Metanoia

by littlerobotbird

04 [Arc 00 - Potency, Part Four] <rev. 08.08.2014>

"I still can't believe I got taken down by Twilight," Dash muttered as the quintet of ponies made their way to the outskirts of town "That is just so not cool."

"Rainbow, dear. I rather think we have bigger things to worry about at the moment," Rarity chimed in, leaning down as her horn glowed steadily, illuminating the tracks of smoldering hoof prints.

"'Sides, she didn't really ‘take you down’ so much as she put you t’sleep."

Applejack winced as she walked, still tender as Pinkie acted as mobile crutch. Rarity had had some knowledge of first aid spells, but nothing up to the task of the earth pony’s long burn. The best she’d had was a spell she often used for pricked hooves, quickening the scabbing process on the burn. So Applejack simply shrugged it off, took the spell and a roll of bandages from Fluttershy, and had them on the trail quick as she could manage.

"Still… that so is not going in my bio," Dash stated flippantly as she flapped sullenly along just above the group.

“Thinkin' about a biography, Rainbow? Right now?" Applejack asked, obviously exasperated.

"Well, yeah, Twilight's ghostwriting it and she's the one who's missing, so of course I'm thinking of it," the pegasus's voice cracked slightly at the word missing. Even if she lacked the words, she was worried too.

"She'll be okay, Dash," Fluttershy stated as she ascended to her fellow pegasus's altitude.

"Hey, I'm not worried. She's got Rainbow Dash on the case," she declared, any worry scurrying to hide behind bravado before the she descended to just in front of Applejack and Pinkie, hovering backwards. "We'll be laughing about this by morning, right, girls?"

"That's more like it, Dashie!" Pinkie chirped, but even the party pony seemed in a less than partying mood, her usually poofy hair seeming to have lost quite a bit of its bounce. “We'll all be back in time for pancakes!”

"Yeah, this'll be fine. As long as we're all together…" Dash trailed off as her eyes darted ahead to the glowing tracks.

The group fell silent as they made their way into the outskirts of Ponyville, the path now lined with shrubbery and trees rather than the buildings and fences of the town proper. Fluttershy found herself flapping along silently, staring up at the moon. The night air felt rather cold around the yellow pegasus's body, the warmth of the summer’s day all but gone. With a sigh, she dropped until she was hovering just a few feet off the ground.

I hope Spike won't be too worried when he wakes up…

He had thankfully slept through the whole ordeal, having settled down long before Twilight…

Long before her magic had once again been tapped into and manipulated.

Whatever sleep spell she had used, it had been a fairly strong one and had been especially effective on the already sleep-deprived dragon. Nopony had been able to wake Spike so they had left a note next to him on the bed instructing him to send their letter detailing the most recent happenings to the princess as soon as he stirred.

Fluttershy meeped as her teeth came down on her tongue, thoughts turning to images of Spike waking to find himself alone. How worried and scared he would be.

I hope we’re back before then.

“You okay?”

Fluttershy let out a second meep, dropping involuntarily to her hooves as a rainbow-colored mane suddenly filled her vision.

“You tryin' t’scare her half to death or somethin', Dash?” Applejack asked as she and Pinkie passed the pair.

“She's fine,” Dash retorted, helping her fellow pegasus back to her hooves, draping a comforting wing over her. “You are fine right?”

“Y-yeah…” Fluttershy stammered for a moment, hoof still tender as limped steadily onward. “I'm just worried about Spike… he'll be all alone when he wakes up.”

“Nah, we'll grab Twi and be back in time for breakfast. I'll even cook!” Dash exclaimed, drawing a smile from the yellow pegasus.

“Think so?” Pinkie chirped back, bouncing in reverse now alongside Applejack.

“Yeah, this'll be easy as pie!”

“Easy as lemon meringue?”

“Um, sure, Pinkie Pie,” Dash answered. “Anyways, we just got to be cool and confident.”

“I daresay, words from the Book of Dash.” One could hear the smirk in Rarity’s voice alone. “You should consider it as an epigram.”

A quiet gasp brought the group to a halt, Rarity's horn going dark for a moment as they all stared at where the trail had led them. Before them lay the Everfree Forest. That much was certain and perfectly benign, but it was not merely that fact that had brought everypony to a sudden and complete halt.

They had found themselves at a very specific entrance to the forest of fables and campfire tales. An entrance that they had used before. One they had used as a group—a complete group—just the summer prior.

“Well, that's more than a lil’ forebodin', ain't it?” Applejack muttered as she leaned away from Pinkie, trying to stand under her own power. A grimace seemed to have been permanently etched on her face, but she stood.

“You remember, too?”

“This is the path we took to the castle? The Royal Pony Sisters’?”

“Ooh… that's kinda spooky…” Pinkie cringed uncharacteristically, seeming to physically deflate, drawing a look of concern from her fellow earth pony.

“C'mon, Pinks, whatever happened to all yer singin' 'bout ‘gigglin' at the ghosties’ an' all? Everfree’s never scared you none,” Applejack remarked, her attempt at a comforting smile twisting as she tried to put a hoof on a now shivering Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah… but that ghosty was a just a nasty, meany snoot… I don't like this new one,” Pinkie declared in an oddly quiet voice before, out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash appeared before her.

“Pinkie, will you snap out of it?!” the rainbow-maned pegasus growled, snatching the pink pony into the air and shaking her violently.

“Dash!” Applejack cried out.

“Snap out of it!” Dash demanded, giving her one last good, hard shake before dropping her down onto her own hooves.

“Weren't that a lil' much?” Applejack asked, eying the cyan pegasus uncertainly.

“Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy murmured as she just stood there for a moment, swaying back and forth slightly as her eyes danced in their sockets.

“Bbbrrrreeeee!” A tremor went from the very tip of her little nose to the last hair in her tail. Her mane and tail puffed out the moment she stopped shaking. “Whew! Don't know what got into me there. I was all sad and dumpies for a minute, then Dashie shook me and, poof! All better! Oh! Do you think there'll be candy apples this time?”

“There's the Pinkie Pie I know,” Dash laughed as the pink pony began to trot excitedly in place, Fluttershy and Applejack sharing a sidelong glance at the party pony's recovery.

Applejack could only give a half-hearted shrug of her shoulders in response. It was Pinkie Pie. Nopony knew just what made her tick.

“What're we waiting for, then? Let's get these rears in gear!” Pinkie declared, sidling up a nearby tree. Clutching it with her hind legs, she thrust a fore hoof dramatically at the foreboding forest. “We shall confound scary at every turn! Onwards! To adventure, me ponies!”

[o-0-o]

By contrast to their prior journey to the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, the trek through the Everfree Forest an uneventful and eerily quiet one. Even the forest seemed brighter and more welcoming beneath the bright light of the full moon. Paths seemed wider and less claustrophobic. More akin to leisurely stroll through the White Tail Woods than a dangerous sojourn into the deadly unknowns of Everfree.

Easily the worst of it was the smell of scorched earth and wood where the Twilight’s trail led. The smell invaded their noses and hung thick in the air, but still, they were thankful for the uneventful journey. The scents of flowers and plant life mitigated the acrid scent to a degree.

“It's so… quiet…” Fluttershy murmured as she carefully ducked beneath a low hanging branch, tendrils of smoke flowing from its scorched surface.

“I know… could hardly make it a step last time without somethin' or other croppin' up to take us down…”

“It does seem rather… peaceful.”

“No Nightmare Moon this time, I reckon.”

“Not such a bad thing though, is it? Nice and quiet.”

“It's jus' sort of… unnerving…”

They had made down the cliffs without so much as a pebble tumbling by them. They had traveled through much of the rest of the forest without hearing even the hoot of an owl much less the roar of a manticore. The trees even seemed to be in a more friendly and less animate mood beneath the bright light of the moon.

They had just passed by the river, now calm without any flamboyant sea serpents stirring up its depths with a moustache emergency. The forest seemed to thin just out as a deep fog began to roll in, casting a deep gray hue over everything. Soon enough they came to what had been their final challenge on the journey.

“Well, bridge ain't collapsed this time at least,” Applejack muttered as the group stared over the chasm to the crumbling castle beyond.

“You're welcome.” Rainbow smirked before flying over the bridge, stopping midway over the gap before returning with a look of disappointment, “Actually, maybe don't thank me after all.”

“Oh?” Rarity tweaked an eyebrow.

“It looks like Twilight burned through half the boards on her way over,” Dash replied as Rarity took a few tentative steps towards the bridge, the glow from her horn lighting the smoke that curled up from its wooden planks. “It might be sturdy enough if we go over it one by one really, really slowly… but it looks like it's about ready to collapse.”

“Aw, horse apples.” Applejack hurled her hat down in disgust. “Knew there'd have to be at least one curve ball. Too dang quiet.”

“I could try and carry you over,” Dash suggested as the earth pony set her now dusty and bent stetson back on her head.

“Dash, don't take me the wrong way, but yer a lot quicker flier than you are strong”—the rainbow-maned pegasus bristled a moment before letting out a sigh—“an' I don’t think Fluttershy's hoof’s good enough to be able to help you there.”

“Then what's your idea?”

“Jus' gimme a minute, I'm thinkin'…” She began to stride back and forth, glancing across the chasm before turning to look about their side of it.

“Maybe I should go scout ahead?”

“Safety in numbers, darling,” Rarity muttered sadly as she stared over the gap at the castle. “Whatever has gotten into our dear Twilight is obviously not friendly. We simply cannot have anypony getting hurt while we’re separated, can we?”

“I guess not.” She plopped down onto the ground, propping her head up on a hoof as she glared daggers at the faulty crossing. “I hate waiting…”

“What if we—” a sudden tremor cut off the pink pony's speech as she bobbled and vibrated over the ground for a solid five seconds before coming to a stop, bug-eyed and dizzy. “Wow… now that was a doozy.”

“What abou—” A loud crackle filled the air, cutting off Dash as the night sky was lit by a familiar magenta glow. “Well… horses apples.”

“We have to get over there now, Appleja—”

A loud crack silenced Rarity as she turned to find the work pony, a grimace on her face and her hind hooves on a tree.

“Less talkin'. More buckin',” she stated through gritted teeth as she prepared her hindquarters for another buck of the old tree again.

“What are you… oh!” Rarity's eyes lit up with realization as she saw the lean of the tree. It looked to be just long enough as well. “Pinkie, help Applejack. Rainbow, Fluttershy, see if you can push it from the top. I have an idea.”

“Okie dokey loki!” the pink pony agreed, bouncing over to Applejack's side. Her bucks were less skilled than the farm pony’s, the tree shuddering perceptibly beneath their combined might.

Fluttershy and Rainbow flew up to the top of the tree, pressing themselves against it, feeling it bow just slightly beneath their hooves.

Meanwhile, Rarity's horn glow softly. The bright blue glow of her magical influence came to encompass the entire length of the tree. The air became filled with the snaps of branches and twigs as they were cleanly snapped off and discarded by the unicorn's magic, falling like snowflakes into the foggy chasm.

“I think it's… gonna give,” Applejack yelled out through a battery of pants and wheezes.

Below, Fluttershy could hear the telltale cracking of wood that signaled the end of the tree's defiant uprightness.

With a final tandem buck and a sonorous crack, the lower trunk split, leaving the pair of pegasuses feeling the tree fall from them. Applejack and Pinkie stumbled backwards after their next buck collided with only empty air.

“Oh dear, I didn't think this through quite all the way,” Rarity muttered idly as the entirety of the tree, glowing bright blue with her magic, crashed down towards the gap.

“Rarity, the hay you…”

Rarity could hear the work pony, but couldn't respond as she was jerked forward by her magic. The tree wasn’t falling straight enough and it was looking to take the unicorn, scrabbling hooves and all, with it into the abyss.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” she gasped as she dug her well-manicured hooves into the dirt, the edge of the cliff coming up awfully quickly.

“Whoa there!”

Rarity’s momentum quickly halted as Applejack grabbed ahold of her tail. Sweat beaded on the unicorn's forehead as she tipped the tree towards its proper place, its weight continuing to pull her forward as the work pony pulled her the other way, Pinkie, Dash and Fluttershy having each grabbed a hold of Applejack.

With a solid thunk, the tree settled into place, a makeshift bridge next to now impassable one. Rarity released her grip on the tree and felt herself yanked immediately back onto a less than soft pile of ponies.

“You alright, Rares?” Applejack asked in between gasps of air.

“Well, I do believe my tail's seen better days.” The fashionista chuckled as she waved the mangled appendage idly before her “But I seem to be in one piece.”

“Figures you'd focus on somethin' like that,” Applejack said with a grin as she pushed the unicorn off her.

As they both stood, simply letting the silence be for a moment, the rest of the ponies were resigned to the ground for the moment.

“Thank you, Applejack,” Rarity said, giving her friend a tired smile and a gentle hug.

“None need, Rare. It’s what friends are s'posed to do,” Applejack replied simply.

“Aww… that’s cuuuute,” Pinkie murmured as she lay on the ground, head in her hooves as she looked up at the pair, both ponies rolling their eyes.

“Pinkie, can you get off me already?” Rainbow inquired, annoyed at the pair of hind legs keeping her pinned to the dirt, Fluttershy letting out a soft giggle as she squirmed out from under the party pony's midsection.

As the rest got to their hooves, Applejack trotted over to the makeshift bridge, giving it a tentative shove. She tried to haul herself onto the log, but after a few fruitless attempts she turned to her friends.

“Um… might need a little help.”

“Applejack!” Rarity cried out as she looked over, trotting quickly to her side. “You're bleeding.”

“Oh… well, would y’look at that,” the work pony muttered as she looked down to find that her bandages were stained with dark bands. “Guess apple buckin' and scabs ain’t a good mix.”

“We've got to treat those, Applejack.”

“Nah, don't have the time. I'll feel it in the morning, but we've got to keep moving.” She jabbed a hoof skyward towards the unnatural magenta glow rippling above the old castle. In the distance, they could see the castle tower lit up with a similar, but much brighter glow. “Might not be a morning if we don't keep going.”

“What do you mean?” the unicorn inquired, head lowered and panting as the strain on her magic finally caught up to her.

“Just a feeling, Rarity, just a real bad feeling.” Straining, she hefted herself onto the tree with a bit of help from Rainbow Dash. Slowly, the group made its way over the makeshift bridge to the glowing ruins.

[o-0-o]

“It’s kinda pretty if you look at it long enough,” Pinkie offered as she helped Applejack up the winding staircase.

“Pretty creepy if you ask me,” Rarity muttered in response as she and Fluttershy leaned against one another for mutual support, Dash having taken over point duties.

“It's still really quiet. But I guess we're not all yelling for Twilight this time,” the cyan pegasus said as she flapped carefully up the stairs, keeping herself just below the numerous support arches.

“We could hear them when we were running up last time,” Fluttershy whispered, cringing at the memory of the dark mare's wicked laughter.

“Yeah, she was all, ‘The night will last forever! Bwah-ha-ha!'” the pink pony began, lowering her head as she attempted to affect the tone Nightmare Moon had used a year ago. “And then Twilight was all ‘The elements of Harmony are right here!’” Her head popped up once again, the shift leaving Applejack grimacing. “And then black snooty was all scared and we started glowing and those little rock things started floating around us, and we shot out a big, ginormous, spectacular double-helix rainbow beam of good stuff and everything got really loud and then really quiet, and, and—” The party pony stuttered momentarily before she found herself halted by a familiar hoof planted itself squarely in her maw. She proceeded to murmur confusedly around it before falling silent with a blush, blue eyes meeting the Applejack’s grimace.

“We were all there, sugarcube. Don' need no reminders.” Applejack smiled as she removed her hoof before falling to all fours with a wince. “Especially if'n we have ta do something like that again.”

“You don't think Nightmare Moon is back, do you?” Rarity asked as the group slowly began to trek up the stairs once more, Rainbow Dash looking down at them with a look of obvious impatience.

“I don't think so… but something about all this don't sit right. Too familiar…” Applejack winced at an unnatural breeze washing over them, the top of the stairs seemingly just around the next bend. “Besides the obvious with Twi's magic goin' all screwy.”

“I think we're almost at the top,” came the rainbow-maned pegasus’s exclamation before she zipped around the last curve. “Um… we've got a problem.”

“Oh my…” A scattering of gasps and murmurs escaped them as they caught up with the rainbow-maned pegasus.

The ancient throneroom was cast in a soft magenta glow that seemed to coat every available surface, giving the entire place an otherworldly quality. Motes of congealed magic hovered in the air like dust. There was an electricity in the air that seemed to tug at the flesh and fur. Fluttershy felt as though every part of her body was being pulled or pushed by some unseen force and, glancing over at Pinkie, she could see that she wasn't alone as the pink pony's mane had become a mohawk of sorts, every individual hair seeming to stand on end.

“Twilight?” Applejack almost whispered.

The unicorn lay unconscious at the back of the room near a pedestal upon which the ancient throne of the sisters had undoubtedly sat, horn glowing weakly as soft sparks lept into the air before fading into the soft ambiance.

“Careful,” Fluttershy said quietly as the work pony strode quickly towards her fallen friend on quiet hooves, the rest of the group just behind.

Her body was surrounded by scorch marks, only some of which seemed to be new. One could just make out the shadows of some older stains of black that had blurred and faded through time.

“Twi?” Applejack repeated as she crouched down low to the unconscious unicorn, pressing a hoof gingerly before outright shaking her. “Twi?! Can you hear me?”

“What was that?!” Pinkie broke in, her eyes wide and her body twitching with a nervous energy.

“What was what?” Rarity asked before the answer came in a soft tremor that ran through the floor, the white unicorn finding herself struggling for balance. “What is that?!”

“Dash, get over here an' help me with her!” Applejack demanded as she grabbed at the fallen unicorn's tail, the rainbow-maned pegasus joining her as they dragged her towards the stairs.

“Twitchy-tail! Twitchy-tail!” Pinkie cried out and in a blur of pink she joined Applejack and Dash in yanking the still unconscious unicorn off the platform mere moments before a sizable chunk of ceiling smashed down right on the spot.

“Dash!” Fluttershy cried out as the collapsing stonework hit the ground with a thunderous crash, sending debris into the air, obscuring the scene.

“Are you all alright?” Rarity asked, coughing fitfully as the sudden shaking halted, the dust already beginning to settle

“Seem t’be.” Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie emerged alongside Twilight in a twisted heap just outside the now rubble covered platform. “Good goin' by the way, Pinkie.”

“Come now, Twilight. This is no place to nod off,” Rarity stated, shaking her gently as she could.

“Mphlgrobchemp…” the unicorn grumbled incoherently.

“Well, at least she’s mutterin’. Hey, Rainbow, help me get her on my back.” Applejack motioned to Dash as she shook bits of debris from her wings.

“Applejack! You loco in your coco? You're injured!” Pinkie bumped her gently aside in a moment of earth-shattering lucidity. “Dashie, if you’d please,” the pink pony stated with a very lady-like curtsy towards a thoroughly bewildered Rainbow Dash.

“She’s right. Fer the best, Dash,” Applejack said with a slight groan before turning to look at Rarity who had gone slack-jawed and wide-eyed. “What, weren’t expectin’ me to delegate?”

“No… that.” The rest of the group followed Rarity’s eyes to the pile of debris that littered the platform.

The glow that had once filled the entire room like a swarm of fireflies now converged on the pile of twisted stone. Individual chunks began to collect and meld together as the fallen stonework flowed like liquid under the influence of the wayward magic. Fluttershy looked to Twilight only to find that the purple unicorn still unconscious, horn dark. When she looked back, the pile of material had seemingly begun to shape itself by the influence of some unknown player.

“Ladies, p-perhaps we had best be on our way,” Rarity stammered as the entire group simply stared, unmoving, at the seemingly living mass of stone and glass.

Stone continued to knit itself together, the pile rising higher and higher in room as it became a long, mostly cylindrical construct. Pieces of the floor were absorbed in its quest for growth, the liquid mass leaving gaps in it as it drew itself upwards.

“Um… why ain't we left?” Applejack said idly, still unable to look away from the growing monster before them, hooves moving backwards slowly.

“That's… big…” Dash said, looking over her shoulder as she pushed an entirely rigid Pinkie Pie back towards the stairs, unconscious unicorn still unawares on the pink pony's back.

“Ponies…” came a sudden echoing voice that brought everypony to a halt. “You little…insignificant ponies…” The stonework had seemingly solidified, the voice echoing from the serpentine statue left behind.

“Wh-who's there?” Pinkie asked nervously, staring up into the snakes face just in time to see a pair of glowing eyes materialize in a burst of magenta light, magic curling like smoke from it as the beast began to move.

“Oh, little ponies…do you not recognize me?” the snake hissed as it drew up to its full twenty feet of height, filling the room to the ceiling with its bulk. Its silvery, metallic fangs glowed as magic dripped from its mouth with every word. “Do you not remember your victim?”

“Wh-what're you talkin' 'bout? I dun remember facin' no snake demon,” Applejack stammered as the group backed up as one. Fluttershy found herself rooted in place next to the stairs, quietly resisting the urge to flee as her friends drew closer and closer.

“A pity. I did so hope that you would remember before I destroyed you all.”

With that the snake sank low, its long tail whipping out along the side wall and crashing into the stairway arch.

“Fluttershy!” Dash cried out as an explosion of dust obscured the yellow pegasus from view, the snake rearing once more.

As the dust cleared a very dazed Fluttershy stumbled to the ground in front of rainbow-maned pegasus, the world spinning around her. She muttered incoherently as Dash rushed to her side. As Rainbow knelt by her friend she looked over shoulder, glaring at the snake.

And it smiled back, stony tongue tasting the air.

“Oh, little Rainbow Dash. Feeling powerless are we?” the snake laughed, a smirk on its stony features as every word dripped with spite. “Feeling ever so helpless?”

“Oh, I'll show you helpless!” the pegasus yelled before launching herself at the snake.

“Rainbow, you idiot!” Applejack yelled as Fluttershy shook her head clear just in time to see the cyan pegasus charging the monstrosity.

“Helpless this!” Dash called out as she turned and gave the snake the hardest buck of her life.

As Fluttershy watched, the cyan pegasus froze at the full extension, eyes going wide as a crack echoed throughout the room. Fluttershy could see a look of incredible pain show up on her friend's face.

She had, after all, just tried to buck a solid stone.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, oh my goodness, Celestia, ow!” Rainbow cried out as she flew away from the snake in a twisting, fluttering flight.

The serpent looked upon her with utter amusement, a dark chuckle escaping it.

“Dash? Izzat you?” Twilight murmured, drawing Applejack's attention as the unicorn’s eyes fluttered slowly open.

“Twilight, you're awake!” Pinkie declared as she glanced back at her luggage.

“Applejack? What's going—Snake!” The unicorn yelped, nearly back-flipping off of Pinkie as she saw the stone serpent. Twilight promptly found her hooves scrambling wildly away from the beast, eyes wide open at the sight of it until she hit the wall.

“Twilight, get a hold of yourself!” Rarity said, grabbing the fleeing unicorn, Twilight's hooves still pressing against the wall so hard that she might disappear into the cracks.

“Yeah, we've got a mite of a problem here,” Applejack said, eyes on the laughing stone serpent.

It was laughing quite boisterously at this point, apparently charmed by the ponies’ antics.

“Well, now that we're all together and awake. Perhaps it would be best if we end this while the night is still young,” the snake said, teeth bared and glowing in the night.

Its silhouette cast a long shadow over the five huddled ponies, Twilight's eyes shimmering with fear as the snake's glowing orbs met her own.

In the middle of the stare-off, Dash continued to flap about haphazardly, cursing her herself out rather loudly.

“Now…which pony would like to be destroyed first?”

“Oooh, me! Me! I love firsties!” Pinkie yelled out, bouncing towards the snake without a shred of fear.

“Pinkie, are you crazy?” Twilight yelled out, bug-eyed and trembling.

“That's what they tell me!” the pink pony answered cheerfully in her sing-songy voice, bounding straight to the base of the snake as it stared down with malevolent mirth.

“Well, since you're so eager,” the snake hissed through a fanged smile, rearing up as the little pink pony simply stared up at her impending doom, a cheerful smile always on her face.

“Pinkie, what the hay are you doing?! Run!” Applejack yelled out, setting off the rest of the ponies, each urging the party pony to move, to run, to skip, to jog, to do anything.

“Pinkie! Get out of there!” Dash demanded, pain having faded enough for her to hover, wings flapping somewhat out of unison. She struggled to maintain her altitude as she watched the pink pony simply stand below the monster.

“Nah, I'm good.” Pinkie just smiled.

The snake reared to its full height, head scraping against the ceiling before it struck. With lightning precision, the snake’s fanged maw came crashing down on her as everypony averted their eyes, unable to watch as the monster struck the ground with a thunderous crash.

“Pinkie?” There came a sorrowful echo as Fluttershy whispered her friends name, the snake rising back from its strike, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

“Pinkie Pie?”

The dust cleared to reveal an empty crater where the pink pony had been.

“Now, who wishes to be next?” the snake inquired before letting loose a malevolent laugh before there came a sound, the serpent's glowing eyes going wide and its jaw snapping shut.

“Aww…silly snakey! You’ve got to finish what you start first!”

The snake twisted about to find the party pony still quite alive and in one piece, resting on its back with a mirthful grin plastered on her face.

“You shouldn't skip anypony, now should you? Isn't much of a party if everypony's arguing over who's first.”

“What?! But how did you?!” the snake stammered as it flipped between the crater and the pink pony bouncing excitedly on its back. Jaw hanging loosely, it had to collect itself for a moment before it glared down at the source of her irritation with fiery eyes. “Never mind. Now, hold still.”

“Well, that doesn't sound like much a game.”

The pink pony pouted, lower lip thrust out as the snake reared back once again before snapping down.

“Can't party standing still!” the pony shouted as she skidded down the beast's back and out of danger, the beast crying out in pain as its fangs sunk its own rocky hide.

Jerking back almost immediately, a burst of magic issued forth from the wound as it glared daggers at its bouncing prey.

Back by the now collapsed stairwell door, Fluttershy and Applejack approached Twilight as the newly awakened unicorn clutched Rarity's leg like a filly during her first thunder storm. The white unicorn simply ran a hoof through her friend's mane, trying in vain to soothe her as she would her little sister.

“C'mon, Twi, you got to get a hold o' yerself! You know all about magic creatures and the like, doncha?!”

“Oh, Celestia, it's a giant snake! A giant snake! Why did it have to be a giant snake?!” The unicorn was inconsolable, eyes screwed shut tight as she shook.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered, giving the quaking unicorn a comforting nuzzle.

“Y-yeah, F-f-fluttershy?”

“We need you to get a hold of yourself right now, okay? So we can make everything better.”

“O-okay, I'll try…” She didn’t release her hold of Rarity, but at the very least the tremors coursing through her body quieted. “W-where did it come from?”

“Near as we can tell... you”—the unicorn's eyes widened at this tidbit of information—“or yer magic at least.”

“Well, th-that might explain why it's a snake,” the unicorn mumbled before slowly opening her eyes to stare up at the beast.

Fluttershy followed her gaze to the pink pony bounding around on the snake’s back. The snake maintained a quick pursuit, but seemingly anytime it was within striking distance of the little pink mare, she slipped away to reappear somewhere else in a hot pink blur. The snake merely growled and hissed at its prey, any former eloquence lost in its growing frustration with the time and space defiant pony.

It seemed she had the battle well in hoof, but it was obvious, even from a distance that even Pinkie Pie had her limits and was fast approaching them. She had given up any quips she had been using on the monster in favor of focusing on her escapes.

“Oh, Celestia, my hooves,” Dash moaned as she collapsed onto her side, keeping her hindhooves elevated off the ground. She pushed her upper torso up as she berated herself. “Why did you try that? Seriously, why?! What the hay were you thinking?!”

“Rainbow, are you—er…oh dear…” Fluttershy stared in disbelief at her fellow pegasus's rear hooves in blatant violation of proper bedside manner.

She could see the cracks in the hooves, the flesh already swelling around the injury, giving them a rather purplish hue.

“Can still fly at least,” Dash laughed in exasperation before turning her attention to Twilight.

The unicorn was deeply embroiled in her study of the creature as it dove and weaved about itself in its pursuit.

“I think I know what it has to be.”

“Care to fill us in?”

“It's a golem.”

“A whatem now?” Applejack merely scratched her head in confusion.

“A golem.” She closed her eyes. “A magical creature created from the binding of magic around a normally inanimate object. In this case, the stonework of the castle,” Twilight answered succinctly, releasing her hold on Rarity and rising to her hooves. “But usually golems are mindless servants. They can't speak or even think without a master controlling it.”

“So we just need to find this master then?” Rarity queried, the worry on her face growing by the moment as she watched Pinkie skid down the serpent's, doubling back as the snake twisted on itself.

“It looks more complicated than that,” Twilight replied. “I think it's its own master.”

“We have to attack it somehow,” Applejack muttered. “Any ideas, Twi? Ain’t lookin’ like brute force'll do it.”

“Definitely not…” Dash mumbled as Fluttershy looped a bit of spare bandage around the cyan pegasus's hooves. It'd at least cushion them somewhat until they could get some proper medical care.

“I… I think I know how to, sort of, short circuit it, but I need time to focus. You'll have to distract it… somehow.” The unicorn looked at her friends as she finished, eyes full of worry.

“I'm not sure how much time we can give ya, but we'll give it our darnedest,” Applejack stated with a tip of her hat before turning to face the serpent. “C'mon, ladies, we got ourselves a little pink pony in need of some back up.”

“Hey, it looks like we've got a real party now!” the aforementioned pink pony yelled in a ragged voice as the snake readied itself for another shot at its prey. But it found its attention drawn away by the three additional ponies in its peripheral vision. The creature hissed loudly as it turned to face the new threat, neglecting to notice Pinkie charging up its back.

“C'mon you overgrown grass snake! Free eats!” Applejack yelled up at the monster, grinning maniacally. “Get ‘em here!”

The serpent grinned as it reared back to strike at the work pony, never hearing the hooves running up its spine.

“Don't forget about me! Peekaboo!” Pinkie called out as she reached the snakes head, jamming her forehooves into its eye sockets.

The serpent roared in apparent agony before a burst of energy blasted Pinkie, sending her flipping through the air.

“Pinkie!” Dash cried out, lunging through the air at the earth pony, catching her just short of the ground, the pair crashing into the corner in a tangel of hoof and wing.

“Uggh, don't let me do that again. Not very fun…”

“Pinkie…you are so…random…” Dash gasped out as Pinkie simply grinned.

“Make-outs later, girls!” Applejack yelled out, dodging the snakes tail as it came down hard on the floor. “Rarity, what are you waiting for? A monogrammed invitation?”

A hoof immediately plugged the pink pony's mouth, a frown showing up on her normally happy features before Dash removed it.

“I don't even have my bag, silly Dashie,” the pink pony muttered darkly before bouncing to her hooves and subsequently collapsing face first into the floor. “Though I wish I had my socksies…”

“That doesn’t look good.” Dash looked over the scorched ends of Pinkie's hooves before turning to look for somepony with a more medically valid opinion. “Fluttershy!”

“Dash?” Said pegasus looked over from Twilight—the unicorn having slipped into what appeared to be a deep, meditative trance—as the snake twisted and struck at Applejack in the middle of the room. “Oh, Pinkie!”

“She needs help and I've got to get back in there!” She zoomed off as soon as the yellow pegasus made to move to Pinkie's side. “I'mma comin’, AJ!”

“Well, hurry it up then!” Applejack cried out as she scrabbled over and through the serpent's coiled body, desperately avoiding the snapping jaw. The work pony wasn’t in any condition to take the beast head on and had taken Pinkie’s example, using its own body against it, making the snake loop about itself.

“Hey, snakey! Why don't you pick on somepony that's up to speed!” Dash yelled out as she banked hard around the serpent's head.

It let out an annoyed roar, but returned to its hunt for the work pony.

“Hey, don't you ignore me!”

“Rarity, c'mon, do something!” Applejack yelled out as she skidded to a stop before the snake's glaring eyes, having been worked slowly into the corner of the room.

“I am!” the white unicorn finally answered, her horn glowing a blinding blue. “Be ready!”

“Ready for what?!” Applejack cried out in panic as the snake flitted its tongue out at her, but suddenly the work pony found herself calm as she spotted a shimmering blue streak along the ceiling. “Um… snake monster, sir?”

The creature merely hissed in response, eyes dancing with magical energies as it glared at the little work pony, flicking tongue nearly knocking the earth pony's stetson to the floor.

“Y'all might wanna look up.”

As the snake glanced up, a large section of the roof came crashing down right on its head, Applejack scrambling through a section of coil. A blur of blue collided with the scabbling work pony just as the head impacted the floor, sending up a cloud of debris.

When the dust settled, the snake didn't move, its head covered in debris as Applejack laid, half-crouched on the safe side of the serpent's coil, Rainbow Dash nudging the earth pony to her feet before hovering herself just off her hind hooves.

“Are you okay, Applejack?” Rarity huffed as she helped the work pony over towards Twilight, the blue glow fading from her horn.

“Yeah…that must one heck of an eye you got though,” Applejack replied, motioning her head towards the now collapsed section of ceiling. “You find a stress fracture or somethin'?”

“No, I'm afraid I actually couldn't find one actually,” the unicorn chuckled, flushing with embarrassment. “So, I just pulled really, really hard.”

“Hah! Got a bit o' workhorse in that fancy-pancy unicorn exterior after all,” Applejack joked as she collapsed next to Twilight.

“So it seems,” Rarity admitted tiredly as she laid down next to the work pony. “I don't think I've used this much magic in a day since… well, I don't believe I've ever used so much.”

“Is it dead?” Dash murmured aloud as she flew over the top of the snake, not seeing any movement, but still unsatisfied.

“I surely hope so.”

“Do we…poke it with a stick?”

“Don’t think we’ve got a stick big enough, Rainbow.”

“What do you think, Twilight?” Rarity asked. “Twilight, dear?”

The purple unicorn remained completely oblivious to the world, brow furrowed and eyes closed in a deep trance

“Should we wake her up?”

“She's not asleep, Rainbow…she must still be working on her spell,” Rarity murmured as she studied the purple unicorn with a careful eye. “I don't know if we can wake her or not…it could set off the spell prematurely.”

“Don't s'pose you happen to know what kind of spell it is.”

“My magical knowledge is far more… rudimentary. I haven't the faintest idea what she could be working on. And that makes me more than a tad nervous,” the unicorn admitted, glancing around the ruined and now thoroughly destroyed throne room.

It looked as though the room were more or less in a state of slow collapse and simply needed a push in the wrong direction before it would.

“Considering everything we've dealt with today, one more mishap is the last thing anypony needs.”

“Amen to that, sister.” Applejack chuckled, enjoying the feeling of the cool stone through her bandages. “Hey, Fluttershy. How's Pinkie doin'?”

“She should be just fine…same burns as the two of us. They'll be tender for at least a bit,” Fluttershy replied as she wound the last of the bandage roll around the pink ponies well-toasted left hoof, its partner already well and bound.

“I'll be back and partying in no time!” the pink pony exclaimed with a bright smile, “How about you, Dashie? How're your hoofsies?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, in a minute,” the pegasus mumbled distractedly in response, drawing ever closer to the fallen serpent.

“Rainbow, your bandages are loosening,” Fluttershy stated as she finished her bandage job on the party pony.

Pinkie immediately half-limped, half-skipped over to the rest of the group as Fluttershy joined Rainbow Dash in the air.

“You should be careful around it.”

“Hey, I am being careful. Not like I’m jabbing it in the eye or anything,” the cyan pegasus retorted as she circled high above the stony body. “It's not even glowing anymore.”

“Still…it makes me nervous…”

“Fluttershy, your own shadow makes you nervous.”

“Hey, that's not…entirely accurate,” Fluttershy retorted weakly, drawing a chuckle out of her fellow pegasus.

“You and that dragon though. Got to give you props for that.” Rainbow smiled at Fluttershy as the yellow pegasus rubbed over her bandaged hoof idly.

“Only after you kicked him in the face…you really should have apologized you know.”

“Hey, I wasn't the one polluted the air in Ponyville with stank morning breath,” the rainbow-maned pegasus said as she glided down to the ground.

“It still wasn't very nice of…” Fluttershy words stuck in her throat as her hoof began to throb and burn strangely.

“Nice, you want to talk about nice? That dragon was a jerk. Puffing smoke right in Twilight's face when she was just trying to explain things”—Fluttershy's eyes grew large, voice not responding to her brain's cries—“popping Pinkie's balloons and…well, I can't really blame him for chasing away Rarity, but…whoa…you feel that.”

“R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy managed to choke out, the sound of rocks falling echoing in the distance as the pegasus hovered in place, the pain throbbing in her skull drowning everything out.

“What's goin' on?!” Rainbow cried out as the floor beneath her shook violently,before she looked up at the Fluttershy… and the giant, glowing eyes right behind her. “Oh, horse apples…”

“Fluttershy!” Applejack cried out, the three aware, earth-bound ponies noting that their monster was not only alive, but mobile and angry.

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy groaned softly, her wings flapping weakly as they threatened to give out at any moment. Her head throbbed, her eyes teared up from the pain as she felt a breath of arcane wind flow over her.

Rainbow Dash launched herself into the air as Fluttershy turned towards the breath, eyes growing wide as she stared at the dripping fangs, the eyes of the beast always upon her.

She couldn't look away, couldn't move, could do nothing but hover as the snake roared towards her. As the serpent's gaze broke with hers she found control too late, curling around herself defensively down only to feel something soft impact her, sending them careening through the air.

Eyes opening a moment, she saw rainbow mane as the world spun about behind it. Then they hit the ground hard and both lay, immobile.

“I will not be cast away so easily! Not again!”

The serpent roared towards the immobile pair of pegasi, its massive bulk hitting the stone so hard the pegasi were momentarily weightless, surrounded by shards of stone. Fluttershy found herself tumbling limply. She saw Dash's mouth moving slowly, so slowly, her hoof reaching out as wings struggled for control.

And then there was the pain.

A pain that drove away all perception.

That drove away all but itself.

The magically charged fangs ripped into her.

Their searing heat scorched the flesh, forcing out all thought.

She was lifted high into the air, a blur of cyan sliding down the glowing fangs to join the yellow blur of her own body.

Her world was filled with pain and the laughter of the beast within and without.

Then there was a blinding flash.

And then there was nothing but silence and dark.

[o-0-o]

She awoke to a dull ache, the ground beneath her at an odd angle as she felt herself sliding ever so slightly. She struggled to lift her head, feeling a heavy weight press down on her. Rolling her head she could just make out a blue lump laying atop her. Beyond it she could see the snake’s rocky corpse, the remnants of its head glowing a bright white as thunder crackled overhead.

She heard the faint echoes of voices.

Weakly the pegasus lifted her one free hoof and tried to stir the blue lump, but as she pressed her bandaged extremity to it she felt something cling to her hoof. Something wet and sticky.

“Rainbow?” she whispered weakly, staring at the stained bandage as it dripped.

There came a cry from the distance, a blur of purple and white and orange and pink dashing towards them as Fluttershy found her vision swimming.

She could feel them near her, a hoof on her back as the world seemed to tilt and sway unnaturally. The stars high above even seemed to sway it the open windows as the floor rumbled.

No…don't go to sleep… Have to stay awake… Her head fell back to the floor. Her body just felt so weak.

Her head throbbed, the pounding growing louder as she realized somepony was talking to her.

It brushed a hoof through her mane, glowing as it whispered to her, telling her it was all going to be okay. It would all be okay.

But things just aren't okay in the end, are they, Fluttershy?

Author's Note:

[End Arc 00]

[revised 08-08-2014]