Mud splashed against Twilight’s hooves as she charged through the rain-slogged paths of Ponyville. She flinched as a powerful gust of wind blew the hood of her poncho away, clearing the path for heavy drops of rain to splash against her muzzle. She was quick to pull the hood back into place.
It had been raining for days. Rain unlike anything anypony had experienced before. The weatherponies didn’t know what was happening and every attempt to stop it had only led to failure and injury. The rain came down in vicious lashes, driven on by the wind, making it impossible to see anything but vague shapes more than a dozen meters away. Now the streets of Ponyville were nearly empty, most of the population having evacuated for the mountain. A few stragglers hurried past, heads down, saddlebags full to bursting and protected with knotted tarps. They were out of sight in seconds, leaving Twilight alone once again. Like ghosts crossing paths in the fog of the afterlife.
Twilight splashed through the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, grimacing as the rushing water threatened to pull her from her hooves and down into the farm’s many fresh-drowned valleys. She didn’t understand what was happening. Nopony did. The first guess had been some kind of expansion from the Everfree, but the strange rain clouds had showed up across Equestria simultaneously without any point of origin. Twilight could find no sign of Discord’s magic being responsible. The draconequus and his stone prison had been missing altogether when she traveled to Canterlot to check on them. A torrential rain of simple water seemed counter to his style anyways, and he hadn’t showed up to gloat. Twilight suspected there was some new, yet-unknown force at play, and she knew it was up to her and her friends to find out what.
A gust of wind slammed into her side as she approached the Apple Family barn and pushed her over. She yelped, flailing her hooves as she lost her balance and was swept along by the current. With a burst of magic she increased her weight, using the extra stability to regain her senses and climb to her hooves. She grit her teeth and plodded towards the barn one determined step at a time.
At last she made it to the barn door. “Girls!” she called, struggling to be heard over the storm. “It’s me! Let me in!”
The creak of the double door’s top half opening was barely audible over the pelting of the rain. A single light blue eye peeked through the crack. “Twilight?”
“Fluttershy!” Twilight flinched as a sheet of rain smacked into her muzzle. “Open the door!”
Slowly, Fluttershy shook her head. “I can’t do that, Twilight. There’s monsters outside.”
“Wh—What?” Twilight sputtered. She glanced behind her in search of some sort of creature, but all she saw was the rain and rising water. Her eyes shot open in alarm as she realized that the water was already lapping at her belly. But… we’re on a hill… If the water was so high here, didn’t that mean the rest of Ponyville…
“Fluttershy, please!” Twilight banged a forehoof on the door. “Let me in!”
“I’m scared of you, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “You’re a monster.”
“No!” Tears of panic were lost in the rain on Twilight’s cheeks. Her world had been reduced to Fluttershy, the barn, and the endless expanse of rising water surrounding them. “Something’s happened to you! Hang on, Fluttershy!”
Was it the unknown enemy that had started the rain? Maybe some kind of hypnosis, akin to what Discord had used on her and her friends? A memory spell! If I can just get her to remember who she is…
A deep roaring pulled Twilight out of her thoughts. She looked to the side, jaw dropping open at the sight of the massive wave hurtling towards them. There was no way they would survive the impact. She had to get her friends out, now.
“Fluttershy, look at me!” Twilight turned back to the barn, horn glowing with arcane energy.
Fluttershy eyed her uncertainly, shrinking back. “You scare me, Twilight. I can’t let you in.”
The quiet creak of the door closing was somehow louder in Twilight’s ears than the pelting rain and roaring wave alike. “No!” Twilight reared up, wedging a hoof into the door and trying to look past Fluttershy. “Let me in! Girls! This isn’t you!”
Her heart was pounding. The shadow of the wave passed over her, plunging her into a darkness even deeper than the storm that had blocked the sun for days. I don’t have time for this! She cast a powerful weight spell on herself, grunting as her legs strained to carry the extra load. The purple glow of a shield lit the barn as she wrapped it in her arcane protection.
“Ungh!” The wave crashed into her shield with a force unlike any she’d felt before, forcing her to pour even more energy into it. She could feel her reserves plummeting—she had to be fast. She locked eyes with Fluttershy and strained to form the memory spell as she maintained her shield and weight spell.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy flinched away. “What are you doing?”
“Trust me, Fluttershy!” Twilight hissed through her clenched jaw. “Look at me!”
There! She had it. The memory spell was ready. Now to just—
The wave roared at her—actually screamed in fury as it redoubled its assault. Twilight cried out in pain as her shield broke, leaving the barn at the mercy of the endless torrent of water. She was sent tumbling through the world, catching brief glimpses of the barn being torn to pieces by the water. The feedback from the broken shield raced up her horn, forcing the memory spell out of her. Without a target, it doubled back onto its caster, the little spark of light twisting to strike Twilight square in the forehead.
In that instant, she was aware. She wasn’t in Ponyville. There was no endless rain or sinister wave; the world had already drowned, and she lay asleep at the bottom of the ocean. It was all an illusion. Yet something was stopping her from waking up. A mental wall keeping her pinned in the realm of dreams with a massive will she could never hope to compete against.
The wave roared at her once more. She was deep beneath the surface now, floating in pitch black. Twisting around, she saw a pair of dark eyes watching her, blacker even than the darkness, framed by wisps of purple and blood-red tears. She stared at it defiantly, horn glowing with renewed purpose. Twilight had some experience with lucid dreaming, and she would not allow this creature to manipulate her without resistance.
With a thought, the water was gone. Twilight stood in the plains outside of Ponyville on a sunny day, a gentle wind playing with her mane. She glared at the lithe, scarred, equine being that had attempted to trap her in nightmare, calling up what she had learned on memories and dreams from long talks with Princess Luna.
“What are you?” Twilight demanded.
The Monster didn’t respond. It watched her silently, terrifying hunger lingering within its bloodshot eyes. Blood oozed freely from the wounds marring its patchy-furred skin, dripping onto the crisp grass below.
She advanced on it, the world shaking with every step. “This is my dream!” she shouted. “My domain! Do you think you can challenge me here?” There was rage burning inside her, alien and empowering. She felt so alive! Wings of vibrant purple energy sprouted at her sides, beating at the air. “If you won’t let me wake up, I’ll tear you to pieces!”
Chunks of earth erupted from the ground as Twilight shot up into the air. She gathered a sparking ball of magic over her horn, the black-laced purple casting a dark shadow over her grin. She unleashed it without focus or finesse, a beam of raw power hurtling towards The Monster with all the thought of a raging river.
The Monster didn’t move. A blinding flash of light and thunderous roar washed over Twilight as the beam struck home. When she opened her eyes again, she saw The Monster hovering calmly above a massive crater, borne on wings of blood.
Twilight screamed, throwing a ball of raw magic at the beast. It dodged to the side, a long tongue darting out to lick at its lips. Twilight didn’t let up. She unleashed a barrage of arcane bullets, bombs, and beams in number she didn’t even bother to count. The world shook with the impacts. The earth shattered beneath her. The light of the detonations drowned out the sun, and still The Monster darted around her attacks, always watching with that leering hunger.
“Die, die, die!” Twilight laughed. “Why won’t you die!?”
Thunder rumbled in the distance as her furious assault came to an end. She was flying high above the cracked earth, chest heaving. She had lost track of her target. Where did it go? She scanned the smoldering horizon with an eager grin, horn already primed to channel even more raw magic.
Twilight’s grin faltered. It twisted into a horrified gape as she took in the dream Equestria around her. The world had been transformed into an ashen hellscape by her madness. Rivers of magma flowed through charred cracks, outlined by the flaming corpses of trees. The once-blue sky was now grey and dead, overcome by the tons of ash and dust kicked up with each explosion. The wooden and thatch homes of Ponyville were little more than scattered sticks, the town unrecognizable except for the ruins of the sturdier town center.
“I… I did this,” she murmured. A cold emptiness formed in her stomach. “How… how could I… No!” She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. “It’s just a dream! It’s not real! You… I would never!”
Opening her eyes, Twilight found herself eye-to-eye with the grinning Monster. For a brief instant her wide stare met its voracious gaze, and then—something dark and red flashed beneath her.
Twilight yelped in alarm as the sudden strike caused her to tumble wildly upwards. Equestria flew past her vision, and again, over and over as she rocketed towards the clouds. She grit her teeth as she tried to angle her wings and balance herself out. She had no experience with flight in the waking world, but Twilight had a great deal of experience lucid dreaming about herself as a princess. And a firm grasp of aerodynamics.
She caught the air on her wings, screwing her nose up in concentration as she leveled herself out just beneath the ashen clouds. Magic gathered at the tip of her horn as she tracked The Monster racing after her, the anger stirring in her chest once more.
No! The black-and-purple orb fizzled out as she forced the magic to disperse. The rage had taken over her, turned her into a monster that would destroy Equestria on a whim. She wouldn’t lose herself to it again. She had to be calm; think things through. Raw power clearly wasn’t working on the beast. She raced through the list of spells she knew off-hoof, looking for—
The Monster struck her during her hesitation, connecting with a sharp crack. Twilight grunted in shock as she shot through the clouds above like a bullet and came out on the other side with a resounding boom.
Her wings were gone. She reached with her mind to pull at the fabric of the dream, but it slipped away from her like a taunting child. She wasn’t in her dream anymore.
She was falling towards an island floating in the sky, its surface pockmarked with craters and scarred with trenches. In brief glimpses she saw explosions erupting from each side of the island as massive cannons exchanged fire. Pillars of smoke rose towards an ashen sky from the burning rubble of a town in the middle of it all, carrying with them the acrid stench of death.
Where had The Monster taken her? It had to be someone else’s dream, as she was lucid but lacked any control over the dream’s reality. Had it gotten to somepony else? Her friends? There wasn’t time to consider the question at length. She needed to recover before The Monster wrestled her mind back into submission.
The wind stung at her eyes as she hurtled through clouds of black smoke, a fresh spell on her mind. One she had cast many times. So often, she thought with a smirk, that she could cast it even in her sleep.
She cast the cloudwalking spell quick and clean, feeling the familiar tingle pass through her body. It wasn’t even a second later that she slapped into the edge of a cloud, bouncing off like a pinball as the breath was driven from her lungs. There was a moment of weightlessness, and then a thud. She tumbled through the soft cloudstuff, coughing up smoke as she finally rolled to a stop on her side.
Twilight bounced back to her hooves, racing to regain her senses. She was standing on the spiraling surface of an acrid black pillar of smoke, high above the battle raging below. Looking up, she saw The Monster rushing down at her with a foreleg extended, fangs bared in an eager grimace.
Twilight leapt to the side, the wake of The Monster passing throwing her off balance as it punched through the smoke cloud where she had been standing an instant before. She rolled back to her hooves, a plan taking shape in her thoughts. She had no power here, but—
“Uhn!” Twilight grunted as The Monster struck her from below, rising up out of the smoke between her hooves. She flew through the air, gasping for breath, and crashed into a dirty grey cloud some distance below.
Should be more careful, she thought, pulling herself to her hooves. Clouds don’t give much protection.
The Monster was already coming for her again, a bloodied arrow streaking through the ashen sky. With a burst of magic Twilight teleported away, reappearing on another cloud. From cloud to cloud she went, working her way down to the surface, trying to recall everything she could about her talks with Luna.
Dream creatures were difficult to deal with. They were ideas given purpose, feelings given thought. To “kill” one was a personal and involved process requiring great investment of time studying its nature, even for the most seasoned dreamwalker. The best a pony like Twilight could do was trap them somewhere they could do no harm. She knew that Princess Luna personally had trapped many powerful creatures in her mind, keeping them contained until she knew enough of their natures to defeat them for good, but Twilight didn’t think that was an option for her.
Another flash of purple, and Twilight found herself on a half-collapsed rooftop in the battle-torn town. She formed a small shield of her magic, angling it to intercept the spear of blood that The Monster had thrown at her. She flinched as the attack bounced away—shattering her shield in the process—before turning tail to run once more.
It couldn’t hurt her in the dream. Not physically, at least. The mind might reel if it thought it had just fallen to its death, but it would always recover to find the body whole. The danger was in what the creature might do to her in that brief interlude between perceived damage and realization. It could drag her away to lock her in a nightmare of her own creation, or consume her subconscious to sustain itself. Likewise, Twilight had no way to fight it outside of her own dreams. She had to find this dream’s host. Until then, she would stall.
Twilight jumped over an alleyway illuminated by the flickering light of gunfire. The Monster burst up through the roof in front of her, maw stretched unnaturally wide. Twilight’s eyes widened in alarm as she rushed to teleport away.
There hadn’t been time to target the spell. She found herself floating mid-air above a collapsed roof. A shocked scream escaped her as she fell onto the rubble, bouncing off with a strangled grunt. She hit a window, cracking it with the force of impact, and fell face-down into the street.
Twilight groaned as she picked herself up. Gunfire rattled in the distance. The Monster was relentless now that she was vulnerable. She had to find the host fast, or she might not get another chance.
She took a quick glance around, seeing no glimpse of The Monster. A trio of huge bullets soared over the street, shaking loose the rubble piled around the street as they struck home somewhere out of sight. Her gaze focused in on a tall building made of stone, scratches of faded blue and purple paint still visible on its cracked walls. A single stained glass window remained whole, depicting a scuffed Princess Luna smiling down at the world.
The building stood out both in color and detail. Where other structures were little more than dim-colored boxes lined up in neat rows, the church and the surrounding park were distinct. The dream’s host must be over there.
The harsh crack of gunfire grew louder in Twilight’s ears as she galloped for the church. Looking through one of the broken windows, she teleported herself inside and onto the surviving half of the wooden mezzanine that looked down onto the church interior.
The ponies inside the church were the image of controlled chaos. Soldiers in varying levels of armor scurried about the rear, firing the repeaters mounted on their sides at an endless horde of faceless grey-furred ponies. The faceless all wore the same light armor and carried the same guns, taking ground with robotic determination as they advanced on the furniture barricade the defenders were using as cover.
Twilight raised a hoof to her muzzle, shocked by the display of violence. The faceless simply disappeared in puffs of ash when they were struck down, but the ponies defending the barricade weren’t so lucky. Their shouts of anger, pain, and fear filled the church with a dread chorus as the fight wavered out of their favor. Bodies were strewn over the floor in grotesque detail, the blood running in miniature rivers to pool at the back of the room.
A familiar voice shook Twilight from her daze. Following the sound with her eyes, she saw Sea Sabre crouched behind the very center of the barricade. The pegasus looked younger—though no less stern—and instead of her dive suit she wore a much less encumbering set of plate segments and a helmet. As Twilight watched, she vaulted over the barricade—a blade attached to each wing—and cut down a trio of faceless before rolling back into cover.
“Flint!” she heard Sabre shout. “I need you now!
“Roger that, boss!” Flint shouted. Twilight followed his voice just in time to see him stand up from behind an altar adorned with moon-and-star motifs. He grunted as he heaved a gun the size of his chest onto the altar, pointed all three of its barrels at the church’s front door, and pulled back the bolt on its side. “Suppressing fire! Hahahaha!” He gripped the trigger bit in his jaw and unleashed a barrage of rounds, laughing into the bit all the while.
It couldn’t be coincidence, Twilight decided. Either Flint or Sabre had to be the host of this dream. Perhaps even both of them shared it, trapped in the memory of an old battle. Was this why Flint hadn’t responded on the radio earlier? Had Sabre already followed Twilight in and succumbed to The Monster’s sleeping trance?
As if on cue, The Monster chose that moment to catch up. It crashed in through the roof, raining chunks of stone and splashes of blood on the ponies below. A chorus of alarmed shouts rang up among the soldiers, some cut short by falling rubble. The faceless all vanished in a puff of smoke as the soldiers adjusted their focus, lighting The Monster up with their tracers.
“What the hell is that thing?” somepony asked.
“It doesn’t matter!” Sabre barked. “Focus fire!”
The soldiers would never stand a chance. Figments of imagination couldn’t hope to fight back against a creature of dreams. They were barely even a speed bump.
Twilight teleported down onto the church floor, appearing in front of Sabre before she could leap into the fray. “Sea Sabre!”
“What?” Sabre paused, frowning at the mare that had flashed into being before her. “Get out of the way! That thing will kill you!”
“You’re dreaming!” Twilight said, grabbing the other mare’s shoulder. “Look around you! Where’re the soldiers you were just fighting? How did you get here?”
“Step aside, civilian!” Sabre grabbed Twilight’s hoof and twisted it, tossing her unceremoniously to the floor. She beat her wings, racing towards The Monster.
Twilight kicked up a thick cloud of dust as she hit the floor. She coughed, scrambling back to her hooves as a trio of soldiers crouched near her were cut down by a blade of floating blood. She looked up to The Monster just in time to see it lunge for Sabre. The pegasus let out a wet grunt as a tendril of blood punched through her chest barding, coming out on the other side before tossing her away.
“Sabre!” Flint dropped his weapon, rushing to his commander’s side. Twilight was close behind him.
“We can’t beat it.” Sabre coughed up blood, her eyes darting from one scene of carnage to another. She turned to focus on Flint. “Get the team out, soldier.”
“Flint, you’re dreaming!” Twilight said, erecting a shield around the trio. “Think about it! Where are we? How long have we been here?”
“Dreamin’ my ass!” Flint growled. He bent down, shoving Sabre onto his back as he rose his voice. “We’re fallin’ back, ponies! Protect the boss!”
The shouts of affirmation were worryingly sparse. There wasn’t even a dozen ponies left in the squad. Twilight flinched as a spray of fresh blood splashed against the shield right in front of her face. They had to get away fast, but the church didn’t lend many options. If she was in her own dream she would have just imagined an escape route up, but that wasn’t an option. Unless…
“Flint!” Twilight said, struggling to put as much command into her voice as she could. “Let’s leave through the tunnel! We can seal it behind us!”
“Good idea, Twilight.” He turned to the last living dregs of the squad as they fell back from The Monster. “C’mon, ye bastards!” he yelled hoarsely. “Ye want to leave me all alone?”
Any response was interrupted by a thick stream of blood vomited by The Monster as it flew past. The blood was boiling hot, steam rising to mist the air. The last survivors screamed as the thick fluid clung to their armor, cooking them alive.
“Damnit!” Flint cursed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck it all!”
“Flint,” Sabre said, voice faint. “The tunnel.”
Still cursing, Flint turned and kicked a rug away with a hoof. Twilight was certain that the rug hadn’t been there before, nor the trapdoor hidden beneath it. She reinforced her shield as The Monster flew full force into it, sending a painful jolt of feedback up Twilight’s horn. Cracks spiderwebbed around the impact before it burst into glowing purple shards.
“Hurry!” Twilight yelled. She yelped in alarm as she felt her hind leg being tugged behind her.
“Get in, get in!” Flint shouted.
Stars sprouted in Twilight’s sight as her head knocked against something hard. She heard the wooden thunk of the trapdoor closing, and felt Flint hastily pulling her along. There was a deep rumble and the sting of stone fragments against her side. Then silence.
When Twilight’s vision cleared, it was so dark that at first she wondered if she had gone blind. A trickle of magic proved otherwise as the purple glow of her horn illuminated a cramped stone tunnel. Sabre was leaning against the rocky wall, wheezing with every breath and cradling the wound in her chest. Flint stood solemnly in the center of the tunnel, looking into the darkness behind them.
“Is… is this it?” he asked.
Twilight looked behind her uncertainly. Heavy rocks blocked the path back to the church. “It… looks like it.”
Flint stomped a hoof against the ground, letting out a fearsome roar that held just as much sorrow as it did anger. “What th’ fuck was that!?”
“I… “ Twilight frowned. She didn’t feel like Flint would be open to explanations about dreams or illusions at the moment. The fact that Twilight’s escape plan had worked and Flint had recognized her showed that he was the host of the dream, and that gave him power she didn’t want to antagonize. “I don’t know.”
“The squad…” Sabre murmured, looking up. She paused to take a breath. “Survivors?”
“It’s just us, boss,” Flint said. He pivoted, bucking the wall hard enough to chip the stone. “It’s just fuckin’ us.”
Sabre closed her eyes. She shook her head slowly. “We should… keep moving… “
“Keep movin’ where?” Flint demanded. “This so-called tunnel’s a fuckin’ dead end! Just like that church!”
Twilight cleared her throat. “No it isn’t. The tunnel leads to someplace safe.”
“Oh, is that so smartass?” Flint asked. He stepped to the side of the tunnel, gesturing with a hoof. “Then be m’ fuckin’ guest.”
Twilight grimaced. She had been hoping he would just believe her and, in doing so, make her right. Why hadn’t he done that this time? She stepped past him gingerly, brightening her horn. The glow came to rest on a smooth wall of black brick and blue mortar that very cleanly blocked any path forwards. Twilight raised a hoof and passed it over the wall. It was cold to the touch.
“What is this?” she asked. “Was this here before…?”
“Hell if I know,” Flint grumbled. “Let’s just settle in n’ wait for th’ end already.”
Twilight pursed her lips. She’d seen a wall like this before, she was certain. It was a distant memory plucking at the edge of her thoughts. She remembered talking with Luna, walking with her in a dream. They spoke of mental barriers to keep out the unwanted and ways to pierce them. Then they had played a game where Luna let Twilight attempt to pierce her own mental walls. Twilight had failed utterly, of course. Princess Luna was a dreamwalker of literally inconceivable skill to every Equestrian.
The wall before her, made of obsidian and with signs of the finest craftsmareship, was one of Princess Luna’s very own mental barriers. There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind. But what was it doing here?
A deep rumble shook the tunnel. Pebbles and dust rained down on the three ponies as the earth settled.
“That thing’s still comin’ fer us,” Flint growled. “If we survive this, I might jus’ start goin’ t’ church.”
Sabre stirred, sitting up a little straighter and mumbling, “Flint… firing line…” before slumping over once more.
“Yeah, boss,” Flint said. He didn’t move.
“We can get out this way,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed as she pulled a spell from the depths of her memory.
It felt foreign to her mind. It was dream magic, which followed only the laws of lawless dreams. It was an entirely different beast from her usual fare, but Twilight’s memory didn’t fail her. A small orb of glittering starlight arced out of her horn and alighted in the center of the wall. The starlight brightened and stretched, taking on the form of an ornate door before dimming to the same polished obsidian of the rest of the wall.
Flint grunted. “Where does it go?”
Twilight opened the door with a hoof, revealing a shimmering field of shadows. “Out of here,” she said. And if I can guide us through, somewhere safe. “Bite my tail.”
“What?” Flint asked, shouldering Sabre’s weight once more. “Why?”
“It’s hard to explain,” Twilight said. Especially to someone that doesn’t know they’re dreaming. “It’s easy to… get lost. If we get separated, we might not see each other again.”
“Well fuck, I’ve got some rope fer that.” Flint twisted his neck back, pulling a length of rope out of his saddlebags and dropping it on the ground between them.
Twilight blinked. “Oh. Uh… that works too, actually.” Her horn glowed as she tied the rope around both of their barrels and knotted it securely. She didn’t give it much slack. The tunnel shook around them again, rumbling louder than before. “Follow me. Stay close.”
A cool breeze blew over Twilight as she crossed the threshold. Walls of obsidian brick outlined a narrow hallway just wide enough for two mares to walk abreast. Pale light came from the polished floor beneath her hooves, where the night sky shone upwards in a cloudless night. The hallway stretched forwards several more steps before branching off in two directions.
“What th’ fuck,” Flint mumbled, looking around behind her. “Wh—how did I get here? Where’s my dive suit? Twilight?” He cocked his head as if speaking into his radio. “Boss? Ye hearin’ me?”
“What’s the last thing you remember, Flint?” Twilight asked, leading him down the left branch of the hall. She looked back and saw that Sabre was nowhere to be seen—just a very confused Flint.
“We were on a dive,” he said. The starlight shining from below cast a ghostly shadow over his eyes. “Ye said ye felt somethin’, so we were goin’ through some rubble. Then… how did we get here?”
“We’re dreaming,” Twilight said. “There’s a monster chasing us—a creature of dreams—and we just left your dream.” She paused as a gentle grinding sound came from the hall ahead of her. The hall angled upwards, sprouting star-speckled stairs.
“Uh huh.” The pair trotted in silence for a few seconds before Flint added, “And where are we now then?”
“Princess Luna’s labyrinth,” Twilight explained. “If we can get through this, we’ll be able to enter her dream.” A hesitant smile crept onto her face.
“Y’know what?” Flint said. “I dunno what we’re doin’, what I’m doin’, but it seems ye got some idea. Just tell me what t’ do, and ye can tell me th’ details later.”
They turned a corner, the entrance coming into view. The open obsidian door waited patiently in front of them, the dark tunnel in Flint’s dream waiting on the other side.
“Weren’t we just here?” Flint asked.
Twilight nodded. “That’s right.” They had walked in a mostly straight line, without passing any other hallways. Twilight was very glad that she’d had some experience with Luna’s labyrinth before. “Now we turn around.”
Twilight turned to see an even more confused Flint. “Huh? But—” He looked behind him, his sentence falling short. “But we were just…”
The very same forked path that had greeted them when they first entered the labyrinth waited ahead of them. Twilight squeezed past the burly stallion, saying, “This is gonna be really confusing, Flint. You’ll just have to trust me.” She started for the left branch again.
“We already went this way, little mare,” Flint growled. “We should take th’ right path.”
“Trust me,” Twilight said. She glanced down at the night sky as she walked, checking to see if it had shifted. She was surprised the stars hadn’t started moving already. They had been twisting and turning almost constantly when she had tried navigating the labyrinth in the past.
Again they waited for the hall to raise into a stairway, and again they followed the same straight, unbranching path that somehow led them back to the entrance. Flint grumbled, but remained silent as Twilight once again led him down the left path, up the stairs, and straight to the entrance. This time, however, Twilight led the duo down the right branch. The path less traveled, she thought. It had taken her two days just to get past the first branch of the labyrinth in the past. Luna’s first puzzle.
If Twilight had gone this way before, it would have led straight back to the entrance. Both branches did, until one was taken three times more than the other. Only then would the path less traveled lead deeper into the maze. Or at least, it would if Luna’s defenses had remained the same since the last time Twilight tested them, so many centuries ago.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as the hall opened up into a wide circular chamber. Trails of night sky arched across its center and traced elaborate routes over the walls, illuminating the obsidian walls with their twinkling light.
“Wow.” Flint said. “That is… somethin’.”
A shrill scream pierced the quiet of the labyrinth, carried by a hot gust of wind with the stench of blood that rushed past from behind them. Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked back. “That thing followed us in here?”
“What thing?” Flint asked.
“Flint!” Twilight yelled, eyes roaming over the paths around her. “Help me find Polaris!”
“Don’t ye start yellin’ at me now!” Flint shouted. “What thing followed us? And who th’ hell is Polaris?”
“No time!” Twilight shot back. She grunted as she leapt up at a path of stars above them. Gravity shifted around her as she drew close, allowing her to stand on its surface upside down. “Polaris! It’s—the north star! Didn’t you ever pay attention in astronomy class?”
“Astronomy class?” Flint echoed incredulously below—or was it above?—her. “I was raised in a baronland!”
The stars began to pulse an ugly red as The Monster flew into the chamber, blood-wings spread wide. Flint cursed, already turning the barrel of his repeater onto its path. Hot lead pinged off the star paths as The Monster ducked and weaved around them.
“Aha!” Twilight grinned as she jumped from the path she was on to one running in a gentle curve along the wall. “Flint, I found Camelopardus!”
“Why won’t this damn thing die?” Flint roared. He grunted as The Monster slammed into him. The rope between them snapped, and he spiraled off the stars he stood on to land on a lower path with a thud. “At—at least slow down,” he coughed.
It only took Twilight a couple more seconds to locate the north star. Heart pounding, she poked her head over the edge of her path to see Flint wrestling with The Monster below. She gasped, horn glowing. Flint appeared—still yelling—at her side in a flash of purple light, warm blood soaked into the fur on his chest.
“Come on!” Twilight said, tugging the confused stallion behind her. “I think I found the way out!”
“How is that thing still alive?” Flint asked. “How am I still alive?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said as they galloped through a corkscrew twisting hallway of stars and obsidian. The Monster’s screeches echoed behind them. “I’ll explain once we’re safe.”
If we make it out of here. Twilight had gotten this far before. “If’t be true thee seeketh the exit to mine own labyrinth, Twilight Sparkle, the Lodestar shall mark thy path.” That was the hint Luna would always give her, only to laugh at her futile efforts as she made the stars dance across the paths. Twilight could never find the way through with the Princess interfering, and was still apprehensive that the stars would begin to run away from her any coming second.
Why are they staying so static? She glanced behind her, catching no sight of The Monster. For the first time it occurred to her that maybe the reason Luna wasn’t interfering was because Luna wasn’t even there. Maybe all that remained was an empty body, devoid of soul or thought to garrison its defenses. Maybe she’d been corrupted into some animal that no longer cared for such things. Or maybe she wasn’t interfering because she actually wanted Twilight to pierce her barriers.
The screech pierced the air, louder than ever before. Twilight looked back just in time to see The Monster burst out of the wall with the sound of shattering glass. It raced towards them on all fours, wings cramped against its shoulders in the tight confines of the hall.
“Fuck!” Flint shouted. “It’s got us!”
Twilight’s heart soared as she rounded the next corner. “Here! We’re almost there!” A door of smooth obsidian waited just a few seconds away, its surface decorated with softly glowing runes. She ripped the door open with her telekinesis, revealing a clear night sky.
“Don’t slow down!” Twilight called. “We should be safe once we’re through!”
“Ye ain’t got t’ tell me twice!” Flint shot back.
She threw herself over the threshold, and immediately felt the nauseating sensation of unexpected displacement. Reality twisted around her, the stars taking the shapes of a peaceful landscape. The moon hung low in the sky, casting a brilliant pale light over the world, framed by the watchful bulk of distant mountains. Mushrooms of every size—some as small as her hoof, some larger than a home—outlined rolling green hills with the gentle glow of their caps. Twilight and Flint were standing on the edge of a deep depression between the hills, looking out over a lake with a surface as calm as glass. A small, curving island coated in hanging mosses was the only thing to disturb the lake, spotlighted by the giant, glowing pink leaves of the single tree that grew on it. And curled up beneath the petals of a single protective flower, on a plain wooden bed, slept Princess Luna.
Twilight’s jaw dropped. She took a tentative step forwards, a strangled “P-Princess?” escaping her throat.
Flint stepped in front of her. “Focus, little mare. That thing might still be on us,” he said, scanning the horizon.
“This is Princess Luna’s personal sanctum,” Twilight said. She blinked as she realized the rope that had been tethering her to Flint was missing. “I think if it could get in here, it already would have.”
“Well…” Flint frowned, his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. “I guess ye’d know better than me.”
Twilight nodded, an eager grin plastered across her face. “Let’s go see if we can talk to the Princess.”
Before Flint could respond, he was interrupted by a shrill tearing sound unlike anything Twilight had heard before. It seemed to originate right between her ears, like some manic god ripping a thousand books in half inside her skull. She cried out, clutching her ears and curling up on the ground in a vain attempt to keep the offending sound out, to no avail.
It passed in an instant, leaving Twilight lying dazed in the grass. When she regained her senses, she became aware of a sickly red light to her left, and turned to find the source. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw the blood red moon hovering over the horizon, opposite from the pale moon which still shone like a small sun to her right.
“Or maybe ye don’t.” Flint growled. He crouched down, kicking at a lever on his battle armor. Steam hissed from the shoulder as his repeater reloaded before angling back into place. “Ye got a plan, or do ye just want me t’ shoot it till ye poof me again?”
Twilight didn’t answer. She had gone pale as she recognized the equine shape flying towards them, silhouetted by the blood moon’s light. It was The Monster. Of course it had followed them. It couldn’t get through Luna’s barriers, but Twilight had led it straight to her doorstep. I let some beast into Princess Luna’s safe haven! Stupid Twilight! Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
The Monster hurtled towards them, blood wings spread wide. The plants died in its wake, the clear night sky succumbing to angry black clouds.
“We have to get to the Princess!” Twilight yelled, horn glowing. “Get ready for a fight!”
“I’m always ready fer a fight,” Flint growled.
In a spark of purple, Twilight teleported them both onto the island. Or she tried to. She felt a powerful resistance at the last moment, too strong to overcome and too late to stop herself. The two ponies re-appeared along the edges of the lake, splashing down into the shallow water running between the mushroom towers.
“Th’ fuck!” Flint shouted. “Is this where ye meant t’ put us?”
“No!” Twilight shot back. She leapt into the water without hesitation, pushing herself towards the island with hooves and horn alike. The surface of the water remained eerily still even as she swam through it. “We have to swim!”
“Twilight,” Flint said. “Yer not movin’.”
“What?” Twilight looked back. Despair swelled in her breast as she realized that she hadn’t gotten any further from the shore. The dream’s reality was warping around her, keeping her from getting any closer to the sleeping Princess. “No! Luna! Wake up! You’re in danger!”
The Monster was just seconds away now. Through her teary-eyed panic Twilight could see its hungry gaze locked on Luna’s slumbering form. Its tongue flicked out and licked at its lips, leaving a trail of blood.
There was a sudden distortion directly above Luna. Where once there was just a starry sky, there was now something more. Twilight’s eye was drawn to the object, and it took her a few seconds to realize that it was as if a section of sky had suddenly begun to move.
The piece of living sky flew lower to the ground, taking on recognizable form as the mountains in the background provided contrast. It was an equine shape, tall and elegant as Luna, its entire body reflecting the night sky so perfectly that it was impossible to pick out where it started or ended against the backdrop of the stars. It came to a stop high above Luna’s island, facing down The Monster with an impassive, featureless stare.
Twilight held her breath as she watched The Monster pull up short. It hissed at the new challenger, spraying bloody spittle down onto the still waters below.
The Defender’s horn lit up, the night sky seeming to twist around its tip. A lance of twinkling night time shot out of its horn, aimed for The Monster’s heart.
The Monster raised a shield of blood, deflecting the magical attack. Twilight watched with wide eyes as the two dream creatures clashed, bending the dream’s reality around them. The Monster flew furiously around its opponent, darting in to land vicious strikes with its limbs, while The Defender kept its distance, opting for lances of energy. Wherever they went, the dream’s peaceful landscape was distorted. Plants died, grew huge, or simply walked away. The night sky twisted into colors both obscene and wonderful. The mountains looped back onto themselves and took flight. The only constant was the small lake and the island at its center, a cradle of stability with Princess Luna nestled inside.
“We need to get out of here,” Twilight said. She turned to where Luna slept, heart yearning to be able to reach her. “It isn’t safe… We’ll come back for her.”
“Ye ye, just hurry it up,” Flint said.
Twilight closed her eyes, extending her senses into the dream. It was a wild place, the fabric all at once endlessly changing yet totally still. She could feel the oppressive will that had been trapping her in this place lightening, directing its focus elsewhere. The two dream creatures seemed evenly matched, locked in stalemate. Perhaps The Monster doesn’t have the energy to spare keeping us asleep anymore?
“I’m waking you up first,” Twilight said. “We shouldn’t have lost much time in the waking world. Raise Sabre on the radio and keep her from using any explosives. Princess Luna herself must be nearby, and we can’t risk harming her.”
“Eh, right,” Flint said. “I can do that.”
Her horn sparkled. When Twilight opened her eyes, Flint was nowhere to be seen. With a flourish of her horn, she found the hole she had punched in Luna’s barriers and sealed it once more. She sighed, her gaze lingering over Luna’s slumbering form. She didn’t want to leave her here with those two creatures fighting over her resting place, but she couldn’t leave them free to roam.
“I’ve got you, Princess,” she whispered. “I’ll save you.”
Twilight’s eyes fluttered open.
She was lying on her side. The gentle rumble of the ocean filled the confines of her helmet. The beam of her helmet-borne flashlight wavered before her, reflecting the swirling paths of dust drifting down to the floor.
Some strange aspect of exhaustion had settled over her. She felt as if she had ran a hundred kilometers without rest, and then slept uninterrupted for a day. The comfortable ache of exercise filled her limbs, and yet they moved with no complaint when she picked herself up from the floor. Her mind was quick and clear, her heart beating a slow, steady rhythm. She took a deep breath, and experienced a deep, relaxed ease that she had forgotten was even possible.
She became aware of a voice crackling over the radio. It took her a moment to recognize it as Sea Sabre.
“We’re sending out the torpedo,” the mare was saying. “If you can hear me, stay away from the blast zone! Trails, get ready to—”
Flint’s voice cut her off with a burst of static. “Wait, boss. We’re alright.”
“Is Twilight there?” Rainbow’s voice asked. “Twilight! Can you hear me?”
It was at that point that Twilight realized some response was expected of her. She adjusted her position, thinking of how comfortable her armor was feeling just then. “I’m fine, Rainbow. Don’t worry about me.”
A clamor of voices came over the radio. Sabre’s stern voice was the only one to come out clear to Twilight’s ears. “What happened?”
“Dream creature. Maybe even two of them,” Twilight said. She yawned, sitting up off the ground. “They induced us to sleep and then trapped us in nightmares. I don’t think they’re a threat anymore.” She looked up thoughtfully. “Oh, also, we saw Princess Luna.”
“What?” Rainbow asked. “The Princess is down there? I’m going down there! Shy, give me your helmet!”
“Princess Luna?” Star Trails asked, her voice laced with awe. “Is she… alive?”
“We didn’t actually see her body,” Twilight added. “Just her dream self.”
“So what are you telling me?” Sabre asked tersely.
“Just give us some time,” Twilight said. “I don’t want to risk a torpedo hurting her, and we should be safe now. Let us look around.”
Fluttershy’s soft voice was barely audible. “Be careful, Twilight.”
“Head on a swivel, Flint,” Sabre said. “I want to know exactly what’s going on in there.”
“Got it, boss.”
It was easy to find Flint in the darkness. The burly stallion was standing just a couple meters to her right, peering at the dark shapes all around them. Twilight stood up, stretching the stiffness out of her legs. She narrowed her eyes as she turned in a slow circle, lips curving into a thoughtful frown. The flashlight had given her glimpses of her surroundings, but she needed a more complete picture.
She tapped her magic and was surprised to find her arcane reserves completely replenished. Hrm. Interesting. With a thought she summoned an orb of purple light, pushed a surge of magic into it, and settled it in place far above her.
“Ah, hell,” Flint said.
Twilight’s frown twisted into a grimace at the macabre sight before her. The flashlight had previously outlined many small, rounded shapes that she had taken for piles of weathered rock or the rubble remains of statues. The glow of the orb above cast the shapes into much more vivid detail.
The first description that came to Twilight’s mind was a mass grave. It was true that there was plenty of rubble—indeed, nearly half of the columns which had originally held up the roof were now gone, sections of wall had entirely collapsed, and the few remaining tapestries were worn beyond any semblance of recognition. Beyond the crumbled remains of the architecture, however, was a scattered collection of dozens of pony bodies.
They covered the floor with their bulk—some curled up alone, others bundled into small groups as many as three or four. In some places Twilight would barely be able to walk without tripping over bodies, but even at their thinnest she could only take a few good steps between each one.
She walked among them, peering down at the corpses with idle curiosity. Most were long-dead skeletons, their waterlogged bones and scraps of tattered clothing all that remained. Many she recognized as more animal than pony, sporting the mutated tails of seaponies or entirely different body shapes. She paused at these corpses longer than others, examining their unusual skeletal structure and idly wishing for some kind of waterproof notepad. She recognized families huddling together in their final moments and Royal Guards curled around their spears. A few of the bodies were more recent, completely encased behind variations of the steam-powered clockwork armor that she herself wore. Despite the variety, there was one aspect they all shared: There were barely any signs of trauma. She didn’t have much of a medical background, but to Twilight it seemed as if all these ponies had merely laid down and died.
“This is creepy as fuck,” Flint said, passing by her. “Th’ whole place is filled with bodies, boss. It’s th’ cleanest damn grave I’ve ever seen. Like they all jus’ fell asleep.”
“It must be those dream creatures,” Twilight said, looking closer at the shriveled corpse of a Royal Guard. “They’re inducing a coma in anything that wanders in, then feed on their dreams until they die.” I wonder if there’s any side effects? she thought as she calmly examined old wounds marked in the guard’s bones.
“Poor bastards,” Flint grumbled.
“Uh, are they still there?” Trails asked. “Am I gonna find myself having a nightmare about Flint’s cooking or something?”
Twilight shook her head, ignoring Flint’s grumbled response. “They’re both fighting each other in Princess Luna’s mind. I don’t think either is strong enough to defeat the other, but if they do… well, I doubt either will be able to escape the mind of the legendary Lady of the Night.”
“But what if they hurt Luna?” Fluttershy asked. “I hope she’s not in any danger.”
“She… shouldn’t be,” Twilight answered, inspecting a seapony body. Her eyes widened as she noticed a very slight rise and fall to its chest. Is it still alive? “Luna’s defenses are formidable. And I already have plans to study her condition once we get her somewhere safe.”
“Twilight,” Flint said. “Is this yer princess?”
Twilight turned, quickly finding where Flint stood on a raised dais at the very center of the chamber. She activated the airjets on her armor, closing the distance with two quick jumps. She climbed the steps to the dais with bated breath, coming up to Flint’s side.
Atop the dais was a frame of chipped obsidian carved into a gently curving waning moon. Star-shaped lapis lazuli adorned the frame’s outer surface, placed in patterns reflecting constellations Twilight recognized as Luna’s favorite works. Nestled inside the moon, atop a faded cushion long-devoid of its stuffing, submerged at the bottom of a drowned world, slept Princess Luna.
“Princess!” Twilight rushed towards the comatose alicorn, tears budding in her eyes. She collapsed at the Princess’s side with a hoof outstretched, uncertain as to whether it would be wise to touch her. She seemed so peaceful, her side rising and falling at a glacial pace. She was adorned in the same pale blue armor once worn by Nightmare Moon, but otherwise showed no signs of injury, whether from past wounds or the pressure of the ocean above. A chill ran down Twilight’s spine as she spotted the trail of red tears running down Luna’s cheeks.
“I’m… guessin’ that’s her, then,” Flint said. His voice was uncharacteristically quiet. “Huh.”
Rainbow’s voice was clear over the radio. “You found the Princess?”
“We found her, Rainbow,” Twilight said. Tears fogged her visor as she fell over the slumbering alicorn, hugging her tightly with armored hooves. “We found her.”
Gava clacked her beak in irritation. “I swear to fuck, if she breaks out again I’m personally eating all of you.”
“Stronger than anypony there is,” Topgallant mused by her side. “Told ya.”
One of the stallions inside the cell in front of them yelped as he was thrown into the bars with a painful crack. Gava sighed.
The pair stood in the brig of her ship, watching a half-dozen hirelings struggle to subdue a single orange earth mare. Sea Sabre’s ship—the Argo, Gava thought it was called—could be seen out the nearest window bobbing gently in the waves.
“Get offa me ya no-good varmints!” the prisoner inside the cell seethed. She kicked and bucked furiously, fending off the small squad of Gava’s hirelings. It was a valiant effort, but they managed to pin her beneath them with only one more groaning casualty. “There’ll be a reckonin’ for y’all! Just ya wait till I get outta these chains and introduce y’all to Bucks McGillicutty and Kicks McGee!”
“What?” Topgallant chuckled. “What the hell?”
“Three chains this time,” Gava commanded.
“But ma’am,” a panting mare putting all her weight on one of the prisoner’s forelegs said, “She only broke out of a single chain. Surely just two would do?”
“What are you, my fucking quartermaster?” Gava snapped. “Three chains!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The prisoner grunted as she tried to break free once more, but to no avail. After far too long spent running the chains around her limbs and securing them to each other, the battered hirelings took their injured in tow and left to nurse their wounds.
The prisoner glared up at Gava with hard green eyes. “What’re y’all even doin’ this for, huh? What’d I ever do to you?”
Topgallant shrugged. “Well, you existed. So there’s that.”
“We’re not explaining ourselves to you,” Gava said as she entered the cell. “If you break out again, I’m sticking you in a barrel and wrapping it in chains.”
“Guess y’all’re too much of a coward to get close when I ain’t trussed up like a hay bale before a hurricane, huh?” the prisoner snarked.
“What?” Topgallant snickered back in the hall. “How do you come up with that?”
Gava rolled her eyes as she grabbed the prisoner by the chain wrapped around her neck. “Look, I could kill you with both hands tied behind my back, but I want you alive. Come along, now.” She tugged at the chain, clacking her beak again as the prisoner dug her hooves into the floor.
“Ah ain’t budgin’.”
“Fine, then,” Gava growled. “We’ll do it the hard way.”
“So, this is her?” Trails asked.
“This is her,” Twilight said.
She was seated on the floor in the back of the submarine, relishing the feel of the air against her bare coat. Fluttershy was sitting in the corner to her left, and Rainbow to her right. Trails stood across from her, looking down open-mouthed at where Princess Luna slept between the four of them.
“I… didn’t really think she was real.”
“Seriously?” Rainbow asked, gesturing with a hoof. “She’s a Princess! How can you even not believe in a Princess?”
“Rainbow,” Fluttershy admonished softly. “Manners.”
“It’s different for them, Rainbow,” Twilight said, horn gently glowing as she cast some simple diagnostic spells. “The Princesses haven’t been around to help ponies for centuries.”
Trails shrugged. “Of course the spiritual types are always talking about the Princesses watching over us, going to church, some of them burn sacrifices or throw them into the ocean. But I haven’t ever put much stock into that. None of us do.”
Twilight thought back to Flint’s dream. He had been defending a church—clearly one devoted to Luna, now that she thought of it. How much of that dream had been based on a real memory? Had The Monster created a nightmare, or had it just exploited a dark memory of Flint losing over a dozen friends in a place supposedly under Luna’s watch?
“I guess it would be kinda hard to for you guys, wouldn’t it?” Rainbow asked. “Coming down here all the time and seeing all the… well, everything Equestria has lost.”
“That’s definitely part of it,” Trails admitted. “And I guess I’ve never been the sort of mare to take something like that at somepony’s word.”
Flint poked his head into view, clearing his throat. “We’re just a few minutes out from th’ ship.”
Trails nodded, keeping her gaze fixed on the sleeping Princess. “We’ll be ready.”
Five minutes later, Twilight was crossing the sub’s port-side ramp, Luna carefully levitated in front of her. The wind of the Argo’s engines pulled at her mane—though, she noted, Luna’s mane was still flowing as if in a gentle autumn breeze.
Sea Sabre was waiting by the hatch when she boarded. “We need to stop off for repairs and resupply.”
“That’s fine with me,” Twilight said, stepping aside so her friends could board. “I want some time to study her condition anyways. If I can just get her to wake up… “
“We still need to be careful of Gava,” Sabre said. “And any other bounty hunters, for that matter. We’ll only become an even bigger target if word gets out what we found.”
“Well, speak of the devil!”
Twilight didn’t recognize the voice that spoke behind her, but the alarm in Sabre’s eyes was more than enough to make her heart skip a beat. She snapped her head around, quickly spotting the griffon leaning against the bulkhead at the end of the hall.
“Gava!” Sabre barked, confirming Twilight’s fears. “Get back, Twilight!”
Twilight took a step behind the pegasus, keeping Luna close at her side. At the same time, Fluttershy and Rainbow stepped off the sub.
“Is that an alicorn?” Gava called. She was smiling, her tone conversational. “You’re really making a name for yourself in the new business, Sabre. Hey there, dyejob.”
“You!” Rainbow snarled, causing Fluttershy to squeak in alarm. She lowered herself to the ground, wings flaring. “You looking for another thrashing?”
“I wouldn’t call our last meeting a thrashing,” Gava said. “At least, not for me.”
“Trails, Flint,” Sabre said, speaking into her earpiece. “Gava is aboard the ship. Drop what you’re doing and get up here!”
“Hey, I’m not looking for a fight,” Gava said. She held a talon up to her eyes, making a show of inspecting it. “Just give me the Gifted, and I’ll be out of your tail.”
“Shut it, chump!” Rainbow snapped. “We’re not going anywhere with you! Give me one reason not to knock your beak in!”
Fluttershy was huddled behind a bulkhead, shivering. Twilight set Luna down behind one as well, her mind reviewing her sparse selection of combat spells. Sea Sabre said nothing. She kept her gaze fixed on Gava, her hooves spread apart.
“Yep, that’s about what I expected,” Gava said. “Top!” The door behind her opened with a hiss of steam.
Twilight gasped. “Applejack!”
Applejack growled at the blue-coated stallion that pushed her into Gava’s waiting arm. Her legs were restrained by three layers of padlocked chains from top to bottom, and a rag was taped over her mouth as a gag. She looked bruised and dirty, her hat nowhere to be seen, but her eyes were filled with determination. A trio of ponies in mismatched armor stood in the doorway, bearing guns, clubs, and heavy shoes.
Gava grabbed Applejack in one hand, holding the mare in front of her. With her other hand she raised a single sharp talon up to her prisoner’s neck. “Surrender, or your friend dies.”
“You wouldn’t,” Sabre said. “She’s worth too much to you.”
“Do the math, Sabre. One of these Gifted for at least three more? And a fucking alicorn?” Gava chuckled. “I can only spend so much money. Fuck, I’d even kill two of them!”
Rainbow scratched a hoof against the floor. Her nostrils flared as she stared daggers at the griffon. “If you hurt a single hair on her head… “
“It’s probably too late for that, to be honest,” Gava said. “Let me tell ya, this cowpony is not easy to wrangle.”
Twilight grimaced as she saw Rainbow’s body tense. She took a ginger step forwards, whispering, “Rainbow, please don’t do anything brash!”
Rainbow didn’t even look back. “She’s got AJ. She hurt her. Nobody does that to my friends!” she hissed.
“She’ll kill her!” Twilight shot back.
Rainbow scoffed. “Please, Twilight. I’m the fastest pegasus in Equestria. I’m not gonna let some birdbrain hurt my friend.”
“By the way,” Gava added. “I’m not gonna sit around all day and let your two squaddies arm up, Sabre. If I don’t get an answer soon then I’m assuming it’s a no.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight hissed. “Please, just—”
She flinched as the blast of wind from Rainbow’s wings smacked into her face, and several things happened all at once.