//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: As Without, So Within // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// Twilight swallowed heavily. “Applejack, what are you doing?” “Gettin’ mah payday,” Applejack replied, not moving her revolver barrel from Sunset’s temple. “How much is a Princess worth to you folk? Ah’d say a good startin’ price would be five thousand dollars. And throw in a new horse and a good bottle of whiskey.” “Seriously, this is about horses and booze?” Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes. “Even under magic she’s still a country hick.” “Watch it, missy!” Applejack snapped, pushing her gun against Sunset harder. “Words like that make mah fingers itchy.” She turned her eyes and jerked Sunset back, keeping her arms held behind her back.  “Hold it!” Applejack glared at Trixie creeping towards her wand on the floor. “Step back, now.” Trixie held up her hands and backed away. “Applejack,” Twilight said evenly, slowly taking a step forward. “You don’t want to hurt her.” “You’re right, Ah don’t.” Applejack turned her eyes back to Twilight. “Like Ah said, how much is she worth to you?” “Um…” Twilight thought. “Well, we don’t have horses to give you. Or, whiskey.” Sunset smirked. “Find Sandalwood, he usually brings a flask to these events.” “You’re not help - really?” “Hey, focus!” Applejack snapped. “Ah’m gettin’ bored.” Rainbow stepped up beside Twilight and cracked her knuckles. “Shall I dispose of her, O holy one? Even unarmed, I am more than a match for this greedy outlaw.” “No.” Twilight shook her head. “She’s one of our friends.” “What?” Rainbow scoffed. “I would never call a fiend such as her a comrade!” “Somehow you saying that doesn't surprise me,” Twilight muttered. To Applejack she said “Please, be reasonable. We don’t have any money to pay you.” “Ah heard she’s a Princess,” Applejack replied, jerking her head towards Sunset. “What do you mean to tell me she’s got no money?” “Well, erm… she’s…” Twilight gasped and smiled. “She’s a Princess-in-exile!” “A what?” Applejack replied. “A what?” Sunset hissed, her eyes bulging. “Yes. She’s been cast out of her kingdom, and...can’t go home. She was forced to flee with nothing. She has no power or money, she’s pretty much in hiding.” Twilight saw Sunset glare fiercely at her and mouth ‘I hate you’, followed by an obscene adjective. “Uh-huh.” Applejack pursed her lips and glanced away as she thought the idea over. Twilight gestured to Rainbow Dash. “That’s why this knight is with us. She’s her bodyguard and the only person she has left.” “What?” Rainbow Dash whispered. “Just play along,” Twilight replied. “It is amoral for a sworn knight to engage in such falsehood.” “If you weren’t wearing armor I’d elbow you in the hip.” “Okay,” Applejack said, looking back at them. “Let’s say Ah believe you. Gimme a good reason to let her go.” Twilight thought for a moment. “Ah, well, we’re here trying to find a magical artifact she could use to take her throne back. If you aid us in finding it, she can return home and claim her rightful crown, and we’d certainly be in your debt.” “Ten thousand dollars!” Sunset called out. “And the best horse our kingdom has ever raised!” Applejack looked at her. “That don’t sound like a bad deal at all… but…” She nodded at Rainbow Dash. “You, knight. Swear on her life this is for real.” “What?” Rainbow stepped back. “Ah want y’all to swear on yer Princess’ life that if we get this magical doo-hickey she’s after, she’ll pay me ten thousand dollars when she goes home. And, Ah want all my charges cleared, wiped away. Make it happen. Ah don’t care what it takes.” Twilight put a hand to her forehead. What charges does she even think she’s been accused of? “Done.” “The knight, swear it on her life.” “I promise, it’ll happen. So it’s not a lie, right?” Twilight whispered. Rainbow gave her a dubious look. She looked back at Applejack, knelt, and put a hand across her chest. “I do swear on my Princess’ life and my honor, thou shalt have all thee asks for if you wouldst help us retake her throne.” Applejack watched her for a moment before she nodded. “Alright then.” She lifted her gun from Sunset’s head. Sunset stepped away, pulling her arms out and rubbing her shoulders. “Ugh. I smell like manure and inbreeding.” “That’s on you, not me,” Applejack replied with a snicker. She twirled her revolver and holstered it at her hip. Her spurs jangled as she approached Twilight and Rainbow. “So, where is this magic thing anyway?” “We’re not sure.” Twilight looked across the auditorium at the crowd of students tied up. “And we need to take care of them, too. Fluttershy!” The ghost girl came up to Twilight. “Yes?” “You’re the perfect scout. Check out the upper floors. If you find anything suspicious, come back to us here.” “Will do!” Fluttershy nodded firmly and ran away. Applejack pulled aside and watched as she passed through the auditorium doors without a sound. “Well ain’t that somethin’.” Twilight and Rainbow began untying the students, and Twilight let out a small sigh of relief when Sunset, Trixie, and Applejack came to help without being asked. When she got to Rarity, Twilight helped her to her feet. She glanced at Rarity’s lab coat. “Paul Friedländer?” “Yes, my dear,” Rarity replied in a thick German accent. “Zank you zo very, very much for ze rescue. Ze thought of being devoured by zose hideous creatures vas positively dreadful.” Untying a grey-skinned student in a toga, Sunset rolled her eyes. “Not the only thing dreadful around here.” With all the students untied, Twilight looked at the unconscious Luna, then to Celestia on-stage under the pile of sandbags. “Rainbow, can you tie the two of them together? Hands and feet, and make sure it’s tight.” “Of course, O holy one.” Rainbow approached Luna. A couple of other students came with her, ropes in hand, and helped her carry Luna to the stage. “Can I ask a question?” Trixie said, raising her hand. “Okay, you guys find the cause of this spell - what do you do with it?” Twilight lifted her eyebrows. “I admit I don’t know.” “Break it,” Sunset said with a shrug. “Usually works.” The student in the toga reached up to brush a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes. “How do you normally stop objects causing magical disruption?” “Who are you, anyway?” Trixie asked. The girl smiled and gave a small bow. “I am Socrates of Athens. I am pleased to meet you.” “Normally we just blast it with a rainbow laser,” Twilight replied. “But we can’t do that this time, because it takes all seven of us to form it and we’re one short. Pinkie Pie is a bit busy being an alligator we left tied up in a closet.” “I see.” ‘Socrates’ gestured a hand. “What other methods may be available?” “Hm… against Gaea Everfree, we just took her geodes off her and that stripped her of her powers. But this doesn’t seem the same thing. Then Wallflower, Vignette…” Twilight looked at Sunset. “The Time Twirler! Didn’t you say you just smashed it and that destroyed it?” Sunset held up her hands. “See? I tried to be helpful and you shot me down.” ‘Socrates’ rubbed her chin. “If such a simple, brute method worked on this ‘Time Twirler’, would it stand to reason it could also work for whatever object is causing the trouble now?” “Ze philosophizer is vight,” Rarity chimed in. “We smash ze object, and perhaps everyzing goes back to normal, yes?” Applejack nodded. “Sounds as good a plan as any to me.” “But we don’t know what object is causing this,” Twilight repeated. “It could be a physical object, sure. But it could also just be a spell someone cast that we have to negate. In that case I’d say we strip them of their powers, but how?” “Then your current course of action ought to be to determine the nature of this magic,” ‘Socrates’ said. “That’s the plan,” Twilight nodded. “For now, um, Socrates, and… Paul. I want you two to stay here with Rainbow Dash.” Twilight looked at the group of students. “This is going to be our safe haven from the monsters. Barricade all the doors but that one” - she pointed as she spoke - “and we’ll send anyone we find here.” The students moved to the edges of the room and tables and gym equipment were pulled in front of the various entrances. Twilight looked at Rainbow as she came back. “Rainbow, you stay here.” “What?” Rainbow put a hand to her chest. “O holy one, have I given cause for offense?” “No, but someone has to stay here to protect them and I trust you most of all to do it.” Her expression brightened and Rainbow bowed. “A fair point, O holy one. Not a peasant here shall come to harm under my watch.” “Sunset, I want you to stay here too.” “No way.” Sunset shook her head. “I’m not going to stand by while Equestrian magic runs amok in our school. I’m coming.” Really? “I’m surprised to hear that from you. I didn’t think you cared.” Sunset scowled and looked away. “I don’t, alright? Just, you know, this is my turf, no one messes with these schmucks but me.” “Sure.” Twilight smiled. “Okay then, Trixie, Applejack, Sunset, you’re with me. Between the four of us, we should be able to handle ourselves in a fight. Now we just need to wait for Fluttershy to report.” A loud scream made everyone look up at the ceiling. Fluttershy spun through the air and passed through the ground. A few seconds later she floated back up, blushing. “Um, sorry. I wasn’t sure if I could do that and it surprised me.” “You dropped through the floor?” “Yes. It seemed easier than going back to the stairs.” Fluttershy looked up. “The second floor, the music room!” She swallowed. “You… really need to see this, Twilight.” Twilight threw open the doors to the music room, her friends behind her. Her jaw dropped and she stared. “Oh my god…” The music room and everything in it had been hastily repainted black. Black paint was haphazardly splashed on the walls, the chairs, and even the windows. Overtop the black paint were pentagrams, hexagrams, crosses, and various other occult emblems drawn in some sort of thick, dripping red liquid. She cast her eyes across the room to the small platform for bands to practice on. Brawly Beats and Ringo were watching her. Brawly was in a tight black tank top with black jeans and spiked wristbands, while Ringo was wearing a black leather jacket with matching pants and chains hanging from his pockets. And standing at a desk behind them was a figure in a long black leather coat with a large silver cross hanging from their neck. The figure reached up to pull down a pair of round, rose sunglasses and glared. “What the bloody ‘ell is this? You ladies are bustin’ in on our evil ritual and you don’t even knock?” Twilight’s eyes widened at the voice, familiar in spite of the sudden English accent. “Flash Sentry?” “You can call me the Prince of Darkness, love.” Flash winked and pulled his sunglasses back up. “But I’m afraid we can’t chat right now, seein’ we’re a bit busy and all.” Brawly laughed. “We’re going to make an offering of all the souls here to our dark lord!” “And he’ll grant us power, wealth, and virility!” Ringo cheered. “Well, maybe you two blokes need that last one but I’m pretty well covered, thank you.” Flash laughed. He shooed his hands towards Twilight. “You ladies need to toddle off for now. We can find a backstage to take you to later. Darkness don’t worship itself, ya know.” “Bored now,” Sunset said. “Trixie, blast him.” “With pleasure.” Trixie stuck her wand out over Twilight’s shoulder and fired a magic blast across the room. Flash cried out and ducked, the pink bolt bursting against the wall. “Are you freakin’ crazy, you bloody trollop? Ya almost hit me!” “That’s the idea!” Twilight ran further into the room, grabbed her geode, and held out her hand. Flash cried out as he was levitated into the air. Trixie aimed her wand at him and came up beside Twilight. Applejack and Sunset approached Brawly and Ringo. The two threw up their hands. Brawly tilted his head back. “The dark one will bless us yet!” “We offer our souls for eternal servitude!” Ringo called. “Shut up,” Sunset snapped. She slammed her fist into Brawly’s chin and he fell backward. Applejack punched Ringo in the gut, then grabbed his jacket as he doubled over and brought him down into her knee. He collapsed to the ground, groaning. “Hey now, love.” Flash held his hands out as the four approached him, Twilight still levitating him. “No need to get violent now.” “No need to get violent?” Twilight yelled. “You were performing a Satanic ritual with the walls painted in blood!” “”Blood?” Flash scrunched his face. “It’s red paint, you damn idiot. D’you think I’m some sort of weirdo?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Satan definitely won’t show up for you three. He’s got too much dignity.” “Oh, he’s showing up, love.” Flash nodded rapidly. “We all came here, see? The boys and I heard him calling to us, whispering in our heads, so we decided we should heed the call. We was just gonna do a little ritual here to prep our souls and then head out.” “Wait.” Twilight frowned. “You ‘heard’ him?” “That’s what I said, didn’t I?” Twilight lowered her hand and Flash dropped to the ground, his sunglasses falling from his nose. “Hey, watch the specs.” He reached out to grab them, and his hand stilled as Applejack’s boot edged over them, poised to crush. Flash raised his eyes to her and sat back on his heels. “Now, let’s not do anything drastic…” Twilight knelt down. “What is calling you?” “The dark lord, like I said. He’s in my head, in all our heads.” Flash tapped the side of his head. “And what is he saying?” “Keeps telling us to go to the roof, up on the roof, I’m on the roof, come to the roof.” Flash rocked his head. “Well maybe not in all that many words, but you get the gist.” “Calling you…” Twilight looked at her friends. “Have you girls been ‘hearing’ anything?” “Not me,” Trixie said. “Uh…” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Now that ya mention it, I had been feeling a pull somewhere. Didn’t really pay attention, what with seein’ a Princess and the money and all.” Sunset shrugged. “I had a nagging feeling I need to go to the roof, but I figured it was just me wanting to get away from you.” “I’ve been feeling it too,” Fluttershy said. “But, I thought that was just me wanting to hide somewhere.” Twilight glared at them. “Seriously? None of you felt like mentioning this until now?”  “So you all feel pulled to the roof, too?” Flash asked, pointing between them. “Do you think we’ve got some sort of unholy psychic connection?” Twilight stood up. “That would explain why the monsters seem to be thinning out, they’re all heading to the roof. Maybe whatever is causing all this magic is drawing them to it.” “Then…” Fluttershy gulped. “We’re going to the roof?” “We have no choice. If whatever is calling them is the source of this magic, we need to get to it.” “How?” Trixie replied. “All the passages up to the roof are locked. Unless we wanna track down some keys.” “The library,” Sunset said. “The skylight has windows that open on the roof. A couple of them are loose. Undo a few screws and you can squeeze out. Or just break a pane of glass.” The others stared at her. Sunset shrugged. “What? I like my private time.” “Alright, sounds like a plan!” Flash grabbed his glasses and stood up and clapped his hands once. “So, off we go, eh?” He slipped his glasses on and grinned. The girls turned back to him. Sunset lifted her eyebrows. “Chair?” Twilight inhaled. “Fine.” “Chair what?” Flash looked at Twilight. “What chair?” A steel folding chair smashed into Flash’s face and he collapsed backward with his arms out, his cracked sunglasses clattering to the floor beside him. “Did you have to hit him in the face?” “Yes.”