> The Viruses of Harmony
>  by the7Saviors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Confusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*bang*

Twilight groaned.

Her head pounded painfully as she slowly drifted out of unconsciousness and into the waking world. 

Ohhh... my head... what-

*BANG*

She snapped to full wakefulness at the sudden sound and immediately noticed a few things off about her current situation.

Her entire body was sore.  Really sore. She felt as if she had taken a tumble down a rocky cliff and was forced to wrestle with a manticore at the bottom. 

It was incredibly bright. She had to squint almost as soon as she fully opened her eyes. Blinking a few times, she could just make out the bright glow of fluorescent lights directly overhead.

She couldn't move. She was lying flat - her back against an uncomfortably cold metal platform. Looking further down her body, she could see both her fore and hind legs bound securely to the table by thick leather straps.

She could hear voices. Nothing specific, just a lot of muffled, unintelligible grunting and shouting. While she couldn't make out any words, she could definitely hear the panic. And then there was-

*BANG*

Twilight's eyes shot towards the far side of the room, opposite of the table she was strapped to. Her gaze settled on a large metal door with no handles that she could see and a single tinted window that hid the world outside from view.

Why have the window at all? she thought idly.

What Twilight found odd, was the rather large dent in the metal door. It seemed to be bulging inward - almost as if somepony was-

*BANG*

Twilight would've jumped if she could. Instead she just yelped in surprise as the dent In the thick metal door became more pronounced.


Now she was getting scared. 


"What in Celestia's name is going on?" she cried. She struggled to break free of the leather straps holding her down. That lasted all of a few second before she remembered she was a unicorn. Clenching her eyes shut in concentration, she tried to cast a spell to unlock the restraints... to no avail. 

She felt the buildup of magic flow through her body and up to her horn before it was forced back into her wellspring - the feedback causing her to cry out in shock and pain.

"Wha?" she crossed her eyes, trying to get a glimpse of her own horn. She managed to catch a glint of metal wrapped around the base of her horn. Her panic rose in tandem with her struggling.

"Somepony get me out of here!" she screamed. The only response she got was another loud bang and an increase in the muffled shouting that was coming from behind the door.


It was then that she felt something inside of her shift.


Her eyes snapped opened at the sensation. She could feel it, not from any single part of her body, but rather everywhere at once. It was like something at the core of her being calling out to her, telling her that if she wanted to break free, all she had to do... was break free.

It was as simple as that.

Rather than question the strange turn of events, she listened to that voice of power within and watched in awe and fear as black tendrils rose up from underneath her lavender fur and wrapped themselves around her forelegs. In a  matter of seconds, the tendrils had vanished back into her fur leaving two very deadly looking blades in place of each of her front hooves. 

What in Tartarus...

Speechless, she slowly lifted the two blades, slicing right through the leather restraints as though they weren't even there.

For a moment, she completely forgot about the banging, the yelling, the contraption blocking her magic... all of it. The only thing she was focused on were the silvery blades shining in the light where her hooves used to be.

She didn't notice her breath start to pick up as she began hyperventilating, she didn't notice as the twisted scrap metal that used to be the door slammed into the wall right next to her, she didn't notice as a pair of cyan hooves grabbed her by the withers and shook her roughly, nor did she hear the raspy voice screaming her name.

It wasn't until she felt a stinging pain in her cheek as her face was jerked to the side by a hard slap that she came back to her senses.

"TWILIGHT!"

Twilight blinked and slowly turned her head back around to face...

"...Rainbow Dash?"

Sure enough, the cocksure rainbow maned pegasus was standing over her, her expression a mix of different emotions. Twilight could see anger, relief, confusion, and most prominently... fear and outright horror.

Twilight felt that same horror as she got a better look at her cyan friend. She was panting heavily and covered in blood. 

A lot of it.

"Rainbow..." Twilight whimpered, "what's going on?"

"I..." she swallowed and tried again, "I don't know, Twi - well I mean, I-I know a few things... but..." she trailed off, eyes glazing over for a brief moment before shaking her head, "look, w-we need to get out of here... a-and find the others."

It was painfully obvious to Twilight, that Rainbow was barely keeping it together. Whatever she saw... whatever she did... it was haunting her.

What happened to you Rainbow?

"Your hooves."

Twilight blinked and looked at Rainbow Dash in confusion. 

"Think about your hooves. They'll go back to normal," she clarified, avoiding Twilight's questioning gaze.

Twilight looked down at her bladed limbs and, after a moment, the small black tendrils resurfaced and swallowed the weapons, leaving her with pristine lavender hooves once again.

Twilight looked to Rainbow, mouth opening to ask about what she knew, but the pegasus was already up and moving towards the doorway.

"We need to grab the rest of the girls and get the buck out of here, Twilight. Now," Rainbow said as she continued to walk, "I'll explain what I... found out on the way."

In her panic and bewilderment, Twilight had completely forgotten that Rainbow Dash had mentioned their other friends were here. Worried for the others, Twilight tried to pull herself off the table, but was stopped short by the leather straps still affixed to her hind legs.

"Come on, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash growled impatiently, "We. Need. To. Go."

"I'm trying, Rainbow," Twilight replied frantically pulling against the straps, "but the restraints-"

"Just bust through em'" - Rainbow Dash jerked her head towards the crumpled metal lying against the wall beside Twilight - "like I did with the door."

Twilight looked at the door, then at the restraints binding her legs. She felt that odd pull of power from within once again calling out to her. 

If I want to break free, I just have to...

She gave a mighty yank of her hind legs and the leather straps not only snapped off, they flew off the table and hit the ceiling with a loud thwack.

"See?" Rainbow Dash said, wearing a shallow facade of her normally cocky grin, "nothin' to it. Now let's move."

Once Twilight had gotten over her initial shock at how easily she broke through her bonds, she rolled off the table and shakily followed Rainbow out of the small room.

"So," Twilight began nervously as she caught up to her cyan friend, "what did you find out about..." she slowed to a stop as she stepped outside the doorway.


Bodies. Lots of them.


They littered the hallway outside of the room. The vast majority of them were torn to shreds and the off-white walls of the hall were stained a dark red.  

"R-Rainbow Dash," she whispered in a shaky voice, "what happened out here?"

Rainbow said nothing as she continued her steady trot forward. She didn't look at Twilight, though Twilight could see one of her ears flicker every so often.

Rather than press the issue, Twilight followed quietly behind, her eyes glued to the gruesome scene. As she observed the bodies, she mentally noted a few things that stood out to her. The vast majority of the ponies wore some kind of black and dark blue security barding, but she could also see a few of the corpses wearing hazmat suits and lab coats as well.

As she looked closer, she could see that the barding, hazmat suits, and lab coats were all stamped with a black and red biohazard symbol.

What is this place? she thought, sweeping her gaze over the long hallway and the unmarked doors lining the walls at regular intervals, it's obviously some kind of facility... but what was it used for? What did they do to us?

Twilight's mind quickly went to work trying to piece an answer together from what she had seen so far.

"Not as broken up about the bodies as you should be, are you, Twi?"

Twilight flinched and looked towards Rainbow Dash who had turned her head to look back at her as she trotted along. She had been so lost in thought that she had forgotten Rainbow was even there.

"Sorry, Dash," Twilight said with an apologetic frown, "what was that?"

Rainbow shook her head with a mirthless chuckle and pointed a hoof back towards the bodies, "The horror show we just left back there. How do you feel about it? Honestly?" 

Twilight gave her a bemused look before turning her gaze back towards where they had left. She eyed the mountain of corpses, the bloody walls, and some gouges in the floor and ceiling she hadn't noticed before for a long minute. She wrinkle her nose at the overpowering smell of copper, but otherwise...

"Well, Dash... to tell you the truth, I..."


Her eyes widened in horrified realization.


"I... I don't-"

"You don't really give a buck, do you?" Rainbow finished bluntly.

Twilight snapped her head towards Rainbow Dash, her voice thick with panic as she replied.

"Th-that's not true!" she sputtered, "I... I just-"

"It's fine, Twilight," Rainbow blinked, "well, no... it's not fine. But I don't think it's your fault. I feel the same way and I'm pretty sure the others are gonna feel similar if whatever happened to us, happened to them." 

"What did happen to us, Rainbow?" Twilight asked, panic still tinging her voice, "you said you had some answers. Who were those ponies, and what did they do to us? To our bodies? Why do I have weird black... tentacles growing out me and making weapons?"

"I don't think It was just our bodies, Twi," Rainbow Dash answered with a grim frown, "and those black tentacle things can do more than just make weapons."

"W-What do you mean?"

Rainbow stopped at a turn just up ahead. She raised a hoof to silence Twilight and peered around the corner. After a few seconds she motioned for Twilight to follow and they continued down the hall.

"Twi, I'm gonna be straight with you here," Rainbow said, turning her head to look Twilight in the eye, "you probably already figured it out, but I was the one who slaughtered all those ponies back there while I was trying to bust you out of that room."

Twilight gulped and nodded. She had already deduced that much given all the blood still coating Rainbow's fur, and - like the massacre she had seen - the confirmation didn't seem to bother her too much, if at all.

The lack of sympathy wasn't comforting in the slightest.

"Killing those ponies the way I did... that's not what's messing me up," Rainbow continued, "what has me freaked out, is the fact that these ponies messed with our heads, Twi."

She turned and glared at nothing in particular, "I know they did something because I didn't just kill them... I enjoyed it. All that blood..."

She looked back at Twilight helplessly and Twilight could see tears beginning to stream down her bloody face, "I... I have this thing about blood, you know? Can't stand the sight of it. N-Now look at me," she gave a short chuckle that quickly gave way to a choked sob, "I'm practically drenched in the stuff and I don't even care!"

Twilight didn't think.

She wrapped her friend in a tight embrace, heedless of the residual blood staining her fur. Rainbow had tried to hide it, but Twilight and the rest of the girls knew all about her hemophobia. She may not have cared about the blood or murder, but it was clear that the stress of the situation was still hitting her hard.

"I'm sorry, Dash," Twilight whispered, stroking Rainbow's mane as she continued to sob into the crook of Twilight's neck, "I'm so sorry..."

The two remained this way for a few more minutes before Rainbow Dash managed to collect herself. With a sniff, she pulled back and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks, Twilight," she said gratefully, "I-I guess I really needed that."

"Anytime, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied with a gentle smile, "I don't care how messed up this situation is, you can always count on me and the other girls to be here for you."

Rainbow Dash returned the smile before frowning and punching Twilight in the shoulder playfully.

"Don't go telling the others I was bawling like a foal, got it?"

Twilight chuckled and shook her head, "Don't worry, Dashie. You're secret's safe with me."

Rainbow nodded in approval and continued trotting ahead, Twilight quickly following behind.

"So, what did you mean when you said those tentacles could do more than make weapons?" Twilight asked, trying to get back on topic.

"Oh, that's right!" Rainbow exclaimed, "so get this, when I stabbed one of the egghead looking ponies after I first woke up, I got this weird urge to... feed I guess. Like some kinda weird hunger that didn't have anything to do with my stomach. Next thing I know, all these tentacles are flying out of my body and pulling the guy into me."

Twilight looked at Rainbow incredulously.

"I know, right?" Rainbow cried, "It freaked me out!"

Her tone became serious once again, "so... something weird happened after that."

"Yeah?" Twilight prompted.

"I started seeing things - memories, I think. Things that guy saw."

"Like what?"

Rainbow turned to Twilight with a dark expression, "Like him and a couple of other ponies strapping you down and injecting something into you with a needle."

"W-What!?" Twilight cried in alarm.

Rainbow only nodded, "Yeah. It..." she looked away with a pained expression, "it wasn't pretty, Twi."

Twilight was almost afraid to ask what had transpired.

...Almost.

"What happened to me, Dash?" she asked with equal parts fear and conviction.

For a few heartbeats, Rainbow Dash looked away, biting her lip and saying nothing, but then she sighed and looked back to Twilight. She spoke, her voice heavy with resignation.

"I didn't quite catch everything, but from what I saw, you went with the guy in the lab coat willingly. You looked kind of excited actually, talking about how you and the rest of the girls were finally going to get a chance to make things right - that you 'wouldn't fail the Princess again'."

Twilight furrowed her brow in thought.

I failed the Princess? When? How? The only time I can remember feeling like I failed was during the Mr. Smarty Pants incident and that was ages ago.... or at least I think it was...

She tried to recall the last thing she remembered before waking up, but was interrupted as Rainbow Dash began speaking again.

"So after that, you and the scientist pony started talking a bunch of egghead nonsense," she stopped and lifted a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, "you know, while I was in the memory I could understand everything you two were talking about... but now I can't remember what any of it means..." she shook her head and continued forward.

"Anyway, you started getting all nervous for some reason. Then he mention something about a virus and you completely flipped out."

A virus? Twilight thought, with a frown, that must be what they injected me, Rainbow, and possibly the rest of the girls with. Apparently I went into whatever this... this... project was, willingly, but what about Rainbow and the rest? Did they have a choice? Based on my reaction, it seems I wasn't told everything. Did the Princess-

A sharp poke to her side snapped Twilight out of her thoughts.

"Hey! Equis to Twilight, can you hear me?"

Twilight blinked a few times and turned to face Rainbow with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, Rainbow Dash, what were you saying?"

Rainbow Dash frowned at Twilight, "Geez, Twi, you really need to pay more attention. We're still in enemy territory here as far as I'm concerned. You can't afford to be spacing out all the time like you usually do."

"You're right, Dash," Twilight conceded, "sorry about that."

"It's fine, just be more careful about it," Rainbow replied with a small smile. The smile didn't last long and her features darkened once again as she continued her recollection, "Now listen up," she said, her tone becoming ominous, "because this is where things get really bad."

Twilight nodded with an apprehensive grimace.

"The scientist mentioned a virus and pulled out the needle from his coat. Once you saw that, you completely lost it. You started screaming at the guy about repercussions and immorality and ethics before two of the security ponies grabbed you and slammed that thing on your horn. After that, they forced you onto the table and strapped you down while the scientist injected you with that needle."

Rainbow visibly swallowed before continuing in a low, shaky voice.

"At first, nothing happened and you just kept yelling at the scientist, asking where me and the rest of the girls were," at this, Rainbow slowed her trot and turned to face Twilight.


"And then you started changing."


Twilight could almost physically feel the gravity of Rainbow's words and it made her mouth run dry.

"H-How exactly did I start... changing?"

The two quickly and quietly turned another corner before Rainbow answered, keeping her voice low.

"When things first started, you were screaming at the scientist... but then... but then... you just started screaming. Not words. Just... screaming. A-and - and then... and t-then the... oh, horseapples, Twilight, don't make me say it," Rainbow pleaded desperately, "please! I'm having enough trouble keeping the vomit down just thinking about it. I don't want you to even have to imagine the same thing I did."

Rainbow's account had left Twilight shaken. She didn't know what to say. On one hoof, she was more curious than ever about the event that had changed her and her friend. On the other hoof though...

Rainbow Dash looks ready to fall apart all over again... and that was just from the memory. I can't let her relive whatever happened if it's going to cause her that much pain. 

Twilight wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash's shaking form.

"It's alright, Rainbow," Twilight assured in a soft voice, "you don't have to tell me if you're not ready."

"That's just it, Twi," Rainbow replied, shaking her head and pushing herself away from Twilight, "I don't think I'll ever be ready to tell you. I'm sorry, but you're either gonna have to find another egghead and do what I did, or just forget about it, but really, I hope you don't ever find out."

Twilight didn't respond right away, she just stood there, looking deep into Rainbow Dash's eyes. The pain she saw was immense.

"Was it really that bad?" she finally asked in a quiet voice.

"Twilight, after seeing what happened in that memory... I'm fully convinced the both of us died on that table."

With that, she turned and continued down the hallway.
> Encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a few seconds before Twilight realized she had fallen to her haunches in shock. She got up and trotted next to Rainbow Dash. She didn't say anything, figuring it would be best let Rainbow have her silence. She watched Rainbow Dash glance back and forth between the large gray doors, lining the seemingly endless hallway. After a few minutes of this, a though occurred to her and she spoke up.

Hey, Rainbow?"

"What's up, Twi?"

"Do you... know where you're going?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope."

Twilight stumbled to a stop and glared at the cyan pegasus.

"Are you telling me that we've been wandering around a maze of hallways with no clue as to where any of our friends are?"

"That's about the gist of it."

Twilight gaped at Rainbow Dash.

"I don't - you can't just... then where are we even... ugh!" she threw up her hooves in exasperation, "how are we supposed to find the others in a place this big? All the halls look the same and every door we've come across so far has been identical."

"We'll find them the same way I found you," Rainbow replied flippantly.

"And how exactly did you find me?" Twilight asked.

"The memory," was Rainbow Dash's simple answer.

"Oh..." Twilight responded quietly, "so you're idea is basically to find another scientist and-"

"Eat them, yeah."

Twilight mulled that over for a moment and decided that it was as good a plan as any - gruesome and twisted as it was.  That she was even slightly in favor of the slaughter and consumption of a potentially innocent pony left no doubt in Twilight's mind.

Whatever that virus was, it had definitely done something to drastically alter her and Rainbow Dash's mental state. 

I can't believe I'm vouching for this plan, Twilight thought morosely, but it seems like our only choice at the moment, and after what Rainbow told me, I really need to make sure the rest of my friends are okay.

Twilight forced some confidence into her steps and gave Rainbow Dash a nod of approval.

"I don't like it, but if that's what we have to do to find our friends and escape this horrible place... then I'm with you Rainbow Dash. But... wait..." she stopped and gave Rainbow Dash a worried look, "if you do this, Rainbow, you might risk-"

"I know the risks, Twi," Rainbow interjected, giving Twilight a determined look, "I'll... I can deal with it if it means finding everypony else... especially Fluttershy," she added quietly. 

"Well... if you're sure you can handle it, Rainbow..." Twilight conceded hesitantly.

Rainbow answered Twilight with a melancholy smile before turning her gaze back to the many doors along the wall. She began trotting forward again, but Twilight held back for another minute observing her with a frown.

Dash... don't believe for a second that I couldn't see you shaking at the thought of going through that again.

She furrowed her brow and followed after Rainbow.

No, Rainbow... I won't let you go through that again. I Pinkie Pie swear it.

As they trotted down the unending corridor, the two of them kept their eyes and ears open for any sign of change in the scenery. Twilight was beginning to get uneasy.

"Rainbow, don't you thinks it's little too..."

"Quiet?"

Twilight nodded, "And empty."

Rainbow looked towards the ceiling, humming in thought.

"Well... you're definitely right about that. When I broke out of my room the place was swarming with security ponies. Now though..." she swept her gaze around the hall again, "it's like they just up and abandoned the place."

They eventually came across an intersection with two paths going left and right. Looking left, they saw a large door at the end of another pathway. Unlike the other large nondescript metal doors they had passed thus far, this one was regular sized and black with the words 'SKY TALON LABORATORIES ANNEX BUILDING 3' stamped in blocky white letters.

Well it seems my hunch about this being some sort of large scale research facility wasn't too far off the mark, Twilight thought.

She looked to the right and saw that the hallway continued further down with another intersection at the end. She turned back to Rainbow Dash.

"What do you think, Rainbow?" she asked, but Rainbow wasn't paying attention. She was focused on the black door, her eyes squinted and head slightly tilted in thought.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked in concern, "what's wrong?"

"This name..." Rainbow responded slowly, "'Sky Talon...'" she looked back to Twilight with a bemused expression, "that's a griffon surname."

Twilight returned Rainbow's bemused expression with one of her own.

"That's odd. Did you see any griffons when you were making your way to the room I was in?"

"No," Rainbow replied, shaking her head, "just ponies. There were no griffons in that memory either."

For a time, the two stood there, pondering what that could mean, when Twilight suddenly spoke up.

"Rainbow, what's the last thing you remember before waking up?"

"Huh? Oh, well... um," Rainbow frowned thoughtfully, "the last thing I can remember is you telling us about some kind of empire popping up somewhere in the frozen north after coming back to Ponyville from your meeting with the Princesses. We all left Ponyville on the Friendship Express to go investigate... and that's it," she shrugged, "I got nothing after that."

Twilight slowly nodded, as though she expected the answer, "that sounds about right. I remember Princess Celestia telling me about the return of the Crystal Empire and some kind of test..." her eyes widened, "wait, that might've been what I was talking about before!"

"What were you talking about before?" Rainbow asked in confusion.

"In the memory you saw," Twilight clarified, "when I mentioned how I wasn't going to fail the Princess again. This test must've been what I was talking about," the excitement of her discovery quickly vanished, "and I failed it somehow..."

Seeing her lavender friend's dejected face, Rainbow pulled her into a one legged hug.

"Hey, come on, egghead, cheer up," she said with what she hoped was a winning smile, "it ain't the end of the world... as far as we know."

Twilight whimpered, her head sinking lower.

"A-and even if it was," Rainbow added quickly, "you still got me and the rest of the girls... once we find them."

When Twilight didn't respond, Rainbow gave an exasperated sigh.

"Twi, look at me."

Twilight didn't move and Rainbow pulled her around to face her.

"Look, I know things suck right now, but we need to keep going," Rainbow said sternly, "we can worry about what happened in the past later. Our friends need rescuing now. I know I'm the last one that should be saying this, but at least keep it together until everypony is safe and accounted for, alright?"  

Twilight finally looked up at Rainbow with a small, sad smile, "Thanks, Dash, really... and you're right," she wiped her eyes and looked at Rainbow with newfound resolve, "I can't just wallow in self-pity when our friends are still out there somewhere - possibly in a worse situation than we are."

"That's the spirit!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a genuine smile, "now then" - she turned to the intersection before them - "I don't know about you, but I am sick of these hallways. I vote we go with the black door."

Twilight nodded in agreement, "And we might find some more answers," she tapped the metal band around the base of her horn, "as well as a way to get this thing off of me."

"Um, Twilight," Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, "why don't you just... you know... use those tendrils to break it off or something?"

Twilight blinked and looked at her horn.

Can I do that?

With no specific thought in mind other than removing the band, she tried pulling from that strange power source at her core and the tendrils responded. Rather than removing the metal band, the tendrils wrapped around her horn and receded back into her head, leaving her horn ringless.

It only lasted for a few seconds, but to Twilight, the sudden and excruciating agony that coursed throughout her entire body might as well have lasted an eternity. As soon as it had started though, the pain stopped abruptly - leaving Twilight no worse for wear aside from the disorientation caused by the near instantaneous change in sensation.

Coming back to her senses, Twilight found that she had collapsed to the floor at some point. To her confusion, she could also make out the sounds of heavy panting interspersed with low muttering somewhere nearby. Looking towards the source of the noise, she saw Rainbow Dash back up against a wall. 

To Twilight's shock, the entire area immediately surrounding her and Rainbow Dash was pockmarked with all manner of gashes and holes that were carved out by... something.

What happened? Twilight thought, slowly shaking her head in disbelief, What did I do?

She was snapped out of her shock by the soft muttering coming from Rainbow Dash. She moved closer to get a better look at her friend and gasped in horror.

She was a mess.

She was shaking violently, wings fully extended in agitation. Her eyes were wide, pupils reduced to pinpricks and tears falling freely down her face. She seemed to be staring at something Twilight couldn't see. 

Her fur was matted with sweat and her mouth was constantly moving, muttering something Twilight couldn't quite hear. Worried for her friend, Twilight trotted right next to Rainbow Dash, putting a hoof on her withers. 

"Rainbow?"

"No... no... nonono... no... please don't die... come on, Twi... don't do this to me..."

Twilight's heart skipped a beat.

She grabbed Rainbows face and turned it to towards her own.

"Rainbow?" Twilight spoke in a loud, clear voice, "Rainbow Dash, listen to me. I'm not dying. I'm fine. Do you hear me? I'm okay, Rainbow."

It took Twilight several minutes of reassurances but she eventually managed to calm Rainbow Dash down enough to speak.

"Are you alright now, Dash?" Twilight asked in a soft voice.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine," Rainbow croaked in reply, "just... just gimme a minute."

After a few deep breaths, Rainbow turned to Twilight and nodded, "Alright, I think I'm good now... sorry about that, Twilight," she turned away with a grimace, "I guess that memory is affecting me way more than I thought."

"No kidding," Twilight agreed looking thoughtful, "I can't help but wonder why though."

"What do you mean why?" Rainbow asked, frowning at Twilight, "it was one of the most bucked up things I've ever seen, Twilight."

"I don't doubt that for a second, Rainbow Dash," Twilight responded seriously, "but from what you told me, and what I've experienced firsthoof, this shouldn't be affecting you at all given the change in our state of mind regarding... things of a gruesome nature."

"Sorry, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said shrugging helplessly, "I don't know what to tell you."

Twilight lowered head and quietly grunted in frustration.

There's way too many questions and not enough answers! But wait... Twilight's scowl turned thoughtful, If this is some sort of research facility, there might be some documents hidden away somewhere detailing what this project is and what the virus does specifically. If I could just find those, we might finally be able to answer at least some of these-

"Whoa... hey, Twilight, come check this out."

Twilight looked over to see Rainbow Dash examining a section of one of the walls near the black door. Curious, she made her way over to where Rainbow was and raised her eyebrows at what she saw. Embedded deep into the tile of the wall was the silver horn ring.

"How did that happen?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"I dunno," Rainbow said with a shrug, "guess it just didn't agree with the new you."

Twilight opened her mouth to retort, but stopped short.

"Wait, how did I get the ring off my horn?"

Rainbow Dash shift uncomfortably before answering, "When you tried to remove with the tendrils, you kind of ended up... absorbing it instead. After that, your tentacle things started freaking out. That's all I'm saying about that."

"That's all I needed, Rainbow," Twilight replied with a thankful smile, "now I think I can finally start piecing a few things together about how this virus works."

She began pacing the narrow hallway and seeing this, Rainbow let out an exasperated groan.

"C'mon, Twi, you're not seriously gonna start-"

"Apparently this virus allows us to absorb - or rather consume - both organic and inorganic material." 

"Oh, buck me there she goes..." Rainbow muttered, burying her face in a hoof.

"When we consume other ponies we can see their memories and possibly learn their skills - though I'm not sure how that works exactly in regards to what's shown."

Rainbow perked up at the mention of learning skills.

"Wait seriously? We can steal skills? That's actually pretty awesome!"

"Calm down, Rainbow," Twilight responded shaking her head, "A lot of what I'm saying is mere conjecture at this point. I'm almost certain there's a lot more we don't know."

Rainbow just huffed and looked away.

"Where was I?" Twilight continued, "oh, right-" Twilight raised a hoof and, in a blur of tendrils, a silver blade had once again replaced most of her foreleg "-our bodies seems to be completely malleable - at least when it comes to tentacles and sharp objects," she added sardonically.

"Twilight, this is super informative and everything, but we really need to-" 

"On the matter of what happened when I consumed the ring, I have a hypothesis," Twilight continued, reforming the blade back into a hoof and resuming her pacing. 

Rainbow gave a weary sigh and rubbed her temples.

"That horn ring was designed to block the flow of my magic and force it back into my wellspring causing a sort of magical feedback to occur - a very painful magical feedback, I might add. Naturally, that ring would've caused an adverse reaction when my body tried to consume it. I deduce that this in turn led to a" - Twilight stopped her pacing and looked around the partially destroyed hallway with a grimace - "very violent rejection."

"Twiiiiliiiiight," Rainbow groaned in annoyance.

"Yes, Rainbow? Did you have a question?" Twilight asked with an eager smile.

"Twilight, we've been sitting in this Celestia forsaken hallway, next to this Celestia forsaken door for ages! We need. To find. The others." Rainbow Dash emphasized each sentence with a hoof stomp, "can we please go now?" 

The smile fell from Twilight's face.

"Oh... right," she rubbed the back of her neck, chuckling sheepishly, "sorry, Rainbow, I got kind of... caught up in the moment... again."

"Yeah, sure that's great. So we good to go?" Rainbow asked impatiently.

Twilight nodded, "go ahead, Rainbow Dash."

"Ugh, finally!" Rainbow cried, pulling open the door, "I seriously thought we were gonna be in there forev-"


"STOP RIGHT THERE, FREAKS!"


Rainbow and Twilight froze in the doorway. Eyes wide, they slowly turned in the direction of the voice. Upon opening the door, they found themselves facing a large white cylindrical building several yards away. The building they had exited and the building before them were connected by a wide, open air skyway. 

They couldn't see just how high up they were from where they were standing, but that wasn't what the two friends were worried about. What had caught their attention were the dozens of griffons in dark red armor and several security ponies in black and blue barding on the opposite end of the large bridge - effectively blocking the entrance to the annex building.

Each griffon carried either some kind of long stick of metal and wood or a larger tube made completely of metal. Both contraptions were aimed in their direction. Neither Rainbow nor Twilight had ever seen these things, but it was obvious they were a weapon of some sort.

The ponies for their part, carried an assortment of hoof blades, wing blades, and arcane staves capable of highly amplified and very deadly magic.

For a few moments nopony moved. Twilight and Rainbow Dash just stood there gawking at the blatant display of force. After a minute or two, a gray feathered, black furred giant of a griffon stepped out of the gathering and towards the two girls, stopping a few yards away. 

He glared at the two with cold ice blue eyes. He remained that way for several seconds before he suddenly turned and spat to the side, much to Twilight's disgust. He turned back to face them, a vicious sneer crossing his beak.

"Disgusting abominations."
> Omake - Piercing the Heavens
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Um, Twilight," Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, "why don't you just... you know... use those tendrils to break it off or something?"

Twilight blinked and looked at her horn.

Can I do that?

With no specific thought in mind other than removing the band, she tried pulling from that strange power source at her core and the tendrils responded. Rather than removing the metal band, the tendrils wrapped around her horn and receded back into her head, pulling her horn and the ring with them.

Twilight's eye widened in panic as she felt the innate connection to her wellspring of magic completely vanish.

"R-Rainbow," she whispered, "m-my horn... is - is it still there?"

"Uh... well..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck nervously, looking anywhere but at Twilight, "not... really? You kinda pulled it into your head... and also that weird ring too."

"Out."

Rainbow tilted her head in confusion, "What are you-"

"Get it out."

"Twi-"

"Get it out. Get it out! GETITOUTGETITOUTGETITOUTGET-"

Two things happened that neither Rainbow nor Twilight were prepared for. In the middle of her panic attack, Twilight began hacking loudly and after a few seconds, the horn ring shot out of her mouth and hit the wall near Rainbow Dash who yelped took off in to the air in surprise.

A split second after that, several large tendrils shot out of Twilight's forehead, coiling themselves into a massive black and red drill that began spinning rapidly as it fired in Rainbow Dash's direction. Instinct drove Rainbow to snap her wings shut and hit the ground, just as the drill drove itself deep into the wall above her.

"Sweet Celestia, Twilight!" 

"Oh, ponyfeathers! I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cried, frantically trying to pull her now gargantuan horn drill out of the wall, "I can't" - she grunted - "I can't pull it free!"

"You need to calm down, Twi," Rainbow Dash instructed crawling out from under the giant drill, "the tendrils should do the rest."

"Alright," Twilight answered, taking a shaky breath, "alright... okay... I can do this."

She inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times and was relieved to see the drill shrink and pull itself out of the wall, tendrils uncoiling themselves as they receded and shaped themselves back into Twilight's familiar lavender horn.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief and gave Rainbow Dash a grateful - if awkward - smile.

"Thanks for that, Dash," she said, chuckling sheepishly, "I don't... really know what happened there."

"Ah, don't worry about it, Twi," Rainbow Dash responded, flapping her wings to get out the debris from the wall.

"Seriously though," Rainbow continued raising an eyebrow at Twilight, "a giant drill?"
> Frustration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash snorted and narrowed her eyes at the muscled griffon.

"You wanna see an abomination, tough guy?" she growled in a low voice, "I'll show you an abomination." 

She crouched low and spread her wings. Tendrils swarmed her feathers and her wings extended further out - each feather elongated into deadly black whip-like limbs with miniature scythes at the ends.

Twilight held back and observed the situation with a worried frown. She glanced at her battle ready friend, then at the griffon, trying to gauge his reaction. The other griffons and ponies further back had visibly tensed - the majority of them readying their weapons. 

The large griffon who had stepped forward remained relaxed and impassive - at least at first glance. Upon closer inspection, Twilight could see a small smile playing across his beak and his ice blue eyes held a hint of... eagerness in them.

It made Twilight uneasy.

"Well?" Rainbow yelled out in a challenging tone, "got nothing to say, tiny?"

"Wait a minute, Rainbow," Twilight muttered, holding out a hoof, "I don't like this... I think he's up to something."

Rainbow Dash scoffed, "Oh, come on, Twi, look at him! That small smirk on his face, I know that smirk. I've worn that smirk. He's just arrogant," she took an aggressive step forward - scythed whips waving menacingly overhead, "and it's gonna cost him... big time."

"Listen to me, Rainbow Dash," Twilight hissed, moving to stand in front of Rainbow, "I'm telling you, something's not right," she briefly glanced back at the griffon - who seemed to be perfectly content to let them talk amongst themselves - before turning back to Rainbow Dash. 

"He obviously knows - at least to some degree - what we're capable of," she whispered, "and judging by their little welcome party, they were definitely expecting us.  With all that in mind, don't you think it's a little strange that he would be willing to just walk up to us without any visible weapons on him?"

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and peered at the gathering of griffons and ponies over Twilight's shoulder. Each and every one of them still had all their weapons trained on the two, presumably waiting for an order to attack. 

"I don't think he really needs one. The guys in the back seem to have that covered, Twi."

"Rainbow!"

"Alright, alright fine!" Rainbow groused, "what do you want us to do, then?"

Twilight furrowed her brow in thought for a few seconds before speaking again.

"He hasn't tried to kill us yet, so he might be willing to talk. Let's see if we can get some information."

"And if we can't?" Rainbow challenged.

"If we can't, then... I don't know," Twilight responded unsurely, "We'll see what happens."

Rainbow Dash turned away from Twilight and glared at the smirking griffon, her scythed whips flicking back and forth in irritation. After a moment she growled and the whips receded, leaving her normal cyan wings in their place.

"Fine... we'll do it your way," Rainbow Dash conceded, "but if things go south, I'm not hesitating."

Twilight nodded with a grateful smile, "Thanks, Dash."

She turned and went to take a step towards the griffon.

"You can stay right where you are, creature," drawled the griffon, his voice as hard and coarse as gravel.

"You're really asking for it, pal," Rainbow growled. Twilight silenced her with a look and turned back to the griffon.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," Twilight called out, "I am the personal protege of Princess Celestia. My friend, Rainbow Dash" - she nodded towards the cyan pegasus - "and I are also wielders of the Elements of Harmony - Magic and Loyalty specifically. We recently woke up and have no idea what's happening or if our other friends are okay," she gave the griffon her most winning smile, "could you possibly shed some light on our current situation?"

The large griffon eyed Twilight silently, his features guarded and unreadable. After a moment he snorted.

"I care nothing for your names or titles, though you'd do well to remember mine, worms," he replied, voice dripping with disdain, "I am Asger Storm Feather, leader of the Storm Feather Mercenary Guild. As for your... situation," he gave a dark chuckle and snapped his talons. A lone, unarmored, navy blue earth pony stallion the two mares hadn't noticed before nervously stepped out of the group. His eyes widened at the sight of Twilight and Rainbow.

"Hurry it up, Midnight Rider!" Asger snapped. The pony jumped and hurried over to the griffon. He pulled a scroll from out of some saddlebags he was carrying and the griffon quickly snatched it from the pony, making him yelp and back away.

Asger unfurled the scroll and cleared his throat, taking on a mock air of professionalism as he began to read.

"By decree of His Royal Highness King Sombra and Her Royal Majesty Queen Luna, the former Elements of Harmony - one Twilight Sparkle, one Pinkamena Diane Pie, one Applejack Apple, one Rainbow Dash, one Rarity Belle, and one Fluttershy - are to be retrieved from Sky Talon Laboratories and brought before the Royal Court for questioning. They are to be taken into custody using any means necessary. In the event that capture becomes an impossibility, you are authorized to terminate..." he looked op from the scroll, giving the two stunned ponies in front of him a sick grin, "...with extreme prejudice."

He rolled up the scroll and tossed it back to the earth pony who took it and - with one last worried glance at the two mares - ran back into the group of griffons and ponies. 

Twilight stood frozen in shock, mind struggling to comprehend this drastic turn of events. Rainbow Dash had no such issues.

"That's a load of horseapples!" she cried in indignation, "it's gotta be! I don't know who this Sombra dude is, but Princess Luna wouldn't just have us killed like that!" she shook her head and jabbed a hoof in Asger's direction, "and don't give me any of that 'griffon mercenary' nonsense! There haven't been any griffon mercenary guilds in centuries!"

Asger just chuckled in response.

"Well, it looks like someone's been sleeping a little too long," he smirked at the fuming pegasus, "King Sombra brought the mercenary guilds back years ago, right along with the griffon armies of old," his eyes took on a far off look, as though he was reliving a fond memory, "that pony brought good old fashioned war back to the lands of Equestria and beyond. He may not have my loyalty, but for that, he definitely has my respect."

Twilight fell to her haunches and Rainbow Dash just gaped at the griffon.

"Years?" Twilight croaked, staring at the ground beneath her, "this... King Sombra has been in power for years? And Luna..." she looked back up at Asger with a horrified expression, "h-how... how long have we been gone? Where's P-Princess Celestia?"

"Princess who?" Asger asked frowning at Twilight in confusion.

Twilight's mouth open and closed uselessly for a few seconds before she spoke again, face twisted in a sudden rage.

"Princess Celestia!" she snapped, "Ruler of Equestria! Goddess of the Sun! Sol Invictus! Older Sister of Luna! My bucking mentor!"

Asger ignored Twilight's outburst as he searched his memory for the name.

"Celestia... Celes - oh, that's right!" he exclaimed reaching into a leather bag strapped to his maroon armor. He pull out a stack of rolled up scrolls, unfurled them, and proceeded to flip through each one. "let's see... no, no, nope, nooo... ah-ha, there we are."  he pulled a single scroll from the stack and looked it over briefly before raising his eyebrows and giving an impressed whistle, "don't know how I forgot about her. She's worth a mountain of bits, almost literally."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Rainbow interjected incredulously, "you're telling me Celestia's gone from a Princess to a bounty?"

"Don't know about the Princess thing," Asger responded putting away the scrolls, "all I know is that, according to the bounty, she went missing around the time Luna ascended to Queenhood alongside King Sombra's rise to power."

"And when was that?" Rainbow asked.

Asger gave Rainbow Dash an odd look. 

"...You two really have no idea do you?" he replied in awe.


"Just answer the question."


Rainbow flicked an ear. Something in Twilight's voice made her glance back worriedly. Twilight was sitting hunched over, mane obscuring most of her face. Her entire form was shaking with... some kind of emotion. Rainbow Dash wasn't sure which.

Rather than answer, Asger chuckled. His chuckle soon turned into full on laughter and he doubled over, "Oh, this - this is too good!" he wheezed out, "Queen Luna had men - mentioned all of you might have some memory loss when you woke up, but-" he broke into another small fit of laughter "-but I had no idea it would be this bad! Oh, wow. You freaks are a real riot!"

Questions. 

"Twi? Are you okay?" 

Questions, questions, and more questions.

"Twilight? Hey, Twilight! Can you hear..." 

I just keep coming across question after question after question with no end in sight. Even when I do get answers, they only lead to more questions. Well you know what? I'm sick of the questions. 


I want answers. 



real answers.



And I know just how to get them.



Something wasn't right.

The air was thick with a wrongness that wrapped around Rainbow Dash like a blanket. She tried to call out to her much-too-quiet friend, completely disregarding the still chuckling griffon. To her rising worry, Twilight remained unresponsive.

"Twi? C'mon, talk to me eggh-"

"Hey, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash's mouth snapped shut as a chill ran down her spine. 

She wasn't alone. 

The sound of Twilight's voice instantly put every griffon and pony on edge, whether they could hear her or not. They knew something had changed.

Asger definitely wasn't laughing anymore.

"W-What's up, Twi?" Rainbow asked nervously, "you okay there? You kinda had me worried for a sec..."

Twilight slowly shook her head and finally looked up at Rainbow Dash with a small smile. 


And pitch black eyes.


"Don't worry about me, Dash, I'm fine," Twilight replied, waving Rainbow's concern away, "but I was thinking... maybe we should try to go for a more friendly approach, like I originally intended." 

She turned towards Asger, her smile pleasant.

"Friendship has always worked for us in the past, right?"

Rainbow Dash didn't know what to say. It was obvious Twilight was in a very bad place right now, but what could she do? She had seen both Twilight and Pinkie succumb to a mental break before, but this was something different - something far worse. Not even Rainbow herself was this far gone when she slaughtered all those ponies in the hall. In the end she responded as best as she could.

"Sure... I guess," she replied, taking a few steps back, "but, Twi, you're really creeping me out here, what with the black eyes and everything."

Twilight giggled and trotted up next to Rainbow Dash, putting a hoof on her withers. Rainbow shuddered and forced herself not to push her away. She could feel something writhing and squirming just beneath the skin under Twilight's fur. Now that she was this close, Rainbow could also see that her mane and tail were slightly frazzled, random hairs sticking out just a bit here and there as they blew lightly in the afternoon breeze.

"I told you, Rainbow, I'm okay," Twilight assured gently, "I'm just going to politely ask Asger for some... clarification on what he's told us so far."

"Yeah, sure, Twilight," Rainbow responded taking another step back, "whatever you gotta do."

Twilight nodded, "Now then" - she turned and started making her way over to Asger - "let's see what we can find out, shall we?" 

Once she was a yard or two away from the griffon she stopped and sat down, smiling apologetically.

"I think we kind of got off on the wrong hoof," she began cordially, "While I'd like to start over again, we've made too much progress in the conversation already, so I'll just start with where we left off."

She raised a hoof and gestured towards Asger, who tensed - shifting one of his claws conspicuously.

"If I remember correctly, you were telling us exactly how long it's been since Luna ascended to Queenhood and King Sombra began his reign? And please," she added, "try to be a little more succinct this time."

Asger said nothing for a moment as he continued to eye Twilight warily. He had felt the same thing everyone else did, and recognized that feeling all too well. He had felt it when he and his father came home to find his mother bedding another griffon when he was just a fledgling. He had felt it when he was running from those thugs in Beakenburg back when he was a teen. 

He had felt it when he went out manticore hunting for the first time. And of course, he had felt it on the battlefield many, many times. Ponies didn't come across it very often until King Sombra rose to power, but the griffons already had a name for it.


Killing intent.


It hung in the air - thick, cloying, raw, unfiltered, and overpowering - and this mare, this... monster, was giving it off in waves.

"I'm still waiting for your explanation, Asger."

He had to act first.

He had to act now.

Instinct took over.

"...No."

Twilight tilted her head, smile widening ever so slightly."

"No?" 


*thunk*


Twilight's head snapped back as she was sent flying backwards. 

She hit the ground with enough force to slide several feet before stopping.

"TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash cried, flying over to Twilight's prone body. Looking over her friend, Rainbow could see a large serrated throwing knife wedged hilt deep between her eyes just under her horn.

"No... nononoNO!" Rainbow grit her teeth and her head shot towards the griffon who's foreleg was outstretched, several more throwing knives held in his claws. His face was grim and he never once took his ice blue eyes off of Twilight.

"You..." Rainbow growled, eyes alight with unbridled rage, "you... YOU!"

Her wings vanished in a storm of tendrils and the scythed whips returned.

"I'M GONNA TEAR YOU TO PIECE-"


"All I wanted was some answers."


Rainbow froze, her scythe whips dangling in the air. Her fury vanished in an instant as she slowly turned to face the lavender unicorn.

"Twilight?"

Twilight slowly rose to her hooves.

"Just a few answers, that's all. I even asked nicely."

She began making her way forward, the knife sinking deeper and deeper into her skull until it disappeared, leaving her completely unmarred save for a more ragged looking mane and tail.

The friendly smile never left her face.

"But for some reason you felt the need to attack me unprovoked. And you still haven't explained yourself."

She leisurely trotted past a still shocked Rainbow Dash and stopped in front of Asger once again, shaking her head and frowning at him like a disappointed mother.

"I've tried to be kind and I've tried to be fair, Mister Storm Feather, but you seem to be determined to make things difficult." 

Snapping out of her shock, Rainbow Dash moved next to Twilight, trying to salvage the situation.

"I don't think he wants to talk anymore, Twi," she whispered, "let's just take him and his goons out and get back to finding our friends."

Twilight's pitch black eyes remained fixed on Asger as she responded.

"No, Rainbow Dash," she replied, "I'm going to stick with my plan and give him one more chance to explain himself."

"And if he doesn't?"

Twilight merely smiled in response.

Rainbow went to ask again, but stopped as she noticed something strange. Narrowing her eyes, she focused her attention on Twilight's mane. After a minute, her eyes widened and darted from Twilight's mane to Asger. She looked back to find Twilight looking at her, her bottomless black orbs somehow twinkling with mirth - as though she was about to pull off the world's greatest prank. 

She winked and raised a hoof to her lips in a shushing gesture.

Asger had taken note of the exchange, but didn't know what to make of it. He knew that knife hadn't been enough to take the monster down - not only had the killing intent remained as she lay there, seemingly dead on the ground, it had spiked drastically for just a moment. He had gauged her reaction to the attack and was unsurprised when she managed to shrug off the damage.

Queen Luna hadn't given him a lot of information regarding the six mares or what they were here for, but she did mention that this type of problem might arise. 

From the exchange he had just witnessed it seemed this monster had a plan of some sort. He'd have all his feathers plucked before he let her pull off whatever it was. 

He set about raising a claw to give the signal to attack when Twilight suddenly whipped her head in his direction.

"So what do you say, Asger?" Twilight asked, "will you finally start answering my questions properly?"

"Go to Tartarus where you belong, demon!" Asger snarled in response. He raised a claw to signal the attack...

...only to find he had no claw to do so. 

He blinked and looked down to see a bloody stump where his right claw used to be. He looked up at Twilight to see her standing there with a patient, knowing smile. She shifted slightly and it was only then that the griffon noticed the countless silvery wires shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. He traced the wires all the back to Twilight's deceptively ratty appearance. Every stray hair in Twilight's mane and tail extended into a sharpened wire that completely entangled the helpless griffon.

"Thank you for reacting exactly like I thought you would, Asger," Twilight said, smiling gratefully, "now I can finally get my answers."

Asger's eyes widened in horror and he turned to the squad behind him.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! TAKE EM' OU-"

Asger's body fell to pieces - each and every single piece pulled apart and suspended in the air by Twilight's wires as they thickened back into black tendrils.

Several things happened at once then. 

Twilight's tendrils began to receded back into her body along with the fur, flesh, and feathers of the former griffon leader.

Ponies charged.

Griffons fired.

Rainbow leapt into action, scythe whips flailing.

Twilight's vision went white.
> Machinations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Crystal Caverns beneath Canterlot 
Underground Crystal Research Facility 
16 Years Ago






This had better be worth my time, Asger thought bitterly as he continued down the darkened crystalline tunnels of the cavern, places like this weren't meant for griffons.

He reached the bottom of a steep incline and turned a corner. At the end of the path, a few yards away, was a bright blue crystalline wall forming a dead end. Nevertheless, he continued to walk unhindered, as if the wall wasn't even there. Indeed as he reached the wall, it vanished in a flash of blue light and the path extended a little further before it came to a stop. 

At the end of this extended path was a ponymade wall of metal seemingly embedded into the surrounding crystal. in the center was a large circular doorway. The door in question gave the appearance of a simple slab of metal covering the entrance and had no visible way to enter. Asger stopped and stared at the door, both perplexed and annoyed.

Oh, pluck me. What was I supposed to do again? I think she mentioned something about magic-

He squawked in surprise as a glowing blue circle of runes appeared on the metal, emitting a low hum. His eyes widened in further surprise as that same runic circle materialized directly above him. He followed the circle as It descended, passing right through him and vanishing instantly once it reached the ground. 

Hearing a sudden hiss, he looked up just in time to see the circular slab of metal dissolve, revealing another passage - this one far more modern looking with overhead lighting and plastered walls. The corridor was longer, with branching paths and several doors on either sides of the walls. The doorway at the end of the passage was wide and Asger could tell by looking that they slid open to either side.

Printed across the entrance were the words 'CRYSTAL RESEARCH FACILITY MAIN LABORATORY'. He scowled in irritation as he stepped through into the facility - the metal slab reforming behind him.

"Vanishing walls and magic doors..." he muttered to himself, shaking his head disdainfully, "I swear, these ponies and their parlor tricks. Give me superior griffon engineering any day..."

He bypassed all the other halls and headed straight for the main lab at the end. His scowl lessened as the giant door slid open without complication or fanfare. He had never personally been in a pony built laboratory - or any lab for that matter - but the layout seemed to be exactly like would've expected a laboratory to look.

The first thing Asger noticed were the many ponies flitting about the room messing with machinery or working at tables. All of them wore lab coats and the majority of them were also wearing plastic mane caps, goggles, and latex hoof covers. 

The room itself was large, most of the walls covered by giant mechanical odds and ends that Asger couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of. He could see a few freezers and incubators that probably contained who-knows-what within. 

Several of the tables were lined up near the back with various devices such as microscopes, beakers, Braysen burners, shakers, mixers, and other scientific knick-knacks. 

Asger swept his gaze over the room and his brow furrowed in recognition as he spotted what he was looking for. He made his way across the lab, avoiding ponies as they wandered by. He moved closer to an isolated table near a corner of the lab where he could see a tall, slender blue alicorn conversing quietly with a stocky, mocha brown unicorn stallion in a lab coat that looked about two sizes too small.

He stopped for a moment to observe the two. The stallion had a shaggy white mane that stuck out at odd angles. He wore black, thick-rimmed glasses over his wrinkled golden yellow eyes and looked as though he hadn't even cracked a grin in several years. 

As bad as Asger thought the stallion looked - and much to his surprise - the tall, midnight blue alicorn mare looked worse.

She looked worn - her face sullen and withdrawn and her light-speckled mane and tail dull and listless. She wore a stoic frown, but Asger could practically see the sneer just below the surface.

He also noticed some odd body language. Every now then he saw her ears flicker as though she was listening for something. Her eyes would also shift left or right distractedly.

Her eyes.

Her eyes were the worst in his opinion. They were weary and slightly bloodshot yes, but there was also something else there - something that made even him shiver slightly.

You've got to be flocking kidding me, he though with a barely concealed sneer of his own, this is their vaunted Moon Princess?

He almost jumped in surprise when the mare suddenly whipped her head around to stare directly at him - her eyes slightly narrowed and her mouth turned down in a slight frown.

He regained his composure quickly, drawing himself up and walking the rest of the way to where the two were standing.

"Princess Luna," he greeted with a curt nod as he stopped in front of the mare.

The greeting wasn't returned.

"You are late, Asger," she responded, her tone clipped and imperious.

"My apologies... Your Highness," he said with the slightest of apologetic bows, "this is my first venture into Equestrian lands, and-"

"It does not matter," she interjected sharply, "we are short on time and my sister will be up to raise the sun soon."

Asger shut his beak, his scowl in place once again. 

Luna turned back to the brown stallion, "You are absolutely certain it will work as intended?" she asked urgently, "remember well that if you fail, the consequences will be most dire," she finished with a voice low and full of menace.

The stallion in question had his back turned to the princess and griffon. He stood hunched over a table adjusting a microscope.

Rather than be intimidated by her tone, the unicorn stallion looked more annoyed than anything. He didn't even look up from the microscope he was now peering through. 

"Princess, my answer remains unchanged from the last two times you've asked me," he responded in a surprisingly high pitched voice, "we've run the tests approximately four-hundred and sixteen times over the span of two months with no negative reactions. We have achieved the desired results time and time again. So trust me when I say for the third time now-" he finally turned and scowled at the princess "-you have nothing to worry about."

The princess for her part gave the scientist an icy glare, which he returned with an even frown.

Asger found himself rather impressed with the brown unicorn. 

He noticed one of Luna's ear twitch and she glanced off to the side for a brief moment before she snorted and turned back to face the griffon.

"Asger, this is Doctor Base Pair, one of Equestria's top scientists in the field of microbiology. He has been working on-" an ear twitch and another glance to the side "-a certain... project, for me," she glance at the stallion who had once again returned to his observations, "Dr. Pair, this is Asger, a griffon whom I have called all the way out from Willowpeck in the outer regions of the Griffonian Empire to help with our... situation."

Base Pair merely grunted noncommittally without turning around.

Ignoring the doctor, Asger addressed Luna with a raised eyebrow, "That is something I had been meaning to ask about, Princess Luna. Why did you send for me specifically?" he shook his head in bemusement, "I'm just a no-name griffon with barely a bit to his name. What possible use could you have for me?"

Luna laughed out loud.

It wasn't a pleasant laugh. 

Asger recognized it as the laugh of someone who knew something you didn't and was mocking you for your ignorance.

He hated that laugh.

"If I may, Princess," he growled through clenched teeth, "what has you in such hysterics?"

After a minute, Luna's laughter died down to a small chuckle as she look at Asger with a knowing smirk.

"Mr. Storm Feather, do not think for even a second that I would have spent my precious resources tracking you down if you were just any no-name griffon," she slowly shook her head, "no, Asger. I know things. Many things. Things about you," she gave him a piercing stare, "things you've tried to hide from me, from my sister, from your own emperor."

Asger swallowed nervously. It took everything he had not to wilt under Luna's intense, borderline intrusive stare. Without even realizing it, he had taken a couple of steps back from the princess.

"J... Just what are you implying... Your Highne-"

Luna slammed a hoof into the ground causing a small tremor and several scientists to panic as they tried to keep their various experiments under control.

"DON'T YOU DARE PRESUME TO PLAY THE FOOL, PEASANT! IF YOUR ILL DEEDS WERE TO COME TO LIGHT THERE WOULD BE A WAR BETWEEN OUR NATIONS!"

This time, Asger couldn't help but quail under Luna's furious outburst.

"IF IT WERE UP TO ME I WOULD HAVE YOU..."

Luna froze mid rant, a look of shock on her face. Her ear twitched once again and her entire head swiveled to the side.

"BUT HE-"

She quickly glanced back at the now confused griffon and after a second gave weary, annoyed sigh. She schooled her features and sat back on her haunches facing Asger.

"Please forgive me for my... behavior," she spoke in a much calmer tone, "I have been under a lot of stress lately and this project Dr. Pair and I are overseeing is not helping matters."

Asger nodded, not trusting himself to speak just yet.

"Now then," Luna continued, "what I was referring to, Mr. Storm Feather, was your unauthorized and extremely illegal underground mercenary guild, The Storm Feather Mercenaries."

Asger's eyes widened in fear.

"Oh yes, Asger," Luna said with a smirk, "I know all about it."

She got up and trotted closer to the now shaking griffon - her unnerving, unwavering stare holding him in place.

"Yes, you have made quite the name for yourself in the underworld of griffon society, Mr. Storm Feather. Quite the name indeed," she walked around the griffon, eyeing him like a predator would her prey, "unfortunately for you, Mr. Storm Feather, some of your more... squeamish benefactors were all too willing to talk about a certain griffon and his merry band of sellswords."

Asger clenched his teeth and dug his talons dug into the ground as he began to sweat.

Keep it together, Asger, he thought desperately, she called you out here for a reason. All this intimidation, this beating around the bush... it's all for show. She's trying to catch you off guard. You've used this same tactic before, and when you did, there was usually only one reason...

He inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"What do you want from me in exchange for your silence?"

Luna stopped prowling, her eyes wide. Her ear gave another flick and the smirk returned to her worn face.

"Well it seems I need not play this little game any longer," she trotted back around to face Asger, her features now stoic and business-like, "very well, Asger, here is my proposal."

She cleared her throat and began speaking.

"I cannot and will not go into too much detail, but your job will be two-fold."

Asger raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and Luna continued.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the Elements of Harmony, yes?"

He nodded with a smirk, "Sure they're the ones that took you down when you came back from the moon throwing a thousand year old temper tantr-"

*snap*

"AARGH! PLUCK ME FEATHERLESS!"

Asger fell to the ground, nursing his broken right foreleg.

"This is my first and only warning, fledgling," Luna intoned coldly as the dark blue glow of her horn died down, "watch thy tongue, lest I decide to tear it from thine mouth."

Asger nodded jerkily as he hissed in pain.

"Good. Now, as I was saying," Luna continued, "About three months ago, it was revealed to me that the Crystal Empire was to make it's return to the Frozen North after a thousand years. My sister does not know this as of yet and will not find out for another week or so."

"A-and where do I fit in?" Asger asked through grit teeth.

"I'm getting there, whelp. Patience," Luna responded with a sneer, "The Crystal Empire will appear in four days time. Once it has arisen, there will be a tower - the tallest one in the Crystal Palace. At the very top of that tower lies an artifact known as the Crystal Heart. 

"As I said before, you're task is two-fold.  The first task you will accomplish - and you will accomplish it - is to reach the Frozen North just as it appears, and steal the Crystal Heart. The entrance to the Tower is under the throne and requires dark magic to access, however you need only fly to the tower itself and make your way up. Do you understand?"

Asger nodded.

"Good."

*snap*

"GAH! FLOCKING TARTARUS, LADY!"

The pain in Asger's foreleg spiked for a brief moment before vanishing completely. He blinked in surprise and stood back up, examining his now realigned foreleg.

"Once you have the Heart, stay hidden," Luna continued, "there is no need to contact me. When you have succeeded, I will find you and take care of the rest."

"And if my cover is blown?" Asger asked rubbing his foreleg. 

Luna was silent for a moment, before speaking once again.

"Kill the witness and hide the body, although if you are quick, it should not have to come to that."

"Right," he responded with a resigned sigh, "and what's my second task, Princess?"

"That," answered Luna, "is where the Elements of Harmony come into play and has a lot more to do with my little project."

She trotted over to the table where Base Pair had been. The stallion  himself had moved away from the two and was conversing with another scientist, scroll held in his magic and quill scribbling furiously. 

"You see, Dr. Pair and I have prepared a-" she gave a stray flicker of the ear as she idly examined a few scrolls Base Pair had left on the table "-a gift for the six mares. Something they might find surprising, but I am sure they will come to enjoy... in time. 

"Unfortunately, Base Pair has informed me that it will take quite some time for them to fully adjust to the rather... life-changing experience that the gift in question will cause - several years in fact."

"And you want me to... what? Deliver this gift?" Asger guessed with a raise of his eyebrow. Luna shook her head in response.

"Not quite. For you, I have a different task - one far more dangerous," she turned back around to face the griffon, "before I tell you what that task is though, let me tell you what's in store for you should you successfully carry out both tasks."

Asger perked up at that.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere." he exclaimed, a greedy grin spreading across his beak.

Luna scoffed and turned away briefly.

"Griffons," she muttered, grimacing in disgust, "your bottomless avarice sickens me to no end."

She turned back to Asger, speaking so he could hear, "Upon the completion of your first task, you will be given a sum of eight hundred thousand bits from my personal treasury to do with as you see fit."

Asger gawked at the mare.

Well, pluck me if that isn't the best reward I've ever been offered. I'd literally never have to work another day in my life.

"Your second reward will actually be less about you and more of a... let us say it will be more of a side effect of some mutually beneficial changes that will be taking place soon."

That piqued the griffon's interest. 

"Changes, Your Highness?" he asked with an inquisitive raise of his brow.

Luna snorted in annoyance, "The only change that will matter to you, is the lifting of the ban on your little operation."

Asger's eyes widened in shock as the pieces suddenly fell into place.

"Oh. Oh wow," he let out a bark of laughter, "Princess, are... are you actually trying to stage a coup against your sister, again? After what happened last time?"

Luna said nothing, looking almost unsure of how to proceed. She gave a few errant flicks of her ear and nodded slowly after a moment.

"Indeed," she finally answered, "though it will not be the same as it once was. I have an... ally to assist in my endeavors." 

"Oh?" Asger asked smirking in amusement, "and just who is this mysterious ally, Prin - hrk!"

"THAT IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN, FOOL! NOW BE SILENT AND LISTEN!"

Luna dispelled the telekinetic aura holding Asger aloft and he dropped to the ground unceremoniously, coughing and sputtering.

Luna turned away, paying no mind to his discomfort.

"The Elements of Harmony will most likely arrive at the Crystal Empire a few days after you do. My sister will no doubt try to have them find and protect the Crystal Heart, which you will have already stolen. Once they fail in their task I will offer them their gift and direct them to a secret research facility within the Griffonian Empire. 

"Once they've accepted their gift, they will be indisposed for the next several years," She turned to glance at Asger out of the corner of her eye, "When they inevitably awaken, they will find themselves lost and confused. They may even experience some loss of memory.

"It is at this time that I will call upon you and your mercenary guild, once again."

"Why would you have need of my guild?" Asger asked, brow furrowed in bemusement, "it's starting to sound like you want me to do a simple retrieval job. 'Get the mares out of the facility and bring them to you.'"

"Mr. Storm Feather," Luna replied with a frown, "if you do not bring your mercenaries with you, you will most likely not survive," she shook her head, "Honestly, I have little faith that you will succeed even with all of your forces behind you. I already have... other plans in place should you fail."

Asger raised his eyebrow skeptically and began to make a retort, when Luna cut him off.

"That is all I will say on that matter," she said sharply, "once the Elements are moved into the griffon research facility, I will station some of my elite soldiers and researchers there as well - there is no need to worry about the diplomatic ramifications," she added at Asger's look of alarm, "My ally and I have already worked something out with your Emperor. 

"All you need to worry about is retrieving the Elements of Harmony when the time comes. That should be all," she looked at Asger expectantly, "do you have any questions?"

Asger mulled over everything he had been told so far.

The first job should be simple. Fly up, get the Crystal, don't get caught before the Princess shows up. Easy money. That second job is more iffy, but I don't really have a choice in the matter with her dangling my illegal activities over my head.

He swept his gaze around the lab contemplatively.

All this going on right under the Sun Princess' muzzle... I guess even if Luna doesn't succeed in taking over Equestria, I'll still get my bits. And that also means I might not have to risk mine or my flock's lives. But still, these plans are ambitious - too ambitious... and I know all about ambition.

He looked back at the Lunar Princess with a questioning frown.

"I just have a few questions, Princess."

Luna nodded, prompting him to continue.

"Your plans - all of this-" he gestured to the entirety of the lab "-how are you planning on keeping all of this under wraps until you're ready to overthrow your sister? Forgive me for saying so, but this all seems... overly ambitious," he cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, "and when she inevitably does find out, who's to say she won't completely trounce you and your ally? Are they really that powerful? Can you trust them not to stab you in the back?"

To his surprise, Luna merely chuckled in response.

"Asger, I have been planning this for over two months now and I can guarantee you, my sister is none the wiser. And as for your other questions..." the amused smile fell from her face and she looked off to the side with a grim frown, an ear twitching absently.

"You leave that to me."
> Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash threw herself to the side, dodging another rocket that exploded behind her as it impacted the railing of the bridge. She hit the ground rolling and leapt high into the air the moment her hooves touched the ground. Quickly scoping out the scene from her high vantage point, she spotted a pegasus with their wingblades extended making a beeline for her currently catatonic lavender friend.

She cursed and lashed out with one of her whip scythes as she fell back to the ground. She managed to catch the pegasus' wing on her way down, cleaving the appendage from the screaming pony's body. Ignoring the crippled pegasus for now, Rainbow literally hit the ground running, slicing into and impaling griffons and ponies alike with her whips as she sped by.

If there was one thing Rainbow Dash had come to love about her virus infested body, and had taken full advantage of, it was her enhanced speed and agility.

Whether she was on the ground or in the air, she was able to leap out of the way of, duck, or otherwise sidestep bullets, blades, and spellfire with relative ease. Explosives were a little more difficult, but she managed well enough.

She had also consumed a griffon and had learned about the new weapons through his memories.

Memories.

That was one of the biggest mysteries about the virus in Rainbow's opinion. When she had first consumed that egghead pony back when she woke up, it had been a nightmare. She still trembled just thinking about it. After that experience she had ignored that nagging desire to consume, leaving the bodies of those she had slain where they were.

That had changed when she had disarmed a griffon, only to receive a claw through the throat for her troubles. Rainbow had panicked and let her drive to consume take over, wrapping the hapless griffon in countless tendrils as he was pulled into her body. 

Her first consumption had been like watching a movie in her head. This consumption had been quick and painless. There was no movie-like sensation. There were only a few flashes - all of which lasted about a second. Once the flashes ended the knowledge remained and that was that. She had even picked up a few griffon combat techniques. In short...

Rainbow Dash could indeed steal skills.

To add to that, she had come out of the encounter no worse for wear.

As she passed through the group of soldiers, she reverted the whips back into her original cyan wings and took off into the air once again. She sped towards an unsuspecting griffon that was taking aim at Twilight and slammed into him, pinning him to the side of the main building with a tendril formed hoofblade.

The instant she was sure he wouldn't be a threat, she pulled her hoof free and was off searching for the next pony or griffon trying to attack Twilight. She saw two more griffons with rifles and a unicorn with an arcane staff closing in on the helpless lavender mare.

Flying just overhead, Rainbow made some quick calculations as she observed the situation.

Twilight's still near the center of the bridge.

Two airborne griffons to the left a few yards away - one is primed and ready to fire, the other still loading.

Unicorn battle mage with an arcane staff standing directly opposite Twilight a few yards away - still charging his spellfire.

Making a decision, she pulled a hoof back and aimed it towards the griffon preparing to fire at Twilight. Tendrils enveloped her hoof and she slammed it forward, piercing into and through the griffons head with an elongated blackened spear. The sudden attack from behind caused the second griffon to turn in her direction and Rainbow Dash wasted no time.

Retracting her spear, she made a beeline for the stunned griffon, stabbing through his chest with another conjured hoofblade. Holding onto the screaming griffon she cast a quick glance at the unicorn below just in time to see the giant fireball fly from the staff and straight at Twilight.

Rainbow yanked her blade out of the griffon and, with a grunt of effort, she flung the griffon's body into the path of the oncoming fireball.

The body exploded on impact just as Rainbow Dash slammed her entire body weight down onto the unicorn from above.

"Euugh, gross!" Rainbow whined as she shook the gore off of her hooves. Apparently she was heavier than she remembered. 

A lot heavier.

She sighed and was about to take stock of the situation, when the door to the annex building burst open to reveal more security ponies and griffons mercs.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow Dash cried, throwing her hooves up in exasperation. Thinking quickly, she looked from the soldiers to the two buildings on either side of the bridge. Looking up, she saw a ledge jutting out from the main building far above the skyway. Her eyes lit up as an idea formed.

Time to try something else.

She bent her legs, spread her wings and rocketed into the air once again, this time flipping herself upside down so that she hit the bottom of the ledge hooves first.

Countless miniscule tendrils formed on the bottom of her hooves, hooking her to the bottom of the ledge. Taking half a second to determine her trajectory, she crouched closer to the ledge, tendrils coiling around her legs like springs. 

After a moment she shot herself downward slamming into the skyway a split second later. The force of the impact caused a shockwave that sent every pony and griffon that wasn't already in the air, flying either off the skyway or into one of the buildings on either side.

The shockwave had also sent Twilight flying but Rainbow Dash was already back in the air, ready to grab her friend. She managed to grab ahold of her but couldn't stop the momentum, so she did the next best thing. She held Twilight close, spinning around and lining herself up with the wall.

She clenched her eyes shut, grit her teeth, and braced herself.

I hope this doesn't hurt...

She hit the wall with the force of a cannonball, cracking the cement wall behind her.

It didn't hurt.

She slowly opened one eye, then both as she glanced at Twilight, making sure she was okay. Thankfully she looked as undamaged as before. She gave a small smile and struggled to move without dropping her near comatose friend.

As she pulled herself out of the wall and gently floated back down to the skyway, she came to a sudden realization.

She had noticed that regular attacks - while painful to a certain degree - didn't have any real lasting effect on her but the fact that Twilight probably would've have been just as resilient, even in her current  state, hadn't even crossed her mind.

She would've facehoofed if she wasn't carrying Twilight.

I watched her take a knife to the face and get back up like nothing happened for Celestia's sake! 

Once she had dropped back to the ground, she set Twilight down on her side, looking over her still form with a worried frown.

Was I this out of it the first time I ate that guy?

She swept her gaze over the bridge and blinked in surprise when she noticed all the remaining ponies and griffons she hadn't taken out were gone.

What the buck? Where did they-

"Uuugh..." 

Rainbow Dash snapped her head back to Twilight and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her normal amethyst eyes blink back into focus.

And no creepy black eyes, thank Celestia.

"It's about bucking time you woke up, egghead," Rainbow teased with her signature smirk, "you missed out on all the good stuff!"





Twilight groaned, as she slowly rose to her hooves.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight croaked, rubbing her head with a hoof, "what was I-"

Her eyes widened as the memory settled itself into her mind like a lead weight.

"Luna... she..." Twilight choked out a sob and Rainbow's smirk dropped into a worried frown.

"Twi? What happened? What did you-"

"It was Luna, Rainbow Dash!" she cried, "she did this! She brought us here - turned us into monsters! All so she could... I don't know! Was this part of her plan to overthrow Celestia all along? I don't... I can't-"

"Whoa, whoa, Twilight!" Rainbow cried in alarm, "slow down! What the hay are you talking about?"

Before Twilight could answer, they both heard a low, ominous rumbling that seemed to grow louder and louder by the second.

"Hey, Twi," Rainbow muttered as she looked around nervously, "I don't like the sound of that..."

Snapped out of her panic attack by the sudden noise, Twilight scanned the skyway, her ears twitching as she tried to pinpoint the source.

"I think..." she began. Her eyes widened and she ran to one side of the bridge, "I think it's coming from below!"

Rainbow Dash followed behind Twilight and together they both peered over the railing.

Their mouths dropped open in shock and they slowly backed away as a massive airship slowly rose above the skyway. As it got closer, The low rumble became a deafening roar and the air around them seemed to vibrate as it made it's ascent.

"Sweet Celestia..." Twilight whispered in awe.

"So... awesome..." Rainbow nearly squealed, her eyes shining like a foal's on Hearth's Warming.

To say that the airship was big would've been like saying Pinkie had a passing affection for parties. The dark blue, metal coated envelope was big enough to fit three or four Canterlot castles inside and had Luna's cutie mark etched into the tail fin. The gondola was about half as big and was made of some kind of ebony metal that Twilight didn't recognize.

Alongside the hull of the gondola they could see several evenly spaced square slots containing large cannons. And the two viral mares were close enough to the airship to see that each and every cannon was aimed in their direction.

The awe and amazement were wiped away in an instant.

"OH, HORSEAPPLES!" Rainbow cried, eyes wide with panic. 

"RUN!" Twilight screamed in response.

They both booked it to the annex building just as the airship fired it's salvo, the cannon's rounds tearing sizable chunks out of the skyway. They could feel the ground begin to shake underneath them and poured on the speed as they heard a loud, deep creaking sound. 

Twilight visibly paled.

"Rainbow Dash!" she called out as they narrowly avoided another round of cannon fire, "the bridge can't take much more! It's going to collapse!"

Rainbow looked back behind her and saw that giant cracks were beginning to form in the bridge's foundation. She turned back to Twilight and opened her mouth to respond, when a stallion's voice cried out ahead of them.

"TWILIGHT! RAINBOW DASH! GET INSIDE, QUICKLY!"

The two turned their attention to the open doors of the annex building, where a dark blue stallion stood urgently ushering them inside.

"What the-" Twilight started to ask. She yelped in surprise as a pair of cyan hooves wrapped around her barrel and hoisted her into the air.

"No time to question it!" Rainbow yelled, "hang on!"

She gave a mighty flap of her wings and took off like a bullet, flying low to the ground and headed straight for the wide eyed stallion. The dark blue earth pony cried out and quickly leapt to the side as Rainbow Dash blurred past the entrance. No sooner had she flown into the building than they heard a terrible cacophony of crumbling concrete and twisting metal as the skyway complete collapsed just outside.

Twilight's shout of alarm was cut off as she and Rainbow Dash slammed face first into the wall of the rounded hallway inside the annex building.

"Oh my, goodness!" The stallion cried as he galloped over to the dazed mares. Twilight groaned as she picked herself up off the ground, rubbing her muzzle. Rainbow Dash had managed to embed herself halfway into the wall and was trying to pull herself out, grunting in frustration.

"Are you okay, dears?" the stallion asked worriedly, "here, allow me." He grabbed ahold of Rainbow Dash's hind legs and heaved. Rainbow yelped as she was yanked out of the wall and fell flat on her back. 

Shaking off the last of her disorientation, Twilight turned to the stallion to offer her thanks, but stopped. She narrowed her eyes and rubbed her chin in thought.

"Where have I seen you before?" she muttered, then her eyes widened in sudden recognition, "wait, you're the pony who gave Asger the scroll!"

Rainbow Dash, who had gotten back to her hooves, looked at Twilight in confusion and then turned to the stallion in question.

"Oh, yeah," she said after a moment. She scrunched up her face, "what'd that griffon call you again? Midnight Runner?"

"Midnight Rider," Twilight corrected.

The dark blue stallion gave them a bemused look.

"Darling, what are you... oh!" he looked down at himself and back to the other two with a sheepish smile, "I'm terribly sorry, girls, just give me a moment."

To Twilight and Rainbow's utter shock, the stallion was suddenly enveloped in writhing black tendrils and after a few seconds they stood before a snow white unicorn mare with an elegantly curled, deep violet mane.

"Oh, that's much better," she exclaimed with a sigh of relief as she batted her mane out of her eyes, "Now then - eep!" Before she could say anything further she found herself stumbling backwards as she was embraced on either side by Rainbow and Twilight.

"RARITY!" they both exclaimed simultaneously. There were was a small fit of relieved laughter and before each of them pulled back.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Rarity," Twilight said with a small smile.

"Likewise, dears," Rarity responded, "when I saw the two of you out there with all those... those... ruffians, I nearly fainted from the stress!" 

"Yeah, about that," Rainbow asked raising an eyebrow, "why were you with those guys anyway? And how'd you change like that?"

"Oh, believe me, darling," Rarity replied looking over her shoulder distractedly, "I'd simply love to tell you all about it, but I'm afraid that little tale will have to remain untold for now."

"What do you..." Twilight began to ask, but then she stopped and cocked her head, ear twitching. On the edge of her hearing she could just make out the distant sounds of a battle being fought somewhere.

And it sounded like it was getting closer.

"What's going on over... wherever that's coming from?" Rainbow Dash asked having heard the commotion.

"That," Rarity responded worriedly, "is most likely the sound of Applejack's little distraction coming to an end."

"AJ's here!?" Rainbow cried.

"You found Applejack?" Twilight asked at the same time. 

Rarity nodded, "Indeed I did. Well," she amended, "it would be more accurate to say she found me, but - gah! Rainbow Dash!"

Rarity was shoved aside as Rainbow darted down the hallway towards the sounds of battle.

"Sorry, Rares," Rainbow Dash called back, "but I gotta go help Applejack!"

With that, she disappear around the bend.

"Honestly," Rarity huffed, staring in the direction Rainbow went with a furrowed brow, "that mare..."

Twilight shook her head and turned to Rarity frowning, "We should hurry and help Rainbow and Applejack take care of that," she looked further down the hallway contemplatively, "Rainbow Dash isn't showing it, but she's really worried about Fluttershy," she looked back at Rarity, "and I'm worried about Pinkie. You know how... sensitive she can be."

Rarity shivered, "Don't remind me," she muttered, then turned to Twilight, "although I suppose you're right. I'd rather avoid all this wanton violence, but Applejack and I haven't found dear Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie yet."

Twilight nodded, "And we have a lot to talk about," she looked away, a grimace crossing her face, "Rainbow and I found out some very unpleasant things, Rarity."

Twilight looked up when she felt a hoof settle against her withers. Rarity looked at her with a sad, knowing smile.

"I assure you, Twilight, it... hasn't been pleasant for Applejack or myself either."

They each stood there for a few moments, ruminating on past events before Twilight spoke up, her face hardened with sudden determination.

"Rarity, we're going to get out of here, and the first thing we're going to do is find Pri... find Celestia. If anypony can tell us more about what's happened in Equestria since we've been... indisposed, it'll be her. But first, let's help the rest of our friends."

Rarity opened her mouth - several questions dancing on the end of her tongue - but then closed it and nodded. Together they both turned and galloped down the hallway after Rainbow Dash.
> Temptation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Rarity galloped around another bend and came across a stairway leading further down the annex. As they made their descent, the shouts and cries of ponies and griffons became more pronounced. Twilight looked over to Rarity with a worried frown.

"Rarity," she asked as they continued their pace, "can you and Applejack fight using the virus? Rainbow Dash seems to have gotten the hang of it somewhat, but-"

"Oh, you need not worry about me, darling," Rarity interjected. She gave Twilight an odd grin that spoke of both confidence and bemusement, "as it turns out, Applejack and I have very... similar ways of handling violent situations."

Curious, Twilight was about to ask her to elaborate when Rarity spoke.

"What of yourself, dear?" she reciprocated, "can you hold your own against these brutes?"

Twilight bit her lip and looked away for a moment.

"I... think so..." she said slowly, "something... happened to me back at the bridge. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I do think it might've had something to do with the virus - some kind of... side effect, looking back on it."

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked with a mix of intrigue and confusion.

Twilight looked ahead, seemingly lost in the memory as she answered.

"When we were out there talking to Asger, he mentioned some very distressing things - things that set me on edge. Most of the time, the things he said just raised more questions and he was frustratingly vague," she was silent for a moment before speaking again, "I think I just... snapped under the stress. I wanted answers and I wasn't getting them, so I..."

Twilight trailed off, hesitant to continue.

"You what, darling?" Rarity prompted, "go on, you can tell me."

Twilight's pace slowed to a trot as she swallowed and turned to Rarity.

"If he wasn't willing to give me the answers, I was going to take them," she stared at the floor in shame, "I... I killed him and consumed the corpse to gain his memories."

Rarity gave her melancholy friend a smile of understanding.

"Twilight, I believe that, at this point, we've all done something we regret. That... disguise you and Rainbow Dash found me wearing? I was only able to do that after... well... after doing the same thing you did-"

"But did you enjoy it?" Twilight shot back, eyeing Rarity with an intense gaze, "Did you revel in the act? Try to draw it out? Treat it like some kind of sadistic game? Like his life was some kind of tool or... or toy made only for your amusement? Because that's exactly how I felt and what I did, Rarity."

Rarity stopped and stared at Twilight, mouth slightly agape, but Twilight didn't notice as she looked away in a random direction - her eyes distant. 

"It was... well, I'm not going to lie to you, Rarity," she looked back at the white mare with a hint of... something in her eyes, "it was incredible. All my fear, all the stress and anger... gone. I felt powerful - like I could do anything. Like I was twelve steps ahead of my opponent and there was nothing they could do about it. Like a fog that I didn't even know was there had been lifted from my mind and everything was suddenly clear to me."

"Well, I... I must admit," Rarity responded after a few moments, "I never felt anything quite like that during my experience..." She cast a wary glance at Twilight, "but... if you'll forgive me for saying so, Twilight... it almost sounds like you're hoping it'll happen again."

"I am, Rarity," Twilight responded without hesitation. She stared straight ahead, her face unreadable, "I very, very badly want to feel that way again. I want to feel that power again... and that scares me to death."

Without looking back, she began trotting forward once again. Rarity looked on for a moment before following behind her lavender friend.





Oh, don't ya worry none, Rares, Applejack thought bitterly as her black shield weathered another blast of spellfire, ah could buck a hundred o' these varmints into next week!

"Me an' mah big mouth," she muttered as her shield dissolved into a mass of tendrils that shrunk down into the shape of a brown Stetson that she replaced on her head.

She rose up onto her hind legs and a black tar-like substance seeped through the fur on her each of her limbs. She slammed her fore legs back on the ground, cracking the floor as the black substance hardened into large, black and red hoof gauntlets that covered all four of her legs.

She swept her eyes across the large dining hall, taking note of the remaining forces. From what she could see, there were only a few remaining unicorn battle mages and a single griffon mercenary left.

"Ha!" she yelled out with a triumphant grin, "finally got ya'll down to a manageable size!"

"Manage this, freak!"

Applejack grunted as she felt the sharp edge of a broadsword bite into her neck. The griffon that had dealt the blow gave her a savage grin that quickly turned a look of horror as the  blade slowed to a stop partway through her skin. Applejack, for her part, didn't even turn to look at the griffon as black tendrils began to swarm the sword, drawing it deeper into her body.

The griffon squawked in surprise and leapt away from the sword just as the hilt disappeared beneath the soft orange fur of Applejack's neck.

It was only then that Applejack turned to face the griffon, her eyebrow raised.

"Ya finished?"

The griffon said nothing as he continued to gape at the cowpony.

"Thought so."

With that, she turned and kicked out with her hind legs, smashing into the griffon. There was a sickening crunch as Applejack's hooves connected with the body and that was quickly followed by an equally sickening splat as the body hit a wall. 

She turned to the rest of the group and lowered her head, snorting and pawing at the ground. Each scrape of her hoof cut deep furrows into the tile. 

"Anypony else wanna go at this here rodeo?"

A few of the ponies backed away, hesitant to continue the assault. One pony nervously glanced around the room, taking in the destruction the orange mare had almost single-hoofedly wrought. 

Large metal tables and benches lay smashed and crumpled against the walls. The walls and floor themselves were covered in craters of various sizes from the heavy impacts of her hooves and the bodies of ponies and griffons alike. 

And the bodies were numerous.

They had tracked her down in this dining hall and had ambushed her with no less than a squad of twenty elite Storm Feather mercenaries and fifteen of Queen Luna's finest Royal Guards. Now they were down to three unicorn battle mages.

Many of the craters were smeared with the blood of the ponies and griffons Applejack had smashed into the floor and walls. So it was that the last few ponies found themselves rather unwilling to continue what was starting to look like a pointless battle against a mare that may as well have crawled out of the deepest pits of Tartarus.

Not all of the damaged had been caused by the stetson wearing demon, however. The pony shuddered to think how much worse it could've been if that white unicorn mare had stayed.

The ponies flinched as Applejack smashed an impatient hoof against the ground.

"Come on ya buncha cowards!" she shouted in defiance, "I ain't even broken a sweat!"

Applejack whipped her head in the direction of the double doors across the room as they suddenly burst open. She grimaced as several more soldiers poured in through the doorway.

Aw, horsefeathers... she shook her head and let out a wry chuckle, Ah guess ah asked fer that.

She cracked her neck and crouched low, preparing to charge into the fray once again.

"Welp," Applejack muttered with a resolute frown, "ah told Rarity ah was gonna hold the line and that's exactly what ah'm gonna do."

She started to gallop forward only to yelp and stumble to a stop as a rainbow colored blur shot past her and slammed into the throng of guardsponies and griffon mercs, sending a majority of them flying every which way.

Applejack stared open mouthed as soldiers were sliced, stabbed, and smashed in a chaotic blur of black whips, scythes and hooves. 

Her shock quickly turned to relief and outright joy at seeing her cyan friend and rival again - despite the rather violent circumstances.

Well I'll be darned, she thought with a small chuckle, if that ain't a big ol' boost ta morale, I don't know what is.

"Hold on there, Rainbow!" she called out as she adjusted her hat and galloped into the fight, "I ain't ready ta call it quits just 'cause you showed up!"





"So if you had already been discovered, why were you still disguised when we found you?" Twilight asked as she and Rarity entered another hallway.

"Well," Rarity answered, "I thought it'd be better to err on the side of caution. I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself, so I changed back into Midnight Rider after I had made my escape."

Twilight nodded, "Seems like a logical decision."

"Indeed," Rarity agreed.

They settled into a companionable silence as they trotted along. That is, until Twilight slowed to a stop - her eyes narrowed.

"Rarity," she whispered, "do you hear that?"

Rarity stopped alongside Twilight and listened, frowning in confusion.

"I don't hear a thing, darling," she replied, turning to Twilight.

"Exactly," Twilight responded with a nod, "what happened to all that noise we heard earlier? On top of that, shouldn't we have reached Applejack and Rainbow Dash by now?"

Rarity blinked and looked around the hallway.

"Well, I..." she began, her face unsure, "I was sure this was the way we came..."

"We're lost," Twilight stated, giving Rarity a flat look, "Rarity, please tell me you're joking."

"I apologize, darling," Rarity replied, grinning sheepishly, "It seems I was so caught up in our conversation that I... neglected to properly lead us to our destination."

"Fantastic," Twilight muttered with a sigh of exasperation, "I'm lost in a maze of hallways... again."

She began trotting forward once again and Rarity followed close behind, trying to give her friend an encouraging smile.

"Oh, come now, dear," she said in a chipper tone, "I'm sure Applejack can handle herself until we get there - especially with Rainbow Dash lending a helping hoof," she trotted next to Twilight, "we just have to retrace our steps and I'm sure we'll-"

"...careful with that, you moron! If we damage the goods, Asger's gonna tan our hides!"

Twilight and Rarity froze.

They turned to each other in mutual surprise and hurried to the end of the hall, stopping just short of another intersection. Peering around the corner to their right, they could see two griffons in maroon armor further down the hall. Between the two of them was, what looked to Twilight, like a large metal cage on a platform trolley.

Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other in bemusement before turning back to the two griffons, who were now slowly but surely making their way closer to the two hidden mares. As the griffons drew closer, Twilight got a better look at the object within the cage. Her eyes widened in shock as she made out the prone and unconscious yellow form of-

"Fluttersmmph!"

Twilight clapped a hoof over Rarity's mouth and quickly pushed her further back in the direction they had come from. They turned another corner and Twilight pressed herself against the wall, motioning for Rarity to do the same.

"Hey, did you hear that?" they heard one of the griffons ask as they passed their hiding spot.

"Nope," the other griffon answered in a bored tone, "only thing I can hear is this blasted trolley. Seriously, this thing needs to be oiled, badly. Can hardly hear myself think..."

"Ah, quit your whining. It ain't our equipment so just deal with..."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as the two griffons passed them by and continued on their way.

"Twilight," Rarity asked in confusion, "pardon my bluntness but, why are we hiding from those two? Now you know I'm not one to condone such brash and violent action normally, but..." she looked worriedly in the direction the mercenaries had gone, then back to Twilight, "why don't we simply dispose of them and rescue dear Fluttershy?"

Twilight said nothing for a moment, biting her lip and staring at the floor with a conflicted expression.

She's right, with the abilities this virus has given us, it would be foal's play to simply just wipe them out and grab Fluttershy...


It would be so easy.


Especially if I could just-


She shivered violently, beating back the thought with every ounce of will she could muster. She became aware of Rarity calling her name in a near panic.

"Twilight!" she cried, "are you okay, dear?"

Twilight shook away the last of her dark thoughts and gave Rarity what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine Rarity," she lied, "just... thinking is all."

Rarity looked unconvinced, but conceded all the same.

"Well... if you're sure, darling..."

"I'm okay, Rarity," Twilight replied, this time managing a more genuine smile, "trust me."

Rarity scrutinized her lavender friend, giving her a long, hard look. She knew there was something... off about Twilight, especially after what she had heard earlier about her little... episode, back on the skyway. She tried not to dwell on it - and was sure Twilight was trying to do the same - but just now, for a brief moment, she felt like the temperature in the hall had dropped several degrees.

And she had a strong feeling Twilight was the cause.

Before she could dwell on the matter further, Twilight spoke up.

"So, to answer your question, Rarity," she said, looking down the hall, "we're not going to attack the griffons because we don't have to."

"What do you mean, dear?" Rarity asked in bemusement.

Twilight turned back to Rarity with a sly grin.

"How exactly does your shapeshifting work?"
> Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy's eyes snapped open and she coughed violently. She didn't notice her butter yellow coat blacken and distort briefly as she weakly tried to rise to her hooves.

"Hey, Folkar, the pegasus is awake," the griffon pushing the trolley said blandly. Folkar turned his attention to the cage - or rather the mare within - and smirked. 

"Rise and shine, freak!" he greeted in a mockingly jovial tone, "did you have a good nap?"

Fluttershy merely groaned in response, still disoriented from her sudden transition into consciousness.

"Wh-where am I?" she croaked, "what... happened to-" she erupted into another brief fit of coughing and Folkar chuckled.

"Not feelin' so hot, I take it?" he asked, smirk still in place, "sorry, sunshine. Don't know what they did to you in this place so I can't do nothin' about it."

Fluttershy blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. Once she could see again, she took in her immediate surroundings. When her eyes fell upon the two griffons she cried out and tried to backpedal, only to hit a wall of cold metal bars. She turned her panicked gaze from the bars of her cage to the smirking griffon in front of her.

She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but all that came out was a barely audible squeak of terror.

"I think you're scarin' her, Folks," the trolley pushing griffon idly commented in that same bland voice.

"Ah, can it, Peik!" Folkar snapped, "and I told you not to call me that!"

Peik merely shrugged and continued to push the cart.

"Anyway," Folkar began, turning back to the pegasus mare, "I'm sure you got a lot of questions, freak, but I ain't the griffon that's got the answers. Since I ain't got the answers..." the griffon lowered his head so that he was inches from Fluttershy's face, "there ain't no need to ask a bunch of questions. So you just be a good little abomination and stay quiet until we get to the boss... got it?"

Fluttershy shrank back in her cage and didn't respond. This seemed to pacify Folkar who grunted in satisfaction and straightened up. They continued down the hallway in silence while Fluttershy sat in her mobile prison scared, confused, and alone.

What happened to me? Where are my friends? she thought morosely, Who are these griffons and why did they put me in a cage? Why does that one griffon keep calling me a freak? 

She took another timid glance around her, trying to find anything familiar in her terrible situation. Her light blue eyes swept across the stark white hallways and settled on an intersection further behind them.

She blinked in surprise as she saw a flash of violet disappear around the corner.

What was that? I could've sworn...

She was jolted out of her thoughts as the trolley suddenly rolled to a stop.

Turning around, she could see that the two griffons had come to a stop in front of a single gray door - featureless save for a single handle and a lock.

"Alright, Peik," Folkar said, eyeing the door, "gimme the key."

Fluttershy turned to the griffon in question as he blinked slowly. He reached into the leather behind his maroon armor and after a moment, his bored expression turned to one of confusion and slight nervousness.

"Peik, c'mon," Folkar said impatiently, "what's the holdup? Gimme the key."

"Uh... yeah... Folks?" Peik asked hesitantly.

"What?" Folkar growled whipping his head around, "Don't tell me you..." he trailed off as he saw the sheepish grin on Peik's face.

Folkar blinked and slowly brought a claw to his face, letting out an explosive exhale through his nostrils.

"You lost the key," he stated flatly, rubbing the claw across his face and scowling at Peik, "you had two jobs, Peik. Two very easy jobs. Push the trolley, and don't lose the key." 

"Look, Folks-"

"Don't call me that!" Folkar snapped.

"Alright, alright," Peik conceded, waving his claws defensively, "look, Folkar, I can fix this. I'm pretty sure I left the key back in the barracks. I just have to go back and get it."

Folkar stared at Peik for a full minute.

"So... let me get this straight," he said slowly, not breaking eye contact with Peik, "you left the boss' key in the barracks?"

Peik nodded.

"The barracks inside the airship?"

Another nod.

"And you expect us to walk all the way back through these halls to the landing zone just outside the facility after it took us an hour of walking to get where we are?"

Peik opened his mouth to answer, but then hesitated and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, I mean... when you put it that way..." he muttered.

As Folkar verbally tore into the incompetent griffon, Fluttershy looked back and forth between the two worriedly. They may have captured her for unknown reasons and called her a freak, but the confrontation between the two still bothered her and she couldn't deny her desire to help resolve the issue.

She was working up the courage to do just that, when she felt something strange. It was as though a sudden pulse ran through her entire body.

Her eyes widened and she looked around in confusion.

She felt the pulse course through her body again, invasive and carrying an odd sense of familiarity. She turned her gaze to the hallway opposite the door just in time to see a large black and gray griffon and a smaller dark blue stallion round the corner. 

The griffon practically oozed arrogance and the stallion next to him was clearly nervous about something. Fluttershy had never seen these two before... and yet...

I know them, she thought, eyebrows raised in bemusement, I don't know how, but... I feel like I've known them for a long time.

The situation left Fluttershy utterly confused, but behind all the confusion she felt a growing sense of hope and relief. She didn't know what it was, but she could tell something good was going to happen soon.

And it had something to do with these two.





"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, darling," Midnight Rider muttered under his breath.

"I've got this, Rarity, trust me," Asger whispered back, his voice rough as gravel despite the quiet tone.

The two turned a corner and came across two bickering griffons standing in front of a doorway and a yellow pegasus mare trapped in a cage. While the two griffons hadn't noticed Asger and Midnight's sudden arrival, the mare seemed to be staring directly at them - almost as if she was expecting them to show up.

Asger's eyebrows raised slightly at the somewhat confused look of recognition on the mare's face, but he quickly set his expression to one of utter disdain. He cleared his throat, catching the attention of the two griffons who eyed him nervously.

"Mind telling me what you two glorified doorstops are doing here?"

"H-Hey boss," Folkar answered chuckling nervously, "it's like this, we were actually on our way to see you," he gestured to the cage, "we got the goods and we were gonna meet you at this here office like you told us."

Asger gave the cage - and the pony in it - a quick glance. The pegasus mare just continued to stare at Asger curiously - almost expectantly even. Asger took note of this, but didn't say anything about it and opted to return his attention to Folkar, "I see..."

"Yeah, everything was going real smooth... that is, until I found out this nitwit" - Peik squawked as he was smacked upside the head - "left the key you gave him on the Nightfall."

The Nightfall? Asger thought in confusion, ah, judging by the context he must be talking about the airship Rainbow and I saw earlier.

"Yeah, boss... real sorry about that," Peik added, rubbing the back of his head and glaring at Folkar.

"So as you can see," Folkar continued, turning back to Asger with a sheepish grin, "we were kinda stuck here until you showed up."

"Well I'm here now," Asger responded, gazing down at the two griffons imperiously, "so I guess that means your job's done doesn't it?"

"Yeah... yeah, I guess it does. But uh..." Folkar looked at the cage and back to Asger with a raised eyebrow, "you sure you don't need any help with this boss? I mean from what you told us, this thing could be trouble."

"Don't worry about me, peon," Asger responded, injecting as much contempt into his voice as he could, "I'm perfectly capable of handling this much myself... or did you forget who the leader of this guild was?" he finished, glaring down at the two. 

"Nonono we got it, boss," Folkar answered, waving his claws defensively, "you're the top griffon around here, we just do the grunt work."

"Good, that's what I pay you for," Asger said, nodding in satisfaction.

"But you don't pay - awk!"

Peik stumbled forward slightly as he was smacked again.

"Can it, Peik," Folkar hissed, leering at Peik dangerously. 

He turned back to Asger with a nervous smile, "Well it, uh... seems like you got everything under control here, boss-" he began shoving Peik down the hall past Asger "-we'll just... make ourselves scarce, yeah?"

"You do that," Asger nodded without a glance back at the two.

"But, Folks, shouldn't we tell the boss about the-"

Peik squawked again as he received another, harder smack to the head.

"One more time, Peik," Folkar growled as they made their way further down the hall, "one more time and I'm gonna sock you so hard your grandma's gonna feel it. And the boss probably already knows."

Midnight Rider watched the two griffons until they disappeared around the corner, after which he reverted back to the snow white unicorn mare known as Rarity.

"I must say, darling," she remarked, turning to the lavender unicorn who was now peering into the cage, "that was a rather spectacular performance. I confess I didn't think you'd be able to pull it off quite as well as you did."

"Thanks, Rarity," Twilight replied with a grin, "honestly, I didn't think it would go as well as it did either."

Her smile softened as she turned to the yellow pegasus, "are you alright, Fluttershy? They didn't hurt you did they?"

"Oh, no," Fluttershy replied, shaking her head. She looked off in the direction the two griffons had gone with a small smile of her own, "to be honest, Twilight, I don't think they were nearly as bad as they made themselves out to be."

"Words cannot express how glad I am to see you safe and sound, Fluttershy," Rarity commented, trotting over to where Twilight stood, "although... you don't seem to be all that surprised to see us."

"I'm glad you're both okay, too," Fluttershy replied, "and I am a bit surprised to see you two, but..."

She trailed off with an uncharacteristically thoughtful frown on her face.

"But what?" Twilight asked.

"I... I'm not really sure," Fluttershy said slowly, "I felt... odd, just before you two showed up - like something was coming... something warm and familiar. Like a close friend," she looked up at Twilight and Rarity with a warm smile, "or close friends."

Rarity returned Fluttershy's warm smile, but Twilight was staring at Fluttershy contemplatively.

She could somehow sense us coming - even through our disguises. Another effect of the virus no doubt... but are we capable of the same thing or is it unique to Fluttershy? For that matter, does this 'viral sense' target other carriers exclusively or can it-

"Twilight, dear?" 

"Hmm?" Twilight looked to Rarity whose brow was furrowed in concern, "I'm sorry, Rarity what was that?"

"Shouldn't we go about releasing Fluttershy from this garish cage?"

Twilight looked from Rarity to a patiently waiting Fluttershy. She looked back to Rarity, laughing sheepishly.

"Right, right sorry, Rarity," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck, "I got caught up in my thoughts... again."

She walked around to the other side of the cage where the door was and examined the lock. She remained that way for a few moments more before Rarity rolled her eyes and walked over to where she was, gently pushing her out of the way.

"Hey! What are you-"

Rarity grabbed onto the barred door and, with a sudden mighty yank, the door was ripped off the cage - causing Fluttershy to 'eep' in surprise.

"While not my usually preferred method, we're strong enough to brute force our way through issues like this now. No need to overthink it, darling," Rarity said, dropping the door shaking the residual dust off her hoof, "frankly I'm appalled they thought to keep our friend in such a horrendously unclean prison."

"Well, grimy cages aside," Twilight responded as she helped Fluttershy out of the cage, "we need to get back to where Applejack and Rainbow Dash are so we can all look... for..."

Twilight's voice grounded to a halt and she turned to Fluttershy, rubbing her chin.

"Say... Fluttershy," she asked thoughtfully.

"Hmm?" Fluttershy responded with a curious tilt of her head.

"If you concentrated on that... feeling that you had when you sensed us earlier, do you think you could use it to locate the rest of the girls?"

Fluttershy looked away uncomfortably, hiding her features behind her light pink mane.

"I... I don't know, Twilight," she replied quietly, "I'm not sure how it happened. It just sort of... happened. In fact," she shook her head and looked at Twilight - her eyes almost pleading, "I don't know much of anything right now. I don't know where we are or what happened to us. I don't know why I was in a cage. I don't know how you were able to change into somepony else or why Rarity's so strong or-"

"Flutters-"

"Why did that griffon call me a freak, Twilight?" she cried, tears welling up in her eyes.

Rarity was by her friend's side in a second, wrapping her in a comforting embrace and whispering gentle reassurances that everything would be okay.

"Oh, Fluttershy..." Twilight whispered, gazing at her friend sadly, "you didn't deserve this... none of us did."

"I heard him," Fluttershy continued, sobbing into Rarity's shoulder, "h-he made it s-sound like I was - like I was some kind of - o-of dangerous animal!"

"There, there, dear," Rarity cooed, "We all know you're far from such a thing. Isn't that right, Twilight?"

Twilight tried to meet Rarity's expectant gaze but found it a surprisingly difficult thing to do. Instead, she stared at her hooves morosely.

What should I tell her? she thought, 'Of course you're not dangerous, Fluttershy'! 'It's not like we were all turned into some kind of viral monstrosities by a close friend and ruler we thought we could trust'!

It's not like most of us have already killed other ponies in cold blood.


...It's not like I enjoyed it.


She shook her head and looked up at Rarity and Fluttershy, her gaze hardened.

No. 

I'm going to tell her what she needs to hear, not what she wants to hear.

...Forgive me, Fluttershy.

"Twilight?" Rarity asked, taken aback by the sudden steel in Twilight's eyes.

Twilight trotted up to her distraught friend and rested a hoof on her withers, her eyes softening slightly.

"Fluttershy, look at me," she commanded gently.

Fluttershy said nothing and continued to cry into Rarity's chest.

"Fluttershy, please," Twilight repeated more urgently, "this is important. I need you to understand the situation we've all been put in."

Fluttershy sniffed and looked at Twilight with watery eyes.

"Look, Fluttershy, I don't know all the details... but..." she hesitated for a brief second before continuing, "something happened to us - to all of us. Something terrible. It... from what I've seen, it's had a... significant effect on who we are as ponies."

She took her hoof off of Fluttershy and stepped away, looking at her friend with no small amount of shame.

"We've - the rest of us have all done things we normally wouldn't have even dreamed of doing before now. Terrible and unforgivable things."

"W-what are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked in a small, quivering voice. She looked at Rarity who looked away.

"I'm... I'm afraid she's right, dear," Rarity said after a moment, "much as it pains me admit it, Twilight's right. We can't hide the atrocities that have been committed against us, nor can we hide the ones we've ourselves committed."

Fluttershy slowly backed away from Rarity, looking between the two unicorn mares with confusion and fear.

"Girls, what are you talking about? What atrocities?"

Twilight nor Rarity answered right away and Fluttershy eyes slowly widened in realization. She fell to her haunches and shook her head.

"You've killed ponies."

The bluntness of her statement made Twilight and Rarity wince even as they nodded in confirmation.

"All of us have as far as I know," Twilight said quietly, "we haven't found Pinkie yet so I'm not sure about her, but as far as the other girls are concerned..."

She trailed off and Fluttershy turned to stare at the wall absently, seeming lost in thought.

Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other nervously.

"Er, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked after a few moments had passed. Fluttershy didn't respond - her features still unnervingly blank as she stared at the wall.

"Fluttershy, darl-"

"I can't feel it."

The two unicorns blinked in confusion.

"Feel what?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Remorse for the dead," Fluttershy responded tonelessly as she turned to face Twilight, "I can't feel it."

Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, looked back at Rarity who shook her head helplessly, and turned back to Fluttershy - shifting uncomfortably as she answered.

"Well that's... that's something we all have in common, Fluttershy. We were all injected with a virus and it seems to have dulled - if not completely wiped out or changed - our emotional response to things of that nature."

"I see," Fluttershy responded simply. She stared at Twilight with an unreadable expression for a minute before suddenly rising to her hooves and trotting past her and Rarity - much to their surprise.

"Fluttershy?" Rarity asked in confusion, "where are you going, dear?"

"I'm going to find Rainbow Dash," she replied in a hollow voice as she continued down the hall, "I need to ask her something."

Twilight and Rarity looked at each other worriedly before quickly following after Fluttershy.
> Pinkie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two thestrals trotted down the fourth floor hallway of the Sky Talon Labs main building. 

They had been separated from the rest of their squad when the skyway collapsed. They are currently in the process of finding another path to the third annex building so they can regroup and kill or capture the former Elements of Harmony as their Queen commanded.

Dark Gale was a tall, broad thestral with an ashen grey coat, a blood red mane, and piercing, jade green eyes.

The other was a thestral mare who went by the name of Silent Forest. She was a small yet lithe sort with a jet black coat, forest green mane and sapphire blue eyes.

One is the captain of Queen Luna's elite Shadow Guard.

The other is their direct subordinate.

What follows is the story of their encounter with the former Element of Laughter. The one many knew as the Perplexing Pink Purveyor of Positively Prolific Parties...

Pinkie Pie.





"Are you sure this is the right way, ma'am?"

Silent Forest just rolled her eyes and groaned in exasperation.

"Alright, fine, Gale," she spat, "contrary to what I said before, no. I am not sure this is the right way!"

Dark Gale took a few steps back from the irate mare.

"Pardon me, ma'am, I meant no-"

"Congratulations, Lieutenant," she cried, throwing up her hooves in mock celebration, "you've managed to break me through sheer irritation - a feat not even the most ruthless inquisitor has ever accomplished!"

At this, Dark Gale gave Silent Forest a flat look.

"Come on, Silent, that's hardly-"

"Nonono, lieutenant," she interjected giving Gale a facetious nod of approval, "I'm very impressed. You ought to give yourself a pat on the back for that one."

It was Dark Gale's turn to roll his eyes at the captain's over-the-top sarcasm. 

"Yes ma'am."

Silent Forest huffed and shook her head as they continued their trot, "Honestly, why do you have to second guess all of my decisions?" she gave the thestral stallion a side glance, "If I say we go one way, why can't you just be content with the choice and let it go?"

"Because, with all due respect, ma'am," he retorted without missing a beat, "your decisions end up getting yourself and your squad in a mess of trouble more often than not," he kept his eyes on the path ahead as he smirked, "somepony has to make sure we survive."

Silent snorted and punched him in the foreleg playfully.

"Remind me again why I don't have you flogged for insubordination?" she asked with a mock frown.

"Because I know how to wield a sword," he chuckled as he adjust the greatsword on his back and gave the smaller thestral a lascivious grin, "in more ways than one."

Silent Forest punched the stallion again, this time with more force.

"Watch it, Lieutenant Gale," she said in a dangerously low voice, "we're on duty."

"Yes ma'am, apologies ma'am," Dark Gale replied, snapping to attention - though Silent Forest could still see the smirk dancing just behind his stoic countenance.

She shook her head and sighed, deciding it would be best to just continue trotting forward. As they turn a corner, they came across a singular black door that blocked off the rest of the hallway. Looking closer, Forest could see the words 'REC ROOM' labeled across the door.

"A rec room?" Gale mused aloud, "in a research facility?"

"Hey," Silent Forest replied with a shrug, "scientists need a place to unwind too."

"Well, this isn't going to get us to the annex building at any rate," Dark Gale said, turning to head the way they came, "we should probably-"


A giggle.


Small, short, and barely audible... but it was there.

And it was coming from the rec room.

The door to the room in question was slammed open as Silent Forest and Dark Gale burst through - Gale's greatsword brandished and Silent's hoofblades drawn.  

They quickly scanned the room for any signs of life, but there was nothing.

Nopony was there.

Still, they entered the room - wary eyes sweeping over every little detail. They knew what they heard and weren't about to take any chances. At first glance, everything seemed to be in order. The chairs, couches, floors, and tables were immaculate - not a trace of dust or grime. 

Pool tables sat unused in the middle of the room and books were placed neatly on the numerous bookshelves that lined the walls...

Save for one book still open on one of the tables.

Odd... Silent Forest thought as she made her way over to the table and inspected the book, I was under the impression all the scientists here either evacuated or were killed by the former Elements. Who...

She picked up the book, and looked it over. It was open to a page that depicted the nervous system of a pony in detail with descriptions off to the side.

Silent raised an eyebrow and flipped the book over to read the title.

'Everything You Ever Needed to Know About... Pony Anatomy'?

"Find anything?" Dark Gale asked as he trotted next to Silent Forest.

"I... don't know..." she replied slowly, still eyeing the book in bemusement, "it looks like somepony decided to do some light reading before the manure hit the fan, I guess."

She hoofed Gale the book which he took and gave a once over before hoofing it back.

"Well, that's scientist types for you," he said with a shrug, "anyway, it seems whatever we heard in here is gone. I wasn't able to find anything out of the ordinary."

"Alright, let's move on then," Silent Forest responded as she set the book back down.

"Yes, ma'am," Dark Gale replied. He trotted towards the door and Silent was about to follow when she noticed something sticking to one of her fetlocks. She raised it to eye level and narrowed her eyes. 

After a second she wiped it on a nearby couch and looked again. She nodded and trotted after Dark Gale, satisfied that she had removed the pink hairs from her fur.

As Silent Forest trotted out of the room she found Dark Gale standing just outside the door, his eyes narrowed as though he was trying to spot something in the distance.

"Gale?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow, "something wrong?"

"...Maybe," he replied after a minute, "thought I saw something as I was coming out."

Silent's brow furrowed and she looked down the hallway. The off-white halls were just as empty and quiet as when they had passed through originally.

"Were you able to make out any details?"

"No," he responded somewhat hesitantly, "just a shadow, if anything."

Silent Forest nodded and trotted ahead, "Then leave it be for now, but stay alert."

"Yes, ma'am."

The two thestrals doubled back down the hallway until they reached a four-way intersection. They looked back and forth between paths for a minute before Dark Gale turned to his superior and spoke up.

"Should we split up and cover more ground?" he asked.

"Gale, that is an incredibly stupid idea," Silent Forest replied, her attention still focused on the intersection, "first of all, if you're right and there is something lurking around the halls, it would be better if there were two of us in case it was hostile."

She finally turned to the taller stallion, "secondly, we have no means of contacting each other if we're apart."

"Fair enough," Gale replied, nodding slowly, "so what do you want to do then?"

Silent Forest hummed in thought, staring down each of the halls for a few moments more, before opening her mouth to make a decision.

She was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of hooves against tile to her immediate left.

Both thestrals whipped their heads in the direction of the noise just in time to see a door further down the hall click shut.

Silent Forest glanced at Dark Gale who looked back expectantly. She silently jerked her head towards the door and Dark Gale nodded. They both drew their weapons and quietly crept towards the door. Unlike the door to the rec room, this door was as gray and unmarked as the other door surrounding it.

Silent and Gale sidled up to the wall on either side of the door. As carefully and quietly as she could, Silent Forest placed an ear to the door.


More giggling.


If there was any skepticism left in Silent Forest, it was gone now. Somepony else was wandering the halls...

...and they were deliberately leading them on a chase.

Silent Forest made a few gestures in Dark Gale's direction and Dark Gale nodded again. The thestral captain backed away as Dark Gale stepped in front of the door. He inhaled and exhaled deeply before turning suddenly and kicking out with his hind legs. The metal door flew off it's hinges and Silent Forest was in the room almost instantly - hoofblades at the ready.

Nothing.

A quick sweep around the room was enough to reveal a frustrating lack of intruders. The only thing Silent Forest could see in the relatively empty room was a single chair and a small circular metal table near the back. Narrowing her eyes, Silent Forest could see what looked like a lone envelope lying on the table.

She raised a bemused eyebrow and turned to Dark Gale, who was still waiting just outside the doorway. She made another silent gesture telling him to maintain his position. He nodded in affirmation and she warily trotted over to the table.

Once she reached the table, she examined the envelope in more detail. It was a fairly simple envelope save for the bright pink coloring of the paper. She tentatively picked it up and flipped it over. On the back of the envelope was a single message written in a whimsical font.


'YOU'RE INVITED!'


Silent Forest's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What the buck?" she muttered to herself. She opened the envelope and jumped back in alarm as confetti erupted from within. She let the envelope fall to the floor as she waited for something else to happen. After a moment of silence, she glanced back at Dark Gale. 

The stallion had taken a battle stance, but otherwise stayed where he was. She turned back to the envelope, retracting her hoofblades and retrieving it from where it had fallen. She gave it one more wary look before pulling out the letter and reading it over.


Hey there!

So I was out and about, trying to figure out where my friends were and what the hay was going on around here, when I saw you two lovebirds wandering around looking all lost like me! Now, normally I'd be the first one to introduce myself and make a new friend - or new friends - but then I had a thought.

'Pinkie', I says to myself, 'these two thestrals look like they'd enjoy a good old fashioned, Pinkie approved surprise party!'

'But wait', I argued, 'don't I need to look for my friends and make sure they're in tip top shape so that we can all have an oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-glad-you-girls-are-okay party?'

'Well,' I thought, 'I do make a good point'. So after thinking about it for a loooong time, I finally found a way to feed two thestrals with one cupcake! You see, I figure you guys might know a few things about what's going on and I'm always ready to make some new friends, sooo~

I decided to throw you a small interrogation party!

Yeah, yeah, the name needs some work, but it'll be a lot more fun than it sounds! There's gonna be cake and cookies and party hats and streamers and rope and... wait, actually, I don't have any of that and I can't find my party cannon...

Eh, I'll make do.

Anyway, I hope you can make it, Greeny!


~Pinkie Pie


P.S. I took the liberty of collecting Windy while you were reading this. No need to thank me!


Silent Forest's eyes widened and she snapped her head back to the doorway to see that Dark Gale was indeed gone.

"Horseapples!" she cried indignantly, crushing the letter between her hooves.

She tossed it aside and galloped out of the room. Once she was back in the hall she frantically glanced left and right, searching for any sign of Dark Gale or Pinkie.

"Greeeeny!"

She looked to her right, back towards the four-way intersection, and her eyes fell upon a pink earth pony mare with a raspberry colored mane that cascaded down one side of her face and a tail as flat as her mane. The mare sat in the middle of the intersection waving at her enthusiastically before pronking off in the opposite direction.

Silent Forest cursed and galloped after the mare as she turned right down another hallway. She heard another giggle as she rounded the same corner - just barely missing the pink pony who turned another corner. This went on for a few more turns with the pink mare always managing to stay just out Silent Forest's reach.

She would occasionally stop to wave and egg her on, giggling all the while - much to Silent Forest's frustration.

This is absolutely ridiculous! she thought, grinding her teeth as she continued to chase the mare, I know I'm small, but that doesn't stop me from galloping circles around all the other guards! How in Tartarus does she always manage to outpace me when she's just... bouncing around like that?

Eventually the pink mare turned one final corner before Silent Forest heard a door creak open and slam shut again. Silent Forest followed right after and skidded to a stop in front of a single black door. She glared at it as she tried to catch her breath - sweat beading down her forehead.

I swear to the Eternal Queen of the Night, if that whorse harms one hair on that stallion's body...

After a minute she huffed and pushed the door open.

"HEYA, GREENY-"


*schlick*


Silence reign for a brief moment as cold sapphire stared into shocked cerulean. Pinkie slowly lowered her gaze to her chest. She winced at the sight of a hoofblade buried deep into her flesh and looked back up at Silent Forest with a weak smile.

"...Surprise?"

Silent Forest yanked her hoofblade out of the pink mare and shoved her hard enough to send her stumbling further into the room. Before Pinkie could get her bearings the irate thestral captain seized her head and slammed her to the ground. 

In one swift motion, she flipped Pinkie on her back, extended  her hoofblades and impaled them into both her forelegs - effectively pinning her to the ground.

"Enough games, brat," Silent Forest growled as she stood over the trapped mare, "this little cat-and-mouse routine has wasted enough of my time. Now, where is he?" she lowered her head so that she was inches away from Pinkie's face. 

"Where. Is. Dark Gale?"

Pinkie's eyes widened and she 'oh'd' in realization.

"So that's why you're being such a grumpy gus!" she cried, causing the thestral to blink in confusion, "you're just worried about Windy!"

"Wha-"

Before Silent Forest could react, Pinkie had somehow managed to remove the hoofblades from her legs and now had the confused captain in a one legged hug.

To her shock, the pink pony didn't have a scratch on her.

"Well, worry no more, Greeny, because he's here and he's a-okay!" Pinkie stated before looking off to the side with a small frown, "well maybe not a-okay... but he's alive!" she added cheerfully, "c'mon, lemme show ya!"

Silent Forest was once again unable to react as Pinkie yanked her over to a nearby table and planted her in a seat across from Dark Gale.

"Now that the two of you are here," Pinkie announced, as she wrapped a foreleg around Dark Gale's withers, "allow me to welcome you to Pinkie Pie's First-Ever-One-of-a-Kind-Super-Spectacular Interrogation Party~!"

If Silent had bothered to look around, she would've seen countless bits of copy paper raining down from the ceiling as makeshift confetti, several colorful wires hanging from above as replacement streamers, and a box of relatively fresh doughtnuts sitting on the table.

"Okay... so this is probably the worst party I've ever thrown," Pinkie conceded, looking around with a frown of dissatisfaction, "but I don't even have access to any of my emergency party supplies..." 

As Pinkie continued to gripe about the sorry state of the party, Silent Forest kept her full attention on the stallion in front of her. 

She didn't like what she saw.

Dark Gale sat across from Silent Forest, blank-faced and glassy eyed. He was as pale as a ghost and every few moment he would shake violently as he mumbled to himself.

"Gale?" Silent Forest asked tentatively, "Gale can you hear me?"

"M... m-m..."

She leaned over the table and shook Dark Gale slightly, then more roughly when she failed to get a response.

"Gale!" she cried more urgently, "come on, snap out of it, lieutenant!"

"M-m... m-mo..."

"Dark Gale..." she whispered as her eyes began shining with unshed tears, "honey, come on... talk to me..."

"He won't answer you."

Silent Forest's sorrowful gaze turned to ice as she snapped her head in Pinkie's direction. The pink party pony was staring at the traumatized stallion with an unreadable expression. Silent Forest could've sworn she saw a hint of sadness behind her stoicism, but that didn't quell the building rage.

"What did you do to him?" she asked in a quiet voice, "what did you do to my husband?"

Pinkie said nothing as she continued to stare at Dark Gale. That lasted for only a second more before she found herself pinned to the ground once again with a hoofblade shoved against her throat.

"ANSWER ME!" Silent Forest screamed, her face contorted in a furious snarl.

Pinkie merely stared at Silent Forest with the same stoic gaze before she closed her eyes and sighed in resignation.


"I'm so sorry, girls... I tried."


"What are you talking abou-"

Silent Forest staggered off of Pinkie as every nerve in her body sang out in a harmony of agony. The pain was so intense it blocked out almost every other sensation. 

She couldn't even hear herself scream. 

The one thing she could feel was a twisting in her gut - like something was wriggling it's way through her insides, trying to make it's way out. She fell to the floor, writhing around as she pawed at her stomach. All thought's were driven from her head save for one.

MakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopPLEASEFORLUNASSAKEMAKEITSTOP-

Just as she was sure she was about to burst, the pain lessened - the wriggling sensation oddly narrowing down to a point in one of her forelegs. Through her tears and labored breathing she turned to the limb and saw a pink hoof resting against it. 

She looked at the hoof, then to the pony it was connected to, her face showing a mix of fear and confusion. The wriggling sensation completely disappeared as Pinkie pulled her hoof away from Silent Forest.

"W-what-" Silent Forest swallowed and tried again "-what did you do to me?" she rasped, her throat sore from screaming.

"Removed the bomb before it exploded," Pinkie responded dully.

"Bomb?" Silent cried in alarm, "You planted a bomb in me? H-how? When?"

Rather than respond vocally, Pinkie brushed a hoof against her coat and touched Silent Forest's fetlock, leaving a few pink hairs behind.

Silent stared at the hairs with a bemused frown before looking back to Pinkie for an explanation.

"It's biological," she stated, "I don't know exactly how it works, but I can turn my body into a bomb that can kill you from the inside out. At least, that's what I got from one of the scientists that worked here. I don't really know what it would've done exactly, but I don't think it would've been pretty.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work," she said with a shrug, "apparently it was just a theory about what the virus was capable of."

She then turned and started trotting towards the door.

"Anyway, the party's over," she said without looking back, "I got what I needed, so I'm leaving."

"Wha - virus?" Silent Forest cried indignantly as she tried to rise to her hooves, "what are you talking about? Am I infected now?" she stumble across the room towards Pinkie, "what about Gale?"

"Don't know," Pinkie replied flippantly as she opened the door to the hallway, "it's not like it matters anyway."

Silent Forest stopped and stared at the pink mare incredulously.

"Not like it matters? Not like it matters!?" she finally screamed, "My husband is in a catatonic state from whatever you did to him, You nearly blew me up, and I may or may not be infected with some kind of potentially deadly virus!"

"And none of that matters," Pinkie responded calmly.

Silent fell to her haunches and looked at Pinkie with open mouthed shock. 

"How could you say something like that so easily after what you've done?"

Pinkie finally turned and stared into Silent Forest's eyes as she responded.


"Because your story is over." 


Silent Forest's brow furrowed in confusion, "My story is... over? What are you talking about?"

"Your story is over," Pinkie repeated, "yours and Dark Gale's. That's why I decided not to kill you," she shook her head slowly, "I didn't need to."

"You didn't..." Silent mouthed to herself.

"It doesn't matter what I did to your husband, it doesn't matter that you suffered in what was possibly the worst agony you've ever felt, and it doesn't matter that you're most likely going to die a horrific death due to viral infection. All that matters is that I find my friends and leave this horrible place."

She turned back to the hall just outside the doorway as she continued speaking.

"You and Dark Gale? This is the end of your tale... and we'll never see you again," she looked at Silent Forest over her shoulder, "surely as if I had decided to kill you and your husband right here and now."

With that, she trotted out of the room and down the hall, leaving Silent Forest to stare after her as the door slowly began to close. 

Dark Gale continued to mutter and in the ensuing quiet, Silent Forest could just barely make out one word.


"M-m... monster." 


The door clicked shut.
> Question
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the timely arrival of Rainbow Dash, she and Applejack had made short work of the reinforcements that had shown up initially. The Sky Talon Lab security ponies and Storm Feather mercenaries were all but wiped out.

The problems had arisen when Queen Luna's Royal Guards had shown up.

"Where in tarnation are they all comin' from?" Applejack growled as she tanked another blast from an arcane staff with her shield. Holding the shield in front of her, she charged through a mass of guards knocking the majority of them into the walls. As soon as she was clear, Rainbow sped by, slicing into the remaining soldiers with her whip scythes.

She turned and skidded to a stop on the opposite side of the room next to Applejack.

"They probably came from the airship me and Twi saw out on the bridge," Rainbow finally responded, "and if that is where they came from, we might be here for awhile..."

"Ya found Twilight?" Applejack asked with a relieved smile as she extended her tendril born shield to cover Rainbow Dash, "well that's a bit of a load off mah shoulders," she then frown in bemusement, "what's all this about an 'airship', though? Ain't that one o' them fancy flyin' machines?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied nodding her head in confirmation, "and it's huge. Wouldn't surprise me if they sent an entire army after us."

Applejack grimaced with both worry and effort as she tried to keep the shield up against a constant bombardment of spellfire.

"Well, shoot. That don't sound too good..." she muttered. She looked back to Rainbow Dash who tapped her side as she stared at the shield in thought.

"Hey, AJ..." she said slowly, "drop the shield on my mark, I got an idea."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless, deciding to trust the cyan pegasus' judgement.

Rainbow Dash crouched low to the floor as her whip scythes dissolved into a countless mass of tendrils that covered her entire body. She grunted as she held that position for another few seconds before she shouted to Applejack.

"NOW!"

Applejack's shield receded in a flash of tendrils and Rainbow Dash launched herself like a missile into the massive crowd of guards. There was a brief second of confusion before each and every pony was skewered by the numerous tendrils that exploded outward from Rainbow's body.

The impaled guards hung suspended in the air momentarily before the tendrils receded into Rainbow Dash, leaving the bodies to fall to the floor.

Rainbow Dash stood up, shook herself, and surveyed the scene. The floor was littered with the corpses of fallen soldiers and it was clear there were no survivors of the devastating attack.

"Sheesh," Rainbow muttered, eyes widening in awe, "didn't expect it to work that well..."

"Yer tellin' me," Applejack agreed, looking over the carnage as she trotted over to Rainbow Dash, "Just what in the hay was that little stunt ya pulled there, Rainbow?"

"Dunno," Rainbow replied with a smirk, "but I was thinking of calling it something awesome like..." she rotated her hoof and gazed at the ceiling in thought, "like uh... the Tendril Barrage Devastator!"

Applejack rolled her eyes as Rainbow nodded to herself in satisfaction.

"Anyway," Applejack said, giving Rainbow a flat look before trotting towards the dining hall entrance, "we should probably catch up with Rarity before more o' them guards show up. She might've found the others by now."

"Oh, yeah," Rainbow Dash responded following after the cowpony, "Me and Twilight already ran into Rarity on the way here."

"Really now?" asked Applejack, blinking in surprise.

"Yup," Rainbow replied with a nod, "that's how I found you."

"Ah see..." Applejack responded. There was few moments of silence as they both made their way through the single door that led out of the dining hall. Applejack spoke up after a few minutes of trotting through the hall.

"So..." she began somewhat awkwardly, "is Twilight doin' okay?"

"Yeah, she's... alright," Rainbow Dash replied with a frown. Applejack didn't miss the hesitation in Rainbow's voice.

"I'm sensin' a 'but' there, Rainbow," she replied, staring at Rainbow Dash expectantly.

Rainbow gave Applejack a side glance before sighing in resignation.

"Yeah, okay, so she's got some... problems of her own," she conceded, keeping her gaze centered on the path ahead, "we all do..."

"Tell me about it," Applejack responded. After a few seconds she gave Rainbow Dash a flat look. 

"No really, tell me about it," she demanded, "what's goin' on? What happened after you two woke up?"

"I... guess I'm not getting out of this one am I?" Rainbow asked, rubbing the back of her neck as she chuckled sheepishly.

"Nope," Applejack replied flatly, "now spill it."





Fluttershy had been leading Twilight and Rarity down various hallways in silence for what felt like the better part of an hour before Rarity finally decided to speak.

"Er... Fluttershy, darling," she began tentatively, "are you sure we're headed in the right direction? I don't mean to be rude, but we've been trotting along these dreary halls for quite some time now."

"Rainbow and Applejack are making their way towards us right now," Fluttershy responded, her eyes never leaving the path ahead, "we should be meeting them within the next half hour if we keep up this pace, Rarity."

"Ah... I see..." Rarity replied, frowning at the somewhat mechanical tone of Fluttershy's voice, "and how-"

"I can feel them," Fluttershy interjected, "just like I can feel you and Twilight next to me. I wasn't sure how it worked before - and I'm still not completely sure now - but if I concentrate, I can send out a pulse that sort of... pings their location. It's kind of similar to the echolocation that bats use to 'see'." 

"Fascinating..." Twilight muttered from behind the two, "and can you pick up others as well?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"I can pick up the location of other lifeforms too, although the response isn't as strong as with you girls."

"But how did you even find out how to do that?" Rarity asked in confusion, "earlier you told Twilight you couldn't control it - that it just... happened."

"I wanted to see Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy answered, glancing back at the white mare, "while we were walking, I focused on that thought and it happened."

"Yeah... about that," Twilight asked hesitantly, "what did you want ask Rainbow Dash? I mean if it was something about our current predicament, I might be able to help. I've got some answers of my own and I've also come up with a few theories about-"


"Are we still equine?"


That stopped Twilight short and she stared at the yellow Pegasus in bemusement.

Fluttershy simply stared back with a stoic gaze.

"W-what?" Rarity asked in bewilderment, "I'm sorry, darling but what kind of question is that? Of course we're still-"

"No," Twilight interjected, staring at her hooves with a thoughtful frown, "no I think that's a very good question, and I might have an answer... but before that," she looked up at Fluttershy in confusion, "why ask Rainbow Dash of all ponies?"

Fluttershy looked away and Twilight could see some actual emotion make it's way back into her face as she spoke.

"I've known Rainbow Dash for a long time - longer than any of you," she said quietly, "you may not know this, but Rainbow Dash can be very observant. She tends to pick up on things most ponies overlook in their day-to-day lives."

"Well I could've told you that," Twilight replied, "she's a pegasus, most - if not all pegasi have a keen eyesight that goes far beyond the other pony... races..."

Twilight trailed off as Fluttershy shook her head.

"In a way, she's kind of similar to Applejack. She may not be able to spot a lie like Applejack can, but if she tries, she can see the true measure of a pony just by looking in their eyes."

Twilight, and Rarity sat in stunned silence, completely caught off guard by the revelation that their brash and boastful friend was apparently more than she appeared.

"That's... actually pretty amazing," Twilight said after a moment.

"Indeed," Rarity agreed, "and I take it you've seen this for yourself?"

Fluttershy nodded, a small smile appearing on her muzzle, "Many times actually."

"And we completely failed to notice this whole time..." Twilight muttered.

"This is a very... fascinating discovery, dear," Rarity interjected trying to get back on topic, "but what does this have to do with your questioning of our equinity?"

Fluttershy went to answer but Twilight beat her to it, having worked out where Fluttershy was going.

"You want to see if Rainbow Dash can tell if you're still the same Fluttershy from before all of... this," she stated.

Fluttershy nodded again and continued trotting down the hall as she spoke.

"From the moment I woke up in that cage, I knew something wasn't right - about me, I mean. I felt odd... off, like I was trapped in somepony else's skin," she turned back to the two unicorns, "did neither of you feel that way?"

Twilight and Rarity shook their heads and Fluttershy lowered hers.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy," Twilight offered, trotting next to the downtrodden Pegasus, "when I woke up, the only thing I felt was really sore."

"Really?" Rarity chimed in, "that's a bit odd."

"What do you mean, Rarity? You weren't sore when you woke up?"

Rarity shook her head with a confused frown, "on the contrary, darling, I felt just fine - like I had woken up from a particularly good nap actually."

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, then back to Rarity.

"That... is odd," Twilight finally said. She stared off at nothing in particular as she thought, "Was it different for all of us?"

"I'm not quite sure, Twilight," Rarity answered, turning back to the butter yellow Pegasus, "but I believe Fluttershy was trying to make a point?"

"Right sorry," Twilight said, smiling apologetically, "go ahead, Fluttershy."

"Well... there's not really much else to say," she continued, "I didn't feel like me - I still don't. So I'm hoping Rainbow can help... ground me I guess. Make sure I'm still the same Fluttershy like you said, Twilight."

Twilight nodded. 

The three of them turned down another path before Twilight spoke again in a quiet voice.

"So... I mentioned before that I might've had an answer to your question, Fluttershy... but after hearing your explanation, I'm not sure if it was exactly what you were talking about when you asked if we were still equine..."

Fluttershy and Rarity waited for Twilight to finish, but she only shuffled her hooves nervously.

"Well don't just leave it at that, dear," Rarity prompted, "what did you find out?"

"Well it started out as a hunch based on something Rainbow told me a little after I woke up," Twilight began tentatively, "but after what I've seen... and done, it's gone from a hunch to a theory..." Twilight finally looked them both in the eye.

"...and you're not going to like it."

Rarity glanced at Fluttershy worriedly and was surprised to see the timid pegasus' face set in a determined frown as she met Twilight's gaze.

"Please, Twilight," she said in a much stronger voice than before, "even if it's not exactly what I was talking about, I still want to know... I have to know."

Twilight took note of the conviction in Fluttershy's eyes and sighed in resignation.

"Alright Fluttershy, but don't say I didn't warn you."

She schooled her features and and began to speak.

"So when you asked if we were still equine, I thought you were asking in a more... literal sense."

"Well I kind of was," Fluttershy admitted, "but mostly I just wanted know if I still had the feelings and emotions that me... me."

Twilight nodded, "Right, well to answer your question on whether or not we're physically equine..."

She paused and exhaled deeply.


"No. I don't think we are."


They didn't have the reaction Twilight had expected.

Rarity was taken aback, but only slightly, and Fluttershy just looked sad and resigned, almost like she was expecting the bad news.

But she wasn't finished.

"Not only do I think we aren't equine anymore, I don't think we're even alive, technically speaking."

That revelation garnered the expected reaction from the two.

"Wha - but... what do you mean we aren't alive?" Rarity cried in equal parts fear and indignation, "I'm very clearly standing here talking to you!"

Fluttershy just stared at Twilight in shock.

"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight said, raising her hooves defensively, "let me finish explaining."

Rarity harrumphed and sat on her haunches, smoothing out her mane out of nervous habit.

"Now then," Twilight continued, "as I said before, it was Rainbow Dash that first mentioned as much..."

She told them about what Rainbow Dash had seen in her vision, much to Rarity and Fluttershy's horror.

"When I asked her if it was really as bad as she had said, she told me flat out that she was convinced we had died during whatever... transformation we went through."

Rarity and Fluttershy sat there in stunned silence as Twilight continued.

"At first I thought she was exaggerating," she looked away, chewing her lip in thought before speaking again, "but the more I think about it, and the more I observe of what we're capable of... the more I start to agree with Dash - if only because of my theory."

"A-and what was your theory, Twilight," Fluttershy asked meekly.

"I don't think we're infected with whatever this virus is - at least not anymore," Twilight replied, "I think the initial infection did something to our cells, making changes so drastic that we effectively became the virus ourselves."

Rarity blinked.

"That's..."

She tried to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind. What could she say to that?

"Are you sure that's what happened, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked after a few moments.

"No, I'm not, Fluttershy," Twilight responded, shaking her head, "that's why it's only a theory. A likely theory, but a theory nonetheless. It's like I explained to Rainbow..." she raised a hoof and a swarm of tendrils covered her hoof. 

After a second the tendrils disappeared, leaving a shining silver blade in their wake that she tapped against the floor a few times. The sound of metal clanging against tile filled the air for a moment, "...We have the ability to alter our bodies on what appears to be a genetic level."

One of Fluttershy's ears flickered and she turned towards one of the walls in confusion.

"I admit, microbiology isn't one of my strong suits," Twilight continued, "but I'm pretty sure normal viruses can't alter your genetic structure on a whim."

"Um... girls?"

"So if I'm understanding you right," Rarity said with growing realization, "you're saying that we could potentially change whatever we want about ourselves at any given moment?"

"Girls?"

"I believe so," Twilight answered, "given we've consumed the proper materials, that is. We didn't ask to be injected with this virus, but it has given us an incredible capacity for adaptation-"


"TWILIGHT, MOVE!"


Before Twilight could respond, she found herself impacted by a yellow blur and sent skidding across the floor. At the same time that happened a large metal object exploded through one wall, smashing Fluttershy against the other on the opposite side.

"FLUTTERSHY!" 

Twilight quickly regained her bearings and scrambled to her hooves. She heard Rarity scream something, but her attention was focused on the giant silvery... limb that had Fluttershy pinned against the wall. It was made of a completely smooth metal substance and sported four fingers that wrapped around the yellow pegasus as she cried out in pain and fear.

Before Rarity or Twilight could move, the massive limb pulled itself back through the hole it had made in the wall, taking Fluttershy with it. The two unicorns quickly galloped to where the hole was and froze, mouths dropping open in shock and horror.

Waning sunlight would've shined through the hallway had it not been for the massive metal golem blotting it out. From what Twilight could surmise through what she could see, they were on the third floor of the annex building.

The bipedal monstrosity towered over them.

It's entire body was as smooth and silvery as the limb and it had no features to speak of save a single, blazingly blue eye in it's large circular face. The arms were half as thick as the towers of Canterlot castle and it's torso was as broad as the Apple family barn. Oddly, the lower half of it's body thinned out to an absurd degree and the legs were rather spindly. 

It stood hunched over, somewhat similarly to an ape as it eyed Twilight and Rarity from outside. It had one arm raised, Fluttershy's screaming form held in it's fist.

"Hold on, Fluttershy!" Rarity yelled. She turned to Twilight, eyes wide with panic, "Twilight, what do we do?"

Twilight remained silent.

"Twilight, dear," Rarity pleaded, grabbing Twilight by the withers, "we need a plan and you've always been the go-to mare. So tell me," she turned to the golem, who seemed to be distracted by something above it, and looked back to Twilight, "how do we get Fluttershy back from that... that... thing?"

When Twilight failed to respond a second time, Rarity opened her mouth to yell at the lavender unicorn.

Only to freeze as she felt the air around her suddenly shift unpleasantly.

"We do what we were apparently made to do, Rarity," Twilight responded sweetly.

She turned her black-eyed gaze and saccharine smile towards the distracted golem.


"We fight, and we kill."
> Purpose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense wasn't working right.

Whatever those scientists had done to her had some rather... strange effects. Pinkie Pie didn't really know how her Sense worked before - she had assumed it was instinctual - but it always felt like a part of her. 

Now?

Now it was something different, something completely alien. 

Nothing twitched, nothing itched, nothing wobbled, shook, or otherwise reacted with any kind of sporadic body movement.

No.

Now it was all in the mind - in her mind - changing and twisting her thoughts and feelings. Yes, she was still the fun loving, party throwing, pastry baking mare her friends had come to know and love. Yes, she still loved each and every one of her friends in turn and would do anything to see them smile.

Yes she was still Pinkie Pie.

And that was the problem.

Ever since she had woken up - an excruciating experience for the pink mare - she had found that she was willing to do a lot of things she would have never even given the tiniest thought to before, even at the lowest points in her life. She was scared, she was alone, and she wanted - needed to find her friends. And much to her initial horror, she was willing to carve her way through countless ponies to do it.

That was where her new Pinkie Sense shined.

Whereas before she would get random physical cues that she had to interpret, now it told her things.

Things about ponies.

It told her how to break them, tear them down, physically and mentally - often in the cruelest way possible. In many ways, it was less a Sense and more a Voice in the back of her mind. Pinkie Pie wasn't a pony that entertained hate. She had only experienced once in her life, and it was not by choice.

Sure, she was hurt and angry that day she thought her friends were abandoning her, but that wasn't hate.

That was hurt and anger.

She didn't like hate, she didn't like to see it, and she would normally do everything she could to turn a pony's frown upside down.


Pinkie Pie absolutely despised the Voice in her head.


She couldn't deny it, nor would she. Her unknown situation, this virus she was infected with, the abilities that it gave her, the ponies she killed and consumed.

This all took a back seat to the intense hatred she felt for the Voice. It told her to do horrible things, and she found herself listening more often than not. Despite this, she couldn't feel any self-loathing for her ill deeds. 

Of course she couldn't.

The Voice wouldn't allow it.

So she focused her hate on the only other thing that deserved it. Eventually she began using her hate to keep the Voice at bay, and it worked... most of the time. 

In the meantime the only thing she could do was put on a facade of her usual cheer and pray that suppressing the Voice would get easier once she found her friends.

All of these thoughts ran through the pink mare's mind as she made her way up the several flights of stairs she had stumbled upon during her trek through the halls of the main building.

At the top of the steps was a small hallway with a single door at the end. There was a red sign on the wall next to the staircase that had an arrow pointing to the door at the end of the hall and the words 'MAIN BUILDING ROOF' printed in white.

Pinkie looked from the sign to the door and back to the sign again. After a moment, she shrugged and walked the rest of the way to the door.

Who knows, maybe the girls are waiting for me at the top.

She reached the doorway and pushed open the door, revealing what would've been a breathtaking sunset...


...had it not been for the massive airship hovering overhead and blotting out the sun.


Pinkie Pie stared at the behemoth of a ship in complete silence for a full minute before she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"...How long has that been here?"

She watched in bemusement as the giant ship slowly drifted it's way closer to the annex building. It stopped on one side  and it was just high enough - and big enough - that Pinkie could make out a large hatch slowly opening in the bottom. Her confusion turned to worry and she trotted closer to the edge of the roof to get a better view.

"I've got a baaaad feeling about this..." she muttered to herself as she stared up at the opening hatch.

Her eyes widened in surprise and horror as a huge silvery... monkey thing dropped out of the fully open hatch and impacted the ground with an audible thud that Pinkie could hear even from where she was.

Before she could make sense of the giant silver monster it's single glowing blue 'eye' flashed briefly and it turned to the building next to it. Pinkie looked on as it dialed back a massive arm and slammed it into the building, busting right through the wall as if it wasn't even there.

Pinkie thought she could hear a scream reach her ears, but it was so quiet she couldn't be sure.


That is, until the thing pulled it's arm out of the building with a familiar yellow pegasus in it's fist.


"No."

She was certain she heard that scream now, and it was very familiar.

"No."

Though she couldn't see her all that well from her vantage point, Pinkie Pie was absolutely certain of who that pony was.

"NO!"

With no thought other than to save her screaming friend, Pinkie crouched low as several small tendrils flailed and coiled about her legs.

"I DON'T THINK SO, BUSTER!"

With a snarl, Pinkie launched herself off the roof and towards the metal monstrosity at a speed and height that would've been impossible for any pony that wasn't a pegasus... or Rainbow Dash.

"NOW YOU GET TO DEAL WITH PINKIE!" 





"Okay, so ah get that we were infected with some sort o' virus and it messed with our minds an' bodies an' whatnot," Applejack said, nodding her head in understanding, "that much ah understand, an' it also explains why ah can put a pony down fer good without battin' an eye."

She shook her and furrowed her brow, looking at Rainbow Dash, "What ah don't understand is why. Who did this to us an' why? Why make us into these... these... killin' machines?"

Rainbow didn't speak for a moment as she tried to recall the conversation she and Twilight had when she came to after seeing Asger's memories.

"I don't know why we got turned into... whatever we are now," she finally said as they trotted down some stairs, "but right before we got attacked by that giant airship, Twilight told me who it was that did this to us."

"And who was it?"

Rainbow turned to Applejack with a look of bemusement as she answered.

"She said it was Luna."

Applejack returned Rainbow Dash's confused expression with one of her own.

"Now that don't make a lick o' sense," she after a second of stunned silence, "why would Princess-"

"Ah, remember, AJ," Rainbow interjected with a sardonic tone, "she's a queen now."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "why would Queen Luna of all ponies do somethin' like this?" 

"Dunno," Rainbow Dash replied with a shrug, "I think Twilight was gonna tell me, but then the airship showed up and-"

"TWILIGHT, MOVE!"

Rainbow's ear flickered and she turned to Applejack.

"Did you-"

The two snapped their heads upward as a muffled explosion sounded from somewhere above them.

"What in tarn-"

"FLUTTERSHY!"

Rainbow Dash didn't hesitate.

Without so much as a word to Applejack, she flew back up the stairs and out of sight before the cowpony could even blink. Applejack stood there for a few seconds, stunned at the sudden exit of her cyan friend before she sighed and shook her head.

"Darn it, Rainbow..."

She looked up at the ceiling, then down to her hooves with a thoughtful frown. After a moment she lifted a hoof and her entire foreleg dissolved into a mass of tendrils as she looked back to the ceiling - her thoughtful frown turning to one of determination.

"Ah think ah got a better idea."





It hurt.

It hurt so much she couldn't stand it.

The only thing she could do was scream and scream and scream as the giant fist wrapped itself around her.

Somewhere in her mind she was aware of her friends calling out to her, but she couldn't bring herself to care about anything other than the pain.

Why? she thought as continued to writhe in agony, why does it hurt so much? Why did have to be me?

She knew why.

Of course she did. 

She brought this on herself to protect one of her precious friends - to spare them from the pain.

It was the right thing to do.

It was the kind thing to do.

Rarity would've even said it was the generous thing to do.

That was just it though, wasn't it? Kindness and generosity tended to go hoof in hoof - not that any of that mattered just then.

All that mattered was the pain, and getting away from it. Unfortunately she couldn't break free of the monster's vice-like grip, nor did she have the mind to call out to her friends. In a word, she was helpless.


Again.


No amount of Stares could help her out of this situation and through all of the pain, she suddenly found herself not wanting to rely on her friends to save her. She wanted out of this situation.

And she wanted it now.

She wanted the pain to stop, she wanted to show her friends and this thing that she wasn't a pony it could mess with. She wanted to smash it, to crush it, to let everypony know she wasn't just some timid little weakling that couldn't take care of herself or her friends.

So lost in her thoughts was Fluttershy, that she didn't notice as the pain began to ebb and replace itself with adrenaline. She didn't notice as she began to shake violently and clench her teeth so hard she would've drawn blood, had she been a normal pony. She never saw the small pink dot in the distance grow closer and closer with each passing second.


She didn't even notice as the world around her gradually began to redden.





"Twilight, darling," Rarity asked backing away from the smiling mare, "are you... feeling okay?"

Rather than snswer, Twilight held up a hoof as she continued to stare at the golem. To Rarity, it seemed like she was waiting for something to happen. She was about to ask as much when Twilight suddenly spoke.

"She should be dropping in any second, now..."

Rarity blinked.

"Who-"

Something small, pink, and screaming slammed into the golem's head, sending it reeling backwards.

Several things happened at once after that.

As the giant began to tumble over, a rainbow colored blur shot past the two unicorns and smashed into the arm holding Fluttershy. The impact caused the golem to drop the yellow pegasus and she was swept up by the blur before she even began to fall.

As that happened, the floor near Rarity exploded outward as a large black tendril shot up from below, causing the white mare to cry out and backpedal in surprise. The tendril began to shrink as it descended to the floor and Rarity could make out an orange hoof peeking over the edge of the newly made hole in the floor. The tendril itself shrank back down to another orange hoof as the mare it was attached to pulled herself out of the hole.

"Land sakes," Applejack exclaimed as she stood up and adjusted her Stetson, "that was a mite more difficult than ah thought it'd be."

"A-Applejack?" Rarity stuttered in bewilderment, "Where did you even - when did-"

"Incoming."

Applejack and Rarity turned to Twilight just in time to see her sidestep a flying pink missile as it slammed into the wall behind them. They both winced at the impact but Twilight seemed unconcerned for the most part.

"It's good to see you again, Pinkie," Twilight said giving the pink mare embedded in the wall a warm smile.

"Hiya, Twilight!" Pinkie cried happily, waving as much as she was able given her current situation, "Hey Applejack, Rarity!" she turned back to Twilight with a quizzical frown, "wow, Twilight, you seem... different," she narrowed her eyes, "yyyep. You're definitely looking a lot more sinister than the last time I saw you."

It was then that Rainbow Dash flew in carrying Fluttershy.

"Hey, girls," Rainbow greeted distractedly before turning to Twilight, "Twilight, you gotta..." she stopped mid sentence as she noticed Twilight's patient smile and jet black eyes, "Oh, Celestia not again."

"It's good to see you too, Rainbow," Twilight greeted in response, before turning to a quietly shaking Fluttershy. She looked the yellow pegasus over briefly before her smile widened with something akin to anticipation.

"Well," she said turning her gaze from Fluttershy, to the still recovering golem, and back to Rainbow and the rest of the girls, "you girls may want to take a few steps back," she turned back to Fluttershy with that same anticipatory smile as she backed away the mare.

"Our sweet, innocent little Fluttershy is about to show us something... very interesting."

Her statement was met with looks of bewilderment and after a second Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"Twi, what the hay are you talking about?" she asked incredulously. She gestured to Fluttershy, "I was gonna ask if you knew what was wrong with her. When I rescued her from whatever that thing is, she was-"


"GRAAAAAAHHH!!!"


Every single pony flattened their ears as Fluttershy abruptly raised her head and roared to the sky. The sheer force of the scream was enough to shake the debris loose from the broken walls. In her current state, the entirety of Twilight's eyes were a pitch black, but otherwise she remain relatively unchanged.

Fluttershy's sudden transformation was a very noticeable thing.

Her eyes blazed a furious red, her teeth had grown to something resembling gleaming white daggers, and her coat, mane, and tail were ragged and unkempt.

In a word, she looked completely feral.

Before any of the girls could react, she shot towards the golem, leaving a sizable crater and four very stunned mares in her wake. They all watched with equal parts awe, horror, and - in Twilight's case - hidden glee as the raging pegasus smashed a blackened hoof into the golem's face with the force of a freight train. 

Every pony present could feel the resulting boom of the impact vibrate through their bodies. The golem itself staggered, but didn't fall. Fluttershy screamed again and went in for another haymaker. Unfortunately the metal giant had learned from its mistake and - with a speed that shouldn't have been possible with its size - it dodged to the side and brought up its own fist, knocking Fluttershy out of the sky and into the wall of the annex building just below where the other girls were standing.

That snapped everypony out of their shock stupor.

"Hang on, Fluttershy!" Rainbow cried flying into the fray.

"Woooow," Pinkie commented after a moment, "I didn't know Fluttershy had it in her."

"Fluttershy's sudden and... terrifying transformation aside," Rarity said, looking to each of the remaining ponies, "what are we going to do now?"

"Isn't it obvious, Rarity?" Twilight answered, pulling Pinkie from the wall, "we follow Fluttershy's example and take the golem down," she wiped some debris off of Pinkie before stepping closer to the edge of the opening. 

She observed Rainbow's attempt to distract the metal giant while Fluttershy recovered for a few moments before turning back to the rest of the girls with a smile overflowing with the tempered confidence of a leader.

"We'll never get out of this place as long as that thing is standing our way, so we have to destroy it. We were given the power to do so, even if we didn't ask for it," she looked back to the golem as she spoke, "we are what we are, and unless we find some sort of cure, I don't think we're changing back anytime soon, so we may as well get used to it."

She turn her head to glance at the other mares out of the corner of her eye.

"Earlier I told Rarity we were made to fight and kill. That's what I had assumed Luna wanted from us and maybe I'm right about that... but I don't accept that and neither should you."

She turned to face the opening and tendrils sprouted from the bottom of her hooves and coiled themselves around her legs.

"Like it or not, we're not ponies anymore, we're viruses. And like viruses, we'll survive and adapt."

She stepped off the ledge.
> Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity watched from above as Twilight dropped like a stone to the grassy plains below. She did nothing to stop herself and they couldn't help but wince as she hit the ground with an earth shattering impact, throwing up all sorts of dirt and debris and causing a miniature shockwave that cracked the walls and shattered the windows of the annex building.

After a few moments the dust cleared and they saw the lavender mare calmly trot out of the crater and look back up at them expectantly - completely ignoring the rampaging golem just a few dozen yards away.

"She's plum lost it..." Applejack muttered as she stared at the mare below.

"I... think she has a point though, darling," Rarity replied with a thoughtful frown, "as... unfortunate as our situation may be, there's nothing we can do about it at the moment," she looked back to Applejack, "we don't know exactly what's going on, and we can't really discuss a plan of action until we've safely made it out of this dreadful place."

She turned back to Twilight and bit her lip. Their eyes met briefly and Rarity made her decision. With an elegant flip of her mane, she straightened up and glanced back to Applejack and Pinkie Pie with a look of conviction.

"Well I suppose if there's no other option, I'll simply have to 'weather the storm' as it were," she turned back to the opening and trotted closer to the edge of the opening, "I expect to see you girls below," she said with an encouraging smile, "don't keep us waiting too long, darlings."

With that, she stepped forward and disappeared below the ledge.

Applejack continued to stare at where Rarity had fallen for a moment more before turning to Pinkie.

"Well, Pinks, what do you think?" she asked the pink mare. She blinked in surprise at the uncharacteristically solemn smile on Pinkie's face. 

"Honestly, Applejack," she said trotting next to the cowpony, "I'm just happy to see you girls again," she cast a glance below just in time to see Rarity hit the ground below and trot next to Twilight. 

"I haven't had a lot of fun since I woke up, and I think we're all long overdue," she looked at Applejack, her signature cheery smile back in place, "let's get the hay out of here so I can throw you all the biggest reunion party ever!"

She wrapped Applejack in a crushing hug before leaping off the edge.

Applejack watched with a soft smile as Pinkie landed next to Twilight and Rarity. She chuckled to herself and adjusted her stetson.

"Welp, ah guess there's nuthin' for it."

She jumped out of the opening to stand with the rest of her friends.

On the ground below, Twilight watched as Applejack leapt out of the annex building. The orange earth pony slammed into the ground with a deafening boom and trotted up to Twilight with a confident grin.

"So what's the plan, Twi?" she asked, dusting off her stetson.

Twilight turned her gaze to the golem just ahead.

Fluttershy had recovered by now and was repeatedly pounding at one of the giant's massive arms as it blocked her blows. Rainbow Dash was trying to circle around but was stopped at every turn by a surprisingly quick swipe of its other arm.

The lavender mare casually trotted around the perimeter of the battle as she examined the golem's movements. Eventually the metal giant turned away from her and Twilight saw what she was looking for.

"Applejack, Pinkie Pie."

The two mares in question looked at Twilight expectantly.

"I need you two to get behind the golem while Rainbow and Fluttershy are distracting it," she asked without taking her eyes off the golem, "there should be a glowing runic circle on the nape of its neck. See if you can climb up and stab it - and try not to draw too much attention to yourselves."

"Can do, Twilight," Applejack said with a tip of her hat.

"Leave it to me!" Pinkie cried with a mock salute.

"Oh, and one more thing," Twilight added, "the moment you incapacitate the golem, get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and meet me on the roof of the annex building."  

The two ponies glanced at each other with raised eyebrows but nodded to Twilight all the same. They both turned to the golem and waited for it to look away before dashing forward.

"What do you need me to do, darling?" Rarity asked, trotting next to Twilight.

"I doubt disrupting the circle will actually shut the golem down," Twiiight explained, turning to Rarity, "but, at the very least, I'm assuming it'll stop it in its tracks for a few moments."

"I want you to standby and offer any assistance to the others if they need it," she trotted close to Rarity and rested a hoof on her withers, giving her an encouraging smile, "remember, Rarity, as a virus, you have more control over your body than you realize. Don't be afraid to experiment. I'm trusting you to use your best judgement here."

Rarity nodded before raising a quizzical eyebrow.

"What are you going to do, dear?"

Twilight giggled and raised her head to the sky, her sudden wide and toothy smile making Rarity shiver.

"I'm gonna try to kill two nuisances with one airship." 

Rarity's eyes widened and she followed Twilight's gaze. Sure enough, she spotted the behemoth of an aircraft floating overhead just above the annex building - presiding over the battle below like some great sentinel.

She looked back to Twilight in confusion. Before she could respond, Twilight patted her on the shoulder and practically skipped away towards the annex building with a wave.

"Don't worry Rarity!" she called back, "just meet me on the roof once Pinkie and Applejack immobilize the golem! If everything goes well, you and the rest of the girls will get to see something amazing~"

Rarity watched in bewilderment as Twilight launched herself several meters into the air and hit the annex building, galloping at an incredible speed along the wall towards the roof.

"...I don't know what that crazy mare is up to," Rarity muttered to herself, watching Twilight ascend the building, "but I don't think it's anything good."





Rainbow Dash was getting frustrated.

For all her newfound strength and speed, she couldn't manage to hurt the metal monstrosity in any real way. She flew down low, dropping to the ground and galloping towards its legs at top speed.

She had modified her whip scythes so that, rather than having countless wiry whips, she now had one large bladed tendril on either side of her barrel.  

She charged between its legs, bladed whips outstretched in an attempt to trip it up, but learned very quickly how sturdy its spindly legs actually were when it dialed one back and swung it in her direction. 

Rainbow Dash, not expecting the sudden retaliation, couldn't react in time and the silvery limb smashed into her charging form, punting her across the open field like a hoofball.

Reforming her cyan wings, she flipped herself so that she hit the ground hooves first, leaving deep furrows in the dirt as she skidded backwards a few yards. She launched herself back into the air and towards the golem, her tendril born hoofblades forming as she poured on the speed.

This time Rainbow had opted to focus on a rapid hit-and-run tactic, slashing at the giant repeatedly as she blurred by.    

Fluttershy, for all her mindless rage, was having no more luck than Rainbow Dash. In her state, she couldn't form any kind of plan of attack and simply zipped around the golem, pounding her armored hooves into whatever she could reach.

The impacts were heavy, but did little more than stagger the thing for a second or two before it righted itself and countered with a swing of its fists. 

She was sent screaming to the ground more often than not due to her rather clumsy attacks, but she was never down for more than a few seconds before flying back into the fray with a feral roar. In short, they seemed to be in an odd stalemate of sorts.

All the flailing about wasn't doing too much to help Applejack and Pinkie's situation.

They were able to stay out of the golem's sight well enough, but the constant movement made it difficult get any kind of leeway to climb the thing. Pinkie had eventually gotten the idea to just leap up onto its back, but every time she or Applejack tried, they were either forced to dodge a stray swipe from the golem or a blind charge from Fluttershy.

Rarity stood by, biting her lip and trying to figure out how best to help her struggling friends. Something was nagging at her in the back of her mind - telling her that she was forgetting something.

Something important and obvious.

Unfortunately for the life her - and her friends - she couldn't figure out what it was. She cast a glance upwards towards the roof of the annex building. She spotted Twilight sitting on her haunches and observing the scene below, her patient smile firmly in place.

As she swept her gaze over the field, she met Rarity's eyes. They looked at each other for a moment and Twilight could see the indecision in her eyes, even from where she was sitting.

She glanced at the golem and her other friends briefly before turning her attention back to Rarity. Without a word, she slowly raised a hoof and tapped her horn a few times - never taking her black eyes off the white mare.

Down below, Rarity furrowed her brow in confusion before it shot up in realization. 

She was a unicorn.

She had access to magic.

Rarity would have facehoofed had the situation not been so dire. Instead she turned to face the golem, sizing it up. She wasn't sure how the virus had affected her magic and the idea that anything could happen was enough to make her hesitate for a few seconds.

The most effective thing she could think to do was try to hold the golem down with telekinesis, but did she even have enough power to do such a thing?

She glanced back at Twilight nervously.

Twilight, who hadn't taken her eyes off the mare, nodded with an encouraging smile.

Rarity looked back towards the golem and let out a sigh of resignation.

"Well," Rarity muttered, "here goes everything..."

She lit up her horn.

It blazed and sparked with a black aura. 

And Rarity cried out in shock as the golem was suddenly thrown down and pinned to the ground.

The sudden and complete dichotomy of absolute power and crippling weakness she felt was enough to send her crumpling to the ground. It didn't hurt exactly but Rarity found the sensation extremely unpleasant.

It felt as though a claw had reached into her wellspring and wrenched all of her magic out at once 

Still, she grit her teeth and fought through the jarring experience, struggling to get back to her hooves as she maintained her telekinetic hold.

The rest of the girls had been caught unprepared by the sudden assistance.

Pinkie had overshot one of her jumps when the golem fell and crashed into a distracted Rainbow Dash, causing them both to fall to the ground in a heap. 

Applejack had the misfortune of being below the golem when it fell and wasn't able to completely escape being pinned under the thing, her hind legs now stuck beneath it. 

Fluttershy had immediately taken the opportunity to drop down onto the metal giant and continue her frenzied attack - incidentally striking the runic circle at the bottom of the golem's neck.

The circle suddenly sparked and a bright blue jolt of electricity sent the yellow pegasus flying backwards off of the construct. The blue glow in the golem's eye began to flicker and its body started to spasm against Rarity's hold. 

Far above, Twilight giggled at the ridiculous situation her friends had found themselves in before turning her attention to the airship with a wide grin of anticipation.

"Showtime~"

Her horn flared to life, glowing a deep black.






The  feedback from the destroyed runic circle had knocked Fluttershy out cold before she even hit the ground.

Rainbow Dash cried out as the yellow mare rolled to a stop, unmoving.

"Pinkie!" she growled, squirming under the pink pony, "get off of-"

Rainbow blinked and looked up in confusion.

Pinkie was no longer sitting on top of her.

"...me?"

she stood up, looking around and eventually spotting the pink mare. She was already busy pulling Applejack out from under the golem. Looking closer, Rainbow could see what looked like desperation on her face.

"...What the buck?" Rainbow muttered narrowing her eyes.

"Girls!" Pinkie suddenly cried, "we need to go! Now!"

"What?" Rainbow called back in confusion, "Why? We finally got this thing on... the... ropes..." Rainbow Dash trialed off as she heard a low familiar rumble that seem to grow louder by the second. It was also then that she noticed the sky getting progressively darker and darker.

She swallowed nervously, looked up, and froze.

The airship was falling.

The entire bucking airship was falling from the sky.

And it was set to crash right on top of them all.


"...Oh buck me."


Rainbow could swear she heard maniacal laughter somewhere in the distance but she was in too much shock to pay it any attention. She was snapped out of her shock when a frantic Pinkie Pie grabbed her face.

"Grab Fluttershy and get to the roof!" Pinkie cried before releasing the cyan pegasus and galloping over to help Applejack with an unconscious Rarity.

Rainbow Dash looked from Pinkie to the airship that was slowly but surely making its fatal descent to the ground. She shivered and sped off to grab Fluttershy, completely ignoring the spastically twitching golem.

"What in Tartarus was she thinkin'?" Applejack growled as she hoisted Rarity onto her back, "ah swear to Celestia, when ah get mah hooves on that mare..."

"Threats later, escape now!" Pinkie said, pushing the orange mare towards the building. It was then that Rainbow Dash flew by overhead carrying Fluttershy in her hooves.

"I'll meet you girls up top!" she called out before rapidly ascending to the roof above. 

Pinkie and Applejack were left to gallop the rest of way to the annex building as the airship continued to fall. As it got closer, the ground began to shake underneath them and they stumbled slightly, though it was enough to slow them down.

"Ah, horseapples!" Applejack yelled over the roar of the airship, "ah don't think we're gonna make it, Pinkie!"

"Oh, we're gonna make it!" Pinkie called back, narrowing her eyes. Applejack looked towards her pink friend in confusion.

"What are ya-"

A mass of tendrils suddenly swarmed Pinkie's entire body for a brief second before a dark gray thestral appeared in her place. Before Applejack could comment, the thestral formerly known as Pinkie leapt into the air and flew over her, grabbing ahold of Rarity as she passed by.

"I'll take care of Rarity!" she yelled out, "if you can't change, then run! Remember, AJ, you're a superpony now!"

At that, she flew upwards towards the others.

Applejack stared after her for a moment before furrowing her brow and shooting the building a determined look.

"A superpony, huh?"

With a snort, she pounded her hooves into the grass beneath her and shot towards the building at a speed to match Rainbow's in the air. Tendrils wrapped themselves around her legs as she galloped and with a grunt of effort, she pushed herself off the ground and into the air clearing half the building in a single leap.

She hit the wall of the building galloping at top speed and as she got closer to the top, she could feel the vibrations from the airship as the cone of the envelope passed her by. Looking up she could see Pinkie - once again sporting her bright pink coat - frantically gesturing her to hurry. 

No sooner did the pink mare call out to her than she flipped herself up and over the edge, landing right next to Rainbow Dash. She wanted to say something but found herself heavily distracted by her lavender friend. 

Twilight stood near the edge of the roof, laughing with perverse joy as she watched the massive ship descend further and further to the ground where the giant construct still lay, prone and twitching.

Each of the still conscious mares stared at Twilight with a mix of worry and outright horror. They turned to each other, each silently begging the other to talk to the madmare.

Eventually it was Applejack that stepped up to the plate. She swallowed and slowly trotted up to Twilight. As she got closer she cast a quick glance at the airship.

It was now close enough that she could see a faint black aura surrounding the entirety of the ship. She couldn't help but shudder as she observed the ponies and griffons still in the airship, pounding against the windows of the gondola in vain. She could see a few griffons that had made it out of the ship, only to be pinned against the hull by the oppressive aura.

"Uh, Twilight?" she asked hesitantly, stopping directly behind the laughing pony, "Sugarcube?"


The laughter stopped abruptly.


Applejack's heart skipped a beat as the lavender mare casually turned to face her orange friend - a warm smile on her face and her horn still alight and burning with a black aura.

"Applejack," Twilight greeted pleasantly, "I'm so glad you and other girls made it up here," she turned to face the ship as she spoke, "looks like my plan worked just like I intended. I'm honestly a bit surprised. Although..."

She frowned as she continued to observe the airship. 

"I think we might still be within the blast radius."

Applejack stared at Twilight.

"Well, it shouldn't be too much of a problem," Twilight continued with a shrug, "my magic has gotten way more of a boost than I was expecting so I should be able to at least redirect the explosion away from us."

"Twi-"

"It's strange though," Twilight said, tapping her chin with a hoof, "apparently I don't have access to my viral abilities while my magic is in effect. And then there's this odd feeling of-"

"Twilight!"

"Yes, Applejack?" she asked innocently.

"What the buck is wrong with you!?" Applejack shouted, "ya'll nearly got us killed with this little stunt o' yours! In fact," she gestured to the airship, "we're still about ta be blown straight to Tartarus!"

"Well, theoretically we'd probably be-"

"Don't gimme any o' yer theories, Twi!" Applejack interjected, jabbing Twilight in the chest with a hoof "ya bucked up and ya need ta own up ta-"

Applejack's tirade was cut short as Pinkie yanked her backwards towards the opposite end of the roof.

"Pinkie!" Applejack cried struggling in the pink pony's grip, "What are ya-"


The airship exploded.


Twilight reacted in an instant.

She whipped around to face the oncoming shockwave, a second layer of magic enveloping her horn. The blast from the impact sped towards the annex building and crashed against a large black dome that had flashed into existence at the last second.

Twilight's scream of agony was drowned out by the boom of the explosion as it washed over the magic barrier. After a few more moments the barrier began to crack under the strain. The rest of the girls looked on with increasing worry as Twilight grit her teeth against the pain in her horn. 

"This... isn't... fun anymore..." Twilight grunted out. With an astronomical effort, she turned to her friends with watery amethyst eyes.

"Girls... gather round... hurry."

Seeing the intense pain evident on Twilight's face, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack rushed over to where Twilight was standing - Rainbow and Applejack carrying Fluttershy and Rarity respectively.

Once they were gathered, Twilight clenched her eyes shut, and began the mental preparations for a blind long range teleportation spell. 

I didn't want to do this, she thought worriedly, I have no idea where we are and we could end up anywhere, but I don't have a choice anymore.

Her vision began to fade.

I'm sorry, girls.

With another scream of pain, she wrapped her horn in a third layer of magic, dropped the barrier just as the blast ended, and - before any of her friends could react - they all popped out of existence.

Twilight never saw where they had reappeared.





Elsewhere, approximately 1200 kilometers north of the Griffonian Empire, a griffon with white feathers and a light gray coat stood atop a tower, gazing straight ahead with eyes glazed over from boredom. 

Svanhild Sharp Talon had an easy job.

Don the Squawken Town Guard uniform, grab her mom's old crappy rifle, fly up to the guard tower, stare at the snow covered wilderness outside the town gates for five hours until her shift ended.

That was it.

That was her job.

That was her life.

She hated her job and her life.

She remembered a time long ago when she was just a hatchling, running up to her mother with stars in her eyes as she begged her to take her up to the guard tower with her. Her mother would just laugh as she picked up her rifle and patted Svanhild on the head. 

"Trust me, Svanny," she would say, "this job is a lot less glamorous than you think it is."

And then she would take off to the tower, leaving her pouting daughter behind.

Despite her mother's warnings, Svanhild insisted on joining her mother, and her mother in turn would tell her the same thing every time, but Svanhild didn't believe it.

She wouldn't believe it. 

Her mother and the rest of the Town Guard were heroes!

Squawken may have only been a small hamlet at the base of the snowy Tassel Mountain Range, but they still did everything in their power to protect it from the monsters and bandits outside the gates!

Being part of the Squawken Town Guard was an honor among honors!

She was a fool.

There was no honor in pacing back and forth on a small platform all day.

Staring at nothing for hours on end wasn't heroic.

There were no monsters to defend against, no bandits to drive away.

There was nothing.

Nothing to do but blankly stare at the endless white wilderness and pace this Emperor forsaken tower, day after day.

She wanted something to change.

She needed something to change.

At this point she didn't care what it was, she needed some excitement in her dreary life.

So naturally, when she witnessed a sudden flash of light about a mile out of town, she jumped at the opportunity to investigate.

Sure, it was a bit farther outside perimeter than she was allowed to go, and sure she should've at least taken another guard with her, but she wasn't thinking about that.

The only thought on her mind right then was what new - and hopefully exciting - thing she would find when she got there.

Whatever it was, it had to be better than just standing around all day.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot.

Once a city of great wealth and prosperity.

The seat of power for a beloved princess and her equally beloved sister.

The very heart of Equestria and the pony race.

Now?

Now it was a filthy, rundown, decrepit, oversized joke of a town not even fit to be called a shadow of it's former self. The castle that once graced the cliffside of Mount Canterhorn had long since crumbled and fallen into and around the river far below, right along with the rest of the cliff. 

What remained was a broken, war-torn city overrun with bandits, cutthroats, prostitutes, and equally broken ponies.

No longer was Canterlot the heart of Equestria.

No longer did anypony remember their benevolent Solar Princess.

No longer could Cloudy Dawn bear to call this place her home.

The snow white unicorn mare cast her somber gaze over the wretched city from atop a cliff further up what remained of Mount Canterhorn. Her cold magenta eyes swept across the town and stopped at the far edge, where Canterlot Castle had once stood, every bit as regal and graceful as the sisters who once ruled there.

Her gaze lingered for another moment before she snorted and turned to leave, her dark brown cloak and bright pink mane flapping vigorously in the strong winds buffeting the mountain.

Canterlot will rise again one day, sister, the mare thought as she began her long trek down the mountain, with their help, I will find you, and we'll take back this city together.


I swear it.





Over sixteen years.

I've put up with this farce for over sixteen years.

I've had to keep that mare alive, hidden, and contained for over sixteen years.

For over sixteen years I've been a puppet, dancing on the strings held by that accursed stallion.

For over sixteen years I've had to wear this mask, and I'm sick of it!

A chitinous, hole-riddled black hoof slammed into the vanity, sunken emerald irises glaring into the fractured reflection in the shattered mirror.

I curse the day I found that wretched horn!

The emaciated hoof slowly dropped back to the floor.

"I was a fool."

A desperate fool, but a fool nonetheless. I wanted my power back, I want my revenge, I wanted to make my children strong again.

I wanted love.

And he gave me nothing. 

Nothing but a false crown.

Nothing but the threat of total extinction for what remains of my race.

And there's nothing I can do.

Nothing except to sabotage his little project.

A cruel smile appeared on Chrysalis' gaunt face.

"Oh, Sombra," she said with a chuckle, "You'd better pray the fruits of your labor never make it out of that facility."

A sharp knock sounded on the door of Queen Luna's royal bedchamber.

"Pardon the intrusion, Your Highness," a nasally voice called out from behind the door, "but King Sombra has requested your presence in the throne room."

A flash of green fire lit up the bedchamber briefly. 

Donning her crown and royal raiment, Queen Luna stepped out of the bedroom and into the grand halls of the Crystal Palace, an imperious frown adorning her features.

"Run ahead and tell His Royal Majesty I will be there shortly."