All three groups parted from the castle at the same time, Cheerilee and Pinkie veering right from the main doors. The former schoolmare looked back, watching as Rarity and Spike waved them all off. A tug at her hoof by Pinkie reminded her of the urgency of their mission, pulling her back into the moment.
“Right. Sorry.” She mumbled as she turned and looked towards the town, dread filling her stomach. Memories of last night still flew through her mind: the sight of Twilight’s dripping jaws and the pack of rabid monsters the unicorns had become. The still open wound in her memory throbbed and ached the more she focused on it.
“First time I’ve been outside since the first day.” Pinkie spoke, her tone as low and dour as it had been since this morning. “It bothers me, still.” The two still kept to the edges of the houses as they made their way through the town, just wanting a little reprise from the harsh sun as well as cover should they run into anything. “Wait-”
Cheerilee was pulled to a stop, a sturdy pink hoof pinning her to the wall of what had once been Vinyl Scratch’s house. Two unicorns surged past them, eyes transfixed in the direction of the train station. It seemed to be Neon Lights and Ruby Pinch, leaving a trail of black drool in their wakes.
Once the danger had passed, Pinkie took her hoof from Cheerilee’s body and nodded. The two continued their slow and stressful walk through the once peaceful village, just keeping their heads and ears on a swivel. They heard more of those things than they saw, either on top of houses or a street over.
That was okay with Cheerilee.
“So...what happened…?” Cheerilee whispered, unable to contain her morbid curiosity any longer. It seemed like the ponies closest to this mess when it started were members of the Elements of Harmony, and a clearer view might just help absorb this a little more.
“I…” Pinkie took a deep breath through her nose, then slowly exhaled. “...we heard the screams. The howling.” Pinkie’s voice was so quiet, so sad. Even though they were trying to be quieter to attract less attention, Cheerilee could tell it was the voice of a broken pony. “I had to go check on the Cakes, usually they seem to be out of town for this stuff...but they were here this time.” A cynical chuckle dripped from the mare’s mouth. “I needed to make sure they and the twins were okay.”
The dedication that Pinkie had shown to the Cake family over the years had been admirable. They let her have a room in their home, work in their bakery, and just made her part of their family. She had rewarded them with the hard work and dedication somepony would expect of their own kin.
“I don’t know how, but whatever this is just spread through the town like wildfire.” The two stopped, the sounds of distant magical discharges echoing through the streets. Once they were sure it wasn’t coming closer or for them, they pushed on. “By the time I got to Sugarcube Corner, I guess Pumpkin…” Pinkie closed her eyes and shook her head. “...she was...one.” They stopped again, Pinkie turning to face the teacher with tears in her eyes. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake were already gone, I don’t know if Pumpkin did it...but I was able to get Pound out but not before-” Pinkie’s bad ear twitched, drawing Cheerilee’s attention to it. “-I didn’t hurt her, Cheerilee. I swear.”
Cheerilee embraced the pony, holding the beaten down Pinkie close. She ran a hoof slowly down the other mare’s back and just held her for a minute. There were a few tense moments, but soon Pinkie reciprocated: strong earth pony hooves squeezing the cerise mare as tightly as they could.
“I know.” Cheerilee whispered back. “I know, Pinkie.”
“I-I ran back to the castle as fast as I could...j-just to make sure Rarity was okay.” Pinkie sniffled and pulled away from the hug, wiping her eyes clear of any tears. “Starlight had been behind me after I left, I swear. Rarity said she tried to teleport or something and just...turned. I had to beg and plead for her to let me in again.”
“I’m sorry, Pinkie. I really am.” The pain and sadness in Pinkie’s heart echoed throughout Cheerilee’s own. “Nopony should have to go through that, seeing ponies they love…” The two shared a nod, just taking a moment to remember the fallen.
“We need to get going.” Pinkie prodded them along, pushing them back on the path to the schoolhouse.
As they went, Cheerilee took notice that things weren’t as green as she thought they were last night on their run to the castle. Staying inside for so long had made her forget just how green it used to be. The long exposure to sunlight had killed vast swathes of grass and trees, leaving the landscape far more brown that she had realized.
The trek to the Schoolhouse was perhaps the shortest of the three destinations, maybe ten minutes at the slow pace they were working at. Once in sight, the bell in the tower became the immediate focus of both ponies.
“The rope to sound the bells is behind my desk.” It seemed like a lifetime ago now since she had last rang the bell to signal the start of the day. A fragment of a happier and much safer time. “We ring it and run back to the castle, alright?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Pinkie concurred, lowering her head and trudging towards the door. Cheerilee stopped and grabbed her tail gently, pulling her companion back.
“I didn’t leave the door open.” Indeed, the door to the schoolhouse was hanging wide open, one of the hinges even busted. Both ponies crouched low, their senses pushed into hyperdrive in anticipation of danger. If something was inside, then their job just got a lot harder.
Cheerilee moved first, being as quiet and slow as she possibly could. Moving into the schoolhouse, some things became immediately apparent. Several of the student desks were destroyed, clawed and marked with magic. One or more of those things had been in here at some point and fought...something.
She knew that they couldn’t afford to assume that it had left the building. Doing that might be the end of one or both of them. They slowly crept into the building fully, sturdy earth pony bodies making the old wooden floors creak. Once upon a time Cheerilee might’ve known where all of the spots that would make noise were, but that was a long time ago when she actively cared about such things before therapy.
Therapy would be helpful after this.
Both of them moved towards Cheerilee’s desk, spotting the rope hanging behind it and disappearing into the wall. There was a noise behind Cheerilee, causing her to turn. Pinkie’s hoof caught on a loose piece of a destroyed desk and sent the pony tumbling forward. She hit the teacher’s desk, sending a raucous crash throughout what had once been Cheerilee’s safe haven.
A noise came from the hatch that housed the old shelter, a growl. Two sets of eyes stared in fear, knowing that their lives just got that much worse.
A blue hoof emerged from the shelter, gangly and thin. It pulled itself up and out into the open, a long muzzle filled to the brim with teeth and drool being the first part visible. A blue-ish silver scraggly mane barely hiding beady violet eyes. The razor-like horn wasn’t unnoticed, nor were the red stains on the things coat.
“Trixie?”
Cheerilee had never been formally introduced to Starlight’s ‘friend’. Sure she had seen her show a few years back and heard the stories, even seen her boasting around town once or twice. This could be considered their first true meeting.
First impressions were everything.
Both Cheerilee and Pinkie moved behind the teacher’s large desk, just inching closer to the rope so they could ring the bell and get out of here. Trixie’s eyes followed them as she too stepped slowly towards what was now her prey. A point of light pink magic building at the tip of the things horn.
As soon as the energy discharged, both ponies dove down behind the desk. Instead of being a bolt like they were used to seeing from the unicorns, this was a straight stream of pure energy that sliced across the wall behind them. The sight of the bell’s rope falling helplessly to the floor made Cheerilee groan in frustration.
“W-we can’t let her do that again.” Pinkie whimpered as she looked at the smoking wall behind them, sunlight streaming in now. “The teeth are scary, but I don’t want to be burnt alive.” Scared wasn’t something that Cheerilee wasn’t used to seeing somepony like Pinkie, but it was pure terror in her eyes right now.
“I’ll take the left, okay? You take the right.” It corresponded with where they were behind the desk. “We split her focus and...and..go from there.” Truth be told, there wasn’t really a plan. However, Trixie was already charging another blast of magic and they couldn’t stay here for another one. “Go!”
Both ponies dashed out of cover right in time, another stream of magic splintering the desk behind them. Cheerilee’s heart jumped into her throat as she sprinted, catching a full look at the creature again. It was maybe twice her height if she was to take an educated guess, the long spiny legs being the majority of the difference. Pinkie was sprinting towards the back wall, Trixie following her, but they couldn’t just run around in circles all day and expect to get anything done.
So Cheerilee took the initiative, summoning up all of the bravery she had and thinking just what was on the line to bury any second thoughts she might have. She cut right, barreling straight towards the thing. At the last moment, she threw her body into the legs of the monstrous magician. The limbs were cut out from under Trixie by Cheerilee’s tumbling body, letting the beast collapse right beside her.
“Back wall! Center panel! Press to open it, Pinkie!” Cheerilee scrambled to her hooves, already soaked with sweat and knees shaking with fear. “I-It’ll lead you up to the roof to ring the bell just please hurry!”
“Cheerilee I can-”
“Pinkie!” As Trixie was getting to her hooves, the schoolmare threw herself against the turned unicorn again, making the beast tumble back down. “Just go!” All of the authority she had ever had was poured into that command, hoping that Pinkie would listen.
It seemed that she did listen, as she made a beeline past the desks and towards the back wall.
Cheerilee let loose a sigh, one filled with a mix of relief and effort. Now she just needed to hold off a crazy feral unicorn that was bigger and more powerful for her until Pinkie returned. This week wasn’t her best ever, that was for sure.
The speed at which Trixie recovered startled Cheerilee, as her repeated offenses were now thrust upon her. The unicorn’s twisted body easily pushed the earth pony down, pinning her to the ground. The dripping snarling maw hung over her face, letting thick globs of viscous black saliva fall on Cheerilee’s face.
Cheerilee raised her front hooves in self-defense as her rear hooves tried to find purchase through the coarse fur on the creature’s body. Trixie, apparently, saw this as an invitation and sunk her teeth into Cheerilee’s front right leg.
A scream rang out from her mouth as the dark crimson lifeblood seeped from her wounds and coated Trixie’s muzzle. Those eyes stared into her own, just filled with bloodlust and anger.
Why was Cheerilee here? Why was she doing this? She wasn’t a fighter or a survivor, she was a schoolteacher, in way too over her head. Every moment of the last twenty-four hours replayed in her head, then the entirety of her life.
So many missed opportunities, so much left unfinished.
She could’ve moved away from Ponyville to teach.
She could’ve had a family.
With a filly of her own.
Instead she was pinned beneath a monster and about to die.
Tears filled her eyes, not because of the pain but because of the loss of it all. Just one altered decision and she’d not even be in this position right now. The fight started to leave her body as the hopelessness of the situation truly sank in.
Then she remembered Scootaloo.
For the past month Scootaloo had been her reason to wake up every morning. She had been why the mare kept going, why she didn’t just give up and die in that hole. That filly had been left alone for most of her life, her parents off on some globe-trotting adventure for years upon years. If Cheerilee didn’t do something now, she would be left alone for good.
Cheerilee gritted her teeth and placed her rear hooves against Trixie’s stomach, just getting a firm hoofhold on the thing. In one motion she retracted her hooves and thrust them into the spot that they had been moments ago.
Strong earth pony hooves impacted the soft blue underbelly of the thing, causing it to release Cheerilee’s leg from its mouth and spew a mixture of spit in blood right into her face. It had the added effect of pushing Trixie off of her, not quite launching her but at least separating them.
Both got to their hooves, Cheerilee faster than her new wounds wanted. Her brow furrowed and her nostrils flared as the two faced down once again, this time only to be interrupted.
The sweet sweet sound of the simple schoolhouse bell rang out from overhead. The noise drew Trixie’s head skyward, giving Cheerilee just a moment to act. She capitalized, moving forward and ducking under the twisted monstrosity. Her front hooves raised and found a hold on the underside of it.
Trixie started to flail as Cheerilee focused all of her strength into her legs, the inherently powerful earth pony trait firing up deep in her bones. Her rear legs pressed against the creaking floor as she began to stand straight up on her hind legs, picking Trixie up.
She couldn’t do this for long, she wasn’t used to this kind of activity. So as quickly as she hoisted the unicorn a few inches off of the ground, she turned a few degrees and gave a mighty heave.
The monster didn’t fly far, but she flew far enough. The twisted and turned magician landed with her back half skidding into the hole that led to the shelter beneath the school. Cheerilee huffed and puffed as she landed on all fours again and walked over to the hatch, Trixie’s hooves scratching the wood floor as she struggled to stay above ground.
“I’m sorry, Trixie.” Cheerilee planted her hoof firmly between the beady eyes of the unicorn with enough force to send her tumbling down into the dark hole below. Wasting no time, the teacher slammed the hatch shut and fastened the latch to keep it shut.
It wouldn’t hold for long, but it would hold for long enough.
“A-are you okay, Cheerilee?” Pinkie poked her head out from the cubby in the wall where the ladder was. The pink pony rushed to her side, looking at her leg. “Please be okay.”
“I-I’m fine, Pinkie.” The adrenaline was starting to fade, bringing the pain in her leg to the forefront of her mind. “We just need to get out of here before more of those things show up.” With a nod the two set off back to the castle as fast as they could considering Cheerilee’s limp.
Amid the sounds of two sets of bells ringing, a prolonged pained scream rang out throughout the town. It was loud enough to drown out the bells and send chills down the mares’ spines.
----
Thunderlane trotted out of the castle, not caring too much about the partner he was leaving behind. He knew that he was supposed to wait for the Mayor, but truth be told he couldn’t be bothered. The young and athletic stallion was stuck with the slow and old politician. He could only roll his eyes as she called out for him to stop.
“I say we go around Carousel Boutique, through the market and take the road out of town.” The Mayor started, already breathing heavily as she caught up to the pegasus. “Shortest route, avoids the route from town hall where those things should be coming from and makes the most sense.”
“Or-” Thunderlane didn’t even look at the mare as he spoke, his wings already twitching against his sides. “-I fly there, ring the bell, and fly back. You don’t even have to do anything, just sit here and wait for me to get back.”
“Thunderlane, you’re not Rainbow Dash.” She said and his eye twitched. “If you run into any of those things and they land a bolt of magic on you-”
“They’re unicorns!” Thunderlane did his best to control his temper, but failed miserably. “I can outspeed any magic they throw at me, and if Rainbow Dash-” The name fell out of his mouth like so much venom. “-can outrun Twilight while towing Big Mac, I can outfly her no problem.”
It was a bit of a sore spot for him. Ever since Dash had moved to Ponyville, he had been compared to her. After she smoked him in every race and event that they had entered together, after showing him up at every opportunity, he had grown tired of ponies telling him who he wasn’t.
He was Thunderlane, and he would prove today that Rainbow Dash was not him for once.
The duo stalked through the streets of Ponyville, taking the route that was recommended by the village’s preeminent politician. After the little outburst it didn’t seem like the Mayor wanted to talk anymore, which was fine with him.
They encountered next to no unicorns on their way through town, allowing them to keep a nice quick pace on the way to the tower, which only served to irritate Thunderlane further. They saw one of those things, and it was through an alleyway and the thing was two streets over. He would’ve been fine!
They passed Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s fine clothes and dresses strewn about the street and all of the windows broken. If that prissy unicorn had seen what those monsters had done to her store, she’d be throwing a fit right about now.
Once by the seamstress’ shop, they cut into the market. The stench of long rotted fruit and vegetables under the hot sun wafted through the air, making Thunderlane scrunch his nose and hold back a gag. It was thick and repugnant, like a whole pantry gone bad all at once.
The stalls were savaged, but every piece of produce seemed perfectly fine if not rotten. So those things weren’t eating the food, and judging by the fact that all of the bodies seemed mostly intact if they hadn’t popped open like meat balloons from the heat, they weren’t eating the corpses either.
So what were they eating?
Thunderlane was no scientist, but he had to assume the unicorns were still alive and living things needed to eat. He didn’t think they looked much like plants, so they probably weren’t feeding off the sunlight or whatever. He only shook his head, this was for a smarter pony than him to figure out.
“Well so much for finding more food.” The mare with him mumbled, rubbing her chin. “I was hoping to find something to bring back with us, maybe something to earn a little favor with the others.”
“Even at the end of the world, still a politician.” Thunderlane couldn’t stop his eyes from rolling even if he tried. “Have you tried just not objecting to everything everypony in the castle says? That might help.”
“Listen, colt.” He blinked, not having been called a colt in a good decade plus. “Applejack thinks she can just run roughshod over me in my town, then she better expect opposition. I didn’t get to where I am by letting other ponies just trot all over me.” The pride in that statement would’ve made Rainbow Dash gawk, it only made Thunderlane sigh.
“What town, Mayor?” He had to ask, it was the most pressing part of her last statement. “A town with, what, less than twenty ponies filled with monsters and death? Is that what you’re fighting over?” It was ridiculous, political brinkmanship over dust and ashes.
While he had sided with the mayor on more than a few occasions, it had been because she was right. It wasn’t because he didn’t think Applejack was the right pony for the job. The farmpony had done more than anypony else in the castle and had earned his respect, even if she insisted on keeping Vinyl and Rarity around.
“When this is all over, ponies will need leaders to look up to so we can rebuild-”
“What makes you think this will end?” Thunderlane stopped in his tracks and spun on his hooves, leveling a heated golden glare at the shorter and older mare. “It’s been a month. The sun stopped moving, so that means Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are either dead or turned into those things.” He poked his hoof between her eyes. “Just think for a minute, alright? Our last hope is Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire, and I’m not getting my hopes up.” The pegasus clenched his jaw and turned away. “Face it, we’re either going to die by those monsters or the world is going to get cooked alive by the sun. That’s it.”
It may have been cynical, but it was the truth. It was why he had spent most of the time in his room with Rumble, so he could build a few more happy memories with his little brother before they both inevitably died. There was only one logical end to this, and he seemed to be the only one who saw it.
“You’ve got to have faith, Thunderlane.” Was the small reply his rant received.
“I think my faith ran out a month ago.”
Thunderlane moved on, through the market and to their ultimate destination. Once out of the market, the full height of the clock tower came into view. It was situated just outside of town on a small hill so everypony in town could see it wherever they might stand. He knew it was more than helpful when on a prolonged weather patrol, just counting down the minutes until quitting time.
He waited no longer, spreading his wings and throwing himself into the air. The familiar feeling of being in the sky again relieved some of his stress, the wind through his wings just melting away all of the tension in his body. A quick look down confirmed that the Mayor was below, taking her time but still making her way to the tower same as him. Despite his company, he was happy they seemed to be saddled with the easiest of the three assignments.
A distant roar quickly corrected that assumption.
Thunderlane’s eyes narrowed to pinpricks as a blast of purple magic came barreling towards him like a bolt from the blue. He dove, the hot plasma crackling by him and only catching his tail slightly, leaving it smoking.
Behind the bolt came the grim visage of Twilight barrelling through the sky, gigantic purple wings kicking up dust on the ground below and her massive hooves churning through the air straight towards him.
He banked hard left, away from the alicorn. At the sight of Mayor Mare not heading to the clock tower, but running as fast as she could right back into the cover of town, Thunderlane cursed into the wind, knowing that now he was on his own. Leave it to a politician to leave a pony when they were needed most.
So now his mission was two-fold; he needed to evade Twilight while finding a way to ring the bell, and then keep evading her until he could make it back to the castle in one piece. It was a tall order, but he could do it! He had to!
Thunderlane knew the best way to keep away from the beastly Element bearer was to take a lot of corners. Don’t take straightaways and use Twilight’s size to his advantage. So he did what he had to and began to climb straight up, hoping that the much larger creature would stall out before he did.
As he looked back, he only saw Twilight coming at him a bit slower but at a gradual angle. She wasn’t flying straight up like he had hoped and her horn was charging up another blast of sizzling magic. So he kept his wings beating, propelling him at about his top speed.
Another lance of purple magic shot by him, this one passing over his back by mere inches. The heat from the projectile caused his fur to burn away and the skin below to sizzle and start to blister. The pain ruined his concentration, his wings going out of sync for just a split second.
Even that was too long.
Thunderlane narrowly avoided the snapping jaws that were going for one of his legs. His syncopated wingbeats corrected themself and allowed him to roll away at the last second. He tried to remember his training when it came to dogfighting, all of the tactics centuries old and not used except by the cream of the crop of the Wonderbolts. He was faster and more nimble, but he had no way of attacking Twilight head on...so he needed to make her crash somehow.
The pegasus started into a barrel roll, a blast of Twilight’s magic flying right where he was just a few moments ago. Going into the loop was slow and a little disorienting, but coming out of it let him use the natural momentum from descending to put a little more distance between him and the Princess.
He put his nose down and tucked his legs into his body, trying to become as streamlined as possible as he sped towards the clock tower. What he was about to do was going to be dicey, dangerous and maybe stupid. With only him to get it done though, it was his only shot to ring the massive bell in the tower with his light pegasus body
He tucked his wings in and started to tumble forward through the air. When he knew his hind legs were lined up with the target, he extended them and let them impact the solid brass of the bell in the tower. Bended knees absorbed most of the impact as the bell began to sway, with his own momentum halted, he used the movement of the bell swinging back the opposite way to launch himself back into the sky again.
Twilight had looped around the clock tower, rounding it just now and coming up on him quickly. Thunderlane did his best to get back the distance he had before, but the mixture of exertion after almost a month of no exercise and the heat of the sun bearing down on him constantly finally caught up to him.
A blast of Twilight’s magic caught one of his wings, shearing half of the appendage off and immediately cauterizing the would be wound. Thunderlane cried out as he was sent into a spiral he could no longer control, the ground coming up quicker than he would’ve ever liked.
Scootaloo was right, so was everypony else. He was no Rainbow Dash. He couldn’t do what Dash did while carrying two times her weight and being slower than him. He was just in the shadow of that pony like he was meant to be, and soon he would just be a memory.
He closed his eyes, expecting the ground to be the last thing he felt. Instead he never hit the ground, the last thing he felt was a powerful set of jaws closing around his torso. The air left his lungs, razor-like teeth digging deep into his body.
The darkness finally came for Thunderlane, the end. Just like he always knew it would.
----
Mayor Mare looked back to see a little black speck fall from Twilight’s jaws and hit the ground with a puff of dust. Both sets of bells were ringing now, meaning that she could head back to the castle now and bunker down now that the job was done.
Her one worry was how she was going to explain this away to the rest of the group.