//------------------------------// // Everypony Read!/Unfinished Business // Story: Bloody Marey // by A Wise Pony //------------------------------// Twilight was getting tired. After taking an interest in Pumpkin Cake, the ghost had tried to snatch Ruby Pinch, Sun Glimmer, Tootsie Flute, and a few other fillies, in that order. Each time, the family of the foal in question had delayed the it long enough for Twilight to teleport in and contain it, however briefly. But, all this magical exertion was draining. "Come on, Twilight, think. There must be something here that can tell you where it'll go next…" She hit her head to try and shake her thoughts into order. "First Dinky, then Pumpkin, then Ruby—of course! It's only going after the unicorn fillies!" "Twilight, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie was running towards her. "Pinkie! Is everyone at the library now?" "Yep!" "Good. Grab onto my mane." "Okay Twilight, but why-" The two ponies vanished in a burst of light and reappeared in the library. "Wow!" Pinkie said. "I've never traveled that way before!" "Don't get used to it; we just needed to hurry." Twilight glanced around. All of her friends and the Crusaders were present. "Alright, the ghost is coming for Sweetie Belle." "What?!" Rarity said, shocked. "What on earth do you mean, Twilight?" "The ghost is going after unicorn fillies exclusively," Twilight explained. "Sweetie Belle's the only one that it hasn't had a good look at." "But how are you going to stop this ghost?" "I don't know! Wait…" Twilight concentrated for a moment. A glow surrounded the treehouse. "Okay, that field should stop teleports in and keep back Marey. I can't hold it for long, but it will give us time." "Time to do what, exactly? It's a ghost!" Applejack said. "Yeah! We need to kick this thing in the tail and send it packing!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Oh, um, have you tried asking politely?" Fluttershy asked. "It won't stay in one place long enough to listen!" Twilight told her. "We need to find whatever information is in all these books about Bloody Marey." "Maybe the Princess knows something?" Spike suggested. "Good idea! Give me a second…" Twilight levitated over quill and paper and wrote what was probably the briefest and most concise letter of her life. "Send it, Spike." The dragon took the scroll and set it on fire; The particles streamed out a window and off towards Canterlot. Twilight nodded decisively. "Okay; books, now! Anything about ghosts or obscure history." Heavy tomes flew off the shelves as Twilight sifted through an entire bookcase in the space of a minute. Spike was rolled past the top shelf on a ladder, head at an angle to read the titles as he passed. Pinkie was pulled out select volumes one at a time, gathering them in a pile at the center of the room. Everyone was deep in the hunt for information when a howl from outside froze them mid-motion. The protective field outside the window flashed as something tried to get through. "Oh no! She's here." Twilight stopped looking through books and grabbed the few that looked promising. "No time for more; Everypony, read!" "Bloody Marey: Beverage made from tomatoes and-" "Around 500 AE, ponies in what is now known as Trottingham reported a crimson mare-" "A story told for years in the area: The tale of Bloody Marey, a mother who lost her foal in an unspecified accident-" "Daring Do and the Scarlet Spirit's Sepulchre-" "Agh! There's nothing detailed here!” Twilight tossed another useless book aside. “Why couldn't this have happened at Canterlot Library?" "Um, Twilight?" Spike asked, "I know we're busy and all, but is it just me, or did it just get really…quiet?" Everypony stopped reading and listened. Spike was right: The crashes as the ghost slammed against shield had ceased. "Do you think she's gone?" Sweetie Belle wondered. Pinkie suddenly started jittering. "Oh no! Flop, flutter, twitch!" The door from the basement slammed open, and the crimson mare screamed up the stairs. "My child!" "Everypony, protect Sweetie Belle!" Everyone in the room arrayed themselves between the wraith and the unicorn filly. Twilight's horn flared as she formed a shield yet again; it wavered worryingly before solidifying, but it was far dimmer than any of the previous ones. "This won't hold for long." As if to prove the point, the ghost slammed into the magical barrier. It flared, but dimly; a hairline fracture formed where the mare had hit. "There's gotta be somethin'!" Apple Bloom cried. "A spell, a word, somethin'!" Spike belched loudly; a wisp of green flame curled into a scroll. He snatched it and tore the seal away, unrolling it as quickly as possible. "Twilight, the reply! It's from Princess Luna!" "What's it say, Spike?" Twilight demanded. She gritted her teeth as the ghost smashed against the shield again. The hairline had become a spiderweb. "Stand back." Spike blinked. "Stand back? Stand back from what?" The air near the letter began to expand. Twilight glanced back and saw it, and her eyes widened. "Everypony, get away from the letter! Now!" Several things happened at once: Bloody Marey crashed through the shield; magical fragments falling around the ghost as it shrieked towards Sweetie Bell; Rarity telekinetically snatched her sister away; Spike tossed the letter into the ghost's path and dove back; the air around the message flashed with magical energy; and a sudden burst of light momentarily blinded everyone in the library. When the light had cleared, the Princess of the Moon stood before them, horn aglow; the spectre that had haunted them this night was suspended before her in a magical cage. It was still screeching, struggling to be free. "BE STILL!" The full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice fell upon whatever ears the apparition had. It ceased its struggles, frozen in the face of the wrath of an alicorn. Twilight began babbling. "Princess Luna! I'm so sorry, I'm not sure how it got here, there was an old mare's tale, and a ritual, and I didn't believe it, and-" "Twilight Sparkle, please; calm thyself." Luna gazed into the eyes of her captive. "She means thee no harm." "What? But it's been trying to take foals!" "She does not know any better. All spirits have unfinished business; hers was that she never got to say goodbye." "My child…" the ghost whimpered plaintively. It glanced at Sweetie Belle. "I am sorry, lost soul," Luna soothed. "But she is not yours. Your child is not here." "Where is she?" The ghost began struggling again. "I must find her. I must!" "Thou wast a mare called Mary Belle," Luna said. The spirit stopped thrashing, eyes widening in recognition. "Thy daughter went missing one day. None knew what had happened to her." The room fell completely silent as they listened to what the Princess of the Moon had to say. "Thou could not rest until thou found her," Luna continued. "So you searched the woods, the canyons, all the places that she might be; and everywhere you searched, she was not there." The spirit was totally still now; its eyes were luminous with what might have been tears. "And one day, while thou searched, thou died. An accident crushed thy body; but thy soul could not depart. Thou became bound to thy name, for thou thought that those who knew it would help. But the appearance of a restless spirit, cloaked in the unshed tears that were lost with thy blood, frightened them away. Thy name was twisted, and thou became a subject of nightmares, of darkness. And thou allowed thy magic to fade, to become dormant; to languish in grief, beyond call." "Then magic itself called thy name, and thou hast come. And, in the centuries thou hast been resting, we have learned of your daughter's fate." Luna dissolved the prison; the ponies shied back, but the ghost did not move towards them. She gazed at the princess. "What has become of her?" she whispered. "Follow me," Luna said. "For she is near." *** The path the Princess took led to the Ponyville cemetery. They passed newer tombstones, some of them all too familiar to some of the ponies; to the worn, older markers. Here, kept clean of moss but aged, the dead of the long past lay. Luna found the one she sought and stood by it. "Here." The spirit approached the stone, and read. "Here Lies Rosa Belle. 511 AE-601 AE. Beloved Daughter, Wife, and Mother." The spirit's eyes shone all the more. "She lived…" "She was lost, and found a home. And she searched for you as well when she was old enough." Luna stepped back. "Some say she is searching still." Bloody Marey blinked and lowered her head towards the earth. "Rosa?" she whispered. "Are you there?" At first, there was nothing. Then, a pale, shining head poked out from the ground. "Mama?" The small form climbed from the earth and stood in front of the crimson mare. "Mama, is that you?" "Yes, Rosa. It's me. I finally found you." The scarlet unicorn brought her head down and nuzzled her daughter. Glowing white tears fell from her eyes. They pooled and spread over the blood-red form, washing away the grief, rage and sorrow that had become the spirit's skin, and at last they flowed up and her horn as mended that as well. Mother and daughter turned towards those assembled around them. "Thank you," Mary Belle said. "I am sorry. I frightened you, but you have helped me." "Know peace, faithful mother," Luna said. "Your journey is at an end." "Yes," Mary Belle said with a smile. She looked at her daughter, who smiled back. "Yes, it is." The two ghosts nuzzled again and slowly faded into the air. *** "I still don't get why she showed up," Sweetie Belle said. "I mean, I didn't say her name!" The three fillies were in the library. Twilight and the Princess had been talking for hours, but the excitement of that night still hadn't worn off. "But Twilight did!" Apple Bloom pointed out. "And she's the most magical unicorn we know!" "Well, I guess that makes sense," Scootalo agreed. "But the ghost that appears depends on who says it. Like, if Rainbow Dash had said it, maybe it would have been somepony else's ghost!" "I think that's more to do with the name," Apple Bloom said. "But maybe there are other ghosts who need help, and we could do that!" Sweetie Belle vehemently shook her head. "No, thank you! One ghost trying to get me was enough." "Yeah, about that…why did she come after you twice?" Scootaloo wondered. "I mean, from what Twilight said, she only tried to get every other unicorn filly once, and then just stopped." "Maybe it's because I'm older?" Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Or maybe it's because she liked my mane?" "Or maybe…” Apple Bloom tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Sweetie Belle, do you have anything like a family tree map, somethin' that shows the name of everypony in your family?" "Rarity might know." Sweetie Belle turned towards her elder sibling. "Hey sis! Do we have a family tree map?" "Why, of course we do, Sweetie Belle. In fact, I memorized it when I was your age, and I'm fairly certain I can remember it. But why the sudden interest in our family history?" "Um…" Sweetie Belle turned back to her co-conspirators. "I'm not sure." "We were wonderin'," Apple Bloom picked up, "Do you have any Mary's or Rosa's in yer family?" "I believe we do! Those names were very popular in the past. In fact, I seem to recall that…" Rarity's eyes widened. "Oh my!" "Wow, Sweetie Belle! You're related to a ghost!" Scootaloo teased. "What? No, no, no; that's obviously not true." "But the ghost was after you twice, unlike everypony else," Apple Bloom said. "And you have ponies in your family with those names," Scootaloo continued. "And you're both unicorns." "And you've both got Belle in your name." "And-" "You guys, stop it! I've just been traumatized, and I don't want to think that it was my great-great-grandma or something who did the traumatizing!" "Okay," the other two sighed. Scootaloo perked up suddenly. "Hey, I've got another great idea for a way to earn our Cutie Marks! Now all we need is that balloon again…" "Ahem." The Crusaders looked behind them. Twilight was there, tapping a hoof. "Then again…maybe it can wait," the pegasus filly sighed. *** The End.