Let's Have a Do-Over
Twilight arrived at the room and there were sounds--a good sign. ... supposedly. Her friends were shouting and there was crashing and smashing, but at least that indicated they were still alive. She thrust the door open, which revealed Rarity smashing Fluttershy's head against a wall while Applejack lay listlessly coughing in a corner. Pinkie Pie, her face covered in pustules, croaked, "No," and hid her face.
"Oh," Rarity, face pock-marked and distressed with disease, noticed Twilight standing, dumbfounded at the threshold. She picked up Fluttershy's limp puppet-like head and waved her body in the air. "Welcome back, Twilight." Her words were a bit mealy-mouthed. "I just finished solving a teensey-weensey problem. Pardon though. Would you be a dear and help me clean up? This mess is far from fabulous." Blood oozed on the wall, on the floor, on Rarity. Rarity sponged it up with Fluttershy's coat.
Twilight shut the door.
She hadn't seen Rainbow Dash but there were colorful feathers everywhere. She shuddered. And Applejack and Pinkie Pie, covered in pestilential detritus, were lying sick on the floor, inert, unable to stop Rarity and Fluttershy. Both of those ponies had, before Twilight had left them, been roughly handled by Maud. She must have, unwittingly, passed to them the curse of war. Rarity and Fluttershy had fought; Rarity had won.
Twilight stared at the door for a good long while. Then it opened and Pinkie Pie crawled out dragging squeezed between her powerful hind legs an unconscious partially de-plumed Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight," she mouthed. "It's terrible."
"I know," Twilight agreed.
"Applejack can't move ... but I ate a lot of sugar. I was able to grab Dash. She's blinded. She freaked out. Tried to fly east. Away from here. Collided with one wall, then another, and another and another, like a big blue ping pong ball. What can we do?"
"Is Applejack in danger?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie shook her head. "Rar-rar's was only angry at Flutters. But I could drag her outside," she winced. "I should get her." She crept back toward the door.
"I'll do it." Twilight stepped in front of Pinkie, and she, shielding her eyes from the gore, creaked the door again and dragged Applejack out into the hall.
Applejack blinked at her. "Twilight ...".
"We need to get out of this ... charnel-house; then I can think," Twilight said.
"Fluttershy ..." Applejack mouthed.
And the answer came to Twilight. "We can save Fluttershy."
"Unless you've got a zombification spell--" Pinkie's voice was deadpan.
"No."
"Then she's gone."
"No. We can go back in time."
"Why did Rarity ..." Pinkie's eyes watered and she draped herself over Twilight's shoulder. "She and Flutters couldn't control themselves after Maud touched them. What happened to my sister?"
Twilight explained what Starlight had told her--in a very abbreviated fashion--about how Maud had gained the powers of two horsemares of the apocalypse--War and Death.
"Okie dokie. But then why were they only fighting?" Pinkie asked. "They didn't both die."
"Urm." Twilight took a quick intake of breath. "One of them is ... not alive, Twilight turned to leave.
Pinkie didn't follow. "Twilight," Pinkie said. "I'm too weak to carry Dash any further."
Twilight twitched and took a quick intake of breath, loud through her nostrils. Then she closed her eyes and re-centered herself. "Think of ladybugs ... ladybugs." She recited a comforting childhood memory, to blot out the disgusting image she had seen. Once re-centered, she suggested: "I'll look for a loose gurney."
"Mmmm," Pinkie hugged Rainbow Dash tight.
Twilight trotted off until she located a rickety gurney in a nearby closet and hustled it out of there. Then she loaded Dash and Pinkie.
Applejack watched. "I cain't fit. I'll wait." She waved them on. "'ts all right. Rarity won't ... she won't bother me." Twilight wasn't too sure about that, but the gurney could only fit two ponies, and that wasn't even a good fit.
With a heavy heart, Twilight headed off with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie crammed onto the gurney, which started jerking unsteadily to one side with every push.
"You sure we can't squeeze Applejack in?" Pinkie asked. The gurney shuddered, twisted and nearly jackknifed. But Twilight wrangled it under control, overcoming powerful natural forces with her thankfully more powerful magic.
"I don't know," Twilight sighed. "This isn't moving very well--". A front wheel popped off. Twilight jammed it back on, once again using her magic, then hammered it in once with a hoof. "We'll have to come back." After a great struggle, she pushed the gimped gurney and two of her friends out of the hospital--the gurney was only just better for transportation than levitating both ponies. Over a short distance, levitation would be better, but Twilight needed to remove them far, far away from Ponyville's apocalyptic devastation. She wasn't too sure that everything had been wrapped up quite as simply as Starlight suggested. What if Maud had touched some other pony--maybe one of the doctors was infected with "war". No, that couldn't be. ... But maybe--
Outside, they nearly collided with a big red stallion.
"Big Mac!" Twilight recognized Applejack's brother.
"Yup," he solemnly nodded. Then he tossed his head to indicate the town: "what happened?"
"How's the Apple farm?" Pinkie asked, covering her cough with a shoulder.
"Fine," Big Mac said. "But have you seen Apple Blossom? She wasn't in the fields."
"She wasn't at the station," Twilight said.
"She must have gone looking for her friends," Big Mac's forehead knit in worry. "Nothin' better of happened to her. Is she with Applejack?" He noticed Rainbow Dash and Pinkie's injuries. His voice fell deep and very flat. "Where's Applejack?"
"The Four Horses of the Apocalypse destroyed the town," Twilight started to explain.
Big Mac impatiently pawed the ground with one strong hoof.
"Your sister, Applejack only, is inside--" Twilight quickly added. "She's sick. It's horrible."
"She'll be fine," Pinkie added. "Rarity wasn't interested in her."
"Don't let her cough on you--" Twilight added.
Big Mac reared up. "My sister?"
"Trixie coughed on her and then Pinkie's sister, Maud, touched Flutt--"
Big Mac thrust a powerful and angry hoof against the ground.
But Pinkie Pie interrupted. "--and that's when the pirate-ninjas attacked."
"That didn't happen." Twilight Sparkle added, quickly, but Pinkie's work had been done; Twilight omitted explaining a portion of the chain of consequences that started with Pinkie's sister and ended with Fluttershy's demise. Instead, she explained where to find Applejack and asked that Big Mac ignore whatever horrors he might see and to, above all else, not open the door of any room that Applejack might be in front of. "Rarity's far from in her right mind. We'll make this right. You don't have to worry."
Far from calmed, Big Mac raced inside.
"Although this pains me," Twilight said to Pinkie, eyeing the unconscious Rainbow Dash. "A solution here is beyond anything I can conceptualize except that frightening time travel spell ... and Discord. I better talk to him about straightening this out. ..."
"But something's bothering me," Twilight pondered. "Did Maud receive the power of two horsemares? Or, did some other pony get the last horsemare's power? Maud touched Rarity, but she didn't die--she only got really combative. Who has the power of death? Is death still out there wreaking havoc?"
Twilight, stomach churning with worry at the horrors that had already happened, the rumors that were spreading to panic ponies in towns and cities across Equestria, and contemplating what further devastation could occur, knew that she had to go back in time and fix this.
(Unbeknownst to Twilight, Boulder, the final rock remaining in Maud's grasp when that stolid grey pony confronted silent and pale Death, had boldly struck, sacrificing himself in an audacious thrust that thankfully did not end in his demise, but in Death's.
And while Twilight was desperately divining Death's final destination, Boulder, resting in Maud's pocket, dreamed. In Boulder's dream, he traveled to an olden ponies living center, specifically alighting on a bed stand where a pony within did not breathe. Boulder observed. A ghostly form resembling the pony drifted up and away from its body. Boulder implored. The pony, with a start, noticed Boulder, then acknowledged the rock's presence with a long sigh. "Funny. I'm dead, right?" Boulder loomed. "Death ..." The pony considered. "I thought you'd be taller.")
And Twilight, with Discord's clear support after he had finished savagely slaughtering Rarity in this cursed timeline, did successfully travel back in time. ... Which is why no pony ever speaks of this terrible apocalypse that sort-of-kind-of didn't happen. No one remembers, except Twilight. Discord would have remembered but he demanded Twilight seal far, far away the horrific memory of his friend's demise.
Although Twilight destroyed the spellbook's summoning-recipe, the horses (or horsemares) are still out there, patiently resting within their constellations, waiting to pounce: to bring pestilence, war, famine, and death.
In her report to Celestia, detailing words that must not be spread except in dire emergency, Twilight noted hard-earned lessons that Starlight and Trixie and Maud had discovered, lessons of friendship that those three, sadly, would need to rediscover without such a forced union now that the timeline had been restored.
Alas (for them), the three great forgotten "heroes'" lessons might be less likely to recur since Twilight, in a fit of disgust at her failure to protect her former student during the latter's graduation party, traveled far enough back in time to not only remove the terrible book of spells but also to ensure that Starlight didn't have quite such a social-anxiety-inducing graduation party.
Twilight's last words in her report, informed by the three "heroes'" lessons, were: "allponies must be vigilant and in unison meet threats that can be beyond the control of any onepony. Each one of us, from the worthy to the unworthy; from the talkative to the circumspect, must be forgiving of foibles, understanding of each other, tolerant, and kind--united in friendship as much as allponies can be."
Congratulations in advance to whoever locates the hidden Austraeoh reference.
My blog has an index of the stories I have written, sorted by show season.
Other Items to Read:
An apocalypse caused by Trixie (by a different author):
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that was quite the mental image! very well-drawn, the effects on the rest of the Mane Six. also nice reference to the fandom's serial killer Rarity, if this were meant to be one (though i've never actually read any of those!)
a beautiful and perfect story-within-the-story, very fitting with the liminal status Boulder occupies as a character in the show
perfection!
this was one of my favorite stories overall to come out of this contest. it accomplished what it was trying to do with great wit and skill, and was thoroughly enjoyable throughout! if this had been a "stories about Starlight, Trixie, and Maud" contest rather than a shipping contest, i would have been very upset and surprised if it didn't place!
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* Thank you for all the elaborate and kind thoughts!
An interesting idea! Steamed yams does flow better! Thank you. I also suppose there is an inherent question of why the ponies would call something "vegan hams" unless there were actually "meat hams" at one point, which seems to be a bigger diversion than is merited for this tale. A third way could be just to call them "hams" even though they actually are vegan, but that likely raises reader confusion.
How can we be sure those are not sliced yams?
I think you may be referring to the Reddit investors' use of the meme. In case you find it interesting, I had three things in mind with that sentence:
That said, Ralph gets told off quite often. The King of Queens is a more modern version. I've updated my reference to be a little closer without degrading the scene (Obviously the best references are ones directly or thematically in service to the plot, but I like throwing them in when they don't detract): "Bang! Boom! Striking detritus straight to the moon--over the moon!" In this scene, one thematic ironic tie in is that the Doctor was struck down.)
Bam! Zoom! To the Moon- The Honeymooners was extraordinarily popular in its day despite the unfortunate laugh-tracked abuse.
Over the Moon- A saying.
To the Moon- Cryptocurrency reference. And if your investment went "to the moon", then you might be "over the moon" with glee.
* Three unfortunate references to 'hands' that I noticed after seeing your comments have now been anatomically corrected.
Nothing to see here. 
Although in chapter 4 a reference to 'handled' remains, I think that one is acceptable. I wonder what most pony authors use in place of it?
--
For fun: Did not yet find an image of Trixie demanding tea. But...
If it qualifies, I can sort this into your Phyllis group as a "minor Phyllis piece".
A good showing! The fish cookies were difficult to guess and to work in to the story.
1. Correct on the fish cookies: "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (Book 4)
2. We sat and started talking about life, the universe: everything: "Life, the Universe, and Everything" (Book 3)
3. "Chatting in a restaurant when here we were, confronting the maybe-end of Equestria, at the end of the universe, at the end of time.": "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" (Book 2)
4. "Then we played a game that Maud and her sisters sometimes play, Hitchhiker's Guide,": Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Book 1)
I have read one story where she is a murderer but I did not realize it was a popular depiction.
Shockingly, the concept was not intended to be a reference. She just seemed to be the best fit for comedic purposes (And no way Fluttershy was going to defeat her especially when Fluttershy's demise could feed into the Discord gag at the end) and also her coat is naturally white. Red blood--white coat... 
... 
Howdy, hi!
This was a trip and also one of the few "ending retcons the entire story" type stories I liked. The trio was fun and the idea of the horses of the apocalypse was intriguing. I enjoyed the designs of them and thought they really fit what they were supposed to. Your writing is also very unique. It's this interesting mix of over descriptive but heavily stylized.
The opening is a solid hook and really drew in to find out what happened. I also enjoy the fact that the opening was in fact all explained by the end. Each piece is given a corresponding reason as to why it happened and who caused it. There are so many hints littered throughout that are brought up later in such interesting ways. I also like the inclusion of Discord at the end, it was a nice touch.
Anyways, excellent read. Thank you~!
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Thank you for the detailed comment!
And thank you also for taking the time to read it in-depth. It was an interesting experience putting it all together so everything would intersect. Best wishes.