//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Aria 
// Story: Without the Magic of Friendship 
// by Powered by corn 
//------------------------------//

The five remaining girls watched as Sunset got further and further away, until she was standing in front of the statue once more. In a moments notice she walked through the portal and vanished, to a place of simply imagination for the human girls; that's all Equestria could be to them. Every part of Sunset Shimmer was then nowhere to be found in their entire world; she was in a completely different universe. It was a weird thought the girls once had the first time they said goodbye to Twilight, but each time after it made their heads hurt thinking about it. Dimensional travel wasn't really a class you could take in high school.

They decided it would be better to go sooner than later and find Aria, especially since it was the afternoon, and they needed all the time in the day to find her in a large forest. They all once again stepped into Rarity’s car and drove off to the outskirts of town and the end of the common road.

As they reached the edge of the forest they eased their fear of the darkness by looking out into the blue sky and bright white clouds. They forgot how dark and dense the forest was when they arrived; the last time they ever went there was on a camping trip a while back. But then, they were with maps, equipment, and counselors. This time they didn’t know what or who to expect.

“Well,” Rainbow spoke, “let’s not just stand here.” Rainbow then proceeded to run into the forest where she could be seen making precise hops, not to trip over the surfaced roots from trees. Applejack was the first to follow, but rather than Rainbow, she simply walked into the forest. There was plenty of day time left, and so she didn't see the need to waste energy now when they have a large travel ahead of them. Pinkie ran after Applejack, then Fluttershy, and finally, Rarity reluctantly stepped in behind them.

Rarity instantly regretted not wearing something less expensive, for the forest was quite damp and dirt trailed up after every step they took. “Oh, why I must say, this place is simply awful. Look at my dress,” She said.

“We got bigger worries on our hands than our clothes Rarity.” Applejack exclaimed.

“I’m starting to feel like you love discriminating against my passion for fashion,” Rarity argued back, putting a smile on her face after speaking an unintentional rhyme. Applejack was right though; they did have bigger problems, for they had just understood the immense size of the forest when they reached a hill: trees stretched for miles in every direction except where they came from. They could see the city and used it for a comparison for just how large the forest was. Finding one siren in here might be like catching a fish in a lake with a population of one.

The five girls trekked for hours and wished they had come up with a better plan than scouting around.

“How are we ever supposed to find Aria in this giant forest?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“If it makes you feel and better, we still have a little day time left.” Fluttershy said.

“Hey, why don’t we ask those nice looking people over there.” Pinkie Pie stated.

Rarity let out a sigh. “Pinkie, you know people are going to attack–”

Rarity stopped talking when she and the others looked to see a group of campers. Only they couldn’t be campers: there stood a cabin, just large enough to house the five people sitting down, facing away from the girls. The cabin wasn’t in the best shape; it almost looked as if it was an abandoned shelter the five girls had found after it was left for years.

Their eyes weren’t deceiving them; five people were sitting by the burnt out fire pit, one of them was unmistakably familiar. The purple hair with green streaks was only possessed by Aria herself. The star clip ons in her hair were also a dead give away.

The note they received from Sonata said it all. She was located in the forest as it said she would be, and she was with other people. They were likely to be the others banished here as the note had read. It appeared to be two other females, and two males, though the girls couldn't confirm.

There were three logs creating a half circle around the fire pit. Aria and the other four were sitting on the logs by the currently dried out and charcoaled heap surrounded by smooth rocks, blackened on the edges where they faced the pit. The cabin by them looked as if it was only one room: A couple windows here and there, and that was it. Everything imaginable to stay alive out in the forest, were piled next to the cabin. Canned food, blankets, wood for a fireplace, it was all there. One does assume how they got all these things; it wasn’t likely they’d stay out here if they had jobs.

These thoughts quickly escaped each girl’s minds as they were all so excited to finally find Aria. If this were really where Aria was staying, then it shouldn’t be too hard for the girls to convince her to come with them; the place did look very unwelcoming and the forest air was cold. They can assume the log cabin had no heat source, so colds night guaranteed.

Pinkie Pie's confidence and excitement led her quickly approaching Aria without any plan. “Hey Aria!” Pinkie happily yelled.

Aria was the only one to turn around to Pinkie's surprising visit. “What? The Rainbooms?” Aria Blaze yelled in surprise, as she identified each girl standing far behind her. “How much better can this get?” She said. At first the girls thought she was being sarcastic as the last time they saw her, but the tone in her voice was all too sincere.

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity asked.

“Are you girls really stupid enough to visit your enemy in a dark forest unarmed? That’s like walking into a dark alley at night.” Aria joked.

“Well—err, we don’t see you as an enemy… anymore, Aria,” Rarity said nervously. The four unfamiliar faces made uncertainty worse to what was about to occur. The four others remained sitting, but their choice to not turn around made the girls feel uncomfortably unwelcome.

“I can’t tell you the troubles and hardships you girls put me through!” Aria continued. “Did it occur to any of you that I might have nothing after losing my pendant!” 

Seeing how this situation was going much worse than planned, Fluttershy decided to try the trick Applejack used to get Sonata’s attention earlier: Direct the conversation over to their interest. 

Fluttershy changed the subject to Aria instead. “Who might your *gulp*, new friends be?” Fluttershy was certainly intimidated by the four who accompanied Aria. None said a word yet, which seemed slightly odd.

The Rainbooms knew Aria; she was sitting in the middle before they had showed up. The rest were unrecognizable. The Rainbooms first observation went to the one sitting on the far left. The reason was because he appeared very big, even while sitting down. Next to him sat a girl who had similar features to Twilight: light purple skin with smooth purple hair. But that's as far as the similarities went.

To the far right sat another girl; she couldn't seem to keep still all that well. It seemed as if it were a normal thing for her because no one else seemed to care except the Rainbooms, who were intrigued for why this white haired and yellow skinned girl kept twitching her head. Her hand also appeared to be doing something: she quickly hit her fingers on her palm repeatedly, but only her middle and ring finger.

In between the nervous looking girl and Aria sat a slender looking guy with slightly spiked up hair. The girls would say slightly because it was very short blond hair.

Aria noticed the curious faces held on the Rainbooms; her being with four new people they had never met would yield such intrigued facial expressions. None of the people next to Aria went to CHS, but then again, some of them looked way older than high schoolers.

“Well, if you must know who they are,” Aria started. “Firstly, they aren’t my friends; they are companions. We here don’t believe in friendship, all for different reasons. Hehe, I think you girls can guess what my reason is.

“We here are a group of people who have one thing in common; we were all banished here from Equestria. Some of us were ponies, and others weren’t, such as I. But we really don’t care about that, because little did Equestrians know that when we were banished here, our powers weren’t completely nullified.”

“So why haven’t the others tried taking over the world like you tried to?” Applejack asked in confusion.

“Aria might disagree, but the rest of us don’t hate humans.” The blond male next to Aria decided to speak, as he turned around to reveal his face. His face was slightly long and thin. His hair color was similar to Applejacks. His skin tone was slightly blue, but still maintained an average greyness to it. His name was Tamed Merak: the second part of his name was named after the star Merak, which is part of the constellation Ursa Major. He was great with animals much like how Fluttershy was, except he was much less shy; quite the opposite. However others thought his talent and cutie mark were lame and the Earth pony soon became an outcast. He became antisocial, except with animals.

His rash and outgoing attitude became an addiction for finding new animals to befriend. Over time Tamed Merak wanted larger and more threatening animals to keep his interest. Soon his obsession with taming animals and hatred towards other ponies combined, as he tamed great sized creatures just to attempt to destroy pony towns.

Tamed Merak was thrown in dungeons multiple times, and even sent to Tartarus once. But he always managed to have a back up plan by having a creature break him out of the dungeon.

“We want revenge on Equestria,” Tamed said. “The people here never did anything to us.”

It was confusing at first why Tamed Merak didn’t want power, but the girls realized why. He was empathetic with animals, but not with ponies. To him, everything was an animal except ponies. Therefore, he didn’t see humans as this world’s equivalent to ponies in Equestria.

“Yes—yes—yes—yes! Oh boy, I am excited that we actually get to m-m-meet, the Rainbooms!” said the girl next to Tamed.

“Shut up, Deranged Drift! I hate them, remember?” Aria reminded her, as she hated the fact that Deranged had enjoyed Aria's story of how she lost to the Rainbooms.

For some strange reason Deranged Drift liked the Rainbooms, while the rest felt disgusted by them based on Aria’s story.
Deranged Drift’s name wasn’t an accident. She was originally called Seasonal Drift. When she was a filly she got her cutie mark in weather control, which wasn’t odd for a pegasus to get. Nothing was wrong with her; she didn’t have any evil plan or what not. It was simply an accident for why she ended up here.

One day she was playing around with clouds on a stormy day. Being older, she didn’t listen to those who told everypony to go inside for the large storm. She didn’t see the danger in it, especially since her cutie mark was weather control. However, the storm did come and she under estimated it’s pure power. Deranged Drift was struck directly by a large voltage of lightning and she instantly lost all her memory. After that day, she wasn’t the same. Insanity got the best of her, and she started misusing the weather to cause havoc on others.

‘If I get struck by lightning, then they all deserve to!’ *insane laughter*.

The other ponies nicknamed her Deranged and the name stuck, since Deranged didn’t even remember her old name. Of course tormenting other ponies wasn’t enough for her, and she ended up making the large mistake of attempting to shock a princess. She decided to charge maximum capacity in the cloud until it was practically leaking electricity. When she attempted to get the princess, the princess deflected the massive shock and it headed straight towards Deranged; when it struck, the shock was apparently so powerful, that it opened her into a dimensional shift. The next thing she knew, she woke up in this world. How it exactly occurred was theorized to be a combination of the electricity and the power of the princess' magic.

“You may hate the Rainbooms, but! I— think—someone’s holding a grudge.” Deranged said. “I’ve been a *twitch* FAN, ever since you
t-told me about them.” Deranged creepily gave a blank stare and a large smile to the four girls standing in front of the banished. She almost looked attached to them. It didn’t make much sense due to the curse still being on the girls, but then again, Deranged didn’t seem like she was a fan of them; she seem like she was overly obsessed to the point of wanting to hurt them. Never did she look away from them the moment she turned around, even when she was addressed by Aria.

“For the last time! Why do you like them so much?” Aria asked.

“I—just—like their music.” Deranged replied. The girls felt very anxious with Deranged staring them off. She wasn’t blinking, which made it even creepier.

“You haven’t even heard their music,” Aria said. The two simply kept going back and forth about the Rainbooms, even though five of the seven members were standing just twenty feet from them.

“I’m I the only one who thinks this is weird?” Rainbow stated quietly, leaning over to the rest of the girls. The others acknowledged but didn’t speak, for Aria got back on topic.

“Now, what’s your reason for trekking this far in the forest or whatever?” Aria asked.

“We came here because Sonata wants the three of you back together,” Fluttershy said.

“She really does miss you two,” Rarity added.

“Wait, Adagio’s gone now too? Err… I mean, who cares. Sonata’s got to learn to deal with things herself.”

“Sonata has gotten back up on her feet and given time, she might be able to afford her own apartment.”

“Really? Wait no…” Aria didn't want to get caught up in her past; the Dazzlings were dead to her. “Why are you five helping Sonata?” Aria asked, knowing full well they wouldn’t simply tread the forest looking for her, with nothing in return. The girls looked at each other, waiting for one of them to give the signal to tell Aria about the curse as well. 

Applejack decided she would be the one to speak up. “We have been cursed by Trixie, with, well… one of your spells.”

“A siren spell?” Aria asked. “Trixie? Adagio’s gone? Sonata has a job? Okay, now I’m lost.”

“Just like you were when we first met you.” The large man joked, sitting across from Aria. The reason Aria discovered this banished brotherhood was due to her getting lost in the forest after wanting to blow off some steam from a previous argument with the Dazzlings.

When the man stood up, he towered over the rest of them and the girls. He had quite a top-heavy figure, which resembled the diamond dogs from this world. He had deep–grey skin and golden–yellow eyes, as in the whites of his eyes were yellow. His hair was short because of how curled it was, but was as dark as his name was. The big intimidation of a man had a name just as ominous as his size—Abyss. He was a diamond dog in Equestria, against society. He despised the monarchist ways of the princesses having all the power. He tried violently revolting in Canterlot; naturally, this wasn’t taken too well, as he was banished to Tartarus, an underworld for misbehaved beings.

With his anarchist attitude, he often started uprisings in Tartarus with others sentenced there, but all failed. This is where he had first met Tamed Merak. When Merak was banished to Tartarus, he distracted Cerberus the tree headed dog, who protects the gates of Tartarus. It took quite some stamina and effort, but he did soon enough get Cerberus to run away. During Cerberus’ absence, Abyss led a revolution out of Tartarus and into cities. This didn’t go well for the ponies or the revolutionists, as royal help was requested, Abyss and Merak were together banished by the princesses banished to this world. The rest were sent back to Tartarus, because they had little to do with the whole catastrophe.

Abyss looked at Aria, who was slightly displeased with Abyss' teasing. “You were more scared than some ponies I’ve seen as they first enter Tartarus,” Abyss continued joking. The others started laughing as well.

“Yeah—yeah—yeah, very funny guys. I was angry that day,” Aria said.

“I wasn’t laughing Aria.” A soft voice came from next to Abyss. Next to him this girl who looked small, then again, so did everyone. The soft-spoken girl was named Blooming Illusion. Her light–purple skin, green eyes, and straight–dark purple hair made her seem sweet at first glance, but deep inside her inner demons got the best of her.

She was a normal unicorn like everypony else, however she got her cutie mark in creating illusions in peoples minds, sort of like forced dreams. It was quite a unique talent, and she became known for it around town. At first she used this to calm stressed ponies down by giving them wonderful sites: No, not a drug. But one day she wanted to prank somepony she disliked, so she created the scariest images she could imagine. The reaction was the funniest thing she ever witnessed, so she wanted to try it to more ponies. She soon started doing it on her friends and family too, but little did she realize the pure power she obtained. She started using it to bend people’s will; it was pretty much a form of torture. Of course when she tried it on an alicorn it didn’t end well.

“I don’t think its funny when someone's scared.” Blooming Illusion told Aria.

“Are you kidding me, Illusion?” Tamed Merak said. “That’s exactly the reason why you are here with the rest of us.” The five Rainbooms could see how their presence wasn’t at all stopping the banished from arguing. Aria sure was correct: They weren’t friends, just companions. The girls simply wanted a conversation with Aria, without getting interrupted by the others all the time.

“Aria, Sonata just wants the three of you together again.” Rarity said. “You want that don’t you?” Aria looked down at her feet. Though she didn’t want to admit it, she actually did miss the other sirens. But there was no way she would help the Rainbooms, not after what they had done to her. She was then getting sick of the Rainbooms presence.

“Why on Earth would I help you girls?” She angrily asked. “You know what, don’t answer that. I had enough of this.” She looked at the rest of the banished and nodded her head as to show a signal to them.

“If you girls don’t get out of this forest in the next five minutes, then these guys will show you just how threatening we are. Aria wishes she still had her power, but of course the pendant of hers was destroyed. But the others around her, they were just as intimidating as they were in Equestria.

“Pssst, Applejack, what do we do.” Fluttershy quietly asked.

“It’s okay, she ain’t hurting nobody, yet” Applejack replied. “Look, Aria, Ah know your mad, but we had to stop you. Can’t you see that why we did what we did?” Applejack explained. The looks on Aria and the other’s faces showed all too well how sincere Aria really was in getting her revenge.

“Clock is ticking, girls. Clock— is—ticking!” Deranged Drift cringed then smiled as she said that.

Rainbow Dash leaned over towards Applejack, who was standing next to her, “Perhaps we should dash out of here before the insane one does what ever she’s capable of doing.”

Due to the sheer fright and intimidation the five people living in the middle of the woods can give; the girls ran. They ran as fast as their legs could allow them. All the girls had left, except Pinkie Pie. She held her ground, and wouldn’t let some threat drive her away. It’s not that her friends were crazy for running away after a threat like that; it’s that they weren’t crazy enough to stay.

“I made a promise.” Pinkie started. “I made a pinkie promise, and I won’t return to Sonata until you come with me, Aria!” She boldly yelled.

“Oh, Pinkie Pie,” Aria started, “I honestly don’t know who’s dumber. You or Sonata.”

Pinkie wasn’t phased by the intentional insult. She had to keep her composure if she had the slightest chance in convincing Aria, even if she couldn’t think of how.

Tamed Merak decided to chime in, “Well, I see how much the Magic of Friendship Aria told us about is working. All your friends left you here to deal with us.”

Pinkie broke her still and serious act with that comment. It was quite difficult to understand Aria’s new companions, seeing how she had only just met them. She was so great at knowing everything about everyone around her; this was out of her comfort zone.

“No, they didn’t leave me. I chose to stay behind because I made a Pinkie Promise.” The rest were so amused at Pinkies persona that they couldn’t help but laugh and chime in.

“What did you just say?” Deranged Drift added. “A Pinkie Promise! Haha, that has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!”

“What do you expect, she’s pink!” Abyss laughed, which left everybody else in a snicker fest. Pinkie Pie did want to run away at that moment, but she knew that would be too easy.

“You should hear what Sonata says sometimes. ‘For realzies?’” Aria said, imitating Sonata’s voice. They were all laughing even harder now after Aria did her imitation.

Pinkie Pie wasn’t even scared anymore, for her fear turned into anger as she witnessed her new friend, Sonata, getting laughed at behind her back. 

“Seriously, she was unbearably stupid.” Aria lastly got out before Pinkie Pie lost it.

“Hey!” Pinkie started boldly, walking over towards Aria, who was before about twenty feet from where Pinkie was standing.

“You may get away with making fun of me, but you will not get away with making fun of my friends!” Pinkie stated, now only being a few feet from Aria.

“Calm down, Pinkie Pie, I wasn’t even talking about your friends.” Aria stated, unaware of how quickly Pinkie deems others as friends such as Sonata.

“Sonata is my friend, and you shouldn’t be saying mean things like that after how much you two have been through together.” Pinkie wasn’t letting her neared distance to the banished scare her anymore than when she was farther. Aria was really surprised how much Pinkie would do just to defend her newly made friends. She knew Pinkie didn’t understand her new companions too much, but was baffled how little they intimidated Pinkie Pie.

“Well, Pinkie Pie. For a girl who’s pink and dresses very girly, you sure are bold to come all this way and not take no for an answer. But I do believe this is your downfall, for your friends are probably out by now, and here you are; right in front of who you should be running from.” Aria couldn’t let Pinkie Pie embarrass her in front of her companions who she desperately wanted to impress. She was the newest member of the group and still lied in the first impression territory.

“I’m not scared of you, or them. I’m much more scared to break a promise I made to a new friend.” Pinkie exclaimed.

Deranged Drift stared right into Pinkie’s eyes and set one thing straight. “You should be, because your time is up in three—two—one.”





The four remaining girls, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, all were keeping pace with each other but didn’t want to look back. Though they weren’t too afraid of the banished, they didn't want to stay and find out what they were going to do to them once the five minutes were up.

As they continued across the jagged terrain, Rainbow Dash, who was naturally up ahead saw light; it was orange, signaling the day was closing in on a sunset. “Hey, up ahead, the edge of the forest.”

They didn’t even care if it was to be an hour walk back around the forest to the car. They simply wanted to get out of there. When they reached the edge of the forest, they were panting and looking back into the dark trees. Once the four gained composure they realized how the worst thing which could happen, just did.

“Where’s Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy asked. Their eyes grew wide to the sudden realization that; they left Pinkie Pie! The four stared at each other, almost as if they all wanted someone else to make the first daring move back into the forest. Rainbow Dash couldn’t just stand there she thought. When Rainbow made the first move towards the forest, the rest followed.

As the four ran their worry became less of self-concern and more concern for their friend, Pinkie Pie. They didn’t know how much time they had, if any at all. For all they knew the five minutes could be up by now and they would have walked straight into their own fate. The four girls reached a certain point to where they couldn’t trace their steps anymore. It all looked the same. For all they knew, they could be half way, or already past the cabin. They couldn’t keep going, for they didn’t know where they were headed.

“I thought *gasp* she was with you girls *huff* when we were running away,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No *gasp*, you didn’t think anything, but to run ahead without us.” Applejack angrily stated.

“Well sorry if I’m too fast for everyone,” Rainbow sarcastically apologized.

“Well now it’s too late,” Rarity started. “She could be out on another side or not at all!”

As the three started arguing, Fluttershy noticed four figures. They were all standing in the shadows; their faces blurred from the slight fog and darkness, which accompanied the forest. The trees blocked the view of full body exposure of the figures, but Fluttershy knew they were the banished, and they had the girls surrounded.

“Um, girls?” Fluttershy spoke softly.

“If we would have all stuck together, this would never have happened!” Applejack stated.

Fluttershy wanted to get their attention but they talked over her. “Hey, um, not to bother anyone but–”

“I can’t believe this, we’re all toast because we mindlessly ran back into the forest!” Rarity yelled.

“I think it was the right thing to do, we couldn’t simply leave Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Hey Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy said as she tugged on Rainbow’s shirt.

“What, Fluttershy?” Rainbow impatiently responded.

“We, h–have visitors,” Fluttershy said as she hid behind Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack looked straight into the fog from the forest. By then the sun had set, and now twilight was upon them. The figures simply stood, lucking in the shadows, staring directly at the four girls, waiting for them to make a move.

“Hey guys,” Applejack quietly whispered to her friends. “I think we can disorient them if we all split and make a run for it.”

“But what about Pinkie?” Rarity asked loudly. This caused the four figures to run straight at them.

“Get them!” Tamed Merak yelled.

They followed Applejack’s plan and split up to hopefully confuse the banished. The banished certainly weren’t as stupid as they looked, because there were four of the Rainbooms, and four of them.

“Wait,” Tamed Merak said, “we’ll give them a head start, no need to rush.”

“B–but, I—wants the shy one!” Deranged Drift said.

“I’ll take–” Merak started his sentenced, but stopped when he noticed Rainbow Dash, still standing; not moving a muscle.

“I am done with running; I am tired of being afraid,” Rainbow spoke to herself. “What’s the worst you guys can do?” Rainbow yelled at them from a distance away.

Tamed Merak looked to his left, and then his right, “You guys go after the others, I’ll take care of rainbow hair from here.”

“Will do,” Abyss said. Deranged Drift, Blooming Illusion, and Abyss left the vicinity to leave Tamed with Rainbow Dash.

Merak turned towards Rainbow Dash, “What’s the worse I can do you ask? Would you really like to find out?” Rainbow gave no response, but rather walked toward him. “Hmm, not scared like your cotton candy friend either? I’ll change that thought; *whistle*.” Tamed Merak whistled with his mouth to signal something over to him. Rustling noises from nearby bushes started, as Rainbow stopped to make sure it wasn’t her own footsteps. Her eyes grew wide open when she found out it wasn’t.

Glowing yellow eyes peered from within the bushes. The devilish look from the animal proved it wasn’t here to make friends with Rainbow.

“This can’t be happening,” Rainbow said.

“I wouldn’t move a muscle if I were you,” Tamed stated. “Bears in this forest get pretty fast when they are hungry.”

Rainbow listened and stood as still as she possibly could. “Bear?”

“Oh yes, turns out this world has them too. Now, I’m not here to get you killed; that’s not part of my plan.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, “shouldn’t have told me that.” She saw this assurance of her needing to be caught alive as an opportunity to make a run for it. Rainbow bolted away, but this time towards where she thought the cabin was at. If she had to run, might as well try to find Pinkie while she’s at it. The bear jumped out from the bushes and dashed after Rainbow.

“Oh good, she’s heading right where I want her anyway,” Tamed said to himself.





Fluttershy was walking slowly about the high rooted trees. The forest appeared shady. No, it was darker than shady; it was nearly black. The sun was long gone and the night was empty with a new moon. To make things worse, a sudden engulfment of fog rolled over the thick bushes and trees. It was heavy; almost like a cloud, and it made it impossible for her to see much. Fluttershy took carful steps, making sure she didn’t trip and fall; she was alone after all, and if she got hurt, no one was there to help her.

Crack

“Who’s there,” said Fluttershy, “hello?”

“Hehehehe—haha!”

“Um, can you help? I’m kinda lost,” Fluttershy spoke out.

“Mwahaha!”

“Oh, can you maybe… not laugh so manically? If you don’t mind,” Fluttershy said as she looked around into the fog and darkness.

“What’s the matter, don’t you mist me. Ahahaha!” Deranged Drift finally spoke.

“Can I say no?” Fluttershy responded.

“Fluttershy, that is your name, correct?” Deranged spoke. “D-d-do you like the fog? I didn’t even need a s-smoke machine to make it.” Deranged Drift walked close enough to Fluttershy to show her face. She shown a flashlight on her own face revealing her pale yellow skin and poofy white hair. Her hair resembled Pinkie Pie's, but cut to a shorter length.

“I know there’s kindness in you… maybe. Do you know where my friends are?” Fluttershy asked.

“Ohoho, I’ll gladly show you,” Deranged replied, taking steps towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy would have ran, but it was too dark and foggy; she instead backed up at the same rate Deranged walked towards her. All was well until the back of Fluttershy’s boot caught an uprooted branch, which caused her to fall backwards.





Applejack was still running; she was used to forests, since her family owned an apple farm. Just, this forest was much more dense than her farm, and it was during the night.

“No worries,” She said to herself, “Just got to find Pinkie… and Fluttershy… and Rainbow… Rarity… and then get out of here, *sigh*.”

Applejack looked behind her to see if anyone was following her. Upon turning her head back around, there Abyss stood; towering in front her.

“uh-oh,” Applejack murmured to herself.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Abyss asked, holding his hand out straight, which for Applejack was at her head level.

“About to beat you senseless if you don’t get out of my way,” Applejack boldly replied. She felt if she approached Abyss with power, then maybe he would back off. She didn't know anything about the guy, so it was worth a shot. Also, working at the farm for all her life, she certainly wasn’t weak; she was probably physically the strongest out of all her friends.

“Try me,” Abyss replied. Applejack charged her arm back, with her fist clenched tight. She trusted her right arm to drive hard enough to perhaps gain his respect. She jabbed her arm right into Abyss’ chest; he didn’t move an inch from her punch. He didn’t even flinch from it. Applejack looked up in fear, knowing Abyss wasn’t affected one bit.

“Not bad,” he said, “my turn.” Abyss didn’t attempt to hit a girl back, but he did pick her up with one arm and carried her over his broad shoulder.
“Put me down you freak!” Applejack said as he continued to carry her over towards the direction of the cabin.





“Hello?” Rarity yelled, hoping one of her friends was near by. “Uhhh, it’s no use. My friends are gone, I’m here in the forest at night, and my dress is completely ruined!” Rarity headed in a direction she didn’t trust, but she perused on because her logic was ‘if I keep walking straight, I’ll eventually reach an edge of the forest.’

Her idea wasn’t far off as she saw a hint of light far ahead of her. As she got closer she realized they were streetlights, which meant she was near the edge of the forest! Her excitement became doubled when she swear she saw a clean rack of clothing for some strange reason.

“Probably just my imagination,” she stated to herself.


As she closed in on them she found out that her eyes weren’t deceiving her. “Now why would there be perfectly good dresses out here in the forest?” When she reached out to grab one, the whole rack vanished in front of her eyes. “What’s going on,” she yelled, “I just got to get out of here!”

She ran for the streetlights; after all she was nearly there. Right before she reached the edge of the forest, a large blaze of fire appeared from nowhere and stretched across the edge of the forest as far as Rarity’s eyes could see. Rarity’s eyes dilated, as the flames glowed in her pupils. The heat wasn’t present from the fire, but she didn’t dare to run through it. She ran back the way she came, trying to get as far away from the fire as possible. She ran a few hundred feet before hiding behind a tree. She turned around to find every tree with deathly facial expressions; the trees were screaming at her. This couldn’t possibly be happening, but it was. Rarity screamed as she ran deeper into the forest.

From her left quickly came Rainbow Dash running from something.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity yelled, “We have to get out of here.”

“You tell me, ruuun!” Rainbow yelled as she ran past Rarity.

Rarity looked back just in time to find why Rainbow was running. “A bear! Rainbow, wait for meeee!” Rarity screamed. The bear wasn’t slowing down either, and because Rarity was slower than Rainbow, she fell behind as the bear was gaining on her.

Back from where the bear and Rainbow had ran from stood Tamed Merak. Blooming Illusion walked from behind the dense trees and greeted him.

“She nearly escaped,” Blooming Illusion stated, “but I made sure I would lead her right in the path of your bear.”

“Very good Illusion, you still got it in ya. We better get back to cabin before my bear gets them first.”





Rainbow Dash arrived at the cabin where they found Aria earlier to find that all their friends were already there. The previously charred fire pit was now fully blazed and was the only source of light throughout the whole forest.

“Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack!” Rainbow yelled. The three of them were tied up in rope against the log cabin.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack yelled. “Get out of here and get help, they have us tied up.”

“I’m not leaving without you girls!” Rainbow replied.

“They’re here and they’re going to tie you up too!” Pinkie yelled.

Rarity made it to the banished site soon after Rainbow and had the same reaction as Rainbow Dash. “My goodness, we need to get them untied.”

Rooooaaar

“What was that?” Applejack asked frightened.

“That sounds like a… b–b–bear,” Fluttershy said.

The bear jumped out from the bushes where Rainbow and Rarity came from and ran straight towards the two of them.

“This is the end,” Rarity said to Rainbow as the hugged tightly.

“That’s enough!” came a voice from behind the trees. The bear halted from preceding the girls and turned around. Out from the shadows came Tamed Merak, who was followed by Blooming Illusion. “That’s a good girl,” Tamed spoke to the bear as he tossed a raw chunk of meat he took out from a bag tied around his waist. The bear caught it in mid air and chewed it down.

From inside the cabin came Aria, Abyss, and Deranged.

“Oh good, the final two are here,” Aria said.

“Tie them up.” Tamed Merak said. Rainbow noticed how Merak was the natural leader of the group. Before she could prolong on this thought, Abyss grabbed them both and pushed them next to the other girls against the wall of the cabin. Rainbow and Rarity were tied up just like the others.

“What do you guys want?” Rainbow yelled.

Deranged started speaking but was cut off by Tamed, “We want you to–”

“Quiet!” Tamed hissed at Deranged. “You see, it’s really simple.”

Applejack couldn’t help but see the irony. She looked at her friends, then at the ropes, which kept them seated on the ground. “Oh really?” she said sarcastically.

Tamed ignored Applejack's statement and continued, “Before Aria Blaze came here, we were just a group of people, stuck here for eternity; until we die of course. We would steal food and supplies from the city, and come back here to keep a low profile. You see, we’re pretty wanted around town for the theft crimes we committed.”

“When Aria came, we had new hope. She told us abut you girls and how you used magic to defeat her. Surely you five may be from here, but only and Equestrian being would allow you to wield magic. Then Aria told us how two of your friends are from Equestria.”

“What’s your point,” Rainbow asked rather impolitely.

“My point is, you girls know the way to Equestria.”

“Ohhh no, we are not going to tell you where it is! We aren’t going to put Equestria in danger,” Rarity said.

“Danger? Why, we promise we won’t cause any destruction,” Deranged said.

“Noo way, I don’t believe you,” Rainbow replied.

“She’s right though,” Aria stated.

“Huh?” The tied up girls said.

“What do you mean Aria?” Tamed asked.

Aria looked at each of them, “I’ve heard all your stories, and your opinions.”

“And?” Blooming Illusion quietly asked.

“Starting with you Blooming, you said how back in Equestria, you got sentenced here for finding fun in giving everypony nightmarish images; yet, I haven’t even seen you do it once to me, even when I was new and a fresh target.”

“Well, because I have grown quite tired of it,” Blooming replied.

“And you, Deranged,” Aria started, “you weren’t even such a bad pony; you were sent her by accident through the heavy charge of lightning. Sure you were mischievous, but you never actually caused any harm to anypony.

“Abyss, you may have had bad intentions, but based on what I heard from Blooming Illusion—being banish not too long ago—the royal system has changed to the point where you wouldn’t even hate it anymore."

“So, what do you say,” Tamed asked, “will you show us how to get back to Equestria?”

“No,” Applejack said.

“What?” Tamed asked.

“They may all have their reasons, but you and Aria will still just go back to evil.”

“*sigh* darn it,” Aria said to herself. She tried her best, but now she knew the way Tamed was going to take care of things was next.

“Very well,” Tamed stated, “I expected you to still say no; Abyss!” Simply by calling his name, Abyss proceeded to pick up the left most fugitive, which happened to be Pinkie Pie. He dragged Pinkie by the arms and stopped her right in front of the fire.

"Ahhhh!" Pinkie yelled, seeing what they were planning to do to her.

“We’ll have it my way,” Tamed said.

“Wait, you can’t kill any of us,” Rainbow started, “because you need to know where the portal is.”

“Ah, I can see why you have come to that conclusion, but I only need one of you to actually tell us where the portal is.” Abyss then held Pinkie right by the fire; she was leaned over it, only being held beck by Abyss holding her arms.

The girls knew they weren’t bluffing, and so Applejack was the one to tell them. “Wait! We’ll tell you guys.”

Tamed signaled Abyss to take Pinkie away from the burning fire.

“Good, looks like we have a deal.”