> Foundation 177 - Pinkie Pie's Plague
>  by rangikufan999
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Foundation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Far below that of a large island kept afloat by means unknown, a river of lava bubbled. Spouting vehemently against the rocks that it traveled between it formed a distinct path. The seemingly never-ending composition of molten-rock continuously traveled to that of a nearby abyss. Lining either side of this flaming river's banks were walls made of reanimated bones. The morbid collection of various skulls that could be seen scattered about created a chorus of melancholy wailing. Just a few feet from those banks large pillars of stone stood erect. A few winged demons sat atop these pillars, no doubt born from the vengeful spirits of those whose last vestiges were reduced to mere building materials.

The large island floating overhead cast an immeasurable shadow over some of the river that lay below. Being the size of what some would consider a new continent in it of itself, the amount of land equaled that of a circle whose radius reached two or so miles. Immeasurably, a large castle wall stretched around the edge of this island. The walls was constructed with brimstone bricks and were a good couple of feet deep. Only one entrance existed through this wall. It lead to a courtyard of industrial predilection containing many factories and facilities. Further down the road another wall stood again having only one way with which to travel through, followed by a final wall surrounding a towering structure whose design resembled Gothic architecture. More of the demons from before sat perched on top of whatever suitable posts they could find.

Even higher than that of this levitating chunk of dirt and stone a storm rumbled. Spitting lighting across the sky the storm crackled loudly. Because of the dense collection of storm clouds in the sky discerning the time of day became impossible. Peering out the window of one tower, a pony with a dark-pink mane and light pink fur watched callously as the storm raged on. Her eyes fell slowly as if pulled down by gravity itself over as much of her dominion as she could possibly see from her current position. With her ears perked to the sound of small instruments being set on a table, she smiled slightly. Letting out a chuckle she turned to face the center of the small room she resided in currently. Perched atop a pedastool an orb rested on that of a silver setting. As she moved to face the orb she readjusted her kilt comprised of several emblazoned cutie-marks. The features of her face were well hidden in the darkness of the room, yet became visible when she approached the orb. The light that emanated from the orb lit up her face. Despite this new source of light the left side of her face was still shrouded behind her straight mane which fell across her features covering them up. Giggling yet again in that of an ominous tone she stood on her back hooves, while orbiting her other two hooves around the orb. An amulet around her neck emitted a soft glow upon her doing this and instantaneously the orb started to act much like that of a TV whose reception was being adjusted.

An image of a pink-haired kunoichi was patched on through eventually and thus the pony could rest again on all four of her hooves. Still smiling she watched as the girl inside the orb remained vigilant in what she was doing. Her hands, sullied with crimson blood, placed organs into a large ice box. Upon closing the box up and moving to another part of the room the source of the aforementioned body parts was revealed, or at the very least what little was left of him. A blonde haired shinobi lay dead on a long operation table. His abdominal-sack was wide opened and empty while his eyes remained close indicating that he had passed on. The kunoichi finished cleaning up her tools and replaced them back in their original spots. She looked at her latest victim and frowned a bit.

"I'm gonna miss you... Naruto..." She stated slowly. She fought back tears knowing well that she had more important things to do than shed tears.

Choosing to remain silent up to this point the pink mare finally broke her silence.

"That-a girl Sakura, I knew you had it in you." The mare giggled.

Tapping her amulet with one of her hooves the orb lost the reception. Just as the mare prepared to depart the room she began to receive a message. Pulling out an orb, she checked to see who it was that was sending her a message.

"Miss Pinkamena... This is Rukia, Checking in." A ebony haired woman wearing a black Shihakushou said.

"Welcome back Rukia, I trust that you have found more resources?" Pinkamena responded.

"Yes Pinkamena, you will be most pleased with my results. Shall we meet to discuss further details in person/pony?" Rukia inquired being most formal with the pony.

"Very well, we shall conduct a small meeting, informally in the arena, however I have a few matters that need attending to before I can meet you. You shall wait for me until then." Pinkamena issued out her orders in a calm voice.

"Yes Miss Pinkamena, I shall await your arrival." Rukia responded respectfully and then disconnected the call.

Pinkamena stored the orb away and left the room. Traveling down a spiral stair case she found herself inside a large hallway. She walked down the hall until she stopped in front of a painting. Examining the work of art for a split second she saw an eerily calm pasture, that for the interior of this Gothic-styled castle, did not fit in the least. Raising a hoof she pressed it against a square button jutting out of the wall beside the painting. The frame creaked open revealing a smaller set of stairs leading to a hidden basement. It was very dark inside which prompted the pink mare to light up a candle sitting on a nearby desk. Being such a small area the candle did a pretty good job at lighting the place up. On the table were patches of dried up blood with many crude medical instruments covered in bodily grime. There were chains attached to the ceiling with skulls hanging from hooks at the end of them. Tucked away tightly in the back corner of the room was a small operating table with a fresh cadaver on it. Pinkamena put a jubilant pep in her step while galloping over to it. As quickly as she arrived she dipped her hooves into the still warm blood that had bled out from the gaping openings in the victim's chest and abdominal sack. Having already removed the organs previously, she reveled in her recollection of the gruesome deed she previously performed. Raising her hooves to her face she wiped the illustrious red nectar upon her cheeks and muzzle. In response to this, as if instinctively for her, her tongue flickered out licking all of it up.

"This blood... the smell... oh-ho-ho how he Sssscreeammed!" She nearly had an aneurysm from such high levels of uncontrollable passion and delectation. "It isn't enough... I need more, there are just so many delicious cupcake recipes I have yet to try!~"

Like she did with all of her victims she relished and took in every bit of this moment. Once she had settled down she got down to work. Taking one of the tools that lay unceremoniously on the desk in her hooves she started relinquishing the flesh from the cadaver's bones, placing the meat into a box. When not even a single trace of sinew could be seen on the bones, she trotted back up the stairs with the box. Passing by a kitchen, she stored the box in a large freezer, while humming a tune to herself. Leaving the kitchen she trotted towards the arena. Rukia found herself a nice seat to sit in up where a crowd of people would usually be seen occupying. Unlike other members of the foundation she was the only member found of using her orb for other purposes besides it's main purpose. Creating notes for herself served as the perfect way to pass time while waiting for Pinkamena. Upon the mare's arrival to the arena, she stored the orb away making her way to greet the pony.

"Miss Pinkamena, I am so grateful you could bestow me with your presence." Rukia addressed the mare respectfully and gave a curt bow.

"Yeah, we had best make this quick, I still have some things on my agenda I would like to complete by the end of the day y'know." Pinkamena made sure to put emphasis on the fact that she was a busy pony.

"Let's hear your findings."

"Yes, I have one female picked up from a location I used to operate in routinely. Knowing her daily activities very well I concluded she would be an easy target for our endeavors." Rukia informed Pinkamena of her findings, passing her a document that she had compiled herself, she continued to speak. "These are a set of records regarding her."

"Oh my~ Oh my indeed!~ You have found quite the cutey!~" She giggled ominously, a trailing trace of salivation followed the end of her sentence. Her eyes glanced over a photo of the victim in question before sighing. "Alas... Since I am too busy as of recently, I cannot be bothered to commit to her myself, regardless of how much it would pain me to task others with such a delectable beauty. Rukia, since you found her, you are responsible for properly disposing of her and harvesting the necessary resources. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Miss Pinkamena." Rukia cleared her throat before replying to the pink mare who was giving her a very creepy yet stern look which suddenly became sharp and vehemently aggressive looking.

"However, if you botch this up... you will have to replace the lost organs yourself." Her fiery gaze gave Rukia the shivers. "Now, I must be off. I want a full report and documentation on our stocks after you finish up."

"Understood." Rukia took a mental note of everything the mare said and then watched as Pinkamena turned and started to depart.

With that the meeting had ended and Rukia was excused. Leaving the stadium she traveled down a hallway heading towards a set of stairs located at the end. Ascending them she ended up at a door which she opened on up to the outside. Looking around she spotted what she was looking for. A foreboding tower stood nearby with a set of spiraling stairs. The building had thin sides that extended down and diagonally from the top center of the tower, and then after coming to a little over ten feet out of the siding they went straight down. Between the wall and five feet into the sides in addition to every other five feet up and down a section of the siding was carved out smoothly. This opening allowed for the stairs to continuously spiral up and down the tower with the sides interfering with the vertical descent and ascension. Rukia examined the tower more closely focusing on the material that the tower and sidings were composed of.

"Entmillium. Quite the frightening composition indeed." She murmured to herself. "A purple and black metal based mixture comprised of titanium, diamond, and bone-infused steel. We've only managed to get the newer parts of the castle rebuilt with this material, leaving the older sections in need of this implementation..."

After pondering all this, she moved. Traveling up the length of the terrifying metal structure she stopped at a doorway. Peering into the darkness of the room, she couldn't see anything. This prompted her to appropriate a torch from one of the nearby walls. Using Reiatsu she concentrated on to the tip of the stick. Spontaneously it combusted due to her meddling and she was rewarded with light. The room revealed cobwebs and an empty bookshelf along with that of a another set of descending stairs. With her new source of light in hand she traversed down them until coming across a tiny room with yet another entrance with the smallest set of stairs Rukia had encountered as of yet. This would be the last stairs she would see in her trip and as soon as she had cleared them the tunnel she found herself in now greeted her. The scent of damp graveyard soil and rotting flesh past into her nostrils with relative ease. Rukia relished in soaking up the stench. It was to her an ecstasy of aroma for her senses.

"This place reeks of death. Fitting indeed." She smiled. "I must make haste... I've no time for petty ambient-indulgence."

Her ears were serenaded by the symphony of whispering souls who accompanied her movement softly into the deeper parts of the foundation's dark abyssal catacombs. Her feet scuffed across the dirt as she came to a halt. In front of her stood a very old wooden door. Rust had overcome the knob and hinges and the planks that it was composed of were dilapidated and rotting. Rukia was also no longer in need of her equipped torch as two lay on either side of the door on the wall. A feminine whimper of the sort emanated from behind the door. Rukia smirked. Opening the door she stepped inside the same room the noise had originated from. Within that area there existed only one ample source of light, though in it's solitude it gave off quite the remarkable show of strength and fortitude. This was unlike the victim who Rukia could see bound to that of an old medieval torturing contraption.

The orange-haired and well-endowed female attempted to overcome a small case of being unconscious, her body starting to rustle as testament to this. With her hands pulled up high they were chained to the torture device by entmillium cuff-links which wrapped firmly around her ankles and wrists preventing her from moving very far. Her head rolled from side to side as the features on her face remained in a constant battle to become fully awake and aware of her new surroundings. Upon her cheek was a black and blue bruise from an unknown cause. The white blouse she had been wearing was ruffled and slightly untucked from beneath her skirt. The aforementioned skirt had also become in a state of disarray containing slash marks across the middle of the fabric resembling those that only a blade could possibly render. The article of clothing was, in addition to being shredded, beyond public decency. On her leg was another large bruise, and if that wasn't enough, she had on only one shoe, a second one appearing to be AWOL. Her orbs readjusted to the light when she opened her eyelids, the only things she could see was what the torch brightly shined upon. Rukia's entrance into the room freshly breezed into her ear drums the moment she had woken up. This partnered up with the darkness of the cell and caused the female to become real tense. Her heart beat rose, nearly bursting out of her chest.

"Orihime..." Rukia called out softly from within the shadows of the darkness.

"W... Whos there?..." Orihime groaned and quivered, her mind flooded with fear due to her unknown intruder and indiscernible location. The soft tapping of feet moving around and the clanking of metal from within a cabinet drawer made her jittery. It got closer. Orihime held her breath for a moment. Rukia's figure became illuminated by the torch for a split second and then, just like that, she vanished.

"Rukia? Is... that you?" Orihime felt like she had found herself right smack in the middle of a nightmare. A grim truth about unlikelihood of that became all too apparent when she felt pain jolt through her shoulder. Warm liquid traveled down the length of her arm. In a shaky manner she struggled to find oxygen, her body going into a mild round of shock in response to the injury. "What..." she sputtered. When she finally pulled herself together, it became blatantly obvious what had caused her sudden agony. A blade protruded out of the wound in her shoulder. Once again Rukia's frame came in range of the light making her presence known. This time she remained in the light. Orhime's pupils were trembling with intense fear while staring in disbelief at the person standing before her. She remained speechless. All the while Rukia just smiled at her.

"I am going to enjoy our little session together today, Inoue." Rukia giggled in jubilee.
> Complicated Secrets
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-Amy's Dimension-

"Hehehe... It's almost time..." A pink hedgehog wearing a red dress softly spoke to herself, she used her feet to readjust a nearby rug while pocketing an object in her hands.

A light peach colored rabbit came into the room and startled her. Freezing for a split second she then opened her mouth to address the intruder.

"Cream! What have I told you about barging in here whenever you feel like it?" The pink hedgehog scolded the little rabbit. "Out out out!"

Cream was shooed out of the room quickly and just as she had been booted out the hedgehog slammed the door swiftly. Standing there for a second Cream became confused. Why has Amy been acting so weird lately? She thought to herself.

"Amy? Amy! I just wanted you to play with me!" Cream called to the pink hedgehog who remained inside of the room.

"Not now Cream. I can't play, I am extremely busy." Amy responded, not even opening the door to do so.

Cream lowered her head a bit and frowned. "You've been busy for the past couple of weeks though..."

Opening the door just a smidge Amy answered her yet again. "Sorry Cream it's official freedom Fighter business, it can't be avoided. I assure you I will play with you once I am finished up for the day."

"Really?" The rabbit's eyes brightened up upon hearing her response.

"Yes, really. Now go find someone else to play with okay?" Amy smiled watching as Cream nodded and ran outside of the house.

Amy shut the door once she knew the rabbit was gone. Locking her door she then moved the rug she had been readjusting earlier, only to unveil a trap door. Opening it she stepped down a set of stairs into a dark room. Flipping a switch she lit up the place. Large glass tubes lined one side of the room and on the opposite side was a work bench with tools on the wall above it. Directly opposite of the staircase was another section of the room that contained many boxes filled with unknown content. Amy walked over to the table picking up a wrench. She moved from the table to one of the larger tubes and used the wrench to adjust some bolts.

"There, that should slow down the experiment while I am away." She giggled while tightening up the last bolt with her wrench before wiping sweat from her brow. "The meeting shouldn't take that long anyways. Maybe a day or two at max."

Replacing the wrench on the table, she picked up a nearby clipboard with documents clipped to it and started to read through them. Mumbling to herself she tapped various spots on the papers. I really hope that this experiment benefits the foundation, I've been slacking on my overall stock production because of it. Last thing I'd want to happen is being caught before I have suitable results... She pondered over this while skimming through the last of her documents. On the top of the last document a name appeared in bold lettering; Sally Acorn.

After perusing the content of that last document Amy couldn't help but smile and chuckle a bit. "You were quite the difficult subject to acquire but worth it for what I have planned for you.~"

Setting the clipboard down she looked back at the same tube she was just readjusting. In it floated a creature with brown fur. Amy smiled before looking back at her wall of tools. "Now... shall we get on with this experiment?"

Outside Amy's little hut Cream had ran off to find someone else in Knothole to play with. She had tried to coerce both Tails and Rotor but they were occupied with some sort of larger contraption that they stated was their newest deterrent against the armies of Robotnik. Disappointed she tried to play with Sonic but of course he was nowhere to be found. The only one who was willing to play with her ended up being Bunny Rabbot. While playing Cream thought it to be an adequate time to bring up a few questions she had on her mind.

"Bunny... has Amy been acting strange lately?..." Cream hesitated when asking this so too did Bunny in answering it.

"I'd reckon she has hon, y'all gotta realize that we did lose Sally recently... so that could be bring'n her down..." Bunny told her. "Don't fret sugah, we just gotta support as best we can ya hear?"

"I hear ya Bunny." Cream looked down a bit, knowing full and well how somber the topic of Sally going missing was around Knothole. It remained on everyone's minds though most freedom fighters didn't like thinking about it. Sonic had been the most impacted by the lose of Sally especially when upon searching for her he could not find a single trace. Sonic never gave up the search even when weeks had passed since the incident.

"Cheer up hon, i'd reckon we find Sally soon, so no need to be so glum." Bunny consoled her and then tossed the ball they had been playing with towards her. Cream caught it and looked back up at her.

"You're right. I'm sure she just lost her way or something." The peach colored rabbit said. I hope at the least... Cream's mind swirled around what could have happened to Sally and then it came back to Amy's odd behavior. It struck her as abnormal still. Amy wasn't one to be hugely indulgent of her work yet recently she had shown a huge increase in productivity though few results of this could actually be seen.

"Bunny could you help me carry some of these boxes to the storage hut?" Rotor had asked walking up on the two that were still playing.

Tossing the ball towards Cream she answered. "Sure thing sugah', Cream, i'm sorry but I'ma have to cut this one short. I'll catch up with you later hon."

"Okay Bunny." Cream frowned a bit, but then saw Tails walking out of Rotor's hut after the other two had left.

"Hey Cream, weren't you playing with Bunny?" He asked curiously after noticing that she was now alone.

"Yeah I was... but she had to go help Rotor." She replied. Hesitantly she asked him a question. "Tails... will Aunty Sally come back?..."

Tails swallowed hard, looking at the peach colored rabbit who looked back at him with eyes filled with concern and worry. "Of course she will come back... Don't worry Cream... She is going to be alright." Tails then murmured under his breath softly. Cream noticed him do this but couldn't hear what he said.

"It's getting late Cream you should head back home before it becomes completely dark outside." Tails redirected the conversation after looking at the setting sun.

"Alright Tails..." He's upset too... she pondered while bidding Tails good night and returning home.

Picking up her ball she walked on back home. She opened the door to her hut and saw Amy walking out of her room. She looked at the rabbit acknowledging her return but didn't say a word. Entering the Kitchen the hedgehog was preparing a meal of some sort. Cream closed the door behind her and then sat down on one of the sofas. Resting her cheek on her hand she sighed. Thoughts of Sally filled her mind and dampened her mood considerably. She became a bit distracted when she got a wiff of whatever it was Amy was cooking in the kitchen. Getting up she went to investigate. Amy hummed a tune to herself while cutting up some vegetables. The pink hedgehog saw her coming in.

"How'd your day go Cream?" Amy inquired.

"It was okay." Cream replied a bit somberly.

"Are you sure? Your tone says otherwise." Amy pointed out.

"It's just... I'm really worried about Aunty Sally." Cream sighed, her ears drooping after admitting this to Amy.

"It'll be alright Cream. Everyone in Knothole is concerned for her and is putting forth every ounce of effort they have in trying to find her." Amy reassured her. I doubt they will find her in time though.. hehehe... She giggled at her thoughts which Cream responded to with a an cock-eyed look. "Now you go wash up, dinner is just about done."

"Sure thing... Amy." Cream slowly walked out of the kitchen and down the hall. She passed by Amy's room and noticed that it was still open. Something caught her eyes as she passed that caused her to stop. Peering inside she noticed that on the floor there was that of a square door with a handle on it. She got shivers up her spine about it and after reminding herself about earlier events that had transpired today she decided against investigating it right now. After washing up and eating dinner Cream had gone to her room to go to bed.

The peach colored rabbit couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning in her bed for an hour she finally got up to fetch some water to drink. When she left her room she heard talking coming from down the hallway.

"Heheh... tonight... we harvest her completely tonight... right before the meeting." Amy said in sadistically sounding tone.

Cream was taken back by the sudden change in her voice and suddenly felt extremely terrified. She found herself frozen with fear and slight curiosity. Harvest? What does that mean? Who is she talking to and who is she talking about? Her mind swirled with thoughts while she continued to eavesdrop on the pink hedgehog. Hearing what she assumed was the wooden trap door she saw earlier open, she moved in closer to get a better view. Cream moved herself to a position where she was able to see Amy crawling down a set of stairs that were previously concealed by the door.

"Here I come... my darling little experiment...It's time for some fun!" Amy stated eerily while closing the trap door behind her frame.

Cream didn't bother trying to go in after Amy. The pink hedgehog's current demeanor persuaded her not to. Reeling back to her bedroom she decided to wait for her to go to sleep before attempting to investigate. If she thought it hard to fall asleep before she definitely wasn't going to try and sleep now. Not while feeling a mixture of curiosity and fear which was an odd feeling to say the least. After what felt like hours, Amy had reentered her room. Cream could hear the closing of the trap door and then the pink hedgehog left the house.

"Where on Mobius is she going at this time of night?" Cream whispered to herself while sitting up in her bed. "Wait... this is my chance. I need to find out what Amy has underneath that trap door."

She hopped off her bed. Slowly walking into the hallway she watched and listened. If Amy were to walk back into the house she would be sure to hustle on back to her room. Once she passed the bathroom there was no turning back. A few more steps and she stood right in front of Amy's room. From there she opened the trap door quickly and walked down the steps closing it behind her.

"I... can't see anything" She cringed after it went pitch black.

Struggling to see Cream placed her hands on a nearby wall and used it to guide herself very slowly down the stairs. After a few seconds she started to see a faded light of some sort. Her feet landed on cold concrete and once she figured out that the steps had ended she walked on over to the source of said light. A green liquid shined dully inside the large tube which stood connected to the ceiling and floor by metal bases that were shaped like rings. Many wires encased in metal attached to these bases further connecting to a large piece of machinery. Next to the contraption was a monitor that continued to flicker constantly indicating a process continuously running. Getting closer to the tube she squinted, straining her eyes to see if anything resided in it.

"I think... I can see- KIYYYAAAHHHH!" Cream took a few quick steps backwards, falling over a nearby rolling tray. She knocked over many medical instruments all over the floor. A scalpel that she had dropped managed to give her a nasty cut on her arm but after realizing what was floating in the tank she couldn't be bothered to worry about that at the moment. "S... Sally... Oh Sally... Noooo!"

Floating into view, Sally's gutted body remained lifeless within the tube. Cream was shaking, trembling intensely. Speechless she found herself unable to move, that is until she heard the front door to the house open up. Scrambling in fear she saw a location behind the tubes and some crates stacked haphazardly on top one another that she could hide at. With everything happening so fast she didn't even notice the trail of blood that dripped from her deep wound. Breathing heavily she wrapped her arms around her knees silently sitting there hoping that Amy didn't come down there.

The trap door opened up unfortunately. Amy stepped down the stairs slowly and then the room became bright. Instantly the peach colored rabbit got the biggest shiver up her spine that she had ever experienced. Things had become silent, which didn't help Cream's current status at all. That changed when Amy started speaking.

"What the hell happened here?" Amy noticed the tray that had all her tools on it now knocked over with one wheel still spinning slowly. "Someone's been in here..."

Her eyes glanced at one of her tools; Blood, fresh blood smeared against the edges of it's blade. Following the residual trail of blood, Amy glanced over towards Cream's spot. The rabbit accidentally shuffled her feet across the concrete while attempting to readjust. Due to the pink hedgehog being on high alert to her surroundings she heard the noise created by this and then walked over to her wall of tools. Grabbing a sickle with a chain and ball attached to it, she held the tool by the chain in one hand while swinging a section of the chain closer to the handle around.

"Hehehe... This is gonna be fun..." Amy called out.

Throwing the sickle the blade of it latched on to one of the crates that Cream was behind. With a fierce tug the crate fell over and the rabbit's head could now be seen. Amy smiled at her while pulling the sickle free from the crate. Once again she swung it around. The rabbit ducked and the sickle slammed into a nearby wall. Panicking Cream ran towards the stairs. Quickly Amy pulled the sickle back and threw it at her as she tried to escape.

"GIYYAHHHHHH" Cream screamed feeling the blade dig deeply into her leg. Now bleeding and wounded her movements slowed down yet she still tried to crawl up the stairs. Screaming loudly she hoped that someone would hear her and come to rescue her. Amy pulled her over and once she was in range, she grabbed her by the neck. Holding her up high in the air Amy smiled. Cream noticed Amy pressing a button and then tall panel on the wall retracted unleashing a long metal spike. Wasting no time the pink hedgehog rammed her on to the spike. Piercing her gullet, Cream felt the metal rip through her vital organs, emptying the contents of her most recent meal all over it. Blood mixed with half-digested slop staining the rabbit's clothes and dripping on to the floor. Cream began to cry. Tears streamed down her face which contorted with fear and pain.

"It won't do ya any good to scream down here. The walls are thick enough that your voice won't trail long enough to reach anyone." Amy told her to break down any hopes she had. The rabbit's eyes shrunk in fear upon hearing her words. Sobbing she started to plead with the pink menace.

"P...please... Amy... don't... kill me..." Cream whined pitifully

"Oh no... I'm afraid I can't let you live after this." Amy informed her. "You see, you know my awful secret now, which makes you... a threat to me."

Amy released her grip on Cream's throat allowing her to breath a little. She began perusing her wall of tools once again looking for a certain tool. Trailing the wall down to the table and even further on to the floor she found exactly what she was looking for and indicated such with a perky "Aha!". Lifting it up so the rabbit could see, Cream screamed.

"My trusty bone saw. Hmmm... as much as I would enjoy hearing you scream some more, tonight is just not the night for that. So, I'm just gonna do away with that right off the bat." The pink hedgehog told her while pressing the blade of the bone saw against the rabbit's left cheek. Cream tried to squirm but it backfired on her. The saw pushed into the joint that connected her jaw with her skull. Then Amy began to saw through both the flesh upon her cheek and the joint.

A blood curdling scream of horror and agonizing pain emanated from the rabbit. Her body acted instinctively trying to escape the terrifying pain. She could feel it surging through every fiber of her being causing other parts of her body to twitch and convulse in response. With each individual saw Cream felt her vocal chords become more shrill and louder until it peaked and wouldn't go higher than it already was. Before long her jaw only hung by one joint. Amy took the saw to the aforementioned joint and began sawing at it again receiving yet another grimacing chorus of screams. Just before sawing off the last of her jaw the pink hedgehog pulled the saw away. Setting it down on the table she looked Cream in the eyes and then towards her handy work. Cream's tongue dangled without a place to lay upon due to her jaw now hanging by a few remaining muscles.

"This may hurt a little Cream..." She warned the rabbit and then stomped her foot into place against the wall. She gripped the rabbit's jaw that now held on by one thick strip of flesh and smiled ominously at Cream. Her eyes widened in fear for what she saw coming. Amy pulled with all of her might, the strip of flesh becoming taut under the sudden pressure.

"KIYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Cream screamed once again, she could feel the last muscles connecting her jawbone to her face slowly tear. It burned and stung, causing fresh tears to once again stream down her face. With a final wicked tug, the flesh ripped vehemently from the joint. Cream's head smacked back into the wall causing her to become dazed. Her tongue succumbed to gravity even more so now with her jaw completely gone. Drool from her now gaping maw mixed with her bleeding wound.

By this point the profuse amount of blood loss she suffered from her wound in her stomach was getting the better of her and she felt light headed and woozy. Cream found it hard to continue her feeble attempts at screaming. Amy giggled, holding her new found treasure up to the light to see it better.

"It's pretty.. I think I might keep this to remember you by." She chuckled sadistically. Looking towards Cream for a response all she got was hiccuping and sobbing to which she scoffed at. "Ya know, you may almost be the first to make me NOT want to hear your whines and screaming... I'd rather not find out so... I got a solution for that."

Winking at the rabbit she pulled another tool down from her wall. She revealed a large clamp of some sort with edges that were sharpened for cutting. Amy didn't even stop to explain what was happening. Aiming the now opened clamps towards Cream's throat she violently ripped out her vocal chords. Blood spurted all over Amy's and Cream's faces. At first glance the pink hedgehog didn't even notice that she had pierced a hole in the rabbit's wind pipe.

"There... now you won't be able to scream." Amy released the contents of the clamp on to a small carrying tray she had recovered from off the ground. Upon examining her victim's current condition she noticed the hole in her wind pipe. "Oh dear... I guess thats that. We don't have much time before you pass on... I'd say probably 7 minutes top."

Hearing this made Cream stare blankly into the distance, she realized that she was going to die here. Sonic... Sally... Tails... Bunny... why didn't anyone come to rescue me... If the pain wasn't bad enough these thoughts wracked an emotional toll as well. Amy gave her victim a lamenting look while frowning as much as she could.

"I hope you don't think I am just going to sit here watching your last moments... Especially considering how utterly defeated you look right now. It's quite disgusting actually... mind if EYE change that up?" Amy pulled down her eyelid putting much emphasis on eyes. Giggling yet again, she procured an oddly familiar device from among her repertoire of tools. It resembled an ice cream scoop however, along the edges of this scoop, much like the clamps Amy had been using earlier, sharp blades gleamed. Chuckling loudly while gripping this new tool of hers, she moved it slowly towards Cream. The rabbit trembled as a new wave of chilling fear and anguish washed over her once again.

"NOOOOO! GYAAAAHHHHHH" Cream screamed once the metal dug into the flesh of her eye socket. Sinking all the way behind her eyeball, the blades of the scoop swiveled forwards a bit, slicing into the optic nerve. Amy prepared herself to sever this part of her victim's eye but found that her scoop had ran into a bit of a snag. The tool was jammed, not wanting to budge any further. Cream hollered and cried while relentlessly being exposed to the additional hellish torment that this deterrent caused. Applying a bit more pressure, the blades finally pushed forwards and sliced the optic nerve right in half. With the way the scoop was designed her eyeball remained contained within it. Pulling the scoop out slowly, Amy unveiled her prize. She plucked the bloody eyeball from the tool and looked at it smiling widely.

"Hehehe... I got my eye on you!" She teased cynically as she partook in a staring contest with the now relinquished eye. After noticing that Cream was struggling to remain cognizant she placed the eyeball beside the other removed body parts and watched. Blood was still dripping from her eye socket, her breathing had become extremely shallow, and her crying was reduced to that of a mere whimper. "Yep... I'd say you are pretty much done. Sad, but it was to be expected, I mean I did do a number on you with the huge spike. I should have savored it a bit more... but I don't have time for that right now, so do me a favor and die quickly now would'ya?"

The sound of Amy's last words were fading, and the rabbit's vision quickly started to fade. Her eyelids... or what remained of them became too much of a struggle to keep open. Closing them, she coughed up some blood. Amy watched, as a few moments after that Cream breathing had ceased. Once she had reaffirmed the rabbit's death with a quick check of her pulse, the pink hedgehog started to clean up. Grabbing her hacksaw once again, she took it to her victim's neck and began callously sawing it off. After a few minutes of bloody serration, she removed the rabbit's head off. With her head in hand she went over to another bare wall nearby and fiddled with a number pad on it. A secret door opened up releasing a wave of cold air. Stepping inside of this room, she simply placed the head into one of the freezers located within it and went to go retrieve the body. She placed the body in there as well as the other parts too. Closing that room up, she pulled a small box that hung via it's handle from her wall of tools. Inside of it was a strange golden ring, which she pulled out and tossed it on to the ground. A huge display of lights expanded from a focal point inside of it and lit up a large portion of the room's floor. An arc started materializing from two points on the edges of the circular pool of lights on the floor. The two points finished materializing when they both met at a center point. In between the arc a purple glow of some kind swirled. Amy looked into it, and noticed depth. The more the swirls drew closer to the center the further out they appeared creating three-dimensional visual.

"These warp rings are quite the handy tool..." She pronounced while looking at foreboding images of a dark castle. "Well... I better get going, don't want to keep Miss Pinkamena waiting on me..."
> Introducing The Arsenal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stepping inside the portal she was greeted with the front gates of the Citadel of Horror that was the heart of their operations. The iron bars of this entrance were resemblance of an old Gothic style and the stone pillars that they connected too had gargoyles on them made out of Entmillium. The stone path that led through the gate and to the very courtyard of the first castle entrance was made of obsidian. Amy stepped up to the gate and almost as if there was a personal recognition system the gate opened up for her instantly. She walked along the sidewalk towards the very front of the castle and traveled inside. 

There she was inside the hallway that would soon extend towards the center of the structure and in that center contained a hallway that lead to each individual wing of the castle. She proceeded to this center and then she stepped on a circle in the middle of the room. Around her there were 12 hallways including the one of which she had came from. In betwixt the center of the room and entrances to the paths, there were pillars. Each pillar was in between each of the doorways that held the same gothic style as before. The ceiling was dome like and held a hole that aligned perfectly in a vertical manner to that of the center circle that Amy now stood on. When her feet had both planted themselves firmly upon this circle, the radius of it lit up into a glow of blue. The area of the circle was covered in demonic carvings. The plate that she had been on then started to ascend towards the hole in the ceiling. Amy remained in a state of perfect calm as the elevator-like device made it's way up to the second floor of the castle. 

Upon arriving on the new floor she walked out of the radius of the center circle, and proceeded down another corridor. She stopped at a door that held a device on the left side of the wall that bordered the frame of the entrance. It was located under a torch and it was in the shape of a box. The top of the box held a receptacle that had a strip of paper hanging from it. On the bottom was a port for which the paper would be entered. A digital screen below that read "Please input name on paper and turn in". Amy knew the drill and took a sheet of paper and put her signature on it, then giving it back to the machine. When the machine was finished processing it the door then unlocked and she was permitted to enter into the meeting room.

"I am terribly sorry about my continued lateness." Amy had sincerely apologized. "A little rat discovered my laboratory so I had to take care of her."

"See to it that you take better care of your Lab Amy" Pinkie Pie had told her. "I don't want anypony else discovering more and more of our secrets." "By the way, Where is Rukia? She should have been here by now."

"I believe she was just finishing up with Orihime" Sakura answered the question of the pink pony.

"Would you mind fetching her for me?" The pony requested to which Sakura gave her a nod of approval and had got up from her seat to seek out the soul reaper.

Down in the basement of the tower Rukia was in, Orihime was nearly dead. Her body was covered in slash marks and her cavity had been opened. Orihime was crying but she was strong willed and didn't want to scream in pain.

"Well well well, You're pretty tough, I must admit that. But you must die now. I have a meeting to attend afterall!" Rukia had yelled as she raised the knife upwards, aiming at Orihime's chest.

The orange haired female had closed her eyes, facing her destined fate. The pain had forced her eyes open when she was stabbed right in the heart. Rukia did it multiple times, and slowly those orbs of her's then closed once again. The female was relieved of her very life source and then her head fell limp, ceasing her life altogether. A knock on the door was heard followed by Sakura entering in.

"The meeting has begun Rukia, I have been asked to retrieve you for it." She told the soul reaper.

"I understand, Let me put some preservation powder on the corpse and we can leave." Rukia responded to the kunoichi. 

She then took out a purple and velvet pouch and poured some of it's contents out onto the now deceased Orihime. She then tied the pouch back up and put it away. Her now facing Sakura as she walked out with her towards the meeting. The two arrived back in the room and gathered around the table. Each taking their respective seats.

"Now that we have everyone here, I would like to discuss the next step in our plan." Pinkie started the meeting with this statement. A hologram of a disgusting and disturbing creature was shown to the group. 

It was a creature that had the body of a zombie with flesh that had looked like it had been rotting for over a month, and then its arms were like that of sickles extending at least two and half feet towards the ground and were slightly curved outwards. On these sickles were blades on both edges. The creature seemed to have a humpback a bit, but the one feature that stuck out the most was the face. It was a familiar face to Sakura. Upon that creatures shoulders was the head of the long since dead Hinata. The flesh upon the skull of Hinata's face was also the same color and texture as the rest of the body. The eyes were blackened out and held no pupils. A liner of very dark blood that bordered that of the color black ran down from the sockets of her eyes. Her mouth was gaping open and revealed serrated rows of sharp teeth. Her jaw was attached in a rather odd way as it hung low. This obviously provided for more space to put food into.

"What the hell is that thing?" Rukia stammered with a bit of shock.

"It is nothing to worry about my dearest Rukia" Pinkie Pie reassured her. "It is one of my finest creations. I figured that we needed to start mass harvesting organs so I created this little beauty. I call it a Shukakusha."

"What is it suppose to do?" Amy asked with much inquisition.

"Silly, It's supposed to harvest organs of course!" the pony responded. "We shall use these all across the dimensions to harvest all the organs in the universe!"

"Sounds like it will plummet the world into eternal chaos and make it a hellish land!" Sakura shouted with glee and newfound excitement.

"That is exactly what it will do!" Pinkie exclaimed as she jumped onto the table, her eyes conformed to a more serious look. Meanwhile her lips took the shape of a devious smile. While she trotted, she explained the master plan. "I want to create a world of utter chaos and eternal suffering, A world where everywhere you go, somepony is screaming in sheer horror for that which is terrorizing them. Peace shall cease to exist. My Dreams shall shadow this world and create the ultimate place for hell to run rampant!" "You all shall accompany me in this plan of ours and we shall become gods of this world!


Pinkie Pie's Speech skills were far beyond that of most people, her masterful level of charisma being the main attributing factor to this. As a result of this, the group was impressed and began wondering what they could do after having seized the world under their control. Respectively, each one had ideas for what they desired and were strongly certain that this plan was to succeed, especially with Pinkie Pie managing it.

"When can we send it out, and how many do we have?" Amy asked, excited about the proposition.

"We can make as many as we need from our victims, but that won't be necessary as we only need one to contract the disease it carries that makes one become a Shukakusha." Pinkie Pie responded.

Just then a pedestal had appeared from under a panel in the floor that slid open. On top of that pedestal was an orb that was glowing red and producing an alarm like noise. It was indicating that there were intruders. A screen appeared as well, and flashed on to where these intruders were currently located at.

"Royal equestrian guards... Seems they were on to me more than I had suspected." Pinkie said with a bit of a chuckle "No matter, You all can witness the power of a Shukakusha now."

The colts had rushed in through a portal made by a royal unicorn. As four colts with golden armor were there along with the unicorn who also had golden armor on as well. They were in sector J and were scouting the area for any signs of life. The corridor they were in was abandoned and had rubble everywhere. Some of the walls were covered in blood stains and the windows were shattered a bit. Spider webs were in a few corners and lightning crackled outside from the constant thunderstorm that seemed to be in this dimension. Just then the rattling of chains was heard off in the distance as something was coming towards the equestrian ponies. It's feet seemed to brush against the stone as if it was sliding and not really lifting its limbs up.
The colts were prepared to fight the creature off, but as soon as they saw what lay before them their very eyes were in a state of horror. A Shukakusha with the face of Rainbow Dash lurched forwards from around the corner at the group of ponies.

"Is that... Is that who I think it is?" One colt had said.

"It is! What the hell happened to her!" Another replied.

"She has long since perished my fellow colts. Gaze upon her face and then unto her flesh. It is not the same natural color that she usually had, and not a single ounce of her soul remains intact within her eyes." The mare had explained to them. "She is a being that is beyond that of normal death now. She has been transformed into that of a demon."

Rainbow Dash had then let out a horrifying screech before she jumped with shocking speed and latched on to a colt, Her claws having shredded the flesh of the pony in mere seconds. The infectious disease that she had consumed the very life of that colt in seconds, and transformed it into a shukakusha as well. The other colts screamed in terror as their fates were the same as their ally. Even the unicorn succumbed to the harvester's disease. Once the task of eliminating them had been accomplished the shukakusha just lingered around.

Back in the meeting room Pinkie Pie had turned to face the group after having been watching the screen that was behind her.

"Well, what do you think ladies? Impressive aren't they?" Pinkie pie said with a bit of pride in her voice.

"Impressive? These things are the ultimate weapon." Amy replied.

"I agree with Amy, those shukakushas' are extremely valuable to our cause." Sakura had said.

"I have one concern about them. What if they were to attack us and infect us with the disease?" Rukia said in a bit of a worried tone.

"No need to worry about that silly. I have made an anti-virus for those who are turned into one of them." Pinkie Pie gave Rukia some reassurance. "Be warned though, I can only give the anti-virus to those who were solely made a shukakusha by another shukakusha. If you are injected with the virus through any other means that would spell the end for you."

"Alright I understand, That makes me feel more motivated to carry out the plan without fear of being changed myself." Rukia said with restored vigor.

The whole group then had started laughing as the thought of their plan coming to fruition was absolutely overwhelmingly exciting and made each one of them overjoyed.
> The Fall of The Leaf
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Sakura's Dimension-

In the front gate of the Hidden leaf village two ninja were scouting the area. A portal deep in the forest that lay beyond the gate had opened up and the shukakushas' from before had appeared from this portal. They manuevered slowly towards the village hidden in the leaves but they were soon spotted by the ninja. Leaping into action, they started to try and halt the creatures.

"Halt, who goes there!" One of the ninja had asked the creatures but got no response.

"State your name and business" The other tried to ask as well.

The creatures stopped and just wavered there for a second, their bodies swaying around with no real destination. Soon they snapped upright and jumped towards the ninja. The two lookouts, caught off-guard, were soon slaughtered by the shukakushas and in turn transformed into them as well. This soon ravaged the very streets of Konoha, as residents started falling to the disease very rapidly. Many ninja tried to fight it off but they started to multiply through the members of the village and things became too messy.

"What the hell are these things?" Kakashi wondered as he and Might Guy were fighting off a few of them.

"I have no idea, but they must want to squander away the youth of this village! I cannot allow this injustice to go on!" Might guy said as he pulled off his usual thumbs up and smile, But that led to his ultimate demise as a shukakusha got him from behind with its sickles. Irony was a bit involved in this death as well, due to the fact that the shukakusha that killed him was Rock Lee. Guy staggered a bit as blood ran down his ninja armor. "Damn it! Kakashi, You must survive! For the sake of the village and it's inhabitants!"

"I will Guy! I promise!" Kakashi was a bit shook up by the death of his comrade, even though he never seemed to show anything towards Guy, but this affected him. He knew that if he fought any longer he would succumb to this infectious disease as well. His only option at this point was to run. Having immense speed he was able to flee and look for struggling survivors. As he jumped around he could see the destruction and mayhem that these things brought to the village and it was a horrid sight to behold. Many of the buildings had caught on fire and were being destroyed due to panic among the villagers. With sorrow building up in his heart, he swiftly made his way to the very center of the Leaf village, The hokage's place of operations. He managed to reach the room that Tsunade was located in.

"Tsunade! The situation is dire! 56% of the town has already been shifted into those things." Shizune had stated.

"Is there no hope to bring back those that were transformed?" Tsunade asked as she looked out the window towards the chaos that ensued in her village. Her eye's exhibited just how grave the situation was to the village.

"The Medical Corp's last report states that there is nothing that can be done to help the infected. They were utterly annihilated afterwards." She stated to the hokage.

"We may have to abandon the village and regroup for now." Kakashi stated.

"Are you insane Kakashi? We have to stay for the village's sake!" Tsunade retorted. "I won't leave the village unattended like that."

"If only we knew where he had went... him and Sakura... A lot of ninja have been disappearing lately." Shizune stated.

Kakashi couldn't shrug the ominous feeling he was getting concerning his previous students.

"It sounds bad, but these things... There are too many and they are feeding off the villagers for support. The only way we can really stop this is to escape and reorganize our battle strategy!" Kakashi stated this same proposition once again.

The sounds of guards being slaughtered in the hallway was heard as sudden door banging was the next in line for their ears. All three of the shinobi were prepared for battle at that moment, and then the door had crashed open with two shukakusha charging into the room. Shizune jumped at them and parried both of their sickles with two kunai in hand. She was soon overwhelmed by the might and speed of the creatures as they moved their frames into a spinning formation and circled around her frame slicing at her sides with each rotation they completed. She had then fell to the floor. They jumped her frame, and started to rip her flesh apart with their unhinged jaws. She screamed in agony as she was literally torn apart limb by limb. This all happened in split seconds, and there was nothing the two shinobi could do to help her. Tsunade was enraged at the shukakusha and started to go ballistic but she soon stopped dead in her tracks as Shizune started to get up.

"Don't get distracted Tsunade-sama, She is one of them now." Kakashi said glaring at the creatures.

"What are you talking about? Are they infectious?" Tsunade demanded to know answers to what was going on.

"Once they wound you, your blood becomes infected by their disease, its hopeless to escape once that happens." Kakashi told her.

The things wasted no time and jumped at both Tsunade and Kakashi. Kakashi did a lightning blade at one of the creatures, impaling it in the gut. This didn't seem to phase it though, as it looked down at Kakashi's arm and then back to Kakashi. Kakashi saw this and pulled his arm out rapidly, jumping back afterwards. Tsunade was running into the same problem after having used her super strength on one of the creatures. To no avail the things had just gotten right back up and continued their assault.

"Come on Tsunade we have no time left to make any decisions!" Kakashi stammered as he blasted a hole into the window of the room and lent out his hand to her.

"Fine, but I won't ever forgive myself for leaving the village in such a state of disarray." Tsunade said as she took a hold of Kakashi's hand and then escaped with him. 

The two had managed to climb to the roof and then up through a side staircase that lead deep into the mountain of the hokage faces. They found a cave that had an overview of the village, or what was left of it that is. Pillars of smoke rose from the burning structures within the town and every now and then a scream could be heard as another human fell victim to the onslaught of these new beasts.

"How could this of happened?" Tsunade asked Kakashi, both of them watched with horror as their village was struck with this chaotic new pandemic.

"I really don't know... It all happened so sudden with no warning..." Kakashi said as he looked away from the horrific scene of Konoha.

Just then a strange orb floated near the two Leaf village survivors. It was purple in hue and floated around Kakashi. The shinobi got himself ready to attack that very instant. A voice stopped him though. It was coming from the orb.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" The orb spoke. "This is Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, I am an emissary of Princess Celestia and I am from another dimension." "No doubt that you are witnessing a horrid event happening in your town, I can only guess as much because my dimension is experiencing the same thing."

"I have sent this orb into your dimension through what seems to be a gate that links our worlds together." "I have to also apologize on behalf of our world, as the culprit behind the "Shukakusha" as they are called, is a pony that comes from our dimension." "I think I know how to stop this pandemic though- "

She was cut short though, as the orb began to cackle and go staticy.

"Meet me at... What you in your world call the border between the sand village and leaf village..." she had managed to get that in before her orb had completely gone out.

"Who was that?" Tsunade wondered.

"She may be of some assistance" Kakashi stated.

"Yes, she did seem like she wanted to assist us, but what about the fact that her world was the one that harbored the person who is responsible for this?" Tsunade questioned. "It seems fishy altogether."

"I am wary of it as much as you are, but I wonder if we could possibly learn something about the origins of this disease." Kakashi said. 

"Yes, I think you are own to something Kakashi, we shall check this out after a quick rallying up of survivors" Tsunade responded.

-Equestria-

The filly who had a mane of purple and pink was currently locked up inside of an underground Library that she had established long ago in case of emergencies just like this one. It had a copy of every book that her original library had and enough renewable resources to last her a lifetime. She knew that she would never be found either, as the Shukakusha were too stupid to break down a barrier conjured up by herself.

"Now let's see... A little bit of hoof dust, some filly tears, and Pinkie Pie's hair that I collected on her birthday party a few years back." Twilight Sparkle said before she mixed something up in a set of tubes. "This should help me to locate where Pinkie Pie is."

Upon the combination of these elements into the tubes a concoction was brewed and then smoke sizzled from the tubes. A vision was presented to Twilight of where Pinkie Pie was, but she was unsure where it exactly was. She was given the image of a castle upon an island that floated over a sea of lava.

"Huh? Where is this? What world could she possibly be in that looks so hellish? Though I have to say it fits her new personality." She said to herself. She then took notes on this place and recorded the dimensional coordinates. "I will make sure I keep this place in mind, It shall be our target." "If I am to get this news out to those people I have discovered I will need a disguise."

Twilight looked around the library that she was in and took out some stuff she needed for a scent hiding spell. When she got all the ingredients together she mixed them up and cast the spell on herself. Walking down a detour from her library she then proceeded towards a back entrance that led out to Ponyville. When she arrived outside, she saw a few shukakusha and almost had a heart attack when they had came near her frame, but they just passed her by like she was invisible. She let out a sigh of relief as the creatures passed her by, but seeing what they were actually going after made her shudder in horror. A stray colt was soon ripped apart by the creatures that passed by Twilight and then he was turned into them as well. 

"I must do this for the sake of Equestria..." She whispered to herself as she continued out through the town of Ponyville. The carnage and destruction was endless buildings were in total chaos and many of these things were devouring the carcasses of some that managed to not be transformed into shukakusha. It was a hellish area and the worst part was the sun had gone out over multiple dimensions long ago and was replaced with a red looking moon that gave half the light that the sun did. Twilights eyes glistened at that foreboding moon before her hooves carried her on through the darkness and horror that befell the world. She grimaced a bit at the fact that her neighbors had all perished at the hands of her ex-friend Pinkie Pie, the invasion of Ponyville still freshly seared into her memory. So much chaos... Twilight didn't even have time to check on any of her friends. 

"I will avenge you all, This I swear on my life" The purple pony said as she trotted out of the village and towards her destination and quest towards saving the world from this chaos.
> Chaotic Awakenings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	He woke up to the sounds of creaking metal, his vision blurry as he had been knocked out. His memory was foggy and he couldn't figure out what happened to him. His eyes adjusted to the scene around him and then he felt the breeze of the outside world. He was inside a subway that was tipping slowly over a hole in the tunnel. The hole revealed a thousand foot drop into the city below, but falling to his death was the least of his worries right now. Something was lurking in the shadows outside the half destroyed sub-car. He looked for possible escape routes as a strange but familiar fear filled his body. For some reason he knew if the things lurking in the shadows got to him, that he would be killed for sure. The rush of adrenaline and sheer terror jogged his memory and then he remembered what had happened. He started to trace back his footsteps to figure out how he ended up on the sub in this particular situation.

- Before the Chaos-
The man was sitting at a cafe reading the paper. On the table he had a cappuccino that had been just served to him. It had been around this time that the chaos had began as well. After his coffee he had transitioned over to the bus stop where he got on board. He hated taking the bus, but he needed to be somewhere very soon and he was running a bit late today. A few blocks later the bus came to a screeching halt. There was rubble in the street with some fire going on. Just inches away, bodies were lying about. They seemed to be fatally injured. When it had registered inside the passengers' heads as to what happened, they had rushed out to help. Most were only a tad bit curious to see the damage. The man from earlier was one of the few to actually try and assist the wounded. He was in charge of finding something that could be used as a bandage. Before he could even finish his given task an earth shattering scream pierced his ear-drums. The bodies of the people that looked to have been beyond help had suddenly became animated again. 

Their frames resembling decaying corpses, the forearms of theirs mutated into sharp sickles. Their eyes were pure black with lines of blood that poured out of their empty sockets. The shukakusha, as they were called, had even made it to the mortal realm. At once the screams were silenced with a few quick slices of these long and sharp sickle arms. Their unhinged jaws latched on to the shoulder of one nearby passenger, tearing flesh from him with so much ease. Panic started to settle in quickly and the people then scattered for their lives. The man made his escape down a set of stairs nearby. It led down into the subway station. The crowd of people down here were still unaware of the danger that brewed over their heads. Sure enough they would find out in the next few seconds as a shukakusha jumped down the stairs and gave out a horrifying moan. 

It lunged slowly towards the now terrified people. Shoving and pushing occurred as many people just went absolutely crazy. This made easy prey for the harvester who jumped at the first human it could get its claws on and devoured it. A chain reaction of infectious disease then occurred, spreading from the creature. As soon as one human was eaten and killed, it returned as one of them seconds later. The man had entered into the train that was there and headed for the back of the subway train. He watched as chaos ensued among the unlucky people who had remained back at the station. He thought that he had made it away from those horrid things. However he was far from through with them. The train suddenly came to a halt, or more like a crash that is.

"I remember now... Those beasts, those things... What are they? My name... what is my name?..." He said as his memories fused with his present situation. "Its Gregory Mandel.. Yes, Gregory Mandel from New York... Born in 2013 …"

He carefully made his way onto the precariously laid on steel beam that created a bridge between the sub-car and the other side of the hole. It was shaky and didn't seem like it would hold him for very long. Behind he could hear glass breaking as shukakusha were crawling into the wreck of a subway train. He began to panic again and hustled across the beam. His balance almost gave out on him as he fumbled halfway across, regaining his balance miraculously. Their hungering moans grew closer and closer as they crept slowly towards his frame. The face of one creature came into view and was the closest out of them all to Gregory. He leaped the rest of the way and proceeded to run deeper into the tunnel. He was being followed constantly. The fetid corpses being very relentless in their chase. Gregory slipped into the shadows, side-stepping along one of the walls until he found a small door. 

He opened it up by the valve handle and jumped inside quickly, closing the door behind him. The shukakusha passed by the door way and ran further into the tunnel. His vision was faint so he had a hard time seeing anything. Lucky for him he had matches on him. Taking one out he lit it up and looked around. He was in an abandoned sewer tunnel with water up to his ankles. He listened to the sounds of the pipes steaming as his body regained composure. A leak in the sewer passage flooded the area and was the reason for why his feet were submerged in water. He had to press on through, as he had no idea when those things would return and burst through the metal door he came from. His foot steps splashed lightly in the water as he progressed deeper into the passage way. Further down the tunnel there were some candle lights lit up but not enough to eliminate the darkness that resided in the crooks and crannies. 

He had made it about half the way down the hallway when the very foundation of the hall shook ferociously. He fumbled a bit before his bearing returned to him. Making great haste, he turned a corner and was greeted with a wave of pitch black shadows. His speed went down a lot as now his body shifted into a sneaking stance. He slowly crept against the wall until he felt the bars of a gate door. His hands looked for a handle and then upon finding one he pulled it open and stepped into the room fast. A growl pierced his ears along with the sound of water splashing around. 

A creature was on it's way and panic began to set in once more. His frame instinctively darted off behind some crates to hide. His eyes adjusted to the darkness just then and betwixt some cracks of the crates, he could see the monstrous creature roaming about in the shadows outside of the room. The shukakusha's sickle like arms dragged across the metal bars of the door. It's tormented wails permeated the room with it's horrid sounds. The male's heart was pounding rapidly. Fear was encroaching his mind and his sanity was swiftly dropping. A sense of relief was felt, as the thing began to walk away.

"I really should try to avoid those things at all cost" He whispered to himself slowly when the coast was clear. 

He then made his way out of the room. When he returned to the hallway he noticed upon looking up that there was a hole in the ceiling far above his head. That hole concerned him very much, and he knew that it would be most unwise to stick around. Walking down the hall and into the darkness, he soon came across a small set of steps that the water had not yet enveloped. His feet stepped on to the first step and then he traversed up to the new level that the stairs ended at. Two paths had opened up for him. One path went straight and was connected to a room with a couple of torches, the other path turned to the left and went deeper into the sewer system. He could hear running water further down the path, but he decided on going into the room. 

The lights piqued his interest and he pushed open the iron door, proceeding into the new location. He was greeted with the reeking smell of freshly maimed cadavers and a horrid mess of blood everywhere. In the center of the room there was a summoning circle that could partially be seen under the pools of blood smeared about. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he came to a realization about the professions of these dead men. They appeared to be cultists. This claim was backed up even more so by the robe like garments the men wore, and a book of black magical chants found in a corner. Near the book on the floor were pages torn out, one in particular was very interesting and caught sight of his eyes instantly. Gregory moved over to it and picked it up. 

It was partly blood-stained but still was legible for the most part. On the paper was a familiar diagram. It was a sketching of one of the monstrous things that he had been encountering lately. His face contorted in disbelief upon the fact that this was no mere disease, even more so when he realized that this wasn't just a strange natural occurrence. He knew someone was behind this, and wasn't about to let some scumbag ruin the world with these things. His decision was real sudden of course, but something in his head just compelled him and angered him enough to seek out justice. His first action was to safely escape the sewers alive though. When he was finished investigating the room and he cautiously made his way out. His next destination took him down the other path that he had not yet explored. 

When he got down the end of the tunnel he had entered into a larger room. It was a vast canal of different sewage ways that merged into one big collection of water and waste. He noticed that a small set of stairs led to the ground level of the room. The floor was covered, of course, in ankle deep water yet again, but this was intended and was indicated so by the pipes attached at different ends of the room. These pipes had water flowing from them at a moderate rate. On the other side of the room was a half-way open metal door that was controlled by a wheel-like lever. Just as he had noticed this way out, Something shuffled far behind him and then let out a horrid roar. It had to be one of those creatures from before. 

Whatever it was, was coming after him now, and it was coming fast! He immediately took off in a run, His frame jumping from the ledge and on to the flooded floor as he bolted across the room. Sneaking a peak over his shoulders at what was following him he saw from out of the hall he had just left, a shukakusha leaping into the large room. Anxiety and fear added to his physical stress as he moved quicker than he had ever moved in his entire life. The sounds of his footsteps in the water were outmatched by the haunting wails of the gaining monster and it's sloshing movement. 

The male quickly clambered up the stairs that led to the ledge the iron door was on. He turned the lever round and round and opened the door just more than enough for him to slip inside the new hall. The creature was just at the foot of the steps when he began to move into the passage way. As soon as he got in he located the other lever and spun it around, watching as the iron door began to descend from the slot it had ascended to earlier. 

The door finally slammed down right in front of the creature, just as it had swung it's sickles into the metal frame of the entrance. The thing roared in rage and tried to slice into the door. Crouching down, he buried his face into his hands and began to let his sanity return to normal levels. He was safe for now, He knew the door would hold, and he could breath easier for the moment.
> A Grim City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Gregory saw the purple glow of an orb floating in a nearby room. Curiosity overwhelmed him and soon he made his way towards it. His hear-rate was still up a bit after his last encounter with that monstrosity. It could be heard, cackling and creating a static like sound almost like it was trying to patch a communication line through. He went to go investigate the matter more thoroughly. When his frame stepped into the dark and damp room, he watched as the orb sat in the center and illuminated an image within it's glowing core. An odd creature was coming in rather fuzzily. Her voice cutting in and out constantly.

"H---- He---- --llo?" a purple filly said as her connection became stable. The face of a filly became clear. Her mane was Sapphire blue with rose and violet streaks in it. It was Twilight Sparkle sending a transmission across dimensions. 

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Twilight Sparkle called out to the room once more.

"Huh? You can speak?" Gregory replied, flabbergasted at the idea of a pony like being, able to speak and understand English.

"Well, of course I can speak! How else would I be able to send you this message?" she replied. "But that is not the most important matter at hand right now."

"I guess you could say that... Wait a second, Does that mean you know about the troubles the world is facing right now?" he asked.

"You mean your world, I am from another dimension, and yes I am completely aware of the situation. Its also affecting other dimensions, including my own." She replied to Gregory.

He took a moment to realize the weight of the situation and what it could mean for the universe.

"The universe has been under attack by these things called shukakusha, I'm afraid the creatures have befallen 90% of other dimmensions and worlds as well." She said grimly. "You could consider it a plague of the sorts."

The man was a little shocked that not only were there more than one dimensions in the universe but that also his world wasn't the sole affected world either.

"I made this transmission in the hopes to find assistance from individuals willing to go on a special mission to stop the source of this horrid contamination." Twilight asked with much pleading in her words.

"How would someone like me be able to help vanquish a plague of such magnitude? I don't even know how to cross dimensions let alone stop this thing even if I could." He replied. "And what about a source? Where exactly is it?"

"I know how I can get you across dimensions, I have constructed some devices for that. Also, I am afraid I know all too well where the source is... considering... our dimension is the dimension the mastermind behind it all came from..." she said. "If only we knew sooner..." she said under her breath, her ears going down along with a frown forming on her face.

"What?! Your dimension is where the mastermind came from? So this is all your world's fault then?" He was outraged.

"We didn't know she was going to end up like this! No one was aware until it was too late and she was already long gone!" Twilight defended her realm. "What matters now is that we stop her before the universe is destroyed! We can work out details later."

"You got a point, Arguing won't stop those things from gutting me." Gregory calmed down after taking a deep breath and then began to focus on a plan of action. "What do you need me to do?"

"Thanks.... Your world has a large amount of the resource called Gold does it not?" She asked.

"Well yeah it does, but why?" he replied. "Wait you don't want me to pay you gold for information do ya?"

"No no no, I have a device that uses gold as an energy source." She stated. "I need you to collect 4 medium sized cups of gold in anyway possible and contact me when you have completed the task. The orb we are communicating on is like what you in your world refer to as a 'Cellphone', so when you are finished just throw the orb on the ground and wait for it to pickup."

"Gold? What for?" Gregory pondered.

"Well, to locate the mastermind of course." Twilight responded. I have a ritual that can find her, but it requires gold, something Equestria is not known to have a lot of."

"That makes sense, yeah I can do that for you, but only to stop this mastermind." he said to her, but then something struck him as odd. Gregory didn't even know the filly's name. "Wait, we haven't even introduced ourselves and our conversation is near over!"

"Oh my gosh, how silly of me! My name is Twilight Sparkle!" She said a bit flustered that she had forgotten her etiquette.

"You can call me Gregory." He responded.

"Great, Gregory! Well, that is all I have for now, I will be in touch if anything comes up. I have to go now!" and with that the filly disconnected the communication line.

Gregory took a moment to absorb the conversation in and the mission that he was tasked with. He knew that the city had gold in it, Whether or not he could traverse to such places securely was his biggest fear. After watching the orb stop glowing and fall to the ground, he picked it up and walked out of the room. Looking down the right path way, he saw that further along the tunnel there was a ladder that led to a man-hole lid. He walked over to it and climbed up the ladder. Eventually he managed to push at the lid and move it to the side as he crawled out of the sewer. It opened up into an alleyway. There was blood everywhere and towards the front of him was a fence with a car crashed through a fence and in the corner of a building. The car's motor was on fire and blood was smeared all over one of the doors. It was dark outside and in the distance he could hear the shuffling of undead corpses lingering around. To his left was the rest of the dark alleyway and behind him was a cluster of barrels and boxes. He knew he had to go to the left but something stopped him from even continuing further. It was the sound of a growl and quick footsteps from farther down. Gregory quickly hid himself behind the crates and barrels. A shukakusha had appeared in the open space that he was just in moments ago, and looked like he was scouting out the area. The harvesters weren't the brightest creatures though, so it did not think to look behind the boxes, and it then jumped on top of the car. It's frame disappeared out of the alleyway and into the streets to seek out more prey just then. Gregory was free to go down that alleyway. He walked a bit before running into a door. It was unlocked and he proceeded to enter.

"I better find a place to hole up in and possibly a map of this damned city" He said to himself quietly.

Upon entering the home, there was already a light on but it was merely a candle. The room he was in was small and had an entrance to another small room that looked to be the kitchen. There was also a stairway that led to the second floor but it was pitch black so he didn't want to go up there quite yet. He also noticed that the rooms had no windows on the first floor, that was a relief to him. He turned around and made sure to lock the door just in case. It was then that he started to scour the place for any kinds of maps, or documents that would help him find what he needed to complete his mission. On a table he found exactly what he needed. A map of the city, a Magnum with rounds to go with it, and a supply of beef jerky to last a good week or so. He then took a nearby lit candle and went upstairs. When he got up to the second floor there was a hallway that lead down and had three rooms. One was a bathroom and the other two were a study room and a bedroom. On the side of the hall closest to the stairway was a window. It was boarded up poorly and the panes were knocked out of the window frame. Scattered glass shards were all over the floor, to which Gregory stepped around carefully. 

He walked towards the back and then entered into the study room. As soon as he entered the room he closed the door behind him. The moment that door closed, he heard the boards from the hallway being assaulted by something. Suddenly a being of some sort made a thud sound when it landed on to the floor from the window. He wasn't alone anymore and he took the chance to blow out his candle and push a chair silently against the door. What he gathered from this encounter was that the shukakusha were scavengers and scourers. Lurking in every corner of a place scouring for food and other resources. It was a frightening concept to think about. The idea of being prey was a nightmare of a reality. The shukakusha as he assumed it was, had made it's way down the hall and was right near the door to the study room. It's breathing was heavy and it made faint howls while it lurked around. It went into the bedroom, and it could be heard tearing up the bed in there and then it suddenly crashed through one of the windows and jumped to another building. He then removed the chair from being lodged near the door and slowly opened it up. There was nothing of interest in the study room so he decided to venture into the bedroom the creature had just finished ravaging.

"I hope I can find some kind of provisions inside of the bedroom." he said as he saw the carnage of the bed. 

He opened a cabinet and sure enough there were more rounds for the magnum inside of it. Aside from ammunition he also found a little box with an ID badge on it. Inside the box was a key labeled "455". Gregory knew this number for it was the same number on the city police department building. He took the ID just in case he would need it again in the future. Taking a peek out the window the creature had plummeted down from, he saw many creatures lurking around on the streets.

"It's too dangerous to roam the streets, I'd better just lay low in buildings and cross through alleyways." He said this to himself, calculating all of his possible routes. 

He went back down stairs and out the door and proceeded to go deeper down the alleyway. This section of the small pathway led to a fenced dead end. But there was a door to the right of the fence of which he opened and went inside of. Upon entering the room, there was the cadaver of someone who committed suicide, but his guts were still ripped open and strewn all over the floor, settling in a pool of blood. Strange to actually see a corpse that was not transformed, but he thought nothing of it. He cautiously stepped over the dead man and carefully checked each and every window the hall had as he passed them by. His destination being the other door on the other end of the hall. As soon as he reached the end of said hallway, he heard groans come from the man he had passed by seconds ago. A horrid metamorphosis began and quickly his body lost color and turned brown and quite dead looking. This was followed by groggy movements as he began to regain consciousness. This wasn't a good type of consciousness either, it seemed the disease took a little while longer to infect this one. Nevertheless, it was now preparing to pounce at Gregory.

"Oh no you don't!" He quickly responded as he opened the door and closed it behind himself upon entering. 

His frame swiftly pushed a nearby small desk against the door and then he ran further away from the horrid thing. It's claws sinking easily into the embodiment of wood that was a door. After having ran through the rest of that floor he was now outside of the building. To his right he could make out a Y like intersection directly in front of him. He knew from here that the police station was down the right road of the intersection and further down the street past 6 stoplights. Any other day he would have just ran there, But he couldn't now. The road was completely blocked off by an accident of multiple vehicles. A big semi-truck followed by many smaller trucks and cars seemed to have met an untimely demise at this intersection once the chaos had began to ensue. His only logical path choice was across the street into another alley that lead directly towards the direction of the police station. 

Hesitantly looking both ways he darted across the pavement of the road and into the darkness of the back-roads. He was surprised that he didn't catch the attention of any shukakusha, but that surprise soon turned into fear as he realized if they weren't here then they had to be nearby the destination he sought out. He clambered through the fences in the alleyway which had doors attached to all of them. The padlocks to these doors had all been shattered and lay in shambles among the ground. When he heard the ruffling of something in the distance, he stopped dead in his tracks. His heart was racing at even higher rates as he tuned his head in the direction of the sound. A few seconds later and his ears once again caught wind of another sound. This time it was following the first one and it was that of a cat growling and hissing. He let an anxiety filled sigh escape his lungs as he continued forwards once more.

"If I was any older I'd have died of a heart attack by now." He tried to chuckle to himself to lighten the situation up. 

He steadily walked towards the end of the alleyway, his gaze fixated on everything in front of him. From time to time, he would glance over his shoulders to see if anything was coming from behind. Something about what was ahead of him made him very uneasy though. His heart once again pounding as if it wanted to burst from his chest. The inside of his head was filled with the sounds of his heart-beats making him cringe even more in anxiety. To his right he could see a small little bug zapper that illuminated a small portion of the alley. To his left he saw a fence that was surrounding a basketball court. A few trashcans lay beside the fence and only the side against the fence could be seen in the light. The rest of the court was pitch black and nearly impossible to see. He barely could see anything around the corner of the building yet, as he was still moving with almost a pace matching that of a snail. Something then began to shuffle in the court. He didn't know what it was and couldn't see it either. A sort of silence then fell over the entire area for a few seconds...

*BANG* The trash can fell over and out jumped a shukakusha right to the side of Gregory, he panicked and unleashed 3 of his magnum rounds into the creatures chest. It took the hits and backed up a bit, clearly a bit dazed by his actions. Gregory wasted no time and quickly darted down the rest of the alleyway. The thing then regained it's composure and began to chase him once more. His eyes spotted the flickering lights of the police station nearby. Sharply, he ran to the left and turned on to the street that lay at the end of the alley. Dodging cars and debris that were on the road he ran with everything he had. Despite that, the thing was right behind him, almost gaining on him. It's growls had become even louder, it was infuriated. In it's rage, unbenonced to it's tiny brain, the shukakusha was also attracting the attention of the small groups of other shukakushas in the surrounding area's vicinity. Gregory panicked even more as this registered into his brain for moment. 

He was breathing harder than he had ever breathed before, his legs running faster than he could imagine, all because his body was fueled by adrenaline and fear. When he neared the stairs to the police station, he clambered up to one of the doors. He wiggled the handle but it was locked! About 6 shukakusha were approaching the sidewalk to the stairs rapidly, right as he began to fumble about for the key in his pocket. Unfortunately, he dropped the key on the ground and let out a "Shit!". Quickly he picked the key up again and rammed it into the key lock. Upon twisting it he opened the door fast, and slipped into the building. The door was closed behind him instantly and after doing so he locked it up. His body was still pumped up and he ran into a nearby room, suffering from a minor panic attack. Thrashing into a table and some chairs, he finally collapsed by a wall and curled up. Slowly he began to relax.

"I thought... I was a goner... for sure..." He thought to himself.

After having calmed down he began to look around at the room he was now in. It was a small office for cops who sat around and did paper work and other office related ordeals. Most of the computers and papers on the desks along with chairs were scattered on to the floor, broken and destroyed. He did notice that one computer was still on and working, though there was still signs of damage because of the crack in the screen. On that monitor was detailed blue prints of a company that Gregory knew. He had a friend that worked for the company but then vanished after having been hired for only a month. Investigations yielded no results as to the whereabouts of his friend, just that the company said he vanished from work one day. The monitor read "Foundation 177 - Laboratory Sector 3A level B12." He then looked at the tower and saw a flash drive. Upon further inspection of the computer and the tower, he deduced that the data currently displayed was from the USB device. He thought it was very important so he took out the data device and stored it in his pocket. Suddenly he heard the clicking of a gun barrel, and the metal of that barrel being pressed into his head.

"Put your hands up and slowly back away from the computer Sir" An unknown male said to Gregory. "Turn around very slowly."

Gregory did as the man said and turned around facing this new person. It was a deputy of the police department. His hair was blonde, he had a bushy handle-bar mustache and there were small droplets of blood stains on his uniform. From the look in his eyes he was in no mood for games.

"You tell me y'er business here right now, and it better be damn good, or else I'll throw you back out there son." The deputy stated sternly to him.

Gregory felt relief and that sense of authorial fear all at the same time. He knew he had to give him a good answer, or else this would be the end of him.
> Journey to Gold
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I am Gregory Mandel, of New York. I was born in 2013. I'm just trying to survive this onslaught of creatures. I only happened upon this place due to being chases by those bloody things!" Gregory told the officer, who upon seeing the fear in his eyes, lowered his gun.

"Keep your eyes peeled son, You need to check your surroundings before just wandering aimlessly." The police responded. "The names Sebastian, Sergeant Sebastian. Me and my men have been holed up here since this all happened."

Sebastian turned to leave the room and motioned for him to follow. He then continued to talk.

"Come on, The front door isn't the safest place to be." He stated. "I have to say, I am impressed, You managed to make it to thispolice station alive somehow."

"It was sheer luck, perhaps, that led me safely." Gregory answered. 

Him and the sergeant traveled down a dark hall that lay to the left side of a staircase to the second floor. At the end of the hall was a doorway and to the right was another set of stairs. This one led downstairs. He could tell there had been conflict in here, as the walls and floor were covered in blood stains and occasionally, as he looked around, he could see bits and pieces of torn flesh and organs. When they went down the stairs two more men were sitting around a table with maps of the city laid on it and discussing strategies. One man was a tall, muscular bald African American, while another was a slender more country looking but handsome young male smoking a cigar.

"We need to secure that route. It would make for a clean path to the grocery store." The bald male said.

"But what about the park to the side of the street?" The other male said. "It's very risky."

"Yes you do bring up a valid point, What if we took this route instead?" The bald male presented another option.

"Sergeant Doyle, Deputy Kline, We have a guest." Sgt. Sebastian told them. "Gregory I'd like you to meet Sgt. Doyle and Deputy Kline."

Sergeant Doyle was the tall bald African-American, while Deputy Kline was the one smoking. Both looked at Gregory with stern eyes. He could tell just from the looks he was getting that they were worn out and exhausted already, so he knew not to get on their bad sides. There was no time for pleasantries because they needed to secure much needed supplies. They greeted Gregory but then swiftly returned to their mission preparations soon afterwards.

"If you are going to be holding up in our station we are going to need you to do some work for us." Sgt. Sebastian told Gregory.

"What kind of work?, and I don't plan on being here for very long either." Gregory asked the Sgt.

"Well, We have a small underground passage that leads to the main sewer line thats under the city. We need a man to scout out the area and check for any breaches." The 

Sergeant told him. "It's a quicky, so can we count on you to get the job done?"

Gregory agreed to the job with a hesitant nod of his head. The sergeant also told him that it was really dark and that the last man they sent down into the passageway never returned. He then showed Gregory where this passageway was. Pulling a grate from up off the floor of the basement he revealed to Gregory a ladder to the passageway. It was pitch black inside of it, and he got a funny and terrifying feeling of foreboding doom coming from the darkness.

"You prepared for this? You can always turn away and leave son." The sergeant said.

"I can do this. I won't run away." Gregory responded.

"Now thats the kind of attitude I like to hear, but sonny, be careful down there, seriously." Sergeant Sebastian told him.

He responded with a nod and then started to descend into the darkness that lay under him. His feet hitting concrete as he finished climbing down. The sergeant then threw down a flashlight for him. He caught the flashlight and turned it on. Looking forwards, the only thing that greeted him was a long and narrow pathway down towards more blackness that the light was not able to reach to yet. His feet moved him forwards despite the fear that rattled his bones. It was obvious that those creatures were down here somewhere but all he had to do was scout the place out and secure any breaches in any fortifications. Walking down there all alone was a trembling sensation. He kept looking behind him expecting a shukakusha to be there waiting to jump him and rob him of his flesh, but nothing was ever seen. A few minutes of walking later, and he came to an intersection. He didn't know what path to take so he decided to go down the path to the left. This path led him to a jammed flood gate and to the left of the flood gate was a slightly opened door to a control room. Suddenly, the moment that Gregory had been dreading was upon him.

The familiar growl of a shukakusha appeared way back behind him. It sounded like it was getting closer. He snapped into action and ran quickly into the control room shutting the door behind him and locking it. Flashing the light around to see what was in the room, he saw that there was a stack of barrels over in the corner that he could hide behind. After doing so he turned his flashlight off and watched from his hiding spot as the door had it's lock picked and then it was pushed open. The things were getting smarter and smarter as time passed, and just the very thought put a new level of dread inside of his mind. The shukakusha then appeared inside of the room and snarled as it stumbled around looking for fresh meat. 

It thought it had seen lights from this direction but it must've have thought wrong. It soon left and went outside of the flood gate. As soon as the coast was clear he swiftly moved to the controls of the big machine in the room, and began spinning a wheel-like lever. This lever was connected to the big flood gate, and as he spun it, the gate began to descend. Seconds later it was closed and secured. All that was left was to check the other passage way and he could return back up to the police station basement floor. He returned to the middle of the two pathways and shined the flashlight all the way down the tunnel. Judging from the angles he saw on either sides of the walls, he concluded that there were pathways going right and left out of the main hall. Once he walked down there he confirmed his earlier theory.One path went to the right but was completely caved in by rocks and boulders. Two more paths went to the left one short one that had a room in it, and then another hall that traveled down to another flood gate that was already down. There was something else that was unique to this particular area. The heavy scent of blood and rotting flesh. He got a big whiff of it and it made him want to puke instantly. He decided to check out the short hallway since there was no reason to investigate the other hallway with the closed gate. The closer he got to the room the more blood he spotted around the area. Letting the light of his flashlight target on to the door, he found that the door was painted in a thick coat of crimson red blood. This door was almost completely closed but looked as if whatever was killed around here made it out of the room long enough to be murdered in the hall. 

This is how he logically thought the situation panned out, but upon entering the room he became confused. Not only that but his heart rate went up, and not just by a little bit, but tremendously. In front of his frame stood a shukakusha looking right into the beam of his flashlight. It wailed out it's spirit rendering cry, and then lunged at the male. Gregory thought fast and pulled out his magnum and shot at the thing. The first bullet was not very successful in actually hitting it's intended target, but the second one made a direct hit inside the neck of the walking corpse. Just that hit was enough to slow the beast down though, giving Gregory enough time to aim another shot carefully and fire it straight into the things head. This caused the Harvester to fall to it's knees and lash out in agony before spitting up huge amounts of blood and finally falling completely to the ground.

"No fucking way... I killed one?..." Gregory was in a state of disbelief. He didn't think that he had the ability to kill these things or rather, he thought it was impossible to kill them given how fast they were. "I need to calm down though, Can't lose my cool just yet... Still have to make it back alive.."

Gregory then continued his scouting by searching the room for any supplies and breaches of any kind. His scouring yielded a decent bounty but not enough for any long amounts of survival. What he found was some packaged foods that would last about a week or two for 6 people, ammunition for Pistols, Magnums, and rifles, and also many records regarding the architecture and old mappings of the city sewers and underground subways. The maps would be of great help to him, so he picked up a number of them, and then rounded up the remaining supplies. Proceeding back down the dark hall, he made the journey back towards the ladder. Now that the flood gates had both been secured and the shukakusha that had been lurking inside the passage way was now dead, there was nothing to bother Gregory on his return to sergeant Sebastian. He got to the ladder and called up for some assistance. Sergeant Doyle was the first to respond and helped him bring all of the things he had found down in the dark route up to the basement.

"I am impressed Gregory, but don't forget to remain vigilant, there are still plenty of those things out there lurking in every dark part and even some in plain sight just waiting for the chance to attack." Sergeant Sebastian told him. "You have gained the right to stay with us, but that doesn't mean you won't have a job. I must ask though, You obviously had some plan of survival thought out for you to have come out to this old police station."

"As a matter of fact I do Sergeant, All I can really say on the subject Is that I think I know the source of these things.. But the details of how I found out are so messed up that I don't think I even believe it myself." Gregory stated.

"A source? You mean to tell me that you think you found out a source behind all this madness?" The sergeant asked.

"You'd probably call me crazy if I told you how I found it out." He answered.

"Son, After seeing this world go to shit right in front of my eyes, and seeing the dead rise again just to try and rip my flesh from upon my bones, I wouldn't find anything shocking anymore." The sergeant humored him.

"Well, Here goes nothing then." Gregory began to tell him about how he encountered the orb that was actually some sort of telecommunication device for interacting with another dimensional world. He also told him about Twilight Sparkle, who she was and what she informed him on about the creatures known as 'Shukakusha'. The sergeant listened intently, As part of him did actually think it was all crazy, but something else told him that this was the genuine truth coming from Gregory and that he probably shouldn't just dismiss it. After he finished he looked around the room at the faces of his audience.

"Now, hold up a second, You said a talking horse? I still can't grasp my mind around that completely yet. Nevertheless, the world has gone to shit, if you need gold the bank has some. Not much use for it now" Sergeant Sebastian inquired.

"Yes, I only need a small amount." Gregory answered.

"Under normal circumstances, I'd have to lock you up for being crazy." The sergeant stated. "But considering the situation, I'm not gonna stop you from risking your life for gold, and if what you say really is true, then I wish you god's speed son." The Sergeant told him. 

Just then the device that Gregory had in his pocket began to vibrate. Coming to life on it's own, it floated out of his pants and came close to him. Upon positioning itself in just the right spot a staticy image was flickering about across the sphere's round surface. Twilight's voice could be heard.

"H------ hello?" Her voice was familiar to Gregory, but to the sergeants, it was a fresh voice. "Shoo, looks like I got the connection to work out better this time... 

Gregory are you there?"

"Yes, I am here Twilight. What is it?" He asked, his eyes were looking around the orb and at the fascinated faces of the sergeants'.

"Have you retrieved the gold? Without it I can't complete the ritual to locate Pinkie Pie." Twilight quickly inquired, she was obviously not here for a chat.

"Not yet, I haven't made it to the bank, where we keep the gold, and who is Pinkie Pie?" Gregory asked.

"Pinkie Pie? Oh, I didn't mention her name last time did I? She is the mastermind we are going after...." Twilight said with a gloomy aura wrapping her words towards the end of her statement. "She was a really good friend of mine.... but I don't know what made her commit what she committed... None of that matters now though, just stopping her does."

Gregory was silent for a bit, realizing this was Twilight's ex-friend that they were planning to go after and kill. He knew that it had to be tough for Twilight. Despite that fact Twilight was still displaying excellent bearing and was still preparing for what she knew had to be done. Gregory commended her for that much. 

"Don't fret, Twilight. My next destination is the bank. With some maps I should be able to locate a secured route to the bank without having to encounter as many shukakusha." Gregory said, giving her a status update. "It shouldn't take more than a few hours of travel."

"Great, I have to prepare a dimensional gate in order to bring you to my world. If you ever need to contact me just give the orb a shake thrice, and wait for a response." Twilight told him. "Twilight over and out."

"Roger that." He responded before watching the orb cut out.

"Well, i'll be a monkey's uncle. You really were telling the god honest truth son." The sergeant stated amazed at what he had just witnessed. "I'm guessing you got yourself a damn good alibi for y'er story. Take this key card, it goes to the bank. We always have spares for emergency situations."

Gregory took the card and then shook the sergeant's extended hand. "Thank you sergeant. Now... are there any secured areas for which to escape out of?"

"Out in the back we have a locked and barred up door. You can use that but be warned it was locked up for a reason." The sergeant told him.

He bidded the sergeant farewell, and made his way towards that location. Sure enough the door was indeed locked up and barricaded. After moving everything and unlocking the door he slowly opened it for a quick inspection of the outside area. It was a back alley way. 

"Oh goody, like I need more of these places." He snidded sarcastically to himself.

Once he had made sure that the area was secure, he stepped out into the chilled night breeze. In the distance he could hear the sounds of shuffling. Even though it had seemed like a peaceful night, he knew there wouldn't be anymore peace until this mastermind was stopped. Motivation flowed inside of his body his eyes filled with the fires of determination. Scanning the more distant areas he made note of a large forested area that began midway into a long grassy field. Directly in front of him was the back parking lot of the police station, there was one car parked in it, but obviously it was inoperable. The car had smashed into a light post apparently, and the fires of such an accident still roared on. The parking lot was to most of his immediate front and to his right, so all that remained to inspect was his left. Sandwhiched between two buildings was a narrow path that was very dark, but something caught his eye's. It was a sewage lid. 

His route of travel had been decided upon that note. Without a second to lose, he walked over to the lid, and lifted it up with ease. Apparently the city sewage plant didn't know how to bolt these up. He made sure to be careful when sneaking about, and put the lid back on. Shuffling his hands into his pockets, he retrieved his flashlight, and one of the maps. After a few seconds of carefully looking around, a number on one of the pipes clued him in on where he exactly was. The map told him he was three blocks away from the bank. Which meant that all he had to do, was continue north along the path he was on, take a left, then a right, and exit at pipe number 32.

"Hmm, seems easy enough. Let's hope there isn't anything down here though..." Gregory gulped when he realized the overwhelming aura of encircling darkness and 
foreboding silence.

With a deep breath he took his first steps into the sewer. Sloshing in the water, he slowly progressed. He wanted to take things cautiously, the environment was just too dangerous for any kind of slip ups now. While he was creeping through the darkness and waving his flashlight around, something made soft shuffling noises in the distances. Tensing up he began frantically searching for the source of this noise, his movement didn't stop. Upon nearing one of the sides of the walls a group of rats squeaked real loud and ran past him in a hurried rush. His heart nearly popped out of his chest when that happened. 

"God damn rats..." he muttered under his breath frustrated at being panicked like that.

After that startling event, the array of noises shrunk back to only the sound of his footsteps tracking through the sewage water. The air felt thick and the scent of the place was unbearable. He couldn't even see much, because the flashlight he had gave him a very limited sight of the area. All around him he could see the various inter-workings of the pipes. None of them made any sounds to indicate life, this was to be expected since the city had gone into chaos. At the first left he carefully flickered the flashlight back and forth investigating both paths, the one to the right was very nerve racking. A few meters back a barred gate lay completely destroyed. The bars appearing to have been sliced through with relative ease. The general area was in no better shape either, many pipes introduced a new sound to his ears as he had approached. They hissed while pouring loads of steam constantly into the area.

"Ugh... that cannot be good at all... I know that it was a shukakusha that caused that... but how big of a shukakusha?.." he grumbled before hesitantly taking a step towards the other path. 

Every good couple of seconds he would take a peek over his shoulder just to make sure nothing was following him from that dangerously mangled opening in the gate. He didn't stop this until he saw the next turn within distance. At the same time, he heard something else..... Flesh, being messed with, as if being gnawed on. Deductive reasoning lead him to believe that a shukakusha was right around the corner. Once he had turned his flashlight off he crept up to the turn, and leaned against the wall. When his eyes had a chance to adapt to the darkness, he took a peak around the corner very slowly. From what he could tell based on his limited vision in the darkness, there was definitely a corpse being devoured, and it seemed to also be a shukakusha that was feasting upon it. 

Gregory wasn't sure what to do, he had no other way of getting to the bank. Double checking the map only caused him to sigh in frustration softly to himself. There wasn't anything else to do, he was going to have to distract it. He shut his eyes for a second trying to think of something and then it came to him. Unsure whether it would work or not he slowly reached down into the grime of the sewage and tried to excavate something hard to throw. Pulling out a rock he began to size it up in his palm. Before he executed his plan though, he looked along the wall he was up against. Fortunately for him there was a little crevice he could hide himself in, he was going to implement this in his plan.

"Here goes nothing...." Gregory said while aiming his rock down towards the way he came from. 

When the rock left his hand, he quickly hid himself. A deep gurgling roar came from around the corner, followed by it's owner. The shukakusha was racing down the tunnel in search of the source of the noise it had heard. It slowly disappeared into the darkness, and when Gregory was sure it was gone, he slowly and as quietly as he possibly could, made his way around that corner. It didn't take long for him to hear the disappointed crys of the beast. But the cries of that paled in comparison with the next thing to raid his eardrums. The very immediate area shook as something large was moving around nearby. It was as if time suddenly stopped for this. His heart was racing and could explode from his rib-cage at any second, or it would have if the wall hadn't stolen that thunder and done so before hand. Trashed piping and rubble was scattered everywhere, and a cloud of dust rose. 

It was masking something large, and permeating from this cloud was a voice so terrorizing that Gregory was frozen in fear. Every muscle in his body wasn't wanting to 
move, even though in his head his brain was screaming at him to get as far away as possible, and fast! A quake of a movement followed this with each passing second, and out of the smoke a beast about twice the height of Gregory appeared. It looked like it had no skin, it was pure muscle and flesh. It's chest was large, and in the middle of this chest was an even larger mouth. It opened and closed revealing in spurts, it's gaping maw. He knew that one bad move, and he could become this things next meal in a mere instant. Extending back was a slender like body, with a deflated sac. This sac seemed as if it could hold many contents, and Gregory thought that it might be the creature's stomach. It's hind legs looked powerful and muscular, and moved towards him and facing his direction.

Once it had spotted him, it let it's tongue slide out, and then it screeched at him. The force of it's voice pushed him down to the ground. That was when adrenaline kicked into his system and caused him to run from the thing. He didn't know where he would hide, but he had no time to think. Using every ounce of his energy, he had made a good head start before the beast prepped itself for launch. Judging from the legs it had, it would gap the distance with a few mighty strides. Just then Gregory spotted a ladder near a pipe that had the number 32 painted in faded white on it. 

"There is my exit!...." an exasperated Gregory yelled, as he exerted everything to get to it. Clambering on to it in full panic mode, he quickly scrambled up it. Propelling itself in the direction of it's target, the beast leaped at Gregory, luckily for him, it was a second too slow. It's head impacted the ladder and then with it's trajectory a bit too low for any kind of smashing, it smacked into the wall and was knocked out. After that little showdown, and he had pushed himself out of that sewer, he inspected his surroundings. The vicinity he was in was deserted. Only blood stains and smashed cars remained in the street he had emerged in. Small fires raged here and there and the signs of rioting was present in most of the nearby buildings.

He sighed in depression, looking at the scene of mayhem that laid before him, before scanning for the bank. Located to his north a bit was what he was looking for. After he caught his breath he started making his way to that structure. His mind was a bit hazed after encountering that beast down in the sewers, but once he got a good pace in, his thoughts began to become crystal clear. What was that thing though? Are the beasts evolving? How can we stop something like that? A plethora of questions was rushing through his mind the closer and closer he got to that bank. Once he arrived at the steps to the entrance, he stopped and looked back. 

"Is it even possible to end this madness?.... I am only a single man... What can I do?....." he huffed to himself.
> Teleportation? How?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The red moon's gaze ardently fixated on Twilight Sparkle's path while she trotted with much haste. She hadn't a second to lose if she was to properly secure a route for Gregory. After having been walking in the back-woods of Equestria she finally entered into a cobblestone street leading into another decimated city. From the looks of it, you could extract a sort of industrialized 1850s-esque town like aura. Upon further scanning, she could see factories with stacks that towered high above her. Oddly enough, those same chimney stacks had smoke billowing from them, which explained the thick layer of gases that enveloped the immediate area. Her hooves clopped on the cobblestone, and made soft trotting sounds, though with her magic this was all concealed as not to give away her location. 

"I hope its still here.... if not... then the world might be done for..." She said in a soft-spoken and panicking voice. 

Glancing from side to side as she walked around, she took careful note of the shape of the buildings. Most of them were small shops that had been either looted or just caught in all the chaos. As was becoming reoccurring in all the towns of the universe, more bodies were scattered about, flailed and consumed partially. This wasn't a distraction to Twilight at this point though, not to say that she wasn't upset by it, but that she had seen enough to become accustomed to seeing it. Focusing on her mission, she finally was able to pick out something very important. It was when she had arrived at a three way intersection. Upon her immediate right was that of a staircase that descended, and around this staircase, level with the street was a fence. Comparatively, it was an equestrian subway station that this set of stairs led to.

After making sure that it was all clear, she trotted on down the steps. When she made it all the way down, even the plethora of grizzly scenes was not enough to prepare her for this scene. Her eyes widened in shock instantly, that slender maw of hers a-gape at the sight. Littered practically everywhere, were the bodies of ponies. As if to just add to it, blood covered twice as much area that the bodies did. Once Twilight's senses had snapped her back to, enough so that she could analyze the situation, she deduced that this must have been where the citizen's of the town tried to escape. Seconds after she quickly made that assumption, something hit her like a solid brick wall. The stench, putrid and rotting corpses lay all around her, freshly rotting barely having had a few days to undergo the process of decomposing. She scrunched up her snout, trying to reject all access for the repugnant odor, even going as far as covering her nose up with her hoof.

"My word... who knew that so many dead ponies.... could produce such a repulsive scent...." She melancholically said.

Carefully, she trotted around and over the many dead ponies. Though she tried to avoid stepping in any blood or guts, the mess was so much so that it was impossible. One hoof landed in a mushy pile of guts and blood, and instantly she gagged a bit. Once she had reached the other side of the room, she stood in front of a specific section of the wall. She raised one of her hooves and then pressed it into a little protruding notch. Once she did this the wall started to pull back a bit, and then shift to the right. The grinding of stone slowly produced it's sound and eventually a clicking noise indicated that it had finished. 

An opening large enough just for a single pony to step in was revealed. Twilight entered into it, and then trotted a bit towards the back of this area. Using her horn to light up the area, she then searched for another object. Once again she pushed a little notch, causing the nook in the wall to close up and then descend. The tension right now was high right now, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Why did this have to happen?... What caused your insanity Pinkie?" Twilight asked to herself while she waited for the elevator to reach the bottom.

When the elevator came to a halt, another opening was made. Scanning her surroundings she saw a large storage area. From back to front there were shelves with boxes on them, and the infrastructure of the room consisted of large metal beams even spread out in the room. These beams connected to grid like structure of more beams that supported up the ceiling. On some of the beams there were lit candles fixed on to them.  They provided for decent lighting. Her ears perked up, just waiting for any kind of sound. After a good couple of seconds she set out from the elevator. Cautiously she trotted, and when she did her steps echoed softly throughout the room. Nothing was there, it was expected that nothing would be there too.

The type of room that this was for was to store many secret devices. Only a select few even knew of it's existence. The more she investigated the more area of the room she covered. Eventually she found what she was looking for, a room. At that very moment she heard a noise. Shuffling of feet. Panicking a bit, she entered the room swiftly. Once she closed the door, she locked it behind her. Outside of the room, something was nearby. From the very sound of it's hungering growls, Twilight could guess that it was a shukakusha. How it got down here? She will never know, but for now, she kept as silent as possible. Even though the shukakusha were getting smarter, they just couldn't open doors conventionally and the very door that she just opened was made of a thick metal material. Obviously the shukakusha has produced the ability to reason, instead of just making rational decisions.

When it had gone to another part of the room, Twilight let out a sigh of relief. 

"That was too close for comfort... but it's still out there, so we're not out of the woods yet Twilight." softly she spoke to herself to calm down a bit. 

She examined the new room she was in, providing herself with lighting as necessary. It was an odd room, in the center of it was a drawing of a circle. On the walls were shelves of ancient text, and to Twilights left was a box of many strange tools and objects. The other side of the room, was another door. She didn't know where it would lead to, but this could prove to be a possible alternate route. The fact that there was a circle in the room proved without a doubt that this was the very room she was looking for. 

"Thank Celestia that I found it." she said while shuffling through the box of objects.

Pulling out a talisman of some sort, she set it in the middle of the circle and then she attempted to contact Gregory. Holding the orb used to communicate with him, she began to activate it. A few staticy minutes later, she was patched in through to Gregory. 

"Gregory? Are you there?" She called out.

"Yes, this is Gregory, I am here." he responded.

"Good, do you have the gold that I requested?" She inquired, thankful that she was still able to contact him.

"Of course, I was able to get just as much as you needed, but how am I gonna get this to you?" he asked.

"Well, I can bring you to my world, that's the only place we can perform the ritual in." Twilight stated.

"How on earth are you gonna do that?" he asked a bit perplexed by her idea.

"I'm prepping that method right now." She replied.

"What do I need to do then?" Gregory wondered.

"Nothing, just hold for a moment while I finish this up." She told him while fiddling with some other objects and placin them around the circle.

Once she had finished setting up the circle, she began to chant some old equestrian text she procured from one of the books on the nearby shelves. Gregory was inside the bank leaning against a wall, when this started. About a few minutes afterwards, he started to feel light. Looking down at his own hands and his body, he could see that he was starting to fade. The process of transporting him to Equestria scared him, as it kinda made him think that he was disappearing from the world 
completely. Slowly his senses were ripped from earth, and soon he began to get a hazy feel for the room that Twilight in. 


Within several minutes, he was getting vision and the rest of his 5 senses back. Upon looking back down, his body was materializing again, becoming more solid by the second. Twilight finished up her chanting and the summoning spell was complete. Because she used such a high level spell, she looked exhausted. Lining the top of her brow, was several trails of little beads of sweat. If the world he was in wasn't as confusing enough, Gregory still had to cope with the fact that he was 
actually standing in front of a pony that could talk. She didn't look like the ones back on Earth, which made him even more confused.

"I... How..." Gregory stumbled over his own words, not knowing what exactly to say.

"I know this is all a bit much for you right now, but for the time being, just take a deep breath and relax, also, keep your voice down, I'm not alone down here per-say...." Twilight said softly in a whisper.

Gregory acknowledged her with a shake of his head, and then he sat down against one of the book shelves. The two of them spent some time catching each other up on how they had been fairing against these shukakusha, and as they talked, Gregory couldn't help but find himself staring intently at Twilight. His brain was confused, seeing a pony actually talking was so new and different for him. Their topic of discussion shifted when he asked a question.

"How are we going to get out of here if there is one of those things running around out there?" he inquired a bit worried that she even brought him to a dangerous location.

"See that door over to your right?" Twilight said. "We will be using that door, I haven't looked inside of it, but it's our only option unless we really want to fight the monster outside."

Gregory didn't like the prospect of fighting another shukakusha, I mean sure he was able to kill one, but he didn't feel lady luck would grace him with another shot like before. Contemplating this, he gave Twilight an answer to her second suggestion with a grimacing shake of his head. With that, it had been decided the two would take the alternate route. The pony got up on all four hooves and began to shake off any dirt that she had accumulated on her body. Once that was complete he got up too, and then they both started heading towards the door. 

"Here goes nothing..." She said pulling it open and then stepping inside. 

It was dark and damp, and the ground beneath Twilight's hooves felt like soil. Upon her lighting up the area with her horn, she was greeted by a sign that said under construction. This perplexed her as no signs of any visible attempts to construct anything were present. She trotted forwards anyways. Gregory was right behind her. The tunnel didn't wind or anything but it sure was cramped, for him at the very least. She had no problems traversing this cavernous path.

"How far does this tunnel go? It seems like we have been walking forever." Gregory said after a grueling ten minutes of walking. 

"I'm not certain, but I see something in the distance." she responded. 

There was a small flickering light up ahead, but Twilight suddenly came to an abrupt halt. She was peering over a cliff. Both of them had exited the tunnel into a ravine. Across from the ravine was another tunnel, but the real problem was that there was no bridge to it. Twilight was not sure what to do, and was looking around deep in thought. Along side the ravine walls were light fixtures. There was enough so that she didn't even need her horn lit for this area. After looking around she spotted a bridge to their right, but it was a distance away. They would be able to walk against the side of the wall to get over there as well. Gregory looked concerned about the width of the path, though it was decent for both of them to walk upon. Without a single word, Twilight began to move once again. 

He was hesitant about walking, but did it anyways. His first step was a b

it shaky, but once he found his bearing he started to traverse with ease. Upon making it to the little area that the bridge connected to, she had stopped to examine the condition of the bridge. From back at the other side the bridge seemed pretty safe, but after getting closer to it, Twilight could deduce that the bridge was actually pretty dangerous to cross. Many of the boards used to walk upon were in horrid need of repair, and some were missing completely. At the very least the rope would be able to hold the bridge. She moved towards the bridge, and took a step on to it, after concluding that it would be safe, she moved across it. Taking special care to avoid any of the broken planks she successfully made it across. Gregory was next, and he took his time crossing. 

"Hey, hurry up, times not something we have a lot of right now!" Twilight complained a bit.

Before he could respond though, a wail came from above. Twilight looked up and saw a shukakusha descending rapidly towards the bridge that Gregory was on. When it was close enough, it swung it's scythe like claws at him. He quickly moved out of the way, but the blades cut into the rope on one side of the bridge. Unfortunately for the shukakusha, it had missed it's landing on the bridge a bit and continued to fall into the ravine. Shaking a bit, the stability of the bridge started to swing out of control. Fear started to move his feet quickly. When he got close to the other side, the rope on the other side of the bridge snapped, and suddenly Gregory found himself clinging to the rope as the bridge fell towards the ravine wall. Twilight's eyes lit up in horror watching as this happened. With a soft thud sound, he slammed into the wall, and slid down a bit on the rope. Once the bridge had stopped moving about, he gripped one of the wood boards and attempted to climb up.

Just when he thought he would make it up there without any problems, one of the boards fell off when he gripped it. For a few seconds he was hanging on by one arm. Twilight gasped, calling out to him. He had to struggle intensely to lift his arm back up to grip another board. Afterwards, he climbed up most of the way before being helped up by Twilight. After a minute of resting, he looked up at Twilight. Her face had a look of concern on it.

"You alright Gregory?..." Twilight asked. "I nearly had a heart attack back there..."

"Yeah... I'm fine... thanks for helping me up." He responded.

"If only I hadn't depleted my magic all the way before coming here... stuff like that wouldn't have been a problem..." Twilight stated as her ears drooped a bit.

"It's alright, I made it through in one piece." he replied.

"I guess... hopefully my magic recovers in time for any other problems that might arise." she stated a bit upset at herself for not having her magic.

"It's gonna be fine Twilight, let's keep going." Gregory told her before he started heading down the tunnel. Twilight followed him shortly, and eventually had taken the lead, as they began to continue on down the dark tunnel.
> Reminiscent Memories of The Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Pinkamena, Status report." Sakura said while handing a document to the pink pony.

"Thank you Sakura, you may leave now." She responded to her subordinate while taking the document in her hooves. "Oh, before you go.... run a quick test on experiment 012."

"Yes Pinkamena, shall I take the new recruit with me?" Sakura inquired. 

"Hmm, yes. It could prove to be a good experience for her." the pony replied, while cracking a wickedly evil grin.

Sakura then bid Pinkamena farewell, and left the room. The pony was left to her own thoughts now, within the confines of her chamber. With curious hooves, she shuffled through the document, giving it a quick glance through, all the while she was giggling to herself. It seemed what she was reading, was all too pleasing for her. After completely skimming through it, she set the document down on a table beside the chair she was sitting on, her giggling continuing on.

"Everything is going just as I envisioned.... Soon... they all shall drown in blood.... They will all know the pain...." Pinkamena giggled to herself, while snorting a bit too. 

She got up from her chair and pulled on her cloak of cutie mark patches that she had sewn herself, and then proceeded out of the room. The hallway that she had entered had flooring made of metal tiles, and the light was dimmed, making it hard to see. A loud sound could be heard, indicating that ventilation was working fine. The air had a thick scent to it, that to a normal person would be instantly find themselves gagging, but not this pony. She greeted this scent with a smile, and with nostrils flaring with jubilee to take it in. As she trotted, her hooves made soft clopping sounds. Down the hallway Pinkamena could see a scattered assortment of subordinates that she had managed to bring under her wing. 

They were hustling around, wearing lab coats, and carrying clipboards, furiously writing stuff down. Pinkamena passed by many rooms with windows. Inside these rooms were different creatures, but they all had something in common, their skin resembled much the same as the shukakusha possessed. Low-lit red lights hanging above each room revealed plaquereds that had the names of each creature. None of those were unique however, each one was simply referred to as an experiment, and then given a number. When the pony passed by some of the workers, they instantly stopped what they were doing, and got on one knee, greeting her.

"Horrid day, Miss Pinkamena." They all said in unison. Not a single one of them dared to say any other variant of this greeting.

"Yes, indeedy! It is positively a horrid day!" She giggle-snorted. "Hehehehehehe....." 

As Pinkamena passed each person, her memories swirled around the past. In particular, how she had managed to gain so many personnel, recently. Around her neck was the cause of such, an amulet, circular in shape. Embedded in it's center was that of a hoof mark, with a crescent moon within it. Memories inside her head depicted exactly where she found it. It was around the time she had made her escape from Equestria. Those were troubling times to say the least. It was not something she particularly enjoyed remembering, but the moment she found this little trinket, her whole life began to change.

"Oh because of this little beauty..." She stopped and softly bantered to herself, obviously she let herself be swept up by her memories.

------- Pinkamena's Memories. ---------

"Shit, Shit, Shit, I have to escape.... I knew I shouldn't have just thrown those bones out...." Pinkie cursed while rushing around in her basement, gathering what little she could carry by herself. 

Recently, Equestrian guards had found the bones of a deceased colt, which gave them a clue as to why ponies were disappearing in Ponyville. An investigation had been opened up, and ponies from Canterlot had come down questioning practically everypony down there. Pinkie knew it was a matter of time before they questioned her and found out about her little secret, so she had decided to leave town. It was at night that she had began to make her slip. She had a destination in mind too. Equestrian legends told of a place in the Frozen North, where an amulet of dark powers was stored. It was further said that this amulet allowed for dimensional traveling, and other abilities that far exceeded that of normal magic. Pinkie Pie had done research on the subject before and managed to acquire some old maps pertaining to it's location.

When night had fallen in ponyville she had silently escaped the town, never to be seen again in the small village. The next few days nopony had seen or heard from Pinkie Pie, this was weird, as she was the life of the town, literally. So, Twilight made it her mission to go over and find out what she was up to. Upon knocking on the door of Pinkie Pie's house, she found the door was opened just a crack. Stepping inside the empty home, she started to look around. Finding nothing on the first floor, nor anything on the second floor. Then an aura hit her when she neared the door to the basement. Twilight didn't understand why she felt such an ominous force emanating from that door, but it made her want to check it out. Slowly she opened the door, and trotted down the stairs.

"Pinkie Pie? Are you down her----" Her voice stopped short of finishing her question when she saw what exactly was down here.

The entire basement was splashed with splotches of red dried blood. Decorations made from the organs of deceased ponies hung everywhere on the walls. Furnishing made from the bones of the deceased were also found. A trinity of pony heads lay at the center of one table, their eyes having been pulled out of their sockets, and their tongues just hanging out. In a corner was a medical table, that was also caked in blood, underneath the table was a bucket that had some sort of liquid congealing in it. Also inside that bucket were the organs of somepony. Twilight's body began to shake,  and her voice quivered, trying to say something, but the scene was just too much. Her nostrils flared trying to reject the disgusting odor that heavily hung in the air of the room. Then something hit her emotions hard. Tears filled her eyes, and instantly started to roll down her cheeks. On one side of a wall, was Rainbow Dash's body, stuffed and sewn together, sitting there lifeless as well.

"No... No!.... NO!.... Rainbow Dash!!!!" She screamed in horror.... and fell to the ground. She couldn't even believe it, the cheerful Pinkie Pie, the happiest pony out of all 6 of them, committing something so atrocious and vile. "How... could you... Pinkie.... I thought we were friends.... Why???! WHY?!" 

Poor Twilight was losing it. Speeding into a spiraling descent of depression. Her hooves clasped the side of her head, and as her eyes quaked with intense insanity, she started blankly at the ground. Inside her mind a dark aura was surrounding her logical side, as if ready to consume her, and just as it seemed it would, it suddenly stopped. Reality began to slowly come back to her, a sense of calm washing over her, and then she took a deep breath. Of course, she still couldn't hold back her sniffles and tears, she just discovered one of her best friends murdered another best friend of hers. 

"I have to tell the others.... They have to know...." Twilight said to herself, sniffling a bit. "And then.... we will find.... Pinkie...." 

Struggling to move her body, she finally stood up on all her hooves. Moppingly trotting out of the horrid scene. Her friends were worried about her as she gathered them one by one. Twilight knew she didn't have the heart to tell each one of them personally, she had to do it as a group. Once they had all been brought to Twilight's yard, she looked at all of them. A bit of a quiver still left in her body. Everypony could tell it was serious, she still had tears rolling down her cheeks. Twilight didn't notice at all, and had no intention of wiping them away right now. With a huge huff, she thought it was time to begin.

"Where's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy inquired. "Shouldn't they... be here too?...."

"Fluttershy.... girls...." Her voice shook, she didn't even know if she could do this. "I.... I...."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes unleashed a new wave of tears. "Rainbow Dash is dead...." She sniffled, her legs once again becoming to weak to hold herself up. Instantly she fell to the ground.

".... What... did you just say?...." Applejack thought it was some sick joke. "Please tell me y'er kidding right hun?...."

"I wish I was...." She sobbed.

"No.... Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy instantly began to cry, her heart was even more fragile than Twilight's, and this devastated her. 

"W-what? How? How could Rainbow Dash be dead?.... no.. it's a lie...." Rarity was in denial, she thought Twilight was lieing.

"I found her... body stuffed... in Pinkie Pie's basement...." Twilight responded. If it wasn't bad enough that one of their friends was dead now, the next part was even harder for them to swallow. "Girls.... I think Pinkie Pie.... killed her...."

None of them could speak. It was too much, and the only thing they could do right now was huddle up to one another, and mourn the loss of their friend. While in the back of their heads, a quiet anger began to seed itself in them. Alongside this was questions. Why would Pinkie Pie do this? She was their friend and Rainbow Dash was her friend? So what sense did it make for such an act? None of them could answer any of these questions. Afterwards the group informed the investigators, and the crime scene was established. Twilight made a ardent effort to assist in the investigation, which she was swiftly granted with a little help from Princess Celestia. The only problem was that they couldn't even find a single clue as to where the accused had gone. She left without a single trace.

Somewhere in the Frozen North, Pinkie Pie trotted through a snow storm. Her vision was limited, the snow that came down was like a thick blanket covering every direction. Despite this, Pinkie eventually came across shelter, in a large cave on the side of a colossal mountain. Upon entering she felt a warm air push gently against her body. Light greeted her eyes from deep inside of the tunnel, her whole mind being enveloped in curiosity. Moving forwards she traversed deeper into the cave, entering into a larger chamber. It was very spacious, not having much of anything in it, but the things it did have were enough to keep anyponies attention for a long time. A big hieroglyphic slab was propped against one of the walls, encased in ice. On either side of this tablet, were two torches, that flickered with blue flames. A smile ran across Pinkie Pie's features, she knew exactly what she had stumbled across. Even with her maps, it had been difficult to locate this area. She had almost given up once she had encountered that snow storm, but luck seemed to be on her side after spotting this cave.

"Heh.... There it is.... nopony will be able to stop me now...." She said, looking at the foot of the tablet, and eyeing a gold chest. 

Walking slowly over to it, she started to giggle. It was like an aura around the chest was drawing her in, and she didn't even care. She opened the chest and pulled out an amulet, circular in shape, with the printing of a hoof and a crescent moon inside it. At once a powerful urge made her put the necklace on. Magical energies flowed through her body, and as if to test out the amulet, she began focusing on the air in the room. In her mind she envisioned two hands pulling at the very fabric of time and space, ripping open a hole in it. Reveling in the power, she soon found herself stepping into the rift she had made, and thus, she was gone from the dimension of Equestria.

--------- Back in the Present. -----------

"Heh, Things have just gotten even more horrible ever since that day. I wonder how many of my so-called friends are even still alive?" She reminisced.

Pulling herself out of her memories, she looked away from her amulet and then remembered that the new recruit would be helping handle experiment 012 today. With a bit of a hustle in her step, she trotted down the hallway towards the cell where this experiment was contained within. She stood in front of a large containment door, and punched in a security code on to a little keypad that was on the right side of the door. A computerized voice spoke to her once she had finished inputing the code.

"Welcome, Miss Pinkamena." The voice stated, and then began opening the first door in a set of compartmentalized doors.

Stepping into the first section, she waited for the first door to close, followed by the second one opening. This process continued on to a third door, before it finally reached the actual room. Inside this chamber was another wall and door, but Pinkamena wasn't planning on going inside that door. On the wall was a window from which she could peer into the chamber without stepping inside of it. Once she trotted over to the window, she sat her rear down on a nearby chair and looked out the window. Sakura stood next to an experiment, injecting it with a liquid, and beside her another girl stood there.

The girl had long black flowing hair, and a pair of horns that were colored orange at the base and slowly changed to a yellowish hue towards the tips. Perched on the bridge of her nose was a pair of glasses, her pupils were yellow, and her left eye had a very special pattern to it. This pattern resembled a hexagonal formation of circular black dots. Her eyelids had a cerulean blue eye-liner and her skin was a pale gray color. She seemed to have fangs too, a pair of them appearing prominently when she smiled. Underneath her lab coat, she wore a black shirt with the Scorpio sign on it in the same color of her eyeliner, she also wore a pair of raggedy jeans.

Pinkamena examined her closely, and watched as she learned from Sakura, and performed what she needed to do on the experiment with excellent precision. She smiled a bit, and then giggled to herself.

"So this is our new recruit huh?" Pinkamena said softly. "She seems to learn quickly, she will prove to be a valuable asset in my plans.... hehehehehehehe....." 

With a giggle-snort she departed the chamber, heading back to her own room.
> Everypony Needs a Hug
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Inside the cavernous tunnels that lead from the ritual room that Twilight had used to summon Gregory, the two of them continued on searching for an exit. Winding paths were interwoven within an intricate network of tubes made this place very confusing. All of these paths seemed to be similar, holding nothing special about them. After what had seemed like a few miles from the ravine for them, they had finally encountered something of interest. A glint of light, shinning in the distance. Since they had been in the tunnel for hours, they had been kinda down, but seeing this pushed their spirits up and at once they began to dash towards the light.

"It just has to be the outside, I can feel a cool breeze!" Twilight Sparkle yelled with glee. 

Gregory was in agreement with her, feeling the same breeze that the pony did. Matching her speed, he darted towards the small little speck, that resembled the hope of escaping the subterranean environment. Twilight Sparkle let out an excited gasp, breathing in fresh air as she trotted into the city. Gregory followed closely behind her, stopping short of her position. 

"Finally.... out of that hell hole of a tunnel. What were they planning anyway?" Gregory asked while panting for his breath.

"I have no clue, it was under construction." Twilight said while looking back at him.

"Twilight, I have been meaning to ask... How are we going to locate this Pinkie Pie." He asked, meeting her gaze.

"I made a concoction to locate her. I have some of the vials in my pouch right here, I also have a bowl I procured to view the liquid with." Twilight said shifting her maw to grab at her pouch.

Gregory was confused as to how a vial could locate somebody, but he watched curiously, while Twilight pulled out her tools. She then set down one vial with a purplish liquid, followed by a mixing bowl. Opening the vial, she poured the contents into the bowl slowly, allowing for the liquid to mix. After replacing the vial into her pouch, she buckled the bag up and watched alongside Gregory as the liquid began to settle. Twilight focused a bit, her horn gathering energy and producing a light sparkle. Soon the bowl had an aura of the same hue of color wrapping around it. On the reflection of the liquid an image began to appear.

"What is that?" Gregory asked eyeing an ominous castle that sat upon a floating rock. "Such a dark place...."

"This is just the outside, I've have only been able to get small sneak peaks at the inside, but not much. Every time I try to delve deeper, something cuts me off."

"I see.... How do we get there..." he asked, perplexed very much about this.

"It's complicated, but we can't go there yet...." Twilight replied.

"What do you mean? I thought we gathered the proper materials." 

"That is correct, we have the materials, but for our mission, I had planned on recruiting some others to assist us." Twilight told while putting the liquid back in the vial, and cleaning the bowl. "I scouted out dimensions for anyone that was still alive, and though I didn't find many, there were still survivors."

"Survivors? Who?" He rattled off more questions for his pony companion. 

"I found ninja, from a dimension of ninjas. I had been watching them combat  these shukakusha. They are skilled, unfortunately, nearly all of them were wiped out. The shukakusha were just too much for them to handle." She answered yet another of his questions. "Most likely due to the rapid contagiousness of the disease these things have."

"How awful... are they already here?" Gregory once again asked, so many questions were bouncing within his head like some sort of ping-pong game.

"No, I have yet to summon them.... The next summoning circle isn't far from here, and thats where we should head to next actually." Twilight again responded, her ears then flickered, picking up some sort of sound just seconds before Gregory did as well.

"What was that?!" Gregory wondered while tensing up and looking all around.

The area was still foggy, and even though it was lighter than the tunnel they had just gotten out of, it was evident that it was quickly becoming night. Around them the sound they heard bounced off of many buildings and echoed in such a way, that it was hard to determine it's original location. Gregory's eyes darted back and forth, sweat slowly dripped from the furrow of his brow, and his breathing started to pick up, keeping in pace with his heart rate. Twilight's guard was up, she was ready for this thing now that her magic was all charged up again. Before anything had the chance to jump them, she used that magic to make both Gregory and herself invisible. 

"I feel weird.... " he stated shortly afterwards, but he was promptly shushed by Twilight mere seconds later.

"It's coming.... " She whispered to him, and then she pointed a hoof towards a house nearby that had it's door wide open.

Gregory knew what it was she was hinting at. They were going to hide it out in that house. Before they began to move, they could hear footsteps in the distance heading in their direction. Those same footsteps were easy for them both to recognize. They encountered the shukakusha enough to have it committed to memory by now. Twilight began to move, she wasn't about to let the shukakusha find them first. She was quickly followed by Gregory. With the world being so foreign to him, he was intent on following Twilight like a lost puppy dog, he didn't want to stray off into danger afterall. 

Once inside that house, Twilight used her magic to shut the door and lock it up, changing the frequency of sound vibrations in order to cancel any sound out completely. Outside the window of the house, they could see the street and small grassed area they had previously been in. It was now swarming with a trio of shukakusha. It was clear that they would be their for a while, so Gregory found a chair and plopped down on it. Sighing heavily he looked over to Twilight, who still had her serious face on seconds before matching his eyes. 

"We should wait here for a few minutes and then see if there is a back door from which to escape from." Twilight stated still speaking in a low whisper. 

"Alright.... This is so nerve racking...." he replied. 

His eyes wandered the house, knowing that he had some time to kill, he started to take in his surroundings. Curiosity made him want to explore the various rooms inside. The chair he was sitting on was in the center of a destroyed living room. Looking around the place he now noticed a few things that he didn't notice in his panic to find a place to hide in. There were stains on the carpet, blood. Getting up from his chair with his eyes fixed on those stains, he also noticed that they trailed off to another location within the hose. Twilight caught what he was looking at too, and she became curious as well, though she remained vigilant at her post, and continued to watch out the window. She figured that if it was important enough, Gregory would inform her of the details.

Following this trail of stains, Gregory was lead down a hallway, into a study room. Inside this room was many shelves with books, but the most peculiar thing was the decomposed body of a pony sitting in a chair. From a quick glance, it seemed the pony had perished a long time ago, which made him wonder why nopony would have found it by now and given the pony a proper burial. That was besides the point, as something else became his focus. A wound in the skull of the pony. A large knife was stabbed directly in the center of her forehead, so much so that it seemed to be the reason for why the pony had perished. 

"A homicide no doubt... It doesn't look like the kind of injury that an accident would cause...." He said to himself after coming towards the desk that the pony was sitting at. 

Getting a closer look at the surroundings, he noticed a document on the desk. It was a torn out page to a notebook, but there were no notebooks to be seen in the room at all. It was out of place. On the paper, it had a format that resembled a diary. Suddenly, Gregory's eyes widened. Upon that page, in the upper right hand corner, there was a block indicating the owner of the page.

"Twilight?.... I think you want to come take a look at this....." Gregory sounded very concerned.

"Can you bring it out here?... " Twilight asked of him. 

Stepping out of the room, Gregory returned to where she was and handed her the paper to look at. Twilight gripped the parchment in her hooves and began reading it, and soon her eyes were just the same as Gregory's. On that upper right hand block, Pinkie Pie's name was written. The document was dated nearly a year and a half ago....


"I arrived in a new town today, it's been three days since I left my quaint little village of ponyille. No one even noticed me, I practically blended in with the crowd. Unfortunately that was short lived when I saw some equestrian guards scanning the crowds. I had to make a quick detour into somepony's house. I met this bookworm, and of course she was alarmed. I didn't want her blabbing her mouth, so, the moment I found her in her office, I jumped at her and plunged a knife I had found in the kitchen into pretty little forehead. It's a shame she was home today, she could have avoided dieing if she wasn't, not that it matters. The world is going to perish once I have my way with it. Hehehehehe..... did I just write out my laughter? I think I really am losing it HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!.........  I think I should head to the hospital and procure some medical supplies for my journey to the Frozen North...."

"Shes lost her mind.... I just don't get it." Twilight huffed after reading the entire diary entry. "And what the hell is in the Frozen North? Everypony knows that place is a death-trap of frost and snow."

"I wouldn't know much about the subject, I'm only a human. It's all new to me." Gregory told her. "But, your friend seems to have lost her sanity. Since you were so close to her, perhaps you noticed some kind of change in her? Was there not anytime to fix it?"

"Pinkie Pie... is complicated... No one could ever tell what she would do next. Random is the word that defined her very being." Twilight began. "If she had any sort of change it went unchecked under her array of spontaneous actions. Although...."

"Although what?... There was something wasn't there?" Gregory was curious when she stopped short of her statement.

"There was one time when we were all planning a surprise party for her. We wanted to keep it hush hush, so we avoided her." She continued. "Doing all we could to keep the party as secret as possible, though, in our attempts to do so, Pinkie Pie thought we all didn't like her anymore, and well, she took it very hard... She had a momentary psychotic freak-out of some sort... nearly tried to kill R-..... I'm sorry...." 

Before she could even utter her friend's name her eyes began to water, she loved Rainbow Dash as much as any best friend would. Tears began to roll from her eyes, it pained her to even bring up any memories of Rainbow Dash, but for the sake of explaining she continued. Gregory could tell she struggled to talk about her memories.

"She nearly killed.... Rainbow Dash.... before she was told that their was a party for her... and that we were all planning it in secret..." Twilight was all choked up, she missed Rainbow Dash so much, along with the rest of her friends.... She didn't even know what happened to them or if they were even alive still.

"You lost your friends... didn't you?..." Gregory knew it to be true. The names she spoke made her cringe and whine.

"..." All she could do was sob and look down at the ground, her ears drooped low as well.

What Gregory did next was a bit shocking even to himself. It couldn't be explained, but inside of him, he sympathized with the pony, it was strong too. Leaning in towards Twilight, he gave her a hug. Instinctively Twilight softly nuzzled into his shoulder, mourning the loss of her friends. Gregory began forming thoughts within his head. Sure it was true that a little therapy for Pinkie Pie could have prevented this whole situation from happening, but he couldn't just blame Twilight and her friends for not doing so. His resolve was fortifying from this moment, and after a few minutes he separated from the comforting embrace. Twilight's watery eyes looked up at him, deep sadness was all he could see.

"Twilight... let's finish this... for your friends' sake..." Gregory stated. 

She nodded in response to her, and took a few minutes to regain her composure. Once she was ready she stood up. Gregory followed her while she trotted to the back of the house. Sure enough, there was a back door that they could go through. Before they left, Twilight spoke up.

"Gregory... Thanks..." She said to him.

"It's nothing. In this kind of situation... we need to support one another.. in any way we can." Gregory replied to her. "Now about that diary note.... should we investigate the hospital?"

"Hmmm...." Twilight had to ponder on it for a second, and she did so by placing a hoof on her chin and tilting her head to the side in thought. "Perhaps we should. It might contain some more clues as to exactly where Pinkie Pie has been and what she is up to."

"Very well then. Let's move out." Gregory said before slowly opening the door to check the surroundings. Twilight followed him, her tears by now having dried up, and her face was back in serious mode. The door closed and soon they found themselves stepping back into the foggy city, but now... it was night time.

> Hospital of Zoological Horror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The night was cold, and dark, not many of the lamps in the street were actually working. After the chaos of this entire situation, it was to be doubted that any would actually still be working. A breeze rustled through Twilight's fur, prompting her to shiver a bit. In front of the both of them there were three buildings, homes from the looks of it. They had yards that were fenced off, not like that prevented the destruction that was apparent upon the house and lawn. To their left and right, nothing but the fog could be seen. Their ears were keen to any sounds right now. Adrenaline was pumping through their veins, driven by the fear of running into those things. Oddly enough that wasn't the only thing promoting such fear.

In the distance an even more ominous aura was felt by the two. It was enveloping them, as if infused with the very air itself. It was thick, nearly strangling their lungs. Gregory and Twilight could have been confused for being very cold, the aura causing their limbs to shiver in fear. Despite the chilled wind, Gregory was perspiring, lightly along the brow of his forehead. Before heading out, Twilight made sure to cast an invisibility spell on him and herself. Slowly the both of them began to make their way towards this hospital. Gregory of course had not a single clue as to where they were heading. Twilight, on the other hand, did. Turning right, Twilight guided him on the cobblestone street north a bit. The two of them remained silent while transitioning, as not to bring attention upon themselves.

Upon coming to an four-way intersection a sign post could be seen. Gregory read the sign and found out the street that they were on. "Old Mare's street" is where they were at, and the other street was "Colt Avenue". When Twilight saw this, she directed them to make a left turn on to Colt Avenue. Along the sides of them were more buildings, it seemed they were making their way through one of the residential areas of the city. In many spots blood could be seen, where many unfortunate victims fell. Destruction was present in all buildings, whether it was broken glass, torn down doors, or destroyed yards and fences. Nopony or building was spared. 

Further on down the street, it was coming towards an end. A fence lined the end of the road that seemed to turn to the right and continue towards another direction. There was something else beyond the fence though, on the hill. A set of stairs. These stairs climbed up the hill. To get to the steps the two just had to pass between a gate positioned between two of the fence posts. Twilight slowly climbed up the stairs taking each step with caution, because she didn't know if something was waiting for her at each new elevation. Gregory did the same with his movements. Looking back a bit, he could see the street below them fade away into the fog the more they climbed. It frightened him not being able to see in front of him or behind him. Eventually Twilight could climb no more, she had reached the top. 

In front of her was another street. Stepping on to it with Gregory following right behind him, they moved forwards a bit for a better look. Large stone walls appeared. Spanning to the left and right for an unknown distance. At the very least they noticed a large iron gate, and to the side of that on the wall, there was a plate. Twilight flickered on her magic for a bit to read it. It was the sign for the hospital. They had found it. Quickly she put out her light, not wanting to attract any unwanted visitors. The both of them pushed on one of the gate doors and it swung open with relative ease. 

The path towards the hospital was pretty straight forwards. The lawn was symmetrical in design. Either side of the lawn had a pond of the sorts, and each pond corner was lined with bushes. These bushes stopped short of each side's mid section, only to continue when reaching the next corner. Something drew Twilight over to one of the ponds, and inside she could see the mangled up corpses of animals. A funny feeling grew inside of her. These animals kinda looked familiar to her. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, so she just shrugged it off. Gregory came over and gagged a bit at the stench and sight. Both of them pulled themselves away from the grim scene and then continued forwards. Another part of the yard that was the same on either side was the trees that lined the path. Nicely trimmed trees with the upper part of them perfectly shaped into spheres. 

With the fog it was hard to tell how far they had to walk. After a few minutes they had no need to worry anymore, the entrance was in front of them. One of the doors suddenly creaked open a bit as they approached, as if inviting them to come inside. A flock of crows who apparently had been resting in one of the nearby trees, flew away in a abrupt and startling manner. The both of them looked behind them when this happened, clearly scared a bit by the sudden flight of the birds. Twilight looked back at Gregory who looked at her, both of them with faces stricken by fright. Their attention was then directed once more towards the front door of the hospital. She gulped trotting towards the door and opening it up even wider than it already was. Gregory followed behind her, his heart pumping while he walked.

Inside the hospital they had entered into a receptionist's desk and a waiting room, but it was hard to make out the back area of this room. Instantly a thick smell had entered their nostrils and made them want to gag. Twilight lit up her horn again with her magic and revealed more dead animals, whose corpses were gnarled and mutilated almost beyond recognition. Since they were finally within a building Gregory spoke up.

"What the hell happened here? Why are all these animals dead?" He asked completely distraught about the number of corpses there. "I know the shukakusha go after sentient beings, but animals... this is confusing... it doesn't make any sense."

"I have ideas... but none of them would really make sense without a bit of investigation..." Twilight responded to him. "Perhaps we should look around... besides, we have to find more clues on Pinkie Pie...." 

"This stench... it's nearly unbearable..." he stated in disgust. "Where should we start?...."

Gregory adjusted a bit so that he could cover his nose with his hand. The smell was getting to him. Looking around, all he could see were corpses upon corpses, organs spilled out and slashed to bits. Some animals were just complete mush, just a smear on the floor. Who could do such a thing to these poor little critters. It just didn't make sense to harm animals to such a degree. Maybe the shukakusha were really desperate for flesh? 

"Look over there to the left. There is a path that goes down a bit. Maybe there are some rooms we can look for." She stated pointing her hoof to a large hallway.

With that the both of them threaded the sea of animal corpses making it over to the hallway. Twilight saw a set of hallway light switches, and upon trying them all but one worked. Gregory suddenly gasped. Upon that flickering light popping on, someponies shadow appeared on the far back wall. Twilight saw it too and let out an "Eeek" sound. Whatever it was, disappeared in an instant. The light continued to flicker constantly. It was better than no light at the very least. Twilight and Gregory were afraid to move forwards after seeing that shadow. After a few minutes of settling down, they made their way down the hall. They couldn't really see any rooms to their left or right, and it didn't seem likely they would see any until they merged into the next hall. 

Turning right, they were once again greeted by darkness. Twilight desperately tried to find more light switches but upon finding them she found that none of them worked. She would have to resort back to her magic. Gregory had ventured a bit further down the hallway. Once she had flashed her magic back on, she returned to his side. Now they were encountering many different rooms, but each time they tried to open a door, they found the doors to be locked tightly. 

"No good this one is locked too..." Twilight said before being interrupted by the slamming of a nearby door, and the clopping of pony hooves on the tiled floor. 

Both of them nearly had heart attacks from the sudden noise. When things became silent again, they moved to investigate the source. A few doors down, they discovered a door that actually opened. Judging from the distance that they were at when they heard this sound, this had to be where it originated from. Slowly Gregory began to turn the knob and open it. Twilight cringed, fearful that something was just waiting for them on the other side. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing in the room. It was a normal patient room, albeit dark. The light switch in there actually worked though, and once they turned it on they were in for another scare. Bloody messages were strewn on the walls. All of them read one message multiple times. "Having fun Twilight?....". Her heart was ready to jump out of her chest when she read that.

"Somepony is in here... and they definitely know me...." Twilight stated, the fur on her back standing on edge.

"We have to be careful, if they are the one responsible for all these animal corpses they can't be somepony we want to run into..." Gregory replied.

"Not run into?... It might be inevitable..." Twilight said this, and it kinda confused him. Who could possibly be in here that would make it inevitable to run into?

"Do you know who is in here?" Gregory asked curious about Twilights statement.

"I only have hunches... but she wouldn't do stuff like this... so It can't possibly be her... Maybe I am just being paranoid.... It's nothing forget what I said." Twilight responded to his question. "Let's just keep looking for clues. 

Gregory then looked upon one of the desks and something shiny caught his eye. Underneath some papers he found a key. It had a room number on it. 106 was the number. Immediately he showed the key to Twilight.

"I think this might come in handy." Gregory told her. 

"With how many locked rooms we are finding in this place, you are probably right." She told him, watching as he placed the key safely in his pocket.

Upon leaving the room, they continued down the hall they had been on. Turning to the right they traversed down another hallway, but this one was a different one. On the left side of the hall were many operating rooms. Each one had a window, only a few of them displayed their contents in light. The rest were dark. Passing by rooms 104, and 105, they soon came upon room 106. It was also an operating room. Gregory pushed the key into the keyhole and slowly turned it until a latch made a clicking sound indicating that the door was unlocked. Pushing the door open he walked in. Oddly enough, this was the only operating room in the hallway that didn't have any windows. Whatever kind of operations they performed in this room must have been ones that required privacy.

It was dark in the room, aside from a flickering light in the back. Also in the back was a large medical cabinet easily able to fit two bodies in it. An operating table was in the center of the room, and laying upon it with it's organs exposed was the corpse of a rabbit. Twilight gasped in horror at the corpse on the table, trotting over to it slowly to get a better look. She knew this rabbit, no doubt about it. Gregory suddenly heard trotting from down the hall. Glancing quickly towards the cabinet, he nudged at Twilight to follow him. Twilight, upon hearing the noise too, quickly followed him and got into the cabinet with him. When they shut the door softly, something walked into the operating room.

"Heh... heh.... heh.... It's time to move my little friend... I mean... if thats okay with you...." a filly's voice said. 

In the cabinet there were no vents to see out of, so they could only listen. The voice sounded a bit different and muffled, but Twilight felt that it sounded familiar. For what seemed like ages, they listened as the sound of flesh being worked on and pulled from a machine of some sort was all they could hear. After a few minutes, the sound stopped, only to be followed by that voice once more.

"Let's go my little precious... it's time...." the voice said.

After that statement, the door to the operation room could be heard swinging open and closing. They both held their breaths, waiting a bit before slowly creaking one cabinet door open to check if the coast was clear. Once they found that it was, they stepped on out, only to discover that the animal corpse was now gone from the operating table. Twilight was having mixed emotions right now. Her thoughts were constantly striving to figure out who this was. An idea was present in her head, but she didn't want to think that she was correct on her assumption.

"We have to find that pony..." Twilight stated. "I know it sounds crazy... but I have to be sure about something...."

"It's dangerous you know that right?" Gregory told her. "It might be better to not go after her. Why do you want to find her?" 

"I just... need to confirm something..." She replied.

Gregory didn't like the fact that she was being cryptic.

"Well, who is it? Do you know? Any hunches or ideas?" he asked her.

"I honestly don't know... all the clues and corpses remind me of a friend.... but I have to confirm it...." Twilight told him.

"Alright then... but the first moment this thing comes after us, we are out of here, clue or no clue about Pinkie Pie." Gregory was firm sounding. He didn't want to risk it all for a hunch, but he sympathized with the pony.

"Understood..." She softly replied, making her way towards the door. 

Before she could move out the door she trotted over something. It felt hard and metallic. When she used her magic to light up the area, she discovered it was a key she had stepped on. Picking it up, she handed it to Gregory who was now coming to her side. The key read "STAIRSEAST". He wondered where there was a set of stairs, as the two of them had not yet encountered any since they had been in here. Of course this key told them that there was a second floor at the very least. 

This whole area was filled with that ominous feeling, and Gregory could feel it constricting his breath even more the longer they were in here. Despite this, he walked towards the door, determined to help Twilight to the end. For her sake he would help her with any task they needed to accomplish, and if this meant following any hunch about her friends, than he would do it. His heart was running crazy, pumping with adrenaline the entire time they were in there. Gregory was usually the type of person that would never be found in this kind of place, he was just frightened way too easily. The fact that he was here now, was absolutely absurd. Whatever the case may have been, he was willingly delving into darkness, and for some reason having Twilight there made things a bit easier. Twilight felt the same about this, not knowing why she would insist on staying in this dreadful place, but after everything that has happened up to this point, she knew there was no choice. She would have to suck it up eventually and face her fears, so why not now?

"Did we even see any stairs?" Gregory asked.

"The key does say East on it, and I know we haven't explored the east section of this hospital." Twilight responded to his question while opening one of the doors and leaving into the hall.

Gregory followed her, and the both of them turned left. Down the hall, they discovered another small waiting room. It was only covered in a trail of blood, on the walls more messages were written in blood. Mostly just variants of "Hehehe" and "Hahaha". Following this trail of blood, which let off a reeking scent, they were lead to another hall with patient rooms. Each one of the rooms was locked as well. Whoever owned this place made sure it was secured all the time. About the time they reached the end, they came across a locked door. From upstairs they could hear some giggling. 

"Hehehe.... hehehe... hehehe...." it came from somepony upstairs, most likely the same pony from before.

Using the key Gregory unlocked the door and went upstairs. Following him Twilight timidly came up as well. She was tense, hoping that the pony in the hospital wasn't who she was thinking it was. If it was, she probably couldn't face it without breaking down. Gregory noticed that she was shaking from head to toe, it wasn't surprising, he was actually shaking a bit too. He realized though, that they had to face this. Twilight more so than himself. Something told him that whoever was in the hospital with them, must have some relation with Twilight to make her feel so edgy.

"Twilight are you up for this? If you want, we can always leave now." Gregory asked her. 

"No... This is something I need to face. If it is really one of my friends, then they need my help more than ever right now." She responded, her jaw quivering as the words left her lips.

"Okay, let's move out then." He stated feeling a bit reassured by her confidence.

Moving slowly down the halls, they noticed more patient rooms. Gregory had decided to move west, and Twilight trailed alongside him. Eventually they came across a set of double doors, but the problem was that they were locked. As he fiddled with something, there was a noise within the room they were trying to get inside of. Slowly the sound began to rise, drawing near their location. Twilight's heart rate along with Gregory's rapidly rose. When it peaked a loud bang knocked him on to his rear, nearly making him have a panic attack. Twilight "eeped" and jumped back in fear. Her whole back hairs on end. Gregory quickly got up, and motioned for Twilight to run. The banging continued, but they weren't about to stay and find out the durability of said doors. Darting back towards another hall, they found themselves flying by patient rooms, all of which were locked. 

"Damn it! We have to find a room to hide in!" Gregory panted, trying every door he came across.

"This one!" Twilight called out to him as she opened the door to a larger room.

Gregory followed suit and both of them entered into the room. Closing the door behind them Twilight collapsed and fell against the door, breathing heavily. Gregory stopped to catch his breath, and then he scanned the room. Looking for anything that could be propped against the door, he soon found a small bookshelf. Twilight, still panting, got back up and quickly assisted him in moving the shelf in front of the door.Once that was accomplished, they gave each other quick glances. The sound of shuffling in the halls, made Twilight jump. Gregory was also scared, but even more baffled by the a clinging Twilight, who found herself gripping his leg in fear. Both of them remained quiet until the trotting of hooves passed on by. Then he looked down at the shaking filly who still had her eyes closed, not wanting to move at all.

"Twilight it's okay, I think its gone now." Gregory tried to comfort her.

"Shes still in this building...." Twilight responded. "I'm so scared right now...."

He could tell just how frightened she was. If not from her body shaking uncontrollably, then from the way she clung to him, and the way her eyes were shut tightly as if not seeing it would make it all disappear. This also included the way she breathed, it was shallow, and she would sputter a bit when speaking. Gregory was scared too, but Twilight was twice as scared. He found himself lending her a comforting hand against the side of her mane, not knowing what else to do at this point.

"We have to go back out there." He stated, to which Twilight gave a gasp of fear.

But soon Twilight stopped hanging off of him, and assisted him in removing the shelf away. When they moved it though, a small bronze item fell out of it. It was another key. The number engraved on the key was 211. Gregory slipped the key into his pocket right before they departed into the hall. Checking the room number, he discovered that they left room number 206. So logically the room this key belonged to would be five rooms down. Twilight was wheezing softly as she trotted alongside Gregory. The two of them slowly made their way down the path, just in case they ran into whatever was up here again. 

Suddenly a light flickered down the hall, and for a glimpse of a second they saw a light yellowish flank walking away. It didn't see them or hear them so it just went on it's merry way. Twilight was almost positive she knew who it was, but being so filled with fear, she didn't dare go after her. Gregory's head was throbbing so much right now, he could literally hear his own heartbeat as blood pumped to his brain. The thick air didn't help either. This place attacked all five senses. The smell of corpses, the sight of blood and darkness, the feeling of the dark and thick ominous aura, and the taste of death in the air. Not only that, but it was as if a spirit of horror had it's cold grip over their entire bodies, causing them to constantly shiver. It was enough to make both of them feel nauseous, more so in Twilight than Gregory however. 

Pushing themselves to their very limits, the both of them finally found the room they were looking for and plunged the key inside of the keyhole. Turning it, they unlocked the room and went inside. Silently they shut the door, lest they draw the attention of the other pony. Inside they found the lights were working, and that the room was similar to the last room they had been in. Rows upon rows of shelves were there. All of them just containing medical documents and reference guides. It seemed like this room was clean of any blood or corpses, until they looked in one of the back corners of the room. There sitting at a desk, was another filly that had clearly been killed a long time ago. Oddly enough, the method of death was similar to the pony they found inside one of the houses in the city. A dagger protruded through the chest, clearly having gone through the heart was stabbed into the chair. It was still visibly going through the ribcage. 

"Is this... another victim of Pinkie Pie?" Twilight questioned watching as Gregory scanned the desk for any documents. 

"Aha..." Gregory stated, as sure enough there was a paper on there regarding Pinkie Pie's diary notes.

"I had little trouble making my way into the hospital undetected, it seems the ponies here know nothing of good security... I shall make it a note to handle security better than these chumps with my future plans... but that is for a later date and time.... for now, I have secured the necessary tools for my trip to the Frozen North.... Hopefully those Old Mare stories tell true about 'THAT' amulet. I would hope that this trip not be wasted on nothing more than a silly little myth.... Anyways. I did run into a little trouble when I ran into this medical document office, this bucker was attempting to turn me in, so I stabbed her with a nearby knife... (They leave them around everywhere here apparently!!) if these buckers would just stop getting in my way... oh well, again this won't be of importance in the future... I will make sure everypony pays dearly. For now... I better head towards that large library in Mareville just north of here... I need to understand this amulet more...."

"Amulet?.... What Amulet?.... Oh my Celestia... It can't be.. if that Amulet is involved this means that... So thats how she got away..." Twilight was murmuring to herself.

"I don't understand..." Gregory admitted to her after listening to her mumble for a bit.

"Pinkie Pie must have acquired an ancient amulet that allows her to travel to different dimensions. It explains why we saw her location in some weird area." Twilight responded.

"I don't get it, couldn't she just use magic to teleport?" Gregory wondered.

"Well as an earth pony, she doesn't have magic." she replied. "Hence why she took the amulet."

"I see..." He said.

Under the note was another key. Gregory saw it and collected it up along with the note. Upon finding what they came here to find, it was finally time to confront whoever was out there. Twilight gulped, as Gregory pulled on the door. Heading back down the hall, they didn't encounter anything. Not a single peep, or clop of a hoof on the floor besides Twilights. It was silent. At the same time, a presence was getting thicker and thicker the closer they got to the double doors. When they arrived at those doors, they realized that they wouldn't be needing the key, apparently one of the doors had been bashed down anyways. Thats when they started to hear noises. It was a pony's voice.

"Its alright little one... this will make you feel great..." she said while doing something to make something squeal. 

Twilight peeped her head in and only saw a blackened figure crouching over what presumably was another animal that was being victimized. She gulped a bit, stepping closer to the figure, her heart beating so much. Gregory followed her closely. Twilight lit up her horn with magical light. Suddenly a pony whose body and mane were nearly completely soaked in blood was revealed by the light. Twilight knew exactly who it was now, her cutie mark showing butterflies. The color of her fur being light yellow, and her mane being pink in color, she knew absolutely that this was her friend, but something was wrong.

"Hush now, Quiet now, it's time to go to sleep....." She said quietly to the animal whose cries seemed to die down until it was no longer alive.

"f...Fl--- Fluttershy?... Is that.... you?" Twilight asked with courage that she dug up from deep within herself.

A giggle was all she got in response. Slowly she got up, and swiftly turned around to face Twilight, her face was contorted in a very horrifying manner, her eyes bloodshot and open wide. Her smile was so wide, it was creepy. and her mane was in such a mess. When she met Twilight's gaze, she just laughed even more. Obviously she had lost it, her sanity was gone. In one of her hooves was the flesh of the animal she had just killed. Bring it close to her maw, she took a bit of it, scarfing it down fast. Twilight didn't know what to say, this just horrified her completely, but she had to try and get through to her.

"Fluttershy?!!... It's me Twilight!! Don't you recognize me?" She asked nearly bursting into tears.

"Twilight.... It's time to have some fun..." Fluttershy responded in a eerie voice.

"What?.... Fluttershy! I'm your friend!..."  Twilight tried to bring her back from her darkness.

"Friend?... What friend abandons their friends?...." Fluttershy's expression turned sour. "I HAVE NO FRIENDS!!! NOW DIE!!!" 

She lunged at Twilight, wielding a butcher knife that she pulled from the ground. The purple filly rolled out of the way, dodging the weapon. Her heart was pounding, not use to combat. Fluttershy, regained her positioning and then faced Twilight with the intent to kill, leaping once more at her frame. Twilight gasped in response, quickly rolling out of the way again.

"Please! Fluttershy! I didn't abandon you!... Once it all struck... we were all scattered!.... You have to believe me!...." Twilight tried to reason with her.

Gregory made sure he kept his distance, this wasn't his fight, and he knew that Twilight was the only one who could get through to her. Twilight dodged another swing of Flutterhshy's butcher knife. Constantly, she evaded the attacks of Fluttershy. 

"Just stand still!!!" Fluttershy Screamed, she seemed like she was losing it even more, the sight of her ex-friend, was confusing her. As if she was battling herself and Twilight all at once, her emotions began to run rampant in both directions of the yingyang spectrum.

"Why won't you just die!!!!.... No.... Don't die Twilight.... DIE DIE DIE..... WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?.... No.... I ran.... BUCK OFF..... I WILL KILL YOU..... EYAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Fluttershy dropped the butcher knife after failing twice more at hitting the dodging filly. She clasped her hooves to her head, and fell to her knees. 

Screaming at the top of her lungs, she began crying. Twilight tried to get closer to her. 

"NO DONT YOU COME NEAR ME!" She screamed in response.

"Fluttershy... I'm sorry... I should have been there for you..." Twilight responded.

"BUT YOU WERENT..." she cried out again. "YOU WERENT THERE... NOPONY WAS.... EVERYPONY VANISHED NOT A SINGLE PONY CAME.... I WAS SO TERRIFIED....."

At that point, Twilight made it her sole mission to make it over to Fluttershy, despite all her protests. 

"BUCK OFF.... DONT COME BUCKING NEAR ME.... I SAID BUCK OFF...." Fluttershy was rampant in her rage. 

As soon as Twilight reached Fluttershy, she embraced her, and at first the filly struggled within that hug from her, but soon, she fell apart completely, and sobbed within her shoulder. The poor thing must have been so lonely, frightened and scared, that she plunged deep into darkness and chaos. Her mind must have been so fragile at that point, Twilight could feel it, none of this was ever going to be over with a simple hug. She realized that Fluttershy was going to need years of therapy to recover from this.

"Why... why didn't you guys come and find me?.... I... I was so... so.... scared... so scared.. that I let darkness embrace me... just to find comfort...." Fluttershy said, before looking over Twilight's shoulders and seeing another person, a human being none the less. "Who... who the buck is that?...."

Her face turned sour once again, even emitting a growl of the sorts as she asked who it was. 

"He's another friend... Fluttershy... we need to talk... It's about Pinkie Pie....." Twilight stated.



	 
> Pinkamena's Loyal Subjects
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight held Fluttershy close to her frame, discussing the happenings of Pinkie Pie, and how the current situation looked like. Her animal loving friend was shaking, but listening at the same time. 

"Pinkie Pie... Something happened to her.... I can't even determine exactly what without getting close to her... but I feel that she is enveloped in the same 
darkness that you were." Twilight spoke softly.

"She... she... must be as lonely and scared as I was...." Fluttershy hiccuped a bit. 

Twilight saw that Fluttershy was twitching a bit, still effected by the trauma of being left alone. She wondered if this meant that Fluttershy would be prone to flipping out at any moment. Thinking that she would be prepared for it, she continued to comfort the filly. Gregory was leaning against a wall now, with his arms crossed, watching and listening to the conversation. He knew that Twilight had the strength to face this, and even better was the fact that her hunch was right. She was a bright and intelligent pony, if any doubt existed previously, they were soundly qualmed by these events. Still something bugged him, how was it that Fluttershy snapped so easily? Was it the horrid situation they were in? Or perhaps the thought of being lonely was so scary that she tried to escape that thought. In doing so she must have sought out animals to be with, but due to the darkness it must have just swallowed her whole and transformed into what they witnessed just earlier. So many plausible scenarios, but it still remained a mystery.

"Poor Fluttershy... this disease.... this plague... Pinkie Pie..." He grumbled under his breath.

"Fluttershy, are you okay to travel with us? I won't leave you alone in this place." Twilight asked her friend, a loving sound laced with her voice.

"...." At first she was silent, looking down and then back at all the corpses scattered on the ground. "Yes... Please get me out of here Twilight.... I mean... if thats okay with you...

Twilight smiled and embraced her friend once more. "Yes, It is most definitely okay with me Fluttershy." 

Through her ragged mane and bloodied face, she smiled at Twilight. Moving out of the hug, she pulled herself up. Scanning the area, she quickly retrieved her butcher knife. Twilight was a bit curious as to why Fluttershy insisted on keeping that thing. When Fluttershy's gaze met her friends she started to answer her quizzical looks.

"For self defense...." She shyly told her with a small twitch. 

"Alright..." In the back of Twilight's mind she was worried about it, but this was her friend, she trusted her.

Gregory saw the two were getting up and moving around, and then he himself started to move as well. 

"Are we ready to move out?" Gregory asked looking from Twilight to Fluttershy.

"Grrrrr....." Fluttershy growled at Gregory, not knowing him at all, facing him she had her crazed look on.

"Fluttershy! He is okay, hes not one of those things." Twilight insisted.

"I'm watching you pal...." Fluttershy's cold stare was scary to him. He didn't think a talking pony could hold such hatred. 

Still he thought it was odd, why did she hate him so much? He barely even knew the filly, let alone been in Equestria long enough to do anything to justify any sort of hatred. Maybe it was just first meeting jitters translated via hate? He was just going to have to warm up to her if he wanted to shake that off. Fluttershy stepped out of the room, followed by Twilight and himself. Making their way down the stairs, they walked into the main waiting room of the hospital. It was eerie, Fluttershy cringed at all the dead animals, at the same time she could be heard laughing at them too, softly to herself that is. Once they were outside, the night breeze hit all three of them. What greeted them surprised them all. A trail of blood, a very large trail of blood was on the path from the hospital to the street. It reeked, seemingly fresh. Whatever made this was just here. Suspicions were proven upon the sound of laughter.

"What the hell was that?" Gregory asked, but none of them could answer, it was foreign to all three of them.

Slowly they made their way to the source of the sound, which was the street. Passing the gate, Gregory was the first to look into the street. A powerful aura of blood lust and chaos wrapped around his frame almost instantly. Something ominous was in the street. He stepped out a bit, gulping as he did so. This was a very bad idea. 

"Aha... So you have finally shown yourselves...." A voice called out to him and the others amidst the void of the fog. "Though it is a shame, I always love a good hunt..."

"Who... Whose out there? Show yourself you Evil Vixen!" Gregory yelled. 

Twilight was petrified at Gregory's undiluted bravery, where did he get courage like this to just jump out into the fray? It confused her so, but even more confusing was the fact that there was another voice responding to him in the fog. Who could possibly be out here at night, and why the hay did she sound so evil? Stepping out until she was behind Gregory, Twilight stood her ground. Fluttershy followed suit as well, carrying her butcher knife in hoof. 

-------Pinkie Pie's Orb--------

"Oh ho ho ho.... What do we have here? This is quite the discovery you made....." Pinkie Pie stated gazing deeply into her orb. 

She had sent out one of her loyal subjects to scout the area out, as magic had been detected, but never did she think she would find Twilight and Fluttershy in such an area

"What are you doing Twilight? Hehehehehe.... Naught naughty naughty Twilight... looks like you need to be punished...." She coyly said while giggling loudly to herself.

-------Street-----------------

Stepping forwards was a small female. Her hair was black and flowed just a little past her shoulders. As she came closer, Gregory could see her eyes, a light violet. She wore a kimono that was black, articles of clothing within it that were white as well. She was unarmed, and despite her frail appearance he felt that same powerful aura being exuded from her. Whatever the case may be, she was not to be trifled with or taken lightly. Once she had gotten a good ten feet away from Gregory, something began to happen. Her body lurched forwards a bit, undergoing a transformation. One of her hands covered her face, and underneath her palm, a white material formed. It solidified slowly around half of her face. 

"Now.... who is ready to die?...." She said, her voice now a ripply kind of sound, as if two or three voices were speaking at the same time.

"Who.... Who the hell are you???!" Gregory stammered a bit, taking caution and moving back a little.

"You are going to die soon... so I guess I should introduce myself... not that it will be of use to you." She started to say. "The name is Rukia, and I will be your executioner." 

"Like hell you will...." he replied.

"Sorry... it's what the boss wants... she can't have little trouble makers snooping around... trying to undermine all her hard work." Rukia glared directly at Twilight as she said this.

Twilight knew who she was talking about just from that simple statement. Soon she stood up in a fit of anger. Glaring right back at the female.

"You're working for Pinkie Pie aren't you?" Twilight asked her with unfaltering resolve, staring the female down intently. "Well? Are you!! Answer me!"

"Tch, what is it to you? You're about to be dead horse meat by the time I am finished with you, and you insist on asking so many stupid questions." Rukia was getting angry, and at the same time she extended her left arm. 

What followed next was petrifying, and nearly unexplainable. Rukia let out a horrendous roar, and what an inhuman sound it was. So loud was the sound, that Twilight and Gregory both covered their ears. Fluttershy was getting pissed off by the sound, and angrily covered her ears. The expression on her face was not a happy one. But poor Fluttershy backed up when Rukia's arm exploded, flinging blood and flesh everywhere. What was left over, was but a bloodied tentacle. Crimson red blood covered the surface, and scattered about up and down the new limb were thorn-like spikes. Razor sharp and long. Once again, fear was rearing it's ugly head inside of them. Clasping around their frames and pulling them into a cold hell. Shaking from head to toe. What was Rukia capable of doing with this new limb? How the hell did she manage to even produce it in the first place? Questions they had no time to answer right now of course, as she suddenly began to walk towards them. Horribly laughing with each step she took.

"Buck.... We can't deal with her... no way... we have to run!!" Twilight hollered out. "Gregory we have to go!"

"I'm way ahead of you, but where?!" Gregory asked looking from left to right.

Twilight had to think quick, the hospital was a horrible choice, and the only two other viable paths included the stairs they climbed up earlier, and the street behind them. With a crack of her tentacle, Rukia slammed it down at Gregory. Quickly dodging it, he jumped back and found himself next to Twilight and Fluttershy. The pink maned pegasus was ready to jump at Rukia, her hand gripping tightly on her butcher knife. 

"What are you going to do with that you pathetic little filly?" Rukia chastised the pegasus, infuriating her even more.

"DONT CALL ME PATHETIC I WILL BUCKING KILL YOU!...." Fluttershy was going through one of her fear-induced fits. 

"Run now!!!" Twilight yelled again, this time grabbing Fluttershy, and pulling her away. 

Gregory followed them as well, leaving Rukia in the dust behind them. Unfortunately for the group, this would prove to be futile. Rukia just appeared in front of them almost instantaneously. She cackled a bit, clearly enjoying herself. Though she wanted to see blood spill, and without giving them a chance to react, she lashed her tendril out, thrusting it directly at Gregory. He tried to avoid this, but Rukia's movements came so fast, that he could only dodge a mortal blow. Instead, the tentacle stabbed right through his leg. Giving a howl of pain, he fell to the ground, blood going everywhere. Inside his leg, he could feel her thorns tearing every muscle and tendon they could come across. Even his bones were no match for this limb of hers. He felt the bones in his leg break like twigs under the pressure and weight of her limb. The worst part had to have been when she pulled it out, laughing like a maniac.

"Agggghhhhhh... God Damn it.... that fucking hurts!...." He cried out. 

"Gregory!" Twilight gasped. 

If Fluttershy wasn't being held back by Twilight, she would have already lunged at the female attacking them. Before Rukia was given the chance to attack again, Twilight started to cast a spell. A spherical barrier encased all three of them. Rukia was shocked by this, as when she tried to break the shell, she found that her tentacle could not destroy it. Twilight had to think quick, they couldn't outrun her, and the shell was not going to last forever. Shifting through all her spells she came up with one. Teleportation. As long as it wasn't from dimension to dimension she would be fine. Focusing on the teleportation spell, she began to chant once more. When their enemy realized what was happening, she frantically tried to break through the shell, with even more ferocity than before, but to no avail. When Twilight had finished casting the spell, she spoke to Rukia.

"Tell Pinkie Pie we will stop her... and thats a Pinkie Promise." Twilight's stern yet angry look on her face soon vanished once the teleporation spell had completed it's casting. All three of them soon being gone from the premise of Rukia.

"Shit... Are you watching this Pinkamena? My apologies for letting them get away..." Rukia spoke to what seemed like the sky, her eyes looking towards the stars, though hidden among the fog.

A voice could soon be heard within her own mind. It was Pinkie Pie's.

"Yes, I did witness that, and though I am disappointed in you for not killing them, a little chase is fun in the end." Pinkie Pie stated while giggling a bit. "Return to the Foundation for now, if any more reports are found, I shall issue new orders."

"Yes, Pinkamena." She closed her eyes after saying that and then in a split second she was gone.

	

	
	

	
> The Foundation's Connivery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sitting around a table, Pinkamena's eyes darted from member to member, eager to discuss the next big issue for their meeting. She was giddy, but at the same time an aura that she exuded told the others that this was serious business. Whatever she was about to address to the members was big. A exasperated and frustrated Rukia walked into the meeting room, her hand removing the mask that covered her face. Instantly the material of the mask assimilated into the air, most likely the particles of the mask returning to her energy. Taking her seat betwixt the newest member and Amy, she let out a annoyed sigh and then looked over to Pinkamena who was smiling.

Pinkamena's straightened out hair danced around her, as she bobbed her head around, waiting for them all to get settled down. When the group was comfortable, she stopped her movements, her eyes looking at each one of them, before she started to clear her throat. Adjusting her seat a bit, she pulled herself closer to the table so that she could lean on it. Her elbows propped up her little pony head, she was now ready to address the group.

"Ladies, fillies, and trolls, we have a biiiiiiiig problem!" She announced nonchalantly leaning her cheek into her left hoof, so that she could rest her other hoof on the table. "Seems that one of my ex-friends, Twilight Sparkle, has been snooping around trying to undermine all of our hard work."

"Tch... If that stupid little filly wouldn't have put that barrier up, I would have painted the streets with their blood." Rukia stated rather angrily. She failed in her attempt to kill Twilight and her group, so her fury was justified.

"Well, what is the gameplan Pinkamena?" Sakura asked, wondering what the pink filly had in mind. "I mean shouldn't we be tracking them down as we speak?" 

"Do not fret my darling, I have something in mind that will make them come to us, I was hoping to save it for a bit later, but it seems we might have to speed up the process." Pinkamena replied to her loyal subject. "With that being said, make sure to increase the speed of progress on Experiment RD-01, I want her prime and raring to go for a little excursion trip we will be making."

"Roger that Pinkamena." Sakura answer obediently. 

"What, experiment RD-01?! Speeding it up would be too risky wouldn't it?!" Amy protested a bit, though she winced realizing her rude outburst was directed at their leader.

"Perhaps you would do best to keep in mind who you are talking to when you start to say something...." Pinkamena was gone from her seat when she said this. Instead her body was behind Amy's with a knife to her throat. No one had seen her move, she was that fast. "Now now, don't fret, she will do just fine, I can assure you of that." 

Amy was sweltering all over with perspiration. Her heartbeat was high, and she was breathing rather shallowly. The edge of the blade that was lightly pressing into the flesh of her neck was terrifying even for someone of her ranking. When the filly pulled the knife away from her subordinate's neck, the hedgehog let out a sigh of relief. Once again pinkamena could be seen relaxing in her seat, the same lazy position as before, only this time she was leaning her face on her right hoof. Never gonna do that again the hedgehog thought to herself, gulping a bit while returning her gaze towards Pinkamena. Lately the pink filly had been showing less emotions, and a more cold hollow shell. She still made treats, but she was becoming less and less sociable. The group all noticed, but considering the type of organization they ran, it wasn't too far'fetched for this type of behavior to occur.

"Anyways, we have a new member to introduce. She came along way to join us today, so give her a warm welcome." Pinkamena said to the troll sitting by Rukia. "Her name is Vriska, and she would like to be referred to as the executioner."

"Thanks, Thanks, it's a pleasure to be here. I won't dwaddle the meeting away talking about myself, so I will keep it short and to the point. As it was already mentioned, my name is Vriska Serket. I am a troll from a far away planet, and I recently began finding myself enjoying the slaughter of many innocent trolls!"

She smiled a bit while displaying her fangs, afterwards she took her seat. The others waited a bit just in case she had something else to say.

"Well, welcome to the Foundation, I am sure you will enjoy your time here!" Amy told her, giving the new member a warm smile.

"Yes, welcome to the Foundation, rest assured, you will be able to do all the butchering, slaughtering and executing you want in this organization." Sakura told her, congratulating her on her arrival.

Rukia softly congratulated her as well, she wasn't in the mood for anything right now, and Vriska kinda got the hint when she first arrived. Leaving her be, she sat back in her chair, proud to be apart of the Foundation. When her gaze returned over to Pinkamena, the pink filly looked prepared to continue on to a new topic of discussion. Clearing her throat once more, and pushing some of her mane out of her face, she started to speak.

"Before we conclude our meeting, there is one more topic I wish to bring up. It's in regards to the new versions of the disease that we have been developing." Pinkamena stated. "As you all know, the shukakusha have made a dedicated foot hold in most of the universes and dimensions. Not many places are left to eliminate. However for the places that are still holding out, we are at a stalemate currently."

"What places have yet to be overrun?" Sakura inquired. 

"Well..." she looked over to Rukia. "The biggest threat to our mission, is the Soul Society. Apparently, they have been fighting things like the shukakusha for generations. They make it their living to train to fight against what they refer to as hollows, right Rukia?"

"That is correct, we are highly skilled and trained slayers of hollows. Even despite the skills I possess, there are still those in the Soul Society who would wipe the floor with me." She stated to the group.

"That is the reason for the next topic. I have come up with some modifications to the virus, that will deploy a new type of minion. I had set up a few tests in certain dimensions and the results I have gathered have met up with some of the expectations, but still it seems to pale in comparison to the military strength of the Soul Society." Pinkamena continued. "Fortunately, Rukia is our little spy, and has been collecting information and disseminating all their weaknesses to the Foundation, with a bit of experimentation, our minions will swarm the place, leaving nothing behind but destruction."

"Heh... Soul Society won't know what hit them once preparations are complete." Rukia chuckled a bit, this calming her down significantly.

"What do these things look like?" Amy wondered.

"Like this...." Pinkamena pulled out a remote, and upon clicking a button on the device, another device came up in the center of the table. 

It was some sort of display, and on that display popped up a slim creature. A large mouth nearly six feet in height connected to that of a very long and slender body. Underneath the belly of the beast was a sack, which appeared to be that of a stomach sack. Because this sack was empty at the moment, it looked deflated and was retracted up near the flesh that wrapped around the spine of the creature. Along the back of the creature, were rigid spikes. These spikes spaced out evenly across the spine, until coming to a stop at the tail. This extension was about five feet long, and including the tail, it was about six and a half feet long. At the very end of the tail was a large bone cluster, with the same rigid and sharp spikes scattered about it. It seemed as though the creature ran on all fours, it's back legs being attached near the hip which was located near the end of it's elongated body. The front legs were short, but still long enough for running, these pair of legs rested under the large mouth of the creature.

"Gruesome!" This was all Sakura could say, she was impressed so much that she couldn't even describe it with many words.

"Yikes, that thing looks like it could devour many helpless victims by the trollful" Vriska commented, smirking at the prospect of such chaos.

The others within the group were equally impressed by this creature, but was it enough? Soul Society was very skilled after all. It's troops trained hardcore for over the last thousands of years. Something like this was probably not enough to slow them down. Maybe some of recruits would fall to it, but unless they came in the hundreds, this would only be repelled as well, and Pinkamena knew that. Oh but she didn't just have this up her hooves, in the back of her head, another experiment was being produced, but she would rather let that one be revealed at a later time. For now, she was satisfied with what she had shown the girls. Clasping her hooves together, she then took the remote in hoof again, and turned off the display. She smiled at all of them and for a third time cleared her throat to begin speaking again.

"With that I think our little meeting has come to a conclusion, You are all dismissed." Pinkamena told them all, and stayed to watch as all of them left. Once she was the only one remaining in the room, she herself, started to leave, until someone returned to the room. It was Rukia. 

"What is it Rukia? I thought I dismissed you?" The filly quizzically asked the soul reaper. 

"Pinkamena, there is somepony at the door for you, a blue filly. She wishes to speak with you." Rukia responded taking a knee in respect for her leader when she spoke.

"Thank you for informing me, you may leave now." Pinkamena told her, knowing exactly who it was visiting her at such a time and location.

Rukia left and Pinkamena soon left as well, rushing to the door to tend to her visitor. Back in the hallways, Sakura walked beside Amy, who was a bit flustered after that meeting. She couldn't believe she let herself make an outburst like that. Sakura realized that her co-worker was stressed out and wanted to talk to her about it.

"Hey don't sweat the meeting, we all have our moments that we wish we could take back." Sakura tried to reassure her.

"I don't even know what I was thinking, I was caught up in the moment." She replied, still angry at herself.

"It's okay it happens to the best of us every great once in a while, no need to beat yourself over it okay?" Sakura continued. "Perhaps you should go work some, and relieve a bit of stress. You seem very tense after that."

"Yeah, I guess you are right. Perhaps I could use a little pick-me up." Amy replied with a bit more pep in her voice. "Do we have any fresh bodies though?" 

"I am glad you asked, since we had started killing, we have been getting bodies back by the dozen." Sakura gleefully responded.

"Wait how do we even retrieve bodies? Doesn't the disease just ruin them?" Amy pondered. "And doesn't that defeat the statement of mass harvest."

"That was what I thought when the shukakusha were first introduced, but heres the catch." She giggled while she got closer to Amy, looking around to make sure no one else was there. "We bring some of the shukakusha back, and then give them an antidote."

"What??! Why didn't anyone tell me?" Amy stammered.

"We were planning on telling the lower ranking members, but information was only disseminated to me and Rukia." Sakura stated. "To be on the safe side, don't let anyone lower ranking than yourself know of this."  Sakura winked at her and chuckled a little.

"Got it! ;)  " Amy nodded at her co-worker. "How does it work though, is it full reversal or just a cleansing of the disease?"

"Basically it kills the disease and restores the body to the state it was in before succumbing and dieing from it." Sakura explained. "It's pretty thorough, though we only have a few in stock, the ingredients are quite hard to procure."


"Ah, I see. Well, enough dilly-dallying, I have some stress that needs relieving" Amy was excited now. "Thanks Sakura I really needed that."

"Anything for a co-worker, I try to watch out for you all." Sakura smiled at her.

With that the two seemed to joyfully traverse over to one of the various morgue rooms to fulfill their horrid deeds. Vriska had found herself returning to her very own room, when she was stopped by Rukia. Rukia was looking her down from head to toe. Sizing her up or something, Vriska couldn't be certain.

"What?" Vriska stated a bit abruptly. 

"Settle down toots, I wanna show you around a bit." Rukia stated her face never changing expression, but keeping it's stare at her constant. "I always give noobies a feel for the ropes around here."

"I think I can figure things out on my own." Vriska was already rubbed the wrong way by Rukia's cold attitude. "Now if you will excuse me."

"Listen, I don't want to get bitchy about this, but I won't hesitate to slice you up and harvest you too. Not only that but I am higher ranking than you. It'd be best to heed all the advice I am willing to give to you, I have no time for petty little high school games. If you want to cross blades with me, fine, but believe me it will end in your organs being the next batch of cupcakes for our dining pleasure, understand that runt?" Rukia told her, while getting up close and personal. The aura that she let off, was very VERY intimidating, and more so was the growing amount of physical, raw power that could be felt emanating from her frame. "Now, you will follow me, got that?"

"... Understood... Ma'am..." Vriska had never seen something so visibly scary in her entire wriggling life. It kinda shocked her that people like this existed.

With that out of the way, a frightened Vriska followed behind Rukia sheepishly as she began to give her an in depth tour of the Foundation. She explained how things worked, and gave her hints and tips. Despite the rudeness that she had shown her, Rukia was still eager to assist her, and Vriska actually kinda respected her for that, and she felt bad getting on her bad side. She always had a tendency to get on people's bad sides, but she decided during that tour that she would work on being more cooperative with her new co-workers, afterall, she was going to be working with them a lot now.

	



	
> Teleportation Antics
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Whoosh! All of their bodies haphazardly skidded to a halt in soft dirt. The smell of fire and brimstone hitting their nostrils hard. Gregorgy clamped his hands around his knees, howling in pain. Blood was still spilling from his wound. On his leg, through a tear in his pants, was a narrow hole that extended from just above his knee to the middle of his thigh. He feared that because Rukia had pierced him with one of her tentacles, he was bound to end up as one of those things. Twilight had gotten off of Fluttershy, whom she had awkwardly landed on top of when they teleported to this new location.

Trotting over to her with urgency in her steps, she quickly began to treat and look over his wounds. No signs of decay, or transformation. Though the wound was bad, when she was done giving it a quick analysis she determined that he would be fine after some bandages. Looking around, she grabbed for her bag, which during the whole teleportation process, had been thrown over towards some piles of bricks. Inside, she procured some linen bandages. It was wrapped around a wooden pin, resembling a spool of thread almost. Fluttershy had gotten up at this point, and was now trying to shake off the motion sickness she had acquired. Stumbling around a bit, she started to have conversations with herself. Twilight was too focused on the wound of Gregory's to notice entirely. Despite this, the yellow filly stayed nearby, so it wasn't a major problem anyway. 

Another shriek of pain filled the night, as a calm Twilight worked on hand-stitching up his leg. She remembered the motions that a book she had instructed on dressing wounds in such a manner, though it had been some time ago that she had opened up that old dusty tome. Gregory griped through the whole thing, and his pain justified such, but after it was done, and Twilight had wrapped him up with the bandages from earlier, he felt a bit better. She stepped back and watched as he struggled to stand. Using his hands to push up on the dirt, he stood tall, but winced during the process. Twilight eyes waited patiently, examining him from afar, wondering how well he would do traveling. When his eyes met her gaze, he understood what she wanted to see, him walking. Carefully he threaded forwards, but as soon as his injured leg had pressure applied to it, he let out a howl of pain. It was apparent that he wouldn't be able to run for a while, but the fact that he couldn't even walk normally was a hindrance for the entire group and he knew that.

“God damn it.... This is dreadful... How are we suppose to maneuver while my leg is injured?” Gregory shouted, clearly frustrated by this.

“There isn't much we can do about it, Gregory.” Twilight told him. “We just have to make the best of it and keep going.”

Looking around, Twilight analyzed their surroundings while also checking up on Fluttershy. Around her, the area was lit up by patches of flames scattered about. Included in this, were many ruined buildings. None of them were habitable, not a single one. Every structure had been leveled down to the ground, their roves completely eliminated, and the walls reduced to mere stacks of bricks no taller than a few feet. She noticed that Fluttershy was meandering about near trees and shrubbery that lined the edge of the area. Fluttershy was still conversing with herself, as if the others didn't even exist right now. Raising an eyebrow to her friend's weird behavior, she trotted over to her. When she got closer the words she spoke became more clear.

“Hehehehehehe.... time to go to bed.... hush now quiet now.... it's time to lay your sleepy head....” Fluttershy said snorting in the process.

“Uhh... Fluttershy? Are you okay?....” Twilight asked, worried that she had slipped off into another one of her trances.

“Where are my animal friends... I need to take CARE of them.....” Fluttershy ignored her friend, her butcher knife in hand. 

Swaying over to one of the trees, she looked at the trunk, and then began to ravage the wood with her knife. Laughing while she did this, Twilight took a preemptive step back, afraid she might be the next thing that knife slashed into. Gregory, who had taken to sitting down on a nearby rock, watched on. He wouldn't be able to do anything right now, his leg was too much of a weight. Twilight softly spoke to her friend once more, attempting to pull her back.

“Fluttershy... come back to us... its me Twilight... your friend....” she called out to her.

The sound of her voice a second time made her stop. Slowly she turned to face the other filly. A smile extended from cheek to cheek, her eyes wide and blood shot. Twilight expected a response, but there was nothing. Fluttershy just stood there staring at her for a long time. It creeped out Twilight so much, that she could feel herself sweating underneath her coat. Even Gregory got a chill up his spine, despite being a good distance away from the two. 

Suddenly the filly's smile turned sour. Her face becoming very cross and angry. Looking at Twilight filled her up with rage. With a tightened grip on her butcher knife, she growled a bit. Twilight's ears drooped bit in response, as she took a few more steps back. Realizing that her friend would probably try to gut her right now, she started to think out her options. Reasoning with the filly proved futile earlier, but she didn't think that her body was capable of fending off Fluttershy, and Gregory wouldn't be able to make it over here in time or be of any help. Before she could come up with any strategies, her friend swiftly staggered towards her. When she got near Twilight, she tackled her down, bringing her blade close to the purple filly's neck.

“Fluttershy!! Don't do this! Don't you know who I am? We are friend's for Celestia's sake!” Twilight cried out, struggling underneath the weight of her friend.

“Friend?.... Friend?.....WHERE WERE MY SO CALLED FRIENDS WHEN SHIT HIT THE FAN?.... WELL??!....” Fluttershy raged. “I have no friends... they all abandoned me... left me to die all alone!!....” 

“Fluttershy.... We have been through this already.... you know we didn't abandon you...” She responded, a bit shaky, still feeling the edge of the blade softly tickling her neck fur.

“Why should I believe you?!.... Hehehehehe.... Give me a reason.... to not gut you right here.... for leaving me..... Hehehehehe.....” Fluttershy smiled again, clearly her sanity fluctuating wildly right now. Twilight could feel the blade having more pressure applied to it.

She had grown fed up with being pinned down on the ground though, and despite being scared right now, she knew she had to act. Focusing some magic in her horn, she pushed Fluttershy off of her. The Pegasus was tossed back, her body sliding a bit in some dirt. Twilight quickly stood up, facing her friend once more. Opening her mouth she attempted to talk more sense into the filly who was climbing back on to her hooves.

“Please Fluttershy! Just hear me out.... I am your friend.... that isn't about to change... ever... I already explained to you what happened during the beginning of this all.” Twilight said, watching as the filly was almost ready to launch another attack. “Please! You have to come to your senses! It's me Twilight!.... And... I'm sorry! I'm sorry for making you feel lonely. I'm sorry for letting you down... but I am here now... and I am not leaving your side....”

Fluttershy stopped short of a charge, looking at Twilight. She looked like she was struggling within herself about the words that were spoken to her. Inside her mind, her actual sanity remained a prisoner of a shell formed from being abandoned. It took the form of her former self, a calm and relaxed Fluttershy. This wasn't the only Fluttershy that existed inside of her mind though, another more serious looking version was right by her side. 

“Don't listen to her Fluttershy, she is another evil monster.” The serious one said.

“But... It sounded like Twilight.... and she is my friend...” Fluttershy replied.

“Thats what they want you to think! They are all monsters! I am here to protect you, so just hush!” Serious Fluttershy told her. 

“Look.... I understand that you were formed.... from my fear of the outside world.... but... perhaps I should check... gulp this one out.... I mean if thats okay with you....” Fluttershy stated.

“NO! ITS NOT OKAY!” Serious Fluttershy replied.

“eepp.....” Fluttershy curled up in fear as the other, more serious Fluttershy tried to prevent her from going out to talk with Twilight.

The sound of her friend's voice penetrated her mind once more. In the space that she and the serious Fluttershy existed on, this voice echoed all around. Once Fluttershy heard this voice, she was almost certain that her friend was on the outside world. Building up a bit of confidence, and because this shell was a creation of hers, she took a stance against it.

“Listen here.... I know you mean good... but your methods... are... are... scary!... Twilight is out there... and I'm going out there...” Fluttershy stated firmly, while walking away from the more serious Fluttershy.

A look of disbelief appeared on the more serious one's face. Despite this, there was nothing it could do to stop Fluttershy. The yellow filly found herself collapsed in dirt when she came to. Twilight was standing over her, calling her name. 

“Twilight?... Is that you?...” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh thank Celestia you are alright!” She called out while hugging her friend tightly. “I was so worried.... You slipped into another one of your trances.”

“I did? Was I mean and scary?...” Fluttershy inquired, whining a bit when Twilight confirmed her fear with a nod.

“I'm sorry Twilight. I... I can't explain whats inside of me... it's like a scary me.... but its protecting me at the same time...” She explained as best she could.

“That.... somewhat makes sense...” Twilight understood to a degree what her friend was saying. She remembered reading about cases of ponies developing a shell-like personality that would protect them when they themselves didn't want to face reality. “Well.. Are you okay now?...”

“I think so... We can continue if thats alright with you....” She responded in a familiarly kind and soft manner.

Twilight knew this to be the true Fluttershy, unlike the cold and crude way she was acting moments ago. Helping her friend up, she looked over to Gregory, he was standing up, trying not to put pressure on to his injured leg. The group then moved out slowly, looking deeper into the surroundings they now found themselves in. It was an entire village in ruins. Flames still raged on, even though the structures they had sieged had long since been burned down. Little remained of anything, whatever befell this town, did a thorough job of destroying it. Walking through what were once streets, the three of them continued looking around. 

“What in the hay happened to this place?” Twilight pondered out loud. “Even amidst all the chaos, we didn't encounter anything equivalent to this level of destruction.”

“You're right Twilight.. the last city wasn't nearly half as bad as this one, and it was larger compared to this place.” Gregory agreed with Twilight.

“What if... something even scarier came during this madness?...” Fluttershy shivered what she said, gripping her butcher knife tightly.

“If only there were clues to find, though with the shape this place is in, I wouldn't expect to find anything, much less a clue of some sort.” Twilight stated a bit dejectedly.

Moving forwards they came towards a corner. A shuffling sound from behind caught their attention and they turned around swiftly. There was nothing there, but all of them could feel the burning sensation of being watched. None of them spoke, for fear of what they knew could possibly be out there. That spine tingling, cold grip that fright usually instilled upon all of them was in effect right now. Each step they took, was done so in a cautious manner. Attempting to leave no room for errors, they surreptitiously maneuvered around the corner on to another street. 

Fluttershy was reaching her limits, and could be seen visibly contorting her face. Her fear of reality forcing her shell-like self out for protection. Once again, her demeanor was replaced with the more serious and frightening version of herself. Gritting her teeth, she prepared for whatever was hunting them. Suddenly, more shuffling was heard near some bushes. Crouching down low, Fluttershy readied herself to jump. Out of the bushes, just as they had all feared, a shukakusha shambled forwards. This one seemed slower than usual, but Fluttershy wasn't about to let that drop her guard. Hopping towards it with her blade drawn, she clashed with the creatures sickle like arm. 

“Grrrrraaaaaggghhhhhhhhhsshshhh” It bellowed, spitting it's foul breath in her direction.

“Heheheheehhe.... don't BUCK with me you worthless carcass.....” Fluttershy replied while using her wings to pull back a bit.

Upon doing so, the sickle of the shukakusha fell forwards a little, missing it's intended target by just shy of a hoof. Fluttershy cackled as the thing's aim returned such poor results. Wasting not another second, she sliced the cleaver-like knife of hers at the horrid creature's decomposing and lifelessly gray neck. Easily, serrated edges of her blade carved into the rotting flesh. Still, she fell short of making a clean cut, and had to make a hasty retreat. Shrieking loudly as it's head flopped around hanging on to a small chunk of neck muscle, it prepared to jump. The shukakusha's next attack was another close one,  it nearly sliced some hairs off of the filly's body. Twilight and Gregory watched, not believing what they were seeing. Usually, these things caused enough fear that the two of them wouldn't even dare to confront, but Fluttershy was fighting toe-to-toe with one.

“Hyaaaahhhhh.... BUCKING BRING IT!.... Hehehehehe....” She called out, taunting it loudly.

Facing the creature, she waited for it to make another move. When it did, swinging it's sickle at her, she ducked. Rolling to the side, she jumped at the shukakusha with a battle roar.  Her blade aimed directly at the cut she had made earlier. Going right through for a clean slice, her blade severed it's head. Without the brain attached to the body, the rest of it just fell lifelessly to the ground. Fluttershy watched as the head rolled a distance away from the body. It was still growling a bit. Trotting over to it, she proceeded to stomp her hoof on it. Crushing it instantly, she giggled in scary excitement, rubbing her hoof around, smearing the matter.

“Fluttershy?.... Where the hay did that courage come from?!..” Twilight exclaimed.

“Hehehehehe... none of your bucking concern..” She responded before her face contorted once more. “Oh I am terribly sorry Twilight.”

“Its.... alright Fluttershy...” Twilight told her, even more scared of her serious side. 

“We should continue... I mean if thats alright with you...” Fluttershy said softly.

Twilight was starting to really get confused. Every moment it seemed that Fluttershy shifted between her sides. It was unpredictable. She feared that her friend would never be the same, but also that if this continued she could end up taking the same route that Pinkie Pie did, and she did not want that at all. One demented and psychotic friend was enough for one pony. Pondering this dilemma of hers, she started to explore more of the street ahead of them.

“Twilight, I don't think there is anything around here... Perhaps we should just leave this place before we encounter another one of those things.” Gregory stated feeling uneasy about even being in this place, especially after that last encounter.

“Common sense is telling me to leave too, Gregory.” Twilight replied. “But something else is calling me, I'm almost positive there is something here for us to discover.” 

Gregory had a funny feeling that she would want to stay in here. A strange aura was all around the place, all three of them could feel it. It wasn't like the dark one from the previous city though, it just felt cosmic, and out of this world. Twilight followed this aura, almost as if it was guiding her.  Turning into an alley, she trotted silently. Battered brick walls, and trash cans formed the alley, and it was a pathetic alley too. Yet, it was dark enough to provide a back route through the village. There were no flames nearby to light up their path, so they had to shamble around obstacles with much care. A trashcan falling a distance from their location stopped all of them in their tracks. Something was there, coming at them fast. Fluttershy snapped instinctualy, jumping in front of the purple filly, and blocking a sudden sickle lashing out from the blackness.

“Hehehehehehehe.... Another one.... bring it.....” She stated, thrusting her blade forwards and pushing the thing back. 

Twilight used her magic to light up the place, and sure enough, revealed two shukakusha in that alley. She gasped at the sight of them. This was dangerous, even for Fluttershy, and she knew that just one wound of any kind, and her friend was a goner. 

“Fluttershy! Be careful! If they cut you or anything, its over!” she told her friend, who didn't seem to be listening right now. 

One shukakusha swung at her body, and with much precision she dodged it. Moving close to her enemy, she swung her blade forcefully down on to the shukakusha's skull. This time she was able to carve a vertical wound right through it. Instantly it fell, not moving anymore. This still left the other one, who was already jumping at the distracted pony. Fluttershy felt her body being pushed by the thing. She fell underneath some kind of metal, grated panel. The shukakusha jumped on top of this, and fed it's sickles through the spacing of the metal grates. Fluttershy growled in protest, she didn't feel fear, but the thought of death just pissed this side of her off. She wasn't about to be done in by some lowly minion. The sickles came right near her throat, but stopped short. The bars on the metal panel prevented any further reaching from those claws. Opportunity rose, and Fluttershy snatched it up, pushing her butcher knife through the bars, and towards the shukakusha's neck. It tried to retract, but soon found that it's arms had dug into one of the metal bars, cutting into it about one third of the way, and was stuck. Helplessly, it sat there, it's head being severed from it's body by her butcher knife. Blood sprayed in all directions, but she didn't care.

“Hehehehehehe.... bucking die... BUCKING DIE.... DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!” She stated after one last motion of her hoof. The creatures head fell to the ground, and Fluttershy sliced it in half with one heavy swing.

“Oh my Celestia.... Fluttershy! Relax!” Twilight shouted. She had never seen her friend relish in delight over somepony's blood being covered on her body. Just witnessing the once shy pony cackle as she literally bathed in the blood was revolting. 

Fluttershy instantly heard her voice, and came to. From speculation, it could be determined that Twilight's voice was undoubtedly able to pull her from within her shell. This relieved the unicorn, who rushed over to help her friend from under the metal grate. A look of worry and distraught from the events of recent, made Fluttershy realize what the effects of her 'Shell' was having on her friend. 

“Oh dear me... I am soooo sorry Twilight.... I just can't seem to control my inner shell....” Fluttershy was upset, she didn't want to be like this, but being alone for an extended amount of time caused her shell to fuse with herself, to the point that they were almost as one being. Twilight huffed a bit, knowing that she couldn't provide any immediate remedy. Hugging her friend, she comforted her as Fluttershy began to pout a bit.

Gregory was meandering towards them when something caught his eyes. A thick dark red stain on the ground. Despite the darkness, he was still able to see it's trailing composition. From their position, the blood led on further down the alley, turning right at the far end. Nudging Twilight, he pointed at it. 

“Should we follow that?...” He asked.

“I don't know... its a trail of blood, which means whatever is or was at the end of it, had to of died by some means.” Twilight told him, while softly pulling from Fluttershy.

“Perhaps it could lead us to a clue though, I mean what else have we got to go off of in here, besides your instincts.” Gregory responded. 

“You have a point, not to mention the blood has seemed to have dried up already.” She said while walking over to it, and putting a hoof against it. Dried blood flaked off of her. “Fluttershy, you think you can carry on some more?”

“Mh-mmm.....” She timidly responded, getting up from her spot and readjusting herself.

With a smile, Twilight lead the group out of the alley, following the trail of blood. Around the corner, they came across another street. Down the middle of this street, there had been many rectangled garden fences. Within them, were trees, but now, most of the trees had burned down, leaving nothing but blackened oak. On either sides of the streets, more remnants of structures could be seen. This section was not spared from the sporadic amounts of raging fires. Many buildings still were on fire, leaving smoke to roam in the air. Along with that smoke, the scent of ash, brimstone and burning wood entered the nostrils of the group. Amidst the lights of the dancing flames, more blood trailed on the cobblestone streets, stopping short at one structure.

Within the confines of what little walls remained, a message painted in blood was there. Across the largest wall; “Four houses... down....” was painted. Twilight pondered about this, placing a hoof up to her chin to do such. Obviously it was some sort of old instruction, but why would it need to be painted in blood, and in ruins such as this? With nothing else of importance in that place, they left, looking for the fourth house down. Blood led the way once more. Sure enough, just after three homes and sandwiched between two stores, was the house they were searching for. Another message awaited them. When Twilight stepped inside, she swore she could have heard voices whispering to her. Shrugging it off, she examined the next message; “The library.....  across the street from the bakery....”. 

“What the hay kind of messages are these that they needed to be painted in blood? Is paper not sufficient enough?” Twilight was clearly aggravated, Of course underneath it all, the blood was unsettling to her.

Huffing she lead the group out of the house, and into the streets again. Fluttershy was hacking and sputtering while they maneuvered from structure to structure. The smoke all around the area was starting to get thicker the more they stayed within the village. Twilight looked from her to Gregory. Both of them were concerned for her well being. 

“We should hurry on to the next location....” Twilight said, picking up her hooves a bit, while guiding Fluttershy along. 

“Right.” Gregory responded while also quickening his pace. 

Finding the bakery wasn't that hard, though they had to walk around for a block before noticing one of the signs nearby said establishment. Across from that bakery, was a large library. Like the rest of the village, it too had suffered greatly from the inferno raging through the area. It resembled every other building too, no doors, windows, walls, or even a roof. Stepping up the stair case, they shuffled inside. Walking a bit they found a lone table that was still untouched by the fire's tongue. Twilight began to tense up when she saw what the table had on it. A piece of parchment, matching the quality that Pinkie's notes used.

Slowly she trotted over to it, picking it up with her hooves and lighting up her horn to read it.:

“Dear diary.... This place has been the absolute most bucking horrible place in all of equestria, everypony here is rude and downright bucking crazy. Nice quaint little town my hoof! Of all the hayish places in Equestria this is the worst of them. I am gonna put it out of it's misery once I gain power. That is for damn sure! I don't give a flying feather about harvesting this town full of featherbrain ponies. In the end I slaughtered many ponies here, as many as I could so as to be discrete, though I wanted to kill them all. Bucking ponies aside, I did find the information I needed pertaining to that amulet. It seems to have been made by some sort of cosmic beings originating from Equestria. From the information gathered, I think I need to pay a visit to multiple dimensions, as a precautionary measure. Can't let anypony figure out the vulnerability in my scheme!”

“Oh dear Celestia...” Twilight stammered a bit, realizing fully what Pinkie Pie had been seeking. “This is bad.... I remember reading about this.....”

“Reading about what?...” Gregory questioned the now panicking Twilight.

“Twilight what is it??...” Even Fluttershy was worried.

“I think I know what further helped plummet Pinkie Pie into madness.... The amulet she was looking for.... is referred to as the pendant of the Lunatic Mare in pony legends....” Twilight stated. “It's said that the amulet grants incredible power and strange abilities, but at the cost of one's sanity. I'm guessing this was the straw that broke the camel's back.... seeing as she was already losing it when she left Ponyville....”

“What kind of abilities can it give? Just how powerful could she possibly get?” Gregory continued to ask.

“Well... As far as I can remember from that old dusty tome... she is seamlessly able to pass through the multiverse, traveling from dimension to dimension with the slightest of ease.” Twilight stated. “Her five senses are also increased by ten fold.... other than these two attributes... the rest of the amulet's capabilities are unknown being that the artifact was never actually found....”

“That doesn't bode well for us.” He replied.

“Well..... Wait a second! I just remembered something else! It is said that upon the creation of this amulet, another amulet was made to counter-balance the first amulet. It was said to have vanished into a land of..... ORB NOW! I need to contact those ninja! Stat!” Twilight was completely serious right now, as Fluttershy shuffled through the bag of her's to locate that orb, handing it to the purple filly.

Shaking it a bit, Twilight soon found herself gazing into the rob at the ninja who covered most of his face in masks. “I am sorry to have called so suddenly, but there has been a change of plans.” 

“A change of plans? Inform us quickly, because we are very close to the border already.” The silver haired ninja known as Kakashi stated. 

“Do you know of a 'Black River?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, what of it? Is there something in particular about that region?” He replied.

“Yes. A very vital artifact called 'The Mare's Amulet of Tranquility' resides in a small hidden  temple somewhere near that river.” She told him.

“Why is this amulet so vital?” He asked, being speculative was like second nature to him, and he wanted details asap. 

“The one we are after... has the amulet whose powers can only be dealt with using the one I am requesting of you to locate.” She continued to inform him of.

“I see... The Black River isn't that far from our location, I think we can manage to acquire it for you in no time. What about our means of transportation?” Kakashi pondered, unsure of where this talking pony even existed.

“I will take care of the measures for your travel on my side, no need to worry.” Twilight told him. 

“Alright, is there anything else we should be aware of?” Kakashi was making sure to extract every ounce of information as he possibly could.

“No, nothing at the moment. I will keep you updated if anything comes up! Twilight, over and out!” Twilight said

“Understood. Kakashi-out.” With that Kakashi had hung up the orb.

Twilight was about to hang up her orb, when among the static of the disconnected call, a voice began playing. Flickering in the white noise on scree was an image of a very familiar place, but even more familiar was the voice. Though a ghostly touch was distorting the voice, no doubt about whose it was. When the screen had cleared, on it a dark factory on clouds appeared. 

“The Rainbow Factory....” Fluttershy shuddered from the dark image of the industrious structure, but what Twilight said next brought both of them to the brink of tears. The voice calling from the orb freshly reminding them of a friend.

“Rainbow Dash.....”
> The Rainbow Factory Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Rainbow Factory. High up in the clouds, located in a city known as Cloudsdale. The lofty metropolis was most prominently known for it's luring product, Rainbows. How were they made? Nopony knew, but urban myths and campfire tales once told of a dark secret that the main ingredient for rainbows were young Pegasi. Using a machine that resided in one of the sectioned off, upper areas of the establishment, young fillies were ground into a mixture. This was further used to manufacture the rainbows everypony in Equestria loved to see. According to Cloudsdale culture, when young Pegasi reached a certain age, they would take a flying test of major importance. Everypony knew that those who failed this test would be swiftly banished to a far away land. Success was crucial, so much so that some committed suicide if they weren't sufficiently prepared.

Upon failing, a vehicle would appear, manned by two Pegasi. Anypony who didn't pass their test was loaded on to this vehicle, and never seen again. The factory was able to get away with this for a very long time,  due to a sort of pact made with the Princess of Equestria, Celestia. It was made long ago,  and was a decision that was unavoidable at the time. Following an incident where some fillies managed to escape the factory, the Rainbow Factory's secrets were made public, which quickly resulted in the Factory shutting down until a better, filly-safe solution could be found. Many of the pegasi that worked in the upper section of the Rainbow Factory were fired, though, as they had no control over a pact made several hundreds of years ago, no retribution was exacted upon them. Furthermore, their identities were a mystery, kept confidential from the public. It was rumored that Rainbow Dash managed this section of the plant, but such talk was quickly hushed by the Princess herself, vouching that she had no involvement with the place. Despite actually knowing otherwise, she deliberately covered Rainbow's flank, not wanting the pegasus'  friends to think differently of her.

In recent times, the Factory had been issuing statements that it had found a new material to manufacture rainbows from, and that it was 100% filly-safe, but before being able to release this, the incidents involving Pinkamena occurred. With chaos ensuing all over Equestria, the Factory was abandoned, leaving it an empty plant, wrought with a bit of destruction from invading shukakusha. Since then, jet black storm clouds were roaming freely over the location, roaring loudly above. Never did they rain, but merely cast their lightning across the dark sky.  Between the cloud that the factory sat on and another adjacent one, stood a bridge of white stone. Underneath that bridge was an arc-like design which formed a pattern in the overall style of the structure. The main building was box-like, consisting of the same material as the bridge, and attached to it loomed many other towers, each connected via a system of bridges. One bridge climbed up forming a slight slope before ending at a large opened circular platform. Wrapping 360 degrees around this platform stood columns, all reaching upwards for a good 15 feet before curving into another arc pattern and peaking right underneath a dome roof. 

Two more bridges stretched upwards from this platform as well, leading to a structured covered in clouds. A set of stairs attached to another side of that platform went up to another straight arced bridge. Across that bridge, was another structure much like the open-spaced platform but with walls this time. Several other stairs continued upwards from that building, one climbing up a very wide, and squared pillar whose bottom slanted diagonally towards the earth below. At the top of those steps another building resided, followed by yet another arcing bridge, and on the end of that was more open-spaced platforms. This one in particular didn't have any dome roofs. On top of the columns of this area, was a large sphere that acted as a weather radar. Even further down was a huge funnel shaped exhaust. 

Near the main structure, a set of stairs extending from the cloud surface, led to a half circle platform. Underneath this platform, was an arcing setup of columns evenly spaced and descending from it's bottom. Just a few feet in front of that platform, one could see that a building connected right up to it, without any bridges or stairs. That building's roof was made of clouds, and between the flooring of that cloud roof, there were columns standing, much bigger than any other column in the entire factory. On a normal day rainbows could be seen shooting from atop the clouds circling around the open-spaced platform's dome roof. From out of the exhaust many clouds would be formed too, replenishing the skies. Right now though, none of that happened, it was completely void of the life it once had.

A pink filly, closely followed by two other beings, approached the bridge to the Rainbow Factory. The sound of their footsteps on soft cloud is all that could be heard for the time being. That sound changed when they began walking on the white stone bridge. Lightning crackled across the sky, revealing everything that was in the open. The pink filly could be seen smiling widely. Her eyes mean looking and filled with spite. Along side of her, light exposed a black haired woman, wearing a kimono of the same color, and a pink hedgehog female wearing a red dress. Upon nearing the entrance, the latter of the trailing beings spoke up.

“How is it we are walking on clouds again? I still feel like I am going to fall when I walk on them.” She piped up.

“I explained this many times already, my skeptical hedgehog friend.” The pink filly responded. “This amulet I have, has granted me many powers.” 

“Amy, don't question it, its better we don't pester with such petty inquiries.” The other woman stated. 

“I was just curious, Rukia, that's all. It IS my first time walking on clouds after all. Give me a break, sheesh.” Amy responded, visibly frustrated with Rukia. Amy was the only one to be experiencing something like this for the first time, so she was a bit excited.

“My little henchmen, let's focus on why we are here, okay? We wouldn't want to make Pinkamena mad now, would we?” Pinkamena stopped her head peering over her shoulder to give them a psychotic smile. Her flattened mane covering one of her eyes as she stared at them.

“No pinkamena.....” Amy gulped, avoiding eye contact with her superior.

“My apologies Pinkamena, it won't happen again...” Rukia retained her calm demeanor, in spite of the chill that forced a trembling sensation up her spine.

Turning back to face the Rainbow Factory the pink maned filly began trotting once more. After that close call, Rukia and Amy dared not to make any sort of further chatter. Pinkamena stopped shortly after arriving in front of the main entrance to the establishment. A large lightly blue colored door stood in their way. More thunder roared above them just moments before her hoof pushed against the door, swinging it open. Stepping inside, the three proceeded deeper into the depths of the factory. Through some corridors and up some stairs they traveled, before halting in one particular room. That is when Pinkamena broke the silence she had created a while ago.

“Here. This is where we will begin setting up.” She told them. “Make sure that 'She' is properly secured when you bring her in too. The last thing we want is for her to get loose before the unveiling.”

“Yes Pinkamena, I shall see to it that her bindings are done in accordance with your orders.” Rukia obediently responded.

“As for you Amy, I want you scouting the perimeter. After sending out that little message to Twilight, she should be here any moment.” Pinkamena issued yet another order.

“Understood, Pinkamena! er... Where exactly would the perimeter encompass?” Amy responded.

“My my, you really are pushing buttons today. When I say perimeter, does not the entire site of this factory come to mind?” she replied in a cold and serious manner.

“er.... Y-yes, yes it does Pinkamena. I should have never questioned your orders. I'm sorry, please forgive me.” Amy pleaded.

“You are on your last straw, darling. One more slip up, and you could end up like Experiment RD-01. Oh and how I will enjoy dissecting your body when you do.” She smiled at her, and the very sight sent shivers down the poor hedgehog's spine. “Now, hows' about you get to that perimeter check? Don't dilly-dally or else... hehehehe... *snort*”

“Yes Pinkamena! Right away!”Amy rushed away from the area without a second thought.

Pinkamena was soon left to meditate in her own thoughts. 

“This is going to be great..... Oh Twilight... my bestest friend, I hope you enjoy the show that I have planned for you.... I know I will, and so will She!” As she giggled to herself in the darkness, lightning crackling once more, flashing through a window and illuminating the twisted visage of the filly exploding into a hysterical cackle.

-----------Twilight's Group------------

“Are we ready for this guys?” Twilight called out to Gregory and Fluttershy. 

“Is this spell really gonna do what you say it will?” Gregory inquired.

“I have done it before, don't be a shy little filly!” Twilight stated, shifting a hoof in impatience.

“Ahem, I am a human, you know, not some sort of filly!” He instinctively straightened up defensively.

“It's only a figure of speech...now are you ready to go or not?” Twilight asked him once more.

“Yeah... I'm ready.” He replied, moving in closer to the other two fillies who were holding hooves now.

“How about you Fluttershy? Good to go?” She looked to her friend, meeting her gaze. 

“Yes. Let's go.” Fluttershy softly replied, giving her friend a comforting smile. 

With that Twilight Sparkle started to chant words, and her horn produced a light glow. Following this glow swept ethereal auras, wrapping entirely around the trio's bodies. A whirring sound of some sort steadily got louder and louder the more that she chanted, until.... Whooosh! In a matter of seconds, they were sucked up through a spinning vortex, flying madly through nothingness before flopping haphazardly into clouds. Much like their last teleportation, this one had the same landing as before. With the spell that Gregory had been so concerned about from earlier, he found that his fears were false. Hauling himself on to his feet, he realized the effects of said spell. He could walk on clouds. Magic didn't exist in the human realm, not on this level at the least. Prancing around for a bit, he soon stopped when a perplexed Twilight, and giggling Fluttershy kept staring at him. They had both gotten up to witness his embarrassing display of excitement. Gregory was ashamed of himself for losing a bit of self-control, but once Twilight giggled a bit, he too, let out a chuckle. 

“Fun and games aside...” Twilight began after calming herself. She then turned to face the location that they were bound for. “The Rainbow Factory...”

The roar of the thunder clouds scared Fluttershy, causing her to “Eep!”, and hide under the protection of Twilight. Her friend reached down and nuzzled the frightened yellow filly, trying to comfort her.

“It's okay Fluttershy, we have each other, we will get through this together. Let's do this for Dashie okay?” Twilight's words quelled Fluttershy's incessant shivering, but failed to rest her fears completely.

Gregory looked out towards the factory. How was it that a factory even remained on clouds? This world really puzzled him: talking ponies, magical spells, and a factory built on clouds. Just that would have been enough to make him go crazy, but on top of it all, one of those same talking ponies had gone mad and plunged his own world, and multiple others, into total darkness. Pondering on all of this, he wondered if he too would lose his sanity from being in this situation for too long. Twilight nudged into his arm once she noticed him staring into the distance.

“Gregory? You okay?” She asked him, showing concern for her traveling companion.

“Yeah...just thinking, is all.” He replied to her, returning her worried look with a smile. 

“If you wanna rest before we go, just tell me, and we can stop.” She told him.

“Nah, it's fine, I can keep going on.” He insisted. 

“Alrighty then.” She knew that he was a bit stressed out, but then again, so was she. So was Fluttershy. So she hid her concern, hoping to bring it up at a later time, and hid away her own emotions as best she could. “If that's all settled then, let's make our way across that bridge.”

Twilight pointed a hoof towards a white marble bridge off in the distance. It connected from the cloud they were on all the way to the cloud that the actual factory sat upon. Trotting forwards, Twilight led the way, tailed slowly by an injured Gregory, and lastly by a frightened Fluttershy. She was still clinging on to her cleaver for protection, keeping it close to her side. Her fears were not aided by the fact that jet black clouds congested the sky completely, blocking most of their view. Only the constant lightning guided them, marking their path in a vehement flash. Eventually, Twilight could feel her hooves clopping on to the marble. She let out a sigh of relief, happy to feel hard ground. Despite that, the closer they got to the factory, the more dark and foreboding it became. An aura wrapped the area around it, similar to the aura they experienced when inside the hospital. It was heavy, thick, and within it, a cold hand of fright started to grip their bodies. Whatever was inside waiting for them, was much more sinister than anything they had encountered up to this point. 

“I have a bad feeling about this...” Gregory whispered, shaking as he continued to follow behind the two fillies.

“Same here... it's like my mind is screaming to run away... but my heart keeps telling me to go in...” Twilight replied softly.

Fluttershy was too scared to add anything to the conversation, though she was slowly twitching into her 'shell-like' personality. The closer they got, the more she began heaving and scowling. Twilight and Gregory, albeit disturbed by her two-faced problem, were too distracted by the intimidating factory. Halfway across the bridge, the factory already seemed to tower over them. Not just the main building, but the many opened platform-like towers, and other facilities connected by stairs. It was a solemn maze, and coupled with the dark sky, it seemed bound to lead them right into the jaws of death. The soft clopping of the two fillies hooves trailed through Gregory's head, and melded with his fear. He found himself phasing in and out of reality, terror was rippling through his body like a torrent of frozen daggers. Shivering intensely, he stopped for a second, falling to his knees. That sharpness, as he soon remembered, wasn't just fear. Gripping one of his legs, he was reminded of his previous wound. 

“Aghh... god damn leg...” He sputtered, pissed off that now of all times his leg would start to hurt.

“Are you alright?! Let me see your leg!” Twilight rushed to his side, instantly looking his wound.

“I'm fine...probably just over-worked it a bit.” he responded, trying to reassure the worried filly.

“Are you sure? We should rest for a minute..” She told him.

“No... let's keep going. I don't think it would be safe out here anyways. I will be fine.” he replied, wanting her not to worry about him right now. Finding out whether or not her friend was here is more important... he assured himself.

Getting up on to his legs again, he gritted his teeth at the expected pain. Looking at Twilight, who returned his look with honest concern, he bit his lip walking through the pain. She was speculative about his wound still, but being as he was deciding to soldier it out, she resumed trotting towards the factory. A fowl wind blew against their sides upon reaching the end of the bridge and stepping on to more clouds. The entrance to the rainbow factory was merely a few feet away from them now. Twilight gulped a bit, stopping once more, and looking upwards at the towering structure. When her gaze returned back down to the door, she noticed something peculiar, though she had half-expected it. The door was cracked open a bit, and although many assumptions entered her mind, she could only focus on one: someone else was already here. That horrifying sensation forced her heart into her throat, and though she didn't typically produce theories based on gut feeling, the open door before her was the blatant red flag. 

“Looks like we're not alone here...” Twilight told them, creeping up towards the front door.

“Yes.. The door is cracked open. Not gonna lie.... I'm not too keen on finding out what might be in there...” Gregory admitted, looking from Twilight and then back over to the twitching Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, it's going to be okay. I won't let anything happen to you okay?” Twilight wanted to calm the frightened filly. 

“.....Yeah.... bucking right.... ---- oh  my gosh i'm sorry Twilight.... --- no I'm bucking not.... --- Hey you listen here..... don't talk to my friend like that!....--- hehehehe... shut the buck  up and let me out..... --- I'm so sorry Twilight... I can't seem to make it stay inside...” Fluttershy was locked in a conflict with her own mind, arguing with her other side in a struggle for dominance.

“Just try to focus on not relying on your other side... remember you have friends here.” Twilight reassured her, but the twitching filly was still feuding with her self. 

“Don't worry about it Twilight.... I ---- WILL BE BUCKING --- alright....” Fluttershy switched in and out between the melding sides.

With a sigh Twilight realized she would just have to deal with it. Gregory wasn't much help either, he wasn't a psychiatrist. 

“Let's just move inside. Her shell doesn't seem to want to harm us, so we can rest assured she won't stab us in the back... that is what I am hoping for at the least.” Gregory stated.

“I wouldn't... do such a ----- hehehehe wonderful idea! ---- no!... you won't be harming any of my friends!... --- Spoil sport... just one stab! It will be fun I promise! --- I said no!...” When Fluttershy spoke in that forceful tone of her's, her other side felt a weight being pressed on her. It wasn't enough to keep her down, but a point had been understood now. Fluttershy's friends were off limits. “Tch...whatever... I don't give a flying feather about your friends alright?!... but I'm killing something in this god awful place.... --- I'm sorry Twilight... she just won't go away...”

“Don't worry about it Fluttershy, we are gonna support you through it. Let's move inside for the time being though.” Twilight nuzzled Fluttershy while she was still sane for a good few seconds, and the yellow pegasus returned her nuzzle, seemingly anchored back to reality with the comforting gesture. However, once they separated, her eye twitched ever so briefly. The group then went inside, Twilight's hoof pushing against the already slightly opened metallic door. Upon entering the building, they could see nothing. A wave of blackness blocked their vision completely, and even though the rumbling lightning from outside only illuminated a small section of the room, it merely revealed scattered debris and rubble on the ground. When the entire group had stepped in, a gust of wind pulled the door shut behind them, and a loud noise echoed throughout the facility. A feeling of dread washed over them, knowing that their element of surprise was most likely gone now. Fearing the worst, Fluttershy, Gregory, and Twilight huddled in a corner, silently awaiting for anything to happen. Not a single one of them dared to speak, scared that something was now out there scouting out the area. After a good ten minutes, Twilight decided it was safe to explore. 

“Stay close to my side guys.” She said lighting up her horn with a magically bright aura.

The room lit up a little more so than what the lightning had lit up earlier. Inside were many many large pools, with old batches of liquid in them--one of the many mixing pools that rainbows would be filtered into. These pools were scattered about in even proportions in the center of the room, to the left and right sides, were large machines with many dials and buttons. Judging from the plethora of cobwebs that covered them now, they hadn't been operational for a while. Further along each side of the room was a set of metal stairs, with each step being grated. Both of these stairs came straight up  to a platform, which was also grated. On the back wall, at the same level as this platform, their were doors leading to other areas of the factory. Above the center of the room, connected to the platform was a strip of more grated metal, and upon discovering this, they also realized that their were large, cylindrical, metallic vats, reaching easily to just a few inches below the platform's level. These vats were positioned on the left and right side of the strip above them, and for every two, there were three small pools that circled around them. Upon closer inspection, Twilight saw many pipes, connecting in a multitude of directions. Some connected to the computers, some connected to the larger cylinders, and some pipes even left the room altogether, traveling to some other part of the factory. The sides of the same entrance they had entered in through, contained old fountains, fixed to the wall. The fountain had three level's of basins attached to it, the first basin near the floor being the largest, and the one on top being the smallest. 

Trotting towards one of the pools of liquid, she stopped at it's rim. A bronze metal trimming wrapped around the edge, and inside that pool the faded colors of a rainbow liquid sat still and unmoving. She actually remembered when Rainbow Dash invited her on a tour of the factory. Fond memories passed through her mind, forcing a sheepish yet nostalgic smile onto her face. One particular memory was of Pinkie Pie in this place, she had stuck a hoof into the liquid and tried tasting it. It wasn't the best idea she had that day, though after appearing to be okay, they all shared in a chuckle after it had happened. Lost in her thoughts, Gregory nudged her a bit and she snapped back into the cold harsh reality.

“Are you alright Twilight?” He asked, it now being his turn to have a look of concern on his face. 

“Just... reminiscing...” She replied, trotting slowly towards the computers, looking for any clues.

Gregory thought her voice sounded a bit sad. Perhaps her memories were of happier times, he thought. Though, since he didn't have enough information to bring it up, he kept quiet, not only that, but now wouldn't be the time or place for discussion. Twilight wasn't even putting forth maximum effort in her search, she just seemed lost down memory lane. Fluttershy placed a hoof on her shoulder, and she gave her a friend a relaxing look.

“It's okay. We will find our friends, and help them. Somehow... I know we will, so don't be sad Twilight.” Fluttershy whispered to her, and Twilight smiled in response.

“Thanks Fluttershy.” Twilight hugged her friend, and then lead the way towards the stairs. 

Moving around some rubble, her face began to get more serious. Despite the words of her friend being small and not very bountiful, she still felt a small boost of determination fill her up. Somehow fear was dissolving away, nevertheless, the fact still remained that they were inside a pitch black, rundown facility, with which possibly had some other guests besides themselves. As soon as she readied herself to place a hoof on to the first grated step of the stairs, an echoing sound caused her to take a shuddering step back. Fluttershy and Gregory also had a jump scare of some sort. Huddled behind Twilight, they cowered, listening as the echo of somepony's voice trailed to their location. Twilight and Fluttershy recognized it instantly. The purple pony found herself hesitating now too, how was she to face her friend? She asked herself this question, even though she talked big about bringing her down and stopping her, Twilight was unsure if she could actually do it. It wasn't until a few seconds later, when she realized that only she could do it, that she managed to muster up whatever courage and determination she had left.

She started to move again. Following her every movement closely, Gregory never left his position from behind her. Fluttershy, on the other hand, had succumbed to her shell, and was now under it's protective control right now. The yellow pegasus didn't make any sounds, instead simply tightening her grip around her butcher knife. With each step they took, the rate of their hearts began to rise. They all knew some of what Pinkie was already capable of, and yet there remained so much they didn't know—so much they couldn't know. Pinkie Pie was random, completely spontaneous, and now, a threat beyond words. She was impossible to predict.
When they reached the top of the second floor platform, they scanned the area. Locating two entrances, Twilight consulted with them.

“Which one should we-----” She was interrupted by another shrill echo. 
“Oh TWIIIIILLIIIIGGGHHHT I know you're INNNNNNNN Theeeerrrre!” Pinkie's familiar voice rang from deep within the rainbow factory. 

And left it is.

Twilight's hooves trotting towards the entrance on the left. Following her friend's voice, she slipped into the darkness with the other two. Twilight's fur was starting to tingle, her body covered in a cold sweat. Her breathing was becoming shallow, and her head was pounding. Blood rushed through her like a raging river and her heart pumped wildly. With each step she took down that hall, the colder and more tightly fear's grip held her. A limping Gregory was also suffering this same hysteria, while “Fluttershy” remained entirely unfazed. 

When she opened the door to the hallway, a gas hissed out, thick and suffocating. The hallway was long and plain, having a floor consisting of solid metal plates. Pipping lined the walls in a vertical orientation, and the ceilings had broken light fixtures hanging from them. An aura, filled with horror, swelled by the second. The further they sprinted, the more the gap between them...and whatever was chasing them...began to close. Twilight squinted a bit, straining her magic more to light up the area more clearly. When she did that the door on the other side opened up with a loud sound, forcing them to stop dead in their tracks.

Nothing. Not a single soul was behind the door. 

“God damn it.... I'm going to die of a heart attack before any of these shukakusha do me in...” He stated, frustrated at all the jump scares.

“I know what you mean.” Twilight responded softly, still trying to shake off the sudden shock.

She only managed to begin moving again once her heart rate had dropped some. The others followed her as well. Entering the newly discovered area, they saw that they were in a large room. Twilight took the opportunity to scan the area. Around them were many experimenting tables, and chemical sets. In the back were shelves that contained various things ranging from vials, to books, and even oddities like ponies' skulls and hearts. Rustling could be heard in the distant back as well. Chains rattled around, and a being loudly let it's breath out. She was startled by this. Gulping she stepped to the back, heading to the source of the sound. When she got close enough, somepony's voice suddenly broke the silence of the darkness.

“So glad you could finally join us for our reunion.... Twilight... Fluttershy...” The voice stated with a giggle-snort. 

“Pinkie? Is that you?!” Twilight called out, not being able to locate the voice. Hesitantly, she  moved closer to the back. Her light soon became useless as the room was lit up by the lights above. 
Twilight gasped in shock at what she soon saw. Gregory was even surprised, despite not being that knowledgeable about the ponies of Equestria. Fluttershy's soft side came out, and let out a very shrill and saddened whine. Close to the back center wall, Rainbow Dash's zombified body was chained up. Her flesh was a grayed-out shade of blue, her eyes were black, hollow, and appeared to have dried up blood trailing from them. Her mane was mangled and completely ruined, likewise faded in color. Struggling in her shackles, she growled and let out unintelligible noises. 

What shocked them more than anything though, was Pinkie Pie. She stood right beside  Rainbow Dash, her smile wide on her face, half of which was overshadowed by her straightened mane. Her eyes screamed of sorrow and anguish, juxtaposed to her impossible smile. Occasionally she would giggle-snort, excited to see her old friends. Despite the descent into madness she had taken, she took care of her self. Her fur was groomed, and free of dirt or grime, and aside from her overpowering aura of bloodlust, she looked fine. Twilight knew Pinkie Pie, or at least she thought she did, and yet, now, she couldn't even conjure any words. She was speechless. One among her closest friends was standing right there, and even overpowered by a wave of emotions, her mouth remained silent.

“Whats the matter Twilight? Not even going to say hi? Silly Filly! It's me Pinkamena!” Pinkie stated calmly, unlike her past cheerful self that she knew her friend remembered her by.

“Pinkamena?...” Twilight wondered. “When did you start going by that?...”

“That's my full name! Oh, perhaps you didn't know that. Some friend you are!” Pinkamena replied, having a bi-polar moment. “Though, since this is a reunion, I won't be too cross with you.” 

“Pinkie!” Twilight's mind was throbbing right now, so many things she wanted to say to the filly standing before her right now. “Why?.... Why are you doing this...?”

“Hmm? I have always been like this, Twilight. I'm surprised someone like you didn't realize it. A filly always exuding such never ending amounts of happiness? Didn't that seem odd to you? No? Maybe you aren't as intelligent as I had perceived you to be.” Pinkamena never broke her empty gaze with her friend.

“What?!” That shocked Twilight. Not just the insult, but the very fact that Pinkamena was like this for as long as they had been friends? She couldn't believe that. It just didn't make sense.

“Yes, That is probably hard to swallow, my dear Twilight. It was all an act, just a cloak to hide my real self. Nopony would ever accept the real me anyway.” Pinkamena displayed a briefly glazed look of sadness in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant. She then moved over to Rainbow Dash, and rubbed a hoof close to the zombie pony's cheek. “Thats all in the past now however, right my Dashie?”

Twilight was infuriated by the sight of this. Pushing the other revelation to the side, her mind was now focused on an even more important question.

“Pinkie.... Why did you kill Rainbow Dash....” Asking was hard, she was already on the verge of tears.

“Dashie... Oh Dashie.... My bestest friend Dashie... Why did I kill her you ask?.... I killed her... because I wanted too!” Pinkamena replied, sadistically cackling afterwards. 

“Just... cause you.... wanted to?! Are you mad??! You just said she was your bestest friend, what kind of friend would kill their best friend!!” What Pinkamena said before was the last straw. The strength she had forced before broke down completely as Twilight openly cried for their impossible situation. “How could you kill her?!!! What could possibly make you want to kill your best friend!!!”

“You silly filly, what good will your constant interrogation do? It won't bring her back if that is what you are thinking. Though, perhaps I can humor you for a bit longer.” Pinkamena giggled more. “You see, I had been making cupcakes with many ponies of Ponyville for quite some time, I would just pull a number from a hat, and whoever's number came up, I baked cupcakes with next. Rainbow Dash's number came up, and well, I couldn't make an exception just cause she was my friend. Rules are rules. So I made cupcakes with her, just like all the rest. Still, she was special, and I loved her with all my heart. I designed a method with which to preserve her. What you see before you right now is merely an upgraded method.”

“That... still doesn't explain WHY!” Twilight's voice cracked as she shrieked.

Fluttershy had walked over to Twlight, and was standing beside her now. Backing her friend up, she growled at Pinkamena. 

“HehehehehHAHAHAHAHA.... I don't need a bucking reason... I don't have to explain myself to you. I have no reason and that is all you need to know!!” Pinkamena said the tones of her voice reaching peaks of insanity for just a split second. “Thats enough catching up though.... Rainbow Dash is getting uneasy. She needs some exercise.....” 

Pinkamena's face contorted a smile of the widest variety, eclipsing her previous expression. It pierced Twilight's mind, who was now trembling in fear. It threatened to consume her very soul, and she was already on the verge of breaking down completely.

“Rukia, Amy. Unleash her from her bindings.” She said.

Two people appeared from out of the shadows and approached Rainbow Dash. With keys in hand, they started to unshackle the bound zombie pony. While they did this she started growling uncontrollably. Flesh was nearby, and she was hungry. Trying to snap at Rukia and Amy, she met with failure, as the two were able to undo her bindings, and dodge her at the same time. A powerful thud indicated the pegasus was free. Gazing in the direction of the three intruders, it once again growled. Rainbow Dash may have been their friend before, but right now, she looked like she wouldn't hesitate to kill them if she caught them. Twilight realized this, and suddenly her instincts were catching up to her. She needed to run. They all needed to run. Now!
> The Rainbow Factory Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gregory, Fluttershy... RUN!” Twilight panicked, rushing towards the closest exit she could locate. Gregory and Fluttershy disappeared back down the way they came from. Rainbow Dash roared in triumph after being released and dashed off into the same direction that Gregory and Fluttershy went to. The body that she was using made her footsteps loud, and the way she thrashed around like crazy not only did nothing to reduce that sound either, it also echoed through the riven corridors, forcing to uproot the factory's very foundation.

“Gregory hurry! She's gaining on us!” Fluttershy Yelled, while galloping out of the hallway and into the main room of the factory.

“I'm going as fast as I can!!” He hollered back following shortly after the yellow pegasus. 

Taking a left he headed towards the other entrance that they had found in that room. It led to a large set of spiraling stairs. Both of them darted up them, heading higher up into the factory. Around that staircase, were walls, but this ended shortly the higher they climbed. Eventually the walls ended and they were outside. Behind them, they could hear Rainbow Dash gaining. She was climbing the stairs just now, and if they didn't find a hiding spot soon, she would catch them for sure. Gregory was moving as fast as he could for limping, forcefully ignoring the pain just long enough to live for one more day. Rushing further up the stairs, they found themselves on a platform of some sort, with large columns spaced around the edges. These columns were large enough to hide multiple ponies behind, and that is where the two decided to hide themselves. When Rainbow Dash finally made it up the stairs, she shambled around the open-spaced platform for a little bit before leaving the area. Gregory thought for sure that they would be found and ripped to shreds. 

Fluttershy wanted to fight Rainbow Dash, but as her other side struggled against the very idea of it, all she could do was follow the male human. He found himself leaning on the column, and slowly falling down to his rear. Aside from the fear of that pegasus killing both of them, he also feared the fact that Rukia was here as well. How could they still be alive while being in the same place as so many dangerous monsters? He wanted to run away, to escape it all, the urge to just give up was swelling up inside of him. Hyperventilating a bit, he started having a minor panic attack. He would have lost it, had a hoof not struck him in the jaw. Fluttershy looked pissed.

“Look, I don't like you guys, I couldn't give a shit whether you died here or not, but I'm protecting that wimp inside of this body, and she seems to like you all, so man the buck up and pull yourself together. You are a complete mess. Holy Celestia... I thought humans were suppose to be brave anyways.”

“...” At first he couldn't respond, he was shocked that the filly's hoof hurt so much. “Ow, You didn't have to hit me so hard.

“Like hell I didn't. You were losing it, now stand up. We need to figure out how to take down this raging bucker.” She replied harshly, looking around the column to make sure the coast was clear.

When she saw that nopony was there, she motioned for Gregory to follow her. Twilight had exited to the left of the laboratory, and Pinkamena was watching and giggling at the same time.

“Should we go after her, Pinkamena?” Amy inquired, to which a bored Rukia suddenly piqued up with interest. She wanted to get revenge on that human for escaping her and denying her any sort of entertainment for that evening.

“No. Let Rainbow Dash have some fun, she hasn't been released in a long time.” The pink filly replied. 

The two had disappointed looks on their faces upon hearing her answer, and Rukia returned to being bored. Twilight was galloping,  frantically breathing heavily and looking for some place to hide in. Darting down the hallway she made a left turn and proceeded forwards, until stopping in front of an opened storage room. She didn't even take the chance to look back, she entered the room and closed the door behind her. As soon as she did that she could hear the loud stomping sounds of Dashie's hooves. Twilight stumbled around in the darkness, her body was shaking with fear. Using her hooves to feel around, she soon found an opened cabinet, which could hold her entire body. Climbing inside she shut the door, and seconds later Rainbow Dash entered. She tried to keep her breathing down, but she was panicked beyond control of the rapid rise and fall of her lungs. They pushed out in an almost inhuman manner, as if ready to burst from her chest. Her stalker scanned the room, and with each passing second increasingly aggravated snorts could be heart. On the door that Twilight hid behind were little slits to which she could barely see out of. Despite her eyes adjusting the to the dark, she was still unable to see much of anything, Until Rainbow Dash came close to her hiding spot. Time froze, and she felt like her breathing also came to a halt. Her mind and body were so racked that she should have died of fright long ago. Right in front of her cabinet, a confused and lost Rainbow Dash stood, looking around. It was apparent that her snout wasn't fully functional, otherwise she would have smelt the perspiration of Twilight within that cabinet. Her eyes soon looked at the cabinet that she hid in, and Twilight nearly lost it there. 

“Please go away Dashy.... please.... go away.... go away.... go away....” She thought, already bursting into tears, struggling to remain deathly silent. So much fright, so much panic. Her mind raced.

Just as she was about to give in and pass out, she witnessed her friend leaving the room. Shambling aimlessly down the halls, it began looking in other directions and rooms. Twilight didn't dare to leave her hiding place until she was certain it was safe to make a move. After that she forced a feeble and trembling hoof into the cabinet, pushing it open. When she finally opened the door, she hesitantly exited, head first, shambling clumsily out. Afterward she went over to the opened and slightly damaged door, swiftly closing it. Vision blurred by her tears, she fumbled over the surface of the door, finding and turning a lock on the metal frame. Resting against the door she closed her eyes for a bit, weeping silently, again forcing herself on focusing and meditating for a moment. Opening her eyes again seconds later, she started to investigate the room. Maybe she could setup a trap for Rainbow Dash, she thought. Though what would she do with her? She was dead, and it wouldn't help to just trap her. Whilst caught up in her thoughts, she lit up her horn. Looking through documents, she huffed. Nothing here was of any use, all of these papers only related to the incident that happened month ago in the factory. 

Something then caught her eyes. It glinted from the magical light that her horn produced. Lowering herself she bent over to get a closer look. It was a vial of some sort, and it contained a thick liquid of indiscernible color. A vial wouldn't have been out of the ordinary in a place like this, but what really caught her attention was the labeling on it. It read 'Antidote'. She was getting ideas, albeit definitely farfetched. Stuffing the vial in her tightly strapped pouch she decided to save it for later just in case. After finding nothing else of importance in the room, she trotted over to the door, unlocking it and exiting out of it. She had to find her friends, and tell them of a certain plan she was concocting. 

Back on the platform, Gregory and Fluttershy were slowly moving downstairs. They needed to locate Twilight. Surreptitiously descending the spiral stair case, they entered back into the large room they started in. Rainbow Dash was scuttling about in the lower levels, ravaging some of the computer equipment, she didn't even hear them come in. Higher up, in one of the foyers of the room, Pinkamena and her entourage watched the show in the shadows. The pink filly giggled to herself, smiling as wide as she could. This whole situation was a thriller for her. Seeing her friends struggle and squirm under pressure like this was an ecstasy for her.  Rukia never showed, but she felt the same annoyance that Amy displayed with her own face. The two of them yearned more than anything to partake in the fun that only Rainbow Dash and Pinkamena seemed to be enjoying. It wasn't fair, but they knew better than to complain to her. 

Fluttershy and Gregory made their way to the other entrance.  They crept ever so silently, so as not to bring attention on to themselves. Pinkamena wasn't about to let that happen. She tossed something down towards the two, and sure enough, Rainbow Dash was now heading in their direction to inspect the noise. The two made a run for the other entrance now. Running down the hallway, they rushed to the laboratory, as that was the last place they had seen Twilight before the separation. Looking back, they noticed that Rainbow Dash had just now managed to climb on to the second level flooring. Her vision must have been horrible, because she passed the hallway without noticing the two down on the other end of it. Rainbow Dash continued to sniff out the area until she found the object that Pinkamena had thrown and began attempting to consume it. With much disdain she spat the object out and grumbled a bit, meandering on to a new location to look at. Her frustration was on the rise, and she grunted to indicate such.

Inside the laboratory, Fluttershy and Gregory had taken the chance to take cover behind some lab tables. Gregory winced and almost yelped loudly as he accidentally propped himself on his bad leg to look over the table. Straining through the pain, he got a few seconds of scouting accomplished before falling back off of his leg. He gripped the throbbing pain, and started to do breathing exercises that he had remembered being taught as a little kid. When he was finished he looked back at Fluttershy, and then gave her a thumbs up. The coast was clear for now, and when she realized that both of them snuck out the left side of the lab. Just before they were to exit the room, they bumped into Twilight. Fluttershy and her bumped heads, and the two fell to their flanks. Rubbing their heads, they both said in a synchronized manner, “Ow!”. They had managed not to be too loud in saying it, and as they helped each other up, Twilight started to softly speak.

“I think I found something.....” She began. Pulling the vial out of her bag she showed it to them and then started to speak once more. “I think I have a plan....”

After filling them in on the plan Gregory and Twilight left Fluttershy, she was to bait Rainbow Dash while the other two went to setup the rest of their plan. She trotted down the hallway and went looking for the blue pegasus. Pinkamena saw her exit the entrance of the hallway, and her eyes narrowed, wondering why she looked so confident. Something wasn't right, she could feel it in her gut. 

“Oh Rainbow Dashhhhhhhhh!.... Come out Come out Come out wherever you are! I want to play a little game....” She gripped on to her butcher knife tightly as she said that hearing a thrashing in the distance. From above one of the upper levels of the factory she came. Rumbling down those spiral stairs she made a dramatic entrance into the grated flooring, appearing right in front of the now smirking Fluttershy. 

“There you are. I bet you want this don't you?” She shook her flank at the Pegasus to taunt her, and then she took off running, cackling like a mad-filly. Huffing down towards the lab, she entered, quickly exiting out another way immediately. 

“RgewwhgiuhuihhhhhH!” Rainbow Dash yowled while she chased what she thought was to be her next meal. 

Fluttershy looked behind her to see that her blue friend was starting to gain on her, and this didn't really scare her at all, in fact she wanted to fight her, but she was held back by her true self. 

“Ugh, If only you didn't care so much!” She continued to run while grumbling this to herself.

Rounding the corner of another hallway she could see something on the floor a distance down. It was a chain, and on either sides of the chain, hiding within the shadows were Gregory and Twilight. It seemed they were planning on tripping the bestial Dashy. Sure enough the lumbering Pegasus came down the hallway, still in pursuit of the other yellow pegasus. With no logical perception going on within her mind, she just followed on instinct. Fluttershy chuckled some more, the closer she got to that trap.

Pinkamena had already moved her location to a better spot to spy from, and what she was witnessing was slowly replacing her deadpan expression with a stoic grimace. This wasn't what she was expecting to see. Rainbow Dash was her terrifying zombified minion. She was Twilight and Fluttershy's friend, and this ploy was aimed solely at their hearts, so why weren't they afraid and cowering from her minion? She was puzzled, and upon placing her hoove on her chin,  she began to contemplate all possible reasoning. A trap, is it?

“Now Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled, while she and Gregory pulled the chain upwards so that it was now it was tightly hanging in the air. 

“Heh, It's about damn time!” She said as she crouched her body while still running, and then proceeded to shift her body into a slide under the chain.

Rainbow Dash collided with the chain and though she was strong, the chain was durable enough to hold her frame. Twilight's horn was glowing with it's typical magical aura, indicating that she had to use magic to counter-balance the extra weight that her friend had. 

“Gregory, Let's tie her up! Quickly! Before she recovers from the shock!” Twilight commanded, and Gregory responded simply with quick action, and a “Roger that!”

With the help of Fluttershy, Twilight and Gregory began wrapping the chains around the struggling zombie pony. Luckily for them the length of the chain was long enough that they were able to properly bind her up, they even had an object with which to use as a gag. Sticking it in her mouth, Twilight almost got bit, but managed to get it in after a second attempt. Rainbow Dash growled and roared in protest as best she could, trying to get out of her new prison, but it was all pointless. Pinkamena was now openly frustrated, boiling up by the second. It was the next thing that finally made her snap though. She saw Twilight pull out the vial, with a familiar liquid in it. Both of her subordinates cringed, feeling the aura of anger swirling out of control around their master's frame. This was bad, they knew Pinkamena had an intense wrath, but only heard stories of it. It was bound to be hell for them upon returning. The pink filly then turned face both of them.

“....” Conjuring an amulet from her neck she pressed a hoof into a center gem-stone on it, and opened up a temporary portal. Despite not wanting to return to base considering the state of their boss, they slumped into the portal, Amy first and Rukia second. Once they had all entered, the portal slowly closed up.

Back in the hallway, Twilight felt the magical disturbance in the air. Pushing her snout up, she tried to look for it again, but it was gone. Seems like Pinkamena had made her escape. This disappointed her a bit, but soon she focused back on what really mattered right now. With the Antidote now in hand, she hesitated. Her friend couldn't even move, so time wasn't of essence anymore. She honestly wasn't even sure this was going to work, she just randomly found the vial, after all. 

“Whats the hold up, Twilight? Aren't you going to try it out?” Gregory asked. “I mean, what do you have to lose?”

“I don't want to put all my hopes on this....” Twilight responded. “What if it doesn't work? What if it only makes things worse? So many things we don't even know about the contents other than what is scribed on the bottle.. I just... I don't want to be disappointed... I want Rainbow Dash back more than anything....”

“Yuck, This is too gushy for me... Fluttershy you can come out now.---- Wha... huh? Twilight? Twilight!” Fluttershy found herself free from the clutches of her shell, and once she realized it, she went over to Twilight and grabbed one of her free hooves. “Twilight. It's okay, You have me here to support you. I might be a burden sometimes, but you can count on me to hold your hoof while we go through this together.” She smiled at her friend, and Twilight responded in kind. 

“Well then.... here goes nothing....” Twilight said as she uncapped the vial, revealing the needle tip, and then injected the antidote into the still-struggling Rainbow Dash. She thrashed terribly and then let out a horrendous howl. 

Hunching over and writhing in what was clearly an ungodly amount of pain, she soon collapsed to the floor. Her body looked lifeless. Twilight's ears lowered in disappointment, and the tears quietly rolled across her cheeks. Closing her eyes she turned to her friend, and cried into her shoulder. Even Gregory looked upset, having hoped on this, too. Looking down at the ground he remained silent, mourning the fallen blue pegasus. As Twilight wept, she could eventually feel the tears streaming from Fluttershy's cheeks as well. 

After a few minutes of silence, Twilight pulled from her friend, and began to speak. “Let's get going guys.... we should bring her body too..... for a proper.... burial....”

“That would be best....” Gregory responded, as he picked up the filly's body and carried it.

Walking back the way they had came, all three of them were silent. Not a single word was said for the remainder of that trip. Twilight just knew this was going to happen, the moment that she got her hopes up on the antidote. It was a silly filly's dream to think that they could even bring back the dead. That kind of science/magic was impossible anyway, though she didn't think it really mattered at this point. Trotting down the stairs, Both of the fillies were caught up within their memories, sadness was painted across their faces. They really thought that they would be seeing their friend once again. Now the aura that had filled them with so much dread was replaced with a heavy air of sadness. Stopping when they got to the main factory room, Twilight sat by one of the rainbow mixing pools. 

“It's just not fair....” She whined. “I miss her so much...”

Neither Gregory nor Fluttershy could respond. The purple mare's tears fell into the congealing liquid in the pool. She was soon accompanied by Fluttershy, who sat by her side and comforted her once more. Her heart was hurting, so much that the pain had literally, physically manifested within her. The inside of her head was an emotional wreck, so many thoughts, memories, and feelings mixing together in a whirlwind of chaos. Part of her just wanted to give up there, and run away. The weight of the world had been dropped onto the shoulders of someone who barely knew how to live, and if it wasn't for her friend being right next to her, she might have done that too. She got up again, huffing to herself. Gregory followed behind her, as she made her way outside of the factory. 

“Perhaps we should rest here....” Gregory suggested. “I think we need a small rest before...”

Twilight looked at him, her eyes so deeply interlaced with sadness, her ears down, and her mouth curved in a melancholic frown. He couldn't even finish his sentence, yet despite that, she understood what she meant. Outside of the factory, a marble pavilion was now in sight. The group had decided that it would suit their needs for now, and slumped over to it. Sitting their flanks on the ground, Twilight and Fluttershy watched as Gregory gently laid Rainbow Dash's body in front of the two.

“Oh Dashie... I'm so sorry we couldn't save you....” Twilight apologized to the non-responsive corpse. 

“Rainbow.... We miss you so much.....” Fluttershy cried. 

Gregory sat at the edge of the pavilion nearby. He was keeping watch, while the two mourned. Twilight had nuzzled into the cadaver's cheeks. The tears were still streaming, and showed no signs of stopping. Above them the storm clouds rumbled on, not paying them any heed. Fluttershy, who was still a scared filly when it came to the storms, nuzzled into Twilight, half for protection, and half because she needed the comfort.

While they were close to one another, and had their eyes closed, something began to rustle. Gregory looked behind him and couldn't even believe what he was seeing. Assuming that danger was upon them once more, he took a defensive stance. Slowly the ponies opened their eyes, and witnessed something that dried their tears nearly instantaneously.

“Ughhhh.... my head... it hurts....” A voice said.

“No way...” Gregory gaped, not believing it one bit.

Struggling to sit up, a grumbling Rainbow Dash appeared to be coming back to life. An aura that was very light and transparent was wrapping around her body, and giving it a thorough repair. Her rended flesh, torn sinew and shattered bones, were all regenerating at an increasing speed. It was like an act of Celestia. Both ponies and Gregory looked baffled; the antidote had finally taken effect. A smile stretched across the mares, and after realizing what was happening, their tears returned, but they were now those of happiness. As the light started to fade, Rainbow Dash's colors were returning to her, as vibrant as they were before she was murdered. Her wings were just as strong and powerful as before, and her eyes, orbs filled with the passion of adventure, shined once again.

“Cough, hack, sputter! Ugh.... I feel like my head is about to explode..... Where am I?....” She spoke, her vision still a bit hazy.

“Rainbow Dash? Is that you? Is it REALLY you?” Twilight asked shaking from jubilee.

“Uhhh.... yeah? Who do I look like Twilight, Spike?” She responded sarcastically.

“Oh Rainbow Dash.... I... I.... We..... we missed you so much.....” Fluttershy couldn't hold her crying back, and wailed into the blue pegasus's chest.

“What do you mean Fluttershy? I've been here haven't I?” She questioned, looking at her friend weirdly.

“Dash.... you have been dead for the past year and a half.....” Twilight said with a straight face.

“What?! Bwahahahahahahaha, that's ridiculous, Twilight. How could I be dead? Me die? That's crazy talk.” Rainbow Dash responded, though once she met eyes with Twilight, she felt that her friend wasn't playing around. “Twilight, I couldn't have died....could I...?”

“It's Pinkie Pie....” Twilight said her friend's name, and suddenly Rainbow Dash had very VERY bad memories. Her face contorted in fear, and instantly she curled up by herself away from the others, as if a traumatic event was taking place within her mind that scared her very much.

“Cupcakes.... No.... I don't want to bake...cupcakes...Pinkie.... No... PLEASE NO!” Rainbow Dash was brought back to her senses by the soft hooves of her friends' pressing into her frame gently. “Why, Twilight...? Why did she do it?.... Weren't we friends....?”

“She's gone off the deep end..... We have to stop her.... and though it may be just a hunch.... I think she might actually be in need of help.” Twilight stated.

“WHAT?! Help that PSYCHOPONY? Are you INSANE?” Rainbow Dash was furious at the very idea of helping her killer. 

“Rainbow, I know you are upset, but...” Twilight continued.

“Gee, You THINK?!” She hovered in air right now, fuming mad. Her hooves were crossed as well.

“But... I think she might be suffering from some illness... The real Pinkie wouldn't do something like this... It's completely a polar opposite.” Twilight said.

“If that was the case, then WHY didn't anypony catch it early on?” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“Nobody knew... We all thought she just had her major moment of depression after she thought we were avoiding her while trying to setup a surprise party for her.” Twilight said. “Apparently she held back some of that depression and it must have remained dormant in her head for a long while until it finally started to grow... Though that's just a theory...it's the best I can come up with, at least.”

“Twilight, I am still really sour about this. Absolutely bucking pissed like no other.” Rainbow told her. “And I don't agree with even a small bit of what you are saying, that mare is as good as dead to me, but you're my friend, and I am going to help you stop her. Once that is over, I don't want anything to do with her.”

“And if what I am saying is true? You'd HAVE to forgive her then! For the sake of friendship!” Twilight stated.

“Do you know what it's like, Twilight?” She glared coldly at her friend. “To be tortured to death, dissected and have all your organs removed? That's not something I'm about to forgive, so for the love of Celestia, you'd better HOPE and PRAY that wasn't really Pinkie.” Rainbow coldy replied. 

No matter how Twilight approached it right now, she knew it wasn't going to be solved through a simple exchange of words. Satisfied with the somewhat better response of Dash's though, she let out a sigh of relief.  It was a start. She then smiled realizing that instead of his arguing with her friend, she should be thankful Rainbow Dash was now alive. The details could be sorted out later.

Trotting slowly over to the flying Pegasus, she soon stopped. Looking up at her, she got on her hind legs, and reached out two hooves. The lavender pony motioning for her to come embrace her. Rainbow Dash quickly pushed aside her anger, to drop down from the sky and hug her friend. Fluttershy had managed to make it over to the two as well, reaching her hooves around the both of them and joining in the group's emotional circle. Gregory smiled, his heart was warmed by the sight. After a few minutes, the group parted from each other, and Twilight began to speak again.

“When we have rested up enough, we have to try and get into contact with the ninja again. It is crucial that we find them and bring them here.” Twilight stated.

“I have been meaning to ask, I know you found those ninja randomly, but what is so special about them that we need them to accomplish the mission?” Gregory inquired.

“The land that they hail from is full of many powerful ninja, all who know techniques that may even surpass much of the magic that resides in Equestria, they could benefit us greatly. That is why I tried to seek as many of them as I could possibly find.” She replied to him.

“That makes sense, wait what kind of techniques do they possess?” Gregory was a bit curious about this. “I have heard of ninjas in my world, but nothing on special skills.”

“Its a bit hard to explain, even I don't understand it fully, but the best way I could describe it is an energy that every human possess, and by focusing on that element, they can perform many different abilities.” Twilight explained.

“Oh yeah? I bet they can't fly. Everyone knows that humans don't have wings.” Rainbow Dash boasted while showing off her tricks in the air. 

“From what I have heard some of them have very unique sets of skills that can enable them to fly, though not many of their kind can do it.” Twilight responded to her cocky friend.

“What? I wanna meet them then. After this horse-apple storm is over, that is.” Rainbow Dash was quick to react to this. Of course she would act in such a manner, she was competitive afterall. 

“If there is anything left of this world that is....” Twilight was very morbid in her statement, but who could blame her? The world didn't seem like it would be gaining its happiness and sunshines back anytime soon. Rainbow Dash kinda frowned a bit, she just came back to life, so she couldn't fully understand the situation they were in, not yet at least.

“Cheer up, Twilight. This isn't the end, we will make sure of it.” Gregory attempted to raise her spirits, which oddly enough, worked. She returned his comment with a smile. 

“You're right, Gregory. Though, for now, we need to get into contact and see how our ninja allies are doing.” She told them, while pulling that familiar orb out of her pouch. Holding it in her hoof, she carefully shook it to try and get a signal. 

The others in the group huddled around it, waiting for a response to be patched through. It gave them static for a bit, but eventually a voice could be heard, cutting in and out. It was Kakashi's, and he seemed to be in a conflict at the moment, his breath notably fast and rapid. The visual they got was a combat scene, that was soon ended by one of Kakashi's lightning blades.

“Sorry about that.... we ran into some.... trouble.” Kakashi replied.

“See Gregory? Didn't I tell you?” Twilight smiled while boasting to her companion.

“Well I'll be.... You weren't kidding.” He replied.

She giggled a bit before returning focus to the situation at hand. “Kakashi, can we get a status update?”

> The Snake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Ouch! Ow! Yeow! Damned Thorns! How dare you try to scathe my body!” A filly cried out into the darkness. Not able to see where she was going or even where exactly she was she meandered delicately around. Despite her best efforts, she found herself trapped within the inner workings of a thorn bush.

“This is the absolute worst possible thing EVER!” She called out dramatically, while huffing to herself. She didn't like this at all. “All these disgusting shrubs and plants, one such as myself shouldn't have to be troubled by it! Hmph!” 

Moments later she stumbled on out of the tangling web of tormenting vegetation. Only to find herself in the middle of a large grouping of trees. A number of bushes sat planted among the trees, and many other plants. She couldn't see, her vision nearly blinded by darkness had the moon not been illuminating the ground through some of the foliage from above. A small puddle of water reflected this light, and she darted over to it to investigate her mane. It was hard to tell considering it was still dark, the moon was only able to show that she was a mess. Her mane was covered in branches and stickers from the many bushes in the area, her white coat was dirtied, in need of a thorough washing, and on top of it all, but she could tell just with a sniff that she reeked of perspiration and otherwise.

Whining loudly, she stomped her hooves into the ground, clearly frustrated by this. I can't stand to be dirty! She thought to herself. But that was just an excuse to forget her real troubles—not even a day ago, terrible events had shaken the very foundation of everything she believed to be true. Betrayal, violence, fear...she could cope with none of it. And now, here she was, a stranger in a strange land, still unable to come to grips with the reality, instead preoccupying herself with petty and superficial things.

Too saddened by her current appearance and those other, unpleasant things...she didn't even  hear the rustling in some nearby bushes. A man with long black hair, stepped out into the clearing. His skin was extremely pale, not that anyone could tell in the darkness, and he wore a set of Grey garbs, and black pants. Around his waist was a large purple rope that was tied into a large knot in the back. Dangling from his ears were a pair of tomoe earrings, dimly glinting in the moonlight. Eyeballing the mare, he approached her surreptitiously, not making a single sound. A devious smile appeared across his features as though concocting a divine prank within his mind. His snake like eyes were fixed upon her, like a predator stalking prey.

“How could this happen! My beauty is completely ruined! The only thing I had left in this universe, and now even THAT is gone! I give up.... Its hopeless...” She cried, whimpering as she slumped to all fours, not even caring that she was now laying in dirt.

“My, my....you poor thing...lost and alone—that just simply will not do! Not for someone of your beauty.” The male said, a inhumanly long tongue slithered on out of his mouth and tasted his lips after he had spoken. When the mare had turned to face this new voice his tongue was already nestled safely back from whence it came.

“W-who are you?! Where did you come from??? Don't you dare—wait, did you just  complement my beauty?” She questioned the mysterious individual now standing before her.

“Why yes, I did.” His eyes narrowed while maintaining that nerve-racking smile, though the mare didn't even notice, too focused on the fact that someone recognized her obvious beauty.

“I am dazzling, so it is to be suspected that you would feel the desire to complement me.” She subconsciously lifted a hoof to adjust her hair for a moment before her face fell. “Though in the state I am in right now, I would hardly call it beauty.”

“You poor thing...perhaps we should get that fixed then?” He extended an open hand, palm towards the sky. “I have a little hideout we can retreat to where you can tend to that divine appearance of yours.” He chuckled deeply.

“Well, I don't know, I guess it wouldn't hurt, it MUST be better than this dreary old forest. Yes, I think I will go with you, anything to get away from here. I can't stand to be here another minute!” She said with a firm stomp of her hoof. 

“Very well then, follow me, and follow closely, my dear, this place can be very dangerous at night.” He said just before the howl of a distant wolf echoed through the woods. This made the mare cringe in slight fear and motivated her to follow the man who was now disappearing into some shrubbery.

The two passed by plenty of trees, more so than the young mare wanted to see in a lifetime. Trotting on by some swamp water, through some vine-ridden caves, and across some deep trenches, they finally arrived at a large rock wall. This wall was under a large overhanging cliff, which was overshadowed by a tremendous mountain. The male's fingers began to glow and soon he pressed all of those fingers against the side of the wall. Upon doing so, the area shook vehemently, and in response to the surprise movement, the mare shrieked a bit. Once she regained her balance and the shaking had stopped she realized what had happened. Before her was a large doorway, a slab of the wall had moved to the right, exposing this entrance. With a snap of his fingers, the male did what the mare could only assume was a form of magic that she didn't know. All along the sides of a tunnel further down the entrance, torches lit up. He then turned to face her.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Lets go inside.” He said while directing a hand towards the tunnel.

She trotted forwards, hesitantly at first, but as soon as she was able to convince herself no harm would come, she relaxed and went at a normal pace. The male followed her shortly, speeding up just a tad bit so he could lead her through the endless hall. Quietly they walked for what seemed like hours, that is until the male stopped in front of a wooden door. He gently pushed it open, revealing a large, luxurious chamber—one that was only fit for a queen. 

The mare's eyes lit up with excitement at the sight.

“There is a washroom connected to this room as well, feel free to pamper yourself, and make yourself at home. I will have a meal ready as well.” The man said to her, watching as she darted into the room and hopped on to the bed, snuggling up to a pillow.

“How can I ever repay you?! This is just sooo much!” She stated a bit taken back by the kind gestures of this stranger.

“No need to worry about that my dear....” He responded with a chuckle before closing the door and departing from the area.

“I guess I shouldn't question his kindness, he seems nice, besides, one such as myself deserves first-class treatment like this!” She told herself, while climbing off of the bed. After having a gander at the room's contents, she made her way to the bathroom to clean herself up. A quick glance into the mirror again forced her thoughts to the darkening skies and burning landscape of her homeland. She stared coolly, trying to force the memories from her mind, until only the reflection of her filthy mane remained, obscuring her despondent gaze. “...well, off to the wash, then.” Without skipping a beat, she returned to her usual cultured self and removed the mirror from her sight.

In a darkened room somewhere nearby, the male had entered. Crates lined the walls all around him, and were covered by clothes, tools, trinkets and all manner of supplies. On one wall sat a large shelf that contained many scrolls, and further to the left of that was two large tubes that contained some sort of being. Inside of a bucket near that tube were rotting entrails, which gave the room its putrid odor. He walked over to a bucket of scrolls and began to pull out one in particular. Pulling out a cloth from his pocket, he started to clean off what was on it. Dried blood caked the sides of the item, but he easily removed it from the soft surface. Unrolling the parchment revealed a graph of unusual markings in a circular pattern, carrying out the design out in eight directions. 

“Perhaps now I can finally put this one to use....” He let out a chilling, broken laugh, starkly contrasting with his previously warm, playful one he had shown to his newest 'guest.' “Oh, bother.... I must prepare something or else my guest will get restless.” he stated before pocketing the object, and rushing out of the room.

At that time the mare had just climbed out of the bath, and was drying herself off. Using her magic she was taking several items and using them to beauty herself up. A brush floated in mid-air with a magic aura wrapping all around it. It carefully went through the mare's purple mane. On her backside was a towel, the same magic aura wrapped around it too, moving it against the mare's frame, drying water off. She hummed a tune to herself while she did this. After a few minutes she finally left the bathroom and returned to the bedroom. Walking over to one of the desk mirrors in the room, she looked at her reflection, a smiling white mare returned her smile. 

“You are the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria, aren't you?!” She complemented herself just before being interrupted by a knock on the door. 

“Dinner is ready, and shall be served in a few minutes.” The man from earlier said to her.

“Absolutely wonderful!” She replied, opening the door and greeting the male with the same smile she gave herself just moments ago.

“Right this way my dear.” the man said, walking down the hallway.

The male took her straight down the corridor until he turned to the right. Going up a set of stairs, the mare soon found that they were in another corridor, but this one was a bit shorter than the one from before. It only had one door as well. Walking towards this door, the male opened it up, and  she could see a large dinning table inside. She trotted towards the only part of the table that had food set out and waited. It was proper to wait for the host after all. 

The shady man, never removing his eyes from the mare, sauntered over to the seat directly across and seated himself. Holding up a pair of chopsticks beside the setting with both hands clasped together, he signaled Rarity to begin her meal as he uttered foreign words of welcome. Rarity watched blankly as he broke the strange tool in twain, glancing back to her own in contemplation as to whether or not it would be polite to even attempt what—due to the distinct lack of opposable thumbs—would undoubtedly be an awkward attempt at cross-cultural etiquette.

She vouched to ignore it, instead levitating a slice of...something...and timidly sniffing at it before setting it back down to investigate another mysteriously fragrant edible. Two eyes across the table raised curiously as a small force field engulfed the treats.

“What ever is the matter?” The man, never releasing his affable grin, lowered the bowl he had been engaged in. “Is it not to your liking.”

“Oh dear, no, darling, it's not that.” Rarity held up a foreleg to her chin. “The presentation is simply fabulous, and the fragrance is marvelous. It's just that...I'm not quite sure what this IS. Is that a...a fish?” 

“I see, no meats, for you?” 

“I'm terribly sorry if this is an inconvenience.” She glanced off, attempting to ignore any possible offense. The poor excuse for the conversation they were having in and of itself was just a diversion from all the troubles already on her mind. Silence prevailed for several agonizing minutes as she attempted to enjoy the offer in front of her, before she realized she wasn't even hungry. This was nothing more than an attempt to recreate a life of comfort and avoid the real issues at hand.

Reduced to prodding at her food, she broke the silence at last.
“Um...beg your pardon, I GREATLY appreciate all the hospitality you've shown me, but I must ask.” She sat upright in her chair, struggling to find a comfortable position in furniture designed for bipeds. She had no luck.
“I...seem to have been separated from my friends, you see—and we've run into a spot of trouble. I'm dreadfully sorry to ask anything more of you, but I simply must return to them somehow.”

Maybe it was just her imagination, but the illusive man's grin briefly extended with the utmost subtlety. 

“Hm...” he cooed, appearing to consider this for a moment. “Well, I would be surprised if you hadn't asked of this.” Setting down his wares, he gently lifted a thumb to his chin. “I hadn't planned on pushing the subject, but I was curious myself. After all, nothing I've ever seen could compare to a brilliant specimen such as yourself.”

“Oh-hoho...flattery will get you EVERYWHERE, darling~” The beauty queen gingerly lifted a hoof to adjust her mane.

“That notwithstanding, I must ask...exactly where did you come from, little one?”

“Why, Equestria, of course!” though all smiles, she was curious that her host hadn't realized.  Then again, by 'specimen,' did he mean to say he'd never seen a pony before?

“I'm afraid I've never heard of that place before.” He lowered his hands, folding them on the table in front of him. “Are all of your people as dashing as you are?”

“Oh Celestia, you're making me blush!” She held a dramatic hoof in front of her mouth, turning from the host. “I am simply the most marvelous there is! But I must admit, I...” she trailed off for a moment, recalling pure chaos—the screams and cries of the masses, those horribly, twisted...what used to be ponies...and then,

Blood. Lots and lots of blood—and then flashing lights. And then... “I awoke in that forest outside, and that's the last thing I remember. I think that I...”

“I see.” The man mused in confirmation. His eyes darted to the side, as if remembering something important. “I believe, my dear...that you may possibly be from another world.” For a split second his eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth rose before falling back into place. “That magnificent form, and those curious powers—unlike any Jutsu I've ever heard of—are undescribed in this world.”

“Another world...?” Jutsu?

“You see, dear...this world is experiencing some trouble as well, as of late.”

“I beg your pardon, but this is all so sudden—I'm not sure I'm ready to accept that I'm...well...”

“Let's start from the beginning. You said that your world was in dire circumstances, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Would that, by any chance...entail an unusual plague that turns all of its victims into mindless, violent beasts?”

The mare was at a loss for words. Wide eyed, she stared at her host, new questions rushing through her mind. How far had the infection spread already? To other worlds? How did this man know about it? Was he connected? He couldn't be—this hole in the ground he called a home was devoid of any other life besides the two of them, implying he was hiding from the chaos outside. 
“I...I don't know what to say.”

“You see, many of my comrades have already fallen to this plague. And...” He glanced upwards, undoubtedly towards the surface. “I would take caution in showing optimism. I alone have not been enough to stave off the forces that be.” 

“'stave them off,' sir?” The mare's eyes filled with worry. “Are you...can you use magic?”

Her host smiled brightly. “Is that what you call it? I suppose I can.”

“I see...then, what you said earlier, this 'joosue,' is what you call Magic.” She lowered her eyes, immediately thinking back to her friend, Twilight Sparkle. She would know what to do...she would surely know some spell to make everything better. 
If only I could have helped...but here I am helpless, lost, and without a clue where to go or what to do. Oh but such things are CERTAINLY unfit for a lady of my standing.

“Yes. And I must say, I've never seen one such as yours which can control matter with such dexterity.” Again he lifted a thumb to his chin in contemplation.

“Well I AM certainly talented, after all~” She stopped herself before she moved on again. There was no time for distractions. “But those talents will go to waste unless I can get back to my friends and help fix this problem! And after that, I'm sure I can convince them to send help to this world....or nation, what have you...as well!”

The host took note that she was beginning to accept that this world was entirely separate from her own. “Do you mean to tell me, my dear, that you are incapable of returning to your own world? With such beautiful power?” 

The fashion freak was taken aback. Intentional or not, it was the first left-handed compliment her host had dealt this entire time. Though to her, it only served to further drive home the point of her own incompetence. Her friends needed her, and she was helpless. Unicorns were the only sub-race of Equestria capable of using magic, and yet she, like many others, had taken that for granted. “Yes...yes, I suppose I am incapable.”

“That...is most unfortunate.” The man stood up and pushed the chair back into place, now strolling over to a wall directly opposite the door through which they had entered. Quickly glancing back at the mare, he noticed helplessness—despair. And what a sweet sight it was, her eyes lowered and dejected, staring at the food she had been offered. His grin widened significantly, and he had to adjust himself before turning back to his newest guest to extend a hand. “I think...that we may be able to help one another.”

The mare immediately perked up, throwing herself off her chair at the opportunity. “Yes??”

“I'd like you to come with me for a moment. There's something I believe you need to see.” He held his posture, hand still extended for several moments before the mare cautiously accepted it, and the two again walked off, venturing into the tunnels that laced the inside of the cave.

Following more torch lit paths and mysteriously adorned chambers, they ascended ever higher, until the host and the vain quadruped reached an opening on what appeared to be the top of a considerably sized mound.

“Over there.” He extended a finger off in the distance, causing a glance from the mare. She followed his arm, his finger, and turned her gaze to what he was pointing at. Her eyes widened and her jaw lay agape at what lay before her.

From within the forest, all seemed quiet—albeit spooky—and relatively peaceful. But from above, she could see the distant glow of fires and the rising columns of smoke emitting from the sources of the copious destruction. “I...I can't believe...!” the mare incredulously shook her head, unable to accept the events in front of her. It was just like Equestria. No...worse than she had seen, at least. 

“Unfortunately, it's quite true.” He replied darkly. “As I've said, I can't fix this problem without allies. And with the state of affairs in this world, finding capable or willing friends has become quite impossible.”

The mare thought for a moment, lifting a hoof to her chin in introspection. Maybe she could be of some use after all? Oh, but that would be a very messy affair, wouldn't it? A very dirty, smelly, unpleasant matter, indeed.

She was immediately jarred from her thoughts as an inhuman howl tore through the air. That horrid shout shook her to her very soul as she unconsciously stepped back to hide behind her host, who seemed completely unshaken.
“Here they come...” he mused, almost melodically. He merely glanced backwards towards the mare: “I recommend you stand back for a moment. There is only one approaching, but even individually they can be quite....tenacious.”

Her eyes widened. Simply nodding, she stepped back for a moment. At any other time in her life, she would have insisted she stand her ground next to her friends—messy or not—and face the problem side to side. Then again...back home, they had never been forced to deal with something so horrifying.

At that instant, she saw it. A grotesque figure stepped close enough to her host that the very edge of the torch light outlined his....(its?) features grimly. The creatures eyes were missing, hinting a small trail of dry blood caked on the side of its face. It's jaw was unhinged and the rest of its visible flesh underneath all the torn clothes and apparent wounds were rotting, hiding miscellaneous spots of either metallic or mineral deposits scattered throughout the riven body. Unnatural claws adorned its hands, with fresh blood and organs still stuck on some of the tips.

A Harvester.

Letting out another deafening howl, it leaped towards the illusive man, raising a gnarled claw, ready to bring it down through his flesh. Before it had a chance to fall, however, the man simply raised a hand, releasing a violent flurry of rather large snakes to slam into the aggressive creature. It roared weakly as it was overwhelmed by the assortment of serpents, which, after leaving the host's arm, proceeded to bite, strangle, and ultimately tear apart the aggressor.

The mare, horrified, fought hard to force herself to move back from the scene. Unable to tear her eyes away, she felt her innocent spirit breaking, little by little. This is what Pinkie did to Rainbow, isn't it? The thought was too much for her to bear, and she collapsed right there on the ground as she accepted the full scale of the reality she was being forced to accept. Wrapping her hooves around her eyes, she wept silently. Why had this man wanted her to see this? Was it some sick joke? Or was it to force her to wake up to the world around her?

She calmed down slightly when she felt his hand on the back of her mane. Gently smiling, he softly let out a few words of encouragement.
“I see you're a gentle spirit. That's good...but do you now see what I am forced to do?”

Staring up at him, she tried to speak, but merely choked on her own words. Instead, she turned her gaze in the direction of the corpse as the snakes left, but her head was turned back by her host's strong but gentle grasp.
“Don't look at that...you must take time to accept this if you are to survive this catastrophe...if you are to help your friends.”

Those words shook her to the core, inspiring a small flicker of whatever strength was left in her slipping mind. Friends...if anything, they were worth fighting for. THEY were worth this misery, weren't they? She nodded weakly, attempting to stand, but found that her legs were still shaking too violently to move. It was a miracle she could even breathe, but the illusive man helped her to her feet, keeping a hand on the back of her neck for support.
“You have a hidden power buried somewhere within you, and if you can tap into that power, we can find a way for you to return home and save your world.”

The mare sniffed, struggling not to look back at the horror at her back. “Oh, but...” voice shaking, she shook her head. “There's simply—no way. I can't...it's just not in me! I've always been...*sniff* the dainty, beauty...beautiful one. I've never been able to do anything like that!”

“On the contrary, my darling...” he continued leading her down the dimly lit corridors. “I think that power, in and of itself, is QUITE beautiful. As a matter of fact, profound beauty is often the first indicator of profound power.” He removed his hand from her, allowing his guest to take in what he had just said.

It's true, after all, she thought to herself. Being a unicorn, she WAS able to use magic, the scope of which she was unfamiliar with. After all, if she could get her hands on such an exotic magic such as this “Jutsu” her host had referenced...she was surprised to find that the thought excited her on some level, and chose to hold onto that feeling. If anything, it would distract her from the grisly scene she had just witnessed.

It wasn't so much a question of power itself—but the prestige....oh, the prestige!

She attempted to regain her composure enough to walk at a regular pace. “I'm sorry, sir, but...*sniff* I don't believe we've been formally introduced. You may...” She took a deep breath, still shaking from the experience. “...you may call me Rarity.” She uttered her own name as a queen would announce herself—regal, dramatic, and with dignity. Rarity then aimed a hoof at the man towering above her. “So how should I refer to my stunning new friend?”

He smiled warmly, angling the torch that it cast a shadow over half of his face. “I, my dear...am called Orochimaru.”

“Oh my, that's um...*sniff* quite an exotic name, I must say.” She giggled gently, attempting to hide her questionable response to the sound of his name. Honestly, she felt it sounded a little more sinister than she was expecting.
Luckily, the steady stream of tears—while slowed—were able to hide her disdain for such a complex sounding name.

Orochimaru put himself on one knee, lowering himself to her level so he could wipe the tears from her eyes. Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, he encouraged his 'friend.'
“Please don't cry. It's unbecoming of one so beautiful.”
> Melancholy Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



“We're closing in on the item you were talking about, but countless harvesters seem bent on impeding us.” Kakashi stated in reply to the lavender-colored pony's question. “Shouldn't be more than a few hours until we safely secure it.”

“Actually, Kakashi, maybe we should look for the item together? I mean, if memory serves correctly, the artifact we're looking for might have powerful magic tainting it,” she stated. “I'm embarrassed I forgot to tell you something as important as that...but it shouldn't be to great a concern. I'll just teleport over there right now.”

Gregory watched as his companion, Twilight Sparkle, started to perform her spell. Light flickered around the tip of her horn—and just as it seemed to successfully cast, the light surrounding her fizzled. Twilight stared blankly back at Gregory, and promptly attempted the spell one more time. Kakashi's eyes lit up when he saw her magic, as if oddly familiar. Lifting up his headband and exposing his Sharingan, he analyzed the spell.

“What the hay! I have enough magic stored up, why isn't it working?” She huffed in frustration, unable to comprehend her dilemma. 

“Your magic...it reminds me of something strange and foreign I noticed here in our world. Can you try that spell again? I'd like to see it once more.” Kakashi asked, curiously watching through the orb.

“Okay....” Twilight wasn't sure what good this would accomplish, but agreed to do the spell again. Her horn flickered, yielding the same result as her previous attempts.

“Just as I suspected.” Kakashi replied as he lowered his headband back over his Sharingan. “Twilight, what can you tell me about the extent of your magic?”

“Why the sudden curiosity?” She asked quizzically. “I'm not certain how that would help our situation.”

“Just answer the question, please. I'll explain when you do.” Kakashi calmly answered.

“Well then, let's see...the versatility of a unicorn's magic is directly related to their sum total of innate magic power. It can be low leveled magic like changing size and volume, using levitation, or it can be extremely high leveled magic. Some in our land are even known to have power over the moon and sun, and rumor has it that one magician even created a spell that can change anypony's fate.” She inhaled deeply before continuing her brief lecture. Gregory raised an eyebrow, noting how excited she was to be able to share her knowledge—even stranger was how scientific she made it sound, in spite of being magic.
“It is all relative to the unicorn as an individual—whether their talents are powerful or weak usually falls under this factor. There are special cases, such as natural talent or artifacts that bolster one's own talents. Someponies have acquired power through means too horrid to describe.”

“I see. I have another question, regarding this high-leveled magic,” he inquired once again. “Is it possible for...let's say gateways...bearing the same magical properties as that of Unicorn magic to extend beyond just one world? Or even into another timeline or universe?”

Twilight shuffled a hoof nervously. Vortexes? Of course I know about vortexes. But to cross over into another world...another timeline? That is extremely complicated magic, and even I have trouble with it, She thought. 
“Well, I guess it isn't...unheard of, but...until recently it hadn't even occurred to me that there could BE other worlds. Coming up with the formula for this method of travel was difficult enough, and you can't just perform that kind of magic on a whim; its a very complex and ritualistic form of ancient unicorn magic. It's a lost magic that I only just rediscovered, and those who would know of it would undoubtedly find it hard to master anyways.” Twilight lowered her head slightly, brows furrowed in anxiety.

Instead of placing Equestrian history in question, Kakashi decided he would inquire later. He glanced at Gregory, who was obviously curious as well. 
“There's something else. Looking at your group here, I noticed not all of you are unicorns, and you keep specifying 'unicorn magic.' Does that imply it's possible for your other 'ethnicities' to use magic?”

Twilight thought for a minute on this. She'd been told that since the horn was the conduit for translating magic formulas into the real world, only Unicorns and Alicorns could use it. 
There's just no way...right? The only Alicorns I know would NEVER be involved in this. And if that's the case, could that mean that a Pegasus or Earth Pony got a hold of some kind of artifact?
“Well, there are also Alicorns, but there are none of those with us.”

“In that case, whoever made the ones in our dimension must be some powerful unicorn then.” The tone in the Jonin's voice told them he wasn't completely buying her explanation. “If you aren't sure I fear that the worst has yet to rear it's ugly head.”

“Are you sure their properties match up? How did you even analyze them?” A small ounce of panic followed the sound of her voice. “It can't be possible, that level of magic can't possibly be in play here...we need to group up immediately... going around in separate units is bad now, more than it ever was.”

This is bad, this is bad, this IS bad! Twilight thought to herself, rapidly shifting her hooves as she continued her conversation with Kakashi. How could SHE get out, the Princess always warned me about her, but I thought it was an old mare's tale...okay, get it together Twilight, lets not jump to conclusions here! The mare's head was swirling with thoughts, and it wasn't till Kakashi's voice called her name out a couple of times that she snapped back to reality.

“Twilight! Are you feeling alright?” He asked, shifting uneasily while witnessing the mare practically have a panic attack.

“I...I'm fine...it's just that I'm kinda stressed out, that's all.” She replied, smiling weakly to attempt making her statement sound as convincing as possible. “How... how will we know if these 'vortexes' even work?”

Kakashi's face remained stoic. She's hiding something...
“I thought that out ahead of time, and I have decided that a member of our team will check it out. He willingly volunteered too.” Kakashi told her. The crow's feet around his eyes implied a warm smile, assuring Twilight that all hope was not yet lost. “Two of our own should be heading to one of the vortexes as of right now. If I'm not mistaken, the vortex they seek seems to be linked to a rather dark and cloudy place.”

“Big surprise...” Gregory muttered.
Fluttershy whined and shrank back, also painfully aware that nearly ALL of Equestria was now “dark and cloudy.”

“Wait...it's fine, I can sense it. And I think it's nearby.....” Twilight began to feel out for any kind of magic. “I... feel it, a strong aura coming from within one of the nearby villages. Kakashi, I think we found the point of contact.”

“That's excellent news. It was a risky gambit, but I suppose it couldn't be helped. Glad it payed off.” He was pleased at the sound of her words. “Then, I guess the next time we talk it will be in person, or in your case, in pony?”

“Yes.... I guess?” Twilight cocked her head to the side in a questioning manner.

“Oh never mind.” He let out an exasperated sigh—once again his humor had flown over his audience's heads. “Kakashi, over and out!”

“Roger.” She responded.

She then looked over at the rest of her companions: Rainbow Dash was still staring at the now disconnected orb, her eyes cocked in curiosity, all the while her stance was calm and her wings neatly folded to her sides. Fluttershy was resting close to Dash, only looking up once the conversation had ended and Twilight had faced them. A smile appeared on her face, while looking at her two dear friends. She wanted to cry for joy, but she knew the mission was far from over. Trotting closer to the group, she began to speak.

“Well? Shall we get going, or do we need a little more rest time?” She asked, once again exuding her calm facade.

“Where are we heading to?” Rainbow Dash perked up in interest, Fluttershy raised her head, giving her intelligent friend acknowledgment.

“Somewhere in Cloudsdale is a vortex, one that if Kakashi and I think is a bridge between our worlds.” Twilight explained. “They are sending someone through who was brave enough to volunteer to try it out, so we are going to go meet with them.”

“Wait...what? Different worlds? How are we—” Rainbow Dash began to question their cosmic situation before she was cut off by Gregory.

“Wait, how do we know that their vortex is connected to ours?” The human questioned, concern was painted across his features. Dash shot him a disgruntled look, to which he only replied with an apologetic shrug.

“It's alright Gregory, the only thing to worry about with something like this is the unknown. Being sent through a vortex only bears the risk of ending up in some place you are unfamiliar with.” She replied.

“And in the state our worlds are in right now? That's quite a high risk to take.” Gregory's brow furled, irritation accompanied the sound of his voice. “I just don't want anyone else to die, and especially not anyone within our groups.”

“I understand your frustration, but we have to take risks. If we don't then what will become of this world? Or Celestia knows how many other worlds that have been affected by this mess! I am willing to risk everything to stop that, and I am certain the person they are sending would, as well.” Twilight looked up at Gregory, directly into his eyes. Her voice resonated powerfully within his mind, and he could see that retreat was completely beyond her at this point. “Even if faced with death, I will see to it this mission is completed, and harmony is restored to the land!”

“Okay, okay, you've made your point.” Gregory allowed himself a subtle, approving smile.
Such courage, so young... “Let's not keep our new ally waiting then.”

Rainbow Dash fluttered between the two, and then gently glided down to the cloud surface, planting her hooves into the soft composition of water particles. Impatiently glancing back and forth between them, she perked up. 

“Hey, uh...guys? In case you haven't forgotten, I know my way around here like the back of my hoof.” She proudly held up a foreleg, as if pointing to the heavens. “Where is this vortex thingy you are talking about again? Maybe I can help guide us through here.”

Twilight looked at her friend, and then smiled softly. “I suppose we will find out exactly where when we go there, now won't we?” She trotted away from the group, ushering them to follow her, as she focused her magic in on honing the target vortex. Rainbow Dash followed after her, and Fluttershy clambered on to all fours to do just the same. Lastly Gregory moved too, trailing just a short distance from behind Fluttershy. With that, they were already on their way, along a flattened cloud pathway, to the village nearby. Soon Rainbow Dash took the lead, navigating many familiar landmarks of her familiar hometown.

Winding through some large conglomerating cloud formations, and traveling up and down the length of numerous cumulonimbus clouds—after what seemed like hours, the group finally spotted structures in the distance. Many of said structures had the same type of arch-flair the Rainbow Factory possessed. The village was planned on a grid structure, formed around plots of clouds with designated areas for residency, power, fuel, food, education and government, most of which at this point were long gone. Twilight had not been to many villages before, but she had to admit, this didn't look like any village to her. At least two sky scrapers occupied part of the city, their purposes? Unknown. This eerie little town, just like any other locale they had come across, was completely abandoned. 

“Not much here but cloudweeds and garbage.” Dashy grimaced, having only an inkling of an idea what happened to her fellow Pegasi.

“It's so quiet.” Fluttershy commented, staying close to Twilight's flank. 

“It shouldn't be too far from here, guys. The magic signal is getting stronger.” Twilight was relieved, and judging by the sound of many happy sighs, so were her companions. “Just around the corn—”

She froze dead in her tracks: a trash can fell over, and its contents were scattered in front of the lavender maned pony. Out of the darkness, a harvester made its appearance. It growled rapaciously, showing off both its disfigured jaw, and surprisingly sharp looking teeth. It clicked it's sickles together, like two swords, dragging the sharp edges of each across the length of the other. Like a wolf who had cornered its prey, it slowly and deliberately approached the group, and each one of them took an apprehensive step back. Twilight's breath became shallow, the fresh blood on the edges of this harvester's sickles having taken her by surprise. Rainbow Dash, having not seen one of these things before, conjured up some small shred of bravery. Standing in front of her companions, her face took a serious tone. 

“I'm warning you, punk! Stay back or I'll knock you into next week!” She called out to the non-responsive walking cadaver. It just kept coming towards them. “Hey! Are you even listening to me?!”

“Rainbow Dash! It's already dead! There's no point reasoning with it!” Twilight called out, while trying to pull her back by the tail.

The pegasus glanced over her shoulder. “Wha-huh? What do you mean dead...” She cut off mid-sentence as she sniffed at something rotten in the air. It was then that Rainbow Dash's eyes took an even closer look at the creature, a horrible realization dawning on her.

It looked like an average pony...sickeningly discolored by the rot of death. The main body was nothing special aside from the gaps and craters where flesh used to be, exposing bones, sinew, and leaking fluids. It's face was may have once been that of a pony, and if that didn't nauseate her enough as it was, something else just made her stomach flip: wings. A pair of plucked and broken wings were propped lifelessly atop the cadaver's back—this was a Pegasus. 

“Wh... WHAT THE HAYYY!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, unable to move, unable to breathe. “I.... I.... HOW THE HAY COULD THIS HAPPEN... I haven't been gone THAT long, have I...? No... Cloudsdale...”

The harvester cocked its head, as if curious to watch the spectacle: Rainbow Dash let loose another blood-curdling scream as her body shivered, her legs giving out upon that revelation. Slumping down on to the cloud surface, she was drowning in the reality, so much that she had not even noticed the harvester had resumed its offensive, jumping towards them with it's scimitar like arms extended for an attack. Twilight reacted swiftly, casting some forceful magic of the gravity-manipulating variety. At once the creature found itself being thrashed into the wall of a nearby building. The creature crashed vehemently through it and was buried underneath rubble from the aftermath of the impact. Not wasting any time, she then, with the assistance of Fluttershy, helped Dashy up, and the group rushed out of the vicinity.

Rainbow Dash, ripped herself out of the supportive grips of her friends. Only to fall to the ground vehemently once again, sobbing to herself loudly. Her hooves clasped the side of her head fiercely, and her body curled tightly into a ball. Moving her head side to side in a shaking motion, she wailed to herself. Just thinking of Pinkie pie brought back horrible memories. Suddenly she began to have a panic attack, flailing around like mad. 

“NO! GET THAT SCALPEL AWAY FROM ME!! NO NO NO!! AGGGHHHH!!” She thrashed about on the ground, reliving every nerve-shattering moment of pain, holding herself while arching her spine to mind boggling degrees. She whined as her friends watched the spectacle in horror—she was trapped within a nightmare, and they were helpless to make it stop. “AHHHHHHHHHHGGGGHHH! UUUUHHHHGGGG!! Make it stop......MAKE IT STOP!! I'M BEGGING YOU..... please...please, make it stop......” 

Her whining continued for a few more minutes, and eventually her constant convulsions slowed down. When she came to a halt, she finally snapped back to, her disheveled face muddled with tears and twisted with an unrecognizable blend of rage and desparation.

“THIS is what Pinkie pie has done to the world?.... HOW COULD SHE??!! It doesn't make sense... this was never like her... she's a monster... no... she is far beyond that! She...she was our friend...SHE MADE US TRUST HER!” Rainbow Dash quivered as she whined.

She curled up into a ball on the ground, bashing her head into the cloud cover at least once. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, now squeezed shut, concealed by her mane.  
Suddenly, that technicolor mane seemed a lot less vibrant.

“Dash...” Twilight began, warily setting a hoof forward.

“I DON'T want to BUCKING HEAR IT, Twilight!” She immediately shot upright, as if to attack her friend. Twilight promptly stepped back, unable to handle her friend's outburst. “I already know what you're going to say... 'OOHH, Let's find out whats causing her to do this and try and save her from this all,' or 'OOHH, that can't REALLY be the Pinkie Pie WE know and love!' Right, Twilight? Something like that?” She replied, her eyes dangerously aflame. “That's just a load of horse-apples!! She...what she...did to me...and now? She...THIS...THESE THINGS! How could you POSSIBLY think of saving her? Are you even my friend anymore? Are you WITH HER? You seem to be defending Pinkie a lot, Twilight, DO YOU EVEN CARE THAT SHE KILLED ME?!”

“Dash..... look....” Twilight tried to speak again.

“No, just shut up.” Voice still quivering uncontrollably, she hiccuped, feebly attempting to wipe the tears away. “The next time I see that BUCKING demented psycho-pony she is going to die!” Rainbow Dash's eyes looked as if they were staring daggers into the distance and at the same time, tears continuously cascaded down her cheeks. “And I'm gonna kill her just the same way she killed me!”

Twilight's ears were pinned back. She then looked over to Gregory. The human, much like Rainbow Dash, already knew what Twilight wanted to say: 'You have to believe me, Gregory.... This just isn't like Pinkie Pie.... she just wouldn't turn evil.... I know it from the bottom of my heart....'
Instead, she remained silent, struggling not to tear up.

“Hate to say it Twilight, but she's gotta be stopped. One way or another.” Responding to the implied statement, Gregory cautiously glanced at the pegasus, choosing his words carefully. “This... Pinkie Pie, what was her personality like specifically? Are you sure she was....you know...stable?”

With a sniffle, Twilight began to reply. “You've got it all wrong! Pinkie Pie was the happiest pony in all of Ponyville, and she loved nothing more than bringing a smile to everypony's faces. Everyone in Ponyville loved her, she knew practically everyone in town, and threw parties for them as well.”

A thought passed Gregory's mind, What, how could that possibly be her personality? That's quite a 180 she performed from that point to her current point. His brow creased a bit, as he began thinking.

“If what you say is true, then what could have possibly made her want to...” he jerked his head towards Rainbow Dash, “...and then do all of this?” Gregory quizzically asked and then continued with another statement. “And then there's that amulet you mentioned. You said she came to possess that AFTER after having murdered Dash... Puzzling indeed.”

“That's why I'm questioning it in the first place! None of it makes any logical, cohesive sense, and the moment we met with Pinkie pie in the Rainbow Factory, I couldn't sense Pinkie pie, despite the fact that she was standing there right in front of me. It was like looking at a puppet.” She stated, adjusting her frame to be more assertive in appearance.

“What do you mean 'sense her'?” Gregory cocked his head in confusion. 

“Well, I can kinda feel the presence of people I know very well, but its only a small feeling I get, and I couldn't feel—it was as if she wasn't even there...” Twilight explained, while pondering, a hoove softly rubbing the side of her head.

“Odd....” He responded, his mind swarmed with a variety of possibilities, but he then remembered something. “Wait, what about this 'Party of One' you talked about?”

“That?... Yeah, that is the only thing that could possibly be related, but I mean Pinkie Pie was always a little insecure in regards to people liking her and her parties.” Twilight told Gregory. “We all have our insecurities, for example, if I.... f-fai---fail my teacher... I g-get.... crazy...”

Twilight's body twitched as she spoke, the word 'fail' resonated through her head, and connected with many memories, one in particular where she was to be late in turning an assignment into her teacher, Princess Celestia. She had a breakdown of some sort, and ran around frantically trying to resolve the issue in time. 

“That alone, however, couldn't possibly be the source or reason for Pinkie pie's sudden and complete flip of her personality. Its just not plausible.” Twilight defended her friend adamantly.

“Sorry, Twilight, but in a situation like this, she's guilty until proven innocent.” He crossed his arms solemnly. “We may have no choice...there's so much at stake that we can't afford to see HER as the victim in all of this.” Gregory somberly closed his eyes and released a sigh.

“I know...I understand...” Twilight trailed off, lowering her head. “But I'd like you to understand something as well. I can't just accept this...so if something does come up...if we find evidence of her innocence, or that she wasn't involved...anything at all...would you be willing to assist me in saving her?” Twilight looked up at Gregory, with almost puppy dog-like eyes. 

“Ah geez, Twilight....” he lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck as a twinge of remorse and empathy knotted up his throat. He just couldn't bring himself to turn down that look. “Alright.... but only, and I repeat, ONLY if there is viable evidence that proves otherwise. I mean...you have to understand where Dash is coming from.” Gregory continued, catching a glimpse of an angry Rainbow Dash, who adjusted her position so that she was a bit more comfortable. His gaze returned over to Twilight.

“You have to remember: Whatever happened to her was bad enough, but I'm inclined to believe Pinkie Pie's been doing this to countless lives besides her own friends. Even if we find something, will anyone else be willing to believe you? If anything they might just think you are in cahoots with her for such an unfaltering defense.” Gregory's attempt at a stern stance faltered as he rubbed his eyes, giving himself an excuse not to make eye contact with the pony in front of him. “I don't want to crush you, Twilight, but the way things are going...I don't think you could ever go back to the way things were.” He paused, and added, “None of us can.”

With a deep sigh, Twilight's face washed over with sadness, she knew Gregory was right. “I... don't want to kill her... I don't even think I have it in me....”

“Look, at the very least, it is agreed that we have to stop her. She can't keep on doing what she pleases at the expense of others.” Twilight was now staring at the ground, prodding around in the cloud cover, too exhausted to argue back. Having realized he was making his companion upset, the human feebly attempted to extend a small glimmer of hope.
“I mean...well...let's just hope and pray we find a good enough excuse to save her.”

“Alright...” Droopingly, she nodded her head in acknowledgment to his statement.

He got down on one knee, making himself level with her, and then brushed some of the hair hanging in her face out of the way. “Twilight, It's not my intent to depress you, I just want you to be prepared for reality, that's not saying that I won't do my best to help you in every single possible way to save your friend though.” He smiled at her, and she gave him a smile back. 

Fluttershy came over to Twilight too, and nuzzled her side. Visually seeing Twilight upset like this was making her upset as well, and she decided to comfort her troubled friend. Rainbow Dash, still being rather agitated, remained in her slump. After a few glances sneaked in by the rainbow-maned pony, she too soon came to show her support. Twilight returned their gestures—minus Dash, who was still maintaining a 'safe' distance—and looked back at Gregory. Something caught her attention though, and quickly she raised her head up towards the sky. A presence? It's so familiar, who could it be? She thought to herself, and then gave all of her companions a nod.

“The vortex is up there, on top of that building.” She pointed her head upwards at a large tower adjacent to them. “Judging from our location its just on the other side of this building.”

“Want me and Fluttershy to check it out?” Rainbow Dash, who now wanted nothing more than to stretch her wings, asked excitedly. 

“No, I think we should approach this cautiously.” She responded, still fixed on the presence she could feel.

“Heh I could take whatever is up there anyways—Oh no you don't stay in there.... --- Hey don't tell me what to do! --- Hush now!..... The harvesters are not even here..... You don't need to be out right now..... --- Tch, whatever.... just you wait. ---Oh, I'm so sorry, Twilight...Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy struggled in and out of her shell, randomly it seemed. 

“What the HAY was that, Fluttershy?” A bewildered Rainbow Dash asked.

“Its... my shell...” Fluttershy replied. “During the chaos, I...” Fluttershy wept silently to herself, as she was reminded of the dreadful scene in the hospital. 

“It's a long story.” Twilight left it at that, stepping over to comfort the pegasus.

“I...Fluttershy, I'm sorry to—I mean...” Her voice was quiet, empathetic yet flustered. She was still getting used to this new world, and on top of one friend already having brutally murdered her, not even her other friends were the same ponies anymore?

“Its okay.... they're in a better place anyways....” She shook while saying this. Still visibly despondent, she slowly walked forward. “Lets just get going.”

“Fluttershy....” Twilight started, but the sound of her friend's name was all she could really get out. Nothing else seemed plausible to comfort her right now.

Rainbow Dash stared incredulous as Fluttershy trotted off, finding herself the last to follow suit. Making their ways around the building, they passed through several dark alleys, always wary of the possibility of danger lurking around every corner. A few buildings down and across the street that they faced, loomed the building they sought. Sitting aloft the grand architecture, something bathed  the nearby vicinity in an otherworldly blue light. Rapidly, the group took off for the building, with Twilight at the forefront. The presence was definitely someone she recognized, but who? Bursting through the front doors, they looked around. A lobby, with an open area to the left side, and a reception desk to their right. In the open area were scattered numerous pieces of trash and broken furniture. Most of the decorative plants in both this open area, and near the reception desk had been knocked over and dirt had been strewn all over the place. On top of that, copious amounts of blood caked the many surfaces and objects within the dank area, dark and dry enough to be weeks old. Windows lining the furthest left-hand wall were shattered, many of the glass shards glinting below the window sills. Holes in the floor indicated highly intense and violent confrontations had transpired in here.

Near the reception desk, the bodies of some harvesters lay on the ground, organs spilling from their guts, and dried pools of blood enveloping the ground underneath them. Past the reception desk was an elevator, though it was out of commission. The doors were ajar, and the elevator itself had collapsed in, leaving debris that clogged up the entrance completely. There was no hope for using it, so they turned their gaze towards a set of stairs just left of the elevator. Left in utter disrepair, its handrails were in a tattered state, and some of the steps either had holes in them or were missing altogether. Regardless of the dangerous possibilities, it was the only option they had at the moment. 

“You guys, I think there is someone up there we know.” Twilight stated, her head held high with determination as she made her way towards the stairs.
“We need to get up those stairs as quickly as we can. The sooner we leave this place, the better.”

Twilight's words were reinforced by the unearthly howling of harvesters gathering around outside, their footsteps approaching the front doors. Without any hesitation, they all shot off, sprinting as fast as they could up those steps. Dodging and avoiding broken spots, the ponies and Gregory found themselves ascending up what seemed to be an endless amount of stairs. Gregory heard a crashing sound and instantly took a look down below. What he saw struck his heart with panic. A group of harvesters had burst into the lobby, and were tearing the place apart—obviously searching for them. Two of them split from the group, traveling quickly up the stairs with blazing speed. With a burst of magic, Twilight cast a spell, hoping it would impede the approaching harvesters. A large barrier was erected just behind Gregory's frame just as a harvester—seemingly from nowhere—crashed those wicked claws into the wall.

“Nice work!” He called out, shocked when the barrier had come inches from touching the tip of his nose. 

“MOVE, Gregory! We need to get going!” Twilight called out to him, her face struck with a mix of alarm and concern.

Gregory picked up his pace after seeing her worried face. Once the harvesters arrived at the barrier, they began hacking away at it. Physical attacks seemed to have no effect on it from first glance, Twilight knew, and could also feel the magic waning from each blow landed on the surface of that magical wall. Upon reaching the seventh floor she could feel the barrier shatter and dissipate into the air. A triumphant screech erupted from the throats of the monsters below, while they continued their pursuit. 

“Shall I kill them?” Fluttershy's other self stated, readying her cleaver. “No! We just need to run!--You're too scared to even fly, and you just want them to keep chasing you?--- We are almost to safety, just.... --- No, This is what I was made for, stay safe inside yourself toots, its my turn!” The yellow colored Pegasus turned to face the incoming harvesters, ready to fight them.

“What the hay are you doing??” Twilight called out to Fluttershy. 

“Shut the buck up, I'm just stretchin' my legs a bit, is all.” The shell replied, jumping down haphazardly and slamming a hoof into one ascending harvester's face, forcing it to careen off into the other, which quickly found a butcher knife lodged into its skull. All three of them tumbled unceremoniously down the stairs. At once the other harvesters on the ground level heard the commotion and started climbing the stairs as well. Managing to take out one, Fluttershy's shell was now stuck fighting just one of them. The harvester shook off the shock of crashing into the wall, and got up, swinging it's sickles at Fluttershy. The yellow pony smiled, rolling to the side, and snickering as one of it's sickles got stuck deep in the wall. Bringing her butcher knife up, she cut a deep gash in the creatures side. She knew this wouldn't kill it, and it barely phased it in spite of its vehement screams. Struggling to remove its sickle, the harvester began to swing its other appendage, only striking at air as Fluttershy nimbly weaved out of the way. 

“Hah! I've seen fillies with more kick than you! Now die!” as she said this, her body approached the harvester from behind, but it was prepared, and kicked a leg into her gut. She gasped for air, and dropped her butcher knife, fumbling back a bit. 

“Fluttershy!!” Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs, just after the harvester removed it's sickle from the wall, and started to loom over Fluttershy's frame.

“Well horse-apples....” Fluttershy's shell didn't feel fear, but inside, a still conscious Fluttershy was madly fighting her 'captor's will to fight. Her hoof was reaching for the knife, but the creature's claws were just a tad bit swifter.

Had it not been for a sudden intervention from Twilight's magic, she would have been a goner for sure. Twilight was in a struggle to hold the harvester's claws back, just inches from Fluttershy's chest. Rainbow Dash flew directly at the harvester, smacking it into the wall. Stunned from the shock, Fluttershy took the opportunity to get up, pulling her knife from the ground. Jumping on top of the still dazed harvester, she plunged the knife deep into its skull, letting out a battle cry when she did. It died after a brief spasm. Twilight was clearly getting tired from the multiple spells cast in such a short period of time, but she managed to forcibly cast another barrier, just seconds before the other harvesters reached her friends. Crashing into said barrier, the harvesters raged on in an attempt to force their way through. This gave Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just enough time to ascend up the stairs and catch up to Twilight and Gregory. Luckily for them, they were just a few more levels from the top. They picked up their speed, the desire to escape those things pushing them quickly through the remaining flight. The door was already opened, and the vortex was floating a few feet from the edge of the building. Slowing her steady gallop, Twilight motioned for them all to head towards the vortex. The last one to come out of that stair case was Gregory. Behind him the door seemed to close on it's own, but as soon as a heavy crate was lifted effortlessly with some sort of unusual Draconic magic, Twilight looked over. Her eyes turned on like a faucet on full blast: there before her, wearing a shimmering, exotic ring, stood Spike. 

“Hiyah!” He shouted, before walking briskly over to the portal. “We're going to need to enter that gateway fast if we want to avoid those guys!” One of his claws pointed back at the banging that just started on the door. 

“S.... Spi.... Spike?.....” Twilight stuttered and tripped over her words, Spike's sudden appearance baffled her. “How.... where... when?....”

“Not now Twilight, we have to go!” Spike urged her to get to the vortex. “We can talk it over once we get outta here!”

Stumbling about, Twilight managed to gather enough stability to make a jump for the vortex. At first she was afraid of the long drop, but barely knowing enough on how portals work she made the jump regardless. Hopping the ledge, she looked as though she was going to fall, but once her body came within proximity of the vortex, she felt a dizzying force pull her in. Before long, she disappeared through the hole.

“Well, its a shame, but I won't be able to fight you bastards.” Fluttershy's shell glanced over her shoulder looking back at the door currently being ravaged. She then hopped into the air, using her wings to fly to the vortex. Rainbow Dash came over to Gregory just then.

“This might get bumpy, just a fair warning!” Rainbow Dash said this as she picked him up, and started flying in the air. Gliding towards the portal, the both of them soon found themselves being pulled in just like all the others. 

Spike was the last one to jump, his head turning just as he jumped to watch as the harvesters burst through the door. The vortex, having accepted many recipients already diminished in size, and when the harvesters tried to jump through they fell short of the now smaller vortex. 

> The Siege
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



= = = Rendezvous = = = 

Having jumped through the wormhole at the top of the building, Twilight was spit out into a grassy field. 
It was mid-day where ever she was at the moment, and the verdant field in which she now found herself was immense. Bordering it were many trees, accenting a land that felt untouched by the plague that effected her own world. Clambering to her hooves, she inspected her surroundings: not a soul in sight. Suddenly the sound of Fluttershy's yelps became audible, as she came crashing just beside Twilight's side. Rainbow Dash and Gregory followed shortly afterwords, landing gracefully behind the other two.

“Where's Spike? Spike!?” Twilight called out frantically. “Oh no...no no no no, not again.....”

Spike rolled out from the vortex, and collided with Twilight. She glanced over her shoulder to see the purple dragon waving his claws at her, with a smile. Twilight instantly turned around and wrapped her hooves around the baby dragon. Never before had Spike seen Twilight cry so much—tears streamed freely down her face. 

“Spike.... You don't know how glad I am to see you....” She sobbed, hiccuping every once and a while. 

“I missed you too... Twilight.” Returning the embrace, he nuzzled into Twilight, a feeling of relief putting him at ease. 

Stepping from the thickness of the trees, a tall, slender man appeared, with a mask covering up most of his face, and silver hair that spiked towards the sky in an unnatural manner. His footsteps were almost inaudible until he was right in front of the group.

“I see you all made it here in one piece.” He stated, calmly, and at once Twilight turned to face the familiar sounding voice. “I'm Hatake Kakashi. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

A hand was held out to Twilight, who met his hand with her hoof, shaking it in greetings. 

“I'm Twilight... Twilight Sparkle.” She responded in kind. Their group was larger now, and she could feel a sense of stability returning to the world, even if it was such a tiny ray of hope.

After Kakashi had made his entrance, he motioned two fingers in the air. Twilight curiously watched, soon two more ninja emerged from within the trees. 

Another young man with unkempt red hair appeared. He bore a strange symbol tattooed on his forehead and black eye liner. On his back he carried a large gourd, and the garments he wore implied he was from the desert. The woman standing next to him was a well-endowed blonde haired ninja with a green jacket similar to Kakashi's. On her forehead sat a diamond-like gem, seemingly embedded into her skin. Both held a stern and powerful looking demeanor about themselves. 

“This is Gaara, leader of the Sand Village.” Kakashi looked over to the youth. Though silent, he acknowledged them with a curt nod.

“Nice to meet you Gaara, I am Twilight Sparkle.” She replied, with a smile.

“The name's Tsunade, and I am the leader of the Leaf Village.” She stated her title similar to how Kakashi stated Gaara's, and merely bowed subtly upon her introduction.
Twilight, who had expected a handshake (hoofshake?), awkwardly retracted her forearm and bowed her head in response. 

“Um...Twilight?” the rainbow-maned pegasus landed softly beside her friend, watching the newcomers wide-eyed. 
“I can't understand a word these guys are saying! How are you communicating with them?”

“Yeah, I was wondering that, too.” Gregory turned to Fluttershy, and the two shrugged to one another.
“I mean, I'm hearing what I'm assuming is Japanese, but you seem to be getting along just fine. Is this gonna be an issue?”

Kakashi and his two comrades exchanged puzzled glances. ”何をしてる？”

“Um...gesundheit?” Gregory tilted his head. 

“Oh, of course...silly me.” Twilight giggled, slapping her forehead with one hoof. She took a focused stance, lighting up her horn until a bright flash illuminated the area.
The entire group glanced around blankly, trying to figure out what her spell had just accomplished.

“Twilight? What just happened?” Dash floated upwards, still inspecting the area.

“Oh look, it talks.” Tsunade mused.

“Huh? You speak English now?” Gregory pointed between the three ninja.
Out of all of them, only Gaara remained unamused.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “What's English?”

“You see...there was initially a language barrier separating Twilight and myself.” Kakashi explained. “Apparently, this Jutsu...pardon me, magic...of hers was able to translate for us.”
He stood up, eager to continue their business.

“And with that out of the way, we need to move before nightfall. I'm sure you may have figured this out, but it gets pretty dangerous out here.” Kakashi told her as his hand hinted towards the woods.
“We'll at least need to get to our safehouse before we plan our next move.”

“Alright, I'll organize my group. When are we heading out?” She asked.

“...soon.” He replied to her, taking a good look at the sky as he did so. The sun was about to set within the hour—to be out in the open in nightfall would have been...less than ideal.

Twilight trotted over to where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had huddled with Spike, who was carrying a conversation on with Gregory about the technology in his world.

“Whoa, so these cars carry creatures like you in them? And they are made of metal?” The features on his face were painted with much enthusiasm, Gregory's world was so interesting. 

Twilight thought it was weird that everyone was just casually talking among one another, despite all the chaos that was going on, but then she realized: this escapism was just a way for them to cope with the reality around them, something they all needed a little bit of to survive. Morale was important, and absolutely crucial in times where a team needs to work together in order to accomplish a goal or mission.  She cleared her throat and then began to speak.

“I'm sorry to interrupt guys, but we need to prepare to leave. It seems Kakashi has a place for us all to go to, and we'd best make it there before sunset.” She told them.

Spike and Gregory stopped their conversation, nodding with acknowledgment at Twilight, and upon that note, the both of them, alongside the pegasi, got up from their spots and were ready to depart. Twilight looked back to Kakashi's group and saw that they too were prepared.

“Alright, is everyone ready to go? We don't have much time before those things come out and start hunting, so lets move out!” Kakashi declared loudly, everyone in the group could hear him loud and clear. 

Kakashi lead the way into the thicket of the woods. Pushing away tree branches, and stepping over ruts in the dirt, they ventured forth. They passed several large openings, walking along the edges of these areas, precariously masking their steps as best they could. This became more essential the closer it got to nightfall. When the light started to dim, and the sun was clearly setting, the calls of the beasts began sounding off in the distance. Luckily for the group, they had just reached their destination: Kakashi had pulled back a 'rock' skillfully hidden behind some shrubbery, only to reveal an opening to a cave. Everyone filed into the entrance, walking the entire length of it before reaching the very back of the cave. It was a decently sized, sparsely furnished cave, having enough room for everyone to comfortably maintain their own personal bubble of space. Kakashi was the last to enter, pulling the rock in front of the entrance as he crawled in. 

“Is everyone accounted for?” He asked, his fingers pointing at heads while he counted. Eight total, myself included.

“Yes, everyone in my group is present, Kakashi.” Twilight stated, her horn was glowing at this point, the cave was dark after all.

Kakashi noticed her horn, and then began to pull out something from his pocket. In his hands now, was a translucent orb fitting in the palm of his hand.

“You won't need to waste your magic, Twilight.” Kakashi's Chakra poured into the object, and at once it lit up, producing a light sufficiently brighter than Twilight's own produced light. She then put her magic out, and looked at the orb. Adjusting her self, she sat on all fours, making herself comfortable. “We should be safe her for the rest of the night. Right?”

Looking around, she felt safe—almost. Then her focus rested on Spike. 
How did he get here? The thought crossed her mind, and a curious feeling arose within her. 

“Spike, since we have the time, could you fill us in on how you managed to escape from that hay-hole? I thought you were heading to Canterlot last time I spoke to you?” When she said that a tinge of sorrow prodded at her. Part of her wanted to know what happened to her number one assistant, but another part of her wanted to know exactly why the Princess didn't send her any messages after she sent him.

At once, Spike's eyes fell, his voice filled with melancholy. “Twilight, we need to talk about what happened at Canterlot.”

Twilight felt a lump in her throat, afraid of what he was about to start explaining to her.

“I managed to get there before it went down, but what I saw...was...horrifying,” he stated. 

Spike's memory of the events remained fresh, and as he spoke the scenes themselves started to play out in Twilight's mind.

= = =  Canterlot, two weeks ago. = = = 

Bursting through some bushes, Spike huffed. In his hands he held a scroll. He attempted to send it again with his fire, but just like before, it failed. Something was wrong—his fire never failed to send anything before. Moving yet again, he made his way along a path he remembered, its destination: Canterlot. Spike's eyes darted in all directions, making sure that the coast was clear before making a  beeline for better cover.

“I.... I can't believe she made me go for help.... Before I even get back to her.... she might already be..... NO, don't think like that Spike.... get yourself together man.... hurry up... faster, legs, faster!” Frustration laced his exhausted voice.

The winding trail, which usually saw decent traffic, was barren right now. Despite this fact, Spike tried to remain inconspicuous and remained on the sides, skittering about within the camouflage of the shrubbery. 
If those things see me before I can make it to the Princess.... I'm a goner for sure.... He thought. 
On the horizon he could just make out the kingdom of Canterlot. It was far away, at least a good mile or two. 

As he moved, something a distance behind him frightened him: a harvester. It moved out from some skirting trees, coming after him. Spike began to panic, and adrenaline started to pump through his veins. He never thought he would be able to move so fast in his entire life, but the sickening growl of the abomination behind him motivated him otherwise. While evading capture from the beast behind him, he carelessly stumbled over a rock. Tumbling down the side of the path, he rolled down a hill into a huge corn field. It was a mixed bit of luck, he thought to himself, as he wouldn't be easily found among the corn, but on the other hand, he also could barely see which direction he was going. The only guidance he had was to part the stalks of corn from his view to catch a glimpse of some of the taller towers on Canterlot. Spike headed off into that direction, not wasting another second as the harvester closed in. He could hear it ripping through corn, desperately trying to locate its prey. Spike's feet picked up speed again, and after 5 minutes of endless corn stalk navigating he managed to find a fence. Leaping over it, he rapidly rediscovered the path, and resumed his guerrilla-traveling tactics. The harvester in pursuit had lost him completely within that field of corn. 

“Shoo...that was close....” Spike wiped the sweat that seemed to be building up along his forehead, and continued onwards to Canterlot. 

The abandoned castle town was nearby, as Spike could see main gate dead ahead. When he entered into the town, he made sure to continue his evasive maneuvering. However... the place seemed deserted. Not a single pony nor harvester could be seen. How odd...no blood either. The thought came across as strange. Ponyville was awash in blood, why wouldn't Canterlot be in the same state? Maybe they evacuated in time? But did the Princess know of this then? And if she did why wouldn't she have done so for the rest of Equestria? He dropped his guard just a bit, while he walked and deliberated over the many thoughts in his head.

“I need to get to the castle....” Spike decided, looking up towards the castle walls.

Walking up the path, he was actually relieved by the sight of two royal Equestrian guards. He smiled as he made his way up to them, though he was greeted with animosity.

“Halt! The castle is not allowing any visitors at this time; Martial Law has been issued!” One guard called out in a commanding voice, he readjusted his position into a hostile one, training a weapon on Spike. The other guard did like-wise.

“Martial Law? Here? Wait a minute guys! I need to see the Princess!” Spike replied showing them the scroll he intended to deliver.

“No one is allowed entry into the palace!” The first guard reiterated, squinting his eyes at Spike. 

“But you have to understand.... I have a plea for help from Twilight Sparkle! I need to get in and see the Princess!” Spike was yelling at this point.

High above the gate itself, on top of the wall, Princess Celestia watched over the land. When her eyes and ears recognized Spike down below, she barked out to the guards below.
“Guards! Let that dragon in!” A sense of urgency was laced within her voice.

“Check him for injuries of any kind!” The other guard called out, and soon Spike found himself being closely looked at from all angles. It was offensive to him, but he understood their strict actions. “He's clear. Open the gates!”

The guards moved to the sides, the wooden moat door started slowly descending. Once it had touched the ground with a loud thud, Spike was escorted inside of the castle. Immediately after he entered the court grounds, the moat door was returned to it's upright position, and the guards returned to their stations as well. 

When he entered the chamber, Princess Celestia's radiant presence greeted him, prompting a bow from both Spike and the guard.
“Thank you, you may leave now.” Celestia's words were kind, and soft to the ears. The guard acknowledged the order and galloped away. 
“My dear Spike...I'm glad to see you are well in these troubled times. I take it you have come here with word from Ponyville?”

Slowly he rose, approaching her throne and handing her the scroll he hand-carried all the way here.
“It's from Twilight Sparkle. We've been trying to send you messages for a while, but we feared the worst...” he stepped back apprehensively, prodding his pointer fingers together.

The Princess's eyes filled with fear after she opened it and began reading it. 
“I was afraid of this...Ponyville has fallen...”  Celestia said with a tinge of sadness to accompany her voice. “Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, all things considered. Have you any current knowledge on the well-being of Twilight and her friends?”

“No... Princess...I don't.” Spike lowered his head. 

“I see...then I have a job for you.” The Princess told him. “There is a nearby shelter to which I have been evacuating as many of this region's ponies as possible. Let us hope we find them...as well as any other survivors we can find.”

Her words were grim, and a feeling of regret filled her mind. She knew she couldn't save everypony, but she committed herself to trying to save whoever she could, and with no way of communicating to the outside world, the local shelter was all she was able to manage directly. Their exchange was abruptly interrupted as a guard burst in. His bearing was impeccable, his face never changed emotions, as he rushed in, what Spike heard next was heart-stopping. 

“Princess Celestia, an army marches upon our gates!” The guard announced as he customarily bowed to the princess.

“An army?! What army would march upon Canterlot?” The princess questioned. 

“Harvesters, princess.” He replied. 

“No... no... not here too!” Spike started to shiver, the one place in the world he thought was a safe haven, and there was now an army of those horrifying creatures here? It was too much, and he almost practically passed out on the spot. However, the voice of his Matriarch kept him strong.

“Secure all the exits and entrances, make sure that everypony within the shelter remains utterly silent, and position guards near said shelter. Issue a word of advice for all guards: 'Aim for the head, and don't hesitate to strike them down in spite of their striking resemblance to ponies'” She said, her voice booming and very commanding. 

“Yes, your majesty!” The guard stood at attention upon hearing her words, and then departed immediately intent on fulfilling his mission. 

“Spike, come with me, we may not have much time left, and there is something I wish to give to you.” Celestia motioned for Spike to follow her, while she walked behind her throne.

When Spike walked over to where the princess went to, he found that she was pressing her hoof up into one spot on the wall. Instantly a little door opened up, and a room was revealed. Inside the little room were many shelves with jars that contained an array of artifacts and items that Spike could only wonder about. His eyes bounced about the room, trying to take it all in at once. When the princess found what she was looking for, she began to levitate it down from where it was stored at on the shelves. Turning swiftly, she looked at Spike, with a small, ornate ring floating in front of her. 

“Spike, take this ring, it is filled with Draconic magic.” She told him, her magic sliding the ring onto one of his claws. “Normally I would not advocate the use of Draconic powers or instincts, but given the way things are, you will undoubtedly find it most beneficial.” 

Luna ran into the room, she seemed to be flustered. 

“Sister! The castle is under siege!” She called out.

Just then the foundation of the castle began to shake. Whatever was going on out there was causing a tremendous commotion. A look of fear ran across the features of the princess's face for a split second. Celestia moved out of the chamber and back to her throne room to look into her sister's eyes. Luna was strong willed, but for some reason she was a bit nerve-racked by what was happening. 

“What did you witness my sister?” Celestia asked, as another horrible shake occurred. 

Recovering from the quake, Luna began to speak. “Those things... those creatures...thousands of them! And among them, their leader, is...! I think I recognized her! The guards, despite their strength, are only becoming victims. Any longer and the castle will fall!”

When Spike got a good look at Celestia's face, completely grave. It was apparent that this was serious not only for Spike, but this was the absolute, final defense that Equestria had. If Canterlot falls, who will save us? Where will we be safe? Is this the end? Spike's mind raced through the possibilities. Turning to the baby dragon, Celestia knew there was no time to waste.

“Spike, you need to escape before it is too late.” She told him, but her words were spoken too late. The sound of felled guards was heard outside, followed by the sound of banging. 
Lots and lots of banging. 
Both of them took apprehensive steps back, preparing for the worst. The din came to a halt, and suffocating silence filled the air. Celestia and Spike looked at one another and then to the door, Luna eyes widened while staring directly at the source of the previous sounds.

“Bring it down my minions.” A familiar voice called out, and immediately following that command, a horrendously loud impact sound reduced the door to a pile of wood scraps. Riding atop what could only be described as an eldritch abomination, Pinkie Pie stood there smiling. The creature she was riding looked like the cadaver of a huge worm. It's underbelly was rotting away, but held delicately together by multiple strands of still attached muscle and sinew. Its carapace had holes scattered about it's surface, and from these holes multiple tentacles slithered out, some of which had the bodies of ponies impaled on it. It had multiple bug like legs, like that of a centipede. Dangling from Pinkie Pie's neck was a necklace of some sort. Her eye-lids were half way open, and that terrible smile across her face implied unspeakable machinations.

Around the feet of this worm-like harvester, were her minions. Amy, Sakura, and Rukia stood there behind them, harvesters also were present, awaiting further commands from their superiors. 

“Ah, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. How nice to see you two, are you doing well?”  Pinkie pie cackled,  while nonchalantly pushing her straight hair out of her face. “I think you have something that I could benefit from!”

“Pinkamena Dianne Pie, What is the meaning of this? Why have you done this?” Celestia demanded answers, a hoof stomped into the ground fiercely.

“Hehehehehe....” She just giggled in response, this giggle however, brought a chill up Spike's spine. Was she taunting them or did she legitimately think this was amusing? She followed through in the most cheerful voice possible:
“Because I wanted to, is all. One day I had a change of heart, and deemed that the world shouldn't be a happy place. So I decided to drown the world in eternal suffering and despair!”

Seeing both Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's faces contort in disgust, Spike started shaking.
Pinkie pie?? What the hell? How? Why? It just doesn't make sense! He was getting nauseated from all of this. Too much stress for a baby dragon was surely unhealthy.

“Now, I'd like to make this quick, I will be taking both of you hostage.” Pinkamena announced, smirking a bit more than she was already. As she spoke her eyes slowly moved to look at Spike, he could feel her cold gaze fixate on him. “Oh Spike, I didn't see you there. Looks like you somehow managed to survive the attack on Ponyville! Oh, but don't worry, you'll be able to see Twilight and them in the afterlife after I finish with these two.”

Spike froze up, unconsciously clenching his jaws.
She climbed down from atop the worm-like creature and approached both Celestia and Luna. Harvesters joined Pinkamena as she got closer. Celestia and Luna prepared themselves for a fight, but as soon as Pinkamena got within a couple yards she just stopped. Cocking her head to the side she gazed at the two. Her creepy looks made them shiver a small bit in revolt. It was as if she was eying them like some product at a store. Fiddling with the Amulet around her necklace, it was only seconds afterwords that Celestia realized what it was she was wearing now.

“Where in Equestria...did you find THAT?” Celestia showed intense concern, she was grinding her teeth a bit, her brow furled in seriousness. 

Even Luna understood exactly what it was that made her sister shiver so much. Before they could react though, Pinkamena started to speak, and the moment she did...time slowed to a halt and all other sound ceased to exist.

“Gotcha!” She giggled, breaking the silence, and suddenly rubbing a hoof on her amulet, only to unleash a malevolent magic unto the two sisters. 

“NO! Arghhhhhh!” Falling to their knees, they were helpless. Celestia could feel her magic being drained rapidly, Luna felt the exact same thing as well. Looking over to the now terrified Spike, Celestia thought quickly: there was no time! Focusing the last of her magic into one final spell, she cast a golden light in Spike's direction. As the magic hit him, he witnessed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna be drawn into the amulet on her necklace. And just as he felt himself being whisked away from this world, he heard Pinkamena say one last thing.

“Now I have the powers of both the sun and moon, as for you Spike, be lucky Celestia saved your dragon hide today. But fear not! You will soon perish just like the rest.” Her maniacal laughter left a residual sound thumping in his ears when the magic finally whisked him away. 

Spike landed in some bushes, completely unaware as to where he had landed. It was dark now, and the only source of light came from a burning city nearby. Flames raged, and gave birth to large billowing clouds of smoke. Forever burned into his mind, the siege of Canterlot had come to an end, and the worst part of it all, was Spike could still hear the screams of the remaining survivors. Tears welled up in his ducts, and poured from his eyes. Why.... just why?..... the thought echoed in his head like a mantra as he rocked back and forth.

= = = Progress = = =

“After that... I started wandering around until I ended up in a desert where I was helped by Gaara.” Spike finished up his story, breathing one big sigh, as within his mind the memory felt like a heavy burden to carry.
“I thought Celestia had sent me just outside Canterlot, but as it turns out I found myself here...with these guys. I'd already thought I would never see you again, and then....the royal sisters....”

“No.... Princess Celestia.... Princess Luna....” Twilight sniffled, wiping away tears from earlier. She couldn't believe even they succumbed to the chaos that Pinkamena was causing. She was at a loss for words, her heart was pained, like a dagger had gone through it multiple times. Burying her face into her hooves, she wept for her teacher and her teacher's sister.

“How could both the princesses fall to Pinkie?! Shes only an earth pony!” Rainbow Dash's voice was laced with both rage and sadness. Kicking some dirt, she turned her frame to face a wall, doing this so that nobody could see her face contorted in despair.

Even Fluttershy cried. To the ponies, Celestia and Luna were symbols and greatly loved Alicorns, and among the mane six they even shared a special connection. Pinkie pie, what the hay could have made you do such a thing? Confliction raged a war within her own head. 

Kakashi sympathized with the ponies. He had lost a great dealt of friends and allies not only during the initial leaf village invasion, but in his growing years long before that. It was devastating, but he knew how to cope better than these children.
No...they aren't children anymore. Not in this hell. Looking them over, he felt he needed to pass on some advice. Getting up from his spot he walked over to the group, and slowly began to talk.

“Hey, Twilight?” Kakashi started.

“Yeah?...” She adjusted herself as much as she possibly could so it didn't seem like she was that upset, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

“When my buddies perished during our initial encounter with these harvesters, I was sad, too. As sad as you and your friends are right now.” Kakashi continued, Tsunade and Gaara were looking at him listening to his words. “In my lifetime, I've seen a lot of friends pass on, and it never gets any easier. But I never even had time to bid farewell, not when the mission still needed to be completed. On top of that...we just can't preoccupy ourselves with the dead. Not in this line of work. I don't mean to sound cold, but, your friends are still alive. And from what I can discern, and they need your help more than ever right now.”

Twilight took a moment to analyze his words. At first they hurt, as if he was telling her not to cry for the princesses. After a careful reconsideration however, she started to speak. “You're right, Kakashi... The princess wouldn't just cry if we got captured... she'd be focused on rescuing us....”

Kakashi nodded. “And the first step to doing that...could you tell me about this temple?” The shinobi was clearly quite flexible...immediately having moved back on to business. His mind was teeming with questions regarding the location that Twilight wanted them to go to, especially regarding how she knew about it while his world seemingly didn't.

“Oh yeah, there's an artifact in the temple that we need to retrieve.” Twilight stated.

“Yes, The Mare's Amulet of Tranquility, but is there anything special about this temple?” Kakashi began to ask her more questions. 

“Nothing in particular, I know next to nothing about this temple other than it's used for worship and to secretly hold the amulet.” Twilight told him.

“Hmm, interesting. I guess we will find out when we set out here in a little bit.” Kakashi replied.

“A little bit? You mean as in the next hour or so?” Twilight cocked her head to the side in confusion.

“Well, the quicker the better. I'd rather we rest up and stay in decent condition for something so serious, but the way things are...it's become rather dangerous staying in one place for too long.” Kakashi said with a calm voice.

“That makes sense, but how far are we exactly from the temple? Is it at least nearby?” Twilight questioned.

“It is. It shouldn't be more than a ten minute walk from here.” Kakashi replied.

“Alright, what's the plan then?” Twilight asked, readjusting her position.

“We will split into two teams once we arrive at the temple.” He began to explain. “Simply put, we will be scattering around the temple to cover more ground. I know it's a bit dangerous, but the group dynamics will ultimately decide how safe we will be.”

“Group dynamics?” Twilight was a bit puzzled upon hearing the word.

“The way I see it, we should split the groups in a balanced manner. Supplementing each group with members from both sides in order to fully realize our potential for completing the mission.” He  nodded.

“Ah, I see, so you want to tactically organize our groups?” Twilight suddenly understood what he was discussing, and nodded at his professional familiarity with the subject.

“Precisely. Now—when one of the groups finds the artifact, we will convene at one spot to be determined when we arrive at the temple. The goal is to get in and out as swiftly and as efficiently as possible without attracting the attention of harvesters. The last thing I want is for us to be trapped in there fighting against the hordes of these monsters.” He stated, while clearing his throat after his first sentence.

“In that case, have you an idea of how you wanted to allocate our groups?” Twilight inquired.

“I do in fact, I will discuss it on the way over there.” Kakashi said this while looking over at Gregory with piqued interest. 

Gregory was unaware of his precarious glances, and was partly listening in on the conversation while still carrying on a discussion with Spike. Kakashi then moved over to where Gaara and Tsunade were sitting and he took a bag from off the ground near them. Having opened it to inspect the many items inside, Twilight guessed he was just doing an inventory check. Seeing that their conversation had come to an end, she walked over to Gregory and the rest of her pony friends.

“Guys, we are going to be setting out in a little bit. I want you all to be prepared.” She told them, her violet eyes slowly darting from pony to person as she spoke.

“So soon? Shouldn't we wait for morning?” Gregory was speculative, as he said this with a yawn. 

“I know it's...less than ideal, but the quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can get some real rest.” Twilight summed up what Kakashi told her regarding his reason for such immediate action.

“Heh.... hopefully I can kill something.... they won't see me coming in the dark....--- Quit it you! No killing.... --- Don't deny it Fluttershy, you like to kill things... especially animals...  --- N..o.... quiet.... DONT you DARE talk about killing animals!.... --- hehehehehhe.... ---” Fluttershy shivered  a bit after this episode, pushing the thought of her animal friends from her shattered mind. 

“Don't listen to your shell, Fluttershy, you have your friends here with you.” Twilight reassured the yellow Pegasus.
Watching her friend, she began thinking of ways they might be able to help her heal from the ordeal.

“Hmph, friends.... how can you even be sure we're all 'friends' at all, Twilight?” Rainbow dash said with much disdain. “I mean... after all, Pinkie Pie turned on us... for all we know, Fluttershy could be out to get us, shes already dangerous enough as it is with that shell of hers!”

Fluttershy cringed a little at her friend's harsh words. 

“And then what about THIS clown?” now hovering, she extended a hoof towards Gregory. “We don't know anything about him!”

“Rainbow Dash! How dare you question our faith to you as friends! These two would never do something like that!” Twilight raised her voice a bit, glancing nervously towards Fluttershy. “We need to stick together!”

“And how the hay do you know that? Until just recently you could have said the same for Pinkie Pie, and NOW look at her.... killing everypony like nothing.... YOU JUST DON'T KNOW!...”  Rainbow Dash yelled back, sorrow laced her voice, as did a pinch of anger. 

Twilight was about to say something else, but Gregory put a hand on her shoulder. As Spike –realizing the significance of what was happening—decided to find somepony else to talk to for the time being. “Its best just to leave her in her own thoughts.”

“But, why is she being so resentful towards us? Doesn't she know we are her friends?” Twilight brought the pitch of her voice to a low whisper. She felt her heart fall—the thought just occurred to her: Rainbow's ability to trust had been completely destroyed, and much like Fluttershy, she may never be the same again.

“Put yourself in her shoes...er...hooves, for a second. How would you feel if the last memories you had were of your best friend brutally murdering you, and waking up the very next DAY, for all you know, just to realize the one who killed you is know destroying everything and everyone you ever held dear to you.” Gregory explained as much as he could understand about the situation. “Try to imagine for a second what those final moments must have been like. Maybe she just needs time...and a lot of support, maybe?”

“I... I get it.... but.... she doesn't have to take it out on us....” She replied a bit sheepishly.

“No, no...you're right. But to be honest, she probably just doesn't know how to handle it. Being brought back to life.... is well.... impossible in my world. In fact, the very idea of it is still boggling my mind, and I bet it's even more harder for her. I don't think anyone would be able to just jump back to life and be all hugs and smiles with everybody she knew before.”

Twilight sighed a bit, her ears drooping desperately. “How... do I help her then?”

“I'm no shrink, but I say you just remain supportive. Act as a true friend should, and give her time.” Gregory finished, while readjusting himself to look back at Spike, who was now playing some sort of game with a smiling and giggling Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus was whisked away from the thoughts of her friend's painful words by Spike. Every now and then, she would sneak a glance over at Rainbow Dash, and frown for a second, her eyes nearly brimming with tears each time she did so, after which she would return to Spike and act as if nothing had happened.

Twilight felt lost. What am I suppose to do for her? How can I just sit here and wait? She was left to her thoughts, wondering how many of her friends had to be robbed of their futures before the rest of the worlds could return to their own.

= = = Chakra Control = = = 

“Alright, everyone, we are going to head out now, so make sure you have all of your supplies.” Kakashi had a voice very fitting for a person of his stature. Loud and clear, his instructions were demanding yet charismatic. “When traversing through the woods, make sure that your steps are as quiet as possible; there are still harvesters out there, though fewer enough in number now since it's almost daybreak.”

Kakashi moved closer to the entrance of the cave, motioning for the rest of them to follow. The two other ninja had gotten up and moved, as did Fluttershy and the other members of Twilight's group. Rainbow Dash was the last to get up, doing so with a melancholy sigh—she moved with much less energy than she usually did.
Once they were all following Kakashi, he removed the rock that blocked off the entrance and they all set out into the woods. 

While they were walking Kakashi noticed that Gregory was following along side him. He took this opportunity to analyze the human closely, activating his Sharingan and scanning the foreigner up and down. Finishing seconds later, thoughts began to brew within his mind, though he had not yet opted to present them. While both remained silent, Gregory had caught him turning in his direction, though vouched not to bring it up, in spite of that itch in the back of his mind.

In the distance, something caught Twilight's eyes: a pair of bright red eyes, that reflected the light of a sparse moonlight: they peeked through a break in the canopy above. Twilight stopped for a moment, adjusting her vision and focusing it on the location where she first saw the pair of eyes. Not only did her eyes reflect the moon, but she could see the color of her hair as well, and further gazing revealed that she was looking at a girl, in her late teens at the least. Having white locks of hair that extended past her waist, she stood there looking back at Twilight. 
A cold shiver crawled up the unicorn's spine. Twilight rubbed her eyes a bit as they had started to hurt the more looked at this girl, though the moment she aimed her gaze back in that direction, the girl was gone. The only thing Twilight could recount about her was the strange garbs she was wearing. It was a simple dress with a large sash acting as a belt. From memory, the garb was adorned in strange patterns, and the material shone like the moon above. Despite her exotic clothing, however, and pure, white hair, the thing that stood out were those eyes. Never before in my entire life....have I ever seen such desolate eyes... She thought to herself, before turning to look ahead. Fluttershy was standing looking at her with her head tilted to the side. 

“What's the matter Twilight?” She whispered, worried about her friend.

“Nothing, nothing...I thought I saw the temple, but it was just the trees playing tricks on my eyes.” Twilight responded in the same level of voice, reassuring her friend with a smile. 

The two of them then realized that they were far behind the group, and precariously rushed back to them. Moments later, when both of them had returned to the rear of the group, Kakashi had halted them all. A distance away from them stood an expansive, Shinto-style temple. Standing three stories tall, this wouldn't be any walk in the park. Twilight groaned, realizing the scope of their labor. Surveying the area, both Kakashi and Gregory, at the forefront of the group, saw nothing out in the open. No harvesters, no hostiles. There was one thing, however, that made Twilight speak up. 

“Hey...I know this sounds weird, but...I think I recognize a presence in there...” She whispered to Kakashi, stepping closer to him so he could hear her better. 

“Then I wonder why your friend hasn't come out yet?” Kakashi started rattling off theories, but guesswork was useless, so he quickly abandoned the idea of garnering any finite answer.

“We have to get in there and find out!” Twilight's whisper cracked.

“Yes, but before we go....” He faced Gregory as he softly said this. “Do you mind if I tried to teach you a little something before we went in? It will be very quick and I think it could benefit the lot of us.”

“What... are you going to teach me?” Gregory responded apprehensively, afraid to learn anything at the moment, or more accurately, afraid that he wasn't capable of learning anything particularly special. Besides, learning anything from a ninja surely wouldn't be too pleasant...

“Chakra control.” Kakashi simply stated. 

A bewildered expression crossed Gregory's features, not knowing at all what the man was referring to. 

“Let me explain a little bit first...” Kakashi began. “Chakra is essentially the molding of a form of energy that can be found in every cell of the body, and the spiritual energy received from gratuitous amounts of exercise and experience. When you accomplish molding it, Chakra can be channeled through its own circulatory system to any of the body's 361 Chakra points, called Tenketsu. With various methods, you can manipulate Chakra to use effects that would otherwise not be possible, such as walking on water, breathing fire, or creating illusions.”

“But I have no experience, nor the proper exercise to do anything like that.” Gregory stated.
Likening it to Twilight's magic, he instinctively glanced in her direction—she responded with a supportive nod.

“In your case, that won't be necessary. You see, earlier I took the chance to take a look at your inner energy.” Kakashi told him.

“Inner energy? Are you sure you know what you are talking about? I'm just a normal guy.” Gregory  knew he wasn't special like that. Throughout his memories, he was always average, and everything big he had set out to do...only ended in failure.
I am not destined for anything special. This was the mantra he told himself all the time. It was how he lulled himself to sleep every night...it was how he lived. Average.

“Humor me. You have a power inside of you, and I intend to draw it out.” Kakashi pushed the subject, intent on teaching Gregory.

“Fine, fine...but make it quick, we shouldn't be wasting time trying crazy stuff in such a dangerous place.” Gregory gave in, albeit agitated. 

“Good, now let's begin.” Kakashi stated with Gregory could only assume was a smile. 
“Alright, I want you to sit down cross legged and then take a few deep breaths. Relax.”

Gregory listened to the silver-haired ninja and did exactly as he was told, so that he didn't have to repeat anything. Sitting down and crossing his legs he began to breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. Kakashi made a foreign gesture with both his hands, and motioned for Gregory to do the same, which he did. 

“Next, we shall practice pulling out your spiritual energy. Focus your mind on emptiness. Clear your head of any thoughts, any weights, anything that could hold you back.” He said, watching him carefully, he had brought out his sharingan at this point too. “Remember to breath while you are doing this too. ….good, good...you're doing great.” 

Gregory felt a warm sensation at the pit of his stomach, inside of his body he pictured his consciousness as an entity, but it was very vague. As he breathed in and out, the picture grew ever brighter. This surprised him a little bit, but he didn't think too much about it, attempting to maintain his focus. He awaited Kakashi's next instruction afterwards. 

“Alright, now try to capture your consciousness. Encapsulate it and try to mold it into shapes.” Kakashi said, watching as Gregory began to do just as the ninja told him.

Inside his mind again, the consciousness was present, and Gregory had pictured a large pair of hands. These hands tried to grab at the consciousness of his, but every time he attempted to grab at it, the image faltered, growing dim every single time he tried.

“You have to keep your breathing steady when you mold it, or else it will break and you won't shape anything.” Kakashi told him realizing that he was struggling from his disgruntled looks appearing on his face.

Gregory's concentration broke, and the vision was released. He opened his eyes, cursing under his breath. Kakashi looked at him for a moment and then began to speak once more.

“Try it once more, I have faith in you.” He told him.

“I'm telling you... there's nothing special about me...but I'll give it another shot.” Gregory told him, eager to return to his average ways.
He realized he was making excuses, but that didn't concern him at the moment.

Again he visualized his consciousness as he had done before. Two hands appeared just the same, but this time, he remembered to keep his breathing steady, not letting it falter, even when he attempted to grab the brightened consciousness. And then...much to his surprise, the hands actually gripped something! Gregory was shocked: he was holding his own consciousness within his very mind. He wanted to actually laugh a bit in excitement, but suppressed that desire, keeping his concentration. He remained vigilant and steadily breathed in and out. Once he knew he had a tight grip, he started to work the hands around the consciousness, Kakashi smiled, visible through his eyes despite the fact his mouth was covered.

“Good, you're a quick learner! Now mold it into many different shapes, until you get a very good feel for it.” Kakashi kept telling him. Minutes later, Gregory had formed every shape that he could possibly think of, twice too!

“Is there a reason I need to be able to shape them?” He relaxed and opened his eyes, his focus releasing the shape he had formed in his mind.

“Yes, we will discuss that when you complete the next task.” He told him, he sat down now, as it seemed he might need to get comfortable for the duration of the next lesson. “Alright—time for the next lesson: Physical energy. Now, you have somewhat got a grasp on spiritual energy, but you need physical energy to complete the basics. Physical energy is easier than spiritual, but it has its own set of difficulties. Inside your mind, you are going to envision the cells in your body. Imagine they all have a consciousness of their own, energy that resides in each individual cell. Visualize yourself pulling that energy from those cells, moving it into one conglomerated shape.”

Gregory was a bit confused by the sheer amount of instructions he was receiving for this particular step, but he assumed his earlier position and began to breath in and out before visualizing what Kakashi had illustrated. In his mind he could picture his body as a whole, scaled to size. Each individual cell slowly focused into view, though he was unable to comprehend the exact number. At this point he was only able to focus in on a limited number. Forming the same hands as before, he did this for all the cells that he could conceive. Following Kakashi's instructions, he started to move and guide the energy within the cells, but he encountered another problem: not only were only some pairs of hands moving, but he was barely moving any energy at all. 

“Hmm.... Try to synchronize your hands in one movement, don't think about each one individually...think about all of them moving at the same time, like a single organism—just like those cells. And when you are moving, remember to focus that movement into a solid, unified force.”

Gregory took one big breath, and as Kakashi was speaking he gave all of his focus on to doing exactly that. His hands struggled at first, but soon were moving in synchronization. Despite accomplishing this, he still had one last task to complete; Moving the energy. No matter what he did, the energy didn't really move well. 

A frustrated Gregory broke his concentration and huffed. Kakashi looked at him, and had one last piece of advice to give him about this lesson. 

“Try this, when you go to move the energy in the cells, visualize the energy as a ball or an object that is movable. When you go to move it, picture that object moving as well.” Kakashi said hoping this helped him.

“Alright, let me try this once more.” He stated, sighing as he got into the same position, and visualized everything once more. 

As his mind produced the hands, he took a very deep breath. The hands began to move, and just like  Kakashi said, he pictured the energy as tiny marbles. By now, his brow was gleaming of sweat from the amount of focus and concentration he had expended this part of the lesson, but it payed off. Every one of the cells that he could get at the moment had their energy moved. Pushing the energy into one massive marble, he then performed the same actions he did to his consciousness. Forming shape after shape, Kakashi gave him a thumbs up to indicate that he passed the lesson. After this, he practiced moving in and out of each different type of energy for the next several moments. 

The others watched intently, Twilight Sparkle being the most attentive. She was fascinated by what Gregory was doing...as if he had a natural talent for this type of metaphysical venture. She was also making mental notes of this 'Chakra', intending to try it out for herself in the future. Kakashi then spoke up when he felt Gregory was prepared for the next part.

“Alright, now for this final part... you will be mixing the two energies.” Kakashi started, focusing on what he was going to say. “What I want you to do is first concentrate your spiritual energy, after you have done that maintain sufficient focus to keep that spiritual energy up, while also gathering your physical energy.”

“Alright, let's do it...” Gregory gulped, as he relaxed his body. Worry crossed his mind as he thought to himself How am I going to focus on both of them at the same time? That's like trying to look left and right at the same time!! He let the thought escape his head though, while breathing deeply. He let a trance envelop him and started focusing. Soon his consciousness was formed, and he got an idea for a shape almost immediately. Forming it into a smaller orb he kept his two mental hands wrapped around it tightly. At the same time he envisioned his body, narrowing his vision to each individual cell within the mass, and started pulling the physical energy from within. It was a struggle, having almost lost his focus during it all when his breathing staggered a little. Eventually, after stabilizing his breathing and having a decent pattern down, both the physical energy gathered and his spiritual energy gathered remained in tight compact shapes within his mind. 

“Perfect! Now the most difficult part to master: mixing them.” Kakashi said with increased emphasis. “In order to mix the two energies, you have to rotate both physical and spiritual energies within your body.”

“Rotate them? What do you mean? Do I have to move them some more?” Gregory asked, breaking his concentration in order to do so. “How do I exactly do that without breaking focus?! I'm already using up everything I got just to keep the two energies constant inside my body!”

“This task is hard to accomplish, but we can all do it...and so can you. Just visualize the two energies spiraling around one another in a circular motion. Both energies represent opposite extremes of that circle, and will rotate by your will. As they rotate, you should steadily increase the speed until the energies are molded into one energy...Chakra.” Kakashi told him, with whispered excitement when he said the word 'Chakra'. “Give it your all.”

Gregory was getting the routine down and already had himself setup in the correct position. Closing his eyes he began the process of visualization. Both his physical energy and spiritual energy manifested into shapes within his mind with relative ease now, though he still had trouble maintaining focus on both of them at the same time. Despite this he was able to keep this control up, giving him the chance he needed to try and rotate the two. Taking two sets of mentally concocted hands, he began to rotate the two energies, just like he was told. His breath sputtered a little, the effects of concentration taking it's toll for being really high, though Gregory chose not to break his focus just yet. Suddenly the energies spiraled out of control, and one of those energies lost shape, dissipating haphazardly within his mind. One of his actual hands gripped the side of his head, while a throbbing pain made itself known at the point where his hand now resided. 

“Careful! You must stay focused the entire time! The slightest idea off-kilter from your concentration will result in far worse damage to your mind!” Kakashi warned him, a spice of worry was sprinkled delicately with the sound of his voice.

“Gahhh! That hurt like a bastard!” Gregory yowled in pain, moments later he was able to take his hand off, but the pain was still throbbing. 

“You had your speed set right, but you lost control of the energy. You must maintain control while keeping up the speed. And one more thing: when you reach the same speed you had before you lost control, slowly release the shape on those energies so they can mix.” Kakashi explained more to him.

“What? This is incredibly complex!” Gregory complained. Surely he is mistaken in thinking I can do something like that... He thought to himself gathering himself up again.
Forget it...just do it, Gregory.

His focus came quickly, retrieving his physical and spiritual energies faster than ever before. A newfound determination filled his body. Breathing steadily, he had both of his energies shaped and was now preparing them for the rotation. Slowly starting up, he moved the two energies in a spiral path. Never one letting up on everything he was just taught, he masterfully sped the two mental shapes up increasingly faster each second. When he reached the speed he was at just before he injured himself, he began to make more hands inside his head. These hands were used to better hold the energies as they moved. He had to struggle to make those hands, as they had to match the speed his energies were moving if he wanted to attach to them. Once he did this, he gained better control over the energies. Moving closer and closer together, the energies began to close the distance between them when he began to dissipate them into less “solid” and more “gaseous” substances. 

The moment of truth was here and now, a staggered gasp for breath almost halted him, had he not managed to regain his steady breathing patterns in time. Right after that, he moved the gaseous energies together. Kakashi soon interjected with one final instruction for him.

“Wonderful! Now for the last instruction, shape that conglomerated mass of energy!” Kakashi said.

At this point, Gregory had done it enough times that he had a very good feeling for how to shape the energy. While dissipating all but one pair of hands, he took said hands and moved them alongside the energy, still moving. Molding it, not unlike spinning clay, and then slowing down its speed, he moved the hands in to grasp around the mass of energy. When it finally came to a stop, he then began shaping that energy. A strangely warm sensation coursed through his body at that point, the very 'Chakra' he had created was now being absorbed into circulation. He felt absolutely empowered! Kakashi was pleased, slowly clapping his hands in approval. 

“Now, you have learned how to create Chakra, though you will have to learn how to master it at a later time. I have one more thing I want to show you. Well, 'test' is probably a better word.” Kakashi stated, a hint of curiosity laced his voice, and at once Gregory felt a bit uneasy.

“T-Test?” He gulped in response.

“Yes, take out your hand. I will show you one of the many 'Tenketsu' located throughout the body.” Kakashi said while watching Gregory present his hand with much wariness. “C'mon, I promise I won't bite.”

“There, now what?” He replied having fully extended his hand at this point.

“Alright, simply concentrate moving that newly created Chakra into your hand.” Kakashi made it sound as easy as he possibly could.

“Like thi---- WHOA!” As soon as Gregory followed these directions, a brilliant light blinded the entire group, releasing a shining beacon throughout the entire forest.
> Venom of an Ex-Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



= = = Shellshock = = = 

Gregory...the unassuming human, who bore no interesting qualities or traits, had just accomplished something that even surprised Kakashi.

From the crash-course in Chakra training the experienced Jonin had just bestowed upon him, an alien energy flowed forth from, and then wrapped around his palm. From just appearance alone, it seemed that Gregory's hand was enveloped in lightning. At first he stood there dumbfounded. What the hell is this power? Is this really what Chakra is capable of? He thought to himself, as he moved his hand around examining the new appearance of his hand. Kakashi didn't know what to make of it, either—he, too, was fascinated by the way it appeared.

“Hum...I've never seen a jutsu quite like that.” Kakashi mused.

“Jutsu? I don't quite understand what it is you are talking about...is this normal? Or did I screw up the technique?” Gregory tried to make sense out of what the ninja was rambling on about, but he was hurting his head just thinking about it.

“No, you did everything right. And just for future reference: Sharingan is a special occular technique that only a certain bloodline of ninja are able to possess, though mine was procured in a rather special case. This is how I've been analyzing you thus far. Jutsu is a word we use to refer to techniques and skills that a ninja can acquire and utilize through usage of Chakra. These Jutsu can be classed based on use, be it physical, deceptive or otherwise. There are several others, and I'll spare you the details, but as you are....an extenuating circumstance...and not training to be a ninja, I think just learning energy control would benefit you the most.” Kakashi ended his explanation after that.

“I see. And what about my hand? What kind of technique did you teach me to be precise?” Gregory was curios, wanting to know the possibilities of his lightning infused hand.

“The thing is, that isn't a technique I know about. Like I said before I have never seen a power like that. It might be a Kekkei Genkai, which is why I said I wanted to do a little test...”

“A 'kekky' what now?”

“...you see, when you perform ninjutsu or genjutsu you usually form some hand signs, for reasons I'll outline later. In your case, you never made any signals; you called upon an ability that doesn't utilize such signs—your very own unique power. From this point on, you should do some self-discovery, test it out and see what it results it brings. This is the reason I taught you Chakra control, so you could bring out that hidden potential I saw in you.”

“Kakashi.... Thanks. I honestly had my doubts about this, but just seeing this... this hand of mine... I'm glad you were able to teach me this. Hopefully I can be of some use to the group now.”

“Incredible! I've never seen anything like that!” Twilight said, both in reference to Chakra itself, and the power that Gregory apparently had laying dormant within him. She trotted up to him, her gleaming face smiling up to him. “How does it feel by the way?”

“Well, exhilarating. It's like..... wait a second... did you say there were multiple presences in the temple?” Gregory stopped short of what he was saying when he felt a strange tingling in the back of his head, as if 'see' two auras emanating from the temple ahead.

“Multiple? What do you mean by that? I could only feel one!” Twilight stammered, focusing her horn in that direction again to double check. “No... I only feel one!”

“I feel two strange...things. And they're strong. Fierce. At least these auras that I feel. It's like a pressure...in my head and heart.” Gregory tried to best explain how he felt.  

“Sensory type.... I think your ability may be the sensory type.” Kakashi chimed in, noticing that Gregory wasn't like this before utilizing his technique.

“I don't want to sound obvious here, but what exactly does that mean? What can I sense?” Gregory quizzically asked his crash-course mentor.

“Well in this particular case, it would seem other sources of Chakra, though when you said you felt two, you must be able to sense something else, because my Sharingan is only picking up one.” Kakashi readjusted his eye to try and search out what other source of energy Gregory was feeling, but to no avail.

“Hm..... Is it possible that you and I feel different types of energy Kakashi?” Twilight suggested, pondering this with a hoof on her chin.

“You're probably right, meaning the one I sense is from my world, and the one that you sense..... is of your world.” Kakashi theorized. 

“But does that mean that I can sense both of these types of energies?” Gregory focused on Twilight, curious if he could sense her energy. He could...faintly. “Why on earth would I be able to sense either of them with my own energy that isn't even related to either of your worlds? I mean...I guess it makes sense I could pick up the aura from your world, Kakashi. Not the one from Twilight's however.” Gregory was bewildered, the very thought process he used to try to understand this tired him out and soon his focus broke, and the energy in his hand was released. 

“The real question is... why is someone from my world here at all?” Twilight asked, not expecting anyone there to have an answer, but more so asking just to voice her own thoughts.

“Only one way to find out. Let's group up and move out.” Kakashi suggested, once again checking to make sure his tools were good to go, and that the straps on his clothing and shoes were tightly secured.

“Alright, how are we doing that again?”  Twilight asked, making sure she had a thorough understanding of the plan.

“Everyone from my lands will focus on trying to encounter the person from our world, I wouldn't want you to have to come across someone of high-rank from our world, as that can be as deadly as this Pinkie Pie of yours...or worse.” Kakashi explained.

“Oh... I see why you chose such a method of group diversion.” Twilight replied, she darted her eyes back over to where her friends were at. Rainbow Dash seemed to be spacing out, detached, and staring off blankly into space, and Fluttershy was oddly calm right now. “I take it you are planning on moving out right now?”

“Yes, that is the plan. Our plan of attack is simple, we will first do some perimeter checks, make a special note for all types of entrances you find, and when we rendezvous we'll share notes. From there, both our parties will split up and take the opposite entrances.” Kakashi further elaborated.

“Alright, are there any other details I should know about?” Twilight inquired, wanting to make sure that she had everything down and understood.

“There's not a whole lot to say, but we'll obviously need a rendezvous point inside.” Kakashi replied.

“How will we know where to meet up? We don't know the layout of the temple,” She said, cocking her head in confusion. “Unless you have a map or prior knowledge of this place.” 

“Our group will carve a symbol on the first floor and infuse it with Chakra.” Kakashi told her.

“A mark? That seems like it would be rather hard to find considering the size of this temple.” Gregory speculated.

“Good point, but the infusion of Chakra should offset that. You see...when it is infused with Chakra the symbol will produce a small amount of light. This light should be easily visible to our groups, and at the same time be dim enough to not give away our positions.” Kakashi explained to the wary Gregory.

“Okay, I understand that.” Gregory stated, feeling content with Kakashi's answer.

Twilight once again looked over to her pony friends, turning to look at Gregory, before finally returning her gaze to Kakashi. Her muzzle began to move:
“Kakashi, I think we're ready to go.” With that said, she motioned for Fluttershy to prepare herself.

In response, Fluttershy nudged Rainbow Dash, who got up and stretched out her legs and wings. Spike got down from the rock he was perched on, landing right by Twilight. Gregory made sure that he had all of his things before giving Twilight a curt nod. Kakashi surveyed the group, and then nodded as well. At once his squad set off, disappearing just like the ninja they were. Twilight turned away from her group and began leading the way out of the bushes. The sky was incredibly dark so visibility was reduced tremendously. Twilight refrained from using any sort of magic to light the way, worrying that if she did so, it might attract unwanted attention. 

The temple looked old and worn, the foundation consisting of old mossy cobblestone. The wood was likewise rotting in some places, and in others it was cracking and sporting holes scattered about. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash followed right behind Twilight, with Gregory and Spike defending the rear. No lights of any kind were visible, and nothing indicated any signs of life...sapient or otherwise. It must have already been abandoned for centuries.

A fowl wind blew across the trees, shaking some of the loose panels on the side of the temple. Fluttershy jumped a bit, and then her shell started speaking.

“Aww, Is wittle Fluttershy getting scared? Maybe if you let ol' Bones come out...hehehe.... I could really help out....” Fluttershy started to retaliate to her shell-like personality's chastising banter, when she just noticed something. “You have a name?....---- Yeah? So bucking what? Hehehe, everypony has a name.... but that's not important.... heheheh.... what's important is that you let me.... out... to kill kill KILL!!...--- No!... just.... no... I can handle this myself..... I...---- What? Don't need me? Heheheheh...HAHAHAHA..... don't make me bucking laugh... what could you bucking do for yourself? Oh yeah! Thats right.... NOTHING... you need me... hehehe....”

Amidst the turmoil of the conversation she was having, one thing did seem strange to her. That name. Why, of all the possible situations, did this “Bones” chose to give out her name? If there is no reason, that is... weird...She thought.

Even your thoughts aren't safe Fluttershy. Hehehehe... you forget I am a part of you.... Fluttershy squeaked, feeling violated just by the idea of 'Bones' being inside of her head, and able to know her thoughts. She felt there was no privacy.

Spike stepped back a bit, confused by the sudden shift in personalities. “What the hay?... Fluttershy?...” A wave of fear and alarming concern was painted across his face.

At this point, Twilight had stopped to come to the aid of her friend, simply placing a hoof on her shoulder. Instantly, 'Bones' responded in place of Fluttershy, and smacked the lavender pony's hoof.

“Touch me again, kid, and you'll pull back a bloody stump. Hehehehehe....” Twilight took an apprehensive step back, unsure of what to do, until she noticed Fluttershy's voice pushing through.

“No!.... You!.... Don't!.....” She gripped the sides of her head, and started whining to herself, tears falling down the sides of her cheeks. “Stay!.... inside.... of my.... HEAD! ---- What! No....!”
Fluttershy slumped to the ground, and Twilight immediately came to her side. Spike saw an opportunity to get close, and followed Twilight to the aid of Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash sat there flabbergasted. In spite of her pang of sympathy for Fluttershy, her trust had been shattered, and the scene unraveling before her twisted into something more. Her entire body was quivering. Completely immobilized, only her eyes moved about, darting frantically around between the delicate pegasus before her whom had once been a paragon of innocence, and the converging forms of the friends around her. 

“Uh...Twilight? I think Rainbow Dash is...having some trouble...too. Y'know...?”
That voice...it was the human's...wasn't it?

Her breath shallow, Rainbow Dash felt a tingle around her hips as Fluttershy's whinings continued. That voice became her own, repeating various combinations of “help me” and “please stop” like a mantra—the room around them melted away into a dank basement filled with the stench of death and the entrails of dozens of innocents. The tingling in her hips...no, right around her cutie mark, as she soon realized...intensified like a knife until that familiar, horrifying pain retraced through the rest of her body. 

“Oh, man! Not you, too!”
Spike. Or was it...?

Her wings were pinned to her side as the gut-wrenching sensation of haphazard and careless removal by a variety of poorly sharpened instruments plagued her memories, threatening to burn every nerve and every fiber of her being. 
Everyone was an enemy—everyone was just like Pinkie. Her heart beat like a drum—she was surrounded by “friends.” And then, Fluttershy...smiled at her. Those wicked teeth, those piercing eyes, nearly veiled in the dark, were pleased with her tragedy.
She let out an ear shattering scream, which hurled Spike from his footing right by Fluttershy's side.

“NOOOOOOOOO! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! HOW DARE YOU.... I WILL KILL YOU!!” She was hysterical, shouting threats while slowly inching away from the rest of the group. Still trembling, she could barely find the strength to move. “You...can't kill me..... if I.... kill you first....”

“What.... what are you talking about?....Rainbow Dash?....” Still holding Fluttershy, Twilight glued her eyes to her friend, and her pupils filled with the realization of her tragic delusions. 

Spike emerged from his shelter behind Twilight, fearing the approach of the blue Pegasus. Still unsure what to say, he inched forward to try and show his support. “Rainbow Dash! Snap out of it! We're your friends!”

“Friends? So was Pinkie Pie, and look where that got me!” Her flank suddenly burned with pain—was it being ripped off again? She screamed once again, crumpling to the ground in a fetal position as pain racked her entire being. Once she stopped thrashing around, she rose and began advancing towards Fluttershy, now shaking. Her eyes focused on the fettered Rainbow Dash. Still frozen on the ground, Fluttershy remained with hooves up close to her face.

“Shake it off, Dash! No one is trying to kill you here!....” Twilight was panicking. Standing in front of Fluttershy, she started to quiver at the knees. “I'm w-warning you... Dash.... don't come any closer....”

This didn't stop the Rainbow-maned pony's erratic progression. Her heart sank, witnessing Twilight stand in front of Fluttershy like that. 
“You're DEFENDING her?” She demanded as a fresh array of recurring memories played out in her mind again. “AGGGHHHH!!! 'Friendship,' my FLANK, you TRAITOR! I'll kill you, too! To HELL with Friendship!”
Rainbow Dash's vision was blurry, but still focused enough that she was able to see her target: a pink pony, with a straightened mane, laying in the dirt, cowering behind Twilight. She couldn't understand why Twilight would defend Pinkie Pie. Livid, she trotted closer to the pair, her blood boiling to new extremes.

“What the HAY are you talking about! Snap OUT of it! Pinkie Pie isn't even here!” She told herself she would reprimand herself later for the usage of such fowl language, but she figured she had to use it to attempt any sort of reasoning with the crazed mare. “How the HAY could you think this was Pinkie Pie?”

“What are YOU talking about? She's right there!” Rainbow Dash's vision got even more blurry, and the pink pony she saw earlier was starting to shift with the world around her; yellow and pink, back to Fluttershy. At that moment, Rainbow Dash stopped. She was now unsure of herself, though still shaking out of control. Focusing her eyes forwards, she squinted hard: Fluttershy's coat could be seen as plain as night would allow, and instantly she turned away in shame. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the tears and pounded her hooves into the ground with extremely ferocity. 

Spike found himself being detached from Twilight's leg as she approached the blue Pegasus precariously, hoping not to incur her wrath. His claw upon the rainbow-maned pony's shoulder was met with swift reaction. A hoof of her own clashed with his as she backed away from Twilight, now nearby. The unicorn was pained and scared of the sight of Rainbow Dash's furious response. Her contorted mug loosened as she ceased her trembling, turned into sadness, and in spite of the extent of her episode, she still fell against Twilight's frame, quietly sobbing into her coat. “What.. What the hay is wrong with me Twilight?.... Why... why am I acting like this?... Feeling like this?....”

Twilight had no answer for her friend, and only felt that she could comfort her right now. Doing so by placing a hoof on her friend's back, she gave her a light hug, feeling the tears of her friend slowly soak her side.
“It's alright...we'll fix it...everything's gonna be alright.”

Even though the situation seemed to have subsided for the time being, Spike couldn't help but let fear keep him somewhat frozen there. His body was shaking as well. 
What in the blue blazes made them like this? What the HAY has been going on?! An array of confusing thoughts filled his head. Just then, Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Spike, her fear slowly dissipating. She hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go.

I see...so she's shell-shocked. Gregory watched the scene from afar, arms folded grimly. For such a spirited kid to get PTSD like that...
His attention was immediately broken when the blood-curdling screeches of Harvesters reached their ears.
Shrinking back towards her friends, Twilight was the first to state the obvious:

“They're coming! MOVE!!”

= = = An Ancient Connection = = =

With the sound of multiple harvesters erupting from the woods, all of the ponies and Gregory looked towards the trees. Desperately, Twilight looked around for an entrance to the temple they were standing outside of. In the distance there was an entrance, but it was to that of a cellar. Releasing Rainbow Dash, Twilight dashed over to it, as did her friends. The rainbow-maned pony stumbled and struggled to get up. Twilight lit up her horn, and looked at the door to the cellar, but found that it was locked. Despite the fact that it was rusty, it still was a solid lock. Thinking swiftly, Twilight levitated a nearby rock, and started bashing the lock with it.

“Hurry Twilight! They're coming!” Rainbow Dash yelled at her, panicking wildly. Twilight could hear her friend breathing hard behind her. Knocking the rock into the small metal piece, she found that it was slowly starting to break after a few good whacks. In the distance, the group heard many footsteps and the sound of bodies passing and pushing through shrubbery. Just as one harvester had bounded from the thick forest, she had managed to knock the lock off, and immediately following that, she attempted to open the doors. They were really heavy, but the others rushed to assist: a glowing aura from Spike's ring tugged at the door while the others struggled to pry it open by hand and hoof. Pushing the door to the side they clambered in hastily. 

Twilight then realized that the door was still opened, and being the last one to enter the cellar, she was determined to be the one to close it. Using some magic, she focused on the door, and began pulling it closed. Sweat profusely seeped from her brow, and just moments before she had that door shut, a harvester came into sight. Had she been just a second later, that harvester might have gotten in.

“That... was close...” She panted. The mare slumped down on one of the wooden stairs to catch her breath. “Hey... Guys... what's down there?”

Struggling to her hooves once more, the pony trotted down the stairs to catch up to her friends. Aside from Gregory, attempting—and failing—to sense through the abyss, they were all huddled in the darkness. Noticing their blindness Twilight immediately used magic to procure a small light source. Many boxes and storage shelves were exposed by her radiant aura.

“Spectacular. How are we supposed to meet up with Kakashi and them now?” Gregory questioned, sighing while he kicked a large pebble he noticed on the ground.

The sound of it hitting a metallic surface echoed through the room. “What was that sound?” Rainbow Dash countered his question with another question.

“Could it be a door?” Spike asked, watching a curious Gregory look in the same direction that the pebble went in.

“Wait a second, I think this warrants a quick look.” Twilight said, trotting slowly over to the location the sound emanated from. Maneuvering around some cargo, Twilight found the source of the hollow ting: it was, indeed, a door leading out of the cellar. The mid-sized iron gate sported some special features to it, including a window bordered in wood centered on the upper half. In the inner confines of the window, several bars sat spaced apart from each other at even intervals. On the lower half of the door were two horizontal strips of contrasting metal—possibly copper or brass—and bolting these strips to the door were several circular bolts that each had a smooth and rounded head. The handle had a tiger's head also bolted to the surface, extending a ring hung from the ghastly tiger's snout. Forming an aura around the ring, Twilight slowly opened the door and took a peek inside. Gregory and the rest of them had followed Twilight, being the only source of light at the moment.

“What's in there?” Fluttershy whispered with curiosity. Twilight, having just opened the door before her, couldn't see anything in the next room, and the small radius of her light source wasn't enough to really judge well enough at what the room could possibly be. Her only option was to actually go inside, which crossed her mind as dangerous.

“Are you sure we should go inside Twilight?” Spike said, a twinge of worry crossed his mind, trying not to think of what could await them.

Twilight hesitantly stared into the abyss until she mustered up the courage to move forward.
“I'm going in!” She declared. As she let the door wide open with a creak, Spike struggled to keep his eyes open, wincing in preparation for anything. When they emerged into the next room, the mare's light revealed another slew of storage shelves, all displaying various assortments of scrolls. Foreign script and symbols adorned the lot of them, their meaning beyond her.
Maybe it would have been a good idea to bring one of those ninja along...

The others filed in, equally curious as to the scrolls—was this a library? Twilight had taken a sharp right on entry, having noticing a window with some moonlight peering through the bars. The hole was barred just like the window on the door, barely small enough that only a small dog could pass through. Although thusly exposed to the elements in such an old structure, the scrolls were in great condition; it could only mean these 'ruins' were occupied.

“Shoo.... heh.... nothing in here...” Spike tried to play off his fears, waving a claw through the air to dissipate his worries. He followed the rest of the group, bobbing up and down slowly to gaze at the many objects scattered about.

The room, long and narrow, followed its archival pattern a great distance away, where Twilight now stood a considerable distance ahead of the group. Ahead of her, she spotted another doorway, and slowly opened it. Behind her, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy passed by the human, now curiously inspecting several of the scrolls on the shelves. A particular series had caught his eyes, which he had found...strangely legible to his foreign eyes. Gingerly reaching out to one of many manuscripts labeled in plain Roman script, he jumped as a neighboring scroll rolled off the shelf on its own, unfurling on the ground before his feet. He saw a grand scene painted on the scroll: caricaturized Humanoids, all congregated around a hovering, glowing light above them.

“What the hell?....” He said under his breath. Picking up the scroll he dared a closer look. Moving over to the moonlight he was able to make out more portions of the artwork, clearly out of place among the rest of the archives. The glowing light centered around what appeared to be a planet, and each of the humanoid creatures held various tools in their hands. What was more, although each individual depicted in the painting was humanoid, two of them bore unusual anthropomorphic qualities, one of whom—clearly Equestrian.

“Huh? What did you find, Gregory?” Spike asked, his eyes alight with interest.

“I...I have no idea.” He responded. For the life of him, he couldn't wrap his mind around what he was seeing. Despite the lack of understanding, there was something that stood out. Although the entire section of scrolls he had picked out were Romanized, yet another, different foreign script swept across the expanse of the document he was now holding. And yet, Gregory was scanning his own memories vehemently, as though he had seen the characters in this language somewhere before. But it was no use...his memory failed him.
I better take this with me....the others may know about it. He plainly displayed the scroll for Spike.

“What.... This looks awfully similar to one of Twilight's history books.” He said cocking his head in slight surprise. Gregory rolled up the scroll and said no more.

Looking around, he realized that aside from Spike and himself, the rest of the group had vanished. Twilight had poked her head back in though, looking for him. She sighed in relief upon seeing him and the baby dragon, though she was curious as to the scroll he was holding.

“What are you doing, Gregory? What's that?” She asked, looking between him and the scroll in hand.

“Something important.” He blandly noted. “I think you and Kakashi should take a look at it. I think it's...a clue.” Gregory glanced off towards the moonlight.

“A scroll? What does it have on it?” Twilight inquired, raising an eyebrow about it.

“See for yourself.” Gregory unrolled and displayed the work for the mare to plainly see. “The picture itself doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but underneath and around it..there are these weird symbols unlike anything else in here. The rest of this archive is full of Japanese stuff, but....” Gregory struggled to explain, lowering the document slightly. “...looks like there's a foreign section, and then there's this.”

“Twilight, doesn't that look familiar?” Spike jabbed a claw in the painting's direction.

“Hm...” Twilight craned forward, squinting at the scroll in question.
“What in the hay? Those symbols, I have seen them before, but....I've never even been able to find out what language this is. Though it definitively matches the one in this particular book.” Twilight stated. “But here's the weird thing... why is something like this here in this world?” Twilight thoughtfully stroked her chin with a hoof, now thoroughly interested in unraveling this mystery.

“Should we ask Kakashi then? When time allows, I mean.” Gregory inquired and Twilight nodded her head in approval.

Returning the scroll to it's original state, Gregory gripped it tightly and followed Twilight, who was now heading back to the next room. Spike followed in kind, trailing shortly behind Gregory. Inside that room, both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were waiting at the base of a ladder.

“We found a ladder while you were inspecting scrolls.” Rainbow Dash told them.

“Can ponies climb ladders?” Gregory tilted his head. The image his question brought to mind forced a chuckle, though it caused raised eyebrows from the others.

“What kind of stupid question is that?” Rainbow Dash came after him for that inquisition. Despite the fact that Gregory felt bad for asking, he found it strange that she responded so vehemently to him about it. He was human after all, and from where he came from, equines plus ladders equals hilarity.

“Uh...ponies don't even talk where I'm from, don't blame me for showing concern.” Gregory looked down, feeling bad still.

Twilight shot a less than flattering stare at her pegasus friend, who just waved off the misunderstanding. “Let's just go We've dilly-dallied enough.” 

Gregory was the first to climb up, wanting to be the one to make sure it was safe for his companions.
Following his ascent, he found himself entering the temple. Though not another storage room, this one contained many Buddhist statues. All of them ranged in size, from big to small. Gregory actually knew this type of religious statue, and he felt he had another question to ask. Well, this is clearly a Buddhist thing, but why? You'd think a whole new world would have no such similarities, right?
He pondered this for a second, while motioning for the other ponies to climb up, offering a hand to aid their ascent.  Moving quickly out of the way, the dragon had his attention immediately drawn by the many statues.

“Haha, who's this funny looking guy?” Despite the madness of their current situation, he aimed a single claw at the largest Buddha, noting his prominent belly and ludicrous smile. Even in all the turmoil, he realized a little laughter every now and again could do wonders. Picking up a smaller statue, he chuckled at it's shape and demeanor. “He must really know how to eat!”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash floated up the shaft next, with Twilight finally emerging from the trapdoor. When they were all gathered and present in the room, they surveyed their surroundings and sought out another means of progress.

“Alright, looks like we can finally begin our search of the temple.” Twilight began before being addressed by Fluttershy.

“Twilight.... What about Kakashi and the others? Won't they be waiting for us to meet with them?” She whispered, her voice laced with worry.

“That's why we're trying to move on. But we could always contact them through this.” She shuffled around in her bag, ultimately procuring the orb she had used to communicate with both Gregory and Kakashi, shaking it on. Spike dropped the statue he had picked up and was now peering over Twilight's shoulder to look at the orb.

“Hello? Kakashi?” She said with a rough whisper.

“----Hm? Twilight? That didn't take long.” Kakashi finally responded after a few seconds of silence.

“Yeah... uh....we're already inside the temple.” Twilight said as her ears went down, she didn't like the idea of missing an appointment, regardless of the situation. “We ran into some...trouble...outside.”

“Well, at least you found another way in. We have already located another entrance as well.” Kakashi replied. “Exactly where are you guys?” 

“Dunno. The foyer, maybe?” Gregory shrugged, glancing about. “We're surrounded by Buddhas.”

“Ah, you're in the Grand Hall, then.” Kakashi nodded. “But...how do you know about Buddha...?”

“It looks like we've already got a lot to catch up on.” Twilight shook her head, thinking back to the scroll Gregory had uncovered.
Maybe there was somehow a cultural exchange? But when, and how?

“Anyway...we'll meet with you shortly. Don't move, and try to stay quiet.” 

“Okay... Sorry about missing the rendezvous point, Kakashi....” Twilight shuffled a hoof on the ground nervously.

“You adapted. You're still alive and you made contact with us. As far as I am concerned, you managed to do well.” Kakashi praised her, his perceptive eyes taking notice of the way she shuddered when she told them about their dilemma. “Alright, we'll meet up soon. Kakashi over and out.”

“Roger that.” She responded while letting out a sigh of relief, and putting the now disconnected orb away.

= = = Untouchable = = =

Outside around the temple, Kakashi's group continued their reconnaissance. Kakashi had just put his orb away when he noticed the sound of many approaching harvesters. Suddenly swarmed by the harvesters, the trio instinctively took fighting stances, prepared to confront the interlopers. Despite their formidable abilities against the eight aggressors, they realized that the harvesters were not a beast to be taken lightly.

“Remember, team, a single scratch and it's over for you!” 

“You don't have to worry about me!” Tsunade said, charging her Chakra for a powerful jutsu.

“Likewise.” Gaara muttered, pulling up his sand barrier.

“Alright, let's do this then!” Kakashi roared, quickly channeling Chakra into his hand.
Lightning crackled forth from his hand, licking outwards violently. Charging forwards at one of the harvesters, the abomination didn't even see it coming: blasting through the creature, Kakashi's assault splattered its head into a rain of gore. It clumsily continued several steps before it tumbled to the ground, still twitching. Tsunade, with an explosive howl, leaped into the air and slammed two clasped fists on one harvester. The impact was so intense, the harvester's body folded under the monstrous strength, squashed into an explosive puddle of its own blood. The two harvesters by the victim's side felt the shockwave of the attack, having large chunks of dirt from the ground smash into their bodies before Tsunade followed up by pummeling them into a sanguine oblivion.

“Pathetic, I won't even have to use anything strong for these things.” Tsunade chastised the beasts, while smirking to herself. “But that's fine. I needed the exercise anyways!”

Three more of the creatures found themselves to be lifted up in the air, after being wrapped up by sand. Gaara had a hand raised, coldly watching the three. Kakashi and Tsunade knew what to expect next, as they turned their focus on to the last remaining harvester there. Sensing that it was in a losing battle, the lone one fled.

“Sand Burial!” Gaara called out, prompting a sickening cacophony of crunching bones followed by a rain of blood, bringing a quick yet brutal end to the struggling cadavers.

Afterward, Kakashi looked back at the others of his group with a perplexed expression painted on his face. “They're getting smarter...that last one just fled.”

“I noticed. But what does that mean for us?” Tsunade mused.

“It means that at least one Harvester has maintained higher brain functions.” Gaara pointed out, still observing the corpses of the harvesters he had just slain. The last of his sand used to do the job was now returning to the gourd on his back.
“From what we've witnessed, the Harvesters have shown only the most aggressive of base urges. That this one could maintain its instinct for self-preservation...”

“That could be bad, Harvesters that can think...” Kakashi narrowed his eye. “I don't want that to happen at all!”

“It may very well be happening already.” Tsunade said grimly. “But we can figure that out later. Our first priority is finding the other squad.”

“Then let's not waste another moment.” Kakashi said while dusting off his clothes.

Within moments they were at a corner of the temple. Glancing a distance away, the group found a stone path lined with an assortment of statues. On top of each statue's head sat a fixed lantern that contained an ethereal blue flame. More to the side of this path, a set of stairs connected to the temple. Moving with a sense of urgency, the other two followed him in kind. When they got up the stairs and faced the entrance, they found the door already cracked open.

“How odd, perhaps this was the entrance that the others used?” Gaara spoke up, watching as Kakashi slowly opened the door.

Inside the entrance, a narrow hallway crept inward. It stretched up to a wall that even Kakashi had a hard time seeing. Stepping further into the temple, he started to charge some Chakra up as a source of light. With greater visibility, the area around him held no surprises. Scattered sparingly about the walls were paintings of mountains, forests and various other environmental pieces. And like their own surroundings, so filled with cracks and cobwebs, the paintings were only barely discernible. Kakashi took note of the splintering sections that accounted for a large portion of the floor, making maneuvering the temple quite difficult. Surveying their surroundings, the rot in the wood suggested they may collapse at any moment.

“Stay light on your feet. The floor is unstable.” Though they could likely see that for themselves, Kakashi warned the others nonetheless.

Tsunade and Gaara stepped in and started looking around as well. Kakashi maintained a steady lead ahead of the two, peeking into the first room on his left. Facing the entrance to the room, he saw directly on the wall straight ahead a tapestry of some sort. The chamber held a shrine to some sort of deity, and to the right of this shrine, mounted on another wall, was a modest platform holding a small broken saucer. A pit used to light up incense sat at the center of the chamber; although not currently in use...it looked like some incense had recently been burned. 
And again...someone has been maintaining this shrine. I wonder...
Kakashi left the room after seeing nothing of use. Coming back to the hallway he noticed that both Tsunade and Gaara had produced their own sources of light.

“Anything in that room Kakashi?” Tsunade inquired.

“It looks like someone performed burial rights recently.” He simply stated, while moving down the hall a little more. “So now we can say with certainty...we aren't alone here.”
This time he decided to go all the way down to the wall that he saw when he first came inside. The other two followed, but split off into some of the rooms connected to the hall. Kakashi reached the wall, and looked around. To his left and right were more paths. These corridors ran a distance before both ending up at a three way crossroad, veering off in either direction. 

“Which way do we go?” Gaara asked, looking back and forth between the two paths.

“Follow me.” Kakashi stated, leading them down the path to the right. Turning the corner, the path just ended up going down to another corridor. But there was something extra here: Similar to the one he had come from, in between the two corners centered in the midsection of the hall, was a path diverting down to another section of the temple. Kakashi took a quick peek around the newer corner, and sure enough the pattern was exactly the same. He got an idea, and knelt down, procuring a kunai from his pouch. Marking something on the floor, he infused it with Chakra.

“Alright, This place looks like it is about to get really confusing.” Kakashi stated, while standing up and storing his kunai away.

“So... if we get lost, we will know that we have been here at least then?” Tsunade discerned.

“Precisely. I am going to do a walk around of this particular area, I'll be back in a bit.” Kakashi replied, walking around the new corner, and traveling down the path. Again he was presented with the same pattern, rounding the next corner, he found it happening once more. Eventually he completed his check, ending up right back where the others were patiently waiting for him.

“Exactly as I predicted, seems like this little square is a small centralized hub with paths extending into different areas of the temple.” Kakashi stated.

“Should we split up to cover more ground then?” Gaara asked, shifting his position to get comfortable.

“That might be quite dangerous in here. We've already confirmed the presence of at least one hostile—possibly two.” Tsunade replied to his statement.

“I agree. No one should stray too far.” Kakashi nodded.

“Fine. Where should we check first then?” Gaara wondered.

“Considering we have no leads, so we'll just have to check them one by one.”

“Well, we have nothing else to go off of.” Tsunade stated. “Shall we get started, then?”

Kakashi lead the way down the right path, walking precariously so as not to alert anything that might be nearby. Following right behind him, Tsunade and Gaara were silent. When they reached the end of that hallway, the only path left for them to go was to the left. The silver-haired shinobi was starting to grow annoyed from the lack of progress, indicated by an aggravated sigh. 
Finally, however, their luck changed when they followed a considerably larger north-bound corridor, emerging into a grand chamber, occupied primarily by a large statue, scaled eight to one, throned at the center of the room. Carved onto this statue's face, a jolly and toothy smile welcomed them, exuding a peaceful aura towards its visitors. A few inches out from the statue on either side stood brazers, flames licking out from their semicircular shape.

“We've found our rendezvous. Put a mark on the middle of the floor and infuse it with Chakra. I'm going to have a look around.” Kakashi stated, slowly walking over to the left hallway. Gaara had taken the initiative to go over to the right hallway and take a gander at what was down it. Seeing as she was the last one left, Tsunade proceeded to the middle of the room, retrieving her kunai from her pouch. Kneeling down, she took the tip of the kunai blade, and started to draw in a symbol. Once she had finished with that she infused that symbol with Chakra, much like Kakashi did to the one from earlier. Upon completing her task, she stood up, only to see Kakashi and Gaara returning.

“Nothing to report.” Gaara murmured, folding his arms.

“Likewise. Though this place doesn't have the most conventional architecture I've ever seen, at least...” Kakashi stated. “Considering its current conditions, the inhabitants here can't be too numerous, either. This mansion would require a ton of maintenance, and so far we've seen minimal upkeep.”

“Yes, which is perfect for hiding... amulets? Perhaps?” Tsunade said with a smile, which grew bigger when Kakashi recalled the connection as well.

“Of course, it makes sense. Though it's strange...this fortress being so lacking in options, I would have thought we would have already ran into Twilight and the others by now.”

“That is the puzzler, though, considering we haven't fully explored yet, and there are three floors, I wouldn't go counting the chickens before they hatch just yet.” Tsunade told him.
Kakashi sighed at the thought of repeating this same process for two more floors. What a pain.

= = = Children of the Night = = =

Opening the door, Twilight found herself introduced into another corridor. Stepping into said hallway, she peered behind her shoulder and motioned for the others that it was safe. Gregory and the rest followed Twilight slowly into the hallway, precariously watching each step they took, remaining alert for even the most minute sound.
Down the left end of the path, one route diverted to the right. The path itself, to the best of Twilight's vision, seemed to be endless. Gregory sighed in frustration at the sight.

“Ugh, What is this? Why does it have to be so confusing?” He said.

“Well..... obviously to protect what they are hiding.... the amulet.” Twilight responded.

“What made them want to hide it in a separate world?” Spike asked, tapping a claw against the side of his face in curiosity.
“That's the part that doesn't really make sense, Equestrian knowledge of history and cosmology never even gave mention of any other worlds, let alone anything like this. And until making contact with Kakashi and the rest...” Twilight cut off her explanation, quickly turning away from her companions as if she had completed her explanation.

“Rather convenient timing if you ask me....” Replied a speculative Gregory, though his voice hid such questionable tones.

“Yeah... it was rather convenient....” Twilight said with a conspicuous chuckle.

How suspicious.... Gregory narrowed his eyes in her direction. She was unable to make eye contact, but he filed those thoughts away for a moment. It begged even more questions, but that was another issue to resolve at a later time. Readjusting his position he decided to focus on the present.
“Fine. Which way should we go then?” He asked.

“Hm.... I can sense a presence over to the right, so maybe we should avoid it and go left? How does that sound?”

“I... rather like that idea....” Fluttershy murmured, apprehension lacing her voice.

“Alrighty then!” Twilight said, and with a smile she turned to the left and began trotting forwards.

As she stepped on the floor of the hallway, she noticed a lot of holes. Glancing down some of them while still moving forwards, she noticed that there was another floor below them. Was that ladder actually that long? We can't possibly be on the second or third floor can we? She thought to herself, while hopping over a hole that she almost missed. Gregory and the others were keeping close to her, and eventually they were all at that right turn. Looking around the corner, she saw that the next path was a dead end, but that it contained several rooms on both sides of the hall. Turning to the right she continued her transit. She stopped at one of the sliding doors, as did the rest of her companions. Spinning around slowly to face her friends, she started to speak.

“Hey, perhaps we should all split up to inspect the multiple rooms here.” She suggested. “It shouldn't be too far apart, and if something happens just scream to indicate you need help.”

“Its dangerous... but as long as we aren't getting separated... cause I'd hate for that to happen once again Twilight.” Spike said, fearing such a dreadful fate.

“Well, there are only four rooms, and there are five of us. You can come with me Spike.” Twilight reassured him while raising a hoof to open the door.

“This idea makes me worried.... but it's only the room next to that one and across from yours.” Gregory contemplated, while going to one of the rooms.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy also went to a room. Fluttershy was shaking a lot when she opened her door. Before anyone entered the rooms however, Twilight said something else.

“And remember guys, try to find any traces of that amulet.” When she finished stating this, she entered into the room.

Twilight was followed by Spike into that of what appeared to be a guest room. It had all the essentials any guest could want. In the middle of the floor was an old flattened sleeping bag, in front of this was a door to the balcony, but it had chains around it for some reason. That same door also had some small boxes propped up against the door. Far to the right of the sleeping bag was a desk, on it was a small lantern that was lit up. To Twilight's immediate right was a closet. The room itself was so ordinary and plain that it didn't really seem like she would find much of anything in it. The closet however, caught her eye. Perhaps I can find something in there. She pondered to herself before motioning Spike to the closet. Trotting over to it, she pulled it open with her hoof.

Much to her disappointment, all she saw were heaps and heaps of clothes. She tried to dig around for anything in the piles, but to no avail. Even Spike couldn't find anything. Suddenly her door closed slowly, she noticed it when the door creaked and finally shut with a clicking sound.

“Oh no...” She let out, rushing to the door. When she tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the door didn't even look real anymore. Like it was just a part of the wall now.

“Hey! Gregory! Dash! Somepony! Help us!” She screamed, but no one answered her. This alarmed her. “Why can't they hear me? Aren't we nearby?”

“What do you—” Spike was about to ask, but was cut off by the sound of something that made both of them jump and then lower to the ground. A distant shuffle from beyond the door reached Twilight's ears, swiftly followed by the sound of loud bashing on the wooden frame. The door pulsed towards them with every blow until something else twisted their innards; wet flesh, slapping on the ground. It squished on the balcony floor, slowly and deliberately, until it resumed banging it's head against the wooden material separating it from Twilight and Spike. Instinct took over for Twilight, breaking her from her frozen stupor as she picked up Spike by the tail and tossed him quickly into the closet. Jumping in too, she swiftly closed the closet doors, burying herself and the baby dragon deeply in one of the back end piles of clothes. Eventually the door couldn't hold, and the creature burst into the room. The many boxes that were piled against that door scattered a bit, and that sickening sound of sliding, rotting flesh against the floorboards returned to torment the two. Daring not even a breath, the two huddled in the dark.

A haunting chill washed over both of their bodies as the sound slowly approached the corner they occupied. Please no... don't find us... please.... no..... please please please.... Twilight was frozen in place—her heart beat like a drum. The creature's banging returned, slamming on the closet three times. Spike, still clinging to Twilight, unconsciously dug his claws into her neck, though she had more important things to worry about. Sweat ran down their faces like a sprung leak, unable to draw her eyes from the door, now so close to giving in. 
And then, just as soon as it had entered, the sound grew more and more faint. Twilight couldn't even remember how long it was before they actually stepped out of the closet, or if she ever stepped out of it. After the sound went away, and a few minutes had passed, both of them blacked out. Just before that though, the lavender pony could have sworn she heard some ominous giggling.

“Twilight! Twilight! Hey Twilight!” Gregory called to her while shaking her body.

“Ohhh.... my hea
d....” A groggy Twilight responded. She was laying in the same room that she was in before she had that horrific nightmare. Spike was being tended by Fluttershy, gingerly nudging at him. It seemed both of them had experienced the same thing.

“NOOOOO!.....” Spike yelled waking up with a mighty fright. “W.... What the.... hay was that thing?....”

“I... don't know... but I don't want to find out either.” Twilight replied shakily.

“What the hell did you guys find?” Gregory was trying to make sense out of what the two encountered.

“I think...I think we just fell into a nightmare or something!” her voice was fast, erratic—out of control. She continued to ramble: “I can't explain it. We were just in the room, when the door shut on it's own. From that point we were forced to hide in the closet.... because of some.... thing.... the sound it made was.... horrifying... sickening, disgusting... it was the sound of...of...something, and it managed to get in here, and almost got to us but it suddenly just vanished, and then we both blacked out!”

Still quivering violently, Twilight took a deep breath as she finished her story, leaving out the part about the ominous giggle she heard. One thing was for certain however, the image of that girl in the woods played in her mind when she heard that giggle. Is there a connection? Maybe that was her voice? No, that can't be, I didn't even see her in there. Twilight pondered this, her body still shaken up from the experience.

“Y'know what? The hell with this place.” Gregory scoffed. “I couldn't find anything in that other room, but the only clue we have is a portrait in the next room.”

“A portrait?” Twilight piqued up.
Any clues they could find meant a quicker way out of this disaster.

“Yes, there's this guy in the portrait wearing some kind of amulet, and he's standing in front of some weird altar.” he responded. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were listening in as they helped Spike up. “Maybe it's a clue, or maybe not—but at least we know this place is connected with it somehow.”

“Maybe... what about the other two rooms?” Twilight inquired while looking to the two ponies near Spike.

“Nothing in that room.” Rainbow Dash told her.

“I couldn't find anything... sorry...” Fluttershy apologized.

“Its okay Fluttershy, we can just look elsewhere.” Twilight told the yellow colored Pegasus.

“Are you sure you and Spike don't need a rest first?” Gregory asked, a look of concern washed over his face.

“I'm sure Gregory, but thanks anyways. We need to continue on and find the others.” She told him, giving him a nuzzle of gratitude.

“So... then we should go to that other hallway now then?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“Yeah. Let's get going.” Twilight lead the way again, guiding the others back through the previous hallways until meeting right at the same door they initially came from. Without any stopping, she pressed on, moving down the seemingly never-ending hallway. It was such a mundane and monotonous transition too, the walls were the same, the patterns on the walls were the same, even the seemingly random assortment of holes followed some sort of pattern. After what felt like hours, the group finally reached a set of stairs at the end of said hall. Precariously they all traveled down the creaking steps. Once they reached the bottom, they came across a problem; A dead end.

“What the hell...how are we suppose to get to the floor below us?” Gregory yelled out of frustration.

“There just has to be something around here...” Upon lighting up her horn, Twilight noticed a lone, unlit lantern fixated to the wall. Using her magic she decided to try and move it. “I wonder.....”

A path opened up after she moved it down a bit. This took everyone by surprise, even Twilight. I didn't think stuff like that existed out of old novels. She thought to herself, while taking a quick look out. To the left and the right lay more paths, but the one to the right caught her attention the most. It was lit with torches, and she thought she could hear voices. Slowly and surreptitiously she guided the group to the right. She was going on pure instincts right now, and those very instincts were telling her that it was safe. But inside her mind, she still questioned it. A rising fear climbed its way up her spine, causing the fur on her back to stand on edge. Quietly the rest of the group trailed around her, with Gregory and Spike taking both flanks, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash at the rear. Despite their dread, Twilight found herself letting out a relieved chuckle when she saw who it was standing in the center of this room.

“Kakashi! Gaara! Tsunade!” She called out to the group of familiar ninja, who looked at her, and were just as excited to see them.

“Twilight!” Kakashi responded to her call. “Finally! I thought we would never find you guys!”

“Same here! Also... I have a report on the second floor. There doesn't seem to be anything on it.” Twilight informed him.

Kakashi nodded, closing his visible eye as though smiling. But suddenly, his abrupt change in expression caught her off guard. “Kakashi? What's the matter?”

“No.... It can't be... why of all people does he have to be here...?” Kakashi's statements brought looks of high concern and anger to both Gaara and Tsunade's faces—and especially to Tsunade.

“That's him alright... that snake....” Tsunade said, biting her lip, a bit nervous about the lurking individual in question.

A presence began to suffocate the air around all of them, it was so thick. Gregory could feel this more than the other ponies, and he fell to his knees because of it. The ninja were used to feeling exuded power like this, so they remained standing. Twilight couldn't feel the presence, but she knew something dark was coming, and just like Gregory she too began to stumble, forced to the ground by the miasma. But within the dark feeling lurked something else, a familiar presence to Twilight. She piqued up as best she could despite the strong dark energy pushing her down against her will.

“Two... there's two of them.....” Gregory called out, finding it hard to even speak, and also finding it a miracle that he was able to say what he said.

Footsteps now echoed into the room, accompanied by the sound of hooves. A snark chuckle broke the shroud of darkness, echoing from the hall. It brought terror into the hearts of the ponies, and they hadn't even seen what was yet to come. The ninja knew exactly who it was upon the voice subtly licking at their eardrums. As the sound got closer, Twilight began to shiver.  Gregory, having just discovered his perceptive talents, was getting the worst of it; still sensitive to the staunch power, he'd been given no time to adapt to such things.  Kakashi and the others paid him no mind...they could not afford such a distraction: they were preparing for battle, readying themselves in the only ways they knew how.

“My oh my.... what do we have here? Had I known I would be running into my old comrade, the slug princess and her entourage I might have better prepared myself a tad more presentably.” A male's voice mused seductively, as it's owner crept out of the dark. A tall slender man revealed himself: Orochimaru. 

“Comrade? Tch, those days are long behind us Orochimaru!” Tsunade snapped at his words, a variety of flaring emotions was painted across her face.

“Oh such words are ill-fitting for one such as yourself. After-all I am only here on a quick errand, you see.” Orochimaru simply stated, his snake like tongue flickered out of his mouth as devilish machinations coursed through his mind.

“Oh no.... The amulet?....” Twilight took a random guess as to what this man could be referring to.

Orochimaru's eyes then shifted to the lavender pony who had just spoke. Chilling, those eyes were...they bore a deadly fire unlike any she had ever seen.
“How remarkable to run into not only one, but two of you creatures! I take it your blue and yellow friends over there can speak as well?” Orochimaru asked in a manner that just made Twilight feel uneasy.

“Y-yes.... but I don't see how that would be any of your business.” Though she wore a strong facade, she fooled no one...let alone this cold beast before her. Her every urge told her to flee as quickly as possible. Those eyes of his watched her, and stared...directly through her. For the time being his attention was completely focused on her, interest was peaking within his mind.

“How absolutely intriguing! Four otherworldly equines, hm?” Orochimaru smiled wickedly, granting Twilight another opportunity to feel her spine overloaded by a chill. “And just look at that horn...I suppose you can perform Jutsu just like she can? ”

“4..... There is only three of us here....” Twilight responded, trying to figure out how he came up with four. “Wait a second.... that other presence.”

“Come out my dear, I think you might want to see this for yourself.” Orochimaru called out to the shadows, finishing his sentence with a soft chuckle.

“Are you sure they are worthy of my radiance? I would hate to waste it on lower lives.” A familiar voice responded, followed by the sound of trotting hooves.

Out from the shadows a white mare with a purple mane appeared. Wearing an attire that was not only flashy, but also fit for rugged adventuring, she continued moving forwards. Stopping just a few feet from Orochimaru's position she stood with confidence, showing off much regal to her audience. Eying the groups, she noticed Twilight Sparkle standing there, her mouth agape at the sight.
> A Sour Reunion 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This would be Chapter 19 by now, I think.

= = = = = = = = = =


“Ra—Rarity? Is that really you!?” She was flabbergasted, hardly managing to get her sentence out. “What in the blue blazes are you doing here?”
The mare before her—previously known as the embodiment of generosity—was adorned in a foreign silk, consistent with the unusual world around them. Her mane had been restyled into two buns ending in pigtails, and her eyes were lined in red face paint, spiking off wickedly towards the side—reminiscent of only the most demonic entities to walk the earth. Her transformation was staggering, only part of the many things Twilight was currently questioning.

“Ahhhh, well look who it is! Twilight Sparkle and her little entourage of rejects and misfits!” She raised a hoof to the heavens dramatically. “But I must say...your lack of etiquette disturbs me greatly.” She casually turned her gaze to the mini dragon, who had already thrown himself at her feet. “Spikey-wikey already understands.”

“Wait... what are you...?” Twilight was perplexed, her face showed it quite well too. Cocking her head to the side, she tried to wrap her mind around what her friend was saying. “You want me to do what?”

“It's really quite simple, darling. You are a smart pony, I am sure you can figure out how to do some simple bowing and praising.”

“Not to knock you off your high horse, but what's gotten into you?  Since when have you been THIS egotistical?” Twilight started bombarding her with questions, most of which Rarity simply evaded.

“Egotistical? For beauty like this? Are you mad? Thanks to your carelessness, we've been separated for Celestia knows HOW long, and yet now that I stand here before you, I am met with your...uncouth hostility? You should all be groveling at my hooves right now after such betrayal!” Rarity began to get annoyed.

“Forget egotism, you're a narcissist! What in the hay has gotten into you Rarity?” Twilight was outraged by her friend's demands.

“What has gotten into me? ME?! You're the one at fault here. I so humbly request acknowledgment of elegance and proper respect that said elegance deserves. Even after all we've been through, have you no respect for me? Is THAT it?! Or perhaps you are filled with jealousy, you can never hope to achieve what I have worked SO hard for...” her horn lit up dangerously, surrounding her by a wicked violet aura that sent a chill down Twilight's spine. Whoever was standing before her was no longer her ally.
“...so you seek to take me down in a zealous attempt to just rob it from me! Well, I won't let you!” Rarity was enraged now, she found herself being enveloped by a strange energy that Gregory and the other ninja knew; Chakra. 

Witnessing the mare's newfound power, Twilight's eyes widened at the realization. Her gaze darted between Rarity and the ghastly man at her side.

“And here I thought my friends would understand and accept me! But NO! My friends are all just a bunch of jealous imbeciles, who'd want nothing better than to watch me burn!!”

“W-what!! Me jealous!! Why would I be jealous?” Twilight argued with her. “Just because I won't bow and praise you?! Just cause I won't subject myself to such humiliation?!”

“Well, I suppose I can't blame you, Darling.” She aimed a daring hoof at her former friend, grinning maniacally. “After all, until now, you would have been the most powerful out of all of us. Of course THAT honor must belong to the most beautiful, yes? After all, power IS beauty.”

“...you mean my magic? Is that what this is about?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How did we get on that subject?”

“Envy, my dear. Such a dangerous thing...and now it's YOUR turn to watch yourself devalued as your own friend—myself—is raised far above you!”

“What are you—?”

“You sensed it on your way in, did you not? That overpowering, otherworldly aura of haunting beauty?” She allowed that same aura to pour forth for all to see. Gregory began trembling, unable to tune himself to what he was sensing, and Dash backed away warily.
“I realized long ago that my beauty was incomplete without it, and with your expertise in the way, I would never attain such a whole and complete perfection that I so desired. But then...I should thank you for abandoning me. I found my way HERE, and found magic far beyond anything that false Goddess has taught you.”

“And NOW you're badmouthing Celestia?” Twilight stomped a hoof on the ground. In spite of her frustration, that sickening aura was forcing her back step by step. “Rarity, that magic...can't you see what it's done to you?”

“Yes, YES! There it is! Show me your ENVY! Your words...they are oozing with envy!” She twitched dangerously, reveling in the moment. “If you want beauty I will give you beauty! I will paint you with your blood, after-all crimson red is such a magnificent color to paint with.” Her voice, though concealing some deep-seated rage, degraded into a maniacal cackle.

“But I have something special planned just for you, Darling...beauty isn't always just dolled-up dresses and makeup, you see...” she slowly inched towards the group. “A macabre stage of displaced organs, flesh wounds touched up with a baroque display of one's own blood, corpses propped about in dramatic, interpretive poses—very artistic, yes? And the best part is that anypony can achieve it...if you won't worship me, then I will simply FORCE you—but not before so benevolently giving you a makeover...to die for...” Her cackle started up slowly, and then began to get louder before hitting a peak point.

Twilight stepped back apprehensively, the shift in her demeanor was a big shock indeed. Widening her eyes in terror, she once again had her mouth agape in surprise, horrified at the growing malice emanating from this new 'power' of hers. Not Rarity too! How many of my friends are going to...? Will this hell never end?! 
Her head was starting to hurt when she thought of this. She wanted to escape from it all and cry.

“Oh, Rarity, my dear, I must insist that we depart from this place instead, we mustn't dawdle with such a treasure in our possession.” Orochimaru told her, his eyes warily looking around at the various people and ponies who piqued up when he had mentioned 'treasure'--possibly the artifact they were searching for.

“You're not going anywhere, Orochimaru!” Kakashi said while slinging some shuriken he pulled from his pouch at the man.

Orochimaru responded in a snake-like manner, maneuvering his body in a completely inhuman fashion. The weapons Kakashi used missed by inches, disappearing down the hallway that his target had just come from. Squinting his eyes at the silver-haired shinobi, he laughed.

“Does the wolf want to play with the snake?” Orochimaru stated, adjusting his stance for combat. He looked at the others expecting them to jump in at anytime. “Shall I show you the error of such a decision?”
“But we can't leave now! Not after such insolence from these unworthy subjects! I must teach them.... horribly!” Rarity responded, the features of her face contorting in a wicked manner upon finishing her sentence.

“Surely you must understand the capabilities of these ninja, my dear. You cannot hope to teach anything with them in the way.” Orochimaru looked at her, while putting much emphasis on the fact that the ninja were here. Rarity took the hint and immediately took off down the hall.

Twilight ran after her so-called friend, hoping to not be stopped by the snake like man. To her surprise, Orochimaru just stepped aside. Spike, having already been previously worshiping Rarity, got up quickly and chased after the both of them with the rest of the group in tow. 

“Good luck, kid!” Kakashi called down the hallway as he and his squad were left to fend off the one known as Orochimaru.
His hands immediately flew about, performing a slew of signals to create lightning within his hand. Raw chakra and electric force crackled forth, and at his side, Gaara had already prepared his sand form, a spherical shield swirling around his frame. Tsunade was likewise prepared, watching as Orochimaru countered their preparations with a flurry of hand signs. 

Immediately the whole room was enveloped in a black and dark purple cloud. As far as any of the three ninja could perceive, they were on a plain of this substance. Orochimaru stepped out into the open for them to see. Upon trying to move, Kakashi found that his whole body was paralyzed. 

Is it a genjutsu? Or perhaps a ninjutsu? Whatever the case may be.... we have to break it quickly..... Kakashi thought to himself.

Tsunade was able to move some of her body, but it was still a struggle. Unable to discern what type of technique their enemy was using made this difficult to counter. Without any indication of additional hand signs, Orochimaru conjured up some snakes. At the base of his enemies' feet, these snakes started slithering up the ninja. Wrapping and contracting their bodies around theirs, a sense of dread began filling up all three of them. 

“And now...” Orochimaru's tongue flickered violently out of his mouth. “...let's play a little game, shall we?”

= = = = =

Twilight huffed while galloping down the length of that hallway. She could barely keep up with Rarity. I thought Rarity wasn't the athletic type? She thought this as she pushed herself to run even faster than before. Rarity quickly made a sharp right, and as soon as Twilight did the same she was gone. Twilight stopped, frantically looking around. Where did she go? She couldn't have possibly disappeared that quickly? Could she? 
It was then that Twilight discovered a hole nearby, broken through the floor into a small tunnel dug from underneath the temple. Hesitantly she crawled into it and just as she had half of her body inside the cavernous entrance, she heard voices calling out to her.

“Twilight! Wait up!” Gregory yelled down the hall just as he spotted her darting down the new path.

“I'm down here! Hurry, or we won't catch Rarity!” Twilight responded, urgency laced hastily in her voice. Upon that note the others begrudgingly hastened their pace. Twilight was already crawling into the tunnel when the others arrived and began to slide inside as well. It wasn't a very tight squeeze for the ponies, but Gregory had a rough time maneuvering through the crevasse. 

Several minutes later, Twilight felt the tunnel slope down sharply without warning. Squealing loudly, her body began to fall. When she made contact with more dirt, she rolled abruptly forward, indicating a curved slope that opened up into a larger room. With a splash, she landed in a shallow puddle of water. Instinctively lighting up her horn, she struggled to her hooves and moved forward several steps. Just after she stopped moving her friends also fell out of that hole, their echoing screams ringing out before they themselves appeared. One by one, they all fell into the same water that Twilight had fallen into, ending up in an awkward dog pile. The lavender pony spun herself around so that the others had some light to see with. Rainbow Dash was the first to pull herself from the water, followed by Fluttershy, Spike and Gregory. 

“She went down that hole... but I don't know where she went afterwards....” Twilight pinned her ears, feeling bad inside for losing track of her friend.

“Then we will just have to search for her down here then won't we?” Gregory attempted to cheer up the pony.

“We just have to find her Twilight...we have to!” Spike whined. Tears were finally welling up in his eyes after having experienced that side of Rarity.

“Yeah...we can't give up now, Twilight...” Fluttershy chimed in as well.

“I'd rather not find her at all!” Rainbow Dash stated snappishly. “Did you even hear what she said? Clearly she's gone nuts! Why are we even chasing after her?”

“Because... she's our friend. We have to help her!” Twilight stated, despite knowing that Rainbow Dash was right—in her own paranoid way.

“Bah... whatever...I don't even know why I bothered following you. It's always 'friendship, this and friendship, that.' Wake up, Twilight. THIS is our reality now!” Rainbow Dash was very blunt, and that hurt Twilight. However the lavender pony quickly pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. She wanted to cry, her nerves were so shot. But she couldn't: she knew that Rarity—and the rest of her friends, for that matter—needed her now more than ever, and with that being the focus of her thoughts, she held back those tears.

Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash, holding much contempt for her unkind words, but then she turned. “Shall we... continue then? We have to find her quickly.”

“Right... let's go.” Gregory responded, attempting to end the arguing ponies' feud.

= = = = =

Orochimaru's jutsu was unfolding. As he widened the smirk on his face, his eyes turned to an array of swords, which had just materialized in the air. Floating about, these swords slowly levitated over to the victims being bound by snakes and paralyzed by his jutsu. Then, they stopped. Kakashi's eyes would have widened had he been able to move them, for all the swords were trained on him at the moment. Without hesitation one of them pierced through his arm. The sword disappeared as it cut and despite the fact the pain it caused, it left no visible wounds whatsoever. Although unable to turn his head towards the 'wound,' Kakashi could at least see that Tsunade and Gaara were likewise free of any cuts or slashes. On top of that, the swords were moving directly through Gaara's sand shield with no trouble. Which would only mean...
Then this IS genjutsu, but how do I break it?

“Hehehehe... You are probably wondering why you can't even break through this genjutsu of mine, aren't you?” Orochimaru chastised the ninja, while stepping forward a bit, enjoying every minute of their torture. “This genjutsu of mine is particularly special. You see, I've wrapped this one above a layer of simple paralysis ninjutsu, making it impossible to escape once caught within it. Aside from basic, passive functions such as respiration and circulation, you won't be able to move at all.”

The rogue shinobi licked his lips, savoring the painful expression Kakashi's eyes held as another sword made its way through his body. Again not a single wound was left, but the pain remained. The other two glimpsed in horror, not even able to shut their eyes completely or look away. Orochimaru cackled maniacally as more swords continued to assail the silver-haired Jonin.

“Hahaha.... I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this... and what about you, Tsunade? It has been a while since we have gotten together to hang out after all.” Orochimaru said while getting closer to the blonde-haired kunoichi. “Surely you are happy to have so much fun with an old comrade.”

Like hell I am! If only I was able to move right now.... She was concentrating what little Chakra she could for something at the moment, it would take time, and she knew that.

More laughter filled the room as Orochimaru continued watching Kakashi. One after another, the rain of steel continued his torment. They were like captured rats, mere victims of the sadism of the duplicitous snake that stood before them. Hold on, Kakashi! Just a little bit more..... She continued to think this as her concentration of Chakra continued to rise. Her attention was briefly switched as a dark aura began to surround Gaara, his head instantly felt a gratuitous amount of pressure squeeze him. It felt as if his skull was slowly cracking, but like the swords, all that was delivered was pain. He wanted to scream, but because he was paralyzed completely, he couldn't even do that.

“It seems that now the Sunakage is feeling the true effects of my Jutsu. Tell me...how does it feel, knowing your head is about to burst at any second? Oh my, my apologies.... you can't respond to me can you? What a shame, I was hoping to hear some results. Perhaps we should fix that?” Orochimaru began a rant, performing some more hand-signs. The ninja soon found themselves able to talk, but for Kakashi and Gaara, all they could do was scream.

“Orochimaru you bastard!! You better hope I never get out of this!” Tsunade threatened him.

“Oh, now this is rich~! The Slug Princess, making threats to me!” Orochimaru chuckled, focusing most of his attention on her. “And how, might I ask do you plan on escaping your bindings?”

“Tch....” Tsunade silenced herself, hiding her real intentions. 

“I see, nothing but talk. How disappointing, I was expecting much more from you.” As he said this a dark purple flame spontaneously combusted on her foot. Consuming most of her body, this flame burned away, threatening to consume her. She screamed in response, giving Orochimaru the ecstasy he so desired. The man let his laughter echo throughout the entire dimension while the three ninja screamed in agony.

= = = = =

As Twilight trotted down the tunnel, her legs shivered within the cold, ankle-deep water. There weren't any signs of Rarity for a while, until Twilight was caught off guard by the sound of her voice. It was distant however, echoing throughout the tunnels so that it sounded like it was coming from every opening around her. She couldn't discern it's exact location. A chuckle came out of the darkness a few seconds later too, but this time it came from a single, decisive direction. Something moved directly in front of Twilight about a few feet away, but her light wasn't enough to get even a glimpse of it. When that being had walked in front of her path, the sound it's legs made when hitting the water made her jump.

“What was that?!” Fluttershy yelped in fear, as she barely saw something move as well.

“Rarity?! Are you there?!” Twilight called out to the darkness, but nothing responded to her. However a few seconds later, the sound of galloping hooves in water was heard moving away from them.

She was definitely baiting them.
Twilight quickly followed after this sound, followed by her friends. Veering off through paths unknown, they kept running, hoping that they were coming closer to their goal. Meeting a dead end, they discovered that their target was not there. They were only disappointed for mere seconds before hearing that of another giggle teasing them from behind. A pair of hooves again splashed about in the water, moving swiftly away from the group. Twilight gritted her teeth and continued their game of hide and seek. Despite this she carried on, her friends right behind her every step of the way.

“Oh, Twiiiiiliiiiight.... This waaaaay...” A voice called out to her. It sounded familiar, but at the same time it was distorted.

A fading chuckle kept the lavender pony right on her tail, though she couldn't see it. Huffing and puffing again, she galloped down those tunnels, inching deeper and deeper into the abyss. Eventually she finally stopped, as she and the entire group were entirely winded. Aside from Rainbow Dash, they needed a quick breather. 

“This is...getting...ridiculous!” Spike heaved, propping a claw on Gregory's leg for support.

Their heaving stopped as the sound of hooves in the water hit their ears once more. It was close...very close, Twilight could feel her heart beat rising. The beast in the shadows had never left their side the whole time...they were merely being toyed with.
She was terrified, her mind running through every possible scenario. She couldn't stop herself from imagining some of the other possibilities of what could be lurking in the darkness. Behind her Fluttershy was shivering, struggling to even stand; she also wasn't about to let her shell come out and make everyone around her suffer, either. Rainbow Dash, though naturally more fortuitous, was experiencing a fit of paranoia, walking back and forth and grinding her teeth.

She had already come to the conclusion that Rarity was going to end up doing the same thing to her that Pinkie Pie had done if they found her. Her body was going through the same shivers that Fluttershy was, though hers were on a whole new level. That trembling constantly thrashed her entire being, her knees grew weak whenever she stopped and she felt short of breath with the returning sensation of being cut to pieces—live. And thus, she kept moving, repeatedly trying to convince herself that she would fight off anything that came her way.
Though also able to hide it, Gregory was as frightened as Spike. He crouched down to wrap an arm around the dragon's head to comfort him, though in reality...he was also seeking some kind of solace. Spike, terrified and confused at his idol's apparent corruption, made no effort to resist the offer, having resorted to huddling up besides the human.

Another sound made them all jump, a clanking sound upon a metal pipe caused them to huddle up amongst one another. Shallow breathing, along with footsteps in the water started to get closer. Their hearts all began beating incredibly fast, and fear's frozen hand gripped them all, sending a cold wave coursing through their bodies. Just as they thought the being that had been making noises all around them would show itself, it vanished. Silence was all that was left in the tunnel. Nothing else remained for them to follow. As they relaxed just a tiny bit, Twilight spoke.

“We... should start.... moving again.” She tried to get the words out as best she could, but adrenaline shook her throat vehemently.

“God... I hate this place...the quicker we find this mare, the quicker we can leave, right, all?” Gregory stated, reinforcing Twilight's directives.

“Twilight....is that really Rarity out there? Or did she.... just vanish?” Spike said, his eyes contorted to where he looked ready to cry. Like the rest, he was still unable to adapt to this new world.

“I...of course she is, Spike...we'll find her.” She felt conflicted, she didn't want to lie to him but she honestly didn't know whether they would find her or not. “Don't worry. We won't give up on her.”
Spike seemed somewhat calmed by her answer, but he knew they were empty words. Twilight's poker face was decent, but since Spike knew her so well, he could read her more easily.
She's just lost her way...though she isn't the only one.

“Let's move guys...” She said, her melancholy voice softly reaching everyone's ears. Slowly she moved forwards, and the group followed her. Trotting down the tunnel, she and the group inched along the walls in an attempt to find any means of progression, until Fluttershy discovered a small path that lead to a wooden door much like the ones from the basement. Approaching it hesitantly, Twilight could feel the malevolent presence from earlier....the 'new' Rarity. 
She raised her gaze toward the handle as Gregory, realizing her intent, slowly opened the door. Aside from one flickering candle it was completely dark inside. As soon as the entire group had managed to enter the room, the door suddenly shut with a loud slamming sound. Twilight felt powerful magic wrap around her body and pin her to the ground. The others in the group all grunted and struggled as the same thing happened to them.

Rainbow Dash shouted into the darkness. “No....NO...NOOO!! NOT AGAIN! I TOLD you! I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!”

“What the hay is this!?” Spike struggled against he field that had formed around him. He attempted to counter it with his own, shining forth from his draconian ring, but it didn't help him at all.

“Not good... I can't...move...at all!” Gregory chimed in.

“Uhnnn.... Uhnnnn.... it's no use...” Fluttershy sputtered in despair.

“Such... powerful magic... could it possibly be...?” Twilight stopped short when her theory was confirmed. Rarity had stepped into the light of the candle. Immediately many other candles lit up as she passed. Twilight's body was raised into the air as the field around her tightened. Only able to struggle against those invisible bindings, she turned her head to face Rarity, now a stone cold face lacking in any empathy whatsoever. Moving Twilight over to what appeared to be a medieval operating table she placed her on the old and wooden surface. She strapped the lavender pony in tightly so that she was unable to move after she released her from the spell. At the same time, she got really close to Twilight's body while carrying a syringe of some kind.

“This won't hurt at all my dear! Its just a magic inhibitor...a precautionary measure so you can't perform magic on me while we make you pretty!” Rarity told her with a sadistic voice as she pushed the needle into her new victim's flank.

Twilight cringed, feeling the needle enter the especially delicate region. Rarity could have easily injected her with precision but for some reason she didn't. The needle pierced through muscle before reaching a vein. Upon puncturing said vein, Rarity started to push the top part of the syringe, slowly emptying the contents into Twilight's blood stream. Almost immediately she couldn't even feel her horn. Attempting to perform any spells resulted in just a fizzle. Whining in response to her new predicament, she looked back at her captor. A smug smile an expression of pure joy was painted across Rarity's face. Tossing the needle haphazardly onto a nearby table, she took a moment to enjoy watching the lavender pony struggle. Moving as much as she could Twilight tried to get out, her bindings however prevented her from doing so. She eventually gave up the idea of breaking free, but Rarity's silent and frightening gaze made her start hyperventilating. She had no idea what this mare was about to do to her. 

Rainbow Dash, still unable to move, watched as the familiar scene unfolded before her.
“No..... No.... NO!....” Rainbow Dash violently tried to break the binding she was in though she had no luck. “Why.... why is it like this...? What happened to us??”

Rarity looked over at Rainbow Dash with a look of somber disgust and then she laughed a little. “What's wrong, Dashie? You mean friendship? Don't you understand how absurd that concept is?”

The words were like knives directed at all of the ponies, especially Twilight, who held the ideologies of devotion above all else. “Earlier, you talked about power, but the power of the heart is the greatest force in the universe!” Still short of breath, Twilight attempted to appease to Rarity's reasonable side...if she still had one. “And friendship, loyalty, devotion...that's what fuels the heart! We've saved all of Equestria with that power, Rarity! How corrupt have you become to overlook something so important?”

“You all are really performing quite the comedic performance. Bravo I must say, you really are making me laugh.” Rarity said with much condescension in her voice, though upon looking at how serious Twilight's expression was she got a bit angry. “You're serious aren't you? You really do believe in that horse-apple concept?”

Twilight didn't respond, though Rarity got her answer anyways. “You know, I expected out of all of us, that you would be the one to realize the folly in such a Utopian ideology! I guess I was expecting too much out of you!”

“I.... don't know what has gotten into you, Rarity... but this isn't you!” Twilight was finding it hard to gather her words right now, after being injected with whatever it was that syringe contained, she found it hard to concentrate on her words. Despite this she retaliated against the white mare.

“Lost my way?....” Rarity's words trailed a bit as she spoke before she laughed maniacally. “Oh you misguided FOAL! If this “Friendship” is so important to you, then where WERE you when those beasts began to tear apart our world? I may have been lucky enough to escape before the plague spread too far, but now I've got my OWN nightmares to deal with!”

Her own nightmares...? “Rarity, I'm sorry! I had to...I just had to find a way to undo all of it! I thought you would all be safe in...”

Rarity cut her off. “Not only that, but do you have any idea how positively infuriating it is? I'm a unicorn...you're a unicorn...you're the magic genius, YOU get to save the world, YOU get all the glory, all the attention...even BEFORE abandoning me—which I'm sure Fluttershy knows all about as well...” she aimed a sinister hoof in the pegasus' direction, staring wide-eyed at the would-be tormentor. “...but even before abandoning US, I should say...were we only your lackeys? Your support? Your PAWNS?”

“How so!” Twilight tried to argue with the increasingly aggressive mare.

“You see, Twilight...all of society, Utopian or otherwise...is driven, nay...dictated...by competition. Competition that conflicts with the very IDEA of friendship. This makes us all selfish, no? And though you may be too young and naïve to realize it, or understand why...but it's a competition that only the most BEAUTIFUL can win.”
Gregory narrowed his eyes. He knew what was going through the unicorn's mind, but weren't they just children? Why would she be focused on something so carnal?
“Friends exist only to reinforce our grandiose self-images. And rather than relying on such mundane escapism to delude myself into believing I'm worth something, I intend to ASCEND past such nonsense and make that self-image a reality!” She continued rambling while levitating and examining a variety of intimidating—and somewhat unclean—tools from a nearby table. 

“You see...prior to the events leading to my enlightenment...to be honest, darling? I was jealous of YOU. YOU always had all the attention, the glory, the spotlight...and I tried to support you as best I could, deluding myself into believing it somehow made me a better pony. But today...I've learned something about friendship.” She assumed a dramatic pose, with a bonesaw pointed skyward, glinting in the candle light, mocking Twilight's old weekly routine of summarizing her lessons. “You CAN face the problems of the world on your own. Another reason ponies relied on friendship is because they are WEAK. WORTHLESS. The only way our kind survived at all in Equestria was by uniting ourselves as allies. It's disgusting really! Without this so-called friendship, we never would have amounted to anything.”

“Rarity, get a hold of yourself!” Twilight gulped seeing the blade up in the air. “It's me! Your friend! You can't do this!”

“Actually, sweetheart, I CAN. Because right and wrong are defined by the pony with the most power.” A sinister grin peeled across her features as the blade caressed Twilight's cheek. “Take Celestia, for example...is it acceptable to seal away those you deem your own enemy for over a thousand years, only to “reform” them a millennium later? Is it acceptable to pronounce yourself a Goddess and allow your subjects to use your name in vain?”

“There are so many things wrong with what you just said I don't even know where to start!” Twilight feebly shot back. “Now you're jealous of the Princess, too??”

Rarity continued, unabated. “But unlike the rest of you, not only do I not intend to simply shut myself out of reality—becoming sickeningly weak—but I wish to become the pinnacle of living perfection! Power is beauty, beauty is power...therefore, from now on, I dictate right and wrong!” Rarity's voice rose steadily, reaching an insane pitch that rang throughout the chamber. “Friendship is a poison! Friendship makes us all weak! Once you reach the afterlife, Twilight Sparkle, spread the word: Friendship is not Magic!!”


Lurching over her frame up until this point, the small blade she was holding fell from the sky, plunging deep into the lavender pony's hind leg. With no caution at all, the sinister mare twisted and yanked the instrument from its spot, laughing loudly as Twilight screamed out in agony. 

Rainbow Dash had squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to watch, unable to break free and help her friend—even if she was ready to overcome her own trauma: her memories were flooding her mind, and she couldn't take it any more.
Fluttershy was crying too, and had closed her eyes a while ago, unable to look. Gregory kept his eyes open, but was gritting his teeth in both frustration and terror. Desperately he felt a rising urge to get up and stop this mad-pony but he couldn't get up. Sitting there angry, he watched on, not even realizing that something was building up inside of him. Rarity was looming over Twilight's body at this point, she was looking up to face her captor, her ears were back in fear, and her body was shaking rapidly.

“Rarity! Please.... don't do this!” Twilight begged her so called friend.

“Oh, don't worry, dearest, you still have plenty of time left to live! ~It just may be slightly uncomfortable~” Rarity told her pleasantly. She levitated another blade and pressed it into one of her flanks, now taking a much more surgical approach. She started to make a circular incision around her cutie mark, all the while ignoring Twilight's cries. Stopping after having made a semicircular wound, she doubled back to carve what appeared to be a crescent moon shape. Warm blood oozed on out of the wound, staining Twilight's fur. She screamed when Rarity did this, every nerve in her leg on fire. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she whined.

“Yes...cry, Twilight...it's such a tragic, beautiful thing to behold!” Rarity cackled. Pulling a rag from top of the same nearby table, she pressed it into the wound. Once the rag was soaked she drained the blood into a bucket that she had under the table.
“The realization that one will die soon—the unspeakable terror! Your eyes, Twilight, they see all, don't they!?” She leaned in to gaze at her victim's swelling eyes, temporarily ignoring her craft.

“It's so poetic, isn't it?”
She looked from the barely filled bucket back to the crying mare. Taking the scalpel she brought it over to the other side of Twilight's flank and made a symmetrical wound around her cutie mark. Repeating what she did, more blood dripped from the rag into the bucket. Twilight struggled to keep strong, gnashing her teeth and preventing a cry from escaping her mouth.

“~Oh, now I think this is going just swimmingly!~” she remarked, delighted in her 'art.' “Now, I have this idea on what I'm going to do about that dreadful mane of yours...”

= = = = =

Tsunade was in agonizing pain. Despite the fact that the flames never left any marks on her body, she still felt its intense heat. Orochimaru simply savored every second of it. 

Desperately she concentrated one last burst of Chakra before finally molding it into a Jutsu.
“Release!” She called out, and Orochimaru's face instantly contorted in shock.

Tsunade found herself dissipating from the universe and eventually ending up on all fours gasping for air in the temple. Orochimaru was just standing there, motionless, still engaged in the genjutsu with Kakashi and Gaara. By the time Tsunade had regained composure though, Orochimaru released the genjutsu.

“Crafty bitch! I won't let you have an advantage over me!” He scowled, a look of discontent on his face. “Let's see how you handle this!”

Snakes poured out from Orochimaru's sleeves by the hundreds. Coming at Tsunade, she nimbly jumped to the side, avoiding the snakes that soon crashed into the wall that was behind her. Standing up ready to go, both Gaara and Kakashi had regained composure as well. Kakashi prepared a jutsu while jumping around to avoid the snakes that were now swarming the room. Gaara rushed to contain and destroy the snakes, clearing a path for Kakashi, now rushing Orochimaru with his hand engulfed in electric fury. 

The snake-like individual moved effortlessly out of the way only to be attacked by a wave of incoming sand—within which were the crushed corpses of several of his snakes. Gaara's hand moved around, directing this sand towards Orochimaru. He skillfully dodged the sand-based attacks, only to find Tsunade flank him with a flurry of punches. Her fists brushed past Orochimaru's cheeks, missed his sides by mere millimeters, however, the enemy simple weaved away from the human wrecking ball.

“Gah! Such a nuisance you all are!” Annoyance laced his voice, his face was disgruntled.

Fliping away from them, the man stopped to observe his opponents. A smile reappeared on his face. “Hehehe. As much as I would like to continue our little game, it would seem that our time is up. My accomplice should be about finished with your friend by now. Farewell then!”

After saying that, he pulled out a smokebomb from one of his pouches and then threw it at the ground. Immediately the smoke filled the room and the other three ninja covered their mouth for fear of poison. Once the smoke cleared, Orochimaru was no where to be seen.

“Shit! He's getting away!” Tsunade stated as she prepared herself to chase after him. Kakashi's hand halted her however.

“Forget about him...” Kakashi replied wearily, thinking on Orochimaru's parting words. “We need to find Twilight and the others...now!”

“They went down this way! Let's hurry!” Tsunade led the way, rushing down the hallway with a sense of urgency accompanying her steps.

= = = = =

At this point Twilight's body was covered in wounds, she was more crimson red than lavender too. Sniffling weakly, she whined some more. The others had found it way too agonizing to watch, though Rainbow Dash had already passed out and the 'other' Fluttershy—Bones—was emerging into the real world. Fluttershy was holding her back, though she couldn't help but wonder if her other self would agree to help Twilight.

Gregory was furious. Gritting his teeth together, he almost thought he would break them. Despite his attempts to break free, he remained there helpless to do anything to save Twilight.

“Ahhhh...This is marvelous! Absolutely marvelous! You are already looking positively splendid my dear! Look at all those wonderful beauty marks on you! Fabulous! My best work as of yet!” She complimented herself on a job well done. “Now... I still need more blood.... you will be a dear and let me take more won't you? I want to see how you look in red~”

Twilight didn't respond to her friend's question. She looked away, whining still, her ears pinned down in disbelief at what was happening right now. Rarity's expression shifted from happiness to sharp anger.

“How DARE you ignore me! Your behavior is positively unbecoming of a mare who is receiving such a GIFT from one such as MYSELF!” Rarity's blade stabbed into Twilight's right foreleg, forcing an ear-piercing howl from the helpless mare. Her horn sparked pathetically as she attempted to conjure up some magic—anything to get her out of this situation.

“Hahahahahaha....oh my, Twilight, I never realized before today how marvelous a scream you have~ Now if you would just comply and submit yourself to me this would all be so much easier!”

Gregory's eyes widened, his mind desperately trying to come up with something. Something bad is going to happen if I don't act fast! Think Gregory THINK! 
He thought and looked around trying to find something. Nothing was around him that was of any use, and he was still bound tightly by Rarity's magic. It then became apparent to him, the energy that had been building up inside of him. Unbeknownst to him, he had been storing up and molding Chakra. Of course...! I'll have to thank Kakashi later!

The thought crossed his mind as did many other solutions to their current predicament. Forming the proper amounts of Chakra for an ability, he attempted to do something: focusing his Chakra at Rarity when he finally molded and focused it, he let it escape from several points at the base of his fingertips. That energy flew at the white mare, but missed her horribly. Despite his failed attempt the mare stopped the descent of a large butcher knife she had just fetched.

“What in the world...? Did you just use magic... on ME?!” Rarity's attention was now on the human, surreptitiously moving towards him. “HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM!?”

Gregory felt sheer hatred emanating from the mare as that horrific aura filled the room like before. Covered in sweat, struggling not to imagine that knife plunge into his flesh, he focused his chakra once more. 
Come on, focus more Chakra, she's coming at you! 
Hindered by his fear and with barely a second to think, he prepared enough Chakra to quickly mold and focus another burst. Just as he finished readying up the ability though, Rarity was already looming over his body, a fierce face painted with anger staring daggers at him. Raising the knife she had above her head, she waited a few seconds before plummeting the blade down at him. Releasing said Chakra he had focused, something that shocked both Rarity and even himself happened: instead of escaping through his hands, Gregory allowed the energy within to escape from his entire being in a powerful, short-range blast. Rarity was violently thrust with enough force to smack her into the far side of the room, instantly passing out.