Rarity coughed delicately. "Ahem. Alright, now that that's over with, I suppose I need to decide who's going next, hmm?" She levitated a tiny ruby with her magic, spun it through the air, and pointed its pointy point at Rainbow Dash. "Very well then. Rainbow Dash, I choose you!"
"Al-RIGHT!" the pegasus cheered, doing a somersault in midair. "Time to show everypony how AWESOME I really am!"
"We already know how awesome you are, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "But can you be evil?"
Rainbow paused. "Oh yeah. Evil. Heh. Gimme a bit to come up with an awesome evil plan." With that, she flew out the window.
Rarity laughed daintily. "This should certainly be interesting."
* * * * *
"A-are you s-sure this was s-such a g-g-good idea?"
"Sure Ah'm sure. Just remember, no touchie, no smellie, no tastie."
"I'm not nearly as worried about some doofy flowers as I am about, y'know, timberwolves and manticores and stuff."
"You would be if you saw what it can do to a pony."
* * * * *
Atop a thick, broad cloud, Rainbow Dash paced fretfully.
"Oh man, what'm I gonna DO?" she wondered aloud. "I do pranks, not EVIL! And I can't top AJ's prank!"
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" a male voice called. Thunderlane flew up to where she was pacing. "Don't forget we're supposed to do a fog drill tonight!"
"Yeah, yeah," Dash said dismissively.
As Thunderlane flew away, Dash paused in her pacing. "Fog, huh? Hmm..."
A plan slowly began to form. Dash laughed. "Aww yeah, that'll be my sweetest prank EVER! And pretty evil, too..."
* * * * *
The sun had set nearly an hour earlier; Lyra and Bon-Bon were taking a long moonlight stroll after a thoroughly relaxing spa day. "So anyway," Lyra was saying, "I tried to show Golden Harvest that new drawing I made, and she just laughed and said 'Oh, not those silly creatures of yours again.' Honestly!"
Bon-Bon shook her head. "'Honestly' is right. You and those—" She trailed off as a thick fog rolled in all around them. "What the—?!"
"Didn't the pegasi run their fog drill three nights ago?" Lyra asked. "Was another one scheduled so soon?"
"Not that I know of..."
The fog suddenly exploded with bright, multicolored lights. The two mares shrank against each other, staring around at the beautiful yet eerie sight of bright, multicolored fog surrounding them.
Then, directly ahead, a dark shape drifted out of the fog with a ghastly, echoing clatter. Two glowing red dots shone through the multihued mist.
"Wh-what's going on?" Lyra asked fearfully.
Through the brilliant fog, the shape drifted closer, close enough for the two mares to make out a heavy black cloak; the twin red points were glowering from within the cloak's hood.
Slowly, two bony hooves raised up and lowered the hood, revealing a grisly, grinning pony skull. As if by magic, a length of rope, made entirely of small bones, appeared in the pony's hooves. It made a ghastly rattle as the skeletal pony raised it overhead and began whirling the looped end...
Lyra and Bon-Bon screamed and ran for their lives.
* * * * *
Twilight's late-night studying was interrupted by loud pounding on the front door. "What the—?"
Closing her book and trotting to the door, she opened it to find Lyra and Bon-Bon on the other side. "What's wrong?" she asked. "The library's closed—"
"TWILIGHT! We need your h-help!" Lyra wailed.
"We just saw..." Bon-Bon swallowed. Her mane was standing on end, and both mares looked utterly terrified.
"What? What did you see?" Twilight asked.
"We just saw..." Bon-Bon gulped, and looked at Lyra. Clutching each other, the mares wailed in unison, "THE GRIM ROPER!!"
Twilight stared at them. "You saw WHAT?!"
"D-don't make us s-say it again," Lyra whimpered.
Twilight arched an eyebrow. "YOU two. Saw the Grim Roper. The Death of Ponies."
The mares nodded.
Twilight blew out a snort. "Don't stay so late at one of Berry Punch's parties, girls. Those drinks she serves makes ponies see all kinds of crazy stuff." With that, she closed the door and went back to her reading.
* * * * *
The following morning, Twilight set out to do her shopping, only to find Ponyville in commotion. All throughout the common streets of town, she caught snippets of conversation:
"Did you see it?"
"No, but I heard One-Trick saw it!"
"I saw it! It was horrible! So scary!"
"And that fog...that creepy fog..."
"I'm locking my foals up tight tonight!"
"We should petition the Mayor to write to the Princess!"
"No, let's ask Twilight Sparkle to write to the Princess! We'll get help faster!"
"Hey, there's Twilight Sparkle now!"
A small crowd of ponies surrounded the lavender unicorn. "Let me guess," she said. "Is this about that Grim Roper nonsense?"
Everypony nodded in unison.
Twilight sighed. "The Grim Roper doesn't exist! It's just a made-up old pony tale!"
"BUT WE SAW IT!" Lyra and Bon-Bon chorused, appearing from nowhere.
Twilight blew upwards on her bangs. "I am NOT bothering the Princess because there's absolutely nothing going on!" She galloped home in high dudgeon.
* * * * *
For the next three days, reports of glowing fog and sightings of the Grim Roper poured in from all across Ponyville. Twilight ignored it as an urban legend gone out of control. Her friends were starting to take more notice of the situation, with Pinkie thinking it was a hilarious scare that'd be perfect for Nightmare Night.
"But the weather patrol hasn't spotted any sign of this weird fog!" Twilight insisted as she met with Fluttershy one morning. "Rainbow Dash said so herself!"
Applejack trotted up to them. "Rainbow Dash said whut?" she asked.
"That the weather patrol hasn't seen that strange fog so many ponies..." Twilight trailed off. She facehoofed. "Oh, Celestia, I'm an idiot."
"Y'all don't think..."
"I think we've got an appointment with the Grim Roper," Twilight said with a smirk.
* * * * *
Zecora crept stealthily into Ponyville after dark, keen eyes searching the moonlit town for her quarry.
A thick, cold fog suddenly rolled in, surrounding her. Bright, multicolored lights shone through the fog, and a dark spectre loomed before her.
Zecora raised an eyebrow. "In my zebra heart, there is no room, to fear the spectre of ponies' doom."
From outside the fog, she heard voices.
"THERE SHE IS!"
"Why that no-good..."
"Who's that in the fog?"
"I believe it's Zecora!"
"Zecora, can you hear me?"
"Indeed I hear you, Twilight! What mischief is transpiring so late at night?"
"You're about to find out! FLUTTERSHY, NOW!"
There was a sound of hoof impacting flesh, and two pegasi tumbled to the ground in front of Zecora. The Death of Ponies clattered limply to the ground.
Pinned under Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash was laughing her sky blue plot off. "Oh man, that was awesome! How'd it take you guys so long to figure it out?"
"The Grim Roper, Rainbow Dash? REALLY?" Twilight asked archly as she stepped through the fog. She kicked the lifeless puppet. "Nice work with THIS thing, though. You sure scared the heck out of a lot of ponies!"
"Actually, it's an old Nightmare Night prop I sort of, er, borrowed from Pinkie Pie."
"STOLE from Pinkie Pie, you mean!" Pinkie said, hooves on her hips.
"Um...what can I say? It was evil?"
"Hmm...yeah, I guess. Okie-dokie then!"
"If I might interrupt for a spell," Zecora interjected, "what exactly is going on, pray tell?"
"Oh, this fog and Grim Roper thing was Rainbow Dash's evil plan," Pinkie said offhandedly.
Zecora stared at Rainbow Dash wordlessly, head tilted.
Rainbow Dash laughed and explained...
* * * * *
"Most amusing," Zecora said dryly. "Very well. Of your evil game, I will not tell. But a word of warning, if I may: tis a dangerous game you ponies play."
"We're not doing any real harm here," Twilight said. "It's all in good fun."
"Good EVIL fun!" Pinkie added.
"You're more than welcome to join in," Rarity said.
Zecora lifted a hoof to her chin. "Thank you for the offer, but I fear I must pass. It is unbecoming for a zebra to behave like an ass." With that, she trotted away.
"Boy, I'm sure glad there weren't any donkeys around to hear THAT!" Pinkie said huffily.
"Okay, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "You lost. So, me, Pinkie, or Fluttershy...who goes next?"
Dash sat on the ground, stroking her chin with one hoof thoughtfully...
* * * * *
A half mile away, Zecora grinned. "Such an amusingly wicked game...to not take part would be a shame..."