As the children put their hooves down Flurry said, “I have a question for you.”
“What is it?” asked Pound.
“What was the Changeling queen talking about before? She said something like your magic only works when in contact with each other. I’ve never heard of something like that before, so can you show me?”
The two of them nodded. “Sure,” said Pumpkin. They each put a hoof in the air, concentrating. A tiny stream of fire only the size of their hooves went into the air. “So this is what it’s like when we’re alone.”
Pound smirked. “But then…” The two of them touched, and as Flurry watched the tiny streams turned into a small inferno.
Flurry gaped at the display. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t capable of making a strong flame herself, but the way they did it perplexed her. “But… but how does it work?” Double-checking Pound’s forehead she added, “You’re not even a unicorn!”
Pumpkin shrugged. “I don’t know how it works. We’ve just had this ability as long as we can remember.”
“The power of teamwork has done lots of crazy stuff,” said Pound. “I guess this is just another one of them.”
Flurry sucked on her cheek. This was definitely a mystery for sure. She knew her Aunt Twilight. She was the curious type. Surely she would have wanted to study this magic.
She shook her head. Why was she focusing on this right now? If the twins had been under attack the other children probably were too. She didn’t have time to figure it out.
“Oh!” Something came to her. “Did you find your mother?”
The bright spirits of the twins faded, both of them hanging their heads as they shook them.
“We followed the voice toward our house.” Pound pointed to a dilapidated Sugarcube Corner. "But when we found our mom it turned out she was just a disguised Changeling.”
“I’m sorry I brought it up,” said Flurry awkwardly.
Pumpkin wiped her face of a tear. “No. Don’t worry about it. Right now what’s important is sticking together. We can look for our family later.”
Pound nodded. “All I can do is protect Pumpkin… and now you.”
Flurry grinned at him. “Sounds good. Let’s go find one of the others.” As she went to take to the air again she heard a high-pitched scream in the distance that got all three of them moving.
Peppermint was running for her life. Right on her heels were a pack of Timberwolves. As one jumped at her she stretched her body out of the way, before flattening herself as another came by. She went running again, tears streaming down her eyes.
She turned behind her, and to her horror saw a bunch of them combining into one gigantic Timberwolf. With its increased height its stride carried it further, and it was quickly catching up to her.
She could hear the howls of the other Timberwolves, and as she turned forward again her eyes went wide as she saw she had ran right into a dead end. She skidded to a stop.
All she had to do was stretch her body upward and she’d be fine.
As she started to do that she heard a snapping sound right by her ear, and only narrowly avoided getting her head chomped on. She looked above her, and saw they had already swarmed the rooftops.
She was trapped. The giant Timberwolf licked its lips, slowly approaching the trembling filly. She closed her eyes, hugging herself as she waited for the end.
Suddenly, there was a colossal noise and the sound of splintering wood. The ground shook beneath her, knocking her on her back. She sat up and opened her eyes, seeing three ponies in front of her, facing away from her. In front of them was what looked like a gigantic ball of dirt.
There were hisses of displeasure from the Timberwolves, and they hopped off the roof to their fallen companion. What was left of the big Timberwolf began combining with all the other ones, creating one even larger than before.
Flurry set her face. “Pound, Pumpkin! I think it’s time we show this monster what it’s like to be firewood.”
The twins nodded hard. They each put their hoof on Flurry’s horn.
Peppermint gasped as the raging plume of fire from the three engulfed the Timberwolf in its entirety. It whined and cried before it collapsed to the ground and dissolved into ash.
Pumpkin walked over to her, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, there! You okay?
“There’s nothing to worry about now. I’ll protect you.”
The filly just blinked, in disbelief at what she just saw. After a few more seconds her eyes filled with tears, and she threw herself as Pumpkin as she began sobbing in relief.
“There, there,” said Pumpkin comfortingly. “We’re here for you. It’s okay now.”
She didn’t know who these people were, and she didn’t care. She was safe now. That was all that mattered to her at the moment.
After a few minutes, when she had calmed down, she let Pumpkin go. She sniffed, wiping her face. “Thank you,” she said gratefully. “I really thought that was it for me.” She hung her head, wobbling her legs like a snake. “So much for this power of mine. It was useless.”
“You have a strange ability too?” said Flurry curiously. “A pony that can stretch their body like taffy…” She got a dark look on her face. “So that’s it!”
“What’s it?” asked Pound.
To Peppermint she said, “I met an odd creature after all of you ran off. He took responsibility for bringing all of us here.
“This thing… this draconequus… it seems like it’s targeting children with unnatural abilities. I could be wrong, of course, but you three have them. I’m an alicorn, so he probably wants me out of the picture before I really develop into my full strength. My guess is that he wants to take care of potential trouble while we’re still young… before we can become a real threat.”
“That’s terrible,” she replied.
“So I’m guessing you didn’t find who you were looking for either?”
The filly shook her head. “I didn’t see him anywhere.”
Flurry got a thoughtful look on her face. “I’m starting to think that they were never here at all. Those screams we all heard were just a distraction to separate all of us so he could eliminate us more easily.”
“But I heard him!” said Peppermint. “I think I’d know the voice of my own dad!”
Pound sighed. “Our mother was actually a Changeling. He could have done the same for your dad.”
Peppermint looked like she was going to break down again. “B-but if my dad was just a fake then where is my real dad?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how much of this is real, but I do know one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“All four of us were under attack.”
“So that green kid who shoved me earlier, and that cute, dark coated one, are also probably being attacked,” finished Pumpkin. “That’s what you’re saying?”
Pound nodded. “As much as he annoys me for pushing you, I’d rather be the one slapping him than all these monsters running around.”
“So what’s your name?” asked Flurry.
“Peppermint… Peppermint Swirl,” she responded.
After the others introduced themselves Pumpkin asked, “So what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“If those other two kids are in danger then we have to do what we can to rescue them. But if you’re too scared to fight then you can go hide somewhere and we’ll come find you later.”
“Are you nuts!” A shudder went through her. “You think I want to stay in this crazy place alone? I’m sticking with you guys. I’d feel much safer with an alicorn nearby. I don’t care how young she is.”
“Well, that settles that,” said Pound. “Let’s go find one of them.”
Peppermint let out a heavy breath, releasing the stress still inside her. “I… I am a little scared of fighting, but just knowing I’m not alone here makes me feel not as afraid.”
“I know that feeling,” said Flurry. “Whatever it takes, we’ll make it through this together.”
Peppermint looked around at the others, managing a smile. She nodded. “Yep! Let’s do it!”
Peppermint stuck by Pumpkin as they looked for one of the other two ponies. Maybe it was just because Pumpkin had been the first to talk to her, but she felt the most comfortable with her.
After another minute they heard evil laughter in the distance. Pumpkin saw a dark-coated pony floating in the air. “Up there!” she called out, pointing.
Flurry glanced up. The pony had an ethereal look about them, at least in their mane and tail.
“HA HA HA HA HA HA!!” laughed the pony again. “How long are you going to keep hiding, brat? Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Her horn glowed with a blue light, and countless small bolts of energy flew out of it, bombarding the ground beneath her.
Peppermint gulped. “If one of those other two was down there…”
Pound let out a sharp breath. “I hope we aren’t too late.”
“It’s a shame that I wasn’t the one to cause this myself,” said the pony, “but that’s fine.” She looked upward, to the dark clouds obscuring the sky. “It looks like my wish has come true. It looks like the night will last forever now.”
Flurry gasped. “Is that… Nightmare Moon?”