> Breaking Cute
>  by GoldenState3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Cutie Mark Crusaders, Clandestine Chemists!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweetie Belle ran after her friends trying to keep up. They were starting to get ahead of her, and she was afraid that Babs Seed was going to catch her. They'd spent the last few days running from her, but Babs, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were relentless. They'd taken to consistently ruining the Crusaders lives. Apple Bloom even mentioned that Babs had  taken over her bed, leaving Apple Bloom to sleep on the floor. 

Sweetie's hoof knocked into something buried in the road. The impact sent the something flying, and she realized that it was some kind of flat object. Sweetie had never seen anything like it, so she paused to grab it, regardless of the potentially perusing ponies. 

A few seconds later, they'd made it to their destination, Sweetie's house. Scootaloo opened the door, and the three fillies ran upstairs to Sweetie's room.  Finally able to relax, the girls collapsed in a heap on Sweetie's bed. Babs had stolen their clubhouse, so they'd been exiled to Sweetie's room. 

It took a few seconds for the three friends to catch their breath, and a few more seconds for the other two to notice the seriously out of place object that Sweetie had in her mouth. 

"What's that?" Scootaloo asked. 

"I don't know. I found it lying on the ground. I think it's some kind of mirror." Sweetie Belle replied.

The girls were all staring at the object now, and Apple Bloom picked it up. Sweetie Belle watched as Apple Bloom tried to fix her bow in it. There was a flash of light from the device, as an image appeared on the shiny mirror bit. 

"It's magic!" Apple Bloom shouted as she recoiled back from the object. 

Sweetie Belle studied the object slowly. She'd never seen anything like it, but she was the first pony to admit that she wasn't the shiniest apple in orchard. There was a glowing arrow, over a picture of what looked to be a large number of cameras. Sweetie tried to stop Scootaloo as she ran her hoof over the image, in the direction of the arrow. The image changed to a grey background with a number of big pictures on it. Scootaloo's hoof bumped a green image with the words "Breaking Bad" on it. 

Once again, the image on the front changed. This time, it became a moving picture of several weird monkey creatures in a boring beige color. Sweetie stood transfixed as she watched the monkey creatures move across the screen, and talk. She'd seen movies before, they'd been at one before Babs had shown up, but this was different. This was some kind of magic. Something told the filly that this magic might even be beyond Twilight Sparkle. 

No pony said a word for the forty minutes that the ape creatures spent on the device's screen. Sweetie Belle's initial terror at the device had turned to amazement, and then to shock. The monkeys were doing very bad things on the screen, and Sweetie knew that her parents would remove the device if they saw it. 

She breathed a sigh of relief when the episode ended. The very lack of respect that the monkeys had shown for each other and life itself scared her immensely. Sweetie Belle knew about death, and how old ponies died, but she'd never heard the word kill before. Sweetie Belle wondered if it would even be possible to kill a pony. In Equestria, ponies only died peacefully at the end of long happy lives. They didn't brutally attack each other for no reason, and then leave the bodies in carts. 

The monkeys were evil, no doubt about it. She wondered what it would take for such a creature to come into existence. Because of Rarity's status as one of the Elements of Harmony, Sweetie Belle had come into contact with all kinds of dread monsters. None of these creatures would kill. Not even Discord would dream of killing on purpose. Sweetie shivered at the mere idea of what kind of mindset it would take to intentionally end another pony's life. 

She looked at her friends. Apple Bloom was lost in thought, and Scootaloo was nervously rocking back and forth. If Sweetie Belle didn't know better, she'd have sworn the fearless Pegasus filly was scared. Sweetie Belle put the idea out of her mind. Scootaloo was the most fearless pony in Ponyville, well after Rainbow Dash. She wasn't going to let some silly story about monkeys scare her. 

"What if we used that Ricin stuff on Babs?" Apple Bloom asked. 

Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom with a look of pure horror. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scootaloo also giving Apple Bloom the evil eye. Sweetie Belle relaxed a little. Apple Bloom was always getting wild ideas like this, it was just a matter of talking her out of them, and then things would be back to normal.

"I was thinking that we could build another parade float, and then rig it to break, and throw Babs right in the pig wallow at the edge 'a town. But, that's way too dangerous." Apple Bloom said. "What if the float crashed into the crowd? Somepony could get themselves hurt real bad. With this Ricin stuff, if we use just a teeny bit, we'd be able to get Babs sick, and not hurt anypony else." 

Now that Sweetie Belle thought about it, Apple Bloom had  a point. As far as plans went, the Ricin sounded way better then the stupid idea that Apple Bloom had as a backup plan. They'd be certain to kill another pony with the float scheme. While Sweetie Belle knew it was wrong to hurt anypony, even Babs, they needed a solution to the Babs problem. They couldn't go on living like this, not even for a few weeks. 

"What if Ricin isn't real. What's the odds that something in a story about magic beige monkeys with silly names like Walter is real?" Scootaloo asked. 

"We grow castor beans down on the farm." Apple Bloom said. "Big sis uses the oil from them on all 'a our carts." 

Sweetie Belle followed Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo to Sweet Apple Acres. They steered well clear of their former club house, as they definitely didn't desire a distracting diatribe from Babs. Apple Bloom paused in front of a row of colorful plants, and started to pick some of the beans, being careful to avoid taking all of the beans from one plant. 

Sweetie Belle realized that it was starting to get dark, and that she had to get back home. After making plans to meet in Apple family barn after bed time, the three fillies headed to their homes for the evening. Maybe tonight would be the night that they got their Cutie Marks, Sweetie Belle thought to herself. She wondered what a Ricin cutie mark would look like. Maybe it would look like a monkey. A monkey Cutie Mark would definitely be cool. 

Sweetie Belle awoke to a rock hitting her window. She looked down, and saw Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle gathered her things, and joined the Pegasus downstairs. Sweetie Belle wordlessly led the way to Sweet Apple Acres, being very careful to avoid any ponies that might still be out and about at the late hour.

When they reached the barn, Sweetie Belle noticed that Apple Bloom had a lantern, and a small fire in a metal pail. She also had a book propped up on the table. Sweetie Belle looked at the title, but just the title "Super Naturals" was enough to almost put her back to sleep. 

Sweetie Belle watched as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed the book's instructions on extracting the Ricin from the castor beans. The terrified Unicorn couldn't believe how easy it was. Here they were making some horrible substance, that could kill a pony, and yet it was no more difficult to make then cupcakes. No, Sweetie Belle reminded herself, it was easier then cupcakes. As Apple Bloom was placing the powder that represented their nights work into a bag.

"So how do we get Babs to take it?" Sweetie Belle asked. "The monkeys seemed to be making a big deal about how they had to have the man snort it. Didn't the other monkey that... uhm you know... have it injected into him?"

Apple Bloom rummaged around in her saddle bags, and came out with a pink party horn. She fit the Ricin bag so that it blocked the inside bit of the mouthpiece of the horn. 

"We'll just go an' tell Pinkie Pie that Babs is a new pony in town. Pinkie ain't gone and thrown Babs her welcome to town party yet, and Pinkie 'll be in a festive mood because of the parade, so I'm bettin' that we'll get a chance to blow this right in Bab's smug face." Apple Bloom explained. 

Sweetie Belle had to admit that this was as good of an idea as any, and that it just might work. Sweetie Belle headed for home. It wasn't quite dawn yet, so Sweetie would get a few hours of shut eye before the big day tomorrow. 
> Some Ponies have all the luck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweetie Belle woke up early the next morning. Even though she'd hardly gotten any sleep, it was still the day of the Summer harvest festival, and like most ponies, Sweetie Belle loved a good celebration. In the early morning light, she made her way way towards the Carousel Boutique, her sister Rarity's dress shop. 

Sweetie Belle walked in silence. She really wanted to believe that the last night had been some bad dream. They weren't really going to use some horrible substance on another pony, were they? Now that it was daylight, the Cutie Mark Crusader's problems seemed easier. There had to be a better solution, didn't there? Maybe they still had enough time to whip together a float, that would allow them to work out Apple Bloom's other plan. 

Ahead of her, Sweetie Belle saw the Applejack, Apple Bloom and Babs Seed. Applejack ducked into the carousel boutique, Babs turned to Apple Bloom with a mischievous look in her eye. Sweetie Belle shuddered to think of what the bully was planning, but she didn't have long to wait. As Apple Bloom moved towards Sweetie Belle, Babs stuck out her leg, and tripped her into a nearby mud puddle. 

Sweetie Belle ran towards the other pony as fast as she could, but she wasn't looking, and Babs tripped her as well. Sweetie Belle landed on top on Apple Bloom, winding her. The girls collapsed in heap in tears. Meanwhile, Applejack emerged from the boutique. Sweetie Belle studied Applejack, looking for any sign that she'd seen what Babs had done. 

Sweetie Belle had wanted to tattle on Babs from the beginning. While the other two crusaders had convinced her that this was  a bad idea, Sweetie Belle still thought that it was better then the current plan. 

"Girls, did you really have to play in the mud?" Rarity asked from the doorway. "You can't come in, which is a shame because I had made special costumes for you for the parade. They are some of my best work if I do say so myself." 

Bab's eyes sparkled, and Sweetie Belle knew what was going to happen next. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Rarity was fitting Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Babs into what should have been their costumes. Out in the street, the Crusaders were glaring through the windows. 

"No mercy." Scoolaloo growled. 

"It's on." Apple Bloom agreed. 

Sweetie Belle wasn't so sure, but she went along with it anyway. They'd been hurt enough. Babs wasn't going to be here forever, and if they could get her sick enough that she couldn't hurt them for most of that time, life could settle back to normal, and they could be free again. Sweetie Belle desperately wanted life to return to normal. If this was their best shot at normal, they had to take it.

Sweetie Belle saw Pinkie Pie bouncing down the street. She pointed the her out to Apple Bloom. Sweetie was willing to passively go along with their plan, but she wasn't about to directly cooperate. Sweetie Belle watched, a lump building in her throat as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo explained that Babs was new in town. 

Pinkie exploded into action, pulling confetti and streamers and other party favors out of thin air. With a growing sense of dread, Sweetie Belle watched as Apple Bloom pulled the tainted party horn out of her saddle bags. When Babs came out of the Carousel Boutique, she was ambushed by the pink party pony. Sweetie Belle knew that there was no avoiding Pinkie Pie, she was an inexplicable force of nature. 

Apple Bloom got in close, and blew her horn into Bab's face. Babs laughed at Pinkie Pie. At first, Pinkie thought that Babs was laughing with her, and then the full horror of what had happened sunk in with the pink pony. Pinkie Pie abandoned her party favors, and ran off down the street. 

"Is everypony either lame, nuts, or both in this town?" Babs asked Silver Spoon as she walked off, their ill gotten costumes glistening in the morning sun.

Sweetie Belle eyed her two companions. They were rubbing their hooves in delight. They'd succeeded in their plan. In a few days, Babs would get sick, and then they'd be able to get back to normal. 

"We did the right thing. No pony messes with Pinkie." Apple Bloom said, breaking the uneasy silence.

Did we? Sweetie thought to herself. She guessed that they'd done the right thing. It's not like they'd killed Babs or anything serious like that. She'd just get sick for a few days, and then be better when it was time to go back to Manehatten. They'd have their lives back, and Babs would be able to go back where she belonged. It was a win win really. 

Sweetie Belle wandered around Ponyville with her friends, soaking in the festival atmosphere, and enjoying the morning sun. The girls had spent a few bits on cupcakes at Sugar Cube corner, and they ate them as the walked. Sweetie Belle was starting to feel more normal. She'd managed to convince herself that there was no way that Babs had actually breathed in any of the powder from inside the horn. Apple Bloom had been too far away, and the grains had been so little. Most of it was probably littering the ground around the Carousel Boutique. Sweetie Belle wondered if it would be possible for any other pony to breathe the dust in off of the ground. It would be awful, she decided if another Pony got sick, while Babs stayed perfectly healthy. 

Sweetie Belle couldn't bear to watch the parade, so the Crusaders made some excuse about not feeling well, and went  to hide in Sweetie's room. According to the monkey, it would be a few days before Babs started to feel the effects of the Ricin anyway. 

"We had to. There wasn't any other way." Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle could tell that the Pegasus was waiting for one of them to chime in, and to agree with her. But, Sweetie Belle was having the same doubts. She couldn't be reassuring if she didn't feel reassured herself. 

The Crusaders spent the rest of the day at Sweetie's house, hiding from themselves more then any other Pony. 
> All that Sparkles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle looked up from the book she was reading. She'd been lost in it for the past few hours, and she'd lost all sense of time and space. It was late afternoon now, and the sun was starting to set low on the horizon. Spike was pulling at her leg, trying to get her attention. 

"They want you at Ponyville Hospital. That one pony that was staying with Applejack, is very sick." Spike said. "No one at the hospital knows what's wrong, and they're hoping that you'll be able to help." Spike said. 

I wonder what it is this time? Twilight Sparkle thought to herself. Twilight didn't know much about medicine, but she did know a little bit about everything. She wondered what could be wrong. She assumed that it was something potentially magical. Twilight consulted her emergency medical book checklist, mumbling to herself, and revising the list as she galloped around the library, gathering the books that the checklist dictated. Twilight had composed the checklist after the incident with the "baked bads", and it was one of her checklists that she hoped that she'd never have to consult. 

Twilight was finished gathering her books now, and she headed out towards the hospital. It wasn't that far, and it only took a few minutes to get there. As soon as Twilight entered the hospital, she was whisked upstairs to a patient room by a nurse. Twilight noticed Applejack, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing off to the side, the three of them looking lost. In the center of the room, there was a bed. On that bed, lay a small brown filly with a pinkish mane. Twilight could tell that the filly was in bad shape. Her fur was completely covered in sweat, and Twilight could tell by the amount of chest movement that the filly was having  trouble breathing. 

"Will she make it?" Apple Bloom asked. 

"Don't worry a hair on that little head. Babs 'll be just fine." Applejack said. "You four will be out and playing around before you know it." 

Twilight knew Applejack well enough to know that the pony was just putting on a brave face. Applejack was no dummy, she would know that blue hooves wasn't a sign of a pony that was going to be out and about anytime soon. Twilight gulped. This was really way beyond anything that she'd ever had any experience with in the past. She'd been expecting something clearly magical. 

Not that this wasn't magic. There were spells that could be used to draw another pony's life force to power one's own. Those spells were dark magic. But that kind of magic was kept under lock and key by Celestia herself. Not even Celestia's favorite student would be granted access to that kind of magic. Twilight did a few simple detection spells. Any spell that was sucking a pony's life energy for power would need a connection to the pony that was consuming the life energy. She knew spells that could detect this connection. 

Twilight ran through a wide variety of spells, including some spells that were specially designed to detect the deceptions of dark magic. This wasn't working. There was nothing. There wasn't any kind of magic touching the small filly on the bed. If there was something wrong with her, it was beyond anything that the purple Unicorn had ever experienced before. 

"Get Fluttershy! Have her find Zecora!" Twilight shouted at the Crusaders. "Maybe she knows whats wrong. This isn't magic. Maybe she ate something that she shouldn't of." 

"Ate something? Like what?" Scootaloo asked.

"I don't know, she's from the city right? Maybe she ate a plant that's poisonous without knowing it." Twilight Sparkle replied. 

Twilight watched the Crusaders gallop out of the room as fast as their little legs could carry them. She hadn't meant to panic them, but it was cute that they were so concerned about their little friend. Twilight took another look at the pony on the bed. Her breathing was getting more labored and shallow, and the blue was starting to spread up her legs. One of the doctors entered the room. 

"She's drowning." He told Twilight Sparkle. "We don't know where the fluid is coming from. We hoped this was magic."

"It's not." the Unicorn said slowly. 

She felt helpless, like she had the time that she didn't have a friendship report for Celestia. Only now, this was worse. If she failed, she wasn't going back to magic Kindergarten. No, a little filly's life would end as a consequence of Twilight's failure.Twilight Sparkle didn't want to think about, but there was a real danger that the pony on the bed wasn't going to survive. Zecora knew plants and flowers better then Twilight Sparkle. That was the basis of Zecora's Zebra magic. Unlike the arcane forces harnessed by Unicorn magic, Zebra magic was tied to the natural world and its plants and animals. Now that she thought about it,  doctor's should have bothered with Twilight Sparkle. They should have known to get the Zebra in the first place.  No, Twilight should have had Spike go to Fluttershy's cottage to send her to Zecora's immediately. Twilight's success in helping with the incident caused by the baked bads had made her cocky. 

Twilight hoped that the Zebra would get there soon. It was quickly becoming clear that the little filly didn't have much time left. Her breath was becoming more and more shallow, and even her center was starting to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. Applejack had moved in to hold the little pony's hoof. That's all they could do, provide comfort to the filly. 

Twilight wondered what had happened to the Crusaders. While they could be annoying, and had a tendency to get badly underfoot at the worst possible of times, they were good fillies. They had bright futures ahead of them once they found their Cutie Marks. Maybe she should go look for them. Had they been so panicked, that they'd decided to go into the Everfree themselves? That was definitely something that the crusaders would do. What if they got trapped or injured themselves? The death of one filly would be bad. The death of four would be a disaster that Ponyville might never recover from. 

"That sister of mine and her friends probably went after Zecora themselves I reckon." Applejack said. "Why don't you go and rescue them. I'll stay with Babs." 

Twilight Sparkle left the room. She was glad that she didn't have to stay. Whatever magic or poison or whatever was killing the little filly on the bed, scared Twilight. 
> Zebras and Unicorns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"She knows! How could she know!" Scootaloo shouted as soon as they were out of the hospital. 

"She knows nothing!" Apple Bloom replied. "She made a guess. She didn't say anything about Ricin. She was thinking that Babs ate a plant that she shouldn't 'a. That's a long way from Ricin."

Sweetie Belle wasn't so sure. Something told her that Zecora would be able to identify the signs of Ricin poisoning immediately. They'd gotten the Ricin from the beans themselves, and they hadn't done any magic to produce it. That seemed to mean that the Ricin was a naturally part of the plant. If there was one thing that Zecora knew, it was plants. 

"We can't go to Zecora's!" Sweetie Belle announced. 

"If we don't, Twilight will know something was up!" Scootaloo said. 

"Not if we get lost in the Everfree Forest." Apple Bloom replied. 

Apple Bloom was right. Although Twilight Sparkle had told them to just go to Fluttershy and have her get Zecora, that wasn't how the Cutie Mark Crusaders rolled. If they hadn't have been behind Bab's infirmity, they'd have blundered into the Everfree by now. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had already taken off at a gallop down the path leading into the forest. Sweetie Belle hoped that they didn't get into too much trouble. 

Once they entered the forest, it immediately got dark. Even on a good day, with an experienced woods pony like Fluttershy, it was fairly easy to get lost in the forest. But, judging by the Crusader's luck in the past, they wouldn't be able to get lost when they wanted to. 

Up ahead, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had found a safe looking hollow tree. They hadn't come that far off the path, so they'd easily be able to find rescuers when the right time came around. 

"I didn't think it would be so scary." Sweetie Bell said. 

Now that detection was no longer the primary concern, the enormity of what had happened had come bubbling up. The hospital was the scariest thing she'd ever seen. Sure, there had been worse things on the video with the monkeys, but that hadn't involved ponies. It was one thing to see a monkey batter another monkey to death, quite another to see a dying pony. 

"You said we'd only use a little." Scootaloo said. 

"I did! You heard Applejack! Babs is going to be fine." Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie could tell that even Apple Bloom didn't quite believe that Babs was going to be okay. Sweetie had seen sick pony's before, but never that sick. Part of her wanted to run back to the hospital, and confess to Applejack, and beg for mercy. They couldn't. If Babs died, that would make them, well she didn't know the word to call someone who knew killed another pony. She wasn't even sure if there was a word for it.  Something told her if that they were ever discovered, Celestia's statue garden was going to be getting three brand new statues. 

Outside in the growing night, creatures roamed about, looking for food. For some reason, the animals of the Everfree were able to feed themselves. Sweetie had always found this the creepiest part about the Everfree. It somehow managed to care for itself without the involvement of any pony. For a pony who was used to the managed and regulated world of Ponyville, this was almost as scary as the dark, or timber wolves. 

Sweetie felt a gentle touch on her shoulders. It was Apple Bloom. She was hugging onto to them. Now she felt safer. The dark and it's creatures were no longer the main concern. But, this was a mixed blessing. With the dark out of the way, the real horror could settle in. 

They'd killed Babs. Even if their original use of the Ricin hadn't done it on its own, their current disappearance into the Everfree would have sealed her fate. Ponies were a peculiar folk, prone to panic at the puniest predicaments. With two life and death crises competing for attention, most ponies would move to the most recent predicament. That would be the Crusaders. Even the hospital staff that had previously caring for Babs would probably end up searching for the Crusaders before the night was out. That was just how pony kind worked. 

Outside on the path, there were ponies passing at regular intervals. That meant that the search of the Everfree was well underway. 

"How long should we wait?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't know!" Apple Bloom said. "I've never had to do this before. No pony has!" 
> A dash of Twilight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was glad to get out of the Hospital. Organizing the search party for the missing Crusaders had been the perfect thing for her. It let her use her organizational talents, and allowed her to get out of that horrible room at the hospital. 

"Rainbow Dash, you search there!" Twilight said pointing to a bit of forest on a map she'd drawn just for a future search and rescue operation like this. 

"Derpy! You go over there." Twilight said. 

Normally, it would be a bad idea to send Derpy anywhere. She was just as likely as the crusaders to need rescue. But this was an emergency. It was well after dark now. There were ancient magics and powers beyond even Twilight's imagination in that forest. You didn't mess around with the Everfree after dark. Besides, Derpy's slice of the forest was sandwiched between Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's. If the ditzy Pegasus managed to get into trouble, one of them could bail her out quickly. There was too much forest, and too few Pegasi. Big Mac was leading an Earth Pony team into the forest, to search the area directly around Zecora's. But they couldn't search as fast as the Pegasi. 

Spike was pulling on Twilight's leg, trying to get her attention. Applejack was frozen at the door to the library, Twilight knew it was bad news. She wouldn't have left Bab's bedside unless the end had come. 

"She's dead." Applejack said from the door. "She just up and stopped breathing. They couldn't do anything." 

The strong Earth Pony collapsed to the floor, and started crying. Twilight moved over to comfort her, followed by Dash. Twilight shook her head, and shooed Dash out the door. They needed Rainbow out there. If Apple Bloom and Babs died on the same day, Twilight Sparkle knew that Applejack would run away again, like she had after the All Equestria Rodeo. Only this time, they'd never be able to get her back. 

Twilight wanted to comfort Applejack, but she decided that the search for Apple Bloom was going to take first priority. She still had Pegasi to give assignments to, and there was the whole matter of keeping track of which areas of the forest would still need to be searched. There was a lot of forest that had to be covered. 

"What'll I tell her parents. They trusted us to take care of her..." Applejack rambled. 

The night wore on slowly. Dash and her Pegasi were searching the forest. There wasn't anymore that could be done. Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were sitting off to the side, trying in vain to comfort Applejack. Even Pinkie had toned down her antics, at least as much as it was possible for her to. Fluttershy flew in, reporting that she'd completed her sector. This was her third area of the night, and it got checked off the list. Twilight gave out her next assignment, and sent her back out. 

High overhead, there was a dud as Rainbow Dash made a crash landing on the balcony. Dash had been running herself ragged to try and find the missing crusaders, and the stress was starting to show. Twilight was going to ground the Pegasus if it got much worse. 

"They're not in that last one either." Dash said. 

The normally confident Pegasus was starting to doubt herself now. Twilight knew that she was going to have to work hard to raise the her spirits. Once Dash started doubting herself, she'd start pushing herself. 

"They're probably scared and in hiding. We'll find them. We have to." Twilight said, attempting to reassure Dash. 

Derpy was back too. She'd only needed to be rescued twice tonight, which for Derpy was good. Twilight decided that she was going to have to give her some kind of award. She'd put Spike on it. He'd think up an award for the poor thing. 

"Derpy, why don't you go with Rainbow Dash." Twilight announced.

There weren't anymore places that Twilight could assign Derpy too where she'd be within easy reach of a strong Pegasus. Removing the Pegasus would be too painful. Everypony liked Derpy, even if she had destroyed the town hall. There was no need to hurt her feelings. 

Dash shot Twilight a look that screamed "What the feather are you doing!" She looked like she might open her mouth, and ruin the pride that Derpy was feeling for having done a good job. Then, her demeanor changed as her mind caught up to what Twilight was saying. The two of them left together, flying up to the balcony, and then away to the forest. 

Raindrops entered next. Twilight eyed the Pegasus, before giving her a new assignment. Rarity had calmed Applejack down enough in the meantime that she was able to join Twilight at her desk. But, Applejack was still radiating despair. 

"This ain't good. You've got a good parta' that forest searched already, and you ain't found no pony." Applejack said. 

"Uhm, well we're trying. They're probably out hiding somewhere safe. Who knows, they might have even made it to Zecora's, and be on their way back right now." Twilight said.

They both knew that there was no way that Zecora was leaving her shack till dawn. It just wasn't something that people who knew the Everfree did. 

Spike was trying to get Twilight's attention again. He had a letter in his claws, and Twilight took it and read it. It was from Celestia of course. The contents were cryptic. 

"Meet me outside" was the only thing it said. 

Twilight Sparkle stood up, and ordered Spike to give out orders to any Pegasus that came back for the next search area. She rose from her desk, and headed down to the first floor of the library. 

What could Celestia want? Had she somehow heard about what had happened, and decided to help out? She didn't like to bother the Sun Goddess if she didn't have to. Sure, Celestia had better things to do, but there was more. She was of course still afraid of being sent back to Magic Kindergarten. Even if Celestia had made it very clear that wasn't likely to happen, Twilight couldn't help but still worry about it. That's just how she was. 

Outside, she didn't see Celestia anywhere. She was about to write it off as an old message, when Luna stepped out of the Shadows. 

"We have need of your services! the Alicorn announced. "We were patrolling the dreams of our subjects last night, when we saw something most..." 

"Terrifying." Luna continued, sounding as meek as Fluttershy. "It is not the kind of thing one forgets most easily. It was most horrible." 

"Uhm, so what do you want me to do?" Twilight asked. 

"Well, that's the thing. The dream contained the most horrible things. Some pony was dreaming about poisoning another." Luna said. "Then I heard about that filly that... Well you know." 

"We charge you to go forth and find the Pony, so that they shall face Celestia's judgement. " Luna finished, having recovered enough to return to using the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Oh, and another thing. Can I have a memory spell for the road? There are somethings that you just don't want to remember." 

"Can't you like give me something more to go on? Surely you know what Pony had dreamed of the poisoning?" Twilight asked. 

"Why should we remember the specifics of our subject's dreams if our subjects have no desire to remember those specifics." The princess of the night replied. "I really do need that memory spell though. I'm just terrified that I'll leave a portion of that dream in some pony's mind. If you saw it, you'd want a memory spell too.  You don't want this thing getting out." 

Twilight cast a spell on the princess to help her forget the dream, and the princess sailed back off into her night. 
> Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweetie Belle was wondering if Apple Bloom was ever going to decide if it was the right time for them to be rescued. Ponies had been going by their hiding place all night now, and Apple Bloom still kept shaking her head as everypony went by. Rarity and Applejack had to be at their wits end by now, and it hurt to stay in hiding this long.

Scootaloo had fallen asleep, and the little Pegasus's unconscious wing movements were starting to dig into the Unicorn filly's sides. Apple Bloom also looked to be on the verge of falling asleep, the way she was yawning. Maybe she should get some sleep herself. There was a thud high above, and followed by more thuds, and second later, a face broke through the tree. Sweetie Belle hoped that if she wasn't dreaming, whatever monster was about to eat them would get it over with and do it fast. 

She realized that she was dealing with a pony of some type.

"Hey! You're those Fillies that they're looking for!" The face said. 

Sweetie Belle finally recognized the face. It was Derpy Hooves. She was a Pegasus from Ponyville. She shook Apple Bloom and Scootaloo awake. By this time, Derpy had managed to extract herself from the tree, and a much more familiar face was looking at them from the Derpy's hole.

"How you doin' in there?" said a certain blue Pegasus. 

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said. 

Sweetie watched the young Pegasus jump hover towards her idol. Scootaloo fell a few feet short, and when Dash didn't attempt to pull her out, she was forced to lower herself back to the other crusaders. 

"We were scared. We decided to hide in here. We might have fallen asleep." Apple Bloom told Dash.

"No problem Kiddos! We'll have you back to Ponyville in a jiffy!" Rainbow said. "Or I'm not the coolest Pegasus in Ponyville." 

It took much more then a jiffy for the five ponies to make it back to Twilight's library. It was slow going through the dark forest, and with two of the foals half asleep, this made the journey take all that much longer. The moon was high overhead by the time that they made it back to the library. Dash opened the door for them, before streaking back off to the forest. 

Inside, Sweetie Belle could see Applejack in tears, with Rarity trying to comfort her. Twilight was sitting at her desk, and she looked something was eating her up. Pinkie was curled up asleep in one of the far corners of the library. She stepped into the room. Instantly, Rarity descended on her. 

"Where were you? We were worried sick about you!" Rarity said through her tears. 

Sweetie hugged Rarity back. She could Applejack hugging Apple Bloom as well. Scootaloo stood off to the side, she didn't have anyone to comfort her, and Sweetie could tell that she was starting to feel like a fifth wheel. Applejack told Derpy to bring Scootaloo home, and the ditzy Pegasus complied. Sweetie hoped that Scootaloo would turn out all right. Derpy had a way of screwing up simple tasks, like escorting a little filly home. 

"Girls, Babs is dead." Applejack said to the two remaining Fillies. "There wasn't anything anypony could do. Twilight thinks she was poisoned. I think this was all just a freak accident." 

"This isn't something we should be talking about in front of the kids." Rarity said. "I for one do not want Sweetie Belle's foalhood to be ruined by such talk of... evil things." 

"Who'd want to hurt Babs?" Apple Bloom asked. 

"Nopony sugar cube. Let's get you off to bed." Applejack said. 

Sweetie Belle's heart was in her throat. If Twilight was onto them, it was only a matter of time till they became lawn ornaments.  Sweetie Belle had no intention of becoming some decoration in Celestia's garden, a lesson to future school ponies about the desperate lengths that some silly foals would go to earn their Cutie Mark. She remembered how Cherilee had talked about Discord. She didn't want to be remembered like that. 

Rarity didn't say anything as she walked Sweetie Belle through the streets of Ponyville. They were heading for the Carousel Boutique, and not their parent's house. This made her happy. Any time she spent with Rarity was good time, even if she felt like crying inside. Rarity put some blankets on her sofa for her sister  to sleep on, and she was soon fast asleep. 

The light of dawn was slowly streaming through Twilight's windows. The young Unicorn sat up in bed, and studied the world around her. Spike was asleep in his bed, no doubt having one of his mysterious ice cream dreams that he never wanted to talk about. She hadn't been so lucky. She been tossing and turning all night, alternating between fitful sleep, and wakefulness. She'd never bothered to blow out her lantern, but it had burnt itself out sometime overnight. She stretched, and got to her feet. A pony was moving about downstairs. 

She walked through her bedroom door, and into the library proper. She had been about to tell the pony downstairs that the library was closed, when she realized that it was Celestia. 

"Did my sister talk to you last night?" Celestia asked. 

"Yeah, she did. That's what's kept me up all night." Twilight said. "There's no way some pony did something like that to the poor foal. It was too terrible." 

"My sister's imagination has a way of getting ahead of her. It's part of how she became Nightmare Moon.  She's a good girl, she just jumps off along tangents sometimes." Celestia said. "Don't worry about it. Zecora's already determined that there was no poison involved. The poor girl just ate some Castor Beans. I really shouldn't let my ponies grow them, but I understand they provide a valuable oil for wheels and things like that. I guess I'll have to look at that again. Farewell, my faithful student." 

The Sun Goddess disappeared in a flash of magic that instantly made Twilight Sparkle jealous. She wished that she had the power to teleport halfway across Equestria on a whim like that. 

In the newly vacated tree house of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, an emergency meeting was taking place. Twilight was on to them, and if they didn't play their cards right, they were going to be in serious trouble.

"We can't do this anymore. We didn't mean to do it. It was all a big mistake. We have to make Twilight understand. Applejack ain't gonna let Twilight hurt us. We'll be safe." Apple Bloom said. 

"She's right." Scootaloo said. "We never should done this to begin with. Why we let this happen? We could have just lied low for another few weeks." 

"Ain't no use cryin' over spilled milk now. We're in this now, and we gotta get outta it." Apple Bloom said. 

"You remember Discord right? I don't want to become like that." Sweetie Belle said. "I don't want to be a statue used as a lesson for all the little school fillies." 

Her outburst surprised the other two ponies. They hadn't been expecting the young Unicorn to react like this, but she spent the night dreaming of the horrors of spending the rest of eternity as a stone statue. It hadn't been pleasant. She would do anything to avoid that fate, even if it meant doing what the monkeys from the movie had been doing. Sweetie Belle had worked out how to watch more of the Monkeys, and they seemed to be preoccupied with hiding their crimes. She'd guessed that was how things worked when you did bad things. You had to spend a lot of time hiding them. 

"What if we dispose of Babs' body? Make it so they don't have any evidence of what kind of poison  was used to... you know... kill... her." Sweetie Belle said. "That's what the monkeys would have done." 

"That's what got us here in the first place, listening to those Monkeys. I'm going to Rainbow Dash, and I'm telling her exactly what happened. She'll help us out. She's a good pony." Scootaloo said. 

"But we can't!" Sweetie Belle said. "Please, can't we just try this. I don't want to be a statue." 

Sweetie Belle was hoping that Apple Bloom was going to tell her no, but that didn't work. Apple Bloom looked like she was starting to warm up to Sweetie Belle's idea. That was bad. While she didn't want to become a statue, she also didn't want to do something terrible to what was left of Babs. They'd already hurt her bad enough. 

It had been one thing to think about getting rid of the body last night in bed. Now, in daylight when they were actually working out plans, it was another thing completely. Now she was having second thoughts. But, it was too late. Apple Bloom had started to warm up to the idea of disposing of the corpse. Now Sweetie Belle wished that she'd never opened her mouth. But it was too late now. 
> Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was relieved that this had all been solved peacefully. While the death of a foal, or for that matter, any pony that wasn't of an advanced age was very rare, it happened occasionally. There'd been a young Pegasus colt that had fallen from Cloudsdale in a flight training exercise about ten years prior. She'd been young, around the same age as the the colt, and she'd been terrified of being hit by falling Pegasi for the longest time.  Eventually, her brother had explained just how rare it was for Pegasi to completely lose control, and further more, how even then, how unlikely it was that they'd hit anypony. Twilight had accepted this lecture, she'd been too young to understand that she'd been more afraid of death itself, then of any particular Pegasus plunging out of the sky. 

Wait, that sounded silly. Here she was talking about some serious subject such as death, and she'd used something as silly as any particular Pegasus Plunging. That was all wrong. She should be showing more respect for the dead, shouldn't she?

Wait! Where was this coming from? It was perfectly natural for ponykind to speak in alliterations. Using an alliteration in a serious situation had never bothered her before. Besides, there were more important ways to show respect for the dead then to do something silly like modifying how she thought. 

Twilight was uncomfortable. She just wanted to get things back to normal. The kind of normal where there was always a party being thrown, and the town could break into song for no reason. That was what real life was, not this nightmare where ponies could die by drowning in their own bodily fluids. 

No, that was silly. Why did ponies just break into song at the drop of a hat? It didn't make sense. Well, it made about as much sense as using alliterations, which is to say that it was just something that happened. Nopony had ever bothered to explain it. People just treated it like something that happened. 

She was starting to feel really uncomfortable now. She wasn't the type to engage in abstract thinking about right and wrong, or pony nature. The world was simple. There was good, and there was evil. She had a checklist that had the various traits of both cleanly marked off. She'd have to add killing to the bottom of the evil checklist. 

No, killing could replace the entire evil checklist. There was no way that the a good pony would ever kill another pony. That would be it. If you killed, then you were irredeemably evil. No and ifs or buts. 

But, then she'd have to move all of the things that didn't kill to the good list. She doubted that King Sombra could be considered good, even if he didn't kill. This was confusing.

Confusion was her enemy. She couldn't stand it. If even one book was out of order, she could detect it. She wouldn't know what book it was, or even the shelf that the book was on, but she'd tear the library apart looking for that one out of place book. She'd usually find it, as the sun rose. She'd have the now awake Spike shelve the books, while she slunk off to bed, ashamed at what she'd done. 

Why hadn't her checklist included killing before? It seemed like an obvious addition, even if no pony had ever killed another on purpose before. 

"Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Twilight shouted. 

What was the point of thinking about this? Yes, a filly had died. But, despite the nightmare that Luna had witnessed, no pony had killed another. Zecora had heard the symptoms, and decided that it was an accident instantly. She'd even known what caused it. Zecora had said that there wasn't anything any pony could do  to cure castor bean poisoning, even if the crusaders had gone to Fluttershy like she'd told them to, Babs would be just as dead. 

Somepony was going to have to explain this to the Crusaders. Otherwise, they might blame themselves for what had happened. It wasn't their fault that they were impulsive, and had decided to try and find Zecora themselves. But, they might get it into their heads that their getting lost had killed Babs. She'd have to talk to them...

Apple Bloom was dreaming up their next plan. The monkey's answer to their body problems had been simple. They'd dissolved the body in some made up chemical called acid. They'd looked through two dictionaries and the Encyclopedia Equestria, and there hadn't been any mention of acid. 

That made sense, Sweetie Belle thought. While nopony would ever mistake something as obviously made up as creatures with beige colored flesh and no fur for something taking place in real life, the authors must have been taking extra special care. Murdering another pony was serious, and  if they showed an easy way to dispose of the corpses, that would mean that people would that much more likely to do it. 

Murder? What was that? That was a new word. It's meaning was clear, but it's origins weren't. Hadn't she been looking for a word for killing another pony yesterday? Now she had one. She didn't like it, and she didn't know where it came from. It wasn't the kind of thing that foals should have to think about. 

She was shivering now, she just wanted to be hugged by Rarity, and to be told that everything was going to be alright. She'd give anything right now to be with her big sister right now. She'd even settle for being banished from the Carousel Boutique by Rarity, for getting under hoof. 

"What if we burned Babs' body?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Do ponies even burn?" Scootaloo wondered out loud.

"Griffons cook their meat." Sweetie Belle said.

She'd once seen a magazine article about Griffons. It had been in one of her Dad's copies of Equestrian Geographic. Her mother had confiscated the magazine, but not before she'd seen the pictures of the griffon party. They'd been cooking meat, the camera pony had tastefully kept the camera off of the top of the barbecue grills, but the caption had made it clear. She hadn't known where meat came from then, so she didn't have nightmares till later, but they still came every once in a while. 

"So it's settled then!" Apple Bloom said. 

The hospital had refused to keep Babs' body, something about a dead pony disturbing the other patients, so the body had been brought back to Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom had said that Granny Smith had put the body in an out of the way shed. Big Mac had spent the early hours of the morning boarding up the windows. His hammering had only just stopped a few minutes earlier. 

There was a train to Manehattan later that night. According to Apple Bloom, her sister was trying to get Celestia's permission to place the body on the train, so that Bab's could be buried at home. Unexpected death was so rare in Equestria, that they'd need special permission. But, given Applejack's special relationship with Celestia, such permission would soon come. 

They set off towards the shed in a hurry. The train didn't arrive till much later, but Apple Bloom was terrified that they'd move the body to the train station. Scootaloo had argued that there wasn't a hurry, if the hospital hadn't wanted the body, why would the train station.

Apple Bloom bucked the board out from between the door handles where Big Mac had placed it. She and Scootaloo were in the barn already, but Sweetie Belle hung back.

The smell was disgusting. It smelled like pee and poop, and some other horrible smell that she'd never smelled before. Something told her that this was the smell that bodies made when they died. It was all terrible, almost as bad as seeing Babs dying in the hospital bed. 

Apple Bloom had found a lantern in the shed, and lit it. Babs was sprawled out on her tummy, her legs sticking off to the sides. In the flickering light, it was almost possible to believe that Babs was still breathing. After one exceptionally convincing bout of flickers, Sweetie Belle ran into the shed.

She wanted to believe Babs was alive it would solve all of their problems. But, it was just an optical illusion, doing it's work on the already spooked filly. 

"Let's get this over with." Scootaloo said, the false bravado very evident in her voice.  

Apple Bloom bucked the lantern over. The fuel spilled out, and began to form a puddle around Babs. With a woosh that sent even Scootaloo running, the puddle caught. Within seconds, the entire shed was consumed, and a dark plume of smoke was spreading into the sky. 

Sweetie Belle heard hoof beats through the trees. Applejack ran up a few seconds later. 

"We wanted to make sure that Babs was... well... you... know..."  Apple Bloom said, tears bubbling up in her eyes. "We knocked over a lantern! We didn't mean to do it!" 

Sweetie Belle watched as Applejack hugged the crying filly. She wanted to be hugged and comforted, but she doubted that Rarity would have time for her. She had dresses that had to get done. It was some big order for someone in Canterlot. With the time Rarity had lost last night, due to the unpleasantness, and Rarity's already ambitious schedule, she was way late. 

In the meantime, Big Mac had arrived with a cart filled with water. He was already using a bucket to throw it on the surrounding apple trees. These were all Zap Apple trees, the pride and joy of the Apple Family.  There were ominous creaks and pops coming from the shed. 

Sweetie Belle looked around in confusion and fear. This shouldn't be happening. They had no idea that the fire would spread just that quickly. This shouldn't be happening. Why wasn't Big Mac putting water on the shed. That was what was burning, not the orchard. There was a giant splash as some water magically appeared over another part of the orchard. The aura was purple. That meant one thing! Twilight. 

Scootaloo must have seen the Unicorn first, because she was gently nudging her. Something bit her tail, and she was being pulled away from Scootaloo. Twilight must have figured it all out! They'd be thrown on the overnight train to Canterlot, and they'd be statues by this time tomorrow. They'd failed. 

No, why would Twilight be biting her tail? She had magic! Sweetie Belle turned, and saw Applejack dragging her away from the fire. 

"Sugar cube, don't want you catchin' on fire too." Applejack said with a nervous laugh. 

Applejack grabbed Scootaloo next, and Apple Bloom last. Things had gotten worse. A few of the trees were starting to burn now, and the fire was spreading slowly through the orchard. It had been a dry summer so far, and that must have been helping the fire. 

There was a horrible crack and a thud, as the roof of the shed collapsed. The impact sent a cloud of embers into the air, causing the non stunned ponies to gallop off, leaving the three Crusaders alone for a few seconds. Applejack was the first back, and she was already comforting Apple Bloom by the time that Sweetie Belle reopened her eyes. 

She wanted this to be over. It had to end soon. How much more could there be in the shed that could burn? How long had it been? She'd trade detection right now, for the end of the fire. Why had she let the others unleash such a horrible and primal force upon the world? They hadn't thought about it, but they could destroy all of Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and Big Mac's efforts hadn't stopped the fire before, and even the second cart of water that they were now using to douse the orchard wasn't  doing much more then delaying the fire. The heat was intense, even from the edge of the orchard as far from the shed as possible where they were cowering. 

A commotion high overhead brought her back to Equestria. There was a giant cloud overhead now, and it was starting to drizzle. There was a giant crash of thunder, and then it started pouring. The water quenched the flame, steam rising with a terrible din as it hit the wood of the destroyed shed. The orchard wasn't burning anymore. A hole appeared in the clouds, directly over the ponies, revealing Rainbow Dash comfortably lounging on top of the cloud. 

"Five minutes flat!" Dash said, in between pants. 

The young Pegasus flew down, landing near Twilight. The appearance of her idol had broken Scootaloo out of her trance. Apple Bloom was still catatonic, her eyes staring at a point well beyond where the shed had been. Sweetie wondered what she looked like. It couldn't have been good. This had been the second most scary thing she'd ever seen. Only the hospital room came close, and well maybe this was worse. Only Babs had been in danger then, not Sweetie Belle. 

The raw terror of what had just happened was starting to set in now. They'd been lucky. The fire had spread so fast, that the entire shed had been engulfed as they were making their escape. They'd been seconds away from potential death.  She collapsed onto her belly, some unwelcome part of her brain informing her that this was exactly how Babs had looked before the lantern incident. 

Applejack was in the wreckage now, bucking steaming debris away from the center of the shed. With a rising horror, Sweetie realized that most of Babs was still intact. They'd almost died, almost wrecked Sweet Apple Acres, and they had noting to show for it. Being bad was hard, dangerous work, with little reward.

"Girls, we know what happened." Twilight said. "Zecora recognized it as soon she was told." 

It was over, Sweetie Belle thought to herself.

> Lunacy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I need a drink..." Luna mumbled to herself as she wandered the streets of Ponyville. 

Alcohol was of course illegal in Equestria, and indeed in most of the other countries of the world. Only the Griffons partook, and even then, they were reluctant to share. Something about some kind of religious thing, if she remembered correctly. 

She rarely remembered correctly, the whole Nightmare Moon thing had left her brain so scrambled that she wasn't sure what she remembered, and what she'd invented to keep her from going totally nuts during the time she'd been held captive.

Sure, she could ask Celestia, maybe they could compare notes on their pasts. Luna had a feeling that this wasn't a good idea. Celestia most definitely lacked a sense of humor or any other kind of emotion other then vague sense of concern for everyone.  She'd mouth some platitudes about this being a journey that Luna had to undertake herself. Celestia would make a great oracle, if she hadn't already been a god.

Sure, there was another side to it too. Celestia loved her. They were sisters. No, it wasn't like that. Celestia didn't treat Luna like a sister. She was treated like a child. Come to think of it, that's how Celestia treated everyone. Oh well, you'd have better luck trying to change Discord then Celestia. 

Luna was at a small store front in the main Ponyville market square. "Silver Zephyr-- Importer" The sign proclaimed. Luna made the proper secret knock on the door, and it was answered by Silver Zephyr's daughter, Silver Horizon. Luna entered the shop. 

Silver Horizon was a smallish Pegasus, with a light silver coat, and a dark red mane. She was roughly the same age as Twilight Sparkle, and her friends, although her lack of mention of her in any of the friendship reports indicated that they traveled in different circles. 

The inside was filled with a wide variety of objects. Furniture imported from the Griffons, and various bric-a-brac and decorative items made by ponies from all over the world competed for attention in the crowded space. Luna eyed a 
sofa suspiciously. She didn't like griffon design one bit, but for some crazy reason it was all the rage right now. 

"What do you have?" Luna asked. 

Maybe they had something strong. She was sick of hard cider. There weren't any speakeasies in Canterlot, so that meant Ponyville. Unfortunately, in Ponyville the main agricultural product was apples. That meant hard cider or applejack. It wasn't safe to drink applejack, so that left one choice. 

Silver Horizon was fidgeting with a glass on the counter. Luna ignored her, and dropped four bits on the counter. Silver Horizon took it, and the glass disappeared beneath the counter. There was a tinkling noise, and Silver Horizon restored the glass to the counter. 

Luna studied the contents. It was cider, no doubt. She gulped the it greedily. Twilight's spell from yesterday had gotten rid of the details of what she'd seen, but the not the general feeling of horror. She still felt the emotions from the dream, but she couldn't remember the details. Actually, this made it worse. Much worse. There had been something about the dreamer, something that had made the dream seem less threatening.

Alcohol had dimmed the pain of Nightmare Moon during those critical few months. She'd be forever thankful to the particularly vacuous courtier that had introduced it to her. This was small potatoes compared to that pain and fear. She was finished with her glass.  She withdrew four more bits from her bag, and placed them on the counter. The glass was refilled without a word. That was good. She didn't feel like talking. 

That was part of the problem. There wasn't anypony that she could talk to. How did you talk about something in a dream that scared you, especially when you never could remember the dreamer. What if the dreamer remembered their dream, and you discussed it with them? That would be awkward. Most ponies didn't remember her duties as princess of the night. No, most ponies hadn't even remembered that she even existed, or at least not as something beyond a legend for scaring children. 

She finished her second drink, and pulled out the coins for the third. She hadn't drank in a long time. She'd been too absorbed in her weekly modernity lessons with Twilight Sparkle. That had become Luna's outlet. Twilight Sparkle was understanding. She was a lot like Celestia, but more approachable, and less likely to hurl platitudes. Talking to Twilight made her feel like an average pony again. That was a feeling that she hadn't had since the days of Discord.

She was starting to feel buzzed now. It was a good feeling, inviting her to journey further into drunkenness. Tonight, that was an invitation she would have to accept. Four more coins made their way to the counter, and the mug was filled for a fourth time. 

"Did you hear about that filly that died?" Luna asked. 

Her mind was starting to lag behind her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that. In her experience, alcohol worked best when you weren't thinking about what you wanted to forget. She was starting to slip into true drunkenness now. Her head was swimming, and she felt oddly warm. The warmth had mutated from a pleasant warmth to a thoroughly unpleasant sensation. 

"Terrible business that." Replied Silver Horizon. "Stuff happens."

Silver Horizons had never came across as the wisest pony in Equestria. 

"No foals have died in ten years." Luna said. "Such things may happen, but not in our realm.

It took a few seconds for the merchandise to stop shaking, and it was almost a minute before the last wind chime faded away.  She hadn't meant to use the voice, but being drunk reduced her ability to control it. Being drunk and angry made the voice uncontrollable. Silver Horizon's ears twitched, and Luna could tell that she was fairly close to getting kicked out. To reduce that possibility, she threw another four bits to the counter, and Silver Horizon refilled her glass. 

Twilight awoke to a noise outside on her balcony. Rainbow Dash was the only one who preferred that method of entry, but it was still dark out, and if there was one thing Dash loved, it was sleep. She wasn't normally active at three am, which is what the clock was claiming to be the correct time.

At first, the balcony appeared to be empty. It was definitely devoid of Dash. Twilight kicked herself for using another alliteration. Hadn't she sworn off them yesterday? No matter. It must have been the wind. That was one of the problems with living in a tree. You almost always had branches brush against windows. 

There was  a slight blue glow coming from the railing. At first Twilight thought it was some kind of monster, but as she got closer, she realized that it was Princess Luna. What Luna was doing crashed into her balcony railing was another story, one that was going to need a fair bit of explanation. 

"Twilight... Sparkle?" Luna asked.

"Is something wrong princess?" Twilight replied.

"Uhm... You're like my best friend... I like... Hold that thought." Luna said.

Twilight watched in horror as Luna vomited onto the balcony. 

"Spike!" Twilight shouted, retreating from the disgusting bit of disorder that had invaded her private space. 

Twilight had just had Spike clean up here yesterday. She had to get the princess somewhere else before she made an even bigger mess. Why wasn't Spike here yet? The vomit was mocking her now. She had to clean it fast. 

"Spike! Get up here now!" Twilight said.

She wasn't sure what else to do. Spike always cleaned her messes. She wasn't touching vomit. It would get in her coat, and her mane, and she'd have to spend hours getting the smell of sick out of her. That wouldn't work, she had way too much studying to do the next day to have time to spend the required number of hours. Spike came through the door, and onto the balcony. He looked like he was half asleep. 

"What's wrong Twilight?" He asked.

"It's a disaster Spike!" Twilight shouted

Spike had noticed the Princess, and this was probably the only reason that he hadn't immediately gone back to  bed. He didn't take things seriously enough. Being a dragon, his sense of priorities was way out of whack. To Spike, a major disaster such as her not having enough time in her current schedule to make her next schedule was only a minor annoyance, not the kind of thing that required a full on panic at four am. She'd always planned to give Spike an introduction to pony life lesson, but she could never fit it into her schedule. 

Twilight pointed at the vomit. Spike stared at her,  he wasn't sure what she wanted him to do. 

"The Princess is sick Spike. Would you please clean up after her?" Twilight said.

"Can't it wait till... morning?" Spike said with a yawn. 

"No Spike, it can't wait. I'll never be able to go back to sleep knowing it's out there." Twilight replied.

The Princess had managed to squeeze herself through the bars of the balcony now, and she was sitting on the balcony, eyeing Spike with extreme confusion. 

"It's a dragon, why is there a dragon in Equestria? I'd better call the palace guard..." She mumbled, before dropping down onto her belly. 

Twilight studied the Princess. There was definitely something wrong with the her. She'd fallen over, and she was't able to able to stand on her own hooves. Maybe there was something possessing her. That would make sense. Or did it? Twilight didn't know. 

"Princess Luna? Are you okay?" Twilight said.

Luna was giggling madly now. It was unclear if the source of the giggles was her inability to get back to her feet, or to some internal joke. Twilight moved closer, trying to help the Princess to her hooves. Luna vomited again, causing Twilight to jump back. Spike was going to have to be the one that helped the Princess. Vomit would come off of scales so much easy then hair. 

Sweetie Belle couldn't sleep. The images of the fire, and especially the remains of Babs' body were keeping her up. The fire had completely consumed the shed, and yet the majority of Babs' body had survived, it had just been badly burned. Applejack and Twilight Sparkle had done their best to keep the Crusaders away from the remains once the fire had ended. 

But, it had all been unnecessary. Twilight had said that it had all been an accident. They'd gotten away with murder. The word murder was starting to feel natural now, like she'd always knew it. This probably wasn't a good thing. She couldn't wait for things to return to normal. 

Things would soon be back to normal, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders would soon be crusading again. Sweetie Belle wasn't sure if this was a good thing. The ricin had brought out a side of Apple Bloom that she didn't like. Apple Bloom had always been very family oriented, and yet she was perfectly willing to poison her own cousin. 

No! They hadn't meant to poison Babs. They'd intended to make her sick for a few days, just long enough for her to make it back to Manehattan leaving them in peace. It wasn't their fault that ricin had been so stupidly powerful. Sure, the monkeys had talked about how powerful the stuff was, but everyone knew that Ponies were stronger then monkeys. It wasn't their fault.
> Nothing Changes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had spent the early part of the morning crusading for their Cutie Marks. First, Scootaloo had tried to pull off a really cool stunt on her scooter, only to be stopped at the last minute by Rarity. Sweetie Belle had only called her sister over so there would be more ponies around to compliment her friend when the trick inevitable granted her the mark. However, her older sister had taken one look at the rickety pile of crates that Scootaloo had been about to climb, and ended the trick. 

It wasn't fair. Just because Rarity had already got her Cutie Mark didn't mean that she got to stop Scootaloo from trying. Scootaloo was fearless, and she knew how to do dangerous things. What if Scootaloo's Cutie Mark was a scooter tricks Cutie Mark? She'd never get it if all the ponies in her life stopped her from doing cool tricks.  

After spending her allowance on a lunch of cupcakes at sugar cube corner, Sweetie and her friends headed back towards their clubhouse. With Babs gone, things were back to normal, and the Crusaders had their clubhouse back.

Not that made it worth it. They'd done evil, but somehow managed to get away with it. Sweetie Belle didn't like it one bit. Sure, it was good that she'd managed to avoid punishment for her, but she couldn't help wondering if they hadn't been the first ponies to murder another pony and get away with it. 

There wasn't any sense in worrying about it now. Sure, she probably going to be dealing with the guilt for the rest of her life, but even if she up and confessed, and got turned into a statue that wasn't going to do anything for Babs. 

The clubhouse was ahead of them. Apple Bloom reached the ladder first, only for Diamond Tiara to appear at the top. She pointed at a hastily pointed sign that had been nailed to the railing. 

"No Blank Flanks Club." It proclaimed. 

They'd killed Babs, only to have their old bullies decide to target them again. Fountains of tears poured out of Sweetie Belle's eyes.  Life just wasn't fair. 

Princess Luna opened her eyes, only to instantly regret it. She should have known better, but she one problem with drinking to forget was that you never remembered just how drunk you were till you opened your eyes the next morning. Her stomach swam, and she vomited. Luna opened one eye, hoping that would be better then both. It wasn't, but she needed to know where she was, and what was on her arm. 

Luna was in a room that was mostly dark, except for a lantern that was shining directly into her eyes. She picked the lantern up with her magic and moved it so that not all of the light would flow into her eyes.

Once her eyes adjusted to the blessed lack of light, she was able to make Twilight Sparkle. 

"Princess! Your awake!" Twilight said. "Hold still! I'm running some tests to see what kind of magic took hold of you last night!" 

That explained the wires that were connected to her, but it didn't explain the metal shackles that were holding her hooves to the chair.

"You will release us! We are not under the influence of any foul magics!" Luna said. 

Big mistake! Her headache mercilessly increased its grip on her consciousnesses, and she dropped her head, the pounding building as the voice echoed around the small basement. Twilight ignored her, as she had half been expecting. Twilight didn't take no for an answer, and even if she told her the truth, Twilight would never believe that the princess was doing anything wrong. Better to let her convince herself that she'd found something, allow Twilight to fix it, and be on her way. 

On the other side of the room, Twilight was mumbling to herself about all of the spells that could possibly gotten their claws into Luna's head. Luna knew that there wasn't any reasoning with Twilight once she got into this state. She was in her own world, and Twilight's world was one that even at the best of times required a translation guide. With an army of parasprites hosting a party to rival anything that Pinkie Pie could come up with in her head, Luna knew that she wasn't going to be able to break through to Twilight. 

"Spike!" Twilight shouted.

Her shout almost reduced Luna to tears. The basement door opened, sending a shaft of sunlight directly into Luna's eyes. She screamed out in existential agony.

"What's wrong?" Spike said. 

Luna could tell that the dragon was exhausted. He had bags under his eyes, and he looked like he was going to fall asleep on his feet any second now. He made it to the bottom of the stairs safely. Twilight caught the dragon in her levitation spell, where he joined a book in orbiting around Twilight's head.

"I need to sleep. Please let me go to bed." Spike begged. 

"Nonsense Spike! The Princess needs us! Only we can save her." Twilight said. 

"Maybe she ate one of Pinkie Pie's experimental desserts. Derpy tried one of her Quadruple Chocolate Double Fudge Mocha Madness muffins, and they had had to talk her down off of the roof of town hall." Spike suggested. "According to Rainbow Dash, Derpy still isn't back to normal, and that was a week ago." 

"This is magic Spike. I know magic when I see it." Twilight said. 

"No, my little pony! We consumed one of the pink one's desserts. That is our explanation for what has happened, and we will be  sticking to it." Luna said. 

Luna doubled over in pain again. She had to stop using the voice, or she wasn't going to make it. 

"Why did you call me your little pony?" Twilight asked. "It makes no sense."

Luna wasn't sure. Now that she'd heard Twilight say it, it seemed silly. It had just seemed natural, like something she just had to say. But it wasn't natural at all. It sounded mechanical, and all wrong. But, she'd still said it, and that was all that mattered. 

Twilight was moving around the room again, and she was back to mumbling. Spike gave her a pitying glance, before he tried to sneak back upstairs. Twilight grabbed him in her levitation spell before he made it two stairs. 

"Where are you going Spike!" Twilight said. "The Princess needs saving." 

"Uhm, I thought I heard Miss Rarity." Spike stammered. 

"I didn't hear anything." Twilight said. 

All the same, Twilight climbed the stairs. Luna tried to time things correctly, so she could close her eyes before Twilight opened the door, but by the time the thought filtered through the clouds that were surrounding her head, the door was open, and the light was streaming into her eyes. 

"Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Luna shouted. 

Twilight turned around, and studied her. With a sense of foreboding, Luna realized that Twilight was getting an idea. Luna knew that it wasn't going to be one that she liked. 

Five minutes later, Luna was doing everything that she could to stay on her hooves on the main floor of the library. Twilight had surrounded herself with piles of arcane books, which she was reading through and discarding as fast as she could. The light had gone from being torturous to just agonizing. Luna wondered how much longer it would take for Twilight to go through all of the books, and what Twilight would do then. 

"Let's see, sensitive to light, unsettled of stomach, and Sensitive to Loud noises!" Twilight Shouted. 

She checked the mark off as Luna involuntarily cringed. 

"Spike! I've found it! Don't worry Princess, we'll get those cobwebs out of your brain in seconds!" Twilight shouted. 

Luna cringed. A few seconds wasn't going to be fast enough, not if Twilight didn't stop shouting. 

Meanwhile, across town, the Crusaders were having an emergency meeting in Sweetie Belle's bedroom. 

"This has gone on long enough. We have to tell Applejack what happened." Sweetie Belle said. 

Apple Bloom knew that the time for involving adults was long gone. They'd ended Bab's life, and they would suffer the consequences if anypony ever found out. Sweetie Belle had been yammering on about how she was certain that they'd get turned into statues, and now she wanted them to tell an adult, all because some ponies had moved into their clubhouse? 

"We could always find another clubhouse." Scootaloo suggested. "We still have the crates from the ramp from earlier, I bet Apple Bloom could make us an even cooler tree house." 

"That's a great idea!" Sweetie Belle said. 

Apple Bloom knew that Sweetie Belle didn't really like the idea. It was a stupid idea. Almost as stupid as letting Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon steal from them, which actually they still would be doing.

"We have to teach them a lesson. No one messes with the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom announced. 

Despite the terror in Sweetie Belle's eyes, and the disgust in Scootaloo's, Apple Bloom knew that it was the only way. It was only a matter of how, and when. 
> Rainbows and Unicorns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash was lounging on a cloud parked over Sweet Apple Acres. She'd spent the morning setting up the clouds for the afternoon thunderstorm, and she'd of course done an awesome job of it. In fact, this thunderstorm was going to be 20% cooler than the last one that she'd done. 

Actually, she said that about every thunderstorm. But, saying it helped a lot. It kept the bad thoughts away, it stopped her from thinking that she might not be the coolest pony in Ponyville. The more she focused on just how awesome she was, the less time that she had to think about how cool other ponies were. 

Take for instance Scootaloo. Even though the Pegasus filly couldn't fly, she could do incredible things with her scooter. Rainbow Dash was certain that she could never do anything nearly as awesome on a scooter. If Scotaloo didn't idolize her, she would probably consider the filly as a threat to her coolness. 

The bad thoughts were there, always ready to bubble up. Normally, she was able to keep them at bay, because she didn't like what happened when they got out. If she wasn't being 100% awesome, she couldn't be happy. 

There was a noise above, and Dash checked to see what it was. Derpy was above her, a long blue ribbon dangling from along her neck. There was writing on it, but Dash couldn't make it out. What Dash could make out was the large package that was falling towards her. Dash rolled over, and the package crashed through the clouds inches from where she'd been lounging. 

"What did you do that for!" Rainbow Dash said. 

"I didn't do anything, it just fell is all. I promise! Don't be mad at me!" Derpy begged. 

Derpy dove after the package. Rainbow Dash followed her. There was no way Derpy was going to be able to catch a package that size, and even if she did, she was well, Derpy. The two Pegasi flew after the package.

Twilight Sparkle was thankful that Star Swirl the Bearded had created a spell for removing cobwebs from a pony's mind, but that didn't answer the question of how those cobwebs had gotten there in the first place. Princess Luna hadn't told her, instead making up a story about some evil spiders in some pony's dreams. Oh well, maybe it was a story too terrible for a mere unicorn like herself. Or just maybe, it was another one of Celestia's tests. That had to be it. 

"Spike!" Twilight shouted. "Get me a sandwich!" 

Twilight ran around the room, pulling books off the shelf, in a desperate search for any book on magic spiders. There wasn't much, while there were plenty of books on spiders, most of those spiders couldn't do any magic. A few minutes later, Spike arrived with a daffodil sandwich, and a glass of milk. 

She consumed the sandwich in between turning pages. Twilight had long since learned the secrets to eating without getting crumbs in books,  but her excitement at having a super special test from the princesses had caused her to forget this. Unfortunately, this little lapse caused Twilight to waste an hour searching for crumbs in every book that she'd read that day. What if the princess's test was time limited? What would she do? She had no idea. 

There were a few notes in her books about various types of spiders that could do magic, but not much. Most spider magic was simple stuff, no where near complex enough to seriously cloud an Alicorn's mind. She wasn't getting anywhere. She was going to have to go to Canterlot, and do some research in the Royal Canterlot Archives. 

That made sense. If Star Swirl the Bearded had a spell to reverse the spiders, maybe he'd included the information about the spiders themselves in another one of his books. That was the answer. 

"Spike! Pack me a suitcase! Now!" Twilight shouted. 

An hour later, Twilight Sparkle was heading towards the train station. She was stopped by a disturbance in the middle of town  square. Rainbow Dash and Derpy were standing near an open crate, while Silver Zephyr yelled at them loudly.

"This crate had a shipment of glass in it from the Griffon Empire! It took a week to get here, and you broke it all." Silver Zephyr shouted. 

"I shook it once on accident and it tinkled like glass. That's why I shook it a few more times just to make sure it had glass in it. You have to be very careful with glass you know, it can break." Derpy said. 

"Let me get this straight, you thought the package contained glass, so you shook it to make sure.  Still, just shaking it a few time wouldn't do this much damage. How many times did you shake it?" Silver Horizon asked.

"Three times, but on the third time, it kind of got away from me, so I had to dive after it. Rainbow Dash helped me, so it's all good." Derpy replied.

"It's not all good! You broke thousands of bits of special glass from the best glass blowers in the Griffon Empire. It took them nearly a week to prepare all of this stuff. I have customers lined up to buy these items!" Silver Zephyr said.

"Hey, if this was so fragile, why isn't there a fragile label on it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight moved closer. Her friend looked like she needed help, and Twilight would be a poor friend indeed if she didn't give it. Besides, she'd left extra early for her train just to allow for a situation just like this. Spike had laughed at her decision to head to the station two hours early, but she'd have the last laugh now.

"We didn't put a fragile label on it, because that would attract extra attention from bandits!" She said. "When you have one of a kind works of art like this, you have to be careful." 

"So I did the right thing by trying to see if it was glass?" Derpy asked. 

Rainbow shot her a glare that screamed shut up, and the Pegasus hid behind the crate. Twilight moved closer. She looked inside the crate, and it was filled with all kinds of funny shaped pieces of glass. The surviving bits and pieces didn't look very artistic to Twilight, but art wasn't her thing. Besides, it was Griffon art 

She levitated a large surviving piece out. It looked like it had been the top bit of a large flask of some kind, the kind of thing that it would make more sense to cook up a magic potion in then to put on one's mantle. But, Griffon art was the in thing. Rarity had been in Silver Zephyr's shop just the other day, looking at a Griffon sofa. She hadn't bought it, but if Rarity was interested, that meant Griffon things had to be fashionable, even if they looked funny.  

"Hey, that's not yours! Don't touch." Sliver Horizon shouted at her. 

She fell back, chastised. She'd just been looking. She didn't want to do anymore damage. She was curious. That was all. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Silver Zephye were still arguing about the need to put fragile warnings on packages. Twilight wanted to help, but she wasn't a Pegasus, and she didn't know about flying large packages around. 

With the shouting over, ponies were starting to go back to their business. Twilight felt the desire to get to the train station. What if the train was ninety minutes early, and they left without her. Besides, Rainbow Dash had the situation well under control. That meant that everything was going to be okay. Eventually Silver Zephyr would see reason, and accept part of the blame for not having a fragile label on the package, and everyone would come to an agreement. That's how ponies were. They'd always come to an agreement on their own if you explained things well enough. 
> Study Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had set herself up in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Royal Archives. Her quills, and her parchment were sitting atop of one of the conveniently placed desks. She gave joyous thanks to Celestia that the Star Swirl wing wasn't closed shelf. She'd once been to a closed shelf library in Manehatten, and it had completely freaked her out. It was hard knowing that she had all those books, so near, and yet available only via an annoying black Unicorn with glasses. At first, she'd filled out the little paper forms for half the library. Then once that failed, she sighed, and made her requests two items at a time like all of the other ponies. That had taken forever, with the half hour it took to get anything. Twilight hated closed shelves. 

Twilight quickly became a purple tornado, moving from shelf to shelf. She grabbed books in her magic, scanning them for anything potentially relevant before either throwing them on either the desk, or on the ever growing train of carts for reshelving.   Once she'd amassed enough of a pile to start, she returned to her desk to start reading. 

There were few if any mentions of spiders. She figured as much. Star Swirl had focused his magic mostly on the deepest elements of arcane magic. There was little or no mention of the natural world, even in his private journal. That meant that she was going to have to look everywhere. 

She started looking in the obvious places. The Complete Compendium of Corrupt Creatures from the Outer Dimensions had  plenty of giant spiders in it, but most of those were barely magical. Star Swirl's journals were equally useless. She was reading through the finding guide to Star Swirl's personal papers, hoping to find a fast way to search his private correspondence. Unfortunately, the correspondence had been sorted by the pony that it had been with, and there was no subject based index. She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Twilight!" Luna said. "We have need of you."

Manuscripts went flying off the table, and Twilight jumped out of her chair, sending it flying. She slowly turned around to face the other pony. 

"I have news of a most disturbing nature!" The princess said. 

"What is it?" Twilight asked. "Did the spiders come back?" 

"What spiders?" Luna said, dropping the voice.

With the voice gone, the library was starting to settle back to normal. Twilight's desk was surrounded by an even larger pile of manuscripts then it had been before Luna's arrival, and several pages of Twilight's notes had been mixed in with Star Swirl's correspondence. Twilight made a mental note to sort her notes out of the pile before she left. Anything by Twilight would eventually have to be filed in the archives under her personal papers. What if somepony in a thousand years needed to find the information on the spiders, and they didn't know that Twilight had gotten her information from Star Swirl? They'd be lost!

"I have discovered that castor beans do not cause the symptoms that afflicted the filly from Manehatten, when they are eaten. In order to cause the fatal effects that afflicted that feckless filly, they must be inhaled." Luna said, a frown growing on her face. "It's not Zecora's fault. The books available to most ponies do not go into the required level of detail. Had the filly eaten the beans, she would have vomited herself to death." 

"What are you saying?" Twilight asked. "She was poisoned?" 

"Most definitely, my little pony." Luna replied, as she blinked rapidly. "Did I just call you My Little Pony? That is like totally silly. Why would I call you my little pony? You aren't that much smaller then me!"

Luna paced for a few minutes, while Twilight struggled to gather her thoughts.

Ponies didn't end each other's lives. That was beyond anything that she'd ever heard of. It was too terrible to imagine. Everypony loved everypony else, and they always had. It was way too horrible to imagine. This didn't happen in Equestria. It was a peaceful and happy place. Everypony loved each other!  Friendship was magic! Cupcakes! Then, there was nothing but black.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She was sitting in bed, in her room in the castle. Luna was standing over her, along with her mother. She made a pitiful mewling noise, before her brain rebooted enough that she was able to think properly. What had happened. Oh yeah, Luna had told her how she was now certain that Babs had been murdered.

Wait, what did murder mean? She'd never heard it before, and yet she knew it was the right word. It sounded right, it felt right, and she knew in her heart that it had the meaning that she needed. But, it was a cold and dark word. It wasn't a word for a world where friendship was the most powerful force in existence. 

She just wanted to be hugged now, to be told that Luna had just been playing a prank on her. She wanted to know that no pony could end another's life. She didn't want to live in that kind of world. A world with murder wasn't the kind of world for Twilight Sparkle. 

Twilight Velvet sat down on her daughter's bed. Twili had fallen back into a catatonic state. The young Unicorn was staring at the ceiling, her mouth forming silent words. She sat uncomfortably on the edge of the bed, and moved Twilight's head into her lap. She stroked her mane gently. Luna's words had been quite a shock for the filly, and some part of her wished that the princess had kept such things to herself. If there was such unpleasantness, she didn't have to involve Twili. 

Twilight Velvet watched Luna pace. The princess had covered the short distance across the room hundreds of times in the three hours that they'd been here. She didn't blame the princess, mentally she was around the age same as Twilight Sparkle. Luna was undeniably immature, and from what Twilight had said in her letters home, Luna needed a mother as much as Twilight did. Still, it wasn't her place to consul the princess. They were nobility, but that was little more than a dusty old title, and a patch of land the size of a postage stamp off beyond the Everfree. Like most of the nobility, the income from rent on their land was nowhere enough to live on. That's why she worked as one of the army of ghostwriters that wrote the Daring Do series. 

Luna was pacing faster now, and she was also mumbling to herself. 

"Your highness, you can go now, if you wish." Twilight Velvet said, as the princess started to mumble to herself.

"No! We shall not abandon our friend. That is what Nightmare Moon would do!" Luna said.

The voice caused Twilight Sparkle to tremble. Twilight Velvet stroked the little Unicorn gently, and gradually, the trembling stopped, and her breathing slowed. 

"You scared her. Why don't you go and talk to Celestia. I'm sure she wants to here of your exciting discovery." Twilight Velvet said, still stroking her daughter. 

"I didn't mean to scare her. It was an accident. I just want to be her friend!" Luna said.

"It's okay. Look, you're scared. You don't have to hide it from me. Why don't you go and talk to Celestia. She can talk to you, and comfort you." Twilight Velvet replied.

"Celestia wouldn't have time for me. Even if she did, all she'd do is just spout platitudes! It's all she ever does!" Luna said, as tears welled up in her eyes. 

Twilight Velvet was torn. From what she knew of Celestia, the princess was prone to platitudes. Half of the inspiring speeches that Twili wrote her about sounded like something that she'd write for one of the greeting cards that she also wrote. The princess was hurting, and despite the demands of decorum, her motherly instincts were telling her to comfort the princess.

"Your highness, would you like it if we sat and talked things out?" She asked.

Luna blinked a few times, and she was certain the princess was going to reject her offer. That was the proper thing. But, the princess lay down on the floor near where she was sitting, within easy hoof reach. She moved her hoof towards the princess experimentally, and the princess nodded. She stroked the Alicorn gently. She wasn't sure what to say. Despite Luna's current vulnerability, she was still the princess of all of Equestria.

"It's so horrible. How could some pony just... kill... another?" Luna said, breaking the silence. 

Great. She'd hoped that the Princess was going to be content with just talking about silly things. Sure, she'd written stories about creatures that had meant each other harm, but that was fiction, and never ponies. Ponies didn't hurt each other. It was the way things were. It seemed silly, considering how horrible ponies could be to each other at times, but it's just how it was. Twilight Velvet sat there in the ever darkening afternoon light, wondering where the world had gone wrong. 
> A New World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cloudtop Room was the most famous speakeasy in Cloudsdale. Its greatest claim to fame was it's clientele. The Cloudtop Room was where the Wonderbolts came to drink. 

Spitfire sat at the bar. She'd been hitting on Soarin' all night, and she'd finally managed to break through. He'd been flirting back, and laughing at the bawdy jokes that she'd been telling. That was a good sign. They'd been drinking hard, Spitfire was certain that she wasn't going to make it back to her house without crashing. Luckily, the Cloudtop Room had crash rooms in the back, one of which was usually reserved for the Wonderbolts. It'd give her a chance of scorin' with Soarin'. 

"You... leave Soarin' alone!" Fleetfoot demanded. 

Fleetfoot was drunker than Spitfire. 

Normally, Spitfire would ignore this kind of thing. She knew that Fleetfoot had a crush on Soarin' as long she could remember. But, Soarin' himself had told her that he wasn't interested in the other Pegasus. Spitfire had no intention of letting Fleetfoot get in the way of her chances with Soarin'. 

"Buzz off!" She shouted. 

"You stay away from my stallion!" Fleetfoot shouted. 

"What are going to do about it?" Spitfire replied.

"I'm not going to be your friend anymore!" Fleetfoot said. 

There was an audible gasp throughout the room. Two ponies breaking off a friendship was something that almost never happened. It was a very serious thing. Spitfire didn't think that she'd ever lost a friend in anger before. Sure, she knew that Fleetfoot would sober up, and make up in the morning, but it still hurt. 

"Hey, Flatfoot! Soarin' is mine! He isn't interested in you." Spitfire said.

She hadn't meant to say it like that. She'd been meaning to let Fleetfoot down slowly about Soarin' but the stress of the whole friend thing had too much for her. Fleetfoot looked at the bar for a few seconds, before placing her mouth around her glass. For a few seconds, Spitfire was sure that Fleetfoot was leaving. 

Fleetfoot slammed her glass into side of the bar. She advanced on Spitfire. 

Spitfire was terrified. She'd never imagined having to fight one of her friends before. Not to mention Fleetfoot having murder in her eyes...

Murder? Where had that come from? Never mind, it was the right word. She could feel the contempt flowing out of Fleetfoot, towards her. She ducked as Fleetfoot swung the glass at her. She had to get away. She had to flee. She broke through the cloud of the wall behind the bar, flying as hard as she could. 

Fleetfoot was still coming at her, she could feel the hate and anger burning inside her from here. There was no going back now. They weren't going to be renewing their friendship over donuts from Donut Joe's Cloudsdale location in the morning. It was life or death. Only one Pegasus was emerging from this tangle alive. 

No, she couldn't let that happen. Even with everything that happened, she still valued Fleetfoot's friendship. Spitfire had so few real friends that losing one of them would be devastating. 

"How did you know my nickname from middle school!" Fleetfoot shouted. "How'd you like to have such a stupid name! My parent's were human conspiracy crazies! That's why they named me Fleetfoot! See, Human's supposedly called their hooves feet!" 

Spitfire realized that Fleetfoot was a better drunk flier than she was. A lot better. Spitfire could barely keep herself level. Fleetfoot was still able to fly level, and turn. That gave her an advantage, although Fleetfoot seemed to be too drunk to realize that she had it. Spitefire made as coordinated of a turn as possible, and flew hard at Fleetfoot. 

"Stop this! I want to be your friend! Take Soarin'! I don't want him if it's going to ruin our friendship!" Spitfire begged. 

"Shut up! Shut up! This isn't about Soarin'! You Called Me Flatfoot! You Must Die!" Fleetfoot shouted.

Fleetfoot struck out at her with the broken glass in her mouth. She felt a stabbing sensation in her wing. She'd been hit. She gave a few powerful beats of her wings, which in her inebriated state sent her into a barrel roll. On the horizon, she saw her best chance at escape, The weather factory. It was staffed twenty four hours a day. If she could reach it, she'd be able to find somepony, and they could protect her. 

Spitfire didn't like having to rely on other ponies for rescue, but even she was forced to admit that this was a situation behind her abilities to deal with. She'd never been attacked by another pony before, let alone by one of her friends. Ponies just didn't fight. Even on the odd chance that they did, they were very careful to avoid injuring each other. Pony philosophy on fighting was simple. Since every pony might want to be your friend tomorrow, you shouldn't do anything to interfere with that potential friendship. 

She looked behind her. Fleetfoot was still advancing on her. She was faster, even though she was drunk. While some of that speed came from Fleetfoot's superior flying abilities, another part of it came from the fact that Spitfire was drunkenly zigzagging across the sky. She could barely keep on target. 

She felt another burst of pain as Fleetfoot ran the broken glass over her left flank. Spitfire looked back. She put on a burst of speed, allowing her to buck the glass out of Fleetfoot's mouth. Maybe with the weapon gone, she'd call off the fight, and go home to sleep it off. 

No such luck. Fleetfoot was still coming for her. She felt teeth digging into her left wingtip, ripping out feathers, and trying to crush bone. Reflexes ripped the wing away from Fleetfoot, sending her into another barrel roll. She tired to buck Fleetfoot agian, this time aiming at the pony herself. 

She felt the buck connect, and she realized that she'd hit Fleetfoot in the head. The other Pegasus was dazed, and unable to fly. Fleetfoot went into an involuntary spin, and Spitfire dived after her. 

Spitfire caught up to Flatfoot, and grabbed her. They were still falling, Spitfire had forgotten how drunk she was in her haste to save her friend. She didn't have enough strength or mental awareness to do anything but slow their descent to a safer speed. She hit the ground hard, with Fleetfoot on top of her. 

She sat there stunned for a few seconds, before getting up enough strength to take off again. She needed to get away from Fleetfoot. Luckily, Fleetfoot was still stunned from the combination of the buck and impact. She looked up at Cloudsdale, glittering high overhead in the sky. It was the closest town, but in her state she couldn't fly up that high again, she didn't want to risk another crash from altitude. Canterlot posed the same sort of problem. Flying the approaches through the pass was just too dangerous. 

That left one option, Ponyville. It was only about three hour flight to the south, although in her present condition she doubted she'd make it anytime before dawn. Spitfire wasn't the best distance flyer, although she'd participated in the sea to sea Pegasus relay in her youth. Flying a hundred and fifty miles beat certain death from staying put, or plunging down to her death from Cloudsdale, or even worse being impaled on a rock in Canterlot canyon. 

Spitefire flew slowly along. It had been almost four hours, and it was almost dawn but not quite time for the sun to be raised. Spitfire estimated that she'd come over a hundred miles, all of it barely above treetop level. Although her first few hours had seen little progress, Spitfire was starting to sober up, and fly straight. 

She passed abreast of Canterlot about a half hour ago. For a few minutes, she'd considered heading due east, and braving the canyon approaches, or even approaching the city from above. Then a gust of wind had blown her off course, and shown how she was still a little too tipsy. 

She pumped her wings harder. She was in the homestretch now. She was flying over an apple orchard now. She could see apple trees lining the hills are as far as the eye could see. Ponyville was famous for its apples, so that meant that she had to be nearly there. She heard something behind her. Fleetfoot was flying straight at her. 

"Stop! We can still be friends!" Spitfire begged.

"You called me Flatfoot!" Fleetfoot shouted. "There is no more us! You will die!" 

Spitfire made an awkward landing in Ponyville town square just as Celestia rasied the sun. As the sun appeared in the sky high overhead, the town started to come to life. Spitfire hoped that someone would see them out of one of the windows that had opened overhead, but nopony had come down stairs yet. 

She screamed in pain as Fleetfoot took a bite out of her flank. Her opponent was showing nothing more than animal instinct now, the slight she'd delivered to Fleetfoot was the other pony's only animating force. She tried to dodge a buck to the face, but she was too sore, too tired.

Fleetfoot had ripped a store sign off of one of the stores now, and she was running at her with it. It connected, skewering Spitfire. She screamed one last time in pain and panic, her mind unable to comprehend what had happened.

Rainbow Dash had been so angry yesterday that she'd spent the whole afternoon and evening pouting on a storm cloud. Eventually she'd fallen asleep on the cloud, and it'd been dark, and the cloud had been so comfortable, so she'd just spent the night. 

Now, it was almost noon. Rainbow Dash was supposed to have started weather duty hours ago. She was always late, so it didn't really matter. Besides, in Equestria, jobs were for life, so it wasn't like they could just fire her. Rainbow Dash flew down to the ground, to see what the weather schedule was like. Even though she was the nominal team leader, she never bothered to memorize the schedule. Memory and other pursuits involving the brain weren't Dash's strong suit, and she was the first pony to admit it. 

The town was deserted, and she wondered if something had happened. Luckily,  she ran into a large crowd of ponies bordering town square. They were all staring at something, so she prepared to take off to get a better view. 

Something was grabbing her tail. She turned around and saw Pinkie Pie. 

"What's happening Pinkie?" Dash asked.

"I'm about to throw a party at Sugar Cube corner!" Pinkie said. 

Dash felt Pinkie pulling her down a side street that would lead to the back entrance to Sugar Cube Corner. 

"Pinkie, why are they all looking at town square?" Dash demanded.

"I dunno. That's boring. We're going to have a rockin' party!" Pinkie shouted. 

If everypony was looking at town square, there had to be something truly cool out there. If there was something cool out there, then Dash had to see it. It was simple really. If there was something cool in town square, and it ended before she could escape from Pinkie's party, then she risked losing her status as the coolest pony in Ponyville. If She wasn't the coolest pony in Ponyville, she was nothing. She'd been nothing when her friends had decided to pull the Mare Do Well thing on her, and she couldn't live as nothing again. The pain had been too much, the idea of being a nobody was too painful. She'd kill herself before she ever let that happen again. 

With a finally strong of her wings, Dash gathered enough force to pull above the crowd. 

"Don't look Dash!" Pinkie shouted.

Town Square was empty, except for two ponies. She instantly recognized Spitfire, and Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts. Fleetfoot was staring at Spitfire, and the crowd was staring at the two of them. For a few seconds, she wondered why Pinkie hadn't wanted her to look at the Wonderbolts. Then her mind started to detect that there was something wrong. 

One of Spitfire's Cutie Marks had been almost ripped off of her flank. Even worse, she was laying in a pool of red liquid that had started to seep into the earth. Oh, Celestia! She had the sign from the sofa and quills store sticking out of her chest. No! Spitfire wasn't breathing. Finally, she noticed the dried blood coating the fur around Fleetfoot's jaw. Dash felt her wings fold, and she hit the ground hard on her head. 
> Better Call Trixie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's world was starting to come into focus again. Her mother was sitting like Lyra, with Twilight's head in her lap. Her mother's hoof was stroking her, and she felt like a little foal again. She wanted the minute to last forever, but she knew it couldn't. There was a villain to catch. 

"You back Twili?" Her mother asked.

She nodded slowly, aware that this response would probably lead to the end of this wonderful minute. Sure enough, she was gently moved a few inches to the left, allowing her mother to stand up. 

"Sitting like that hurts your back." Twilight Velvet said. 

A head poked up from the floor next to the bed, and a midnight blue mane popped up. 

"Hey, I wasn't ready to not be comforted." Luna said. 

"Princess Luna!" Twilight said, embarrassed that some other pony had seen her getting cuddled.

There was a knock on the door, and Twilight Velvet used her magic to open it. Dr. Foally, Twilight's old pediatrician was standing in the doorway. He was a mint green Unicorn, with a lollipop Cutie Mark, and a Brown mane. In his mind, he was some jolly old fat pony, but in reality, he was all skin and bones. He walked in, and studied her. 

"So how are you doing, my little pony?" He asked.

"Don't say my little pony!" Luna shouted. 

Dr. Foally ignored the princess, and moved towards Twilight. She recoiled a bit. She was sixteen, almost seventeen years old, and she wasn't some little foal anymore. First her mother had to cuddle her, and now she was pulling her old doctor into it. Twilight hoped that none of her friends found out.

"I see someone is old enough to consider themselves mature, but not mature enough to accept that sometimes it's okay to be immature." Dr. Foally said. 

"I! Am! Not! Immature!" Twilight shouted.

Dr. Foally chuckled to himself, before poking and prodding at Twilight. 

"Has she been eating?" He asked Twilight Velvet. 

"I don't know. She's been living on her own for years. Not that she isn't welcome at home. We've always felt that it was barbaric to throw one's foals out of the house as soon as they find their Cutie Mark. Twilight is always welcome to come home, if she wants." 

"If only all of my patient's parents were as progressive as you..." Dr. Foally said. 

Twilight tried to squirm away as Dr. Foally lit a match and held it up to her eyes. Twilight knew that he was checking to see if her eyes dilated, but after the fire at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight was very leery around fire. 

"Well, I have some good news and bad news. First, the good. There isn't anything wrong with Twilight Sparkle that some warm milk and a mild sleeping potion won't cure. The bad news is that she needs to take better care of herself. She's mildly malnourished, and knowing Twilight, she needs to get more sleep." Dr. Foally said. "Look, you've made it. Do you know how few Unicorns get to be the Princess's private students? You can take a little break every so often." 

"I am taking perfectly good care of myself! I didn't sleep last night but that was an emergency. I had a Daffodil sandwich today! It's not my fault there are so many interesting things to study. Why just this morning, Luna came to me. She'd been attacked by magic spiders! If I didn't remove the cobwebs from her brain, she'd still be in their thrall!"  Twilight replied

Dr. Foally was looking that her like she was insane, and her mother reached out towards her.

"Tell them about the magic spiders!" Twilight demanded. 

Luna shrunk back under Twilight's assault. 

"Twilight, I was drunk. There were not any magic spiders." Luna said. "I am sorry for waking you up, and vomiting on your balcony, and whatever else I did last night." 

"So it wasn't a test?" Twilight said. 

"Young lady! Don't you ever go drinking again! Do you know all the horrible things that alcohol can do to you?" Dr. Foally said. "Not to mention that it's against the law!" 

"Uhm, what's alcohol?" Twilight asked. "If it can do all of those things to a pony, I should really take up studying it." 

"No daughter of mine is going to be taking up the study of alcohol!" Twilight Velvet said. 

"It's a horrible substance that corrupts both the mind and body, and turns a pony into a creature of evil, and that's all any decent pony needs to know." Dr. Foally said. "I'm going to be back with a sleeping potion and some warm milk for Twilight." 

"Can I have some too?" Luna asked. 

Dr. Foally nodded as he headed out. 

"Oh! I get to have my second slumber party!" Twilight shouted. "And I'm going to have a princess at it! Oh no, how can I have a slumber party without the guidebook? You are going to stay with me right?"

Luna nodded, and Twilight sighed with relief. Her second slumber party was saved by the princess's presence. 

"Are you two going to be alright by yourselves?" Twilight Velvet asked. 

Once again, Luna nodded. Twilight Sparkle got a kiss and a hug from her mother, before she departed. Luna went to go get the attention of one of the maids, so that they could bring a second bed into Twilight's room. Although Luna's room was bigger, Twilght's room was more suitable for a slumber party, as it wasn't the size of the entire Ponyville town hall.

Luna returned, complete with spare bed, a few minutes later. Twilight watched as the Alicorn jumped on top, and gave an experimental bounce. 

"You know, I never got to have much of a foalhood." Luna said. "Sure, Celestia and I had a little fun every so often, but she was so bucking serious back then. She has lightened up since then, though. That's all Cadance's doing, by the way." 

Luna was now jumping from bed to bed across the room, using her wings to do little flips in the air. Twilight couldn't imagine a completely serious Celestia. Sure, unlike Pinkie Pie, Celestia knew when it was party time, and when it was serious time, but she still loved a good joke. 

Twilight wanted to jump on bed, but she was terrified that she'd bump her head, like the monkey's in the foal's rhyme. Taking chances wasn't her strong suit. Besides, Dr. Foally was going to be back anytime now, and he was sure to put an end to Luna's bed jumping. But, wasn't jumping on the bed the kind of thing that you did at slumber parties? Twilight was lost without her guidebook. She wondered if Luna had an extra copy, or if somepony could get a copy from some library nearby. 

"You want to hear a secret?" Luna asked. 

Before Twilight could answer, Dr. Foally returned. He had a sippy cup, of the type that Unicorn foals used before they mastered levitation magic enough to drink from a cup. It had childish pictures of the Wonderbolts on it. He was also holding a mug in his magic. He glared at the Princess, but ignored her jumping.

"Princess, did you want a sleeping potion as well?" He asked.

"Yes, please." Luna said.

Dr. Foally levitated a vial from the pocket of his jacket into the mug. He levitated the sippy cup towards Twilight.

"I want a sippy cup." Luna pouted. 

"Don't use your magic till you wake up. That's why I gave you the sippy cup." The doctor told Twilight. 

She nodded, and took the cup in her hooves as carefully as she could. She hadn't had much practice drinking without her magic. She could feel the warmth of the milk through the cup. It felt comforting, and it brought back memories of when Cadance used to foalsit her. She'd almost pushed thoughts of Babs out of her head. 

She took a sip of the milk. It was slightly bitter, but that was because of the sleeping potion. Luna had already finished her milk, and the potion was starting to work it's magic on her. She stretched a few times on her bed, before yawning and getting under the covers.

"I have not slept at night in years..." Luna said as her eyes closed.

Twilight studied the princess. Her breathing was regular, and she looked very peaceful. Twilight wanted to look peaceful like Luna, but she doubted that she could sleep without having nightmares. Twilight was starting to get  a little tired, but she doubted that she'd consumed enough of the potion for it to knock her out. 

"Look, it's past midnight. How about I stay up and do some research. I have plenty of things that I have to look up." Twilight said. 

Dr. Foally blocked her. 

"You need sleep. This is my special blend. It's formulated so you won't have nightmares." Dr. Foally said.

If she wasn't going to have nightmares, it might be okay for her to take the potion. She was kind of tired.

Rainbow Dash studied the crowd. She wasn't sure what to do, no pony was. Spitfire had been her favorite Wonderbolt. Now she was... gone. Never to be seen again... Dead. 

There was a commotion at the end of the square. A familiar looking wagon was pulling into town, and a few minutes later, a blue Unicorn was standing on its stage. 

"The Great and Litigious Trixie can sense that somepony needs a Lawyer!" Trixie announced. 

"Hold on one goldern' minute! What's a lawyer?" Applejack asked. 

"A lawyer is a pony that argues for another pony silly..." Pinkie Pie said. 

Ponies were starting to get back to normal, and Dash was starting to feel like things like this were normal. There was a clap of thunder, and Celestia appeared overhead. 

"Can one of My Little Ponies please tell me what is going on here." She asked.

"It was an accident!" Fleetfoot mumbled.

"My client isn't answering anymore questions." Trixie said, as she grabbed Fleetfoot and dragged her into her wagon.
> Arsenic and new Cutie Marks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Cutie Mark crusaders were sitting in Apple Bloom's room. They'd had a sleepover the night before, where they'd discussed what to do with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They'd finally decided that poison was the best course of action. The only problem was that if they used ricin again, they were certain to get found out-- one pony could be dismissed as an accident, there was no way that three ever could. 

"What if we used our bug spray? Applejack is always tellin' me that it'll kill me if I'm not careful." Apple Bloom said. 

"Won't we get caught?" Sweetie asked. "I mean, you're like the only farm near Ponyville."

Scootaloo looked stumped for a few seconds, before smiling. 

"I have an idea." Scootaloo said. "What if we did it at Sugar Cube Corner? They might just think it was another accident." 

Sweetie really didn't want to kill another pony, but then she remembered all the horrible things that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had been doing to them, and how Diamond Tiara had blackmailed them to force them to continue as Gabby Gums. 

No! Killing was wrong. It wasn't something that ponies did to each other. They couldn't keep acting like this. They were going to get caught. Celestia wasn't going to have mercy on them. She also didn't want to go against her friends. What if they stopped talking to her because she was lame because she didn't want to kill Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? She'd never find new friends. 

Apple Bloom left, to go and get some of the poison. 

"Are you sure you want to go along with this?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I guess so. I mean, it's not like Celestia can do something more terrible to us just because we killed more ponies? Right?" Scootaloo said.  "'Sides, it's not like they don't deserve what's coming to them." 

Apple Bloom returned with a large metal container with a skull and crossbones on it. The lid had a large handle on it, so that a pony could get their hoof under it, and too make it too large to fit in a mouth. Apple Bloom removed the lid on the can, revealing a sea of white powder. Apple Bloom flipped the lid over, and used her hoof to pour some powder into it. 

"What is it?" Scootaloo asked. 

"It says it's Lead arsenate." Apple Bloom said. "It also says it's poison, so we should be good." 

Apple Bloom put some of the powder in a bag in her Saddle Bags. They decided to head to Sugar Cube corner. Sweetie Belle really needed a cupcake. 

Twilight studied Celestia. The Princess was staring at the dead Pegasus in the middle of town square. According to Rainbow Dash, the princess had spent the morning trying to piece together an story that would allow her to declare Spitfire's death an accident. So far, she hadn't been successful. That hadn't stopped her from trying. 

Big Mac and Applejack had helped to haul the body out of town square, and to a waiting Pegasus wagon for the trip to Cloudsdale. Once the body had been removed, the town had gotten back to normal. Now, it was starting to get dark. The Cutie Mark crusaders walked by her, deep in conversation. Luna had spent the morning convincing her to investigate Bab's death, so Twilight decided to ask them a few questions. It couldn't hurt, and they might know something. 

"Hey girls, did your little friend mention any problems that she was having with anypony?" Twilight asked. 

"You mean Babs?" Sweetie Belle asked, her face freezing in terror. 

"I thought you said it was an accident?" Scootaloo said. 

"I did, but you know, you just have to clear up any loose ends. Maybe she had a special somepony?" Twilight asked. 

The Crusaders were staring at each other. She hadn't meant to scare them. Twilight knew she was no good with foals, she'd always meant to read a book about taking care of Foals, but she always seemed to have more important things to do. Twilight headed back towards the Princess. 

Luna landed next to Twilight. She had two Royal Guard Pegasi with her, but she hadn't bothered to enchant them to look like Bats. She must have been in a hurry.

"We require you to talk some sense into our sister. Our sister has to accept that our subjects are going around murdering each other. There is no way around it." Luna said. 

It was weird to have the princess using the voice again. They'd spent most of the last twenty four hours together, and Luna hadn't used it once while the two of them had been alone. 

"Luna, what's murder?" Celestia asked. 

Luna face hoofed. 

"Did you hear her? She suspects us!" Sweetie Belle shouted. 

Everyone in Sugar Cube Corner turned to look at her. They had to stop, and hide out. They couldn't go through with their plan now! Apple Bloom had no intention of stopping. They were going to end up as statues.

"Are you guys planning a special surprise for somepony!" Pinkie asked. "'Cause if you are, I want to join in!" 

"Yes, we are Pinkie, and you're just the pony to help!" Scootaloo said.

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie Pie said. "So what kind of Surprise is this? Do one of you have a special somepony? I can make you some of our hearts and hooves day specialties!"

Boxes of heart shaped candies instantly appeared in Pinkie Pie's hooves. 

"No, Pinkie. We're planning a special treat for every pony in town! We made special sprinkles!" Scootaloo said, using her mouth to pull the bag of lead arsenate out of Apple Bloom's saddle bags. 

"Those are pretty!" Pinkie said, jamming a hoof into the bag. "They taste... Interesting though! But interesting in a good way" 

Sweetie Belle hoped that Pinkie hadn't eaten enough to hurt herself. 

"We've got a batch of cupcakes just coming out! The uhm... well... thing that happened earlier has made everyone in town want cupcakes! So we're staying open late!" Pinkie said. 

Sure enough, Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara and about a quarter of Ponyville were there. Sweetie Belle wanted to shout stop, she wanted to warn the town, and get them out, but she was too chicken. She just couldn't do it, especially not with Celestia outside. 

So, instead she followed her friends into the kitchen, and watched mute as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sprinkled poison on dozens of cupcakes. Sweetie Belle felt sick to her stomach. This wasn't what they'd set out to do. They'd poisoned Babs specifically to avoid putting other ponies at risk, and here they were, poisoning the entire town to hide their attempt to kill Diamond Tiara. 

What if they killed another pony? Silver Spoon and Diamond weren't the only foals out there. She'd seen Pip, and Featherweight, and Twist. She cared about those ponies. They couldn't do this! This was wrong. But, she stayed silent. All three crusaders tried their best to frost cupcakes.

Scootaloo poured about half of the bag on the cupcakes, and then poured the other half over three cupcakes. The Lead arsenate was irritating Sweetie's mouth and lungs. She'd seen Apple Bloom coughing as well. This stuff couldn't be good for them, and they were just letting it get everywhere. Scootaloo's hooves were even showing red blotches on them, under her fur. 

Pinkie Pie came over, took a few steps back, then ran up and blew a party horn in Scootaloo's face. White dust blew everywhere. 

"Hey Everyone! Someone got their Cutie Mark!" Pinkie shouted. 

"Who! Who!" Scootaloo said. 

"You silly!" Pinkie replied. 

Sweetie studied Scootaloo's flank. She had a Cutie Mark, no question. She was a little jealous, but not that jealous. She really didn't want to have a poison based cutie mark. Although, unless you knew what Scootaloo was doing, you wouldn't be able to guess what her Cutie Mark actually was. All it had was white powder being sprinkled over cupcakes. If you didn't know what the powder actually was, you could fool yourself into thinking that it was merely about decorating cupcakes. 

There was a commotion, as Ponies filed into the kitchen. Scootaloo was mobbed with ponies, all of them congratulating her. Now Sweetie Belle was jealous. 

"So your special talent is decorating cupcakes?" Mrs. Cakes asked. 

Pinkie was throwing streamers and ribbons everywhere, and for a few minutes, Sweetie Belle was happy. The Princess was personally congratulating Scootaloo. Luna stood off to the side, a worried look on her face. Twilight was sitting on the floor next to Luna. Sweetie could tell that she looked more distracted then usual. The Cakes had announced that there were free cupcakes for all, and the tainted cupcakes had begun to be consumed. Apple Bloom had managed to keep the three special cupcakes off to the side, and out of the way of the townsponies. 

Silver Spoon and Diamond were approaching. Apple Bloom hoofed them two of the special cupcakes. The started eating, before laughing at Scootaloo. 

"Even though you have a Cutie Mark, you're so lame we still would never hang out with you." Diamond Tiara said, before the two bumped rumps and walked away. 

Twilight Sparkle was nervously watching the party.  She'd been holding back, after terrifying the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she felt that she didn't deserve a cupcake. Apple Bloom approached cupcake in her hooves. 

"Mz. Sparkle, you didn't eat a cupcake! Here have one." Apple Bloom said, handing Twilight the cupcake. 

It looked delicious. There was a decadent layer of powdered sugar covering a delicious looking layer of pink butter-cream frosting. While she'd never heard of cupcakes with powdered sugar before, she didn't really get out much.

A cyan blur materialized off to Twilight's left. 

"Ohh, I want a cupcake!" Rainbow shouted. 

"You had three cupcakes!" Luna said. "The Princess of the Night demands this cupcake as tribute. Please?"

"Luna! Don't be rude!" Celestia reprimanded. "Since Twilight has yet to eat a cupcake, it only makes sense that this cupcake belongs to her." 

Twilight really wasn't hungry, seeing Spitfire's blood covering Town Square had been enough to remove her desire to eat, probably for the rest of her life. Luna was making her cutest face, while Dash hovered overhead pouting. Twilight didn't want to hurt her friends feelings, so she decided to give them the cupcake.

"We'll split the cupcake. Rainbow Dash will get half, and Luna will get half." Twilight said. 

"Yeah!" Dash said, kicking her fore hoof into the air. 

Luna threw her cupcake half into her mouth, greedily licking the icing from edges of her mouth. 

Twilight felt something bump against her. 

"I have a belly ache." Spike said. 

"You shouldn't have eaten so many cupcakes." Twilight said. "I warned you not to eat that many, and as usual you didn't listen." 

"Pinkie had ten cupcakes, and she's fine." Spike said. 

"Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie." Twilight said. 

"She didn't eat it!" Apple Bloom said.

"Who didn't eat what!" Sweetie Belle said. 

It would be a tragedy if after doing all of this Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara didn't eat their cupcakes. 

"Twilight! Twilight didn't eat her cupcake!" Apple Bloom said. 

"So, that's good. I wouldn't want to hurt her." Sweetie replied.

"She's on to us! We need her dead, and fast!" Scootaloo said. 

"Hey girls! Howya doin'" Pinkie asked. "I'm not feeling too good. I've got a bellyache like Spike, only I don't think mine is from eating too many cupcakes, because I normally eat more cupcakes in a day then I did today. Maybe I should eat more cupcakes? Maybe that would make my belly feel better. Whatta' you think?"

Pinkie vomited on Apple Bloom. Sweetie ran over to help her friend. The party had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Derpy crashed to the ground, narrowly missing Sweetie.

"Sorry about that! I got a cramp in my wing. Oooh! I got the runs! Gotta run!" Derpy said as she ran off. 

"Should this be happening?" Apple Bloom asked. 

"The monkeys didn't use this stuff." Sweetie Belle said. 

"Oooh! Monkeys? I love Monkeys!" Pinkie said, as she vomited again. 

"Twilight, I thing something is going on." Luna said. 

Twilight had to agree. In a few short minutes, the party had gone from a joyous occasion, to a hedonistic celebration of indoor plumbing. The line for the public bathroom stretched back into the kitchen, and the Cakes were allowing select customers upstairs to use their facilities. 

"How do you feel?" Luna asked Twilight.

"I'm fine, although my mouth is burning." Twilight said.

"Looks like we have more Baked Bads!" Pinkie said. "Hey Twilight, can you magic me better so I can eat more cupcakes. I haven't eaten enough cupcakes today, I bet that will make me feel better!"

Luna gave Pinkie an incredulous look, as Pinkie bounced off.

"Is she..." Luna asked.

"That's just Pinkie." Twilight said. "It's madness to question her." 

"Stand aside! The Princess of the Night must make use of the facilities!"Luna shouted, as she ran towards the door to the stairway.

Twilight took the opportunity to sneak a peek at Spike. His bellyache had caused him to curl into a ball.

"Help! Help! My daughter fainted!" Filthy rich shouted. 

Celestia and Twilight galloped over as fast as they could. 
> Picking up the pieces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna felt sicker than she'd ever felt before. This was worse than the time she'd gotten the feather flu. Much worse. She'd violently emptied her stomach, trying to avoid making a mess. However, not making a mess was impossible. Chunks of vomit coated the rug in front of the toilet, and there had even been some splatter on the walls beyond. She started to use her magic to clean, but the pain in her stomach was just too much. Luna vomited again, clear liquid and blood pouring out of her mouth. This was bad. Really bad. Luna had never vomited blood before. There was a knock at the door. 

"Princess, are you alright?" Asked one of the ponies that ran the bakery. 

"The Princess of the Night is Fine!" Luna said. 

Even the voice sounded pathetic. The door opened, and Twilight strode in.

"Luna! You have blood on your mouth!" Twilight said.

Twilight was panicking. According to Celestia, bad things could happen when Twilight didn't know the answer to a question. The little Unicorn was running around Luna, trying to both wipe the blood off, and study the princess.

"Did you eat anything other than the cupcakes?" Twilight asked. 

"Only the same things you ate." Luna said. "It has to be the cupcakes. Our foul opponent heard of our royal visit, and became afraid that we were onto them."

"Don't be silly! Who'd poison cupcakes? Everyone loves cupcakes! Besides, how would they know that we were going to eat cupcakes? We didn't even go inside till Scootaloo got her Cutie Mark! It's just an accident. Pinkie probably made a mistake while she was baking. It happened last year. Everyone will be fine, and we'll all laugh it off."  Twilight said.

Luna wanted to believe her. It was a more believable story than someone poisoning the entire town for fun, which was Luna's best explanation. It didn't stop the princess's stomach from killing her. She felt another wave of nausea, but this time she threw up only blood. 

"I have to get out of here. I'm ruining their bathroom." Luna said.

"It's okay." Said the mare that ran the bakery. 

Twilight led Luna back downstairs. Despite there being plenty of sick ponies, the party was still going on. In Equestria, panic took backseat to a party. Luna saw Pinkie furiously frosting cupcakes, stopping only to vomit over her shoulder. Other ponies were drinking punch, and trying to have a good time, unconsciously avoiding the pools of vomit and unconscious party goers lining the floor. It was like everything but the food, punch and well ponies were invisible to them. She shuddered. She'd heard of things like this happening, but she'd never seen it for herself. 

"Twilight! You have to stop this!" Sweetie Belle begged. "Apple Bloom just passed out! It's all our fault!"

"It's not anypony's fault. Twilight said. "Things like this just happen. Everyone will be better tomorrow, and all everypony will remember is Scootaloo getting her cutie mark."

Luna wasn't so sure. Some of the ponies passed out on the ground looked like they weren't breathing anymore. There was an explosion, and Luna hit the deck, using her body to cover Twilight. 

"Who wants Cupcakes?" Pinkie shouted. 

The few guests still capable of unassisted locomotion mobbed the pink pony. Pinkie fired another blast from her party cannon to clear the crowd.

"There are plenty for everyone! Honest!" Pinkie shouted, as she collapsed to the floor. 

Twilight surveyed the wreckage of the party. She'd already found ten dead ponies, and she hadn't even made it to the center of the room. She respectfully levitated Cloud Chaser's corpse off of Octavia's. Celestia was over to the left, searching a pile of foals from Mz. Cheerilee's class for signs of life. She wasn't having much success. They'd gotten Luna to the hospital, and according to Nurse Tenderheart, she should be okay, her larger size would protect her from whatever had caused the illness. 

Twilight couldn't believe that this kind of thing could happen. On the other side of the room, Celestia added Twist to the line of dead ponies. She was going to scream. This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare. No, something told her. She'd never had a nightmare like this before. All of her nightmares were about silly things, like being sent back to magic kindergarten, or losing all of her friends. There was no part of her mind that could have imagined Sugar Cube Corner's conversion into a sea of blood, vomit and death. 

Derpy was the next pony on her side of the room. The delivery mare was still breathing, so she motioned for one of the nurses.  Twilight advanced through the hellish muck. The next two ponies, Golden Harvest and Berry punch were also both dead. That put her at twelve. Celestia also added another pony to the line by the door. It was Silver Spoon. The Crusaders would be devastated that their little friend had died. 

Well, that was all of the dead on her side of the room. She moved into the center. There was still two ponies that everyone was afraid to check, Dash and Pinkie. Dash had collapsed while she was with Luna, and Pinkie had bravely attempted to hand out cupcakes till she also went down. Someone had pushed Dash under a table as the madness had progressed, and she was closer so Twilight went to her first.

Rainbow Dash was breathing, although she didn't respond to Twilight's repeated jabs. Twilight called for a nurse and she was about to celebrate when she noticed that Celestia was levitating a Pink mass to the line by the door. Then she noticed Spike. 

She'd lost track of him sometime around the time that Diamond Tiara had collapsed. She'd figured that he'd gone back to the library, and forgotten about him. But there he was, curled up in a ball under the counter. She galloped over to Spike, and tried to uncurl him. For a few seconds, she was hopeful. Then, she realized he was dead as well. 

Twilight screamed out in primal rage and pain. 

Pinkie's funeral was a low key affair. The party cannon was fired twenty one times, before being pushed into place to stand in eternal vigil over Pinkie's grave. Twilight stood off to the side, with her four remaining healthy friends. Even though it was a week later, Dash was still in the hospital. She was too weak to move, but still alive. Luna had recovered enough to go home, and Celestia had taken her to Canterlot that morning. 

They had Spike's funeral the day before. It had been a much more private affair, and just Rarity, Fluttershy and Celestia had been there. It'd been a quiet service. Twilight had read up on Dragon funeral customs, and done most of the service. Everyone in town had contributed whatever gems that they had so that Spike would have a proper hoard of gems in the next life. Rarity had even even contributed some of the special gems from an outfit that she was making for Sapphire Shores. 

They were heading to the after funeral party at the library. The Cakes had closed Sugar Cube Corner, and disappeared. No pony blamed them for what had happened, but the Cakes had been too depressed to hang around town. 

The library was dark and depressing. She'd spent the last week in bed, rising only to eat and use the bathroom. Studying no longer held any pleasure. She found herself calling out to Spike at all times of the day and night. She'd been having intolerable nightmares, and had even considered moving home a few times. 

Sweetie Belle's parents had forced her to attend Pinkie's after funeral party. Thankfully, they hadn't made her attend the actual funeral. It was horrible. She had no idea that anypony could feel as miserable as she did. No, the ponies who had lost loved ones to their madness felt worse. They'd finally restarted school, and Cheerilee had been in tears as she took roll call. Half the class was dead, and it was all their faults. 

Apple Bloom had recovered completely, and the whole thing didn't seem to bother her. Apple Bloom seemed to be spending most of her time trying to imagine new schemes to kill Twilight Sparkle. Sweetie had been able to talk her out of those schemes, at least so far. 

Nopony was enjoying the party, and it was all a very depressing affair. Sweetie Belle watched as Vinyl Scratch tried and failed to do her DJ shtick. It was an open secret, known even to the foals of Ponyville that she'd been rather close to Octavia. Octavia had died, and the DJ Unicorn looked like she was just going through the motions. 

"We have to talk!" Apple Bloom said. 

"I don't feel like it." Sweetie Belle replied. 

"Well listen then." Scootaloo said.

"What do you want?" Sweetie asked.

"Silver Zephyr figured it out. He came by my box.... Uhm, house. He came by my house yesterday, and said that if we didn't help him sell his party powder, he'd tell Celestia what we did to the town." Scootaloo said. 

Sweetie Belle broke into tears. Life just wasn't fair. 
> Ends of the World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna paced nervously. She'd spent the last two weeks in one hospital or another. She'd spent the first in the week at the Ponyville Hospital. That week was a nothing more than a blur of images, and pain. She'd spent the last week at the Royal Hospital for Sick Foals in Canterlot. Never mind that she was almost eleven hundred years old. 

Okay, so she'd still been a filly when she'd became an Alicorn.  She hadn't aged a day since then. So, she'd never really physically "grown up." She was always going to be an awkward teen. That didn't mean that Celestia had the right to act like her mother. Nothing made Luna angrier than Celestia treating her like a baby. 

That's why she was here. It was all Celestia's fault. She'd convinced everyone that Luna was nuts. She'd replayed the scene in her head a thousand times, unbidden, it replayed a thousand and first.

They'd been sitting in Luna's hospital room. She was in the process of getting discharged by Dr. Foally. She'd been nervously pacing. Celestia had asked what was wrong.

"I have to get back to Ponyville. The dastard that killed that foal has had a week to cover up their tracks." Luna said.

Celestia had motioned Dr. Foally out into the hall, and they'd had a private talk with the door closed. She'd been concerned enough to listen at the key hole. 

"She has a history of paranoia. That's where Nightmare Moon came from. She was born of Luna's paranoia that ponies weren't enjoying her night. I only wish that I'd realized what had happened early enough last time." Celestia had said.

"Her story about the foal was suspicious." Dr. Foally replied. "I've never heard  of a pony using such a substance to kill another. I've seen several foals loss their lives to the Castor Bean."

"You've heard her story before?" Celestia asked.

"I was with the Vicountess San Palamino when the Princess explained her theory." Dr. Foally said. 

"The Viscountess San Palamino? How was she involved in this madness?" Celestia asked.

"The Viscountess was involved because her daughter had fainted after hearing the princess's story." The doctor responed.

"She has involved Twilight!" Celestia said.

Luna shuddered. Her sister never used the voice. Well, almost never. She'd inadvertently used it after Luna had broken one of her favorite teacups, but that had been an accident, and they'd made up since then. 

"If she is becoming Nightmare Moon again, I want her as far away from Twilight as possible!" Celestia had said. 

"Princess, if this Nightmare Moon is born of Luna's madness, than perhaps we can treat that madness, to prevent her from appearing." Dr. Foally had said. "We have made wonderful advances in the treatment of madness in the last thousand years. May I admit her to our Madness Ward?" 

"No Tia! Don't!" She'd shouted as she burst through the door.

Her horn had been glowing, and she had used all of her self control to stop herself from casting some dread magic on the doctor. Instantly she'd felt cold, and her magic had drained.

Why had her sister frozen her like that? Did Celestia still consider her a threat? She could see the terror in the Doctor's eyes. It was like Nightmare Night in Ponyville all over again. Luna felt her legs give out. 

That had sealed it. She'd let them lead her to the Madness ward, and she'd spent  the last six days sharing a room with a pyromaniac Pegasus filly. She blamed the poor filly's parents. Who in Tartarus named their foal Firestarter? If you were going to use a name like that, you probably shouldn't get angry when the filly started to set fires around the house. 

Actaully, she'd found herself getting attatched to her fellow inmates. They had a common cause, vanquishing the stuck up adults that kept them in prison. 

Make no mistake, that's what this place was, a prison. She honestly preferred the moon. On the moon, it was just her and the Nightmare. There weren't perfectly perky Pegasi asking her to tell everypony how she felt. How the buck did they think she felt! Betrayed! Celestia had turned her over to some quack.

No, Celestia had turned her over to some quack, and then never had the guts to come and face her. She could feel the Nightmare building inside of her, and growing. If that pink Pegasus nurse showed up one more time with the cartoon chart of pony faces and asked her to point at the pony that looked like she felt, there would be night eternal. 

She wondered what they'd do to her if she became the Nightmare while still here?  Would she lose her dessert, or would they send her to early bed time?

It was visiting time again, and once again she'd hoped that Celestia would appear. Once again she was wrong. Firestarter's parent's had offered to let her sit with them, but Luna had declined. She'd pulled a pillow into a warm square of sunlight and curled up. 

"Mz. Moon, you have a visitor." The annoying nurse had said. 

They insisted on calling her Mz. Moon in the hospital. Nopony was fooled. There were only three Alicorns in all of Equestria. Even the colt that was always bucking everypony and screaming knew that. Luna turned around. It was Twilight Sparkle, and not her sister. Why didn't Celestia come?

"I got your message, though I'd prefer not to have ponies poking around in my dreams." Twilight said. "So this is the Madness ward. I read up on psychology before I came here. It's a very interesting subject. Did you know that..."

"I'd rather not hear about psychology. I've been immersed in it for the last week." Luna interrupted.

"Oh, in that case, I've been thinking about your offer." Twilight said. "I've even talked to Celestia about it. She is strongly against it. She says that she doesn't want me to get caught up in your madness, and that if she thought your allegations were true, she'd want me involved even less."

"That's why I'm here. She wants to protect you from me." Luna said. "If you'd like her as your sister, you can have her. I'm done with her." 

"Don't say things like!" Twilight said. "She's family! Family are our first and best friends!" 

Luna ignored her. Celestia didn't want to be Luna's friend. She wanted to be Luna's mother. Luna already had a mother. Discord had killed her in a flood of  molasses and peanut butter. Celestia's magic taken their dead parent's dying
wish for their safety and converted them into Alicorns. The souls of their parents, and the other ponies around them had then became the elements, and the rest was history. 

"She loves you." Twilight said.

"We know that!" Luna said. "It's how she shows that love that is the problem."

There was a flash of pink at her side. They didn't like it when she used the voice. 

"I have a hard time controlling it! Please don't take away my dessert!" Luna begged.

"Why would I do that?" A familiar voice asked. 

"Cadance!" Luna shouted as she hugged the princess.

"Do they really take away your dessert for using the voice?" Cadance asked.

"Sometimes." Luna said.

She really didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want her friends to hear the indignities that she'd been forced to endure. 

"You have to admit, it's a silly old custom." Cadance replied. "But still, in a dreadful place like this, I imagine dessert is one of the few things that a pony has to look forward to." 

She hadn't imagined that it was possible for Cadance to understand something like that. Most ponies didn't, but then most ponies weren't the princess of love.

"I talked about your offer with Cadance. Now, if you cooperate with your treatment, I'm willing to look around,  if only to persuade you that nothing bad happened." Twilight said.

"You mean it!" Luna asked. 

"Luna, if what you said was true, this could be the harbinger of another attack  on Equestria. " Cadance said. "We must be ever vigilant." 

Sweetie Belle couldn't believe that they were doing this. Sure, Trixie had gotten Fleetfoot out of trouble over the whole thing with Spitfire, but that had been an accident, right?

Trixie had hired Pegasi to carry banners in the sky over Ponyville, and those banners had claimed if anypony had any trouble with the law, they'd "Better Call Trixie." Sweetie Belle wasn't quite sure how one would go about calling Trixie, but that's what the signs had said. 

So the Crusaders had decided to call Trixie. Well, visit Trixie.  It was well after dark as they headed to her wagon. They'd all had sneak away from families. Apple Bloom made sure no one was watching before knocking on Trixie's door. Trixie answered, as the Apple Bloom ducked into the shadows. Trixie looked around and when she didn't see anything she was about to close the door. 

The Crusaders dived in through a window, and blew out the lantern lighting the wagon. 

"What do you want?" Trixie asked, as she turned towards the suddenly darkened interior. 

"We want help." Apple Bloom said.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie wonders what kind of help a filly could require? Is your mommy refusing to give you dessert? Will you be using your allowance as a retainer?" Trixie asked.

"You got Fleetfoot off after she killed that pony." Apple Bloom said.

"What are you like the Wonderbolts fan club like Rainbow Crash?" Trixie asked.

Even in the Dark, Sweetie Belle could tell that Scootaloo was bristling. Scootaloo's movement caused Trixie to realize that there was more than one pony in the wagon with her, and she started nervously retreating towards the wall.

"Please don't hurt me!" Trixie begged.

"You help us, no one gets hurt." Apple Bloom said.

"I'll tell the princess what really happened! I promise!" Trixie Begged.

"We've killed some ponies. Okay, a lot of ponies." Scootaloo said. 

Trixie was jammed into the corner now.

"What do you want me to do?" Trixie asked.

"We want you to get us out of it." Apple Bloom said.

"Who'd you kill?" Trixie asked.

"My cousin, oh, and a quarter of the town." Apple Bloom answered.

"That thing with the cupcake shop? That was you?" Trixie asked.

"Eyup." Apple Bloom said.

"You're the orange one's sister." Trixie said. 

"Don't you dare tell anyone!" Apple Bloom said.

"Or you'll what? Use the magic of friendship on me? It didn't work. I still hate Twilight Dorkle." Trixie replied. 

"No, we'll put Ricin in your food." Apple Bloom said.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has no knowledge of what Ricin is." Trixie said.

"It's what killed my cousin, and that's all you need to know." Apple Bloom said.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie finds Ricin a far better motivater than the magic of Friendship." Trixie said.

"Here is the problem. We're being threatened by Silver Zephyr, one of the merchants in town. He wants us to sell his blue party powder, or he'll tell Celestia what we did." Apple Bloom explained. 

"Why don't you just kill this Silver Zephyr?" Trixie asked.

"He's away in the Griffon Empire, conducting business. We'd be dealing with his daughter." Scootaloo explained.

There was no way that Sweetie Belle was going to agree to kill another pony. Not even if it meant their deaths. She was done with killing, forever. 

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has another idea. Would this Silver Zephyr be paying you?" Trixie asked.

"Uhm, I don't know." Apple Bloom said.

"Perhaps you can work out some arrangement. The Great and Powerful Trixie could act as your agent. You could cut her in, and she'd get you a good deal." Trixie said.

"Well, Sweet Apple Acres could always need more money." Apple Bloom said. "Granny Smith still needs that hip replacement." 

"And I'd really like to live in a house with walls that weren't made of cardboard." Scootaloo said.

"So it's settled then?" Trixie asked.

It wouldn't be that bad right? Silver Zephyr wouldn't call something poisonous party powder, would he? It would be perfectly fine to help Ponies have parties wouldn't it?
> Pegasi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken all of Twilight's strength to visit Luna on the Madness ward of the Canterlot Royal Hospital for Sick Foals. To see her friend locked up was terrible, and it was even worse to hear her rage against Celestia like that. Part of her had been relieved when Celestia had told her that Luna's insistence that Babs had been killed was madness. 

That was till she'd met Luna in her dream last night. They'd sat and talked for what seemed like hours. The subject had only worked it's way over onto Bab's death towards the end of the conversation. 

Luna had been telling Twilight some interesting tidbits about Starswirl  that she'd read in a book that even Twilight had never read.

"Did Celestia tell why she put me in the hospital?" Luna asked.

"She said that you had a nervous breakdown. She wasn't too specific." She'd replied.

"She is convinced that there wasn't any foul play." Luna said. "She feels that the Nightmare is driving me to believe that there is foul play." 

"Why would she believe something like that?" She'd asked the Princess.

"Because the Nightmare was born of my anger and paranoia." Luna said. "The forces that birthed it are still a part of me."

"Well, she has to know you're better now. The elements cured you." Twilight said.

"The elements freed me. The Nightmare is still inside me." Luna replied.

Twilight had hugged the Princess then. She'd expected Luna to push her away. Luna didn't, instead extending a wing over the Unicorn. 

"I have a proposal for you, Twilight Sparkle. You will investigate the foal's death, and I'll let them treat me like a foal." Luna told her.

Twilight had explained to Luna that she had no interest in investigating any murders during the incident with Spitfire. Luna had shrugged, and started to try and convince her. Then they'd heard about Scootaloo's Cutie Mark, and they'd headed in to congratulate the Pegasus. 

Still, Luna had seemed so desperate, so alone, that Twilight couldn't help but get involved. Celestia had been right. Ponies just didn't kill each other. Nopony had died at another ponies hoof since the time of the Heartswarming Eve Pageant. 

That would make it easy. She'd just talk to Applejack, and Applejack would tell her that Babs had been seen in the Castor Beans, and that would be that. Luna would have to accept that there was nothing to be investigated, and she cooperate with her treatment, and everypony would be friends and live happily ever after.

No, there was something digging at Twilight's soul. She trusted Luna. Yet, here was Celestia telling her that everything was okay. Now, Celestia had believed Flatfoot about her and Spitfire having an accident, and that was obviously false. Twilight Sparkle was confused. Whatever had happened to the world, she wanted it to turn back. 

The wheels of the train screeched as it ran through a tight curve. She was almost to Ponyville now. There had to be a solution that would let everypony win. But, if there wasn't a  murder, than Luna would be crazy. Even worse, if Luna was right, then there were forces at play in Equestria that Twilight didn't even want to imagine. 

They were pulling into Ponyville now. Twilight stood up, and headed down the aisle. She jumped to the platform. 

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were there to greet her. Rainbow Dash had just gotten out of the hospital, but she was still too weak to fly, so Fluttershy was taking care of her. Dash had wanted to go to Canterlot with Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight had forbidden it.  

"What did Luna say?" Dash asked.

"She'll cooperate with her treatment if we can prove that nothing bad happened." Twilight said.

Twilight started walking. She was tired, but she'd decided to get this over with fast. She knew that Luna would be visiting her dreams again tonight, and she wanted to have a definitive answer for the princess. The faster that she got the princess to comply with her treatment, the better things would go.

Dash was laggging behind, and Twilight slowed so her friend wouldn't feel too bad about being sick. Dash caught up. They were in town square. Trixie's wagon was still parked in it. Trixie had been trying to acquire lodgings in town, but no pony was willing to rent space to the braggart. Twilight wasn't so sure why Trixie was here, or what exactly a lawyer did. All she knew was that Trixie had been paying Raindrops and Derpy to fly over the town with banners. 

"That stupid Trixie, she tried to get me to demand that the Cakes give me  money for giving out bad cupcakes." Dash said.

"I told her where she could shove her silly ideas, but from what I hear, there are a few ponies that want to go along with her." Dash said. 

Trixie was stepping out of Silver Zephyr's store. She hurried to her wagon. The Crusaders exited the store a few seconds later.

"What are the Crusaders doing with a butthole like Silver Zephyr?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Maybe Sweetie Belle is buying Rarity an early Hearth's Warming Eve present." Twilight Suggested.

"Uhm, it's September." Rainbow Dash said.

"If you're so curious, why don't you ask them?" Twilight said.  

The Crusaders high hoofed each other, before splitting up. Twilight sped up a little to catch up to Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom had been actting oddly since her little friend had died, and Twilight was determined that she was going to comfort her. Then she could write a friendship report about how the magic of friendship could help Ponies through anything.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked Apple Bloom.

"Nothing." Apple Bloom said nervously.

"What were you guys doing in Silver Zephyr's shop?" Rainbow Dash asked?

Apple Bloom looked like she was terrified. She glared at Twilight, as if she was expecting the Unicorn to hurt her. 

"Rainbow Dash! Don't pry into other's business!" Twilight said.

Apple Bloom looked calmer now, but she was still keeping her distance. Twilight studied the earth pony.

"So you and Babs were very close?" Twilight asked.

"We were cousins. Us Apples stick together." Apple Bloom replied.

"Did you ever see her try to eat any plants out in the fields?" Twilight asked. 

Apple Bloom didn't answer, and Twilight didn't want to push her. She'd caused enough trauma two weeks ago. 

They were almost at Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash was still following her. Apple Bloom was heading for the crusader's club house, while Twilight and Dash headed for the farm house.

The main door was open, and TWilight could see Applejack and Granny Smith inside. Granny Smith was telling another one of her long winded stories,  and Applejack was listening halfheartedly. 

"And that's how Ponyville got its library." Granny Smith finished.

"Uhm, that's a right interesting story, Granny Smith." Applejack said. 

Twilight and Rainbow Dash stood by the door, waiting to be noticed. 

"Hey Twilight! You're just in time for dinner. We've got apple dumpling soup! It'll be mighty tasty." Applejack said.

"That sounds 20% cooler than what Fluttershy was having for dinner." Rainbow Dash said. 

The Pegasus looked embarassed.

"Did I really say 20% cooler." she asked.

"Eyup." Big Mac said from the stairs. 

"Why would that bother you now? It's like your catch phrase?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know, it just seemed silly for a second. It doesn't anymore." Rainbow Dash said.

She galloped towards the kitchen to ease the tension. 

"Hey Applejack, do you know if Babs was eatting random plants out in the fields?" Twilight asked.

"Don't rightly know. I already told Celestia that I didn't know anything. I don't want to talk about it." Applejack said.

"We've gotta talk about it. I've got Luna to agree to cooperate with her treatment if I can prove that Bab's death was an accident." Twilight said. 

"Well, that is good news. Celestia will be mighty happy to hear that. She seemed down right depressed at your little tea party the other day." Applejack replied.

Big Mac headed outside to go call Apple Bloom inside for dinner.

Twilight went to the kitchen to help Applejack put the finishing touches on the meal. Out in the rapidly fading daylight, Apple Bloom was walking towards the house with Big Mac.  

"All this death is taking a serious toll on the little ones." Applejack said. "Rarity says that according to their parents, Sweetie Belle's been cryin' herself to sleep every night. Rarity has even offered to let her stay at the boutique to see if that improves her mood a little."

Rainbow Dash was setting the table.

"What do you have to say about what Luna was saying?" Twilight asked.

"That's not the kind of thing that ponies do to each other. It's far too horrible to imagine." Applejack said. 

"But still, if she's right, then maybe this is some kind of new threat to Equestria. What if it's some kind of slug that could poison ponies?" Rainbow Dash said. "That could explain Sugar Cube Corner." 

"Rainbow Dash! Now you're startin' to sound like Pinkie Pie!" Applejack said.

"Sugar Cube Corner was an accident. We'll never know what happened." Twilight said. 

The back screen door slammed, as Apple Bloom and Big Mac entered the house.  

"Is Twilight stayin' for dinner?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Eyup!" Big Mac said.

Twilight could have sworn that Apple Bloom looked she was panicking as she
left to go wash her hooves. 

Applejack pulled the pot of soup off of the stove, while Twilight levitated the bread out of it. Normally, Applejack would have yelled at her for using magic for such a mundane task, but Applejack didn't. 

Eventually, Apple Bloom returned, and Big Mac helped Granny Smith into the kitchen. Everyone sat down at the table and Applejack served Granny Smith some soup. 

For the first few minutes, everypony was too busy eating to say much of anything. Dash was greedily sucking down soup, she'd already finished her first bowl, and was well into her second. Of course, that was counting the roughly quarter of a bowl of soup that she'd spilled on the floor and table. 

Twilight levitated her glass of milk to her mouth, before putting some apple butter on the apple bread. She took a bite. 

"Why don't we eat anything that isn't apple related!" Apple Bloom screamed from the other side of the table.

"Whatever do you mean?" Applejack asked. 

"Is there one thing on this table that doesn't have some kind of apple in it?" Apple Bloom said.

"Well, there ain't any apples in the silverware." Granny Smith said.  

"That don't count!" Apple Bloom said. 

"Young lady! Go to your room now!" Applejack said.

Apple Bloom was pouting as she left the table. 

"What's gotten into her?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I thought every Apple loved apples." 

"Apple Bloom loves apples as much as the next pony, but she's been moody over the last few days. All those foals dyin' it's taken a lot outta her." Big Mac said. 

His eyes darted around, it was clear to Twilight that he was afraid that some pony might not like what he'd said. 

"It's taken a lot out of me too. You don't see me complaining about delicious apple dumpling soup." Dash said.

"You're older Dash, it's bound to be easier." Applejack replied.

The table returned to silence. Everypony ate their fill, and Twilight helped Rainbow Dash cleared the table while Applejack got an apple pie out of the kitchen.

"Twilight! You mind bringing some soup up to Apple Bloom? She hardly touched hers." Applejack said.

Perfect! This was just the chance she needed to comfort Apple Bloom. Twilight had been reading up on psychology, like she'd told Luna. She had a few tricks that she wanted to try out on Apple Bloom. She took the bowl from Applejack in her mouth, and headed upstairs.  

This was actually Twilight's first time going upstairs at the Apple house. However, the Cutie Mark crusaders cape on the door made it clear which door was Apple Bloom's, and Twilight knocked on it. 

"Apple Bloom, it's Twilight. I know you've been through a lot, and that you blame yourselves. It isn't your fault." Twilight said. 

"Go Away!" Apple Bloom shouted.  

"I'm just going to leave some soup here for you. If you ever want to talk, just come to the library some time. I'd love to talk to you." Twilight said. 

She was halfway down the hall before Apple Bloom responded.

"I guess I'll come by sometime..." Apple Bloom said.
> Unicorns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight's dream came into focus. She'd been dreaming the entire night, but those dreams hadn't had any substance, they'd changed and flowed fluidly, not taking any one form for long. Now she was sitting in the middle of Ponyville Town Square. Although the square was filled with Nightmare Night decorations, there weren't any ponies. Twilight stood around, impatiently tapping her foot, and waiting for Luna to her appearance. After almost five minutes, Twilight had convinced herself that this was just some new strange dream. 

There was a coughing noise coming from the direction of the apple bobbing tub, and Twilight moved towards it. There was a splash of water as Nightmare Moon exploded out of it. Twilight ran away from the tub as fast she could. Well, she ran till she heard laughing behind her. 

"That was most fun. Shall we do it again?" Luna said.

She was just Luna now, and she looked pitiful. Her mane was disheveled and merely hair, the enchantments that caused the stars to appear in it were gone. Twilight wanted to comfort her, but she wasn't sure if Luna would appreciate it. 

"Do you want to talk about things?" She asked instead.

"I'd like to forget about things." Luna said. "How about we just have fun?" 

They played various Nightmare Night games in silence for a few hours.  Finally, after the fifth round of spider toss, Luna sat down. 

"Did you find anything?" she asked Twilight.

She had such a hopeful expression on her face, and Twilight hated to have to tell her no. So she sorted through her actions that day, looking for anything suspicious that she could tell the Princess. Any little thing would be better than telling Luna that she didn't have anything. If the Princess was placing on her hopes and dreams on Twilight, she couldn't say she had nothing. 

"Uhm, well Applejack didn't know if Babs had been near the Castor Beans." She said.

"How would that help us?" Luna replied.

"Uh, I guess it wouldn't." Twilight said. "Luna, I think it was an accident. Things happen."

"Things do not just happen in my kingdom! " Luna shouted.

There was an explosion of light and flame, as the world was consumed in a wall of fire. Twilight scrunched down, as small as possible and cried to herself quietly. Luna was on her instantly, hugging her. 

"We seem to have forgotten the true extent of our powers. In times of old, our mission was not merely to protect the dreams of the righteous, but to harry the wicked with nightmares." Luna said. "Uhm, I shan't do that again... But, it was most fun." 

The wall of fire was back, but this time, a flight of flaming Pegasi with glowing red eyes and talons of flame shooting out from their hooves  descended towards them.  Twilight cowered. She hated fire right now, and could barely tolerate being near lanterns and lamps, let alone a nightmarish inferno. 

"There, we now have that out of our system." Luna said. 

"Luna, do you have to use the voice?" Twilight asked. 

Although she wasn't actually hearing Luna, her ears were still hurting. Besides, the voice was very unsettling. Twilight's nerves were shot from Luna's demonstration, and she very much needed a more calming environment. 

"They don't want me to use it!" Luna pouted.

Twilight ignored the pouting, and thought of the best way to phrase what she had to say. There wasn't going to be any way to say it that wasn't painful. There was no way around that. She was just going to have come and tell it like it was. 

"Luna, there isn't anything here. How would somepony have even poisoned Babs? It makes no sense. Whatever book you got that from must have been wrong. Zecora recognized the symptoms immediately." Twilight said.

Saying those words deflated her, and she curled into a ball, waiting for the fury that was soon to come from the princess. Instead of fury, Luna merely sighed.

"Zecora merely read Super Naturals. It describes Ricin, how it is extracted from the Castor Bean, and what it does to a a pony foolish enough to consume it. It doesn't mention that Ricin does something completely different if it's inhaled or eaten, and that is important." Luna said.

"Maybe it's not Ricin!" Twilight replied. "It could have been pneumonia, or a thousand other things! If Super Naturals had that much wrong information, how can you be sure that it even got the symptoms of Ricin right?" 

"Twilight, did my sister ever tell you how much alike you are?" Luna said.

"No, she never did. We aren't really." Twilight replied. 

"I had this exact same conversation with her. She stopped listening to me, and told me to go to bed at this point. She didn't want to hear what I have to say next." Luna said. 

"Which is?" Twilight asked. 

They were going around in circles. If Luna had something convincing, she'd better say something fast. Twilight was running out of patience. Not only that, but the more they argued, the more Luna's attempts to grasp at straws proved Twilight's point. The harder she tried and failed to prove her point, the more Twilight became convinced that Luna was mad.

Not that there was anything wrong with Luna being mad. The Princess looked like she needed a break from the hospital, and Twilight was willing to spend her nights talking to Luna through her dreams. She wasn't willing to hurt Luna's treatment by giving her a way to reinforce her delusions. 

Luna swallowed hard.

"Twilight, in your studies have you ever heard of Other Places?" Luna asked.

"Oh, yes! Of course! Why, just last week I read a book about the Griffon Empire! Did you know that any Griffon can challenge a Griffon noble to a duel, and if they win, they get that Griffon's title and lands? Commoners can even challenge the Empress herself! One year, they had five separate Empresses! But I bet Celestia would love it if someone could challenge Blue Blood for his title!" Twilight said. 

She went on and on, rattling off facts about every kingdom, principality, and republic in the world. Halfway through a lengthy speech on Prench cuisine, Twilight paused.  Luna was looking at her with a bemused expression. This didn't sit right with Twilight. She'd asked about other places, and here she was, telling Luna about other places. 

"No, I mean places beyond this world." Luna said. 

"Oh, you mean the stars? Why didn't you say so. The Royal Equestrian Astrologers and Astronomers Society is always debating if there are ponies on planets around other stars." Twilight said. 

Luna face hoofed. 

"I mean places that aren't here, places that you can't see.  Places where there may not be ponies." Luna said.

"No ponies? What kind of place doesn't have ponies?" Twilight replied. "Are there Griffons? What about Dragons? Is there any kind of intelligent life there?" 

"They have monkeys." Luna said. "As Celestia puts it, evil monkeys that belong in the depths of Tartarus."

"Uh, what makes these monkey's evil?" Twilight asked. 

"Well, mind you, this is just what Celestia thinks. I don't agree with her. But, anyway, these monkeys seem to delight in killing each other." Luna replied.

"Delight in killing each other..." Twilight said. 

She couldn't imagine the idea that somewhere there was a species that delighted in killing each other. But, it would make a very interesting study. If she ever met one of these monkeys, she'd have to ask it what it enjoyed about killing other beings. That's assuming the monkey didn't just go right out and kill her while she was asking it questions. Assuming that they truly enjoyed killing, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't just kill her. 

"I don't think so. I think it's more complex. I mean, these monkeys have things that our top scientists and magicians couldn't even dream of. If they were simply evil, they couldn't do those things. Celestia sees the world in black and white. The Nightmare forced me to see things differently." Luna replied.

Twilight didn't want to dwell on Nightmare Moon. If Celestia was right, it was building in Luna, waiting for a chance to gain control. Could Nightmare Moon gain control over Luna merely by being the subject of a conversation? What if talking about Nightmare Moon made Luna more aware of it? Wouldn't that require it to make its attempts to gain power more covert, and thus slower?

Luna was still talking. She was spouting theories about how monkeys might coexist in a world without the magic of Friendship. This was interesting and all, but Twilight didn't have to have done painstaking research into psychology to know that it wasn't healthy for Luna to be talking about invisible monkeys living in a world where Friendship wasn't magic. Those kind of fantasies had no place in the real world. 

"I have a long day of studying tomorrow, and then I'm scheduled to make a gem cake with Spike. I'd love to hear your theories, but I need my sleep." Twilight said. 

Wait, wasn't she already asleep? Did this count as getting her sleep? She'd have to research that. 

"Twilight, Spike isn't here." Luna said. "He's dead. Remember?" 

The pain hit Twilight like a cattle stampede. She didn't have the heart to rework her schedule. It somehow felt disrespectful to remove Spike. She'd pencil her actual activity during her Spike time slots in at the bottom, so the schedule was still technically accurate. She didn't know how to cope with the pain of Spike's loss. He was the first thing that Twilight was truly close to that had died. 

She wondered if the pain would lessen as time went on. No! That would be worse. Wouldn't that be the same thing as forgetting Spike? Twilight had no idea. Her head was spinning, and she needed air.

"When Zecora said that the death of the foal had been an accident, I knew in my heart that she was wrong. I went looking through bookstores and libraries, seeking out any mention of Ricin." Luna said. "In a shop in a back alley, I found what I was looking for.  I showed the book I'd found to Celestia, she took a look at the monkey on the cover, and refused to look any further."

"Do you have the book still?" Twilight asked.

"Of course." Luna said. "It's in my apartments. You may take it, and read if you wish. If you are not convinced, than your involvement in this matter has ended. I've been keeping my part of the bargain. I've been cooperating." 

Twilight hesitated at the door to Luna's apartments. She'd entered the castle through the back door. She wasn't sure why she didn't want Celestia to know she was here, but Luna had given her the impression that Celestia didn't want Twilight mixed in with this. 

Finally, Twilight got up enough courage. She pushed the door open with her magic, and entered the main room. The book was in Luna's bedroom, under her mattress. Twilight didn't know what she'd find. Part of her was hoping that there would be nothing, or that it would be some simple book with no mention of Ricin. If Luna was cooperating, it would be a trivial task to cure her. Luna needing treatment was a far easier idea to wrap here hooves around than a book written by monkeys. 

Twilight levitated the mattress up. She didn't see anything at first. Then she saw it. The odd off white color of the book blended well with the surrounding wood. It was upside, she was looking at the rear cover. She flipped it over. Instantly, she was aware that this was something that didn't belong.

The title of the book was The Illustrated Guide to Chemical Weapons. She didn't know what chemical weapons were, but at least she knew what an illustration and a guide was. Two out of three wasn't too terribly bad. She'd make up for it. She had to. She vowed to spend as much time studying chemical weapons as possible to make up for her current lack of knowledge. She took the book, and headed towards the door. 
> Meet the Cooks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweetie Belle couldn't believe that they'd gotten Silver Horizon to give them money for transporting her father's party powder. Sweetie was certain that once Silver Zephyr got back from the Griffon Empire, he'd put an end to it.  But for the time being, they  got half a bit for every bag that they delivered around Ponyville. They were supposed to pick up six bags from Silver Zephyr's shop, which is where they were heading now. 

That meant they'd each get hummm, she wasn't quite sure. Trixie also got twenty percent of what they made, and well numbers weren't Sweetie's thing. Apple Bloom had worked out the numbers on paper. They'd make some bits, more than any of their allowances, but unless Silver Zephyr increased his customers drastically, they weren't getting many bits.

They entered the store through the back door. After Twilight had seen them entering the store yesterday, Apple Bloom was paranoid. They left the scooter at the tree house, and walked back into town. They'd also taken a few time outs to crusade along the way. If they suddenly stopped crusading, ponies were bound to get suspicious. 

The back of Silver Zephyr's shop was filled with a large machine, with tubes and smokestacks and wires sticking out at odd angles. Two cream colored Unicorns, in straw hats and striped shirts were studying the machine.

"I thought my sister ran you two outta town!" Apple Bloom said.

"Yes she did little lady, and your folks even ruined our cider business. But, Mr. Silver Zephyr convinced us to turn our machine to a new purpose. One where quality doesn't matter so much." Flim said. 

"We're Flim and Flam" Flam said.

"Methamphetamine cooks extraordinaire!" the two said together. 

They took up a jaunty pose in front of the machine, which hissed and  sparked as if on cue. The sparks were followed by a cloud of foul smelling steam, which sent the Crusaders retreating back into the alley. A few minutes later, the steam had cleared and the Crusaders headed back inside. 

Silver Horizons popped her head into the back room. 

"Can you try to avoid the bad smells? We just lost two customers up here." She said. 

She disappeared. 

The brothers returned to the machine, ignoring the Crusaders. 

"Aren't we supposed to be selling some powder?" Scootaloo asked. 

"Here take it!" Flim said as he levitated six large bags of blue crystals, and  a customer list into the Crusaders saddle bags. 

The brothers returned to the machine, and the Crusaders left out the back door. 

"Let's see, the first name is Vinyl Scratch. Anyone know where she lives?" Apple Bloom asked. 

"Shouldn't we say Cutie Mark Crusaders Party Powder Sellers?" Sweetie Belle said. 

"Maybe saying that actually scares away Cutie Marks. After all, I didn't say it, and I have my Cutie Mark." Scootaloo said. 

"Nonsense. You can't scare away a Cutie Mark." Apple Bloom said. 

Sweetie Belle decided that she didn't want to take any chances. If her Cutie Mark was in selling party powder, then she didn't want to run the risk of scaring it away. Maybe there was something to Scootaloo's idea. After all, whenever they shouted Cutie Mark Crusaders, activity of the day, the townsponies ran.

Vinyl Scratch's house was easier to find then they had thought. All they had to do in the end was simply follow the sounds of loud music through the streets of Ponyville, and soon enough they were in front of a modest cottage near the library. Sweetie checked her flank. Nope, still blank. 

Scootaloo knocked on the door, and a creature that might have at one time been a Unicorn mare answered. It's green fur was matted and streaked with what Sweetie Belle hoped was dirt and ketchup. It smelled foul, and it seemed to be eyeing the crusaders with a hungry look. 

"What you want?" the Creature asked.

"We're looking for Vinly Scratch." Apple Bloom said. 

The creature's voice was familiar. 

"Miss Lyra?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah! What do you want!" Lyra replied, as she turned to go back inside.

"We want Vinyl Scratch." Scootaloo repeated.

"She's like laying down the beats. You can talk to her when the party is over." Lyra replied. 

"When will that be?" Apple Bloom asked. 

"Let's see, it started on Tuesday, so I don't know. Buzz off." Lyra said.

"But it's like Sunday." Sweetie Belle said. 

"I know. It's a cool party." Lyra replied. 

The Crusaders pushed their way inside past Lyra. She tried to stop them, but for some reason, she just wasn't coordinated enough. Inside, the entire house was in as bad shape as Lyra. The room was dark, and the curtains were drawn.The floor was covered with the forms of collapsed ponies, and pools of liquids that Sweetie didn't want to identify. Luckily, it was dark enough that she didn't have to. There were cider kegs and a snack table by the wall. Apple Bloom headed towards the table.

Vinyl Scratch was standing at her turntable, surrounded by dancing ponies. Most of the dancers looked like they had no idea where they were, or what they were doing. Sweetie Belle wasn't sure, but this might be more terrible than what they'd turned Sugar Cube Corner into. They'd at least had a purpose behind what they'd done, sick and perverted as it might have been. This was purposeless, madness solely for the sake of madness. 

Sweetie Belle pushed her way through the dancers towards Vinyl Scratch. She had to talk to the pony, and get out of here. Vinyl looked as bad as the rest of the house. Her coat was dirty, although Sweetie knew from experience how quickly white fur could collect dirt. Her eyes were almost completely red, and the veins were visible. 

"If you're like selling Filly Scout cookies, we ain't interested." Vinyl Scratch said. 

"No, we're selling party powder." Scootaloo replied. 

Vinyl's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on her face. For a few seconds, Sweetie thought that she'd recovered from had caused her to act like this. But when she started salivating, and she knocked over her turntable in her haste to get to them, Sweetie was forced to accept that this was something different. 

"If you two are pulling some kind of prank I'll kill you." Vinyl said. 

Scootaloo used her mouth to pull the bag out of her saddle bags. Vinyl's eyes lit up. Not just Vinyl. Every pony in the room's eyes lit up. Even some of the ponies passed out on the floor were eyeing Scootaloo. A blue aura surround the bag, and Vinyl levitated it up into the air. 

"Where are the other two bags I ordered?" Vinyl asked. 

She reared up menacingly. Sweetie Belle took a step back, and she tripped on the unconscious form of Caramel. She muttered a quick apology, and backed up again, this time uneventfully. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was checking the list. She quickly pulled another bag out of her saddle bags, and a third one out of Sweetie Belle's.

Vinyl handed over a massive bag of bits, more bits than Sweetie had ever seen in one place before. There had to be at least five hundred. No, maybe there was even a thousand. Were there even a thousand bits in all of Equestria? 

Apple Bloom came back over, with a mug of cider in her hooves. 

"This cider tastes funny." Apple Bloom said. 

"Hands off my cider." Vinyl said. 

She levitated the cup out of Apple Bloom's hooves, drinking it all in one gulp. With nothing more to do, and a desire to be out of there as soon as possible, the crusaders navigated their way through the mess of ponies to the door. 

The rest of their deliveries went well. There weren't any more insane parties.  They gave the money they'd collected to Silver Horizon, and she paid them two and a half bits. Scootaloo had been happy with the amount of money that they'd received, but Sweetie wasn't so sure. Her parents gave her three bits a week in allowance. At this rate, she'd have to work five days a week just to cover her allowance. She also knew that Appple Bloom didn't get her allowance if she didn't do chores around the farm, so presumably, they could be getting less money for all of their hard work. 

"Why don't we go to  the library." Apple Bloom said. 

"Why would we want to go there?" Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Belle agreed with Scootaloo. Books were totally for egg heads. Besides, she'd moved into Rarity's boutique yesterday, and that meant Rarity would have to spend time with her, and do all kinds of sisterly activities with her, didn't it? Maybe she should go over there, and see if Rarity wanted to do something with her. 

"To spy on Twilight Sparkle, of course. She's investigating the death of Babs. We may need to do something to divert attention from us." Apple Bloom said. 

That kind of made sense. Sweetie Belle guessed that she'd be willing to go along with all this, provided that doing something didn't involve hurting anypony. 

The library was dark, and the curtains had been drawn. Sweetie even thought that she saw boards behind the curtains on one of the windows, but that might just have been from Rainbow Dash making an unexpected visit. Scootaloo knocked on the door. 

There was a noise of multiple bolts and chains being withdrawn, and then Twilight appeared on the other side. She was wearing a metal colander on her head, and her muzzle was wrapped with a dripping wet towel. 

"Did you just get out of the shower? Because we can come back later." Sweetie Belle said. 

She really would rather come back later. She did want to talk to Rarity, and she was sure that Apple Bloom had chores that she had to do. It's not like Twilight would automatically suspect the Crusaders of having murdered Babs.

Twilight pulled them inside, slammed the door, and only then removed the towel. 

"Uhm, well, uhm, Err." Twilight stammered. 

Sweetie Belle looked around the room. The windows had been boarded up, and the bookcases had been rearranged in a square, leaving a small open space in the center of the room. It was almost like Twilight was trying to fortify herself against some kind of impending attack. 

Twilight was still stammering and stuttering, and she hadn't said a coherent word yet. Maybe she had somehow found them out. That could be the answer that they were looking for. But wouldn't she have sent a letter to Celestia to help her. Maybe the Royal Guard were already surrounding the building. Twilight's attempts to fortify the place could help them hold out for a while, but there wasn't much that they could do. 

"Well, I was doing some studying. Of Changelings. I was studying Changlings, and I guess I got scared and sort of carried away." Twilight said. "It's not like Sarin and VX can't be absorbed through the skin."

That last part had been much quieter, almost whispered. Twilight removed the colander from her head. Sarin and VX must have been some form of Changeling magic. She wrapped the towel around her neck, and turned to face the Crusaders. 

"Well, if this is a bad time we can leave." Apple Bloom said. "But, you said to come over anytime, so we did." 

"Uh, well that's great. Let's talk." Twilight said. 

She levitated some pillows into the area in the center of the bookcases. The Crusaders sat down on the pillows. 

"Do you want some tea? Cookies? I have fudge?" Twilight asked. 

"I want a cookie!" Scootaloo said.

"Me too!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"Me three!" Apple Bloom added.

"Spike!" Twilight said.

When nothing happened, she called for Spike again. When nothing happened after that, Twilight got up and headed upstairs. 

"Should we tell her that Spike is dead?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"She's bound to figure it out herself." Scootaloo replied. 

"Spike!" Twilight shouted one more time. 

This time, her voice was pitiful and desperate, and tinged with fear. Despite Twilight's position as their enemy, Sweetie Belle felt bad for her. It was after all their fault that Spike was dead. Twilight returned looking badly shaken, tears running down her face. 

Scootaloo had gotten up. Sweetie Belle knew that she didn't like all of this mushy stuff. The Pegasus made her way to one of the tables that had been placed behind the bookshelves. 

"What's this?" Scootaloo asked.

"Uh, nothing. Tell you what, why don't you get rid of it for me." Twilight said. "I have enough on my mind without worrying about things that might not even exist." 

"Get rid of it?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It's an evil book, filled with evil things, but I still can't hurt a book. Maybe if I check it out to you, and you accidentally lose it, I'd still be able to sleep at night." Twilight said. 

"I guess we could do that." Apple Bloom said.

Twilight looked troubled. At first, Sweetie Belle was sure that she was going to decide against letting them lose the book, but she had already started checking it out. 

"Is there any reason that somepony might have wanted to hurt your little friend?" Twilight asked Apple Bloom.

"Our little friend?" Scootaloo said.

"Babs Seed." Twilight answered. 

"Why would you say something silly like that? Ponies don't hurt each other." Sweetie Belle replied. 

"It might not have been a pony. It could have been a Changeling. It has to be the Changelings. That would explain why Vinyl and Lyra are acting so strangely. It all makes perfect sense now." Twilight said. "Ooh, I have to write a letter to Princess Celestia. Spike!" 

The Crusaders ran out of the library at that point. They didn't want to see a repeat of Twilight's reaction to remembering that Spike was dead. 

"I think we are okay as far as Twilight is concerned." Sweetie Belle said. 

"For now." Apple Bloom replied. 

"I really feel bad about Spike. We should have been more careful." Sweetie Belle said.

"How was I supposed to know what I was doing? I had no idea that stuff was that poisonous." Scootaloo said. 

She flicked her tail over to cover her Cutie Mark. This made Sweetie Belle uncomfortable. That was what Babs had done to hide that she didn't have a Cutie Mark. It somehow felt disrespectful to the dead for Scootaloo to do it. 

"What's in the book?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Oh, it looks boring. It's titled The Illustrated Guide to Changeling Weapons so you know it's bound to be boring." Scootaloo said. 

"Well, it may be boring, but it might have useful information in it. Maybe there is some kinds of Changeling weapons that we could use if we had too." Apple Bloom said.

The hurried to the club house to take a look at the book before it got dark.
> Down
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash hadn't seen Flitter in three days. Dash was having enough trouble maintaining the weather schedule as it was. She still couldn't fly, but she was still working to keep the other Pegasi coordinated. Flitter wasn't making this easy on her. With Raindrops still working for Trixie, she was two Pegasi short, not counting herself. There was no way that she could deal with not having enough Pegasi. They'd already been forced to end a rain storm early yesterday, she'd heard a mouthful from Applejack about that. 

There was a problem. Flitter and Cloudchaser lived in a cloud house. Dash had tried to fly the day before, but she hadn't gotten higher than a hover. That meant she was going to have to contact another Pegasus, and have them fly up to Flitter and Cloudchaser's house. 

That meant that Rainbow Dash was going to have to tell another pony that she was incapable of flying herself. There was no way that Dash would ever do that. What if they thought that this was a permanent thing, and decided that Dash wasn't cool anymore? What if this was a permanent thing? 

Dash wasn't certain what she'd do if she couldn't fly anymore. Suicide was probably fairly high on her list, not that she'd ever seriously thought about it in the past. Ponies just didn't kill themselves. Even the bad thoughts had never led her to imagine suicide as a valid option, or even as a option at all.

But, a ground bound Pegasus was a pitiful creature. Being the best flyer in Ponyville only made it worse. Her whole identity was wrapped up in flying. It was who she was, and it was how others knew her. If she couldn't fly, what was she? Nothing! 

Dash headed to Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy was taking care of Dash till she could get her strength up enough to fly, and she'd be willing to go talk to Cloudchaser to see where Flitter was.  Well, maybe. Fluttershy really didn't fly that much, but if Rainbow Dash made a big enough fuss about it, she could probably convince the other Pegasus to help her. 

Fluttershy was home, and feeding her animals lunch. Dash waited for her to finish.

"What's wrong Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked. 

"Flitter hasn't shown up for weather duty in three days." Rainbow Dash said. "Can you fly up and talk to her, and see what's wrong?" 

"I don't know Rainbow Dash, they live awfully high." Fluttershy said. "If it's not too much of a problem, maybe you could just wait. I'm sure Flitter is still in mourning. You wouldn't want her to work if she wasn't ready, that is if it isn't going to cause too much trouble." 

Fluttershy was staring at the floor. Dash knew that she didn't like flying, but they had a thunderstorm that they had to bring in. If she could fly herself, she wouldn't think anything of it. Rainbow Dash really didn't need the other Pegasi on her weather team. She was 20% cooler than any non Wonderbolt Pegasi. 

But she couldn't, and she'd already placed her friends apple crop in danger by shortening one rainstorm. If they had to shorten another one this week, they might have real problems. 

"It is going to cause too much trouble!" Rainbow Dash shouted. 

She flapped her wings, and tried to get airborne. Even though wing power was only a small part of Pegasus flight, Dash's pitiful flapping was barely able to get her airborne. Still, she was climbing, and she maneuvered towards the door.  Fluttershy was blocking her. 

"Uh, Rainbow Dash, I don't think is such a good idea. Maybe you should have another Pegasi fly up to check on Flitter." Fluttershy said. 

"Why don't you do it?" Rainbow Dash asked. 

"You know I hate heights." Fluttershy replied. 

Dash kept flapping towards Fluttershy. Her friend ducked out of the way at the last second, as Dash flew through the open door. She was struggling to gain altitude, and she was barely rooftop height. She kept flying, and trying to climb. 

Flutterhy was flying behind her. But Fluttershy  was barely able to keep up, even with Dash in this weakened state. Rainbow Dash accelerated a bit, trying to lose Fluttershy. She didn't want to have to listen to Fluttershy trying to talk her down the entire way. 

They were at roughly the height of the Ponyville town hall now. Fluttershy was gaining on her now, Dash's attempt to get out ahead of her were only causing her to become more tired out. There was no way that she was going to make it to cloud level right now. That didn't mean that she wasn't going to stop trying. Smashing into the ground in an uncontrolled, accidental dive seemed a million percent cooler than landing and admitting that she was weak. 

Fluttershy broke off her pursuit. Dash kept flying trying to gain more altitude, but her wings were really starting to hurt. She leveled off, barely able to maintain her altitude. Fluttershy was talking to Derpy, and Rainbow Dash slowly made her way over to see what was going on.

"I guess I could go and talk to Flitter." Derpy said. "It doesn't look like Rainbow Dash is going to be able to fly that high." 

Rainbow Dash glared at the other Pegasus, as Derpy flew off. Dash slowly began her descent. Her wings felt like she'd been flying for hours once she finally made it to the ground. She collapsed to the ground as soon as she touched down. Fluttershy spread her forelegs in front of her, bringing her to Dash's eye level. 

"Do you need help getting back to my house?" Fluttershy asked. 

Dash nodded. There was no way she could make it herself.  Fluttershy headed to the library, leaving Dash collapsed in the middle of the road. Luckily, there weren't many ponies around to see her in this weakened state. Unfortunately, she knew some of the ponies that were around. 

"Hey Rainbow Dash! Doing something awesome?" Scootaloo asked.

Dash tried her best to turn and look at Scootaloo, but her legs weren't quite working, and the best she could manage was to pitifully dig her hoof into the dirt. Luckily, Scootaloo seemed didn't seem to notice the state Dash was in. 

"So what are you doing? Did you just do a sonic rainboom?" Scootaloo asked. 

"Nope." Dash replied. 

That was about all of the words that she could say. Unfortunately, Scootaloo and her friends weren't taking the hint that Dash  really wanted to be alone. 

"You look like you could use a party..." Sweetie Belle said, as Scootaloo tapped her flank. 

"Uh, I don't feel like a party right now. I just want to get back to bed." Rainbow Dash replied. 

The Cutie Mark Crusaders scurried off towards their next adventure, their saddlebags bulging out. Dash was once again alone, and she returned to contemplating the misery of her present state. She just wanted to go home, and curl up in bed where nopony could see the horrible mess that she'd become. Derpy returned. 

"Flitter has gone and locked herself in her bathroom. She's ranting and raving about something called a Human wanting to steal her stash. I wasn't quite what she was saying, 'cause she was sticking this blue stuff up her nose." Derpy told Dash. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dash replied. 

"How should I know? I have to go. Trixie wants me to fly over the Everfree Forest tonight, to see if any of the creatures in there need a lawyer." Derpy said as she flew off.

Rainbow Dash was envious of Derpy's ability to fly. Once you started to envy Derpy, you might as well end it all. That kind of meant that you were nothing. 

Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy arrived five minutes after Derpy's departure. Twilight levitated Dash, with her magic taking enough of Dash's weight that her legs were able to move her along. Having Twilight drag her along would have been too embarrassing. Twilight was trying to cheer Dash up, but it wasn't working. She was far too depressed to be cheered up so easily. 

They were drawing closer to the library now. There was thunderously loud music pouring out of a house, and Twilight was looking increasingly agitated. 

"She's been playing that music like that for the last week!" Twilight said. "It's not just that, she had ponies in and out of there at all times of the night. Rose puked in my flowers last night." 

"Wait, somepony came up and puked in your flowers?" Rainbow Dash asked. 

Twilight didn't respond, as a disheveled looking Minuette shuffled by. Minuette knocked on the door of the house that the music was coming from. An even more disheveled Lyra opened the door, and Minuette handed her a few bits. Lyra handed Minuette a bag of blue stuff, and Minuette left. 

"What was that about?" Twilight Sparkle asked. 

Twilight was heading towards the house, and when Dash stayed in the street, Twilight started dragging her. Fluttershy shyly followed them, but Dash knew that her friend was looking for a place to hide. She really didn't want to see the confrontation between her friends, and whoever was in the house. 

Twilight Sparkle knocked on the door. The door opened a crack, and the smell from inside started to waft out. The smell was indescribable, containing equal parts vomit and excrement, mixed with a healthy dose of body odor and rotting hay. Dash hoped that the plumbing had backed up, but judging by the state of the inhabitants that they'd seen, that might not be the case. 

"What do you want? Does the most boring pony in Ponyville want to party?" Lyra asked. 

"Turn off your Music! You've been playing the same song over and over again for the last week! I've almost got it memorized!" Twilight Sparkle shouted. 

Twilight's magic ripped the door open, and she strode into the house. The mess inside was even worse then the smell. There were about twenty ponies in the room beyond. More than half of them were passed out on the floor, lying in their own filth and vomit. It was Rainbow Dash decided, the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. 

Most of the ponies were ignoring Twilight Sparkle. Twilight headed towards the front of the room, where Vinyl Scratch and her turntable were. The turntable was knocked over on its side, and Vinyl Scratch was watching a record spin on it, completely transfixed by the spinning black circle. 

"Turn that music down!" Twilight shouted.

There were ponies pressing in on them now, and Dash felt distinctly uncomfortable. The ponies surrounding them didn't look at all pleased with their intrusion. In fact, Dash almost felt a sense of these ponies wanting to be whatever the exact opposite of friends was. 

Twilight appeared to be oblivious to the attitude in the room, and she was arguing with Vinyl Scratch about turning the music down. Vinyl wasn't aware enough to provide cohesive answers, and she kept repeating the same things over and over again.  Just as it looked like Twilight was making progress, Vinyl would repeat something she'd said a few minutes ago, and the argument would reset to that point. 

The other ponies were still pressing in on them, with clearly hostile faces. She really didn't like the look that Caramel was giving her. It was a hungry look, and Rainbow Dash didn't want to think about what part of her he was hungry for. 

"Maybe we should get out of here." Rainbow Dash said. 

Twilight ignored her, and kept arguing with Vinyl Scratch. They were rehashing the same part of the argument that they'd spent the last five minutes on. If she waited for Twilight, she might very well be in danger. She had to act. She grabbed Twilight by the tail, and dragged her out of the room. 
> Coming up Empty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle stared at Rainbow Dash. 

"Why did you pull me out of there? I was starting to get her to listen to me." Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash was looking at her with an annoyed face. 

"I live two blocks away, and that music is so loud that I can't even get in my daily pleasure studying." Twilight replied. 

Dash shrugged. 

"Is there like some blue stuff that makes ponies act all crazy?" Dash asked. "'Cause Derpy said that Flitter had some blue stuff, and she was acting all crazy, and I noticed that Vinyl Scratch had blue powder stuck on her fur around her nostrils.  What if it's poison joke?"

"Why would Vinyl Scratch be holding poison joke up to her nostrils?" Twilight asked. 

Dash didn't have an answer to this, and she just shuffled her hooves nervously. Twilight ignored the panicky Pegasus. Maybe one of the books in the library had a sound deadening spell. She'd just been reading about such spells the other day, but they were difficult magic, and some of them had nasty side effects, like trapping ponies inside of them. That wasn't going to be appropriate for here, so she was going to have to continue her research. 

Twilight took her leave of Dash, and headed back towards the library. The Pegasus just stood there for a few seconds before following her. 

"Something is going on here, and I'm not going to rest till I figure out what it is." Rainbow Dash said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap." 

Twilight didn't feel like pointing out the flaws in her friend's logic. The confrontation in Vinyl's house had drained her of her desire to correct everypony temporarily. Besides, she had to study sound deadening spells. That is, if she ever wanted to get an real studying done. She was certain that the princess was in the process of testing her studies of friendship, and she had to be ready to tackle anything that the princess could send at her. 

When she got to the library, Applejack was waiting for her outside. Applejack was standing there nervously. 

"Hey Twi, have Apple Bloom and her friends been spending lots of time at the library studying?" Applejack asked.

"Err, they were here the other day, and they spent some time here, but they weren't doing any studying." Twilight responded.

"That's odd. Apple Bloom said that they'd been studying at the library every day this week." Applejack said. "You don't think they're doing that party powder stuff?" 

"Party Powder?" Twilight asked. 

"They say it makes ponies party all day. I don't put much stock in them rumors, 'Specially since everypony is blamin' Zecora fer it." 

"Why would they blame Zecora?" Twilight asked.

"They say that it looks like Zebra magic." Applejack said. 

Twilight couldn't believe that the townsponies were still being so speciesist a year after Twilight and her friends had befriended Zecora. Twilight felt a public lecture series on non pony Equines, was needed, and she was just the pony to do it. 

"You know, I've been preparing a lecture on how Zebras are just like us. Maybe I should present it." Twilight said.

Applejack just blinked at her.

Well, it had been a good idea. Giving a lecture on the subject was of course Twilight's solution to every problem. Not that most ponies like that solution. 

"Do you think that Apple Bloom is on the party powder?" Applejack asked. 

"I think you need to calm down. I haven't seen any evidence that this party powder even exists." Twilight said, without any sense of irony.

"Well Sugar, now I know how hollow it feels when we all tell you to calm down." Applejack replied. 

Twilight ignored her. Applejack looked like she was thinking hard about something. If Applejack was thinking hard, that meant that she was really concerned about what was going on with Apple Bloom and her friends. 

"Maybe Apple Bloom and I could go on a camping trip. You know, I bet I can get Rarity and Sweetie Belle to go as well. That'll let us get to the bottom of this whole thing with Apple Bloom." Applejack said.

Twilight just stood there. She wasn't sure of how to convince her friend that there wasn't anything wrong with Apple Bloom. She just didn't know what to do. She wasn't very good at persuading other ponies. Applejack was still staring at the ground now, obviously embarrassed at suspecting Apple Bloom of using mind altering substances. 

Well, a camping trip wouldn't be that bad. That was as long as Applejack wasn't too pushy.

The Crusaders had finished their party powder deliveries early. They were relaxing in their club house, counting the few bits that they'd managed to earn. Sweetie Belle had divided up their earnings, and they'd managed to earn a bit and a half each. That still put them at less than five bits each for three days of hard work. This wasn't the life of glamour that Trixie had implied that they'd be living. 

There was a knock as Applejack appeared at the top of the ladder to the club house. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom hastily hid the bits, while Sweetie Belle blocked Applejack's view.

"Hey y'all, whats going on?" Applejack asked.

"Uhm nothing. Absolutely nothing." Sweetie Belle replied. 

"Yeah, nothing happenin' here." Apple Bloom added.

Apple Bloom looked at them, with what Sweetie Belle could have sworn was a suspicious gaze. There was no way that Applejack was suspicious of them. Sure, they'd used the insecticide from the Apple family barn, but Apple Bloom had reassured them repeatedly that they'd taken so little that there was no way that Applejack was suspicious. 

"What brings you out here?" Scootaloo asked. 

"Well, I was thinkin' that with these unpleasant things goin' on around here, I ain't been spendin' much time with Apple Bloom." Applejack said. 

"We've spent plenty of time together." Apple Bloom replied. 

So they'd gotten panicked over nothing. Applejack just wanted to take a camping trip with them on the weekend. It sounded totally cool! Rarity and Rainbow Dash were going to go too, and it was going to be the coolest camping trip ever. 
> Sleepless
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's like so cool!" Scootaloo shouted. "I mean, Rainbow Dash is going to be going on a camp out with me!" 

Sweetie Belle was genuinely happy for the little Pegasus, even if she had spent the last two hours gushing about how Rainbow Dash  was coming with them, to the point where even Sweetie Belle was starting to be annoyed. 

They were at Sweet Apple Acres, waiting for Rarity to arrive with her things. Judging by the amount of packing that she'd had done when she'd kicked Sweetie Belle out of the Carousel boutique, it was going to take a long time. Not that there was space to fit it all in...

Rainbow Dash landed outside, and Scootaloo ran to greet her idol. Now that Dash could fly again, maybe Scootaloo would get out of the funk that she'd spent the last few weeks in. Silver Horizon had even noticed Scootaloo's mood, and she'd started discreetly asking questions about if Scootaloo really wanted to keep selling Party Powder. Sweetie Belle didn't want to think about what would happen to them if Silver Horizon decided that they really didn't want to sell Party Powder. 

No, their sisters were the elements of Harmony. If push came to shove, Celestia would believe them over some strange pony. Maybe they could even help the evidence point to Silver Zephyr and his family. That's what they should have done, instead of making things worse by trying to sell their party powder. 

Well, it wasn't too late to change course now. They could still make it look like Silver Zephyr had poisoned all of those ponies. It would take a lot of work, because Sweetie Belle couldn't remember if Silver Zephyr or Silver Horizon had even been at the party. 

Wait, there were plenty of ponies that had seen them selling party powder. That would put a serious dent in their credibility. Well, maybe. Sweetie Belle wasn't sure. This kind of thing wasn't exactly her her of expertise. Well, actually it wasn't any ponies area of expertise. There wasn't a pony in all of Equestria that had ever pulled off a lie on the scale that the crusaders were now pulling off.  Ponies might lie about little things, but they didn't tall gigantic fibs. 

While Sweetie had been letting her mind wander, Rarity had arrived outside. She was levitating a suitcase along, while complaining to anypony foolish enough to get close how she was going to have to rough it with so few creature comforts 

Apple Bloom and Applejack headed outside, so Sweetie Belle followed them. It only took a few minutes for the other ponies to split the remaining supplies between them, and they set into into the afternoon. 

"I've been hearing bad things about this Party Powder stuff." Applejack said.

Sweetie Belle nearly jumped out of her skin at the mention of party powder. She hadn't thought about what they'd say if their siblings or any other pony became suspicious of them. In fact, there excuse that they'd been studying at Twilight's library had been a bad one. Why had they even felt a need to give an excuse? It wasn't like Applejack knew where they were at all times. Why, they were always disappearing on one of their Crusades. 

Actually, the real reason behind them giving an excuse was simple. They'd been certain that everypony was instantly going to recognize that they were up to no good, so Apple Bloom had decided that they'd had to give an excuse. But, they'd been wrong. Nopony had been able to tell that they'd been doing something that might qualify as legally questionable, if not downright illegal. 

So now, they had to deal with the fallout from having told Applejack a easily discovered lie. A lie that she might very well have already figured. What if that was why she was asking the question? What would they do? They had to think of something fast. What if they were being dragged into the forest so that Applejack could force them to confess? What if Celestia was going to jump out and turn them to statues at any time? 

"I've heard that it killed some foal who only tried it once in Las Pegasus." Rarity said. 

"You three wouldn't know anything about something silly like party powder would ya'?" Applejack asked. 

"Nah, they're way too radically awesome, and awesomely radical to do something as silly as party powder. Right?" Rainbow Dash said. 

The Crusaders walked on in silence. Sweetie Belle tried to get closer to Apple Bloom to try and work out a strategy. But, Applejack was too close to allow them to whisper. 

"You know, I heard that party powder stuff rots out all of your teeth." Rarity said, continuing the litany of sins caused by party powder that her and Applejack had spent the last hour preaching. 

Sweetie Belle wondered where all of these so called facts about party powder had come from. From what she'd gathered from Flim and Flam, they'd only invented it a month ago.

Was it possible for all of a ponies teeth to rot out in the course of a month, or were ponies just spreading random stories? Sweetie Belle wasn't sure that she wanted to know the answer. It was hard enough selling party powder seeing what it did to some of the ponies that had bought it, if was capable of rotting teeth, it would make it that much more difficult to continue their work. 

Finally, Sweetie Belle was able to get Apple Bloom off by herself. They spent a few minutes discussing what to do.

"Well, it sounds like my sister just thinks that we're usin' that party powder stuff." Apple Bloom said. 

Apple Bloom was the smart one, so Sweetie Belle decided to take her work for it. 

"I say we do nothin'. If it looks like we need to admit to something, I guess we might as well admit to usin'. Just follow me if it comes to that." 

Sweetie Belle wouldn't have any problem going along with whatever Apple Bloom wanted to do if things got really bad. At least Apple Bloom seemed to have a plan, which was more than could be said for either Scootaloo, or herself. Apple Bloom was already trying to solve the problem of how to talk to her, without Rainbow Dash hearing the whole thing. It was going to be difficult, because Scootaloo had been pestering Rainbow Dash the entire time they'd been together. In fact, if Sweetie Belle hadn't been friends with Scootaloo, she would have felt sorry for Rainbow Dash. 

It was much later, and everypony was sitting around the campfire. Nopony had said another word about party powder. She'd talked to Apple Bloom, and Apple Bloom was already dismissing the incident as an attempt by their sisters into scaring them into not doing party powder. If that was the case, then it was an unnecessary effort. The Crusaders had no plans to ever try their product, ever. 

The fire was starting to die down, and Apple Bloom had already fallen asleep. Sweetie Belle had half been expecting some kind of attempt to get them to confess. She'd listened, terrified as Applejack had suggested various campfire activities, half expecting the next one to be some silly sort of game where everypony had to tell some deep dark secret. Applejack had decided on telling ghost stories instead. 

"Well, I guess that's enough for me." Applejack said. 

She stood up, and walked over to Apple Bloom. She deftly maneuvered the little filly onto her back, and headed towards her tent. Rarity also headed towards the two story monstrosity of a tent that she was sharing with Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle followed Rarity to the tent. There wasn't much use in staying out here.

Sweetie Belle was surrounded by ponies. They were all shouting that she was a murderer. Even Bab's was getting in on the act, her partly decayed flesh falling out in clumps as she denounced her killer. Sweetie Belle backed away. Her accusers pressed towards her. She turned around, so she could gallop away from the scene. 

She bumped into Rarity. Her hoof mutated into a monkey hoof, and she was holding one of the strange metal things from the videos. 

"Is it true? Did you really kill somepony?" Rarity asked. 

"Uh, uhm." Sweetie Belle muttered. 

Her hoof was pulling hard on the metal thing sticking out of the bottom. Sweetie Belle didn't want to know what happened when she pulled it. Something told her it wasn't a good thing, or at least it wouldn't be good with the thing pointed at Rarity. 

Something changed, and her hoof came back under her control. A shape took form next to her. It was Princess Luna. 

"What is going on here!" Luna shouted. 

Sweetie Belle wanted to know the answer to the same question.
> Over
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna stared at the scene before her. Sweetie Belle was in the middle of a crowd of faceless ponies, who were accusing her of murder. Even Rarity was getting in on the act. 

"What is happening here!" Luna shouted. 

She hadn't meant to sound mean, it's just that well, she was stressed. Even though she was cooperating, Dr. Foally just kept coming up with new requirements for her. It wasn't enough that she was cooperating. No, Luna had to learn how to socialize with other ponies without resorting to the royal we, or the Royal Canterlot voice. She was sure that once she met that requirement, another one would come down, and then another. Luna was sick of spending her days with the craziest foals in Equestria. She wanted to go home. 

She paused the dream, and replaced the endless void with the Carousel Boutique, and the faceless ponies with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Sweetie Belle's parents. A massive cake and some party hats completed the scene. Luna took a step back to analyze her work. This was one of her better jobs, if she had to say so herself. 

Sweetie Belle burst into tears. "It's all our faults! We killed the whole town!" 

Luna stared at the filly. "How can you say something like that? It was an accident. It would have happened if you decorated those cupcakes or not."

Luna got a good look at Sweetie  Belle's hoof. "What's that?" 

"It's a thing that... I mean I don't know," Sweetie replied. 


Luna flicked her tail, and the strange object became a cake knife. "Look, it seems like things are going bad, but Twilight Sparkle is going to take care of everything. She'll bring the evil monster that hurt your classmates to justice, and everyone will be happy. Just you wait and see."

Sweetie Belle blinked, and Luna watched as she joined in the party. Luna bid the foal goodnight, and moved onto her next target, Twilight Sparkle. 

Unlike Sweetie Belle, Twilight was having a pleasant dream. She was a little foal, curled up in a ball reading a book by the fire in Celestia's study. Luna rapped her hoof loudly on the floor, causing Twilight to explode to her full adult size. 

"Hey! I was having a nice dream!" Twilight said. 

Luna ignored her. "You should really talk to those foals."

"Which foals?" Twilight asked. 

"You know, the ones that manage to cause enough mayhem and destruction in their attempts to gain a Cutie Mark that they manage to make it into my sisters royal reports," Luna replied. 

"Oh, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They're harmless. Well, mostly harmless." 

"They seem to blame themselves for the calamity that befell your fair town." 

"It wasn't their fault." 

"Maybe you should make it more clear to them that they aren't to blame," Luna said. 

"I've figured out our problem. The Changlings are invading again. They've replaced some of the local ponies, but the replaced ponies are acting so out of character that even a foal could see that something was wrong," Twilight said. "I sent a letter to Celestia, but she just told me to get some sleep, and not to worry about it." 

"My sister needs to get her head out of her plot," Luna said. "Why do you think it is Changlings?" 

"It's the obvious answer. Why else would ponies suddenly start acting completely different? They must have been behind whatever happened at Sugar Cube corner as well." 

"How did they do it?" 

"How should I know? I should probably go there and see if I could pick up any evidence of the Changling's methods. Maybe there is some kind of secret that we could use to stop them." 

"How would Changlings get access to information from Other Places? Changelings are not known for being explorers or scholars." 

"I know! Maybe they have somepony helping them!" Twilight said. 

"Perhaps," Luna replied. 

"Hey, can you wake me up now?" Twilight asked. "There is something important that I have to do." 




The Great and Powerful Trixie had been awakened by a pounding at her door. She opened it, expecting to see some pony in desperate need of legal assistance. Instead, she saw Twilight Sparkle.

The purple unicorn violently pushed her way into the wagon, grabbing one of the awards from Trixie's wall in her magic and swinging it menacingly. Trixie backed away, but she was running out of wagon fast. 

"IKnowWhatYouDid!" Twilight said. "Confess and I'll let you live long enough for Celestia to banish you." 

Trixie reared up against the back wall. "I don't have any idea what your talking about... Err I mean The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't have any idea of what your talking about." 

Trixie felt the plaque connect with her head violently. She instinctively dropped to all fours, her front hooves covering her head. 

Twilight advanced again, her eyes glowing with animal furry. "You killed Spike!" 

The plaque rained a bone shattering series of blows down on Trixie. 

"You mean that Dragon that you kept as a slave?" 

"He was my assistant! He liked helping me!" Twilight shouted. 

"Did you pay him?" Trixie replied. 

The increase in the violence of Twilight's attack answered that question. For a minute, Trixie considered telling Twilight Sparkle who had been responsible for Spike's death. But, then Trixie would lose her in with Silver Zephyr. He'd sent her a number of small time associates who'd been arrested for smuggling, and he had connections to the Griffon underworld. Trixie didn't want to lose easy money, and she most definitely didn't want to lose the ability to spend that money. 

Twilight suddenly backed off. She spent a few seconds staring at the bloody plaque in her magic, before galloping out Trixie's door. 

"Come back her you brute! Or at least give me my award back!" Trixie shouted after her.