Twilight opened her eyes with a jolt! Did she fall asleep? She lied down to let her legs and eyes rest and blanked out for a while there. She looked around the tomb groggily. The fact that she was looking around it so easily snapped her mind awake again.
There was still zero light down here, but now Twilight could see everything perfectly. It wasn’t that everything was giving off light, but Twilight could see them as if they were glowing. She could see the color of everything, could see every color between the rainbow of gemstones that decorated the walls.
No! They were supposed to be blue gems! Twilight remembered that all the gemstones down here were blue or white.
She did have some idea of what might be going on. Twilight looked down at her fur and it was a charcoal grey now. Her tail was a dark blue with a white stripe instead of a pink one!
Did her fur change? Or was it just her eyes? She figured that if her eyes had changed, and they clearly had, then she’d see her own fur the opposite way a daywalker would. So Applejack would likely still see her as lavender.
Twilight wasn’t completely transformed yet.
She felt her ears and the tufts were fully grown. She might even have the largest ear tufts in the gang now. That was something she would have been proud of not long ago.
But no fangs yet. And there was no way to see what her eyes looked like now. At this rate, she was going to be a full thestral within a day.
How long had it been even? If she’d slept until it was day again, Twilight was going to be so angry! But she didn’t dare check outside without her sunglasses.
Her sunglasses looked different now. They no longer looked tinted in any way, but like normal glasses with clear lenses. Putting them on didn’t change her vision, didn’t seem to filter the light (or whatever Twilight was seeing now) at all. So that explained how they were able to wear them at night.
She took them off and looked over them again. They’d been a gift from Rarity. The things Rarity gave her were Twilight’s most treasured possessions and Rarity had given her so much. She wanted so badly for this to not be Rarity’s fault in any way.
Twilight needed to settle this immediately! She needed to find Rarity and yell at her or something!
At least the glasses would keep daywalkers from seeing her vampire eyes.
She ran up the stairs of the tomb and cracked the door open. No light came out, giving her the courage to open it all the way. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was night. She could see just as well as she used to during the day, if not better, but it still looked like night. Everything had the same sort of glow to it in a way that felt almost too natural, like Twilight was always meant to see like this.
The entire world felt different now, but none of it in a bad way.
The air was so clean! Twilight didn’t think she truly understood what ponies meant when they talked about ‘clean air’ in books until that very moment. She’d spent what felt like the first half of her life in the most densely populated city in the world, then the second down here where the dark magic fouled the air in its own way.
But now it was like Twilight had just come out of a moldy basement and the fresh air filled her with energy. Her fatigue vanished for a moment so now all Twilight had to worry about was her injuries and emotional trauma. Maybe this was what the air was like in the mountains or at the beach, though Twilight just now realized she’d never been to either of those places. She didn’t have a lot of life experience.
The other thing that struck her was how strongly she could feel dark magic. It was everywhere, blowing from every direction. Casting a spell would be so easy! Twilight would barely have to put any effort into it at all. But she still didn’t know how much magic she could use before having a seizure in her current half-thestral state. She really shouldn’t test it just yet. Not without Rarity around.
Twilight could feel two sources of wind, two sources of dark magic just then. As always, there was the center of the forest, but also there was something off in the direction of Rarity’s house or perhaps the forest behind it. The wind of dark magic was strong from that direction, constantly flowing but occasionally breaking into a much stronger gust.
Was that them? Or something else?
Twilight was fairly certain they could only feel another vampire from a few hundred feet away. But whatever was out there was far away, at least as far as the house. She was headed in that direction, either way, would find out about it soon enough.
Twilight cantered off in the direction of the house, keeping an eye out for any monsters. It was likely there were dreadstalkers around tonight and Twilight was alone. Extremely alone.
Literally, nopony was around. There were no lights on in any of the houses and certainly nopony in the streets. There weren’t even any royal guards on patrol, despite there having been a million of them earlier.
She could see the light from the center of the town across the sky, so the ponies down there were probably still okay. But something was foreboding about the light. Twilight looked at the glow from town the same way she might have once looked into a dark pit. The light was unnerving now. Somehow being alone out here in the dark felt safer than that place.
Without thinking about it, Twilight found herself shrinking away from the light downtown as she moved on.
Twilight felt another source of dark magic, besides the two large ones, down the next road. She knew for a fact this was about the distance you could feel another vampire from. What if it was Fluttershy or one of her friends?
But there were a few monsters that radiated dark magic too.
Twilight decided that she was going in that direction anyway, she might as well check from behind the corner.
Twilight peeked her head around a building and-
Nothing.
The street was empty. She knew dark magic could pool up in places too, but wasn’t sure how much. So either she was feeling something weird or else somepony or something was in one of the buildings.
“Pinkie,” Twilight whispered loudly, but there was no response. Pinkie absolutely would have heard that with her freakishly good hearing.
Probably not her.
Something about being so close to this source of dark magic filled Twilight with a longing to get closer to it, almost irresistible. Without much thought, Twilight took a step down that street.
Twilight stalked forward through the clear night air, trying to decide if who or whatever it was to the left or the right of the street. If there was a monster, she’d at least be able to see it coming.
But as she got a little closer she realized that it wasn’t in either of those directions. It was coming from right in the middle of the street. But there was nothing there.
Nothing.
“Oh buck,” Twilight whispered and started backing away slowly. She knew exactly what this was. And she was alone.
This close she could feel where the monster was better. It moved from the middle of the street onto the walls of a nearby building, climbing up it, slowly moving around to Twilight’s side.
It was an invisible monster and Twilight only knew one of those.
Dreadstalker!
It was climbing on the walls like a spider! But at least Twilight could kind of see it.
Twilight slowly backed away, trying hard not to show it her back. It was trying to get closer before pouncing. Twilight needed to do something! Thankfully she’d read that pamphlet a million times! She just needed to remember all of it.
Dreadstalkers never attacked groups of ponies. Twilight looked around. There was absolutely nopony around and if she screamed it would lunge.
But no, there was another way! Illusion magic! It said they weren’t too hard to trick with illusions or dummies.
Illusion spell! Could Twilight do an illusion spell with dark magic? She could with light magic so how hard could it possibly be?
Twilight weaved her magic trying to cast the spell in the same way. The breeze she was used to was more like a gale now and quickly blew out of control, warping her illusion beyond recognition.
The illusions she created of other ponies did look a little like Rarity if Rarity were made of marshmallow fluff and was sculpted by a filly.
“Are you buying this?” Twilight asked the dreadstalker hopefully.
And then the spell broke down and the illusions crumbled into specks of light, so Twilight never got her answer.
Twilight panicked and went with spell B, a shield of dark magic! The dark magic was strong right now and flowed into the shield hard, making it strong but wobbly and unstable.
She felt the dark magic around the dreadstalker well up and then it unleashed its spines. Over a hundred sprayed out in Twilight’s direction. Most of them dug into the ground, but the ones that hit the shield hit hard. Twilight’s control over it was wobbly and it quickly broke down, leaving two of them to stab her in the leg.
Her leg felt a little numb from the poison, but the instant death didn’t come. Twilight must be far more resistant to its poison now. Whatever damage getting stabbed did was drowned out by the sudden urge or adrenaline.
And then the dreadstalker pounced at Twilight.
Twilight tried pushing it away with her telekinesis. This time the winds of dark magic being more violent worked in her favor. She was able to push against it much harder than she’d ever been able to push against anything. She pushed it back just enough to keep it from landing on her.
But that thing was several times bigger than she was and strong. She wasn’t able to lift it and despite her best efforts, it was getting closer.
Twilight had to think of something!
And then a light appeared. Twilight felt it sting her eyes and hit her fur light electricity, sending a jolt through her. Somehow that light felt more dangerous than the dreadstalker to her mind! The dreadstalker agreed.
Both of them scrambled backward away from the light in terror. Twilight was panting, her heart beating even faster, but she did have a rational mind that the spider didn’t. She was able to gain control and recognize that this was another pony!
The pony’s fur was such a dark grey it looked almost black and her hair was a pale orange. Twilight remembered that everypony likely looked a different color to her now and checked the cutie mark instead. Three blue apples. Was this Applejack?
Applejack, if it was her, was armored up with metal boots, a chest plate, and a lantern, the source of the light. She had a thunder lance, a spear imbued with light magic whose tip crackled with lightning. There was no way Applejack owned one of those so either this was part of Sunset’s posy or Sunset had been handing these out.
It didn’t matter who it was right now! Anypony meant safety.
“Is somepony out here?!” Applejack called out, it was her voice! Applejack was looking around but she didn’t see Twilight or the dreadstalker. The latter was understandable, but Twilight was right there.
“Applejack! There’s a dreadstalker!”
The dreadstalker was circling Applejack now! Even with her here, there was a chance it wouldn’t back off now that it’d been attacked.
“What?” Applejack started coming. “Twilight? Where?!”
“Right next to you!” Twilight pointed to where it was. Already the dreadstalker was stalking its way over to Applejack’s back.
Applejack looked around, but couldn’t see it or Twilight apparently. She wouldn’t even be able to keep her back from it and it got behind her immediately.
Twilight felt that same welling of dark magic once again. It was about to shoot spines out again. If even one of those spines hit Applejack she’d die!
“It’s right behind you! Throw your spear at it!” Twilight yelled out to her. “Trust me!”
Twilight wouldn’t have blamed her for not listening after what happened last night, but Applejack did as Twilight asked. She turned around and threw the spear, electricity enveloping as it traveled.
The dreadstalker, no doubt unused to being seen, was caught off guard and the spear hit, blasting lightning off of it. But Applejack had hardly been able to aim for the head and only hit one of its legs.
Still, it was enough to sever that leg. A spider leg twice the length of a pony fell to the ground, becoming visible now that it was disconnected from the dreadstalker’s magic, as the dreadstalker let out a screeching sound and green blood oozed out of its wound.
Applejack somehow found the courage to run forward and grab her spear while the dreadstalker screeched and flailed around. She swung it at the source of the noise, but this time the dreadstalker got out of the way.
It jumped over to the side of a nearby building, breaking the glass, then across to another one. After two more jumps, it landed back in the street, near where it was to begin with.
“I think it ran away.” Applejack looked around despite it being pointless and let out a sigh of relief.
“No!” Twilight interrupted, pointing down the street. “It’s still here! They fight back if you attack them, it was in the pamphlet. I can see it!”
Twilight pointed her hoof towards it, following its location. Applejack trotted towards Twilight, squinting to try and see what Twilight was seeing.
“How can you tell where-?”
Twilight felt another swell of dark magic. It was going to shoot more spines!
“Get down!” Twilight jumped back, tackling Applejack to the ground and creating another shield.
They were further away this time and most of the spines went straight over Twilight’s head. The few that did connect hit her shield hard but it wasn’t enough to break through this time.
“Now get the spear!” Twilight shouted at Applejack, knowing what was going to happen next now.
Twilight tried to slow it again with her telekinesis at the spider moved forward and pounced at them, buying Applejack enough time to get the spear back up.
Applejack blindly swung her spear around, having no way to tell where it was. Even with a leg missing and Twilight’s magic holding it, that thing was fast enough to keep away from Applejack’s blind attacks.
The dreadstalker quickly broke out of Twilight’s grip and scuttled around to their right.
“That way! That way!” Twilight pointed to the right as the dreadstalker tried to circle around.
Applejack swung her spear wildly, unable to see it, but that did keep the dreadstalker at bay for a moment.
“Here!” Applejack tried giving the spear to Twilight. “You can see it, so-“
Something Twilight had been afraid of happened. The light magic in the spear burned her! Twilight dropped it and that was the opening the dreadstalker needed.
It lunged forward, but Applejack must have heard it because she lifted her hoof defensively. Some enchantment on the boots made a small barrier of light magic that stopped the dreadstalker but left the two ponies pinned on the ground, Applejack just barely holding it up.
Twilight tried grabbing the spear once more, but it burned her too badly and the light magic burned up any dark magic she tried to pick it up with.
There was one other option that came to Twilight’s mind. She’d spent an entire semester pretending to teleport! And like she’d told Rarity a million times, she was certain she’d get it on the first go.
Surely a seizure wasn’t as bad as a million stab wounds and a dead Applejack.
Twilight did exactly what she’d pretended to a million times.
Anchor. Cut. Flow.
A tunnel through the winds of dark magic formed. Twilight flowed through it. She vanished and reappeared instantly just like she’d done over and over with Rarity. Only this time it was Twilight who cast the spell.
“It worked!” Twilight declared with euphoria. If she was having a seizure she was too happy to notice.
She’d done it! After hundreds of hours of pretending to teleport, watching Rarity teleport over and over for hours, and spending nearly two-decade whishing she could, Twilight finally teleported! If another monster ate her head right now, Twilight would have considered her life worth it all!
She took back everything she said about how stupid and pointless that class was!
But that euphoria was brief as Twilight realized she hadn’t teleported south as she’d meant to. She looked down and the houses were tiny below her. She’d teleported in the wrong direction and that direction was up. Way, way up into the air. But it was okay because-
Twilight heard a screeching noise and saw hundreds of spines appear out of nowhere and fly down towards the ground.
“You brought the spider with us?!” Applejack screamed at her.
“Crap! I didn’t mean to-!”
Applejack threw her lasso at Twilight, wrapping it around her hind leg. Twilight got what she wanted to do.
Twilight teleported a second time before they could fall too far. They hit the ground hard and needed a moment to get up, but it wasn’t like they broke any bones.
Twilight turned around, still feeling the dark magic of the dreadstalker behind and above her. Thankfully it was far down the street now and surprisingly high above Twilight, still above the rooftops, still falling.
Twilight watched, or rather felt, as the dreadstalker fell and fell for what felt like a long time. Then there was a huge crash sound. Even from this far away Twilight could see green blood burst out of its abdomen, splattering buildings on either side of the street.
The dark magic came out in a sudden burst then died down.
The dreadstalker died.
“Who wait.” Twilight stared at the mess in disbelief. “Holy buck! Did we just kill a dreadstalker?! I didn’t even mean to do that! Am I a badass now?”
Twilight looked down at her hooves.
“Well Sunset Shimmer killed ten of those guys so far today,” said Applejack. “So we’ve still got a way yet.”
“Maybe teleportation is just more powerful than I thought,” Twilight concluded. “You could kill dang near anything with that. Anything that doesn’t fly, I mean.”
“How did you teleport anyway?” Applejack gave her a skeptical look. “You don’t have any holy water and even Sunset needs holy water to have enough magic to do that.”
“Um-!” Twilight coughed. “Sorry. Kind of a vampire secret thing.”
“And what happened to your eyes?” Applejack leaned in close.
“What?” Twilight just remembered that they likely looked different. “I don’t know! What do they look like?”
“They’re glowing like a cat's,” said Applejack, “or, well a vampire. Not slitted though.”
So Twilight wasn’t at the next step yet. If she remembered correctly, and if what she was told was true, then it went ear tufts, glowing eyes, slitted eyes, and then your fur started changing colors. And once your fur changed color all the way there was no going back. Twilight was already halfway there.
“I was always under the impression it took years to fully change,” said Applejack.
“Me too.” Twilight lowered her head, shaking miserable. “That’s what they told me, but-“
“You think they lied to you?” Applejack asked.
That was the worst-case scenario. Twilight could deal with monsters or some freak transformation, but not that. And she couldn’t say no just yet.
“I don’t know! I don’t want this to be a trick, but-“ Twilight got up and started walking away. “I need to get back there. Thanks.
“Hold up!” Applejack called after her. “Listen, I was looking for one of y'all.”
“Look, we don’t have anything to do with whatever's happening! Or at least I don’t. I am the most confused, least informed pony in a thousand-mile radius. Trust me.”
“No, that ain’t it at all. I don’t think none of you do have anything to do with it,” said Applejack.
“Really?” Twilight’s ears perked up, surprised Applejack didn’t blame them for something.
“Sunset Shimmer came to my house shortly after yours,” Applejack explained. “She clearly knew what your gang was and I asked her if she thought your gang was behind the fog and she said you had nothing to do with it. Sunset’s been telling everypony that this fog's coming from some new monster. And if that’s what Sunset Shimmer herself says, then it’s got to be true.”
That was one heck of an argument from authority, but Twilight restrained herself and let it slide.
That explained what that huge source of dark magic she felt was. That had to be the monster if there was one.
“I think I can feel that one too.” Twilight looked out towards what must have been that monster. The wind from it was far more intense than that of the dreadstalker, despite being so much further away. Every time she focused on it she got chills and a strange sense of longing. “Whatever’s out there is huge. Maybe not literally, but you know.”
“That much is obvious. Listen, I ain’t got one doubt Sunset’s gonna kill that thing and save the town.” Applejack scrapped her hoof across the ground. “But I suppose my problem is what happens after that. It’s not like getting rid of whatever monster’s out there will bring my farm back or get rid of all my debt. I dunno if I can take care of Applebloom or keep my land afterward. It’s already over for me.”
Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. She knew Applejack had problems, but there wasn’t anything Twilight could do to help with it. Applejack let out a long sigh before continuing.
“I was thinking I’d take that offer.” Applejack kept her eyes to the ground. “To work for Rarity. I know it’s the wrong thing to do, but the only other choice is losing my sister and my land. And Rarity was right, she is the only one willing to help.”
Twilight had nearly forgotten about Rarity’s offer to help Applejack. But if Applejack was willing to ‘switch sides’ then now was the best possible time for it.
“Yes! Great idea!” Twilight assured her. “Once you give Rarity a chance you’ll see she’s great! I know she’ll help you!”
“But you just said you weren’t sure if she was tricking you or what.” Applejack turned
“Well-“ Twilight looked up at the night sky. “No. I trust her! This monster must be what’s responsible. We just need to go find her and talk to her!”
Applejack nodded and stood back up.
“I suppose if I’m selling my soul to Rarity I can start by helping you get back to her.” Applejack held out her hoof. “If you decide you were tricked I’ll have your back. If not… well I’ll talk to Rarity.”
Twilight nodded with a smile and reached her hoof out to Applejack. Applejack pulled away, reminding Twilight that most ponies still didn’t like being touched. Maybe she’d change her mind one day.
“Sorry,” said Twilight. “And thanks.”
The two of them started trotting to the south. It’d be a lot safer if they weren’t alone.
“Do you got any idea where they might be?” Applejack asked. “I went over there just after sunset, the time not the pony, and they weren’t there. Though I suppose they might be back by now.”
“Well they’ll most likely be there or at Fluttershy’s house,” said Twilight.
“Why would they be with Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
“Uh!” Twilight realized her mistake. Even if Applejack was potentially on their side now Twilight couldn’t out her. “She deals with this kind of stuff, you know?”
“Do you think they’re looking for you?” Applejack asked.
“Yes.”
“Well then the thing to do is stay in one place where they can easily find us. That’s the best thing when you get lost. I don’t think Rarity’s house is far from here. We should wait there.”
Twilight nodded. She did want to get back home.
"Though I do got to ask you about this fog." Applejack glanced left, then right. "Do you know anything about it?"
"Fog?" Twilight asked. "This is the clearest night I've ever seen. What fog?"
"Are you playing some kind of game with me?" Applejack waved her hoof in front of her face. "This is the thickest fog I've ever seen! I can't see one thing besides it!"
"I swear I don't see any fog! Though my eyes see differently now," Twilight mused. "Maybe I can't see it?"
Twilight couldn't see the tinting on her glasses anymore, so why not this too? It'd make some sense. There was a mist at the center of the forest, maybe Twilight's brain somehow filtered this out?
“Well the more I hear the more certain I am this fog is what’s letting monsters come out of the forest,” said Applejack. “Breathing it in makes you sick, but some ponies get hurt worse by it. Me and my kin are just fine with it. Most of the ponies from town are only a little sick. But then the ones out of town, guards and the like, they’re in real bad shape. They all got bloody noses and I don’t reckon they’re gonna be much help if they stay that way too much longer.”
Nose bleeds? Rainbow Dash said that’s what happened if you breathed the mist at the center of the forest! But that couldn’t have gotten out here. Could it?
“And are you sure this is a fog?” Twilight asked. “Or is it more of a mist?”
“I don’t right know how to tell the difference.”
“Right. Well mists tend to have higher visibility ranges and are, uh-“ midsentence, Twilight thought of a much better way to get the answer she wanted. “More importantly, is it purple by any chance?”
“Purple? Nah. It’s normal fog color. Maybe a little yellow, if anything.” Applejack gave Twilight a suspicious look. “Wait, so you do know about it?"
“What? No!” Twilight answered a little too loudly to convince Applejack.
“This stuff is real dangerous. If you do know something-“
“Look, I-“ Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. It’d be the worst possible thing if got back only for her friends to get mad at her for saying too much. “I know about a purple mist, but this doesn’t sound like it’s the same thing. If this isn’t purple, then I have no idea what it is.”
Applejack kept her suspicion.
“If I think of anything that would help, I’ll tell you,” Twilight promised. "Maybe Rarity knows about it. We can ask her."
“Well alright.” Applejack nodded and dropped it.
Though there was a little Twilight knew. It was Applejack’s exposure to dark magic that was protecting her from the fog. Living next to the forest must have made her build up a tolerance. It was strange to think it, but Applejack was already part bat pony, even if just a little bit. She had been this whole time.
But telling her that would probably only make her even more depressed than she already was.
“I spent half the day in jail, then the other half hiding underground,” Twilight said instead. “I probably know less about this than you. What’s been going on?”
“Mostly just what it looks like. Monsters and this fog showed up out of nowhere. I’ve been trying to help, but it feels hopeless.” Applejack spoke with no passion. Her fight from when Twilight first met her was gone now. “I don’t much know what they’re thinking. They shut down all the trains out of town and blockaded all the roads. I tried getting my little sister out of here, but there just ain’t no way to get out of town safely. Everypony’s stuck! They should be evacuating this place but they’re doing the opposite!”
“They probably want to mitigate any panic going on,” Twilight rambled off the explanation half on reflex. “They don’t care about casualties down here, only their control on towns they do still have control over. Ponyville was always just a lost cause to them, a buffer zone to dump all the delinquents.”
“You’re all so cynical all the time,” said Applejack. “I’m sure they have a better reason than that. Sunset Shimmer's a hero and she's down here fighting for us! She wouldn't do something like that.”
Twilight said something like that not long ago. Now she pitied Applejack’s faith in them even when they were screwing her over like this.
“Well I guess neither of us knows what our leaders are up to right now.” Twilight looked ahead, could see her house, Rarity’s house, just ahead. “Hopefully I’m about to find out.”
They got back to the house. The curtains were closed again. There wasn’t any sign of a major fight, but there was a pile of ashes just outside in the front yard. Twilight’s mind slid back into its old tendencies and went to the worst possible conclusion.
Was this… them?!
In that moment, she would have forgiven them for anything. She just wanted them to be alive now! Twilight ran ahead of Applejack, into the house.
“Rarity!” Twilight shouted as soon as she was inside. “Pinkie! Are you home?!”
Nopony answered. Nopony was in sight. The place was a mess now. Everything that could be torn apart was torn apart. The couches and chairs were all knocked over and every cushion had been ripped to pieces.
“Rarity!”
Twilight ran upstairs calling out for everypony. She checked her bedroom to find it trashed. She went to Rarity’s next and found it wasn’t torn up which meant… something?! Twilight was too panicked to think right now!
Pinkie’s room was torn up and so was the library. All the books in Rarity’s library were gone. Sunset must have burned them all! Because that’s what their lousy government did to banned books. But then-
That was what the pile of ash outside was! It must have been! Hopefully! She had to be sure.
She ran back outside and over to the pile of ash with enough courage to poke through the ashes now that she wasn’t expecting to find any bone. She quickly found a piece of metal, a scorched clasp that Twilight recognized from the cover of one of Rarity’s books.
So that was all this was. Twilight fell to her haunches in relief.
All those precious, irreplaceable books were gone, but all she could feel was relief. She wanted to see her friends again.
“You okay?” Applejack sat next to her.
“Yeah.” Twilight nodded. “It’s just books.”
Twilight went back inside, Applejack following behind.
“But where could they have possibly gone?” Twilight asked. “I guess they must have expected me to come back before sundown and when I didn’t show up, they went looking for me?”
“Maybe they left a note somewhere?” Applejack suggested. She checked around the door. “Not on the door. Unless they hid it somewhere only you’d think to look?"
“Maybe.” Twilight looked around. Where would they leave it? There were a few hidden compartments she could check.
Twilight was too exhausted and frustrated to deal with this kind of thing! Maybe she should just wait here for them to get back. Applejack was still looking around for a note downstairs, going through the sofas and chairs to see if one was pinned to them.
In the small sitting area where the stairs branched off was their favorite couch, the one they usually sat on. It was the only one that wasn’t knocked over and the torn-up cushions had been put back on it. But it wasn’t in the right spot, either, was pushed way too close to the edge of the stairs.
Twilight tried lifting it with her telekinesis to put it back, blowing the winds of dark magic around it like she was used to now. It didn’t go exactly as planned. The gentle wind she was used to picking things up with now came out as a violent gale that threw the couch into the air, smashed it through the window, and flung it out to the edge of the woods.
Twilight and Applejack both jumped back, equally surprised at that turn of events.
“What in the hay was that?!” Applejack stepped back.
“I dunno!” Twilight wondered what kind of excuse she was going to give the others. “I still have issues controlling my magic. Maybe the transformation is changing something? I’m fine.”
“If you’re sure.” Applejack still looked concerned but nodded and went back to looking for a note that might not even exist.
Twilight sat down at the top of the stairs and simply waited. They’d have to come back here eventually! Surely even if they were lying about the process, they’d at least come back to try and convince Twilight to stay in the gang. Unless it was a particularly mean lie.
There was just so much dark magic around right now it wouldn’t surprise Twilight that the others couldn’t use it to find her. All Twilight could feel was that thing in the woods. It was getting stronger. Whatever was out there was getting closer.
Twilight knew that should terrify her. It could very well be the biggest, most horrible monster she’d ever imagined crawling towards her. But Twilight’s instincts were off the rails. She didn’t feel any fear, not about whatever was coming closer anyway.
No, Twilight felt a longing towards it. It felt safe out there, better out there. Staying here was almost painful like she was stuck inside, watching all her friends laughing and having fun without her just out of reach.
The thought crossed her mind that maybe they were out there. Maybe they ran into the woods and were happy out in the forest. What if they left her in this cruel place while they got to be in the forest?
Being here was unbearable! She wanted so badly to be with her friends in the forest where it was safe!
Only- only it wasn’t safe out there and she had no idea if any of them were even out there. Maybe her instincts were changing. Maybe that was driving her crazy. She felt crazy, her thoughts were crazy.
“Applejack!” Twilight needed to tell somepony, to warn Applejack. “I want to go out into the forest.”
“What?” Applejack raised her eyebrow. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know! I feel like I’m going crazy over here!” Twilight held her head, trying to keep the crazy in. “The transformation must be messing with my brain. I knew that was part of it, but they didn’t say it’d be this bad.”
“Well how bad is it?” Applejack ran up the stairs to be next to her.
“Like-“ Twilight felt it getting worse. “Maybe you should tie me up?”
“I’m a little worried what your friends might do if they came home to find me here and you tied.”
“Please!”
Applejack realized how serious Twilight was being and nodded in agreement. She took a rope out of her bag, Applejack always carried that lasso around and tied Twilight’s foreleg to the banister of the stairs. Twilight knew she’d be able to get out of this no problem, especially with how strong her magic was right now. But it was something. She might not be able to teleport because she'd have to take most of the banister with her to do it, though even that wasn't certain. And it did calm her nerves just a little. Twilight couldn’t suddenly bolt.
“But if your gang shows up you gotta tell them straight away,” said Applejack.
“Right.” Twilight nodded.
Twilight tried breathing in and out slowly, trying to clear her mind. It didn’t work out so well as clearing her mind only made her ability to feel dark magic stronger.
She could feel it now! Things outside disrupting the fields of magic, monsters no doubt. This new feeling at least gave her something to focus on, but soon Twilight came to a worrying realization.
Something pretty big was close and getting closer fast. It was moving straight towards the house like it was, was running right at them.
“Applejack, I think there’s something I need to tell you,” said Twilight. “See my kind can feel dark magic, right?”
“Okay.” Applejack nodded, but Twilight could see she didn’t like where this was going.
“And that means I can feel it when monsters are getting close. That's how I saw the dreadstalker before. ”
“Ah, heck. Do you know what type it is?” Applejack was already looking for the monster.
“I don’t think I can do that yet, but it’s that way.” Twilight nudged her muzzle in the direction it was coming from. “I think it’s big but not huge if that makes sense?”
“Not really, but I’ll watch out.”
Applejack turned in the right direction and got her machete ready. Twilight wished they could have somehow seen where that spear landed and gotten it back.
“It’s really close now!” Twilight called out to her. “Get ready!”
The monster was right in front of the house now! Up at one of the second-story windows! Twilight got ready to cast a spell if she needed to. At least her new dark magic powers could be useful here.
The thing didn’t shatter the window, but simply opened it up and peeked inside. Twilight saw glowing, violet eyes peering in at them from the window. Once it saw them, the monster zipped inside, allowing Twilight to finally see that it was a pony.
She was wearing armor like that of the secret guard. Most of her was covered in leather armor, though her front two boots were metal and armed with claw blades. Her muzzle was covered with the signature scarf and her mane hidden under a hood.
The only difference was that the whole thing was dyed in purples and blues and the symbol on the chest piece had been torn off.
“What is it?” Applejack whispered and crouched down defensively, likely unable to see anything but two glowing eyes.
“It’s-“ The answer finally clicked with Twilight. She’d never seen Rainbow Dash wearing any of it, but this was her ‘gear’ that Rarity was always telling her to not take out. “Rainbow Dash!”
Dash gave her one nod of acknowledgment before turning to Applejack. Dash flicked her wrist, the claws attached to her boots swinging out with a shing.
“Applejack,” Dash said with restraint. “What the buck are you doing?”
“Now see, this is exactly what I was worried about.” Applejack sat down and put her hooves up in surrender immediately.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Twilight called out fast before this escalated. “Applejack was helping me.”
“Helping you what?” Dash gestured for Applejack to get out of the way and she did without a fuss. With her out of the way, Dash flew to Twilight’s side and cut the ropes “We were worried sick about you! You weren’t seriously out here playing with Applejack the whole time, were you?”
Twilight’s nerves were shot right now. Just that little bit of hostility from Dash was enough to bring her anger bubbling back up. She wanted answers right now!
“No! Tell me what’s going on!” Twilight gave Dash a shove. “Right now!”
“Huh?” Dash effortlessly blocked the hit from sheer reflex, despite being stunned.
“What did you do to me?!” Twilight slapped at Dash repeatedly, doing zero damage as Dash blocked every one.
“I didn’t do buck! I’ve been looking for you all night and-“ Dash stopped when she noticed Twilight’s eyes.
Dash could see straight through Twilight’s glasses, could see her glowing eyes.
“Whoa!” Dash grabbed Twilight’s cheek and pulled her closer to make sure. “How the buck did your eyes change so fast?!”
“You tell me!” Twilight slapped Dash’s hooves off her, then tried to shove Dash again, but Dash blocked. “You said it’d take years! You were lying!”
“What?!” Dash blocked another slap. “Hey! Look, I have no idea how this happened! I’ve never even heard of somepony changing this fast! Something is seriously wrong here! We gotta go get Fluttershy.”
“This isn’t what you said would happen! Were you lying to me?!”
“I’m telling you that whatever the buck is happening to you isn’t normal!” Dash shouted back at Twilight loud enough to momentarily make Twilight back down. “This is freaking me out too! We need to-!”
“The last time I trusted you was-!” Twilight hit Dash and was blocked yet again. “You’d better be able to prove you didn’t lie to me! And-! And-!”
“Okay, fine!” Dash threw her forelegs open, clearly not going to block any more punches. “If it’ll make you calm down, go ahead and bucking hit me!”
Twilight wound up to punch Dash hard in the chest but faltered before she could land the blow.
“I don’t want to anymore.” Twilight let her head fall, landing against Dash’s chest. "I'm sorry!"
Dash was quick to close her forelegs around Twilight, holding her close, protectively. She let Twilight sob silently against her chest. Twilight allowed herself a moment of comfort. Dash was likely telling the truth.
“You don’t gotta cry, you got me here now! I’ll get you to Fluttershy. I really don’t know what’s going on with you, but Fluttershy is way older. She knows everything, okay? She’ll help.” Dash stroked Twilight’s back gently, then pointed at Applejack. “You get out of here. This doesn’t concern you, daywalker!”
“Look, I came here to talk to you about Rarity's offer." Applejack kept her hooves up. "I want to talk to her first, but I am tempted to take it."
Dash held on to Twilight tight and watched Applejack carefully like she expected the earth pony to try and snatch Twilight away.
“She was helping me,” said Twilight. “I got stuck cause of the sun and she helped get over here and- I feel like I’m going crazy over here! The light makes me freak out now and I feel this horrible pull towards the forest! I feel like any minute now I might snap and run inside. That’s not supposed to happen, is it?”
“No,” said Dash. “I mean, you feel all that stuff, but not like how you described it."
Dash kept her glare on Applejack while Twilight spoke and remained silent a moment longer. She glanced over at the ropes, no doubt just now realizing why Twilight was tied up.
“I don’t got time to fight you.” Dash dismissed the notion with a flick of her claws. “I gotta make sure Twilight’s okay first. Fluttershy’s deeper in the forest, near that monster.”
“Did you see it?” Applejack asked.
“Nopony's saw that thing.” Dash jabbed her claws towards somewhere deep in the forest. “You see fog, right? Well there’s some new monster, one even Fluttershy’s never seen before, and it breathes that stuff out. Guess our fearless leader mistook that thing for a coming dark storm which is how it got so close. That fog shields the other monsters from Equestria’s light magic so that’s why they’re coming out now. But it's too thick around it so even we can't see what it looks like.”
“So it is true!” Applejack smacked her forehooves together. “And if we take that thing out, things go back to normal?”
“Probably.” Dash shrugged. “That’s what Fluttershy and that stupid unicorn think, anyway. All the try-hards are over there trying to get close to it. But Rarity told me to find Sparks, not go fight some monster.”
Rarity!
“Dash! Where’s Rarity?” Twilight asked. “I want to talk to her.”
“Rarity’s fine last I saw her. Her and Pinks are looking for you downtown” said Dash. “But she’s gonna have to worry a little longer. We gotta have Fluttershy look at you first.”
“And why didn’t you leave me a note or something?!” Twilight demanded.
“We did leave a note.”
“What? Where?!”
“On the couch. Where we always sit?” Dash looked over to where the couch was, then the broken window. “I dunno how the buck it got outside, but it was in here when we left.”
“Oh.” Twilight hung her head in embarrassment. “Maybe I accidentally did that?”
Dash frowned at her with pity, clearly misunderstanding why she threw the couch out the window but getting her general insanity.
“Maybe you better not go out then,” said Dash. “It’s dangerous out there, especially if we're getting close. It’d be better to bring Fluttershy over here. Though I can’t go get her without leaving you alone which is also a bad idea.”
Dash crossed her forelegs and thought about the situation.
“I’ll stay with her,” Applejack offered. “If you want.”
Dash glared at her, looking almost offended at the suggestion. But Twilight knew Dash and the fact that she didn’t immediately curse Applejack out meant she was thinking about it.
“I realize I don't have anything to go back to when this is over," said Applejack. "I found out there really was a serial killer, but it wasn't any of you three. And Rarity's the only one willing to help me right now. "Maybe I was wrong...
Dash held Twilight possessively like she was worried Applejack might try to steal her. But she still considered the idea in silence, glaring at Applejack through the darkness.
Then Dash finally let go of Twilight. She took off her left claw blade and slid it over to Applejack.
“I never used one of these before.” Applejack tried it on, replacing her right boot with this one.
“Just go like that.” Dash swiped her right hoof. “It’ll hurt whatever you hit way more than a kick. Those blades are dangerous so don’t cut yourself, huh?”
Applejack nodded.
“I can be back in fifteen minutes,” said Dash. "Do you think you can hold out that long?"
"I am feeling a little better now." Twilight nodded.
Dash started trotting away but turned back to Applejack one last time.
“And just so we’re clear, if you do anything to Twilight I’m going to hunt you down and kill you.”
Dash jumped back onto the windowsill, then flew off into the night. Subconsciously, Twilight took a step after her. She felt a pull towards the dark magic that surrounded Rainbow Dash as she left, felt herself being pulled outside.
Letting Dash leave was a mistake. That was what was keeping her calm!
Already the draw was back towards that massive pool of dark magic, Dash’s magic submerged in it completely as she moved there herself. Twilight knew it must be where that horrible monster was, but the urge to go over there was insatiable.
“Well you seem a tad better now.” Applejack looked over the trembling Twilight. “You want me to tie you up still?”
Twilight couldn’t take it anymore! She had to get there! She had to!
Twilight stood up and ran towards the shattered window. She wasn’t even thinking anymore! She’d just jump! Get there faster!
Applejack saw Twilight running and, in a panic, tackled Twilight to the ground. Twilight needed to get free! Get to that dark magic!
She flailed as hard as she could, but Applejack was way stronger.
Magic!
Twilight tried grabbing Applejack with her magic and throwing her off. She didn’t have enough concentration or control to pry Applejack’s tight grip away, so she just tried throwing the other mare off entirely.
In the end, she sent both flying across the room, up the second flight of stairs, and into the wall next to Rarity’s room. But even through all of this, Applejack remained steadfast.
Magic again!
Twilight could teleport now! There was enough magic! It could totally maybe work! She had to use it to get over there!
Twilight tore through the wind, only managing a little because of how hard it was blowing, and teleported through the path.
She reappeared in the woods, not nearly all the way there, it was too hard to get all the way there in one go. But she was closer.
The forest was good! But Twilight needed more!
The only problem was that she had brought Applejack with her, was still pinned underneath the earth pony.
“Get off!” Twilight shouted at her and tried to shake Applejack off her back.
“No!” Applejack gripped tight. “I ain’t letting go! You gotta come to your senses! What you’re doing is crazy!”
It didn’t matter! Twilight was getting closer! That was all she cared about.
Twilight teleported again. She was so close! She could feel the dark energy surrounding her!
“Sorry about this, Twilight!” Applejack landed a hard blow to the back of Twilight’s head.
Twilight saw a flash of white light and fell to the ground, her mind blank for a moment. She got up a moment later, the back of her head throbbing.
“Ah, dang it!” Applejack looked down at Twilight nervously. “I honestly thought that’d knock you out! Never actually tried doing it before.”
Maybe the blow cleared her mind a little, or maybe it was being closer to the dark magic, but Twilight felt a bit more in control again. There was so much dark magic pouring out from something just a little bit ahead.
She could see something down there. There was a purple mist!
It was streaming out of somewhere and quickly dissipating, but at its source was so thick Twilight could only make out a vague silhouette of the monster in the center. It wasn’t too big, but Twilight couldn't make out its shape.
And it looked like Twilight wasn't the only monster drawn to its dark magic. She could see timber wolves off to one side of it and a lot of them. It seemed like they too were trying to get as close to the monster as possible, slowly approaching then backing away quickly as if something had burned them.
Twilight realized that the mist monster wasn't just sitting there. It was meandering about slowly, but in Twilight's direction.
“That’s not good.” Twilight watched whatever it was approach in horror.
“What’s not good?” Applejack coughed hard and squinted off in the direction she was looking. “I can hear a lot, but I can’t see one thing!”
“It has to be the monster Dash was warning us about! There are monsters all over the place!” Twilight grabbed Applejack. “I gotta teleport us out of here!”
“If you’re going back the other way.” Applejack quickly grabbed onto Twilight, suddenly starting to cough much harder. Twilight noticed a small trickle of blood coming from her nose.
Twilight tried clearing a path again, but now it went way too far! Twilight lost control of the path and it vanished. She tried again but overshot it even worse the second time. There was just way too much dark magic around here for Twilight to properly control. Then Twilight started to feel a familiar chill wash over her, her legs becoming jittery.
So she wasn’t immune yet?!
“Twilight!” Applejack coughed. She was breathing heavily now. The dark magic here must have been enough to break through her resistance. “Maybe- maybe we should just run for it?”
Applejack looked around but wasn’t sure where to even run. She likely couldn't even tell what direction the monsters were in.
Twilight needed to try one more time. Even if she collapsed afterward and ended up somewhere completely random and far away, that’d be better than here! She started trying to clear another path but was interrupted when the dark magic was blown away.
A beam of light, a massive laser that must have come from a powerful unicorn, blasted out from the darkness, lighting up the forest. It slammed into mist as if it were a forcefield, the light splitting around it.
The beam didn’t hurt the mist monster one bit, but everything around it recoiled. Several of the timberwolves broke apart into charred sticks and everything that wasn’t burnt up by the shot scattered in every direction.
But that included Twilight’s direction! A whole mob of timberwolves was run towards them
“That cleared up the fog a bit.” Applejack looked around with some amount of vision restored. Sadly not enough to see the wolves. "That had to be Sunset and the others! f you can’t get us out of here, we gotta get their attention.”
Applejack reached into her bag and pulled out a small flare. She lit it and fired in the direction the spell came from a moment ago.
Twilight had no idea if anything even saw it, but the timberwolves were closing in now. They were coming for the two ponies, not just running away now.
“Applejack!” Twilight used her telekinesis to shove the timberwolves out of the way. She was so much stronger here; it broke several of them apart.
But now she’d crossed the line. She was overloaded with dark magic and fell to the ground when her legs started to spasm.
The timberwolves didn’t break and run, either. They were the type of monster to stand their ground and the remaining ones lunged forward with determination.
At least they were close enough for Applejack to see. She unhinged the claws on her boot and swung them at one of the timberwolves. Whatever magic was in the blades killed the thing almost instantly, leaving it to fall to the ground as a pile of wood which quickly began to crumple up, partially disintegrating.
“These are good!” Applejack looked down at her claw blades, impressed.
But she only had a second to be impressed. Already the two of them were surrounded by wolves. Applejack kept her back against Twilight as she looked carefully from wolf to wolf, trying to see which would attack first.
Several moved in at once. Once pounced on Applejack, leaving Twilight open for another incoming wolf. She tried to hit it with a spell again, but found her body seizing up when she tried. The timberwolf pounced on her and slashed her hard across the chest.
“Twilight!” Applejack got the first wolf off her and turned back in horror, but before she could help another one landed on top of her.
Twilight looked down at her chest. It was bleeding terribly!
Another explosion of light magic erupted from somewhere behind Twilight, staggering her and all the wolves. A moment later a new pony came in, flying down from the air and landing on top of the timberwolf that was trying to eat Twilight, killing it with a blow from her claw blades.
Twilight’s weary mind reeled but soon recognized the outfit. It was Rainbow Dash!
“D-Dash!” Twilight tried to step towards her but couldn’t manage that much.
“Twilight!” Dash landed next to Twilight. “What the buck are you doing here?! I specifically-! Whoa!”
Dash looked at the wound on Twilight’s chest in horror. It was bleeding badly, but she could barely feel it. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked!
“It’s okay.” Twilight pressed her hoof against it. “It doesn’t hurt that much! I’ll be- be-”
Twilight’s vision blurred. She saw Fluttershy coming over next, fluttering to the ground between Twilight and the other wolves with no fear of the monsters at all.
“Oh my.” Fluttershy looked down at Twilight with a look of pity.
Twilight’s vision blurred away completely, and she fell flat on the ground.