Twilight and her friends investigate disappearing ponies in the Crystal Empire while learning to use new powers
Unicorns can levitate objects, Pegasi can touch clouds, and Earth Ponies have heroic physical abilities- but do Crystal Ponies really only just get shiny? After being called by her brother to the Crystal Empire, Twilight Sparkle and her closest friends learn of a new threat pony-napping the Crystal Pony Citizens. When Rainbow Power fails them, they must use a secret power only known to the Crystal Ponies to rescue the lost citizens- but are Twilight and her friends close enough to do it?
Surrounded by her smiling and laughing friends in the midst of a crowded train car, Princess Twilight Sparkle was lost in her own thoughts. Twilight and her friends Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had been invited to an exclusive ball at the Crystal Empire that previously only the Crystal Ponies had been allowed to attend.
The former Elements of Harmony and the “great hero” Spike had been given special permission to go, and that was due to a letter from Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor, asking for her and her friends’ help with something possibly dangerous happening in the Empire. It was unknown how long they’d need to stay to solve it, but not knowing what the trouble was left Twilight metaphorically crawling the walls.
“You're worrying again, Twi.” The baby dragon seated next to Twilight said, laying a comforting claw on her shoulder.
“It's that obvious?” Twilight replied with a cringe. As healthy as it was to share her worries, Twilight couldn't help wanting to save their friends from them.
“Obvious as an shucked corn cob, sugar cube,” Applejack replied. “What's eating you?”
“Shining never tells what's going on in his letters - if he was a little less vague, maybe I could have prepared for whatever’s going on with the Crystal Empire better.”
“If it were a problem a book could solve, they would have looked it up themselves,” Spike replied.
“I hope it's a fashion problem - I haven't gotten to design Cadence a dress since your coronation, Twilight,” Rarity added. “I brought the bases of five different dresses, and have lots of flourishes, so I can have one done in time for the ball.”
“So it'll be a surprise, and a ball is a type of party, so that means tonight be a SURPRISE PARTY!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“Pinkie Pie, haven't you learned your lesson from our first Gala?” Rainbow Dash asked teasingly.
“Nope!” Pinkie Pie retorted, which made every pony laugh. Twilight gazed at the fast moving landscape outside the train’s window. Whatever was going on, maybe it could be handled with friendship- it hadn't failed her yet.
Despite needing half a dozen of Crystal Ponies to help with the luggage (which was mostly Rarity’s), Twilight and her friends made it to the Crystal Palace in the Empire effortlessly. The glittering city streets weren’t in disarray, and the citizens themselves seemed well-adjusted, so Twilight couldn’t help wondering what they needed help with.
“Twilie!” Shining Armor called in greeting to his little sister when they entered the throne room of the Crystal Palace. A large table had been placed in the center, and the rulers of the empire seemed to be looking at a ton of maps and charts that lay on top of it. Despite the apparent work laid out in front of her, the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza never failed to greet her sister-in-law the same way- with their “secret” hoof shake.
“Sunshine, sunshine
Ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves
And do a little shake!” the Princesses chanted together as performed their special greeting. Twilight didn’t waste any time after they were done with small talk.
“Cadence, Shining- what’s the problem? Why did you call us? The Crystal Empire seems normal!”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Shining Armor replied. “But the truth is, that some of our subjects have been disappearing.”
“They’re not just taking impromptu vacations?” Rarity asked.
“Maybe they’re hiding for the surprise party!” Pinkie Pie suggested giddily.
“No, those with family have reported them missing with no word. And the numbers of missing ponies have been rising- but our guards haven’t seen any of them leave the Empire’s borders,” Cadence explained.
“Do you have any idea where they could be?” Twilight asked.
“We have a lead- but to understand it, we have to tell you all something the Crystal Empire has kept secret for a long time. But you must swear never to tell anypony outside the Empire, and the Princesses.”
“Of course!” Rainbow agreed.
“Not even for a million tasty gems!”
“Okie dokie lokie!”
“Okay.”
“I’d never dream of telling. How uncouth!”
“I won’t tell a soul, that’s the honest truth.”
“You can count on us,” Twilight agreed.
“Good.” Shining Armor said with a smile. “Now follow us, and we’ll try to explain.”
As the group began to follow the couple to the rear of the palace, Cadence spoke.
“Like how unicorns can levitate objects with magic, pegasi can touch clouds, and earth ponies have abnormal physical abilities, Crystal Ponies have a magical ability too- and it’s more than crystallizing under the Crystal Heart’s power.”
“Oh do you have heat vision? Or how about ice breath? Oh! I know! Are you actually alien rocks that can take on the appearance of ponies?” Pinkie Pie mused.
“...No,” Cadence replied, looking mildly confused. “It’s very rare, but while in the borders of the Crystal Empire, Crystal ponies that have strong bonds can fuse their bodies together into one being.”
The former elements of harmony and Spike gasped in shock as the group was led below ground.
“No lie?” Spike asked.
“It’s true,” Shining Armor confirmed. “But the end results are kind of shocking to non-crystal ponies, so we usually keep it a secret to avoid scaring anypony.”
“You become ...scary?” Fluttershy squeaked.
“I’d say the transformations are usually quite beautiful. But we’ve found an exception to that recently that’s concerning.”
Rounding a corner, Twilight realized that they were in a dungeon. Although it looked more than a thousand years old with cracked stones, dust, and cobwebs in the distance, the path they took looked like it had been recently swept. There was a row of cells to their immediate right, and while most of the bars were bent or even missing, one cell was intact, its door closed and locked.
As they approached it, Twilight noticed a small shape huddled in clean hay in the cell’s corner, facing the wall away from them. It made no sign that it heard them as they stood outside.
“We think this was a filly named Tourmaline- she’s one of the missing ponies. She hasn’t said word since we caught her.”
“Caught her? She didn’t want to be found?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Dash, there are no such things as zombies… right?” Applejack asked Shining and Cadence.
“That’s right,” Shining agreed. “Tourmaline is now-”
The figure spun around, and in a teal blurr, it landed on the cell bars on the door. The startled ponies leapt back. The being had a long wavy mane like the ocean at night, and ears as long as a rabbit’s. Its body mostly resembled the pony it once was, only it had three long clawed fingers on the end of each leg, and a long, lizard-like tail that thrashed back and forth. It hissed and growled at everypony, shaking the bars of its cage.
“-a fusion.”
“Fusions are like that?” Rarity gaped in horror.
“No!” Shining Armor declared, stomping a forehoof. “Fusions may look strange to the average lay pony, but none of them become savage like Tourmaline here. We worry that her fusion isn’t natural, and could be hurting her.”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said in concern. The creature in the cell scurried back to the corner where it was before.
“We’ve tried everything to get her back to normal, except ... would you be willing to try your Rainbow Power to heal her?” Cadence asked.
“Wouldn’t that hurt her?” Twilight asked.
“Your rainbow power is made up of the power inside you. It might be dangerous, but Sunburst’s research shows that it could weaken her enough to undo the fusion.”
The mares were hesitant, but Twilight could tell from their glances that they would go along with whatever she wanted.
“I think you should do it!” Spike said, firming the decision in Twilight’s head.
“Okay, let’s try to save that filly!”
The atmosphere in the dungeon changed, charged with energy as the mares’ Cutie Marks spread across their bodies, the magic within pulsing to escape. It lengthened their manes and tails, until it had no place to go but out. Standing in front of her friends, Twilight drew that energy around her horn and sent it flying at the caged being.
Twilight almost didn’t hear the panicked wail above the blast of energy, but it was too late to stop as a small pink blur raced in between their rainbow power and the cell. Twilight gasped as the light bounced through the figure and separated into multiple different directions. It knocked the mane six off of their feet, and bent some of the cage bars, but none of the rays had been powerful enough to fix the filly, which had also been knocked over.
No longer feeling powerful, Twilight was disturbed to see a pink crystal pony colt had been the cause, and he lay prone on the stone floor. She rushed forward to check the chubby unicorn’s pulse, and was pleased to see he was still breathing.
“What happened?” Rainbow complained, shaking rubble from her mane.
“This colt’s body acted like a prism to the light of our spell, weakening it. If the caged filly still has properties of a Crystal pony, I worry that trying again would only show the same results,” Twilight explained.
“We wouldn’t want you to do so anyway- I don’t want anypony to risk getting hurt again.” Shining Armor declared. His wife nodded in agreement.
“Why ever would somepony jump ahead of our power like that?” Rarity asked.
“This little guy was friends with Tourmaline. He was likely worried about her safety.” Cadence explained.
“We should get him to a medic, right away!” Fluttershy insisted. “If It’s not too much trouble, I mean.”
Everyone was trotted off to the infirmary, and thankfully no pony was injured beyond a few scratches and bumps. The colt was still asleep, but the nurse assured them that after a little rest he’d be fine. On the subject of rest, Shining Armor and Cadence insisted Twilight and her friends go to the Crystal Empire’s Bath House to get ready for the Ball that night. The prince and princess had to get their daughter Flurry Hearts some dinner and send her to bed, after all.
After a calming bath and pampering, the sun was set and it was time to head to the ball. The Crystal Empire glittered in moonlight, and a carriage waited outside the bath house so they wouldn’t dirty themselves on the street walking to the castle. The Princess of Friendship and her friends had dressed in shimmering ball gowns Rarity had styled with gems that matched each pony’s eye color to a tee.
Spike himself wore a shiny golden vest and red bow tie- after having been caught eating the gems on the first outfit Rarity had made for him, Rarity decided to go with more organic materials for his outfit. But as his scales had been buffed and polished, he sparkled just as much as the other mares in his party.
Through the carriage windows, multicolored lanterns lit up the path to the castle, reflecting rainbows through their prism-shaped bodies. But the Crystal Castle glittered the brightest, rivaling the stars in the sky.
Gentlecolts helped the mares out of their carriage and unto a lush red carpet leading into the palace. Even from outside, music and joyful chatter could be heard like the party was in full swing. Other than the guards outside and the mares’ ushers, no pony was outside.
“Are we late?” Twilight asked the guard ponies as she tried to hide her anxiety. The stallions smiled at the Princess.
“Not at all. Please wait here, and we’ll formally introduce you.”
“Is that really necessary? The Crystal Ponies know who we are!” Rainbow Dash complained as the guard stepped inside.
“It’s all part of decorum, darling,” Rarity explained. “We wouldn’t want to be rude!”
“They have to get into their hiding spots, too!” Pinkie Pie said with a giggle.
“It’s not that kind of party, Pinkie.” Twilight replied as the guard returned.
“They’re ready for you. Please follow me.” They followed the guard through the empty throne room to a large set of purple satin curtains that extended across the length of a hoof ball field. Two servants on either end of the curtains pulled on golden tasseled cords to reveal the giant, sparkly ballroom, and the guard called out to the well dressed crystal ponies:
“Presenting the Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by our hero Spike the dragon, and friends of Equestria Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, and Pinkamena Diane Pie!”
The Crystal ponies stomped their hooves in approval, and the Ponyville visitors were dazzled by the sight in the ballroom. It was at least twice as long as the throne room in Canterlot, with three large crystal chandeliers, an orchestra on the far right and a long buffet table with all sorts of sweet and savory treats on the far left. The crystal ponies stood in the center of the polished marble floor, Cadence and Shining Armor in silver and gold dress clothes in front of them, beaming with excitement.
“Welcome back!” Cadence greeted. “Did you have a nice rest?”
“Yes, but I can’t stop thinking about Tourmaline! Perhaps if I spend some time in the Crystal Library, I can find a clue to fix her-”
“Twilight. Don’t worry about it- have fun! We can worry about it tomorrow,” Shining Armor ordered playfully.
“But-”
“Using your Rainbow Power must be tiring. Please, relax. Shining and I want to show you something special,” Cadence said with a wink. Twilight was still worried, but she stepped back with the rest of the ponies as they cleared the center of the dance floor. Shining and Cadence nodded at the maestro, and the Crystal Orchestra began playing a tango.
Shining Armor smirked at his wife, extending a fore hoof to her while standing on his back legs. Cadence rose onto hers, spinning toward her husband until their hooves clasped together and their torsos touched, standing so close that they were cheek-to-cheek. With their fore hooves in front of them, they took three steps forward, paused on beat, and twisted away from each other while still holding hooves.
Almost as quick as they were apart they spun back together, passionately looking into each other's eyes. They took three more steps in the opposite direction, then stopped as Shining twirled Cadence, dipping her in his arms.
Only as he moved in as to kiss her, their bodies dissolved into a glowing mass of light, reforming into an Alicorn twice as tall as Cadence with both male and female features. It had a pale fuchsia coat, purple hooves, purple wing tips, a mane and tail of purples and a single green stripe. But it’s oddest features included two horns spiralling around each other, and four purple eyes on its face.
Its Cutie Mark was a fusion too- a heart shaped shield. Twilight and her friends gasped in awe, but the Crystal ponies gave a thunderous applause.
“Shining? Cadence?” Twilight addressed the being in front of them.
“Hello, Twilight- it is an honor to meet you. My name is Guardian Aria, but you may call me Aria.”
“But what happened to Shining and Cadence? Can you change back?” Spike asked as he raised his voice in panic.
“I am both of them, their union of the same thoughts and desires, yet separate- almost like a sibling of Flurry Hearts. But it only lasts as long as my thoughts stay aligned.”
“As interesting as this “fusing” is, what’s the benefit for changing yourself so... drastically?” Rarity asked.
“You know the phrasing “two heads are better than one”? I may not have two literal heads, but I am double the pony. Twice the magic of before, with my own special talents I can use to protect our Crystal ponies.”
Something clicked in place for Twilight.
“Shining wasn’t born a Crystal pony- can my friends and I fuse, too?”
Aria hesitated before speaking.
“Technically, you were crystallized by the Crystal Heart, so that does mean you are capable, but why would you want to do it?”
“You said that you have your own talents- what if when one of my friends and I fused together, we had the power to change Tourmaline back to normal? Maybe our senses could be heightened that we could find the other missing ponies?”
“Twilight, it’s very hard to keep up a fusion, never mind joining together in the first place.”
“But no pony has a bond stronger than the one my friends have with each other. We can do it easily!”
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash agreed. Rarity, Apple Jack and Fluttershy looked less certain.
“That dancy-fusey stuff looks super fun! Can I try now? Let’s do it now, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie added. Twilight nodded determinedly, and Pinkie Pie squealed in delight. Using her own forehooves to grab Twilight’s, Pinkie began to twirl Twilight to the center of the dance floor, giving Twilight a bad case of vertigo as the Crystal ponies moved to avoid the spinning mares. They paused in the center, Twilight regaining her balance as Pinkie twirled around her.
“Pinkie, wait! We need to dance together.”
“We are dancing together, silly!”
“I mean, in unison, in a proper form like Cadence and Shining. We haven’t decided the style of dance!”
Pinkie paused, puzzled and pondering, before smiling brightly at Twilight again.
“Okie dokie!” she finally agreed, and stood attentively next to her friend.
“Should we try a waltz? Or maybe some Swing would be better? I think I remember the form from my book…”
Suddenly, a spotlight shone down on the duo. The song changed to an upbeat ballad, and Twilight felt pressured to move. She grabbed Pinkie Pie in a near panic, positioning her friend’s forehooves so one was on Twilight’s waist and the other held on to Twilight’s free forehoof.
“Follow my lead,” she told Pinkie, and took a step backwards, leading Pinkie Pie in a waltz. Twilight counted, trying to stay in rhythm like her Intro to Ballroom Dancing book had said to. Pinkie Pie counted with Twilight at first, and the alicorn was amazed to see a balloon-shaped glow on the center of Pinkie Pie’s neck. Was there one like it on herself? Twilight couldn’t tell, but the thought had distracted her enough to lose her count. She tried to regain it, but Pinkie had begun to add flourishes to her count that were off beat.
“One-toodle two, three doodle one, two oodle doodle,” the pink mare sang, no longer glowing, but still smiling. Twilight couldn’t focus, and in a turn that she was sure was the wrong step slipped on her gown’s skirt. Pinkie Pie tried to stop the fall by turning it into a dip, but lost her own balance. Both ponies landed on the floor with a thud, and the music stopped as the ponies around them murmured worriedly.
Pinkie Pie burst into laughter, and it became contagious, spreading onto the face of every mare and stallion in the room except one. Twilight blushed at her misstep, replaying her mistakes over and over in her head as she scrambled to stand on her hooves. Pinkie Pie had been glowing, but they hadn’t fused. Their bond was strong, wasn’t it? Or was it just that Twilight was the problem?
The laughter seemed malicious to Twilight, drowning out the voice of reason in her head. She thought she could do anything with her friends, but clearly, she was wrong. Twilight ran out of the ballroom, the throne room, past the guards and the Crystal Heart into the dark streets of the Empire. Her friends could likely help Aria and the Empire without her- Twilight couldn’t even dance.
After calming down some, Twilight was uncertain where she was exactly. The bright Crystal Palace still towered over the other buildings in the city’s center, but Twilight couldn’t recognize the streets to get back there in the dark. No pony was around to ask for directions, either. Maybe being alone at night after having been told ponies had been disappearing wasn’t the best idea.
The occasional lamp post were her only sources of light, as not a single window was lit. Was it really so late that every pony would be asleep, or was the truth that the buildings were all empty as everypony was back at the castle?
“Twilight!”
The call startled the Princess, and she lit her horn defensively as she heard many hoof-steps galloping towards her. Then a lamp lit up Twilight’s friends as they approached, and Twilight sighed in relief. From her place in front of the herd, Pinkie Pie leapt on Twilight and hugged her tightly.
“I’m sooo sorry! I thought our fall was funny, but Spike said you didn’t think so, and I said ‘Really?’ and felt really bad because I was laughing with you, not at you- but you didn’t know and got sad and I’m sorrryyyy!”
“It’s ok, Pinkie- it wasn’t your fault- I’m the failure.”
“WHAT?” was the resounding cry from her friends.
“Wait just one apple-pickin minute. Did you just try something for the first time and give up because couldn’t get it right in one go?” AJ demanded.
“When you put it that way…”
“Darling, you taught yourself how to dance out of a book, didn’t you? Dancing is something you need to practice with your body, up close and personal!” Rarity declared.
“We can’t all we as awesome as me,” Rainbow Dash added. Rarity gave Dash a sideways glance and opened her mouth, but a child’s scream stopped any further discussion.
“Somepony’s in trouble!” Dash declared.
“We’d better go get Guardian Aria for help,” Fluttershy said, eyeing the dark city. The scream returned, the cry of help unmistakable.
“What if they’re being ponynapped? We can’t wait!” Twilight exclaimed, turning towards the direction of the cries.
“I’ll go get Aria, you six should go help the pony,” Spike offered, running back towards the castle.
“Spike, wait!” Twilight called after the baby dragon- but he only waved back at them, not breaking his stride. Quickly sending a protection spell after him, Twilight hoped whatever was causing the disappearances wouldn’t get him, too- but Twilight knew that whatever was taking ponies could be powerful. Maybe the Rainbow Power might be needed, and she needed all of her best pony friends to do it.
All the mares raced towards the pleas for help that were getting more urgent as every second passed. Although they’d traveled through the city during the day, the streets at night seemed different, and they found themselves at a couple of dead end streets with no sign of the pony in distress. But the ruckus the pony made didn’t lessen, and so they soon stumbled upon the scene.
“Let me go! Help! You’re not going to get me like you got my friends!”
It was the same curly-haired crystal pony that had jumped in front of Tourmaline in the dungeon. The colt was shouting while flailing, barely remaining in the clawed grasp of his captor.
“A diamond dog!’ Rarity gasped. “Does it think Crystal Ponies are real gems?”
“Let him go!” Rainbow Dash yelled, diving at the dog.
“Unfair! Unfair!” the Diamond Dog protested as he ducked Rainbow Dash’s attack, pinning the unicorn colt to the ground in the process. It howled, and a sewer grate burst open. More Diamond dogs rushed out to the first one’s aide.
“Princess Twilight!” the colt yelled, somehow looking more frustrated than scared.
“We gotta stop those dogs!” Twilight yelled.
“Alright!” Rainbow Dash cheered, dive-bombing a dog.
“Be careful of your dres- oh, never mind,” Rarity lemented.
The ponies raced into the scuffle. Apple jack bucked. Rarity whined (it was super effective) and levitated debris at the dogs. Pinkie Pie blasted them with her party cannon. Fluttershy hid behind Twilight, who was trying to aim magical blasts at the dogs nearest to the colt while not hitting him.
But somehow, the colt was getting farther and farther away, and for a moment Twilight lost sight of him. She heard a terrible yell of pain. Launching herself into the air, Twilight caught sight of the original Diamond dog holding the colt, who was now limp.
“Much easier now sleepy-bye,” the Diamond dog said as her flung the colt over his shoulder.
“NO!” Twilight blazed towards the pair, but the dog ducked, blowing a raspberry at the unicorn. The diamond dog’s smug expression faded fast as a lasso seized his captive: AJ had caught the colt! Diamond dogs rushed AJ, and she flung the colt into the air.
“Fluttershy!” she called, and the yellow pegasus (who had been hiding on top of a building) caught the colt, holding him above the dogs.
“Why are you acting like this? You’re normally not this aggressive!” Fluttershy asked the dogs, who only snarled in response. To reach the airborne pegasus, the Diamond Dogs crawled onto each others’ shoulders, forming a wobbly pyramid. Rainbow Dash snorted and charged into the center of the pyramid like a baseball knocking over milk bottles. But despite their initial howls of pain, they began forming the pyramid again.
“Why do they want that colt so badly?” Rarity asked, giving voice to Twilight’s thoughts.
“They’re acting really weird!” Twilight replied, trying to contain the Diamond dog pyramid into a magical bubble. A dog tackled Twilight from behind, making her lose concentration on the spell. Hearing Twilight’s cry of surprise, Apple Jack bounded over her opponents and bucked the dog off of her friend. But Diamond Dogs kept appearing as fast as they were knocked down in terrifying numbers.
“No dog piles on Pinkie!” the pink earth pony cried as she moved like a pink blur through the crowds, trying her best not to be held down. Twilight was having trouble keeping an eye on every pony, and realized it wasn’t just the crowds of Diamond Dogs that was the cause.
A thick purple fog was quickly covering the streets, and somehow the sight of it made her drowsy. She couldn’t sleep now, it was too dangerous! But looking around, both dogs and ponies seemed sluggish, their movements like they were moving in molasses.
Twilight gasped as she saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash fall from the sky- she had to catch them, but somehow couldn’t manage to put the energy into the spell!
It wasn’t her aura that surrounded her falling friends and gently stopped their descent, but a purple one. Guardian Aria was here, carrying Spike on their back. The Crystal Guard was right behind them, and immediately began moving in to protect the mares. Twilight noticed the fog had begun to fade, and so was everyone’s lethargy.
“The cavalry’s here!” Spike yelled cheerfully. “Charge!”
The guard ponies joined the fray, using the Diamond Dogs’s disorientation to their advantage. It appeared that the ponies might even get the upper hand when a tall shape the size of a building blocked the light coming from the Crystal Palace. How did something so big arrive without making a sound? In the dark it was hard to make out details, but it appeared to stand on two legs, and long, bedraggled hair covered its body. The colt, having woken up after the fog’s disappearance, gasped at the sight of it.
“Amethyst Armor, is that you? Amethyst!” he cried, struggling in Fluttershy’s arms in an attempt to run to it.
“You know that vile beast?” Rarity asked.
“She’s not a beast! Don’t hurt her!” he pleaded.
“She looks like she wants to hurt us!” Rainbow Dash argued.
“It’s one of the missing ponies, isn’t it?” Twilight asked Aria. “And a forced fusion?”
Before Aria could reply, the creature spun, flinging a long, barbed tail at the ponies in front of it. It clashed into a purple force shield created by Aria, protecting the ponies from the attack. The creature whipped its tail in another direction, the blow nearly crushing Twilight before it was stopped again by another magical shield.
“Amethyst, why are you doing this? Stop it, please!” the colt cried.
The beast whipped its tail again and again, and though Guardian Aria blocked every blow, it showed no sign of giving up. Rapt in the battle, Twilight had nearly forgotten about the Diamond Dogs until she heard Rainbow Dash shout:
“Hey, they’re getting away!” It was true- only a few Diamond Dogs were left, having slipped away from the ponies and were quickly disappearing back into the sewers. Twilight tried casting a freeze spell to stop them, but it was too late- not a single Diamond Dog remained.
The giant creature then roared, drawing the attention of the ponies back to Guardian Aria’s battle. It curled into a ball like a hedgehog, and Aria quickly drew every pony and itself in the immediate area into a giant bubble, flinging it high into the sky.
Not a second too soon the creature spun like a rolling boulder, destroying buildings in its path. As the dust from the wreckage lifted, it was clear that the monster had vanished, too. After scanning the ground multiple times to make sure it was gone, Guardian Aria gently set the bubble on the ground.
“Search the area in pairs for any enemy stragglers,” Aria commanded the guard ponies. “Is anypony hurt?”
“A few cuts and bruises- nothing serious,” Apple Jack replied.
“Speak for yourself! I need an emergency hooficure immediately! And all the dresses I made are in tatters!” Rarity wailed. Fishing a travel sewing kit from the folds of her own gown, she desperately tried to stitch a rip in her dress.
“I’m glad to see you’re all here!” Spike cheered, leaping off Aria and racing to give each of his friends a hug. “I was worried you might be taken!”
“They didn’t seem to interested in us Ponyville Ponies,” Twilight explained.
“Yes, they seemed to really want this colt,” Fluttershy added, placing the pouting pony of discussion down in front of Guardian Aria. The fused pony’s eyes bugged out at the sight of the tiny pink pony.
“STELLAR QUARTZ!” it shouted. Aria’s features shifted, and another bright glow encompassed the ruler’s body, splitting it into two. Cadence and Shining Armor were two separate ponies again.
“I told you not to leave the castle!” Shining Armor yelled at the colt.
“But I can’t just sit around! I have to find my family! They need me!”
“It’s too dangerous for anypony to go racing off their your own, nevermind somepony so young and inexperienced” Cadence replied. “None of your family would want you to put yourself in harm’s way.”
Stellar Quartz began to cry large frustrated tears. “But.. but…”
“You need somepony to lead you a hoof. That’s why we called Twilight and her friends, here- together, they can solve any problem,” Shining Armor said. The mane six agreed and said encouraging words to Stellar Quartz as guards escorted him back to the palace, but something about Twilight’s smile seemed forced. When the colt was out of earshot, Twilight’s smile turned into an expression of pure panic.
“I don’t know what to do!” she almost screeched. “We can’t use Rainbow Power, we don’t have a clue where the missing ponies are, the Diamond Dogs numbers seem endless- and I don’t think they’ll listen to reason! What’s the friendship problem, Shining? Cadence? Not that I really understand friendship when I can’t even fuse with one of my best friends!”
“Breathe, Twilight- just like I showed you,” Cadence said, placing a calming hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. The lavender mare had to breathe for a full minute to calm down.
“Fusion isn’t an easy thing, Twilight- nopony gets it on the first try. But Cadence and I think that once you get the hang of it, you and your friends will make strong and stable fusions- maybe even stronger than Guardian Aria is,” Shining said encouragingly.
“And we think you’re right- maybe one of your fusions with your friends would have the power to heal the forced fusions- It certainly wouldn’t hurt to experiment!” Cadence added with a wink.
“Spike, we should try to fuse next- I bet we’d make an awesome fire-breathing drapony!” Rainbow Dash suggested excitedly.
“That sounds really cool! Think we’d get really big, too?” Spike said with a quick glance at Rarity.
“Spike- we think it would be better if you stayed in the palace for now,” Shining said gently.
“What? But I wanna help!”
“You will be helping- the Crystal ponies love you, and having you around will keep their spirits up. You know what happens when there isn’t enough love to power the Crystal Heart,” Cadence explained.
“Well, I guess that can’t be helped, then,” Spike relented, failing to hide a pleased smile. “Sorry Dash- maybe some other time.”
“Well, I have always wondered what using magic is like. Twi, wanna be the faster pony ever?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight hesitated.
“Maybe you’d have better luck with Rarity?” she suggested. “After my disastrous attempt with Pinkie Pie… I’m sure you’d have better luck with her.” Pinkie Pie deflated a little with her friend’s statement.
“Twilight Sparkle! Where’s your can-do attitude gone?” Rarity scolded. “Who’s brought us all together more than once? You’d be great at this!”
“Twilight,” Cadence said seriously, drawing the attention of everypony around. “You didn’t fuse with Pinkie Pie because you were thinking about dancing too hard. You need to have a similar mindset to fuse.”
“But we both wanted to-”
“Pinkie Pie, you wanted to have fun with Twilight, am I right?”
“Right a-rinoooo!” Pinkie Pie cheered in agreement.
“So while Pinkie Pie was thinking of having fun, Twilight was thinking about dancing the right way. Those different thoughts kept the both of you in your own bodies.”
“That sounds awfully complicated,” Apple Jack commented.
“It is. But thinking about the goal while doing so usually helps,” Shining Armor laughed.
“You all must be very tired. Let’s go back to the palace, and we can review the basics tomorrow,” Cadence said.
“To what end, may I ask?” Rarity asked. “Is it really necessary to fuse?”
“Well, it could be a good defense against the Diamond Dogs, and that forced fusion, if she shows up again,” Shining Armor explained.
“But we don’t know where they are!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“No, but we know they came from underground. So maybe we can get a hint by exploring Sombra’s underground passageway.”
“Twilight, I know you’re awake,” Spike’s voice grumbled from the darkness. They were both in their beds in the bedroom they shared whenever they visited the Crystal Empire. Spike was correct that the mare had not been sleeping- Twilight had been having trouble finding a comfortable spot and turning off her mind.
“Go to sleep!” the little dragon insisted.
“But what if I over think fusing when we practice tomorrow?” She asked, voicing her thoughts.
“You do realize how ironic that statement is, right?” Spike replied with a groan. He turned on the bedside lamp, his expression one of surrender. “Is it really that hard not to over…” Spike trailed off as he met Twilight’s eyes, and together they remembered the mare’s personality. “Anyway, losing sleep is going to make it hard to do anything tomorrow. Why don’t you just think about counting sheep?” the dragon suggested with a yawn.
“That’s it!” Twilight said excitedly. “If I think really hard about my friends while I’m dancing, maybe that’ll make me able to fuse with them!”
“Great. Now do it in the morning,” Spike grumbled, turning off the lamp. Twilight laid in bed, wanting even more now to sleep so she could wake up and have it be the next day. But she couldn’t help running her plans in her head over and over. If only she had thought to bring her friendship journal with her so she could review how her friends think! Didn’t she gift a copy to Shining and Cadence? It must be in their royal library.
****
Twilight couldn’t remember having fallen asleep, but it was morning before she realized it. A servant knocked on the door, announcing breakfast, and Spike joyously leapt out of his bed. They tidied their appearances and left their room, taking the long sparkling stairway down to the first level of the castle. Instead of the large dining room Cadence and Shining Armor used for formal occasions, Twilight and Spike met the rest of their friends in the smaller receiving room the royal family ate in on an average day. The kitchen staff had made regular, blueberry, chocolate chip, and gem waffles for breakfast, along with almost every kind of fruit, syrup, jam and jelly you could imagine.
Flanked by her parents, Flurry Hearts sat in a high chair, giggling. Judging by the bits of sticky food present all over her parents’ upper bodies, she seemed to be more interested in throwing her food around then eating. But she was only a baby.
“Good morning, everyone,” Cadence greeted warmly.
“Good morning!” Twilight and her friends replied with various degrees of alertness. While her friends sat down and started dishing themselves up, Twilight rushed over to her niece. Flurry Hearts giggled as Twilight scooped up the sticky baby and cooed at it.
“Who’s my favorite niece? You are!”
“Isn’t taking care of Flurry Hearts and running the kingdom a lot of work? Maybe we should come back to the Crystal Empire later for the fusing practice,” Fluttershy suggested. The royal couple- who had taken the moment Flurry Hearts was occupied to eat- exchanged a small look while swallowing their food.
“It won’t be a problem- Sunburst is going to be looking after Flurry this morning, and we usually don’t open court on the weekends,” Shining Armor replied. Fluttershy nodded, but this info didn’t seem to soothe her worried expression.
Breakfast was uncharacteristically quiet after that, and Twilight looked around at her friends while putting Flurry Hearts back in her high chair. Rainbow Dash looked pretty groggy while she inhaled whatever food was closest to her, Applejack had a thoughtful expression on her face as she spread apple preservatives on her waffles, Rarity’s lips were pressed tightly together as she daintily dipped tiny cut pieces of waffle into maple syrup before popping a piece into her mouth one at a time, and Fluttershy seemed to be pouring a large amount of berry syrup into her tea as she stared off into space.
But it was Pinkie Pie that was the most unusual of all. She was preparing her waffles like she usually did before eating them- into the shape of a skyscraper using every kind of syrup and jam available to hold it together- but her movements were slow, like she was moving through molasses. In past breakfasts Twilight had with the pink mare, the waffle skyscraper had almost touched the ceiling, but today’s was barely as tall as Flurry Hearts.
“Is everypony ok?” Twilight asked.
“We’re fine, darling- just dealing with sleeping in odd beds,” Rarity replied. The other ponies nodded and grumbled in agreement, but something about Pinkie’s “yeps” worried Twilight. Hoping that it was just that she was tired, Twilight sat down in the last empty chair between Spike and Shining Armor and dished herself up some breakfast. The breakfast conversation seemed heavy and forced, with Applejack and Fluttershy barely adding to it and Pinkie Pie only answering direct questions shortly.
Twilight was glad when Sunburst interrupted to pick up Flurry Hearts- finally they could work on something productive instead of forcing conversation. With their daughter occupied, Cadence and Shining Armor lead the group into the castle’s gym for fusing lessons.
They spread the mares out so that they were just out of hoof’s reach from each other, and lead the group through some stretches while Spike napped on a bench nearby. Then they passed out sweatbands to the ponies.
“To start, we’re just going do some repetitive dance steps to help you girls stay on the same rhythm,” Cadence explained. “Shining?” Her husband nodded, and switched on a boom box he had next to him. The music that started playing was a fast-paced funk.
“Let me demonstrate first, than you’ll mirror my movements,” Cadence encouraged. She listened to the music for a couple lines, then began to march in place- her steps on beat with the rhythm. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash caught on to the movement fast and copied Cadence, AJ following shortly. After a couple of missteps, Twilight and Rarity joined in too. Fluttershy looked anxiously at her friends.
“No pony will judge you, Shy- c’mon!” Rainbow insisted.
Fluttershy looked uncertain, but as her friends smiled and said encouragements to her, she moved a little shakily until she was marching with the rest of them with a practiced air.
Cadence let everypony march together for a couple more lines of the song, then declared,
“Ok, let’s kick it up a notch.” Staying on beat, the pink princess took two steps to the right, two steps to the left, and repeated side stepping back and forth, counting aloud her steps as she went. Most of the mares watching her were able to adapt to the new movement, but Twilight stumbled at the change, nearly knocking over Apple Jack in the process. But both ponies picked themselves up fast and got right back into the movements.
After another few beats where everypony was sidestepping together, Cadence added two more steps to each sideways movement, calling out “One two three four” with each step.
“Okay, this time we’ll turn around in the four beats, turning left and right instead of just stepping sideways. We’ll go slowly at first,” Cadence explained while demonstrating. It felt fairly easy while they were going slow, but as it got faster Twilight found herself having trouble remembering what hoof went where. She apparently wasn’t the only one, as Fluttershy slipped, stuck out her wings to balance herself and hit Rarity with them. Like dominoes, the entire line fell.
“Okay, let’s take five. Good job everypony!” Cadence said without a drop of sarcasm.
“But we fell!” Twilight argued.
“It wasn’t about how good you are dancing- it was about being focused on the dance instead of your own thoughts. Moving together without thinking will help when you try to fuse in these next few days.”
“We aren’t going to try to fuse today?” AJ asked.
“Rather than attempting it right away, Shining Armor and I would like you to think about how a group of ponies with very different personalities have remained friends for so long. Individually and as a group, dwell on your bonds that keep you all close.”
“But I thought you said not to think while fusing,” Fluttershy pondered aloud. Cadence smiled.
“When you’re ready to fuse, it’ll become second nature that doesn’t require much thought. But for now, we’re just practicing.”
“I don’t know…” Twilight mused. “I think I’m lacking the right mindset.”
“It doesn’t have to be perfect, Twilight. You and I could fuse with our greeting ritual, for instance,” Cadence explained. Twilight was confused.
“Really? Than why haven’t we fused before?”
“That’s because our intention wasn’t to fuse. You know what? Let’s try it now.”
“What?” Twilight and Shining Armor said together. Cadence laughed.
“Adding a hug at the end should do it.”
“Cadence, I’m not-” Shining Armor started, but his wife put a hoof over his mouth.
“We can do ‘Sunshine sunshine’ in our sleep, Twilight- just don’t overthink it.”
Cadence began to prance in place, smiling encouragingly. Twilight still looked uncertain, but joined the older Princess.
“Sunshine, sunshine Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves And do a little shake!” After the shake, in unison the princess twirled around and hugged each other, releasing a dazzling light that engulfed their bodies. The joined being that used to be the princesses rivaled Celestia in height. She resembled a orchid-colored papillon dog with very long legs ending in hooves. She also had a pair of long horns on top of her head, four violet eyes on her forehead, a wavy purple mane, and large wings.
“Wow, my sister and my wife in one body. This isn’t weird at all,” Shining Armor said with a forced laugh. The fusion turned at the sound of his voice and beamed a smile- the sight of everyone filled her with overwhelming joy. She leapt towards all the watching ponies, wanting to hug everypony but she held back, knowing they may be frightened of her.
“Hello! It’s nice to meet you all! I’m Philia. You’re all adorable, I love you!”
“Thanks?” Applejack said uncertainly.
“Delighted, darling,” Rarity replied.
“You’re so big and fluffy!” Fluttershy exclaimed in wonder.
“I am? I guess that’s why everypony looks so small. Oh, I have wings!” Philia squealed in delight, twirling around to try to get a better look at the giant plush wings on her back. Her giant ears fluttered and somehow held the fusion aloft in the air. In mere moments until she was corkscrewing three feet in the air and still rising. Shining Armor grabbed one of her legs and pulled Philia back to the ground. The fusion kissed him on the cheek, and fluttered around the courtyard, examining everything curiously. Fluttershy followed close behind her, one hoof extended like she wanted to pet the fusion.
“Is this your birthday?” Pinkie Pie asked. Philia’s violet eyes latched on the pink pony, and briefly wondered why the pony seemed to be holding back her usual cheer.
“Yep! I think I need a birthday party!” Philia replied, firmly hugging her pink companion, Fluttershy gave a little squeak of envy.
“Can you make me a cake as tall as me?” Philia asked Pinkie, holding her high above the tall fusion to empathize her height. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help giggling.
“Yupperino!” she replied as Philia put her down.
“I wonder what powers I have,” Philia pondered as she suddenly picked up Fluttershy and set her on her back. The yellow pegasus cooed in delight.
“Warm-fluffy-ness?” Fluttershy suggested while stroking Philia’s neck.
“Most powers come out with years of training, but some can be revealed in stressful situations, or in surprise, instinctually,” Shining Armor explained.
“Right, Cadence knew… knows that. But we don’t how long we have until trouble shows up again. Somebody surprise me!’ Philia insisted.
“Already on it!” Rainbow Dash declared from a balcony high above them. In a blink she was flying right at Philia, about to knock the mare over. The ponies looking at Philia saw her eyes turn black, and Rainbow fell limply to the ground. Philia broke apart in a flash of light, and the ponies gathered around the pegasus.
“Rainbow!” Twilight Sparkle cried. “Are you alright?”
“What happened?” Rarity cried.
“I’m fine! My heart started hurting… it feels fine now though.”
“I think we were controlling the blood in your body, Rainbow- I’m sorry we hurt you,” Cadence apologized.
“I’m so sorry, Rainbow! What if I caused permanent damage? What if you have blood clot issues in the future because I did this? How can you ever forgive me?”
“Twilight, cool down. We’re friends, and you didn’t mean it,” Rainbow Dash replied confidently. “And I’m sure those other things won’t happen either- right?”
“Of course not!” Shining Armor answered. “Rainbow will be fine.” Twilight wasn’t convinced- did she have a book about long-term magic efforts in her library somewhere? Maybe Starlight could send her one.
“I didn’t realize fusions could be so… dangerous.” Rarity mused.
“Moving that close to anyone that quickly could cause the pony being rushed to reflexively defend their self. It’s better to test out powers in a more controlled setting,” Shining Armor argued.
“I thought this was a controlled setting,” Applejack argued back.
“I wasn’t in control!” Twilight declared in a panic. “What if I fuse again and I hurt somepony else?”
“You didn’t hurt Rainbow Dash, Twilie- WE did. It’s hard to say what traits will show up in a fusion, but everything you do is a result of the ponies combined personalities. You don’t think anyone here would hurt somepony innocent, do you?”
“Of course not.”
“Than don’t fret. We have plenty of time to practice so accidents don’t happen.”
Twilight wanted to, and tried to breathe like Cadence showed her. But it was hard to dismiss the doubt that gnawed inside her.
****
Twilight told her friends she had an official Princess of Friendship duty she needed to check up on, and promptly hid in the Crystal Palace’s library. It was Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry Hearts’ personal collection of books- a lot of which were presents Twilight had given to them over various holidays. While not as large as the library in the city, the three book cases in the tiny side room not far from the royal bedroom were all Twilight needed to distract herself.
As she began to organize the books alphabetically by author, genre, then age, Twilight noticed a lot of the books were still in pristine condition- not even a little bent at the spines. Had they not been read? Did Twilight not even know her family well enough to give them gifts they’d like, either?
Reflecting her own misery inside her mind, Twilight heard a muffled sob outside the library’s door. Curiously, she opened the door to see who it was, and heard retreating hoof steps down the hallway. She glanced at the direction the sound came from, only to catch a glimpse of a small pink figure disappearing down some stairs. She started to follow after it, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice call her from behind.
“Twilight, darling, are you finished with that Princess business of yours?” Rarity asked. Twilight put a friendly smile on her face and turned around, noticing that Fluttershy, looking worried, was there also.
“Yes, I think so…” she replied. Not wanting to keep her friends waiting, Twilight hoped that maybe whoever was crying would be alright without her intervention. It could be something embarrassing, like a stubbed hoof or spilling something on their clothes, after all.
“May we go somewhere private? Fluttershy and I would like to discuss something,” Rarity asked.
“Of course, I think I know just the place,” Twilight replied.
She lead them down the hallway to a pair of opaque crystal doors, decorated in a mosaic of crystal that graduated in color from blue to purple to pink on top. Turning the door handles with the pink glow of her magic, Twilight led her pair of friends onto a small balcony that hung several stories above the ground. It was high enough over the courtyard below that no pony could over hear them without flying- and Pegasi were in the minority in the Crystal Empire.
When all three ponies were on the balcony, Twilight closed the doors behind them. Twilight silently admired the shapes the weather patrol had made from the clouds for a minute before Rarity spoke.
“Fluttershy and I were talking, and we think that it might be better if we sit this adventure out,” she confessed. Twilight snapped to full attention on her friends- it wasn’t like them to not want to help.
“Why?”
“This all seems a little more war-like than we’re used to, and Fluttershy and I aren’t really the fighting type,” the white unicorn explained. “I can’t imagine we’d make fusions that could help the lost crystal ponies.”
“But you’re both so in-tune with your emotions, and thoughtful of others- you’d be great at fusing!” Twilight argued. “Unlike me… I thought I knew you all so well- but I can’t seem to get out of my own head.”
“Oh no, Twilight, I’m the weak link of our friends,” Fluttershy insisted. “I’d be too scared to do anything against those beasts that are working with the Diamond Dogs.”
Before any more words of protest, Twilight heard a pop of magic from the courtyard below, and whirled around to get a better look. A small pink unicorn faced a dark aqua furry figure slowing walking towards the unicorn. It seems like the shape of a pale pink shield was trying to form around the unicorn child, but the unicorn just couldn’t get the spell to stay up.
“Oh dear,” Rarity gasped as she looked at what Twilight was seeing. When the furry figure got close enough, it grabbed the unicorn a moment after the spell failed, and started to run with the kid out of the courtyard. Twilight didn’t think they were playing a game.
“Get help!” she yelled at her friends, and teleported a yard away from the fleeing figure, with whom Twilight made eye contact with. It was the former Tourmaline, now escaped and carrying Stellar Quartz over its shoulder. The fused being tried to plow through the alicorn, but Stellar Quartz’s struggling to free himself made the creature lose its balance, which helped Twilight dart out of the way.
“Help! She’s getting away!” Stellar yelled.
“I’m with you!” Twilight called as she chased after the pair. She had to rescue Stellar, and hopefully recapture the fusion. What kind of spell could she use that wouldn’t put the colt at risk? And how had Stellar gotten in this situation in the first place? She had a theory...
“Did you let her out?” Twilight shouted as she managed to keep a few paces behind the pair. They left the palace grounds and started racing into the city.
“Yell at me after you catch her!” He replied, his failed attempts to cast a shield spell still sparking from his horn as they turned a corner. They raced around ponies on the street, and the fusion did it’s best to knock barrels and other inanimate objects into the alicorn’s path. Twilight dodged what she could, knowing without her wings to make her jumps longer and higher she would’ve tripped. Twilight wasn’t sure how long she could keep this pace up, but she was determined not to lose them.
Like a shooting star, Rainbow Dash flew over Twilight Sparkle and gave her hope. Her wings beat like a hummingbird’s as she kept pace next to the lavender mare.
“What’s going on?” She asked the Princess.
“We need… to catch… those two…” Twilight managed between breaths. “Anyone… else.. coming?”
“Please, I can catch ‘em with one wing tied behind my back,” Rainbow Dash declared, gliding forward towards the escapee and kidnapee. The pegasus tried to grab the furry being, but it only ducked and dodged out of the way with amazing athletic prowess, somehow still keeping its speed up and holding onto the struggling colt.
“Hold still!” Rainbow Dash yelled at it in frustration. But with the fusion’s attention diverted, it was unprepared when Stellar Quartz’s horn finally produced a pale teal bubble shield around the colt’s body. It popped the fusion’s grip off of Stellar, and the bubble bounced off a nearby street lamp and began rolling ahead of them. The former crystal pony and Twilight raced to seize the bubble shield, but Rainbow Dash was even faster. A moment before she had the colt, he was lassoed and brought over to Applejack.
“Hey, I almost had him!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the Earth Pony mare.
“Well, I have him for real, sugar cube,” AJ replied with a cocky smile. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie ran up from behind Applejack- all of Twilight’s best mare friends were here. Stellar Quartz’s spell fizzled out, and Applejack placed the colt on her back as he recovered from vertigo.
“But who has her?” Twilight cried, pointing to the retreating fusion. All of mares rushed after it, but its head start was too much, and the fusion quickly slid down a sewer drain.
“We’ve lost it!” Twilight moaned.
“Not yet we haven’t!” AJ declared as she forced open a nearby manhole and leapt in, ignoring the ladder in favor of speed.
“There is no way I’m going down there!” Rarity protested in horror.
“Suck it up- we need all hands on deck,” Rainbow Dash commanded- a certain Wonderbolts commander clearly had rubbed off on her. She leaped in, dragging Rarity after her as the white unicorn cried:
“At least let me grab my boo-oooooooots!” Pinkie Pie accidentally knocked a hesitating Fluttershy down in her excited leap down the hole, and Twilight followed after them. It had looked dark down the manhole, but Twilight was surprised how long they fell. She had enough time to light up her friends with her magic, which in turned allowed each flying pony to grab a non-flying one, slowing their descent just in time to not crash into the shallow water below.
Rarity screamed as they touched down, and she pranced in place like she wished she could keep her hooves above the smelly water.
“Do you know how long it’ll take to WASH THIS SMELL OUT?” the unicorn mare screeched.
“You’ll be fine,” AJ declared. Rarity glared at the earth pony, and opened her mouth to argue, but Twilight interrupted.
“Everypony be quiet a moment!” They listened. In the glow of Twilight’s light spell they could see around them in the rounded stone tunnel, but as powerful as the alicorn was, the light could only stretch so far. Twilight tried not to look in the murky water they stood in, and instead focused on the splashing sounds she heard faintly down right side of the tunnel.
“Rarity, can you handle the light a moment?” she whispered. With a dour expression the unicorn obliged. Twilight dismissed her own spell and summoned a magic firefly, whispering “this way” to it. The firefly would follow them, magically duplicating itself every time they made a turn. Hopefully, they could use the trail of fireflies to find their way back- or to lead the Crystal Pony guards to them whenever they began to catch up.
“Follow me,” she whispered to her friends. Twilight re-lit her horn, and began wading down the right side of the tunnel. The sewers of the Crystal Empire were vast, with so many different corridors off of each tunnel that it became maze-like to walk through it. None of them had clocks, but it seemed like they walked around in circles for hours.
Without her spell in place, Twilight wasn’t sure she could find her way back to where they started. And while there were more manholes that led to the surface, in the dark it was hard to find the ladders to climb to them. It was odd- shouldn’t there be some light system so the maintenance workers could see down here?
Twilight strained her ears to hear the distant splashing so as to not lose the trail of what she hoped was the escaped fused pony, but eventually Twilight wasn’t sure if she was following the creature or the echos of their own steps through the murky water. She paused, and the ponies behind her followed suit. After a moment of silence, it was clear nothing else was making noise beside water dripping off the walls.
“We lost it?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, figuring it out before Twilight could admit it.
“You mean we can all this way for NOTHING?” Rarity cried indignantly.
“I should’ve lassoed that critter when I had the chance,” AJ sighed.
“I’m sorry, everypony,” Twilight apologized. “Maybe when Shining and the guards catch up with us, we can search more of the area.”
“Guards?” Fluttershy asked.
“Shining and the guards are coming, right? Somepony told them what we were doing?” Twilight asked worriedly. Her five friends all shook their heads.
“I guess we all thought somepony else would,” Apple Jack said morosely.
“Well, that settles it. We’ve lost our quarry and no help is coming. We’d better leave before before this day gets even more dreadful.” Rarity insisted.
The group turned around, and Twilight led them back the way they came. Going straight forward, they past several turning points before it dawned on Twilight that they had made a turn sooner than this. Where were her fireflies? The first one was still flying around her, but it’s duplicates showing the path back appeared to have disappeared.
“Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked when Twilight stopped moving. After a pregnant pause, she replied,
“I’m not sure how to get back.”
“You mean we’re LOST?” Rainbow exclaimed in shock.
“NO NO NO NO NO NO! We cannot have no way to get out of his dreadful place!”
“I might be able to teleport myself back to the palace and get help,” Twilight suggested.
“But how would you find us again?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. Twilight’s answer was cut off by an unexpected splash from behind AJ. What looked like a tall shadow of a pony with glowing green eyes loomed over the orange earth pony. Its fore hooves reached for the colt on her back that had fallen asleep while they walked. AJ leaped out of reach and hooved over the colt to Twilight.
“What’s going on?” Stellar Quartz asked groggily. As Twilight looked around, her magic’s light picked up more shadowy ponies wading in the water and crawling over the walls and ceiling like gravity didn’t exist: they were completely surrounded. The colts eyes widened as he too noticed the threat, his mouth turning round into a silent “oh”.
As the shadowy beings began to swarm them, Apple Jack raced into them, bucking and hitting as she went, occasionally kicking Pinkie Pie- who rolled herself into a ball and laughed as she bounced off the walls like a pinball, somehow not hitting her friends. Rainbow Dash aimed for the ceiling ponies, kicking and hitting them to knock them off. Fluttershy floated in the middle of the tunnel to avoid the melee.
Twilight wasn’t sure if she was thankful that the creatures could be hit or terrified that they could touch everypony. With Rarity defending her, Twilight cast a large light spell that hung above them like several large chandelier so they could better see what they were dealing with, and the shadowy figures seemed endless, still streaming in from the ends of the tunnel where the light from her spell didn’t reach.
As the majority of the ponies seemed to be moving towards her and the pink unicorn in her hooves- rather than trying to grab her friends- Twilight realized they must be after Stellar Quartz for some reason. Knowing she’d quickly run out of energy if she just blasted magic in her usual offense, Twilight managed to get the only ponies nearby- Rarity, Stellar and herself- under a force shield while she tried to think of a better plan.
Then Apple Jack lost her footing in the water while standing on her back hooves. In a pink blur, Pinkie Pie bounced off the nearest wall and linked arms with the orange mare, turning her fall into a spin. Sharing a grin with her fellow earth pony, AJ grabbed Pinkie’s other arm and kept spinning, letting Pinkie Pie’s back legs hit all the shadow ponies nearby them. The pair laughed, and suddenly they disappeared into a mass of light that was brighter than Twilight’s spell.
Standing where the Earth Pony mares used to be was a peach-colored Ponytaur with a long wavy mane, pairs of teal eyes on both her face and neck, plus a tiny top hat covering one ear. Her cutie mark was three apple-shaped balloons, and her sly smile was contagious.
“Wow, I did that fusion thing,” she in a naturally loud voice. “Bet I can make this fight more fun!”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash challenged while bucking shadow creatures off the ceiling. “What can you do that I can’t?”
“Guess we’ll have just have to see as we go!” the fusion replied. The shadow ponies stood warily around the fusion as she breezily stretched out her limbs. Then with a grin, the peach fusion leaped up, grabbed a large pipe on the ceiling with her upper legs, and began kicking the shadow ponies on the walls with all four lower legs.
“Whoa, a fused pony!” Stellar Quartz gasped in awe. Twilight had been so distracted by the fight, and trying to think of a plan that she must’ve missed when he woke up.
“She certainly is a sight,” Rarity said uncertainly.
“Why aren’t we fighting too?” Stellar demanded. “I want to help!”
“We have to protect you, darling. You’re too young to be out in that vicious environment.”
“But I’ve had fighting lessons!” Stellar argued.
“You can help with knowledge! Do you know much about fusions?” Twilight asked Stellar. The fusion in question was knocked down near the unicorns, causing them to jump in surprise.
“Why isn’t she using her weapon?” Stellar Quartz asked as shadow ponies tried to hold the fusion down with their numbers. Rainbow Dash flew over to help, knocking some of the shadow ponies off.
“Weapon?” Twilight asked.
“All fusions have a weapon they can summon or a power they can use- didn’t you know?” Stellar asked.
“Pink-App- err… DID YOU HEAR THAT?” Twilight called out to the fusion.
“Call me Hoedown!” The fusion replied as she kicked out most of the shadow ponies and got back to her feet. “How do I do that?”
“My aunts weren’t very clear on that part!” Stellar yelled in reply. “I think it’s a gut instinct or something!”
A screech interrupted their conversation. Fluttershy had been dodging the shadow ponies from her mid-air hiding spot- who had been mostly ignoring her as she wasn’t attacking- but it appeared some of them had gotten a hold of her tail and were pulling her towards them. Her cry of help made Rainbow Dash pause briefly to see what was going on, and that pause was all the shadow ponies on the ceiling needed to fall on the cyan pegasus, using their numbers to pile on top of her and Fluttershy.
“Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy!”
Hoedown raced forward to help, but like a waterfall the shadow ponies fell down on her, too. The unicorns gasped at the sight. The remaining shadow creatures surrounded Twilight’s magic shield and began pounding on it, the noise drowning out Twilight’s thoughts.
“Take down the force field! We have to save them!” Stellar insisted.
“I want to help, but there’s too many creatures out there- we wouldn’t be able to protect you!” Twilight argued.
“We have to do SOMETHING!” Rarity declared.
“I… WILL… HELP!” Hoedown yelled, flinging the shadow creatures off of her. Her cutie mark was shining, and her whole body had crystallized. Her upper hooves touched her cutie mark and she somehow withdrew a long shepherd's cane with a bell on it from out of the mark. She smacked the cane back and forth at the shadow ponies, the sound of the bell ringing bringing hope to her friends.
The shadow ponies surrounding the force shield raced after the fusion, but Hoedown kept knocking the ponies away as she marched forward towards the trapped Pegasi, each step she took shaking the ground.
“Hoedown!” Twilight cried out, worried about the stability of these old stone sewers. But her warning was mistaken for joining in Stellar and Rarity’s cheers of triumph. The creatures amassed on stop of Fluttershy screeched as they were knocked aside by the cane, until nothing but the shivering pegasus was revealed.
“Thank you!” Fluttershy gasped, and raced over to Twilight’s shield, letting the lavender mare extend it to include the pegasus.
The wriggling mass that was holding Rainbow Dash was bigger, and shook as the pegasus underneath tried to free herself. Hoedown lifted her cane high in the air, and then slammed the bottom of it onto the wet stone floor. The shockwaves it made caused the pile of shadow ponies to topple off Rainbow Dash, who leapt into the air as soon as she was free.
But the sewer tunnel continued to shake. The shadow ponies fled like leaves blown away in the wind, and the murky water began to drain away as the stones making the tunnel began to crumble. Twilight released her shield bubble, turning it into a large umbrella shape to shield her friends from falling debris. Hoedown separated, leaving a sheepish looking Apple Jack and worried Pinkie Pie in her place.
“We’re doomed!” Rarity sobbed.
“What should we do?” Fluttershy asked in a panic.
“Everypony calm down and-!” Twilight started to say, but the floor collapsed beneath them. Twilight opened her wings to try to slow her fall, but the stones in the air around her kept hitting her in various places- making it difficult to even glide.
As they fell into darkness, Twilight managed spot Stellar Quartz falling nearby her, and levitated him to her. She only just managed to wrap her hooves around him protectively when something heavy hit the back of her head.
“Princess Twilight! Please wake up!”
Twilight opened her eyes, gazing up at the colt standing next to her.
“Stellar Quartz?” she said groggily, and reflexively tried to sit up. Pain pinched across her body, and she groaned, falling back down onto the dirt floor. She was covered in bruises from that fall.
“Princess, are you alright?” Stellar asked in concern. Twilight experimentally tried to stand more slowly, and Stellar moved in to help, providing something solid to pull herself up with. Although she ached, she found she could stand. She must not have any broken bones.
“I will be,” Twilight replied to the colt. “Are you?”
“Yeah, you shielded me from most of the debris during our fall- thank you, Princess Twilight.”
“Please, just call me Twilight,” the unicorn mare said with a smile at Stellar.
Twilight lit up her horn and looked around. Each direction she looked there was a tall dirt wall, until she realized they were in a pit that was too small for her to completely stretch out her wings. Looking up, she saw that it was at least twelve times higher than she was.
“Do you think you can teleport us out of here, Twilight?” Stellar Quartz asked when the mare’s eyes returned to him.
“If I could picture what the top of the pit looked like, maybe. But since I was unconscious at the time, I don’t have that image to focus on.”
“I remember what it looks like! Could you teach me how to teleport?” Stellar asked eagerly.
“No- that’s an advanced spell grown unicorns have trouble with,” Twilight explained, but at his disappointed expression, added: “But I wouldn’t be opposed to teaching you when you’re older.”
“If we ever get out of here,” Stellar moaned.
“Did you happen to see where my friends went? Maybe they can help us.”
“It was too dark with too much stuff in the air.”
Twilight looked around the pit again, her problem-solving brain hard at work.
“Then we’ll have to climb out of here.”
“How? The sides are too steep, and we don’t have a rope or a ladder.”
“We have our magic and hooves! We’ll pile the dirt from the ground against one side of the pit so we have a less steep incline to climb.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier just to levitate me to the top?” Stellar asked, reluctant.
“I know you think you can take care of yourself, but we seem very outnumbered down here. We need to stick together so we can watch each other’s backs, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything from down here if something was dangerous up there,” Twilight rationalized. “C’mon, let’s start digging.” She cast a candle-sized light spell slightly above them, then kicked a small pile of dirt against the wall nearest to her.
Stellar didn’t seem convinced, but the colt began to help anyway. For what seemed like hours, they would scrape dirt from one side of the pit’s wall and floor and bring it to the other. Occasionally, they would lightly pack down the top with their hooves to keep the dirt together. As the pile got taller, Twilight began to levitate clumps of dirt to the top, and coached Stellar in doing it, too.
Twilight Sparkle could tell Stellar Quartz wasn’t used to physical labor- not that she could talk- but the colt was surprisingly mature in that he never complained, even as he was breathed heavily and his movements slowed. When the pile became halfway up the hole, the ponies decided to rest. They each laid against a side of the pile, catching their breath. Twilight wished she had water they could share, but of course she hadn’t taken the time to pack anything. After a minute or two of silence, Stellar asked:
“Twilight? Do you think my family might all be forced fusions like Tourmaline and Amethyst Armor?”
“I don’t have enough information to know for sure- but that would certainly explain why they’re so focused on you,” the princess replied carefully.
“Do you think my family is behind the pony-nappings?” Stellar Quartz asked, his voice raising in panic. Twilight wanted to soothe the colt, but knew a prolonged silence would only worry him more. As a result, she stumbled over her quick response.
“NO! I’m not saying- well, they seem to act like beasts- I’m sorry, like I said, I don’t have enough information.” The colt didn’t reply, and Twilight sighed, stretching her legs out.
“Stellar, whatever is going on with your family, it’s not of their own volition, I’m sure- bad ponies couldn’t raise a caring and brave colt like you. If they are all forced into fusion, we’ll rescue them and bring them back to their senses!”
Stellar Quartz sniffled a little in response, and Twilight wished he would face her so she could see if he was crying. But his tiny pink back remained in view, and if he was crying it was soundless.
****
After a too-short nap, Twilight Sparkle carefully climbed up their dirt mound, calculating how much more work they had to do. She sent a small ball of light as high as it would go, and almost panicked when she found a dirt ceiling. But while moving the light methodically around the top of the pit, she saw that there was an sideways opening on one of the walls.
“We’re about halfway there,” she told her companion, who she noticed had a determined look on his face as she climbed down to the floor.
“Then let’s get back to work!” Stellar replied, almost excited. The two continued their task, and as their repetitive movements became practiced, Stellar began to sing a little. His small tenor voice gave them a rhythm to work to, and the silly lyrics about digging and dirt were catchy enough that Twilight found herself singing along.
When the song ended, Twilight asked with a chuckle:;
“Where did you learn to compose great songs like that?”
“My Dad- his name is Geode- was a traveling bard before he met my Mom. He often liked making up little songs about what was going on around him. Since I liked singing along with him he taught me how, and how to play a lot of different instruments, too.”
“Are you going to be a musician like your Dad?”
“I want to be a royal guard pony, like my Mom and her friends.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” Twilight asked curiously. The colt’s response seemed like almost forced excitement.
“Because guard ponies know all kinds of fighting techniques, and wear cool armor, and… get to... stand...around…”
“Those aren’t the real reasons, though.” Twilight stated. The colt looked guiltily at the mare, then sighed.
“It’s just… my mom spends so much time away from home, it feels like she doesn’t really know me. She and her friends try, but I think if I were a guard pony too, we could spend more time getting to know each other.”
“That’s very astute of you. How does your Dad feel about it?”
Stellar paused before saying:
“He worries about the fighting, and doesn’t really like it when my Aunts- oh, I mean my Mom’s friends- give me battle lessons. But he says he wants me to happy.”
“It sounds like your family loves you a lot,” Twilight commented. She patted down one last pile of dirt, and looked up at the mound.
Fluttershy heard someone calling her from far away. Thinking it was probably a dream, Fluttershy tried to turn in her sleep, only to find she couldn't move.
“Hairy, could you please move a little?” Fluttershy muttered, thinking she'd been trapped under her bear friend again. He'd been having far too many nightmares lately- which despite not having much room in her small bed- made her want to comfort the bear.
Yet the pressure was cold and rough instead of the bear’s warm and fuzzy body. Her eyelids flickered open, but she still couldn’t see a hoof in front of her face. Panic began to settle in as the yellow Pegasus realized she wasn’t back in her safe cottage- she was covered in a mound of dirt so dense that she could move, lost somewhere under the Crystal Empire.
She cried, uncertain what to do, when she heard her name being called again. So she hadn't been dreaming before!
“Fluttershy? Twilight”? Rainbow Dash called, her raspy voice a joyous sound to Fluttershy's ears.
“Rainbow! Help!” She yelled somewhat softly, cursing that she couldn't speak loudly when she needed to.
“Fluttershy? Is that you?”
Fluttershy coughed in response, and soon felt Rainbow Dash's warm hoof touching her head.
“Aha! There you are, Shy! Feels like you're trapped in the dirt. Can you stick out your forehooves? I'm going to yank you out.”
“I'll try…” Fluttershy promised, and little by little she wriggled them while Dash dug around her friend’s head to loosen it from the dirt mound. Together they managed to free Fluttershy’s arms. Getting the rest of Fluttershy out was harder, though. Since she had her hooves free, Fluttershy tried to help Rainbow move dirt away from her body. But often the Cyan pegasus would get impatient and try a good hard yank to no avail.
After sixteen yanks and maybe an hour of digging, Fluttershy was free. She stretched out or legs, trying to brush the dirt off of her body as Rainbow Dash fidgeted.
“I found a place with some light before I found you. We can look more closely at your body there, see if you’re seriously hurt,” Rainbow Dash explained.
Grabbing Fluttershy’s hoof, the two mares slowly trotted it out the tunnel, feeling the dirt wall to keep going in the right direction. Before realizing why, Fluttershy began to make out shapes around her, until there was enough light to see each other. When they reached close to a mouth of a cave, Rainbow Dash stood in front of Fluttershy and had her sit down before they got any closer to it.
“Alright, let’s have a look at you,” she commanded, investigating Fluttershy’s limbs.
“You must have hurt yourself, too,” Fluttershy pointed out, returning the favor. They had a few cuts and bruises hear and their, but nothing too serious.
“Have you seen any of the others?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“Nope, you're the only Pony I found,” Rainbow Dash replied with a sigh. “But I did find something else! Come on!” Rainbow Dash flew towards the source of the light, and Fluttershy scrambled to follow, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.
When she stood besides Rainbow Dash at the cave entrance, the drop below the ponies made Fluttershy’s heart beat faster, and she stepped backwards.
“We can fly, remember?” Rainbow chuckled. “Forget the height and look!”
Fluttershy hesitantly stepped forward to the cliff’s edge, wary of falling, and looked down to where the cyan mare was pointing.
Hollowed out from the steep cliffside across the way from them was a fortress many stories high, lit up seemingly by fire torches on every door and window. Without the light, Fluttershy doubted she would have seen it.
“I got close enough to peek in a window, and that place is swarming with Diamond Dogs!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly.
“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasped, and backed away from the edge again. “What if they see us?”
“From way up here? I doubt it. Anyway, I bet if we fused, we’d get ultra cool powers that could take out every creature in that whole building!”
“Why would we want to do that? That sounds dangerous! It would be safer to stay here so our friends can come find us.”
“And how do you expect them to find us? This place is huge! When you're lost, you send out a rescue flare, right? There isn't even the sky down here, so we gotta make as much noise as possible so they can find us!”
“But the Diamond Dogs-”
“-hey, what better way to make noise than to mess with them? Come on, Fluttershy, let's do this!” Rainbow Dash declared, playfully hitting her hip to her friends. Fluttershy forced a smile, but was deeply scared. She remembered the pressure and oxygen-limited feeling when the shadow creatures from before covered her. Rainbow Dash hadn't been able to rescue herself then- how could she rescue them both now?
“We fuse by dancing, right? Let's do this!”
Rainbow Dash made her own music by imitating a guitar with her voice, then flew circles around Fluttershy, occasionally stopping to thrash her mane about. Fluttershy stiffly swayed in place, in no way staying on beat with her friend.
The cyan mane pantomimed one last guitar riff, and at the moment of Dashie's last beat, lifted a hoof towards Fluttershy. Too late, Fluttershy realized Rainbow meant for her to slap Rainbow’s hoof with her own. With the force of a kitten, she tapped the hoof in question, letting out a tiny,
“Eeh!”
Rainbow Dash stared at her friend incredulously.
“Are you even trying?”
“Sorry.”
Fluttershy regretted that she had disappointed her friend, but wasn’t disappointed that the fusion had failed. In addition to her worries that they couldn’t handle what was down there, the idea of becoming some warrior to attack creatures she didn't know for sure were hostile seemed violent and cruel. Before she can explain herself, a female, terror-stricken voice screamed:
“SOMEPONY HELP ME!”
Rainbow Dash shot towards the building below without questioning it, and Fluttershy-not wanting to be alone- could only helplessly trail after her friend. In the air they peered into window after window, until Fluttershy found what they were looking for. Gesturing Rainbow over, she held the cyan mare back from racing into the window, silently suggesting they stay quiet.
“Don't do this! I'll give you whatever you want: my art, my vegetables, my Camp Pining Hearts DVDs, anything!”
A petite yellow-green Crystal Pony mare with short yellow hair struggled in the grip of a couple of armored Diamond Dogs. As Fluttershy scanned the sparse stone room that really only had a lamp on the ceiling and a lone chair with straps on it, she spotted a blue figure standing in the shadows deeper into the room. It stood on time legs, it's upper lean body hunched forward so as not to hit the ceiling. Large bat-like wings wrapped around its body, but even without seeing it clearly, Fluttershy knew what it was: another Diamond dog-Pony Fusion.
Fluttershy saw the anger on Rainbow Dash’s face, and as she watched her friend’s body tense she put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder in warning. Guardian Aria barely match the first Diamond Dog pony fusion they saw in battle - how were mares not trained to fight supposed to face that and however many Diamond dogs were around?
“I have the crystal seeds!” A squeaky voice called from further inside the building. The owner of the voice shortly walked into the room. She was a skinny Diamond dog that that about a third of the size of the other Diamond Dogs in the room, yet she spoke loudly with authority.
“You haven't secured the pony yet?” She yapped. In response the Diamond Dog Guards quickly shoved the mare into the chair. One of the guards tried to hold the thrashing mare down while the other attempted to buckle the straps around her limbs.
“You don't want me!” the captive mare pleaded. “I'm just a programmer! There are much stronger ponies to use if you want to make a warrior!”
“My boss has all the muscle-bound idiots she needs,” the Diamond dog replied.
“That's mean, Petra!” One the Diamond dog guards protested.
“Present company excluded, of course,” Petra replied in a growl that seemed to imply she didn't mean it. The Diamond dogs seemed pacified by it, though.
“Anyway, I need a pony partner that can match my intelligence to help the boss strategize against Guardian Aria. So why don’t you join us?”
“Are you kidding me? My friends would kill me if I betrayed the Royals,” the mare spat in reply.
“They're not here to help you out - do they even care?”
“Of course they care! They're just stupid clods that got taken before me.”
“Then why fight it if you have no one?”
“Steller Quartz isn’t in your stupid paws! He needs me way more than you clods do. He's just a colt - he’d get in trouble without me,” the mare replied with a smirk.
“Peridot Puzzle.” The fusion in the background stepped into the light, addressing the crystal pony. The lime-green Pony gazed up at the fusion- surprise, misery, and then fear flashing across her face.
"LAPIS you CLOD! Fight this!” Peridot demanded.
“My name is Blue Rue,” the fusion replied with no emotion.
“Buck that! You said you needed space, but I never thought you'd betray Stellar Quartz!”
“He's safer without me,” Blue Rue muttered, a single tear escaping from her indifferent mask.
“No!” Petra barked, interrupting the two arguing. “The crystal ponies are part of a losing battle. This Stellar Quartz would be safest with us, rather than shattered on the battlefield- am I right?”
“Yes Beta,” Blue Rue replied, her eyes glazing over. Peridot Puzzle glared at the Diamond dog, crying angry tears.
“I'll never help you Clods!” She declared.
Petra gave the crystal pony a toothy grin, lifting a shiny gem-like seed towards the pony.
“Not willingly, anyway.”
As the Diamond dog moved the seed closer to the Crystal Pony, Fluttershy hid her face in Rainbow Dash's shoulder, not wanting to witness what would become of Peridot Puzzle. She was startled, though, when her Pegasus friend lightly pushed her away.
“I'm sorry Fluttershy. Run!”
Before Fluttershy could reply, a trail of rainbow light was all that was left of the cyan mare. Fluttershy heard angry yips, and looked into the window to see Rainbow Dash struggling with Petra, attempting to keep the seed away from the crystal Pony.
“Blue Rue! Get this oaf off me!” Petra barked.
“You're not alone, Peridot Puzzle!” Rainbow Dash shouted while trying to pin the small Diamond dog to the ground. “Don't let them control you!”
Blue Rue gilded forward towards Rainbow like water spilling out of an overflowing glass. Fluttershy wanted to run away like Rainbow had told her, but even more scary than the creatures inside was the idea that she could lose her friend.
Taking a big breath, she leapt into the window and yelled,
“NO! BAD DOGS! SIT!”
Under her Fierce gaze, the Diamond Dogs unconsciously obeyed, sitting on the ground in unison. The fusion tilted her head in confusion, not sitting nor moving to help as she had before. As Fluttershy strained to not let her fear show, Rainbow Dash left over to Peridot Puzzle and pulled her away from the two diamond dog guards that held her.
“Who are you ponies?” Peridot gasped.
“Some new friends,” Rainbow declared, scooping up the crystal pony into a princess carry.
“No! What are we doing?” Petra barked, the movement of the ponies bringing Petra out of her trance. As Rainbow Dash rushed herself and Peridot back towards the window, the Diamond dogs leapt back onto their paws.
“Get them! Petra yelled. The pegasi each grabbed one of Peridot’s upper arms, leapt out of the window, and together lifted Peridot Puzzle high into the air. Fluttershy strained with the weight, wishing not for the first time that she was a stronger flier.
“There's no way you two can escape while carrying me- you should just drop me,” Peridot declared, resigned.
“No way! We're getting you out of here!” Rainbow Dash argued. Fluttershy nodded in agreement, too winded to speak.
“And besides, Diamond Dogs can't fly!” Rainbow Dash added. With a thought, Fluttershy gazed down at the window they’d escaped from that was getting smaller with the distance.
“Rainbow, aren't you forgetting someone?” Fluttershy squeaked, seeing Blue Rue stick her body out of the window. Standing on the window’s edge, Blue Rue uncoiled the blue bat wings that had been coiled around her body. She then leapt into the air, pumping her wings as she flew in a straight line towards them.
“No way!” Rainbow Dash yelped upon seeing the fusion for herself. She pumped her wings harder, almost pulling both Peridot and Fluttershy to keep their lead off of the fusion. Fluttershy fruitlessly thrust her wings harder, but knew she wasn't a strong flyer as her friend. They were only getting tried, and Blue Rue was gaining on them.
“We're doomed!” Peridot cried.
“We can do this!” Rainbow Dash spat.
“This is hopeless! If we're all caught, no pony will be able to rescue me.” Peridot Puzzle whined. With determined tears in her eyes, she began to squirm in their grip.
“Stop it!” Rainbow yelled. Fluttershy felt the crystal pony slip from her grip. She rocketed forward with the force of the sudden weight lost, and only after she managed to turn back around did she witness Rainbow lose her grip, too.
Peridot Puzzle fell on the fusion only Wing beats behind them.
“PERIDOT!” Fluttershy screeched as the crystal Pony struggled on top of the fusion, grasping at Blue Rue’s wings and making it difficult for her to fly. Rainbow Dash flew up towards Fluttershy, yanking her as she passed. They flew away from the Diamond Dogs and up towards the cave they started in.
“We gotta regroup!” Rainbow Dash explained. Fluttershy felt sick. She tried not to listen to the cries below her as the two pegasi slipped into the cave entrance out of sight.
Rainbow Dash paced back and forth when they landed, sweating and muttering, uncertainty unmistakable on her face. Fluttershy watched as she caught her breath, uncertain how to calm her friend. After a couple of feverious minutes, Rainbow Dash whirled around and complained:
“I'm not Twilight, I just do things. Twilight's the planner.”
“But could we even do anything if Twilight was here?” Fluttershy replied. “We’re lost and outnumbered even with all six of us who fell, not to mention the Diamond Dogs must know their way around here better than we do.”
“I just wanted to save that poor Pony. Instead she probably got really hurt and I revealed us to the Diamond Dogs! It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”
“But you gave her hope- maybe that'll be enough to stop a forced Fusion.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, but still hung her head in misery. It scared Fluttershy to see her otherwise confident friend acting this way. She wanted nothing more than to bring hope back to her friend. Maybe their odds were against them, but Fluttershy could only think of one thing that had saved them before when they had been in the sewers.
During Fluttershy's brief time as a model, Photo Finish had signed her up for ballet lessons to quote “straighten her body and give her a better balance”. Caring for Animals didn't really involve dancing, but she had to use for it now.
Fluttershy stood up straight, and slowly lifted all but one back leg from the floor, arching her back and stretching her three other legs out gracefully.
“Rainbow, dance with me!” Fluttershy insisted, leaning her upper body down so a hoof extended towards her friend.
“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, looking uncertain. Fluttershy leaned back, bringing both of her arms above her head and began to turn on her sole hoof on the ground. When she was completely facing away from Dash, she leapt. Letting her wings keep her in the air a moment longer, she spun in midair and landed on her other back leg, once again facing Rainbow Dash.
“We have to do something,” Fluttershy declared. “So let's try fusing.”
Rainbow Dash's expression turned determined. She rolled onto her back, then rolled forward, using the momentum to stand up on her back legs. Rainbow then dropped to her front legs, and bucked out her back legs the instant her front legs touched the ground. When all four of her back legs were back on the ground, she popped her head twice, then launched yourself into the air.
In response, Fluttershy took three leaping steps on her back legs before launching into the air past Rainbow. The two pegasi somersaulted backwards, turning their bodies so they were facing each other upside down. They reached for each other, nearly touching their fore hooves together when they both somersaulted backwards, laughing playfully. As their bodies arched back towards their friend, they shared a smile, noticing the light engulfing each other as they finally held hooves.
The fusion opened her eyes for the first time, unsteady but amused by her near fall. It was dark in the cave she was hiding in, but she still twisted about to get a better look at herself. Six legs, tealish fur, four wings resembling a dragonfly’s. In her head she had two sets of memory that seemed more like a movie she'd watched rather than her own experiences: this Fusion was something new.
Pondering the situation she found herself in, she wondered out loud,
“What should I do next?”
A smaller version of herself wearing a red suit and horns appeared on her left shoulder. She replied,
“We don't really know those crystal ponies. Let’s ditch ‘em and go find Twilight and the gang!”
Another small version of herself in a white gown and a Halo appeared on the fusion’s right shoulder.
“That isn't very nice.” the angel mare said.
“Then what do you think we should do? Surrender? Hide?” The devil mare said with a sneer.
“Princess Twilight would want us to befriend the Diamond Dogs.” the angel mare argued.
“Princess Twilight can do it herself when we find her!”
“You both make good points, but I don't think Twilight would want us to abandon Peridot Puzzle,” the fusion argued with her smaller selves.
“But look, I could do this,” the tiny devil mare said as she did a backflip onto a one-armed hoof stand.
“I don't see what this -” the fusion started to say, but the angel mare interrupted.
“-She has a point,” she said, applauding the devil mare’s acrobatics.
“You're supposed to help me, not make me confused,” the fusion complained.
“Of course you're confused- you don't even know your name,” the devil mare teased.
“I do too! It's Debonair Shadow,” the fusion declared, smiling.
The shoulder guides popped out of existence when the idea came to her: she would sneak back and try to rescue Peridot unseen. As the word “unseen” entered her mind, Debonair’ hooves disappeared- she couldn't see any part of her body, in fact. With a confident smile, she hugged the sides of the cave before slipping out of it, gracefully gliding through the air towards the settlement below.
Although the ground was still too far away to see, the city in the wall was a bee's nest of activity. Diamond Dogs in armor paced the ledges in large numbers. All the windows were lit up, silhouettes of figures clearly moving about inside. Debonair Shadow had her work cut out for her, but her power made her confident.
Quietly humming a spy tune to herself, she pressed her body close to the building she had last seen Peridot Puzzle. The windows - if you could call holes carved into stone walls without even a shutter “windows”- all looked uniform and it was hard to tell where exactly D.S.’s unfused selves had been before. As neither Peridot Puzzle or Petra seem to be making noise at the moment, it was hard to say where they were.
So, Debonair Shadow decided she’d better just enter and look for the crystal pony. She peered inside windows to if there was any unoccupied rooms, and after five of them found an empty corridor. In spite of being larger than the average Pony with extra wings and legs, she managed to slip into the window, only to hear the sound of armor clanking- a guard’s approach.
Debonair scrambled to her hooves as quietly as she was able, and turned to run down the opposite corridor- but another guard was coming that way, too. She pressed against the wall, hoping she hadn't imagined being invisible, and held her breath.
The two armored Diamond Dogs past each other in front of her, truly seeming to not notice her. She sighed- and the guards turned towards her.
“You hear that?” The Right Guard asked.
“That wasn't you?” The left guard answered. As the guards sniffed the air, Debonair Shadow somehow managed to launch herself into the air against the ceiling without touching the Diamond Dogs near her.
“Did you feel that breeze?”
“These caves are awfully drafty.”
“What if it's a ghost?”
“You knucklehead! There's no such thing.”
The high-pitched laughter of Petra in the distance interrupted their conversation, and the Diamond dog guards’ ears went flat when they heard it.
“No point in being afraid of something you're not sure is there, when the real terror is just in the next room.” the guard whispered to his colleague.
Although the ceiling was high enough that Debonair had space to move above the guards heads, there wasn't too much room to beat her wings so that she could stay above them. Pressing her back legs against the wall beneath her, she spread her body as flat as she could and glided over the dogs, barely avoiding being scratched by the points of the spears they carried.
She landed near the door from which the direction of Petra’s laughter came from, then after a few seconds pondering if she could avoid making noise just burst through it, enlisting surprised yelps from the guards behind her.
“Ghost!”
“Let’s get out of here!”
Debonair dove through the door, and a chill ran up her spine as she saw what it opened up to: a hallway lined with iron barred cells. She sped walked through it, peering into each cell with the hope that Petra might be in one. Not one currently held a prisoner, but the occasional bright colored piece of fur or hair unsettled the fusion. Ponies were here once.
The laugh repeated, followed by muffled words Debonair heard through the door at the end of the hallway. Whatever Petra was happy about, Debonair was sure it wasn’t good- and she likely didn’t have much time to stop it. Cantering down the last few yards of the hallway, Debonair smacked the door open with four of her six hooves, nearly knocking it off it’s hinges.
The second the door was opened, she regretted doing so. Although sure was certain to outsiders it looked as though a gust of wind slammed the door open, every eye in the room stared in their direction, suspicions aroused.
The room looked somewhat like a lab, with bookshelves against the far wall, a sink, and a large table against the left wall. The table was a chaos mess of beakers filled with unknown substances, papers, and other scientific tools. Petra was standing next to the chair that held the unconscious Peridot Puzzle against a right wall that was covered in knives. Blue Rue seemed to be reading a book next to a bookshelf, disinterested with what the Diamond Dog was doing.
Petra sniffed the air once, and her eyes widened in alarm. With amazing speed, she whipped out the crystal seed from earlier and stuffed it down the pony’s throat. Debonair was too late.
“NO!” Debonair Shadow rushed forward, desperate to do something to help, but found herself stepping into a sphere of water, making her moments slow like she was moving through molasses. The water, as if sensing her presence, moved around her body and revealed Debonair’s silhouette. Petra laughed again.
“You may as well drop your disguise, pony fusion. Blue Rue is controlling the water around you, and she can make it very hard to breathe.”
“Not gonna,” Debonair declared, and she bounded away from the flying water, moving towards Peridot. The water traveled quickly after her, lapping Debonair’s heels. As Debonair reached forward to seize Peridot, the mare herself slapped Debonair’s hooves away. The fusion looked at Peridot’s face, and saw that she was still unconscious. Her body moved puppet like as she stood up and mirrored Petra's movements as the Diamond dog stepped backward.
Debonair felt water slide over her head like a hood, and she couldn't breathe. She tried to shake it off, but had her movements restricted as Blue Rue tackled Debonair to the ground.
The water dissipated, and Debonair could only watch as Petra danced stiffly, popping and locking like a robot out of a sci-fi novel. Peridot Puzzle’s limp body mirrored Petra's exactly, and Debonair was horrified when their bodies both began to glow a sickly yellow. Debonair tried to jerk free, but found herself unable before Peridot Puzzle and Petra ended their dance, engulfing them both in the sickening light.
What formed seemed more half praying mantis than pony. The olive green being was almost skeletally slender. The lower torso that had four legs, and upper torso that had two. It didn't have wings, but its ears seem to take up half of its head behind even more prominent bug eyes. Debonair Shadow was a head taller than the fusion, but it's size didn't take away from his confidence.
“I am Lime Stone,” the fusion declared. “You're outnumbered and overpowered. Surrender!”
Debonair’s eyes watered a little, but her mouth formed a grim line.
“It's not very nice to steal ponies and force them to do your bidding.”
“We're not trying to be nice- this is tactics for war!”
“Well there's no way I'm giving up, because my friends need me. And my friends need me because I never give up. With the power of friendship, will always rely on each othe-”
“Enough! Since you won't cooperate with us, I think we need to separate you.” Lime Stone took a knife of off the wall, and stepped towards Debonair Shadow. Debonair cursed- what good was being invisible if she couldn't defend herself? That thought took away her invisibility, and she cursed again.
Realizing that she had yet to test all she could do as a fusion, she struggled in Blue Rue’s grip, hoping she could activate some hidden power to get out of the situation.
Lime Stone, mere inches away now, lifted the knife over her head. Debonair winced, but almost instantly after felt her body go limp. Suddenly, she was looking down at Lime Stone stabbing Debonair’s body. But the moment the blade touched the Devonair below, all the colors on the pony fusion flew away like smoke, leaving empty space where Debonair used to be.
“WHERE DID SHE GO?” Lime Stone screeched. “Find her!” she ordered Blue Rue. Debonair huddled against her spot on the ceiling, waiting as the two Diamond dog fusions left the room.
“She can run, but she can't hide for long!”
“It was some sort of cool afterimage spell,” Debonair whispered to herself. “I wonder how I did it.”
Debonair slowly floated to the floor, careful not to make a sound as her hooves touched the ground. Of course this room had no windows for Debonair to fly out of. Focusing her power to make sure she was invisible again, she peered down the open door that had been hastily left open, opposite the way she’d come in. The hallway was eerily empty, but in the distance she heard the Diamond Dogs rushing about, yelling and searching for her.
She flew upwards and hugged the ceiling, gliding down the hallway towards a closed door at the end of it. As she pondered if opening it would call unwanted attention to herself, the door itself nearly hit her nose as it slammed open. Debonair froze as Diamond Dogs raced in the hallway below her, thankfully not noticing her by scent as they headed to the room she'd been in.
Peering out the doorway to make sure the coast is clear, she rushed into a room with bunk beds lining one long wall, with chests of belongings at the end of each bunk, and lanterns hanging from the ceiling between each bed. On the wall opposite the beds was a whole row of evenly spaced Windows, many covered in curtains.
Debonair headed for the nearest uncovered window. When peering out showed no creature looking at her, she slipped out, soaring into the air. Relief washed over Debonair - she'd escaped!
Only then did she hear Rarity’s scream from far above her.
