26
*Honesty*
Lending the Death Note allows the pony in current possession of the Note to trade for the eyes of the Shinigami, even if they are not the rightful owner of the Note.
“Don’t move, sugarcube. We’re being watched.”
The world spun to a halt. Already feeling like her muscles had turned to mush, Rainbow Dash went completely limp under her friend’s hoof as Applejack whispered in her ear. Any attempt she could have made to understand the situation fizzled out beneath the pressure of warmth on her skin. Nothing made sense any more.
“We gotta make this quick, and we gotta make this look good.” Applejack’s eyes were darting back and forth. “Don’t think about what Ah’m about to say. If we’re goin’ this route, Ah want you to think as hard as you can about us actually goin’ head to nethers.” She purred, obviously artificially, but with urgency. “And if that don’t work, Ah might just have to invite you upstairs when this is done.”
Much as Dash tried to resist it, the ruse worked. The image of her and Applejack crashed right through her confused defenses and planted itself firmly in her mind. She struggled not to pull away as she felt herself turn a deep crimson, taking some solace in the fact that Applejack was blushing deeply as well. “Good,” the earth mare mumbled as the heat between them increased. “Keep that up. It’s the only weapon we have.
“Look, Ah can’t talk now. If you can, meet me after eight at the corner of the southern field. If Ah’m not there, don’t wait for me. Go straight home. Home, you hear?” She looked around again, this time conspiratorially. “And whatever you do, don’t tell anypony Ah said this. There’s somepony on your team you can’t trust.”
Rainbow Dash stopped breathing. She shuddered and tried to pull away, but Applejack’s grip tightened around the back of her head. “Dash, don’t panic,” she whispered, desperation ringing in her voice. “Ah need you. We all need you. And Ah promise, Ah’m doing everything Ah can to make sure you get out of this alive.” She started to lean back, but then hesitated, whispering one more thing. “You’re mah best friend, Dash. Ah’ll never let you go.”
---
“L, I don’t think you understand,” Locket said. She stomped, nervously but emphatically. “He noticed me!”
L shrugged. She and Twilight were organizing a new wall of stratoscreens showing images from the Apple family’s house, occasionally calling to Jazz for slight adjustments to the bugs. Currently, the two Apple sisters were curled up together on a sofa downstairs, watching a movie. “If Big Macintosh did notice you,” the detective said, “there are two possible reasons for him to have done so. Either he was looking for you, or you did something to draw attention to yourself.” She looked back sharply. “Did you?”
“No!” Locket cried. “I was just another face in the crowd, just like you wanted.” She bit her lip. “Am I... do you think I might be losing it?”
L didn’t answer, so Twilight spoke instead. “Losing what?”
“The thing... whatever it is you hired me for. My forgettable face. What if...” Locket looked down. “What if I’m no good to you any more?”
Twilight Sparkle turned from the screens and stood up. “Hey, don’t talk like that,” she said comfortingly, stretching. “You’ll always have a place with us, no matter who ends up noticing you. Besides, isn’t it a good thing that somepony was taking an interest in you?”
“Not if that pony’s a murderer!” Locket wailed.
“We don’t know that!” Twilight looked around desperately. “Harpy, she’ll be okay, right?”
L sighed. “Truthfully, accepting your target’s offer may not have been the wisest decision. Unlike Rainbow Dash, you are not protected by the bonds of friendship. The fact that your target selected you of all the ponies available to him suggests that he found you suspicious, or may have somehow learned of your position here. Taking Bon Bon with you may be your sole saving grace.”
Locket had paled. Seeing this, Twilight quickly started to speak again. “Um...” She shuffled awkwardly. “I know this doesn’t quite fit into this theory of yours, but... is there any chance that Big Mac just asked her out because he thought she was pretty?” She smiled encouragingly.
Instantly, the colour returned to Locket’s cheeks in abundance. “You think so?” she asked, looking up shyly.
L gave Locket a long, hard stare before turning back to her screens. “No, I do not think that is likely.”
Twilight facehoofed as Locket’s face fell into a scowl. “What she means is—”
“I know what she means,” Locket snapped. She turned away, trying and failing to keep her head from dropping by more than an inch. “I’m... going to get ready. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Locket,” Twilight said, but she stopped talking as the mare stomped away. Locket paused as she left the main chamber, letting out a small sigh before continuing. As she walked in the direction of the kitchen, she heard Twilight’s voice echoing quietly behind her. “Harpy, remember that thing we were talking about earlier...?”
Bon Bon was alone in the kitchen, busily chopping up some of her bounty from earlier in the day. She gave a brief smile when Locket entered and returned her attention to her work. Locket watched her for a minute before speaking. “How can you stand her?”
“Who, Harpy?” Bon Bon looked back. Locket’s expression told her all she needed to know. “Oh, it’s easier than you’d think. I know she’s a hoofful sometimes, but so long as she has a project to work on she’s very easy to keep happy.”
“But...” Locket grouchily pulled out a chair and took a seat at the waiting table. She watched as Bon Bon methodically carved up a head of lettuce, slicing each leaf individually and arranging the pieces into separate bowls. “But she’s horrible,” she argued. “She’s rude, she’s ungrateful, and she thinks she’s better than everypony else. For somepony who’s supposed to be so smart, it’s like she doesn’t even know how to talk to ponies. Where was she raised, a cave?”
“She was raised with me,” Bon Bon answered without hesitation. “We grew up together in a school for the young and talented. I know what you meant,” she added as Locket reddened. “It’s only that I’ve been with her her whole life, even before I took up Sideline’s cloak. Which is... rare. Historically, the real Sideline is rarely L’s partner for life. She usually only lasts a few years before she retires... or gets retired.”
She sighed, but smiled. “But it’s been a good generation for us. We’ve been together for more than eight years, and there’s only been one pony before now who’s posed a serious threat to us. When you spend that much time by the side of the same pony, their little habits start to bother you less and less, and you start seeing more and more of the good pony underneath.”
Locket rolled her eyes. “I know it’s not like she’s evil,” she said. “And I know she can do nice things if she wants to. So when everypony else is scared, why does she always act like it would kill her just to be a little supportive?”
Instead of answering, Bon Bon quickly finished up the head of lettuce she was carving and pulled another towards her. As Locket watched, she smacked the underside against the countertop and pulled out the core. She tossed the bitter root into her mouth and crunched loudly before speaking again. “Have you read many books about L? The novels, I mean?”
“Oh... um... one or two.” Locket blushed. “They’re, um, not my usual reading material. But I enjoyed the ones I picked up.”
“Let me guess.” Bon Bon closed her eyes. “Winds of the Frozen Sea and For Her Dreamless Night?”
Locket’s jaw dropped. “How did you—”
“They’re the only ones with both of us on the cover.” The cream pony sighed and returned to her chopping. “I despise those books. I can never make it more than a few chapters through them. They get our characters completely wrong. And I don’t just mean that they always make L into some sly stallion, oh no,” she added, shaking her head. “It’s deeper than that. They make him... charming.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Not when it’s hurting the pony they’re supposed to be praising. Everyone who comes down here expects to meet somepony cute and quirky. Somepony different, but in a fun way.” She sighed again. “They don’t want a mare who rejects their friendship and still needs a bedtime story to fall asleep. They come looking for a pony to idolize, and instead find somepony to pity. The truth is, she’s neither. That’s why she doesn’t try to reach out to others any more. Everypony who gets this far is so focused on how they’re affected by her character that they never see her as a real, living pony.”
Locket blinked. “She gets you to read her bedtime stories?”
“She has such horrible nightmares.” Bon Bon waved her free hoof dismissively. “I know it’s difficult, but believe me when I say that Harpy Chords does mean well. She’s had a lot of ponies work for her in the past, but always for her, never with her. The fact that she’s even allowed Twilight Sparkle to get so close to her is a huge step forward. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her come that close to making a real friend.”
“What about you?” Locket asked. “Aren’t you her friend?”
“Well...” Bon Bon smiled faintly. “What do the books say about me?”
Locket blushed. “Oh, I don’t think you really...”
“No, I’m curious now. I’m barely in any of the early chapters.” She glanced back, grinning. “I hear you’re good at stories. What do the authors in the Age of Harmony have to say about the great and powerful Sideline?”
“They say...” Locket blushed further, then looked at the ground. “They say that you’re in love with L,” she said after a pause. “In the books, I mean. It’s why you stay with him, despite all his... flaws. But he’s practically married to his work, and even though he’s the most brilliant detective in the world, he never seems to notice you. So you just stay by his side, and you never say anything or make a move, because... because you’re afraid of losing the only relationship you think the two of you can have.”
Bon Bon had stopped chopping. She stared down at her vegetables, the last traces of her smile fading until her face was as expressionless as that of the pony she watched over. Locket gulped. Slowly, she rose and crept over to the other mare’s side, alternately glancing between her and her own hooves. She raised a hoof to rest comfortingly on her friend’s shoulder, then slowly put it down again. “You know,” the blue mare mumbled, “at the end of For Her Dreamless Night, it’s sort of implied that L does know, deep down. He feels something for you too, in his own way, but he never shows it because he thinks it’s the cold, calculating L that you love. In the end, he’s just as afraid of losing you as you are—”
Bon Bon whirled on the other pony, glaring daggers into her startled eyes. “I’ll have you know,” she snarled, then immediately backed down and composed herself. “I’ll have you know,” she tried again with obvious restraint, “that all of those writers have the situation completely reversed.”
The pair stared at each other for several long seconds in silence. Then Locket let out a whimper. Bon Bon looked down and turned back to her chopping board, spearing another slice of lettuce and sliding it into a bowl. “Could you give me a hoof with the rest of the salads?” she asked quietly. “Once I’ve finished today’s dinner, I’ll be free to help you get ready for tonight.”
---
It seemed like an impossibly long time before eight o’clock arrived. Rainbow Dash tried to spend it napping, but her body wouldn’t listen to her; even her own bed, which could normally carry her to dreamland in a matter of minutes, was proving woefully insufficient. She felt horribly pent up, like a string straining to snap, needing to fly but unwilling to risk drawing attention to herself. Instead she spent her time pacing up and down the stairways of her house, and twice combed herself from head to hoof just in case L had slipped a bug onto her without her noticing.
At two minutes to eight Rainbow’s alarm clock chimed — years ago she’d purchased a solar-powered alarm clock, and she still didn’t understand why none of her friends agreed that this was the best idea ever. She pounded the device off hard enough to knock it through the shelf of cloud it rested on and hurled herself out the nearest window. Just as the bells of Ponyville chimed eight, the pegasus hovered over the edge of Sweet Apple Acres’ southern field.
Applejack was nowhere in sight. Dash descended and peered around anxiously, half-expecting an ambush. Is this the right place? she wondered, fear rising further. Of course, she didn’t think to tell me which corner of the southern field she’d be in...
Just as Dash was preparing to take off again, she caught sight of a head peeking cautiously out from behind a tree. “Rainbow Dash?” Applejack said quietly, looking as if she were preparing to bolt. “That you?”
“Yeah.” Dash slipped quietly up to the tree. “Applejack? What—”
Before Dash could say anything more, she was surprised by a pair of powerful legs wrapped around her in an embrace. “Ah’m so sorry,” Applejack mumbled, her voice cracking slightly. “Ah didn’t know if she was going to kill you. If you hadn’t shown...”
“AJ, stop.” Dash pushed her friend off of her. She glared at Applejack with as much sternness as she could muster, but hesitated for a long moment before speaking. “Tell me what this is about,” she ordered. “No more jumping around it. Because if this is about what I think it’s about... I don’t even know if I can trust you. For all I know, you’re the one who’s trying to kill me.”
Applejack gulped. She backed away and stepped out from underneath the tree, doing a slow, deliberate turn to look around the sky before turning back to her friend. “This is about Kira.”
“I knew it.” Rainbow Dash winced. Some of the feeling left her legs, but she gritted her teeth and stood her ground. “I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now. If anypony finds out about this—”
“If anypony finds out,” Applejack interrupted, “anything that detective of yours can do to you is gonna be the least of your worries.” She groaned and wiped her eyes. “Ah’m sorry, sugarcube. Ah’ve been keeping too many secrets. It ain’t healthy.”
“Then start talking. And this had better be good, because so far, pretty much everypony else thinks that you’re Kira. Heck, even I’m starting to believe it.” Dash paused. Her voice became noticeably quieter. “Are you?”
Applejack didn’t answer at first. She stared at the ground and ran a hoof along the brim of her hat. They both waited, breaths held, as Applejack tightened her lips multiple times in succession. When she finally looked up, her eyes were glistening again. “Would you really believe me if Ah told you Ah’m not?”
Rainbow Dash rapidly decided how to interpret this and began listing questions on her hooves. “If not you, then who? How did you get dragged into this? How did you know that I’m on a team? How much danger are we in? Who can’t I trust? And most importantly, why the hay did you kiss me?”
Applejack blushed. “Yeah, Ah’m... sorry about that,” she mumbled, not looking Dash in the eye. “Mer hates sappy stuff. It was the only way Ah could think of to get her to back off for a minute so Ah could talk to you. You couldn’t see her, but she was hoverin’ over you like a fly to a month-old apple crate.”
“Mer?”
“That’s right. The real Kira.” Applejack turned and started to trudge across the field. “Come on. Ah gotta show you something.”
“No!” Dash said quickly. “You stay here.” She planted her hooves, trying not to look like she was thinking of bolting. Although parts of her were still insisting that she could trust Applejack, something about her demeanor reminded her that she needed to keep her guard up. “I still don’t know that this isn’t a trap. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just fly back to L right now and tell her everything you’ve just said.”
Applejack stopped. “A mare?” she mouthed to herself.
After a reflective pause, Applejack looked back. “Dash,” she said solemnly, “if you’ve ever trusted me, trust me now. Ah can prove Ah’m not Kira. Ah’ve got a lot to tell you, and when Ah do, Ah want to know for sure that Ah’m telling the truth. This could be our one shot at this. Either I spill the beans now and you spend the whole time wondering if I’m on the level, or you follow me and we settle this once and for all.”
Dash hesitated only a moment longer before stepping forward. “Okay,” she said. The pair set off at a quiet pace across the orchard. “Why now, anyway? What makes this any safer than before?”
“Big Mac’s giving us a distraction.” Applejack chuckled grimly. “He’s got exactly the same speech prepared as Ah do. If we’re lucky, the real Kira won’t dare to take her eyes off him all evening. And yet, somehow, Ah think he’s more afraid of his date than he is of her.”
---
Despite having gone through a brief decline, on this particular evening The Brass Tap’s atmosphere was as cheerful and lighthearted as it had been in months gone by. New clientele had drifted in to replace those who had left, both sides motivated by a need for change in their suddenly confusing lives, and while a certain seat near the bar remained reverently empty, there were no more sad songs or lamentations.
The pub was decorated in autumn colours. A hearth blazed warmly in one corner, with a fiddle player nearby merrily bowing out a tune. Against one wall, a group of ponies was loudly celebrating a game of drunk darts; against the other, a zebra was attempting to teach an unfamiliar grey pegasus how to dance. Everything was bright, loud and cheerful, an open torch against the solemn quietness of the streets outside.
Locket hated it.
She and Big Macintosh sat across from each other at a table in the middle of the room. Both clutched drinks; hard cider for him, soft for her. In the beginning Bon Bon had sat with them, expertly chatting about nothing, but after their drinks had arrived she’d slipped away to meet with others at the bar. While the rest of the pub laughed and celebrated, the pair in the middle drank in silence.
Locket stared at the table. While part of her insisted that she should have been fearing for her life, all she could think about was that this wasn’t like any date she’d had in the past. Big Macintosh’s silence was unnerving her. Ever since she’d first taken an interest in colts, she couldn’t remember meeting one who even seemed capable of keeping his mouth shut for so long, let alone one who would do so by choice. Any discomfort she felt seemed to be one-sided; Big Macintosh appeared perfectly content to simply drink quietly. He alternated between smiling vacantly in her direction and glancing around the room, as though he were trying not to look at something. It’s sort of rude, Locket decided. What kind of stallion takes a mare out if he doesn’t have anything to say to her?
Stretching, the big pony lifted his mug high and drained it. Even this simple motion caused the muscles in his leg to ripple. Locket shivered, then quietly berated herself. For some reason, just being in Big Macintosh’s presence was giving her chills. And, nervous as she knew she should have been, it sure wasn’t coming from fear. She ordered her eyes downwards again, taking a drink to cover any colour coming to her cheeks. I’m on a mission, she reminded herself. I don’t have time to think about stallions, even if they are... She reddened. The silence stretched longer and louder, building pressure underneath her skin.
Big Macintosh sighed contentedly, setting his empty mug down near two others beside him. As the mare opposite him tensed up, he leaned forward and started to speak. “How—”
“I have a coltfriend,” Locket blurted.
They both stopped. The mare reddened further, pursing her lips. Big Macintosh said nothing. “J-just so you know,” she stammered. “I’m not... I mean, I’m spoken for. I... um...” Still nothing. “I know you said this wasn’t... anything special, but...” Surreptitiously, she gulped. He didn’t move a muscle. “Just in case, I... I didn’t want you to think I was stringing you along. Or anything. That’s all. You know?”
Big Macintosh blinked. “Not really.”
“Oh. Well... I do. So... yeah.” The stallion just stared, which only made Locket feel even smaller. She looked desperately towards Bon Bon, wondering if it wasn’t too late to swap places. The other mare was leaning against the bar, chatting with the tan pony behind it. Locket couldn’t see her whole face, but on it she thought she could make out a hint of a smirk. “He’s in Appleloosa,” she added, in case any further questions were coming. “That’s why I’m not with him right now. I... I miss him.”
“Appleloosa?” At this, the farmer put his head to the side. “Maybe Ah know him. Is he an Apple?”
“N-no. At least, I don’t think so.” Locket still refused to look up. “His name’s Green Grapes. He has a brother who lives here.”
“Green Grapes...” Big Macintosh tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Ah might have met him. Yellow pony, good with pies, wears a hat?”
Locket nodded. “Yes,” she said, as quickly and as quietly as possible.
“Ah remember him. He used to do odd jobs for us at the farm. He was a hard worker. Liked the sound of his own voice, though.”
“Yeah.” Locket smiled faintly. “That was him.”
They passed another minute quietly. Bon Bon caught their eyes and brought Big Macintosh a new mug, then slipped away again. “So... you’re not... disappointed?” Locket asked, feeling a little less like she wanted to sink into the floor.
“Nope.” Big Macintosh shook his head, still wearing a half-smile. “Ah’m happy you have somepony. But that’s no reason we can’t still be friends.”
“...Yeah. I guess.” Locket shivered again and took a sip of her cider. For the first time that evening, she felt like she could actually taste it. Silence started to stretch between them again. “I’m sorry if I’m not as... chatty as most mares,” she said before the pause could grow too long. “I guess I’m just... used to letting Green Grapes do the talking.”
The farmer shrugged. “Ah’m sure you just speak when you have something to say,” he said. “Most ponies do the opposite. It gets tiring.”
“Yeah.” Locket smiled. “It does.”
They didn’t speak for a while after that. While she couldn’t bring herself to fully relax, Locket started to find that she didn’t mind the quiet as much.
---
The moon had risen above the mountains by the time Rainbow Dash and Applejack reached their destination. They were approaching the furthest corner of the orchard, bordering both the Everfree Forest and a muddied river, brown with runoff from further fields. The ground was rockier here, and the trees sparser. Dash didn’t realize at first that they’d arrived, only noticing that Applejack had slowed down. She started to ask why when something up ahead caught her eye. Something shimmered between branches, a strange luminescence that lit up greens and browns. “What...” The light slowly descended out of view, weaving back and forth as it fell. Dash frowned but kept up the same pace by her friend’s side, unwilling to drift either in front of or behind her.
The trees thickened as the pair approached. Seemingly in seconds, they went from walking between small and distant trees to having to navigate around closely-clustered trunks. The light Dash had spotted was nowhere to be seen. She glanced around nervously, her skin crawling as the moonlight dimmed overhead. Something rough brushed against her wing and she yelped, jumping away. Her head knocked against hard bark. Somewhere in the shadows, Applejack vanished.
"Applejack?" Rainbow Dash called, looking around. The way ahead seemed to be getting darker. "Applejack!" She lunged forward, but her hooves collided with another tree. The pegasus backed up and reached around, panic rising, but in every direction she turned an unyielding trunk barred her way. She looked up, but couldn't see the sky. "Applejack!" she yelled again, more afraid than angry. "Let me out!"
"Dash!" An orange face appeared by Dash's side, somehow illuminated, as though the shadows were falling across everything but her. "Don't panic. Ah'm here."
Dash struggled to reach her friend, but something seemed to be holding her back. “Let me go!” she snarled. "What's with these trees? What are they?"
"Dash, we left the orchard almost a minute ago."
Rainbow Dash paused. She blinked slowly and glanced to the side, then did a double take and turned completely around. They were in the middle of a small field, the treeline a comfortable distance away in all directions. Dash gaped, reaching around in the empty air. She couldn’t see or feel anything around her. "But... how did... what?"
Something drifted past her nose. It was a leaf, or at least it looked like one; the object glowed with dim green light, and fell far more slowly than a real leaf would as it floated through the air. Dash reached up to it, but her hoof passed right through it. She looked up again and gasped.
Rising above the two ponies was a canopy of shadows. Tiny leaves hung suspended from transparent branches, unmoving despite the faint wind. They glowed in the colours of the orchard, illuminating one another but darkening the sky above. Every so often one of these would break away and slowly fall, lighting up thick trunks and strong roots that vanished when the leaf reached the ground. This slow cascade filled the field in all directions, revealing a dark and silent grove stretching almost to the edges of the clearing. Rainbow Dash gulped and repeated her question, this time with wonder rather than fear. "So... what's with these trees? What are they?"
"The ghosts of trees gone by." Applejack looked around sadly, but couldn't help but smile. "Folks round here call them willow wisps. They're gentle spirits, and they don't mean any harm. They're just trying to protect the pony they care about."
"From me?" Dash looked around in irritation. "Can't you tell them I'm your best friend?"
Applejack's smile faded. "Not me, Dash," she said softly. "Wisps travel here and there, without cause or destination, roaming the world after spending their lives rooted to it. But they'll all gather together if somepony who loved them in their lifetime dies."
The farmer slowly raised a hoof and gestured downwards. Dash looked at the ground, then looked further down and realized where she was standing. She yelped again and took a leap back.
In the middle of the field were six simple tombstones, traditionally small and laid flat against the ground. Each was marked with nothing but a name and a cutie mark. "The Apple Family plot," Applejack said solemnly. She set her jaw squarely as she looked along the stones, but couldn't help but quiver a little as she glanced over the nearest names. Reverently, she removed her hat and placed it carefully beside her on the ground. "Final homes of ponies who spent their whole lives making this land what it is today. Someday Ah'll join them here, and Ah'll be proud to put mah name beside theirs." She nudged Dash and walked stiffly to the end of the row, clenching her teeth still further as she pointed to the ground beside the last. "Including those who've been taken from us too soon."
The grass here had been turned up, the dirt freshly disturbed. In place of a tombstone, a plank of wood had been pressed into the ground. Drawn crudely but painstakingly on it was a picture of an apple pie.
"Mer came to us during dinner," Applejack continued as Rainbow Dash slowly paled with realization. "Just like the worst of ponies, didn't even have the decency to wait until we were finished. She dropped right through the table and touched us, one by one, so that we could see her. She went to Apple Bloom first..." She shuddered. "She looks sorta like a pony, but she ain't a pony. She's like a pony out of a nightmare. Part alive, part dead, made out of bones and skin as white as bones. A real, actual, God of Death. And she told us, then and there, that we were going to work for her as the new Kira. One of us, all of us, it didn't matter to her. She said she'd give us power over death... and she told us to kill."
Applejack ground her hooves against the earth. She glared, tears springing to her eyes. The falling leaves darkened her features further, illuminating her in nothing but greens and browns. Rainbow Dash almost stepped back; she'd never seen her friend straining so hard to hold emotions down. "You told her no, right?" the pegasus whispered.
"Of course we did!" Applejack all but exploded back at her. "We told her no in every way there is to say the word. But she wasn't havin' it. She said we didn't have a choice. Ah tried to bolt. Ah thought that if Ah could just tell somepony, anypony, about her... maybe we could be saved. But that's when she mentioned you." The orange mare leveled her gaze at her friend. True fear echoed in her eyes. "She threatened you, Dash. She threatened you by name. She said that if any of us tried to cross her, even once, the first thing she'd do is kill all our closest friends. And then, once we realized what she'd done, she'd kill us, too."
Applejack returned her gaze to the ground. Her voice became quieter again, and more strained. "We were so close, too. We had her down to negotiatin’; not real negotiatin’, understand, just stalling. We were trying to get her to answer questions and do favors for us, trying to get something to bargain with and dragging it out long enough to get help. But Granny Smith, she wasn’t having any of it. She wouldn’t cave, not even a little. She looked a God of Death right in the eyes, and she put her hoof down and she told her that come hail and high water, no matter who got hurt or how long it took, there was no force in all Equestria that would make her let her grandkids get turned into monsters.” She took a deep breath. “And then...”
Granny Smith
Rainbow Dash gulped as the orange mare began to weep. “I—”
“She was holding Apple Bloom!” Applejack snarled. “Keeping her close, like when she was a foal, like she could protect her. She was right in the middle of saying... everything would be okay...” Watching her begin to shake was like seeing a mountain collapse. One leg started to quiver, then another, and she slowly descended until she’d fallen to her knees. “Mer didn’t even let us have a funeral. This is all we could give her. Ah never got...” She shuddered violently. “Why do Ah never get to say goodbye?”
Without speaking, Rainbow Dash walked forward and gave her friend a gentle hug, one which was returned with the strength of a vise. Neither of them needed to say anything. Applejack started to make choking noises, cries and wails that she habitually cut off deep in her throat before they could burst out of her. They stayed that way for several minutes, simply holding one another, supporting each other as Applejack finally allowed herself to lament her loss. All around them, ghostly leaves continued to fall.
Rainbow Dash’s shoulder became damp. She did her best not to move, trying only to focus on the cause of her friend’s pain. Then her eyes widened. She let go with her hooves and tried to squirm away, then shoved, but Applejack was clinging to her like a drowning mare to a life preserver. It was only when Dash spread her wings and flapped hard, almost lifting the pair off the ground, that the earth mare let her hooves fall back to the ground. Dash took several rapid steps back, wings still raised as if to flee. “So you took her offer,” she said, trying to sound furious but coming across as scared. “You started killing as the new Kira.”
Applejack tried to assume a full standing position, tears still running down her face. “Dash, it weren’t like that,” she choked. “We didn’t have a choice.”
“Like hay you didn’t.” Dash took another step back. “Your granny died to stop you from turning into this. Are you really going to dishonor her like this?” She stopped reversing and started to lean forward again, fire coming to her eyes. “It’s been, what, six days? How many ponies have died since then? Do their lives mean so little to you?”
Applejack stomped. “We didn’t have a choice!” she shouted. Her voice echoed strangely among the willow wisps. “Mer needed somepony, but it didn’t have to be me. If not us, it would be somepony else doing her dirty work. Those ponies would still have died, no matter what. It was just a question of whether you and Ah would have died with them.” She glared, but this instantly fell into a look of defeat. “Ah chose the only path that meant that you would stay alive.”
Dash continued to glare for a few seconds. Haltingly, she folded up her wings. “If you’re looking for thanks,” she said, “you won’t get any. Maybe you think this is some kind of ‘noble sacrifice’ you’re making. I’m sure it looks that way to you.” She looked down. “And I admit it, I’m... part of me’s kind of glad you made that choice. I’m scared of dying. I know everypony is, deep down, a little, but... this is me we’re talking about.
“Do you know how much it takes to scare a pony who isn’t afraid of anything? I’m scared of something I can’t escape. I’m scared of going someplace that my friends can’t follow. If there’s anything that does scare me... it’s that. But the only reason I’m telling you this is because I want you to know how much I mean it when I say... that I’d rather have let myself be killed than let you become a killer.”
Applejack stared in return. Her trembling, which had just started to abate, begun anew. Gritting her teeth, Dash stepped forward and forced herself to stifle some of her anger. “But at least you managed to do one thing right,” she grunted. “Much as I hate to admit it, some good did come of this. You found me. And if you really do care about what you’ve done, then you can start to prove it by helping us figure out how to beat this thing.”
There was no reaction from Applejack. Slowly, the orange mare looked down. “This might be hard for you to hear, Rainbow,” she said quietly, “but Ah didn’t bring you here to ask you for your help. Ah brought you here to ask you to keep away. Because there’s something else,” she added before Dash could argue with her. “Something that ain’t just selfish. The real reason Ah finally joined up. The real reason for all of this. And the first thing you’ve gotta understand is that there ain’t one Kira. There’s two.”
“Y-yeah,” Dash said guardedly. “We figured that part out already. L thinks they’ve teamed up. So what is it, another God of Death?”
“That’s right,” Applejack confirmed. “But they aren’t allies. They’re enemies.”
Dash blinked. Concepts and theories clashed inside her head and fell to pieces. “What?”
Applejack sighed. “It took a long time to get Mer to tell us the truth,” she said. “For the longest time, all we could ask was why. Why us? Why such strange methods? Why does a spirit from beyond Equestria care so much about killing ponies in prison? When she didn’t give us an answer, we tried to use it to string her along. We didn’t say no to her demands, but we didn’t say yes, either. We managed to hold her off for two days without answering, just by askin’ the same question. Why? But on the third day, after the funeral — Ah wanted to tell you then, Ah wanted to tell you so bad, but she was always watching — she finally told us her story.
“Somewhere above Equestria, somewhere among the stars, there’s a place called the Shinneh— the Shimmy— the Shi-ni-ga-mi Realm, land of the Sh... of Mer and her kind. They’re a kind, peaceful race who live on starlight and the happiness of the ponies in the world below. They stay separate from us, happy to just watch us from the holes in their realm, and live simple, thoughtful lives ruled by peace and harmony.
“But then their world was attacked by a dark and twisted creature called the Storyteller. Its words alone were poisonous to whoever heard them, and it maddened and corrupted all that it touched. Eventually, the monster was defeated by the love of three siblings, two brothers and a sister, named Byuk, Mer and Geldus. They stripped away the Storyteller’s power and sealed him in the brightness of a star, never to hurt anypony ever again. But with the last of his strength, the Storyteller placed a curse on the youngest of the three, Byuk, giving him power over life and death but blackening his heart, transforming him from a kind and fun-loving spirit into a cruel and sadistic God of Death.”
Applejack’s shoulders trembled slightly; it was clear that merely repeating the story was affecting her. “Right away, Byuk was just as evil as the Storyteller had ever been. The first thing he did was kill his own brother, Geldus, just to watch the look on Mer’s face as he turned to dust. Then he escaped through a hole in their realm and flew down to Equestria to cause chaos. You know how so many ponies have died in the past couple of years? Chances are, that had something to do with him.
“Mer looked down on Equestria from the edge of space, her heart breaking as she watched the ponies she loved being torn apart by her own brother. At long last, unable to bear the pain any longer, she went back to the Storyteller and she begged him for the power to defeat her brother. She broke through the seal and took the Storyteller into her heart, transforming her into a monstrous God of Death as well. But she carried her love inside her, and it kept her sane and focused on her quest. So she descended down to Equestria and met Byuk, and she tried to stop him in the only way she knew how. The same way that she’d always beaten him, ever since they were foals.” Applejack gulped. “She challenged him to a game.
“And that’s what this is. That’s what this has always been about. The rules of the game are simple: each God of Death chooses a pony champion, their ‘Kira’, and passes some of their power on to them in the form of a weapon that can kill any pony they choose. The winner is the one who can get the most kills without having their weapon taken and destroyed by the other. That’s why both sides only kill bad ponies; for Mer, it’s about using her powers for good and trying to undo some of the harm that her brother’s done. But for Byuk, it’s so he can kill as much as he wants without anypony trying to hunt him down.
“Mer already lost one round after her Kira was killed, but she was able to save the weapon and bring it to the pony she thought she could rely on the most.” Applejack sighed. “Me.” She shifted uncomfortably. “RD, you know Ah trust you and all, but you can understand why Ah don’t quite feel safe telling you how it works.”
Rainbow Dash forced herself to nod. “Right,” she said. “So where do I fit into this?”
“This is where it gets complicated.” Applejack sighed again. “Mer can see most everything, bein’ a God, but she’s only allowed to tell us a little. There are rules she has to follow, or she forfeits the game and Byuk wins. Just telling us her story used up most of the information she’s allowed to give us. But every few times a pony dies, she’s allowed to give us another hint, either to help us find the other Kira or help us avoid detection. That’s how Ah knew you were onto us. And that’s how Ah know the most important thing of all.” She leaned forward. “The pony that Byuk’s chosen as his champion, the real real Kira, is one of the ponies on the team being led by L.”
Rainbow Dash froze. “That’s impossible,” she breathed.
“But it’s the truth.” Applejack stepped forward. “That’s why we need you. Ah know Kira ain’t a pegasus pony, and... that’s about it. It’s all so dang cryptic. Most of the time we just get bits and pieces that don’t make sense until they’re put together. Big Mac had to take a wild guess about who to use for the distraction by the colour of her mane. Her name’s Locket, right?”
“No. Stop. You... you have to be wrong.” Dash shook her head. “We’ve been checked, all of us. We know that none of us are Kira. I don’t care what any so-called god’s been telling you. She’s wrong.”
“Are you sure, Dash?” Applejack pressed. “Tell me this one thing. Is there anypony on your team who you ever thought might be Kira, even just for a little while, but you later decided she wasn’t? Somepony you look up to? Somepony you think you can trust?”
Dash’s breath shortened. Twilight. “I see what you’re doing!” she cried, spreading her wings and starting to back up again. “You’re not trying to help us. You’re trying to turn us against each other!”
Applejack winced. “Rainbow, have you been listening to a single word Ah’ve said?” she demanded. “Look at mah eyes! Do Ah look like Ah’m lying?”
“Maybe not you.” The pegasus glared. “But what makes you think this Mer character is on the level? Don’t you think this is just a little too convenient for you? What if Mer made up that whole story just to trick you into getting us to fight each other? I mean, pretty much the first thing she ever did to you was kill the only parent you had left. And now you’re going to let her decide the fate of Equestria?”
Applejack flinched as though struck, but stood her ground. “Ah know Mer’s evil,” she mumbled. “The lesser of two evils, maybe, but still evil. She gets urges that she can’t control, and she’s done things that Ah can’t and won’t forgive. But even if her heart’s as black as coal, Ah know that deep down, she’s just a filly doing all she can to bring her brother home. Even if Ah can’t sympathize, Ah can understand. If mah brother had been taken from me, don’t you think Ah’d move mountains to get him back?”
“No,” Dash said flatly. “Not like this. Not when you have to tear other families apart to do it. And believe me,” she added, picturing the last she’d seen of Derpy fleeing from the base in tears, “you’ve already done worse than that. For Celestia’s sake, can’t you see what she’s done to you?”
Shaking her head sympathetically, Dash approached Applejack, who stood stiff as a board as she drew near. She placed a hoof on her friend’s face; there was no reaction. “You’re losing yourself, Applejack. How can you say you want to protect your friends in one breath, and talk about killing like it’s nothing in the next? Can you even tell that’s what you’re doing? Mer’s doing to you just what the Storyteller did to her. She’s used her words to turn you into herself.”
Applejack’s face fell into a glare. “And what do you know about it?” she yelled, knocking Dash’s hoof away from her. “Do you think Ah’m enjoying this? Do you think Ah would be here now if there was any other way? For that matter, if this is some ploy like you think, then why did we have to sneak around Mer just to get here? Ah think it’s you who can’t see the orchard for the trees, Rainbow, so let’s get one thing straight. You can arrest me right now, lock me up and throw away the key, and Mer will lose a second time. But all that’ll happen is the game will start from square one, and you’ll have a brand new Kira to chase all over again. But if we hold out just a little longer, if together we can outwit the real monster behind all this, then the game stops for good and everypony lives.”
Dash snorted. “You think I’m falling for that? What about all those farmers who’ve died, huh? Were they just part of the game as well?”
The farmer blinked. “What?”
“How d’you think we found you? You’ve been killing rivals left and right in fake accidents. What gives you the right to drag them into this?” Dash snarled. “Or are they just bonus points? Since you’re a killer anyway, why not make some money on the side, is that it?”
“Dash, that ain’t us.”
Rainbow Dash paused. “Huh?”
“Dash, that... that ain’t us.” Applejack had paled. “Look, Ah’ll admit it. Ponies...” She closed her eyes and struggled with the words for several seconds before she could speak them. “Ponies have died by my hoof. Okay?” A pair of twin tears rolled down her cheeks. “Ah didn’t want to do it, and Ah hate myself for doing it. When this is over, no punishment could be bad enough. But Ah swear, by the hairs on mah head and mah own Granny’s grave, that nopony at our table has ever killed a farmer for our own gain.”
“B-but...” Dash trembled. “But if not you, then who?”
“Best guess?” Applejack gave her friend a pointed look. “If it ain’t our Kira... it’s yours.”
Both ponies dwelled on this for close to a minute before Applejack sighed again. “Look, Ah gotta go,” she said quietly. “Ah told Apple Bloom Ah’d be there for her if she woke up in the night. Just think about what Ah’ve said, okay?” She looked at Dash pleadingly. “Ah won’t press you for information none, and if you want to get L to come down here and interrogate me, Ah won’t stop you. But promise me you’ll be careful who you tell this to. ‘Cause if Byuk’s Kira finds out that you’re onto her, she might choose that as the moment to make her move. Strictly speakin’, Ah don’t think she needs any of you alive.”
Rainbow Dash gulped. “I’ll think about it,” she said. “I can’t promise anything else. But I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all Ah can ask.” Applejack picked up her hat and placed it carefully back on her head, brushing off a few stray leaves of grass. She turned away and started to walk, then stopped. “And Dash?” she added. “If you do decide to bring this down on us... don’t be too hard on the others. They’re more victims than Ah am.”
Dash nodded, but didn’t look at her. “Whatever you say, AJ.”
Each giving a final, sorrowful glance to the plank that served as Granny Smith’s tombstone, both ponies vanished from the clearing. The ghostly leaves overhead didn’t even ripple as Rainbow Dash rose through them. As soon as they were out of sight, the grove of willow wisps faded back into the night.
---
Bon Bon let out a surprisingly realistic yawn as she emerged from the pub. “Don’t know about you guys, but I am pooped!” she said loudly as Locket and Big Macintosh emerged behind her. She sounded tipsy, though Locket would have sworn that the mare hadn’t had a drop to drink all night. “I’m gonna head home. I’ve got somepony waiting for me. See you tomorrow, Locket!”
Locket waved shyly as her partner ambled off in the direction of the base. She gulped as the bulk of her partner of another kind approached her from the side. “May Ah walk you home, miss Locket?” Big Macintosh rumbled. Though she’d personally watched him down what had to have been a whole barrel of cider, there wasn’t the slightest tremor in his voice. “It would be a weight off my mind. The streets aren’t as safe as they used to be.”
The blue mare looked back and forth; the roads around them were dark and empty. She shivered. The nights were getting colder. “I’d like that,” she said quietly.
The pair walked silently, Locket leading the way. Though she tried to keep her pace steady, she found herself inching closer and closer to the large stallion, telling herself it was just for warmth. If Big Macintosh minded, or even noticed, he gave no indication of it. After what felt like far too short a time, the pair came to the front of Locket’s apartment building. “This is me,” she said, coming to a halt and turning towards him. “Thanks for seeing me here.”
“It weren’t nothing.” To Locket’s simultaneous embarrassment and delight, Big Macintosh bowed. “Ah don’t get many nights away from the farm. It was nice to spend this one with a mare who didn’t spend the whole time talking my ear off.”
Locket couldn’t help but giggle. “I had a good time too,” she said. “I was worried I wouldn’t know how to act. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone out. Not... because of work, or anything. I just haven’t had a reason to.”
Big Macintosh nodded knowingly. “What is it that you do?”
“Oh... well...” Locket hung her head. “I’m sort of... between jobs, at the moment.” She paused, then sighed. “And by ‘the moment,’” she added in a quieter voice, “I mean for a while.”
“Is that so?” The farmer tapped his chin thoughtfully. “You know, it’s been a rough season at Sweet Apple Acres. By next month, we’ll be needing a lot more hooves to get us ready for the winter. Can you cook?”
“Well...” Locket considered her diet, which until recently had consisted of virtually nothing but dirt-cheap carrots bought in bulk. “I’m a little out of practice.”
“That’s all right. Everypony’s got something they can bring to the table.” Big Macintosh smiled gently. “If you feel like coming down sometime, we’d... Ah’d be happy to see you again.”
Locket blushed, and hoped that the shadow of the building hid her face. “Thank you,” she said, almost too quietly to be heard. She smiled up into Big Macintosh’s eyes. Almost on instinct, she found herself leaning forward. Before she realized what was happening, familiar and gently whispered words began to float past her lips. “Do you want to—”
She froze. A long, heart-stopping moment passed. Big Macintosh was still staring; he didn’t seem to realize that she’d spoken. “Goodnight,” she finished, far more quickly and loudly than she’d intended, and only caught half of the stallion’s reply before she’d vanished inside. She took the stairs two at a time and didn’t stop until she’d reached her apartment on the fourth floor, almost kicking down the door as she opened it and slamming it shut behind her.
Do you want to come upstairs?
Breathing heavily, Locket looked around the nearly bare rooms she called her home. Aside from the clear trails where she tended to pace, the floor was pale with dust. Her bedsheets were badly in need of washing, the mold in her bathroom would soon be celebrating its birthday, and the remains of whatever she’d abandoned in the fridge before leaving for the base could probably now be best dealt with by dragging the appliance outside and setting it on fire. Do you want to come upstairs? she echoed, her inner voice growing mocking. I’d have been better off if I told him to mount me in the street.
Shaking her head angrily, she turned on her lights and crossed over the room to her window. What she saw made her jump back in fright. Instead of leaving, Big Macintosh had simply walked across the street and was now looking up at her brightened room. With a faint whimper, Locket darted back and turned off her lights again, then crept up and peered through a corner of the glass. Big Macintosh stared for only a second longer before calmly walking away, heading in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. If she squinted really, really hard, Locket thought she could make out the shadow of Bon Bon following him, now wrapped in a cloak-shaped blur that seemed to blend into the background.
Locket sat back, calming her heartbeat. Bon Bon said she’d see me tomorrow, she reminded herself. She probably meant I should stay here tonight. I guess that’s... safer. She looked around. All on my own.
Her legs trembled.
In short, sharp motions, Locket closed her threadbare curtains and trotted to the bed. She threw herself down, remaining careful to only lie on her side of the mattress, and reached around for the supplies she’d hidden beneath her pillow. The first thing she pulled out was an old and fading novel, The Legend of O — her emergency book in several senses of the word — and she cradled it close to her for several seconds before putting it carefully aside. Underneath that was a bar of chocolate that she’d been saving for a special occasion, though it seemed superfluous now, and beneath that...
Locket’s eyes fluttered as she slipped a sky-blue envelope in front of her, her own name scrawled neatly on the front. The back flap hung open, the contents ruffled after being shoved hastily back inside. She could feel several kinds of papers pressed against each other within, all in their own way fighting for her attention. She rolled onto her back and held the envelope close to her face, trying to soothe her mind, but it didn’t help. Whenever she closed her eyes, all she could see was red. I’m such a bad pony.
---
Hi Linky!
Remember me? I threw you a birthday party on your first year in Ponyville! And you asked me how I knew it was your birthday, and I said I didn’t, I just took a lucky guess because I had a one in three hundred and sixty-five chance of getting it right, and even if I got it wrong, hey, free party! And even though you asked me not do it again, I’ve been having super special secret parties just for you once a year ever since! I guess I won’t be doing that any more, and that’s kind of sad, but it’s okay. Know why? Because I think you’re ready to start coming to your own parties again.
You know who’s a super fun, smart, and all around awesome pony? You are! You know who’s the only pony around who can’t seem to see it? You are! I know lots of ponies who would just love to have fun with you and be your friends, and that’s why it always makes me so sad to see you being all Mopey McMoperPants about being all alone. There are lots of ponies who notice you, not just one — and when you only notice one in return, especially one who’s barely part of your life any more, then that one starts to turn into one big, friend-stealing problem.
I’ve attached not one, but two presents for you, but you have to promise you’ll only use them the way I tell you, okay? One is a train ticket to Appleloosa. If you really love Green Grapes and want to be with him, then go and be with him! No more loneliness, you get to make new friends, and everypony wins. But think carefully before you do, because if you really look around, I think you’ll find you have more friends than you think you do. You’ve got at least one right here! Whether you know it or not, there are lots of ponies who care about you and would miss you if you were gone. So I’ve left you some stamps for a letter as well, because if you do find your life here, and you aren’t going to Appleloosa, then you owe it to Green Grapes to write to him and tell him how you really feel.
In Green Grapes’ letter, I told him to expect a surprise from you, maybe good, maybe bad. I’m not worried about what happens next, because whatever choice you end up making, I just know that I can count on you to make the right one.
Your bestest friend forever,
Pinkie Pie
Next episode: A mysterious piece of paper!