Eleven PM and still no sign of Rarity.
Twilight’s fur was lavender again, in her own eyes, meaning Twilight officially crossed the point of no return. She was a creature of darkness forever now. The only thing left was to grow a set of fangs and finish her transformation into a monster like her friends.
But even just having Dash by her side was enough for her to return to welcoming the change. Maybe the gum helped too, but the change wasn't nearly as frightening anymore. Now only her worry for Rarity and Pinkie remained.
Twilight managed to get a few hours of rest, but by now she didn’t even feel tired and doubted she could sleep even if she was. She wanted to go out and look for them, but Dash still seemed to think it was a bad idea.
“How much longer are we gonna wait?” Twilight asked.
“Till midnight,” said Dash. “I know it sounds counterintuitive, but this is the fastest way to find Rarity. We agreed that if either of us finds you, we go back to Fluttershy’s house and wait there.”
After talking with Dash for a while, Twilight learned that Rainbow Dash had gone to that tomb shortly after Twilight left it. In retrospect, Twilight could have saved a ton of trouble by staying put and trusting the others to come to find her. Even still, it was a hard lesson to swallow right now.
“That is a good point, but-“ but Twilight couldn’t not worry. “Well something unexpected could happen, right? This whole incident is unexpected!”
“Sure,” said Dash. “Which is why we’re going to go out after midnight. But I’ll bet you my favorite earrings that-“
Dash’s ears perked up and she looked to the north. Twilight was still new at this and needed a moment to focus, but she too could feel something moving through the dark magic, coming towards them from the north.
This wasn’t the first monster she’d felt come near Fluttershy’s house tonight. For the past several hours, distortions in the winds of dark magic would come and go. The difference was that none of them had ever come from the north, the ponies from Canterlot seemingly having gotten that area under control.
“That’s a pony,” said Dash. She had enough experience to tell what each monster was. “Feel that nice, smooth flow?
Twilight nodded; certain she knew what Dash meant. It’d take a while for her to learn to recognize different sources of dark magic.
“But is it Rarity or Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“I mean.” Dash closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment. “Could be both. It feels kind of off.”
“Off?”
“Hard to explain. I’m not sure how many there are.” Dash shook her head. “Guess we’ll know in a second.”
Shortly after Twilight felt their presence herself, whatever pony was causing this distortion started coming closer rapidly. It was as if they’d felt Twilight too and were eager to get here as soon as possible.
Twilight sat up with rapt anticipation, hoping this was Rarity or Pinkie.
It wasn’t long before they were right outside the door.
“Knock knock!” The pony banged on the door.
Twilight’s heart jumped when she heard the voice. It was Pinkie Pie!
“I know you’re in there!” Pinkie jiggled the handle from the other side, but the door was still locked. “You can’t hide from Pinkie!”
“About time.” Dash jumped off the bed and trotted over to the door, unlocking and opening it for Pinkie.
“Wait!” Pinkie grabbed the door, stopping Dash from opening it all the way. “Before I come in, is everypony in here cool? Cause I got the sweetest candy of all out here if you catch my drift.”
“Yeah, I get you” Dash leaned around Pinkie and looked outside. “It’s just me and Sparks. We ain’t gonna rat on you for nothing.”
Pinkie gasp.
“Twilight?!” Pinkie shoved Dash aside and ran into the room. “Is she here?! Twilight!”
Pinkie was in her true form. For the first time, Twilight got to see her as a pink bat pony, her blue eyes shining brilliantly through her now untinted glasses. Twilight could tell she’d been in a fight recently, she had a bruise on her left cheek, one that took out a small patch of fur and was still bleeding slightly.
“Pinkie!” Twilight couldn’t help but smile wide.
“Twilight!” Pinkie flared her wings out in excitement.
Pinkie bounded forward, but stopped suddenly, stumbling and nearly falling from the momentum.
“Oh! Sorry! Hold that thought for one second!” Pinkie ran outside then quickly returned dragging something behind her.
Pinkie had a makeshift sled with her. It was a door she must have ‘borrowed’ from somewhere with two pieces of rope tied onto it. Whatever she was carrying was big, at least the size of a pony, but covered completely with blankets so Twilight couldn’t tell what it was.
She dragged this over to Fluttershy’s stove, the one keeping the house warm, and left the sled next to it as if intending to warm up or perhaps dry off those blankets.
Once the sled was there, Pinkie promptly ignored it and rushed over to the bed, using her wings to flutter up on top.
“Anyway, like I was saying.” Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a top hug. “Twilight!”
Pinkie hugged Twilight way too hard. Even with the painkillers, Twilight felt a sharp sensation in her chest.
“Yo, Pinks!” Dash shoved Pinkie off Twilight immediately. “She got hit hard in the chest. You gotta be careful!”
With curiosity, Pinkie looked down at Twilight’s chest. She sniffed the air and ‘oo’ed at whatever she smelt.
“Is that Applejack’s blood?” Pinkie lightly prodded Twilight’s chest wound. “I didn’t know you were that hardcore, Twitwi! You get we're not that kind of vampire, right?”
“It is,” said Twilight. “But I’m disturbed you can tell.”
“Oh, I make it a habit to know what everypony in Ponyville’s blood smells like,” said Pinkie. “It’s my job. But you look way more okay than we thought you’d look. Heck, you look a million times cooler! Your eyes are so pretty now! No offense, but non-glowy eyes look kinda gross, right? All you need now are some fangs and you’ll be just like us!”
Pinkie hissed to show off her own fangs. Twilight did agree with the sentiment. Daywalker's eyes seemed a little dead.
“You’re taking the fact that I’ve suddenly transformed into a vampire in stride,” said Twilight.
“Oh, me and Rarity spent the last half an hour figuring this might have happened to you.” Pinkie flicked her wrist. “So I’ve had plenty of time to get used to it. This just means you get to be one of us sooner, right?”
“Well, yeah.” Twilight switched out her current gum for a fresh piece. “But all the stuff changing in my brain this fast is making me go nuts. I snapped and ran into the forest before. I almost died!”
“Oh no! Poor Twitwi!” Pinkie nuzzled Twilight. “Once we get into the forest where we belong, I bet you’ll feel better! As soon as Rarity gets here, we can get out of here turbo speed. We’ll take care of you.”
“Where the buck is the boss?” Dash asked. “Do you have any idea how worried you made Twilight?”
“She’s not-“ Twilight looked over to the sled Pinkie left by the stove. That lump was about the size of a pony…
Pinkie followed Twilight’s eyes over to it and laughed.
“Oh, no! That’s not her, silly. She’s over uh-!” Pinkie ran over to the window and shouted out of it. “Rarity! You’re too slow! You’re gonna miss the party!”
“Pinkie!” Rarity’s had to shout, but she wasn’t far away. “I told you we can’t run right now! They might get hurt!”
“Sorry!” Pinkie called out the window. “I just got too excited! Guess who’s here?”
“Well if it isn’t Twilight, I’m going to be very upset at you for asking that,” said Rarity.
And then Rarity, in all her stunning glory, came in through the door. Rarity locked eyes with Twilight instantly and once again Twilight was staring into those gorgeous, glowing eyes, the most beautiful thing in the world.
The second she saw Rarity, all of Twilight’s doubt vanished. It felt, at the moment, like having all her friends here really was the only thing that mattered.
Rarity was uninjured for the most part, but it looked like she’d narrowly avoided something much worse. Her mane was far shorter than it usually was, with scorched tips like it’d been on fire a bit earlier.
It took a moment, but Twilight realized that Rarity had a kid with her, a filly of maybe ten years old riding on her back. Twilight couldn’t recognize who the filly was, but then again how could she?
Rarity wasn’t wearing her jacket right now, instead, the filly had it, and several other pieces of clothing, on. The kid was so completely covered it looked like she was about to go play out in the snow. She even had a knit cap and scarf on, so all Twilight could see were her eyes.
Her eyes were red, though her pupils were so dilated they looked black, and her fur a dark orange, but that was hardly a clue to who she was because those wouldn’t have been the colors Twilight would have seen two days ago.
As Rarity trotted towards the bed, Pinkie scooped the filly up and fluttered her over to the far side of the bed where she quickly tucked the kid under the blankets, between Dash and Twilight. The filly was shivering badly and her eyes were dazed like she was about to pass out. If she had any aversion to physical contact, she was well past the point of caring about it. She just lied down between the two mares and tried going to sleep.
Rarity first gave Dash a brief glance. Dash hit her chest and shrugged and that was all Rarity needed from her. Then Rarity turned to Twilight, jumping up on the bed where three ponies now lied, looking dead serious.
Rarity looked Twilight over with concern, brushing her mane aside and looking deep into Twilight’s eyes. She looked at the right eye, throbbing and swollen, then down at Twilight’s bandaged chest.
“It was those filthy daywalkers,” Dash spat out the last word like poison. “They beat her up in jail. Then we ran into a monster and got those cuts, but we’ll be fine.”
“You poor thing.” Rarity held Twilight close but loosened her grip when the pain in Twilight’s chest made her wince.
Twilight remembered back when she first started hugging her friends, how she’d nearly cry every time. It was like she was back there once again, struggling to keep herself from bursting out into tears. But she knew she’d be safe even if she did cry.
“I’m so sorry.” Rarity moved back and brushed her hoof near the side of Twilight’s good eye. “I was afraid this was the case! Twilight, I think you’re past the point of no return now. There's something in the air that causes ponies to change faster, I’m sure of it now.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too.” Twilight nodded. “But it’s okay. I’m fine with this. Becoming one of you is what I wanted, anyway.”
“Well I’m not fine with this,” Rarity said, her eyes closed. “I want my fledglings to willingly become mine. I hate that this was forced on you. And as my fledgling, I’m responsible for you. I shouldn’t have let you get hurt this badly.”
The idea of being mad at Rarity for anything, ever, just seemed so ridiculous at this point. Maybe someday Twilight would think of a reason to be upset with Rarity, but right now there was no doubt in her mind that being with her was the right thing to do.
“I promise you I don’t like forcing you to make this decision,” said Rarity, “but the three of us have to leave immediately. Right now. But I want you to come with me more than anything in the world. You’re part of my family now. I’m certain you’re still nervous, but-“
“Of course I’m going with you!” Twilight said that a bit louder than she meant to. She probably sounded desperate, like Rarity was about to leave without her. “Rarity, I- I love you.”
Rarity finally smiled, that little winning smirk that Twilight went from hating to loving.
“And I don’t blame you for that one bit.” Rarity kissed Twilight on the nose, then more softly on the lips. “I do want to take you back home with me and have you be mine forever.”
Twilight nodded, accepting the offer. She felt like she was safe again. Finally.
Pinkie came bounding up onto the bed a moment later.
“Daw!” Pinkie scooted up onto the bed, sitting next to Twilight so that she was surrounded. “And what about me? Do you love me too, Twilight?”
“Of course I love you.” Twilight smiled. “Just in a slightly different way. The three of you are my real friends. I want to be with you all wherever that is.”
“Well that’s great!” Pinkie pressed herself up against Twilight. “Slightly different love is my favorite kind of love!”
“Yeah,” said Dash, “this is great and all, but seriously. Where the buck were the two of you? Twilight was worried sick!”
“Yeah and who is this kid, anyway?” Twilight looked down at the filly lying next to her. The question simply couldn’t wait any longer.
“Did you already forget about me, Twilight?” The filly wearily lifted her head and asked with a familiar voice. “It ain’t been that long!”
Twilight recognized the voice immediately, but the answer was so bizarre that it took her a moment to accept it.
“Applebloom?!” Twilight ducked down to study what little of the filly’s face she could see. This was one of those explanations that made you more confused, it was like the one incorrect answer to this filly’s identity. “What? But why?!”
“That’s a bit of a story, isn’t it?” Rarity looked over at Pinkie, who stuck her tongue out. “Well, I suppose the short version is that I mistook her for you and ended up heroically rescuing the wrong pony.”
“Mistook me for her?” Twilight looked down at the filly. “How did you manage that? She’s tiny.”
Rarity used her magic to lift the oversized snowcap off Applebloom. Applebloom shrank away, lowering her ears like she was ashamed of something. But lowering her ears was exactly what revealed what was going on.
Applebloom had fully grown ear tufts!
“You?!” Twilight gasped. Everything made sense but at the same time, it made no sense at all. “You ate the fruit? But your sister hates us!”
“I didn’t want to!” Applebloom snapped back like she was being accused of something. “Those ponies from Canterlot tricked me into drinking this stuff that made me real sick! And now I’m turning into a filthy, disgusting vampire! No offense. Y'all are really nice.”
“It’s alright.” Rarity plunked the snowcap back on Applebloom’s head. “You see, Twilight, when you didn’t return, I imagined Sunset was up to no good. To make matters worse, I felt the dark magic of a fledgling being kept underground in a heavily guarded area. When I asked about it, they tried telling me it was ‘none of my business’ and they were wrong about that.”
“It was amazing, Twilight!” Pinkie jumped in. “We got into this huge fight with twenty ponies! One of them was the legendary vampire slayer Octavia. I never heard of her, but I think she's legendary anyway. She had a sunrise sword and there were explosions everywhere and we started a riot! It was so awesome!”
“And that is precisely why we need to leave right now,” said Rarity, “before Sunset Shimmer or, forest forbid, Celestia figures out what happened and comes after us.”
“But hold on, they did this to her on purpose?” Twilight took a careful look at Applebloom’s eyes. They were normal, but clearly, Twilight’s cat-like eyes were making her even more scared than she already was. “But why? Sunset hates vampires. She’d want there to be less!”
“It seems the real reason for this quarantine is to experiment on ponies,” said Rarity. “They want to see what effects this mist is having. One of them must have suspected the mist might accelerate transformations, so they tested it out on this poor child.”
“But why would they choose Applebloom of all ponies?” Twilight asked. “Aren’t there a million delinquents in this town? Why would they do this to the Apples after they’ve been loyal for so long?”
“You honestly think these dorks give a buck about that sort of thing?” Dash asked. “Like I said, they were probably planning on getting rid of the Apples in the first place. Their family knows too much and isn’t useful to them anymore. Applejack should have gotten the buck out of here when she had the chance.”
“But even then, doesn’t she have an older brother too? They could have used him instead of a child.”
Rarity sighed and gestured to Pinkie. Pinkie went over to that makeshift sled and finally lifted the blankets to reveal its contents. Twilight could see there was a large stallion under the blankets, unconscious.
Twilight didn’t know Applejack’s brother very well, couldn’t even tell you his name, but she knew he was a big guy just like this stallion. It didn’t take much to deduce that this was him and he’d met with the same fate as Applebloom.
“Oh buck.” Twilight sighed. “Applejack isn’t going to be happy about this.”
“I can still change back, right?!” Applebloom got worried when Twilight said that.
“Yes,” Rarity promised. “As long as we can get you out of town fast enough, that is. Just get lots of sunlight like I told you and you’ll start going back. It won’t be fun, but you can do it.”
“But- but what if I don’t get out in time?” Applebloom asked. “I heard y'all don’t age, right? Would I be stuck being an eleven-year-old blank flank forever?”
“Not forever, dear,” Rarity said, “but a long time. I’d say at your age, you’d need perhaps sixty years to grow into an adult, but it would happen. Even if that does sound fun to you there are a few other complications, so that’s why you need to leave now, too. Tell your sister to get you out of here as fast as she can.”
“Ah, great!” Applebloom buried her face in the blankets. “Another sixty years till I get my cutie mark?! And- and! Even if I do get out where are we gonna go after that? Equestria is like, the enemy now! They’re just gonna arrest us again even if we escape, aren’t they?”
“Well we aren’t going anywhere after this,” said Rarity. “I’m dropping the two of you off with Applejack and getting out of town. You’re her responsibility, not mine. I don’t suppose either of you might know where Applejack is right now?”
“Oh, this is great!” Dash leaned back and turned her hooves up. “Applejack is with Sunset Shimmer right now.”
“Of course she is.” Rarity sighed and tapped her hoof against her forehead. “Of course she is.”
“I told that idiot not to trust her,” said Dash. “But she didn’t listen. This is the price of faith.”
“Hey! My sister ain’t dumb!” Applebloom protested. “Once I tell her what happened, she’ll know Sunset’s no good!”
“But then what, kid?” Dash asked. “You think Sunset’s just gonna let the two of you walk away?”
“Oh.” Applebloom lowered her head. “Right.”
“Now what am I going to do?” Rarity wondered to herself.
“We don’t need Applejack,” said Dash. “I could throw the kid on my back and fly out of here as fast as I bucking can. I think going to Equestria is a bad idea right now, but I could take her to one of those old expedition forts out in the woods. It’ll be safer there than in Equestria. The kid and her brother can change back then do whatever it is daywalkers do.”
“It’ll be safe once you get there, anyway.” Rarity motioned at Applebloom, still shivering under the covers. “You know how fragile ponies get when they eat fruit for the first time, especially foals. Applebloom nearly fainted just walking over here, I’m not sure she’ll survive flying a hundred miles an hour for half a day. Chain teleportation won't be much safer either.”
“Then what?” Dash asked. “You saying we gotta get her out of here fast without actually going fast? You’re speaking a language I don’t understand, boss.”
This was an interesting puzzle. But that was something Twilight was good at.
“What if we move that monster?” Twilight suggested. Rarity gave her a curious look. “Oh! Maybe you didn’t hear yet, but that invisible fog is coming from some monster. I don’t know how long it takes for the fog to dissipate, but if we move the monster away it’s gotta die down at least a little, right? And we can move the monster as fast as we want.”
“I like that idea,” said Dash. “Fluttershy’s way faster than me, too. We gotta tell her to grab that thing and book it. She flies west by southwest, we go east by southeast fast as we can without hurting the kid. That’s the best chance, in my opinion.”
“Now see!” Rarity winked at Twilight. “This is one of the reasons I love you so much, Twilight. The only problem now is getting to Fluttershy.”
“Well she’s going to be near the monster.” Dash looked off to the west, where Twilight could still feel the presence of the monster. “She keeps insisting on calling that thing a ‘mist kitty’, by the way, so I guess that’s what it’s called.”
“Finding her is easy, yes,” said Rarity. “The problem is dealing with this ‘mist kitty’ and Sunset Shimmer if it comes to that. We need to find someplace safe to hide these two, at least. Maybe the vault would be the best option. I suppose Sunset doesn’t know what we do just yet. Slipping a message to Fluttershy might be enough.”
“But what about my sister?” Applebloom asked.
“What about her?” Rarity asked back. “Your family, including Applejack, has repeatedly assaulted me over the years. You should be thankful I’m even saving two-thirds of you. But I'm not sure I want to risk fighting that unicorn for her.”
“Well-“ Applebloom hung her head in shame. “Well I’m real sorry for what they did, then. You’re a lot nicer than everypony says. But are you a hundred percent sure you won’t save her too? Please?”
Applebloom tried making puppy dog eyes, but they were all red and swollen at this point. Rarity sat, stoically considering if this was cute enough to change her mind. Maybe it was just enough for Twilight.
“Maybe I should tell you,” said Twilight. “Applejack saved my life. I guess I kind of snapped back there and teleported into the forest. And she gave me a lot of blood after I got injured. She wanted to accept your offer and was kind of on our side for a while, till Sunset showed up that is.”
“You want to help Applejack now?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You do realize that Sunset Shimmer is a strong as they say, it’s not just propaganda. Fluttershy told me as much. If we start a fight with her one of us could get seriously hurt.”
“We can take her.” Dash hit her chest. “You and me are already overkill. But if Fluttershy’s gonna be there, Sunset doesn’t even have a chance. I say we do it. I've been wanting to beat the crap out of that little dweeb since the second I saw her anyway!”
“You too?” Rarity was seriously starting to think about it now. “You really do start to like anypony you get into a fight with.”
Dash blew her mane up.
“Please,” Applebloom begged. “I really am sorry about all the stuff my ancestors did. I'll throw out all those books that say mean things about you and I'll tell my kids that you're a nice pony! I’ll do anything if you help her! I-I’ll even let you turn me into a vampire when I’m old enough and be your vampire slave or however that works. Please. Just help my sister!”
It was that very last part that finally got to Rarity. For a moment, she looked so sad, but then closed her eyes to get rid of whatever sorrowful tears she had and smiled.
“Maybe I have a soft spot for little sisters.” Rarity gave Applebloom a small pat on the head and smiled. “Alright. We’ll help Applejack if we can.”
“Really?” Applebloom looked as though she’d briefly recovered from her illness. “Thank you so much, miss Rarity! I take back every bad thing my family ever said about you! They were all wrong!”
“Yeah!” Dash smacked her hooves together. “Let’s bucking do this, then! That little dweeb doesn’t know who she just bucked with!”
“You know how much I love your enthusiasm, Dashie.” Rarity smiled over at her, “But we need to go about this carefully. We don’t want to underestimate Sunset or the monster. We need to prepare first. The two of you go get our carts and bring them back here. Twilight, you go find all of Fluttershy’s blankets. I’ll show you how to enchant them to keep them warm.”
And every pony in the Blue Diamonds gave their own ‘yes boss’ before going about her task.
After only a little bit, Rarity and Twilight finished gathering all the blankets in the house, which was a surprisingly high number.
“Twilight.” Rarity put her hoof up against Twilight’s forehead like she was checking for a fever. “How confident are you in your ability to use dark magic now?”
“Well I managed to teleport earlier,” said Twilight. “So pretty confident!”
“Really!” Rarity’s face light up. She kissed Twilight on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you! You really are a talented little filly, aren’t you?”
“Heh! Thanks.” Twilight found herself blushing heavier than, well since the last time she was with Rarity. “I just wish it could have been under better circumstances.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll go on to do lots more impressive things. For now, let’s work out what we need to do if we encounter certain problems.”
“Do you think we can beat her?” Twilight asked. “I get that most of what I heard was probably just propaganda, but-“
“I have little doubt that all of us together will be enough. The only problem is beating her without any casualties. Though it is possible we might not even have to fight Sunset at all, if I can get Applejack to follow me.” Rarity contemplated the situation. “But I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t given her any reason to trust me and we can hardly bring Applebloom into what might turn into a fight.”
Rarity thought about it for another second before turning to Applebloom.
“I don’t suppose your sister was smart enough to think up any code words for you?” Rarity asked. “Or maybe you have some secret you can share with me so Applejack knows you’re really with me?”
“No. Or-“ Applebloom looked like she’d just remembered something risky. “Well, there is one thing. It’s something I’m absolutely never supposed to tell anypony outside of our family. But since it’s life or death…”
_______________________________________________
The things they’d need to make the trip and some of their most valuable possessions were already loaded up onto a small train of carts. The others, Twilight learned, had spent that first day loading these carts up in anticipation of needing to make a quick getaway.
They carted Applebloom, and the rest of their things, to the vault where that collection of books and movies were stored. This was undoubtedly the safest place for them to be right now. With the enchanted blankets, they would survive until the initial poison wore off, at least.
They left Applebloom with written instructions on how to open the vault from the inside, if it came to that, and the cart with all the provisions. They would be fine even if, for some unforeseen reason, Twilight and the rest couldn’t come back for her.
Then it was time to go find Fluttershy.
Pinkie, with her keen senses, stayed out in front, was able to lead them through the forest without getting close to any monsters.
As they got closer, things seemed far calmer than they’d been before. Almost no monsters were around, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Evidence of a fight became increasingly apparent. Trees had been cut down, craters laid into the ground and they even passed the corpses of a few dread stalkers and timberwolves on the way.
And finally, they came to the center of the dark magic, but there was no wall of mist now.
Fluttershy had it, the mist kitty. She had her forelegs and wings wrapped tightly around it so only a small amount of the purple mist leaked out. But Twilight could feel that bottomless source of dark magic coming right from where Fluttershy was, could feel the satisfaction from being close to it.
Sunset Shimmer and Applejack weren’t far off. Applejack had overexerted herself in whatever played out here, didn’t look much better off than her sister. Still, she pushed herself hard to remain standing.
Despite that, the two of them were largely uninjured. They were both wearing enchanted gold-colored armor, but only a light amount, and gas masks. Sunset had a thunder lance levitating on either side of herself, both crackling with lightning.
She and Applejack were loaded up with holy water. Applejack had two tanks on her back, at least two gallons each and Sunset had that plus a belt and saddlebag filled with vials of the stuff. In the forest, you’d need that stuff to cast a lot of big spells, but this was the holiest water Twilight had ever seen anypony carrying.
Twilight could smell the light magic emanating from Sunset, it burned her nose like acid even from here. Just touching Sunset would burn any of them. But then dark magic was extremely poisonous to Sunset in turn and there was a lot more of that around.
“I can be persuaded to let you take it without a fight.” Sunset approached Fluttershy like she was a cornered animal. “But I want something in return.”
“I suppose it don’t matter either way now,” said Applejack. “Important thing is getting this monster far away. You’re sure she’s going to keep her word, though?”
“Yes.” Sunset nodded.
“Hm.” Fluttershy looked down at her mist kitty, considering her circumstance. “I suppose that’s fair. What do you want?”
“First of all, I want to see that purple vampire again,” said Sunset. “Celestia thinks there’s something odd about her. Two, I want you to not tell me about the potato chips. Three-“
“Ah! Well, I can help you with the first one!” Rarity came out of the woods, Rainbow Dash close behind while Twilight and Pinkie hid in the woods. “Twilight’s a dear friend of mine, you know. Would you like me to take you to her now?”
Sunset slowly moved her eyes across the forest, looking for the rest but unable to see them through the darkness and fog. She knew Twilight was injured but wasn't sure how much. As far as she knew, Twilight may very well not even be here.
It was hard to tell which of the three disapproved of Rarity’s presence the most. Applejack looked so exhausted and she’d just been told she had to run ten miles, Sunset held back her seething anger and Fluttershy looked deeply disappointed.
“Why did you come out here, Rarity?” Fluttershy sighed. “Rainbow Dash, I told you I would handle this alone!”
“We already settled this matter,” said Sunset. “You can leave.”
“Not entirely,” said Rarity. “There’s something urgent I need to discuss with Applejack.”
Sunset gritted her teeth just then. Twilight was almost certain she knew exactly what this was about.
“What do you want?” Applejack took a step forward.
“Don’t.” Sunset stopped Applejack. “They’re clearly up to something. Let’s get out of here. We don’t have the same… negotiating power now that there’s so many of them around.”
Applejack nodded, more relieved at not having to do more work than anything else. Then the two of them turned and started trotting away.
“Little Applebloom is with us, Applejack!” Rarity called after her.
“What?!” Applejack turned around, suddenly angry, suddenly forgetting how exhausted she was. “If you did something to her-!”
Rarity beckoned to Applejack with a cocky smile, as if taunting her to charge over and punch her. It probably was the fastest way to get her away from Sunset and it almost worked.
“You!” Applejack moved to charge forward, but Sunset stopped her before she got anywhere.
“I said don’t!” Sunset snapped at Applejack, even angrier than Applejack herself was at thinking her sister was in danger. “It’s a trap. They’re lying.”
“Applebloom told me something,” said Rarity. “The secret ingredient in your apple pie is that you put a single pear in with all the apples, right? Something about your mother. I assure you, she’s with me.”
“What?” Applejack’s anger broke into stunned amazement. “But that’s- she wouldn’t have told you that unless…”
Sunset was looking particularly tense like she was trying hard to calculate a way out of this situation.
“Alright, fine.” Sunset suddenly calmed back down. “Maybe they’re holding her hostage. I’ll go with you to where your sister is to make sure she's okay.”
“You will?” Applejack let out the most unwarranted sigh of relief in history.
“Yeah.” Sunset kept her eyes deadest on Rarity. "I owe you."
And now it was Rarity’s turn again. Bringing Sunset near Applebloom was a terrible idea. After a brief hesitation, Rarity decided to cut to the chase.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to let Sunset know where she is.” Rarity turned back to Applejack. “Sunset Shimmer, or her lackeys at least, forced her to eat the fruit of eternal youth. She held her captive to study her. Applebloom’s presently transforming into a vampire.”
“Sunset!” Fluttershy scolded the unicorn. “Is that true? Did you seriously force a child to transform like this? You know what happens if you do this!”
Without waiting for a reply, Fluttershy closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to see if she could feel Applebloom.
“Of course not. This is all slander! It wouldn't make any sense for me to do that, would it?” Sunset grabbed Applejack and started dragging her off. “We don’t need to take this. Let’s get out of here before we get hurt!”
“But my sister!” Applejack pulled back against Sunset but hardly had much strength to resist. “They got her either way!”
“It is true!” Fluttershy opened her eyes back up, having sensed Applebloom’s presence. “Sunset! How could you? You were already in a lot of trouble, but this is even worse! This is absolutely a violation of our truce! When Celestia hears about this-“
“You think I came up with this stupid idea?!” Sunset snapped back at Fluttershy. “I had everything under control! I told Celestia this was a bad idea, that it was going too far. I said this would only risk getting you to turn on me. But she told me I don’t understand anything! She made me do it! She always ruins everything and then acts like I’m the idiot!”
Fluttershy was honestly taken aback by that revelation and her anger slowly turned to sadness.
“You admit it?” Applejack’s look wasn’t one of shock or disgust, but horror. “But- you? Why? My family’s fought for Celestia for-“
“Shut up!” Sunset shouted at her. “I didn’t have a choice. Celestia made me do it.”
“Even if she told you to, you didn’t have to listen to her.” Fluttershy shook her head. “You know Celestia isn’t well right now.”
“Oh! You think I have a choice?! You think I get to decide what orders I follow?! You think you can just say no princess bucking Celestia?!”
“I know Celestia hurt you too, and I’m sorry for that. I feel like I failed you.” Fluttershy bowed her head. “But you don’t have to let her do this to you anymore. This job is taking a toll on you. If you want, you can come with me to the forest. I’ll-“
“No!” Sunset stomped her hoof. “The reason I stay is because I hate Celestia. I can’t possibly imagine why you’d want Celestia to be a trillion times more powerful. There’d never be any escaping her then. I’m going to keep a lid on that nightmare as long as I possibly can!”
Fluttershy looked at Sunset with a sad little frown for a long time before speaking again.
“Then what are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked.
Sunset needed a moment to figure that out. She looked from Fluttershy to Rarity, then through the rest of them. She looked like she was doing some complex mathematics, trying to figure out some way out of this.
Maybe Twilight wasn’t entirely free of all that propaganda she’d been force-fed but seeing Sunset unsure if she could win a fight seemed wrong.
“Alright, here’s my offer,” said Sunset. “I’ll let you take that stupid kid and the monster and leave without trying to stop you. I never wanted any part in that anyway. Celestia will call me an utter failure for losing her, but she always does that no matter what. I can live with that. We all just walk away and nopony gets hurt.”
“That sounds fair!" Rarity reached her hoof out to Applejack in offer. "Just send Applejack over here and I promise I'll let you walk away from this unharmed."
Applejack realized her life was in danger at this point and didn’t wait for Sunset’s response. She tried moving over to the Blue Diamonds straight away, but Sunset tripped her with a spear. Drained beyond her limit, Applejack fell to the ground and struggled to get up. Sunset needed only to put a hoof on her back to keep her down.
“No.” Sunset leaned on to Applejack. “I can’t fail completely! Somepony has to take the fall for this and it’s not going to be me.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Applejack cried. “How could you do this to us? My family fought for Equestria for generations! You’re supposed to be a hero!”
“I am a hero,” said Sunset. “This is the sort of thing heroes do in real life. Heroes sacrifice to protect the system. I need to keep order! I need to keep civilization from collapsing! All of this is going to cause mass panic but think of how perfect this all is. You had all those books about the forest. Reading about the forest drove you insane and you were the one who caused all of this. A perfect cautionary tale; a perfectly open and shut case.”
Applejack was too stunned by all of this to even respond.
“You see?” Sunset turned back to the others as if she honestly expected them to be impressed. “All the pieces would have fallen perfectly into place. My plan would have worked! You wouldn’t have come here and ruined everything if we didn’t mess with that stupid kid. But Celestia went too far and she’s going to blame me!"
“Oh please,” said Rarity. “You aren’t sacrificing anything for ‘the system’, you’re just forcing other ponies to sacrifice for you.”
“I don’t care what you think. I only care about what you’re going to do.” Sunset looked at Rarity, then Fluttershy. “I don’t want to hurt either of you for the same reason I didn’t want to hurt Applewhatever. I don’t know who I’ll be making angry. But nopony cares about some stupid farmer. It’s not worth it to you.”
“Yeah?” Dash started stalking around Sunset, Sunset watching her carefully. “Well, I’d say you don’t know who you’re making angry either way.”
“One more step and I attack,” Sunset threatened.
“You know something, Applejack?” Rarity took a step back, closer to Twilight, and got ready to cast a spell. Meanwhile, she signaled for Dash to start stalking forward, past the ‘line’. “I hate this unicorn a lot more than I hate you.”
“Then we’ll do this the hard way.” Sunset pressed the tip of her spear down against the back of Applejack’s neck. “I’ll kill her right here unless the rest of you leave! I’m only intending to throw her in jail forever, so-”
This was one of the circumstances Rarity and Twilight had prepared for. Rarity jumped back and Twilight jumped forward, out from her hiding place. Twilight grabbed onto Rarity’s back and Rarity teleported the two forward.
In an instant, they were an inch from Applejack and Sunset. Twilight ducked down and grabbed Applejack while Rarity shot a burst of magical fire at Sunset’s face. Sunset blocked the fire with her magic, giving Twilight a brief second to act.
Twilight grabbed Applejack and now it was her turn to teleport. She moved the two of them back to where Rainbow Dash was.
Touching Applejack burned Twilight’s hooves. She had to take them off immediately, but she did get Applejack away.
Sunset looked around. There was no way she could see them through the darkness and mist, but she could still sense the light magic radiating out from Applejack’s holy water.
“We gotta get rid of this stuff.” Dash slashed one of the plastic tanks open with her claw blade. The water poured out, but the repugnant odor caused both her and Twilight to gag. “She can track you through it. Can’t get away until-”
Sunset teleported to where they were a second later.
Now her spears were crackling with lightning. She moved to thrust one at Applejack and one and Rainbow Dash.
Twilight wasn’t supposed to fight, she was just supposed to run. So she grabbed Applejack and teleported back to where Rarity was. Dash, meanwhile, clashed her claw blade against the spear.
“Owe owe owe!” Twilight blew on her burning hooves.
Rarity wasted no time ripping the remaining tank off Applejack and throwing it far into the distance with her magic. Meanwhile, Applejack began throwing off pieces of her enchanted armor as fast as she could.
Twilight wanted to help her get it off but still couldn’t touch it without burning herself.
Dash was swarming Sunset as best she could, swiping furiously at the unicorn at an unsustainable pace, making it hard for Sunset to concentrate enough to teleport or to counterattack. But that wouldn’t last long, so Twilight braced herself to teleport again.
Applejack managed to get the last of her armor of just in time. A flash of light warned Twilight that Sunset was teleporting back, so Twilight teleported herself, this time off towards where Pinkie was.
When Sunset got there, she looked around furiously to see that Twilight and Applejack were already gone.
Now they were safe! There was no easy way for Sunset to find them in this darkness, certainly not while being attacked by two other ponies.
Instead, Sunset thrust her spears at Rarity. Rarity easily created a shield in time, but when the spear collided with the barrier several blasts of lightning shot along the side of it, impacting Rarity hard enough to force the barrier back.
Sunset repeatedly hit the shield over and over while Rarity just kept blocking, making it look like Rarity was on the defensive.
But a moment later, Dash came in from the side and, with her claw blades, grabbed the pole of one of Sunset’s spears just as she was pulling back to strike with it. After a brief struggle, Dash managed to pry it away and throw it far into the distance.
Sunset swung her spear at Dash, but suddenly Dash went on the defensive, focusing on dodging and blocking her flurry of attacks. But she didn’t have much time to attack before Rarity suddenly switched over to attack.
Rarity cast a spell that animated the nearby plants. Several vines whipped forward and grabbed onto Sunset’s water tanks and saddlebags. Meanwhile, a few nearby trees bent towards her, swinging their branches like claws.
Sunset easily dispatched of it all, burning the vines with one spell and splintering the branches with a lighting blast with another. She swung around to swat at Rarity, only for Rarity to put her shield back up and Dash to jump forward and slash at one of her water tanks, destroying it.
The two of them had a good rhythm to their movements. When Sunset was focused on Dash, Dash would go on the defensive while Rarity came at Sunset from behind. And if Sunset switched her focus to Rarity, suddenly Rarity would start blocking and Dash would attack.
Pinkie watched them for just another moment.
“Okay,” Pinkie whispered to Twilight and Applejack. “Time for us to skedaddle.”
Twilight felt a little bad about retreating, but she very seriously doubted she could keep up with those three in a fight. Pinkie would be able to use her keen senses to guide them through the woods without running into another monster.
“Are you sure they don’t need our-“ Applejack tried to stand up, but lost her footing, almost fainting right there.
“Applejack, you can barely stand,” Twilight whispered at her harshly. “You’re way too stubborn.”
Twilight looked Applejack over quickly and she did have a bruise that was bleeding. It wasn’t bleeding a lot, but Applejack absolutely couldn’t lose any more blood right now. Twilight quickly closed the wound with a spell.
“A papercut could probably kill you at this point,” Twilight warned.
“Maybe you’re right,” Applejack relented. “Let’s go.”
Pinkie scoped out the forest with her superior sight before pointing in a direction. Twilight and Applejack started following, but they didn’t get very far.
Sunset was more desperate to keep them trapped than Twilight would have imagined. The unicorn cast a spell, creating one massive shield around the entire surrounding area. And she kept fighting while channeling it too!
It was impressive but would have been more so if it weren’t so reckless. This was going to take up a lot of her concentration and burn through her holy water fast. If Dash and Rarity got rid of her remaining bottles she’d be done for.
But it did work. Twilight couldn’t teleport through this stuff. It blocked the flow of dark magic, so the winds wouldn’t blow through. There was still way more dark magic than light inside the barrier, but it did mean there was no easy way out.
“Nevermind,” Pinkie whispered. “Let’s uh, hiding spot instead. No worries, I’m so good at hiding even I can’t find myself sometimes.”
Pinkie found the best spot in an instant. She took them to a shallow ditch Twilight never would have found on her own because it was surrounded and partially covered by shrubbery. Even if Sunset came over here by accident, there was a low chance of finding them
To be extra sure, Twilight created a shield around the three of them. With this much dark magic around, she felt confident she could block at least a few attacks, certainly anything that ricocheted in this direction.
For now, there wasn’t much the three of them could do but watch.
The battle was slowly turning against Sunset. One of her pouches of holy water and one of her spears were gone. Rarity and Dash were targeting the remaining holy water, Sunset’s source of magic, but Sunset was guarding them more carefully now.
Sunset had adapted to their strategy and was relying much more on teleportation, trying to strike them from odd angles or attack both at once with her spells. She would often slam her remaining spear into the ground to send lightning coursing through the ground, trying to hit both of them at once.
As impressive as it was seeing Sunset hold off two skilled fighters at once, it seemed like only a matter of time before Sunset would get exhausted from fighting this hard. It was very likely she would lose, but the question was whether or not Sunset would seriously hurt one of them beforehand.
But still, there was Fluttershy, whom Twilight expected was by far the strongest one here, looming over all of them. Yet this whole Fluttershy had merely been observing all of this with a small frown.
The only reason Twilight could think of for that was that holding on to the mist kitty was harder than it looked.
“What are you even trying to do, Sunset?” Fluttershy sighed. “There’s no way you’re going to beat them and escape.”
Sunset took a brief moment to stop and consider that, before switching her target. It was a move that took Twilight off guard, Sunset locked her sights onto Fluttershy!
Sunset tried teleporting away from Rainbow Dash and towards Fluttershy. She rematerialized that spear and thrust forward at the misty kitty. That must have been her real target. Fluttershy was ultimately invincible so maybe Sunset was planning on saving face by killing the mist kitty before teleporting away.
Fluttershy went up on her hind legs and kicked off the ground, sending herself backward several meters. Sunset relentlessly pursued her, but even with just her hind legs, Fluttershy was much too fast for her.
“If you get me to drop her, you might die,” Fluttershy warned.
But Sunset was clearly beyond that point. She went all out, swarming Fluttershy as hard as she could with her remaining spear and spells. Lightning and fire ripped through the nearby trees, splintering them. Blasts of light blinded Twilight and forced her to retreated into the ditch while bits of wood and stone pelted her shield. It was too much for Dash and Rarity to get near her right now.
It was incredible to watch, but Sunset was burning through way too much light magic trying to end this as fast as possible.
Maybe Fluttershy was waiting for Sunset to wear herself down or maybe she legitimately didn’t think she could get through this, but she remained on her hind legs, darting circles around Sunset, doing nothing but dodge her attacks.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy called out to her. “I just need one second!"
Rarity teleported near Sunset and tried creating a shield around the unicorn. Such a strategy rarely caused more than a brief distraction against another unicorn, but that was all Rarity was going for. Sunset pounded against the barrier a few times with her empowered spear, shattering it in seconds but by then Fluttershy was gone.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy kicked off the ground much harder this time and vanished in a blur. Twilight looked around but couldn’t tell where Fluttershy went off to. There was a short delay between a pony appearing somewhere and the magic from them becoming sensible, but Twilight was starting to feel a presence coming from…
“Hello,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Gah!” Twilight fell over. Fluttershy somehow got right behind her, sitting down and holding tight to the mist kitty. “How do you do that?!”
“I’ve been practicing for a thousand years. That’s a long time,” Fluttershy assured her. “Twilight, I could end this quickly if I didn't have to hold on to the mist kitty. But putting it down is dangerous."
“Um. Okay?” Twilight looked down at the mist leaking out from the tiny gap in Fluttershy’s wing. “Did you want me to try teleporting the mist kitty somewhere?”
This close, it was apparent that not even Fluttershy was immune to this thing’s mist at close range. Clumps of fur and feathers were falling off her and Twilight could hear a slight sizzling sound as though it was burning her the whole time.
But Fluttershy’s absolute immortality healed her faster than she could get hurt. If she was in any pain at all she was able to shrug it off completely.
But that hardly meant Twilight would be able to do the same if Fluttershy let go.
“No, that would be dangerous,” said Fluttershy. “Can you create a shield around it instead?”
“I’m not sure,” said Twilight. “Can I? That little thing looks intense!”
“It is, but it’s also emitting lots of dark magic,” said Fluttershy. “You can use that to power the shield you’re containing it with. You’re good at wielding high amounts of dark magic and it’d only be for a short time. I’ll come right back if it breaks and I’m fast.”
Twilight glanced back at the fighting. Rarity and Dash were holding Sunset off again, but Sunset was firing off increasingly large blasts of magic. This felt like the only way Twilight could help.
“I’ll try,” said Twilight.
“Good. Pinkie, take Applejack a few meters away for a second,” said Fluttershy.
Pinkie grabbed Applejack and fluttered off into some nearby bushes.
Twilight created a shield around Fluttershy and the monster both. Slowly, giving Twilight plenty of time to react, Fluttershy opened her wings.
As soon as the misty kitty was exposed to air, Twilight felt an incredible force slam against the barrier. Suddenly it felt like she trying to hold up a collapsing skyscraper with her shield. Twilight tried to overkill the barrier, drawing dark magic into herself to put more force into the barrier than she should.
The inside of the barrier was completely opaque with purple smoke, while the outside of it cracked and shined brightly at the same time, threatening to tear itself apart from both overcharging and the force inside. This wasn’t going to last more than a second or two!
But just as it began to crack, Twilight felt the winds from the monster inside blowing through. That’s what she needed to use if she was going to have any chance of doing this at all and now that she could feel it that would be easier.
Twilight stopped drawing dark magic into herself, this new source would be way too intense to even attempt to do that with. Instead, she swirled the magic around in circles around the barrier, using the monster's own magic to power its cage.
Just like Rarity said, it was much easier to control if you didn’t try too hard. Twilight just let it flow through her, barely touching it, allowing it to power an increasingly strong barrier.
The barrier trembled but held steady. Now for the hard part.
Twilight let go of the barrier and tried to create a second, smaller one around just the mist kitty. Twilight gagged on the small amount of mist that leaked out, but Fluttershy was quick to blow it all away from Twilight with her wings.
There was another brief moment where the new barrier felt like it was being rammed with an incredible force, but the initial impact didn’t last long. The new shield was stable but trembling. Twilight wasn’t sure how long she could keep this up for. If Fluttershy could hold this thing with her bare hooves…
This did finally give Twilight a chance to look at this horrible beast. It did look like a cat, though a big one rather than a kitten. It was only half the size of a pony, a sleek cat-like creature with black fur and two long, flowing tails. There was something like cracks in its skin, thick carapace-like grooves near its shoulders, hips and behind its ears through with that mist was slowly emitted.
It looked up at Twilight with the most innocent eyes in the world, but Twilight wasn’t fooled. At least it wasn’t making any attempt to escape. It likely was completely oblivious to all the destruction it caused, idly and innocently pawing at the barrier Twilight was keeping it in.
Once it was securely contained, Fluttershy flew off so fast Twilight barely even saw her, merely felt a blast of air.
Fluttershy reached Sunset almost instantly and landed a blow like a train crash that threw Sunset forward several feet. Twilight saw a wave of crackling dark magic around Fluttershy's foreleg just before it hit and saw her leg twist out of shape just afterward. Fluttershy had hit Sunset so hard that she'd broken her leg! And yet it returned to its original shape a moment later.
Sunset's armor was completely destroyed by that one blow, shattering into pieces and left Sunset bleeding on the ground.
Sunset only managed to get away by teleporting a few meters away. She landed on the ground with a thud and tried to get up, but clearly, that blow had broken one of her legs.
She had only a fraction of a second to recover, to realize that Fluttershy was no longer encumbered.
“Where is it?!” Sunset looked around desperately for the mist, but couldn’t find it, not that Fluttershy gave her much of a chance.
Already Fluttershy darted back to where she was. This time Sunset tried to block her with a shield, but Fluttershy pounded on the barrier so hard that Sunset struggled hard to keep it up, burned her magic away fast.
Instead, she had to teleport away yet again. Fluttershy followed almost just as fast, leaving Sunset only with enough time to teleport somewhere new.
Sunset could barely even teleport fast enough to keep away from Fluttershy. Every time the unicorn reappeared Fluttershy darted to her position straight away. Maybe if Sunset had more luck, she would have teleported right next to Twilight by mistake but instead, it was Rarity she accidentally teleported next to.
Rarity wasted no time casting a spell on Sunset. Twilight recognized the one too. A circle of purple light wrapped itself around Sunset’s leg. This was a dimensional anchor, which would prevent her from teleporting anymore.
“I suppose that’s the end,” Rarity taunted.
“No! I still have my highest ace.” Sunset grabbed the pendant around her neck. “Celestia is beyond all of us. She could destroy all of you in an instant. I can call her!”
“What?” Rarity smiled confidently enough. “And prove you are a failure who needs her mommy?”
That did make Sunset hesitate for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure.
“I’m not going to be goaded that easily.” Sunset closed her eyes and held the pendant close to her chest. “Celestia.”
And from that pendant Twilight felt a new force, the same slimy, burning sensation she got from being outside during the day. It was as if the sun itself was inside the pendant.
Fluttershy glanced in Twilight’s direction, seemingly more concerned about Twilight dropping the barrier than a literal god showing up.
Twilight had no idea how Fluttershy and Rarity could look so calm about this. If Celestia was going to show up or cast a spell or anything really, it’d all be over for them. Just opening a communication link to Celestia was enough to burn Twilight! Her mere presence could mean the death of all of them.
Sunset held the pendant, telepathically communicating with Celestia, her eyes closed as if in prayer.
But even though her god was listening, still no one came.
“What?!” Sunset’s eyes opened in terror. She held the amulet up and shouted at it. “What do you mean?! You’re- you’re-!”
Sunset held the pendant trembling for a moment, then that sickening magic that radiated out from it vanished.
“You think I’m a failure?!” Sunset’s fear flared into a burst of anger. She tore the pendant off her neck and threw it hard against a nearby tree.
Rarity laughed.
“Oh my, dear,” said Rarity. “I was never worried about that pendant in the first place. To Celestia, you’re just another pony who will be dead in sixty years. You think she’s going to waste her remaining magic saving you?”
For a second there, Twilight seriously expected Sunset to fall to the ground and weep.
“Please.” Fluttershy held her hoof out to Sunset. “Let me help you. You can-“
“Shut up!” Sunset snapped, turning all her anger towards Fluttershy. “I don’t need your condescending-!”
Sunset put all her remaining strength into firing a single laser at Fluttershy. The beam was immense! The light was so bright that it blinded Twilight. She could feel the magic from it sting just a little from here.
All of this was really throwing off Twilight's concentration. She couldn't hold this thing any longer!
But Fluttershy took a direct hit from it too. Something like that would certainly vaporize a normal pony, but Twilight knew Fluttershy wasn’t a normal pony. If what she’d heard was true, it didn’t even matter if Fluttershy did get vaporized.
It was hard to tell just how badly Fluttershy was hurt by that. She wasn’t vaporized, but she was smoking when it was done. Fluttershy fell to the ground, but her absolute immortality was so intense she was able to get back up moments later. Even something like that would only buy Sunset a few seconds against Fluttershy.
But Twilight didn't even have a few seconds left. The barrier around the mist kitty was cracking and about to break! Twilight glanced back at Applejack, unsure how close she could get to it without dying. Her only choice at this point was to try teleporting again!
Twilight let go of the mist kitty and jumped back to Pinkie and Applejack huddled together. The wave of dark magic that burst out as the shield shattered was so intense that teleporting was easy. Twilight flew off out of control, slamming against Sunset's barrier in a sense and the three of them fell to the ground. But they were a good distance from the monster.
Meanwhile, Sunset lifted all her remaining vials of holy water into the air and shattered all of them at once, absorbing all the light magic within in preparation to cast some massive spell. Though Twilight could hardly imagine what Sunset could even hope to do against Fluttershy at this point.
To Twilight’s surprise, it was just another, even bigger laser. It didn’t even look aimed at Fluttershy this time. Instead, she skimmed it down towards the ground and began turning in a circle, sweeping the laser across the ground as she went.
Was she just hoping to hit whoever she could?
The flaw with this attack became immediately apparent when Pinkie grabbed Applejack and Twilight and flapped her wings hard to get some distance into the air. Pinkie only managed to stay in the air for a few seconds, still not being a strong flyer, but that was all she needed. When Pinkie fell back to the ground, the laser had long since swept under them.
For a moment, Twilight thought that was a pretty stupid choice for a final attack, seeing as nearly everypony she was fighting could fly or teleport. But then she realized that the laser wasn’t the part meant to kill her.
The forest lurched and cracked all around her. Sunset had just cut down every tree in a huge radius and now they were all about to fall. And those were big trees.
“Don’t worry, Twilight!” Pinkie looked up at the trees, eyes, and ears deeply intent, taking it all in. “This is my thing!”
Pinkie watched the trees for the brief second before they picked up momentum before making her decision.
“Right here!” Pinkie darted over a few feet and lied down on the ground. “Here!”
There wasn’t any time to think. The trees were coming down fast now, so Twilight and Applejack ran after Pinkie, stopping right behind her.
Twilight looked up and her confidence in Pinkie was shaken. She could see at least three trees about to hit them! She got ready to try and blast the nearest one, but Pinkie grabbed her.
“Trust me!”
There wasn’t enough time to think over the decision anymore. Twilight didn’t get the chance to fire off her spell but that turned out to be a good thing.
The three trees that were about to hit them all crashed into one another, their branches hooking together to ultimately stop them from falling. The branches came close but didn’t touch the ponies at all, instead creating something of a makeshift hut above them.
Meanwhile, dozens or perhaps hundreds of trees slammed into the ground everywhere else, creating a terrible crash. A particularly large one slammed into the ground nearby, where Twilight had just been standing. They could have been killed by that!
As soon as the chaos died down, Pinkie ran off to check on the others and Twilight followed.
Pinkie noticed where everypony was first and let out a sigh of relief, but Twilight needed longer.
Sunset and Fluttershy were easy to find, being in the middle of it. It was apparent Fluttershy had stopped the laser by smashing Sunset with a blow that left the unicorn bleeding on the ground, Fluttershy sitting not far off. Not only that, but at some point, Fluttershy had flown back and gotten the mist kitty before it could expel much more of its gas because she was holding it once again.
A moment later, Dash came limping out of the woods behind Sunset. She’d been battered by the falling trees but was still standing.
Then, finally, Rarity reappeared, teleporting in close to Sunset. And Rarity looked completely unscathed.
Sunset looked up at Rarity with a mixture of fear and loathing. She looked over the rest of them, seeing she hadn’t managed to take anypony out with her last attack.
“Seriously?!” Sunset tried to cast another spell, but her horn sparked. She was out of magic and wouldn’t be able to cast any more spells until she was out of the woods.
“Ha! Looks like I win.” Rarity flicked her mane and took a step closer. “So are you-“
Sunset grabbed a rock and threw it at Rarity. She didn’t manage to throw it very hard, the wounds on her foreleg causing her to break halfway through. Rarity easily caught the rock with her magic besides.
“Very persistent.” Rarity tossed the rock aside and cast another spell.
Once again, the vines and roots of the forest snaked to life, wrapping themselves around Sunset. This time, Sunset was out of magic and hadn’t the strength to fight back. In a few seconds, she was buried under plant matter, only her head sticking out, unable to even make the mass budge.
But even then, she wasn’t ready to surrender. She scowled at Rarity one last time and moved on to her final measure.
Sunset closed her eyes and began to move like she was casting a spell. Twilight realized what she was doing right away, she was trying to teleport away using dark magic!
But, because she was a daywalker, drawing the dark magic in didn’t go smoothly. Her body started to twitch, already in the middle of a seizure.
“Wait!” Fluttershy darted towards Sunset.
But she was already too late. Just as Sunset lost control of her body and began to spasm, she vanished from sight.
By feeling the path cut through the winds of dark magic, Twilight could tell she went a great distance, probably several miles, but-
“It looks like she teleported in the wrong direction.” Twilight looked deeper into the woods. "I can relate."
“Yes.” Rarity looked off with her. “She’s deep inside the forest now.”
“Ha!” Dash laughed. “What an idiot.”
“I’m kind of impressed she was able to do it at all,” said Twilight. "Casting a spell with magic you can't feel while you're having a seizure can't be easy."
“Well she’s dead now,” Dash concluded. “Out of magic, injured, having a massive seizure, if not a brain hemorrhage, in the middle of all this. We ain’t seeing her again.”
“Not necessarily,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve seen ponies get out of worse. You’ve gotten out of worse. But I think we at least have a few hours to get out of here. Celestia’s probably going to send more ponies out soon.”
“Oo!” Pinkie came out of her hiding spot. “So you think she’ll show up again later and we’ll fight her a second time and- and then we become friends!”
“Friends?” Dash’s eye twitched with disdain for the idea. “We’re never gonna be friends with her and not just because she’s dead.”
“I kinda got the impression she just needed some therapy," said Pinkie, "maybe a relaxing hobby, and she’d chill out and be our friend!”
“She might have a point,” Rarity teased. “You used to be almost as high strung as that unicorn. And it does seem you’re destined to become friends with anypony you beat up.”
Dash wearily turned toward Applejack, who was just now crawling out of the tangle of trees. Applejack was very clearly drained but managed to stay standing anyway.
“Rarity, I-“ Applejack turned away, embarrassed.
“I understand,” said Rarity. “I won’t make you say it.”
“No.” Applejack bowed her head. “Thank you. I was wrong about you and… well a lot of things, apparently. I’m not sure what to think anymore.”
Rarity smiled but didn’t tease Applejack.
“Oh, wait! Fluttershy.” Twilight ran over to her. “There was something we needed you to do. Applebloom is still changing. We’re thinking the only chance we have to stop her from going all the way is if you take the source of the mist and get out of here as fast as you can.”
“I understand.” Fluttershy went over to the mist kitty and cradled it once again. “I’ll fly as fast as I can.”
“West by southwest,” Dash suggested.
Fluttershy nodded.
“Thank you for helping me,” said Fluttershy. “I hope you reconsider my offer, Twilight. But I want you to know that you’re one of my children now either way. I’ll see all of you again soon.”
Rarity came over and Fluttershy gave her a loving nuzzle before leaving.
Fluttershy zipped out of there faster than Twilight had ever seen anypony move. It was a wonder how anypony could even go that fast. The dark magic of both Fluttershy and the mist kitty were still pulling Twilight, but they were moving away so fast Twilight doubted it’d be a problem much longer.
“Rarity.” Applejack hobbled over to her. “You said you have my sister? Is she safe?”
“Applebloom should be fine. She’s a little bit that way.” Rarity nodded. “Hopefully that last bit of light magic scared all the monsters away.”
And then Rarity began leading them off. Dash only got a few steps before having to sit down.
“Rarity.” Dash rolled onto her back. “Carry me?”
“Aw. Poor Dashie.” Rarity nuzzled Rainbow Dash lovingly before levitating her onto her back. “I hate seeing you like this.”
“It’s not that bad,” Dash muttered. “I just need a minute.”
It took a while, given that nearly everypony was limping at this point, but they managed to make it back to the vault without anypony getting hurt.
As soon as they swung the vault open, Applejack ran inside. Her siblings were there, of course, but both were asleep now.
“Big Mac! Applebloom!” Applejack ran to each of them in turn, making sure they were breathing. She put her hoof to Applebloom’s forehead, feeling her temperature. “They’re so cold!”
Applejack hugged her sister tightly, trying to warm her up.
“That’s normal for what happened to them,” said Rarity. “But it’s unlikely either will wake up for a while.”
As if to defy Rarity, Applebloom opened her eyes briefly, just enough for Twilight to see that they were glowing but not slitted. Twilight glanced at Big Mac to see he’d still yet to fully grow ear tufts even. This all but confirmed in Twilight’s mind that smaller ponies changed faster. Though Applebloom might have had a high dark affinity too.
“Applejack?” Applebloom looked even more dazed than before, barely able to focus on Applejack. “I’m all chowder.”
“Chowder?” Applejack held Applebloom as she fainted. “Applebloom! Is- is she gonna be okay?”
“Neither of them are going to die,” said Rarity. “So long as you keep them warm and don't move them around too much there won’t be any permanent damage. The blankets should be enough for that.”
“But she’s-“ Applejack brushed her sister’s ears, feeling the ear tufts. “She’s really one of you now?”
“It might not be too late for them to turn back,” said Rarity. “Your brother is going a lot slower, but I have to admit I’m not sure if we can stop Applebloom from changing all the way. We’d have to get her out of the mist, leave here immediately, to have any chance at all.”
“But where am I supposed to go now? I can’t go back to Equestria!”
“You can do absolutely anything you want, Applejack,” said Rarity. “As for me, I’m going somewhere deep in the forest. You’re welcome to follow me.”
Applejack sat there, thinking in stunned silence as the rest of them started getting ready to leave.
Dash was too injured to walk right now and reluctantly lied down in the back of the cart. The rest of the Blue Diamonds weren’t in very good shape either, but the three of them all hitched themselves to the chain of carts.
Rarity looked back at Applejack one last time, letting her know this was her last chance.
And Applejack took it, dragging her siblings over to the carts. Despite Applejack’s protest, she wasn’t well enough to pull a cart right now either and ended up huddled together with Rainbow Dash, Applebloom, and Big Mac in the rear cart.
And then they started off for real.
Twilight turned to the north. Even out here in the forest, she could see the faint glow on the north horizon. Only the faint light pollution of Canterlot remained in Twilight’s sight, and soon even that would be gone.
She looked up at the light of Canterlot for what might be the last time, before turning her back on it and following Rarity into the darkness.