Windfall watched Twilight pace back and forth across the uneven floor of the caven. Over the days they had spent together, the alicorn had told her about all the fights she had had against various monsters and insanely powerful villains. The pegasus, having spent most of her life in military organizations of one sort or other, was no stranger to stories that began, "No shit, there I was…" But the tales that Twilight told were different. Regardless of how exaggerated they sounded, they had the ring of truth.
What had completely convinced Windfall was when she had related one of her own war stories, and finished up by bragging about how much money her company had earned for fighting off an infestation of tatzelwurms.
"What?" Twilight cried out in surprise. "You get paid to fight monsters?"
Windfall raised an eyebrow. "You don't?"
She tried very hard not to laugh at the inarticulate, sputtering outrage that the princess unsuccessfully attempted to suppress. "Hey, you went from unpaid intern, straight to head of the company. You really can't complain, Princess. Go dip into the Royal Treasury if you think you're owed back pay."
"Well, technically, I'll own the entire kingdom except for the Crystal Empire, the Duchy of Maretonia, and the town of Bales, so I won't have much use for money. Legally, I can just trot into any shop and take whatever I want."
Windfall stared at her. "Really?"
Twilight gave her a sweet, innocent smile and said, "No, of course not."
"You—you purple palfrey!" The pegasus threw back her head and guffawed. "You had me goin' there for a second!"
But at the moment, Windfall didn't feel much like laughing. Watching the way Twilight paced and muttered to herself brought back some unpleasant memories of friends suffering from being "dropped in the shit" too many times. The pacing was better than the twitching, shivering mess she had been the night before, but it was still a clear sign of battle fatigue.
And all because of some diagrams scrawled in a notebook.
Windfall had asked, of course, but Twilight had been unwilling to say much of anything. Windfall pressed as hard as she dared, and only got a curt, "Too complicated!" out of the alicorn. After that, she left her alone. She slept poorly that night and she was fairly certain that Twilight didn't sleep at all.
Aside from a few gulps of water from the stream, Twilight didn't seem to intend to do anything all day, but pace and think. Windfall wanted to get something more substantial for breakfast, but she wasn't willing to leave Twilight alone to venture into the tunnels, so she made do with what grass was left in the cavern.
"We need to go, and we need to go, now." Twilight said, suddenly appearing at her shoulder.
"Ffhat?" Of course she'd timed it so her mouth was full.
"I can get us out of here, but we need to do it now, and I think we'll be attacked as soon as we break out. No time to debate it, because the maniac could be listening in."
Windfall spat out her mouthful of grass. "Do it."
"Follow me!" Twilight sprang into the air and flapped hard for altitude.
Windfall followed behind and slightly to one side. The captivating magic started to slow her as she approached the circle of "sky" above, just as it had done a hundred times before.
But this time was different.
Twilight's horn lit and the world became fundamentally wrong.
Windfall twisted up inside. It felt like taking a serious wound, in the instant when the shock hits but before the pain kicks in, but it went on and on. She gritted her teeth and kept flapping.
The sky came apart into chunks and dissolved before they could reach it.
Absolute blackness enveloped them. Windfall kept flying in the direction she hoped was up, and seconds later caught sight of a sparkle of light. She headed for it.
She was standing on a rough stone floor. She didn't remember landing, but her wings were neatly folded at her sides. Twilight stood next to her, and the warm ball of light that hovered above the alicorn's head was the only illumination in the darkness.
It was enough.
The two mares stood in a hemispherical room, at the edge of what appeared to be an elevated model of the labyrinth they had been trapped in. There was room to circle the model and a steel double door across from them.
Twilight began trotting around the arc of the walkway. Windfall followed.
Just before they reached the doors there was a sparkle of light in the air in front of them, and Twilight's horn flared in response. The feeling of horrible wrongness briefly washed over Windfall again.
"That was probably the maniac," Twilight said through gritted teeth, as the light of her horn died, and she headed for the door again. "Trying to teleport in."
Windfall said nothing. She was content to follow Twilight's lead, but if a strange pony or creature suddenly appeared next to her, she was going to ask questions only after it regained consciousness.
Two more teleportation attempts were made before they reached the doors, and Twilight fended them off just as easily.
The doors were designed to swing outwards, and no locking mechanism was visible. Twilight pushed them open to reveal a long tunnel that disappeared into darkness.
The mares trotted side-by-side down the tunnel. To Windfall, it seemed a good time for a briefing. "What can we expect to face, and when?" she asked.
"A ridiculously powerful magic user, which isn't a huge problem any longer," Twilight replied. "If I react quickly enough, I can stop anything they throw at us. But the defense might be worse than the attack. What I'm doing is dangerous and untested. There's a non-zero chance that I might unmake matter in local space."
"And that's bad?"
"Very, very bad. Trust me on this."
Windfall gave it a moment's thought after the first instant of existential terror had passed. "Distract them, take care of any minions, and I'll smash their skull in while they're focused on you. That usually works unless they're freakin' enormous."
"I—don't have a better plan."
"Good. So when?"
"I can stop them from teleporting, so it depends on how far away they were when we broke out, and how fast they can hoof it. This place looks purpose built, so I don't think it will be long before—"
There was a booming crash from somewhere up ahead of them, as if a large pair of steel doors had been violently thrown open, and a screeching voice tinged with madness echoed down the tunnel. "You miserable insects! What have you done?"
"Or now," Twilight said wearily as she skidded to a halt. "Now's likely."
She turned to Windfall and briefly bathed her in magic. "That's a Don't Notice Me spell. If you move slowly they might not see you until you're behind them."
Windfall moved to the side of the tunnel and hugged the wall as heavy hoofbeats galloped toward them. Twilight backed up several yards before taking a defiant stance.
The towering creature that emerged from the blackness was something neither of them expected.
It was Twilight Sparkle.
Sort of.
She was huge. She would have topped Celestia by at least a head, and had a wickedly pointed sword of a horn. Her enormous wings were half-spread and shaking with anger, and her mane and tail rippled and sparked with violent magical energy.
"You have ruined EVERYTHING!" the monster screamed.
Twilight backed away slowly. "Tell me about it. Maybe I can help," she said, forcing her voice to remain level and steady.
"You? You are just an ingredient! An insignificant—" The enormous alicorn broke off and quickly looked around. "Where is that other—"
She broke off again because Twilight had smacked her in the face with a bolt of pure magical force. It wasn't something Twilight had expected would hurt the huge alicorn, but Windfall had asked for a distraction, and Twilight was going to give it to her.
The monster responded with lightning reflexes, instantly flinging a searing blast of magic right back at Twilight.
The world went sideways again. A horrible pressure and twisting sensation washed through the ponies in the tunnel. It felt as if their internal organs belonged on the outside of their bodies and had decided to do their best to make that arrangement a reality. The feeling faded almost instantly, but the aftereffects lasted a little longer.
"W-what…" The big alicorn shook herself and gagged slightly. He mane and tail sagged and moved sluggishly. "What was that? What did you do?"
Twilight said nothing, but lit her horn again.
"You idiot! I am far stronger than you. You have no hope of—"
That was when Windfall slammed into the back of her head with all four hooves.
The pegasus tumbled through the air and hit the side wall of the tunnel just behind Twilight. She slid down to the floor in a heap and groaned.
The huge alicorn dropped like a felled tree.
Twilight scrambled forward, ripping off her own shoes as she went. The metal horseshoes twisted and glowed in her magical aura as she reshaped the steel into a branching conical spiral that she jammed down over the unconscious alicorn's horn. More of her magic flickered over the surface of the metal, creating meandering grooves and channels.
Windfall managed to push herself up on a forehoof and turn her head to watch. She'd seen suppressor rings before, but whatever Twilight was doing didn't seem to be anything like that. The lines she was etching into the metal made Windfall slightly dizzy to look at, so she stopped looking and put her head back down with a sigh. The crazy princess seemed to have the situation well in hoof.
Windfall moved her legs and wings cautiously. They all hurt, and she knew they'd be stiff and sore for a few days to come, but it seemed she hadn't broken anything. She heard hoofsteps approaching and looked up to see Twilight bending over her, and looking down with concern on her face.
"How badly are you hurt? Is anything broken?" she asked.
"Don't think so. Bruised pretty good and maybe a strain or two, but otherwise I'm okay. Gonna lie here for another minute or two if that's okay with you."
Twilight nodded and looked back over her shoulder. "She's not dead. I tied her wings and hooves together with wire. She was foolish to ignore the possibility of a physical attack, but I'm not going to make the same mistake."
Windfall snorted. "Oh yeah, her. Listen Princess, I don't mean to jerk your tail or anything, seeing as how we're both on Team Not-a-Maniac, but d'you mind explaining why the warden of this madhouse turned out to be a jumbo-sized version of you?"
"Windfall," Twilight turned back to her friend and sighed. "That is a very good question."
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