Sun and Moon stood above a body and a broken-hearted pony as she mourned, wings sheltering the sobbing creature as she nuzzled and pushed at the lifeless form of her friend.
"Whhhhhhhhy? WHHHHHHHHHHHY?", Applejack's voice shrieked and echoed from the uncaring stone.
The warmth of two alicorn wings settled on the earth pony as Celestia and Luna settled down by the grieving pony.
"Because the Moochick did not know what he gave your friend, little pony.", said Celestia. "The locket held a shard of an ancient, sleeping spirit- and when Megan had given it enough time to grow strong in the world, it took her as it's slave, instead of her commanding it."
The chubby little earth pony sniffled and buried her head between her hooves. "And then she...she...oh, heavy hooves!"
"Aye, for that spirit would tolerate no creature of another world in this realm, or even ponies if it could be rid of you all. Vile, that it first took thine friend's kin and...took them from this place.", Luna added. "There was something of your Megan left when she struck, though you shall ne'er seen them again. They live, but the way is shut and we know not the means to open it anew."
"Then...then...but...this is Megan. She saved me, so many times. Even when I turned into a dragon! She can't be...nothing could...she was my friend. My best friend! And then she...she...", Applejack's words crumbled into a broken mess.
"We know. The monster wasn't Megan, it made her into a monster- like you, when Tirek made you into a dragon. If there had been any way to stop this that had a better end, to save your friend-"
Celestia paused and laid her horn across Applejack's neck and her eyes widened in surprise.
"And perhaps with her best and faithful friend, there may yet be- for a price. Wouldst you have her here, again?"
"For anything. Every apple in my orchard, every bush in my garden, if I had to eat thistles morning, noon and night! "
"Would you care for her as if she be thine own daughter? Knowing that if I bring her to thine hooves alive, the monster she bore will one day return? Speak truth, for if a single drop of falsehood stains thy words, I shall do naught."
Applejack paused, at the thought of what that thing had done, the friends it had taken away, never to be seen again.
"If you don't, then the monster will have taken everything. I could have a farm as wide as the valley and ponies who love me from here to the sea, but if I left my friend like this? You can bury me next to her, for I'd be as dead as she. Give her back to me, we are apples grown from the same good tree."
Luna bowed her head and let her starry mane drift across Applejack's back. "Well said, good friend. Thou art as true a sister as I to mine own, even if thine has no hooves. For her, wouldst thou spare a lock of thine?". When Applejack nodded, Luna nipped a mouthful of hair from her mane and scattered it across the limp form of Megan.
"Stand away, and mine sister and I shall work."
---
Six grey stones floated in a hexagon above an equally greying body, sprawled beneath a dead sky on a lifeless rock. A single rough strand of golden hair waved forlornly as it stuck itself to a damp spot.
"We begin."
Sunlight and moonlight grasped the stones, setting them to orbit around their corpse-tether. As they whirled, the stones blurred into a ring, then a disc of swirling blue and gold that veiled the body that lay beneath it.
"We claim what has been taken, unjust, a debt unpaid, a life not given in it's time but stolen and cut short.", Luna intoned.
"We return a child to a mother, two bound in friendship and family who should never have been split asunder.", Celestia followed.
A spark of many colors formed, hovering above the disk of solar and lunar energies.
"WHAT FOOLS, YOU MORTALS BE. THE PIECE OF LIFE I HAVE TAKEN CANNOT BE SO EASILY RETURNED, NOR WOULD I GIFT IT BACK TO THAT PATHETIC WASTE YOU LAY BELOW ME."
Luna's lips curled back in disgust. "Thou shalt have no say in the matter, eldest sister."
"TWICE FOOL, YOU. IF YOU WOULD TAKE, SO MUST YOU GIVE- AND ONLY ONE THING COULD YOU GIVE TO ME."
Six fragments of broken locket joined the six stones in their path, only to be sucked greedily into the hungry stones.
"YES....YES. WITH THIS, I SHALL BE WHOLE AGAIN...IN TIME. BOUND AM I, LIFE FOR A LIFE. BUT IT SHALL NOT BE ENOUGH FOR THE BROKEN HOST, ONLY FOR ME!"
A mist of sparkling dust settled from stones, soaking into Megan's form without visible effect.
"WHEN I WAKE, YOU WILL JOIN HER IN DUST. SOON." And the rocks tumbled from their flight to sink into the mud.
Celestia's horn shone and the cursed things vanished.
"Not while we live. And with what Alexandrite has done, only four will be able to give her what she needs to exert herself. Myself, Luna...and those of your blood, the Apples. And with what has been stolen returned, there is a sister of yours that needs to be saved. The journey from death to life is not easy, and long will she need to be whole again- but we will guide her, and use your love to mend what cannot be renewed. Be thou ready, Applejack? There will be pain."
Applejack took a deep breath and forced the words around the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat.
"Help her."
The two alicorns touched their horns to Applejack's flanks, then bathed the body of Megan in a torrent of energy, consuming it utterly. Seven knives of fire sank into Applejack's haunches, and her cutie marks burned with witch-fire as the two fed a bit of the pony's very soul into the devouring flames that had become Megan's pyre. Drained and spasming as the spell took it's toll, the little pony stiffened and tipped foward into the darkness, unseeing and unknowing.