A potion untested, and good intentions. And the horror that then ensues.
While Twilight is away, Applejack happens across one of her untested potions. She decides to test it out, and report to her friend on how well it works.
“Twilight? TWIIIIILIGHT! Are you down here?” Applejack says, as she descends into Twilight’s basement laboratory.
“Consarn it! I guess she already left on her trip. I really needed another bottle of that liniment she concocted for Granny’s arthritis. I wonder if she has anymore already made up?”
Applejack began to pace around the spacious, yet somewhat cluttered laboratory. The center of which was dominated by a huge table. Atop it was a complex series of tubes, and beakers. Along the length of one wall were shelves of scrolls and books of magic. Along another were sections of tall shelves filled with potions. Each section was labeled differently. Applejack began reading them off as she walked by them.
“Experimental, Testing Stage, Helpful, Dangerous, Extremely Dangerous, Armageddon Level Dangerous. Dang Twi, why would you even have stuff like this? Gettin a real mad scientist vibe goin on down here.”
Applejack returns to the shelf marked ‘Helpful’.
“Well dang! Here it is! Granny will be glad to see this! I’ll just leave Twi a note for when she gets back.”
But then, as she prepares to leave, something catches her eye on the ‘Testing Stage’ Shelf.
“Efficiency potion? Well now, that’s a thing.” She picks up the bottle, and begins to read the label. “Potion to help clear the mind. It allows the user to be able to focus on completing your tasks more efficiently.
Now that there, is a useful potion. Hmm, Twi has it on the ‘Testin’ shelf. Well, maybe I can give her a hoof with that. Anything that will make things go more smoothly on the farm is worth tryin out, and I can give Twi a report on how well it works.”
Applejack puts both potions in her pack, amends, the note she left for Twilight, and makes her way back home.
Prologue 2
Three days later...
“I can’t believe this!” Applejack says, looking at the long line of ponies and carts stretched before her.
“We have one main bridge through Ponyville, and of course two carts just have to have an accident in the middle of it. I’m losing all the time I made up over the last few days just trying to get these apples to market. Inefficient! That's what it is!"
Applejack leaves her cart, and makes her way up the the edge of the bridge. She studies the scene for a moment, watching the two ponies argue as to whose fault the accident was, instead of trying to clean up the spill and get off the bridge. On the far side of the bridge can be seen another long line of ponies waiting to cross.
“Inefficient!” Applejack thinks to herself. “If those two want to argue, they should do it someplace else and let the rest of us be on our way. They are lowering the efficiency of the whole dang town!”
Applejack moves to a nearby bench.
“I suppose the most efficient use of my time, is ta go ahead and have lunch while I wait for this to be sorted out.”
Applejack opens a small lunch box. Inside are neatly wrapped sandwiches, an apple, and a small container of juice. She begins to eat, letting her gaze roam around town, but taking no pleasure in what she sees.
Two colts play with a filly in front of their parents shop. “Inefficient! Those three should be inside helpin their parents.”
An old pony pulls a cart down a side street, one of it’s wheels cracked and warped. “Inefficient! He shoulda had that fixed. It’s just makin him slower, an it’ll break soon, stoppin his productivity.”
She sees two ponies talking, leaning against the well in the center of town. “By tha Sky Stallion! Look at them just standing there! Completely inefficient! Dang it! This whole town is inefficient! An it’s causin ME ta be inefficient! This has gotta stop!”
She looks back at the two ponies once more, leaning against the town well.
“Hmm. Applebloom is getting pretty good at makin potions. I bet she could use Twilight’s notes and make another batch of that efficiency potion. A great big batch! Big enough ta dump down the town well. That would get this town back on track I bet! Get things movin again. Make things more efficient!”
Her mind made up, Applejack neatly repacks her lunch, and begins to make her way toward Twilight’s castle.
I’m finally back home from the Equestrian Conference of World leaders. The last few weeks have been so interesting! Learning more about other cultures, their magic, their sciences, and the food!
I’m sure I must have gained five pounds, but I can’t wait for my friends to try out all the recipes that I brought back. I can’t wait to see them all tomorrow, but for now it’s off to bed. That train ride home was a long one, and I got home quite late. Everything can wait for one more night…
The next morning Twilight awoke. It was a few hours after dawn when she made her way downstairs, the smell of pancakes rising to greet her muzzle. She trotted to the kitchen to find Spike hard at work cleaning the morning dishes.
“You should eat your pancakes while they are still hot. Coffee is ready, and you have three weeks of correspondence to go through,” he says, pointing at a stack of scrolls on the end of the table.
“Good morning to you too Spike.” Twilight responds, slightly annoyed to be given work to do the first morning since her return. “Has anything interesting happened while I’ve been away?”
“It’s been a very productive few weeks.” He replies, continuing his cleaning. “I’ve cleaned each room of the castle, organized the mess you left in your lab, your bedroom, and the library. And yesterday I finished planting the spring crops.”
“Spring crops? We have a garden?”
“We do now. The area to the east side of the castle has really good sunlight, and the ground wasn’t being used for anything other than useless shrubbery. Growing our own vegetables is more efficient than having to go to town and BUY them.”
“Wow Spike! That’s a great idea! I’m really proud of you!”
“Thanks Twi, I’m just trying to help you run this place as efficiently as possible. Although I must say, I wish we had a smaller home. All of these rooms, are so unnecessary. So...inefficient.” He says, one of his eyes starting to twitch.
“I know Spike,” Twilight says, not looking up from the scrolls she was going through. “I miss our cozy little library. But I suppose a princess living in a library doesn’t really give off the proper image.”
“I… see.” Spike said thoughtfully. “So, to most efficiently do your job, it is important for you to be taken seriously by everypony. And a proper castle will help them to do so. I understand.”
“Ye-es, that is one way to look at it I suppose.” Twilight says finishing her breakfast after setting down the last of the scrolls before her. “These,” she says pointing to a small stack, “can be put on my desk for later correspondence, the rest can go in the trash” she says preparing to throw them away.
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Spike says, snatching the discards away. “These can go in the compost bin. We can reuse them in the garden. Throwing them in the trash would just be inefficient!”
“Okay, okay! Take it easy Spike! Sheesh, I didn’t know you liked gardening so much!” She says, taken aback at Spike’s attitude. “Well, whatever. I’m going into town for awhile. I want to catch up with my friends and see what’s been going on since I’ve been gone.”
“That isn’t a very efficient use of your time Twilight.” Spike says, a hint of anger in his voice.
“It is to me,” Twilight replies, getting up and leaving the kitchen.
“What has gotten into him?” She thinks to herself, as she makes her way to the castle doors. “He seemed almost… angry?”
She emerged into sunlight. The weather was perfect, the sky was clear, and the temperature comfortable, with a slight breeze blowing. She began trotting toward the outskirts of town, intending to see Fluttershy first, then passing by Rarity’s Boutique, then Pinkie Pie’s and finally ending her trip at Applejack’s farm.
The streets seemed oddly quiet as various ponies went about their business. Twilight could see dozens of ponies hurrying about their tasks, but they were all silent. No greetings to each other, no casual conversations, it seemed everyone was in a hurry.
“How odd,” Twilight thought, “is the weather supposed to change? Or is there some event coming up that I don’t know about? I’ll have to ask Fluttershy.
It took Twilight a little over half an hour to make her way to Fluttershy’s cottage. Once on the outskirts of town, away from the houses and farms, Twilight began to once again appreciate how beautiful and natural Fluttershy chose to live. However as she approached the house, the wind shifted in her direction, and her senses were assaulted by a sickening stench. The smell was nauseating, permeating her very pores. It was a smell that Twilight almost never had to endure. The smell of rotting meat.
The stench was everywhere. It got into her nose first, then her mouth, and then her eyes began to water. Unable to contain herself, she bent over the side of the road, and threw up the contents of her morning meal.
“Sweet Celestia, what happened out here?” She says aloud, her horn flaring as she magically began to filter the air around her.
As she regained her breath, she began to hear buzzing. Thousands of jet black flies, all beating their wings at once. It set her teeth on edge.
“What in Equestia is going on?”
She began galloping towards Fluttershy’s house, her imagination running wild. Fear for her friend making her heart pound. She skidded to a halt at Fluttershy’s front door. Hoof trembling, heart beating wildly in her chest, she knocked upon it.
“Just a minute! I’ll be right there!”
It was Fluttershy’s voice. She was okay. “Oh thank Celestia”, Twilight thought in relief, her breath escaping in a huge sigh. Then Fluttershy opened the door...
She was covered in blood.
“Twilight! You’re back! Please come in!” She said, not at all concerned with the blood dripping from her hooves and wings. Bits of unidentifiable flesh clung to her in places, an occasional piece falling to the floor when she moved. “Excuse the mess, I wasn’t expecting company today. Can I get you anything?”
“N-no.” Twilight replies, still shocked at her friends appearance.
“Oh, okay. Well then, do you mind if we talk while I work? It’s more efficient that way.”
“Sure. Um, that’s fine. Uh Fluttershy, is that… blood?”
“Oh, um yes. You see it’s more efficient to just finish all the work first and then clean it off.” She says, leading her friend through the house and into the back yard.
“Work? What work?” Twilight says, but then stops short at the doorway, stunned speechless at what she sees.
The back yard is filled with corpses. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead animals. All neatly sorted into piles, each of their own species.
Twilight’s eyes go wide in horror as she watches as Fluttershy calmly makes her way to the farthest stack. Beside it are a barrel partially filled with guts, organs, and meat. Another barrel was filled with bones, and a pile of animal skins lay next to it. Fluttershy takes a seat between the barrels, reaches for a carcass off of the pile, and begins to cut it open with a long sharp knife. Humming as she does so.
“F-Fluttershy… what... what in Celestia’s name are you doing?”
“I’m processing dead animals Twilight.” She says, neatly gutting the corpse of a rabbit.
“But, but why?” Twilight says, holding herself against the door frame, as she tries not to retch once more.
“Well we can’t let the remains of all these poor creatures just go to waste. That would be inefficient.” She says, dumping the guts in the barrel as she begins to de-bone the meat. “All of the meat and organs can be used to feed the carnivorous animals of the forest, all of the skins and furs can be used to make warm clothes, and the bones can be ground down into fertilizer. Nothing should go to waste Twilight, it wouldn’t be right.”
“Oh, I see.” Twilight says, beginning to calm down. “So whatever happened to these animals, you were just making sure that they didn’t die in vain.”
“Exactly.” Fluttershy says smiling. “I love ALL the woodland creatures, I couldn’t bear to just let there bodies rot away. That would be incredibly wasteful. Inefficient”
“But Fluttershy, what exactly happened to all of-” Suddenly Twilight cuts herself off as Discord appears in the yard before her.
“This should be the last of the rabbits.” Discord says, dumping a load of fresh corpses on the pile of rabbits nearby. “I’ll start culling the squirrels next. But can we take a break after that? Honestly, there are just so many of them, and they all make this horrible crunching sound when I snap their necks.”
“DISCORD!” Twilight shouts, “What have you done? What are you making Fluttershy do?!?”
“Twilight? Oh thank the Sky Stallion you’re back! Maybe you can talk some sense into her. She’s had me killing animals for weeks now. Now I’ll be the first to admit, that I’m still all about chaos whenever possible, but this kind of thing is NOT something that I enjoy. Tell me you can change her mind about this.”
“Change her mind? This was FLUTTERSHY’S idea?” Twilight says, turning to face her friend. “What in Tartarus is going on here?!?”
“Well, first off. Discord if you don’t like the sound, then just teleport them into a barrel of water until they drown. And we can take a break when it’s time for dinner.” Fluttershy says as she neatly finishes skinning her current pelt and reaches for a fresh body.
“As for what I am doing Twilight, I’m helping all of my animal friends in the most efficient way possible.”
“Helping them? You’re having Discord slaughter them for you!”
“Not slaughter Twilight. Cull. He’s culling them for me. I’m not sure how much you know about wild animals Twilight, but I know quite a lot. Every species of animal, from the largest to the smallest, needs the same basic things to be happy and thrive. They all need a certain amount of territory depending on their size and species, they need a certain minimum of natural resources, and they need a certain amount of predator species to keep their numbers in check. Unfortunately, all of these factors are always in flux. If there isn’t enough food, some species will starve, if there aren’t enough predators, smaller species will overpopulate and then consume too many natural resources, and then they too will starve. It’s an incredibly inefficient system.
What I’m doing is fixing all of that. First I’m having Discord cull all the overpopulated animals. Then he will use his magic to balance the ecologies in the forest. After that it’s only a matter of keeping track of population growth. Then all of my animal friends will finally be as happy and fulfilled as possible!”
“Fluttershy… this, this is crazy! Trying to control nature? Killing animals to save them? Fluttershy, something is wrong with your mind. Badly, badly, wrong. We need to take you back to the castle. I can fix this! I just need to run a few tests to see what happened to you,” Twilight says, reaching out a hoof toward her friend.
“Don’t TOUCH me!” Fluttershy says, pointing her knife at Twilight. “I don’t have TIME to waste on tests! Do you see all these bodies? If I stop, then some of them will rot! Think of the WASTE Twilight! It would be worse than disrespectful to them, it would be INEFFICIENT!”
Hurt, Twilight backs away from her friend.
“I’ll be back Fluttershy. I’ll fix this.” She says, backing her way into the house.
“Close the doors on your way out,” Fluttershy says to her retreating form. “The flies have been terrible recently.”
As Twilight turns to leave, Discord appears in front of her. “I’m truly sorry you had to see that. Please tell me that you can DO something.”
“Me? Can’t YOU do something? What’s happened to her? And why are you helping her”
“Twilight, don’t you think I’ve tried. The problem is, that I don’t know what’s causing this. If I imprison her she gets violent, and starts hurting herself trying to get free. Should I enslave her mind, and leave her just a shell? No, I decided that as long as she isn’t a threat to other ponies, that I would let her do as she pleases. As to why I’m helping her, do I really have to say it Twilight?”
“Because you love her.” Twilight says solemnly.
“Yes.” Discord admits. “But it’s been hard Twilight, so very, very, hard. Angel was the worst.”
“Angel? Angel Bunny? Wait, where is he?” Twilight says, frantically looking around the house.
“He wouldn’t leave.” Discord says, tears forming at the corner of his eyes. “Fluttershy decided that having a pet was an inefficient waste of resources. She said that he could survive perfectly well on his own. But he wouldn’t leave. I tried everything I could, even teleported him to the other side of the Everfree, but he kept coming back. Finally Fluttershy had had enough, and she made me…” Discord’s voice trails off, unable to finish.
“Oh sweet Celestia! We’ve got to DO something, figure out what made her become this way!”
“Twilight. It’s not just her. It’s everypony. Every pony in Ponyville has been behaving like this. I try to check on our friends when I can, but Fluttershy keeps me constantly busy. Please, you need to find a way to stop this!”
“All of Ponyville is like this?” Twilight says incredulously.
She thinks back to this morning. Spike’s behavior. Everypony hurrying around town, but no-one speaking to each other.
“I need to go check on them.” Twilight says. “I need to make sure that our friends are okay. But I’ll be back. I’ll find a way to fix this. I promise.”
Discord’s face becomes slightly less strained. “Thank you Twilight. I’ll keep her safe until you return. Who would you like to see first? I can send you there.”
“Rarity first then. I can make my way to Pinkie’s from there.” Twilight says.
“All right then. Good luck!” And with that, Discord snaps his claw.
Twilight appeared outside Rarity’s Boutique. She took a moment to prepare herself before knocking.
After what she had witnessed with Fluttershy, and if what Discord had said was true about this… madness affecting everypony, she had no idea what to expect from her friend.
Finally, she knocked on the door. A moment later Rarity answered.
“Twilight? Oh Twilight darling, how wonderful it is to see you! Do come inside.” Rarity said, seeming genuinely happy to see her friend.
Twilight walked inside. Rarity seemed her usual self. Not covered in blood and viscera at least. She led Twilight through her shop and into the back workroom. Twilight noticed however as the passed through the display room that there had been radical changes in Rarity’s life as well.
Gone were all the displays of beautiful and unique dresses and hats. Instead her mannequins displayed winter coats, backpacks, saddlebags, and straw hats. The accessories display now contained a variety of tool belts, harnesses, and leather goods.
“You got rid of your dresses?” Twilight inquired carefully.
“Oh yes. They were so very impractical. Why, we ponies don’t even need to wear clothing, except in the wintertime of course. Now I devote my efforts to making practical items. And to that end, I’ve begun to cure my own leather. It’s much more efficient.” Rarity says as they enter her workshop.
Twilight looked around at the changes to what was once her sewing room. Packed tightly edge to edge along all the walls were tanning racks each containing a tightly stretched hide. Sweetie Bell was mixing up some foul smelling concoction which Twilight could only assume was tanning solution. Rarity motioned for her friend to sit down, as she returned to a stack of cured hide, and began cutting off the rough edges.
“Hey Twilight!” Sweetie Bell called. “Good to see you back!”
“Nice to see you too Sweetie Bell. So you’re home from school helping your sister?” Twilight says, settling onto a stool.
“Oh, I don’t go to school anymore,” She responds cheerfully. “Not ever since the purge.”
“The… purge?”
“Yeah. It was Miss Cheerilee’s idea. About three weeks ago she told the class that it was inefficient to continue teaching ponies who would never benefit from it. So she called all of our names, one by one, and sorted us into three groups based on our aptitude and test score average.
The first group was the ones with the highest scores. They, she said, would continue to attend school. The second group she said, were ponies that would not benefit from further education, but could still become useful members of society. Apple Bloom and I was in that group. The third group were the ponies with the lowest scores, poor attendance, and what she considered poor moral character. These, she said, were a waste of time and resources, and would grow up to only be a burden on society. Scootaloo was in that group.”
“So what happened to Scootaloo after that?” Twilight asks.
“Oh, she’s right over there.” Sweetie Bell says calmly, as she points to a nearby tanning rack.
Twilight’s jaw goes slack as she gazes in horror at where Sweetie Bell is pointing. She gets up, and walks slowly over to it. It was a small tanning rack. The hide stretched across it is undoubtedly the same color as Scootaloo’s. Then she saw it, on the lower right side, it was Scootaloo’s cutie mark.
Twilight whipped her head around, intending to shout bitter accusations at what Sweetie Bell had done to her friend. But then she noticed the tears streaming from her eyes.
“Sweetie Bell?” She said softly.
“Oh, what’s this?” She says wiping a tear and looking at her hoof. “I wonder why I’m crying? Really now, this is horribly inefficient.”
“Yes it is.” Rarity observes. “Come now, back to work, we have a lot of hides to get through before dinner.”
Twilight turns toward her friend. “Is that all you have to say?!? Her best friend is dead, and you’re okay with this?”
“Twilight, we’ve all lost ponies that were important to us in the last few weeks. We can’t just simply stop what we are doing and waste time mourning them. That would be inefficient.”
“What do you mean ‘we’ve all lost ponies’. What ELSE has been going on?” Twilight says, becoming more and more angry.
“Well, you see it didn’t take long for word to spread about what Cheerilee had done. Once the mayor found out about it she decided that although Cheerilee had a good idea, the scale of it was too small. She had everypony gather in the town square, and made an announcement to us all. All ponies that were too old, infirm, or crippled to be useful members of society would need to gather at the community center for purging. All nonessential businesses were to either be re-purposed, or closed down immediately to avoid wasting resources that could be put to better use. Any pony that lost there job, and could not find other employment to be a useful member of society, was to report to the community center for purging.”
“By Celestia! Are you saying that all those elderly ponies, all the sick and infirm… you all killed them?”
“Don’t be silly Twilight,”Rarity responds, “We didn’t kill them, for one thing I was far too busy. No, they all killed themselves.”
“What!”
“Well it was their duty you see. Once they were made aware of how inefficient there existence was to society as a whole, it was the only thing they COULD do.” Rarity said simply.
“This is insane! You’ve all gone insane! Everypony that they declared as useless just trotted up and killed themselves! It’s madness!” Twilight says, bitter tears forming as she rages at her friend.
“Well,” Rarity says hesitantly. “Not EVERY pony. There was one who didn’t go quietly to purge herself. As far as I know she’s still out there. Hiding somewhere, squandering resources by staying alive. It’s so frustratingly, infuriatingly, inefficient!”
This was the first time since her arrival that Rarity had spoken in anything other than a calm collected manner. She was visibly angry.
“And who was it?” Twilight asks. “What was the name of this useless pony that had decided not to kill herself?” Twilight says, becoming even more angry at her friend’s callous attitude.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity says, her voice filled with venom.
“Indeed,” Rarity confirms. “Quite possibly the most useless pony in Ponyville. Think about it Twilight, all day long she wastes valuable resources making pies, and cakes and desserts, none of which are healthy in any way. Not to mention all those parties.”
“Her parties?”
“Not only are they a complete waste of time and resources, but think about all the productivity that is lost from all the attendees. It’s so inefficient it makes me ill just thinking about it. And then she had the GALL to run away instead of purging herself. Is that not the most selfish thing you ever heard? But don’t worry Twilight, sooner or later somepony will find her, and when they do, we can finally put her to good use.”
“What do you mean, ‘good use’,”Twilight asks warily.
“What do you think I mean Twilight,” Rarity says gesturing at the nearest tanning rack. “We skin her, debone her, feed her meat to the animals, turn her hide into clothing, and grind her bones into fertilizer. It’s really the only thing she is good for you know.”
Twilight studies her friend carefully. Looking for something, anything, behind her calm demeanor that would indicate that something of her former friend yet remained inside the cold and callous pony in front of her.
Were those tears at the corners of her eyes? Was her muzzle clenched a little too tightly? Or was it just Twilight’s hopeful imagination? Either way, she knew what she had to do next.
“Well, I suppose I’ve taken up enough of your time Rarity. I really need to get back to the castle now, being a Princess is a full time job you know.” Twilight says, rising to leave.
“Well I can certainly understand that, “Rarity says, escorting her friend to the door. “But be sure to eat and sleep regularly, otherwise you will lose efficiency.”
“Of course,” Twilight replies, as she steps into the sunlight.
As soon as the door closes behind her, Twilight takes flight. As fast as she can she returns to the castle, throwing open the door, and hurrying inside.
“So you finally made it back.” Spike’s voice echos down the hallway. “Now that you’ve had you little outing, I hope you are ready to get down to work. You have a lot of catching up to do Twilight. As a Princess of Equestria, you can’t simply just run off whenever you feel like it. You’re actions have been terribly inefficient.”
“Spike, I don’t have time for this right now. I have to go cast a locator spell. I promise that I’ll deal with your issues later!” Twilight says, ignoring the angry glare from Spike as she makes her way to her laboratory.
Once inside, she goes to a small cabinet and begins sorting through the racks of vials inside. “They said I was crazy,” she mutters to herself, “for gathering hair samples from every pony in Ponyville, but I told them, oh yes, I told them that one day we would need to be able to find someone in a hurry, and today is that day.” Twilight says, pulling out the vial marked Pinkie Pie.
She makes her way to the center table preparing to cast her spell. As she does so she finds the note that Applejack had left days before. She takes a moment to read it, thinking that she needed to check in on her, after she finds Pinkie Pie. But she stares in confusion at what she reads.
“Efficiency potion?” Twilight thinks to herself. “That’s all any pony is talking about, ‘efficiency’. But it can’t be my potion. Even untested it wouldn't have been THIS powerful. And there wasn’t enough there for more than one dose. But it can’t just be a coincidence… Geh, there’s no time for that now, the first thing I need to do is find Pinkie Pie.”
Twilight takes the hairs in her magic, and in a moment a three dimensional map appears in front of her with a small pink dot glowing upon it. Twilight zooms the map in, closer and closer.
“Wait, that’s this castle.” Twilight mutters. “Pinkie has been hiding in here?”
She zooms the map in tighter.
“She’s in the east tower. Hiding in the rafters.” Twilight says, as she hurries out of the laboratory, and begins to gallop upstairs.
Moments later she opens the door to the east tower, and begins to rapidly ascend the staircase.
“Pinkie? Pinkie Pie! It’s me, Twilight. It’s safe to come out, I promise.” Twilight says, gasping for air after sprinting up the long staircase.
“P-Pinkie Promise?” A voice calls weakly from the rafters.
“Pinkie Promise, “Twilight affirms.
Twilight sees a shadow detach itself from the others high above, and slowing begins to descend. However, the figure slips and then plummets downward.
“I got you Pinkie!” Twilight shouts, catching her friend in her magic and lowering her safely to the floor.
Twilight looks down at Pinkie, he face becoming distraught. Pinkie is in terrible condition. Her once healthy frame is now thin, almost emaciated. Her face looks strained, and her eyes are barely open.
“Twilight,” She says weakly, “w-water...”
“Water? You want me to get you some water?” Twilight asks, starting to rise.
“NO! NO WATER! Don’t drink the water Twilight!” Pinkie shouts struggling herself upright, before collapsing back on the floor.
“Take it easy Pinkie, you’re safe now. If not water, then can I get you some juice? Food?”
“Yes Twilight, anything you can spare, but NO water. Don’t drink any wat-...” She says, her voice trailing off as she slips into unconsciousness.
Twilight looks down sadly at her friend, before teleporting into the kitchen. She quickly puts together a plate of bread, cheese and grapes, and gathers a pitcher of juice and two cups before teleporting back.
She raises Pinkie’s head and coaxes her into drinking small sips of juice. After a few minutes Pinkie is able to hold the cup on her own, and Twilight quickly refills it before feeding her friend pieces of cheese and then some grapes, and eventually a slice of bread.
“Thank you,” Pinkie says, offering a wane smile. It’s been almost a week since the last time I was able to find any food. Everypony is looking for me. I managed to sneak in the castle a few days ago, but Spike is always going from room to room cleaning, I haven’t been able to sneak into the kitchen, and I was getting weaker and weaker.”
“It’s okay now,” Twilight says, proffering another piece of cheese, “I’m here now, I’ll make sure you are safe. But please, what in Tartarus has been going on around here? They’ve been killing ponies Pinkie, killing them like it’s their job or something. Discord is clueless, and I haven’t heard about any new villain popping up. Please Pinkie, if you know anything about all of this, please tell me.”
“It was Applejack.” Pinkie says, gulping down more juice.
“Applejack? Why? Why would she DO something like this?”
“I don’t know Twi, but I’ll tell you what I can. It all started five nights after you left for your trip. I was coming home late after a birthday party for Octavia. It was a ‘just us girls’ type of party, and the cider had been flowing pretty freely. Anyway, it was shortly after 1am, and I was making my way home. As I began to pass the town square, I saw Applejack. She had backed up her cart to the town well, and was dumping barrel after barrel of some liquid down the well.
I came up to her just as she finished dumping the last barrel and asked her what she was doing. She said that she was helping all the ponies in Ponyville. I asked her how, and she said that she was making them more ‘efficient’. I thought that was really odd, and I was about to ask more about it, but that must have been when the jello shots kicked in, because the next thing I remember was waking up in my own bed late in the afternoon the next day.
I remember having a HUGE hangover, and mixing up some tomato juice, hot sauce, carrot juice and celery, and staggering outside and sitting on the porch until it eased off. That was when I first noticed how strange ponies were behaving. I remembered then what Applejack had done the night before, and decided not to have any water until I knew what was happening to everypony. Thank Celestia that I didn’t, because it wasn’t long before everypony was running around, talking about being more ‘efficient’, and getting more and more extreme in what they were doing. Then Cheerilee killed all those children. It was horrible. After that the mayor called for a public culling, and when I wouldn’t kill myself, everypony came after me. I’ve been on the run ever since.”
“Oh, Pinkie. I’m so sorry! I think… I think this may be my fault somehow.”
“Your fault Twilight?” Pinkie asks in confusion.
Twilight explains how she found the note Applejack left in her basement laboratory, and about the potion Applejack took.
“But it doesn’t make sense Pinkie. That potion was nowhere near powerful enough to make ponies go crazy. And there was only enough for, at most, two doses in that bottle.”
“Well, then we need to go see Applejack.” Pinkie says. “It’s the only way that we can find out what she did, and maybe how to fix all this.”
“No Pinkie, you aren’t in any shape to go anywhere. And since everypony is after you, this is the safest place for you to recover. Let me help you downstairs, we can stop by the kitchen and get you some proper food, then I’ll help you get to bed. I’ll go see Applejack and let you know what I find out.”
Twilight helps Pinkie get onto her back. Then she spreads her wings and glides down the long winding stairwell until they reach the base of the tower. She carries Pinkie into the kitchen, and begins to make her some proper food, but then Spike bursts into the room.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Spike shouts, coming into the kitchen. “You’ve ignored both me and your duties all day. You’ve been nothing but inefficient in your actions. And your inefficiency affects everypony around you. And on top of that, you’re giving valuable resources to Pinkie Pie? She’s supposed to be CULLED Twilight. Inefficient!”
Spike glares across the kitchen table at Pinkie Pie. Without breaking eye contact, he reaches down and picks up the knife Twilight had used earlier to slice cheese with, and slowly begins moving around the table.
“What in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing Spike?” Twilight asks, moving herself in front of Pinkie Pie.
“What YOU obviously won’t do Twilight. She needs to be culled. And if she won’t do it, and you won’t do it, then I have no choice but to do it myself.”
Spike lunges past Twilight, but she catches him with her magic just as the knife he was holding grazes Pinkie Pie’s neck. He struggles against her, knife slashing, but Twilight holds him fast. She opens the door of the pantry, floating him inside, then closes the door. He immediately tries to open it, But Twilight uses her magic on the door knob and latch sealing it shut.
“It’s no use trying Spike. I’ve sealed the lock. I’ll let you out soon, I promise. Just as soon as I figure out how to fix you and everyone else.”
Pinkie dabs at her neck with a napkin. “That was really, really, scary Twilight. Spike just tried to kill me.”
“I know Pinkie. This has got to stop. I need to go see Applejack right now. Will you be okay until I get back.”
“I’ll be alright. I’m already feeling better now that I’ve gotten some food inside me. I’ll eat a little more, and go lie down and rest. I’ll see you when you get back. Oh, and Twilight? Be careful!”
“I will Pinkie. I’ll see you soon.”
Twilight exits the castle and begins to make her way to Sweet Apple Acres. She looks around at the Ponies of Ponyville with new eyes. Now that she knows what to look for, what she sees is chilling. There are no colts and fillies playing in the street. No elderly ponies either. Businesses like Sugarcube corner are closed. And the ponies she does see out all have their head down as they hurry about in silence. Twilight feels a sense of urgency to leave this place. To get out of town before somepony questions her worth and decides that she needs to be culled. She imagines everypony’s gaze upon her, watching her, judging her every movement for it’s value and efficiency.
Twilight makes her way down the long dirt road toward Sweet Apple Acres. The sun had begun to sink lower on the horizon. In another hour or so, the blue of the sky would fade to orange, and the trees would darken to silhouettes. It was always her favorite time of day, Twilight. A slight breeze rustled the leaves on the trees as she made her way through the main gate and up to the farmhouse proper.
Once again, not knowing what to expect, she readied her magic as she knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” A voice from inside called out. It was Granny Smith.
“It’s me Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight replies, still keeping herself on guard.
“Twilight? Hold on a second, I’ll be right there.”
A few moments later Granny Smith opens the door and steps out onto the porch. She holds a small satchel in her hoof.
“I knew you would come eventually.” She says, gesturing for Twilight to take a seat in one of the rocking chairs. “You or somepony like you anyways. I’m guessing this is about what Applejack did?”
“Yes, I need to talk to her.”Twilight says impatiently. “I need to find out what she did, and how to fix this.”
“No need for all that youngin.” Granny says, settling into another rocking chair. “I can tell you everything you need to know. Just sit down for a minute.”
“Fine then,” Twilight says sitting down. “Tell me what happened.”
“It all started the day you left.” Granny says, as she begins to rock her chair.
“Applejack had come back from your castle with some liniment for me, and something called an efficiency potion. She said it would help her become more organized and help her do her chores better.
Well, we all thought that was a fine thing, Applejack, bless her heart, was never very good at being organized. Anyway, she chugged down that thar potion, and you could tell that it was definitely doing something. Her eyes seemed to become more alert, and as she looked around the house, she started telling us stuff that would make things run more smoothly. She began reorganizing things, and sure enough, she knew what she was talkin about. Everything seemed ta be fine.
Until about four days later.
She had just come back from town, madder than a hornet. She was complaining about how everypony in town was being inefficient, and how they were keeping her from getting her work done. She said she had stopped by your castle, and picked up some notes, and wanted Apple Bloom ta go over them and see if she could make another batch of that efficiency potion.
Well, Apple Bloom always loved any excuse ta practice her potion makin, so she looked over your notes and whipped up a batch. Just ta make sure it worked, she and Big Mac each volunteered ta try a swig.
Sure enough, just like with Applejack, their eyes became sharper and more alert. Big Mac said he had some ideas about changing some things out in the fields, so he headed off outside. Apple Bloom on the other hoof began rereading your potion formula. She told us that the potion itself was inefficient, and that with a few changes it could be a hundred times more effective.
I reckon that right there was when everything went south.
She made her changes to the formula, her, an Mac, an Applejack all tried it. An they all went plumb loco. Everything became about work and efficiency. Worse yet, Applejack was still goin on about ‘fixing’ the ponies in town. She had Apple Bloom make up four big barrels of the stuff, and hauled it to town to dump in their water supply. I tried ta talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen. None of them would. They tried ta get me ta take the potion, but I refused. I even had ta start making my own meals ta make sure they didn’t try ta sneak it in on me.
Oh, but they worked me after that though. The worked me hard Twilight Sparkle. Even though I hadn’t taken their potion, they still expected me to perform my duties around the house just as efficiently as they did. It was hard on an old mare like me Twilight. But I was tough. I’d lived my whole life on this farm, an there wasn’t anything they could ask me to do that I haven’t done a thousand times before.”
“So where are they?” Twilight asks. “I haven’t seen or heard a sound from anypony else since I’ve been here.”
“They’re dead Twilight.” Granny says flatly. “All three of them are dead. I don’t know what the effects of those barrels were on any other pony, but Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom all drank an undiluted version of that potion, a hundred times as strong as the original. They stopped being able ta sleep. Their bodies got thin, no matter how much food they ate. Finally their hearts just gave out. Imagine that Twilight, Apple Bloom, dead from a heart attack at her age!
They’re all gone Twilight. My whole family is gone. Forgive me if I can’t help but blame you, just a bit, for making that blasted potion in the first place.”
“I-I’m sorry. This whole thing… because of me.” Twilight says, tears running down her cheeks.
“I don’t want to hear it!” Granny yells. “Go be sorry on your own time. Here, take this,” Granny says, tossing the satchel that she had been holding into Twilight’s lap. “That’s Apple Blooms modified formula notes, and a sample of her potion. Go back home and fix this mess. THEN you can go be sorry.”
Twilight takes the satchel, and rises from her chair. “Thank you Granny, I promise, I’ll cure everypony. I will.”
“Everypony still ALIVE you mean,” Granny says bitterly. “Now go! Get off my land! Leave an old pony in peace.”
Twilight takes the satchel and quickly makes her way up the dusty road back toward Ponyville. Her form is a dark silhouette, as twilight falls upon the farm.
“Heh,” that’s fitting at least,” Granny says as she hobbles back inside.
She stops at Apple Bloom’s room, and takes a jar off of her potion ingredients rack.
“Always wondered what it tastes like,” She says, as she makes her way to the dining room.
She goes over to an ancient looking phonograph, and cranks the handle several times, as the record begins to spin, she carefully lowers the needle. A moment later the sounds of an old, old, dance tune fill the air. Soft brass, and woodwind instruments, and the tinny voice of a pony crooning to whomever will listen, echo throughout the quiet household.
She takes her seat at the head of the table. Uncorks the jar, and pours the contents onto a bowl of vegetable strew as she begins to speak.
“That was Twilight” she says, as she stirs her stew. “Took her long enough to come. A body gets tired of waiting. Is everybody ready for dinner?” she asks, looking around the table.
There is no sound, except for the buzzing of flies.
“Come on, don’t be shy, dig in.” She urges. “Now that’s just inconsiderate,” she says after a moment. “Here I go to all the trouble of making each of you your favorite dish, and you just sit there and let it get cold. Fine then, I’ll just have to dig in myself.” She takes her spoon and begins shoveling large spoonfuls of stew into he mouth.
“Hmm, surprisingly tasty. Who would’ve guessed.”
She eats for a few more minutes before her head crashes down into her bowl. He arm knocks off the now empty jar of belladonna onto the floor where it shatters.
All the flies in the room leap into the air at the crash, before settling back down onto the three corpses which had been carefully arranged around the table. And then with the soft strains of music filling the air, they quickly resume their meals. Some of them eventually make their way over to the body of Granny Smith.
It was well into evening when Twilight Sparkle returned to her castle. Her mind was still in shock, trying to process the days events. Her tread was heavy as she made her way inside and down into her basement laboratory.
All she wanted to do was to rest. To fall asleep and wake up to realize that this had all been a terrible nightmare. Probably brought about by the jostling brought about by the train ride home, combined with three weeks of foreign food. But deep down, she knew that it wasn’t so, and that she could not allow herself to rest until she found a way to fix this, and to turn everypony back to normal. Perhaps it was this single mindedness, or perhaps it was the fatigue, either way, she never saw the blow coming toward her, striking the back of her head, and bouncing her face off the table in front of her, causing her to black out.
She awoke in agony. She tried to rise, but she found herself bound to the table by magic. Her limbs and wings spread wide, held fast and helpless. Then a familiar figure stepped into her field of vision.
“Hello Twilight. I see you are awake. That’s a shame, this would have gone much more smoothly if you had remained unconscious until it was over.”
“Starlight Glimmer?” Twilight said in surprise. "Don’t tell me that you’re a part of this as well."
“If by ‘a part of all of this’ you mean fixing all of your recent mistakes, then yes, yes I am.”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asks, her head still foggy from being struck.
“I found Spike, Twilight.” Starlight says, matter-of-factually. “He was locked inside the pantry by magic. You’re magic. He filled me in on the state of affairs since your return. Neglecting your duties to run off to see your friends, locking up your assistant, and lets not forget harboring a fugitive.”
“Pinkie Pie? What have you done with her?” Twilight says, struggling in vain to rise, her mind still unable to focus enough to use her magic to escape.
“Don’t worry about her Twilight. Spike is hunting her down as we speak. I would think that what is about to happen will give you something much more important to focus on.”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Twilight asks, as a sudden feeling of dread begins to rise within her.
“It’s time for a change Twilight,” Starlight says, going over to a rack of tools, and removing a long sharp scalpel. “In retrospect, this should have happened a long time ago.” Starlight approaches Twilight’s prone form. “I was always the superior mare. We both knew that. My intellect was sharper, my magic was stronger, if not for the circumstances of my youth, I’m sure that Celestia would have made me her favorite pony. Made ME her next princess. But sadly everypony makes mistakes. Fortunately, we still have time to correct them.”
“Starlight? Starlight you are my student, my friend, what are you planning to do Starlight? What are you about to do!”
Starlight climbs on top of the table, and straddles her onetime teacher.
“Why, I’m going to replace you Twilight. Unfortunately for me, ponies see alicorns as the natural rulers of Equestria. So for me to be accepted, I’m going to need those wings from you. I can use healing magic to graft them onto me. Yes, the color is slightly different, but nothing a little dye wont fix. Then I will simply let you bleed out, and take your corpse to Fluttershy for processing. All nice, neat, and efficient. Not that I expect YOU to understand anything about that!”
Twilight desperately struggles to move, to use her magic, anything to stop the rapidly descending blade aimed for her left wing.
“Arrrraaahhhhhhh!” She screams as the scalpel cuts into her flesh. She can feel it, the muscle parting around the razor sharp blade, as it quickly severs her left wing from her body. The pain is almost unbearable. Blood pumps steadily from her side as Starlight almost casually tosses the wing over her shoulder before moving to the other side of her body.
“See Twilight, that wasn’t hard at all.” Starlight says, staring down at Twilight with wide eyes and a blood splattered muzzle. “Just a few minutes more, and this will all be over.”
Suddenly Starlight convulses. Her eyes widen even further as she looks down at her chest in shock to see three inches of steel blade protruding from it.
“Unfortunately, you’re right,” a voice says regretfully, from outside of Twilight’s field of vision.
Starlight collapses off of Twilight onto the floor. Suddenly the magic that had been holding her vanishes, and she struggles to sit herself upright, wincing in fresh agony as she does so.
“Pinkie Pie? You’re okay?” Twilight asks, as she finally sees her savior.
“Better than you Twi,” Pinkie says, grabbing up some nearby rags, to try and stop the bleeding. Can you fix… this?” she asks, gesturing between her side and her severed wing.
“Yes, it hasn’t been very long. I just need to be able to focus my magic. What happened after I left?” Twilight asks, weakly levitating her severed wing over to her side, and beginning her healing spell.
“Starlight showed up shortly after you left. Somepony must have told her that you were back from your trip, because she was looking for you. She heard Spike yelling from the pantry as I was coming downstairs. When I saw she was about to free him, I quickly went back and hid in the rafters, taking the cheese knife you left in my room with me for protection. I was planning on waiting until they went to sleep to go and find you, but then I saw you coming back toward the castle gates, and I knew that I had to try and warn you. I snuck my way downstairs, just as Starlight was cutting off your wing. I didn’t have time for anything else Twi! It was all I could think of to do! Oh sweet Celestia! I killed her Twilight! I killed our friend!”
Pinkie falls to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Twilight tries to think of something that she can say to her friend. Anything that could ease the pain and guilt that she is feeling. But then a voice rings down from above.
“You killed her!” Spike yells, making his way down the stairs. I’ll burn you to ash Pinkie Pie!”
Twilight takes Spike into her magical grasp, and slams him across the room, crashing him into the set of shelves filled with potions marked “Extremely Dangerous’. He slumps to the floor and struggles to rise, as the contents of the shattered bottles rain down upon him.
Pinkie and Twilight watch in horror as Spikes body begins to undergo horrible changes. Parts of his skin swells and discolors before bursting. One eye is rapidly transforming into different animal types, nearly faster than can be recognized. Other parts of Spike melt, turn to glass, catch on fire, and glow an eerie green color. Even once Spike is obviously dead, the changes to his body continue to occur.
“Twilight?” Pinkie says, finally looking away from the gristly remains of her friend.
“Yes, Pinkie?” Twilight says quietly.
“That was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Yes Pinkie, it was.” Twilight says bitterly.
“Twilight?”
“Yes Pinkie?”
“Spike crashed into the shelves marked ‘Extremely Dangerous’.”
“Yes he did Pinkie.”
“Twilight. I never want to know what you have on the shelves marked ‘Armageddon Level Dangerous’.”
