//------------------------------// // Chapter 32-The Monster Within-Take 2 // Story: My Little Pony Bizarre Adventures - Part 1: Ponyville Central // by LateBronyWriter //------------------------------// The Monster Within- Take 2: Putting her years of running away from trouble at her disposal, the filly pumps her legs towards town and she quickly begins to put the barn far behind her, each hoofstep a step towards safety and help. Despite her size the filly makes great time as she puts more and more distance between her two siblings and herself barrelling down the beaten path leading out of Sweet Apple Acres. Yet despite her speed the filly quickly runs out of breath and begins to slow down. Her lungs and body tired from the multiple surges of adrenaline, the doses of fear, as well as her strained physical exertion, forcing the filly to come to a stop a mile or so down the path from her house. Knowing time is of the essence but unable to continue for another step, the filly stops and takes deep breaths flooding her aching muscles with liters of precious oxygen. Every breath she takes fills the filly with more hope and more energy as she reflects on the slim odds that she had to beat in order to escape from the Stand attack that had already consumed her two siblings. Looking behind her the filly sees the edge of the barn off in the distance, and the filly takes comfort in the fact that she has at least made good time so far. Her breath returning the filly prepares to make another desperate sprint, this time hoping to get at least to the front gate of Sweet Apple Acres when a mysterious voice calls out to her from the shadows. “Hey kid,” a shady voice asks from the darkness, causing the filly to skid to a halt. “Where you think yer goin?” The filly stops in her tracks at the sound of another voice, her senses struggling to locate the pony that would be crazy enough to be out here at this time of night. “Who’s there?” Applebloom shouts, “Show yerself! Ah don’t have time ta play games! Ah have ta get to town, so if ya don’t come out…….” “Whoa whoa, little firecracker. Ah’m over here.” A stallion-esque shape waves from the darkness, the faint light of his burning cigarette the only sign other than his faint outline that any pony is there. “Ah was just out fer a walk when I heard ya barrelling down the path.” “A walk?” the filly asks skeptically. “You were out for a walk? On our property? At night?” “Yeah a walk, that’s right,” the stallion states as though it’s the most natural thing in the world. “So yer goin to town? Shame it’s so dark.” The stallion-like figure smiles menacingly as the red light from his cigarette lights up his face and his piercing eyes. “Why don’t I help ya find yer way? Weze can go together, like mates.” Even though she is not the brightest of ponies, the stench of hard booze and smoke tells her that this pony isn’t to be trusted in the slightest. “Look, Ah don’t know what yer doin here, but Ah'm not supposed ta talk to strangers.” The filly turns back on the path out of Sweet Apple Acres, eager to put the suspicious stallion behind her and continue on her mission to save her sister. “And I happen to be in a hurry, so….” “Heh!” the voice from the shadow snickers, “that’s yer excuse? What, do ya do everythin as yer told? What are you, some kind of square?” Her patience having reached its limit from the last comment, the filly puts on her most serious tone to address the grating voice. “Look, mister,” The filly turns to address the voice with her most accusatory tone. “Ah don’t know what ya are doin here, but ya need ta leave, mah sister an brother are possessed! Ya gotta get out of here now an make fer town.” The filly turns back to the path. “Oh an to top it off, even if mah sis wasn’t possessed she’d kick yer flank just fer trespassing, so Ah'd make like a tree and leave.” The filly prepares to bolt back down the path only to be stopped once again by the silver-tongued stallion’s voice. “It’s a pity…” The stallion in the dark takes another long puff of his cigarette, as if completely uncaring of the filly’s warnings. “If yer sister could mover her Stand then she might be able ta keep herself from killin youze. It’s too bad that mah The Monster Within stops all their host’s movements; even Stands can’t move when their owners are immobilized.” The filly immediately turns to the voice in the shadows, realizing immediately that this is no ordinary stallion. “Who are you? An did ya say that….” “Yeah, that Stand that’s controlin yer sis is mine,” the Stand user says as he steps out of the shadows. The stallion’s dark brown jacket contrasts with his light brown coat, but matches perfectly with his dark brown greased mane. His cutie mark, that of three dark blue horseshoes, barely shows up against the dark backdrop he surrounds himself in as he remains partially obscured by the shadows. Brushing his greasy mane out of his face with a free hoof the stallion straightens his jacket’s dark red tie, taking another long drag from his cigarette. “Youse see,” the stallion resumes, his beady blue eyes dancing in the moonlight, “Ah realize that it’s a shame that Ize have ta be the one ta finish off a little filly, but….” The stallion spits out his cigarette to his side. “Ize can’t have ponies like youze soundin the alarm till weze are good an ready, see? So Ah'm gonna have ta ask youze to listen ta yer betters and get youze’s but kicked.” The stallion attentions are divided as the sound of two ponies approach, their ragged breaths echoing through the night. Looking over to the side of the path he sees the two Apple siblings infected with his Stand panting off to the side. The stallion grins as he greets the new arrivals. “And I see that my Stand has been effective. Good job, The Monster Within.” “I TRY, BOSS!” the mouths speak in unison. “An ya got me a real southern bell this time! Now you two do me a favor an…....” WHACK His attention distracted by the appearance of the two new arrivals, the stallion doesn’t notice as the little filly’s Stand delivers a sound uppercut right in the stallion’s most sensitive area. The stallion suppresses a loud yelp of pain as he falls to his knees. “Wha……..“ the stallion gasps in pain as a tear streams out of his eye. “What was that fer, ya minx?! Don’t ya know that below the belt’s off limits?!” the stallion groans as he rises painfully to his hooves, barely able to stand from the intense pain coursing through his lower half. “You kidnap mah family an try ta kill me, an you talk about playin fair?!” the filly yells, “Now let mah siblings go an get outta mah way or I’ll wreck yer face next!” The stallion takes one look at the filly, all the malice in his eyes being conveyed in a single hateful gaze as the stallion gestures to the two ponies infected with his Stand. “Kill her.” With dramatic lurching movements the two ponies leap at the filly, their hungry mouths wide open letting feral slobber drip over their coats. Yet this time Applebloom is not the same frightened filly running away from a nightmare. If Apples were known for anything beside their love of their namesake, it was their righteous anger and fierce rage at those that would hurt their family. Before, the horrific nature of the Stand and the terror of it taking over her family had overwhelmed her senses and smothered her will to fight back. However, by this point Applebloom’s rage had boiled over, meeting the stallion who had hurt her sister and brother so much had awakened a great beast in the filly, a beast that craved to beat the offending stallion to a bloody pulp. Her rage suppresses the little filly’s fear as she leaps forward towards her advancing siblings, her Stand at the ready as it levels a swinging left elbow at her brother Big Mac. “VIBRATIONS!” the filly shouts as her Stand power activates. The force of the stallion’s advance is absorbed into the Stand’s pistoned arm and instantly returned in the stallion’s face. Applebloom recoils from the impact as her blow sends Big Mac head over hooves in the air, only to land a half second later flat on his flank. “Sorry, Big Mac,” Applebloom apologizes to her unconscious brother, “but if yer knocked out ya can’t hurt yer sis anymore.” “OH reallllyyyyyyy?” Big Mac’s body flinches and recoils as his muscles spasm. Applebloom watches with fearful eyes as the battered, bloody face of her brother picks itself up from the ground, the body’s vacant and empty eyes betraying its unconscious state. “Are you ssssssuuuuuurrrreeeee about that?” the mouths utter as her brother’s unconscious form staggers to its hooves. “Well then, it’s a good thing that I still have an impressive possession of big Brother Mackie’s body then!” With a hunger for blood, Big Mac’s maw covered body leaps at the frightened filly, who only dodges its sharpened teeth by a hair as the unconscious body rolls over in the dirt. “Big Mac?” the filly gasps for breath as she dodges another attack from her sister. “N-No! it can’t be?” “Impressive, isn’t it?” the brown coated stallion watching off to the side states, “My Stand has the power to take control youse movin bodies an control them like puppets. So to put it in words a minx like youse will understand, my Stand lasts until death! So if ya want to save yer family….” The stallion laughs, “…You’ll have ta KILL them! An call it a hunch but ize don’t think a filly like youze has the guts!!” The filly falls to her haunches before her circling siblings as the horrible idea of having to murder her only family enters her mind. “K-Kill mah family……N-N-No…. Th-This can’t be happening!!” Leaping at the stunned filly, her own sister knocks the wind out of her as Applebloom skids on the ground, dust covering her back as she slowly rolls to her hooves. The stallion laughs evilly at the young Crusader’s pathetic state. “Well then, minx, that’s a cryin shame, cause that means yer the one whose gonna end up on the choppin block.” The stallion spits off to the side as he advances on the frightened filly. “Now da ya see the impressive power of mah Stand? It can take over the ones most precious to youze an turn them against youze! And if ya can’t kill em, Then they’ll be added ta mah collection for the rest of eternity! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” As the stallion’s snide and mocking laughter echoes through the clearing, his celebration of his imminent victory crushing the will of the filly to resist, her sister Applejack - her body not her own - looks upon her sister with a hopeless expression. Powerless to move an inch without resisting with all her might and unable to even manifest her Stand, Applejack stews in her own helplessness as she is forced to be the instrument of her own family’s downfall. Applejack bemoans her own fate, as her will to resist like her sister finds itself crushed to pieces when faced with a cruel and merciless reality, that seems Tartarus-bent on destroying her. ‘Why….’ the farm mare thinks to herself as she gazes on her sister, ‘why does this keep happenen ta me?! What did Ah do ta deserve this? I couldn’t save mah parents, Ah couldn’t save Twi, and now Ah can’t even save mah sis when she’s right in front of me! How could Ah just let this happen…..’ the orange mare sobs to herself as she is forced to corner her own sister. ‘This has ta be a mistake…. It wasn’t supposed ta be mah parents… it wasn’t supposed ta be Bloom…. It should have been me who was taken…. Ah should of died in their place.’ Applejack cries out as her heart breaks within her. ‘I guess that deep down Ah always knew that Ah was powerless… I guess that Ah knew all along that one day fate would catch up ta me…..” ‘THAT IS ENOUGH, APPLEJACK!’ A strong authoritative voice echoes through Applejack’s mind. The orange farm mare gulps as her body moves of its own accord again, its razor jaws snapping inches from her sister’s face. “Fluttershy?” the half delirious mare asks. ‘Now you quiet down and listen here! The Applejack that I know is always trying to help others, even at her own expense. She is brave and always comes through when ponies really need her. I…… I always admired that Applejack….’ ‘Fluttershy….’ the orange mare thinks to herself, ‘what da you know about me….? Ah can't even save mah sister… I’m just weak….’ ‘But I’ve realized something, Applejack, and you need to realize it too… Sometimes, if you want to help others, you have to depend on them. You have to be willing to let others do what you can’t do and just do what you can. So please, Applejack, don’t say that you’re weak; you’re not weak, just let the others do what they can….. and do what you can in turn.’ Applejack’s mind snaps out of its stupor. ‘Is it really that easy…. Is that all Ah need ta do ta beat fate? Just do what Ah can?’ The orange mare’s previously stunned mind working overtime as she takes in her surroundings once more. ‘Is there really somethin that Ah can do?!’ “Enough toyin around.” The stallion grins as he gestures to the two Apple siblings who flank Applebloom. “Youze have been a troublesome filly, but let’s see how youze handle a two on one attack! Get er boys!” Both the Apple siblings leap at the filly as Applebloom curls into a ball, prepared to defend with her Stand as her siblings raise their hooves to flatten her with their combined strength. “Applebloom!” Applejack shouts in midair, “DUCK!!” Reacting reflexively to her sister’s command, the yellow filly ducks low as the two ponies leaping through the air end up on a collision course with each other. And so, with all the form and grace of a tap dancing elephant, Applejack and an unconscious Big Macintosh crash into each other with tremendous force, falling to the ground in a tangle as they try to free themselves from the mess that they have gotten into. The two ponies lay flat on the ground with Applejack lying on her brother’s back as the brown-maned stallion facehoofs at the stupidity of his own Stand. “Urgh, you idiots! Get up off yer bums and attack again.” The stallion taps his hoof impatiently as the two forms writhe on the ground. “Well, what are you waitin for? A compliment? Get up already!” The two bodies flail and struggle as the mouths grin sheepishly. “Uh, boss? We can’t.” “What?” the stallion asks, “So are youze sayin that yer disobeyin yer boss?” “NO! Of course not, boss! We respect you way too much ta do that (and you also determine whether we live or die so that’s a plus in favor of obeying you).” The Stand’s multiple mouths laugh nervously. “It’s just that we literally can’t move.” “What?” the stallion asks, “What da ya mean ya can’t move?” The two ponies’ bodies flail about, however it appears that both Big Macintosh and Applejack appear to be going nowhere. “We don’t know boss, it’s not very impressive, but it’s like we’re stuck to the ground with glue or somethin.” “Stuck to the ground?” The stallion taps his chin. “How could ya be stuck ta the ground as if by….. OH.” Her plan having succeeded, Applejack grins as she gives the stallion a defiant look from out of the corner of her eye. “Oh, did yawl ferget about little old me?” The stallion looks at the prone mare as his Stand tries to rip itself off of the ground. “You! You did something! What did you do?” Applejack laughs mirthfully. “Oh, did you ferget about mah little Stand power? True, Ah can’t move mah Stand, but its power ta fasten things ta the earth is workin just fine.” The mare gestures down at the stallion beneath her with what little muscles she has under her control. “An it just so happens that Ah have Big Mac here and me pinned ta the ground. After all, Ah ain’t county wrastlin champ three years runnin fer nothing!” “Applebloom!” The orange mare shouts out to her sister behind her. “Um yes, Applejack?” the filly asks as she rises back to her hooves, watching her sister’s back for instruction. “Now Ah'm givin ya a order as yer big sis now, so listen up and do as Ah say.” The filly recoils as if struck. “Applejack, yawl really can’t expect me to run and..….” “As yer big sis,” Applejack states with all the authority she can muster, “Ah'm orderin you to flatten this huckster.” “Ah ain’t runnin and that’s……” Applebloom blinks several times. “Uh…..Applejack, are ya tellin me to….” “That’s right, Applebloom,” Applejack states with no doubt, an enormous grin on her muzzle. “Ah’m COMMANDING YOU, ta beat this huckster that’s trespassing on Apple family property to within half an inch of his life. And Ah expect ya to listen….. now is that understood, sis?” Half-stunned by her sister’s ‘request’, the filly shakes her head before a cruel smile crosses her face. Trotting towards the rapidly backpedaling stallion the filly cracks her hooves. “Well, ya know me, sis! Always willing ta listen to my elders! An I wouldn’t want our guest ta feel underappreciated an all, so of course Ah'll listen ta ya like any good filly should.” The stallion, having his back to an old knotted tree, growls like a cornered rat, his flesh rippling as he faces the filly in front of him. “So, youze want a fight, now do youze….” Suddenly, large, sharp maws appear from his skin, their rabid jaws snapping in unison. “…Well come on then, all Ize have ta do is get one blow in an yer mine!” The stallion rushes the filly with his newly-acquired jaws, the filly dodging out of the way of his improvised attack. The jaws, though frightening before, are now just an obstacle to be avoided as the filly ducks, blocks and moves into position around the stallion, blocking his punches and absorbing their force. Backing off from the stallion, the filly raises her hoof to the heavens as her Stand’s hoof begins to quake with suppressed energy. The stallion’s eyes widen as if anticipating the blow as the filly slams her hoof into the ground with deafening force, the ground quaking beneath her as the vibrations travel through the earth underneath the stallion. Unable to anticipate an attack that he cannot see, the stallion is unable to dodge as the ground beneath him explodes in a storm of earth and dirt, sending rocks flying like shrapnel at the mawed monstrosity. Applebloom stands at the ready, elated that her attack struck point blank but knowing that the enemy in front of her will not succumb so easily to one attack. And indeed she is right: as the dust settles, the evil brown-maned stallion trots towards the filly, his maws crushing the rocks sent at him in their teeth as he grins along with his Stand. “Heh, is that the best ya got, minx?” “Nah,” the filly comments offhandedly as her Stand pumps its hoof for another strike, “that was just ta keep ya from movin so Ah could hit ya where it hurts.” “Oh? An where would that be, ya….” WHACK! With one well-placed blow to the stallion’s now-exposed private section the filly strikes true, his senses exploding in agony. The stallion writhes in insuppressible pain as he clutches his now very sore family jewels. This time he is unable to stifle a very girly scream as he huffs and puffs in agony. “WHAT did Ah say about hittin below the belt!!! Youze should be….” WHACK! “AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!” The stallion moans as the filly strikes true again. “That’s not funny youze..…..” WHACK! “URRRAGH!! I’m Gonna KILL YOUZE, you little…..” WHACK! “S-S-Stop-p-p-p ya little…..” WHACK! “AH said, STOP!” The stallion swings his hooves like a mad pony, his pain turned to rage at the little filly’s defiance. Applebloom however blocks the stallion’s desperate blows with her Stand, recoiling slightly from the mobster’s rush as she readies her Stand for another attack. Panting heavily from his exertions, the veins in the stallion’s head begin to throb as he prepares to explode on the little filly, with all his rage as his weapon. Yet, as if recognizing the error of his ways the stallion calms down visibly, brushing his tangled mess of a mane back to a semi neat appearance. “Nice try filly, but Ah can see where this is headed. Yer goadin me, tryin ta get me ta attack so ya can absorb mah attacks an send em right back at me. Well that ship’s sailed and gone filly, see Ah'm way too smart ta fall fer that!” Applebloom smirks. “Funny, ya weren’t smart enough not ta fall fer it a minute ago!” The stallion growls as he addresses the pipsqueak before him. “Ah said I ain’t fallin fer that anymore, ya minx. Sides, I ain’t worried, cause yer little ‘attack’ just showed me yer weakness!” The stallion sneers as he plots his victory. “What, ya think that Ah wouldn’t notice? Youzes take in every blow thrown at ya and dish it back out. But those last few blows of yers barely hurt at all. So I’m thinkin that yer power gets weaker if youze don’t have any of mize attacks ta leach off. So all I have ta do is make sure ya don’t absorb my attacks an Ah win!” The stallion smiles triumphantly. Applebloom looks at the stallion with the best ‘are you kidding me’ look that she can muster. “Well then, ya shouldn’t have attacked me just now, cause from that last attack alone Ah have enough power to knock ya clean out an save mah siblings!” Rushing towards the stallion, her hooves outstretched, the filly readies her Stand for her most powerful attack as she prepares to smash the gangster’s face in with one blow. “VIBRATIONS!” With a powerful thud the blow lands on the face of her enemy, blood and bone go flying as the impact breaks the figure before her into pieces. The sudden gruesomeness of the impact stuns the filly; she set the vibration at just enough of a level to knock the stallion clean out. So why was her hoof covered in this…. blood? The filly backs away from her opponent, getting a better look at the battlefield around her. The filly looks around to see the gasping stallion once again lying on his back, pushed away at the last moment by a new arrival. However the filly’s eyes remain locked on the ragged and dirt-encrusted figure before her, a dark green pony with a cutie mark of an apple filled pastry, drooling in front of her with a vacant, lifeless stare. The figure’s torn face and skeletal appearance make it deadly apparent the figure is not alive, as the dead pony lurches towards her with with a will not its own, its eyes glowing a sickly green. “U-U-Uncle T-Turnover….” the filly asks with a whimper, her hooves shaking at the desiccated appearance of the zombie before her. “But-But you’re not supposed to be……W-W-What’s goin on? First mah siblings get taken over by parasites, an now this?” “Noteworthy!” the stallion in a cheap suit shouts as he rises shakily to his hooves, yelling at a figure that pops out of the darkness behind the filly. “How dare youze interfere! I just so happened ta have her right where Ah wanted her! You necrophiliac!” The figure that steps out of the darkness is of all things a unicorn, his light blue coat embellished with a dark outfit of what looks to be a priest’s cassock. The unicorn’s horn, nearly covered by his shaggy, dark blue mane - which matches the color of his musical note cutie mark - glows with an unnatural dark aurathat reflects a malevolence. Tied around his neck is a brass medallion of some kind of casket that accents his white priest’s collar. However, it is the stallion’s deranged and luminous yellow eyes that dominate the filly’s senses, as he glances over her as if she were simply not worth his time. “Well, I’m sorry that you had trouble in defeating a little filly, but in case you haven’t forgotten, Caramel, we are all on a tight schedule tonight. And must I remind you a thousand times, I am an undertaker, not a necrophiliac, as you emphatically insist.” The stallion steps forward as a bony figure adorned in beads and feathers materializes behind him. Its appearance is a dead ringer for a mid-sized earth pony skeleton dressed up in what appears to be yards and yards of colored string and jewelry. The skeletal Stand’s rattles with every movement as its string-covered hooves brush against the ground. “And while you were playing around with a little filly, I have finished with my designated task of picking up our ‘allies’ from the local cemetery with my HollyHoof Undead.” The other stallion scoffs as Applebloom recognizes that she is surrounded by, not one, but two veteran Stand users. “Big whoop! So you reanimate a couple dozen rotting corpses, it’s still nowhere near as impressive as my power.” “A couple dozen?” The unicorn levels his yellow gaze at the stallion as a deep and terrible moaning echoes through the trees. “Try a couple hundred, Caramel.” Applebloom and Applejack’s eyes and ears flick around as more dark shapes begin to materialize from the grove around them. The rotting odor and putrid smell wafts through the cool night air, the odor of death drowning out the smell of apples that permeates the grove and replacing it with a much more powerful stench. The filly and mare’s heads swivel around them as their breaths catch in their throats at the horrible sight before them. Yard upon yard of dead and decaying corpses, some no more than skeletons, trotting along as they close in from all sides like a plague of biblical proportions. Had their night not already been filled with terror that would have killed a dragon in pure fright, the arrival of an army of zombies might have fazed them. However, the battle hardened minds of the mare and filly barely process the fact that the dead trotting at them were once living things, instead focusing on the survival and the arrival of a new threat. ‘Dagnabit!’ the orange farm mare thinks to herself, ‘now there are two of them? This is bad, Applebloom can’t take two of these guys at once! An if this guy’s power really does what Ah think it does….’ Applejack raises her voice. “Applebloom, change of plans! Go on and git! Ya need ta get help now!” “It’s too late for retreating,” the unicorn states as he waves his hoof in a circle, his bony Stand mirroring his actions. In seconds both the mares find themselves encased in a terrible ring of rotting flesh, the dead’s slobbering jaws, vacant eyes and horrible wailing a testament to the horror they find themselves trapped in. “And in case you have failed to remember,” the unicorn addresses Caramel, as if ignorant to the horror of the zombies moaning around him, “It was one of those ‘rotting corpses’ that protected you from an early demise. And though it would please me to no end to give you a proper funeral, our Boss has given us orders that cannot be ignored.” Putting his two hooves together in prayer the unicorn falls to his knees as he looks up to the stars. “We must put aside our passions and desires if we are to purify ourselves from our inner evils. For to cleanse ourselves of sinful desires is the hallmark of being able to face death without fear, and thus it is the way unto the Elysium fields.” Caramel throws his arms up in the air. “And THIS is why I never work with voodoo priests like youze!” “I’m a Deacon……” “Whatever!” the exasperated stallion shouts as he approaches Applebloom. “Just stick to your dead bodies and leave the filly to me! I’ve got her on the ropes!” As the stallion approaches the filly, more of his twisted jaws popping out of his skin, he finds himself barred from her by the arm of a skeleton corpse. Noteworthy sighs. “Sadly, as I stated so clearly before, we have a timetable to adhere to, and given that I anticipated for these siblings to give us trouble I have already brought a ‘pair’ with us that will insure their peaceful demise.” The filly’s hooves shake as she turns to the unicorn, her voice trying to retain all the courage she still has left. “B-Bring it on you, b-b-bully I ain’t afraid of y-y-you….” The malevolent priest flicks his mane back as two figures claw their way through the mass of corpses. “No, little filly,” Noteworthy states, “despite your claims, you ARE very much afraid. It is regrettable that ponies these day fear death when they should embrace it.” The stallion turns his head as he greets the new arrivals in the same way a pony might greet old friends. “However, to fear death is to fear our own salvation. Do you fear going to sleep? Death is a natural part of the world, a necessary step one must take that they might purify themselves and enter the next world with a pure and noble heart.” The two ponies trot out of the shadows as the priest turns back to the filly. “After all, why should one fear death when one has two such noble ponies to escort her to the hereafter?” Applejack, her flank turned to the two approaching figures, can only gauge by her sister Applebloom’s appalled and horrified expression that whoever has just arrived is not somepony good. “Applebloom? What is it? What’s goin on?” the elder Apple asks her younger sibling. “No…..” Applebloom recoils from the sight before her. The approaching ponies barely look like the ponies that she knew once upon a time, their torn flesh and the worn stitches holding them together making them look even more terrifying as they stand a distance away from the filly. “NO……” The filly falls to her rump as she tries to move away from the advancing figures, that she can vaguely recall from her youngest memories, their light green and bright orange coats cracked in mud. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Applebloom, unable to take the sight any longer, curls up the fetal position covering her bawling eyes. “Take them away….. PLEASE! I-I-I-I’m sorry…. PLEASE j-j-just go away!” But the two zombie advance deaf to the filly’s cries of desperation as they come to a stop in front of the terrified farm filly. Without any hesitation or thoughts of his own, the reanimated stallion’s raises his hoof over his own daughter, it's lifeless eyes gazing down at the filly as his eldest daughter begs for him to spare the figure beneath him. However, the Apple parents are dead and gone, no light of compassion or spark of recognition fills the figure’s vacant eyes. There is only the command of its master echoing in it’s skull as the corpse swings its hoof down to crush the living from beneath it. The world moves in slow motion for Applejack as she is forced to watch her father’s corpse moving to crush her sister without compassion or mercy. It’s worn and bloodied hoof closes in for a fatal blow and Applejack cries out one last time for her sister, the scene of utter tragedy unfolding so fast that the orange mare barely has time to react to the cruel irony of her father, an Apple, killing her own flesh and blood. And then the entire world goes white.