Applejack - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoHApplejack - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Canterlot Palace - Equestria
HOLY COW! I JUST BUCKED A GOD! CLEAN THROUGH A WALL!
There ain’t nothin that will be more satisfying than this. Not ever. This is the absolute top of the-
Rubble shifted and slid while Dawn stood back up, screaming. Not in pain, but in rage. That kick of mine hadn’t hurt him. I’d just made him really mad.
“I should have killed you in that field, you’re nothing more than an irritation!” Dawn screamed at me as he pulled his grotesquely over muscled body out from the rubble pile.
He glared at me, red eyes shrunk to pinpricks, staring directly into my eyes. I suddenly realized I didn’t know the extent of the power Megan had given me. I’d assumed she’d given me supermare’s powers because I’d mentioned her before, but maybe I’d just gotten super strength and-
Dawn charged, running directly at me at near-Dash speeds. Amazingly, I could see him, and keep track, like he was sprinting but not moving so fast everything else looked sl-
Dawn’s hoof connected with my muzzle, sending me flying backwards into a stone pillar holding up one of those fancy free standing garden roof things. The pillar cracked, but didn’t break. As I slid down, I realized my face kinda stung a little bit. And my back felt like I’d taken a normal punch.
Okay, super tough. That’s two things. Three if you count being able to track Dawn moving that fast.
“You didn’t die!?” Dawn roared, left eye twitching. “Inconceivable!”
Something blue streaked in from my left hoof side, a line of solid blue, with little arcing bits of prismatic lightning. It moved along the ground, leaping up into the air faster than Dawn could react, smashing into his face. The blow knocked him over, sending him tumbling across the ground where a whole mess of sizzling balls of magic blasted him.
Celestia, Cadance, Twilight, Cadence’s friend, still in the air, finally able to take action. What kept them so long? And what the hay was-
The blue streak resolved into Rainbow mid air. The kick she’d delivered slowed her down! That’s what she looked like moving at top speed. Okay, now that was darn cool.
Dash raced over to me, and I smiled as I saw her move instead of just ‘teleport’ like I remembered her seeming to.
Dash’s face was pulled into a horrified grimace, her eyes wide with fear, her mouth moving, talking a mile a minute. I could just barely understand she was repeating “No,” over and over.
I stood back up and twisted my hips to pop my spine. It made a rather satisfying pop too.
“I’m okay sugarcube. Heck, that hurt less than the time you kicked me in your sleep!” I laughed, giving her a reassuring smile.
The poor mare needed it. I could see her distress.
Dash’s eyes widened even more, “I-but, I’m moving at full super speed!”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’m fast too. Megan gave me some magical upgrades,” I explained with a grimace. “But I don’t know what all she did.”
“Y-you accepted magical transformation?” Dash stammered.
I nodded. “Yeah. There’s a demon trying to kill my friends. I want to punch it. Kicks weren't satisfying enoug-”
The world flashed red as Dawn fired a blast of magic thick as a tree trunk upwards. It struck Celestia squarely in her chest, knocking her from the air. She plummeted with a cry of pain, trailing smoke from her blackened and cracked armor, barely managing to regain control of herself and land on her hooves rather than plow into the ground.
I turned and raced for the bloated black monster. My hooves pounded against the plaza’s cobblestones. I closed the gap between us, drawing back a foreleg to punch with all my body weight behind it, before letting my hoof fly.
Something cracked then screeched, like a whiplash and a fastball pitch happened together. My hoof struck Dawn’s right shoulder, I felt it give way, bending inwards. Dawn’s legs buckled under the strike, failing to do anything to stop him from sliding across the plaza for a few meters.
My hoof also felt like I’d decided to punch an anvil with it, it took everything I had to keep myself from holding it in my mouth while mumbling curses around it.
Note to self: You can punch harder than your body can take.
“Woah!” Dash exclaimed behind me while Dawn jumped back up, sneering at me specifically.
I could see his shoulder was just sort of hanging limply. I’d broken it! Ha!
“Serves you right for ripping off my legs!” I mocked, grinning ear to ear with the satisfaction.
Dawn’s sneer twisted into a sick grin. The flesh around his shoulder rolled and boiled, squelching back into the proper shape in a moment.
“Oh, what’s that? You hurt me?” He mocked back.
Only to vanish in a beam of purple light as Twilight blasted half the gosh-darn plaza with a concussive attack that shook the earth hard enough to knock me off my hooves.
While I struggled to get back up, the other alicorns cast their own spells. The ground beneath Dawn melted into lava, hoof sized shards of ice smashed into his face, back, and left side, the air around him began to ripple and shimmer like the badlands on a super hot day.
Dawn howled, the stench of burnt fur completely saturating the air before he managed to climb out of the growing lava pit, his lower legs literally bubbling and deforming.
“Stop distracting me!” Dawn commanded, glaring at me evilly and-
The world turned red for a second. Then everything hurt. I was laying on my back… The sky was above me. Things were exploding far away, and also close by.
What the hay happened?
I slowly sat up, head spinning. Dash suddenly arrived by my side. As I reflexively turned to look at her I could feel skin crack and peal. I’d been burnt? Yeah, I had. I was sitting in a two hundred meter long cone-shaped bed of glowing coals, resting atop an ash pile.
“Thank Luna!” Dash laughed manically, scooping me up in her forelegs.
My head cleared as she lifted me up. “How bad?” I croaked.
“Bad. But Lily’s right here!” Dash said as we shot through the air, arriving next to the white unicorn in a flash. “Do you have the magic to-”
“Ja,” Lily said, cutting Dash off quickly, his horn glowing and my skin tingling as he cast what I was pretty certain was a quick and dirty healing spell. “Humm… I just realized. I’m the white mage, und I’m actually white.”
I frowned, not quite understanding what the little stallion meant with his joke. But maybe that’s because I was too disturbed watching dead skin and fur flake off my legs as new skin and fur replaced it and pushed it up and away…
Why couldn’t I feel that? I should be able to feel that.
The earth shook, something landed next to me, cracking stone. Cadence’s Bodyguard! She’d taken one hay of a punch to get thrown like that.
The mare moaned, slowly staggering up to her hooves, and tottering for a moment. “Ah… Yeah… Definitely concussed,” she groaned, her hood slipping off her head as she turned towards Lily almost pleadingly.
I yelped, the mare’s whole body had to be one huge burn scar! Did Dawn do that, and then make it heal up like that? What kind of cruel-
Oh. Yeah. His kind. Duh.
“Do you have any healing for me too?” She asked hopefully.
Lily nodded. “Ja, but I’m getting low on mana, und last time I just kept using potions und mana bars to refill I almost poisoned myself into an early grave. Can you stop him?”
“Yeah, once AJ gets back over there,” the mare I had no idea was an alicorn until today said decisively. “AJ, if you’re okay with him wailing on you, he seems to really like doing that. It’s what let us line up shots.
“Dash, if you could use that super speed of yours to fly up and aim our shots better, that would be great! He’s REALLY fast. Right now’ he’s kind of-”
Something metallic shattered. Twilight screamed in pain, emotional pain, and then growl in anger. Something exploded with a meaty pop after which Dawn screeched in agony, “OW! You absolute CUNT!”
Oh, he did NOT just use that word!
Lily cringed. “... Ow!”
Really? Sympathy pain!? FOR HIM!?
“D-did Twi just conjure-” Dash stammered.
“Ja… She just conjured-” Lily agreed, still cringing.
“He’s the demon here! He doesn't deserve sympathy,” I snapped.
Twilight screamed again. I turned around, my skin still itching as it healed, and sprinted for the evil mon-
OH! Oh holy crap, he was regenerating his whole lower body! Which had popped off, and was smoking, from frost. Oh sweet celestia Twi’d inflated him with that liquid she showed me that was so cold it would shatter anything! What could have possibly made her that mad?!
Then I saw Celestia laying atop a rubble pile, bleeding. Her chest barely moving. Her armor laying in bits around her, or draped limply over her body, her ribs caved in on one side.
Ah. Yeah, I reckon that would do it.
“Lily! Celestia’s down!” I called urgently over my shoulder before skidding to a halt.
A punch wasn’t good enough. I needed Dawn to be down for another few seconds. Time for another flying buck!
Something about the way Dawn’s flowing, undulating, creeptastic regeneration didn’t look right. Well, none of it looked right, but it didn’t look like he was reforming the Earth Pony body he had been using bef-
Ah. No. He’s not. That’s a scorpion's tail. I’d bet my last bit that he had something worse than poison in that growing stinger...
Princess Luna - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Ponyville Ruins - Equestria
I was smiling. I was going to die, but I was still smiling. An ear-to-ear grin made from nothing but absolute joy.
Righteous, Rarity, Ayna, the dark mage, and I were an unstoppable javelin, ripping cleanly through the demonic hoard before us. They couldn’t fit enough monsters within line of sight of us to do real damage. Ay’s portals simply opened up, stucked in any ranged artillery spell they threw our way, and dropped it back on the caster.
The way she simply hovered above us, opening a half dozen of her ‘Return to Sender’ portals every few moments was amazing. I didn’t have a mind which could handle the stress of casting the same spell over and over again that precisely. I had more than enough power, but she had the focus. It’s a shame she couldn’t keep that up for much longer.
It’s not like the demons had love for her to recharge herself with. Or would let me make out with Rarity for a few minutes to make enough love to refuel our changeling wizard.
Righteous and Rarity were a terrifying duo. Between Righteous’ skill with that glittering mono-sword, and deadly aim with the blaster rifle in her off hand, and the support weapons Rarity was somehow controlling for her friend, nothing could close the distance and come close to us. If it got within sword range, it was cut cleanly in two. If it got too close to any other one of us, it got a particle beam lobotomy.
I’d never seen anyone so accurate with any weapon before. The mech’s pilot had to be a machine, it was the only explanation for the accuracy of those snap-shots.
Our Dark Wizard’s astral form was a wrecking ball. Even the demons which were larger than her crackling colessed dark magic body were demolished by her onslaught of black lightning, crushed underhoof, or impaled on her horn in a way which meant she ether felt no pain or we’d finally found somepony who's masochism would make even Cadence blush.
The Dark Wizard, who I was so becoming friends with after this mess if we lived, was a bulldozer. She made our road, and she made it wide.
I was our Tank. You might think that our Wizard was the tank, but she was more like the objective your team defends so you can complete the objective before the timer runs out. Somepony had to keep the majority of the threats off of her, and that pony was me.
I gave it my all. Enemy spears? I picked them up and threw them back. Rubble? Each pile of crushed brick was a free set of cannonballs. Clear shots at bigger Demons? The perfect place toss an arcane or eldritch blast into!
I never focused on one place for long. Always moving. Always throwing as much pain at as many things as I could. All the aggression the enemy had was aimed squarely at me.
That’s not why I was confident I was going to die.
Our little team was an unstoppable javelin, but all javelins crash into something at the end of their journey. We had just enough oomph to make it to that portal and cover our Wizard Friend while she shut it. Maybe we had a bit more, but I didn’t think so. We’d close the door, trap the enemy here, cut off their reinforcements, and then go out in a blaze of glory, taking as many of them with us as possible.
I couldn’t ask for a better death.
I was ageless, biologically immortal, and by no means indestructible. I’d always known that meant I would eventually die. I’d have liked a few centuries to get to know that wonderful mare I’d met months ago, made a life with her, had a family. But it was time to go.
No one else could ensure no more of these monsters entered our world. Equestria needed me to ward off the darkness one last time. As always, I was happy to ensure others lived safe lives full of joy. There was no greater honor in all the world.
“Just another hundred meters!” Ayna called down to us, screaming over the noise of the battle.
“What is your exit plan?” The Dark Wizard asked as she casually ripped the spine out of a dragon-like demon which she had been grappling.
“I don’t have an exit plan,” I admitted. “We don’t have the firepower to make it out of here after the portal is closed.”
“What was that?” Righteous asked. “Oh, wait, this is a suicide mission? I thought this was a cake walk. Hmm? Oh yes, of course, I’ll do my best to ensure you make it out, Miss Rarity. I promised. Don’t worry, the ejection seat-”
Righteous paused, spinning to take down three imps with two shots and one swift kick of a pointed boot.
“- Has a five kilometer range.” she finished.
“Sad,” the Wizard lamented, her emotions feeling oddly sincere. “I was enjoying working with you three.”
I laughed and blasted a tall, willowy, almost noodle-like pony-daemon with as much arcane fire as I dared expend on just one daemon.
“Oh? What’s your plan to make it out alive?” I asked playfully. “You don’t need to sound tough for us.”
She turned, her avatar’s massive head looking at me for just the split second needed to grin at me with it’s shark-fanged maw before turning back to bite an imp in two.
“They can’t kill that which has no life,” she said almost tauntingly. “That’s how dad did it, that’s how Prance does it, and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
Oh. She was undead. Neat.
<You’d think that you’d be more um, reactive, to learning that,> Dreams said, sounding just a little incredulous.
<She’s a Dark Wizard who smells very similar to Sombra, and who claims to be from another universe. She’s probably him, but from a dimension where he was a mare, and also not totally evil or she’d never have become a force for good,> I pointed out. <As it stands, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t undead, or at least capable of self-resurrection.>
<Speaking of, why aren't YOU capable of doing that? Of bringing yourself back,> Dreams asked curiously.
<Because I don’t like the idea of cramming my soul into a jar and hiding it someplace,> I answered simply.
“We’ll be fine,” Ayna called from above.
“Are you really that naive?” I asked, ears drooping sadly as I narrowly managed to dodge a spear thrust at my heart.
A blast of telekinesis sent the demon who'd taken advantage of me being sad my friend was deluding herself, hurtling back into his friends fast enough to break a few limbs.
“No. I’m simply more informed about the situation than you are,” she countered. “I’d fill you in but this defense screen takes too much concentration for me to speak for any real len-”
A hideous evil, shaped like the spawn of a hydra, a goat, and a mouse, extended one tentacle-fingered hand before launching a blinding black and yellow beam of energy at our Wizard. The attack pierced her Astral form, the dark magic body vanishing in the blink of an eye amid a small electrical storm.
Her body dropped like a ragdoll from where the avatar’s heart would have been, smashing into the ground below.
The monstrosity vanished as Ayna, Righteous, and I hit it with everything we had out of pure rage!
“ARRRRRGH!” I growled, enough anger burning in my heart to have unleashed the Nightmare had she not given herself wholly to me.
I’d provoked Ay into speaking when her whole mind was needed! This was MY fault. Of course she had a plan! She wouldn’t have teleported in with only herself and one ally! But whatever she’d had in the wings wouldn’t help us now that our one means of closing the portal was gone!
The Dark Wizard's body suddenly jerked upright, the mangled body snapping back into a healthy looking shape as the dark magic aura around her eyes reignited. Six different cruciform swords slid out from under her cloak, wielded by her magic’s arcane grip.
“Dammit!” She spat, sounding more upset than angry. “You guys killed it! Don’t do that. Nothing’s more satisfying than killing someone who killed you.”
“Huh… So um, how did you do that?” Righteous asked, honestly confused.
“Um, I don’t speak that language,” Genesis pointed out, making me realize that she’d been speaking Equish this entire time, while our golden armored friend had been using English of all things…
“He asked how you reanimated,” I translated. “I’d like to know too.”
“Very long and complex story,” she replied. “Short version, I’m King Sombra’s Daughter. I inherited most of his power.”
Ah ha! I knew it!
“What’s your name by the way?” I asked, hoping she could return to her dark magic form sooner rather than later.
She opened her mouth to answer me, and the sun dimmed. Noticeably. It didn’t move, the light coming from it noticeably dimmed, and not in the way a cloud would suddenly block the light. This had been more like a dimmer swi-
Ah! Celestia had borrowed some of the sun’s energy. Probably readying a Solar Strike.
Noticing a dropped enemy Halberd I smiled and picked the weapon up with my Telekinesis. It was about time I found a proper weap-
OH BUCK! We were facing Canterlot right now!
“CLOSE YOUR EYES!” I yelled in panic, throwing myself down face first into the ground.
Celestia’s Solar Strike exploded with a sound only describable as the mother of all thunderbolts screaming in rage at the death of one of her children. A searing white light flashed for a full second, painfully bright even through my clamped shut eyes which were pressed up against the ground.
“The hell was that?!” Righteous demanded, voice filled with awe.
“My sister casting a Solar Strike,” I said as I stood back up, blinking the white flash out of my eyes.
Thank goodness the enemy was doing the same right now…
“Is… Is she single?” The golden armored warrior asked in a hopeful tone which also came across as a joke. “Oh calm down, Rarity! I was joking! Why are you even upset about that?”
Heh. Looks like Rarity’s new friend could rival Twilight’s obliviousness.
“My name is Genesis,” the Dark Wizard announced loudly. “Take advantage of their blindness, NOW, or we won’t make it the rest of the way. My Dark Avatar is a daily!”
Oh sweet! She plays games too! If we can survive this we will DEFINITELY be frien-
Oh crap she can’t do that again today!
I charged forwards, twirling my new halbard expertly. “Thanks for the help, sister!”
Applejack - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Canterlot Palace - Equestria
Dawn laughed triumphantly, Lily’s exhausted, limp, panting form lay before him, the poor stallion having fallen over trying to shield Megan and Celestia with his body. Princess Celestia’s solar strike had messed up her horn, too much power at once I reckoned. Lily had been trying to fix it when he collapsed.
Dawn hadn’t done a thing to him. Lily had run himself all the way down by getting us back on our hooves at least twice, each. I knew he didn’t have much in him, but the little stallion had given it all to us. It was too bad we’d needed more than he had.
Dawn gave the germane wizard one smug look before turning to face us, chitten covered scorpion legs punching small holes in the stones beneath him as he moved. While the centaur-like scorpion body he’d given himself was slow, the darn thing made him too heavy for me to just kick across the city...
“And now you can see your hope has run out,” Dawn mocked, glaring at me especially hatefully. “You won’t be getting back up the next time you fall, and I am well past the point of allowing you to surr-”
“Oh, Jeeeeerrkkkface!” Megan sang loudly, but horsley.
Dawn’s head spun around, the dark god’s eyes shrinking to pinpricks as he saw Megan sitting up just beside Lily, her adorable yellow eyes sparkling mischievously, even while her lips and cheeks were pale as the grave.
He wouldn’t turn around completely in time. And I reckoned he couldn’t just throw another huge spell at her ether. That attack Celestia hit him with took a lot of magic to block. He was still ‘recharging’. And he knew it.
“Boop!” Megan proclaimed, tapping Lily’s nose in the same way she had mine.
Her magic’s pink sparks sank into him. Lily’s exhaustion vanished so fast, you’d swear he’d never been beat in the first place.
“Ha!” I laughed, though Megan collapsing into a ball and spitting up another gout of blood immediately drained what joy Dawn’s mistake brought me.
“Fuuuuuuccckkk…” Dawn groaned. “I completely forgot about you! Don’t worry, it won't happen again.”
Like hay it would! I lunged forwards, ready to try and break off a third leg from his mutated body. Twilight beat me to the punch, a lavender spear manifesting at the tip of her horn and blowing a hole clean through Dawn’s upper, lower back, pinning him to the ground.
“I’ll just have to take somepony else out of the picture first is all,” Dawn said eerily calm despite watching our healer stand up, completely refreshed. And having been impaled. “One minute, girls.”
Then he teleported. Leaving the spear behind.
Buck…
Rarity - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Ponyville Ruins - Equestria
I’d never been one to think of fighting as fun. Well, that wasn’t quite true. I’d rather enjoyed fencing in high school. Even being captain of the fencing team. But that was sport, all in good fun. This was real combat.
It shouldn’t have been fun. It should have been terrifying, and horrific, and a good deal outrageous. And it was all of those things. While also being a little fun.
I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly. Perhaps the physical challenge? I’d never been one for most sport, aside from fencing, but when the prize was ‘everypony gets to live’, rather than a trophy, that did put some urgency in it. Was it fun because of the stakes?
No that didn’t make sense. Perhaps the fun came from using my magic to its fullest? Well, I wasn’t casting spells per say, but the way I controlled the Squire Drones was completely identical to floating objects about with my telekinesis. In a way, this was an arcane challenge. I’d always enjoyed those.
Yes, that had to be it.
Well, that or seeing five different fields of view at once! Now that was most certainly a unique experience. And slightly confusing.
The mech lurched as Indy carried through with a lunge, throwing me against the crash harness for a moment. “Indy? This might be a bad time, but how am I able to see all of these perspectives as well as my own at once?” I asked curiously while also maneuvering one drone to intercept an incoming attack with it’s shield.
“Hmm? Oh, well, remember how near death you were?” Indy asked before rolling through with his answer. “I had to replace some brain tissue as well. The nanomachines I injected should have regenerated-”
“The what?” I asked, eyes opening wide in alarm.
“The standard, medical nanobots, which every single human is given at birth, and which all of our allies were given as a quality of life full immune and cellular repair upgrade, which I carefully calibrated to your exact biology, should have finished repairing your brainstem by now,” Indy said, before quickly sidestepping an attack and delivering a counterstrike with his longsword.
I was certain that anyone else would have problems carrying on a conversation while fighting, but he could do it without difficulty. Much like how Sky’s computer’s could run more than one program at a t-
Oh! Well, now I just felt silly.
“But I couldn’t repair tissues too damaged to scan,” he continued. “Nor can they, ever. Hence, why I had to make cybernetic prosthetics instead of just injecting you with all the stimpacks and nano syringes I had. This includes some parts of your brain. While the memory centers were intact enough to repair, as evidenced by your being you still, and not an amnesiac or a new persona in the old body, I had to replace your visual cortex, angular gyrus, temporal lobe, and a section of-
“Can you shoot that giant dragon-parrot-squid?”
I brought the drone which housed the linear cannon to bare and put three rounds into the demon Indy indicated for me.
“Then I can do this because I’m more cybernetic than I thought,” I mused. “That makes sense… Did you replace anything else in me which you haven’t mentioned yet?”
“No. I didn’t mention the brain repair or immune augment after seeing how much distress your power supply caused you. Sorry for any offense. I just didn’t want you to panic and have the standard new cyborg ‘I’m not a person anymore!’ fit,” Indy said apologetically. “Especially since they don't negatively impact your life.”
I bit my lip and let a held breath out slowly. “I can see your point.. But I’m just a little bit upset you didn’t tell me about this,” I understated.
Sure, I was angry at him. But I wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t done that for me.
“Hmm… No, you’re fully upset. I can hear that. I am sorry. I hope you can forgive me. I only acted for your health, comfort, and safety,” Indy stated, ducking out of the way of a fireball Ayna missed.
I rotated a flamer bearing drone and sent a fireball back to the caster. No sense in not giving her a hoof with returning fire.
You know, with most stallions I’d dated, I would call them out for lying if they said that to me. But with Indy? Well, he actually meant it.
“I can’t be too upset with someone who spent goodness knows how many hours keeping me alive despite not knowing me,” I decided. “Apology accepted. But please never forget telling me anything like that ever again. Now, what else can I do?”
“It was days, actually. You can process multiple visual inputs, mathematics shouldn’t be any problem, which honestly is one reason your aim is so good here, and we can go over this in more detail post-combat,” he decided, firing a quick barrage of laser bolts into an advancing group of the depressingly foal-like demons.
“I suppose we can… Assuming you survive this. Or have you forgotten you’re inside this mech with me?” I asked sadly.
Indy snickered. “Um, Captain? Why would the ejection system not also eject me? I’m considered a person by our laws. Therefore, the safety features must also protect me.”
“Oh! Well in that case, it’s great to know we both-” I stopped mid sentence as I saw what I thought was an imp at first, except it was sprinting through the enemy line, completely terrified out of it’s mind.
And lacked horns. Or wings.
That was a young earth pony colt!
“INDY!” I yelped eyes locking onto the terrified foal.
“I see him,” he replied instantly. “Girls! Cover me, civilian child in danger!”
We leapt forwards, smashing into the enemy line and carving a path through, racing for the colt in a desperate and probably foolish bid to get the tan furred colt to safety.
This would probably mess up the entire mission to take out the portal. This was stupid! But I couldn’t just let a colt die! How long had he been hiding in the rubble of his own home-
A glint of orange and blue caught my eye. Swiveling a drone to face what I thought was an incoming attack I saw Flash of all ponies, limping through the battlefield, keeping the path ahead of him clear with a surprisingly skilled flurry of spear thrusts, pursuing the colt despite over a dozen different cuts and burns.
“Indy, tell Luna to get Flash out of here! Why is he even on the battlefield, he’s terminally ill!” I exclaimed in shock.
“Well, he’s clearly trying to save that colt too,” Indy pointed out. “And not in armor… And that’s one of their spears. The kid definitely ran away while evacuating and he probably went after-”
A flash of dull red light blinded me for an instant, the light clearing to reveal a hideous jet black creature with the lower body of a giant scorpion, and the upper body of an earth pony which likely ate nothing but steroids for decades. The monstrous-even-for-a-demon abomination had appeared just in front of Flash, who skidded to a halt, eyes widening in terror.
Because the demons around him had stopped and bowed to the newcomer.
A chorus of “Sire,” boomed forth from the demons ranks.
“Oh that’s not good…” Indy and I understated in unison.
The abomination’s hoof seized Flash by the top of his head, the monstrously large appendage easily able to just grip around him like I might pick up an apple.
“Don’t mind me, boys. I’m just picking up some emotional ammunition,” the evil thing said with a sick smile before vanishing. Taking Flash with it.
Oh… Oh no… That meant Twilight was fighting it. And it knew who her husband was...
Twilight Sparkle - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Canterlot Palace Ruins - Equestria
Dawn vanishing for those six seconds had given me just enough breathing room to clear my head. Rapid spellcasting like this always gave me a headache. I really should keep a little baggie of headache medicine on my person for moments like this.
I would have had just enough time to take it before he returned.
Unlike his previous teleports, this one shed the normal burst of arcane light. That was good! It meant we were wearing him down. A fact I would appreciate more if he had not appeared in front of me, smirking, with his scorpion's tail acid-dripping blade held millimeters from Flash’s throat, who dangled limply from Dawn’s outstretched hoof.
No! NO NONONO!
“Now, as I was saying,” Dawn hissed menacingly. “I need to take someone out of this little fight. Twilight, you can sit down, or he will d-”
“Chrysalis did it!” Lily shouted.
Dawn turned his head, frowning angrily. YES! Lily was buying me time! Thank you so much! Okay, Twilight, remote teleportation. You’ve never teleported something that you were not nearby without also moving yourself before, but you CAN do it!
“Excuse me?” Dawn demanded.
“Trying to break Twilight by harming her special somepony,” Lily elaborated. “Chrysalis did it. Und she killed him too. Didn’t work out so well for her.”
“Bullshit, he’s alive!” Dawn said rolling his eyes and shaking Flash. “He’s right here. In my grip. Well within my domain.”
“Ja. I fixed it. It’s what I do. So go ahead. Kill him, watch Twilight go ape, und I’ll just stick him back together like last time,” Lily laughed. “Your threat is empty. You should shut let him go und save your energy for real threats. Like the one you’re making right now.”
“He’s not… Lying,” Flash gasped.
NO! Lily, don’t! He’s not the kind of person who responds to that sort of logic! Hang on, Flash I can do this… I just need to work out how to bridge the-
“Oh yes! That’s right. You were ripped in half once,” Dawn said with anod. “Fair point, you were able to stick two halves back together and restart a heart. Yes, very impressive. But it’s not like he was torn in half the long way. His brain was intact.”
“Er, well, ja…” Lily said, eyes widening as he realized how badly he’d just messed up.
NO! NO! I was so, so close, just another second and I’d have a solution to-
“Can you fix this? It’s a matter of curiosity at this point, really,” Dawn asked, the hatred in his voice actually gone for that one single question.
He was genuinely curious. He really did want to know.
YES! I had the spell ready! Hopefully! I’d just send him to our bedroom and-
Dawn’s hoof leaked red smoke for half a second. Flash instantly went limp. His body didn’t even flail, twitch, or jerk. It just stopped. Like a switch had been flipped.
Then he dissolved into a ball of liquidy gunk, splashing across the ground. An actual pink stain…
“N-nein…” Lily stammered, taking a few steps backwards.
“Hmm, too bad, “ Dawn sighed. “It would have made this fight more fun if I could completely denature him over and over ag-”
The incineration spell I threw combined with my scream, blinding and deafening me to the world as I put my entire heart into the first lethal spell which came to mind.
Rarity - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Ponyville Ruins - Equestria
The orange swirling portal seemed to scream as it twisted and oozed closed. Genesis's spell pulled it shut almost exactly like the drawstrings of a purse. The daemons screeched, enraged at their failure.
We’d won. Their invasion was over.
We’d also lost. Because there was still a few thousand of them surrounding us. Luna had been correct in her estimations too. Indy’s munitions were almost entirely expended. She was exhausted. My drones had only a few shots left each and no shields. Genesis was mostly fine, what with being whatever she was and all, though the spear lodged in her chest looked rather painful. Ayna seemed fatigued, but oddly calm.
She likely was accepting this was our end.
“Indy, is there any way we can get Luna or Ay out of here when we eject?” I asked, ears drooping sadly.
There had to be some way, right?
“Yes, but additional mass will reduce our escape range. And there’s no guarantee they can hold on to the pod as we eject. But we could try,” he explained slowly. “Luna, Ayna, climb up onto my shoulders. I’m going to eject once the portal has closed.”
“What was that?” Genesis asked.
I opened my mouth to translate for Indy again, but Luna rolled her eyes, casting a quick spell. “There! Mutual translation spell.”
“I said,” Indy repeated. “Luna, Ayna, climb up onto my shoulders. I’m going to eject once the portal has closed.”
Genesis laughed. “What, no ride for me?”
“I thought you said you would be fine?” Indy asked, mentally frowning with worry.
“I will. I’m just having a little fun with you and-” Genesis paused, slowly looking down at the spear stuck in her. “There’s a spear in my chest! Someone has made a grievous error…”
“It was that one,” Ayna said, pointing at an unarmed Imp throwing rocks at our little team.
Genesis grunted, her horn and eyes leaking even more magic as she pulled the portal completely closed. The orange light popped, scattering the magic which had formed the gate to the winds.
Victory for ponykind, achieved.
“Okay,” Indy announced, dropping to one knee. “Climb aboard I’ll aim for the forest, we’ll lose them in the tree-”
“Belay that!” Ayna ordered, pulling a small radio out from under her cloak and bringing it to her lips. “Miss Faust, the portal’s gone. I’m at the center of their camp. Do it.”
I blinked. Do what?
The ground beneath us turned white, radiant light shining up from the ground as if we were standing atop the lense of a flashlight. The blinding white circle spread outwards from Ayna, through the harsh glare I could just barely make out the burst of white flame as the light touched each daemon around us in an ever expanding circle, disintegrating each and every one.
The light stopped when the circle looked to be a few hundred meters wide, at which point the circle vanished, leaving behind a ground covered in a thick layer of ash.
I tilted my head. “T-that’s it? We just get a little breathing room?” I asked incredulously.
“Wait for it…” Ayna giggled.
“Wait for what?” Luna asked, wings flaring in alarm.
“Wait a minute…” Genesis muttered. “This ash... Is- is this Prench ash? A-are we standing on a teleported chunk of the Prench border!?”
“Mmmmmmhm,” Ay smirked.
“OH, CRAP!” Genesis squeak-screamed, scrambling awkwardly as she turned around, looking like she was about to sprint for her life.
“You weren't vaporised like they were. You’re fine! Sheesh,” Ay said, giving me just enough curiosity to open my mouth and ask exactly what the plan was before I saw an imp set hoof on the ash.
The INSTANT its hoof touched the ground, the ash moved, patches sliding aside amid a horrible stone-on-stone shriek revealing Princess sized sarcophagi buried a meter apart from each other. And inside each one…
Armored giants stood up, rising from the ground in unison. Each one dressed in thick obsidian colored armor appropriate for knights from across six thousand years of history. The air around us suddenly became a forest of spears, as each knight lifted one with an attached flag bearing their coat of arms, before planting them firmly in the soil. The very next heartbeat saw the group draw their weapons, and shields, forming a wall around us which frankly felt more solid than any other wall I had ever seen.
“Well, shit,” a demon said faintly from the other side of the wall of pain.
I heard the snap of a normal teleport behind Indy and I. I quickly spun a drone around to defend ourselves from the attack, stopping as the drone’s crosshairs lined up with a tall white alicorn and an earth pony twice her size clad from head to hoof in unadorned silver armor, completely plain save for the helmet’s eyes which glowed with bright yellow lights.
I had no idea who the giant was, and the alicorn wasn’t Celestia, but they didn’t look like something I needed to fire at. Or would even want to fire at. This alicorn was much more slender than Celestia. Not that I thought the Princess was overweight, no, this mare was more… Twiggy. And her simple brown mane lacked the ethereal waviness. For a minute I wondered if Princess Flury Heart had grown up faster than I thought and dyed her coat and mane less eye bleeding colors, but then she waved at Luna.
“Hello, Luna! We’ve never met before, I’m Dusk’s mother, Faust,” the alicorn greeted with a wave. “She… I couldn’t let a person my little girl had a crush on get hurt. I’ve got to go help your sister now. I hope she doesn't get mad that I brought her reinforcements here. It just seemed like you needed them more. Bye!”
Then she vanished, leaving the other pony she’d brought with her behind. Make that other ponies. The silver armor clad-giant of a pony was so large I had BARELY managed to see Sky laying on his back, looking for all the world like a pony who had just run four back to back marathons and had the worst bout of insomnia in his life.
“Knights, clean this town up,” the giant pony ordered.
“Yes, My Emperor!” The collection of obsidian clad warriors boomed, instantly surging forwards in a single wave of complete coordination.
“Ayna, why don’t you and your friends take a seat here and rest up with your brother? He refused to stay home. Insisted on seeing the town safe before anything else,” the pony I could only assume was the Emperor of Prance chuckled playfully as he gently set Sky down on the ground and then calmly trotted off towards the enemy lines, whistling happily.
I was fairly certain the tune he held was ‘I’ve been working on the railroad.’
The sound of battle returned to Ponyville. Battle I didn’t need to participate in.
Ponyville… My home. Were my friends still alive? I hadn’t seen any of them here. I’d hoped-
Oh Rarity, you silly filly! Borrow Sky’s watch and try to call them!
“Kinda mad you didn’t do this earlier, Ay,” Luna grumbled, sitting down and giving her friend a glare.
“I was asked to only give the go ahead when we were in the middle of their formation. That way we could destroy them from the middle outwards. More efficient, apparently,” the changeling countered with a shrug.
“Indy, can you open the door, please? I need to talk to Sky, that’s the burnt orange pegasus over there,” I asked politely.
Indy laughed. “I’d say no but… Well, apparently Ayna knows the spell ‘Summon Can of Whoopass’. Go ahead, but keep it short. Incase we start to take fire,” Indy answered, the mech’s chest splitting with a creak, battle damage preventing it from opening completely smoothly.
Still, the cockpit hissed open, giving me a view of Sky, while the poor pony was absolutely exhausted, he still managed to look over at the sound of the cockpit screeching open. His ears raising in an odd, dangerous way, as he noticed me in the cockpit.
Oh. Yes. I was mostly made of metal at the moment. That would be quite alarming.
“It’s okay, Sky. I’m fine. I did get hurt, but I’m all patched up now,” I said as soothingly as I could manage. “Can I borrow your watch? I lost mine. I want to know if everypony else is okay? Oh! You went with Pinkie, right darling? Where is she?”
Sky was on his hooves in a heartbeat, and practically in my face in another. A feat most impressive, seeing as how exhausted he appeared to-
“WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL!?!” He belted.
The volume of his voice was nearly deafening, as everyone quickly snapped their heads in our direction. All eyes wide and staring right at us.
“I- I don’t-” I stuttered, unable to get another word out before he continued his tirade.
“Don’t what?! Don’t know?! How could you not!? Everyone thinks you're dead! Your ship exploded, and you didn’t think to call?!” He screamed, his voice hardly losing any volume.
“W-well I lost your suit. And I almost died. Luckily I was saved by my friend here. So you could probably cut me a little slack, right?” I asked, almost afraid to say anything.
“Slack… SLACK! Do you have any idea what we have been through? What I have been through?!
“I haven’t slept in almost five days! We flew up to Bucking Cold, then had to travel down into a mine in the ice that got so cold, that our guide almost died, IN ONE OF MY SUITS! Before being chased out by a GIANT ICE WORM with a wood chipper for it’s mouth! Before it fell into a pit and got eaten, by what I am starting to think was a LITERAL OLD ONE, before we then proceeded to spend the entire night evacuating the rest of the town back to Trottingham!
“Only to then spend the next morning making a beeline to straight to Neighpone, with a mid flight refuel, to go and rescue Fluttershy! Who upon arrival, was just being attacked by an UNDEAD MEGA KAIJU, which I turned around and proceeded to fight in one of my mechs! The one that requires me to physically perform all the moves it makes, FOR THIRTY SIX MOTHERFUCKING HOURS!
“After which, I had to manually fly the crippled Ranger all the way to Shorefall, at subsonic speeds, to look for you! Just to find out that not only were you not their, but that your hazard suit’s telemetry showed it was in the middle of the ocean! Which we flew to and found the wreckage of your ship, and only PARTS OF YOU!
“WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! Pinkie and Fluttershy were, and still are, grieving! Then, I had to fly us all the way back here, still manually, while picking up Roboshy along the way, only to arrive in Ponyville and see it destroyed, WHILE STILL UNDER ATTACK! And to see Luna fighting for her life!”
Sky took a second to take a few breaths. I was about to respond when Indy cleared his throat. “To be fair, she was dead… Five times, actually.”
“And now I find out that not only are you not dead, but you have been with him! THIS WHOLE TIME!” He directed at Indy, before turning back to me.
“I saw tank treads and metallic hydrogen at the beach! Which means that not only were you alive, but you were with a Terran AI and advanced military equipment! Equipment advanced enough to build you cybernetics, and more than advanced enough to HAVE RADIOS!” Sky screached.
Indy took the time to raise a hand and finger on the Aegis before chiming in, “Actually I'm an AGI."
Sky instantly wheeled his head around to give him a death glare.
"I KNOW WHAT YOU FUCKING ARE!!" He shouted, in English, again.
What surprised me was that Indy actually flinched back and threw his arms up to shield himself. As if he was genuinely fearing an attack from the stallion. A reaction I deemed pertinent as that same glare quickly found my eyes again, and I too felt the need to shield myself.
“YOU HAD ACCESS TO RADIO EQUIPMENT FOR DAYS! YOUR SHIP EXPLODED! AND NOT ONCE DID YOU EVER THINK, ‘OH, MY SHIP EXPLODED AND EVERYONE DIED. MAYBE I SHOULD, I DUNNO, TRY TO CONTACT ANYONE TO LET THEM KNOW I AM OKAY?’!
“AND HERE I FIND YOU, TRAIPSING AROUND IN A BATTLE MECH, WITH A BUNCH OF CYBERNETICS, AND AN AI, KILLING DEMONS AND BEING ALL HAPPY LIKE IT AIN’T NO SHIT! TRYING TO BE ALL CASUAL! THEN YOU HAVE THE FUCKING NADS TO ASK ME TO QUOTE ‘BORROW MY WATCH, TO SEE IF EVERYONE IS ALRIGHT’!!” He, well, I couldn’t think of a verb to adequately describe his yelling.
“The funny thing is I put a radio in her head…” Indy murmured quietly.
Sky’s head dipped, and I could swear all sound in the area died when it did…
“I have just one question for you…” He said with a voice so cold and filled with tranquil fury, that it would make even a windigo shiver.
I was almost to afraid to ask, but against my better judgement I did. “Which is?”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU FUCKING CALL!?!”
His voice was at Royal Canterlot levels. Not almost. Not near. At Royal Canterlot levels.
Everyone around us visibly recoiled. I think even a few of Prance's knights, and the demons, even did. Then everything was silent, for several, painful, seconds. But I realized that after all that, he did ask me a question. And this was one I couldn’t avoid answering…
I started to open my mouth to say something, but I never got a chance. Before my jaw even moved, Sky’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, immediately snoring like a chainsaw.
Just like that, whatever my answer would have been, died. And I thanked the maker above that I would hopefully never have to come up with a new one...
Applejack - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Canterlot Palace Ruins - Equestria
Twilight’s berserk button ran out. I didn’t think that would happen until Dawn fell, but it did.
And that was not good at all. Especially since Dawn’s mocking laughter as she stopped attacking grated on every nerve in my entire body.
I could see how much he’d worn down during the ten, maybe fifteen minutes this fight had lasted for. My punches hit him harder, spells burned a little deeper. His attacks had become slower and more measured. Especially after Princess Celestia fried him, and even more so while Twilight had been in the middle of rage-mode.
Unfortunately, he was probably only about half way done. Cadence on the other hoof, she was completely done, too tired to use more spells, too fatigued to swing a blade. Her bodyguard was still fighting, but her magic was dry.
Celestia, Dash and I were still going strong. But we wouldn’t be enough… Twilight had been keeping things even, but now… The fight went out of her.
One moment she’d been swarming around Dawn, firing bolt after bolt of crackling magic, some even tinged a bit dark with what was probably a few flecks of dark magic pulled out of her grieving heart. The next, she’d just… Stopped.
Why did she stop? Twilight why did you stop?
I turned around to try and land a solid double kick, knowing I had to push myself even harder to make up the difference. I was pretty certain by now that Megan had just increased my overall normal physical attributes, because I should have been exhausted a long time ago, but I was still going fine.
That would change pretty quickly now. I was getting tired. I could push myself a bit harder, yes, but not for that long. Maybe another three minutes…
Would that be enough for Twilight to get back her fighting spirit? If not, we were going to lose.
I swiveled my shoulders, lining my hips up to deliver the best strike I could and froze mid motion, balancing on my forehooves.
I saw what had made Twilight stop. An alicorn, plain looking, but beautiful. White fur, brownish mane and tail, nothing overly complicated about her. She was only a few meters away from me, glaring past me at Dawn with an anger that I couldn’t even fathom. I could see Twilight staring at her too, and for good reason.
You could simply SEE that she wasn't really an alicorn. Nothing mortal looked or felt like that. I’d never seen something truly otherworldly before, and I just instinctively KNEW that’s what I was looking at.
“That’s enough, thank you,” the Alicorn informed us.
Dawn’s mocking laugh stopped mid ha, turning into the most delightful sounding “Eep!”
It sounded like he’d said the word ‘eep’. Hehehehe!
“You had masked your true self from us for more time than any could understand, Dawn,” the Alicorn said bitterly as she began to walk forwards. “Yet here you are. With all your power unleashed. Working expressly against our orders! Dusk is dead, and by your hooves. No one is collecting mortal souls right now, each one who dies is just GONE. The rules say they MUST be collected.”
“Uh! I um-” Dawn stumbled, the sound of him skittering back reaching my ears, but I didn’t dare turn around.
“If I hadn’t learned about your entire little under the table operation a while ago, and planned the least harmful way of destroying you, your father would be here. Right now. And you’d be DEAD, Dawn,” she spat, eyes narrowing into mere slits. “I didn’t make you this stupid when I created you, and you’ve pulled off some rather convincing lies to make this happen. You had to have, at one point, been rather intelligent.
“I choose to believe this means you have degraded over time, that you were not always the moronic monstrosity I see before me.”
The world burst into bright white light! Like someone had jammed a pair of magelamps into my eyes. I yelped, closing my eyes as tightly as I could, my little yelp didn’t even make it to my own ears though. It was entirely washed out by one long, horrific, equine screech of pain from Dawn.
The scream made my skin crawl, and my fur stand on end. I had nothing to compare it too. Not even things in the horror movies Dash had drug me too. When the scream was over and the light cleared, I saw Dawn, dangling mid air, limply, suspended by an invisible telekinetic grip a meter in front of the ‘alicorn’, who was still glaring daggers into his eyes.
“Make that the mortal I see in front of me,” she growled. “You know what happens now, don’t you? All of this is over. Whatever you hoped to gain by killing Dusk and stealing mortal souls for yourself, it’s all over. Right now.
“If you can do even ONE thing to show me you have an ounce of regret or remorse for your actions, I will be merciful and kill you myself. If not… I think I’ll throw you to Twilight and give her my express permission to do to you as she pleases.”
The white alicorn turned her head towards Twilight. “Did you hear that, Twilight? If he refuses to show even just one spark of decency, you have my permission to do as you please and never feel bad about whatever you decide to do.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “I heard. But I’d rather Celestia pass judgment… It’s not my place. Not now that he’s captured.”
Celestia nodded. “Quiet, now that he’s no longer an enemy combatant, but a prisoner of war, it is my duty to pass judgment, Lady Faust. But I assure you… Equestrian justice will NOT be kind to him. I doubt he’s aware of the punishments which are only legal in cases such as his…”
Faust turned back to face Dawn. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?! SPEAK!”
“I-I’ll show Twilight where her parents are!” Dawn yelped fearfully.
I blinked. He’d kidnapped her folks? When? I didn’t remember- Oh… Oh no, that’s right. He’d taken her from her real parents a long time ago.
Which meant they were dead.
“He’s lying!” I said as quickly as I could. “He told me about them. Twilight was born a thousand years ago, her parents are long since dead.”
The alicorn narrowed her eyes. “I see…”
“No! No they are NOT dead!” Dawn babbled fearfully. “Do you think magic like hers can come from just any bloodline? No, it can’t! Come on, you designed the base system for it! Her parents are absolutely alive, and would be today even if I hadn’t done anything to them.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, as if the pieces of a puzzle were just now starting to connect behind her eyes. She took a few steps forwards, eyes still narrowed thoughtfully, but also suspiciously.
“Celestia confirmed I was adopted. So have my parents. I didn’t think too much about it… But now that I know they’d be alive today, even though I’m a thousand years from when i was born… Dawn, who are my parents?” She asked dangerously.
“Starswirl the Bearded, and Clover the Clever,” he answered instantly, Twilight nodding to herself. She’d worked it out. She just needed to hear the answer.
I was a bit floored by the news though. As was everypony else present.
“They were two of my greatest enemies,” Dawn continued. “They almost killed me a millenia ago… I had to do something to stop them. I sent you here as a distraction, I banished your twin sister from our universe to make that distraction even more effective too.
“But she’s here! We had a brief fight. I won. But she’s not dead! She found her way back. You’ll find her, it’s not hard to track kind arcanely. And your parents! I can lead you to them, it’s not hard. I-if you just let go, mother, I’ll go get what I need and-”
“HA! No,” Faust laughed, shaking her head. “Nice try. Tell me what it is, and I’ll have your father bring it here.”
“A book!” Dawn said quickly. “It will show the way to the place I’ve trapped them. It’s on my bookshelf in plain sight. Gray metal cover. Text is etched into it. There are three gemstones set into the cover, a ruby, and emerald, and a sapphire.”
Faust nodded her head slightly. “Darling, did you hear that?”
As if in response, a book with a steel cover simply appeared in front of her. No magical flair, it was just there.
“Mhm… I think that this desk organizer was once a person,” a male voice said from nothingness, yet also from everywhere at once. “... Scratch that, it is a person. I’m going to mercy kill this poor bastard and continue destroying this place. If he gets away from you, just whistle. Oh and boy… You fucked up.”
“I-I did,” Dawn agreed meekly.
“Honestly, nothing you’ve done today is worse in my eyes than failing to achieve a goal you set for yourself,” the voice said again, this time seeming to leave.
Faust picked up the bookkeeping Dawn suspended effortlessly while she inspected it, opening the cover, flipping through some pages, and even licking one page.
“It seems safe to handle, Twilight,” Faust decided after a moment. “It’s enchanted, but all I can see is a simple preservation charm, a few divination spells to make these moving pictures work and to locate the book if needed.”
“Can you read it? It’s obviously doing nothing to you,” Twilight asked with a cautious frown.
Faust shook her head. “No. I can’t. I’m not omniscient after all.”
“I could read it to you,” Dawn offered hopefully.
“Yeah, no,” Twilight laughed. “Nice try. It could be a spellbook.”
Faust nodded. “Good thinking,” she said passing Twilight the book.
I felt the fur on the back of my neck tingle. Something was wrong! I didn’t know what but something was wrong!
Dawn! He was clearly trying to escape! What was he doing? I’d probably noticed something subconsciously.
I fixed my gaze on the suspended, now mortal, evil, looking over every single millimeter of his limp form. What did you just do? I know I saw something…
Twilight took the book in her arcane grip and opened it, squinting at the first page. “This looks like… A journal?” She said a little confused.
“It’s a Traveler's instructions on how to reach the place I sent them too,” Dawn explained. “It’s written in English. I know that the Emerald Changelings still use that language… Quite surprised you don’t read it, mother.”
“I don’t even know what mortals used that language…” Faust muttered to herself mostly. “But I’ll be paying MUCH more attention from now on.”
Twilight frowned and squinted at the book, then nodded. “Yep, sure is. This is the tiniest text I’ve ever seen though! Really hard to read,” she grumbled. “I’m not going to be able to read it without a magnifying glass. Oh! Unless maybe I try…”
Twilight stuck her tongue out in concentration and reached out to use her hoof to underline the words as she read them. I had to do that sometimes too. Often enough for me I just couldn’t make out the words without blocking-
Twilight’s hoof touched the page. A bright white light enveloped her. The book emitted a sound like a mechanical beast’s moan. The light cleared. The book dropped to the ground. Twilight was gone.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” Dawn laughed hysterically. “You can’t see portals to other universes! You IDIOT! You know you can’t see them but you still passed her the book! I even said I sent her sister to another universe! And there isn’t a way back! It’s a trap with only one direction of Travel! HAHAH-”
Dawn’s laugh was cut off the instant my punch passed through his head.