,” said Twilight. “Can you just hold it off forever?” “I ain’t gonna lie, things are different from when I was a kid, let alone from when my grandma was. Forest is on every side of the town now and we never used to have stuff like dreadstalkers coming out. Among other things.” Applejack glared back in the direction of the train station but lifted her resolve again. “But I ain’t leaving! Not ever. And as long as I’m here, you can depend on me.” “Heh.” Twilight smiled. “You sound a lot like Sunset Shimmer.” “Ah, hay.” Applejack blushed a little. “I appreciate that. She’s a real inspiration to me. Sometimes it gets a little hard, but it’s nice knowing somepony up at the top is so committed.” “She’s amazing! She signed one of her books for me once. Did you know that she can actually teleport for real, like no ley lines or anything?” “That much is a little over my head. Don’t know that much about magic.” “Well it’s been a long time since anypony could do that,” Twilight promised her. “It’s very impressive.” “Sounds about right, then! If anypony can do something about all this, it’s her.” Being neighbors with another Sunset fan didn’t sound so bad at all. Her new house was in sight now. What must have been Applejack’s farm was just to the south with a house not too deep into it. Twilight could probably run all the way there if she needed to. Applejack had, among other things, a large orchard, but the trees in it didn’t look so healthy, some of them leafless despite it being almost summer. One or two of them looked like they were half-melted wax sculptures of trees instead. It probably wasn’t easy farming near the forest. They got just a little closer and Twilight saw, for the first time, the Everfree Forest. The last, tiny gasp of the day was peeking up from behind the forest. The trees, even covered in their grey and blue leaves looked like rows of grasping claws in the dark waiting to tear Twilight to bits. And behind that first wall of trees was nothing but black. The Everfree Forest bordered Ponyville on the west, south, and east. Twilight could see the western border, just past her own house and the southern border just past what she assumed was Applejack’s farm. Twilight was practically surrounded by it. There was a good, long stretch between her house and the forest to the west. What was once likely a farm was now an overgrown field of blighted grass and weeds. Already, Twilight’s mind was creating images of creatures coming out of the forest and running across the field. “And I don’t just mean with the forest either,” Applejack added. “Some of the ponies in this place aren’t safe either. If Rarity or whoever starts giving you trouble just let me know.” “Thanks,” said Twilight, though to be perfectly honest she didn’t know how much confidence she had right now that Applejack could protect her from Rarity or a monster. Applejack waved goodbye and went back to her own house for the night, leaving Twilight to go into her new house alone. At least it wasn’t completely empty. Boxes were already unloaded on the inside. But it wasn’t enough for her to shake a feeling of dread. She knew Applejack probably meant to reassure her with all that, but Twilight was already back to being terrified. Maybe tomorrow they could be friends or something, but tonight was not going to be fun. Maybe she should have asked Applejack if she could spend the first night at her house. Twilight tried to reassure herself that her nerves would get better over time, lots of ponies lived here and they were all used to it. Things had to get better. Though… they more often seemed to get worse. Her new house was huge if nothing else. The living room alone was bigger than the studio apartment she grew up in back in Canterlot and that was with her entire family. Twilight had her own bedroom now! And she didn't even have to become rich to get it. Twilight went up to her new bedroom. It didn't feel like much of a victory. Twilight looked out the window to the north. Canterlot shined so brightly that even now she could see its bright glow on the horizon. It was so distant, but even that much gave Twilight some comfort. The first thing Twilight unpacked was the radio and she turned it all the way up. She only got two stations and quickly chose the one that played music. She never wanted to hear the news ever again. Twilight stayed up a while after dark, longer than she’d normally stayed up. Sleep was intimidating. She’d wait till she was too tired to not sleep. She got a lot done, pushed most of the furniture into the right spot, unpacked all the essentials. She put up her poster of Sunset Shimmer, her rare, signed one, up in her bedroom. This was one of the things she’d hoped to never have to sell. Then a few pictures of Celestia went up next. And then she came across a box that’d been sealed since before she moved. The box contained her picture album, as well as all the pictures of her family. Twilight hadn’t looked at any of them since the incident. Twilight considered whether to open it for a long time. Hanging up those photos was probably the right thing to do. But she didn’t want to. She wasn’t ready to look at them again, let alone have them up all over the place. “Alright, Ponyville,” came the radio, “we’ve reached the end of our broadcasting hours, but we have one last song for you.” Last song? Twilight rushed over to the radio. “As always, we’re closing out with an ode to Celestia. But don’t worry, we’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.” “What do you mean?!” Twilight grabbed the radio. “The stations in Canterlot run all night.” But the radio didn’t hear her. And a little while later, it turned to static. Twilight spent way too long desperately going through every station, but static was all she was getting. Already the fear the radio was covering up was bubbling back! She needed to think of some other way to distract herself! Twilight heard a noise at the window and jumped back in fright. It was a harsh bang like a bird or something had just slammed against it. Her mind jumped through every possible monster being out there until settling on the very worst-case scenario. It was a dreadstalker! She stayed very still, holding her breath, trying to assure herself that it was just nothing. Nothing at all! Twilight was having a simple hallucination. Then it came again. There was absolutely, definitely something out there! She had to look, but- Twilight scrambled to find something to use as a weapon just in case. She grabbed a broom first, but then quickly noticed that there was a knife nearby. That was a better weapon. Something pounded on the window a third time. Twilight held her breath, clutched the knife with her magic, and slowly opened the curtain to peek outside.