Wherever the Light Shines: Part 2

by MLPSolarDash1907


Chapter 39 - Ponies vs. Nightfall

Twilight nestled down on the dirt, taking in the sight of her friends talking about what they’d been through. A warm feeling arose in her heart to be with them once again. She felt as long as they were together, they could do anything.

“So, you’re telling us, while we struggled with the hostile wilderness, y’all were kickin’ back and relaxing at the kudu’s village?!” Applejack asked a look of disbelief on her features.

“For the third time, yes, Applejack,” replied Sunset.

“I still hate we had to leave that luxurious place like that,” Rarity frowned.

“I know,” said Sunset, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “I liked it too, but they were going to use us for their own malicious purposes.”

“I get the implication you felt the way I feel, Sunset?” Mystic asked.

Sunset cast her a sympathetic, understanding look.

“I did,” she said softly, “I can’t imagine feeling that way all the time.”

“You’d get used to it.”

Sunset looked at her friends surrounding her. “No...” She shook her head, “No I couldn’t get used to it.”

“What about you, Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy.

“Oh!” Pinkie perked up, loudly gasping. “I saw Starlight!”

An almost parental instinct ignited within Twilight. She got right into the pink mare’s face. “What?!” She could barely hear herself over the rest of her friends.

“You saw Starlight?!” Twilight asked. “Where was she? Is she okay?”

“She’s gone a liiiitttllle loco in the coco, but she’s okay!” Pinkie nodded.

“Wait...” Twilight pulled back. This was Pinkie she was talking to. “Why didn’t you bring her back?”

“I tried to convince her to come with me,” Pinkie explained. “But she wouldn’t listen to me! She wouldn’t stop talking about hallucinations!”

“She thought y’all were a hallucination?” Applejack asked.

Twilight began to form a scowl, replacing her fear.

“Yeah! And before I knew it, poof! She was gone again!” said Pinkie.

I can’t believe this! Twilight thought. We were so close to finishing our mission!

“And you didn’t try to do more than that?” the alicorn spoke aloud.

“I tried but she vanished like I said,” said Pinkie.

“I mean, you probably must’ve seen her before then,” said Twilight, her anger reaching a boiling point. “You know how she can be with her magic.”

“I did see her before then but...”

Twilight slammed the ground beside her, startling Pinkie.

“I can’t believe you found Starlight and didn’t think to bring her back by any means necessary!” Twilight scolded, “It sounds like she’s losing her mind! How could you be so irresponsible?!”

Pinkie sulked. “B-But... I...”

“We know how you’re able to do anything so...”

“Enough, Twilight!” Sunset cried. “Look at her!” She pointed at the ashamed Pinkie, looking away with sad eyes.

“I just... can’t believe that she didn’t consider more options,” said Twilight, looking away. Deep down, ashamed of what she’d said.

“I’m super sorry...” Pinkie said in a sad tone.

“We’ll find her,” Sunset assured her. “Can you remember where she was?”

“Somewhere over past the gorge.”

“That’ll take a whole morning to get around,” said Mystic.

“Duh,” said Rainbow, fluttering her wings.

“Right,” Mystic facehoofed. “I’m used to being alone.”

“Well,” said Twilight, standing up. “I think we should at least try to get on the other side before nightfall.” She looked at the sun and estimated they had an hour before complete darkness.

Sunset cleared her throat. Twilight looked at her and Pinkie.

“Right...” the alicorn frowned. “I’m sorry I snapped at you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie smiled up at her. “It’s okay. I’m sorry, too.”

“Let’s save the apologies for on the way to the gorge,” said Mystic, making her way down the hill. “We don’t have much time if we’re going to make it there.”

There was no need for any more discussion. Twilight began following her and her friends did as well.

“So, who’s going to go get the firewood for tonight?” asked Rainbow.

“Not you,” said Mystic.

“Ah’ll get it!” Applejack shouted.

Twilight placed a comforting hoof on Pinkie’s withers, smiling at her. Pinkie hugged Twilight as they walked.

“Are you ponies always getting back together after a petty fight?” an ominous voice spoke.

Everypony froze. Twilight was unable to keep her blood from turning into ice. She and her friends gazed up to a bipedal-looking hyena standing on the hill they’d just been on.

“Because it is amusing how all of you can get at each other,” the creature continued.

“Who are you?!” Rainbow demanded.

“How rude,” the creature spoke casually, “And to think I’d come here to say ‘hello’ to the traveling ponies.”

“What the hay...” Mystic whispered.

“Well, we don’t like the look of you!” Rainbow declared.

“How rude,” the creature shook his head. “All of you are dusty and worn from traveling so far, so long.” He chuckled. “As for me, let me introduce myself. I am Nightfall.”

“Wait a minute!” Sunset gasped, “You’re Nightfall?! The Nightfall?!”

“Sunset, what’re you going on about?” Twilight asked.

“He’s Nightfall! He’s terrorized the savanna for generations!”

Twilight gasped, feeling another chill run through her body as Nightfall did not defend himself. An ever-growing smirk formed on his features.

“The land is terrified of him! And he’s also known as the Kaftar!”

Nightfall let out a laugh, “My, haven’t you been learning your history?”

Everypony gasped in horror as Mystic, Rainbow, and Applejack took fighting positions.

“You’re the reason why Oogundaa’s so hostile?” Rarity cried angrily.

“It does take a while, but terrorize some villagers here, destroy some of it, spread rumors here and there, a whisper or two, but you eventually become a legend as you continue your reign as you watch the citizens’ land crumble.”

“You... you monster!” Twilight cried, her horn flaring with magic.

“I’ve been called worse, but you shouldn’t be so worried about that,” Nightfall’s smirk turned into a sinister smile.

Everypony gave each other confused looks.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy warily asked.

Nightfall chuckled, “You ponies are so interconnected and willing to stick out for one another, it’s hilarious.” He turned to the side, keeping his gaze on them, “You get all mushy and love each other to pieces, even those who were recently added to your entrepreneur. But it can sometimes blindside you that your greatest supposed strength becomes your biggest weakness. It’s amusing and frustrating.”

“Your point being?!” Sunset demanded, her horn now flaring with magic.

“I’ve observed you ponies for a long time as you continued to build your empire. Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, Storm King, and-” he looked at Twilight “Cozy Glow.”

The alicorn inwardly cringed in pain, how dare he bring her up that way.

“However, all groups have one little weak link, and all you need is some planning, dark magic, and a distraction, and you’ve got a plan to win the day.”

“Wait... what?!” Twilight questioned, trying to understand what he means.

“You chose to go after one measly little pony and not stay behind to protect so many. This is what strong bonds do, they make you miss the big picture, and missing the big picture lands you in real trouble,” Nightfall pulled out an orb and activated it. An image began forming.

The ponies watched with much trepidation.

The image revealed a conquered Canterlot with a red shield around it ominous black and red clouds hung right above it as towering behemoths we at the corners of the mountain.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasped.

“It can’t be!” Applejack cried.

“Canterlot?!” Rarity shrieked.

“What did you do?!” Rainbow demanded.

Twilight, Mystic, Sunset, and Pinkie were speechless as to what they were seeing before them.

“As you foolish ponies can see,” said Nightfall, relishing in their horrified looks, “I have taken your precious capital and have conquered Equestria. No help coming from the Crystal Empire. Princesses and Discord contained. Nocreature is coming to save you.”

“What about my students?!” Twilight shrieked, gaining a look of fury.

Nightfall chuckled darkly and just smiled at them.

The ponies were horrified, they left Equestria and this guy has conquered it?

“You monster!” Twilight roared.

“And I want to make the point that even after you defeated one threat, your ways of friendship blinded you to seeing that there was a bigger threat coming upon your land, and how all of you abandoned your responsibilities as protectors for one measly little pony!” He looked at Twilight. “And how much you, Twilight Sparkle, are so caught up in protecting your precious, perfect rep for your own sake.”

Twilight growled and bared her teeth. “Attack!”

Everypony let out battle cries and charged towards Nightfall. Twilight took to the air as Nightfall watched in amusement.

Then he raised his fist and slammed it onto the ground, creating a small earthquake, knocking the ponies off their hooves as pieces of the ground popped out of the ground, hitting Rarity and Applejack.

Twilight let out a huge beam of magic at Nightfall, but the werehyena teleported away.

“What?!” Twilight shrieked.

Nightfall appeared right behind her. The alicorn screamed and managed to teleport away before he struck her down.

She reappeared nearby, watching as he tried to lock eyes with Rainbow flying circles around him. Pinkie appeared with her cannon and blasted it into his face.

Twilight took that moment to swoop down at him, but Nightfall punched the ground, sending a shockwave out, sending Rainbow and Pinkie flying a short distance away.

Nightfall looked up at her, causing the alicorn to almost freeze.

She gasped when Pinkie’s party cannon came careening right at her.

The alicorn managed to dodge it as Nightfall let out a surge of his aura, causing Twilight to fall towards the ground.

Before she hit the ground, she felt hooves grab her as she found herself land close to the battle.

“You okay there, Princess?” Mystic asked.

“Just about,” replied Twilight, standing up. She spotted Nightfall chasing Pinkie through the hilly terrain.

“Good,” said Mystic, galloping off after him.

Twilight took flight, catching a glimpse of Rarity and Fluttershy heading off in the same direction as her friends were.

She saw Pinkie distracting Nightfall with her speed and reappearing wherever she was a second ago. He shot various blasts of his aura at a tree, but she appeared under a rock. Another shot, but she appeared right behind him.

“No cherry chimichanga!” she said.

He let out an annoyed shout and swiped at her, but she did a backward somersault off him as Sunset and Rainbow lunged at him.

“This ends here!” Rainbow cried.

“Oh no,” Nightfall chuckled darkly, “We have barely begun.”

Twilight and Sunset both fired their magic at him, however, he held out a claw, and what they tried to him with disappeared into his dark aura. He grabbed Rainbow with his free claw and slung her right at Pinkie. Twilight flew over to help, but Rainbow was hurled into a tree as Pinkie jumped out of the way.

Hating to see her friends hurt, Twilight growled, turned back, and swooped out of the sky. She landed right in front of Nightfall, firing a blast of magic at point-blank range. The werehyena howled as he was knocked to the ground.

Twilight shot another blast of magic, hitting the werehyena as Sunset’s magic joined in.

He let out a roar and a surge of aura. Twilight threw up a shield, but Sunset went flying back as Nightfall stood back up.

Twilight allowed the shield to drop, and she flew around her opponent, hitting him in the back. Mystic wrapped one of her magical ropes around him, giving Twilight another chance to hit him. However, he pulled on the rope, took it off. Nightfall lunged for Twilight but she teleported away and reappeared next to Mystic.

Suddenly, a lasso wrapped around his right wrist. Then Mystic created another magic rope and pulled Nightfall to the ground.

Applejack came along, turned around, and bucked the werehyena in the side. He went flying into a pile of boulders, all of them fell on top.

A heaving Twilight stood at the ready.

Two boulders came flying right at them. Twilight managed to teleport to the side and reappeared close by. Nightfall landed in the middle of the opening and held up a claw covered in a dark aura. The alicorn could only watch in horror as he placed it on his side and Twilight could’ve sworn, she heard bones clicking back into place.

This guy’s a lot more powerful than what I thought, the alicorn thought.

Rarity came along with her diamond shields flying right at him. Nightfall stopped them all in place and smirked sinisterly.

“Uh oh...” Rarity whimpered.

The shields Rarity had created were thrown at each of the ponies. Twilight let out a yelp as she and her friends scattered. Two shields grazed against Twilight’s torso, causing her to yelp in pain.

As she held herself in pain, Twilight felt pushed down by an invisible force. She landed hard on the ground, the breath knocked out of her lungs. Scared and pinned by a dark aura, she saw Nightfall trotting over to her with his sinister smile.

But knives covered in blue aura shot down at him like bullets. They struck him in the torso, causing him to let out grunts of pain.

Relief came to Twilight as Mystic leaped out and struck Nightfall with a right hook punch. She shoved another knife into his torso, causing him to grunt again. Mystic landed on the floor, ducked in between Nightfall’s legs, and kicked him. He nearly lost his footing but he reached behind him, grabbing Mystic with his aura and throwing her right at Twilight. But the alicorn managed to catch Mystic before she hit her.

The next thing Twilight saw was Applejack careening towards her and she failed to stop her before she and Mystic were hit head-on and she flew back along with her two allies into thick bushes.

Grunting, Twilight saw Nightfall chasing Rarity and Fluttershy. The alicorn, her body fueled with adrenaline, pushed herself forward.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar fiery maned unicorn galloping down a nearby hill.

Twilight watched as Sunset let out a large sweep of fire right at Nightfall. The werehyena’s eyes widened and absorbed all of the fire like a vacuum cleaner into his wrist, horrifying and amazing Twilight. He spun around and shot it right back at Sunset. Sunset screamed in horror and surprise. She ran to the left on the top of the hill as the fire trailed behind her. Nightfall let out one huge burst of it, but Sunset managed to jump away to safety into a nearby ditch.

Just as Twilight flared her wings, she saw Mystic again, the young mare did a sweeping kick, knocking him off his feet and threw a fire potion in his face.

He howled in agony as he swiped at the fire. Twilight fired her magic and Mystic tossed her machete at him. But the werehyena had begun to heal himself and extinguish the fire. He managed to grab the machete and deflect Twilight’s magic back at her.

The alicorn went flying back into a slope of a hill. Her back aching, she allowed herself to slide down until she reached the bottom and landed back on her hooves. Heaving to catch her breath, she looked up to see Mystic delivering a barrage of punches before kicking him in the face again. The young unicorn leaped over him and struck him from behind, knocking him into a tree.

A grunt escaped Twilight’s lips as she shook the stars from her vision and deemed herself good enough to fight again.

Mystic was thrown at her and the werehyena stood tall.

“Toss me at him!” Mystic said to her.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Just do it!”

Twilight lit up her horn and enveloped Mystic in her purple aura. Sunset jumped out of the ditch, shooting multiple blasts of magic at him. As he turned to Sunset, Twilight tossed Mystic at Nightfall. The young mare let out a shout and she wrapped her forelegs around his neck, catching him off guard.

She pulled him to the ground, climbed on top of him and began punching his face vigorously.

“Enough!” Nightfall cried, letting out a surge of dark magic, causing Mystic to be blown away and fly over a rock formation.

Twilight saw Nightfall’s left claw glowing brightly with a dark aura. She saw the hill behind him had lost its top and its chunks were falling towards her like meteors. She felt Sunset’s hooves wrap around her barrel as she disappeared and reappeared on a just above Nightfall. The chunks of earth landed with loud booms.

Suddenly, Applejack charged at him, but he picked her up with his dark aura and pulled her close.

“Are you certain leaving for one or two little ponies was the best option?” he asked the farmer, “With how powerful you’ve seen I am, who knows what I could do to the lands beyond Oogundaa?”

“Don’tcha dare try anythin’!” Applejack bellowed.

“Yeah? You just try to stop me. Brute strength against magic, I think I know the superior choice,” Nightfall mocked then he let her down onto the ground.

Applejack’s nostrils flared and she let out a cry as she charged right at him, she whirled around and threw a kick, only for Nightfall to grab and throw her into a tree, destroying some of the branches.

“You think about what I told you!” he shouted.

Twilight tried holding him in place with her magic, but he broke free, levitated the alicorn to himself, grabbed her tail and slung her to the ground.

The alicorn’s breath was knocked out of her lungs once again. She heaved as the werehyena turned his attention to her right.

Before she could consider getting up, Twilight felt herself pinned again by dark magic.

She could only watch in horror as Nightfall charged at Rarity in front of a cowering Fluttershy. The white unicorn managed to conjure a diamond shield, but Nightfall punched through it, shattering the shield.

Twilight’s eyes widened with fury as he picked up Rarity and Fluttershy with his dark aura.

“You two are no threat,” he said to the two scared ponies. “Let the real fighters play!”

With a simple wave of his claw, Rarity and Fluttershy were thrown over a hill until they disappeared on the other side.

“Hey! Not cool!” Rainbow came, spinning around the werehyena and landing a kick to his chin. He barely flinched as he lunged after the pegasus. Twilight felt the dark aura fade from her as she got to her hooves again.

The werehyena let out an exert and tossed Rainbow at Twilight, sending both of them tumbling down a slope and landing hard on their sides. Twilight screamed as she felt like something had jabbed into her wing. She tried to hold back the tears as she laid there.

“Twilight! Rainbow!” came Sunset’s voice.

The alicorn saw red magic envelop around her and Rainbow. Suddenly, they were pulled from where they were lying.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” said Sunset, slightly limping.

“But what about the others?” Rainbow cried.

Another exert from Nightfall caused them all to turn and see him levitating several boulders. Twilight yelped as she felt herself tugged along. The boulders flew right at them. All of them crashed nearby as Sunset swerved to avoid them. Twilight lit up her horn and shot at one of them, destroying it.

“Over here!” came Mystic’s voice.

Twilight managed to turn herself around and saw her near a cart that could be pulled by a creature.

“We’re all going to need that!” said Sunset.

“I’ll pull it! I’m the fastest!” said Rainbow.

Sunset climbed into the cart, letting Rainbow free from her magic. Twilight was placed into the cart with Sunset as Mystic entered, having retrieved her machete.

“Is this thing going to hold us?” Mystic asked.

“Only one way to find out!” said Rainbow, securing the loop around her torso.

Twilight turned to see Nightfall casually walking towards them, a sinister smile on his face.

“Go! Go!” Sunset cried.

Twilight’s heart dropped as she felt the cart jolt from its place and they were speeding away from their powerful enemy.

Our friends... she thought.

Nightfall did not attempt to run after them, Twilight’s fear began to grow as the cart entered flatter terrain. Then, close by, Twilight saw a pillar of smoke reaching high into the air.

“Sunset...” she said.

“I see it!” said Sunset, Twilight looked at her friend to see she held a worried hoof to her chin.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Twilight saw a stampede of cape buffalo, with long curvy horns running right at them. They were coming closer to the cart.

“Rainbow! Run faster!” Twilight cried.

“What?! Is he right behind us?”

“The flames have caused a stampede! The buffalo are mad with fear!” Mystic cried.

“Stampede?!”

From what looked like hundreds of cape buffalo, their thundering hooves became apparent as they got closer.

Suddenly, the Twilight passengers spotted a buffalo larger than the others and with longer curved horns. As he charged through the stampede Twilight noticed he had wires wrapped around the horns and attached to them are bells. Her eyes widened.

“It’s the Buffalo Tribe leader!” cried Mystic.

“What?!” Sunset and Twilight cried.

“We need to protect the wagon from these cape buffalo or we will all be crushed by the stampede!”

“I’ll try to lose them!” said Rainbow as the wagon took a left turn.

Twilight and Sunset lit their horns, now at the center of the stampede. Dust and dirt flew into the air as they zoomed past.

“Look out!” Sunset cried.

A buffalo came charging at them, but Twilight held up a shield, causing him to bounce off.

“Another!”

Twilight put up another shield as Sunset and Mystic fired multiple spells to keep the buffaloes at bay.

The alicorn began to feel claustrophobic as dust filled her lungs, causing her to hack and cough.

A quick glance at Rainbow told her the pegasus was scared but trying to keep her cool. The terrain began to turn rocky as her friend began to run in a straight line.

Twilight turned back to the buffalo, another came charging at her, but she shot it between the eyes, causing it to grunt in pain, stopping in its tracks.

“Anypony hurt?” Twilight shouted over the noise.

“Not yet!” said Mystic, shooting a blast of magic.

As Twilight kept her horn lit up to keep her friends safe, she noticed that the terrain was completely rocky. The buffaloes were more spread out and there were fewer of them. Twilight turned to see that Rainbow had directed them towards the gorge.

“What the hay, Rainbow?” Twilight cried.

“I see a path leading down there!” replied the pegasus.

Twilight felt the cart jolt towards the gorge, her heart throbbing against her chest as they got closer to the edge.

“Rhino!” Mystic cried.

Twilight spotted a huge rhino charging from their right; its horn down in a dangerous position. Sunset fired some magic at it, but it bounced off, angering it further. Twilight finally managed to throw up a shield around the wagon, the rhino hit it, cracking the shield, but bouncing his head off. He turned away and began running alongside them, Twilight dropped the shield and fired more magic to keep him away until he left.

“Sign!” Rainbow screamed.

Twilight took her attention to it, seeing a “danger” sign with a wooden fence bordering off a dangerous looking road in the cliff heading down to the gorge below. Mystic fired off some magic, shattering it to pieces just before Rainbow reached it.

The wagon shook as its wheels began rolling across rough, rocky ground, the path has several cracks in it, looking as if it could break at any moment. Twilight gazed at the gorge. It was deep and wide with steep cliffs that looked impossible to climb.

“You’re a little too close to the ledge!” Sunset cried.

“No, I’m not! I’m nearly to safety!”

As the cart rocked underneath the ponies, Twilight could see more pillars of smoke rising just above the rim of the gorge.

Then, Rainbow reached the bottom of the path and ran a safe distance from the unstable cliffside. She screeched to a stop in the middle of the gorge.

“Oh, Celestia!” Rainbow cried, “That was too close!”

“You can say that again,” said Sunset, examining their surroundings, “Those buffalo are crazy!”

“I partially don’t blame them because of the flames,” Twilight panted.

“Still, couldn’t they avoided trying to kill us?!”

“At least we’re out of danger, right?” said Rainbow.

“You had to ask that didn’t you?” Mystic facehoofed, “You tempt the universe with those words.”


Meanwhile, above the gorge, the flames washed across the savanna like a tidal wave, cutting off some of the herd of buffalo off from the rest. The evergrowing flames caused even more fear and direct the beasts right into the gorge.


Back in the gorge Twilight looked and spotted the buffaloes heading down a hill leading into the gorge. An avalanche of clashing horns and thundering hooves poured into the gorge, charging right for them. The alicorn’s pupils dilated and gasped, horrified at what she was seeing.

The ground shook, rocks and trees were being destroyed at the impenetrable wall of buffaloes.

Suddenly, the wagon jolted. Twilight was surprised by the sudden force. She saw Rainbow was doing her best to run as fast as she could, but the buffaloes continued to advance upon them.

“Oh, my Celestia!” Twilight cried.

“So many of them!” Sunset shrieked.

Rainbow leaped over a large hole in the ground, the wagon narrowly landing on the other side.

“There’s no way we can survive this one if they got on top of us!” said Mystic, a nervous look in her eyes.

“Why don’t you fly away, Dash?” Sunset asked in a panicked tone, the buffaloes getting closer.

“I would! But this thing is pressing against my wings!” replied Rainbow.

The grunting and groaning of the buffaloes were getting closer. Their horns continued to clash against each other. Twilight felt like vomiting. Suddenly, Mystic got up against the backside of the cart and let her lunch loose.

“Gah!” Mystic grunted. “I forgot I get motion sickness!”

She looked up and pulled back from the edge, freezing on the spot.

Twilight followed her gaze to the top of the gorge’s cliff and saw Nightfall on all fours. He’s not running but keeping up just enough as he watches the ponies try to escape from the stampede. He leaped across a gap on the cliff and began moving faster to keep up.

“Dash!” They’re nearly upon us!” said Sunset.

Twilight looked back at the stampede and they were within thirty yards. Angry eyes locked right onto the scared alicorn.

She turned around and saw that there were rock formations that were pillars, all standing tall within the gorge.

Then, several explosions rang out above the noise of the stampede.

“What in the world?!” Twilight cried, looking around vigorously.

“I’ve never heard explosions here before!” cried Mystic.

“Oh my gosh!” Sunset shrieked.

Everypony looked to their right and saw one of the tall rocky pillars beginning to fall over. Twilight realized it’s going to crash directly in their path.

“Hold on everypony!” Rainbow shouted, picking up speed, “I’m gonna get past this!”

“Rainbow! Go back!” Twilight cried.

“No time, Twilight! We’ll be trampled!”

The pillar continued to keel over before it began falling.

Time seemed to slow down as Twilight kept an eye on it, it quivered, it shook as it fell. Rainbow began to heavily pant.

“Come on come on, Rainbow, show a little dash!” she said.

Twilight began to hyperventilate as the pillar picked up speed. She knew they weren’t going to make it.

She heard a clunking sound from in front of her and saw her blue pegasus friend unhooked the loop around her.

“Rainbow!” Twilight and Sunset cried.

“I’ve got this!”

At a fast pace, Rainbow quickly grabbed the rods of the wagon and began flying. She picked up speed faster than before, zooming past the pillar’s path a safe distance away—

KER-CRASH-CRASH!

The pillar crashed loudly to the ground, breaking it all to pieces and trapping the buffalo behind it.

Rainbow let out a laugh.

“Yeah!” she shouted happily, now they’re out of the stampede.

“Nice one, Rainbow!” Sunset cheered.

“Quick thinking!” Twilight commended.

“Quick is my middle name!” Rainbow laughed.

“Slow down!” Mystic shouted.

Twilight and her friends looked ahead and saw they’re heading right for a rocky hill.

She heard Rainbow shriek. Thinking fast, Twilight levitated her safely in the wagon. The cart began plunging down the hill, Sunset tried to stop it with her magic, but they hit a large bump, knocking everypony onto their backs.

Everypony sat up and Twilight realized the wagon wouldn’t stop. She gasped when she saw they’re heading right for a slope that leads directly into bushes with some briars.

“We’re gonna crash!” Rainbow cried.

“You have a real habit of stating the obvious don’t you, Rainbow?” Sunset screamed.

Everypony braced for impact as the wagon began rolling fast down the slope, one of the wheels began shaking along the rocky ground. It plunged right into the bushes, sending them flying through the air and crashing into them. Sunset popped out and stopped next to a dirty water hole.


Meanwhile, along the rim of the gorge, Nightfall had been observing them the entire time, the smirk never left his face.

“Wow, you barely survived that one,” he said. “I’ll let you continue your journey.” He chuckled darkly. “For now. Then it’ll be game over for all of you.”

Nightfall opened a portal back to Canterlot and stepped through.


“Anypony break their neck?” Mystic asked, pulling herself out of the briars.

“I don’t think so,” Rainbow groaned, holding her injured wing.

Mystic helped Twilight out of the bush as Sunset pulled herself up. The alicorn winced a couple of times as she examined her injured wing and spotted several briars puncturing her fur.

“Is he still out there?” Rainbow asked, looking around vigorously.

Twilight listened and examined her surroundings. They heard nothing but the river and saw only plateaus and some high grass swaying in the wind. Sunset climbed and stood on a large stone to get a better vantage point.

“I don’t see him,” she said, looking down at the others, “He’s gone.”

“Gone? He’ll be back,” said Mystic.

“So, he just attacked us and then left?” Twilight wondered.

“Better he leaves than not attack anymore,” said Mystic, examining herself.

“And we got separated again,” said Sunset. Then her eyes widened, “Oh, my gosh! We’ve separated again!”

Twilight facehoofed, her heart dropping even lower now that the realization has truly sunk in.