At the apartment complex atop Sweet Delights, Youngmee Song was inside her bedroom. She laid on the side of her bed, staring up wide-eyed at the ceiling. She barely had communication with Blythe since Penny Ling's death, leaving her fiercely concerned about her friend.

She let out a deep sigh as Nutmeg Dash leapt onto her bed. She turned to the cocker spaniel and held her in her arms. "Oh, Nutmeg. Life is a fickle mistress. You never know what to expect and when you'll get it. And when you do, it hits you hard. I haven't had much contact with Blythe in months. She must be taking the panda's death real hard. At least I still have you to keep me happy." She laid her head on her pillow. "I don't know how much more I can take before I crack."

Nutmeg Dash walked up to the Korean girl's face and grinned. "Could be worse, Youngmee."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" she exclaimed, her body jolting up from her bed. She panted as she took a moment to soak up what she had just heard from Nutmeg Dash. The cocker spaniel looked up at Youngmee in confusion, unaware that her owner had never heard her own pet speak, in stark contrast to her best friend.

"What's the matter?" asked Nutmeg Dash.

Youngmee peered down at Nutmeg in disbelief. "Did you just... talk to me?"

"Yes," replied Nutmeg Dash, giving a slight nod.

"But how?" asked Youngmee, confused.

"What are you talking about, Youngmee?" asked Nutmeg Dash. "I've been talking with Blythe ever since I got my voice back and she could understand me just fine."

"I get it," said Youngmee. "What I don't get is how I can understand you?"

"You mean," said Nutmeg Dash, "you couldn't understand me before?"

Youngmee shook her head. She then took a moment to think things over. She looked back on the day Blythe confessed to her about her ability to talk to animals. She only had one logical conclusion to all of this.

"Maybe Blythe's ability to talk to animals must be rubbing off on me," Youngmee said to herself. She turned her attention back to Nutmeg Dash. "This is amazing! I can actually understand you!" She lived Nutmeg Dash from the bed and held her close in her arms.

But she didn't rejoice for long. Just then, she heard a scream coming from downstairs at the Sweet Delights establishment. She immediately knew who it was coming from. "Aunt Christie!"

She ran out of her room and raced through several stories of the building and down into the store. She stopped to catch her breath and looked around the store in search for her aunt. She eventually noticed a trail of blood on the floor and winced, keeping a hold of Nutmeg Dash at all times.

Her eyes followed the trail and once she saw what it led up to, she let out a shuddering gasp. Aunt Christie was slumped over against the counter, apparently sliced at the back and torso. Blood draining from her wounds soaked into her suit and she was barely clinging onto life due to the severity of her injuries.

Youngmee slowly approached her wounded aunt and kneeled down in front of her. "Aunt Christie! What happened to you?!"

Christie turned her head to her niece and coughed up a few drops of blood. "Youngmee... I think someone broke into the shop... while I wasn't looking."

Youngmee began to panic as her aunt coughed up a few more drops of blood, which landed on Youngmee's shirt. "Oh, no. Aunt Christie, stay with me! I'll call for an ambulance!"

Nearing death, Aunt Christie held onto Youngmee's hand. "Youngmee, just remember—I love you to the moon and back."

Youngmee calmed herself down. "I love you too."

Letting go of Youngmee's hand, Christie took her last dying breath as her head slumped over into her niece's arms. Youngmee watched as her eyes rolled back into her head, succumbing to her mortal injuries. She couldn't believe her eyes—who could have done such a thing to her own aunt?

Freeing Christie's head from her embrace, her eyes began to tear up. She had just watched her own flesh and blood die before her eyes. She sat herself next to her body and began crying softly into her bloodstained hands, with Nutmeg Dash remaining by her side to console her.

At that point, the bell hanging atop the entrance outside the shop rang as the door swung open. Entering the shop was a strange, cloaked figure walking on hooves—a Pegasus whose fur was red like apple cinnamon, bearing a cutie mark featuring a video game controller with wings, flying in front of a blue lightning bolt descending from a white cloud.

It was Blythe's long-time friend, Shadow Blazer, a spirit created by the Big Bang—a goddess forever trapped in the body of a Pegasus. Upon entering the shop, she couldn't help but take notice at Youngmee crying next to Aunt Christie's body. Youngmee looked up and saw the Pegasus walking towards her aunt, giving her a feeble wave. "Oh, hey, Ms. Blazer."

Shadow Blazer peered down at Aunt Christie's body and felt her heart in her throat. "Oh, God. I knew this was going to happen."

Youngmee stood up and greeted her friend with a hug, crying softly into her fur. "It's good to see you on such short notice. I don't know what the hell is going on."

"It's good to see you too," said Shadow Blazer, hugging her human friend back. "This may come off as a bit of a stretch, but I had a daunting vision of this a few days ago. I saw a masked assailant break into this shop with the intention of murdering your aunt. I think he was wielding a bladed weapon of sorts. Youngmee, I believe this is leading up to something, something very big."

Youngmee's heart was racing as fast as Buttercream's. Could the murder of her beloved aunt be part of an agenda in mind? It seemed likely, because what other reason could this callous act have been done for? By now, her feelings of loss were being overtaken by fear and dread. Who could be the mastermind behind this harrowing plot?


Meanwhile, inside the day camp at LPS, Pepper remained in the hydrant hangout with Zoe and Minka keeping her company as she slept soundly on the surface, using her tail as a pillow. After a while, she jolted and turned to one side, then the other. She let out a few quiet moans as she began to struggle, apparently suffering a nightmare of that fateful day.

Her struggle persisted and proved itself more and more intense, her arms gently flailing and her voice growing increasingly higher, her cries of "Penny Ling, don't die on me!" echoing around the area.

As the struggling climaxed, she woke up with a loud gasp, panting and sweating profusely. Her gasp was enough to awaken Zoe and Minka from their slumber, the former of whom placed a paw on her shoulder.

"What is it, Pepper?" Zoe asked the restless skunk. "You sound tense."

"Huh?" exclaimed Pepper. "Oh, just a bad dream. A really, really bad dream." She looked around and noticed Buttercream and Sugar Sprinkles were absent. "Hey, where's Buttercream and Sugar Sprinkles?"

"If I had to guess," said Minka, "I think they went back to the sweet shop while you were asleep. They are Youngmee's pets, after all."

An idea sparked in Pepper's head. Blythe and the pets hadn't communicated as often as usual since Penny Ling's death, so who else but her friend Youngmee to turn to in a situation as grim as this? "Youngmee... of course! Youngmee is Blythe's best friend!"

Bearing a smirk on her face, she got up on her feet and instructed Zoe and Minka to follow her lead. Making their way down the slide, they headed for the hole in the wall leading to Sweet Delights. As soon as they reached the wall, Pepper peeked through the hole and, to her surprise, saw a pair of human feet walk past her line of sight.

Pepper was confused. What was going on inside Sweet Delights? She signalled Zoe and Minka to take a look at what was going on, and when they saw what was happening, they were just as confused as her.

Determined to get to Youngmee as soon as possible, they snuck through the hole and made their way into the Sweet Delights shop. Once they saw what they saw, they were beyond shocked to say the least.

Paramedics were surrounding the shop, wheeling Aunt Christie to a nearby ambulance on a stretcher. Youngmee's closest friends, Sue Patterson and Jasper Jones, were also present, consoling Youngmee as she held Nutmeg Dash tightly in her arms.

Pepper, Zoe and Minka, although they hadn't been around Youngmee as long as Blythe, couldn't help but sympathize with her, especially after losing her own aunt. The three pets snuck their way over to the trio, barely managing to dodge the onslaught of moving feet.

Youngmee dried her eyes from a brief period of crying and noticed the three pets standing in front of her. "Pepper? Zoe? Minka?"

Sue was just as confused as Youngmee. "How did they manage to get into the shop?"

"Hmm," Jasper thought about it for a moment, then pointed at the wall. "I think they came in through the hole."

"Figures," said Youngmee. "Aunt Christie always neglected to fix that damned hole in the wall." She picked up the three pets and placed them on the counter next to Nutmeg Dash. "Still, my parents say it's always good to have company, especially during hard times like these."

"I couldn't agree more," said Pepper, holding Zoe and Minka close.

"Well," sighed Youngmee, "the only good thing about this is I can finally understand you."

Pepper, Zoe and Minka all gasped in unison. Were their ears deceiving them? Nutmeg Dash was none the wiser, given she had known about this information from the moment she spoke to her owner.

Pepper was gobsmacked. "Did she just say... she can understand us now?"

Zoe held a paw to her mouth. "I think she did."

Minka yanked on her ears. "Oh, my God! Do my ears deceive me?!"

"Nope," said Nutmeg Dash, "you heard correctly. Youngmee can understand us pets, just like her best friend Blythe."

The trio were completely lost for words. They couldn't believe their ears for one single moment—Youngmee could speak to pets now? How is that even possible? Could Blythe's rare ability have rubbed off on her at some point? So many questions, so little time.

Pepper stepped forward, not without a sense of hesitation, and spoke to Youngmee. "So let me get this straight—you can speak to pets now?"

Youngmee nodded. "Yes."

"How is this even possible?" asked Zoe.

Youngmee shrugged. "I have no idea. Guess I must be picking up after Blythe."

Minka eyeballed the yellow hair clip Sue was wearing to keep her hair in place. "Can I have your friend's shiny hair clip?" She leapt up to Youngmee's face. "Can I, can I, can I, CAN I? Please please please please PLEEEAASE?"

Youngmee chuckled nervously and moved the hyperactive spider-monkey away from her. "Okay, settle down there." She turned her attention over to Pepper and lifted her from the counter. "So how are things over at the pet shop, dare I ask?"

Pepper's expression quickly turned dour. "It ain't any better, to put it lightly. These past six months haven't been very kind to me. I still miss Penny Ling...so much."

Youngmee sympathized with the grieving skunk, despite not having as much of a relationship with her as Blythe. "Aww, you poor thing." She hugged Pepper close. "You know something? I miss her too."

Pepper, feeling secure in Youngmee's arms, gave her a slight smirk, knowing she wasn't alone in missing her closest friend. "Thanks a bunch, Youngmee. I'm just glad you can understand us."

Youngmee smirked back. "As a matter of fact, I could understand you even when I couldn't hear you speak."

Pepper shed a tear at Youngmee's reassuring comment. "That's so sweet..."


Meanwhile, at the Biskit mansion, Brittany and Whittany had themselves confined to their room, struggling to get over their father's passing. They laid in their respective beds, with each of their pet chinchillas by their side.

Each of the twins stared up at the ceiling, reflecting upon their father's dying words. They couldn't believe for one second that they would be the future owners of Largest Ever Pet Shop. Soon, they would be the ones responsible of running the Biskit family business, thus in turn carrying on the Biskit legacy.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Eliza went up to answer the door, hoping to answer whoever was standing outside their doorstep. As soon as she opened the door, she took one look at who was answering and her face turned quite pale. She gulped fearfully as the unsuspecting visitor willingly entered the mansion.

The Biskit twins and their chinchillas remained on their beds until they heard the sound of a door knock. She immediately got up from their bed, holding their chinchillas in their arms, and went over to answer who was knocking.

"Who in God's name could be knocking at a time like this?" Brittany thought to herself as she opened the door. When the twins saw who was standing outside, their eyes widened with surprise. The eyes of the chinchilla witnesses grew as large as their owners when they looked up at the mysterious visitor—the masked assailant from the other night at Downtown City Park, simply known as Silas.

"Greetings, Biskits."

"Wh-who the hell are you?" Whittany stuttered.

Silas stifled a chuckle. "Who am I? To put it plainly, I am a huge fan of your impressive business. You may refer to me as Silas."

Brittany hesistated to speak, but managed to respond to his snide compliment. "Well, Mr. Silas, thanks for the, like, compliment and all, but what do you want with us?"

"Nothing much," replied Silas. "I come bearing a proposition—how would you like to come out on top?

"Come out on top?" the twins said in unison.

"Precisely. I can help you run Littlest Pet Shop out of business... once and for all. Do we have a deal?"

The twins looked at each other nervously, somewhat reluctant to accept his admittedly tempting offer. The chinchillas, on the other hand, smiled excitedly, looking upon their masked visitor as their idol—on first sight, no less. Taking into account the Biskits' ongoing rivalry with Littlest Pet Shop, they were near-desperate for their owners to accept the offer.

After taking a moment to let the temptation sink in, the twins spoke. "What's in it for us?"