The Exorcism of Rarity Belle
<___|=o
Applejack ran over to Rainbow and Flutterbat who were occupied staring over Fluttershy’s body. “Ah know this is tough but we need to move now!”
“I just… never imagined I’d see this,” Rainbow muttered.
Mare Do-Well and Pinkie walked in and grabbed them both. “Friends, enemies, there’s always the possibility of death. That’s what happens in the field. I know this is hard but you need to stay focused. Rarity is our friend and unless we have everypony we won’t be able to help her.”
The two were silent but nodded resolutely. Pinkie turned to Luna who was now being looked after by the resistance members. “Luna, is there any way we can get Nightmare out of her?”
Luna hung her head in shame. “I… do not believe so. I struggled with Nightmare Moon for a thousand years and was unable to overcome her. I mean no offense, but I do not think one such as Rarity can.”
Everypony was silent again. Applejack racked her brain for something, anything that could help her friend. In desperation, she rummaged through her pockets. She was startled to find something was there. She pulled out a small paper doll. Ah was makin’ this when Pinkie took us all here, she remembered. Then an idea struck her. She looked to Flutterbat and, a little harder, Fluttershy. She knew how to help Rarity.
“Twilight!” Mare Do-Well turned. “Ah need you to get me some paper and ink.” Immediately, Mare Do-Well produced a small sheet of paper and a quill form her belt. “How did…”
“Always be prepared.”
Applejack smiled. “Right. Rainbow, Flutterbat. Ah need you two to distract Rarity and bring her back down here. When they’re low enough, Pinkie, can you hold her in place?”
Pinkie looked unsure. “Well…”
“Ah’ll help.” The other Applejack stepped forward. “Whatever it is. Ah’ll help.”
Applejack nodded gratefully. “Okay.” Rainbow and Flutterbat flew off into the sky while Pinkie stood off to the side with the other Applejack in wait. She knelt down on the ground and began drawing on the slip of paper. Odd symbols that even she didn’t know the true meaning of but had been shown many times.
“What are you doing?” Mare Do-Well asked.
“Remember how Ah said Fluttershy in mah world was a shrine maiden. Let’s just say Ah’ve seen mah fair share of her work.”
Mare Do-Well nodded thoughtfully. “An exorcism?”
Applejack stopped drawing and looked at her. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
Mare Do-Well looked around in confusion before spying Suntrix on the wall. “Right.”
Applejack smiled a little, the crashing of the two titans in the sky echoing off the clouds above. “Ah just hope this works.”
~`(\/)’~
Inside her head, Rarity could hear nothing. She could feel nothing. That awful sight had struck her down once more. She felt her own despair surround her. Then the others came and the despair grew, with her unable to escape it like a swamp pulling her down. She felt the last of her consciousness fade only to be replaced with the evil that tried to free itself, and now had finally succeeded. All was black.
Outside, Nightmare Moon lunged with powerful dark magic surrounding her and pierced Celestia’s armor in the shoulder. The princess cried out in pain as the demon pulled its horn free and laughed maniacally. “All the pain and misery in this world,” she chuckled. “And the best part is that I have you to thank for it.” She threw her hooves wide in the air as lightning struck against the sky. “Forget Rarity’s little world. Could I have asked for a better world to conquer?”
Celestia fumed and conjured fireballs again, five surrounding and spinning around her before shooting out. “I told you before! You are merely an abomination! Besides, without Luna’s power you will go down like anypony!” Nightmare cast a glance at Celestia’s fireballs and smiled as she swatted them away. Each one flew off in a different direction. “What?!”
The black alicorn laughed. “In case, you haven’t noticed, Celestia. I’m in my true form again. Just like with Luna before her, anger and despair has overtaken our precious Rarity and I am more free than I have ever been.” She unfolded her wings and let the dark magic build around her. “Amazing what the death of a loved one can do. So much misery and anguish in the air. I can even feel it coming off of you.”
Celestia’s face twisted in fury and she charged. She moved with the speed of a comet and caught Nightmare off guard. The two collided and spun in the air throwing punches that could shatter buildings at their faces. “I am not to blame! You controlled my actions! You took Sunset’s life, not me! You are the monster here!”
Nightmare laughed. “Is that what my counterpart did? That’s brilliant. Very similar to what I did to Rarity I suppose. Though she held up much better than you.” Celestia smashed her hoof into Nightmare’s face.
“SHUT UP!!”
Having enough of this, Nightmare’s eyes glowed blue and she let out a pulse of dark energy. Celestia was catapulted off of her and spun in the air before being slammed in the back and pinned to a cloud. Nightmare pulled her wing behind her back until a snap was heard and she screamed in pain. “You know the difference between you and me?” she leaned in to whisper in the pinned princess’ ear. “I own my actions. You? You hide behind your veil of tragedy. Pity is so much weaker than fear. But you already know that don’t you?”
Out of nowhere, a rainbow blur slammed into Nightmare’s side and knocked her off balance. Celestia took this moment to spin around and blast her with beams of heat from her horn. Nightmare cried out but her magic surrounding her kept her safe.
Rainbow Dash and Flutterbat landed on the cloud next to Celestia. “What are you doing here?” she asked through the pain. Rainbow didn’t turn around.
“Not here to save you, that’s for sure,” she said viciously. “We’re just here for Rarity.”
Nightmare rolled her eyes while she floated in the sky. “Ugh, I’d love to come and play with you girls, but I’m kind of in the middle of showing this fool just who the real villain is here.”
“How about now?” Rainbow nodded to Flutterbat who let out a deafening screech. Nightmare wasn’t prepared for such an attack and felt the full brunt of it, her cries drowned out by the sonic scream. Rainbow put a hoof on Flutterbat encouraging her to continue. “Just a little more.”
Nightmare finally reacted when she let loose a pulse of dark magic from her horn. It headed directly for Rainbow and Flutterbat but a wall of red magic protected them. Rainbow turned around in surprise. “You? Why?”
Celestia let her magic barrier go and she slumped to the cloud’s surface. “I… I don’t know.”
Nightmare was veritably pissed now. She glared furiously at the two. “Congratulations, girls! You now have my full attention!”
“DIVE!” Rainbow commanded and Flutterbat jumped. They both sailed down to the ground with the black alicorn right behind them.
Celestia pulled herself to the edge of the cloud to follow but when she tried to fly she felt her broken wing seize up. She winced and looked back down at the melee below. A feeling she hadn’t had in a long time building up inside her.
---<^^>---
Mare Do-Well had an easy enough time getting Suntrix down the hard part was getting her to wake up. Smelling salts and slapping wouldn’t help. She laid her down on the ground and examined her. The mare seemed to have been through hell. Not surprising since she had previously been in some world with giant killer dragons and then tortured in a world as cruel as this one.
The convenience of it didn’t escape her though. Out of all the worlds in the multiverse, Suntrix just happens to travel to the one that knows about her and could use her? That didn’t seem like a coincidence. Somepony was behind this. Whether it was Mr. 4 or not was suspect but her deductive mind was telling her something didn’t feel right about all this.
Just outside the shattered wall of the lab was a towered courtyard. Mare Do-Well looked up to see the blurs of her companions coming down towards it. Good. An open area. Easy for Fili-Second to work. Applejack’s plan was going well.
She pulled Suntrix and herself over to the edge of the wall and looked out. Rainbow and Flutterbat had landed with Nightmare on their tail. They stood facing each other and the tall alicorn grinned. “Fun chase, Rainbow! But play time’s over!”
A whistle came from one of the parapets. Mare Do-Well looked up to see the other Applejack standing on top of a gargoyle above. “Hey, sore ears!”
A pink blur whizzed past Nightmare and perched itself on top of the opposite parapet. “Why don’t you pick on somepony who can keep up?”
“Hey!” Rainbow shouted.
“Oops,” Fili-Second chuckled. “Sorry.”
Mare Do-Well looked at the situation. Good. The speedsters would keep her from flying off and Rainbow and Flutterbat could keep her confined to the courtyard. Still, she felt like she should do something.
“Feelin’ kind of useless?” Applejack walked up behind her smirking.
“A little.”
“Now you know how Ah felt with those Black Wyrms.”
She was about to retort but it was true. She kind of left her out of the plan there. “Fine,” she grinned. “Is it ready?”
Applejack pulled out a small slip of paper. The symbols drawn on it were incomprehensible to her, but even she could feel the mystical energies building inside it. “You sure this is going to work?”
“We can only hope.”
---
Back in the court, Nightmare let out a raged yell that echoed to the sky. “You imbecilic fools seriously believe you can take me? Even with all of you? In case you don’t remember, only the Elements of Harmony can bring me down. And from where I stand, your one short.”
She conjured two balls of darkness and shot them in opposite directions at the other Applejack and Pinkie. They quickly dodged them and ran down the walls of the parapets. While she was distracted, Flutterbat sent another sonic screech at Nightmare. This time she was prepared and erected a thin sound proof barrier around herself. “You honestly thought that would work again?” she sneered.
“No, but this might.” Nightmare didn’t have time to turn. She just noticed that Rainbow was gone and in that instant a massive rainbow explosion collided with her jaw. She flew from her hooves and landed embedded in the far wall. Rainbow skidded to a stop and landed in Flutterbat’s arms. “Wow, never tried a Sonic Rainboom without a big windup like that.” Her feet collapsed and her strength left her. “Now I guess I see why.”
Nightmare pulled herself from the wall and landed on her knees. “You… miserable… wretched… insects!” Her eyes glowed with an ethereal fury and she stalked toward them. Two blurs of red and pink stopped her and began to circle her faster and faster. “Get away!”
She swatted and tried to hit the speedsters but they were too fast. Finally, Nightmare let out another angry scream and a bubble of darkness expelled outward. Pinkie and the other Applejack flew in different directions.
“Finally!” Nightmare shouted. “Get out of my way now or…” she stopped as her back left hoof caught and she stumbled. She looked back to find a wire with a large “M” at the end wrapped around it and tugging her back.
Mare Do-Well slid to the bottom of the wall and landed in the courtyard, the wire wrapped around her hoof and Suntrix slung over her shoulder. “You just had to be a part of the climax,” Applejack said as she slid down with her.
Mare Do-Well shrugged. “Okay, so I’m a glory hog.”
Nightmare’s face contorted in fury and she screamed. Energy crackled around her and the wire around her legs evaporated. “I have had enough! You’ve all given it your best shots and all its accomplished is to piss me off! None of you have what it takes so roll over and die!”
“There’s still somepony else who hasn’t tried,” Mare Do-Well smirked. Nightmare reeled on her and was about to blast her when she saw that Applejack wasn’t next to her anymore. The sound of straining metal came from above and she looked up to see the orange mare straddling herself between several parapets with the ropes from her 3-D device. With the press of a button she let the rope retract and she fell down.
Applejack smacked right into Nightmare’s forehead and slapped the paper talisman on it between the eyes. With a flip, she jumped away from the startled alicorn and all was silent. For the longest second nothing seemed to happen. Then Nightmare laughed. Small at first but it grew in pitch and power. She glared at them through the paper.
“You seriously thought something like this could stop me? What is this, a sticky note?”
For a brief moment everypony felt their hopes dashed. Then the symbols on the talisman began to glow. Nightmare didn’t notice at first but soon the glow became too bright for her not to notice. “Wait, what is-”
A flash of brilliant white light erupted from the talisman. As if her body had turned fluid, Nightmare’s form began to twist and drain itself into the talisman. She cried out and tried to struggle against it but it was for naught. “No! No! Not again! I WON’T BE TRAPPED AGAIN!!!”
Her words fell on empty ears as the last of her form was swallowed into the talisman and disappeared. The small slip of paper hung in the air, an ethereal dark glow surrounding it. After several long seconds Pinkie got impatient. “Uh, shouldn’t Rarity be…”
Another flash and this time from the opposite side of the talisman a white mare spilled out. Slowly Rarity’s form took shape and she stood before them, eyes blank. Then the light from the talisman dissipated and it fluttered to the ground, Rarity soon after.
Mare Do-Well ran and scooped up Rarity before she could fall. For all intents and purposes she looked fine. She was unconscious too so there was no way she could be using a disguising spell. This was her true form once more. Mare Do-Well looked at the talisman on the ground. It glowed with a dark ominous light that made her feel uncomfortable. She picked it up and slipped it in her pocket. Best to get rid of that later.
“Did… did we do it?” Rainbow asked weakly.
“Ah think so,” Applejack smiled.
“Yeah!” From above a small murmur came. They all looked up to see Luna at the edge of the destroyed wall looking down with a cadre of other ponies.
“Are you alright, my friends?” she asked.
“We’re fine!” Pinkie shouted happily. She ran over and put Dash in a bear hug. Flutterbat followed suit and jumped on Applejack, wrapping warmly around her neck.
“And my sister?” Luna asked, slightly worriedly.
Rainbow frowned. “She’s on that...” she pointed to the cloud Celestia had been on but the princess was gone. “Huh.”
“Did she run away?” “Where did Celestia go?” “What do we do now?” There were more murmurs from above and they became more worried by the second.
“Now listen here!” the other Applejack had ran up the wall and stopped in the midst of the crowd. “Ah don’t know where Celestia went, but Ah can tell you right now that if she ever comes again. Ah’ll be here to take her down. You have my word.”
“And mine!” somepony who Mare Do-Well recognized as the one Luna called Amethyst shouted. “And Luna will lead us to a new better Equestria!”
A shout of joy went up among the ponies but Luna held out her hooves. “Everypony calm down! I will do no such thing!” They were silent again. “If anything, this ordeal has proven how somepony like me cannot be a ruler. One cannot be a leader and a god.” Luna walked back into the room and stood over Fluttershy’s body.
The other Applejack walked up to her. “Ah know what you’re sayin’ and Ah respect it. But if you recall, you aint as strong as Celestia anymore. If you wanted to… you could live like one of us. What do you say?”
Luna mulled over her words for a moment then slowly smiled. “I… suppose I could create some kind of provisional government. But I will not be your princess.”
“Fine by me.” They both shook hooves and the crowd cheered again.
Below them Mare Do-Well still held Rarity in her arms. Suntrix lay nearby as well and the other four were busy congratulating themselves and celebrating. “I guess that’s it then.”
Applejack pushed Flutterbat’s friendly face away and smiled. “Right. Still got a job to do.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow muttered. “Though there’s probably gonna be some kind of feast for taking down the evil dictator.” Mare Do-Well simply stared at her. “Fine.”
She turned to Pinkie. “Fili-Second, would you-”
“NO!!” The shout came from above them. They all turned to see a familiar pony jump from the castle parapets and slam down above them on a sheet of ice that seemed to appear from nowhere. She jumped from there to the ground below and let the ice above form a high vaulted ceiling that shut off the courtyard. Before them all stood Twilight Sparkle. “I give you ample chances to use it and you blow it! I even give you an epic boss fight and you blow it!” She glared at Fili-Second. “I’m especially disappointed in you, Pinkie!”
Mare Do-Well was taken aback by the sudden appearance. Memories locked away, threatened to rise but she shook them off. She was about to ask Pinkie what she meant but the pink mare had seemed to be frozen in fear. “T-Twilight. Wh-Wh-What are you doing here?”
Pillars of ice sprang from the side of the court enclosing them further and cutting off their escape. Above them, Mare Do-Well could hear the sounds of hooves hacking away at the ice dome but it was futile. “You had one job to do, Pinkie!” Twilight shouted. “One. Very. Simple. Job!”
Pinkie cowered behind Dash. “I… I didn’t…”
“Hey, you can’t talk to her like that,” Rainbow shouted. “…whoever you are.”
“Graaah!” Twilight shouted. “You are all such idiots!”
Applejack stepped forward. “Look Ah don’t know what this is about but you need to cool down.”
Twilight’s eye twitched. “Cool down?” Frost began to build up around her hooves and up her torso. “I am cool. I’m freezing. I’m the coolest in the multiverse! I am…” the ice around her took shape and exploded to reveal a magenta body suit. Around her chest and horn were pieces of crystal blue armor and a mask now donned her features. Even her mane had changed shape, getting pushed back in a wave. “The Masked Matterhorn! Leader of the Power Ponies!”
Mare Do-Well narrowed her eyes. So this was the one that had been in the Veloci-Lair. The one Pinkie had been taking orders from. An old teammate. An old leader. An old friend.
“Twilight, please don’t do this,” Pinkie muttered quietly.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Twilight shouted angrily. “I had the battle gift wrapped for you and you couldn’t get them to activate!”
Rainbow looked confused. “What are talking about?”
“The Elements!” Matterhorn shouted hysterically, her eyes more pleading than crazy. “You are supposed to reveal the Elements! No, not just that! If I’m right, and I’m always right, you six are supposed to be the Elements! Don’t you want to save the multiverse?”
Mare Do-Well stepped forward now. “Maybe if you’d come out and explained all this we could have worked together toward that goal.”
“Shut up!!” Twilight turned and with her magic grabbed the unconscious Suntrix. Mare Do-Well tried to catch her but Twilight was too fast. She put Suntrix next to her and formed a ring of ice around her neck. “Fight me or she dies!”
“Twilight stop! You don’t need to do this!” Pinkie shouted. “I-I’ll try harder!”
“Fight!!” The ring squeezed a little tighter around Suntrix throat and the mare let out a small groan.
Mare Do-Well kept her hooves up in a gesture of peace. “Look, we still don’t know what it is you want? Instead of putting lives at risk just set her down and-” The ring got tighter and Suntrix choked a little, her eyes fluttering. “Twilight! Stop this! This isn’t you!”
“And you would know!” Matterhorn shouted with a grin. “You may be me, but you have no idea what I’ve been through. The decisions I’ve had to make. The friends I’ve left behind!” The ring tightened one more time and Suntrix became fully awake again. Her eyes darting in a panic, but unable to speak. “Fight me or she dies!”
Mare Do-Well took a step back. “I… I don’t w-”
Suddenly Suntrix grimaced and, with what looked like amazing effort, opened another rift in space. Her horn glowed as the rip got bigger but the ice collar was still cutting off her air. She tried to concentrate but eventually succumbed to lack of oxygen. Though as she fell unconscious once more, the rift did not cede. Instead, without somepony to control it, the rip in the air grew bigger and bigger. Twilight took a few hesitant steps back, panicking. She let go of her hold on Suntrix but the mare still floated in the air. Her eyes fluttered lazily, a bright powerful light shining through them.
As the rift got to a certain point things like rocks and cobblestones began to get sucked in. Mare Do-Well slammed a grappling hook into the ice on the far side of the rift and held on with Rarity. Pinkie was almost catatonic so Rainbow held her, flapping her wings as hard as they would go. Applejack activate her 3-D device again and anchored herself to the other side with Flutterbat. Twilight tried to cement herself in place with a large mass of ice at her feet.
“What did you do?” Applejack asked over the sound of the vacuum.
“I… I don’t know!” Twilight replied.
A loud sound exploded from the rift, shattering most of the fragile ice around it. It was a sound that made everypony feel a cold shiver run down their spines. Just as it ended, the rift became larger and its vacuum became even stronger.
---
Elsewhere in the multiverse, a small gray alicorn felt the earth tremble beneath her hooves and shiver run down her spine. She looked to the sky with wide eyes full of panic. “Is it knocking?” She shrank a little as the world around her looked a little bit bigger and little bit scarier. “Oh, Noteworthy, what have you done?”
---
A loud crack and the point at the end of Applejack’s tether broke off, her and Flutterbat flying into the void and disappearing. “No!” Mare Do-Well shouted but was unheard over the din. Her harness was the next to snap and she carried Rarity with her into the breach. Rainbow pushed harder and harder but it was obvious that the vacuum was winning. She looked down at Pinkie who was still trembling.
“Pinkie! You have to do something!”
Pinkie looked weakly up at Dash and then saw Twilight. Her confidence waned and she sunk into the mare’s arms again. “I… I’m sorry.” With one last gasp they were both sucked in.
The last one, Twilight kicked herself for her foolishness. “No, I can’t let it end like this!” Her ice finally cracked and she was pulled full force into the now giant vortex. She flew past Suntrix and in that instant grabbed the mare’s arm. “If I’m going then you’re going with me!”
They both fell into the vortex and disappeared. With the source of the magic gone the hole began to turn in on itself and shrunk, finally disappearing with a blip.
<___|=o
In the sky, a large colorful hole opened up. Applejack and Flutterbat dropped out of it and into what looked like a street. Applejack rubbed her head wearily and got up, Flutterbat beside her. “You okay?”
“Flutterbat good,” she replied.
Applejack took a look around her. It was a city, with tall buildings as far as she could see. Much bigger than any building she had ever known. The road they were on was strange as well. Covered in something black and hard. But the most peculiar thing about this world wasn’t the building or the road. “Where’d all the color go?” Everything was monochrome.
Suddenly large bangs could be heard from not too far away and the sounds of screams. “Get ready for anythin’,” she told Flutterbat. They got into a battle stance, unsure of what they might face. Then a new sound graced her ears. It was like the screech rubber makes when you rub it, accompanied with a sound like a lion’s roar. Around the corner a large black metal carriage sped and turned toward them, it was followed by another gray metal carriage, though everything was gray here. But once again, that wasn’t the strange thing here. These carriages were unmanned.
The black one drove right at them and Flutterbat had to push Applejack out of the way. She looked at the retreating carriage and saw a pony in a gray suit and hat with a large barreled weapon stick his head out the side. “What in the world?”
The barreled weapon leveled at her head and instinctively she ducked, grabbing Flutterbat’s head as well. Something whizzed over her head with incredible speed and to her shock she saw the pony hadn’t been aiming for her but the carriage chasing him. The weapon’s ammunition hit its target with a few pings but was mainly undamaged. The carriage skidded to a halt in front of them and a mare in a dark cloak and flower hat with glasses stepped out. “Damn it!” The ponies in the black carriage turned another corner and disappeared. The mare reeled on AJ and Flutterbat. “I was trying to avoid you and they got away!”
Applejack held out her hooves in apology. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to-”
The mare narrowed her eyes at her and examined her. “Hey, what are you all dressed up for? Some kind of party?”
“Well, Ah…” she looked to Flutterbat for support but the mare had flown off somewhere. A good call in hindsight, who knew how this mare would react to her. “If you’ll let me explain.”
The mare’s eyes widened when she saw Applejack sword at her side. “What is that!?” With a fluid motion she snatched the katana from her belt.
“Hey! Give that back!”
The mare pulled it out a little and marveled. “Th-This is the Ringogatari! It’s supposed to be in the museum.” She looked at AJ angrily. “The same museum those thieves just robbed!” Another fluid motion and the mare pulled a smaller version of the barreled weapon from before and leveled it at her. “You work for those guys, don’t you?”
“What? No!” Applejack had had enough of this mare. “Who are you, anyway?”
The mare threw off her glasses and smirked. “A. K. Yearling. Archaeologist.”
~`(\/)’~
Rarity awoke to a peculiar sound in her ear. It was like somepony was humming a song. She wearily opened her eyes only to see a tangle of colorful tree branches above her. On one of the branches sat a strangely familiar figure. “Opal?” she murmured. Why was her cat in a tree? The feline’s ears perked up and the humming stopped. Slowly Opal turned her face and looked down at Rarity. Then her mouth opened wide in a grin. Okay, that can’t be Opal. She never smiles. Suddenly, the image of the cat seemed to fade into the air, each part of her slowly dissolving until only the grin was left. “Wait!” Rarity shot up and reached out for the cat but she was gone.
“Good, your awake.” She looked behind her to see Mare Do-Well sitting on the edge of a small bluff. She held a compass out in front of her and kept moving it around. She stopped to look at her. “You… feeling okay?”
Rarity rubbed her head. “I guess. My memory is kind of foggy. I can’t seem to remember getting here.” She checked her hooves just in case they might provide a clue and her eyes widened. “Am… am I… me again?” She lingered on it. The voices weren’t there anymore.
Mare Do-Well seemed to smile at her joy underneath the mask. “I’ll tell you about it later. Right now we need to find out where we are.”
“And where are we?” Rarity asked as she walked up beside her. Her mouth fell agape as she looked out at the landscape. The horizon was hilly with plaid grass and purple trees while the sky was a kind of blue you’d see in the ocean rather than the sky. Above them storm clouds poured, but the rain was going upward. And far off in the distance on the mountain where Canterlot should be she spied a different castle. This one decked out with hearts both black and red. The mountain that held the cliff-side castle also had two eyes and a giant mouth. It appeared to be snoring.
“Frankly,” Mare Do-Well replied. “I have no idea.”
===E8DB
Rainbow struggled to her feet. Her head was swirling around and she felt like she was going to throw up. Beside her Pinkie lay in a heap, her eyes were closed but she was still awake as she could hear her wimpers. She looked around where they had landed. It was a forest. And judging from the sky above it was night time. “Huh, wonder where the others must have fallen.”
She made sure that Pinkie was safe before flying above the trees. The moon hung in the sky illuminating the night around her, but what surprised her more was that day was merely a few miles away. A cloudy day, but she could clearly see the sun through the gray. There it was, a clear cut line between night and day. And there floating above it was a familiar sight for sore eyes. “Sky Glaive?” Her base was still there, stationed right next to the border. “Am I… home?”
{[(SxT)]}
Suntrix and Twilight fell head over heels out of the portal. It sealed immediately behind them with another blip. Twilight struggled to her feet, Suntrix unconscious once more. “Stupid, idiotic, imbecilic…” she stopped muttering to herself when she noticed her surroundings. Everything was on fire. Everywhere she looked, fire spilled from towers. Pits in the earth spewed streams of fire into the sky and beyond. The air was filled with ash and it was hard to breathe. The earth below her was dead, stripped of every nutrient and resource. In the distance was a tall building that scraped the sky and dwarfed every other location within sight. Its obsidian walls and spiked architecture hid noxious machines that spewed forth more flame and ash, and Twilight couldn’t confirm it, but most likely disease too. It was like looking at hell. Then in the distance, bat-like creatures flew toward her. “Oh no.”
She turned to run but bumped into a tall pony. It was fat and smiled at her like it had just chosen another meal. Around its frame it wore a green suit and trailing yellow cape. A long white mane spilled from the back and it looked at her with old hungry eyes. “Oh, a visitor for Nanny Nobility. We never get visitors here.”
Matterhorn tried to ice her over but the atmosphere was too hot and without moisture. Her magic merely puffed away in the air. The demonic ponies finally landed behind them. They were pegasi but without fur or manes. Their eyes also seemed to have been gouged out or scooped with hot pokers, replaced with lenses. They grabbed her with gnarled hooves and gnashed their sharpened teeth at her. “NO!! Let me go!”
Nanny Nobility looked between them. Her eyes narrowing on Suntrix. “Take the unconscious one to your lord.” They bowed their heads and grabbed Suntrix before flying off with her. “As for you, beloved,” it put a hoof under her chin. “Nanny is going to take such good care of you.”
@#$%^&*&^%$#@
Applejack stood at a table with ten other ponies around her. A map was spread across it showing the whole of Equestria. “Now, we tried Manehattan and the east coast. Ah think now we should be tryin’ the west. She’s got to be there somewhere.”
A pony to her side coughed slightly. Applejack turned slowly to him, her hoof on the cross bow she kept by her side. “A problem?”
“No,” he replied nervously. “No. I just… well, it’s just that Rarity has been gone for a few months now. There’s no sign of her coming back. Shouldn’t we be using this time to help rebuild Canterlot. Maybe even find some way to free Celestia and Luna?”
Applejack narrowed her eyes, they were red with fatigue and loss. “That comes after.”
“Yeah, but-”
“THAT COMES AFTER!” the room was silent. She rolled up the map and put it away. “You know your orders. Now get goin’.” Everypony scattered.
Applejack stood there for a long moment before slamming her hoof into the wall. The stone caved under her black booted hoof and crumbled. She wanted to scream. To just tear this place apart. But she couldn’t. Not yet.
She walked into the grand hall and looked up at the stairs. There, in crystal, still lay her friend in suspended animation. Twilight’s expression frozen for eternity. Applejack rubbed a hoof on the crystal and felt the pain of another loss shudder through her. All of them. Every friend she had. Gone. And by Rarity.
She set herself and walked up the castle stairs. She came out on top of one of the towers and looked out. The Castle of the Two Sisters sat in the middle of Everfree so she could see the tops of every tree. In the far off distance she could hear the sounds of reconstruction going on in Ponyville. Maybe even Sweet Apple Acres was being rebuilt. But there was no time to think about that. “Honestly, Ah’d burn this castle to the ground if Ah could.”
“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” She spun at the voice and saw a blue stallion standing behind her. He smiled innocently as she aimed her crossbow between his bespectacled eyes.
“How in tarnation did you sneak up on me!?” she asked harshly.
He shrugged. “I guess you could say… I’m magic.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Ah don’t see a horn.”
“Oh? Then let me fix that.” She blinked and a horn was on his head as if it had always been there. “Or if that’s not your style, how about wings?” She blinked and he was a pegasus. “Or both?” An alicorn. Still she kept her crossbow aimed steadily at him. His smile widened. “Oh, I like you. Nothing gets to you does it?”
She shrugged. “So what are you? Some kind of alien?”
“No, but wouldn’t that be a twist.” He changed back to an earth pony, straightening his mane as it had been messed up slightly. “I’m here to offer you a deal.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What deal?”
His ears twitched and he smiled fiendishly. “Come with me, and you’ll get to see Rarity again.”
She flinched, her crossbow shaking for a moment. “What do you mean? You know where she is?”
“The question isn’t where, it’s… actually it is where. But yes, I do.”
Applejack scowled. “Why do you wanna help me?”
The stallion smirked as he placed a hoof on the end of her crossbow. “You know what I see when look at you? I see a mare who despite all odds struggled and muddled through a desperate situation. She stuck to her guns and in the end won out against unimaginable evil.”
Applejack looked down shamefully, Fluttershy’s face flashing in her mind. “Yeah, but at what cost?”
The stallion put a hoof on her shoulder. “You knew what to do, even when it was your friend you had to do it too. Be honest with yourself, Applejack.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “You did the right thing.”
Applejack felt the shame she had been feeling change and bubble into anger. His words echoed around in her mind bouncing off every doubt and guilt she held for herself, until all she felt was a scalding hatred that needed to be unleashed. “Tell me where she is.”
===SS===
Sunset rolled her head around the desk over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and-
“BE QUIET!! Geez, even when I don’t do anything you still narrate! And what was with that ending? You just leave Luna and that world to deal with… whatever happens? A little rushed resolution if you ask me.”
The detention teacher sat behind her desk and cleared her throat for Sunset. “Miss Shimmer. Maybe you’d be better off going to the doctor than here.”
She stood up and waved her arms. “No! Miss Cheerilee, please don’t send me to the nurse! Really I’m fine!”
“I didn’t say the nurse,” Miss Cheerilee replied.
Sunset took a moment to understand. “No please! Not him!”
A few minutes later the door opened and a short man with a white goatee and puff of white hair walked in. His black wizarding robes trailed off his short frame. “Thank you for coming, Doctor Wolf,” Cheerilee greeted.
“The pleasures all mine, Miss,” he replied. “So this is the rowdy student we have here?”
Sunset slammed her head on the desk and rolled it over and over and over and over and over and over...