//------------------------------// // Things Get Groovy // Story: Oncoming Storm: What Lurks Beyond // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// I sighed and turned off my phone. “I managed to get through to the local sheriff, but they will not send anyone until the morning.” Sunset scowled. “Why are they taking their time?” I shrugged. “They were not inclined to wake everyone up in the middle of the night, and dealing with that many fallen trees would likely require chainsaws and heavy equipment which they prefer not to operate in the dark. They are not willing to treat it as an emergency when we do not have any proof that it was anything other than a normal treefall and we have more than enough supplies to make it until morning.” “Right.” She sighed and sank down on the couch. “If we told them the whole story they’d probably think we’re just a bunch of high-strung nervous city girls jumping at shadows. And everyone’s parents are hours away; they probably wouldn’t get here until morning anyway. Looks like we’re on our own, so let’s concentrate on taking care of ourselves for now.” “Assuming there’s anything to worry about.” Twilight frowned out the window. “I mean, how much has actually happened? Trees fall down all the time without foul play being involved, and the gas can getting moved could have just been a matter of someone getting it out of the way while we were all working and forgetting they’d moved it.” “Three trees falling all at once isn’t normal,” Sunset pointed out. “It could have been a domino effect with how close together the three of them are,” Twilight countered. “Or it could just be someone playing a practical joke on us.” Her eyes flicked over to Rainbow and Pinkie, then Star and Sparkler. Sunset shook her head. “This is a bit elaborate for any of us to set up, and I think if it was some sort of joke whoever was doing it would’ve come clean before we called the cops and broke the guns out. Rainbow and Pinkie know a prank is only funny if everyone’s laughing.” “Star and Sparkler know their limits too,” I confirmed. “Especially when most of you do not know them very well. A really mean-spirited prank that has people genuinely upset is not the sort of impression they want to make.” I grimaced out the window. “There is still no sign of any danger. If there was some hostile force, I think it would have followed up on downing the trees by now.” “Unless whoever’s doing this is just waiting for us to relax and let our guard down.” Sunset tapped a pen against her lips. “I just ... call it a hunch, sixth sense, instinct, whatever you want—I think we’ve got another magical threat on our hands.” Star spoke up, sounding kind of oddly distant due to being focused on her VR headset. “Already got F1X3R checking everything in its range. Even without the night vision upgrade I should be able to spot anything weird. I’ll need to start pulling it back in twenty minutes for a fresh battery, so we might want to have someone watching the windows after that.” “Better to be safe than sorry,” I agreed. “We can do some more investigating in the morning while the authorities clear the road. Running around the woods at night would make us far too vulnerable to an enemy, and adds dozens of other dangers completely unrelated to anyone who might be threatening us.” “It wouldn’t be that dangerous if we all have flashlights and stick together,” Sunset countered. “I know it’s still a risk, but I really don’t like the idea of us just sitting in here blind while anything could be going on out there. I want to do something.” Twilight sighed. “If there is magic involved, there’s no reason to think that our flashlights would  keep working. Normally our magic doesn’t interfere with technology, but there are plenty of precedents in folklore for the two not getting along.” “And the forest at night can be very disorienting,” I pointed out. “Sound travels oddly, and trees would break up the illumination from our flashlights. Even if we plan to be careful and stick together, you all know about the saying that no plan survives contact with the enemy. We have a safe base here, and I see nothing we could gain by looking around that would outweigh the risks of leaving it.” Sunset sighed and flopped back on the couch, crossing her arms beneath her breasts. “I know, I know. I just hate being cooped up in here waiting. We’ve got a problem, and I feel like I need to get out there and do something about it.” She groaned and got off the sofa, pacing over to her bags. “Might as well burn off some energy while I’m this pent up.” I was a bit surprised when she pulled a sword out of her duffel bag, drawing it from the scabbard. I had known she was in the fencing club with Cloud, but having an actual sword was a step up from that. “Is that an old cavalry saber?” “Yup.” Sunset gave it a quick flourish. “Picked it up at the army surplus store for pretty cheap. I would’ve loved to get something a bit heavier like a falchion or a kriegsmesser, but those aren’t exactly on the discount rack.” Star twitched, probably wanting to do an internet search to find out exactly how much it would cost to buy one of those swords. Thankfully, the drone kept her too occupied to bother with such things. As Sunset did a few quick practice moves with the sword to keep herself occupied, Twilight stretched out to take up the couch space she’d abandoned. “I’m fine with staying here until morning. If there’s anything out there in the dark, I’d rather the drone spot it.” “Drones are better at spotting things than people anyway,” Star murmured. “At least, until people learn how to fly and everyone carries a camera with 3x optical zoom and 4k resolution.” She went silent for a long moment. “Admittedly, the flying part of it can be handled by magic, if half of what I’ve heard happened at the Friendship Games is true.” “A lot of it is,” Twilight confirmed. “Having wings sprout out of my back was weird.” The image of Twilight Sparkle with wings was a curious one. After studying her for several seconds, I decided they would likely suit her. If nothing else, she was attractive enough that new appendages could hardly detract from her beauty. Not that she possessed the sort of classical beauty of the sort one would hear immortalized in poem or see in a statue; her glasses were too thick, her hair was in a simple ponytail rather than immaculately styled, and she hadn’t bothered with more than the most perfunctory cosmetics. I suppose if one were being technical she was more cute than properly beautiful, though her bookishness and tendency to be just a touch awkward leant her an approachable air that many true beauties lacked. In fact— My phone buzzing tore me from those idle contemplations. I picked it up and discovered a new text from Star. Stop undressing her with your eyes, Skunky. It’s creepy. I scowled and set my phone aside. “I am doing no such thing, and you are in no position to accuse anyone else of being creepy.” I crossed my arms over my chest and did my best to glare at her. “Should you not be focusing on the drone?” “Multitasking.” A hint of a smirk showed up on her lips. “Long word, multiple syllables. If you don’t know what it means I can show you how to look it up.” “I know where you sleep,” I groused. If not for her being in the middle of some rather important work, I might have done more than just grumble a mostly idle threat. As it was, the matter quickly faded from my mind when I spotted something on the drone’s video feed. “Is that the house the loggers use whenever they are working in the area? I did not know F1X3R had that much range.” “It doesn’t with the stock battery and transmitter,” Star answered with a proud grin. “But what’s the point of limiting myself to stock components? Sparks even got Blossom to do a bit of custom work on it.” Sunset frowned at the building. “Check it out. If there is anyone messing with us, an unoccupied building within hiking distance would be a perfect hideout.” “What I would do,” Star murmured. I refrained from commenting on the fact that she had put thought into how to creepily stalk people. “Definitely getting that night-vision camera soon as I have a bit more cash saved up.” She sent the drone circling around the shack, pausing when she got to a window. “You guys seeing this?” “A broken window,” I confirmed. “And those vines growing through it look extremely thick, considering the building was occupied a week ago.” Twilight frowned at the scene. “If the window only broke in the last week, there’s no way the vines would be that thick already. And I can’t imagine the loggers would have just left it hanging wide open and uncovered if it broke while they were there.” “They would have at least taped some cardboard over it or something,” I agreed. Sunset broke off her sword practice to take a closer look. “I’m getting a strong magic vibe here.” “And these aren’t just little creepers either,” Star pointed out. “Place looks like it’s been abandoned for years. Doesn’t make any sense, unless Poison Ivy just moved in.” She moved the drone up to the broken window, getting a look inside. “Crap.” Twilight grimaced. “That can’t be blood, can it?” I leaned in to get a better look at the screen. There were several dark reddish-brown stains on the broken glass, and what looked like a handprint on one of the walls. There might have been more on the floor, but it was made of darker material that made it even harder to tell what the smeared substance might be. Star shrugged and announced the same conclusion I had reached. “Hard to tell for sure. It’s dark, and even a zoomed-in camera can only tell me it’s dried up dark reddish-brown stuff. Context sure makes it look like blood, but for all we know it maybe someone spilled ketchup and didn’t clean it up. Not to mention that with the window wide open some wild animal could have decided to check the place out and cut itself on the broken glass.” “Possibly,” I agreed. “But even if it does ultimately turn out to be something harmless, I think we can all agree that for the moment we should assume the worst.” Sunset sighed. “If past experience is anything to go by, we’ve rarely been wrong doing that when weird stuff that looks like it could be dangerous magic starts happening.” “Super.” Star grimaced as she moved her drone around to get more footage. “I don't care what’s causing this, I just want to be nice and safely away from it. Maybe you guys are used to dealing with all these crazy magical shenanigans, but everything I’ve heard about it makes it sound way too dangerous to mess around with. Especially for us normies.” “It’s pretty dangerous for us too,” Twilight murmured, hugging herself as she worried at her lower lip. “I mean, a lot of the wild bits of Equestrian magic we run into want to feed off our powers to get even stronger.” I stepped over to her side and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Do not worry, I will not let anything happen to you.” “Oh.” Twilight’s cheeks lit up as she  looked at me. “Um, thanks.” I removed my hand, feeling a touch self-conscious about the fact that I had been touching her so casually. It might be seen as overly familiar, and Star would doubtless try to tease me about it later. “In light of this, I think we should sleep in shifts and have some sort of guard posted for the rest of the night.” “Probably a good idea to make sure at least one of the people with magic is up,” Sunset agreed. “No offense Storm, but if there is a magical threat you and Star might not able to do much.” “Perhaps not,” I conceded. “But I will not assume that until I confirm that whatever we are dealing with is immune to bullets.” Twilight Sparkle wrote up the watch schedule for the rest of the night. That left me a touch confused and curious when I began my shift and found out that my watch partner was Twilight herself. Given that she was the one who made the schedule it struck me as unlikely that the two of us had been paired up by coincidence. However, now was hardly the time to allow myself to be distracted by this ... whatever was developing between us. We were on watch duty, and that took precedence over minor personal matters. I took up the hunting rifle Cloud had left behind and thoroughly checked it over. Not that I doubted my cousin’s diligence, but one of the first rules was to always check your weapon. Twilight shot a nervous smile my way as I worked. “You know how to use that?” I nodded. “Yes.” Our family picked their hunting rifles with all the care one would expect of a military family. I dimly recalled Mom and Uncle Tor debating the merits of the .306 and .308 back when they first set up the hunting cabin. Though Mom would likely be annoyed to hear I had gone against her wishes in the matter, I had opted to take Uncle Tor’s .306 instead of her .308. Star needed the lower recoil a bit more than I did. In either case, a bolt-action rifle with a four-shot magazine and one more in the pipe would do just fine for seeing off anything that cared about being shot. Twilight chuckled nervously and ran a hand through her hair. “Right, your whole family’s in the military. I guess you grew up around this stuff.” “I did,” I confirmed. “If anything, my sister and I are unusual because Mom and Dad are both in rear-area positions. They practice enough to keep certified, but a psychologist and a chaplain are not exactly on par with Aunt Nimbus. Though perhaps that is for the best, as Aunt Nimbus’ preference for bow hunting cost us a good rifle for Sparkler.” “Right.” Twilight frowned to herself. “Well if three guns and all of our magical powers aren’t enough to handle whatever’s going, we’re in so much trouble that I doubt a fourth one would make a difference.” “Point,” I conceded. With that matter settled, I ventured for a little small talk to pass the time. “Your brother is in the army as well, right? Twilight nodded. “He’s a lieutenant, yeah.” She smiled fondly, relaxing back against the couch. “He’s always wanted to go into the army, or be a cop. Something where he could help protect other people.” “It sounds like you are very proud of him,” I commented. “Of course,” Twilight answered. “What he does is really important.” A dry smile tugged at my lips. “Well, nice to know you approve of my planned profession.” “I would be pretty unappreciative if I didn’t,” Twilight answered. “I mean, you’re doing it for the same reason he is, right? To protect people?” “Yes, that and family tradition.” The mention of family tradition brought an obvious question to mind. “Do you plan to go into the service alongside him?” Twilight sighed and shook her head. “I wasn’t planning on it, no. Even before all the crazy magic stuff happened, army stuff just really doesn’t sound like what’s right for me. I mean, I like books, not guns.” She sighed and took her glasses off, wiping the lenses. “Though to be honest, I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing. I mean, with my grades I’ll probably get into a really nice college and get a degree, but past that...” She shrugged helplessly. “And that’s assuming I can still have a kind of normal job and future with everything else going on.” “It is quite a lot to deal with,” I agreed. “And really, there is nothing wrong with taking your time considering your options before committing to anything.” “Exactly.” She shot me a hint of a sheepish grin. “Though last time I tried to make a checklist of all my options it wound up getting so long it was a bit unwieldy.” “I can imagine.” Smart, talented, and attractive ladies like her would have no shortage of options. “May I ask you a question?” Twilight shrugged. “Sure, go ahead.” I took a deep breath. “Why did you leave Crystal Prep?” Twilight’s cautiously friendly smile faded into an uncomfortable grimace. “I didn’t really feel like I belonged there. I mean, no one really seemed to want me around other than Cadance, and maybe Cinch when she saw a way to take advantage of me. Most days everyone just ignored me, and the one or two times I tried to socialize...” I took a deep breath. “I wanted you around.” My cheeks warmed up a bit. “That is to say, I was ... I never really knew you then, but there were times I thought I should reach out to you.” “Oh.” She sighed and brought one arm across her chest to rub the other. “Let me guess, you didn’t ever talk to me because you were worried about how everyone would look at you if you were hanging out with weird, nerdy, awkward Twilight.” I winced at the tone, and the light her words cast me in. “I would not put it that way.” In all honesty I had never had much concern for the various school cliques. The junior cadets were already a rather insular group on account of our more martial bent, and only a few like Fleur had really managed to integrate well into the rest of the student body. However, that made the fact that I had never approached Twilight all the more damning. I shrugged helplessly. “I suppose a good opportunity just never arose.” Even as I said it, I realized what a poor excuse that was. Twilight didn’t seem to think less of me for the answer. Instead she slumped back on the couch. “Right, maybe that. It’s not like I was making it easy by high school. After getting through elementary and middle I’d just gotten used to being off in my own world with my books, ignoring everyone else.” She let out a frustrated groan. “I mean, what was I supposed to do? It’s not like I was completely antisocial or anything: I tried to make friends! It just never worked out. The friends I made during elementary either moved away like Moondancer or wound up going to a different school like Minuette and Lyra. Once they went to a new school they had new friends, and even though we tried to keep in touch it wasn’t easy when we had nothing new to bond over. I tried to make new friends, but either we had nothing in common, or we didn’t get along, or they had better friends they actually wanted to hang out with.” She buried her face in her hands. “I guess I eventually just gave up and resigned myself to the idea of not really having friends. If you’d ever tried to talk to me I probably would’ve just ignored you and kept my nose buried in whatever book I was reading.” “That still seems a poor excuse for me to not even make the effort.” I grimaced and tried to think of a good way to explain my actions. “I suppose I always told myself I would do it next week, and there was no rush. After all, you were in a class above mine and did not look like you wanted anyone to talk to you. And then before I knew it I had run out of time entirely. If I wanted to get to know you better, I should have.” I cleared my throat. “I cannot change the past, but now seems like a good time to at least move forward as I should have long ago. Would you like to be friends?” Twilight bit her lip. “If you want to. I mean, it’s not like we’ll get a whole lot of opportunities to hang out when we go to different schools now.” “Ah.” My eyes fell to the floor as I suddenly felt very foolish. Of course she would not be interested now that she had moved on to a new school and found new friends. Twilight groaned and slapped her forehead. “Sorry, I’m ... not always good at this type of thing. Sunset’s trying to work with me on the whole social skills thing. You know, making friends. And talking with people. Or carrying on conversations. Or not making everything awkward. Or ... I think I’ll just shut up now.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, what I meant to say is that of course I’d like to be friends, even if we don’t get to spend as much time together as I will with the friends I go to school with.” I smiled and got up, walking over to her and extending my hand. “Shall we make it official, then?” “Sure.” She started to stand up to shake my hand, but either I had misjudged how close I was standing to the couch or she leaned a bit too far forward. Either way, the effect was that she wound up headbutting me in the chin. I staggered at the unexpected impact as my teeth clacked together, and Twilight instinctively tried to help steady me. However, the grab wound up compromising my balance instead of saving it, and it was all I could manage to make sure we both fell down onto the couch instead of the hard wooden floor. After a few moments of disorientation I managed to grasp our new situation. I was reclining flat on my back on the couch with Twilight Sparkle on top of me, and her face mere inches away from mine. Her arms were still wrapped around me, and my own seem to have reciprocated the gesture to keep her from falling onto the floor. Our respective positions were somewhat awkward. “Are you alright?” “Fine.” Twilight chuckled sheepishly. “I should be asking you that. I’m the one who headbutted you while trying to shake your hand. Sorry.” “It is fine.” Seemingly of their own accord, my hands shifted to the small of her back, resting there in something far more intimate than holding onto her to make sure she did not fall onto the floor and hurt herself. Judging by the way a hint of pink slowly crept into her cheeks, Twilight was fully aware of what my hands were doing. “I should ... probably get off of you.” She let out an incredibly forced laugh. “You know, since I clumsily fell on top of you in the first place. Not that there's anything wrong with you. Or this. Just, um...” She shifted to side a bit, making both of us a bit more comfortable, and her own hands mimicked mine. “We’re just together, the two of us. Getting along, with this nice—thing we’ve got going on. Friendly, you holding me.” She leaned in a bit, resting her cheek on my shoulder. “Things being a bit scary. This being pretty nice...” “Yes, this...” I swallowed a nervous lump in my throat. “You do not need to get up if you do not wish to. In fact ... I would like it if stayed exactly where you are, presuming you do not feel the need to leave.” Twilight looked up at me, nervously licking her lips. “I’m not in a huge rush.” I felt the heat rising in my own cheeks. “Good.” Twilight started to lean a bit closer, even as her own cheeks lit up. I was a bit stunned when she suddenly blurted out. “I don't like girls!” That hung in the air for a long, awkward moment. “I mean, I do, obviously. All of my best friends are girls. Except for Shining, and he’s kind of different because he’s also my big brother. I call him my BBBFF, Big Brother Best Friend Forever. Or there’s Spike, but he's a dog so he really doesn’t count. So the point is that I like girls, but I don’t like girls. I think. Or at least, I thought. Now I don’t know what I’m thinking! I’m sorry, this doesn’t make any sense, does it? It doesn’t even make any sense to me, and I’m the one who’s saying it, how could it possibly make sense to you? All I know is that yesterday I never would’ve thought of kissing another girl, and now I’m kind of wishing we hadn’t gotten interrupted before we went through with that silly dare Star put us up to.” I stared at her for several seconds as I slowly untangled everything she had just said. “Oh.” “Yeah.” She groaned and started to pull away from me. “And after listening to all of that you probably think I’m some sort of weirdo and don’t want anything more to do with me.” I kept my hold on her before she could get too far away.”No, it is ... I think I understand how you feel, and I don’t think you’re weird or want you to go away.” Twilight blinked, a shy smile slowly spreading across her lips. “You used a contraction again. Two of them, actually. Isn’t that supposed to mean something?” “That does seem to be a common theory,” I conceded. Twilight leaned a little bit closer. “Well, um, you probably noticed I really like science. And, well, in science one of the important things to do is to, uh, test a hypothesis to see if holds up. So, if, well, we could um, do that. Test the hypothesis. If you’d like.” I was about to answer her when I heard a strange crunching noise. My eyes flicked to the side, and I spotted something most unexpected. Pinkie Pie. Sitting in one of the comfortable chairs with a bowl full of popcorn. She shoveled another handful of it into her mouth, then smiled and waved at us. Twilight spotted her and let out a startled yelp, bolting back away from me. “Pinkie! What are you doing?!” “Whaaat?” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “I gotta start my guarding shift in half an hour, and I was kinda snacky so I made some popcorn, and now I’m eating it.” She stared at us for a long moment, then added, “If you’re mad ‘cause I didn’t make any for you, then you can un-mad yourself, ‘cause I don’t mind sharing.” Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m good, Pinkie.” “What about you, Stormy?” Pinkie asked. “You don’t mind if I call you Stormy, do you?” “I do not mind, and I do not want any popcorn, though thank you for offering.” I rose to my feet and coughed. “I think I will go get a soda.” My eyes flicked over to Twilight. “Would you like anything as long as I am up?” “If you don’t mind,” Twilight murmured, not quite looking at me. “There should be plenty of the strawberry-flavored soda left.” “I will get you one, then.” Twilight shot a tense smile my way. “Thanks.” “I'll go with you!” Pinkie volunteered. “All that popcorn made me super-thirsty.” Once the two of us were alone in the kitchen she shut the door behind herself. “Sooo ... Twilight’s super-nice, isn't she?” Ah. Had she come here to discuss what she had seen? Considering I still could not make heads or tails of exactly what had almost happened between myself and her, that would make for an awkward discussion. “Er ... yes, she is.” Pinkie’s normal bubbly smiled faded away as she frowned at me.  “Buuut she’s not very experienced. And really sensitive. Almost as much as Fluttershy is, probably because she’s still getting used to having lots of friends. Soooo, since her cute big bro isn’t here to say this kinda thing, I’ll just point out that I have magical powers that can make explosions, and I really don't like it when my friends get hurt.” Well, that was not the turn I had expected this conversation to take. “So noted.” “Great!” Her usual perky smile was back in place a moment later, and she got one of Twilight’s strawberry sodas from the fridge along with a cherry one for me. “Here you go. Oh, and you two might wanna wait until you’re off watch duty to finish up your little experiment. Not trying to be a party pooper, but you’re kinda supposed to keeping watch out for bad guys, not just watching each other.” “I will bear that in mind.” I could hardly disagree with her that our minds had very much not been on keeping an eye out for possible threats. “However, for the moment I think everything is al—” As if summoned by my words and a sense of dramatic irony, a massive vine came crashing through the windows. Twilight stumbled back with a startled shriek, while Pinkie Pie’s eyes shot open and she spat out the soda she’d been in the middle of drinking. “This is diet cola! Ew, come on!” She cocked her head to the side. “Oh, and also, there are a bunch of crazy murder vines coming after us.” I rushed in and wrapped an arm around Twilight’s waist, pulling her away to safety. I also snatched up the rifle, though a second after arming myself I realized I did not have the best weapon for the situation. I quickly shoved Twilight behind me to keep her safe, then took a shot at the nearest vine. The bullet left a satisfyingly large hole, but did little to stop the vine itself. “What are those?!” Twilight gasped. “I dunno what they are, but what about the others?!” Pinkie shouted. “Especially Rarity, they’ll interrupt her beauty sleep!” I stomped down on a vine that was trying to wrap itself around Twilight’s ankle. “They will have to take care of themselves for the moment.” It sounded a touch heartless, but we already had our hands full dealing with the threat right in front of us. “I guess this supports the theory that this is magic!” Twilight’s hands lit up as she telekinetically grabbed the sofa and dropped it on the vine, pinning it down far more effectively than my foot could ever hope to manage. “I got it!” Pinkie grabbed one of the cushions and held onto it until it started glowing. Then she chucked it at the vine, where it exploded and reduced the encroaching plant to a mass of green pulp. “Yes! Score one for the Pinkinator!” Three more vines every bit as thick as the first burst through the window. I put two more shots into one of them and managed to place them close enough to each other to cripple the vine’s progress, but that was only one third of the job done. The other two vines shot straight past me, aiming at Twilight. She snagged them with her magic, trying to hold them back, but judging by her clenched teeth and the sweat beading on her brow it was not an easy task. I took advantage of the restraint to put two more point blank shots into the plant, but it did not seem to do enough damage to stop even one of the two vines, and now I was out of ammo. There was no time to reload, so I had to resort to less sophisticated methods, swinging the gun and  slamming the butt against the damaged section to try and finish what the bullets started. Unsurprisingly, blunt force was not terribly effective at cutting vines. “Pinkie!” Twilight called out. “Break them as I hold them!” “Sure thing! Get clear, Stormy!” As soon as I removed myself from the blast area Pinkie tossed another one of her exploding cushions, pulping both of the vines. As before, the destruction only seemed to draw more of them in. It almost felt like we were up against a hydra; for every vine we destroyed, two more came rushing in. I tried to grab another one of the vines, but it was too strong for me to do much more than slow it down a little bit. Then the thorns along the vine cut into my skin, and despite my best efforts to hold on it slipped out of my grasp, barreling towards a seemingly defenseless Twilight Sparkle. An orange blur shot past me as Applejack tackled the vine, using her magically enhanced strength to do what I could not and force the vines back. “Ain’t no crazy plants gonna hurt mah friends long as Ah’m here!” She wrestled the vine and pinned it to the ground, then pulled out her pocket knife. “Ain’t no self-respectin’ farmgirl goes without a knife, ‘cept when it ain’t allowed!” Normally the pocket knife wouldn’t have been enough to carve through a thick vine, but with Applejack’s magical muscles behind it she made short work of the plant. “I’ll tie them up!” Twilight called out. “You two get rid of them!” “Sure thing!” Pinkie pulled off one of her socks and chucked it at the vines, where it promptly exploded like a hand grenade. “Hope they stop coming soon, ‘cause I’ve only got one more sock left and after that...” She sighed. “I gotta start carrying stuff for exploding when bad guys come after us. Just not a deck of cards, or I’d get sued.” I found a few pieces of debris to toss Pinkie’s way for extra ammunition, but as I did so I realized something: while the other three were fighting desperately to hold off the attacking plantlife, none of them had even come close to me. Even when I had tried to wrestle them down or attacked them they hadn’t really fought back. They had just carried on towards their true targets. “Why are the vines ignoring me?” “It must be because you don’t have any magic!” Twilight called out. “It’s the most obvious thing separating you from us.” Applejack snarled and tore one of the vines in half. “Gotta be some way we can use that to—” She yelped as a vine snagged her by the ankle and pulled her off her feet. Several more vines immediately shot out for her other ankle and wrist. “Git offa me you dadgum—” She snarled and managed to free her limbs a few times, but she could not seem to fully shake off the vines. Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Twilight! Runaway Apple!” Twilight snarled and threw more magic at the vines, and while she did a good job of holding them at bay for the moment it didn’t move us any close to stopping them. I frowned and glanced down at the one vine I’d successfully disabled with my gun, or the ones Applejack had destroyed with main strength. They’d both stayed down, and they were about the only vines that seemed to still be dead. Between that and the fact that they seemed drawn towards magic users... “Take THIS!” Pinkie snarled and threw one of her shoes at the mass of vines near Applejack, blowing them to pieces and showering her with plant gunk. She sighed, slumping down and wiping sweat off her brow. “Twilight ... I’m running out of things to throw! Especially when I don’t wanna risk blowing up AJ too!” “I’m trying to get her loose,” Twilight grunted. “But if I pull any harder it could end up hurting her instead of the vines!” “Well someone get me outta here ‘fore this turns into somethin’ outta one of them Neighponese cartoons!” Applejack snarled and thrashed against the vines, but by now they’d hauled her up into the air where she had no leverage to resist them. Clearly it was time for radical action. I rushed over to the window and dove out through it, right past all the encroaching vines. I heard Twilight’s panicked voice call out after me. “Storm!” Just as I’d hoped, the vines completely ignored me as I rushed past them. The worst I suffered was a few more scratches from passing too close to them. It was a blind spot I intended to make the plants pay for. I sprinted to the tool shed and threw the door open. My first instinct was to grab a machete, but then I spotted a somewhat more absurd but undoubtedly more effective option. Considering the madness of the entire situation, I saw no reason not to go along with things at this point. I armed myself and said the only thing I possibly could under the present circumstances. “Groovy.” I revved up the chainsaw and charged towards the mass of vines breaking through the living room window. The window formed a natural chokepoint they all had to go through, thankfully one they hadn’t managed to widen yet. The chainsaw did exactly what it was designed to, carving straight through the thick mass of plant matter like a knife through butter and splattering me with all manner of severed plant bits and sap in the process. After what felt like several minutes but could not have been more than a few seconds I’d carved through all the vines, leaving behind a mass of severed stumps. The still-living sections of the vines writhed about like they were in pain, but I was not about to give them the chance to recover. I set the saw aside and grabbed the gas can from beneath the window, splashing the contents all over them. While I was doing that, I kicked some of the vines out of the window. “Someone help me set them on fire!” A second later a glowing can of diet cola came flying out the window, landing right next to the vines. It promptly exploded, igniting the fuel and setting the vines ablaze. For a moment I could swear I heard the plants screaming, and the burning vines snaked their back into the forest, writing about in pain as they withdrew. While Applejack snarled and pulled the last of the vines off herself and Pinkie cleared the window of the remaining vines to help me get back in, Twilight slumped down on what was left of the couch. “Is... is that all of them?” Pinkie frowned and looked over my shoulder, where the burning vines were still barely visible as they fled deeper into the forest. “I think they’re gone for now, but...” “Whatever our enemy is, I fear we only wounded it,” I finished for her as I climbed back through the window. “This is likely only a respite before it returns.” “Storm!” Twilight rushed and wrapped her arms around me. “What were you thinking?! You scared me to death when you jumped out the window into the middle of all those crazy vines! Are you okay?!” “I am fine,” I assured her. “And there was no danger, the vines were all ignoring me.” “They’d been ignoring you so far,” Twilight countered. “Jumping right into the middle of them wasn’t a smart way to test the hypothesis!” She pulled back from me and frowned, giving me a quick once-over. “And you’re not fine at all, you’ve got cuts on your arms from that crazy stunt! We need to find a first aid kit.” “Hmm?” I glanced down at the scratches on my arms from my attempt to wrestle with the vines, and likely a few more I had picked up over the course of the battle. None of them seemed particularly deep, and with all the adrenaline in my system I had all but forgotten about them. For a moment I was tempted to brush off her concerns, but that was likely not a wise course of action. Untreated open wounds were not a good thing to have under the circumstances. Before we could worry about that Sunset came rushing into the living room, her saber out and all but covered in plant matter. “You guys okay?! I tried to get to you to help out, but we had our hands full upstairs.” “We’re okay,” Twilight assured her. “Well, I mean, we’re scared, shaken up, and Storm’s hurt and needs a first aid kit, but we’re all alive and intact. Is everyone else okay?” Applejack’s eyes shot wide open. “Rares! Is Rarity okay?!” “And Star?” I asked. “Cloud and Sparkler?” Sunset held up her free hand to forestall any further questions. “Everyone’s fine. Rarity’s shields were actually a huge help in holding them off and letting me and Cloud take them apart while Rainbow ran interference.” Applejack let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, good...” “Indeed.” It was an immense relief to know Cloud was alright. And Star and Sparkler. Even if they were brats who frequently made it their mission in life to inflict suffering on me, they were family. That last was more important than all other considerations. “I think we need a team huddle.” Pinkie clapped her hands and shouted. “Team huddle guys!” The others all joined us in the living room, most looking a bit worse for the wear. Fluttershy managed to find our first aid kit and would have seen to the cuts and scrapes on my arms if Twilight had not insisted on taking over for her. She might have regretted volunteering, considering she had to clean all the plant gunk off my arms before she could even start applying disinfectant and bandaging my wounds. Once I was wrapped up she shot a nervous smile my way. “So, that was pretty scary.” She glanced around the torn apart living room completely covered in exploded plant matter. “And very messy.” Pinkie chuckled sheepishly. “Guilty as charged. Magical explosion powers are pretty good at stopping baddies, but they do kinda make a mess.” “I think we can all agree that this is better than the alternative,” I said. “And if anyone asks, we can just blame the damage entirely on the plant monster.” “Let’s just hope your parents’ home insurance covers attacks by magical plants,” Sunset murmured.  “But let’s not get too relaxed just yet, this was probably just the start of it all.” I frowned and nodded. “Those vines were only interested in the people with powers, and they tried to drag Applejack off. That makes me think they were just proxies.” Sunset grimaced and nodded. “A lot of the bad guys we’ve run into seem interested in stealing our magic or at least using us as a power source. Looks like whoever’s behind the killer plants is trying to do the same thing.” “So what are we supposed to do about it?” Rainbow grumbled. “We gotta find them to stop ‘em, and that’s gonna involve running off into the forest in the middle of the night with no clue where to go or what we’re looking for.” “But staying here and waiting for another monster attack isn’t an option either,” Sunset pointed out. “If we surrender the initiative it’ll let whoever’s behind this just wear us down. Considering how many of those vines there were, they’re probably pretty expendable. Help might be coming in the morning, but even if we hold out that long I doubt the local road-clearing crew is going to be able to handle an attack by plant monsters.” “Not to mention the bad guy is probably going to take out our cars if it turns into a siege,” Cloud pointed out. “Not that I love the idea of running away and leaving the killer plant monster free to do whatever it wants, but I’d rather fall back for now and come back loaded for war.” Star nodded. “Already found a place that sells herbicide in bulk about an hour away from here. Under the circumstances, I think we wanna pick it up by the gallon.” She shot a look my way. “Maybe get a couple more chainsaws too, since the guns weren’t working so hot for anyone but Cloud.” “Exploding fire bullets did give me a bit of an edge,” my cousin conceded. Rainbow turned to me. “Did you really use a chainsaw against the plant monster? ‘Cause that is seriously awesome. Please tell me you remembered to say something cool right before you started chopping it up.” “I went with ‘groovy.’” I shrugged. “We are a bunch of teenagers in a cabin in the woods being attacked by an evil tree, and respecting the classics seemed like the best choice.” Rainbow grinned like a kid in a candy store. “Cloud, when did your cousin get this awesome?” She smirked a bumped her hip. “You better up your game, or I’m gonna start thinking I hooked up with the wrong Kicker.” Cloud rolled her eyes and punched Rainbow in the shoulder. “Focus, Dash. Less jokes, more getting serious about the big bad evil thing trying to eat us.” “So what is our plan?” I asked. “I might be able to follow the vines back to the source considering they were rather large and on fire, but tracking anything at night is an uncertain proposition. We can use F1X3R for an advance scout, but there is only so much we can do with it, especially if we’re going to be out in the field.” “Yeah, it’s not ideal,” Sunset agreed. “But staying here and waiting for the next attack isn’t an option either. Fluttershy, can your animals do some scouting for us as well?” “I’ll ask,” she murmured. “Alright then,” Sunset cracked her knuckles. “Let’s go on a monster hunt.” Twilight sighed. “I had a feeling you would be saying that.” Pinkie frowned and tapped her chin. “I’m gonna need to stock up on ammo. Maybe steal some gravel from the driveway? Or use up the rest of the diet soda.” Sparkler raised a hand. “Speaking of ammo, I don’t suppose Cloud’s in the mood to share the magic bullets around?” Cloud sighed and shook her head. “Tried that back when we were testing my powers. They only work if I’m the one pulling the trigger.” “Dammit.” Sparkler sighed and shook her head. “So, uh, any volunteers for magic-ing me and Star up? Because without some sort of powers we’re pretty much dead weight when it comes to dealing with evil plant monsters. I spent most of the fight just reloading for Cloud. So, I figure Twi’ll be up for giving Storm magic powers and Rainbow’s off-limits, which leaves...” Sunset sighed and rolled her eyes. “For the last time, that was only a working theory about how Cloud got her powers, and even if it’s right it was probably due to Rainbow’s magic being in flux while we were at Camp Everfree. Not to mention I’m pretty sure there needs to be an emotional connection as part of the process as well, not just the physical side of it. Even if the theory that magic can be transferred via intimacy is right, what you’re shooting for wouldn’t work. So let’s just focus on dealing with the bad guy.” “Right.” I took a deep breath. “So if we are going hunting for the source of all this trouble, how will we know what to look for?” Sunset grimaced. “I’ve got a sinking feeling that we’ll know it when we see it.”