//------------------------------// // X - Sunset // Story: Stranger Magics // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Sunset blinked. Almost poetic, the sight she was seeing. The Geist appearing just as the sun set on Sunset - both figuratively and literally. She laughed bitterly at the realization, taking another swig of her drink. The bottle was unfortunately empty. She looked at it, contemplative - seeing the form of the Geist grab Surprise through the clear glass. Her eyes widened - the gravity of the situation striking her all at once. The Geist was taking Surprise, perhaps their single greatest weapon against the unnatural being. Sunset hated Surprise with almost all her being right now - but was she really willing to let the pegasus be taken by the Geist where she would likely be lost? Would Sunset let Surprise have a fate in the cycles and answers Sunset wanted? Would she let the Geist win? No... No, she wouldn't. She had been beaten, battered, and trampled enough as it was. The time had come for that to change. She was going to show the universe that she wouldn't just roll over and take it, not today. She was going out with a bang. She tossed the bottle against a nearby tree, shattering the glass into a hundred pieces. She lit her entire body on fire, replacing her mane and tail with an intense flaming pyre. Her pupils contracted to minuscule proportions and her coat became white as the moon. Her rage was felt in the minds of all ponies within sight range - even the Geist gave pause. This was its first mistake. Sunset appeared in front of the limb that held Surprise, severing it from the Geist's body. It regrew almost instantly, but Surprise was already free. The pegasus pounded the Geist into the ground - only for it to fold-teleport itself above them. Sunset shot a deep red laser - a spell intended to kill - right at the Geist's center. All the limbs disappeared from the impact but the fractal core remained, impervious. The pointed claw-things returned, grasping for the two ponies once more. Both Surprise and Sunset teleported out of the way, tossing entire trees at the beast with their power. The trees disintegrated into nothing when the touched the Geist's enraged form. The Geist didn't visibly slow from the impacts - it shifted to the ponies' location, trying to grab them from the sides, only to come in contact with dual magic bubbles. It crushed the shielding to discover they had teleported away. They fired lasers, making short-lived holes in the Geist's visage. All in all, the fight was feeling pretty similar to the previous one. Two powerful mages with support from a bunch of weaker ponies with the Geist shrugging off everything, always intent on its target. This time it was a certain white pegasus instead of a white unicorn, a pegasus who the Geist had finally decided wasn't a threat and therefore was a great victim. It wanted her power badly, so badly it was willing to go through the inconvenience of a fight. Pain was nothing to a being like the Geist who had access to unlimited reserves of regenerative power. Sunset roared, firing the death spell repeatedly. "Die! Die! Die!" Surprise said nothing. She simply flew around the Geist in an attempt to confuse it, but it saw everything. Her maneuvers accomplished nothing whatsoever. A unicorn scientist on the ground brought out a weapon on a still in-tact building: a tower with a bright yellow-blue crystal on top. A bolt of multi-colored lightning shot forth, impacting the Geist with an impressive glow of colors. There was no visible damage. Evidentially it was enough to irk the Geist seeing as the weapon - and the weapon storage building - was destroyed soon after. It roared - tearing through the base once again. It did what it had done when it had first come through; it laid waste to the clearing, grinding the buildings into dust, letting the ponies know that any reconstruction they'd done might as well have been pointless. It would keep going until it had what it wanted - a brilliant white pegasus. ~~~ Rarity leaped away from a flying chunk of wall and landed in a heap of dirt. She had long ago been separated from the rest of the group - she was just trying to survive while the giants clashed above. Fire, magic, and wind clashed, accomplishing nothing but destruction, staving off the seemingly inevitable conclusion. Rarity told herself she'd tried - tried to talk to Surprise, tried to keep further destruction from happening... She also told herself that she could have been better. She could have stopped this if only she'd said something different to Surprise. If only... If... If Surprise hadn't been so angry... If Granny hadn't been so rash... If Sunset hadn't been so broken... Rarity came to the realization that everything had happened in just the wrong way. So much had to happen just right to get to this particular horror. It was just her luck that she was thrown into this situation where ponies kept messing up further and further... A flaming rock barreled towards her from across the 'warzone'. She knew she couldn't dodge something that much bigger than herself so she just screamed. it was all she could do; a helpless gesture in front of impending doom. To her relief she saw a blue magic aura surround the rock, forcing it to drop sharply to the ground, splattering dirt all over her. Rarity rubbed the dirt out of her face and grinned. "Vinyl!" Vinyl trotted over to her, shielding them from a smattering of smaller rocks. Vinyl glanced from the Geist to Rarity, giving her a confused look. She made a swirling motion with her hoof. "Oh," Rarity said. "...The spirals. I'd forgotten." Vinyl frowned questioningly. "I... I still want to see them badly, but..." She looked at the Geist. "...I don't think it'll take me there now. Not unless I somehow grab its attention - no! Bad Rarity! Geist equals bad!" She slapped herself. "Aaaaaaaaaaaa I wish I'd never seen those patterns..." Vinyl nodded. She shot a few lasers at the Geist. It didn't pay them any attention - apparently, the two of them were smaller fish now. Or maybe the Geist had just forgotten about them after yesterday. Vinyl shook her head, pointing at the Geist. "...Do you have an idea?" Vinyl nodded. "...What?" Vinyl flashed her horn a few times and motioned towards the Geist. "...You want to move your horn closer to it!?" Vinyl nodded vigorously. "Are you crazy!? That's a wartorn landscape covered in broken magical devices! Are you sure you're not being influenced by the cycles?" Vinyl nodded her head and tapped her temples - all while lighting her horn to stop incoming debris and a loose javelin. "Does this have to do with what you did at the Apple house?" Vinyl nodded, grinning a 'this is going to be so awesome' grin. Rarity shrugged. "...Lead the way, crazy DJ. Try not to get us killed, okay?" Vinyl smirked at Rarity and pranced off to get closer to the Geist. A random soldier saw her. "Hey! What's she doing?" "She's going to the Geist!" another answered. "That can't be good! Get her!" Rarity paled. "VINYL!" Vinyl picked Rarity up with her magic and dodged a few thrown spears. She clenched her teeth and ran towards the Geist - but she wouldn't be able to dodge trained ponies forever... Roseluck leaped over their heads, landing between them and the soldiers, two javelins in her hooves and a sword in her mouth. She stood there a moment, letting the soldiers take her angry presence in. Vinyl kept running. The soldiers shook themselves out of their startled stupor, charging Roseluck. Roseluck met them, proving that either she was an amazing fighter or they were all oafs. She easily held her own against four at once, disarming one with the first hit. Meanwhile, Vinyl and Rarity climbed over mounds of debris and trash approaching ever-closer to the source of the danger: The battle between Surprise, Sunset, and the Geist. Rarity gulped - she couldn't believe she was charging towards this thing again. Strange, since only a day ago she had wanted nothing more than for it to take her. She looked at the fractal patterns swirling off the Geist as it fought. They tugged at her mind - but not as strongly as before. They seemed less welcoming and more... Normal, like they were unimportant. Like they were just a detail of a larger picture. She put those thoughts out of her mind - she wasn't in danger of throwing herself into the Geist right now and that was all she needed to know. She could ponder deeply at a later date. She held onto Vinyl for dear life, looking up every so often to see how close they were. The Geist always seemed infinitely far away and yet close enough to touch them at the same time. It gave her a headache. ~~~ Cheerilee would have gawked if she could. "Doctor! We have to do something!" "Yes, yes we do..." the Doctor said, almost absent-mindedly. "Doctor? What do we do?" "I'm thinking Cheerilee... Why would it want her... Why does it want her brightness... It shouldn't need food... Why..." "How does that help us!?" The Doctor didn't respond - he kept thinking. Cheerilee was overcome with exasperation. "Okay! Since the Doctor's gone all sicence on us, we're going to be the ones to do something. What can we do?" Berry flashed. "The empty thing the Geist made is still there. The portal-thing." Cheerilee strained her senses, though she didn't need to. The portal-esque emptiness was still there, a hole to the real world. Cheerilee approached it. "...Let's go!" "And do what? We aren't exactly warriors," Berry reminded her. "We'll get Applejack home," Cheerilee said. "That's what. The Doctor can follow us if he wants... after he stops thinking!" "Mmm, yes..." the Doctor muttered. "Extracting energy from the soul over time... Hunts the brighter... But why?" Cheerilee let out a sigh. "He's gone mad. Let's move." She took one last look at the Thaumic Fabric - the cycles of magic were no longer calm and graceful, but jarring and upset. The signatures of Sunset and Surprise were heavily disturbing the patterns to no end, but the Geist notably left a near-zero influence on the Fabric, instead creating more of a hole in the action, a calming focus. It was nothing like the world-shaking blob it had been while 'physically' on this side. Cheerilee decided enough was enough - she tossed herself into the emptiness. Instantly she appeared in the real world as her normal earth pony self - scratches, bruises, dirt, mangy mane and all. She also appeared a meter above the ground - but she didn't notice this, even when she hit the trash beneath her. She was busy reeling from a feeling of loss - like a part of her soul has been taken away. Her heart skipped a beat and she missed a breath and her senses switched off for a split second in reaction. Her stomach turned. She couldn't keep it in, hurling on the damaged ground. After that though... things returned to normal. She stood up - shaky, nauseated - but in enough control that she wasn't in danger of falling over. She checked herself over, satisfied she was back to her old self. She missed the beautiful patterns of the Fabric already - but she had missed her body a lot more. Berry came out next - experiencing the same pain Cheerilee did. Before Berry had even managed to stand up, Applejack appeared - and screamed. She fell unconscious, dropping into Cheerilee's hooves, limp - but breathing. Ceerilee reasoned that Applejack had been in the Thaumic Fabric much longer so naturally she'd have a rougher time getting out. Wait... Aloe had been in there for days. How bad was it going to be for her? Berry seemed to have a similar thought because she braced herself. Aloe appeared above them as her vibrant pink self. She screamed like Applejack had - but it wasn't in the fear the young filly had had, nor did Aloe fall unconscious. Aloe landed flat on her feet, shrieking in bloodcurdling rage. "I need to go back! I need to go back now!" Cheerilee grabbed her by the shoulders. "Get ahold of yourself Aloe! That's the cycles talking! You're fine here!" "You don't understand! I... I..." She collapsed in a heap, seizing up and shaking violently. Cheerilee shivered in horror - a friend she had been looking for for so long was having a seizure right in front of her. What could she do? As it turned out, she didn't have to answer that question. The seizure stopped and Aloe opened her eyes. "...Aloe?" Cheerilee asked. "Are you okay?" Aloe shot her hooves up, grabbing Cheerilee's neck in a choke hold. "TAKE ME BACK!" Cheerilee tried to mutter "I can't..." but her windpipe was too strained to even let that out - much tighter and her neck would break or her windpipe would completely collapse. She gagged. "CHEERILEE IF YOU WERE EVERY MY FRIEND BRING THE CURVES BACK! BRING IT BACK!" Cheerilee was in enough control of her faculties to know the portal still existed nearby, they just couldn't see it. She was even fairly sure she knew where it was and could climb back through it should she want. But she wouldn't tell that to Aloe. Not that she could anyway, in this state. She'd just have to suffocate from her friend's chokehold. Berry thwacked Aloe in the head, knocking her over and twisting Cheerilee's neck. Cheerilee yelled out - her neck didn't break, but it was definitely sprained. Sprained badly. She grabbed the fragile body part with her front hooves, breathing deeply and heavily, trying not to freak out or exasperate the intense, piercing pain. Aloe twitched. "Why... I will... I'll..." She fell to the ground again, another seizure taking over.This time she did pass out - but only after emptying the contents of her stomach on the ground beneath her. Cherilee was still breathing hard, trying to transfer oxygen into her body without intense pain. She couldn't stop staring at Aloe - staring in fear, wondering if the pink pony would suddenly shoot up again and try to kill her... Cheerilee continued focusing on her breathing, but her head reeled. Whether it was from the traumatizing event or the cycles, Cheerilee didn't know. She also didn't care. She just needed a moment to sort her mind out. It took her a while to realize that no, the Doctor had not come through with any of them - he was still in the Fabric. What was he doing!? ~~~ Big Mac couldn't believe what he was seeing - or, rather, he couldn't comprehend. He'd seen the Geist before, not a day ago, and it looked the same then as it did now, more or less. Prior experience didn't make the Geist any easier to deal with mentally. It was still impossible, intricate, and moved as if the space around it just wasn't there. How Sunset and Surprise were fending it off at all, he didn't know. He did know the Geist didn't care about what they were doing. There was no danger to it after all. Big Mac gulped. "That thing is going to rampage across Equestria... And there's nothing anypony can do to stop it." Granny grunted. "Celestia'll do somethin'!" "But what if she can't, Granny? What then?" Granny looked at the rampant destruction around them, face stern. "...Ah dunno, Big Mac. Ah dunno..." A boulder landed near them, showering them in loose dirt. Big Mac was about to respond, but then he saw Cheerilee on the other side of the clearing. He also saw Berry, Aloe, and... Applejack. He didn't say anything to Granny, he just took off, making a beeline straight through the warzone, eyes set on his sister laying in Cheerilee's hooves. he passed dozens of government ponies, a few of which decided to chuck a spear at him, though he dodged every throw easily. The greatest challenge wasn't going to be misguided government employees - it was the main fight he would pass uncomfortably close to. He crested a hill of dirt and reared onto his hind legs - the Geist had suddenly appeared directly in front of him, a lower limb sending out a shockwave that sent him back. He froze in fear momentarily - unable to move, but unable to take his eyes off the intricate patterns flowing off the Geist's limb. The claws swing wide, pushing him further to the side like a ragdoll. He wasn't even the target - the Geist had swung at Surprise once again, only to have her swerve around the pointed limbs, severing the sharp implements from the body with a razor gust of wind. The claw-things, of course, reappeared almost instantly. The Geist folded itself away from Big Mac - towards an area where Sunset had set an explosion spell. Big Mac allowed himself to breathe. It was no longer close to him. He was aware of other things again but had to take a moment to solidify his bearing. He saw panicked and sobbing scientists, Rarity and Vinyl walking slowly towards the Geist, and Cheerilee holding Applejack. Once again, without thinking, he galloped towards Applejack, ignoring all the pain in his limbs. He roared - announcing his presence to Cheerilee. She looked at him with a mixture of awe, worry, and relief. "Big Mac!" He ran to her and swiped Applejack from her legs. The filly was unconscious but breathing - and coughing softly. Still sick but very much alive. "Thank you..." he said, tears flowing from his eyes. "Ah... You don't know what this means..." "The Doctor did the most," Berry said. "We're just the mailponies." "Where is the Doc?" Cheerilee shrugged. "In the magic place. I have no idea what his deal is, staying there, stuck in thought..." Big Mac didn't know what this meant and he realized he didn't care. He put Applejack on his back, nodded to the three mares - pausing over the form of Aloe - and ran back toward Granny. He took a more sensible route this time, moving around the edge of the combat zone. Fewer ponies paid him mind, and the danger from the debris was considerably less this far out. Applejack rested uneasily on his back, giving him a constant reminder that he was in charge of his sister's life right now. It was his responsibility to get her safely to Granny - and then home. He was not going to let some Geist freeze him with fear, no matter how jarring those patterns on it were. He had a sister to save. ~~~ Granny saw nothing but Big Mac running back with her granddaughter for the longest time. The world exploded around her, ponies screamed, and the Geist made noises - but all of that meant nothing to her. Her entire world at the moment was her two grandkids - and only them. She held out a hoof, ready for them to come to her, to her embrace, to laugh, to finally be one again. The world was fuzzy after that, but she saw Applejack was safe in her embrace, that the search was over, that everything was going to be fine. Her family was safe and everything was fine. Applejack coughed, bringing Granny's senses back to the real world. The orange filly was still sick - and asleep. Her breaths were uneven and she was covered in dirt. "We need to leave Granny!" Big Mac yelled. Grany made no response. She looked up from her grandchild and took in the warzone. It hit her like it was something she hadn't seen before. While she had seen success, justice, and righteousness mere moments before, now she just saw pain, suffering, and cruelty. Dozens of ponies were laying around within her sight range, unmoving, defeated, one loose boulder or another away from being smashed to oblivion. Granny realized suddenly that she had asked for this. She'd demanded Surprise give these ponies what they deserved. She'd been gleeful at the destruction. But that had been shallow of her. These ponies hadn't taken her granddaughter - she was right here in her hooves to remind her of that - it was just a mistake they made, like Rarity had said. It was very likely many of them had nothing to do with the Geist or the experiments. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now they were in mortal danger from a monster. The same monster that had taken Applejack. "Granny!" Big Mac yelled again. "We need to go!" "We ain't goin' anywhere, Big Macintosh," Granny said, handing Applejack over to him. "There are ponies in pain here. We're going to help them." "What? How?" Granny walked up to a weakened soldier and lifted him onto her back. "Like this. We're gonna get these ponies out of danger." Big Mag gulped. "That's a big job for two ponies... And your hip was-" "My hip's fine, a dislocation is an easy fix, bah! And Ah'm sure Ah can find some others to help." She looked around, searching for mostly uninjured ponies and found one who looked like the most stereotypical intern of all time. "You! Intern! Help us move these ponies to safety!" The intern blinked, hesitating for a moment. His training kicked in quickly - follow authority. He hefted a limp mare onto his back and began to carry her to the treeline. "That's it!" Granny shouted. "Everypony, help those who can't help themselves! Carry them out of danger! Get a move on!" About three soldiers heard her - and all three dropped their useless attacks and set to work. A unicorn cast a few shield spells to protect the relief effort from incoming debris and loose magic. They set the saved ponies behind the treeline, out of the clearing, away from most of the danger. Big Mac set Applejack alongside the others. "All right!" Granny shouted. "Let's go back and get more! We're savin' everypony ponies! Move it!" The soldiers, intern, and Big Mac wasted no time, charging back into the clearing to gather others. A few more soldiers and scientists joined their cause quickly, along with the group Roseluck was fighting. In an instant, every combatant involved with her made an agreement, stopped the duel, and went to help. Roseluck did the same herself. Granny stared at the prone form of Applejack and smiled. "It'll all be fine, you hear?" Then she charged back into the warzone herself, running through the waves of the sudden relief effort. "That's it! As many as you can carry! The injured, the broken, the battered - all of them!" She picked up a pegasus - the crying, huddled form of Derpy - and ran back to the treeline. Already dozens of ponies were saved from the danger. However, there were well over a hundred ponies in the base as a whole. They still had a lot of work to do. "Don't give in! Don't fear the Geist! Just save them!" Granny shouted. "We're fixing this mess!" ~~~ The Doctor was still within the Thaumic Fabric, thinking in overdrive. There had to be a solution here. There had to be. What was the Geist? Why did it act the way it did? What was its weakness? He watched it - how it moved in the Thaumic Fabric as a calming presence, draining energy directly from the fabric to reform itself in any instant it wished, stretching the patterns like a rope to fold space, and always grabbing for the form of Surprise. The brightest shining star. it should have no need to devour... ...Wait... "What if it isn't a need?" he shouted to nopony. "What if it's a want?" What could it possibly want it for? What did it gain from draining souls? what did- Oh. Oh Great Whickering Stallions. He needed to tell somepony. Now. He leaped through the Geist's portal, falling to the ground next to Cheerilee. He sputtered and gagged - the transition was quite jarring - and he tried to tell her something. "...Doctor? What is it?" Berry asked. "He's just crazy..." Cheerilee said, nodding to the soldiers who were taking Aloe to safety. "We should go help the relief effort." "N-no!" the Doctor muttered, reeling from the lack of beauty. He managed not to hurl, but just barely. "I...I know what the Geist is! And why it does what it does!" Cheerilee was giving him her full attention now. "Well, what is it!?" "So, when magic is cast, in the Fabric you feel as if your essence is being spread out, disorganized, right?" "...Yes?" "What do you think would happen after, say, a few thousand years of that?" Cheerilee turned to the Geist and paled. "You don't mean..." "That used to be a pony - or dragon, or something similar. Probably some ancient mage that did something foolish and ended up stuck in the Thaumic Fabric, doomed to be torn apart over the eons. Losing every shred of what made them who they were, becoming another part of the Fabric itself, becoming a creature that fed off magic forever, connecting itself to the fractals just to ensure it didn't dissipate completely... becoming no better than an animal." Berry gasped. "It is a lost soul..." "I suppose you could say that, yes. The thing is, this also explains its other behavior. Why would it need to devour souls? It doesn't - it's not after us for food, for survival. It wants our minds - it wants to reclaim the intelligence and reason it once had. It wants to be itself again, by taking what it can from other ponies!" Cheerilee shuddered. "That sounds horrible..." "It is - it connects itself to the magic essence of ponies and slowly disperses the power through itself. And it works - the Geist has gotten more intelligent the more it's taken. It started out on a blind rampage that destroyed the base here several days ago, then switched to stealth and has now started seeking out particular targets now that it is able to fully realize it's invulnerable..." "How does this help us stop it!?" Cheerilee demanded. "The soul-draining can - probably, hopefully - be done in reverse! A unicorn could connect itself to the Geist and..." A large piece of ground hit him straight in the face, knocking him down and out. Cheerilee and Berry stared down at him in shock. A unicorn could connect themselves to the Geist and do what? "We need to find Vinyl," Berry said. "I'll find her," Cheerilee said. "You need to get the Doctor to safety. Can you do that?" Berry grinned. "I'm an earth pony, I can move a full grown pony, easily." She grabbed the Doctor's front legs and pulled him across the dirt. "Hurry! Find Vinyl!" Cheerilee nodded - setting out into the warzone. The Doctor had already told her half of the plan... But she thought she had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done. She just had to find Vinyl... And not break her throbbing neck. ~~~ Vinyl and Rarity were absurdly close to the Geist. Vinyl was sitting, waiting for the perfect moment to make her move. She had her horn lit, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice. Rarity would normally be complaining about how stupid and dangerous this was, how the Geist, a few soldiers, Sunset, or Surprise could just hit them with crossfire. But she couldn't bring herself to do that - she could only stare at the Geist and its glorious, powerful magics. The patterns called to her - demanding she approach and be one with them. It was taking almost all of Rarity's focus not leap over Vinyl and ram herself into the Geist, just to feel the marks on her skin... She sneered. "Hurry up, Vinyl." Vinyl nodded slowly, leaning out of the rock they were hiding behind slightly, examining the Geist's movements. Sunset and Surprise had just moved nearby, so the Geist would probably fold into existence right next to them. Rarity gasped - the Geist did, in fact, fold itself near them. As in right on top of them, its impressive orange girth hovering in place. It was already attacking Surprise again, so Vinyl only had one chance. Rarity watched the unicorn leap into the air, horn ablaze in two layers of magic. Vinyl reached for the cycles on the Geist, trying to pull them into her own horn. They started to turn blue... The Geist folded a claw-thing into existence next to Vinyl and flicked the diminutive unicorn away. She flipped end over end in ragdoll fashion, landing somewhere beyond the treeline, far beyond Rarity's sight. Rarity froze - Vinyl, the mare with the plan, was out. And Rarity had no idea what she had been trying to do - so she couldn't just go tell anypony to try the same thing. Their longshot had just been taken out of the picture. What were they going to do now!? The Geist claw-thing landed right next to Rarity, showering her in dust. It was close enough for her to touch - and it begged her to. The patterns seemed to reach out, cycling towards her, asking her to join them in harmony. Welcoming. Rarity took a step back. No. No, that wasn't her. She wouldn't succumb to this conditioning, even when all hope seemed lost. There had to be a way to fix this... She'd just have to figure out what Vinyl was trying to do. She hadn't the foggiest idea how she was going to do that. The Geist folded itself away, grabbing Surprise only for Sunset to tear the pegasus free once again. The Geist seemed to find this annoying, for it switched tactics and went after Sunset instead, unable to lay a point on her for now. The battle moved away from Rarity, luckily sparing her any large debris. She shivered - it was going to get them eventually. Rarity could see the two ponies getting tired, getting sloppy. It was only a matter of time... ~~~ Cheerilee was panicked - she couldn't find Vinyl anywhere in the chaos. She could only see ponies scrambling to help the relief effort or trying in vain to harm the Geist. There was no white unicorn with a spiked blue mane anywhere in sight. She stopped one of the ponies part of the relief effort - Tree Hugger. "Hey! Have you taken Vinyl out? I need to find her..." Tree Hugger shook her head. "Sorry dude, haven't seen her. I'll ask around. Why you need her?" "The Doctor needed a unicorn for an... idea. And she's the only one I think will help... It's something about connecting to the Geist and draining it." "I'll tell her if I find her, don't you worry," Tree Hugger hefted a pegasus with a broken wing onto her back. "Don't stop lookin' though, it sounds like you're the one with our last-ditch attempt at turning this thing around. No pressure - stress will just ruin your demeanor." "Telling me not to stress doesn't make me stress less!" "Just chill," Tree Hugger said, galloping back to the treeline. Cheerilee twitched - chill? How was she supposed to chill? The fate of everypony was in her hooves right now and she really wasn't cut out for this! She... ...She saw Rarity in the distance, near the center of the fight. Cheerilee blinked. Hadn't she seen Rarity with VInyl just a few minutes ago? Maybe Rarity knew. She just had to get to her. ...Close to the Geist... Cheerilee shook her head. Now was not the time to hesitate. She took off towards the Geist, tripping over her own hooves as she ran. She wasn't graceful, she wasn't careful, and she most certainly wasn't thinking this through, but she was determined. She leaped over heaps that were once buildings, injured ponies, and random trash - right towards the source of all magical death beams, hurricane-like torrents, and flying debris. She had her eyes set on the small white form of Rarity, ready to do whatever was necessary. Then she really tripped, toppling head over hooves into the ground, slamming her head on a rock, shooting pain into her head and neck. She didn't pass out but the ringing in her head disoriented her for more than the fumble would have normally. She stood up, wobbling, and began to hobble toward Rarity. "Rarity?" she yelled, swaying from side to side. Her vision was blurring "Rarity!" Did Rarity's ears even perk up? They must have - right. She heard Cheerilee. "Rarity! Where's Vinyl?!" Rarity made no response - she wasn't even looking at Cheerilee, as far as she could tell. Cheerilee put a hoof to her head and collapsed to the ground once more. Her head throbbed, the pain of a hammer banging on her skull from the inside every second. She felt the world fade around her... No... she told herself - she had to keep going. She stumbled forward, standing up and falling over and over again. "Rarity!" she yelled. "Rarity!" Rarity really heard her this time, turning to look right at her. She moved closer - but froze, looking at something behind Cheerilee. She shook her head in fear. Cheerilee frowned - she could see the Geist in front of her. What could be behind her? She heard something whistle through the air. She was unable to process it - and thus didn't move out of the way. A spear lodged itself right in her shoulder. For a moment, Cheerilee felt nothing. She just turned her head to see the spearhead almost completely buried in her. She pondered it with a quizzical look for a moment. She knew it was supposed to be dangerous, but for the life of her she couldn't remember why. Then the pain hit all at once. She screamed in agony, toppling to her other side so the spear was straight up in the air. Once again, she felt like passing out - and she didn't think she could stop herself this time. But she would stave it off as long as she could. She turned her head towards Rarity, grunting at the pain in her neck, head, and shoulder. The little white unicorn had run to meet her. "Cheerilee! What is it!?" "F-find Vinyl... Tell her... Tell her that the Doctor knows - the Geist can be defeated by a unicorn if... If they're connected and... Something... He wasn't able to tell me everything... Please... You have to find her... We have to beat and rain this Geist..." Rarity bit her lip. "...Okay." And with that confirmation of a job completed, Cheerilee gave out, losing all awareness. The handle of the spear still stuck up into the air. The last thing Cheerilee was aware of before she lost all feeling was the beginnings of rain... ~~~ Rarity stood over the unmoving form of Chereilee, a pained expression on her face. Well, Vinyl was gone, so she couldn't be told about the Geist, draining, and connecting... Rarity's eyes widened, the image of fractal patterns in her mind suddenly turning blue. She knew exactly what Vinyl had been trying to do. She'd been trying to drain the Geist, just as Cheerilee suggested, by using her mental connection to the magic cycles... ...But Vinyl was still gone, and she was the one with the connection... ...Wait. ...Rarity had a connection. She took a step towards the Geist. Then another. Then another. "...I guess I'm really doing this..." She stopped trying to fight the calling in her mind. She submitted and charged towards the Geist, horn glowing brightly. This was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever done. ~~~ Granny and Mac took a moment to breathe. There were at least four dozen ponies saved in varying states of injury, but all very much alive. They looked at their work and smiled. "Big Mac... You were right," Granny said out of nowhere. "Huh? About what?" "A lot of things. You were also dead wrong about a lot of other things. But... That's okay. Ah was the same way." "...Thanks?" "You'd think Ah'd be old and wise... Heh. Turns out even Ah have a few lessons left to learn. Who knew?" Big Mac shrugged and smirked. "Ah suppose Ah did." "Don't push it, sonny." "Right," Big Mac said, losing the cocky smile instantly. He turned, following Granny's gaze to the destroyed government base. It was unrecognizable now. All the buildings were torn down, only a handful of walls were standing, most of the crystals had shattered, and the flag of Equestria was nowhere to be seen. Small fires were appearing across the field, sending smoke into the sky. The darkness of the Everfree Forest intensified as the light of twilight dissipated and the heavens opened up. The lights from the little fires were put out rapidly by the accelerating deluge. The dirt became mud and trickles of water began to run through the trees. The clearing became a muddy swamp in only a few minutes, clinging to all who entered. The only sources of light now were the Geist itself, the roaring magic spells going off, and an ever-increasing number of Everfree Lights. It was a truly dark hour. Granny found her eyes drawn to the Geist, a being both flat and not, a brilliant orange glow that lit up everything near it, even without the help from Sunset's fire and Surprise's energies. There were only a handful of soldiers left assaulting the beast - most had abandoned the endeavor long ago. Tree Hugger showed up, arriving next to Granny. "Hey, you seen Vinyl around?" Big Mac shook his head. "Eenope." "Not cool... Cheerilee has a message from the Doctor for her, some kind of last-ditch attempt to defeat the Geist. He said a unicorn needed to connect to the Geist to do... something." Big Mac put a hoof to his eyes. "Ah don't see Cheerilee out there... Too dark..." "Not good. I have this bad vibe, this bad feeling, you know, like that was the last shot there. Like, otherwise the Geist would be unleashed on the world and we'd be powerless..." Granny frowned. "Tell the rest to look for Vinyl. See if we can get any of our own unicorns to figure out what that means as well." She watched the Geist fold itself around Sunset, only for her to break free in a fiery explosion. "Those two are gonna pass out from exhaustion soon! Make it fast!" She was about to head back out herself - but then she saw something. A tiny blue light from a small horn heading right for the Geist. As it approached, Granny could make out the pony it belonged to. Rarity. "Rarity!? What in tarnation are you doin'!?" "...Huh?" Big Mac said. "Rarity's charging the Geist." "...Awesome," Tree Huger said. "She's going to get herself..." Granny didn't finish the thought - she could only watch. ~~~ Sunset Shimmer was in agony - the levels of exertion she was subjecting herself to were far too absurd for her body to handle for much longer. She gave herself another ten minutes before she just shut down, losing her fire and passing out. She was pretty sure the Geist knew this - after all, its efforts were now focused on her and not Surprise, even though Surprise was the Geist's goal. Sunset roared, hurling another death beam at the Geist, once again to just be shrugged off. Sunset wondered, not for the first time, why she was even fighting. She knew it was pointless - the Geist was a horror beyond their capabilities to deal with. She was doomed anyway, already resigned to throwing herself into that portal later. In the end, she realized she wasn't fighting for any real reason. She was just mad - and oh boy was this Geist a good punching bag. She covered her horn with a giant neon spike and rammed it right through the Geist's body. It didn't care - after she passed through, it grabbed her between its pointed claws. Sunset tried to free herself, but it had its spiral energies surround her. She groaned. "Surprise? Little help?" Surprise took one look at the position Sunset was in and then looked away, returning to beating up the Geist the normal way, notably not attacking the limb Sunset was trapped in. Sunset's jaw dropped, her expression horrified. "...No. No! Surprise! It'll win if you do this! You can't fight alone!" Surprise paid her no mind, blowing the Geist to the ground once again. It folded through space, disorienting Sunset considerably. It shoved all its limbs towards Surprise and she barely avoided them all. "I saved you! I've helped you fight this thing for a long time Surprise! I am not your enemy right now!" "You've been my enemy ever since you got rid of her," Surprise did another attack, slicing off a limb only for it to grow back. "That will never change." Sunset wailed in frustration. "You idiot!" Surprise. "You're one to tal-" the Geist grabbed her, cutting her short. It stopped for a moment, processing the fact that it had finally caught both of them at once. It put the limbs holding the two of them close together; studying its prey. "You've doomed us!" Sunset yelled. "We've lost!" "Maybe you shouldn't have killed her!" "SHE ISN'T DEAD YOU INSUFFERABLE REBELLIOUS BIRD-BRAIN!" "...What?" Surprise said. "I'm not a child-killer! I just had her taken from you and relocated to a rock farm in Northern Equestria! GAH!" Surprise blinked. "W-why didn't you say anything?" "You would have gone looking for her you... you... AUGH!" Surprise fell silent, her face completely blank. The Geist decided in that moment it was time to go - enough beholding the trophies. It took a step back towards the portal. It was interrupted by a little white unicorn filly landing on the limb that contained Sunset. She lit her horn. "Here goes nothing!" Sunset watched, baffled, as the cyclic patterns floated off the Geist's limb and towards Rarity's horn. The patterns changed from orange to blue, spreading out over her horn before dissipating into nothing. The claw-things themselves blurred slightly, weakening their grip... Sunset and the Geist acted at the same time. The Geist grabbed Rarity - and Sunset made herself explode. The Geist was sent back while Surprise and Rarity were freed. Sunset caught Rarity with her magic. "What was that? What did you do?" "I connected my magic to the Geist's using my image of the cycles! You can do it too, I think! Try to burn the Geist like you would magic! CONNECT!" The Geist charged them again, but Surprise held it back. Sunset set Rarity down and grinned. "Thank you Rarity. You saved us. Saved everything. Now let me do the rest." She knew exactly what she needed to do - it came naturally. She imagined the portal - the portal she had spent countless hours staring at, letting it bury itself into her mind. She let the patterns come to the forefront. She selected the connection and she fired off a line from her horn. The blue energy hit the Geist's limb head-on, contaminating its color. The swirls and patterns disconnected themselves from the Geist, unraveling it, draining the energy directly into Sunset's horn where it was simply burned to maintain the connection spell. She used the power to amplify the connection further, unraveling the entire limb. The Geist roared in anger and surprise, severing the connection by folding itself to a new location. But the damage was done - the limb did not grow back instantly. There was no structure for it to form around - it had been burned like the magic it was and like it was trying to burn the little soul deep inside it. Sunset prepared another connection spell - and then the Geist booked it, leaping toward its invisible portal. There was now a risk to its continued existence, so it would no longer stay here. Surprise teleported in front of the Geist and blew it back to Sunset with her power, but the Geist just folded itself behind her and leaped into the crack in reality, back to the Thaumic Fabric. "Oh no you don't!" Surprise yelled, following it through. She entered the Thaumic Fabric fully, shining brighter than any light the Geist had ever encountered. It moved its amorphous shape towards her - leaving the closing of the portal unfinished. It would take Surprise a while to acclimate to the magics, after all, and it wasn't going to let a magic shockwave blow this pure prey away. It reached for her with its outer layers, stroking the brilliant light... Pulling her in... The light that was Surprise fought back, launching the amorphous blob back through the portal into the real world. Surprise had been connected to the Thaumic Fabric for years - she had no need to acclimate to it. She'd just waited for the perfect moment to fool the Geist. She flew back into the real world herself - and completed the act of shutting the portal. The Geist froze - it could make a new portal, but that'd take far too long. It would have to fight for its life. it aggressively launched towards Sunset, all its menacing limbs going right for her neck. Sunset teleported behind the Geist and formed another connection to it with a flick of her head. She sneered. "Your time is up Geist. I can burn through magic faster than anypony." The blue spirals shot into her horn, giving Sunset even more of a boost. She turned another limb into nothing, laughing all the while. Then the Geist folded into her. Sunset screamed - she could feel the Geist's internal semipermeable body shifting around inside her skin She felt sick - and she couldn't focus, couldn't make the spell... Rarity rammed her horn into the Geist, burning it with her own, lesser connection spell. It disoriented the Geist enough, allowing Sunset to free herself. "Oh, 'let me do the rest' you say," Rarity mocked. Sunset bristled but said nothing. She formed another connection with the Geist, disintegrating the particular limb that had been inside her. She still felt like her organs weren't in the right places. She took a moment to gag. The Geist shot forth with its last remaining limb, planning on squishing Sunset like a pancake, but it was not to be. Surprise grabbed the Geist with her magic and slammed it into the ground. It folded itself above her - exactly where Sunset predicted it would be. The connection spell burnt away the last limb before the Geist severed the connection. The geist was only slightly larger than a big stallion now that all which remained of it was the fractal-pattern core that continually pulsed with impossible energies. The Geist shook, warping space around it so drastically that the ground began to crack. Surprise and Sunset protected themselves, but Rarity was unable to resist the drastic changes. She screamed as her entire body was shifted in unnatural directions. Surprise rushed to tend to her - leaving just Sunset with the Geist's core. Sunset grinned. Perfect. It was just her and her mess. She was going to clean this up like she'd always said she would. She tried to connect again, but the rippling of space skewed her spell off track. "Oh, not going to make it easy on me? Good. Challenge accepted." She teleported herself behind the Geist and physically rammed her horn into its center - and didn't cast the spell. She burned the magic by direct contact. It roared the sound directly into her mind, but she didn't care. She was going to kill this thing, burn it into nothing. She- The space-time distortions grabbed ahold of her and tossed her to the ground. About half of the core had been burned. It focused everything it had on Sunset, trying to tear her limb from limb with the distortions it could muster. Her already scrambled insides shifted around more and she felt sick. She lit her horn. "No... You... Don't! I WILL DESTROY YOU!" she roared, firing the connection spell - and missing. Her fiery mane and tail went out. Her coat returned to its normal yellow color and she slumped to her knees. She never got the chance to try again. Surprise threw Rarity into the Geist, punching the remains of the creature with a small white horn. The Geist shrieked with the sound. It was unable to react. It had lost too much substance. It couldn't channel enough power at once to remove Rarity. It shivered, shook, and the sound rose in pitch until it was impossible to hear. The patterns disintegrated, devolving into Everfree Lights, nothing but ambient music in the air. It slowly dissipated, agonizingly, down to the small, dense center. A center that held a single small filly, sleeping. The last remains of the Geist vanished into the night, sending the Everfree Lights out into the sky, the blue colors reflecting through the rain. Surprise caught Rarity and Golden as they fell, setting them down softly on the ground. Rarity smiled. "I... I did it! Haha!" Surprise grinned. "Yes. Yes you did." Ponies began to flood in from the sidelines - soldiers, scientists, Granny, Big Mac, and even a very disoriented Doctor. Rarity smiled. "It's gone! Golden's back! We won!" The ponies cheered. Hugs were given, Rarity was tossed into the air again and again alongside Surprise. Both of them were beaming and laughing. Sunset just stood there, silent, separate from the sudden festivities. These ponies - her ponies - weren't cheering for her. Weren't even bothering to acknowledge all she did to make this happen. How could they?! "Oh, they're all so great aren't they?" Sunset blurted. "They saved you! Not like they had help! Not like somepony else did all the work! Not like that somepony was by your side over and over again! Oh no!" The crowd fell silent, startled by her rage-filled outburst. Rarity frowned. "...Thanks, Sunset. You know what? Let's all give her some hoof, let's-" "You know what? No. It's too late for that. Far too late! No one has treated me with any respect! I'm the bad guy, the reason, the sickness that needs to be taken care of! I know that's what you all think of me- don't fake it!" she growled. "You. All of you - particularly you." She pointed at Granny, the Doctor, Surprise, and Rarity. "Your lives are going to be a living Tartarus." She created a fireball in her magic. "In fact, I think I'll just take care of you right now!" A tranquilizer dart hit Sunset between the eyes. "...No..." Her eyes rolled back into her skull and she fell into the mud, her face frozen in disbelief. Bon Bon walked into the center of the crowd, setting the dart gun on the ground. She looked down at Sunset, expression unreadable. She sighed deeply. "All of you... Go home. Forget any of this ever happened. We won't be bothering you again." She didn't take her eyes of Sunset. Both of the ponies looked betrayed. "...That's a good idea, Agent," the Doctor said. "Everypony... go home. If you're from Ponyville, take your friends and family in the pile to the clinic. If you're the government... I'm sure there's an official clinic nearby." "There is. Not telling you where," Bon Bon said. Rarity blinked. "So... That's it? We just walk away and pretend it never happened?" "That would be best," Bon Bon said, still refusing to look at anypony. Surprise nodded. "She's right. Everypony... Let's go." Granny sighed. "Well, Ah guess everythin' worked out..." The crowd slowly dispersed, heading for the injured, leaving Sunset and Bon Bon alone in the rain. Bon Bon just stared at the form of Sunset for the longest time. She might have been there for hours. She didn't know, she didn't care. But, eventually, enough was enough. Bon Bon turned around and walked out of the Everfree Forest, not looking back. Sunset was left alone, defeated, on the muddy ground.