Ponies die. Faith shatters. All for naught.

Moral of the story: religion does more harm than good, but fertilizer and fungicides are great.

Nice seeing this through to completion even if I already new the story.

So...AJ's Great something grandfather uses some sort of alchemy or magic on the Everfree, the Everfree being under the Desmenese of Discord or some other ancient powers (perhaps Harmony?) doesn't take this well and fought back, which in turn caused the townsfolk to start practicing ancient rites of sacrifice, possibly doing absolutely nothing at all to fix their situation, and further sacrifices even if it was the Apple Family aren't likely to help either...This whole thing brings to mind the idea that some untold generations later (provided Celestia doesn't go completely ballistic) a little filly or colt will find Ponyville by accident deep inside the Everfree and outside of a few odd smiles think nothing of it until they find a worn down house on the very most outskirts of town, and discover a horrifying truth.

On completely separate note, there was one detail in this story that confused me. In one of the early chapters, Pinkie Pie participates in Rumble's "coming of age" ceremony, and reveals to him that she did the same for his brother who if we use canon ages is around a decade apart or more. That begs the question, is Pinkie TRULY the adopted daughter of Mr. Cake? Is she even a pony?

11580465
Thunderlane and Pinkie came of age around the same time. Pinkie found this particular aspect of worship so enjoyable, that she became the personification of the rite of passage herself.

11580650
okay, so a SPECIAL party pony. Not the first time Ive read a story where her skills are not so 1-D as in the show.