In Pony Canada, a small group of creatures were beset by a foe they never could have imagined… a crazed axe murderer! Three of their number have already fallen, leaving behind three students, two teachers, and one counselor.
They didn’t understand the danger they were in, but now they knew too well. Now was the time for a plan.
Ocellus bore an intense look in her eyes. “The first and most important thing to remember is that we can’t go off on our own,” she said, pointing to the door. “The killer can easily handle us individually, but our strength lies in a group.”
“You’re darn right, Ocellus,” Applejack said with a nod. “We still got my kick and Yona’s strength. And I’m sure Trixie can do something too. As long as we keep an eye out, we can wallop ‘em as soon as they try to come in here.”
Hearing that lightened the mood of the group, and there was even a glimmer of a smile from Silverstream and Trixie.
“So we’re going to keep an eye out until morning then leave?” Fluttershy asked, stroking the darling duck she held in her hooves. “Or maybe until we’re sure the killer is asleep?”
Ocellus sighed. “There’s a bit of a complication. I was listening to a recording from the, uh…” she looked back into the hallway “... pony in the refrigerator, and long story short, he mentioned hearing footsteps inside the cabin. Plus there’s been weird stuff with the door locks. I think the killer has another way to get in.”
At this, everyone’s eyes darted around. Silverstream’s centered on the other side of the room. “Do you think they came down the chimney?”
Applejack shook her head. “Nah, I cleaned it out earlier. A filly couldn’t fit down it, let alone anything big enough to… do what happened to Rarity.”
Ocellus shook her head. “The point I’m making is I don’t think we’re safe here either. We need to leave as soon as possible.”
Trixie twisted her face, sticking her tongue out in disgust. “Out there? In the dark, freezing cold?”
“Yak don’t think will be so bad,” said Yona. “We have yak, and we have magic. We outrun murderer and then smash!”
Trixie warily looked out the window, where it was now impossible to make anything out. Hesitantly, she said, “Well… I suppose if it comes to it, we can cut open a dear for warmth. Trixie saw it in a movie once.”
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. “We aren’t doing that.”
Silverstream waved her arms. “Hey, there won’t be a problem. Yona here is a big fuzzy bear and she’s super warm!” She sprung into and nuzzled the yak. “Aren’t you, Fuzzy Bear?”
Yona giggled. “Little Fish would know better than anyone.”
Ocellus tilted her head. “Little Fish?”
Silverstream continued nuzzling. “Yona says it sounds better in Yakish, but I like it just fine.”
Trixie laughed lightly. “Nicknames and nuzzling, huh? Trixie knows what that means.”
Ocellus blinked at her. “That they’re good friends?”
Without hesitation, Trixie answered, “Yup, best friends even!” She winked.
The changeling pondered this more until it finally struck her. That time they were in the bedroom while the teachers were arguing and she was listening to the tape… they must have been coming up with nicknames for each other! It’s a shame she missed that.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Anyway, we need to leave as soon as possible. Let’s clear the back exit and then, once we’re sure the killer is still at the front, we’ll rush out. Got it?”
Applejack twisted her mouth. “Uh, just one thing. Before we go, I gotta use the bathroom.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You couldn’t have gone before?!” Trixie yelled.
Applejack scoffed. “What, during our hike through the snow?”
The magician raised her hoof. “That's what Trixie did!”
“You mean you—Trixie, that’s disgusting! Ponies use the trail we were on! In any case, I have to go now, and it’s better to do it while the killer is out there and we’re in here. So if you don’t mind.”
She opened a door on the left side of the cabin lounge, revealing a bathroom. Before she could step in, Fluttershy dashed in front of her. “Wait! Buddy system! Nocreature by herself!”
Applejack sighed. “Fine, fine, someone can stay outside the door—”
Fluttershy stomped her hoof. “No, we need to keep an eye on each other! Even in the bathroom!”
The air was still.
“Not it!” Trixie said.
“Not it,” said Yona.
“Oh, not it,” said Ocellus.
“Not it,” said Fluttershy.
Everyone turned to Silverstream, who sat with a vacant smile.
Applejack frowned. “I don’t think I can poop like this.”
“Figure it out!” Trixie said, shoving both Applejack and Silverstream into the bathroom. Then Fluttershy quickly tossed a hoofful of darlings in after them.
“For good measure,” Fluttershy said with a nod.
“OK, while they’re doing that, let’s move the fridge,” said Ocellus.
The unicorn, pegasus, changeling, and yak walked into the hallway, where they saw the head of Knowledge Quill on the ground waiting for them.
Ocellus frowned. “We’re going to have to move that.”
“Not it!” said Trixie.
Fluttershy sighed. “As a teacher, I have to take responsibility for this. Alright, Fluttershy, pretend it’s a fake head, just like Rainbow Dash.”
“Oh yeah, my bad on Rainbow Dash,” Trixie said. “That was probably her real head after all.”
Fluttershy winced and Yona shook her head. “Not the time.”
Regardless, the pegasus took in a deep breath and flew forward, quickly grabbing the head and tossing it into the refrigerator.
“OK, let’s move it back a bit, so we can easily move it out of the way,” said Ocellus. “Once Professor Applejack is, uh, done, if the killer is at the front, then we can move it aside and go out the back. And if they’re at the back, it’ll slow them down until we can go out the front.”
Yona nodded. “Good plan. Yak will move it easy.” True to word, it took only a second for her to pull the refrigerator back.
Ocellus sighed. “Alright, I guess all that’s left to do is wait.”
“I know it’s only been a minute,” Fluttershy said, rubbing her hooves together and shivering, “but I’m going to check if Applejack’s done.”
The pegasus galloped into the lounge and immediately gasped, making the others follow after her.
Ocellus shook her head. “I-It’s only been a minute! How could this have happened?!”
The rug next to the couch had moved, revealing an open hatch in the ground. Ocellus’s mind raced. How did they not think to check for a basement hatch? There are always basement hatches in abandoned cabins! But more importantly, the bathroom door… was open.
The changeling watched as Fluttershy walked to the door and simply put her hoof to her mouth. Gritting her teeth, she followed after and looked inside.
Silverstream’s head rested upright on the sink, with blood splattered on the mirror. Applejack’s head laid on the ground next to the toilet. To the very end, she still wore her hat.
Ocellus could hear Yona gasp. “Silverstream, no!”
With grim determination, Ocellus spun to face the others behind her. “We need to leave, right now!”
“Hold on a second!” a voice called from inside the bathroom.
Everyone blinked. That voice… was it possible?
Applejack’s head fidgeted and then rolled upright. As impossible as it was, the disembodied head blinked, flared its nostrils, and even opened its mouth. “I’m actually kind of sort of OK!”
With a gasp, Fluttershy flew into the bathroom and picked up her head. “Applejack?! How is this possible?”
The head hummed. “I can’t say for sure. All I can figure is that I must’ve gotten used to losing my head after all that business with the Diamond Dogless Head. Or losing my body, rather.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” said Apple Bloom. “What the hay is all this?”
Pinkie Pie blinked innocently. “What do you mean?”
“This is a follow-up to the ghost Twilight story?” asked Sweetie Belle. “But they were talking about the cake monster story earlier!”
Pinkie smiled. “This is following up both stories!”
“But that makes no sense!” the Cutie Mark Crusaders shouted in unison, making the storyteller cover her ears.
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Sheesh, you fillies always get hung up on the weirdest things. Anyway, Applejack is a head now, and she has some important information…”
Ocellus put her leg to her forehead as Fluttershy brought Applejack’s head into view of the others. “This is fantastic! And totally unbelievable! And you’re saying this happened to you before?”
“Yak can believe it, yaks have legends like this” said Yona. “But if Professor now infernal demon head—”
“Still just a pony head,” Applejack corrected.
“—then is Silverstream OK too?”
Applejack winced. “Sorry to say, I’m pretty sure she’s dead dead.” Yona furrowed her brows in response and the earth pony head quickly added, “But what’s important is that I know what’s behind all this!”
Everyone gathered around with wide eyes. Fluttershy looked down and asked, “Who, Applejack, who?”
Applejack’s head rolled side to side. “Not who. What. Think of what was with us all this time. They were there when everypony started dying. They came in here with us. And none of them have been beheaded.”
Trixie gasped. “That dead unicorn’s body!”
“No, the—” her eyes widened “—watch out!”
With a yelp, Fluttershy flew to the ceiling while the others jumped away, just in time for an axe swing to whiff, embedding the weapon into the sink.
In the brief seconds it took for the attacker to recover, Ocellus acted quickly and shut the door. She grabbed and held the knob—not a moment too soon, as another axe swing struck the door, showering her with wood shards. Then another came, and another, until finally there was a small hole.
The killer stuck its beak through the hole and quacked.
Everyone screamed.
“Oh come on, the ducks are the killers?!” yelled Sweetie Belle.
“Yup!” Pinkie said with a proud smirk. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?”
“No, because it’s insane!” the unicorn said as she moved to flip over a nearby table.
Scootaloo raised a hoof. “Actually, it isn’t too out of the question. Mom and Dad told me that ducks are among the most vicious animals out there.”
Sweetie tilted the table halfway up, but stopped in place. “Oh, really?”
Apple Bloom rubbed her chin. “Well, if these were geese, I wouldn’t question it at all, but ducks aren’t too out there I suppose.”
Sweetie sighed and calmly set the table down. “Alright, if you girls say so. But you’ll have to do a lot of convincing, Pinkie!”
Pinkie spread her hooves. “And you will be, because these darlings are a menace like no other! As our even more darling friends will soon learn.”
Yona quickly dragged one of the cabinets to the bathroom door, muffling the deadly quacks.
In their brief moment of safety, everyone released their breath and slumped onto the ground. Then Trixie frowned at Applejack and yelled, “Why didn’t you just say it was the darlings?!”
Applejack squeezed her lips together and turned her eyes away. “Er, anyway, the darlings took my and Silverstream’s bodies into the basement, and that’s where that one just came from.”
“Why ducks want bodies?” asked Yona.
“No time, we should go now!” Ocellus said as she flew to the front door and, before anyone could react, unlocked the front door and kicked it open.
“Ocellus, remember what happened to Rarity!” said Applejack.
The changeling nodded. “I know, just let me…” She glanced behind her, grabbed a couch cushion, and tossed it through the doorway. An axe swung down without hesitation, cutting the cushion in half. She spun around and flew toward the hallway. “Alright, out the back!”
Everyone raced to the hallway and nearly crashed into the refrigerator blocking their way. With a grunt, Trixie shoved it aside with her magic, and then screamed.
Two darlings, waddling in circles and absentmindedly quacking, now blocked their way to the back door.
Gripped in Fluttershy’s hooves, Applejack gasped. “Those varmints must’ve flown over the top of the fridge when we weren’t looking!”
Yona snorted and scratched her hoof against the floor. “Yak no afraid of ducks! Yak strong! Yak smash those who kill friends!”
Ocellus reached out. “Yona, wait!”
It was too late. The ground rumbled under Yona’s charge as she lowered her head. Every stride brought her closer, and still the ducks looked away, examining the ground.
Then one of them pulled an axe out from under its wing and sliced Yona’s head off. The darlings flew up over the collapsing yak body and landed as it passed them and crashed against the back door. Yona’s head spun in the air and landed upside down, her horns embedded into the floor. As though nothing had happened, the axe was gone, and the ducks waddled aimlessly.
With exclamations inappropriate for fillies, the remaining ponies and changeling spun and headed back into the lobby. Knowing to avoid the front door, Trixie acted quickly and threw a chair through the window next to the fireplace, shattering the glass. Before anyone could get close enough to even consider jumping through, another pair of darlings flew in through the hole and landed on the ground, rearing back and unleashing loud quacks.
Trixie danced in place then backed into Fluttershy and Ocellus. “Nope! Nope!”
The darling stationed at the door came inside at this and joined in the quacking. On top of that, yet another darling dropped in through the chimney and ruffled its feathers.
The cornered victims backed away. Applejack felt a lump in her absent throat and gulped. She laughed lightly. “Well, I guess the killer was using the chimney to get inside after all.”
The cabinet blocking the bathroom door shook as the duck inside the bathroom continued battering it.
Ocellus looked all around her. Where could they go? Could they break another window and leave before the darlings struck? No, she saw for herself how fast they were. The only place left for them was…
“Everyone!” Ocellus shouted. “Get into the basement!”
Fluttershy whimpered. “But that’s where Applejack said the bodies are!”
Applejack shook Fluttershy’s hooves. “We ain’t got a choice! Let’s go!”
Trixie was the first to jump in and the others quickly followed. They heard frenzied screeches from the ducks, but they dared not look back, with a grasping Ocellus just barely closing the hatch behind her and locking it.
The changeling fell back and they all held their breaths as the darlings chopped away at the door, only for the sounds of shattered wood to be replaced with metal clangs. The axe strikes soon stopped, followed by light quacking.
Breathing heavily, Fluttershy let out a nervous laugh. “They’re saying that the door’s metal inside. And they’re asking each other who saw the key last. None of them know!”
“Thank Celestia,” said Applejack. “Now we have a moment to think.”
“We shouldn’t let our guard down,” said Ocellus. “We don’t know what we’ll find here.”
They finally shifted their attention down the stairs.
“The light’s on,” Trixie said nervously.
“There shouldn’t be any other darlings,” said Fluttershy. “Otherwise the ones upstairs would just call for that one.”
Still, they moved cautiously, step by step down the stairs and then through a short wooden hallway, the floor creaking under them.
Then they saw them. A large chamber with several grim metal tables, on top of which were five bloody decapitated bodies.
“Starlight!” Trixie called out as she rushed to one lilac pony body, putting her hooves up on the table it was on. “Oh gods, I didn’t actually think…”
Fluttershy choked back a sob. “And there’s Rainbow and Silverstream…”
“And Applejack’s body,” said Ocellus. “That last pony there must be Knowledge Quill.”
They stood silently for several seconds.
Applejack shook herself in Fluttershy’s grip. “As much as it pains me, we ain’t got time to just sit here. We gotta act!”
Ocellus wiped away her tears. “You’re right. We need to figure out what we can do from here.”
Fluttershy spoke hesitantly. “Th-there could be another exit.”
Applejack scrunched her eyebrows. “Hold on, before you look, could you put me down next to my body?”
The pegasus looked down with wide eyes. “Oh, um, sure.” She approached the body slowly, which was positioned with its legs upward. Fluttershy froze before she got close enough to put Applejack down, but with a well-timed shake, Applejack leapt from her front legs, spun in the air, and landed directly on the neck stump of her body. With an additional twist, her head oriented in the right direction and there was a click sound.
Applejack’s legs twitched, then bent in unison. Then to everyone’s amazement, she spun onto her belly and stood up, a whole pony again.
“Yee-haw!” she yelled as she bucked her back legs. “Now this is what I’m talking about! Those ducks won’t know what hit them!”
Ocellus blinked. “Wow, that’s…wow!”
“I’m glad that for once something unexpected happened that’s good instead of terrible,” said Fluttershy.
However, any celebration ended as they heard loud clamoring upstairs.
“Are they about to attack?” asked Ocellus.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, they still can’t find the key down here and are getting angry at each other. We’re still safe for now.”
“That’s good,” said Applejack. “Let’s use this time to look around.”
The earth and pegasus ponies split up to search the room, but Ocellus noticed that Trixie was still by Starlight’s side. “Uh, Counselor Trixie, I really hate to interrupt your grieving…” She trailed off.
Trixie turned to her with a light smile. “No, it’s fine.” She looked back toward Starlight. “There’s so much I can say about Starlight, but that can wait until later. I know I’ve been a real bother lately, but that’s because I knew she was there to pick up the slack. That won’t be the case anymore, so I need to become a better pony in her place.” She put her hoof to her chest. “Trixie will commit to being a good pony and will follow in Starlight Glimmer’s example.”
She walked up to Ocellus and put her hoof on her shoulder. “In fact, I know what we can do to get out of this!”
Stopping their search, Applejack and Fluttershy turned to her in surprise. The earth pony grinned. “Let me guess, you brought something Starlight specifically didn’t want you to bring.”
Trixie nodded. “Indeed, Starlight said there would be no fireworks on this trip, but you know Trixie, so I brought one or two or three dozen in my cart.”
“Fireworks!” Ocellus said. “If we place them right, then we can take out all the darlings without getting in axe range!”
Trixie shook her head. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about being careful. Just light them up and they’ll take out the entire cabin plus any darlings in a quarter mile!”
Applejack chuckled. “Normally I’d be mighty angry you brought such dangerous things, but hoo-ey are you a lifesafer right now!”
Fluttershy raised her hoof. “Um, I know we’re in a real dangerous predicament, but let’s think for a second. Do we really want to kill a bunch of potentially innocent animals like that?”
Applejack huffed and raised a leg. “Are you serious right now? In no world are these critters innocent!”
Fluttershy threw up her hooves. “We don’t know that! Maybe they’re territorial and are just acting on instinct!”
“Are you saying instinct made them put bodies on operating tables in basements?”
Before the argument could go further, Ocellus jumped between them. “Wait a moment! Professor Fluttershy, why don’t you just ask them?”
Fluttershy blinked. “Oh yes, of course.”
The pegasus walked to the stairway and called up. “Excuse me? Darlings?”
The bickering ducks paused and a quack came back in response.
“Darlings, we are not your enemies! If you let us leave your territory, you won’t have a reason to hurt us! Does that sound good to you?”
There was another quack a moment later.
Fluttershy frowned. “Oh dear.”
“What did it say?” asked Ocellus.
“He said that they want to kill us because it’s fun, and then they want our corpses for a dark purpose.” She sighed. “Fine, I’ll sign off on blowing them to oblivion.”
“Still,” said Applejack, “there’s the problem of how any of us are gonna get up there to set off the fireworks. And more than that, how we’re not going to get caught in the blast.”
“Trixie can teleport,” the unicorn said, “but accuracy is still a problem for me. And teleporting more than once in a row.”
“Sounds like you going out there would make you liable to get darling’d right away.” Applejack rubbed her neck. “Though speaking of that, maybe I can go out there. They cut my head off once already and I was fine, after all.”
Ocellus shook her head. “It’d be a problem if they cut up your body more, though. You could send just your head up there, but then you wouldn’t be able to set off the fireworks.”
“What can we do, then?” asked Fluttershy.
The changeling took in a breath. “I can do it. I can transform into a head and then return to normal once I’m clear.”
Fluttershy gasped. “We can’t ask you to do that!”
“We’re running low on time and I don’t see any other options.”
Applejack sighed. “Alright, Ocellus. You haven’t steered us wrong so far, so I’ll trust that you’ll be fine.”
Trixie stepped forward. “If you light the big fuse, then the fireworks will go off in stages. The first explosion will be my signal to teleport everypony out of here. You just run. Got it?”
Ocellus nodded. “We’ll need to open the door briefly, so we’ll have to make sure no darlings get in.”
“Don’t worry, I can distract them,” said Fluttershy. “You see, the darlings have a natural predator, the dreaded polar bae! I’ll imitate its call and that should startle them for a few seconds.”
The changeling looked around. “OK, no time like the present.” She took in a breath, pulling her entire body into herself, leaving her as a head that then plopped to the ground.
Fluttershy lifted Ocellus the head off the ground and looked at her. “I think I’m getting used to this, and I don’t know what to feel about that.”
Hesitantly, the two of them approached the basement entrance. The pegasus took in some breaths in preparation, then breathed in deeply and released an unearthly cry of, “UWU!”
Above, they could hear quacks of distress, so without a moment to waste, Fluttershy undid the latch, tossed Ocellus up, and sealed the door again.
“Good luck,” she said before going back down the stairs.
Ocellus rotated in the air before coming to a halt on the wooden floor, laying on her cheek. The darlings looked around warily for their deadly foe, but soon enough, their attention was drawn to the new head.
Ducks creeped toward the changeling from all directions, stopping mere inches from her. They tilted their heads and stared into Ocellus’s unblinking eyes. Sweat poured down her forehead and she clenched her lips together.
Seconds later, the killers lost all interest and resumed their wandering through the cabin. When the changeling couldn’t sense any looking at her, she blinked and breathed a light sigh of relief. She started rolling toward the window, but a quack made her freeze in place. A darling was looking right at her. She held her breath, and just a moment later, the duck had turned and walked away.
Ocellus took this opportunity to roll toward the window Trixie had broken open and launched her head through, landing outside in the snow.
The sky was black and the sharp coldness was enough to make the muscles in her face stiffen and her teeth chatter. Changelings weren’t made for this kind of weather, she thought to herself. Still, she couldn’t think about the cold. She had a mission. The light from the cabin allowed her to spot the sled several meters away from the door, and if she wanted to get there, she needed mobility.
Ocellus warily returned to her normal form. With her head already exposed, her body didn’t react as strongly upon exposure, but it was still rough going. Gritting her teeth, she looked back to make sure no darlings were perched at the window then made a stumbling gallop toward her goal. Exertion and fear both warmed herself up to the point that she was more or less back to normal as she fell onto the sled.
“OK, OK, fireworks, fireworks,” she said to herself as she rummaged through the pile of tied-down items. Shifting aside a box of clothes that belonged to Rarity—she grimaced, realizing she’d never wear them again—she found it. A wooden crate labeled “Do Not Eat” with fuses poking out of various points and even what appeared to be gunpowder leaking out. And then outside of the box was what looked less like a firework and more like a great red rocket, with the words “Celestia’s Shart” displayed on it proudly in yellow block letters.
Ocellus gave a tired laugh and shook her head. “I’m glad Principal Glimmer somehow didn’t notice this.”
Celestia’s Shart had the biggest fuse there, so that must be what Trixie was talking about. The changeling doubted that it would “go off in stages” as promised, but there weren’t exactly any other options.
Ocellus took the lighter that was precariously left right next to this whole mess, but before she could even test it, she heard a noise from the top of the sled.
“Quack.”
The changeling froze and slowly looked up. There she saw a darling tilting its head, staring at her curiously.
Ocellus took in a breath, and that’s all the time the duck needed to jump down and swing its axe.
Fluttershy paced nervously in the cellar.
“Have faith, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she looked over their surroundings. “Meantime, we gotta prepare in case those varmints break through the door.” She hummed as she pulled a large chainsaw off of a table in the back. “I wonder…”
To Fluttershy and Trixie’s wide-eyed amazement, Applejack popped her head off, placed it on the table, then placed the chainsaw on her neck stump, where it easily snapped into place. Her head leapt from the table onto her back through the use of powerful neck muscles, then she started the engine and reared back in triumph as the chainsaw roared to life. “Yee-haw!”
Trixie yelled over the noise, “That’s the craziest thing Trixie has ever seen, and I haven’t even had any magic potions today!”
“What?” asked Fluttershy, who had covered her ears.
“Though Trixie will probably give up potions! I need to be more responsible!”
Applejack said something in response, but the whirling blades drowned her out. Frowning, she finally used a leg to turn the chainsaw off.
Trixie ahemed. “As I was saying, Trixie will turn over a new leaf. It’s what Starlight would have wanted.”
“Oh Trixie,” said Fluttershy. “It’s up to you how you wish to pay tribute, but never forget that Starlight loved you for who you are.”
Trixie shook her head. “That’s very kind of you, but I can’t forget about everyone we lost today, including our students. I need to become a better pony so nothing like this happens again.”
“That’s very noble of you,” Applejack said gently. “I don’t know how I’m going to deal with all this. Even seeing Rainbow there, I feel like she’s going to pop right up again.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Like you did?”
Applejack laughed. “Well, you got me there. Still a chance for more miracles to happen, I suppose.”
Trixie smiled. “Yeah…”
The unicorn looked over at Starlight’s body and then her face lit up. “Actually, I—”
Before Trixie could finish, the ceiling collapsed above her.
Wood shards floated down in slow motion as Fluttershy and Applejack both gasped. Trixie looked up with wide eyes as a chunk of wood struck her forehead, making her eyes slam close, but just before they did, she saw three white shapes tumbling down.
While they were all focused on the door, the darlings had broken through the floor above them. They were out of time and didn’t even realize.
Without looking, Trixie reached out with her magic and held everything around her, darlings included. Her magic surged and wobbled, tears coming out of her closed eyes and mixing with the blood trickling down her face. The ceiling continued collapsing until there was a barricade of debris blocking her off from the others. The ducks struggled with impressive strength, and it was clear that they’d break out any moment now.
“Go!” Trixie cried. “I’ll hold them off, just go! I’ll be right behind you, trust Trixie!”
Tears came to Applejack’s eyes unbidden. Nodding, she pulled her chainsaw’s power cord and grabbed Fluttershy, who was frozen in place. Without wasting a moment, she swung Fluttershy onto her back then leapt with all her power and charged straight into the cellar hatch. Fluttershy held on tight—and kept Applejack’s head in place with her own—as the force blasted the metal door into the air, shattering the frame around it.
Among the airborne debris, the ponies could see a pair of ducks flapping their wings in alarm. They must have been planning to flank them when they opened the door, but they didn’t expect Applejack. Still, one darling recovered quickly enough to attack. Metal met metal as it slammed its axe into the chainsaw, but the engine was too strong and deflected it, knocking the duck onto its back. Before the other one could get any ideas, Fluttershy yelled, “UWU!”
The darlings cried out in surprise and looked around, allowing the ponies to gallop past them. Fluttershy hoped the darlings attacking Trixie were just as distracted. Without stopping, Applejack jumped through the broken window and landed in the snow.
Fluttershy looked back, taking in sharp breaths in response to the cold air. The darlings had already recovered from their shock and were now looking through the hole. Applejack charged forward undistracted, her chainsaw head continuously whirring. With the darlings chasing them, they’d have no chance to stop at the sled and set off the fireworks. They had to trust that Ocellus would handle that.
“There were three darlings in the cellar,” said Fluttershy. With Applejack’s head right in front of her, she didn’t need to yell over the engine. “And there were two in the lounge. That’s definitely not all of them, so we need to be—”
The snow rose up ahead of them and, with a loud hiss, a darling came up from the ground with its head reared back. The ponies could do nothing to change their course in time. With quick thinking, Applejack instead took advantage of this by directing her roaring blades right at the waterfowl.
Unfortunately, the darling was quicker. It dodged to the side and swung its own blade, slicing straight through the point where Applejack’s chainsaw connected to her neck, resulting in it flying away harmlessly. Though not fatal to Applejack, the sudden weight change was enough to make her and Fluttershy trip and tumble in the snow, rolling for several feet before coming to a stop.
Fluttershy groaned. Her whole body was aching. Her head was fuzzy, but after a second to remember her predicament, she shot up and looked around. Applejack’s body was a few feet from her and her head was nowhere in sight. The darling that attacked them waddled confidently toward them, its axe brandished openly. Shortly after, the ducks from the lounge fluttered to the ground on either side of it, forming a line of inevitable death. Fluttershy looked back to Applejack. Her body struggled to rise up, but without her head, she wouldn’t be much help.
Fluttershy breathed heavily. What could she do? Could she yell again? Would that work a third time? And how much time would that buy in any case?
The darlings certainly weren’t concerned about time. They approached slowly, focused on them and nothing else. One tilted its head, as though trying to figure out how best to take off her head. One looked back and then three more darlings swooped down, passing the line and landing to form a circle around the ponies. Fluttershy didn’t think much of this at first, just taking it to be a further assurance of their doom, but then her eyes widened. These were the darlings from the cellar.
That meant Trixie…
Fluttershy choked back a sob. There was nothing left to do. Trixie couldn’t hold them back, and as for Ocellus…
Well, if the fireworks weren’t going off by this point, that meant she had failed Ocellus too.
All that was left to do was to wait for the axe swing.
Fluttershy lowered her head as she cried into her hooves, and—
“Professor Fluttershy! Don’t lose hope!”
Gasping, Fluttershy turned to see a figure standing in the snow just beyond the darlings. Ocellus stood triumphantly, holding a bag in her hooves. She smiled. “I got this!”
Minutes before…
Looking up at the darling, Ocellus didn’t have much time to act before it struck.
But it was enough.
In a split second, the assailant sliced through the changeling’s neck. However, when the head launched off of her body, it suddenly became enveloped in blue fire and floated through the air as a thin pink sheet. It was nothing more than a piece of Ocellus’s head fin.
The darling tilted its head to look at this and in that moment, Ocellus’s supposedly headless body flashed blue and transformed into a new shape. She had turned into a gigantic insectoid monster, with swords for arms and steam heaving out of its fanged mouth.
For once, the darling displayed an expression not of animal indifference, but legitimate surprise. Ocellus acted quickly, swinging her arms together with a primal roar, and struck true. The duck got caught between the blades, turning sideways as the upper arm sent it one way and the lower arm the other. To Ocellus’s disappointment, this didn’t cleave the villain in two, or even appear to draw any blood, but it was sent flying away with a warbling honk.
Ocellus shifted back to her normal form, albeit with a bit taken off the top of her head fin. She breathed heavily. If even that form wasn’t enough to do real damage, then she had no other option than the fireworks. She shifted her focus back to the sled even as she saw the darling rushing toward her, axe raised overhead.
She still didn’t have time to light the fireworks, at least without the darling just killing her and putting it out. She needed something to distract it. She needed…
Suddenly, she saw it. There in the sled was the key to their victory.
“Take this, you monsters!” cried out Ocellus as she reached into her bag and threw several small brown objects toward the darlings.
The ducks immediately shifted their attention, flapping their wings and quacking in excitement as they charged toward the thrown objects. All thoughts about their pony victims seemed to disappear as they pecked and clawed at the snow.
Fluttershy simply sat there, breathing deeply and slowly as she attempted to parse the sudden change in situation, before finally saying, “Ocellus! I’m so glad you’re OK!” She flew to the changeling and hugged her.
Ocellus nuzzled into her. “I’m glad to see you two are OK too.”
In this time, Applejack reunited her head and body and joined them. “Woo-ey, great job, Ocellus! What did you give those darlings that’s distracting them so much?”
Ocellus lifted up her bag. “Peanut butter crackers. Courtesy of Counselor Trixie. It looks like the darlings can’t get enough of them.”
Fluttershy looked at the darlings, still pecking at the ground. “In the end, I suppose they are still ducks.”
“Speaking of which,” Ocellus said, looking around, “where is Counselor Trixie?”
Applejack and Fluttershy’s faces sank, and that was all Ocellus needed to know.
After a pause, Ocellus said, “These crackers won’t last forever. I’ll light the fireworks and we’ll be done with all this.”
Nodding, they walked past the feasting darlings, who didn’t even lift their heads. As they approached the sled, they spotted a seventh darling—the one that had attacked Ocellus—and it too was focused on bits of food in the snow. It showed no response as Ocellus used a lighter to ignite the fireworks.
Then the ponies and changeling ran.
Even as the first stage of fireworks went off, the darling by the sled didn’t lose focus.
They ran into the black cold until the cabin was a distant light.
Then everything exploded. The fireworks created a far bigger impact than they could have imagined, bringing summer daylight to the frozen wasteland for a brief moment. Ocellus realized that if they hadn’t incidentally been looking away, they certainly would have been blinded. What kind of fireworks were these?
Before they had a chance to dwell on this, the shockwave came, bowling them over and covering them in snow.
The group shook themselves off and got up. Gazing at the smoldering crater that was once their cabin, they couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, no way they survived that,” said Applejack.
They all cheered and jumped and hugged. After minutes of this, they finally separated and sat on the snow.
Calming down, Ocellus looked down. “It’s a shame Counselor Trixie couldn’t be with us.”
“She did more to save us than anyone,” said Applejack with a nod.
“And she was the greatest and most powerful of them all.”
“Darn right, and she—” Applejack saw that Fluttershy wasn’t looking at her but rather right behind her. The earth pony turned around.
There stood a blue unicorn, her singed cape billowing in the wind. Though bruised and hatless with a messy mane, she grinned triumphantly.
“Trixie!” Fluttershy called out as she tackled the mare into a hug and they fell into the snow. The others immediately followed after, piling onto her.
The unicorn groaned. “I appreciate all the attention, but Trixie is kind of in a lot of pain right now.”
The ponies and changeling pulled away from her.
“I can’t believe it! How the hay did you get out of there?” asked Applejack.
Trixie ran her hoof through her mane. “A magician never reveals her secrets.” After a pause, she twisted her lips and said. “Alright, fine, Trixie teleported. Nothing more to it.”
Fluttershy smiled. “In any case, I’m so glad you’re OK.”
“If you still have magic, do you mind lighting the way?” asked Ocellus. “We still have to find some shelter.”
The unicorn nodded. “Trixie is always magical and powerful! Behold!” Blue light emitted from her horn, bringing warmth to the survivors and revealing what was around them in the dark.
Shadows stirred, making them jump, but then they relaxed when they saw the source. A group of dears were kneeling in the snow, still wearing their elegant bowties. Their fur was brushed and cleaned and they had sleeping masks over their eyes. A few used their hooves to remove their masks in response to the light, placing them on their antlers like they were hangers, standing up and approaching the survivors curiously.
“Oh, it’s those things,” Trixie said.
“The dears,” said Ocellus. “Come to think of it, didn’t they run off when the darlings first showed up?”
“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy said. “They must have been living in fear of the darlings all this time.”
The pegasus walked toward the dears and stood on her back legs, spreading her front legs wide. “Dears! We have defeated the darlings! Their reign of terror is over, and you’re free now! Now you can live in peace!”
The remaining dears removed their sleeping masks in response, and they all looked at each other with unreadable expressions.
Then they simultaneously sat upright, put their front legs to their antlers, and pulled their heads off.
The survivors could do nothing but stand there with growing horror on their faces as the heads fell to the ground. And then out of the neck stumps popped new heads.
Duck heads.
The sound of a hundred quacks echoed throughout the wastes of Pony Canada.
Pinkie Pie closed a book that she wasn’t reading from and calmly took a sip of tea. “And that, my little ponies, is why you must learn to kill your darlings. What did you think?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Gotta hand it to you Pinkie, that was actually kinda sorta compelling. And it was a big surprise that you weren’t the killer after all!”
“Well that wasn’t supposed to be a surprise…”
The filly continued. “You actually made it feel like anyone could die!”
“Even after all that Applejack head stuff,” added Scootaloo. “Though it’s pretty lame that Rainbow couldn’t do that.”
Sweetie Belle rested her head on one hoof. “Should we take the darlings to be a metaphor about the harshness of nature? Like if we were to see what really happened, there wouldn’t be axe-wielding ducks, but just the bitter cold, which they represent. Oh, with them being white, that could be an allusion to the windegos!”
Pinkie smiled and wiped her forehead. “Well I’m glad you liked it for once! I was starting to get worried, after all the stories these past few years…”
Sweetie blinked. “Oh no, I didn’t say I liked it. I think it’s a very pedestrian effort that shows a clear lack of in-depth knowledge of the slasher genre. For one thing, I can’t even begin to guess why it’s set in Pony Canada, which neither exists nor has any association with axe murderers. While I appreciate that you didn’t spell it out in the narrative, it’s still disappointing that you opted to have Yona and Silverstream die right after making out.”
Scootaloo tilted her head. “Wait, that’s what they were doing?”
“And most of all, the title is inaccurate! There were tons of axe murderers! That isn’t the same genre, Pinkie!”
Pinkie shrugged. “Well still, I’ll take this as a win.”
“You’ll take this!” Sweetie yelled in a squeaky voice as she lifted up a table.
“And there’s where the story ends,” said Sunny.
The foals cheered, with many saying things like “so much death” and “I want to get my head chopped off”.
“It’s unclear if there’s meant to be more after this, but us pony historians treasure every bit we have.” Sunny reached down and pulled out a second book, a ratty notebook with pages spilling out. “My father spent a lot of time compiling information about everything referenced in this, and I want to spend some time talking about that. Let’s consider Scootaloo’s allusion to quote unquote ‘the same mannequin story’ at the start. There are a number of tales this could be, such as—”
Sunny noticed the blank expressions on the faces of the foals.
She placed the book back down and moved her hooves in an eerie way. “And they say that on a chilly day, you can still hear a sinister quack coming from the darkness.”
The ponies resumed their cheering, and with that, Sunny took a bow, and the next performer came on the stage with a flourish.
“Hey there, Pippsqueaks!” said Pipp as she shook her mane and waved a leg.
The crowd went wild, with some even falling over.
“Now, speaking of mannequins, have I got a spooky story for you all!”
She sat down, and after patting the ground, everyone settled down.
The princess cleared her throat. “This has been passed down in my family for generations. Let me tell you the story of the night… that the mannequin came to life and haunted all the costumes!”
Misty brushed her hoof against the floor. “And I knew I couldn’t handle another scary story, so I got out of there before I heard any of that. So there you have it.”
Her queen, Opaline, scoffed. “How ridiculous. Is that truly what they remember of the past?”
The unicorn spun a hoof in her mane. “Opaline, did, uh, these darlings… actually exist?”
“What, did you seriously—” the alicorn’s eyes widened when she saw Misty’s expression. “My stars, don’t tell me you’re actually scared of axe-wielding ducks now!”
Misty looked away. “Well, I mean, Sunny made it all sound so convincing. She did the quacks and everything, I don’t know if I mentioned that.”
Opaline laughed heartily. “Misty, Misty, Misty. You’re absolutely ridiculous! There are no such things!” She moved a leg in a shooing motion. “Clearly it’s too late at night for you. Go to bed and you’ll have a clearer head in the morning.”
Misty grimaced, thinking of the nightmares she’d have. “Yes, Opaline…”
Misty laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. No matter how long she waited, she simply wasn’t going to sleep.
With a sigh, she got up. She might as well get some water.
The unicorn navigated through the dark castle corridors. The route was hardly unfamiliar, but she still found herself moving slowly, fidgeting at every unexpected shadow.
As she neared the kitchen, she noticed a light in the distance. Opaline’s room.
Misty thought back to her childhood. It was rare, but when she got scared at night, the queen sometimes let her stay in her room. It’s been years and years since the last time she did that, but Misty sought anything that could relieve her from the quacks echoing in her mind.
Trotting past the kitchen, she peeked through the slightly open door. Opaline sat in front of a mirror, admiring her appearance as she often did.
Just as Misty was about to push the door open, however, she saw something.
The alicorn put hooves on either side of her face and then pushed them forward.
Her head fell onto the ground.
Underneath, coming out of her neck was the head of a duck.
Misty gasped.
The duck slowly turned and looked into her eyes. It stared at her unblinkingly.
Then it quacked.