//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five 
// Story: The Little Sister 
// by Z-A-C 
//------------------------------//


Elaine's POV.





A few minutes after leaving the house, Seth started whistling a song. I didn't find it odd, so I just let it go for the time being. We passed the Town Hall, and Seth told me that he would give me a tour of the town sometime later. "Why not right now?" I asked.

"Because Gloomy town awaits!" Seth said, patting me on the shoulder.

"I really don't understand why we have to go there first..."

Seth sighed. "You want the honest answer?" I nodded my head. "Okay. It's possible that the residents of Gloomy Town felt the disturbance in the forest. Eventually, they were going to call on me to investigate. I'm just trying to get it over with, because they would have found out anyway. And without knowing your related to me... I'd rather not say."

I felt my eyes grow wide. "And you want to take there?!"

He held up his hands. "Calm down. It'll be fine. I know the town, their leader is my friend."

"Promise?" I said with an unsure look on my face.

Seth nodded. "Promise. They won't mess with us, they know better than that." I gave little response to that, and Seth started whistling again.

After awhile, he pointed out the path to Sweet Apple Acres. And said we would stop by there to meet Applejack and get a snack, if we could. "Applejack?" I asked.

"Yep." Seth nodded. "Farmer pony. You'll see."

"Okay?" I said slowly.

"Yeah the Apple Family is really nice. Just watch out for A.J's hoof shake."

"Does she have a strong grip?"

"Something like that, yeah." Seth looked around. "It's not much longer now. We have about twenty more minutes after we reach Fluttershy's house." He noticed that I was about to ask something, and held a hand up to interrupt. "Yes, you will meet her too." After that, we walked mostly in silence, save for Seth's whistling.

A little bit passed my brother's friend's cottage, I finally had to know what the song was.

"The one I've been whistling?"

"Yes, what is it?"

Seth smiled. "Pretty catchy, huh? It's Gloomy Town's 'anthem'."

"Oh..." A few more moments of silence. "How does it go, exactly?"

Seth stopped walking. He seemed to be thinking about it. I think it's fair to say that he was caught off guard. 

"Uh... The whole song or...?" I nodded my head. "Well, I don't really remember all of it. But I know the chorus pretty well."

I nodded my head again. "That will be fine then."

My brother sighed. "Fine, here you go:

Somewhere in the Everfree Forest, there's a gloomy town.
It's a place where you will find that cutie marks abound.
One dozen cutie marks per foal is quite a lot, you see.
There's nothing more alarming than a talent catastrophe."


I couldn't help but shiver. "You could have sang it differently."

"It's not me, it's the magic behind the words. Quite literally, in this case."

I raised an eyebrow. "Magic?"

"Yeah, Professor Sparkle will tell you about it when we get back." I chuckled at Twilight's nickname, and we walked down the path to Gloomy Town.





Seth noticed me looking around nervously. "Pretty scary, huh?"

"That's...one way to describe it."

Seth chuckled. "Just be happy that you were passed out when it was night. Its a lot worse at night."

I gave a nervous chuckle. "I'll take your word for it." We reached a point on the path where there was a sign nailed into a tree. "Um...why did it say 'Beware: Zombie Town Ahead'?" I asked in an unnerved tone.

Seth shrugged. " I don't know. Makes sense though, doesn't it? But what's really strange is that the residents of Gloomy Town put that sign up. You would think they would have written something more, I don't know, positive?"

"That is a little strange..."

"Anyway, that marked the halfway point. I should warn you about a few things."

"I thought you said it was safe?!" I said, panic raising in my voice.

"It is! I just don't want you to make any 'rookie' mistakes." I could only raise an eyebrow at that. "Last pony that did... Well, let's just say, he is now apart of the town."

"Oh..." I said, worry heavy in her voice.

"Yeah so," Seth turned to me. "Number one: Don't stare at them. You can look around, but don't focus on one pony for an extended period of time. Two: Don't speak unless spoken to. Outsiders aren't really welcome. And three, the most important: DO. NOT. RUN. If you run," Seth sighed. "If you run I may not be able to help you... Do you understand?"

"Y-yeah, I think so." I weakly nodded.

"Good." He turned around. "Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Don't make me kill my friends." He said grimly, without turning around. My jaw dropped. Seth was in a good mood, and then out of nowhere everything turned south. I hope he doesn't stay like this for long.





"Okay, just behind those bushes is the town. Remember what I told you?" I nodded. "Okay." He took a deep breath. "Let's go, stay close."

As I looked at the run down buildings and scattered pools of blood, grabbing one of Seth's arms and staying as close as I could, was the only thing keeping me from running away. I looked up at Seth, but he was too concentrated and didn't notice.

He started to move and glanced over at his sister. "We are going to the leader's house, remember to not stare." I nodded my head. "Close your eyes if you have to."

As we got closer, the town began to stir. And after a few minutes a pony walked up to them and I flinched, which caught the pony's attention. Seth snapped his fingers drawing the pony's attention back to him. "What's going on?" Seth asked.

"I could ask you the same, Green Blood." The pony said. I was going to say something, but Seth stopped her.

"I'm here to see The Mare about what happened last night." The pony looked at me with his only eye. The empty socket started to glow red. Seth nudged me, and I looked away. Shortly after the glowing died down.

The pony shook his head. "Seth, teach that one how things work here."

"Yeah sorry about that. She's new."

The pony gave him a deadpan stare. "That is quite obvious."

"No, I meant she's new to Equestria."

The pony simply nodded. "So, she's like you then? Best get to her house, then." Seth nodded. "It was nice seeing you, Green Blood."

"You too, brother." Seth waited for the pony to leave. "That was close."

"I'm sorry..."

"You're fine. I'm sure I made a few mistakes first time I came here." He shrugged. "No sweat, just don't do it again." Seth started moving again, and I made sure to make more of an effort to abide by the rules.





The way to the leader's house took us through the center of the town. Unfortunately, these are not the most civilized ponies. There were empty carcasses of random animals strewn about, and other such things. Seth seemed used to it, but I wasn't. I could't take it anymore. "Elaine?" Seth turned around.

I was hunched over, with my hands on my knees, puking. The few ponies that were watching, started laughing. Seth patted me on the back. "I know, but you'll get used to it."

I stopped vomiting and wiped off my mouth. "I don't want to be around often enough to get used to it! What the hell is wrong with this place?!" I yelled.

He gave me a deadpan stare. "I told you. Zombie ponies, remember? At least they switched to animals. They used to hunt and eat ponies, but that was forever ago."

"What about that one pony you told me about?"

"They have a weird...respect thing here, and he disrespected the town. Oh, and by the way, vomiting on their property is very disrespectful."

I gasped. "W-what will they do to me?"

"Well," Seth looked around. Most of the ponies have stopped laughing, and went about their business. Some were still chuckling though. "Since they know that you didn't mean any disrespect, they'll probably just have you clean it up."

"How?" Just then, Elaine found a bloody shovel in front of her.

"Bury it, Outsider." The pony with the shovel said in a Stalliongradian accent. "And pack in mound if there is one. Some of us have weak ankles."

"Y-yes sir." I took the shovel and started to dig.

"Dmitry!" Seth exclaimed. "Elaine, this is one of the...nicer ponies in town. Dmitri, meet my sister."

He raised an eyebrow. "You are related to the Green Blood?"

"Green Blood?" I asked.

"Ah, I suppose you wouldn't know our social structure, would you?" I shook my head. "Seth, why haven't you taught her about our glorious town!?!" Seth just held up his hands defensively. "Let old Dmitri tell about it then. You are an outsider. That is lowest on pole, obviously. So low that the title barely even exists." He stopped when he saw that I wasn't digging. Seth tapped me on the shoulder and gestured to the shovel.

When I started digging again, Dmitri continued. "New Blood is next up from outsider. You have to be accepted into the town first, obviously. I don't not know if that is your goal, but I will continue. Next up from that is Blue Blood, like me. Common workers maintaining the town. Next is Red Blood, bosses of Blue Bloods. Managers and such, You know?" I nodded. "Then Green Blood, like your brother here. Military undead, not many of them around anymore. Then there is Black Blood, which is our leader. No one questions her. And those that do, are cannibalized. The only one that is allowed to question her is Seth here." I packed in the dirt, and gave the shovel back to Dmitri with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, they have history. But let us not get into that." I nodded, but didn't say anything.

"We're actually on our way to see The Mare." Seth said.

"Oh really? She has been in her house a lot lately. Though, I don't think your sister can use the same method as you did, If that is the goal here."

"Definitely not. Even if The Mare swung that way, I don't think Elaine would do it."

Dmitri deadpanned. "She does swing that way... She swings both ways! But you have a point. Well, I have more jobs to do. Don't keep her waiting."

"Alright, see ya around." Dmitri nodded and walked off. Seth turned around and saw the concerned look on her face. "What?"

"What exactly did you do to become accepted here?"

Seth sighed. "I think he's given you enough clues for you to figure it out yourself..." Seth began walking.

I furrowed my brows in thought. "Yeah, I'm still not getting it." She said, following her brother.

"Probably for the best." He said, shaking his head. "It's just up here."

We walked up to the house and Seth knocked on the door. No response, so he knocked again. "Who is it?" A gravelly voice said after a groan.

"It's Seth! I have brought a friend."

"Seth!?" We heard somepony run up to the door. The door burst open, and Seth was tackled. I screamed, catching the attention of the pony. "And you must be the friend!" She kissed Seth and got off of him. Seth wiped off his mouth and sat up with an annoyed look on his face.

I looked around. "Uh..."

"Don't worry, I don't bite!" The Mare said excitedly, and then she grew a mischievous grin. Her smile grew as she walked over to me. "Hard."

My eyes widened and then my eyes rolled back and I passed out. Seth was barely able to catch me. The last thing I heard was a sigh from my brother.