//------------------------------//
// Don't Get too Angry 
// Story: Rescuing Twilight 
// by Simon Joe 
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4

Before she knew it Sweetie Belle found herself face down on the ground. Only, it was not of the ship she was just in. This ground was soft and grassy. She opened her eyes to look around. She figured she must have been thrown through the portal, only, she did not see another portal that led back to the ship. Then the thought came to her. What if there was no way back? What if she was stuck there by herself with nopony else?
Suddenly, she saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy appear out of thin air. They too landed on the ground. “Hey!” Rainbow shouted. She got up off the ground and attempted to fly back through the portal, but then realized there was nothing there.
All three of them stood there, not knowing what to do. At this point, they were stuck. Without a portal back, they could only hope there would be another way.
Then, they saw Luna carrying Twilight with her magic jumping out of what looked like nothing. “Princess Luna!” Sweetie Belle sounded surprised. Judging by the way she got there, she figured she was not thrown in by the aliens.
“You came after us?” Rainbow asked.
“I couldn’t leave you guys alone. Celestia can take care of herself and the others,” she explained.
“You… brought Twilight?” Fluttershy added in.
Luna looked down at Twilight, who was now set down on the grassy terrain. “I couldn’t leave her. Not in her condition. Whatever this place is, it must be safer than in there.”
“Well, can you do something to help her?” Sweetie Belle pleaded.
“I can try. I don’t know if anything will work. They have been using her magic for eight years straight,” Luna thought for a second to find a way to explain Twilight’s condition. “Do you remember back when the changelings were attacking  Canterlot and Shinning Armor had to put up that shield? How he got those migraines from using the spell? Well, just imagine what Twilight must be feeling right now.”
Luna looked down at Twilight. Her horn began to glow, as did Twilight’s eyes. Everypony simply stood there while she attempted to heal. Finally, Luna’s horn stopped glowing, and she lifted her head up.
“So, um… did it work?” Fluttershy asked.
“I couldn’t do much, just as I thought. Her condition is too bad right now for a unicorn to heal her. Our best hope is that she will heal over time.”
“Well… What do we do now? And, what is this place?” Rainbow continued the conversation.
“Well… Stargazer mentioned something about this being some kind of, spirit world, didn’t he?”
Before any of them said anything else, they all felt a cold breeze run past them, followed by a distant laughter.
“W…Who’s there?” Luna shouted.
There was no response. For some reason, they began to hear the faint sound of clocks ticking as the laughter grew louder. “Well… Now what do we have here?” a voice said.
“What? Who are you? Show yourself!” Luna spat back.
“From the looks of it, I’d say you guys aren’t from around here,” the voice ignored what Luna said. “Am I wrong?”
“Umm… No. But, who are you? Answer me!”
“I will reveal myself when it is time, you… ponies, from the other side.”
By this point, everypony was completely confused.
“The other side? What does that mean?”
“The other side, another world, a place beyond this one. You guys are now in the Spirit World. But, that brings us to another question. How did you get here? You couldn’t have come through the door. No, you see, only spirits can pass through there.”
“What do you mean by the Spirit World? Are you saying… we are dead?” Luna answered with another question.
“Dead? Not by the slightest bit.” The air around them got colder and colder, as the wind started to blow in a circle around them. “My time grows short. I must go now, but keep in mind, we shall meet again.” The wind stopped blowing, the air got warmer, and the sound of ticking clocks faded away. Silence fell over them, leaving them even more confused than when they came.
“Now what?” Rainbow asked.
This time, Luna had no idea what to do. She looked up towards the trees and clouded skies. There seemed to be a path through the overgrown paths. “I guess… We try to find out exactly what this place is. Just knowing that we are in the Spirit World isn’t enough for me,” Luna paused and brought Twilight up to her hooves. “Come on. Let’s go.”
They started off to the path. Once they got to the entrance, a bone chilling wind brushed past them. Ignoring it, they followed Luna. As they continued on, the path got darker, and as the wind blew, it brought with it whispers. They were all coming at the same time, so they could not understand what they were saying.
As they got deeper and deeper down the path, things started to become even stranger. Vines hanging from the trees began to move. Glowing eyes began to peer out from the darkness and watch them.
Acknowledging all of this, Fluttershy was behind all of them, cowering in fear. Although she had been in the Everfree Forest many times in the past, never had she seen the vines moving.
Luna looked past all of it as if it was not even there. She just continued walking with Twilight. The darkness got thicker and thicker, and soon they could not see anything in front of them. “Hold on, everypony,” Luna stopped.
After a second or two, her horn lit up, lighting the way. Now they could see what was in front of them, although they were not sure if they wanted to. When the path was lit, another cold wind blew past them, bringing with it orange and brown decaying leaves. The leaves and wind in their faces forced them to close their eyes. The wind kept growing stronger, bringing more, louder whispers as if they were trying to tell Luna to not light the way.
Suddenly, the wind stopped. Luna opened her eyes, only to see what looked like a ghost pony right in front of her. The sight of it made her heart skip a beat as she jumped back in fright. Everypony else opened their eyes too to see what was wrong. Their reactions were the same. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took off to the sky while Sweetie Belle leaped back and tumbled to the ground. It was a mare with an expressionless face. Although the wind had stopped, her mane and tail kept to be blowing to the right.
Slowly, the ghost went back. Soon, it stopped. Luna did not know what to do. Should she go back? Or is it trying to get her to follow? She stepped her shaking hooves slowly forward towards the ghost.
“Princess? What are you doing?” Sweetie questioned.
“I…I think she wants us to follow her.”
“Um… Do we have to?” Fluttershy asked in a soft, quiet voice.
“Come on. It’ll be okay as long as I am with you,” Luna tried to comfort them.
Not wanting to, Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle followed. Fluttershy however was back behind them, not moving. Never before had she seen a ghost, nor did she want to follow one anywhere. Rainbow Dash noticed that she was not beside her. She turned around to see her hiding in fear behind them.
“Come on, Fluttershy. We have to go,” she said.
“No! I’m not following that ghost!”
“We have to. M-Maybe she is trying to help us.”
“No. I can’t do it!”
“Ugh… Fine,” Rainbow Dash grunted. She grabbed Fluttershy and flew her over towards the others.
Luna continued to follow the white, see-through ghost. It appeared to just be leading them down the path. No where special. That was until it turned to the right into the wall of overgrown plants.
“How am I supposed to go there?” she pondered.
She thought for a while. They were far too thick for her to just walk through them, were they? She reached out a hoof to touch one of the long green leaves. To her surprise, it went right through it. “What’s this?” she thought to herself. She slowly walked through the plants, as if they were not even there, and came into a side path. She looked back. There were no plants blocking the way anymore.
Luna walked out to grab Twilight. “Come on, everypony.”
The others followed Luna through the plants. They were as surprised as Luna was, and wanted to stay and investigate it, but Luna kept walking with Twilight, following the ghost.
After a few minutes of walking down the dark and mysterious path, they began to see a light in the distance. It was not Luna’s horn, but rather a light from the other side of the path.
“Yes!” Rainbow shouted. “Finally!”
Once they got closer to the light, the ghost started going faster and faster. Eventually, it disappeared.
“Wait!” Luna called. “Where are you going?”
They all rushed towards the light, and it eventually faded away to where they could see something other than trees and plants. They emptied out into a circular field. In the middle, a single beam of light was shining down on a scythe with the blade stuck in the ground. Circling it were eight ghosts, including the one they were just following. The other ones also seemed to have no expression with their weightless hair blowing with no wind.
As much as she did not want to, Luna walked up to them. “I-Is this where you were leading me to?”
The ghost that they were following came forth a few inches towards Luna and solidified into a blue pony with a yellow mane. There was blood running down from two holes in her head where her eyes would have been.
“Luna… pony from the other side…”
The pony then went back, faded back into a ghost, and and moved to the right. The ghost that was next to her came out and turned into a red, black-haired pegasus, also with blood coming from where his eyes were.
“You…  You must help,” he said.
He faded back into a ghost, and the next pony to come was a black unicorn with a white mane.
“Help us… destroy this evil.”
She went back, and a purple, black-haired stallion came forth.
“The evil…The evil that has consumed our world.”
“What?” Luna was puzzled.  “What do you mean?”
A green unicorn with a grey mane came up.
“Three evils,” he started, “born here, imprisoned here,”
Next was a pink pony with a red mane.
“Three evils,” her voice was almost softer then Fluttershy’s, “take this world away.”
“Away… Away from peace… from harmony,” said a white stallion with a blue mane.
“Three evils… destroy our world,” a tan winged mare with a purple mane concluded.
“You, want us to destroy these evils?” Luna asked.
The eight ghosts, now with the first one in front of Luna again, rose up from the ground. “We… eight spirits, offer you our strength,” they began to spin in circles around the scythe. “We offer you our strength… to destroy these evils. Do you wish to accept it?”
At this question, Luna was stunned. What should she say? What are these “three evils”? Should she choose to accept their power? Then other thoughts came to mind. Maybe if she helped them, they could help her. She thought about it for a few moments.
“I… um, I accept!”
“Take our strength to aid you.”
The ghosts closed in toward the center, and became one glowing orb.
“Destroy the three evils, and set us free,” they said.
The glowing orb slowly descended in front of Luna. Not knowing what to do, she reached out and touched it. Her hoof began to glow, and then it spread to her eyes and mouth. Inside her she could feel the rush of energy flowing through her body. But that all ended when the orb disappeared and her eyes and mouth stopped glowing. Now the only thing left was the scythe in front of her.
“Princess… what just happened?” Sweetie Belle asked in complete confusion.
“I… think I just agreed to help free these ghosts.”
Nopony said anything else. Luna took that moment of time to walk up to the scythe that was stuck in the ground. She looked at her left hoof, and took the three fingers out. Putting her hoof on it, she locked the fingers. It took a little bit of effort, but she managed to loosen it and pull it out. She held it up in front of her face. There was not much to it. The only thing that got her attention was the skull at the top of it. Although she still had her sword, she decided to keep it.
Luna turned around towards everypony else. “We should go now. Maybe if we defeat these ‘three evils’ and set the ghosts free, they can help us get back home,” she said.
“Maybe they can also help Twilight! You know, because they’re spirits…” Sweetie added.
“Maybe. I guess we will just have to find out.”
They began to exit the path where they came in when they heard another laugh. However, this one sounded different. It had a more evil sound to it. They turned around, and to no surprise, saw nothing. The laughing grew louder and louder, and brought with it the sound of yelling through the air. “No! Stay away!” said one of the voiced. “Leave my presence at once!” They did not seem to be warning them, however. They seemed to be yelling at each other.
“Not again,” Luna complained to herself. “Who’s there?!”
“Well, I am, of course,” a voice from the air answered.
“Who are you? What is your name? Show yourself!” Rainbow Dash entered in.
“Would you like to know my name? Do you really like to know who I am? I shall let you think about that for some moments.”
“Don’t play your games with me! Who are you?”
“Very well then,” the voice chuckled. Winds started circling around the spot where they scythe was previously, bringing with it darkened clouds. On the ground, two eagle talons formed, and behind them, two goat legs. The rest of him began to come into form. It appeared to have the body of a lion, a tail that was a snake and a goat head with glowing red eyes and two massive horns that curled in front of him. “I am… Anger.”
“Anger?” Sweetie questioned.
“Spirit of, well… Rage, disharmony, wrath… Do I need to go on?”
“What do you want from us?” Luna shouted.
“I want that scythe. A little pony like you should not be playing with toys like that.”
“Explain to me why should I give it to you?”
Anger laughed. “Explain to me why should I not take thy eyes?”
At this, Luna was very disturbed. Never before had she heard somepony make a threat like that, and she did not know how to respond to it.
Anger walked up to Luna. As he towered over her like a giant, he looked down. “Now then, give me the scythe.”
Luna felt fear start to build up inside her. She did not want to give him the scythe, but at the same time, she did not know what Anger might actually do to her if she did not. Then she realized something; this must be one of the three evils that the ghosts were talking about.
“No!”
“Very well then. I shall take it from you!”
Anger held up one of his eagle talons and made a fist. Luna began to feel something pulling at her. She felt a sharp pain running down the right side, and then suddenly her cheek was cut open as blood began to pour out. Acting out of instinct, Luna swung at Anger with the scythe, as the blade cut into his chest. Anger backed away as the pulling stopped.
“You fool!” he spat, clutching his wound. “You just dug thy own grave!”
Anger slashed at Luna, knocking her back to the others.
“Princess, are you okay?” Fluttershy could not help worrying about her.
“I… I don’t know.”
They all looked up at Anger. His snake tail started to reach out towards them all. Its mouth opened up and began glowing. “How can a pony fight if there is no rage behind it?” They felt a chill running through their bodies. The snake was absorbing part of them through its mouth. “Let us see you fight yourselves, now.”
Anger stepped back some more and took a deep breath. Instead of simply letting it out, he spat out fire, lighting all of the plants and trees as they screamed. Out of the fire, five beings began to rise up. Eventually, they took the form of Luna, Rainbow, Sweetie, Fluttershy and Twilight. They all seemed to have the burning look of wrath in their eyes.
The fire continued to burn through the trees and plants, but the five clones walked through it as if there was nothing there. “Everypony, get your swords, now!” Luna stressed.
Rainbow quickly drew her sword, its edges glowing cyan blue. Her clone continued to walk towards her. Rainbow had fought a clone of herself before, so she figured this time it would not be much different. But then, she looked up to see a hoof coming at her. She could not react quick enough and soon found herself on the ground with a growing pain in her head.
She got up as quick as she could. For some reason, she was not mad about just being kicked in the face. Not only the slightest bit. The only reason she could think of to strike back was to protect herself. She did not know why. Why was she not angry about being hit in the?
She looked at her sword. There was only one thing to do with it; protect herself. She swung the sword at her clone, but it quickly flew up out of sight. The sound of hooves landing on the grass was heard behind her, followed by the sound of crunching leaves. Rainbow stood there, not moving, waiting. Waiting for her to come closer. When she felt like she might have been close enough, she spun around and attacked it with her sword. The clone could not avoid this attack, but to her surprise, the blade did not cut into it, but however she still bested it. The Rainbow Dash clone faded into a being of light, not a pony anymore. It had no definite shape. Rainbow stood there as the light went into her. She collapsed to the ground, trying to grasp what just happened.
Fluttershy backed away as her clone continued to walk towards her. She did not want to fight more than all of the rest of them, but at the same time, she knew she had to. She looked at the gun on her right hoof and aimed it carefully at the other Fluttershy. Taking her time, she fired a yellow beam at her. The beam hit and she flew back, rolling across the ground.
Fluttershy had to take a moment to question what she just did. Even if it was an evil clone of herself, she did not want to kill it, or even hurt it in the slightest way.
“Fluttershy!” she heard Rainbow calling. “Finish it!”
“No, I can’t. I can’t kill it.”
Rainbow looked over at the clone of Fluttershy, still on the ground, not moving. By now she realized that what Anger took from them was that emotion; Anger. As long as their clone was still alive, they could not be mad. She knew that if Fluttershy still had that emotion, she would be fighting back because of what he did to Luna.
Rainbow took a moment to think, and then walked over to the Fluttershy clone with her sword. She gave a swing, and cut through her, as she faded into light, that eventually found its way to Futtershy.
She descended to her feet, heavily breating.
“Fluttershy, we have to help the others!” Rainbow pleaded.
Luna’s clone seemed to be stronger then anypony else’s. This one also seemed to be releasing more of the rage it was made from as it used its magic to overpower her. The clone took Luna with its powers and threw down to the ground with an unexpectedly strong force.  While she was recovering, the clone took the opportunity to take down a tree that was behind her. She managed to react quick enough to get out of the way, but was caught off guard by a flying branch.
Sweetie Belle, delivering the final blow to her clone’s head, looked over at Luna. She saw that she needed all the help she could get. Her clone was getting the best of her, and as if that was not enough, Twilight’s clone was going over to help. Twilight’s condition must have already been bad enough. In the clone’s eyes, Twilight was already dead.
She quickly rushed over to Luna to help, but the clone picked up both her and Luna with its magic. It slowly began to walk over to the fire, still burning through the trees.
“No!” Fluttershy yelled. Normally when something was harming her friends she would simply scold them and make them apologize, but this time was different. This time it was trying to kill them. She had to do something more. Something she hoped she would never have to do.
With her sword equipped, Fluttershy sprinted over to the clone of Twilight who was slowly making her way to assist the Luna clone. She closed her eyes and then stabbed the clone through the side, as she faded into light, and made its way back to the real Twilight.
Luna, slipping back into consciousness, noticed that behind her was getting hotter and hotter. She realized that she had to react quickly. With the scythe still in her possession, she swung it at the clone, only to be stopped by its powers. With pain flooding through her body, she felt as if this could be it. She would be thrown into the fire with Sweetie Belle, and there was nothing she could do to save either of them.
All of a sudden, she saw a blade with yellow edges come through her clone’s neck. She tried to look past her blurry vision to see who it was, but could not. Slowly, the clone faded into light and made its way back to her as she collapsed to the ground.
“Princess!” Sweetie yelled.
“Come on, it’s okay now,” Fluttershy tried to get her up.
“I would’t get your hopes up just yet,” Anger’s voice called out. They looked up to see him walking out of the flames. “You still have me to get through before you sleep soundly this day.”
“Anger, stop this!” Rainbow Dash commanded.
“How cute; a pony thinks she can tell one of the Brothers what to do. Ha! How priceless,” his voice remained in a dark tone. “If you want me to stop, then you will have to make me!”
“Fine!” Rainbow dashed up to the chimera with her sword ready to attack. Before she could do anything, though, the blue snake head on his tail bit down on the blade. The fingers holding the sword snapped off as it pulled away.
“Hahaha!” Anger laughed. “You ponies don’t stand a chance.”
Taking her time, Luna pulled herself up. Anger saw this and walked over to her. “This is your last chance. I either take the scythe, or your life. The choice shall be yours.”
“N… No!”
“Very well then.”
“Princess! What are you doing?” Luna shouted.
Anger opened his mouth wide, preparing to blow out fire. Luna took the opportunity and inserted the blade of the scythe deep within his throat. Anger pulled back viciously as the scythe ripped through him. He rolled around on the ground as black flames began to spread throughout his body.
“What a surprise, you’ve managed to kill me,” he said getting himself up. He continued to laugh as the flames grew bigger and began to burn through his skin. Soon, his head was nothing more than a goat skull. “Watch out for my brothers. They shall only get stronger.”
They stood there watching as Anger burned into dust and blew away with the wind. Behind him, the flames that he created earlier began to burn out, revealing the grey sky above a forest.
“Is... Is it over?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Luna, her vision still blurry and her body still aching in pain, searched for the answer. “Yes… I believe so.”
“What happens next?” Fluttershy quietly added in.
“I guess… We keep going until we find a way back home.”