The group of five stand on the dirt path leading to Sweet Apple Acres, or at the very least it's weird dream counterpart. It's strange how both real and unreal this all felt. Sure, the Elements themselves have dealt with probably weirder things in their time. Yet they didn't have a human or a princess tagging along like this time. They will be without the very gemstones of arcane mystery here and any help is appreciated, even if they are the help.
Over the horizon, at their destination, they see another one of those storms. This one definitely bigger than before, the twister that made up most of it is spinning with a greater speed. Lightning lights up near the surface and it has changed it's color to a red. Something about the storm unnerves them right to their core. Almost like a feeling of dread comes over them. They steel themselves with the determination of why they're here; to get their friend back and start moving forward once again.
Luna takes notice of the human dragging behind a bit a joins him. "Is something bothering you, friend?"
"Been thinking about what you said." Justin looks at Luna, his voice hushed as to not pull the attention of the others. "It is strange what we found with Rainbow and Rarity. Twilight's was different though."
"Unfortunate, but true." Luna starts to match his tone, becoming closer to the human. "Do you think there is meaning behind it?"
"Either a sign of things that can be, or things to come? I don't know." Justin lets loose a frustrated sigh. "Twilight wouldn't turn on us like that, would she? It isn't her." Luna nods a little bit but he continues. "Then there's the one's with me, why would I turn? Will I go against my friends?"
At that moment, Luna stops him by placing a hoof against his chest. "We have seen you many times and know this cannot be true. You tend to wear your heart on your sleeve, do not let this falter your perception. You must be strong if we are to see this through."
Justin is looking at her while he lets her words sink in. His face shifting from doubt to a newfound determination and they push on with the others. Several minutes pass them by as they approach the farm. The winds start to pick up now as the storm is trying to push them away. The group continues on despite this and stand assembled at the base of the storm.
"Not to sound rude, but what is it we do now?" Rarity almost yells over the noise, her mane whipping in the wind.
Justin kneels down next to the white unicorn. "How strong is your magic?"
Rarity almost looks shocked at the human. "It isn't as strong as Twilight's, but I guess it can knock you down, darling."
"Perfect." Is the only word he says to her then looks to Twilight and Rainbow, giving them a knowing nod.
The two of them fly off and into the storm, leaving their respective trails. Rarity eye widen a bit as she watches the two flyers go against the current. The human then looks at Luna with a smile and gives her the same nod. The princess just nods back and charges her horn and fires off the spell at the base of the twister. Justin looks back to Rarity.
"Now." Justin points to where Luna's spell is hitting. "What we need you to do is hit the same place Luna is hitting."
"Yes, but how?" Rarity tilts her head.
"I'm sure you got something in that beautiful brain of yours!" Justin exclaims. "If not, just mimic whatever it is Luna is doing."
Rarity brings a hoof up to her chin and starts to tap her chin. Breaking her gaze from the human to take a quick glance at what spell Luna is casting. A glimmer comes to her eye and she forms a small smile. Getting the idea, she turns back to the storm with a charged horn and casts something similar to the Princess. She could hear an excited "Thatta girl!" beside her as she cast.
The storm was reacting now by bulging out and sinking back in to disrupt the flyers inside of it. Lighting arc out to strike the grounds around the spellcasters but to no avail. Crimson from the storm lights up the area around them as the strikes are starting to subside. It isn't long until the twister finally gives in and dissipates into the air. The winds coming to a stand-still yet again. Rainbow and Twilight flying over to the three and landing next to them. Rainbow trotting over to Justin and the two bumping a hoof to fist.
What lay before them was a sight much too familiar to four out of the five at this point. The old rustic farmhouse Applejack lives in exploded into pieces and all of them suspended in the air. Rarity takes a couple steps closer with an eyebrow raised, but is stopped when a hand rests on her shoulder. She turns her head to see Justin standing there, looking ahead.
"Is this what happened to my boutique here?" Rarity asks, his only response being a nod.
"AJ should be fine. Just gotta get her out and it should rebuild itself in a way." Justin says as his hand drops from her shoulder and he starts to walk forward.
Applejack is doing a might fine job of keeping the human at a distance, at the very least, she seems to think so. Whenever he gained some ground on her, she'd just barrage him with apples from the nearby trees. She doesn't have a single clue why this dream is having an evil version of one of her closest friends attacking her, but she wasn't going to let this change how she saw him.
He's stunned again from another apple to the head so she took the chance to run deeper into the orchard. The wind ripping through her ears as she dashes away from her assailant. Sure, she could take him but she isn't too keen on hurting him. That's when Luna comes around one of the trees and Applejack slams into her at full sprint. Both mares toppling over on the ground below.
Applejack was the first to recover, sitting up and looking at the princess. "Well, ain't ya sight for sore eyes!"
"Quite the... entrance." Luna mutters a little as she starts to recover. "We are glad to have found you, Applejack."
"We?" Applejack responds with little time for confusion when she finally spots three of her best friends. "Girls!"
She ran over to give them a big hug each in excitement. Applejack was clearly just happy to see her friends okay right now. When she got done dishing out the love, she turned back to Luna to find Justin helping her back to her hooves. He made some comment she didn't quite hear but it earns him a dirty look from the princess. Yup, that was the one she knew and she started to approach him.
Justin was quick to notice and put his hands up in defense. "Woah woah woah there. Friendly!"
Applejack doesn't say anything and gets up on her hind legs to take him in a tight hug. "Ah know, ya big lug. Just glad it's the real you"
She can feel his hand softly pat her back. "Can't.... breath... too... tight!"
"Oh, sorry sugarcube." Applejack replies and lets him go with a sheepish smile but she doesn't lower down just yet, allowing him to give her his own hug.
The reunion quickly became a short-lived moment when they heard a spell fire off. Looking to see Luna gazing off in the distance then following her gaze. The human this dream conjured up to chase Applejack had finally caught up, but also now having to face more. Luna cast another spell to hit him with and he didn't slow down. Justin got an idea and started to whisper it to Applejack.
"Are ya sure 'bout that, sugarcube?" She asks in somewhat of a confused tone.
"Is Celestia's sun bright?"
There is a moment of pause in the farm pony before giving him a silent confirmation. He just grins and lets her back down to go hide behind a nearby tree. The other Justin hasn't even flinched at the array of spells being thrown his away. He pushes on with his target in sight and now she wasn't moving. Instead being somewhat focused on the tree and the incoming intruder.
The rogue human was upon Applejack and she simply flipped a one-eighty and brought her hind legs up in a powerful buck. The kick connected with his jaw and is powerful enough to send him stumbling backwards. Stumble he did, right to her target. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around the mid section and the rogue was lifted up off the ground. Justin was straining a bit as he bent backwards and drove the clone's head right into the ground.
Justin rolled away and got back to his feet before walking over to Applejack and giving her a bump to the hoof for a job well done. Both of them having a satisfied smile and watch on as the human started to rise. A rainbow trail came down from the sky to drive him back into the ground. Seeing this causes a loud cheer to emanate from the group and seeming to finally put this Justin out of commission for good. The human just having his hands in the air and looks around to find out only he was the one to cheer.
"Love the enthusiasm, Big Guy, but can it wait until after we get out of here?" Rainbow comments as she makes her way over to the gathering.
"Heh, sorry. Got caught up in the moment." The human brings his hands down and puts one behind his head.
Rainbow just shakes her head at him and joins up with the rest. Luna gets them all to gather around as her horn starts to glow . The dream fading from their senses yet again as the surroundings go dark.
The four girls rouse awake before the princess and their human friend. Not wanting to go on without the two, they all settle around next to the sleeping pair. Luna is the next to wake from the slumber and starts to look around. She sees that the human is still out and sits with the rest, joining the soft idle chatter on occasion. Several minutes pass by before the human starts to rouse from his own slumber.
He groans out before blinking his sight into focus and looking at the small circle of ponies. "All right, what dark sorcery ritual are we doing today?" He chuckles a little to himself as he just crawls over and settles near the group.
"We're just talking while we wait." Twilight states, causing the human to smirk a little.
"Whatever you say, ya little sorceress." Justin teases with a pat to the alicorn's head.
Twilight huffs at the human out of a little bit of frustration and turns away from him. Out of the corner of his eye he spots Luna holding a hoof to her mouth, trying to subdue a giggle. Justin finally turns his attention away from the lavender mare to the rest of the girls and spots Rainbow with both hooves on her face. The human just smiles, giving the cyan pegasus a small knowing wink. His hand home in on one of Twilight's ears and start to scratch at it's base. The action cause the mare in question to relax a bit and lean into the touch.
"Loosen up a lil, Twi. I only tease ya cause I like ya." Justin remarks as he continues his ear scratching.
A couple more jokes are tossed around with some more idle chit-chat to help ease tensions and keep the spirits high. After a little while of sitting around, the group decides it's time to go get their friends. Each and every one start to rise to their hooves to feet respective before leaving the farmhouse. Down the dirt path they go under a clear night sky, the four girls talking amongst themselves.
Justin, however, is staring up at the star filled sky above as he keeps his pace with the group.
"Beautiful night?" A familiar voice calls out beside him, snapping him from his daze.
"I think the real one is perfect." He replies as his eyes shift to Twilight.
The mare tilts her head as she looks at him. "Why do you think that?"
Justin looks back up to the stars. "At least I know that sky isn't conjured up."
Twilight silently nods and presses a wing against his lower back. "You know, I got a book on astrology if you're interested in Luna's night sky."
"Thanks, I'll think about it, Twi." He replies back to her and she can see a small smile form on his face before he looks down to her. "You should go back to talking with your friends though, I don't think you'll be getting much out of me right now."
Twilight just shakes her head as he looks towards them. "They're talking about something I'm not really interested in, plus you looked like you could use the company."
Justin shifts his smile into the warm one she knows. "Thanks, Twi. Appreciate the thought."
"Don't mention it, monkey man." She coyly shoots back, earning her a playful nudge from the human's hip.
The two continue to walk with the rest of the group. Luna soon joining the two in the comforting silence while the human continues to look at the sky.
The group eventually make back to the strange Ponyville, most of the sky now clear as they walk. Justin holding a small conversation with Luna while the four friends ahead of them. They could overhear some of it, something about doughnuts from Canterlot. At least that's what Justin thinks he overhears as he talks with Luna. Out of his peripheral they are soon joined again by Twilight, though with some concern on her face now.
"Justin?" Twilight quietly says as the human looks at her. "I've been doing some thinking."
"About the last time we saw an heavily industrialized Equestria?" He responds back.
Twilight just nods and looks up to his face. "Do you think this is His doing?"
"Twilight Sparkle, what are you going on about?" Luna asks, causing the two to glance her way.
"Hard to tell, Twi." Justin looks back to the mare quick before turning to Luna. "That human I mention a little while ago? We sort of met him. He wasn't a nice guy."
Luna stares at the human, scanning his face. She knew it was only a half-truth but he isn't willing to say and she doesn't think Twilight will either.
"I've given her what is needed, Twi. I know you have concerns, and trust me, so do I." Justin glares back some at the lavender mare while he gets glared at by Luna. "I have a hunch he might be behind this since every dream version we find in their's is... well.... me."
"Except... mine." Twilight's eyes widen as she changes her expression to one of mild concern.
Justin nods a little before pulling Luna closer. "Look, what Twi and I found in this book wasn't what we thought. We found him, the human, but.."
Luna's eyes start to widen as she realizes what he's getting at. "It was another you?"
Both Justin and Twilight nod their heads.
"And Fluttershy has been dealing with this for a whole week. I can only imagine how she'd react now." Justin saiys in a solemn tone.
The group finally makes their way to the storm that covers Fluttershy's cottage. This storm looks much like the one that was once over Applejack's home. Red lighting arcing from within its cloud walls, making itself known to all. Applejack seems to stay near the human, unsure what she should be doing as the other members of the group get themselves in position and ready. The loud roar of the storm making communication almost impossible.
"So.. uh.. what is it ah should be doin', sugarcube?" AJ yelled over the storm to Justin.
"Just watch the show!" Justin replied as he gesture to the storm.
The rest of the group waited for a signal from the man to let them know that he was ready. He raised his hands and brought them back down, signaling for the two flyers to dart into the storm. Luna and Rarity wasted no time as Rainbow and Twilight fly overhead, their horns casting the spell they've been using this entire time. All Applejack can do is watch the lightshow ahead of her, staying next to the human.
Justin leans down to the farm pony. "Here comes the fun part."
The storm starts to react like those before it, but this one isn't going away without a fight. Crimson bolts of energy lash out against everyone, striking the grounds near them to disrupt the spellcasters. The twister itself starts to wildly shake as to rid itself of the intruders. Lightning continues to arc out and lick at the surrounding overcast, seeming to split it before it pieces itself back together. Another of the red bolts lash out again, this time heading right for the orange mare next to the human. Almost as if it was instinct, Justin moves in front of the bolt with his hand out over his face. The lightning connects and gets reflected back into the storm.
"What in tarnation was that?!" Applejack yells at him about the display.
Justin just turns to her and shrugs. "Dunno, just felt right."
Before the farm mare could ask him about what really just happened, the storm manages to dislodge one of the flyers. The human is hit full speed in the back by an alicorn. The force of the impact sent Justin stumbling forward and fall on to Applejack. Now the filling for what is essentially a pony sandwich, it hurt none the less. All three groaning out in pain and shifting around.
Twilight recovered and stands up, stepping away from the two. "Sorry you two!" Then she flies off back into the storm to help Rainbow.
Justin groans out a bit in pain as he rolls off the farm mare. "I had no idea being bodied by an alicorn hurt so damn much." He takes a moment to look at Applejack, who is still writhing on the ground a bit. "At least she wasn't full grown."
"Har har... very funny." Applejack responds as she starts to find her footing again. "How 'bout next time, ya be the pony 'n ah'll be the creature twice yer size fallin' on ya."
He just gives her a pained smile and reaches a hand up to pat her cheek. "I love ya too, Apples."
The storm continues to put up a fight for a little while longer, throwing out more bolts of lightning around them. The flying pegasus and alicorn had themselves embedded so far in the twister that they weren't coming back out anytime soon. The storm is starting to lose a lot of its momentum as the minutes pass by. Before long, the storm finally gives in and collapses in on itself.
Rainbow and Twilight landed on their hooves next to Rarity. The human soon joining them with the farm mare. Together they stand on the path leading up to Fluttershy's cottage and their goal: Fluttershy herself. The five started up the dirt road while their sixth stayed behind, unsure if he should go with them or not. Luna happens to look behind her and stops to gaze at the unsure human.
She trots back over to him and gazes at him. "Is something wrong, friend?"
"I don't think I should go with you all on this one." Justin tells her with his gaze fixed on the butter-colored mare floating in the distance. "I know how timid Fluttershy can get. If tonight is anything to go by, I believe she will be avoiding me for quite some time. It'll be like the first time I arrived here."
"You should not doubt yourself, Justin." Luna brings a wing up and curls her feathers around his back.
"It ain't doubt, Luna. I know Fluttershy well enough to guess what is going to happen." Justin's gaze snaps to Luna's eyes.
Luna remains quiet for the moment, just staring back at him.
"You should go help them get Fluttershy, I'll just stay out here."
"Not without you, Dear Justin." Luna retorts, pushing the man forward with her wing.
"Dammit, Luna. Fine." Justin grunts while being a little surprised at the strength in her wing.
"It does not take much to convince you." Luna tells him with a smirk.
"Only because I know you won't leave me be until I agree."
Fear is the only thing clouding Fluttershy's mind at this moment. Paniced breathing leaves her muzzle as she flies as fast as she can away from the creature. The creature that can walk on clouds is very apparent and very terrifying. She doesn't know why she's back at the flight camp in Cloudsdale again, but she's been returning here all week and with no help from Luna. Fleeing is the only thing she has been able to do until she wakes up this entire time. Tonight seems different, this is lasting longer than it normally does.
The creature slams down on a cloud near her, threatening to bust it a part from sheer force. She happens a glance in it's direction and sees who it really is. Her eyes shrink in shock before hitting a cloud wall and sliding down to the bottom. Cowering and trying to disappear into her mane as the creature takes another leap and lands near her again, soon standing to his full height as he gazes at her.
"W-why are you doing this?" Fluttershy shakily asks.
The group of six find themselves standing in the middle of a courtyard of clouds. The human slightly sunken into the white and fluffy mass with some mild annoyance. The other five standing on the surface just fine, not him however. The clouds have him covered up to his shins and was making it harder to move around than normal. Twilight had tried to pull him up with some magic, but he sank back in.
"Well, this is fantastic." Justin says in a tone that drips with his annoyance. "This stuff feels like sludge."
"Clouds don't feel like that." Rainbow retorts.
"These aren't regular clouds here, hotshot." Justin says right back.
Rainbow stares at him a bit and nods some. "I guess you're right."
The group stands in mostly silent amusement as the human is trying to maneuver in the strange cloud sludge he finds himself in. A high-pitched scream broke the silence and pulled the groups attention towards it source. They saw a streak of yellow soaring across the sky while a mass of something leapt from cloud to cloud. They hear a startling yell and when they look to see who it's from, Justin has sunk even more into the cloud, just barely catching a glimpse of his hand before it disappears into the cloud.
Twilight has to be quick, deciding on a plan of action right then and there. "Rainbow, you and I will go get that thing from Fluttershy. Luna and Rarity, you both can try to get Justin out of the clouds, if he hasn't fallen through them. Applejack, you wait here, we're going to bring that thing here."
Before another word could be said or the plan challenged, the two left to aid Fluttershy. Luna was already prying apart pieces of cloud in an attempt to find the human within the fluffy white mass with Rarity. After a couple of minutes of not finding him, Luna took off to the underside of the cloud to look there while the white unicorn picked at some more pieces of cloud on the top. Still no such luck even locating the human.
Twilight and Rainbow both slammed into the human chasing Fluttershy as soon as he landed on another cloud. His balance was knocked way off and nearly fell off the cloud. Twilight races over to Fluttershy and tries to explain to her what's going on. Rainbow is flying circles around the human and striking him to keep his balance off.
"Luna, darling, any luck down there?" Rarity calls out through the cloud.
Luna's head appears through the cloud and shakes her head. "What about you, Miss Rarity?"
"Unfortunately, no." Is all the response she had.
Before she could turn and search another part of cloud, Rarity is taken up in some magic and, despite her cries not to, plowed right through the cloud and towards the ground with Luna. She shrieks out as her and the princess are careening towards the ground. Stopping in just the nick of time as they come close to the ground. Rarity being daintily set on the ground before Luna lands with a small smile.
"That isn't funny, your highness!" Rarity screams while stomping a hoof on the ground.
"I do apologize, but we must find Justin." Luna simply replies.
Applejack gets herself ready as she watches Twilight and Fluttershy fly towards her with Rainbow Dash following close behind. Once the three land just behind the farm mare, it's only going to be a matter of time. Another leap and here comes the human. He slams against the cloud, causing pieces of it to float up and rest back down. Reaching his full height once more and is met with two strong hooves colliding with his chest in one powerful buck that sends him flying backwards. As he is recovering, a beam of teal magic cuts around the human in a circle and he falls right through the new hole an straight to the ground below.
There's an exaggerated gasp behind them that causes the four to look in another direction. Seeing a head popping out from the cloud.
"Oh my gosh, Justin!" Twilight exclaims and rushes over to help the human out of the cloud. "What happened to you?"
The human was coughing, wheezing, and gasping for that sweet, sweet air to fill his lungs. "No... Idea... where's... the... other guy?"
"Luna cut a hole in the cloud and he fell through it." Twilight explains.
Justin just lays on top of the cloud in labored breath, a smile breaking across his face. "So you're saying that he took a fall."
After a little while, Justin finally sits up and looks over to Fluttershy. His smile fades a little when he sees that she's hiding as much as she can behind Applejack and Rainbow. All the while staring him down like he was some scary monster. A hoof presses down on his shoulder and he looks away to meet Twilight's gaze. Another beam cuts up from below to encircle them both.
"Shit." Justin mutters before he falls through, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Twilight flies through the hole after the human. Making the dive as quickly as possible with her hooves out to reach him. The distance was closing fast between the ground and his body. The alicorn flaps her wings harder to gain speed she needed, she touches his neck and quickly wraps her forelegs around him and flares her wings out to slow their descent. Then the feel of magic engulfs their bodies, bringing them down slow enough to negate injuries.
Luna set Justin on his feet, facing her, and found it rather amusing that Twilight was hugging so close to his back. The lunar princess starts to take a couple of steps forward.
"It makes me glad you can join us, friend." Luna spoke with a small smile while the human opens his eyes. "Or rather, friends."
"What was the idea? Scare the mortal soul?" Justin asks her with some irritation.
Luna just smiles at him as Twilight floats off his back.
"Thanks Twi, and thanks Luna."
"Is not a problem, human friend." Luna's smile seems to grow wider. "Though i believe our other human here isn't quite as friendly."
Justin turns just in time to see the other break the ground beneath him as he leaves them behind. "That's not natural and kinda scary."
About a minute later he comes crashing back down with a cyan mass on his chest. "And stay down!"
Justin walks on over and leans down to look at the human. "Welcome back, buddy! Can we get you anything? A water, maybe a granola bar?"
Rainbow just steps off his to join her human. He just grunts as he recovers and rises back to his feet. He's just about to take another leap when he's turned around and fist collides with his face, effectively knocking him out this time.
"That's for scaring the feathers off Flutters."
Justin stands outside the cottage, leaning against the shorter-than-average fence, and staring off into the distance. Luna coming out of the cottage and approaching him from to take up an empty spot on the fence next to him.
"Do you not wish to join the others, friend?" Luna asks, gazing at the human.
"Nah, I don't wanna cause Fluttershy to close herself off cause I'm there." Justin sighs and looks at the princess. "That dream did a number on her, it's going to take a while to fix that."
"With some patience and a little time, she will come back around to you." Luna gives the human a reassuring smile and drapes a wing over his shoulders.
"Yeah, and she's got her friends and you to keep her some comfort to see this through." Justin nods and returns his gaze back to the distance. "Just one more of the Bearers to get then we're outta here."
Luna nods in agreement and follows his gaze. There was the last storm that held the remainder of Twilight's friends: Pinkie Pie. Justin is feeling some kind of comfort in knowing that this is almost over and that his friends will be safe, well he hopes that they will. Being some of Equestria's greatest heroes does come with challenges. That doesn't matter to him right now, he just wants to be sure they won't have to suffer from these dreams any longer than he has.