//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Fragments of Fanzith // by Viscera //------------------------------// "Hmm mrmph hmm" Applebloom said sadly while eating her apple pie. She swallowed it. "It reminds me of Applejack.." Applebloom sighed. "Don't worry, we'll find Applejack soon enough." Twilight said, comforting the mourning filly. "Shouldn't ve be getting some sleep?" said Photo Finish. "But its only 9 pm!" responded Applebloom. "Ze early bird catches ze worm.. or in zis case, Ze early sleepers vake up soon enough to rescue Rarity before she is killed, yes?" "I'm not sure that's a good analogy to be saying towards children.." said Luna. Applebloom lowered her head. "Ok vatever, lets just get some sleep." "Party pooper." said the dissapointed Celestia. The 2 princesses walked back toward their castle while Twilight, Photo Finish, and Applebloom walked toward their hotel room the princesses bought them. They entered the hotel and gave the employer their card. "Ok room's upstairs, 3rd floor, 9th room to the right room number 515" The three mares went up two floors, down the hall to the right. Twilight stuck the key into the hole and twisted. The door creaked open. It was a mess. There was no TV, faulty lights that didn't want to stay on, and only one bed. The three mares had to share the bed, Twilight on the right side, Photo Finish on the left and Applebloom in between the two. Photo Finish fell asleep instantly. "Oh Twilight, Ah can't fall asleep." "Well, you can try can't you?" "Its hard to sleep when both mah friends AND mah sister could be dead right as we speak.." Twilight began to cuddle with Applebloom to hopefully cheer her up some. ------------------- "What do you mean you can't let uth in?" Twist became angry with the outside Canterlot guards. "We told you, no dragonekyoos allowed." "Its pronounced Draconequus!" Discord interrupted. "Look, even if we DID allow dragonekyoos, we can't except anymore ponies either. We can't except any more ANYTHINGS." "Jerk." said Discord rudely. ------------------ It was a rainy morning. "Rise und shine my little ponies!" yelled Photo Finish to the two sleeping mares. "But Ah didn't get any sleep at all!" Applebloom began to complain. "Yes, vell, do you VANT Rarity und Zveetie Belle to be dead?" Applebloom sighed while jumping out of the bed. "Alright lets get going." Twilight said while leaving the room. The other two mares followed. After the mares left Canterlot, they all got in Photo Finish's car. Photo Finish and Twilight began to check their goods before leaving. "Map?" questioned Photo Finish. "Check." Twilight said, pulling out the map. "Veapons?.. Check." Photo Finish looked at her sheathed katanas. "Magic?" questioned Photo Finish. "Check." said Twilight, making a purple aura glow around herself. "Graham crackers?" Applebloom questioned. There was an awkward silence for a moment. "..Check." Twilight sighed, magically pulling out a box of graham crackers. They got into the vehicle, put on their seatbelts and drove down the interstate. "Oh Sweetie, AJ, and Scoot.. Ah sure do miss you.." Applebloom shed a single tear and began to look out the window while slowly munching on her graham crackers. She attempted to make little pictures of her friends out of the dew on the car window. The three mares drove off to Fillydelphia. They arrived at the nearly abandoned city. The entire sky was polluted with a musky, brown air. Most of the skyscrapers were destroyed and the ones that were left standing were turned into alien bases. The bases were armed with anti-air cannons and plenty of search lights on the ground checking for any ponies that dare enter. "Vell... here ve are.." Photo Finish said nervously. Applebloom's pupils began to shrink at the sight. Twilight pulled out the map and started to think of a route to take. "Ok, what we need to do is-" "Nein!" "I am ze vone vith experience in zis field." interrupted Photo Finish. "Really now? What does fashion photography have to do with military positioning?" Twilight asked somewhat sarcastically. "Look, Tvilight, zere iz alot about me you do not know. Zings nopony vould expect from somepony like me." Photo Finish began to explain the route they would be taking. "Zen it iz settled, iz everypony ready?" The two ponies nodded. "Ok zen, ve go!" Photo Finish began to gallop towards the northern entrance to ensure they wouldn't be spotted by the search lights. The three mares were walking through the old abandoned alleys. "Vat vas zat?" Photo Finish stopped in her place."I can hear somezing." Photo Finish took a look down the alley to the right of them. She unsheathed her katanas and leapt into the darkness. "Take zat!" she yelled in a softer tone, slicing the dark figure into two. "It vas just an alien." Both Applebloom and Twilight were left dumbfounded. "Vell here ve are." Photo Finish said while pointing at an unsuspiscious manehole. She attempted to lift the manehole, failing at doing so. Twilight began to knock on the manehole. "Rarity! We're here to save you!" she yelled into the manehole. "Rarity! Rarityyy!" when all of a sudden an alien came from behind them. "Get back you horrible freak!" yelled Photo Finish as she unsheathed her katanas. "No stop!" yelled the alien. "Vat...?" All of the ponies left dumbfounded. "Follow me" the alien said, opening up the manehole. The 3 mares and alien went inside. "Twilight! Applebloom! Photo Finish! I've missed you guys so much!" said the creature. "Who are you?" asked Twilight. "Oh ha ha~ I guess it IS about time I took this ugly thing off isn't it?" The creature began to phase out in static, leaving nothing behind but a white pony. "Rarity!?" Twilight and Applebloom questioned loudly. "Oh, yes it is me Twilight, it would be so hard to hide in that manehole for so long all day wouldn't it? I need some outside air to keep my coat all extra white, yes?" "B-but how?" questioned Twilight. "Well, you see, over the long period of being trapped in here, I was studying magic online. I needed some sort of disguise to try to destroy the fragments all by myself. Because lets be honest here, darling, those mercenaries haven't got those fragments yet, and I doubt they ever will at this rate." "But how did you learn a disguise like that? Especially with the Fragments making all magic near impossible unless you have a cutie mark for it." "Well first of all, my cutie mark is 3 gems. Second of all, I've learned that to make a disguise you need 3 things: a horn, willpower, and lots and lots of gems!" Rarity began to get out of her seat and began walking through another door that had originally been her closet for extra computer parts. The other 3 ponies followed her into the door. Rarity pointed at a mine she had built. "You see all of that? I've been mining all of that for almost 5 days now. Just to see my sister. Isn't that thoughtful of me?" "Wait, you mean Sweetie Belle's okay!?" Applebloom started to become ecstatic. "Of course, darling, do you honestly think I would just let them take my sister like that? I visit my sister daily! Every day I go into her holding cell and feed her some of the gems I find!" "Y-you feed her gems...?" Applebloom questioned. "Well, I think it would be easier to explain in the form of a picture, yes?" She pulled out a photo she had taken with her phone. It didn't look anything like Sweetie Belle. In fact, she was a metal, black machine. One with one red eye and 5 legs. "Th-thats Sweetie Belle!?" asked the the 3 mares. "Why, yes, it took me quite a while to accept her fate as a robot, but over the few weeks I've embraced the fact." "Well.. it is awfully generous of you to give some of your findings to you sister like that." Twilight complemented. "Vell vat are ve vaiting for? Ve need to save Zveetie Belle!" declared Photo Finish. "Vell vere iz she?" "She's in the holding cell of the second highest skyscraper to the south east." Rarity began to search on her computer for possible ideas on how to save Sweetie Belle. "I've got it! What we need is a Star Ruby! One for each of us. Says here they're found only in bright areas in the moonlight.." Rarity looked out of the holes of the manehole. It was in the middle of the day. "Well, what do you want to do while you wait?" "Us? What are you going to do?" Twilight asked. "Why I'm going to go feed Sweetie Belle, it is around that time afterall. You 3 can play a card game, I have plenty in my closet for just the occasion." Twilight pulled out Uno from Rarity's closet and Twilight, Photo Finish, and Applebloom started to play. "Well, you three have fun I have to go feed my death machine." Rarity grabbed her gems from her closet and began to head off. ----------------- Rarity disguised herself as an alien worker and began to walk to the south eastern skyscraper. "Fwa'th quelth fran zasz?" an alien guard asked her. "Ga fran tahz." Rarity explained as she walked into the door. She began to walk up the stairs into the highest room. The more floors she went up, the more alien-like the building began to be. The walls were a hardened, black skin-like substance. The lights were all shining red. She went into the highest room. "Fwar getnacha var fran?" a guard asked her. "Ra. Sweetie Belle getnacha." said the disguised Rarity. The guard nodded and let her in the room. She pulled out some gems and fed them to the machine. It said nothing. Rarity then quietly walked off to leave. ---------------- "Go fish?" Applebloom questioned Twilight. Rarity entered the manehole once again. She took off her disguise and looked at the clock. "We have about 26 minutes left.. mind if I join?" said Rarity, grabbing some cards. ---------------- " 'Let's go look for the fragments ourselves!' you said! Well we did. And look what happened!" Discord yelled at the filly. They were in a dark cell. "Well I thought thince you were a god and all, you'd be able to defend uth!" Twist began to argue. (I've thure done it thith time..) Twist began to think to herself. (The thecond time I've been in one of thethe thells.. maybe we'll think of thome way to get out, I don't think Applebloom will be her to thave me thith time around..)"Dithcord, do you think you know a way out of all of thith?" Twist asked the chimera. "Oh ho ho~ looks like you guys really want out of here~!" said a familiar voice. It was Darkness Dash. "Oh no I'm not truthting you!" said Twist towards the dark blue pony. "Now now, Twist. This pony might actually know what she's talking about." said Discord, trusting the dull blue pony. "B-but the tried to kill me!" Twist began to argue. "Oh did I now~?" Darkness Dash began to question. "But did I actually ever harm any of you?" "Uh.. not really.." "Well, then. I guess its settled. You guys want out of here, right?" Darkness Dash asked the pony and chimera. "Yes! Yes we do!" Discord began to beg. Darkness Dash began to chuckle a bit under her breath. ---------------- "Vell zen, it iz time." Photo Finish said, looking at the clock. "Vere vill ve go?" she asked Rarity. "We'd have to go to a place with plenty of fresh dirt, of course. And a place with moonlight. Too bad the air is a bit too musky to find any moonlight in the city. We'd have to go out of town for it." "Like where?" Twilight questioned. "Well, the only place I know of with both fresh dirt and clean air is the alien base south west of here. So I'd imagine I'd have to go by myself. But I only have enough gems for a good 16 minutes of disguising right now. I'll have to hurry." Rarity left the manehole and began walking south west. ------------------ "So.. is it a 'yes'?" "Of course its a yes!" Discord said to the skull-wearing pony. "B-but-!" "No buts!" Darkness Dash put her hooves up to Twist and Discord's heads. Their coats and manes became duller. Twist's eyes went from a light pink colour to a dark red. They were becoming evil. "Yes yes, now as I've promised here are your new powers!" "Really?! I can make chaos again?!" Discord attempted to make a chocolate rain cloud and failed. "No, Discord. You have newer, better powers. You have them too, Twist. Instead of making chaos, you can now make Darkness! a haha haha~!" laughed the blue pony maniacally. "Now get out there and make some darkness- oh wait. One more thing. Here." Darkness Dash handed the pony and chimera their suits. They were black and covered in skulls. "NOW get out there and make some darkness! a ha ha ha~" The pony and chimera flew off to go cause trouble. ----------------- "There." Rarity dropped the Star Rubies on the table where the ponies were playing Uno. "Vell zen, lets get going." said the usually rushed Photo Finish. The 4 mares left the manehole and went south east. "We're getting close." said Rarity, pointing toward the building. "Hnnnnnnng!" Rarity casted the spell. The 4 mares turned into aliens. "Ok, everypony, remember don't talk at all. Let me handle all of it." The 4 aliens walked toward the building. "Fwa'th quelth fran zasz?" an alien guard asked her. "Ga fran tahz." Rarity explained as she and her fellow aliens walked into the door. The 4 aliens then proceeded to walk up all of the flights of stairs, each floor more alien-like than the last. Once they reached the final floor, Rarity and the guard began to speak. "Fwar getnacha var fran...dazj?" a guard asked her. "Ba. Qwer fen ra Sweetie Belle garna fwan fran." Rarity corrected the alien. "Ra." The guard agreed, letting the 4 aliens inside Sweetie Belle's holding cell. "Sweetie Belle! Oh sweet Celestia your safe! Ah missed you so so so so much!" Applebloom began to get excited at seeing her long-lost friend. All of the disguised ponies looking at her wide-eyed. As wide-eyed as an alien could be at least. "Uhh, Applebloom..." Sweetie Belle whispered. "You gave it away..." "Excuse me?" "Y-you just blew your cover..." The sirens began to wail. ":ZANZEN: :ZANZEN: VERIN WAN FRAN QUELTH" "Vell good job Applebloom." remarked Photo Finish sarcastically. "Everypony run!" yelled Rarity. Applebloom got on top of Sweetie Belle and began to ride her. The 4 ponies and robot began to run down the stairs. There were aliens coming through the doors. They began to shoot at the ponies and robot. Sweetie Belle began to fire at the aliens with her plasma cannon, taking out multiple aliens. "Hurry! ve must get out of here!" yelled Photo Finish busting open the red, glowing window. The 5 ponies jumped out of the window and fell at least 15 stories. Right before a harsh landing, Twilight used her magic to safely land all of them. "Lets get the hell out of here!" Twilight yelled while running back to Photo Finish's car. They all followed. The 4 ponies got inside the car. "Uhh, Vat are ve going to do with ze Zveetie Belle?" Sweetie Belle's legs began to fold up to become treads. Applebloom got on top of Sweetie Belle to ride her. The ponies began to drive back to Canterlot.