Rainbow Dash was sliding down into the darkness, desperately trying to hold on to something- anything. But to no avail. The walls were just too smooth for her stubby hooves.
She was heading right for the horrible, grinding noises.
This is it, she thought, what a lame way to die.
Then she came to an abrupt halt.
"Helluuu."
"What... what happened... I... DERPY HOOVES? Is that you?"
"Derp."
"So they have thrown you in as well... Figures. Why are we stuck?"
"I lost my chewing-gum. That's making me sad."
"No one is going to believe this... Alright, let's figure a way out."
-
Twilight frowned. Applejack had walked straight into Big Bronys' office, but she hadn't come out yet.
Finally, the unicorn left her desk and opened the door.
Applejack was sitting in Big Bronys' chair, her hind legs on the desk. She was staring into the void, slowly eating an apple.
Then Twilight saw Bronyvistus. He was lying on the floor in front of the table. She had only rudimentary medical training, but she knew instantly that he was dead. No pony's neck should look like this.
"Applejack... You killed him..."
"You bet I did. Snapped his damn neck. He made me kill Rainbow Dash, who I loved more than anything else..."
"...Rainbow Dash is dead?"
Twilight let herself sink to the floor. So now it was official. One of her friends had died. Deep down, she had always feared that it was only a matter of time.
"She sure is. Dropped her into a meat grinder, just like that. Didn't know what I was doing. I reckon' I should have been suspicious when they told me to toss her into that scary machine. Now I can tell. You can always tell when it's too late..."
She took another bite from her apple.
Twilight felt like she was drifting away, tears were running down her face, but she forced herself to focus. She couldn't allow herself to crumble at this crucial moment. Now was the time to move.
"Applejack... All of this is horrible. Extremely so. But we have to act, and we have to act now."
"Whatever you say, Twilight. I'm mighty good at following orders, did you know that? I mahself didn't know how good until I tossed..."
"YES, but we really have to go now."
-
"Hold on, Derpy... I'll get us out of here..."
"I say we call SUPERMUFFIN."
"Do you have the muffin-hotline hoofy?"
"Good point..."
The blue pegasus pony had wrapped her front hooves in the chewing gum. With Derpy on her back, she was able to move up the slide, one centimeter at a time. Yet the top was still so far away... And her sweat was starting to dissolve the gum.
I have survived so far, she thought, I can't give up now. Also, Derpy is counting on me.
"Can I have my gum back after you're done?"
"Sure thing, Derpy..."
Suddenly, there was a drilling noise right in front of her snout. First with terror, then with fascination, she watched how a dot of light appeared on the surface of the slide, rapidly turning into a great circle. And then the round piece of metal fell off, and a monster with a glowing horn appeared in the hole.
"Uaaaah!"
"Don't be alarmed, Rainbow Dash, it is just me, Rarity. I'm afraid with these gas masks I had to sacrifice style for function..."
Rainbow Dash started coughing.
"Speaking of which, you should put yours on right away. Please, let me help you..."
-
Rarity pulled the two pegasus ponies into the hole.
She gave an extra mask to Rainbow, then handed her mask to Derpy, casting an air bubble around her own head as a temporary replacement.
"There you go, dearest. My, Rainbow Dash, you look terrible."
"I would look a lot worse if it wasn't for Derpy Hooves. It is so great to see you, Rarity. What is this place?"
"Spike could explain this to you in detail, but for now you just need to know that there are lots of tunnels and pipes beneath Ponyville, and we have been wandering through this maze ever since the cataclysm..."
"Why can't we breathe down here?"
"Well, first of all, the fiends who run this place have cut the oxygen supply. What is worse though is that they are flooding the whole place with toxic gas instead, in order to smoke us out. Which is affecting our efforts quite severely, as you can imagine..."
"How did you know where to find us?"
"I didn't. But we do spy on Bronyvistus' brutes occasionally, and we learned that they suspected something got stuck in the grinder... "
They arrived in one of the control rooms. It was just as dark as the tunnels, the only light source was a monitor. Spike was tipping on the keyboard, while supplying electricity to the computer through a tiny makeshift generator that needed him to pedal constantly.
And there was Fluttershy, surrounded by dozens of little animals, who had their snouts covered by more primitive versions of Rarity's gasmask, barely keeping them alive.
"Spike! Fluttershy! Oh you guys..."
She and Fluttershy hugged.
"What are we going to do now?"
"We were finally able to contact Twilight. Now everything depends pretty much on her..."
-
"Everypony! Listen to me!"
Twilight and Applejack were running through the unicorn sector.
Colts of the Earth Pony Guard were yelling into loudspeakers, and several sirens came to life all over the city. Still, in Muzzle Street, Twilight was the centre of attention.
"Listen! We're going to break out. I have a plan, but I need as many unicorn ponies as possible by my side! It is going to be dangerous, but we have no time for doubts... just do what I say and... Hello? Any volunteers?"
"Maybe we should just stay inside...", a young colt said, "Wait until things have calmed down..."
"NO! Aren't you listening? I need your help! You need to come with me right now!"
Yet the unicorns were backing off, trying to hide behind one other.
"This can't be happening! COME ON! Move it! Please!"
"I will come with you!"
"Thank odd, at least one of you... SWEETIE BELLE? That's out of the question. You're just a filly..."
"Please, I want to help! It's what Rarity would do..."
"You're very brave - UNLIKE ALL THESE OTHER PONIES - but I can't accept your offer. You're just too vulnerable..."
"M-maybe if we back her up..."
"Snips and Snails...? Unbelievable. Doesn't anypony else have an ounce of courage around here?"
Colts in uniforms and drones were moving into the street, and the unicorns let them pass.
"Twilight", Applejack said, "I hate to break this to you, but we've got to leave. These kids are all we have."
Twilight Sparkle was going to utter an insult towards the remaining unicorns, but she decided to save her breath.
"Come on then."
-
Applejack was carrying Sweetie Belle on her back for the sake of speed.
"Were are we going?"
"We're going to punch a hole in the fence. And then... straight into the dark until I tell you to stop."
"This is quite an adventure, eh Snails, old buddy?"
"I prefer those in the comic books."
"I hear you, man."
Twilight was worried sick. What if she was wrong? What if they weren't going to find their target? Well, it was too late for that now.
And then it came in sight: a giant hose, one end going into a hole in the ground, the other disappearing far away in the shadows.
It was guarded by two strange, bipedal creatures in baggy suits, with goggles and gloves. They were armed with what appeared to be large tasers. When they saw the ponies, they yelled in terror and surprise.
"What ARE these things?"
"Don't know, don't care. Just get them out of the way."
Applejack tackled the first creature before it could even use its weapon. The second one had better reflexes, though, and hit Snails with an electric bolt. He fell to the ground, shaking and covered in little lightnings.
"SNAILS! Why, you..."
Without even knowing what he was doing, Snips disarmed the flabbergasted marksmen with psychokinesis and knocked him down with the shaft of his own weapon.
"Wow! Snips, that was..."
"Will Snails be alright?"
"Yes. I'll lead the excess electricity in his body into... well, into one of these guys, why the hay not."
The ponies were trying to catch their breath.
"And now?"
"Now comes the interesting part. I have it all planned, but for what I'm going to do, I will need more than just my own brain. I need more processing power, so to speak. So I'm going to reach into your minds. I have never tried this, but I know it is crucial that you give me your permission. If you resist, this won't work."
"No problem... Oh man, there are some things though I'd like to keep for myself..."
"Sweetie Belle, your brain is the youngest and the most vulnerable. I won't lie to you, this could be too much for you to take..."
"I'm ready, Twilight."
Twilight Sparkle moaned. She would need every neuron she could get, but using Sweetie Belle's brain?
"Hold it!"
Another hole had opened up in the ground, and Rarity climbed out.
"Just in time. I heard you required the help of unicorns?"
"Rarity! Thank goodness..."
Then she saw Spike crawling out of the hole.
"Hey Twilight! Missed me?"
FLATS.
"Twilight, darling... I think you should roll over now. I'm not sure little Spike can breathe."
"Right, right... Ahem... Battlestations, everypony. Let's do this. Rarity...?"
"I know, Twilight. I will protect my sister's mind with all my might. Cast the spell."
-
It was unlike anything Twilight had felt before. It was as if their four brains were becoming one. She could see from the corner of her eye how the eyes and the horns of the other unicorns were glowing, and then she was actually outside her own body, her consciousness floating in the hyperspace between their minds.
She had never felt so powerful- except the times when her and her friends had been fighting evil as the "Guardians of Harmony"; though of course she didn't know if any of that had actually happened.
It was hard for her to resist the horrible urge to devour the minds of her assistants, to absorb their powers permanently. But she didn't forget her mission.
Under her guidance, their collective mind reached into the hose, and into the labyrinth of tunnels beneath. They seized the streaming gas as if it was a single, solid object, and started forcing it back where it came from.
Within minutes, they had emptied almost the entire sector, and the pressure within the hose was incredible. Yet they still forced it further away, one centimeter at a time.
Finally, Twilight decided that this was as far as they could go. Hopefully, it was far enough. Now it was time for another spell.
She used Rarity's brain to cast a morph spell. She was actually able to visualize the individual molecules within the gas. It had sounded incredibly complex when Rarity had first told her about this spell, but with the brain power now at her disposal, it was as easy as doing a preschool puzzle.
Just a little tweak.
Applejack and Spike heard an explosion, far away in the distance. Then the ground was shaking, the hose was torn into shreds, and a cloud of fire kicked them all of their legs and propelled them through the air.
.
Applejack got back on her hooves, coughing.
"Twilight...? Rarity...? Are you..."
The group was scattered all over the area, but everyone seemed to be alright. The unicorn ponies were bleeding from their ears and their nostrils, though it didn't look too serious.
"That was..."
"Intense."
"But what exactly have you done?"
"Yeah Twilight, what have we just done?"
"Hopefully? Set things in motion. Let's get moving, everypony."
The explosions and earthquakes continued. Obviously, the unicorn ponies had started a chain reaction.
-
When they reached the town, all loudspeakers came to life. It was Pinkie Pie's voice.
"Your attention, please! Everypony shall come to the library or the town hall immediately, depending on which is closer to your current position, obviously. These are fortified structures with large bunkers underneath. I repeat, please gather at the library or the town hall. Lend a hoof to those who can't go there on their own. We're in for quite a ride."
"Good old Pinkie... Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Applejack?"
"Yeah. We should probably help."
Assisted by Spike, Rarity, Snips and Snails, they went through all the streets and as many houses as possible, picking up fillies and old ponies that had been abandoned.
When they reached Trott street, though, they found that somepony else was already leading the evacuation.
"RAINBOW DASH!"
"You guys! I..."
She and Applejack just stood in front of each other, staring.
"Rainbow... You're alive..."
"You KILLED ME."
If it weren't for the little fillies on her back, Rainbow would have jumped at Applejack's throat.
"You MURDERED ME!"
"Well, you're fine now..."
"DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY? WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I HATE YOU!"
She started to cry.
"I hate you..."
"Rainbow, I..."
"You're dead to me", and, without taking another look at the earth pony: "Let's get these ponies to the library."
-
"Big Brony is DEAD? That calls for ten seconds of intense mourning... Ahem: Boooooohooooohooooo... He was so YOUNG... he had so many plans for the f-FUTURE... boo-hooo... There, all done. Let's have a party!"
"Pinkie, sometimes I suspect you might be the most evil creature around."
"I once even applied to become Derpy Hooves' minion! But then we got into a little fight and I said: 'Oatmeal'? Are you..."
"That's not how it went down", Derpy Hooves said.
"Derpy... Just have another gum."
"Mhmmm... gum."
-
For the following hours, the ponies of Ponyville as well as all the other creatures that had survived until now were staying in their improvised fortresses, listening to the sounds of the explosions and sitting through one earthquake after the other as the facility was falling apart all around them.
They did not know what to expect when they finally crawled out of their bunkers, but one thing was sure: Their town had officially ceased to exist. That chapter of their collective History was closed forever.
-
"You KILLED me."
"I'm sorry, okay? On a lighter note, I also killed Bronyvistus."
"Well... I guess that is pretty awesome... Though this isn't going to bring me back to life."
"You ARE alive."
"You know what I mean."