Axel Martin, a unitologist out to find the marker, Azaliah Clarke, Isaac's great great granddaughter has kept the markers hidden. She has kept him at bay so far but she was bound to fail eventually. Now Sunset Shimmer has become worried about what has happened and runs off to warn Princess Twilight, now Twilight has to find Azaliah, team up with her and keep her mind in check. Easier said than done when you're disliked by the person your trying to help.
“Sir, here is your coffee.” Axel, a tall muscular man wearing a Unitologist uniform, made his way into the overlook office, his drink in hand. He was an archeologist with high hopes in the old Diamond mines under Crystal Gem high school. The old mines still held many gems most of which were diamonds. It was highly sought after until he came along. He pushed everyone away from the mines; he had his sights on the artifact and the legend that went with it. The legend behind the mine was kept secret for many years and for good reason. Axel being a descendent of those responsible for the legend; had to get his greedy little hands on the artifact buried below.
Machines of all kinds worked to dig up his precious artifact. “Sir, digging this far down can’t be good for the workers.” A concerned worker brought up but Axel was in no mood to listen and he didn’t rightly care. His sights were set and he would get what he came for even if all his men died to get it. The problem was that he couldn’t act like he didn’t care or he wouldn’t have anyone to work for him.
“Don’t worry so much Kyle, everything is fine. Go ring the lunch bell, I don’t need my men getting too tired for work and remember how much I’m paying you.” Kyle saluted his boss and ran off. The bells for lunch signaled and everyone working rushed toward the lunch room. Axel took a peek out the window of the over look and frowned. “Two hundred feet down and not a sign of it anywhere.” Axel hit the window and let out a sigh. He had to find it, he would kill for it.
Of course Axel wasn’t the only one trying to find the thing, there were plenty of others that were from his ancestor’s time that wanted it for the same reason but there were those that also wanted to keep it hidden. The ones that didn’t want it found he hired a hit man to take care of them. There was one that threatened him more then anyone else though. The Clarke kid, little Azaliah Clarke, she was a thorn that made his work difficult. She had caused more problems with the other locations he had worked for and if he didn’t hurry, she would ruin this one as well. “She just had to be like her great-great-grandfather didn’t she? Curse you Isaac, destroying everything that we worked for. Now Azaliah is walking in your footsteps, keeping us all from our glory. I don’t care if she is sixteen, I’ll kill her if needs be. I don’t need her in my new world.” Axel knew that he had to hurry; she would surely be here anytime now. He would be shut down and that couldn’t happen this time, he wouldn’t allow it.
Axel made his way to the microphone and began speaking; his voice echoed throughout the entire mine over the intercom. “Everyone back to work immediately, there is no time to waste. I don’t care if you have to take your food with you, just get working.” He set the microphone down and watched as his men went back to work and in a hurry, Axel scared people.
Hours past and a small tip of something poked out from the rock below. It was normal to find rock, dirt clods, or some mineral to poke out but this one was different. Axel had moved on from over look to over look just to keep his eye on things. “That must be it, it has to be. We can’t go any further down.” His body shook anxiously waiting for more dirt to clear. Little by little the dirt separated from the object. “The ancient artifact, it’s finally mine.”
“I don’t think so Axel, you’ll bury that thing or I’ll force you to.” Azaliah stood behind Axel, arms folded and her foot tapped the ground irritably.
“No, not when I’m this close to our destiny, you won’t ruin this again.” Axel turned around to attack Azaliah but she had her gun pointed at him. Axel stopped dead in his tracks and growled angrily. “Why, why stop us from becoming better?”
“You think this thing will make us better? My father, his father before him, and his father before him have made sure that this insanity, this demonic alien artifact, the marker did not continue. I will not let you ruin lives for your own greed you fool of a man.” Azaliah snapped her fingers and in flooded five cops ready to arrest Axel.
The cops tackled Axel and had him arrested for multiple accounts of illegal mining. Axel fought back and ended up next to the window that over looked the progress. A blood curdling scream was heard below loud and clear. “It’s too late, the world will rejoice in it’s new accomplishments.” He continued to fight the cops until Azaliah knocked him out cold.
Azaliah went over to the microphone and spoke into it. “Attention all of you workers, cover-” She was cut off by the sound of the microphone buzzing loudly. Everyone in the room had to cover their ears to keep from going deaf. Once the buzz died down, Azaliah tried speaking into the microphone again but it didn’t transfer. She hit the object a few times to try and get it working but it was useless, it wouldn’t work. “Let’s blow this place up, there isn’t saving anyone now.”
“You have to be kidding me; you’re just going to let everyone die. You won’t even try?” A cop said completely shocked. Azaliah was supposed to save people, not let them die.
“You want to die down there?” The cops weren’t sure of what to think, usually the word risk would be said somewhere in a sentence like that. Not this time though, it was straight out death. “That’s what I thought.” Just then the ceiling above began to shake and rattle. Dirt clods with rocks and other minerals began falling down. “He made the ceiling to thin, we need to move out now.” Azaliah picked up Axel and ran for the elevator. Once inside, the cop closest to the buttons immediately pushed the thirteenth button. It was a rather ironic floor to have.
The elevator roared to life and started to close when a worker put his hands in to keep the doors from shutting. “Help me.” The worker begged as a blade pierced his stomach and pulled him back. His screams echoed through the mine as well as the sound of gurgling blood. The doors slammed shut and the elevator began to move up.
Clods of dirt pummeled the elevator the entire way up. The elevator was jostled back and forth and one of the four tethers holding the elevator up snapped. It continued to move up slowly one floor at a time. Another tether snapped at the ninth floor up and then another at the eleventh. The elevator now hung by one tether as the doors opened up. They rushed out with Azaliah helping the cops out. Soon only one cop was left and her hand was reached out for his. The elevator moved around making the cop inside lose his balance and fall to the floor. He did his best to stand up and reached out for her hand. They got a grip just as the elevator moved once again. Azaliah pulled the cop half way out when the tether snapped and the elevator fell.
Azaliah fell to the ground as the cop was pulled down with the falling elevator that cut him in half. The cops scream lasted but a second as his lower half went down with the elevator. His blood flowed like a river down the shaft. The tunnel they were now in began to crumble above them. “Let’s move it people, we can mourn later.” They ran for the exit and made it out just in time for the cave and the school to collapse inward. Above flew one news helicopter and in ran reporters ready to ask questions.
It was a Saturday night and Rainbow Dash and the others were sitting around watching T.V. when their show was cut off. “What’s the deal?” Rainbow asked confused and irritated.
“Breaking news everyone, it seems that Axel Martin was illegally digging in the old Diamond mines. The mine collapsed, we are unsure of how many died down there. Here is Azaliah Clarke with hopefully important info.” The newswoman turned to Azaliah. “Tell us, what exactly happened here today?”
Azaliah glared angrily but answered the questioned. “Axel here tried to recover something that my family for generations has worked to keep hidden. Thanks to him hundreds of good men and woman are dead including one cop. This piece of trash is responsible for their deaths and should be put to death for what he has done. I will make sure that we have some people cover up this hole.” Dust filled the air as the school finished sinking, the dust made seeing anything on screen difficult. The story finished there and the groups show came back on.
“What was that about?” Rainbow asked as she stuffed some potato chips in her mouth.
“I surely have no idea but he deserves the death penalty if what she said was true.” Rarity took a sip of her drink.
“Ah don’t know, what do ya think Sunset?” Applejack looked over to their new friend who had a horrified expression on her face. “What’s wrong sugarcube?”
“Whatever is happening, it’s not good. Something isn’t right and I fear that our pony Twilight is in for as big a surprise as are we, whatever it is.” Sunset turned to her friends.
“Surprises are good.” Pinkie Pie said happily.
“Not this one Pinkie, he was digging for something deep down. I don’t know what but it isn’t good. Something about this just doesn’t set right with me.” Sunset took a moment to think. “The portal opens tomorrow, I’m going to go through and warn Twilight. She needs to know that something is up.”
“You’re not gonna let us go with you are ya?” Applejack asked.
“No need, I’ll go and be back before you know it. In the meantime, let’s get some rest.” The sun had gone down by this time and fog rolled in. Sunset couldn’t help but shake nervously. People don’t illegally mine, put people at risk and not have something big happen because of whatever was found. It took some time but Sunset was finally able to fall asleep but it wasn’t peaceful. It was terrifying and this was coming from someone who had once been a demon. Her nightmare was blacker than night and there were things surrounding her. She woke with a start and sweat covered her body. “Whatever was going on, Twilight had to know about it.” It took a while but she was finally able to fall asleep once again.
By the time the next day came around, Azaliah had gathered a group of workers to fill in the hole, granted that not all were one type of worker. Some worked in cubicles, schools, restaurants and so on. It was made up of strong able bodied people. “With the collapse of the school, it will be incredibly important that none of you leave your assigned partners. The area is very unstable, slipping through will be very easy to do. I want each group of eight to stay close to each other. If someone happens to fall through, the others will be there to catch you and pull you up. This is also why we have attached mountain climbing equipment to you as an extra precaution.” Azaliah looked around in the fog with her headlight on. The fog was as thick as a stick of butter, completely impossible to see through. Light was absolutely necessary. “Keep your lights on, if you run out of battery, yell for more. I don’t want a light to disappear and not hear anything. If that happens, I will call everyone back and end work today. If I hear that anyone goes their own way, I will personally find you and kick you off the team. Have I made myself clear?” She received a collective yes from everyone. “Good, get to work and be safe.”
A party of eight people head out toward the middle of the collapse, standing in a line that spread from the center of the hole to the top. One of the men stood in the center of the collapse while the others spread apart and handed bag after bag of dirt to each other. “Shining Armor, I can’t believe that your wife or your sister for that matter allowed you to come out and help with this.” A blue man with darker blue hair said passing down a bag of dirt.
“Twilight wasn’t happy with me going but I told her that I needed to. Azaliah needed all the help she could get from those that can help. Besides, if there is something so dangerous down there, I don’t want whatever it is attacking my family.” Shining passed the bag down to a yellow woman with fiery hair.
“I say that’s more then enough reason to do this.” Spitfire passed down the bag to the person below her. “Be glad that this will take all day, I have to say, I really needed the break.” Bag after bag kept getting passed to the person in the center.
“To be honest, I was in charge of this school along with Cadance, sort of. This is really freaking her out.” Shining huffed as he passed the next bag down. “I can’t say that I’m happy about being here either. My family is worried sick.” Shining passed down another bag.
“So how deep is this hole again?” Soarin asked as he passed another bag down the line.
“She said it was pretty deep, chances are it will take a few days to get this filled up. It may even take weeks.” Spitfire shivered as a cold wind blew by.
“You want my jacket Spitfire?” She nodded and Shining gladly passed his jacket over. At that point a light went out. The owner of the light yelled out for another and a few men came by with some batteries. “How do you suppose she got this all together so fast?”
“Azaliah works with the army, how do you think?” Spitfire said as another light went out in her group. “How many lights are going-” There was a scream for help and the person closest to the person in trouble grabbed onto him. “He must have fallen through the ground, the very thin ground.” Spitfire grabbed another bag when another scream was heard.
“What’s going on down there? Get him up!” A cop screamed out.
“I’m trying, he’s stuck!” One of the workers yelled up.
The worker in the ground felt a strong pain in his legs and screamed bloody murder into the air. Tears streamed down his face that froze his cheeks as the wind blew, the man fainted.
Azaliah immediately pulled out her gun and slid down toward the center where the screams had come from. “Everyone move out now!” She yelled as she made her way down into the center. Another scream was heard below and the entire line slipped as the person let go. The injured man was now halfway in the hole. Azaliah made it to where the hole and man were. She aimed down into the hole with her gun and light. The only sight were two red eyes. She fired off shots all over inside the hole. “Pull him up!” She reached down with one hand and began pulling up on the rope. More red eyes were seen coming closer.
Azaliah fired shot after shot into the hole; all that could be heard were painful screeches. “Get him up!” She reloaded as the man was pulled up and dragged away.
Shining, Spitfire, and Soarin were already at the top helping to pull the others up. Once the last man was up, Shining and the other two looked in horror. The mans legs had been cut off from hip down. They didn’t need to be able to see to know that there was a blood trail leading up from where the hole was. “What happened?”
Azaliah made it back up top and turned to the general. “We nuke the hole.”
Shining had heard this and said what everyone else was thinking. “What; nuke the hole?”
“Do you really want what’s down there to come up?” Shining shrunk away, despite being an officer, Azaliah scared him. “I thought so; I only hope that nothing else has had time to come up yet.”
Sunset Shimmer grabbed a flashlight and made her way outside and toward the portal. Her friends had voted against her leaving in such thick fog but she had to. The portal only lasted so long and there were precious minutes that just couldn’t be wasted. “Twilight must know.” Sunset wasn’t too far from the statue now. It had begun to rain and horrific noises could be heard all around her. She could only assume that whatever made the noise, it wasn’t friendly and it came from the mine Axel was working in. She ran as fast as her legs would take her. The closer she got to the portal, the more noises she heard.
The statue was within a hundred feet now, Sunset sped up. As she closed in on the portal something sharp hit her arm cutting it and made her bleed. She screamed out in pain and flipped around but nothing was there. Another sharp object hit her arm and stuck in her. Sunset screamed in pain and booked it toward the portal. Another hit her leg and made her trip. All she could do now was crawl as another hit her back. Tears flowed from her eyes. She was in arms reach of the portal when another hit her foot. Lucky for her it was just her shoe but she couldn’t continue forward. She painfully freed her foot as another object hit the ground next to her. Before anything else could hit her, she crawled through the portal.
On the other side Rainbow Dash had followed a trail of fog to the mirror. Just as Rainbow was ready to leave, Sunset Shimmer came through, collapsed on the ground bloody and out cold. “What’s going on?”
“No, no I don’t.” Twilight said defensively but smiled anyway.
“She does, she absolutely does.” Rarity sang with a big grin on her face. Pinkie then put in her two cents the way only Pinkie could.
Twilight gave Spike a quick hug and then walked off too bed. Like before, her wings gave her some trouble but after her little experience, she took control fairly quick. It only took her ten minutes to get comfortable and fall asleep unlike before where she had lost track. The next morning she had run into Flash Sentry again and spilled the drink she had on him. “I’m so sorry; I’ve been such a klutz with drinks lately.”
“No worries Princess Twilight Sparkle, a little drink won’t get me down though,” Flash leaned in close. “I bet it would your friend Rarity.”
Twilight chuckled lightly and then cleared her throat. “Yes, I suppose it might. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Flash nodded and Twilight left but not before giving Flash a peck on the cheek. Twilights eyes widened in horror and shock and without warning took off toward her meeting leaving Flash blushing. Twilight reached the door to the throne room where the meeting was being held. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, what was I thinking doing that?” Twilight hit her head a few times. “I can’t just go around and kiss every stallion that reminds me of him.” She inhaled deeply, calmed down and walked into her meeting.
The day after her meeting, she saw Flash and tried to turn and walk away but she couldn’t. “Princess, may we talk about the yesterday?”
Twilight’s friends smirked and chuckled and walked off leaving the two to talk. She chuckled nervously and nodded. “Of course, I am so sorry about the abrupt kiss. I can assure you that I don’t know what came over me.”
“No worries Princess but may I ask, one of Princess Celestia’s balls are coming up and though I am just a guard, would you like to go with me. Normally I wouldn’t be going but I’ve for some reason been given time off for it.” Flash rubbed the back of his neck feeling a bit awkward.
Twilight blushed a bright red and smiled. “I, oh, um, yes, I would love to go with you.” She would have to remember to speak with Celestia later and thank her. Celestia clearly set this up.
Flash and Twilight were in Ponyville trying to warm up in her library. “Flash, I can’t believe we’ve been dating for three years now.” Twilight cuddled up next to him and nuzzled his neck.
Flash wrapped his wings around Twilight to help keep her warm. The fog that had started coming in had put a real damper on their day, not to mention the temperature dropped twenty or so degrees. “I know; that is why I grabbed this before coming over.” Twilight looked up at Flash in confusion. “The problem is, I have something stuck in my right wing.” Flash moved his wing ever so slightly and a small box landed on his other wing. He opened it up and smiled. “So Twilight, will-” He was cut off by his lips being attacked by Twilights. When the two separated, Twilight smiled while biting her lower lip. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Flash slipped the ring onto Twilights horn and smiled.
“Can I open my eyes now?” Spike asked after having come down the stairs to see the two kissing.
“Spike, what are you doing down here? I thought we agreed to give Flash and I some private time. You know that we rarely get it.” Twilight asked disappointed and frustrated by the intrusion.
“Yeah I know but I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, she wants you and Flash in the Crystal Empire immediately and before you get all huffy about me opening it, I would like to point out that you’re the one that wanted private time with no disturbances. Also she said to go to the medical room.” Spike defended himself.
“Of course Spike, I understand and thank you for that.” Twilight and Flash separated and stood up off the couch. “It looks like we have a job to do.”
Spike went along refusing to be left alone. He of course sat no where near the two love birds on the train. Once they arrived at the empire, the three ran up and into the castle. “What do you think is wrong? Does it have something to do with the weird fog?” Spike asked as they continued to make their way to the small hospital in the castle.
“I haven’t any idea Spike but does it matter, Rainbow is probably really badly hurt.” The three arrived and burst into the room. “Is Rainbow ok?” Twilight blurted out.
Rainbow Dash turned her head around and smiled. “I’m fine but you may want to come see this and just Twilight right now.” The others shrugged and stood still.
Twilight walked over and looked at the pony on the bed in shock. “Sunset Shimmer!”
“Hello Twilight…how are you?” Sunset coughed up some blood and struggled to breath.
“What’s going on, what happened to you?” Twilights face stayed in a look of shock.
“It’s… critical Princess…my world needs you.” Sunset coughed up some more blood as doctors started working on her again. “Something…has happened. Some…psychopath…released something.” More blood came from her mouth. “I fear…that the…elements of…harmony are…needed. Please…Princess…help us.”
“How many of whatever attacked you were there so that we may be ready?” Twilight asked
“I…think only…one. I…don’t know…where it…was.” Sunset coughed up more blood.
“No, we must break the mirror then.” Celestia said.
“So…you would…let millions…upon millions…die?” Sunset coughed up even more blood then before. “Besides, how…can you be…so sure that…whatever came…after me…hasn’t come…through already? You…break the…mirror…you doom…yourselves…as” Sunset Shimmer stopped speaking, her heart and every other organ stopped. The monitor went from small waves to a straight line.
A doctor came over with a tray of things. “Princess Twilight, you may want to see what we dug out of her.” Twilight nodded and looked at the bloody things on the tray. The small things looked like the ends of a grappling hook but tiny.
“Princess Celestia, what do we do?” Twilight asked as she stared at the little objects horrified.
“We send you and the others through the portal. You bring the elements with you and quickly take care of the problem and if you can’t, get back before the portal closes. I will have guards search the castle to make sure that these things didn’t come through. Keep a shield around you and the others at all times and take armor with you as well.” Celestia commanded.
“Of course, Rainbow Dash, go get the others. I don’t care if you have to get there and back via a Sonic Rainboom.” Rainbow nodded and left without a word or complaint. “If I may make a suggestion, have the guards and you as well guard the mirror as others search. The last thing we need is for these things to sneak in while the castle is being searched.”
“You make a good point, Flash, get the guards together and bring a group here, send others to search out the castle.” Flash nodded and took off. “Princess, lets get the armor ready.” Twilight nodded and followed her former mentor out.
Once everypony was out of the room, a creature with thick wing-like appendages made its’ way into the hospital. It climbed up on Sunset Shimmers body and stuck it’s proboscis in her forehead. It lifted her up off the bed and began to change her. Sunset’s body twitched wildly, blades formed from her front hooves and her skin peeled back leaving flesh exposed along with tiny hairs everywhere that made her look as if she were balding. Her mane and tail tore off along with the skin and fur. Her eyes opened revealing blood red orbs. She stood on her back hooves and looked around for a moment. She then took off out the door with the infector close behind.
Azaliah had overseen getting the nuke, it had taken all night. With the fog as thick as it was, it had taken time to collect and Azaliah wasn’t happy about it. It had to be carried by plane and set down in the exact area above the hole. “Ok, a little more to the left.” Slowly the nuke dangled to the left as well as many other directions previously. “You’re good to go, drop the nuke.” As instructed, the nuke was released. Azaliah was the only one other then the pilots in the plan that had to book it out of the area. Everyone else had been instructed to stay away. The nuke fell hundreds of feet downward until the tip of it hit the marker and blew sky high. The explosion shot straight up the hole and out the top. The earth shook violently from the blast. Those at plenty of distance away could feel the blast go off.
Metal, rock, flesh and anything else that was down there in the hole shot up and landed miles from where the explosion went off except for the marker, it hadn’t been damaged from what Azaliah could tell. Some people had to dodge the shrapnel, lucky for everyone, they had all been warned and so they had expected it. Most people were smart enough to stay in their homes. There were some necromorphs that had been pinned by flying debris that weren’t near the hole.
At that point the sounds of a faint alarm could be heard in the distance. Azaliah pulled up her holovid and called up the prison. “Pick up, come on.” Just then a man came on. “Azaliah, help, the-” Blood splattered and the tip of a blade could be seen. The holovid went dark. “No, this didn’t solve anything.” Azaliah stomped on the ground angrily.
Axel sat on the old stool in the corner of his cell with a smile on his face. Some guards came by and handed Axel his food through a slot in the bars. “Eat up; you’ll be here for a while.” The cop set the plate down and walked off, both guards laughed as they walked out of sight.
“You really think that I failed you fool, no it was Azaliah who has failed. A new beginning is at hand and you can’t stop it now.” Axel looked at the dirty rags that he was given to wear. The orange jumpsuit was dirty and caked with mud. “They will respect me soon enough, they will all respect me.”
“Give it a rest; you’re the worst of us all.” A man in the cell next to him said annoyed with Axels complaining or bragging; it was hard to tell.
“No one understands like I do, my ancestors had the world saved until that filthy Isaac Clarke interfered. They decided to wait until he died of old age to continue with their plans but his awful offspring ruined all hopes for that. One by one they were taken down and what’s worse is that the government insisted that they do it. They were just scared of the unknown, the cowards.” Axel went on and on about the injustice.
“Shut up man, I’d rather have the death penalty then to have to listen to this insane man.” Many of the convicts agreed and used whatever they could to plug their ears.
“Go ahead and ignore me, you’ll see the glory of being in the presence of the marker. It will unify us as one, we’ll be saved. Convergence will happen and no one can stop it this time.” Axel said proud of his accomplishment. A guard came over to his cell and hit the bars.
“Quiet you-” A spike hit the side of his head and killed him.
“Yes, come and take them all.” An infector jumped on the dead guard and stabbed him in the head with its proboscis. “Unite us; help us come together as one.” As he said that, a Brute charged through the wall of his cell and rammed into Axel. He hit the cell bars and his bones cracked. The Brute grabbed onto him and ripped him in half before an Infector came over and did to him what the other did to the guard.
Chaos rang through the prison; all the prisoners were set free. The alarm sounded and guard after guard ran in and lit up the area with bullets. The lights all over the prison went out and the fog rolled in through broken walls and windows. Not a thing could be seen but gun fire could be heard even over the alarm.
Rainbow Dash and the others felt the earth shake. “It looks like the nuke went off.” Rainbow looked out the window to find it still foggy.
“So where is Sunset Shimmer? Surely she would have been back by now.” Rarity looked worried as she paced.
Pinkie Pie felt her knee pinch. “I think we may have a problem, things are about to get real scary like.” The others looked at Pinkie, nodded and then looked at the window.
“We shouldn’t have let her go.” Applejack frowned and then saw something flash by the window. “Did any of ya see that?” AJ went over to the window and looked out it as best as she could with no help from the fog. After a moment of looking, she backed away from the window as a tiny grappling hook flew into it and stuck. “Whoa nelly.” AJ jumped backward after nearly getting shot between the eyes.
“AJ, what happened?” Rainbow and the others rushed over to their friend afraid that she had been hurt.
“Oh, oh my. Are you alright Applejack?” Fluttershy asked after she noticed the projectile halfway through the window.
“Yeah, just a bit freaked out.” One by one Necromorphs came over to the window and started pounding on it. The group inside the house backed up from the window. The sight was terrifying. “Any ideas girls?”
Soon there were at least ten necromorphs at the window pounding on it and making it crack. Fluttershy began to tear up and the others were ready to themselves. “I say we run out the back door.” Rainbow suggested.
“I don’t know Rainbow Dash, what if we’re surrounded?” Rarity asked.
“What if we aint though and besides, what other choice have we got?” AJ asked seeing the glass crack more and more.
The five girls looked at each other and nodded. The five of them ran to the kitchen grabbed some knives and then made their way to the back of the house. Rainbow peeked out the square window in the door. A Necromorph hit the window trying to get at them. “We’re goners.” The sound of the glass shattering made the five jump. “I’m not going down without a fight.” The others except for Fluttershy, who was too scared to move, agreed. They stood and waited as the undead creatures made their way to them. “We can do this right?” They all gulped and saw a small one come around the corner.
“Let’s get em.” AJ and the others, with the exception of Fluttershy, ran at the small necro, weapons held high.
Twilight and her friends were soon all together but of course Rarity was the first to notice the new thing that Twilight had. “Twilight darling, is that an engagement ring on your horn?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow and then remembered that she still wore it. She blushed and gave the squee sound. She quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat. “Yes, Flash and I are engaged but that isn’t what you’re here for and after a bit of thought, I’ve realized that I was too hasty to have all of you come.” Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. “Sorry to make you go all that way for all our friends.”
“Hold on a minute, you aren’t going to take us with you?” Rainbow asked a little ticked partly because of going all the way to Ponyville and also that she wasn’t going. It’s not like causing chaos would be an issue now, right?
“Hold on, I didn’t say I wasn’t taking any of you, just most of you will be left behind. Besides, if anything is found here, Princess Celestia will need you.” Twilight explained and then turned to Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie, you’re the only one coming with me. I feel that you would be best.”
“Darling, you can’t be serious. No offense to Pinkie Pie but Rainbow or AJ would be much better partners if you get in a fight with something than Pinkie or any of us for that matter.” Rarity said worried about Twilights decision. Sure Pinkie had her party cannon but knowing what happened to Sunset, Pinkie just didn’t seem like the best choice.
“That Rarity is why I’m not taking them.” Everypony looked at Twilight in confusion. “First of all you may need the fighters, I won’t. Secondly, I need Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense if I intend to do what I need to safely. I can’t fight what I can’t see and from what I understand, I may not be able to. I also can’t drag all of you around which means death would be definite. I fear that the moment Pinkie and I get there, we will have to move and I can’t do that with all of you.” Twilight explained.
“What about the elements of harmony Twi?” AJ held up her element.
“Good point, give me your elements just in case. They do you no good without me here anyway. I shouldn’t need them since my crown worked without yours last time but that may have been a special case.” A scream came from the hallway. “Princess Celestia, can you handle things here?” Celestia gave a hard nod and then grabbed some guards to go with her to find the source of the scream. “Can you girls handle things here?” They hadn’t said anything, just looked away. “You can’t possibly be angry with me, you’re needed here more then where Pinkie and I are going.”
“We understand that darling but it just seems like you don’t need us anymore for big things like this.” Rarity looked to Twilight with a sad expression.
“You’re wrong then, I do need you. If it hadn’t been for the other versions of you in the other world then I would be taking you.” Ok so that may have been a lie but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. “I need you here because if I fail, somepony needs to be here to protect Equestria. I trust all of you with that responsibility but you can’t do that if you die on the other side of the mirror.” Twilight got smiles from her friends. “Good, I’m glad you understand, now Pinkie.” Twilight turned to her pink friend. “You ready to go?” Twilight asked as her friends handed over their elements to Twilight.
“Yeah, let’s take care of this. Oww, pinchy knee.” The others let out a sigh. Twilight pulled the ring off her horn and then they said their goodbyes and then went through the mirror.
Once on the other side, peace lasted only a second before Pinkie started talking. “Duck!” Twilight did and then grabbed onto Pinkie Pie and started running while Pinkie gave orders. “Left, right, duck, jump, spin, stop, run.” It continued on for about five minutes before Pinkie stopped and loud noises could be heard from a distance. Twilight continued her run past a group of people before running straight into a girl.
“Follow me.” A girl younger then the two of them said. Without having a reason to do anything else, the two followed the girl, Pinkie not having much of a choice since she was being dragged along. After a few minutes, they arrived at an underground bunker. “Here we are, make yourself at home and well done at avoiding the necromorphs.”
“Necrowhat?” Pinkie and Twilight asked at the same time and then heard happy screams. The two turned and found Twilight’s friends and another Pinkie. Pony Pinkie was still on the ground after all, she had been dragged all the way there.
“So that’s what I look like here?” Pony Pinkie asked.
“It’s so great to meet me.” Human Pinkie said helping up her other world self.
“That will be an interesting conversation to say the least.” Twilight chuckled and then turned to her friends and smiled.
“How have you been girl?” Rainbow Dash asked as Twilight put her ring on her new appendage. “Getting married huh, congrates.”
“What, oh right the ring. Yeah but right now are some more important matters such as what happened to you and where is Fluttershy?” Twilight knew she hit a nerve when the others turned away except for AJ.
“Look, she got hurt pretty bad. She is in intensive care right now just tryin to stay alive.” AJ let a small tear slip.
“Who here knows about what’s going on?” Twilight asked
“That would be me, I brought you here.” The girl said from behind. “My name is Azaliah Clarke and let me guess, you’re the Princess pony?”
“How did you know that?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Easy, the other you is in that direction.” Azaliah pointed behind her. “I thought I had already brought you here. Now what did you need?” Azaliah tapped her foot impatiently.
“I’m here to help stop this horror.” Azaliah laughed at her comment. “What’s so funny?”
“You think I would let you help, go home and stay there, break the portal between our worlds. It’s not needed.” Unexpected by Twilight, Azaliah, and friends, Twilight hit Azaliah as hard as she could.
“I’m not sitting on the sidelines while these things continue to hurt my friends. Sunset Shimmer died to get this info to me and I won’t let her death be in vain so whether you like it or not, I’m helping. You can work with me or against me, I don’t care either way.” Twilight glared at the girl in front of her.
“How dare you hit me, this isn’t your world, so screw off Princess.” Azaliah turned to walk away.
“I hope they tear you apart.” Twilight said, something else that wasn’t like her but Azaliah ticked her off. Admittedly, she felt bad about the comment but she was on edge and Azaliah didn’t help.
“I don’t like you and you don’t like me so stay out of the way. I don’t need you.” Azaliah calmly walked off leaving the group of friends angry with her.
Celestia and two guards went searching the hallways. The sounds of screams could be heard from all over and the fog had gotten worse. Celestia had to use her horn as a light source. They went around multiple corners and just as they were about to give up, they saw shadows. The three moved cautiously forward until they came within sight of the things the shadows were attached to. One was a dead body and three were twisted and morphed. One was completely unrecognizable but the other two looked like one of her guards and Sunset Shimmer. Two of the morphed creatures turned toward them and ran at them. Celestia shot two beams at the guard and then at Sunset Shimmer. The two creatures flopped onto their backs and then stood. Two deep burn marks now occupied their torsos. “How?” She fired off more beams of magic as another came to life and more came from around the corner in front of them.
A painful grunt and then a scream was heard beside Celestia. She turned her head and saw one of the creatures digging into one of her guards. She used her magic and teleported her and her other guard back to the room. “Your highness, we must leave. The castle is being taken over.” The guard next to her panicked.
“Yes, everypony, we must retreat, regroup and hope that Twilight will make it back in time.” Celestia used all the magic she had left in her to teleport her, the guards, Rainbow and the others along with the mirror to the train station and got on the train.
“Rainbow Dash, everyone, we need to get out of here. I came to help out and I won’t be denied that. I risked everything to come help, I won’t leave until this is over or I die.” Rainbow with the others nodded. “First though, I’d like to go see Fluttershy.”
“I think that’s doable, lets go.” Rarity led the way to the medical bay. The group talked as they went.
Everyone around gave them weird looks as they walked. “Hey AJ, why is everyone looking at us that way?” Twilight asked
“Well, who knows?” AJ commented as they continued toward the medical bay. Soon they arrived at their destination, a guard blocked the door. “Well, ask him.”
“Excuse me, we would like to see Fluttershy.” Twilight asked and received an odd look from the guard who then shrugged. He moved out of the way and let the group through. “Thank you sir though, never mind.” They walked in and noticed their friend on a bed toward the back of the room. They ran over to the back and looked at Fluttershy.
Her mane was a disaster and her side, legs, and head were covered bandages. She would move a little but as she did, she would wince from the pain. When she moved her head, one of her eyes was noticeably gone and a scar went from her forehead straight down across her missing eye and down to her chin. “Hey girl, ya hear me?” She didn’t budge.
“Hey Fluttershy, it’s me, Twilight.” Fluttershy moved and opened her eye. “Hey, how are you doing?”
“Twilight?” She fell unconscious once again as doctors came rushing over to take care of things. They pushed Twilight out of the way.
“Come on, we can do this without her I suppose.” Twilight didn’t believe what she had said but there wasn’t a choice, Fluttershy was too injured to help and so she and the others left depressed. Once they arrived back outside the medical bay, Twilight had come up with an idea. “Rainbow, can you distract everyone so we can sneak past the guards?” Rainbow nodded as guards came by with a plate of food. Rainbow picked it up and screamed out the words, “FOOD FIGHT!” She threw the plate and soon food went flying in every direction. “Well done.” Rainbow smiled proudly as they began sneaking out of the bunker. Once they reached the exit, they saw two guards. “AJ, Rainbow, knock them out ok?” The two nodded and did as they were told. They ran past the unconscious bodies but were soon pursued by more guards.
Soon they arrived near the hole where Azaliah was working. “What are you doing here, get out of here!” She screamed.
“No, I’m going to help.” Azaliah walked over to Twilight and glared at her. “You can’t intimidate me.” Twilight pushed her back and stood her ground.
“Who do you think you are?” Azaliah pointed at Twilight and guards surrounded her. “You want to die out here then fine.”
“I won’t die out here, no one will. I am a lot stronger than you may think and so are my friends.” Twilight gave Azaliah a death glare.
“Fine and, you know what, you’re insane. Get a hold of yourself. Your-” The ground then began shaking violently and the two fell into a deep hole. The two stood dazed, their vision blurry for a second. “This isn’t good; I need to get out of here.”
“We need each other if we’re going to get out.” Azaliah just groaned. “You know that we can’t get out of here alone, we need each other.”
“I know; you’re right for once.” Azaliah pulled out two weapons and threw her gun she was holding to the ground. She handed one of the guns to Twilight. “I gave you one of my great great grandfathers’ guns to use. It’s called the Contact Beam, hold down the trigger and then release once it’s charged. It has an acid attachment to it. I’m using his Pulse Rifle with an electric attachment to it as well as a grenade launcher attached on the bottom. It has a fire attachment, my point is stay out of my way and we’ll make it through this alive.” She quickly taught Twilight how to reload the weapon and so on. “You’re lucky; you don’t have to aim for the limbs like I do, at least with the top half of my gun anyway.”
“So what, you have to dismember them?” Azaliah rolled her eyes and nodded. “Here that Pinkie, go tell Princess Celestia, who knows if she’ll need that info.” Twilight received an ok from Pinkie.
“That is the other thing; keep your mind under control. I don’t need you getting all delusional down here.” Azaliah then started off, her gun at the ready.
“I’m not delusional but you sure seem to be at times.” Twilight mumbled under her breath and then followed Azaliah.
After getting on the train, things went south quickly, Necromorphs were all over the train. They only traveled a mile before they had to leave. With the help of the unicorns, Celestia had successfully teleported everypony and the mirror to the castle in Canterlot. She collapsed from using so much magic even for an Alicorn. “Is everypony alright?”
“Princess, that was undeniably awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed finding herself in Canterlot castle and not just the castle but the Princess’s throne room.
“Yes Rainbow Dash, it was quite incredible but even at that and with the little help that I and the other unicorns gave, the Princess must rest now. If a Unicorn had tried that alone, we surely would have died.” Rarity looked to the Princess and watched as her guards were in the process of helping her.
The four elements of harmony went out onto the balcony and looked out as far as they could but it wasn’t far. In the distance near Ponyville, a bright red light shot up into the sky like a homing beacon. The four could only stare at the beam until it died down. Rainbow Dash heard something immediately after it vanished. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what Rainbow Dash, I…wait I hear it as well.” Rarity said.
“Me too.” Fluttershy and Applejack said in unison.
“Shh, I want to hear.” Rainbow put her ear to the sky to try and hear better.
Twinkle Twinkle Pinkie Pie Chop us up and we will die We will come and you will cry
The voice was Pinkie’s and it giggled like a child. The four friends could only stand frozen.
In the way that you will die With a needle in your eye You have no chance now say goodbye
The voice turned dark and menacing on the last line and the castle shook. The Pinkie voice laughed like a child again. “Eep.” Fluttershy shrunk down while the others stood frozen in their spots.
“Girls.” A guard said and made the four jump and turn around. “I apologize but Princess Celestia wanted me to let you know that she is resting and if there is anything that you need, wake her up.”
“Y-Ye-ah, s-s-su-re.” Applejack’s voice was broken up and shaky, she was too terrified to be able to speak clearly.
Pinkie then turned the corner with a big smile, her hair was straight. “Hey girls.” She waved but they backed up. “What’s going on, did I do something Rainbow Dash?”
“Y-Your hu-human.” Rainbow and the others said.
“What, you don’t like this form?” Pinkie asked; her eyes began glowing white as well as her mouth. “That’s too bad.” She pulled out a needle from behind her back and attacked each of the girls each of whom had become secluded. “Come now, don’t resist. The needle will only hurt for a second.” The girls kept the needle away from their eyes the best they could but began to fail. Pinkie began singing the last three lines of the previous song and then the first line.
In the way that you will die With a needle in your eye You have no chance now say goodbye Twinkle Twinkle Pinkie Pie
The needle was within millimeters of their eyes when they were pulled away. “Girls, what are you doing?” Each of them snapped back to reality and found knives in their hooves. “I gave you knives to spread the jam, not poke your eyes out.” Celestia took the knives from the four and set them on the tray with the bread. “You’re lucky my guard came and got me.”
“Pinkie, the needle, what?” The four said in unison shaking from what they had just experienced.
“What are you talking about, Pinkie Pie is with Twilight. What is going on?” Celestia looked at the four friends worried.
The four looked at each other and shrugged. “We have no idea.” Rainbow looked around. “You didn’t see her or hear her at all?” Celestia shook her head. “She sang, Pinkie sang so loudly. How could you not hear it or see her for that matter?”
“What exactly did you hear her sing?” Celestia had to hear it.
None of them wanted to but Fluttershy was the one that did. “It was um, something like this.” Fluttershy said the first line of it without the creepy tone in her voice, not that it needed it, the others then joined in each taking their own line of the creepy song. “Let’s see, oh right.”
“Twinkle Twinkle Pinkie Pie, in the way that you will die, with a needle in your eye. Chop us up and we will die, we will come and you will cry; you have no chance now say goodbye, Twinkle Twinkle Pinkie Pie.” They said the last line together.
“Have you four practiced this, is it some kind of sick practical joke because it isn’t funny.” Celestia backed away.
“No, we would never do something like that, especially Fluttershy.” Rainbow defended but Celestia didn’t listen.
“Pinkie Pie wasn’t here and nopony sung that song. Could you spend less time messing with us and spend more time doing something else?” Celestia walked away shaking.
“How could she not believe us?” Applejack questioned.
“I know; we could never make something like that up. We know what we saw and heard, right?” Rarity began to question their sanity.
“Right, we don’t have a problem, do we?” Rainbow asked.
The four looked out over the balcony and the song kept repeating in their heads. Fluttershy seemed to be the only pony not affected by it, at least as much by it. “What just happened, surely we haven’t become that bored. You did see Pinkie trying to stab me in the eye with a needle right?” Rarity looked to AJ and Rainbow which had been harder to do with the fog rolling in so fast.
“We all experienced that?” Rainbow looked to her farming friend.
“Ah know ah did, how about you Fluttershy?” The three looked around but didn’t see her. “Fluttershy?” Crying started and her shadow could be seen with a knife in hoof. “Fluttershy, no!” AJ screamed as the three ran over.
“It won’t stop.” Fluttershy said with a Psychotic grin on her face as she slit her throat. Her voice gurgled as blood went everywhere.
They ran over and grabbed a hold of Fluttershy’s body and hugged her tightly. “Celestia, do you think it’s still a sick joke, we know what we saw. Now Fluttershy is dead, do you think it’s a joke now?!” Rainbow screamed angrily. They all surrounded the shy Pegasus not caring that her blood had dyed their coats. The song then rang in their ears. “Get away from us Pinkie, don’t you dare come close or we’ll rip you apart. Do you hear me?”
Twilight and Azaliah moved on through the first tunnel next to the hole they had fallen into. They had put on headlights in order to see in the dark. Azaliah had also given Twilight a suit to keep her from taking too much damage, or in other words, keep from dying instantly. It was a quiet walk through but Twilight mumbled to herself in her head. She wanted more then anything to end this now just so that she could go home and get away from this girl. That was the other thing, how old was she that she could be in control of the military. What the hey, she couldn’t resist, she had to ask. “How old are you anyway?”
“Things were going so well when you weren’t talking but if you must know, I’m sixteen.” Azaliah peeked over the edge of a cliff and looked up and down as she tried to figure some way to get further down. Why not, the marker was her target and so why not go for it.
“How are you in charge of the military, you’re a freaking teenager?” Twilight was stumped, it made no sense.
Azaliah groaned and turned to look at Twilight with an irritated stare. “Look, I’m in charge because I know how to deal with these things. It was my father job first but he died when I was twelve, so I took his place early, so screw off.”
That explained why she was so hard hearted, to lose her father must have been devastating. “I’m sorry about your father.” Twilight tried but it didn’t help.
“Would you shut up already, your going to drive me nuts? I swear; I’m ready to kill you just to keep you quiet.” Azaliah looked down the hole and found a small ledge about fifty feet down they could make it to. After the nuke went off, everything down there was a lot less organized then it had been previous. She waved Twilight over and had her look down at the ledge. “Can you make it?” Azaliah asked turning her head to Twilight just to see her hop over the edge down to the small ledge. Azaliah followed her down irritably. Like Twilight, she slowed her descent as much as possible before she freefell about ten feet away from the ledge. “What is wrong with you?”
“You wanted to know if I could make it, so I jumped down. I don’t know about you but I want to get out of this and away from you ASAP.” Twilight glared.
“Well at least we can agree on something.” Azaliah looked around and found another tunnel when snarls and other noises were heard all around. “Keep your eyes open.”
“Yeah I know, keep your eyes open and gun ready.” Twilight mocked and received an irritated growl from Azaliah. She charged up her gun and got ready to fire at the first thing that moved including her so called partner but that was really just her dislike talking. She wouldn’t really shoot Azaliah but she wanted to. Broken vents covered the area; it wouldn’t be hard for something to sneak up on them.
The two slowly made their way down the tunnel. Rock crumbled behind them, the two turned around at the noise. This went on for about ten minutes. Their hearts began to race being able to only see a small area in front of them.
“How much longer do we have to go?” Twilight asked as a bright light shone from below. They covered their eyes as best they could. Once the light died down something hit Twilight in the back and made her fall over. She fell to her knees in pain, the charge she had held on the gun released as she fell and hit the wall. Her breathing became difficult. “What hit me?” Azaliah quickly took it out.
“That was a Spitter; it sure did a number on you.” Azaliah took a look at Twilights rig and saw her health near red. “You are pathetic aren’t you? I may as well be doing this by myself.” She grabbed Twilights arm and began to help her up. “Keep up or I’ll leave you in the dust and don’t waste shots.”
“I…hate you.” Twilight stepped forward weakly and charged up her gun again. Right behind Azaliah was something small and black crawling down the wall. She had no idea if her aim would be any good. The small creature jumped into the air toward Azaliah. Twilight pushed her out of the way and released the shot from her gun. The shot hit the small creature and sent the dead body flying through the air.
Azaliah’s eyes widened at seeing this. “How did you do that?”
“I’ve had plenty of practice with aiming at tiny targets with my magic. I guess this wasn’t much different.” Twilight was finally able to stand and walk.
Azaliah was to say shocked by what she had just seen. Shots like that were near impossible for even her great, great grandfather especially with an accurate weapon. “I’ll give you this, you’re an awesome shot. Maybe you’re not so worthless after all. Still, I would have thought that the weight of the gun would have affected you.”
“Let’s keep moving.” Twilight was sure she just got a lucky shot but wasn’t about to tell Azaliah that. She pushed past her partner but was held back and given a blue vial. “What’s this?”
“It will heal you up; consider this a thank you for taking out the lurker.” Azaliah moved past Twilight.
Twilight drank the vial and quickly began to feel better. She caught up with her partner and readied her gun. The path made a spiral ramp all the way to the bottom; they were three hundred feet up from the bottom now. Three small butterflies flew past Twilights face. She quickly, for some reason grabbed onto them and then everything around her changed. She heard her name called out but it quickly faded.
“Twilight, you idiot.” Azaliah said as necromorphs came out from everywhere. “You had better hurry up in there.” She shot a Slasher with stasis and began firing off shots.
Twilight found herself in front of the school statue but everything was red. Rock spires came from the ground and Fluttershy in pony form appeared at least three hundred feet away from her. The ground around her began to crumble making a floating platform. Fluttershy twitched madly as she walked toward Twilight. “Fluttershy, what’s going on, where are we?”
“Oh Twilight, let me in will you, I need you to help me, set me free.” Fluttershy then disappeared and Slashers appeared from everywhere. Twilight charged up her gun and fired at the closest one. A small gun landed next to her and what else could she do but pick it up. She aimed at the closest necromorph with her newly acquired gun and fired. It hit its mark and set the thing on fire. A few more shots to its stomach killed it.
Twilight then remembered what Azaliah had said about the limbs. She took aim and shot off two limbs, one shot each and killed it. “Much more effective.” After killing another five necros, black vines or maybe they were veins seemed to run from her. She couldn’t tell what they were but she found herself back on the path. Dead bodies lay all around her and Azaliah was sitting on the ground to her left. “What happened?”
Azaliah stood up ticked off. “You happened you idiot, thanks to you, I had to fight off a horde of Necromorphs all by myself and protect you. I don’t even know why I bothered to do so. I only have so much health and thanks to you I’ve had to use two of my five. I told you to keep your mind in check but you just don’t care do you?” Azaliah turned away and continued down the path.
Twilight still wasn’t sure what had happened. She looked down and found the gun in her hand. As they continued down the path, they came to blockade of rock. “What now?”
“Unlike you I come prepared for these types of things, now stand back.” Twilight backed up as Azaliah put down some dynamite and backed up herself. “This isn’t what it was for but all well.” She lit the wick and in a matter of seconds, the blockade blew. Unfortunately it attracted some unwanted attention. “Crap.”
“Really, you didn’t see this coming, and you call me an idiot.” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Shut up and run.” The two ran down the path shooting all the necromorphs in the way to give them time to run past. It was already hard enough to see, staying to fight wouldn’t help them any. They had been running for about three minutes before they reached a door that lead into an overlook. The door was broken as was the glass. Dead corpses lay scattered along ground. “Help me with the furniture.” Twilight ran over and helped move what was left of the furniture and stacked it against the door. “This should help for a bit at least.”
A lurker crawled in through the window. Twilight shot the lurker as it got ready to attack, after all, shooting a none moving target was easy. The two held up for about ten minutes before the horde stopped, both women almost out of ammo and injured; both near red in health. “What now smart one?”
“Shut up.” Azaliah growled and used up two more health vials leaving only one left. “You’re such a hindrance you know that. I would still have two packs left had it not been for you.”
“Yeah and guess what, we wouldn’t have been in this at all had you not failed to keep who ever did this under control.” Azaliah attacked Twilight and the two punched and kicked each other for bit until both were bloody and tired.
“Let’s move.” Twilight continued on with her partner ignoring their tiredness and soon arrived at the bottom where the marker stood tall. “I can’t believe that my nuke didn’t destroy this thing.”
“You…what was that?” Twilight heard her name being called from a distance. “I think I hear Fluttershy.”
“You didn’t hear anyone; keep your mind in check. You can’t assume anything is real especially if it doesn’t seem right.” Azaliah turned to Twilight and slapped her. “Focus!”
“Yeah, focus, I know.” Twilight then heard her name again and coming out from behind the marker was pony Fluttershy. “I knew I heard you.”
“Come Twilight, I need you.” Twilight backed up and noticed a smile on Azaliah’s face. “Twilight, come home, I need you, your friends need you.” Human Rainbow Dash and the others came from behind the marker. “Help us Twilight, we need you.”
Twilight looked on and shook her head. “Get out of my head, leave me alone.”
“Twilight!” Sunset Shimmer yelled coming down the path. “Let us in, we need you.” Twilight turned around to come face to face with Sunset Shimmer. “We need you.” She then jumped on Twilight and invaded her mind.
Rainbow Dash and Rarity left leaving only AJ holding onto Fluttershy, all of them still covered in blood. The two mares walked back onto the balcony and began talking. “Rarity, I’m going to admit something that I would never think of admitting in my life, I’m scared and I don’t mean stage fright scared.” Rarity put an understanding hoof on her friends shoulder.
“I too am frightened of whatever is happening. If you weren’t scared, I would be more worried.” The two stood in silence and then looked back at AJ and then over at Celestia who had been pacing and shaking. “I think we scared Princess Celestia.”
“That wasn’t our fault!” Rainbow Dash snapped and then frowned regretfully at seeing Rarity’s slightly hurt expression. “I’m sorry Rarity, I didn’t mean to yell, I’m just so”
“It is all right Rainbow Dash; I do not blame you for snapping. Things are very unwell in Equestria; it all seems to be falling apart.” Once again the two fell silent for a moment before Rarity spoke again. “Do you think that Twilight is alright?”
Rainbow chuckled a bit and smiled. “Twilight is fine I’m sure, she is one bad-”
“Rainbow Dash, please do not continue that word even if it is true.” Rarity smiled a little.
“Sorry Rarity and you’re right; I shouldn’t say things like that true or not. Still, I’m worried for her and possibly more so us. What if that happens again and we can’t snap ourselves out of it or if somepony else can’t. Twilight sure, she is super logical and since this doesn’t make a lot of sense, she could easily brush it off.” Rainbow Dash smiled.
“Either that or she would work at a ridiculous rate to try and figure out a way to find some logic in this. Regardless of what she does, something like this won’t faze her too much.” Rarity looked back at AJ who was still holding onto their friend. “Fluttershy wouldn’t be one to handle this kind of thing, I’m sad to say.”
Rainbow wanted to chew her friend out for being disrespectful to their friend but at the same time, she couldn’t help but agree with her. “She was so weak and fragile, why did this have to happen to her? It’s just not fair.” She let a few tears slip and then dried them before Rarity could see. “That light that came from Ponyville, we have to destroy whatever it was that made the light.”
“I concur, but what if we run into those things that killed Sunset Shimmer?” Rarity asked.
The two thought about it for a moment. Rainbow remembered what Celestia had said about direct magical attacks to the torso, no damage or noticeable damage or effect. Then the song that Pinkie Pie had sung, one line stuck out in her head more then any of the lines. Chop us up and we will die. After a moment of thought, it hit her. “That’s it Rarity, I think I get it.” Rarity looked at Rainbow with curiosity. “Princess Celestia said that her direct attacks to the torso didn’t work.” Rarity nodded. “Pinkie said something about chopping them up.”
At hearing that, Rarity thought she understood what Rainbow Dash was getting at. “Right, so we attack their limbs then?”
“Exactly, we just have to do what she said and chop them up.” The two shivered at the thought. “So all we need is a sword, well I do, you have magic.” Rainbow looked around.
“That is true but I doubt that any attack that I have could possibly do any damage but I can turn my gems into weapons I suppose. I can levitate and throw things at a fair speed.” Rarity picked up a gem from her saddlebag and threw it with her magic. The gem stuck in the wall of the castle, the gem could just barely be seen sticking out of the wall. The gem had gone into the wall about an inch. The gem itself was just barely over an inch long. “I think that would do enough to do some serious damage, what do you think Rainbow Dash?”
“I think you’ve got yourself a nice little weapon there. My only question now is; do we bring AJ along.” Rainbow asked.
“Of course ah’m a comin with ya.” Applejack walked over to them with tear stains on her cheeks and blood stained on her coat. “Ah aint gonna sit back an do nothin.”
“We avenge Fluttershy.” Rainbow raised her hoof into the air.
“We avenge Fluttershy.” The other two raised their hooves into the air to meet with Rainbow’s.
AJ then ran off to speak with Celestia. “I wish we had some kind of special armor to work with because something tells me that the armor that the guards have wont do much.” Rainbow looked out over the balcony toward Ponyville. “We can’t do anything at home.”
“No but we can surely do something here. A long time ago when I taught Twilight how to use my gem finding spell, she taught me a little something as well.” Rainbow looked on in curiosity. “Twilight taught me how to mix the gems, create a new unusual color if I ever needed to. Not only does it work but it allows me to shape the gems into whatever I want. You see, I have to stretch and bend the gems to mix them, so making them change shape is very plausible.”
“So you can make us armor out of gems then?” Rainbow asked.
“I believe it’s possible, yes. I will need a lot of gems however and I don’t have that much with me.” Rarity replied.
“So what, we go to a store and say that Princess Celestia ordered everypony to hoof over their gems?” Rainbow asked not liking the idea of lying or even taking others gems but it was for a good cause, she still didn’t like it though and that meant that Applejack would hate the idea.
“We have to do something, if you have a better idea, I’m all open for ideas and I doubt working for gems will be fast enough.” Rarity looked into the distance and saw something terrifying. Hundreds of, what she could only guess as the things that killed Sunset, made their way toward the Canterlot Castle. “Yes, we don’t have time at all.” Rainbow looked in the direction Rarity was staring in and nodded. “We don’t have a choice.”
“I suppose not, let’s go.” Rainbow and Rarity ran toward Applejack who was holding three sets of armor and three swords. The two looked at each other and shrugged. “This will do for now I guess.” They put on the armor and ran out the castle doors.
Twilight’s mind zoomed around like the Road Runner running from the coyote as she entered into her own mind. This time though, she recognized the place. It was Ponyville but different. Many markers surrounded the area. Boulders and markers took the place of the houses, most of which were boulders. The statue that Celestias’ phoenix fell off of and turned to ash was a marker. Town hall was run down and a marker bigger then the others broke out the top. The streams turned to blood and the sky was blood red. The clouds had turned black which wasn’t completely abnormal. They had probably been the most normal thing around. “Where am I, what happened?”
“Twilight, come with us and make us whole again. All we need is you Twilight, your friends need you.” Pony Fluttershy said from behind the purple human.
“We need you, come with us.” Human Rainbow Dash came from behind Town Hall. The rest came from around boulders or markers. They were all bloody from head to toe.
“What do you want from me? You’re not real.” Twilight raised her Plasma Cutter and fired at the closest to her which happened to be Fluttershy. She sizzled and faded for a moment before continuing her way to Twilight. She continued to fire until she heard a scream and Fluttershy disappeared. One of the markers began to glow but Twilight had to turn to the others and shoot them as well. “Stay away from me, none of you are real.” Without realizing, Fluttershy had reappeared behind Twilight and grabbed onto her. Twilight could feel her body being taken over. She slowly grabbed onto her crown and put it on for reasons she wasn’t sure of. Fluttershy screamed and let go, Twilight fell to her knees gasping for air.
“How dare you!” Fluttershy yelled.
“You’re not my friends; my friends would never attack me. I don’t know what you are but I do know that no matter where I am, my friends will always have my back.” Twilight reloaded the Plasma Cutter and fired at each of them making them disappear. Little shadows with tendrils came from the clouds and attacked. Twilight could feel another button below the trigger her finger was now on and pulled it. Unsure of what would happen, she held the trigger down. Bullet after bullet flew from the gun and killed each attacker one by one.
Twilight soon found herself having to reload and switched triggers. Each attacker went down with one shot of her weapon. Once she found herself having to once again reload, she ran away as she reloaded. One jumped at her and she punched it out of the air breaking it apart. She was low on ammo now, only five shots left total. She killed five more before punching and kicking. By the time they were all dead; her health was in low red. Twilight then zoomed back out of her mind, she was dizzy. She fell on her rear and leaned up against a rock.
A Slasher jumped at Twilight but something hit it and knocked it to the ground. She looked in Azaliahs’ direction and found her turned around with a Necromorph on her. Another bullet hit the Slasher and then another and another until it died. She looked around and then finally up toward the hole. A light shone down into the dark cave and the flash of a gun being fired was seen. Who ever was doing that had great eyesight.
The marker near them began glowing red and it shook. The entire underground shook with it and soon the rock surrounding the marker broke free. The marker shot up toward the hole like a rocket. Azaliah watched as the marker flew off. “I’m pretty sure that’s new.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked looking around and watched as the last of the Necromorphs fell.
“What is wrong with you, I should have just left you.” Azaliah helped Twilight up. “ Unfortunately I need you to help us get out of here.”
“Glad to see where your priorities are.” Twilight stood and wobbled before regaining her balance. “So how do we get out?”
“The same way we came in.” The two made their way back up the pathway. “Give me your guns, you have no need for them if they’re empty.” Twilight couldn’t argue and handed over the weapons.
“How long have we been down here?” Twilight asked
“Let’s just say that you have until tonight to get through the portal.” Azaliah couldn’t wait for Twilight to leave.
“We’ve been down here for a full day or more?” Twilight asked shocked.
“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Twilight wasn’t about to ask what she had meant by that. The two were already at wits end with each other. The rest of the way was in silence until they came to the area that they had jumped down to. Azaliah pulled out a grappling hook and threw it up and pulled hoping that it would snag and it did. She began to climb with Twilight right behind her. As soon as they reached the top, the sounds of Necromorphs filled the hole they were in.
They ran until they reached the hole that they had fallen through and Azaliah used the grappling hook once again and began to climb. Twilight followed after but Azaliah wasn’t happy. “You know what, let’s give them something to distract themselves with.” Twilight was about to ask what they could use when Azaliah kicked her in the face and sent her flying toward the ground. “Sorry but I have people to protect, you’ll only slow me down.”
Twilight groaned and stood up off the ground. She could feel blood running from her nose. She looked up toward Azaliah and screamed at her. “You’re no hero, you’re a coward!” Twilight turned around to see Slashers and other Necromorphs behind her. She backed up against the wall.
Azaliah emerged from the hole and got grabbed by the arm and pulled out as a man she couldn’t see clearly hooked his grapple to the side of the cliff and jumped down into the hole. Azaliah was then pushed to her knees and and kept her there. “What are you doing, I’m in charge here, let me go.”
“Sorry Miss Clarke, but we have new orders.” One of the guards said.
“Who thinks they can take over my position?” Azaliah asked as the man came from the hole with Twilight in his arms. “Who do you think you are?” The man took off his mask. “F-f-father, b-but-y-your dead.” Azaliah said shocked.
“I thought I was, but that can be explained later. How dare you treat people the way you have. I’ve taken my place back and you are grounded young lady. I was worried that you would be too young for this job.” Isaiah Clarke stood tall, his muscles shown clearly through his uniform. He stood three feet above Twilight.
“I take it that since everyone can see you, you’re not a hallucination?” Twilight asked, not that she would get an honest answer from a hallucination.
“No, I’m not and I’m sorry for my daughter. I’ve been able to keep an eye on her through the rig in her suit. I must say that I’m disappointed with her. You’ve been strong Twilight, I’m impressed. There is someone that wishes to see you.” Isaiah wasted no more time talking and moved aside to reveal human Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, how are you?” Twilight ran over and gave her human friend a hug. “Where are the others?”
“You don’t know?” Fluttershy looked away sadly.
“Know what?” Twilight looked at her friend worriedly.
“I thought it was strange Twilight. We were at Rainbows house when it happened. They came from everywhere and the others charged in. They fought hard but they were ripped apart and I was almost the same way until many of the guards came and saved me with Azailiah leading the charge. That was when I lost my eye and so on. You were never with our friends Twilight.” Fluttershy explained.
“That can’t be true, they came with me, Pinkie Pie she came with me, they” Twilight looked back on it and remembered everyone giving her weird looks. No one talked or even recognized her friends. “It can’t be…they…Pinkie…dead?” Twilight tried to register it all.
“I’m the only one left from my world Twilight.” Fluttershy put a hand on Twilights shoulder.
“You need to go Twilight and so does Azaliah. You two will go into your world and fight off the invasion in your world. Somehow the marker you went after flew through the portal. It doesn’t make much sense to me how but the fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter. You both need to go and stop this in your world, I can handle things here.” Isaiah handed Twilight some guns and ammo. Azaliah reluctantly nodded and followed Twilight away. “Oh and Azaliah, listen to Twilight, she is in charge since she is the far more mature one. She has in her what I had hoped you would have had.” Azaliah grumbled in frustration but nodded anyway. Isaiah turned to the soldiers. “Search everywhere and kill them all. Be careful and protect each other.”
“Yes Sir.” The group of ten soldiers saluted him and then ran off.
Isaiah turned in the direction that his daughter and Twilight left and sighed. “Good Luck to the both of you.” He then ran to catch up with his men.
Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack made their way out of the castle and toward the store most likely to have the most gems. It of course was the most expensive clothes store around. The problem was that it was a mile or two away and the Necromorphs moved quickly. “Can’t we be all sneaky like about this?” Applejack asked as they ran through the streets trying to reach the store before the creatures arrived. “Ah realize it would be best to get there before these demons arrive but ah don’t see that happenen. Aint it best to save our energy?”
The other two weren’t sure how to answer that other then to keep moving. They soon reached the clothes store and ran in tired and out of breath. What they saw was unbelievable, bodies of other ponies lay scattered across the floor as well as body parts spread throughout. “I don’t understand, they aren’t here yet.” Rarity said in awe and horror while AJ went over to a trashcan and threw up in it. Rainbow Dash went immediately to work boarding up the doors and anything that could be used as an entrance.
Rarity snapped out of her shock and searched through the cash registers, drawers and anywhere else that gems could be found. AJ after releasing what was in her stomach, helped Rainbow Dash with boarding up windows and so on. “Rainbow Dash, don’tcha think that we should have gone to a bank for this kind of thing?”
“I’d ask Rarity, gems are her thing and all.” The two friends continued putting boards up. After a few minutes Rarity finally found enough gems to work with, unfortunately they were running out of time. A Slasher banged up against one of the windows as Rainbow Dash was putting a board up. She fell backward from the shock but quickly recovered and finished boarding up the window. “Rarity, I don’t mean to rush talent but could you hurry up a bit. Whatever these things are, they are here.”
“Please Rainbow Dash, I’m working as fast as my magic will let me.” Rarity fused gem after gem together, working around a manikin so as to get the shape right. She had to be careful as to not destroy the manikin while working, it would only prove that the armor wouldn’t fit. The gems fused slowly as she worked as fast as possible. An awful noise was heard coming from a door near the back of the store. She began working slightly faster but working this fast was a risk. “Rainbow, could you please block the door in the back.”
“Sorry Rarity, kind of busy keeping the front blocked.” Rainbow pushed against the door as she tried keeping the Necromorphs out of the store.
“Ah can do it Rarity.” Applejack ran to the back of the store and leaned up against the door. The door shook violently and the hinges began to bend. The door cracked as whatever was on the other side pushed against it. Little by little the door cracked and the hinges bent. “At this rate, the hinges will break before the door does.” Soon the top hinge broke and the top of the door bent forward and snapped leaving a hole at the top of the door. The hole was just big enough for a young filly or colt to fit through. “Rarity, can ya hurry it up?” AJ asked as the rest of the door broke and sent Applejack to the ground. A lurker jumped on her but AJ fought back.
Rainbow saw this as a blade came through the wood that blocked the window. The decision she made was fast. She left the window, flew over to the Lurker on AJ, kicked it off and then stomped on it repeatedly. “Don’t be messin with my friends.” The wood near the front then shattered into multiple pieces and a Slasher came into the room. “Aim for the limbs.” The two raised their swords and got ready to attack. “We’re running out of time Rarity, could you hurry it up? The armor we’ve got right now isn’t worth much against these things.” Rainbow Dash looked at Applejacks armor and found it punctured in spots.
“I’m sorry, I can only work so fast Rainbow Dash.” Rarity said irritated but not due to being pushed to hurry, no, that was to be expected. The real problem was the reason for being pushed and that their possible safety was on her shoulders. She was truly scared for her friends, if they died because she couldn’t finish in time, she didn’t want to think about it. She wished now that she had Twilights’ ability for magic. She could work faster if she knew magic that well.
Rarity began sweating as the third set of armor was coming to an end. After a few more seconds, she finished the armor and then cast a spell on them. After that was done, she threw the armor at her two friends and then proceeded to put hers on.
The gem armor hit the two ponies and surrounded them as a blade from a Slasher hit her. “Nice work Rarity but this isn’t as cool as I would have liked.” Rainbow said as she cut the arms off the creature.
“Yes well, do you want cool or safety?” It was true that the colors of the armor weren’t what she would have liked either but there was no time for being picky when your life and the life of your friends were on the line. Rarity went to the back door and yelled to the others to hurry. Rarity was in a dark blue Armor, Rainbow Dash was in black armor and Applejack, to her dismay was covered in pink armor.
Rainbow and AJ knocked back the two Necromorphs they were fighting with and then booked it to the back door. The three ran as fast as they could away from the store and dodged as many of the Necromorphs as possible. They were making their way back to the castle when they ran into somepony. The four fell to the ground. “Hey, watch it!”
“Twilight?” Rarity and the other two said in shock and in unison.
Twilight looked at the three ponies in confusion. They wore some kind of armor that covered their entire bodies. The voice sounded familiar though “I’m sorry, do I know you?” Twilight tried to get a better look at the three in front of her.
“It’s us Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack.” The sounds of hoof-steps behind them reminded them that they should be running.
“Great, have your reunion later will you, we have to move.” Twilight wanted to slap the pony behind her but knew that for once, she was right.
Twilight turned and began running back toward the castle. “Come on; let’s get back to Princess Celestia.” As they ran, Twilight brought up a topic about the armor. “I see you used the crafting spell I taught you Rarity.”
“But of course darling, I knew it would be helpful at one point, I just didn’t realize that it would be a life or death situation.” Rarity and the other two clanked as they ran in their armor. It was surprisingly light for being made of gems. “I’m happy that you taught me something so useful.”
“Can we talk later, I missed Twilight too but for whatever the reason, getting back to the princess is more important right now.” Rainbow said as she ran past the others. Twilight and Rarity gave each other a nod and sped up. By the time they reached the castle, they were worn out. “Ok…let’s talk…starting with…your new friend.” Rainbow said out of breath having not paced herself. The helmet part of the gem armor unfolded and revealed their faces.
“She is as of right now, a frenemy. We’re not friends and we never will be. We’ve simply been pushed together. Believe me; I can’t wait until she leaves, especially after she tried to kill me.” Twilight glared at the pony behind her.
Rainbow and the others did the same but Rainbow was the one to speak. “Why don’t you just go home, we don’t need you and Twilight definitely doesn’t need you? You’re lucky that I don’t kill you for trying to kill our friend.” Azaliah chuckled. “What’s so funny?”
“You kill me, that’s a laugh. I would tear you apart and feed you to the Necromorphs but you’re not worth my time or energy.” Azaliah smirked.
Rainbow and the others were ready to attack but Celestia interrupted. “Princess Twilight, I see you found your friends.” Twilight looked at her former mentor with a worried expression. “Is there something wrong Twilight?”
“Princess, you look absolutely ghastly, what happened here and where is Fluttershy?” Twilight noticed that Celestia was definitely off. She was pale and shaky, her voice sounded very unconfident. It had to be because their world was falling apart, Twilight couldn’t possibly blame her.
“I’m fine; really, just a bit tired is all.” Twilight could tell that that was a lie. Sure losing sleep over this wouldn’t be a surprise and for the princess to be tired was a very reasonable excuse. So yes it’s true, Celestia may be tired but there was more to it then that. There weren’t bags under her eyes as if she was losing sleep and she hadn’t yawned yet which was something that would happen for sure. Celestia was hiding something from her and it had to deal with what was going on outside the castle walls and possibly inside.
“Twilight, Fluttershy, she uh, she uh.” Applejack tried to explain but couldn’t.
“Twilight, the four of us had an experience and it’s been haunting but it was more so for Fluttershy than for us. You see, she uh, she slit her throat.” Rarity said as Rainbow and AJ wrapped their hooves around her.
“No, your kidding right, tell me your joking.” Twilight backed up shaking. “She wouldn’t, but she did didn’t she? That’s why I saw her as a pony, everypony that’s died has come back to haunt me. That’s why she was bloody, that’s why they were all bloody and why I saw Sunset Shimmer. They all died.” To the right of her Fluttershy appeared. Twilight turned to her and growled. “You stay away from me got it. You can’t touch me and your not Fluttershy, get out of here and leave me alone.” Fluttershy didn’t move. “Get out of here, you’re not my friend. Go back to hell where you belong. Leave me and my friends alone you demon spawn.” Fluttershy disappeared but the others looked at Twilight worriedly. Twilight fell onto her rump, lowered her head and began to cry. “Leave me be.”
“Twilight, sugarcube, are ya alright?” Applejack asked and watched as Twilight stood back up slowly.
“This has to end, where is the marker girls, do you have any idea?” Twilight asked irritated and angry.
“If that’s the thing that shot out a bright light in Ponyville; then yes.” Rainbow Dash smiled slightly.
“Then lets go take out this thing, wait Ponyville, Spike!” Twilight started forward when a voice was heard from behind her. Twilight turned to see the human Fluttershy and human Sunset Shimmer behind her. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to help and don’t tell me no, I want to kill this thing as much as you do. The Necromorphs killed Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, all my friends but you. I will not sit back and let these demons get away with killing them and besides, there is nothing left for me in my world.” Human Fluttershy stood her ground.
“What about her?” AJ asked.
“I’m here because; well because I want to alright. These things killed friends of mine as well and family too. This is our war as much as yours; I want to fight for my world.” Human Sunset Shimmer stared intently.
“Ok, we need as much help as possible. Are you sure you can help though, you’re not exactly used to being ponies.” Twilight received a hard nod from the two humans turned ponies. “Ok then, the seven of us travel to Ponyville right now. Let’s get going.”
“Hold on just one minute, they can’t come along. They will just get us killed.” Azaliah stomped her hoof on the ground.
“They’re coming whether you like it or not. We need as much help as we can get and if they really want this, then who am I to stop them. You couldn’t stop me and besides, your father put me in charge so suck it up.” Twilight shot back, Azaliah didn’t respond or even try to. “Let’s move out.”
“Fluttershys’ human counter part, could you please wait a moment.” Celestia spoke up before the group could leave. “Could I have you stay behind and help out. I have Shining Armor and an army behind him here. He and Cadance have been here preparing for war. You know about these things better then we do, could you stay and help?”
Human Fluttershy looked between Celestia and her friends and then nodded. “If it’s alright with Twilight, then yes, I’ll stay and help.” She looked to Twilight for her approval and received a nod. “Go and save us all Twilight, I’ll help out here.” The two gave each other a hug and then went their separate ways in a hurry.
“Glad to have you here, now what can you tell us about these things?” Celestia asked as she walked over to the balcony overlooking her army.
“There are only a few things to know actually. One, don’t let them kill you. Two cut their limbs off; ignore the head, for most of them anyway.” Fluttershy looked into the distance and watched as a giant horde of Necromorphs made their way to the castle some of which looked like very normal ponies. “I’ve heard a lot about these things and how they work from Azaliah’s father, long story. There are some with yellow sacks, hit the sack, kill the creature. One little tip, don’t kill them close to you or they will blow you to bits. If they do get close, cut off the sack without hitting it.” Celestia relayed the info down to Shining Armor as Fluttershy spoke. She continued to explain everything to Celestia about what she knew of the Necromorphs.
“Thank you Fluttershy, I appreciate it. Why don’t you oversee the war and help us out from up here, I must go join them.” Celestia started to leave but was stopped.
“Ok and call me Flutter ok.” Celestia nodded and sped off toward her army. “Good luck.”
Twilight and the others made their way down into the prison below the castle hoping that they could avoid the Necromorphs. Twilight knew of a way out through the prison, two ways actually but one was almost impossible to live through without the ability to fly or teleport. So earth ponies were basically screwed.
There was no chance that the train would be available and a chariot was the same way. Celestia must have everypony in Canterlot either hidden someplace safe or ready to fight. Once they were in the prison, they looked on in horror. Cell doors had been ripped off their hinges, bars broken, and blood covered the entire area. Bodies lie around on the ground in pieces. “This place is sick.” Rarity covered her nose.
“Why don’t you girls put your helmets on?” Twilight said looking around the blood covered prison. “Do you think anypony is still alive?”
“Oh please, look around, they’re all dead.” Azaliah rolled her eyes annoyed with the question.
“Why don’t you shut it.” Rainbow said as she tried to get her helmet on but couldn’t. “How do we get the helmet back on Rare?” The helmet on the suit stretched up and out over her head. “Never mind, got it. I’m not sure how but whatever.”
“You are all going to die and I’ll probably die to because of you.” Azaliah groaned and looked around.
Twilight wanted to say something but figured that there was no point in it and Azaliah wasn’t worth it. “Let’s just keep going before we run into something.” The six continued forward through the prison until they heard something. They backed up against each other protecting themselves and their teammates from getting snuck up on. The torches around the prison blew out making it too dark to see. Azaliah and Twilight turned on their flashlights while Rarity used her horn for light.
“Yeah, that’s great for you but what about those that can’t use magic huh?” Rainbow asked only being able to see slightly better thanks to Rarity.
“Sorry girls.” Twilight used her magic and hit both Rainbow Dash and Applejack. That magic blast created a glow around them that shone brightest in front of them. “Better?” The two gave Twilight their approval and continued to watch the room. It was now foggy on top of being dark. “Where did the fog come from?”
“The fog was minimal due to the pagasi but my guess is that they are now in this war for survival and are unable to keep it so.” Rainbow continued to look around the area.
Each of them began to hear things such as children laughing, ponies they knew were dead talking, and some of them saw things. Shadows moved along the walls and the ground, dead ponies made an appearance and then left.
The wind blew in through the tunnel near the water fall, it whistled and voices were heard laughing, talking, or even speaking quietly. Lightning flashed outside making more shadows on the walls and floor. Each of them had thoughts running through their heads.
Twilight thought about Spike, her family and Flash. Rainbow could only think of her friends and Scootaloo. Rarity could only think of her little sister and her parents. The only on of them not thinking about their loved ones was Azaliah. Her only thought was to take care of the marker until it happened.
Azaliah saw her great great grandfather, he spoke to her. “You must find the Marker, send them home.”
The others if they had felt comfortable, would have looked at Azaliah wondering what was wrong with her despite knowing. “You’re not real, leave me alone.”
“Azaliah, you must do it, send them home and free yourselves.” Azaliah grabbed her head telling the illusion to leave her.
“I don’t even understand you, what do you mean?” Azaliah growled.
“You must return and send them back, you must return.” Isaac said moving toward his great great granddaughter. “Help them Azaliah, help them and send them back. Return to your world Azaliah, return.”
Azaliah now had unseen tears running down her cheeks. Her body shook as she stood there. She had never felt anything like this before. She couldn’t believe it but she felt that she had too. Her great great grandfather had told her what to do, she had to do as he said. He knew more about these things than anyone, he had to be right about this. “I have to return home, I have to go.”
Twilight turned to Azaliah in shock. “Are you nuts, you know what will happen. We need you, if you leave we may not live through this. Your father told you to help us.”
“No, no, my great great grandfather told me what to do.” Their voices raised as the water to the left became more vicious as it flowed. The metal grate covering the river broke from its secured position and down over the waterfall. “I know what I have to do, I have to go back. It’s the only way.” Twilight grabbed onto Azaliah for a second before she pulled away and backed up. “I know what I have to do.” Azaliah backed up some more and fell into the river. It pulled her down and away, she could hear her name being called by others.
Twilight was ahead and managed to grab onto Azaliah. “I got you, don’t let go.”
Azaliah’s helmet lowered to reveal Azaliah with tears in her eyes. “I can’t hold on.” Twilight wanted to argue and just as the others bent down to help, she lost her grip on Twilights hoof and fell.
The five stood there shocked but for only a second as Necromorphs ran toward them. “To the lift.” The five followed Twilight into the nearby lift and got in. It began to move down when a leaper jumped in and tackled Twilight to the ground.
“Twilight!” Rainbow screamed as she kicked the thing off her and the others began stomping on the cornered Necromorph until it died. Twilight stood up and began to lower the lift.
“So now what?” AJ asked.
“We keep going.” Nothing else was said as the lift moved
Azaliah woke up on the side of the river. She hadn’t a clue where she was but that was partly due to it being foggy and part due to her being groggy. Her eyes were blurred and hazy. There was a building right in front of her so at least she was near civilization, sort of. There wasn’t much of that with Necromorphs everywhere. She stood and then collapsed onto the ground to weak to move.
A figure was seen walking up to her and she tried to pull out her weapon but then heard a feminine voice. “Help me with her will ya?” Azaliah gave up on grabbing her weapon as two more figures came over and helped to pick her up off the ground. “We’ll get ya ta safety miss, don’t worry.” She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Azaliah woke for the second time that day or possibly night, she wasn’t sure. A single pony with a yellow coat and red mane and tail stood by her bed with a sword by her side. “Good, yer awake. Tell me what ya were doin out there? Dontcha know it dangerous out there?”
“Who are you and why did you help me?” Azaliah got a better look at the pony and found scratches all over her body.
“Names Apple Bloom, Ah couldn’t very well let you die out there. Now ah’m gonna ask again, what were you doin out there?” Apple Bloom asked as she pulled out her sword and began to sharpen it.
“I was with a few others in Canterlot,” Azaliah thought unsure if she remembered correctly. “I was swept out of the prison by a river that ran through the mountain. I went over the falls and now I’m here and no I wasn’t a prisoner.” Azaliah tried to sit up but couldn’t. She decided at that point to look around the room. The building was small from the looks of it but she couldn’t say for sure with the boarded up windows.
“Who all were ya with?” Apple Bloom asked looking out a small hole in the door to keep an eye out for Necromorphs not that she could see much through the fog.
“I was with Twilight Sparkle and her friends, why do you care anyway?” Azaliah tried to sit up but found she couldn’t and then a knock came to the door. Apple Bloom opened the door and let in Nurse Redheart who went over to Azaliah. “Who are you?”
“She is the pony that is goin ta fix ya up.” Apple bloom looked back out the hole. “Now as for why it’s important for me ta know who you were with is because mah sister was most likely with ya. Her name is Applejack, sound familiar?” Apple Bloom looked at the pony on the nearby bed and glared.
“I heard her name but I have no idea who she is. She was with us though, I know that.” Azaliah and the others heard a noise outside. “Let me up.”
“No can do missy, you’re lucky you weren’t killed or damaged more than just a sprain and a few fractures.” Nurse Redheart continued to patch up the injured pony who grumbled angrily. “Gripe all you like, you aren’t getting up.”
A scratching noise could be heard coming from the door and Apple Bloom got ready. She pulled out her sword and got ready to strike down the thing that came through the door. The scratching continued for about a minute before it suddenly stopped. The silence was frightening, to Redheart anyway. She was no fighter and for a situation like this definitely involved fighting of some kind. Soon pounding could be heard at the door as if somepony or something was trying to break it down. The door began to crack and splinter from the center of the door. Fog began to slip right through the cracking door and the pounding stopped.
Apple Bloom kept her breathing steady and her mind focused. The silence stayed for a few minutes as the group watched the door ready for something to break in. She stood there in front of the door about four feet from it waiting in silence while poor Nurse Redheart got ready to freak out. Azaliah covered up the nurses’ mouth to keep her from screaming. A pound was heard on the door again and then went silent. Then it happened two more times before going silent. Despite having a cool head, Apple Blooms heart raced waiting for whatever it was to finally break through.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo headed into town to find supplies. Thanks to Scootaloo’s skateboard, they moved in and out of places quickly and without trouble. Scootaloo traded in her old scooter for something bigger that she could carry her friends on easier. The two mares went to the hospital first which had been evacuated. They needed some kind of medicine for injuries, not to mention that Celestia needed the medicine for her army. The two mares had volunteered to bring her supplies while Apple Bloom helped out anypony that needed it. They were already in Ponyville and had planned on going up to Canterlot anyway, somehow.
They walked through Ponyville hospital avoiding as many Necromorphs as possible but it was nearly impossible to do. They had also been asked to get some food as well and so after getting the medicine, they went into the cafeteria. “Let’s get in and get out Scoots, I don’t like it here.”
“You think I do?” Scootaloo picked up some muffins out of the bread box and stuffed them in her saddlebag. “Let’s get out of here, I’m in no mood to deal with more of these things if I don’t have to.” The two ran toward the exit and a leaper jumped on Scoots as the door opened. She stuck her sword out impaling it but it didn’t do much other then make it angry. “Get this thing off me!” Scootaloo yelled.
Sweetie had stumbled backward a bit from the attack on her friend. She regained her balance and ran over to the leaper and kicked the leaper throwing it off Scootaloo as well as losing her friends sword which was still in the leaper. Scootaloo got up quick, ran over to the leaper and pushed down on her sword while Sweetie stomped on it a few times over to kill it but they didn’t make it out unscathed. Sweetie got hit by its tail and now had a gash in her leg and Scootaloo had a nice long scratch on her face. “Let’s get out of here.” Scootaloo grabbed her skateboard, Sweetie got on behind her and they took off in a flash. “Should we check on Apple Bloom and her new guest?”
Sweetie thought about it and shook her head. “I would like to but Princess Celestia needs the medicine and food. All I found was mush, how about you?”
“Muffins but they aren’t exactly fresh.” Scootaloo flapped her wings and sped up. “I hope that Apple Bloom will be ok.” Scoots said as they exit the hospital.
“I wouldn’t worry too much, she is awesome at killing these things.” With that said, they disappeared into the fog and out of Ponyville.
Twilight and the others made it down the lift and into the open. Twilight looked left and right but the fog was too thick, there was no seeing through it. “Come on; if we walk along the river, we’ll make it to Ponyville fairly easy because as of now, getting there any other way would just be too hard.” She made her way to the river with caution. “Besides, we may find Azaliah along the way.”
“Why would you want to find her anyway Twilight, she tried to kill you.” Rainbow followed close behind with Rarity and the others following behind her.
“I must agree darling, she is a horrible pony with no decency. How could she be if she tried to kill you; after all you tried to help her correct?” Twilight nodded.
“More reason to hate her, she is our enemy.” Rainbow said angrily with the others except for AJ standing with her.
“Now hold on ya’ll, ah don’t like that she tried to kill Twilight either but there had to have been some reason for it, right Twi?” The others looked disgusted that AJ would protect her but looked to Twilight for an answer.
Twilight looked back on it and Applejack had a point, she had a reason to be mean but the question was; was it the reason THE reason. “Look girls, there is a possible reason for it.” AJ put on a smug smile that Twilight shook her head at disapprovingly. She shrunk back and let Twilight continue. “She is in a long line of keeping these Necromorph things from getting freed and her father was in charge before her. Her father was supposedly dead years ago and so Azaliah had to take over. It couldn’t have been easy for her. My point is; I think that she acts the way she does because of that great responsibility on her shoulders. She was wrong, I won’t deny that but she did what she did to keep those things busy so that she could buy some time. I truly believe that she wants to do the right thing but she isn’t sure how.”
“Still Twilight, why do we need her?” Rarity stomped her hoof angrily.
“We need her because despite any knowledge that we have of these things, she knows how to end this. Now do you wish to ask more questions and stand around waiting for something to attack or do you want to get out of here?” There was no answer. “Then let’s move.” Twilight used her horn despite the fact that she had her flashlight and lit the way down the river side. The light only shone a few feet unfortunately.
The group was exhausted from lack of sleep but they had to keep moving. The thought of falling asleep scared them. If they were to doze off, it was anypony’s guess if they would wake up or not. The river was calm and the only sound was of their hoof steps. The silence was deafening, they felt isolated as if they were separated from each other. The leaves of the trees from the forest near them rattled in the trees and as they stepped on the ones on the ground, the leaves crunched beneath them. The wind picked up and whistled in their ears.
Once halfway there, a splash was heard in the water and then Sunset Shimmer screamed as she fell to the ground. Twilight turned around and saw her getting dragged along the ground. “Rarity, I’ll find the source, you shoot at it and don’t go into the water.” This left AJ and Rainbow kind of helpless. Rainbow wasn’t about to fly up and lose sight of her friends or what sight she had left.
“Of course.” Rarity looked around unsure of where to shoot off her gems. Soon enough, Rarity was shocked when she saw a pony that looked hunched over was revealed in the water. Its neck was long and its head clamped onto Sunset’s hoof. The head was large and jawed like a piranha. Its spine was long and serrated. It flailed and snapped around like a whip. Rarity recovered from her shock and shot a single gem at the neck but it did little to nothing. She fired off four more, it wailed and let go. She fired off four more and finally cut the neck of the necro and killed it. “Twilight, I suggest we run now. I can’t use gems like this, I’ll run out before we really need them at this rate, not that we didn’t need them now darling.” Rarity corrected as she received a death glare from Sunset Shimmer.
“You heard her, run for it!” Twilight barked out the order and without a second thought, the group ran as fast as they could and stayed as far from the water as possible while avoiding the forest. It left very little room to run until they came to an opening. They still stayed in a line but they were able to move further from the river. The five collapsed from exhaustion just as they came within view of Ponyville. They could hear sounds of steps behind them, they were being chased but they had lost all energy. There was no hope for them now.
Twilight was the last to close her eyes but as she did, a figure appeared in front of her. “Who are you?” Her eyes shut as the figure ran past. Despite her eyes closing, Twilight could still hear a little. Gunfire was heard and howls as well.
When Twilight woke, she found her self in a building that she recognized. There were no candles lit which helped keep them room in the dark but she could still see well enough to know that this place was familiar. Upon making a light with her horn, a yell was heard to turn it off. Twilight shocked to hear somepony, turned off the light. “Hello; I know that voice.”
“Ya’ll had better recognize mah voice; ya have known me long enough. Now quiet Twilight, ah don’t need yer library to become overrun with these things.” The pony said.
“It’s good to hear you Apple Bloom. You save us?” Twilight asked a little groggy still.
“No, that was Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. When they saw yer light, they came back as fast as possible to tell me. Azaliah hoofed over her weapon and told them how to use it. Long story short, they saved ya.” Apple Bloom said with a smile that couldn’t be seen.
“Are they here, I’d like to thank them.” Twilight looked around but it was still hard to see.
“You just did and you’re welcome.” Scootaloo said with a smug grin.
“Good, wait, where is Spike?” Twilight began to panic; she stood and looked around frantically.
“You don’t need to worry; he has been with you the whole time you were knocked out. He just fell asleep is all but he was in pretty bad shape when we found him. He’ll be fine though, as of right now, we need to get some items to Celestia.” Scootaloo picked up her bag and got ready to head out.
“No, you’ll die trying to get there. The best way to help them is to help me and the others. Once Azaliah and the others are ready to go, well, we can talk later ok. Right now, I could use some rest.” Twilight closed her eyes and then felt a claw touch her hoof.
“I’m glad that you’re back Twilight.” Spike looked up with a smile.
“Me too Spike, me too.” With that, she fell asleep once again.
Twilight woke up an hour later with lit candles all around her. Noises and crashing could be heard up above. Twilight looked around, she found herself in the libraries basement. “What am I doing here?”
“We needed to get someplace safer than upstairs. Those things started to break in, we didn’t have a choice.” Apple Bloom said sitting down next to Twilight. She then saw the shocked expression on Twilight’s face. “You see it now don’t ya?” Apple Bloom was cut up from head to hoof. Scratches covered her body and an eye patch covered her left eye. Her mane was a tangled mess and part of her tail was gone.
“What happened to you?” Twilight asked as she stared at the mare in front of her.
“Ah had a run in with those things back at the clubhouse. That’s where ah was stayin but ah had to move. It was difficult but I made it out. It’s good to see ya in good health though.” Apple Bloom smiled and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“I’m not though, my mind has been, I’m not sure anymore. I have to say, I don’t even now if you’re real or not, I can’t tell anything anymore. I’m going on my own now, I can’t trust my mind anymore.” Twilight looked around and saw her friends and Azaliah getting things together. She stretched out her legs and stood up. “I appreciate the help if you really did help but I have to go.” With that said, Twilight took off up the stairs. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she turned around and glared at Apple Bloom. “Don’t follow me.” Twilight then took off.
“Twilight, wait a minute!” Apple Bloom yelled out to her but she ignored it. “Gals, we have a problem, Twilight left.”
“What, why?” All but Azaliah said in unison.
Azaliah worked on getting her things ready but answered the question. “Look, she is confused I’m sure. She can’t tell what is real anymore; she can’t trust her own mind. We have to help her anyway but without her seeing us. If she does, she will most likely turn on us and threaten to kill us and may do so.” The groups’ jaws dropped.
“Why should we trust you, you did try and kill her once already.” Rainbow growled.
“I agree, who is to say that you won’t take us in a different direction and let Twilight go off on her own. She will most likely die that way.” Rarity put on her armor as she spoke.
“I don’t blame you for being angry with me ok but what choice do you have?” Azaliah picked up her gun and got it ready.
“We have plenty of choices, leavin you is one.” AJ finished putting her armor on and then grabbed her sword.
“Girls, ah believe her. She even told me that she wasn’t sure if ah was me. Ah’m pretty sure that if ah tried to stop her, she would’ve killed me.” Apple Bloom grabbed her sword and rested it on her shoulder. “Ah think we should do as Azaliah says.”
“Thank you Apple Bloom, I appreciate the support. I regretfully haven’t done for anyone or anypony I think, never mind. I disappointed my father, tried to kill Twilight and tried to nuke the Marker which I should have known wouldn’t work. Truth is I’m scared and I don’t know what to do. Not even my father knew how to destroy this thing.” Azaliah started to cry. “I just don’t know what to do ok. I knew how to defend but I don’t know how to deal with what it was I was defending. The marker was never meant to be released or found for that matter. I only know how to kill Necromorphs; I don’t know how to end it.” She felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up at the pony and found Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom smiling at her.
“It’s ok Azaliah but we need to go after Twilight. If she is going after the marker, then this is all about to end one way or another.” Sweetie Belle looked to the others. “Are we all ready to go?” The group nodded and then she looked to Azaliah who wiped her tears away and nodded. “Let’s go then.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walked up the stairs and tried to peek out the door but it was stuck. The door only opened up about four inches before it stopped. Scootaloo peeked out the best she could and found the placed trashed. All she could see was a part of the front door when a blade went by her face. She backed up as the blade slipped between the crack in the door.
Sweetie jumped into action and cut off the blade with her sword. Another blade came through the crack and Scootaloo cut off that one. The necromorph pound itself against the door trying to get to the two mares. The two mares stuck their swords out as the Slasher rammed the door again and impaled itself. Scootaloo and Sweetie pulled their swords in different directions and cut the Slasher in half. “I think we’re good, it appeared to be the only one.” The others slowly made their way upstairs, weapons drawn just in case. “So how about some help with the door huh?” Scootaloo asked.
The group leaned against the door and pushed as hard as they could. It was slow but they were able to push the door open. On the other side of said door were two bookcases on top of each other. The door to the library hung by a hinge and not a single bookcase around the room stood. The stairs leading up to the next floor were shattered and the room had burn marks. The worst of it was on the walls. “Come on everypony, let’s get moving.” Sweetie Belle said as her and her friends led the way out of the library.
Twilight had arrived at Town Hall which was broken down and ready to fall inward or it would be had there not been the Marker in its center. “So this is it, the marker. What do I do though?” Twilight went up to it and touched the old artifact. It was oddly warm and naturally uncomfortable. She retracted her hoof and shook it as if trying to get a slimy gunk off. Not knowing what else to do, she used her magic and shot the marker and of course nothing happened. She rubbed the back of her head and wondered what she could possibly do.
Twilight walked around and stared at the artifact in silence and it made her nervous. The marker made it worse as this was where it was in her mind or was it all an allusion, she couldn’t be sure. It was too similar to just be coincidence right?
The fog grew thicker and if Twilight could see through it, she would have seen Canterlot in shambles and on fire. Her mind couldn’t help but wander off and think of her brother. Was he alright, was anypony ok there? Just then the ground began to shake like a weak earthquake. True it wasn’t a strong one but it was there nonetheless. Screams could then be heard that grew more and more distant. She recognized the screams as her friends but even then she questioned herself, her mind. “It’s just a trick right, those weren’t my friends? It was just the marker trying to lead me to my death?”
Twilight ignored the screams and turned back to the marker when a giant hulk like necromorph burst through a nearby house. Twilight turned and fired shot after shot at the creature.
After a ten minute fight, she finally killed it with little to no health left. She couldn’t even see her health bar, just a small red glow. At this point she couldn’t even stand and then Fluttershy appeared. “Hello Twilight.”
“You stay away from me, you can’t touch me remember? I have my crown.” Twilight said as she reached up to touch her crown which she found wasn’t there. “No no no no no, where is it?” Before Twilight had the chance, Fluttershy grabbed onto her.
Sweetie Belle and the others fell through a hole in the ground. Something was burrowing under them and it created the hole as well as a slide. They had no idea where they were going to but they didn’t have much choice in the matter. As they continued down the slide, a worm like necromorph popped through the ground and grabbed Azaliah. It pulled her through the ground but not before Sunset grabbed onto her. Unfortunately Sunset hit her head as Azaliah was pulled through and it forced her to let go and continue her descent. The others continued downward and slid a few feet when they hit the bottom. When they looked around, they found themselves surrounded by necromorphs.
Azaliah was pulled along until a big room appeared and she was let go. She landed with a hard thud on the ground. She stood and wobbled back and forth as she tried to regain her balance. “Stupid drag tentacle.” She regained balance, shook her head to clear it and then look around the room. It was rather small with the exception that it was big enough to fit one thing. “The marker.” A voice was heard behind her and she turned around in circles. She knew that voice all too well. “Axel!”
“You thought I was gone didn’t you Azaliah. I told you, this wasn’t over.” Axel came out from within the marker. His body was bloody but he looked like himself. “Don’t fight this, if you just give in you can be like me. You could go peacefully and return a hero, just admit that the marker can save us and mean it. You could be a prophet to the marker like me.”
“I could also be completely insane and I’d prefer to keep what I have left of my sanity. I still can’t believe the marker made me think I was talking to my great great grandfather but I suppose being knocked out cleared my mind. Now what do you say we end this now.” Azaliah raised her gun and pointed it at Axel. Axel moved closer and closer to his target who had no room to run all while being shot at. The bullets had no effect. He grabbed onto her head and invaded her mind.
After that little rush, Azaliah found herself still in the hole but it was bigger about ten times. There were rocks and other things spread out over the platform and Axel stood on the other side. She turned to her left and saw Twilight fighting who she could only assume was pony Fluttershy and she was getting no where with her. In the center was town hall with the marker in the center of it.
Azaliah turned back to face Axel. “Ok, let’s finish this.” She fired at Axel who went unaffected which wasn’t a big surprise until she realized she had to reload. At that point, she had to turn tail and run. After getting to the other side, a bullet whizzed by her and hit a small shadow like necromorph. Azaliah then heard Twilight yell to her.
“Azaliah, you shoot mine and I’ll shoot yours, we need each other! Don’t ask me how I know this, just trust me!” Twilight yelled as she moved out of the way of Fluttershy.
“I don’t need you Twilight, I can handle myself.” Azaliah fired more shots at Axel and then turned to one of the shadow necros and fired, it didn’t faze the creature. It jumped and landed on Azaliah. She wrestled with it for a bit before it was shot off of her. She looked to Twilight in shock. “Fine, you win!”
Soon the two were dodging little shadows, warning each other of danger and shooting the others necromorphs. Once the shadows were dead, they began firing on Axel and Fluttershy. Fluttershy died in two shots while Axel was still being shot at. “Sure, that’s fair. She only took a few shots while I’m still shooting your man!” After Twilight said that, Axel disappeared. “Never mind!” Behind Twilight the marker took damage and then human Rainbow Dash and the others appeared except for Pinkie Pie.
“Yes but at least you only have one person to shoot while as of now I have four.” Azaliah shot each of them but when they went down, they didn’t die. Smaller markers appeared from their bodies that she had to shoot. “Now I have two parts on them to shoot.”
“I take everything I said back Azaliah, I’m sorry about everything!” Twilight apologized as she shot Axel who had reappeared. “I should have listened to you in the first place, I’m so sorry, for everything!”
Azaliah was shocked to hear this and then something in her clicked and she felt bad. Maybe it was that she was the one that started the rivalry but it didn’t matter. “No, I’m sorry; I should have let you help me! I shouldn’t have tried to kill you!” Without realizing it, the two platforms started moving closer together. “I should have been nicer to you; you had every right to help if you wanted! I’m sorry for being such a creep! Can you forgive me for everything I’ve done to you?” The two platforms connected and the two went back to talking normally after feeling the shaking beneath there feet from the collision.
“Only if you can forgive me.” Azaliah nodded and then the two switched places and started to fight with the others problem. Twilight had run out of ammo and had started using her magic which worked just as well. Soon Axel, Rainbow, the others, and the shadow necros vanished. “Is that it?”
“I wish I could say yes.” Crazy and child like laughter could be heard. The two turned the sounds of the laughter and found human and pony Pinkie. “Of course we would have been out of here if it was.”
“Good point.” Twilight and Azaliah aimed at the two Pinkies’. They fired as fast as possible until they fizzled and became much darker; their skin/fur and hair which was also straightened. Tendrils came from their backs and flailed around. Azaliah and Twilight continued to fire at the two Pinkies but their shots were deflected by the tendrils. “What now?”
Azaliah looked around unsure of what to do as she and Twilight backed up. Then she saw some markers floating around. “The markers above us.” Twilight looked up and nodded. Azailiah tossed Twilight a telekinesis module and quickly showed her how to use it. The two grabbed a marker and threw them at the two Pinkies. The tendrils grabbed the markers which gave the two a few seconds to hit the two demonic Pinkie Pies. They hollered, screamed and then went back to the normal happy Pinkie’s.
“Not again, really?” Azaliah looked to Twilight, the two nodded and once again fired on the two demons but this time when they turned, two figures popped from their bodies.
“It’s good to be out of there.” Pony and human Pinkie said and then vanished.
“That was weird but then what hasn’t been lately?” The two demonic Pinkies moved closer to Azaliah and Twilight who had grabbed two more markers and threw them at the two demons. The two demonic Pinkie’s grabbed onto the markers. Twilight and Azaliah fired as fast as they could but when the two Pinkies fizzled, they didn’t change back again. Instead the two released markers from their backs that were soon fired upon.
The demonic Pinkies fizzled and then stood up and summoned necros of all kinds. As this happened, human Rainbow Dash and friends and pony Pinkie and Fluttershy appeared. “You didn’t think that we would leave you hanging did you? You take care of those Pinkie imposters and let us take care of the necros.” Human Rainbow said with a wink. “Thanks for freeing us by the way.”
Azaliah and Twilight turned to each other and nodded. They couldn’t deny that they were shocked though. “Together?”
“Together.” Azaliah and Twilight focused their fire on the pony Pinkie imposter and the marker that was on Twilight’s side begun to glow. They focused on the marker while avoiding contact with the demonic human Pinkie. The marker broke and blew up after a few seconds of shooting at it. The two then turned their attention to the other Pinkie imposter. She fizzled out and Azaliah’s Marker began glowing. They focused on the marker and destroyed that one as well. Everything around them vanished and the two were pulled apart. “Friends?”
“Friends.” Twilight was sucked out of her mind and collapsed onto the ground which then began to collapse below her.
Underground Azaliah left her mind and looked around. “It’s finally over, I hope.” She looked up to see the ceiling collapsing. She sat down as rocks fell all around her and too exhausted to care, she fell asleep.
Two weeks later and Azaliah and Twilight opened their eyes to find some friends and family around them, Twilight’s anyway. Shining, Cadance, her mother, her friends were a few. “How am I alive?” Azailah and Twilight said in unison.
“You’re lucky, that you had friends to help you.” Celestia said.
“Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t happy about saving Azaliah but Twilight would have had our head.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Are you ok love?” Flash asked holding onto Twilight’s hoof.
Twilight turned and frowned. “I’m fine Flash but-” Twilight paused and pulled off her ring and then hoofed it back to Flash. “I can’t Flash, not right now anyway. I’m sorry.” Flash, though sad, smiled and nodded in understanding. Twilight then turned to Azaliah. “Did we really apologize and if we did, what made you?”
Azaliah smiled. “After you apologized, after you saved me, something just clicked. I’m not sure what it was and I know that it isn’t a good explaination but it is what it is. Friends?” Twilight nodded and her other friends looked shocked
“Well, it’s going to be a bit of time before you can go home, you don’t mind staying do you?” Twilight asked.
“No, I think I could stand being here with my new friend for a while and to be honest, I didn’t have any real friends back home anyway.” Azaliah smiled.
“Now you do so long as you don’t try to kill me again.” Twilight turned and smiled at all the happy faces though she wasn’t sure how many of them were real or fake, but for now she would work to get her life back in order. “First things first when I get back, get the library fixed up and organized again.” Everypony broke into a fit of laughter. “What, I need to.” Twilight needed time to mourn as well but that was easy enough to do while working at least in her mind.